Hong Kong: Alice Mak affirms DCs' functions

Secretary for Home & Youth Affairs Alice Mak said today that voter turnout for the 2023 District Council (DC) Ordinary Election may not shed particular light on how well the new DCs perform their enhanced advisory and service functions.



Miss Mak explained to lawmakers that the voter turnout for the election is affected by a range of factors.



She emphasised that the new DCs are composed of representatives from different sectors, with various expertise and district experiences, and are broadly representative, making them conducive to reflecting the overall interest of each district.



She also noted that the seventh term DCs will focus on serving the people and working with the Government to serve the community.



With the first DC meeting held in the first week of 2024, DCs have formulated a series of action plans, Miss Mak added.

Such plans include launching caring and district clean-up campaigns before the Chinese New Year, organising activities that promote the local economy, and setting up photo-taking spots with district characteristics.

This story has been published on: 2024-01-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Interview: Maldives keen to promote cooperation with China, says Maldivian president

Xinhua) 08:08, January 10, 2024

Mohamed Muizzu attends the oath-taking ceremony at the Republic Square in Male, Maldives, Nov. 17, 2023. (People's Majlis/Handout via Xinhua)

"China is and will continue to be a key partner in the social and economic development of the Maldives."

MALE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu has said he intends to promote economic, trade, tourism, investment and cultural cooperation with China during his state visit to the country starting on Monday.

"China is and will continue to be a key partner in the social and economic development of the Maldives," the Maldivian president told Xinhua in a written interview before leaving for China.

He added that the Maldives-China relationship is based on mutual respect, mutual trust and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, which are key international principles on which the global economic and political order is built and sustained.

With the trip being his first visit to China as the president, Muizzu said he expects a renewed investment in the relationship, a renewed hope in the partnership, and a renewed and reinvigorated collaboration in the joint pursuit of improving the welfare of both peoples.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 1, 2019 shows the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge in Maldives. (Photo by Wang Mingliang/Xinhua)

"Trade between our countries is growing rapidly. We wish to expand and accelerate it further," said the Maldivian president, adding that tourist arrivals from China are on a rapid upward trend following the resumption of outward travel from China.

Muizzu said Belt and Road projects are vital to transforming his country's economic development.

The president noted that the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge has connected separate landmasses and also people, allowing for expanded economic activities.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A 71-year-old serial bank robber has been arrested after his latest heist, stealing more than $60,000 from a bank in Los Angeles County last month, authorities announced Tuesday.

On Dec. 21, Bruce Edward Bell, who has four prior bank robbery convictions and has spent over 40 years in the Federal Department of Corrections, robbed a bank in the 8000 block of Vineland Avenue in Sun Valley.

During this incident, Bell entered the location, grabbed an employee and pointed a firearm, a new release from the Los Angeles Police Department stated. Bell forced the employee to walk over to an access-restricted door. Bell demanded entry into the secure area and stated he would otherwise shoot the employee.

After gaining access to the secure area, the 71-year-old ordered another employee to fill a bag with cash.

He fled the scene with $64,000 in cash.

Witnesses who saw Bell flee in a silver 2002 Volvo sedan called 911. Officers from LAPDs Foothill Division spotted his vehicle and made a high-risk traffic stop resulting in his arrest, the recovery of the cash and a black replica firearm, police said.

Bruce Edward Bell, 71, caught on security cameras robbing a bank in Sun Valley on Dec. 21, 2023. (LAPD)

Bruce Edward Bell, 71. (LAPD)

The 71-year-old was booked into the LAPD jail facility.

Bell, who was let out of prison in July 2021, was on supervised release at the time of the incident. Investigators believe he may have robbed other victims who have yet to be identified.

Dead body found in lake at park in Los Angeles

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Edward or has information about this incident is encouraged to contact LAPD Detectives Mrakich and Delph at 213-486-6840.

Anonymous tips can be made through L.A. Regional 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.
Gray wolves were reintroduced to Colorado in December 2023, the latest attempt in a decadeslong effort to build up wolf populations in the Rocky Mountain states. SciLine interviewed Joanna Lambert, professor of wildlife ecology and director of the American Canid Project at the University of Colorado Boulder, who discussed how and why gray wolf populations declined in the U.S. and the value of reintroducing them to ecosystems in the West.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Below are some highlights from the discussion. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How can protecting gray wolf populations affect ecosystems?

Joanna Lambert: Apex predators, and predators in general, are disappearing from landscapes around the planet.

Without apex predators, their prey species can become overly abundant. But when apex predators are reintroduced, prey populations decrease and vegetation can rebound. So in certain habitats of Yellowstone National Park, plant species such as willow and aspen are now in greater abundance since wolves were reintroduced in the 1990s. This denser vegetation can provide nesting areas for certain bird species and ideal conditions for beavers to set up dams, which can shift the hydrology of rivers and streams.

In Yellowstone, these effects are localized. Keep in mind that the reintroduction of wolves into Colorado covers a huge area, around 22 million acres of public lands, and there arent going to be that many wolves introduced  probably 30 or 50 over the next three to five years. So in Colorado, too, effects on vegetation and total numbers of prey species like elk are likely to be localized, diffuse and only within certain microhabitats.

What is special about the reintroduction in Colorado?

Joanna Lambert: This is the first time an endangered species will be managed and reintroduced into a former range by an entity other than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Instead, this reintroduction will be handled by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. This in itself is truly historical and groundbreaking. Instead of being a federal level initiative, this was the result of a citizen-led ballot initiative  Proposition 114  that was voted into law as of November 2020.

Read more: Will Colorado bring back wolves? It's up to voters

How were the wolves reintroduced to the area?

Joanna Lambert: Those wolves were darted and immobilized in Oregon by expert marksmen and biologists working from a helicopter. They were netted and then brought onto small planes and eventually transported to vehicles, which took them to the regions where they were released. Those animals are radio collared and will be monitored carefully over months and years. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife aim to release 10-15 wolves this winter.

How have gray wolf populations changed in the U.S. over time?

Joanna Lambert: Before the arrival of Western settlers over 400-plus years ago, scientists estimate the total number of gray wolves roaming the North American continent was maybe between 500,000 to 2 million.

By the time we get to the mid-1960s, only roughly 200 to 400 breeding pairs of gray wolves lived in the lower 48. This is largely a consequence of a concerted effort on the part of multiple legislative entities  local, regional, state and federal  to remove predators. Reducing the number of wolves through hunting, shooting, trapping and poisoning was extremely effective.

The numbers of gray wolves plummeted throughout the 20th century so that we only have a handful around by the time the Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973. Gray wolves were one of the very first mammal species to be put onto the endangered species list in 1974.

The number of gray wolves has increased throughout the United States but are concentrated in two populations. One is in the upper Midwest region, in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, where there are probably about 4,500 wolves.

In the Northern Rockies, and that includes the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, we probably have somewhere around 2,500 to 3,000 wolves. These wolves are largely a consequence of the reintroductions that took place in Idaho and in Yellowstone in the mid-1990s.

How can humans coexist with gray wolves?

Joanna Lambert: Up until around 100 years ago, humans had been coexisting and living alongside gray wolves for thousands of years, so we do have the knowledge on how to coexist with predators. We are now at a point where that information and that knowledge has to be relearned.

That can include any number of scare devices or hazing tactics that can be used with both livestock and predators. It can include range riders working to make sure that they know where the wolves are. Ranchers can make changes in how animals are herded up and moved. Making these changes will take time, but Colorado Parks and Wildlife will be involved in those conversations and in the training of ranchers on how to keep their livestock safe. A number of nonprofits will also be involved in educating the public.

How does this reintroduction fit into the global extinction crisis?

Joanna Lambert: We are living in what many experts describe as the sixth extinction and are on the verge of losing upwards of a million species in the next couple of decades. Conservation biologists and practitioners around the world are working to offset this massive extinction. Reintroduction of important keystone species like gray wolves is one tool that can help.

Watch the full interview to hear more.

SciLine is a free service based at the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science that helps journalists include scientific evidence and experts in their news stories.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: Joanna Lambert, University of Colorado Boulder.

Read more:



Joanna Lambert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Beverly and Claude Cassirer, both now deceased, are pictured with a replication of a famous Camille Pissarro painting that was stolen from their family by the Nazis in the 1930s. A federal court ruled against the family's claim to the original painting Tuesday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A decades-long court battle over a famous painting that was looted from a Jewish family by the Nazis at the dawn of World War II took a devastating turn for the family Tuesday, when a federal appellate court in the U.S. rejected their plea for the artwork's return.

The court's decision means the painting  "Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain," by Camille Pissarro  will remain in the possession of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, a museum owned by the Spanish government, rather than be returned to the descendants of Lilly Cassirer, a Jewish woman who was forced to hand the painting over to the Nazis in exchange for her freedom from Germany in 1939.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was a shock to the family and their lawyers, who had anticipated the painting's long-awaited return after a unanimous  albeit legally narrow  decision in their favor by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

"Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain," by Camille Pissarro, is displayed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid on April 22, 2022. (Manu Fernandez / Associated Press)

Instead, the appellate court ruled in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, which it found had gained "prescriptive title" to the painting when it purchased it and a trove of other precious artworks in 1993 from Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Swiss art collector and the heir to a vast German steel empire.

David Cassirer, 69, the lead plaintiff in the case and Lilly Cassirer's great-grandson, deferred comment to his family's longtime attorney, Sam Dubbin, who told The Times they were "surprised and disappointed by the decision." Dubbin said they will ask for reconsideration by a larger, 11-judge en banc panel.

In a statement, Dubbin and the family's other attorneys said Tuesday's decision "fails to explain how Spain has any interest in applying its laws to launder ownership of the spoils of war, a practice outlawed in the Hague Convention of 1907, and a series of other international agreements joined by Spain for over a century."

The lawyers said the ruling does not address "how a national museum owned by the Spanish government justifies holding onto a painting that it knows was looted by the Nazis from a Jewish family in the Holocaust."

The museum's attorneys, in their own statement, praised the court's decision, calling it "a welcome conclusion to this case."

The painting  of a Paris street scene in 1897 and 1898 and estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars today  had hung in Lilly Cassirer's Berlin apartment when the Nazis took power. After it was stolen, it was brought to the United States illegally and sold by a Beverly Hills gallery in 1951 before the baron purchased it from a New York gallery in 1976. The museum said it legally acquired the painting in the 1993 purchase.

The Cassirer family had considered the painting lost until Claude Cassirer  Lilly's grandson and David's father, who has since died  discovered in 2000 that it was part of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. The family filed its lawsuit seeking the painting's return in a federal court in Los Angeles in 2005.

The case has been watched closely for decades as one that raises important legal and deeply moral questions about what is fair when it comes to Nazi-plundered artwork and other Jewish wealth.

Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan wrote in a concurring opinion that while she agreed with the ruling in the museum's favor as a matter of law, it went against her "moral compass."

Callahan wrote that the Spanish government should have "voluntarily relinquished" the painting to the family under an international agreement on the return of Nazi-looted art that Spain and dozens of other countries signed in 2009.

Though the law compelled a ruling against the family, "I wish that it were otherwise," Callahan wrote.

The emotional heft of the case is partly owed to the clarity of its origins. All of the parties agree that Lilly Cassirer, a member of a prominent art-collecting Jewish family in Berlin, was forced to part with the painting by a vicious and well-organized Nazi program to strip Jewish families of their wealth before they were systematically murdered during the Holocaust.

A family photo shows Claude Cassirer as a young boy with his grandmother, Lilly Cassirer, who was forced by Nazis to surrender the painting in exchange for a visa to flee Germany. (Cassirer Family Trust)

Lawyers for the museum have not argued that the Pissarro wasn't stolen from the Cassirers by the Nazis. Instead, they have argued that neither the baron nor the museum knew it was looted, and that Spanish law protects their modern ownership of the piece.

Lawyers for the Cassirer family strongly disputed that, alleging that the baron was a sophisticated art collector and that both he and the museum had a responsibility to investigate the artwork's origins. They would have known the Pissarro piece was stolen had they done the due diligence required of them as legitimate collectors, the family argued.

The family also argued California law demanded the artwork's return. California officials have argued the same in their own filings in the case.

After filing their lawsuit nearly two decades ago, the family suffered a series of setbacks as courts in the U.S., including the 9th Circuit, ruled against them. Then, however, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the case  which raised its profile, making it one of the most important cases involving Nazi-looted artwork in the world.

In 2022, the Supreme Court tossed out the lower appellate ruling against them and ordered the 9th Circuit to reconsider the case under California law, rather than Spanish law.

As part of its new review, the 9th Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to weigh in on how the state's laws applied to the dueling claims from Spain and the Cassirers, but the state's high court declined the request, leaving the matter in the circuit court's hands.

In its unanimous order Tuesday, the court's three-judge panel found that, even under California law, the painting should remain with the museum.

The court found it had to consider the interests of Spain and of California in enforcing their respective  and contradictory  laws governing disputed claims of title to stolen paintings, and ultimately apply the law of the government whose interests would be "more impaired" were its law ignored.

The court found Spain has a strong interest in enforcing its laws within its borders, and that applying its laws made sense in the Cassirer case in part because many of the events at issue occurred there, including the museum's purchase and display of the painting. At the same time, the court found that applying Spain's law "would only partially undermine California's interests in deterring theft and in returning stolen art to victims of theft."

So, it decided, Spanish law won out.

Callahan and the panel's other two judges  Carlos T. Bea and Sandra S. Ikuta  were appointed by President George W. Bush.

The Cassirer family's attorneys said the court's analysis was all wrong, and too dismissive of California's interests in the matter.

"Californias laws, as Attorney General Rob Bonta clearly explained to the Court, strongly support the rights of its residents to recover stolen works of art in the hands of museums," they said in a statement.

David Cassirer, the great-grandson of Lilly Cassirer, poses outside the Supreme Court in January 2022. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

Both David Cassirer and his father, Claude, "fought honestly and vigorously since learning that Spain held the Cassirers' Pissarro painting, for the principle that artworks looted by the Nazis, or in any similar atrocities, must be returned to their rightful owners," they said, and they "won't stop now."

"The Cassirers believe that, especially in light of the explosion of antisemitism in this country and around the world today, they must challenge Spain's continuing insistence on harboring Nazi looted art," the family's lawyers said in a statement.

The court's decision Tuesday, they said, "gives a green light to looters around the world."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
I could happily live the rest of my life without being reminded of Jeffrey Epstein, his years-long exploitation of young women or the many famous male moths who were drawn to the billionaires flame. Im sure his emotionally scarred victims wish they could too.

Recent news developments, unfortunately, make the sordid Epstein saga impossible to avoid. And maybe thats as it should be, since the lives of so many young women were tarnished by a vile, lecherous creep and his partner who delighted in not just abusing underage girls but using them to lure high-profile figures into his orbit.

This week, two more sets of documents related to Virginia Giuffre's 2015 defamation lawsuit against Epsteins longtime girlfriend and procurer Ghislaine Maxwell were released on the order of U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. The case was settled in 2017, but many of the documents remained under seal until now. The judge said she was releasing them because much of their contents are already public knowledge.

The releases on Monday and Tuesday were the fourth and fifth document dumps this month and were accompanied by feverish speculation about which bold-faced names would crop up as Epstein associates.

Indeed, dozens of names appear in the files: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Ron Burkle, David Copperfield, Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Read more: New Epstein documents reveal more details of sex-trafficking operation

Also, Kevin Spacey, Michael Jackson, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Campbell, among many, many others.

Some of the many, many news stories about the newly released documents are nothing more than a bait and switch: Cameron Diaz breaks silence after being named in Jeffrey Epstein documents. Seriously, Fox 11? (Diaz said through her publicist that she never met the guy.)

One explosive allegation in the new documents concerns Epstein's mentor and chief investor, the retail magnate Leslie Wexner. In a 2016 deposition related to a separate defamation case, Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked to Wexner. Wexner has not been charged with a crime, and he has not responded to Tuesday's revelations. According to ABC News, in 2019, after Epstein was arrested, Wexner told his employees that he was unaware of any of Epstein's criminal sexual behavior.

Apart from that instance, the judge is right  weve already heard bits and pieces of most of whats in the documents about the predatory Epstein, who was smitten with intellectuals and scientists, collected rich and powerful people as acquaintances and apparently liked to drop names.

In testimony, one of his victims described this predilection: During sexual massages, he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, Oh, that was Leonardo or That was Cate Blanchett' or 'Bruce Willis. That kind of thing.

Read more: Abcarian: Really, young voters? You want to teach Democrats a lesson by letting Trump back into the White House?

Meanwhile, Maxwell, who was convicted in December 2021 of felonies including the sex trafficking of a minor and sentenced to 20 years, resides in a Florida low-security prison. According to a recent report by the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General, her accommodations are far less pleasant than Epsteins New York brownstone, private Caribbean island, sprawling New Mexico ranch or the lavish home in New Hampshire where she hid until her arrest in July 2020.

The report said that inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee were served moldy bread, and inspectors found spoiled vegetables and bug-infested cereal in the storeroom.

That is probably cold comfort to Epstein's victims, including Giuffre, who was recruited by Maxwell in 2000, when she a 16-year-old locker-room attendant at Mar-a-Lago. For three years, Giuffre has testified, she was kept as a sex slave, flown around the world and lent out to high-profile men for sex.

Epsteins purposes in lending Jane Doe (along with other young girls) to such powerful people were to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political, and financial gain, as well as to obtain potential blackmail information, her attorneys claimed in court documents.

Read more: Abcarian: MAGA cynics have decided to destroy diversity efforts to prove we're all equal

You may recall that Giuffre's accusations and lawsuit against Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, led to his symbolic defenestration and a confidential settlement reported to be about $16 million. And youve undoubtedly seen the infamous 2001 photo of Andrew at Maxwells London home, his hand around the waist of Giuffre (then known as Virginia Roberts).

Giuffre, who was the first of Epstein's victims to publicly identify herself, has become an advocate for survivors of sex trafficking.

After Epstein killed himself in August 2019 in a New York federal jail cell while awaiting trial, his estate created a victim compensation fund. Its administrator reported in 2021 that the fund had paid more than $121 million to at least 135 of the 225 or so people who made claims.

Because of his suicide, Epsteins victims will never get the full measure of justice to which they are entitled. And while he and Maxwells names will eventually fade  blessedly  from the public discourse, we should never forget the courage it took for Giuffre and others to bring them to justice, nor the lifelong impact their heinous crimes will have on those women.

The pain you have caused me is almost indescribable, wrote Giuffre in the victim impact statement she submitted at Maxwells sentencing in June 2022. Nightmares wake me at all hours. In those dreams, I relive the awful things you and others did to me and the things you forced me to do.

But she added, Despite you, I have grown into a woman who tries to do good in the world  a woman who, on her best days, feels like she is making a difference.

@robinkabcarian





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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares to launch a database aimed at keeping sexual predators from hopping from church to church, this very scenario unfolded at an Oklahoma house of worship whose leaders said they were unaware that the church's former youth minister had been accused of sexually abusing a child at his previous church employer.

Current leaders of First Baptist Church of Moore said they learned only recently that one of the church's former youth ministers, Patrick Stephen Miller, 37, was hired to work at their church though sex abuse allegations had been made against him at Immanuel Baptist Church in Arkansas.

According to Pulaski County court records, Miller was initially charged with second-degree sexual assault, a felony, in January 2019. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment. According to court records, Miller was given a one-year suspended sentence. He received 19 days credit for time already served and he wasn't required to register as a sex offender.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, citing Little Rock police reports, said Miller routinely played hide and seek with young people at Immanuel Baptist while other adults weren't around, and in 2015, he allegedly took a child into a closet, sitting her on his lap and sexually assaulting her.

The matter came to light in December 2023 after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Miller petitioned to have his criminal record sealed. A hearing on his request is set for Feb. 1 in Pulaski County Circuit Court in Little Rock.

More: Southern Baptist Convention task force says development of sex abuse database continues

According to recent reports in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the 2015 accusations came to light a few months after Miller left the church in 2016. Miller worked at the church from 2014 to 2016 and was an assistant director of children's youth ministry.

The Arkansas news outlet reported that the pastor of Immanuel Baptist, the Rev. Steven Smith, did not tell his congregation about the accusations and subsequent charges against Miller until December 2023  years after church leaders filed the initial police report in 2015 and at least a year after Miller's conviction. Notably, Smith also declined to tell an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter whether he alerted First Baptist-Moore about Miller.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the state of Arkansas and the families of two of Miller's victims have came forward to contest his petition to have his criminal record sealed. Miller's petition is being opposed by two young people who attended Immanuel Baptist  including the initial victim and another student who came forward after learning in 2023 about the first case against Miller, according to the Arkansas news outlet.

Smith told his congregation about the accusations against Miller, the subsequent police investigation and Miller's conviction after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette began reporting on the case in 2023.

The Rev. Tyler Kelly, executive pastor at First Baptist-Moore, sent the following statement about Miller in response to a query by The Oklahoman. The church's leaders have declined to make any other comment.

"While current leadership only recently became aware of our churchs past connection with the accused, we are disheartened by this troubling conduct and pray for all those who have been impacted," the statement said.

"This type of behavior goes against all we stand for as a church and is not tolerable, nor will be tolerated inthe future. We have worked to inform our congregation and will share any and all pertinent information with the authorities. Although we have no relationship with the accused and there has been no indication of any alleged behavior occurring in the context of our church, we will work with authorities in the case that any information comes to light. We again are heartbroken for anyone who has been impacted and believe that all churches should do everything they can to stop this kind of behavior from happening."

'Gross and negligent'

Miller's case comes as the Southern Baptist Convention grapples with a sexual abuse crisis that has snowballed since the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News published the investigative report "Abuse of Faith" in 2019. Southern Baptist delegates, called messengers, subsequently asked for a third-party investigation into leaders' response to sexual abuse allegations. Scandal erupted anew once the report from the investigation was released in 2022, exposing how some of the denomination's leaders, from 2000-2020, mishandled sex abuse allegations. That independent sex abuse report included a secret list of hundreds of sex offenders with ties to Southern Baptist churches or affiliates. In August 2022, Southern Baptist Convention leaders said the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the denomination for reported clergy sex abuse.

In 2022, Southern Baptist messengers approved a series of sex abuse reform measures, most notably a Ministry Check website that would serve as a database listing credibly accused ministry leaders, volunteers and others associated with Southern Baptist churches.

More: Legal brief sparks crisis of confidence in Southern Baptist Convention over abuse response

The Rev. Mike Keahbone, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lawton, is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force that has been tasked with implementing effective abuse reforms. Keahbone, who is also a member of the denomination's Executive Committee, said the task force continues to work on launching the Ministry Check database website.

He said he was caught off guard by the Immanuel Baptist controversy.

"For me, personally, I hate every bit of that situation," he said.

"I hate that someone in his position as a children's minister took advantage of children and abused them by abusing his authority. I hate it that his church was not properly informed when it happened and I think it's gross and negligent that he was able to move on to another church."

Keahbone said he is not sure what First Baptist-Moore knew or didn't know about Miller but he "should have never gotten to them."

"He should have been shut down and never allowed to be around kids ever again so it's just an awful, awful situation and I hope that justice is served on behalf of the victims of this guy."

Sex abuse survivor and advocate Christa Brown said the case is a prime example of why she has been on a 20-year crusade to get the Southern Baptist Convention to protect unsuspecting congregations from sex abusers.

"The story of Immanuel Baptist in Arkansas is the story of the day, but it's also a story we've seen hundreds of times in the Southern Baptist Convention," she said.

"In the abstract, church and denominational leaders talk the talk of being transparent about sexual abuse allegations, but when those allegations arise on the home turf, they almost always conceal things."

Patrick Miller arrested in Oklahoma after he left Moore church

First Baptist-Moore's current leaders have declined to say when Miller was a staff member at their church, though the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said it was able to determine through social media posts that he had left his job at the Oklahoma church of his own accord about four months prior to his 2018 arrest stemming from the Little Rock Police investigation.

Little Rock Police reports show that U.S. marshals arrested Miller in Oklahoma in December 2018. He was subsequently transported to Arkansas to face the accusations against him.

More: 'Discriminatory behavior' leads Southern Baptist Convention to part with Oklahoma church

According to Little Rock Police reports, Miller's foster children were taken from his Oklahoma home by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services after that agency learned of the police investigation.

A spokeswoman for DHS said she could not speak on the matter.

"Oklahoma Human Services takes very seriously our responsibility to protect the safety of Oklahomas children and to ensure children served in the foster care system are protected from further maltreatment," Casey L. White with the DHS office of communications said in a statement.

"Child welfare investigations are confidential by state and federal statutes, so Oklahoma Human Services is unable to publicly discuss this situation with anyone who is not authorized by statute or permitted by an order of the court."

How to help

Oklahoma Baptists, the state affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention, has an Abuse Prevention and Response Guide. The faith group's hotline for assistance related to abuse prevention, abuse response or survivor care is 833-942-3030.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has a 24/7 Abuse and Neglect Hotline for Oklahomans to report concerns about the treatment of children. It is 800-522-3511.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: First Baptist Moore says it wasn't warned about former youth minister
Adan Canto, a Mexican-American actor and musician who found fame as leading man in TV dramas, has died.

The Cleaning Lady and Designated Survivor star died Jan. 8 at age 42 of appendiceal cancer, a representative for the actor confirmed to TODAY.com.

"Adan had a depth of spirit that few truly knew. Those who glimpsed it were changed forever," his rep said in a statement.

Adan Canto (FOX Image Collection via Getty Images)

Canto currently portrayed the gangster Arman Morales on the Fox drama "The Cleaning Lady."

He previously starred alongside Kiefer Sutherland on the ABC/Netflix political drama "Designated Survivor," where he portrayed Vice President-elect Aaron Shoreand. He also appeared in Netflix's "Narcos," ABC's "Blood and Oil" and Fox's "The Following."

Canto made his mark on the silver screen, playing Sunspot in "X-Men: Days of Future Past," and appearing in Halle Berrys directorial debut "Bruised," among other films.

ABC's

Canto was born in Mexico and raised in Texas.

The actor, who was also interested in directing, shot his first short film in 2014, "Before Tomorrow," and his second, a Western starring Theo Rossi, in 2020 titled "The Shot."

He leaves behind his wife, Stephanie Ann Canto, and two children, Roman Alder, 3, and Eve Josephine, 1.

Canto's last post on Instagram was a Father's Day tribute to his family in June 2022.

"Happy Fathers Day! Ive been blessed with mine," the actor wrote alongside a photo of him and his wife posing with their two young children.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Stephen Fry teamed up with animal welfare campaigners on Wednesday to demand that soldiers of the King's Guard stop using real fur in their famous tall bearskin caps.

The scarlet-clad soldiers wear the foot-high bear pelt headwear, known as a busby, for ceremonial events and when they fill sentry posts outside Buckingham Palace as they have done for centuries.

But Fry, one of Britain's best-known actors and TV broadcasters, called for the soldiers to replace the "fur of slaughtered wildlife" with a fake version.

"Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty," Fry, who has narrated a graphic online video showing a disemboweled and dismembered black bear, said in a statement.

He said a failure to shift to faux bearskin "would be unconscionable  and un-British".

The video, which was filmed in Canada and released by animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), showed hunters baiting black bears with buckets of food before shooting them with crossbows.

A spokesperson at Britain's Ministry of Defence said bears were not hunted to order and the bear pelts used "are a product of legal and licensed hunts".

"To date and to the departments knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps," the spokesperson said.

The King's Guard are part of the British Army's Household Division who perform public duties and are often involved in state ceremonies, including 'Trooping the Colour' which celebrates the reigning British monarch's official birthday.

King Charles, who ascended to the throne after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth in 2022, donned a bearskin hat himself at his birthday parade through central London last year.

(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; Editing by Michael Holden and Jonathan Oatis)
Artificial intelligence-powered misinformation and disinformation pose the largest short-term global threat to the world, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.

They are followed by extreme weather events and societal polarization as global threats, according to the report, which uses a survey of nearly 1,500 experts in areas of academia, business and government to look at global risks.

No longer requiring a niche skill set, easy-to-use interfaces to large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) models have already enabled an explosion in falsified information and so-called synthetic content, from sophisticated voice cloning to counterfeit websites, the forums Global Risk Report reads.

President Biden in October issued an executive order on AI including new standards for safety.

The order required companies developing models that could threaten national security, economic security or public health to notify the federal government during model training.

President Biden believes that we have an obligation to harness the power of AI for good, while protecting people from its potentially profound risks, a senior administration official told reporters at the time.

While the report listed AI-generated misinformation and disinformation as the greatest threats, it said extreme weather is another serious problem.

Climate change has contributed to extreme weather events, leading to growing concerns about everything from hurricanes to fires to extreme temperatures.

Nearly all environmental risks are included in the top 10 rankings for the decade ahead. Extreme weather events are anticipated to become even more severe, as the top ranked risk over the next decade, the report said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Wide-ranging risks created by artificial intelligence (AI) loom over a Congress that appears cautious to regulate as lawmakers head into a monumental election year.

After a year filled with hearings and forums discussing the risks and benefits of AI as the technology expands into critical sectors, experts say it is time for Congress to act  while some warn lawmakers are already behind.

If theres no action before the end of this Congress, I think theres going to be a perception that they failed, said Dewey Murdick, executive director at Georgetowns Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

Its going be a super tough year to do anything, but I think the pressure is on pretty high to do something, he added.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), leader of the chambers bipartisan working group on AI, has avoided setting a timeline for expected AI legislation. The leader initially promised new AI rules would take months, not years in June when the AI working group outlined its approach to crafting regulations.

But when Congress left at the end of last year, lawmakers hadnt moved on any proposals put forward on AI rules. The group also includes Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

Schumer spokeswoman Allison Biasotti said in an email that conversations continued over break between the AI gang staff and senators directly.

The success of the AI Insight Forums led to many recommendations and we aim to produce a framework working in tandem with the respective senate committees  in the near future, Biasotti added.

As Congress continues to mull an AI framework, the tech industry is steaming ahead with AI advancements. Analysts at Wedbush said in a report earlier this month that 2024 will be the year of AI, as expanding use cases for AI are exploding globally.

The potential impacts of a guardrail-free AI future are becoming more apparent as the technology expands, and are highlighted in part by court cases that challenge whether AI companies are stealing work from creators to build their large language models.

Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institutions Center for Technology Innovation, said Congress is way behind on AI regulation.

AI is being deployed in virtually every sector. Its making decisions that affect people. There already are a number of problems that are emerging but theres been virtually no Congressional legislation, West said.

Even AI critics who have been encouraged by the Senates attention say lawmakers need to step up the pace.

Landon Klein, director of U.S. policy at the Future of Life Institute, which organized an open letter in March calling for a sixth-month pause on certain advanced AI training, said the organization has been pretty pleased since the letter at Congresss actions.

Relative to their typical pace, Klein said Congress has moved surprisingly quickly on the issue.

That being said, now that theyve done a lot of the prep work, including Insight Forums to sort of coalesce around these ideas, its time in 2024 to put them into action and get them rolling, Klein said.

Lawmakers, however, are attempting to balance AI regulation with leaving room for innovation.

Schumer has urged lawmakers to avoid moving too fast on regulations. He warned in September that doing so could ruin things, following the Senates first AI insight forum, which featured tech CEOs, including Teslas Elon Musk, Metas Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAIs Sam Altman.

Industry stakeholders have also warned lawmakers to be wary of overregulating AI in a way that could stifle innovation and limit the U.S. from leading in the race to stay on the cutting edge.

West called that fear a bogus argument.

We are so far from overregulation. I mean, basically, theres almost no regulation of AI at the very time where its being used to make decisions that are affecting people, West said.

Were definitely not acting too quickly. The digital revolution is 20 years old, and were still letting private companies make most of the major decisions. So, we just need to start regulating because theres been very little movement in that area to this point, he added.

But even experts like Klein who said Congress may not be behind yet, said it is time for lawmakers to act. With the 2024 election on the horizon, though, the timeline is politically more challenging.

Its no secret that the election is going to absorb a lot of the attention as the year progresses. So, I think the sooner the better in terms of maintaining focus on the issue and giving it the attention it deserves. Certainly, within the next couple of months its essential some language is out and moving through the process, Klein said.

Alexandra Reeve Givens, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said moving into an election year it will be hard in terms of what Congress will be able to do, but they set the expectations high and so now is the time to deliver.

Givens said her biggest concern is that Congress only carries forward with a light touch bill that is focused on funding research and innovation, without addressing substantive concerns that put AI on the national agenda, such as questions around privacy, security and transparency.

Evan Greer, director of the digital advocacy group Fight for the Future, said Congress is way behind on regulating AI, and a major piece of that is the compounding lag on a comprehensive data privacy law in the U.S.

Weve been sounding the alarm for years about the dangers of AI-powered surveillance systems like facial recognition, and thats just the tip of the iceberg. The best thing Congress could do on AI would be to build a time machine, go back about a decade, and pass a strong data privacy law. The second best thing they can do is pass a strong data privacy law as soon as possible, Greer said in an email.

Unlike the U.S., which has debated and failed to pass a comprehensive data privacy law for years, the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation went into effect in 2018. Now, the EU is also getting ahead of the U.S. by putting forward the EU AI Act in December

The EU AI Act puts Europe ahead of other lawmakers in setting forward a framework for AI rules. The provisional deal still needs to be ratified by a committee where each country has a representative that is expected to take place early next year before the AI Act would become legislation, Reuters reported.

And, like with privacy, in addition to the EU California and other states are considering AI rules in lieu of federal policy.

The parallels to what happened and is happening in the privacy space should be lost on none of us, Givens said.

Theres a lot that Congress should be learning from that and not replicating mistakes thats been made in that space, Givens said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A federal judge has sentenced a former Air Force special agent who later served as an Army National Guard recruiter to 10 years in prison for child sex crimes.

On Oct. 6, Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway, Washington pleaded guilty to charges of enticement of a minor and making a false statement to a government agency. He was sentenced in federal court on Monday.

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle described the crimes as sadistic and indescribably cruel, according to a Justice Department press release.

Harrod lived in a mobile home at the Holiday Park on Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington from 2017 to 2018, according to court documents.

He was honorably discharged from the Air Force, where he last served as a special agent in the Office of Special Investigations in 2018. Harrod then went to work as an Army National Guard recruiter at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Lakewood, Washington.

From October 2017 to January 2018, on at least five occasions Harrod had sexual contact with a female minor under the age of 12 at his residence on JBLM, according to court documents. Harrod showed the victim pornography on his phone to desensitize her and threatened to kill her mother if anyone found out, the documents state.

In May 2021, after the FBI had begun investigating allegations against Harrod, he sent an email to his attorney with a screenshot of a text message he claimed was from the victims mother. The alleged screenshot was a threat against him.

However, the victims mother did not send the message. Investigators later discovered that Harrod had sent himself the text message from his work phone, altering the contact information to make it appear as though it came from the victims mother.

Agents met with Harrod on June 17, 2021, to discuss the text message and the investigation. Harrod told the agents hed thrown his phone and broken it the night before. Agents later retrieved his phone, which was not damaged, according to court documents.

On July 14, 2021, Harrod was indicted on five counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of falsification of records in a federal investigation and one count of false statement to a government agency.

As part of a plea agreement, Harrod pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor and making a false statement to a government agency. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Following his 10-year prison sentence, Harrod will be on lifetime supervised release.
Vice President Kamala Harris aircraft was forced to divert to a Washington-area airport after encountering stormy weather Tuesday night as she returned from a trip to Georgia.

Press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement, Tonight, en route from Atlanta, GA, Air Force 2 was diverted from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport due to inclement weather.

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

A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss it, said the aircraft encountered wind shear as a powerful storm brought high winds and rain to the nations capital. The same person said no one was injured.

Wind shear is a sudden shift in wind direction or speed that can be hazardous during takeoff and landing.

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A federal judge on Wednesday cleared the way for a death row inmate in Alabama to be executed with nitrogen gas later this month, sweeping aside critics arguments that the untested method is cruel and inhumane. U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker rejected inmate Kenneth Smiths request for an injunction, according to the Associated Press. Smiths attorneys, who have accused the state of trying to make a test subject out of him, are expected to appeal the decision, which could wind its way to the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of his Jan. 25 execution date. Smith, 58, was convicted over his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a pastors wife. He survived a botched attempt by the state to execute him by lethal injection last year. I was strapped down, couldnt catch my breath, he recalled to NPR affiliate KRCU earlier this week. I was shaking like a leaf. I was absolutely alone in a room full of people, and not one of them tried to help me at all, and I was crying out for help. He said he is absolutely terrified anticipating his upcoming execution.

Read it at Associated Press

Read more at The Daily Beast.
Alabama held two special elections for the state House and Senate on Tuesday.

Voters went to the polls for a special general election in Alabama's 16th House District and in a primary for Senate District 9.

Republican Bryan Brinyark won the House District 16 election with 2,370 votes, or 83.5%, over Democratic opponent John Underwood's 469 votes or 16.5%. The district includes Fayette County and parts of Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties.

Brinyark has served as municipal judge for Centreville since 2005 and is currently a substitute judge for Tuscaloosa. He is also chair of the Board of Tuscaloosa Shoot Sports Inc. and former chair and Baseball President of Northside Park.

Alabama House District 16 candidates Bryan Brinyark and John Underwood.

The Republican primary for Senate District 9 was won by Wes Kitchens with 3,707 votes, 52.5%, against opponents Brock Colvin of Albertville and Stacy Lee George, eliminating the potential of a primary runoff election.

Senate District 9 is comprised of Madison, Marshall and parts of Blount counties. Kitchens currently serves as the state House representative of Arab. No Democrats qualified for the primary ballot.

Meanwhile, House District 55 was won outright during a Democratic primary election on Oct. 24 by Travis Hendrix. No Republicans qualified for the ballot.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama special election results: Brinyark, Kitchens win
The US transportation secretary announced on Wednesday afternoon that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would return to service until it is safe, after Alaska Airlines announced the cancellation of all flights on its 737 Max 9 planes at the direction of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Pete Buttigieg said he was not putting a timeline on when the FAA will allow the planes to resume flights.

Every plane that the US aircraft manufacturer delivers needs to be 100% safe, Buttigieg added.

He said he has spoken to the head of Boeing and told him the company needs to do everything it can to establish 100% confidence in its planes.

The Boeing CEO, Dave Calhoun, on Tuesday acknowledged our mistake, after a cabin panel of a 737 Max 9 jet blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight last week.

Earlier on Wednesday, Alaska Airlines calculated that its latest cancellations will equate to about 110-150 flights each day.

Related: Airlines United and Alaska find loose bolts on Boeing 737 Max 9 planes

News of the mass flight cancellations came after a video widely circulated online showed a hole in Alaska Airlines flight 1282 where a door panel had dramatically detached and fell off mid-flight between Portland, Oregon, and Ontario, California. The plane was a 737 Max 9.

An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to return to Portland International Airport after a section of the fuselage suddenly blew out of the plane Friday evening with a big boom and a rush of air through a gaping hole.https://t.co/GxzCvAsNqD pic.twitter.com/WgAYEXqXTA  The Oregonian (@Oregonian) January 6, 2024

Alaska Airlines said all flights on 737 Max 9 aircraft are cancelled as investigations are conducted by the plane models manufacturer, Boeing; the FAA; and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

As seen in the video, the incident earlier this month was chaotic, terrifying passengers on board. One teenager said his shirt was ripped off his body when the door plug blew off. Oxygen masks descended from the planes ceiling and a sharp breeze was felt throughout.

Passengers who spoke with CBS described the sound of the door plug flying off as a really loud boom.

Miraculously, the seat next to the planes gaping hole was empty, and everyone on board was safe after the flight was redirected back to Portland International Airport.

This was a harrowing flight for our guests and crew, and were grateful that all individuals have been medically cleared, Alaska Airlines said in an 8 January press release.

In an updated statement shared on 10 January, the airline company apologized to customers for the disruptions: We regret the significant disruption that has been caused for our guests by cancellations due to these aircraft being out of service. However, the safety of our employees and guests is our highest priority and we will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaskas stringent standards.

On Tuesday, Boeing made its first public statement acknowledging the dangerous incident on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane.

Boeings CEO, Dave Calhoun, apologized for the US plane-makers errors and told staff the company would make sure an accident like the panel blowout can never happen again.

Were going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake, Calhoun said in a statement. Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way.

United Airlines, another major airline company that uses Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, has also temporarily grounded these planes, following FAA directives.

Reuters contributed reporting

 This article was amended on 10 January 2024 after an editing error resulted in an incorrect headline. The US transportation secretary said that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would return to service until it is safe, but did not ground all Boeing 737 Max 9s as the headline previously indicated.
Experts say that the Alaska Airlines flight emergency is not likely to impact the air travel industry long-term but key players in the field should be looking at ways to increase safety and implement reforms moving forward.

Last Fridays shocking incident happened when a door plug, a specific panel of the fuselage near the rear of the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, blew out.

Approximately 171 people, including four minors and three babies, were on board the flight which left Portland International Airport for California around 5pm and returned after the equipment failed at 16,000 feet in the air. There were also six crew members working on the aircraft.

Several passengers sustained injuries that required medical attention, but were later cleared by medical staff, the airline announced in a statement.

In the short term, both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, which found loose bolts on several of its models of the plane on Monday, cancelled hundreds of flights after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it would be grounding Boeing 737 Max 9s for inspection.

The maintenance work is expected to last anywhere from four to eight hours.

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737- (via REUTERS)

Thatll disrupt (travel) for another three to four days, Peter Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said. Thatll be it. Theyll be back in service.

The agency has launched an investigation into the accident, which is estimated to be finished in about 18 months.

Still, whats clear is that the incident couldve been much worse.

This was an extremely fortunate set of circumstances that this thing blew off at 16,000 feet and not 30,000 feet, Ed Booth, a board-certified aviation attorney in Florida said. Had that happened, there would have been a catastrophe.

The attorney suspects that lawsuits will be filed against the parties involved in response to the incident, but its not expected that litigation would do significant financial damage to either Boeing or Spirit AeroSystems, the manufacturer that made the door plug.

The question is how many? he said. These people were traumatised, physically injured, theyre going to have ear problems, PTSD, you name it.

Just a month before the incident, a lawsuit was filed against Spirit Aerosystems alleging that the company had sustained quality failures in its products.

In a statement, Spirit Aerosystems said, We are grateful the Alaska Airlines crew performed the appropriate procedures to land the airplane with all passengers and crew safe. At Spirit AeroSystems, our primary focus is the quality and product integrity of the aircraft structures we deliver.

A plastic sheet covers an area of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft outside a hangar at Portland International Airport on 8 January 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Getty Images)

Spirit is a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter. Spirit is following the protocols set by the regulatory authorities that guide communication in these types of circumstances and we will share further information when appropriate.

Boeing also has expressed its regret at the deeply embarrassing incident.

Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers. We agree with and fully support the FAAs decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane, the company said in a statement.

In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSBs investigation into the Jan 5 accident. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.

While conducting its investigation, the NTSB is probably going to examine the level of quality assurance for both Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems, Mr Goelz said. That means finding out if employees were completing their assigned tasks per the detailed instructions assigned to them. He predicts that the final investigation will reveal that the quality assurance was not up to snuff and the planes left the manufacturing floor without the bolts securely in place.

If officials discover a flaw in the planes design, the NTSB will make a recommendation and pass it along to the FAA and Boeing. Itll then be up to the FAA to accept the recommendation and turn it into a directive.

No matter the probes findings, Mr Goelz said he believes the companies will strengthen their manufacturing and check processes as a result of Fridays flight. There have been cutbacks at both companies in their quality assurance departments, he said.

At this point, however, its impossible to pinpoint which company was responsible for the error.

This handout image released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows agents inspecting the door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on 8 January 2024 after being found in Portland, Oregon. (National Transportation Safety B)

During a news conference on Monday, National Transportation Safety Board Engineer Clint Crookshank said the agency has not been able to recover the four bolts that were on the plane and has not yet determined if they were there at all.

Its Mr Booths guess that someone involved in the manufacturing process forgot to put the bolts on, causing the emergency to occur. The fuselage is not a part of the plane that is inspected regularly, he said.

Boeing has been at the centre of two fatal crashes in recent years. In October 2018, a faulty sensor on a Max 8 jet activated an anti-stall system that caused a plane to crash near Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. The following year, another Max 8 operating under Ethiopian Airlines crashed, resulting in the deaths of 157 people.

Despite this, the company has been building planes at higher than usual rates as the demand for air travel continues to increase, experts say. The company had a goal of building 42 jets a month by December 2023. By 2025, the company is aiming to build 57 aircraft a month.

I think the industry is going to learn a hard lesson from this and I think the public is going to take a look at how fast they build these things, Mr Booth said. When youre building them this fast, a slip up in quality control can cause something like this to happen.

Even with all the media attention, he added that its unlikely that airlines would stop using their Max 9 planes.

Yet, there are changes that the aviation industry should consider making.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, became increasingly frustrated while speaking to reporters after the incident, describing how the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was not preserved from the flight.

The CVR wouldve recorded all communications between the cockpit and flight crew. Officials couldve used the recording to analyse how the crew responded to the incident and used the data to improve safety, especially about the communication issues that emerged during the accident.

Ms Homendy reported that flight attendants and the pilots were unable to effectively communicate with each other as the incident unfolded.

The CVR system resets every two hours and creates a different recording.

By the time it was checked by officials, it was too late. Ms Homendy called on the FAA to up the two-hour mark to about 25 hours.

Mr Goelz concurred and called the lack of recording time the most outrageous issue in aviation safety, adding that theres no critical reason for the time bar.

Another safety tool could be the implementation of cameras in the cockpit, which could be vital in crash reconstruction.

Separately, Mr Booth said the FAA should consider having more oversight over aeroplane manufacturers.

Boeing currently can conduct internal inspections, even though the company has cut inspectors to reduce overhead costs, John Goglia, a certified mechanic who formerly served on NTSBs board, noted.

Without the bodies, how much can you inspect? he said.

Meanwhile, with the worlds eyes on the Boeing 737 Max 9s, experts say that passengers shouldnt have any concerns when it comes to boarding a flight.

I think this is probably the safest time to ever fly, Mr Booth said. Officials, he added, are paying attention right now.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  Alaska Airlines made the decision on Wednesday, Jan. 10 to ground its fleet of Boeing 737-9 MAX airplanes, canceling hundreds of flights through to Saturday, including several to and from Salt Lake City.

The decision to cancel flights on the 737-9 MAX aircraft comes days after a door plug detached from a plane shortly after take-off from Portland, Ore.

The plane had been traveling at more than 400 miles per hour at nearly 16,000 feet at the time, creating a vacuum within the passenger cabin. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the plane was able to make a safe emergency landing back in Portland.

No single solution for the Great Salt Lake, experts say

Since the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board has taken a lead role in the investigation of the incident and Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration began a thorough inspection of the 737-9 MAX airplanes. As that investigation continues, Alaska Airlines said the safety of its employees and guests is its highest priority and it will only return the planes to service when the investigation is complete and they meet the airlines stringent standards.

[The cancellations] equates to between 110-150 flights per day, Alaska Airlines said in a statement. We hope this action provides guests with a little more certainty, and we are working around the clock to accommodate impacted guests on other flights.

Flights to and from Salt Lake City International Airport were included in the impact from the cancellations.

Salt Lake County bumps the pay for many hourly employees

According to Flight Aware, one Alaska Airlines flight was canceled on Wednesday, Jan. 10 and five were canceled on Thursday, Jan. 11  all between Salt Lake City and the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Flight Aware did not provide information for Friday or Saturday flights.

Travelers can stay up-to-date about their flight status by visiting the Salt Lake International Airport website or the website of the airline they are flying.

Any Alaska Airlines flyer who has had flights impacted by the grounding of the 737-9 MAXs will be notified with guidance on the next steps and are encouraged to visit Alaska Airlines website for self-service options.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Passengers traveling on an Alaska Airlines planes when its door plug flew off mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the aircraft, were offered $1,500 to compensate for the harrowing experience, according to a report.

The unlucky travelers will also receive a full refund for their tickets, according to an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

We recognize how extremely distressing this incident must have been and we are grateful to you and our crew for everyones calm and patience throughout this experience, it said. We will fully investigate this incident and work with the relevant authorities to understand what happened.

A total of 177 people, including six crewmembers, were aboard Alaska Airlines flight 1282 when chaos struck on Friday shortly after 5 p.m. The Boeing 737 Max 9, almost entirely full and destined for Ontario, Calif., was just minutes into its ascent from Portland International Airport, and some 16,000 feet in the air, when a huge chunk of the plane blew out near row 26.

Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as the cabin depressurized, forcing the pilot to carry out an emergency landing.

Video shared online shows a massive hole on the side of the aircraft. No one was seriously injured in the incident.

According to findings from the National Transportation and Safety Board, the planes door plug separated from the aircraft around 5:11 p.m. A high school teacher, Bob Sauer, found the missing door panel in the backyard of his Portland home days later.

Boeings president and CEO, Dave Calhoun, on Tuesday said the company is dedicated to assuring airline customers that its planes are safe.

Were going to approach this, No. 1, acknowledging our mistake. Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way, he told staff during town hall meeting at the Washington factory that makes 737 planes . He further noted that Boeing was going to work with the NTSB to find out what the root cause is.

On Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered Boeing 737 Max 9s with a door plug remain grounded until they undergo a safety inspection.
Few objects in the world are more immediately recognizable than the bar code. After all, bar codes are all around us. Theyre on the books we buy and the packages that land on our doorsteps. More than 6 billion bar codes are scanned every single day. Theyve become such an accepted part of our daily lives that its hard to imagine how they could look any different.

Ive researched various technologies throughout my career as a media studies professor, but it wasnt until I began writing my book about the cultural history of the bar code that I realized how even the most mundane objects in our lives look the way they do because of decisions that are mostly lost to history. When I began combing through the archive of bar code history at Stony Brook University, I realized just how close we came to a world where we scan bulls-eye or Sun symbols to buy our groceries.

A typical bar code design. Source: Jordan Frith.

Our story begins in 1949, when Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver submitted a patent for the first bar code. That patent described the basic structure of using pairs of lines to represent numbers that is still used in bar code technology more than 70 years later.

What their patent didnt include, however, was anything most people today would recognize as a bar code. In fact, the first bar code didnt include vertical lines at all. Instead, the worlds first bar code used a series of concentric circles in the shape of a bulls-eye.

The bulls-eye bar code introduced in Woodland and Silvers 1949 patent. Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Woodland and Silver initially struggled to get companies interested in their invention. But the bar codes fortunes began to change in 1960, when the engineer and physicist Theodore H. Maiman built the first working laser, which made it possible to quickly decode a bar codes line patterning.

Not long afterward, in 1967, the railroad industry implemented Kartrak, which was the worlds first official bar code system. Kartrak bar codes were developed to automatically identify rail cars as they moved past scanners, but they used a design of lines of varying colors that looks more like a piece of modern art than the bar codes we use today.

But Kartrak struggled from the start  the system wasnt as accurate as people had hoped  and it stopped being used in the 1970s. Despite being the first bar code to be officially adopted by an industry, the multicolored design of the Kartrak symbol is now just a footnote in history.

Around the same time Kartrak was launched, the grocery industry set in motion a chain of events that eventually resulted in the bar code we know today. In the late 1960s, various stores began bar code pilot projects that used vastly different types of bar code symbols.

One of the symbols was the original bulls-eye bar code, which by that point was owned by RCA because it had purchased the patent rights. But other stores used symbols developed by other companies. For example, a company named Carecogn had developed a Sun symbol and the Litton company created a fan symbol that were part of pilot projects. The grocery industry soon realized that this Wild West period of experimentation couldnt last.

Bar codes could work as a way to automate inventory and checkout only if everyone in the grocery industry agreed to use the same symbol. Otherwise, the system would be overly complex and expensive. So in 1971, the grocery industry formed a committee tasked with developing an industrywide data standard and choosing a symbol that stores would agree to adopt.

The data standard the committee developed  the Universal Product Code  was designed to work with different types of bar code symbols. Its still in use 50 years later.

The committee then had to choose the symbol. They solicited applications from various companies and narrowed the pool down to seven finalists. That was when the drama really began.

The seven bar code symbol finalists displayed in the official internal reports of the symbol selection committee. Source: Symbol Standards Subcommittee.

The RCA submission was the early leader among the seven finalists. The bulls-eye bar code, after all, was the original bar code symbol, and RCA was a powerful company that had invested significant resources in developing the technology. RCAs main competitor was a latecomer to the battle for bar code dominance: the IBM symbol invented in the early 1970s by George Laurier.

Between March 1971 and March 1973, the committee extensively tested the seven finalists, listened to pitches from each company and met multiple times to discuss the path forward. Throughout the process, RCA and IBM remained the front-runners, and in a somewhat ironic twist, Joseph Woodland  the father of the bar code and inventor of the bulls-eye symbol  advocated for the IBM symbol over his own invention.

Realizing their symbol might not be selected, RCA began to pressure the committee and threatened to pull out of the bar code industry altogether if their bulls-eye bar code was not chosen as the industry standard.

The committees deadline to select a symbol was March 1973, and the decision went down to the wire. In its final meeting, the committee chose the IBM symbol despite concerns that, to quote the historian Stephen Brown, by opting for the oversquare symbol instead of the bulls-eye, the Committee may have dramatically slowed the pace of implementation because of RCAs pressure.

The IBM symbol became the industry standard, and the very first Universal Product Code bar code was scanned at a grocery store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974. Rather remarkably, the IBM symbol the committee chose is still going strong almost 50 years later. The bar codes you scan at a grocery store are essentially the same bar codes someone would have scanned in the 1970s.

Based on meeting notes from the symbol selection meetings, the committee members felt they were doing important work. But even in their wildest dreams, they could not have imagined how consequential their decision ended up being.

The bar code design they selected became one of the most iconic images of capitalism and has inspired architects building designs, symbolized dystopian conformity in science fiction, become a popular tattoo and even inspired online fan communities.

But the design that changed the world came remarkably close to being a forgotten piece of history. If a few grocery executives had voted a different way, we might be moving through a world filled with bulls-eyes.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: Jordan Frith, Clemson University.

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Jordan Frith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross presides over the first session of 2024 of the House of Representatives in the State House in Augusta. Jan. 3, 2024. (Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)

The Maine legislature is considering adding an office on tribal relations to improve the thorny relationship between the tribes and the state.

This article was originally published in the Maine Morning Star.

House Speaker Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) presented the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday with a proposal for the new office, which would be primarily tasked with monitoring legislation that pertains to the tribes.

People change in this building every two years, Talbot Ross said, referring to the State House, so theres not enough historical, institutional knowledge in which to sometimes take on such complexities. But this office, really, we believe can serve as a mutually beneficial vehicle for furthering tribal-state affairs.

The proposal puts this office within the Office of the Secretary of State, which Talbot Ross said is how comparable offices in other states operate. The office would be made up of three staff members and an advisory council appointed by the tribes to guide the staff in its work. In addition to promoting collaboration between state and tribal governments, the office would prioritize education, economic development and write annual reports to track progress on strengthening tribal-state affairs.

Talbot Ross envisions the office as a way to usher in a new working relationship between the state and the Wabanaki Nations, which has often been challenged during the ongoing effort to have their full sovereignty recognized by the state.

Unlike the other 570 federally-recognized tribes in the U.S., tribes in Maine  the Houlton Band of Maliseet, Mikmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations  are treated more like municipalities than sovereign nations. This is because the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act makes it so any federal Indian law that would impact the application of state law does not apply to Maine, unless explicitly stated.

Gov. Janet Mills has opposed sweeping sovereignty reforms for years, while pushing through piecemeal legislation that enshrines certain protections.

Currently, only one of the four federally recognized tribes in Maine have a representative in the legislature  Passamaquoddy Tribal Ambassador Aaron Dana, who serves on the judiciary committee. In 2015, the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes withdrew their legislative representatives, citing the states failure to recognize their peoples sovereign rights. While the Passamaquoddy Nation has since sent a representative back, the Penobscot Nation and, since 2019, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians have declined to send representatives.

In 2017, the Penobscot Nation developed the position of tribal ambassador to fill the void in representation that was left by leaving state government. Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant said the state has taken steps to improve relations over the years, including appointing a senior advisor on tribal affairs to the governor, former Penobscot Tribal Council member Donna Loring, in 2019.

The legislature is considering adding an office on tribal relations to improve the thorny relationship between the tribes and the state.

House Speaker Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) presented the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday with a proposal for the new office, which would be primarily tasked with monitoring legislation that pertains to the tribes.

People change in this building every two years, Talbot Ross said, referring to the State House, so theres not enough historical, institutional knowledge in which to sometimes take on such complexities. But this office, really, we believe can serve as a mutually beneficial vehicle for furthering tribal-state affairs.

The proposal puts this office within the Office of the Secretary of State, which Talbot Ross said is how comparable offices in other states operate. The office would be made up of three staff members and an advisory council appointed by the tribes to guide the staff in its work. In addition to promoting collaboration between state and tribal governments, the office would prioritize education, economic development and write annual reports to track progress on strengthening tribal-state affairs.

Talbot Ross envisions the office as a way to usher in a new working relationship between the state and the Wabanaki Nations, which has often been challenged during the ongoing effort to have their full sovereignty recognized by the state.

Unlike the other 570 federally-recognized tribes in the U.S., tribes in Maine  the Houlton Band of Maliseet, Mikmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations  are treated more like municipalities than sovereign nations. This is because the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act makes it so any federal Indian law that would impact the application of state law does not apply to Maine, unless explicitly stated.

Gov. Janet Mills has opposed sweeping sovereignty reforms for years, while pushing through piecemeal legislation that enshrines certain protections.

Currently, only one of the four federally recognized tribes in Maine have a representative in the legislature  Passamaquoddy Tribal Ambassador Aaron Dana, who serves on the judiciary committee. In 2015, the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes withdrew their legislative representatives, citing the states failure to recognize their peoples sovereign rights. While the Passamaquoddy Nation has since sent a representative back, the Penobscot Nation and, since 2019, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians have declined to send representatives.

In 2017, the Penobscot Nation developed the position of tribal ambassador to fill the void in representation that was left by leaving state government. Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant said the state has taken steps to improve relations over the years, including appointing a senior advisor on tribal affairs to the governor, former Penobscot Tribal Council member Donna Loring, in 2019.

But, it likely needed more support, Bryant added. Having an office and increasing tribal involvement and communication would create a more meaningful and robust collaboration.

Bryant and other members of the Wabanaki Nations spoke in support of creating a new office on Wednesday. Jill Tompkins, executive director of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission and a citizen of the Penobscot Nation described the proposal as the next logical progression in the positive trend of improving Wabanaki-state relations, following momentum from the decision to put the states treaty obligations back into print in the state constitution.

Rep. Steve Moriarty (D-Cumberland) questioned how the existing tribal commission that Tompkins leads would relate to this new office.

It is not an attempt to replace the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. That I need to say unequivocally, Talbot Ross said. We need to add to our current resources an entity that is responsible for the day-to-day working relationship and improvement in that relationship from the tribes to the state that primarily monitors legislation that will impact the tribes and not put the burden on those tribal governments.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also spoke in support of the proposal and shared her willingness to house the office within her own.

Existing advisory boards within the secretary of states office, such those for the archives and historical records, can serve as models for how the advisory council of the proposed office of tribal affairs could operate, she said.

Were used to working with boards that represent outside entities and have authority and autonomy, which I think is important, Bellows told the committee.

One of the three staff positions would be a deputy secretary of state, who would monitor legislation expressly naming any one of the tribes and then communicate that with tribal governments to coordinate their input in the legislative process.

Bellows advised the committee to make the position a non-partisan one, following suit with deputy secretary positions created for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Corporations, Elections and Commissions.

I think thats an important distinction that should be preserved as we move forward, Bellows said.

The other two staff positions would be a planning associate as well as an economic development and education coordinator.

In a related bill also heard by the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Talbot Ross proposed requiring the state to notify tribes when laws pertaining to them need to be certified, a task she said the proposed office on tribal relations could help with.

Currently, there is a process for notifying tribal governments when items that touch the Settlement Act need certification but not laws that fall outside the purview of the Settlement Act but nevertheless impact the tribes.

For this monitoring, the burden currently resides with the tribes, Talbot Ross said. There is no way that that burden should be fully on the tribes nor is it ever fully realized. There is not the amount of staff or resources that any one of the tribal governments have in order to just full-time monitor the activity thats taking place.

Both proposals are meant to ensure that progress on tribal-state relations happens in day-to-day work, Talbot Ross said. The office proposal in particular remains a conceptual framework and Talbot Ross said she is open to suggestions, which can be expected in future work sessions.

About the Author: "Elyse Wild is senior editor for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. "

Contact: ewild@indiancountrymedia.com
Angela Bassett finally gets her due from the Academy.

The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star accepted her Honorary Oscar for her body of work at the 14th Annual Governors Awards Tuesday. Bassett was introduced by fellow actor and friend Regina King, who called Bassett a national treasure and like a sister to her. The Shirley star also said in her speech how Bassett is artistic excellence embodied in human form.

Bassetts speech eloquently expressed how her win was just one of the few Oscars given to Black women throughout the awards history. Referencing Hattie McDaniels historic win for Gone with the Wind, Bassett said that she hopes her Oscar is a sign of more opportunities for Black and brown actresses to be seen as fully human.

She also referenced other Black actors such as Halle Berry and Whoopi Goldberg, also Oscar winners, to acknowledge that every one of them this evening are beacons of possibility and hope for little Black and brown girls who aspire to one day pursue the dream of becoming an actor.

Watch her full speech below.
Placer County sheriff vehicles are parked near the ski lift at Palisades Tahoe where avalanche occurred on Jan. 10. (Andy Barron / Associated Press)

Sixteen-year-old Storm Jacobs was on a chairlift at Palisades Tahoe resort on Wednesday morning when he saw a tragedy begin to unfurl.

Jacobs was headed to the newly opened KT-22 peak when he saw a wave of snow that picked up momentum, knocking down a skier and then a snowboarder.

As people screamed, "Avalanche!" Jacobs said, he and his friends were "all in shock."

One skier was killed and another guest was injured when they were buried in the avalanche Wednesday at the popular ski resort near Lake Tahoe, officials said. It occurred at about 9:30 a.m. above the G.S. Gully area of the KT-22 peak, the resort said in a statement. Patrol and mountain operations teams began a search, and all lifts on both the Palisades and Alpine Meadows sides of the mountain resort were closed for the rest of the day.

The skier who died was identified Wednesday night by the Placer County Sheriff's Office as 66-year-old Kenneth Kidd, a resident of both Point Reyes and the Truckee Tahoe area.

Two other people caught in the slide were pulled out by civilians, said Michael Gross, vice president of mountain operations at Palisades Tahoe. One was rescued by her partner, and the other was assisted by other guests. Gross told the San Francisco Chronicle that the two, as well as the skier who had been buried, were treated for unspecified injuries at a hospital and released.

This is a very sad day for my team and everyone here, said Dee Byrne, the president and chief operating officer of the resort, at the news conference. "This is a dynamic situation and we're still undergoing investigation."

Placer County sheriff's deputies and the Olympic Valley Fire Department helped with the search and rescue operation, authorities said.

The search has concluded, resort officials said. No other people have been reported missing in the avalanche, whose debris field was 150 feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep, authorities said.

Palisades Tahoe resort (Imagery from Google Earth)

"There is nobody else up on the mountain as a result of the avalanche," said Placer County sheriff's Sgt. David Smith.

KT-22, one of Palisades' most popular chairlifts, boasts diverse terrain, with moguls and chutes, trees and a bowl right off the lift. It opened for the first time this ski season at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The avalanche came as one of the strongest storms to hit California so far this winter is expected to drop 12 to 18 inches of snow across the Lake Tahoe area from Wednesday to Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. A winter storm warning has been issued for those communities, including Truckee and South Lake Tahoe.

The Sierra Avalanche Center, which provides avalanche information for the Greater Tahoe area, had forecast "considerable" avalanche danger for Wednesday due to the storm and strong winds. The risk was expected to increase throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

Gross, however, said it was "absolutely" typical that KT-22 opened ahead of the projected snowstorm barreling toward the region. Ski patrol had been conducting avalanche control assessment on the terrain, he said, including evaluating weather conditions, the snowpack, wind speed and direction, and setting up safety and hazard markings since Sunday.

"Well evaluate the conditions," Gross added, "and based on our expertise and experience and the history, if we deem the conditions safe, well open the terrain."

The resort will reopen Thursday, although the area around KT-22 will remain closed for investigation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The avalanche center had warned that "weak snow" was buried about 1 to 2 feet below the snow surface throughout the region, which has resulted in avalanches during two storms over the last week. Wednesday's storm was expected to pose a risk of unloading the weak layers and causing more avalanches.

Elevations above 7,000 feet west of Highway 89 could get 18 to 24 inches of snow, while the highest mountain peaks could see up to 30 inches of snow.

Read more: California's biggest winter storm so far is on its way. Will it put a dent in the 'snow drought'?

Wind gusts are also expected to reach as high as 50 mph in lower elevations and 90 to 110 mph along the Sierra Nevada ridges. Travel could be impossible; morning and evening commutes are expected to be affected.

Jacobs had arrived at the mountain around 8:30 in the morning and, after a run up Red Dog, got in line for the newly opened KT-22. From the chair, he said, he saw a wave of snow start falling about 4 to 5 feet below where skiers drop in at the crest of GS Bowl, a black diamond run.

Jacobs watched as one skier was bowled over by the cascading snow and a snowboarder sitting farther down the bowl was "engulfed."

"I kind of just saw it start small," he said, "and then it picked up a ton of snow."

A second wave of snow barreled down the mountain, Jacobs said, dragging other skiers into its crush. Everyone was screaming warnings, yelling, "Avalanche, avalanche!" and calling for skiers to get out of the way. As soon as Jacobs got off the lift, he and his friends rushed to ski patrollers and pointed them in the direction where they believed people might be buried.

"We were all in shock, like, 'Oh my goodness, we could have just watched people die,'" he said.

Read more: Earth reaches grim milestone: 2023 was the warmest year on record

Larry Heywood was part of the ski patrol at Alpine back in 1982, when a monster avalanche crashed down the mountain and into the resorts parking lot, killing seven people. Heywood was skiing at Alpine Meadows on Wednesday morning when he learned there had been an avalanche.

Before the resorts open, the ski patrol prepares explosive charges and analyzes which areas are most at risk. The explosives are deployed in danger areas and set off a shock wave that shakes the snow and releases the avalanche, so when the resort opens at 9 a.m., all the dangerous avalanches have already occurred.

It doesnt mean someone is at fault, he said. Sooner or later, Mother Nature catches up to you, no matter how thorough you are.

On Wednesday, Mother Nature brought an onslaught of chilly weather to Southern California as well as high winds that could hit 80 mph.

The low-pressure system moving across the region Wednesday into Thursday was bringing cold temperatures, strong winds, mountain snow and the chance for showers, according to the National Weather Service.

A high wind warning was in effect from 6 p.m. Wednesday until noon Thursday for portions of southwest California, including Santa Catalina and Santa Barbara islands, the Santa Clarita Valley, the Malibu coast, the western Santa Monica Mountains, the San Fernando Valley, the western San Gabriel Mountains and the eastern Antelope Valley foothills.

Winds could reach 30 to 40 mph, with gusts up to 80 mph possible in isolated areas, posing a risk to trees and power lines. People should avoid being outside around tree branches and stay in the lower levels of their home during the windstorm, officials said.

A winter storm warning has also been issued for the northern Ventura County mountains and the Interstate 5 corridor, including the Tejon Pass, from 4 p.m. Wednesday until noon Thursday, according to the weather service. Light to moderate snow is expected, with total accumulations of 2 to 5 inches. Winds could reach 60 to 70 mph, with isolated gusts up to 80 mph possible. Travel could be dangerous, with the strong winds causing tree damage and almost zero visibility.

The storm will bring a chance of rain showers and snow in lower-elevation areas near Kern County, but totals are expected to be under 3 inches of snow and under a tenth of an inch of rain.

It's expected to dry up by Thursday morning, although windy conditions could still continue through the late morning.

A surfer struggles to paddle against strong currents in Huntington Beach on Jan. 4. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The weather service also issued a coastal flood advisory for beaches in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Large, breaking waves could reach 10 to 15 feet Wednesday and 12 to 17 feet Thursday, along with dangerous rip currents.

Flooding is likely during high tide, especially over low-lying coastal areas such as beaches, walkways and parking lots, just weeks after the coast was battered by heavy rainfall, flooding and rogue waves in December storms.

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.
Dr. Ladapo makes you want to do drugs

Are there any depths to which Dr. Joseph Ladapo will not sink? This man, who Gov. DeSantis appointed as our state surgeon general and professor at the University of Florida medical school, continues to be an embarrassment. As usual, Dr. Ladapo is making bad headlines as the leading anti-vaxxer in the nation. At the height of the COVID epidemic, he alone urged that no one under the age of 65 be vaccinated against COVID, arguing discredited crackpot theories and studies. Now he cites the same discredited reports to argue that the COVID vaccine should be taken off of the market for everyone. So much for the supposedly "Free State of Florida," where people were free to do what they choose. No other state has a surgeon general spouting such disinformation. Dr. Ladapo makes my choice clear. I'm heading out to Walgreens to get the latest COVID vaccine as soon as I can.

Jim Eisenberg, Palm Beach Gardens

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a favorite of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has repeatedly criticized COVID-19 vaccines and issued increasingly stringent recommendations against their use, despite assurances by federal authorities that they are safe.

Frank Cerabino: Sorry, Gov. DeSantis, Count me out of your Florida death cult. I got COVID vax again.

Court should defer 14th Amendment case

The U.S. Supreme Court should defer hearing Donald Trump's appeal of Colorado's 14th Amendment ruling barring him from appearing on the ballot, and allow the lower court ruling to stand, until after his federal trial on charges related to the events of Jan. 6 is complete. This would force Mr. Trump to stop stonewalling and request an expedited trial, if he wanted to continue to be a viable candidate. An expedited trial would be in the public interest as the American people deserve to know before voting if Mr. Trump is going to be convicted of inciting the capital insurrection.

James Gruszynski, Lake Worth

Border tour, a do-nothing Congress highlight

The Post's Jan. 5 headline, Lawmakers tour border, blame Biden for ''disaster, is misleading on two counts. First, given that US House Speaker Mike Johnson led more than 60 House Republicans to Eagle Pass, a more accurate and descriptive headline would have been "GOP tours border, blame Biden for 'disaster.' Second, calling the group lawmakers is a stretch. As noted by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in the adjacent article, "The 118th is a historic Congress.... It will be remembered only for removing a speaker and expelling a member. That's it.

Richard Handelsman, West Palm Beach

Biden needs to prioritize the border

I really wish President Joe Biden would worry as much about the open border, crime and $34 trillion national debt as he does about my ceiling fan, stove and freezer. By the way, if you put your ceiling fan on low you can turn up the ac a couple of degrees, still be comfortable and save the energy he is so concerned about.

Lois Henrion, Jupiter

The Palm Beach Post is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. Please send your views to letters@pbpost.com or by mail to Letters to the Editor, The Palm Beach Post, 2751 S, Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach 33405. Letters are subject to editing, must not exceed 200 words and include your name, address and daytime phone number. We only published names and cities with the letters.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida's Dr. Joseph Ladapo prescribes the wrong Rx for COVID
Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. in the three months since Hamass Oct. 7 attack on Israel have surged, eclipsing annual statistics for the past decade.

According to data compiled by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), antisemitic incidents rose 360 percent between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7 when compared with the same time frame one year prior.

But the 3,283 incidents in a quarter of the year also surpasses annual statistics for each of the past 10 years except 2022  which saw the highest level of antisemitic incidents on record.

The American Jewish community is facing a threat level thats now unprecedented in modern history, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

Its shocking that weve recorded more antisemitic incidents in three months than we usually would in an entire year.

ADL said 2023 data, which is expected to be released later this year, is likely to be the highest on record.

The data includes 60 cases of physical assault, 553 incidents of vandalism, and more than 1,300 cases of written or verbal harassment.

More than 500 of the incidents took place on college campuses, while more than 600 were targeted at Jewish institutions, like synagogues.

In this difficult moment, antisemitism is spreading and mutating in alarming ways, said Greenblatt. This onslaught of hate includes a dramatic increase in fake bomb threats that disrupt services at synagogues and put communities on edge across the country.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said last month that antisemitic hate crimes had jumped 60 percent since the start of the war.

Weve been opening I think 60 percent more hate crimes investigations post-Oct. 7, then compared to the comparable period pre-Oct. 7, Wray said during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

And thats on top of that already escalating increase that I mentioned, he said, after noting hate crimes reached a high in 2022.

The FBI director said the biggest chunk of those are threats against the Jewish community, but there are of course attacks  against others as well, pointing to attacks against Muslim targets.

Wray last year called the Jewish community uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  Austin Police said Tuesday detectives were looking for man whom it said robbed a taco truck in north Austin early Saturday morning around 12:40.

According to APD, the man robbed the Matamoros taco truck on the southbound frontage road of Interstate 35 near Rundberg Lane.

Multiple food trucks burglarized in north Austin

APD said the man demanded money while threatening two employees with a black handgun. The man later fired off a single gunshot inside the trailer, police said, before he ran off.

APD described the man as:

Hispanic

20-25 years old

5 feet, 8 inches tall

180 lbs.

Medium build

Fluent Spanish speaker

Police said he was wearing an orange or peach colored sweatshirt with white lettering: DESTIN Florida. He was also wearing black jeans with white design or fraying at the sides, a blue-green and gray shirt worn wrapped around his head as a mask and red and black sneakers, according to police.

Suspect in Matamoros taco truck robbery. (Courtesy: Austin Police Department)

APD said anyone with information should call its Robbery unit at 512-974-5092. You may submit your tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477. A reward of up to $1,000 may be available for any information that leads to an arrest.





For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Two days after Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren announced he wouldnt run to be reelected to the office from which Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him, a federal appeals court on Wednesday gave Warrens case for reinstatement some hope.

In a 59-page ruling, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the Tallahassee federal judge who declined to return Warren to office should reconsider the case.

The opinion, authored by 11th Circuit Judge Jill Pryor, critiqued the legal reasoning of an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who largely agreed that Warrens suspension violated his First Amendment right to free speech, but concluded he didnt have the power to return him to office.

Pryors opinion carries a crucial footnote voicing disagreement with that notion.

DeSantis argues that even if Warren prevails on the merits of his claim, the district court lacks the authority to reinstate Warren. We reject this argument, it reads. The Eleventh Amendment permits federal courts to remedy First Amendment violations.

The ruling kicks the case back to Hinkles court, where further proceedings could decide whether Warren returns to office.

This is what weve been fighting for from the beginning  the protection of democracy, Warren said Wednesday afternoon in a news release. We look forward to returning to the District Court to obtain the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters.

Warren did not say whether this latest twist in the case will make him reconsider his decision earlier this week not to run against Suzy Lopez, the longtime prosecutor whom DeSantis appointed to replace him.

Lopez has amassed significant local support in her run for the office and raised more than $100,000 in campaign contributions.

The litigation about the suspended State Attorney will work through the court system, said a statement issued by Lopezs office Wednesday. But she is singularly focused on keeping this community safe.

DeSantis press secretary, Jeremy T. Redfern, called Wednesdays ruling an egregious encroachment on state sovereignty.

A state prosecutors declared commitment to not enforce the laws of this state is not protected by the U.S. Constitution, Redfern wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times. The federal appeals court is flat wrong to have concluded otherwise.

Given that Hinkle has to consider the ruling  and that there could be another appeal  it is unclear if Warren could be reinstated before the November 2024 election.

Judge Pryor, appointed to the appeals court by former President Barack Obama, was joined in the opinion by 11th Circuit Appeals Court Judge Kevin Newsom, a Donald Trump appointee. Senior U.S. District Judge Anne Conway of Florida, who was temporarily assigned to the appeals court, was also part of the panel that heard the case.

In August 2022, DeSantis suspended Warren from the office to which he was twice elected, accusing him of incompetence and neglect of duty.

The governor cited statements Warren signed with other elected prosecutors throughout the nation pledging not to prosecute cases involving abortion or transgender health care. He also pointed to policies Warren enacted in his office that advised against prosecuting some low-level, nonviolent crimes, and against pursuing cases arising from police bicycle and pedestrian stops, a practice that has been linked to racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Warren, a Democrat, called his ouster a political stunt by the Republican governor who is running for president. Warren sought to get his job back through the courts. This week, he said he wouldnt run to regain the office in 2024 because of the high risk that DeSantis would immediately suspend him again.

The appeals court noted that Warrens policies against prosecuting certain cases didnt preclude his prosecutors from using their discretion. The pledges he signed against pursuing abortion and transgender cases did not become office policy, the court noted.

The opinion includes an extensive analysis of DeSantis reasons for the suspension and concludes that some violated Warrens First Amendment free speech rights.

Officials in DeSantis office despite holding strong views  identified no actions that Warren had taken or failed to take as state attorney, the courts opinion stated. Nor did they cite any laws that Warren underenforced.

Judge Newsom wrote in a concurring opinion that the Supreme Court has made clear  for reasons that cut to the core of our representative democracy  that elected officials who express political opinions are protected.

The First Amendment is an inconvenient thing, he wrote. It protects expression that some find wrongheaded, or offensive, or even ridiculous. But for the same reason that the government cant muzzle so-called conservative speech under the guise of preventing on campus harassment, the state cant exercise its coercive power to censor so-called woke speech with which it disagrees. Whats good for mine is (whether I like it or not) good for thine.

The appeals court specifically directed the lower court to reexamine whether DeSantis would have suspended Warren based on something he did that was not protected by the First Amendment, said Gary Dolgin, a Tampa attorney who has no connection to the case and reviewed the opinion at the request of the Times. That includes Warrens performance and specifically his policies on bike stops and low-level offenses.

My reading of this opinion says that he could potentially only remain suspended if the district court makes a determination that DeSantis would have suspended him solely for these policies, Dolgin said.

When the case comes back in front of the lower court, Dolgin said, the burden of proof will be on DeSantis to show he would have suspended Warren based on those factors.

Times Staff Writer Tony Marrero contributed to this report.
After GOP lawmakers moved last year to fully exempt themselves from the states public records law, The News & Observer filed public records requests with every state lawmaker to see which legislators would continue to opt for transparency.

The N&O requested all 170 members of the North Carolina House and Senate to provide all of their communications from Sept. 19, the day that Republican leaders reached an agreement on the state budget after months of negotiations.

Since The N&O filed those requests in mid-October, a total of 31 lawmakers from both parties provided their records from that day. Some lawmakers provided hundreds of pages of emails, while others provided just a handful.

Others shared some emails but withheld communications with other lawmakers or staff, citing legislative privilege.

The N&O has published all of the emails it has received, redacting only personal identifying information of constituents who wrote to lawmakers.

View emails from House and Senate members below. This story will be updated if The N&O receives additional records after publication.
Astrobotic said Tuesday it may have figured out what caused its lander to fail.

The company sent a lander into space on Monday with hopes of reaching the moon.

But a fuel leak shortly after launch foiled the attempt, dashing hopes of a soft landing.

Astrobotic has a theory for what may have caused its lander to fail on its mission to the moon.

The firm on Monday launched a lander into space, with the aim of it being the first American spacecraft to soft land on the moon since the Apollo era.

But its hopes were quickly dashed after a fuel leak caused a failure in the spacecraft's propellant system.

The company on Tuesday posted on X that it may have identified the cause for the failure: a valve that connects two tanks inside the lander.

The valve, it said, likely failed to close as predicted after the launch, leaving pressurized helium contained in one tank to leak into a tank containing oxidizer, a chemical that helps ignite the spacecraft's fuel.

The helium may have put the oxidizer tank under too much pressure, causing it to ultimately burst, according to Astrobotic.

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket lifted off carrying the Astrobotic Peregrine launcher on Jan. 8, 2024. United Launch Alliance

This hypothesis fits with the crew's remote observations of the probe, but a full analysis of the mishap will still be conducted alongside a panel of experts to formalize the report.

The company is still working to maintain the spacecraft's trajectory, using the spacecraft's thrusters to keep it pointed in the right direction, Astrobotic said on X Tuesday.

This is gobbling up the lander's fuel, and Astrobotic no longer expects to be able to do a soft landing on the moon. It does, however, hope to gather as much scientific information as it can while the spacecraft is still operational, Business Insider previously reported.

Astrobotic estimated on Tuesday afternoon that the craft could maintain its stability for at least another 40 hours.

If Astrobotic had been successful, it could also have been the first commercial spacecraft to land on the moon.

Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission 1 is the first of a series of planned NASA-backed private launches aiming to bring lunar landers to the moon, the Planetary Society reported.

Another US firm, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, aims to send its own NASA-backed spacecraft, Nova-C, toward the moon in mid-February.

NASA-funded competitor, Firefly, is also due to launch its Blue Ghost lander this year.

Read the original article on Business Insider
We'll have to wait a little longer for humanity's return to the moon.

In a media teleconference on Tuesday (Jan. 9), NASA leadership stated that its flagship Artemis 2 mission will be delayed from November 2024 until September 2025. And the Artemis 3 moon-landing mission, originally targeted for late 2025, will now aim for September 2026.

"Safety is our top priority, and to give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first-time developments, operations and integration, we're going to give more time on Artemis 2 and 3," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during the briefing. "So, what I want to tell you is, we are adjusting our schedule to target Artemis 2 for September of 2025 and September of 2026 for Artemis 3, which will send humans for the first time to the lunar south pole."

Nelson added that Artemis 4 remains on track to launch in September 2028.

Related: NASA's Artemis 3 astronaut moon landing unlikely before 2027, GAO report finds

a cone-shaped spacecraft with cross-shaped solar panels flies above Earth

Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator, stressed that the decision to delay Artemis 2 was made with crew safety in mind.

"I want to emphasize that safety is our number one priority. You heard it from the administrator today; you've heard it multiple times. And as we prepare to send our friends and colleagues on this mission, we're committed to launching as safely as possible. And we will launch, when we're ready," Free said during the press conference. "The crew is a constant reminder for us how important it is to remain focused on the work we need to do to ensure their safe return."

Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Moon to Mars program, listed a number of new systems and technologies that the agency is still testing and developing ahead of Artemis 2, including new facilities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to enable rapid propellant loading, crew ingress and egress, a new abort system and a new life support system. "And those are all added there, of course, to support the crew and, of course, to support crew safety," Kshatriya said.

Kshatriya then explained that the heat shield issues that NASA's Orion capsule encountered during the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight around the moon in late 2022 have been a major concern as the data from that successful mission is analyzed. The heat shield sufficiently protected Orion, but much of it charred away from the spacecraft.

"We did see the the off-nominal recession of some char that came off the heat shield, which we were not expecting," Kshatriya said during the briefing. "Now, this heat shield is an ablative material  it is supposed to char  but it's not what we were expecting, with some pieces of that char to be liberated from the vehicle."

Related: Facts about NASA's Artemis moon program

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Kshatriya said that some of the life-support hardware will have to be replaced inside the Artemis 3 Orion spacecraft due to failures during testing, an exhaustive process that requires disassembling and accessing many different systems inside the capsule.

In addition, the electrical system in the crew abort system that pulls the capsule away from NASA's Space Launch System rocket in the event of a launch anomaly has not performed as expected during testing. "We're still very early in that investigation. We have not yet developed a forward path; we have multiple parallel options to fix this issue," Kshatriya said. "And we have a lot of testing to do in front of us, but we wanted to make sure we give ourselves the time to do that."

When it launches, Artemis 2 will send a crew of four around the moon and back to Earth. The crew includes three NASA astronauts  commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover (who will be the first person of color to leave low Earth orbit, or LEO) and mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman)  as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (who will become the first non-American to leave LEO).

Despite the delays, NASA leadership is still enthusiastic about Artemis 2 and what it will mean for space exploration. "Artemis represents what we can accomplish as a country, as a global coalition," Nelson said. "And what we can accomplish when we set our sights on what is hard. And what has never been done before."
An Athens man lost $440,000 in an investment scam that was introduced to him by a person on LinkedIn, a website where people post their professional and work backgrounds, according to an Athens-Clarke police report.

The 70-year-old man, a University of Georgia employee with a degree from Yale University, alerted police to the scam on Dec. 30, according to a recently released report.

The scam involved investing with what was termed a high-frequency trading website.

The website Investopedia says high-frequency trading uses powerful computer programs to transact a large number of orders in fractions of a second. And that traders with fast execution speeds are generally more profitable.

Employee conned: Con man convinces employee to break into Athens store's safe and hand over $8,000 to stranger

The Athens man reported he was introduced to the site on LinkedIn by a woman who said she was the vice president of a furniture company.

From August through November, the man told police he completed 27 transactions for an investment of about $440,000.

When he reached $1.4 million in returns on his investment, he decided to withdraw the money, he told police.

Romance scam: Athens woman, 84, takes out $200,000 loan in romance scam, might lose her home

However, the company told him he would have to pay $484,000 in taxes up front to get the money.

The man told police at that point he realized he was the victim of a sophisticated fraud scheme.

The victim was able to provide police with a flash drive containing images of the offending website and his deposit history with the fake investment site.

Police issued a statement urging people to invest with individuals they know and trust and reject unsolicited emails or telephone calls.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens man loses $440,000 in sophisticated investments fraud scheme
Guns intercepted at airport checkpoints across the United States got close to 7,000 in 2023.

Among the many federalized airports in the U.S., no airport had more firearms stopped in the past year than Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Of the 6,737 firearms that were found in carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints by the Transporation Security Administration, 451 were in Atlanta.

While the number of firearms seized per million passengers was lower in 2023, TSA said more firearms were taken, and almost all of them were loaded. Among the thousands of guns stopped at airport checkpoints, approximately 93% of these firearms were loaded, according to TSA.

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

TSA said there were firearm discoveries at 265 airports. Taking loaded firearms onto a plane is a federal crime.

In the final three months of 2023, TSA officers stopped 1,665 firearms. Similar to the yearly portion of loaded guns, almost 93% were loaded in the final quarter of the year.

We are still seeing far too many firearms at TSA checkpoints, and whats particularly concerning is the amount of them loaded, presenting an unnecessary risk to everyone at the TSA checkpoint, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. Firearms and ammunition are strictly prohibited in carry-on baggage. Passengers are only allowed to travel with an unloaded firearm, and only if they pack it properly in a locked, hard-sided case in their checked baggage and first declare it to the airline at the check-in counter.

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TSA said that when a Transportation Security Officer intercepts a firearm during baggage check, they contact local law enforcement. Then the passenger is removed and the firearm is taken from the checkpoint. Local law then dictates next steps, with officers either arresting the passenger or giving them a citation.

Separately, TSA said they can fine passengers who bring guns to checkpoints with civil penalties up to $15,000 and also revoke PreCheck eligibility for a minimum of five years, while requiring enhanced screening on future flights.

Here were the top 10 airports, ranked by firearms seized:

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) - 451 Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) - 378 George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) - 311 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) - 235 Nashville International Airport (BNA) - 188 Denver International Airport (DEN) - 178 Orlando International Airport (MCO) - 164 Tampa International Airport (TPA) - 144 Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) - 135 Dallas Love Field (DAL) - 125

A full checklist and set of rules for bringing firearms while traveling at U.S. airports can be found online.

Click here for a look at some of the types of items confiscated by TSA in 2023 at the Atlanta airport.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Our constitutional architecture affords Trump no support for his claim to find presidential immunity from criminal prosecution in the Impeachment Clause.

Trumps lawyers have advanced two arguments, each of which tortures the language of the Impeachment Clause, distorts the history and purposes surrounding the provision, and draws baseless inferences from the Framers careful steps to construct a power to protect the nation from presidential abuse of power and threats to republican principles and values.

The Impeachment Clause states: Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal ... and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office ... but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable ... to Indictment ... and Punishment, according to Law.

Trump contends, first, that no president, current or former may be criminally prosecuted for his official acts unless he is first impeached and convicted by the Senate.

Trumps second argument asserts, Nor may a president face criminal prosecution based on conduct for which he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

Trumps first argument, that impeachment must precede indictment lacks historical support, twists textual language and ignores the Framers decision to sever the impeachment process from the criminal justice system. The language  shall nevertheless be liable  aims to preserve criminal liability rather than to qualify it.

There is no evidence in the records of the Constitutional Convention to attribute to the Framers any intention to insulate civil officers from criminal liability through election or mere appointment to office. The Framers were not about to grant to their representatives a privilege that England had denied to its ministers and civil servants. The Framers were committed to accountability for civil officers.

Like all other citizens, they are subject to the law.

There is, moreover, no evidence from Convention debates to suggest that the president is clothed with immunity. Indeed, the lone constitutional exception from the rule of criminal liability for governmental officers, is the immunity granted to members of Congress  privilege from arrest during their attendance in Congress, except in cases of treason, felony and breach of the peace.

This grant of immunity was intentionally withheld from the president.

Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, an active and influential participant in the Constitutional Convention, told the Senate in 1800, No privilege of this kind was intended for your Executive. James Iredell, a member of the first Supreme Court, told the North Carolina Ratifying Convention that the president is triable. James Wilson, second in importance only to James Madison as an architect of the Constitution, and appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court stated, not a single privilege is annexed to the presidents character. He emphasized: The most powerful magistrates should be amenable to the law. . . No one should be secure while he violates the constitution and the laws.

It follows from the fact that the president is criminally liable that a former president is as well. There certainly is no provision in the Constitution that addresses a special exemption from trial for an ex-president. Trumps assertion that impeachment must precede indictment falls flat, for it would reduce the clause to mere verbiage.

A focus on the language of the Impeachment Clause is important because the Framers were meticulous draftsmen. They did not insert in the clause words such as after or afterward, to convey a sequential process. To transform a nonsequential provision into a prescribed process, as Trumps lawyers do, is to create the very presidential immunity that was withheld from the president when the Framers directly confronted the question.

The sole purpose of the indictment provision, as Justice Joseph Story observed nearly 200 years ago, is to preclude the argument that the doctrine of double jeopardy saves the offender from the second trial. The Framers recognized that very danger in English practice, which fused criminal punishment and removal in one proceeding, and so they sought to prevent an inference that impeachment prevents a subsequent indictment. In place of the combined English removal and criminal proceedings, the Framers divorced the two, with consequences that James Wilson addressed.

Impeachments, Wilson said, are outside the sphere of ordinary  that is, criminal  jurisprudence. They are founded on different principles, governed by different maxims, and directed to different objects. He added, for this reason, the trial and punishment of an offense on impeachment, is no bar to a trial of the same offense at common law.

This crystal-clear historical purpose, severing the political process of impeachment from the values and principles of the criminal justice system, however, has not stopped Trump, in his second argument, from invoking the double jeopardy defense.

Let us understand the revolutionary consequences of Trumps second argument, that a president may not face prosecution based on conduct for which he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

First, this assertion means that the Senate would replace the criminal justice system  prosecutors, grand juries and indictments  in deciding whether a president should face prosecution. Senate refusal to convict a president in an impeachment trial would bar prosecution, perhaps for the most extreme partisan reasons, with little or no regard for the evidence.

Second, impeachment by the House, followed by acquittal in the Senate, would confer upon the president permanent immunity from criminal prosecution for the crime he committed, however clear his guilt. The president would stand above the law and the rule of law would be rendered irrelevant.

David Adler, Ph.D., is president of The Alturas Institute, created to defend American democracy by advancing the Constitution, civic education, equal protection and gender equality.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  The Austin Humane Society said Monday it needs people to adopt 13 dogs that were rescued over the weekend.

AHS said it assisted in a rescue effort involving over 50 dogs living on a property in Comanche County, Texas which is near Fort Worth.

Austin Humane Society celebrates 70 years

AHS took the 13 dogs, who appear to be Chihuahua mixes, to its Austin shelter Sunday afternoon. The dogs were living outdoors or in vehicles on the Comanche County property, AHS said.







According to the Humane Society, the 13 dogs range from 10 weeks to 6 years old and suffer from flea infestations and some minor skin issues, but otherwise appear healthy. AHS said the dogs were undergoing medical evaluations, and were available for adoption as soon as Monday afternoon.

AHS said the adult dogs were $100 to adopt and puppies were $300. It said all of the dogs would be spayed/neutered, microchipped, treated for parasites, and would get age-appropriate vaccinations.

The Austin Humane Society is open from noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. It is located at 124 W Anderson Ln., Austin, TX 78752

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Freezing weather Wednesday morning is expected to give way to warmer conditions over the next several days, but a cold front forecast to roll through Central Texas later in the week will again plummet temperatures to near freezing.

In anticipation of subfreezing weather Tuesday night, the city of Austin opened its cold-weather shelters for people experiencing homelessness and anyone needing a warm space.

Sarah Henry, public information officer for the city's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said free bus transportation to the shelters will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Daytime warming centers are also available as temperatures fluctuate over the next week.

"We'll continue to monitor those conditions, and if we need to open sheltering for additional nights those announcements will be made as soon as that information is available," Henry said.

Strong winds Monday night toppled a gas station canopy along Menchaca Road in South Austin.

Temperatures on Wednesday morning in downtown Austin are expected to dip to the mid-30s with other areas of the city and in Travis County below freezing, said Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for the Austin-San Antonio area.

Austin, however, can expect a brief reprieve from cold temperatures as daily highs through Sunday are expected to range between the lower 60s and lower 70s, though the forecast low temperatures over the weekend will hover near freezing.

"The middle of the week is looking pretty nice," Fogarty said. "And then there's another front coming toward the end of the week  Thursday night, Friday, a little cool down again."

Want an hourly forecast? Check out Austin's weather.

Austin cold front brings strong winds, damage

With gusts reaching up to 59 mph, howling winds have mostly moved on, with conditions returning to normal in Austin ahead of anticipated winter weather next week.

"We're going to go back to what we normally see overnight," Fogarty said Tuesday. "Which is really light winds, less than 5 miles an hour overnight."

A crew Tuesday tackles the damage left by Monday night's high winds, removing a collapsed gas station canopy in South Austin.

Brought by a cold front moving through the Hill Country, winds on Monday night were recorded at 53 mph at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Camp Mabry. A gust knocked down a gas station canopy in South Austin.

However, as freezing temperatures clear out Wednesday morning, and more moderate weather takes hold through Thursday, the wind will also die down.

Fogarty said wind speeds on Friday could reach 25 mph with wind gusts reaching 30-40 mph as another cold front moves through the Hill Country. The next bout of winter weather expected Monday could also bring similarly gusty winds.

Winter 2024: These 3 maps forecast Texas winter conditions

Will Austin see winter storm, hail?

After Tuesday night's cold snap, weather conditions are expected to rebound into the mid-60s to lower 70s through Thursday, until another winter front rolls into Austin over the weekend.

Freezing temperatures are forecast to return Saturday morning and at the early part of next week, though minimal precipitation is expected.

"At this point we're saying no winter precipitation," Fogarty said. "But much colder the early part of next week."

While there is a chance for rain Thursday night into Friday, temperatures are not anticipated to dip below 32 degrees, eliminating chances for sleet, snow or freezing rain.

High temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are forecast to only be just above freezing, with lows dipping to the high teens and lower 20s. No precipitation is currently expected in Austin with that cold front.

Austin opens cold weather shelters Tuesday night

Austin is opening its cold weather shelters Tuesday night as freezing temperatures are expected in the region into Wednesday morning.

Buses will begin departing from One Texas Center, at 505 Barton Springs Road, at 6 p.m. to take people to the shelters, with service shutting down at 8 p.m.

"It's primarily for people who are experiencing homelessness," Henry said. "Although anyone who needed a warm place to stay would be welcome."

The city opens its shelters when temperatures dip to 32 degrees or below overnight, or to 35 degrees with precipitation or harsh winds.

During the daytime, a number of warming centers, mostly public libraries and recreation centers, are open for anyone needing to use them.

NWS says: 2023 was Austin's hottest year on record since 1897. See more weather facts

Texas electric grid concerns?

Ahead of the anticipated winter weather across Texas this week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the state's power grid, said upcoming weather conditions should not affect grid conditions.

"ERCOT is closely monitoring the weather conditions moving across Texas this week," ERCOT posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. "Grid conditions are expected to be normal, and ERCOT expects to have sufficient supply to meet demand."

With precipitation largely out of the next week's forecast, as winter temperatures begin to take hold again, ERCOT said it anticipates any power outages to be local and caused by wind or falling tree branches, and not a systemwide failure to meet electricity demand.

Similarly, Austin Energy, also in a Monday post on X, said the agency is monitoring the potential for weather-related outages in the coming days due to possible high winds, like those felt Monday through Tuesday evening.

"Austin Energy has crews ready 24/7 to respond to outages, and we have additional crews ready in preparation for the weather," the post said.

The Austin Energy outage map allows residents to keep track of or report local outages.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin weather forecast to see more cold snaps, city opens shelters
Australian police say time is quickly running out for the arrest of one of the countrys most-wanted murder suspects, who they believed fled to Greece almost 25 years ago.

James Dalamangas, now 54, is wanted in connection with an April 25, 1999, stabbing at a nightclub in the Sydney suburb of Belmore that left 32-year-old George Giannopoulos dead.

An arrest warrant was issued for Dalamangas a day after the killing, but he has avoided capture, Australian Federal Police and New South Wales Police said Tuesday in a joint statement.

Dalamangas was able to flee the country soon after the incident took place, and we believe he went to Greece and has remained in Greece ever since, Grant Taylor, detective superintendent of NSW Police, told a press conference.

And there lies the problem for Australian authorities  Greece has a 25-year statute of limitations for prosecution, so authorities have only four months to find Dalamangas and initiate legal proceedings.

In 2003, after attempts to get Dalamangas extradited to Australia were unsuccessful, Greek authorities agreed to prosecute him, according to the joint statement. However, that process was suspended when they werent able to find him.

Police have released an illustrative age progression photo of James Dalamangas showing what he may look like now. - Australian Federal Police

The victims sister, Toula Giannopoulos, made a plea for help in finding the suspect in her brothers killing, so his family, including children who were ages 8 and 4 at the time of their fathers death, could move on with their lives.

I believe theres people, both here and in Greece, who are covering him up, and it makes it damn hard for my family, she said.

Its been 25 years of battling through loss and grief with no justice or closure to help us through this pain, Toula Giannopoulos said.

Police noted that the Giannopoulos family emigrated to Australia from Greece.

Theyre appealing to the hearts of the motherland in regards to helping them out to find justice for their family, Taylor said.

Australian police released an age-progression image of Dalamangas, showing what he could look like at age 54, as they made a plea for people in Greece to help find him.

They also noted there is a reward of 200,000 Australian dollars ($134,000) for information leading to Dalamangas arrest that can be claimed outside Australia.

Taylor acknowledged that time is running out, at least in getting Dalamangus before a Greek court, but possibly forever if the suspect doesnt leave the country.

Within Greece, he may not be prosecuted after April, Taylor said.

If Dalamangus were to leave Greece, then all bets are off.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department is searching for a man who has been missing for nearly three weeks.

Information from an LASD release indicates that 40-year-old Gregory Joseph Ojeda was last seen in the 14600 block of Horticultural Drive in Hacienda Heights on Dec. 22 around 5 a.m.

Gunman in body armor fired assault rifle at deputies: Riverside Sheriffs Office

Ojeda, a resident of Los Angeles County, is a Hispanic man who stands at 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 195 pounds, authorities said.

He has black hair, brown eyes and tattoo sleeves on both arms. What he was last wearing is unknown.

He may be driving a gray 2002 GMC Safari van with the California license plate #4YWM930.

There is concern for Ojedas well-being, LASD said.

Southern California woman accused of stealing millions from elderly, special needs clients

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Homicide Bureaus Missing Persons Detail.

Additionally, anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or by visiting their website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
We revealed back in June of last year that Hyundais 2025 Ioniq 5 N is a game changer. After driving a prototype of the performance EV at the Nurburgring and on the Autobahn, it was easy to see that giving the EV the N treatment was a stellar choice. Its artificial engine sounds are fun, the big tires capable, and massive bursts of torque impressive.

Now Hyundai looks to ratchet up that excitement even more. The automaker dropped a video on Wednesday teasing something it's calling the NPX1, in the form of an Ioniq 5 body.



From what we can tell, the NPX1 appears to include a muscular body kit, a sizable rear wing, and a cant-miss-it front splitter. Speculation is high that this could be the Ioniq 5 eN1 Cup car Hyundai unveiled in December at the N Festival in South Korea. The first one-make EV competition in South Korea kicks off this May, so the timing is good.



Hyundais Cup is lighter than the production Ioniq 5 N (by 551 pounds) and closer to the ground (by 2.8 inches). Its an all-electric beast sure to be a thrill on the track. Well find out for sure during the Tokyo Auto Salon on January 12.

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The director and actress were joined by moderator Dr. Kenya Davis during a Q&A about the film.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay and actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor opened up about exploring a wide range of emotions in their newest film, Origin, at a screening Saturday in Los Angeles.

The pair were joined by moderator Dr. Kenya Davis at the Museum of Tolerance, where they discussed creating the drama film and their own experiences with grief and loss during a Q&A session after the screening. DuVernay wrote, directed and produced Origin, a biopic based on the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Ellis-Taylor stars as Wilkerson, a writer dealing with tragedy and personal loss who embarks on an international journey to learn more about the caste system and how it has impacted racial relations in America.

During Saturdays event, DuVernay shared that Origin audience members came up to talk to her about loss and their loved ones who are no longer here after screenings in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as in Venice, Italy, Toronto, and other places around the world.

It astounds me that in a film with so much, it comes down to that heart space of loss, the director said. That was really the end that Im hoping people have watched the film because its very similar to the conversation that Isabel has with the plumber. She knows intuitively in that moment, the heart space that all of us are connected by  our most vulnerable time is when we have lost someone that we love. Our molecular structure changes.  Were not the same person we were when they were with us. Were different because they arent with us in the same way. And so, that is something that we all share. It doesnt matter how you identify, if youre a human being and youve loved someone and youve lost them, youve been changed.

During a Q&A session Saturday, Origin, director Ava DuVernay (left) shares a stage with actress, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (center), and Dr. Kenya Davis at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. (Photo by Steven Simione/Getty Images)

She continued, It is a sacred space to meet in our vulnerability and to seek understanding within that space. And, oddly enough, its grief. Thats the entry point. Ive tried what Isabel did in the book and in the film  never to de-escalate a situation but to talk to people about their people that theyve lost. Its usually very beautiful conversations because you want to [talk about your loved ones]. I want to talk about my dad. I miss him so much. If someone asked me, Tell me about your father, that would be a thrilling conversation to me. How often are we asked about the people that weve lost? We dont ask, because we dont want to make the person sad, or we dont quite know how to ask about it. So theres something in this film that tries to break that open, and tries to break it open in a personal place of loss, but its also trying to break it open in a collective place of loss.

Ellis-Taylor was tasked with bringing that loss to life in Origin, a job that would be challenging for most actors. The Academy Award nominee was able to not only perform the role but excel in it, earning rave reviews and several award nominations. Ellis-Taylor said that her standout performance was made easier by the lovely cast members she worked with.

When we were filming those scenes, I was by myself, the actress shared. The gift that I had was the cast that Ava put together. She assembled really great actors, but in addition, she [assembled] just beautiful people. Jon Bernthal, who played Brett [Hamilton, Isabels husband]. Emily Yancy, who played my mother, Ruby. Niecy Nash, who is one of these just extraordinary actors that she moves in truth, and that is what I responded to when I did my scenes with her. Jon Bernthal is one of the loveliest human beings that Ive known or that Ive worked with. Yancy is just adorable. So when [the character Isbael] lost them, I drew from my sense memory of having this glorious time with them and grieved them a little bit. Sometimes when you saw me do those scenes, it was after they werent shooting anymore. They were gone for real. If they were aholes, you know, it might have been harder, but they were lovely, lovely people. So I missed them.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in Origin. (Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of NEON)

While grief and personal tragedy are major themes in the film, DuVernay wants audience members to know that Origin is also a movie about love. The director-producer shared that she is proud of the love stories in the film, which include Wilkersons personal story, as well as the love between Dalit workers in India, the relationship between German August Landmesser and Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman, in Nazi Germany, and the love shared between enslaved people on slave ships during the Atlantic slave trade.

I think that there are multiple love stories in the film, DuVernay explained. These love stories are woven through all of the big, large caste parts of the story. So much of what we were trying to show, I think, is thought of as traumatic or tragic, but I really invite people to look at the way that its rendered. The way its rendered its to try to show the most humane aspects of traumatic events. To invite us to see the triumph of the human spirit experience and will in overcoming that.

You cant have triumph if you never show what youre overcoming. You cant have a film about survival if you dont show what youve survived. At the end of the film, when Isabel walks out of the house, shes survived everything that she has seen. The house is a metaphor for what you have to do to survive. You got to fix it. You got to look in the basement, you got to patch the roof, you got to do the work. The whole film  that is what its supposed to symbolize. That is what Im hoping that people feel at the end.

Origin is available to watch in theaters now.

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A 17-year-old Michigan girl is speaking out more than two years after her parents filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit against her school district following months of taunting and harassment.

The Detroit News sat down with Clara Malick and her parents, Rob and April Malick, for an interview published on Jan. 3, and she shared her experience while attending Croswell-Lexington High School in Croswell, Michigan, back in 2021.

Clara  who is adopted  said she was repeatedly called the N-word by her white classmates, who taunted her. Her suit reports Clara was one of three Black students in a district of more than 2,000 students.

Rob Malick (left), his daughter, Clara Malick (center) and his wife, April Malick, (right) filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit against the Croswell-Lexington School District in Croswell, Michigan. (Photo: The Detroit News / YouTube screenshot)

The teenager said white students would often call me the N-word or say the N-word in a sentence. And theyll look at me for a reaction. Clara added that she didnt know how to react at first.

I didnt know how to react, because I didnt really know what the word really meant, she continued, adding that while shed heard the word before, shed never been called it.

The teen added that, eventually, she would laugh along. What else are you supposed to do? Like, the jokes arent funny, but youre just like, everybody else is laughing, so you gotta laugh, too.

According to the lawsuit, Malick was taunted by white students on a nearly daily basis with racial slurs and threats of pulling out her hair. Students taunted Malick with phrases like, Go back to the plantation and pick cotton and Your hair looks like st.

The then-freshman was also told, Im going to snatch your weave and burn it, and I bet your hair is dead. The lawsuit also detailed an incident where Clara told the students to stop and was blatantly ignored.

Two students were mocking C.M. and using the n-word in Snapchat conversation. C.M. told them STOP, itsnot funny and explained the history behind the word. One student responded, free speech, na, the complaint says.

Just days later, the lawsuit claims, Clara was told: All the ns will be shot after school today at 3:00 pm.

A teacher was scheduled to protect Clara by walking her to class following the threat but was heard saying Clara was playing the race card and which is what blacks do.

The teacher also allegedly said the teen deserved what she got. The racial abuse prompted her father, Rob, to plead with the school for them to step in.

Rob stated his fear  that the racism and bullying is making her [C.M.]unravelI would like to have a safe space for her at school.

However, the alleged abuse continued, and more faculty members also displayed racist behavior. One of the schools civic teachers called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization during a lecture, and another teacher told Clara that not all racists are bad people, according to their claim.

The Malick family filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on Nov. 12, 2021. The complaint noted the racial discrimination Clara faced by both the faculty and students as well as the hostile environment she endured, including one student wearing a Confederate flag to school and not being disciplined.

The school board then passed a resolution to reaffirm the commitment to its existing anti-discrimination policy, but it was ineffective. Another Black student noted at the meeting that the racism came from the same students, same families.

Clara reports that days after that meeting, she was told by a white student, I hate all you Black bhes.

After a student threatened Clara by aiming a slingshot with scissors at her head and said he was going to cut her with a knife, the Malicks filed a police report.

Clara and her parents filed a lawsuit against the school district in May of 2022, as well as the Croswell-Lexington Board of Education, Principal Kyle Wood, and the superintendent of schools, Dan Gilbertson, after the school failed to stop the abuse.

The bullying caused Clara to say she wished she was white, and she was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Clara told her parents that she couldnt handle the harassment any longer, and she took classes virtually before her parents took her out of the school permanently in the spring of 2022.

They showed me that different is wrong, said Clara of the abuse. I felt disgusted with myself because I was different. She now sees a therapist regularly and takes medication for her mental health.

The lawsuit also notes that the schools deliberate indifference to the racial harassment and bullying also caused Claras parents to experience extreme emotional and mental distress and deprived them of their right to control their daughters education.

They are asking for compensatory, economic, and noneconomic damages, exemplary damages, punitive damages and court costs.

On Dec. 19, the court heard the defendants motion arguing to adjourn the scheduled trial and final pretrial deadlines pending a decision on their dispositive motion, and the court granted the motion to adjourn. The court also suspended outstanding deadlines until further order of the court, pending a decision on the defendants motion for summary judgment.
BALTIMORE  Baltimores Police Accountability Board members on Monday questioned how a Baltimore Police captain was promoted to major in November despite a pending Internal Affairs investigation and District Court criminal charges sworn out days earlier.

The boards chair, Joshua Harris, acknowledged that the board doesnt know what the investigation will yield, but described some of the alleged messages from Southwestern District Major Jennifer McGrath as a civilians worst nightmare.

Quotes included in the application for charges filed in Baltimore County District Court included Im a Captain no one is going to believe you, and I am powerful, established, unlike you. McGrath also allegedly wrote, I could make you disappear if I wanted to, according to the narrative on charging documents filed Nov. 22 by the victim.

McGrath has a court date Jan. 24. Her attorney has not responded to requests for comment.

Baltimore Police has said it is aware of the pending criminal case and that investigation into a complaint filed with the Public Integrity Bureau is ongoing. McGrath is out on preapproved leave, the department said last week.

If the messages that were published are found to be true, Harris said, thats every civilians worst nightmare: to interact with an officer who has that way of thinking  of being so well-connected, and so powerful, that they can do anything to you.

Other accountability board members also voiced concern.

Peter Bodde, a former ambassador to Malawi, Nepal and Libya, said he was outraged by news stories about McGraths promotion. Bodde said hed never worked in an organization where, when someone came up for promotion, there wasnt a clear records check.

McGraths promotion was announced by BPD eight days after criminal charges were filed.

The agency did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the boards reaction.

Clearly, I dont know if we have all the details, Bodde said. But I think this is a really, really serious matter and we cant let things like this slip through the cracks.

Megan Kenny, another board member, argued this was an example of how officers facing allegations are treated differently than the people they might arrest. Residents facing criminal charges, Kenny said, might lose their job or housing, all before going to trial.

But McGrath gets promoted, she said.

The citys Police Accountability Board launched last year, one of many across the state formed following the Maryland General Assemblys passage of 2021s Police Accountability Act. The boards field misconduct complaints from residents, meet with the heads of law enforcement and issue annual reports. They are part of a framework of civilian oversight that also includes Administrative Charging Committees tasked with reviewing police misconduct files and, potentially, reaching new conclusions.

This years Police Accountability Board annual report has not been publicly released, despite a deadline of Dec. 31. Board members and staff from the citys Office of Equity and Civil Rights said at Mondays meeting that they were close to completing a draft that could be distributed to board members for consideration. Dana Moore, director of the civil rights office, said she hoped it would be released by Jan. 31.

The report is expected to include recommendations for policy changes, among other things.

To that end, Harris encouraged board members Monday to look at the McGrath case through the lens of potential improvements to police policy. For instance, he said, the board might consider recommending training to help officers avoid the thinking behind McGraths alleged messages.

No one is so powerful or connected that they are  above the law. Keeping that in mind, we have to focus on policy recommendations here. Theres also the real priority (of) culture change, Harris said. Culture comes down to changing the mentality and the way that people think.

Kenny suggested, additionally, trying to determine whether McGrath had reached out to Internal Affairs members, as one of the alleged messages read Ive already contacted my connections at internal affairs to let them know to throw your complaint out.

Another member, Jesmond Riggins, who sits on the citys Administrative Charging Committee, also suggested trying to learn more about the departments promotional process. He recalled that when the board previously asked then-Acting Commissioner Richard Worley about how the agency ensures good officers are promoted, it sounded as though it was out of the commissioners hands.

A story like this coming out, again, it makes me want to know more about how the promotion process works, Riggins said. In order for us to actually be able to make recommendations as to how we believe policing can be improved  we first need to know how the thing works.

Baltimore Police spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge previously said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun that an allegation may or may not preclude a member from promotion.

Department policy on command promotions says candidates may not be considered if they have sustained misconduct complaints, with a penalty beyond a letter of reprimand, in the past five years. Ongoing investigations, it said, ought to be considered by the promotion committee on a case-by-case basis.

_____
The people closest to Barack Obama are expressing increasing alarm about 2024 at the same time President Joe Bidens campaign looks to quell worrisome voices within the Democratic Party.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, a close friend who is often considered Obama's political alter ego, told USA Today Monday there would be "incalculable damage" to the country if former President Donald Trump wins the November election.

Asked if Obama shares that view, Holder replied: "Absolutely. I don't think it's a question about that.

"I think that's what motivates him. I think that's what will continue to motivate him," Holder said.

The former presidents wife, Michelle, revealed shes "terrified" about the election's outcome in a podcast interview this week.

Former President Barack Obama speaks to attendees at the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum on Nov. 3, 2023, in Chicago, Illinois. Obama spoke about economic inclusion is fundamental to safeguarding and expanding democracies in countries around the world.

Trump is leading Biden in multiple surveys, including a Jan. 3 USA Today/Suffolk University poll. That survey finds Biden narrowly trailing Trump, the likely Republican nominee, 39%-37%; with 17% supporting an unnamed third-party candidate.

Other Democrats, who recently marked the 15th anniversary of Obamas historic win, are also sharing their fears that Trump could return to power with a vengeance. They say Biden's campaign must lean heavily into the emotions progressive and independent voters are having more urgently.

"I'm convinced more than ever before, that we have to save the American democracy through our actions, and that we cannot allow Trump to be dictator for one minute, much less one day, one week and give him four years," said Anton Gunn, a South Carolina Democrat who worked on Obama's 2008 campaign.

David Axelrod, a longtime personal friend and adviser of Obama, last year went as far to suggest Biden drop out of the contest, though people close to the former president have emphasized Axelrod does not speak for anyone but himself.

This puts a unique spotlight on Obama, who is speaking with Biden regularly and honestly about his thoughts on the race, according to sources close to the former president who spoke with USA Today.

He is increasingly being tasked with coming to his former vice president's rescue as polling shows Biden struggling with Black, Hispanic and voters younger than 35, who are essential to any victory.

Many Obama alumni, such as pollster Cornell Belcher and campaign manager Jim Messina, who spoke with USA Today, downplay the reported panic and tension between the two camps, pointing to various examples that presidential reelections are often behind this far out.

But others acknowledge that, rather than optimism, there is dread going into 2024 that Biden's campaign cannot dismiss.

How worried is Obama about Biden in 2024?

Obama's office said the former president is well aware of the stakes.

For now, his strategy is based on "driving impact," and being deliberate in "picking our moments because our objective is to move the needle," according to senior advisor Eric Schultz.

What that looks like in public is the former president "finding creative ways to reach new audiences," with tools directly tied to mobilizing voters, Schultz said.

The president and his former boss chat regularly, and Obama thinks the election "will be a very close race," according to a person close to Obama who spoke to USA Today.

Obama views the 2024 race as having "major structural advantages that will favor Republicans," in the form of rising polarization, intensely loyal Trump voters and a Trump-friendly conservative ecosystem, especially online.

Others close to the former president said he views Trump's reelection as "dangerous" and has been consistent in delivering that message to all Democrats, including Biden.

Holder said the former president's deepening concern is felt by how plugged in he is with Biden and his campaign in the early stages.

"This is certainly the campaign that President Biden is going to have to ultimately make decisions about," Holder said.

"President Obama is going to do everything he can to help in that regard, and that means campaigning, but it also means sharing strategic advice with (Biden)," he added. "And who better than President Obama to be a primary advisor to the campaign?"

Obama's 'mentor-in-chief' role to Biden, younger Dems

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, from left, walk onto the field for the coin toss at the start of the 112th edition of the annual Army vs. Navy football game at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., on Dec. 10, 2011.

Obama remains the brightest star in the Democrats' political constellation and Biden's most lucrative fundraiser, outside of White House principals, according to campaign officials.

Standing should-to-shoulder with the president in a recent campaign fundraising ad, which the president's team said brought in roughly $4 million, Obama told viewers, "our democracy depends on you."

Those who have worked intimately with the former president convey that their old boss is keenly aware of how consequential this election will be and how vital his involvement is at every level.

"I think he's playing a lot of roles simultaneously," said Eric Lesser, a former Massachusetts legislator who worked on the 2008 campaign.

"He's sincere about wanting to support school committee members and city councilors, up to presidents. So there's almost like a mentor-in-chief role that he's taken on."

Obama remains a sounding board for the president, sources tell USA Today. He has an open "yes" to requests from the White House and Biden campaign, and their staffs have a "family" connection, multiple sources said.

He has also notedly been hosting private discussions with younger Democratic lawmakers and candidates, including progressive House members such as Reps. Maxwell Frost, of Florida, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York.

At a time when many voters express concern about Biden's age, many alumni from the previous Democratic administration see Obama's chief role in 2024 as a necessary generational bridge for a party trying to court Gen Z voters with an 81-year-old incumbent.

"It's funny because he's simultaneously an elder statesman in the sense that he's been through a lot of battles and has a lot of experience, but he's also very young and has a big, long career in front of him," Lesser said.

Poll: Dems less enthusiastic about Biden

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 8: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Emanuel AME Church on January 8, 2024 in Charleston, South Carolina. The church was the site of a 2015 shooting massacre perpetrated by a white supremacist. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Yet it is impossible to quiet Democrats who are publicly biting their nails about Biden's chances, including prominent figures in the party's power circles and Obama network.

They point to how most 2024 polls show Trump in the lead with a little less than 10 months to go, and a failure to sell progressive voters on accomplishments, such as securing $132 billion in student loan debt relief despite resistance from Republican opponents.

Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser to Obama, rattled the race when he suggested last year that Biden should think about leaving the race.

He later said the surveys showing Trump ahead in battleground states represented "very dark" news for Biden's reelection campaign.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who was instrumental in helping Biden win the Democratic nomination in 2020, said on CNN's State of the Union he's "very concerned" about the president's support.

Gunn, the South Carolina Democrat who considers himself a Clyburn protege, was instrumental in selling the public on the heart and soul of the Affordable Care Act when he was part of the Obama administration. He said the Biden campaign isn't engaging voters, particularly African Americans, on the urgency of 2024 beyond facts and statistics.

"What keeps me up is that if we only make the rational, thoughtful and deliberate argument of why Biden is better, and don't recognize that there needs to be an emotional current through this campaign," he said.

"The same way Obama had an emotional currency, the same way Trump had an emotional currency when he won in 2016, there's a big fear that this could all go south because people vote emotionally. They don't vote rationally."

The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll released Jan. 3, for instance, shows only 18% of primary voters selected very enthusiastic when asked to rate their excitement about Biden on a scale 1 to 10.

Roughly 44% of GOP primary voters said the same when asked to rate Trump.

Third party woes and Biden's selling points

Former Vice President Joe Biden was questioned by a young Black voter at his ABC town hall about what he can do differently than former presidents.

The Biden campaign and other Obama alumni push back at many of these conclusions while trying to calm a widening apprehension among Democrats.

Quentin Fulks, who serves as Biden's deputy campaign manager, said that instead of "parachuting into communities of color a few weeks before the election," the president's reelection team is investing earlier and more aggressively than in previous cycles.

The Biden campaign has invested more than $25 million in Black and Latino media, according to Biden campaign officials.

"We are meeting voters in every community where they are and putting in the work to earn every vote and let voters know how President Biden and Vice President Harris have delivered for them in an unprecedented way," Fulks said.

"The stakes are high, and we arent taking anything for granted."

Other Democratic campaign veterans who come from Obama's network throw cold water on political forecasters, who had similar gloomy predictions in years past.

"I am amused at the collective amnesia every election season of the press," said Belcher, a Democratic pollster who worked for both Obama presidential campaigns.

"No candidate or campaign starts off a year or year and a half out where they want to be or where they need to be. If so they would, we would have no need for campaigns."

Belcher noted how headlines wondered if Obama was toast in the early stages of his 2012 reelection bid, and that predictions from FiveThirtyEight, a political data analysis site, rated Obama with a 17% chance of winning against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Messina, who led Obama's two campaigns, said surveys "are famously bad" in the earlier stages of a presidential race because voters don't have a focused choice in front of them.

"Elections are a choice, and we havent formalized that choice yet. Once voters know their options, their opinions change," he said.

One element that could make 2024 different than the Obama reelection 12 years ago, however, is the role thirdparty contenders are playing.

When respondents are asked about their choice when ballot includes the seven possible presidential candidatessuch as independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West; or Green Party nominee Jill SteinTrump holds a 37%-34% lead, according to the USA Today/Suffolk poll released this month.

That margin shrinks in Biden's favor when there are fewer candidates. The president trails 44%-43% when there are no other third party contenders in the race, according to the survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.

The data points to significant frustration among potential Biden voters, said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk's Political Research Center.

"The bet for Biden right now is once we get this to a binary choice, one-on-one, people will not vote for Trump," he said. "And that's a big gamble, because that assumes that all of the other third party candidates will go away or their support will dissipate."

In this file photo US President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands during a transition planning meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Paleologos said more progressive-leaning voters have consistently expressed being, "fed up with the staleness of the choices that are being offered."

Belcher, the Democratic pollster, said the problem Biden's campaign will be challenged to solve over the next 10 months is selling Black, Hispanic and younger constituencies on its accomplishments.

"For me, Biden has really better story to tell these young, diverse voters than Obama did," he said. "But these voters have a stronger affinity to Obama than they do Biden."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Barack Obama getting more involved in 2024 race over Trump fears
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) endorsed former President Trump for the White House on Tuesday evening.

Well, the people of Wyoming and of course all your viewers know that the country was much better off under President Donald Trump, and Joe Biden continues to fail America, Barrasso announced on Fox Newss Hannity.

Barrasso praised Trump for his policies on energy, the border and the economy in his endorsement and hit President Biden over having a wide open border in the United States.

We cannot afford another four years of Joe Bidens failure, Barrasso said. So if you want to get the country back on track, which is what I want to do, we need a strong Republican conservative House and Senate, and we need Donald Trump back in the White House. And thats why tonight I am endorsing Donald Trump for president of the United States.

In a separate statement posted after his Hannity appearance, Barrasso continued to criticize Biden and boast Trumps accomplishments.

Working with Republicans in Congress, President Trump created the strongest economy of a generation, secured our Southern Border against a lawless drug and crime invasion, and made America an energy dominant superpower, he said.

All of these accomplishments are in stark contrast to the high prices and low expectations of the last 3 years. Biden administration policies have plunged America into decline, he added.

At least 19 other Republican senators have already endorsed Trump for the upcoming election. Barrasso also endorsed Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race last October; she is trying to win Sen. Kyrsten Sinemas (I-Ariz.) seat.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Microsoft announced Tuesday that a team of scientists used artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to plow through 32.6 million possible battery materials  many not found in nature  in 80 hours, a task the team estimates previously would have taken 20 years. The results kick off an ambitious effort to create a new generation of batteries less dependent on toxic and environmentally damaging lithium.

The company shared some of the best candidates with the government's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., which investigated the most promising ones and built a prototype battery using a brand-new material.

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While the dime-size prototype is not yet ready for a prime-time role powering the watches and car keys of today, it functions using less lithium than commercially available options and has the ability to recharge power. Moreover, the feat demonstrates the potential of new technologies to revolutionize the underappreciated but fast-evolving field of materials science.

"It's really not an overstatement to say that almost every major problem that we face as a society could be, at least in part, helped by having better materials," said Christopher M. Wolverton, a professor at Northwestern University's materials science and engineering department. Wolverton, who was not involved in Microsoft's battery project but has worked on similar projects of his own, called the company's claim to have screened 32.6 million materials in 80 hours "staggering."

"Thirty-two million tells me right away that they weren't screening [just] known materials," he added. "They were screening hypothesized new materials that they were hoping to discover."

Like other outside experts interviewed, he was able to review news releases from Microsoft and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory but was not able to see the scientific paper describing the work before its release. The paper, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, was posted Tuesday on the science preprint site arXiv.

- - -

High-powered mixing and matching

Although estimates vary, experts generally consider there to be about 200,000 known materials in the world, and materials scientists continue to seek new ones that may hold the key to solving some of the planet's serious challenges.

To combat climate change, scientists must find the best materials for capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. To reduce the vast accumulations of plastic littering beaches, clogging landfills and threatening human health, scientists must find safe ways to break it down into fuel and raw materials. To respond quickly to new pathogens capable of causing future pandemics, scientists must design effective drugs that use proteins to attack viruses and bacteria or to stimulate the body's defenses.

All depend on discovering the right materials, a process that has been slowed by hypothesis-driven trial-and-error approaches.

High-performance computing and artificial intelligence are now allowing scientists to rapidly use the elements in the periodic table like a painter might use a palette of colors, mixing them and arriving at new configurations.

"This is a new way to do science," said Nathan Baker, an author of the paper and senior director of partnerships for chemistry and materials at Microsoft. The project used the company's Azure Quantum Elements platform, which was unveiled in June with the goal of using advanced computing power to speed up the discovery process.

Starting with all of the known materials, Baker said, "we can basically pick through the periodic table and drop new atoms into [various] locations through a process of substitution."

Azure Quantum Elements quickly weeded out materials that are poor conductors, too unstable, too reactive or too costly to be used for batteries. The high-performance computing used by Microsoft essentially harnessed the power of about 5,000 typical laptops. Baker stressed that once they had early results, Microsoft consulted materials experts at the government laboratory in the belief that, "Okay, a computer gave us the answer. . . . Let's go prove it."

Officials with Microsoft and the national laboratory said that they will continue the battery project as part of a three-year collaboration aimed at speeding up the pace of innovation and discovery.

"This is not just a stunt announcement, a headline-grabbing sort of announcement. This is the nature of things to come," said Chirag Dekate, a vice president and analyst at the Stamford, Conn.-based research and consulting firm Gartner who was not on the research team.

- - -

The hunt for a better battery

The need for better battery technology has emerged as a major challenge facing scientists.

"A lot of the current battery technologies are highly inefficient," Dekate said. "If you look at one of the reasons why the promise of a green future has eluded us thus far despite advances in solar and wind [power], if you look at the underpinning reason, it is actually the challenges associated with battery technologies."

Lithium-ion batteries now power most electric cars as well as most of the electric scooters and electric bicycles that have become ubiquitous in modern cities around the globe. In 2022, the global lithium ion battery market size was valued at $46.2 billion, and the industry is projected to reach $189.4 billion by 2032.

But the current crop of batteries are unable to charge quickly or hold their charge for long periods. Moreover, some have proved to be volatile.

In 2023, the New York fire department reported that 18 people died in fires linked to electric-vehicle batteries.

Microsoft searched for materials to build what's called a solid-state electrolyte battery; these have a greater energy density than liquid ion batteries and do not present a fire or leakage risk. The material used for the prototype contained some lithium  but up to 70 percent less than the amount found in existing batteries.

Microsoft's work on the battery project "began in earnest about nine months ago," Baker said.

The team trained its artificial-intelligence system by showing it examples of different materials, helping it learn their crystal structures and energetic properties. "As we go over different compositions, it starts to learn how the structure and composition relate to energetics," Baker said.

The Microsoft team then used AI to function like a funnel. A large amount of possibilities were fed into the top of the funnel and then passed through various filters that narrowed the list of candidates. The best ones emerged from the bottom of the funnel.

Given that a battery material must be stable, the artificial intelligence began by filtering the number of candidates to just under 590,000 that would stay in the form required to perform in a battery. From there, the AI essentially asked of each candidate: Is it going to react to oxygen? Will it do something strange when electrical current is applied across it? How do you get lithium atoms to move through the material, a necessary process for a functioning battery?

Eventually, Microsoft contacted the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which has deep experience in battery research.

"They asked, what are the properties that you would typically need from a material to make a better battery?" said Vijay Murugesan, a paper co-author and the lab's materials science group lead in the Physical Sciences Division. He called developing a solid material that will allow only lithium ions to move from one side of the battery to the other a huge challenge.

When he examined a list of the 120 to 130 best candidates, Murugesan said his reactions varied from "Why? What? Really?" for some of the most surprising candidates to "I see that is an obvious next step from what we are doing."

Scientists said they were encouraged by the fact that some of the materials recommended by artificial intelligence had already been flagged by experts as promising.

The team at the laboratory analyzed the top candidates and made a handful of the hypothetical materials dreamed up by computers. The new material chosen for the prototype contains some lithium along with sodium, chloride and yttrium. The lab is conducting further work on the material used for the prototype and is preparing to investigate at least two more candidate materials.

Responding by email to preliminary information presented by Microsoft, Aron Walsh, a professor and chair in materials design at Imperial College London, said, "AI is providing a new generation of approximate but practical tools, which enable us to tackle problems that seemed impossible before, such as the rapid exploration of large chemical spaces reported here."

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If you lose a race for Milwaukee mayor after being accused of sexual harassment and exposing yourself to someone, how long do you have to wait to run for citywide office again?

For Greg Gracz, the answer is 32 years.

Gracz, 76, is one of two candidates running for city comptroller, a job that will pay $125,607 annually. Incumbent Comptroller Aycha Sawa, who was elected in 2020, has decided not to run again.

Gracz last ran for citywide office in 1992, when he took on then-Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist in his first term. Gracz was then head of the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association.

Greg Gracz ran for Milwaukee mayor in 1992, challenging John Norquist

But Gracz's campaign was thrown into disarray when a 27-year-old firefighter accused Gracz of harassing her and then exposing his penis during a 1990 firefighters convention in Racine. She even suggested he had a distinctive physical feature  a mole  on his nether regions.

Reached last week, Gracz said his position on the allegation hasn't changed.

"It's just as false now as it was then," he said.

Unfortunately, no independent investigation was conducted. The Journal Sentinel tried to reach the firefighter, who now lives in Florida, without success.

Gracz said last week that he wishes she had taken him to court, but that never happened.

In fact, it was Gracz who threatened back in 1992 to file a defamation lawsuit against the woman but never did. After the election, he said he didn't want his family to suffer the emotional strain that would come with litigation. He also said it would be too costly and time-consuming.

He also called for a John Doe investigation, which was a secret probe overseen by an elected judge, to get to the bottom of the situation. The firefighter's attorney said his client would be happy to participate, but the investigation never happened.

So if it was all fiction, who was behind the allegation?

Gracz won't say who he thinks might have leaked the allegations.

"I had my thoughts," he said, "but I don't know for sure who it was."

Gracz's opponent, Deputy Comptroller Bill Christianson, declined to comment on his opponent's past controversies.

The allegation has followed Gracz during his time in government.

In 2008, while working as a Milwaukee County labor relations negotiator, Gracz was a finalist to become the Milwaukee Area Technical College's associate vice president of human resources and labor relations, a job that would put him in charge of sexual harassment complaints.

Gracz withdrew his application at the last moment after womens activist Ellen Bravo contacted a number of board members to express concern about Graczs appointment because of the sexual harassment charges. She said it would be "ludicrous" to put him in this position.

In 2011, then-Gov. Scott Walker named Gracz as the director of the Office of State Employment Relations.

In that post, he did not handle sexual harassment complaints but oversaw the state's human resources functions, including its Division of Affirmative Action and its work to ensure equal treatment of employees.

The appointment stirred criticism from those concerned about his past sexual harassment allegation and the fact that he was convicted of his third intoxicated driving incident in 1996.

Walker aides said at the time the harassment allegation was never proven or formally investigated and that Gracz had been sober for almost 15 years after struggles with alcoholism.

Gracz said he left government work six years ago. He now owns a house in Tucson, Arizona, as well as one in Milwaukee.

So why now does he want to work for the government again?

"I don't like the direction the city's going," Gracz said. "The comptroller should be an independent person that's looking at the finances of the city so decisions are made that are fiscally responsible for the benefit of the citizens of Milwaukee."

Gracz said he is confident that if tax revenues are spent for city residents, "the taxes will level off and that we'll be able to have a city in which people will want to live and raise their family."

He declined to criticize the mayor or the Common Council. But he emphasized that he has a business degree from Marquette University, was a union leader for 20 years, spent seven years on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, did labor negotiations for the county and was head of employee relations for the state.

If he gets elected for the comptroller's post, he would be eligible for three government pensions  one from the state, county and city.

But Gracz said this shouldn't concern voters.

"You're going to have to pay somebody to do the job anyway," he said. "I mean it's not like you're saving the city any money by not electing me."

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gracz runs for office again 32 years after claim he exposed himself
On the day the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump in February 2021, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stood up to explain why 43 Republicans, including himself, voted to let Trump off the hook for trying to violently overturn the 2020 election results. Doing so required some careful sidestepping by McConnell, especially given that he agreed with the basic facts presented by the House impeachment managers. McConnell acknowledged that there was no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the deadly riot that unfolded on Jan. 6, and that Trumps feeding of wild falsehoods was a disgraceful dereliction of duty.

But McConnell explained that he and all but seven of the chambers Republican senators had decided that because their vote was coming after Trump had left the White House, there were more appropriate legal avenues where he could be held accountable for his actions as President. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one, McConnell said.

McConnell was echoing a legal argument that Trumps own lawyer, David Schoen, had made to the Senate just days before. We have a judicial process in this country; we have an investigative process in this country to which no former officeholder is immune, Schoen said.

Now Trumps trying to get the courts to forget all that.

Trump appeared in a D.C. appeals court on Tuesday as his lawyers tried to convince a seemingly skeptical panel of three judges that Trump has broad Presidential immunity from criminal prosecution precisely because the Senate never voted to convict him. Even though Trumps own impeachment lawyer and McConnell had used the exact opposite reasoningthat Trump could still be held accountable by the courts for his actions as Presidentas Trumps Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card three years earlier.

Trump didnt have to appear in court for the hearing on Tuesday, but decided to travel to Washington anyway, even though the Iowa Republican caucuses are less than a week away. The former President spoke to reporters at the nearby Waldorf Astoria after the hearing I think they feel this is the way theyre going to try and win, and thats not the way it goes, Trump said, according to The Washington Post. Itll be bedlam in the country. Its a very bad thing. Its a very bad precedent.

Trump is appealing a lower court decision that found he doesnt have presidential immunity in the criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith over Trumps actions leading up to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. In that case, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability and that Trump may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.

The Supreme Court in December declined a request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to immediately rule on whether Trump has immunity from prosecution for actions taken while he was President, leaving it for the lower court to decide first.

Inside the courthouse, the appeals court judges peppered Trumps legal team with questions about previous assertions made by lawyers representing Trump that the former President could, as a private citizen, be prosecuted for his actions in office. "The argument was there's no need to vote for impeachment because we have this back stop which is criminal prosecution and it seems that many senators relied on that in voting to acquit, Judge Florence Y. Pan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, told Trumps legal team. One of Trumps lawyer, D. John Sauer, said that the court shouldnt speculate about what motivated senators in the impeachment process.

In another exchange, Judge Pan offered Sauer a hypothetical: if a President ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival but wasnt impeached or convicted for it by Congress, could that President ever face criminal prosecution? Sauer wouldnt answer the question directly, but said that the concept of Presidential immunity would apply.

Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, thought that the legal argument being offered by Trumps lawyers went too far. I think its paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law, she said.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prevented a data broker from selling sensitive geolocation data, including individuals medical visits, a groundbreaking move as advocates fear reproductive health information is at risk of being exposed after the fall of Roe v Wade.

The data broker Outlogic, formerly known as X-Mode Social, reached a settlement with the FTC following claims that the company was selling data that could be used to track individuals trips to sensitive locations, like reproductive health clinics.

The settlement marks the first time the agency has reached an agreement with a data broker concerning its efforts to sell sensitive location data.

The FTC noted that the location information that the company sold is not anonymized, making it easy to match where someone went with their phone.

Geolocation data can reveal not just where a person lives and whom they spend time with but also, for example, which medical treatments they seek and where they worship, FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.

On top of placing restrictions on selling sensitive location data, the FTCs settlement requires the company to delete data that had been collected without consent and to give consumers a simple and easy-to-find way to block the company from using their data.

The government has taken steps to safeguard individuals privacy in recent years, especially after the landmark Supreme Court decision was reversed.

Abortion rights advocates at the time warned that data from phone apps  including period-tracking apps  could reveal womens sexual health decisions, and could be used nefariously.

In 2022, weeks after Roe was overturned, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for agencies to take additional steps to protect patient privacy, including the sales of sensitive health-related data.

The same year, the FTC sued Kochava, another data broker, alleging that the company has sold data that could tie individuals phones to the locations they visited, including reproductive clinics and houses of worship. That case is still ongoing.

A group of senators introduced legislation in June 2022 aiming to prevent data brokers from selling some of the most sensitive data. And in May 2023, California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs introduced the My Body, My Data Act, aiming to restrict reproductive health data that companies can collect, and therefore misused.

Following the settlement, Planned Parenthoods National Director of Public Policy Laurel Sakai said in a statement to The Independent: Everyone, no matter where they live or how much money they have, should be able to access the health care they need, free from fear that their health information will be sold or used against them. Given the ongoing attacks on abortion access, this is an important action to reinforce peoples health privacy.
After having planted President Joe Bidens flag in South Carolina this week with a direct appeal to Black voters, his campaign will continue its ramp-up this month with visits by Biden to Nevada and Michigan, each home to important Democratic constituency groups he needs to firm up ahead of November.

Its a new phase of the campaign, advisers say, which reflects why Biden felt it was important to overhaul the Democrats nominating calendar  to prioritize the partys more diverse coalition instead of predominantly white states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where Republicans are kicking off their fight.

For these communities, the message that we have now is that, one, they are the ones that have the most at stake, and two, Joe Biden has done more for these communities than any other president or any other administration, Quentin Fulks, Bidens principal deputy campaign manager, said in an interview. It would be foolish for us not to communicate with them out of the gate.

In doing so, though, Biden is also having to confront directly some of the biggest political challenges he faces within his party before he can broaden his focus to the general election.

Biden could be courting Latino voters in Nevada while simultaneously negotiating a border funding bill that includes stricter immigration policies that are opposed by Hispanic leaders. And the campaign concedes it needs to take a delicate approach in Michigan, as the states sizable Arab American population has been critical of his staunch support for Israel.

Fulks said the campaign is ready to engage on those and other issues, both directly from Biden during his visits and through surrogates, direct communication and paid advertising.

The president and our entire team understand that communities across the country  and in Michigan  are hurting. We cant take a single voter for granted, he said.

Our style is that when people come to us on this, the president respects their passion, he added, pointing to how Biden addressed a protester during his South Carolina speech as an example.

Nevada holds its primary on Feb. 6, three days after South Carolina. Michigan comes next in the new Democratic calendar, on Feb. 27.

Going forward, the campaign intends to build on its core argument  that Americans hard-fought freedoms are very much at stake in this election. Freedom was the first word Biden spoke in his re-election kickoff video in April and a theme of his speech Friday warning about Donald Trumps threat to democracy.

Democracy means having the freedom to speak your mind, to be who you are, to be who you want to be, Biden said. But if democracy falls, well lose that freedom.

Vice President Kamala Harris signaled during a trip to Atlanta on Tuesday how the campaign will broaden its freedom argument to key voting groups, saying there is a full-on intent to attack fundamental freedoms and rights, like the freedom to have access to the ballot  for women to make decisions about their own body, the freedom of people to love who they love openly and with pride, the freedom of people to be safe from gun violence.

Harris already this year has made a stop in Nevada to tout another powerful political coalition there  the Culinary Workers union, which represents casino workers and just successfully negotiated a new contract.

The strength of working people is the backbone of the strength of our nation, she said there last week.

The Biden campaign has argued that as important as immigration is, public polling and its own research show the economy as the top concern of Latino voters. In Nevada, focusing on gun violence is also a top concern after the massacre outside Mandalay Bay casino in 2017, the countrys deadliest mass shooting.

In Michigan, the campaign is also focusing on economic freedom and the dignity of work, Fulks said. Last year, Biden joined a United Auto Workers picket line as the union was engaged in negotiations with the Big Three automakers. The UAW, unlike many of the countrys largest unions, has not yet endorsed Biden, showing that the campaign still has work to do.

The campaign has rejected the idea that Biden is focused on those base groups out of weakness. Fulks said it instead is a sign of respect, taking a more holistic approach to them than Democrats have in the past  not just groups that are focuses of turnout efforts in the fall, but ones that need to be targets of persuasion efforts from Day 1.

In 2020, Biden carried both Nevada and Michigan, but by less than 3 percentage points. Only Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia were closer among states Biden carried.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The race between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump remains tight in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, a new poll shows.

A Quinnipiac University survey of registered voters showed 49 percent supporting Biden and 46 percent supporting Trump, who has been leading his GOP rivals for the Republican nomination in most polls.

The poll, conducted Jan. 4-8, is the first in Pennsylvania that shows Biden with a slight lead over Trump. Recent polls in other swing states have also suggested a close race, though Trump more frequently leads Biden in these and some national polls.

Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral college votes, was a key state in the 2020 election, when Biden edged out Trump by just over 1 percentage point. Trump won the state by a narrow margin in the 2016 general election against Hillary Clinton, beating her by just three-quarters of a percentage point.

In a hypothetical matchup including third-party candidates, Biden earned 41 percent support; Trump received 39 percent; independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 11 percent; Green Party candidate Jill Stein 4 percent; and independent candidate Cornel West 2 percent.

Only 40 percent of Pennsylvania voters approved of Biden's job performance, the poll showed, with 58 percent expressing disapproval. Democratic Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro significantly outperformed the president, earning a job approval rating of 59 percent.

Democrat Sen. Bob Casey, who is up for reelection, earned a 51 percent approval rating. The state's Democratic junior senator, John Fetterman, trailed him with 45 percent approval rating.

In the race for Senate, Casey currently leads Republican challenger David McCormick by 10 percentage points, 53-43 percent, the poll showed.

The poll had a sample of 1,680 registered voters surveyed via random-digit dialing over the telephone. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
President Biden polled ahead of former President Trump in Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state the president won in 2020, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The new poll from Quinnipiac University found Biden received 49 percent support and that Trump received 46 percent support from voters in the swing state.

The 3-point lead over Trump comes after the former president received 47 percent support and Biden received 45 percent support in Pennsylvania in a Quinnipiac University poll in October. In a Franklin & Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania voters that same month, however, Biden beat Trump by 2 points, with 44 percent saying they favored the president compared with 42 percent for Trump.

Biden took Pennsylvania in 2020 after Trump won the state in 2016. Biden typically has traveled to the state for big events, including speeches focused on democracy or for a campaign rally, and considers the state a second home to him. First lady Jill Biden is a Philadelphia-area native.

Biden is set to travel to Pennsylvania on Friday and visit the Allentown area for a speech on his economic agenda.

When independent and Green Party candidates were included in the new Quinnipiac University poll, Biden received 41 percent support, Trump received 39 percent support and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 11 percent support. Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 4 percent support, and independent candidate Cornel West received 2 percent support.

Among Republican primary candidates, Trump received 61 percent support in Pennsylvania, compared with 14 percent for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and 10 percent for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The poll is the first time Haley has numerically surpassed DeSantis in any Quinnipiac University poll, according to Quinnipiac.

Nationally, the aggregation of polls kept by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill shows Trump with a lead of 1.2 percentage points over Biden.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,680 Pennsylvania voters Jan. 4-8 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Biden is trailing former President Trump by 8 percentage points in the battleground state of Michigan, according to a new poll.

The latest Michigan poll found that while neither of the front-runner candidates secured a majority support, voters were more likely to support Trump than Biden, The Detroit News reported. The poll, which was commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV, found that 47 percent of likely Michigan voters would back Trump and 39 percent would support Biden.

The newspaper noted that 3 percent of Michigan voters polled said they would back another candidate and 11 percent were undecided.

The poll also asked voters whether Biden and Trump did well enough while serving in the Oval Office to deserve a second term, The Detroit News reported. Just 17 percent said Biden did well enough to get another term in office and 77 percent said they would want to see someone else in the White House. On the other hand, 33 percent said Trump should get another term while 62 percent said someone else should be elected.

Michigan is a key swing state in this years election. Biden won the state in 2020 by 3 percentage points, taking back a state Trump narrowly won in 2016. According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average of Michigan polls, Trump has a 6-point lead over Biden in the state.

The Detroit News noted that Trump fared better against Biden in the state when voters were asked to choose between the two front-runners and a third-party candidate. When the poll included potential third-party candidates, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) who has not announced plans to run for the White House, Trump extended his lead over Biden to 11 percentage points.

The poll was conducted by the Glengarrif Group among 600 likely Michigan voters and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, according to the newspaper.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Large waves will crash down on the Southern California coast in the next couple of days, bringing with them dangerous rip currents and a chance of coastal flooding.

A high surf advisory is in place for Los Angeles County beaches, Malibu coast and Catalina Island from 3 p.m. Wednesday through 3 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

A coastal flood advisory for the same areas began at 4 a.m. Tuesday and will continue through noon Thursday.

Surf and flood advisories are also in place for Ventura and Orange County coasts.

The National Weather Service provides details about an upcoming surf event.

Flooding of sea water is likely, around the time of high tide, over vulnerable low-lying coastal areas such as parking lots, beaches, and walkways, the Weather Service stated. No significant damage to roads or structures is expected.

Although big waves are expected, forecasters do not believe the surf will be as severe as the Dec. 28-30 event.

Rogue wave slams into Southern California beachgoers; 9 hospitalized

Two weeks ago, a rogue wave slammed onto Venturas Seaward Avenue as onlookers frantically ran for their lives.

Nine people were rushed to the hospital by paramedics. Two of the victims were in critical condition following the incident.

Boarded up doors and windows are seen on Jan. 10, 2024, weeks after a rogue wave struck the Ventura coast.

Tides between 4 and 7 feet Wednesday will build to 7 to 10 feet by Thursday along the Ventura and L.A. County coasts, according to the Weather Service.

Morning high tide on Thursday is predicted to be near 7.3 feet at around 8:20 a.m.

Severe windstorm heading to Southern California

Beachgoers are urged to keep their eyes on the ocean and avoid rock jetties. Also, officials suggest staying out of the water as swimming conditions are hazardous due to strong rip currents.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who helped chase Claudine Gay out of Harvards presidency, learned last week from Business Insider that his wife, former MIT professor Neri Oxman, has a plagiarism problem arguably worse than Gaysbecause in addition to borrowings similar to those that sank Gay, Oxmans dissertation cribbed from Wikipedia, a source professors typically shoo undergraduates away from. Ackman is not taking this news well.

Ive written previously about Ackmans oligarchic bullying and his brazen hypocrisy on the subject of antisemitism. Even as Ackman was trying to blackball a bunch of teenagers whose Harvard student organization signed onto a foolish and offensive letter about the October 7 Hamas massacre, Ackman was simultaneously defending an antisemitic tweet made by 53-year-old Elon Musk, the richest human on Planet Earth (net worth: $241.5 billion). The offending antisemitic tweet was not Musks first, and it sent corporate advertisers leaving Twitter/X in droves. In a classic two-step maneuver characteristic of bullies, Ackman punched down and kissed up.

Now Ackman has extended his hypocrisy into the realm of plagiarism, a project that includes bullying Axel Springer, the publisher of Business Insider, into investigating the ethics of its own scoop. His new campaign is more bizarre and potentially more dangerous.

It would be inaccurate to say Ackman took the lead on publicizing plagiarism accusations against Gay; that role was assumed by the New York Post, the Free Beacon, a conservative activist named Christopher Rufo (himself guilty of exaggerating a Harvard credential in his bio), and a still-unidentified person who filed three complaints with the Harvard Corporation between December 11 and January 1. Ackmans initial beef with Gay concerned student protests over the conflict in Gaza. But Ackman publicized the plagiarism allegations energetically on Twitter well before the most damning evidence appeared, and he made them part of his brief against Gay in his unsuccessful attempt to get her fired in mid-December. As Ive written earlier, Gay resigned in early January not because Harvard was unwilling to stand up to Ackman about student protests and diversity, equity, and inclusion (which eventually displaced the protests as Ackmans chief bugbear), but rather because Gays plagiarism turned out to be much more serious than initially believed.

After Oxman came under similar fire, Ackman abruptly and seemingly without embarrassment reversed his stance on plagiarism. Heres what Ackman had to say on January 3, the day that Gays resignation was announced:



When the Board finally publicly acknowledged some of Gays plagiarism, it characterized the plagiarism as unintentional and invented new euphemisms, i.e., duplicative language to describe plagiarism, a belittling of academic integrity that has caused grave damage to Harvards academic standards and credibility.

I find nothing to quarrel with here. Even granting (as I do) that the initial plagiarism evidence against Gay was embarrassing rather than disqualifying, Harvard administrators initial attempt to excuse her duplicative language as unintentional was, indeed, absurd. Plagiarists always say they acted unintentionally. (Wouldnt you?) Perhaps for this reason, the Modern Language Association, which I consider the last word on the subject, makes a point of stipulating that intentionality is irrelevant:

Copying a published or unpublished text of any length, whether deliberately or accidentally [italics mine], is plagiarism if you dont give credit to the source. Paraphrasing someones ideas or arguments or copying someones unique wording without giving proper credit is plagiarism.



Similarly, Harvards online guide to using sources states:

Plagiarism is defined as the act of either intentionally OR unintentionally [italics mine] submitting work that was written by someone else. If you turn in a paper that was written by someone else, or if you turn in a paper in which you have included material from any source without citing that source, you have plagiarized.

And, yes, its still plagiarism if you change a word here or there. Harvard calls that mosaic plagiarism. Any student caught plagiarizing, says the online guide, will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.

Its different, of course, when grown-ups do the plagiarizing at Harvard. When I last looked into this two decades ago, Americas oldest university treated members of its faculty who commit plagiarism much more gently than it did undergraduates. An op-ed published anonymously in The Harvard Crimson a few days before Gay resigned persuaded me this double standard remained in place (until widespread, deeply embarrassing public attention compelled Gays departure). Afterward, Ackman, (taking things too far, as usual) wrote on X that Harvards allowing Gay to return to her faculty position set a bad precedent for academic integrity because students are forced to withdraw for much less.

That was January 3. On January 4, Ackmans views on plagiarism took a 180-degree turn, prompted by Business Insider presenting strong evidence that Mrs. Ackman had committed plagiarism in her doctoral thesis (including at least one passage directly lifted from other writers without citation).

It wasnt fair, Ackman wrote, because as far [back] as I can remember in business and in media  family was off limits. Never mind that Neri Oxman is both a grown woman and a public figure. Also, Ackman said, it wasnt fair because the editor of Business Insiders investigative group is a known anti-Zionist and my wife is Israeli. For the record, I find no evidence that this editor, John Cook, is anti-Zionist. I suspect Ackman has him confused with a British reporter named Jonathan Cook (who is also not, as far as I know, anti-Zionist).

Also, Ackman wrote, it wasnt fair because the lead Business Insider reporter, Katherine Long, sent an email to Ackmans communications aide at 5:19 p.m. Friday, after sundown on Friday night to a family that celebrates Shabbat dinner together. The email presented evidence of Oxmans (again, especially mortifying) plagiarism of Wikipedia and asked for comment. Ackman didnt state outright that he found a Shabbat email antisemitic, but he noted that Oxman is Israeli and invited readers to think about that. I thought about it. Scoops do not arrive on a convenient schedule; its imperative to move them quickly before someone else scoops you; and the roughly two hours Business Insider gave Oxman to respond is par for the course.

Ackman also hinted darkly that somebody might have set up Oxman by rephrasing a Wikipedia entry to make it mimic Oxmans writing (Wikipedia changes minute by minute). Ackman hasnt repeated this argument, possibly because somebody explained to him that Wikipedia records and dates every single change made to its content. (For those of you curious about the ins and outs of Wikipedia editing and the history of the site being plagiarized, Wikipedian and writer Molly White addressed Ackmans questions in a YouTube video.)

Finally, Ackman said, Oxman received no due process, as if journalism adhered to judicial procedures, which it doesnt.

As for the plagiarism accusation itself, Ackman suddenly found that word to be entirely unacceptable  because Oxmans plagiarism was not deliberate!

Plagiarism is fraud, Ackman tweeted. Plagiarism is a crime. Oxman, he wrote,

admitted to making four clerical errors of punctuation and one missed footnote in her 330-page dissertation, and she apologized for doing so. To this day, she has never admitted to plagiarism. She has never committed fraud of any kind.

In a subsequent tweet Ackman argued that MIT, where Oxman received her doctorate, did not require citation or even mention Wikipedia until 2013, four years after Neri wrote her dissertation. Mightnt that be because using Wikipedia as a source for an academic paper was so obviously declasse that before 2013 MIT couldnt imagine anyone doing it?

Its tempting to laugh all this off, but when a transparently hypocritical and utterly misguided complaint about press coverage is attached to $4 billion, which is Ackmans net worth (according to Forbes), its going to make waves. Ackmans complaint that Business Insider displayed anti-Zionist behavior hit a raw nerve at Axel Springer, a German company whose German employees are required to pledge fealty to Israel. (Yes, thats overkill. Theres some history behind it.) In a public statement, Axel Springer said it would take very seriously allegations about the motivation and the process leading up to the reporting. According to Ackman, an Axel Springer director has already told him I agree with you that plagiarism is defined too broadly.

Meanwhile, Ackman, convinced that Business Insider obtained the plagiarism evidence on Oxman from someone at MIT, declared a sort of Plagiarisageddon against the university (whose president he was already trying to get fired for her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus):

Every faculty member knows that once their work is targeted by AI, they will be outed. No body of written work in academia can survive the power of AI searching for missing quotation marks, failures to paraphrase appropriately, and/or the failure to properly credit the work of others.

Never mind that, one month before, Ackman argued that Claudine Gays plagiarism demanded attention because it represented an exceptional violation of academic standards. Now Ackman was saying, They all do it, and he meant to demonstrate that, not only at MIT but also at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Dartmouth. Indeed, Ackman argued, The most productive and important scholars were the most vulnerable because the more papers and pages you have written, the greater the probability that you missed a citation or some quotation marks. By this logic, Harvard shouldnt have accepted Gays resignation as president. It should have given her a raise.

By now Ackman was edging close to an apology about Gaynot, I suspect, out of any sincere remorse but rather because even he was drifting toward some dim recognition that perhaps he was being a little hypocritical about plagiarism. Yes, Ackman tweeted, I publicly questioned how the board could have approved her remaining on the faculty in light of the amount, nature, and degree of plagiarism that had surfaced in her work. But I was convinced by others more expert than I, that her academic oeuvre was not of sufficient scale or quality, and that the plagiarism issue was sufficiently troubling that she was not qualified even to remain on Harvards faculty.

Ackman was misled by academic experts!

In retrospect, I shouldnt have had to form my own conclusions about plagiarism in her work. That should have been determined in a formal and transparent process by an administrative board comprised of independent members who could have judged her work without personal consequences to themselves.

Never mind that one month earlier Ackman was complaining that, rather than go through channels, the Harvard Corporation went outside of the proper process and assigned evaluation of the plagiarism allegations about Gay to a three-person panel of political scientist experts that to this day remain unnamed and therefore were free to judge without personal consequences to themselves.

On what other Philistines does Ackman threaten, like Samson, to pull down the temple? On Monday, Ackman pledged to pursue these societally important issues including problems with how our media operatesreassuring his investors that this vendetta wont interfere with his day job because I am posting this while on the elliptical [trainer]. I look forward to my very own plagiarism check. After reading all these tweets Im tempted to believe that Ackman is in the throes of some very public nervous breakdown, but having seen Donald Trump and Elon Musk behave similarly on social media, I know this is just something rich people do.
If you thought youd heard the last of Bill Ackman, following his self-appointed stint as the internets Main Character in the right-wing crusade to oust Harvard President Claudine Gay, well, I regret to inform you the man is at it againthis time, to whine loudly (and lengthily) about how hes found himself at the receiving end of the very battle he kicked off.

At this very moment, the billionaire hedge fund manager is probably typing out another near-5,000-word tweet to add to the slew of lengthy, aggressive diatribes hes posted over the past few months on X, raving against Ivy League presidents who dont respond to his letters, academic departments supposedly infiltrated by a nefarious diversity cult, and now, the very mainstream media whose close coverage of his tactics significantly increased his general name recognition and Twitter follower count.

This time, the role Ackman has taken on is Toxic Wife Guy. Hes full-throatedly defending his partner, famed computational designer Neri Oxman, from reports that she committed the very misdeed Ackman disparaged Gay for: plagiarism in her academic work.

Business Insider published two stories that demonstrated Oxman had committed multiple instances of plagiarism in her 2010 doctoral dissertation, as well as in two other peer-reviewed papers she respectively wrote in 2007 and 2011. These included entire paragraphs copied and pasted from other scholarly papers, academic books, Wikipedia articles, and random websites. Neither Ackman nor Oxman has disputed the specifics. But Ackman cant believe this is happening and is posting nonstop about his attempts to intimidate the publication by haranguing its parent company. He also doesnt seem to think that copying text verbatim from Wikipedia is a big dealor at least wasnt when Oxman did sobut well get to that later.

Remind me why I should care about this guy again?

Ackman is an extremely wealthy financier who came to prominence in the 2000s as an asset manager and short-seller with a keen sense of stock market patterns and company health. As such, he has amassed a multibillion-dollar fortune.

In recent years, hes also fashioned himself into something of a sociopolitical pundit and blogger, endorsing a Michael Bloomberg presidency in 2016, defending a prominent biologist whod been fired from three different institutions for sexual misconduct, referring to Kyle Rittenhouse as a patriot, proposing that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon run for president, endorsing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s COVID-vaccine skepticism, insisting upon Sam Bankman-Frieds innocence up until his conviction, and investing in anti-woke initiatives like Elon Musks Twitter takeover as well as the asset management firm started by Vivek Ramaswamy to counter socially conscious corporate practices.

You can see where this is going: Despite being a reliable Democratic donor and eager philanthropist for much of his career, Ackman, along with more than a few of his venture capital and tech-world friends, has taken the red pill as of late. This manifested itself most openly during the November congressional hearing where the presidents of three elite universitiesHarvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MITwere taken to task by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik over their perceived failure to combat antisemitism on their respective campuses. Stefanik, a frequent regurgitator of antisemitic conspiracies around George Soros influence and the influx of migrants through the southern border, was hardly the most appropriate figurehead for such an event. Nevertheless, the academics tried to offer careful, nuanced answers to hypothetical questions and ended up on the wrong end of a sound bite. And it was a sound bite that outraged Bill Ackman, leading him to amplify it repeatedly. UPenns president resigned in the days following the resulting uproar, but Harvards Claudine Gay did not, leading Ackman to pen open letters (tweets) to her, accusing the prominent and accomplished Black academic of only attaining her position due to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and calling on her to be fired.

Yes, I remember that, but he didnt succeed there, right?

Well, it became pretty clear, when right-wing agitprop specialists like Christopher Rufo and Elon Musk (whose own virulent antisemitism and racism Ackman tends to dismiss) joined the fray, that this was perhaps not exactly about antisemitism. For Ackman, the outrage at the president of his alma mater appeared personal. The New York Times reported on Ackmans longtime frustration with Harvard, resulting from how the folks in charge didnt much care for his general advice or input on how to spend the donations he made to the school. (Ackman denied the premise of the Times story on Twitter by  explaining why he was so mad about how Harvard handled one of his donations. Anyway, hes also trying to elect his own hand-picked candidates to the board.)

Harvards governing board initially stood by Gay, but Rufo and his pals lodged more accusations of plagiarism in Gays past academic work, some of which were more credible than others. That was what ultimately undid Gay and led the board to request her resignation. (According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the Harvard board members whom Ackman most frequently contacted had been simultaneously serving on the board of Ackmans financial firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, until last month.) Gay stepped down from the presidency on Jan. 2, though she remains on Harvards faculty, something Ackman is pointedly unhappy about.

OK, still not connecting this with him being a Toxic Wife Guy.

Were getting there. After Gay resigned from her post as president, Ackman continued to call for the ouster of MITs president Sally Kornbluth, the only participant in the congressional hearings to retain her position thus far. That campaign, however, was derailed a touch last Thursday when Business Insider reported that Ackmans wife had plagiarized several passages in her 2010 doctoral dissertation at MIT, where she later worked as a professor.

So, she did the same thing as Gay? And Ackman obviously isnt mad about that 

These revelations, combined with the much-anticipated unsealing of various Jeffrey Epstein court documents 

Wait! What? Epstein is involved in this?

Let me finish, please! The plagiarism scrutiny around Oxman and Epstein being in the news again have brought renewed attention to a 2017 incident in which she, then a professor at the MIT Media Lab, deputized a student to dispatch a thank-you gift to Epsteinwho was a big donoreven after the student raised concerns over, uh, everything that everybody knows about Epstein. As the Boston Globe reported, Ackman later emailed the director of MITs Media Lab to request that he not mention Oxmans connection to Epstein to anyone who might investigate the labs well-documented ties with the disgraced financier. So we know this isnt the first time he has pressured someone to protect his wife from bad press.

Goodness. OK.

Yes. But back to the plagiarism accusation. Ackman tried to stave off further embarrassment by, embarrassingly, posting a lot. He tweeted that Oxman was the subject of a follow-up investigation: Shed been contacted by Business Insider claiming that they have identified other plagiarism in her work including 15 examples in her dissertation where she did not cite Wikipedia as a source.

This request for comment fueled a vengeful diatribe: This experience has inspired me to save all news organizations from the trouble of doing plagiarism reviews, Ackman wrote. We will begin with a review of the work of all current @MIT faculty members, President Kornbluth, other officers of the Corporation, and its board members for plagiarism. He then asked that companies willing to help his effort reach out to a senior analyst at Pershing Square (no, I dont know what a plagiarism task force has to do with asset management), declared he would expand his plagiarism investigation to Business Insider journalists, started harassing individual reporters there, defended Oxmans connections with Epstein, and claimed that she couldnt have plagiarized if she copied passages from Wikipedia because the online encyclopedia is in the creative commons. (Experienced Wikipedians would like to differ.)

All this was followed by another much-too-long attack on MIT in which he proposed using artificial intelligence to ferret out plagiarism incidents at more colleges, the end goal of which would be that universities will ultimately be forced to conclude that there are different kinds and degrees of plagiarism. Hard to get into how dumb that is, especially in light of how notoriously awful A.I. text detectors are.

Uh-huh.

In a separate tweet, Ackman called out Business Insiders parent company, Axel Springer, noting that it is controlled by private equity giant KKR, a firm that I have had enormous respect for over the years. After more public whining from Ackman, Axel Springer announced Sunday evening that while it did not dispute the facts of the Business Insider pieces about Oxmans scholarship, it wished to address the concern that questions have been raised about the motivation and the process leading up to the reporting. CNNs Oliver Darcy then reached out to the company to ask whether Ackmans singling out of KKR had anything to do with this, which a spokesperson denied; Darcy did hear, however, from multiple Business Insider reporters who were alarmed by this development.

But did Ackman actually try to strong-arm Axel Springer into undercutting its own journalism?

Hey, dont take it from me; take it from the man himself. On Tuesday, Ackman leaked an email that Business Insiders editor in chief sent to staff Sunday afternoon, noting that the facts of the stories have not been disputed by Oxman or her husband Bill Ackman. Ackman and others have raised concerns about our reporting process, as well as the motivation for publishing the stories. After accusing the EIC of lying, Ackman laid out the timeline of his pressure campaign. He said he spoke with members of the board of directors of Axel Springer on Sunday morning, including Martin Varsavsky, whom he admits to having pressured repeatedly throughout the day to announce publicly that Axel Springer was investigating the circumstances around the Oxman reporting. Varsavsky, who reportedly told Ackman he was working only on this, followed through on the request.

Ackman presented the directors allyship as a checkmate even though, once again, neither he nor Oxman denied any of the reporting on the substance. Also, directors for a publications parent company should not have direct influence over their reportingsort of the first rule of a free press. Not that Ackman especially cares about a free press. On Tuesday night, he posted another tweet wondering aloud why Axel Springer and KKR havent cleaned house or shut this thing downthis being the journalism outlet known as Business Insider. So, yeah.

I assume Ackman doesnt think his wifes plagiarism should be held to the same standard as Gays.

He does not. He says that because his wife (whos long been a public figure in her own right) is no longer at MIT Media Lab and is private and an introvert, her work doesnt warrant attention the way Gays did. Even a staffer at the Daily Wirenot exactly a paragon of journalistic integritydisputed Ackman and Rufo on this point. Ackman is in hot pursuit of any workable excuse, including the apparent discovery that MITs academic integrity handbook did not mention Wikipedia back in 2009, so obviously theres no misdeed, even if whole Wikipedia passages were copied and pasted! (Ackman then states that 2009 was still pretty early days for Wikipedia, which is a way more ridiculous excuse, but also, Wikipedia was eight years old by then.)

I  cant imagine a more deranged way for a multibillionaire to spend his time right now.

Right? All in all, Bill Ackman has devoted tens of thousands of words to demanding a university fire its president over plagiarism; declaring his wife immune from evidence of her own plagiarism while in academia; and announcing a plagiarism-themed call to war against the institutions of American academia and media as a whole. It raises obvious concerns about how the richest people in our country bend the world to their whims, going as far as to sabotage pillars of civic society, driven merely by personal, ridiculous aggrievement. Its also extremely funny to see this man, who clearly thinks of himself as brilliant, tripping over himself by offering the dumbest justifications possible to argue that he and his famous wife should not be held to the same standards to which he has held other public figures. For all Bill Ackman appears to care about meritocracy, he cannot seem to comprehend that with every new tweet, hes exposing himself as someone who is nowhere near as smart as hed like to appear.
Three out of every four years in Kentucky are election years, but a bill advancing in the Senate seeks to change that.

Senate Bill 10, filed by Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, on the first day of the 2024 General Assembly, would move the election of state constitutional officers to align with presidential election years beginning in 2032  if voters approved the change.

The bill passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee Wednesday in a 7-1 party-line vote.

McDaniel said streamlining election years would save about $2 million at the state level, and another $15 million for local governments. It also, he said, would improve voter participation.

According to the State Board of Elections, voter turnout in 2023 was about 38%, compared to about 60% in 2020.

McDaniel, who has sponsored the same constitutional amendment proposal eight previous times going back to 2013, said he feels confident the ninth time could be the charm.

His last attempt, in 2020, passed the Senate with bipartisan support but died in the House without receiving a committee vote.

Weve got folks over there (in the House) who probably share more of my concern about voter participation and financial issues, McDaniel said Wednesday. So, Im optimistic that itll get taken up. Itll probably a couple of weeks, but Im optimistic that theyll at least entertain it.

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The offices that would be impacted by the change are governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, commissioner of agriculture, auditor and treasurer. Officials elected in 2027 would serve a five-year term rather than four years.

In November, Kentuckians reelected Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear over Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron by five percentage points. Beshear and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, were the only Democrats to win a statewide race, with Republicans sweeping the five other offices.

Kentucky was one of just three states to elect its governor in 2023, along with Louisiana and Mississippi.

McDaniels bill is up to eight co-sponsors  all Republicans  including Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown and Majority Whip Mike Wilson of Bowling Green.

In casting his vote of support, Thayer said people are getting less and less interested in our statewide races.

I think that people are voting with their feet by staying home, Thayer said. Theyre just not interested. And I think one way to get them interested is put these races on the ballot when probably 20% more of them are already coming to vote.

Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, the lone no vote, said Kentucky first held its non-presidential election in 1851. The framers of the constitution spoke particularly about the need for us to have an election focused on Kentucky, issues in Kentucky, and about the need to get rid of some of the confusion about allowing national issues to infiltrate our Kentucky elections.

I think that the need for that has only increased over time in the 176 years since weve been doing that this way, as opposed to decrease, Chambers Armstrong said. Nowadays with national division, with presidential elections lasting for years and eating up the airwaves, I think its really important that the people of Kentucky have space to focus on Kentucky issues.

McDaniel said hed rather see more Kentuckians turn out to weigh in on a larger number of issues, as opposed to lower turnout for fewer issues.

Its a difference in philosophy, he said.
Mr Clinton's representatives previously said he knows nothing about Epstein's 'terrible' crimes - Netflix

Bill Clinton twice visited Jeffrey Epsteins Caribbean island where he had dinner with two beautiful girls who looked like sisters, according to newly released court documents.

Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre told lawyers the former US president visited the so-called peadophile island on two occasions within weeks of one another. Mr Clinton has strenuously denied ever visiting Little St James.

In her 2016 deposition, which was unsealed on Tuesday by a New York court, Ms Giuffre claimed during both alleged visits she, Mr Clinton, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein dined with two other young girls.

Asked to describe the girls at the first dinner, Ms Giuffre said they were young, beautiful like every girl thats generally around Jeffrey.

There was a dinner, lots of laughing, lots of joking, it was just a dinner and then I didnt have to do anything with Bill Clinton, he was never sexually involved with me.

Ive never witnessed him sexually involved with anybody else.

Bill Clinton associated with Epstein and Maxwell - William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Speaking about the girls who joined them for dinner during the second visit, she said: It sounds funny, but I thought that they were sisters they looked so much alike. They had  they were beautiful, they were youngish. I dont know exactly their age.

Asked whether the former US president was a witness to the sexual abuse of minors, Ms Giuffre said: Yes, he would be a witness because he knew what my purpose there was for Jeffrey and he visited Jeffreys island.

She added: Theres pictures of nude girls all around the house at all of his houses and its something that Jeffrey Epstein wasnt shy about admitting to people.

Ms Giuffre also said she did not believe Donald Trump participated in the abuse of minors.

That would have to be another assumption. I never saw or witnessed Donald Trump participate in those acts, but was he in the house of Jeffrey Epstein.

Ive heard he has been, but I havent seen him myself so I dont know.

Epstein owned Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands - Marco Bello

Ms Giuffre also claimed in the court document that she had six sexual encounters with former lawyer Alan Dershowitz, including one incident when they had sex on a chair in Epsteins New York bedroom around 60 seconds after she and Epstein had had intercourse.

She also alleged she and another young, blonde woman had intercourse with Epstein and Mr Dershowtiz on Epsteins private jet.

Mr Dershowitz always strenuously denied the allegations and counter sued Ms Giuffre for defamation.

In 2022, Ms Giuffre agreed to drop all allegations against Mr Dershowitz saying she may have made a mistake when she accused him of sexual abuse.

Separately, Sarah Ransome has claimed Epstein instructed her to have sex with lawyer Alan Dershowitz - Dan Callister

In the 223-page court filing, Ms Giuffre claimed she had been trafficked to a well-known prime minister, but refused to disclose his name over safety concerns.

Pressed to identify the alleged offender, Ms Giuffres lawyer stepped in, saying: Im not going to allow her to answer a question thats going to threaten her physical safety.

Ms Giuffre then added: If I can just say, I personally know that this is not a good person to talk about and Im not going to, point blank, Im not going to say his name.

Asked which other world leaders she was trafficked to, Ms Giuffre named Prince Andrew and another prince whom she met in the south of France.

Virginia Giuffre kept a photograph of a night she said she spent time with Prince Andrew

Other men she claimed she was told to have sex with include former US Senator George Mitchell, Bill Richardson and Les Wexner.

She claimed she was trafficked to Mr Richardson more than twice when she was 17 or 18 and Mr Wexner possibly more than five times.

Ms Giuffre said she was sent to have sex with hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin while his pregnant wife was asleep in the next room.

She also claimed she had sexual relations with AI pioneer Marvin Minsky, who she described as an older gentleman who she met on Epsteins island.

All of the men mentioned have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Clintons spokesman, Angel Urena, said in July 2019 that the former president knows nothing about the terrible crimes that Epstein was accused of. He said it had been nearly 20 years since the pair last had contact.

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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs gives her State of the State speech to start the 2024 legislative session in Phoenix on Jan. 8, 2024.

Gov. Katie Hobbs officially started the new legislative session this week with her second State of the State address. She focused on areas where she's hopeful for bipartisanship: housing, the border and the state's water supply.

This year, Republican lawmakers mostly listened in silence. One senator, Anthony Kern, once again turned his back on Hobbs, literally, as he had in 2023.

Despite the turbulence and at a time when the state is facing a budget shortfall, this years speech had moments suggesting potential bipartisan cooperation. Kerns protest was the only one of its kind this year, which was also an improvement over last year.

This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Democratic political strategist Tony Cani and Kirk Adams, former chief of staff to previous Gov. Doug Ducey.

Together they break down Hobbs' Jan. 8 State of the State address to explore whether her strategic roadmap to bipartisanship is achievable and her goals for 2024.

Listen to the episode

The best way to listen is to subscribe to The Gaggle on your favorite podcast app, but you also can stream the full episode below.

Note: The Gaggle is intended to be heard. But we also offer an AI transcript of the episode script. There may be slight deviations from the podcast audio.

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Reach the producer at aluberto@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @amandaluberto.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Water, housing and border are key points in Gov. Katie Hobbs' speech
China makes solid progress toward goal of becoming a trader of quality: commerce minister

Xinhua) 08:09, January 10, 2024

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said on Tuesday that China, the world's top trader in terms of goods, is making steady progress toward its goal of becoming a trader of quality.

Wang, when delivering a special report on the nation's foreign trade development at an economic climate seminar held in Beijing, said that China's foreign trade had withstood downward pressure in 2023 as both its scale and share in global trade had remained generally stable.

Meanwhile, the nation's foreign trade structure became more optimized and its partners more diverse in 2023, which fully demonstrated strong resilience, Wang said.

While noting risks and challenges such as sluggish external demand, the minister pointed out that the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth had not changed, providing strong support for the development of the nation's foreign trade.

"We have the capability and confidence to make new progress in promoting the high-quality development of trade at a higher level," Wang said.

The minister said that the ministry, in line with the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and work arrangements made by the recently held Central Economic Work Conference, will make efforts to expand high-level opening up, cultivate new drivers of foreign trade, expand intermediate goods trade, service trade, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports, and deepen international economic and trade cooperation.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
In the rarefied realm of monkey movies, He Went That Way is not likely to rank with such cinematic triumphs as Planet of the Apes and its many sequels, Clint Eastwoods Every Which Way But Loose, various King Kong romps or even Ronald Reagans Bedtime for Bonzo.

But this movie, which has been playing in theaters across and streams Jan. 12, is nevertheless worthy of our attention, especially given its inherent weirdness and strong local connections.

It is a based-on-fact story of how, in 1964, animal trainer and Evanston native Dave Pitts was traveling by car with his trained chimpanzee named Spanky.

Before this journey, Pitts had been studying musical theater at Northwestern University but dropped out to sing with a trio. That career ended after he saw a roller-skating chimp at a state fair, bought that chimps brother, named him Spanky and taught him to ice skate. They formed an act that made them among the most popular headliners for the Ice Capades, traveling the globe and appearing on a variety of television shows. They were famous.

So in 1964, Pitts and Spanky were on their way to meet the Ice Capades crew in Minnesota. They picked up this hitchhiker named Larry Ranes, who quickly divulged that he was a serial killer. Over the course of three understandably tense and terrifying days, this trio headed east from Las Vegas.

That, basically and with no spoilers, is the film, which is inspired by one chapter in a 1987 book about Ranes titled Luke Karamazov written by Conrad Hilberry. The film premiered in June at the Tribeca Film Festival and has more recently received some less-than-flattering reviews. Richard Roeper wrote in the Sun-Times that it never finds a steady tone, veers off into some bizarre subplots and features two surprisingly underwhelming performances. The New York Times called it laboriously quirky.

Directed by Jeffrey Darling, it stars Zachary Quinto as Pitts (here named Jim Goodwin), Jacob Elordi as the killer (Bobby Falls), and Spanky, as described by Roeper, played by an actor in motion capture (with some puppetry as well).

But Jonathan Pitts says, Its a fine film. I really liked it.

He could be biased since he was a story consultant for the film and is its narrator.

I was contacted by the producers who had been trying to get this film made for 17 years, he says. I spent some of the two or so weeks on set when the movie was shot in Los Angeles in 2021. And I was at the film festival opening, my first time ever walking a red carpet.

But his relationship goes much deeper. He is the son of Dave Pitts.

The skating chimp Spanky with his partner-trainer Dave Pitts in a 1965 promotional photo for Ice Capades.

The first two years of my life we all  me, Spanky and my parents  lived in a trailer and traveled the country, says the 64-year-old. Then my parents divorced and I would only see my father one day a year, when the Ice Capades came to town, or sometimes when he and Spanky would be on some TV commercial or talk show.

It is understandable that he says, I have been haunted by this story since I was a child, and he was inspired by his association with the film to create his own theatrical presentation. The movie is very different from what I will be doing on stage, he says. Its a vastly different narrative, more personal.

It is easy to be hopeful. In the first place, his solo show has a much snappier title than the film. My Dad, His Chimp, and a Serial Killer will premiere this weekend as part of the ever-interesting and usually entertaining Fillet of Solo Festival, a two-week presentation of storytelling performances now in its 27th year. Presented Jan. 12-21 at Lifeline Theatre (6912 N. Glenwood Ave.) and South of the Border (1416 W. Morse Ave.), it will feature in addition to Pitts, such offerings as Nestor Gomez and his 80 Minutes Around the World: Immigration Stories.

Pitts is enthusiastic, harboring, not unrealistically, the hope that his show might be the foundation for a longer run at a local theater.

He certainly knows that landscape. Since dropping out of college to dive into the improvisational theater world, he has fashioned a busy and influential career. In the late 1980s, he assisted Jane and the late Bernie Sahlins with their ambitious International Theatre Festival here and in 1988 he and Frances Callier created the Chicago Improv Festival and for the next decades he served as its executive director.

In 2017, after the death of his mother Judith, for whom he had been principal caretaker for a few years after she suffered a stroke, he needed a break, telling me I was just burned out and felt that I had made my contribution.

He traveled, teaching and performing in 26 countries. Then came COVID. He returned to Chicago and kept mostly to himself in an apartment in Albany Park. But this enforced interlude gave him time for much self-reflection, to get involved with the movie and to fashion his own show. I know the opening line and the closing line and the arc of the story, but there is a lot of freedom in that arc and a lot will be determined by the audience and its response, he says.

We talked a bit more about the movie, about the ironic tragedy of director Darling. This was the acclaimed 60-year-old cinematographers first feature-length directorial debut and he died in a surfing accident shortly after it was completed.

We talked about the killer Ranes, whose older brother was also a serial killer, and who died in a Michigan prison in November. We talked a bit about the Spanky that Pitts knew as a little boy. And then I asked about his dad.

Dave Pitts would work for the Ice Capades until the mid-1970s, paired with a few more young chimps, all of whom he trained and named Spanky. He flirted with some other animal-related careers. He sold cars. And then, long ago, he moved to South America. I havent seen him in many years and I think the last time we talked was maybe 2015, his son says. Hes in Buenos Aires and he has dementia but I think he is aware of and happy about this movie having been made. But I am not at all sure he knows about my show. And what he might think of that.

rkogan@chicagotribune.com
This Black Businesswoman And Owner Of Carlas Fresh Market Wants To Change The Grocery Shopping Experience For Underserved Communities | Photo: Goodboy Picture Company via Getty Images

Ariell Ilunga is a businesswoman who has brought the city of Northeast Los Angeles a place to enhance the residents shopping experience and overall health.

In November of 2023, Ilunga opened the doors to Carlas Fresh Market, which offers fresh produce, food and beverages from small Black-owned businesses, according to Essence. The 3,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar is full of character with colorful walls, and provides guests with multiple seating areas. Although the store is large, the design and layout offer customers a familiar but luxurious shopping experience as the space gives boutique vibes.

I want to change the grocery shopping experience. I want it to be a place of discovery. I want to have fresh local produce and a vibrant setting, Illunga said in an interview with Essence.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Carlas Fresh Market (@carlasfreshmarket)

Her late friend, Carla Anderson, who lost her battle with cancer in 2020, inspired the stores name.

She was always like my champion, always just saw me before I saw myself. She always said youre going to do great in this life; you have everything it takes, she said. I just wanted that energy woven into the space like this.

After the LA native quit her job in New York City as a fashion publicist in 2016, she moved back to California to figure out her next moves. During this transition, her love for being in the kitchen resurfaced, which led to her visiting farmers markets often and learning more about farming.

I just started working at markets from the ground up. I did everything from taking out the trash and setting up tents to finally running one of the largest farmers markets in the country, called the Hollywood Farmers Market. That whole experience changed my life, she said.

She continued, I have an appreciation for really good food but didnt know much about how we get it and who does it and any of it. And so, for five years, I spent a lot of time with farmers, I spent a lot of time on farms, and Ive hugged so many baby goats, which is very therapeutic; I highly recommend it. It just changed my life.

As a wife and mother, Ilunga opened the location after noticing the gap between healthy food choices and underprivileged communities, which usually consist of minorities.

Were feeding families. We need value, we need accessibility, we need ease, she said.

Customers of Carlas Fresh Market will be introduced to curated food options from a wide range of Black-owned and operated culinary companies and brands, including Ghost Town Oats, Trade Street Jam, Mumgry and Jah Mama Sauce. This is a short list of businesses since the store carries nearly 700 products from diverse owners. In addition, the store has a wine section from LaShea Delaney selling wine and spirits crafted by minority winemakers.

Ilunga eventually plans to host events at her market like cooking classes and wine tastings.

I think that starts with us. We are here to help people set the table with warmth, and then people will open up to you and ask you a question, she said.

Were going to say, hey, were going to remember the babys name and tell you your dogs cute because it is, she added. We are creating a special environment for the community to build and grow.
Millions of Catholic devotees flooded the streets of the Philippine capital Tuesday to honor the Black Nazarene, a centuries-old religious tradition that has returned after a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 6 million people jostled along the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) route as the black wooden statue of Jesus Christ was carried from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church in Manila, according to church officials.

The procession started before dawn at around 4 a.m. and lasted 15 hours, church officials said.

The turnout is comparable to pre-pandemic years but the longest procession on record was in 2012 when the Black Nazarene took 22 hours to arrive at the church.

The Philippines is Asias largest Catholic-majority country. About 80% of its 110 million people identify as Roman Catholic, a legacy of more than 400 years under Spains former colonial rule.

The Black Nazarene statue is paraded through downtown Manila. - Aaron Favila/AP

The procession pays homage to the statue, which many Filipinos believe has miraculous healing powers and that touching it, or the ropes attached to the main float, can bring blessings to them or their loved ones.

It is also called the Traslacion, or transfer, referring to the relocation of the Black Nazarene to Quiapo Church.

I was super overwhelmed. Earlier, I didnt know I shed a tear, maybe because of too much joy, too much excitement that the image of the Black Nazarene was let out for the Traslacion, Rizza Batarina, 35, told CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

A sea of devotees dressed in maroon and red floods central Manila to venerate the centuries-old statue of Jesus. - Aaron Favila/AP

A young devotee hugs the statue of the Black Nazarene. The faithful believe the dark wood sculpture of Jesus has healing powers. - Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

The Black Nazarene dates back to 1606, when the statue of Jesus kneeling on one knee arrived in the Philippines from Mexico. In 1620, the first confraternity dedicated to the Black Nazarene was established.

People watch the procession from their homes as the Black Nazarene statue passes by in Manila. - Jam Sta Rosa/AFP/Getty Images

In 1767, the popularity of the icon was recognized by Christian leaders when the Black Nazarene was moved to the Quiapo Church and its devotees followed.

Church historian Fr. Emilio Edgardo Quilatan explained that the statue was made of Mesquite wood, which darkens as it ages.

It is not due to the candles of the devotees or because the ship that carries the image was burnt, Quilatan told CNN Philippines, dismissing a popular legend about the statue.

Huge crowds gather in Manila for the procession.

While this years procession was largely peaceful, more than 700 people sought medical attention for wounds, fainting, sprains and vomiting, the Philippine Red Cross said.

About 3 million devotees took part in the last pre-pandemic Traslacion procession in 2020, which lasted some 16 hours, according to police.

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Jimmie Bridges did everything she could to hide the bruises. Her makeup covered the scars and black eyes. Her smile gave off the impression she was fine. And in front of her kids, she remained stoic in the face of the blows.

I was a great pretender, Bridges said. Yet behind closed doors, she suffered in silence from the physical abuse by her now ex-husband in the throes of his addiction.

It wasnt until she consulted with an aunt and her friend about her situation, despite her instincts to hide everything, that she decided to leave. She filed for divorce in 2007, a turning point for her relationship. Bridges considers herself one of the luckier survivors, knowing others like her too often do not share the same fate.

Executive Director and CEO of Sista2Sista, Jimmie Bridges speaks about her experience as a survivor of domestic violence during the announcement of DVN (Domestic Violence Network) unveiling of its new plan supporting Black and African American women on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 at Martin University in Indianapolis. DVN announced its CWP (Community Wide Plan) 'Beyond Equity,' to support Black and African American women, who experience the highest rate of domestic violence.

A local Indianapolis nonprofit is hoping to focus on why Black women, like Bridges, experience intimate partner violence at a higher rate than other demographics  2.5 times higher than white women  and how to reverse the trend. Tuesday, the Domestic Violence Network released a three-year plan titled Beyond Equity to tackle the issue and address gaps in service providers.

More: Sunglasses to survival: Indy woman wants to help you stop hiding abuse

Were coming at this from a lens advocating for and elevating the voices of Black women to say, what is it that we need and to be able to provide and collaborate with other organizations? said Rebecca Berry, director of strategies initiatives for the Domestic Violence Network.

Berry said the network identified these gaps during listening sessions this past year with community members and survivors. According to the report, the feedback from survivors was clear: Service providers in Central Indiana frequently missed the mark when it came to caring for Black women, from a lack of therapists with the same skin color to hair care products available in shelters.

Strategic Collaboration Specialist for the DVN (Domestic Violence Network) Rebecca Berry speaks during the unveiling of its new plan 'Beyond Equity,' supporting Black and African American women who experience the highest rate of domestic violence on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 at Martin University in Indianapolis.

The result: Some participants would not get help from the available professionals, or view them as a last resort.

The networks goals to address that in their new plan include providing shelters with culturally-minded resources for their Black clients and distributing names of Black therapists in the city in the community. Another objective is to have monthly meetings in the 46218 ZIP code just northeast of downtown, identified as an area highly impacted by domestic violence, to raise awareness and educate.

Indianapolis domestic violence: Where to get help

The objectives come at a time when domestic violence across the state spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and, to the surprise and horror of advocates, did not return to pre-COVID levels like other states after stay-at-home orders lifted.

The results of the plan may not be immediately known, but Bridges said she already knows the needs identified would have helped her.

If I had resources like that, in the years that I was dealing with abuse, then I think it might have been easier for me to get out, she said.

Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New domestic violence plan focuses on helping Black women flee abuse
Russia's oil drilling industry is on track to set record highs for the second year in a row, raising doubts on the ability of Western sanctions to curtail profits from the lucrative sector, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 10.

Russian oil drilling was likely to surpass 30,000 kilometers by the end of 2023, reaching a total not seen since the Soviet Union. Domestic oil production is one of the key pillars of Russia's economy, helping funnel money into the Kremlin's war machine. Russia is the third largest producer of oil in the world, after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Western sanctions have sought to curb Russia's oil production capabilities, but they have remained resilient, in part because many of the local subsidiaries remained in Russia even after international companies left.

Many of the experienced local workers and managers were able to continue drilling unimpeded, and only around 15% of the oil drilling industry relies on technology from countries Russia considers to be "unfriendly."

At the same time, analysts told Bloomberg that the record-high drilling does not necessarily equate to increased output.

"The main reason for the growth in Russias drilling is the need to launch new wells" because "the currently producing fields are depleting," a Russian industry analyst told Bloomberg.

There are also other indications that sanctions may still come to bite the industry in the future.

Sanctions preventing the import of certain components may force Russia to build simpler wells, increasing the cost of production, and over time, making the wells less profitable.

Higher levels of inefficiency may cause as much as 20% of Russia's oil output to be unprofitable to extract in the future, the analyst estimated.

Read also: As sanctions bite, Russia eyes Ukraines mineral resources to fund its invasion

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[Source]

A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 114.24 million yen ($789,000) at a New Years auction in Tokyo on Friday.

About the tuna: Weighing 238 kilograms (524.7 pounds), the tuna was caught off the coast of Oma in northeast Japans Aomori Prefecture. The area is known for having some of the best tuna in the country.

About the auction: The auction, an annual New Years tradition, was held for the first time at the fish market in Toyosu  a popular tourist attraction in Tokyo  after it relocated from neighboring Tsukiji. Fridays event reportedly started at around 5:10 a.m., featuring an array of tuna.

About the winner: The price of the giant tuna, which bested last years 36.04 million yen ($248,000), was the fourth highest since records began in 1999. Yamayuki, a Tokyo-based wholesaler, and Onodera Group, a sushi chain operator, jointly purchased the coveted tuna, Bloomberg reported.

Trending on NextShark: Celebrities speak out in defense of Jo Koy amid Golden Globes hosting criticism

The team has won the auctions top fish for four straight years. Yamayuki President Yukitaka Yamaguchi said they had mixed feelings about participating due to the earthquake that destroyed central Japan on New Years Day.

We had mixed feelings about whether we should refrain from participating, but we decided to go for it in the belief that we also need positive news, he said, as per Kyodo News. He added that the tunas freshness and vibrant color sealed the deal.

Trending on NextShark: Parents of Filipino American teen missing for 3 weeks asks for publics help

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The brutal Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel have cast broad shadows on Broadway.

They were there at the opening of the musical Harmony in November, and they are there again at the Broadway transfer of director David Cromers gripping production of Joshua Harmons new three-hour drama, Prayer for the French Republic, which opened Tuesday night at the Manhattan Theatre Clubs Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

This is true even though Harmons epic exploration of the perils of Jewish identity was a 2022 off-Broadway hit and penned long before we learned of parachutes, abductions and human carnage at a music festival. Unlike the movies, the theater is a time-bound art and the bodies of the actors in Cromers Broadway production pulse with the unease of the current moment, fraught as it surely is for Jews and their allies.

To be a Jew in Europe, to be a Jew in France, is to grow up in a place that has historically, for hundreds and in some cases thousands of years, persecuted you, observes Elodie (Francis Benhamou), one of the young Parisian characters in a split-screen play that looks at multiple generations of French Jews, some surviving World War II, if survivings the word, others consumed by their growing anxiety in contemporary Paris.

At the shows core is the issue of conflicted loyalty. Given the lessons of history, the play asks, can a Jew ever feel fully safe in France or even truly consider themselves French? The play is set partly in 2016-17 as the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen makes unnerving political inroads and partly between 1944 and 1946, when Jewish families had either been obliterated or were missing loved ones at their tables.

Elodie is talking in a cafe to her progressive but mostly clueless cousin, Molly (Molly Ranson), a visiting exchange student who declares herself Jewish only by extraction. Elodie goes on to define exactly what she means by persecution: she is not talking about entry into the right country club but rape and death. So shows the historical record; so has shown the news.

Prayer for the French Republic feels prescient to a very striking degree, not least for the way Jews often struggle to find a home on either the political right or the left. Had she existed beyond the fictional world of the play, the American student Molly surely would have gained a better understanding of what her cousin was talking about in recent weeks. She would have seen the folly of her own youth.

In the play, all of her extended family feel palpable unease, a sense of quiet dread that plays beautifully into Cromers directorial sensibilities, emphasizing in his staging, as he has for years, how humans often beat back despair in the name of resilience.

Elodies mostly secular mother, Marcelle (Betsy Aidem) has to deal with a husband, Charles (Nael Nacer) who wants to move to Israel, a son Daniel (Aria Shahghasemi) whose new religiosity makes him unsafe on the streets and a brother Patrick (Anthony Edwards) who she cannot trust to take care of her aging father Pierre (Richard Masur), should she move to Tel Aviv.

Many in this family are uneasy over Israel, that geopolitical entity inextricably linked with Jewish identity, but also very much aware that they may need it, and sooner than they think. Thats Harmons main point here: Logic suggests Jews must discern the shadows of history, act accordingly and never stay too long, but who can live, and love, that way?

Aside from all that, we see Pierres grandparents (piano dealers by trade) in their Paris apartment in the 1940s, miraculously surviving the Occupation themselves but seeing the family of their son Lucien (Ari Brand) and grandson (Masur is the Young Pierre) blown to bits by the Holocaust.

These two eras rotate on Takeshi Katas set as Cromers superbly cast actors walk through a world of light and shadow, as gorgeously illuminated (and obscured) by the designer Amith Chandrashaker.

The play, narrated uneasily by the self-doubting Patrick, is saying that little has been solved, Jews remain wanderers by necessity, that the painful lessons of history have never been more important, and love and happiness must be grabbed where they can.

Were all here just for a moment, of course, stuck in the middle of events mostly out of control. Whatever your identity, rarely in a Broadway theater will you have so powerfully felt your own vulnerability.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Manhattan Theatre Club at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., New York; www.manhattantheatreclub.com
Boeing has been thrust into the spotlight again, and not in a good way.

One of its planes made an emergency landing because a door plug flew off midflight.

The company has faced several PR nightmares in recent years.

A terrifying fuselage blowout on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane on Friday has refreshed fears about the jet's safety, just a few years after the previous version of the plane was cleared to fly again following two deadly crashes.

Emirates' president, Tim Clark, said the incident pointed to a pattern of issues at Boeing going back many years.

"They've had quality-control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that," Clark told Bloomberg in a report published Monday. "I think they're getting their act together now, but this doesn't help."

Here's a short list of some of the quality-control headaches and public-relations crises Boeing has endured:

737 Max 9 blowout

A gaping hole where the paneled-over door had been on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. National Transportation Safety Board via AP

Safety regulators are investigating how a door plug blew out late Friday on an Alaska Airlines flight that took off from Portland, Oregon. Regulators on Saturday grounded 171 planes in the US, which mostly affected Alaska and United airlines. There are 215 of the single-aisle Max 9 jets in service around the world, Reuters reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration's Emergency Airworthiness Directive requires these aircraft to be inspected before they can return to the air. Each inspection will take four to eight hours, the FAA said.

Boeing has said it supports the FAA's grounding and investigation. Boeing's CEO, Dave Calhoun, on Tuesday hosted an all-hands meeting with employees.

"We're going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake," Calhoun said at a 737 Max factory in Washington, according to multiple media outlets such as CNN and Bloomberg. "We're going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way."

Less than two weeks before that episode, Boeing had asked airlines to inspect all its 737 Max planes for loose bolts. Boeing issued the directive after an airline found a bolt with a missing nut in one jet and a loose bolt in another.

737 Max crashes

Hundreds of 737 Max aircraft were grounded for nearly two years while Boeing fixed issues with the plane's software. Peter Cziborra/Reuters

Boeing made the first deliveries of the 737 Max, an update to the 737 jet, in 2017. Two years later, hundreds of Max planes were grounded worldwide after two separate crashes killed 346 people.

The first crash was in October 2018 in Indonesia and involved a Lion Air Max 8, a Max variant different from the Max 9. Five months later, an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia.

Inspectors later found a fault in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which was designed to automatically keep the plane's nose down if it detected an imbalance.

Investigators determined that a sensor on the flight-control system was responsible for the deadly crashes because it gave erroneous data to the plane, triggering a stall alert and pushing the Max's nose down.

Importantly, the Justice Department found that Boeing had not revealed the MCAS's existence to operators or pilots.

Because the pilots were unaware of what was causing the pitch down, neither the Lion Air nor the Ethiopian flight crew knew how to shut down the system, which would have been a multistep process.

By March 2019, Boeing unveiled a software update to avoid MCAS bugs and submitted the proposal to regulators.

Boeing later suspended production of the jet for five months starting in January 2020.

The plane was eventually recertified  meaning it could legally fly passengers  in late 2020, and the FAA lifted its grounding order following changes to the faulty MCAS, updated wiring, and new pilot training.

Waiver requests for uncertified Max 7 and Max 10

The Boeing 737 Max 10. Taylor Rains/Insider

Boeing has two variants of its Max family that have yet to be certified  the Max 7 and the Max 10.

In both processes, Boeing has asked for exemptions to safety standards that went into effect last year. For the Max 10, this included the exclusion of updates that would add a crew alert system to the cockpit.

Boeing was granted the waiver in the 11th hour of December 2022, which was a win for the planemaker because it meant current Max pilots could jump between the variants without extra training.

The exemption did come with a catch, though  Boeing has to retrofit every Max variant with the updated safety systems three years after the Max 10 is certified. This maintains the commonality Boeing desperately needs to sell the Max family.

The Max 7 has also faced issues. Recently, Boeing asked for a waiver related to the uncertified jet's engine inlets and anti-ice systems through May 2026. Until then, Max pilots would be asked to limit the systems' use.

787 quality-control issues

A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner American Airlines plane. NurPhoto / Getty

In 2019, Boeing inspectors found paper-thin gaps in its 787 Dreamliner's fuselage, and the company grounded eight of the planes. Over the next three years, Boeing was forced to pause deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner three times.

A backlog of orders piled up during the pauses. The company has said it plans to increase Dreamliner production by 2026 to 10 planes monthly, from about five a month as of October. Last year, it delivered 73 planes in total.

But Boeing won't be allowed to self-certify its planes as safe to fly  a practice the FAA revoked after the 737 Max crashes.

777 engine failure

The engine of a United Airlines Boeing 777 plane. YouTube/9News

Some Boeing 777 planes powered by certain Pratt & Whitney engines were briefly grounded in 2021 after one of the 777-200s experienced an engine failure while flying from Denver to Hawaii.

The incident made headlines after part of an engine fell into a suburban Colorado neighborhood. It caused no injuries on the ground or to any passengers.

The National Transportation Safety Board later said a crack in the Pratt & Whitney engine's fan blade caused the failure and blamed, in part, "inadequate inspections."

The inspections "failed to identify low-level indications of cracking, and the insufficient frequency of the manufacturer's inspection intervals, which permitted the low-level crack indications to propagate undetected," the NTSB said in a 2021 report.

Costly delays for Air Force's KC-46 Pegasus

A KC-46 Pegasus aircraft. Taylor Rains/Insider

In 2011, Boeing won a bid to build a massive new tanker aircraft for the US Air Force, known as the KC-46 Pegasus. It's a conversion of its 767 airliners that can refuel other planes in midair, and it has been plagued with delays.

Issues with the refueling boom and fuel tank have added up to costly delays and financial losses totaling about $7 billion as of early 2023.

"The good news is we understand it, and we're progressing through that rework," Boeing's Calhoun said in April. "On the operational side, the tanker is continuing to perform its mission well."

By October, the company had delivered 77 of the planes.

5-year Boeing 777X delay

Taylor Rains/Insider

The Boeing 777X  famous for its folding wingtips  is the latest commercial airliner from the planemaker, expected to enter service in 2025.

The jet is set to become the world's largest twin-engine passenger plane once it hits the market, but it has had its fair share of struggles as its "abnormal production costs" reach $1 billion.

The program has already been delayed at least five years from its initial 2020 entry, partially due to the pandemic, prompting Clark, Emirates' president, to voice concern in 2021 about the delivery timeline and take a jab at Boeing leadership.

"Culpability for the culture, strategy, direction, priority of that company rests with the Boeing board and nobody else," he told The Air Current , commenting on the quality-control and safety issues of the 787, 737 Max, and 777X. "And that's where the buck should stop. And that's where they need to get themselves sorted out."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Investigator John Lovell examines the door plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which blew out shortly after the flight took off from Portland, Ore., last week. (National Transportation Safety Board via AP)

Four bolts meant to keep the door plug on a Boeing 737 Max 9 from shifting up, then blowing wide open during flight are missing, and investigators are trying to determine what role, if any, they played in the frightening midair episode over Portland, Ore., last week.

Minutes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed Portland International Airport for Ontario on Friday, the plane's left door plug, which fills in an additional emergency exit that Alaska was not using in its modified layout of the 737 Max 9, blew open at 16,000 feet.

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating what caused the hole to burst open in the side of the plane, but during a Monday night news conference, officials said they had yet to find the four bolts meant to keep the door in place.

It's not clear whether that means the bolts were missing before the flight or if they somehow were broken off, said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

The missing bolts are the same hardware that Alaska and United airlines on Monday reported were found loose in some of their 737 Max 9 jets during inspections after all the aircraft were grounded following the incident.

Read more: Alaska blowout Q&A: Whats a door plug? How does an iPhone survive a 3-mile fall?

"We have not yet recovered the four bolts that restrict [the door] from its vertical movement, and we have not yet determined if they existed there," Clint Crookshanks, an NTSB investigator, said at the Monday night news conference.

The NTSB is in the process of transporting the door plug, which was found by a Portland teacher in his backyard, to its laboratory in Washington, D.C., where investigators are hoping to determine whether the hardware was in place before the flight.

"We will be able to determine if the bolts were there," Homendy said.

The revelation comes after the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday issued an emergency airworthiness directive to all airlines with 737 Max 9 aircraft in their fleet, grounding the planes "until the airplane is inspected and all applicable corrective actions have been performed."

Alaska and United both reported finding "loose hardware" and bolts.

According to Flightradar24, an industry tracking firm, five airlines worldwide have 189 of the 737 Max 9 jets that use mid-cabin exit door plugs like the one on Flight 1282. United Airlines is the largest operator of the plane, with 79 jets. Alaska Airlines operates 65.

Copa Airlines, Aeromexico and Turkish Airlines also have the jet in their fleets.

Read more: United, Alaska find loose hardware on jets amid probe into Boeing 737 Max 9 blowout

On Monday, Homendy said the NTSB was aware that other airlines had reported issues with the same bolts after inspecting their 737 Max 9 jets. Although the agency was "focused on this aircraft" and finding out what caused the door to blow open on Flight 1282, the agency would not rule out taking a wider look at the Boeing jets.

"We need to, first and foremost, figure out what happened with this aircraft," she said. "If we have a bigger systemwide or fleet issue, we will issue an urgent safety recommendation or push for change."

The NTSB has been collecting the information and is working with the FAA, she said.

Investigators say they believe the door moved upward and disengaged from 12 "stops" that keep it in place, before blowing wide open.

According to Crookshanks, there are a dozen stop pads on the airplane's body that line up with 12 pins on the door plug when it is secured, keeping it from blowing open due to the difference in pressure inside and outside the cabin. The four missing bolts prevent the door from lifting out of its secured position.

Investigators also found that guide tracks on the door plug, which match up with guide rollers on the fuselage, were broken.

Read more: Alaska Airlines flight: Cockpit audio is lost, and a mysterious warning light is investigated

"Right now we're focused on the evidence, and the evidence tells a story," Homendy said. "The components on the door plug tell a story. We have to follow the evidence and see where it takes us before we jump to any sort of conclusions."

On Tuesday, the FAA said every Boeing 737 Max 9 with a door plug would remain grounded until the agency determined they could safely return to service.

We are staying in close contact with [federal inspectors] and will help address any and all findings," Boeing said in a statement. "We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards. We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers.

The FAA was also waiting on Boeing to provide instructions to operators to inspect and maintain the door plugs, according to a statement from the FAA.

An initial set of instructions was sent out by Boeing, but revised instructions were requested "because of feedback received" by operators, according to the FAA.

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Boston Police are turning to the public for help in identifying a suspect in connection to a series of credit card fraud incidents around the city.

Police say the suspect may be linked to three separate incidents where false credit cards were used to withdraw money from ATMs in downtown Boston.

Police are actively investigating these incidents. No additional information has been released at this time.

Anyone with information is strongly urged to contact District A-1 Detectives at (617) 343-6150.

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

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Speaking from the pulpit of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday, President Joe Biden did not hold back from using the phrase "white supremacy" or emphasizing its impact on American history.

"Its a poison," Biden declared of white supremacy. "Throughout our history, its ripped this nation apart. This has no place in America. Not today, tomorrow, or ever."

The church is famously the site of a horrific hate crime, the massacre of nine parshioners at the hands of Dylann Roof, a neo-Nazi who was radicalized online. But Biden expanded the scope, connecting Roof's violent assault to Donald Trump, the MAGA war on democracy, and the efforts to rewrite history to be more flattering to far-right views.

"They tried to steal an election. Now theyre trying to steal history, telling us that violent mob was, and I quote, 'a peaceful protest,' Biden said. He linked this to the long history of racists trying to rewrite the history of the Civil War with "a self-serving lie that the Civil War was not about slavery but about states rights."

A couple of years ago, perhaps, Republicans would have taken umbrage at the suggestion that their leadership shares views with a murderous neo-Nazi. But when I looked around at the conservative response, there appeared to be little interest in denying it. There were some weak efforts at deflection by yelling their conspiracy theories about Biden, but even such chronically dishonest people couldn't muster the energy to pretend Trump and his minions aren't racist.

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After all, Trump and other Republican leaders are increasingly brazen about echoing racist rhetoric, as well as defending white supremacists and their lies. It's not just that Trump has taken to using Hitler-esque rhetoric accusing immigrants of "poisoning the blood of our country." He also went out of his way to regurgitate the Lost Cause myth that the Confederates were innocent victims of the North's aggression.

Claiming, no doubt falsely, that he was "reading something" about the Civil War, Trump said, "See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that." He went on to suggest Abraham Lincoln allowed the war to happen so that he would be famous. "Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldnt even know who Abraham Lincoln was."

Trump on The Civil War: Im so attracted to seeing it. There was something that couldve been negotiated Abraham Lincoln, if he negotiated it, we wouldnt know who Lincoln was. He wouldnt have been the Abraham Lincoln. But that wouldve been ok. pic.twitter.com/RbmnXCvypI  Acyn (@Acyn) January 6, 2024

The press dutifully reached out to historians, who debunked this lie, pointing out the many efforts over the years to compromise in order to avoid war, all of which failed. (If Trump was as "fascinated" by the Civil War as he claims, for instance, he would know that there was something called the "Missouri Compromise" that preceded it.) No news that Trump is a liar. But what caught my attention about this clip was how obvious it is that Trump was finding any excuse he could to bring the Civil War up. This feels less like his usual incoherent rambling and more a direct attempt to turn the topic to demonizing Lincoln and the entire abolitionist movement. It suggests his campaign believes there's a political opportunity in relitigating whether that whole "ending slavery" thing was a good idea.

Trump's comments follow an incident where former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina didn't say the word "slavery" when she was asked at a New Hampshire campaign event about the cause of the Civil War. Her answer was much uglier than reported, echoing the deeply racist arguments of slaveholders: "Government doesnt need to tell you how to live your life. They dont need to tell you what you can and cant do. They dont need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom."

As Heather "Digby" Parton pointed out at Salon, this argument assumes "freedom" means the right to own other people. The press falsely portrayed Haley's later comments, when she said it was "a given that everybody associates the civil war with slavery," as a "backtrack." But it really wasn't. She didn't recant her insinuation that banning slavery was an affront to white people's "freedom."

The whole thing got a lot of negative press for Haley from the mainstream media, but there's no reason to think it hurt her with the GOP base. If anything, it probably boosted her a little with a crowd that otherwise views her (incorrectly) as a moderate squish. Certainly, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., pushing Lost Cause myths on Florida public school students didn't hurt him with the MAGA base. (His poll collapse is due more to his inability to convince them he's more exciting than Trump.)

So it's unsurprising Trump decided to get in on this Lost Cause action. It's crucial to understand that, as Holocaust denialism is always cover for anti-semitism, the Lost Cause is always about defense of white supremacy. Otherwise, there's no need to lie about the cause of the Civil War.

This is happening alongside more aggressive apologetics for white supremacists on the right. For instance, the "great replacement" conspiracy theory that comes directly out of neo-Nazi rhetoric is being rapidly mainstreamed by leading GOP figures. Donald Trump Jr. called it the "great replacement reality." Popular podcast host Charlie Kirk recently went on a rant about how "they're trying to replace us demographically," and "trying to make the country less white." Fox News host Greg Gutfeld argued that military programs to root out white supremacists "marginalize the efficiency, the deadliness, and readiness and the confidence of our military." (Needless to say, the opposite is true: It is bad for the morale of most soldiers, and not just non-white soldiers, to have to work with neo-Nazis.)

There will be a lot of hand-waving and gaslighting over this, but Biden is right: The presidential race this year will be a referendum on white supremacy. Democrats stand against it and Trump-supporting Republicans are getting increasingly bold about how they're fine with it. That's why Biden was right to draw a direct line between the Lost Cause and the rising trend of Republicans spreading conspiracy theories about January 6. It's not just that both are historical revisionism through outright lying. It's that the lies serve the cause of white supremacy.

The media doesn't talk about this aspect of January 6 much, preferring to focus on Trump's ego and the cult-like hold he has over his followers. But the racism on display that day  from rioters using the N-word to waving the Confederate flag  wasn't incidental. As political scientist Anthony DiMaggio has argued, "white supremacist politics were a significant factor in the Jan. 6 insurrection." Research backs this up, showing major overlap between people who support the January 6 insurrectionists and people who espouse white supremacist ideas.

Which, frankly, is a more rational explanation than that Trump has some Svengali-style hold on his followers. They worship Trump for the same reason they worship Robert E. Lee: Not because of any intrinsically appealing qualities to either man, but because both are avatars for white supremacy. It's why Trump supporters were willing to risk arrest in order to overturn an election, but have mostly ignored his unsubtle pleas to riot to prevent criminal indictments. They are in this to maintain a racialized hierarchy in the U.S., and not because they just really like a man who smells like a butt.

Of course, as anyone who  unlike Trump  has actually read a history book can tell you, white supremacy and violence have always gone hand-in-hand. From the Civil War to lynchings to hate crimes like Roof's, white supremacy breeds paranoia that is used to justify violent lashing out. Sure enough, as the racist rhetoric on the right heats up, so does the violence. As the Washington Post documented Tuesday, there's been a surge of violent incidents and threats aimed at lawmakers and judges viewed as obstacles to Trump regaining power. Some, such as a fake call to sent the SWAT team to the home of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's trial for his crimes of January 6, should be viewed as attempted murder.

This all suggests another reason Trump and his toadies are turning up the volume on racist raging: To get their followers in a more violent mindset. Trump is already starting to sow conspiracy theories, claiming the election will be stolen from him. The point of all this, of course, is to make another January 6 happen, in case he loses, and hope this time it works. But it's not enough to tell lies and rely on the loyalty of his supporters to get it done. He needs to underscore what they're getting out of it. And what they're getting is Trump's promise of white supremacy.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with ministers to debate the Yanomami humanitarian crisis in Brasilia

By Peter Frontini

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil will bolster security and aid efforts for the Yanomami territory, officials said on Tuesday, covering ancestral lands that for years have suffered a range of illegal activities largely fueled by wildcat gold mining.

The government will spend 1.2 billion reais ($245 million) this year in security and assistance efforts for the Yanomami territory, Brazil's largest Indigenous reservation, located along the border with Venezuela.

The plan includes establishing a local security headquarters that aims to consolidate federal security efforts to fight wildcat gold mining, a root problem in the region.

The Yanomami territory, an area about the size as Portugal, has been invaded by illegal gold miners for decades, but the destructive incursions multiplied in recent years when then-President Jair Bolsonaro dismantled environment protection efforts.

The illegal mining and deforestation have also exacerbated a humanitarian crisis in the territory, marked by malnutrition and other diseases like malaria, as well as sexual abuse. The rivers that dot the Yanomami lands have also faced mercury pollution that is especially harmful to area wildlife.

Around 31,000 Indigenous people live in the territory, most of whom are Yanomami, but members of the Ye'kwana community are also present.

A year ago, leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched an emergency operation to expel thousands of wildcat gold miners, known locally as garimpeiros, and assist Indigenous communities.

Rui Costa, Lula's Chief of Staff, described the plan as a next phase that is "implementing permanent and structural measures in that region," in comments following a government meeting that discussed the matter.

Other measures include food distribution and a new health center that will focus on Indigenous medical needs.

($1 = 4.8996 reais)

(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Sandra Maler)
Under questioning on BBC Radio Fours Today programme, the minister for the Post Office, Kevin Hollinrake, objected to what he called trial by media in the Horizon IT scandal. A few hours later, Rishi Sunak told MPs that the Government would introduce emergency legislation to overturn the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters and to speed up the compensation due to them.

Had it not been for the medias interest in this story over the years, the Prime Minister would not have made that statement. Indeed, were it not for the ITV dramatisation, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, charting how the retailers were persecuted, the whole saga would still be mired in bureaucratic hold-ups and legal delays.

It is not the media who should be criticised for bringing this dreadful state of affairs to light but successive occupants of Mr Hollinrakes department, senior Post Office executives and managers of the Fujitsu IT company. Successive governments have known about this injustice for years and have only now summoned up the political will to bring matters to a close.

At every turn, the Post Office has seemingly sought to avoid proper scrutiny. Mr Justice Fraser, in finding for 555 claimants against the Post Office in 2019, also subsequently wrote to Scotland Yard about potential offences committed in the trial. The Met set up Operation Olympus to investigate but as with so much in this tale, little has happened.

Mr Sunaks proposed Bill aims to exonerate all the sub-postmasters convicted through Horizon-based evidence by the end of the year. Some jurists fear this is a slippery slope leading to greater political involvement in the legal process. But the sub-postmasters have been let down at every turn by the political, corporate and legal establishment and deserve an exceptional response.

The justice system, dealing with a backlog of thousands of cases, would not be able to handle so many unsafe convictions, so a one-off, blanket exoneration is the fair approach. In the meantime, there will be a 75,000 upfront payment for those who won the group action in 2019 and 600,000 for those whose convictions were overturned as part of an expedited compensation scheme.

This must now be followed through. After so many postponements and disappointments, it needs to be sorted out before the general election at the latest. Mr Hollinrake can rest assured that the media will be watching.

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Introduced in Dashiell Hammetts 1930 detective novel The Maltese Falcon, the character of Sam Spade became an indelible template for the hard-boiled gumshoe. Humphrey Bogart would bring him to life with a dryly unflappable performance in the 1941 film noir based on the book, and now Clive Owen ably dons the fedora in AMCs Monsieur Spade, which catches up with the character decades later in the early 1960s, when hes more or less retired to the small village of Bozouls in southern France.

What an unexpected turn of events.

Its a case that first brings him to town. In 1955, he is hired to deliver a little girl named Teresa to her father after her mothers death  only the guy was nowhere to be found. This is annoying rather than worrying for the private eye (no one is more emotionally detached than Spade) so he sticks Teresa in an orphanage run by nuns. As this unfolds, he catches the eye of a wealthy local widow who he subsequently falls for and marries. (Wait, I thought he was detached!) She dies of an illness a few years later, leaving him to mourn luxuriously on the estate she left to him.

All of this is prologue to a mass murder of the nuns, which throws into disarray Spades placid existence of quiet days skinny dipping and trading good-natured barbs with his live-in housekeeper.

Who killed the nuns  and why? Spade is begrudgingly drawn into the drama and Teresa, now a teenager, comes to stay with him until he can sort things out. When the girl comes of age, shell be the beneficiary of a vast inheritance and hes worried about her safety. Could the money be the reason behind the nuns deaths?

No one in the village seems particularly appalled by this crime or its effect on the orphaned children. No one seems concerned about the emotional welfare of any child in the story, for that matter. Perhaps their sympathies are spent, having lived through the horrors of World War II and then, later, the revolution that would win Algeria its independence from France in 1962. The ghosts of both wars hang over the place like a dark cloud, despite the sunny skies, pastoral vineyards and quaint villages.

Clive Owen in Monsieur Spade.

Thats the setting. Gorgeous, but full of secrets. Classic noir motifs of moral ambiguity and inner conflicts are threaded throughout. No one is content, but forever glancing over their shoulder. David Ungaros cinematography is dazzling, capturing Spades life in the country and the cozy Old World look of the town. Bozouls has a unique topography, built around an enormous gorge  The Hole, as everyone refers to it  with buildings seemingly teetering on the edges. Talk about your metaphor. This is the one time I wish a production had used drone shots to really make clear how vivid the villages gorge appears from overhead.

The show comes from seasoned talents. Created by Scott Frank (of The Queens Gambit, and whose other screenwriting credits include everything from Get Shorty to Minority Report) and Tom Fontana (known for Oz and Homicide: Life on the Street), the 6-episode limited series is so classy and made with such style, you dont notice its flaws at first. Most of that comes down to Owens performance as the gimlet-eyed Spade. He doesnt have the right gait  he moves through the world with too much spring in his step  but his face is wonderfully inscrutable. Spades inner monologue is meant to be elusive, but hes a calculating figure and Owen conveys his watchful cynicism with the kind of low-key zest that holds your interest, even when the narrative doesnt.

A number of red herrings and people with compromised motives enter the picture. Is the precocious Teresa (Cara Bossom) the real target? Perhaps not. There are various soldiers around, both ex and current, who cant seem to move on from whatever violence they were primed for. Theres the woman who co-owns the local nightclub with Spade; shes unhappily married to an Algerian who is suffering PTSD from the war. The Algerians in town were never made to feel welcome, and that subtext runs through everything. Theres also a young British painter who moves next door with his mother; theyre too chipper and too friendly to not be up to something. These are surface-level characters, which is also true of everyone populating the shows original source material. But that can wear thin when stretched out over a multi-episode season.

Cara Bossom and Clive Owen in Monsieur Spade.

Round and round they go, and the shows plotting becomes Byzantine and strained. But the dialogue makes up for it. Theres a terrific monologue in the first episode when Spade explains his reluctance to get involved. He is a man who has seen it all, and had his fill: People come to you with their problems and you end up inheriting those problems, he says with studied dispassion. But youre good at fixing them, so the problems keep coming. Along with the money. In a very short while, the problems go from small to deadly  turns out, youre good at those too. Maybe too good. One day you wake up, you look in the mirror and you see someone you dont much like. No big deal. Just dont look in the mirror anymore. Its the moment that solidifies him as Spade.

Theres also the occasional wry and deadpan line. Cigarettes are bad for you, Spades doctor says as he lights a pipe.

Heres what Hammett once said about his invention: Spade is a dream man, the kind most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been, and in their cockier moments thought they approached.

How do you translate that fantasy on screen without devolving into a cliche of masculinity that leaves no room for vulnerability or any visible emotion other than anger? Somehow, Owen finds a way to play him as exceedingly human.

Monsieur Spade  3 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: 8 p.m. AMC (streaming on AMC+)

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic

nmetz@chicagotribune.com
Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Steve F. Taylor will run unopposed for the District 17 seat after his sole challenger, Andrew Matias, was thrown off the ballot over potential election fraud.

Matias, an Oak Creek-based Realtor who has worked as a fire lieutenant/EMT with the Milwaukee Fire Department, had two pages of nomination signatures flagged due to conflicting dates signed by the circulators and signatories.

After Matias submitted affidavits to cure the signatures, the Milwaukee County Election Commission said there were conflicting affidavits submitted by the circulators that Matias said he did not authorize.

"I would never authorize that  that is dishonest, that is unethical and I don't play that game," he said during a commission hearing. "If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to do it the correct way, I'm going to do it the right way, and if I make a mistake along the way I'm going to take accountability for it," Matias told commissioners virtually Tuesday.

Attorney Michael Maistelman, who was representing Taylor, told the Journal Sentinel: "Our opponent has bigger problems to worry about than getting on the ballot. Falsifying a nomination paper can get you 3 1/2 years in prison."

The District Attorney's Office will investigate the matter, a source said.

Matias could not be reached for further comment.

Efforts to cure signatures ended in possible investigation

After submitting his nomination paperwork to get onto the ballot, records show pages signed and dated by a circulator did not match the dates of a number of the nomination signatures.

"I very much understand I made an error along the way in trying to make sure I was doing everything appropriately, and, in turn, this is where it leads me to try and clarify and clear myself of any wrongdoing in this situation," Matias said.

Matias had until Friday of last week to cure the deficiencies with an affidavit, according to Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County's elections director.

At that point, Matias had 174 valid signatures, 26 short of the required minimum to get ballot placement.

Despite submitting the required affidavits to cure the signatures, two of the affidavits filed to remedy one page "were in conflict with each other," Hawley told the commission.

The two circulators of the pages of signatures submitted affidavits indicating that they certified the collection of those nomination papers. Matias also submitted separate affidavits to cure the signatures.

Matias also said he does not know who asked the two circulators to submit separate affidavits.

"Now, when I accepted the opportunity to go out and circulate signatures to get my name on the ballot for county supervisor it was very last minute. I am very new to this whole process," Matias said, adding his only previous run for office was for a school board seat.

"This is a very new and trying process for me," he said, adding that he had not been paying close enough attention when people were signing the nomination paperwork when he was collecting signatures.

Who's running?

The County Board could see a major reshuffle this spring, with Supervisors Liz Sumner, Ryan Clancy, Peter Burgelis, Anthony J. Staskunas deciding not to seek re-elections and several face-offs in district races in the primary election.

District 1: Anne O'Connor, co-founder of Bay Bridge, a Whitefish Bay organization that works to raise awareness about racial and cultural bias, is the lone candidate seeking to replace Sumner.

District 3: Incumbent Sheldon A. Wasserman is facing a challenge from public defender Alexander Kostal.

District 4: Advocate Ronald Jansen and community organizer Jack Eckblad are seeking the seat that will be vacated by Ryan Clancy, who is also a state representative.

District 9: Real estate agent Danelle Kenney filed papers to run against incumbent Patti Logsdon.

District 14: Caroline Gomez-Tom, who has represented the district since May, is up against a familiar face, Angel Sanchez, who also ran against her in the special election to fill the seat last year.

District 15: Sky Z. Capriolo, a senior marketing manager, was the lone candidate seeking the seat being vacated by Burgelis, who is running for Common Council.

District 16: Justin Bielinski, communications director for state Sen. Chris Larson, was the lone candidate for the seat being vacated by Staskunas.

District 18: Two people have filed papers to challenge incumbent Deanna Alexander. They are teacher and community organizer John Martin "Marty" Hagedorn and Citizen Action of Wisconsin organizer Brandon Williford. A Feb. 20 primary will narrow the field to two.

Incumbents who are running unopposed include: Willie Johnson, Jr., in District 2; Sequanna Taylor in District 5; Shawn Rolland in District 6; Felesia Martin in District 7; Steve Shea in District 8; Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson in District 10; Kathleen Vincent in District 11; Juan Miguel Martinez in District 12, Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones in District 13, and now Taylor in District 17.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or at vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: County Board candidate thrown off ballot over fraud concerns
A South Side man already wanted by federal authorities was charged Wednesday with shooting a Chicago police officer in the Gold Coast neighborhood after burglarizing a luxury goods store.

Deshawn Lucas, 33, of the South Shore neighborhood, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, burglary, unlawful use of a weapon and being a fugitive from justice. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

Lucas was charged after a 55-year-old officer was shot in the leg early Tuesday following a smash-and-grab burglary at the Prada store at 33 E. Oak St., according to the Chicago Police Department. Several suspects fled the store as officers arrived at the scene, and police said they soon caught up with Lucas near the intersection of Walton and State streets.

It was there, police allege, that Lucas fired several shots at officers, striking one in the leg. Police returned fire, striking Lucas. Both he and the wounded officer were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment.

A federal indictment against Lucas was returned in April 2019, charging him with felony gun possession after he was arrested by CPD officers three months earlier. Convicted of burglary in 2008, Lucas is barred from having a gun.

On Jan. 29, 2019, CPD officers pulled over Lucas vehicle after he didnt use a turn signal while driving in the South Chicago neighborhood, according to his arrest report. From their squad car, officers saw him reach toward the passenger seat floor board of the vehicle and then immediately exit the vehicle.

Lucas darted through a nearby backyard and across 83rd Street, forcing drivers to swerve to avoid striking him and the officer giving chase, according to police records. Once Lucas was in custody, officers searched the vehicle and found a loaded pistol.

Federal court records show Lucas pleaded guilty in 2020 to the one count brought against him in U.S. District Court. However, a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in August 2020.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  CAPES is speaking out following Attorney General Tim Griffins ruling against a proposed ballot measure aiming to reform education in Arkansas.

Griffin issued an opinion rejecting the Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 submitted by For AR Kids, claiming that the language used in the proposal was unconstitutional, lacked clarity and contained typographical errors.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin rejects education ballot initiative

According to the proposal, the initiative would require schools receiving local or state funds to meet state academic standards and state standards of accreditation, which would also include student and school assessments.

The proposal would also require a set of educational standards for students in several subjects. Also required of schools would be having early education for 3-and 4-year-olds, after-school programs, supporting special educational needs and children in poverty.

CAPES, Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students, said that the attorneys general decision will delay the process of collecting signatures from registered voters to get the initiative on the 2024 ballot.

CAPES misses signature requirement for Arkansas LEARNS Act referendum

CAPES executive director Steve Grappe spoke on the groups disappointment but highlighted that the rejection would not steer them away from committing to their mission.

While we are disheartened by this setback, it doesnt diminish our commitment to enhancing education for all Arkansans, Grappe said. We will regroup, reassess, and continue our mission to advocate for positive change in our states educational landscape.

For AR Kids spokesperson Bill Kopsky said that the group will resubmit a revised proposal to the attorney general.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
SAN DIEGO  A vehicle crashed into a dog grooming business in San Diegos San Carlos neighborhood on Wednesday, causing major damage to the front of the store.

The collision with the structure was reported to 9-1-1 just after 10:30 a.m. at Priscillas Dog Grooming at 8181 Mission Gorge Rd.

According to San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Dave Seneviratne, the vehicle, a Toyota sedan, was pulling up to one of the parking spots in front of the store when, for unknown reasons, it drove up the sidewalk and into the stores front plate glass.

The store, which was open at the time of the crash, sustained significant damage. However, officials with SDFDs Community Risk Reduction Division said that the buildings structural integrity remained intact.

25 citations issued at Oceanside DUI checkpoint

One individual sustained moderate and non-life threatening injuries as a result of the incident. They were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. No injuries were reported to the driver and other individuals at the store.

All dogs awaiting grooming inside were unharmed and accounted for by fire crews, Seneviratne said. The dogs kennels were moved so crews can back the car out of the store.

No additional information was immediately available about the crash or its cause. It is unknown if alcohol or drugs have been ruled out as a factor in the crash.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
A man was shot and killed inside an Oklahoma car dealership, but no charges were filed, police said.

The Oklahoma City Police Department said the Monday, Jan. 8, shooting at 29th St. Motors was done in self-defense.

Officers found the 55-year-old victim, identified as Marvin Thomas, shot and killed when they arrived at the business, police said. An investigation revealed Thomas was in an altercation with a person inside the dealership.

That person was the business owner, according to KOKH and KWTV. The owner shot Thomas when the customer began swinging a knife, police said.

Police said the owner was not arrested.

The initial argument was over some business dealings of some sort, Sgt. Dillon Quirk told KOCO.

Currently, it appears this is a case of self-defense but will be presented to the Oklahoma County District Attorneys Office, police said.

Its the second incident in recent months that required a police presence at the business. In November, a customer was arrested after threatening someone at the dealership, KOCO reported.

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Homeowner shot and killed man backing out of driveway, TX cops say. Hes found guilty
A new Mediterranean take on breakfast food is coming to the Carolina Forest area close to Valentines Day.

Zeytin is a breakfast-lunch restaurant at 224 Fresh Drive Unit A in Carolina Forest next to Lowes Foods. The eatery will seat about 150 people inside and outside, a bar and should open before Valentines Day. Zeytin will be open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The 3,000 square foot eatery will serve several breakfast staples such as pancakes, french toast, waffles and other treats, but the eatery will also have a Turkish inspiration.

We brought some Turkish dishes; its something that you guys never tried before, Umut Baris Balkis, who owns the restaurant with a business partner, said in an interview with The Sun News. Turkish breakfast is very popular around the world, so thats why we say Americans have got to try our breakfast.

Zeytin is not Balkis and his business partners first foray into the Myrtle Beach restaurant scene. The pair previously operated Bosphorus Grill, a lunch and dinner restaurant that also served Mediterranean-inspired dishes, before selling it to finance Zeytin.

Usually served with a cup of tea, Turkish breakfast includes olives, cheeses, meats as well as different sweets, fruits, pastries and other staples according to the Weary Chef. Dishes typically involve spreads, breads, cheeses and eggs.

The name Zeytin has many different meanings, Balkis said. Its named after his hometown in Turkey and represents peace, as Balkis middle name, Baris, means peace. He added Zeytin translates to Olive, which also goes with his daughters name.

So when we combined everything, we came up with this name, Balkis said.

Examples of Zeytins roots include Menemen, a dish where patrons dip their bread in onions, peppers, tomatoes, and three scrambled eggs mixed in tomato sauce. Other Mediterranean staples include Pide, a flatbread plate filled with different fillings like sausage, peppers, onions, steak, spinach, and other ingredients, which The Mediterranean Dish says is sometimes called Turkish pizza. Lahmacun, a flat pie with ground beef, onions and peppers baked in a brick oven, is another Turkish standard on the menu.

A rendering of Zeytins dining room

Zeytin will also have breakfast sandwiches, eggs, Benedicts skillets, and omelets. The interior will be decorated with interior designs from Turkey, including two artificial olive trees that will sit in the center of the restaurant, accenting the green-and-white aesthetic of Zeytin.

Every single piece, Balkis said. We spent quite a bit of time.

The restaurant will also have a bar serving cocktails, mimosas, draft beer, and wines. Balkis said the eatery might also feature Turkish wines, although they are still looking for distributors.

A rendering of Zeytins bar. The new restaurant should open in February 2024.

The brunch spot is not Balkis first foray into the Myrtle Beach restaurant scene. Balkis was a part owner of Bosphorus Grill before selling it.

When it (comes to) breakfast, everybody has breakfast, and there is a high demand, not enough restaurants, Balkis added. So what we decided to say, lets mix American and Mediterranean flavors, what we already have (at Bosphorus), and open up a breakfast restaurant.

Zeytin is hiring about 40 people and will hold job interviews at the restaurant Jan. 17 and 18. Balkis added that he hopes to expand in the future, possibly opening more locations as early as 2025.

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Revered in ancient Egypt, where they were believed to bring good luck, cats today often move to the beat of their own drums.

But in Cary, cats are not supposed to move about as freely as some might think.

A more than 50-year-old town ordinance requires domestic animals, including cats, to be leashed off their owners property. Many Wake County municipalities and North Carolina cities have such rules. Carys resurfaced this week on social media after Cary Animal Services reminded owners to keep their cats safe and not roaming the streets.

Tens of thousands of homes in Cary have a cat. Each year, about 20% of the calls Animal Services gets are about stray or feral cats, litters of kittens, or cats hunting backyard birds.

And we get about 5,000 calls a year, said supervisor Chuck Haggist.

In an interview, Haggist said while Animal Services isnt out looking for cats off leash, it does encourage residents to better understand the dangers.

What are the dangers of letting cats loose outside? Depending on a cats personality and temperament, most indoor cats dont tend to venture outdoors where they can get lost, hit by cars, ir hurt or killed by large animals.

Coyotes are killing cats; theres hawks, owls, Haggist said. The lifespan of an outdoor cat is about half of an indoor cat.

Cats can also hurt or kill other animals.

The American Bird Conservancy estimates cats kill about 2.4 billion birds every year. In places like Hawaii, the introduction of cats has caused a drastic decline in native birds since the 1700s.

Barbara Driscoll, co-chair for the Bird Friendly Habitat Committee for New Hope Audubon in Chapel Hill, said if people truly care about cats well-being they would not allow them to roam.

They dont just kill birds, they kill lizards and other small things like voles and moles which are also part of the ecosystem, Driscoll said. Plus there is a tendency for cats who are outside to get additional sicknesses and ailments.

Some bird species, like wood thrushes, that nest on or near the ground are in particular danger. Driscoll said wood thrushes tend to return to the same places to nest or breed and their populations are declining due to development and expansion, and outdoor cats hunting them. Other birds like warblers are in decline, too.

The nature of the cats are to be predators, Driscoll said. Whether you think it is or not, cats are going to attempt to eat things on the outside and kill things.

What does the ordinance say? Carys ordinance states it is unlawful for the owner of any domestic animal to allow it to be at large in the town or on any town property. Dogs may be unleashed inside the town of Cary Dog Parks.

Cats and dogs in heat must also be confined to prevent unintentional breeding.

For cats, they dont have to be on a leash on your property but once they step onto a neighbors property down the road, thats where the issue comes in, Haggist said.

Loose cats and dogs have also bitten humans, which can result in a fine.

Does the state have a leash law? While there isnt a statewide leash law, North Carolina prohibits dogs from running loose at night and when they are in heat. A violation of either is a Class 3 misdemeanor, according to the UNC School of Government.

Local leash laws fill the gaps in the states provisions and help keep local wildlife safe. Like Cary, Raleigh prohibits domestic animals from running unrestrained in the city, as do Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Morrisville.

Wake Countys Animal Control ordinance also prohibits cats and dogs from running freely, including dogs in public parks without a leash unless it is a designated dog park.

Can cat owners be fined if they violate the ordinance? Yes. Carys fines start at $20 for the first offense. The second time, owners pay $50. A third time, $75; a fourth, $100.

On the fifth offense, owners will pay $250 and their animal can be seized. If Animal Services picks up a cat and takes it to a shelter, owners will also have to pay to reclaim it.

Haggist said Cary Animal Services cites pet owners a couple of times a month. The town has never removed a cat for a violation, though.

There are instances where a feline has been impounded and taken to the Wake County Animal Shelter and the other never reclaimed the animal, he said.

Training a cat is tough. What do experts suggest? Driscoll said winter is a good time to transition cats to indoors living because its colder.

Cat owners can create enriching environments with exercise wheels, toys, cat trees, or hammocks for cats to look outside.

Experts tell owners to invest in harnesses, collars, breathable backpacks, or strollers for cats to ride in outside. Regular interactive play is also recommended.

Its a human factor; people just feel like their cats need to be outside, she said. A lot of this takes a little bit of training.

To get a cat used to being on a leash, the Anti-Cruelty Society recommends owners get their feline used to wearing and walking in a harness indoors before heading outside.

Haggist says owners also can invest in an electric fence or an outdoor catio, or cat patio, that allows them to be in nature.

What about feral cats? Cary Animal Services offers traps to residents to capture stray cats that have created a nuisance on their property. Officers will pick up the trapped cats and take them to the Wake County Animal Center in Raleigh.

There, the cats are scanned for identifying microchips and kept on hold for five days for owners to come get them. Those that go unclaimed and are tame enough may be made available for adoption. Others may be made available for rodent control through the countys Working Cat Program, mostly on farms or in warehouses.
New Castle County is under a flood warning until 8 a.m. Wednesday, and residents are being asked to avoid driving Tuesday night as a powerful storm pounds Delaware with heavy rains and tropical storm-speed wind gusts.

The National Weather Service has forecast periods of intense and heavy rain with high winds for Tuesday evening, which could cause small stream, river flooding and coastal flooding  especially in the upper Delaware Bay. The Delaware Bay at Reedy Point is forecasted to crest at 9.1 feet, which is near the record of 9.24 feet that was set on April 16, 2011.

The New Castle County's Office of Emergency Management said no evacuations are planned, but officials expect Delaware City to be "temporarily inaccessible for a period."

The Wilmington, DE airport (KILG) reported a 59 mph wind gust at 5:22 PM. Winds and heavy rain will continue to increase through this evening. Please take this storm seriously! #DEwx  NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 9, 2024

The strong winds, which hit 59 mph at Wilmington Airport, have caused power outages throughout the state. Delmarva Power has reported 288 outages in Delaware affecting 12,712 customers as of 6:53 p.m., with the majority of outages in New Castle County. Delaware Electric Cooperative has also reported outages in Kent and Sussex counties, with 2,841 customers affected as of Tuesday night.

Strong winds beginning to increase along the coast early this evening. Winds will peak late this evening wind peak gusts of 60-70 mph possible. https://t.co/V1q8O0paMY  NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 9, 2024

How long will the storm last in Delaware?

The heavy rains will continue through Tuesday night and into early Wednesday morning. According to AccuWeather.com, the rain will end around 4 a.m. Wednesday. The high winds will calm down starting at 3 a.m.

The flood warning for New Castle County will last until 8 a.m. Wednesday. The coastal flood warning will expire at 1 a.m. Wednesday. The flood watch for Delaware will last until 6 p.m. Wednesday.

How much rain will Delaware get?

The National Weather Service forecast is calling for Wilmington to receive 2 to 3 inches of rain. Most of the state will receive 1.5 to 2 inches of rain. The far southern portions of the state will receive 1 to 1.5 inches of rain.

Get real-time 24-hour rainfall totals on Delaware Online. At 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Hockessin was leading with more than 2 inches of rain.

How to drive in heavy rains

 Areas of flooding are expected tonight as widespread heavy rain is forecast. Dont risk driving into floodwaters. You never know how deep the water is or if the road has been washed away or compromised beneath the water. Turn Around, Dont Drown! #PAwx #NJwx #DEwx #MDwx pic.twitter.com/3XerfC3QJb  NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 9, 2024

While New Castle County Emergency Management is asking people not to drive Tuesday night, if you have to go out, here are some tips from AAA.com.

Don't go out unless it's an emergency.

Avoid cruise control.

Reduce your speed and increase stopping distances.

Avoid flooded areas and don't try to drive through standing water.

Avoid hydroplaning and if you do start to skid, steer the car in the direction you want to go and avoid slamming the brakes.

Power outages in Delaware: Strong winds, heavy rain leaves thousands without power across Delaware: The latest

Voting issues: Planning to vote in Newark's mayoral election at the Free Library? Change of plans

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: New Castle County under flood warning; Delaware hit by powerful storm
British and U.S. warships shot down more than 20 missiles launched Tuesday by Houthi rebels at commercial ships transiting the Red Sea. File Photo by PFC3 Samantha Alaman/U.S. Navy/UPI

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Tuesday launched what the U.S. military described as "a complex attack" involving missiles and drones in the Red Sea, further raising already high tensions in the Middle East.

The attack occurred at about 9:15 a.m. local time, with Iran-designed one-way attack drones and anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward dozens of shipping vessels transiting the Red Sea, U.S. Central Command said in a statement published on X.

There were no indications that any shipping vessels were damaged in the volley, with U.S. and British warships shooting down 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile, it said.

This is the 26th Houthi attack on Red Sea commercial shipping lanes since Nov. 19.

The Houthi rebels have vowed to attack all Israel-bound ships transiting the important trade route that accounts for between 10% and 15% of global trade in response over the Middle Eastern country's war against another Iran-backed militant group, Hamas, but have seemingly expanded the scope of its targets to all ships.

The seemingly escalating attacks have increased fears of the war expanding outside of Israel, as well as concerns over impacts to global trade and increased shipping costs. Last week, a top United Nations official said about 18 shipping companies have rerouted their vessels around South Africa, adding 10 days and additional costs to their journey.

The Pentagon last week said it has assessed 55 nations having direct connections to the ships being attack.

The United States has cobbled a coalition of more than 20 countries to patrol and protect the Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden called Operation Prosperity Guardian, which was founded Dec. 18. Singapore was the latest country to sign on.

Prior to Tuesday's attack, it had shot down 19 drones and missiles and sunk three small boats, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told reporters on Thursday.

Four U.S. and one British vessel as well as American fighter jets were involved in responding to the Houthi attack Tuesday.

The United Nations Security Council also met last week to have its first open meeting on the issue, with several nations, including the United States, calling on the 15-member body to act.

On Tuesday prior to attack in the Red Sea, the United States' representative to the United Nations demanded that the Security Council act.

"The threat to navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea is having global economic and security consequences -- and necessitates a global response," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on X.

"The U.N. Security Council must act -- without delay -- to demand an end to Houthi attacks and support the unimpeded transit passage of vessels through the Red Sea."
A Central Florida businessman said when his $20,000 trailer was stolen from him last month, he thought it would never be found.

Investigators seemed to not have any leads on who stole it for weeks.

But the man told Channel 9 a $30 device and a ping on his phone led him to crack the case himself.

Mohammad Karbasion says its all thanks to an Apple AirTag that he has his trailer back.

Karbasion says he uses the trailer daily for debris when hes renovating houses. In mid-December, he left his trailer locked on a carport at a job site in Orlando overnight.

Read: Airtags: How to protect yourself from unwanted tracking devices

On December 12, it was parked. The next day, December 13th, It was gone, Karbasion said.

He filed a report on his missing $20,000 trailer with Orlando Police Department that same day. For weeks, he says he heard nothing.

He was hopeless.

That was until after he bought a new trailer this month. He was adding trackers to it and found a ping on Find my iPhone.

The AirTag had pinged at an Apopka address days before.

Read: Thrilling turn of events: Business plants Apple AirTags in merchandise to catch suspected thief

Karbasion decided he would do his own investigation and drove out to Anton Avenue in Apopka where the AirTag pinged.

Low and behold, he found a trailer that looked identical to his.

Orange County Sheriffs Office went out to the property Sunday but said they couldnt search the property yet.

I was shocked because like, it can be gone tomorrow, like I see my $20,000 thing sitting there. You guys dont do anything? And he said no, you got to get the search warrant, Karbasion said.

The sheriffs office said they didnt have enough probable cause to search for the trailer until Monday afternoon. Thats when deputies found the trailer and several other stolen vehicles on the property.

Read: Extremely unsettling: Consumer claims portable tracker found in car he just bought

Deputies were able to return one trailer to its rightful owner.

I was so lucky I guess lucky because I shouldnt be able to find this trailer to be honest with you, Karbasion said.

He never thought the AirTag would stay with the trailer. He placed it there as bait for thieves if the trailer was ever stolen. Thats because he had another magnetic tracker hidden on the trailer. His logic was that the thieves wouldnt search for a second tracker if they found one.

But that hidden tracker died and luckily, the thieves never found the AirTag hidden in plain sight.

I dont know how they didnt see it. Nobody saw it, he said.

The sheriffs office would not say if anyone was arrested. The agency says its still an active and open investigation.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
FILE - Doctors and nurses work in the neonatal intensive care unit at The Medical Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 11, 2010. Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the worlds highest rates, according to a new federal report released Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Cesareans are surging in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has one of the worlds highest rates with more than 50% of babies now delivered via surgery compared with only 32% on the U.S. mainland, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

The rates of cesarean delivery on the island increased from 2018 to 2022 for each age group younger than 40 after remaining stable for nearly a decade, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report did not provide an explanation, but medical experts in Puerto Rico say reasons behind the surge vary and include the islands crumbling health care system.

In general, hospitals have limited personnel and few economic resources, said Dr. Carlos Diaz Velez, president of Puerto Ricos Association of Surgical Doctors.

As a result, ob-gyns prefer to schedule a cesarean to ensure they will have all the medical personnel required for a birth, he said.

They prefer it be organized than improvised, Diaz said. It guarantees security.

More than a dozen delivery rooms have closed across Puerto Rico in the past decade because of doctors moving to the U.S. mainland and a record drop in births, with only 17,772 births reported last year. That's the lowest since record keeping began in the late 1880s.

Diaz said a spate of lawsuits against Puerto Rican ob-gyns in the previous decade that he described as frivolous also have prompted doctors to schedule cesareans to reduce risks.

Women also prefer cesareans for aesthetic reasons or to avoid pain, since epidurals in Puerto Rico are routinely not covered by insurance companies, said Dr. Annette Perez-Delboy, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who specializes in high-risk pregnancies and previously worked in New York.

In Puerto Rico, women are afraid of vaginal birth, she said.

Perez-Delboy coincided with Diaz that a lack of medical personnel also has contributed to a rise in cesareans. In addition, she noted that in vitro fertilizations have increased, leading to more twins being conceived, which leads to more cesareans to avoid risky births.

Perez-Delboy also said that up-and-coming doctors are not well-versed in using forceps or vacuums, and as a result opt for cesareans to avoid legal action.

For a doctor in Puerto Rico, it is better to do a cesarean section, since it pays more, you have it on time, it has less risk of litigation and the mother leaves happier, she said, adding that doctors and patients are aware that vaginal births are better. Everyone knows it, and everyone understands it, but you have to put yourself in the shoes of these doctors.

In recent years, cesarean deliveries in Puerto Rico increased by more than 10% in three of six municipalities that reported at least 1,000 births, according to the CDC report.

The biggest increase occurred in mothers younger than 20, jumping from 37% to more than 42%, according to the report.

Puerto Ricos Health Department has said that more than half of all cesareans performed on the island were not medically justified, and that nearly 80% of women who underwent the surgery never presented risk factors.

Heidi Anne Vera, a 47-year-old mother of two, is one of the few women who had a cesarean for medical reasons.

It was an emergency, she said. It was not planned.

She had worked with a doula and prepared to give birth at home, but her son was not in the correct position and her blood pressure began to spike.

Thats when we decided to go to a doctor, she said.

The World Health Organization recommends a cesarean rate of between 10% to 15%, noting that the average rate for the Americas is nearly 40%. Once the rate surpasses 10%, there is no evidence that mortality rates improve, according to the agency.

The sustained, unprecedented rise in caesarean section rates is a major public health concern, the organization said in a 2018 report.

Cesareans are considered a safe procedure, but the WHO noted that any surgery carries risks, and that cesareans could affect future pregnancies or put someone's life at risk if performed in a place with limited resources.

The organization said that factors contributing to the rise in cesareans are complex, adding that some of the most common reasons are fear of pain, the convenience of scheduling a birth and the perception that cesareans are less traumatic for a baby.

For the U.S. as a whole, the cesarean delivery rate is much lower but also has been rising. After generally declining from 2009 to 2019, it inched up for three straight years, accounting for 32.2% of births in 2022, up slightly from 32.1% the year before.

Data for 2023 has not yet been released.

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.
More than 56,000 abortions were performed in Illinois the year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, marking the most pregnancy terminations statewide since the mid-1990s, according to the Illinois Department of Public Healths annual abortion statistics report.

The rise in abortions that year was driven by a roughly 49% spike in out-of-state patients: Nearly 17,000 people came from other states to Illinois to terminate a pregnancy in 2022 compared with roughly 11,000 abortion seekers who traveled from other states in 2021, the data showed.

In contrast, the number of Illinois residents having abortions in-state decreased slightly, from a little over 40,000 in 2021 to nearly 39,000 in 2022.

Abortions overall increased by about 9% from 2021 to 2022, according to the report, which was released Tuesday and includes the most recent state health department data on abortion available.

Its the first Illinois abortion report to include a partial year following the June 2022 demise of Roe, the landmark Supreme Court case that guaranteed the right to terminate a pregnancy nationwide for nearly 50 years.

The statistics offer a glimpse at the rise in travel for abortion seekers in a post-Roe nation, though the data doesnt include information on the states where patients are coming from or the distances traveled.

Data for 2023, the first full year without federal abortion protections, arent available from the state health department yet.

The recovery room at Equity Clinic in Champaign on May 21, 2023.

While abortion rights remain protected in Illinois after the end of Roe, many states in the Midwest and around the country almost entirely banned or severely restricted terminating a pregnancy.

The 2022 spike in total abortions and out-of-state patients was anticipated by Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which saw a 54% increase in overall abortion patients since the fall of Roe, said President and CEO Jennifer Welch.

She added that a quarter of those patients traveled to Illinois for care from another state; Planned Parenthood of Illinois clinics have seen patients from 40 states since the end of Roe.

This is direct evidence of the Supreme Courts decision which allows states to enact abortion bans and restrictions, impacting the ability to equitably access care, she said. Abortion bans and restrictions absolutely affect peoples ability to access care where they live and have devastating impacts on lives and overall health.

To keep up with the surge in demand, Planned Parenthood of Illinois expanded abortion services at its Champaign Health Center in 2022 and last month opened a new southern Illinois clinic in Carbondale.

Anna Kinskey, executive director of the anti-abortion organization weDignify, said the increase in abortions in Illinois is a tragic but expected result of Illinois extreme abortion policies, led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The impact of these laws is that more unborn childrens lives are ended, more mothers are traumatized and more families are broken, she said.

The total number of terminated pregnancies in Illinois in 2022 was more than any other year since 1995, the oldest data archived on the health departments website. Around 53,600 pregnancies were terminated in 1996, the previous record year during that period, according to health department data.

In previous years, the state included a breakdown of abortion numbers per county but is no longer doing so in order to protect the privacy and safety of those who receive abortions and abortion providers, the state health department said in a statement.

The most recent statistics do include data on gestational age, patient age and type of abortion.

The data showed that more terminations are occurring later in pregnancy. In 2022, more than 3,100 patients had an abortion at 16 weeks gestation or more in Illinois, a rise from nearly 2,200 in 2021. The majority of terminations, though, are earlier in pregnancy, with most occurring before 11 weeks, according to the data.

Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, said this trend has been reflected in calls to the nonprofits helpline: Before the end of Roe, the average gestation of callers was 9.94 weeks compared with 15.61 weeks after the end of federal abortion protections, she said.

There is no doubt that the abortion bans across the South and Midwest are directly related to this increase, as heightened barriers force people to delay their care, she said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks to the crowd gathered at a rally in Chicagos Federal Plaza on June 24, 2022, in reaction to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortions.

As many states have enacted near-bans and tight restrictions in recent years, Illinois has expanded abortion access.

In 2019, Pritzker signed the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, ensconcing abortion rights in state law. In early 2023, he signed a measure that widened the pool of abortion providers to help meet the surge in demand. That legislation also increased protections for abortion patients and health care workers.

Illinois increase in abortion access and numbers means some people who lost access in their home states have been able to obtain abortion care in our state, Jeyifo said. But it doesnt measure the emotional and physical cost of getting to that care  the tremendous hardships that people are overcoming to obtain basic, common, essential health care.

In addition to delays caused by traveling, Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler attributed the recent increase in abortions later in pregnancy to the fact that our state government  and the city of Chicago  are pushing abortion so hard on poor women throughout the region.

Illinois has embraced a radically pro-abortion culture, he added.

The data also showed an increase in minors terminating pregnancies in Illinois. Roughly 1,600 abortion patients were under 18 in 2022 compared to nearly 1,300 in 2021.

Peter Breen of the Chicago-based conservative public interest law firm the Thomas More Society attributed this increase to Illinois repealing parental notice requirements for abortion seekers under 18, which went into effect in June 2022.

We expect those numbers to only increase in 2023 and beyond, said Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at the firm.

Most abortion patients in Illinois were 18 and older, according to the health department data.

Medication abortions have been more common than procedures in recent years, accounting for more than half of all terminations over the past three years. More than 32,000 terminations in 2022 were medication abortions compared with roughly 23,700 procedures, the data showed.

More than half of all abortions nationwide are also medication abortions, which usually involve a two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol. But access to mifepristone hangs in the balance with court challenges to the drug looming; the Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court decision that would make the drug less accessible, but has preserved access to mifepristone in the meantime.

We should be working to increase access to medication abortion, which can relieve the strain on clinics and hospitals that need to see patients who require procedures or surgery, and can be the best possible option for care in many situations, said Sarah Garza Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC, an abortion rights advocacy organization .

The number of out-of-state abortions in Illinois has increased every year since 2014, when nearly 3,000 patients crossed state lines to terminate a pregnancy. By 2022, the number of abortion seekers from other states surged to more than five times that amount.

Some reproductive rights experts predict the number of out-of-state abortions will increase in the coming years.

The fall of Roe created a predictable and preventable public health crisis, said Julie Lynn, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, which includes southern Illinois.

As long as the anti-abortion activists continue pushing their anti-abortion and anti-science agenda with policies that shame, harm, and criminalize abortion we will see more patients being forced to flee their home states for abortion care, she added. Planned Parenthood and our partners remain committed to ensuring everyone regardless of their income, identity, or ZIP code can make personal health decisions without government interference.

Scheidler said he expects to see abortion numbers continue to rise in Illinois in the future.

As long as (Gov.) J.B. Pritzker and the General Assembly continue pushing abortion like they have been, Illinois will continue to earn its reputation as the abortion dumping ground of the Midwest, he said.

eleventis@chicagotribune.com
Semafor Signals

Insights from El Pais, The Cuenca Dispatch, and The Economist

The News

Ecuador has been rocked this week by explosions, gang leaders escaping from jail, prison riots breaking out, the kidnapping and killing of police, and the storming of a TV studio during a live broadcast. In response to the wave of gang-related violence, President Daniel Noboa ordered drug trafficking gangs to be neutralized and designated 20 of the groups as terrorist organizations.

Quito said the chaos was a reaction to plans for a new high security prison where jailed gang leaders could be transferred, Reuters reported. Prison transfers and gang wars over cocaine smuggling routes have long fueled violence in the country, but this outbreak has some Ecuadorians questioning whether recently elected Noboa can handle the turmoil.

SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Ecuador is modeling its crime crackdown on El Salvadors controversial method

Sources: The Telegraph, El Pais

Noboa said last week that Ecuador plans to build two new maximum security prisons modeled on those created by El Salvadors controversial leader, Nayib Bukele, The Telegraph reported. The Ecuadorian president said these new facilities would be identical to those in El Salvador.

One security analyst told El Pais that for these prisons to be effective, Ecuador would also need to follow El Salvadors example in creating a system of permanent state of exception, which suspended basic rights like freedom of speech and freedom to protest. But as it stands, the Noboa government has no clear idea of how to put into practice many of the ideas that it came up with during the campaign, the analyst said.

Drugs are fueling rising violence across Latin America

Sources: The Economist, The Council on Foreign Relations

Latin American countries that have historically been relatively safe  including Ecuador, Chile, and Costa Rica  are now being ravaged by violence. Call it the new narco network: a cocktail of drugs, guns and migration is fuelling gang violence across the region, The Economist reported. Part of the issue is how fractured the drug trade became during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to experts at the Council on Foreign Relations. When you have one big cartel that dominates a country, you tend to see on average less violence, said a fellow for Latin America studies at CFR. What we have today is the opposite situation.

Gangs control Ecuador's prisons, so guards were likely complicit in leaders escape

Sources: The Cuenca Dispatch, El Pais

Security analysts said the nations most notorious drug lord, who escaped from prison on Sunday, likely had help from the inside. The disappearance of Jose Adolfo Macias Salazar is evidence of the grip organized crime has on Ecuadors criminal justice system, they told The Cuenca Dispatch.

Gangs are running drug trafficking operations and ordering hits from inside the prisons, El Pais reported, and some even have keys to their own cells. This is all done under the protection of the state, the outlet reported. The prison from which Salazar escaped is where this security crisis began in 2021 during a massacre in which 79 prisoners were beheaded. The crisis has only escalated since, with none of Ecuadors past three governments able to wrangle control.
Two years after the expiration of the expanded child tax credit, a pandemic-era policy that temporarily but dramatically lowered child poverty rates, federal lawmakers are close to a bipartisan deal that may reinstate some version of the credit.

Leaders of the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate are working on a deal to expand the existing child tax credit in exchange for extending certain business tax credits, including a popular credit related to research and development that expired at the end of 2022. Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday that the tax deal on the table may end up in the $50 to $80 billion range. A source familiar with negotiations told me that the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee had not yet agreed to a final number, but that it would likely be a multiyear deal, rather than making the credits permanent.

But the road ahead is anything but smooth, as this potential deal arises during a particularly busy and politically fraught legislative period. With so many other pressing agenda items currently under consideration in Congresssuch as keeping the government fundedit is unclear whether this tax deal will be approved in a timely manner.

Democrats have previously floated the idea of reinstating some version of the child tax credit that was temporarily expanded in 2021and implementing it in concert with a credit related to business deductions for R&D expenses, a policy popular on both sides of the aisle. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, a Republican, launched negotiations last year. Wyden and Smith spoke with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo about the proposal on Tuesday. The staff of the House Ways and Means Committee was also set to discuss the deal with Republican committee members on Wednesday.

Weve already, I think, prevailed on a crucial issue, which is that theres going to be equal treatment with working families and business, Wyden told reporters on Tuesday. I want to get as much help as possible for these working families, and get as many families out of poverty as we possibly can. Thats what the objective is, is reducing child poverty in America.

The version of the child tax credit agreed to in this potential deal will likely differ from the expansion implemented in the summer of 2021. That iteration of the credit was established by the American Rescue Plan Act, the nearly $2 trillion coronavirus relief legislation passed by Congress shortly after President Joe Biden took office. The expanded credit went into effect on July 15, 2021, with three fundamental changes to the preexisting policy. The amount of the credit increased to $3,000 for children between the ages of 6 and 18, and to $3,600 for children ages 5 and under, in households earning up to a certain threshold. It was also disbursed in monthly installments, rather than a lump sum issued during tax filing seasona move that helped poor Americans to address some of their most pressing financial needs, such as rent and food costs.

The most significant change to the credit, however, was a provision commonly known as full refundability, which allowed parents who owed little or no income tax to receive the credit. Prior to the American Rescue Plan Act, the child tax credit was not fully available for households that had no or extremely low income.

The full refundability provision was critical to the expanded credits success in lifting millions of children out of poverty. In December 2021, the final month that the credit was in effect, 3.7 million children were raised out of poverty; the following month, January 2022, that same number sank right back down. According to census data, child poverty more than doubled from 2021 to 2022, in large part due to the expiration of the enhanced credit. Had the credit been in place in 2022, it would have kept over five million children out of poverty and cut the child poverty rate nearly in half. (Still, although it reached millions of children in low-income households, not every eligible family received the credit, in part because they needed to register with the IRS to obtain it.)

In the end, the part of it thats most important to me is full refundability, to try to make sure that the poorest kids whove been excluded from the credit benefit, said Senator Michael Bennet, who is an advocate for expanding the child tax credit but not directly involved in the current negotiations. I think there have been some promising discussions about it. Were going to have to see what the details are.

The child tax credit has historically been a bipartisan priority. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the massive tax package signed into law by President Donald Trump, increased the amount of the child tax credit from $1,000 per year to $2,000 annually, and increased the amount refundable per child, although it fell short of full refundability.

The current law policy, which was created by Republicans in the 2017 tax law, is effectively 80 percent refundableits $1,600 out of every $2,000 per child is refundable, whereas the Democratic policy is that all of it should be refundable, said Andrew Lautz of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Its 80 percent versus 100 percent, not 0 percent versus 100 percent. And so, theoretically, that divide should not be difficult to bridge.

Its unclear whether Republicans would consent to full refundability, which would functionally eliminate the earnings requirement for the credit. Some of the things they asked for, they want to go back to pandemic levels [of spending], for example, they want full refundability. Those are really hard issues, and youre not going to get Republicans to agree to a lot of that, Senator John Thune, the minority whip and a Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, told me. I think their asks have to be reasonable, and theres going to have to be a good balance between what theyre requesting and what Republicans are going to need.

Senator Thom Tillis, another GOP member of the Finance Committee, said that he believed Republicans and Democrats were still relatively far apart on the child tax credit. There still seems to be a number of people on the other side of the aisle that believe the Covid-era policy should be codified. Thats just not going to happen, said Tillis, echoing Thune. Incidentally, even if there was support in the Senate, theres no way that would pass the House.

Democrats on the Finance Committee indicated that while they would prefer a return to full refundability, they accepted the reality of needing to find a compromise. I want to get whatever we can get. And were going to drive as hard a bargain as we can, said Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who has worked to expand the child tax credit, although he is not directly involved in current negotiations.

Others were more skeptical. Representative Rosa DeLauro, who has advocated for an expanded child tax credit for several years, argued that the American Rescue Plan version was our most effective tool in the fight against rising costs.

I am concerned about the deal that is being negotiated, and am skeptical that any changes were necessary to improve the quantifiably successful child tax credit expansion that was included under the American Rescue Plan, DeLauro said in a statement. I believe that we need to extend that expanded, monthly child tax Credit as we knew it. I strongly believe anything less will fail to meet the moment.

Still, such a deal would also be a victory for Republicans; although the R&D credit is popular across the aisle, the business credits as a whole are particular priorities for the GOP. The 2017 tax law had included a provision requiring businesses to expense their R&D investments over five or 15 years, instead of immediately writing off the full amount. This policy, which began in 2022, has been universally loathed by the business community; CFOs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are among those who have urged Congress to reinstate the ability to deduct R&D expenses annually.

The deal would also likely bring back lapsed benefits for businesses deducting interest expenses and asset purchases. Beyond being a key Republican policy priority, approving business credits might be politically helpful for Johnson, the newly minted speaker, as a way to prove to the business community that he takes their concerns seriously.

However, even if Democrats and Republicans were to reach an agreement, its future in Congress would be uncertainin part because it may not include revenue raisers to accompany the tax cuts. Of course, supporters of both the child tax credit and business credits can argue that these policies will help the economy in the long term, but the cost may make some fiscal conservatives queasy. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated in December that, if made permanent, the policies under consideration could cost $830 billion over the next 10 years, with the business credits amounting for the majority of that cost.

Just as pressing as the price tag is the functional question of procedure; not whether it can pass in Congress but how soon. Americans often begin the process of filing their taxes in January. If members of Congress want to pass legislation that expands the child tax credit retroactivelymaking it possible for parents to claim this yearthey will need to do so quickly. Wyden told reporters on Tuesday that his goal was to finalize the legislation by January 29, when tax filing season formally kicks off.

Crapo, the ranking member of the Finance Committee, indicated that he believed the conversations were serious. I wouldnt be working on it if it couldnt become law, he told HuffPosts Arthur Delaney on Tuesday. We have to put together a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that will be able to not only survive a filibuster, but survive the dynamics in the House.

Those dynamics can be complicated; Johnson is already facing pressure from his right flank on issues of government funding and immigration policy. Moreover, Smiths committee is one of three spearheading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, although Wyden said that Smiths role in those investigations has not factored into their negotiations on a tax deal.

There is also the question of attaching the tax deal to a plausible legislative vehicle to allow for its quick passage. Funding for four government agencies expires on January 19, with the remaining eight funded through February 2. Although Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to a funding deal over the weekend, there is very little time to pass such massive spending legislation. Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that Congress would need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded temporarily.

Moreover, Johnson will likely face revolt from some of the more hard-line conservative members of the House angry that the spending deal matches the agreement reached by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Biden last spring. In theory, a tax deal including an expanded child tax credit and extended business credits could be added to such spending legislation; however, its uncertain whether such an addition would help or hinder the overall goal of averting a government shutdown. (Johnson had also painted himself into a corner by saying last year that he would not support another short-term continuing resolution.)

When asked about a potential vehicle for a tax deal, Wyden compared the situation to the movie Field of Dreams. If you build it, then everybodys gonna show up, he said, echoing the films famous tagline. Thats not exactly how the Congress of the United States works, but were generating a lot of support right now.
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A probe designed to scour the sky for bursts of X-rays that could help illuminate mysterious phenomena linked to black holes and merging stars, took flight this week.

The Einstein probe, named for the famous German-born theoretical physicist, launched aboard one of Chinas Long March 2C rockets on Tuesday, according to a news release from the European Space Agency.

China s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which operates the nations Long March rockets, confirmed the successful launch on social media.

The spacecraft was constructed as a collaborative effort involving the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, and the European Space Agency.

Spotting signs of X-ray bursts could help scientists develop a better fundamental understanding of high-energy processes in space, such as supernova explosions, neutron star collisions and black holes spewing matter after devouring magnetic fields, according to the ESA.

Hunting for X-ray blasts

The Einstein probe uses two instruments to detect blasts of X-ray light that these phenomena emit: a Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) and the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT).

The WXT is designed to make broad scans of the sky, hunting for X-ray beams. The instrument is modeled after the eyes of lobsters, which have thousands of square pores that funnel light into a circular center. Using a similar design on the telescope allows the WXT to capture one-tenth of the entire sky in a single snapshot, according to the ESA.

After the WXT instrument detects an X-ray, the more sensitive FXT instrument is designed to quickly gather more in-depth information.

Thanks to (WXTs) uniquely wide gaze, we will be able to catch the X-ray light from collisions between neutron stars and find out what is causing some of the gravitational waves we detect on Earth, said Erik Kuulkers, ESAs Einstein Probe project scientist, in a statement. Often, when these elusive space-time ripples are registered, we cannot locate where they are coming from. By promptly spotting the burst of X-rays, we will pinpoint the origin of many gravitational wave events.

The Einstein probe is expected to operate in Earths orbit, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) above ground. The spacecraft is expected to be able to monitor the entire night sky for X-rays in just three orbits around the Earth, or roughly every four and a half hours.

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China told the U.S. that it will not make any concession or compromise on the self-governing island nation of Taiwan, as Chinese and American officials held military talks this week for the first time since channels were suspended in 2022.

The Pentagons top China official, Michael Chase, concluded two days of talks Tuesday with Chinese Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, as Taiwan approaches a consequential election day Saturday and tensions in the Indo-Pacific have skyrocketed following Chinese clashes with the Philippines.

Song, Chinas deputy director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, told Chase that Beijing is willing to develop a sound and stable military-to-military relationship, according to a readout from from Chinas Ministry of Defense.

But Song said the U.S. must take Chinas considerations seriously and laid down a hard line on Taiwan, pushing for Washington to stop arming Taipei and supporting its independence.

At the meeting, Song emphasized that China will not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question.

Chase, the Pentagons deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, said the U.S. stands by the One China policy, based on a 1979 law that affirms Taiwan is part of China but allows Washington to commit to informal relations with the island nation, according to a Pentagon readout. He also said the U.S. support for Indo-Pacific allies remains ironclad.

The talks come after a high-stakes November meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the two agreed to restore military communications.

They normalized a relationship that had gone rocky after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the U.S. mainland last February, and China suspended military channels after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) traveled to Taiwan in August 2022.

The Biden-Xi meeting led to Gen. CQ Brown, the chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, holding the first high-level military talks with his counterpart last month since China suspended channels.

The two superpower leaders did not make a major breakthrough, however, leaving Indo-Pacific tensions and Taiwan unresolved. At the San Francisco meeting, Xi reportedly told Biden that China will reunify with Taipei, a commitment he has underscored repeatedly, including during his end of year address.

This week, officials also discussed clashes between Chinese naval forces and the U.S.-allied Philippines over disputed areas in the South China Sea. Last year, China assaulted Philippine boats with water cannons and lasers.

Chase underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation, the Pentagon readout said. He also criticized China for harassment against lawfully operating Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.

But China claims nearly the entire South China Sea and says the Philippines violates its territorial sovereignty, despite international arbiters ruling against Chinese claims.

Beijing has also frequently complained of the U.S. forging more military ties with allies across the Indo-Pacific, accusing Washington of escalating tensions with a Cold War mentality.

At this weeks meeting, Song urged the US side to reduce military presence and provocation in the South China Sea and stop supporting provocative actions, according to Chinas Defense Ministry.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE PHOTO: "Senior Chinese Leader Event" on the sidelines of the APEC summit, in San Francisco

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's anti-graft watchdog doubled down on a pledge to relentlessly carry out President Xi Jinping's orders to catch corrupt and disloyal officials, state media said on Wednesday.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Chinese Communist Party's anti-graft and political disciplinary watchdog, made the proclamation amid an investigation into alleged graft surrounding military procurement.

Xi has pursued a tough and sweeping anti-graft campaign since taking power in 2012 and recently declared "overwhelming victory" in the crackdown while vowing to keep up the pressure.

"We must never turn back, slack off or show mercy in our fight against corruption," he told a CCDI meeting on Monday.

In a communique on Wednesday, the CCDI promised "relentless efforts" to implement Xi's call for ruling party officials to constantly check themselves for possible misconduct.

The CCDI also pledged to "focus on political loyalty and political security" and "remove hidden political dangers in a timely manner".

Xi views his anti-corruption drive as a key political achievement, but critics say the campaign has been used to purge his political opponents and does not address the root causes of graft, such as low wages and the unchecked powers of party-appointed state officials.

The ruling party does not open itself to external audits or investigations and critics say the judiciary is not independent.

According to CCDI statistics, the commission investigated 4.7 million officials during the first decade of the campaign.

It echoed Xi's call to focus its efforts in sectors including finance, energy, infrastructure, and healthcare.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Monday that his constituents want lawmakers to shut down the government if there is no deal on the border.

I sure dont think we ought to be giving more money to Ukraine without forcing the change in the border. We need to. Its the only tool we have, he said on Fox Newss Your World With Neil Cavuto.

I mean, I dont want to  Im not trying to rattle about shutdown for the sake of it. But the people I represent, theyre like, Good lord, shut down the border or shut down the government until you wake up President Biden and [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas to do their job, he continued.

Roy suggested last week that conservative lawmakers need to withhold funding to force the Biden administration to agree to the GOPs border demands. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) attempted to walk back concerns of a shutdown over the weekend, saying Roy was not threatening to shut down the government in his remarks.

Roy also said Monday that Texas has had to take matters into its own hands regarding the border to defend itself.

Weve had to spend out of our own money to do what the federal government is supposed to do, he said. And its long past due for us to do something about it. Its why I dont think we should be funding the government without getting change.

Some conservative lawmakers have already threatened to shut down the government over the border. Roy circulated a Dear Colleague letter last week urging lawmakers to hold up government funding legislation until Democrats and the White House agree to border security and asylum reforms included in H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which the House passed in May with exclusively GOP support.

We must make funding for federal government operations contingent on the president signing H.R. 2, or its functional equivalent, into law and stopping the flow across our border (with demonstrable near-zero results), he wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As an up-and-coming African American social worker, I have engaged with clients who were homeless, addicted to drugs and mentally ill. For many of them, the first step toward deciding on treatment and/or recovery required the acknowledgment that they had a problem and that it had become too large and devastating for them to manage on their own.

Unfortunately, in Chicago, there is a pandemic of death that many of our elected officials refuse to acknowledge out loud even as the bloodshed continues every day.

For decades, beautiful Black people who were aspiring artists, college graduates, high schoolers, adolescents and even infants have been cut down at the hands of Black offenders. According to the Chicago Police Departments annual crime report from 1980, homicide claimed 881 lives in the city that year; 688 of those victims were Black people.

Fast-forwarding through the years, the numbers change very little: In 1981, Black people made up 790 of the 959 homicide victims; in 1982, 735 out of 856; and in 1983, 635 out of 770. Reports from the 1990s echo the same death song as previous years. The number of homicides remained very high, varying from 650 to 900 a year. This decade also ushered in the sad trend of younger victims and perpetrators. Reports show that the majority of those slain were ages 11 to 30.

The beginning of this century also came in like a bad dream from which we could not wake. In 2010, 70% of those killed were young men, and 76.1% were Black. In 2020, 80.65% of homicide victims were Black, even though Black people made up only 28.8% of Chicagos population, according to the 2020 census.

In no other civilized nation would this be normal. If Black people were dying at this rate at the hand of people of any other race or culture, it would be seen as a massacre and condemned in the strongest terms possible.

Only in Illinois and Chicago do men and women get elected, swear to better the lives of their citizens, take their money and votes, and do it all while standing in the bloodshed. Every summer during spikes in the violence and death, politicians, if they speak at all, offer prayers, watered-down excuses of past racial impediments, past social ills, employment obstacles and police ineffectiveness, while sidestepping any true expressions of real anger and condemnation.

And while the city itself has only had the pleasure of having three Black full-term mayors, Black people serve as the Cook County board president and chief justice, and we occupy the Cook County states attorney office, multiple aldermanic seats and the police superintendents post. However, these authorities have done very little to change the amount of violence and self-hatred that has plagued our neighborhoods and culture for decades.

Black political elites must stop thinking of themselves and engage our problem loudly and not in hushed tones. They must begin to have the hard conversations with each other, minus the stigmatization, and attack this problem as the humanitarian crisis that it is. In tandem with them, we must speak the truth that no child is born hamstrung with the knowledge that they are Black, poor or incapable of achieving greatness. These obstacles must be placed in front of them at their homes by parents who have come to feel this way themselves.

We have to accept the truthful realization that police are not going to be our Superman. They walk back through the aftermath of a crime, discover who committed it and arrest the offender for judgment by the courts. It is unfair to condemn them for failing to solve homicides in our area when homicides continue to happen with such frequency.

And finally, even though we were not the primary architects of our neighborhoods and their decline  much of it taking place through racial redlining and city policies  there are those who live among us that have played a major part in ensuring they stay dilapidated. Narcotic sales and use, gang violence, incessant littering and an overall lack of respect for others and authority have downgraded Black neighborhoods and robbed them of their financial value.

If we intend to break free of this senseless circle of death, it will be through reaching the next generation. Employing youth boot camps with competent, caring instructors; military career workshops; trade workshops; and arts and theater and job training programs are just some of the ways we can help young people see their greatness and combat the neighborhood hustlers.

Paying teens a favorable wage year-round to come out and pick up trash, help the elderly with chores and learn as interns in the financial sector could help combat cheap money from dangerous shoplifting and drug selling.

If we take the time to admit that we have a problem, maybe we can begin to collectively deconstruct the violence and jump-start the healing process that is sorely needed to save the next Black life.

Ephraim Lee is a Chicagoan and a member of the council for Chicagos 2nd Police District.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Tactical equipment and advanced first aid kit bags are shown in the back of a Port Huron police vehicle in early 2022. On Monday, Port Huron City Council members agreed to add defibrillators to all 19 of the department's vehicles.

After family members of Joshua Conant returned to City Council Monday, Port Huron officials tacked on an amendment to the purchase of three police vehicles in response to one of their questions.

I just looked up defibrillators because Im told you guys only have a couple in the department. That seems to me that you guys should have them in every car  every car, said Mike Conant, father of the 26-year-old who died outside the Roche Bar Nov. 4. That doesnt seem unreasonable, does it? Theyre like 1,500 bucks.

And Councilman Jeff Pemberton agreed.

The official, now in his second term on the city board, motioned to accept a $140,142 bid for three 2023 Ford Interceptor utility vehicles for the police department, pre-emptively authorizing all costs for city administration to also bid out defibrillators for every vehicle in the department's fleet.

Pemberton called it a no-brainer, though they usually don't make an amendment that quick to something already on the agenda. He thanked Conants family for making them aware.

Mike Conant, father of Joshua Conant, who died Nov. 4 outside the Roche Bar, speaks before Port Huron City Council on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.

I know its not going to make or break the budget.  I wouldve assumed, if youd have asked me, Do you have defibrillators in all your cars? Id (respond), Sure, probably, he said. So, to me, it was a no-brainer.  I didnt want to put anyone on the spot, but I know these guys enough to know it makes sense, right? Why wouldnt we do that? Its a small cost.

Councilman Bob Mosurak seconded Pembertons motion, which was OKd unanimously among present council members without much discussion.

Police Chief Joe Platzer said there are 19 vehicles in all in the departments fleet.

Of the purchase of defibrillators for each one, City Manager James Freed said, Itll take me about 30 days to do that and an additional 10 days for training. The amendment means he won't have to come back to council for approval of the expenditure once determined.

Earlier in the meeting, Freed had recapped all 165 legislative actions, or bids, projects, and initiatives, approved by council members in 2023. That roundup included a host of things from infrastructure needs to police equipment.

It was some of the latter referenced by Mike Conant during public comment Monday.

Joshua Conant died following an incident outside the Roche  some details of which have been wildly discussed among members of the public, though not released by authorities  and could not be resuscitated when found unresponsive by law enforcement on Nov. 4, according to the city.

Since then, family and supporters of Conant have spoken up looking for answers at public comment at City Council meetings.

Last month, Platzer ended the Dec. 11 meeting with an update on how the department concluded the officers who responded to the scene had acted properly. Most residents have raised questions about bouncers from the Roche, which has remained closed.

The death investigation and determination of any resulting charges were handed over to the Michigan State Police and Michigan Attorney Generals Office.

Light shines on a #JusticeForJosh decal tagged on the door of the Roche Bar, 405 Quay St., on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in downtown Port Huron. Joshua Conant was killed nearby the establishment Nov. 4.

Mark Sanderson, Conants uncle, repeated some concerns Monday, adding family took issue with Platzers update at December's meeting after many attendees had left. Mike Conant also questioned the time it purportedly took an ambulance to arrive at the scene of his sons death, asking whether the city should utilize its own service similar to Marysville.

Sandra Conant, Joshua Conants mother, ended her public comment with a few beats of silence, staring at City Council members. I want every one of you to look at me, she said, referencing her time to speak. Because it took longer than four minutes to kill my son.

At the end of the meeting, when officials say they generally share comments about non-agenda community items, multiple reiterated their heartbreak for the Conant family. Freed said he, too, would be very, very upset if it were his loved one.

And while he added the family still deserved an update to the best we have," Freed and council members said they werent being kept abreast of the investigation into Conants death from state-level authorities.

Our agency has been segregated off from that investigation. The prosecution lies with the attorney generals office. My briefings have ceased, Feed said. I dont get updated on whats going on with the case. I have no idea where the case is at because we are of course a party at the scene that night. It wouldnt be appropriate.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: City Council acts on suggestion from father of Joshua Conant
City of El Paso getting $4.5M in state funding for improvements at McGregor Range

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Gov. Greg Abbotts office announced $15.4 million in state grants for infrastructure projects in military communities across the state on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

The City of El Paso will be getting $4.5 million to be use for a booster station replacement project at McGregor Range, which is a long-standing training area for Fort Bliss.

The money is coming from the Texas Military Preparedness Commissions Defense Adjustment Assistance Grant Program.

The grant funds will be invested in infrastructure projects and other initiatives to support military installations in Texas and protect jobs in military communities that may be impacted in any future Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, according to the news release from the governors office.

Texas has long been a home for military families and missions, Abbott said in the news release. The 15 major military installations in Texas, in addition to the headquarters of Army Futures Command, add over $114 billion to the Texas economy and support more than 622,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The men and women serving on these installations are integral members of their communities, and their missions are critical for national defense. I thank the Texas Military Preparedness Commission for their ongoing service. Working together with our partners in the Texas Legislature, we will ensure these installations in Texas continue to offer unmatched military value, Abbott said.

Here is a complete list of grant recipients for the program during Fiscal Year 2024-25.

City of Harker Heights: $5 million; Fort Cavazos  Railhead Energy Resiliency Project

Val Verde County: $3.6 million; Laughlin Air Force Base  Construction of Aircraft Sunshades

TexAmericans Center: $1.5 million; Red River Army Depot  Enhanced Logistics Capabilities

City of Fort Worth: $300,000; Naval Air Station Fort Worth  Anti-Terrorism Protection Security System

City of El Paso: $4.5 million; McGregor Range  Booster Station Replacement Project

McMullen County: $464,286.21; Naval Air Station Corpus Christi  Relocatable Over The Horizon Radar (ROTHR) Road Access Project

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The City of El Paso was awarded a $15 million grant on Wednesday, Jan. 10 to install over 74 EV charging stations throughout the city, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar announced.

Escobar says the grant will directly invest $15 million with an additional $3.75 million from El Paso Electric to design and install over 74 EV charging stations at publicly accessible locations throughout the city, including two in Fort Bliss, four at the port of entries, several near retail businesses, multi-family housing complexes, and community centers.

Escobar says the city was awarded the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administrations FY23 Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Im happy to announce that the City of El Paso will be awarded $15M from the USDOT FHWAs Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) grant to design and install a total of 74 EV charging ports Congresswoman Escobar said. As the only representative in our region to vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Im proud that even three years later, were continuing to see the direct and robust benefits on the ground in our community. Our city was one of only 15 sites in the country to be selected, proving, again, our commitment to sustainable economic development.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
The makers of Pringles and Pop-Tarts, a leading maker of electric vehicle batteries, the first cultivated meat company to receive federal approval, an all-electric truck manufacturer. What do these companies have in common? They all announced plans to set up shop or expand in Illinois in the past year.

And theyre not alone. They join hundreds of new companies making billions of dollars in investments and creating tens of thousands of jobs in the Land of Lincoln. In fact, 382 companies relocated or expanded in Illinois in fiscal year 2023; thats an average of more than one company every single day.

The Illinois naysayers and doomsday predictors are increasingly out of step with the reality here on the ground: Illinois is back and open for business.

Its not hard to figure out why. Illinois offers a unique combination of must-haves on the checklists of corporations looking for a new home: competitive incentives, leading infrastructure, unmatched transportation options to ship goods around the world, and most importantly, an abundance of highly skilled and educated workers.

Despite confirmed undercounts in the 2020 census and false narratives about our population, its clear that Illinois is a place full of people with the skills and drive to support its growth. In part, we have our top-tier education system to thank. Not only does Illinois rank fifth in the nation for pre-K through grade 12 education, but we also continue to beat national trends in higher education, with enrollment in our public universities increasing for the third consecutive year. Students from out of state want to be in Illinois too. With Chicago placing sixth in Axios list of most desirable metro areas for college graduates, our workforce of tomorrow will be further enhanced and strengthened by the large swaths of students who want to live here following their studies.

Now, the state can finally pair these strengths with fiscal stability. Over the last three budget cycles, Illinois leaders eliminated billions in bill backlogs, passed balanced budgets, made overpayments into pension funds above statutorily required amounts, created a historic $2 billion rainy day fund and earned nine consecutive credit rating upgrades. Gone are the days of facing budget impasses and lurching from crisis to crisis. This is now a state with a strong fiscal foundation that is investing in its future.

With these assets in tow, Illinois is jumping up the charts in an array of economic development rankings. In addition to placing second in the nation for corporate investment, according to Site Selection magazine, we also moved from No. 3 to No. 2 for infrastructure; from six to two for education; from eight to six in access to capital; and from 20 to nine in the nation for cost of living, according to CNBC rankings.

Over the past few years, weve also climbed from 30 to 17 in CNBCs ranking of Americas Top States for Business in 2023. Momentum is on our side, which is reflected in the 61% of Illinois small and midsize business owners who reported feeling optimistic about business in the region, according to a JPMorgan Chase survey  a figure that is notably higher than the 46% nationwide average.

Here at Intersect Illinois, the states public-private business attraction organization, we collaborate closely with the governor, his administration and state agencies managing the day-to-day of Illinois economic development work. With laser focus on spreading economic development to every corner of this state and expanding opportunities in all communities, were seeing unprecedented results:

* Gotion, a leading EV battery-maker, chose Illinois for its state-of-the-art $2 billion plant, creating 2,600 jobs.

* Lion Electric, an all-electric truck and bus manufacturer, opened its 900,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near Joliet. As the largest facility of its kind in the U.S., it will bring 1,400 jobs.

* Kellanova, maker of snacks such as Pringles, Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats, opened its new corporate headquarters in Chicago, further bolstering Illinois position as a food manufacturing and innovation leader.

These companies are not the exception. They are the rule. From LG Chem and Archer Daniels Midlands joint venture to produce lactic acid and polylactic acid in Decatur, to Upside Foods $141 million commercial-scale meat facility investment in Glenview, to Manner Polymers new $54 million manufacturing facility in Mount Vernon, companies of all industries and sizes are choosing to call Illinois home.

Illinois is a state with a $1 trillion economy, a state with a gross domestic product large enough to be in the G20 and a state powered by the best workforce in the nation. Our future is bright, our potential is boundless, and as we head into 2024, we are just getting started.

John Atkinson is chairman and Dan Seals the CEO of Intersect Illinois, a statewide economic development organization.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
The mother and two sons who were killed over New Year's weekend in a shocking murder-suicide will be laid to rest Friday in Massachusetts, with local calling hours scheduled for Thursday evening in West Nyack.

Ornela Morgan, 43, and sons Gabriel, 12, and Liam, 10, were found shot early Dec. 30 in their New City home. Watson Morgan, a Bronxville police sergeant, 49, was also found shot in the head. Clarkstown police had been sent to the home for a wellness check when Watson Morgan didn't show for work and was unreachable by phone. Police have said they believe Watson Morgan killed his family then himself.

Murder-suicide: At vigil, Clarkstown mourns Ornela, Gabriel, Liam Morgan

Ornela, Gabriel, Liam remembered

Ornela Morgan was a technology teacher and tech coordinator at One World Middle School at Edenwald in the Bronx. Gabe was in seventh grade at Felix Festa Middle School. Liam was in fifth grade at Laurel Plains Elementary.

Teachers who worked with Ornela Morgan speak during a vigil for the Morgan family at Germonds Park in Bardonia Jan. 3, 2024. The husband/father, Bronxville Police Sgt. Watson Morgan, is believed to have killed his wife and two sons then shot himself in the family's New City home.

Ornela Rora was born in Korce, Albania. She traveled to the U.S. at age 17 and lived with an aunt in Massachusetts while she attended high school. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree from Salem State College; a masters of science in special needs education from Salem State College and a second masters degree from New York Institute of Technology.

Her parents in Albania and extended family in Peabody, Massachusetts, survive her.

Murder-suicide in Clarkstown: Schools, community find ways to mourn together

Liam and Gabriel were involved in and excelled at various sports. Both were remembered by their school communities for their leadership and friendship qualities. They were active in the Boy Scouts.

The family loved to travel.

Services planned

Calling hours are from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 128 Parrott Road in West Nyack.

On Friday, Jan. 12, calling hours for the mother and sons will be held in Worcester, Mass., at St. Mary's Assumption Albanian Orthodox Church, 535 Salisbury St. A funeral service at St. Mary's will follow. Burial will be at Hope Cemetery in Worcester.

Memorial donations are requested for Meals on Wheels Rockland; the 9/11 Foundation; and St. Mary's Albanian Church in Worcester.

Help available in Hudson Valley for suicide, mental health

Call or text 988 for 24/7 confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress.

Contact the Rockland County Behavioral Health Response Team for mobile behavioral health services, 24/7.

Reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or chat via thehotline.org.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Clarkstown NY murder suicide: Wake, funeral set for mother, sons
The Clay County Sheriffs Office is asking for the publics help in finding a man suspected in a Georgia murder who may be in Orange Park.

Jamari Kaliq Williams, 20, is wanted on a warrant out of Richmond County, Ga., which is where Augusta is located, charging him with murder.

CCSO said in a Facebook post that, The US Marshals Service received credible information that Williams has been staying at an apartment complex in the Orange Park area.

Williams is described as 56, weighs 150 pounds, and has short dreadlocked hair.

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CCSO said Williams is still believed to be in the area, walking around. He is aware that he is wanted and should be considered armed and dangerous, CCSO said.

Anyone with information should contact CCSO at 904-264-6512. To remain anonymous, submit a SaferWatch tip or contact First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477) and be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $3,000 if the information given in the tip leads to an arrest.

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As the storm moved out of Bucks County on Wednesday, motorists and residents should remain wary of flooded and closed roads left in its wake. Others are also dealing with extended power outages.

"Rain and high winds are expected in our service area Wednesday into Friday," read an alert from PECO. "Do not touch or move downed wires and consider all downed wires as energized and extremely dangerous."

Bucks County spokesperson James O'Malley said the storm required six marine rescues of motorists trapped in their car. Officials from several Bucks towns also urged motorist not to enter flood waters or drive around barricades.

Here's is everything else to know about the storm and subsequent road closures and power outages in Bucks County.

A driver turns around Wednesday, Jan, 10, 2024 on Newportville Road after seeing a car stuck at the end of Zimmerman Lane next to the Neshaminy Creek , which flooded in a storm. Daniella Heminghaus | Bucks County Courier Times

Municipalities, townships across Bucks County warn of closed roads

Several Bucks County municipalities and townships have issued alerts for road closures on Wednesday.

Bedminster: The Bedminster Township Police Department issued an alert that Stonebridge Road between Tinsman Drive and Deep Run Road due to downed power lines and a fallen tree.

Irish Meetinghouse Road between Elephant Road and Blueberry Road is closed due to stream flooding, which required a rescue of a trapped motorist.

And Covered Bridge Road, south of Dark Hollow Road is closed due to flooding on the Tohickon Creek. Also, Deer Run Road, between Route 113 and Farm School Road is closed due to flooding.

Doylestown: The Doylestown Police Department notified motorists that Shady Retreat Road is still closed between Iron Hill Road and Burpee Road due to a down tree.

And Furlong Road is still closed between Woodcrest and Sauerman Road for a down tree.

Also in Doylestown, the Central Bucks Regional Police Department sent an alert that sections of Old Dublin Pike, East Street, and Veterans Lane are closed, due to downed trees and power wires.

As the storm moved out of Bucks County on Wednesday, motorists and residents should remain wary of flooded and closed roads left in its wake. The road was closed at Mistletow Drive and Periwinkle Drive in Middletown.

Ongoing coverage of the storm: Winter storm brings heavy rain, high winds and flooding across Bucks County

Middletown: The Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company issued a notification on Facebook that Banks Road, Jeffrey Lane and Fee Avenue are closed. Bridgetown Pike and Silver Lake Road are closed, according to the township. Parts of Route 413 are also closed.

The swollen Neshaminy Creek sits high and flowing Wednesday morning on Newportville Road in Bristol Township.

Northampton Township: The Northampton Township Police Department sent an alert on its Facebook page that Almshouse Road between Hatboro Road and Spencer Road is now open, but several other roads remained closed.

Sackettsford Road, from Old Jacksonville Road to the township line

Sackettsford Road, between Spencer Road and Orchard Lane.

Bridgetown Pike in the area of Watergate Drive.

Buck Road from Stoneyford Road toward Newtown Township.

Bristol Road between 2nd Street Pike and Knowles Avenue.

Solebury: The Solebury Police Department issued an alert Wednesday morning indicating several road there remain closed, while Comfort Road between Route 263 and Laurel Road has reopened.

Route 202 between Ingham and Lower Mountain Road.

River Road between Route 232 and Aquetong Road.

River Road between Laurel and Cuttalossa Road.

Old Carversville between River Road and Fleecydale Road.

Old Windy Bush Road, off of Route 232.

Sugan Road to Paxson Hill.

The Neshaminy Creek nearly reached major flood stage Wednesday after up to four inches of rain fell Tuesday. The swollen creek runs through Periwinkle Park in Middletown.

Upper Makefield Township: The Upper Makefield Police Department posted on its Facebook page that several roads remain closed:

100 Thompson Mill Road to the Wrightstown Township line. This section of roadway will be closed for most of the day.

3 Buckmanville Road.

118 Walker Road.

River Road between Barlow Ridge Road and Lookout Park.

River Road between Jonathan Way and Franciscos on the River.

PECO warns of power outages throughout service area

PECO took to social media early Wednesday to alert customers of power outages and what to do in case you experience an outage.

"A large storm with strong winds and heavy rains impacted our service territories," read PECO's post on X, the social media platform formerly knows as Twitter. "PECOs crews are actively working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to customers. To report outages, visit http://PECO.com/outages"

A large storm with strong winds and heavy rains impacted our service territories. PECOs crews are actively working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to customers. To report outages, visit https://t.co/3azaAVlXSA pic.twitter.com/3Z9nT5q9bO  PECO (@PECOconnect) January 10, 2024

Northampton Township officials also warned of intermittent power outages there.

PECO work closes roads in Bucks County: PECO closing lane of Route 263 off River Road this week, and other traffic news you need

According to PECO's outage tracker, more than 2,900 customers in Bucks County are currently without power as of 11 a.m., including in Bensalem, Falls, Lower Southampton, New Hope, Lower Southampton, Lower Makefield and Yardley.

Customers is Doylestown and Chalfont shared notifications on social media that put restoration out to Friday night.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Power outages, flooded roads update after storm pummels Bucks County
What in the world is going on in the city of Chicago when leaders cannot accept decisions with which they may not agree? The city negotiated a contract with the Chicago Police Department. The agreement addressed compensation and provisions regarding disciplinary hearings. Mayor Brandon Johnson did not agree with the decision regarding how police misconduct cases could be handled. He decided to separate the agreement into two City Council votes.

It appears CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling is following Johnsons lead. The Chicago Police Board, in a nearly unanimous vote, found an officer not guilty of charges against him. Now the superintendents attorneys have asked a judge to reverse the ruling.

Why bother with negotiations or having a Police Board if leaders believe they have the power to circumvent decisions with which they do not agree?

 Cathleen Bylina, Chicago

Accept Police Boards decision

The city of Chicago wants to take its bat and ball and go home. Like petulant children, police Superintendent Larry Snelling and city attorneys are attempting to have a Cook County judge overturn the Police Boards decision not to fire Officer James Hunt.

With this action, the city has undercut its argument that the Police Board has a better understanding than federal arbitrators to decide suspensions of police officers or their firings.

Snelling, having been suspended himself at least twice for his overzealousness, should realize the chaotic situation Hunt was working under during the civil unrest and looting in May 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.

Snelling and the city should accept the Police Boards decision and move on.

 Bruce R. Hovanec, Chicago

Dont hide crimes behind trends

Regarding Lakaya Knights op-ed To end youth trends, city must create mental health alternatives (Jan. 7): What exactly are these youth trends to which Knight repeatedly refers? Are we talking about TikTok dances? Eating Tide Pods? Every generation has their Things that the Elders Just Dont Understand; the grown folks clutching their pearls about the weird interests of the kids is a tale as old as time. My generation had Pac-Man and legwarmers; this generation has Skibidi Toilet,

Is she referring to large groups of teens taking over public spaces, vandalizing private property, intimidating unfortunate people who just wanted to spend a nice evening downtown, or to street races or coordinated thefts, all recorded on phones and uploaded later for social media clout? If these are the trends to which shes referring, as a fellow writer, I must challenge Knight to use precise and accurate language. Rather than hiding their destructiveness behind euphemisms such as youth trends, she should call these actions what they are: crimes, or illegal, disruptive and dangerous acts.

I absolutely, completely support Knights thesis: Teens need easily accessible mental health resources and appropriate places where they can gather, interact and express themselves safely.

Yes, the solutions she proposes are much needed and far too long in coming; teens need constructive things to do and safe places in which to do them. But until the proponents of these solutions have the courage to call things by their right names, the greater percentage of Chicagoans will remain suspicious of teens and their wish lists.

Soft-pedaling the nature of criminal offenses, hiding them under anodyne terminology such as youth trends, serves no one  least of all, the teens who most need our support.

 Regina Arndt, Chicago

CTU the one behind the wheel

Regarding her column Is Mayor Brandon Johnson measuring up? Heres my assessment. (Jan. 8), Laura Washington has it right. Saying that much more work needs to be done by the Johnson administration is an understatement, though. The work starts by filling the holes in an ethics proposal that resembles Swiss cheese, followed by school reforms that arent dictated by the Chicago Teachers Union. The idea of getting rid of Local School Councils and selective-enrollment schools didnt come from the people of Chicago! Having served on an LSC, I saw their value firsthand.

Many believed that our new mayor would be beholden to the union that got him elected, and recent decisions are proving them right. The CTU is ruling the roost.

 Lindsay Resnick, Chicago

Crime is on Chicagoans minds

Much of Laura Washingtons evaluation of Mayor Brandons Johnsons performance to date is spot on. Yet, I must take issue with Washingtons statement regarding her opinion that Johnsons progressive agenda has been stymied by a conservative impulse from critics focused on crime and public safety.

The fact is that the gross majority of Chicagoans, conservative or otherwise, listed crime as the top issue during the last mayoral race. As the Tribune reported more than a year ago, according to a Harris Poll survey, public safety was overwhelmingly the city residents No. 1 concern.

This is not news. Indeed, more than two years ago, because of a surge in deadly shootings, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought federal assistance to fight crime because keeping you safe is my priority.

Certainly, a holistic approach for dealing with crime should go forward and could prove successful in addressing the violence that plagues the city. Yet, all would agree that this would be a long-term approach. Chicagoans want to feel safe today.

Johnson may have solid progressive plans to handle crime. Yet, like the Chicago Police Department, City Hall also has an ongoing duty to protect the residents of Chicago.

 Terry Takash, Western Springs

Use bollards to stop thefts

I have been following with dismay the reports of vehicles smashing into retail stores on Chicagos (formerly?) Magnificent Mile and the resulting retail theft. There seems to be a very easy and affordable solution to this problem. The city should erect bollards on the sidewalks the same way London and, Im sure, other cities have done to combat terrorism and general lawlessness. Mayor Brandon Johnson and city officials should give this idea some real consideration.

We have a beautiful city on the lake. Make it safer for tourists and business owners on Michigan Avenue. If it works, it can be done on other major retail streets.

 Gail Davis, Forest Park

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Jennifer Farber Dulos, the Connecticut mom who disappeared more than four years ago, has been declared legally dead, according to multiple reports.

Probate Judge William P. Osterndorf filed the paperwork on Oct. 24, CT Insider reported Tuesday.

Farber Dulos, who disappeared at age 50, has been presumed dead for years. Her mother, Gloria Farber, had previously asked the court for the declaration for estate purposes.

Farber, 88, has been caring for her daughters five children since she disappeared on May 24, 2019. Farber Dulos will left all her assets to the children.

The will did not name her husband, Fotis Dulos. Dulos, a tri-state area real estate executive, was charged with killing Farber Dulos. He died by suicide in January 2020 while out on $6 million bail.

Police said Dulos attacked his wife in the garage of his Farmington home as the couple went through an acrimonious divorce. Investigators said blood in the garage suggested a serious physical assault and that Dulos was spotted around Hartford dropping items stained with his wifes blood into various trash receptacles.

Farber Dulos body has never been found.

Her family previously sought to have her declared dead in October 2020, but a judge rejected that request in May 2021. Connecticut state law typically requires someone to be missing for seven or more years before they are legally declared dead.

But Gloria Farber wanted to speed up the process given her advanced age, according to CT Insider.

As long as Jennifers status was undecided, then the children could not inherit from her or from her mother, Farbers attorney Richard Weinstein told the outlet. We were concerned, obviously, with Mrs. Farber being 88 years of age, needing to wait the seven years.

Meanwhile, Michelle Traconis, the girlfriend of Fotis Dulos at the time of the murders, will stand trial later this week on several charges related to Farber Dulos death. She has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

_____
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A Connecticut police officer, who was drunk and speeding in a rented Rolls Royce when it crashed near the Las Vegas Strip, killing his best friend and fellow officer, could serve two years in prison, per a judges ruling Tuesday.

Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson sentenced Robert Ferraro, 37, to two to five years in prison on a charge of DUI resulting in death. The charge carries a statutory minimum of two years and a maximum of 20.

Last summer, Ferraro, of East Haven, Connecticut, agreed to plead guilty.

Metro police said the New Haven police officer was drunk in the September 2021 crash. Ferraro lost control of the rented car near Decatur Boulevard and Spring Mountain Road, police said. The car rolled, killing 35-year-old officer Joshua Castellano, who was in the front passenger seat, police said. Ferraro and Castellano, partners at the police department, were on vacation along with two other officers.

Ferraro lost control of this rented car near Decatur Boulevard and Spring Mountain Road. (KLAS)

They were the Starsky and Hutch type, you know, cops that were always together, Ferraros attorney, Gabriel Grasso, told the 8 News Now Investigators after his clients arrest. This is not a bad cop situation. This is a tragic situation where he lost his best friend, partner, brother, however you want to put it, so hes devasted.

The Rolls Royce collided with a car that was waiting in a private driveway to enter the road. The Rolls Royce then collided with several utility poles, trees and a fire hydrant. Police said the Rolls Royce entered the intersection at a high rate of speed, causing its suspension to bottom out, sending sparks flying from the undercarriage.

No passengers were wearing seat belts, police said. Ferraro and the four other passengers in the car all suffered minor injuries in the crash, police said.

Im here today through the grace of God because I believe in my heart that someone needs to be a voice for my son, Joshua, Denise Castellano, Joshua Castellanos mother said during the sentencing. I cannot let Joshuas death be a statistic.

I could impose the max of 20 years, but that certainly is not going to bring Josh back, Johnson said after the sentencing.

Ferraro was allowed to return to Connecticut as his criminal case progressed. He will be eligible for parole in January 2026.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
C.J. Pearson, whose online commentaries advocate conservative politics and values, is running for Georgia House District 125, which includes parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties.

A 22-year-old conservative activist from Grovetown, who shot to national internet fame in middle school for his online political commentary, is running for the Georgia House of Representatives.

C.J. Pearson announced Wednesday that he will campaign for the House District 125 seat vacated by incumbent Barry Fleming, who resigned to accept a state superior court judgeship with the new Columbia Judicial Circuit.

That brings the current total to four registered candidates for the House constituency that covers roughly the western half of Columbia County and the northern half of McDuffie County.

The people of my district dont want to elect just another Republican to this seat, he said in a prepared statement. They want to elect a conservative who knows how to fight like the future of our country is on the line. Because it is  make no qualms about it.

Pearsons first taste of elected office was as Columbia Middle Schools seventh-grade class president in 2014. But just months later, a video in which Pearson leveled pointed criticism at President Barack Obama vent viral, thrusting him suddenly into the national political scrum.

Here comes the judge: Governor names Harlem state Rep. Barry Fleming to Columbia Judicial Circuit bench

Pearson has since become a supportive public face among Republicans as the party continues to pursue younger Black voters. His online commentary on social media channels includes duties as host of The Wrap Up, a featured online program for conservative digital media nonprofit PragerU. His work has been featured by national news outlets including Fox News, the New York Post and USA Today.

Also running for the House District 125 seat are:

Gary Richardson, who owns an area chain of car washes and was a former District 3 Columbia County commissioner. He filed as a Republican on Jan. 9.

James Steed is a third-generation farmer whose family dairy is on Wrightsboro Road. He filed as a Republican on Jan. 8.

Kay Turner is a cosmetologist and cosmetology instructor who filed as a Democrat on Jan. 10.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Conservative activist C.J. Pearson to run for House District 125 seat
Nearly five years ago, police officers fired 55 shots at 20-year-old Willie McCoy, killing him as he slept in his car at a Taco Bell drive-thru in California, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Six Vallejo Police Department officers opened fire on McCoy after they were called to a report of an unconscious man slumped over his steering wheel at the restaurant in the city on Feb. 9, 2019, the lawsuit says.

They began shooting as McCoy started to stir, scratched his shoulder and slumped forward again, according to a third amended complaint filed in the case.

The officers said they saw a gun in McCoys lap but had no reason to believe he committed a crime, the complaint says.

Now, Vallejo will pay McCoys family $5 million in damages to settle the lawsuit filed against the city and its police officers, Melissa Catherine Nold, one of the attorneys representing the case, told McClatchy News in a statement on Jan. 10.

We want to be clear that money does not equal justice for a young man that was murdered, Nold said.

On Jan. 9, the Vallejo City Council approved the $5 million settlement agreement inclusive of all attorneys fees and costs, city spokesperson Christina L. Lee told McClatchy News in a statement on Jan. 10.

The settlement avoids the expense of what would likely have been several additional years of litigation and does not imply an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the City of Vallejo or any City employee, Lee said.

Regardless of the circumstances, we do want to acknowledge that all loss of life is tragic and continue to offer our sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Mr. McCoy, Lee added.

Once the settlement agreement is drafted and signed, it will be made public, according to Lee.

McClatchy News contacted the Vallejo Police Department for comment on Jan. 10 and didnt receive an immediate response.

The shooting and the aftermath

McCoy grew up in Sacramento and Vallejo, according to the news outlet KQED. He was a local rapper who made music about his experiences as a Black man in the U.S. and hoped to create music about police injustice, the outlet reported.

When officers approached McCoy asleep in the drivers seat of his car in the drive-thru of Taco Bell in February 2019, he was obviously unaware of his surroundings, the lawsuit says.

In police body camera footage published by KTVU, officers are heard ordering McCoy to show his hands before he appears to move. Then, while aiming at the drivers window, the officers start shooting until one calls for a ceasefire, the video shows.

According to the lawsuit, Officer Anthony Romero-Cano ordered the others to shoot McCoy if he moved and to not give (him) a chance, the complaint says.

McCoys body was left with dozens of bullet wounds as a result, according to the complaint.

The gory scene prevented the McCoy family from being able to have an open casket at his funeral, the complaint says.

After the shooting, an independent court-certified expert contracted by the citys office reviewed the incident and determined the officers use of deadly force was reasonable, according to a news release issued by the city of Vallejo in June 2019.

The city contends McCoy reached toward a gun in his lap when officers ordered him to show his hands, leading to gunfire.

No charges were brought against the officers accused of shooting McCoy, KTVU reported. However, one of them, Ryan McMahon, was fired in connection with the incident.

McMahon was fired on Sept. 30, 2020, for violating department policies by engaging in unsafe conduct and neglect for basic firearm safety during the incident, the police department announced in an Oct. 1, 2020, news release.

According to the lawsuit, McMahon arrived while officers had already opened fire on McCoy and joined in, randomly shooting at McCoys car while reaching his gun around another officers back.

Hes accused of opening fire without knowing what was happening.

A badge bending, vigilante police gang

After the shooting of McCoy made national news, the Vallejo Police Departments practice of badge bending  involving officers bending the tips of the badges following a shooting  was exposed, The Vallejo Sun reported.

VPD officers that shot and killed citizens had one point of their police badge bent to commemorate the killing and were introduced into the Badge of Honor gang, the lawsuit filed over McCoys death says.

Former police department Capt. John Whitney detailed a vigilante police gang he said formed within the department in a recent whistleblower lawsuit, according to the complaint.

In his lawsuit, Whitney accused McMahon of having two bent tips on his badge when he was put on leave in connection with the shooting of McCoy, The Vallejo Sun reported.

In September, the city approved a nearly $1 million settlement to resolve Whitneys lawsuit, ABC7 reported. Whitney told the outlet he was fired from his position as captain because he reported the badge bending and made other accusations of police corruption.

Although the city has agreed to pay McCoys family $5 million, Nold told McClatchy News that their pursuit of justice isnt over.

Nold said they will continue to press forward in our pursuit of federal civil rights charges against the police officers and continue to push for a full criminal investigation into the Vallejo PD badge bending gang.

Vallejo is about 55 miles southwest of Sacramento.

Walmart worker followed, then repeatedly shot customer inside store, lawsuit says

Off-duty cop brutally beat man at liquor store, police say. Now man sues for $50M

Detainee wasted away and lost 45 pounds before death, lawsuit says. County pays $7M

Deputy assaults 8-year-old at school, then deletes body camera footage, lawsuit says
With dozens in attendance, a couple held their wedding inside a chic Indiana coffee shop.

But the Mansion Society, the Indianapolis business where they wedding took place, was unaware of the pending nuptials.

Until they saw a bride walking in.

Our shock froze us in the moment, Mansion Society said in a Jan. 2 post on Facebook.

The Dec. 31 wedding happened while the coffee shop was serving other customers. As a full bridal party, along with an officiant and photographers, began piling into the business, the shop said it was unable to disrupt the ceremony.

Mansion Society said it initially thought the guests were there for a wedding at the actual wedding venue next door.

Its very common for us to serve a latte before or after the ceremony, the business said on Facebook. The wedding guests came in a 15-minute timeline, sat down. We figured they were waiting for their entire group before getting up to order.

The wedding disrupted the flow of business, as the group of at least 20 patrons stayed to take photos and block pathways for paying customers.

Now Mansion Society is asking the married couple to pay a $500 fee, which is what they typically charge for renting out their business.

We need you to pay the fee to use a place that you did not previously hire for a wedding ceremony or at least ask if it is okay for it to be held in our facilities, the shop told the bride in an email shared on Facebook.

The shop said the bride offered to pay $200, but she told the business owner their request for $500 was unreasonable.

Your donation doesnt even meet minimum consumption requirements, our rental fee or a tip to the staff working for having to work an event no one knows would happen free of cost, Mansion Society told the bride.

Stranger puts wedding rings and heartwarming note in Salvation Army kettle. Read it

Rowdy groomsman shoots wedding guest after being asked to leave, Virginia cops say

Man protesting wedding venue launches firework at newlyweds in helicopter, GA cops say
FILE - This image provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows construction equipment set on fire Saturday, March 4, 2023 by a group protesting the planned public safety training center, according to police. The trial was delayed Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, for the first defendant among dozens indicted last summer under Georgia's anti-racketeering law on allegations related to protests against a planned police and firefighter training facility near Atlanta. (Atlanta Police Department via AP, File)

ATLANTA (AP)  A judge in Georgia has again delayed the racketeering trial of a defendant indicted last summer in connection with protests against a planned Atlanta-area police and firefighter training facility.

Opening arguments had been expected Wednesday in the case against Ayla King, 19, of Massachusetts. King, who uses the pronouns they and them, is one of 61 people indicted under Georgias Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, knowns as RICO. King is the first defendant to stand trial.

State prosecutors have characterized those behind the Stop Cop City movement as a group of militant anarchists who have committed numerous violence and vandalism against authorities and contractors linked to the project.

King faces a single charge of violating the RICO law, which carries a sentence of five to 20 years in prison although time behind bars is not guaranteed.

Prosecutors accuse the protesters of aiding and abetting arson and domestic terrorism. Authorities said King and 150 to 200 other masked demonstrators stormed the DeKalb County construction site last March, with some torching construction equipment and others throwing projectiles at retreating officers.

Activists have questioned authorities evidence because protesters were arrested at a music festival about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) from the construction site and more than an hour after the demonstration. Kings attorney has said the teenager is innocent of all charges.

Wednesday's trial was delayed because the defense argued that King's right to a speedy trial has been violated. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams seated a jury Dec. 12, but postposed the trial by nearly a month due to the holidays, which she said would likely cause complications for many of the jurors.

Defense attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez objected to the delay and later filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that swearing in a jury wasn't enough to meet the criteria of a speedy trial.

The judge rejected that argument but further delayed the trial because Jimenez said he plans to appeal. It is unclear how long that will take.

Georgia law says any defendant who demands a speedy trial has a right for it to begin within the court term when the demand is filed or in the next one, which ended last week. Trials for the other protesters charged are not expected before this summer, at the earliest.

Demonstrators and civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have condemned indicting the demonstrators and accused state Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, of levying heavy-handed charges to try to silence a movement that has galvanized environmentalists and anti-police protesters across the country.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other supporters say the 85-acre, $90 million police and fire training center would replace inadequate training facilities, and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers. Opponents have expressed concern that that it could lead to greater police militarization and that its construction in the South River Forest will worsen environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.
A motion filed in state court in Atlanta claims Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appointed a romantic partner to prosecute former President Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case.

The salacious court petition claims Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.

The legal challenge, filed on Monday, threw a major curveball in the case against Trump, who faces several criminal counts under Georgias Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law for his efforts to overturn the states 2020 election result.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade arrive to speak at a news conference at the Fulton County Government building on August 14, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. A grand jury today handed up an indictment naming former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies over an alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The motion  filed on behalf of Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official and co-defendant in the sprawling RICO case  calls for the charges to be summarily dismissed while also arguing that Willis enriched herself through the ongoing cahoots with Wade.

Romans attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, claims to have learned about Wade and Willis secret involvement by reviewing Nathan Wades divorce file, which wasnt fully sealed, as no court hearing had taken place to officially block the papers from public view.

The astonishing filing also calls for Willis and her staff to be disqualified from continuing to pursue the unconstitutional case against Roman, Trump, and more than a dozen other co-defendants charged in the case.

While the filing lacks tangible evidence of the improper romance, the motion does cite sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney who confirmed an ongoing, personal relationship.

Despite his lack of relevant experience, Wade  a private attorney  was hired as an independent special prosecutor by Willis to handle the historic case against Trump  opting to outsource the prosecution to minimize any perceived impropriety as Trump was the first president in history to face serious criminal charges.

The motion asserts that Willis and Wade entered the relationship prior to Wades appointment as special prosecutor.

The filing claims the pair traveled together on numerous occasions, basking in Napa Valley, Florida, and the Caribbean, while Wade wined and dined Willis on the major cruise lines  although Roman did not provide proof to back up the accusations.

The motion accused both Willis and Wade of engaging in a self-serving arrangement in which they both benefited financially from each other.

Willis has benefitted substantially and directly, and continues to benefit, from this litigation because Wade is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute this case on her behalf, the filing claims. In turn, Wade is taking Willis on and paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis.

Romans claim immediately raised questions about the indictments validity against Trump, while also highlighting concerns over Willis professional ethics.

Conservative commentators and social media lit up after the motion became public, with a number of prominent voices on X sharing portions of the document that accused Wade of committing fraud by billing Fulton County $6,000 for 24 hours of work on Jan. 5, 2021.

It also didnt take long for Trump to call out Willis about the allegations.

ALL CHARGES AGAINST ME, AND OTHERS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED, WITH APOLOGIES, AND MONETARY DAMAGES FOR THE ILLEGAL AND HIGHLY POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF INNOCENT PEOPLE, he wrote on Truth Social.

Legal experts said Willis could face increased legal scrutiny due to the claims that could ultimately lead to her ouster. However, Trump also faced a high bar to get the indictment against him thrown out on misconduct grounds.

At the same time, several defendants  including Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall  have already pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony against Trump and the other defendants.

According to Romans motion, Wade paid for expensive trips for Willis and himself using money his law firm collected from Fulton County to prosecute Trump.

Since taking on the case in January 2022, Wade has received nearly $654,000 in legal fees purportedly signed off by Willis.

Romans stunning plea to the court also suggests that payments sent to Wade by Fulton County, combined with the vacation purchases that included Willis, may constitute a case of honest services fraud  a federal crime involving improper kickbacks  which raises the prospect for Willis to face federal racketeering charges.

Willis spokesperson Pallavi Bailey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the DA would respond to the allegations later through appropriate court filings.
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, second from left, leaves federal court. Last year, a jury decided that Carollo had weaponized the city of Miami to go after two Little Havana businessmen. They had sued Carollo and won a $63.5 million judgment againt him.

A six-year legal battle waged by a pair of Little Havana businessmen to acquire Miami Commissioner Joe Carollos assets came a step closer to fruition this week, when a federal judge said the duo could begin collecting on the $63.5 million verdict a jury awarded them last summer.

Jurors in federal civil court found that the citys longest-serving elected leader targeted Little Havana businessmen William Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla for financial and personal ruin, and awarded the men the staggering sum. Its an amount that Carollo almost certainly cant make whole. But thats not the point, Fuller said.

All of his accounts are going to be subject to seizure. Hes going to have to understand, hes going to feel for the first time this is serious and the damage he created, hes on the hook for, Fuller said.

Carollo, calling himself a man of modest means with little to no income outside his $58,000 yearly city salary, replied to the judges order in the macabre.

Which arm would they like to take blood from? he asked. What wall would they like me to stand in front of so they can bring the firing squad?

Carollos attorney Ben Kuehne said theyll argue the commissioners home is protected under Florida law and that there are motions pending to protect the garnishment of Carollos wages, which began in December. Carollo doesnt own any other local property, according to Miami-Dade County property records.

His attorneys plan to petition Atlantas 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the verdict. That attempt has been stalled by motions still pending before the court from last years verdict.

We maintain that the decision and judgment are wrong and subject to reversal on appeal, Kuehne said. The attorney also said the seizure of Carollos assets should be put on hold until the appeal is finally resolved.

READ MORE: Miamis political godfather Joe Carollo, unfazed by $63M beating, cant wait for next fight

Fuller and Pinilla, two of the largest property owners in Little Havana, filed a lawsuit in 2018 claiming the commissioner abused their First Amendment rights by weaponizing city resources to target their reputations and several of their businesses along one of the citys busiest tourist corridors.

They claimed he made the decision to try and ruin them after they publicly supported Carollos political opponent for a commission seat. On June 1, a jury agreed and awarded the two businessmen $63.5 million for the commissioners actions.

Despite the court order, collecting Carollos assets is sure to be difficult. Just calculating the commissioners net worth is a dubious task. The process certainly will be lengthy and complicated. Collecting the commissioners assets would not only involve more court hearings, but also U.S. Marshals and the Miami-Dade County Sheriffs Office, which would help seize property.

Its also not clear if the total of Carollos assets will ever be available for public consumption. Attorney Jeff Gutchess, who represents Fuller and Pinilla, said his clients agreed to keep the commissioners records confidential, something he said is fairly standard in this type of civil proceeding.

Theres not much in terms of assets. We didnt need to embarrass him, Gutchess said.

Carollos most recent financial disclosure with the city of Miami through the end of 2022 shows assets of $2.58 million. The largest is his Coconut Grove home on Morris Lane, valued at $2.5 million. The remainder is from a checking account and a retirement plan. The disclosure form claims a debt of $271,128 to First Horizon Bank, without explanation.

Carollo said he has no additional income from an outside job and that hes turned over a list of personal property to the court that if put into auction will likely not yield much money. He tried protecting his Coconut Grove home from seizure last summer by changing the title to reflect ownership by him and his wife. Jointly owned property cant be seized under Florida law. But the move ultimately failed because the judgment filed against him in court came before the title was altered.

In December, the court ordered Carollos wages and income from Miami garnished, but with the stipulation that the city hang on to the money until the commissioners attempts to quash the order are heard. Federal law limits a garnishment to no more than 25% of any individual defendants disposable earnings after deductions, or 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less per pay period.

In addition to his $58,000 salary, Carollo gets about another $45,000 a year in city benefits that include car and phone stipends. Both his salary and most of his benefits have been garnished.

Gutchess, the businessmens attorney, has also filed a motion seeking information on a company allegedly operated by Carollos wife. The attorney said Carollo is fighting like hell to keep us from getting access to that.

We believe there are funds flowing through his wifes company. Its obviously generating revenue, said Gutchess.

Carollo is arguing that his salary cant be garnished because hes the head of a household with several dependents. He also said his wife earns less than he does and that her company is in the red.

Frankly, all my wifes company has, is debt, he said.

Jury: Carollo weaponized city resources against the businessmen

The commissioners issues with Fuller and Pinilla go back to just before his 2017 runoff election victory in Miamis District 3 over attorney Alfonso Alfie Leon. The businessmen  who own and operate several of Calle Ochos most popular destinations, from the Ball & Chain nightclub to the Tower Hotel  attracted Carollos ire when they sponsored a political rally for Leon in one of their properties.

The men claim from that point on, Carollo did all he could to shut down their businesses and ruin their reputations. So they filed a lawsuit to try and recover their losses and to force Carollo to abandon similar tactics in the future.

After a seven-week trial last spring, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale agreed with the businessmen that Carollo tried to destroy them and their businesses. They agreed he forced police and code enforcement to target about a dozen of their properties in Little Havana.

Late last year, Fuller and Pinilla filed a virtual copy-cat lawsuit against the city of Miami and more than two dozen employees, including City Manager Art Noriega and City Attorney Victoria Mendez. The lawsuit also lists 13 businesses operated by Fuller and Pinilla as plaintiffs and seeks to cover the cost of damages.

The fact is weve sustained damages and hes doubling and tripling down, going out and suggesting were involved in other kinds of criminal activity. Its slanderous, said Fuller.

Carollo has claimed Fuller and Pinilla were involved in criminal enterprise in the past  though his claims have been debunked. Specifically, an investigative report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from 2018 shows Carollo made wildly inaccurate claims about Fuller being the head of a cabal of Venezuelan investors whose goal was to buy up Little Havana property and control Miami elections. The FDLE said the investigation was exceptionally cleared for lack of evidence.

More recently, Carollo told the Miami Herald he would resign if Fuller could prove that $6.5 million in loans received through the federal Paycheck Protection Program was spent properly. Hes also claimed that Fuller committed mortgage and voter fraud.

Both claims are unsubstantiated. Fuller said he borrowed about $2.5 million worth of PPP loans, which helped during the height of the pandemic.

Were above board, said Fuller. Im not even concerned about that. Its a non-issue.
SAN DIEGO  COVID-19 cases more than doubled San Diego County last month based on regional wastewater testing, marking the largest surge in infections since the omicron variant started circulating several years ago.

Data as of Dec. 27  the most recent available  indicates that as many as 200 cases could be present for every 100,000 residents in the county given the amount of the virus recorded in local wastewater, according to San Diego Epidemiology and Research for COVID Heath.

The spike is nearly as high as the viral load recorded in the wastewater when the Omicron variant reached the region in January 2022, pushing the number of cases reported by the county per day over 10,000.

Low-income older adults to be matched with locals who have spare bedrooms

Experts say the surge is likely caused by the spread of the JN.1 strain, an off-shoot of omicron that has driven up cases nationwide over the last few weeks amid annual holiday activities.

JN.1 is considered more contagious, but less severe than previous iterations of COVID. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it does not appear to pose additional risks to public health beyond that of other recent variants.

Hospitalizations have risen slightly in San Diego County with the surge, although Dr. Marlene Millen, chief medical information officer for UC San Diego Health, says it is not happening at a rate that is unusual for an overall increase in cases.

It is not always one-to-one that (hospitalizations) are there with the COVID (cases), she explained. So far, we havent really seen more severe illness than usual. It looks like the vaccines are working, which is good, and that our medications work against it.

However, the spread of JN.1 comes at a time when hospitals are simultaneously battling a wave of other illnesses like influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

These paired with low vaccine uptake has health officials increasingly worrying about a tripledemic during the countrys first post-pandemic respiratory viral season, and experts say it will still be a few more weeks before the spread of these viruses reach their peak.

The hard part is all three contribute to hospitalizations and so when you get three pretty active viruses, then you get more hospitalizations, Millen said. It creates a lot more illness in the healthcare system.

Encinitas installs no smoking signs across city

Some regional health care providers, such as Scripps Health, are temporarily reimplementing COVID-era safety protocols in response to the surge in respiratory illnesses. This includes masking and infection control guidelines for visitors.

Going forward, health experts recommend that people  particularly those who are at high-risk for complications of a COVID infection  take precautions such as getting vaccinated, using a mask when possible, and staying at home when feeling ill. Millen says people should also seek treatment as soon as possible if any symptoms start to worsen.

The biggest thing Ive seen this year is that people are getting multiple illnesses and COVID can be one of them, Millen said. Folks are still getting pretty sick from it and pretty miserable for a few weeks.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
Now that bus companies have dropped off migrants at Metra stations in many suburbs and some migrants wearing only summer clothes have been left out in the cold, officials in Morton Grove, Park Ridge, Skokie, Lincolnwood and other northern suburbs with train or bus access into Chicago are making plans in case migrants should arrive in their towns.

Morton Groves Village Board was scheduled to vote at its Jan. 9 meeting on an ordinance allowing the village to fine bus companies that drop off more than 10 passengers without coordinating with Morton Grove police.

Morton Grove Village Manager Ralph Czerwinski said the ordinance was similar to what other suburban villages do to crack down on unscheduled drop-offs of migrants who arrive on buses from Texas. Last week, Waukegan, North Chicago, Highwood and Grayslake all approved ordinances to regulate bus drop-offs.

Bus companies that violate the ordinance could be fined up to $750 per person dropped off, and the bus seized and impounded by the village, according to the ordinance.

The ordinance said bus companies looking to drop off people in Morton Grove will need to fill out a Morton Grove Police Department application 10 days in advance. The ordinance would allow drop-offs to be scheduled at the Morton Grove Metra station from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, excluding federal holidays.

Czerwinski said if migrants arrived at the Metra station, the villages fire and police departments would respond to their immediate needs and coordinate with Metra to get them to Chicagos designated location at 800 S. Des Plaines St. Czerwinski said the village would also collaborate with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security.

If an incident were to occur, as it did this past weekend in Glen Ellyn when migrants were dropped off at the Metra station just as the last train of the night had left the station, leaving them to wait five hours for the morning train, Czerwinski said migrants would be able to stay temporarily at the Metra station for the night and take the next train to Chicago in the morning. He said Pace could also provide warming buses if the station reached its limit. He clarified that migrants would only stay at the Metra station until they would be able to get on the next inbound train.

Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney said the city would not seek to adopt an ordinance that would restrict unscheduled bus stops in Park Ridge. Maloney said that in discussions between the citys staff and the city attorney, staff concluded that an ordinance would not be effective.

According to Park Ridges plan, if a bus were to unload passengers in Park Ridge, Park Ridge police would redirect the bus to Chicago. If passengers were already dropped off in Park Ridge, they would be sheltered at either the Dee Road or Uptown Metra station, whichever is closest. Park Ridge police would contact Metra Police and assist in getting people on the next inbound train to Chicago, according to the plan.

The plan said Park Ridge would facilitate the transportation of people to Chicago and that Park Ridge does not have the resources or infrastructure to accommodate people on a long-term basis.

Lincolnwood does not have a Metra station but has a border and bus connections with Chicago. Assistant Village Manager Charles Meyer said the village has a plan in place, overseen by the police department, to coordinate with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security to transport migrants to the designated location within the city of Chicago that has appropriate resource to accept the migrants.

Skokies Communications and Community Engagement Director Patrick Deignan said village officials had made plans to ensure people could get to Chicagos landing site for migrants if they should be dropped off without any announcement. Skokie does not have a Metra station but has two CTA Yellow Line stations, which provide transit connections to Chicago.

Niles Deputy Police Chief Nick Zakula said the department would direct buses to Chicago, should they arrive in Niles. He said the village does not have a designated location where the buses can drop off passengers. Niles does not have a Metra station but shares a border and bus connections with Chicago.

Zakula shared a draft of a proposed ordinance, that the Village Board may vote on at its next meeting, that would ban the unscheduled drop-off of passengers in the village. The document showed that the village is considering fines between $300 and $1,500 if a person drops off passengers without coordinating with the villages police department. The ordinance said a bus could also be seized and impounded, and the owner of the bus could be ordered to pay an additional $750 administrative fee.
Oleh Baturyn, a Ukrainian journalist working with the Center for Journalistic Investigations, received violent online threats after a story about a member of the Kherson regional council's Russian connections, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on Jan. 9.

The story, which did not have a byline, said that Valerii Saltykov, a member of Kherson's regional council, had recently registered his business in Russia and received a Russian passport. Baturyn shared the story on Facebook and told CPJ that he received a "wave of threats and hate" shortly after.

Hostile messages including rape threats and homophobic comments came from at least five different sources on social media, Baturyn said.

I associate the threats exclusively with the publication about Valerii Saltykov since the authors of these messages directly write that Valerii Saltykov is a very good person and I should be raped and mutilated," he told CPJ.

Ukrainian authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the violent threats made against journalist Oleh Baturyn and ensure that he remains safe, commented Gulnoza Said, CPJs Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.

Baturyn said that the police contacted him about starting an investigation, but added that he had not heard directly from any investigators.

CPJ said that neither Saltykov nor the Ukrainian police responded to requests for comment.

Baturyn was captured by Russian forces shortly after the beginning of the full-scale invasion in March 2022 while working in occupied Kherson Oblast.

"I was beaten, humiliated, threatened. They said they would kill me," he said after being released from more than a week in captivity.

Read also: As sanctions bite, Russia eyes Ukraines mineral resources to fund its invasion

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Missouri police announced that six people have gone missing without a trace since Augustbut thats not the scariest part. Upon further investigation, police said they found the individuals to be connected by an alleged cult they joined before their disappearance.



Berkeley Police Department said the group of four adults and two children, ages two and three, all lived together in a home rented by group member MaKayla Wickerson near Lambert St. Louis Airport. They were last seen at a Quality Inn Hotel in Florissant, Mo., per The New York Post.

However, Wickersons mother, Cartisha Morgan, told FOX 2 Now she hasnt heard from her daughter since March 2023. Morgan said her daughter had cut off all communication with family, quit her job and maxed out her credit cards. Police added she changed her name to Intuahma Aquama Auntil.

Morgan believes the disappearance of her daughter and granddaughter, the 3-year-old who is also missing, stems from Wickersons involvement in a cult led by online conspiracy theorist Rashad Jamal White. The report said investigators confirmed this notion, finding that each of the adults were indeed a part of Whites University of Cosmic Intelligence.

Let me tell you, the curriculum he was serving up was beyond the whole 2Pac being alive and hiding in Cuba thing.

Read more from the Daily Mail:

Self-professed god Jamal claims Arizona is a gateway to Africa, birds are government drones and that humans are avatars among other outlandish beliefs. Berkley Police Departments Major Steve Runge added the group was often seen running around naked in the rain outside the rental home, as well as digging up items from the dirt. Followers of the cult are encouraged to go off grid and change their name to more spiritual monikers.The FBI has since joined the search with police warning the cult has encouraged a total disconnection.

In addition to Wickerson, 36, and her 3-year-old daughter Malaiyah, others missing include 30-year-old Naaman Williams, 27-year-old Gerrielle German, 25-year-old Mikayla Thompson and 2-year-old Ashton Williams.

But where is this self-proclaimed prophet they follow? In prison.

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, he is currently serving a lengthy sentence for child molestation and cruelty to children for incidents dating back to February 2020. He was convicted in Augustthe same time his followers vanishedand is not expected to leave the pen until 2040.

Its unclear how or if they still communicate with White while hes behind bars.

The Berkeley Police Department didnt immediately respond to The Roots request for comment. If you have any information please contact the department at 314-524-3311.
A huge fire raged in a residential area in Sumy Oblast after Russia attacked the area in the evening of Jan. 9, the State Emergency Service (SES) of Ukraine reported on Telegram.

The fire has since been extinguished.

Read also: Russian invaders shelled Sumy Oblast border area 19 times during the past 24 hours

"The fire broke out the night before in a residential area due to enemy strikes on a settlement in Sumy Oblast," the SES said.

Private households and apartment buildings were damaged by the blast wave. The communitys Cultural Center and residential buildings were set ablaze.

The fire was prevented from spreading to private households, the SES said.

 /Telegram

 /Telegram

23 homes were damaged after the invading Russian forces struck the town of Krolevets, Sumy Oblast, with a missile and two Shaheds on Jan. 7.

Two people were killed and one injured after Russia attacked Sumy Oblast with suicide drones on Jan. 1. Ukraines air defense forces managed to knock out one drone, but the other hit a residential building in the Esmansky community.

Read also: To confuse & locate air defenses  Why Russia throws so many munitions at sleeping Ukrainian cities

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
(Bloomberg) -- The Czech government asked for more time to decide how to reassure investors that a potential ownership revamp of the dominant power utility CEZ AS wont hurt minority shareholders.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, which is supervising a bill on corporate overhauls in the assembly, adjourned its deliberations on the legislation for the fourth time on Wednesday, saying it needs input from the cabinet on how to proceed.

The draft effectively allows the state to carve up CEZ, in which it now holds 70%, and possibly gain full control of some of its assets without making a formal buyout offer. But the ruling coalition has signaled it will tweak the bill to preserve more influence for minority owners over asset splits.

Its clear that the proposal will change, but we dont know yet how, Marek Benda, deputy chairman of the committee and a lawmaker for the ruling Civic Democrats, said in an interview in parliament in Prague.

The bill was conceived as part of efforts to gain more state control over critical energy infrastructure to avoid a repeat of a spike in power and natural gas prices. CEZ, the biggest traded utility in eastern Europe with a market value of about $23 billion, was seen as a key part of the plan because its power plants dominate electricity production in the country.

The draft is designed to lower the limit for approving changes in ownership structures, including uneven splits, to 75% of shareholders present at a general meeting, from the current 90% of all owners. The government has said the draft law is meant to align Czech rules with those in other European Union countries and isnt tailor-made for CEZ.

Benda said the coalition hasnt yet reached agreement on how to modify the controversial clause about uneven asset splits, saying the government may submit a modified proposal or let lawmakers amend the legislation on the floor of parliament.

Read more: Czechs Set to Water Down Bill on $24 Billion Utility Revamp

Options for diluting the bill include removal of the reference to uneven splits or changing the voting thresholds to give minority investors more say in the potential overhaul.

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Suppose a president "ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival" but "was not impeached," D.C. Circuit Judge Florence Y. Pan said while questioning Donald Trump's lawyer, D. John Sauer, on Tuesday. "Would he be subject to criminal prosecution?"

Sauer repeatedly resisted giving a straight answer to that question. But based on the position that Trump has taken in the federal case charging him with unlawfully trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the answer was clearly no. According to Trump's lawyers, a former president can be prosecuted for "official acts," which would include his orders to a military unit like SEAL Team Six, only if he is first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate based on the same underlying conduct.

Pan, who also posed hypotheticals involving a president who "sell[s] pardons" or "sell[s] military secrets," was troubled by the implications of that position. So were the other two judges on the D.C. Circuit panel, J. Michelle Childs and Karen L. Henderson. None of them seemed inclined to accept the argument that presidential immunity bars Special Counsel Jack Smith from prosecuting Trump for his efforts to reverse Joe Biden's victory.

Trump, who showed up for the hearing to underline his argument that he is a victim of "election interference" disguised as criminal justice, is asking the appeals court to overrule U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who last month concluded that "former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability." If the D.C. Circuit panel agrees with Chutkan, Trump can appeal that decision to the full court or the Supreme Court. Depending on how long that process takes, it could delay the start of Trump's trial, which is currently scheduled for early March.

According to Sauer, the case against Trump violates a longstanding principle, rooted in the constitutional separation of powers, that "the president's official acts" are "never examinable by the courts." The only exception, he says, is described in the Impeachment Judgment Clause: "Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law."

Sauer reads that clause to mean that prosecution is allowed only after removal via impeachment, and then only if the criminal case is based on the same actions that led to impeachment. A president who ordered the assassination of a political opponent, Sauer told Pan, "would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution." But suppose he avoided removal by resigning, as Richard Nixon did, or by committing the crime at the very end of his term. In either scenario, he would literally get away with murder, assuming that Sauer's understanding of presidential immunity is correct.

The case against Trump involves an analogous situation. Trump was impeached based on essentially the same conduct as Smith's election interference case. But when the Senate tried him, he was no longer in office. Trump's lawyers argued that the Senate did not have the authority to try a former president, and several Republicans who voted to acquit him, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (RKy.), accepted that argument.

McConnell emphasized that Trump could still face criminal prosecution. But according to Sauer's interpretation of the Impeachment Judgment Clause, the process that McConnell presented as an alternative to a Senate conviction is foreclosed without a Senate conviction. So this very case shows that a president, under the Constitution as Trump's lawyers understand it, can avoid both political accountability via impeachment and criminal liability via prosecution as long as he times his crimes with those goals in mind.

The "absolute immunity" that Sauer is advocating also would shield a former president from prosecution for crimes that did not come to light until after he left office. Even a president who was removed for "high crimes and misdemeanors"say, ordering the FBI to frame his political enemiescould not be prosecuted for a different offense, such as accepting bribes in exchange for government contracts.

As Sauer sees it, such possibilities pale beside the potential for politically motivated prosecutions of former presidents. That threat, he argues, would have a chilling effect on every president's ability to perform his duties. "If a president has to look over his shoulder or her shoulder every time he or she has to make a controversial decision," he told the D.C. Circuit panel, and "worry 'after I leave office, am I going to jail for this, when my political opponents take power?'that inevitably dampens the ability of the president" to do his job.

Sauer, of course, portrays the case against Trump as an example of that very danger. President Biden's likely opponent in this fall's election "is being prosecuted by the administration that he's seeking to replace," Sauer said. "That is the frightening future. That is tailor made to launch cycles of recrimination that will shake our republic."

Democrats, Sauer suggested, may regret opening the door to the prosecution of former presidents. "It would authorize, for example, the indictment of President Biden in the Western District of Texas after he leaves office for mismanaging the border," he said, and "let a Texas jury and Texas judge sit in judgment over the validity" of his immigration policies.

The government's lawyer, John Pearce, argued that Sauer was exaggerating the threat of "vindictive, tit-for-tat prosecutions." While no former president has previously faced criminal prosecution, Pearce said, that's because no president has ever done what Trump is accused of doing. "Never before [have] there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals and using the levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the democratic republic and the electoral system," he told the judges. "And frankly, if that kind of fact pattern arises again, I think it would be awfully scary if there weren't some sort of mechanism by which to reach that criminally."

Sauer says the threat of criminal prosecution would have a paralyzing effect on the presidency. But that has not happened so far, even though the possibility of prosecuting former presidents has never been definitively foreclosed. To the contrary, public officials generally seem to have assumed that a former president can be prosecuted for crimes he committed in office, even if he was never impeached. "At least since the Watergate era 50 years ago," Pearce said, there has been "widespread societal recognition, including by presidents and the executive branch, that a former president is subject to criminal prosecution."

As Judge Childs noted, Gerald Ford was operating under that assumption when he pardoned his predecessor "for all offenses against the United States" he may have committed as president. In response to Childs, Sauer claimed that pardon involved "purely private conduct," as opposed to "official acts." But that is plainly not true, since the proposed articles of impeachment against Nixon describe several official (but corrupt) acts.

The articles alleged that Nixon used "the powers of his high office" to subvert investigations of the Watergate break-in and the subsequent cover-up. They accused him, for example, of "making or causing to be made false or misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States" and "interfering or endeavouring to interfere with the conduct of investigations" by the FBI and the Justice Department. The charges against Nixon were "not about private conduct," Pearce said. Among other things, he noted, Nixon was accused of "using the CIA to try to interfere with an FBI investigation."

The allegations against Nixon fit comfortably within the category of "official acts" as Sauer defines it. When Trump pressured state and federal officials to embrace his stolen-election fantasy and help him stay in office, his lawyers say, he was doing his job by "tak[ing] care that the laws be faithfully executed"in this case, the laws governing presidential elections. Likewise when Trump recruited "alternate" electors and asked state legislators to recognize them instead of Biden's electors. Since conferring with legislators and executive-branch officials about preserving the integrity of federal elections fell "within the 'outer perimeter' of his official responsibility," Trump's lawyers argue, he cannot be prosecuted for doing that, regardless of his motive or intent.

Judge Henderson, the only Republican appointee on the D.C. Circuit panel, did not dismiss Sauer's concern about politically motivated prosecutions. "How do we write an opinion that would stop the floodgates?" she asked Pearce. But even Henderson was skeptical of the way Trump's lawyers portray the conduct underlying the charges against him. "I think it's paradoxical," she told Sauer, "to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal laws."

The post D.C. Circuit Seems Skeptical of Trump's Alarmingly Broad Presidential Immunity Claim appeared first on Reason.com.
An accused thief fled a Georgia mall the day after Christmas, leaving behind what he stole  as well as his crying child in the car, authorities said.

A man tried to steal hundreds of dollars of merchandise from the Macys store at the Cumberland Mall in Atlanta, according to a Cobb County Magistrate Court arrest warrant obtained by McClatchy News. The shoplifting attempt turned into a foot chase, leaving the mans child abandoned in his car, police said.

The man was not in custody as of Jan. 10 and officers are searching for him, a Cobb County Police Department spokesperson told McClatchy News.

Stuffing clothes and perfume into a book bag from Macys, the suspect crammed the items under his oversized jacket while trying to walk out of the store, according to police. The total value of the stolen goods was $852, the warrant said.

Then, the man fled the store as loss prevention workers and mall security pursued him, police said.

While fleeing from security, the suspect pushed a woman who was trying to stop him, officials said.

Seeing the woman get shoved, another man decided to chase down the suspect and the two got into a fight in the parking lot, police said.

The pair grappled each other onto the ground, and at one point, the suspect bit the mans forearm hard enough to break skin, according to the warrant. The suspect then dropped the stolen goods and fled, police said.

Meanwhile, the suspects 11-year-old son was sitting in the car by himself with the keys, the warrant said. Police officers searched the parking lot for the car and found the boy visibly shaken, officials said.

The child told the officers how scared he was multiple times, bursting into tears at some points, according to the warrant.

While the officers were with the child, the man never returned to check on his son, police said.

The man was charged with theft by shoplifting, battery and child cruelty, according to the warrant.

His bond is posted at $6,000, with requirements that restrict him from unsupervised time with his child and from returning to Cumberland Mall, the warrant said.

Financial adviser stole millions from older, dependent clients, California police say

Man steals dead wifes benefits, then threatens to stab agents arresting him, feds say

Man posing as tow truck driver stole vehicles to sell for scrap, Oregon officials say
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) said 25-year-old, Oliver Hernandez Caballero of Damascus was arrested and charged with child abuse on Monday.

Police said that on Dec. 28, 2023, Hernandez Caballero was at home, alone with his 5-month-old child.

At about 9 p.m., the baby was taken to Shady Grove Hospital after the baby was having difficulty breathing and eating.

Police said Hernandez Caballero allegedly caused severe injuries to his 5-month-old baby.

Father charged in abuse of his 6-week-old baby in Frederick

The child was transferred to the Childrens National Medical Center as a result of severe and unexplained injuries to the head and body.

Child Protective Services (CPS) notified detectives from the SVID-Child Abuse and Sex Assault Unit of the incident.

After investigating, police found that Hernandez Caballero abused the baby, and that resulted in severe injuries.

Hernandez Caballero was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit where he has been charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said Tuesday the village has written a $3,666 check to the Illinois Council of Police for dues collected.

Roberts said village officials found the previous administration changed the payroll system so union dues werent sent to the council, but said his administration has since reversed that action.

Village spokesman Travis Akin said Wednesday village attorney James Vasselli would hand deliver the check to union officials. Akin said village officials reviewed payroll records to determine how much was owed.

The check is on the way, Roberts said.

Roberts said in a statement the $3,666 payment covers $2,470.50 for 2022 deductions and $1,195.50 for 2023 deductions.

We reviewed our records and discovered due to a clerical error we did indeed owe money for dues. Today, the Village sent the money owed for union dues and we are taking steps to ensure future payments to ICOP are paid in full and on time, Roberts said in the release.

Alexander Dunn, an attorney and executive director of council, and Roberts both said village officials and the union havent met to discuss the union dues deduction.

Dunn requested an Illinois State Police investigation into the lack of payment, saying the money is used to fund the officers union expenses and other benefits, such as life insurance. Dunn also filed a charge with the Illinois Labor Relations Board because he said the city wont sign a negotiated and agreed to contract with the union.

After the union issued a news release about Dixmoor deducting the union dues but not sending them to the union, Dunn said Vasselli sent the union a letter Dec. 29.

In the letter, Vasselli asked the union to send the village an invoice stating how much the village owes, evidence of any union dues deducted by the village in the last 12 months and to provide the name of the union steward or other village designees with whom the village can discuss ongoing union issues.

Vasselli offered to meet with union officials Jan. 8 in the letter. Dunn said he talked with Vasselli and agreed to meet if he has authority to take action, such as paying the dues or signing the contract. Dunn said Vasselli just told him the offer to meet stands, so Dunn canceled the meeting.

Its not a genuine offer to meet if you cant act, Dunn said.

Dunn said he also took issue with the villages request for an invoice for union dues owed because the villages Human Resources Department has that data. Dunn said he did sent the village a redacted pay stub to show deductions have been made.

They can see it all, Dunn said.

Dunn said typically city and village officials who have members in the Illinois Council of Police send the union a roster of police officers, how much money was taken from each officers check for union dues and a check with that dues money, Dunn said.

Beginning in April 2021, the union had not received union dues funds from Dixmoor officials, Dunn said. When the union reached out in July 2022 about the missing payments, the village sent a check for $6,615, which the union received the next month, he said.

But since August 2022, the union has again not received a check from Dixmoor, Dunn said.

akukulka@chicagotribune.com
By Johannes Birkebaek

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Officials in Denmark have yet to decide how much money the new monarch will get, but whatever the cost, for some Danes the royal family provides a sense of fairytale tradition and is worth every penny.

Queen Margrethe II stunned the nation on New Year's Eve when she announced that she would abdicate and leave the throne to her oldest son, who will become King Frederik X on Sunday.

Denmark's royals spend roughly eight times less than their British peers, a fact that makes the Danish monarchy one of the most popular in Europe, with the support of more than 70% of the country.

"The royal family means everything that is Danish, it's fairytales and traditions," Anna Karina Laursen, 59, told Reuters as she stood in front of the royal palace in Copenhagen.

Home to fairytale author H.C. Andersen, Denmark has one of the oldest monarchies in the world.

"I like the history, I like the castles, and it's important that we preserve it, and the royal family is part of that."

Some 52% of Danes think that the queen is correctly paid or underpaid and 30% think she's overpaid, a 2023 survey for Danish newspaper Berlingske showed.

The royal family received 88.9 million Danish crowns ($13.04 million) of public funds in 2022, according to official data. By comparison, Britain's royal family was allotted 86.3 million pounds ($109 million) the same year.

"I don't think the sales value of the royal family can be repaid. I believe the royal family gives a lot back in the end," said Annemette Nordkild, 55, as she waited to see the queen in front of her Copenhagen residence.

While the monarchies in Sweden and Norway maintain similar degrees of popularity to that of Denmark, the opaque nature and wealth of the British royals have sparked controversy and some hostility.

The Danish parliament has yet to decide how much money the new king and queen will get. In a move to keep spending low, Queen Margrethe in 2022 decided to strip the royal titles of the children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim.

Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian-born wife Princess Mary have been seen on the streets of Copenhagen bringing their children to state school by cargo bike, a popular means of transportation in the capital.

But Danes also like a bit of pomp and glamour, as when the queen last week rode through the streets of Copenhagen in a gilded horse-drawn carriage from 1840.

"The golden carriage, it's not something she does very often, and that's cool," said Lone Percy-Smith, 60, a professor in audiology, as she and her husband came to see Margrethe II take her last ride in the carriage as monarch.

Pensioner Erik Magten, 77, said the royal family provided Danes with an experience.

"And we give back a bit through taxes," he said.

(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Nick Macfie)
WHO says humanitarian, medical situation "dramatically bad" in Gaza

Xinhua) 08:18, January 10, 2024

A doctor checks the condition of a boy at a temporary clinic in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Jan. 8, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"Hospitals are closing, patients are lacking access to health facilities, health workers are being forced to flee for their safety," said Sean Casey, WHO emergency medical teams coordinator.

GENEVA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a humanitarian and health catastrophe in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as humanitarian space and access to medical services continue to shrink.

Speaking at a United Nations weekly briefing via video link from Gaza, Sean Casey, WHO emergency medical teams coordinator, highlighted the "dramatically bad" situation in the entire Gaza Strip. The health system is collapsing rapidly, and there has been no letup in the intensity of conflict over the past weeks, he said.

"Hospitals are closing, patients are lacking access to health facilities, health workers are being forced to flee for their safety," Casey said.

The bloody fighting has intensified in central and southern areas, straining over-burdened hospitals that remain open.

An injured man is transferred to a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Jan. 5, 2024. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

EXODUS OF MEDICAL STAFF

The three most important hospitals in those areas, European Gaza Hospital, Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Aqsa, were the lifeline for south Gaza which was currently sheltering over two million people, said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Al-Aqsa hospital lost 70 percent of its staff, who fled with families for safety reasons, as did Nasser Medical Complex, one of the last trauma centers in service. The evacuation of medical staff has made hospitals non-functional.

Thousands of patients left Al-Aqsa for other hospitals which were already bursting at the seams. They were only moving from one bad situation to another, as there were no safe places in Gaza, Casey said.

Compared with 3,500 hospital beds prior to the conflict, Gaza has only around 1,400 now, but the situation required at least 5,000, said Peeperkorn.

People mourn dead Palestinians at the graves in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Dec. 31, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Ali/Xinhua)

SHRINKING ACCESS TO CARE

The conflict has displaced 1.9 million people, a staggering 85 percent of Gaza's population, and left civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory at risk of famine and disease, said the United Nations.

The WHO, together with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, tried to assess the levels of infectious diseases, saying more than 81,000 cases of diarrhea have been recorded, up from 2,000 in normal times.

The resolution adopted by the WHO Executive Board last month called for immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief in Gaza, but humanitarian access has become even more limited. Every day, aid deliveries in Gaza were being denied, said Peeperkorn.

Displaced Palestinians prepare food at a temporary shelter in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

WHO has been denied access to the north for two weeks and was forced to cancel six planned missions. The team was ready to deliver aid but had not been able to receive the necessary permissions.

"Every day we line up our convoys, we wait for clearance and don't get it," Casey said. "And then we come back and we do it again the next day."

Speaking of children who had limbs amputated, Casey said the amputations were happening due to delayed access to care and the lack of resources at hospitals.

There was also a lack of surgeons and operating space. With the limited resources, Peeperkorn said the medical staff constantly had to make tough choices, including doing amputations that should have been unnecessary to save as many lives as possible.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Just off the corner of East Bemes Road and South Klemme Road in Crete is a 68-acre property with a sprawling horse racing track, a 85 stall barn and a swimming pool for horses.

The price tag? A cool $1,299,000.

But perhaps the most interesting part of this rare listing is who is listing the space. Real estate broker Nick Oosting of McColly Bennett Real Estate Bourbonnais has a rich family history that is tied into one of the most storied race tracks in the state.

My family has been in the horse racing business my entire life. My dad is actually a jockey or hes a driver, for harness race horses, Oosting said of his father, Michael. He was driver of the year for Balmoral Park six, seven, years. I actually sold Balmoral Park not too long ago.

The 85-stall barn on the property at 2400 E Bemes Road in Crete.

Balmoral, which operated races in Crete beginning in 1926, hosted its final harness races the day after Christmas in 2015 after track owners filed for bankruptcy when no 2016 harness racing dates were issued by the Illinois Racing Board.

More recently, Balmoral is been used by grounds owners as truck parking lot.

The Oosting family is horse racing royalty in Chicago, according Standardbred Canada, which tracks horse racing events around the world. Standardbred called Michael Oosting a veteran reinsman who has become a fixture atop the driver standings on the Chicago circuit over the past 10-plus years. Michael has more than 7,000 total wins.

Oosting started his driving career nearly four decades ago and has since steered the winners of over $48 million, Standardbred wrote in September 2021.

Now, Nick Oosting hopes the property he is listing will be bought either by a business or group of people looking to revitalize the local horse racing industry or by an individual who has long wanted to privately own a one-of-a-kind equestrians dream.

Were trying to target people that are in the business already, said Oosting. We target a lot of not-for-profits. These farms are really big for not-for-profits.

While there is no home on the property, there is a 85-stall barn and a horse therapeutical pool.

A lot of people will swim their horses. Its very good for them, he said.

Oosting made one last selling point for a prospective buyer. At present, a racing-casino can be built in Cook County but not in Will County where this track is due to state gambling laws. But Oosting indicated that could change.

If someone wanted to own this thing they could probably  make some pretty good money off this property, he said.

hsanders@chicagotribune.com
RICHMOND  Virginias new legislative session is off to a groundbreaking start.

Portsmouth Democrat Don Scott was unanimously elected Wednesday as the new House speaker, marking the first time in the chambers history that a Black delegate holds the position.

The historic nature of my speakership is not lost on me, said Scott, speaking from the House floor. It is an honor and a privilege to be elected by my peers.

Scott expressed gratitude to the Black lawmakers who came before him and helped pave the way. He said he couldnt fathom what it must have been like for Douglas Wilder, who served as governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994 and was the first elected African American governor in United States history.

I know I stand on the shoulders of giants, he said.

Scotts speech also focused on the power of grace and redemption. Only a few decades ago, Scott could be found in a federal prison cell, serving time for a drug-related conviction.

I remember people telling me my life was over, he said. There are those that will tell you that you should be defined by your mistakes. I am hear to tell you, do not believe them.

Scott credited God and his family for helping him rebuild his life. After he was released from prison, he went on to work as an attorney before joining the House of Delegates in 2020.

Scott is taking the helm at a time when Democrats have consolidated power in the statehouse. Redistricting led to a wave of retirements, including some of the General Assemblys veteran lawmakers. During Novembers elections, Democrats held the Senate and took back the House, albeit with slim majorities.

Prior to Scotts swearing in, House and Senate Democrats held a news conference to outline their goals for the session. They identified several priorities including education, gun violence prevention, reproductive rights and infrastructure.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkins two-year budget plan shakes up the states tax structure but also includes funding for policy priorities including child care and mental health initiatives.

While bills would need a signature from Youngkin to become law, Democrats this year are also working to pass constitutional amendments, including proposals that would enshrine protections for same-sex marriage, abortion, and restoration of voting rights.

A constitutional amendment must pass the General Assembly during two legislative sessions with an election in between. It then only needs approval from Virginias voters to take effect.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
A 27-year-old Bear, Delaware, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Delaware on charges of production of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.

The man was previously charged in October with the kidnapping and endangerment of the same child by a judge in Passaic County, New Jersey.

Court documents unsealed Tuesday by the Department of Justice say Darius Matylewich kidnapped the 11-year-old girl from Wayne, New Jersey, in September after grooming her online and coercing her to produce child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, for him.

The initial charges in New Jersey did not mention the coercion or sexual abuse. If he is convicted on these new charges, he faces between 15 years and life in prison, the Department of Justice said.

Matylewich met the 11-year-old through the online video game Roblox, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said. Recently released court records show that the conversation then progressed onto social media platforms like Discord, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook, where the 27-year-old coerced the girl to produce child sexual abuse material for him.

A search of Matylewich's phone revealed that the man's iPhone was pinpointed outside the girl's home on July 29, court records show. The same search showed the phone near or inside the girl's home and, later, the hotel where she was staying on seven different days, with the last time being the day he kidnapped her.

Throughout this month and a half, the man regularly searched for pornography based on animated children's shows and movies, according to court documents, as well as questions related to pregnancy.

Patterns of grooming, coercion

Matylewich, like many abusers, employed grooming tactics to coerce the 11-year-old to meet with him in person and create this material for him, federal prosecutors said.

The man "took advantage of the child's unstable family situation," according to a memorandum from prosecutors, and convinced her that she was "in love" with him. He regularly told the girl that he loved her and guilt-tripped her, court records show. He also gave her gifts, like Roblox gift cards, and suggested she could pay him back with sexual favors.

When the girl agreed to send him explicit photos or videos, court records say, the man would screen-record the messages and videos, unbeknownst to the girl, and save them to a password-protected folder on his phone.

"The degree of psychological harm that the Defendant caused the Victim cannot be overstated," wrote U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss.

From online chats to abduction

The 11-year-old girl disappeared from the Wayne hotel room in which she and her family were living on the morning of Sept. 10. Her mother was at work, court documents say, and her brother saw her leave with a backpack and thought she was heading to school.

In reality, the 11-year-old had gotten into Matylewich's car and was driven to his home in Bear.

The Wayne Police Department was called to investigate but couldn't find the child on any cameras or in nearby businesses. The girl's mother told police that her daughter had disappeared for a few hours in June to meet with a man she met online, and said she believed the girl might be with him again.

The Wayne Police Department found Matylewich's phone number and address in Delaware, according to court records. They called the man and, "surprisingly," he picked up. Officers talked to the man for over half an hour, court documents say, and he admitted that he had picked up the girl from the hotel and taken her to his home in Bear.

He claimed that he thought the girl was 13, not 11, and denied a sexual relationship. While on the phone with the man, Wayne police contacted the New Castle County Police Department, who went to the house the man shared with his mother.

When officers knocked on the door, Matylewich came out holding his cellphone, still on the phone with Wayne police.

The girl was found safely inside and taken to the hospital, according to court records. Both she and Matylewich continuously denied any sexual contact.

Larger trends in CSAM, sexual coercion of minors

Though the kidnapping of children for sexual abuse is rare, child sexual exploitation is not.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recorded 366 abductions by a non-family member between 2016 and 2020, with many of the abductions being sexually motivated.

In 2020 alone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 37,872 online reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts, and over 21.6 million reports of CSAM. In 2022, those numbers rose to 80,524 and 31.9 million, respectively.

Most CyberTipline reports come from social media platforms, many of which employ programs that automatically detect and report child sexual abuse material. It is unclear whether any social media platforms flagged the 27-year-old; however, unlike in other recent sexual abuse cases, it was not flagging that alerted authorities.

Some people in possession of this material, like the 27-year-old, store it on their phones rather than social media. But Apple, which has a large user base, did not introduce a mechanism for detecting child sexual abuse material until late 2021. The program alerts Apple of the material only after an account crosses an unspecified threshold number of images that match known child sexual abuse material.

RELATED: There's more child sexual abuse material online than ever before. How it's affecting Delaware

How to get help

National Suicide Hotline: 800-273-8255; en espanol 800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 for crisis support

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-4673

National Child Abuse Hotline: 800-422-4453

Team HOPE (free support for survivors of sexual abuse or exploitation and their families): 866-305-4673

Report child sexual abuse material to the CyberTipline online at report.cybertip.org or by calling 800-843-5678.

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Man charged with kidnapping Wayne girl indicted on child porn charges
Rain began falling late Tuesday morning throughout Delaware, according to Delaware Environmental Observing System monitors. By 8:30 p.m., Hockessin had recorded the most rain of the Delaware monitors: 2.04 inches.

But by 12:45 a.m., Seaford topped the chart of Delaware monitors with 3.06 inches of rain, and Bethany had the least amount of rain at 1.75 inches. Hockessin was at 2.71 inches.

Meanwhile, West Chester, Pennsylvania, had recorded 3.89 inches of rain.

The heaviest rain was expected from 8 p.m. until midnight Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

New Castle County is under a flood warning until 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Thousands of Delawareans are without power because of the storm.

Here are the latest rainfall totals for Delaware and nearby Pennsylvania.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How many inches of rain have fallen in the past 24 hours in Delaware?
Delightful fusions of cuisine are at this night market in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  River Park Farmers Market is hosting an International Foods Night on Tuesday in Fresno.

The event will start at 5 p.m. and go until 9 p.m. and will be located at 71 E Via la Plata. Event organizers say that people can experience a delightful fusion of flavors, cultures and traditions that have been a Central Valley staple for 25 years.

According to organizers, there will be a diverse array of food offerings that explore tantalizing cuisines from a fleet of food trucks and varied food booths.

Organizers say kids will also be able to join in on the fun as there will be a free vibrant kids Fun Zone and face painting station.

More information can be found on River Park Farmers Markets Instagram.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
A former city of DeLand employee, who shot and grazed a sheriff's deputy in the face during a standoff at his Deltona home after stealing cigarettes from a convenience store last month, is out of the hospital and in the Volusia County Branch Jail, court records showed on Wednesday.

Dempsey Hadley, 56, is locked up without bail on three counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of fleeing and attempting to elude police, and petty theft.

On Dec. 20, Hadley reportedly stole cigarettes from a Wawa on Howland Boulevard in Deltona, and refused to stop for deputies. His vehicle tires were flattened as deputies tried to stop him but he continued driving to his Whitehorse Court home in Deltona where he shot at deputies, injuring one, and then held them off for hours.

During the standoff, Hadley set his home on fire, officials said.

According to a charging affidavit, after Hadley was arrested at his home, he was transported to HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Sanford. Hadley was intubated for smoke inhalation. A doctor said he had second-degree burns over 5% to 7% of his body, the arrest document states.

He was later transferred to Orlando Regional Medical Center for further treatment.

Volusia County Branch Jail records show Hadley was booked into the facility on Tuesday at 2:36 p.m. He has a first appearance hearing at the jail today at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Deltona deputy-shooting video Video shows dramatic gun battle, house fire during 5-hour standoff in Deltona

'If you do, you will get a 21-gun salute'

On Dec. 20, deputies were called to the Wawa at 3400 Howland Blvd. at 4:32 a.m. where a store employee reported that a regular patron, later identified as Hadley, had stolen cigarettes and was acting strange, according to reports.

Deputies spotted Hadley's vehicle in the convenience store's parking lot and tried to talk to him but he drove off. Deputies caught up to him at Howland and Halifax boulevards and Hadley again sped off. As he headed east on Howland Boulevard, a deputy deployed stop sticks flattening his driver-side front and rear tires, the report notes.

Hadley continued driving until he pulled into his driveway at 3230 Whitehorse Court.

Deputies approached Hadley and ordered him to get out of his truck or they'd break his window. Hadley responded "If you do, you'll get a 21-gun salute," according to the arrest report.

Suspect opens fire from car

After Hadley refused to get out of his truck, an arrest team made up of a sergeant protected by a bulletproof shield, and two other deputies, including Deputy Ethan Thomas approached Hadley's truck, documents show.

When Hadley refused to come out, Thomas started breaking the passenger window of the vehicle and that was when Hadley fired at him, the arrest report states.

Two deputies said as Thomas started breaking the window, they saw Hadley raise his arm, extend it toward the deputies and saw muzzle flashes when he discharged the .357 magnum firearm found in his truck.

Another deputy, who was part of the team that approached Hadley's vehicle said he heard the gunfire and saw a round fly over Thomas's head.

Thomas said that as he broke the window, he felt the percussion and the sound of a gunshot. Thomas said he felt the impact to his face and believed he had been shot.

Thomas suffered multiple cuts to his face. Shards of glass and a bullet fragment were removed from his face, investigators said.

Another deputy reported hearing the gunfire and saw Thomas fall to the ground. She ran to his aid and went with him to the hospital, the report noted.

Fiery standoff

After Thomas was injured, a SWAT team used an armored vehicle to push Hadley's truck into the garage. He got out of the truck waving his arms, and then set a fire in his truck. The fire spread. Hadley was not seen for hours.

Then around 8:06 a.m., he was seen on a second-floor porch pouring liquid everywhere. As the smoke from the fire thickened and spread, the boom of an armored vehicle was used to topple the porch, making Hadley fall to the ground, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

With the help of a police dog, Hadley was arrested and driven to the hospital.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man who shot deputy out of hospital, jailed without bond
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) on Wednesday laid bare the hypocrisy of Republican lawmakers who seek to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee debated with Democrats ahead of a vote Wednesday to recommend that the presidents son be charged with contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.

Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at the hearing, in a reminder that Republicans declined his offer to testify publicly.

Moskowitz suggested Biden could testify then and there, if Republicans allowed him to.

The only folks that are afraid to hear from the witness with the American people watching are my friends on the other side of the aisle, he said.

Lets take a vote. Who wants to hear from Hunter Biden, right now, today? Anyone? he asked. Cmon, who wants to hear from Hunter? No one!

Moskowitz: Let's vote. Let's take a vote. Who wants to hear from hunter right now today? Anyone? Come on. Who wants to hear from hunter? No one. So I'm a visual learner. And the visual is clear, nobody over there wants to hear from the witness. pic.twitter.com/EpANiLntEb  Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024

The freshman Democrat also listed off the names of Republicans who had refused to comply with congressional subpoenas from the Jan. 6 committee, brandishing copies of the documents.

Theres an amendment coming to add some of those names into the contempt order, he said.

You vote to add those names, and show the American people that we apply the law equally  not just when its Democrats... he added. Show that youre serious and that everyone is not above the law. Vote for that amendment, and Ill vote for the Hunter Biden contempt.

Moskowitz: Here is the subpoena to representative Scott Perry, who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to mark meadows who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to Jim Jordan who did not comply with a lawful subpoena. pic.twitter.com/E0s2MYsNPu  Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.); former Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Mark Meadows, Donald Trumps former chief of staff, all ignored subpoenas during the investigation into the Capitol insurrection.

Bidens subpoena was in connection to House Republicans impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, which has yielded no concrete evidence connecting the president to his sons foreign business dealings.

Related...
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) called for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins resignation Wednesday, becoming the first Democrat to publicly support the removal of the Pentagon leader for a hospitalization scandal that has engulfed the Biden administration.

Deluzio, who represents the only swing district in Pennsylvania and is in a competitive race to hold his seat this year, said he lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austins leadership, joining criticism of the secretary for failing to quickly notify key officials when he was first hospitalized in late December.

I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee, Deluzio said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. That duty today requires me to call on Secretary Austin to resign.

Other Democrats have raised questions about Austins hospitalization, but have yet to call for the secretarys resignation.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), House Democratic Caucus chair, expressed concerns this week with Austins lack of transparency, but also seemed to support the notion of keeping the secretary in place.

The House Democratic Caucus wishes Secretary Austin well in his recovery, but clearly there are some things that could have been done better, Aguilar told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol. We hope that they acknowledge that. And were willing to move forward.

Several Republicans have accused Austin of dereliction of duty and are calling for his ouster, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), House Republican Conference chair.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), House Armed Services Committee chair, launched an investigation Tuesday into Austins hospitalization and the concerns about notifying officials of his absence.

Austin, who has prostate cancer, first learned of the cancer diagnosis in early December and had a related surgery on Dec. 22.

On Jan. 1, Austin struggled with a urinary tract infection related to the surgery and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit. President Biden and the White House did not learn of his hospitalization until Jan. 4.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who assumed command of the Pentagon from Jan. 2 to Jan. 5, also did not learn of his hospitalization until Jan. 4.

Austin, who is recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., has acknowledged the concerns around transparency and pledged to improve, as has the Pentagon, which is conducting a review of the incident.

Biden is standing by Austin and maintains confidence in him, according to the White House.

The White House ordered a protocol review Tuesday on how cabinet secretaries delegate authority and directed agencies to notify the Office of Cabinet Affairs and the White House chief of staff when a cabinet secretary delegates their duties.

The Hills Michael Lillis contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
a The following items were taken from police and court reports and news releases. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt.

Alsip

SHOTS FIRED: A ride-share driver told police two men who had been talking to his fare shot at his vehicle at about 3 p.m. Monday. The driver pulled up to 119th Street and Hamlin Avenue and told police the rider entered the vehicle quickly and told the Uber driver to start driving away. As they left, the two men fired several shots at the Uber vehicle, striking it once, police said. No one was injured and the men fled in a black Chrysler with tinted windows.

Evergreen Park

FRAUD: James A. Cononico, 40, 2600 block of 98th Street, Evergreen Park, was arrested and accused of engaging in a financial crimes enterprise Dec. 30 after trying to cash a fraudulent check at PLS Check Cashers, 2507 95th St., police said.

ILLEGAL GUN: Carlton A. Reed, 48, 9500 block of Albany Avenue, was arrested and accused of being an armed habitual criminal during a Jan. 6 traffic stop at 95th Street and Maplewood Avenue, police said. Reed, a felon and passenger in the vehicle, had an undisclosed firearm, police said.

ILLEGAL GUN: Curtrail N. Morris, 48, Chicago, was arrested and accused of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after an officer recovered a 9 mm handgun from the car he was driving during a Dec. 28 traffic stop at 93rd Street and Western Avenue, police said.

DUI CRASH: Richard R. Reyes Jr., 28, Chicago, was arrested and accused of aggravated drunken driving during a Dec. 29 crash investigation at 87th Street and Kedzie Avenue, police said.

AGGRAVATED BATTERY: Randy Martin, 29, Chicago, was arrested and accused of aggravated battery Jan. 1 after hitting an employee at OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, police said.

ROBBERY: A woman told police she gave her cellphone to a man Jan. 3 at 101st Place and Francisco Avenue after he implied he was armed and threatened to shoot her. She said the man fled in a white sedan.

Homewood

DUI CRASH: Julissa Avila-Flores, 21, Joliet, was arrested and accused of drunken driving with a blood-alcohol concentration above the legal limit and criminal damage to property Dec. 3 in the 18200 block of Park Avenue after driving into a fence in the 18200 block of Park Avenue and then driving over a fairway at Ravisloe Country Club, police said.

BURGLARY: Janice Duckett, 34, 12300 block of Green Street, Calumet Park, was taken into custody Dec. 5 on a warrant accusing her of burglary, police said. Duckett stole cash Sept. 8 from a safe at a business in the 17500 block of Halsted Avenue, police said.

Lansing

ILLEGAL GUN: Kameron Tucker, 27, undisclosed address, Lockport, was arrested and accused of unlawful use of a weapon during a Jan. 1 retail theft investigation at a store after he was found to have live ammunition and officers determined he is a felon, police said.

CAR JACKING: Two people displaying handguns stole a Kia from a woman Jan. 5 in the Walgreens parking lot, 18133 Torrence Ave., police said, noting the vehicle was later recovered in Indiana.

Monee

ILLEGAL GUN: Charles Price Jr., 23, undisclosed address, Lynwood, was arrested and accused of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after he was found to have a firearm without state-required permits during a traffic stop Sunday at Governors Highway and Monee-Manhattan Road, police said.

New Lenox

VEHICULAR TRESPASS: Robert A. Lichamer, 39, 1200 block of Towncrest Drive, New Lenox, is charged with two counts of criminal damage to property, according to police and Will County circuit court records online. Lichamer stepped out in front of the Public Works Department vehicle at 6:45 a.m. Jan. 6, demanding the driver take him to a gas station for cigarettes, police said. The village employee, blocked from clearing the street, turned the vehicle away, but Lichamer climbed into its passenger side, police said. The employee took Lichamer to a gas station at U.S. Route 6 and Cedar Road, where an officer responded to the employees call for help and took Lichamer into custody, police said.

Oak Lawn

ROBBERY INDICTMENT: A Blue Island man was indicted on six gun-related felony charges in connection with the Oct. 18 theft of a cellphone and wallet from a parked car, police said. Raul Perez, 24, undisclosed address, was charged by the Cook County states attorneys office with armed robbery, armed robbery with a firearm, being an armed habitual offender, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, being a felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a firearm, police said. Perez allegedly stole the items outside the BP gas station, 11040 Pulaski Road, implying to the victim that he had a gun, police said. Perez was arrested Nov. 26 and indicted Dec. 18.

Palos Hills

SHOTS FIRED: A resident turned in two discharged rifle casings Jan. 2 that were found in the 9900 block of Hill Terrace, suggesting they were connected to a Dec. 31 shooting the resident heard.

BURGLARY: Windows were discovered smashed Jan. 3 at two units in the 10100 block of Roberts Road. Both offices were entered but only one occupant immediately reported a theft, saying five Rolex watches and a filing cabinet were taken, police said.

RESIDENTIAL THEFT: About $10,000 was reported taken from a bank bag in the closet of a home on Lucas Drive. Investigators found no signs of forced entry and residents found no other items taken, police said.

ARMED ROBBERY: Money was taken at gunpoint from a food deliverer Sunday in the 10200 block of 84th Terrace by one of two customers who initially left after lacking full payment for an ordered pizza, police said. One returned with a handgun, demanding the pizza, money and the deliverers cellphone, police said.

Park Forest

CAR RECOVERED: A 2017 Cadillac reportedly carjacked at about 4 a.m. Jan. 1 from Western Avenue and Monee Road turned up nearly three hours later with front-end damage nearly 4 miles away in a Monee farm field near the Steger-Monee/Crete-Monee roads intersection, police said. The owner, who reported the hijacking at about 6 a.m., said two males approached the vehicle displaying guns as a third ordered him out, police said. A Monee law enforcement officer heading to work spotted the car at 6:50 a.m., police said.

University Park

AGGRAVATED BATTERY: Jose G. Montonez-Acuna, 34, 700 block of Red Oak Lane, University Park, was arrested and accused of aggravated battery during a domestic battery investigation Tuesday in that block, according to Will County sheriffs records online.
DeSantis will be an 'angry duck' when he returns to Florida after the primaries, according to a Democratic lawmaker who's butted heads with the governor

Ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith told WaPo that Ron DeSantis will return to Florida as an "angry duck."

"His political clout is severely diminished because of what's happened with his campaign," he said of DeSantis.

DeSantis entered the GOP primary as the top alternative to Trump but has struggled in the race.

A former Florida Democratic state lawmaker who has battled with Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the GOP presidential contender will be not merely a lame-duck governor but an "angry duck" upon his return to the state.

In an interview with The Washington Post, ex-state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith predicted that DeSantis  who is currently fighting an uphill battle in the GOP presidential primaries  would return to Florida in a weakened state.

"His political clout is severely diminished because of what's happened with his campaign," Guillermo Smith told The Post.

Still, Guillermo Smith acknowledged that DeSantis, whose political operation has lorded over Florida GOP lawmakers with an iron fist, would have some measure of power in Tallahassee.

"[H]e still has the veto pen," Guillermo Smith told the newspaper. "So I think rather than facing a lame duck governor, we're going to be dealing with an angry duck who will lash out."

DeSantis launched his presidential campaign last year as the darling of Republicans who were enthralled by his conservative successes in Florida, along with party members looking to move on from Trump. But the former president has continued to assert his dominance over GOP voters and conservative lawmakers across the country, and he boasts wide leads in the bulk of the early-voting states as well as the Super Tuesday contests.

And while DeSantis has staked his campaign on winning Iowa, his support has fallen well behind that of Trump, and he's now in a virtual polling tie with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in the pivotal caucus state.

Guillermo Smith, the first openly-LGBTQ+ Latino lawmaker to serve in the Florida legislature and a current Orlando-area state Senate candidate, sued the state's Department of Health over its disclosure of COVID-19 data.

The Florida Department of Health in October 2023 settled the lawsuit; the department will now provide more detailed COVID-19 information regarding vaccination counts and deaths.

Guillermo Smith on Tuesday posted to X a photo of himself at the Florida State Capitol, where DeSantis gave his annual State of the State address to lawmakers in between his presidential campaign.

"I'm back in the Florida House and Ron DeSantis' is still lying about the so-called 'free' state of Florida," he wrote. "Free states don't ban books, criminalize health care, censor history, or turn their own LGBTQ residents into refugees."

"In 2024, we will #TakeBackFL from the extremists!" he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Just two Republican presidential candidates, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. With just five days before the Iowa caucuses, the debate may be their last, best chance to change the trajectory of the race before voting begins.

The big front-runner, Donald Trump, was the only other candidate to meet the 10% polling threshold to participate. But as he has six times before, the Republican former president is declining to show up given his overwhelming lead in the polls.

Here's what we're watching heading into the 9 p.m. EST event that will be hosted by CNN:

ONE ON ONE

And then there were two.

In style, if not substance, Wednesday's one-on-one debate may offer the closest thing to a general election debate preview that we've seen. Only Haley and DeSantis will be on stage. There is no place to hide and no other candidates to get in the way.

Some of the most memorable moments in past debates have featured Haley feuding with Vivek Ramaswamy. That's all in the past, given that Ramaswamy didn't meet the polling threshold this time. DeSantis' allies are also quick to note that Chris Christie won't be there either to defend Haley, as he did in the last debate.

The same challenges apply to DeSantis, however. The Florida governor has improved as a presidential candidate, but he's not particularly natural on stage. That's notable because body language and tone may end up playing a more prominent role in this meeting given that both will be on camera almost constantly.

And there is an added dynamic with a man and woman on stage. Who could forget the image of Trump looming behind Hillary Clinton in a 2016 general election debate?

THE URGENCY IS REAL

Iowa Republicans will vote in less than a week. Both candidates are fighting with everything they've got to emerge as the clear alternative to Trump. And to do that, they need momentum coming out of the debate to score a strong second-place finish in Monday's caucuses.

DeSantis is especially eager to finish no worse than second given that he has practically lived in Iowa for months and moved his national campaign headquarters here. And he has actually been predicting an outright victory over Trump.

All that urgency will likely lead to fireworks on the debate stage.

We're told that Haley may want to focus more on Trump than DeSantis, but DeSantis won't make that easy. Given that the survival of his campaign is at stake, he'll aim for deep cuts. Haley has had some of her best moments in past debates when things get heated  at least with Ramaswamy  and her team insists she won't be bullied.

That could make it hard for CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash to control the action Wednesday night.

WHAT ABOUT HER GAFFES?

Haley has proven to be a strong debater. But she has stumbled in recent days on the campaign trail as pressure  and attention  builds heading into the voting phase of the campaign.

Her gaffes give DeSantis obvious lines of attack. And he's likely to use them aggressively.

Haley suffered one of her first significant missteps when she declined to cite slavery as a cause of the Civil War at a recent New Hampshire campaign stop. She later drew criticism for talking about her Black friends at a CNN town hall. While neither is likely a serious problem with Iowa's overwhelmingly white Republican electorate, she definitely irked Iowa voters by saying that New Hampshire, which hosts its presidential primary on Jan. 23, is going to  correct  Iowa's vote.

DeSantis featured the gaffe in one of his closing TV ads, and it's become a standard line in his stump speech. Haley laughed it off as a joke, but she may need a better answer in the debate.

DeSantis, of course, has had his share of gaffes, although his worst came during the summer and fall. Did anybody forget when he called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a territorial dispute or defended Florida's new public school curriculum which highlights the benefits of slavery?

Still, Haley enters the night more on the defensive than she's been in the past. And DeSantis won't make it easy for her to pivot away from her missteps.

THEY HAVE ISSUES

On policy, Haley and DeSantis largely agree.

They both support aggressive abortion restrictions  at the state level, at least. They both support hardline policies to stop illegal immigration. They both oppose so-called woke programs designed to promote social justice. And they both raised their hand to say they'd support Trump if he were the Republican Party's presidential nominee  even if he were a convicted felon.

Still, there are some policy differences that we're expecting to see play out on the debate stage.

Haley represents the old guard of traditional conservatism: a strong foreign policy and fiscal discipline, in particular. DeSantis has aligned himself more with the populist Trump wing of the GOP, which favors less foreign intervention and is more reluctant to touch Social Security and Medicare, which are the biggest drivers of domestic spending.

There are also some murky issues where we'd expect them to clash.

They both accuse the other of weak policies on China. They also both accuse each other of insufficiently opposing so-called "bathroom bills" designed to prevent transgender people from using their preferred bathrooms. More broadly, DeSantis has cast Haley as insufficiently conservative on issues around immigration and taxes, while describing her as a sellout to Wall Street donors. And there's his more recent attack that Haley drew inspiration from Democrat Hillary Clinton.

While both are deeply conservative, DeSantis' policies in some areas are more aligned with the MAGA movement, which has become the base of the modern-day GOP. We'll look to see how Haley balances her traditional conservative ideals with those that have emerged under Trump.

If she's going to become a serious threat to Trump, she can't afford to alienate either wing of the party.

COUNTER-PROGRAMMING

Whether he's there or not, Trump plays a central role in virtually every debate given his status as the overwhelming front-runner in the race. We expect that to be the case Wednesday night as well. It's noteworthy that Haley recently refused to rule out serving as his vice president if given the chance.

If voters want to hear directly from Trump on Wednesday night, however, they can just change the channel.

The former president will participate in an hourlong Fox News town hall that will begin at the exact same time as the CNN debate. And if recent town halls with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum are any indication, Trump could face some difficult questions.
Protesters belonging to the environmental advocacy group Sunrise Movement briefly interrupted a Fox News town hall in Iowa with GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, chanting no oil money.

The protesters interrupted a response DeSantis was giving to a voters question about Republicans distancing themselves from abortion bans in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

As DeSantis said he is the only candidate who has successfully accomplished enacting restrictions on abortion, protesters stood up chanting with a banner and briefly blocked the camera. They were escorted out within a few moments.

You live and you learn with these people, right? DeSantis said as they were being escorted out.

That was a mistake. You guys didnt get that one right, he added before continuing with his response.

Sunrise Movement pledged in a statement to The Hill further confrontations throughout the week ahead of the caucuses. The group also said that two other activists snuck in questions during the town hall about fracking and green jobs by telling Fox they were undecided Republicans with questions about the economy.

Whether its DeSantis, Biden, or Trump were fed up with politicians whod rather let people suffer and die than stand up to oil and gas millionaires, Amalia Hochman, who asked a question during the town hall, said in a statement.

DeSantiss town hall came less than week before the Iowa caucuses on Monday. DeSantis will face Nikki Haley, who participated in a town hall the day before, one-on-one for a debate Wednesday hosted by CNN.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offered incentives for Jewish students worried about antisemitism to attend the states universities, extending a key pro-Israel theme of his long-shot US presidential campaign.

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Floridas public colleges will waive minimum credit requirements and offer in-state tuition for financially strapped Jewish students who want to transfer from schools in other states, according to an emergency order released Tuesday. DeSantis, who announced the plan in his state of the state address to legislators, described antisemitism as rampant and even condoned on US college campuses.

Over the coming months, they will have a tough decision to make  pack up and leave or stay and endure continued hatred, DeSantis said, referring to Jewish students in other states. If they do decide to come to Florida, we will welcome them with open arms.

The comments add to criticisms DeSantis has directed at universities in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack as he tries to position himself as the most pro-Israel candidate in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. The governor, who is well behind frontrunner Donald Trump in most polls, has campaigned on promises to mitigate antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, to bolster support from Jewish voters.

US universities have been grappling with surging tensions since the Hamas attack and Israels invasion of Gaza. The Department of Education is handling more than two dozen investigations into complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia at Harvard University, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Los Angeles and other colleges. The Education Department added Brown University to the list, which was updated Tuesday.

Read more: Why the Israel-Hamas War Puts Heat on College Leaders

One elite college that has been lauded for keeping tensions surrounding the conflict lower than its Ivy League peers is Dartmouth College. On Wednesday, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will participate in a discussion at the New Hampshire school with President Sian Leah Beilock and students. Its part of Dartmouth Dialogues, a new initiative to facilitate conversations that bridge political and personal divides. They will discuss experiences on college campuses around events in the Middle East.

In Florida, the emergency order from the state university system requires that students seeking transfers demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution based on their religion, citing rising incidents of antisemitism.

DeSantis didnt say how much the program would cost or who will pay for it. Students could be charged far lower in-state tuition if they cant afford out-of-state fees, implying a big subsidy from colleges financed in part by state taxpayers. At the University of Florida, for example, in-state tuition is $6,380 a year, less than a quarter of the $28,658 charged to students from other states.

Qualified students also could get waivers for the number of minimum credit-hours and for foreign language competency normally required of transfer students. DeSantiss office didnt respond to requests for comment about whether students fearing Islamophobic discrimination could qualify for the incentives

Uproar over antisemitic incidents culminated with a congressional hearing last month that turned into a public relations disaster for the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania after they wouldnt say that calling for genocide against Jews is a violation of university policy. Penn President Liz Magill stepped down days after the hearing, while Harvards Claudine Gay resigned last week under additional pressure from plagiarism allegations.

An Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International study released in November found that 73% of Jewish college students and 44% of non-Jewish students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the start of the school year.

--With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.

(Updates with Dartmouth College in the sixth paragraph)

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday promised to bring a reckoning to former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci if DeSantis is elected to the White House.

We cannot allow Anthony Fauci to escape accountability, DeSantis wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. I am the only candidate who will bring a reckoning for what tyrants like Fauci did to our country during COVID.

Fauci participated in a two-day interview with lawmakers on Monday and Tuesday this week. In the wake of the first interview, the Republican-run House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic posted takeaways on X.

The subcommittee said Fauci repeatedly played semantics with the definition of gain-of-function in an attempt to avoid conceding that NIH funded this dangerous research and signed off on every foreign and domestic NIAID grant without reviewing the proposals.

Democrats blasted the GOP for distorting Faucis closed-door testimony,

The Republicans have totally distorted Dr. Faucis testimony, ongoing testimony, which will be available in a transcript, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) told reporters, in reference to the X posts. And I hope that that wont take too long, because I think that will be very illuminating to you and to the public.

DeSantis is a noted critic of Fauci, once boasting about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by saying he prevented the Sunshine State from becoming a Faucian dystopia.

I think we were one of the first states to see the experts were getting it wrong, and we resolved to charge a different course, DeSantis said in March. We are not going to let this state descend into a Faucian dystopia, not on our watch.

DeSantis is trailing former President Trump in national polls and surveys of early primary and caucus states. Hes set to debate former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Wednesday night in what could be a pivotal debate ahead of the Iowa caucuses next week.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said the Iowa caucuses on Monday could upend former President Trumps lead in the polls for the GOP nomination.

DeSantis argued at a Fox News town hall in Iowa on Tuesday that polls can be misleading and change significantly as a race goes on. He was responding to a question from a voter who asked why he thinks the GOP candidates other than Trump have struggled to gain traction in the race.

I honestly think Iowans have it within their power to upend all of that, DeSantis said.

He pointed to polls a year ahead of the 1980 presidential election that showed then-President Carter leading Ronald Reagan significantly, only for Reagan to be elected president in a landslide. DeSantis also noted that polls for his own reelection campaign for governor of Florida in 2022 underestimated what would be a 20-point victory for him.

Ultimately, its the people that decide these, not the polls. I can tell you this: If Iowans come out and vote for me and caucus for me in large numbers, were building the operation to do that, those national polls will change, he said.

The town hall came as the Iowa caucuses, the first vote of the Republican nominating process, are less than a week away.

Polls nationwide and in Iowa show Trump with a significant lead. He leads Nikki Haley and DeSantis in the national polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ by more than 50 points, and he leads in Iowa by about 35 points.

Trump has also recently ticked above 50 percent support in Iowa in the last few weeks, after previously polling at less than 50 percent through much of the campaign.

DeSantis argued that Iowa conservatives should vote for him as he best represents their values and has delivered on the promises he has made.

He said the nominating process will be long and he will be in it for the long haul. He noted that he has visited all 99 counties in Iowa and answered questions from everyone.

Co-moderator Martha MacCallum asked him if he would stay in the race past Iowa regardless of the result on Monday, and DeSantis responded, Of course.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis claimed Tuesday evening that a 2024 rematch between former President Trump and President Biden would only be referendum on Trumps legal woes.

It raises the issue for Republicans: What do we want the 2024 election to be about? DeSantis said during a Fox News town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, per The Associated Press. If Donald Trump is the nominee, the election is going to be about legal issues, criminal trials, Jan. 6. Itll be a referendum on him.

DeSantis, the governor of Florida, also argued during the campaign event that the Iowa caucuses  set to begin Monday, Jan. 15  could upend Trumps lead in the polls for the GOP nomination.

Ultimately, its the people that decide these, not the polls, he said about elections. I can tell you this: If Iowans come out and vote for me and caucus for me in large numbers, were building the operation to do that, those national polls will change.

The governor was in the Hawkeye State making one of his last appeals to undecided voters. According to Iowa polling from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, he is in second place, behind the former president.

Earlier Tuesday, DeSantis gave Floridas State of the State address and declared a state of emergency after tornadoes hit the Fort Lauderdale area. He then boarded a plane for the town hall in Des Moines.

Further highlighting DeSantiss point, Trump spent the day in a Washington, D.C., courtroom, as his attorneys attempted to persuade an appeals court panel that he is immune from the federal indictment alleging he conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A new three year contract is in place between the Village of Glencoe and its public safety officers.

On Dec. 21, village trustees approved a new three year pact with its 22 rank-and-file officers represented by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council.

The new contract for the rank-and-file come months after the hiring of Sean Loughran, a Chicago Police Department veteran, as the new villages public safety director. He took on the role following the retirement of Cary Lewandowski last year.

Under the terms of the new agreement that went into effect on New Years Day, public safety employees will receive a 4.25% annual salary increase on Jan. 1, a 4% raise on New Years Day 2025 and a 3.75% raise in January 2026, according to village documents.

The 2024 base salary range for public safety officers ranges between $85,187.86 and $125,373.85, according to Human Resources Director Sharon Tanner.

In addition to the salary increases, officers will now be able to participate in the villages Family Care Leave program on the same terms as non-bargaining unit employees. There will also be new hourly paramedic preceptor pay for employees training new paramedics and officers with at least 19 years of service who provide at least one year notice of their retirement, can use paid leave time in their last 90 days of employment.

Finally, there will be an increase in the officers uniform allowance from $700 to $900.

The deal seems fine for everybody, Village President Howard Roin said after the meeting. We wanted a fair deal for the village and our public safety officers and we feel we got that.

The local chapter of the FOP ratified the agreement in December, according to village documents.

Tiffany Whalen, the local union president, did not return messages seeking comment.

Glencoes officers are cross-trained to serve both police and firefighting roles.

The new contract comes as the village continues a lateral hiring program, attempting to recruit veteran officers from other departments to fill vacancies.

At one point, the village was 10 short of capacity, but the number has come down to four with another vacancy expected to be filled later this month, Tanner said.

Village Manager Phil Kiraly labeled the lateral hiring program a success.

We are seeing a tremendous caliber of officer joining the Glencoe Public Safety Department, Kiraly said.

Kiraly said the village is also accepting applications for entry level officers.

Our hope is that will also yield a really good list of potential candidates, Kiraly said.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
By Mohammed Salem, Simon Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/MANAMA/DOHA (Reuters) -Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza intensified on Wednesday despite a pledge by Israel that it would pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign, and pleading from its ally Washington to reduce civilian casualties.

In the latest sign of the three-month-old war spreading, U.S. and British warships in the Red Sea fended off the biggest attack yet from Yemen's Houthi movement, which says it is acting to support Gaza. Washington and London said they shot down 21 drones and missiles aimed at shipping lanes. No one was hurt.

Israel had said this week it was planning to begin drawing down troops, at least from the northern part of Gaza, after weeks of U.S. pressure to scale down its operations and shift to what Washington says should be a more targeted campaign.

But the fighting appears to be as intense as ever, especially in the southern and central areas where Israeli forces launched ground advances last month.

The World Health Organization cancelled a planned medical aid mission to Gaza due to security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said four of its staffers were killed when their ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike on the main road near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Two passengers in the ambulance were wounded and later died.

Israel has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza since launching its campaign to eradicate the Hamas militant group that runs the enclave, after Hamas fighters killed 1,200 Israelis and captured 240 hostages in a rampage on Oct. 7.

Gaza's health authorities have estimated that about 40% of those killed were aged under 18.

Seven-year-old Laila al-Sultan and her brother Khaled, 4, now live in a tent shanty town in southern Gaza after their family home was destroyed in an air strike that killed their father.

"The house collapsed on us and Daddy went to heaven and he is very happy," said Khaled, bouncing up and down on Laila's lap.

HOUTHI WARNING

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fourth trip to the region since the war began, went to Ramallah on Wednesday and met Palestinian leaders, including Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The PA, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank and accepts Israel's right to exist, lost control of Gaza in 2007 to Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.

The State Department said Blinken expressed support for a Palestinian state, discussed efforts to protect and aid civilians in Gaza, and encouraged "administrative reforms" of the PA. The PA said Abbas told Blinken no Palestinians should be displaced from Gaza or the West Bank.

Blinken has also met Israeli leaders and visited nearby Arab states in search of a future settlement for the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million residents.

Jordan and Egypt warned against any Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return to their homes as Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met in Aqaba on Wednesday.

Washington fears that the Gaza war could spread violence across the region, with armed groups backed by Israel's arch-enemy Iran launching solidarity attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been attacking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes at the mouth of the Red Sea, forcing Washington to send warships for protection.

A Houthi military spokesman said the group fired a large number of missiles and drones at a U.S. ship that was providing support to Israel, calling it a "preliminary response" to a New Year's Eve incident, when U.S. helicopters sank three boats carrying Houthi fighters who tried to board a commercial vessel.

Speaking in Bahrain on the next leg of his trip, Blinken said there would be consequences of continued attacks on commercial shipping.

"We've also repeatedly tried to make clear to Iran, as other countries have, as well, that the support that they're providing to the Houthis, including for these actions, needs to stop," he told reporters.

NO LET-UP

Despite a public assertion by Israel since the New Year that it is scaling back the war, Gaza residents say they have seen no let-up. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes at least once, many displaced several times as Israeli forces advance.

In Rafah, on the southern edge of the enclave, relatives wept by the bodies of 15 members of the Nofal family laid out at a hospital morgue after their home was obliterated by an Israeli air strike overnight.

Most of the white shrouds were tiny, with children inside.

Um Ahmed, a mother-of-five from Gaza City now sheltering in a tent in Rafah, said Gazans had hoped Blinken's visit meant they would be allowed to return to their homes.

"It is like words written in butter, it soon disappeared with the rise of the sun. That was the words of Blinken, fake," she said.

(Reporting by Mohammed Salem in Rafah, Gaza; Simon Lewis in Ramallah, West Bank; Nidal al-Mughrabi in Qatar; Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Peter Graff and Alex Richardson; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Alexandra Hudson and Nick Macfie)
Semafor Signals

With insights from the Middle East Institute, CEOBS, the Carnegie Endowment for National Peace, and Time

The News

Emissions from the Israel-Hamas war could have a significant impact on climate change, a new study found.

Analysis by researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. shows that the majority of carbon emissions generated in the first two months of the war can be attributed to Israels aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, The Guardian first reported Tuesday.

Few nations publicly declare how much carbon their militaries emit. Reporting such information is voluntary, and the data that does exist is incomplete.

SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Addressing climate change can lead to more peace and stability

Source: Middle East Institute

Subsequent crises in Gaza have environmentally devastated the areas ecology, the Middle East Institute noted. A water treatment plant bombed in 2014 still leaks contaminated sewage into the Red Sea, and groundwater is not safe to drink. Regional conflicts exacerbate the climate crisis, the MEI said, in part, because war leads to spiking energy prices as a result of nations prioritizing energy security over lowering carbon emissions. Climate action is inextricably linked to lasting peace prospects: Progress on one supports the other. Climate change acts as a threat multiplier in fragile regions, but mitigating emissions and boosting adaptation can also bolster stability by easing resource strains, the organization argued.

Nations should engage in climate change dialogue before and during wars

Source: The Conflict and Environment Observatory

Estimates based on available data suggest that militaries are responsible for about 5.5% of greenhouse gas emissions globally each year, The Conflict and Environment Observatory found. Massive amounts of fossil fuels are typically used during military campaigns, and rubble from explosive attacks create debris that lead to air and soil pollution. These impacts could be mitigated if nations committed to further dialogue about how wars fuel the climate crisis, Doug Weir, CEOBS research and policy director, argued. However, these opportunities are dependent on more attention being paid to the environment before, during and after conflicts, he wrote. If we fail to call for greater protection before and during conflicts, damage will be seen as acceptable.

The Russia-Ukraine war made the green transition more urgent, but it still presents huge climate risks

Sources: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Time

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many countries turned to renewable energy sources to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and natural gas, inadvertently causing a small win in the race toward net-zero emissions. But the environmental threat from the war is still exceptional: In its early months, nations contending with an energy supply shortage re-fired coal plants and invested in fossil fuels. Meanwhile, a shortage of fertilizers and grain spurred some countries to expand their production of food staples, posing a risk to biodiversity. The war in Ukraine has created new problems on the energy market and forced a new appraisal of the transition to renewable energy, Angelina Davydova wrote for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Editors note: This story was updated to correct the number of lives lost in the earthquake. We apologize for this error.

If you remember what it felt like to experience the Northridge earthquake nearly 30 years ago, the U.S. Geological Survey would like to hear from you.

Residents who felt the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the greater Los Angeles area on Jan. 17, 1994, are being asked to use the USGSs Did you feel it? reporting tool to share their memories.

Submit a Northridge Felt Report

This information collected from the public supplements scientific data and helps us better understand the impact of past and future earthquakes, Earthquake Science Center Director Christine Goulet said. Nowadays, the system is up within minutes of an earthquake, and we encourage the public to go online to submit their reports.

The Did You Feel It? system was introduced in 1999 and allows users to file retroactive reports about their experience during an earthquake.

As of Wednesday, the USGS had 9,983 responses for the Northridge earthquake but said that is only a small sampling of people who experienced the shaking.

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

Damage is seen from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. (Public Domain via USGS)

The earthquake affected a highly diverse region. Additional responses will allow the distribution of shaking to be mapped in even finer detail, capturing shaking in every neighborhood, a USGS news release noted.

The devastating Northridge quake took a heavy toll on the region, killing 57 people and leaving over 7,000 injured.

Property damage, which left about 20,000 area residents homeless, was estimated at $40 billion, according to the USGS.

CES 2024: Transparent TVs, fingerprint locks, robots

Damage to freeway bridges and overpasses disrupted transportation for months after the earthquake.

Maps created by the Felt data are used by scientists to forecast future events that help inform emergency response, building codes and other procedures that help protect life and property, the USGS said.

Reports can be made in Spanish, simplified and traditional Chinese, as well as English.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
North Korea has decided to bring in the New Year with a bang.

The Pyongyang regime over several days has fired sizable artillery barrages near a maritime buffer zone between North and South Korea.

Two years ago, in January 2022, the regime carried out four ballistic missile tests. Pyongyang described them as essential for self-defense. Other tests have followed, marking the end of hopes during the Trump administration that traditional tensions might be eased.

North Korea has possessed at least rudimentary nuclear weapons since 2006. From time to time, Pyongyang threatens to use them against South Korea, Japan and even the United States, though the distance involved makes that last target still relatively secure

In September 2021, Pyongyang announced the successful launch of a cruise missile, an insidious weapon, flying low and difficult to detect with radar. An early version, the V-1 rocket of Nazi Germany, killed many people, overwhelmingly civilians, in Britain during World War II.

President Donald Trump gave priority to trying to improve relations with long-isolated North Korea. There were several meetings with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, facilitated by then-President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, but they failed.

Meanwhile, South Korea continues on a positive course of exceptional economic growth and development, combined with now firmly established representative democracy.

As recently as the early 1960s, South Korea was one of the poorest economies in the world. Still a peasant society, the entire Korean Peninsula was devastated by the Korean War of 1950-53. Yet today, the Republic of Korea ranks among the strongest economies in the world, holding leadership roles in the automobile, advanced electronics, shipbuilding and other industries.

Rapid industrialization and economic modernization have been complemented by striking transition from dictatorship to democracy. President and General Park Chung-hee stifled incipient democracy and imposed extremely harsh military authoritarianism for nearly two decades.

Park was assassinated in 1979 by the head of the KCIA, the national intelligence agency. In Korean memory, he remains a respected symbol of strength and effectiveness for many, though with progress and the passage of time that fades.

General Park was succeeded as chief executive by two more generals, Chun Doo Hwan and Roe Tae Woo, but growing pressure for true democratic representation proved insurmountable.

The capstone of transition to democracy was the election of Kim Dae-Jung as president in 1998. He completed his five-year term without interruption, and in 2000 received the Nobel Peace Prize.

A public symbol of opposition to Park dictatorship, he was imprisoned for several years. On another occasion, KCIA agents kidnapped him and planned to kill him. Only the intervention of senior U.S. CIA official Don Gregg saved his life.

South Koreas remarkable domestic accomplishments have unfolded while the country becomes increasingly influential in global arenas. In 2012, the Obama administration shrewdly nominated President Jim Yong Kim of Dartmouth College, who was born in Seoul Korea, as president of the World Bank.

The original vision of the United Nations combined competing goals of favoring the most powerful nations and inclusive global representation. Kim and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personify South Koreas significant expanding role as a bridge between developed and developing nations.

Market economies and reasonably representative governments now characterize a steadily increasing share of the worlds developing nations. In short, South Korea is positioned to lead developing nations toward prosperity.

Scare stories about actions of the North overshadow the good news regarding the South. This is most unfortunate.

Arthur I. Cyr is author of After the Cold War  American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia.

Contact acyr@carthage.edu
A woman asked for help locating the dog of a man who was fatally shot by police Jan. 6, 2024, and last seen fleeing into the Morongo Valley wildlands. The dog was found by a group of volunteers in the town and will be returned to the late man's family and friends.

Making good on a man's last wish, a group of people in Morongo Valley found a dog that fled a fatal shooting near a park and are reuniting it with the man's friends and family.

Melissa Swan contacted The Desert Sun and identified her former employee, Frank Glasgow, as the man who was shot and killed by police near Covington Park on Jan. 6 after a brief chase. Swan said Glasgow called her and said he was considering suicide after having fled the winter cold of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and was living in his car for weeks in the high desert.

Despite her attempts to dissuade him, he asked that she take care of his dog, a German Shepherd named Baby Bear, and cut the call.

Swan called police soon after her conversation with Glasgow Saturday afternoon and informed them that he was suicidal and had said he would threaten them with a knife if approached. She said he was not a violent person and had a bad limp from a previous injury. He had lost his housing in Mammoth Lakes and been struggling with mental health issues.

He led police on a short chase through the residential streets near the preserve before a spike strip incapacitated his vehicle.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department reported that the man, who they have not publicly identified, struck one of their patrol cars and lunged with a knife at a deputy. Glasgow was fatally shot soon after. People in the area gave various accounts of the confrontation and saw his dog flee into the wildlands surrounding the park during the chaos.

Making good on a promise

Once she learned of Glasgow's death, Swan asked anybody with information on the dog's whereabouts to contact her as she hoped to follow through with her promise to adopt Baby Bear.

"That was Frank's final wish," Swan said.

After reading about Swan's effort to recover the dog, a group of residents banded together to help. And following a concerted search, some clever humane traps of food, and one searcher sleeping in her car near the park through one of the winter's coldest nights yet, the dog was found Tuesday morning.

"I'm so appreciative, all these volunteers really went above and beyond to help us out," Swan said Tuesday. "It's the one bright spot in this whole tragedy."

Stephanie Barton and Susan Herring have considerable experience catching dogs in the area and returning the pets to their families or other safe homes. When they heard that the dog fled, they started almost immediately gathering information and searching the area east of Highway 62, which gives way to the wilderness of the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park beyond.

"Usually when dogs are lost they return to the place where they were last with their owner, wherever is familiar," Barton said, noting the scene of the shooting near Covington Park as a focal point of the search.

Several residents in the area, including John Ehrlich and Corey Jaseph, said they saw Glasgow with his dog soon before his death as they were on a walk through the park. They exited the area when a police helicopter ordered them to by megaphone, and observed a large number of patrol cars chasing him soon before they heard gunfire.

The shooting is being investigated by the sheriff's department. All fatal police shootings are subject to California records release laws that will provide the public with access to body camera footage.

'Baby Bear was his best friend'

Swan did not anticipate such a committed group of local residents would step up and find the dog so quickly. Barton and Herring were joined by a couple who live nearby, Norman Niessner and Hanna Overcast, to help monitor the area. Herring slept in a car near the park overnight to keep watch. And early Tuesday morning Niessner called Barton saying he saw the dog in a neighbor's yard.

Barton said she rushed over and approached the neighbor's window. She said she never identified the man who lived there, but he generously let her close his gates and calmly corral the dog she presumed had slept in a thicket of heavily thorned catclaw acacia nearby. As she approached it, she said, Swan coincidentally called her. She had Swan and one of Glasgow's relatives speak to the dog on speaker phone to calm it as she approached.

"He was scared but he looks healthy," Barton said.

Barton kept Baby Bear at her house since Tuesday morning, adding it has made temporary friends with her own dog, preferring to keep near its owner's leash as it waits to be picked up by Glasgow's relatives, who could not be contacted to comment as they were traveling.

Barton, who has an array of rescued animals that she cares for, said it was the most emotional rescue she'd done  in large part due to Glasgow's death and having his relative on the phone when Baby Bear was found. She noted that Saturday's chase, the helicopter thundering overhead and the gunshots were all quite alarming to the residents of the sleepy town known for horse riding on its dirt streets and birding in its nature preserve.

Many people wanted to help, she said, because they know the support an animal companion can provide to a person experiencing hard times or ill health.

"It brought people some peace through a really scary, sad situation that hit close to home," said Barton. "It even brought his family some peace, I think. They keep telling me Baby Bear was his best friend."

Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Dog that fled police shooting in Morongo Valley rescued, fulfilling a final wish
AUSTIN (KXAN)  Many Americans ring in the new year by participating in Dry January, or abstinence from alcohol for the month.

While Austin is known to have a vibrant nightlife and plenty of bars to choose from, there are also dry options if youre participating in Dry January but still want to go out.

KXAN asked viewers on Instagram if theyre participating, and if so, what places they recommend for non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails.

Dry January: What an alcohol-free month can do for your health

Nearly 700 people voted in a poll on our Instagram story to tell us whether they were participating in Dry January. Among the respondents, 66%, or 443 people, said no, and 34%, or 229 people, said yes.

Plenty of bars have non-alcoholic drink options and specialty cocktails, but viewers submitted recommendations on where people abstaining from alcohol could go. Below are some of their responses.

Sans Bar

Sans Bar said on its website its the first non-alcoholic bar in North America. The bar was established in 2017 and is located at 918 Congress St.

Since 2017, weve been serving the Central Texas community with premium alcohol-free cocktails, proving that socializing can be vibrant and enjoyable without alcohol, the website noted.

The website also said Sans Bar hosts virtual happy hours that focus on the lighter side of life, sans alcohol. It also offers curated domestic and international trips, allowing our community to explore the world of alcohol-free adventures, all in line with our mission.

dear dry drinkery

dear dry drinkery is Austins first non-alcoholic bottle shop, according to its website.

Its located at 2226 East Cesar Chavez St. and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Its full selection can be found online.

Honey Moon Spirit Lounge

Honey Moon Spirit Lounge has an extensive menu featuring cocktails, beer and cider, wine and spirits, as well as a zero-proof section of the drink menu.

Honey Moon is located on 624 W. 34th St.

Holiday on 7th

Holiday is a cocktail bar and restaurant located at 5020 E. Seventh St. It has a full menu, plus a spirit-free drink subsection on the menu.

Aba Austin

Aba Austin is a Mediterranean restaurant located at 1011 S. Congress St. It has a full beverage menu of wines, cocktails, and spirits as well as zero-proof cocktail options.

Total Wine and More

Total Wine and More might be the first place that comes to mind when you need to purchase wine, beer or ingredients for cocktails, but the store also has a wide selection alcohol-free options, including zero-proof spirits, beers, wine and canned mocktails.

Got a place you think should be added to this list? Email us at ReportIt@KXAN.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
In August, a man named Frederick Francis Goltz  enflamed by the conspiracy nonsense disseminated about Arizonas elections  was sentenced to 3 years in prison for threatening the lives and families of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, County Attorneys Office Civil Division Chief Tom Liddy and election poll workers.

I dont need to tell you how Goltz came to believe a bunch of crazy, inflammatory, untrue notions about the countys election process.

You know how.

It began with former President Donald Trumps lies about a stolen election.

It was perpetuated by Trumps political toadies, by individuals like Arizonas fake electors, by the backers of the sham election audit and by blustery Trump sycophants like failed governor candidate Kari Lake, now facing a defamation suit by Richer.

Its still going on. And its going to get worse

This has a term: 'stochastic terrorism'

Kari Lake looks at the audience while a video of former President Donald Trump plays on a screen during an announcement rally at Jetset Magazine in Scottsdale on Oct. 10, 2023.

The Washington Post published an article on Tuesday describing in part a swatting prank against former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers in which Bowers arrived home to find sheriffs deputies swarming over his property after an anonymous caller reported that there was a pipe bomb inside and that a woman had been murdered.

The article points out that numerous incidents like this, and the threats to public officials, have occurred since the 2020 election, and ominously notes how it is casting a shadow over the 2024 campaign as Americans prepare to vote  .

Along those lines, we can thank Trump, Lake and others for adding a new and disturbing phrase to the American vernacular: stochastic terrorism.

In essence, it is a way to describe the actions of a high-powered person who vilifies another person or group in such a way that could lead to violence, but allows the instigator plausible deniability.

Arizona politicians are involved (of course)

Sound like anyone  or bunch of anyones  we know?

The phrase is showing up in articles like one in Mother Jones, which describes in part how, after agents seized classified documents from Trumps Mar-a-Lago (its a political conspiracy story so, of course, theres an Arizona connection), U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar tweeted, The FBI raid on Trumps home tells us one thing. Failure is not an option. We must destroy the FBI.

And then how, a few days later, an Ohio man with an AR-15 tried to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati and wound up dying in a shootout with law enforcement.

These things happen because gullible dupes on the fringe sometimes believe what they hear from hyperbolic political figures.

And we have plenty of those.

Kari Lake makes a 'card-carrying' threat

Last summer, for example, after Trump was indicted on federal charges, Kari Lake told a gathering of Republicans in Georgia, I have a message tonight for [US attorney general] Merrick Garland, and Jack Smith, and Joe Biden. And the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this ones for you.

If you want to get to President Trump, youre going to have to go through me, and youre going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me.

And Im going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA [National Rifle Association]. Thats not a threat  thats a public service announcement.

Lake was among those who spewed unfounded, conspiracy-driven attacks on Maricopa County supervisors and others involved in Arizonas elections following Trumps 2020 loss. Those attacks continue even now.

Trump promises 'bedlam in the country'

Supervisor Bill Gates, diagnosed with PTSD, was called a traitor and threatened with death by those who bought the garbage about a stolen election. There were threats to his family.

Of course, none of the high-profile individuals who trashed the supervisors and others by way of lies and innuendo would say they had anything to do with that. Theyd say they were simply  talking.

Its why Trump continues to ridicule New York Attorney General Letitia James. This week he called her a racist scoundrel who thinks she has total power over the judge.

That would be Justice Arthur F. Engoron, who is overseeing Trumps civil fraud trial, which Trump calls a witch hunt and has told the judge to do the right thing because the whole country is watching.

Why Trump should team up: With prosecutor Jack Smith

On Tuesday, following an appeals court hearing on whether he is immune from criminal prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump said if he loses itll be bedlam in the country. Its a very bad thing.

When a reporter asked Trump to rule out violence by his supporters he walked away without answering. Should anything bad happen, hell claim he had nothing to do with it.

Theres a new phrase in the American vernacular for that.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Donald Trump and Kari Lake invent a new kind of terrorism
Donna Adelson has hired new lawyers to defend her on charges that she conspired with her son, Charlie Adelson, and others to kill her former son-in-law, Dan Markel.

Adelson hired her sons lead attorney, Daniel Rashbaum of Miami, along with a well-known Tallahassee criminal defense lawyer, Alex Morris, to represent her, according to court documents. Rashbaum handled the bulk of defense duties during Charlie Adelsons trial, which ended with guilty verdicts on all counts.

Rashbaum and Morris filed a substitution of counsel motion Friday asking the court to approve them as counsel of record and replace her previous attorney, Marissel Descalzo of Miami. Circuit Judge Stephen Everett approved the motion Tuesday.

Donna Adelson was arrested Nov. 13  a week after her sons conviction  as she and her husband, Harvey Adelson, attempted to board flight out of Miami International Airport with one-way tickets to Vietnam. She was later indicted on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation, the same three crimes for which her son was convicted.

She is the matriarch of the South Florida family that has been under investigation since July 18, 2014, when the law professor was gunned down in the garage of his Trescott Drive home. The murder, which was carried out by two Miami hit men, happened amid bitter court battles between Markel and his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, who is Donna Adelsons daughter and Charlie Adelsons sister.

Donna Adelson pleaded not guilty to the charges during her arraignment last month. Descalzo asked at the time that she be moved off suicide watch and out of an isolated cell at the Leon County Detention Facility, though Circuit Judge Stephen Everett declined to intervene.

Defense attorney Daniel Rashbaum asks his client Charlie Adelson, questions while he testifies on his own behalf during his trial for the murder of Dan Markel on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.

In recorded jail phone calls after her sons conviction but before her arrest, Donna Adelson, 73, talked about the possibility of suicide, though she also mentioned fleeing to a country with no U.S. extradition treaty.

She audibly scoffed during her court hearing after a Leon County Sheriffs Office lawyer mentioned comments shed made about suicide. Descalzo argued there was no reason she needed to be in observation and asked that she be moved to a normal part of the jail.

Donna Adelson was scheduled to have a case management conference before Everett on Tuesday at the Leon County Courthouse. But severe weather prompted the courthouse to close. The hearing was reset for Jan. 30.

What it looks like early in the morning as attorneys arrive for the Andrew Gillum corruption trial in the federal courthouse in Tallahassee. Margot Moss and David Markus, both defense attorneys for Gillum, lead the way as Alex Morris, a defense attorney for co-defendant Sharon Lettman-Hicks, follows.

Rashbaum, a former federal prosecutor in South Florida, is a partner with Marcus, Neiman, Rashbaum & Pineiro LLP of Miami. His focus includes white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations and regulatory enforcement, according to the firms website.

Morris is a criminal defense attorney who has handled cases from murder and sexual battery to drug trafficking and fraud. Last year, he and attorney Mutaqee Akbar successfully defended Sharon Lettman-Hicks on public corruption charges during her trial with co-defendant Andrew Gillum, former mayor of Tallahassee.

Donna Adelson is the fifth person charged in the nearly decade-long Markel murder investigation, conducted by the Tallahassee Police Department and the FBI.

The other four, her son, the two hit men, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, and her sons ex-girlfriend, Katie Magbanua, have all been convicted of murder. Charlie Adelson, Garcia and Magbanua are serving life sentences; Rivera got 19 years as part of a cooperation deal.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Donna Adelson hires lawyers Rashbaum, Morris in Dan Markel murder case
During severe weather and flooding that swept across Georgia on Tuesday, a water rescue was underway in Meriwether County, starting around 11:13 a.m.

According to Meriwether County Fire Rescue, saving the female driver was a team effort, after units were dispatched to flooding where a car was trapped on Beaver Lake Road in Gay, Ga.

When MCFR found the driver, she told them she wasnt hurt, but couldnt get out because of flood waters.

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After getting the information from the call, the Upson County EMA was called in to help with their swift water rescue team.

Working together, Upson and Meriwether rescuers got the driver out, pulling her through the passenger door, which officials said had the window down.

Meriwether fire officials thanked all involved for their work to save the woman, including members of the Meriwether County Sheriffs Office, Meriwether County E911 & EMA, Georgia Department of Natural Resource and Upson County EMA.

During severe weather, MCFR wants people to remember not to cross flooded roads and always be aware of road conditions for flash flood and flood warnings, because conditions can change rapidly.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
An air defence system purportedly destroyed a drone over Russias Saratov Oblast on the night of 9-10 January.

Source: Russian Defence Ministry on Telegram

Details: The Russian Defence Ministry did not provide any details.

It is worth noting that there is a military airfield in Saratov Oblast near the city of Engels which has been used for large-scale airstrikes in Ukraine since February 2022.

Wikipedia states that the Engels airfield has a command post (military unit 06987) and an aircraft group: four air squadrons, including 16 Tu-160 bombers and 18 Tu-95MS bombers.

Background:

On 5 December 2022, Engels and Dyagilevo airfields were attacked, as the Russian Defence Ministry claimed, by Soviet-made jet UAVs modified by Ukraine to carry explosives. These attacks damaged at least a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber (Backfire-C) and a Tu-95MS Bear-H bomber.

On 29 December, the UK Ministry of Defence suggested that one of the reasons Ukrainian drones were able to reach so deep into Russian airspace was that Moscow had moved a significant part of its air defence systems to Ukraine.

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Two downed UAVs crashed on the territory of the Engels 2 military airfield in Russia's Saratov Oblast on the night of 9-10 January.

Source: Astra Telegram channel; Russia's Ministry of Defence; Roman Busargin, Governor of Saratov Oblast

Details: The Russian Defence Ministry claimed this morning that a Ukrainian drone had been shot down over Saratov Oblast overnight. The ministry gave no further information.

The governor of Saratov Oblast, Roman Busargin, claimed that the UAV had been shot down over the territory of the Engels district. According to him, no casualties occurred.

The Astra Telegram channel reported that two drones had been shot down and crashed on the territory of the Engels 2 military airfield. The consequences are unknown.

For reference: The Engels airfield holds Russian strategic aircraft. This airbase has been attacked at least twice.

Background:

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A Cedar Lake woman got a six-year term Tuesday for leaving Elliana Ellie Orgon, her six-month-old daughter, with a then-boyfriend who allegedly killed her.

Brittany Chambers, now 25, would serve two years in prison, two years in Lake County Community Corrections and two years on probation. Indiana law requires inmates to serve at least 75% of their term.

She said she would appeal. Chambers faced up to seven years under her plea in September for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 3 felony.

Leaving the child with the boyfriend  who was not the girls father  violated a prior March 19, 2019 Indiana Department of Child Services safety plan. Elliana was dead by the time police arrived on June 21, 2019, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The girl was a sweet, happy, smiley, beautiful princess, who loved to smile, giggle, chew on her toes and pull her brothers hair, according to her obituary. Her smile would light up the room.

During a multi-hour hearing Tuesday, Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Arnold outlined Chambers struggles with pills and drugs, saying she was a bad mom who made terrible choices, lied repeatedly to investigators and had two more children after the case was pending, while she faced decades in prison.

Arnold alleged birthing more kids was reckless, irresponsible, and partly to manipulate the court  i.e. get a lighter sentence.

Defense lawyer Kerry Connor said Chambers acknowledged what she did and shouldnt be blamed that her then-boyfriend was never charged to date in the childs death.

He was also implicated three months earlier  in March 2019  when the baby was transferred to Advocate Childrens Hospital in Oak Lawn with a torn esophagus. It was serious enough for surgery and Chambers was warned there was a chance she might not survive the procedure.

Doctors concluded someone hurt the girl. At least one physician was alarmed, saying Chambers wasnt facing the reality that her boyfriend did it, according to court testimony.

The Post-Tribune is not naming the man, because he wasnt charged in either case.

Crown Point Det. Sgt. Ryan Olson said on the stand Tuesday that multiple witnesses allegedly did not cooperate in the childs death  including Chambers herself  making it difficult to push the criminal case forward against him. He also didnt show for a deposition, Connor later said.

Court documents  including Chambers plea  alleged the man fatally battered the child. The girl died instantly from blunt force trauma, the detective said.

Connor later noted Chambers was overheard hysterical on the 911 call, which was not played. The lawyer asked Olson if DNA was taken from the childs clothes, playpen, or bouncer. No, he replied.

When Connor said Chambers was only interviewed by police in the days after the childs death and since had repeatedly offered to share what she knew, Olson retorted to this contention, saying she wasnt credible.

Later in the hearing, Michelle Orgon, the girls grandmother, said she picked out the girls clothes for her funeral. Elliana was so young, she never had her first steps, or first day of school.

Her son, the girls father, was devastated.

In arguments, Arnold asked for seven years in prison.

Chambers told the court she failed as a mother. Elliana deserves to be here today, she said, growing emotional as she spoke for several minutes.

I thought I had a hold in the midst of my chaos, she said. I needed to admit I needed help.

Her client knows that she didnt do right by Elliana, Connor said.

They submitted evidence, including pictures from Christmas  days after the child was born  and Easter to show neglect wasnt her everyday life, the lawyer said.

Chambers had made progress in therapy, Connor said. Her life spiraled after the breakup with Ellianas father  getting more into K2, a form of synthetic marijuana.

She wasnt there when the girl died, the lawyer said. The boyfriend had her. Yes, Chambers lied to the cops. Connor said she could count on one hand the number of clients that told the truth upfront in 35 years as a lawyer.

Very often, people change their story, she said. That doesnt destroy the case.

It was disingenuous for prosecutors to say Chambers didnt want to cooperate. The lack of forensic evidence taken from the house also undermined the investigation, Connor said.

Chambers exposed the child to danger, drugs. The lawyer asked to sentence her to what she actually is responsible for.

Judge Natalie Bokota noted Chambers left the baby with the boyfriend, a known batterer. She would have to live with that for the rest of her life.

Crown Point Police arrived at the house on the 700 block of South Main Street on June 21, 2019, where Chambers was holding the infant, saying she wasnt breathing. An officer couldnt open her mouth. The baby was cold to the touch and was in rigor mortis, according to an affidavit.

An autopsy showed the infant had four broken ribs, both shoulders were dislocated, a fractured C1 vertebrae, hematoma on both lungs, multiple injuries all over the cranium including a fracture on the rear of the cranium that caused a hematoma and extensive blood on the rear of the brain just outside the fracture.

While in the house, officers reported the boyfriends bedroom was filled with garbage, drug paraphernalia, animal feces and other substances on the floor that stuck to their shoes. The childs playpen was broken and filled with clothes.

Chambers signed an Indiana Department of Child Services safety plan on March 19, 2019, stating that her baby would have no contact with her boyfriend, who is not the babys father, and maintain suitable housing.

The safety plan was put into place after a suspicious injury to the baby that required hospitalization, according to police.

Police said that Chambers told them she was with her boyfriend and the baby on June 20 and 21 and she left the baby alone with the boyfriend while she left with a friend to take her 2-year-old son to his fathers apartment.

Police said Chambers did that knowing that she violated the safety plan put in place by the DCS.

Chambers noticed Elliana looked different when she got back to the boyfriends house, but didnt check on her, she told police, according to court documents.

A friend came by, who took Chambers, the boyfriend and the child to Gary to buy drugs, according to the affidavit.

Chambers claimed she was robbed at the first drug deal, but was able to buy some later. The friend later dropped off the couple at the boyfriends house where they smoked synthetic marijuana, she told police.

She claimed she didnt know what happened to the child and didnt check on her between midnight and 2 p.m. the next day.

Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Koonce assisted.
Gov. Ron DeSantis brought his failing presidential campaign back to Florida Tuesday in the guise of his annual State of the State speech, delivered to a joint session of the Legislature and dozens of other dignitaries.

The setting was the state Capitol in Tallahassee and the audience included most of the states political infrastructure. But DeSantis could have been giving his stump speech to a Rotary Club in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation nominating caucuses next Monday night.

Most mentions of Florida were mere puffery, with little indication of what DeSantis intends to accomplish. In full-on campaign mode, DeSantis bashed the Biden administrations immigration policy, the size of the national debt, and high taxes and urban decay in New York, Illinois and California.

By contrast, he said Florida is a refuge for freedom and sanity.

As weve seen before, DeSantis has different definitions for those words than many Floridians do.

Where is DeSantis headed?

The governors annual speech (which you can view here) formally kicks off the 60-day legislative session. It has traditionally been both a self-congratulatory look back and a table-setting talk that sets the agenda for the challenges ahead.

The latter got short shrift. DeSantis repeatedly glossed over Floridas worst problems in ways the national media would not be likely to catch.

Nowhere was that on greater display than when DeSantis talked about the needs of Floridas children. He twittered on about protecting children from the evils of social media (which is the prerogative of parents and not the states job) and claimed hed made it tax free to raise a child, which is a ludicrous claim  a handful of sales-tax breaks do not change the fact that Floridas tax burden falls disproportionately on the shoulders of its lowest income families.

He barely mentioned health care access, and certainly didnt acknowledge that more than 750,000 Floridians have been dropped from Medicaid rolls via disenrollment. Nearly 300,000 of those are children. Federal officials say many of those who were dropped were still eligible for coverage, yet Florida is the only state that didnt ask for more time before giving them the boot. DeSantis didnt attempt to explain, let alone fix, that.

He boasted about his efforts to strip woke ideology from public schools and universities and bragged about protecting children, but didnt mention that nearly two-thirds of fourth graders are not proficient in reading. And while DeSantis brags about boosting access to school-choice vouchers (but not the $4 billion price tag that benefits many families that could easily afford private-school tuition on their own), he ignored the crisis in child-care affordability for low-income families. Child care can carve more than 25% out of a single mothers income, but only 15% of Florida families poor enough to be eligible for child-care vouchers get them.

House Speaker Paul Renner acknowledged the cruel effects of Floridas failure to provide resources for children and families in need of mental health care. And Senate President Kathleen Passidomo offered plans to improve access to healthcare and recruit more providers to Florida, but it was disheartening to hear her flat-out reject the idea that Florida would expand Medicaid to low-income working Floridians.

They, at least, are admitting reality. In too many areas, the state of the state is sacrificed  along with Floridas children, its low-income working families and its vulnerable seniors  on the altar of political expediency, through culture-war sideshows and attacks on academic freedom, school books, transgender teens and LGBTQ people.

Were all better off woke in DeSantis Florida | Editorial

Other big issues missing

The deepening property insurance crisis received only a single passing reference: Lets reduce the cost, he said, without explaining how. Skyrocketing car insurance rates? Never mentioned. Neither was a housing crisis that makes Florida increasingly unaffordable for millions of people.

DeSantis also boasted about Floridas abortion restrictions, a concealed-carry gun law, a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, restrictions on social activism on college campuses and sending 100 Florida Highway Patrol troopers to Texas to help that state fight illegal immigration.

None of these are the states job, and nobody was crying out for them.

The governor also cited as a point of pride that Florida has the fewest full-time state employees per capita of any state (82 employees for each 10,000 residents, he said). That may explain why DeSantis had to assign hundreds of National Guard troops to keep order at state prisons staffed by too few correctional officers, why so many underpaid adjunct instructors are teaching at Floridas universities, and why motorists seldom see a state trooper on its interstates and expressways.

On the positive side, DeSantis spoke of raising teacher pay, importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, and expanding workforce education and environmental protection  all laudable goals.

It was clear that the governor who was re-elected in 2022 by an astounding 19 percentage points is now a diminished figure. He still wields a veto pen, a powerful political tool, but he cant expect people to fall in line for fear of offending the next president of the United States. Meanwhile, hes done little to articulate a realistic road map for the next 59 days of the legislative session  leaving Floridians, including the Legislature, in the dark about what he plans to do as governor now that it seems likely hell be sticking around for another two years.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Anderson. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will travel to Dartmouth College to speak on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on Wednesday. File Photo by Ting Shen/UPI

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will speak on the rise of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on college campuses at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on Wednesday.

According to the Education Department, Cardona will hold a roundtable discussion with students and Dartmouth President Sian Beilock at its Hanover campus at 2:15 p.m., Eastern.

Cardona will also host a news gaggle at approximately 3 p.m., Eastern after he meets with students at the college's Sanborn Library.

The topics of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on college campuses along with free speech rights have exploded since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 along with the country's ongoing military response.

The Education Department has already launched investigations into nearly 60 elementary-secondary and post-secondary institutions for alleged anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents on their campuses.

The volatile topic has cost the former Harvard President Claudine Gay and the University of Pennsylvania ex-president Liz Magill their jobs after testifying in the House late last year after they tried to balance alleged threatening comments with free speech rights, along with keeping students safe.

In December, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced they would launch an investigation into the policies and disciplinary procedures at higher education institutions based on the testimony of Gay, Magill and MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who also testified with Gay and Magill.

"We can't stand by and stand silent [in the wake of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents]," President Joe Biden said in November in announcing steps his administration was taking in the light of rising incidents.

"We must, without equivocation, denounce anti-Semitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."
INDIANAPOLIS  A robust manufacturing industry and innovative public health and arts initiatives were among the accomplishments Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb cited Tuesday as he delivered his final State of the State address while promoting a new agenda for his last term.

Addressing a joint session of the General Assembly, Holcomb renewed his commitment to work for the state until the ultimate conclusion of my assigned duty. He cannot run for reelection because Indiana law restricts governors to two consecutive terms. Holcomb hasnt announced what his plans are after he leaves office.

His speech came one day after Indiana lawmakers returned to the statehouse in Indianapolis for the start of the 2024 legislative session.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, center, is greeted by Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, as he enters the chamber to deliver his State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature at the Statehouse, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The Republican governor avoided directly speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the same year as his reelection. His popularity took a hit over some COVID-19 restrictions, such as a statewide mask mandate in the early days of the pandemic.

Instead, he sought to emphasize Indianas economy and manufacturing industry, including partnerships with the federal government to fund hydrogen, micro-electronics and biotech manufacturing hubs.

He also highlighted Health First Indiana, a public health initiative he pushed for last year as part of a major budget package. The governor received widespread attention for the program, which allows counties to opt in for state funding for services such as chronic disease prevention; infectious disease prevention and control; and maternal and child health care.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb hugs Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch after he delivered his State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature at the Statehouse, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

In his remarks, Holcomb announced a $250 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for regional redevelopment and arts and cultural initiatives throughout the state.

He also laid out his agenda for the final year of his term, focusing mostly on improving child care access and education outcomes.

The outgoing governor said Monday that he wants to lower the minimum caregiver age at child care facilities to include some teenagers, and expand eligibility for free or reduced child care for employees in the field.

On the education front, literacy among elementary school students is what the governor and GOP lawmakers are citing as their chief concern. Holcomb wants lawmakers to require that the states reading test be administered to second graders, to provide an indicator of their aptitudes and how they can improve.

According to the Indiana Department of Education, about 18% of third graders did not pass Indianas reading test last year. Holcomb also wants to make it harder for students who fail the test to move up to the fourth grade.

Term-limited though I am, here are my promises to you, for 2024, Holcomb said during his speech.

Following the address, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, a Republican, said he looks forward to working with the governor on his new initiatives, particularly on childrens literacy. Republican House Speaker Todd Huston told reporters he supports the governors push to hold back more third graders who do not pass reading proficiency standards.

Huston also called the Lily Endowment grant for redevelopment and cultural initiatives tremendous news.

Democratic leaders criticized parts of Holcombs speech, saying there were topical gaps in his address.

State Senate minority leader Greg Taylor expressed optimism about Indianas economic outlook, but touted the Democrats leadership in pushing to raise the minimum wage. State House minority leader Phil GiaQuinta criticized Holcomb for not addressing a recent calculation error that leaves the state $1 billion short of its predicted Medicaid needs.

This unacceptable budgeting error could devastate the one-third of Hoosiers who rely on Medicaid for vital medical care, GiaQuinta said in a written statement.

Holcomb did not introduce any proposals with fiscal implications because they are only handled in odd years, when lawmakers hold a longer, budget-making session. The 2024 session must adjourn by March 14.
An El Paso high school student was arrested in connection with a human smuggling attempt where a migrant was seriously injured after jumping off a highway overpass last week, officials said.

Austin Villa, 18, of Northeast El Paso, was arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety after a potentially dangerous chase topping 110 mph last Thursday night, Jan. 4, in the Upper Valley, officials said.

Immigration: La perdida - The loss: Deadly disaster at El Paso, Juarez border

Villa was arrested on felony charges of smuggling a person under 18 years of age and evading arrest in a vehicle, according to Texas DPS and El Paso County Jail records. He is a student at Andress High School, a public defense attorney said.

Austin Villa was arrested on charges of human smuggling and evading arrest in a vehicle after a chase where a migrant jumped off an overpass and was critically injured in El Paso on Jan. 4, 2024.

The migrant suffered a fractured skull, a broken pelvis and a broken elbow after falling about 20 feet to the ground when he jumped from an overpass while attempting to run across Interstate 10 in West El Paso, Assistant District Attorney Adam Loving said during a teleconference bond hearing for Villa on Saturday, Jan. 6.

The injured migrant's name, age, country of origin and current medical status was not immediately available.

During the bond hearing from jail, Villa looked downward while the prosecution described the migrant's injuries.

High-speed smuggler pursuit in the Upper Valley

The case began after law enforcement received information that a load of six to seven undocumented migrants had gotten into the bed of Nissan pickup near the Mexican border and the Pete Domenici Highway in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, Loving said.

Texas state troopers saw a tarp in the bed of the truck after the pickup entered El Paso County in the area of Upper Valley Road, the prosecutor said.

Border smuggling: Paintballs fired, suspected migrant smuggler 'boss' arrested at West El Paso home

A trooper attempted to pull over the truck after the driver failed to use a turn signal and for a traffic-line violation at Artcraft Road and South Desert Boulevard, Loving said.

The driver refused to stop and got onto I-10 going over 110 mph as the tarp flew off and officers saw several people attempting to hide in the bed of the truck, Loving said.

The pursuit continued and eventually the truck attempted to make a right on Racetrack Drive toward Doniphan Drive, but missed the turn, went onto the curb and came to a stop.

More: A 100 mph chase, gunfire: Texas DPS smuggler pursuits intensify on El Paso's streets

The driver and migrants ran off while chased by troopers and Border Patrol agents. Villa unsuccessfully tried to jump over a chain-link fence and was arrested. During the foot chase, one of the migrants ended up jumping off an overpass, officials said.

Border Patrol detained six undocumented migrants who had been in the truck, including an 11-year-old child, the prosecution said. The country of origin and other information on the migrants were not disclosed.

Villa, who is a U.S. citizen, has no criminal history, Loving, the prosecutor, pointed out.

Magistrate Judge Antonio Aun lowered Villa's total bond from $40,000 to $12,500  $2,500 on the smuggling case and $10,000 for evading arrest in a vehicle. Jail records show Villa was released on a surety bond later that Saturday.

Teens recruited by border smuggling groups

Law enforcement officials have said that border smuggling organizations recruit teens, debt-owing migrants and others as drivers with promises of quick cash for transporting undocumented migrants. The drivers are ordered not to pull over for police.

A driver generally picks up the migrants after they sneak over the border, usually in the Santa Teresa area, and transport them to meet-up spots, where they are transferred to another vehicle and taken to a stash house. The migrants are kept at stash houses until they are taken into the interior of the United States.

More: 'Super-dumb kids.' Teen migrant smuggler accused of murder in deadly West El Paso crash

DPS reported that Villa was one of seven suspected human smugglers arrested in El Paso between Dec. 29 and Jan. 4 as part of the state's controversial Operation Lone Star border security efforts.

Residents who suspect a stash house or other smuggling-related criminal activity in their neighborhood may call the state Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-8477 (TIPS). Texas DPS offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information on drug and human trafficking stash houses.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso teen smuggler suspect arrested after migrant falls off overpass
An elderly couple in South Carolina was found dead after the temperature of their home heater was measured over 1,000 degrees, according to reports from local media.

Officials are still investigating the deaths of the man and woman, who were identified by local outlet WSPA as 84-year-old Joan Littlejohn and 82-year-old Glennwood Fowler.

The couple's family called for a welfare check on Saturday to their home in Spartanburg after they had not seen their parents since Jan. 3, WYFF reported.

Spartanburg is a city near South Carolina's border with North Carolina, about 73 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to reports, when the police and medics arrived to the home, all the doors were locked, but the window leading into the bedroom was not secure. When police removed the window screen, they saw the couple in the bedroom was dead.

The air temperature of the home was measured over 120 degrees, local media reported via police. The temperature of the heater itself was recorded over 1,000 degrees.

Police said the body temperatures of the victims exceeded 106 degrees, the maximum measurement of the device used, WYFF reported.

The family told police they were at the home on Jan. 3 to help their parents with the heater. They noticed the pilot light on the hot water heater was out, and after moving a wire, the pilot light turned back on. The family then left the home.

USA TODAY has reached out to Spartanburg Police Department for more information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spartanburg, South Carolina couple dead; heater measured 1,000 degrees
An elderly South Carolina couple was discovered dead in their home in 120-degree heat, according to local reports. Joan Littlejohn, 84, and Glennwood Fowler, 82, were found after relatives asked police to do a welfare check on Saturday, according to WSPA. Firefighters soon discovered that the heater in the basement of the Spartanburg home had topped 1,000 degrees, turning the whole home into an oven. Authorities are still investigating the tragic malfunction; family members reportedly told police the pilot light on the couples hot water heater had gone out a few days earlier, but then had switched back on after a wire was moved.

Read it at WSPA

Read more at The Daily Beast.
The Pentagon described Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins prostate cancer surgery as an elective medical procedure, which many people might take to mean it was minor.

But thats not the case, cancer experts say.

Elective means its not done on an urgent basis  its scheduled, said Dr. Nitin Yerram, urologist and director of urologic research at Hackensack University Medical Center. Most cancer operations are done on an elective basis.

A prostatectomy, the surgery Austin underwent last month, can be serious and is required for some patients, even if not urgently, said Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh, co-director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Prostate Cancer Center. The procedure removes some or all of the prostate to remove the cancer.

There are minimally invasive versions of the surgery, which are done with robots  Austin's doctors described his procedure as "minimally invasive"  as well as a more traditional open version.

Austins symptoms after surgery  severe abdominal, hip and leg pain and nausea  were not among those considered typical by the Mayo Clinic, which says serious complications are rare.

The Pentagon said Austins complications were the result of a urinary tract infection and that collections of abdominal fluid had impaired his small intestines.

Yerram and Trinh, emphasizing that they did not have all the details, said Austins complications indicated he had a urinary leak. After the prostate is removed, surgeons must reconnect the bladder to the urethra, which can sometimes be the site of a leak.

Its a known complication of surgery  its not very common, but its known, Yerram said. They have an excellent prognosis of recovery if diagnosed promptly and treated promptly.

Yerram said he believed a leak likely caused Austins bowels to stop working. Drainage is the most common way to treat the condition, and the Pentagon said that Austins doctors had inserted a tube through his nose to drain his stomach.

Patients often fully recover in a matter of days or weeks and the Pentagon said that Austins infection had cleared and that his doctors anticipated a full recovery.

Patients usually recover from the surgery in four to six weeks, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The City of Elk Grove announced a tentative late decision Tuesday regarding the Oak Rose apartments, a 67-unit permanent affordable housing project that has been the subject of a lawsuit from the states attorney general, who said last year that the city broke state law by rejecting the project.

In a memorandum emailed to The Sacramento Bee, officials confirmed that Elk Grove reached a settlement with the project developer, Oak Rose LP, which involves relocating the project to a different site.

The City has reached a settlement in principle with the applicant for the Oak Rose project, which would involve relocation of the project to an alternative site in the City outside of the Old Town Special Planning Area, said Elk Grove planning manager Antonio Ablog. The settlement is not final. The details and formal settlement documents still need to be prepared and finalized.

Elk Grove officials had requested that City Council reconsider the approval for the Oak Rose apartments, which would be the citys first permanent housing project for low-income families transitioning from homelessness, during their council meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Ablog, according to the memorandum, said the council expects to take no substantive action on the project during Wednesdays meeting, instead continuing to discuss further details on the matter at the next council meeting on Jan. 24. He said this will provide time for the finalization of the settlement and settlement documents.

Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen wrote on her Facebook page: After months of negotiations, the city has reached a tentative agreement. This is a positive and encouraging development. I am pleased with the constructive discussions with the applicant which includes a relocation of the project. We are still working through the final details for a formal settlement.

Elk Grove was sued twice over the Oak Rose debacle. The first lawsuit, by project developer Oak Rose LP, challenged the councils decision to reject the proposed development in July 2022.

The other suit was brought forth by California Attorney General Rob Bonta last May, alleging that Elk Grove broke state housing law in denying the project last year and repeatedly defied Senate Bill 35, a law that compels cities to expedite affordable housing projects.

In previous meetings on the Oak Rose development in September and October, Elk Grove City Council postponed its decision to announce the next steps the city would take regarding the project.

The Elk Grove City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday 6 p.m, and again on Jan. 24. Elk Grove City Council meetings are open to the public and can be livestreamed from the citys website at elkgrovecity.org/councilmeeting.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Squirt, the tiny, endangered green sea turtle rescued from Manzanita beach on Jan. 6 has died, the Oregon Coast Aquarium announced Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the sea turtle succumbed to its injuries after two days of round-the-clock care, the Oregon Coast Aquarium said in a statement. Sea turtles often sustain damage before washing ashore. While staff could confirm the turtle was lethargic and dehydrated, a necropsy will be conducted to gain insight on its internal condition.

Squirt, a very small, 22-pound sea turtle was rescued from Manzanita Beach by Seaside Aquarium employees after she was found stranded on Jan. 6, 2024. (Seaside Aquarium)

Strandings are more common during stormy winter months when the seas are rough. While wildlife experts are sometimes able to rehabilitate sea turtles like Squirt and reintroduce them to warmer waters in California, most sea turtles found stranded on Oregon and Washington beaches dont survive.

As marine reptiles, sea turtles rely on their surroundings for warmth, the Oregon Coast Aquarium said. When exposed to cold temperatures, these animals become inactive and cannot eat or swim effectively  a condition known as cold-stunning.

Mount Hood sees first blizzard in more than a decade

Employees with the Seaside Aquarium who rescued the turtle from the beach said that Squirt was much smaller than the average turtle. Green sea turtles can live 70 years or longer and weigh 300 to 350 pounds. At the time of her rescue, Squirt weighed 22 pounds.

The turtle was dubbed Squirt for her small size, the Oregon Coast Aquarium siad. No matter the stature of the animal, every individual makes a difference to an endangered species. OCAq is committed to Oregons marine wildlife and will continue these efforts knowing that even one saved animal can help species recovery.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Shasta County took what is believed to be an unprecedented move Tuesday when a divided Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate development impact fees for new development in the unincorporated areas of the county.

District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye, who put the item on the agenda, along with Supervisors Chris Kelstrom and Patrick Jones voted to suspend the fees. They said doing so will spur growth in the county and raise property values. They also said any money lost from impact fee revenue will be made up in sales and property tax revenue generated by the growth.

The county is not an easy place to do business or start a business and directly tied to that is the heavy burden of impact fees charged by Shasta County, Crye said Tuesday during his first meeting as board chairman.

Counties and cities charge impact fees to builders and developers to help pay for the growth. Among other things, fees are charged for law enforcement and fire protection services, parks, traffic needs and general government.

Some residents who spoke before the vote asked Jones to recuse himself since his plan to open a shooting range on a 151-acre piece of land in a rural area east of Anderson would benefit from a fee suspension, they said.

District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye, right, gets ready to gavel Tuesday's Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting as District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones looks on. It was Crye's first meeting as board chairman.

Jeff Gorder, retired Shasta County public defender, said people deserve to know how Jones will benefit from the suspension of impact fees.

I cant believe youre not recusing yourself from this, he said.

Jones did not comment, only saying after the vote, during open comment period, that he did recuse himself prior to his projects approval by supervisors in October.

On Wednesday, the Record Searchlight emailed county Resource Management Director Paul Hellman to ask how much Jones' gun range project would have paid in impact fees. Hellman said since no building permits have been applied for, there had been no formal impact fee calculations.

However, Hellman estimated that impact fees for the gun range, based on the plans that were submitted prior to approval, would have been around $20,000 under the current impact fee program, which was suspended by the board majority on Tuesday.

"Traffic impact fees are not applicable since the project site is not within the South County Region" as defined in the current fee impact program, Hellman emailed.

The suspension of impact fees is scheduled to take effect in 30 days.

Supervisors Mary Rickert and Tim Garman voted no. They said the county should gather more information and bring in developers, economists and other experts to talk about how impact fees affect growth, if at all.

Garman asked county auditor Nolda Short if a study was done to compare Shasta County impact fees to those charged in other counties, since during public comment, some speakers alleged that Shasta fees are exorbitantly high. The county did not do such a study, Short said.

Garman also asked if Shasta looked at other counties in California that charge development impact fees to see how their growth has been impacted, adding that maybe impact fees are not the issue.

This is a very important topic. We need to have all the information, Garman said.

Shasta might be the first county in California to eliminate impact fees, industry officials said.

Our initial research found no record of a local government eliminating their impact fees; however, multiple jurisdictions have reduced or deferred their impact fees, California State Association of Counties spokeswoman Rachael Serrao wrote in an email to the Record Searchlight.

The board's majority gave every indication that the suspension of fees won't be temporary. The ordinance to suspend the fees remains in effect until supervisors lift the suspension.

However, the board's makeup could be much different in 2025.

Jones and Rickert are running for re-election this March. Garman is not running for reelection and Crye faces a recall on the March ballot.

Meanwhile, since it started in 2008, the countys impact fee program has collected approximately $8.7 million. Just over $3 million from the program has been used for the juvenile rehabilitation facility, south county fire station, the sheriffs office south county patrol station and the countys emergency operation center, Short said in her report to supervisors.

Without an impact fee program, the money to pay for growth would come from the general fund, she said.

County resident Judy Salter reminded supervisors that they want to build a new jail.

"We need fire stations. We need to get the jail built," Salter said.

Impact fees were set after the results of a 2008 impact fee study done for Shasta County and the city of Redding estimated the county population would go from 178,000 in 2007 to 246,000 in 2030.

It would appear the county could be hard-pressed to reach that number, since its population in July 2022 had risen only slightly to 180,390, according to U.S. Census estimates.

Crye said the fees are unjustified because the county hasnt experienced the growth that was estimated when the study was done 15 years ago.

Two longtime Shasta County real estate agents who addressed the supervisors had different opinions about the effect of impact fees.

Realtor Scott Swendiman said developers take a huge financial risk.

Then you get impact fees on top of that. Ive represented a number of contractors since impact fees came in and it always came down to, Holy cow, can we cash-flow this thing in light of the impact fees?' Because the impact fees are a lot of money, Swendiman said.

More: How full are Lake Shasta, Trinity Lake and other reservoirs going into 2024?

Resource Management Director Hellman said impact fees for a single-family home in the unincorporated county depend on where the home is built and vary between $6,000 and $10,000.

Realtor Brad Garbutt said reducing impact fees will not make housing more affordable, as some have suggested, because the market dictates housing prices.

Lets cut the fees and hope that they pass it on to the consumer. Well, as far as homebuilders go, they will sell the home for whatever the market will bear. They are not going to pass the savings of the impact fees onto the home buyer, Garbutt said.

About 70 supporters of the attempt to recall District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye rallied outside before the Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Recall supporters rally before supervisors meeting

About 70 people stood outside in the rain before Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting to support the recall of District 1 Supervisor Crye.

The recall is on the March 5 ballot. Crye is the second board chair in two years facing a recall.

Former District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty was elected chair in January 2022. He was recalled less than a month later in a special election.

The recall is going extremely well, Committee to Recall Kevin Crye spokesman Jeff Gorder said. We had our first weekend canvassing in neighborhoods, this last Saturday and Sunday, had about 50 people out in the neighborhoods. The response was outstanding, a lot of enthusiasm amongst our supporters."

This is kind of a campaign kickoff for coming up March 5 election. Were just letting everybody know that we got the recall on the ballot and that were encouraging everybody to vote yes, he added. Its also corresponding to Supervisor Cryes first day as chairman of the board of supervisors. We want to let him know that theres a lot of us who are extremely dissatisfied with his agenda.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. Hes part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on X, formerly Twitter, @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Divided Shasta Board of Supervisors votes to end builders' impact fees
Janice Hahn is running for a third and final term on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and, in all likelihood, the last elected term in her long political career.

In her first four years she was a member of a board that made a historic improvement in the administration of essential programs for people in poverty or otherwise living on the margins in the county. And in her current term, she was a member of a board that grappled with COVID-19, an unprecedented public health emergency.

In both those terms, Hahn served her constituents well. Of the three people on the March primary ballot, including former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, she is the best choice for District 4  which stretches from Vernon to Long Beach and from Palos Verdes to Whittier.

Read more: L.A. Times electoral endorsements for 2024 March primary

L.A. County has deep problems and has taken criticism from many quarters, including the Los Angeles Times editorial board. If the county is run so poorly, why should we retain one of the supervisors who has been at the helm for so long?

There are many answers, but they are all grounded in one crucial fact: The county's outdated governance structure limits what leaders can accomplish. This county of 10 million has the same responsibilities and number of elected leaders as every other county  including Imperial County, with a population of 180,000, and Inyo County, with 19,000 residents.

And yet, Hahn and the other supervisors decisively and correctly moved Los Angeles County away from a future in which every social problem  including poverty, petty crime, family breakdown and homelessness  is addressed by building new and ever-more-costly jails while allowing mental health care and other treatment to deteriorate. The last eight years in L.A. County have been a race to get more treatment beds, more housing and more reentry services for people returning to the county from prison or juvenile hall or aging out of foster care without a place to live or sufficient work skills. Its the right course, but the board must push further and faster.

Read more: Editorial: What L.A. County's supes are telling you about your right to be heard: Just shut up

Hahn championed a crisis response system that relies on mental health workers rather than armed law enforcement officers. She took the lead in integrating L.A. County into the nationwide 988 system that, if built out as envisioned, will fill an unmet need for telephone crisis counseling and, if necessary, mobile response and clinical care.

In the midst of the pandemic, when county government became all too comfortable with remote meetings that cut the public out of deliberations, Hahn pulled the public back in by reopening the comment period during board meetings, to the chagrin of some other county leaders. We just cant conduct public business without having live public testimony, she told the editorial board, and shes right.

Hahn has been a vocal proponent of expanding the board and directly elected executive leadership, two necessary moves if county government is ever to become more representative and responsive to its constituents.

Read more: Endorsement: Despite her shortcomings, Janice Hahn has the best grasp of the county supervisors' role

All that said, its crucial to remember that elections are a choice among candidates. Neither of her challengers are better options.

Villanueva suffered a landslide defeat for reelection in 2022, for good reason. My record as elected sheriff stands on its own, he told the editorial board, and hes certainly got that right. During the era of lockdowns and protests, when the county most needed a calm and capable top public safety official, Villanueva was yet one more problem, misusing his powers as sheriff and refusing to work cooperatively with other county leaders.

Read more: Editorial: Sheriff Alex Villanueva is out but leaves behind a deeply damaged department

Businessman, civil engineer and Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank is more appealing than Villanueva yet offers the wrong prescription for the county, urging a return to less-enlightened criminal justice and housing policies. His perspective may be right for his small, wealthy city. It is wrong for the millions of county residents for whom the county could, and should, provide a way out of the cycle of failure and misery.

At the top of Hahn's to-do list is a light rail line from downtown L.A. to Artesia, which is a good project. But in her third term she should also focus on other critical projects, including building out the countys alternative emergency response system and working with the state to provide mental health care, housing and other services by developing the unused land surrounding the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. Taking action to restructure county government, of course, should be on the agenda as well.

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.
Angry villagers say it will have a 'huge impact' on the 500-population village - WALES NEWS SERVICE

Residents of a Welsh village have said they are being isolated after a bus company axed the only local route as a result of the new 20mph speed limit.

The only stop in Llandegla, a Denbighshire village with a population of 500 people, will be cut by bus company Arriva as it claimed the new limit imposed by the Welsh Government adds too much time to their drivers journeys to reach it.

The changes are set to come into force from Jan 14 after a review by Arriva Wales of its service provision in North Wales.

Dangerous situation

Residents said people who relied on the service would suffer, with passengers forced to walk along unsafe stretches of road to reach a stop.

Gwyneth Dillon, a community councillor, said the move would cause a huge amount of hardship.

Neena Barlow, a resident, said: Lets hope Arriva take note of all the letters they will receive on this issue and act responsibly by reversing their decision, given the dangerous situation their present decision will leave our village bus-users in.

David Jones, the local Conservative MP, who opposed the Welsh Labour Governments new speed limit, said it would create additional challenges and burdens for businesses.

Last year, Wales became the first country in the UK to drop the default speed limit on residential roads from 30mph to 20mph.

Although the changes were officially implemented on Sept 17, motorists were given a grace period to get used to it.

Punishments for those breaching the law were enforced from Jan 8. These include fines, receiving points and even the loss of a driving licence for exceeding the speed limit.

The bus stop is due to be cut from the route on Jan 14 - GOOGLE MAPS

Lost mileage and reduced punctuality

A spokesman for Arriva Wales said: The withdrawal of this service in Llandegla is due to the impact of 20mph on the 51 and X51 services. To be clear this is not to say that Llandegla and its speed limits are the issue but now the service overall is taking longer to operate due to reduced speeds across the network.

The consequences of this change in speed has been severe and has caused increased lost mileage and reduced punctuality.

We have been open in raising our concerns with Transport for Wales, the Welsh government and local authorities.

There have also been press statements and questions raised in the Senedd about this on the basis of our concerns and the consequences.

Residents will be forced to walk along unsafe stretches of road to reach shops - CHARLES HAWES/STOCKBYTE UNRELEASED

The service to Llanedgla has been diverted to the main A525 road - but it will also stop serving the Tweedmill Shopping Outlet in St Asaph which is popular with shoppers.

Anti worker, anti-growth, anti-driver

This comes after outgoing Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford suggested at a press conference in Cardiff that drivers would not be fined for breaching the new default 20mph speed limit if they were genuinely confused and instead enforcement should be for those who deliberately broke the law.

Natasha Asghar, shadow transport minister in the Welsh Senedd, said: Labours blanket 20mph will negatively impact the people of Wales and already we can see the damage being done.

Labour should drop their anti-worker, anti-growth and anti-driver policies punishing people just trying to get from A to B.

The Welsh Government claimed the changes to the speed limit would reduce collisions, save lives and reduce injuries.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: We have been clear we will continually monitor any impacts of the new default 20mph speed limit on bus services.

We continue to work closely with bus operators, local authorities and TfW to tackle the wider challenges facing the bus industry and will bring forward new legislative proposals to reform the sector.

A public meeting will be held at the village in Llandegla on Friday to address the issue.

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.
A couple was charged Tuesday in connection with a shooting near a Hammond gas station.

Ezra Polk, 19, of Chicago, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony, criminal recklessness, a Level 5 felony, and unlawful carrying of a handgun, a Level 5 felony.

His girlfriend, the driver, Kynedi Barthelemy, 20, of Maywood, Illinois, was charged with assisting a criminal, a Level 6 felony. Neither is in custody. Polk is ordered held on a $5,500 cash bond, while Barthelemy is ordered held without bail.

A third male was with them, according to court documents. His identity appears unknown. He is not named or formally charged, according to court filings.

Hammond Police responded just before 9 p.m. Nov. 4 to the 400 block of Gostlin Street.

A witness told officers she had just pulled out of a Citgo gas station and was waiting at the light on Gostlin Street at Hohman Avenue when shots rang out.

Bullets pierced her left front tire and back bumper. She was not hurt and does not appear to have been targeted.

Security footage showed while the woman was gassing up minutes earlier, a gray Saturn Ion pulled into the gas station. Two men got out and went inside. When they returned, one male appeared to pull out a gun from his waist, before putting it on his lap.

While the woman waited at the light, a black Lexus pulled behind her. One man on the passenger side appeared to open the door, get partly out, then look toward the Saturn.

Shots rang out from the Saturn, shattering the Lexus passenger window and side mirror. The man jumps back in the Lexus and it takes off west on Gostlin Street to Illinois.

The Saturn leaves east on Gostlin.

Police traced the Saturn from a license plate reader to Barthelemy, learning through her Instagram account that Polk was her boyfriend. Police matched social media pictures to the gas stations security footage.

Court records show Polk served nine months in Cook County in November 2022 for involuntary manslaughter.

mcolias@post-trib.com
Jeffrey Epsteins victim Virginia Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to former Victoria Secrets CEO Les Wexner, newly unsealed documents show.

The allegations emerged in a 2016 deposition by Ms Giuffre, which was part of likely the final batch of documents ordered unsealed by Judge Loretta Preska in the now-settled litigation between Ms Giuffre and Epsteins fixer Ghislaine Maxwell.

Although Ms Giuffre had previously alleged she had been trafficked to other high-profile figures, it is the first time that allegations have emerged that Mr Wexner had sex with underage girls.

The Independent has reached out to L Brands group for comment.

Ms Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to have sex with Mr Wexner between three and ten times during the time that she was recruited by Epstein and Maxwell. Ms Giuffre said that she was instructed by Maxwell to wear lingerie for Mr Wexner  which Maxwell went on to categorically deny in her own deposition.

When asked why she had said in a previous interrogation by police that she didnt believe Mr Wexner would say the truth, Ms Giuffre said that it was because he had done things that were wrong.

He participated in sex with minors, Ms Giuffre elaborated.

Ms Giuffre said she was trafficked to Victoria Secret magnate Lex Wexner (SDNYC)

Mr Giuffre said she was also trafficked to a prince and a former prime minister but declined to name them out of fears of retaliation, she said. Other names that have been linked to the same allegations are late New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former senator George Mitchel, AI pioneer Marvin Minsky, Tom Pritzker, Glenn Dubin, Prince Andrew and a US politician, whose name remains redacted.

Ms Giuffre said that she had never seen Donald Trump engaging in any wrongdoing during her time at Epsteins home, but claimed he would have seen several disturbing photos displayed around the house.

These are salacious acts of girls, young girls doing things to each other that would be considered child pornography, Ms Giuffre said in a deposition.

If you walked foot into Jeffrey Epsteins house and you went in there and you continued to be an acquaintance of his then you would have to know what was going on there.

Elsewhere in her harrowing testimony, Ms Giuffre recounted gruelling details about the abuse she endured. According to the courts transcript of her deposition, her attorney said she became sick just after being asked questions about an alleged and since retracted sexual encounter with Epsteins former attorney Alan Dershowitz.

What do you mean, did he enjoy it? Ms Giuffre was asked, before being instructed to take a deep breath by her attorney.

He enjoyed it, yes. From what it looked like, my God, yes, he enjoyed it, Ms Giuffre answered.

Ms Giuffre has since recanted allegations that she was trafficked to Mr Dershowitz. She has claimed in depositions and media interviews that she was forced to have sex with a long list of men and was not always able to recall who or where exactly she was trafficked.

Mr Dershowitz previously denied allegations in 2015 that he had sex with an underage girl. Mr Dershowitz has again strongly denied those allegations in recent days.

A spokesperson for Senator Mitchell referred The Independent to a previous statement in which he categorically denied any wrongdoing, and pointed out that no new allegations have emerged regarding Senator Mitchell in the filings recently unsealed.

The allegation contained in the released documents is false. I have never met, spoken with or had any contact with Ms. Giuffre, the senator said through his spokesperson.

A representative for Mr Pritzker also said that he first rejected Ms Giuffres allegations in 2019 and continues to vehemently deny them.

A spokesperson for Mr Dubin told The Independent in a statement: The Dubins strongly deny these allegations, as we first said in 2019 when these unsubstantiated statements first surfaced as part of this same civil court proceeding.

The Duke of York has also strongly denied Ms Giuffres allegations in the past.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Trump for comment.

Also in her deposition, Ms Giuffre recounted once meeting Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper. She said her memory was hazy and she didnt remember where she had met Mr Gore.

I thought he was a wonderful guy who loved his wife and they spent the entire time like there was nothing else around them, it was just those two. It was a dinner table, a long dinner table with people around, but they were just lovely, just watching them as a couple, Ms Giuffre said.

I remember thinking, you know, hes somebody that I would definitely vote for. Hes just somebody that loves his wife that much.

The documents recently unsealed stem from a 2015 litigation between Ms Giuffre and Maxwell. Ms Giuffre first brought the civil case against Maxwell after a spokesperson for the former socialite called Ms Giuffres allegations obvious lies.

The litigation helped consolidate the criminal case against Maxwell, who was later sentenced to 20 years in prison on five charges of sex trafficking minor girls. She has since appealed her conviction.

However, hundreds of names included in the Giuffre v Maxwell lawsuit remained under seal. The Miami Herald, whose investigation into Epstein led to his arrest in 2019, first sued in 2018 for the release of all documents related to the lawsuit.

Judge Preska ordered in December 240 files in the case to be unsealed. Ms Giuffres attorneys told FOX News that the number had later been lowered to 225  the totality of which appears to have been released by Tuesday evening.

The names of ten Jane Does mentioned in the filings remained under seal because their right to privacy as victims outweighed the publics right to know. A J Doe has until 22 January to submit proof the release of their name will put them at risk of physical harm, and a request by a second J Doe to keep their name under seal is currently being reviewed by the court.

Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Documents unsealed Tuesday from cases tied to Jeffrey Epstein, who died while facing federal sex trafficking charges, have named Ohios richest person as one of those involved with his victims.

The documents from the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, tied to a Jan. 16, 2016, deposition of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, show quotes where she directly names L Brands creator Leslie Wexner as one of the powerful business executives she was sexually trafficked to.

FILE  This Sept. 19, 2014 file photo shows retail mogul Leslie Wexner, at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

During direct questioning by attorney Mary Borja, Giuffre confirmed she had sex with Wexner more than three times, but not more than 10. She also described an instance where Epsteins co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, arranged for Giuffre to wear specific outfits for Wexner.

Additionally, Giuffre described a specific incident in New Mexico where the billionaire was also involved with Sarah Kellen, a member of Epsteins inner circle who has also described herself as one of Epsteins victims.

How do you know that she had sex with Les Wexner? Borja asked.

I was there, Giuffre replied.

How many times did you and Les Wexner and Sarah Kellen have sex together? Borja asked.

Once that I remember, Giuffre said.

When NBC4 reached out to a spokesperson for Wexners family for comment on the newly released documents, they pointed to a statement in his attorneys letter to a judge written in 2020.

Mr. Wexner was unaware of, and was never a participant in, any of the abhorrent behavior engaged in by Epstein against Epsteins victims, Wexners attorneys wrote. Mr. Wexner never met Ms. Giuffre  any claims to the contrary were not true.

FILE  This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

Epstein met Wexner in the 1980s and became his financial manager, as well as power of attorney later on. The billionaire, who brought Epstein to Ohio for his New Albany transformation project, previously saw mentions in earlier documents released as part of a court order. However, the newly released pages from Giuffres testimony are the first time Wexner is named as sexually involved with any of Epsteins victims.

The previous documents released included a deposition of Maxwell. When investigators asked her if she gave a girl a sexual outfit to wear for Wexner, she replied categorically no.

In a memo to L Brands employees, Wexner previously denied having any knowledge of Epsteins actions, saying he would not have continued to work with any individual capable of such egregious, sickening behavior as has been reported about him. Wexner added that he severed ties with the convicted sex offender years prior.

Giuffres own attorney, Brad Edwards, also contradicted his client in a 2019 news conference.

I believe, based on the information that we have accumulated over 11 years, that the statements that he (Mr. Wexner) gave yesterday in the press that he did not know about the sexual proclivities of Mr. Epstein, are very highly likely to be true, Edwards said. We have not seen where he is in the company of Jeffrey Epstein at the time when he was engaging in these things. In fact, its very seldom that many of the victims actually even met him or saw him.

In 2008, Wexners former financier made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to charges of prostitution and prostitution involving a minor in Florida. After being arrested again in 2019 on child sex trafficking charges and with new attention on his clientele, Epstein died by apparent suicide in jail.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Erie bucked a national trend in 2023 when the city's homicide rate increased over the previous year.

But, more alarming, the city might have set a record for the number of people killed at the hands of another in a given year.

The 14 homicides investigated by the Erie Bureau of Police more than doubled the six homicides investigated in 2022 and surpassed the most recent high number, 12, that was set in 2010, according to Erie police and Erie County Coroner's Office records.

Unknown from available data is whether Erie ever experienced a time when there were 14 or more homicides in a calendar year.

Statistics from the Coroner's Office list 14 homicides in the city in 2018, but that number included two people who were injured by another person in Chautauqua County, New York, but died at Erie hospitals that year, and a man who died in 2018 of injuries he suffered when he was shot in 1997. There were a record-21 homicides in all of Erie County in 2018, according to Coroner's Office records.

The Coroner's Office actually lists 16 homicides in the city in 2023, but that number includes two people who died of complications from injuries suffered when they were assaulted as younger children. One of those victims was 4 when he died in February, and the other was 31 when he died in September, according to Coroner Lyell Cook.

Homicide numbers for all of Erie County are available through the Coroner's Office dating back to 1960. But a breakdown separating homicides in Erie from homicides in other parts of the county was unavailable before 2000, and in only four years between 1960 and 2000  1971, 1975, 1976 and 1980  did the county's homicide numbers match or exceed 14, according to the data.

Erie police hold a residence on Lighthouse Street as a crime scene after 18-year-old Hayden Lucas was fatally shot there on Dec. 12. Lucas was one of 14 people whose deaths were ruled a homicide in the city in 2023.

The jump in homicides is a big concern for the Erie Bureau of Police, Chief Dan Spizarny said. But he noted that, in 2023 as well as 2022, detectives cleared all of those cases through arrest or other means.

"We're hoping it was just an odd year and the numbers will go down significantly," the chief said of the city's homicides.

Spizarny also pointed out that, despite increases in homicides and a few other crimes including reported rapes, a number of other serious crimes in the city decreased last year. Those included reported shootings, people shot, and stolen and recovered firearms, crimes that had spiked in recent years as the city dealt with a surge in gun violence.

"Overall I'd say it was a very good year," Spizarny said. "I think we're showing some downward trends on some of our most watched offenses."

Homicide spike

Data released by the FBI in December showed that, as a whole, murder rates in cities across the country fell during the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022. A nearly 25% drop in murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was seen in Pennsylvania last year based on data law enforcement agencies provide to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting system.

Erie's homicides began last year on Jan. 15, when police said 21-year-old Noah King was fatally shot when he met up with accused shooter Michael Ochrang to fight at Rodger Young Park on the city's east side.

Erie matched 2022's murder rate on May 28, when Erie police said Rashaan Husband was fatally shot in a reported shootout at another city park. Last year's mark was exceeded days later, when 26-year-old Quran Sims was fatally shot inside the bedroom of his French Street home on June 3.

Erie's last homicide of the year occurred on Dec. 12, when 18-year-old Hayden Lucas was fatally shot inside his Lighthouse Street home as he and some friends were reportedly wrestling and taking a video in which guns were displayed.

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Spizarny noted that a number of Erie's homicides last year were domestic-related.

Four victims died in what authorities ruled as murder-suicides. A 37-year-old woman was believed to have been fatally shot by a 45-year-old man who then killed himself inside their home in the 900 block of East 28th Street on Jan. 23. At a house five blocks to the east on East 28th Street, police said a 79-year-old man was believed to have fatally shot his 62-year-old wife before killing himself on July 18. One month later, authorities said a 23-year-old woman and her 16-year-old brother were fatally shot by the woman's boyfriend, who then fatally shot himself.

Spizarny said police believe two other homicides in the city in 2023 were domestic related: the fatal shooting on June 3 of Sims, whom police said reportedly had some sort of relationship or contact with the wife of his accused shooter, Robert Esquilin-Ortiz; and the fatal stabbing on Sept. 19 of 48-year-old Autumn Bassham, allegedly by her onetime boyfriend, Gordon Kirkland.

Erie police worked to better address domestic violence, mental health and other issues in 2023 by launching in May its resurrected Crisis Unit. Officers on the unit work all shifts and are specially trained to respond to deescalate situations and provide aid to those in need.

Lucas was one of two homicide victims fatally shot when someone was reportedly mishandling a gun.

William Rickert, 24, was fatally shot on May 13 inside an East 26th residence while he and others were reportedly recording music in a makeshift studio. Investigators said the accused shooter, Graham Kelly, stated that he picked up a gun and was stretching when the weapon fired, hitting Rickert.

Erie police collected guns from residents on Oct. 28 during a gun buyback event sponsored by the Erie County District Attorney's Office. Police reported that the number of guns reported stolen in the city and the number of guns police took off the street in 2023 both decreased from the previous year.

Shootings, weapons cases drop

While fatal shootings jumped in Erie in 2023, with 13 of the city's 14 homicide victims killed by gunfire, Erie police data showed a drop in other serious gun-related incidents that had spiked in recent years.

There were 49 people shot in Erie last year, down from 67 in 2022 and the lowest figure since 42 people were shot in 2019. Reports of shots fired in the city, which had climbed from 134 in 2019 to 245 in 2020 and 311 in 2021, continued a two-year decline from 239 in 2022 to 194 last year, according to city police data.

Reports of firearms stolen in the city dropped by more than half, from 148 in 2022 to 73 last year, while the number of guns police recovered on the streets decreased from 308 in 2022 to 254 in 2023, police reported.

Erie police over the summer began employing the controversial ShotSpotter gunshot detection system to help identify areas of the city where guns were being fired. The system uses sensors to detect and locate gunshots using triangulation, and once a sound is determined to be gunfire alerts are sent to police.

Spizarny said with the ShotSpotter system, police are alerted to shootings quicker than they are when citizens call in shots-fired reports, and officers can then respond more quickly to incidents.

Offenses up, down

Among the reported crimes that increased besides homicides in 2023, based on Erie police data, included robberies, up 2%; assaults, up nearly 14%; sex offenses, up 4%; auto theft, up 21%; and rapes, up 30%.

Spizarny said the rise in auto thefts could be attributed to the "Kia Challenge," a theft spree circulating on social media that shows how to start certain models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles that aren't equipped with electronic immobilizers. The online challenge has plagued cities across the country.

Erie police dealt with a rash of Kia and Hyundai thefts in the city in late summer and charged three people in that crime spree. Another rash of thefts and attempted thefts occurred over the Christmas holiday and remain under investigation, Spizarny said.

The increase in reported rapes, from 30 in 2022 to 39 last year, is a crime that police have witnessed growing through their review of quarterly reports, Spizarny said.

"They're going up and we don't know why they've gone up, and we're not meeting or exceeding the clearance rate," he said. "It's one crime area where we aren't where we want to be."

Spizarny said police will be working with the Erie County District Attorney's Office, which reviews all sex cases and makes decisions concerning charges, to see what issues they can address. He noted that in the majority of the cases, the suspect is known to the victim.

District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said her office reviews every report and works closely with Erie police on their investigations into rape cases from beginning to end.

"We will continue to work very closely with Erie police to address these incidents and, as we have always done in the past, work very closely with the Crime Victim Center to make sure these victims have the support and resources they need," Hirz said.

Erie police saw decreases in 10 of the 19 "most watched" crimes last year, Spizarny said.

Besides incidents involving shots-fired, people shot and guns stolen and recovered, incidents that dropped included arsons, down 16%; aggravated assaults, down 5%; burglaries, down nearly 25%; and fraud cases, down 24%, according to city police figures.

Spizarny said he expects police to get more good news when they calculate the clearance rates of major offenses from 2023. Cases are cleared through arrest or other means, and Spizarny said it appears at least eight of the major crimes in the city from last year will meet or exceed the national average for clearance rates in those incidents.

He noted that Erie's 100% percent clearance rate for homicides last year far exceeded the the roughly 50% clearance rate for those crimes across the country.

"I think with the clearance numbers you will see people being held accountable for their actions," Spizarny said. "I think we are definitely on the right track."

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie PA sees spike in homicides as crimes rise and fall in 2023
Eton College, one of Britains most prestigious and exclusive private schools, has delayed the beginning of its new term because toilets in its boarding houses are backed up, according to a report. The issue at the schoolwhich counts the likes of royals and prime ministers among its alumniis apparently related to sewerage problems stemming from recent flooding. I am very sorry to say that Thames Water have just alerted us to the fact that their sewerage drains are back filling due to flood water, an email sent to parents read, according to Bloomberg. The sewers in the [center] of Eton wont cope with the arrival of nearly 1,350 boys. The school, which charges fees of over $60,000 per year, had planned to welcome students on Tuesday evening before starting classes on Wednesday, but will now be running remote lessons instead.

Read it at Bloomberg

Read more at The Daily Beast.
The European Union has committed to providing additional financial assistance to Ukraine no later than March, Euractiv reported on Jan. 10, citing EU sources.

Read also: Ukraine will become a member of NATO when all allies agree, and conditions are met  Biden

EU members are working on a series of bilateral support programs for Kyivas a contingency plan in case Hungarian PM Viktor Orban once again vetoes a collective EU funding package.

Germany intends to double its military aid to Ukraine in 2024 to over $8 billion, making it the second-largest provider of security assistance after the United States

Other NATO membersincluding France supplying equipment, the Netherlands providing ammunition, Estonia, and Belgium assisting in transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukrainehave also made new commitments.

Recent concerns in Europe and the United States highlight growing apprehensions about Ukraines financial and ammunition deficit. This shortfall raises fears that Russia could make significant gains on the battlefield.

Read also: EU budget dispute threatens EUR 50 billion war lifeline for Ukraine

The lack of additional macro-financial assistance poses substantial challenges for Kyiv, impacting the payment of salaries to public servants and jeopardizing the governments overall operation.

Read also: Russian GRU General promised Azov Battalion security guarantees before Azovstal surrender

Should Budapest again veto the EUR 50 billion ($55 billion) financial aid package intended to finance the Ukrainian government over the next four years, EU officials are preparing a contingency plan worth up to EUR 20 billion ($22 billion), using a debt structure that sidesteps Orbans objections. This would include member countries providing guarantees for the EU budget, allowing the European Commission to borrow up to EUR 20 billion on capital markets for Ukraine this year.

Read also: Orban acknowledges EU can provide aid to Ukraine without Hungarys involvement

At the EU summit on Dec. 14, 2023, where 26 bloc members approved the start of negotiations with Ukraine regarding EU accession, Orban vetoed a EUR 50 billion EU aid package for Ukraine.

Subsequently, Politico reported that Hungary might lift its veto if the funding program is reviewed annually.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The European Union said Tuesday it is examining Microsofts multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the popular ChatGPT tool, and whether it is subject to the blocs merger rules.

The European Commission is checking whether Microsofts investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU Merger Regulation, the EUs executive arm said in a press release.

The disclosure came as part of calls from the European Commission on Tuesday for feedback from interested parties about the level of competition in the context of virtual worlds and generative AI.

The commission also noted it is looking into already completed agreements between large digital market players and generative AI developers and providers and their impact on market dynamics.

The relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has drawn increased scrutiny in recent months, following the high-profile ouster and return of OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman.

Just days after Altman was ousted by OpenAIs board of directors in November, Microsoft announced it was hiring him to lead a new AI research team.

However, after hundreds of OpenAI employees threatened to quit, Altman was quickly brought back to lead the AI company. Several days later, OpenAI announced Microsoft would have a nonvoting position on the companys board.

In early December, the United Kingdoms Competition and Markets similarly announced it was launching an initial review of Microsofts partnership with OpenAI and whether it has resulted in a relevant merger situation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
People visit an intangible cultural heritage exhibition on the Maritime Silk Road in Quanzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 9, 2023. The city of Quanzhou is widely believed to be the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

This year should see greater efforts to enhance cultural heritage, said participants at a national conference attended by sector officials.



The conference, held in Beijing on Friday and Saturday, summarized the work of cultural heritage authorities over the last year, and pointed out key tasks for the coming 12 months.

"Major progress was made in the cultural heritage field last year," said Li Qun, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The level of cultural heritage protection and management has achieved significant improvement, promoting the preservation of cultural relics and protection of their security, officials said.

Moreover, they have deepened major archaeological studies, increased cultural heritage exchange and cooperation, established a sound modern museum system, and promoted technological innovations in this field.

They hope to promote the rule of law to better protect cultural heritage, promote major archaeological studies and increase communication in archaeology between Chinese scholars and their overseas counterparts.

A highlight of work in the last year is the start of the fourth national census of cultural relics, which continues to be carried out intensively.

According to Deng Chao, an official at the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the census is different from before with the participation of publicity departments, and ancient buildings, cultural sites, tombs, cave temples and stone carvings built or made before 1911 should be covered.
By Timour Azhari

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of U.S-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, describing their presence as destabilising amid regional spillover from the Gaza war.

Longstanding calls by mostly Shi'ite Muslim factions, many close to Iran, for the U.S-led coalition's departure have gained steam after a series of U.S. strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq's formal security forces.

Those strikes, which came in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on U.S. forces since Israel launched its Gaza campaign, have raised fears that Iraq could once again become a theatre for regional conflict.

"There is a need to reorganise this relationship so that it is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the region," Sudani told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Giving the first details of his thinking about the future of the coalition since his Jan. 5 announcement that Iraq would begin the process of closing it down, Sudani said the exit should be negotiated under "a process of understanding and dialogue".

"Let's agree on a time frame (for the coalition's exit) that is, honestly, quick, so that they don't remain long and the attacks keep happening," he said, noting that only an end to Israel's war on Gaza would stop the risk of regional escalation.

"This (end of the Gaza war) is the only solution. Otherwise, we will see more expansion of the arena of conflict in a sensitive region for the world that holds much of its energy supply," Sudani said.

A U.S. withdrawal would likely increase concern in Washington about the influence of arch foe Iran over Iraq's ruling elite. Iran-backed Shi'ite groups gained strength in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The Pentagon on Monday said it had no plans to withdraw U.S. troops, which are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, has been among the fiercest critics of Israel's Gaza campaign, describing the mass killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians as a textbook case of genocide, claims Israel vehemently denies.

But Iraq's government has repeatedly also said the attacks by armed groups on foreign forces and diplomatic missions in Iraq were illegal and went against the country's interests, and says it has arrested some perpetrators and prevented attacks.

At the same time, Baghdad has condemned U.S. strikes on bases used by the groups, as well as a recent strike against a senior militia commander in the heart of Baghdad, as grave violations of sovereignty.

Critics say the armed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah and Haraket Hezbollah al-Nujaba, use their status as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security force that began as a grouping of militias in 2014, as a cover.

When striking at U.S. forces, they operate outside the chain of command under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq; when the U.S. retaliates, they mourn their losses as members of the PMF and reap the rewards of rising anti-U.S. sentiment.

U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq and toppled former leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, withdrawing in 2011 but then returning in 2014 to fight Islamic State as part of an international coalition. The U.S. currently has some 2,500 troops in Iraq.

With Islamic State territorially defeated in 2017 and on the demise ever since, Sudani said the coalition's raison d'etre had long-since ended.

YEARS IN THE MAKING

But calls for the coalition's withdrawal have been around for years and, so far, little has changed. Iraq's parliament in 2020 voted for its departure days after the U.S. assassinated top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militant commander in a strike outside Baghdad airport.

The next year, the U.S. announced the end of its combat mission in Iraq and a shift to advising and assisting Iraqi security forces, a move that changed little on the ground.

The Gaza war has put the issue back in centre stage, with many Iraqi groups that brought Sudani's government to power and are close to Tehran calling for the final exit of all foreign forces, a move long sought by Iran and its regional allies.

The chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech on Friday that U.S. strikes in Iraq should pave the way for the final withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, which would also make their presence in northeastern Syria untenable.

Sudani said he was seeking the coalition's exit because Iraq could now defend itself from terrorism and should exert full sovereignty over its territory - thereby avoiding giving anyone an excuse to draw Iraq into regional conflict.

"Ending its presence will prevent more tensions and the entanglement of internal and regional security issues," Sudani said.

He said Iraq was open to establishing bilateral relations and engaging in security cooperation with coalition nations, including the U.S. This could including training and advising Iraqi security forces as well as weapons purchases.

The U.S. "is not an enemy to us and we are not at war with it, but if these tensions continue it will definitely impact and create a gap in this relationship," he said.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by William Maclean)
The UN does not consider the alternative grain corridor in the Black Sea sustainable and predictable

The current maritime export routes for Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea are not sufficiently reliable or predictable, the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Saviano Abreu, said in an interview with Ukrinform news agency on Jan. 10.

Read also: France delivers grain cargo ship to Ukraine, says French Minister of Transport

"The problem with these alternatives [to the Black Sea Grain Initiative] is that they are still not sustainable or even predictable," Abreu said.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative was a system that would guarantee the safety of the vessels entering or leaving [Ukrainian ports]. Unfortunately, we saw an increase in [naval] mine contamination of the Black Sea after the termination of the initiative. And we witnessed the level of repeated [Russian] attacks on Ukrainian ports, including on the Danube River, which could be an alternative [export route].

The UN is looking for solutions to ensure safe, predictable, and sustainable civilian shipping in the Black Sea, the official added.

At the beginning of the war, Russia blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports and disrupted maritime trade in the region. This led to enormous consequences, since nearly 400 million people, including in Africa and Asia, depend on food exports from Ukraine.

Read also: Ukraine to receive warships to help protect its Black Sea grain corridor

In July 2022, the UN and Turkey mediated a deal that allowed for safe passage of civilian cargo vessels to and from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, pending inspections by Russian officials who verified the ships were not delivering arms to Ukraine.

Read also: Russia deploys eight ships to Black Sea, including two missile carriers

Russia officially terminated its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17, 2023.

Read also: Poland maintains Ukraine grain import ban, proposes new trade rules to EU

The Ukrainian Navy announced on Aug. 10, 2023, new temporary routes for civilian vessels to and from Black Sea ports after the suspension of the grain deal involving the UN, Turkiye, and Russia in July.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Nov. 3, 2023, that 100 ships had passed through Ukraines temporary grain corridor in the Black Sea, exporting 3.6 million tons of food. Almost 6 million tons of goods had been exported from Odesa ports by Nov. 27.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Three different legal battles and a federal investigation have been launched in the year since Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by former officers with the Memphis Police Department.

The U.S. Department of Justices pattern-or-practice investigation is expected to give the most in-depth look inside the departments operations and policies, but the findings of that investigation will be kept secret until the investigation is completed in the next few years.

Meanwhile, a state criminal case and federal case are marching toward trial, with a federal civil case lagging behind. Heres what to expect in the second year of Nichols-related cases.

Trial date for the Tyre Nichols federal criminal case is in question

The criminal case in federal court charged five MPD officers  Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith  with use of excessive force, tampering with witnesses, conspiracy to witness tamper and deliberate indifference.

U.S. Attorney General for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz answers questions from the press as Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Department of Justices civil rights division, looks on during a press conference announcing that an indictment is pending in federal court for the five now-former Memphis police officers involved in the Tyre Nichols case in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

In a scheduling conference, Judge Mark Norris and attorneys agreed to begin the trial on May 6.

One defense attorney representing Haley, Michael Stengel, has since cast doubt on that date holding, saying in a mid-November 2023 report date that he had received a voluminous disclosure of discovery from the DOJ.

After that hearing, Martins attorney, William Massey, acknowledged the amount of work that needs to be done before going to trial.

Theres still an awful lot of work to do, theres no doubt about that, Massey said. But weve got a team put together for Mr. Martin, and I think we will be doing our best to be ready on the sixth [of May 2024].

Massey made that court appearance with two additional attorneys that he had added to the defense team, with Catalina Goodwin and Stephen Ross Johnson from a Knoxville-based law firm helping on the federal criminal case.

All of the now-former MPD officers charged in the federal case are being represented by the same attorneys in the state case.

Also factoring into potential delays in the federal case is a motion pending to have the case moved outside of Shelby County due to media coverage. Venue changes are generally granted when a judge finds that defendants will likely not have a fair trial in the jurisdiction a crime occurred in.

Judges have generally been reluctant to grant venue changes when media coverage is cited. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police Department officer convicted of killing George Floyd in 2020, had a similarly high-profile federal case heard in Minnesotas district court, though his attorneys never requested a change in venue.

More: Memphis Mayor Paul Young plans to enforce Tyre Nichols ordinances, other crime initiatives

It is, however, not clear how a federal venue change would differ in Tennessee since Minnesota only has a single district court compared to Tennessees three federal district courts.

Should the venue change not be granted by Norris, Beans defense attorney, John Keith Perry, requested that jurors be selected from outside Shelby County.

Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman can be seen answering questions after a trial date for August 12, 2024 has been set for the former police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith at Shelby County Criminal Justice Center on November 06, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn.

The plea deal from Mills, which was entered in November, could also change the trajectory of the federal case. Mills plea has the potential to expedite the case, and could also be the first domino to fall in a series of plea deals.

Should the federal case get pushed back, it will also likely push back the state case, as attorneys have said for months they want the federal case wrapped up before starting trial.

Attorneys expect the state case to stay on track, despite federal concerns

The state case is slated for trial in August. After that date was set by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr., Massey said that trial date seemed fairly realistic to him.

After the state trial date was set, Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman said he was sure the case would proceed in a timely manner.

We had taken a lot of considerations in setting the trial date  the federal trial, and things like this. Its hard for these attorneys, and defense attorneys especially, to litigate this sort of on two different fronts, Hagerman told reporters. So, we were back in chambers for quite a while this morning, while I guess you all were probably waiting, with attorneys schedules and taking into account when the federal date was, and things like that. We think we picked realistic dates that we can hold everybody to.

Like the federal case, Massey is considering filing a motion requesting a change in venue at the state level. Judges at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center have also been unwilling to grant venue changes in high-profile cases.

Judge Lee V. Coffee denied venue changes in the Lorenzen Wright case, and most recently denied a motion to change venue in the case of Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Eliza Fletcher and raping Alicia Franklin.

[To grant this venue change], I would have to say, I dont trust jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee. They are inherently untrustworthy. Theyre inherently unreliable. I dont think these jurors in Shelby County, Tennessee will give a defendant a fair trial, Coffee said during his denial of Abston-Hendersons motion. I cannot make that statement.

Jones, though one of Shelby Countys newly elected judges, has been methodical and firm in his rulings thus far. Jones denied the motion for the five officers to be granted separate trials, and thoroughly questioned the motivation by defense attorneys during oral arguments on the motion.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci announce they are filing what they call a landmark $550 million lawsuit in the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after he was beaten by Memphis police officers. RowVaughn Wells, Nichols' mother, and Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, speak to the media about the lawsuit. The press conference was held outside the Shelby County Circuit Court in Downtown Memphis on April 19, 2023.

The federal timeline holds much weight in how the state case progresses, though. Mills pleaded guilty in both the federal and state case, with state prosecutors saying they had to wait for his federal sentencing to sentence him at the state level. That sentencing is planned to come after the conclusion of the federal trial but before the state trial.

More plea deals were not taken off the table by prosecutors at the state level, and the DOJ has been reluctant to speak with media following court dates, but some defense attorneys, like Massey, have stood firm in taking the cases before a jury.

Tyre Nichols' family's $550 million civil lawsuit lags behind criminal cases

After state criminal charges were filed in January 2023, Ben Crump announced his firm  along with an expansive legal team that includes Antonio Romanucci from Chicago and a litany of Memphis attorneys  had filed a $550 million civil lawsuit in federal court.

That dollar amount, according to Crump, represented $10 million for each year since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It also came with the goal of making it financially unsustainable for these police oppression units to unjustly kill Black people in the future.

The case is slated for January 2025 and is expected to last 15 days.

A photo of Tyre Nichols can be seen as Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, the parents of Nichols, hold a candle and bow their heads in prayer during a candlelight vigil for Nichols held at the site where he was beaten to death by Memphis Police Department officers on the one year anniversary of his death in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday, January 7, 2024.

The civil cases length will be almost entirely dictated by the length of the two criminal cases. The five officers charged with violating Nichols civil rights and in his death have had their aspects of the civil case placed on hold.

Meanwhile, the City of Memphis, MPD Chief Cerelyn C.J. Davis and other co-defendants are steadily checking pretrial boxes.

The pivotal ruling in the civil case will be on the citys motion to dismiss.

Magistrate Judge Annie T. Christoff previously denied the citys motion to strike allegations that the city should have been aware of dangers in establishing a unit like the SCORPION Unit due to Davis involvement in the controversial RED DOG Unit when she was with the Atlanta Police Department.

More: Memphis Mayor Paul Young plans to enforce Tyre Nichols ordinances, other crime initiatives

The ruling was a win for the Nichols family and could be seen as a gauge for how Christoff might rule on the citys motion to dismiss.

Though the city has seemingly been the focus of the civil lawsuit, each co-defendant has also filed a motion to dismiss in the case.

Should Christoff rule in favor of dismissing the parties, the civil case could be the first case to reach its end.

Another avenue for quickly ending this case would be for the city to settle with Nichols family. Its not clear what the price tag for settling would be, but with a new mayoral administration beginning, there could also come a change in thinking within the citys legal department.

U.S. Attorney General for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz looks on as Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Department of Justices civil rights division, looks on during a press conference announcing that an indictment is pending in federal court for the five now-former Memphis police officers involved in the Tyre Nichols case in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

Former Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald, a Mid-South native, was selected as a mediator by the Nichols family and co-defendants. Per the scheduling order, mediation should be completed by the end of February.

The DOJ's pattern-or-practice investigation continues, unlikely to be complete for another year

The DOJs pattern-or-practice investigation is one unknown in the series of legal branches coming from Tyre Nichols beating.

Throughout late 2023, DOJ investigators hosted a series of meetings around the city to hear from Memphians about their experiences with the Memphis Police Department. Most of these experiences were negative, but some people spoke about uplifting interactions with officers.

The findings and progress of the investigation are being kept a secret, and little information could be gathered from public meetings.

Taking a look at other cities: What to expect with DOJ's investigation into Memphis police

Prior investigations into similarly sized cities and police departments, like the Minnesota Police Department and the St. Louis Metro Police Department, lasted about two years, so 2024 is unlikely to end with a report from the DOJ.

Meetings will likely continue, and the DOJ may begin follow-up interviews as more information comes to them. They have also said they plan to speak with Memphis police officers, and conduct ride-alongs, to see how the officers act on a daily basis.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What to expect in Tyre Nichols legal proceedings in 2024
You are here: Business

This photo taken on March 20, 2023 shows logos of Swiss banking giant UBS in Geneva, Switzerland. [Photo/Xinhua]

"China continues to be the world's second-largest economy and a wealth creation hub, and is a key market for UBS," UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said on Tuesday.



Kelleher made the remarks at UBS' 24th Greater China Conference, which was held in Shanghai.

The business leader said that the Swiss banking giant remains committed to its onshore growth strategy in China, and that it is in a unique position to provide access to China to international investors.

The bank will also continue to support Chinese companies and investors who want to go global, Kelleher said.

According to the UBS website, UBS' key businesses in China include wealth management, investment bank and asset management enterprises.

On the integration between UBS and Credit Suisse, the chairman said, "We have already achieved important milestones and aim to substantially complete the integration for the group by the end of 2026."

He said that after the acquisition of Credit Suisse, the growth ambitions for UBS are focused on wealth and asset management.

The Swiss federal government in March 2023 announced that Credit Suisse would be taken over by UBS.
Mexico is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, joining 16 others on the list of megadiverse nations, according to World Atlas. Conservationists are sounding the alarm, however, over the governments handling of the countrys endangered species list.

Whats happening?

The Associated Press reported that Mexico hasnt updated the endangered species registry since August 2019, even though the law mandates it to do so every three years.

Even if you have the hard data, the scientific information to prove that one species is really endangered, the process is not open, Alejandro Olivera, a marine biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the news outlet.

This has led to what appears to be an outdated list. Per the AP, the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists 1,500 species in Mexico as endangered or critically endangered, while Mexicos official tally for endangered (its most at-risk rating) is not even half that amount.

The queen conch is among the species that conservationists have been monitoring for inclusion on the list, as its numbers have continued to decrease even though the Mexican government has limits on catching the shellfish, going as far as to ban the harvesting of it over a five-year span beginning in 2012, without listing it as endangered.

Mexico held its national conservation day in November, though Olivera called out the government for apparent greenwashing in the AP report, saying it told lies or half-truths about the numbers of remaining vaquitas, the worlds smallest whales, which number as few as 10 left in the wild.

Why is this concerning?

While there are nearly 200 countries, the 17 megadiverse nations house 70% of biodiversity worldwide, as reported by PBS.

Sadly, species have been dying off at significantly higher rates in the modern era, with the Living Planet Index finding that monitored wildlife populations have dropped by 69% on average since 1970.

As biodiversity is lost, so is the built-in balance of the ecosystem. That can have ripple effects that negatively impact wildlife, plants  from which many medicines are derived  and humans alike.

What can be done about the endangered species list?

Some countries have had success with speeding up the record-keeping process.

As detailed by the AP, the United States utilizes a rolling-basis system that requires a response within 90 days. Rodrigo Jorge, a government biologist in Brazil, created a similar (unofficial) rolling method for his country that is expected to produce the fastest turnaround since the country began categorizing endangered species.

The U.S. and Brazil are also megadiverse nations.

Out-of-date or incomplete records make it more difficult to hold corporations or governing entities accountable when something is amiss, but getting involved in local eco-friendly efforts can raise awareness, spark meaningful conversations, and create positive change over time.

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
(Reuters) -Ecuador is reeling from a wave of violence that has shaken the South American nation, with President Daniel Noboa launching a military crackdown on gangs and a 60-day state of emergency.

Incidents this month have included the interruption of a live television broadcast by gunmen, the taking of more than 200 prison staff as hostages, explosions in several cities and the kidnapping of police officers, leading to widespread security force operations and nearly 2,000 arrests.

There was renewed bloodshed on Wednesday, when prosecutor Cesar Suarez, who focused on pursuing organized trans-national crime in Guayas province, was killed in an incident the police said was an assassination.

WHY HAS ECUADOR'S SECURITY DETERIORATED?

Security in Ecuador has worsened since the coronavirus pandemic, which also battered the Andean nation's economy.

The number of violent deaths rose to 8,008 in 2023, the government has said, nearly double the 2022 figure. The violence crossed into the political arena last year when an anti-corruption presidential candidate was assassinated.

The government blames the situation on the growing reach of cocaine trafficking gangs, which have destabilized swathes of South America.

Inside Ecuador's prisons the gangs have taken advantage of the state's weak control to expand their power. Prison violence has become increasingly common, resulting in hundreds of deaths in incidents authorities have blamed on gang battles to control jails.

Guayaquil, a coastal city that is Ecuador's largest, is considered the country's most dangerous, with its ports acting as a hub for drug smuggling.

Noboa, 36, took power in November on pledges to curb the violence and has been touting his "Phoenix Plan", which includes the establishment of a new intelligence unit, tactical weapons for security forces, new high-security prisons and reinforced security at ports and airports.

It will cost some $800 million, he said, though $200 million in new weapons for Ecuador's army will be provided by the United States.

WHAT CAUSED THIS MONTH'S FLARE-UP OF VIOLENCE?

Police said on Jan. 7 that Adolfo Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, disappeared from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence. Authorities are still trying to track him down.

Macias' disappearance was followed by violent incidents and the escape of other inmates from prisons around the country, with more than 200 guards eventually taken hostage, some for nearly a week.

Two police officers were killed in Guayas province, where Guayaquil is located, while others were taken hostage by criminals before being freed.

The violence was most dramatically displayed when an armed group burst into a television studio during a live broadcast on Jan. 9 and briefly held journalists at gunpoint. More than a dozen people were arrested.

Noboa, who has vowed not to negotiate with "terrorists," has said the violence is a reaction to his government's plans to build new high-security prisons for gang leaders.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM?

Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency - a tool used by his predecessor Guillermo Lasso to little success - enabling military patrols, including in prisons, and setting a national nighttime curfew.

In an updated decree, Noboa said he recognized an "internal armed conflict" in Ecuador and identified several criminal gangs as terrorist groups, including Los Choneros. The decree ordered the armed forces to neutralize the groups.

Noboa's coalition, a broad alliance of center-left, center-right and centrist groups, has a majority in the National Assembly, but some Ecuadoreans are questioning why the president is not taking harsher measures against gangs.

The president has received legislative backing for his security measures so far, but parties in the coalition have said they will not support a value-added tax hike meant to fund weapons and equipment for security forces and improvements to the prison system, as well as the payments owed to regional governments.

Noboa plans to hold a security-focused plebiscite later this year, which would include asking the public if the government should undo a ban on the extradition of Ecuadoreans wanted abroad.

(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb and Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Paul Simao)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon disclosed on Tuesday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had surgery to treat prostate cancer in December but then developed complications that brought him back to the hospital, where he has remained since Jan. 1.

Here's what has been revealed publicly about Austin's condition and his course of treatment and what experts say about the illnesses affecting him.

WHEN WAS AUSTIN'S PROSTATE CANCER DETECTED AND TREATED?

Austin, who is 70, learned he had prostate cancer in December after routine surveillance for the illness via blood tests to monitor levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

On Dec. 22, 2023, Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and underwent prostatectomy, which experts say could involve the complete or partial removal of the prostate and nearby lymph nodes.

Austin was under general anesthesia during the procedure and Walter Reed, in a statement, said he recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home on the morning of Dec. 23.

"His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent."

WHY IS AUSTIN BACK IN THE HOSPITAL?

Austin returned by ambulance to Walter Reed with complications from the Dec. 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection, the hospital said.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a UTI is an infection in any part of the urinary system, which includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra.

"If an infection is limited to the bladder, it can be painful and annoying. But serious health problems can result if a UTI spreads to the kidneys," according to the clinic.

During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.

Such infections can be taxing.

"Up to one-third of elderly patients hospitalized with UTIs can experience some degree of confusion and reduced awareness of their surroundings," a researcher from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles was quoted saying by the hospital.

About 15% to 20% of men undergoing prostatectomy develop urinary tract infections during the post-operative period, with the risk increasing with longer intervals between diagnosis and definitive treatment, according to a large 2023 study from South Korea of men treated between 2007 and 2016.

HOW DID WALTER REED TREAT AUSTIN'S INFECTION?

On Jan. 2, Austin was moved to the Intensive Care Unit for close monitoring and a higher level of care, the hospital said. Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents.

Walter Reed treated this by placing a tube through Austin's nose to drain his stomach. The abdominal fluid collections were drained separately.

It was unclear if Austin had robotic laparoscopic surgery, which is considered minimally invasive. But in one recent study of 404 men who underwent minimally invasive surgery using robots to help surgeons remove the prostate and lymph nodes, 7.4% of the patients developed symptomatic collections of fluid in the body.

Austin's infection has cleared but he remains hospitalized. Walter Reed said it anticipates he will make a full recovery but cautions "this can be a slow process."

The Pentagon and Walter Reed are not speculating about a possible discharge date.

HOW COMMON IS PROSTATE CANCER?

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer, aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, among American men. Overall, about 1 in 8 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it.

The risk of developing prostate cancer varies based on age, ethnicity and other factors. About 6 in 10 prostate cancers are diagnosed after age 65, according to the American Cancer Society.

The risk is higher in African American men and in Caribbean men of African ancestry than in men of other races.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Nancy Lapid, Idrees Ali; Editing by Sonali Paul)
Its not every day F-bombs get dropped on the dais. But they were flying during Tuesdays Fort Lauderdale meeting at The Parker after three commissioners denied the city manager the same 3% raise theyd given the city auditor and city clerk.

The tense exchange lasted less than three minutes, ending about 10 minutes before midnight. But it lays bare the simmering tensions between commissioners whose seats are all up at the end of the year. All five are expected to run for reelection in what is already shaping up to be an ugly election season.

Commissioner Steve Glassman, fuming over the snub to City Manager Greg Chavarria, admits to dropping the first F-bomb while taking a breather backstage.

Glassman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he snapped at Jeri Pryor, chief of staff for Commissioner Warren Sturman, who voted against the raise. Glassman says he told Pryor, F! then paused and said, Your boss!

Back on the dais, hours later, Sturman blasted Glassman for disrespecting his staff.

You have no right to disrespect my staff, Sturman said, reading from a prepared statement. You are never to ever curse at them again, yell at them again, give them the F-bomb or otherwise disrespect my staff. Ever.

Glassman was quick to tell Sturman he did not hear exactly what happened.

Sturman claimed he overheard the comment hours earlier.

Commissioner John Herbst chimed in, accusing Glassman of making Pryor cry. Herbst says hed stepped off the dais earlier in the meeting to get a soda and encountered Pryor in tears.

That was disgusting behavior! Herbst said. The fact that you would curse in her face and say F you, f your boss is unbelievable.

Herbst and Glassman continued, talking over each other and trading barbs.

That is not correct, Glassman said. And you can get as dramatic as you like.

Herbsts retort: From the drama teacher. There you go. Thank you.

Said Glassman: Its not correct. And Ill say from the language you just used, shame on you.

Herbst told the Sun Sentinel he reported the incident to the city attorney soon after learning about it.

Pryor has not filed a formal complaint against Glassman, City Attorney Tom Ansbro said Wednesday. But he did receive an email from attorney Barbra Stern asking him to look into the matter, he said.

I asked them to conduct an investigation into his conduct and any potential violations of any anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies, Stern said. What kind of message does this send when your elected public official engages in intimidating and threatening behavior toward a city employee?

Pryor could be not reached for comment Wednesday.

Sturman told the Sun Sentinel that Herbst heard Glassmans comment, too. But Herbst, who was sitting on the far end of the dais near stage left, told the Sun Sentinel he did not hear it.

It happened backstage, Herbst said. We have an anti-bullying policy. Cursing at people can be considered verbal assault.

Glassman says its all much ado about nothing.

I needed to take a break after they denied the manager a raise, he told the Sun Sentinel. I needed to cool off. I was really upset.

Right after the vote to deny the city manager a raise, Glassman vented from the dais, saying Shame, shame, shame!

Several community leaders who had spoken up in fierce support of Chavarria repeated the shame, shame, shame phrase from the audience. Many were presidents of neighborhood associations across the city who came out en masse after hearing that Sturman might make a motion to fire Chavarria on Tuesday night.

Herbst joined Sturman and Vice Mayor Pamela Beasley-Pittman in voting against giving him a raise, but no one made the motion to terminate.

I think the message to Greg is Youre on probation, Herbst said. Youre not getting fired, but youre not getting a raise. You have all the people in the community saying he returns their calls. Well I dont care. Hes not meeting my expectations.

Herbst declined to elaborate.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com
(Reuters) - Taiwan goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president and parliament. China, which considers Taiwan merely a Chinese province and part of its territory despite the objections of the island's government, will be watching the outcome closely.

Following are key facts on ties between Taiwan and China:

POLITICS

- China has claimed Taiwan through its "one China" policy since the Chinese civil war forced the defeated Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalists, to flee to the island in 1949 and has vowed to bring it under Beijing's rule, by force if necessary.

- Taiwan's government says it is already a sovereign country, officially called the Republic of China, a position supported by the island's main opposition parties.

- Ties were badly strained when Chen Shui-bian from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was Taiwan president from 2000-2008 because of his independence rhetoric, even as he tried to maintain positive relations with Beijing.

- Relations warmed considerably after Ma Ying-jeou, from the KMT which favours close ties to China, took office as president in 2008 and then won re-election in 2012. Ma held a landmark meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in late 2015.

- In 2014, hundreds of students occupied Taiwan's parliament for weeks in protests nicknamed the Sunflower Movement. They demanded more transparency in trade pacts negotiated with China in the largest display of anti-China sentiment the island had seen in years.

- Since the DPP's Tsai Ing-wen became president in 2016, and won re-election in 2020 Taiwan-China ties have soured again, with China cutting off a formal dialogue mechanism, flying fighter jets around Taiwan, forcing foreign firms to refer to Taiwan as part of China on their websites, and whittling away at Taiwan's diplomatic allies.

- Beijing believes Tsai wants to push Taiwan's independence, a red line for China. She says she wants to maintain the status quo, declaring neither Taiwan's formal independence nor seeking to join with China.

- Vice President Lai Ching-te is the DPP's presidential candidate. China also detests him as a separatist and has rebuffed multiple offers of talks.

- The KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih, mayor of Taipei's neighbouring city New Taipei, wants better ties with China to help boost Taiwan's economy, including pushing a trade services pact shelved in 2014 and restarting talks with Beijing.

- Former Taipei major Ko Wen-je of the small Taiwan People's Party is also running for the presidency.

TRADE

- China is Taiwan's top trading partner, with trade totalling $224 billion in 2023. Taiwan runs a large trade surplus with China.

- China, with its 1.3 billion people and much cheaper costs, is also Taiwan's favourite investment destination with Taiwan companies investing over $100 billion there, private estimates show.

- Taiwan has been encouraging Taiwanese businesses back home and to shift investment to other countries like Vietnam and India to reduce the reliance on China.

MILITARY

- China and Taiwan have nearly gone to war several times since 1949, and in August of 2022 and April of 2023 China staged large scale war games around the island in protest at stepped up U.S. engagement with Taiwan.

- Taiwan says China runs a sophisticated online disinformation campaign to support China-friendly candidates.

- China has framed the elections as a choice between "peace and war", calling the ruling party dangerous separatists and urging Taiwanese to make the "right choice". It says allegations of election interference are DPP "dirty tricks".

- The United States, which has called for the vote to be free from "outside interference", is obliged to help Taiwan with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. China always reacts angrily to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and has repeatedly demanded they stop.

(Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
China has unveiled a package of policy steps to support building its coastal Fujian province, located opposite Taiwan, into a pilot zone for advancing cross-Strait economic integration  a move which experts said will tap into cooperation potential in new areas and deliver concrete benefits for businesses on both sides.

The guideline highlighted five major areas of focus  supporting Fujian in expanding opening-up toward Taiwan, promoting cross-Strait trade, deepening integration of strategic industries, facilitating integration of Taiwan businesses operating in Fujian into domestic circulation and accelerating the integrated development of key regions.

The guideline was jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday.

According to the guideline, Fujian will be supported to take strides toward aligning its pilot free trade zone with international economic and trade rules and promoting institutional opening-up, so as to explore a regulatory framework conducive to cross-Strait economic integration.

Fujian is encouraged to leverage its geographical proximity and advance such key reform initiatives as cross-Strait trade in goods and mutual recognition of professional qualifications on a priority basis.

Moreover, Fujian will be guided to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, in an effort to attract projects from Taiwan in industries such as petrochemicals, textiles, machinery and cosmetics to establish a strong presence in the province, it said.

The year 2022 witnessed significant growth in cross-Strait trade, with the total volume between Fujian and Taiwan registering 103.67 billion yuan ($14.47 billion). Exports to Taiwan experienced a surge of 22.9 percent, data from the provincial commerce bureau in Fujian showed.

In addition, as of June last year, there were more than 12,000 Taiwan enterprises doing business in Fujian, and the actual utilization of capital from Taiwan has exceeded $32 billion, according to official data.

The success of cross-Strait economic cooperation can be attributed to the complementary advantages and shared resources between Fujian and Taiwan, said Yin Cunyi, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Public Policy and Management.

Both regions possess unique strengths in various industries, including manufacturing, technology and services. Through collaboration and the exchange of expertise, these strengths have been effectively leveraged, contributing to growth and development of both sides, Yin said.

Going forward, the strengths of Fujian in digital economy, integrated circuits, new energy, lithium batteries, petrochemicals and textiles will be fully harnessed to build demonstration bases for new-type industrialization in regions where conditions are ripe, the guideline said, adding that it aims to create industry clusters that pool advantages from both sides and bolster global competitiveness.

In particular, greater support will be channeled to Fujian to promote construction of the experimental zone for cross-Strait cooperation in integrated circuits. Meanwhile, the province will place great emphasis on the development of key functional zones to facilitate the concentrated development of Taiwan's leading sectors, it said.

Proactive steps will be adopted by Fujian authorities to explore new forms of cross-Strait services trade cooperation in areas such as culture, tourism, digital economy, logistics, exhibitions and traditional Chinese medicine, it added.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the mainland has planned over 1,300 "new infrastructure" projects, with total investment exceeding 10 trillion yuan. This development has brought new opportunities for cross-Strait economic cooperation, particularly in areas such as industrial internet, artificial intelligence and 5G, said Wu Jiaying, executive vice-president of the Beijing-based Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland.

Taiwan enterprises have demonstrated their excellence in software design and electronic product manufacturing. Their proficiency in these fields positions them to play a significant role in the development of "new infrastructure" projects on the mainland, Wu said.

Additionally, sectors such as semiconductors, circuit boards and machine tools are considered strong areas in Taiwan. This expertise puts them in a better position for integration into the mainland's "new infrastructure" as well as industrial and supply chains, he added.
FILE PHOTO: Hou Yu-ih, a candidate for Taiwan's presidency from the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), gestures to his supporters

FILE PHOTO: Hou Yu-ih, a candidate for Taiwan's presidency from the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), gestures to his supporters

(Reuters) - Taiwan votes in presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, with three candidates standing for the position of president.

The current president, Tsai Ing-wen, is constitutionally barred from standing again after two terms in office.

LAI CHING-TE

Lai, also widely known by his English name William, is running for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Currently Taiwan's vice president, he is also the DPP's chairman.

Lai, whose father was a coal miner, has riled China for comments he made before standing for the presidency about being a "worker for Taiwan independence".

He says he wants to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, not change Taiwan's formal name of the Republic of China, and will, like Tsai, not provoke or take risks. Lai and Tsai both reject China's sovereignty claims.

Lai, along with Tsai, has repeatedly offered talks with China but has also been rebuffed, as Beijing views them both as separatists. Lai, 64, and Tsai say only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Lai has deep experience in government, having previously served as a lawmaker, mayor of the southern city of Tainan and premier. His running mate is Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's high-profile former de facto ambassador to the United States.

HOU YU-IH

Hou, 66, is the candidate for Taiwan's main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT), whose government fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists.

Hou is the mayor of Taipei's neighbouring city New Taipei, though he has taken a leave of absence to run for president. He was re-elected as the mayor in a landslide in 2022.

The KMT traditionally favours closer ties with China but strongly denies being pro-Beijing.

Hou has said he will restart talks with Beijing, starting with lower level events like cultural exchanges, but rejects China's "one country, two systems" model of autonomy which Beijing hopes one day to get Taiwan to accept.

Hou, formerly Taiwan's top policeman, also says only the island's people can decide their future, and has pledged to keep boosting the island's defences and maintain good relations with the United States.

He has lambasted Lai as a dangerous separatist and denounced what he says are smears from the DPP portraying him as a patsy of China's communist party.

Hou also supports the KMT's position that both Taiwan and China belong to one single China but each side can interpret what that means. He strongly opposes Taiwan independence.

Hou's running mate is the fiery media personality Jaw Shaw-kong.

KO WEN-JE

Ko, a former Taipei mayor, is the candidate for the small Taiwan People's Party, which he founded in 2019.

Ko, a surgeon by training, has focused on bread and butter issues like the high cost of housing, which has won him a loyal base of young supporters, and has described himself as the only true change candidate.

Ko says his bottom line for dealing with China is that Taiwan's democracy and way of life has to be respected.

He had been talking to the KMT about a joint ticket to take on the DPP, but those talks collapsed in November in bitter disagreement.

Ko, 64, has chosen as his vice presidential candidate one of the party's lawmakers, Cynthia Wu, whose family is a major shareholder of conglomerate Shin Kong Group.

(Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
A view of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said on Tuesday she would not seek reelection in Arizona, lifting the threat of a three-way race featuring the Democrat-turned-independent.

Democrats face a tough map in their quest to hold on to or expand their narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate in the Nov. 5 election, since they will need to defend multiple seats in Republican-leaning states.

Below are some races to watch ahead of the 2024 election.

ARIZONA: SINEMA DROPS OUT

Sinema's exit means that Democratic U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego, a progressive, will face off against a Republican candidate.

The Republicans seeking the nomination include Kari Lake, who had been endorsed by Trump during her unsuccessful 2022 run for governor, and Mark Lamb, a county sheriff.

Though Lake is considered the leading candidate and has amassed endorsements from some Senate Republicans, she has been embroiled in disputes with other Republicans, including the former head of the state Republican Party.

Arizona's primaries will be held on July 30.

CALIFORNIA: REPUBLICAN BASEBALL STAR IN THE MIX

Democratic U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a former House of Representatives Intelligence Committee chairman, will face off with Republican former baseball player Steve Garvey in the race to succeed the late California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Schiff and Garvey received the most votes in California's primary on Tuesday, in an unusual contest allowing the two top vote-getters, regardless of party, to advance to the general election. Garvey knocked out two U.S. Representatives - Katie Porter and Barbara Lee - to reach the runoff.

Garvey was a popular infielder when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, but the Senate seat is expected to stay in Democrats' hands in a state that reliably votes for the party.

TEXAS: DEMOCRATS EYE OPPORTUNITY

Though Senate Democrats have more seats to defend than Republicans do, they are eyeing some pickup opportunities - namely seats in Texas and Florida.

In Texas, where every statewide elected official is a Republican, Democrats are seeking another chance to topple Ted Cruz. Cruz narrowly won reelection in 2018 and faced an outcry when he traveled to Cancun, Mexico, on vacation as the state grappled with a devastating winter storm.

Cruz, who won his primary on Tuesday, will face Democratic primary winner Colin Allred, a former professional football player and civil-rights attorney and a current congressman who represents a district in the Dallas suburbs.

OHIO: DEMOCRAT DEFENDING SEAT IN TRUMP-SUPPORTING STATE

Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is seeking to defend his seat in a state that voted for Trump in the 2020 election.

The race to win the Republican nomination so far includes Ohio's Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Matt Dolan, a state senator; and Bernie Moreno, a businessman. Moreno has received Trump's endorsement in the race.

Ohio's primaries will be held on March 19.

PENNSYLVANIA: RETURN OF MCCORMICK

Republicans are eyeing the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat as a possible opportunity for them in the perennially competitive state. Democrat Bob Casey is running for reelection, where Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, is vying for the seat.

McCormick had previously run for Senate in 2022, but lost the Republican primary to television personality Mehmet Oz, who had been endorsed by Trump. Oz went on to lose his race against Democrat John Fetterman.

Pennsylvania's primaries will be held on April 23.

MARYLAND: REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER

Larry Hogan, the Republican former governor of Maryland, announced on Feb. 9 that he would run for an open Senate seat. Though Maryland has not elected a Republican senator since 1970, Hogan was a popular governor in the state and polling has suggested the race will be competitive.

David Trone, a congressman and wine magnate, and Angela Alsobrooks, a county executive, are seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat.

Maryland's primaries will be held on May 14.

MONTANA: VULNERABLE DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENT

Democratic Senator Jon Tester is defending his seat in a state that backed Trump during the 2020 election.

Tim Sheehy, a military veteran who founded an aerial firefighting company, is running as a Republican and has drawn the support of other party members in the Senate.

Representative Matt Rosendale, who lost to Tester in 2018, said on Feb. 9 that he would also seek the Republican nomination, potentially setting up a divisive primary fight. But Trump endorsed Sheehy that day and Rosendale dropped out of the race less than a week later.

Montana's primaries will be held on June 4.

NEW JERSEY: LOOKING TO REPLACE MENENDEZ

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez so far has not said whether he will seek reelection after being indicted by federal prosecutors on bribery charges. Menendez was hit with a fresh obstruction of justice charge on Tuesday.

Several Democrats are eyeing the seat, including Tammy Murphy, the wife of Governor Phil Murphy, and Representative Andy Kim.

New Jersey's primaries will be held on June 4.

UTAH: CROWDED REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Utah is an open seat, with Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a prominent Trump critic and onetime party standard-bearer, having announced he would not seek re-election. Unlikely to swing to Democratic hands, the state is expected to feature a crowded Republican primary.

The candidates seeking the seat include the former speaker of the state's House of Representatives, Brad Wilson; U.S. Representative John Curtis; and Brent Orrin Hatch, the son of the senator who held the seat for 42 years before Romney.

Utah's primaries will be held on June 25.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone, Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis)
FALL RIVER  A trial date has been set for Fall River businessman and Swansea resident Michael St. Pierre, who was federally indicted twice for his alleged role in the breaching of the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, during a hearing in the federal District of Columbia District Court on Tuesday.

The trial is set in Washington, D.C. on April 15. He is facing eight criminal counts including obstruction of a civil proceeding for St. Pierre's actions to attempt to impede Congress certification of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election between Joseph Biden and Donald Trump.

St. Pierre had traveled with his family to Washington, D.C. for the massive January 2021 protest that ended in violence with one protester being shot and killed during the insurrection. Deaths of Capitol police officers after the riots were blamed on the assault on the officers by rioters.

Mike St. Pierre of Fall River is seen here in a still frame from a TikTok video after hurling an object into the building during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

He posted images and video of his participation during the riot on Facebook, including him throwing a broken flagpole at a door at the Capitol.

Capitol riots A grand jury indicts Swansea man on more charges related to Jan. 6

He later admitted to The Herald News and other news organizations that he participated in the Capitol riots but had regrets.

After an FBI investigation and grand jury hearing, St. Pierre was arrested in July 2023 and arraigned in federal court in Boston.

He was charged with destruction of government property; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and committing an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

The following August he received an additional charge of obstruction of a civil proceeding, for his alleged actions at the riot attempting to impede Congresss certification of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Fall River business Grocery owner who rioted at Capitol faces fines and penalties for store's COVID violations

What St. Pierre is alleged to have done on Jan. 6

In a video posted at the time to his own Facebook page, St. Pierre, who also goes by the Facebook name "Mike Stadium," was seen wearing head gear and a flak jacket marching toward the Capitol, saying he wanted to assault House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Hopefully theyll bust through, and Ill join them to rush the Capitol, to grab Nancy Pelosi by the hair and f twirl her around, St. Pierre states in the video.

'Caught up in the moment' Fall River store owner regrets his actions at Capitol riots

He was also captured using a bull horn to urge fellow protesters to enter the Capitol building and hurling a long object he later identified as a portion of a flagpole.

St. Pierre is the former owner of the Family Foods Grocery Outlet that was located on William S. Canning Boulevard and shuttered after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, and he currently owns the Snack Factory on Pleasant Street.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Swansea man gets trial date for alleged role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
A longtime local institution, the Farm Store in downtown Nampa, closed Dec. 30 after nearly 50 years of selling clothing.

Owner Larry Bishop said it was time to retire, and said it would be too arduous to pass the reins to a new owner. The building is now listed for sale.

The Nampa store at the corner of First Street and 14th Avenue was the last of 15 Farm Stores the business opened, and later shuttered, around southern Idaho and eastern Oregon, including in Boise, Meridian and Caldwell.

Bishop told the Idaho Statesman by phone that it was the heralding in of nearby big-box stores like Walmart that spelled the demise of many of the family-owned stores.

The business was started in 1974 by his father, Les Bishop, who retired in 1989. Both of them had no prior retail experience. But the stores gained traction, at least early on, for having good deals on items like boots, coveralls and jeans, as the stores slogan, Quality clothing at affordable prices, implies.

Our prices were reasonable and there wasnt much competition, Bishop said.

Then Walmart stores began moving in.

Most of them were close to ours, Bishop said. Our sales started to drop dramatically and made it hard to be profitable.

So the family began to close stores. By 2010, only the Nampa store was still operating.

Bishop said he began liquidating the stores inventory in August. His other business, Store Fixtures of Idaho, which is located in the same building, is closing, too, after being in Nampa for 25 years.

The passing of the last remaining Farm Store is bittersweet, Bishop said. He thanks his former staff, including Dodie Martin, who worked there for over 30 years, and Ima Marcum, for nearly 20 years, for putting their heart and soul into the shop  helping customers, pricing merchandise and keeping things running smoothly.

On behalf of Dodie, Ima and myself, wed like to thank all our loyal customers who have supported us over the years, Bishop said. (Its) the end of an era.

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The Fulton County, Ga., district attorney who brought election interference charges against former President Trump was subpoenaed in an ongoing divorce case of a top prosecutor also involved in the matter, according to a court filing obtained by The Hill.

Mike Roman, one of Trumps co-defendants in the case, earlier this week accused District Attorney Fani Willis (D) of engaging in an improper romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, an outside lawyer whom Willis hired to work on the Trump prosecution.

The filing shows that a process server delivered the deposition subpoena to Willis through her executive assistant Monday. The subpoena was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Romans lawyer filed court papers later in the day revealing the bombshell accusation, claiming that sources close to both Willis and Wade indicated the pair are involved in an ongoing, personal and romantic relationship, including going on vacations together.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis addresses the court during a hearing regarding defendant Harrison Floyd, a leader in the organization Black Voices for Trump, as part of the Georgia election indictments, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, in Atlanta. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard arguments Tuesday on a request to revoke Floyd's bond, of one of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Willis, in a motion filed last week, says that Floyd has been attempting to intimidate and contact likely witnesses and his co-defendants in violation of the terms of his release. (Dennis Byron/Hip Hop Enquirer via AP)

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis addresses the court during a hearing regarding defendant Harrison Floyd, a leader in the organization Black Voices for Trump, as part of the Georgia election indictments, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, in Atlanta. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard arguments Tuesday on a request to revoke Floyds bond, of one of former President Donald Trumps co-defendants in the Georgia case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Willis, in a motion filed last week, says that Floyd has been attempting to intimidate and contact likely witnesses and his co-defendants in violation of the terms of his release. (Dennis Byron/Hip Hop Enquirer via AP)

The revelation was made as part of a motion to get Willis disqualified and the case tossed, arguing that the setup amounts to an irreparable conflict of interest, because Wade is incentivized to prosecute the case to continue being paid lucrative amounts.

Wade was paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees in 2022 and 2023 as he worked on the investigation, county records show.

The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Willis for comment. Wade could not be reached for comment.

The motion from Roman, a Philadelphia-based political operative who served as Trumps director of Election Day operations on his 2020 reelection campaign and faces seven criminal charges, contained no hard evidence of the romance accusation.

More top stories from The Hill:

Ashleigh Merchant, Romans attorney, said further evidence of the accusation was contained within Wades divorce case. Those documents are under seal, but Merchant had filed a motion to unseal them, she said.

Trump has latched onto the accusation on social media and after he attended a court hearing in his federal election subversion criminal case in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

You had a very big event yesterday as you saw in Georgia where the district attorney is totally compromised. The case has to be dropped, Trump said after the hearing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  A fatal shooting near Chase Center on Saturday night that left 27-year-old Kevin Quintanilla dead is being investigated as a homicide, the San Francisco Police Department said. SFPD officers responded just before 10 p.m. Saturday night to the area of Terry A Francois Boulevard and 16th Street on a report of a shooting.

At the scene, officers found Quintanilla suffering from a gunshot wound. Aid was rendered and paramedics were summoned to the scene. The victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

San Rafael woman arrested for fatally stabbing mother streamed attack on Facebook Live

Despite life-saving efforts, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

The victim was later identified by the San Francisco Coroners Office as Quintanilla, a 27-year-old resident of San Mateo County.

Investigators with the SFPD Homicide Detail are investigating the incident as a homicide, police said. The investigation is open and active.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
A federal appeals court has reinstated a First Amendment lawsuit filed by former Tampa-area reform prosecutor Andrew Warren against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and now the DeSantis administration will have to argue that Warren's job performance, not his ideology, was the controlling factor behind Warren's removal from office.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled today that a lower district court erred when it dismissed Warren's lawsuit last January despite finding that DeSantis violated Warren's First Amendment rights by suspending him from office for protected speech.

"The First Amendment prevents DeSantis from identifying a reform prosecutor and then suspending him to garner political benefit," U.S. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor wrote. "On remand, DeSantis must prove that unprotected activity, such as Warren's actual performance or his policies, motivated him to suspend Warren."

Last January, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida Robert Hinkle sharply criticized the DeSantis administration's partisan motivations for suspending Warren, formerly the Hillsborough County State Attorney and one of the most prominent progressive prosecutors in the state.

"In short, the controlling motivations for the suspension were the interest in bringing down a reform prosecutora prosecutor whose performance did not match the Governor's law-and-order agendaand the political benefit that would result," Hinkle wrote in his order. "The actual factswhether Mr. Warren actually had any blanket nonprosecution policiesdid not matter. All that was needed was a pretext to justify the suspension under the Florida Constitution."

But although Hinkle found that the DeSantis administration's reasons for removing Warren were specious and included protected First Amendment speechsuch as being affiliated with the Democratic Party progressive megadonor George Soroshe dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that DeSantis would have removed Warren anyway for other unprotected conduct.

DeSantis suspended Warren in August of 2022 for alleged neglect of duty after Warren signed letters saying he would not enforce state laws restricting abortion or transition-related medical care to transgender minors. The DeSantis administration cited those letters, as well as Warren's non-prosecution policies for certain low-level crimes, such as "resisting without violence" chargesan offense that had become derisively known as "biking while black" because it was overwhelmingly applied against black bicyclists. The move came after the Justice Department released a 2016 report that found that 75 percent of bicyclists stopped by Tampa police were black.

Warren filed a federal lawsuit shortly after claiming the ouster violated his First and 14th Amendment rights.

The 11th Circuit found that Warren's signing of letters was protected First Amendment activity. It also found that the record established during the bench trial in Warren's lawsuit showed that the state investigation into Warren's office was sloppy and minimal at best; DeSantis' overriding motivation was the political benefit of ousting an outspoken prosecutor with a contrary ideology.

"The district court's findings show that DeSantis never suspended Warren because DeSantis disagreed with his actual office policies or case decisions," Pryor wrote.

In an emailed statement to Reason, DeSantis' press secretary Jeremy Redfern said the 11th Circuit opinion "sets a dangerous precedent, and it will empower the chaos we see across the United States as politically motivated prosecutors will continue to ignore criminal laws they don't like and put our communities at risk."

"A state prosecutor's declared commitment to not enforce the laws of this state is not protected by the U.S. Constitution," Redfern said. "The federal appeals court is flat wrong to have concluded otherwise."

Redfern said the governor's office is still reviewing the decision, "but we will ensure that Florida's sovereignty and constitution are respected."

On the website X, formerly known as Twitter, Warren responded to the 11th Circuit ruling:

"This is what we've been fighting for from the beginningthe protection of democracy," Warren wrote. "We look forward to returning to the district court for the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters."

The post Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Reform Prosecutor Removed from Office by Ron DeSantis appeared first on Reason.com.
A federal watchdog will review the safety history of the U.S. militarys V-22 Osprey fleet following a deadly crash that killed eight special operations airmen off the coast of Japan late last year.

The Government Accountability Offices managing director for congressional relations, A. Nicole Clowers, confirmed the probe in a Dec. 19 letter in response to a request from House Armed Services Committee members Reps. Mike Waltz and John Garamendi. Air Force Times obtained the letter Wednesday.

Family, friends mourn 8 airmen killed in Osprey crash in Japan

GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority, Clowers wrote to Waltz, a Florida Republican who chairs HASCs readiness subcommittee, and Garamendi, a California Democrat who serves as the panels ranking member. The pair urged the watchdog to look into the Ospreys safety history Dec. 7.

Waltz and Garamendi asked the office to consider trends among the tiltrotor aircrafts multiple accidents over the past three decades; maintenance and supply issues that may hurt the Ospreys mission readiness; and risk management across the fleet, which spans the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

We believe an assessment of the above issues, and any recommendations GAO may have, will assist us as we conduct oversight on DOD to ensure our military is achieving the required level of readiness while keeping our service members safe, the lawmakers wrote.

Chuck Young, a GAO spokesperson, told Air Force Times Wednesday that the agency expects the probe to begin soon but did not say how long the work may take.

The Nov. 29 crash of a Japan-based Air Force CV-22, which went down during a training mission off of Japans Yakushima island, is the latest in a deadly string of Osprey incidents that have killed twenty U.S. troops since March 2022.

The Air Force has said that an aircraft malfunction, not a mistake by the crew, likely caused the crash. The accident marks the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018.

The incident prompted the U.S. military to indefinitely ground its entire fleet of hundreds of V-22 Ospreys while the Air Force searches for answers about the latest fatal incident. It has also prompted the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to launch its own investigation into the Osprey program.

What is the Osprey, the aircraft at the center of multiple tragedies?

A multinational search effort has recovered the remains of seven airmen from the crash so far; a search for the eighth airman, Maj. Eric Spendlove, is still ongoing, Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse said Wednesday.

The Air Force announced Jan. 3 that it had recovered the intact flight data recorder, or black box, from the downed Osprey. The service has not yet released any details of its contents.
We Are China

Sales, exports of China's new-energy passenger vehicles soar in 2023

Xinhua) 08:22, January 10, 2024

The five millionth new-energy vehicle produced by Chinese carmaker BYD rolls off production line in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sales and exports of China's new-energy passenger vehicles registered robust expansion in 2023, industry data showed.

About 7.74 million such vehicles were sold last year, surging 36.2 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

In December alone, sales of these vehicles hit 945,000 units, up 47.3 percent year on year and rising 12.1 percent on a monthly basis, the association said.

China also exported around 1.05 million new-energy passenger vehicles in 2023, jumping 72 percent over a year earlier, the data revealed.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
You are here: Business

The five millionth new-energy vehicle produced by Chinese carmaker BYD rolls off production line in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Sales and exports of China's new-energy passenger vehicles registered robust expansion in 2023, industry data showed.

About 7.74 million such vehicles were sold last year, surging 36.2 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

In December alone, sales of these vehicles hit 945,000 units, up 47.3 percent year on year and rising 12.1 percent on a monthly basis, the association said.

China also exported around 1.05 million new-energy passenger vehicles in 2023, jumping 72 percent over a year earlier, the data revealed.
Megan Breen at Cardiff Crown Court where she spoke only to deny the charges against her - WALES NEWS SERVICE

A female prison officer has appeared in court accused of having an affair with an inmate while working at two jails in Wales.

Megan Breen allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with the unnamed prisoner while working at HMP Usk and nearby HMP Prescoed.

The 21-year-old was working at the jails between February and May 2022 when she allegedly embarked on an affair with one of the inmates.

HMP Usk in Monmouthshire, Gwent, is a category C mens closed prison for adult male vulnerable inmates, which includes sex offenders and convicted police officers.

Built in the Victorian era, the prison is co-managed alongside HMP Prescoed, which is an open prison situated three miles away. HMP Prescoed houses inmates who are usually coming to the end of their sentences and are being prepared for release.

HMP Usk houses about 280 inmates, while HMP Prescoed has about 230 prisoners.

Miss Breen appeared at Cardiff Crown Court, where she denied one charge of committing misconduct in public office and a further charge of illegally accessing a computer.

Unauthorised access

The first charge stated: While acting as a public officer, namely a prison officer, wilfully and without reasonable excuse or justification misconducted yourself in a way which amounted to an abuse of the publics trust in the office holder by having a relationship with a prisoner.

The second charge was that she had caused a computer to perform a function to secure unauthorised access to a programme or data held within the computer.

Both allegations are said to have taken place between February 2022 and May that year.

Miss Breen spoke only to deny both charges during the brief hearing and the case was adjourned until later this year.

The judge, the Recorder of Cardiff, Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, said the trial would take place at Cardiff Crown Court in November this year.

Misconduct in public office is a serious offence which in the most extreme cases carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Female prison officers have been allowed to work inside male establishments since the early 1980s and there are currently about 15,000 women employed in jails across England and Wales.

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Deputies and firefighters rescued two adults and a small child from a partially submerged vehicle Friday.

The Flagler County Sheriffs Office said a driver drove off the roadway and crashed into a water-filled ditch.

Two deputies who responded to the scene said they found a dazed and bleeding man outside of the vehicle.

Read: Several people injured after Brightline train strikes SUV in Melbourne

The deputies said they noticed a woman and a small child in a car seat still in the car.

Deputies said that they forced their way into the vehicle to rescue the child first. With help from firefighters, they were able to pull the child out.

Read: Alaska Airlines cancels Boeing 737 Max 9 flights after midair incident

The child was handed to the firefighters to be evaluated.

Deputies and firefighters then worked together to rescue the female.

Read: Couple found dead in house with heater reading over 1000 degrees

The Sheriffs Office said that the victims were taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast for treatment.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

See video from a deputys body-worn camera below:

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has forecast that classes at the first underground school in the city's Industrialnyi (Industrial) District will start in March. He had previously promised that the construction of the school would be completed by the new year.

The official noted that the construction is on schedule despite Russian bombardments of the city, frost and bad weather.

"All concrete structures have been installed today, so now we are focusing on water and heat insulation, sewage and water supply systems and ventilation. The contractors promise to keep up the pace so that children can start learning here in March," the mayor said.

By the way, Ihor Terekhov noted in October that the construction of the underground school is planned to be completed by the new year. This project will cost the city budget UAH 58 million [roughly US$1,5 million].

The school in the city's Industrial District will have a capacity of 450 students. The school will have two shifts so that more Kharkiv children can study offline. This means that 900 students can attend the underground school daily.

Terekhov noted that once the first underground school is completed, the construction of the next one in one of the city's central districts will begin.

Background:

Kharkiv schoolchildren currently can study offline only on the premises of six metro stations. As of the beginning of the school year, there were enough classrooms underground for 60 classes.

Children go to school in two shifts. They are taken to the metro station by a school bus that runs on 34 routes. Teachers accompany the children.

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Leaders representing some of the Five Tribes speak during an Oklahoma House hearing in November. They are, from left, Muscogee Nation Second Chief Del Beaver, Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby, Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton, and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.

A group of Oklahoma's largest tribal nations told Gov. Kevin Stitt this week that its members would not join his new public safety task force, saying it was designed to divide rather than unify.

The Five Tribes  Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole nations  sent a letter to Stitt formally opposing the new task force and calling on the state to engage in good faith talks instead. The group of tribal governments criticized the mission and design of the task force, citing the same criticisms that many of the tribes elected leaders had already voiced.

Stitt ordered the task force to study the havoc caused by tribes gaining additional police powers on tribal reservations. Tribal leaders contend the purported chaos doesnt exist.

We are eager to work with our friends and neighbors to improve coordination in public safety efforts, the Five Tribes said in their letter emailed to Stitt Tuesday. What we cannot do is participate in an effort that spreads falsehoods about the law, attempts to minimize tribal voices and engages in political attacks instead of constructive government-to-government dialogue.

More: Five Tribes vote no confidence in Governor Stitt's new liaison for Native affairs

Why tribal leaders have refused to join Gov. Kevin Stitt's task force

In a statement, the governors office said Stitt was making a good faith effort by including tribes in discussions about solutions.

The tribes wanted a seat at the table and to influence the states response to the issue, his spokesperson, Abegail Cave, said. Governor Stitt gave them a seat at the table, and theyve chosen not to participate.

She declined to say who Stitt might appoint instead to the Five Tribes' seat on the 13-member task force. A second seat was reserved for a representative of one of the 33 other federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma. Cave said the task force would also allow additional groups to present upon request.

Share your thoughts: What are your thoughts on the relationship between Oklahoma and tribal governments?

The Five Tribes letter chided the lack of tribal representation on the task force and noted the state had no power to mandate any tribe to defer to another tribe to speak on its behalf.

The letter was signed by the top elected leaders of each of the Five Tribes, including Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby, Choctaw Chief Gary Batton, Muscogee Principal Chief David Hill and Seminole Chief Lewis Johnson.

Hoskin, Anoatubby, Batton and Hill had all previously expressed individual objections to the task force.

The split between Stitt and tribal leaders is not unexpected. They have disagreed for years about the legal standing of tribal reservations in the state, affirmed by a 2020 Supreme Court decision.

More: Flag display outside Oklahoma Capitol honors tribal nations  but leaves some out

Stitt created the task force Dec. 22, ordering it to come up with ways to fix broken criminal justice systems on the reservations. He cited a dispute between Muscogee Nation Lighthorse police and Okmulgee County jail employees as one example.

The first meeting date of the task force has not been announced. It will likely be later in January or early February, the governor's office said.

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Largest Oklahoma tribal nations oppose Gov. Kevin Stitt task force
GOP lawmaker introduces measure that would make it easier for someone accused of homophobia, transphobia, sexism, or racism to bring a defamation action.

A bill introduced by a Florida lawmaker could make it easier for anyone whos the target of a racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia allegation to bring a defamation claim.

On Friday, Republican lawmaker Jason Brodeur introduced a measure stating that an allegation that the plaintiff has discriminated against another person or group because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes defamation per se, The New Republic reported.

Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, has introduced a bill that would make it a crime to accuse someone of homophobia and racism in Florida. (Photo by Phil Sears, AP)

According to TNR, statements published in print, on television, or on social media are included in the bill, which also states that an individual recorded in a widely shared video allegedly participating in discriminatory acts is not a public figure, providing additional legal grounds for litigation.

Defendants facing defamation charges cant cite the plaintiffs scientific or religious convictions as a means of defense in circumstances involving allegations of homophobia or transphobia. A defendant found liable could face a fine of $35,000 or more.

The measure also eliminates several journalistic rights, most notably the ability to keep sources confidential. Claims made by unidentified sources are presumptively false, leaving media covering discrimination open to legal action.

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A successful defamation action must, among other things, demonstrate actual malice. Brodeurs measure would facilitate the process by establishing prerequisites that would lead a fact-finder to presume, upon receiving a discrimination complaint, that actual malice occurred.

The bill is nearly a replica of another filed last year, which ultimately failed in the Judiciary Committee despite passing the Civil Justice Subcommittee. However, the revised version may have a chance since Republicans control the governors mansion, the state legislature, and both chambers.

TNR noted the bill could run afoul of free speech and anti-discrimination laws.

Brodeur has repeatedly attacked the right to free expression, even though he claims he wants to defend it. In 2023, he proposed a measure mandating state registration for compensated bloggers who write about public figures.

More attempts to chill free speech in the free State of Florida, Democratic state Representative Anna Eskamani tweeted of Brodeurs measure, TNR reported.

Never miss a beat: Get our daily stories straight to your inbox with theGrios newsletter.

The post In Florida, accusing someone of racism could soon be seen as defamation appeared first on TheGrio.
Tourists have fun at Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 2, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

China is on track for a bumper travel season, with travel authorities and tourism industry players expecting record-breaking journey numbers during the upcoming Spring Festival, adding new steam to the country's economic recovery.

The Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 10 this year, is China's biggest festival and a day for family reunions. It will serve as an important window for observing vitality and consumer confidence levels in the world's second-largest economy.

With record demand for travel, this year's Spring Festival holiday is poised to become the most vibrant and prosperous in recent years, experts said.

New records

An estimated 80 million passenger trips, a record high, are likely to be handled by China's civil aviation sector during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, which starts on Jan. 26 and ends on March 5, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).



This figure represents a 44.9-percent surge compared with the same period of 2023 and is an increase of 9.8 percent from the level recorded during the Spring Festival travel rush in 2019.

To handle the spike in air travel passenger levels, the country's airlines have planned to add over 2,500 flights during the 40-day period, taking into consideration the likely demand for trips to popular destinations including Southeast Asian countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other neighboring regions, said Liang Nan, a CAAC official.

Liang said the CAAC has urged airlines to intensify efforts to increase international flights, especially those to neighboring regions and countries, and ensure safe operation during the Spring Festival travel surge.

The 2024 Spring Festival is likely to elevate the tourism market to a higher peak, judging from the online booking situation, said Qi Chunguang, vice president of Tuniu, a Chinese online travel services provider.

Qi said some of the company's tourism products designed for the Spring Festival were sold out much earlier than in previous years, with the list including trips to popular destinations in northern European countries.

Concerning domestic travel, he said trips to the country's northeastern regions have become so popular that local tourism reception capacity there has proved almost saturated in recent times. "Such a situation never happened before," he said.

Solid start

The eight-day Spring Festival holiday, which starts on Feb. 10, is the first major holiday after the New Year holiday, which produced a travel boom in China's culture and tourism market, ensuring a solid start for China's economic recovery efforts in 2024.



During the three-day New Year holiday that ended on Jan. 1, a total of 135 million domestic tourist trips were made, up 155.3 percent year on year, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The total revenue of the country's tourism market surpassed 79.73 billion yuan (about 11.22 billion U.S. dollars) over the course of these three days, tripling that of the same holiday period last year and increasing 5.6 percent compared with 2019.

China recorded 5.18 million inbound and outbound trips during the three days, a 4.7-fold increase compared with the figure for the same period a year earlier and returning to the 2019 level, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said 2023 saw China's domestic tourism market recovering rapidly, while in 2024 it will enter a new stage of prosperity.

Dai predicted that total domestic travel will exceed 6 billion visits in 2024 and that domestic tourism revenue is likely to surpass 6 trillion yuan.

He expected the country's inbound and outbound trips to exceed 264 million visits this year, generating combined tourism revenue of 107 billion U.S. dollars.

Qi Chunguang, meanwhile, said China's steady economic recovery in 2024, along with increasing international flights and adjustment of visa policies, will lead to a surge in outbound trips.
In a measure that could have an impact on cities throughout the state, Florida House members took a step forward on Wednesday with a proposal aimed at preventing municipalities from charging customers living outside city limits higher rates for water and sewer services.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

The proposal (HB 777), sponsored by Rep. Robbie Brackett, R-Vero Beach, comes after similar debates last year about municipal utilities, including electric utilities.

Supporters of making changes argue that utility customers who live outside municipal boundaries can face higher costs  without being able to vote for city leaders who set rates and make other utility decisions.

I think to boil this down to what Rep. Brackett is trying to do is to eliminate discrimination between ratepayers who are living inside a municipality and the ones that are not inside the municipality and (are) covered by this same provider of those particular services, Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, said before the House Energy, Communications & Cybersecurity Subcommittee voted 12-3 to approve the bill Wednesday.

But other lawmakers pointed to a series of factors that complicate the issue, including bonds that have been issued to finance water and sewer projects and agreements between cities for providing the services.

As an example, Louis Rotundo, a lobbyist for Altamonte Springs, said the Central Florida city also provides water to Maitland, Winter Park, Eatonville and Longwood. He said the other local governments made decisions that it was cheaper to buy water from Altamonte Springs than to provide the services themselves.

This is a decision that should be left to local governments to work out amongst themselves, Rotundo said.

Under state law, municipalities can reach agreements with other local governments or landowners for providing water and sewer services. They are able to collect surcharges from customers in areas outside the municipal boundaries or can set separate rates, according to a House staff analysis.

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Brackett, a former mayor of Vero Beach, wants to change that so that customers would see the same rates, whether they are inside or outside municipal boundaries.

The House staff analysis said a 2014 study indicated about 250 municipalities provided water service, while about 220 provided sewer service. The study also found that about 140 provided services to customers outside their boundaries.

An underlying issue in the debate about municipal utilities over the past year has been whether people outside municipal boundaries are paying higher rates to subsidize other types of city services. Lawmakers seeking changes have likened the situation to taxation without representation.

But opponents of Bracketts bill raised the possibility Wednesday that requiring all customers to pay the same rates could have the opposite effect  with people in municipalities subsidizing services outside city boundaries.

We dont want to create inequities by trying to fix an inequity, said Rep. Dotie Joseph, a North Miami Democrat who voted against Bracketts bill.

The highest-profile issue last year involving municipal utilities centered on the Gainesville area. Lawmakers created the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority to replace the longstanding Gainesville Regional Utilities agency. Lawmakers gave Gov. Ron DeSantis power to appoint the authoritys board members, after Gainesville Regional Utilities had been under control of the city commission.

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Nicholas Amley helps his brother-in-law sort through rubble and debris for belongings after a tornado ripped through the Florida Caverns RV Resort in Marianna, Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.

Florida residents are picking up the pieces today, and for many days yet to come, after storms rolled through the state Tuesday.

The storms destroyed homes, blew over RVs, blasted walls and roofs off buildings, downed trees and caused multiple power outages.

The National Weather Service will determine whether tornadoes  or straight-line winds  were the cause of the destruction and whether it was one or several tornadoes that hit several areas of the state.

Meanwhile, life returned to normal for students across the state as schools reopened today in all but Jackson County.

Here's what we know as of Wednesday morning.

'Absolute devastation' left behind in Jackson, Bay counties

Heavy structural damage was left behind by a reported tornado in the Lower Grand Lagoon area south of Panama City. Another  if it was a tornado, it may have been the same one  tornado also ripped through the Marianna area, destroying and damaging homes in the Spring Chase neighborhood and wrecking the recently refurbished Florida Caverns RV Resort at Merritts Mill Pond.

Where the tornadoes touched down, there is absolute devastation," said Matt Fuqua, a Marianna attorney who shared photos of the storm damage. By Gods grace, the storm lifted and spared many.

A squall line and intense storms ahead of it appeared to have dealt the heaviest blow to areas just west of Tallahassee. The storms shut down schools, courthouses and government offices across the area.

Marianna, the "City of Southern Charm," is located just south of the Alabama border. The city, which has barely recovered from the widespread devastation of Hurricane Michael in 2018, was hit hard by Tuesday's storms.

National Weather Service survey teams to assess damage, determine whether it was tornadoes

Whether Florida was hit by tornadoes Tuesday  and if so, how many  will be determined by the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee said it plans to send out three survey teams Wednesday and two additional teams Thursday to survey suspected tornado damage.

"The three teams on Wednesday will be surveying suspected tornado damage in Walton, Bay and Jackson counties in Florida.

"The two teams on Thursday will be assessing damage in Houston County, Alabama and Calhoun County, Georgia. Additional assessments in other counties are possible," the office said in a tweet. Surveys will begin between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Central Time.

"Some locations might not be accessible and surveys could take longer. Please be patient with regards to how quick preliminary information gets out as some areas were hit very hard. Our thoughts are with them."

The National Weather Service Jacksonville also will be sending out survey teams today.

One team will be surveying suspected tornado damage in St. Johns and Duval counties. Another will be heading to several counties in Georgia.

Was anyone injured or killed by Tuesday's storms?

Authorities said the storm system caused at least four deaths in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina on Tuesday.

One person was killed and four people were injured in Claremont, North Carolina, when a storm went through Catawba County, damaging multiple homes in a mobile home park, Catawba County spokesperson Amy McCauley told USA TODAY.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state highway in Jonesboro.

An 81-year-old woman died in Cottonwood, Alabama, after an apparent tornado touched down around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd confirmed to USA TODAY. The woman's mobile home was picked up by the storm and "rolled" three to four times, Byrd said.

In Florida, no deaths have been reported but there have been several injuries, including a couple in Escambia County. They were injured when a tree fell on their home in Myrtle Grove.

Gov. DeSantis declares state of emergency for 49 counties

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Tuesday for 49 of Florida's 67 counties  nearly three quarters of the state  even as storms continued to move through the state.

The governor, who returned to Florida to deliver the State of the State address before the start of the 2024 Florida Legislative Session, activated the Florida State Guard on Monday in advance of the storms.

The order allows the state and local governments much more freedom to coordinate their emergency agencies, relax restrictions, cut through red tape and reallocate resources to quickly deal with an imminent or ongoing threat that local services can't handle on their own.

Counties included in the executive order are: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Seminole, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington counties.

How many people don't have power?

As of 6 a.m., 13,178 people were without power in Florida.

Numerous outages have been reported across the Panhandle, from Crestview and Destin to Live Oak.

Another 33 outages have been reported in Duval County.

Among the worst hit was Jackson County, where 3,835 were without power, and Bay County, where 2,409 outages were reported Wednesday morning.

Another 1,045 were without power in Washington County. In Gadsden County, 1,316 were without power.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida tornadoes, storms. Damage, power outages, state of emergency
A school district in Floridas panhandle reportedly pulled multiple dictionaries and reference books off its library shelves for including descriptions of sexual conduct.

Escambia County School District allegedly removed five different dictionaries, eight encyclopedias and the The Guinness Book of World Records from its collection after determining the titles could run afoul of Floridas HB 1069 bill, which restricts sexual content from being taught in schools.

The books were among the 1,600 titles the public school district took out of circulation last summer, according to a statement from free speech advocacy group PEN America.

Decommissioned titles also include biographies of Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Nicki Minaj and Thurgood Marshall.

Though the books were originally pulled during the districts 2023 summer break, the Escambia County School District is now being forced to defend its decision in a federal lawsuit.

PEN America joined students, parents, book publishers and authors in the suit, which argues the district violated their rights to free speech and equal protection under the law with its decision.

In a press release ahead of the cases opening arguments on Wednesday, PEN Americas Florida director Katie Blankenship said, School libraries are not state propaganda centers.

We will not stand by as these critical spaces are undermined by political agendas and censorship, the statement went on.

In a statement to The Messenger, a representative for the Escambia County School District said calling the book removals a ban is inaccurate.

The 1,000+ books they reference have not been banned or removed from the school district, the spokesperson said. Rather, they have simply been pulled for further review to ensure compliance with the new legislation. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous and counterproductive.

Related...
A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying a new astronomical satellite named Einstein Probe (EP) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

China on Tuesday sent a new astronomical satellite into space to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe which flicker like fireworks, trying to reveal more about this violent and little-known side of the cosmos.

The satellite named Einstein Probe (EP), which uses new X-ray detection technology inspired by the functioning of a lobster eye, was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Weighing about 1.45 tonnes and as large as a full-size SUV, the satellite is shaped like a lotus in full bloom and features 12 petals and two stamens.

"This is the most beautiful satellite I've ever seen," said Yuan Weimin, principal investigator of the EP mission and a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The 12 "petals" are actually 12 modules consisting of wide-field X-ray telescopes (WXT), while the two "stamens" consist of two modules of follow-up X-ray telescopes (FXT).

These telescopes form a space observatory which is aimed at helping scientists capture the first light stemming from supernova explosions, search for and pinpoint X-ray signals accompanying gravitational wave events, and discover dormant black holes and other faint transient and variable celestial objects at the far reaches of the universe.

"Since black holes and gravitational waves are predictions made by Einstein's theory of general relativity, the satellite is named after the great scientist," Yuan said.

Scientists mimicked the special structure of the lobster eye in developing WXT, which can simultaneously achieve wide-field observation and X-ray focused imaging.

The WXT can keep an eye on one-twelfth of the entire sky at one glance, according to Ling Zhixing, a WXT instrument scientist.

FXT, developed by an international team led by Chinese scientists, feature high sensitivity and are not only suitable for rapid follow-up observation, but also able to independently discover explosive and transient sources, said Chen Yong, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the CAS, who is responsible for the development of FXT.

When lobster-eye telescopes receive X-ray signals from a transient source, the onboard computer will process the data in real time and pivot the spacecraft to target the celestial body with FXT. FXT will then conduct high-precision follow-up observation. The two telescopes will complement and cooperate with each other, said Zhang Chen, assistant to the EP mission's principal investigator.

The team also developed CMOS sensors for X-ray observation in space, which is an innovative X-ray astronomical detector, Zhang said.
This article was originally published in Missouri Independent.

With more Missouri school districts switching to four-day weeks  including some of the largest  education leaders and state legislators are raising concerns.

Four-day weeks have been an option for Missouri schools since 2011, and now over 30% of the states districts have adopted this shortened week  serving around 11% of the states students. Many of the districts are in rural parts of the state.

Some state lawmakers, concerned with the shortened schedule, are pushing bills to reign in the practice. And on Tuesday, the State Board of Education was originally scheduled to review a study on the four-day school week, though that has been delayed due to possible inclement weather.

The study concludes that, overall, the four-day schedule had no statistically significant effect on either academic achievement or building growth. Academic achievement looks at one year of scores whereas building growth compares students scores over time.

Schools that adopted a four-day school week both before and after the pandemic were included in the study. Data is limited on recent adopters like the Independence School District, which made the switch this year, but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is seeing trends.

Districts that switched before the pandemic were more likely to be rural, whereas districts embracing four-day weeks now are likely to be in towns, have multiracial populations and have more foster students, according to the report.

Jon Turner, an associate professor at Missouri State University who researches the four-day school week, was not surprised that the department found little to no effect on academic achievement.

It is pretty consistent nationwide, he told The Independent. As you protect instructional hours, there is a minimal if any negative academic impact.

The research he has studied has shown that the four-day week does not diminish academics so long as the instructional hours remain constant. Currently, state law requires 1,044 hours in school.

Legislation

Three bills have already been filed this legislative session that focus on the length of school weeks, coming from both sides of the aisle.

Sen. Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat, got an amendment approved in the Senate last year that would have required a local vote to authorize a four-day school week. This year, Beck has a bill that would allow towns with fewer than 30,000 residents to adopt a four-day school week by a vote of the school board, as is law now, but larger cities would have to seek voter approval.

Ive talked to my colleagues, and they said in the rural area, they didnt want to have the five-day part, Beck told The Independent. This would still allow them to do that. But if youre in (larger areas), you still could go four days. You just have to get the vote of the people.

Republican Rep. Aaron McMullen and Democratic Rep. Robert Sauls  both from Independence, where the school district made headlines with its switch to a four-day week  filed similar bills.

McMullen is worried for the families in his city coordinating daycare and other services with an extra day off.

My main concern is the economic impact that it has on the city, he told The Independent. Essentially, were giving less services but still charging the same amount of tax.

Turner said that while there is not a negative academic outcome, the effect on families varies situationally. Schools providing special education are required to keep the hours of intervention specified in students individualized learning plan, which is a document that outlines accommodations and goals. But some students receiving these services may miss the fifth day.

I do believe that we should get involved, McMullen said. But we should be able to give the ability for people to actually have the final say on it. Were trying to empower the people that live in the school district to have the final say on whether or not they should go to four days.

McMullens bill mirrors Becks by only requiring a public vote in larger localities.

But Becks and Sauls bills would provide incentives for districts that choose a five-day week. Districts with at least 175 school days can choose their school years start date, an option not available since the 2020-21 school year.

Their legislation also calls for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to pay districts with at least 169 school days a two percent bonus, calculated by the previous years state aid, to go toward boosting teacher salaries.

Beck said this provision gets to the heart of the issue: Recruiting and retaining teachers.

The main reason why we have school districts going four days is not because of children learning better or any study that theyve done, he said. The original thing was they couldnt keep teachers, and this was to bring teachers in.

When the Independence School District announced its switch, Superintendent Dale Herl said in an introductory video that the four-day week was to maintain a workforce.

The cause

Turner, who also serves on the board of the Missouri Association of Rural Education, told The Independent the four-day week is born from the educator hiring struggles Missouri districts are facing, particularly in rural areas.

Never when I met any of those superintendents when I said, Why did you do this? Not one said we wanted to do this. This was a part of a bigger vision, he said. This is a symptom of what schools are having to do to keep educators in classrooms teaching.

In December, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education told the state board that nearly a quarter of student teachers are the teacher of record for their classroom  meaning the class doesnt have a certified teacher overseeing that student.

Turner said salaries for experienced teachers can vary greatly within a 30-mile radius, incentivizing educators to drive out of their rural town of residence and teach where they are better compensated.

To compete, the rural districts can utilize a four-day school week as an incentive for their workforce to stay.

Youve got wealthier, typically suburban, larger school districts that are able to out-compete in the job marketplace for your applicants, so you have this constant turnover in the small rural schools, Turner said. Thats what this four-day week is showing is that it is really the only arrow that rural school districts have in their quiver to fight the higher paying salaries.

School districts on Missouris border face competition across state lines, Turner said. Arkansas increased its minimum teacher salary to $50,000 beginning last July.

Missouri lawmakers have proposed hikes to teacher wages and other benefits, though few passed last year.

McMullen, though he didnt include the teacher-wage incentive in his bill, said he is in favor of increasing teacher pay.

We need to allocate more money to public schools but have that actually go to teacher salaries and not to administration, he said.

Beck hopes the legislature will discuss issues like teacher wages, like a bill that would increase the base teacher salary. He thinks there is enough interest to get the legislation through, though it may have to be an amendment to a larger bill.

I truly have some really good bipartisan support on this bill, maybe more on the Republican side, he said.

McMullen feels similarly, saying it is difficult to pass a standalone bill through the Senate.

We have a very, very good chance of getting this bill and some aspects passed this year.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.
An assassination of a Hamas leader at his home in Beirut. The worst bombings in Iran in decades. A series of brazen attacks on shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.

More than three months after the Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza, the fighting and conflict is reverberating beyond the tiny strip of land that Israelis and Palestinians have been sparring over for decades.

The bloodshed has spread across the Middle East, sparking fears it could metastasize into a wider regional conflict  with complicated implications for the U.S. and its Western allies.

"The Middle East is in the throes of unprecedented levels of tension, unparalleled in recent memory," wrote Mona Yacoubian, an expert on the region at United States Institute of Peace, in a recent commentary.

Here are four of the biggest flashpoints unfolding in the region right now that could spark a wider and more complex Middle East war.

Live updates: Israel has 'failed to achieve' any goals of Gaza invasion, Hamas leader says

Who are the Houthis, and why are they attacking ships in the Red Sea?

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, an Iranian-backed group of militants known as the Houthis have fired a cascade of missiles and drones into the Red Sea. They claim it is an act of solidarity with the Palestinians, a retaliation for Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

One of the largest of these attacks came on Tuesday night: Houthi militants launched 18 drones and three missiles toward ships in the Red Sea. The attack was repelled by U.S. and British naval ships, but the incident raises the stakes about the role of key allies in the region.

The Houthis are a rebel group from Yemen, supported by Israel's arch-foe Iran, who are on one side of that country's long-running civil war. The other side is backed by Saudi Arabia.

These attacks have brought maritime traffic through this key waterway  with its busy shipping lanes  to a virtual halt. They have also bought U.S. Navy ships perilously close to the line of fire. Last week, a Houthi drone exploded a few miles from U.S. Navy and commercial ships without causing casualties or damage, according to Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. And U.S. Navy helicopters also recently sank three boats piloted by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, killing the crews.

So far, the Pentagon hasn't struck at the source of attacks  Houthi arsenals and launch sites  as it has in Iraq and Syria, where Iranian-backed militias have fired missiles and drones at bases with U.S. troops more than 60 times, occasionally wounding American personnel.

The Pentagon appears reluctant to attack inside Yemen for fear of unraveling a fragile cease-fire in the country's civil war, in which thousands have died in the fighting  and millions more have faced deprivation and famine. A Shiite movement, the Houthis have been fighting Yemens Sunni-majority government since 2004.

Cooper said five U.S. warships patrolling the Red Sea have fended off 61 attacks in the past few months. There are also manned and drone spy planes providing surveillance.

U.S. bases in Middle East under attack

The Houthi attacks are part of a growing list of Iranian-backed assaults across the Middle East on U.S. and Western interests. They predate the Israel-Hamas war  but have intensified in the wake of it and threaten to further entangle the Pentagon in the war in Gaza.

Over the past three months, militants groups backed by Iran in Iraq and Syria have been increasing their targeting of U.S. military bases, where about 3,000 American troops and contractors are stationed.

These attacks have injured U.S. soldiers. In October, a drone struck a U.S. base in Iraq but did not detonate, narrowly avoiding what may have resulted in major U.S. casualties, according to a report.

Exclusive: Maps show U.S. counterterrorism efforts across globe, spanning 78 countries

The U.S. retaliated on Jan. 4 with a drone attack in Baghdad that killed Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, also known as Abu-Taqwa. A high-ranking militia commander, Abu-Taqwa had been involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters.

The strike also killed one other member of Harakat al-Nujaba, Abu-Taqwa's organization, which was designated a terrorist organization by Washington in 2019.

"By targeting a militia leader directly, the U.S. military likely hopes to restore deterrence without triggering a larger escalation," Yacoubian wrote in her commentary.

The Hezbollah factor

The top U.S. diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was on a swing through Turkey and the Middle East this week, including stops in Israel and the West Bank. His trip was aimed at making sure the Israel-Hamas war does not spread.

Just as he was setting off for his trip, Lebanons Iran-backed Hezbollah militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel. Hezbollah said the attack was in retaliation for a presumed Israeli strike in Beirut last week that killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official, and six other people, and for a drone strike by Israel on Monday that killed Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, a senior member of the group.

Top Hamas leader: Saleh al-Arouri killed in apparent Israeli strike

Hezbollah has, since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, regularly fired on Israel's forces, but it has stopped short of launching a major military campaign against Israel.

Israel's military leaders have recently signaled they are running out of patience with Hezbollah and may soon launch a military offensive against the U.S.-designated terror group in Lebanon.

"We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement, but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over," Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Jan. 5.

ISIS attacks Iran, and Israel gets the blame

The Islamic State terrorist group on Jan. 4 claimed responsibility for twin blasts in the Iranian city of Kerman near the burial site of revered Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani that killed almost 100 people.

The attacks were the deadliest in Iran for decades.

The Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim organization that opposes Iran's Shiite-majority theocratic government, has claimed responsibility for earlier attacks on Iranian targets.

But in the initial fog of uncertainty surrounding the blasts, some Iranian officials appeared to point the finger at Israel, stoking fears that the war in Gaza was expanding to a new front.

"The war has already reached much of the Middle East,'' said Paul Salem, an expert at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, in an analysis. ''The risk is that the aperture and intensity of conflict will steadily ratchet up in the coming weeks and months unless there is sharp progress to reverse course.''

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four flashpoints in Israel-Hamas conflict that could spark wider war
Voters in Bald Head Island will have the opportunity to decide whether general obligation bonds will be used to fund a beach improvement project. A bond referendum will be on the March primary ballot.

Another beach improvement project has been proposed on Bald Head Island.

But unlike the ones in 2021 and 2023, this one could have property owners digging deeper into their own pockets.

Heres what you need to know about the proposal.

Bald Head Island has been combating beach erosion for decades.

Currently, the village of Bald Head Island, Caswell Beach, and Oak Island all receive sand through the Wilmington Harbor Sand Management Plan. According to that plan, the Army Corps of Engineers allocates sand to the three municipalities on a rotating basis as it maintains the shipping channel.

The village of Bald Head Island received sand from the last two channel maintenance cycles, with about 1.5 million cubic yards pumped onto its public beaches in 2021 and 1 million cubic yards in 2023.

Bald Head Island performed its own shoreline projects in 2010, 2016, and 2018 to fill the gap and mitigate erosion caused by storms and ship traffic.

Another beach improvement project is needed in 2025.

The village monitors 14 miles of shoreline, including East Beach, South Beach, West Beach, and Row Boat Row and performs assessments of the beaches and shoreline stabilization structures. The beach uses Olsen and Associates, an engineering firm out of Jacksonville, Florida, for its coastal engineering needs. Based on assessments, including 3-D modeling, Olsen and Associates recommended doing a village-funded beach improvement project in the years it does not receive sand from the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers. The next one is planned for 2025 and will be named the 2025 Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project.

More news from Bald Head Island: Furious over legal fees, Bald Head Island residents point to bigger issues than ferry sale

The project is estimated to cost $18 million.

The proposed funding mechanism for this is through general obligation bonds. In an email, Carin Faulkner, spokeswoman for the village of Bald Head Island, explained that while $18 million is the projected cost, there is some wiggle room should bids come in higher. Faulkner explained there is an extra $2.2 million from a previous bond referendum that was never borrowed and could be used.

If the bids come in lower, of course, the village will not need to borrow the full $18 million, and any amount left over could be used for the same purpose at a later time (like the $2.2 million), she said in the email.

Bald Head Island did request $4.5 million in federal funding to assist with the project but has not yet heard if it will receive those funds.

The last information we had was that it could be passed by either the January 19 or February 2nd continuing resolution deadlines, Faulkner said.

Should it receive the federal funding, Bald Head Island would reduce the amount it needs to borrow for the 2025 project.

The referendum will be on the March 5, 2024 primary ballot.

Bond referendums have passed and funded beach improvement projects in 2010, 2016, and 2018. All but the 2018 project have been paid in full. The village will finish paying off the general-obligation bond debt from the 2018 shoreline project in October 2025.

STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the areas latest Brunswick County news by signing up for the Brunswick Today newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Voters in one Brunswick town consider bond referendum in March primary
Leave Taylor Swift alone.

I know the pop superstar isnt technically a resident of Kansas or Missouri, but cmon. Weve all heard about her dating life. Ad nauseum. Its very Kansas City-centric these days! Folks in this region are thrilled  and they seem to have claimed Swift as one of their own. Shes a guest here. We feel a bit protective of her.

Well, now she needs some protection.

Because Swifts popularity apparently is too much for Fox News conservatives. The network on Tuesday night ran a segment on the Jesse Watters Primetime show featuring a former FBI agent named Stuart Kaplan.

Who bizarrely suggested that Swift might be a Pentagon psyop  as in, a psychological operation on the public conducted by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Why? Because she encouraged her millions of followers to vote.

No really.

When she posted the link to Vote.org, hundreds of thousands of Taylor Swift fans all of the sudden registered to vote, Watters chuckled, and then added darkly: I wonder who got to her, from the White House or from whatever?

Now it is possible that Taylor Swift doesnt realize she is being used in a covert manner to swing voters, Kaplan responded.

Cmon.

Where I grew up, encouraging people to vote was simply good civics.

Now? Its the stuff of feverish conspiracy theories.

Only the fringe stuff is now a message embraced and amplified by the semi-official cable network of the Republican Party  folks who apparently cant stand that a powerful and accomplished woman is using her influence to help her fans become good citizens. Its nuts, and its wrong.

So the following message bears repeating, especially because it sure seems that same network has a lot of fans in the deep red states of Kansas, Missouri and elsewhere:

Fox News is not in the business of telling you the truth.

Thats been obvious for years, but the truth became inescapable last year when the election machine company Dominion Voting Systems turned up behind-the-scenes emails and texts showing that Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and now-fired Tucker Carlson knew that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

Did they tell their viewers? Not exactly. Instead, they entertained  and even promoted  false and deranged conspiracy theories suggesting Trump had actually won.

Why? Not because they liked Trump. I hate him passionately, Carlson wrote in one text.

No, the problem was that a Trump loss was bad for business, with right-wing viewers fleeing to even more extreme networks like Newsmax that were happy to traffic in nonsense after Fox called the election for Joe Biden. On-air comments that reflected reality were measurably hurting the company, Carlson wrote in another missive. The stock price is down. Not a joke.

Fox News paid for its falsehoods, a record $787 million settlement to make Dominions defamation charges go away.

Youve probably heard all this. But the recent history is worth remembering  we forget so easily  when the network pops up with yet another deranged theory.

Watters, in fact, barely bothered to pretend he was telling his viewers the truth on Tuesday night.

So is Swift a front for a covert political agenda? Primetime obviously has no evidence  if we did, wed share it, he told his audience. But were curious. Because the pop star who endorsed Biden is urging millions of her followers to vote.

Its the old just asking questions routine.

Thats not journalism, though. Real journalists try to find out if their questions have answers before they put allegations before a national audience. They dont ask leading questions in prime time and then shrug at the lack of evidence.

Its how propagandists and hucksters work, though.

Truth is, Taylor Swift can probably take care of herself. Shes rich and famous and has a rich and famous boyfriend. We should all be so lucky.

But if you do want to protect her, if you do think shes a guest here in the Kansas-Missouri region, then do yourself a favor.

Stop giving folks like Jesse Watters your eyes, your ears and your attention. Leave Fox News alone.

Joel Mathis is a regular Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star Opinion correspondent. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife and son. Formerly a writer and editor at Kansas newspapers, he served nine years as a syndicated columnist.
While many families were busy with Christmas and New Years Eve celebrations, Fox News was preparing to present three back-to-back town halls in Des Moines with Republican presidential primary candidates.

The town halls, which began with former U.N Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday, all took place at the Iowa Events Center.

A town hall for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was held Tuesday and the final town hall is set for tonight with former President Donald Trump at 8 p.m. Iowa time  the same time CNN airs a live, televised debate between Haley and DeSantis. The town halls are moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, both hosts on Fox News programming.

Behind the scenes of the Fox News town hall at the Iowa Events Center on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Des Moines.

Getting the set, lighting and camera equipment to the Iowa Events Center were just some of the tasks that took place over the course of the holidays.

The Des Moines Register visited the Iowa Events Center on Tuesday afternoon, the same day as DeSantis town hall, to take a peek at the set and learn what it takes to produce the televised event.

More: Everything about the Iowa Caucuses that you should know

The set was quiet save for the recurrent sounds that seemed straight out of a futuristic sci-fi flick but actually were of cameras synching, Scott Wilder, executive vice president of productions and operations, explained.

Day of a town hall is fairly calm, Wilder said, in part because its largely set up by then. Also, a town hall had already been crossed off Fox News list at the time of the Registers visit.

Seats, about 200 of them, were arranged in rows for the live audience. Cameras were set up near the stage, though dont anticipate seeing any podiums. This isnt a debate.

But by the time it is 6 p.m., the time DeSantis' town hall was to start, the room will have long stopped being quiet.

Audiences will be seated. The presidential candidate, in this case, DeSantis, will have arrived about an hour before the programming.

Then, the questions begin.

Here are three things you may not know about Fox News town halls in Des Moines ahead of Trumps town hall.

More: Drake University will take center stage with this week's CNN Republican presidential debate

How should a moderator approach their role for a town hall? Martha MacCallum has an answer.

Bret and I are there to facilitate the conversation, MacCallum said. To give the audience of voters an opportunity to ask a question to the candidate. And then to follow up when there's a need to follow up because our job is to do our research, to be ready to sort of pin down an answer or to challenge an answer where that's required. And make sure that we are providing that balance and that background that might be needed to follow up that question or to get it to the next stage of depth in terms of what's true, what's not true.

The star of the show

is the set.

Of course, its not really the star of the show, Wilder clarified after the joke.

Viewers might recognize the set, previously used for Republican presidential primary debates held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Simi Valley, California, last year, he said.

Behind the scenes of the Fox News town hall at the Iowa Events Center on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Des Moines.

The archway spans 60 feet across the stage floor, which is naturally gray in color but reflective of the ambient light, producing a shine. At the center of the stage floor is a large image of the presidential seal (and where MacCallum, Baier and the presidential primary candidate will sit). A video wall adorns the back of the stage, creating one large, seamless display.

The sets design allows crews to position a camera facing the audience  or in the case of a debate, where the moderators would be seated to face the candidates  so that its not awkwardly in the background, Wilder said.

Rehearsals include lighting and audio, and for good reason

In a debate, candidates are likely behind a podium. In a town hall, a candidate might move around the stage to engage with the audience.

Wilder said they can give candidates guidance on where lighting falls best, but they also want candidates to be comfortable.

(The advice is to stay within the seal on the stage floor.)

Staff members set up cameras for the Fox News town hall at the Iowa Events Center on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Des Moines.

Ensuring candidates can hear questions and the audience can too is important, but so is the audio for people tuning into the town hall across America.

We worry about program audio, Wilder said of a rehearsal. That's the audio that the audience at home watching on TV hears. That's the most important thing, right?

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at PBarraza@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Fox planned 3 GOP presidential candidate town halls in Des Moines
No, no, NO. No Benoit Jacquot, Judith Godreche wrote on Instagram on Saturday, lambasting the French film director. Then, describing herself in the third person, she wrote: It didnt excite her.

And so the actress, 51, reignited a culture war in France about sexual impropriety that has divided the country along generational lines.

She was responding to an old interview Jacquot had given, in which he had talked about his six-year affair with Godreche, which began when he was 40 and she was 15.

It was a transgression  in the eyes of the law, he said in the documentary made in 2011, which has resurfaced online. In theory, I didnt have the right. But  I didnt give a damn  and her, it excited her a lot, Id say.

Having previously alluded to the relationship in the late Eighties and Nineties, but not named Jacquot, Godreche decided to speak out to help stop others idealising such situations.

The comments came not long after an interview she gave to Elle magazine in which she said that the cinematographic power of a teenager is boundless, but you can make sublime films without sleeping with your underage actress. For me, it becomes a perversion.

The row has added another dimension to a debate that in recent months has centred on the ample form of Gerard Depardieu. Given Depardieus outsized presence in French culture, it is no surprise that the actor has become a fleshy lightning rod for the nations anxieties around #metoo.

Gerard Depardieu

Accusations of sexual misconduct and rape have swirled around the 75-year-old star for years, but they have mostly been dismissed as the excesses of a man whose Rabelaisian appetites and sensuality have also been the source of so much great art.

A rift has emerged between the young, raised on social justice and social media, who think Depardieu is unconscionable, and the older generation who cant see what all the fuss is about.

As Depardieu wrote in an article for Le Figaro in October, defending himself: All my life Ive been provocative, over the top, sometimes offensive. I often did what nobody else dared: tested limits, upended convictions and habits and, on set in between takes, in between tensions, laughed and made others laugh.

At long last, however, it seems his motherland  although he is a tax exile these days  has ceased to see the funny side. The Figaro editorial was a response to accusations of sexual impropriety against Depardieu by more than a dozen women. The newspaper Le Monde had run a six-part editorial, Le Cas Depardieu, laying out the actors insalubrious past. Most seriously, in 2020 he was charged with raping the actor Charlotte Arnould, the daughter of one of his friends.

A month later, a documentary aired on French television which further turned the screw. Depardieu: The Fall of an Ogre included previously unseen footage of a trip to North Korea in 2018, in which the actor sexually harrasses his translator, makes obscene comments to women, and even a sexual comment about a child. Within weeks his films  which include classics like Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card  had been removed from Swiss television, while French networks cancelled future projects. The minister for culture mooted removing his Legion dHonneur. His wax likeness was even removed from the Musee Grevin, presumably freeing up room for two or three others.

The layering of sexism and racism in that documentary spoke volumes about Frances patriarchal and colonial gaze, says Alice Pfeiffer, a writer and author of Je Ne Suis Pas un Parisenne, a book about the sexism in French representations of women.

Social media has set new standards and discussions, where ingrained French biases were suddenly made evident. In France, terms such as crime of passion are still invoked in court, and Picasso is still seen as a genius. The mythology of the passionate artist, whose sex crimes are simply collateral damage or part of the character, still runs strong.

As if to prove the point, Yannis Ezziadi, a Right-wing writer, put together a letter signed by 56 notables, including Charlotte Rampling, condemning the attacks on Depardieu. Gerard Depardieu is probably the greatest of all actors, it said. When you attack Gerard Depardieu like this, it is art you are attacking. By his genius as an actor, Gerard Depardieu contributes to the artistic brilliance of our country.

Yannis Ezziadi - Guillaume Bonnet / AFP

Even President Macron weighed in, claiming Depardieu had been the victim of a manhunt.

In reaction, hundreds of artists, many of them young, signed a counter-letter, accusing Rampling & Co of spitting on the victims of sexual violence.

Im not surprised to see Macron defending Depardieu, says Pfeiffer. Because culture and sexism are so tied together, and are central to the French culture he promotes. Older generations think wokeness is out of hand. They disagree with the accusations. Their chant is on peut plus rien dire  we cant say anything more.

For Anne-Elizabeth Moutet, a writer and journalist, Macrons comments were a distraction from more pressing political concerns. That was a dead-cat move by Macron, she says. It was planned cynically so that the immigration law fiasco would disappear.

Whatever the truth of the presidents intervention, the debate is the latest skirmish in a long war. The #metoo moment has never come naturally to France. When sexual harassment claims against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein first emerged in 2017, American women  celebrity and civilian  were quick to share their own experiences, in the press and on social media. Britain followed soon after, along with the rest of the Anglosphere.

The French have always had a lighter hand on the tiller when it comes to matters of love and lust. This is the country of the cinq-a-sept, the early evening window when you see your mistress, and where politicians approval ratings rise, rather than fall, with the revelation of extramarital affairs.

Consequently, what was presented to Anglo-Saxons as an urgent corrective was more of a matter for debate in France. Sandra Muller, a French journalist, took up the fight, under the banner #balancetonporc, which literally means expose your pig. But in January 2018, the actress Catherine Deneuve led a group of 100 celebrated French women who signed a letter accusing the campaigners of intolerance and censorship. [R]ape is a crime, the letter said, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not, nor is being gentlemanly a macho attack.

French actress Catherine Deneuve, right, with Bonne Pomme co-star Gerard Depardieu - YOHAN BONNET/AFP/Getty Images

While it might speak to national stereotypes of licentiousness and antiquated gender roles, the evidence is that this view is increasingly in the minority in France. In 2020, the publisher Vanessa Springora published Le Consentement, a bestseller in which she detailed her sexual abuse at the hands of the celebrated author Gabriel Matzneff, which began when he was 49 and she was 14. The fallout led directly to a change in the law in 2021, which codified sex with an under-15 by an adult as rape. Previously it had only been rape if there was evidence of coercion.

In many other respects, France is more progressive than the US and Britain. Studies show the country has the highest percentage of women in the workforce in the world. There is free universal childcare from the age of three. But sexual and domestic violence are ongoing problems. Official figures say there are 94,000 rapes or attempted rapes reported each year, compared to fewer than 70,000 in the UK.

Justifying his affair with Godreche, Jacquot said he was encouraged by the world he moved in. The fact is that cinema  was a sort of cover  for practices of that kind, he said. And at the same time, in the cinema world you feel a certain respect or a certain admiration [because] others would like to do the same thing.

The furore over Godreches comments shows that even if traces of these sympathies linger, they will not for much longer. Or if they do, those who hold them will keep their views to themselves. Even in France.

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.
By Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron and his new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal worked on Wednesday to pull together a cabinet, a day after Macron appointed the 34-year-old media-savvy loyalist to breathe new life into his second term.

Attal has promised to be bold and fast to help the middle class weather the rising cost of living, signalling a desire by Macron to move beyond divisive reforms and improve his centrist party's chances in European Parliament elections in June.

Little has leaked on the formation of the new cabinet, though Gerald Darmanin told French media he was confident he would stay on as interior minister. He is in charge, among other issues, of security for this summer's Paris Olympics.

Attal and Darmanin were scheduled to visit a town in the Paris region later on Wednesday, French media said.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who has been in his job for seven years - rare stability in that role by French standards - also seemed keen to stay on and unveiled his plans at the ministry for the whole year in a speech on Monday.

A source in regular contact with both Le Maire and Macron said he expected the former to remain in the post. "For the president, it's a guarantee there will be no hiccups."

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Attal's office told Reuters Emmanuel Moulin, a close ally of Macron's powerful chief of staff Alexis Kohler, would become the prime minister's chief of staff, in a sign the president may keep a close eye on his premier, as he has for predecessors.

The reshuffle is likely to intensify the race in Macron's camp to succeed him in the next presidential election in 2027, with former prime minister Edouard Philippe, Darmanin and Le Maire all seen as potential candidates - alongside fast-rising Attal.

French commentators said Attal's ambitious and more senior cabinet colleagues could give him a hard time. But the surprise choice suggests the president was keen to promote a "Macron generation" of thirtysomethings, a palace official said.

It was unclear when the new government team would be appointed, with Senate president Gerard Larcher telling TF1 TV that Attal told him it could be done around the end of the week.

Widespread public discontent over surging living costs and last year's contested pension reform have seriously hit Macron's ratings, and his chances in the EU ballot, where his party trails badly behind Marine Le Pen's far-right.

Attal has polled as one of France's most popular politicians in recent months. A Macron loyalist, he became a household name as government spokesperson during the COVID pandemic and earned a reputation as a smooth communicator.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, Dominique Vidalon, Bertrand Boucey, Zhifan Liu, writing by Ingrid Melander and Michel Rose, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
You are here: China

China witnessed a 4.8-percent decline in criminal cases in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Public security agencies across China dismantled over 1,900 criminal organizations and cracked around 29,000 criminal cases in 2023, the ministry said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Regarding telecom and online fraud activities based in northern Myanmar and affecting Chinese citizens, Chinese police carried out multiple rounds of crackdowns in collaboration with Myanmarese counterparts, with around 41,000 suspects transferred from Myanmar to Chinese custody, according to the ministry.

Chinese police maintained a tough stance on crimes related to food and drug security throughout the past year, with around 19,000 such cases solved and 28,000 suspects arrested, the ministry said.
(FOX40.COM)  A hit-and-run incident on Freeport Boulevard between Irvin Way and Wentworth Ave caused the roads to be closed in both directions for several hours, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, officers said they responded to reports of a vehicle and pedestrian collision in the area of Freeport Boulevard and Potrero Way.

Officials said the vehicle involved fled the scene prior to police arrival. The pedestrian was taken to a local hospital in an unknown condition.

Sacramento PD advised travelers to use alternate routes for nearly five hours. Around 10:45 p.m. officials said the road was reopened.



For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.
This week's cold snap will mean better conditions at the Canada Olympic Park's ski and snowboard hill. The hill is closed through Friday giving crews a chance to step up snowmaking operations. (Submitted by WinSport - image credit)

Today is expected to be one of the chilliest days so far this winter, but meteorologists say Calgary will plunge even deeper into extreme cold this week.

Temperatures are expected to drop as low as 37 C on Friday, per Environment Canada forecasts, before the cold snap starts lifting.

The chill is so severe, it's threatening to break recent weather records.

"We usually get cold snaps like this [in] January and February in Alberta, but this cold hasn't happened in about 20 years," said Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Pederson.

Friday's projected daytime high is 31 C. The last daytime high below 30 C happened on Jan. 27, 2004.

Wind chills in the mid 40s are expected in Calgary on Friday or Saturday morning, said Pederson, and wind-prone areas around the city could see wind chills reach -50.

Wind chill is an approximate measure of how cold it feels during chilly, windy weather. The figures are based on the effects of wind velocity and low temperature on skin.

"You can get frostbite in under a minute with wind chills that cold," said Pederson.

"Wear appropriate clothing, cover up all skin if possible, dress in layers."

Pederson said tumbling temperatures are caused by an Arctic ridge of high pressure pushing polar air from the Northwest Territories into Alberta.

For those who need support to get out of the cold, 425 warming spaces are open at various locations, according to the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

The CHA also says shelters have enough capacity to manage an uptick in demand for beds.

Fridays forecasted daytime high of -31 C would the coldest daily high in Calgary in the last twenty years.

Fridays forecasted daytime high of 31 C would be the coldest daily high in Calgary in the last 20 years. (Helen Pike/CBC)

Expect longer service wait times, says AMA

The Alberta Motor Association said calls about dead batteries can spike by six times in extreme cold.

A huge volume of requests means roadside assistance wait times will also increase.

AMA chief instructor Mark Pasternak recommends drivers consider using synthetic oil, plug in their cars two to three hours before starting the engine, and prepare for worst-case scenarios.

"Have the extra gloves and coats and snow pants and some fresh socks and things just in case you have to put them on," he said.

"If you have an emergency kit, it's ideal because if something did really go wrong, at least you have something there to help support you."

Pasternak also said braving the cold to clean off your vehicle thoroughly is an important part of safe driving during extreme winter conditions.

He said people who can't reach an operator on the AMA's direct phone line can request help through the AMA website or app.

Ski hill closes for safety reasons

The cold has forced WinSport to close the Canada Olympic Park ski and snowboard hill through Friday.

Cancelled field trips this week were a sign to press pause, said communications manager Dale Oviatt.

"If the school groups decide they're not coming, you know, that's a big part of our business," he said.

"They have a lower threshold  [but] if they cancel, we use that as one of the measuring sticks."

But a few days without skiers isn't all bad news for the park.

"We were a little bit behind on our snowmaking and what this does is allow our snowmaking operations to make snow 24/7," said Oviatt.

"If it's 20 C to 25 C, we can make more snow in a shorter period."

WinSport will decide on Thursday if it's safe to reopen the hill for the weekend.

Temperatures could climb back to a high of 7 C on Monday, according to Environment Canada.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)  Were all about options  and whether youre looking for something gluten-free, low-carb, zero sugar, keto-friendly or even just all-natural, the Eat Fit King Cake is an effortless option for Carnival indulgence.

Centered on an all-natural clean ingredient label, the Eat Fit King Cake has just three grams net carbs per serving. Its also gluten free, grain free and dairy free. Think of these cute little cakes as something along the lines of King-Cake-Meets-Pound-Cake!

Ingredients include cage free eggs, non-GMO almond flour, coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil, erythritol, vegetable-based food coloring.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 110 calories, 3 grams net carbs, 2 grams fiber, 0 sugar, 3 grams protein

Visit EatFitKingCake.com for full details, as well as a list of retailers in your region. The Eat Fit King Cake is also available online directly from Unrefined Bakery, offering two-day shipping nationwide. Local retailers include:

New Orleans Area Retailers:

Robert Fresh Market (4 locations)

Breaux Mart (all locations)

Whole Foods Market (3 locations)

King Cake Hub

Ochsner Health

PJs Coffee (select locations)

Home Malone (2 locations)

Lakeview Grocery

FUEL Cafe + Market at Ochsner Fitness Center  Harahan

Recipe: DIY Eat Fit King Cake Sprinkles!

1/3 cup Swerve, Granular

Natural food coloring (yellow, green, red, and blue)

Divide 1/3 cup granulated Swerve, Granular across three small bowls. Add several drops yellow food coloring to one bowl and mix with a fork until completely yellow. Repeat with green and purple (equal parts red and blue).

MORE! Eat Fit King Cake Recipes featured on WGNO | by Ben McLauchlin

Eat Fit King Cake Monkey Bread

Eat Fit King Cake Hot Cocoa Bomb

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FUELED Wellness + Nutrition is powered by evamor. Learn more at evamor.com.

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Molly Kimball, RD, CSSD is a registered dietitian + nutrition journalist in New Orleans, and founder of Ochsner Eat Fit nonprofit restaurant initiative. Tune in to her podcast, FUELED | Wellness + Nutrition and follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @MollyKimballRD. See more of Mollys articles + TV segments at www.mollykimball.com, and sign up for Eat Fit Wellness Bites weekly newsletter, here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGNO.
(Bloomberg) -- Polish police arrested two former ruling party officials who were holed up at the presidential palace as a constitutional crisis escalated three months after a pro-European party won power in pivotal parliamentary elections.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The unprecedented development comes as Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose pro-European Union alliance won power in Octobers ballot, tries to reverse years of democratic backsliding, which have led to the suspension of nearly 60 billion ($65 billion) in EU aid.

The arrests at the presidential palace late on Tuesday, are likely to open a fresh conflict between the government and President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the former populist administration, who has veto powers over legislation. Tusk needs his consent to quickly reverse contested changes in the judiciary and access blocked funds.

Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik were granted shelter by Duda on Tuesday, in contravention of a court order to send the former interior minister and his deputy to prison for abuse of power. The head of Dudas office, Grazyna Ignaczak-Bandych, said the president wasnt at the palace at the time of the arrests and called the police operation an unlawful entry.

Among the tensions, parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia postponed this weeks parliamentary sitting, saying that Poland was engulfed in a deep constitutional crisis with the opposition Law & Justice party opting to respect a different legal order than the government. Lawmakers have until the end of January to adopt 2024 budget. If they dont, the president will have the right to dissolve parliament.

Tusk, a former European Council president, is trying to unpick the legacy of Law & Justices eight years in power. The party stacked state institutions with loyalists and turned state television into a propaganda tool. Last month, the government put the public broadcaster into liquidation sparking protests and sit-ins by Law & Justice lawmakers.

The opposition party has called its supporters to join a march in Warsaw on Thursday in support of democracy, free media and the freedom of speech.

Kaminski and Wasik are contesting last weeks decision by Holownia to revoke their mandates as legislators in parliament, pointing to the fact that they were pardoned by Duda, a former Law & Justice lawmaker, in 2015. The original case against them went back to the late 2000s.

The pardon triggered a dispute among legal experts, with some arguing it wasnt legally binding because it was issued before the courts final ruling on the matter. Polands Constitutional Tribunal, which is dominated by Law & Justice appointees, has backed the president, while parts of the Supreme Court said the pardon was baseless.

The controversy comes as the new government seeks to mend ties with the EU, which is withholding funds because of rule-of-law lapses. Duda has underwritten many of the legal changes. The head of state is due to make a statement at 11:30 a.m. in Warsaw.

Today, we are dealing with an attempt to use the most important state institutions to build a dual system of power, Tusk told a news conference on Tuesday. This is obvious sabotage.

--With assistance from Konrad Krasuski.

(Updates with details of the arrest from the fourth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Japanese tech giant Fujitsu is facing growing pressure from U.K. political quarters over its role in a scandal that saw hundreds of post office owners prosecuted for accounting discrepancies.

But as Fujitsu has emerged as a leading protagonist in a saga that has endured for nearly a quarter-of-a-century, the government has continued to give the Japanese tech giant contracts worth billions of pounds as one of its strategic suppliers, even after a U.K. court found Fujitsu's accounting software to be faulty and unreliable.

The British Post Office Scandal was thrust back into the public consciousness last week following U.K. broadcaster ITV's four-part serialization, Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office, which recounts how more than 700 sub-postmasters (Post Office franchisees) were wrongfully prosecuted for fraud, false accounting and theft over a 15-year period, with many imprisoned, losing their livelihoods and facing bankruptcy.

As things eventually transpired, the "balancing" errors in the sub-postmasters' books were due to a faulty IT system that had been introduced by the government in 2000 to digitalize social benefit payments. The software, dubbed Horizon, was developed by International Computers Limited (ICL), a British company that came under full Fujitsu ownership in 1998, before being subsumed by the Fujitsu brand in 2001.

Campaign

A longstanding campaign to secure justice for sub-postmasters that had been convicted was established in 2009, with alliance members arguing that Horizon was to blame for the financial discrepancies. A long, controversy-strewn independent private inquiry closed in 2015 with the Post Office itself concluding that there was no system-wide IT problems, leading the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance to kick-off legal action, culminating with a 58 million settlement in December 2019 -- and a High Court ruling that the Horizon system wasn't robust or reliable.

Since the start of this year, the British Post Office Scandal has dominated headlines and public conversation in the U.K. That it has taken a television drama to generate this level of attention, when the whole episode has been covered extensively in the news media for many years, is perhaps a story in itself. But there are now renewed calls for Fujitsu to face justice, with Member of Parliament (MP) and former Home Secretary Priti Patel publicly calling for Fujitsu -- and the Post Office -- to be "held to account."

"It is clear that Fujitsu faces serious questions that demand a response," Jonathan Reynolds, Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said in Parliament this week. "If it is found that Fujitsu knew the extent of what was occurring, there will have to be consequences that match the scale of the injustice."

Politicians have asked company officials to participate in an evidence session in Parliament next week, with the chair of the Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, Liam Byrne MP, saying that it's "vital that Fujitsu confess how they got it so wrong," questioning how the company has been able to continue taking public sector contracts.

Indeed, despite all the furor in recent years, the government awarded 107 contracts worth 4.5 billion to Fujitsu between January 2020 -- after a U.K. court had already conveyed its misgivings over Fujitsu's software -- and the end of 2023, according to data provided to TechCrunch by public sector market intelligence company Tussell. The most recent contract was for a Northern Ireland Education Authority, which inked a 485 million deal just three weeks ago for Fujitsu to support a new School Management System (SMS).

But incredibly, 2.4 billion of these funds were awarded for the Post Office's Horizon system itself, with a 36 million extension signed just two months ago to keep things running until March, 2025. The Post Office says it had planned to transition to a new cloud-based infrastructure, but that it had met significant technical challenges and has had to remain with Fujitsu to manage its on-premises infrastructure.

Some 24 years after the first Post Office convictions that relied on Horizon software data, nobody from Fujitsu has been held to account. Police have interviewed former Fujitsu employees over possible perjury at the original sub-postmaster trials, while a statutory public inquiry into the Horizon IT system has also been ongoing since 2021.

What's clear from these past 10 days is that whatever investigations were already ongoing into the scandal, Fujitsu now will come under greater scrutiny -- and all it took was a TV dramatization to get the public and politicians to really care.

"The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge," a Fujitsu spokesperson said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. "The Inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering. Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it. Out of respect for the Inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time."

This article was updated with comment from Fujitsu.
Gabriel Attal became France's youngest ever and first openly gay prime minister on Tuesday.

Attal, 34, replaced Elisabeth Borne following her resignation on Monday.

I know I can count on your energy and your commitment, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the announcement.

Gabriel Attal delivers his speech after the handover ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Paris.

Macron added that the appointment was reminiscent of the "spirit of 2017," the year when he became France's youngest president.

I could read and hear it: The youngest president of the Republic in history appoints the youngest prime minister in history. I want to see it only as the symbol of boldness and movement. It is also, and perhaps above all, a symbol of confidence in young people," Attal said during a ceremony.

In a speech on Tuesday, Attal said his goals as prime minister include making security an "absolute priority" and promoting values of "authority and respect of others."

He also vowed to strengthen public services, including schools and the health system, and push for better-controlling immigration.

Attal's position makes him one of the highest-elected LGBTQ politicians. Attal, who most recently served as the education minister, will now lead the French government into the European Parliament elections this June.

Newly appointed French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (C), flanked by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin (L) and Val d'Oise district prefect Philippe Court (R), talks to the media after visiting Ermont-Eaubonne police station, in Paris' northern suburb of Ermont, on January 10, 2024.

World news: Blinken: Mideast nations have 'real' interest in working with Israel postwar

Who is Gabriel Attal?

Attal has been a rising star in France's politics for the past decade, the BBC reported. He began his career as an adviser in the health ministry and as a member of the Socialists party. NPR reported that he left the Socialists to join Macron's newly created political movement in 2016.

He became a member of parliament in 2017 and quickly caught Macron's attention for being a strong debater, the BBC reported.

He served as a government spokesperson during the pandemic in 2020 and briefly served as a budget minister after Macron was re-elected in 2022. In July of 2023, he became the education minister, NPR reported.

In his role as education minister, Attal banned abaya's, long robes, mainly worn by Muslim women from schools. He said the garments were testing secularism in schools, NPR reported.

He also attempted to introduce uniforms in schools and led an anti-bullying campaign. Attal said he was bullied when he was at the elite Ecole alsacienne in Paris, the BBC reported.

Gabriel Attal, then the French Government's spokesperson arrives for a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday July 29, 2020.

Attal becomes first openly gay prime minister

Attal will be the country's first openly gay prime minister. He is in a civil partnership with Stephane Sejourne, a member of the European Parliament since 2019, the BBC reported.

He came out as gay in 2018. Reuters reported that an old school associate in had outed him shortly after he was named a junior minister.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gabriel Attal: Who is France's new prime minister?
An Atmos Energy crew works on Throckmorton Street to the rear of the Sandman Signature Hotel on Tuesday in downtown Fort Worth.

If the investigation into Mondays explosion at a downtown Fort Worth hotel finds it was caused by a natural gas leak, the incident would be part of a worsening trend of such incidents across the country, according to energy sector watchdog groups.

The massive explosion at Sandman Signature Hotel, which left 21 people injured, has not been tied to an official cause. But Fort Worth Fire Department authorities have said it was likely a gas explosion, and representatives of Dallas-based natural gas distributor Atmos Energy have been on the scene.

Since 2010, incidents like fires and explosions caused by natural gas leaks have occurred every 40 hours on average in the United States, according to the Public Interest Research Group. The organization documented nearly 2,600 such incidents from 2010 to 2021, the group said in a 2022 report that cited data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Those explosions and fires killed 122 people and injured 603, the report found.

And those were only the explosions serious enough to be reported to the federal government. The climate change and energy transition organization Climate Nexus published similar data in a recent report, and said leaks on customer-owned lines are not reported to the federal government.

In the past three years, there have been at least five natural gas explosions in North Texas not counting the Sandman explosion, according to documents maintained by the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state regulatory agency charged with overseeing the oil and gas industry. Atmos was the natural gas distributor in all of those cases but was not always found to be at fault for the explosions.

A number of the explosions in recent years were found to originate from leaks on the customer-owned portion of the gas lines, according to Railroad Commission documents. That means that the leaks were not on the Atmos-owned lines, but on portions that run under yards or inside buildings.

A spokesperson for the Railroad Commission said that the blame for Mondays explosion will depend on where the leak originated. If it happened within the hotel, the property owner would be responsible; if it originated in supply lines, Atmos would be liable.

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday, the powerful explosion blew out the ground-level of the Sandman, sending debris hundreds of feet and damaging neighboring buildings. The Asian fusion restaurant Musume, in the basement level, is where the explosion appears to have taken place.

A representative from Northland Properties, the developer that owns Sandman Signature Hotel, said in an email statement that the company is cooperating with investigators. A representative for Atmos also emailed a statement that said that company is cooperating with officials.

Atmos Energy has conducted additional safety checks and is working to restore service outside the affected area, spokesperson Kristin Goodspeed wrote.

Eric Hageman of the Minneapolis law firm Pritzker Hageman, which specializes in gas explosion litigation, said that he couldnt speak to the Fort Worth blast specifically. But generally, he said, gas explosions appear to be increasing due in part to aging infrastructure.

Gas explosions are trending upward generally across the country. I think its an increasing problem and more and more people are being injured and killed in gas explosions, Hageman said. He added that another common factor is service work  anything disrupting the gas lines has the potential to trigger an explosion.

Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis told the City Council on Tuesday that natural gas is still safe for the public.

But dont get me wrong on that, if you smell gas, call, he said.

While it remained unclear what may have caused the disaster, the Metroplex has seen numerous gas explosions in recent years, including a fatal 2018 explosion that led investigators to demand changes  and fines  from Atmos.

Here are some of those recent explosions, as detailed by media reports and by Railroad Commission of Texas documents.

Balch Springs, nail salon explosion, 2023

On Aug. 19, there was a natural gas explosion at a strip mall in Balch Springs, east of Dallas. The explosion and subsequent fire sent 10 people to the hospital, according to Railroad Commission documents.

The explosion centered around a nail salon in the strip mall, Fox 4 News reported, and was so powerful that it picked up the buildings walls and then set them back down.

Atmos was found not to be responsible because the failure was on the customer owned line, according to regulators.

Westworth Village, residential explosion, 2022

A home in Westworth Village  a pocket city inside Fort Worth boundaries  exploded in early December 2022, injuring at least two people and nearly leveling the home.

An investigation found no leaks in the gas lines at the home, according to Railroad Commission documents, although a leak at a neighboring home was discovered and repaired.

Tarrant County records indicate that authorities believe the resident may have intentionally leaked gas leading up to the explosion.

Garland, residential explosion, 2022

Two residents were killed and five were injured in an August home explosion in Garland.

The two people who died were family: 54-year-old Paula Reyes and 15-year-old Angel Reyes. A neighbor was burned trying to help the victims, WFAA reported.

An investigation found that the gas leak was in the yard line, which is not maintained by Atmos. The gas supplier was therefore not held responsible for the explosion, according to Railroad Commission documents.

Plano, residential explosion, 2021

Six people  three of them children  were sent to the hospital after a July home explosion in Plano.

Authorities initially indicated that the explosion was likely a natural gas leak, NBC DFW reported. But then, authorities said the leak may actually have been intentional.

Records show Atmos did not find any issues with the natural gas lines it owns and operates.

NBC DFW reported in 2022 that the cause of the explosion was still unknown.

Farmersville, Atmos facility explosion, 2021

Two workers were killed and another two injured in a June 2021 natural gas explosion during routine maintenance at an Atmos facility near Farmersville.

An investigation by the National Safety Transportation Board did not determine a root cause. The NTSB did find that there was likely a natural gas leak, with the danger exacerbated by training practices which did not prepare workers to recognize and safely respond to abnormal operating conditions.

The Railroad Commission found a number of alleged violations, including that Atmos did not have written procedures for maintenance or for emergency response; did not properly train its workers; and did not replace equipment that was known to be faulty.

Earlier explosions

There were more home explosions in the years before 2021, many of them detailed in a 2018 investigation by the Dallas Morning News, which found more than two dozen home explosions in North Texas in the prior decade.

That investigation was spurred by a particularly devastating explosion in Dallas. A 12-year-old girl was killed and some of her family members injured in 2018, when her Dallas home exploded.

Linda Michellita Rogers was getting ready for school when the blast killed her. Investigators found that Atmos had likely violated numerous safety regulations leading up to the blast.

Before the girls death, there had been two house fires in her neighborhood, and Atmos had found gas leaks throughout the neighborhood. Atmos also found more leaks in the same neighborhood after the explosion. The state hit Atmos with a $1.6 million fine in 2021 as a result of the explosion, and required the company to submit plans to fix the problems.

Downtown Fort Worth also saw another gas explosion nearly two decades ago, in 2005.

A natural gas line in a downtown church exploded, leaving the building extensively damaged and also closing evacuations and closures throughout Sundance Square.

The church, Morning Chapel CME Church, sued Atmos two years later. According to the court filing, an Atmos subcontractor had mistakenly connected a low-pressure line to a high-pressure line, causing a surge and then an explosion. The lawsuit was dismissed after the two sides reached a settlement, according to court documents.
Israeli soldiers fire missiles on the Gaza-Israel border as fighting between Israeli troops and Islamist Hamas militants continues. At least nine Israeli soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

A further 126 Palestinians and nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip while four Hezbollah members are also dead as war in the Middle East overshadowed the visits of foreign diplomats on Tuesday.

The Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza said 241 had also been injured in the Gaza Strip within the last 24 hours.

The number of Palestinians killed since the start of the war has risen to 23,210, the authority added, with 59,167 people injured in the three-month onslaught. The figures could not be independently verified.

"I have never seen so many amputees in my life, also children," World Health Organization representative for the Palestinian Territories, Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters, adding that limbs could be saved under normal circumstances.

Terrorists from Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups murdered more than 1,200 people in Israel on October 7 and kidnapped some 240. Since then, the Jewish state has been carrying out heavy airstrikes on the sealed-off coastal area and has also been conducting a massive ground offensive.

The nine Israeli soldiers were killed in three separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, the military said, adding that the incidents occurred on Monday.

Six of the soldiers died in an explosion intended to destroy a workshop used by Hamas militants to manufacture rockets.

Since the start of the Israeli ground offensive at the end of October, 185 servicemen and women have been killed and more than 1,000 others injured, according to Israeli army numbers. A total of 519 servicemen and women have been killed since October 7.

Meanwhile, at least four members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement were killed in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

"Today in the north we eliminated the Hezbollah commander of the air unit in southern Lebanon, Ali Hussein Barji, with the help of an aircraft," army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced, confirming earlier reports from Lebanon.

Barji had been in command of dozens of drone attacks on Israel, Hagari added. The army published a video recorded by an aeroplane in which the explosion of a vehicle can be seen.

The Hezbollah press office confirmed the death but denied he was a commander.

Hezbollah also said their fighters attacked an Israeli border post in Malikiyah. According to Lebanese sources, Israeli forces retaliated by shelling a cluster of Lebanese villages, leaving three militants dead.

On Monday, Hezbollah said an Israeli drone hit and killed Wissam al-Tawil, a high-ranking Hezbollah military commander.

As the war again threatened to expand to more fronts, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began talks about the explosive situation in the Middle East with Israeli leaders.

He was greeted by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his counterpart Israel Katz in Tel Aviv.

Blinken spoke of "incredibly challenging times for Israel, for countries in the region, and especially for people who continue to suffer."

President Herzog thanked Blinken for his country's "steadfast commitment to Israels safety and to making sure that Israel wins this war, because it's a war that affects international values and the values of the free world."

In light of the hearing on the Gaza war before the International Court of Justice, which begins on Thursday, Herzog said of South Africa's accusation that Israel is committing genocide: "There's nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim."

He added: "Actually, our enemies, the Hamas, in their charter call for the destruction and annihilation of the State of Israel, the only nation-state of the Jewish people."

Blinken called for the prevention of further civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and more humanitarian aid when meeting Netanyahu, while British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said he is worried Israel may have acted in breach of international law in the conflict.

In Egypt, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also urgently called for new humanitarian ceasefires to supply the suffering Palestinian population with aid.

During her visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, a UN relief agency warned that the war must not reach the south of the Gaza Strip.

"This conflict cannot come to Rafah on a large scale," said Gemma Connell, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza.

The demarcation line between Egypt and Gaza runs through the city of Rafah. Before the Gaza war, around 280,000 people lived in Rafah on the Palestinian side of the border. Now 1.5 million are seeking protection there from the fighting.

Israel's army says it is now concentrating on destroying Islamist Hamas structures in the centre and south of the Gaza Strip. There are already airstrikes in Rafah every night, said Connell.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. [Photo/Xinhua]

The inaugural year of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration witnessed a substantive reconfiguration of Brazilian foreign policy. In stark contrast to the diplomatic paradigm espoused by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro's far-right administration, Lula systematically reinvigorated salient components of the foreign policy apparatus emblematic of the Workers' Party's previous period of governance from 2003 to 2016.



Central tenets include a pronounced commitment to safeguarding South American regional integration, fostering heightened South-South cooperation, and assuming a preeminent role within multilateral forums. This strategic realignment was encapsulated by a return to the historical role of regional conflict mediator, an assertive posture advocating an overhaul of global governance structures, and an emphasis on restoring robust ties with Brazil's foremost commercial and strategic allies.

In terms of regional affairs, Brazil's strategic imperative to assume a leadership role in South America emerged as pivotal. Brasilia held a summit convening representatives from all South American nations in May. Preceding this, President Lula had orchestrated Brazil's reintegration into the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), institutions from which the Bolsonaro administration had withdrawn. This diplomatic reorientation coincided with reestablishing bilateral ties with Venezuela, ending the imbroglio from Bolsonaro's earlier recognition of Washington-backed Guaido's government. The discord that characterized bilateral relations with Argentina during the tenures of Fernandez and Bolsonaro was also rectified. In the context of escalating tensions between Venezuela and Guyana regarding the issue over the Essequibo region, Brazil has proactively advocated for dialogue and peaceful resolution.

Relations with the United States experienced a constructive recalibration. Throughout Bolsonaro's administration, the Brazilian president's pronounced political and ideological affinity with Donald Trump strained bilateral relations, a trend that persisted notably during Joe Biden's incumbency. In a diplomatic sojourn to Washington in February, President Lula heralded an epochal phase in Brazilian-American ties, calling for collaboration on issues encompassing environmental concerns, trade dynamics and regional political stability. Notwithstanding this amelioration, Brazil maintained a posture of principled non-conformity, rebuffing American overtures and declining to accede to U.S. positions on pivotal global issues, including the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine.

In April, President Lula embarked on a diplomatic mission to Shanghai and Beijing to catalyze the flourishing bilateral relationship between Brazil and China. During his visit, a noteworthy 15 bilateral agreements covering multiple areas of cooperation were signed. This included establishing a novel joint satellite initiative and embracing science and technology, trade, industry, communication, agriculture and livestock domains. In tandem with China, Brazil has consistently advocated for a multipolar international order predicated on principles of peace, non-interference in nations' domestic affairs, and holistic economic development. Concurrently, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff assumed the reins of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai. Both countries coalesced on pivotal international issues, notably the crucial process of augmenting BRICS, including the accession of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. On matters related to the Ukraine and Palestine conflicts, Brazil and China endorsed a commitment to peaceful dialogue and rejected Washington's belligerent approach.

Lula's administration rekindled discourse centered on reforming global governance, emphasizing the urgent need to augment the U.N. Security Council. In this vein, Brazilian diplomacy assumed the role of mediator in international conflicts, including the protracted hostilities in Ukraine and Palestine, along with regional tensions between Venezuela and Guyana. Departing from the stances adopted by the Bolsonaro government, Brazil gave prominence to its involvement in global commitments for environmental issues, seeking to assert a leading role in this domain. President Lula formally ratified Brazil's accession to OPEC+ in December, marking a notable strategic shift. Concurrently, high-level dialogues were revived with key European powers. Steadfast in safeguarding its industrial interests, Brazil vociferously championed its position in negotiations to conclude a prospective free trade agreement between Mercosur, or the Southern Common Market, and the EU.

In succinct terms, the inaugural year of the new Lula administration's foreign policy was underscored by substantial governmental efforts to reconstitute Brazil's position within global and regional spheres, effectively reversing the period of diplomatic contraction during the administrations of Michel Temer (2016-2018) and Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022). Lula's robust and positive international standing significantly contributed to these diplomatic initiatives, epitomized by the president's extensive travels to 24 countries throughout 2023. Brazil rebalanced its bilateral relations with the United States and EU. Collaboration with China, Brazil's leading trade partner, intensified and expanded. The nation reasserted its unwavering commitment to a multipolar global order, resuming its time-honored role as a mediator in conflicts and its leadership position within South America.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to state that the tumultuous international political milieu has impinged on several of Brazil's foreign policy objectives. Despite its earnest efforts to shape the trajectory of the conflict in Ukraine, Brazil encountered challenges in consolidating its aspired mediating role, notably due to the absence of support from Washington. Despite greater dialogue with major European powers, these efforts fell short of concluding the protracted free trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU, negotiations having now lasted over two decades. While symbolically significant, Brazil's reentry into the Union of South American Nations (abbreviated in Spanish as UNASUR) remains substantively hollowed and distant from the adherence and regional influence it wielded a decade ago. While initially indicating a return to a synergistic pattern, uncertainties have been introduced recently in relations with Argentina, Brazil's pivotal ally in regional integration processes, following the election of Javier Milei.

In summary, Brazil, under the new Lula administration, has espoused a proactive and assertive foreign policy, departing from the erstwhile inertia and isolation embraced by his predecessors. Nonetheless, the administration has yet to fully redress the profound ramifications of the diplomatic retraction in Brazilian foreign affairs over recent years. The tumultuous global political environment further complicates foreign policy initiatives. In stark contrast to the conditions during Lula's earlier tenures in the first decade of the 21st century, the prevailing landscape is characterized by a rapidly advancing structural transition within the global order. This transition is underscored by escalating aggression by declining superpowers, diminishing political and ideological cohesion between South American nations, and increasing political instability within Brazil.

The author is a Ph.D. candidate in Global Studies at Shanghai University.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
To Boldly Go

When Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander launched into space earlier this week, it was carrying not just scientific instruments for a much anticipated Moon landing, but it also had on board the human remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and a whole bunch of other dead people slated for a final resting spot on the lunar surface.

But with the Peregrine lander suffering from catastrophic tech issues, the human remains, along with myriad other payloads on board, are now careening through the black, cold vacuum of space.

Astrobotic, which was contracted by NASA to build the Peregrine, announced that it was no longer going to attempt a Moon landing after the lander suffered a propellant leak and a valve issue.

The whole thing is a bummer: if successful, the Peregrine would have been the first American lunar lander since the 1970s.

Space Case

The final update from Astrobotic is an exterior shot posted on X, showing capsules containing messages from children and adults and one of Peregrine's landing legs.

This spacecraft, besides being the first attempted lunar American lander in decades, had a lot riding on it besides science experiments and human remains. It was also the first project out of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, in which the space agency contracts with commercial space companies.

Needless to say, the failure of this mission puts a damper on that initiative.

"Its certainly going to have some some impact on our relationships and our ability to to secure additional missions in the future," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told CNN. "It certainly wouldnt be the end of the business, but it would certainly be challenging."

Bright Spot

At least one group may see the development as a bright spot. Officials from the Navajo Nation had protested against the launcher bringing human remains to the Moon, calling the move blasphemous to many indigenous cultures.

"We view it as a part of our spiritual heritage, an object of reverence and respect," said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren in a statement. "The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space."

More on the Peregrine lander: Photo Shows Damaged Moon Lander Languishing in Orbit
 Flash

File photo taken on Oct. 3, 2023 shows President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi (C) attending a ceremony at the Sakania dry port in Haut-Katanga province, DR Congo. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday officially confirmed the re-election of President Felix Tshisekedi following the Dec. 20 polls.

Tshisekedi secured a dominant 73.47 percent of the vote, while main opposition candidate Moise Katumbi trailed behind with 18.08 percent, according to the court's declaration.

The president-elect is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 20 after the Constitutional Court approves the election results.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission that oversaw the general elections, over 18 million Congolese, from a total of 44 million registered voters, cast their ballots in the elections for the president, the National Assembly and the 26 provincial assemblies.

However, the process was not without controversy as opposition candidates raised allegations of irregularities, which the electoral commission said would not impact the election outcome.

This election was significant as it marked the second peaceful transfer of power in the country's history since independence in 1960. In 2018, Tshisekedi ascended to power after winning the election, marking the country's first peaceful transfer of power since its independence from Belgium.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock talks to Commander Dirk Gartner during her visit to the German Navy frigate "Baden-Wurttemberg". Michael Kappeler/dpa

Germany is providing Lebanon with a further 15 million ($16.4 million) to enable the army to better ensure security in the south of the country as tensions between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah are growing.

The more the UN observer mission UNIFIL is supported "in these times, the more we can support the Lebanese army, the stronger our joint contribution to de-escalation can be," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday during a visit to UNIFIL in Beirut.

A well-equipped and trained Lebanese army, whose soldiers are paid like any other army, "is just as important as a Lebanese government capable of acting," said Baerbock.

Such an army is an indispensable component in exercising effective checks on Lebanese territory and containing armed militias and terrorist organizations, she said. UNIFIL's cooperation with the Lebanese army is central to this.

UNIFIL has been monitoring the border area between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. The blue helmet mission is one of the oldest active UN observer missions. Just over 10,000 soldiers are currently involved in the mission.

The German Armed Forces currently have around 200 soldiers on the mission; the mandate allows for up to 300 soldiers. Lebanon has been a partner country of the German government's reinforcement initiative since 2016.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock talks to Commander Dirk Gartner during her visit to the German Navy frigate "Baden-Wurttemberg". Michael Kappeler/dpa
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is given a tour of the ship by Captain Tilman as she visits the German Navy frigate "Baden-Wurttemberg". Michael Kappeler/dpa

Germany is providing Lebanon with a further 15 million ($16.4 million) to enable the army to better ensure security in the south of the country as tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia grow.

The more the UN observer mission UNIFIL is supported "in these times, the more we can support the Lebanese army, the stronger our joint contribution to de-escalation can be," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday during a visit to UNIFIL in Beirut.

A well-equipped and trained Lebanese army, whose soldiers are paid like any other army, "is just as important as a Lebanese government capable of acting," said Baerbock.

Such an army is an indispensable component in exercising effective checks on Lebanese territory and containing armed militias and terrorist organizations, she said, noting that UNIFIL's cooperation with the Lebanese army is central to this.

The money is to be used to pay for the procurement of fuel, for example. However, it is also about medium-term measures, such as better border surveillance on the land side. The increase is being carried out in close coordination with international partners, in particular the US, France and Britain. It has also been agreed with Israel.

Baerbock called for "maximum military restraint from all sides. We need de-escalation from all sides."

"The war in Gaza against Hamas must not be used as an excuse to open another front and provoke a regional war," she warned.

UNIFIL has been monitoring the border area between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. The peacekeeping mission is one of the oldest active UN observer missions. Just over 10,000 soldiers are currently involved in the mission.

The German Armed Forces currently have around 200 soldiers on the mission; the mandate allows for up to 300 soldiers. Lebanon has been a partner country of the German government's reinforcement initiative since 2016.

Baerbock also met Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, clashes between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is an ally of Hamas, have increased significantly.

Hezbollah is increasingly firing projectiles into Israel from Lebanon, and Israel has attacked Hezbollah positions in Lebanon in retaliation.

The Gaza war was triggered by the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups on border towns in Israel on October 7.

In the harbour of Beirut, Baerbock visited a German frigate to find out about the work of the Bundeswehr soldiers. The ship has been on a UNIFIL mission with around 120 soldiers since October 20.

The mission is intended to support the Lebanese government in securing the sea borders and preventing the smuggling of weapons by sea.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock talks to Commander Dirk Gartner during her visit to the German Navy frigate "Baden-Wurttemberg". Michael Kappeler/dpa

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock talks to Commander Dirk Gartner during her visit to the German Navy frigate "Baden-Wurttemberg". Michael Kappeler/dpa
A view shows the air defence system IRIS-T SLM of German arms maker Diehl Defence in Roethenbach near Nuremberg

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany has approved the delivery of 150 IRIS-T air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday, resuming arms exports to the kingdom banned since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The deal was authorised by Germany's federal security council in December, according to a document from the economy ministry seen by Reuters, confirming an earlier report by Spiegel news magazine.

The IRIS-T missiles, produced by German arms maker Diehl, are fired by Saudi Arabia's Eurofighter jets.

The new batch which is yet to be delivered is meant to replenish Saudi stocks depleted over the past years, a security source said, adding the missiles had lately also been used to shoot down drones fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen.

In a major shift of policy, both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said this week the government in Berlin would no longer stand in the way of British plans to sell additional Eurofighters to Riyadh.

The Eurofighter project is a joint British, German, Italian and Spanish effort.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, currently in Saudi Arabia to discuss energy and economic cooperation, said the country had an important role to play regarding stabilisation of the Middle East, including in light of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Saudi Arabia is engaging in a such way that there is no escalation there," Habeck said in comments broadcast by ntv.

"My perception is that Saudi Arabia is self-confident enough to know its role and wants to fulfil it," he added.

In December, Baerbock strongly condemned attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea from Houthi-controlled Yemen and thanked Riyadh for helping thwart similar attacks by shooting down drones and missiles.

Germany had banned arms exports to the kingdom following Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Rachel More; Editing by Madeline Chambers, Alexandra Hudson)
The German federal security council has approved the transfer of 150 air-to-air missiles to Riyadh - JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP POOL

Germany has resumed arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia with a shipment of air-to-air missiles for Eurofighter jets.

The move draws a line under a ban on weapons sales, which commenced after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The German federal security council has approved the transfer of 150 IRIS-T missiles to Riyadh according to government documents seen by Reuters news agency and the German magazine Spiegel.

The German government said earlier this week it will no longer block a British proposal to sell additional Eurofighter jets to the Saudis.

The Eurofighter project is a joint venture between Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The twin announcements are a major shift in policy for Germany, which imposed a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a Washington Post columnist.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became a global pariah over the murder, which he was accused of ordering himself, though he vehemently denies the claims.

Major thaw in relations

Germany also appears to be seeking a bigger role in an emerging security alliance between the West, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Berlin has become a staunch ally of Israel, which in turn is seeking a normalisation treaty with Saudi Arabia, and recently struck a 4 billion (3.4 billion) deal to purchase Israels Arrow 3 air defence system to defend Europes skies.

Germany is not the only country to oversee a major thaw in relations with Riyadh, five years on from the Khashoggi murder.

President Joe Biden met with the Crown Prince in Riyadh in September last year, marking an end to the public rift between the two leaders over the murder of the prominent journalist.

Britain is also seeking to host the Crown Prince on an official visit to London in the near future.

The Saudi de facto ruler had been due to visit the capital last autumn, but the trip was delayed due to Germanys resistance to the Eurofighter sale, an obstacle which has now been removed.

Saudi Arabia continues to face strong criticism over its human rights record, with a recent report by Human Rights Watch alleging that Saudi border guards killed hundreds of African migrants at the border with Yemen in 2022.

Saudi Arabia has rejected those accusations, which were based on testimonies from survivors of the attacks.

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has met Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss the current tensions between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

The talks in the capital Beirut are likely to focus on the question of how a wider conflagration in the region can be prevented in view of the intensifying clashes between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia.

Baerbock also planned to visit the UN observer mission UNIFIL on Wednesday to find out about the situation on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, clashes between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is an ally of Hamas, have increased significantly.

Hezbollah is increasingly firing projectiles into Israel from Lebanon, and Israel has attacked Hezbollah positions in Lebanon in retaliation.

The Gaza war was triggered by the attack by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups on border towns in Israel on October 7.

UNIFIL, or the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, has been monitoring the border area between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. The blue helmet mission is one of the oldest active UN observer missions. Just over 10,000 soldiers are currently involved in the mission.

The German Armed Forces, or Bundeswehr, are involved with around 200 soldiers. The mandate authorizes the deployment of up to 300 German soldiers.

Baerbock also plans to visit the German frigate Baden-Wurttemberg in the harbour of Beirut to find out about the work of the Bundeswehr soldiers. The ship has been on a UNIFIL mission with around 120 soldiers since October 20.

The mission is intended to support the Lebanese government in securing the sea borders and preventing the smuggling of weapons by sea.

Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati (R) meets with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Michael Kappeler/dpa
Longtime fans of reptile enthusiast Brian Barczyk are heartbroken after the YouTuber posted a goodbye video as he enters hospice care.

The owner of The Reptarium in Utica, Michigan, posted the 16-minute video titled "This is Goodbye," on Friday after a nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. Barczyk, 54, thanked those who visited his reptile zoo, as well as his over five million subscribers for supporting his work with snakes, geckos, lizards and other reptiles.

"It's been an amazing journey and one that has changed my life. Each one of you has changed my life like you can't believe," he said in the tearful video. "You never die until the last person speaks your name. My hope that the LegaSea Aquarium, my legacy throughout everything, is going to last a long time."

Barczyk said his team will continue to post videos on the channel after his death and hopes fans will continue show up for the content.

"We're going to tell great stories and we're going inspire people whether it's me or not. I hope you will continue to watch the vlog," Barczyk said. "I wish I was going to be there manning the front of it but let's keep getting people to love animals and wildlife and have experiences and dedicate their life to animals. If that happens I'm happy."

The Reptarium owner Brian Barczyk, center, talks with animal educator Amy Karjala, left, as he holds a Capybara, a new addition to his business, in Utica on June 23, 2023.

Brian Barczyk races to see dream Aquarium open

Barczyk has long been working to fulfill his dream of opening the LegaSea Aquarium, which will feature an interactive reptile zoo in a 25,000-square-foot former thrift store. The building is currently under construction with hopes to open by March, according to thee The Reptarium's website.

"I hope I'm there to see it open and I'm there greeting you guys. That's the goal but we're a few months off from that. I think I'll be around to see it so I'm excited," Barczyk said. "I want to keep inspiring you guys to follow your dreams. Even in the face in what someone like me is dealing with you can face your dreams and keep going."

The aquarium will also have shark-watching and stingray-feeding attractions in the aquatic area while the land part of the attraction showcases relocated reptiles and intriguing mammals like a two-toed sloth.

Barczyk told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in June that he wants Macomb County and the broader area community to know that he will always offer a place for visitors to get their hands wet and horizons broadened "regardless of whether I live one year or 25 years."

Fans show support for Brian Barczyk in goodbye video

Barczyk's video was flooded by comments from heartbroken fans.

"I'm sobbing (right now). Thank you, Brian for all that you've done for herpetology! I love you, man. You're an inspiration to us all," one user wrote.

Another user said that Barczyk should not apologize, adding that "we love you and we appreciate the thousands of hours of amazing reptile footage you brought to the world. Thank you for being such a big part of my childhood."

The Reptile Army, a community for reptile lovers, honored Barczyk by releasing #BrianStrong merch to spread awareness about pancreatic cancer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Reptile lover Brian Barczyk says goodbye to fans as he enters hospice
WASHINGTON  Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) made a panel of GOP state attorneys general squirm on Wednesday when he got them to all agree on what counts as impeachable offenses  and then asked them about Donald Trumps conduct.

House Republicans brought in three GOP state attorneys general to testify in a hearing in support of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Republicans, who have been blaming President Joe Biden for a record surge in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, are now refocusing on Mayorkas in their efforts to make the border crisis a major political issue heading into the 2024 elections.

The hearing itself was a stunt. The standard for impeachment, per the Constitution, is committing high crimes and misdemeanors like treason or bribery. Mayorkas, a cabinet secretary charged with carrying out immigration laws, as broken as they may be, has not been accused of any such crimes.

But Swalwell took the opportunity to ask the GOPs witnesses  Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey  what they consider to be an impeachable offense.

Bribery? Swalwell asked the panel. All three said yes.

Extortion? Swalwell asked. All said yes.

Obstruction of justice? he continued. All three said yes, though Knudsen said he thought it would require a conviction first.

Inciting violence against police officers? asked Swawell. Knudsen said yes, if there was a conviction. Drummond said yes. Bailey said he would need more facts.

And then, the California Democrat threw them for a loop. He brought up Trumps conduct in recent years, and asked the attorneys general for their legal opinions on whether their partys presidential front-runner deserved to be impeached over his actions.

In the summer of 2019, former President Donald Trump used $300 million of taxpayer dollars to ask President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to get dirt on his potential primary political opponent, Joe Biden. He was impeached in the House for that, Swalwell said. Should he have been impeached for that?

Suddenly, nobody had legal opinions about impeachment anymore.

Im not a member of this Congress. Im not privy to all of that information, the Montana attorney general said of the verypublicizedscandal. I certainly havent seen a lot of those reports. This body chose to go forward with those proceedings, as is its purview.

Its outside my lane, said Drummond. Im just a simple attorney general from Oklahoma.

Thats beyond the purview of my testimony today, said Bailey.

Trump who, what? Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (left), Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas definitely deserves to be impeached, but clammed up when asked about Trump's past conduct.

Trump who, what? Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (left), Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas definitely deserves to be impeached, but clammed up when asked about Trump's past conduct.

Swalwell moved on, asking about Trump inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

He incited and aimed a violent mob at the Capitol. Six police officers would later lose their lives. One lost a finger. One lost an eye, he said. The president was impeached. Ten Republicans voted for that impeachment. Mr. Knudsen, should he have been impeached for that?

He was, said Knudsen.

He was impeached for that, echoed Drummond. Asked if he believed that Trump should have been impeached for that, Drummond replied, I dont have an opinion.

He was acquitted of those charges, is all that Bailey said.

The California Democrat called it interesting that the GOP state attorneys general came all the way to Washington, D.C., to share their legal opinions in support of impeaching Mayorkas, but had nothing to say about Trumps past actions.

You believe pretty clearly that [Mayorkas] can be impeached for his conduct, but when we go through pretty egregious conduct of using taxpayer dollars, of inciting and aiming a mob, having the greatest attack ever on this Congress, this Capitol, our Constitution, you dont want to comment on it, he told the witnesses. At all.

More broadly, Swalwell said their silence on Trumps conduct shows how hollow the House Republicans effort is to impeach Mayorkas.

Theyre not interested in finding any solution to the border, he said of the GOP. We have witnesses who want to comment only on Mayorkas, but dont want to comment on President Trump. I just see a party that does not want to fix, but only wants the fiction.

Related...
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A military bus carrying Syrian soldiers was hit by an explosive device in the desert near the ancient city of Palmyra in Homs Province on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, the Syrian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry specified that the fatalities included eight soldiers and one civilian, attributing the attack to "terrorists."

In an earlier report, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bus was targeted by Islamic State (IS) militants. It said that 14 soldiers were killed and 19 others wounded in the attack near the T-3 oil station in the sprawling desert region in the remote countryside of Homs Province, adding that the injured were taken to the Tadmur Hospital in Palmyra.

The Syrian desert has seen a surge of IS attacks since the start of 2024 in areas under government control, the observatory said. Earlier on Tuesday, it reported that an IS ambush killed a Syrian military officer and a pro-government fighter in the desert of Athraya in the northern province of Raqqa.

On Jan. 5, two Syrian military personnel were killed in another IS ambush in the desert east of Homs, according to the local radio channel Sham FM.

The IS group has lost most of its territory in Syria, but its fighters have continued to launch attacks in the country's vast desert region.
RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY)  Governor Glenn Youngkin will deliver his State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday, Jan. 10.

During his address, he will outline his agenda before the Joint Assembly at the Virginia State Capitol.

Governor Youngkins address starts at 4 p.m. You can watch it right here on WAVY.com

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Two years ago, lawmakers spent months discussing tax relief before backing away. Last year, they finally enshrined a major package into state law. And now, 2024 has kicked off with a sudden relitigation of the debate.

After Gov. Maura Healey on Monday unveiled $375 million in mid-year spending cuts to balance the state budget, progressive groups painted the maneuver as a byproduct of a relief package that they feel was unnecessarily packed with benefits for wealthy Bay Staters.

Mass. emergency budget cuts: Wheres the money coming from?

Healey, meanwhile, has carved out an enthusiastic defense of tax relief, declaring herself proud of the tax cuts.

Criticism from groups like the Massachusetts Teachers Association might have been on her mind Tuesday morning. While she was hosting a press conference to announce a $1.2 billion bill calling for long-term IT investments, Healey was asked whether the investment was justifiable given the current economic headwinds.

Oh, absolutely, she said. But her answer did not end there.

Healey went on to say there had been a lot of conflation of movements in the hours since her team announced the spending cuts.

25 Investigates: Sources say Gov. Healey to announce emergency budget cuts

The tax cuts were essential. We as an administration have said from the outset were about making Massachusetts more affordable and more competitive. Im proud of the tax cuts, she said. Im proud of the fact that this spring, seniors are going to see a doubling of the circuit breaker, money back in their pockets. Families this spring are going to see the most generous tax credit in the entire country, money back in their pockets. These were all efforts to make life more affordable for folks in the state.

Healey, who made a campaign promise of finalizing the tax relief that lawmakers advanced and then abandoned under former Gov. Charlie Baker, said about 70 percent of the packages value supports lower- and middle-income families across Massachusetts.

Thats real savings. Thats really important, and its a delivery on the promise that we made, she said.

Lawmakers expect the package will provide $561 million in relief this fiscal year and more than $1 billion annually by fiscal 2027. It combined breaks and credits for seniors, renters, caregivers and low-income families with business-backed changes including a cut to the short-term capital gains tax rate, a higher estate tax threshold and a change to how the state calculates taxes owed by multistate companies.

Many of the changes took effect retroactively to Jan. 1, 2023, though effects on the states revenue picture might not become clear until taxpayers finish filing annual returns in the coming months. The state Department of Revenue said in its most recent monthly report that tax relief bill impacts are expected to affect revenues beginning in December 2023 or January 2024.

Healey signed the tax relief into law on Oct. 4, less than a year after voters approved a new income surtax -- which Healey and legislative Democrats supported -- on high earners designed to generate more revenue for transportation and education investments.

At the time, state tax collections were about $170 million short of official estimates for the first three months of the fiscal year. Through December, the gap has widened to $769 million, prompting the administration on Monday to downgrade the revenue forecast and Healey to implement $375 million in unilateral spending reductions, known as 9C cuts.

Groups on the left and on the right seized on the action, arguing that the tax relief Healey approved last year was irresponsible or that it in fact did not do enough to keep more taxpayers rooted in the Bay State.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association on Monday recalled voter approval of the 4 percent surtax on personal income above $1 million, which the administration estimates could generate at least $1.5 billion this year.

Massachusetts voters made their views clear: They wanted the very wealthy to pay a little more, so that we could invest more into our public education and transportation systems. Weve already seen incredible gains from the first year of Fair Share revenues, including new investments in public preK-12 and higher education. Those same voters are no doubt stunned by todays announcement about state budget cuts, MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy said. When there was discussion of providing tax cuts to the very rich, we warned that cuts have consequences. These tax cuts gave millions of dollars to the richest members of our society. Today, we are seeing the fall out: cuts in funding -- similar in size to the tax cuts given to the very wealthy -- for education, transportation, childcare and housing, which will impact regular, working people.

Progressive Massachusetts, which describes itself as a grassroots organization with local chapters, called itself disappointed and disturbed by the budget cuts, contending they will disproportionately harm the most disadvantaged members of the Commonwealth.

Last year, advocates repeatedly stressed that now was not the time for permanent tax cuts, as signs of lower revenue collection were already coming. The Legislature refused to listen and instead passed a tax cut package that included regressive tax cuts almost equivalent in size to these draconian cuts, the group said in an unsigned statement. It should not be lost on us that we never see emergency pauses of regressive tax giveaways; the solution is always one that falls on the backs of the poorest.

Other figures who backed the relief package were more skeptical about whether it could be blamed for the states sluggish tax collections six months into the fiscal year. Zachary Donah, president of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, said its too soon to know the impact on revenues, but we hope to have more to share on that soon.

We do think the tax reform package was still the right move. The Administration is thinking about competitiveness from multiple points of view, and tax is a big one, Donah said, referencing his groups research that found a high share of Bay Staters who earn $1 million or more have considered relocating due to taxes.

The fact of the matter is were looking at revenue trends over the last few months, and I think the tax relief package is something that was fully paid for in the budget. A lot of the behavioral impact of that youll likely see in April when people file their returns, added Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate.

The governor doubled down on her ongoing support of the package later in the day Tuesday when WGBHs Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude asked Healey if she had any regrets about the tax code changes amid the tightening financial outlook.

Not at all, Healey replied. The tax cut was absolutely, in my view, imperative. It was imperative to make this state more affordable for people.

After Healey rattled off talking points similar to those she raised in her morning press conference, Braude said the part of the law that roughly doubles the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in from $1 million to $2 million is not going to those people, though, its going to wealthier people.

Healey replied with a personal anecdote about the estate tax. It was Halloween, she said, and she was at home in Arlington -- a town whose median household income is about 40 percent higher than the state as a whole, according to Census data -- when a neighbor approached.

[He] says, You know what, we just sold -- and this is in our little neighborhood in East Arlington -- We just sold our moms house around the corner, and thank you. Because of that estate tax, my brothers and sisters and I -- theyre probably in their 60s -- were going to be able to save $60,000 to $70,000. Thank you, because thats going to help us support our kids, Healey recalled the neighbor saying.

She continued, Were one of only 12 states with an estate tax in the entire country. By increasing that threshold from what it was up to $2 million ... it allows people like that fellow to see, to recognize the savings.

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

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  Grand Rapids Public Schools is closed Wednesday due to winter weather.

It marks West Michigans largest school districts first snow day of the 2023-2024 school year. The school district said the decision came after it evaluated road conditions early Wednesday morning.

Complete list of closings and delays

These decisions all come down to safety, and with the rapid snow accumulation and icing that have occurred, we felt it would be in the best interest of our scholars to cancel classes for the day, Superintendent Leadriane Roby said in a news release. We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will see our scholars in class for the remainder of the week.

Possible blizzard, dangerous cold on the horizon

The district noted administrative offices will remain open Wednesday.

Several other school districts also decided to close on Wednesday, including Grandville Public Schools, Holland Public Schools, Kenowa Hills Public Schools, Kentwood Public Schools, Northview Public Schools and Rockford Public Schools.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will publish a bill shortly that will legalise same-sex marriage in a bid to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.

Greece has implemented a series of reforms over the past decade to improve LGBT+ rights in the country where the Orthodox Church has long opposed equal rights for same-sex couples.

Mitsotakis, who is trying to break away from the traditional image of a conservative leader, has drafted a national strategy on LGBT+ rights that may win support from the left but create opposition in more conservative quarters.

"What we will legislate is marriage equality, which means the elimination of any discrimination based on sexual orientation," Mitsotakis said in an interview with state broadcaster ERT.

"It is not something revolutionary different from what applies in other European countries."

The LGBT+ community has said the reforms Greece has previously introduced have not gone far enough.

In 2015, Greece recognised cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples providing them with some rights and benefits, but they are still not allowed to have or adopt children as a couple.

The Orthodox Church opposes marriage among LGBT+ people. About 80-90% of the country's 11 million population identify as Greek Orthodox.

"We are talking about a civil marriage, not a religious one," Mitsotakis said without giving more details on when the bill will be submitted to parliament for a vote.

The reform could prove a challenge for Mitsotakis who also faces opposition to the legislation within his party and cabinet. The bill will allow child adoption but not surrogate parenthood.

"We will not experiment with more advanced ideas," Mitsotakis added.

A Greek survey by Alco pollsters in January showed that 35% agreed and 49% opposed it, while 16% declined to respond. Most of the dissenters oppose adoption of children or surrogate parenthood by same-gender couples.

Mitsotakis said that there will be enough time for public consultation to persuade citizens and MPs of his party.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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Editor's note: This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic ties. Over the past years, the China-U.S. relationship has experienced ups and downs. Even though it hasn't always been smooth sailing, it has generally maintained forward momentum, benefiting both countries and the world. Here, China.org.cn reviews President Xi Jinping's insights on the bilateral relationships since 2013 through his involvement in numerous head-of-state meetings, his warm congratulatory messages on significant bilateral exchange events, as well as his heartfelt letters addressed to U.S. students and friends.
Greene decries idea of dumping Johnson: Im kind of sick of the chaos, not here for clickbait

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) criticized a GOP colleague Tuesday for suggesting that ousting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is not off the table as the House GOP struggles to unite behind a top-line spending deal struck over the weekend.

Greene, who opposes the spending deal, told reporters Tuesday that one of the biggest things she has complained about since entering Congress is the lack of communication between members of the GOP conference, pointing to Rep. Chip Roys (R-Texas) remarks Monday night where he did not rule out making a motion to remove Johnson from the Speakership over the top-line spending deal.

And I would say that Chip Roy haphazardly throwing in a motion to vacate is probably about the dumbest thing that could happen, because I think the last motion to vacate was pretty stupid, and has  has thrown our conference into utter chaos, Greene said.

I mean, look at the results we have now. We havent passed any more appropriation bills since they threw out Kevin McCarthy. We  we have expelled a Republican member of Congress, were reducing our numbers, she added.

In an interview with CNNs Kaitlan Collins on Monday night, Roy said he was not happy with the top-line spending deal that Johnson made with Democratic leadership over the weekend. When pushed on whether a path forward could include making a move to boot Johnson from the Speakership, Roy dodged the question.

Thats not the road I prefer, Roy responded. I didnt prefer to go down that road with Speaker McCarthy. We need to figure out how to get this all done together. But it isnt good, and theres a lot of my colleagues who are pretty frustrated about it, so well see what happens this week.

Greene noted that Republicans barely have a majority due to illnesses and recent resignations and suggested that the conference should focus on solving problems.

Im kind of sick of the chaos. I came here to be serious about solving problems, not to produce clickbait, she said.

While Greene said she is not in favor of moving to vacate Johnson, she has been critical of the Louisiana Republican in the past. In an interview with The Hill last month, she emphasized that Johnson still needs to earn her trust on numerous issues.

Mychael Schnell contributed reporting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Gov. Greg Abbott high fives a young supporter after delivering a speech at a Parent Empowerment Day event at the Capitol on March 21, 2023. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott raised a record $19 million over the last six months  money he intends to use toward his crusade to oust anti-school voucher Texas House Republicans in the primary season.

Abbotts campaign announced the sum Wednesday, adding that he also has $38 million cash on hand across two political accounts.

With the primary elections just around the corner, Governor Abbott has the resources needed to back strong conservative candidates who support his bold agenda to keep Texas the greatest state in the nation, including expanding school choice for all Texas families and students, Abbott campaign manager Kim Snyder said in a statement.

[In Texas, where money has long dominated politics, Greg Abbott is in a league of his own]

The $19 million is by far the most Abbott, already a fundraising juggernaut in a league of his own, has raised in the July-to-December period following a regular legislative session after a gubernatorial election. Abbott raised $13 million into his main political committee, Texans for Greg Abbott, and another $6 million into a lesser-used account.

A news release from Abbott's campaign initially only gave the cash-on-hand figure for the lesser-used account, but Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze clarified afterward that it got $6 million in new money over the six-month period.

Abbott spent 2023 intent on passing a program to let parents use taxpayers dollars to help pay for private-school costs, prompting four special sessions. The fight came to a head in November, when 21 House Republicans joined Democrats to strip a school voucher program out of an education bill.

The governor had long telegraphed he would work to unseat any Republican who stood in the way of his education agenda.. He has since endorsed primary challengers to seven of the 21 House Republicans who are running for reelection.

Abbott and other state politicians face a Tuesday deadline to disclose their full campaign finances for the second half of 2023 to the Texas Ethics Commission. They have already revealed some of their donations for the period due to reports that were triggered by the special sessions.

Correction, Jan. 10, 2024 at 1:19 p.m. : A previous version of this post provided a lower number raised by Gov. Greg Abbott for the period. The story was updated after the governor's campaign provided additional information.
Family and friends take part in the funeral of Leonard Farruku, who died in December on the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge in the United Kingdom

Family and friends take part in the funeral of Leonard Farruku, who died in December on the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge in the United Kingdom

By Fatos Bytyci and Florion Goga

TIRANA (Reuters) - Leonard Farruku, an Albanian migrant who died last month on a barge housing migrants in the United Kingdom, was buried close to the Albanian capital Tirana on Wednesday in a funeral attended by his relatives.

The death of Farruku, 27, reignited controversy surrounding the Bibby Stockholm, a barge for asylum seekers moored in southern England that rights groups have compared to a prison ship but which authorities say is necessary to cut the costs of accommodating migrants.

"He said he was treated very badly there ... like an animal," Farruku's aunt Drita Kapllani told Reuters, wiping away tears. "Our souls and our hearts will have peace only when the truth is out."

The British interior ministry said, "This was a tragic incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. This is being investigated by the police and coroner."

It added it took the welfare of those in its care very seriously and had rigorous safeguarding processes in place.

A coroner said at the opening of an inquest that there was nothing suspicious about his death and that he had died from "compression of the neck" caused by "suspension by ligature".

His death on Dec. 12 was a shock for Farruku's family who said he used to deliver pizzas across the Albanian capital, was calm and a hard worker, although like many young Albanians he struggled to earn much money.

He was encouraged by the fortunes of other family members who had already made it to Britain.

"He went there for a better life," said Marenglen Farruku, Leonard's cousin. "He never showed any sign of distress ... there are so many unanswered questions what has happened there (on the barge)."

More than 11,000 Albanian asylum seekers arrived by boat in Britain between May and September 2022, representing nearly half of the total migrants arriving during that period.

In October 2023 the U.K. said that crossings by Albanians fell by 90% after collaboration between the two governments in December 2022.

Farruku was one of the few who still came. One relative said that Farruku thought his asylum claim would be fast tracked if he went onto the barge, only to become disillusioned once aboard. He was unable to move around and felt like he was permanently being watched, relatives said.

His sisters raised money online to bring his body home and pay for the funeral, led by an imam.

"My dearest brother that I will never see again. You will always be in our hearts," Farruku's sister Marsida said, as she threw soil over his coffin.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Edward McAllister, Alexandra Hudson)
In her 95 active years, Mary Allen Jolley broadened educational and economic opportunities for generations, serving with presidents of the U.S. and University of Alabama, founding programs to bolster underserved students, fund math and science programs in public schools, and steer women toward non-traditional jobs.

Through her varied energies and efforts, Jolley, who died Dec. 1, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, evolved into the title of her upcoming book: "Accidental Activist."

More: What to know as students return for spring semester at University of Alabama

The Sumter County native began her professional life as a teacher in Cullman County, but took on broader tasks first as staff member for U.S. Rep. Carl Elliott of Alabama, then with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, working on national education initiatives.

Mary Allen Jolley accepts a distinguished alumni award in 2008 from the University of Alabama National Alumni Association.

Returning to Alabama in 1984 to work with UA President Joab Thomas, she helped land the JVC plant for Tuscaloosa, which helped pave the way for the Mercedes-Benz coup. Jolley also helped bring Family Resource Centers to Alabama, among myriad other accomplishments.

"Mary was a woman of strength, stature and wisdom. And she was generous with her wisdom that helped influence others," said Marsha Guthrie Folsom, a longtime colleague of Jolley, and wife of former Alabama Gov. Jim Folsom Jr.

A funeral Mass for Jolley will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday at St. Francis University Parish, 811 Fifth Ave., on the University of Alabama campus. A reception will follow at the church.

Jolley was a native of Kinterbish in Sumter County. She began her career as a teacher in Cullman County, but in 1955, she was chosen to serve as a staff member with Elliott. In that role, Jolley helped develop the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the first national student loan program, which also provided funding to support math and science education in the public schools.

She was later appointed by President Kennedy to review and evaluate national vocational education programs and later served in various posts in the administration of President Johnson.

Mary Allen Jolley enjoys her 90th birthday celebration on Aug. 26, 2018, in Tuscaloosa.

Jolley served as vice president for development at Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1977 to 1984. While working there, she fostered educational opportunities for women in non-traditional jobs.

From 1984 until 1994, she returned to Tuscaloosa as UA's director of economic and community affairs under then-President Joab Thomas. During that time, Jolley played a role in luring the JVC video tape plant to Tuscaloosa. JVC, which has since closed, was the first foreign manufacturer to open a new plant in Tuscaloosa County when it came here in the mid-1980s.

JVCs early success here was cited by industrial recruiters in efforts to attract additional foreign manufacturers  including Mercedes-Benz  to Tuscaloosa County.

In 1994, Jolley was appointed as director of the Governors Office of Children and Families. One of her proudest achievements in that post was the initiation of community-based Family Resource Centers, culminating in the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers.

The network unites nonprofit agencies and programs that provide a wide array of services designed to protect children and strengthen and support families in Alabama.

Folsom said Jolley was influential in bringing Family Resource Centers to Alabama, with the first facility opening Dothan. There are now more than 23 Family Resource Centers throughout the state.

Ruth Gaddis, left, and Mary Allen Jolley attend the United Way kickoff luncheon held at the Bryant Conference Center on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa on Aug. 11, 2015.

"Mary is really the godmother of the of family resource movement in the state of Alabama," Folsom said.

Tuscaloosa's One Place named its downtown facility as the Mary Allen Jolley Center for Families in her honor.

During her lifetime, Jolley received numerous awards and honors, including an honorary doctorate of humane letters from her alma maters, the University of West Alabama and the University of Alabama. She also earned UA's Distinguished Alumna Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Founders Award for her civil rights work.

"She (Jolley) received so many accolades and awards, but she was not one that sought those out. They came to her in recognition of what she accomplished," Folsom said.

Folsom, who serves as a member of the board of directors for the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers, said she and Jolley shared a deep, loving friendship, and that she often looked to Jolley as a mentor. Folsom said Jolley was influential in both her professional and personal life.

"Mary was my guiding light," Folsom said.

Jolley remained active as a consultant, advocate and speaker with community organizations in her later years.

Hugh Stegall shakes hands with Mary Allen Jolley during a banquet honoring the 2015 Pillars of West Alabama through the Community Foundation of West Alabama held at Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa on June 25, 2015. Jolley was one of eight honorees for 2015.

A passage in Jolley's obituary sums up her spirit: "It was a standing joke that anyone who visited Mary Jolley should prepare at departure to receive a specific task to make the world a better place."

According to a news release, Jolley died shortly after completing her autobiography, "Accidental Activist," which will be published in June by the University of West Alabamas Livingston Press. Royalties from sales of the book will benefit the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers.

Historian and author Wayne Flynt wrote a blurb for Jolley's upcoming book: As the saying goes, many people frantically struggle for fame, while a handful forget themselves into immortality. Mary Jolley never sought Alabamas spotlight, but she was seldom beyond its refractive beam when matters of greatest importance were at stake. 'Accidental Activist' is a primer for all who wish to know what was best about the states history, politics, and society in the 20th Century.

Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones wrote: "Not many people know the name Mary Jolley. But her story, beginning in Alabamas Black Belt more than 90 years ago, proves that the world can be made better by one womans quiet, but effective, work. In the brash bluster of our present political discourse, Mary Jolleys life is testament to the impact of one solitary life.

In the foreward of her memoir Jolley wrote: Stories do have the power to change the world. I didnt start out wanting to make changes in the world. But as I come up on my hundredth year on this planet, I realize that a few key things that happened to me helped me see where change was needed and how I could be part of making it come about. I invite you to listen to my story  and to know that you can be part of making the changes that you see need to happen.

Staff Writer Mark Hughes Cobb contributed to this report.

Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: A 'guiding light': Memorial scheduled for activist Mary Allen Jolley
PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, MD. (DC News Now)  The Hyattsville Police Department said it recovered an illegal gun after multiple shots were fired at an apartment on Tuesday night.

Police said the incident happened in the 4100 block of Oglethorpe Street just after 10 p.m.

Maryland gun laws to strengthen starting Oct. 1

Police said the man inside was convinced to voluntarily come outside with the help of a woman who was returning home when the officers were at the scene.

The man was arrested and charged with possessing and illegally firing the gun, as well as processed on an unrelated arrest warrant.

There were no reported injuries.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
FILE - Chairman of the Special Commission for the Defense of Guyana Essequibo Hermann Escarra, stands next to Venezuela's new map that includes the Essequibo territory, a swath of land that is administered and controlled by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela, during an unveiling ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 8, 2023. Venezuelan military officials said Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, that they will continue to deploy nearly 6,000 troops until a British military vessel sent to neighboring Guyana leaves the waters off the coast of the two South American nations. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  Guyanas government said it is seeking help from the U.S. to improve its defense capabilities amid fears that neighboring Venezuela might one day seize a disputed region in western Guyana that is rich in minerals and oil.

The announcement follows two days of talks among top Guyanese officials and Daniel P. Erikson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere who traveled to the South American country to discuss defense and security partnerships.

The talks ended late Tuesday with Erikson saying the U.S. would help Guyana create a more organized and better equipped military in coming months. He did not provide further details. Erikson also said that security forces and specialized training teams that have visited Guyana in the past year will continue to do so in 2024.

Erikson told reporters that Guyana is seeking to modernize its defense capabilities, and that part of the talks focused on scope and capability, as well as cybersecurity.

One thing of great interest to us is ensuring that as Guyana looks to increase its defense capacities, it does so through a plan that is strategic, nested in its overall defense institutions, and sustainable over time, Erikson said.

He described the talks with Guyanese officials as productive and said the U.S. is aware of what steps are needed to improve defense capabilities.

We are looking forward to working with them, especially deepening information sharing, he said. We do recognize that Guyanas at a turning point in terms of its own economic development, in terms of the regional role that it is capable of playing, and so we want to make sure that our defense relationship with Guyana continues to meet the times as the situation in Guyana continues to evolve.

Eriksons trip comes just weeks after a century-old dispute over Guyanas Essequibo region deepened, with Venezuela holding a referendum in December to claim sovereignty over an area that represents two-thirds of Guyana.

Tensions continued to worsen late last year until Guyana President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as part of an emergency mediation meeting organized by regional leaders to prevent further escalation. After the meeting, both sides agreed to refrain from using force, but the territorial dispute continues.

Venezuela has long insisted that Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and argues a 1966 Geneva agreement among Venezuela, Britain and then-British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

Venezuela stepped up its aggression toward Guyana after American oil giant ExxonMobil and consortium partners discovered huge deposits of oil and gas off Guyanas coast in 2015. Daily production is at nearly 600,000 barrels of oil and is expected to increase.

Late last year, the U.S. and Guyana conducted routine joint overflights near the border region with Venezuela during the height of tension leading up to the Venezuelan referendum. Guyana also has hosted joint military exercises with the U.S. and other Caribbean nations as recently as last July.

A British warship also arrived in Guyana in late December, prompting Venezuela to start military exercises near the disputed territory. The U.K. Defense Ministry said the ship visited Guyana as part of multiple engagements with the region, and that the vessel would undergo training exercises with Guyanas military.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have subsided some this month, with leaders of both countries scheduled to meet later this year in Brazil to continue talks.
FILE - Guenther Steiner arrives before the sprint shootout ahead of the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Steiner, the first employee hired by Haas F1 and one of the stars of the Netflix docuseries on Formula One, has not been retained as team principal after a decade with the organization. Gene Haas made the announcement Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, and said director of engineering Ayo Komatsu, who started with Haas as chief race engineer in its 2016 debut season, will now oversee competition elements of the business as team principal.(AP Photo/Nick Didlick, File)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)  Guenther Steiner, the first employee hired by Haas F1 and one of the stars of the Netflix docuseries on Formula One, has not been retained as team principal after a decade with the series' only American team.

Gene Haas made the announcement Wednesday and said director of engineering Ayao Komatsu, who started with Haas as chief race engineer in its 2016 debut season, will now oversee the competition elements as team principal.

Haas said Komatsu will be responsible for overall strategy and on-track performance. Haas also plans to hire a European-based chief operating officer to manage non-competition matters from the team factory in Banbury, England.

Haas in a statement thanked Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade but was short of praise for the man who built the Haas F1 team.

Moving forward as an organization it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as team principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management," Haas said.

We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization. We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team," he continued. "Im looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential  this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.

Haas has never won an F1 race or scored a podium finish.

Steiner, who has a nearly 40-year career in motorsports, had guided Haas F1 since the California businessman was granted the team in 2014. Steiner was hired to build the organization, which splits its operations in both Kannapolis alongside the Haas NASCAR operation and the factory in England.

Steiner has been based in North Carolina, where he moved in 2006 to build Red Bull's entry in NASCAR. Steiner left Red Bull in 2008 but remained in Mooresville and founded FibreWorks Composites, a carbon-composites design and manufacturing company that specializes in racecar development.

When Haas made its F1 debut in 2016, Steiner guided the two-car team to an eighth-place finish in the constructor standings with a total of 29 points  the most of any new team in this millennium. Haas upped its total points to 47 in 2017 and again finished eighth in the constructor standings.

Kevin Magnussen joined the team in 2018 alongside Romain Grosjean and Haas rocketed to fifth in the constructor standings, while Magnussen finished ninth in the driver standings.

That was the high point for Haas, which slipped to ninth in 2019 and 2020, was last in 2021, showed slight improvement in 2022 when it finished eighth, but again finished last on the 10-team grid this past season.

Magnussen thanked Steiner on social media for hiring him in 2017 and then bringing him back in 2022 after Magnussen had been fired by Haas and spent 2021 driving sports cars.

Thanks for taking me on the journey in 2017 and thanks for bringing me on board again in 2022, Magnussen wrote. It has been both fun and tremendously challenging  but never boring. So long and all the best.

At the same time Haas was struggling on track, Steiner was becoming an international celebrity via the Netflix behind-the-scenes docudrama on F1. The episodes that featured the Haas team and Steiner's brutally frank and expletive-laden rants made Steiner as famous as many of the drivers featured in the series.

Steiner's book released last year, Surviving to Drive: An exhilarating account of a year inside Formula 1, from the breakout star of Netflixs Drive to Survive," is a New York Times bestseller. Steiner and Haas communications did not reply to repeated messages from The Associated Press on Tuesday, when AP first learned of his pending ouster.

Haas, the only American-owned team in F1, will again field cars this season for Magnussen, who is Danish, and German driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Komatsu said he's passionately invested in Haas' success and is working on a restructuring that will improve on-track performance.

We are a performance-based business, Komatsu said. We obviously havent been competitive enough recently which has been a source of frustration for us all. We have amazing support from Gene and our various partners, and we want to mirror their enthusiasm with an improved on-track product."

He worked with Grosjean at Renault before moving to Haas with Grosjean in 2016 as his engineer. Grosjean, who now races in IndyCar, worked under both Steiner and Komatsu at Haas.

Very happy for Komatsu. First of all, hes a very good friend of mine, Grosjean said. His kids are the same age as my kids, so weve been very good friends, and Im excited for him. Its a huge challenge in front of him. I wish Guenther all the best in his next chapter. Hes definitely a man thats got a lot of ideas and things to do, but for me, the main thing is very happy for Ayao.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations Wednesday with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, on the 60th anniversary of China-Tunisia diplomatic relations.

In a message, Xi said China and Tunisia, with a profound traditional friendship, have witnessed sound and steady growth of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, no matter how the international landscape evolves.

Over the past years, the political mutual trust between the two sides has been cemented, and exchanges and cooperation have made substantial progress in various fields, he said.

"During the China-Arab States Summit in December 2022, I met with President Saied and we reached important consensus, charting the course for the development of China-Tunisia relations," he said.

Xi said he highly prizes the development of China-Tunisia relations and is willing to work with Saied to take the 60th anniversary as a new starting point, renew the traditional friendship of the two countries and push for greater progress in bilateral friendly cooperative relations.

Saied, for his part, said that over the past years, Tunisia and China, with a long-lasting friendship as well as fruitful cooperation, have upheld common values, stayed committed to cementing and expanding bilateral ties, and conducted increasingly close cooperation on international and regional affairs.

Tunisia is willing to work with the Chinese side to foster a new type of partnership covering various areas and featuring a broad prospect, so as to elevate bilateral ties to a higher level, he said.
FRANKFORT  Hadley Duvall's story was a key piece of Gov. Andy Beshear's reelection campaign. Now, she hopes it propels the Kentucky legislature to take action.

Duvall, who miscarried as a teen years ago after being raped by her stepfather, joined state Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, in the Capitol rotunda Tuesday morning as the legislator announced plans to file a bill that would add several exceptions to the Bluegrass State's near-total ban on abortions.

"It took me a while to find my voice," Duvall said. "But now that I have, I intend to keep using it to speak out for other girls and women who need it."

In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, a trigger law that had been previously approved in Kentucky put a ban on abortions in place in the state in all cases outside of instances where the pregnancy puts the mother's life at risk.

But Yates, a Louisville attorney who has prosecuted rape cases, said that rule is "so narrowly written, so ambiguous, it is almost nonexistent." His bill, which is more than 120 pages but not yet available in full, would add exceptions to the law in cases where maternal health was in question, along with "lethal fetal anomalies" (in which death of the infant is likely before or shortly after birth) and cases of rape and incest.

Hadley Duvall speaks at a press conference about a proposed bill that would add exceptions to Kentucky's near-total abortion ban. She was joined by bill sponsor Sen. David Yates. Jan. 9, 2023

Kentucky's ban on most abortions has been a debated and contested topic since it was instituted in 2022, with voices calling for relief on both sides of the aisle growing louder in recent months.

Voters in the commonwealth rejected a constitutional amendment later that fall that would have removed any protection for abortion rights from the state constitution, with about 53% of the Kenutcky's deep-red electorate voting against it. And Duvall's story drew national attention when she told it over the summer in an ad supporting Beshear's reelection.

Republican candidate Daniel Cameron, then the state's attorney general, was initially unclear on his stance before saying he'd support such legislation if it were passed by the General Assembly, but some others have been more direct. During his campaign to replace Cameron in the attorney general's office, Republican Russell Coleman (who won the race) said he was in favor of additional exceptions and called on the legislature to look into it, though some GOP legislators spoke out in support of the current law.

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, filed a bill in the 2023 General Assembly that would have added exceptions for rape and incest that fell short of approval.

Yates supports going further than his legislation is written. He voted against the initial abortion ban, and his bill is not a "fix-all."

But the legislation is limited, he said, because "that's what we think may pass" based on conversations he's had with Republicans in Frankfort. While many GOP members have hardline anti-abortion stances, he said he's spoken with others who have said they'd support softening current restrictions.

"Obviously in the hallways we have a lot of conversations, and those relationships are really important in being a successful legislator," he said. "... There's a lot of partisan politics and games that get played in the legislature."

He has support in the governor's office. Beshear spoke at the start of Tuesday's press conference  and was joined by Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who continues to recover from a recent double mastectomy  to urge lawmakers to take up the bill.

"The bill, called Hadley's Law, will ensure that those that have been harmed and violated in the worst ways have options," Beshear said. "... If this bill is to pass both chambers, I will sign it immediately when it reaches my desk, or whenever Hadley tells me she wants to sign it in whichever ceremony she would like to hold."

Whether it reaches Beshear's desk, though, is a tougher question.

Speaking Tuesday morning with reporters in Frankfort, Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the issue of when abortions should be allowed is "really tough," with gray area on both sides.

When women say they should be in charge of choices that affect their own bodies, he said, he understands the argument  "(I'm) not going to say I necessarily agree with it, but there are women who don't agree with women," he added. "It's the toughest issue to deal with because it's so personal to so many people for different reasons and varying perspectives. So it will be one that will continue to shadow the whole session."

More: Kentucky lawmaker wants to drop penalties for killing hawks. Conservation groups not happy

Duvall, meanwhile, framed the legislation as a step that would provide choices to women and girls across Kentucky who need them.

"This bill is about compassion," she said. "I'm here with a message to say that unless you've been in this position, you have no idea what any woman or girl is currently going through. There should be options The legislators shouldn't feel entitled to force victims who have stories like mine to carry a baby of their rapist."

This story may be updated.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 'Hadley's Law' would add Kentucky abortion ban exceptions
President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, where nine worshippers were killed in a mass shooting by a white supremacist in 2015. | Stephanie Scarbrough, Associated Press

Nikki Haley criticized President Joe Biden for hosting a political rally at a church in South Carolina, calling the decision offensive.

Biden delivered remarks on Wednesday afternoon at a campaign event at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the site of a racially motivated mass shooting in 2015. In his speech, Biden denounced white supremacy and election denialism. He met with survivors and families of the victims of the shooting.

Hours later, during a town hall broadcast live on Fox News Wednesday evening, Haley  the former governor of South Carolina and a 2024 Republican presidential candidate  took offense to the setting of Bidens speech.

Mother Emmanuel Church is a sacred place, Haley said. For Biden to show up there and give a political speech is offensive in itself.

The 2015 shooting took place during an evening Bible study at the church, when a 21-year-old white visitor entered and opened fire. Nine people were killed and a tenth injured. All of the victims are African Americans.

In an online manifesto, the shooter espoused racist and white supremacist motivations, including posting a photo of the Confederate flag.

In the aftermath of the shooting, then-Gov. Haley decided to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse, where it had flown for over 50 years.

Related

Haley speaks about that decision frequently in town halls and interviews, relaying it as an example of her leadership. I knew half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag as heritage and tradition. The other half of South Carolinians saw slavery and hate, she has said on multiple occasions. My job wasnt to judge either side. My job was to get them to see the best of themselves and go forward.

During a town hall in New Hampshire last month, Haley said the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run  the freedoms and what people could and couldnt do. She did not mention slavery. Last week, when pressed about her comments during a live town hall on CNN, she backtracked, saying she should have said slavery, but in my mind, thats a given that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.

Biden condemned Haleys comments during his speech in Charleston Wednesday, though he didnt mention her by name. Let me be clear for those who dont seem to know: Slavery was the cause of the Civil War, Biden said. There is no negotiation about that.

During her Fox News town hall Wednesday, Haley responded. I dont need someone who palled around with segregationists in the 70s and has said racist comments all the way through his career lecturing me or anyone in South Carolina about what it means to have racism, slavery, or anything related to the Civil War, she said.

As Biden stood at the podium at the beginning of his speech, he was given a standing ovation and chants of four more years.

This is not the purpose of the church.



This is not what a sanctuary is "set apart" for.



This is wrongno matter the tradition, no matter the denomination, no matter the partisan flavor.



My standard will remain the same: Stop using the bride of Christ as a political prop. https://t.co/vvNSKWCobP  Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) January 8, 2024

When a video of the chants circulated on social media, Tim Alberta  a staff writer at The Atlantic  called the scene wrong. Albertas new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, critiques the evangelical churchs embrace of right-wing extremism.

This is wrong  no matter the tradition, no matter the denomination, no matter the partisan flavor, Alberta wrote. My standard will remain the same: Stop using the bride of Christ as a political prop.

Churches will become center stages for political events in coming days, as the Iowa caucuses  the official start of the 2024 Republican primary  are this Monday, Jan. 15. Dozens of churches across the state will be used as caucus locations, where voters will gather, deliver speeches and fill out ballots. Tens of thousands of Iowans are expected to participate in the Iowa caucuses, most of them evangelical Christians.

In the preceding days, organizations like Faith Wins will host caucus training events at churches across the state. The trainings, led by pastors, will encourage Iowans to vote in the caucus in line with Biblical values.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, right, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, shaking hands at the start of the CNN Republican presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faced off in the first one-on-one debate of the 2024 election cycle, while former President Donald Trump held a town hall at the same time.

The competing Wednesday night events in Iowa come just five days before the state's leadoff presidential caucuses and as the candidates are issuing last-minute appeals to voters to turn out for the Jan. 15 contest, which could be the coldest caucus night ever.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who didn't qualify for the debate, dropped out of the race Wednesday in a late effort to blunt Trump's momentum heading into Iowa.

What to know

Urgency sparks fireworks at the Haley-DeSantis debate

The debate could help decide the Republican alternative to Trump

Christie drops out of the GOP race

Feeling caucus confusion? Your guide to how Iowa works

Haley and DeSantis say the other was a good governor

Toward the end of the debate, DeSantis and Haley were asked what they admired about the other.

DeSantis cited Haley's time as South Carolina's governor and as the United Nations ambassador during Trump's administration.

At the United Nations, I did think that she spoke out strongly on some key issues, and I appreciated that, DeSantis said. I also appreciate the state of South Carolina. My wife is a College of Charleston graduate. Her parents lived there for many, many years. And so it is a wonderful state. Theres a lot of great people there. To be able to have been governor, there is a great achievement."

Haley's answer was succinct: I think hes been a good governor. It prompted an awkward OK from CNNs Jake Tapper.

Trump advisers sound optimistic note after debate

Trump's advisers are feeling confident heading into the Iowa caucuses.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters that Wednesday night's debate between Haley and DeSantis showed two candidates who were nowhere near ready for primetime.

Asked if they had any concerns about with record lows forecast in Iowa for caucus day, senior adviser Chris LaCivita quipped: Wear a coat.

He added the campaign has people that are actually from Iowa who are running Iowa so they know that in January, it snows." He also said there are contingencies in place, including drivers to get people to caucus sites.

No need to wean US off oil and gas, Haley and DeSantis agree

Haley and DeSantis say there is no need for Americans to wean themselves off oil and gas when it comes to dealing with climate change.

After the two found much else to spar over Wednesday, both suggested there was no point in the U.S. cutting its fossil fuel use since China was the worlds top polluter. Climate scientists disagree.

The reason I took us out of the Paris climate agreement was because ... they didnt do anything to hold China and India to account, said Haley, who was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. when Trump pulled the country out of the landmark global climate deal.

Both also said theyd target Bidens climate-friendly efforts as president and suggested that U.S. technology could innovate the countrys way out of climate danger.

Here in Florida

If you tuned in at the wrong time, you might have thought the debate was filmed in Florida rather than snowy Iowa.

DeSantis spent much of his time onstage talking about his work as governor in his home state, even using the term here in Florida without correcting himself during the debate.

We are in a situation here in Florida and as Republicans, you need somebody that is going to be in there and fight for you, he said.

Even CNN moderator Jake Tapper slipped up on the debate location in the second hour.

Here in Florida  Im sorry, Gov. DeSantis, here in Iowa, Tapper said before referring to the floods that have left farms underwater in the Midwestern state.

Haley and DeSantis asked about Trump's call to terminate parts of Constitution

Haley and DeSantis were asked whether there was a meaningful difference in how they and the former president view the Constitution, considering Trump once called for the termination of parts of the document over his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Haley says it's wrong for Trump to continue to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen. She called the Jan. 6 Capitol riot a terrible day and said, I think President Trump will have to answer for it.

DeSantis deflected a bit after saying that it was fair for the media to criticize Trump on this issue.

You cant just terminate the Constitution. I know he does word vomit from time to time on social media. But obviously I will uphold the Constitution.

But he quickly changed the topic to COVID-19 and how federal authorities imposed strict rules for lockdowns and social distancing.

Ballistic podiatry

In a well-rehearsed zinger during a back-and-forth over Social Security reform, DeSantis joked that Haley has a problem with ballistic podiatry.

That means shooting yourself in the foot every other day, he quickly explained, drawing an eye roll from Haley.

The joke was a nod to Haleys recent campaign trail gaffes, among them her omission of slavery when a voter asked her about the causes of the Civil War.

DeSantis campaign ally Rep. Thomas Massie used the term on the social media platform X last week after Haley said in an interview that you change personalities going from Iowa to New Hampshire.

We called this ballistic podiatry at MIT, the GOP Kentucky congressman wrote.

Raising the retirement age? Haley supports it, DeSantis doesn't

DeSantis and Haley are disagreeing over whether to raise the retirement age.

Haley supports raising the retirement age and has said that the current age of 65 is too low.

DeSantis on Wednesday night referenced his grandmother, who lived to be 91 and whose sole source of income was Social Security. He cited declining life expectancy in the United States as a reason he wouldn't support raising the age.

Haley said DeSantis voted as a congressman to raise the retirement age to 70. She says, You cant trust him.

Haley mocks DeSantis for campaign challenges

Haley is mocking DeSantis and the challenges his campaign has faced as numerous senior members of a super PAC backing him have resigned or been fired in recent weeks.

Its been a revolving door of political people in and out of his campaign, Haley said.

If he cant handle the financial parts of a campaign, how is he going to handle the economy when it comes to the White House?" he asked.

DeSantis says Haley likes to focus on political processes that voters do not care about while he prefers to talk about his record as a governor.

School choice sparks disagreement at GOP debate

DeSantis and Haley are clashing over how they would lead the country in terms of education reform.

Asked about South Carolinas low ranking in terms of K-12 education during her time as governor, Haley said she advocated for more parent involvement and apprenticeships that taught our kids how to build the things were making.

DeSantis responded that Haley had caved to the teachers union when she was governor and wasnt able to get school choice. DeSantis says school choice is universal in Florida, passed through a state Legislature that has been very favorable to him.

Haley said she wanted school choice but that her own state's Republican legislature wouldnt do it.

Trump says he already knows who he'd pick as VP

Donald Trump sidestepped a question about who is in the running to be his running mate if he wins the nomination, but suggested hes already made up his mind.

Well I cant tell you that, really, he said at a Fox News town hall. He added: I mean, I know who its going to be.

Trump was asked if he would consider someone who has run against him and was open to mending fences.

Oh sure, I will, I will. Ive already started to like Christie better, he quipped after Christie, who dropped out of the race Wednesday, was caught on a hot mic saying he thinks Haley has no chance.

Christie was one of Trumps top finalists for his running mate in 2016, but he chose Mike Pence instead.

Christie, a vocal Trump critic, has made clear he has no interest in the role.

Haley says DeSantis brought most anti-Israel Republican to Iowa

During a discussion on the Israel-Hamas War, Haley twice accused DeSantis of bringing the most anti-Israel Republican with him on the campaign trail in Iowa.

She was referring to Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who has been stumping for DeSantis in Iowa.

Massie was the lone House Republican to vote against a GOP resolution condemning antisemitism on university campuses in December. He has previously critiqued antisemitism-related legislation as restricting free speech.

DeSantis dismissed the jab, which Haley has used before while campaigning.

Thats just cheap garbage, DeSantis said.

Haley pans Biden for not knowing about Austin's hospitalization

Haley says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's secret hospitalization is evidence that the Biden administration doesnt have a handle on how to handle the war between Israel and Hamas  or his own Cabinet.

Asked if she would support strikes on Iran to knock out Hezbollah, Haley said dealing with the situation was further complicated by Austins recent hospitalization for prostate cancer. The White House has said President Joe Biden didnt know until Austin had already been in the hospital for days.

How does Biden not talk to his secretary of defense every single day, knowing that we have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East? Haley asked. The idea that the secretary of defense would not even be in contact with the president, much less than contact with his staff, is unforgivable.

Haley and DeSantis split on support for Ukraine

Haley and DeSantis are splitting on the U.S. continuing support for Ukraines defense, with DeSantis suggesting its not a top U.S. priority.

DeSantis accused Haley of wanting an open-ended commitment of U.S. money and arms for Ukraine. For his part, DeSantis said of Ukraines battle against Russian invaders, we need to find a way to end this. The U.S. should be focusing instead on the border and competition with China, he said.

Haley cast supporting Ukraine as a vital U.S. priority, saying it was essential to stop Russias aggression.

You do not have to choose between priorities like the border and Ukraine, she said. This is about keeping America safe. This is about preventing war.

DeSantis knocks Haley with pale pastels insult

DeSantis has twice used the phrasing of pale pastels as a knock on Haley. She is the only woman in the race, and she is standing next to him on stage, clad in a pastel pink dress.

DeSantis first used the reference to portray the former South Carolina governor as in favor of raising taxes. He said, We need to fly a flag of bold colors. Carrying the banner putting the American people first  not the pale pastels of the warmed-over corporatism of people like Nikki Haley.

Minutes later, he said it again in reference to immigration, saying Haley is bankrolled by people who want open borders and adding, You should work with corporate CEOs, Governor, that is pale pastels.

Haley says remark about New Hampshire needing to correct Iowa's decision was a joke

Haley says she was only joking when she told voters in New Hampshire that they would have the opportunity to correct the decision made by Iowa caucusgoers.

DeSantis reminded viewers on Wednesday night about her comments and called them insulting.

She was in another state, and she said the people of Iowa need to be corrected, DeSantis said. We dont need a candidate who is going to look down on middle America.

"Iowans know when youre telling a joke, Haley replied.

Haley touts her UN experience

Haley is pointing to her foreign policy experience pretty often in the opening minutes of the debate.

I dealt with Russia, Iran, China every day," she said of her time as U.N. ambassador. "No one ever said I caved. I defended America and I fought for America.

Haley and DeSantis trade jabs on lies

At the very start of the debate, DeSantis and Haley are going after each other for lying and misrepresenting their positions.

Referencing Haley, DeSantis said, We dont need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote, then to get an office and to do her donors' bidding. He also mentioned her previous positive comments about drawing inspiration from Hillary Clinton, a point that hes hit repeatedly during the GOP campaign.

Haley several times mentioned a new website called DeSantisLies.com that her campaign has stood up. She said that DeSantis campaign is exploding and that hes only mad about the donors, because the donors used to be with him, but theyre no longer with him now."

Haleys campaign also blasted out an email heralding the website as her surprise gift that would be detailing and fact checking all of DeSantis lies.

And we're off!

The fifth Republican presidential debate and a competing town hall have begun in Iowa.

Wednesday night's debate is the last big opportunity for DeSantis and Haley to make their case to voters before the state's leadoff GOP caucuses next week.

Meanwhile, Trump is once again skipping the debate. This time, hell be sitting down with Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum for a live town hall in Des Moines.

Trump rarely sits for interviews with mainstream hosts. His recent Fox town halls have been with his longtime friend Sean Hannity, though he did participate in a heated CNN town hall. His last sit-down with Baier included pointed questions about his handling of classified information and other topics.

Whats at stake for Republicans in Iowa?

For Republicans, there are usually two prizes in the Iowa caucuses: delegates and bragging rights.

Iowa Republican voters will indicate their picks for the partys presidential nominee next Monday, and the results of that vote will determine how many of the states 40 convention delegates each candidate will receive.

Candidates win national convention delegates in direct proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive. There is no minimum threshold required to qualify for delegates.

For Democrats, nothing is at stake, since the 2024 caucuses will have no bearing on the presidential race.

Dozens of vehicles stranded after Iowa snowstorm

An AP reporter driving from Des Moines to Davenport for a Trump campaign event spotted dozens of cars and trucks stranded along the side of Interstate 80, a major artery through Iowa.

A couple of trucks were on their side, while other vehicles had crashed into a barrier along the median.

Candidates were forced to cancel their events earlier in the week when heavy snow hit the leadoff caucus state. Vivek Ramaswamy said his car got stuck in a ditch while driving in snowy weather Monday night to Des Moines from northwest Iowa.

Trump and DeSantis agree: Haley will get smoked

Trump and DeSantis don't agree on much but do find common ground on one thing: Christies parting shot at Haley.

Trump said Wednesday that he might even get to like Christie again after the departing presidential candidate was caught on a hot mic saying that Haley was going to get smoked and was not up to this.

DeSantis sentiment in a post on X was similar: I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is going to get smoked.

Haley, meanwhile, was gracious in her well wishes for Christie, calling her former fellow governor a friend for many years and commending him on a hard-fought campaign.

Hot mic moment before Christie drops out

Christie was caught on a hot mic bashing Haley moments before he ended his campaign at a New Hampshire town hall.

Shes going to get smoked, he said of Haley, adding: Shes not up to this.

He also said that former Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had called him, petrified" that he was going to endorse Haley, but the hot mic was cut before he finished speaking.

Christie also appeared to defend his performance in the race as Trump continues to dominate.

People dont want to hear it. They dont want to hear it. We know were right, but they dont want to hear it, he said. We couldnt have been any clearer. We couldnt have been any more direct or worked any harder.

Stakes are high for Haley and DeSantis

Haley and DeSantis have spent much of the Republican presidential primary flanked by lower-polling rivals, so the stakes are high for the former U.N. ambassador and the Florida governor at Wednesday's debate.

The moment is especially important for Haley, a politician long known for her disciplined approach to messaging but who has recently suffered a series of gaffes.

Oops!

DeSantis left an important item in Florida when he flew back to Iowa after delivering his State of the State address Tuesday.

I actually do have a winter coat, DeSantis told a construction contractors convention in Des Moines on Wednesday. And I forgot it. I left it at home.

The temperatures for Iowa were below freezing and headed to below zero through Mondays caucuses. DeSantis told the crowd that his staff was hustling his coat from Tallahassee before he headed up to even-chillier northwest Iowa on Thursday.

I think Ill need much more than that, he said. I think Im going to need the earmuffs and all that stuff.
GOP Presidential candidate Nikki Haley (R) is going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ahead of Wednesdays CNN debate in an ad titled The more Ron loses, the more he lies.

In the ad, the Haley campaign hits DeSantis for lying about the former South Carolina governor and says the Florida governor has been losing ground and now trails the former U.N. ambassador.

Have you noticed something different about Ron DeSantis lately? the narrator asks in the ad. Yeah, we noticed, too: Ron DeSantis is lying about Nikki Haley. I wonder why? Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haleys numbers are on the rise. Less than a year ago, DeSantis was leading Donald Trump and polls of Republican voters. But he has been losing ground for months now, trailing Nikki Haley.

You can no longer call this a two-person race between former President Trump and someone like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And that is because of Nikki Haley.

Toward the end of the ad, Haleys voiceover appears to call out for the rest of the presidential candidates, namely DeSantis and former President Trump, the current GOP front-runner.

If these fellas have to lie to win, they dont deserve to win, the ad says.

The ad touts Haleys momentum in recent months, driven in part by strong debate performances. In recent polls, she has closed the lead on Trump in New Hampshire, which holds its first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 23.

DeSantis, on the other hand, has made Iowa the focal point of his campaign. He has visited all 99 counties, but he has recently polled in the same range as the rival he will debate with Wednesday night.

Both DeSantis and Haley will have an opportunity to make one more audition right before the Jan. 15 Iowa Caucuses kick off.

CNN debate starts at 9 p.m. EST in Des Moines, Iowa, and will be hosted by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash at Drake University. Trump will participate in a Fox News town hall that will run at the same time as the CNN debate.

Both campaigns did not respond to The Hills request for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Israels enemies are winning the propaganda war. And here I thought the only kind of operation they were any good at was blowing up children in pizza shops.

It is remarkableshameful, too, but really remarkablehow effective the opponents of the Jewish state have been in arm-twisting something close to the entirety of the Western intelligentsia into accepting Hamas framing of the war, now habitually described in nearly every journalistic venue as Israels war in Gaza, as though the Israelis simply woke up one Sunday morning and decided to wage a war in Gaza with no precipitating event. On practically every front page, the war is discussed as though the overriding issue were civilian casualties in Gaza (as though Israels actual military objects were an afterthought) and as though these civilian casualties were being caused by Israeli callousness rather than by Hamas intentional strategy of sheltering its military assets among the civilian population, in schools and in hospitals and in residential areas, for the express purpose of maximizing civilian casualties.

Nothing new here.

From the beginning, the Arab forces looking to eliminate the Jewish state (or proto-state) have exhibited two characteristics that have defined almost every engagement in the conflict. The firstand, ultimately, the more importantis cowardice; the second is an inclination toward moral blackmail, using the fact that the civilized world is civilized to hamper the response of the people who do not go around sawing the heads off of children in their fight against the people who do. October 7 was the most recent in a long, dreadfully monotonous series: The day before Israel declared independence in 1948, 20 Jewish women hiding in a basement in Kfar Etzion as their husbands and sons were massacred above them were themselves massacred by Arab fighters who threw hand grenades into the basement. In 2014, Palestinians attacked synagogue worshippers with guns, knives, and axes, killing, among others, three Americans. In 2019, they blew up a teenage girl with an IED. In 2001, they bombed a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, killing, among others, seven children and a pregnant woman. The Battle of the Pizza Shop might be considered the apex of Palestinian valorbut if you put actual soldiers on the other side of the line, the Palestinian men at arms will cower in hospitals, schools, and mosques, and then howl when the Israeli military turns its fire on those hospitals, schools, and mosques. That is the story, over and over again.

The Israelis would be perfectly happy to meet Hamas and the other Palestinian champions on what used to be called a battlefield. It would be very convenient for the Israelis, because while the Palestinians are very apt when it comes to massacring unarmed mothers and burning children to death, they are, and generally have been for decades, feckless and unreliable fighters against armed men. And so they hide behind their mothers skirts.

Cowards cowerthat is what they do. Moral judgments aside, there is in that an important matter of fact that should inform how we think about this conflict: The civilian deaths in Gaza are, indeed, horrifyingand they are the result of Palestinian choices, not the result of Israeli choices. The Palestinians, in this case in the form of Hamas, have chosen the battlefield, locating it among civilians and women and children. The Israelis can pursue their entirely valid military objectives in the most decent and sparing way possible, but they cannotand should not be expected tofight the war on terms set by Palestinian terrorists.

Israels military mission in the immediate term is the elimination of the Hamas threat, and Hamas has done everything it can to ensure that Israel cannot effectively pursue this goal without causing significant civilian casualties. Hence, either there will be significant civilian casualties, or Israel will abandon its military objectives. Thats the choice forced on Israel by Hamas. Avoiding such casualties is a legitimate, but subordinate, concern. Israel is fighting a war for its survival against an eliminationist enemy; it is not fighting a war as a chance to demonstrate how exquisitely attuned to the sensibilities of its critics and enemies it can be.

The terrorists should not be empowered to set the terms of the conflict. Nor should the world judge Israeli actions on terms set by Palestinians terrorists, or without due regard for the fact that civilians are in the crossfire because Hamasnot Israelhas put them there. This is the fundamental fact of the case that too many of those who dominate the conversation are madly committed to ignoring.

These facts are plain and indisputable. And, yet, every day the ladies and gentlemen of the New York Times and the Washington Post demand to know whether the Israelis are doing enough to avoid civilian casualties rather than whether Hamas is doing anything at all to avoid them. In reality, there would be no civilian casualties in Gaza to speak of if not for the actions taken by Hamas and its allies and enablers. Even here at The Dispatch, you can read Bonnie Kristian advising the Israelis that they should work toward bombing fewer Palestinian kids, as though it were the Israelis and not the Palestinians who wereand aretargeting children. (It is interesting to me how and where the cutesy-rhetorical kids gets deployed in our public discourse, but that is a subject for another day.)

The Palestinians can have peace for their civilians just as soon as they want it. Instead, what we see are Palestinian atrocities committed against Jewish civilians followed by wailing demands for a ceasefire about two minutes after any Israeli response gets under way. It is cowardly, craven, childish, predictableand, bizarrely, effective, with much of Washington and the Biden administration on board, pressuring the Israelis to subordinate their military objectives to public relations concerns and phony, one-way humanitarianism that enables Hamas terrorism in no small part because it is designed to enable Hamas terrorism. Such are the times.

The Palestinians have had the better part of a century to make peace with the Israelis. What we can reasonably conclude is that the Palestinians do not have peace because the Palestinians do not desire peace, or at least that they do not desire peace on any terms short of the liquidation of the Jewish state. If you believe, as I believe, that the Palestinians are not moral children but are in fact full and whole human beings entangled in the ordinary responsibilities of human community life, then they must have at least some role to play in who speaksand murderson their behalf: Qui tacet consentire videtur.

We will know that the Palestinians desire peace when they turn their violence toward the people who have put the civilians of Gaza in the terrible situation they now endurethat is, when Hamas bosses have to worry as much about being killed by Palestinians as being killed by Israelis. Until then, the business of wiping out Hamas will be yet another case of the Israelis doing for the Palestinians that which they cannot or will not do for themselves.

Read more at The Dispatch

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This file photo taken on May 7, 2022 shows Gabriel Attal at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. [Photo/Xinhua]

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed Gabriel Attal as prime minister following the resignation of former head of government Elisabeth Borne, announced the presidential palace, the Elysee.

In a short press release, the Elysee noted that the President of the Republic appointed Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister, and tasked him with forming a government.

From 2020 to 2022, Attal served as the spokesperson of the government of former Prime Minister Jean Castex, then he became Minister Delegate for the Budget of former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's government.

Having served as Minister of National Education and Youth since July 2023, Gabriel Attal becomes, at the age of 34, the youngest prime minister in France's Fifth Republic.

A ceremony of power transfer is scheduled in Hotel Matignon, official residence of the Prime Minister of France.
PIERRE  Throughout Wednesday, South Dakotas nine Native American tribes were recognized not only during the annual State of the Tribes address, but also through a historic moment when two tribal flags were permanently hung in the rotunda.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Government delegation present their tribal flag to hang in the South Dakota Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.

The flag ceremony, as well as the signing of a gaming compact between the state and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe held in the morning, offered a glimpse into the years of work done behind the scenes by lawmakers, tribal governments and the state government.

The culmination of that work has paid dividends for the tribes as they continue to grow their economic impact and presents a future where Native children can see themselves in the halls of the state legislature.

Economic development includes gaming, healthcare and cannabis industries

Tribes economic opportunities were highlighted by the Standing Rock chairwoman and by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Vice President.

Janet Alkire, the chairwoman for Standing Rock, was joined by Gov. Kristi Noem in the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday morning to sign a 10-year gaming compact extension between the tribe and the state.

Gov. Kristi Noem and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairwoman Janet Alkire stand for a photo op after signing a gaming compact in the South Dakota Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.

Included in the compact is increasing the tribal nations gaming devices from 350 machines to 1,000 machines. That, in turn, will create new jobs across the Standing Rock nation.

Alkire noted the importance of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, federal legislation signed in the late 1980s that established jurisdiction for gaming on tribal land. She called the legislation foundational for the tribe and said it safeguards Indian gaming as a means to promote tribal economic development, self sufficiency and strong tribal government.

More: Noem's Top 10 list for State of the State lists accomplishments but remains light on policy

Additionally, during the State of the Tribes, Cyndi Allen-Weddell, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Vice President, recognized how the medical cannabis industry has allowed the tribe to thrive in the business world.

Flandreau President Tony Reider, who had been invited to give the address, was unable to make it because of road conditions following a winter storm earlier this week, Allen-Weddell said.

Allen-Weddell told lawmakers that Native Nations Cannabis, a medical cannabis growth operation and dispensary, has been working with other tribes across the United States to extend their business dealings. The financial gains the tribe has benefited from because of the work being done by the industry have been numerous.

Cyndi Allen-Weddell, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Vice President, gives the 2024 State of the Tribes address.

Cannabis has helped my tribe fund the gap between bare bones federal programs and robust tribal programs, and will continue to provide a solid economic base for the tribe, Allen-Weddell said.

She also thanked the Legislature for providing 100% Medicaid reimbursements for nursing homes, which has allowed the tribe to open a state of the art nursing home facility and encouraged further partnership for future legislative opportunities.

Flag hanging offers inspiration for the future

Wednesday was capped off with the flag hanging ceremonies. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe presented their flags and offered history into the designs.

It was the result of years of work between Sen. Shawn Bordeaux, D-Mission, State Tribal Relations Secretary David Flute and Noem.

More: The Lost Children: An Argus Leader/South Dakota Searchlight investigation into ICWA in SD

Bordeaux had initially brought a bill to hang tribal flags in the rotunda five years ago after he was inspired by similar actions taken in North Dakota, but pulled it after Flute requested he wait for the full backing of the Governor.

Then three years ago, Bordeaux introduced the bill again, this time with Noems team backing it.

Members of the Rosebud Tribal Government and lawmakers representing the Rosebud area present their tribal flag in the South Dakota Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.

We're doing this wonderful thing  which is to me how do we get our kids in the future and people in South Dakota all working together, whether you're tribal or non-tribal, he said. It's really important as tribal people because we often don't feel like we are represented here. And even somebody who's been here 10 years like myself, don't always feel sometimes appreciated.

Bordeaux said he was hopeful the other seven tribes in South Dakota would join Standing Rock and Rosebud in hanging their flags in the rotunda.

Oglala Lakota President Frank Star Comes Out and Crow Creek Chairman Peter Lengkeek were in attendance. Bordeaux said he took that as a sign they acknowledged the work being done Wednesday.

S.D. Representative Tyler Tordsen listens as Kristi Noem gives the State of the State address on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre.

Rep. Tyler Tordsen, R-Sioux Falls, an enrolled citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, said before the flag hanging ceremony that it was a recognition of a state history that includes the tribes, and ultimately, recognizes there is space for tribal citizens in state government.

We're heading in the right direction, he said. I know sometimes there's contention, and there's differences of opinions on some issues, but for the most part overall, we're heading in the right direction. We're going to continue to do that.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota's annual State of Tribes includes historic flag hanging
NEW YORK  Gov. Kathy Hochul made addressing the housing shortage the centerpiece of her agenda in 2023  pushing an ambitious plan to force development in towns and cities across the state.

One year later, shes taking a much more modest approach with an eye toward avoiding fights with development-wary suburbanites whose districts are home to pivotal congressional races this fall.

In her State of the State address Tuesday, Hochul proposed a more limited set of policies to spur residential development, taking a step back from the most fraught legislative battles of last year's session.

We still need an effective statewide approach to encourage new construction, Hochul said in the speech. But in the meantime, there are aggressive actions we can and must take now.

We saw in every other state that met the challenge of building more housing  it took decades. But I approach this crisis with a sense of urgency, she added.

Her proposals include restricting certain discretionary funds to localities that are deemed pro-housing, making way for 15,000 new homes on state-owned land, and streamlining the regulatory process around new development.

Shes also reupping her push for policies to spur housing in New York City, including reviving a controversial tax break for multi-family construction known as 421-a. Mayor Eric Adams housing agenda depends on that incentive and other state measures, like lifting a cap on the size of newly-constructed residential buildings in the five boroughs  which Hochul also included in her speech.

Last year, Hochul proposed new mandates on localities to grow their housing stock by up to 3 percent every three years. The plan faced staunch pushback from suburban leaders and was ultimately rejected by the Legislature.

Hochul tried a different approach over the summer  incentivizing localities to add housing by giving them preference for state discretionary funding. Now, she wants to require that localities get a pro-housing designation from the state in order to access those funding programs.

Shes also looking to establish a $500 million fund for infrastructure and other needs related to state-owned sites she wants to convert into housing.

Tuesdays speech prompted some disappointment among advocates calling for more dramatic action to address New Yorks stark housing shortage.

Scarsdale isnt going to care about discretionary funding, Chappaqua isnt going to care about discretionary funding, said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, referring to two wealthy suburbs in Westchester County. I do think some localities will take this really seriously and put effort in and really study the opportunity to add housing, but the ones that really dont want to and are exclusionary are going to stay that way.

Hochul proposed two other New York City-focused policies backed by Adams: Creating a tax incentive for office-to-residential conversions that would require affordable housing, and making way for the city to legalize basement apartments.

This is right off the page of what we have been speaking about, Adams told reporters after the speech. I am confident that we're going to land the plane around housing.

But the debate around those proposals  especially 421-a  is far from settled. Reviving the tax break will mean striking compromises with the Legislature, where some prominent members want to tie a new version of the program to a controversial tenant protection measure known as good cause. Lawmakers have also pushed for a new state-funded rental voucher that Hochul has opposed.

I think you can do it with tenant protections at the same time, Adams said Tuesday.

Hochul was cool to the notion of new restrictions or state funding as a solution to the housing crisis.

Spending more money or insisting on new regulations will not get us out of the deep hole dug by decades of inaction, or overcome the lack of courage to do simply what is required, Hochul said in her remarks. Already New York has vastly more regulated housing stock than any other state, but it still hasnt meant more homes for people.

Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for the Housing Justice for All Coalition, which is pushing good cause, criticized Hochuls approach.

Skyrocketing rents are driving New Yorks affordability crisis  and yet the Governor continues to oppose basic tenant protections against rent hikes and evictions, she said. Governor Hochuls so-called affordability agenda leaves out renters, who make up half the state.

Real Estate Board of New York president Jim Whelan praised her address, saying: Governor Hochul is to be commended for once again putting forth proposals to spur much-needed rental housing production.
China congratulates Bangladesh's Awami League on winning election

Xinhua) 08:27, January 10, 2024

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China congratulates Bangladesh on holding a smooth general election as scheduled and congratulates the Awami League (AL) on winning the election, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on Bangladesh's 12th parliamentary election held on January 7. According to preliminary results announced by the election commission, Bangladesh's ruling AL party won 223 out of 298 directly elected seats.

As a friend and neighbor, China firmly supports Bangladesh in advancing its post-election political agenda in accordance with the law, Mao said.

"We stand ready to work with the new Bangladesh government on the basis of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and non-interference in each other's internal affairs to carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and strive for new progress in China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation," Mao said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A Hollywood man who runs a party charter boat out of Hollywood was arrested last week after federal agents say they found six migrants of three different nationalities stowed on his vessel when they boarded it during a stop off Haulover Beach.

Two of the people on board are from Jamaica; two from Guyana; and another pair from Haiti, according to a criminal complaint from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.

Agents with Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations stopped the 50-foot cabin cruiser about a mile and a half off Haulover Beach around 7:30 p.m. Friday. The man at the helm, 59-year-old Peter Sterz, repeatedly denied there was anyone else on the boat below deck in the cabins.

However, when agents checked, they found the six people, according to the Jan. 6 complaint filed in U.S. Southern District Court.

None of these individuals possessed documents that would allow them to enter the United States, the complaint states.

Agents were tracking the boat before stopping it as it was heading west from the Bahamas, according to the complaint.

Sterz, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, was arrested Friday on human smuggling charges. He was released from custody Monday after posting a $250,000 personal surety bond. That means he did not have to put up any money, but if he does not show up for his next scheduled court appearance, he must pay the full amount.

Sterz advertises his Cranchi yacht for charters on the website boatsetter.com. The services he offers are overnight trips to Bimini in the Bahamas, bachelor and birthday parties and swim trips to the Haulover sandbar, according to the website.

His attorney listed in court filings is a federal public defender, who also did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Aharon Barak was smuggled out of a Nazi Lithuanian death camp in a potato sack - AVISHAG SHAAR-YASHUV/The New York Times

A Holocaust survivor has been sent to sit on a judging panel in a case that claims Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Aharon Barak, 87, an Israeli judge who was smuggled out of a ghetto in a potato sack in 1944 and went on to lead Israels supreme court, is heading a delegation that will arrive to begin court proceedings on Thursday morning.

The UNs International Court of Justice (ICJ), is being asked to rule on whether to open a full case on South Africas claim that the country intends to commit genocide in Gaza.

Israeli lawyers are concerned that highly-charged comments from Israeli ministers about Gaza over the last few months may have constituted at least an incitement to genocide, a key plank of the case.

If the ICJ accepts the need for a trial it could issue an order demanding an immediate Israeli ceasefire, an outcome that the Israeli Defense Forces top lawyer has already warned is a real risk.

Lauded as one of Israels great jurists and one of its finest legal minds, Mr Barak served on Israels supreme court for 28 years, including 11 years as its president.

As an eight-year-old boy in 1944, he was smuggled out of the Kovno ghetto in present day Lithuania by a farmer before eventually resettling in Jerusalem with his family. He has clashed in recent years with Benjamin Netanyahu, however, and is unpopular with the Israeli Right which has led some of the most egregious verbal attacks on Gaza.

In its 84-page application to the ICJ, South Africa urged judges to order Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza, alleging that it has engaged in, is engaging in, and risks further engaging in genocidal acts.

South Africa cited numerous statements by Israeli officials, from MPs to the prime minister, which it claims show a clear intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

Israeli ministers have labelled Gazans human animals and some have called for the destruction of the Strip and the ejection of the Gazan people in routine fiery statements following the Hamas terror attacks.

Two days before the ICJ was to convene, Israels attorney general warned Israeli politicians against inflammatory language after a group of prominent Israelis last week accused the judiciary of turning a blind eye to numerous genocidal remarks by Israeli politicians.

That did not stop an Israeli MP from Mr Netanyahus party from saying it was better to burn Gaza than let Israeli troops there be harmed.

It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed, Nissim Vaturi told Israels Hakol Baramah radio on Wednesday. There are no innocents there.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, on Wednesday dismissed the case as blood libel seeking to cover up the crimes of the Hamas rapist regime.

He defended Israels war in Gaza as the only way to protect the country against Hamas, a terror group that has vowed to destroy the country.

The politically-charged case has already prompted Israel to abandon a decades-old policy of boycotting the UN court and its 15 elected judges.

With Israels military operation in Gaza now in its fourth month, Israeli lawyers are concerned that statements made by several officials during the war may pose a problem in the case.

Incitement to genocide

A leading professor of international law put up to talk to journalists about the case by the Israeli embassy in London said he thought that statements made by Israeli officials and politicians may amount to incitement to genocide.

Prof Yuval Shany, chair of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, said that while genocide was hard to prove as a crime, the most difficult element for Israels legal team to deal with were staments from the countrys own politicians and officials.

I think it is fair to say that some of these statements could be read as incitement to genocide, he told journalists.

Incitement to genocide is a crime in itself but separate from that of genocide. Prof Shany said that, to prove a case of genocide, lawyers would have to reveal a deliberate intent on the part of the Israeli government to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians of Gaza.

He added, however, that for the judges in the Hague to allow the case to be heard in full, they would only need to be convinced that it was plausable that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents a number of clients accusing the judiciary of inaction, said the remarks were only helping South Africa to build the genocide case against Israel.

With genocide, you need to prove a special intention - what South Africa has been doing is citing those statements and the fact that those statements have not received any pushback from the legal establishment, Mr Sfard told The Telegraph. By doing that, South Africa counters Israeli claims that those remarks dont represent a government policy.

Hard-Right coalition

The appointment of Mr Barak as Israels representative on the ICJ panel came as a surprise to the hard-Right coalition partners of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.

Mr Barak was fiercely critical of the prime ministers controversial plans to reform the judiciary, prompting supporters of Mr Netanyahu to label the 87-year-old veteran judge an enemy of the nation and besiege his house for days.

Mr Barak handled the legal side of Israels landmark 1979 peace deal with Egypt  its first with an Arab country. But he also gave the green light to numerous security moves that further entrenched the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

South Africa, whose governing African National Congress party has long championed the Palestinian cause, has assembled a heavyweight legal team to argue its case at the ICJ led by 87-year-old John Dugard, who in the final decades of the White-rule era was regarded as perhaps the countrys top anti-apartheid lawyer.

John Dugard was one of a tiny handful of legal academics who were critical [in the legal fight against apartheid], Gilbert Marcus, a veteran advocate from the period, told The Telegraph.

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.
NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: Police close roads in a residential area where the Hackensack River overflowed its borders and floods houses in New Milford, New Jersey, United States on January 10, 2024. Credit - Lokman Vural Elibol/ Getty Images

A series of powerful winter storms hit the East Coast on Tuesday night, causing significant flooding in several statesincluding Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Despite growing flood risks for homes across the U.S., most home and renters insurance policies do not cover flood damagesthough 99% of U.S. counties have experienced a flood since 1998, according to FEMA data. And the cost can add up quickly: just one inch of water can cause roughly $25,000 in property damage.

Heres what to do if your home has been impacted by flooding.

Only return home when it is safe

The most important thing is to stay safe when returning home after the flood. Remembering that, as much as it sucks, it is just stuff and you can get back home. It may take time but you can't replace your life, says Brad Hubbard, President of National Flood Experts.

Driving in water can be dangerous and the area might have downed power lines that can cause electrocution. Waiting until the area has been cleared before you attempt to return home is the safest approach. Usually communities will have a team that will say when it's safe to get into a certain area, Hubbard advises.

Document the damage

The first thing you need to do when you are able to get back in your house is take as many pictures as you can, says Hubbard. Documenting the immediate damage will ease the process of filing an insurance claim if you have flood insurance. When you go to file a claim, the more information you give them, it makes their job easier and the easier it is for them to justify paying out on a claim for whatever amount it is, he adds.

Having a record of the damages can also help if you are applying for FEMA aid following a federally declared disaster, as the process requires applicants to submit a list of damages and losses.

Try using fans and dehumidifiers

If your home has less than an inch or two of water, Hubbard says its feasible to deal with the problem yourself. You want to get things dry as fast as possible. Get fans going as quick as possible, get a shop vac," he says, referencing a machine capable of vacuuming up liquids. "And get as much of the water out as fast as you can."

However, if the damage is more extensive, its important to bring in a professional. If you have a foot of water, that's when you've got to get a pro in there because the drywall and sheetrock in your house just sucks up the water, says Hubbard, adding that the expense is worth the peace of mind. It can cost you up front but it will save you in the long run.

Handle the situation quickly

Its important to work to remove the damage quickly once you can return home the longer water sits, the more likely it is to cause severe problems like mold. Water sitting just causes more and more damage over time, says Hubbard. It can lead to secondary effects like mold and which can create health impacts down the road.

If youre working with a lot of water, call a water remediation company to help handle the processthey might take more severe steps if the situation calls for it. Theyll get the carpet out, they'll cut the drywall to get anything that holds water out to really reduce the possibility of further damage with mold or things like that.

Write to Simmone Shah at simmone.shah@time.com.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. A Horn Lake woman and her three-year-old son are among at least six people who have been missing for months after reportedly joining an online cult.

Horn Lake police said Gerrielle German and her son Ashton were reported missing by Germans mother in early July.

Police: Online cult members, 2 kids vanish from St. Louis area without a trace

Capt. Jody Keene said Germans ex-husband told them his wife left to go on a spiritual journey.

Keene said German and Ashton Mitchell were last seen in August at a residence in Berkeley, Missouri.

We have a friend who dropped them off at an address in Berkeley, said Capt. Keene. We did obtain her phone records. Her phone was shut off. Showed she made her last two calls in the St. Louis area which is basically near the Berkeley residence.

WREGs sister station KTVI in St.Louis said Berkely Police are investigating the disappearance of German and her son along with MaKayla Wickerson, 36, of St. Louis; Makaylas 3-year-old daughter, Mikayla Thompson, 24, of St. Louis; and Naaman Williams, 29, of Washington, D.C.

Police there told KTVI they believe the group is part of a cult, and theyve been looking for them for months.

A woman told KTVI her daughter had been manipulated by an online cult led by Rashad Jamal, a self-proclaimed prophet with tens of thousands of followers. Hes serving an 18-year sentence in Georgia for child molestation.

This week, the group Missing People of America posted pictures of the missing people on their Facebook page and referred to Jamal as a self-proclaimed prophet and TikTok influencer.

Horn Lake Police said Berkeley Police are now handling the investigation and also got the FBI involved.

Just in case there was some sort of human trafficking component to the investigation, Keene said. They have been in contact with the mother regarding both Gerrielle German and the son Ashton.

German and her son are listed on a national database as missing persons.

Anyone with information about the missing group is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Department at 314-524-3311.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  House Republicans continue their push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who they claim is derelict in his duty to secure the southern border.

In December, as many as 10,000 migrants a day crossed into the U.S. illegally, overrunning border towns, and leaving major U.S. cities like New York and Chicago unable to deal with so many people in their cities illegally.

Todays hearing in the Homeland Security committee will aim to prove Republicans assertion that Mayorkas isnt upholding U.S. immigration laws.

But impeaching a cabinet secretary is rare, its only happened once before over a bribery charge in 1876.

Some Democrats, while unhappy with the border situation say impeachment is not a tool for a dispute over policy disagreement, which does not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors that the constitution lays out.

This is not a legitimate impeachment. Republicans want to throw political red meat to their base and keep that campaign cash coming, said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

However, some House Republicans disagree.

For almost a year the House committee on Homeland Security has conducted a comprehensive investigation into the causes costs and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at our southwest border. Our evidence makes it clear Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of the devastation that we have witnessed for nearly three years, said Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.)

Its unclear whether there would be enough support to actually vote on articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
A pair of Republican-led House committees voted Wednesday evening to approve a report recommending a contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden for his failure to comply with a subpoena, hours after the presidents son made a surprise visit to Capitol Hill.

The resolution will next go to the House floor for a vote by the whole chamber. Its not clear when that vote will be held.

In a surprising turn of events Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden made a short appearance right as House Republicans were starting their two committee meetings.

Both the House Oversight and House Judiciary committees, which subpoenaed the presidents son for his testimony as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, held separate markups of the contempt resolution.

On Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden entered the Oversight committee room, creating a tumultuous scene inside and outside the room as lawmakers debated what to do.

You are the epitome of White privilege, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told Hunter Biden from her committee seat. Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls.

Biden and his lawyers sat down for around 10 minutes before departing.

The allegations at the core of the Republican-led investigation stem from unproven claims that the president was involved in or financially benefited from his sons foreign business dealings, making the presidents son a crucial witness for their probe.

Hunters appearance was reminiscent of how he approached the subpoena last month. Instead of sitting for his deposition, Hunter Biden held a news conference outside the Capitol and has said he will only testify in a public setting. House Republicans maintained they were willing to hold a public hearing with the presidents son, but only after he sat for a private interview. After the younger Biden did not appear for his deposition, House Oversight Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan issued a joint statement announcing they would begin contempt proceedings.

In a statement, Hunter Bidens lawyer Abbe Lowell said they offered to engage with House Republicans on Oversight six times but allege instead, Comer sought a subpoena for a closed-door deposition.

Ignoring that invitation and proving again that they cared little for the truth and wanted only to move the needle of political support that Chairman Comer confessed was his purpose, the Republican chairs have today commandeered an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions, Lowell said. What are they afraid of?

Hunter Bidens appearance is part of a more aggressive, forward-leaning strategy that his legal team, led by lawyers Lowell and Kevin Morris, has adopted to confront his detractors. The lawyers are aware that despite Congress holding a contempt vote against him as early as next week, they have few  if any  ways to enforce a punishment. Bidens ability to hold off congressional testimony has become even greater in recent weeks, because he now faces both criminal tax and gun charges, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

Many senior White House officials were caught by surprise at news of Hunter Bidens Capitol Hill appearance. In fact, some of those officials only learned about Hunter Bidens visit in real time as they watched television coverage of his unexpected move, one senior White House official told CNN.

That official, however, would not rule out the possibility that select individuals inside the White House  including some in the presidents inner-most circle of advisers or the president himself  may have had knowledge of at least some of what Hunter Biden and his legal team had planned for Wednesday, saying that they did not know if that had been the case.

Tensions boil over at Oversight hearing

In the Oversight hearing, Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida responded to Maces taunts of the presidents son by saying, If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden we can hear from him right now.

Mace shot back: I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here right now and go straight to jail.

When GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia started speaking, Hunter Biden and his attorneys left the room.

I think its clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong, conservative, Republican women because he cant even face my words as I was about to speak to him, Greene said.

Reacting to all of the members interrupting each other, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona implored his colleagues dont act like a bunch of nimrods.

Comer, a Kentucky Republican, kicked off the hearing defending his panels subpoena for a closed-door deposition with the presidents son and said, We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name. All Americans must be treated equally under the law.

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, highlighted the hypocrisy that a number of Republicans evaded congressional subpoenas, including Jordan, and yet are trying to hold Hunter Biden in contempt. Raskin claimed Comer has bizarrely decided to obstruct his own investigation because he is refusing to accept Hunter Bidens offer to appear for a public hearing.

The chairman refused to take yes for an answer from Hunter Biden Raskin said before getting interrupted by Republicans.

What happens next?

The pair of markups on Wednesday kicked off a lengthy process and underscore that the Republican effort to obtain testimony from the presidents son will remain difficult.

If an eventual House floor vote succeeds, the Department of Justice, which is already pursuing two criminal cases against the presidents son, would have to determine whether to prosecute the presidents son for evading a congressional subpoena.

Hunter Biden is scheduled to be on the West Coast by Thursday. He has a court appearance in his criminal tax case where he faces nine criminal charges in federal court in Los Angeles.

White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams issued a statement ahead of the committee meetings, dismissing baseless attacks against the presidents family members and calling on Republican lawmakers to focus on Congress other responsibilities.

Instead of playing politics, they should do their jobs, fund the government and border security, and focus on solutions that benefit the American people, Sams stated.

Ahead of the markup, Jordan told CNN he expects the contempt resolution to pass, but did not know when it would come to the floor or how quickly the referral would move through the Justice Department if it got to that point.

Whenever Speaker Johnson wants to put it on the floor, for a floor vote, then its up to Merrick Garland and Mr. Graves, Jordan told CNN.

With Congress back this week from its winter recess, House Republicans are ramping up their investigations at a busy time on Capitol Hill. The meetings are happening at the same time Wednesday the House Homeland Security Committee is moving forward with its impeachment investigation into DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Sams highlighted that Congress is just days away from a government funding deadline but that House Republicans are instead focusing on their investigations.

House Republicans are less than ten days from sparking a partial government shutdown that many of their far-right members are rooting for, but instead of working full-time to avoid it, they are wasting time on political stunts, Sams said in a statement. These baseless attacks on the Presidents Cabinet and family members will do nothing to help improve Americans daily lives, strengthen our border security, or improve the economy; all they will do is help extreme House Republicans get booked on Fox and Newsmax to try to distract from their inability to govern.

With the Biden probe moving methodically and a number of Republicans still skeptical about impeaching the president, senior Republicans now believe targeting Mayorkas will be an easier lift as the border crisis becomes a defining campaign issue.

Theres a lot of competing impeachments so its tough to tell who is in the lead, Rep. Tony Gonzales, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN.

I will say that I think a lot of the members up here have lost confidence in DHS, the Texas Republican added.

Jordan said Republicans will find out if the House can pursue two impeachments at once, but said he believes there is strong, compelling evidence for both.

This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional developments.

CNNs Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, Kristin Wilson and MJ Lee contributed to this report.

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The House Education Committee sent a letter to Harvard University on Tuesday requesting a plethora of documents relating to the panels investigation into antisemitic activity on campus.

Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) gave the university two weeks to produce records going back as far as 2021 to assess how the school is handling antisemitism.

The documents include reports of antisemitic activity, information about antisemitism given to the Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers, the minutes for the two boards meetings, documents that show actions Harvard has taken against students or faculty who were antisemitic and documents that show if students or faculty have tried to be involved in the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

As you are aware, the Committee on Education and the Workforce (the Committee) is investigating Harvard Universitys response to antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Harvards response to the antisemitism on its campus, Foxx said in her letter to Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker and interim President Alan Garber.

The House investigation into Harvard was announced after ex-President Claudine Gay, along with two other university heads, testified before Congress that it would depend on the context whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment on campus.

Gay, who also faced allegations of plagiarism, resigned earlier this month.

Antisemitism on college campuses became a big topic after the Israel-Hamas war began in October, but the committee says it is asking for documents from further back because there is evidence antisemitism has been pervasive at Harvard since well before the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

Reached for comment, a Harvard University spokesperson said the school is reviewing Chairwoman Foxxs letter and will be in touch with the Committee regarding their request.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., Wednesday opened an impeachment hearing into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Green accused Mayorkas of brazenly refusing to enforce immigration law. Ranking committee Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., called it a sham and said Mayorkas is enforcing the law. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday held its first hearing on impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said during his opening statement that the committee's yearlong investigation into Mayorkas' border immigration policies found he has failed to uphold his duty, citing historically high border crossings.

"Secretary Mayorkas has brazenly refused to enforce the laws passed by Congress and has enacted policies that knowingly make our country less safe," Green said. "What we're seeing here is a willful violation of the oath of office taken by Secretary Mayorkas. Let me repeat that, 'a willful violation.'"

He went on to say that "gross incompetence," which he accused Mayorkas of -- citing 8.1 million encounters at U.S. borders, including 6.7 million at the U.S.-Mexico border -- was sufficient grounds for impeachment, arguing he did not have to be found guilty of criminal behavior.

"Secretary Mayorkas' refusal to follow the law is sufficient grounds for impeachment proceedings. The constitutional history is overwhelmingly clear on this -- the Founders designed impeachment not just to remove officials engaged in criminal behavior, but those guilty of such gross incompetence that their conduct had endangered their fellow Americans, betrayed the public trust, or represented a neglect of duty," Green said in his opening statement.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Wednesday Republicans are trying to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Mayorkas because they don't like the Biden Administration' border policies. Republicans insist Mayorkas is violating his oath of office by willfully refusing to enforce the law. Pool photo by Tom Brenner/UPI

Ranking Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., fired back in his own opening statement, calling the effort to oust Mayorkas a sham impeachment.

"Despite what Republicans would have Americans believe, Secretary Mayorkas is enforcing immigration law," Thompson said during his opening remarks at Wednesday's hearing.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas vows to cooperate with the House impeachment investigation launched by Republicans, but said he will also continue to work on solutions to the immigration problem. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

Thompson declared that the facts show Mayorkas is doing his job on border security and immigration enforcement and alleged Republicans are targeting Mayorkas because they think it will benefit them politically.

"You cannot impeach a Cabinet secretary because you do not like a president's policy," Thompson said. "That's not what impeachment's for. That's not what the Constitution says."

The House last week agreed to hold the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas with Green alleging he was guilty of dereliction of duty, citing interviews with eight U.S. border patrol agents which he said revealed "Mayorkas' failure to enforce the laws of the United States and instead implementing policies that have caused and perpetuated this immigration crisis."

DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said then that there was "no valid basis" to impeach Mayorkas, who at the time told MSNBC he would cooperate with the proceedings.

Wednesday's hearing featured testimony from Republican attorneys general from Montana, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen testified that, while the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border "presents a difficult challenge for any administration," he believed that Mayorkas and the broader Biden administration "have absolutely poured gasoline on this fire."

Frank Bowman, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Missouri School of Law who was invited to testify by Democrats, however, testified that "nothing" he had seen in arguments about Mayorkas' policy decisions "rises to the level of an impeachable offense."

"If members of this committee disapprove of the Biden administration's immigration and border policies, the Constitution gives this Congress a wealth of legislative powers to change them -- impeachment is not one of those powers," Bowman said.

At the conclusion of the hearings, the Homeland Security Committee will hold a markup on impeachment articles against Mayorkas, then hold a vote on them before sending them to the full House to consider.
The House Oversight Committee, under the leadership of Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), is expected to vote Wednesday to bring a contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden to the House floor.

Republicans are moving the resolution forward because of Hunter Bidens refusal to respond to a subpoena for a closed-door session of questioning.

Hunter Biden and his legal counsel maintain testimony in a private hearing would lead Comer and other Republicans to spin what is said behind closed doors to their advantage. He has argued he is willing to sit for an open hearing.

Republicans are investigating him as they consider an impeachment case against President Biden.

The Oversight Committee hearing is one of two related to contempt of Congress charges today; the other will take place in the Judiciary Committee.

Proceedings are expected to begin at 10 a.m. EST.

Watch the live video above.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, as Republicans on the US House oversight committee convened to consider a resolution to hold the presidents son in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with a subpoena for testimony.

Appearing with his attorney Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden sat silently in the front row as the committee chair and vice-chair delivered opening statements to a hearing that would be dominated by partisan bickering.

We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name, said James Comer, the Republican chair, from Kentucky. All Americans must be treated equally under the law. That includes the Bidens.

Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the Democratic vice-chair, hit back by reminding Republicans Hunter Biden offered to testify in public. Raskin also noted that Republicans including the House judiciary chair, Jim Jordan, defied subpoenas issued by the January 6 committee.

We are here today because the chairman has bizarrely decided to obstruct his own investigation and is now seeking to hold Hunter Biden in contempt after he accepted the chairmans multiple public offers to come answer the committees questions under oath before the American people, Raskin said.

The hearing descended into chaos as Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, called Hunter Biden the epitome of white privilege for, she said, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.

What are you afraid of? Mace said. You have no balls. I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here right now and go straight to jail.

The notion of Biden being afraid to face House Republicans struck Democrats as absurd, given his presence in the room. Jared Moskowitz, from Florida, interrupted Mace to say: If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear from him right now, Mr Chairman. Lets take a vote and hear from Hunter Biden. What are you afraid of?

Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a Black Democrat, took issue with Maces invocation of white privilege.

I cant get over the gentlelady from South Carolina talking about white privilege, Crockett said. It was a spit in the face, at least of mine as a Black woman, for you to talk about what white privilege looks like, especially from that side of the aisle.

Mace pointed to a previous role as the ranking Republican on the civil rights subcommittee and said she took great pride as a white female Republican to address the inadequacies in our country.

As Marjorie Taylor Greene, the extremist Republican from Georgia, was speaking, Hunter Biden left the room. Greene, who in a previous hearing showed what appeared to be a sexually explicit picture of Biden, claimed he was afraid of my words.

Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, defended Biden, saying: I think its really interesting to hear the gentlelady from Georgia speak about Hunter Biden leaving, when she is the person that showed nude photos of Hunter Biden in this very committee room.

When Greene attempted to enter evidence into the record, Raskin protested that Democrats had not seen it, saying: In the past, shes displayed pornography. Are pornographic photos allowed to be displayed in this committee room?

Greene said her evidence was not pornographic. Raskin said: OK, well, youre the expert.

Outside, Lowell told reporters: Republican chairs  are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold somebody in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. The question there is, what are they afraid of?

Republicans are targeting Biden as part of attempts to portray his father as corrupt and secure his impeachment, as an expected election rematch with Donald Trump looms. Republicans have however presented no evidence that Joe Biden profited from his sons dealings.

In early December, Hunter Biden, 53, defied a subpoena for testimony in private, instead appearing in front of reporters on Capitol Hill.

Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say, Biden said then. What are they afraid of? I am here.

On Monday, Comer and Jordan released their contempt resolution and an attendant report. They said Bidens willful refusal to comply with our subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States attorneys office for prosecution.

Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanour criminal offence. As described by the Congressional Research Service, a witness suffers no direct legal consequence from House or Senate approval of a contempt citation, though a variety of political consequences may [follow]. If the individual is prosecuted and convicted, violations  are punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for not less than one month nor more than 12 months.

Hunter Biden is already in extensive legal jeopardy. In September, he was indicted in Delaware on three federal charges related to his purchase and ownership of a handgun while experiencing (and lying about) addiction. Facing a sentence of up to 25 years, he pleaded not guilty.

In December, he was indicted in California on nine tax charges carrying a maximum sentence of 17 years. Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

Democrats have attempted to make news of their own, releasing a report detailing at least $7.8m in payments from 20 countries to Trump business concerns during his four years in power. Comer called that report beyond parody and said: Former President Trump has legitimate businesses but the Bidens do not.

In December, Hunter Biden said: There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen 

I have made mistakes in my life and wasted opportunities and privileges I was afforded. For that, I am responsible. For that, I am accountable. And for that, I am making amends.
House Republicans formally kicked off their efforts to impeach the head of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday over criticism of how he has handled the surge of migrants and the trafficking of illegal drugs at the southern border.

The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing where GOP lawmakers tried to prove DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is derelict in his duty.

For the sake of our Homeland Security and the well-being of the people of the United States, Secretary Mayorkas must be held accountable, said Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-TN).

Democrats, meanwhile, argued its baseless political stunt.

This is not a legitimate impeachment, said Ranking Member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Republicans want to throw political red meat to their base and keep their campaign cash coming.

Testimony largely came from critics of Mayorkas.

State Attorneys General testified about the impact of the surge of migrants and the rise in fentanyl on all states, not just ones along the border.

The southern border certainly presents a difficult challenge for any administration, but Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden administration have absolutely poured gasoline on this fire, said Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

We dont deserve to have our communities flooded with illegal drugs that are smuggled across an unsecure border, said Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

But a law expert cautioned while lawmakers may disagree over policy decisions, the bar for impeaching a cabinet member is very high.

It is not supposed to be a routine tool to solve ordinary public policy debates, even very passionate ones, said Frank Bowman III with the University of Missouri School of Law. If members of this committee disapprove of the Biden administrations border policies, the Constitution gives this Congress a wealth of legislative powers to change them. Impeachment is not one of those powers.

The White House blasted efforts to impeach Biden administration cabinet members on Wednesday.

That is a waste of time, said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Political stunts. Baseless accusations.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chair of the House Committee on Armed Services, launched a formal inquiry Tuesday into Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's recent hospitalization and the Pentagon's failure to inform the White House of his condition. File photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee launched a formal inquiry Tuesday into Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's recent hospitalization and the Pentagon's failure to inform the Biden administration of his condition, calling it "unacceptable."

In a letter to Austin on Tuesday, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., demanded answers about the Defense secretary's New Year's Day hospitalization and why key officials were unaware of his condition following surgical complications.

"My colleagues and I have grave concerns about the handling of your absence and hospitalization. It is unacceptable that neither the Department of Defense, the White House nor the Congress were accurately informed of your position or capacity," Rogers wrote Tuesday.

While Rogers started the letter wishing Austin, 70, a "speedy recovery," he quickly launched into the seriousness of the Defense secretary's absence.

"With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable," Rogers added.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is being treated for early prostate cancer, was hospitalized New Year's Day following complications from surgery, as the White House was unaware of his condition. File photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

The letter includes a list of nine questions and requests for documents, detailing the timeline from Jan. 1 to last Friday, when Austin resumed his duties as secretary of Defense. The questions request information on his sedation during that time, as well as official actions and military operations carried out during his absence.

The Pentagon has since revealed that before he was hospitalized, Austin approved a U.S. strike against an Iranian-backed militia leader, which was conducted Thursday.

"In order to understand how this outrageous situation and lack of disclosure transpired for so long, please promptly answer the following information and produce related documents regarding your hospitalization," Rogers requested in the letter.

Rogers also sent letters to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Secretary Austin's Chief of Staff Kelly Magsamen, seeking full transparency about what transpired last week during the secretary's incapacitation.

Earlier Tuesday, it was revealed that Austin is being treated for prostate cancer. Doctors said his cancer was caught early, that he had surgery on Dec. 22 to treat the cancer and that his "prognosis is excellent."

Doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center also detailed the surgery complications that landed him back in the hospital on New Year's Day, requiring him to spend time in the intensive care unit to drain abdominal fluid that was "impairing the function of his small intestines." The Biden administration was apparently unaware of Austin's setback.

As Republicans and the House Armed Services Committee announced an investigation Tuesday, the White House is also looking into the miscommunication.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients notified agencies Tuesday that there will be a review of all protocols to delegate authority when a Cabinet-level secretary is indisposed. Austin is the nation's top defense official, a position Rogers said left the United States vulnerable last week.

"Everything from on-going counterterrorism operations to nuclear command and control relies on a clear understanding of the secretary's decision-making capacity," Rogers said. "The department is a robust institution, and it is designed to function under attack by our enemies, but it is not designed for a secretary who conceals being incapacitated."
House Republicans barreled ahead with their effort to impeach the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, for his handling of the USs southern border, as their party attempts to make immigration a defining issue of this years presidential election.

The House homeland security committee launched the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday, with Republicans charging that Mayorkas has been derelict in his duty to secure the US-Mexico border amid a sharp rise in migration while Democrats and administration officials assailed the inquiry as a sham and a political stunt.

Related: New York mayor sues bus operators that brought migrants from Texas for $708m

This is not a legitimate impeachment, said Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the panel. Echoing constitutional experts and conservative legal scholars, Thompson added: You cannot impeach a cabinet secretary because you dont like a presidents policy.

At Wednesdays hearing, titled Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas Failed Leadership Has Impacted the States, the panels chairman, Representative Mark Green, Republican of Tennessee, declared that he had a duty to pursue impeachment against Mayorkas, arguing in a combative closing statement that it was the appropriate punishment for the secretarys piss-poor performance controlling the flow of migration and drugs into the US.

He charged that Mayorkas, a former federal prosecutor, had brazenly refused to enforce the laws passed by Congress and has enacted policies that knowingly make our country less safe. As a result, Green said, Republicans were left with no reasonable alternative than to pursue the possibility of impeachment.

The investigation into Mayorkass handling of the nations borders is being led by the House homeland security committee, as opposed to the House judiciary committee, which typically oversees impeachment proceedings but is presently consumed by Republicans impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.

If Republicans are successful, Mayorkas would be the first cabinet secretary impeached in nearly 150 years.

Yet across the Capitol, Mayorkas has emerged as a central figure in the bipartisan Senate negotiations over how to respond to the rise in migration at the US border with Mexico. It creates an odd juxtaposition in which House Republicans are trying to impeach an official with whom Senate Republicans are working to try to strike a border security deal.

Record numbers of people are arriving at the southern US border each day, though crossings have recently fallen. The influx, as many as 10,000 arrivals on peak days, has strained border patrol resources as well as the public services in many cities and towns across the country.

The situation at the US-Mexico border is an acute political vulnerability for the president, who has been unable to stem the flow of people from across the western hemisphere traveling north to escape violence, political upheaval, poverty and natural disasters.

Unease among some House Republicans over their effort to impeach Biden despite a failure to uncover any evidence of misconduct has appeared to only strengthen the partys appetite for bringing articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

In November, shortly after Republicans elected Mike Johnson as their new speaker after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia attempted to force a snap impeachment of Mayorkas. Eight House Republicans joined with Democrats to block the effort, instead sending her resolution to the House homeland security committee.

Now, as the problems at the border deepen and polling shows Republicans with a clear advantage on the issue of immigration and border security, some of those Republicans appear newly willing to support the impeachment effort.

Green has indicated that he hopes to move quickly with the impeachment proceedings. But with their razor-thin majority, House Republicans would need near-total unanimity to levy articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

If the House impeaches Mayorkas, it is extremely unlikely two-thirds of the Senate, narrowly controlled by Democrats, would vote to convict him.

Austin Knudsen, one of three Republican state attorneys general who testified before the panel on Wednesday, said Montana was on the frontline of the fentanyl crisis, accusing the Biden administrations border policies of having poured gasoline on this fire.

Knudsen, along with Gentner Drummond of Oklahoma and Andrew Bailey of Missouri heralded the hardline enforcement actions taken by Donald Trump and blamed the current challenges on Bidens decisions to stop future construction of his predecessors border wall and end of Covid-19 era policy to swiftly expel migrants. (Several miles of the border wall have been built since Biden took office.) Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the partys 2024 presidential nomination, has vowed even more draconian measures if he is elected to a second term.

In her line of questioning on Wednesday, Greene, who sits on the homeland security panel, asked each Republican witness if he believed Mayorkas should be impeached. They agreed unequivocally that he should be.

Representative Dan Goldman, a Democrat of New York who was the lead counsel in Trumps first impeachment, scoffed at their determination, arguing that the attorneys general were not experts on the matter of impeachment and all had joined a lawsuit suing the Biden administration over its border policies.

We have Republicans suing Secretary Mayorkas to stop him from implementing his policy to address the issues at the border. And now were going to impeach him because you say hes not addressing the issues at the border, Goldman said. Which do you want?

Frank Bowman, a professor at the University of Missouri school of law and author of the book High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump who counts Bailey, the Missouri attorney general, as a former student, was the lone voice of dissent on the panel. He argued that Mayorkass conduct did not rise to level of high crimes and misdemeanors, far from it.

If the members of the committee disapprove of the Biden administrations immigration and border policies, the constitution gives this Congress a wealth of legislative powers to change them, he said. Impeachment is not one of them.

During the hearing, Democrats readily acknowledged the challenges at the border, but said impeaching Mayorkas was not the solution. They implored Republicans to work with them to overhaul the nations outdated immigration system, expand work permits and increase funding for border agents.

Representative Delia Ramirez, a Democrat of Illinois, said it was Republicans, not Democrats, who were failing to take the humanitarian crisis within our borders seriously.

Impeachment will not make our borders any safer for our communities or for asylum-seekers and it will not address the conditions across Latin America that motivate families to migrate across the jungles and deserts to our southern border, she said.

Several conservative lawmakers are unhappy with the direction of the bipartisan Senate talks, demanding Congress go further to restrict asylum laws. Some are threatening to block a funding bill and risk a government shutdown if Congress fails to take up Republicans hardline border security demands.

Representative Anthony DEsposito, a Republican of New York who represents a district carried by Biden in 2020, was emphatic that the proceedings were about accountability and not political theater. He cited comments by the Democratic leaders in his state who have pleaded for more federal help to deal with the migrant crisis in New York.

This isnt a narrative, he said. Its not one created by Republicans.

In a memo released ahead of the hearing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) slammed the proceedings as a baseless political attack and a distraction from the efforts underway to find real solutions to fix the nations beleaguered immigration system.

The agency highlighted comments made by Republican lawmakers and conservative legal scholars who disagreed that Mayorkas had committed impeachable offenses.

And contrary to Republican claims of an open border, the DHS memo said that agents had removed or expelled more than 1 million individuals encountered at the border in both fiscal years 2022 and 2023, with more removals in 2022 than any previous year. It estimated that the annual rate of apprehensions under the Biden administration was 78%, identical to the rate under the Trump administration.

They also noted increased efforts in stopping the flow of fentanyl, noting that the agency has stopped more fentanyl and arrested more individuals for fentanyl-related crimes in the last two years than in the previous five years combined.

This unprecedented process, led by extremists, is harmful to the Department and its workforce and undercuts vital work across countless national security priorities, the memo said. Unlike like those pursuing photo ops and politics, Secretary Mayorkas is working relentlessly to fix the problem by working with Republican and Democratic Senators to find common ground and real solutions.
HMS Diamond worked alongside US naval forces to shoot down Houthi missiles and drones in the Red Sea on Tuesday night - Atlas Photo Archive/UK MoD/PO

Houthi rebels, who have fired missiles at a British Navy ship in the Red Sea, trained at an elite Iranian naval academy.

Some 200 mercenaries, who control swathes of Yemen, were sent to the leading naval institution in Iran to receive instruction from Revolutionary Guard officials, The Telegraph can reveal.

Details of the training, gathered by intelligence sources in Iran, demonstrate Tehrans direct involvement in widening the conflict in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Britain was considering retaliatory strikes on land targets in Yemen, The Telegraph understands.

HMS Diamond fires Sea Viper missiles in the Red Sea - ROYAL NAVY

UK and US naval forces shot down missiles and drones in the Red Sea on Tuesday night, believed to be fired by the Houthis in support of Hamas.

At least one missile directly targeted a Royal Navy battleship for the first time, prompting a threat of retaliation by Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary.

Enough is enough, he said. This cannot continue and we wont allow it to continue so watch this space.

British and US sources said Western officials were drawing up options for a retaliatory attack, including hitting Houthi rebel positions in Yemen.

Houthi rebels declared war on Israel shortly after the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. They are believed to be backed and armed by Iran.

A group of 200 travelled to the Khameini Academy of Naval Sciences and Technology in Ziba Kenar on the Caspian coastline, sources inside Iran told The Telegraph. The claim was verified by multiple defence sources.

A section is dedicated to the six-month training course for foreign mercenaries under the command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpss (IRGC) Quds Force, including the Houthis.

The academy was established in 2013 and within four years, all IRGC naval training, including that of Irans proxies, was transferred there. The first course for Houthis in naval science and technology was launched in January 2020, and the Houthis were housed separately from other students, who were barred from interacting with them in order to prevent intelligence leaks.

Farur Island, a small, uninhabited island in the middle of the Persian Gulf controlled by the IRGC Navy, is also used for training Irans mercenaries.

An international coalition has launched patrols in the Red Sea to protect merchant vessels, and warned on Jan 3 that Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the regions critical waterways.

HMS Diamond under fire

Tuesdays attack, which targeted HMS Diamond among other ships, appeared to cross the coalitions red lines. Mr Shapps hinted at retaliation but the Ministry of Defence would not be drawn on details.

The militant group has claimed that the ships targeted so far were linked to Israel.

Sources in Iran said Ayatollah Khamenei, the countrys supreme leader, has taken a personal role in the Red Sea blockade in November, supporting the further provision of weapons and equipment to the Houthis.

The worlds largest shipping firms are continuing to divert shipments away from the Red Sea and instead around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, adding thousands of miles to journeys, and threatening to drive up prices of goods across the world.

Iran deems the attacks the most effective tactic for the escalation of the Gaza war against its arch enemy, Israel, according to information from inside the IRGC.

Tehran maintains it had no hand in the Hamas attacks and had no prior knowledge of its taking place, despite Hamas leaders meeting with top Iranian officials in Tehran and Beirut in the months leading up to it.

A cross-party statement from the UK parliament has called to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist entity, but until now, the Government has resisted, despite warnings in November from Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, who revealed that there had been at least 10 IRGC plots foiled on UK soil between January and November last year.

Mr Shapps said it was thought that HMS Diamond had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian-backed rebel group in its latest missile and drone barrage in the region.

My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that theres a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region), Mr Shapps told reporters.

He said there was no doubt that Iran was guiding the Houthis on the attacks, dozens of which have been carried out in the region since mid-November.

Undermines peace and security

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council scheduled a resolution that would condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemens Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area.

The US draft resolution says at least two dozen Houthi attacks impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.

Robert Wood, the USs deputy ambassador at the UN said: Were hoping that it will pass. I dont know how ... one security council member is going to vote.

Mr Wood was referring to Russia, which raised questions last week about the impact of a resolution on peace efforts in Yemen and the spread of the Israel-Hamas war. It could abstain or veto the resolution.

It comes as Germany resumed arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, starting with a shipment of air-to-air missiles for Eurofighter jets.

Germany has resumed arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia, starting with a shipment of air-to-air missiles for Eurofighter jets - Ray Troll

The move is likely to bolster efforts to contain the Houthis, which Saudi Arabia has been at war with in recent years.

The German federal security council has approved the transfer of 150 IRIS-T missiles to Riyadh according to government documents.

It comes after a similar announcement by Germany earlier this week in which the government said it will no longer block a British proposal to sell additional Eurofighter jets to the Saudis. The Eurofighter project is a joint venture between Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The twin announcements are a major shift in policy for Germany, which imposed a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership and a Washington Post columnist.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince, became a global pariah over the murder, which he was accused of ordering himself, though he vehemently denies those claims.

Berlin has become a staunch ally of Israel, which in turn is seeking a normalisation treaty with Saudi Arabia, and recently struck a 4 billion (3.4 billion) deal to purchase Israels Arrow 3 air defence system to defend Europes skies.

Britain is also seeking to host the Crown Prince on an official visit to London in the near future. The Saudi de facto ruler had been due to visit London last Autumn, but the trip was delayed due to Germanys resistance to the Eurofighter sale, an obstacle which has now been removed.

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.
Minutes after his surprise appearance, Hunter Biden exited a hearing led by House Republicans aiming to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing to speak to them behind closed doors about his business practices.

President Joe Bidens son has offered to answer the lawmakers questions in a public hearing, and showed up unexpectedly on Wednesday to emphasize that point.

He bowed out, however, just as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed her speaking time. Greene has waged an ugly campaign against Hunter Biden that involved blowing up sexually explicit photographs of him to display during a House oversight committee meeting last summer.

A horde of reporters followed in the younger Bidens wake.

In the halls of Congress, an attorney for Biden gave a statement reiterating his clients stance: He will readily appear in a hearing where members of the public can hear from him directly. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the oversight committee, previously said that the choice between a private or public deposition was up to the individual being subpoenaed; he has since insisted that it be secretive in Bidens case.

Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen, attorney Abbe Lowell told reporters. Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as asurrogate to attack his father. Lowell said that hed made offers on six different occasions since February 2023 to work with the lawmakers that want to talk to his client.

Lowell concluded: The Republican chairs are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. The question there is: What are they afraid of?

Back in the hearing room, Greene called Biden a coward for not staying to hear her speak.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) then used his five minutes of speaking time to admonish her.

I think its really interesting to hear the gentlelady from Georgia speak about Hunter leaving when she is the person who showed nude photos of Hunter Biden in this very committee room  showing dick pics in this committee room of Hunter Biden, Garcia said.

So I think its really ironic, hypocritical, quite shameful as the person complaining about somebody leaving, when shes showing nude photos of him to this committee.

Related...
WASHINGTON  Two House committees voted Wednesday to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for defying subpoenas, an official sanction that followed a dramatic and surprise appearance by the president's son on Capitol Hill.

The fiery showdown  dismissed by some Republicans as a political stunt  at the House Oversight and Accountability Committee was the latest development in a long-running drama over the Republican-led investigation of Hunter Biden and his father. Republicans have accused President Joe Biden of influence peddling through his sons overseas business deals, which the White House and president have called baseless lies.

The Judiciary Committee voted 23-14 along party lines to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for defying their subpoena. The Oversight committee voted 25-21 along party lines.

The full House will now consider the resolution, which recommends the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against Hunter Biden. Criminal referrals from Congress typically go to the U.S. attorney for D.C., Matthew Graves, whose office prosecuted two cases  against political strategist Steve Bannon and former White House aide Peter Navarro  during the bipartisan House investigation of the 2021 Capitol riot and declined to prosecute former President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.

The votes came hours after Hunter Biden strolled smiling into the Oversight meeting, sparking a fierce reaction among lawmakers who called him a coward. He sat, at times with arms crossed or leaning forward, in the front row as lawmakers debated his potential testimony and called each other names.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said Hunter Biden should be arrested on the spot.

Youre the epitome of white privilege, coming to the Oversight committee and spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls, Mace said. I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail.

Hunter Biden sits in the House Committee hearing in Washington D.C. to hear whether he will be held in contempt of congress on Jan. 10, 2024.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., countered with a proposal for Hunter Biden to testify immediately, which the Republicans presiding refused to accept. The chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said lawmakers would set the rules of his appearance, not Biden.

Mr. Biden doesnt make the rules, Comer said. We make the rules.

Biden walked out as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., began speaking.

I think its clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong, conservative Republican women, said Greene, who in July displayed nude pictures of Biden at a hearing. What a coward.

In the hallway outside the meeting, Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell told reporters Hunter Biden had offered six times to testify at a public hearing to avoid having his comments selectively leaked, but was rejected. The Judiciary Committee was also meeting to vote on a contempt resolution.

The Republican chairs today are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions, Lowell said. The question there is: What are they afraid of?

Comer said after the committee vote Republicans were puzzled by his appearance.

"Hunter Biden brazenly walked into our hearing unannounced after committing a criminal act when he defied our duly issued subpoenas," Comer said in a statement. "We have no idea why he showed up."

Hunter Biden arrives at the House Committee hearing in Washington D.C. to hear whether he will be held in contempt of congress on Jan. 10, 2024.

The votes carry no penalty but serve as a public rebuke to Biden. The full House could vote on the resolutions and recommend the Justice Department charge him criminally, as happened twice to Trump administration officials. But the department under President Joe Biden isnt expected to charge his son.

Biden already faces federal gun and tax charges. He is set to be arraigned Thursday on the tax charges.

The contempt votes at the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Accountability Committee mark the latest salvo from Republicans investigating President Joe Biden for alleged influence peddling through his son. The House has voted to open a formal impeachment inquiry.

Joe Biden and the White House have dismissed the accusations as lies and baseless.

Republicans allege Hunter Biden funneled millions of dollars to himself and his relatives through lucrative business deals in Ukraine, China and elsewhere by trading on his father's position as vice president and president.

The White House has argued Joe Biden didn't participate in his son's business and that lawmakers have uncovered no direct payments. Checks to the president from his brother, James Biden, who was also involved in some of the deals  which lawmakers charged was money laundering  were loan repayments, according to the White House.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said a dozen witnesses and thousands of pages of documents havent revealed any wrongdoing by Joe Biden or the Biden administration.

After all of that work, House Republicans have found not a shred of evidence to suggest that President Biden was anything other than a supportive father to his son, Nadler said.

Hunter Biden sits in the House Committee hearing in Washington D.C. to hear whether he will be held in contempt of congress on Jan. 10, 2024.

Tensions run high in Hunter Biden investigation

Republicans and Democrats have tangled repeatedly and vocally about how the investigation is being conducted. At one point, Moskowitz held up a poster of Donald Trump with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, even though there is no evidence linking Trump to Epstein's illegal activities.

The top Democrat on the Oversight committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, quoted Comer from national broadcast or streaming interviews on Sept. 13, Oct. 31, Nov. 6 and Nov. 28 inviting Hunter Biden to testify at a hearing.

The chairman has refused to take yes for an answer, Raskin said.

But Republicans have insisted on a closed-door deposition first to question Biden, to avoid anticipated Democratic grandstanding and delaying tactics.

He can come in for a hearing  after a deposition, Comer said.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., complained about lawmakers interrupting and talking over each other.

This is absurd and inappropriate, Biggs said. I think you have decorum and courtesy and dont act like a bunch of nimrods.

Hunter Biden sits in the House Committee hearing in Washington D.C. to hear whether he will be held in contempt of congress on Jan. 10, 2024.

Democrats accused GOP of hypocrisy over enforcing subpoenas

Democrats noted that a handful of Republican members of Congress  former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, former Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania  defied subpoenas from the committee that investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, without being found in contempt.

Moskowitz, in the Oversight committee, offered to vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt if Republicans added the names of Republican lawmakers to the resolution.

Jordan now heads the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Oversight committee.

The chairman himself blew off a valid subpoena," Nadler said. "What chutzpah. What gall."

Jordan didnt respond to Nadlers comment about his subpoena, but said Hunter Biden deserved a contempt citation.

This flagrant disregard for Congress constitutional oversight role clearly merits a citation of contempt, Jordan said. Its an open and shut case.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP votes to cite Hunter Biden for contempt for defying subpoena
The News

The Republican-led House judiciary and oversight committees voted Wednesday to advance a resolution recommending Hunter Biden be held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena. The judiciary committee voted 23-14, and the oversight committee 25-21. The matter will now move to the full House.

The presidents son unexpectedly showed up at the hearing earlier in the day, though he only stayed briefly at what would become an hours-long affair.

The House GOP brought contempt resolutions against Hunter Biden after he refused to appear for a closed-door deposition last month, insisting he would only testify in public. The deposition was meant to be part of Republicans impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

The Scene

The hearing was chaotic  even rowdy, at times  from the beginning. Lawmakers frequently strayed from the topic of Hunter Bidens subpoena, with Democrats holding up a poster board with a photo of Donald Trump standing next to Jeffrey Epstein and attacking the former president for the money he made from foreign governments while in office, and Republicans displaying explicit photos of the presidents son.

At one point, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wa.) made an unfortunate gaffe, saying that if the committee was going to talk about outrageous situations, it should discuss the fact that President Trump incited an erection.

She immediately caught her mistake and joked, Maybe that too!

GOP members were also quick to lambast Hunter Biden when they realized he was in the hearing room on Wednesday, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) asking who bribed Hunter Biden to be here?

You are the epitome of white privilege. Coming in to the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a Congressional subpoena to be deposed, she said, addressing him. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here.

I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail, she added.

Biden left the hearing room when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began to speak, about 30 minutes after his arrival. Excuse me, Hunter, apparently youre afraid of my words, Greene said as he walked out.

After Biden left, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) reprimanded Greene for showing dick pics at a past hearing. Garcias comments were prescient, as Greene later held up a poster board with large, censored photos she said were taken from a Hunter Biden sex tape. This was the second time Greene displayed photos of Biden that Democrats have admonished as pornographic; she showed similar images during a hearing last summer.

Know More

Hunter Biden refused to testify behind closed doors last month, raising concerns that private testimony could be selectively leaked or manipulated by House Republicans.

Republicans have argued that a public format would be insufficient for this investigation and have said that if Biden testifies privately, they would release the transcript of the deposition and hold a public hearing at a later date.

Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say, Biden said in a rare public statement outside the Capitol in December. What are they afraid of? I am here.

His attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement Wednesday, Republican chairs have today commandeered an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions.

Prior to issuing the subpoena, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he would drop everything if Hunter Biden decided to testify publicly. The presidents son and his attorneys have since accused Comer of reneging.

Republicans have long accused Hunter Biden of peddling influence to foreign governments when his father was vice president, and GOP lawmakers last month launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over the matter.

But more than a year after its launch, the GOPs investigation into Hunter Biden has failed to prove that the president benefitted from any of his sons business dealings or used his government power to enrich himself or his family. Both the White House and Hunter Bidens legal team have repeatedly said the president was not involved in his familys foreign business activities.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Hunter Biden sparked chaos on Capitol Hill Wednesday with a surprise appearance at a House Oversight hearing.

Lawmakers were meeting to vote on holding the presidents son in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena.

This all started because Republicans subpoenaed Hunter  asking him to answer questions for their impeachment probe into his father.

But that led to a fight and todays hearing about the subpoena quickly devolved into chaos.

Hunter Biden and his legal team sat in the audience of the hearing room as lawmakers fought back and forth.

I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail, said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

When Republicans subpoenaed Hunter, his lawyers said he would only testify publicly, and not behind closed doors.

Lawmakers held a hearing to discuss whether to hold him in contempt, but he showed up unexpectedly.

And then right before Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene started speaking, he walked out.

He cant even face my words, as I was about to speak to him. What a coward, said Greene.

Outside of the hearing room his legal team accused Republicans of playing political games.

Hunter Bidens lawyer Abbe Lowell said, An unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer their questions.

Democrats agreed, saying if Republicans really wanted the truth, they would allow Hunter to speak publicly.

Let me tell you why nobody wants to talk to yall behind closed doors. Because yall lie. Thats just the bottom line, said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).

Both the House Oversight and Judiciary committees are expected to vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt.

It will then go to the full House to vote on, where they will decide whether to recommend criminal charges.

The White House has been very critical of the impeachment investigation overall.

But when it comes to Hunter Biden, they say hes a private citizen who makes his own decisions, and thats what he did today.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
Hunter Biden punked House Republicans without saying a word Wednesday. How do we know? Because Rep. Nancy Mace of Charleston had a meltdown when Biden showed up unannounced at a House Oversight Committee hearing and simply sat quietly in the gallery.

Mace is just the latest in a growing number of powerful people acting like toddlers in public when things havent gone their way.

Issac Bailey

All Biden did was call the bluff of Republicans who have kept up a charade of an investigation supposedly to uncover wrongdoing by President Joe Biden. So far, theyve found literally no evidence the president has done anything illegal or even improper concerning his time as vice president. Because of that, theyve been left feeding lies to the Fox News set and tried to set Hunter Biden up to take down his father in a transparently dishonest way.

The presidents troubled adult son has agreed to publicly answer Republican questions about his business dealings. House Republicans have demanded it be done instead during a closed-door deposition. Everyone who has been paying attention knows why. Such a deposition would make it easy for bad-faith Republicans, like Mace, to take Hunter Bidens words out of context and leak them to their buddies in right-wing media to smear his father despite the lack of evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. That tactic wont be effective during a live hearing likely to attract the attention of numerous national news outlets.

Mace knows this. Thats why she ranted after Hunter Biden showed up Wednesday, ready to speak.

You are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls, she raged.

She doubled down later in a tweet: Its no secret that Hunter Biden is using his privilege to evade any sense of accountability. He showed up in the Peoples House as a PR stunt. Its horrendous that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are standing (with) him as he spits in the face of the American people.

She tripled down in another tweet, bizarrely claiming he ran as fast as he could after I confronted him because Hunter Biden left after House Republicans, once again, refused to allow him to publicly testify. He walked out as a Republican congresswoman from Georgia who had shown nude photos of him during a previous clown show of a hearing began speaking.

Notably, Mace has had little to say about the documented $7.8 million Donald Trump businesses received from foreign governments while he was president, or the $2 billion investment Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was a senior official in the Trump administration, received from the Saudi crown prince only months after they left the White House. (Hunter Biden has never served in public office.)

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina had a similar temper tantrum a few months ago when someone dared ask her colleague and then-GOP speaker nominee Mike Johnson about his role in attempts to undermine the 2020 election.

Arent they tired of embarrassing themselves? Arent they tired of embarrassing us?

At some point, youd think the public would rather the United States not be a laughingstock and stop sending children to represent us in Washington.

Maybe we are nearing that point. Maybe thats what 2024 will bring, Americans of all backgrounds, ideologies and partisan leanings who agree on little else deciding its time to stop empowering and enabling unserious people. Until we do that, well be stuck leaders-in-name-only like Mace.

Issac Bailey is a Carolinas opinion writer for McClatchy.
Hunter Biden walked out of a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday as Chairman James Comer called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to speak on a resolution to hold the presidents son in contempt of Congress.

Biden made a surprise, in-person appearance at the hearing and offered to address the committee directly. Last month, Biden had flouted a subpoena from the Oversight Committee ordering him to appear before Congress for a closed-door interview. Biden countered that the committee had offered him the option to deliver his testimony in a public hearing, and would not allow Republicans to subject his testimony to cherry-picking and selective releases. Oversight Republicans werent interested in letting Biden speak in public, and moved to hold Biden in contempt in retaliation.

Bidens attendance at the hearing prompted Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) to call for a vote to have Biden sworn in and deliver his statements to the committee. We object, not in order, Comer (R-Ky.) countered.

Republicans were infuriated that Biden crashed the hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) suggested that he had been bribed to appear, and told the presidents son that he was the epitome of white privilege, coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, You have no balls to come up here.

Mace then suggested that Biden should be arrested on the spot, and after it became clear Biden would not be allowed to speak publicly, he left the hearing room as his longtime antagonist, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), was recognized by the committee.

Hunter Biden walks out on Marjorie Taylor Greene pic.twitter.com/6z28xG6ly6  Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024

The hearing was extremely heated. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) called out Republicans for their hypocrisy regarding Bidens treatment. If the committee wants to hear from the witness, and the chairman gave the witness that option, then the only folks that are afraid to hear from the witness with the American people watching are my friends on the other side of the aisle, he said.

Moskowitz raised the fact that several Republicans on the committee had themselves flouted congressional subpoenas: Here is the subpoena to representative [Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)], who did not comply  Here is the subpoena to [Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)], who did not comply with a lawful subpoena. Here is the subpoena to [former Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)], who did not comply  Here is the subpoena to [Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Az.), who did not comply and heres the subpoena to [former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)], who did not comply.

Moskowitz: Here is the subpoena to representative Scott Perry, who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to mark meadows who did not comply. Here is the subpoena to Jim Jordan who did not comply with a lawful subpoena. pic.twitter.com/E0s2MYsNPu  Acyn (@Acyn) January 10, 2024

Show that youre serious and that everyone is not above the law, Moskowitz declared, adding that he would vote to hold Biden in contempt of Congress if Republicans approved an amendment adding the names hed listed to the resolution.

Following his departure from the committee room, Biden told CBS News that he would have testified if called to do so.

In a statement to reporters outside of the room Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden, said despite the fact that Hunter Biden is a private citizen, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father. And, despite their improper partisan motives, on six different occasions since February of 2023 we offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided.

The Republican chairs today then are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions. The question there is what are they afraid of? Lowell added.

As the hearing continued within the chamber, Greene continued the attacks on Biden, accusing him of running away when its my turn to talk.

Not only is he a criminal, but he is a coward, she said.

Rep. Garcia countered that Biden leaving during Greenes speaking time was understandable, given that Greene had once displayed naked, barely censored, photos of Biden in the committee room, which were then aired on national television.

More from Rolling Stone

Best of Rolling Stone
Gaven Puchinsky is sworn in as a witness at a hearing, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Union, N.J. into a fatal cargo ship fire in Newark N.J. last July that killed two firefighters. Puchinsky testified a Jeep he was using to push vehicles onto the ship burst into flames aboard the vessel. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

UNION, N.J. (AP)  Gaven Puchinsky had been pushing vehicles onto a huge cargo ship in one of the nation's busiest seaports when he heard a loud clunking noise that he believed came from the yellow Jeep Wrangler he was using to nudge the cars up a steep ramp in Newark, New Jersey.

Within minutes, the ship would be ablaze in a July fire that claimed the lives of two Newark fire captains.

Puchinsky estimated he had pushed about 50 cars onto the Italian-owned Grande Costa dAvorio when he heard a noise that he likened to dropping a wrench on the floor.

He had just maneuvered a vehicle into its spot on the 10th level of the 12-level ship that was carrying more than 1,200 automobiles when his co-workers began yelling to him.

They started screaming at me to get out of the car because the car was on fire, Puchinsky testified Wednesday at the start of a hearing by the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are investigating the cause of the July 5 blaze. The passenger side window was open and flames were coming in through that window. There were flaming fireballs dripping from the bottom of the vehicle.

Puchinsky said he got out of the Jeep, ran to grab nearby fire extinguishers and emptied two onto the burning vehicle, to little effect.

My co-workers said, We gotta get off the ship, so I ran off the ship, he said.

His testimony was significant because it supports allegations by the families of Newark fire Captains Augusto Augie Acabou and Wayne Bear Brooks Jr. that the Jeep started the blaze that killed them. They say the Jeep was observed to be smoking earlier in the day, although Puchinsky said he did not witness the Jeep malfunction until it caught fire.

Another worker doing the same job, Austin Costanzo, said that same yellow Jeep had overheated several times while he was operating it in the months leading up to the fire. Both Costanza and Puchinsky worked for American Maritime Services of New York. Costanzo also did not mention seeing the vehicle emit smoke.

The dead firefighters' families announced plans in October to sue The Grimaldi Group, the Italian company that owns the ship, as well as two stevedore companies involved in loading the vessel. An attorney for Grimaldi declined comment Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation by the Coast Guard and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health indicated that the Newark Fire Department had little to no maritime firefighting training, experience or familiarization with cargo ships of any type, according to a Coast Guard safety alert issued in November.

Commander Christian Barger, chief of inspections and investigations for the Fifth Coast Guard District, said 13 witnesses will testify during hearings, which will run through Jan. 18. Those testifying will include crew members from the ship, dockside cargo handlers, and firefighters.

He said the hearings aim to meticulously examine the circumstances surrounding the causes of the fire and the subsequent deaths of Firefighters Acabou and Brooks so that we can help prevent future incidents and make the shipping and port communities safer.

While seeking the cause of the fire, the inquiry will not seek to affix blame to anyone, Barger said. It will instead issue safety recommendations beyond those included in a Nov. 20 alert. That guidance recommended that local fire departments and ports establish regular shipboard firefighting education and training, including language translation capabilities for non-English-speaking crews.

___

Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
WASHINGTON  Much of the focus of the trilateral pact between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K., known as AUKUS, has been on military-to-military cooperation, but a group of more than 400 investors is establishing a parallel effort to increase collaboration among the countries private sectors.

Innovation advisory firm BMNT announced the AUKUS Defense Investor Network, or DIN, in December and plans to host its first meeting in early February. The group, which represents about $265 billion in venture capital, brings together existing investor networks in the three countries with a goal of increasing funding for national security innovation.

Heather Richman, who chairs the U.S. DIN and is a co-chair of the AUKUS group, told C4ISRNET the network is designed to give investors a chance to ask questions, share challenges and better understand the technology needs within the national security community. Meetings will also feature discussions with defense officials from the three countries.

Its really just a forum to get new investors to understand the space, to be interested in the sorts of things that matter to our national security, and for the government side and military side to communicate objectives, Richman said in an interview.

The AUKUS DIN doesnt require membership dues and isnt incorporated. Its members range from top-tier venture funds to corporate venture groups attached to defense primes to individuals with little knowledge of national security investing.

While its membership is comprised of mostly U.S. firms, theres a growing contingent from the other two countries. Australia, which started its network about 18 months ago, has 40 members and the U.K., whose DIN was created last March, has about 80.

Richman noted that the U.S. defense industrial base and venture capital community is much larger than that of Australia and the U.K., explaining its out-sized presence in the AUKUS DIN. According to analytics firm Pitchbook, U.S. startups focused on defense technology drew more than $100 billion in private capital between 2021 and 2023  40% higher than what was invested in the previous four years.

Still, all three countries add value to the investor network, she said.

Its obvious that other countries want to access our defense industry and our private capital markets, but theres a lot we can learn from all sides, Richman said.

Australia and the U.K., for example, have access to a range of minerals needed to make electric vehicles and weapons and are investing in new processing facilities.

Richman also highlighted Britains success establishing public-private partnerships through its National Security Strategic Investment Fund, which invests in commercial firms developing advanced technology.

They have proven that you can take private dollars and public dollar dollars and put them into an entity and successfully invest, she said. Our government and our military and our private sector has not come to that point.

AUKUS goals

The goal of AUKUS is to deepen military and industrial base ties between the three countries and strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific region. The first phase, or pillar, centered on helping Australia establish its own nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

The AUKUS DINs formation comes as the three countries broaden the focus of their defense collaboration to include advanced military technology  part of the pacts next stage, known as Pillar II. Those technologies include quantum, AI, undersea, hypersonics and electronic warfare.

The U.S. hosted an AUKUS summit in early December, unveiling several Pillar II initiatives to advance technology cooperation and support the industrial base. That includes a series of joint maritime exercises, an electronic warfare-focused prize challenge led by the Defense Innovation Unit and a series of industry forums to discuss technology needs.

In a joint statement highlighting various Pillar II commitments, defense leaders from each of the three countries said they welcome the creation of the AUKUS DIN and vowed to leverage the investor base to strengthen financing and facilitate targeted industry connectivity.

While early AUKUS DIN meetings will likely provide a venue for braoder questions about the security pact and the specifics of Pillar II, Richman expects the group to also tackle policy concerns and work to create opportunities for more free-flowing discussions between private investors and the military about technology priorities. Those conversations, she said, help promote understanding on both sides and can drive venture funding toward companies developing capabilities the military needs.

These investors are putting dollars in very early. Theyre creating and then steering industries, she said. If we have a better understanding about what are the needs at the military, the government level, that can actually affect and change the way they might be investing.

The AUKUS DIN is not an advocacy organization, she said, but there is opportunity for the network to provide feedback to defense officials and other stakeholders on how things like export control policy, classification and procurement processes impact the private sector.

The DIN will also coordinate its meetings around the industry forums that the three countries plan to host over the next year. Richman said those will be informal gatherings aimed at building bridges of trust between these countries as they are looking toward leaning on private capital more and more.
In her annual Condition of the State address, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds recognized one of the first responders to last week's shooting at Perry High School, crediting him with saving the life of an injured victim.

Reynolds began her speech by asking lawmakers to observe a moment of silence for the victims of the Perry shooting, where 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff was killed and seven other students and staff members were injured. The shooter, a 17-year-old student, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Reynolds thanked all the law enforcement officers, first responders, and federal agents who responded to the scene. But she gave special recognition to State Trooper Joseph Lang, who was one of the first to arrive on site.

More: Kim Reynolds proposes in annual speech to boost Iowa teacher pay, overhaul AEAs, cut taxes

Until last year, Reynolds said, Lang was a motor vehicle officer under the Department of Transportation. Then, Reynolds' massive government realignment bill brought motor vehicle officers into the Department of Public Safety, and Lang became a newly minted state trooper.

"Because of his new role, Joe was outfitted with the right medical supplies and the right training for this type of situation," Reynolds said. "When he entered the building, he was directed to a critically injured victim. He applied a tourniquet and treated wounds exactly as trained. And he saved a life."

Every House and Senate lawmaker and the members of the Iowa Supreme Court stood to applaud Lang, who watched the speech from the House gallery.

Reynolds also recognized Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger, who tried to talk down the shooter.

"Despite the danger, he put himself in harms way, risking his life to protect his students," Reynolds said. "Dan sustained multiple gunshot wounds at close range. His unflinching bravery saved lives that morning."

Marburger remains in critical condition, according to Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh.

The shooting in Perry loomed over the first days of the 2024 legislative session. Lawmakers reflected on the tragedy and proposed a range of possible solutions, from increased school security to protecting children's mental health.

Hundreds of students marched to the Capitol on Monday to protest what they say is inaction on gun violence. The rally, organized by March for Our Lives, called on lawmakers to pass red-flag laws and other restrictions to prevent violent individuals from accessing guns.

On Tuesday night, Democratic leaders criticized Reynolds for not including any proposals to address gun violence or firearm regulations, and they said Democrats are researching their own policy proposals now. Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said Democrats might be able to reach a compromise with Republicans on the storage of firearms.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, was less optimistic.

"I've not seen any evidence from the Republicans in this legislature or the governor that they want to do anything to address the issue on that front," Konfrst said.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds recognizes Perry High School principal, state trooper
High winds, freezing temperatures and heavy precipitation put most of Iowa under a winter storm warning this week -- dropping up to 6 inches in observed snow in parts of the state, with up to a foot forecast through Wednesday. That upended presidential campaigning in the final days before next Monday's caucuses start the 2024 Republican primary race.

Donald Trump's campaign initially scuttled two events featuring Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Gov. Mike Huckabee in Ottumwa and Des Moines on Monday due to bad weather preventing travel.

Trump then canceled another surrogate event, on Tuesday night with former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker, after comedian Roseanne Barr pulled out Monday night from appearing with Whitaker due to weather.

Nikki Haley's event in Sioux City on Monday befell a similar fate, with the campaign telling ABC News that weather prevented her arrival. The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador did show up to a scheduled stop in Waukee on Tuesday morning, however.

PHOTO: A person clears snow from their car during a snowstorm in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 9, 2024. (Nathan Ellgren/AP)

GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy had criticized other candidates, especially Haley, for canceling events on Monday as he managed to make it to four of his own stops in northwest Iowa.

"If you can't handle the snow, you're not ready for Xi Jinping," Ramaswamy told reporters after an event in Sioux City where a few inches of snow had already blanketed the area. "Frankly, if these Iowans, and even people from other states around the country have come here to listen to me, and I made a commitment to be here, I'm gonna do everything in my power to do it."

But on Tuesday morning, Ramaswamy canceled his first three events after posting on X that it was "effectively impossible" to get to his first stop in Coralville.

Still, Ramaswamy plans to be the only candidate to still hold multiple events in the state on Tuesday evening, with four town halls scheduled in Ottumwa, Oskaloosa, Pella and West Des Moines, respectively.

Florida Gov. DeSantis was out of state in order to deliver his State of the State address in Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday morning. Just hours after issuing a state of emergency from the Florida tornadoes that touched down, DeSantis is expected to return to Iowa to participate in a Fox News town hall on Tuesday night, a source close to DeSantis tells ABC News.

But it's unclear if the event will proceed in light of the continuing weather. A Fox spokeswoman said she had no immediate updates.

PHOTO: Heavy snow falls as a man walks along the Skywalk system that connects buildings in downtown on January 08, 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Iowa GOP chairman, Jeff Kaufmann, told reporters on Monday after the state party's annual legislative breakfast that he still expects a "robust" turnout at the caucuses, but he admitted that it could be hindered by severe wintry conditions.

In 2016, more than 186,000 votes were cast -- breaking the 2012 record of 121,000, which itself topped the 2008 record of 119,000.

ABC News' Adam Carlson, Lalee Ibssa, Nicholas Kerr, Soo Rin Kim, Isabella Murray and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.

Iowa snowstorm upends campaigning less than 1 week before Republican caucuses originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Iran has developed a new Shahed-107 attack drone for Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, featuring technology to detect British and American multiple-launch rocket systems supplied to Ukraine's Defence Forces, Sky News TV channel has reported, citing an unnamed source.

Source: Sky News

Quote: "The Shahed-107 was described as an explosive and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), possibly fitted with technology to seek out high-value battlefield targets such as British and American multiple-launch rocket systems used by Ukrainian forces."

Details: A Sky News source said that "a few units" of the specially designed drone may have been offered to Russia as part of the deal, estimated to be worth more than US$2 million (1.6 million).

The source noted that this is evidence of "the significant force design work Iran is engaged in to support Russia's interests regarding Ukraine".

The article noted that the Shahed-107 belongs to the Shahed-101 family of uncrewed aerial vehicles with V-shaped tails.

It measures about 2.5 metres long, has a wingspan of 3 metres, can be launched from a vehicle and is estimated to have a range of up to 1,500km (932 miles).

A source told Sky News that it was thought to be equipped with a transmitter for real-time video transmission. "Such reconnaissance capabilities mean the drone could be used to identify targets on Ukraine's frontline for other UAVs or weapons systems to hit," the TV channel pointed out.

The TV channel's sources in security agencies reported that the Iranian security forces had tested the Shahed-107 together with the Russians at an airbase in central Iran.

"If confirmed, defence experts said the development by Iran of a new drone would underline its growing military manufacturing capabilities and its importance to Russia's war effort," Sky News stressed.

Furthermore, according to the TV channel's sources, Russia expects to receive high-precision surface-to-surface missile systems from Iran shortly. In particular, these are missiles with a range of over 300km (186 miles).

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A German-Iranian citizen arrested in Iran in 2020 has been granted a temporary release, on the condition she wear an electronic ankle monitor, according to her daughter.

I am pleased to announce that my mother Nahid Taghavi was this morning released temporarily on furlough. Unfortunately, Nahid has to wear an electronic ankle tag during the furlough, Taghavis daughter Mariam Claren wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

Taghavi, now in her late sixties, was detained in Tehran on October 16, 2020, solely for peacefully exercising (her) human rights, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International statement in 2021.

In August 2021, Irans Revolutionary Court convicted Taghavi of national security-related charges which she denied, and she was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison, Amnesty said.

Her lawyer Mostafa Nili said she had been sentenced alongside a British-Iranian citizen, Mehran Raouf, on charges related to participating in managing an illegal group and propaganda against the regime.

Human Rights Watch has previously accused Iranian authorities of targeting foreign and dual nationals with vague charges in an attempt to gain leverage over other countries.

Taghavis release from Tehrans Evin prison comes amid concerns over her health. Amnesty has warned Taghavi was at increased risk of severe illness or death if she were to contract Covid as she has diabetes and high blood pressure.

Her fellow prisoner at Evin, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, warned on Instagram in June that Taghavis life was in danger.

Following Taghavis release, Claren posted a photograph of her mother sitting on a yellow sofa with a gentle smile.

The photo also shows Taghavi wearing an electronic monitor on her ankle.

Nahids movement will be restricted to 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) from her apartment in Tehran. This makes her release more comparable to house arrest, Claren wrote, adding, However, we hope this furlough is an important first step for her unconditional release.

Germanys senior diplomat Ambassador Christian Buck on Tuesday welcomed Taghavis release, which he said was on medical grounds.

This is an important first step. We continue to work tirelessly to ensure that Nahid Taghavi is reunited with her family, he posted on X.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Whats happening

In his first campaign speech of the election year, President Biden framed the race as a battle over the fate of American democracy.

Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot, he said.

With polls showing that a potential 2024 rematch against former President Donald Trump is likely to be a close contest, Biden has opted to make democracy the central issue of his reelection bid.

The president spent much of his address discussing the horror of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, as well as Trumps continued election denial and ongoing effort to recast participants in the deadly riots as patriots.

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He then pivoted to warnings about what Trump would do if he were to regain the presidency  referencing the former presidents own stated calls for the termination of parts of the the Constitution, his plan to be a dictator on day one of his next term and his pledge to seek retribution against his political enemies.

Trump responded by calling Biden the true threat to democracy during an interview with Fox News in which he repeated baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Why theres debate

Though most Democrats agree with Bidens view that Trump poses a unique threat to U.S. democratic institutions if he regains power, theres strong disagreement within the party over whether it's a good strategy to make that a centerpiece of Bidens campaign.

Critics of the approach say voters make their decisions based on things that directly affect them in their lives every day, not lofty, abstract concepts like defending democracy. They argue that the president should instead focus on changing the publics dour views of the economy, addressing concerns that he lacks the stamina to make it through another four years in office and hammering the GOP for its unpopular stances on issues like abortion.

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But defenders of the strategy say Democrats recent track record in races against election-denying Republicans, most notably during the 2022 midterms, shows that democracy really does motivate voters to come to their side. Many argue that Biden can easily tie all those other kitchen table issues into the conversation about democracy by warning that a Trump victory would imperil the economy and put personal freedoms at risk.

Conservatives, for their part, say that Biden has to turn the election into a debate about democracy because voters are so dissatisfied with his performance on all the other issues that he could be campaigning on.

Whats next

Beyond being just a campaign issue, Trumps election denial has also put him in serious legal trouble that could determine the 2024 race. The Supreme Court is expected to decide in the coming weeks whether states can bar him from the ballot over the claim that he engaged in insurrection. Trump also faces 91 felony counts that, depending on how and when those cases are resolved, could see him put in jail before voters head to the polls in November.
Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of their relatives of the Nofal family, who were killed following Israeli air strikes on a building west of the city of Rafah, killing at least 15 people. Mohammed Talatene/dpa

Israeli forces are continuing their attacks in the city of Khan Younis and in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops have attacked around 150 Hamas targets over the past day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday morning.

In Khan Younis, the largest city in the south of the sealed-off Palestinian territory, the army said it had killed dozens of Hamas militants.

Fifteen underground tunnel shafts were uncovered in al-Maghazi, which was established in 1949 and is one of the smaller refugee camps in Gaza. It is a densely built-up quarter with narrow streets and alleys.

The UN said that some 33,000 Palestinians lived there before the war erupted in October.

Israeli military operations in the area also uncovered rocket launchers, drones and explosive devices, the IDF said.

Figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry show that around 23,210 people have been killed since Israeli military operations began more than three months ago. Almost 59,170 people have been injured.

Israel is responding to the worst massacre in its history and is vowing to destroy Hamas, which controlled the Gaza Strip.

On October 7, terrorists from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and other extremist groups murdered more than 1,200 people in Israel.

In light of the devastating impact on the civilian population, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for more protection and help for Gazans during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

Further civilian casualties should be avoided and more humanitarian aid should be allowed in, Blinken said.

Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of their relatives of the Nofal family, who were killed following Israeli air strikes on a building west of the city of Rafah, killing at least 15 people. Mohammed Talatene/dpa

Palestinians mourn next to the bodies of their relatives of the Nofal family, who were killed following Israeli air strikes on a building west of the city of Rafah, killing at least 15 people. Mohammed Talatene/dpa
A protester reacts as demonstrators are confronted by Palestinian Authority security forces during a protest held in Ramallah as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Palestinian president - MARCO LONGARI/AFP

Israels military has denied allegations its troops deliberately ran over the dead body of a Palestinian fighter killed in a West Bank gun battle, saying the incident was unintentional.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of committing a brutal crime after CCTV footage showed a military vehicle running over a corpse in the city of Tulkarem late on Monday.

The footage, shared widely on social media, shows two men in dark clothing falling to the ground and accompanying audio carries the sounds of several shots.

An armoured vehicle then drives up to the two unmoving bodies and rolls over one, coming to rest with its rear wheel on top of the body.

Images apparently recorded later show one body having been moved to the side of the road, while another vehicle backs over the other body. It then manoeuvres over it twice more.

Other footage seemingly taken from the same CCTV camera shows an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters just moments before.

The operational vehicle that is seen in the video was dispatched in order to extricate the force that was caught under heavy fire and unintentionally ran over the terrorists body, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

It added it would review what had happened and said the video does not show the incident in its entirety.

04:00 PM GMT

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We will be back tomorrow with all the latest updates.

03:58 PM GMT

Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli strike on Gaza ambulance kills 4

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip killed four medics.

Four members of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance crews martyred due to the targeting by the occupation of an ambulance vehicle on Salah al-Din Street at the entrance of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip.#NotATarget #IHl#Gaza  PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 10, 2024

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

Salah al-Din Street is a highway running north-south through the Gaza Strip, which has in the past been used by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the Israeli military advance.

03:44 PM GMT

Pictured: Palestinians protest during a visit by Antony Blinken in Ramallah

Palestinians are confronted by Palestinian Authority security forces as they protest during a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah - MARCO LONGARI/AFP

Protesters are confronted by Palestinian Authority security forces during a protest held in Ramallah during Anthony Blinken's visit - MARCO LONGARI/AFP

03:38 PM GMT

Shapps pledges to stop Red Sea missiles after British warship attacked

Grant Shapps has pledged to stop missile attacks in the Red Sea after a Royal Navy warship was attacked by Houthi rebels.

The Defence Secretary said it was thought that HMS Diamond had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian-backed rebel group in its latest missile and drone barrage in the region, the largest of its kind to date.

My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that theres a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region), Mr Shapps told reporters.

HMS Diamond and US warships downed 21 drones and missiles fired by the Yemeni group during Wednesdays attack, British and American officials said.

The Houthis have vowed to continue striking merchant vessels in the area until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and threatened to attack US warships if its own fighters were targeted.

Mr Shapps said there was no doubt whatsoever that Iran was guiding the Houthis on the attacks, dozens of which have been carried out in the region since mid-November.

Enough is enough, he said. This cannot continue and we wont allow it to continue so watch this space.

03:30 PM GMT

Blinken and Abbas

Met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ongoing efforts to minimize civilian harm in Gaza, accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid, end extremist violence, and work towards an independent Palestinian state. pic.twitter.com/c60d5ISLnT  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 10, 2024

03:08 PM GMT

WHO cancels sixth aid mission to Gaza over security concerns

The World Health Organisation cancelled another planned medical aid mission to Gaza on Wednesday over security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said it was the sixth mission to northern Gaza cancelled by the UN agency because requests to visit had not been approved or assurances over security provided since its last visit, on 26 December.

Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortage and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need, he told a virtual press conference from Geneva. We call on Israel to approve requests by WHO and other partners to deliver humanitarian aid.

02:31 PM GMT

Watch: IDF footage of 'room to room fighting in Gaza'

01:58 PM GMT

Doctors Without Borders condemns strike that killed five-year-old girl

Doctors Without Borders has condemned a strike on one of its shelters in Gaza, which led to the death of the five-year-old daughter of a staff member.

They said a shell broke through the wall of the building where more than 100 of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), staff and their family members were seeking shelter in Khan Younis, near the south of the Gaza Strip.

The five-year-old girl was critically injured by the strike and underwent surgery at the Gaza European Hospital. However, she later died of her injuries on January 9. Three other people were slightly injured in the strike.

Thomas Lauvin, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said: We are outraged and deeply saddened by the death of yet another family member of our MSF staff.

This strike on civilians is unacceptable and, once again, goes to show that it doesnt matter where you are in Gaza, nowhere is safe.

The shell did not detonate on impact, otherwise many more of our staff and their families would have most likely been killed, Mr Lauvin added.



01:44 PM GMT

Better to 'burn Gaza down' than for Israeli troops to die, MP says

A far-Right Israeli MP said it was better for Gaza to burn than for Israeli troops to die, claiming there are no innocents in the besieged enclave.

Nissim Vaturi, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ruling Likud party, made the comments ahead of Israels hearing in the Hague, where it faces accusations of committing genocide in Gaza.

It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there, he told Hakol Baramah radio.

Whoever stays there should be eliminated, period. I dont even have a doubt.

The deputy speaker of the Knessets remarks came after he called for the Israeli military to Burn Gaza now late last year. Mr Vaturis comments sparked widespread condemnation and led to him being temporarily banned from Facebook.

I stand behind my words, he told Hakol Baramah radio.

01:25 PM GMT

Blinken meets Palestinian president

Antony Blinken and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, discussed US efforts to address extremist violence in the West Bank and minimise civilian harm in Gaza in their meeting on Wednesday, the US State Department said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS

The two officials also discussed administrative reforms, which if implemented, would benefit the Palestinian people, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller

01:07 PM GMT

Shapps: British warship in Red Sea may have been targeted

The Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond was potentially targeted in an attack by Yemen-based Houthi militants in the Red Sea, Grant Shapps has said.

The Defence Secretary said: My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that theres a generalised attack on all shipping [in the region].

Mr Shapps previously said it was the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

12:43 PM GMT

Pictured: HMS Diamond in the Red Sea

Image taken from the bridge of HMS Diamond, seen here firing her Sea Viper missiles in the Red Sea today - Royal Navy/Ships crew

12:26 PM GMT

UK and US warships stop largest Houthi attack in Red Sea

US and UK forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels toward international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the US military said.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement: Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs... anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea.

The force said no injuries or damage were reported, adding that this was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the region since November 19.

Grant Shapps, the British defence secretary, said it was the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

The incident came ahead of a scheduled vote at the United Nations Security Council on a resolution that would demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemens Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned that it would attack US warships if the group itself was targeted.

Various shipping lines have meanwhile suspended operations in the region, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

11:57 AM GMT

US backs 'tangible steps' for Palestinian state, Blinken tells Abbas

Antony Blinken told Mahmud Abbas, Palestinian president, that Washington supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

Mr Blinken reiterated Washingtons longstanding position that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel with both living in peace and security, Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, said in a statement.

The US Secretary of State mentioned increased volatility in the territory, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in raids by the Israeli military or attacks by Jewish settlers in recent months.

11:54 AM GMT

Protest march against Blinken in Ramallah

A protest march in Ramallah, Palestine, rejecting the visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. pic.twitter.com/bOyHcaZeJZ  Darine (@Darineeli) January 10, 2024

11:36 AM GMT

Red Sea security must be achieved without a new war, Italian minister says

Yemens Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping must be stopped without triggering a new war, the Italian defence minister said, as the Iranian-backed militia steps up attacks on commercial vessels.

US and British forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis on Tuesday towards international Red Sea shipping lanes, the U.S. militarys Central Command said, adding it was the 26th such Houthi attack since November 19.

In a reference to current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Guido Crosetto told Reuters: It is a huge problem, it is a consequence of other [war] outbreaks. I would not like to open a third front of war at this time.

The Houthis have vowed to continue the attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza and has said that it would strike US warships if the militia group itself was attacked in Yemen.

10:37 AM GMT

Blinken to make surprise visit to Bahrain

Antony Blinken will make a surprise visit to Bahrain, a State Department official said, in the latest leg of his crisis tour of the Middle East.

Mr Blinken will fly to Bahrain, home of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

It comes after he met Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after pressing Israels leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.

10:13 AM GMT

UN: Colleagues require greater access to help people in need

Gaza: @UNRWA colleagues continue working day and night to provide vital services despite on-going hostilities.



They are delivering food, water, blankets & health supplies when and where they can, but require greater access to help people in need. pic.twitter.com/BCtwR0W7j5  United Nations (@UN) January 10, 2024

09:23 AM GMT

Pictured: Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike - IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS

08:52 AM GMT

Lord Cameron: Israel may have broken international law

Lord Cameron has said he is worried Israel may have breached international law during the conflict in Gaza, as he called for an immediate pause in the fighting.

The foreign secretary said that of course he had concerns about the Middle East crisis in Gaza but added it was not his job to make a legal adjudication.

In his first lengthy period of scrutiny by MPs since returning to Cabinet, the former prime minister also told the Commons Foreign Affairs committee that two British nationals were still being held hostage by Hamas.

Asked if it was known if the two people were alive, he said: I just dont want to say any more. We dont have any information to share with you.

Read more here

08:39 AM GMT

Blinken to meet with head of the Palestinian Authority

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, was set to hold talks on Wednesday with the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern Gaza after Israels war with Hamas ends.

The authority currently exercises limited rule in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians ability to govern themselves effectively, Mr Blinken said on Tuesday, emphasising the importance of progress towards a two-state solution.

The Palestinian Authority also has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance - issues I plan to raise with president Abbas, he added.

However, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has shown no interest in reviving negotiations towards a Palestinian state and a post-war plan outlined by Yoav Gallant, the countrys defence minister, envisions local civil committees governing Gaza after Israel has dismantled Hamas.

Mr Blinken declined to say whether Mr Netanyahus views had shifted in their discussions.

08:34 AM GMT

Shapps: UK and US repel 'largest Houthi attack in Red Sea to date'

HMS DIAMOND, along with US warships, has repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.



Destroying multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles. pic.twitter.com/kFjFKj6TM6  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) January 10, 2024

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Semafor Signals

Insights from CNN, Times of Israel, and Mail & Guardian

The News

Hearings are set to begin Thursday in the International Court of Justice over South Africas accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

South Africa filed a case claiming that Israel was in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention  which was crafted following the Holocaust  over its assault on Gaza. The accusations, which Israel has pledged to rebuff in court, could impact the trajectory of the war.

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Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Outcome of case could put Israel in legal gray area

Source: CNN

The ICJ has never found a state to be directly responsible for genocide, so such a ruling would place Israel in legally uncharted territory, a Tel Aviv-based international law professor said. While it could take years for a final ruling, the court could grant an injunction in the short-term to cease the fighting in Gaza, CNN noted. Though the courts rulings are binding, it cant guarantee compliance  but experts said that if Israel ignores a court order, that could damage its standing among allies like the U.S.

Israels argument: It is acting in self-defense

Sources: BBC, Times of Israel

Israel, which is likely to argue its actions in Gaza equate to self-defense, has called the accusations blood libel. Its allies also have accused the South African government of holding double standards, citing its failure to arrest former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who was accused of war crimes and genocide. A U.S.-based genocide expert whose parents are Holocaust survivors told The Times of Israel that the term genocide is used willy-nilly by people, and that Israel is not intending to destroy the Palestinian people.

South Africa has complicated history with Israel and the ICJ

Sources: The Guardian, Mail & Guardian

South Africas anti-Israel stance stems from its longstanding support for the Palestinian cause and deteriorating relations with the Israeli government. Israel had a close military alliance with the white, apartheid regime that ruled over South Africa. Theres an affinity for the Palestinian struggle which is seen as very close to the South African struggle, a former member of the South African Parliament from the ruling ANC party said. At the same time, some in the country all but gave up on international law and courts decades ago, according to local paper Mail & Guardian: In the 1960s, Ethiopia and Liberia filed a case against apartheid South Africa, but the ICJ dismissed it.
FILE - Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. srael is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. The decision to participate rather than boycott reflects Israeli concerns that the judges could order Israel to halt its war against Hamas and tarnish its image internationally.

Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious, said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israels Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa.

Israel, which as one of the parties in the case is entitled to send a judge, has tapped a former Israeli Supreme Court chief justice to join the court's 15 regular members who will rule on the accusation. It has also enlisted a British barrister and lauded international law expert as part of its defense team.

Israel hopes their expertise will trounce the South African claim that Israel's military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide and prevent an interim court order to force Israel to stop the fighting. Israel says halting the war when Hamas' capabilities are intact in many places and with hostages still in its captivity would amount to a Hamas victory.

The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israels national identity. The country sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after 6 million were killed in the Holocaust. International support for Israels creation in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities.

The same year, with Israels involvement, world powers drew up the convention against genocide in hopes of preventing similar atrocities.

Israel's unprecedented air, ground and sea offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel's military campaign has displaced roughly 85% of Gazas 2.3 million population, many with no homes to return to. More than a quarter of the population is starving.

South Africa, which has long been a critic of Israels treatment of the Palestinians, launched the case at the United Nations top court in The Netherlands. Many South Africans compare Israels policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with their own countrys former apartheid regime of racial segregation.

Israel vehemently disputes the genocide claims, saying it is fighting a war of self-defense after Hamas militants launched its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostage. Israel says its actions comply with international law and that it does its best to prevent harm to civilians, blaming Hamas for embedding in residential areas.

South Africas 84-page filing says Israels actions, including killing Palestinians and causing serious mental and bodily harm, are genocidal in character. It says Israeli officials have expressed genocidal intent.

The case will likely drag on for years. But South Africas filing includes a request for the court to urgently issue legally binding interim orders for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.

Abiding by such a ruling would be politically costly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Israelis still largely supportive of the war. Israel would also fall short of its declared goal of crushing the militant group.

If it doesnt abide, Israel could face U.N. sanctions. Although the U.S., Israel's closest ally, could veto such a move, doing so would anger many Democrats who have already soured on President Joe Biden over his strong support for Israel in the war. That could be damaging for Biden as he seeks reelection. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Tuesday that the case is meritless.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, criticized South Africa, saying it was giving Hamas political and legal cover.

We are appalled that South Africa has chosen to play advocate for the devil," he said.

An Israeli official said Israel agreed to cooperate with the court because it is confident it will prevail. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. Israel boycotted a prominent case at the court in 2004 about its West Bank separation barrier, which the court ruled was contrary to international law," saying the proceedings were politically motivated.

Israel chose Aharon Barak  a mainstay of the country's legal world for decades  to join the panel of international judges. A former attorney general and peace negotiator who served as chief justice of Israels highest court from 1995-2006, Barak has ruled in cases related to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

The internationally renowned 87-year-old has received honorary degrees from multiple universities, including Yale and Oxford.

He is also a Holocaust survivor who was sent to Lithuania's Kovno Ghetto at age 5, where he has said he repeatedly evaded death. That personal detail could be significant in his discussions with the other judges.

Just a few months ago, Netanyahu and his allies vilified Barak as they pushed forward with their plans to overhaul Israel's judiciary. Barak, under whom the courts took on a more robust role, was seen as a symbol of an overly interventionist legal system.

Protesters held sit-ins outside his Tel Aviv home and politicians lashed out at the octogenarian in Knesset speeches. But facing the case in The Hague, Netanyahu did a quick about face, surprising even his critics.

At a time of legal troubles in the international arena, Israel has only one person to rely on, commentator Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz daily. Even Netanyahu understood that theres nobody but him. Hes our 911 emergency service.

British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, who will defend Israel, is the author of what's seen as the definitive textbook on international law. He has represented numerous states, including Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, in international litigation, including at the International Court of Justice, according to a biography posted online by Essex Court Chambers, where Shaw is a barrister.

Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser at the Israeli Foreign Ministry who counts Shaw as a friend, said it remained to be seen whether judges from nations with poor ties to Israel will rule objectively. But he said Israel had positioned itself to meet the charges head on.

They chose the top people," he said. It means Israel is taking it very seriously.

___

Follow APs Israel-Hamas war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Russian-state media continues to embolden pro-Russian separatists in Moldova, possibly in an attempt to sow political instability and division, the Institute for the Study of War reported in their daily assessment on Jan. 9.

Vadim Krasnoselsky, the president of the Russian-backed breakaway republic of Transnistria, told reporters from the Russian state media agency TASS that Moldova's increased 'militarization' threatens Transnistria. Over the last year, the government of Moldova increased its military budget, participated in joint exercises with NATO, and received military supplies from European states to protect itself from further military incursion from Russia.

"When our neighbor, with which there has been an unresolved conflict for more than 30 years and which has treacherously attacked our peaceful cities in the past, suddenly races to arm itself, naturally, thats a threat," Krasnoselsky said.

Transnistria is a breakaway region internationally recognized as part of Moldova. Russian troops have occupied Transnistria since the early 1990s when Russia invaded the region under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians.

Krasnoselsky also rejected the idea that Moldova could be increasing its military capabilities as a way to defend itself against Russia. He also alleged that Moldova is consistently following the path of escalation and the Moldovan government bears the responsibility for further inevitable consequences.

In a previous assessment, ISW determined that Russia is slowly shaping an information space aimed at destabilizing Moldova and justifying any future campaigns by framing Russia as a protector of 'threatened Russian language speakers' in Moldova. This approach is almost identical to the narratives constructed by Russia to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This recent report suggests Krasnoselsky's decision to further develop the Kremlins information conditions and instability in Moldova is motivated by a recent change to the Moldovan Customs Code.

In March 2023, the Moldovan government amended the Customs Code to begin requiring companies in Transnistria to pay import customs duties to Moldova. The change went into effect at the beginning of this month and reportedly came as a "surprise" to Transnistria.

Viktor Gushan, a Moldovan-Russian businessman who effectively controls the economy in Transnistria, is closely affiliated with Krasnoselsky. Back in April 2022, Russia conducted a false-flag operation in Transnistria in an attempt to bring the breakaway region into the invasion of Ukraine. The operation failed allegedly because Gushan refused to risk his lucrative business ties with Western companies.

The Customs law, however, could potentially jeopardize Gushan's profits in Transnistria. According to ISW, Moldovan investigative journalists reported in 2020 that two Transnistrian companies tied to Gushan imported products worth about $22 million to Transnistria without paying taxes.

Krasnoselsky called the new customs policy unreasonable, in violation of the trade agreement between Transnistria and the EU, and that Moldova is pushing Moldovan-Transnistrian relations towards greater confrontation.

Read also: Investigation: Leaked document exposes Kremlins 10-year plan to undermine Moldova

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The Italian parliament's lower house voted in favor of prolonging defense assistance for Ukraine as the besieged country braces for another year of war with Russia, Italian media reported on Jan. 10.

Last December, the Italian government proposed to extend the aid for 2024. Assistance from European countries is ever more crucial now as additional funding from the U.S., the leading military donor, remains stalled by political infighting.

Italian lawmakers backed the motion with 195 voting in favor, 50 against, and 55 abstaining, the Domani newspaper wrote.

"Italian military aid for Ukraine has contributed to saving tens of thousands of lives. Italy must be proud of this; I am proud of it," commented the country's defense minister, Guido Crosetto.

"The road ahead on Kyiv's side is still long, but it would be a serious strategic and political mistake to withdraw now," he said at the parliament, according to the ANSA news agency.

Rome's support must continue "until Russian attacks stop," Crosetto noted.

After approval by the lower house, the motion must be supported by the Senate.

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The minister also revealed that the Italian government greenlit its eighth military aid package for Kyiv, containing equipment and weapons "aimed exclusively at strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities."

Rome also expressed interest in joining the Lithuanian-led demining coalition, as large swathes of Ukraine's territory remain mined due to Russian aggression.

Despite advocating for continued military assistance, Crosetto acknowledged that Ukraine's recent counteroffensive did not produce the desired results.

"From this perspective ... it would seem that the time has come for incisive diplomacy, alongside military support, because there are a number of important signals coming from both sides," the minister said.

Crosetto claimed he sees more signs that both Kyiv and Moscow are becoming more open toward talks.

During an interview with the Quotidiano Nazionale newspaper last November, Crosetto vowed that the support from Kyiv's allies remains stable.

The statement came amid growing worries of war fatigue among Kyiv's Western partners, who play a crucial role in providing the besieged country with military, financial, and diplomatic support.

Read also: Scholz criticizes EU for providing insufficient military aid to Ukraine

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Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto states he has seen signals from Russia and Ukraine that it is time for diplomacy to pave the way for peace.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Reuters

Details: Crosetto stated in parliament that the Ukrainian counteroffensive of 2023 did not produce the desired result and that the military situation should be viewed realistically.

Quote: "From this perspective ... it would seem that the time has come for incisive diplomacy, alongside military support, because there are a number of important signals coming from both sides," Crosetto said.

Crosetto explained that Russia is gradually demonstrating a willingness to negotiate and defend its economy, while Ukraine's position, in his opinion, looks less uncompromising than before.

"All of this must be taken into consideration on the path towards negotiations to stop the conflict and the subsequent process of normalisation of relations, not only of Russia with Ukraine, but also with Western countries," he said.

"In Ukraine, the domestic front appears to be no longer as united as in the past in supporting President Zelenskyy's policy, highlighting some divergences in the political discourse," the Italian Defence Minister noted.

Notably, during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Vilnius on Wednesday, he said that there was no pressure from partners to stop defending Ukraine and freeze the conflict.

Crosetto, a strong supporter of Kyiv and a senior member of Prime Minister Georgia Maloney's Brothers of Italy party, reiterated that any peace talks must clearly recognise Russia's aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

"The full territorial integrity and recognised borders of Ukraine remain the goal of the entire international community," he said.

Background:

On Wednesday, the Lower House of the Italian parliament voted in favour of a resolution to continue military support for Ukraine.

Prior to that, the Italian Council of Ministers supported the extension for another year - until the end of 2024  of the powers that allow Italy to provide military and military-technical assistance to Ukraine.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (L) and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos deliver a joint statement during their meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, the Philippines, Jan. 10, 2024. The leaders of the Philippines and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen bilateral ties. Widodo arrived in Manila on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit. (Ezra Acayan/Pool via Xinhua)

MANILA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the Philippines and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen bilateral ties.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo was received in the morning by his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos during a three-day official visit in Manila.

After the meeting in the presidential palace, Widodo said during a news conference that he discussed with Marcos ways to enhance trade by opening market access.

"Indonesia seeks the Philippines' support related to special safeguard measures on Indonesian coffee products," Widodo said.

For his part, Marcos said the two leaders had a fruitful and honest discussion on regional events of mutual interest. 
A nearly 80-year-old street clock, recently refurbished by Salem Sign Co., stands in front of Jackson Jewelers in downtown Salem, Ore.

This is part of an ongoing series answering "Why is that?" questions about Salem and the Mid-Valley.

The question: Why did the neon clock in front of Jackson Jewelers disappear for more than three months? We have the answer. But first, a little history.

The background: Holly Jackson was a Salem watchmaker for Pomeroy & Keene before serving in the military. He also was known as an equestrian expert, a member of the Oregon Mounted Governor's Guard, and an official timer for the St. Paul Rodeo.

Jackson enlisted in the Navy in November 1942 and was stationed in San Diego. He served as an instrument repairman at Naval Air Station Alameda, a base that played a critical role in the Navy's defense mission following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

He returned to Salem after receiving a medical discharge in the spring of 1944, and made plans to open his own jewelry shop.

Jackson signed a lease June 15 for 225 North Liberty Street, a space formerly occupied by a florist. It was more than a block north of State Street, then the core of downtown, and naysayers doubted anyone would venture that far to do business.

More: State Street in Salem doesnt have a directional suffix. Why is that?

An advertisement in the Aug. 15, 1944 Capital Journal announced the opening of Jackson Jewelers, with a large selection of diamond rings and other beautiful jewelry.

Now, nearly 80 years later, the third-generation owned business continues to operate at the same location.

Why did the clock in front of Jackson Jewelers disappear?

The first street clocks in the United States appeared in the eastern region around 1870. They often would be in front of city halls, train stations, banks, jewelry stores and other public locations and businesses, a practice adapted from the public clocks of Victorian England.

Local businesses installed them on sidewalks just outside their front doors for advertisement. They would maintain the street clocks, also known as post clocks, as a public service.

Holly Jackson wanted one when he opened his shop but could not afford it. Pomeroy & Keene, his former employer, had one on State Street. By the way, that one still stands. More on that in a minute.

The exact installation date of the Jackson Jewelers clock is unknown. Statesman Journal archives show Holly applied to the city council in September 1945 for approval to mount an electric, neon-lighted clock on a post in the sidewalk in front of his business.

The clock became a permanent fixture of downtown until 1988, when it was temporarily removed during streetscape improvements.

The jewelry store, then operated by second-generation owners Philip and Ralph Jackson, wanted to protect the clock from construction equipment as the city worked on a sidewalk beautification project, adding decorative tiles, light posts, benches and planters.

The clock underwent its first overhaul, including a new face with Roman numerals, at that time. A month later, it was back to keeping time, albeit in a slightly different position on the sidewalk, about 8 feet north of the original location.

The Jackson brothers fielded some complaints about the change to Roman numerals. Residents lamented how they could no longer use the clock to teach their children to tell time.

A refurbished Jackson Jewelers clock is remounted Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, by Salem Sign Co. on its sidewalk post in downtown Salem, Ore. The street clock has been a fixture of downtown since 1945.

Fast forward 35 years, and the clock was due for another overhaul, this one more major. It was gone for more than three months. Ralph Jackson and his sons, Tyler and Brett, who run the business now, did not hear complaints this time, only concerns about its whereabouts.

Salem Sign Co. did the restoration work, repairing the neon and metal sign surrounding the 36-inch clock and repainting it green and brown, similar to its original colors.

The clock's white face  with regular numbers instead of Roman numerals  shows up better now. More vivid neon colors, red for the business name, white for the diamond logo and blue for the downward arrows on the building side, have replaced the pinkish glow of the old neon.

Inside are all new parts.

A crew remounted the clock on its 10-foot-tall post before sunrise Dec. 27. Longtime Salem Sign employee Randy Russell climbed a ladder multiple times with a small paintbrush, meticulously touching up the underside where bolts attached the sign.

Randy Russell of Salem Sign Co. touches up paint on the Jackson Jewelers clock on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, after it is remounted in front of the business in downtown Salem, Ore.

Oh, by the way

Street clocks harken back to when people relied on public clocks, either because they could not afford a personal timepiece or they needed help keeping time on their own if they had one.

Ralph Jackson shares an anecdote about his father and a man who once worked for the nearby paper mill  what became Boise Cascade  and would walk by each morning, take out his pocket watch, and look up at the clock at 225 Liberty.

One day, his father finally approached the man and asked about his daily routine. The man told him he set his watch by the clock, then used it to synchronize the mill's clock.

Salem has two other downtown street clocks.

The historic Pomeroy & Keene clock on State Street in downtown Salem..

The Pomeroy & Keene clock is at 379 State Street. It is the oldest of the three, dating to the 1930s. Holly Jackson worked at the jewelry store for 13 years, according to his obituary. He died in 1994, the same year Pomeroy & Keene closed. But the clock remains.

The other street clock, at 479 Court St. NE, was installed new in 1990 outside what was then Salem Clock Shop. Funds from the streetscape program were used to purchase the clock.

Capi Lynn is a senior reporter for the Statesman Journal. Email your "Why is that" questions to her at clynn@statesmanjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Jackson Jewelers street clock disappears from downtown Salem
CANTON  A former attorney has pleaded not guilty to 22 criminal charges, including allegations he stole a total of $882,109 from seven people.

The charges against William R. Sparks, 71, of Jackson Township, involve real estate transactions.

The indictment alleges that he used his title company, American Realty Title Assurance Company of Stark County, Inc., to commit the offenses, said Dominic Binkley, a spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Yost's office is involved with the case because an assistant attorney general, Micah Ault, is serving as a special prosecutor.

Five of the seven victims named in Sparks' indictment match those in a complaint filed in June 2020 by the Stark County Bar Association against him with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Ohio Supreme Court.

A sixth victim identified in the indictment told The Repository his losses were incurred in a real estate transaction. The amounts listed in the indictment are the same as amounts in the bar association complaint for the five victims identified in both documents.

Sparks resigned from the practice of law in October 2020 while the disciplinary action was pending against him.

The charges lodged against him in court are engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, five counts of theft from a person in a protected class, six counts of money laundering, four counts of aggravated theft, three counts of passing bad checks, two counts of grand theft and a single count of theft. The time frame of the alleged offenses is Aug. 15, 2018, to Nov. 7, 2020.

Sparks is represented by attorney Jeffrey Jakmides. He had no comment on the case, which is pending in Stark County Common Pleas Court,.

The methods for the alleged thefts are not detailed in the indictment.

However, the bar association complaint said that Sparks withdrew money from an escrow account for his own use. The funds in the escrow account are supposed to be paid out to parties in a real estate transaction. The allegation matches two aggravated theft charges in the indictment that allege Sparks took $229,365 from the same two people named in the bar association complaint.

Another allegation in the bar association complaint said that he deposited a $233,444 check payable to one of his clients into his own account. The name and amount match two aggravated theft charges in the criminal indictment.

Other charges in the indictment allege that Sparks took amounts of $164,228, $120,160, $90,000 and $44,911 from four other people.

William R. Sparks: Stark County attorney resigns with disciplinary case pending

Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Former lawyer William R. Sparks pleads not guilty to 22 charges
Saltburns Jacob Elordi and The Bears Ayo Edebiri are among the emerging performers in the running for Baftas 2024 Rising Star Award.

Bridgertons Phoebe Dynevor,How To Have Sexs Mia McKenna-Bruce and Talk To Mes Sophie Wilde round out the list for the public-voted prize announced on Wednesday (10 January).

You can now vote on the Bafta website, with the winner being announced at the Bafta Film Awards on Sunday 18 February.

Elordis nomination comes amid a stellar season for the actor, who can currently be seen in Emerald Fennells Saltburn and as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppolas Priscilla.

The Australian star, 26, who got his first break in Netflixs teen romcom franchise The Kissing Booth before being cast in HBOs Euphoria, said he was deeply honoured to be recognised.

Edebiris nomination, meanwhile, comes days after she picked up her first Golden Globe for her performance opposite Jeremy Allen White in chef drama The Bear.

The 28-year-old, who also recently starred in teen comedy Bottoms, said it was wonderful and humbling to receive this nomination. Its the greatest privilege to tell stories and make people laugh, she said. I know Im in esteemed company and this means the world.

From L-R: Nominees Mia McKenna-Bruce, Sophie Wilde and Phoebe Dynevor celebrate their Rising Star nominations (Getty Images)

Dynevor, 28, is best known as the star of the first series of Netflixs period romp Bridgerton. She has gone on to star in Netflix finance psychological thriller Fair Play, biopics The Colour Room and Bank Of Dave, and will appear alongside Zoey Deutch in Anniversary.

Dynevor said she was truly grateful for this recognition and excited to continue challenging myself with new roles and projects.

McKenna-Bruces Rising Star nomination follows her critically-acclaimed performance in How To Have Sex, a coming-of-age film by Molly Manning-Walker.

The British actor, 26, said: To hear that I now stand amongst the past and present nominees is surreal and a total dream come true. I am so very grateful. Thank you to the jury.

Australian star Wilde had a big year in 2023, with roles in horror Talk To Me and Netflixs teen drama series Everything Now. She said she is so very excited and grateful for her nomination.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's unemployment rate in November fell to 3.3 percent and returned to the pre-pandemic level, registering 569,200 unemployed people, official data showed Wednesday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the performance of the country's labor force improved in November 2023, signaling the positive growth of the current economy, with the continuous increase in the number of employed persons, whereas unemployment further declined.

According to the DOSM, the number of the labor force continued to register an increase in November 2023, rising by 0.2 percent month-on-month to 17 million persons.

The labor force participation rate in November 2023 stood at 70.1 percent, similar to the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons in November 2023 continued to rise with an addition of 0.2 percent month-on-month, reaching a total of 16.43 million persons compared to the prior month.

The DOSM expects the country's labor market to remain in a strong position in the coming months, in line with the country's growing economic performance. 
Jennifer Farber Dulos, the mother-of-five who vanished from her Connecticut home over four years ago, has officially been declared dead.

The declaration was revealed just days before her estranged husbands lover is set to stand trial on conspiracy murder charges in connection to the case.

Jennifer was last seen on 24 May 2019 after dropping her children off at school in New Canaan where she had been living in the wake of her contentious divorce and child custody battle with Fotis Dulos.

Months later, Fotis was charged with Jennifers disappearance and presumed death. Prosecutors argued that Fotis killed Jennifer and disposed of her body prior to his arrest. Her body has never been found.

In August 2023, Jennifers mother, Gloria Farber, 88, who has been caring for the five children since her daughters disappearance, filed a petition to the Darien-New Canaan Probate Court to declare Jennifer dead, NBC Connecticut reported.

Anyone who has been missing for seven or more years will be presumed dead, according to Connecticut law. But Ms Farber said in the court documents that she wanted the declaration made in order to protect the kids and their right to their mothers assets.

Jennifer Dulos, 50, was last seen on 24 May 2019 after dropping her children off at school (New Canaan Police Department)

Judge William P. Osterndorf made the declaration on 24 October 2023 after receiving an overwhelming amount of evidence that supports the claim that Jennifer sustained non-survivable injuries, according to documents obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

Extensive efforts have been made by local and State Police authorities to locate her body, the judge wrote in the decision.

To date, more than four years have passed and the body of Jennifer has not been located. Neither Jennifers mother, children, other family members and friends have been contacted by Jennifer since May 24, 2019. The inescapable conclusion is Jennifer is deceased.

The Dulos children, now ranging in age from 13-17, have been in their grandmothers care since Jennifers disappearance.

Ms Farbers attorney Richard Weinstein said Tuesday that the petition was filed to protect the children.

As long as Jennifers status was undecided, then the children could not inherit from her or from her mother, he said. We were concerned, obviously, with Mrs. Farber being 88 years of age, needing to wait the seven years.

According to Jennifers will, all of her assets will be left to the children now thats officially declared dead. The will was signed on 26 April 26 2017, two months before she filed for divorce from her husband.

Jennifers estranged husband and father of her children, Fotis, maintained his innocence and denied killing her. In January 2020, he killed himself while out on bail.

His girlfriend at the time, Michelle Troconis, was accused of helping him dispose of Jennifers body. She is set to stand trial in Connecticut on Thursday.

Ms Troconis has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and one count of second-degree hindering prosecution.

In 2019, Michelle Troconis, left, and Fotis Dulos, right, were arrested on charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos (New Canaan Police Department via AP)

Kent Mawhinney, a longtime friend and former attorney for Fotis Dulos, has also been charged in the case.

He has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the case. Mawhinney is among a list of more than 200 people who may testify during Ms Troconis trial.

The family and friends of Jennifer Dulos released a statement ahead of the start of the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.

As this trial begins, it is crucial to remember who is at the center: Jennifer, whose five children have lost their mother and, as an eventuality, both parents, the statement reads.

Jennifers family and loved ones have lost a loving daughter, sister, cousin, and lifelong friend. We do not seek closure, as nothing can bring Jennifer back. Our hope is that this trial provides for accountability and answers.

As this trial gets underway, we ask that you prioritize and respect the privacy of Jennifers family and loved ones.
Many Jersey Shore residents woke up to power outages and storm damage on Wednesday, after high winds and heavy rains swept into the area starting Tuesday night and into overnight hours.

As of 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, Jersey Central Power & Light reported over 26,000 customers being affected by outages statewide, with 10,341 in Monmouth County and 2,735 in Ocean.

Chris Hoenig, spokesperson for the utility company, said the hardest hit areas in the state for outages were Monmouth and Ocean counties, specifically Freehold and Lakewood, but almost two thirds of those residents had power restored by Wednesday at 10 a.m.

A Coastal Flood Advisory was issued at 6 a.m. Tuesday for Monmouth and Ocean counties for the high tide cycles through Wednesday morning.

Monmouth and Ocean counties received between two to three inches of rain during the storm, with the highest totals focused along the coast, according to the National Weather Service. Both counties also reached the high wind warning criteria, with Monmouth's highest wind gusts in Sea Girt at 57 mph at 10:20 p.m. and Ocean's highest at 72 mph at Island Beach State park at 9:39 p.m.

While many school activities and community functions were postponed or canceled Tuesday evening, most schools started without a delay Wednesday morning.

A National Weather Service advisory continued into Wednesday morning for the Jersey Shore. That advisory forecast high winds, that could reach 65 mph, and significant rain that could cause coastal flooding.

New Jersey's state of emergency: What does that mean?

The heaviest rain was expected to fall from about 6 p.m. Tuesday through Wednesday morning. In all, 1 to 3 inches are expected, with up to 4 inches possible in some areas. Moderate to major river flooding is expected in northern New Jersey.

Tuesday night

Strong, possibly damaging winds gusting to 65 mph were predicted for the Jersey Shore.

11:50 p.m. Manchester is in the dark

There are extensive power outages in Manchester with no estimate for when electricity will be restored, according to police.

The Manchester Township Police Department asks residents to remain indoors and to stay off the roads.

11:28 p.m. Section of Route 36 closed in Middletown due to flooding

Route 36 North in Middletown is closed at Leonard Avenue due to flooding, according to police.

The Middletown Police Department asks motorists to avoid the area.

11:15 p.m. Flooding in Bay Head

Osborne Avenue is closed in Bay Head due to flooding, according to the Ocean County Sheriffs Office. Avoid the area.

10:55 p.m. Wires down in South Toms River

The Ocean County Sheriffs Office reports that South Main Street from Dover Road to Mill Street, in South Toms River, is closed due to a tree and wires being down.

10:45 p.m. Electrical outages along the Shore

Power outages are reported throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties

Jersey Central Power & Light reports that 4,901 customers are without electricity in Monmouth County and 1,639 customers in Ocean County.

Atlantic City Electric, which serves southern Ocean County (including all of Long Beach Island) reports that 196 of their customers are without power.

JCP&L serves a total of 290,714 customers in Monmouth and 256,814 customers in Ocean. Therefore, the outages represented 1.69% of customers in Monmouth and less than 1% of their customers in Ocean.

Atlantic City Electric has a total of 53,507 customers in Ocean, with the outage representing less than 1% of their customers there.

10:15 p.m. Up to 2 feet of flooding possible in flood-prone areas at the Shore

The National Weather Service has issued a coastal flood warning for Ocean County until 3 p.m. Wednesday.

One to two feet of water above ground level in low-lying areas near shorelines and tidal waterways is possible, according to the weather service.

At this level, widespread roadway flooding may occur in coastal and bayside communities, and along inland tidal waterways. Many roads could become impassable. Some damage to vulnerable structures may begin to occur, the weather service said in its alert late Tuesday night.

The highest water levels are expected across the back bays later Wednesday morning into early afternoon, which will be delayed later than high tide on the oceanside Wednesday.

In Monmouth and Middlesex counties, a coastal flood advisory is in effect until 12 p.m. Wednesday  with the same threatening conditions possible. Some partial or full road closures may be necessary, the weather service warned.

9:35 p.m. Monmouth and Ocean counties under flood warning

A flood warning is in effect for Monmouth and Ocean counties until 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The warning includes both counties, in addition to Atlantic and Burlington counties, with 1-to-2 inches of additional rain possible over the next six hours. Rivers, creeks, streams and other flood prone areas are all at risk of being inundated.

At 9:23 p.m., Doppler radar indicated heavy rain over the region. Flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in the warned area, according to the weather service.

Between 1 and 1 inches of rain have already fallen.

Flooding near the coast will be exacerbated by a buildup of water due to a strong onshore flow, according to the warning.

The weather service singled out Toms River, Vineland, Atlantic City, Long Branch, AsburyPark, Sandy Hook, Lakewood, Jackson, Howell, Barnegat and Pleasantville as major population centers of concern.

9:05 p.m. Flooding reported in Bay Head

The Ocean County Sheriffs Office is advising motorists that there is flooding on Bridge Avenue in Bay Head, from Main Avenue to Bay Avenue.

Motorists are again being warned not to drive on roads that are covered with water.

8:15 p.m. Point Pleasant Police advise residents to move vehicles to higher ground; Ocean Gate Police warn against driving on flooded roads

Point Pleasant Police are asking local residents to consider moving their motor vehicles to higher ground if they live in flood prone areas.

State of Emergency: Gov. Phil Murphy has declared a state of emergency: What does that mean?

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ storm damage leads to day of clean up after rains, winds hit Shore
[Source]

New Jersey has sworn in its first Sikh and Indian American woman mayor in Montgomery Township.

Election: Neena Singh, a resident of Montgomery for 24 years  and its previous deputy mayor  was sworn in during the Montgomery Township Reorganization Meeting last Thursday. She won the election after being unanimously voted by fellow township committee members.

Outgoing Mayor Devra Keenan and committee member Patricia Taylor Todd, who was also sworn into her first term, nominated Singh for the position. Vincent Barragan, another township committee member, will be Montgomery's first Latinx deputy mayor.

What shes saying: Singh said Thursday's event was a historic moment" for the community and New Jersey at large, as per MyCentralJersey. She thanked committee members for their support and praised the community for breaking barriers and showing our state what inclusive, transparent and forward-thinking governance looks like.

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Last night was the annual Reorganization Meeting of the Montgomery Township Committee. Our community was honored to have Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Andy Kim in attendance, as well as State Senator Andrew Zwicker and Assembly Members Roy Freiman and Sadaf Jaffer. pic.twitter.com/zDG9ZQSgws  Montgomery Township (@InMontgomeryNJ) January 5, 2024

Trending on NextShark: Parents of Filipino American teen missing for 3 weeks asks for publics help

What theyre saying: U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-NJ) congratulated Singh in video messages. For every young South Asian girl growing up not just in Montgomery but across New Jersey, they're going to have a true role model to look up to, said Gopal, who is Indian American.

In a statement, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), who administered Singhs oath, said the new mayor has made her lifes work fighting for social justice, economic opportunity and human rights for all.

What's next: Aside from public safety and health, among Singh's priorities as mayor is to sign the Wellness Campaign pledge, which will come with multi-sectoral opportunities for improving quality of life. She said her goal for 2024 is to ensure that our residents have the best possible resources, whether it's community health, transportation, public spaces, municipal services or recreational activities.

Trending on NextShark: Solo traveler cries after experience with unfriendly French locals in viral TikTok video

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Throughout much of Claremont, a tiny town of 1,300 people in Catawba County, it did not appear Wednesday that a destructive and deadly storm had passed through the day before.

A man was engaged in an early morning jog down a street. In another part of town, a burial ceremony was held at a local grave site.

But in the Fox Hollow neighborhood, in the 2400 block of Evening Drive, Catawba County Sheriffs Office vehicles and a brigade of energy company trucks led to carnage left behind by an EF-1 tornado confirmed by the National Weather Service. The tornado barreled through the mobile home community on Tuesday afternoon and killed one man.

NWS officials indicated they did not have a starting point for the storm, but the endpoint was near Iredell County.

When Jesus comes calling

Richard Pack, left and Tammy Yates, right, console one another along Cindi Lane in Claremont, NC on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. Packs cousin Dustin Weaver was killed on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 when a tornado touched down in the area destroying the mobile home where he was living. Pack and Yates had been neighbors in the mobile home park for years.

Deborah Rozier, a longtime neighborhood resident, said she grabbed her dogs and Bible when an intense burst of wind shifted her home.

Where do you go and hide when Jesus comes calling? Rozier said after being asked by a reporter whether she attempted to find shelter. The wind stopped right at the (front) door and then went away.

Though Rozier came out relatively unscathed, others in the tight-knit neighborhood were less fortunate.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Catawba County Emergency Management officials said about 30 residents were displaced because of the storm. They were offered temporary shelter at nearby Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church. About six people stayed overnight at the church, officials said.

Additional impacts from the storm included flooding, downed trees, power lines, isolated structural damage, and power outages in various parts of the county.

Tornados lone fatality

Richard Pack, left, Brandy Bradley and Melanie Pack attempt to salvage items from a mobile home along Cindi Lane in Claremont, NC on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. The Packs cousin Dustin Weaver had been living at the residence when he was killed on Tuesday, January 9th.

Nearly all the homes sustained some damage or were destroyed by winds estimated by NWS as high as 110 mph, including one occupied by Dustin Ray Weaver.

Weaver, 39, was the lone fatality from the storms wrath that turned his parents longtime home into a mangled mess of aluminum, concrete and wood. Residents say he was killed while trying to protect his pregnant girlfriend.

Tammy Yates, who described the sound of the tornado as akin to a freight train, rushed to Weavers home. With the assistance of another neighbor, they then pulled Weaver from the rubble and attempted to revive him.

We started CPR on him right away, said Yates. But someone said he was gone.

The unidentified woman, one of four people injured, was transported to an area hospital for treatment, according to Catawba County officials.

Id trade places with him

Friends and relatives remembered Weaver as a kind man who would do anything for others.

He was a good ol boy, said Melanie Pack, a relative, while searching for anything from the home she could salvage. He would help anyone out.

Said Wayne Smith, a longtime friend of Weaver: Id trade places with (Weaver) any day. Im 71 years old and lived a good life. It makes you think about stuff.

Catawba County officials will begin damage assessments to determine the storms impact.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Biden discussed immigration in a phone call Wednesday, a rare conversation between the two leaders as Congress works through negotiations on border policy.

Raj Shah, a spokesperson for Johnson, said the Speaker strongly encouraged the President to use his executive authority to secure the southern border and reiterated the contents of his letter to the President dated December 21, 2023.

In that letter, Johnson laid out the record number of encounters at the border in fiscal 2023, which the Speaker blamed on the Biden administrations policies.

It also called on Biden to use executive actions to end catch-and-release policy for those detained near the border; tighten the use of parole authority; work with Mexican officials to reinstate the Remain in Mexico program; and restart construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House had said in response to Johnsons letter that there were no unilateral actions Biden could take, and Congress had a responsibility to approve more funding.

More Top Stories from The Hill

The White House would not provide additional details about Wednesdays call, other than to say Biden felt a phone call was the quickest way for the two leaders to connect.

The president believed a call was the most expedient option today, so thats why they spoke on the phone, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Wednesdays phone call marked just the second publicized conversation between Biden and Johnson since the Louisiana Republican was elected Speaker in late October. The two briefly spoke while Johnson was at the White House for a briefing on national security funding.

Lawmakers have been working to broker a deal on immigration policy that would unlock aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia. House Republicans have stressed any Ukraine aid deal must include changes to border policy.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a lead negotiator, indicated Monday that legislative text of a border deal is unlikely to arrive this week. But he said the group working on the issue made substantial progress over the holidays.

At the same time, House Republicans are pressing forward with impeachment hearings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, citing his handling of the southern border.

The Department of Homeland Security has dismissed the hearings as a political stunt, and some experts have argued there are no legal grounds for impeaching Mayorkas over a policy disagreement.

Updated at 3:15 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Donald Trump won't be allowed to personally make closing arguments Thursday in his civil business fraud trial because he refused to comply with legal limits on sticking to relevant law and evidence. The case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump, his eldest sons and his family business of inflating Trump's net worth by more than $2 billion. File Pool Photo by Andrew Kelly/UPI

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Judge Arthur Engoron on Wednesday told Donald Trump's lawyers that the former president won't be allowed to personally make a closing argument in his New York civil business fraud trial due to not agreeing to limits imposed by the court.

Contentious emails between Engoron and Trump attorney Chris Kise indicated Kise was resisting the terms.

So Engoron said in an 11:54 a.m. Wednesday email, "I won't debate this again. Take it or leave it. Now or never. You have until noon, seven minutes from now. I WILL NOT GRANT ANY FURTHER EXTENSIONS."

Engoron barred Trump from the closing argument because the judge had no confirmation Trump would abide by closing argument terms he imposed.

Trump lawyers still will deliver closing arguments in the case.

New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron on Wednesday barred former President Donald Trump from speaking during closing arguments Thursday in Trump's civil business fraud trial. Trump's lawyers refused to agree to limits imposed by Engoron that would have limited Trump to speaking about the evidence and relevant law. File Pool Photo by Peter Foley/UPI

Engoron's emails said he had given Trump's legal team three extended deadlines to agree to "reasonable, lawful limits" before deciding Trump would not be speaking during final arguments set for Thursday.

In one of the email replies Kise wrote, "This is very unfair, your Honor. You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongly demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated Attorney General, to speak about things that must be spoken about."

Engoron's conditions, as expressed in the emails, said, "Closing arguments are for an advocate to comment on the evidence presented, on the relevant law, and on how the latter applies to the former to justify the result sought. Such arguments may not be used to testify, to introduce new evidence, to make a campaign speech, or to comment on irrelevant matters."

New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking for $370 million in civil fines and a permanent ban on Trump doing retail business in New York.

She brought evidence that convinced the judge Trump's businesses had committed sytematic fraud for many years.

Engoron already has ruled that the Trump businesses did, in fact, commit fraud.

He said in New York's Trump Tower alone, the property value was fraudulently inflated by as much as $207 million.

"A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," Engoron wrote in his legal finding.
People wait on a rainy afternoon in July for their rides at the bus station serving Greyhound, Barons, and other bus lines at 845 N. Wilson Road on the West Side. The station has been involved in a legal case for months as Columbus officials attempt to shut it down after numerous problems were reported.

The new judge assigned to hear the case involving the city of Columbus' attempts to shutter a new West Side bus depot encouraged both sides on Wednesday to find their own resolution before a March trial date.

The delay in proceedings comes despite city officials seeking immediate action on closing the terminal and after allegations that Mayor Andrew J. Ginther told the previous judge how to rule on the case.

During the Wednesday hearing, visiting Judge Gary Dumm, a retired Circleville Municipal judge the Ohio Supreme Court assigned to take over the case, called the parities into his chambers to hold a roughly 20-minute off-the-record conversation.

More: Columbus' pick for special prosecutor in probe of Ginther's call to judge questioned

He then emerged to thank attorneys for the city and two inter-city bus companies, Barons and Greyhound, for "the frankness of the information that was exchanged," before adjourning until March 4, when he set aside time for an up-to three day trial.

In the meantime, he strongly hinted the delay would give the parties time to "put their best foot forward" and reach a settlement over what he called a complex case that involves a lot of money invested by the companies.

"It is not a small matter, and it will not be treated as such," Dumm said, adding he didn't intend to simply pick up where former Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Stephanie Mingo left off. Rather than read transcripts of testimony over which Mingo presided, Dumm said he intended to rehear the entire case from scratch.

In the meantime, he said any decision on an injunction to declare the property a nuisance and shutter it would be on hold  despite Steve Dunbar, an assistant city attorney, telling Dumm the city would prefer the court hear the injunction issue as soon as Thursday.

Mingo disqualified herself from the case in early December over a phone call she disclosed from Ginther in which she says he told her to "do the right thing" and rule in the city's favor.

Not brought up at all Wednesday was Ginther's ex parte communication with Mingo, which allegedly happened in October, before hearings began and which attorney Joseph Miller, representing Barons, previously called improper and a demonstration of the city's "unclean hands" in trying to get the mayor's desired outcome ahead of his reelection in November. Mingo might even need to be called as a witness, according to a court filing.

It's unclear what bearing on the case the communication might have. Mingo reported Ginther called her in October to say something to the effect of: "We really need you to do the right thing for the community and shut it down."

Within 24 hours, Mingo called a meeting with the attorneys for both sides to inform them of Ginther's call but refused to identify which city official contacted her. Two weeks after the election, at the bus companies' insistence, she revealed it to have been the mayor.

"Obviously, this case has taken some unusual turns," Miller said outside the courtroom after Wednesday's hearing, applauding Dumm's encouragement that the parties find a reasonable resolution that would avoid further litigation.

"We welcome the judge's involvement," Miller said. "He seems to recognize the obvious importance of this case to all sides, but more critically, the fundamental importance of inner-city bus travel here in Columbus, the 14th largest city in America."

Dunbar left the courtroom through a rear door not accessible to the public without taking any questions or making any statements.

The city has come under attack for seemingly pushing for the bus companies' departure from a major established terminal that operated for decades Downtown and then singing off on documents approving the move to the new station on North Wilson Road near I-70, the site of former gas station near a cluster of single-family houses. The city began trying to shutter the new station after Joe Motil, Ginther's opponent for mayor in November, began attacking Ginther over the new location, which he called unsuitable.

Neighbors have complained about crime  including a shooting  litter, traffic, illegal parking and other issues since the new station opened.

wbush@gannett.com

@RepoterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Judge will not shutter Columbus Greyhound depot ahead of March trial
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's newly launched X-ray astronomical satellite Einstein Probe (EP) has adopted a cutting-edge technology inspired by the functioning of lobster's eyes, marking a breakthrough for China in the field of space science.

The EP has been built by an international collaborative effort led by China. The European Space Agency and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany jointly participated in the development of the project. The French Space Agency provided VHF (very high frequency) antennas for the EP.

Shaped like a double-pistiled lotus flower with 12 petals blooming in space, the EP is designed to detect outbursts in the universe at X-ray wavelengths. Each "petal" is a special X-ray telescope. On each "petal" there are 36 microporous imagers, each containing nearly one million square holes thinner than a single strand of hair.

Yuan Weimin, the principal investigator of the EP, said that making an X-ray telescope capable of focusing and wide-field imaging is very tricky.

"That's because X-ray photons have very short wavelengths and high energies. They are extremely penetrating and easily interact with atoms, making it difficult to focus them through refraction or reflection like visible light," said Yuan, who is also a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC).

"If you throw a stone into the water, the stone is too heavy and will sink to the bottom, but if you throw the stone against the water at a very small angle, the stone can bounce off the surface. Similarly, if an X-ray forms a very small angle with a reflective surface, then it is possible for the X-ray to form a reflection. This reflection can then be used to focus and create an image," Yuan said.

In this regard, scientists have taken inspiration from the unique eye structure of lobsters, first proposed by American astronomer Roger Angel.

Biologists discovered early on that the lobster's eye is different from that of other animals. Lobster eyes are made up of numerous tiny square tubes, which point to the same spherical center. This structure allows light from all directions to reflect in the tubes and converge on the retina. This gives the lobster a large field of view. Scientists simulated the lobster eye to create a telescope that detects X-rays in space.

Through cooperation with other organizations, the X-ray Imaging Laboratory of NAOC began the research and development work on lobster-eye X-ray imaging technology in 2010.

"After years of efforts, we finally made a technological breakthrough," said Zhang Chen, assistant to EP's principal investigator.

The team carried out the validation testing of the technology on the telescope Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy (LEIA) -- a pathfinder of the EP instrument -- which was launched in July 2022. The tests revealed the world's first batch of large-field X-ray snapshots of the sky captured by the LEIA.

According to Zhang, the previous X-ray telescopes only had a field of view roughly the size of the Moon as seen from Earth, while the field of view of the EP could be as large as about 10,000 Moons.

For the first time, large field-of-view whole-sky monitoring and X-ray focusing and imaging have both been realized at the same time, which allows for efficient monitoring of the X-ray changes of celestial bodies, Zhang added.

Moreover, the EP also pioneers in installing CMOS sensors, which can process with good spectral resolutions and fast speed. "We have realized the application of CMOS sensors to X-ray astronomical observations in space. It is an innovation in X-ray astronomy detection technology," said Ling Zhixing, a scientist of the NAOC.

The EP, launched on Tuesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, once again bolstered the country's fleet of space science satellites in the vast expanse of space, which includes the Dark Matter Particle Explorer, the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope, and the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory.

"While Europe, the United States and Japan have been developing space science for more than half a century, space science in China is still in its initial stage of development. However, we have made rapid progress over the past 20 years and have entered the international forefront in certain fields," Yuan added.

The lobster-eye telescope technology will revolutionize monitoring of the X-ray sky, and shows the strong scientific potential of the Einstein Probe mission, said Paul O'Brien, head of Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. 
A 17-year-old girl passed away after being severely burned when a man threw gasoline on a burn barrel in Jacksboro, Texas, last December. Madison Lewis succumbed to her injuries on Jan. 6.

According to FOX 4 News in Dallas-Fort Worth, Madison was standing near a burn barrel while at a gathering with friends on Dec. 16 when 23-year-old Sebastian Lindsey threw a pan of gasoline in the barrel to make the fire bigger. The gasoline caused an explosion that left the teenager with severe burns over 90 percent of her body after her clothes and hair caught fire.

Seventeen-year-old Madison Lewis passed away on Jan. 6, 2024, after suffering severe burns covering 90 percent of her body. (Photo: FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth screenshot / YouTube)

The police told the outlet that instead of calling 911, those at the gathering drove Madison to the hospital because they were worried there was alcohol at the gathering located in the backyard of a residence located in the 600 block of West Pine. The group reportedly feared getting into trouble.

They took Madison to Faith Community Hospital, and she was later airlifted to the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Madison was placed into a medically-induced coma by doctors before she underwent multiple surgeries.

Madisons mom, Ericca Hammond, told the outlet on Jan. 2 that the gasoline explosion completely burned her daughters body.

I thought it was a cup at first, but now I found out that it was an actual pan full of gasoline into the barrel, and they say that it just exploded and just went in her direction, she said. It was devastating. Completely burned her whole body.

Her grandfather, Garry Rhodes, announced the tragic news on Facebook on Jan. 7.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for my beautiful granddaughter Madison Lewis but Im sorry to say that she succumbed to her injuries about 1:30 this morning baby girl Grandpa love you is going to miss you RIP Madison Lewis.

Before her death, her mother said Madison was a senior in high school who was supposed to attend college next August after graduating in May. This is the first year since Ive been a mom that I didnt wrap one Christmas gift, said Hammond. Not one.

The teenager endured four surgeries following the fire, and her mother hoped that she would recover. She has so much more to do out here, she continued. Thats why, I mean, shes a warrior. She is a fighter. Thats what we need the most right now is prayers and for her healing and her poor body.

Madison was taken off of her pain medication to see if she became responsive and was scheduled for a fifth surgery before she passed away. Hammond thanked the community for their prayers as well as the Ronald McDonald House for helping her get to Dallas to be with Madison.

They have just been the best to me and to my family. You know, just open arms and hugs and prayers and so much compassion that it just filled my heart full of love.

Lindsey was arrested by the Jacksboro Police Department and charged with manslaughter on Jan. 8. He is being detained at the Jack County Jail without bond.
"Flight Attendant" star Kaley Cuoco recently had some real life drama in the skies.

During a Jan. 8 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cuoco shared that her 9-month-old daughter, Matilda, requires white noise to fall sleep. So, Cuoco, 38, and her partner, Tom Pelphrey, 41, packed a sound machine for their baby's first plane ride over Thanksgiving.

When Matilda got fussy, Cuoco whipped out the gadget. The infant stopped crying and dozed off, and her parents both breathed a sigh of relief. But moments later, Cuoco and Pelphrey received bad news from a steward.

Hes like, Hey, one of our passengers would love it if you could turn the sound machine off. And Im sitting there, and Im like, Oh my God, Cuoco recalled on Kimmel. And I can feel Tom be like, Hey, ask the passenger if she wants to hold our screaming child when we turn it off. I mean, the ice went into his veins.

I couldnt believe, by the way, that she asked us to turn it off! Cuoco added. We were so angry.

After the plane landed, Cuoco said the woman seated in front of them quipped, Oh, so your daughter does know how to smile.

It was in that moment where I understood why women end up on Dateline, Cuoco joked. I could have strangled [her].  I couldve thrown that woman off the plane.

Earlier in the interview, the actor revealed she was terrified about flying with Matilda.

You see all these things on social media where people are really, truly, getting mad at these babies. Like, justice for babies! Cuoco said. This is ridiculous  leave them alone. In response, the audience erupted into applause.

Last year, a mom in Australia was shamed after she shared a video of herself bouncing her baby on an airplane, near an emergency exit row.

If youve traveled with a little one, how did they go to sleep? Aliza Carr asked in the caption. I know if my childs life depended on it, she wouldnt sleep in the plane bassinet, or even on us  standing, bouncing and aggressively swaying is the only way.

Shortly after Carr shared her post, responses came flying in.

If I was sitting at that exit row and paid for the extra leg room  Id be so mad having this happening in front of me the whole flight! one person wrote.

Added another, No. A hard No! You can bounce your sweet babe in the back of the plane. Id be pissed as passenger that was forced to watch you bounce.

According to an etiquette expert, however, Carr did nothing wrong.

Money doesnt buy you the privilege of not caring about other people, Catherne Newman told TODAY.com in September 2023. You could have paid $1,000 for a first-class upgrade and the person next to you gets sick. This is the world of fallible human bodies, and we defer to people who are in need of space and resources. Its not that complicated.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A Kansas City area dog trainer faces three municipal citations after a video posted on the internet went viral, allegedly showing him abusing a dog.

Police received the video on Jan. 2 that allegedly shows dog trainer Matt Fiala abusing a German Shepherd. Officers met with Fiala and cited him with three municipal violations, including animal abuse, operating a boarding facility without a license and operating a business without a license, according to Pleasant Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright.

The video, which went viral after it was posted on Facebook, shows Fiala allegedly putting the German Shepherd in a crate and repeatedly throwing what appears to be water from a green bucket onto the dog, who can be heard whimpering.

As the dog tries to escape from the crate, Fiala allegedly flips the crate from end to end with the dog inside. He repeatedly shoves the dog back into the crate and kicks the door multiple times, per the video.

If youre an animal lover like I am, its awful to watch, Wright said. Its appalling.

Fiala did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Multiple websites list Fiala as a dog trainer, including his business Advanced Canine Training, which serves the greater Kansas City area.

Wright said police believe Fiala had lived in the Kansas City area for about a year training dogs at his home. He operated under multiple business names, including A1 Kansas City Dog Training, police said.

The website for Advanced Canine Training appears to have been taken down, but an archive on the Wayback Machine showed the business offered services including boarding, obedience training, off-leash training, private lessons and contracted services with working police dogs.

Advanced Canine Training said it would travel to train dogs within a 150 mile radius of Kansas City and could also pick dogs up and drop them off as needed. The website listed multiple five-star reviews from alleged clients.

Police have tried to contact former clients who have left Google Reviews of the business. Anyone who has information about or experience with Fialas training company is urged to contact Pleasant Hill police.

We need people that are willing to stand up for the animals, Wright said. People that are willing to testify what they experienced or saw. We have to protect our animals, and in order to do that we have to have people that are willing to cooperate and be part of the process.

Wright said its unclear what consequences Fiala could face. In Missouri, he doesnt need any certifications to be a dog trainer. His alleged offenses are considered misdemeanors, so he is not in custody and any punishment hell face will be decided by a municipal court judge.

Pleasant Hill police are working with the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Cass County Prosecuting Attorney to put together a larger case against Fiala to present to the state prosecutor, who may bring additional charges against the dog trainer.

For pet owners looking for trainers and anyone else that works with their animals, Wright suggested doing research on the business and reading client experiences from sites not affiliated with the business itself, like Yelp or Google Reviews.

Do your research, dig into these trainers and see what youre getting, Wright said. Make sure that you go to a reputable one. One thats been around for a long time and has a reputation of doing good work and doesnt have allegations of abuse against it.
The Kansas City Royals will get an extended look at a few players during spring training, including 23 non-roster players officially invited Wednesday to their major-league camp in Surprise, Arizona.

The Royals now have 63 players on their major-league spring training roster. The extended group includes the 40-man roster and the non-roster invitees.

The non-roster list includes a mix of Royals prospects and MLB veterans that signed minor-league deals this offseason. The list of 12 includes 10 pitchers, five catchers, five infielders and three outfielders.

Royals reliever Austin Cox headlines the non-roster invitees. Cox, 26, posted a 4.54 ERA in 24 games last season. He made three starts and also picked up a save.

Cox showed promise in limited appearances. He recorded 33 strikeouts and held opponents to a .220 batting average in 35 2/3 innings. Cox will look to earn a roster spot this spring while rebounding from a torn ACL that occurred against the Toronto Blue Jays in September.

Royals catchers Logan Porter and Tyler Cropley are slated to return. Both players filled key roles down the stretch last season. At one point, Porter and Cropley were the Royals lone catchers, as veterans Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin dealt with injuries.

Porter hit .194 in 31 games last season. His story as a former Royals clubhouse assistant is well documented. He made his major-league debut against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 12.

Cropley, too, has a unique story. He also made his MLB debut in 2023. He logged six at-bats in two games.

Other notable players invited to Royals spring training include outfielder Nate Eaton, pitcher Dan Altavilla and Luis Cessa.

The Royals will also have a chance to evaluate a few minor-league prospects. KC will add three more top-30 prospects during camp. The group includes Chandler Champlain (No. 11), Mason Barnett (No. 12), Diego Hernandez (No. 15) and Devin Mann (No. 28).

Barnett could be a player to watch. He won clubs the Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year Award after posting a 3.30 ERA across two minor-league levels. The Royals selected Barnett in the third round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Barnett led the organization with 137 strikeouts last season.

Tyler Tolbert is another player to monitor. He was the George Brett Hitter of the Year last season. Tolbert hit .276 with 10 home runs, 24 doubles, 10 triples and 50 RBIs during his stint with Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Tolbert is a speedster and can play multiple positions. He stole 50 bases and led the Texas League in triples.

The Royals have been active in the trade market in recent years, and players such as Beck Way and CJ Alexander will look to impress with another opportunity. Way was acquired from the New York Yankees alongside Champlain in the Andrew Benintendi trade.

Alexander arrived from the Atlanta Braves in the Drew Waters trade. He hit 13 home runs in 86 games with Triple-A Omaha last year.

Here are the Royals 23 non-roster invitees:

Pitchers: Mason Barnett, Christian Chamberlain, Austin Cox, Walter Pennington, Chandler Champlain, Beck Way, Dan Altavilla, Luis Cessa, Tyler Duffey and Sam Long

Catchers: Carter Jensen, Logan Porter, Tyler Cropley, Luca Tresh and Rodolfo Duran

Infielders: Tyler Tolbert, Mike Brosseau, Cam Devanney, CJ Alexander and Devin Mann

Outfielders: Nate Eaton, Diego Hernandez and John Rave
Former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake speaks at Turning Point USA's 2023 America Fest in the Phoenix Convention Center on Dec. 17, 2023, in Phoenix.

The Arizona Court of Appeals will not consider a special action appeal from former gubernatorial and current U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake challenging a Maricopa County judge's December decision to allow a defamation lawsuit against her to go forward.

Appeals are generally filed after trial or a judge's final order, but Lake's petition asked the Arizona Court of Appeals to rule more immediately on whether her motions to dismiss the defamation lawsuit were improperly denied.

She and her attorneys argued the lawsuit is "a matter of significant statewide importance" and "significant judicial and litigant resources will be extended" if the case proceeds.

The court's dismissal of Lake's petition comes days after she first submitted the appeal. It means the defamation case will continue to discovery, the formal process of exchanging information between attorneys about witnesses and evidence that could be presented before a jury at trial.

The defamation lawsuit, filed in June by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, accuses Lake and her affiliates of spreading false information about Richer following the November 2022 election. He alleges Lake knew, or should have known, the statements were false. Lake and Richer are both Republicans.

But Lake says Richer, who is running for reelection, is seeking to silence her and other election integrity critics. She has repeatedly condemned his defamation suit against her.

Attorneys for Richer and Lake did not immediately respond to The Republic's request for comment on the appellate court's decision.

Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip to share on elections or voting? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Court rejects Kari Lake challenge to judge's decision in defamation lawsuit
Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake talks in the Spin Room after former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Hialeah, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.

Rack up yet another loss for Kari Lake.

This time, its the Arizona Court of Appeals, which on Wednesday declined Lakes plea that she shouldnt be held accountable for what comes out of her mouth.

Lake appealed to the court on Friday, asking the three-judge panel to overrule a trial judges refusal to throw out Maricopa County Stephen Richers defamation lawsuit against her.

It took only five days for the Court of Appeals to say no.

So, the case will go forward to trial.

Isn't a trial good for Kari Lake?

I, for one, would think Lake would be happy.

For one thing, she can continue raising money from the MAGA Nation as she rails on about her First Amendment right to accuse Richer of criminal activity.

For another, she now will have the opportunity to prove her oft-repeated claim that he intentionally sabotaged the 2022 election.

Isnt that a good thing if you are Kari Lake?

For more than a year, Lake has lambasted Maricopa County elections workers and officials and Richer in particular, detailing the many ways in which this lifelong Republican plotted to steal the election from her, the Republican nominee for governor.

The only thing she hasnt offered up is any actual proof. Thus, her lengthy streak of losses in every court she has thus far approached a court with her incendiary claims.

In June, Richer  fed up finally with the harassment and the death threats to him and his family  called her on it, suing Lake for defamation.

Judge nixed 'rhetorical hyperbole' claim

Rather than demanding a quick trial so that she can out this supposedly dirty public official, Lake has asked  twice now  that the lawsuit be dismissed.

She claims Richer has no right to try to hold her accountable, no matter how many death threats he and his family must endure.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jay Adleman disagreed. Last month, he rejected her lawyers claim that her accusations of intentional sabotage werent really claims of intentional sabotage but mere rhetorical hyperbole.

The judge didnt buy it, pointing out that her specific claims of criminal activity are either provable  or not.

The judge also rejected her claim that the lawsuit is just a sleazy, illegal attempt by a politician to silence his critics.

The court is satisfied that the disputed statements  if indeed they are provable as false or defamatory  would be undeserving of the protections associated with our First Amendment principles, Adleman wrote.

Kari Lake dug this hole herself

In fact, he found that Richer may also have the goods to prove actual malice, which is another way of saying Kari Lake is in deep, deep trouble.

Maybe not Rudy Giuliani deep  Giuliani was recently hit with a $148 million jury verdict after a judge found he defamed a pair of Georgia poll workers  but a hole nonetheless.

One that she dug with her own mouth.

Trump's taunt of McCain: Is bad news for Kari Lake

Of course, Lake doesnt see it that way. She casts herself as the courageous victim, standing up to the forces of evil that conspire to silence her and rob her of a spot in the U.S. Senate.

@StephenRicher is suing me for defamation through a Soros-backed group called Project Democracy. Its an in-kind donation to @RubenGallego. But its bigger than that, she wrote on social media in response to Wednesdays ruling. Theyre trying to take away our protected political speech so nobody running for office will be able to speak out and criticize elected officials.

Theyre trying to criminalize honest journalism and our freedom of the press. Theyre trying to prevent moms and dads from going to school board meetings and criticizing their representatives. If this is successful, it will be the death of our First Amendment. People need to care and pay attention to this.

Now, she can prove her claims in court

So, America wont be America anymore because Kari Lake is being asked to back up her accusation that Stephen Richer committed crimes in order to fix the 2022 election?

Wednesdays appellate court ruling clears the way for Lake to prove her claim that Richer personally sabotaged the election by adding 300,000 phony ballots to the vote tally. (Never mind that the judge in Lakes election challenge rejected that claim a year ago.)

She now gets her day in court to prove her claim that he intentionally set printers to shrink Election Day ballots so they couldnt be counted. (Never mind that Richer has nothing to do with Election Day voting and that the votes ultimately were counted.)

Isnt that a good thing if you are Kari Lake?

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake is (still) in deep defamation trial doo doo
Students returning to Kellogg Community College for the start of the spring semester on Tuesday will be part of a student body that's more than 14% larger than the one last spring.

BATTLE CREEK  Enrollment continues to climb at Kellogg Community College.

Students returning to campus for the start of the spring semester on Tuesday will be part of a student body that's more than 14% larger than the one last spring.

A week before the start of spring classes, KCC has enrolled 3,427 students for the spring semester so far, a 14.27% increase  nearly 430 students  over the same timeframe last year.

Its the fifth consecutive semester of enrollment growth at the college after a Fall 2023 headcount that wound up more than 11% higher than Fall 2022.

Subscribe: Follow more stories from the community.

KCC officials attribute the increase to a variety of factors, including various process improvements related to the development of a new strategic enrollment plan during the 2022-23 academic year, as well as a general continuation of a return to normalcy following the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Kellogg Community College is excited to see that students are returning to school with enthusiasm and drive to complete or begin their studies, KCC Registrar Colleen Wright said in a news release. This enrollment increase is due to student persistence and offering options by the college, be it online or in the classroom. KCC faculty and staff have worked to make varied avenues of learning possible to keep students on their program pathways.

Kellogg Community College has enrolled 3,427 students for the spring semester so far, a 14.27% increase  nearly 430 students  over the same timeframe last year.

While the first spring-semester classes officially begin Tuesday, many classes dont start until later in the semester, and students can still sign up for classes several days to weeks after the semester start date, depending on the class. KCCs Industrial Trades programs, meanwhile, offer an open-entry enrollment process that allows students to sign up for most training modules at any time during the semester, meaning enrollment numbers "will only go up from here."

All students new to KCC must fill out an application and verify their address before signing up for classes. Admissions applications can be completed online at kellogg.edu/apply.

One new opportunity for students considering classes at KCC this spring is an expansion to the popular Michigan Reconnect program that now allows eligible students ages 21 to 24 without a degree to take classes tuition-free. Previously the program was only open to students ages 25 and up.

The Michigan Reconnect expansion is temporary, and applications at this time are only anticipated to be open for applicants ages 21 to 24 until Nov. 15, 2024.

Interested individuals should visit kellogg.edu/reconnect for details or contact the KCC Financial Aid Office at (269) 965-4123 or finaid@kellogg.edu.

Student registration information, including links to registration instructions, policies, tuition and fees and other information, is available at kellogg.edu/registration. Information about spring registration is also available by contacting KCCs Admissions Office at (269) 965-4153 or adm@kellogg.edu.

Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: KCC enrollment up more than 14% for the spring semester
MANILA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' total external trade in goods declined by 5.4 percent in November 2023 to 16.95 billion U.S. dollars from 17.92 billion dollars in November 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday.

Of the total external trade in November 2023, 63.8 percent were imported goods, while the remaining were exported goods, the PSA said.

The PSA said the balance of trade in goods, the difference between the value of exports and imports, in November 2023 amounted to -4.69 billion dollars, indicating a trade deficit with an annual increase of 26.3 percent.

China was the Philippines' largest supplier of imported goods, with imports amounting to 2.72 billion dollars, or 25.1 percent of the country's total imports in November, the PSA said.

The United States contributed the highest export value in November last year, with 970.22 million dollars, or a share of 15.8 percent of the total exports, the PSA said. 
Tort reform in Georgia is going to be a heavier lift than anticipated, requiring more than a single session of the General Assembly to accomplish, Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday.

Like every major undertaking our state has tackled in the past, we will work on a Georgia-specific solution, one designed to make meaningful reforms in this area over the next several years, Kemp told an audience of political and business leaders at the annual Eggs and Issues breakfast sponsored by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

I look forward to introducing legislation this year that will reflect my priorities to stabilize the market for insurers, stabilize premiums for Georgias families, and level the playing field in our courtrooms so we can continue to create even more quality, good-paying jobs.

After years of failed efforts to get significant tort reform through the General Assembly, Kemp announced last summer that he planned to make the issue a top priority for the 2024 legislative session. At a chamber-sponsored event in Athens, he complained that frivolous lawsuits against Georgia business owners are driving up insurance premiums, making it harder for companies to create jobs.

The last major tort reform legislation the legislature passed was in 2005, a measure that set a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits. But the state Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 2010.

Since then, legislative Democrats and their allies in the legal industry have joined forces to sink efforts to enact tort reform, arguing it would take away victims rights to their day in court,

The rest of Kemps speech Wednesday was peppered with his plans to take advantage of an unprecedented $16 billion budget surplus to increase spending in critical areas.

Ahead of Thursdays State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly, Kemp announced he will ask lawmakers for $1.5 billion to help the state Department of Transportation make highway improvements that will ease the movement of commuters and freight.

Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry told members of the State Transportation Board last month the state will need to spend at least $81 billion on transportation improvements by 2050 to keep people and freight moving on highways that otherwise will becoming increasingly congested.

The governor said he will request $250 million for the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to spend on local water and sewer projects, $178 million to design and construct a dental school at Georgia Southern University, $50 million for a new medical school on the campus of the University of Georgia, and an additional $50 million for the states Rural Workforce Housing Fund.

Kemp created the housing program last year with $37.5 million in initial funding.
An LMPD detective walks under police tape Monday afternoon on Main Street. Five people were shot and killed, with six injured including an LMPD officer at Old National Bank Monday morning. April 9, 2023

A slate of gun-centric bills has been introduced in the Kentucky legislature within the first few weeks of the 2024 session. While some lawmakers want to add or strengthen penalties for gun-related crimes, others are interested in expanding access in hunting or carrying concealed weapons for gun owners.

As Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg recently asked state legislators for help on curbing Louisville's gun violence, here's a breakdown of each bill that could lead to a change in Kentucky's gun laws:

Mandatory reporting of gun, ammunition theft

Senate Bill 56 aims to create penalties for those who don't properly secure their firearms and those who fail to report their stolen firearm or ammunition.

SB 56 is sponsored by Minority Floor Leader Gerald Neal, D-Louisville. The bill requires the gun owner or another person in lawful possession of a firearm to report it stolen to law enforcement within 24 hours of discovering the theft. As part of the proposed legislation, any person who sells ammunition is also required to report their loss within the same time window of discovery.

The theft report should contain, "if known, the caliber, make, model, manufacturers name, and serial number, if any, and any other distinguishing number or identification mark on the firearm, or the make, type, and caliber of the ammunition."

The law enforcement agency would then be required to relay that information to the National Crime Information Center database.

Any person who failed to report a loss or theft could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, as described in this bill.

The bill also makes failure to properly lock up and secure firearms a Class A misdemeanor.

According to the bill, a firearm owner or custodian is required to secure the weapon in a "safe storage depository," which is incapable of being opened without a key, combination, or other unlocking mechanism, or renders it incapable of being fired through an appropriate gun-locking device.

Thousands of guns have been stolen in Louisville over the years, with nearly 10,000 reported stolen between 2014 and 2019  an average of four thefts every day.

Concealed carry on college campuses and in government buildings

Senate Bill 66 intends to expand people's ability to carry concealed weapons in government buildings and college campuses.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Adrienne Southworth, R-Lawrenceburg, would amend state law to remove the authority of a college, university, or any postsecondary education facility to control or limit possessing a deadly weapon on any property owned or controlled by that agency or organization.

The bill would also remove the right of the legislative body of a state, city, county, or urban-county government to restrict or prohibit carrying concealed deadly weapons inside a building that is owned, leased or controlled by the government.

She introduced a similar bill last year that died in committee.

Penalty for illegal gun possession by a minor

House Bill 98 seeks to bump up the penalty for the crime of possessing a handgun while under the age of 18. The bill, sponsored by Sen. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, would classify the first offense as a Class D felony and each subsequent offense would be a Class C felony

In current law, possession of a handgun by a minor is a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense; it then becomes a Class D felony for each subsequent offense.

Hunting, fishing license requirements

A few bills are aimed at revising the state's hunting and fishing license requirements for people who actually own the land.

Current law, which was changed just last year, states people can be cited if they are found to be fishing or hunting on their own property without the proper license. Before this change, people were exempt from a license requirement if the activity was done on their own land. Now, the current restriction says the landowner or resident must have a permit unless their property is five or more acres.

SB 5 - which has Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, as a co-sponsor - wants to eliminate that requirement.

More: Kentucky lawmaker wants to drop penalties for killing hawks. Conservation groups not happy

Two bills filed in the House - House Bills 106 and 140 - are also seeking to remove that land size caveat. HB 106 expands the proposed exemption further by adding that anyone fishing on private property with the consent of the landowner does not have to have a fishing license.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 60, sponsored by Sen. Gary Boswell (R-Owensboro) - seeks to eliminate the requirement of taking an education course before being granted a hunting license.

Kentuckys hunter education law requires all license-required hunters, with some exceptions, born on or after 1975 to pass a hunter education course and carry the course completion card when hunting, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Reach reporter Rachel Smith at rksmith@courierjournal.com or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Gun, hunting laws could change under this 2024 Kentucky legislation
A man has been charged with murder in connection to the death of a 73-year-old man in Whitley County, according to the Whitley County Sheriffs Department.

Michael Connor, 73, was booked into the Whitley County Detention Center Tuesday on a murder charge. The sheriffs department said it executed a search warrant at his home the day before he was arrested.

Connor is accused of killing 73-year-old Charles Ohler, according to the sheriffs department. Ohler was found dead inside his home Saturday.

Detectives gathered evidence during the investigation that led to the identification of Connor as a suspect, according to the sheriffs department. Its unknown how Ohler was killed.

The Corbin Police Department and the Whitley County Coroners Office also assisted with the investigation.

This case is an excellent example of the importance of law enforcement agencies working together for the greater good of the community, the sheriffs department said in a Facebook post.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  With the fast-approaching storm system and the beginning of avalanche season, interlodge events may be around the corner.

While the winter season emerged slowly, the mid-December drought followed by this storm system provides an unusual set-up for avalanche conditions, Utah Avalanche Center Forecaster Craig Gordon said.

These are unusual avalanche conditions for us, Gordon said. Things are going to start to get super sketchy and its going to happen in the next 24 hours.

With the growing potential for avalanches this season, here is everything you should know about interlodge events.

What is an interlodge event?

An interlodge event is when residents, patrons, and employees are required to hunker down inside lodges and buildings due to avalanche danger and mitigation efforts, according to Ski Utah.

Interlodge often lasts a few hours while officials control the avalanche threat but can go on overnight. In a few instances, interlodge has extended over a couple of days until roads are safe to open.

While staying indoors for safety reasons seems like incentive enough, leaving a building, even to go to your car, is illegal during interlodge. Alta Town Marshal Mike Morey told ABC4 that skiers and snowboarders who attempt to return to the slopes during an interlodge event or leave the buildings for any reason can be charged with a misdemeanor, spend up to six months in jail and pay a $1,000 fine.

More than 1,000 people took shelter in the lodges and facilities at Alta during the interlodge event on Mar. 24. This photo was taken by someone stuck at Alta during the storm. (Courtesy of Lara Mullen)

While interlodge may seem restrictive, overnight interlodge events can sometimes offer a unique experience to skiers and snowboarders known as a country club day.

These are days when patrons are allowed to leave the lodge but the road remains closed, providing those who stayed overnight exclusive access to the resort. Not only do skiers and snowboarders enjoy the slopes to themselves, but they also enjoy the fresh powder that came from the storm that initially caused the interlodge to take place, Alta said.

Interlodge, therefore, is not always seen as a necessary restriction but by some as a sought-after opportunity.

When and where to expect an interlodge

Last season, which was a record-breaking year for snowfall, had nearly 100 avalanches hit the road, 34 road closures near Alta and at least 25 nights of required overnight stay, Ski Utah reported.

Interlodge events are most often directly related to avalanche risk and safety, meaning they are most common during the avalanche season that begins in January, according to Utah Hazard Mitigation. While some interlodge events are planned for avalanche mitigation purposes, Snowbird said others are put into place due to large snow storms and sudden avalanches.

Alta and Snowbird, which are both situated within Little Cottonwood Canyon, as well as the town of Alta, commonly have interlodge events. Little Cottonwood Canyon has some of the most active avalanche paths in North America, according to Gordon, leading to a greater likelihood of an interlodge event.

If you are caught in an unexpected interlodge event, Ski Utah said to pay attention to the officials, stay calm, and look forward to a beautiful day on the slopes once the shelter order is lifted.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Nation sets diplomatic goals for 2024

08:30, January 10, 2024 By Zhang Yunbi ( China Daily

Foreign Minister Wang Yi gives a speech on Tuesday in Beijing at the opening of a symposium on the international situation and China's diplomacy. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

When previewing China's diplomacy for the new year, many officials and scholars have voiced hopes that Beijing will play a greater part in fulfilling its due role by expanding its global partnership network, advancing the world's multipolarity and facilitating economic globalization.

In the year ahead, China will "enhance friendship, mutual trust and integration of interests with neighboring countries", and will "walk hand in hand with developing countries and unite and revitalize with BRICS countries", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing on Tuesday at a symposium on the global situation and China's diplomacy.

The nation's diplomats will also "firmly safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests" and work for an enabling external environment, Wang said in a speech that shed light on Beijing's foreign policy in 2024.

According to its detailed plan, China will tap into the strategic role of head-of-state diplomacy, host four key regional and international events and present the unique charm of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, according to Wang.

The four events will be the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the annual Boao Forum for Asia, the annual China International Import Expo and the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.

Analysts said the four events will touch on the four themes of seeking common prosperity with the vast number of developing countries, especially those in Africa; getting along well with neighbors; boosting trade and globalization; and spurring global growth by implementing the China-proposed Global Development Initiative.

Such events help cover many of the priorities of China's foreign policy, and President Xi Jinping has noted the value of and paid attention to these events over the years, they noted.

"What impressed me most over the past year is the leading role played by head-of-state diplomacy, and I'm very much looking forward to the homegrown diplomatic events to be held by China in the new year, such as FOCAC," said Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Studies and director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China.

Beijing has long been seeking to make the global governance system more reasonable and fairer, and the plan for this year's diplomacy is evidence of China's rejection of anti-globalization impulses and Cold War mentality, he added.

China's great sense of purpose is underpinned by its distinctive role as the world's largest developing country, he said.

"The nation represents one-fifth of the total global population, contributes more than one-third of global economic growth annually, and has a critical vote on the United Nations Security Council representing the interests of the vast number of developing countries," he said.

Dec 31 marked the 70th anniversary of China's proposing the landmark diplomacy philosophy known as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

The principles ask countries for "mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, noninterference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence".

China looks to take this anniversary as an opportunity to "promote the building of a new type of international relations", Wang Yi said.

Speaking on advocating the building of an equal and orderly multipolar world, Wang said Beijing will continue to practice true multilateralism and fully implement the Global Security Initiative.

In particular, Beijing will "adhere to fairness and justice, actively promote peace and talks, constructively participate in resolving global and regional hot spots such as the Palestine-Israel conflict and the Ukraine crisis, put forward more Chinese proposals, contribute more Chinese wisdom, and provide more public goods that are conducive to world peace and development", the foreign minister added.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, said that China, "as the second-largest economy in the world and a responsible major country, has been faithfully fulfilling its principle of peaceful coexistence and its commitment to win-win cooperation".

Over the past few years, China has played an increasingly important role in mediating for peace, such as its success last year in facilitating the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it hopefully will play a bigger role in this regard, he said.

"China has never invaded these countries and is also one of the largest trade partners with Middle East countries, which makes possible its good relations with all these countries and makes it an ideal partner for reconciliation and making peace," he added.

When elaborating on enhancing China's bilateral relations with specific countries or regions, the foreign minister said Beijing will "always adhere to openness and inclusiveness, and consolidate and expand its global partnership network".

In his speech, Wang Yi mentioned the United States, Russia and the European Union in particular.

On China-US relations, he said China plans to implement the consensus reached at the summit between President Xi and US President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November and "explore forming a proper way for the two major countries to get along".

Beijing will work with Moscow to "deepen China-Russia strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation" to strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era, he said.

China and the EU will "work closer in high-level exchanges and strategic communication, and promote the steady and lasting progress of China-EU relations", Wang added.

Yang Bojiang, director-general of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that one of the top priorities for China's diplomacy this year is "securing the steady growth of its relations with other major countries and the strategic stability of major-country relations".

Washington and Tokyo should work with Beijing to channel efforts for rolling out the leaders' consensus as well as expanding pragmatic cooperation, such as through economic and trade collaboration, Yang said.

"Economic and trade relations have been a cornerstone of China's political relations with the rest of the major countries, and none of them should seek economic decoupling," he added.

Another major task for Chinese diplomats is to deal with uncertainties about how elections that will be held this year in some major countries, such as the US, could affect ties with China, Yang said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
DHAKA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Wednesday appointed ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party leader Sheikh Hasina as the new prime minister of the South Asian country.

This is Hasina's fourth consecutive term as the country's prime minister.

The president also invited her to form a new government as her party has gained the confidence of the majority of the members of the parliament, the country's Cabinet Division said in a gazette notification.

Hasina, along with other lawmakers from her party, took oath as members of parliament on Wednesday after the victory of her party in Sunday's general elections.

According to a gazette notification published by the Election Commission on Tuesday afternoon, the AL party led by Hasina won 222 out of 298 seats of the parliament. The AL-led alliance bagged a landslide win with 225 seats. 
South Africa presented arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday, Jan. 11, after it filed a case against Israel in late December for its genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.

Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the court ahead of the first set of oral proceedings, but arguments will continue through Friday in the Netherlands.

Violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on the 7th of Oct. 2023, the Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years, said South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola on the stand. No armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious, even an attack involving atrocity crimes can provide any justification for or defense to breaches to the [Genocide] Convention. Lawyers representing South Africa pointed to evidence including the scale of destruction in Gaza, bombing of homes, and attacks on civilians.

The suit was filed to the ICJthe main judicial body of the United Nations which settles international disputes among member states and answers requests for advisory opinion on legal questions.

More than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped some 200 others. The Gaza Strip has experienced a shortage of resources since, with hospitals and churches subject to airstrikes, and limited international aid coming into the enclave.

The court will not decide whether Israel is committing genocide, but instead will assess whether South Africas case is strong enough to issue provisional measures that would protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to Palestinians and to ensure Israels compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide, the application against Israel says.

The Organization of Islamic Countries, made up of 57 nations, in addition to tens of other countriesincluding Bolivia, Colombia and Brazilhave voiced their support of the case. The U.S. has voiced opposition.

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that genocide claims against them are baseless. South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the Oct. 7 massacre and completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide, wrote Lior Haiat, spokesperson of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on X.

Heres what to know about the case.

What is this case about?

South Africa submitted an application to institute proceedings against Israel on Dec. 29, 2023, for alleged violations by Israel under the Genocide Convention.

In the 84-page application, South Africa cites United Nations experts who have, for week, sounded the alarm of the risk of genocide against Palestinians. The application points to evidence including, but not limited to: statements by Israeli state representatives that they say express genocidal intent; the deprivation of access to food and water; blockage of humanitarian aid; killing civilians; causing serious mental and bodily harm; and mass expulsion and displacement of Palestinians.

Israel has denied that it has violated international law during its military campaign in Gaza. The use of the term genocide in relation to Israels lawful targeting of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations in Gaza empties the term of meaning, reads a Q&A published on the Israeli Defense Forces website. Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza. It is committed to conducting its operations in accordance with international law and wishes no harm to Palestinian civilians anywhere.

How the case will play out

The case is currently at the provisional measures stage, meaning South Africa is not asking the court to rule definitively that Israel is committing genocide, Rutgers Law School professor Adil Haque says.

Instead, South Africa is asking the ICJ to issue an order that would be similar to a preliminary injunction in a U.S. court and preserve the status quo, Lea Brilmayer, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, adds.

South Africa is specifically requesting Israel to halt all military attacks that constitute or give rise to violations of the Genocide Convention, according to their court application. They also ask that Israel cease killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinian people in Gaza and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The court has the power to order Israel to comply with all of South Africas requests, or it may only issue some orders.

Scholars could not concretely provide a timeframe for when the ICJ would issue their decision after the oral arguments. Some said it could take weeks, if not longer. Francis Boylea professor at University of Illinois College of Law who serves as counsel to the Provisional Government of the Palestinian Authoritysays it could be even faster. He notes that the massive Palestinian death toll due to the ongoing military offensive in Gaza creates urgency in this case.

Either way, if the ICJ does rule in favor of South Africa, the provisional measures would only be temporary. Judges would later have to decide if the case could move forward to the merits phase, which would lead to a fully-fledged trial between South Africa and Israel during which the court would decide whether Israel committed genocide. A decision on that would take years, according to experts.

A separate case has also been opened in the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is reviewing actions taken by Israeli officials since the war and conduct that may amount to Rome Statute crimes committed since 13 June 2014 in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, per a Nov. 17 statement. The ICC differs from the ICJ in that it is a criminal court that prosecutes individuals for their actions.

There is also an ongoing case in the U.S. federal court against President Joe Biden, Secretary Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for their failure to preventand complicity inthe genocide against Palestinians. The case, which was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, will be heard in Oakland, Calif. on Jan. 26.

Role of the ICJ in determining genocide

The ICJs orders are legally bindingbut experts warn that the ICJ does not have the power to enforce a state to abide by its judgment.

It's an institution that enforces its judgments through public pressure, because it looks very bad for a country to defy an order from the ICJ because it's very prestigious and authoritative, Brilmayer notes. The ICJ is basically stuck if it comes up against a state who refuses to comply with the order.

Haque points to a similar case filed by Ukraine against Russia in February 2022 as a possible precedent. While the case is still pending in the courts, judges issued a provisional measure telling Russia to suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine and that any military support must take no steps in furtherance of these military operations. But Russia has not ended its ongoing military campaign.

The U.N. Security Council has the authority to enforce ICJ orders, but countries like the U.S. and Russia have veto power, making them and their allies immune to demands. Boyle says that the UN General Assembly could issue a resolution for enforcement on the matter, but other experts note that even that action could be ignored.

The court orders will more likely be the basis for a wide variety of states to criticize Israel if it does not comply, and use other means to try to pressure Israel to comply with whatever the orders turn out to be, Haque says.

Still, Alexander Hinton, the UNESCO Chair in Genocide Prevention at Rutgers University, says that pursuing this legal avenue is worthwhile.

Having South Africa file this case could be evidence of a trend towards greater universal care, he suggests. All member states are permitted to present a case about genocide to the ICJ under the UN Genocide Convention, and this would not be the first time a third-party brings forward a case to the ICJ about genocide; in 2019, Gambia, presented a case against Myanmar for its genocide against the Rohingya. But having a country that does not neighbor Israel file the claim is significant.

Settling international matters may be slow, but Hinton says there is a worth to determine the facts to render a judgment and to morally and legally implicate [an entity] who could be found to violate the genocide treaty.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Wednesday told a Shawnee County judge that transgender residents should be blocked from changing the gender listed on their drivers licenses as a legal challenge to a new state law defining man and woman plays out in court.

The Republican state attorney general said testimony from trans Kansans, who were expected to take the stand this week, was likely irrelevant.

Kobachs arguments came in the latest hearing over the impact of a bill the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature approved last year defining man and woman in state law based upon sex assigned at birth. The law, called SB 180, was one of several approved by legislators last year that regulate the lives of trans residents.

At the Shawnee County District Court hearing, Kobach, the Kansas Department of Revenue, and the ACLU of Kansas argued over whether KDOR should be blocked from allowing gender marker changes while the lawsuit against SB 180 continues.

The court hearing came as lawmakers returned this week to Topeka for the 2024 legislative session. Lawmakers have shown little interest in returning to the definition of man and woman, but have indicated plans to pursue limits on hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery for trans minors.

Kobach sued the Kansas Department of Revenue this summer after the agency announced it would continue allowing gender marker changes despite SB 180. The agency contended state law requires drivers licenses to reflect the gender of its owner, not the sex.

KDOR is currently barred from changing licenses following an emergency order issued by Shawnee County District Court Judge Theresa Watson over the summer.

The results of this weeks hearing, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, will determine legal options for trans residents to change documentation as the lawsuit works its way through the court system.

During the hearing, Kobach referenced a federal court decision in September blocking the state from changing sex markers on birth certificates. While the Shawnee County court is not bound by the federal court decision, Kobach said, it created uniformity in state policy.

The objective of 180 is to stop things from changing from one agency to another, Kobach said. That uniformity should not be interrupted.

But Ted Smith, an attorney for the Kansas Department of Revenue, said in opening arguments that the agency relies on a variety of documents to confirm gender and that Kobachs interpretation of a broad statute should not override specific language directing the agency to prepare licenses based on gender.

The question, Smith said, is whether a drivers license is a historical document or something representative of an individual and how they present themselves to society.

This weeks hearing will include testimony from Kansas police officers on how gender markers affect their work as well as trans Kansans who say they would be harmed by an ability to change the gender marker on their drivers licenses.

In opening arguments Kobach said he didnt believe the testimony of the trans residents would be relevant to the case because they were third-party intervenors, not the defendants, and because many of the intervenors had already changed the gender marker on their licenses.

Sharon Brett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, argued that the inability to maintain those licenses would force transgender residents to unwillingly reveal their transgender identity every time they showed their drivers licenses.

This, she said will put intervenors and others like them at risk for discrimination, harassment and worse.

While Brett said Kobachs interpretation of state law was incorrect, she also argued the new law itself was unconstitutional. The ACLU has referenced the 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling that found a state right to an abortion while arguing state law infringes upon transgender Kansans fundamental right to bodily autonomy.
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA)  Clearwater firefighters battled a blaze at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse early Wednesday.

Crews were called to the restaurant located at 28775 US Highway 19 North shortly after 1 a.m. after a fire was reported.





Firefighters said the fire was minor and contained to the roof in the front of the building.

No injuries were reported.

No other details were available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Rapper Kodak Black, whos locked up at the Miami federal detention center, may soon land back in Broward jail.

In a Wednesday morning hearing, Broward Circuit Court Judge Barbara Duffy ordered Kodak, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, placed behind bars whenever hes released from federal custody.

Kodak, 26, has been held at the federal detention center since mid-December after violating his probation on a gun-buying conviction dating back more than four years. He was serving 46 months in prison when his sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump on his last full day in office, Jan. 19,2021.

READ MORE: Kodak Black is back behind bars after Broward drug arrest. This time, in Miami

Duffys ruling came after prosecutors asked the judge to revoke the rappers bond over him picking up a drug case while out on bail. But defense attorneys want a hearing on the matter after a federal court judge decides whether to release Kodak from custody.

After the prosecutor recited some of the allegations in Kodaks December arrest report, Duffy agreed there was probable cause to hold the rapper in jail pending trial. However, she said she made the ruling on her own volition  and not because of the states request.

According to police, the rapper was found asleep in a Bentley on Dec. 7 with drugs on him. Kodak was arrested after being accused of cocaine possession, evidence tampering and improperly stopping, standing or parking.

Maybe he shouldnt be in such a comfortable car, Duffy quipped.

At the time of his arrest, Kodak was out on bond in connection to drug possession and trafficking charges. In 2022, Kodak was pulled over in his purple Dodge Durango by Florida Highway Patrol. State troopers say they found 31 oxycodone tablets inside the car.

Attorney Brad Cohen, who has represented Kodak in several cases, said the substance found in his December arrest tested positive for oxycodone instead of cocaine. According to Cohen, Kodak has a prescription for oxycodone.

Knowing that the officer substantially misrepresented his observations, the Broward State Atty Office still filed the [charge,] Cohen said in a statement on Instagram. Unbelievable and it will not be tolerated.

A court filing from Monday shows that prosecutors charged Kodak with possession of oxycodone.

After speaking with one of the defense attorneys [Tuesday] morning, prosecutors will review any documentation the defense wants to send over, Paula McMahon, spokesperson for the Broward State Attorneys Office, told the Miami Herald on Wednesday afternoon.

A hearing to revoke Kodaks supervised release in his federal case is set for Jan. 22 before U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a TV screen as he appears in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service from the courtroom in Kovrov, Vladimir region, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Navalny, 47, is jailed on charges of extremism. He had been imprisoned in the Vladimir region of central Russia, but was transferred last month to a "special regime" penal colony  the highest security level of prisons in Russia  above the Artic Circle. His allies decried the transfer to a colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, as yet another attempt to force Navalny into silence. (AP Photo/Antonina Favorskaya)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP)  A smiling and joking Alexei Navalny appeared in court Wednesday via video link from the Arctic penal colony where he is serving a 19-year sentence, the first time the Russian opposition leader has been shown on camera since his transfer to the remote prison.

Russian news outlets released images of Navalny, in black prison garb and with a buzz cut, on a live TV feed from the special regime penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.

At the hearing, Navalny cracked jokes about the Arctic weather and asked if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred.

The video was beamed to a hearing in a courtroom hundreds of miles away in the town of Kovrov, in the Vladimir region of central Russia, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, near Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny had been held until last month. The hearing was for one of many lawsuits he filed against the penal colony  this particular one challenged one of his stints in a punishment cell."

In video footage and media reports from the hearing, Navalny, 47, talked in his usual sardonic tone about how much he had missed officials at his old prison and the Kovrov court officials, and he joked about the harsh prison in Russias far north.

Conditions here (at the penal colony in Kharp)  and thats a dig at you, esteemed defendants  are better than at IK-6 in Vladimir, Navalny deadpanned, using the penal colony's acronym.

There is one problem, though  and I dont know which court to file a suit about it  the weather is bad here, he added with a chuckle.

He was transferred in December to the special regime penal colony in Kharp  the highest security level of prisons in Russia. Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putins fiercest political foe, is serving time on charges of extremism.

Navalny spent months in isolation at Prison Colony No. 6 before his transfer. He was repeatedly placed in a tiny punishment cell over alleged minor infractions, like buttoning his prison uniform wrong. They also refused to give him his mail, deprived him of writing supplies, denied him food he had ordered and paid for in addition to regular meals, and wouldn't allow visits from relatives, Navalny argued in his lawsuits challenging his treatment.

In the one heard Wednesday, Navalny contested a stint in solitary confinement, and the judge ruled against him and sided with prison officials  just like in other such lawsuits he filed.

Russian independent news site Mediazona reported that the court played a video of an incident last year in which Navalny lashed out at a prison official who took away his pen. The official then accused Navalny of insulting him, and the politician was put in the punishment cell for 12 days.

According to the report, Navalny admitted Wednesday that he shouldn't have yelled at the official and overdid it by calling him names, but he argued nonetheless that he was allowed to have the pen and shouldn't have been punished by prison officials.

Navalny also asked the penal colony's representatives whether they celebrated his transfer with a party, or a karaoke party," drawing laughter from the judge, Mediazona reported.

Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption, organized major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office.

He has since received three prison sentences, rejecting all the charges against him as politically motivated.

On Tuesday, Navalny said in a social media statement relayed from behind bars that prison officials in Kharp accused him of refusing to introduce himself in line with protocol, and also ordered him to serve seven days in an isolated punishment cell.

The thought that Putin will be satisfied with sticking me into a barracks in the far north and will stop torturing me in the punishment confinement was not only cowardly, but naive as well, he said.
Editor's note: This article was updated after the Supreme Court appealed against the Kyiv District Administrative Court's decision to reinstate Bohdan Lvov.

The Kyiv District Administrative Court ruled on Jan. 10 in favor of Bohdan Lvov, a former head of the commercial chamber of Ukraine's Supreme Court, reinstating him to his old position, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) investigative project Schemes reported.

Schemes' investigation from September 2022 uncovered that Lvov possesses a Russian passport, a report later confirmed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Despite the judge's denial, the Supreme Court dismissed Lvov in response to the findings.

The Kyiv court reportedly decided that the Supreme Court must pay Lvov's salary for the period of his "forced abstention."

The Supreme Court would appeal the decision, its press service said. The decision comes into effect only after the end of the appeal proceedings.

According to the media investigation that sparked the scandal, Lvov received a Russian passport in the late 1990s while already serving as a judge.

He had obtained the document based on a military service certificate, which he had received following a graduation from a Soviet Defense Ministry's institute in 1989, Schemes wrote.

Lvov is said to have renewed his passport in 2012 and did not renounce Russian citizenship even after the start of Moscow's aggression in 2014 nor following the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022.

Ukraine's law does not recognize double citizenship, and a Russian passport in the hands of a public official is a particular cause for concern.

Lvov denied having a Russian passport and claimed that his removal was motivated by "parties interested in economic disputes" under the consideration of the Supreme Court's commercial chamber.

The judge subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Supreme Court, demanding reinstatement and full salary for the period of his unemployment.

When the information became public, a petition was filed asking President Volodymyr Zelensky to deprive Lvov of his Ukrainian citizenship.

While Zelensky instructed authorities to investigate grounds for taking away Lvov's Ukrainian passport, the migration service announced in December 2023 that it is no longer considering the matter, providing no explanation.

Ukraine has long struggled with cases of corruption and other violations in its justice system. Reforms of the judiciary are one of the key steps Kyiv has to undertake on its path toward EU membership.

In one of the most high-profile recent cases of corruption in the Ukrainian justice system, Vsevolod Kniaziev, the former head of Ukraine's Supreme Court, was charged with accepting a $1.8 million bribe in exchange for the court's decision favoring Ukrainian oligarch Kostiantyn Zhivago.

Read also: Investigative Stories From Ukraine: Another procurement scandal spotlights Defense Ministry contractor

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Two pastors kidnapped along with others in Nigeria last month remain captive despite their denomination paying 11 million naira (US$12,264) for their release, church officials said.

The Rev. Elkanah Ayuba and the Rev. Simon Ezra, both of the United Methodist Church (UMC), were among at least 20 people kidnapped on Dec. 19 from Pupule Town, Yorro County in Taraba state, according to the Rev. Micah Dopa, president of the Southern Conference of the UMC.

As a Body of Christ, we mobilized and paid 11 million naira for our members to be released, but the terrorists decided to release only the Muslim victims in their custody, Pastor Dopa said in a Jan. 4 statement. Going by the video clip circulating in the media and the action of the terrorists, it is clear to say that the terrorists activities are a plot to erase Christians in the area.

The two pastors and 14 members of the UMC remain in captivity, he said. The kidnappers on Dec. 23 also abducted another UMC member, Dimas Ishaya, along with others from Dila village. On Dec. 26, they kidnapped UMC member Fidelis Daniel from his residence along with others from the Gongong Malik market in Gongon village, including the pastor of UMC Kasakuri and other church members, he said.

We wish to in strong terms condemn the ungodly, barbaric, heartless, evil and senseless act of banditry and terrorism in the Yorro community, Pastor Dopa said.

Area resident Charles Tolmava said the kidnappers were in transit with the captives.

We learned that Rev. Elkanah Ayuba has disclosed that the terrorists keep moving them toward the border of Nigeria with the Cameroon Republic, Tolmava told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. Their health keeps deteriorating with no food and water. The demands of the bandits are high, as they are demanding millions of naira. The church is finding it difficult to meet the demand of the terrorists.

In a video the kidnappers recorded three days after the Dec. 19 abduction, a blind-folded Pastor Ayuba stated that the captors had threatened to kill them unless Taraba state leaders, especially Muslim and Christian leaders under the Muslim Council and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), meet and draw the attention of the Nigerian government to our plight.

Theres the need for them to dialogue with our captors so as to get us released from captivity, Pastor Ayuba said as armed captors stood behind him. Theres the need for the government to dialogue with our captors and find a lasting solution to this menace. We believe that unless the government takes steps towards finding a solution to this problem for peace to reign, unless this is done in the next few days, well be killed.

The pastor, who is district superintendent, Yorro Central of the UMC, appeared to have been forced at gunpoint to create an impression that the captors were Muslim Fulani herdsmen who had taken up arms because they had been marginalized by the Nigerian government.

Pastor Dopa called on the Yorro community to help security agencies by reporting suspicious people and movements.

We want both the federal and Taraba state governments to act fast to end this incident and ensure the release of our pastors and 14 others, or we will resort to self-defense, which is both biblical and constitutional, he reportedly said.

Commissioner of Police Joseph Eribo said the state police command had developed strategies for ridding criminals from the area and the state. He appealed for calm and for the community to provide information to help in prosecution.

The Rev. Isaiah Magaji Jirapye, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Taraba State Chapter, said in a press statement that Christians in Taraba state have continued to suffer from the nefarious and unwholesome activities of Muslim Fulani bandits, kidnappers and terrorists.

The recent abduction of some Christians in Yorro Local Government Area of Taraba state by Muslim Fulani bandits, which their video surfaced on the social media, calls for serious concern from all and sundry, Pastor Jirapye said. Despite the fact that the church paid ransom for the release of their pastors and members, the terrorists refused to release them. But instead released other Muslim abductees in their place.Theres the need for concerted efforts on the part of the Nigeria government, the Taraba state government, amongst other stakeholders, to win the fight against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.

In text messages to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, area resident Akila Hamman pleaded for prayers for the captives, as did John Jonathan, another resident who identified some of the other captives as Daddy Andeyati, Emma Francis, Linus Anthony and Uncle Mika.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Open Doors 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.

In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous year.

Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery, the WWL report noted. This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation Nigerias government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians rights are carried out with impunity.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdoms All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.

They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity, the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigerias Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.
The House Armed Services Committee has launched an investigation into how senior Pentagon leaders mishandled Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins emergency hospitalization and non-disclosure of a cancer diagnosis amid continued concerns from lawmakers about the militarys chain of command.

The move is likely just the first in a series of formal inquiries over the coming weeks into Austins health and lack of communication with the White House. Austin is expected to testify before multiple committees on the annual defense budget in the coming weeks, and the issue could dominate those appearances as well.

Austin, 70, has been receiving hospital care since Jan. 1, when he was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after developing a urinary tract infection from complications related to prostate cancer surgery on Dec. 22.

Other senior military leaders were not informed of his condition until several days later. White House officials, including President Joe Biden, were not made aware the defense secretary was hospitalized until Jan. 5, and did not learn about his cancer diagnosis until Jan. 9.

In a statement, Austin acknowledged that I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. In a press briefing on Tuesday, White House officials said the handling of the matter was not optimal, but said Biden has no plans for a leadership change at the Pentagon.

Austin developed infection after prostate cancer treatment

In a letter to Austin on Tuesday, committee House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said panel members have grave concerns over his and other officials decision to not immediately inform Congress or the White House when the defense secretary was hospitalized on Jan. 1.

With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable, Rogers wrote. Everything from on-going counterterrorism operations to nuclear command and control relies on a clear understanding of the secretarys decision-making capacity.

The Department is a robust institution, and it is designed to function under attack by our enemies, but it is not designed for a secretary who conceals being incapacitated.

The committee inquiry will focus initially on Austin, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, and Austins chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen. Pentagon officials said Magsamen learned of Austins hospitalization just hours after it occurred but took several days to share the news because of her own illness.

Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, called for Austins resignation on Wednesday.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has not taken the same formal steps as its House counterpart, but members have requested more information on the incident from Austin and Defense Department leaders.

This lack of disclosure must never happen again, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement on Monday. I am tracking the situation closely and the Department of Defense is well aware of my interest in any and all relevant information.

Committee ranking member Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has requested a briefing on the confusion surrounding Austins medical condition, asserting in a statement Tuesday that an internal review ordered by the same chief of staff who played a part in this crisis is woefully inadequate. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans also requested more information from the Pentagon regarding the timeline surrounding Austins hospitalization.

Earlier this week, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., announced plans to file articles of impeachment against Austin for failing to publicly disclose his health problems. House Republican leaders have not announced any plans to move ahead with that or similar articles of impeachment filed by other Republican members against Austin last August, those concerning his handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called for the resignation of Austin and anyone who lied for him.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby earlier this week announced the White House and Pentagon would conduct reviews to ensure that similar communication issues do not happen again.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Several Democratic lawmakers were joined by Amazon Teamsters on Capitol Hill Wednesday to announce a bipartisan effort to hold Amazon accountable for what Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called a mistreatment of delivery drivers.

Its time for Amazon to do the right thing and take responsibility for the work conditions of some of its most important employees, Murphy said.

Murphy says lawmakers have sent a letter requesting information from Amazon about the companys Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program. Murphy alleges the company refuses to recognize DSP drivers who deliver Amazon packages as its legal employees.

Theyre wearing an Amazon uniform, theyre delivering an Amazon package, theyre walking out of an Amazon-branded vehicle, but they dont work for Amazon, Murphy said.

Drivers from Palmdale, California who unionized in 2023 joined lawmakers to share their experiences in the DSP program.

I have personally driven in a vehicle where outside its 115 but inside my van it reaches 130. On this particular day, I had no working air conditioning. Also, my driver and passenger window were not able to roll down, Brandi Diaz, Amazon Teamster said.

Nexstar reached out to Amazon for comment regarding lawmakers letter to the company.

In a statement Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in part: Contrary to false claims in the letter, all of these vehicles have air conditioning as a standard feature and routes are designed to allow for ample breaks. DSPs are small business owners and entrepreneurs who are creating good jobs, with great pay and benefits, for more than 275,000 drivers around the world. We strongly dispute the claims in the letter and look forward to sharing the facts.

This is not the first time Amazon has been questioned by Congress for its safety practices.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders opened a Senate investigation into Amazons warehouse safety practices in June 2023, accusing the company of egregious health and safety violations.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company strongly disagreed with the Sen. Sanders assertions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
In a case that has raised significant human rights concerns, a 28-year-old Mongolian Christian imprisoned on trumped-up charges is in critical condition after facing severe persecution in a high-security prison in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.



According to U.S.-based persecution watchdog ChinaAid, Alamus, also known as Alamusha, originally from the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia, was a student at the Shanghai Theater Academy. During a winter break in 2013, he attended a classmate reunion in his hometown when an altercation broke out at the event. Although Alamusha did not participate in the fight, he was charged as the main offender and sentenced to 15 years for intentional injury.

Alamusha's plight came to light following a video released by his aunt, which has been circulating on Chinese social media. The video alleges that Alamusha has been tortured in solitary confinement for nearly two months, with his life in imminent danger, because he refused to plead guilty to his crimes.

She claims that he was beaten by police officer Nie Yonggang and a gang member, resulting in a perforated eardrum. However, following his complaint to the prison authorities, Alamusha was reportedly placed in solitary confinement, shackled, and deprived of adequate food and warmth, leading to severe frostbite.

Another report from Bitter Winter notes that Alamusha was fed only one steamed bun to eat, and a small glass of water to drink every day. He was also forced to drink water from the urinal to survive.

Despite filing numerous complaints, Alamusha's pleas have gone unanswered, and his family's insistence on justice has reportedly led to further retaliation and torture.

We are the most helpless herders, you all cant bully people like this. A pitiful child cannot be like this, right?, Alamushas aunt said in the video. You all cant torture the child to death, we request the Communist government to take this matter seriously.

Du Wen, a former inmate and former deputy director of the Legal Counsel Office of Inner Mongolia. Du described the torture as far beyond what was mentioned in the video. He portrayed Alamusha as an honest, courageous and spiritually resilient individual who embraced Christianity while in prison.

China Aid notes that Alamusha's background as an orphan raised by his grandmother, with no significant connections, seemingly played a role in his scapegoating and harsh sentencing. His refusal to plead guilty has reportedly offended the prison authorities, particularly police officer Nie.

The Hohhot Prison, known for incarcerating individuals involved in serious crimes, is described by Du as a place where "all laws have become ineffective," raising grave concerns about the rule of law and the treatment of prisoners in China, especially religious minorities like Christians.

This case has attracted international attention, with human rights organizations calling for an immediate, fair and transparent investigation into the allegations of torture and wrongful imprisonment.

Christianity in Mongolia, a country located between China and Russia, is a minority religion, with Christians making up just 1.94% of the population, according to 2020 census data.

Since the end of communist rule in the early 1990s, an estimated 40,000 Mongolians have converted to Christian denominations, including Protestant, Catholic, Seventh-Day Adventist and others.

Lamaistic Buddhism and shamanism are the traditional religions of Mongolia. The majority of Mongolia's people groups  23 out of 28  are still considered unreached for the Gospel, according to Mission Eurasia.



Originally published by The Christian Post
Severe weather across the U.S. has left at least five people dead and is causing rivers to rise to dangerous levels as more winter storms move in.

Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power across the U.S. Wednesday, with New York and Pennsylvania hit the hardest.

PHOTO: Water rises at a residential area in an aftermath of a storm in Piermont, New York, January 10, 2024. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

PHOTO: Homes and vehicles are surrounded by flood waters in Hampton, New Hampshire on January 10, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

While the rain in the Northeast has stopped for now, it could still cause rivers to rise over their banks in the next two days.

The Raritan River crested Wednesday in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, and local police urged residents to move cars near the river to higher ground.

In Norwich, Connecticut, dam conditions prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday for areas along the Yantic River.

"Residents evacuating from Yantic are advised that they may be displaced from their residences and businesses for several days," Norwich Public Utilities warned.

The Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Pompton and Passaic rivers in New Jersey could also go to into major flooding stages.

Storm update: We are concerned with the area around the Passaic River, which is not due to crest until later today or Thursday. We anticipate additional flooding in that area beyond what towns are experiencing this morning.  Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) January 10, 2024

On Tuesday, the storms caused at least five fatalities across the U.S.

In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.

Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

PHOTO: Zach Brobst shovels in his driveway after a snowstorm left several inches of snow in Clive, Iowa, January 9, 2024. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)

In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County medical examiner and coroner.

Another person was killed when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.

MORE: Severe weather kills 3, Air Force Two diverted to DC-area airport due to wind shear

In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.

This week at least 23 tornadoes have been reported across Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Just completed a helo tour of the area. Press conference later this afternoon to discuss the damage and recovery efforts currently underway. pic.twitter.com/mWnMEuJL5Q  Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) January 9, 2024

PHOTO: This image obtained from the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Florida shows storm damage around Panama City, Florida, on January 9, 2024. (Bay County Sheriff's Office/AFP via Getty Images)

The same system brought up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest and winds as high as 65 mph to the Northeast.

More than 3 inches of heavy rain fell on top of melting snow in the Northeast, crippling travel as floodwaters spilled into roadways.

Current status along the coast pic.twitter.com/z8klVOMD45  Wells Police (@WellsPolice) January 10, 2024

PHOTO: A man is seen trapped in flooding, Jan. 10, 2024, in Norwich, Conn. (Mark Massey)

Now, another winter storm is heading from the West Coast to the East Coast.

The storm already dumped up to 30 inches of snow and brought rare blizzard conditions to the Pacific Northwest over the last 24 hours.

On Wednesday, the heavy snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and will move through the Rockies on Thursday.

MORE: What every motorist needs to know about driving in snow

This storm will bring another severe weather outbreak to the South from Thursday night through Friday. Damaging winds, large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes are possible from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas.

In the north, snow will stretch from Iowa to Missouri to Michigan to Chicago on Friday and Saturday, with more than 1 foot of snow possible in some spots.

The storm will reach the Northeast late Friday night into Saturday morning. More heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding are expected.

ABC News' Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

Rising rivers threaten to flood Northeast towns following powerful winter storms originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
More than 100 Lee County schools were among hundreds searched statewide after officials received what appeared to be an emailed bomb threat.

Rob Spicker, spokesperson for the Lee County School District, said they have 46 elementary schools; 17 middle schools; 15 high schools; four K-8 schools; and 11 special centers, including at the School District's premises.

Spicker said school operations weren't interrupted.

Student injured: Student, 15, riding bicycle taken to hospital after school bus crash, FHP says

"It's an ongoing effort to be diligent through the school day," Spicker told The News-Press.

Spicker said the FBI and local law enforcement were involved in the Lee County search, although it's unknown which local law enforcement agencies are assisting. He added the School District was made aware of the threat between 9 and 10 a.m.

According to an email sent to Lee County parents just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, the School District received an email alleging a bomb threat against Florida school districts. The email didn't mention which other school districts were impacted.

The messaged threat, which has circulated statewide, claims that an individual has supposedly planted bombs in school buildings, the Lee County School District said.

Jennifer Kupiec, spokesperson for Collier County Public Schools, said they're aware of an alleged statewide bomb threat circulating in regards to Florida district schools.

"We have been in communication with the Collier County Sheriff's Office, and they have informed us that at this time, they have no information about a credible threat against Collier County Public Schools," Kupiec wrote in an emailed statement.

It's unknown how many Collier County schools were searched.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida school bomb threats trigger searches in Lee, Collier County
Law professors, attorneys and legal analysts have roundly dismissed Donald Trumps claim to have absolute immunity from prosecution for any acts he committed when president.

Trumps attorneys on Tuesday argued to a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that presidents cant be prosecuted unless they are impeached and then convicted by the Senate. The claim came as Trumps legal team sought to nix felony charges against the former president for his role in inciting the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The argument was greeted with skepticism from the panel.

As it was by legal experts commenting on the claim.

Harvard University constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe told MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell it was a ridiculous argument.

He said, It would be absolutely astonishing if any panel of judges, let alone a panel as qualified and smart as this one, were to give the Trump argument the time of day.

He added, Its not an argument that any real lawyer would have come up with and makes no sense.

Watch the video here:

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann told MSNBCs Ali Velshi the argument was just so shocking to hear someone say that when it has been assumed for so long that a former president is not above the law.

Watch the interview here:

Doron Kalir, a law professor Cleveland State University, told Business Insider that if a student made the same argument, they would get anywhere between a C or a D for misunderstanding what the Constitution has said.

Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley said Trumps argument of impeachment first, prosecution later, is a dead letter with the panel.

I dont believe that the judges agree that you needed a conviction to ever prosecute a president, he added.

Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb suggested it was just a delay tactic.

And conservative attorney George Conway told CNNs Kaitlin Collins that Trumps legal team had taken a bad argument and conflated it with another bad argument, which is something based upon the impeachment judgment clause, and mixing them all together in the hope of getting a stronger together.

The court has been given five days by the Department of Justice to rule on the argument.

Related...
A group of legal scholars issued an open letter to House GOP leaders Wednesday conveying their concerns with the impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, arguing his impeachment would be utterly unjustified as a matter of constitutional law.

In the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), more than two dozen legal scholars claimed House Republicans pursuit of an impeachment does not meet the constitutional threshold for impeachment.

Their proposed grounds for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas are the stuff of ordinary (albeit impassioned) policy disagreement in the field of immigration enforcement, the letter stated.

If allegations like this were sufficient to justify impeachment, the separation of powers would be permanently destabilized. It is telling that there is absolutely no historical precedent for the impeachment charges that House Republicans have articulated.

House Republicans are expected to begin a series of impeachment hearings against Mayorkas on Wednesday to investigate allegations the Department of Homeland Security secretary has displayed a dereliction of duty in his handling of the border.

The pushback against Mayorkas has built over the past year among House GOP members amid an influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border. Two House members introduced resolutions to boot Mayorkas from the job in the past year, but those were never voted on.

The legal scholars argued the framers of the Constitution made a conscious choice to not designate impeachment for mere maladministration,' which they describe as incompetence, bad judgement or poor policy. They noted impeachment is supposed to be only justified by truly extraordinary misconduct.

Simply put, the Constitution forbids impeachment based on policy disagreements between the House and the Executive Branch, no matter how intense or high stakes those differences of opinion, the scholars wrote. Yet that is exactly what House Republicans appear poised to undertake.

Acknowledging they have varying views on the wisdom and success of Mayorkass work on immigration policed, the legal scholars said they can agree an impeachment based on the arguments set forth by House Republicans would be a stark departure from the Constitution.

The group of legal scholars included Donald Ayer, who served as U.S. deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, and Stuart Gerson, who served as acting United States attorney general during the Clinton administration in 1993 and also served in the Justice Department under Bush. The others behind the letter are legal or political sciences professors and some are still attorneys themselves.

A day before the letter was published, Jonathan Turley, a conservative commentator and legal scholar, said the House GOP does not have sufficient evidence for impeaching Mayorkas.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Will climate change mean fewer big snowstorms like the blizzards occurring on both coasts and across the country this week?

You might be surprised. Researchers studying how the warming climate is changing snowfall and snowpack are drawing new conclusions about the future of snow, and its a mixed bag. Some researchers find overall snowfall declining in many areas, leaving less snow packed into mountain ranges in the spring, while others say the warmer winters won't prevent some of the more intense snow storms  at least not yet.

A new study by two Dartmouth College researchers looked at the decline of spring snowpack in major river basins in the Northern Hemisphere. They concluded the losses may be already be greater than anyone has realized, in part because it's such a challenging thing to measure. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, linked human-caused warming to declines in snowpack in at least 31 river basins in the hemisphere since 1981.

The researchers say their findings present the most compelling evidence so far that human greenhouse gas emissions have affected snowpack and crucial water resources in the southwestern and northeastern United States, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.

The study is a conservative estimate of the impacts of global warming on snow to date, said senior author Justin Mankin, an associate professor of geography at the college. If anything, I would expect that the impacts are considerably larger for many places. We are systematically underestimating the impact of global warming, in particular its impact on snow.

Meanwhile, a study of snowfall in the eastern U.S and Canada published in June found snowfall is changing, but not uniformly. Snowfall totals have declined in some areas and are expected to decline further, but they have increased in other areas, many of them clustered along the coast.

The most extreme daily snowfalls, however  like the ones seen last weekend in New England  are likely to continue, even in a warming climate, at least as long as its cold enough to snow, the study found.

Warmer air produces more moisture, so if the air is warmer  but still cold enough to snow  more snow is available to fall in extreme events, the scientists told USA TODAY. That study also found a bigger percentage of annual snowfall along the U.S.-Canada border is likely in fewer but larger events.

Study finds less spring snow sitting on the ground in the US

Snowpack and snowmelt supply crucial water resources to communities, farms and ecosystems in river basins around the world.

Mankin and Alexander Gottlieb, a doctoral candidate at Dartmouth, were drawn to their study by the challenges of measuring the water content in snowpack and because of the serious implications of the loss of water resources.

Though climate scientists have improved ways to measure sea level, rainfall, drought and other weather and climate patterns, accurate measurements for snowpack and its water content have remained elusive. Gottlieb said the use of satellites to measure snow cover has improved, but its still tricky to get the actual volume of the mass of snow on the ground.

A pair of researchers at Dartmouth College mapped the effect of climate change on spring snowpack in North America, showing losses in major river basins across the United States.

Ultimately, the researchers combined historical observations of snow mass with snow cover records and climate models to predict how human-induced climate change could affect snow.

Jouni Pulliaine, a research professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute whose analysis of the studys methods was also published in Nature on Wednesday, said the pair had produced a promising approach.

The researchers documented spring snowpack loss, but there haven't yet been widespread losses, Mankin said. That is likely because the majority of snow in the Northern Hemisphere accumulates in places that are still so cold that several degrees of global warming haven't been enough to melt it, he said. But snowpack becomes more sensitive to warming when winter temperatures reach above minus 8 degrees Celsius, he said.

That means sharper declines are likely in the future, he said. Once you move into this regime of accelerating snow loss, the trend is just going to tend to be downward.

Snow patterns are changing across the eastern U.S. as the Earth continues to warm.

That could cause cascading troubles for downstream communities and the infrastructure established around expectations of runoff from snowmelt.

Intense snowstorms aren't going away anytime soon as Earth warms

Even though warming is forecast to decrease annual snowfall across much of eastern North America, co-authors of the June study said significant snow storms will still occur.

We know that as the planet warms, were expecting more precipitation in general in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, said lead author Christopher McCray. But then in the winter, because its getting warmer, were expecting less and less snowfall overall.

But the extremes are changing differently from the averages, said McCray, a scientist for Orono, a climate services group that works with the government of Quebec.

The top 5% of snowfall events, the largest and most intense, such as howling Noreasters that blow into Boston with loads of snow, will continue. Even with 4 degrees of warming, McCray said, youre still seeing snowstorms that are like the most intense snowstorms.

In general, were going to have less snowfall, but were going to be losing more of the smaller snowfall events and keeping a lot of the bigger snowfall events, McCray said. In some places, they might occur less frequently, but theyre not going to disappear.

In northern New England, upstate New York and southern Canada, that means more days where a large percentage of snow falls on a single day and fewer snowfall days in general, he said.

So far, parts of the Northeast seem to be bucking the trend toward decreasing snowfall in a warming world, said Brian Brettschneider, a study co-author and a climate scientist in Alaska. But you are on borrowed time."

"In theory, if all the ingredients come together for a snowstorm, warmer air can hold more moisture, and you can squeeze out more snow, he said. As Boston keeps warming up and warming up, its just going to be less cold air to create snow.

But other regional patterns could be at play, he said. For example, theres uncertainty about whether climate change might favor storm tracks in the Northeast that produce more snow.

In the Great Lakes region, some areas are seeing less snow while others are seeing more snow, said Bryan Mroczka, a meteorologist with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Warmer temperatures and delayed development of lake ice mean extended seasons with the potential for lake effect snow nearshore, Mroczka said. But areas further inland see less snow during warmer winters.

In Anchorage, Alaska, snowfall between December and February has increased 20% over the past 50 years, Brettschneider said. But the snow season has compressed, with less snow in October, November, March and April.

An analysis of snowfall in the lower 48 states since the winter of 1973-74 shows an overall loss of snow across much of the country.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Climate change effects could lessen snow, keep blizzards, studies say
Elon Musk inspires strong emotions in people. Some admire his pugnacious entrepreneurial spirit, advocacy of open debate, and willingness to challenge politicians. Others question his business practices, oppose his embrace of free speech (or tire of his inconsistency on the issue), or recoil from his hard-to-pin-down politics. But even as states embrace marijuana legalization and lawmakers who fight over everything else find common ground over the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs, Musk is coming under attack for his taste in intoxicants.

Drug Panic

"The world's wealthiest person has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties around the world, where attendees sign nondisclosure agreements or give up their phones to enter," Emily Glazer and Kirsten Grind reported over the weekend for The Wall Street Journal. "Musk has previously smoked marijuana in public and has said he has a prescription for the psychedelic-like ketamine."

Tales of drug use are attributed "to people who have witnessed his drug use and others with knowledge of it," which sounds like another term for folks with an axe to grind. Of course, Musk has been open about at least some drug use, including smoking marijuana with Joe Rogan. Last summer, he suggested ketamine is a better treatment option than antidepressants after the Journal reported he "microdoses ketamine for depression, and he also takes full doses of ketamine at parties."

And good for Elon Musk. He's not alone in seeing both recreational and therapeutic benefits in many intoxicants disapproved of by lawmakers and scolds.

"Two-thirds of Americans with treatment-resistant anxiety, depression or PTSD believe that psychedelics should be made available for therapeutic means," according to a 2021 survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Delic Holdings Corp., which incorporates psychedelics in treatments at its clinics.

A 2022 YouGov poll found that 28 percent of Americans have actually tried one or more psychedelic drugs, including LSD, psilocybin (mushrooms), MDMA, mescaline, ketamine, DMT, and salvia. More than half (54 percent) of respondents supported allowing research into psychedelic substances for military members with PTSD.

Therapeutic Promise

Such efforts are already underway and have been promising. Research published last summer in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin "was associated with a rapid and sustained antidepressant effect." Researchers reported "no serious treatment-emergent adverse events."

In September 2023, a paper published in Nature Medicine reported that, relative to therapy alone, therapy accompanied by MDMA "reduced PTSD symptoms and functional impairment in a diverse population with moderate to severe PTSD and was generally well tolerated."

In 2022, writing for a Harvard Medical School blog, Dr. Peter Grinspoon noted that, while ketamine should be used under medical supervision, "relief from [treatment-resistant depression] with ketamine happens rapidly. Instead of waiting for an SSRI to hopefully provide some relief over the course of weeks, people who are suffering under the crushing weight of depression can start to feel the benefits of ketamine within about 40 minutes."

The therapeutic potential of these drugs is one of the few things that get U.S. politicians to work across party lines (at least when it comes to increasing rather than decreasing liberty). Reps. Dan Crenshaw (RTexas) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) and Sens. Cory Booker (DN.J.) and Rand Paul (RKy.) have sought to make it easier to study the medical benefits of psychedelics with an eye to making them more readily available for legal use. They haven't had much success at the federal level, though some states have been more open.

And the feds pose a problem.

"Illegal drug use would likely be a violation of federal policies that could jeopardize SpaceX's billions of dollars in government contracts," add the Journal's Glazer and Grind.

Let's remember that SpaceX largely dominates America's presence beyond the atmosphere. That's why the Planetary Society observed that "without SpaceX, the only U.S. company currently capable of carrying cargo to the ISS would currently be Northrop Grumman, and NASA would still be reliant on the Russian Soyuz for crew transportation."

If we're going to link performance to attitudes about drugs, maybe Musk should be setting the tone for NASA. Perhaps a microdosing schedule would get federal employees out of their ruts and set their creative juices flowing.

Glazer and Grind also report that "some executives and board members at his companies and others close to the billionaire" are concerned that drugs may be responsible for "his contrarian views, unfiltered speech and provocative antics."

Problem or Solution?

Maybe that's true; intoxicants can certainly change our behavior, sometimes for the worse. Or maybe the tech entrepreneur is naturally contrarian, unfiltered, and provocative. In 2022, Musk told an interviewer that he and other SpaceX employees were required by the feds to submit to random drug tests for a year after he publicly smoked weed with Joe Rogan. Whatever he's doing now, that probably would have curbed his chemical indulgences for a while. There's little evidence that Musk's critics consider that period a golden age when they were happier with his conduct.

That's not to say Elon Musk is immune from criticism. He's been called out as a recipient of corporate welfare, attacked for championing free speech, criticized for inconsistency in his tolerance for free speech, and questioned over his business ethics. Some executives apparently find him hard to work with. If he's a human train wreck, he wouldn't be the first one to find success despite (or maybe even because of) character flaws.

Reports that Musk uses drugs recreationally and therapeutically aren't, in themselves, proof that they're the source of his quirks. If he's indulging rather than overindulging, they may enhance his ability to function. A straight-edge Elon Musk would not necessarily be an improvement.

It's possible that Musk really does need to sober up. Or maybe he's a flawed person functioning better than he would otherwise because of the relaxation offered by the occasional hit of acid and the relief from microdosing ketamine. Drugs are tools, and reports that somebody likes reaching into the toolbox doesn't tell us whether they're being misused or just used to good effect.

The post Let Elon Musk Enjoy Drugs appeared first on Reason.com.
Two-state solution is best option for Gaza

After a month or so of heartrending violence by Israelis and Palestinians, I think all agree that those who have committed war crimes, from either side, should be punished. Who to blame has long lost any meaning. Each side has its claims, dubious or otherwise.

Most who seek any kind of peaceful settlement often refer to the two-state solution. I dont think it is antisemitic nor anti-Palestinian to favor placing conditions on part of our foreign aid to these sworn enemies. The conditions should be based on the recipients achieving measurable steps toward a meaningful two-state solution.

Currently, the US provides considerable foreign aid, mainly military, to Israel even as its leader refuses to consider the US-backed preferred solution to the decades-long conflict. The Palestinian leadership counters with an equally intransigent position.

The US must make both parties accountable. Only the US has the lever to do so  but does Congress have the courage?

Tom Lineham, Olympia

There is no planet B

A neighbor who knows Im committed to saving our mature forests approached me last week to celebrate the fact that rural schools and fire departments would be funded based on the Department of Natural Resources largest, $55 million purchase of 9,000 acres in southwest Washington.

Reading Hilary Franzs quote, This land will remain in timber production in perpetuity, and our countys residents, schools, and fire districts will benefit financially for generations to come, prompted him to assume that the news would be well received. Sadly, absolutely not. Commissioner of Public Lands Franzs comment is a prime example of misdirection, misinformation, and egregious corruption in public land management.

To be clear: Over 8,000 acres (90%) will be used to generate revenue for the department through commercial timber production and harvesting. Under 10% will protect wildlife. And a measly 2% of the school building construction budget actually goes to the schools from only specific land parcels, not all.

This radically imbalanced, counterproductive decision exacerbates pollution and hurts salmon recovery, obliterating the states most impactful free option for meeting our climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The loss of Western Washington forests at such an alarming rate cannot continue.

Our priority must be to enact a moratorium on the sale of mature forests and protect these precious resources. Specifically, I despair that two irreplaceable Capitol Forest parcels called Carrots and Cabbage Patch are for sale and may be clearcut unless the public stands together; only then can we thrive together in Washington state.

Julie Ratner, Olympia

Remove Trump from WAs primary ballot

The Washington State Supreme Court should take Donald Trump off the primary election ballot. Join Maine and Colorado and the 15 pending states to say no one is above the law, especially when running the United States. This only makes sense to save our democracy.

Jean Garwood, Lacey

Capital gains tax is a win for Washington

The Washington state Supreme Courts decision on a capital gains tax was a win for Washington kids and families.

The capital gains tax on the super rich will affect just 0.2% of Washingtonians, approximately 7,000 of the wealthiest people in the entire state. The rest of us, especially parents like me, will benefit from the increased investments in early learning and K-12 schools.

Kimberly Abbey, Olympia
Longtime volunteer leaves lasting legacy

State College  it is the end of an era. On Thursday, Jan. 4, longtime State College resident and community volunteer Louise Tukey died after more than 70 years of contributing to the local community. Louise arrived in State College in 1951 and immediately began becoming part of the fiber of Centre County. She participated in the founding of the Womens Resource Centre, Phone-A-Friend, Schlow Library, University Womens Club, League of Womens Voters, Centre County Historical Society (life member), and many more initiatives focused on bettering the lives of women and children in State College. Her most impactful contribution was as a founding member for AAUWs annual Used Book Sale. Beginning with the first sale at the Wesley Foundation through its current day iteration, Louise volunteered countless hours to pricing and organizing books, working with book buyers and sellers, assisting with funds allocation for scholarships for returning adult women and local community betterment projects, and promoting the works of AAUW locally, throughout the state, and nationwide. Louise was tenacious, sometimes difficult, determined, and steadfast in her convictions. If you met Louise or worked with Louise, you would always remember the interaction. Yes, it is the end of an era for Louises active contributions, but her memory will live on for many years to come in the stories people tell about all the contributions she made to State College as a community.

Jackie R. Esposito, State College

Join the push for cease-fire

The genocide in Gaza continues from one horrific day to the next, with no end in sight. Until the U.S. confronts Israel, demands a permanent cease-fire, and withholds all weapons shipments to the apartheid regime, the slaughter will continue, exceeding the current total of over 22,000 Palestinians killed, of which 70% are women and children. While 61% of Americans support a cease-fire in Gaza, the U.S. government refuses to rein in Israel, seeing it as vital to the pursuit of U.S. geopolitical aims. Israels objective in Gaza has been clearly stated by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant, and other high level Israeli officials: eradication of Palestinians through relentless bombing, artillery fire, starvation and ethnic cleansing. In other words, Israel seeks to purge the country of Palestinians by either killing them outright or forcing them to flee the country. The only way our government will reverse course and demand a stop to the carnage in Gaza is for a critical mass of Americans to pressure it to do so. Political pressure can be applied by writing letters to the editor; constantly demanding our representatives call for an immediate cease-fire; joining with anti-Zionist pro-Palestinian organizations such as Jewish Voices for Peace; attending or organizing marches and protests; and anything else we can imagine. This is democracy in action, and clearly the right thing to do.

Andrew McKinnon, Pennsylvania Furnace

Third party votes endanger democracy

In his Jan. 5 CDT letter Douglas Mason encourages us to vote out of hope in November rather than fear, by voting Green Party.

With great admiration for what he and the Green Party stands for, I must respectfully disagree. We absolutely must approach the coming election with a healthy dose of fear. Hope alone wont cut it. Why? Because America is facing one of the greatest threats to its democratic foundation ever. The past decade has made it crystal clear that if Trump wins reelection then American democracy will end. He has told and shown us this repeatedly.

Given the razor thin margin of votes that have determined the past two presidential elections, a vote for the Green Party instead of Biden might as well be a vote for Trump. And a Trump win will undermine everything the Green Party stands for.

Green voters could actually serve Green Party interests best at this critical juncture by voting Democratic. I know ... the Democratic Party is far from perfect ... but Green voter issues will be much better served if Democrats hold the presidency, the House and the Senate.

Bottom line ... this election is not about two different men. It is about two completely different Americas. Our votes this year will decide the future of American democracy. So I would argue that a healthy dose of fear motivating us to take Trumps threat seriously is just what we need. We have to get this right.

Ron Williams, Pennsylvania Furnace

Change of party and devotion to country

My dear brother lies dying in hospice at this moment. A quiet man, he was nonetheless a writer of note and a deep thinker. He claimed to be one of only two Republicans in the Washington Bureau of the New York Times for many years. As a lifelong Republican, we often sparred about political and social issues, but he stood by his mantra of being an open-minded seeker of truth. The night before Thanksgiving in 2021, at a small Italian restaurant in the suburbs of D.C., he made a monumental disclosure: the hatefulness and ignorance of Donald Trump had triggered the unthinkable ... he was no longer a Republican. And to make good on that declaration he sent letters to every Republican in Congress telling them that he would never again for a Republican as long as their North Star remained the very troubling, volatile and deviously ignorant Donald Trump. He would never tolerate such blind faith in a man who disavowed the Constitution and damned to hell those who didnt believe in him. My brothers faith in this country was unfailing for over 80 years; his devotion in the potential of America unflagging. I believe that with his last breaths he wishes it were so.

Gina Leon, State College
My mother was murdered 72 years ago. Weve made no progress on gun safety.

The tragedy in Perry has made me think back to the story of my mother, Kathryn Schrader. In 1951, a man named Max Martin came to our door in Adair County asking questions only to come back later and shoot and kill her because he thought she lied to him.

More can be found on a podcast called Dieowa that covers murders in Iowa counties. The short version is that Max had been in and out of trouble, violent with his family, and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia but given little to no treatment. And he was allowed to purchase a gun.

That was 72 years ago. What has changed? Why cant we face these issues and fix them? We need to de-stigmatize mental illness and get people the help they need and correct our gun laws. Common-sense reforms like better screening and restrictions on assault rifles. My children are hunters, but some rifles are for war, not hunting.

Ive worked as a CNA/DCW for over 30 years. This experience, my mothers death, and the tragedy in Perry, has made it clear we must do better getting people the care they need, supporting caregivers, and reforming our gun laws.

Cindy Ramer, Denver

After a school shooting, teachers follow a somber pattern

What is it like to work in a school on the day of a school shooting, especially one nearby?

Somber. Staff look into each others eyes communicating an unspoken dialogue, Here we go again. This is NOT what I signed up for. I want to go home. I love you, hang in there.

We check our locks, and review our plans.

We text our people telling them we love them and asking for updates.

We check our phones between classes for any updates.

We wish we could hug our kids, but instead we hug yours. We love them, we put on our best acting hats, assuring them they are safe and loved, hoping and trusting that someone is doing the same for ours.

This afternoon well drive home, exhausted, watch the news, talk at supper, cry.

Most of us will come back tomorrow because being a teacher is a calling. I was born to do this, I am good at it. But when is enough enough? For me? For Iowa? For America?

Ann Swenson, Urbandale

Lawmakers should follow research, tighten gun laws

Iowans are traumatized by another mass shooting, this time at one of its schools, and many are demanding our government leaders to do more than offer thoughts and prayers.

They have the power to enact sensible and meaningful laws and policies to reduce gun violence, but not the courage and will to do so. According to a report by Everytown for Gun Safety, Iowa as a state ranks 31st in the strength of its gun laws compared with its rate of gun violence. That is due in part to Iowa repealing both its background check and carry permit laws in 2021.

The report shows that many states with stronger gun laws have lower rates of gun deaths than states with weaker laws. Iowa can reverse course by adopting five laws that have been proven to be the most effective in lowering gun violence rates. They include requirements for a background check and/or permits to purchase firearms, for a permit to carry concealed guns in public, and for the secure storage of firearms; the rejection of stand-your-ground laws; and the enactment of extreme risk laws that temporarily remove a persons access to firearms when there is evidence that they pose a serious risk to themselves or others.

Voters wanting a safer Iowa should demand that our political leader implement these measures this legislative session.

Ruth Cooperrider, Urbandale

Have protesters pushed back against bullies?

How many of the students who marched out of class to protest gun violence have stepped in and said enough when a student is being bullied? How many have tried to embrace the student that is maybe just a little bit different than they are?

Michael Morfitt, Spencer

Regulate gun ownership like driving, food preparation

There was a mass shooting in Perry, Iowa. I hope the people injured recover quickly and offer my condolences to those killed. I will be thinking of Perry community today, but thoughts are not enough. Reasonable, common-sense rules can prevent some harm from guns, while preserving rights of law-abiding citizens.

Theres the saying, guns dont kill people, people kill people. Imagine the same saying about cars. Cars dont kill people, drivers kill people. To drive a car, people have to license, have insurance, maintain their car, wear a seatbelt, and park their car in an allowed space.

Gun ownership is a part of American culture, like diners and cars. Just as there are regulations to increase safety while preparing food and driving, there should be reasonable regulations to promote safe gun ownership.

Frank Bowers, Des Moines

What Kim Reynolds needs to do to support Perry

Dear Gov. Kim Reynolds,

The picture of you and your grief-stricken face at the news conference in Perry on Jan. 4 reflects the pain and shock all Iowans feel at the horror of the school shooting there. You graciously pledged to provide the full resources of the state government to provide support to the Perry community for its healing.

Did you mean it? Are you sincere? If so, prove it. Prove it to the young people who all of a sudden have been forced to grow up too soon to what hatred can do. Prove it to the hurting families in Perry. Prove it to the educators there who work so hard every day to help EVERY student achieve in a safe and caring environment. Prove it to all Iowans who mourn for Perry while fearing that the same thing will happen in their communities.

You could start here:

Stop marginalizing LGBTQ students and creating a culture of the other. All kids get hurt when some kids are viewed as outcasts.

Reverse your decision to refuse EBT funds for summer programs for hungry kids. There are plenty of kids in Perry who dont need to go hungry on top of everything else theyre being asked to process.

Stop the attacks on funding AEAs and the work they do to help special education students, provide crisis team supports, and help educators meet the demands of 21st-century learning.

Provide educators with the resources for professional development they need to deal with bullying and students with mental health issues.

Quit your association with Moms for Liberty and its venomous and outrageous positions.

Fund a truly robust mental health system that provides quality, timely, affordable, and easily accessible help to children who need it.

Honor the federal judges ruling blocking wildly overbroad Senate File 496 (book banning and curriculum decisions) that marginalizes certain students and undermines educators authority and local control.

Increase state aid to public schools to support the hard work that educators do every day to educate and protect ALL kids.

Back sensible gun laws in Iowa.

Stop bleeding public schools by siphoning off their public dollars to private schools (ESA).

What happens at the state level will either help or harm Perrys healing. You have promoted a system that increasingly puts poor children, hungry children, hurting children, and different children on the sidelines to promote your political agenda. Now all children in Perry suffer from those actions. Stop the madness.

Troyce Fisher, Clear Lake

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: New letters on Perry school shooting: Teachers follow a somber pattern
Post office doesnt get tax money

In regard to the Jan. 7 letter to the editor by Eileen Nelson, I am wondering whether she, or many Americans, are aware that the taxpayers do not fund the US Postal Service? The service is funded by the products they sell and are often restricted on how often and how much postal cost can be adjusted. The Post Office is one of few quasi-government service agencies that does not receive taxpayer money, unlike police, firefighters, etc.

Cinde Lippold-Owen, Iowa City

Republicans care about blaming Biden, not about curbing immigration

It is clear that Republicans really aren't serious about our southern border security. For President Joe Biden's entire term so far, they have implied he was not doing anything to stem the tide of refugees coming across the Mexican border. They say nothing about the cuts to aid to Central and South American countries during the Trump administration, which triggered the increase in those seeking to enter the United States.

Now, when Biden is asking for increased funding to increase Border Patrol agents, hire more immigration judges to deal with asylum-seekers, the Republicans don't want to fund either.

What they really seem to want is to just keep the migrations coming while we have a Democrat in office, so they can use it for fodder for all the scare ads they are running, blaming Biden. Trump ads say he had the border secure. He didn't. Shame on them.

David Cranston, Grinnell

With state awash in money, many Iowans go without food

Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Republican legislative majority have made it a priority to cut taxes again, even as the state sits on a $1.8 billion budget surplus. Meanwhile, 11% of Iowans, and 12.5% of Iowa children, live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Feeding America estimates that 15.3% of Iowa children live in food-insecure households.

I live in a close-knit neighborhood of about 114 houses. If those shameful statistics were applied to my community that would mean 12 of my immediate neighbors would be poor. Fourteen of my neighbors would house children living in poverty, and 17 households would be haunted by hunger.

When someone in my neighborhood needs help, we immediately step up: providing meals, bailing out basements, shoveling snow. We like to think this generosity and empathy reflect our values as a community, Iowa nice in action. Why arent our state leaders showing the same compassion? Let Governor Reynolds and the legislative leadership know that we expect their priorities to reflect our values, including using our collective resources to support programs that lift up our fellow Iowans who need a helping hand.

Kathleen Richardson, Des Moines

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters; With state awash in money, many Iowans go without food
The Taliban said it has been arresting women in Afghan cities for purportedly wearing a bad hijab, a violation of the terrorist groups strict dress code, which is one of many restrictions imposed on women in that country since it returned to power in 2021.



The radical Islamist regime did not specify the number of women it has arrested, nor did it clarify how it defines a bad hijab. Abdul Ghafar Farooq, a spokesperson from the Talibans Vice and Virtue Ministry, said it had received complaints for two years about women not wearing the correct hijab.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Farooq said women had been arrested three days ago. According to the spokesperson for the terrorist group, ministry officials had imposed a strict dress code for women, but after they failed to comply the jihadists' orders, female police officers were dispatched to arrest the women.

These are the few limited women who spread bad hijab in Islamic society, Farooq claimed. They violated Islamic values and rituals, and encouraged society and other respected sisters to go for bad hijab.

The women arrested will be released on strict bail, or the police will refer the matter to judicial authorities, the AP reported. Farooq also warned that women in every province who fail to properly wear a hijab will face arrest.

Shortly after the Taliban regained power following the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the group issued a decree in May 2022 requiring women to conceal their faces and wear a full-body covering in public. The decree included punishments for Afghan women's fathers or closest male relatives, who might be fired from their jobs or imprisoned if their female relative does not cover her face outside the home in the manner dictated by the Taliban.

Late last month, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution requesting the Secretary-General appoint a Special Envoy for Afghanistan to engage with the Taliban, particularly on human rights and gender.

During a press briefing last Wednesday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller expressed support for the envoy, stating it would allow for international engagement with Afghanistan. The spokesperson said he believes the resolution shows the Taliban and the international community that the U.N. Security Council supports a process to allow Afghanistan into that community by meeting international obligations.

But I will say, we also remain concerned about the Talibans repressive edicts against women and girls and its unwillingness to foster inclusive governance, Miller stated. The decisions that it has made risk irreparable damage to Afghanistans society and move the Taliban further away from normalizing relations with the international community.

Human Rights Watch released a 19-page report in December titled "'Schools are Failing Boys Too': The Taliban's Impact on Boys' Education in Afghanistan," which analyzed the impact of the Talibans policies and practices.

After interviewing boys and their parents in eight of Afghanistans provinces, researchers found "an alarming deterioration in boys' access to education and the quality of their education," driven in part by the Taliban removing female teachers from their jobs and a rise in corporal punishment.

"The curriculum in many schools appears to be under revision to remove important school subjects and promote discrimination," the report read. "The  humanitarian crises in the country has also placed greater demands on school boys."

"These circumstances have led many boys to leave school altogether; those who remain attend classes with few students and sometimes no teachers."

Women are prohibited from seeking a secondary or higher education under Taliban rule, but the report noted that "rights violations extend beyond the severe restrictions imposed on girls' and women's education."

"The Taliban's prohibition of girls from attending secondary school and higher education along with the infliction of serious harms to the system to educate boys is deeply incompatible with international human rights standards and best practices.," the report stated.



Originally published by The Christian Post
An investigation into a fire at a hotel in Olecko, northeastern Poland, last week has tentatively established that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning electrical appliance, not arson.

Source: Oleksandr Plodystyi, the Ukrainian Consul in Gdansk, in a comment to Ukrinform news agency, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Plodystyi said that a representative of the consulate had visited Olecko the day before and met with the Ukrainians concerned, the hotel owner, representatives of local authorities, the police and the fire service.

"As a result of the meetings, it was found that arson could be ruled out. The prevailing theory is that the fire was caused by a spark from a charger that was plugged into the power supply," he said.

Plodystyi said the fire had completely burned out three rooms where Ukrainians were staying. Their occupants have been moved to alternative accommodation nearby, and the rest of the Ukrainians have begun to return to their rooms after being temporarily accommodated in the gym.

Plodystyi said several of the Ukrainians had suffered minor burns but were now feeling fine. In addition, no one had lost any belongings or documents because of the fire.

Background: A fire broke out on 5 January in a hotel housing 155 refugees from Ukraine in the Polish town of Olecko.

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Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb reflected on the previous years economic investments and announced a substantial new one in his final State of the State address Tuesday night.

Holcomb also shared his priorities for his final year in office  several of which are shared by his Republican colleagues in the legislature.

This week is the start of a year of lasts for Holcomb, who is termed out after eight years in the governors office. Eight candidates have lined up to run for the open seat.

Heres what Hoosiers can expect to see Holcomb and the General Assembly do in 2024.

Read between the lines: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's final State of the State, annotated

READI 2.0 boost from Lilly Endowment

Holcomb announced the Lilly Endowment is donating $250 million this year to support projects under the states READI program, which the governor noted is the single largest award in the endowments history. The initiative, which he first announced during the 2021 legislative session, provides matching grants around the state for projects that make Indiana communities more attractive to live and work.

From 2021: Holcomb announces regional redevelopment grants. Here's how much central Indiana won.

The first series of READI grants were announced in late 2021. Holcomb shared plans in September for READI 2.0, another $500 million for projects focused on population growth and quality of life. Proposals are due to the Indiana Economic Development Commission in February.

The extra $250 million from the Lilly Endowment will be earmarked for projects that address arts and culture initiatives and blight and redevelopment, particularly in rural towns across the state.

In Central Indiana, the White River Regional Opportunity Initiative covering Marion, Hamilton and Madison counties, Zionsville and McCordsville received $20 million from the state in the first round of funding in 2021. Dollars have already been allocated toward projects like Carmel Clay Parks and Recreations extension of the White River Greenway.

Gov. Eric Holcomb speaks on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, during the State of the State address at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Third-grade reading

About one in five third-graders failed the standardized reading test, known as IREAD, last year  a 10% decline over the past decade.

Republican lawmakers have discussed narrowing the exceptions that allow students who fail the test to continue to fourth grade, or in other words, holding back more third graders than the state does now. Holcomb agrees.

He also proposes requiring schools to administer the test to second graders, too  not punitively, but to track students reading proficiency and offer summer school for those who are not on track.

Election season: Here's who's running for Indiana governor in 2024

Child care

Holcomb is in lock-step with Republican lawmakers on what to do about the accessibility of child care in Indiana, naming several specific initiatives that came out of a legislative study committee.

Republicans hope to reduce some regulations while maintaining safety in the field. Some specific ideas include:

Add early childhood education credential training to the states existing workforce training grant programs.

Allow child care employees to be eligible for the federal and state programs that provide free or reduced child care for their children.

Reduce the age requirement for being alone with children in licensed facilities

Workforce development

Holcomb kicked off day one of the 2024 legislative session Monday by announcing a workforce development campaign designed to provide resources to Hoosier employers and people looking for jobs, training and grants offered by the state.

The website, OneStopToStart.IN.Gov, also features a team of people to provide one-on-one assistance on state workforce programs.

Streamlined concierge service, Holcomb called it Monday. It would be like any other service that we're trying to make sure is as simple, as seamless as possible. Sometimes, as I mentioned, you can almost drown in options and acronyms, and we want folks to know, if they feel left out of this economy, they're not. There is a program that has been contemplated and put in place that will help them.

The recent announcements follow other major business and economic development steps taken since Holcomb has been in office, including last year when Stellantis and Samsung SDI announced plans for a $3.2 billion electric vehicle battery plant.

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

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: Gov. Eric Holcomb: Lilly making record donation to help Indiana towns
Lisa Rinna is getting real about menopause and how sexuality changes with age.

Its really interesting when you go through menopause. I know its a drag for people to talk about menopause and its like, Oh its a dirty secret and we dont want to talk about it, the 60-year-old former star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, told Cosmopolitan in a new interview.

But the truth is, you change. Youre not about making a baby. So, youre not as crazy sexually driven  you just arent.

Rinna said that when she first started having symptoms of menopause, she didnt receive hormone therapy. Her mom and sister both had breast cancer and she worried about her risk of developing it, too, due to the medications.

That was really terrifying because I thought, Well, I cant take hormones, she recalled. I was really suffering.

"Everything you can go through, I was going through it," she added. "I couldnt sleep, the hot flashes, everything, and I was anxious and angry and just a mess."

Lisa Rinna (Dave Benett / Getty Images)

Many people believe, like Rinna, that menopausal hormone therapy can increase the risk of breast cancer and other illnesses. However, more recent research shows hormone therapy is actually safe for many people and can even help them live longer, healthier lives.

"We now know for women close to the menopausal transition that hormone therapy can be safe and effective for relieving menopausal symptoms," Dr. Janine Austin Clayton, director of the NIH Office of Research on Womens Health, said on TODAY in May. "The benefits can outweigh the risks."

When Rinna spoke with her doctor, it changed her outlook.

I have an Eastern-Western medicine doctor that I go to. And I went to him one day and he said to me, Why arent you on hormones? she said.

The former Days of Our Lives actor told her doctor she couldnt take hormones because of her family history of breast cancer. But her doctor disagreed. She decided to take hormones and has been taking them for about the last eight years, she said.

I havent looked back. And listen, if Im going to have a better life by taking them, Im going to do it, she said. I really think theyre helpful in so many ways.

The North American Menopause Society recommends that people experiencing symptoms of menopause  which can include mood swings, incontinence, night sweats, sleep problems, hot flashes and sexual discomfort  speak to their doctors about treatments. People can also seek out practitioners who specialize in menopause with the search function on the societys site. For those considering menopausal hormone therapy, consult a doctor about the type of medication and how long to take it based on individual health risks and family history.

Rinna said that shared about her experiences with menopause and aging because it remains such an unknown for so many people.

Nobody tells you about whats really going to happen. And for me, its about finding a way to just be comfortable and not put pressure on myself as to who I am in this moment at 60 years old, she said. I dont want to have sex every five seconds.

To maintain the spark, she and her husband of 26 years, Harry Hamlin, create moments of intimacy, she explained.

Weve always really known that you have to take the time to plan it, she said. You have to make the time as a couple, even just to go to dinner but also to have sex, to have a sex night, or maybe go to a hotel.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, at a press conference on 10 January, announced a new package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 200 million, which will include, among other things, ammunition, generators and M577 armoured vehicles.

Source: European Pravda

Quote from Nauseda: "In January, we will again send ammunition, generators, and [remote] detonation systems to Ukraine, and in February, we will send M577 armoured personnel carriers. We will train Ukrainian soldiers and strengthen cooperation in the defence industry. The agreements signed today between the Ukrainian and Lithuanian defence industries are another example of our close military cooperation."

Details: Nauseda noted that recently, at a meeting of the Lithuanian National Security Council, a package of long-term military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 200 million was approved.

The Lithuanian president noted that Lithuania is also forming a "coalition for demining" to support Ukraine in this issue in coordination with other allies.

He added that the European defence industry must speed up and respond adequately to the difficult security situation.

For his part, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that they had agreed to jointly produce anti-drone weapons, which is a very urgent need at the contact line.

Background: In December, Ukraine received field equipment and tens of thousands of dry rations from Lithuania, as well as several million rounds of ammunition and several thousand rounds of ammunition for short-range portable anti-tank grenade launchers.

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Lithuania continues to support Ukraine in its all-out war with Russia, as its government had approved long-term support of 200 million euros ($219 million), Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Jan. 10 during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine's head of state arrived in Vilnius earlier on Jan. 10 as the first step in his trip to the three Baltic countries. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are among Kyiv's staunchest supporters against Moscow's aggression.

Vilnius promised to continue its uninterrupted support for Ukraine through defense deals finalized last year, as well as through new ones planned for the coming months and years.

"In January, we will again send ammunition, generators, detonation systems, and in February - M-577 armored personnel carriers," Nauseda announced during the press conference.

"We will train Ukrainian soldiers and strengthen cooperation in the defense industry," the president noted.

The two countries signed new agreements on joint defense production on Jan. 10, including anti-drone systems.

Lithuania's Defense Ministry said that funds from the $219 million support plan for the period of 2024-2026 will be used to cover new military acquisitions for Ukraine.

"The weapons and equipment supplied by Lithuania and its allies make a critical contribution to Ukraine's struggle for independence and the security of Europe as a whole," Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said.

"Lithuania will not tire of supporting Ukraine's fight for freedom, just as we ourselves have not tired of striving for the restoration of Lithuania's independence for 50 years."

Most of this assistance is allocated to the demining coalition led by Lithuania, providing funds for mine clearance equipment and vehicles.

Demining equipment, as well as ammunition and food rations, will be delivered to Ukraine between 2024 and 2025, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said.

The Baltic country also plans to train about 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of 2024.

Lithuania announced plans to head a coalition assisting Ukraine with demining efforts in July 2023. The country has also provided extensive military support, including various munitions and NASAMS air defense launchers, and hosts a repair facility for Leopard 2 tanks damaged in Ukraine.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Defense minister, top commanders visit eastern front; drone reportedly hits oil depot in Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A group of drug traffickers, armed with rifles and grenades, interrupted a live broadcast on a TV station in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The incident occurred amid the kidnapping of at least seven police officers and a series of explosions, a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in the south American country.

"Please don't shoot, please don't shoot," a woman can be heard saying in the TV images, while other people sitting on the floor cover their faces. Later, some of the hooded individuals were seen leaving a recording studio with some of the staff.

Noboa, the son of one of the wealthiest men in the country, took office in November with the promise of stopping a wave of drug-related violence in the streets and prisons that has been escalating for years.

On Monday, the Ecuadorian government declared a 60-day state of emergency enabling military patrols, even in prisons, and imposing a national nighttime curfew.

The United States Embassy in Ecuador issued a security alert for its visiting or resident citizens in the country, urging them to take precautions against the wave of violence unleashed following the emergency declaration.

Ecuadorian evangelical churches have not been exempted from this wave of crimes and violence. Fabian Aguilar, the former mayoral candidate for the city of Machala, was shot and killed on Sunday morning at the entrance of a church. The businessman had attended the Pentecostal Evangelical Christian Mission with his family, parked his truck, and as he got out, individuals shot him in the head.

The Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) issued a statement on Wednesday in response to the violence in Ecuador, asking for prayers that God, in his endless mercy, will bring peace to that nation.

"At AEL we stand in solidarity with the Ecuadorian people in the wake of all the violent events that are unfolding, which triggered the declaration of a 'State of Emergency' by President Daniel Noboa," the statement from the evangelical organization states.

"As an Alliance we promote love, respect, justice, peace and the resolution of all conflict through dialogue, because violence is never the way." Finally, AEL calls for peace, for life and not for death, destruction, or violence.

Meanwhile, Aaron Lara, president of the Ibero-American Congress for Life and Family - an essentially evangelical entity - also asked for prayers and condemned the violence taking place in the South American country.

"We pray to God for the Republic of Ecuador so that anarchy and violence cease and peace and the rule of law return... These aggressions have been qualified as terrorism and it is clear the ethical and moral collapse of a group of people of the so-called organized crime that seeks to impose itself on the State to have license for evil", published Lara on social networks.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) called out Hunter Biden and sparred with her colleagues during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing Wednesday as the panel marked up a resolution to hold the presidents son in contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena last month.

Mace was one of the first lawmakers to speak at Wednesdays hearing, shortly after Biden made a surprise appearance in the room, and she questioned his presence at the proceedings.

My first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today? Thats my first question. Second question, you are the epitome of white privilege. Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a Congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here, Mace said.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) cut off Mace and suggested the panel hold a vote at that moment to allow Biden to testify in public, prompting the South Carolina to shoot back and failed attempts by Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to control the hearing.

Im speaking; are women allowed to speak in here? Mace asked the room over Moskowitz yelling what are you afraid of. Comer chimed in, banging his gavel and saying order a number of times, adding to the cacophony in the room.

Are women allowed to speak in here, or no? Because you keep interrupting me, Mace said.

Ill interrupt the chairman, I dont know that hes a lady, Moskowitz responded.

Mace then said Biden should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail.

Our nation is founded on the rule of law and the premise that the law applies equally to everyone no matter what your last name is, she added, prompting a lawmaker in the room to say cmon. It is unclear which lawmaker made the remark.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is seen as the House and Senate Armed Services Committees go to conference for the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. (Greg Nash)

Shortly after, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) stepped in to condemn the interruptions and his colleagues acting like nimrods.

Are we gonna continue on with this blatant interruption? This is absurd and inappropriate, Biggs said. I intend to give my statement, I dont intend to have anybody interrupt it. Im not gonna interrupt your statements. I think you should have decorum and courtesy and dont act like a bunch of nimrods.

Mace then continued her remarks targeting Hunter Biden, arguing that he is not above the law.

It does not matter who you are, where you come from or who your father is or your last name. Yes, Im looking at you Hunter Biden as Im speaking to you: you are not above the law at all, he said.

Hunter Biden broke the law. He did so deliberately, you did so flagrantly, you showed up on the hill on the senate side the day of that congressional subpoena to defy it and spit in the face of this committee. Thats what you did, she later added. The question the American people are asking us is what is Hunter Biden so afraid of? Why cant you show up for a Congressional deposition? Youre here for a political stunt. This is just a PR stunt to you, this is just a game you are playing with the American people. Youre playing with the truth.

She ended her remarks telling Biden: You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

More coverage: Hunter Biden makes surprise appearance at contempt of Congress hearing

The Oversight and Judiciary committees held hearings Wednesday to mark up a resolution to hold Biden in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena last month, refusing to sit for a closed-door deposition. Instead, the younger Biden delivered a statement on the Capitol complex and said his father was not financially involved in my business.

The request for testimony came as part of the House GOPs impeachment investigation into President Biden. Hunter Biden offered to testify publicly, but Republicans on the panels have insisted he first sit for a private deposition. Bidens team and Democrats have been quick to point out that Comer, before issuing the subpoena, said he would drop everything if Biden wanted to testify publicly.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Bidens attorney, delivered a statement after the pair departed Wednesdays hearing, arguing that Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father.

The Republican chairs today, then, are commandeering an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions, he later added. The question there is, what are they afraid of?

Later in the hearing, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, circled back to Maces remarks at the beginning of the markup and criticized her for saying that Hunter Biden showing up at the Capitol represented white privilege.

I just want to run it back though to the very beginning because this is something that I just cant get over. I just cant get over the gentlelady from South Carolina talking about white privilege. It was a spit in the face, at least of mine as a Black woman, for you to talk about what white privilege looks like, especially from that side of the aisle, she said.

More top stories from The Hill:

Crockett went on to paraphrase former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from last month when he reflected on the makeup of Congress during the 2019 State of the Union address, when he said Democrats look like America and Republicans look like the most restrictive country club in America.

Yall dont know what white privilege looks like, Crockett said.

Mace defended herself, noting that she was formerly the ranking member of the Civil Rights Subcommittee and saying I take great pride as a white female Republican to address the inadequacies in our country.

She then yielded to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who said: Lets be very clear, this isnt about Hunter Bidens white privilege, its about Hunter Bidens Democrat privilege.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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Insights from Le Monde, Reuters, and The New York Times





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Gabriel Attal, 34, was named Frances new prime minister after predecessor Elisabeth Borne resigned as part of President Emmanuel Macrons long-anticipated cabinet reshuffle designed to boost the Renaissance Partys chances in the European Parliament elections this June.

Attal, the former education minister, got his start in politics at 23, and has now become Frances youngest and first openly gay prime minister. Macron is hoping to capitalize on Attals widespread popularity amid countrywide discontent over rising living costs, unpopular pension reforms, and divisive immigration policies.

SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Charming Attal is seen as Macron 2.0 but some are less impressed

Sources: IPSOS, The Washington Post, Reuters, Politico EU, Le Figaro

Attal has remained consistently popular over the last few years, according to an IPSOS poll. He is Macron 2.0, one Chatham House fellow told the Washington Post, and the president is hoping to benefit from the popularity, the freshness, the energy, cleverness, and disruption that embodies the bright, young media-darling and quick-witted politician. However, not all voters are convinced, with one Parisian telling Reuters that while Attal fits nicely into the frame, a cabinet reshuffle wont change much. A writer noted in Le Figaro that Attals rise is part of a never-ending story, as now there have been four prime ministers governing France in just a span of two years. His appointment also will likely intensify the race to succeed Macron in the 2027 presidential elections, as one Macron ally told Politico that other heavyweight presidential contenders were not too happy to see a young colleague get the top spot in cabinet.

Macrons popularity has waned and his governing methods have been exhausted

Sources: Reuters, France24, Financial Times

One French lawmaker compared Attal to the Macron of 2017 when, at the height of his popularity, Macron became the youngest person ever to lead France. However, the president has become increasingly isolated and unpopular after his centrist party lost an absolute majority in the National Assembly. Macron pushed through an unpopular proposal to increase the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 to reduce pension deficits, despite widespread protests, leading to an unparalleled strike of more than one million workers in the streets. The passage of a conservative immigration reform bill, which was supported by far-right politician Marine Le Pen, led to further turmoil within his own party. Macrons tactic of using an override clause to push through unpopular legislation without a vote and then surviving no-confidence votes is an exhausted method of governing and is not what the parliament or people want, a political professor told the Financial Times.

Macrons unpopularity makes far-right more palatable to French voters

Sources: BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera

Nationwide discontent with Macron has helped Marine Le Pens National Rally party gain ground in France, part of a wave of far-right parties surging across Europe in Finland, Italy, and Sweden ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. Though previously viewed by many voters as xenophobic and racist, Le Pens party image is becoming more palatable to French citizens, with polls showing that many no longer see the far-right as a threat to democracy. Recent terror attacks, the rise of anti-semitism sparked by the Israel-Hamas war, and economic anxiety make for a powerful cocktail for the far-right, said one Sciences Po expert on populism.
Madrid museum may keep Pissarro painting looted by Nazis, U.S. appeals court rules

Madrid museum may keep Pissarro painting looted by Nazis, U.S. appeals court rules

By Catarina Demony and Elena Rodriguez

MADRID (Reuters) - One of Spain's top museums welcomed a U.S. court decision allowing it to keep a French impressionist painting looted from a Jewish woman by the Nazis, which the museum said it had bought decades later in a transparent way.

Tuesday's decision by a California appeals court concerned one of the oldest Nazi art theft cases, which began in 2005 after the heirs of Jewish woman Lilly Neubauer brought forward an ownership claim for Camille Pissarro's "Rue Saint Honore, apres midi, effet de pluie" ("Rue Saint Honore, Afternoon, Rain Effect"), depicting a Paris street scene.

"It is a regrettable story like everything else related to the Nazi plunder," the general director of Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Evelio Acevedo, told Reuters. "(But) it is a very important decision because... it does justice."

"The Spanish state bought the painting with all legitimacy and in good faith," he added.

Neubauer was forced to sell the artwork in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks ($360) to obtain a visa and flee Germany, but was never paid.

According to Acevedo, Neubauer's heirs, the Cassirer family, later "obtained compensation for the market value of the painting from the German government".

Ownership passed through several hands until 1993, when the state-owned Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum bought it and put it on display, where it remains. After learning where the painting was, the Cassirers petitioned for its return and sued. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago.

In Tuesday's decision, Circuit Judge Carlos Bea said Spain's interest in providing "certainty of title" to its museums outweighed California's interest in deterring theft and obtaining recoveries for victims of stolen art who live there.

Another judge, Consuelo Callahan, said Spain should have voluntarily relinquished the painting but the law compelled a different outcome.

Lawyers for the Cassirers said the family sought to "challenge Spain's continuing insistence on harbouring Nazi looted art", especially amid a recent resurgence in anti-Semitism around the world.

Acevedo said current circumstances have nothing to do with the history of the case and there was absolutely no anti-Semitic sentiment.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Elena Rodriguez and Susana Vera; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Did you know that by 2050, a quarter of the planet's population will reside in Africa? Yet despite abundant natural resources and a young and ambitious population, the continent remains the poorest of them all.

Born in Senegal and now residing in Austin, Texas, Magatte Wade is director of the Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network, a nonprofit that supports think tanks and activist groups in the developing world. A serial entrepreneur, she's currently the CEO (and founder) of SkinIsSkin, which sells a series of skin and lip products sourced in Africa.

Wade is also the author of the new memoir and manifesto, The Heart of a Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied To about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing. She claims the solution to Africa's problems lies with what her mentor, the late economist George Ayittey, called "the cheetah generation," young Africans who embrace free markets, individualism, human rights, and transparency in government.

Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Wade to discuss her book, "conscious capitalism," charter cities, and how cryptocurrencies are helping people like her build the Africaand the worldthey want.

The post Magatte Wade: The Real Reasons Why Africa Is Poor and Why It Matters appeared first on Reason.com.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Democrats who control the Maine Legislature on Tuesday rejected a Republican effort to impeach the state's top election official for her decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the state ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Maine House voted 80-60 against the resolution targeting Shenna Bellows, the first secretary of state in history to block someone from running for president by invoking the U.S. Constitutions insurrection clause.

Bellows, who watched the entire proceeding from the gallery, vowed to abide by any legal ruling on her decision to keep Trump off Maine's March 5 primary ballot, which is under appeal in Maine Superior Court.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows speaks at an event, Jan. 4, 2023, in Augusta, Maine. Republicans who want to remove Maine's secretary of state from office in the wake of her decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot will face long odds against an influential member of the state's majority-holding Democratic party.

Republicans are furious over Bellows' conclusion that the GOP frontrunner shouldn't be on the ballot. They argued that her decision disenfranchised the more than 300,000 voters in Maine who chose Trump in the last election.

GOP Rep. Michael Soboleski, of Phillips, called the secretarys action election interference of the highest order and a fellow Republican, Rep. James Thorne, of Carmel, said it does nothing but further divide the political banner between the parties, and indeed the people of the state of Maine.

There has been no conviction in a court of law. She is not a judge. She is not a jury. And I believe that the people feel absolutely disenfranchised, added Rep. Katrina Smith, a Republican from Palermo.

But they had faced long odds in seeking retribution against the Democrat.

The proposal called for a panel to investigate Bellows' actions and report back to the 151-member House. If the proposal had moved forward  and there had been an impeachment vote  then there would have been a trial in the 35-member Senate, where Democrats also have a majority.

Democratic Rep. Kevin OConnell, of Brewer, said Bellows faithfully discharged her oath of office. He called her an honorable person who should not be removed from office for simply doing her job.

You might disagree with her decision, and some folks do. But every government official has an obligation to follow the law and fulfill their oath to the Constitution, he said.

Afterward, Bellows said she stood by her assessment that the impeachment effort was political theater" and that she acted as required by state law after Trump's candidacy was challenged.

"If people disagree with the decision, the proper venue for resolving that disagreement is with the courts. And indeed Mr. Trump has appealed to Superior Court. If people disagree with the authority delegated to the secretary under Maine election law, the proper venue is for the legislature to amend the law," Bellows said after the vote.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits those who engaged in insurrection from holding office. Some legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

So far, Colorado is the only other state to bar Trump from the ballot. That decision by the Colorado Supreme Court is currently under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Monday, Trump's lawyers asked a judge to pause his appeal of Bellow's decision to allow time for a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could render it moot. But the attorney general's office, which is representing Bellows, objected to the effort to delay the legal process in Maine.

Bellows, 48, is Maines 50th secretary of state and the first woman to hold the office, beginning in the role in January 2021 after being elected by lawmakers.

The former state senator also served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine from 2005 to 2013 and worked on successful drives to legalize same-sex marriage, same-day voter registration and ranked choice voting.

While Maine has just four electoral votes, its one of two states to split them, so the state could have outsized importance in what's expected to be a close presidential race this year. Trump earned one of Maines electors when he was elected in 2016 and again in 2020 when he lost reelection.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine House rejects GOP bid to impeach Shenna Bellows over Trump ballot ban
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A major drug trafficker in Oregon responsible for bringing illicit substances like methamphetamine and fentanyl into the Portland metro area was sentenced in federal court Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Luis Angel Rivera-Huezo, of Hillsboro, was handed a 100-month federal prison sentence followed by five years supervised release, the Department of Justice announced.

According to court documents, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials determined through a lengthy investigation that Rivera-Huezo was the regional cell leader of an international and interstate drug trafficking organization based in Mexico, the release said.

Alaska 1282 passenger to grandkids: This is when we pray

Many large quantities of illicit substances and guns connected to Rivera-Huezos network were seized by investigators by early November. That includes 125 pounds of meth, six pounds of fentanyl, six pounds of heroin, smaller quantities of cocaine, and nine firearms, authorities said.

The confiscated guns and drugs were the culmination of a monthslong investigation by DEA agents working alongside other law enforcement agencies. Officials documented multiple instances of Rivera-Huezo and his co-conspirators transporting drugs from places such as Mexico, California, and Washington Stato into Portland to be resold for distribution.

Back in June, a federal grand jury in Portland accused Rivera-Huezo and 10 others of possession with distributing controlled substances and other drug-trafficking charges. Later that month, River-Huezo pleaded guilty to the charges.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
By Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and the Maldives upgraded their relationship on Wednesday during newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu's first state visit to Beijing, following a campaign in which he cast China's regional rival India as a threat to sovereignty.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the Great Hall of the People, called Muizzu "an old friend" as the Asian giant set the stage for further investment in the Indian Ocean archipelago by agreeing to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership".

"China and the Maldives' relations are facing a historic opportunity to carry forward the past and forge ahead into the future," Xi told Muizzu, Chinese state media reported.

Muizzu took office in November, after winning on his "India Out" campaign platform under which he called New Delhi's huge influence a threat to sovereignty. His government has since asked dozens of locally based Indian military personnel to leave while talking up opportunities for Chinese investors despite being heavily indebted to Beijing.

Relations between India and China nosedived after soldiers from both sides clashed in the western Himalayas in June 2020, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops.

By upgrading ties with the Maldives, China is setting the stage for further investment in a region where India has already seen another neighbour, Sri Lanka, gravitate towards China.

"During the talks, President Dr Muizzu expressed gratitude for China's significant role in the Maldives' economic success... and infrastructure development," a statement from his presidential office read following the meeting, adding that "20 key agreements between the two countries" had been signed.

The Maldives owes China $1.37 billion, or around 20% of its public debt, according to World Bank data, making Beijing its biggest bilateral creditor ahead of Saudi Arabia and India, which it owes $124 million and $123 million, respectively.

Chinese firms have invested a further $1.37 billion in the Maldives since its decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative in 2014, data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank shows.

"China firmly supports the Maldives in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence and national dignity," state media reported Xi as saying. Beijing would also be willing to "exchange experience of state governance" with Male, Xinhua said.

Muizzu was given a tour of the Chinese Communist Party Museum in Beijing ahead of meeting with Xi, a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, from his presidential office account showed.

The World Bank in an October development report on the Maldives warned further cosying up to China could spell trouble as a "build-up of sovereign exposure" had taken place during the pandemic and there was a "lack of domestic investment opportunities".

Xi said he backed increasing the number of direct flights between the two countries, in a potential boon for the Maldives' travel and tourism sector, which constituted 79% of economic growth in 2022, according to the Asian Development Bank.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Alison Williams)
Editor's note: This story has been updated to show that Monday's homicide in North Austin marks the fourth homicide in Austin this month. A previous version of this story misstated the time range in which the four homicides occurred.

Police are searching for at least one person who fatally shot a 21-year-old man at a North Austin apartment complex on Monday evening. The man's death marks the fourth homicide in Austin this month.

Francisco Muntufa Miranda was found with an apparent gunshot wound by law enforcement shortly before 8 p.m. at the Avalon Palms apartment complex, the Austin Police Department said in a news release. The complex, at 9300 Northgate Blvd., near West Rundberg Lane, is less than a mile from the site of Sunday's double homicide at the Cowboys game room.

Austin-Travis County EMS took Miranda to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries, according to the news release.

No arrests have been made in the killing. Investigators determined that one or more people involved in the crime might be a recurrent visitor to the North Austin apartment complex, the news release said, but the number of people believed to be involved was unclear.

Police have urged those with any information to contact the department at 512-974-TIPS or submit tips anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program at austincrimestoppers.org or by calling 512-472-8477.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: One killed at North Austin apartment; at least one gunman at large
A Maryland man pleaded guilty to arson Tuesday after pouring gasoline on Supreme Court vehicles in July 2020.

Cody Tarner, 26, was seen on security camera footage pouring gasoline on three unmarked Supreme Court police vehicles around 3 1/2 years ago, according to a press release from federal prosecutors. When he poured the gasoline, some of it got onto himself and his clothes.

The unmarked vehicles had emergency police lights visible from the outside of the vehicles, and one of the vehicles had emergency police lights on the roof of the vehicle, the release read.

Tarner was then seen lighting one of the vehicles on fire resulting in a violent ignition of the gasoline. This action resulted in Tarner also being engulfed in the fire causing severe burns and injuries to himself.

The release said Tarner admitted to starting the fire using gas he purchased in Pennsylvania.

The investigation revealed that Tarner had several prior encounters with law enforcement in which he expressed anti-government and militia extremist ideologies. Tarner also claimed to be the leader of an identified militia group, it added.

Tarner has a sentencing hearing scheduled for May.

The Supreme Court was not in session at the time of the incident, and Congress wasnt in Washington, but a loud bang from the explosion was heard by those in the Capitol.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Maryland man who set fire to several US Supreme Court vehicles in 2020  burning himself in the process  pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal arson charge.

Cody Tarner, 26, poured gasoline on several official vehicles in a employees-only parking lot for the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, before setting the cars and, inadvertently, himself on fire in July 2020, according to court records.

This action resulted in Tarner also being engulfed in the fire causing severe burns and injuries to himself, the Department of Justice said in a statement announcing the guilty plea. Tarner admitted to starting the fire with 87 octane unleaded gasoline he had purchased in Pennsylvania for that purpose.

Tarner was arrested after igniting the gasoline by an officer nearby who administered first aid to the arsonist, according to court documents.

The investigation revealed that Tarner had had several encounters with law enforcement in which he has expressed what can be referred to as anti-government and militia extremist ideologies, the statement of facts attached to the plea agreement reads. According to the statement of facts, Tarner claimed to be the leader of a militia group which he created a Facebook page for.

Sentencing has been set for May 14. Tarner faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years for the arson charge.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  A commander of a VFW Post in Duncan, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges on Wednesday.

According to federal prosecutors, 65-year-old Michael Bruce Colley of Marlow was charged with wire fraud on Sept. 19, 2023.

80 lbs of drugs found during traffic stop in Oklahoma County

On Tuesday, Colley admitted to making 30 unauthorized withdrawals from accounts connected to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1192 from January 2019 to June 2021 while serving as commander of the post. The unauthorized withdrawals reached a total of over $40,000.

Colley now faces up to 20 years in federal prison as well as a fine up to $250,000.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
MANASSAS, Va. (DC News Now)  A man was prosecuted for his involvement in robbing a Dennys restaurant and killing a delivery driver in Manassas back in 2019.

On Jan. 3, Ryan Walker pleaded guilty to felony second-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, statutory burglary while armed, attempted robbery and two probation violations.

He was sentenced to 50 years and two life sentences in the state penitentiary. 35 years were suspended  as well as all but two years of the life sentences  meaning he will face 17 years of incarceration. He will be placed on probation for five years following his release from prison which is contingent on his uniform good behavior for life, according to a press release from the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 1 dead, suspects on the loose in Dennys shooting

On Dec. 26, 2019, at around 2:30 a.m., Walker and Jordan Anderson went to the Dennys on Sudley Road to rob people. Evidence shows that Walker and Anderson held the employees and customers against their will while trying to get money out of the cash register.

As the pair left Dennys, Anderson shot one customer and Walker hit Yusuf Ozgur, a food delivery driver who came to pick up an order, with a baton. Anderson then shot Ozgur who later died.

According to a news release, Anderson had already been convicted and sentenced for his involvement in the robbery and killing.

While this plea spares the victims and their families from the trauma of another prolonged trial and the reliving of the events of December 26, 2019, it does not diminish the gravity of the offenses committed that night, Commonwealth Attorney, Amy Ashworth, stated. Our commitment to justice remains unwavering as we move forward to ensure accountability for the senseless violence and loss inflicted upon the community by these two individuals.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)  A case more than two decades old has come to a close in Colombia County.

In court 46-year-old Brian Quinn was sentenced to his remaining two months for involuntary manslaughter for the murder of 17-year-old Shamar Washington from Williamsport back in January of 2001.

This case was cold until Quinns arrest back in March of 2022. Since then, hes been behind bars in the Columbia County prison.

According to court documents, which contained interviews with detectives back in 2001, Quinn and another individual got into an altercation with Washington in January of 2001 while they were allegedly buying drugs from him.

This altercation resulted in Washington being beaten, shot, and stabbed multiple times. Washingtons family reported him missing on January 7th of 2001, after no one had heard from him in two days.

$5K reward offered in Luzerne County cold case after 53 years

On January 13 of that year, hunters discovered Washingtons frozen body in a wooded area near Bloomsburg.

Shamar is a loving person. Hes very kind. Very respectable. He wasnt a mean person at all. He was never mean to anyone. He would give you his heart if he could, expressed Barbara Washington, mother of Shamar Washington

It wasnt until March of 2022 that Quinn was arrested and charged in connection to Washingtons death.

In April of 2023, Quinn was also charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly sharpening a toothbrush into a point.

Moving over to this past Friday, January 5, Quinn entered into a guilty plea on both charges.

According to the plea, he has gotten credit for his time served, and he is immediately eligible for parole with an approved home plan. In two months, Quinn will be completely free.

No family members were present in court.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  On Monday, a man was sentenced on two charges in connection with the death of a man in a February 2020 south Austin crash.

Travis County court documents showed 27-year-old Paul Joseph Garcia pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter with vehicle and accident involving death in connection with the death of 55-year-old Lee Martin Cagle.

RELATED | Man accused of intoxication manslaughter after hitting, killing pedestrian with his vehicle

Garcia received a sentence of 12 years for the intoxication manslaughter charge and 10 years for the accident involving death charge, according to court documents. It is unknown if the sentences will run concurrently or consecutively.

According to past KXAN coverage, officials said Garcia struck a pedestrian, later identified as Cagle, with his vehicle. Austin Police officers gave Garcia a field sobriety test and concluded he was unable to safely drive the car due to alcohol or drugs in his system.

A past affidavit said that even though Cagle was walking in the road at the time of the crash, Garcias intoxication and alleged reckless driving supported the charge of intoxication manslaughter.

RELATED | TABC investigating where suspect drank alcohol before fatal south Austin crash

In connection with the incident, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission opened an investigation into whether a business served alcohol to Garcia prior to the fatal crash.

In connection with the sentences, Garcia will receive a jail credit of 31 days. As of Wednesday, he remained booked in the Travis County jail.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  Detectives are investigating after a man was shot and killed late Tuesday night in Prince Georges County.

Officers responded to the report of a shooting and car crash at about 11:20 p.m. in the 5300 block of Sheriff Rd. There, they found a man in the crashed car who had been shot. He was taken to a hospital where he died.

Eight people injured after crash in Prince Georges County

He was identified as 18-year-old Olamide Olakanye of Upper Marlboro.

Police said Olakanye was shot in the 1200 block of Dunbar Oaks Drive and drove away, crashing into a wooded area on Sheriff Road.

Prince Georges County police are still working to identify a suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (301) 526-2512.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
The Harlem street where a man was shot to death behind the wheel of his parked car is flooded with drugs, and police believe the victim was dealing when he was killed.

Omar Espinal, 39, was sitting in his Honda Civic on W. 135th St. near Broadway on Sunday when a gunman pulled up in an SUV around 6 p.m. Sunday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a Tuesday news conference.

The suspect circled the block and then double-parked behind Espinal for several minutes before getting out of the SUV and approaching the victim, Kenny said.

[The] perpetrator walks up to the passenger side of the car, opens the door, reaches in, theres a struggle and shots fired, said the chief.

Espinal was blasted in the chest. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside, but he could not be saved.

The gunman is still being sought, but police have a very strong person of interest they are looking for, according to Kenny.

Espinal had eight prior arrests in the city, including a federal case in 2013 for possession of cocaine with intent to sell, Kenny said.

The shooting victim was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime and was released on parole in 2020, Department of Correction records show.
A man accused of stealing his late wifes Social Security benefits threatened to stab agents if they entered his Florida home to arrest him, federal prosecutors said.

The 66-year-old resident of Homosassa and his stepdaughter illegally collected his wifes benefits between February 2016 and March 2020 following her death, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Theyre accused of forging his deceased wifes name on checks to empty her account of the funds.

The benefits were worth more than $1,000, according to an indictment filed Dec. 12 charging the pair with one count of receipt of stolen government property. The exact amount of stolen benefits wasnt specified.

McClatchy News contacted the mans defense attorney David Anthony Wilson and federal public defender Joshua Woodard, whos representing his stepdaughter, for comment Jan. 10 and didnt receive immediate responses.

The man was uncooperative when agents from the Social Security Administrations Office of the Inspector General arrived to arrest him on Jan. 4, prosecutors said.

The man refused to step outside and warned agents against coming in  so they breached his front door, according to the attorneys office.

The agents found him holding two large knives inside before he dropped the weapons and was arrested, prosecutors said.

Now hes facing a charge of forcibly assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, the attorneys office announced Jan. 9.

If convicted on the assault charge, the man would face up to 20 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

The man and his stepdaughter could face up to 10 years in prison if theyre convicted on the Social Security fraud charges, the attorneys office said.

Homosassa is about 75 miles northwest of Tampa.

Man pretends he doesnt live with his wife, steals benefits for 16 years, feds say

Woman poses as her dead aunt, steals over $1 million in benefits for 25 years, feds say

Stolen Social Security numbers sold online netted $19 million, feds say. Man sentenced
A man is accused of traveling with an 11-year-old from New Jersey to his home in Bear, Delaware, to sexually abuse the victim he met and coerced online.

Using Roblox, TikTok, Snapchat and Discord, 27-year-old Darius Matylewich persuaded the 11-year-old to send sexually explicit content that he recorded and saved to a hidden Apple Photos folder, officials say.

Matylewich was reportedly arrested on Sept. 10, 2023, after New Jersey police received a missing persons report of the 11-year-old from Passaic County, the United States Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware wrote in a Jan. 9 news release. New Jersey police determined Matylewich took the child from the state to his home in Delaware and attempted to engage in sexual acts, according to the release.

Matylewich was indicted on Dec. 14 and charged with coercion and enticement of a minor and production of child pornography, according to the indictment. If convicted, he would serve 15 years to life in prison.

Attorneys for Matylewich denied McClatchy News request for comment.

Prior to his federal indictment, Matylewich was charged with first-degree kidnapping and third-degree child endangerment in Passaic County upon his arrest, NBC4 reported in October.

The National Childrens Advocacy Center advises that children and teens never meet in person with someone they met on the internet. If a person online asks to meet in person, children and teens should tell a parent or guardian immediately.

Passaic County is about 170 miles northeast of Bear.
MANTI, Utah (ABC4)  A man was taken into custody Tuesday after he allegedly vandalized the Manti Senior Apartments, barricaded himself in his apartment, and started a small fire.

Sanpete County Sheriffs deputies, with the assistance of the Ephraim Police Department, responded to reports of a man vandalizing property and making threats at the Manti Senior Apartments, the Sanpete Sheriffs Office said.

Man dies after trailer fell on him in Utah senators home

When law enforcement arrived at the scene, they found the man, who then barricaded himself inside of his apartment and started a small fire, the press release states.

Apartment residents were evacuated to a nearby shelter, with the assistance of Manti Ambulance.

The man came out of his apartment several times, and deputies saw him holding items that looked to be weapons, the press release states.

Deputies said they used less-lethal options to take him into custody.

The man was transported to the Gunnison Valley Hospital for treatment of the injuries he sustained during the incident, the press release states.

Those who were evacuated have since been allowed back into their homes.

No further information is available, as this is an ongoing investigation, officials said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Manatee County has cut ties with the American Library Association over concern that a "woke agenda" by the organization could make its way to the county-operated library system.

County commissioners have intervened in county library matters several times since Gov. Ron DeSantis drew increased scrutiny to books used in the public school system in 2022, including scrutiny of plans for the new Lakewood Ranch Library that opens to the public this weekend.

Commissioner James Satcher made the latest proposal during Tuesday's meeting, citing comments by the organization's leadership as cause for concern. The board voted 6 to 0 in support of leaving the ALA before the county's membership expires in May, with Commissioner Jason Bearden absent from the vote.

More: Lakewood Ranch Library prepares for opening day celebration in January

Also: Manatee County addresses concerns over public library books, but pulls back on crackdown

Library Services Manager Tammy Parrott said membership with the association gives Manatee County access to discounts, professional publications, and professional development opportunities. Although the local library system will have access to similar material from the Florida Library Association, the resources are on a smaller scale, she said.

Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge voiced concern about the potential content of ALA conferences and supported the effort to withdraw from the organization and prevent staff from attending conferences.

"I think it's one of the final steps in sort of getting the library system back on the rails," he said.

Sarasota county commissioners voted in November to end the countys affiliation with both the National Library Association and Florida Library Association, in response to a push to sever ties by local conservatives  many of whom were members of the Sarasota County Republican Assembly.

The Charlotte County Commission did so in December without a public vote.

Shannon Keever, communications director for Women's Voices for Southwest Florida, took issue during public comment with concern expressed about the content of training conferences.

"I think it's really insulting to say librarians are going to an ALA conference to be indoctrinated," Keever said. "I think it's at least six years of education to become a librarian. It's a master's degree program, and you are acting like these are little children who are going to go off and can't think for themselves."

Parrott also said the conferences are useful for administrative training purposes and good opportunities to network with other industry professionals. She suggested bringing the matter to the library advisory board, although commissioners moved forward with the vote instead.

"We go because we are focused on public services," Parrott said. "We go to sessions on expanding summer reading program reach, running book clubs, and that kind of operational things. That's not the only thing, I don't want to be disingenuous about that, but that's where staff focused their time."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee County cuts ties with the American Library Association
An investigation is underway after at least two manhole explosions damaged vehicles and knocked out power to a pair of apartment buildings in Boston on Wednesday, officials said.

The blasts occurred in the area of St. Stephens Street, prompting a massive emergency response, according to an Eversource spokesperson.

Our crews are responding to an underground issue involving two manholes, the utility company said in a statement. In order to make the area safe and begin repairs, we had to de-energize the line, and two apartment buildings are currently without power.

Video from the scene showed Boston police officers and Boston firefighters assisting utility crews at the scene. Debris from damaged vehicles was also spotted in the street.

Eversource noted that the substantial rainfall overnight likely factored into the explosions but the exact cause remains under investigation.

Generators are being brought in to help power the buildings while repairs are made, according to Eversource.

Motorists are being urged to avoid the area as police have roped off the scene with yellow tape.

A video shared with Boston 25 News captured a loud bang from one of the blasts and the smoky aftermath as first responders worked nearby where an initial explosion was reported.

There were no reported injuries in the blasts.

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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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW)  U.S. Marshals on Wednesday morning apprehended a 22-year-old man wanted in the June shooting deaths of two 18-year-old men in Mansfield.

JaVontae Jones, 22, of Mansfield, is accused of killing Jonathan Ash and Nathan Carroll, both 18, on June 8, in the 600 block of West 4th Street, according to authorities.

Epstein victim says Ohio billionaire Les Wexner engaged in sex acts with her

Officers who responded that day to a report of a car crash and gunshots near North Lake Park and West 4th Street found both teens shot dead, according to the release.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Authorities obtained a warrant for Jones arrest in December. The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force sought him out, later learning he was living in Columbus.

The Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Task Force on Wednesday morning located and arrested Jones at an apartment along Alumcrest Lane in Columbus.

We are hopeful that this arrest will not only provide some relief to the victims families but also help alleviate any additional community fears, Mansfield Police Chief Keith Porch wrote in a Wednesday news release. We as that you respect the privacy of the families involved at this time.

Cleveland fire chief, captain injured in 2-car crash

Anyone with information on the investigation is urged to call Major Crimes Detective Terry Butler at 419-755-9791.

Jones is now in the Franklin County jail awaiting extradition back to Mansfield.

Dedicated police work by the Mansfield Police Department and outstanding teamwork across the state of Ohio is what will continue to ensure justice for the community in Mansfield as well as across the state of Ohio, U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott is quoted in the release.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN)  The City of Marble Falls has been designated a Music Friendly Texas Certified Community, as announced by Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday. Awarded by the Texas Music Office, the program focuses on facilitating music business-related economic development and job creation in Texas cities and communities, per the release.

Designated cities go through a multi-step certification process before receiving the recognition. Certification steps include:

Hosting a Texas Music Office-sponsored Music Friendly Texas workshop

Creating a music office or liaison within a division of the city government, such as a city office, economic development corporation or destination/tourism office to oversee monthly reports relaying local music industry developments

Registering with the Texas Music Offices Texas Music Industry Directory

Demonstrating partnerships with the citys music-related nonprofits to help instill community development

Working alongside music education programs, such as area college or university music schools

Creating an advisory board comprising local music industry stakeholders

Congratulations to the City of Marble Falls on earning the Music Friendly Texas Certified Community designation, Abbott said in the release. Music is key to the Texas brand and is deeply rooted in the cultural traditions of our great state. Music Friendly Texas Communities certified by the Texas Music Office work hard to attract and develop the local music industry to boost local job creation and economic growth. In fact, with support from the Texas Music Office, the Texas music industry accounted for more than 192,000 direct and indirect permanent jobs and generated more than $26 billion in economic activity statewide in 2022. Together, we will continue to work alongside communities in every region of our state to amplify their growth and success.

The City of Marble Falls, Visit Marble Falls and the Texas Music Office will host a certification ceremony at 6 p.m. on Jan. 16. The ceremony will be held at Marbles Falls City Hall during a special city council meeting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
When it comes to changing Prime Ministers, Emmanuel Macron has much in common with the Conservative Party. Both are on their fourth premier in seven years with the French President this week unveiling Gabriel Attal as the latest leader of his government.

At 34, Attal is the youngest PM in the history of the Fifth Republic and a complete contrast in character to the woman he replaces, Elisabeth Borne, the epitome of the grey French technocrat. Attal is articulate, telegenic, self-confident and, so Macron hopes, the man who can halt the momentum of Marine Le Pen.

Poll after poll puts Le Pen at the top of voting intentions, not just for the 2027 presidential election but also the Europeans in June this year. Last month, Le Monde newspaper claimed that Macron was shaken at the rise of Le Pen, which some have attributed to her normalisation.

When she replaced her father as head of the National Front in 2011, the Le Pen brand was toxic. But she has shaken off the sins of her father, in particular his anti-Semitism: in November, one of Frances respected Holocaust awareness campaigners expressed his delight that Le Pen and her 88 MPs were participating in a rally against the rise of anti-Semitism in France following Hamass attack on Israel.

Macron must bear much of the blame for this normalisation of Le Pen. He has presided over soaring rates of illegal immigration, Islamic extremism and insecurity, promising much but delivering little. Last month, Le Pens National Rally (as she rebranded the party in 2018) and the centre-right Republicans conspired to pass an immigration bill that she hailed as an ideological victory for her party.

Macron hopes that Attal will be a more formidable opponent to Le Pen than Borne. Its a slim hope. Attal may be young but hes been schooled in the usual elite French institutions, he grew up in an affluent suburb of Paris, became a consultant and joined the Socialist party. In short, he ticks all the boxes of what the French dub la gauche caviar. Furthermore, changing the PM wont solve the fundamental problem facing Macron: that his Party lacks an absolute majority in a fractious parliament in which opposition MPs  whether left or right  loathe the president.

Another reason for Le Pens popularity is the way she has tapped into the anxieties of lower-income workers  Frances Red Wall  in a way no other party has managed. These are concerns not just about identity and insecurity, but also a cost of living crisis that shows no sign of easing.

In this respect, Le Pen is greatly helped by her No2, Jordan Bardella, a 28-year-old from a housing estate in Seine-Saint-Denis, an impoverished district to the north of Paris. He was elected president of the National Rally in 2022 and has swiftly made a name for himself as a deft debater with a good grasp of detail; a fortnight ago the French public elected their 100 favourite personalities of the year. Bardella was the top ranked politician at number 30; second was Attal at number 57. Macron was 63rd.

Its hard to see the dapper but privileged Attal winning the hearts and minds of blue-collar workers. They are angry, gloomy and frightened, and they blame Macron. Campaigning for the 2017 election, Macron said he was neither left or right, and when he was elected he declared in his victory speech that a new page had been turned in our history. But it wasnt. He has proved to be just another elite Paris technocrat. Instead of transforming France into a Start-Up Nation, as he boasted he would do, hes turned the country into a Broken Down Nation, bedevilled by riots, strikes, crime and a bloody drugs war between rival gangs.

The French feel let down by their president so they are now thinking that as theyve tried every other party, why not try Le Pens? After all, Giorgia Meloni hasnt ruined Italy  despite all the fear-mongering on the left about her being Mussolini in a blouse.

Once, the prospect of a Le Pen in the Elysee would have been inconceivable, but now its a distinct possibility. Should it happen in 2027 then that really would mark a new chapter in the history of France.

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It's officially a presidential election year, which means 2024 is full of primaries, caucuses and more ahead of Election Day. Here are some key political dates for this year's election calendar:

Primaries and caucuses

Democratic and Republican nominees are determined through primaries and caucuses that take place over the course of an election year. While Democratic and Republican primaries are on the same day in some states, others hold the events on separate dates.

Based on the results of primaries and caucuses, political parties award delegates to specific candidates. Those delegates then go on to represent their states at national party conventions, where the presidential nominees are officially chosen.

Iowa Republican Caucus - Monday, Jan. 15New Hampshire Primary - Tuesday, Jan. 23South Carolina Democratic Primary - Saturday, Feb. 3

Nevada Democratic Primary - Tuesday, Feb. 6

Nevada, Virgin Islands Republican Caucuses - Thursday, Feb. 8South Carolina Republican Primary - Saturday, Feb. 24 Michigan Primary - Tuesday, Feb. 27Idaho, Missouri Republican Caucuses - Saturday, March 2 Washington, D.C., Republican Primary - Sunday, March 3 North Dakota Republican Caucus - Monday, March 4

Super Tuesday - Tuesday, March 5Georgia, Mississippi, Washington Primaries, the Hawaii Republican Caucus and Democratic Primaries for the Northern Mariana Islands and Democrats Abroad - Tuesday, March 12

Northern Mariana Islands Republican Caucus - Friday, March 15 Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio Primaries - Tuesday, March 19 Louisiana Primary, and Missouri Democratic Primary - Saturday, March 23

North Dakota Democratic Primary - Saturday, March 30

Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin Primaries - Tuesday, April 2 Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota Democratic Primaries - Saturday, April 6

Wyoming Democratic Caucus - Saturday, April 13 Wyoming Republican Convention - Thursday, April 18 Puerto Rico Republican Primary - Sunday, April 21 Pennsylvania Primary - Tuesday, April 23 Puerto Rico Democratic Primary - Sunday, April 28

Indiana Primary - Tuesday, May 7 Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia Primaries - Tuesday, May 14 Kentucky, Oregon Primaries - Tuesday, May 21

Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota Primaries, Washington, D.C., Democratic Primary- Tuesday, June 4

Republican and Democratic National ConventionsRepublican National Convention - Monday, July 15 through Thursday, July 18

Democratic National Convention - Monday, Aug. 19 through Thursday, Aug. 22Election Day

Before heading to the polls, make sure you're registered to vote. Voters should also check to see if they need to bring identification with them. Make sure you go to your polling place, which is based on your residential address.

Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 5Electoral College

While Election Day is on Nov. 5, the Electoral College votes are not cast until December. It takes 270 electoral votes out of a possible 538 to win the presidential election.

Electors meet on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States.

Other important 2024 datesFormer President Trump's trial on federal charges - scheduled to begin on Monday, March 4

State of the Union - Thursday, March 7Full list of major 2024 political datesIowa Republican Caucus - Monday, Jan. 15New Hampshire Primary - Tuesday, Jan. 23South Carolina Democratic Primary - Saturday, Feb. 3

Nevada Democratic Primary - Tuesday, Feb. 6

Nevada, Virgin Islands Republican Caucuses - Thursday, Feb. 8South Carolina Republican Primary - Saturday, Feb. 24

Michigan Primary - Tuesday, Feb. 27Idaho, Missouri Republican Caucuses - Saturday, March 2 Washington, D.C., Republican Primary - Sunday, March 3 Former President Trump's trial on federal charges set to begin - Monday, March 4

North Dakota Republican Caucus - Monday, March 4

Super Tuesday - Tuesday, March 5State of the Union - Thursday, March 7Georgia, Mississippi, Washington Primaries, the Hawaii Republican caucus and Democratic primaries for the Northern Mariana Islands and Democrats Abroad - Tuesday, March 12

Northern Mariana Islands Republican Caucus - Friday, March 15 Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio Primaries - Tuesday, March 19 Louisiana Primary, and Missouri Democratic Primary - Saturday, March 23

North Dakota Democratic Primary - Saturday, March 30

Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin Primaries - Tuesday, April 2 Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota Democratic Primaries - Saturday, April 6

Wyoming Democratic Caucus - Saturday, April 13 Wyoming Republican Convention - Thursday, April 18 Puerto Rico Republican Primary - Sunday, April 21 Pennsylvania Primary - Tuesday, April 23 Puerto Rico Democratic Primary - Sunday, April 28

Indiana Primary - Tuesday, May 7 Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia Primaries - Tuesday, May 14 Kentucky, Oregon Primaries - Tuesday, May 21

Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota Primaries, Washington, D.C., Democratic Primary- Tuesday, June 4

Republican National Convention - Monday, July 15 through Thursday, July 18

Democratic National Convention - Monday, Aug. 19 through Thursday, Aug. 22Election Day - Tuesday, Nov. 5

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Trump speaks out after appeals court hearing on immunity claim

Texas officials accused of thwarting help for bused migrants
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is at the heart of congested congressional traffic this week as House Republicans kick off their impeachment efforts against him and he remains knee-deep in negotiations with senators on a border package that has proven to be a tough lift.

Mayorkas has been at the center of the GOP fury with the Biden administrations handling of the border, which has seen month-over-month record numbers of illegal crossings.

This week, though, represents the perfect storm for the embattled cabinet secretary as border talks come to a head and the House Homeland Security Committee holds its first hearing Wednesday as part of the impeachment process.

I think hes a consummate professional and he knows there are things we need to do. There are additional tools he wants. I support him in that. I support the negotiations, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, said about the two-pronged issues he faces. Its a challenging situation.

Republicans in support of impeaching Mayorkas allege he has intentionally disregarded the law and allowed migrants and drugs to enter the country. Wednesdays hearing is titled, Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas Failed Leadership Has Impacted the States. It marks the first in a set of hearings to get the ball rolling against Mayorkas and will take place after the panel released a 111-page report that capped off phase 1 of the process.

On two occasions last year, House GOP members helped kill off attempts to impeach Mayorkas, but the latest pushs movement through the formal committee process has helped win over moderate members, putting the trains in motion against him.

Thats sent Democrats and DHS more on offense.

A memo released by DHS ahead of the House hearing cast the impeachment effort as a baseless and pointless political attack.

This unprecedented process, led by extremists, is harmful to the Department and its workforce and undercuts vital work across countless national security priorities. Unlike like those pursuing photo ops and politics, Secretary Mayorkas is working relentlessly to fix the problem by working with Republican and Democratic Senators to find common ground and real solutions, the department wrote in the memo.

Members of Congress serious about addressing these challenges should oppose this baseless impeachment that is going nowhere and instead work with the Department to keep America safe by properly funding DHSs vital missions and reforming our broken immigration laws.

Now, senators are grappling with the possibility of an impeachment trial coming down the rails against someone Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is actively working with to secure a border deal, which could be struck as early as next week.

They acknowledge the odd situation at play.

Were all grateful that impeachment doesnt begin in the Senate, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said with a laugh. I think anybody thats in the executive branch understands the differences between the two institutions and certainly the members over here versus the members over there, and hopefully it doesnt complicate James work.

Im certain its not a coordinated effort, Cramer quipped.

Lankford has repeatedly downplayed Mayorkass role in discussions, maintaining that he doesnt have any effect on policies being discussed at the table with him, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and top White House officials.

Rather, the DHS secretary has been involved on the technical side, Lankford says. He added that while he agrees with his House colleagues about the tumult at the border, legislative changes trump ousting Mayorkas.

Mayorkas is carrying out President Bidens policies. Thats what a secretarys going to do. You can swap secretaries, the policies are going to be exactly the same on it. President Trump had four different leaders, but he had the same policy, Lankford told reporters.

My response is I understand their frustration, but you still have a President Biden whos going to have the exact same policies, he continued. Until we change the law, until we change the execution of it, were going to have the same results.

This has not cooled off the Republican anger in each chamber directed at Mayorkas. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said that he believes the appetite to boot him from office among congressional Republicans is very ravenous.

Hes been the maestro, hasnt he? Braun said, adding that he believes the border has eclipsed the economy as the number one issue in his home state.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a top ally of leadership, told reporters last month that Mayorkas should be impeached, adding that he had no confidence at all in him. He also noted that Biden would be the ultimate decision maker.

But whether the Senate GOP ultimately jumps on board to back the impeachment push remains an open question. While most members are extremely dissatisfied with Mayorkas performance in office, they wonder whether his actions rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.

Some are also concerned that a successful impeachment vote in the House could complicate the Senates ability to work on a government funding package and the border component to unlock Bidens emergency supplemental and aid for Ukraine.

The idea of impeaching cabinet secretaries who can be fired by the president is just sort of a waste of effort altogether, Cramer said. I think impeachments should be reserved for people who dont have a boss.

Cramer also panned the newly-mined calls to impeach Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for not revealing his health status and hospital stay for days, calling it the dumbest idea. The Pentagon revealed on Tuesday that Austin had surgery related to prostate cancer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
For years teachers have looked at a chart to see how much pay they would receive. Their salary is determined by how many years of experience they have and how much education theyve completed.

Its a complex matrix and the states minimum salary schedule has 23 annual steps and recognizes five education levels: bachelors degree, bachelors degree with 18 credit hours of continuing education, masters degree, masters degree with 30 hours of continuing education, and doctorate.

As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Henry McMaster wants to simplify the schedule to include only two education lanes: bachelors degree and graduate degree.

The state minimum salary schedule also only goes up to 23 years, even though some districts around the state extend it even longer. McMaster wants the states minimum schedule to extend to 30 years.

School districts also have the ability pay more if they wish.

Under the governors proposal, the minimum also would go to $45,000 from $42,500. McMaster wants to reach a $50,000 a year minimum by 2026, as one of the initiatives to address the growing teacher shortage in the state.

The current salary schedule also gives teachers a raise for every year they take a step. McMaster wants to go to pay bands where every three years, a teacher would see a $2,000 pay bump. Those with a graduate degree would be paid $5,000 more than someone with similar experience with just a bachelors degree.

Even though McMasters proposal would not guarantee a $2,500 pay bump across the board, most teachers would see a significant increase and those with doctoral degrees would not see a pay cut, the governors office said.

In total, McMaster wants to spend $250 million more on state aid to classrooms, which pays for teacher salaries.

The state minimum teacher salary schedule is designed to increase the lifetime earnings of teachers, according to budget narrative provided by the governors office.

The governors budget also includes $10 million to provide additional pay for teachers who take on extra responsibilities or work with students who have challenges.

There would be an additional $25 million in annual money to recruit teachers in critical need areas, such as middle school education, special education and elementary education and schools with a below average or unsatisfactory rating, a teacher turnover rate of 20% or higher for three years, or a have a poverty level of 70%

McMaster also wants to increase the classroom supply stipend to $400, up from $350.

Ultimately any change to the salary schedule structure will need legislative approval and lawmakers are in the very early stages of writing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Im in favor of the concept. Its been an idea thats been discussed as weve been looking at increasing teacher salaries, putting more money into the classrooms, said state Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee and is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Were following some other states that have simplified the way that they structure their teacher salaries. Weve got ... a sort of complex matrix that you kind of fit one of these boxes. Thats what your minimum salary is going to be. This (idea) gives more flexibility to the local districts to pay the teachers.

McMasters proposal is working off of recommendations from the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force, which issued a report in May.

The task force recommended a $1,500 increase for every three years of experience, but the governor recommended a $2,000 increase for every three years.

Patrick Kelly, the director of governmental affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said his organization supports the concept of simplifying the salary schedule.

Kelly said simplifying the schedules lanes ultimately frees up money to raise teacher salaries further.

Were thrilled that the governor has leaned into the teacher task force report and has started this conversation, Kelly said. Weve got to find a way to reinvent and rethink the way we compensate our teachers in South Carolina in light of the growing educator shortages and the governor is taking the lead on that.

The idea that additional education makes teachers better is questioned.

I cant find any research that indicates that 18 more hours of undergrad or 30 more hours of graduate credit makes me a more effective teacher, Kelly said. What I can find is research that shows that if I am a mentor to a new teacher, that that makes that teacher more effective, and it enhances retention.

However, the teacher task force recommended having three lanes. One for bachelors degree, one for a masters and one for a doctoral degree or national board certification.

We think that third lane is important as a recognition of the higher expertise of those teachers, as well as a tool for retaining some of our most experienced educators, Kelly said.

Kelly conceded without a third lane, fewer teachers may pursue doctoral degrees, as pursuing a doctoral degree potentially means taking on additional student debt.

One of the primary reasons that K-12 educators pursue a doctorate, not the only but one of the primary reasons, is the salary increase and if that no longer exists, youll see fewer teachers doing that, Kelly said.
In a letter to the EU trade commissioner, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said he is "fundamentally opposed" to a prolongation of the EU's free trade regime with Ukraine, the Polish radio RMF24 reported on Jan. 10, citing the obtained letter.

Instead, he allegedly proposed "gradual, mutual liberalization, accompanied by gradual adjustment of Ukrainian agriculture to EU standards and law."

The European bloc temporarily lifted restrictions on trade with Ukraine in June 2022 to aid the country's economy amid an all-out war with Russia. The following influx of cheaper Ukrainian imports sparked disputes between Kyiv and some EU members, namely Poland.

While the free trade agreement is currently set to expire on June 5, Brussels is already working on an extension until 2025.

Siekierski allegedly pointed out the "counterproductive effects" of the trade liberalization introduced in 2022. He emphasized that excessive imports are related not only to grain but "also sugar, poultry, eggs, soft fruit, and apple concentrate," RMF24 reported.

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As one of the world's leading agricultural producers, Ukraine's cheaper grain imports raised worries among its European neighbors, who complained of uneven competition and logistical bottlenecks.

After an appeal by Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia, the EU temporarily banned grain and several other select agricultural goods between May and September 2023.

Poland, at the time governed by the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), was one of the countries that had prolonged the embargo unilaterally after its expiration, a decision maintained also by the current coalition government.

Ukrainian imports of items like sugar, eggs, and poultry, which are not currently included in the ban, rose sharply in recent months, pushing down prices within the European bloc.

The Polish agriculture minister reportedly wrote that imports of Ukrainian sugar alone had increased twenty times. The Polish EU commissioner for agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, previously threatened to block the extension of the trade agreement with Ukraine unless restrictions on poultry and sugar are put in place, RMF24 wrote.

This step was also one of the demands of Polish farmers until recently blocking the Shehyni-Medyka crossing with Ukraine. Although the Polish government reached a deal with the protesters to end the blockade on Jan. 6, the ban on sugar and poultry was reportedly not included in the agreement.

While maintaining a tough stance on Ukrainian imports, Donald Tusk's government appears to be taking some steps toward de-escalation. In his letter, Siekierski allegedly announced that Warsaw would return to the EU coordination platform, which is aimed at finding acceptable mechanisms for trade between Ukraine and its neighbors.

The PiS government withdrew from the platform after the EU Commission failed to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain last September.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  As 51 contestants take the Miss America stage this weekend, one West Michigan artist will be among them.

Maya Schuhknecht won the Miss Michigan title last summer. She will now compete with 50 other contestants  one from each state and one from Washington, D.C.  for the Miss America title.

The competition kicked off Saturday. Wednesday will mark the Miss Preliminary Night, followed by the talent showcase on Thursday. That leads up to the finals at the Walt Disney Theater in Florida at 7 p.m. Sunday, during which the next Miss America will be crowned.

For Schuhknecht, the competition is a dream come true. In an interview with Hometown Productions, she said becoming Miss Michigan, and the scholarship money that came with that, was lifechanging.

Maya Schuhknecht, the new Miss Michigan. (Courtesy Miss Michigan Scholarship Program via Paula DeWall)

Maya Schuhknecht, the new Miss Michigan. (Courtesy Miss Michigan Scholarship Program via Paula DeWall)

MSU shooting survivor wins Miss Michigan title

The Miss Michigan title holder is from Buchanan in Berrien County.

Buchanan is a very small town, so coming from such a small part of the state, its really cool to represent not only my part but the entire state, she told Hometown Productions.

Maya Schuhknecht, the new Miss Michigan. (Courtesy Miss Michigan Scholarship Program via Paula DeWall)

She said she gained a family from the Miss America system, especially as she went through a lot of trials over the past year.

Having people that I can rely on and care for me, and I care for them, is so special, she said.

Schuhknecht recently graduated from MSU with a degree in graphic design, where she survived the mass shooting that took place at the school almost one year ago.

The mass shooting caused a whirlwind of emotions and trauma, she previously told News 8, and she had trouble dealing with small rooms and loud noises.

A few weeks later, her dad died unexpectedly.

Life just keeps throwing waves at you and you dont know whats going to come. But thats just the cards you were given.  Through that hard time, (I) have been using the arts, she told News 8. As Miss Michigan, Im really excited to tell people that story and say, Look at me. Im successful. I still see all these great things in life despite all these bad things that have happened to me, and Im actively using the arts to feel better each and every day.

Maya Schuhknecht, the new Miss Michigan. (Courtesy Miss Michigan Scholarship Program via Paula DeWall)

Schuhknecht, who won the Miss Michigan title after showcasing her skills as a speed painter, is advocating for the arts with Arts for All, her community service initiative.

Ahead of the talent showcase, she told Hometown Productions that representing a nontraditional talent is really close to my heart.

During interviews, she wore a suit she hand painted.

From the moment I was crowned Miss Michigan I knew I wanted to hand paint my interview suit, she shared in a Facebook post. This power suit embodies my spunky personality, creativity, & artistic talents!

More than $250,000 in scholarships will be awarded during the Miss America and Miss Americas Teen competitions. Miss Michigan Teen Kyle DAndrea of St Clair Shores is competing for the Miss America Teen title.

The Miss America Finals will stream free Sunday at watchmissmaerica.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Amalija Knavs (left) 'always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity', her daughter Melania Trump says - MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Donald Trump paid tribute to Melania Trumps mother after she died at the age of 78, saying she had gone to a beautiful place in the sky.

Amalija Knavs, a former factory worker who grew up in Slovenia, had been battling illness in a Miami hospital over Christmas with Mrs Trump, one of her three children, at her bedside.

Mrs Trump confirmed her mothers death on Tuesday night, saying the whole family would miss her beyond measure.

Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity, she said. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law.

Mr Trump paid his own tribute to his mother-in-law in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying her death marked a very sad night for the entire Trump family.

Melanias great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky, the former president said.

She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!

Melania Trump confirmed her mother's death on Tuesday night - Douliery Olivier/ABACA/Shutterstock

Mrs Knavs was born in Austria but moved as a child with her parents to Sevnica, a rural industrial town in Slovenia which was then part of Communist-run Yugoslavia.

She had worked in a textile factory for a childrens clothing company after leaving school, where she met Viktor Knavs, the man who would become her husband and father of her children.

He worked as a chauffeur for a mayor and then became a salesman at a state-owned car manufacturer.

At a Republican rally in 2016, Mrs Trump, who changed her name from Melanija Knavs to Melania Knauss when she started modelling in Ljubljana as a teenager, paid tribute to her hard-working mother.

Amalija Knavs and her husband Viktor Knavs are reported to have lived at Mr Trumps Mar-A-Lago estate in recent years - Carolyn Kaster/AP

My elegant and hardworking mother Amalija introduced me to fashion and beauty, she said.

My father, Viktor, instilled in me a passion for business and travel.

Their integrity, compassion, and intelligence reflect to this day on me and for my love of family and America.

Mrs Trump moved to the United States to model in 1996 and met Mr Trump two years later, marrying him in 2005.

She sponsored her parents immigration to the country and they took the oath of office to become citizens at a New York City courthouse in 2018, while Mr Trump was president.

They are reported to have lived at Mr Trumps Mar-A-Lago estate in recent years.

Mrs Knavss cause of death has not been disclosed.

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The mother of former first lady Melania Trump has died at the age of 78 after an illness.

Ms Trump, who is married to former US president Donald Trump, said on Monday night that her mother Amalija Knavs had passed away.

Mr Trump had previously told supporters that his wife was busy caring for her mother in a great hospital in Miami, explaining her absence from the familys Christmas photos and New Years Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.

Melania Trump speaks during a naturalisation ceremony in December 2023 (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Knavs was 78 years old, according to public records.

It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija, said Ms Trump in a post on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.

It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija.



Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond  MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 10, 2024

Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law.

We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.

Mr Trump condoled Knavs death and described her as an incredible woman.

This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family!!! Mr Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. Melanias great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!

Born in 1945, Knavs grew up in Slovenia during a time of turmoil for the eastern European country, which was in the process of being wrenched out of Nazi occupation and annexed into the socialist republic of Yugoslavia.

She and her husband Viktor raised Ms Trump in the town of Sevnica, living in a state-run housing complex and working as a patternmaker at a childrens clothing factory.

Both Viktor and Amalija Knavs ultimately joined their most famous daughter in US, becoming citizens in 2018 in a special ceremony in New York City.
NEW YORK  A dozen students at Brooklyns Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters were arrested as they tried to stop efforts to block a secret illegal tunnel they had dug in a bizarre attempt to expand the house of worship, officials said Tuesday.

Police were called to the famed Orthodox headquarters on Eastern Parkway near Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights around 6 p.m. Monday when several Orthodox students began breaking through a cement sanctuary wall with hammers.

Earlier in the day, Chabad administrators ordered the tunnel the students were trying to link to a basement study hall be sealed.

Students were attempting to build a tunnel from the synagogue to a corner vacant building owned by the Chabad on Kingston Avenue, about 55 feet away.

Video posted on Crown Heights Info shows a broken brick wall inside the abandoned building leading to a small tunnel. The hole is surrounded by loose bricks and disturbed dirt.

The students entered the vacant building and used jack hammers to break through the basement wall. They then broke through three intervening buildings that the Chabad used as offices before boring into the basement sanctuary, a Chabad official said.

Video of the mayhem in the sanctuary shows students throwing over benches and police officers trying to push people back from the mouth of the tunnel, which at some points was covered with a sheet.

Additional videos show students pulling wooden paneling from the wall and using hammers to break the cement blocks.

Chabad member Berel Bendet said that scores of students were studying in the sanctuary when a small group started to break through the wall.

A lot of the students were studying at the time and were disturbed, said Bendet, 30. There are over 1,000 students in the school, so it is a small minority that unfortunately got some attention.

Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad headquarters, said students had started building the tunnel some months ago.

But their attempts to dig the tunnel made the building, which was built in the 1930s, unstable, forcing administrators to seal the tunnel, officials said.

Outraged that the tunnel was being sealed up, students tried to finish the tunnel and block the cement installers from filling in the entrance, leading to the police being called.

Students broke through a few walls in adjacent properties to the synagogue to provide them unauthorized access, Seligson tweeted. A cement truck was brought in to repair those walls. Those efforts were disrupted by the extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access.

Police said a dozen students were taken into custody. Three were given summonses and six were charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. Three others were charged with attempted criminal mischief and attempted reckless endangerment.

Out of nine students criminally charged, five were expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court. The rest received desk appearance tickets to appear in court at a later date.

Synagogue leaders called the students who tried to build the tunnel messianic student extremists.

The Chabad-Lubavitch community is pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators who damaged the synagogue, Chabad Chairman Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky said in a statement. These odious actions will be investigated and the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored. Our thanks to the NYPD for their professionalism and sensitivity.

The building was closed pending a structural safety review, Seligson said.

Department of Buildings inspectors will be visiting the property Tuesday to see if the site is stable, an agency spokesman said.

A Chabad official said the tunnel wasnt very large, but big enough for a person to crawl through.

The students who built the tunnel were attempting to fulfill a demand by Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who had called for the expansion of the house of worship back in 1972. Many Chabad members revere Schneerson as a messiah.

(Rabbi Schneerson) did express a desire when he was alive that that synagogue, which was running out of space, should undergo an expansion  but a legal and proper expansion through the leadership of Chabad, Bendet said. Theres a possibility they misinterpreted that to mean a call to action on their part to take up the shovel, if you will.

The expansion was halted by a fierce debate over who owns the synagogue inside 770 Eastern Parkway, the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters or the congregation that worships there.

The debate led to a 16-year legal battle, during which Rebbe Schneersons desires to expand the house of worship were outlined.

During his testimony, longtime Chabad member Zalman Lipskier said that in the early 1970s it became clear the sanctuary needed more room because crowds kept increasing.

Schneerson recommended each worshiper donate $770 to the expansion project to honor the headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.

The Rebbie referred to the Synagogue of 770 as the temple, Lipskier said. There was no temple in Jerusalem so the temple is 770. Every Jew was obligated in the time of the temple to participate either with funds or bodily, to participate in the temple, the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.

In 2020, Brooklyn Civil Court Judge Harriet Thompson ruled that the Lubavitch World Headquarters had exclusive rights and control of the synagogue.

Its a holy place, Bendet said. Its a place where the rebbe prayed, which for us is very significant. Its a place of holiness, where we go to connect to God in a more special way than a regular synagogue. Because there is that presence that hes had here all these years and we connect to his legacy in that way.

Chabad member Yosef Brown, who works in the offices above the sanctuary, refuted descriptions of the students who dug the tunnel as extremists. Rather, they were bored rabbinical students who thought they were enacting their messiahs vision, he said.

One student started the tunnel project and was backed up by his friends when his plan was discovered, Brown said.

It started with one guy, said Brown, 27. Once the paneling is off (his friends are) like, Oh, lets expand.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, youre not doing drugs, youre not messing with girls, he added. You go snooping around and all of a sudden a bunch of guys are like, Lets do something.'

_______

(New York Daily News staff writers Elizabeth Keogh and Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.)

________
Tourism fires up revitalization of China's "gunner tribe"

Xinhua) 08:38, January 10, 2024

A boy of Miao ethnic group with peculiar local hairstyle plays at Biasha Village in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Dec. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Cui Xiaoqiang)

GUIYANG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- In front of the village gate, Gun Shuixin and more than 10 other men stood on both sides of the road, holding up muskets and pulling the triggers aiming toward the sky. With the crisp gunshot, plumes of white smoke emitted from the muzzle.

Curious tourists standing nearby pulled out cell phones and cameras to capture the memorable moment.

Gun, 73, hails from Biasha Village in Congjiang County, located in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

In a country where possessing guns is illegal for civilians, the scene of gunfire in the landlocked remote village has drawn tourists, with villagers reaping benefits from the tourism industry.

In the Miao ethnic language, Biasha means a place with lush trees and grasses. The village is home to more than 2,800 people.

Known as the "last gunner tribe" in China, Biasha villagers have used guns to hunt and protect themselves for centuries.

Gun acquired his muskets at the age of 15 following the coming-of-age ceremony.

"Now, we only use gunpowder, instead of bullets," said Gun, adding that every musket in the village has been registered with the public security department.

China banned the possession of firearms decades ago, but villagers in Biasha are an exception, although they are no longer allowed to hunt.

For over half a century, guns, as the spiritual totem of local villagers, have served as a tool for cultural demonstration to tourists.

Apart from the gunfire performance, tourists can explore the stilted buildings along the hillside, wooden racks for sunning rice and the peculiar hairstyle of the locals, where only the hair in the center of the head is left in a bun, while the remaining part is shaved.

At a public square in the village, some 100 visitors were waiting for the opening of a folklore performance.

Li Kaikai, who works in the city of Shenzhen, decided to visit the village immediately after she viewed a short video about the village online.

"It only took me half an hour to research the details about my travel plan and buy a train ticket to this place," she said.

Folk performances such as the Miao traditional dance and haircut with a sickle, a custom for the village, are staged for visitors, providing an additional source of income to the villagers serving as amateur performers.

Shi Dajiang, a staffer from the tourism management team, said some 200 villagers have joined two performance teams, earning nearly 100 yuan (14.08 U.S. dollars) per day during the performance days.

"We aim to create more interactive and immersive experiences for our visitors, not just to enhance their understanding of our culture but also to allow more villagers to benefit from the tourism industry," Shi said.

The village shook off poverty in 2016, and in 2023, the per capita disposable income reached 11,400 yuan, 68 percent higher than the level in 2019.

This aerial photo taken on Dec. 14, 2023 shows a view of Biasha Village in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Liu Qinbing)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Meta said it will restrict inappropriate content for teenagers' accounts on Instagram and Facebook, such as posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. (Thibault Camus / Associated Press)

Facing increased scrutiny over its social networks' effects on teenage users, Meta announced Tuesday that teens on Facebook and Instagram will see less content related to self-harm and eating disorders.

Meta already filters such content out of the feeds it recommends to users, such as Instagram's Reels and Explore. But under a set of changes rolling out over the next few months, harmful posts and stories won't be shown to teens "even if [they're] shared by someone they follow," the company said in a statement.

The harmful topics include suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, restricted goods  including firearms, drugs and sex toys  and nudity.

Another change will automatically set users under 18 to the most restrictive content recommendation settings, with the goal of making it less likely that harmful content will be recommended to them by Meta's algorithms. It's not clear, however, whether teens could simply change their settings to remove the restrictions.

Read more: Teens know how social media affects mental health. So they created resources to help

The company says the apps' search functionality will be limited on queries related to harmful topics. Instead of providing the requested content, the apps will direct users to get help when they search for content related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.

Teen users will also be prompted to update their privacy settings, the statement said.

The changes are necessary to help make "social media platforms [into] spaces where teens can connect and be creative in age-appropriate ways," said Rachel Rodgers, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University.

Facebook and Instagram have been tremendously popular with teenagers for years. The platforms have drawn concern from parents, experts and elected officials over the effects on younger users, in part because of what these users see and in part because of the amount of time they spend on the networks.

Read more: Science doesn't yet support broad restrictions on teens' access to social media, experts say

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murphy warned in May that because the effects of social media on kids and teens were largely unknown, the companies needed to take immediate action to protect kids now.

In October, California joined dozens of other states in a lawsuit against Meta claiming that the company used psychologically manipulative product features to attract young users and keep them on the platforms for as long as possible.

Meta has harnessed its extraordinary innovation and technology to lure youth and teens to maximize use of its products, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a news conference announcing the suit.

In November, an unredacted version of the lawsuit revealed an allegation that Mark Zuckerberg vetoed a proposal to ban camera filters from the apps that simulate the effects of plastic surgery, despite concerns that the filters could be harmful to users mental health.

After the unredacted complaint was released, Bonta was more emphatic: Meta knows that what it is doing is bad for kids  period, he said in a statement, saying the evidence is "there in black and white, and it is damning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Attorney General Raul Torrez holds a news conference to announce charges against LCPD officer, Brad Lunsford, for the death of Presley Eze on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, at the Las Cruces Convention Center.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexicos top prosecutor said Friday that the states five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under the current law for filing election certificates that falsely declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential race.

However, Democratic Attorney General Raul Torrez is making recommendations to state lawmakers that he says would enhance the security of the states electoral process and provide legal authority for prosecuting similar conduct in the future.

New Mexico is one of several states where Republican electors attempted to cast ballots indicating that Trump had won, a strategy at the center of criminal charges against Trump and his associates. Democratic officials launched separate investigations in some states, resulting in indictments against GOP electors.

Fake certificates were submitted in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors added a caveat saying the certificate was submitted in case they were later recognized as duly elected, qualified electors. That would only have been possible if Trump had won any of several dozen legal battles he waged against states in the weeks after the election.

Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce said Friday that the state faced numerous election challenges that had the possibility of going before a court. Therefore, he said the GOP electors cast their votes by the deadline written within federal statute in the event the election outcome changed.

AG Torrez agrees that the Republican electors did not violate the law, but now he wants to criminalize the process used by both Democrats and Republicans, Pearce said, referring to the 1960 presidential election in which Democrat electors in Hawaii cast votes for John F. Kennedy despite that state initially being called for Republican Richard Nixon.

In 2020, President Joe Biden won the vote in New Mexico by roughly 11 percentage points  the largest margin among the states where so-called fake electors have been implicated.

In December, a Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans with felony charges of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, in connection with false election certificates. They have pleaded not guilt.

Michigans Attorney General filed felony charges in July 2023 against 16 Republican fake electors, who would face eight criminal charges including forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery, though one had charges dropped after reaching a cooperation deal. The top charge carried a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Three fake electors also have been charged in Georgia alongside Trump and others in a sweeping indictment accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally overturn the results of the presidential election. They have pleaded not guilty.

Among those accused in a Fulton County indictment is Santa Fe attorney and former law professor John Eastman.

In January 2022, then-New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, a Democrat, had referred the false certificates to federal authorities for investigation. When Torrez took office in 2023, he ordered a state investigation to determine if the electors had committed any crimes.

Torrezs office said investigators reviewed thousands of pages of documents relating to activities in New Mexico and in the other battleground states. They also interviewed the five GOP electors.

New Mexico prosecutors contend that Trumps team provided instructions for completing and submitting the documents. Unlike the certification documents the campaign sent to other states, those used in New Mexico were hinged on Trump winning his challenges.

While saying it was disgraceful that New Mexicans were enlisted in a plot to undermine democracy, Torrez acknowledged that the conduct by GOP electors in New Mexico was not subject to criminal prosecution.

Hes asking Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Democratic-controlled Legislature to amend state election code to give prosecutors more latitude to pursue charges in these types of cases in the future.

Torrezs recommendations include expanding the prohibition against falsified election documents to include certificates related to presidential electors and creating a new law against falsely acting as a presidential elector.

Pearce suggested that pursuing such changes would amount to unproductive stunts that divert from addressing crime, poverty and other priorities in New Mexico.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico AG says fake GOP electors can't be prosecuted
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham proposed New Mexico legislators consider a $35 million state fund to recruit firefighters.

The monies are part of a $10.5 billion spending plan crafted by the governors office for fiscal year 2025 released Thursday.

Public safety was a key investment area for next fiscal year which starts July 1 of this year and ends June 30, 2025, read a summary of the governor's proposed budget.

New Mexico Counties (NMC) listed firefighting recruitment and retention as a top priority for the organization in the 2024 30-day session that starts Jan. 16. NMCs list was approved in August by the organizations board of directors.

Call volume statewide has increased by as much as 50% this past year and many response systems are overburdened, read part of NMCs wish list for lawmakers.

The Cottonwood fire station houses Eddy County Fire and Rescue operations in the northern part of the county. Chief Joshua Mack welcomed a $35 million proposal from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to create a fund for firefighting recruitment and retention.

NMC said counties rely heavily on volunteer personnel for fire, emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency management services where paid staff may be limited to a small number.

Eddy County Fire and Rescue (ECFR) Chief Joshua Mack said Lujan Grisham took a step in the right direction with the proposal.

More: Six fire stations close in Eddy County. No impact to service, officials say.

This will also be a great tool for growing departments to have access to supplemental funding for additional personnel. I have been a big supporter of this funding and would like to thank all those that worked hard to push this initiative, he said.

Mack said Eddy County does well in recruitment efforts though volunteers often face challenges such as family and career obligations when wishing to volunteer.

Eddy County Sheriff Mark Cage, who also serves as NMC president, said the fund could come to fruition this year.

Eddy County Fire and Rescue Chief Joshua Mack speaks before the Eddy County Commission on Dec. 7, 2021.

NMC seeks millions for Emergency Medical Services

An appropriation of $10 million was sought for the New Mexico Department of Healths (NMDOH) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Bureau to assist local governments with EMS services, according to New Mexico Counties.

Mack said EMS in New Mexico was widely underfunded for years and local governments had assumed responsibility for providing emergency services though not statutorily required to do so.

A sign along U.S. highway 285 north of Artesia indicates the nearby Cottonwood fire station, which houses Eddy County Fire and Rescue functions in northern Eddy County.

Mack said $10 million was not adequate an amount for EMS funding.

We asked for $50 million last year and many of us discussed this was a very minimal amount once it is split among the multiple organizations that receive EMS funding. Eddy County has not applied for EMS funds for many years as prior to my time had deemed it as a bigger cost due to paperwork than return on funds, $5,000 annually. However as we are now more active in EMS response we will begin to participate in EMS funding, he said.

More: New Mexico oilfield lawmakers ready to defend oil, gas from 'tightening noose' of regulation

NMC noted the current state allocation of $2.8 million was made in 2020 and was less than the $2.9 million allocated in the mid-1990s.

David Morgan, NMDOH spokesperson said the department appreciated NMC's recognition of the importance of EMS funding from the state.

Any increase at the county, municipal, or state level would be welcomed by our EMS agencies, he said.

Morgan said EMS caregivers were caring and dedicated and deserve the most support possible from state and local governments.

More: Carlsbad Medical Center is a cornerstone of our community

Many rural communities are faced with a number of barriers to lifesaving healthcare, said Carlsbad Medical Center Spokesperson Melissa Suggs.

She said the hospital strongly supports legislation what would strengthen EMS operations especially for growing populations like Carlsbad and Eddy County.

The vast majority of EMS services are rendered in response to emergency medical situations, such as auto accidents, heart attacks and strokes. We always tell patients that calling 911 for an ambulance is the best action rather than trying to drive to the hospital, particularly when you or someone you are with experiences heart attack or stroke symptoms, Suggs said.

The Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) noted high turnover and low pay contributed to the shortage of EMS personnel, according to a 2022 study. The turnover rate for medical technicians and paramedics ranges from 20% to 30% annually, which means ambulance crews should expect to replace staff every four years, read the JEMS study.

In my opinion many things in New Mexico are at a crossroads right now. In fire and EMS, we have faced many challenges, however this is not just an issue that jumped up at us. It has been building for years. We continue to work through it as a group and look for solutions to problems we are facing, Mack said.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on X formerly Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Gov proposes $35M to recruit firefighters in New Mexico
Miami, in 2023, was the safest the city has ever been. Thats what Police Chief Manny Morales said in a Wednesday message while joined by city officials, including Mayor Francis Suarez.

The city recorded 31 homicides last year, down from 49 in 2022, Suarez said. The trend is on par with nationwide data, which indicates the country as a whole marked the largest annual drop in murders on record in 2023. Murders spiked during the upheaval of the pandemic and the unrest fueled by the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, news reports say.

Suarez contrasted last years figures with those of the 1980s, a drug-fueled era in which Miami saw waves of violence and years that claimed more than 200 murders. And the city even saw one fewer killing in 2023 than in 1947  the first year crime data was collected in the municipality.

City of Miami Chief of Police Manny Morales speaks during a press conference with Mayor Francis Suarez to announce a record-breaking reduction in murders and in violent crime rates in 2023. The presser took place at the Miami police headquarters in downtown Miami, Jan.10, 2024.

Of 2023s 31 murders, all but one were closed with an arrest, Morales said. The department solved 70% of its homicides in 2022, the same year that the nationwide rate of unsolved murders reached a record high, dipping below 50%.

Now, obviously, thats 31 too many, Suarez said. Wed love to have a year when we end with zero, and that will always be the goal.

What were other crime trends?

According to Suarez and Morales, Miami also witnessed:

 A 34% decrease in non-fatal shootings, from 151 to 100;

 A drop in non-contact shootings, from 379 to 255;

 Law enforcement respond to more than 355,000 calls;

 Officers make almost 16,000 arrests;

 A 15% dip in complaints filed against officers, which sat at 223 last year.

Why the drop in violent crime?

For Suarez, the decrease is due to the increase of city funding to the police department as well as investing in innovative crime fighting technology.

City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks during a press conference with Miami Commissioner Christine King and Chief of Police Manny Morales to announce a record-breaking reduction in murders and in violent crime rates in 2023.

But the departments aggressive enforcement stance, Morales said, has also prevented surges of violence linked to the opioid epidemic, which many cities across the country are grappling with. Morales vowed to continue aggressively enforcing the law to ensure Miami stays free of the epidemic.

Christine King, the chair of the Miami Commission, said community policing contributes to the reduction in violent crime.

The first time you meet an officer... is not when youre getting arrested, King said.  They are here. They are in the streets.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  The Michigan Legislature returned to Lansing Wednesday after cutting session short in 2023.

As Democrats retain the reins of power in the state, they find themselves in a somewhat different position that they were just 12 months ago.

Democrats and Republicans returned to the Senate chamber Monday to, in some manner, pick up where they left off.

The agenda for the majority Democrats will become clearer after the Governors State of the State address on the 24th.

But unlike last year, there will not be billions of extra dollars to sweeten the government pot as the budget process starts to play out and revenues remain a question. Though one Republican appropriator thinks they are close to projections, but admits he is no clairvoyant. Last year, he said spending may be hard to keep up with.

Gov. Whitmer to deliver State of the State on Jan. 24

Appropriations member and Lowell Republican Thomas Albert said last years budget marked a change.

There was a big meaningful change for an ongoing need of revenue and whether or not that revenues going to be there, Im not sure. I dont have a crystal ball; I dont know what the economys going to bring this year, he said.

Another big difference as we begin this year will be in the House, where Democrats enjoyed a two-vote majority last year and used their slim advantage in both chambers to pass some of their priorities unilaterally.

That is not the case as the new year begins. Two Democratic members were elected to other offices, and the House is at a 54-54 tie until at least late April, when special elections will be held. Democrats are expected to win those two seats so the tie should only be temporary. Kalamazoos Democratic Senator Sean McCann said that will not slow down the Senate.

I think no impact to the Senate, my sense is we can proceed business as usual on both committee work and floor action. I think thats the place it stops in the House at least for the time being is floor action unless its something very bipartisan, said McCann.

The legislative session, budget and State of the State are three things to watch in Lansing. Throw in a Presidential primary, continuing litigation about redistricting in the Detroit area, what could be a deciding vote in the U.S. Senate with a race for an open seat and the already shaping up positioning and jockeying for statewide races in 2026, Michigan my become a very interesting place to be as this year unfolds.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
After launching for Android devices since December, Microsoft's AI chatbot Copilot has also been available as an iOS app for iPhones and iPads since the start of January. Franziska Gabbert/dpa

Microsoft's AI chatbot was initially only available in the company's own search engine, where it was called Bing Chat, but following its rebranding as Copilot in November, it's now available on all major platforms.

Days after releasing the Android app in December, Microsoft also published an iOS version the text and image-generating AI chatbot for on iPhones and iPads.

The AI assistant is based on GPT-4 for speech and Dall-E 3 for visualizations and is similar to ChatGPT, except that it also adds the option to generate entirely new images from text input.

It can also be accessed through browsers at Copilot.microsoft.com, while a preview version can be used on computers with Windows 11 and 10.

On newer Mac computers with an Apple chip such as the M1, M2 or M3, you can also simply use the iOS app. In all instances, using Copilot is free of charge, but you must have a Microsoft account and be logged in with it for full functionality.

If you visit the Copilot page in your browser, you can also use one or two plug-ins, such as an AI from Suno.ai to generate complete songs with music and lyrics. However, daily use is limited here.

Microsoft, keen to leverage its head start in AI, in January also announced that the Copilot chatbot will bring about the biggest change to the Windows keyboards in decades with a dedicated key for the assistant.

One press of the new Copilot key is set to activate the assistant for quick research, creating images and generating text.

It won't mean squeezing in another key on future keyboards however, since the new Copilot button is set to repurpose the former Menu key, located next to the Alt key, on the right-hand side of some keyboards.

Computers sporting the new Copilot key are expected to be available to buy from the end of February.

The Copilot key's launch comes after Microsoft manager Yusuf Mehdi heralded 2024 as "the year of the AI PC" in a blog post. Microsoft says it's planning to integrate more and more AI features into the Windows operating system in coming updates.
Hundreds of migrant families with children had to sleep on floors and chairs at a southern Brooklyn high school Tuesday night after being evacuated from their tent-style shelter at Floyd Bennett Field due to a dire storm forecast, according to city officials.

A Department of Education memo obtained by the Daily News said there would be cots and supplies available at James Madison High School in Midwood, where roughly 1,900 migrants spent the night after the Adams administration determined it wasnt safe for them to stay at the Floyd Bennett Field shelter amid the heavy rainstorm.

But a photo released by City Hall showed some migrant families with kids sleeping on the floor of James Madisons gym.

While an Adams spokeswoman wouldnt say what happened to the cots referenced in the Department of Education memo, Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol and NYC Health+Hospitals official Dr. Ted Long confirmed in a briefing Wednesday that migrants were only offered blankets and sheets to sleep on at the school.

Long conceded the school was not going to be comfortable as sleeping quarters, but called the relocation from Floyd Bennett Field a success.

We made sure everyone was safe throughout the night, he said.

Carolina Contreras, a Venezuelan migrant who was bused late Tuesday to James Madison with her husband and two kids, told The News that families slept on floors all over the school.

Everyone was looking for a little corner to put down the sheets and lay down. We had to sleep on the floor, said Contreras, whose kids are 9 and 11.

According to Iscol, all the migrants who spent the night at James Madison were returned to the Floyd Bennett Field shelters by 4:15 a.m. Wednesday.

They woke us up at 1 [a.m.], and brought us back shortly after, said Contreras, 36.

Still, James Madisons roughly 3,800 students were on fully remote schedules Wednesday, according to Adams spokeswoman. The spokeswoman said classes were kept remote at the request of James Madisons principal, Jodie Cohen, who asked for it after Adams administration decided to house migrants at the school amid the storm.

In a Tuesday night Zoom meeting with parents, teachers and local residents, Cohen urged families to blame her for the decision to go remote, according to a person on the call.

Parents were very upset they were not asked, the person said.

Iscol said in the briefing that James Madison received a torrent of hate calls and even a bomb threat amid the migrant relocation initiative.

These actions are not only deplorable, but they are also criminal offenses, he said, adding that the NYPD is investigating the matter.

After getting back to Floyd Bennett Field before sunrise, Contreras said she didnt send her kids to school Wednesday because we didnt sleep all night.

We put two sheets on the floor and we lay down, she said. The kids spent all night wide awake.  It was so uncomfortable.

Tuesday nights storm caused 61 mph winds across the city and dumped upward of 3 inches of rain, according to the Emergency Management agency.

Amid those conditions, Adams administration decided it wasnt safe to keep migrants housed in the tent-style shelters at Floyd Bennett Field, which is located in a flood zone.

The decision to move the migrants to James Madison stoked intense pushback from voices across the political spectrum.

Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Republican, lamented on X that James Madison students were punished and forced to bear the brunt of the migrant crisis by having to switch to remote schooling on short notice.

Meantime, migrant advocates and progressive politicians, including city Comptroller Brad Lander, said the relocation effort showed why Floyd Bennett Field shouldnt be used as the site for a migrant shelter at all, given the flood-prone nature of the location.

New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Murad Awawdeh, whose group has helped welcome migrants to the city since 2022, said the decision to house families with kids in a congregate setting like a school without beds violates the citys right-to-shelter mandate.

This was incredibly not allowed, Awawdeh said. This is why the guidelines and procedures are actually written the way they are  to avoid situations like this happening.

City officials have been in court for months seeking permission from a judge to suspend the right to shelter amid the migrant crisis.

In Wednesdays briefing, Long acknowledged Floyd Bennett Field is not an ideal place for a shelter, but reiterated Adams argument that the citys out of appropriate places to house migrants.

Another winter storm could hit the city next week.

In the event that Floyd Bennett Field needs to be evacuated again, Iscol said the city wont use James Madison as a temporary shelter.

We are making alternative plans, he said. He did not elaborate on those plans.

According to the latest data from Adams office, the citys providing shelter and services for nearly 70,000 migrants, most of whom fled poverty and violence in Latin America in hopes of claiming asylum in the U.S. To date, the city has spent more than $3 billion on the crisis, prompting Adams to enact budget cuts across all municipal agencies that he says are necessary to offset the migrant-related spending.
Hundreds of people in the northwest Spanish community of Galicia are working to clean up millions of tiny plastic pellets that have been washing up on their Atlantic Ocean shores. The pellets, known as nurdles, fell out of a shipment on a charter vessel at the beginning of December.

A spokesperson for Danish shipping and logistics company Maersk confirmed the "regrettable" incident to CBS News, saying the plastic pieces were in a container on the charter vessel Toconao. The ship itself is not owned or manned by Maersk, but the company was handling their containers.

Plastic pellets from a bag that washed up on Vilar beach are seen in Ribeira, Spain, on Jan. 8, 2024. Millions of plastic pellets washed up in Spain's northwestern Galicia region, triggering environmental concerns and a political blame game. / Credit: MIGUEL VIDAL / REUTERS

The spokesperson said that on Dec. 8, the vessel "lost six Maersk containers overboard in deep sea off the Galician coast in Spain." They added that the ship was journeying from Algeciras to Rotterdam, and that the lost containers were "immediately reported" to Spain and Portugal.

Bags of the nurdles, which the Maersk spokesperson said are used for producing food-grade packaging and water bottles, were in one of the containers that went overboard. It's those bags that are now washing up on Galicia's shores.

"No crew members were injured in the incident, and the vessel was able to continue its journey to Rotterdam," the spokesperson said. "The cause of the container loss is still being investigated."

An environmental charity group called The Great Nurdle Hunt says nurdles are lentil-sized plastic pellets that, because of their size, easily end up polluting waterways. According to the group, they're the "second largest source of primary microplastic pollution globally," with nearly 983 million pounds of the plastics ending up in the environment every year.

"Once in the environment nurdles are extremely difficult to clean up," the group says on its website. "They can easily be blown or washed into drains and carried out to sea, or spilt directly into the sea from transport ships. Once in the sea, currents can carry the nurdles around the world. There is no practical way of removing all nurdles from the environment."

The mayor of the coastal community of Ribeira, Luis Perez, told Reuters that the spill "is causing major troubles to our ocean."

"A major problem formed by millions of plastic particles which are now depositing in our sea and our beaches, affecting marine and terrestrial flora and fauna," Perez said. "...The town hall can't face this environmental crisis alone, and we can't let the citizens alone."

Local have been working to clean up the plastic pieces. One day last week, Perez said 500 people spent the day at local Vilar beach to help round up the plastic.

Women clean up the sand of Vilar beach after millions of plastic pellets washed up on the Spanish northwestern Galicia region. / Credit: MIGUEL VIDAL / REUTERS

On Dec. 13, when large bags of the material were first spotted, more than 40 bags, each roughly 55 pounds, were removed, according to state-owned media RTVE. As of Jan. 10, at least 78 bags have been picked up.

"We live from the sea  80% of the people of the Ribeira Council live from the sea, directly or indirectly," Councilor for the Environment Antia Alberte told RTVE.

The Maersk spokesperson told CBS News that two cleanup companies have been contracted to assist with the plastic removal.

"Other plastics which have also been washed up and are unrelated to this incident are also being collected," the spokesperson said. "Crew, vessel and cargo as well as environmental safety are of highest importance, and we will follow up with a thorough investigation and take necessary steps to minimize the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future."

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Police Chief Jeffrey Norman discusses the 2023 Milwaukee crime numbers at a news conference with Community Wellness and Safety Director Ashanti Hamilton (left) and Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Wednesday.

Whether its property or violent crime, Milwaukees numbers by and large went in a positive direction in 2023, although several serious offense categories haven't yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.

It has already been widely reported that Milwaukee avoided a fourth consecutive year of record-breaking homicides and nonfatal shootings in 2023, with both categories dropping 20% and 4%, respectively, from the year before  yet they remain roughly twice as high as pre-pandemic years.

But the city appears to be making progress with reckless driving. Milwaukee police reported a second consecutive year that car crashes fell, returning to the city to its lowest count since at least 2017, according to police data.

Meanwhile, overall property crimes fell for a second year in a row, down 13%, as overall violent crime dropped 3%.

The numbers were discussed at a press conference Wednesday with Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and Ashanti Hamilton, the director of the Office of Community Wellness and Safety.

All three emphasized the good news was a result of unprecedented collaboration between law enforcement, community groups, schools, public health officials and others.

It is the work of our entire community who will not and should not tolerate crime in their neighborhoods, Norman said. Although our numbers are down, firearm violence is still a real concern in our city. Firearm violence continues to plague not just our city, but our nation.

I want to thank each and every one of the many organizations and members of the community who work with MPD to keep this community safe. I want to thank the men and women of the Milwaukee Police Department.

The local numbers are also consistent with national trends from 2023, according to available data. Although several categories remain elevated compared to 2019, the numbers suggest big drops in homicides and other offenses.

The stress and strain that COVID caused to people  they lost their jobs, they got into a lot of alcohol  all those things have kind of abated, said Alex Piquero, a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Miami. A lot of stuff that is prevention- or intervention-based, it couldnt happen in 2020 or 2021. All of those things have gone back to where they were.

But there are still plenty of exceptions to the new good news. Heres what to know about the numbers and how Milwaukee compares to national trends:

Crashes are falling, but traffic deaths remain high

Motorists driving along Locust Street will have to slow their roll due to a new traffic calming circle installed at the intersection of 25th and Locust. Tired of speeding drivers, residents in the Amani neighborhood worked with AARP Wisconsin, Amani United, The Dominican Center, the Wisconsin Bike Federation to have the city install traffic circle on Monday, October 30.

Car crashes fell 5% while hit-and-run crashes fell 8% from 2022, according to police. Both categories are at a low point since at least 2017, although traffic deaths remain elevated.

Still, the continued fall in crashes is welcome news for a city whose residents have been deeply frustrated with a persistent reckless driving issue.

Johnson credited the drops to city efforts to calm traffic, residents who work with the city to arrange for speed bumps or traffic circles in their neighborhoods and nonprofits like the Greater Milwaukee Urban League that help adults earn a drivers license permit.

He said a new state law that creates a grant program to help low-income students pay for drivers education should continue to limit crashes in the city.

Its the collective us, Johnson said, when asked what explains the drop in crashes. "All of these things together help reduce the crashes we see.

However, Milwaukee hasn't had as much progress with traffic deaths. The city reported 74 in 2023, down from 77 the year before.

In the three years before the pandemic, Milwaukee averaged about 57 traffic deaths a year. In the four years since, it has averaged almost 74.

As car thefts rise nationally, they fall locally

Some thieves who are targeting newer Kia and Hyundai models have found out how to steal the vehicles without triggering alarms.

Car theft in Milwaukee hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels but, for the second year in a row, the city saw big drops.

After car thieves began exploiting a security design flaw in certain models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles in late 2020, reports of car theft more than doubled in Milwaukee. It peaked in 2021, with more than 10,000 stolen.

But car theft has dropped 40% in the two years since, according to police data, down to 6,200 thefts in 2023. That's still 38% higher than 2020, however.

Police have announced a range of initiatives in recent years to reduce car theft, including the officers dedicated to auto theft issues, the use of bait cars, handing out free steering wheel locks and targeted enforcement of at-risk offenders. Community groups and mentorship programs have taken aim at youth surrounding car theft, as well.

Meanwhile, car theft is on the rise elsewhere. In the first half of 2023, car thefts were 33.5% higher in 32 cities studied by the Council on Criminal Justice. Thefts were up 104.3% compared to the first half of 2019.

Some officials across the country have speculated that how-to videos about stealing Kias and Hyundais contributed to the national rise, although others caution it doesn't fully explain the phenomenon.

Other categories drop or remain near recent lows

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, and Community Wellness and Safety Director Ashanti Hamilton present and discuss the 2023 Milwaukee crime numbers at a news conference on Wednesday.

Robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and theft either dropped in 2023 or are near lows in recent years for Milwaukee. According to police and FBI data:

Robberies increased 7% in 2023 but have been cut in half since a recent peak in 2015.

Aggravated assaults fell for the second year, by 4% in 2023. They are still 24% above 2019 levels.

Burglary increased 4% in 2023 but has still dropped 58% since a recent peak in 2016.

Thefts also dropped 8% in 2023, returning to about the same level as 2019.

Nationally, all of the above categories appear to have dropped in 2023. Midway through the year, the Council on Criminal Justice reported all categories in 32 cities were down between 2.5% and 5%.

However, all of the categories were up between 2% and 39% compared to 2019.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on X at @elliothughes12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Unpacking Milwaukee's 2023 crime trends
A Minnesota doctor accused of fatally poisoning his pharmacist wife now faces a tougher charge that could put him in prison for the rest of his life, if convicted.

Connor Fitzgerald Bowman, 30, was indicted last week on one count of first-degree murder  premeditated and one count of second-degree murder with intent for the August 2023 death of Betty Bowman, 32.

The Olmstead County Attorneys Office said if Bowman is convicted on the first-degree murder charge, he would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Grand Jury found probable cause that Mr. Bowman intentionally and with premeditation was responsible for her death, County Attorney Mark Ostrem said in a statement.

Bowman was arrested on October 20 and initially charged with second-degree murder. The criminal complaint said that Betty Bowman, who worked for the Mayo Clinic, died from the toxic effect of colchicine, a medicine primarily used to treat gout. There was nothing in Betty Bowmans medical record to indicate she was ever prescribed colchicine or diagnosed with gout, investigators said.

Betty Bowman - From Sarah Leeser

The complaint says Connor Bowman, who had completed a residency at the Mayo Clinic, had researched colchicine online. Bowman had worked as a poison control specialist, but his employer, the University of Kansas, told investigators his work did not require any research of colchicine.

On August 5, 2023, Connor Bowman made internet searches including internet browsing history: can it be used in court? and Police track package delivery, the criminal complaint states.

Betty Bowman went to a hospital in Rochester on August 16, 2023, with severe gastrointestinal distress and dehydration where her condition deteriorated rapidly, the criminal complaint states.

Victim experienced cardiac issues, fluid in her lungs, and eventually organ failure. Victim was taken in for surgery to remove a portion of her colon after it was discovered it contained necrotic tissue, the court document says.

Connor Bowman appeared in court Friday and did not enter a plea. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

Jail records show he remained incarcerated Wednesday in lieu of $2 million bail with conditions, or $5 million bail for unconditional release. CNN reached out to Bowmans attorney Wednesday for comment.

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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Wednesday asked Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a high-profile Capitol Hill appearance for Bailey that comes as he faces a tough fight in the Republican race for state attorney general.

Bailey was one of three Republican state attorneys general who testified before the House Homeland Security Committee in its first hearing in the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas.

In his testimony, Bailey accused Mayorkas of refusing to carry out laws passed by Congress. He said Mayorkas has neglected his duty to prevent people from illegally crossing the southern border.

Bailey mentioned lawsuits Missouri has brought against Mayorkas attempting to force the Biden administration to finish building a wall on the southern border and to prevent a 2023 rule that attempted to encourage legal entry into the U.S., called Circumvention of Lawful Pathways.

The secretary has abdicated his official duties, Bailey said. Hes in dereliction of duty and should be held accountable.

The lawsuit over the border wall was filed when Baileys predecessor Sen. Eric Schmitt was attorney general. Bailey did not lead the other lawsuit, which was filed in North Dakota alongside 17 other states.

Democrats have dismissed the effort to impeach Mayorkas as a politically-motivated attempt driven by right-wing Republicans. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the ranking member of the homeland security committee, called the hearing a sham and the height of hypocrisy.

I have not found any indication that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, Thompson said.

The Biden administration has said House Republicans are performing political stunts rather than substantively dealing with immigration policy. The House passed an immigration bill last year that Democrats deemed too extreme.

Baileys testimony came a day after his main GOP opponent, Will Scharf, appeared at a hearing over whether former President Donald Trump has legal immunity, as part of Trumps legal team. Scharf later stood near Trump during a news conference afterwards.

Bailey was appointed Missouri attorney general a year ago by Republican Gov. Mike Parson. He is seeking election this fall to a full term. Scharf, a lawyer and former policy director under former Gov. Eric Greitens, entered the race in January 2023.

Republicans roared into the 2024 election year criticizing the Biden administrations immigration policies at the southern border, as the Senate has been engaged in talks over immigration policy for around a month.

House Republicans have increasingly coalesced around impeaching Mayorkas, claiming that he has abdicated his duties to secure the southern border because of the volume of people illegally crossing. In the 2023 fiscal year, border patrol agents encountered more than 2.4 million people crossing the southern border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Were going to impeach him, said Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican. Hes going to be impeached. And he should be. Hes the executive in charge of border policy for the Biden administration.

Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri who has studied the history of impeachment in the U.S., was the only witness on Wednesday for the Democrats. He repeatedly said he believed that political differences over immigration policy were not historically intended as grounds for impeachment, and pointed out that if the House succeeded, it likely wouldnt change Biden administration policy.

Members of this committee disapprove of the Biden administrations immigration and border policies, Bowman said. The Constitution gives this Congress a wealth of legislative powers to change them. Impeachment is not one of those powers.

The House has not impeached a cabinet secretary since 1876, when the chamber voted unanimously to impeach War Secretary William Belknap, who allegedly received kickback payments for a military appointment, funding his lavish, gilded-age lifestyle. Belknap resigned before the impeachment vote.

If Mayorkas is impeached, he would stand trial in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which would almost certainly not convict him.

On Wednesday, committee witnesses were rarely asked to testify beyond answering yes or no questions as lawmakers railed for or against impeachment. Republicans repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of the crisis, often trying to tie illegal immigration to the rise of fentanyl overdoses throughout the country. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has said most of the fentanyl that enters the country comes through the ports of entry.

Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, criticized the fact that Bailey and Republican attorneys general from Oklahoma and Montana were witnesses, saying they were relying on opinions from politicians who are in the process of suing Mayorkas.

As far as I can tell, none of your states actually are on the border, Goldman said. So I dont understand why we are sitting here in a quote impeachment hearing with three attorneys general from different states who are Republican officials and have absolutely no expertise on impeachment.
Attorney General State of Missouri Andrew Bailey testifies during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Washington. Federal judges on Wednesday ruled that Missouri may move forward with a lawsuit blaming China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Bailey, whose office filed the lawsuit, on Wednesday lauded the decision on X, formerly known as Twitter. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  A Missouri lawsuit accusing China of hoarding masks and other protective gear during the COVID-19 pandemic can move forward, federal judges ruled Wednesday.

A panel of the U.S. Eighth District Court of Appeals panel, however, otherwise agreed with a lower court's 2022 ruling that tossed out Missouri's case entirely, finding that federal rules prohibit a sovereign foreign entity from being sued in American courts. The state alleged that China's officials were to blame for the pandemic because they didn't do enough to slow its spread.

The appeals panel found that only one claim may proceed: an allegation that China hoarded personal protective equipment.

Missouris overarching theory is that China leveraged the worlds ignorance about COVID-19, Judge David Stras wrote in the ruling. One way it did so was by manipulating the worldwide personal-protective-equipment market. Missouri must still prove it, but it has alleged enough to allow the claim to proceed beyond a jurisdictional dismissal on the pleadings.

Chief Judge Lavenski Smith dissented, writing that the whole lawsuit should be dismissed.

Immunity for foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, while not impenetrable, is quite stout and stronger than the claim alleged in this case, Smith wrote. It is certainly not strong enough to justify judicial intervention into an arena well populated with substantial political and diplomatic concerns.

Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, whose office filed the lawsuit, lauded the ruling Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

We are headed back to court to pursue remedies, he posted.

The lawsuit, filed in April 2020, alleged that Chinese officials were responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.

Neither the Chinese government nor any other Chinese defendant named in the case has responded to the lawsuit in court.

The Lawyers for Upholding International Law and The China Society of Private International Law filed briefs defending China against the lawsuit. Associated Press emails and voice messages left with lawyers for the groups were not immediately returned Wednesday.

China has criticized the lawsuit as very absurd and said it has no factual and legal basis. Legal experts have mostly panned it as a stunt aimed at shifting blame to China for the COVID-19 pandemic.
GULF SHORES, Ala. (WKRG)  Beautiful but brutal. The Gulf of Mexico was still churned up by the storm system that moved through overnight reclaiming a lot of sand, in places, that had just been pumped onto the shoreline.

This looks familiar to what we experienced last year, John Qualheim, who is back for his annual trip south for the winter, said. We met him last year on what was then a disappearing beach, Sliver beach right now.

Development of Embassy Suites Gulf Shores underway

In the year since he was here, crews have pumped over a million cubic yards of sand onto Gulf Shores beaches. Most of it is still here but in some sections of West Beach, it is gone.

When you look at it now you think, Oh my God! All the sands gone. The renourishment project was done for nothing,' Gulf Shores Emergency Management Coordinator Brandan Franklin said.

Still, Franklin said the city did what it was supposed to do.

Honestly, I think it held up really well, Franklin said. Had it not been there, we would have had waves crashing on structures, so I was really proud.

Crews will not return to patch up areas the storm took away. Mother Nature will do that in the Spring, according to Franklin.

Storm damage reported in the News 5 coverage area

That will be long after John Qualheim has returned to Wisconsin with another story to tell about the power of the Gulf of Mexico.

Im surprised to see it down here, but water does what it wants to do, Qualheim said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
CEDAR RAPIDSRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley got in trouble last week for having the gall to mock Iowans, the sacred hogs of presidential election years.

"You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it," Haley told an audience in New Hampshire, pitting the first caucus state against the first primary state. She later walked back the comment, chalking it up to friendly banter between early-state voters (her home state of South Carolina is third in the lineup).

As an Iowan who has weathered four GOP presidential caucuses as a voter, activist, and journalist, I think Haley got it right the first time. New Hampshire Republicans are better than us at picking nominees. The top candidate in Iowa GOP caucuses has gone on to win the nomination in competitive contests only once this century, compared to three times for New Hampshire GOP primaries.

The convention delegates at stake in Iowa are almost negligible and the GOP results rarely foretell the outcome, so why should anyone care about the 2024 Iowa caucuses? They shouldn'tand fortunately, most Iowans don't.

In an era when people can grocery shop and trade stocks on their phones from the couch, Iowans have had to show up to a specific place at a specific time to participate in the presidential nominating process. Caucus sites most often are schools, but sometimes churches, bars, or even a farmer's machine shed in the country. The meetings begin two hours after sunset and might be more than 20 miles from home for rural voters.

The forecasted high temperature on Monday is around zero, so participants will literally risk their limbs to sound off in a race where the end resulta third consecutive Donald Trump nominationis all but certain.

The dozens of "how the caucuses work" explainers journalists publish each cycle are good evidence that it's a befuddling process. It's not service journalism, it's more like "look at the quirky shit these midwesterners do, running around high school gyms like idiots," and they're not wrong. The caucuses are as bad as the coastal journalists make them sound, if not worse.

Historically, Iowa Democrats moved around the room to sort themselves into candidate preference groups, then counted bodies to record the numbers. Candidates with too few backers were ruled not viable, so other groups yelled to persuade them and sometimes coin flips were involved. It was a kind of live-action ranked-choice voting that could drag on for hours.

In 2020, already facing internal criticism for the inaccessibility of their caucuses, Iowa Democrats botched reporting the results when they found "inconsistencies" in the returns submitted by precinct volunteers and took almost a week to come up with numbers. This year, with no serious challenger to President Joe Biden, they are removing the presidential race from the caucuses in favor of mail-in preference cards. That's better than mandatory attendance but by running a backdoor vote-by-mail primary, they're basically admitting that their caucuses were unworkable.

There's no running around at Iowa Republican caucuses, but they do still require in-person participation. Supporters can give short speeches for candidates and then attendees write down their choices to be counted by precinct officers. Yes, the party obsessed with the phantom threat of voter fraud entrusts the integrity of its vaunted first-in-the-nation nominating contest to old ladies tallying scraps of paper.

The whole thing is off-putting to normal people who would rather do anything else than spend a bitterly cold weekday night at the community center. The proof is in the numbers: Even in record-setting years (186,000 for Republicans in 2016; 240,000 for Democrats in 2008), total turnout was less than 20 percent of all registered voters. It's a good reminder that electoral politics is not real life and it's OK to tune out.

The caucuses have been good for me personally. They gave me access to candidates as a young journalist and job opportunities as a campaign staffer. Many other Iowans have also been enriched by this political tourist trap, which Reason's Peter Suderman called "a subsidy to Iowans at the nation's expense."

But most Iowans wouldn't be sad to see the caucuses go away. While party die-hards cling to the influence and money first-in-the-nation status offers them, regular people are just annoyed by the TV ads and robocalls.

The post Most Iowans Don't Care About the Caucuses. You Shouldn't Either. appeared first on Reason.com.
The mother of a 19-year-old Georgia honor student is pleading for the person or persons who killed her daughter to come forward.

Khia Shields, of Wrens, was killed in the early morning hours on Aug. 26, just days after her birthday. Shields was a sophomore at Georgia Southern University. She graduated with honors from Jefferson County High School in May 2022.

Shields had been out and returned home around midnight on Aug. 26. Her mother, Shareka Pitts, told WJBF-TV that she heard gunfire about an hour later.

She was laying on the sofa and I remember jumping up and I remember her coming into my bedroom with her hands held out and she was like Mommy, mommy, Ive been shot, Pitts said.

Shields was rushed to the hospital but later died from her injuries.

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Wrens Police Chief John Maynard has even made a personal plea for those responsible for Shields death to please come forward.

I do believe that there is probably some people of interest, Maynard told the TV station. I think the case is progressing really well. Its just when you take somebody to trial on homicide, youve got to have it right.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case. It announced on Monday that there is now a $13,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

Please come forward. This is a tragic incident that happened. To bring peace to our family, just come forward. You did the crime, and you have to pay for what you did, Pitts said.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call the GBI at 706-595-2575, the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office at 478-625-7538, or the Wrens Police Department at 706-547-3232. Anonymous tips can also be submitted via the GBI Tip line at 1-800-597-8477.

IN OTHER NEWS:
The near-future is bleak for the working class of London in The Kitchen, a well-executed film about a familiar kind of urban dystopian nightmare. It is, ironically, sunnier than the Los Angeles of Blade Runner, but the mood is as dire.

In this world, the have-nots are crammed together in hellish Brutalist high-rises, a slum-like development that its residents call The Kitchen. With frequent police raids and constant monitoring, there is the whiff of rebellion in the air. But at least for the purposes of this story, tensions have not yet boiled over into a proper revolution  the rage is manifested in smaller, petty crimes, like a smash-and-grab jewelry raid.

Our protagonist Izy (rapper Kane Robinson) has a stable job, selling eco and humane burial plans to the desperate, grieving poor. Everything is whitewashed and slick and just a little sinister there  its called life after life after all. He and his colleagues wear clinical scrubs as they sell people on the idea of turning their deceased loved ones into plants.

He also has a plan: To get out. Hes saved enough money to escape The Kitchen and has finally broken through the logjam of a waitlist to get into one of the luxury apartment buildings in town. A single occupancy for a single guy. Naturally the film wont let him go that easy, but the complication isnt just financial: A kid enters the picture.

One day at work he notices that a woman he once dated is being given a funeral on the premises. Inside, he discovers her son Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), a teen who doesnt know who his father is. The two dance around the obvious question, and Benji ends up on Izys doorstep in need of something  help, lodging, care  but again, these things go largely unspoken. Benji is at a sliding doors kind of moment in which the fast cash from the dangerous smash-and-grabs seems almost worth the risk. What does he have to lose anyway?

The Kitchen was directed by Get Outs Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, who has turned his gaze before on the intersection of architecture, race and class in Robots of Brixton. Kaluuya co-wrote the script with Joe Murtagh, inspired out of a story he heard about kids doing million-dollar heists in a minute for 200. The Kitchen may lag at times, but its an astonishing and fully realized feat for two first-time feature directors with beautifully raw sequences of both emotion and action.

It is quite a pleasure to watch Izy and Benji navigate this awkward relationship, both wondering how much they should trust one another. But in this world of urban isolation its clear, at least to us, that they need each other  no matter how much youre rooting for Izy to make it out. There are also moments of humor in this rather serious affair, including Izys frustrating conversation with an AI customer service representative.

Like so many futuristic dystopias, The Kitchen is really about the present  about class divides and wealth gaps and unaffordable housing and the ways in which its all getting worse so quickly. This is one of those films that would have been fun on the big screen with its urgent action sequences and propulsive nightclub scenes, but its a perfect small-screen watch, too. And, hopefully, the beginning of a big directing career for Kaluuya and Tavares, who have proved that they have something worthwhile to say and the vision to make it entertaining as well.

The Kitchen, a Netflix release streaming Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language. Running time: 107 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building stands at dusk at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August. NASA announced Tuesday it will delay its Artemis launches to "work through challenges." File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

Jan. 9 (UPI) -- NASA announced Tuesday it will delay its Artemis launches to "work through challenges" and "ensure crew safety," as the space agency targets 2026 to return astronauts to the moon.

NASA revealed it will now shoot for September 2026, instead of December 2025, to land the first astronauts near the moon's south pole with Artemis III. While NASA was planning to launch Artemis II later this year, the first crewed mission around the moon is now scheduled for September 2025.

Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station, remains on track for 2028. Gateway is a lunar base that NASA plans to build on the surface of the moon.

"In order to safely carry out our upcoming Artemis missions to the moon with astronauts, we are now targeting September 2025 for Artemis II and September 2026 for Artemis III," NASA wrote Tuesday in a post on X. "Safety is our top priority."

In order to safely carry out our upcoming #Artemis missions to the Moon with astronauts, we are now targeting September 2025 for Artemis II and September 2026 for Artemis III. Safety is our top priority. https://t.co/AjNjLo4U6E pic.twitter.com/VE74OtlUr6 NASA (@NASA) January 9, 2024

Artemis II crew members Reid Wiseman (L), Victor Glover (2nd L), Christina Hammock Koch (2nd R), and Jeremy Hansen (R) take turns speaking to the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., after meeting with President Joe Biden on December 14, 2023. The crew's Artemis II mission is being pushed back from later this year to September 2025, NASA announced Tuesday. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI

"We are returning to the moon in a way we never have before, and the safety of our astronauts is NASA's top priority as we prepare for future Artemis missions," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday. "We've learned a lot since Artemis I, and the success of these early missions relies on our commercial and international partnerships to further our reach and understanding of humanity's place in our solar system."

Among the safety issues NASA teams are currently troubleshooting, is a battery problem and an issue with a circuitry component that runs air ventilation and temperature control.

NASA's Artemis II Orion Spacecraft sits in the Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August. NASA announced Tuesday it will delay its Artemis launches to "work through challenges" and "ensure crew safety," as the space agency targets 2026 to return astronauts to the moon. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

"We are letting the hardware talk to us so that crew safety drives our decision-making," said Catherine Koerner, associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We will use the Artemis II flight test, and each flight that follows, to reduce risk for future moon missions."

While NASA is initially targeting the moon with Artemis, the ultimate goal of the missions is to gain knowledge to apply toward future manned missions to Mars.

"Artemis is a long-term exploration campaign to conduct science at the moon with astronauts and prepare for future human missions to Mars. That means we must get it right as we develop and fly our foundational systems so that we can safely carry out these missions," said Amit Kshatriya, manager of NASA's Moon to Mars Program Office.

NASA also announced Tuesday that it has tasked SpaceX and Blue Origin, which are providing the Artemis mission human landing systems, to meet the new timelines while planning for future missions involving large cargo. SpaceX's Starship will land astronauts from Artemis III near the moon's ice-rich south pole.

As NASA looks toward Artemis II in 2025, excessive charring to the heat shield of the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis I return flight is the biggest concern facing the next mission.

Artemis II will test NASA's launch system and the Orion spacecraft systems in what is expected to be a 10-day manned flight around the moon that will take astronauts farther from Earth than any other mission. The spacecraft will orbit Earth twice to gain speed to then orbit the moon for a "free-return trajectory" back to Earth.

Artemis II's four-person crew, which includes three Americans and one Canadian, are currently training for the mission. The crew includes NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Victor J. Glover Jr., G. Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.

Artemis III will land astronauts on the moon's south pole, which Nelson calls a "different moon" from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in 1969.

"The south pole is pockmarked with deep craters and because of the angle of the sun coming in -- most of those craters are in total darkness," Nelson said during an Artemis update in August 2023.

While 28 countries have signed the Artemis Accords, NASA is pushing to establish a base on the moon before China wins the space race to make sure lunar resources are "available to all."

Tuesday's announcement of Artemis launch delays did not come as a surprise, as NASA predicted the possibility earlier this year when it named its Artemis II crew.

"I know the goal is 2024," Nelson said last April. "But I think we have to be brutally realistic, that history would tell us, because space development is so hard, that there could be delays to that schedule for the first demonstration flight of landing humans and returning them safely to Earth."
It may officially be Hollywood awards season, but NASA is also rolling out a red carpet of its own. On January 12 at 4pm EST, the agency will livestream the official public debut of its highly anticipated X-59 QueSST experimental aircraft. Designed alongside Lockheed Martins secretive Skunk Works division, the currently one-of-a-kind X-59 QueSST (short for Quiet SuperSonic Technology) is intended to demonstrate its potentially industry-shifting ability for human air travel at supersonic speeds sans sonic boom .

A sonic booms trademark thunderclap has long been associated with vehicles traveling faster than Mach 1. As a planes velocity surpasses the speed of sound, the shockwave formed by its wake results in a percussive noise capable of startling nearby humans and animals, as well as shattering windows if loud enough.

[Related: This experimental NASA plane will try to break the sound barrierquietly .]

While sonic booms are permitted by certain military aircraft, commercial flights above the US have been prohibited from generating them since the Concorde jets retirement in 2003. The cutting edge X-59, in contrast, is designed to travel around 938 mph while only creating a sonic thump that is supposedly much quieter than an average sonic booms 110 decibels . NASA representatives previously estimated the X-59 will generate around 75 decibels of sound , or about as loud as slamming a car door .

https://youtu.be/KjCdGqgD9Bs

Engineers have spent years creating and honing the X-59s state-of-the-art design . The experimental craft to be showcased on Friday is much smaller and more elongated than similar planes, measuring roughly 95-feet-long and less than 30-feet-wide. As New Scientist points out, thats narrower than an F-16, but twice as long. The nose alone comprises nearly half planes length to ensure shockwaves generated near the front do not merge with waves created in the rear and thus emit a deafening boom. Because of this, the planes pilot will rely on 4K video screens inside the cockpit for their visuals to guide the aircraft.

Its highly unlikely that X-59 will publicly take to the skies on Friday. Instead, the ceremony is meant to mark the beginning of a multiyear testing phase that will see the X-59 speed above  several US communities  selected by NASAs QueSST team, who will then gather data and assess public reactions to the supposedly gentle sonic thump .

https://youtu.be/y0j_yQrZS4E

This is the big reveal, Catherine Bahm, manager of NASAs Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project overseeing the X-59s development and construction, said in a separate announcement . The rollout is a huge milestone toward achieving the overarching goal of the QueSST mission to quiet the sonic boom.

To call a sonic thump quiet may be a bit of an oversell, however. According to a 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report , many people arent exactly pleased with daily disruptions caused by existing subsonic air travel, so it's hard to envision sonic thumps being quieter than the average passenger jet. And even if the X-59s volume proves nominal, environmental advocates continue to voice concerns over the potentially dramatic increase in carbon emissions that a new era of hypersonic flights could generate. In a letter penned to NASA administrator Bill Nelson by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) last year, the watchdog organization argued increased supersonic travel would be a climate debacle.

[Related: Air Force transport jets for VIPs could have a supersonic future .]

Because the QueSSt mission is focused on the sonic boom challenge, the X-59 is not intended to be used as a tool to conduct research into other challenges of supersonic flight such as landing and takeoff noise, emissions and fuel burn. These challenges are being explored in other NASA research, NASA representatives told The Register in July 2023.

Even if everything goes smoothly, however, it is unlikely that a fleet of X-59 jets will be zipping over everyones heads anytime soon. In 2021, a Lockheed Martin Skunk Works manager estimated that supersonic air travel wont feasibly make its potential return until around 2035 .

First, however, is Friday's scheduled pomp and circumstance. Viewers can tune into NASAs livestream of the event at 4pm ET on YouTube , as well as through the agencys NASA+ streaming service , NASA app , and website .
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Police are continuing to look for a number of wanted fugitives out of Nashville, including a man newly added to the Top 10 Most Wanted list in connection with an attempted homicide.

The list is updated every Wednesday on the Metro Nashville Police Department Criminal Warrants Division Facebook page. Each week it features 10 people who police said are considered to be some of the citys most violent offenders.

Over 70 of Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives arrested within one year

Of the suspects on this weeks list, more than half are wanted on homicide, attempted homicide or murder charges. Two of the suspects most recently added to the list are accused of attempted homicide, but some homicide cases date back more than a year ago.

Other cases will be approaching a year within the next couple of months. The rest of Nashvilles Most Wanted suspects are accused of crimes such as rape by an authority figure, child endangerment and aggravated assault.

Police said one woman was driving on the wrong side of I-40 with her child in her car when she crashed into a van head-on. While the search for these suspects continues, the Most Wanted list has aided police in several arrests.

Wanted man arrested months after breaking into Nashville home with loaded gun

At least 81 people who have appeared on the list have been taken into custody since the program was first launched in October 2022. According to authorities, tips from the public have been key in many cases, stacking up to a nearly 70% arrest rate among Most Wanted fugitives.

Below is a list of the suspects who made the police departments Top 10 Most Wanted list the week of Jan. 10.

1. Lagarrion L. Blacksmith

Lagarrion Blacksmith (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

At number one, Lagarrion Blacksmith, 34, is considered this weeks Top Most Wanted fugitive, according to the MNPD. He was added to the list on Nov. 29 after police were reportedly able to connect him to a deadly shooting that took place outside a Dickerson Pike bar earlier this year.

Officers said they found 35-year-old Chancellor Eddins lying on the ground just outside of Trvth Lounge on Feb. 18. He had reportedly been shot and later died at the scene. Another man who had also been hit by the gunfire was able to give officers an account of what happened.

RELATED: Man wanted for homicide, other charges following fatal February shooting on Dickerson Pike

According to police, the injured man told them he and Eddins had gotten into an argument with the suspect inside of the bar. Then, shots were fired as they left the location. At the time, the identity of the alleged shooter was unclear.

Months later, investigators announced Blacksmith had been identified as a suspect. On Nov. 22, officials said arrest warrants had been issued against Blacksmith for criminal homicide, attempted homicide, and felon in possession of a handgun.

However, efforts to locate him have reportedly been unsuccessful. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the MNPD at 615-862-8600 or Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

2. Raceme Crutcher

Raceme Crutcher (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Police have been looking for Raceme Crutcher, 21, since July, when he was named as one of two suspects in a deadly Fourth of July shooting.

Officials said the shooting happened at the Fallbrook Apartments on Dellway Villa Road. Etabo Malanda, 16, was reportedly standing on the porch of an apartment when two armed individuals came from around the corner and confronted him.

RELATED: Teen killed in shooting at East Nashville apartment complex

Malanda allegedly tried to pull out a pistol that was inside his hoodie, but he was shot. Police said he died shortly after he was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

According to investigators, four guns were recovered from the apartment, including one that was reported stolen. Crutcher and 17-year-old Jaylin Brown were reportedly connected to the crime through witness accounts.

Investigators also obtained surveillance footage and additional information from community members that they said pointed to Crutcher and Brown as suspects in the case. Officials believe the motive may have been an ongoing dispute between the suspects and Malanda.

SEE ALSO: Teen wanted in connection with deadly Fourth of July shooting arrested

Brown was taken into custody on Aug. 31 after police reportedly caught him driving a stolen car. However, authorities said Crutcher is still on the run. He was added to the Most Wanted list on Nov. 15. His last location is unknown.

3. DeTynn Q. Smith

DeTynn Q Smith (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

DeTynn Smith, 20, has regularly appeared on the Most Wanted list since March 8.

He is believed to be the third and final suspect in the April 2022 murder of 39-year-old Tywane Miller. The incident happened in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven gas station near the intersection of Maxwell and Gallatin Avenues.

RELATED: Third suspect sought in deadly Nashville shooting from April 2022

Initial reports from police indicated that Miller was shot and killed by at least one person who got out of a white Ford Flex. Miller died at the scene and a passenger in his car suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

After the shooting, an officer reportedly saw the Flex on Shelby Avenue at I-24. The officer pursued the vehicle as it sped off, but eventually ended the pursuit because of the potential danger to other drivers.

The Flex then got onto I-40 and hit the center retaining wall and four other cars before coming to a stop on the interstate between Fesslers Lane and Elm Hill Pike.

SEE ALSO: Tywane Millers family continues hope for justice in his death

Three occupants, including one believed to be DeTynn, then got out of the Flex and carjacked a 35-year-old Nashville man who was driving a 2013 Subaru Forester SUV, according to police. The Subaru was later found abandoned in a Bordeaux neighborhood.

On March 1, MNPD detectives arrested one of the suspects, Deshawn L. Smith, 31, on a first-degree murder and aggravated robbery indictment. Another suspect, Michael Clay, 31, was charged last September.

DeTynn is wanted on a grand jury indictment charging him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and possession of a gun during the commission of a felony, according to the MNPD. His last location is unknown.

4. Kejuan Jordan-Cole

Kejuan Jordan-Cole (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Kejuan Jordan-Cole, 21, is believed to be one of seven suspects involved in another deadly shooting on the Fourth of July, according to officials.

RELATED: Man dead after 7 people reportedly shot at him on Buena Vista Pike

Investigators said the victim, 27-year-old Christopher L. Harris, was found with multiple gunshot wounds inside his vehicle on Buena Vista Pike. Witnesses told police a group of young men approached Harris and around seven of them opened fire.

Harris was reportedly struck by the gunfire while standing next to his vehicle. Officers told News 2 as many as 100 rounds may have been fired during the incident.

The suspects  one of whom appeared to be shooting a rifle  left the scene in three separate vehicles, officials reported. Since the shooting, authorities have arrested and charged 16-year-old Jaden Wright, 17-year-old Erion Nesbitt, 16-year-old Kentrell Baugh and 23-year-old Deandre Jordan.

SEE ALSO: Metro police arrest 4th of 7 suspects from deadly July 4 shooting in Bordeaux

However, police said Jordan-Cole, who was identified as a suspect on Aug. 16, is still on the run. The charges against him include criminal homicide and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He was added to the list on Dec. 13. Officials said his last location is unknown.

5. Michael A. Yarlett

Michael A. Yarlett (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Michael Yarlett, 28, is wanted on three counts of aided and abetted rape, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department. Court documents indicate he is one of two suspects in the incident, which happened more than a year ago in September.

Yarlett was added to the Most Wanted list on Nov. 22. His last location is unknown.

6. Terrance Boyd

Terrance Boyd (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Terrance Boyd, 43, is wanted on an outstanding warrant for statutory rape by an authority figure, according to officials. He was added to the list on Oct. 25. Police said his last location is unknown.

7. Charles B. Scruggs

Charles Scruggs (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Charles Scruggs, 49, is a new addition to the list this week. Authorities said Scruggs is wanted for attempted homicide, felon in possession of a firearm and employing a firearm with intent. His last location is unknown.

Convicted felon surrenders months after fleeing from Nashville police

8. Elaura R. Settles

Elaura Settles (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Elaura Settles, 29, is wanted on multiple outstanding warrants for alleged violent crimes, police reported.

The charges include attempted homicide, felon in possession of a handgun, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault with serious bodily injury and another weapons offense.

Officials said Settles, who was added to the list last week, was last seen in the Hermitage area.

9. Amber Fiddler

Amber Fiddler (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Amber Fiddler, 35, is wanted by the MNPD on outstanding warrants for two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment with a weapon and felon in possession of a weapon.

She first appeared on the Most Wanted list on Aug. 23. Her last location is unknown.

10. Taylor G. Lipert

Taylor Lipert (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

Taylor Lipert, 25, is wanted on multiple outstanding warrants stemming from a Nov. 13 crash in which officers said Lipert was driving on the wrong side of Interstate 40 with her child in her car.

RELATED: Woman facing charges after wrong-way crash on I-40 in Hermitage

The crash happened just after 7 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-40 at mile marker 221 near exit 221A, which is the Hermitage exit. According to Metro police, Lipert was driving her Mitsubishi Eclipse west in the eastbound lanes for about one mile before she crashed into a van head-on.

The driver of the van, Lipert and her 3-year-old child all sustained injuries from the crash.

(Source: WKRN)

Detectives believe Lipert got onto the interstate from the 221A exit ramp, where multiple signs that read Do Not Enter and Wrong Way are posted. Lipert reportedly told officers she is new to Nashville, does not know the area and is an inexperienced driver.

Police said she did not show any signs of impairment at the scene. The charges against her include aggravated child endangerment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Officials said her last location is unknown.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

Anyone with information on any of the suspects listed is asked to contact the MNPD at 615-862-8600 or Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
A North Carolina National Guardsman has been accused of seeking to arrange a murder-for-hire plot against a man involved in a fatal vehicle wreck that claimed the life of the soldiers mother nearly eight years ago, authorities said.

Army Sgt. Rhett Michael Barlow, 22, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested Jan. 6 for allegedly attempting to solicit the murder of Donald Caulder Jr., who officials said was involved in the March 2016 crash that took the life of Barlows mother, Michelle.

Barlow made his first court appearance Monday and faces one count of solicitation to commit first-degree murder, according to court records. He is being held under a $1 million secured bond and is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 29.

The soldier was arrested by the Armys Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, where he was training over the weekend. Barlow was then transferred to the custody of the Wake Forest Police Department, Bill Crabtree, a spokesperson for the North Carolina town of Wake Forest, told Military Times via email.

Court records show Barlow allegedly sought to get an individual named Benjamin Miceli to commit the crime, though Miceli notified the police of the alleged plans, Crabtree said, adding that Miceli does not face any charges.

The soldier is assigned to the North Carolina Guards 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and has been a member of the Guard since 2019, a spokesperson for the North Carolina National Guard told Military Times via email. They added that the force will continue to monitor this situation and work with local authorities during the investigative process.

Prosecutors said Barlow sought to transfer within the North Carolina National Guard to get closer to Caulder and noted that he purchased an AR-15 rifle as well as at least one other firearm, according to Stars & Stripes.

Barlows mother Michelle, an English teacher, died in 2016 during a vehicle collision involving Caulder, according to The News & Observer.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg answers questions at NATO headquarters during an interview with the German Press Agency. Federico Gambarini/dpa

Ukraine can count on additional support from NATO states for its ongoing defence against Russia's invasion.

At a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Brussels on Wednesday, allies discussed providing Ukraine with additional capabilities, amounting to billions in support, the military alliance announced in a statement.

What exactly was promised initially remained open, although NATO cited additional air defence systems as one example of promised assistance.

Ukraine's allies are currently procuring up to 1,000 Patriot air defence missiles via NATO to replenish stocks given to Ukraine and some of these will also be given to Kiev.

According to NATO, the allies also condemned the escalation of Russian airstrikes on Ukraine and the deployment of ballistic missiles from North Korea and drones from Iran.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: "For a second year in a row, Putin is trying to wear down Ukraine with mass strikes, but he will not succeed. Russias campaign of cruelty only strengthens Ukraines resolve.

"As Moscow intensifies its strikes on Ukrainian cities and civilians, NATO allies are boosting Ukraines air defences. We will continue to stand by the brave Ukrainians as they push back against Russias war of aggression."
NATO members have reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering Ukraine's defenses and will continue to provide military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine this year, the alliance announced in a statement following the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on Jan. 10.

The NATO-Ukraine Council was created at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023 and provides a platform for consultations and decision-making between NATO and Ukraine.

"Many Allies outlined plans to provide billions of euros of further capabilities in 2024," the statement said.

"As Moscow intensifies its strikes on Ukrainian cities and civilians, NATO Allies are boosting Ukraine's air defenses," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "We will continue to stand by the brave Ukrainians as they push back against Russia's war of aggression."

Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk and Deputy Interior Minister Oleksiy Serhieiev took part in the meeting via video link.

Oleshchuk "underscored the significance of pilot training and the provision of F-16 fighter jets to fortify the capabilities of Ukraine's air defense forces," Ukraine's mission to NATO said in a statement.

The announcement comes a day after Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said on Jan. 9 that the EU "will further scale up its support to Ukraine," after Belgium started its term leading the European Council.

Read also: Politico: Trump said he would never help Europe if attacked

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny joined a court hearing via video link Wednesday, marking his first on-camera appearance since his transfer last month to the remote, high-security penal colony in the Arctic, where he is serving a 19-year sentence for several alleged extremist crimes.

Navalny appeared to be in good spirits, cracking jokes about the freezing weather and asking whether his old prison, Penal Colony No. 6 (IK-6) in the Vladimir region, had a party when he left. He appeared on camera in the courtroom wearing black prison garb. The Russian independent news site Mediazona published a semicomplete transcript of the hearing and released photos of Navalny, as he appeared on video, with a big smile across his face.

Navalny threw his hands up at the start of the hearing when seeing the judge, Kirill Nikiforov, whom Navalny has known for a long time, Mediazona reported.

Your Honor, well, a tear, a tear is flowing down my cheek  Im so glad to see you all. My dear Kovrov court, my dear defendants, my dear defenders and my dear secretary  I am very glad to see you, Navalny said.

Navalny joked about the harsh conditions in his new high-security prison in the far-north region of Russia, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, The Associated Press reported.

Conditions here [at the penal colony in Kharp]  and thats a dig at you, esteemed defendants  are better than at IK-6 in Vladimir, Navalny said, according to the AP.

There is one problem, though  and I dont know which court to file a suit about it  the weather is bad here, Navalny added, with a chuckle, the AP reported.

At one point, Navalny asked the court whether they threw a party when he was taken away from IK-6, where he was held until last month. The IK-6 representative asked the court to withdraw the question, and Navalny rephrased, asking whether it was just a party or a karaoke party.

The judge laughed, Mediazone reported, and said, Its being removed. Its being removed.

At another point, Navalny asked whether there had been a naked party, invoking a recent incident involving Russian blogger and TV presenter Nastya Ivleeva.

The hearing on Wednesday was for one of the several lawsuits Navalny has filed against IK-6, specifically challenging his treatment in his old prison. The court played a video of an incident in which Navalny challenged a prison official, who Navalny claimed wrongfully took away his pen. After the official accused Navalny of insulting him, Navalny was punished for 12 days, he said.

Navalny conceded he should not have called the prison official insulting names but still maintained the punishment was illegal. The judge ultimately ruled against Navalny, denying his claim that the activity was illegal.

One inspector decided to show off, and for some reason, when receiving a mattress in the evening, Navalny said, recounting the incident, so imposingly, defiantly, he entered my cell and took my pen.

I warned him about illegal behavior, but after he continued to walk around and act like he was the big boss, I made a pointno profanityto tell him what I thought about it, he added.

Okay, I shouldnt have called the inspector a devil or, in prison terms, a devil. OK, I admit, I went overboard here  no one should be called that. But under the circumstances, except for the fact that I called the person, 12 days in a punishment cell is illegal, Navalny said.

The next hearing was set for Feb. 2.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ARLINGTON, Va.  The chief of naval operations said Tuesday the service must get more players on the field as international crises demand more of the naval force, in her first major address since taking the helm of the Navy two months ago.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti said at the Surface Navy Associations annual conference shes focused on improving the Navys readiness, including the necessary logistics; better integrating the service with the joint force; and working with Congress and industry to address naval needs.

The Navy today is postured to respond if crises in Ukraine and Israel escalate, is actively shooting down Houthi missiles and drones in the Red Sea, and has a large presence in the Pacific to deter Chinese aggression against nearby U.S. partners and allies.

Franchetti said the Navy needs to take a number of steps to maximize the fleets ability to support all these operational tasks.

Putting more players on the field requires getting new construction ships delivered on time; moving ships out of maintenance periods on time; taking proper care of the fleet so the ships reach their full planned service life; and adding in unmanned systems and other disruptive technologies to maximize the manned ships and planes capabilities.

Its not a number of players, she told reporters. Its an ecosystem of all of those things put together.

Broadly, Franchetti grouped her efforts into three areas, which she called warfighting, warfighters and the foundation that supports them.

According to Americas Warfighting Navy, a paper released in conjunction with her speech, she said the warfighting piece means prioritizing the readiness and capabilities required to fight and win at sea, and the logistics and shore support required to keep our Navy fit to fight.

She vowed to advance naval integration with the Marine Corps, and synchronize and align our warfighting efforts with the Joint Force.

Franchetti noted that in the warfighter category, she will seek to empower leaders, train teams well and offer high-quality support services for troops.

In the foundation section, she wrote that the Navy will work with Congress to field and maintain the worlds most powerful Navy and the infrastructure that sustains it. We will team with industry and academia to solve our most pressing challenges.

Speaking to Defense News after her address, Franchetti said her top budget priority would be the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, also the top priority for her predecessor, Adm. Michael Gilday.

Gilday said repeatedly during his tenure he was prioritizing readiness, then modernization  bringing new capabilities and weapons to the fleet  and then increasing the size of the fleet.

Franchetti offered a different take on the competing budgetary needs.

I see it as a balance. And thats why Im really trying to focus on warfighters, warfighting and that foundation, because I think you need to have a balanced set of investments in each of those, she said. The needs are different in each time horizon: so we need some near-term investments, we need to think of the middle term, weve also got to think about the far term.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Yemens Houthi rebels fired a barrage of drones and missiles targeting ships in the Red Sea late Tuesday, though the U.S. said Wednesday that no damage was reported.

The U.S. militarys Central Command said the complex attack launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile.

It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F/A-18 Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by the destroyers Gravely, Mason and Laboon, and the British warship HMS Diamond.

Houthi Attack on International Shipping



On Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled pic.twitter.com/KWPRidwiWI  U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 10, 2024

This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19, Central Command said. There were no injuries or damage reported.

The assault happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida incident, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with U.S.-allied warships in the area urging vessels to proceed at maximum speed.

Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday.

Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity, the British militarys United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations said after the Hodeida attack.

The Houthis, a Shiite group thats held Yemens capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks. However, the pan-Arab satellite news network Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea, without elaborating.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that countrys war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

A U.S-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks. American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though theres been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the U.S.

Meanwhile, a separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemens exiled government has held for months despite that countrys long war. Thats raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea  or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces  could reignite those tensions in the Arab worlds poorest nation.
North Carolinas motto is Esse Quam Videri, which means To Be, Rather than to Seem. A new law allows state government to be less transparent than the motto suggests it should be.

The state public records law now exempts state lawmakers from following it. That means millions of taxpayers have less access to what 170 members of the General Assembly  put there by voters  are doing. That includes what goes into the decision-making by those legislators about how they spend taxpayer money and draw districts for candidates.

The change, made in the state budget written by Republican lawmakers and allowed to become law in fall 2023 by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, means it is entirely up to lawmakers themselves to decide what public records, if any, to reveal.

Brooks Fuller, who leads the North Carolina Open Government Coalition and is a professor at Elon University, called the new law a massive backslide in public access to information.

He said the new law means that theres absolutely no incentive to share information with the public unless it benefits the specific legislator.

Some lawmakers are still providing public records upon request, The News & Observer found.

But because lawmakers are the ones who get to decide how to respond to a request, they can share what shows them in the best light.

What you might be missing

How does this impact you? Public records have been used to tell you how your tax money is spent, expose corruption and explain how the government makes decisions.

Nearly a decade ago, public records obtained by The N&O cast doubt on a House budget proposals projections of income from the state lottery that was going to be used for raises. And about 20 years ago, two N&O reporters work that focused on the creation of the Lottery Commission, using public records, led to the conviction of a former lottery commissioner for fraud.

Records obtained by The N&O during the drawn-out budget negotiations in 2021 showed what kind of deals were offered, and accepted, between Cooper and the top Republicans, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.

The N&O requested documents showing budget offers between Berger and Moore this year, before the new law, but so far has not received them.

Those elected officials still subject to public records law, like the governor and local governments, are inconsistent in how quickly they provide public records, and how accessible they are to reporters and the public. But because it is the law, they are compelled to provide them.

Salary data remains public

Under the new law, legislators are no longer compelled to hand over their communications to the public that funds their office space and everything else in the Legislative Building and Legislative Office Building in downtown Raleigh.

One thing that remains public record: salaries.

Most lawmakers draw a salary of only $13,951, but top staff members make six figures.

The N&O obtains regular reports of salary information for General Assembly employees  more than 400 of them  and publishes a salary database. All of them are state employees, which means their salaries are funded by taxpayers. Fuller said because staffers are not legislators, those records are not covered by the new law.

How much do NC General Assembly employees make? What raises did they get? See the data

What the law says

Heres what the change in the law says.

Article 17 of Chapter 120 of the General Statutes is amended by adding two new sections to read:

 120-135. Legislator is custodian of documents.

(a) Each legislator, while in office and after leaving office, shall be the custodian of all documents, supporting documents, drafting requests, and information requests made or received by that legislator while a legislator.

(b) A legislator, while in office or after leaving office, shall not be required to reveal or to consent to reveal any document, supporting document, drafting request, or information request made or received by that legislator while a legislator. 

And theres more:

 120-137. Legislative privilege.

Nothing in this Chapter nor in Chapter 132 of the General Statutes shall be construed as a waiver of the common law of legislative privilege or legislative immunity by a legislator or former legislator. A legislator or former legislator may assert the common law of legislative privilege or the common law of legislative immunity in all instances.

Redistricting, investigations and top leaders

The budget also exempts documents related to redistricting from public records law. Thats especially important because the N.C. Supreme Court ruled last year that partisan gerrymanders are allowed, meaning that the majority party during mapmaking  currently Republicans  can draw lawmaker districts to suit their party, with some limitations.

Also now exempt are records from Gov Ops, or the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, a group that answers to the Senate leader and House speaker of the majority party. Gov Ops power was also expanded in the 2023 budget.

Fuller said that in general, you cannot trust that documents that come out of an elected leaders office are the entire picture of any public policy question.

Unless that changes because of a legal challenge or new legislation, theres no mechanism for compelling complete and total truth in the form of producing documents, he said.

The North Carolina Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh, seen at night in January 2021.

How does NC compare to other states?

The National Conference of State Legislatures, which has a breakdown of each states public records law, notes that all 50 states enacted laws requiring at least some government records be public.

Most states, NCSL reports, maintain that the state legislature is subject to the same public records law as other government entities, with some exceptions.

Fuller, the Elon professor, said there have been backslides in legislative accountability in Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee, which also have Republican statehouse majorities like North Carolina. Those states have blanket legislative privilege like North Carolina, Fuller said.

Florida, for example, has a constitutional right to access public records, which North Carolina does not. If North Carolina did, there could be a lawsuit calling the change unconstitutional.

But Fuller doesnt see a way to reverse the law in the courts.

The only people that can hold the legislature accountable are their constituents in the ballot box, the press through dogged reporting, and telling stories that affect the lives in North Carolina.

Senators mingle before the N.C. Senates session at the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

Bipartisan opposition to the change

While Republicans control the legislature, and hence used their power to change the law, opposition to the change has come from both Democrats and Republicans.

The conservative think tank the John Locke Foundation has urged lawmakers to overturn it, and led a coalition of news organizations that oppose it as well.

That includes the North Carolina Press Association, of which The N&O is a member.

The governor and other members of the Council of State, elected by voters statewide, are still subject to public records law.

Bill Graham, an attorney and businessman running in the Republican primary for governor, doesnt think that legislators should get different treatment under the records law.

All elected officials should be held to the same standards. Failure to do so only undermines public trust, Graham told The N&O in January.

The N&O requested calendars from the three Council of State members who are running to be the next governor: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who are both Republicans, and Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat. All three responded with their schedules, but if they were state lawmakers, nothing would compel them to do so, at least not in the same way.

Folwell, a former House member, criticized the public records law change last fall, saying it creates a system without standards or accountability. Folwell is arguably the most transparent Council of State member when it comes to public records, with an office known for quickly responding to records requests. He won a Sunshine Award from the Open Government Coalition in 2022.

Through a campaign spokesperson, Robinson declined to comment on the change in public records law.

Stein, a former state senator, said the change in the law is evidence of the General Assemblys desire to remove themselves from accountability to voters, noting that redistricting is now exempt from the law.

They dont want us to know the motivations they had  when they change election laws or when they change legislative districts, Stein told The N&O last month. Stein supports changing the law back if he becomes governor.

I think the records belong to the people, and that people have a right to them. And the legislature is saying that rule applies to all of state government, save us, we are somehow different, Stein said about the lawmakers.

The gubernatorial primary is March 5.

The 2024 legislative short session begins in April. No current Republican lawmaker has called for a change in the records law.
Content warning: This story includes references to sexual violence.

The emotion was palpable across Sen. Ted Budds face as he thought back to what he witnessed during a recent trip to a kibbutz in Israel.

Imagine a series of duplexes, small homes with lots of flowers, toys, tricycles: burned, Budd told McClatchy in an exclusive interview.

He saw doors blown out and walked over the broken glass from windows that were once part of the house.

And the paint on the wall is completely littered with shrapnel, Budd said, the words catching in his throat.

His lip quivered and the hint of a tear formed in the corner of his eye as he kept talking about his trip.

Sen. Ted Budd tours a kibbutz near the Gaza border in Israel during a CODEL to the Middle East. Courtesy of Sen. Ted Budd's office.

Over the weekend, Budd visited Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Bahrain on a trip led by Sen. Joni Ernst with members of both parties and both chambers of Congress. During the trip he met with family members of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He toured a kibbutz ransacked by a group the United States deems a terrorist organization. He also met with Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian leaders, demanding their help in getting the 129 people being held hostage released.

Budd said he toured Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community a mile and a half from the Gaza Strip, then went to the 12th floor of a high-rise where the members of the kibbutz had moved and met with family members of those being held hostage.

Hiding from the attack on Israel

That included Adrienne Aviva Siegel, the wife of Chapel Hill native Keith Siegel.

On Oct. 7, Hamas brutally attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostage. It led to an attack in response by Israel and a death toll that continues to climb. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said Monday that at least 22,835 people have been killed in Gaza, CNN reported.

Many of those killed in Israel were attending a concert. Others were in their homes trying to hide in shelters from the attack.

Its important to understand that a bomb shelter for them is not what we would think of as a tornado shelter in the Midwest, or a bunker, Budd said.

Sen Ted Budd meets with Aviva Siegel and her family in Israel, where she shares her story of being held hostage. Courtesy of Sen. Ted Budd's office.

He described the shelters as a room with a sliding plate to cover a window and a hardened door to prevent shrapnel from nearby exploding bombs. He said it wasnt meant to withstand rocket-propelled grenades. And he said it is really not meant to withstand grenade after grenade.

Budd said families would go into their shelters, but keep someone on the outside to act as a defense against Hamas.

So imagine, mothers and daughters being in there while someones out there fighting and then someones taken and they dont know whats happened to their loved one, but they can hear their home being destroyed and abused and broken and ransacked, Budd said.

The Siegels kibbutz was attacked. Their adult children knew that the next-door neighbor of their parents had to fight off Hamas, but wasnt sure what had happened to their parents. Later, army intelligence would discover the Siegels had been taken while driving.

Sen. Ted Budd holds a photo of the Keith and Aviva Siegel, a couple, with ties to North Carolina, taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Danielle Battaglia/Danielle Battaglia

Held hostage in Gaza

Budd has advocated to bring the Siegels home. He said his passion for that cause comes partly from his own knowledge of Israel. Hes been traveling to the country since 1998. Hes been three times since becoming a senator last year. He studied theology and took four years of ancient Hebrew.

Budd added that the Siegels story stands out to him, not only because Keith is from Chapel Hill, with continued ties to the community, but as far as he knows this is the only situation in which a U.S. couple was taken hostage and only one of them was released.

Theres this breadth of humanity that is tremendously good, and yet there is the capacity for evil beyond our normal everyday belief, Budd said. I witnessed it once again.

Budd said only in the past 10 days has Aviva been comfortable talking about the horrors she endured while held underground. On Tuesday, she testified in Israel in graphic detail about her experience.

She also shared her story with Budd when he visited the country.

Budd said she was strong and resilient when speaking with him and took comfort from being with others from the kibbutz. But he added he only saw her in her public moments. He doesnt know how shes handling in private what shes endured.

And he added that shes worried about her husband.

She and Keith were forced to lie side-by-side in the underground tunnels but were not allowed to speak, even a whisper, to one another.

She was made to lay there on her back, Budd said. She wasnt allowed to get up, go to the bathroom, they had minimal food. I think she lost 30 pounds.

Budd said Aviva told him the hostages were being given very little water and they werent allowed to turn over.

It was like 20 hours of lying in the same spot, Budd said. Then they would be hustled to a new location.

Budd said Aviva was moved 13 times while held in captivity. He said she witnessed sexual violence and a person lying next to her being tortured.

She was grateful that she was a bit older because she witnessed sexual violence underground, Budd said. She was shocked at the fact that so many people dont believe that anything happened or didnt happen as said, and theres so much denial of the atrocities.

Aviva was released by Hamas during a temporary, agreed-upon humanitarian ceasefire. Keith was not. Also released was 4-year-old Abigail Mor Edan, an American dual citizen. Budd said it was Aviva who carried Abigail out of captivity.

Budd said he sensed the greatest burden on each family member is the unknown.

When Aviva left Keith he was still alive but weak. He wasnt being provided his daily blood pressure medicine or basic needs. Budd said the Siegels told each other to stay strong as they were separated.

Israels response

In Israel, Budd also met with President Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israels response to the attack by Hamas has led to controversy in the United States. Since Oct. 7, pro-Palestinian



protesters have called for a ceasefire by Israel. Some protests have snarled traffic. During the holidays, those protesters blocked access to malls during major shopping days. They blocked airport access on busy travel days.

Earlier this week, traffic was snarled trying to go in and out of Manhattan by protesters blocking bridges and tunnels into New York City.

In response, Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Marsha Blackburn, of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, filed a bill this week to make it a federal crime to block traffic during protests.

Budd said Netanyahu compared what happened in Israel to that of 9/11, but coupled with continued torture, sexual violence and psychological warfare. Budd told McClatchy that Aviva and other released hostages told him that the hostages are being told theres no point in coming out of the tunnels, because Israel is gone, Hamas has taken over and everything they knew about life above ground is different.

Budd said: They want to destroy Hamas  and Bibi has been very clear about what his three goals are  he wants to demilitarize Gaza and he wants to de-radicalize the Palestinian population.

He added that he believes Netanyahu wants an Arab-led solution for the West Bank, particularly in Gaza. He said that the population is very dense and from birth people are indoctrinated to hate Israel and the Jewish people.

I think they want to do everything they can to minimize noncombatant fatalities, Budd said. Theyre doing what they can there, but its a very difficult balance.

Amnesty International, a human rights organization, describes the response from Israel as a relentless Israeli bombardment and said its led to the deaths of thousands of civilians through indiscriminate and other unlawful attacks. The organization adds that more than a third of the casualties in Gaza are children.

Applying pressure

Budd said his goal in meeting with foreign dignitaries was to ensure they understood the importance in working toward the release of the hostages.

Budd met with the prime minister of Qatar. He said Ernst led that meeting, where they first thanked the prime minister for what he had done, but then asked tough questions.

We wanted to express gratitude and yet we wanted to say, We believe you have more power and more leverage and we want you to do more, Budd said. We were very clear that we want these hostages returned, and we think they have more capacity than theyre actually utilizing now.

Budd said this conversation came on the heels of one he had in his Senate office with the Qatar ambassador several weeks earlier that was very terse and he described as not a pleasant meeting.

He said in Qatar, they tried to balance friendly relations and keeping pressure on the Qataris during a state dinner, and believes they struck the right balance.

I think its important to show that while we can have tough conversations, we can have a relationship, Budd said.

Budd also had conversations with Egyptian leaders asking for a continued partnership in negotiations.

Budds desk is immaculately clean and he is a subscriber of the inbox zero philosophy, but he makes an exception when it comes to keeping items on his desk that reminds him of his fight to bring the hostages home.

Sen. Ted Budd keeps items on his desk in the U.S. Capitol that remind him of the hostages being held by Hamas, including Keith Siegel, a Chapel Hill native. Danielle Battaglia/Danielle Battaglia

Theres a book about the six Americans being held by Hamas.

Theres a photo gallery of all 129 hostages.

Theres a dog tag that reminds its owner about the rally cry to bring home the hostages.

Budd said hes not going to let the pressure off until the hostages are released.
Signs from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees at the Eisenhuettenstadt arrival center are attached to a building of the Central Initial Reception Center for Asylum Seekers (ZABH) of the state of Brandenburg. Patrick Pleul/dpa

Net immigration to Germany reached the highest level ever recorded in 2022 in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees announced in Nuremberg on Wednesday that the figure stood at 1.5 million people, meaning the statistic had more than quadrupled compared to the previous year.

According to the report, 2.7 million people came to Germany in 2022, while 1.2 million emigrated.

This resulted in the highest net immigration since migration statistics began in 1950.

Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, prompting many Ukrainians to seek refuge in Germany.

"This has to do with catch-up effects after the coronavirus years of 2020 and 2021, but above all with the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which has driven millions of people to flee," statistician Susanne Worbs said.

According to the figures, 41% of all migrants to Germany in 2022 came from Ukraine, followed at a considerable distance by Romania (8%), Poland (4%) and Turkey (3%).

Most people leaving headed for Romania or back to Ukraine, Poland and Bulgaria.

Ukrainians began to trickle back to their country when it became clear the war would drag on and Russia would not manage a quick victory.
By Andrew Gray and Charlotte Van Campenhout

BRUSSELS/ AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Donald Trump told top European officials while he was U.S. president that the United States would never help Europe if it came under attack, according to a high-level EU official.

Thierry Breton, a French commissioner who is responsible for the European Union's internal market, said Trump made the remarks to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.

Breton recounted his recollection of the meeting, which he also attended, at a panel discussion in Brussels on Tuesday. His comments prompted sharp criticism of Trump on Wednesday from U.S. President Joe Biden's campaign for re-election.

"You need to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you," Breton quoted Trump as saying during the Davos meeting.

"By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO," Trump also said, according to Breton, speaking at an event hosted by the Renew Europe political party at the European Parliament.

"And by the way, you owe me $400 billion, because you didnt pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defense," Breton quoted Trump as saying.

Asked whether von der Leyen's recollection of Trump's remarks matched those of Breton, a spokesperson for the European Commission president declined to comment.

"Out of principle the President NEVER discloses what her interlocutors have told her during closed door meetings. So we are not going to comment either way," the spokesperson said in an email.

Phil Hogan - an Irishman who was European Trade Commissioner and, according to Breton, also attending the Davos meeting - did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Trump is the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, with opinion polls predicting a tight contest against Biden in the November vote.

A spokesperson for Biden's campaign said: "The idea that he would abandon our allies if he doesn't get his way underscores what we already know to be true about Donald Trump: The only person he cares about is himself."

Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump repeatedly clashed with traditional allies over trade and defense spending.

Trump himself has offered few clues about the foreign policy he would pursue were he to win in 2024 beyond broad claims like ending the Ukraine war in 24 hours, prompting concern in European capitals.

During a second term, he would likely install loyalists in key positions, allowing him more freedom to enact isolationist policies and whims, according to current and former aides and diplomats.

(Additional reporting by Tim Reid in Des Moines, Iowa, and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Don Durfee, Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)
A person walks with an umbrella on the pedestrian and bicycle bridge that connects Sacramento City College and Crocker Village as rain falls in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

Rainy weather is headed to California as snow storms and blizzard conditions continue to blast parts of the United States.

According to the National Weather Services forecast on Wednesday, a major storm with snow, rain and wind is expected to sweep through the eastern U.S., while the central part of the country will experience an arctic blast.

Severe weather conditions are expected to last a week, starting Wednesday and continuing through Jan. 17.

Blizzard in the Cascades begins tonight where multiple feet of snow are expected. This storm then redevelops over the central U.S. late this week. pic.twitter.com/aX9tp7edge  NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) January 8, 2024

Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast a polar vortex will stretch into parts of North America in the coming days.

A polar vortex is an area of low pressure and cold air surrounding the Earths poles, the NWS said on its website. It often strengthens and expands in the winter, causing cold air and a jet stream to seep into the U.S.

As of the Monday forecast, NOAA is expecting the vortex to stay weak for the next two weeks while elongating into North America.

However, there remains considerable uncertainty in how the polar vortex will evolve after mid-January, NOAA said on its website. Meanwhile, there are indications that even this minor warming may help reinforce the chances of colder weather patterns in some areas over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

Recent atmospheric patterns don't match those that typically precede a sudden stratospheric warming event. But forecasts do suggest the polar vortex might get stretched out of shape in coming weeks. Read the latest Polar Vortex Blog: https://t.co/xwvurhLT1T pic.twitter.com/zkIbCmiidf  NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) January 8, 2024

Will California see rain and snow?

California will see wet and snowy conditions over the next few days, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy rainfall is possible for portions of the central Oregon coast down into Northern California where a marginal risk of excessive rainfall is in effect, the service forecast.

The Klamath Mountains in northwestern California and Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County may also see heavy snow, according to the forecast.

The weather services National Forecast Charts show rain falling in most of California on Wednesday, with mixed precipitation  a combination of freezing and frozen precipitation  scattered toward the north of the state and mountain ranges.

Heavy snow is also predicted in the far northern region and mountain ranges.

As of Wednesday morning, parts of the Sierra Nevada, coastal range and Lake Tahoe area were under a winter storm or weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency issued weather warnings for several counties across California, including freeze watches in Tulare, Kings, Kern, Los Angeles, Merced, Fresno and Madera County.

High surf and strong rip currents were expected to hit Californias Central Coast on Wednesday and Thursday, the weather service warned, resulting in moderate coastal flooding at beaches in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Rain and some thunderstorms are expected on Thursday, hitting Southern California.

From Friday to Saturday, residents in parts of northern California may see rain, mixed precipitation and heavy snow.

How cold will it get in California?

The National Weather Service predicted chilly temperatures for much of California.

In Shasta County near the border between California and Oregon, high temperatures from Wednesday through Tuesday will range in the 40s and lows in the 30s, according to the weather service.

The mercury will dip down to 23 degrees on Wednesday night, the agency said.

During the same time period, the Sacramento and San Francisco areas are expected to see highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s and 40s, the weather service said.

Santa Barbara and San Diego counties can expect highs in the 50s and 60s and lows in the 30s and 40s, the weather service said.

Forecasted highs and lows for the week in Los Angeles County range from the the 30s to high 40s.

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.
SEABROOK  The owner of the Seabrook nuclear power plant is looking to alter the companys 40-year-old emergency response operations plan, drawing a number of questions from leaders intent on ensuring public safety.

NextEra Energy owns the nuclear power plant in Seabrook, as well as two in Florida and one in Wisconsin. The company submitted a licensing amendment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would update and modernize the companys plan for all its plants in ways that would broaden its capabilities to respond to emergencies, according to its spokesman, Bill Orlove.

The proposal, he said, plans to utilize technology that can bring additional expertise to bear, should it ever be needed in an emergency in any of its plants.

The Unit 1 reactor at NextEra Energy's Seabrook Station nuclear power plant.

The current emergency plan is old, Orlove said, and the proposed amendment before the NRC would give NextEra Energy more flexibility by allowing for remote as well as on-site response to emergencies, should they ever occur and should more help be needed.

This isnt a plan that would move emergency personnel away from Seabrook, Orlove said, or move Seabrooks Portsmouth-based Emergency Operations Facility, established for use should a significant emergency occur. The Portsmouth facility would remain the focal point, should such problems ever arise, he said, utilizing the expertise of Seabrook power plant personnel, all of whom have roles during emergencies.

The proposed amendment to the plan would increase the bench strength, of each nuclear power plant in NextEras fleet, Orlove said, to permit each to reach out remotely to bring in the right experts to support an emergency from any of our nuclear facilities, should it be necessary.

(NextEra Energy) has sufficient staffing at its four nuclear facilities to handle an emergency, according to Orlove. The proposed changes to the nuclear emergency plan provide the company with the ability to increase our response from several hundred employees to several thousand employees, based on the way our company operates and collaborates.

A scenario might include convening a group of experts in a remote conference room to augment handling an emergency that arises, Orlove said, should a need for additional help be warranted. Not only would NextEra Energy Seabrook plant personnel be able to reach out remotely, he said, but personnel from NextEras other plants could reach out for Seabrooks expertise.

Hampton development 2024: Casino makeover, downtown apartments, senior housing and more

NextEras proposal under review byNRC

NextEras licensing amendment was submitted to the NRC for review in October of 2022, in hopes the agency that regulates nuclear facilities in the U.S. would decide within a year, according to NRC Region 1 spokesman Neil Sheehan. However, NRC staff have requested more information from NextEra, most recently in November of 2023, Sheehan said.

As of now, Sheehan said, the (NRC) staff is determining whether it has the information it needs. There is not a firm date at the moment for a decision.

The Seabrook nuclear power plant in Seabrook. Owner NextEra Energy is seeking approval to change the plant's emergency response plans.

According to Sheehan, NextEra is proposing to standardize the emergency plans for its various nuclear power plant sites, while consolidating some of its emergency personnel positions, as well as using remote staff to fill some positions.

But, according to Sheehan, It is not asking to shift Seabrooks Emergency Operations Facility to Florida.

This is not the first time an organization such as NextEra Energy  which owns more than one nuclear power plant  has filed to update its emergency plan in ways similar to this, according to Sheehan. Those plans were reviewed carefully by NRC staff, he said, and only approved after staff had sufficient information that demonstrated those plans would be effective, adhere to regulations, and protect the public health.

In an industry as heavily regulated as nuclear power, every change requires approval from the NRC.

More: Hampton inundated with emails over Al Fleury's proposed 94-unit apartment building

NH delegation air concerns about emergency plan changes

The current proposed amendment change has garnered criticism from the Seabrook nuclear power plant watchdog group, C-10 Research and Education Foundation, headquartered in Amesbury, Massachusetts, as well as from Massachusetts U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren.

New Hampshires federal legislators  U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, as well as U.S. Representatives Chris Pappas and Ann Kuster  also weighed in through a letter to the NRC sent Dec. 5, 2023, requesting additional information.

The four legislators acknowledged the need to update emergency protocols and recognized the need for coordinated planning and synchronization among facilities. However, they asked the NRC if and how the changes proposed by NextEra would improve safety in Seabrook,  for their letter implied they believed the changes would result in a reduction in personnel at Seabrooks power plant.

However according to Orlove, the licensing amendment does not change the number of employees at Seabrook.

Every employee at Seabrook has an emergency role, Orlove said. There will be no reduction in staff at Seabrook, period. This plan allows us to utilize support staff  in person or remotely  if its necessary.

The NRCs response to the four legislators was that according to its understanding, NextEras proposed Common Emergency Plan would take advantage of changes in technology and make program-wide improvements by standardization of response, duties and responsibilities, processes, procedures, equipment and training. According to the NRC, NextEras license amendment requests approval for an increase in the number of remote responders in the emergency response organization.

Since remote communications play a significant role in the new emergency plan, the four legislators asked the NRC about cybersecurity. According to the NRCs response, the agency has strict cybersecurity rules that a nuclear power plant must maintain to protect its systems.

According to Orlove, cybersecurity is something NextEra takes very seriously. It has very robust protection systems in place that are consistently maintained, he said. Just as its emergency practices are tested through regular drills, Orlove said, its cybersecurity systems are tested repeatedly through drills as well. One was completed as recently as November, he said.

The legislators asked whether the NRC or NextEra held public forums detailing its new proposed plan, urging one be held if one had not.

The NRC wrote that NRC staff held two public meetings  February and May of 2022  before NextEra filed the following October. As with other amendment notices, on Feb. 21, 2023, the NRC published a notice in the Federal Register letting the public know about NextEras licensing amendment and its opportunity to request public hearings. According to the NRC, it did not receive any hearing requests at that time.

However, on Oct. 6, 2023  a year after NextEra submitted its license amendment request the NRC received comments from the C-10, which the NRC is considering as it reviews the amendment.

According to its overall response to New Hampshires Congressional Delegation, the NRC wrote its staff is currently reviewing NextEras license amendment request to determine if it complies with regulatory requirements, including maintaining reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety and the common defense and security.

More: Casino owner Sal Lupoli buys Mainsail Motel for $7.35M, expands Hampton Beach empire

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook nuclear plant moves to update emergency plans
Hartfords new leaders  a new mayor and a new city council president  were optimistic at the first meeting of the year.

Mayor Arunan Arulampalam was sworn in at midnight on New Years Eve at the citys First Night celebration. City councilors and treasurer Carmen Sierra were sworn in Monday night at 2024s first council meeting.

Hundreds gathered at City Hall to see the swearing in and the election of the new council president, Democrat Shirley Surgeon, who has unanimously elected.

Surgeon, first elected to council in 2020, secured the most votes in the last election. Maly Rosado had held the leadership role since 2020.

Surgeon gave an impassioned speech centered on the theme of unity and said she hopes to use her new role to empower residents.

Together we can shape the future of our city, Surgeon said. We will write it together with commitment, compassion, courage, and pride. This is not about a title, this is about serving our residents. We must ensure that every citizen feels represented regardless of their background or circumstances. We must surely build an inclusive and equitable city.

Surgeon said she hopes to get to work supporting local businesses and economic growth. The two-term councilwoman, who is well known for her love of coffee, said she would like to see more coffee shops open in the city.

More coffee shops mean economic growth. Lets have more coffee shops, Surgeon joked as the crowd cheered.

Incumbent council members Rosado, Surgeon, Marilyn Rossetti, Amilcar Hernandez, John Gale, and Josh Michtom all were sworn in to begin a new term on the council. The city council, which consists of nine members, remains virtually unchanged after the fall election. The council has a Democratic majority with six Democrats, two Working Families Party members, and councilman John Gale who formed his own party.

Democrat Kelly Bilodeau, former town clerk for East Hampton, and a lifelong resident of Hartford was sworn in for her first term. She previously served as assistant city clerk from 2009 to 2018. Prior to that, she was employed with the city as an administrative assistant in the clerks office.

Working Families Party member Pastor Alex Thomas was also sworn in. Thomas is associate pastor at South Church in Hartford.

But the biggest change of the night was Arulampalam, leading his first council meeting. The mayor also gave an impassioned speech about working together and finding common ground. Arulampalam remarked on the snow storm response over the weekend as the first real test for the city working together to overcome an obstacle. The mayor along with three city council members helped shovel snow from driveways of elderly and disabled residents on Sunday.

I dont know if there is a better metaphor for working together than literally picking up a shovel and jumping in a car and shoveling people out of the snow, Arulampalam said. There are nine council members, and three different political parties represented, and at least nine different opinions on how best to solve our problems as a city. While we have many differences, when it snows in this city or when we have challenges, we pick up shovels and we start digging together. That is what is so incredible about this city. If we can do that for the next four years, if we can pick up our shovels and do out little part, there is nothing we cant do.

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
Newly released body camera footage shows the moments a Mississippi police officer shot an 11-year-old unarmed boy in his own home.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations finally released the video after months of demands from Aderrien Murrys family to make it available for public viewing.

Officer Greg Capers (right) will not face charges in the shooting of 11-year-old Aderrien Murry (left), who was shot by Capers during a domestic disturbance call at the boys home. (Photos: Facebook)

Murry was shot last May in Indianola, Mississippi, after helping his mother call police over a domestic disturbance at their home.

The father of one of the mothers children had reportedly visited the home irate at 4 a.m. on May 20, 2023.

The mother, Nakala Murry, had requested her son, 11-year-old Aderrien, to call officers to come over and handle the situation.

One of the responding officers, Greg Capers, ended up shooting the boy as he was walking through the home.

Bodycam video shows Capers approaching the home and banging loudly on the door. A dispatcher tells Capers over the radio that the mother permitted police to kick the door in if need be, but Capers is unsuccessful in his attempts to do so.

After he hears someone approaching the front door, he holds up his gun and repeatedly shouts, Let me see your hands! and a woman opens the door with her hands up.

Capers asks the woman, Wheres he at? Wheres he at? before ordering her to exit the home. He also asks her if the suspect in question has any weapons before yelling, Come out, sir, dont make us come in!

Capers then enters the home with his gun still drawn and ready to fire. He continues yelling warnings into the home before 11-year-old Aderrien suddenly appears. Capers shot him as soon as he came into view, then yelled, Oh my God! in surprise and immediately called for emergency first responders.

Murry is seen running out of the home to his mother after being shot in the chest. He suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver from the shooting and had to be placed on a ventilator.

Months passed before a grand jury finally decided in December 2023 not to criminally indict Capers. Following that decision, the Indianola Board of Aldermen voted to reinstate Capers to his post on the force.

The Murry family filed a $5 million lawsuit almost immediately after the shooting against the city, Police Chief Ronald Sampson, and a few officers including Capers alleging excessive force, negligence, reckless endangerment, and civil assault and battery. They also called for Capers and the police chief to be fired from their positions.

The family reportedly planned to file a second lawsuit after the grand jurys decision to not charge Capers.
LOGAN, Ohio (WCMH)  A judge has sentenced a Hocking County man after his conviction on charges stemming from the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

The 40-year-old from Logan, Christian Hughes, pleaded guilty on Dec. 27 to felony charges of rape, gross sexual imposition, intimidation and obstructing justice, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. He added that Hughes abused the victim over the course of two years until she spoke to a friend and a family member notified law enforcement.

Hughes sentence includes a prison term between 20 and a half years and up to life. After being released, Hughes will have to register as a sex offender, meaning we will have to have his home and work addresses as well as car information on file with his countys sheriff. Hughes will have to verify that information every 90 days and remain on the registry for the rest of his life, according to Yost.

Hughes fiancee, Tanya Parker, also pleaded guilty to endangering children in September and has begun serving a three-year prison sentence. Investigators found that she did not stop the abuse despite knowing about it, according to Yost.

The 40-year-old Logan mans mother, Cathy Hughes, also has a pending case in Hocking County Common Pleas Court, the attorney general added. She faces charges including tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, attempted tampering with evidence and attempted obstructing justice.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
House Bill 258 would increase penalties for stores that sell tobacco to minors.

A month after House Republicans voted to block cities' tobacco restrictions, lawmakers OK'd heftier fines for stores that repeatedly sell tobacco to minors.

The Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 258 in an 83-8 vote Wednesday. The proposal would increase fines and possibly shut down businesses caught continually selling tobacco products to those younger than 21.

The bill had widespread support, indicating both Republicans and Democrats want to push back against teen tobacco use and vaping. Surveys indicate that 1 in 3 Ohio high school students have tried vaping.

"The retailers not doing any age verification must be held accountable," said Rep. Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, who sponsored the bill. "Until bad actors feel real consequences for their actions, the problem will only continue to grow."

More: Enquirer special report: Vaping crisis takes toll on children's health, families, schools

Under current law, individuals who sell tobacco or vaping products to those younger than 21 face up to 30 days in jail and up to a $250 fine for the first offense. Subsequent offenses can lead to up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.

Under the proposed law, the jail time would not change. The new fines would be:

up to $250 for the first offense.

up to $500 for the second offense.

$500 for the third offense.

$1,000 for the fourth offense and

$1,500 for the fifth or more offense.

The bill also allows repeat offenders to be labeled a "public nuisance," which opens the business up to lawsuits and possible closure. It would need approval in the Ohio Senate before heading to Gov. Mike DeWine.

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What's the status of overriding Gov. DeWine's veto?

Wednesday's vote comes about a month after the Ohio House of Representatives voted to override a veto from DeWine. They voted to reinstate a ban on municipalities imposing tobacco restrictions.

For example, Columbus now has a ban on selling flavored tobacco products, which took effect on Jan. 1. House Republicans worry bans like Columbus' create a patchwork of policies that confuse customers and hurt retail stores.

"As long as we have uniform rules across the state, it's much better for commerce and much better for businesses to know what they can and can't do," said Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, explaining the difference between the override and the bill approved Wednesday.

DeWine said Ohio can have that uniformity by banning flavored tobacco statewide rather than allowing municipalities to do so piecemeal  something lawmakers are loath to do. "For those who want uniformity, I would just urge them to put their efforts and their time toward trying to get uniform banning of flavors," the Republican governor told reporters last month.

But Carruthers said that adults enjoy flavored tobacco products, including menthol. She voted for the override because it created a patchwork of policies across the state and cut off access to the products for adults.

"If youre 21 you can do whatever you want to your body. Its your body," she said.

The override is half-finished. The Ohio Senate has until the end of the year to vote on an override. Senators have not yet set a date to do so, but they did support the policy when it was added to the state's two-year budget.

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Reporter Haley BeMiller 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

Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sell tobacco to minors? You could soon face a heftier fine in Ohio
By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) -Ohio's House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to override the governor's veto of a bill that bans gender-affirming healthcare for minors, one of dozens of bills under debate this year that would restrict transgender rights across the U.S.

In this presidential election year, the number of bills has already surpassed last year's record-setting pace, extending a contentious cultural debate in the United States. Democrats say transgender people and parents of transgender kids should determine treatment, as endorsed by the medical consensus, while Republicans portray that stance as medically radical and dangerous to children.

Some of the new proposals are among the most prohibitive to date. One Florida bill would require all driver's license applicants to sign affidavits attesting to their sex at birth and another would classify some allegations of transphobia as defamation, carrying statutory damages of up to $35,000.

In Ohio, medical professionals and parents had told Republican Governor Mike DeWine that gender transition was necessary and lifesaving for many adolescents and teens.

"I believe that parents, not the government, should be making these very crucial medical decisions for their children," DeWine said when he vetoed the transgender bill in late December, defying party convention.

But the Ohio House overrode the governor's veto with a vote of 65-28 on Wednesday. The state Senate, where the bill previously passed with more than the three-fifths majority needed to override, was due to vote on Jan. 24. If passed, the law would take effect 90 days later.

Transgender rights advocates initially praised DeWine. But last week he issued an executive order curtailing transgender healthcare that appeared to be an attempt to stave off a veto override, and has been criticized by transgender advocates as imposing more extreme restrictions than the bill contained.

The governor said at a press conference on Friday that he was concerned over advertising from "fly-by-night" clinics that might be profiting off transgender people without proper training or oversight.

Now transgender Ohioans are facing the possibility of a restored legislative ban on gender-affirming healthcare plus the additional restrictions in DeWine's executive order.

The executive order requires that even adult transgender people must have a comprehensive treatment plan prescribed by both a psychiatrist and an endocrinologist that is then reviewed by a medical ethicist before receiving services. The executive order would not go into effect before a public comment period ends Feb. 5.

Across the country, nearly 150 bills that would restrict transgender rights have been introduced in 2023-24 legislation sessions across the United States, more than double the number introduced at this date a year ago, according to a team of transgender rights activists who track the legislation, led by journalist Erin Reed.

Some of the measures would extend medical limits to adults, a shift from the previous focus on adolescents and teens under 18. A South Carolina bill would prohibit Medicaid coverage for transgender patients up to 26 years of age.

Last year, some 560 anti-LBGTQ rights bills were introduced and 81 of them passed, including 22 that imposed some limits if not outright bans on gender-affirming care for minors such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

Federal courts have ruled both in favor and against the healthcare bans.

Republicans and backers of such bans say the major medical associations in the fields of pediatrics, endocrinology and mental health are mistaken and that providing transition care to minors is akin to child abuse.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) recommends transgender people receive comprehensive assessments from a multidisciplinary team of medical professions experienced in transgender care before starting hormone therapy or graduating to surgery.

But WPATH President Marci Bowers said DeWine's order arbitrarily erects barriers and delays to care for a vulnerable population, and that the required involvement of a medical ethicist was unprecedented.

"This is this is just an anti-diversity campaign," Bowers said. "They really don't understand biology. It will come as a shock to the governor and other conservative voices that babies can be born with a vagina and have a Y chromosome. A baby can be born with a penis and have two X chromosomes. Why is it so hard for them to understand that gender identity is also diverse?"

The conservative think tank American Principles Project has been one of the groups supporting the state-level legislation in recent years. President Terry Schilling counters that sex is binary and immutable.

"We need to get people to accept their bodies and to love their bodies," Schilling said. "There's a serious self-hatred going on. And there's nothing wrong with these people's bodies. It's their mind that needs work."

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Donna Bryson, Edwina Gibbs, Jonathan Oatis and Jamie Freed)
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The Oklahoma County Sheriffs Office found two abandoned dogs living in deplorable conditions while serving an eviction notice.

According to OCSO, deputies serving an eviction notice near SW 59th and May found two dogs that had been left alone in disgusting conditions.

Image courtesy Oklahoma County Sheriff Office

Image courtesy Oklahoma County Sheriff Office

Image courtesy Oklahoma County Sheriff Office

Image courtesy Oklahoma County Sheriff Office

Image courtesy Oklahoma County Sheriff Office

 Find more Top Stories from KFOR.com

Officials say the owner left the dogs to fend for themselves more than a week ago, abandoning the apartment. It was filled with trash and feces.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff says, both dogs have been taken to the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Dwayne Boyd stands with employees and fellow clients of the nonprofit services agency A New Leaf as they visit the state Capitol for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day in March.

The state of Oklahoma is offering a $1,000 signing bonus to people hired as direct support professionals to care for the developmentally disabled.

The hiring spree comes after Oklahoma lawmakers allocated enough money to close out the state's waiting list for developmentally disabled services. It quickly became apparent that there weren't enough providers to meet the needs of thousands of families who were receiving services for the first time.

Direct support professionals, or DSPs, provide support and services to people with developmental disabilities, aging Oklahomans, medically fragile individuals and people with disabilities who are transitioning into the community from a care facility.

"There's such a huge need, I could literally hire another 100 DSPs tomorrow if we if we were able to," said Karla Ford, executive director of Central State Community Services Oklahoma.

Those wanting to learn more about the DSP career field and incentive can visit the state's website at oklahoma.gov/dsp.

Who qualifies for the incentive program?

The incentive program, which the Oklahoma Department of Human Services calls DSP+, provides $1,000 each as a recruitment bonus for every new hire and a retention incentive for existing workers. Those who stay in the job will get another $1,000 every six months until Jan. 31, 2025.

In a nutshell, said Ford, a DSP helps their client with "anything and everything that we would normally do in our daily lives."

"(Helping with) bathing, dressing, grooming, making meals, cleaning," Ford said, describing the daily tasks that a DSP might help their client complete. "But a large part of what they do as well is just helping them be productive members in the community. So they take them to different outings and different events and with them on vacations, and are just a really great help with them in the community."

More: Some Oklahoma families forced to wait years for disability services are now getting help

There are few requirements for someone applying to this kind of job, depending on the agency that's hiring and the clients the DSP will serve.

"So long as they have great character and are willing to invest in individuals and partner with us, then we will do any training that someone needs," Ford said. She said the average wage for people in the profession was about $12 per hour.

Beth Scrutchins, director of the Developmental Disabilities Services Division at DHS, said direct support professionals must pass a background check. Training would include first aid and CPR, along with anything specific to their clients' needs.

Oklahoma has a growing need for caregivers

Ford's agency has worked in Oklahoma since Hissom Memorial Center was forced to close over three decades ago. Hissom was a state-run home for the developmentally disabled that shut down after a civil rights lawsuit.

The agreement marked a significant moment as Oklahoma began shifting away from institutional restriction to a more normal, independent community-based lifestyle for many developmentally disabled individuals. This, however, created another problem.

The state never provided enough money to care for everyone who sought community-based care. Thousands of families waited years, some as many as 13 years, to receive services. When lawmakers appropriated $32.5 million in 2022 to clear the waiting list, one mother of a child with Down Syndrome told The Oklahoman last year that being taken off the waiting list was like hitting the lottery after struggling for so many years.

With so many new people receiving government-funded services, there was a clear need for more health care and support professionals, including DSPs, which has a high demand. Unlike the shortage of doctors and nurses, Scrutchins said officials aren't sure how many DSPs the state needs to hire.

Along with the main goal of boosting the ranks, Scrutchins said the DSP+ incentive program will give the state valuable data about who's working in that role, how long the typical employee stays on the job and how many people are needed to fill the shortfall.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma offering $1,000 bonus for direct support professionals
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is planning to go to court over legislation passed last year that dilutes a governors power over appointments to the commission that oversees the agency.

House Bill 2263 ended exclusive gubernatorial control over appointments to the turnpike authority board. The bill was vetoed by Stitt, but that veto was overridden by lawmakers.

Turnpike commissioners unanimously voted to challenge the law, which also requires that they file annual financial reports disclosing potential conflicts of interest.

Commission chair John Jones said the law, left unchallenged, could put at risk any actions taken including implementation of the controversial 15-year, $5 billion ACCESS Oklahoma toll road expansions.

The board has been advised by its attorneys this violates the separation of power doctrine and is thereby unconstitutional, Jones said. The OTAs board of directors is not an advisory group. The board members are a governing board of an executive branch created to execute all that is asked of it by the legislature.

Commissioners Dana Webber and Todd Cone said they do not want the legal challenge to be seen as an adversarial action. They said without a court review of the law, it could put their actions, including implementation of ACCESS Oklahoma, in legal peril.

We are obviously concerned this action will upset some people, Webber said. We have always had a very good and positive relationship with the Legislature.

Oklahoma law was a legislative effort to increase accountability at turnpike authority

The effort to curb the governors power over the turnpike authority coincides with an effort to curb his power over the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department and questions raised about his power over the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Hundreds of property owners in Norman and surrounding areas facing loss of their homes to construction of new toll roads asked lawmakers to pass HB 2263 as turnpike commissioners rebuffed their complaints and limited public comment at their meetings.

More: Is the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority 'spying' on people? Here's what Public Eye found

Rep. Danny Sterling, R-Noble, authored HB 2263, which was the only filing to become law from an array of legislative efforts to increase accountability at the turnpike authority.

"I just think that the primary purpose of HB 2263 was to prevent one governmental position (the governor's position) from controlling who is selected to serve on the board, Sterling said. In turn, this scenario could create the situation of board members who would be selected to ensure that the governor would basically control the future turnpike projects.

Sterling said one concern with the old process was that it could potentially be a benefit financially in the future for whoever is serving as governor.

This could possibly be manifested in land and property investments that would be in the path of future turnpikes, that the general public would not be privy to, Sterling said. I am not directing this in reference to the current governor and I am definitely not saying he would be involved in any unscrupulous business practices because of his control of the board members selection process.

The law includes a requirement for commissioners to file financial statements disclosing any conflicts of interest. A turnpike authority representative said Tuesday that part of HB 2263 is not being challenged. Sterling said he believes one person with singular control over turnpike authority decisions could ultimately be problematic for our state now and in the future.

OTA's proposed legal action discussed with governor

ACCESS Oklahoma protesters picketed a 2022 fundraiser by the Association of Oklahoma General Contractors for Kevin Stitt's gubernatorial campaign. The lobbying group's members stand to make millions on ACCESS Oklahoma toll road projects pushed by Stitt.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, a vocal promoter of ACCESS Oklahoma, vetoed HB 2263 on May 19, 2023, only to see that veto overridden by both houses of the Legislature.

Instead of selecting individuals for all six seats on the turnpike authority board, HB 2263 limits the governor to two selections moving forward. Two more will be made by the speaker of the house and two by the senate president pro tempore.

The first legislative appointment under the new law quietly took place when Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, appointed John Titsworth to the turnpike authority commission following him being held over in the position by Stitt last summer.

Stitt could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but he argued the bill was unconstitutional as part of his written veto.

Under Oklahoma law, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority engages in exclusively executive functions, most predominantly to implement turnpike projects authorized by the Legislature, Stitt wrote. While the legislature has the authority to make law. it does not have the power to carry it out or to appoint agents charged with the duty of enforcement-a purely executive function. Simply put, although the legislature declares policy, it cannot oversee the execution of the policy it declares.

Tim Gatz, who serves as secretary of transportation and as executive director of the turnpike authority, told The Oklahoman he asked the agencys attorneys to advise the board on how it should respond to HB 2263 following the governors veto. He said he discussed the potential legal action with Stitt prior to Tuesdays vote.

Did he instruct me? Gatz said. No. Did he make sure we were aware of the veto message and constitutional concerns? Absolutely.

Gatz said governors have appointed turnpike commissioners since the agency was created in 1947. A 2019 law split transportation commission appointments with the governor retaining five appointments and the house speaker and senate pro-tempore given two appointments each. Gatz said that split, unlike HB 2263, still gave the governor majority control over the transportation commission.

That's worked fine, Gatz said. We havent had any issues with the commission. We expect and anticipate that members ask good questions and that they expect the agencies to make sure they are fully informed on the decisions they make.

ACCESS Oklahoma was delayed by a year due to legal and political challenges waged by Norman-area residents who joined together to form Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation (formerly known as Pike-Off OTA).

Amy Cerato, a member of the group, said Tuesday she is disappointed but not surprised by the pending legal challenge. She warned a return to exclusive gubernatorial control over the turnpike authority can lead to corruption and poor financial planning.

It's disappointing that the OTA rejects all attempts t0 provide oversight and accountability measures to their organization, Cerato said. The bill was meant to allow the people of Oklahoma to have a voice in the transportation planning process. The governors office is suggesting that the person in office who understands transportation planning is him.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Turnpike Authority aims to restore governor control over agency
By Ryan Woo

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a recent reply to a letter from an Iowa native whom he first met nearly four decades ago, said the world's future demanded stability in Sino-U.S. ties, according to Chinese state media on Wednesday.

Bilateral ties have sagged in recent years, slammed by a trade war and a plethora of other issues, including the origins of COVID-19.

Communications between the countries have improved since Xi's talks with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November, but both sides remain tense over democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. The island is electing a new president on Saturday.

"China and the United States are the largest developing and developed countries in the world, and the future and destiny of this planet require Sino-U.S. relations to be more stable, to be better," Xi told Sarah Lande, whom he first met in May 1985.

The two became acquainted when Xi, then 31, led a delegation from China's northern Hebei province to its "sister state" Iowa to learn about U.S. food production. In 2012, they reunited in her hometown of Muscatine, and once more in San Francisco in November 2023, when Lande attended a dinner hosted for Xi.

In a previous letter to Lande in 2022, he told her and his "old friends" in Iowa to "continue sowing the seeds of friendship and make new contributions to the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples".

Just as bilateral ties had worsened in recent years, the image of China in the United States had deteriorated.

In early 2020, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Twitter that the coronavirus might have emerged from the United States, and that it might have reached Wuhan, where the virus was first detected, via the World Military Games held there.

Last year, in a poll by the Pew Research Center, 83% of respondents in the United States held an unfavourable opinion of China. Asked to name the country that posed the greatest threat to the United States, Americans perceived China as both an economic and national security threat, the U.S. think tank said.

Repairing its image is paramount to China, especially in the United States. Washington has levied additional tariffs on Chinese goods and imposed curbs on exports of certain technologies, such as advanced chips, to China.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Democrats in the Tempe area on Tuesday night chose three possible replacements for former state Rep. Athena Salman.

Jevin Hodge, Deborah Nardozzi and Jacob Raiford were chosen by ranked-choice voting from a field of nine candidates during a virtual meeting of the Legislative District 8 Democrats.

The three names now go to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The board members will appoint one of them to fill out Salman's term, which ends next January. It's unclear how long it will take the board to make the appointment.

Salman resigned to run Arizona Campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League.

Hodge in 2022 was the Democratic nominee for Congressional District 1. He lost narrowly to incumbent U.S. Rep. David Schweikert. In 2020, Hodge also had a closely contested race for Maricopa County supervisor, but lost to Republican Jack Sellers.

He highlighted his background as the son of a single mother who understands the financial and social strains of everyday Arizonans. Hodge touted his endorsement, which included U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Phoenix City Councilwoman Kesha Hodge Washington.

Deborah Nardozzi previously served as chair of a legislative district that ran from central Phoenix eastward to the Salt River Pima Indian Community. Parts of that district were fashioned into the current LD 8 when district lines were redrawn in 2021.

"She wins campaigns," said LD 8 chairman Steven Jackson, who nominated her. He singled out her work on helping elect Democrats in neighboring LD 9, where Democrats picked up three seats. Those seats are crucial to flipping the Legislature to Democratic control this year, Jackson said.

Nardozzi, citing her campaign and issues involvement, said she is ready to jump into a legislative session that is already underway if selected.

Jacob Raiford is the current first vice chairman of LD 8. He serves as the Arizona representative on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union and, locally, has been active in issues involving police-citizen interactions.

Precinct committee members used ranked-choice voting to narrow the field of nine candidates to three finalists. The process calls for the voters to list the candidates in their order of preference.

District officials did not detail the order in which the three candidates finished, instead displaying them as each having an equal share of the votes cast.

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: Arizona Democrats nominate 3 to fill vacancy at Legislature
A U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4G Phantom II aircraft (s/n 69-7231) of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing launches an AGM-45 Shrike missile near George Air Force Base, California (USA) on 1 August 1988. This aircraft was retired to the AMARC as FP0838 on 17 April 1992 and later converted to an QF-4G drone. Wikimedia Commons.

Think of Operation Bolo as a high-stakes poker game in the sky, a clever plan conceived amidst the Vietnam War when the United States Air Force was facing a daunting challenge. By late 1966, despite their advanced technology, they were losing F-105 Thunderchief fighters to the enemy's Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles. Something had to change.

Enter Col. John J.B. Stone.

He devised a devilishly simple strategy: trick the enemy into thinking they were engaging one type of aircraft when, in fact, they were facing another. Using his strategy, American pilots flew their F-4 Phantom II fighter jets along the same paths the bombers usually took. But, surprise! Instead of bombers, they faced the nimble and agile F-4s, resulting in the successful shootdown of seven enemy planes, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 interceptors.

Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-21 Collection: Charles M. Daniels Collection Photo Album Name: Soviet Aircraft Page #: 37 Wikimedia Commons

A high-speed ballet of dogfights

On January 2, 1967, the trap was sprung. Seven flights of F-4s, codenamed after weapons like "Olds," "Ford," and "Rambler," baited the MiGs into the open. Within just 12 minutes, a frenzied high-speed ballet unfolded in the sky . The result? The Air Force shot down seven MiGs, dealing a significant blow to the North Vietnamese Air Force without losing a single plane.

The impact

Operation Bolo wasn't just a one-off victory but a turning point in the air war over North Vietnam. The devastating loss forced the North Vietnamese to withdraw their MiGs for several weeks, buying crucial time for U.S. missions. Moreover, the operation sent a clear message: the U.S. Air Force could and would adapt their tactics to outsmart the enemy.

Crafting the bait

The genius of Operation Bolo lay in its simplicity. Stone's plan called for F-4 Phantom IIs to take on the guise of F-105 Thunderchiefs , mimicking their radar signatures and flight paths to lure enemy MiGs into a trap. This elaborate ruse required a deep understanding of the aircraft's technology and a keen insight into enemy tactics. It was a task that Stone was uniquely equipped to handle.

A legacy in the skies

Col. Stone's strategic brilliance was reflected in the successful execution of Operation Bolo. Even more importantly, it also left a lasting impact on Air Force tactics. Stone's principles of deception and adaptive strategies continue to influence modern aerial warfare.

Flying with the pack

Capt. Paul Young, a pilot assigned to the 336th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson, accepts the Capt. John Stone award for Outstanding Mission Commander by its namesake, retired Col. John JB Stone, during the Red Flag-Nellis 22-3 culmination ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, July 28, 2022. The Capt. John Stone award is the mark of influential and quintessential planning that will lead the Air Force into surpassing its near-peer challengers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Josey Blades)

Even years after the operation, Stone's connection to the event remained strong. He was honored with the opportunity to fly with the "Wolf Pack" once more , a fitting tribute to the man who masterminded one of the most successful missions in U.S. Air Force history.

Stone's contributions were further recognized when he visited Nellis Air Force Base to present the prestigious Red Flag Nellis Award . Here, his legacy as an astute military tactician was celebrated, underlining the enduring impact of his visionary approach.

The story of Operation Bolo and its architect, Col. Stone, is a testament to human ingenuity in the face of adversity. It is a timeless reminder that the right strategy, coupled with courage and innovation, can change the course of history.
Commemorative coins, banknotes to celebrate 2024 start to exchange

Xinhua) 09:18, January 10, 2024

A staff member shows commemorative coins and banknotes in celebration of the year 2024 at a branch of China Construction Bank (CCB) in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2024. A copper alloy coin and a banknote issued by China's central bank in celebration of the year 2024 started to exchange on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

A citizen exchanges commemorative banknotes in celebration of the year 2024 at a branch of China Construction Bank (CCB) in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2024. A copper alloy coin and a banknote issued by China's central bank in celebration of the year 2024 started to exchange on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

This photo taken on Jan. 9, 2024 shows commemorative banknotes in celebration of the year 2024 in Beijing, capital of China. A copper alloy coin and a banknote issued by China's central bank in celebration of the year 2024 started to exchange on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

This file photo shows commemorative coins issued by China's central bank to celebrate the year 2024. A copper alloy coin and a banknote issued by China's central bank in celebration of the year 2024 started to exchange on Tuesday. (China Banknote Printing and Minting/Handout via Xinhua)

A citizen shows newly exchanged commemorative coins and banknotes in celebration of the year 2024 at a branch of China Construction Bank (CCB) in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2024. A copper alloy coin and a banknote issued by China's central bank in celebration of the year 2024 started to exchange on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
San Antonio automaker DeLorean Motor Co. Inc. rolled out a prototype of its Alpha5 EV at an auto show in California in August 2022.

DeLorean Motor Co. Inc.s deal to receive tax breaks in exchange for creating 450 local jobs in five years was terminated Tuesday in a unanimous vote by the Bexar County Commissioners Court.



The 5-0 vote came as part of the commissioners approval of the consent agenda, which grouped multiple actions together. The commissioners did not discuss DeLorean during the meeting.

DeLorean Chief Operating Officer Bill Frazer asked the county to terminate its tax abatement agreement, which offered up to roughly $1 million in tax breaks and incentives with the city and county in exchange for creating 450 jobs paying at least $70,000 by 2026. Frazer wrote in a letter to the county dated Dec. 1 that the decision was prompted by a shift in the economic landscape and a strategic redirection of our business, which leads us to forgo pursuing the incentives at this time.

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In public records, the county wrote that while the companys office would remain at Port San Antonio, no tax abatements had been given to the company. The agreement had been signed in October 2022. DeLorean was expected to have created at least 100 new jobs by now to manufacture an electric vehicle based off the iconic 1980s car made famous in the Back to the Future films.



Interim CEO Alan Yuan did not return the San Antonio Express-News request for comments upon receiving a copy of the companys letter Monday.

The San Antonio-based companys pullback from employment commitments is the latest development suggesting that the companys progress has not met expectations, which has customers who paid thousands of dollars to reserve one of the vehicles questioning whether their cars will ever be built.
Texas National Guard soldiers stop to talk while patrolling the Rio Grande on Tuesday in Eagle Pass. Immigrant crossings in the area have dipped dramatically since a major surge in the last months of 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

Immigrant advocates cant think of any recent year that was good for asylum-seekers and those living out their faith by welcoming the stranger.

Each year brings more complex struggles and tensions piled atop the already dangerous journeys migrants make to get to U.S. borders. But this year is likely to be worse.

Im not sure what were bracing for, said Tori Salas of the San Antonio-based Interfaith Welcome Coalition,. But we know when theres an election, both sides start getting stricter on immigration.

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Democrats and Republicans play those games, she said.

Think Gov. Greg Abbotts Operation Lone Star and Texas attempt under Senate Bill 4 to take over immigration enforcement, which prompted a Justice Department lawsuit. Abbott is clearly aware of the constitutional overreach of the law that, come March, will allow police officers to arrest migrants and judges to deport them.

Think U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson suggesting hed use a government funding deadline to push for harsher border policies.

Think President Joe Biden potentially caving to demands for harsher border enforcement.

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And think razor wire on fences and floating buoys and netting that remain in the Rio Grande, further endangering the lives of migrants attempting to cross into the United States to legally apply for asylum.

As a presidential election year, 2024 will see more tension around immigration, even against those who provide humanitarian aid.

Over the weekend, the Interfaith Welcome Coalition experienced a disturbing episode at the downtown bus station, said Salas, its coordinating director.

Someone got into the bus station to take pictures of migrants and threatened to pepper spray a volunteer, she said.

Bus station security stepped in. The man was asked to leave and has been banned from the property, Salas said.

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The group deals with phone calls described as anti-immigrant. A recent one asked, Why are you helping the illegals?

Calling human beings illegal says so much about where that argument begins. It says so much about the rhetoric that lies ahead.

Like other immigrant rights groups, coalition members see reforming immigration law as the key to meeting the need to enforce it, to better govern the process of importing new workers, to protect those fleeing persecution.

Keeping people in Mexico is not a solution. Giving money to Mexico is not a solution, Salas said.

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Impeaching Mayorkas is not the answer, she added of the effort by congressional Republicans to oust Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas.

Shutting down the border isnt an answer, either.

Still, Salas figures 2024 wont be the worst year for migrants.

Its better than when (former President Donald) Trump was separating children from their parents, she said.

During the past few months, the coalition has seen a steady increase in migrants arriving in San Antonio, most from Venezuela but also smaller populations of Hondurans, Guatemalans and Haitians.

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Few stay long. San Antonio is a transit hub. They pass through on their way to somewhere else.

Other agencies and groups come to their aid, including Catholic Charities and the Mennonite Church.

What the interfaith volunteers do largely amounts to whatever they can stuff into a backpack  a first aid kit, a water bottle, a sandwich  and travel navigation, a little geography lesson that explains where they are, where theyll stop along the way and how long it will take to get where theyre going.

Once in a while, they can provide more, including lodging if a migrant requires hospitalization and his family needs to stay a few days.

Its advocacy committee on immigration reform met Monday night to stay informed, Salas said.

We follow through politically, she added.

Salas worries about asylum-seekers who have become a business for Mexican cartels, and about those who stay in Texas.

The whole South isnt safe, but Texas is the most unsafe, she said.

Salas foresees harsher immigration policy ideas from Biden in the run-up to November. But what she most fears is a Trump reelection, another dismantling of the system that helps process asylum-seekers and a renewed family separation policy.

And she worries about the financial strains on her own group and others doing such work. Funding streams are being squeezed, shifted to cities led by Democrats where GOP governors are moving immigrants by the tens of thousands.

The work of the Interfaith Welcome Coalition wont change much in 2024 or the long term, at least not until Congress passes immigration reform.
A sign in the window of the Alkek Library reads Welcome Bobcats on the Texas State University Campus in San Marcos, TX on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Contributor) Jordan Vonderhaar/Contributor

Texas State University eliminated one office and reassigned seven positions to comply with the new state law prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, though the San Marcos school says a reorganization was in the works before the legislation passed.

Senate Bill 17, which took effect Jan. 1, requires state-supported institutions to eliminate preferences based on race or sex, in hiring or any other function, and to close offices or initiatives that promote such preferences.

Texas State eliminated its Division of Inclusive Excellence in August, citing both the new legislation and prior efforts to improve how we approach serving our diverse student body, faculty, and staff.

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Texas State President Kelly Damphousse announced the change in a letter July 28, about two months after the law passed in the Texas Senate and House in late May.

As part of TXSTs ongoing efforts to best serve our students, and in light of the factors stated above, I have decided to dissolve the Division of Inclusive Excellence effective August 1, 2023, Damphousse said.

Employees in that department would have the opportunity to be reassigned to new positions in the Division of Student Success, Damphousse said, while employees working on federally funded TRIO programs were moved to the College of Education. Those programs are aimed at supporting low-income individuals, first-generation college students and individuals with disabilities.

University spokeswoman Sandy Pantlik said seven employees were reassigned.

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The Division of Student Success was created last February, replacing the former Division of Student Affairs and taking on some roles from the Academic Affairs office.

Before it was dissolved last summer, the Division of Inclusive Excellence already had undergone changes since it was created in June 2022. In November 2022, the university moved talent acquisition efforts to the Human Resources department, and Gigi Secuban, the vice president of the division, was tasked with eliminating duplication and improving services, Damphousse said.

Secuban, who was hired in 2022 as the universitys first vice president for institutional inclusive excellence, transitioned to a role as senior adviser to the president, according to Damphousses letter.

In addition to the division changes and staffing reassignments, the university also removed diversity statements, which are common in higher education applications.

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Texas State no longer requests applicants to provide diversity statements as part of the application process, Pantlik said.

Public colleges in San Antonio also made changes to their policies and titles to comply. The University of Texas at San Antonio announced it would replace its own Office of Inclusive Excellence with an Office of Campus and Community Belonging, then backtracked and said last week it would not launch the new office, but would redistribute responsibilities to other departments.

A working group also reviewed about 300 other DEI-related programming items and determined about 10% could not continue, but the university hasnt provided information about which programs have been shuttered. Like Texas State, the university has eliminated the use of diversity statements in faculty and staff recruiting, a UTSA spokesman said.
The rifles stolen from Navy officer Austin Creed's vehicle were among more than 3,100 firearms reported stolen from vehicles in San Antonio in 2023, according to statistics compiled by the police department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Jae C. Hong /Associated Press

When Austin Creed, a non-commissioned Navy officer, was transferred to San Antonio from Washington state last summer, his introduction to the Alamo City wasn't what he'd hoped for.

His on-base housing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland wasn't ready when he arrived in August, so the senior chief petty officer stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn on the far West Side.

On the night of Aug. 21, someone broke into Creed's pickup and stole 10 of his personal firearms, including a pair of AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, plus 14 ammunition magazines, a police report shows. Three days later, a man wanted on felony warrants used one of the AR-15s to shoot and injure two San Antonio police officers who were pursuing him, authorities said.

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"That's terrible," Creed said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. "I don't want that to happen to anybody else."

The rifles were among more than 3,100 firearms reported stolen from vehicles in San Antonio in 2023, according to statistics compiled by the Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

At a news conference scheduled for Wednesday, Police Chief William McManus, U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales and Sheriff Javier Salazar will talk about the prevalence of gun thefts in the San Antonio area. They will plead with the public not to leave unsecured firearms in vehicles.

It's a message Creed is eager to endorse. "Your stuff isn't always safe," he said. "It's unfortunate that we live in a world where that is a reality, but it is a reality."

On the night his guns were stolen, Creed had locked his truck and the bed cover, but someone pried it open, according to a police report.

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Creed said he's committed to responsible gun ownership and safe storage of firearms. But he was in the middle of a move, and his gun safe was in transit to San Antonio. He said he secured his firearms in storage containers attached to the truck, but the thieves were able to break into them.

He cautioned against leaving guns in cars. "You need to take extra precautions," Creed said. "As many precautions as I could take, I took them.

"I have a safe," he added. "That's where things should be stored in an optimal situation."

Now, prosecutors may use the guns as evidence against Jesse Garcia, 28, the man accused of shooting the two SAPD officers.

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Jesse Garcia, 28, was arrested after a four-hour standoff with police at a West Side apartment complex on Aug. 24. He is accused of committing a carjacking and shooting and wounding two San Antonio police officers during a criminal rampage that day. Courtesy of Bexar County Sheriff

Garcia was wanted on warrants for evading arrest, burglary of a vehicle and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon when police were tipped to his whereabouts on Aug. 24. Officers saw him leave an apartment complex on the West Side with a long gun and climb into the passenger side of a blue Mitsubishi, police said.

At a court hearing in late August, SWAT Officer Adam Rule testified that the driver of the Mitsubishi steered the vehicle through an apartment complex toward General Hudnell Drive before attempting to get on U.S. 90.

Rule said Garcia fired through the rear windshield at him and his partner, Officer Rhett Shoquist, who were pursuing the Mitsubishi in a marked patrol vehicle.

I heard rounds skipping off the ground, and they were striking the undercarriage of our patrol vehicle, Rule testified.

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One round went through the vehicles window and struck Rule in the forearm, he testified.

ALSO READ: Police release identities of officers shot during standoff at West Side apartment

Shoquist, who was driving, was shot in the head.

I had to offer him medical aid immediately or he would have died, Rule said.

Another San Antonio police officer, Josue Vallejo-Martinez, testified that he joined the pursuit of Garcia after hearing police radio calls about a wounded officer.

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Garcia eventually ditched the Mitsubishi and fired at Vallejo-Martinez and other officers with an AR-15 as he ran toward an apartment complex in the 2600 block of Westward Drive, according to testimony.

A round struck a light attached to the shoulder of Vallejo-Martinezs uniform, according to the officer, who also testified that he saw Garcia shoot Officer Raul Chavez.

Garcia barricaded himself in the apartment complex. After a standoff that lasted several hours, SWAT negotiators and U.S. Marshals persuaded him to surrender, and he was taken into custody. He was uninjured.

Shoquist and Chavez, who was shot several times in the torso, were later released from the hospital to recover at home.
Holding a sign reading Let Gaza live, Dahlia Abdelrahman, center, looks around a November rally in support of a cease-fire in Gaza at UTSA. Students walked out of classes in solidarity with Palestine. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News With signs in hand, people march in support of a cease-fire in Gaza at UTSA on Nov. 9. Students walked out of classes in solidarity with Palestine. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News District 8 Council Member Manny Pelaez says he withdrew his support for the special meeting after speaking with members of San Antonios Jewish and Muslim communities. Kin Man Hui/Staff photographer

A City Council vote on a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is off  after one of the council members who pushed for it backed out.

District 8 Council Member Manny Pelaezs decision Tuesday evening triggered a swift, public rebuke from District 2s Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, one of two colleagues who had joined Pelaez in requesting that council hold a special meeting to consider such a resolution.

This is one of the weakest moves Ive ever seen from any council member ever, McKee-Rodriguez said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. If youre gonna do something stand on it. You had months of testimony, months to consider a special session, YOU volunteered your signature, but got scared of criticism.

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Anyone but Manny for Mayor, McKee-Rodriguez added, followed by a winking-kiss face emoji.

Pelaez is a likely contender in the May 2025 mayoral election. He is in his fourth and final term representing District 8, which stretches from the South Texas Medical Center to the Shops at La Cantera on the far North Side.

Pelaez said he withdrew his support for the special meeting after speaking with members of San Antonios Jewish and Muslim communities, and because he feared the meeting could devolve into chaos. He said his consideration of a mayoral run played no role in his decision.

I felt that running this resolution up the flagpole and knowing that it was going to lose was probably going to create more damage to the possibilities of more dialogue and opportunities from more healing, Pelaez said.

He said he no longer could vote for a cease-fire resolution.

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It was probably going to end up getting people more and more entrenched in their positions and accomplish the opposite of what I wanted to accomplish, which was to bring the temperatures down and have a dignified conversation, the North Side council member said.

In recent weeks, the City Council has received strong resistance to a cease-fire resolution vote from leaders in San Antonios Jewish community.

This resolution, while well-intentioned, is morally wrong and will further endanger members of the local Jewish community, reads a Dec. 28 letter that nearly 30 community members signed. They included rabbis and representatives from the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio, Starr Family Jewish Day School, San Antonio Jewish Senior Services and Hebrew Free Loan Association of San Antonio, among others.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg informed the council on Wednesday that a special meeting will not be scheduled because the request now lacks the support of three council members.

Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, Nirenberg has maintained that he will not call for a cease-fire resolution or cut San Antonios long-standing friendship city ties with Tel Aviv, Israel, as some pro-Palestinian activists have demanded.

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The city charter compelled him to schedule a special meeting on the cease-fire issue since three council members had requested one on Jan. 11, which Pelaez later requested by pushed back until February in part because of his travel schedule.

No gesture  however well-intended  from our citys government can capture the intricacies or the history of the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict, nor could it appropriately represent the breadth of the grief and pain that has been felt for generations, Nirenberg wrote in a memo to council. Wading into a complex and volatile international environment with an incomplete understanding could prove to be reckless.

On Wednesday, Nirenberg said, Our focus should be how we ease the pain and trauma thats being felt in our community.

We dont do that by passing resolutions that deepen that trauma for members of our community, he said.

Extremely disappointing

The one-sentence resolution that Pelaez, McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 Council Member Teri Castillo drafted in collaboration with members of San Antonio for Justice in Palestine was far more succinct that those passed by city councils in Seattle, Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco.

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San Antonio recognizes that, as one of the United States largest cities, and an increasingly more global city, it has a global voice to speak out and a responsibility to do so and would be calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine and the return of all hostages immediately, the resolution states.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group carried out a surprise Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages. In the three months since then, Israel has killed more than 23,000 people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Local Jewish leaders criticized the resolution that the council was set to consider because it does not hold the terrorists who initiated this war, and who are still holding these hostages captive, accountable for all the loss of life, they wrote in their Dec. 28 letter.

The United States, a staunch ally of Israel, has rejected calls from the international community to call for a cease-fire.

That has led cease-fire activists to turn to their city councils in the hope that, if enough local governments take a stand, the White House will pay attention.

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Denver and Minneapolis are considering resolutions of their own. Had San Antonio passed one, it would have been the first Texas city to do so and the largest U.S. city to date.

Its extremely disappointing and an act of cowardice, San Antonio for Justice in Palestine co-founder Moureen Kaki said of Pelaezs decision to pull his support for a resolution vote. The moral and ethically correct position would have been, Im going to stand by this, and Im going to have it up on the table, and if it doesnt pass, thats on those who didnt vote for it.

She said Nirenberg and Pelaez were dismissive of Palestinian and Muslim concerns about their own safety if the City Council didnt call for a cease-fire.

Theyre not taking our safety and our asks as seriously as they may think that they are taking other peoples safety into consideration, said Kaki, who is Palestinian American. And this is rooted in a culture that says Arab and Muslim lives are worth less  this is the dominant hegemonic culture in our country, and this is just a reflection of that.

A surprise withdraw

Kaki said Pelaez did not inform any members of the group about his decision. They, like McKee-Rodriguez, learned about it on X.

Castillo said Pelaez called before he alerted the mayor via email.

The West Side council member  who had supported Pelaezs decision to delay it until February to ensure that he would be present  expressed disappointment Wednesday that the special meeting was off entirely.

Its quite nauseating that the San Antonio City Council is unwilling to speak up on the massacre of an entire population, Castillo said.

McKee-Rodriguez, who represents the citys East Side, said he was initially skeptical of Pelaezs support for partnering with him and Castillo  councils most liberal members  knowing Pelaezs political aspirations.

Id be naive not to expect that every move that he makes isnt calculated based on what he feels is going to further his career, McKee-Rodriguez said. And I think that is very, very unfortunate.

Pelaez should have allowed for the meeting to happen, even if his personal position on the resolution had changed, McKee-Rodriguez said.

To get us all on board to sign the three-signature memo with new (resolution) language that he was comfortable with  to do all that and then yank at the last hour and say, I want to delay the meeting, and then, I dont want to have the meeting at all, I cant respect that, he said.

San Antonio for Justice in Palestine will try to find a new council member who would be willing to take Pelaezs place in requesting a special meeting to consider a cease-fire resolution, Kaki said.
Charges were issued in the burn barrel explosion that killed a Jacksboro teen. mbbirdy/Getty Images

Police in North Texas say they arrested a man who threw gasoline on a fire in a barrel, causing an explosion that led to a teenager's death. The man is charged with manslaughter.

Madison Lewis, 17, succumbed to her injuries over the weekend after suffering burns that Fox 26 Houston reports covered 90 percent of her body.

Lewis, a senior at Jacksboro High School about 60 miles northwest of Fort Worth, was attending a burn barrel party in mid-December when a gasoline can was placed on a nearby fire in a barrel, police said.

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A man was killed early Wednesday after he crashed into a crane on Loop 1604, police said. Ken Branca

A man was killed early Wednesday after he crashed into a crane while driving by a construction zone, according to San Antonio police.

The crash happened after 1 a.m. on the Northwest Side near North Loop 1604 West and Interstate 10.

Police said the driver of a Dodge Ram was traveling in the second lane of the access road before the crash. The first lane was closed as construction workers were moving a crane around a high beam.

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The man crashed into the crane boom  the arm that extends from the construction vehicle to lift heavy items  as it passed through the second lane of the access road, which was not blocked at the time, according to police.

His vehicle then hit a concrete divider and bounced into another concrete one.
A.D. Snipes, left, and Deborah Omowale Jarmon, right, share a laugh as they attend the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commissions general committee meeting Monday at the Claude Black Community Center. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News City Council Member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, right, expresses his gratitude for all the volunteers on the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission during a general committee meeting. The citys 37th annual MLK March, billed as one of the largest celebrations in the country, will start at 10 a.m. Monday. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News City Manager Erik Walsh thanks the board of the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission for all their hard work during a general committee meeting. The citys 37th annual MLK March, billed as one of the largest celebrations in the country, will be held Monday. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Ananda Thomas, fundraiser chair of the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, laughs during the general committee meeting Monday. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Shokare Sho Nakpodia, DreamWeek founder and CEO, addresses the crowd during the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commissions general committee meeting at the Claude Black Community Center. DreamWeek events will run alongside a host of MLK events from Jan. 12-28. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Dwayne Robinson, chair of the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, addresses the crowd during a general committee meeting Monday at the Claude Black Community Center. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Tyrone Darden, youth summit chair for the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, announces several free, family-friendly events happening over the weekend during a general committee meeting Monday. On Saturday, the community is invited to an MLK Youth Health and Wellness Summit from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday, there is an MLK basketball tournament from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News People attend the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commissions general committee meeting at the Claude Black Community Center on Monday, a week before the 37th annual MLK march and celebration. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Dr. Doshie Piper, vice chair of the San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, shows off this years commemorative T-shirt design during the general committee meeting. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News

Everyone is unified on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but that isnt the case the other 364 days of the year, said the San Antonio event chair as he prepared for Mondays march.

Lets celebrate that one day, Dwayne Robinson said. Take time to have a conversation along the march. Speak to someone who doesnt look like you.

San Antonios event is one of the nations largest processions, drawing an estimated 300,000 people each year. This years theme is Yesterdays Dream, Todays Vision, Tomorrows Reality.

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The march kicks off at 10 a.m. Monday at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, 3501 Martin Luther King Drive. The 2.75-mile walk will end at Pittman-Sullivan Park, 1101 Iowa St.

Free bus service to the march is available from 8 to 10 a.m. at two sites: Freeman Coliseum, 3201 E. Houston St. (Lot 1), and St. Philips College, 1801 Martin Luther King Drive (Lot 22). Return service will run from noon to 3 p.m. at Pittman-Sullivan Park.

This years celebration includes a new youth zone at Pittman-Sullivan Park, an interfaith service, a youth health and wellness summit and a wreath-laying ceremony.

Robinson also encouraged people to attend Aaronetta Pierces presentation titled Martin Luther King Jr. and My Steps Toward His Dream on Jan. 18 at Trinity University.

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At the last planning meeting ahead of the event, District 2 Council Member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez said its pivotal the march occurs on the East Side, where people from across the nation and city will be reminded of residents who built homes and protected generations of families for decades.

Thats the beauty of the East Side, he said.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said every year, somewhere, theres deep division, conflict, pain and trauma.

Its terrible every day cant be like the march here in San Antonio, Nirenberg said. But for that one moment in time in our city, we remind ourselves and the rest of the world what unity looks like, and we leave the divisions behind and latch onto one another.

DreamWeek founder Sho Nakpodia invited everyone to take up the models of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and King at the march and in their lives.

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This is an opportunity to reintroduce the city to itself, Nakpodia said.

Robinson acknowledged the late Rev. Raymond A. Callies, recognized as the founder of the march. Former Mayor Henry Cisneros appointed the civic leader as founding chair of the commission in 1986.

Todays generation, Robinson said, is well represented on the MLK board through commission fundraiser Chair Ananda Tomas, communications Chair Trent Breitung and outreach Chair Val Reiffert.

Weve had some great wins for civil rights, but the fight doesnt stop, Tomas said. As we fight for more justice, we are honoring our ancestors. This is exactly what they imagined us doing and wanted us to do. A century back, we werent able to fight this way, and thats important.

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Breitung agreed. He said success is measured in decades, not centuries.
Popular video blogger aims to bridge gap between China and US

10:11, January 10, 2024 By Chen Qingyun ( China Daily

Jerry Kowal

There was a time when video blogger from the United States Jerry Kowal, like many others who have never visited China and have very little idea about it, only associated the country with pandas, chopsticks and kung fu stars.

However, a three-week trip as an exchange student in 2010 proved to be an eye-opener. Impressed by the cuisine, culture and people, Kowal went on to pursue studies in Chinese culture, driven by a genuine desire to gain a deeper understanding of China, and followed it up with a number of visits to the country.

Today, Kowal is an influencer with over 20 million followers on social media platforms. People from around the world follow him to learn about culture and life in China as well as in the US.

Kowal said that back in 2017, when he started making videos, the original intention was to show Chinese people what life was like in the US.

"I think a lot of people in China have misconceptions about the US. I had hoped my videos would clear those up," he said. "For example, a lot of my friends would go to study in the US thinking it all looked like New York, but then they would arrive in a rural university town and life would be quite different."

He then began to share what he experienced and witnessed in China, recording his life as a foreigner in the country and turning the camera toward ordinary Chinese people, highlighting the differences between US and Chinese cuisines, cultures and customs.

So far he has made hundreds of videos focusing on cultures, food and travels in China. He has tasted super spicy local cuisines, traveled through the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, tried new Chinese high-tech products, and compared infrastructure construction in China and the US.

"I can trace back my interest in China to the fact that we are vastly different cultures. I find it quite interesting to understand the cultural nuances," he said. "However, I have to admit the longer I stay here the more I realize that I have a lot to learn. I adamantly believe from an American's standpoint that it's next to impossible to have an in-depth understanding of China without being here."

Media, whether in China or the US, can only play a limited role in helping people truly and comprehensively understand a country or a culture, he said, adding that one really has to spend a significant amount of time immersing oneself in China to understand it.

He said that in the US, politicians adopt an extremely negative stance on China, which he blames on electoral compulsions.

"It's just a convenient talking point. Any hint of nuance or wanting to establish a better friendship with China from a politician in the US would immediately be taunted and rebuked by the public and the media. Furthermore, a lot of the China 'experts' on US TV haven't been here in years," Kowal said.

Ning Xiaoxue, a 25-year-old employee at a private company in Shanghai, follows him on social media. She discovered his videos while browsing through Bilibili, a video-sharing platform.

Kowal's portrayal of his experiences of living in China fascinates her.

"I appreciate Kowal's genuine and objective approach as he immerses himself in the local lifestyle and offers insightful commentary based on his encounters, rather than resorting to exaggerated praise without thinking," Ning said.

She cites the example of a video that Kowal made while spending a working day at a courier station in Shanghai. That is how he discovered that China has a highly efficient logistic system and the last-mile delivery services have made lives much easier for consumers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kowal wasn't able to make his usual videos. Staying in New York at that time, he recorded short videos about life amid the pandemic, in which he conducted interviews on the streets, visited hospitals, and also discussed the causes of the outbreak in the US. He compared the US situation with China's stricter COVID-19 response measures, commenting that the latter was a much more effective strategy.

However, his videos have caused some heartburn in certain sections of the Western media, which have accused him of being part of "Chinese propaganda, basically trying to help the government make its own points".

"I really just filmed what I saw with my own eyes, I try as best as possible to stay objective, whether about my country or China," he said. "And I really stand by the point that if the US adopted some of China's COVID control measures, more Americans would be alive."

Recently, he faced accusations in a report that he believed "is potentially both biased and exhibits questionable research standards".

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute released a lengthy research report on Nov 24 accusing Kowal of echoing China's official statements, citing his videos about COVID-19.

Kowal said he was not even contacted for the research. He was stigmatized and that smear continues to spread online, as the report was then cited by certain Western media outlets, and that unfounded accusations against him have been repeated again and again, Kowal added.

Ironically, he found that the policy institute was funded by the Global Engagement Center of the US Department of State and he believes the report has either been directly or indirectly funded by the US State Department. In an open letter to the State Department on Dec 6, he urged it to stop using US money to fund an organization to attack a US citizen.

"A senior US foreign service officer once said to me in person that I have made a contribution toward people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, and now a US government-funded think tank attacks me," he said. "That is ridiculous."

He is also considering launching lawsuits against those who have maligned him.

He Yun, an associate professor at the School of Public Policy of Hunan University, said that over the past few years, the US has regarded China as a strategic competitor and has stepped up efforts to contain China. The US government, coordinating with research centers and media outlets, has created a chilly environment and discouraged those who view China objectively or are friendly with China from speaking freely.

"Even some cultural and tourism influencers have been politicized and stigmatized, which is very unfair to them and not conducive to the development of bilateral relations and people-to-people exchanges," she said.

Kowal said that people who are really informed about China and the US usually have a more balanced view of both countries.

"Some people think a country could be either inherently evil or inherently good. I don't think it's that simple. I think it's imperative that more Americans come to China even if it's just for a 10-day trip," he said.

Liu Jianqiao in Beijing and Zheng Zheng in Shanghai contributed to this story.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
People tour the San Antonio Water System's H2Oaks Center on Jan. 27, 2017. Ray Whitehouse/for the San Antonio Express-News Water is aerated at San Antonio Water System's H2Oaks Center on Aug. 19, 2022. SAWS is looking to increase its water supply to keep up with increasing demand from population growth and drought conditions, and could pursue more groundwater pumping and desalination projects to keep up. Josie Norris, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Radhika Fox, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Water, tours San Antonio Water System's H2Oaks Center on June 13, 2022. Billy Calzada/Staff photographer Steven Clouse of San Antonio Water System and Earthea Nance of the Environmental Protection Agency tour the cascade aerator at SAWS' H2Oaks Center on June 13, 2022. Billy Calzada/Staff photographer

As San Antonios population booms and the threat of drought lingers, the citys water utility is looking to expand its water supply  just in case the worst happens.

In a worst-case scenario  a drought more severe than the historic drought of the 1950s  San Antonio Water Systems current water supply wouldnt be enough to meet demand, officials said, so its looking to add water from multiple sources, including two aquifers and desalination operations.

SAWS is working on an updated Water Management Plan, expected to be approved by the utilitys board of trustees later this year. SAWS typically updates that document every five years, but it delayed the latest revision to include information and insights from 2022 and 2023, record-breaking years for drought and heat.

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The first potential gap between supply and demand during extreme drought conditions is forecast to come in 2036, SAWS Water Resources Manager Steven Siebert told trustees during a presentation Tuesday. In that scenario, which is based on the worst of the worst drought, there would be a shortage of about 6,807 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot, a metric for measuring the volume of water, is enough to cover one acre in one foot of water. It equates to about 326,000 gallons. The first potential shortfall would be about 2.2 billion gallons.

The utility proposes to cover that gap by expanding water supplies from the Carrizo aquifer in southern Bexar County, according to Sieberts presentation.

In 2042, under those same extreme drought conditions, there could be another gap of about 5,000 acre feet, followed by a similar shortfall in 2056.

The utility also plans to expand its brackish water desalination operations to address those potential needs. In simple terms, brackish water is a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, with a salinity level that falls between the two. SAWS treats the water to remove the salt and make it potable, or fit for drinking.

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'Taps are turned off from the heavens'

SAWS models are based on population growth projections that call for the utilitys service area to grow from 2.1 million people in 2024 to more than 2.3 million people in 2030 and more than 3 million people by 2060.

The plans are also based on updated drought models that take climate change into consideration. SAWS uses a hybrid model, imagining a nine-year drought like the 1950s, but with the intensity of the 2011 to 2014 drought. SAWS customers use more water when theres less rainfall; in 2022, the utilitys gallons-per-capita-per-day rate increased substantially for the first time since 2010, climbing from 111 gallons per person per day in 2021 to 122 the following year.

The citys water supply is secure, Siebert said, but the utility bases its projections on worst-case scenarios, including years of record low rainfall.

When the taps are turned off from the heavens, those are the years were planning for, he said. That means more years like the past two, as 2022 was San Antonios second-driest year on record, with only 11.5 inches of rain. Only 1917 was worse, when just 10.1 inches of rain fell. Rainfall improved in 2023, with about 20 inches recorded, but that was still well below the 30-year average of 32.4 inches, and the year saw the hottest summer on record, with 75 days above 100 degrees.

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Taking the past two years into consideration resulted in a more conservative plan, Siebert said, one based not only on historic droughts but also current conditions. SAWS reduced the volume it can expect to receive from certain water sources in worst-case scenarios as part of the plan.

While conservation is the first new source for SAWS to shore up its water supply, additional supplies will be needed to keep up with climbing demand.

Finding new sources

SAWS has already planned for the expansion of its brackish water desalination  a process that involves pumping salty groundwater then treating it to become drinkable water. The desalination plant at the H2Oaks facility opened in 2016 as the first part of a three-phase project, which will ultimately treat up to 33,000 acre feet per year. Pumping from the Carrizo south of San Antonio has also been in the works in three phases, Siebert said.

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Unlike the Edwards Aquifer, which is a limestone cavern system that stores water underground, the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer is primarily made up of sand. It runs through 66 counties and more than 25,000 square miles below the surface, and is the same water source SAWS pumps from in Burleson County with its Vista Ridge pipeline. The utility is also considering pumping more from that aquifer in Wilson County, which it refers to as Regional Wilcox Brackish water, but doing so would require permitting from the local groundwater district there, senior vice president of water resources and governmental relations Donovan Burton said.

The Edwards Aquifer remains the utilitys cornerstone water supply, and Siebert said SAWS plans to purchase an additional 4,000 acre feet of water rights. The utility aims to maintain water rights to about 285,000 acre-feet of Edwards water, he said. Under its 2024 budget, about 58% of SAWS water supply will come from the Edwards Aquifer.

Its also the utilitys least expensive water source: Edwards rights purchases cost $410 per acre-foot, or $651 under maximum drought conditions, while the local and expanded Carrizo water costs range from $706 to $801, according to SAWS. Costs climb from there: Current and future brackish groundwater desalination projects cost more than $1,500 per acre-foot, while Vista Ridge, the controversial pipeline project that came online in 2020, costs $2,150 per acre-foot.

During Tuesdays meeting, trustees approved lease agreements to acquire rights to 1,167 acre-feet of Edwards water for five years, at a cost of just under $760,000.

The utility is also looking to expand its Aquifer Storage and Recovery system, in which water from the Edwards is set aside and stored to be used during drought. The current treatment capacity is 30 million gallons per day, Siebert said, and SAWS is looking to double that in the near future.

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The plan will also call for addressing what SAWS calls non-revenue water  water that doesnt get paid for. Its primarily water lost from the system through leaks and breaks, but also includes water used for line flushes, water quality sampling and fighting fires. SAWS lost more than 18 billion gallons of water in 2022, up from more than 14 billion gallons in 2021.

Siebert said water loss is steady during average weather years, but increases significantly in drought years because dry ground causes pipes to shift and break, spilling water. SAWS is investing in staff and equipment to address water loss and replacing and repairing water mains to reduce breaks and leaks, he said. By reducing loss, SAWS can shore up its water supply without acquiring more water.

Looking for options to sell

Even as it works to increase its own supply, the utility is also fielding inquiries from municipalities and utilities that want to buy water.

Burton said SAWS has been approached by a number of entities, including some interested in short-term wholesale purchase contracts, instead of traditional 30- to 60-year agreements. Currently, the utility sells 1,920 acre-feet of water to five entities, including the city of Elmendorf and the East Central Special Utility District. Burton said he thinks SAWS could sell about 2,500 to 3,000 more acre-feet, but told trustees they wouldnt be wasting an opportunity if they decide not to sell, because the water is a good buffer for SAWS to have on hand.

SAWS has not sold water from the Vista Ridge pipeline yet, because it needed to be sure it was running well and as expected before making promises to other entities, he said. If the utility decides to sell water from that source outside of Bexar County, it will need to go through a rate-setting process that goes to San Antonio City Council. That revenue could then be used to address water loss issues, he said.

Burton said its the right time to have that conversation, because we do have public entities that are interested.
Savanah Sotos father, Pedro Soto, and relative Elizabeth Perez look at the new memorial rocks honoring Savanah and her unborn son, Fabian, at Kenwood Park on Thursday, Dec. 28. The rocks are set up beside two memorial trees honoring Ethan Soto, Savanahs 15-year-old brother, who was shot and killed in May 2022. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Savanah Sotos grandmother Rachel Soto, from left, ties balloons to a memorial tree as Savanahs father, Pedro Soto, and relative Elizabeth Perez stand beside new memorial rocks honoring Savanah and her unborn son, Fabian, at Kenwood Park on Thursday, Dec. 28. The rocks are set up beside the memorial tree honoring Ethan Soto, Savanahs 15-year-old brother, who was shot and killed in May 2022. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Savanah Soto poses with her niece Samira Cordova, at a memorial for Soto's brother Ethan Soto, 15, who was shot and killed there on May 26, 2022. Courtesy of the Cordova family

When a homicide detective saw the bodies of Savanah Soto, 18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, the day after Christmas, he recognized one of them.

It wasnt from the missing-persons alert issued on Christmas Day, and it wasnt from the dozens of media reports on the couples disappearance.

San Antonio police detective Jeremy Goodwin remembered 18-year-old Savanah from a previous murder case. Her 15-year-old brother Ethan Soto was shot and killed in a dispute over drug money in May 2022 on the Northwest Side. Goodwin investigated the slaying.

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On Dec. 26, a pregnant Soto and Guerra, 22, were found brutalized and decomposing inside a vehicle at a Northwest Side apartment complex.

Goodwin was dispatched to the Colinas at Medical apartments, where Guerras silver Kia Optima had been abandoned. Peering into the car, the detective saw a woman in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound to the head, he wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.

Goodwin said he recognized the female as Soto from his work on a previous murder case from 2022.

Two men were arrested last week in connection with the killings of Soto and Guerra. Christopher Preciado, 19, was charged with capital murder in what police described as a dispute over drugs. He and his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, were charged with abuse of a corpse and altering, destroying and concealing human remains.

On Wednesday, a third member of the Preciado family  Christophers stepmother, Myrta Romanos, 47  was arrested. She is charged with abuse of a corpse; tampering with evidence; and altering, destroying and concealing human remains. Police said she owned the gun used to kill the couple.

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Police said they are not seeking any additional suspects.

The Soto family was heartbroken over the loss of the brother and sister. They had planted two trees in Ethans memory at Kenwood Park on the near North Side. Now, those trees also pay tribute to Savanah and her unborn baby son, Fabian.

Ethan and Savanah faced the same fate nearly two years apart. Police believe both deaths were connected to narcotics.

Victor Nathaneal Rivas, 18, is charged with murder in Ethans death. Police said Ethan was killed over allegations of stolen drugs.

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Ethans case gained notoriety when a brawl broke out at an October hearing for Rivas. There were murmurs across the courtroom that Rivas had made a gesture toward the Soto family. A Bexar County Sheriffs Office report states that members of Sotos family jumped over the bar dividing the courtroom from the gallery and assaulted Rivas.

Rivas is still awaiting trial on the murder charge, court records show.

ALSO READ: Family of killed teen jumps murder defendant in Bexar County courtroom brawl

According to the arrest affidavit, Christopher Preciado told investigators that Savanah and Guerra drove to his residence on Dec. 21 in the 5000 block of Charlie Chan Drive to sell him marijuana.

Christopher told police Guerra pointed a weapon at him during the transaction, and Savanah was shot as he and Guerra wrestled over the gun. He then said that Guerra pointed the weapon at him again, and when trying to take the gun from him, he shot Guerra.

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Investigators said that Preciados statement is inconsistent with gunshot wounds suffered by Soto and Guerra alongside the evidence located at the crime scene.
Myrta Romanos is escorted to a police car Wednesday after she was arrested on charges related to the slayings of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra. William Luther/San Antonio Express-News Myrta Romanos is escorted to a police car Wednesday after she was arrested on charges related to the slayings of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra. William Luther/San Antonio Express-News Christopher Preciado, 19, center, is arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, by the San Antonio Police Department in connection to the fatal shootings of pregnant teen Savanah Soto and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra. Christopher will be charged with capital murder. His father Ramon Preciado, 53, was also arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, according to SAPD Sgt. Washington Moscoso. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio police have arrested a third suspect in connection with the fatal shootings of Savanah Soto, 18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22.

Myrta Romanos, 47, was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and altering, destroying and concealing human remains. She is the stepmother of Christopher Preciado, 19, who was arrested last week on charges of capital murder in the deaths of Soto, Guerra and Sotos unborn son, Fabian.

Police said Preciado killed the couple using a gun that belonged to Romanos.

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Romanos lives with Preciado and his father, Ramon, in a home in the 5000 block of Charlie Chan Drive on the Northwest Side. The elder Preciado, 53, previously was charged with abuse of a corpse and altering, destroying, and concealing human remains.

There was a lot of information on social media that there was a third individual involved, San Antonio police Lt. Michelle Ramos said after the arrest of Romanos. Our homicide detectives were aware of that. However, we were looking for enough probable cause to make that arrest and to present the best case forward to the DAs office.

Soto and Guerra went missing days before Christmas and were found dead Dec. 26 in Guerras car, a Kia Optima, which had been abandoned at a Northwest Side apartment complex.

Ramon Preciado, 53, is arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, by the San Antonio Police Department in connection to the fatal shootings of pregnant teen Savanah Soto and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra. His son, Christopher Preciado, 19, was also arrested and charged with capital murder. San Antonio Express-News

In an interview with investigators Jan. 4, the day after Christopher and Ramon Preciado were arrested, Romanos denied knowledge of the killings and said she was asleep Dec. 21, the night Soto and Guerra were slain, according to a police affidavit.

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While searching the Preciado home, police found a gun. The next day, they determined through firearms analysis that it matched a bullet recovered from Guerras car. The weapon was in a locked bedroom to which Romanos alone had the key, police said. She told officers a family member gave her the gun.

TIMELINE: What we know about the killings of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra

Amateur sleuths had speculated on social media about a possible third arrest after police made public a video Dec. 28 and asked for the publics help in identifying the people seen in it.

The security video captured a nighttime scene in a parking lot at the Colinas at Medical apartments, where Guerras car was found with his and Sotos bodies inside.

On the video, the same Kia Optima is seen pulling up next to a black pickup. A man believed to be Ramon Preciado gets out of the truck and talks to the driver of the car, believed to be Christopher. Police say that Soto and Guerra were dead by this time and were in the Kia, and that the Preciados were preparing to ditch the car.

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On the video, it appears that someone in the pickup tosses Ramon Preciado a towel to wipe his fingerprints off the door of the Kia. Initially, police would not confirm whether they were looking into the identity of that individual.

Separate surveillance video shows Romanos leaving the Preciado home with Ramon on the night of the shootings, according to a police affidavit. The two drive off in his black pickup, and they return several minutes later, this time with Christopher, the affidavit states.

The affidavit says the evidence demonstrates that Romanos "knowingly concealed a corpse with the intent to impair its availabiity as evidence in an investigation."

Based on the affidavit, Bexar County Magistrate Judge Celeste Ramirez signed a warrant for Romanos' arrest Wednesday morning.

Neighbors said they rarely saw Romanos in the days after the father and son were arrested. She had food delivered to the home. A car sat in the driveway with the words Baby killer spray-painted on it.

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After her own arrest Wednesday, Romanos said nothing and kept her head down as she was escorted to a police vehicle in front of reporters and TV cameras. She wore what appeared to be Christmas-themed pajama pants and a black Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt.

The disappearance

Soto grew up on the West Side and began dating Guerra when she was a sophomore at Oliver Wendell Holmes High School.

At the time of her disappearance, she was about to give birth. On Saturday, Dec. 23, she was scheduled to go to a hospital so doctors could induce labor. Her family grew frantic when she failed to show up and calls to her cellphone went unanswered.

On Christmas Day, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue alert for Soto, saying she was believed to be in imminent danger.

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After the two bodies were discovered, Police Chief William McManus called the case very, very perplexing as detectives tried to determine whether Soto and Guerras deaths were a murder-suicide or theyd been killed by someone else.

Tensions were high between Sotos and Guerras families. Sotos relatives said Guerra had a history of abusing her. When the couple disappeared, Guerra was on probation for assaulting Soto on Christmas Day 2022.

McManus later said that both Guerra and Soto were involved in selling narcotics.

A break in the case came when police traced the black pickup seen in the security video to the Preciados' home on Charlie Chan. When officers knocked on the door, Ramon Preciado told police he knew why they were there, according to an arrest affidavit. Police say he later acknowledged that he was the older man seen on the video and that he had assisted his son that night.

Sgt. Washington Moscoso, an SAPD spokesman, said after the arrest of the father and son that the killings resulted from a drug deal gone wrong.

Christopher did the killings, Moscoso said. His father helped him try to hide the car and victims.

According to an arrest affidavit, Christopher Preciado offered an alibi when questioned. He told investigators Soto and Guerra drove to his home on Dec. 21 to sell him marijuana, and Guerra pointed a gun at him. As they wrestled over the weapon, it discharged, killing Soto. Preciado said Guerra pointed the weapon at him again, and in the ensuing struggle, Guerra was shot, according to the affidavit.

Investigators said the statement is inconsistent with the gunshot wounds suffered by Soto and Guerra and other evidence from the crime scene.

Both Soto and Guerra had been shot behind the ear. In Guerras case, it was a contact gunshot wound, the medical examiner said, indicating that the muzzle of the firearm was held directly against his head.

Once police complete their investigation, they will hand the case file to the Bexar County District Attorneys Office, which will present it to a grand jury. The grand jury will decide whether to indict the three defendants.

In Christophers case, a capital crimes committee  made up of senior prosecutors  would vote whether to pursue the death penalty. Bexar County DA Joe Gonzales will have the final say.

The district attorney previously said the death penalty is justified only in the worst of the worst cases. He cited as an example the Uvalde school shooting of May 2022, in which 19 children and two teachers were slain. In that case, the gunman was killed by members of a Border Patrol tactical unit.
"Baby Killer" is spray-painted on a car in the driveway of a home in the 5600 block of Charlie Chan Drive where Ramon and Christopher Preciado were arrested by San Antonio police in the deaths of Savannah Soto and Matthew Guerra. People have been leaving candles and other keepsakes since police said the couple was killed at the home and their bodies were left elsewhere. Jacob Beltra

The neighbor of the two men arrested in connection with the deaths of pregnant teen Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra found himself in the middle of a social media frenzy.

Carlos Gallegos was assembling a puzzle in his upstairs bedroom when he noticed red and blue lights flashing through his window blinds.

Gallegos peeked outside his home near the Cary Grant and Charlie Chan Drive intersection to see police vehicles at a house across the street on the citys far Northwest Side. Moments later, father and son Ramon and Christopher Preciado were walked out of the house in handcuffs.

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The two were charged with abuse of a corpse and concealing human remains in the fatal shootings of Soto, 18; Guerra, 22; and their unborn baby.

Christopher Preciado, 19, was also charged with capital murder, and more charges are expected to come, according to Chief William McManus and District Attorney Joe Gonzales.

While Gallegos didnt capture the arrests on video, he recorded later developments from his front-door camera for a captive TikTok audience hungry for updates. A leukemia survivor, Gallegos quit his job at a Culebra-area meat market and has spent more time at home to focus on his battle with cancer. Hes now in remission.

One of his posts showed police taking the truck allegedly seen in a video shared during the search for Soto and Guerras killers.

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But it doesnt take much action to grab peoples attention in the case. Another video  which picked up 1.8 million views  shows a woman walking from a red pickup to the front of the house. The same woman was seen getting into a silver car with police in previous footage.

It used to be a quiet neighborhood.

Nothing ever happens here, Gallegos said, raising his hands.

San Antonio police arrested 53-year old Ramon Preciado, who is charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping his son Christopher Preciado move bodies after they were murdered. (San Antonio Police/TNS) TNS Christopher Preciado, 19, was arrested for the deaths of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra. Christopher is charged with capital murder. (San Antonio Police/TNS) TNS

But its been a hub of activity since the arrests.

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The two-story Preciado home at the foot of an incline is less than a mile or a three-minute drive from where Soto and Guerras bodies were found in their missing gray Kia sedan in the back of the Colinas at Medical apartments in the 5900 block of Danny Kaye Drive.

Baby Killer is spray-painted on the side of a car in the Preciado homes driveway.

Police said the couple was killed at the house when they went there to sell Christopher drugs.

Mourners have been leaving candles, balloons and signs memorializing Soto, Guerra and Fabian, their unborn baby boy at the nearby stop sign.

Charlie Chan Drive is not a major roadway, and its off the beaten path from Danny Kaye Street  still, cars passed by nonstop Monday evening.

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Tension has been heightened since the home has gotten publicity.

As a reporter observed the makeshift memorial at the stop sign, a woman shouted for him to leave from inside the Preciado home. She called the police and declined an offer to tell her side of the story.

Gallegos, who has lived in the neighborhood for about six months, said he had never met Christopher. But he did often see him washing their vehicles in the driveway. His hair was always up in a ponytail. Gallegos recognized the face in the subsequent media reports.

The neighbors told Gallegos they were tired of the passersby. One car drove through the street honking and shouting obscenities at the Preciado home, Gallegos recalled.

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As for Gallegos, he smiled politely and shrugged when asked about the flurry of attention he has been receiving on social media. People have thanked him for observing the home.
Homes in the Luckey Ranch subdivision are seen in a Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022 aerial photo. Many homeowners in Texas will see lower property tax bills this year. William Luther/Staff

Texans are set to receive $18 billion in property tax relief over the next two years, and none of it  at least directly  is earmarked for renters.

Across the state, renters occupy about three out of every eight households, including more than half of those in Texas largest cities, according to Census Bureau estimates. They pay property taxes indirectly to their landlords, who pass on the costs as a portion of the rent they charge.

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But some lawmakers and policy experts say there is no guarantee that property owners will, in a similar fashion, pass along the savings from Texas multibillion-dollar property tax-cut package, even as the cuts are funded by taxes that everyone pays.

Were talking about a huge part of our population, said state Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas. Everybody pays property taxes, but not everybody is getting a property tax cut. Only the owners of the property are getting it, and no reasonable person suggests that theyre going to pass (it) along to the renters.

The tax-cut package, passed by the Legislature this summer and resoundingly approved by voters last month, drives down local school district tax rates and more than doubles Texas homestead exemption, allowing homeowners to pay school property taxes as if their residence was worth $100,000 less than its true appraised value. Lawmakers paid for the cuts by dipping into the states more than $30 billion surplus of leftover cash  mostly a product of taxes on sales and oil and gas.

Republicans argue landlords will be compelled to pass on cost savings to remain competitive with the rest of the market, particularly in renters markets when landlords are struggling to lease out their properties.

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In a declining rental market, tax cuts do get passed on to renters because of market forces, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican and the Senates lead property tax cut author. He argued the benefits would be passed on across all types of rental units, from multifamily apartment complexes to commercial real estate. This is a well-known economic principle, he added.

The question of whether renters will see any property tax relief depends on the dynamics in each local housing market, said Lynn Krebs, an economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.

In places with lots of vacant rentals, where landlords would need to offer lower rent or other incentives to attract tenants, then it seems perfectly logical that the lower property tax burden will give them the ability to do that, and they would do that to prevent the property from going uninhabited, Krebs said.

But thats not always the case. And without those market pressures, Krebs said, theres nothing to force the savings onto renters as long as the market is demanding housing at higher or current rates.

If theres a serious housing shortage, as there has been in recent times in a lot of markets, then it would be reasonable to expect that landlords would really have no need, or reason, to lower their rents, he said.

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The tax cuts come amid a period of flattening and declining rent prices across the country  including in Texas major metro areas  as markets rebound from a spike in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Austin metro area has seen the most pronounced decrease in Texas, with rental prices down more than 6% from where they were a year ago, according to Apartment List, a real estate listing site that uses census data and its own listing data to estimate median rental listings. In the Austin area, two-bedroom units were being rented out at a median monthly rate of $1,629, down more than $100 from a year ago.

Year-over-year rent prices are down a few percentage points in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio metro areas, according to the site. They are mostly flat in the Houston area, which did not see such dramatic price spikes during the pandemic nor the same level of new apartment construction that has left many areas with housing supply that exceeds current levels of demand.

The median rental price for a two-bedroom unit in the Houston area stood at $1,286 as of November, virtually unchanged from $1,290 in November 2022, according to Apartment List.

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San Antonio saw a modest decline, from $1,317 last November to $1,277 last month.

Ben Martin, research director for the housing nonprofit group Texas Housers, said many cities remain in a high-demand situation in which landlords do not feel pressure to lower rents or, theoretically, pass on the tax relief. He described the tax cuts as a redistribution of wealth to wealthier households, and nothing to the poor because people across all income levels paid into the budget surplus but are not all guaranteed to see relief.

Renters are significantly more likely to be low-income, and theyre significantly more likely to be non-white  Black or Hispanic  households, Martin said. Renter households in the state are the households that are struggling financially the most, full stop. And we have done the opposite of supporting them.

But Chris Newton, executive vice president of the Texas Apartment Association, said the tax cuts would benefit renters by slashing the largest operating expense for landlords: property taxes.

We look forward to supporting new efforts to bring even more property tax relief to property owners which, in turn, will help deliver greater flexibility and affordability for Texas renters, Newton said in a statement.

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Over the summer, as the tax-cut package remained in limbo amid Republican infighting, Bryant and several other House Democratic lawmakers offered a plan that would have provided a cash rebate to tenants, totaling up to 10% of the rent they paid the year before.

Bryant contends that the only way to deliver relief to renters is to send it to them directly.

Everybody has contributed sales tax dollars to the state treasury to create this surplus. Not just property owners, but everybody, he said. So, its unfair to give the tax cut only to a certain part of our population.

Some of the relief, he added, will end up going to out-of-state companies that may be doing a minimal amount of business here other than owning property, and therefore may not even be contributing very much to sales tax collections.

Republicans declined to fold Bryants proposal into the property tax cuts, arguing the relief would be passed on automatically via market forces. Bettencourt added that he sees the idea as a form of rent control, a principle that he and other Republicans vehemently oppose. And such a program would be technically impossible for the state government to administer anyway, he argued.

Somehow, youd have to go into the business of knowing everybodys rent payments everywhere in the state, whether they pay 10 months, one month, two weeks, Bettencourt said.

There are no statewide limits on how much landlords can raise rents year-over-year, and cities are barred from enacting their own rent control policies unless the governor allows it during an emergency.

Bryants plan called for landlords to submit records to the state comptroller outlining how much rent their tenants paid. The comptroller would set a deadline for renters to apply for relief and determine how much would be sent to each recipient.

Krebs, the Texas A&M economist, said he would expect the rebates to be counted as federally taxable income, which would mitigate, to some extent, the benefit.

In any case, he said, the Legislature arrived at a tax-cut package under which renter relief will hinge on conditions of supply and demand.
San Antonio will see a wide range of temperatures over the next several days. On the left, high temperatures will likely reach the 70s on Thursday. On the right, low temperatures will fall to the teens or low 20s by Tuesday. Pivotal Weather

Its that time of the year when you could point to a random day on the calendar and have wildly different forecasts just a few days apart from each other. One day could be sunny and 75 degrees, But just a few days later, an arctic blast could bring the coldest temperatures of the winter. Thats the kind of weather pattern shaping up for San Antonio over the next week. Heres a day-by-day look at what to expect.

Wednesday: Dont let the cold start on Wednesday fool you because the afternoon will bring sunny skies and above-average temperatures. San Antonio temps will start in the low to mid-30s between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. A few spots in the Hill Country could even experience another light freeze as temperatures drop to near 30 degrees.

A big warm-up will commence a bit after sunrise. Temperatures will reach 50 degrees by 10 a.m. and the low 60s by noon. Theyll continue to rise to between 67 and 69 degrees by 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., under mostly sunny skies. Itll be a beautiful day to be outside.

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Thursday: This will be the warmest day in the forecast. Morning lows will not be quite as chilly, as temperatures reach the middle to upper 40s. After that, temperatures will peak in the low to mid-70s across South Texas, under partly to mostly sunny skies. These temperatures will be about 10 degrees above average for January. Enjoy it, because multiple cold fronts are on the way.

Friday: The first of two cold fronts will move through San Antonio by Friday morning. While the front will pull temperatures down, the biggest concern about this front will be the especially strong winds, similar to what we experienced on Monday night.

Temperatures will start in the 40s on Friday morning, but theyll be slow to rise during the day, only topping out in the mid-50s. Sustained wind speeds of 25 to 35 mph are expected from Friday morning through the afternoon. Some wind gusts could reach 50 mph, especially between 6 a.m. and noon.

Shown here are projected wind gusts across South Texas at noon on Friday, after the first of two cold fronts in the coming days sweeps through the state. Pivotal Weather

This weekend: After a cold start, temperatures are expected to rebound by Saturday afternoon as highs rise into the 60s under mostly sunny skies. Highs in the 60s are possible again on Sunday, though that will depend on the position of an arctic cold front across Texas.

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So far, forecast models indicate that the arctic front will likely stall in the northern half of the state during the day on Sunday. However, there is an outside chance that the front could progress farther south, bringing arctic air into South Texas earlier than expected. Be sure to stay up to date with expressnews.com/weather as the timing becomes clearer.

Coldest temps so far this winter

While the arctic cold front could move into San Antonio on Sunday, its more likely to move through on Monday. A light freeze is possible early Monday, but temperatures will likely not increase much throughout the day. High temperatures low to mid 30s are expected in the Alamo City.

The coldest air will arrive late Monday and early Tuesday morning. That is when low temps could fall to the upper teens or low 20s in San Antonio. It will likely be the coldest temperatures San Antonio has experienced since December 2022, when temps plunged to as low as 16 degrees two days before Christmas.
Alaska Airlines suspended its Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes after the alarming mid-flight blowout. The shocking incident happened on Friday, Jan. 5.

The affected Boeing 737 Max 9 was forced to make an emergency landing after the door plug fell out, leading to an open hole (large enough for a person to fit through) in the aircraft's fuselage.

Passengers shared their terrifying experience, saying that the wind was blowing everywhere. Luckily, no one was injured and the Boeing passenger airplane was able to land safely.

Here are other details you need to know about the latest mid-flight blowout experienced by Alaska Airlines.

Alaska Airlines Suspends Hundreds of Boeing 737 Max 9 Airplanes

The New York Times reported that 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes were suspended because of the latest Alaska Airlines in-flight blowout incident.

On Sunday, Jan. 7, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the exact unit that experienced the blowout was already barred from long flights.

"It is certainly a concern and it's one that we want to dig into," said NTSB's Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.

Authorities said that the affected Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was already at an altitude of 16,000 feet when the blowout happened. This forced the pilots to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport.

On Saturday, Jan. 6, the Federal Aviation Administration said that it began mandatory inspections to check the Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes used by different U.S.-based airlines.

These include the 65 units used by Alaska Airlines, which are now suspended from flying. Because of this, 170 flights were canceled on Sunday because of the FAA's order.

Aside from Alaska Airlines, United Airlines was also affected. This is because it has almost 80 Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes. United Airlines confirmed that it had to cancel around 270 flights over the weekend.

Read Also: Boeing Discovers 737 Max Airplane Loose Bolt Flaw; Airlines Urged To Conduct Inspections



Alaska Airlines Allegedly Had Warnings Days Before Incident

BBC News reported that Alaska Airlines already had warnings days before the alarming mid-flight blowout incident happened. Investigators claimed that AS placed restrictions on the involved Boeing 737 Max 9.

Jennifer Homendy confirmed that pilots already reported about pressurization warning lights on the Alaska Airlines airplane. She said that these issues were identified on three previous flights of the Boeing 737 Max 9.

However, she didn't clarify if the mentioned issue was the main cause of the blowout incident. If you want to learn more about the latest issue with the Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes, you can click this link.

Related Article: Alaska Airlines, Federal Officials Ground Boeing 737 Max 9 Planes Following Mid-Air Section Blowout
An illegal immigrant, who killed a mother and a son in a drunk car crash, has been revealed to already experienced multiple deportations from the United States. The latest details shared by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raise questions as to why this man was still able to enter the U.S. despite being deported in the past.

The illegal immigrant was identified as 37-year-old Jose Guadalupe Menjivar-Alas. Law enforcement officials said that the latest arrest against him happened in December 2023 after getting involved in a fatal car crash. Here are other details shared by officials about this illegal migrant who killed a son and a mother.

Colorado: Illegal Immigrant Kills Mother, Son in Drunk Driving Crash

According to Fox News' latest report, the illegal migrant was arrested on December 15, 2023, in connection with a deadly car crash, which happened three days before the arrest.

The Broomfield Police Department said that Menjivar-Alas was driving a Toyota Tundra on Main Street and Miramonte Boulevard when he crashed into a Mazda CX-5, which was driven by Melissa Powell.

Authorities confirmed that Melissa was with her beloved son, Riordan Powell when the incident happened. Unfortunately, both of them died because of the car crash.

Because of this, officials had to conduct an investigation to determine if the illegal immigrant was speeding or under the influence of alcohol. When Jose was transported to a local hospital, it was discovered that he was DUI (driving under the influence).

Law enforcement authorities booked him into the Broomfield County Jail and was charged with vehicular homicide from reckless driving, habitual traffic offender, and vehicular homicide caused by DUI.

Read Also: Migrants Dropped Off at New Jersey Train Stations in Texas' Effort To Thwart NYC's New Rules

ICE Reveals Migrant's Multiple Deportations From US

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that the illegal immigrant was deported from the U.S. not only once, but four times, as reported by Yahoo News.

"ICE records show that the subject has been previously removed and has no regard for immigration law," said ICE's spokesman.

But, ICE officials said that Menjivar-Alas was still able to make his way back into the United States despite being repeatedly deported.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained that if non-U.S. citizens were arrested because of crimes, they would be subject to arrest, and detention, and could be removed from the U.S. (if found removable by final order).

Related Article: [UPDATE] Eric Adams Sues Transportation Companies for $700 Million Amid Crackdown on Transfer of Migrants
Following last week's mid-air disaster, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines discovered loose components on many grounded 737 Max aircraft, which might further worsen Boeing's issues.

Loose Components

United Airlines, headquartered in Chicago, said on Monday, January 8, that it had "found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug - for example, bolts that needed additional tightening" during inspections of the 737 Max 9s. The airline promised that its technical operations team would resolve the issue and get the plane back in the air as soon as possible.

The Air Current was the first to report on United Airlines' finding, which further damaged Boeing's stocks. Spirit AeroSystems, its largest supplier, had its stock fall 11% to $28.20 as of Monday's closing, while its own stock fell 8% to $229.

This report comes after Alaska Airlines Max 9 suffered a partial fuselage collapse at an altitude of 16,000 feet on a route from Oregon to California. None of the 171 passengers or six crew members were hurt in the incident.

Early findings from Alaska Airlines' technicians show that there is also some loose hardware on certain planes. Official inspections will not begin until the airline receives the necessary paperwork from Boeing and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to the airline.

The most recent incident involving a blowout in a flight at Alaska Airlines has led to the suspension of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. Around 22% of flights have reportedly been canceled.

On Monday, representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a news conference to announce that the four bolts meant to secure the plug in place had not been located. Engineer Clint Crookshanks of the agency said they are still trying to figure out if the bolts existed. He went on to say that this will be resolved by laboratory testing in Washington.

"If the bolts are there, it prevents the door from translating upwards and disengaging . . . and flying off the plane. However, the bolts can break or any number of things [can happen] which we have to look at," he stated, as reported by the Financial Times.

Facing Criticisms

Boeing considered replacing the 737 with a new plane over a decade ago. Boeing chose to simplify the 737 by making modest changes, resulting in the birth of the Max series. This was expected to prevent falling behind competitor Airbus in sales.

Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines Max 8s crashed in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Regulators worldwide suspended the planes for nearly two years as Boeing upgraded a disaster-related automated flight control system.

Boeing's intentions for rushing Max clearance with scant pilot training were questioned by Congress and federal prosecutors. In 2021, Boeing paid $2.5 billion, which included a $244 million fine, as part of a criminal settlement.
Donald Trump predicted a U.S. economic crash again. This is not the first time he made this kind of comment.

Before Election Day 2020, the former American leader warned the public that the U.S. economy could collapse if Joe Biden won the election.

This is one of the selling points used by Donald Trump when he ran for the presidency in 2020, arguing if he becomes the U.S. president, the stock market will "rule."

Although Trump didn't win the U.S. 2020 presidential election, he still expects a major economic crash to happen in the U.S. Here are other things that the former POTUS said regarding the American economy.

Donald Trump Predicts US Economic Crash

Donald Trump was interviewed by Lindell TV on Monday, Jan. 8. During the interview, Donald Trump explained that if a U.S. economic crash really happens, he is hoping it'll take place before he wins a second presidential term.

"When there's a crash, I hope it's going to be during this next 12 months because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover," said the former American president via CNN Politics.

"The one president - I just don't want to be Herbert Hoover," further stated Donald Trump.

To give you an idea about Donald Trump's statement, former U.S. President Herbert Hoover's first year wasn't a good one since the U.S. stock market crashed.

This signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. Trump's latest statements regarding the U.S. economy come as he tries to get the trust of voters that he can improve the American economic system.

Read Also: Trump Appeals Maine's 14th Amendment Ruling Removing His Name From 2024 Ballot

White House Responds to Trump's Statements

Aside from criticizing U.S. President Joe Biden's economic policies, Donald Trump also claims that the current American economy is "so fragile," as reported by MSNBC.

"We have an economy that's so fragile, and the only reason it's running now is it's running off the fumes of what we did," explained the former U.S. president.

After hearing the interview with Donald Trump, the White House released a statement, saying that the ex-POTUS should not be hoping for an economic crash to happen.

"A commander in chief's duty is to always put the American people first; never to hope that hard-working families suffer economic pain for their own political benefit," explained Andrew Bates, the White House's spokesperson.

He added that Trump and other Republicans should welcome the economic progress that Joe Biden is delivering.

Related Article: Donald Trump Urges Supreme Court To Review Colorado Ruling Removing His Name From State Ballot
Swiss tech giant opens electrification innovation week in China's Xiamen

Xinhua) 10:11, January 10, 2024

XIAMEN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Swiss tech giant ABB opened its electrification innovation week in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, Fujian Province, on Tuesday.

Over the course of the week, ABB will debut its revolutionized direct current solid-state circuit breaker and more than 20 new products to empower the energy transition across key sectors.

The week includes an opening forum, keynote speeches, industry forums, new product launches and exhibitions, showcasing the key roles ABB has played in the global energy transition, and in leading innovation across the energy, construction, industry and data center sectors.

"Innovation, together with personal engagement, is the key for sustainable development. Switzerland and China both attach great importance to innovation, and our partnership -- based on innovation -- is increasingly important. Together, we should continue engaging towards a smarter and more sustainable future," said Jurg Burri, Swiss ambassador to China, when addressing the opening forum.

Morten Wierod, president of ABB Electrification, said that China is ABB's second-largest market, and that the company will continue to invest in China.

"The increasing need for a lower-carbon future means higher energy efficiency, more renewables, and the need for grid resilience. In China, our focus is on innovation, collaboration and partnership, as well as innovative technologies that help our customers decarbonize while continuing to grow," Wierod said.

ABB is a technology leader in electrification and automation with a full range of business activities in China, including research and development, manufacturing, sales and services.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Israel and the United States are currently engaged in talks to discuss the post-war future of Gaza on Tuesday, reports the Associated Press.

This occurs as the IDF offensive continues to push deeper inside Gaza and the West Bank in pursuit of Hamas militants. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had promises from four Arab nations, and Turkey, to help rebuild Gaza after the war.

However, those nations want the fighting to end, as well as the placement of markers toward the creation of a true Palestinian state that will have the right to exist alongside Israel. However, this is something Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vehemently opposed in the past. There's also contention between the allies on how Gaza will be governed when Hamas is defeated. Americans expressed the desire for the Palestinian Authority, which governs certain parts of the West Bank, to take over Gaza. But Israel has rejected the idea and has not put forth any alternatives at this point.

Blinkin has also been tasked with preventing the spread of war between Israel and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon. Hezbollah recently announced that it sent exploding drones at the Israeli army's northern command in the town of Safed in northern Israel and said it was their southernmost target thus far. An Israeli military spokesperson said there was a drone that fell at a base in the north but didn't cause any damage.

"There is lots to talk about, in particular about the way forward," Blinken said after meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The United States' position is that Israel should scale back its offensive in Gaza, which has been marked by bombings and drone strikes, to more precise operations.

What Is Next In Gaza?

However, Israeli tactics have remained the same as several hundred Palestinians a day lose their lives, according to Gaza health officials. Israel maintains that it has dismantled Hamas logistics and bases in northern Gaza but fighting continues in what the IDF calls "pockets" of resistance.

But the brunt of the ground fighting has moved to the southern city of Khan Younis.

"The fighting will continue throughout 2024," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Thus far authorities estimate that more than 23,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the fighting, with another 58,000 wounded. These numbers were furnished by the Health Ministry in Gaza.

About two-thirds of the dead of women and children. No designation has been made between fighters and civilian bystanders.

Monday saw the IDF lose nine fighters, with six of them dying in a blast that may have been an accident. The military says 185 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October.
Meta announces new policies and features that can protect teens from self-harm posts, videos, and other content on Facebook and Instagram.

These efforts were announced by the American tech giant on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Meta said that it wants to ensure safe, age-appropriate experiences for teens as they access its social media platform.

The giant tech firm said that it already developed over 30 tools and resources that can protect teens and support their parents in protecting them.

Now, Meta confirmed new additional protections that are focused on the kinds of content that teenagers see on Instagram and Facebook.

Meta to Protect Teens From Self-Harm Content on Facebook, Instagram

According to Tech Crunch's latest report, Meta will automatically limit the kind of content that teenagers can access and see on Instagram and Facebook.

"We already apply this setting for new teens when they join Instagram and Facebook and are now expanding it to teens who are already using these apps," said Meta via its official blog post.

The tech firm explained its new content recommendation controls called Reduce (for Facebook) and Sensitive Content Control (for Instagram).

Meta said that these new content recommendation controls will make it more difficult for teenagers to come across content or accounts that are possibly harmful; specifically containing self-harm content.

Meta said that the new Reduce and Sensitive Content Control features will limit what younger users can access via Search and Explore.

Read Also: Instagram Shadowbans Palestine Content, Claim Users; Meta Denies Accusations, Says Bug Causes It

What It Means for People Sharing Self-Harm Struggles

Meta clarified that it will still allow users to share their struggles with self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders on its social media platforms.

However, its policies don't recommend these kind of posts. This is why Meta is releasing new features and policies so that younger users will have a harder time seeing or finding them.

The social media giant said that it will now redirect users to expert resources for help whenever they search terms related to self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide.

"We already hide results for suicide and self-harm search terms that inherently break our rules and we're extending this protection to include more terms," explained Meta.

Meta confirmed that all these new features and policies will be rolled out for all users across the globe over the coming weeks.

Related Article: Meta Oversight Board Calls Israel-Hamas War Videos Removal a Mistake; Footage Restored on Facebook, Instagram
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is contributing to an increase in fraudulent activity on dating and social media apps, according to experts from the European Union's law enforcement agency.

Danger of AI

The top financial crime specialists at Europol told The Guardian that thieves may target several victims simultaneously using scripts developed by AI.

"There is a trend of more and more cases of people saying 'I'm a doctor in a war zone' and asking for funds to be transferred out of that zone. They say they also need to get the family out," said Sebastian Bley, director of the Europol economic crime division in The Hague.

Another Europol official, Burkhard Muhl, added: "It can involve tens of thousands of euros in one case."

Fraudsters are also targeting a wide variety of groups, from individual investors to tax authorities, via the use of complex "bogus boss" schemes that include phony websites, resumes, and investor profiles.

Devastating consequences, including the depletion of life savings and, tragically, suicide, may ensue.

The EU police force examines fraud patterns as part of its efforts to curb transnational and organized crime. Scammers are reportedly finding it simpler to employ AI, and there has been an uptick in misuse of big language technologies like ChatGPT.

Large language tools, according to Muhl, allow you to compose thousands of personalized communications in several languages, each with its own unique target audience and narrative, all from the comfort of your laptop, no matter where you are.

See Also: Chief Justice John Roberts Speaks on Dangers of Using AI in Court

Internet Scams

The Tinder Swindler, a Netflix documentary that went viral less than two years ago, detailed the story of a guy who used his false identity to defraud many women of their money. One of these victims lost approximately $270,000 in loans.

Bley and Muhl detailed the tragic outcomes and, in some instances, "revictimization" that occurred when unscrupulous financial advisors promised assistance in recovering lost funds.

Although numbers are lacking, Muhl did mention that investigators had heard stories of "people jumping out of the window" after losing their pension funds in investing schemes. According to Bley and Muhl, the most effective course of action is to contact the authorities. Yet, they hold the belief that investment fraud is not adequately reported due to the stigma associated with the subject.

Muhl warned that the victims are affected by more than just the monetary loss. Furthermore, it causes psychological harm.

British authorities have seen a 40% increase in general investment fraud via text messaging scams.

In the realm of fraud, AI is introducing scale efficiencies that have never been observed before, Bley said. He added that classic forms of fraud need a great deal of preparation time in order to build confidence with their victims via a lengthy storyline. This can be eliminated by AI, allowing for industrial-scale victim fishing.

See Also: Will AI Replace Human Influencers? Experts Say Yes as Artificial Intelligence Content Creators Arrive
The Biden administration signed a new labor regulation into law on Tuesday, January 9, with the goal of stopping workers from being wrongly classified as "independent contractors." This move has the potential to improve pay and legal rights for the millions of Americans who operate as gig workers.

This regulation, first proposed by the government 15 months ago, would replace an earlier standard repealed under the Trump administration and decreased the threshold for employee classification as contractors. Neither the federal minimum wage nor employment benefits like health insurance or paid sick days are available to these workers.

Employees' fundamental rights and protections are violated when they are wrongly classified as independent contractors, according to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su.

"This rule will help protect workers, especially those facing the greatest risk of exploitation, by making sure they are classified properly and that they receive the wages they've earned," she said, as reported by Fast Company.

Many large businesses are against the new regulation as they believe it would limit the freedom of workers who want to be contractors. On Tuesday, the United States Chamber of Commerce said it may sue to overturn the new regulation.

Opinions From Major App-Based Businesses

On the other hand, Fast Company reports that big app-based businesses are certain that the new regulation will not require them to reclassify their gig drivers.

According to CR Wooters, director of federal relations at Uber, "This rule does not materially change the law under which we operate, and won't impact the classification of the over one million Americans who turn to Uber to make money flexibly."

The largest app-based ridesharing and delivery platforms are represented by the Flex Association, which has said that it does not anticipate any immediate effect on the app-based gig economy. However, the organization warned that millions of entrepreneurs and small company owners may face more uncertainty as a result of the new guidelines.

Flex Association stated, "That's why we will seek to ensure implementation of this rule does not target workers who overwhelmingly turn to app-based platforms to earn supplemental income on their own terms."

DoorDash was also certain that the new regulations correctly classify their drivers as independent contractors. And as far as Lyft is concerned, the new regulation will not affect operations anytime soon.

See Also: Employment in Private Sector Shows Steady Growth for Consecutive 4th Month, Concluding 2023

Factors to Consider

Although it will not go into effect until March 11, the new law requires businesses to evaluate six factors to decide whether a person is an employee or a contractor without prioritizing one over the other, as reported by The Associated Press.

A worker's level of control, the need for special skills, the length of time they will work for the same company, and the amount of money they spend, like car payments, are all factors. Employers must determine whether such workers' occupations are essential to their firm.

See Also: US Markets End Year on High Note, Mixed Results in Asia and Europe
After several months former President Donald Trump is returning to the federal courthouse in DC while an appeals court hears arguments on Tuesday.

The case is simple, the court is hearing arguments on whether Trump is immune from prosecution beause he attempted to over the results of the 2020 election.

In an article from the Associated Press , it was reported that timely resolution is essential for special counsel Jack Smith and his team, eager to commence the case, currently on hold due to the appeal, before the November election. However, Trump's legal team, not only pursuing dismissal but also aiming to exploit a prolonged appeals procedure, could potentially push the trial beyond its initially planned March 4th commencement, possibly extending it even beyond the election.

Former President Trump remarked on his TruthSocial platform, "I will be attending the the Federal Appeals Court Arguments on Presidential Immunity in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity. I wasn't campaigning, the Election was long over. I was looking for voter fraud, and finding it, which is my obligation to do, and otherwise running running our Country. ".

The situation is challenging for all parties involved, as the prospect of indicting a former president, a precedent not witnessed before Trump, raises the crucial question of the extent to which Presidential protection extends in the realm of criminal prosecution.

What Is Trump's Legal Team Saying?

In the aforementioned Associated Press article, it's stated that Trump's legal team maintains that it does, contending that the courts lack the authority to examine a president's official actions. They argue that prosecuting their client marks a significant deviation from over two centuries of American history, potentially paving the way for future "politically motivated" cases.

The AP further disclosed that Smith's team asserts that presidents do not have absolute immunity and, regardless, the actions attributed to Trump in the indictment-such as conspiring to involve fraudulent electors in states won by Biden and urging Vice President Mike Pence to dispute the electoral vote count on January 6, 2021-clearly extend beyond the official duties of a president.

This is another update in Trump's saga of legal allegations and with issue emanating from different states such as New York . There is also Colorado's move to potentially remove Trump from the ballot entirely.
Airbnb revealed the best time to book and travel this 2024. Since the year is just starting, many people will definitely take advantage of it to try and see the world.

Some will start visiting places they've never been before to meet new people or just to find inner peace. Meanwhile, others will travel to different countries with their romantic partners to strengthen their relationships.

Traveling can benefit you no matter what your reason is. But, it would certainly cost you, especially if you're planning to visit popular destinations.

If you're one of the travelers this 2024, here's what Airbnb suggests you do.

When To Travel in 2024? Airbnb Reveals Best Time To Book

On Tuesday, Jan. 9, Airbnb revealed valuable insights that travelers can take advantage of to make better plans for their next getaway. These include the best time to book.

"For the best deals, guests should consider making a booking in March when prices for 2024 stays may be lower," said the American vacation rental firm.

Airbnb also provides tips to those who want to travel at a later date. The travel company said that September and early October are also good months for traveling since there could be a wider range of affordable stay prices during these months.

Aside from the best times to travel, Airbnb also gave other hacks that can help travelers find the best deals as they explore new iconic destinations:

Instead of booking expensive hotels, try choosing private rooms since hosts are improving their facilities for better stay-in experiences

Before booking, make sure to pay attention to special offers since some hosts offer more affordable prices or better perks for those who book at the last minute or in advance.

If you want to find new affordable listings, you can take advantage of Airbnb's "New Category" feature, which shows the newest homes added on the platform within the past 10 weeks.

Read Also: Holiday Travel Hassle Guide: How to Find Lost Luggage-Airline Compensations, Steps to Follow, Other Details

Best Travel Destinations 2024

Choosing the best for your travel plans this 2024 could be overwhelming, especially if you're a new traveler. Luckily, CNN Travel listed some of the best places that you can visit before the year ends:

Turkey's Black Sea Coast

Has historic villages and towns. Travelers can also enjoy numerous beaches, as well as adrenaline-producing activities.

Tainan, Taiwan

The special thing about Tainan is it is considered the street food capital of Taiwan. You can enjoy oyster omelets, beef soups, and other new dishes.

Culebra, Puerto Rico

For those who want to unwind and avoid other tourists, then Puerto Rico's Culebra Island is a must. It offers snorkeling, swimming, and other exciting outdoor activities.

Trans Dinarica Cycle Route, Balkans

If you love riding motorcycles or bicycles, then the Trans Dinarica Cycle Route in the Balkans could be your best destination option.

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

For historic architecture lovers, Saint John-located on Canada's east coast and New Brunswick-will surely excite you. The Saint John City Market, one of Canada's national historic sites, is just among the historical infrastructures in Saint John that your eyes can feast on.

Related Article: Surprisingly Affordable Travel Destinations You Probably Don't Know; Here's Where To Visit Soon!
Ukraine has found its air defense capabilities tested as Russia intensifies its barrage of missile and drone attacks.

As a result, as reported by the Associated Press, this could leave the country in an exposed state.

This statement came from a Ukrainian Air Force official. In another statement on national television Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat stated "Intense Russian air attacks force us to use a corresponding amount of air defense means. That's why we need more of them, as Russia keeps increasing it's air attack capabilities". Ihnat continued, "At the moment, we are completely dependent on the supply of guided air defense missiles, for both Soviet and Western systems ".

President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed a similar sentiment on January 7th 2024 during a Swedish defense conference "We lack a very concrete and understandable thing, that is air defense systems." He went on to say that, "We lack both on the battlefield and in our cities".

On the Russian side of the war, at a meeting with the Russian Military Brass, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated Ukraine's efforts to strengthen their military capabilities "Won't change the situation on the line of contact and will only drag out the military conflict".

"We retain the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact," Minister Shoigu said. "We will consistently continue to achieve the objectives of the special military operation". This is the terminology used by the Kremlin to describe the conflict in Ukraine.

How Does The West Fit In?

Looking over to the West where several countries have been providing various forms of aid there have been some recent hold-ups. In the same article, the Associated Press went on to assert that despite the intentions of the U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to send billions of dollars in additional aid to Kyiv, the plan is currently stalled in Congress. Additionally, Europe's commitment to deliver 1 million artillery shells within a year has fallen short, with only approximately 300,000 delivered to date.

In addition to Cyberattacks from Russian hackers, the war will likely continue and perhaps escalate.

However, there is a glimmer of positivity as there has been a significant prisoner-of-war exchange between the two parties.
Ecuador is in a state of chaos following the prison disappearance of a notorious gang leader and the raid on a live TV broadcast by armed and hooded men.

The country's president, Daniel Noboa, declared an "internal armed conflict" and ordered the South American nation's forces to "neutralize" several criminal groups. These are those who are accused of spreading extreme violence across the country.

Wave of Violence in Ecuador

On Tuesday, local media outlets reported that armed individuals were seen at a hospital and a university in the city of Guayaquil. The country's people were shocked as they watched the takeover of the Guayaquil-based network's live broadcast.

The armed men were seen forcing the staff of TC Television onto the floor of the studio as gunshots could be heard while others started to yell out. As per CNN, video footage posted on social media platforms also showed the incident that occurred at the state-owned network.

The nation's police later said that they were able to arrest all of the armed men and members of the media outlet were said to have been evacuated. In a statement, a member of the police said that 13 people in total were detained during the incident. Law enforcement officials also described the development as an "act of terrorism."

Earlier, police posted pictures of multiple individuals faced down with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Since Noboa declared a state of emergency across the country on Monday, explosions, police kidnappings, and prison disturbances have rocked Ecuador.

The decision was made after the disappearance of the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macia, also known as "Fito." The state of emergency was set to last for 60 days, and curfews were imposed while the police and the armed forces were mobilized to control disturbances to public order.

The notorious gang leader was first reported missing from his prison cell in the Regional prison complex in the violent port city of Guayaquil on Sunday. Authorities later said that they have charged two prison officials who were allegedly involved in Macias' probable escape, according to the Financial Times.

Read Also: Ecuador Orders Massive Manhunt After Notorious Gang Leader Jose Adolfo Macias Vanishes From Prison

Disappearance of Notorious Gang Leader

Officials have already dispatched roughly 3,000 police officers and soldiers to join the massive search to search for the dangerous criminal. Riots also followed Macias' disappearance in six jails while an unknown number of guards were taken hostage.

President Noboa said that they will not be negotiating with terrorists, adding that the narco-terrorist groups plan to intimidate them into giving in to their demands. When compared to its more violent neighbors, Ecuador used to be a relatively peaceful country.

Before his disappearance, Macias was serving a 34-year sentence that started in 2011 following his conviction on various charges, including drug trafficking, murder, and organized crime. But even behind bars, he remained a powerful figure for his gang.

Another notorious gang leader, Fabricio Colon, escaped Riobamba prison during the chaos on Monday night. The Ecuadorian prosecutor's office linked him to the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, who was a presidential candidate murdered in August last year, said The Guardian.

Related Article: Armed Gunmen Disrupt Live TV Broadcast in Ecuador
On Tuesday, the Fire Department confirmed that a construction accident involving a boom truck in northern Manhattan, New York City, injured at least five workers.

The accident occurred after 2 pm near West 207th Street and 9th Avenue in Inwood.

Workers Injured in NYC Construction Accident

FDNY rescue crews responded to 3880 9th Ave. before 2:30 pm after receiving reports of a crane collapse. FDNY crews determined it was not a crane collapse but a smaller boom truck. Fox News reported that authorities said the boom truck was transporting a load of plywood when it abruptly toppled over and collapsed.

According to BigRentz, a boom truck may travel like a regular truck and raise lighter loads than a crane, whereas a crane usually lifts heavier loads and remains in one place. Four people suffered from minor injuries, and one had serious non-life-threatening injuries. The five workers were all sent to a nearby hospital.

Images and video from the site showed victims being treated and transported. According to Fox 29, the cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Earlier Tuesday, the DOB advised the contractors and crane workers to take precautionary measures as a strong storm will arrive in the city, bringing winds up to 60 mph and heavy rain.

Read Also: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

NYC's Most Disastrous Crane Collapses

In 2008, two of the most catastrophic crane collapses in the city involved cranes operated by New York Crane and Equipment Corp. The city was forced to restructure its tower crane inspection and regulation procedure after nine deaths.

Authorities confirmed that a construction worker fell to his death later that year while assisting in the dismantling of a different company's crane. Chris Van Duyne was among the two crane operators whose licenses were suspended for eight months.

According to officials, the same individual operated the crane that caught fire on Wednesday. New York Crane and Van Duyne did not promptly respond to phone messages left on Thursday. No one has openly accused the crane operator or the crane company of any wrongdoing.

As officials await answers, the leader of the council's housing and building committee, City Council Member Pierina Sanchez, expressed concern that a crane company previously punished for safety violations was once again connected to a significant incident.

Sanchez said that it raises concern that a company that had a history of injuries and fatalities on-site was still doing business in the city of New York. Industry experts claimed that fifteen years ago, New York imposed stricter crane regulations than other states after several consecutive collapses.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Center for Building in North America, said the regulations requiring multiple city-specific licenses and high insurance liability have the unintended consequence of preventing new businesses from entering New York's market.

Related Article: [WATCH] Construction Crane in NYC Catches Fire, Collapses; 6 People injured




After a series of meetings with high-level Israeli officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reached an agreement to initiate a United Nations-led assessment mission.

The mission aims to facilitate the return of civilians who have been displaced by warfare in northern Gaza, ultimately working towards restoring a sense of normalcy in the besieged enclave.

UN Assessment Mission in Northern Gaza

"As the situation in northern Gaza calms down and the Israel Defense Forces reduce their presence, a plan has been agreed upon for the UN to conduct an assessment mission," stated Blinken during a press conference in Tel Aviv., as per ABC News.

The secretary of state said the assessment will identify the necessary measures to ensure the safe return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in the north. Blinken vigorously defended Israel against genocide allegations made by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, stating that the case diverts attention from crucial conflict-related endeavors.

During one of his many visits to Israel, Blinken publicly expressed some criticism of the government, specifically addressing the opposition from right-wing officials towards the creation of an independent Palestinian state. He urged them to reconsider their actions that may hinder the Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively.

The secretary was also questioned about the recent statements made by two Israeli ministers regarding the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. The State Department strongly criticized these statements, deeming them "inflammatory and irresponsible" just last week.

Blinken stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given him reassurances that the government's position did not involve forcibly resettling Palestinians beyond the enclave's border. However, gaining permission from the Israeli government to investigate options for those displaced within Gaza's perimeter was anything but certain.

According to US officials, the Israeli government has been hesitant to permit outside assistance into Gaza since the war began. They are concerned that such aid could unintentionally support Hamas fighters. Adjusting the country's position often necessitates direct diplomacy with top cabinet members.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East noted that a significant number of individuals in the Gaza Strip, representing the majority of its population, have experienced displacement at various times throughout the conflict.

The agency has faced significant challenges in providing humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza and communicating information about the conditions in the area since the start of the conflict. In closed door meetings, Blinken discussed Israel's plans to scale down its campaign and reiterated the unwavering support of the Biden administration in its fight against Hamas until the designated terrorist group is no longer a threat.

Read Also: EU Council President Charles Michel Steps Down Early, Sparking Tensions in Finding Swift Successor

Blinken Refutes Genocide Accusation Against Israel

Meanwhile, Israel is facing serious allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The lawsuit was filed by South Africa at the end of December. Blinken dismissed the accusation as baseless, stating that the lawsuit diverts attention from the ongoing conflict and undermines the seriousness of the threats faced by Israelis and Jews.

The conflict erupted on October 7as Hamas initiated an assault on southern Israel resulting in the loss of 1,139 lives, as reported by Israeli authorities. According to Palestinian officials, the recent events in Gaza have resulted in significant destruction and a tragic loss of life, with a large number of casualties among women and children.

Blinken suggested that the war could have come to a close on October 8 had Hamas chosen to relinquish their weapons and free the hostages. Israel has reported that a significant number of individuals, who were taken captive by Palestinian armed groups on October 7, are still being held in Gaza.

Tragically, a number of individuals have also lost their lives while in captivity.In a meeting earlier today, Blinken emphasized the need to prevent additional harm to civilians and safeguard civilian infrastructure in Gaza, as reported by the US Department of State.

The secretary of state expressed optimism that Israel would be able to continue its pursuit of regional integration after the war, building on its recent normalisation agreements with the UAE and other countries, which were brokered by the US.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside the hotel where Blinken was holding discussions and called for a ceasefire to secure the release of the captives.

During the conversation, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant emphasized to Blinken the importance of exerting more pressure on Iran. He stressed that this approach is crucial in order to prevent any potential escalation in the region.

"It is crucial to increase the pressure on Iran in order to prevent further escalation in the region," stated Gallant in a government release, according to Aljazeera.

Heightened tensions arose on the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday as the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah engaged in a series of exchanges. During his visit to Jordan, Blinken expressed significant concern about the situation along the Lebanese border, raising fears of a potential escalation in the region.

Related Article: The United States Looks Toward Post-War Gaza as Israeli Offensive Presses On




Hong Kong: Music courses open for applications

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department's Music Office is recruiting students for its Outreach Music Interest Courses, providing training in Chinese and Western musical instruments.

A new workshop has been added to the course - Introduction to AI Music Creation, where participants will learn how to use artificial intelligence music creation tools such as AIVA and Tone Transfer, and related music copyright concepts.

Courses will start in March and run until August. They will be conducted in Cantonese at venues throughout Hong Kong.

The application deadline is January 30.

Click here for details.

This story has been published on: 2024-01-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China sees 4.8-pct drop in criminal cases in 2023

Xinhua) 10:12, January 10, 2024

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China witnessed a 4.8-percent decline in criminal cases in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Public security agencies across China dismantled over 1,900 criminal organizations and cracked around 29,000 criminal cases in 2023, the ministry said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Regarding telecom and online fraud activities based in northern Myanmar and affecting Chinese citizens, Chinese police carried out multiple rounds of crackdowns in collaboration with Myanmarese counterparts, with around 41,000 suspects transferred from Myanmar to Chinese custody, according to the ministry.

Chinese police maintained a tough stance on crimes related to food and drug security throughout the past year, with around 19,000 such cases solved and 28,000 suspects arrested, the ministry said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Norwegian parliament approved the controversial practice of deep-sea mining by opening its waters for exploration, sparking outcry from various environmental groups.

The development marks a significant step towards commercial deep-sea mining and comes after the nation's parliament formally agreed to allow the exploration of roughly 108,000 square miles of Arctic seabed. This area is larger than the United Kingdom and between Norway and Greenland.

Norwegian Parliament Approves Deep-Sea Mining

Despite mounting concern from scientists, politicians, and environmental groups, officials decided about the potential damage that deep-sea mining could have on marine life. In a statement, the head of Greenpeace Norway, Frode Pleym, said the agreement is a "huge step in the wrong direction."

For quite some time, the deep ocean, one of the world's last untouched habitats, has been eyed for its vast trove of resources. These include copper, cobalt, zinc, and gold, which are in high demand for the green economy. They are used in everything from wind turbines to electric vehicle batteries, as per CNN.

Last year, a Norwegian study discovered a "substantial" amount of metals and minerals on the seabed of the country's extended continental shelf. Proponents of deep-sea mining argued that extracting these resources will allow a faster transition to a low-carbon economy and could come at a lower environmental cost than terrestrial mining.

However, scientists warn that very little is known about the depths of the world's oceans and that only a small fraction of them have been explored by humans. Many of these experts are concerned about the impacts on these ecosystems as they are already affected by pollution, trawling, and the climate crisis.

The deep ocean in Norway is home to many marine species, from krill to whales, as well as other types of deep-sea animals. There are many of these that humans have not yet discovered. Pleym warned, "We do not know what we risk losing for the exact reason that we do not know what the deep sea holds."

Read Also: German Farmers Use Tractors To Block Road Access in Protest of Subsidy Cuts

Potential Risks to Marine Life

The new bill passed on Tuesday will accelerate the hunt for precious metals in the deep ocean. While the plan initially concerns Norwegian waters, the agreement on mining in international waters could also be reached within this year, according to BBC.

The country's government said it was cautious with the new agreement and would only start issuing licenses once further environmental studies have been conducted. The proposal would allow other countries to apply to mine various resources in Norwegian waters.

The development could make Norway the first country in history to approve the controversial practice of deep-sea mining. The latest plan is also expected to pass smoothly after the government's plans received cross-party support last year.

An international NGO, the Environmental Justice Foundation, said the bottom line is that any possible benefits from deep-sea mining "do not outweigh the environmental and economic risks." CNBC noted that the decision could put Norway at odds with the United Kingdom and the European Commission.

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New York has started the evictions of migrants in the region who have hit the 60-day shelter limit, prompting calls to abolish the deadline for asylum seekers.

One migrant, 39-year-old Joana Rivas arrived from Venezuela four months ago and had slowly found semblance of stability in New York City. She occasionally picked up cleaning jobs and enrolled her nine-year-old daughter at a public school in Manhattan.

New York Migrant Evictions

As the asylum seeker continued navigating her new city, a crucial anchor for her was the free housing she was given at a hotel-turned-shelter near Times Square. However, on Tuesday, her time at the shelter had run out. She had to keep her daughter home from school and pack their things to apply for new housing.

While outside a welcoming center for migrants in Midtown Manhattan, she said she did not know where to go until she got new housing. Rivas noted that she came to the welcoming center to see what they would tell her, hoping her daughter has somewhere to stay, as per the New York Times.

The city has started the eviction of dozens of migrant families that had already reached their 60-day limits on stays in the homeless shelter system. This is the latest effort by officials to urge more of the asylum seekers to leave and find permanent housing.

There are nearly 70,000 migrants who are living in a patchwork of hotels, homeless shelters, and giant, winterized tents that the city set up. The first wave of evictions came with an unexpected and significant hurdle.

Authorities in the city announced that they would temporarily evacuate 1,900 migrants currently housed in a tented shelter site in southeast Brooklyn. The decision was made due to a rainstorm heading for the city on Tuesday night.

The evictions are part of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' efforts to ease the pressure on the region's strained shelter system. In the heart of the city's Theater District, the roughly 40 families that left Row NYC were the first that are expected to leave city shelters in the next few weeks, according to Yahoo News.

Read Also: DOJ Sues Texas Over New Law Allowing Migrant Arrests

City's 60-Day Shelter Limit

Some of the asylum seekers who were evicted on Tuesday immediately started to re-apply for beds, while others said that they managed to find more permanent accommodations outside of the system.

The city mayor imposed the 60-day shelter limit in October for homeless migrant families, noting that it was needed to relieve a shelter system that was overwhelmed by migrants crossing the southern U.S. border.

On Monday, advocates rallied to oppose the shelter limit, demanding the city cancel the eviction notices to families with children living in several Midtown hotels. In a statement, the president and CEO of WIN, Christine Quinn said that the rule is simply harassment.

Quinn noted that officials believe that forcing children out of their beds will make the families leave and go back to their countries of origin. However, she warned that it would instead force them to sleep on the floor of offices and the streets, said CBS News.

Related Article: New York City Mayor Eric Adams Sues Transportation Companies for $700 Million for Transfer of 30K Migrants
(Photo : MANDEL NGAN,NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on November 11, 2022 shows US President Joe Biden (L) addresses the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate from the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, DC on June 17, 2022 and China's President Xi Jinping (R) speaks after walking with members of the Chinese Communist Party's new Politburo Standing Committee, the nation's top decision-making body, to meet the media in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 23, 2022. - President Joe Biden will urge Chinese leader Xi Jinping to restrain North Korea's "worst tendencies" and tell him that Pyongyang's arms build-up will prompt an "enhanced" US military presence in Asia, a senior official said November 12, 2022. In a December 14, 2022 meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Biden will tell Xi that China has "an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea's worst tendencies," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

US and Chinese officials held a meeting at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday to address US-PRC relations, as stated in a news release by the Pentagon on Tuesday. The discussions focused on military-to-military communication and the significance of operational safety in the Indo-Pacific region.

The discussions, involving Dr. Michael Chase from the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China and Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao from China's Deputy Director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, took place this year following a series of previous cancellations by the PRC.

US-China Military Officials Discuss Relations

The meetings have been taking place since 2005, with the most recent one being held in January 2020 in Beijing. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Pentagon emphasized the United States' unwavering commitment to its allies in the Indo-Pacific and around the world.

The statement also highlighted the US's dedication to operating safely and responsibly within the boundaries of international law. Additionally, it was mentioned that Chase reaffirmed the United States' dedication to the "One China" policy.

During the meeting, it was announced by a defense official that both parties have agreed to organize military-to-military exchanges for the remainder of the year. This schedule may potentially include anticipated discussions between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the recently appointed Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun.

In previous conversations, we have engaged in discussions regarding the significance of crisis communications and crisis management. It is worth noting that they tend to emphasize crisis prevention. However, this topic has been and will likely remain a subject of ongoing discussion.

The discussions this week come after a meeting between China's Ji Xinping and President Joe Biden in November, which Biden described as "highly constructive and productive."

Per CNN, the Pentagon stated on Tuesday that it will maintain ongoing discussions with counterparts in the People's Republic of China regarding future engagements between defense and military officials at various levels.

Read Also: Antony Blinken Announces UN Assessment Mission in Northern Gaza as Cost of Conflict on Children Far Too High

US, China Tackle Taiwan Reunification

During a briefing with reporters before the meetings, a senior US defense official acknowledged that the resumption of talks is a positive development. However, the official emphasized that there are still notable differences between the two militaries.

One of these differences is the potential implications of China's movement towards reunification with Taiwan, which could potentially involve the US in aiding Taiwan's defense. The official spoke to the press on the condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of the meeting.

China expressed strong dissatisfaction with Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022, as it considers the island to be part of its territory and interprets visits by foreign government officials as a form of acknowledging Taiwan's sovereignty. She held the distinction of being the most senior American official to make a visit to Taiwan in a quarter of a century.

In recent years, the Pentagon has encountered growing challenges in establishing communication with the Chinese military due to a significant increase in intercepts between US and Chinese aircraft and ships. Based on the Pentagon's latest report on China's military power, it appears that Beijing has been uncooperative in terms of military-to-military communications and meetings with the Pentagon over the past couple of years.

According to The Independent, the report emphasized the importance of engaging in discussions to mitigate the potential for operational incidents or miscalculations escalating into more serious crises or conflicts.

Related Article: Xi Jinping's Economic Growth Strategy Raises Concerns of New Trade War
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds focused on boosting education and healthcare opportunities in an expansive agenda laid out for legislators in her annual state address on Tuesday evening.

Reynolds demanded significant revisions to the state's approaches to mental health and substance use, as well as how special education was provided in schools.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Proposes Improvement in Education, Healthcare

Reynolds began her annual Condition of the State address by reflecting on last week's high school shooting in Perry. She expressed gratitude to first responders, several of whom were in the audience.

On Monday, she did not mention gun laws, which brought college and high school students to the Capitol Rotunda to support gun control measures.

She talked about "troubling" performance measures for students with disabilities in the classroom despite funding levels for special education that are higher than the national average. She said she would target the nine regional agencies, known as Area Education Agencies, which currently handle the provision of special education services in Iowa.

Concerns have already been raised about potential agency reforms, prompting Reynolds to provide clarification to families who were told they were planning to end the AEAs or even cut services their families depend on. She claimed that it was categorically false.

Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum expressed concern that rural Iowa will be disproportionately affected by the possibility of further privatization of education services.

A strong victory of Reynolds in her re-election in 2022 allowed her to push through most of the proposals she made about the state's status last year. On Tuesday, she celebrated a few of those programs, including her landmark school choice bill to create publicly funded educational savings accounts that families could use for private school education.

"There are those who said we did too much, too fast. That change wasn't necessary or that it would make us worse off," Reynolds said.

In her speech, she pledged to reduce taxes, increase work-based learning opportunities, protect minors from online pornography, and strengthen Iowa's laws governing foreign property ownership.

This year, Reynolds also prioritized mental health and substance use for the Legislature, investing $20 million of Iowa's settlement funds from opioid lawsuits and streamlining the state's behavioral health administration.

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Democrats Support Reynolds

Reynolds requested the Legislature to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for moms earning less than $42,000 a year from 60 days to 12 months.

However, it was not as expansive as legislation Democrats had previously suggested increasing the Medicaid benefit for all mothers. She has advocated for a few health care measures, such as parental leave for state employees and over-the-counter contraception, supported by Democrats but failed to win over some Republicans.

House Speaker Pat Grassley said that "we can't just ignore" the measure, but he would not also commit to the legislation passing a majority of his caucus.

Democratic House leader Jennifer Konfrst hopes that Republicans and Democrats in the House will discuss ways to address the goals they share.

She said they were hopeful that they would be bipartisan and work together. However, she asked, "The question is, will Republicans include us in this conversation or not?"

Related Article: Federal Judge Blocks Iowa's Book Ban Law, Curriculum Discussing LGBTQ Issues




The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warned that affordable internet is at risk, noting that it could be forced to abandon its internet subsidy for low-income families.

This could happen if it does not receive additional funding and the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is currently only funded through April this year. This is despite an effort by White House officials to push for a $6 billion extension.

Affordable Internet at Risk Due to Low Funding

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the House and Senate are reportedly planning to submit a bill that would request the extension of the program. The extension bill, which is known as the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, will be introduced in Congress tomorrow. It seeks to provide a $7 billion extension for the program.

However, the proposal will have to get through objections from Republicans in the House and Senate with oversight of the ACP. They argue that the agency has not fulfilled its obligation to report statistics about who has signed up for the program, including those who had no internet access prior to signing up, as per The Verge.

The FCC previously noted that nearly 23 million households have enrolled in the program, which includes 1,700 internet providers. Furthermore, the agency pointed out that "rural households have enrolled at a higher rate" compared to households located in urban areas.

The ACP was first launched in 2021 as part of United States President Joe Biden's administration's infrastructure bill. Households that qualify for the program can get a $30 monthly subsidy toward internet service that can go up to $75 for certain households on tribal lands.

The amount can also go up to as high as $100 in discounts on computer hardware. Programs that are aimed at expanding broadband internet access have been part of the Biden administration's agenda since taking office.

GOP opposition to the program also prompted some lawmakers to claim that some of the households who were receiving the subsidy already had broadband service before the ACP even existed, according to ArsTechnica.

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Facing GOP Opposition

They also threatened to withhold funding and criticized what they described as the "Biden administration's reckless spending spree." These complaints were contained in a letter sent by the highest-ranking Republicans on committees with oversight responsibility over the ACP.

While there is no solution in sight, the FCC announced that it would be forced to start handing out notices about the expected end of the program. The agency said that there are less than four months before the ACP loses funding, noting that it expects to start taking steps to wind down the program in the near future.

The development could be significantly detrimental to many people who rely on affordable internet for their daily needs. A father with 10 children living at home, Walter Prescher said that such access is needed to keep their household running smoothly.

During an interview, he noted that the money they save with the subsidy can go towards doing other activities for their kids. Preacher and his family live in College Station, Texas and he qualified for the ACP under his status as a disabled veteran, said CBS News.

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Former United States First Lady Melania Trump announced the passing of her mother, Amalija Knavs at age 78.

The wife of former United States President Donald Trump said that her mother was a strong woman who always carried herself with "grace, warmth, and dignity." She added that Knavs was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law.

Amalija Knavs Dead at 78

Melania said that she and her family will sorely miss her mother beyond measure and will work to continue honoring and loving her legacy. The death of Melania's mother was also confirmed by a campaign adviser for former President Trump, as per CNN.

The sudden passing of Knavs comes after Trump said that his mother-in-law was "very ill" during his New Year's Eve celebration at his home in South Florida. At the time, the former president was hopeful that Melania's mother was recovering.

His remarks came after mentioning that he had gotten off the phone with his wife who was at a Miami hospital with her ill mother. The Republican businessman continued to say, "It's a tough one, a very tough one."

The former president's wife was also absent from the family's Christmas celebrations as she was busy tending to the health of her sick mother. In a statement, a source close to Melania said that she had always been very devoted to her entire family. This is why it was no surprise that she chose to spend her holidays with her ailing mother, according to Fox News.

Throughout the years, Melania maintained a close relationship with her mother and her father, 79-year-old Viktor Knavs. The elderly couple has been living at Mar-a-Lago in the past few years, where the former first lady and the former president also reside.

A source close to the family said that Melania's mother had an excellent relationship with her daughter and with Barron. They noted that she was unselfish and always took care of her entire family.

Read Also: New York Faces Calls To End 60-Day Shelter Time Limit as Evictions of Migrants Begin

Melania Trump's Mother

The source added that in particular, Barron grew close to Melania's mother, noting that there were times when he was with his grandparents more than with his mother and a lot more than his father.

The Knavs were sworn in as United States citizens at a federal court in New York City in August 2018 under Trump's presidency. At the time, the couple's attorney said that they travailed a wonderful journey, similar to millions of others, in trying to get citizenship and waiting the requisite period of time.

The development came amid bitter debate over immigration and follows the Trump administration's adopting of a "zero-tolerance" policy for unlawful crossings at the border. There, roughly 2,000 children were separated from their families during a six-week period in April and May of that year.

The Knavs came from present-day Slovenia, which was the place where Melania was born in April 1970, based on records from the White House Historical Association. Melania's mother is a former textile worker and her husband, Viktor, was a former car dealer prior to coming to the U.S., said Yahoo Sports.

Related Article: US, China Hold Military-to-Military Talks for First Time Since 2021 To Discuss Relations
Bhutan's elections have concluded and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) of former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay won the majority of seats in the parliamentary race.

The party will be the one to form the new government that would lead the Himalayan Kingdom after polls were dominated by the economic crisis. On Tuesday, it was reported that the PDP won 30 of the 47 National Assembly seats in order to return to power, adding that the Bhutan Tendrel Party had secured 17 seats.

People's Democratic Party Wins Bhutan's Election

The latest race was the country's fourth general election since its transformation from a traditional monarchy to a parliamentary form of government in 2008. Bhutan's Election Commission is also expected to make its final declaration on Wednesday regarding the vote.

The election campaigns focused on economic growth and opportunity despite Bhutan's use of a "Gross National Happiness" index in place of gross domestic product (GDP). The two parties that fought in the elections were committed to a constitutionally enshrined philosophy of a government that measures its success by the "happiness and wellbeing of the people," as per Aljazeera.

The 58-year-old former prime minister is now expected to return to his old position. He had previously served as the leader of the opposition in the nation's first parliament when it was established 15 years ago, which was soon after the start of the reign of the present king.

Tobgay sounded the alarm regarding Bhutan's "unprecedented economic challenges and mass exodus." The PDP manifesto cited government statistics that showed one in every eight people were "struggling to meet their basic needs for food" as well as other necessities.

Roughly half a million voters selected the members of parliament from a list of 94 candidates who were presented by the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP) and the PDP. The first round of voting was held in November, which eliminated three other parties, including the governing center-left Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa party.

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Himalayan Kingdom's Economic Crisis

Bhutan, which is located between China and India, has a population of fewer than 800,000 people and is roughly the size of Switzerland. It has deep economic and trade relations with its southern neighbor, India, which is its biggest donor and economic partner, according to Reuters.

The region has no formal diplomatic relations with China but is currently in discussions with Beijing to resolve border disputes. These negotiations are under close observation by India, which has its own border dispute with China.

A voter from Punakha, 49-year-old Karma said that the most important thing that the people of Bhutan need now is economic growth and the growth of their own. He added that many people have been left unemployed and even those who are working get salaries that are not enough to support the growth of their family.

The World Bank said that the Himalayan Kingdom's economy grew at a rate of 1.7% over the last five years. Unemployment is considered a chronic problem and an exodus of young people in search of higher education and jobs abroad is undermining Bhutan's economic potential, said the Associated Press.

Related Article: US, China Hold Military-to-Military Talks for First Time Since 2021 To Discuss Relations
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited arms factories this week amid criticism of the country's arms transfers with Russia.

Kim's visit comes as nearly 50 countries criticized Russia's procurement and use of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine.

Kim Jong Un Visits North Korean Arms Factories

According to KCNA, Kim emphasized the recent shortcomings in the organization of munitions production. He also called for the readjustment, highlighting the strategic importance of producing major weapons.

KCNA photos showed Kim's visit to a munitions factory, examining mobile short-range missile launch vehicles.

On Tuesday, a joint statement using the initials of North Korea's official name was released and said Russia's use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provided valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK.

The White House reported that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was on a phone call with his South Korean colleague, Chang Ho-jin, on Tuesday. Sullivan emphasized that he condemned North Korea's transfer of the missiles to Russia.

According to US national security council spokesman John Kirby, Russia fired more of these weapons at Ukraine, including one that landed in Kharkiv following the first confirmed uses of North Korean ballistic missiles on December 30 and January 2.

On Wednesday, Kirby stated at a briefing that the US and its allies will bring up the issue with the UN Security Council. Kim said that the time has come to define South Korea as a state most hostile towards the country.

He accused Seoul of inciting confrontation and an arms buildup and urged his nation to increase its military capabilities for self-defense and its nuclear war deterrent. He claimed that the deteriorating relations between the two Koreas represent a new phase of change and an unavoidable reality.

"We would by no means unilaterally bring a great event by the overwhelming strength in the Korean peninsula, but we have no intention of avoiding a war as well," Kim said.

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North Korea Accelerates War Preparations

Furthermore, Kim declared that a peaceful reunification was unattainable during last month's year-end party meeting. He also stated that the government would implement a decisive policy change in relations with South Korea.

Kim has ordered the North Korean military to prepare for war with the munitions industry due to an unprecedented threat from the US. This week, he addressed the country's goals for the upcoming year at a party meeting.

North Korea will carry out weapon tests to update its nuclear arsenal. Experts believe Kim intends to use the bolstered arsenal as leverage in upcoming negotiations with Washington, possibly following the 2024 US presidential election.

Related Article: North Korea Fires 200 Artillery at Sea Border, Prompting South Korea To Order Yeonpyeong Evacuation




A significant attack by the Houthi group in the Red Sea was successfully thwarted on Tuesday night by the US Navy and the UK's Royal Navy.

The US and UK forces effectively destroyed 18 one-way drones and tIKree missiles that were aimed at commercial ships.

According to Centcom's report on X, the incident unfolded at approximately 9:15 p.m. local time.

Us, UK Shoot Down Houthi Drones, Missiles

The Houthis deployed a series of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, all of which were described as having been designed by Iran. Centcom has reported that the weapons were launched from areas in Yemen under Houthi control.

On Tuesday night, Centcom stated that the Houthi missiles and drones were aimed at an area through which numerous merchant vessels were passing.

Since November 19, the Houthis have carried out 26 attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea. Their most recent target was the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier traveling from Turkey to India.

The group claimed responsibility for initiating the attacks, citing their opposition to Israel's military actions in Gaza.

The operation involved fighter jets from the Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and four destroyers, including one from the UK. There were no injuries or damage reported.

Last month, the US established an international maritime coalition to address the attacks. As a result, certain shipping lines have opted for the longer sea route around southern Africa, bypassing the Red Sea entirely.

The Houthis have expressed their determination to persist with their attacks until a resolution is reached regarding the conflict in Gaza.

A drone launched from Yemen was successfully intercepted by US forces over the weekend. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, reported that the Houthis had recently deployed an explosives-laden sea drone in shipping lanes, marking a significant development in the ongoing conflict.

Read Also: Deep-Sea Mining: Norway Approves Controversial Practice, Sparks Outcry

Red Sea Tensions

According to Cooper, numerous countries have affiliations with ships that have been targeted, although the Houthis claim they are specifically aiming for vessels linked to Israel.

During the hijacking incident, the Galaxy Leader, which was under the operation of the Japanese shipping line NYK, had a crew consisting mostly of individuals from the Philippines. It is worth noting that the vessel was ultimately owned by a company associated with an Israeli businessman. No other vessels have shown any apparent connections to Israel.

A draft resolution condemning the attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and calling for an immediate end to such actions, as well as the release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew, is scheduled for a vote on January 10 at the United Nations Security Council in New York.

During a recent security council briefing, Japan's UN envoy, Yamazaki Kazuyuki, expressed strong condemnation over the armed seizure and ongoing detention of the Galaxy Leader and its crew. The envoy conveyed Japan's deep outrage regarding this matter.

"There is absolutely no justification for accepting such an unfair situation, and we firmly insist on the immediate and unconditional release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew," he stated firmly.

In October, a conflict broke out in Gaza after an armed group launched a surprise attack across the border, resulting in the loss of 1,139 lives in Israel. Since Israel initiated its assault, the death toll in Gaza has tragically reached 23,210.

Related Article: US Intelligence Believes Russia's Reliance on North Korea, Iran is Apparent
BEDFORD  A Vinton man was found guilty in Bedford Circuit Court on Tuesday of one felony count of election fraud, making a false statement on paperwork, while attempting to run for the District 1 seat on the Bedford County Board of Supervisors last spring.

Dean Douglas Davison, 40, pleaded no contest to the charge. He was sentenced to three years, all suspended, given a year of supervised probation and fined $500, Bedford County Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance said.

Nance said the Bedford County Registrars Office noticed last May when Davison dropped off paperwork for required signatures to run for the board seat, a large amount of the handwritten signatures were eerily similar.

Registrar Barbara Gunter notified the Bedford County Commonwealth Attorneys Office, by statute, of the flagged signatures and an investigation was launched that led to Davisons arrest in late May, Nance said.

Nance said as the registrars office delved deeper into examining the signatures, they found a few cases where the signers did not live at the addresses listed and two other instances where the alleged signees were deceased.

Reached after the hearing Tuesday, Davison maintained his innocence and said he didnt do anything improperly or intentional. He said he doesnt trust the Bedford court system and decided to enter a no contest plea rather than risking a jury trial.

I had to do whats best for my family, Davison said of the plea.

He said he collected signatures at local convenience stores and had no idea some were false.

I took them for face value, Davison said.

Davison in 2021 ran as a Libertarian candidate against Del. Terry Austin, a Republican in the Virginia House of Delegates 19th District. In that three-candidate race, Davison drew 640 votes, just less than 2% of the district vote, Virginia Department of Election results show.

When asked Tuesday if he plans to run for local office again, he said he does not.

Davison doesnt have any previous criminal history, which factored into the suspended sentence and fine, Nance said.

Nance said by state law signatures gathered for those running for office must be valid and correct and the person signing the document must sign an affidavit saying they were properly witnessed and he or she consents to the jurisdiction of the courts in resolving any disputes concerning the circulation of petitions for public office or signatures therein. They further must state they understand falsely signing the affidavit is a felony punishable by a maximum fine of up to $2,500 and/or imprisonment up to 10 years.

That law is there for a reason, to make sure we have fair and free elections, Nance said. Barbara Gunter and the individuals working in her office take their duties very seriously. They caught this at a very early stage.  He had not filled out the full number of alleged signatures to get his name on a ballot. Its taken very seriously both by this office and the registrars office.

Nance said four alleged signees that were checked denied signing the petition, in addition to the two names who were deceased.

A prosecutor of 23 years in Bedford County, Nance said there have been times signatures were flagged for further review, but this is the first time he could recall an election fraud charge conviction resulting from a resident seeking public office.

He commended Gunter and her staff for doing an amazing job of flagging the signatures and bringing them to his offices attention.

Were very appreciative of their diligence and their duties, Nance said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed to support Egypt's economic reforms after meeting with the North African authorities on Tuesday in Washington.

The North African authorities and Yellen discussed expanding Egypt's $3 billion International Monetary Fund loan program.

Yellen Vows Support to Egypt's Economic Reforms

On Tuesday, an IMF spokesperson said during their visit to Washington that the Egyptian officials, including the country's finance minister and central bank governor, were scheduled to meet with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva. However, further details were not provided.

In November, Georgieva told Reuters that as Egypt battles the economic fallout from Israel's invasion of Gaza, the IMF was seriously considering extending the country's $3 billion loan program.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held high-level meetings during his visit to the Middle East to stop the Israel-Gaza war from expanding into a wider regional conflict.

Egypt has been severely impacted by recent attacks on Red Sea vessels and the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip amid high foreign debt levels, which might disrupt tourism bookings and the import of natural gas.

According to the statement from the Treasury Department, Yellen met with Egyptian finance minister Mohamed Maait, minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, and governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Hassan Abdalla to discuss challenges with Egypt from the Gaza war.

"Secretary Yellen underscored strong United States support for Egypt and its economic reform program. She underscored the goal of bolstering Egypt's economy and supporting inclusive, sustainable growth," the Treasury said.

Egypt's $3 billion loan program agreed with the IMF in December 2022 collapsed after the North African country failed to let its currency float freely or make progress on the sale of state assets. The US, the IMF's largest shareholder, postponed payments of approximately $700 million that were scheduled to be made in 2023.

Read Also: 'X-Men' Actor Adan Canto Dies at 42; Cause of Death Revealed

Egypt's Economic Situation

Egypt began the new year by raising prices for key services as the government attempted to increase revenue and expand its IMF rescue package. The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company reported that household electricity prices were raised between 16% and 26%. The cost of electricity increased by almost 20% for industries.

Furthermore, metro and train ticket rates have also increased, while internet package prices from the state-run Telecom Egypt have increased by more than 30%.

Egypt's real gross domestic product growth for 2024 was downgraded by the World Bank on Tuesday from 3.7% in an earlier estimate to 3.5%. According to the report, the bank also reduced the nation's GDP growth rate for 2023 to 3.8% from 4.2%.

On Sunday, a report published by Fitch Solutions projected that Egypt's real GDP will expand by 4.1% by 2024.

Related Article: Yellen Criticizes China's Treatment of US Companies, Urges Beijing To Adopt Market Reforms




TOKYO, Jan 11 ( News On Japan ) - Kick Streamer 'Johnny Somali' has been slapped with a 200,000 yen fine for obstructing business by broadcast loud music from his phone in a gyudon restaurant in Osaka.

In his first trial last December, 24-year-old Ismael Ramsey Khalid denied intentionally playing loud music, saying, "While I admit to filming in the restaurant, the sound came on automatically."

His defense argued that the music was not played continuously by him but was triggered in response to viewer reactions during the live stream.

The prosecution claimed, "Selfish acts of self-promotion and rampant online distribution of bad behavior need to be punished." They emphasized the need for an appropriate sentence in light of a proliferation of nuisance acts broadcast on the internet.

In his final statement, Khalid expressed remorse, apologizing for the situation and vowing not to film and distribute videos of any kind in the future.

The Osaka District Court, in its ruling on January 10th, stated, "The defendant's action of filming inside a restaurant with other customers and playing loud music is malicious. He claims the music played automatically, but he could have turned down the volume immediately. His criminal responsibility cannot be overlooked," and thus handed down the sentence of a 200,000 yen fine.

A separate case involving trespassing on a construction site in Osaka was dropped.
New Delhi: The Lakshadweep island has come to spotlight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit during his South India tour. The controversy began when Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the island and shares pictures of his visit in social media. Prime Minister wrote, I am still in awe of the stunning beauty of its islands and the incredible warmth of its people. For those who wish to embrace the adventurer in them, Lakshadweep has to be on your list,

For those who wish to embrace the adventurer in them, Lakshadweep has to be on your list. During my stay, I also tried snorkelling  what an exhilarating experience it was! pic.twitter.com/rikUTGlFN7  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2024

These pictures were shared by Prime Minister Modi and soon landed into a controversy and a diplomatic row started between India and Maldives. According to reports, Maldives saw this post as a threat to its tourism sector since it attracts a lot of Indian tourists.

How Maldives Tourism depends on India?

According to sources, Maldives generate a lot of its revenue from the Indian tourists visiting the country every year. Over 2 lakh tourists visited the city in 2023. As soon the Maldives Ministers made derogatory remarks against PM Modi, users started venting out their anger and stood in support of PM Modi including Bollywood actors who had shown solidarity with our PM.

Famous Foods of Lakshadweep you must try

Lakshadweep is famous for its sea food. some of their famous cuisines are Koondal curry and Breadfruit Mulaku curry which is loved by almost all the tourists when they visit the island.

1) Fragrant Rice Delicacy

This is one of the most loved delicacy of Lakshadweep. The combination of biryani with fragrant rice made with coconut, coriander and saffron adds magic to the flavor of the curry.

2) Tuna Curry

Prepared with coconut and aromatic spices, this tuna fish will definitely steal your heart.

3) Coconut Milk based dishes

Being a tropical region, the island is known for delicacies made in coconut like coconut pudding, milk ice creams, milk deserts etc.

4. Kadalakka

This mouth watering dish will melt your heart with its sweet flavors. Prepared from chana daal, lentils and eggs, cashews and raisins. This is a must try desert if you are visiting the island.

5. Mus Kavaab

This tuna curry dish is one of the most loved dish of the island. boneless fish dipped in a curry served with hot rice being prepared in the local spices has amazing flavor and is a must try dish.
A precision agriculture technology dealer in Harlan recently announced its purchase by a long-time employee.

HTS Ag has been sold to general manager Adam Gittins, the company said in a news release.

Gittins started his career with Ag Leader Technology of Ames, where he assisted customers and helped them troubleshoot equipment. He graduated from Iowa State University and moved home to Neloa to his family farm, joining HTS Ag as a technician and sales representative.

Gittins grew the company's territory and vendors, becoming sales manager and eventually general manager of the company. He now assumes the role of president and continues day-to-day management of HTS Ag's operations, including overseeing its 13 employees across Iowa.

I couldnt be more excited for Adam to launch forward with majority ownership in HTS Ag," said former HTS Ag owner and founder Arlin Sorensen. "Hes done a masterful job building the company over the past 18 years and will take it to new heights in the years ahead. A big thanks to all the customers weve served over the years that have brought us to this day.

Gittins said in the release that Sorensen has taught him a lot about the business.

I look forward to carrying the company into the next chapter, Gittins said. With a great team in place, we are positioned well for growth as we continue to help farmers turn technology into tools for their farming operation.
A trio of events are coming up in Woodbine sponsored by Harrison County Conservation.

A Building Better Birders workshop will be held Monday, Jan. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Willow Lake Nature Center, 2725 Easton Trail near Woodbine.

Join expert birder Kelly McKay for this one-time workshop to learn more about winter and summer bird feeding and the results of a population survey in Iowa. Participants will make a suet feeder to take home and be served lunch.

There is no cost, but registration is required by Thursday, Jan. 11, by calling naturalist Connie Betts at 712-647-2785.

Celebrate National Pie Day by coming to the Baking Buddies Pie Class on Tuesday, Jan. 23, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Willow Lake Nature Center.

This class is for an adult and a child, grandchild or best buddy to make a pie to take home and bake. Bring a pie plate and your favorite can of pie filling.

Participants will receive help making a crust, assembling the pie and creating some fancy decorations. They will be invited to explore the exhibit hall in the new nature center, too.

There is no cost, but please RSVP by Friday, Jan. 19, with Betts at 712-647-2785. The pie event is also sponsored by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

The Harrison County Conservation Board will host a program for landowners on Tuesday, Jan. 23, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Willow Lake Nature Center.

Landowner Steve Killpack will share his knowledge of conservation practices including no till, cover crops, longer rotations and nutrient management that leads to longer term financial security while improving the land.

Representatives from ISU Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service and Iowa Department of Natural Resources will also provide information on cost share programs and technical assistance available to farmers, ranchers and landowners.

There is no cost or registration, and pie will be served.

For more information, visit harrisoncountyparks.org.
Despite being located in Council Bluffs, Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital recently received recognition from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Nebraska DHHS recognized Jennie Edmundson as a Lactation Education Across Rural Nebraska Breastfeeding Hospital Champion, according to a news release. The southwest Iowa hospital is the birthplace for many Nebraska babies, making it eligible for LEARN recognition.

Nebraska's LEARN campaign, which is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care survey, according to the release, aims is to increase breastfeeding initiation and support in hospitals serving newborns and mothers in Nebraska.

Especially over the course of the past few years, Jennie Edmundson has made concerted efforts to provide families the safest, most comfortable birth and breastfeeding experiences possible, said Rachel Sankey, women and newborns service leader for Jennie Ed.

Methodist Jennie Edmundson is the 12th hospital to earn LEARN Breastfeeding Hospital Champion recognition for its postpartum care, comprehensive feeding education and continued support for new mothers.

We are dedicated to the expert, compassionate care of moms and babies, and we believe that includes comprehensive lactation support long after their hospital stay, Sankey said.

The Council Bluffs hospital has also twice been recognized with a Care Award from the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, according to the release. It serves as a milk depot location for approved donors and is part of a larger network of lactation support and resources, such as classes, support groups, training and outpatient appointments.
The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District Board of Directors met on Thursday night for its regularly scheduled committee of the whole meeting. All directors were present, in addition to several NRD staff members and seven members of the public. A recap of the hourlong meeting is below.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is poised to commence a worlds biggest $20 billion mining project in the Republic of Guinea this year, following a 27-year wait marked by several legal and political setbacks, scandals and several false dawns.

The $20 billion iron ore, rail, and port development in a remote corner of West Africa is set to become the worlds largest and highest grade new iron ore mine that will add around 5% to global seaborne supply when it commences. Too expensive for any single miner to develop alone, the Simfer iron ore project is a collaboration involving Rio Tinto, the Guinean government, and at least seven other companies, including five from China, most notably Chinalco, the worlds largest aluminum producer. The Rio Tinto-Chinalco consortium will also reportedly fund the infrastructure development that encompasses a 552 km railway, a deep-water port and a 70km rail spur to connect to the main line.

UK-listed Rio Tinto first secured an exploration license in the Simandou mountains in south-eastern Guinea in 1997. Since then the country has undergone two coups detat, and witnessed four heads of state and held three presidential elections. In 2024, once Rio Tintos state-owned Chinese partners were granted the last approval from Beijing, the Anglo-Australian miner intends to finally launch the most complex project in its history. There is nothing else out there of this scale and size, Rio Tintos Copper CEO Bold Baatar told the media. The first shipment of ore is expected in 2025, with an aim to reach full production of 60 million tonnes per year by 2028.
Salem Bazoum, the son of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been imprisoned with his parents at the presidential residence since the coup in July 2023, was provisionally released on Monday (8 January), the countrys military tribunal said in a statement.

The military tribunal in Niamey granted the 23-year old son of the former president who was overthrown by the presidential guard in one of eight coups that occurred in West and Central Africa since 2020. The coup in Niger was widely condemned, leading to sanctions from the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and prompted widespread calls for Bazoums release and a return to democratic rule. The court document reportedly states that Salem Bazoum was given provisional release, adding that it was up to him to respond to justice as soon as he is required to do so. The tribunal did not provide details on the fate of Salems parents.

Bazoum and his son were indicted after the last years coup, with the latter being charged of conspiracy with the aim of undermining the authority or security of the state. But last month the ECOWAS Court of Justice ruled that the familys detention was arbitrary and ordered Bazoums reinstatement. The court, whose decisions cannot be appealed, has given the junta one month to say how it will execute the order, the lawyers said. The new military regime that has ruled the West African country since the coup has distanced itself from Nigers hitherto close European partners, and most notably France. Niger has also joined the so-called Alliance of Sahel States, a mutual defense pact concluded with two of its neighbors, Mali and Burkina Faso, which after recent coups are also run by militaries.
The trial of Ousman Sonko, a Gambian ex-interior minister accused of crimes against humanity committed under the regime of a former dictator Yahya Jammeh from 2006 until 2016, began in a federal court in Switzerland on Monday (8 January).

Sonko is the highest-ranking official under Jammehs dictatorship, to be prosecuted for widespread rights abuses. Sonko denies all the charges, but if convicted, he could face a life imprisonment term. It is also a pivotal case for Switzerland in that Sonkos trial takes place under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide regardless of where they were committed, as long as they are on Swiss soil. Sonko is only the second individual tried under that rule since Switzerland enforced it in 2011.

The case is being heard at the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland where proceedings should last a month and the verdict unlikely to be delivered before March. The 55-year-old former interior minister served under the leadership of Jammeh whose rule from 1994 to 2016 was an autocratic one, marked by widespread human rights abuses, including harsh crackdowns on opposition members and his critics, as well as on journalists. Sonko is accused of having committed the alleged crimes in his roles first within the army, then as inspector general of the police and finally as a government minister. Detained after a complaint by the Geneva-based NGO Trial International, Sonko has been in custody in Switzerland since January 2017 after applying for asylum following his sacking from the post.
Factbox: Highlights of China's thriving logistics sector

Xinhua) 10:20, January 10, 2024

BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's logistics sector has produced robust performances in recent times, mirroring warming consumption demand and firmer economic dynamics.

Let's have a look at some of the highlights generated by the country's logistics sector.

-- The courier sector was predicted to see its annual delivery volume reach 132 billion parcels in 2023, up 19.5 percent year on year, according to the State Post Bureau.

-- On Dec. 4, 2023, a parcel consisting of flowers sent from Kunming to its buyer in Chengdu became China's 120 billionth express mail of the year, setting a new record in terms of its annual express delivery volume.

-- The 120 billion parcels of this period of 2023 amounted to 63 percent of the world's total in 2022, and was 5.5 times, 13.3 times, and 23.5 times that of the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, respectively.

-- On Dec. 8, 2021, China's courier sector reached the landmark of handling 100 billion parcels in one year or less for the first time, and it has since taken increasingly less time every year for the country's parcel volume to surpass the 100 bln mark. This milestone fell on Dec. 1 in 2022 and on Oct. 23 in 2023.

-- China's annual average logistics performance index stood at 51.8 percent in 2023, above the boom-bust line of 50 percent and 3.2 percentage points higher than the previous year, data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) showed.

-- The December 2023 index reading grew 0.2 percentage points month on month to reach 53.5 percent, with most of the sub-indices in expansion territory, indicating that this robust trend of the logistics sector is likely to extend into 2024, according to the CFLP.

-- China's e-commerce logistics index averaged 110.1 points in 2023, 4.2 points higher than 2022, and during the annual "Double 11" online shopping spree about 7.51 billion packages were sent across the country from Nov. 1 to 16, 2023, representing 30.9 percent growth year on year.

-- The infrastructure that supports China's logistics sector has also been improved. Currently, the country has over 400 express delivery logistics parks, more than 3,000 distribution centers and about 278,000 village-level express delivery stations.

-- Consistent pursuit of innovation is also an important contributor to the booming logistics sector. In November 2023, transport orders related to equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing sustained rapid growth, up by 9.8 percent and 6.2 percent year on year, respectively, data revealed.

-- Green energy-related logistics activity remained considerable as well. In November 2023, logistics demand in the new energy vehicle and solar cell sectors increased sharply, with their growth rates above 35 percent year on year.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Immigrants in NYC forced high school students to remotely study after occupying their school in Brooklyn. For the past few years, asylum seekers have been creating debates among Americans.

Some U.S. citizens said that migrants and immigrants are just people who want to have a better life and achieve the "American dream." They argue that these individuals are not so different from Americans, saying that they should assisted by the government.

Meanwhile, others criticize U.S. officials for allowing migrants to invade states since they affect their daily lives; arguing that they make life easier as they drain the government's funds that are supposed to be for Americans. Now, migrants and NYC government officials are being criticized because of a new issue. Here are other details.

NYC: 2,000 Migrants Sheltered in School Force Students to Remotely Study

According to Fox News' latest report, almost 2,000 migrants in New York City were moved to a high school. Officials said that they are specifically being transferred to James Madison High School.

Before this move, these migrants were staying at a controversial tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field. However, because of the strong storm headed to NYC, officials are worried that the gusting winds and torrential rains would make the immigrant shelter tent.

The New York Post reported that NYC officials decided to use the second-floor gym at the James Madison High School as a temporary overnight respite center.

Because of this, the high school will be closed starting on Wednesday, Jan. 10. NYC Mayor Eric Adams said that they want to ensure that these asylum seekers are safe from the incoming storms and high winds.

"We want to make sure people are safe," said the mayor, adding that the use of the James Madison Highschool's gym is being done out of an "overabundance of caution.

Read Also: Colorado: Illegal Immigrant Kills Mother, Son; Suspect's Multiple Deportation From US Revealed by ICE Raise Questions

NYC Residents Not So Happy With School's Closure

Many New Yorkers shared their disappointment, claiming that NYC officials are just using the storm as an excuse to do a "litmus test."

"They are using a storm, a legitimate situation, where they are testing this out. I guarantee you they'll be here for the entire summer," explained an NYC resident who wanted to be identified as Rob.

"This is f***** up," said the citizen.

He complained that NYC just moved 1,900 people into their neighborhood. The New Yorker added that these people, who they don't know, are just half a block from his residence.

"They're not vetted. A lot of them have criminal records and backgrounds and we don't even know," argued Rob.

Aside from him, an NYC mother decided to go off on the migrants as they were being transferred inside the school in a line of school buses.

The woman asked them how they felt and if it felt good that they were being moved to a school that was supposed to be used by students.

"How does it feel that you kicked all the kids out of school tomorrow? Does it feel good? I hope you feel good. I hope you will sleep very well tonight!" she screamed at the buses.

Related Article: Migrant Crisis: New York Begins Eviction of Asylum Seekers Amid 60-Day Shelter Time Limit
Morocco was comfortably elected to the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council, in recognition for its rights achievements and the credibility it enjoyed.

Morocco received 30 votes, despite the hostile campaign waged against its presidency bid by Algeria and South Africa.

Moroccos contender South Africa got only 17 votes, a crushing defeat for a country that spared no effort to spread anti-Moroccan propaganda in international media ahead of the election.

The election of Morocco for the first time in its history to this prestigious UN body is a recognition by the international community of the forward-looking vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI in the field of protecting and promoting human rights, Moroccos foreign ministry said in a statement after the election.

Morocco enshrined human rights protection in its 2011 constitution and led reforms to entrench democracy, gender equality and social justice, it said.

Moroccos win is also reflective of its credibility and the trust that the Kingdom enjoys within the international community and in Africa in particular under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, said the statement.

Within the council, the Kingdom has been at the forefront of efforts to promote inter-religious dialogue, and the fight against racism and has spared no effort to spur sustainability and environment protection along with migrants rights, it said.

During its presidency, the Kingdom will stay faithful to its stands at the Human Rights Council by always favouring dialogue, unity and consensus. It plans to actively contribute along with other council members to strengthen the influence of the Council and the UN human rights system, concludes the statement.
The Constitutional Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) upheld Tuesday January 9 results of December Presidential elections, making incumbent President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, winner of the process and entitled to a second four-year term in office.

The court ruling credits Tshisekedi with 73.47 per cent of the votes accounting 13,058,962 ballots on the basis of results provided by the electoral commission which has nullified votes in Masi-Manimba (Kwilu Province) and in Yakoma (Nord-Ubangi province).

Only 40 per cent of voters, 18 million people headed to the December 20 presidential and legislatives.

The opposition branded the result a farce. Opposition leader Moise Katumbi finished behind Tshisekedi with 18 percent of the vote while Tshisekedis top contender in 2018 Martin Fayulu received 5 percent. Noble Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, a physician renowned for treating women brutalized by sexual violence in eastern DR Congo and candidate, got less than 1 percent.

Katumbi and Fayulu rejected the results but stopped short to lodge complaints with the court arguing that body is controlled by the state.

Two other candidates namely Theodore Ngoy and Ehetshe Mpala David went ahead to demand for the cancellation of results over irregularities but the court deemed their complaints void of sufficient evidences. Tshisekedi will be inaugurated on January 20 for another term.
Bulgaria hailed, on Wednesday, the Kingdoms serious and credible efforts to settle the Moroccan Sahara issue, considering the Moroccan autonomy initiative to be a serious and credible basis for resolving the conflict.

This position was expressed in the Joint Statement adopted in Rabat by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Mariya Gabriel, and her Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita.

In the Joint Statement, Bulgaria reiterated its support for efforts under the auspices of the United Nations to find a just, pragmatic, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara conflict.

Both sides also affirmed their support for the efforts of the UN Secretary-Generals Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to bring the parties to the negotiating table and move the political process forward, and reaffirmed their support for MINURSO.

In the joint Statement, Bulgaria also commends the far-reaching reforms undertaken by Morocco under the leadership of King Mohammed VI and the renewed efforts for political, economic, and social development.

The Bulgarian Minister also welcomed Moroccos New Development Model and commended the Kingdoms constructive efforts to strengthen stability, growth, and development in Africa.

The two parties stressed their positive and constructive role in maintaining stability, security and peace in their respective regions, and their commitment to the universal fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, and the need for peaceful conflict resolution with full respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of States.

They likewise emphasized the importance of deepening the historical relations between the two countries, expressed their intention to strengthen political dialogue, and reaffirmed their common will to further enhance partnership in all areas of mutual interest, particularly in economic and trade cooperation, especially in the fields of renewable energies, green transition, high technologies, the automotive sector, agriculture, and value chain development.

The ministers also highlighted the importance of promoting cooperation in the fields of education, science, and culture, particularly through partnerships and exchanges, including exploring possibilities for participation in research and development projects.

They also underscored the need to develop cooperation, partnership, and dialogue between the EU and its southern neighborhood and the Euro-African zone, in a bid to provide common responses to the challenges these regions face, particularly in terms of security, stability, migration, and socio-economic and human development.

In this regard, both ministers reaffirmed their intention to contribute to strengthening the strategic partnership between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Theres a lot of buzz this week about polls from New Hampshire showing a potentially competitive Republican race between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Guess whats not getting any buzz at all? Polls of the Democratic primary in New Hampshire showing Joe Biden with about a 60-point lead over rivals Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson.

Thats interesting, since at various points in 2023, it was fashionable for media types, Republicans, and some nervous Democrats to predict that like Lyndon Johnson in 1968, Biden might give his party some fresh options by stepping aside just after underperforming badly in the New Hampshire primary (Johnson, as a write-in candidate, defeated antiwar challenger Eugene McCarthy, but not by anything like as much as the expected margin). In May, conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt predicted an LBJ exit for Biden, as did lefty independent presidential candidate Cornel West in December. And, in October, Politico columnist Jonathan Martin said that Biden had made a big blunder by messing with New Hampshires first-primary status, inviting a rude awakening from Phillips when the Granite State voted in January.

That has turned out to be a dog that not only didnt bark but is barely visible. According to a new survey from USA Today/Suffolk, Phillips is at 6 percent among likely voters in New Hampshire, while Williamson is at 2 percent. Biden is at 64 percent as a write-in candidate. In the latest CNN/UNH survey, Phillips and Williamson are doing slightly better, at 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively. But Biden is doing better too, at 69 percent. If theres any Phillips boom building in the Granite State, it is doing so very quietly:

Sometimes if you build it, they dont come, Dean Phillips told reporters outside of the Manchester DoubleTree hotel this morning, after no voters showed up to his Government Repair Truck Coffee Conversations event in 22 degree weather. pic.twitter.com/x0lpVcRSnb  jake rosen (@JakeMRosen) January 9, 2024

In retrospect, the LBJ moment talk was pretty clearly being promoted by Republicans eager to depict Biden as a stone loser; a smattering of panicky Democrats hopeful to find a replacement nominee; and political writers looking for some excitement in a predictably boring nomination contest a sitting president was obviously going to win. When Biden wins renomination in March, maybe speculation that he will step aside will finally subside, but facts dont always move those motivated by malice, wishful thinking, or the search for clicks.
Photo: Gardiner Anderson for NY Daily News via Getty Images

Hundreds of migrant families were temporarily moved from Floyd Bennett Field to a nearby Brooklyn high school ahead of Tuesday nights severe weather, prompting criticism from politicians, parents, and advocacy groups alike.

The storms high winds, not the torrential rainfall, is what prompted the city to evacuate nearly 2,000 asylum seekers from the historic airfield located alongside Jamaica Bay to James Madison High School, according to Zach Iscol, the citys emergency-management commissioner. During an interview with Fox 5, Iscol said the tents used to house the migrants are rated for high winds, but the city decided to move people out of an abundance of caution.

The scene was reportedly chaotic, with dozens of school buses arriving at the site to take asylum seekers, who were notified at the last minute that they would be heading elsewhere. The New York Daily News spoke to Alexander Junior Soto Caballero, a 29-year-old husband and father from Venezuela who said the move from Floyd Bennett Field left him and family afraid.

We dont have clothes, food. I dont have a job. We are waiting for the buses to arrive to get out of here, he told the outlet. Were worried about the storm. Its a truly horrible situation.

With the school being temporarily repurposed, James Madison students were notified that remote learning would be in effect on Wednesday. Per the emergency-management agency, the winds subsided at Floyd Bennett Field around 1 a.m. Wednesday, and all the families were later transported back to the site by about 4:30 a.m. The City reports that people were forced to sleep either in chairs or on the floor during their stay in the school building.

Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul had long sought federal approval to use Floyd Bennett Field as a site to house migrants in the wake of the influx of tens of thousands of newcomers to the city and state. Though City Hall and the federal government finally came to a deal on the sites use, there was no shortage of critics, who cited its isolated location and the potential for flooding.

The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition of the Homeless issued a joint statement, condemning the use of the airfield to house migrants. Needless to say, today will be very traumatic and disruptive for these families. We fear, especially with more inclement weather expected this winter, that this is only a foreshadow of more problems to come, and we again urge the City to cease placing families with children at this facility, the statement read.

Some parents of James Madison students were also upset by the citys decision, with several showing up at a morning rally outside of the school Wednesday arranged by Assemblymember Michael Novakhov.

HAPPENING NOW:

Politicians and parents protest outside James Madison HS.

Remote today after migrants stayed here overnight due to high winds.

Concern over learning loss, cleanliness, and that this will continue.

"There is no learning today," say remote is not really happening. pic.twitter.com/ab3jNgj799  Henry Rosoff (@HenryRosoff) January 10, 2024

The evacuation also prompted criticism from both sides of the political aisle. Comptroller Brad Lander, who has previously voiced his disapproval of the citys handling of the migrant crisis, said in a statement that the relocation highlights the mismanagement and waste of money that is all-too-present in City Halls approach to shelter and services for asylum seekers.

Republican councilmember Inna Vernikov said on X that James Madison students are being punished and forced to bear the brunt of the migrant crisis perpetrated by Joe Biden and suggested Adams host migrants in Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence.
In this courtroom artists sketch, Donald Trump listens as his attorney D. John Sauer, standing, speaks before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Photo: Dana Verkouteren/AP

On a morning when most of the Republican candidates for president were struggling to campaign through snowy Iowa and a poll showed Nikki Haley surging into single-digit territory behind the front-runner in New Hampshire, Donald Trump  the once and quite possibly future president  decided to go to Washington to face the man he seems to consider his only serious opponent: Jack Smith.

There was no reason Trump had to attend Tuesdays appeals-court hearing on his sweeping claim of presidential immunity from prosecution for his actions leading up to the January 6 insurrection. He had lawyers to make his arguments. There were no cameras trained on him as he sat next to them in the courtroom, mostly quietly, through an hour or so of abstract argument about legal limits on presidential power. Trump was there because he wanted to be in court. The candidate who had squeezed millions of dollars in free airtime out of the media in 2016 just by being horribly exciting, who turned Mar-a-Lago into an alternative White House and the actual White House into the site of the 2020 Republican Convention, is now trying to pull a similar trick with the legal system. The question looming over this year is whether he has finally run into an institution he cant break.

For now, Trump is treating his prosecution as a dramatic vehicle, once again creating a political show. Knowing Trump would be coming, people began lining up well before dawn outside the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse  not just the usual crowd of reporters but regular folks and interested observers like Trump legal antagonist George Conway. Blue lights flashing, Trumps motorcade came in through a route protected by a barricade of snowplows and slipped into a secure garage from which he was ushered into the courtroom via a side entrance. Smith, the special counsel who has secured Trumps indictment in two cases, sat grim-faced behind James Pearce, the government lawyer who would be making his argument. A three-judge panel  two Democratic appointees, one Republican, all women  entered the courtroom, and all rose.

Trump has advanced many arguments for dismissing the January 6 case, one of four prosecutions he currently faces in federal and state courts. His immunity claim is the most ambitious, advancing a doctrine of presidential power that is staggering in scope and sharply at odds with the way most legal scholars understand the Constitution. In a brief filed with the court, Trumps attorneys cited Marbury v. Madison  the foundational decision establishing the principle of judicial review  to claim that no current or former president may be criminally prosecuted for his official acts unless he is first impeached and convicted by the Senate. Because Trump was impeached for inciting insurrection after the U.S. Capitol attack but not convicted, the former presidents team argues he is off the hook.

In a decision issued last month, the judge handling the January 6 case, Tanya Chutkan, dismissed Trumps immunity claim, noting that the text of the Constitution says an impeached and convicted president cannot be given a punishment by Congress beyond removal from office but shall nevertheless be liable to later criminal prosecution. Nothing in the text addresses which actions the state can take against a former president who was acquitted or never impeached at all, but Chutkan concluded that the limits on impeachments penalties do not license a Presidents criminal impunity. She wrote that no court  or any other branch of government  has ever accepted that a president is immune from prosecution after leaving office. She noted that several presidents have come close to being indicted in recent history: Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, to head off a likely prosecution for Watergate-related crimes; Bill Clinton came to a non-prosecution agreement with the independent counsel overseeing the Monica Lewinsky case on his final day in office, in which he admitted to perjury, paid a small fine, and gave up his law license. During Trumps second impeachment trial, which took place after he left office, Trumps own lawyers had argued he was no longer subject to conviction by the Senate since he was no longer in office but could be subject to criminal sanction after his presidency. Now, Chutkan noted, Trumps lawyers were arguing that the Senate had missed its chance, contending that Trump now had what amounted to a lifelong get out of jail free pass for any crimes he committed in office.

During Tuesdays argument, the three judges on the panel pressed Trumps lead appellate attorney, D. John Sauer, on the implications of his impeachment-first argument. Unless there is that one gatekeeping incident that has to occur, Sauer said, the court has no jurisdiction. He brought up Nixon v. Fitzgerald, a nearly 50-year-old precedent that Trumps case relies heavily upon, which holds that presidents have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits for actions taken within the outer perimeter of their duties. Similarly long-standing legal opinion within the Justice Department holds that a sitting president is immune from prosecution while in office. (Robert Mueller cited this opinion as a reason for not pursuing Trump on criminal obstruction-of-justice charges connected to Muellers investigation into Russian election interference.) Sauer argued that it would open a Pandoras box if the court failed to extend criminal immunity to ex-presidents.

The current incumbent president is prosecuting his political opponent, Sauer said, gesturing in the direction of his client, the Republican front-runner. He suggested a future Justice Department or state court might do the same to Joe Biden  a scenario that wasnt so far-fetched considering the client sitting next to him had threatened to do just that.

Trump has repeatedly forced the American system to reckon with questions that, just a few years earlier, might have sounded like hypotheticals thrown out in law-school bull sessions. Does the Constitution allow a president to run a private business  in fact, to profit from a hotel right down the street from the White House? Can a president be impeached for bullying a foreign leader into helping him smear an opponent? What happens if a defeated president refused to accept the results of an election, telling aides he was simply not going to leave (as Trumps former attorney Jenna Ellis, who has pleaded guilty to a felony charge in Georgia, has reportedly told prosecutors)? Article II of the Constitution requires the president to take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. But what can the legal system do if its caretaker turns out to be a crook?

I think its paradoxical, Judge Karen Henderson told Sauer, to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate the criminal law. But Henderson, a Republican appointee who has been amenable to Trumps arguments in some previous cases, seemed at least willing to consider the possibility that subjecting presidents to criminal prosecution for their actions may have unintended consequences and wondered aloud how it would be possible to write an opinion that stops the floodgates. Her two Democratic-appointed colleagues, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Y. Pan, seemed decidedly less sympathetic. Pan posed her own set of hypotheticals to Sauer. Most provocatively, she asked whether an unimpeached president could be tried and convicted for sending assassins to kill an opponent.

Thats an official act, Pan said.

My answer is a qualified yes, Sauer said, repeating his case that the president could be convicted of murder in a criminal trial if first impeached and convicted in Congress. He added that the Founders were less concerned about criminal presidents than they were about political prosecutions arising from what James Madison described as new-fangled and artificial treasons.

Youre saying a president can send SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival, Pan said.

Sauer replied that the presidents acts are never examinable by the courts.

The president has a unique role, but he is not above the law, Pearce, the governments appellate attorney, said as he opened his argument. Even if there might be some theoretical justification for shielding ex-presidents from nuisance prosecutions, he said, this case  involving a plot to overturn an election  was not the place to recognize some novel form of immunity.

To the Pandoras box argument, he replied that the lack of previous prosecutions of former presidents reflects the fundamentally unprecedented nature of the charged crime. He seized on the frightening implications of Sauers response to the judges hypotheticals.

Thats not a frightening future; thats our Republic, Sauer said in his rebuttal. A Trump trial, he said, is the frightening future that is tailor-made to launch cycles of retribution.

After the arguments were over, Trump slipped out of the courtroom, and after he spent another hour or so in the courthouse  presumably, he and his lawyers had much to discuss  his motorcade made its way to the luxury hotel formerly known as the Trump International, and now known as the Waldorf Astoria. (He sold it to a Miami-based investor group in 2022 for $375 million, likely making a substantial profit.) We had a very momentous day in terms of what was learned and what theyve conceded, Trump said. I feel that as a president you have to have immunity. Very simple.

No one else who heard the arguments on Tuesday  least of all the judges  seemed the least bit convinced. Then again, Trumps strategy is not to win in this court, or maybe even in the Supreme Court, where the conservative majority may give him a more sympathetic hearing. His claims of persecution inflame his base, which he needs to mobilize in Iowa, New Hampshire, and (perhaps) beyond. His outrageous claims keep him on the air, sucking up the oxygen that might feed other candidates and creating spectacle after spectacle. And the longer he litigates, the further he pushes off the date of his potential trial, which is currently scheduled to begin in early March but has remained stayed as he litigates his almost certainly doomed immunity claim. Smith and his team have pleaded for unusual haste from the appeals courts without explicitly stating the self-evident reason for their urgency: If Trump wins the election, there will likely never be a trial. But the legal system has its own pace and procedures. It prizes deliberation. And Trump has shown, time and again, that he knows how to turn a systems core values to his personal advantage.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene tries to get an anti-McCarthy rebel to speak with Donald Trump during the battle to choose a Speaker a year ago. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Newbie House Speaker Mike Johnson has a lot to learn about the snake-pit politics of the conference he is trying to lead. And hes facing a multifaceted crisis any day now as he tries to snuff out mutinies on his right flank against the spending-level deal he cut with Chuck Schumer, and against the possibility he will accept a compromise on immigration and asylum policies in order to give Joe Biden the aid to Ukraine and Israel he is seeking. In both cases, hard-core members of the House Freedom Caucus want to provoke a government shutdown, or at least threaten one with significant seriousness to scare Democrats and reassure the GOPs MAGA base that they are fighters.

Johnson maintains that a shutdown could produce an electoral disaster for Republicans this November, but hes also acutely aware of what happened to his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, whose gavel was taken away by angry conservatives when he accepted votes from The Enemy to avoid a debt default and then a shutdown. So hes looking for cover from the most powerful MAGA validator of them all, as he revealed in an interview with conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt:

H.H.: Have you personally endorsed anyone, yet, in the presidential race, Mr. Johnson?

M.J.: I did. Ive endorsed President Trump. And I believe he will be the nominee, and Im convinced hes going to win the White House again. And thatll be a great day for America.

H.H.: Is the former president helping you pass this must-pass deal?

M.J.: Im planning to give him a call today to talk him through the details of it. Hes a little busy. Hes got the Iowa Caucus and all these other things on his plate right now. But no, he and I have a very close relationship. Hes been an enthusiastic supporter of my leadership here, and I expect hell be doing that again.

Yes, Mike Johnson is seeking Donald Trumps permission not to shut down the federal government. If he gets it, there may still be some grumbling from HFC types about the godless runaway spending that threatens to rob our children of their priceless heritage of freedom, but they probably wont thrown Johnson out of the speakers chair, at least for now.

Johnson surely knows that Trump can giveth and Trump can taketh away. When McCarthy was struggling through 15 ballots to become speaker a year ago, the former president (via intermediary Marjorie Taylor Greene) reportedly talked a few rebels into giving the Californian a chance to hold the gavel he wanted so desperately. But in October when Matt Gaetz forced a vote on a motion to vacate the chair that spelled McCarthys doom, Trump gave the battle among his House supporters a wide berth.

It will be interesting to see if Johnson can elicit a clear statement of support from Trump; he was, after all, arguably the point man in Congress for the then-presidents January 6 plot to overturn the 2020 election results. But as the speaker says, Trump has other fish to fry right now, as he seeks to destroy his rivals in Iowa and New Hampshire while fighting in court to avoid a trip to the slammer. Its not like the 45th president has any inherent problem with shutting down the government: In December of 2018, he insisted on triggering the longest shutdown (35 days) in American history. He was demanding a border wall at the time, and theres no question he is determined to use the immigration issue once again as a signature motif of his presidential comeback bid. So he may not be all that open to Mike Johnsons pleas for sweet reason.
Photo: CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images

Lets say you were definitely born in the United States, but Donald Trump doesnt like you. Are you really eligible to run for president? A lot of people are saying no!

Well, not really a lot of people. Its mainly just Donald Trump and his allies at the Gateway Pundit. And while they did offer a justification for questioning whether Nikki Haley is eligible for the presidency, its totally absurd. Obviously, the only reason the GOP presidential candidate is suddenly being targeted with a birther conspiracy theory is because polls show shes gaining on Trump in the New Hampshire GOP primary.

Earlier this week, Trump posted a screenshot of a Gateway Pundit post saying Haley isnt qualified for the presidency under the 12th Amendment, as her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth in 1972.

This is clearly untrue. Nikki Haley was born in South Carolina in 1972, so shes an American citizen eligible to run for president, end of story.

The Truth Social post doesnt include a link, probably because facts arent the point here. The Gateway Pundit article claims that legal scholar Paul Ingrassia  whose identifies himself online as a 2022 graduate of Cornell Law School and a member of Trumps National Economic Council  has reignited the fiery debate over what it means to be a natural born citizen with an article in the fringe, far-right online publication American Greatness.

But there is no fiery debate. The Constitution says No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President. While the meaning of the term natural born citizen isnt totally clear, its widely understood to include, at the very least, people born in the United States. While Trump and other Republican politicians have said they want to end birthright citizenship, they are a long way from actually doing it.

So the fact that Haleys parents, who are Indian immigrants, were not citizens at the time of her birth is irrelevant, as the Associated Press reported:

But experts agree Haley is a legitimate candidate as defined by the Constitution, regardless of her parents citizenship status. Her birth in Bamberg makes her a natural-born citizen, one of three qualifications to hold the U.S. presidency.

Having been born in South Carolina, she is clearly a natural born citizen, without regard to the fact that her parents were immigrants, Geoffrey Stone, a professor of Law at the University of Chicago who is an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press.

Stone called claims otherwise bonkers and said that there are no legitimate arguments that would disqualify Haley from the presidency based on her parents citizenship.

The real point of Trumps post was to smear Haley with his favorite racist conspiracy theory. Questioning Barack Obamas citizenship helped launch Trumps political career, so he later ran the same playbook against political opponents Ted Cruz and Kamala Harris. The only twist this time is that there actually is a debate raging about whether a candidate is ineligible for the presidency  and its Trump, not Haley.
Massachusetts Contractors License Revoked for Repeated Safety Violations

William Trahant also failed to pay more than $300,000 in penalties.

In response to a complaint from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards has stripped William Trahant of his construction supervisor's license for a minimum of two years.

According to the DOL release dated Jan. 8, the complaint cited seven instances since 2014 where Trahant's company, the Lynn, Massachusetts-based William Trahant Jr. Construction Inc., violated federal fall safety regulations. He also failed to pay more than $300,000 in associated penalties.

The Regional Solicitors Office and OSHA in Boston presented the evidence against Trahant, with the boards hearing officer issuing a decision revoking Trahant's license on Nov. 17, 2023. The hearing officer mandated Trahant to surrender his license, halting any work on active building permits until a successor is appointed or Trahant regains his license.

OSHA estimates that Trahant presently holds active building permits in at least five communities throughout Massachusetts, where he held hundreds of permits between 2020 and 2022.

Employers must never overlook the importance of worker safety, especially when it comes to protecting construction industry workers from falls from elevation, OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton in Boston said in a statement. William Trahants continued failure to protect his employees from the industrys leading cause of death led the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards to take decisive action.

The inspections were conducted by OSHAs Andover area office, with the Departments Office of the Solicitor in Boston handling the case. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts mandates construction supervisors licenses for specific projects, with the authority to revoke them when holders fail to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
OSHA Fines Nebraska Beef Ltd. $274,569 After Amputation Incident

The company was cited for two willful and 11 serious violations.

OSHA investigation has uncovered multiple safety breaches at Nebraska Beef Ltd., a beef processing plant based in Omaha. The company now faces $274,569 in proposed penalties.

According to a release dated Jan. 5, the agencys investigation resulted from a severe hand injury an employee received in June 2023. The incident led to a medically necessitated amputation three weeks later. Investigators found that the injured worker had their fingertip caught in a forklift attachment while assisting in material positioning.

OSHA concluded Nebraska Beef Ltd. had failed to implement necessary safety measures, including the absence of lockout/tagout procedures for hydraulic dock plates and enclosures. The company also lacked safety protocols for material handling, exposing workers to live electrical parts. OSHA cited Nebraska Beef Ltd. with two willful and 11 serious violations

An employee of Nebraska Beef Ltd. suffered a permanent injury because the company knowingly ignored safety measures that are meant to prevent this very type of incident, OSHA Area Director Matthew Thurlby in Omaha said in a statement. The company must reassess its safety training and procedures immediately to keep other employees from suffering needless injuries.

Some of the violations found at Nebraska Beef Ltd. include the failure to isolate energy during service and maintenance of dock levelers, unsafe working surfaces, fall hazards on platforms and ladders, lack of readily available eye wash and drenching facilities, electrical hazards, absence of kits to handle chemical spills, improperly trained forklift operators and unsafe battery maintenance.

Nebraska Beef Ltd. now has 15 business days to comply with the citations and penalties, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the agencys findings.
Boeing's CEO admitted that they made a mistake before the Alaska Airlines mid-flight blowout happened, which possibly contributed to the incident.

Dave Calhoun, the American aircraft manufacturer's chief executive officer and president, shared new details on Tuesday, Jan. 9. He said that he acknowledged a mistake made on their side.

He said that the error had been made before the Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737 Max 9 plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Oregon's Portland International Airport.

Boeing CEO Admits Mistake Before AS Mid-Flight Blowout Incident

Based on the statements that Boeing CEO Calhoun said on Tuesday, the issue mistake they made in their quality controls and processes.

This is because Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing, confirmed that they launched checks into their quality processes controls, as reported by The New York Post.

"We're going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. We're going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way," said the CEO during their town hall meeting.

According to NBC News' latest report, Calhoun also said that Boeing promises to work with the National Transport Safety Board to find the root cause of the incident, meaning that they haven't identified what mainly caused the in-flight blowout.

The remarks shared by Dave and other top Boeing officials were the first public acknowledgment of errors made by the American aerospace firm ever since the door plug snapped off the 737 Max 9's fuselage on Friday, Jan. 5.

Read Also: Alaska Airlines, Federal Officials Ground Boeing 737 Max 9 Planes Following Mid-Air Section Blowout

Boeing Addressing Quality Control Errors

In another meeting, the American aircraft manufacturer told its staff that the errors they found were quality control issues. Because of this, Boeing launched checks at its facilities, as well as those of its fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems.

Written orders were already sent to Boeing's plants and those of its suppliers to ensure such mistakes would be addressed. Boeing also promised to roll out broader checks of processes and systems.

Dave Calhoun said that the mid-flight blowout that Alaska Airlines experienced should never happen again.

"I got kids, I got grandkids and so do you. This stuff matters. Everything matters, every detail. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, this isn't a lecture, not by any stretch," said the Boeing CEO.

"It's nothing more than a reminder of the seriousness with which we have to approach our work," he added.

Related Article: Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 Blowout Update: Over 170 Airplanes Now Suspended!
Crude oil prices extended their gains from Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported an estimated inventory draw of over 5 million barrels that observers had not expected.

That followed a weekly inventory draw of over 7 million barrels for the previous week, suggesting strong demand for crude.

Following the release of the API report, Brent crude ticked up closer to $78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate moved up above $72 per barrel.

The Energy Information Administration is reporting its own inventory estimate later today.

The confluence of factors surrounding the Middle East developments, a conflicting supply outlook, and slow global growth have been driving this wider indecision in prices, IG Asia market strategist Yeap Jun Rong told Bloomberg.

"Oil prices are still hovering in a low range, but investors holding long positions are dominating the market mood at this very moment," Haitong Futures analysts said, as quoted by Reuters.

Earlier this week, Rabobank global energy strategist Joe DeLaura told the FT that traders were unwilling to risk shorting oil in the mid-$70s because you could wake up one morning and there could be a tanker sunk in the Red Sea.

The Yemeni Houthis have so far steered clear of tankers and oil and fuels are moving freely in the Red Sea, Container ships, however, remain targets, unless they send a signal that they have no affiliation with Israel per a statement from the Houthis leader, Mohammed Al-Houthi posted on X.

In addition to the inventory draw and the continued tension in the Middle East, the Energy Information Administration contributed to a more bullish sentiment towards oil when it said on Tuesday that demand for oil could exceed supply by 120,000 bpd this year.

The forecast comes amid expectations of weaker production growth in the shale patch after a stronger-than-expected 2023.

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By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Oil production in the Permian Basin this year is set to grow more slowly than in 2023, industry executives with operations in the area have signaled.

The outlook for the Permian may be somewhat surprising after the strong 2023 that the shale oil industry saw. Yet growth was never going to be a linear, upward curve. Especially when prices are stubbornly fixed in place and traders continue to pile into short positions.

Last week, the president of EOG Resources was quite blunt in his expectations. Bringing on a lot of production last year, youve got a steeper decline to offset this next year, Billy Helms said at an investor event. That tells you that US production is not going to be able to continue to grow at the pace that it did last year.

Then, a survey from Jefferies suggested that most independent shale producers were planning to increase their output only modestly this year. More than two-thirds of respondents in the survey said they expected their production this year to grow by 5% or less, Bloomberg reported, with the same percentage planning to either maintain the number of rigs they deploy this year or reduce it.

Now, some would remember that the industry did not have big plans for 2023 either. In fact, some executives, notably Pioneers Scott Sheffield, said in late 2022 that most producers could not really afford to boost drilling a lot because they would run out of resources. Yet production last year surprised with a significant increase.

We might well see a repeat of this surprisebut only if prices move higher. Per the Jefferies survey, mot independent operators in the shale patch need West Texas Intermediate to be at or above $70 per barrel to turn in a profit. At the moment, WTI is hovering around this threshold price.

Then, there is the physical constraints aspect. Last year, much of the drilling productivity gains that resulted in the surprisingly strong output growth came from longer laterals in horizontal wells. This year, per Jefferies, drillers are likely to continue pushing the limits of horizontal drilling, although it will be pushed more modestly as well lengths reach 10,000 feet and top it.

Demand, meanwhile, continues strong. In fact, it has recently become stronger as the security situation in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, one of the biggest oil chokepoints, remains volatile. A Mizuho Securities analyst said last week that due to the shipping situation in the Red Sea, traders have been buying more U.S. oil.

Amid continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea from Yemens Houthis, many shippers are rerouting their vessels. But when it comes to oil, some are switching suppliers, Bob Yawger said this week, as quoted by MarketWatch.

For the first time since Houthi Yemeni rebels started to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, we are seeing a spike in U.S. exports, the analyst wrote in a note, adding that Apparently, international shippers are worried about being attacked on the open sea, and are getting beat with higher costs for the longer journeys around the Cape of Good Hope. Meanwhile, sourcing oil from the U.S. remains safe and cheap, making it a preferred alternative for some buyers, especially in Europe.

If this demand holdsand it will in Europe, which has few alternatives to U.S. oildrillers might reconsider their original plans for the year. The likelihood of that happening would increase if the market recognizes the strength of demand and the drilling plans that the majority of U.S. producers have. If there is one thing that U.S. shale is, its flexible. Drillers have proven it time and again.

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By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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reductions in the coming months.

Figures today from energy analysis consultancy Cornwall Insights show that the average costs for 2024 will be 113 per MWh  a 16 drop from the previous forecast.

This is largely due to Europe holding higher than expected natural gas reserves.

However despite the price fall, forecasts remain substantially higher than the 50 per MWh historic averages, with Europes dependence on international Liquefied natural gas (LNG) following sanctions on imports from Russia, cited as a key reason.

Prices are expected to drop back down below 100 per MWh in 2025.

Evelin Blom, a modeller at Cornwall Insight, said the cuts represented much-needed good news for UK households.

While this relief is welcome, Great Britains consumers face a long road to truly affordable energy, she added.

The rise in electricity demand poses a significant hurdle, and without action, threatens to keep power bills elevated until the end of the decade and beyond.

Figures from home energy provider Aira shared exclusively with City A.M. today, show that 65 percent of Britons will likely keep heating lower during January, with seven percent opting to keep it off completely.

The survey of 8,068 respondents also found that one in four will also take cash for their energy bills from their typical food spend and nearly the same number drawing on cash for leisure activities (24 percent) and clothing (22 percent).

Also this week, Ofgem issued a word of caution to suppliers it has cleared to resume the controversial and previously-banned practice of forced meter installations.

The watchdog said an extensive list of criteria had to be met before the suppliers could action the installation.

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Octopus Energy said it would not be pursuing the practice, while a Scottish Power spokesperson confirmed that it will always be a last resort.

By City AM

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At this point, one might be forgiven for thinking that the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage is already ancient history. After all, mainstream media and prime time TV news coverage has by and large 'moved on' as soon as it became clear that Russia had nothing to do with it.

At this point, the consensus even among Moscow's vehement enemies is that the September 26, 2022 series of blasts which disabled the Russia to Germany NS-1 and NS-2 natural gas pipelines had Ukrainian and/or Western involvement. While MSM sources have favored the theory that it was a mystery group of pro-Ukraine operatives on a small yacht, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has reported that it was a CIA and US Navy special operation with help from Norwegian intelligence services.

Since then, the ongoing investigation by Germany, Denmark and Sweden into the details of what happened has continued to yield very interesting, incremental developments. The latest was revealed in a Wall Street Journal report this week, and involves apparent Polish obstruction of the probe, which has been deemed by officials to be highly suspicious.

Reports WSJ, "Polish officials have resisted cooperating with an international probe into the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines and failed to disclose potentially crucial evidence, according to European investigators working on the case."

Cover-up?... you don't say:

Those Polish officials have been slow to provide information and withheld key evidence about the alleged saboteurs movements on Polish soil, investigators said. They are now hoping the new government in Warsaw, which took office in December, will help shed light on the attack.

European investigators have long believed the attack was launched from Ukraine via Poland. But they say Warsaws failure to fully cooperate has made it hard to establish whether the attack happened with or without the former Polish governments knowledge, according to senior officials.

And further, "Some senior European officials say they are considering approaching the office of Donald Tusk, Polands new prime minister, for help in investigating the biggest act of sabotage on the European continent since World War II."

According to more from the report:

Investigators havent offered evidence linking the Polish government to the explosions and say that even if some Polish officials were involved, it could have been without the knowledge of the political leadership. Yet they say efforts by Polish officials to hinder their investigation have made them increasingly suspicious of Warsaws role and motives.

Poland is of course a leading eastern European NATO country, and it would certainly come as no surprise that Polish intelligence or military was involved. The United States has also of late worked hand and glove with Poland on defense issues, as part of NATO's so-called eastern flank.

Dots being incrementally connected even in establishment media sources

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Nord Stream saboteurs may have used Poland as base of operations, WSJ reports https://t.co/h79B0GeF78  Enric Juliana Ricart (@EnricJuliana) June 11, 2023

Moscow especially is no doubt keeping a close eye on such reports, and all of this strongly suggests there will still be surprises and potential bombshells to come in the official European investigation, which is likely to drag on for years. Whether the world will ever get to behold the full truth of the sabotage operation is another question.

By Zerohedge.com
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Iran of aiding Yemens Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea, telling reporters in Bahrain that Tehran was providing vital assistance. "These attacks have been aided and abetted by Iran with technology, equipment, intelligence, information, and they are having a real-life impact on people," Reuters quoted Blinken as saying, during his fourth crisis tour of the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

On Tuesday, U.S. and UK forces in the Red Sea shot down 21 drones, including anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, fired at merchant vessels, according to U.S. Central Command, as attacks on ships become a daily occurrence in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

As reported by NPR, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps described Tuesdays missile barrage as "the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

A Houthi General told NPR that the rebel group would "continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Red Sea until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip ends.

The Houthis have also vowed to target U.S. military vessels if the U.S. moved to directly attack the group.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants, importers are facing soaring costs due to the Red Sea attacks, with costs to ship containers doubling since November. Additionally, the past two weeks have seen a sharper spike in costs of shipping through the Suez Canal, which requires traversing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, offshore Yemen.

WSJ reports spot-market prices for containers running between China and Rotterdam as having seen a 115% increase week-over-week.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Large Indian state-owned refiners are looking to book additional term crude supplies from Saudi Arabia for February after the worlds top crude exporter slashed its official selling prices to Asia to the lowest to benchmarks in more than two years, sources at the Indian companies have told Reuters.

India is also seeking additional term crude deliveries from West African producers Angola and Nigeria, as its imports of Russian crude oil fell in December to an 11-month low, according to Reuters sources.

State refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) are looking to book extra 1 million barrels of oil each from Saudi Arabias oil giant Aramco for February, per the sources.

This weekend, Aramco reduced the price of its crude oil for February delivery for all buyers rather than just Asian ones as it has done before. The cut for Asian importers was the deepest, however, at $2 per barrel for all grades that Saudi Arabia exports. The price of Arab Light, Saudi Arabias flagship crude grade, to Asia for February was slashed by $2 per barrel to a premium of $1.50 per barrel over the Oman/Dubai prices, off which Middle Eastern producers price their crude loading for Asia. Thats the lowest premium over Oman/Dubai for 27 monthssince November 2021.

India is looking at more Saudi and West Africa supplies amid lower imports of crude from Russia, which is now its top crude supplier, having toppled Iraq and the Saudis from the top two spots over the past year.

The tougher enforcement of the G7 sanctions and related payment issues have been holding up Indian purchases of some cargoes of Russian crude oil, with tankers previously headed to India now turning back eastwards.

Days after the reports of payment problems emerged, Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that Indias lower imports of Russian crude oil in recent weeks were the result of unattractive discounts, not because of payment issues amid tougher U.S. sanctions on Russias exports.

There is no payment problem, Puri told a briefing in New Delhi last week, as quoted by Bloomberg.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Drilling at Russias oil production wells likely beat a post-Soviet record in 2023, according to industry data Bloomberg has seenevidence that the Western sanctions havent affected drilling rates much, especially at brownfields.

Russia is estimated to have drilled oil production wells with a total depth of 28,100 kilometers (17,460 miles) between January and November 2023on course for a second consecutive year that would beat the post-Soviet record for drilling, per the data seen by Bloomberg.

The record-high rates of drilling suggest that Russian producers are trying to maximize production from older oilfields to keep production rates from falling, analysts say.

Despite the withdrawal of major international oilfield services providers, drilling rates continue to be high as those providers sold off their Russian businesses to the local management teams who have experience in well drilling and management.

Russia is substantially more independent in its oil-field services than generally appreciated, Ronald Smith, an oil and gas analyst at Moscow-based BCS Global Markets, told Bloomberg.

Halliburton announced last year it completed the sale of its Russia operations to a Russia-based management team made up of former Halliburton employees.

Baker Hughes signed in August last year an agreement to sell its Oilfield Services business in Russia to its local management team.

The new Baker Hughes and Halliburton businesses in Russia operate independently of their former parent companies.

Russian oil producers accelerated the drilling of production wells in the first half of 2023 despite the Western sanctions, data seen by Bloomberg showed in July.

Russian exploration and production companies drilled more overall length of production wells in the first half of 2023 than in the same period of 2022 and than the drilling target, the data showed. The total length of newly drilled wells rose by 8.6% year over year between January and June and was 6.6% more than the planned drilling activity.

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U.S. and UK forces in the Red Sea shot down 21 drones fired at ships in the Red Sea on Tuesday, Reuters has reported, citing the U.S. Central Command.

This was the 26th attack by Yemens Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea since November 19, Central Command also said. In it, the U.S. and UK forces shot down 18 drones two anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Attacks on cargo ships or tankers near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Houthi-held territory in Yemen have become a daily occurrence in recent weeks as the Iran-aligned group intensified attacks after the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October.

The Houthis are demanding that Israel stop bombing Gaza and began their attacks by targeting Israel-bound or owned vessels. Recently, they said that ships that signal they have no ties with Israel will be allowed to move freely in the Red Sea.

Large container shippers may decide not to risk it, however, and continue diverting traffic to the Cape of Good Hope despite the added costs, seeing as it has not been just Israel-linked or bound ships that have been the target of attacks.

The stepped-up military presence of the U.S. and the UK in the Red Sea came in response to the attacks as the U.S. tried to lead a broad coalition of allies but most declined to serve under U.S. command and said they would contribute as they see fit.

The Houthis, meanwhile, said that they would also start targeting U.S. military ships if the U.S. Army attacks the Yemeni group directly.

Amid the persistent attacks, Goldman Sachs warned last week that oil prices could rise substantially. In an interview with CNBC, the head of the banks oil research business, Daan Struyven said that prolonged disruption of oil transport in the Red Sea could add between three or four dollars to benchmarks.

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For now, however, oil and fuel tankers have continued moving freely in the Red Sea, Reuters reported earlier this week. Still, some traders such as BP and Equinor have opted to reroute their tankers around Africa.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Donors have generously supported Goodfellows for over 120 years, and this past holiday season was no exception.

Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, the Goodfellows campaign raised over $541,000 to provide one-time emergency aid for Omaha-area residents.

Goodfellows was founded in the 1890s, and since 2020, the Omaha World-Herald and United Way of the Midlands have partnered to administer the Goodfellows program.

The charity works with several partner organizations to provide rent and utility assistance and diapers for families in need as well as holiday meal vouchers and coats, gloves and clothing for schoolchildren.

While this years total amount of $541,369.45 raised was about $47,000 lower than the amount raised in 2022, donation totals in the last few years have hovered near the half a million mark, said Matthew Wallen, senior vice president of community impact and analytics at the United Way of the Midlands.

That amount of funds raised will provide a lot of support for the community, but Wallen said the goal is always to increase donations.

Obviously we want it to be stronger, and we need a stronger campaign because the program does so much good for those that need it in the community, he said.

Goodfellows donors tend to continue donating year after year. Of the 1,178 individuals who donated to Goodfellows this holiday season, 92% were repeat donors.

The high percentage of repeat donors points to the trust people have in Goodfellows and its impact in the community, Wallen said.

I think thats whats really important is that people are accustomed to giving to the Goodfellows program and accustomed to the impact and the difference that the program makes in the community, he said.

This years donations ranged from $5 to $30,000 and Wallen said no donation is too small to benefit those needing emergency assistance.

Any amount makes an impact and goes right back into the community, he said. Any amount makes a world of difference.

While most of this years donations came from Nebraska, donations also came in from California, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

While Goodfellows donations can be made any time of year, its traditionally been a holiday time campaign, and thats when most donations come in, Wallen said.

Wallen said he thinks its inspiring to hear the stories of why people donate to Goodfellows and the support that Goodfellows is able to provide to individuals in a time of crisis.

Its kind of the ultimate safety net, he said. There is a resource out there, its limited, but it can step up and help at a really difficult time in someones life.

Photos: The Goodfellows fund through the years 1926 1936 1938 1938 1939 1939 1939 1941 1941 1941 1942 1948 1948 1948 1951 1953 1953 1957 1960 052123-owh-liv-reminisce-p2 1962 1963 1963 1965 1968 1969 1974 1975 1975 1976 1976 1976 1978 1978 1982 1982 1982 1988 1989 1989 1989 1991 1991 1991 1992 1994 1994 1995 1996
Student wishes were granted this week as several snow days were called in Omaha, but weather conditions  especially on Monday  turned out to be more mild than expected.

Still, district officials said it was the right call to make both Monday and Tuesday snow days for staff and students.

The winter storm that blew through Nebraska was expected to bring 7 to 11 inches into the metro area starting on Monday, but instead, it brought 3 to 6 inches on Tuesday. Much to student and staff delight, school officials began announcing closures beginning Sunday night, even though the following days weather became uneventful.

Annette Eyman, spokeswoman for the Papillion La Vista Community Schools, said mistaken snow day calls are just part of the process in a school district because officials always err on the side of caution for students and staff.

Its much better to make a call and not have it be needed than it is to not make a call and have something happen, she said.

Papillion La Vista officials, including Superintendent Andy Rikli, get updates multiple times a day from a local emergency management team when bad weather is approaching. Eyman said Rikli also communicates with local meteorologists and Offutt Air Force Base for their predictions.

We look at the totality of the situation and then make the best possible decision in collaboration with the other school districts, Eyman said.

Many were holding their breath Monday night in preparation for Papillion La Vista to call a snow day as most districts announced decisions. Eyman said the delayed decision  which came in the morning hours on Tuesday  was partly because of how Mondays weather turned out.

Today it wasnt just the snow, but it was the blowing wind and the ice with the heavy wet snow that got very compacted. And so the roads were very slick, Eyman said. So today, 100% we needed the snow day. It was absolutely the right call.

Papillion La Vista has three snow days worked into its academic calendar, so it has one day left, Eyman said. But because the Nebraska Department of Education tracks the time students are in school by minutes instead of days, a calendar can be reworked if the number of snow days runs out.

The Omaha Public Schools had its first day of the second semester scheduled on Monday. Making the call to cancel school and services for more than 52,000 students can be a heavy decision  and its one made by multiple teams of people, said spokeswoman Bridget Blevins.

Matt Ray, interim superintendent, joins other administrators, plus officials from both OPS operations and transportation teams, to make a joint decision on snow days.

Blevins said OPS strives to have students in class as much as possible, but Midwest weather can also be unpredictable.

There are challenges that scientists face when it comes to forecasting the weather, so I think both Sunday night and Monday night, meteorologists were pretty confident in the fact that there were going to be some significant impacts from the storm, Blevins said. We know that any degree or two of temperature change can have a pretty significant impact on snowfall, road conditions and cleanup.

Blevins said Tuesdays snow day was critical to allow city roads to be plowed for student transportation, but also school parking lots, sidewalks and driveways by OPS staff.

Our maintenance team, our custodians, our operations team  all of them have been working really hard today to clear out all of our schools, she said. I think the plan is that well be back in session tomorrow.

Photos: Winter storm hits the Omaha area
The Spring headquarters of technology company HPE. The company Tuesday said it bought a Silicon Valley tech firm for $14 billion. Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced Tuesday it is acquiring Silicon Valley tech company Juniper Networks for about $14 billion.

The company said Tuesday afternoon the deal would allow it to double its networking business. The deal brings a financial boost that will allow it to invest in high-growth technology like AI and cloud services.

Juniper shareholders will receive $40 per share in cash when the transaction is completed. The transaction is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025.

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HPE specializes in cloud services, computing, artificial intelligence and data storage, but hopes to expand its AI capabilities, according to the company's annual report filed in December. HPE reported earnings of $2 billion on revenue of $29.1 billion for its fiscal year ended Oct. 31.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper Networks develops AI-focused networks, according to its website. HPE in its annual report identified Juniper Networks as a competitor for one of its business segments.

HPE split from the computer and printer company HP in 2015. It announced it would move its global headquarters to the Houston area in 2020, and opened its new office in Spring in early 2022.
Two events occurred Tuesday related to the proposed creation of a business/industrial park in North Omaha and other potential uses for federal economic recovery money that the Nebraska Legislature has allocated for North and South Omaha.

The new business park, proposed for two sites, could be fueled by nearly $90 million in federal economic recovery grants designated for such a project by the Nebraska Legislature over the past two years.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jim Pillen sent a media advisory saying that he and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert will announce economic development projects in northeast Omaha on Wednesday. The announcements are expected to include that the Nebraska Department of Economic Development will award up to $89.6 million in state grants to the North Omaha-based nonprofit Omaha Economic Development Corp. and two partners to develop a business/industrial park.

Also Tuesday, the Omaha City Council voted to create an inland port authority to help facilitate and coordinate industrial development in a designated area of North Omaha generally between Florence Boulevard and Eppley Airfield. State Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney had advocated for the port authority to bring focus, transparency, and accountability to these projects and guarantee that the (economic recovery) funds are kept in the community. Wayne and McKinney led the legislative effort to allocate $400 million to serve neighborhoods in North and South Omaha.

The two senators testified at a City Council public hearing in December about the port authority. There was some discussion then that a port authority could be the vehicle for developing an airport business park, even though the DED grant process was ongoing.

I think thats unlikely, City Council President Pete Festersen said at the council meeting Tuesday.

The state is following its original process to establish an airport industrial park, Festersen said in an interview. Its very important that major appropriation moves forward and that the effort is successful. Creating a municipal port authority still makes sense as a tool to encourage economic development and job creation in the area.

At Wednesdays planned announcement in a Mayors Office conference room, Pillen and Stothert are scheduled to be joined by representatives of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the Omaha Economic Development Corp. (OEDC) and Burlington Capital.

A spokeswoman for Pillen said Tuesday that they wouldnt reveal details about the announcements ahead of time, including confirming that they will include the airport business park. A spokeswoman for Stothert referred questions to the Governors Office.

The airport business park would likely be the largest single project funded by the $400 million economic recovery acts for North and South Omaha that the Nebraska Legislature passed in 2022 and 2023.

The Omaha Economic Development Corp., Burlington Capital and the Greater Omaha Chamber won grants last year from the Department of Economic Development to plan an airport business park. They assembled a master plan and were the only applicants for Phase II of the states Airport Business Park Program.

Phase II provides up to $89.6 million for site preparation of shovel-ready land for such businesses as manufacturers, warehouses and distributors. No businesses have been announced.

The development partners master plan indicates two sites, which it labels Lake View Business Park I and Lake View Business Park II.

The first site, which would be developed first, is west of Carter Lake and east of North 16th Street. It stretches from Locust Street on the south to about Sprague Street on the north. It includes about 70 acres formerly used for industry and demolition debris that the City of Omaha almost bought for an industrial park 10 years ago. The city backed off in 2014 because of high environmental cleanup costs.

Lake View Business Park II would be north of Carter Lake and south of the Storz Expressway, from Abbott Drive on the east to Ninth Street on the west.

The land in the first site, along 16th Street, is already assembled and has been on the market. The land in the second site has not been assembled and includes homes and other properties that are privately owned.

The site developers master plan estimates a total cost of about $200 million for acquiring all the land, cleaning it up, preparing building sites, and putting in utilities and other infrastructure and recruiting businesses to locate there. It does not specify where the additional $110 million would come from.

An inland port authority is an area controlled by an independent board that can engage in marketing, issue and sell bonds, receive government appropriations or grants and acquire property  but only from willing sellers. The board members would be appointed by the mayor and ratified by the City Council, and would have to follow Nebraska open meetings and records law.

It (a port authority) does not have the power of eminent domain, Festersen noted Tuesday. And it does not have taxing authority.

Its unclear what role, if any, an inland part authority might play in the proposed airport business park funded with the state grants.

Wayne said he is glad the council approved creating the authority because it can ensure community input and transparency. He said he expects it will be involved in the airport business park.

Theyre going to have to be involved because theres a $110 million gap, Wayne said. I hope everything works out, but Im concerned because of the lack of community involvement and the lack of transparency.

He said OEDC, Burlington Capital and the Greater Omaha Chamber did not engage the community while assembling the master plan.

George Achola, a vice president at Burlington Capital Real Estate, said the planning effort included a previously conducted extensive study of the area that included public input. He said a tight timeline for generating the plan, and the fact the partners dont control the land for the sites, have made it difficult to engage the public more. But they will in the future, he said.

As we go through the development process in Phase II, will we have more community discussion? Absolutely, Achola said.

Omaha World-Herald's top news photos of 2023
The Sarpy County Board has selected the second in command in the Sarpy County Attorneys Office as the next county administrator.

Bonnie Moore, who has been with the county since 2013, will lead an organization of more than 700 employees in Nebraskas fastest-growing county. On Tuesday, the board unanimously approved Moores contract.

Her contract began Tuesday and runs through Dec. 31, 2026. She will be paid $180,621 per year. The contract says Moore shall receive annual performance-based salary adjustments up to 5% as determined by the chair of the County Board and with written notification to the rest of the board.

Sarpy County Board Chair Angi Burmeister said in a press release that Moore is the right person to help guide the county and execute initiatives focused on long-term growth.

The Boards priority is investing in public services that make our home a great place to live and work. Bonnie shares our vision and has proven herself to be an effective leader with sharp instincts and strong relationships across the county, Burmeister said. Were thrilled to have her as County Administrator.

After her contract was approved, Moore thanked the board for its support.

Ive been with the county just a little over 11 years. I can truly say I love working here, Moore said. I love the variety, I love the people, and Im just so excited to continue on with that and do some really great things this year.

Moore led the civil division of the Sarpy County Attorneys Office before she was named chief deputy in 2017, where she oversaw the operations in the criminal, civil, child support, victim witness and diversion divisions in an office with more than 80 attorneys and staff.

After starting her career in the County Attorneys Office in 2013, she also served as the countys human resources director from 2015 to 2017.

Moore has a law degree from the Creighton University School of Law and a bachelors degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Moore replaces Dan Hoins, who had been county administrator since 2017.

Hoins stepped down from the post last year to become the first full-time administrator of the Sarpy County and Cities Wastewater Agency. The agency was created in 2017 and is charged with creating a unified wastewater system in the southern part of the county.

All five Sarpy County cities and the county have representatives on the agency.

Hoins began his new role Jan. 1 and is being paid $170,000. He is eligible for merit raises, per his new four-year contract.

Before working as county administrator, Hoins was chief of the Papillion Police Department and the Papillion city administrator.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of January 2024
TEL AVIV, Israel  Israel will send top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. The decision to participate rather than boycott reflects Israeli concerns that the judges could order Israel to halt its war against Hamas and tarnish its image internationally.

"Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious," said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa.

Israel, which as one of the parties in the case is entitled to send a judge, tapped a former Israeli Supreme Court chief justice to join the court's 15 regular members who will rule on the accusation. It also enlisted a British barrister and lauded international law expert as part of its defense team.

Israel hopes their expertise will trounce the South African claim that Israel's military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide and prevent an interim court order to force Israel to stop the fighting. Israel says halting the war when Hamas' capabilities are intact in many places and with hostages still in its captivity would amount to a Hamas victory.

The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity. The country sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after 6 million were killed in the Holocaust during World War II. International support for Israel's creation in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities.

The same year, with Israel's involvement, world powers drew up the convention against genocide in hopes of preventing similar atrocities.

Israel's unprecedented air, ground and sea offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel's military campaign displaced roughly 85% of Gaza's 2.3 million population, many with no homes to return to. More than a quarter of the population is starving.

South Africa, long a critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, launched the case at the United Nations' top court in The Netherlands. Many South Africans compare Israel's policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with their own country's former apartheid regime of racial segregation.

Israel vehemently disputes the genocide claims, saying it is fighting a war of self-defense after Hamas militants launched an attack Oct. 7 on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Israel says its actions comply with international law and it does its best to prevent harm to civilians, blaming Hamas for embedding in residential areas.

South Africa's 84-page filing says Israel's actions, including killing Palestinians and causing serious mental and bodily harm, "are genocidal in character." It says Israeli officials expressed genocidal intent.

The case will likely drag on for years but South Africa's filing includes a request for the court to urgently issue legally binding interim orders for Israel to "immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza."

Abiding by such a ruling would be politically costly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Israelis still largely supportive of the war. Israel also would fall short of its declared goal of crushing the militant group.

If it doesn't abide, Israel could face U.N. sanctions. Though the U.S., Israel's closest ally, could veto such a move, doing so would anger many Democrats who already soured on President Joe Biden over his strong support for Israel in the war. That could be damaging for Biden as he seeks reelection. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday the case is "meritless."

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, criticized South Africa, saying it was giving Hamas political and legal cover. "We are appalled that South Africa has chosen to play advocate for the devil," he said.

Israel boycotted a prominent case at the court in 2004 about its West Bank separation barrier, which the court ruled was "contrary to international law," saying the proceedings were politically motivated.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel agreed to cooperate with the court this time because it is confident it will prevail.

Israel chose Aharon Barak  a mainstay of the country's legal world for decades  to join the panel of international judges. A former attorney general and peace negotiator who served as chief justice of Israel's highest court from 1995 to 2006, Barak ruled in cases related to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The internationally renowned 87-year-old received honorary degrees from multiple universities, including Yale and Oxford.

He is also a Holocaust survivor who was sent to Lithuania's Kovno Ghetto at age 5, where he said he repeatedly evaded death. That could be significant in his discussions with the other judges.

British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, who will defend Israel, is the author of what's seen as the definitive textbook on international law. He represented numerous nations in international litigation, including at the International Court of Justice, according to a biography posted online by Essex Court Chambers, where Shaw is a barrister.

Photos: Displaced Palestinians shelter in pop-up tent camps in Gaza
TEL AVIV, Israel  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the Palestinian president Wednesday to reform his government, seeking to rally the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

The U.S. wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza once the war is over. Getting President Mahmoud Abbas on board, as well as other Arab countries the U.S. hopes will help rebuild Gaza, depends on promising movement toward a Palestinian state after years of a defunct peace process.

But the vision outlined by Blinken faces serious obstacles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government has so far rejected Palestinian Authority control in Gaza and adamantly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The autocratic, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, lacks legitimacy in the view of many Palestinians.

The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight, fueling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave. Israeli strikes on Wednesday hit an ambulance and a building near a hospital in central Gaza, killing some two dozen people, health officials said.

The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

Blinken warns Houthis: There will be consequences US top diplomat, speaking from Bahrain, labels ongoing Houthi attacks a 'clear threat' to nations globally, pledges counteraction.

On his fourth visit to the region since the war began three months ago, Blinken met in recent days with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. He said they agreed to help rebuild the territory and that wider Israeli-Arab normalization is still possible, but only if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

The Saudi ambassador to the U.K. went further Tuesday, telling the BBC that the kingdom is still interested in a landmark normalization agreement with Israel, but that it must include nothing less than an independent state of Palestine.

"One doesnt come without the other," Prince Khalid bin Bandar said.

In their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken told Abbas that the U.S. supports tangible steps toward a Palestinian state, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken said later that they discussed reforming the Palestinian Authority so "it can effectively take responsibility for Gaza. Abbas appeared ready to engage in all of these efforts, Blinken said at his next stop, the Bahraini capital of Manama.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said they heard good statements from the Americans. But nothing has happened, he said. The priority now is to stop the war on Gaza.

Abbas, 88, has not stood for election since 2005 and lacks support among his own people.

His Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under interim peace deals reached in the 1990s and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But it has been powerless to prevent the expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied territory it wants for a future state, and there have been no serious or substantive peace talks since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been unable to get Israel to make even relatively minor concessions to the Palestinians, like turning over all the tax revenue it collects on their behalf or allowing the reopening of a U.S. Consulate to serve Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

After meeting with Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials Tuesday, Blinken delivered a stark message, saying Israel must stop undercutting the Palestinians ability to govern themselves with its expansion of settlements, home demolitions and evictions in the West Bank.

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it crushes Hamas and returns scores of hostages held by the group after its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Israeli officials say the campaign will continue through the rest of the year. Israel's own postwar plans call for open-ended military control over the territory, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005.

Nearly 85% of Gazas population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege.

The offensive has reduced much of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to a moonscape, raising concerns over whether the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled from those areas will ever be able to return. Far-right members of Netanyahu's government have called for them to be resettled elsewhere, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Blinken said the U.S. was opposed to any such scenario and that resettlement is not the policy of the Israeli government. He also said he had secured agreement on a U.N. inspection mechanism in northern Gaza to evaluate how and when people can return.
LINCOLN  A former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student was sentenced Wednesday after a jury found him guilty in November of first-degree sexual assault.

Evan Mielak, 22, was sentenced to four to eight years in prison by Judge Kevin McManaman.

Mielak was charged in April with sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in her home after a night of drinking alcohol, according to the probable cause affidavit.

On April 17, Lincoln police recorded a conversation between Mielak and the victim in which she confronted him over the assault, the affidavit said.

A three-day trial took place in November. The jury found him guilty.

During the sentencing hearing, the prosecution referred to Mielak's lack of remorse during interviews and mentioned that Mielak was supposed to be a friend to the victim.
LINCOLN  A Lincoln liquor store was robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday by someone wearing a curtain as a disguise, according to the Lincoln Police Department.

Around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a robbery at Mum's Liquor, 2202 O St. The employee told police that a man entered the store wearing a black hoodie, mask, gloves and a curtain.

The man ran behind the counter, pointed a gun at the store clerk and demanded money, police said. He took an undisclosed amount of money.

The curtain was later found as the suspect fled from the scene before police arrived.

No injuries were reported. The investigation is ongoing.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of January 2024
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has denied reports that he has fled Nigeria ahead of Saturdays presidential and National Assembly elections.

He said he remains in Nigeria to perform his civic responsibility of voting according to the dictate of his heart on Saturday and on March 2, governorship and house of assembly elections.

A Facebook user, one Gbenga Lawal had posted, Breaking: Obasanjo jets out of Nigeria. He cant even wait for the thief he is imposing on Nigerians.

But speaking with journalists at his Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Obasanjo described the post as fake news, wondering why he should travel out of the country before the elections of February 16 and March 2.

He said, Why should I travel out of the country before the election? If not for anything, I believe I should be here to perform my civic responsibility, which is to vote according to the dictate of my heart tomorrow and on the second of March.

Those who are carrying that type of rumour or fake news; I leave them in the hands of God; I am used to that kind of thing.

In Yoruba land, if your head is hard, you dont have to worry yourself.

Let anybody tell lies against you, let anybody issue fake news against you, let anybody abuse you, God will deal with them rightly and appropriately.

Obasanjo had in several letters and comments branded President Muhammadu Buhari an incompetent leader deserving no reelection.

He has since endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as his preferred candidate to succeed Buhari.

Atiku served as Vice President to Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007. The two have been political enemies since, but Obasanjo forgave Atiku towards the ending of last year.
Losses from Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines is speculated to be between 50 million dollars and 60 million dollars, an insurance firm, Willis Towers Watson (WTW) said on Tuesday.

The aircraft heading to Nairobi crashed on March 10, after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 159 passengers on board including two Nigerians.

WTW is an Irish-domiciled global multinational risk management insurance brokerage and advisory company.

The firm dates back to 1828 and is the third largest insurance broker in the world.

According to a Reuters report, the global insurance brokerage and risk management firm says it is the insurance broker for Ethiopian Airlines.

The Nigerian victims were identified as a popular Nigerian-born Canadian professor and writer, Pius Adesanmi, and Ambassador Abiodun Bashua, a former Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, Sudan.

According to an insurer, major insurance covers for aircraft are the hull all risks, passenger and passenger baggage legal liability, third party legal liability, and crew personal accident.

The hull all risks indemnify against accidental loss or damage to the aircraft, excluding when the aircraft is on the ground, taxing or is moored. (Reuters/NAN)
The police in Oyo State say they have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of a member representing Akinyele/Lagelu in the House of Representatives, Temitope Olatoye.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone eleven, Leye Oyebade and the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Shina Olukolu disclosed this on Monday.

The duo while addressing journalists however disclosed that Mr Olatoyes killing was not in connection with the Saturdays gubernatorial and State House of Assembly election.

They said 18 persons where arrested in connection with various criminal activities while, six guns, nine live cartridges, axe and knives where recovered from the suspect.

Though, the police bosses did not reveal the identity of the suspect, they insisted that the police got enough facts and evidences that led to the arrest.

They said that the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) had been carrying out investigations on the matter.

Mr Oyebade said, We have got a suspect but we cant reveal all the details. I was at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan with the Oyo State Commissioner of Police on Saturday. The Chief Medical Director of the UCH was also with us.

From that point, we picked up the investigation. I want to assure members of the public that the IGPs mandate is that no stone should be left unturned in unravelling the cause of the incident.

But the incident is not directly connected with the elections, going by the venue of the incident and the information we gathered of what happened prior to the incident.

Mr Olukolu said that he got the information about the attack from the Divisional Police Officer at Iyana Offa while monitoring the governorship and state House of Assembly elections on Saturday.

I learnt that Sugar was ambushed and, in the process, sustained gunshot injuries in the head. He was immediately evacuated to the UCH for medical attention, but, unfortunately, he died at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital while receiving treatment.

He added that the area where the incident occurred was cordoned, while he directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) to lead the team of investigators.
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Christian leaders in the country of his commitment to leave the country better than he met it in 2015.

President Buhari made this assurance on Thursday when he received the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who came to congratulate him on his re-election victory at the presidential Villa Abuja.

the President affirmed that his administration would continue to address important national challenges including security, economy and corruption. He added:

In the area of allocation of political offices, our focus will be on merit and national spread such that every part of Nigeria will have a sense of belonging. We remain resolute in the fight against terrorism and insurgency, and efforts to bring back all those in captivity and other victims of kidnappings will be intensified.

Commending the important roles religious bodies have played in the last four years, Buhari pledged to continue supporting several programmes anchored by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), geared towards peace, tolerance, unity and harmony in our country.

In his congratulatory message, the CAN president prayed God to grant the President everything it takes to perform hundred times better than his first term, stressing that the organisation had the success of this administration at heart. Ayokunle welcomed the Presidents pledge to run an inclusive government in a speech shortly after his re-election, noting that the gesture would give all in the country a sense of belonging.

The leadership of the Christian body in Nigeria also called for ethnic and religious balance in the selection of leadership of the ninth National Assembly.

While appealing to the President to task security agencies to be more proactive in their duties, Ayokunle made a passionate request for deliberate and relentless efforts to free Leah Sharibu, other Chibok girls and Nigerians in captivity of insurgents.
Detail of Houston City Hall photographed on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

The top five highest paid city of Houston employees in 2023 work across various departments with No. 1 being a Houston Fire Department employee. A database created by The Chronicle revealed the city of Houstons top-paid employees with multiple earning upwards of $300,000 a year.

Data from Houstons Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department shows the earnings of more than 22,400 full-time city employees from July 2022 through June 2023. The data only accounts for wages employees earned before any taxes or deductions.

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The database showed David Persse, the physician director for the city's emergency management system, earned almost $100,000 more than former Houston Mayor Sylvester who ranked 17th among city employees with a salary of $236, 189. Persse also made nearly five times more than each city council member, who earned $67,183.

Even three associate and assistant directors working alongside Persse out-earned Turner in addition to members of the police, airport, public works and health and human services departments.

Heres a look at the top five employees and where they work:

David Persse, EMS Physician Director

Department: Houston Fire Department

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Salary: $333, 031

In 1996, Dr. Persse became the Director of Emergency Medical Services for the city of Houston. A few years later in 2004, the city council appointed Houstons Public Health Authority. Hes responsible for the medical aspects of clinical care quality management, disease control and public health preparedness. Persse also worked in Los Angeles earlier in his career as the Medical Director of the Los Angeles County Paramedic Training Institute and the Assistant Medical Director of the Los Angeles County EMS Agency.

Abel Gonzales, Deputy Director

Department: Parks and Recreation

Salary: $330, 017

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Before setting off on a new adventure, Abel Gonzales worked for the Parks and Recreation Department for nearly five decades. He came to the department back in October of 1975. Gonzales said goodbye to the department in the spring of last year.

Arturo Michel, City Attorney

Department: Legal

Salary: $318, 310

Asked personally by former Mayor Sylvester Turner to return to city government to become the city attorney, Michels served in the role since December of 2020. Returning to city hall marked his second stint as city attorney with his first running from 2004 through 2010. Before coming back to the citys legal department, Michel worked at Husch Blackwell LLP as a partner.

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Troy Finner, Police Chief

Department: Houston Police Department

Salary: $298, 322

The Houston City Council appointed Finner back in 2021. He served with the Houston Police Department for 31 years before taking on the role of police chief. Finner stepped into the position after HPD Police Chief Art Acevedo announced plans to move to Florida to become the chief of police in Miami.

Mario Diaz, Aviation Director

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Department: Houston Airport System

Salary: $292, 447

Diaz began working for the Houston Airport System in 2010. Hes responsible for managing the Ellington Airport (EFD), George. Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU). Before arriving in Houston, Diaz served as the deputy general manager for the worlds busiest airport--- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA.

As city employees, their annual pay consists of three categories including base salary, compensation for overtime hours and what the city describes as other pay  leave, longevity, bilingual, shift differential and incentive pay. For most city employees, they receive the bulk of their annual earnings from their base, especially those in the Legal Department and City Council.
Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesman disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Tuesday, January 9, the Presidential Villa, Abuja

A breakdown of President Bola Tinubus new travel slash has been made public.

Recall that we reported earlier that travel expenditure of all government officials  both domestic and international by 60 percent.

Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesman disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Tuesday, January 9, the Presidential Villa, Abuja

He said the directive was issued as a cost-cutting measure on official travels.

Heres the breakdown of the new official travel expenditure:

FOREIGN TRIPS:

President  20 persons

Vice President -5 persons

First Lady -5 persons

LOCAL TRIPS:

President  25 persons.

Vice President- 15 persons.

First lady  10 persons.
Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo

The Tinubu-led presidency has dismissed reports circulating online that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was summoned for questioning at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in relation to links between him and a company said to be involved in the financial mismanagement involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is said to have given a consultancy contract to the tune of N438 million, for the National Social Register to New New Planet Projects Ltd, a company the interior Minister is linked to.

The Interior Minister had come under fire for alleged involvement in a 438.1 million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

It was gathered that Tunji-Ojo has since left the Presidential Villa after a meeting with President Tinubu but he was silent about the purpose of the visit.

According to Vanguard, a presidency source has denied media reports that the minister was summoned over the scandal.

The source said, We are too intelligent to be stupid.



It is understood that the company, New Planet Project Limited, was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from N3 billion given out by the suspended minister for the National Social Register contract.

In a document posted by the editor of a media platform, Pointblank News, Jackson Ude, Tunji-Ojos New Planet Project Limited was initially paid N279 million for verification of the list and another N159 million for the same purpose.

But in an appearance on Politics Today on Monday, the minister refuted being a Director in the company, stressing that he resigned years ago from the company.

The minister added that he resigned from the company in 2019 and has no current link with the management of the company.
Senator Shehu Sanis sarcastic remark suggesting that the nonexistent Kogi Airport should be named after the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, has elicited mixed reactions from the public. The comment comes on the heels of allegations that Edu approved a 3 million Naira flight ticket to Kogi state, a location without an operational airport.

Following Sanis remarks on his verified Twitter account, a range of opinions emerged, reflecting the diverse perspectives on the matter. Some individuals saw Sanis comment as a tongue-in-cheek critique of Edus alleged mismanagement of funds. They interpreted his statement as a satirical way to highlight the irony and questionable decisions made by the suspended minister.

On the other hand, some people criticized Sani for his choice of words, deeming it inappropriate and unprofessional. They argued that instead of resorting to sarcasm, it would be more helpful to engage in substantive discussions about the allegations and hold the minister accountable for her actions as you can read some of the reactions below.

The controversy surrounding Edus alleged financial misconduct has already generated significant public interest and scrutiny. Sanis comment adds another layer of debate.
The death toll from the massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck western Japan and flattened parts of Ishikawa, has reached 200 with over 100 still missing.

The earthquake struck at 4:10 p.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometres, 6 miles around 42 kilometres, and 26 miles northeast of Anamizu in Ishikawa on Monday, January 1.

Eight days later thousands of rescuers were battling blocked roads and poor weather to clear the wreckage as well as reach almost 3,500 people still stuck in isolated communities.

Ishikawa regional authorities released figures on Tuesday showing that 202 people were confirmed dead, up from 180 earlier in the day, with 102 unaccounted for, down from 120.

On Monday, authorities had more than tripled the number of missing to 323 after central databases were updated, with most of the rise related to badly hit Wajima.

But since then many families let us know that they were able to confirm the safety of the persons (on the list), Ishikawa official Hayato Yachi told AFP.

The country is haunted by the monster quake of 2011 that triggered a tsunami, left around 18,500 people dead or missing, and caused a nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima plant.
In a bid to seek to breathe new life into his second mandate ahead of European parliament elections, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as Frances new Prime Minister.

The move will not necessarily lead to any major political shift, but signals a desire for Macron to try to move beyond last years unpopular pension and immigration reforms and improve his centrist partys chances in the June EU ballot.

Opinion polls show Macrons camp trailing far-right leader Marine Le Pens party by around eight to 10 percentage points.

Attal, a close Macron ally, who became a household name as government spokesman during the COVID pandemic, will replace outgoing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

Attal, one of the countrys most popular politicians in recent opinion polls, has made a name for himself as a savvy minister at ease, on radio shows and in parliament.

Attal will be Frances youngest Prime Minister and the first to be openly gay.

READ ALSO: Japa: France bans Nigerian students, others from bringing their families

He and Macron have a combined age just below that of Joe Biden, who is running for a second mandate in this years U.S. presidential election.

Macron has struggled to deal with a more turbulent parliament since losing his absolute majority shortly after being re-elected in 2022.

Jordan Bardella, the 28-year old leader of Le Pens National Rally party, said: By appointing Gabriel Attal, Emmanuel Macron wants to cling to his popularity in opinion polls to alleviate the pain of an interminable end to his reign.

Instead, he risks taking the short-lived education minister with him in his fall.

Other opposition leaders were quick to say they did not expect much from the change in prime minister, with Macron himself taking on much of the decision-making.

Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal or someone else, I dont care. It will just be the same policies, Socialist Party Leader Olivier Faure told France Inter radio.

However, MP Patrick Vignal, who belongs to Macrons Renaissance party, said Attal is a bit like the Macron of 2017, referring to the point at which the president first took office as the youngest leader in modern French history  at the time, a popular figure among voters.

It is clear, he has authority, Vignal said.
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday ordered significant cut down of 60% of travel delegations for all Federal Government official trips across the country, including foreign trips.

READ ALSO: China launches Einstein Probe Satellite in orbit

The Special Adviser to teh President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, at a press briefing at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday, emphasised that the order implies a 60% cut down across board and affects all MDAs, including the office of the President, Vice President, the First Lady, ministers, and others.
A Nigerian man has been arrested in the Kufra District of Libya for the murder of another Nigerian.

This was made known in a post by the Migrant Rescue Watch on their X account on Monday.

The post disclosed that the accused, who was arrested following an investigation into an unidentified deceased person delivered to a hospital in Kufra, confessed to the crime, citing a personal dispute with the victim.

The post read, 05.01.24  Police, in response to a report of an unidentified deceased person delivered to hospital in Kufra, launched an investigation and arrested a Nigerian.

The accused, during interrogation admitted to killing the victim (also of Nigerian nationality) following a personal dispute. The case was referred to Public Prosecution for legal action.
A jarring incident unfolded in Kogi State this week, as a Senator of the National Assembly was harassed and physically attacked by thugs within the Government House itself.

Senator Isah Echocho, representing Kogi East, faced the assault shortly after a meeting with Governor Yahaya Bello on Tuesday.

The shocking episode began with a seemingly cordial visit by Kogi State legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives.

They came to offer congratulations on the recent governorship election and pledge loyalty to the incoming administration.

However, the joy of this courtesy call was shattered when Echocho found himself targeted by an unidentified group of thugs.

According to Echochos account, the attackers singled him out and accused him of playing a role in the All Progressives Congress (APC) performance in the Kogi East senatorial district during the governorship election.

While APC candidate Usman Ododo secured the overall victory, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) garnered significant support, primarily in Echochos district.

The senator maintained that despite his campaigning efforts, the electorate had made their choice.

Yet, the thugs held him accountable for the disappointing outcome in his region.

The situation escalated to the point where they brandished weapons and physically threatened him before police officers intervened and provided him with safety.

ALSO READ : Islamic extremists kill butcher for alleged blasphemy in Sokoto

Governor Bello reacted swiftly to the incident, condemning the act of violence and ordering the immediate arrest of the culprits.

His Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Mohammed, issued a statement emphasizing the governors zero tolerance for hooliganism and indiscipline within the Government House premises.

Additionally, Bello has banned unauthorized persons from accessing the Government House, aiming to enhance security and prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Kogi state incident raises serious concerns about political violence and the safety of representatives within government buildings.

The swift action taken by Governor Bello demonstrates a commitment to upholding law and order, but the underlying tensions surrounding the election results remain unresolved.

As investigations into the attack continue, it will be crucial to ensure justice for Echocho and address the factors that led to this unacceptable act of political aggression.
A coalition of Christians under the aegis of National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), has picked holes in the description by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar that the genocidal attacks in Bokkos, Mangu, and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State were clashes.

The chairman of NCEF, Dr. Samuel Danjuma Gani, raised the issues in a statement obtained by Religious Affairs correspondents in Abuja, being its first reaction to the Christmas Eve killings in Plateau State.

He said Sultan Abubakars description of the genocide in Plateau State as clashes is like being economical with the truth.

Gani said, When religious insurgents attack innocent and unarmed citizens in their homes, such attacks hardly qualify to be described as a clash. NCEF urges that leaders of Islam in the country should not seek to downplay the seriousness of what is going on in Nigeria.

He said, This genocidal attack is a painful reminder of the dark and sorrowful days of the Buhari administration and a cause for concern that the Tinubus administration could be making good its words. Since we know where the former President stopped, should there not be concern that another wave of genocidal attacks has commenced in Nigeria under the watch of his successor?

READ ALSO: Plateau massacre: Rise up, defend yourselves, cleric tells survivors

During his campaign at Dikko Stadium, Katsina, President Tinubu assured Nigerians that, we will not be deterred by security threats to our people. We will deal with the terrorists. They are evil and we will defeat them, and they will not win. These are the words of President Tinubu that should be implemented in the best interest of Nigeria.

Gani said, We urge the Tinubu administration to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions that affirm the secularity of the Nigerian state as well as freedom of religious conviction of the citizens. No government can succeed in an environment of chaos and discord.

In addition, the President should appoint a Special Investigator to lead a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the sponsors, of the religious insurgency that overwhelmed Nigeria from 2009. Just as the President attached importance to investigating the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), investigating the atrocities of the religious insurgents should be accorded greater attention.

Nigeria requires a new constitution. One of the best decisions this administration can take for Nigeria is to initiate the process of giving the country a new constitution. This can easily be done with the report of the 2014 National Conference as the template. Nigeria requires a new constitution.

The President should ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of the terrorists involved in the Christmas Eve attacks on Plateau state. The terrorists are not spirits. They can be arrested and prosecuted. Anything short of their arrest and prosecution would be a confirmation that President Tinubu is indeed continuing from where his predecessor stopped.

The organization called on the Tinubus administration to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions which affirm the secular status of Nigeria as well as freedom of religious conviction of the citizens, warning that no government can succeed in an atmosphere of chaos and discord.

READ ALSO: Tinubu orders security agents to go after Plateau attackers

They also demanded that the president appoint a Special Investigator to lead a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the sponsors of the religious insurgency that has bedeviled Nigeria since 2009.

Apart from Gani, other members of NCEF are Dr. Saleh Hussaini, Vice Chairman (North); Elder Shyngle Wigwe, Vice Chairman (South); Mrs. Osaretin Demuren, Hon. Treasurer; Prof. Joseph Otubu; Dr. (Mrs) Kate Okparaeke; Dr. Ayo Abifarin; Gen. Zamani Lekwot (rtd); Hon. Justice James Ogebe, JSC (rtd) and Elder Moses Ihonde; Hon. Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (rtd); Elder Nat Okoro; Mr. Solomon Asemota (SAN) and Elder Matthew Owojaiye.

Others are DIG P. L. Dabup; Sir John W. Bagu; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Prof. (Mrs) Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye; HRM Oba Dokun Thompson; Dr. Taiwo Idemudia (Diaspora); Elder Minso Gadzama; Apostle Bulus Musa Kewa; Admiral Peter Adeniyi (rtd); Hon. Justice Goddy Anunihu (rtd.); Chief Sir Ferdinand Anikwe; and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel (Secretary).
By Izunna Okafor, Awka

In a profound display of appreciation and dedication to their newfound roles, the recently elected President General of Ebenator Community in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Mr. Henry Chigozie Anadi, alongside his fellow executives, embarked on an extensive Thank You visit and courtesy visits to the people.

Beyond mere expression of gratitude, the Thank You visit saw the Executives going to the various zones in the community  Umuonyeukpa, Umunnama, Uhuala, and Amakom.

This physical and comprehensive visits by the Executives of the Ebenator Development Union (E.D.U.) aimed not only to reassure the residents of the new administrations commitment to fulfilling their campaign promises, but to also establish the foundation for a truly inclusive and responsive administration.

Alongside members of the Ambassadors Club, the E.D.U. Executives, during the tour also paid courtesy visit to some key stakeholders in the community who did not only play pivotal roles in the success of the election campaign, but have also shown great concern and commitment to the progress of the community. Notable among the courtesy visits by the Executives was the homage paid to the Traditional Ruler of Ebenator Community, H.R.H. Igwe Edwin Chinewubeze Ezejiburu, the Ezejiofor I of Ebenator.

Speaking at the palace of Igwe Ezejiburu, the PG expressed deep appreciation for the unwavering support received from the monarch, while also seeking his royal blessings and collaborative wisdom for the arduous task ahead. The monarch, in response, conveyed his delight at the executives visit and expressed his confidence in their ability to lead the community to greater heights. He emphasized the importance of unity and urged the new leadership to prioritize the well-being of the people, assuring them of his continued support and counsel.

Other prominent figures, including Chief Gilbert Ezenagu, Chief Sam Ebugheme, Chief David Ndoeche, Chief Chigozie Chukwumere, Dr. Harry Oranezi, Mr. Abunna Onyekachukwu, and Mr. Oge Ejionye, were also visited, with the executives and the Ambassadors acknowledging and honouring their contributions to the communitys well-being, as well as requesting more of their advice and financial-cum-morale support to enable the administration succeed beyond expectation. As many offered advice to the new leadership, some others also made some financial donations to enable the new government kick off work.

While many other personalities will still be visited, the new leadership also visited two major churches in the community, St. Andrews Anglican Church and St. Matthews Catholic Church, underscoring their commitment to ethical and spiritually guided governance.

Addressing the congregation, the PG, Mr. Anadi pledged to foster unity across all denominations without discrimination, even as he also dedicated the administration to a higher purpose, seeking divine guidance for the challenges that lay ahead.

Throughout the visits, he also consistently emphasized his commitment to an open-door policy, genuinely calling for residents to actively voice their opinions and concerns when necessary. While noting that transparency will be the cornerstone of his address, he further assured that the promises made during the campaign would be kept to the latter, adding that the administration would work tirelessly for the holistic betterment of Ebenator.

Among others, a significant highlight of the Thank You and courtesy visits tour was the active solicitation of feedback and collaboration, as the Executives PG-elect actively sought advice, suggestions, and information from the various individuals and groups visited, especially their wise counsel, whose invaluable insights provided a rich tapestry of perspectives, offering a nuanced understanding of the communitys needs and aspirations.

It was further gathered that these engagements were not unidirectional, but reciprocal dialogues, as the various individuals and groups visited also graciously shared their wisdom, offering helpful advice and suggestions to the new executives. They further assured the new leadership of their total support, pledging to stand united in the pursuit of making Ebenator a better and greater community.

Aside signaling a collective commitment to collaborate for the common good, by the emergence of the new administration and the steps taken so far by the executives; Ebenator community stands at the threshold of a new era marked by collaborative leadership, sincerity, inclusivity, and a shared vision for the progress and prosperity of Ebenator.

Some pictures from the visits:

Related
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 29, 2023. HAIYUN JIANG/NYT Migrants are taken into custody by officials at the Texas-Mexico border, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Pass. Eric Gay/Associated Press Texas National Guard troops observe as immigrants change into dry clothes after wading through the Rio Grande from Mexico early on Dec. 20, 2023 in Eagle Pass. John Moore/Getty Images Migrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on Dec. 20, 2023, in Eagle Pass. A late-year surge of migrants crossing the U.S.southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration officials. John Moore/Getty Images Texas Department of Safety vehicles line up along the bank of the Rio Grande near an encampment of migrants, many from Haiti, near the Del Rio International Bridge, Sept. 21, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. The U.S. is flying Haitians camped in a exas border town back to their homeland and blocking others from crossing the border from Mexico. Julio Cortez/Associated Press U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, right, wants the federal government to turn away asylum seekers at the border if the Department of Homeland Security is incapable of detaining them for the duration of the processing of their claims. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, left, says Roy's bill would mean many are turned away, even if they have rightful asylum claims and fear for their lives. file wire photos

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Central Texas sounds more like a Confederate secessionist with every official statement.

If the House Freedom Caucus, a minority among Republicans  who control one-half of one branch of the federal government  does not get the immigration bill it wants, then the Union might as well dissolve, the Republican from Austin declared.

My fellow Texans rightly ask whether Texas and similarly minded Americans should remain part of a federal government forsaking their well-being, safety, and security in violation of the compact under which we entered the union, he said in a press release. This is not a passing concern or political hyperbole  but a constitutional crisis.

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Roys echo of Sen. Louis Trezevant Wigfall (1816-1874), another Texas transplant and top Southern fire-eater, should disturb us all.

I agree the waves of migrants crossing our southern border are a crisis, but its a humanitarian one. Roys disregard for his oath is the real constitutional crisis. Flirting with secession, as his former boss, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has, reveals a traitorous impulse that betrays the 750,000 Americans who died in the Civil War.

Roys hyperbole is intended to ramp up Republican outrage over the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people crossing the southern border with Mexico daily. The crisis is so good for the GOP that U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls plans to block any attempt to solve it.

Let me tell you, Im not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Bidens approval rating, Nehls, the former Fort Bend County sheriff, told CNN. I will not help the Democrats try to improve this mans dismal approval ratings. Im not going to do it. Why would I?

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It is remarkable how a man who argues the border crisis is a foreign invasion of sovereign U.S. territory wants to perpetuate it.

Then we have Gov. Greg Abbott, who exacerbates the crisis with political stunts and unconstitutional laws that cost Texas taxpayers billions of dollars.

Abbott has sent thousands of Texas National Guard troops to the border, forcing them to suspend their lives and pay higher taxes. But rather than place them in a joint command with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, he orders them to string concertina wire that interferes with federal officers. Then he sues Border Patrol for trying to do their jobs.

Abbotts attempt to force local police and state courts to adjudicate deportations will take resources away from fighting crime. Attorney General Ken Paxton must assign lawyers to defend Senate Bill 4 against a Department of Justice challenge rather than prosecuting criminals and deadbeat dads.

Ive never understood why Texans thought it was a good idea for Paxton to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money fighting lawsuits that Texas inevitably loses. Like the deployment of citizen soldiers to the border, its just one big campaign commercial for Republican candidates.

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Abbott is right about one thing: the entire nation must help with the migrants allowed to remain in the United States pending the resolution of their asylum claims. Eagle Pass has a population of 39,000, and Del Rio, with 34,000 residents, cannot accommodate so many families.

The governor diminishes his good deed by turning desperate migrants into political pawns. Shipping them only to Democratically run cities and dropping them off unannounced in the middle of the night causes unnecessary suffering. Its more proof of our governors casual cruelty.

Abbott cannot claim he is solving a problem when his intent is clearly to create one. Like his comrades in Congress, Abbott seeks to sap what little faith his supporters have in democracy so they will support an authoritarian alternative.

These three men are not living up to their official oaths, not unlike the one I took when I joined the Army. They pledged: I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

Seceding from the Union and creating crises violate that oath, but this isnt about bearing true faith in the United States. These men are grasping for more power, and both think the best way to achieve it is to reelect another man who cares not a whit about the Constitution: former President Donald Trump.

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 Reply Sultan, say Plateau killings genocide, not clashes

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should appoint a Special Investigator to lead a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the sponsors of the religious insurgency that has bedeviled Nigeria since 2009, a coalition of Christians under the aegis of National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), has demanded.

The elder statesmen also picked holes in the description by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar that the genocidal attacks in Bokkos, Mangu, and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State were clashes.

The chairman of NCEF, Dr. Samuel Danjuma Gani, raised the issues in a statement obtained by Religious Affairs correspondents in Abuja, being its first reaction to the Christmas Eve killings in Plateau State.

The organization called on the Tinubus administration to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions which affirm the secular status of Nigeria as well as freedom of religious conviction of the citizens, warning that no government can succeed in an atmosphere of chaos and discord.

Apart from Gani, other members of NCEF are Dr. Saleh Hussaini, Vice Chairman (North); Elder Shyngle Wigwe, Vice Chairman (South); Mrs. Osaretin Demuren, Hon. Treasurer; Prof. Joseph Otubu; Dr. (Mrs) Kate Okparaeke; Dr. Ayo Abifarin; Gen. Zamani Lekwot (rtd); Hon. Justice James Ogebe, JSC (rtd) and Elder Moses Ihonde; Hon. Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (rtd); Elder Nat Okoro; Mr. Solomon Asemota (SAN) and Elder Matthew Owojaiye.

Others are DIG P. L. Dabup; Sir John W. Bagu; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Prof. (Mrs) Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye; HRM Oba Dokun Thompson; Dr. Taiwo Idemudia (Diaspora); Elder Minso Gadzama; Apostle Bulus Musa Kewa; Admiral Peter Adeniyi (rtd); Hon. Justice Goddy Anunihu (rtd.); Chief Sir Ferdinand Anikwe; and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel (Secretary).

Gani said, We urge the Tinubu administration to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions that affirm the secularity of the Nigerian state as well as freedom of religious conviction of the citizens. No government can succeed in an environment of chaos and discord.

In addition, the President should appoint a Special Investigator to lead a Commission of Inquiry into the causes, as well as expose the sponsors, of the religious insurgency that overwhelmed Nigeria from 2009. Just as the President attached importance to investigating Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), investigating the atrocities of the religious insurgents should be accorded greater attention.

Nigeria requires a new constitution. One of the best decisions this administration can take for Nigeria is to initiate the process of giving the country a new constitution. This can easily be done with the report of the 2014 National Conference as the template. Nigeria requires a new constitution.

NCEF prays that as the country enters a new year, government shall be more determined to solve the problem posed over the years by insurgents. It is evident that these religious irredentists do not have the interest of Nigeria at heart.

Speaking on Sultan Abubakars description of the genocide in Plateau State as clashes, Gani said, when religious insurgents attack innocent and unarmed citizens in their homes, such attacks hardly qualify to be described as a clash. NCEF urges that leaders of Islam in the country should not seek to downplay the seriousness of what is going on in Nigeria.

He said, This genocidal attack is a painful reminder of the dark and sorrowful days of the Buhari administration and a cause for concern that the Tinubus administration could be making good its words. Since we know where the former President stopped, should there not be concern that another wave of genocidal attacks has commenced in Nigeria under the watch of his successor?

During his campaign at Dikko Stadium, Katsina, President Tinubu assured Nigerians that, we will not be deterred by security threats to our people. We will deal with the terrorists. They are evil and we will defeat them, and they will not win. These are the words of President Tinubu that should be implemented in the best interest of Nigeria.

The President should ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of the terrorists involved in the Christmas Eve attacks on Plateau state. The terrorists are not spirits. They can be arrested and prosecuted. Anything short of their arrest and prosecution would be a confirmation that President Tinubu is indeed continuing from where his predecessor stopped.

ENDS***

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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and Former Senate President of Nigeria, Bukola Saraki, has showered praises on Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the immediate past Governor of Sokoto State, as he turned 58.

According to a tweet shared by Saraki on Twitter, it reads:

My dear friend and brother, the former Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (Matawallen Sokoto), has never relented in his fight for a better Nigeria. His tireless efforts in governance reforms, at both the executive and legislative levels, have left a lasting impact on our nation.

As he celebrates his birthday today, I join his family, friends, and supporters across the entire nation to wish him a very happy birthday.

May Almighty Allah (SWT) continue to bless him with good health and happiness. Ameen.

Atiku on the other hand, in a warm birthday message described Tambuwal as a political juggernaut who has carved a distinguished path in public service.

He lauded the former speaker of the House of Representatives as an inspiration to younger generations, citing his alluring attainments in both public and private life.

The celebration of your 58th birthday anniversary today is a testament to your alluring attainments, Atiku wrote. The story of your successes in public service and private life is an asset and inspiration to the younger generation.

He further prayed to Allah to grant Tambuwal continued good health and strengthen you for greater service to our fatherland.
A Zimbabwean cleric based in South Africa, Jay Israel has made a claim saying Sihle Sibisi, a South African woman was paid to fabricate abuse story she shared with the BBC against late TB Joshua.

Recall that the BBC had on the 8th released a scathing documentary about the secret s3x life of TB Joshua.

Jay Israel first shared a hotels notice, advising guests not to let Sihle in as she allegedly lied about her identity.

Jay wrote;

MEET SIHLE SIBISI  One of the alleged victims of the late Prophet Tb Joshua. She is a serial con artist , a liar , murderer , home wrecker and a fraudster .

DEAR BBC , Since we are exposing wickedness and spreading awareness about the evil done by the late , let us not be biased in our approach and tackle all truths at once .

PLEASE ASK YOUR VICTIM WHAT SHE DID TO HER LATE HUSBAND CALLED TEBOHO SELEKE . While you are at it please book her into the nearest psychiatric hospital and make sure theres a rehab centre nearby to flush out all the drugs in her system .

NB  This is not hearsay or malice but I have shocking proofs to back up all my claims .

I WILL NOT KEEP QUIET WHEN I KNOW THE TRUTH  I am not defending Prophet Tb joshua but I am defending the truth .

It has just begun

In another lengthy Facebook post, Jay Israel alleged that Sihle Sibisi has a history of seducing men of the cloth and has been pestering him for a threesome and anal.

He shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation, purportedly between himself and Sihle, where she allegedly requested a threesome with Israel and his friend Dr. Khehlelez. According to Israel, Sihle has a pattern of seducing and blackmailing religious figures and has even sought his assistance in hooking her up with pastors or prophets.

Jay Israel described BBC as a discredit to journalism, claiming that Sihle and others were paid to lie about Prophet TB Joshua.

He wrote;

I always provide evidence.

Sihle Sibisi is a master of seducing and blackmailing men of God, sending explicit pictures to lure them. Despite close interactions, she begged me to take her to Nigeria to meet Prophet Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyn to lure and blackmail him , but knowing her behaviour of seducing servants of God I rejected that proposition immediately because I have much respect for the prophet . She also sought for a threesome as shown below with others, like my friend Dr. Khehlelezi, which we dismissed. Sihle has been begging to sleep with me to a point of saying if I cant have her then I must hook her up with close men of God to myself because she enjoys sleeping with men of God .

I possess explicit material from Sihle, showcasing her attempts to entice me. Messages, voice notes, and more support her alleged activities as someone who seduces men of God.

I challenge her to deny these claims publicly. If she asserts the truth of her statements about TB Joshua, I will release substantial evidence in video format. Sihles main agenda of going to Nigeria SCOAN was to give herself for sexual purposes to the late prophet Tb Joshua but those attempts went unnoticed hence her bitterness and lies .

Sihle is deemed a chronic liar. BBC News, you are a discredit to journalism. Sihle confided in me about this whole BBC ordeal and told me that she was paid by the BBC NEWS to come out lying about Prophet Tb joshua . I have other people who were approached by the same people but turned them down.

Sihle, reveal the truth and cease your deception. I will keep pressing where it hurts until you acknowledge the facts and speak the truth .

I AM JAY ISRAEL SNR  I fear nothing !!
Media personality, Daddy Freeze has claimed that almost all General Overseers are like TB Joshua, the founder of late Pastor TB Joshua of Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN).

He made the statement following the viral revelation by a BBC documentary on the secret s3x life of TB Joshua.

Daddy Freeze shared on his Facebook post concerning the claims and allegations that have made rounds on the Internet about the late TB Joshua, stating that all general overseers are the same, warning that they should stop pretending.

In his post, he wrote: Most Nigerian GOs, una mind no go touch ground! TB is just beginning so make una no worry, una cup go soon full! There is no difference between him and most of yall; so stop pretending  FRZ

Below are reactions from netizens:

@ Ogbuefi Ikeanyi Anthony Every prayer house in Nigeria is a horr.or house, I mean all of them, anywhere people gather for miracles, signs and wonders that have prayer warriors and all other praying groups are all horr..or houses.

@Chinda Michael What happens inside that place is something out of the world, just avoid a prayer house

I gave up on pastors in Nigeria long time ago, golddiggers they all are, who made them servants of God

@Iwu Okwuchi Exactly. There are many still committing the same atrocity.

@Ngozi Clem When it comes to pastors everything around you starts functioning. You are so jobless. Meanwhile, you keep begging for likes and stars every day. Pot calling the kettle black.

@ Odozi NEnaedo TB Joshua had done nothing. Youre never better than him even while youre still living
A Nigerian writer, Charles Ogbu, has urged men to ensure they have cars before they tie the knot.

According to him, it is a necessity and not a luxury, hence the reason to get it.

In Nigeria of today, car is a NECESSITY not a luxury. If you are a young man and you have something doing, please, endeavor to acquire a car first before getting married. I repeat, car is a basic necessity, not a luxury, he wrote in a post on Wednesday January 10.




The police have arrested a man suspected to be a ritualist for allegedly killing a woman after taking and overdose of tramadol.

Mojupa Bidemi, 33, said he took on overdose of the drug before committingthe act,The Nation learnt yesterday.

The suspect was arrested around 1:30am at 55A, Corporation Estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, after residents raised the alarm on hearing the late Christy screaming in his apartment.

Sule, a petty shop owner, who allegedly sold him the drug was also arrested.

The suspects are at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

About 17 women handbags were found in the apartment. Bidemi has yet to explain how he came about them.

The apartment is said to belong to his relative, who lives abroad.

At the estate yesterday, security men at the gate insisted that visitors must first call their hosts before being allowed in.

Bidemi, it was gathered moved into the estate about five weeks ago.

Bidemis relationship with Christy was hazy. Some claimed she was a commercial sex worker he promised N10,000 for the night, others described her as his girlfriend.

He was said to have picked her up from a bar around Apple Junction on Monday night and took her to his apartment around 11:45pm.

Some neighbours were said to have been attracted by the late Christys shout.

He was met coming out and when asked if he had any woman with him, he said no.

Read Also: 15 suspected killers of ex-CDS Badeh paraded in Abuja

Dissatisfied, the neighbours followed him to the estate gate and instructed the security men not to allow him out.

He claimed he wanted to go and buy food. The residents were not satisfied with his reply that he didnt have a woman in the house and so, they followed him to the gate.

At the gate, they asked the security men if they knew him and they said yes. They also asked whether he was accompanied when he came in. The security men confirmed he came in around 11:45pm with a woman. That was when they dragged him back to the house.

On getting to his house, there was blood everywhere. A search revealed the body of a young woman under the staircase She was dead.

No part of her body was removed. He confessed that he did it for rituals. That it was his first time and he was sent by some people who were waiting for him around Second Gate in Festac. Later he said the people were waiting for him at 22 Road Junction.

He didnt mention their names and claimed he didnt know their address. The police came and took him away. It was later they came for the corpse. The house was searched and 17 women handbags were found inside, said a source.

People became more suspicious after he was asked to produce the woman but he could not. He claimed they had a misunderstanding and she turned off her phone.

The womans body was covered with rice sack. The knife he used was found on the floor very close to the gate of the house.

He confessed that they are two and he was about leaving the estate to call his partner to come and carry body parts, added the source.

Police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) said the suspect was high on tramadol, adding that the man who sold the drug to him was also arrested.

He denied being a ritualist.

The suspect said the woman was his girlfriend and she has been acting funny. I killed because I was high on drugs, he said.

Elkana said a knife was recovered from the scene, adding that investigation was ongoing.
No fewer than 300 militants from the southeast and southsouth were going to clash with Ijaw youth that besieged a hotel where a secessionist meeting with former warlord of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force in Bayelsa was going on Saturday.

Asari Dokubo was reported by the Nation to have convened the meeting under the umbrella of the Biafra National Council.

But the chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Central Zone, Kennedy Olorogun, knew about the meeting, and mobilized Ijaw youths to the venueto disrupt the meeting.

Olorogun was angry with Dokubo for choosing Bayelsa to hold such meeting.

He ordered Dokubo to leave the state or face the wrath of the youths.

They tried to resist us but we told them we were prepared for them because we will not allow any part of Bayelsa to be used for a meeting calling for the actualisation of Biafra, the Ijaw youth leader told the newspaper.

It was getting out of hand but the police intervened to stop possible violence. My happiness is that we stopped the meeting from holding, he told journalists.

There have been debates going on about the stake of the Niger Delta in the the Biafra agenda.

While the southsouth governors have publicly denounced any pact with secessionist groups like IPOB or MASSOB that seek the actualization of an independent Igbo nation, militants like Asari Dokubo and others have showed interest.

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Men of the Lagos state police command have arrested an armed robbery suspect, Wasiu Kamarudeen, who led a team of robbers to attack members of the St. Patrick Catholic Renewal Church, Jakande Opened Field during their church retreat yesterday Saturday, August 31st.

According to police report, men of the Ilemba Hausa Police Station received a distress call from the church members that one motorcycle was sighted conveying three passengers into the camp ground in a suspicious manner.

The police say the passengers mingled amongst the worshipers with the intent to dispossess worshippers of their valuables such as handsets, cash etc. On the strength of the information, patrol teams were deployed to the scene. 19 year old Kamarudeen of No 8 Olaniyi street Iyalode Ilogbo, was arrested and one locally made short Gun with one live cartridge was recovered from him.

Their operational motorcycle with registration number OGUN AKM 749 WP was recovered.


The wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari has charged authorities of the Nigerian Armed Forces to explore the potential of women for operational effectiveness while addresssing the nations security challenge.

Mrs Buhari noted that Nigeria was facing security crisis partly because the armed forces had yet to redefine the role of women and explore their potential for operational effectiveness.

She stated this at the opening of the Defence Headquarters maiden annual conference on women peace and security at the National Defence College, Abuja on Thursday, September 12, 2019.

Aisha Buhari, who was represented by a Senior Special Assistant, Dr Hajo Sani, said injecting women in the theatre of operations had become necessary rather than restricting them to catering, finance, human resource, personnel, logistics and other support arms.

The security issues bedeviling our country still abound probably because we are yet to redefine the Armed Forces of Nigeria to explore the potential of women for operational effectiveness. Women possess the traits of patience, perseverance, and passion, she said. There is a need for the reformulation of laws and policies that border on the inclusion of women in the strategic reformation of effective operational deployment. The wide margin and lack of flexibility in structures based on gender should be abridged. Let me at this outset state that I and a good number of Nigerian women regard ourselves as soldiers; this is because we are the protectors of the family and the home; these are our frontier and territories. Nigeria  Africa as a continent is a male-dominated environment and so are the armed forces. Because of this chivalric dominance, the military is often hostile to women. Women do not adapt to the armed forces as easily as men die to their genetic make-up. Although this varies on individual basis, specific factors which include rejection, isolation and unhealthy attitudes from mainly the men. These factors are especially pronounced within the operational combatant sectors of the armed forces. These factors manifest in a number of ways including sexiest jokes and remarks as well as women not being taken seriously in operations. Gender stereotype against women is a potential threat to womens advancement in the military. There are a good number of reported cases where women are prevented from participating in combat duties excluding pregnancy or maternity. Women are often restricted to careers within supportive mustering of military community suave as finance, human resources, personnel, logistics, medical services, welfare, etc. I join the military women to take vehement exception to such psychological oppression. In many careers as housewives or in the military, women have been recorded to put in more effort in a bid to establish their equality.

To this end, she called for training and developmental opportunities specifically designed to support female personnel.
The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini has called for castration of convicted rapists as rape and other sexual violence heightens in South Africa.

Addressing hundreds of his subjects during Umkhosi weLembe (formerly known as Shakas Day) in KwaDukuza, North Coast, on Tuesday, the king said that those found guilty of rape should be castrated.

According to him, it would be better if once a man was found to have raped, he should be handed to men like us to cut off his manhood.

This would end this thing (rape), said the king, adding that this should be done in a way that would show the world that the Zulu nation does not tolerate this shame, he said.

The king expressed worry following a revelation by South African officials that over 41,000 people were raped in the country from April 2018, amounting to more than one rape every 15 minutes.

Information shows that 41% of people raped in the country are children, and of these crimes only 4% are prosecuted. Why such a small percentage? This means that people are not being prosecuted. There is something wrong somewhere in our country or the leadership, he lamented.

King Zwelithini said since circumcision is already part of the countrys culture, it would not be out of place to move a step further to castrate people who perpetrate rape of the vulnerable people.

Since we do circumcision, this time we have to go beyond (in cutting). We should do this as part of honouring King Shaka who made the laws, the nation and respect. We should restore respect.

However, a gender activist, Nonhlanhla Skosana said the kings suggestion will be an affront to the South African laws.

injuring people or taking violent action against perpetrators would never solve the issue. If you read the Sexual Offences Act, even objects are also used, and by law that is classified as rape, Skosana stated.

Sibongile Mthembu, the director of Wise Collective, a non-governmental organisation dealing with sexual offences at workplaces, said the kings call might sound nice, but it was a breach of human rights.

I dont think that would be feasible in the country because that would take us back. It might be a quick solution, but it wont work because our constitution does not allow it as we have to exercise ubuntu, she said.

She added that the society needed to find ways to help people to change.
Bernard and Shirley Kinsey stand outside The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection exhibit at Holocaust Museum Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Bernard Kinsey stands by The Cultivators by Samuel L. Dunston, Jr., in the The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A poster honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is part of the The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer The Doors of No Return is photographed in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A diagram of the hold of a slave ship is shown in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A Slave Carrying Her Fate in Her Hands, A.M.F. Crawford, 1854, a letter, with envelope, stating that a young enslaved girl is being sold away from her family is displayed in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A bronze bust of Frederick Douglass by Tina Allen is shown in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Photograph on display in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Bernard Kinsey stands next to daguerreotype photographs in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A photograph of a man drinking water from a segregated water jug is shown in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Shirley Kinsey walks past The Pipes sculpture by Ed Dwight, 1984, in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Bernard Kinsey stands by Woman Wearing Orange Scarf by Wheeler Waring in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

Bernard and Shirley Kinsey know what you're thinking: Why bring an exhibition celebrating Black Americans to the Holocaust Museum Houston, of all places?

The hallway leading into the Josef and Edith Mincberg Gallery, where "The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection" opens Friday, answers that question straight away.

"It opens up a whole vista to how you think of the African American community, beginning with World War II Black soldiers liberating concentration camps in Germany," Bernard said. "We're trying to get you (some idea) as to what you're going to see inside."

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When he and wife Shirley wed in 1967, they vowed to visit 100 countries together over the course of their marriage. Sometime during their travels, the couple began amassing artifacts and artworks along the way and realized they were effectively collecting aspects of their own cultural heritage of which they were previously unaware.

In that sense, the Kinsey Collection came together naturally. A central artwork fortified the project, which would become the Kinseys' life mission  more on that later.

'The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection' When: Jan. 12-June 23 Where: Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline Details: Tickets $16 and up; hmh.org/visit

Today, with more than 700 paintings, sculptures, photographs, rare books, letters, manuscripts and objects from 1595 to present day, the Kinsey Collection is one of the most comprehensive surveys of African American art outside of the Smithsonian Institution. Some 130 works will be on view at Holocaust Museum Houston through June, including a smattering of pieces by local artists.

FIRST LOOK: Permanent gallery for Jewish art works now open at MFAH

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The couple's son, Khahil B. Kinsey, serves as general manager and chief curator. A central theme anchors his family's collection.

"The 'myth of absence,' that we as Black people are not part of the story narrative," Bernard explained. "Unless you see it, you don't believe it."

Deeper into the exhibition, a first-edition copy of "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African," makes his point. In the text, Equiano, who was kidnapped from Nigeria with his siblings at age 11, not only suggests that Jews and Africans share commonality in their perceived inferiority by Europeans but also contrasts slave practices within Africa to the brutal trade, conditions and racial hierarchy established in the Americas by Europeans.

"All of the (ship) captains wrote about being captains, though no one wrote about being below deck. Equiano did," Bernard noted.

A mixed-media work near the exhibition's entrance illustrates how and where European slave traders deposited more than 15 million Africans to North, Central and South America. The video follows 12,000 ships making 40,000 trips across the Atlantic Ocean in rapid succession; roughly 452,000 Africans were sold as slaves in the U.S.

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Shirley Kinsey sands nears a trio of paintings of her family made by Mikel Alatza that are part of The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

A trio of portraits depicting Bernard, Shirley and Khalil opens the show. "If you came to our home in Los Angeles, this is what you would see," Bernard said.

Nearby, Samuel L. Dunson Jr.'s "The Cultivators" (2000) offers an alternative familial portrayal.

"He said, 'I saw you guys as cultivators of knowledge, sharing with young people,'" Shirley recalled. "He spoke us into existence. We had our first exhibit six years later."

The walls surrounding the show's introduction are painted black to mimic some of the darker subject matter, such as the slave trade. Bernard doesn't want that to deter visitors, nor does he want to gloss over the past. The Kinseys firmly believe their collection is meant to uplift and celebrate how people have overcome horrors  an ethos embraced by Holocaust Museum Houston, too.

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Other sections, like "Early Genius," are brighter. A series of landscapes painted by Edward Mitchell Bannister are awash in what Bernard describes as a Caribbean orange. Grafton Tyler Brown's oil on canvas "Mt. Tacoma From Lake Washington" (1885) hangs here as well. He's the first African American artist on record to paint the American West.

Four Cows in a Meadow by Edward Mitchell Bannister is on exhibit in The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 in Houston. The exhibition represents the intersection between art and history, covering the lives, accomplishments and artistry of African Americans from the 16th century through the years of slavery and emancipation to the civil rights movement and today. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

"Slavery" and "Race Riots in the United States" are a deep, rusty red. Must-sees include A.M.F Crawford's "A Slave Carrying Her Fate in Her Hands" (1854), a framed, printed paper explaining why its courier, a then-17-year-old chambermaid named Frances, is being sold by her owner to pay for horses; the New York State Census from 1790 demonstrating the three-fifths classification of African Americans, which ultimately determined how many seats each state received in the House of Representatives, number of electoral votes and state taxes; and "Come and Join Us Brothers," a recruitment poster used to help recruit many of the 180,000 Black soldiers who enlisted to fight in the Civil War.

A final section, "The Birth of an Aesthetic," honors more contemporary works birthed during the Harlem Renaissance through modern times. Highlights include Ernie Barnes' "The Beach Runner" (1997) and Norman Lewis' "Untitled (To Rosalie and Robert Gwathmey for Great Summers)" (1974), on view near "Farmer's Wife" (1954)" by Robert Gwathmey. Fun fact: The Kinseys like to hang the works of artists who are contemporaries side by side.

Two Houston talents, Floyd Newsum Sr. and Ava Cosey appear here, too. After one of her pieces was part of a Holocaust Museum Houston exhibition in 2014, it was Cosey who introduced the Kinseys to museum CEO Kelly J. Zuniga.

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MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: Exclusive: Legendary former TV anchor Dominique Sachse says goodbye to Houston in her own words

The Kinseys like each iteration of their traveling collection to reflect its respective city and to showcase a never-before-seen work or two. Here, "Kenyatta Center, Nairobi, Kenya Harambi Street" (1987-1991) by John Biggers fits that bill. "It's the first time this commission has been seen outside our house," Bernard noted.

Hovering over a glass case, Shirley drew attention to several objects, including portraits, of unknown kindred spirits. "I call this the collective ancestry of people," she said. "We don't know who they are, but we know they're good stock."
APCs National Leader Bola Tinubu and Kaduna Gov/ Nasir el-Rufai are free to make their intention for the 2023 presidency known if they choose.

It is the essence of democracy, said Lagos Gov Babajide Sanwo-Olu after the APC governors meeting Thursday. Sanwo-Olu was represented by his Deputy Femi Hamzat.

There are stories campaign offices are swinging open across Lagos and Kaduna in preparation for the yet-to-be-scheduled election, though none of the hopeful has outed..

According to Sanwo-Olu, it is everybodys dream and it is also okay to dream, but the reality is that INEC will have to come with timetable and schedule of activities first.

What these people are doing does not mean it will work. I have not seen any campaign office in Lagos and I do not know whether there is also in Kaduna. I have never seen it but that doesnt mean it does not exist.

We all signed up for constitutional democracy and I have the right to bring anybody together and say I want to be president. So, whatever I do as long as its does not negatively affect any human being, its okay.

We all say we want democracy and if some people gather and say they want to be President in 2040, I will say goodluck but we must first of all pray that God preserves their alive.

For me, I will not worry about it, so long as the gathering is not negative to the development of Nigeria. It is part of democracy, I wont worry about it, he said.

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SPRINGFIELD  In October 2019, Jessica Logans 19-month old son died.

Less than two weeks later, police and an investigator from the states Department of Child and Family Services met Logan at her Decatur home and gave her a toddler size mannequin before telling her to reenact finding the lifeless body of her son in his bed.

The video of that reenactment  which Logans lawyers maintain she was coerced into performing  was then used as a key piece of evidence in Logans 2021 conviction on first-degree murder charges. Logan was later sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Now, Logan is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to step in and grant her a new trial. She claims the use of that reenactment video violated her constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

This is Logans second attempt to derail her murder conviction. She had earlier pleaded her case to the Fourth District Appellate Court claiming the reconstruction video should be suppressed and she was incorrectly denied her Fifth Amendment rights to due process. That court rejected her appeal and let her conviction stand in a decision handed down in September of 2022.

Without that evidence, Logans attorney argued to the high court on Tuesday, the case might have been decided differently.

The state was telling the jury, You... can convict on inadmissible evidence alone, Illinois Assistant Appellate Defender Gilbert Lenz said in court. Its hard to imagine a more prejudicial evidentiary error.

In addition to arguing on constitutional grounds, Lenz told the court that the videos inclusion in Logans trial was unfair because Logan was never read her Miranda rights  a warning that anything she said could be used in court and that she had the right to a lawyer.

If the court agrees the reenactment video was inadmissible at trial, Lenz claims other key pieces of evidence would also be tainted as fruit of the poisonous tree.

This would include the testimony from Dr. Scott Denton, a forensic pathologist who told the jury that Logans sons only possible cause of death was smothering, according to court filings.

But Denton made that claim after viewing the reenactment video, something Lenz argued should have disqualified it as evidence in the case. This would limit Dentons testimony only to what he knew before viewing the video.

At a fair trial, at a new trial, (Denton) would tell the jury At the autopsy I did not know how this child died. It was asphyxiation but I dont know whether it was a homicide, I dont know whether it was an accident, Lenz argued. The implications for the states ability to prove its case when the doctor testifies to that in a murder case are obvious.

On the other side, the state focused on what constitutes coercion, arguing that the reenactment did not qualify as investigators improperly taking Logan into custody.

Much of this came down to what was meant  and understood  when a DCFS investigator told Logan we need to do a reenactment.

Assistant Attorney General Josh Schneider, who argued the case on behalf of the state, said the word need did not stop Logan from refusing to participate.

While the justices betrayed little as to how they would rule in the case, they did question Schneider about the nature of the reenactment, probing to find the limits on what constitutes an involuntary action.

Knowing that she had another child in the home and whatever DCFS decided would impact whether she got to keep that child, wouldnt and couldn't she have reasonably understood that to mean that I have to participate in this? asked Justice Joy Cunningham.

Justice P. Scott Neville also prodded this, asking about the nature of being alone with a state investigator and two police officers at the scene of the alleged crime.

You dont think that might be considered coercive by someone whos never been involved in the criminal justice system? Neville asked.

While Schneider pushed back on those questions, he also argued that in order for a situation to count as custody for the sake of a Miranda warning, someone must have their movement restricted and be in a coercive atmosphere.

No one ever told her she wasnt free to leave, no one ever physically restrained her, no one ever displayed a weapon or a use of force, no one ever invoked their authority to tell her that she had to stay, Schneider told the court. She never indicated she wanted to leave. And at the end, she in fact did leave without any obstruction from law enforcement.

In addition to arguing that the evidence was admissible, Schneider said that the lower courts did not make a mistake that would warrant a retrial.

Here there was ample evidence  really, overwhelming evidence  that the defendant was guilty of the homicide in this case, Schneider said.

He cited a financial motive  a $25,000 life insurance policy and Logans financial issues  and circumstantial evidence of Logan Googling how do you suffocate prior to her sons death.

The justices will now consider the case, although there is no set timeline on when they might issue a final opinion.

While the high court could take the case in several directions, Logans legal team requested a new trial. The state has asked that the conviction  and the existing evidence  be allowed to stand.

In addition to the legal issues surrounding the reenactment video, Logans case garnered national attention for the states use of a controversial forensic method called 911 call analysis  where so-called experts analyze the guilt of a 911 caller based on what they said and how they said it.

In late 2022, ProPublica published an investigation into the use of that method in this case, calling it junk science and noting that the detective in Logans case used the fact that Logan  through tears  said I need my baby instead of directly asking for help as evidence of her guilt.

The non-profit news organization reports that in the time since its initial investigation, North Carolinas Office of Indigent Defense Services as well as groups like Fair and Just Prosecutors and the Innocence Project have all raised concerns about the practice.

Editors Note: Capitol News Illinois is a partner with ProPublica and shares reporting resources. ProPublica did not contribute to this story.

Can landlords be held responsible for criminal activities on their properties? Can landlords be held responsible for criminal activities on their properties?
BLOOMINGTON  A fingerprint left on a soft drink bottle and blood dried onto a black shoe linked a Minnesota man to the shooting death of 26-year-old Natwan Nash nearly three years ago, state prosecutors said in opening statements Tuesday morning as a murder trial began.

Kentrell D. Brown, now 21, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of Nash, who died March 7, 2021, from multiple gunshot wounds inside his apartment on the 2400 block of Clearwater Avenue in Bloomington.

Nine men and three women were selected Monday to sit on the McLean County jury for this trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks. Two men were chosen as alternate jurors.

Assistant States Attorney Don Rood told members of the jury they would, over the course of the trial, hear testimony from approximately 50 witnesses, including Nashs family, friends and people who purchased cannabis from him, members of Browns family, as well as the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Nash and law enforcement professionals from the Bloomington Police Department, Illinois State Police and Rochester Police Department in Minnesota.

Assistant Public Defender Mackenzie Frizzell told the jury to consider the motivations of each witness who comes before the court.

This case is about motivation, she said in her opening statement. ... I ask you to consider what drove (each) witness to do or act the manner in which they did. Ask yourself what motivated this witness surrounding the time of the homicide and what influenced these witnesses during the investigation.

Frizzell said Brown, who was 18 at the time of Nashs death, was staying with his great-grandmother and hadnt been living in Bloomington long. He was one of Nashs customers and frequently walked to his apartment to buy cannabis, as Brown didnt have a vehicle.

Rood said Nash was "very laid-back and easygoing," and he sold cannabis from his apartment with no security measures in place, calling him an easy target for anyone with bad intentions.

On the night of Nashs death, Nash and Brown exchanged text messages, Rood said, indicating the jury would see that evidence later.

Security camera footage from a convenience store and a doorbell in the area will also be part of the states evidence, the prosecutor said.

Brown was seen on surveillance cameras purchasing a blue soft drink at a convenience store, walking in the direction of Nashs apartment and just outside the apartment in the parking lot area. Shortly after he last appeared on camera, a Ring brand doorbell camera captured the sound of 11 gunshots being fired, Rood said of the evidence to come.

From that point, Natwan is laying on the floor of his apartment; theres blood and he is surrounded by fired bullet casings. And Natwan will remain in that location for the next 18 hours, Rood said.

The prosecutor said phone records show Browns mother traveled from Rochester that night to pick him up and take him back home to Minnesota within 16 hours.

Rood said the soft drink that Brown was seen buying was later recovered from Nashs apartment, just a few feet away from where Natwans body was found. It was sent to an ISP forensic lab, and investigators found Browns fingerprint on the bottle.

In a search of Browns great grandmothers home, Bloomington detectives found a black shoe with dried blood in the room where Brown was staying. The shoes were analyzed at the ISP lab, and the blood was confirmed to be Nashs blood, Rood told the jury.

Karla Hill of Bloomington testified Tuesday that she found Nash after he died. She had been trying to contact him all day, but he wasnt answering his phone, so she stopped by, she said.

Hill, girlfriend of Nashs brother, said she found the front door unlocked. After there was no response when she knocked, Hill went inside to find Nash lying facedown in the living room and called 911.

While in the apartment, she picked up a phone that was lying on the couch, believing it belonged to her boyfriend, who was at the time in McLean County custody for unrelated reasons.

She later realized it was Nashs phone. It was passed between Nashs mother and the mother of his child, who was able to unlock it with a passcode, Hill said.

Shayvone Meeks, Nashs mother, traveled from Chicago to Bloomington the night her son was found.

I screamed, she said of her reaction to getting the call. Meeks asked if the caller was sure her son was dead. Then, she said, I dropped down on my knees and started praying.

Meeks said once she got to Nashs apartment and learned Hill had his phone, she wanted to look through it because she knew no one came over unless they called that cell phone.  I wanted to call all the numbers on that cell phone.

She tried calling the last number he had been in contact with, but the number was disconnected, Meeks said.

She testified she did not alter or delete anything from the phone and she always intended to give the phone to police so they could see the recent contacts.

Bloomington officers later recovered the phone from Nashs family members, Hill and Meeks said.

During her opening statement, Frizzell said Hill had taken evidence from the scene, and police did not learn about that until a few hours later.

The attorney also said the evidence was tampered with.

She said Nash was surrounded by many people through his cannabis enterprise as well as personal relationships and noted there were multiple people at Natwan Nashs apartment prior to officers arriving.

Two Bloomington firefighters testified as the first emergency personnel to arrive at the scene. They performed an initial assessment of Nash and determined he was deceased before they backed up to await police, having determined it was a crime scene.

Four Bloomington officers testified Tuesday morning about their arrival and clearance of the scene. Prosecutors showed footage from one officers body-worn camera that showed police moving throughout the apartment, announcing themselves repeatedly. They found no one inside and secured a perimeter around the scene.

Police noted seeing a scale and baggies, indicated drug sales, and a stack of cash on the bed in an upstairs bedroom.

The states evidence is expected to continue Wednesday in Browns trial.

20 of the most destructive winter storms since 1980 A look back at the worst winter storms since 1980 #20. Jan. 21-24, 2000 #19. Jan. 3-5, 2018 #18. Jan. 13-16, 1999 #17. Dec. 21-26, 1989 #16. Feb. 2-5, 2023 #15. Jan. 1-4, 1999 #14. Jan. 8-16, 1982 #13. Jan. 17-20, 1994 #12. Jan. 19-22, 1985 #11. Feb. 1-3, 2011 #10. Jan. 5-9, 1998 #9. March 1-3, 2018 #8. Jan. 5-8, 2014 #7. Feb. 14-20, 2015 #6. Dec. 10-13, 1992 #5. Jan. 1-31, 1996 #4. Feb. 8-13, 1994 #3. Dec. 21-26, 2022 #2. March 11-14, 1993 #1. Feb. 10-19, 2021
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

Jan. 10, 1924: Officer Penn went to Chicago this morning to bring back Nestor B. Fox, arrested there on charges made by the Illinois hotel company that Fox swindled the hotel out of $26.75. Fox, said to have posed in Bloomington as a traveling salesman for the Walton Duplex Shirt Manufacturing Co. of Chicago, is alleged to have victimized several local firms with his checks.

75 years ago

Jan. 10, 1949: Changes in postal rates are giving the postal clerks one big headache. It seems that few post office patrons know that it now costs 2 cents, rather than 1.5 cents, to send a greeting card. Postmaster Carter Pietsch said 175 greeting cards were carrying only 1.5-cent stamps.

50 years ago

Jan. 10, 1974: Bloomington District 87 Superintendent George Stimeling said a preliminary report on a proposed district building program will be made to the school board later this month. The board hired Bloomington architects Evans Associates last November to tackle schematic designs and begin work on the development design stage of a projected $2.5 million to $2.75 million construction program.

25 years ago

Jan. 10, 1999: A yearlong effort to increase the number of foster parents in McLean County appears to be working. At least two local child-welfare agencies, the Department of Child and Family Services and The Baby Fold, hired an additional staff worker in 1998 to help recruit foster parents and have seen an increase in interest. A number of local agencies united in fall 1997 to form the Foster Care Coalition, which aims to increase local foster homes through a public awareness campaign.

Vintage Pantagraph newspaper ads for medicine, 'magic' remedies Clover Blossom Extract - Nov. 15, 1883 St. Jacobs Oil - July 14, 1887 Castoria - July 26, 1892 Rheumatic Ring - May 29, 1894 Beefmalt - May 29, 1894 Wakefield's Cough Syrup - Feb. 13, 1908 S.S.S. - April 23, 1908 Olive Tablets - Nov. 20, 1911 Cold-go - Dec. 11, 1911 Dr. Danby - Dec. 11, 1911 Allcock Plasters - March 2, 1917 Olive Tablets - Feb. 23, 1918 Laxative Bromo Quinine - Oct. 16, 1918 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - April 24, 1919 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - April 29, 1919 Snake Oil - Nov. 22, 1919 Beecham's Pills - Nov. 22, 1919 Snake Oil - Nov. 29, 1919 Doan's Kidney Pills - March 8, 1920 Bayer Tablets of Aspirin - Sept. 21, 1920 J.C. Hutzell's Eczema Treatment - Nov. 11, 1922 Gude's Pepto-Mangan - April 2, 1923 O-Joy Corn Wafers - March 4, 1930 Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription - March 19, 1930 666 Tablets - March 25, 1930 Cuticura - March 25, 1930 Geo-Mineral - Dec. 8, 1948 Anacin - Jan. 16, 1963 Liquiprin - Aug. 27, 1970 Icy Hot - Nov. 20, 1977
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BLOOMINGTON  Home Sweet Home Ministries in partnership with Trinity Lutheran Church will host the eighth annual Night In A Car event on Friday, Feb. 2.

The event is a homeless simulation that shines a light on the hidden aspect of homelessness that many in the Bloomington-Normal community face  living in their cars. Participants will spend the night in their cars from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. Saturday morning.

The church, 801 S. Madison St., will also provide opportunities for attendees to come inside for bottled water, prepackaged snacks and restroom breaks throughout the evening.

"We are blessed to have over 40 teams join us so far for this unique experience. We would love to see additional teams sign up to participate, said Leslie Bunge, director of development for Home Sweet Home Ministries in a provided statement. With the communitys kind help, we look forward to reaching our $175,000 goal. ... Together, we can continue to help drive out homelessness in our community.

Guests can also participate virtually online from the convenience of their own driveways.

Over 200 community members participated last year and raised over $155,000.

For more information, including how to sign up or donate, visit nightinacar.org.

Photos: Bloomington at Normal Community girls basketball
Enterprise Computing Ltd. (ECL) is delighted to name Seth Donkor as its new Chief Executive Officer. On 31st December 2023, Jake Oyortey stepped down as CEO to be a full-time board member of the company.



Being CEO is a new phase, but Seth is far from being a new face. In over a decade of ECLs existence, Seth has been key in its transformation from an early-stage tech startup to the global giant it is today. He graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Statistics and has various industry trainings and certifications in Information Security, ISO, Cloud, Product Development, AI, Blockchain, Project Management among others.



Seth has also been involved in complex system deployment for leading institutions in Africa as well as a winner of the NetApp Insight award in Berlin, Germany in 2017. He was part of the ECL team involved in Stanford Universitys SEED transformation program that helped craft the Organizations Transformation Plan.



Having joined ECL, Seths remarkable ascent through the company's ranks, from Systems Engineer to Systems Lead, Technical Manager, and ultimately to the role of Chief Technology Officer, attests to his exceptional leadership and technical prowess. Over the past 12 years, he has played a pivotal role in building and shaping a world-class technology team, as well as contributing immensely to the organization's growth and expansion to other regions.



Ms. Xuelian Chi, a global HR consultant and a Board Member of ECL, shares her wisdom on the appointment of Seth as the new CEO, transitioning from his role as CTO: "Seth's journey within ECL is exemplary, marked by visionary leadership. I have witnessed firsthand his ability to drive innovation, foster a collaborative work culture, and navigate the complexities of our industry. His promotion to CEO is a testament to his strategic vision and steadfast dedication to the success of the organization. Under Seth's leadership, I am confident that ECL will thrive, delivering cutting-edge solutions and maintaining its position as a trusted global partner."



Seth has been instrumental in propelling ECL to the forefront of the technology industry. Going forward, it is evident that his enthusiasm for embracing innovative technologies and fostering a culture of transparency will be instrumental in driving ECLs continued growth and market leadership.



ECL is a professional services company providing customised AI technology solutions and consultancy to businesses globally. With service offerings in Business Process Automation, Cybersecurity, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Backup and Recovery, among others, ECL is committed to ensuring business success while providing organizations with 24/7 fanatical support.

Source: FROM ENGINEER TO CEO: ECL WELCOMES NEW TOP MAN









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 Atta Akyea Committee which probed the tape regarding plans by some senior officers to remove the Inspector-General of Police has recommended prosecution for the officers caught on the leaked tape.



The committee while clearing the IGP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare of any wrongdoing said the three other officers must be charged with perjury.



Portions of a draft report of the committee obtained by Peacefmonline.com reads The three senior police officers namely, COP Alex Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare and Supt. Eric Emmanuel Gyebi involved in the conspiracy to remove the IGP should be referred for further investigation and possible prosecution for perjury under the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) and professional misconduct under the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350) and the Police Service Regulations, 2012, (C.I. 76).



In order to safeguard the sanctity of the appointment of an IGP and, in particular, shield the appointment process from perceptions of partisanship and political manipulation, there is the need to review/amend article 202(1) of the Constitution, 1992, Police Service Act, (Act 350) and related legislation/statutes fundamentally to secure the independence of the office of the IGP, the recommendation read.







Below are details of the recommendations in the draft report



RECOMMENDATIONS



In view of the issues raised before the Committee and resolved by the investigations and evidence uncovered by the Committee, the Committee makes the following recommendations for consideration by the Rt. Honourable Speaker;



The three senior police officers namely, COP Alex Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare and Supt. Eric Emmanuel Gyebi involved in the conspiracy to remove the IGP should be referred for further investigation and possible prosecution for perjury under the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) and professional misconduct under the Police Service Act, 1970 (Act 350) and the Police Service Regulations, 2012, (C.I. 76).



In order to safeguard the sanctity of the appointment of an IGP and, in particular, shield the appointment process from perceptions of partisanship and political manipulation, there is the need to review/amend article 202(1) of the Constitution, 1992, Police Service Act, (Act 350) and related legislation/statutes fundamentally to secure the independence of the office of the IGP.



The office of the IGP shall be on the same terms and conditions of service of a Justice of the Court of Appeal except that the tenure of office shall be non-renewable after the attainment of compulsory retirement of sixty years (60).



A serving/sitting IGP shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence; incapacity to perform the functions of the office by reason of infirmity of body or mind and related misconduct provided under the Police Service Act or Regulations.



Relatedly, parliament should expedite action on the enactment of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers Bill to address professional dilemmas that may lead to conflict of interest.



Additionally, safeguarding the sanctity of election security management, the IGP, as head of the National Election Security Task Force, should ensure transparency in the deployment of security personnel engaged in election security management operations and, where such personnel are found to have acted unprofessionally in the discharge of their duties, including in violent intimidation of a voter, they should be held accountable by the GPS or the appropriate external accountable authority/body.



In order to promote professional and adherence to good practice, the Police Council and/or POMAB should put in place a programme of continuous professional training of police personnel at all levels regarding the legal, policy and normative frameworks (regional, national and international) for regulating professional, ethical policing, as well as professional dilemmas associated with conflict of interest. In this connection, it is worthwhile for the GPS to collaborate with key stakeholders, particularly the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry for Justice and related civil society actors to achieve this objective.



Urgent steps should be taken by the Police Council towards the establishment of an Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) modelled on global good/best practices pertaining in jurisdictions such as South Africa, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Canada, Malaysia, etc., to replace the existing Police Professional Standard Bureau (PPSB). PPSB currently serves as an internal accountable mechanism dedicated to the maintenance of professional standards by checking acts of misconduct and unprofessional/unethical conduct involving police personnel.



The need for the establishment of IPCC is anchored in the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights Resolution 13a, 2006 on Police Reform, Accountability and Civilian Oversight in Africa, which aims at the enhancement of peace and security, checking abuse of power and professional misconduct by police personnel. The proposed IPCC primarily would function as an independent oversight body Ombudsman) for purposes of ensuring internal and external accountability relative to the GPS.



Strict enforcement of the provisions under the Police Service Act 1970 (Act 350) and the Police Service Regulations 2012 (C.I. 76), prohibiting serving police officers from engaging in activities outside his or her duties as a police officer which may lead to political controversy as the Committee found for the three senior police officers in this enquiry.

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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Research and innovation services hub and a web 3.0 company, Heritors Labs Limited, in collaboration with its partners RISA Fund, the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) organised a one-day workshop on patent drafting and filing skills for scientists, researchers and innovators.



The one-day event, which was held on December 19 at the CSIR Head Office in Accra, was on the theme Innovate, Protect, Prosper: Navigating the Patent Landscape.



The workshop aligned with the Heritors commitment to empower researchers and innovators to maximize value for their inventions and innovations by acquiring the requisite patents and intellectual property rights to cover their creative works.



Funded and supported by the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund, the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and UKAID, the workshop was an ideal platform for various state standards enforcement agencies, business owners and innovators to share ideas on a draft charter that will serve as the framework for developing research products



Heritors Labs is an awardee of the RISA Fund, a multi-country project funded by the UK through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to support research and innovation systems strengthening in Africa.



In line with the goal of the Fund, the company has been tasked to boost the commercialization of research and innovation in Ghana through deepening access to research and innovation programmes and building a robust infrastructure for the communication, advocacy and marketing of research and innovation outcomes.



The grant has resulted in the design of programmes to facilitate the inclusion of marginalized and excluded segments in the research and innovation value chain.



The Director of Intellectual Property at the CSIR, Dr. John Kwesi Ocran, in his welcome remarks, commended Heritors Labs for organizing the training workshop to equip scientists, IP focal persons and persons in marketing and research commercialization on how to create value out of their innovations.



He admitted that several people within the CSIR spend their working lives engaging in creative and innovative pursuits but they are unable to translate their outputs into commercial outcomes due to one issue or another and was therefore convinced that researchers and creative could prosper once they are able to innovate, protect their innovations and have them monetized appropriately.



Dr. Ocran described the training workshop as an enriching learning experience and encouraged participants to gain new knowledge around patents whilst forging linkages and networks for collective development and professional growth.



On his part, General Manager of Heritors Labs Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Prince Amartey, reiterated the impactful relationship between the company and its strategic partners in the public sector including CSIR and MESTI.



In buttressing earlier assertions, he said patents are important to the growth of national research institutions and innovators. Despite its significance, Mr. Amartey noted that researchers and innovators have yet to tap the value that patents bring to their works like they do with copyright.



The situation, according to him, required researchers and innovators to work hand in hand with Heritors Labs to build consciousness and better equip institutions to patent their innovation and research outcomes.



The people in CSIR are very critical to the development of Ghana and that is why we deem it a great privilege to work with CSIR all the time and whenever we get the opportunity we don't hesitate at all to collaborate, he further noted.



Mr. Amartey was hopeful that workshop would empower the CSIR to become a rich institution when they are able to register more patents for their innovations that companies could pay to consume.



Director of Administration at the CSIR, Mrs. Genevieve Yankey, who chaired the workshop, disclosed that the Council launched its new Intellectual Property Policy in November last year to ensure that researchers and innovators benefit from their works.



One key element in the policy, she said, was the allocation of about 65percent of net profits on every patented innovation to the specified researchers and innovators as a way of rewarding their efforts and creativity.



To ensure that, she encouraged participants to take advantage of the patent training workshop andapply the newly acquired knowledge in their respective institutions in the broader interest of the CSIR.



Deputy Director-General of the CSIR, Prof. Marian Quain, stated in her closing remarks that the training workshop was timely and relevant to actors in the research and innovation landscape.



She expressed worry about instances where researchers and innovators rush to publish their works thereby shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to patenting and securing intellectual property rights for their creativity and inventions.



Professor Quain therefore proposed further engagements between Heritors Labs and CSIRs IP Office to come up with an extended duration for a more practical training that will covers every aspect of intellectual property.

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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Ghanaian gospel musician Chris Paakow Nelson has released his latest single, "Ese," on January 10th, 2024.



In the Yoruba dialect, "Ese" translates to "thank you," encapsulating the essence of gratitude and appreciation.



The inspiration for the song arose during a challenging period at the end of 2022 when Chris Nelson found solace in the melody and woke up with an overwhelming sense of thankfulness.



Produced by New Gen Music, the song is evidence of God's faithfulness and a reminder that every new day brings the promise of positive change.



Chris Paakow Nelson, a Bible-believing Christian, has been actively involved in worship since the age of 9.



His journey includes leading worship at a Christian youth camp in Accra, ministering at various events, and serving with renowned figures in the gospel music scene. His previous singles, including "Grateful," "Never Let Me Go," "As the Deer," and "I Will Wait," have received acclaim for their powerful messages and soul-stirring melodies.



"Ese" is Chris Nelson's latest offering and he expresses his hope that the song becomes a medium for believers to express gratitude for past blessings and, in faith, anticipate the fulfillment of their future expectations.



Watch the Lyrics Video on Youtube:https://youtu.be/ao6GNgDq5zE?si=q5sdl3fbykfOG6Of

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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Bebe Wood plays Gretchen, Renee Rapp plays Regina and Avantika plays Karen in 'Mean Girls' Jojo Whilden/Paramount Pictures/Jojo Whilden

Here are the major films being released in theaters or on streaming this week.

'All About Eve'

Bette Davis and Anne Baxter star in this classic 1950 drama about a starlet on Broadway.

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Unrated. Screens 7 p.m. Saturday at Rice Cinema, Houston.

HOUSTON FILM CRITICS NOMINATIONS: 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' lead the pack of nominations with ten and nine respectively.

Paul Mescal, left, and Andrew Scott in "All of Us Strangers." Chris Harris/Searchlight Picture/Handout

'All of Us Strangers'

Andrew Haigh's moving, surreal story, about a 40-something gay man who returns to his childhood home to find his deceased parents alive and no older than when they died, is one of the year's best. Full of regret, longing and things long left unsaid, "All of Us Strangers" is ultimately uplifting.

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Rated R. Opens Friday at Regal Greenway Grand Palace 24, Houston; AMC Houston 8, Houston; Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra, Katy; Cinemark The Woodlands.

'Ayalaan'

Science-fiction film from India about a lost alien.

Unrated. Opens Friday at Cinemark Tinseltown 290, Houston.

Jason Statham stars as Clay in director David Ayers 'The Beekeeper.' Amazon MGM Studios/Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

'The Beekeeper'

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David Ayer (End of Watch," "Suicide Squad") directs Jason Statham in an action-thriller about one man's vengeance.

Rated R. Opens Friday throughout Houston.

'Captain Miller'

Tamil-language action-adventure from India set in the 1930s.

Unrated. Opens Friday at AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

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LaKeith Stanfield as Clarence in The Book of Clarence." MORIS PUCCIO/TNS

'The Book of Clarence'

Jeymes Samuels, the director who gave a twist to the Western in "The Harder They Fall," takes on biblical movies by refashioning them through an enjoyably satirical Black perspective. It has a strong cast including LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, Alfre Woodard, James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Rated PG-13. Opens Friday throughout Houston.

'Destroy All Neighbors'

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Kumail Nanjiani stars in a horror-comedy in which a man accidentally kills his neighbor from hell and suffers dire consequences.

Unrated. Opens Friday at Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra, Katy.

'Guntu Kaaram'

Action-drama from India starring Mahesh Babu in a story about a criminal who falls in love with a journalist working to expose criminal activity in the city.

Unrated. Opens Friday throughout Houston.

'Hanu-Man'

Fantasy-adventure film from India.

Unrated. Opens Friday at AMC Gulf Pointe 30, Houston; AMC Loews Fountains 18, Stafford; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land; AMC Katy Mills 20, Katy.

'If You Are the One III'

Mandarin-language science-fiction comedy from China.

Unrated. Opens Friday at AMC Loews Fountains 18, Stafford.

'June'

Documentary focusing on the life and career of June Carter Cash, the wife of Johnny Cash.

Unrated. Begins streaming Jan. 16 on Paramount+.

'Lift'

What happens when a group of thieves try to pull off a heist at 30,000 feet? That's the premise of this action-thriller directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton") and starring Kevin Hart and Sam Worthington.

Rated PG-13. Begins streaming Friday on Netflix.

'Mean Girls'

Tina Fey revamps her classic high school comedy as a musical starring Renee Rapp and Angourie Rice

Rated PG-13. Opens Friday throughout Houston.

'Memory'

This indie drama, about a man and a woman who reconnect at a high school reunion, has been nominated for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard star.

Rated R. Opens Friday at AMC Gulf Pointe 30, Houston; AMC Willowbrook 24, Houston; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

'Merry Christmas'

Drama-thriller from India set on Christmas Eve.

Unrated. Opens Friday at AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.

'Monster'

While "The Boy and the Heron" has been the most-talked about Japanese film this season, "Monster" deserves similar acknowledgement. The drama, about a boy's difficult relationship with his teacher, was a Palme D'Or nominee at Cannes.

Rated PG-13. Screens 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'

Three escaped convicts search for buried treasure in this Coen brothers classic. George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson star.

Rated PG-13. Screens 7 p.m. Saturday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

'Role Play'

David Oyelowo, Bill Nighy and Kaley Cuoco are featured in an action-thriller in which a suburban husband discovers his wife is an assassin.

Rated R. Begins streaming Friday on Prime.

'Saindhav'

Crime-thriller from India.

Unrated. Opens Friday AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land; Cinemark Tinseltown 290, Houston.

'Self Reliance'

Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Andy Samberg star in comedy-thriller about a man taking part in a life-or-death game show.

Rated R. Begins streaming Friday on Hulu.

'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'
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African biomass burning plumes seen from the wing the NASA DC-8 as it descends to Ascension Island during the ATom-1 mission. Credit: Samuel Hall, NSF NCAR

The forests and grasslands of northern tropical Africa take in about as much carbon dioxide in the wet season as they release in the dry season, according to a new study based on observations from aircraft. The findings contradict earlier research that relied on satellite data and found that these ecosystems may be adding significantly more carbon to the atmosphere than they absorb over the course of a year.

The research, published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, highlights the difficulty of measuring carbon dioxide from space and the need for more frequent and robust observations from both the air and ground.

The research was led by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR).

"These findings help us better understand how carbon is moving through our complex Earth system, which is critical to accurately projecting the impacts of society's continued emissions of greenhouse gases," said NSF NCAR scientist Benjamin Gaubert, who led the study. "It's also great news that northern tropical Africa is not the large source of carbon that satellite observations suggested."

The NSF NCAR research team was interested in verifying whether the fluxes implied by satellite-based observations of carbon dioxide over northern tropical Africa in previous research were correct. The earlier work using satellite data over land suggested that the ecosystems of the region were a significant net source of carbon dioxide, potentially releasing more than a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually. That amount is equivalent to about 10% of annual emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

The possibility that these ecosystems were such a large carbon source was a surprise and challenged the scientific community's existing understanding of Earth's carbon cycle. The new study sought to determine whether the existing understanding of the carbon cycle was flawed or whether the estimates based on satellite observations were skewed.

An accurate understanding of the carbon cycle is critical for projecting how the climate will change and also for measuring the success of carbon-reduction efforts. While emissions of greenhouse gases are causing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase, the extent of that increase depends not just on the amount of carbon emitted, but also on the amount of carbon absorbed and released by the ocean and land surface. Forests, for example, absorb atmospheric carbon as they grow, but trees also emit carbon when they burn or decompose.

Similarly, the world's oceans act as a net carbon sink, but the ocean surface is always exchanging carbon with the atmosphere, absorbing and releasing the gas depending on photosynthesis by algae, temperature, and other factors.

But it has been scientifically challenging to determine where the carbon sources and sinks are, how much carbon is exchanged, and when. This is due, in part, to a scarcity of local atmospheric carbon dioxide observations, especially over many regions of the global South.

To supplement local observations, scientists have turned to satellite-based instruments, which allow for a global view. But measuring carbon dioxide with the necessary accuracy from space is difficult. For example, aerosols in the atmosphere, which can be produced by biomass burning and industrial processes, confound the ability of a satellite to accurately retrieve carbon dioxide concentrations. Because of this and other challenges, it's important to verify satellite data with aircraft and ground-based observations.

For the new study, the research team relied on airborne measurements of carbon dioxide collected during NASA's Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). These measurements were taken during four, month-long global missionsone in each seasonbetween 2016 and 2018.

The measurements included transects over the Atlantic ocean downwind of Africa. The researchers compared those observations to the concentrations of carbon dioxide that models would expect in the same locations if the earlier research was correct. They found that the aircraft observations were lower than the concentrations predicted by the models. In fact, the aircraft measurements pointed to nearly neutral net carbon emissions from northern tropical Africa, indicating that satellite measurements taken of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the region during the dry season are too high.

However, the authors noted that carbon dioxide data from satellites has improved carbon flux estimates for northern tropical Africa in other seasons, and that corrections to the satellite data continue to improve over time. Both the aircraft and satellite observations agreed that more carbon dioxide was absorbed during the wet season, and more was also released during the dry season, than researchers had previously inferred from surface observations alone.

There is growing urgency to develop comprehensive monitoring systems to support planning and validating greenhouse gas mitigation efforts, as demonstrated in the White House's National Strategy to Advance an Integrated U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System, released in November. The success of these efforts will depend on our ability to more accurately account for carbon dioxide exchange with the natural components of the Earth system, as advanced by this study. This research highlights, in particular, the value of aircraft observations.

"Aircraft are invaluable for sampling the atmospheric interior," said NSF NCAR scientist Britton Stephens. "They help us to bridge between ground-based and satellite observations of carbon dioxide, and they help us overcome the limitations of both."

More information: Benjamin Gaubert et al, Neutral Tropical African CO2 Exchange Estimated From Aircraft and Satellite Observations, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2023GB007804 Journal information: Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Provided by NCAR & UCAR
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In this photoreleased by Xinhua News Agency, the Chang'e 4 lunar probe launches from the the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China's Sichuan province, on Dec. 8, 2018. China's space agency said Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 that its latest lunar explorer had arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. Credit: Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua via AP, File

China's space agency said Wednesday that its latest lunar explorer had arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year.

State broadcaster CCTV posted photos on its website of the unit under wraps as it was unloaded from a large cargo airplane earlier this week and then transported by flatbed truck to the Wenchang launch site on southern China's Hainan island.

The announcement came a day after a U.S. company abandoned a lunar landing planned for Feb. 23 because of a fuel leak that started soon after takeoff on Monday.

China and the U.S. are both pursuing plans to land astronauts on the moon in what has become a growing rivalry in space. The U.S. plans to do so in 2026, and China's target date is before 2030.

The China National Space Administration said that pre-launch tests would be carried out on its Chang'e-6 probe. The mission's goals include bringing back samples from the far side of the moon.

Another U.S. moon lander from a Houston company is due to launch next month.

Four countriesthe U.S., Russia, China and Indiahave landed spacecraft on the moon. Only the United States has previously put astronauts on the moon.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Cyclists navigate a snow-covered sidewalk on in Iowa City, Iowa.

Severe weather battered the United States Tuesday, spinning off tornadoes and reportedly killing three people in the South as high winds and blizzards buffeted the North and hundreds of thousands lost power.

Heavy rain leading to flash flooding, wind gusts likely more than 55 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, and thunderstorms struck the Eastern Seaboard from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.

"Do not underestimate this one," warned New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in an interview with local media.

He described the storm as "unusual," citing up to four inches of rain in January and high winds pummeling the shoreline.

The inclement weather even resulted in Vice President Kamala Harris's plane, Air Force 2, being diverted from landing at its normal spot, Joint Base Andrews, and instead heading to Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

Meanwhile, tornadoes ripped through the Southeast, including the Florida panhandle, where drone images showed downed trees and damaged buildings with roofs torn off.

At least three storm-related deaths occurred across a large, multi-state section of the South.

One person was killed in a North Carolina mobile home park where multiple homes were damaged, according to Catawba County government officials.

People carry umbrellas on Times Square in New York as the northeastern US is hit by bad weather.

Another died when a tree fell across the windshield of a vehicle in Jonesboro, Georgia just south of Atlanta, the Clayton County Police Department said.

And an 81-year-old woman was killed in Alabama when a tornado struck her mobile home and sent it rolling multiple times, local media said, citing the Houston County coroner.

Heavy snow and blizzards

More than 890,000 customers had lost power in the United States as of Tuesday evening, mainly in the East, according to monitoring website Poweroutage.us.

In the central part of the country heavy snowfall (at a rate of 1-2 inches per hour) hit the upper Midwest and was shifting into the Great Lakes region, the weather service said.

And in the Northwest, the first blizzard warnings in a decade were issued for the Cascade and Olympic mountains, according to the New York Times.

A plow clears Iowa Highway 5 as a snowstorm dumps several inches of snow in Des Moines, Iowa.

The blizzard conditions were expected to continue into Wednesday "brining snow totals to several feet" in the region, according to the NWS.

The weather was already having a heavy impact on flights, with more than 1,300 cancelled and 8,600 delayed in the United States on Tuesday, monitoring website FlightAware.com reported.

Some of the cancellations were due to the grounding of some Boeing 737 MAX jets for inspection after a panel ripped off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight last week.

Scientists say that as humanity continues to warm the planet by burning fossil fuels, weather patterns will become more unpredictable.

That will mean wetter and more powerful storms, along with hotter, drier periods that will strain our water resources.

 2024 AFP
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Many businesses are making efforts to promote workers' well-being, and numerous interventions are available at the individual and organizational levels. New research published in the Industrial Relations Journal found no evidence that individual-level mental well-being interventions like mindfulness, resilience and stress management, relaxation classes, and well-being apps benefit employees.

The study was based on survey data from 46,336 workers in 233 organizations in the UK. Across multiple subjective well-being indicators, participants in individual-level mental well-being interventions appeared no better off than other workers.

The study's author, William Fleming, Ph.D., of the Well-being Research Center at the University of Oxford, noted that organizational interventionssuch as changes to scheduling, management practices, staff resources, performance review, or job designmay be more beneficial for improving well-being in the workplace.

"There's growing consensus that organizations have to change the workplace and not just the worker," said Dr. Fleming. "This research investigates well-being interventions across hundreds of workplaces, supplementing trials that often take place in single organizations, and the lack of any benefit suggests we need more ambition when it comes to improving employee well-being. I hope these results can spur on further research and employer action."

More information: Employee wellbeing outcomes from individual-level mental health interventions: Cross-sectional evidence from the UK, Industrial Relations Journal (2024). DOI: 10.1111/irj.12418

Provided by Wiley
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Figure illustrates how the catalytic surface reaction provides the foundation for agriculture. Credit: David Degerman, postdoctor, Department of Physics, Stockholm University

Researchers at Stockholm University have for the first time been able to study the surface of iron and ruthenium catalysts when ammonia is formed from nitrogen and hydrogen. The study, "Operando Probing of the Surface Chemistry During the Haber-Bosch Process," is published in Nature.

A better knowledge of the catalytic process and the possibility of finding even more efficient materials opens the door for a green transition in the currently very CO 2 -intensive chemical industry.

Ammonia, produced in the Haber-Bosch process, is currently one of the most essential base chemicals for the world to produce fertilizers, with an annual production of 110 million tonnes. The journal Nature proposed in 2001 that the Haber-Bosch process was the most critical scientific invention for humankind during the 20th century, since it has saved around 4 billion people's lives by preventing mass starvation. An estimation of the nitrogen content in our bodies' DNA and proteins shows that half of the atoms can be derived from Haber-Bosch.

"In spite of three Nobel Prizes (1918, 1931, and 2007) for the Haber-Bosch process, it has not been possible to experimentally investigate the catalyst surface with surface-sensitive methods under real ammonia production conditions; experimental techniques with surface sensitivity at high enough pressures and temperatures had not been achievable," says Anders Nilsson, professor of Chemical Physics at Stockholm University.

"Consequently, different hypotheses about the state of the iron catalyst as being metallic or in a nitride, as well as the nature of the intermediate species of importance to the reaction mechanism, could not be unambiguously verified."

The photoelectron spectroscopy instrument was built at Stockholm University and allows studies of catalyst surfaces under high pressures. Credit: Peter Amman

"What enabled this study is that we have built a photoelectron spectroscopy instrument in Stockholm that allows studies of catalyst surfaces under high pressures. Thereby, we have been able to observe what happens when the reaction occurs directly," says David Degerman, Postdoc in Chemical Physics at Stockholm University.

"We have opened a new door into understanding ammonia production catalysis with our new instrument where we now can detect reaction intermediates and provide evidence for the reaction mechanism."

"To have our Stockholm instrument at one of the brightest X-ray sources in the world at PETRA III in Hamburg has been crucial to conduct the study," says Patrick Lomker, Researcher at Stockholm University. "We can now imagine the future with even brighter sources when the machine upgrades to PETRA IV."

"We now have the tools to conduct research leading to new catalyst materials for ammonia production that can be used better to fit together with electrolysis-produced hydrogen for the green transition of the chemical industry," says Anders Nilsson.

"It is inspiring to conduct research on a topic that is so linked to a scientific success story that has helped humanity tremendously. I am eager to continue research to find new catalysts that can lessen our dependence on fossil sources. The chemical industry alone accounts for 8% of the world-wide CO 2 emissions," says Bernadette Davies, Ph.D. student in Materials Chemistry at Stockholm University.

"The long-term prospect of carrying out ammonia production through an electrocatalytic alternative that is directly driven by solar, or wind electricity is most appealing, and now we have tools to scientifically assist in this development," says Sergey Koroidov, Researcher at Stockholm University.

The study was conducted in collaboration with Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg and the Montan University in Austria. The study included former employees at the University, Chris Goodwin, Peter Amann, Mikhail Shiplin, Jette Mathiesen and Gabriel Rodrigez.

More information: Anders Nilsson, Operando probing of the surface chemistry during the HaberBosch process, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06844-5. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06844-5 Journal information: Nature
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) use innovative technology to study the lifecycle of potatoes (including development, production, and postharvest storage), ensuring a high-quality supply year-round for snack food processing facilities, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Potatoes are one of the main crops grown in the U.S., producing approximately 22.5 million tons annually. Fall is the primary season for harvesting potatoes, accounting for 90 percent of the total production. Since many locations cannot support year-round potato cultivation, most potatoes intended for processing, such as frozen french fries or instant mashed potatoes, are harvested in the fall and safely stored until needed.

Storing and maintaining potatoes at their top nutritional quality while meeting consumer and market demands is essential for the industry.

Yet, potato producers face several critical challenges, including climate- and disease-related challenges during crop production and long-term storage. Maintenance of post-harvest quality is of prime concern to the potato industry because post-harvest crop losses through physiological and disease-related processes routinely reach 1015 percent. These challenges include factors such as early sprouting and slow wound healing of potato tubers inadvertently damaged during the operational process.

Have you opened your home pantry and found potatoes sprouting? Immediately after harvest and for an indeterminate period, potato tubers are physiologically dormant and will not sprout even when placed in growth-promoting conditions. The length of the tuber dormancy period is determined by the genetics of the potato cultivar and environmental conditions during crop production and post-harvest storage including temperature, humidity, light, and air composition.

Premature sprouting or incomplete wound-healing adversely affects potato processing quality and nutritional value, resulting in lower producer prices or even complete market rejection by the industry and fresh market.

Munevver Dogramaci, a research plant physiologist and lead scientist of the Potato Research Program at the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, North Dakota, and Darrin Haagenson, a research plant physiologist at the Potato Research Worksite in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, collaborate with growers and universities to address these post-harvest physiological challenges, as well as to evaluate advanced potato breeding material for postharvest storage, food quality, and safety characteristics.

"Currently, there is no method that is 100 percent efficient to control the physical deterioration of the potato tubers during storage," said Dogramaci. "Potato tubers are at their peak nutritional quality during harvest, but it is essential to store them under specific conditions to maintain this quality."

A better understanding of physiological processes will help scientists improve post-harvest storage methods, preserving nutritional value, processing quality, and the marketability of potatoes.

Dogramaci also noted that unintended wounding of tubers, like cuts and bruises, can also occur during harvest and post-harvest operations. "This results in rapid quality loss that impacts the tuber's texture, ability to retain water, and an increase in its susceptibility to diseases during storage," Dogramaci explained.

Paul J. Collins, a research geneticist for the ARS Eastern potato breeding program based in Orono and Presque Isle, Maine, is working to develop new varieties for chip processing and table markets with improved agronomic attributes, disease resistance, climate resiliency, and quality traits. Successful varieties developed by this program include Atlantic, a variety that is widely grown across the U.S. for potato chips and is within the top ten most popular potato varieties grown in the nation.

"Potato breeding seeks to identify new potato varieties that can provide benefits throughout the value chain," said Collins.

"Farmers can benefit from disease resistance traits, resilience to climate variability, and improved yields. Processors and retailers are interested in maintaining quality and uniformity. Consumers are driven by improved nutrition and flavor. The breeding program shows huge variability for all of these traits. The challenge and fun of potato breeding is finding a new variety which makes everyone in the value chain happy."
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PFAS come and go between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans at roughly equal rates. Credit: Adapted from Environmental Science & Technology Letters 2024, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00835

The frigid Arctic Ocean is far removed from the places most people live, but even so, "forever chemicals" reach this remote landscape. Now, research in Environmental Science & Technology Letters suggests that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) won't stay there indefinitely. Instead, they are transported in a feedback loop, with the Arctic Ocean potentially exporting as many PFAS to the North Atlantic Ocean as it receives, circulating the compounds around the world.

To get to the Arctic Ocean, some PFAS hitch a ride in the air and fall onto the ocean's surface, but others enter from adjacent oceans. The potential impact of these compounds on marine organisms depends on which PFAS are present and how many, which is ever-changing as water flows between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.

These waterbodies are connected by the Fram Strait, which sits to the northeast of Greenland near the Svalbard archipelago. Warm water travels north on the eastern side of the strait, and cold water flows south along the western side, providing a dynamic gateway for PFAS transportation.

Rainer Lohmann and colleagues wanted to track the movement of PFAS in this region and identify how water circulation influences the mix of contaminants in the Arctic Ocean. The researchers deployed passive sampling systems, which took up PFAS into a sorbent-filled microporous membrane from water as it flowed past. They put the systems at three locations in the Fram Strait, and at four depths in each location. After a year, the team retrieved the systems and measured the collected PFAS using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The researchers overserved that:

Ten PFAS were detected in at least one passive sampler, however, one substance detected in the area by previous research teams wasn't among them.

Two compounds known as PFOA and PFOS, which are being phased out, were present at the highest levels. Newer, short-chain PFAS were also routinely present.

Surprisingly, several PFAS were found in water below 3,000 feet deep. The team suggests that these compounds could have gotten there by attaching to particles as they fell to the seafloor.

The team calculated the amounts of PFAS flowing in each direction through the Fram Strait. Their data showed that in one year, around 123 tons traveled into the Arctic Ocean and about 110 tons moved into the Atlantic Ocean. According to the researchers, these values are the largest of any pollutant reported in the strait, demonstrating how significant the back-and-forth circulation of PFAS is in the Arctic Ocean.

More information: Passive Sampler Derived Profiles and Mass Flows of Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFASs) across the Fram Strait in the North Atlantic, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00835 Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology Letters
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Aksel Tjora has been experimenting with alternative ways of teaching sociology students. Credit: Bendik Knapstad

Lectures continue to dominate university teaching, but especially when it comes to big introductory courses, more group work and alternative assignments, such as making podcasts, can have a positive effect.

Consider a group of new sociology students who are about to dive into a completely new subject. Half of them are fresh out of upper secondary school.

They need to settle into student life and get to know other students. They are about to embark on studies in a new field and must learn new ways of acquiring knowledge, regardless of their discipline.

They also need to come to grips with concepts such as legitimation, linguistic objectification, internalization, and externalization. What on Earth do these terms mean, and how will the students become familiar with them?

Textbooks and lecturers explain these new ideas, and the students will work on them in study groups. But the question still remains: how can students become familiar with new academic concepts and terms and understand how to use them correctly?

NTNU sociology professor Aksel Tjora has both tested and studied new ways of teaching and learning.

"In lectures with 200 students or more, not many of them dare to ask questions, provide input, or participate in discussions. We have now tested a number of different teaching methods in order to motivate the students," Tjora says.

Building on American research on podcasts in teaching

Recent American research shows an increasing use of film, art, and music in teaching sociology. Podcasts are also used in teaching sociology, but there is still limited knowledge of how educators use this tool.

In 2020, one researcher searched the American journal Teaching Sociology and found exactly zero articles or commentaries published since 2010 on podcasts.

Since then, other researchers have investigated the potential of using podcasts to teach sociology. Among other things, they found that podcasts seem to increase student engagement.

"We have explored this further, including by seeing what function podcasts can have in interaction-based learning," Tjora said.

Lectures are still the dominant form of teaching

Over the last 3040 years, universities have paid more and more attention to how students learn best.

"We can see this as part of a specific development of the universities towards the education of the masses and the production of study credits and as a kind of industrial and mercantile approach in much of the sector," Tjora said.

University learning is largely associated with reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Speaking and writing require the most active involvement on the part of students and tend to fare relatively poorly in relation to measurements of what students spend their time doing.

The preference for passive strategies contrasts with learning as an active process.

"There are many indications that universities and university colleges have a way to go when it comes to facilitating student learning. Lectures are still the dominant form of teaching," says Tjora.

Active teaching methods can help integrate students into academic communities, increase motivation and involvement, and facilitate independent and critical thinking confidence.

"There has been relatively little attention has been paid to how sociological theory should be taught, and there has been little research on teaching the subject," says Tjora.

He and his sociology colleagues have taken a closer look at this by testing new ways of teaching and evaluating these approaches in conjunction with the students.

Many more students passed the exam

They have investigated how students can be taught a sociological mindset through interaction-based learning, with emphasis on the function of podcasts.

Tjora studied this with Inga Marie Hansen Hoen and Rebekka Ravn Lysvik, both of whom have been student assistants for the introductory course in sociology. This introductory course was used as a case study.

The introductory course was restructured in the autumn of 2018, and steps were taken to facilitate the students' active, creative, and collective learning through the use of group work and compulsory attendance in small seminar groups, interactivity in lectures, and academic and social gatherings.

The exam was changed to a portfolio comprising compulsory group-based submissions such as podcasts and blogs. This required significant follow-up from Tjora and his teaching assistants but increased successful completion (meaning passing the exam) by as much as 36 percent compared with the previous year.

Before the restructuring took place, the course comprised traditional lectures, voluntary seminars in large groups, individual semester assignments, and a 5-hour written exam. A report from 2016 highlighted low levels of interactivity in lectures.

'Dared to raise my hand for the first time'

The empirical basis of the study that Tjora and his two colleagues conducted in 2021 includes the evaluation of the introductory course in sociology (a survey), reference group meetings and a sample of podcast submissions. In all, 166 out of a total of 224 students registered for exams responded to the survey.

The analysis addressed three main topics: (1) a physical student community, (2) group collaboration and (3) podcasts as means of academically thinking aloud.

Physical student community: Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the autumn of 2021, NTNU conducted physical lectures and compulsory seminars for introductory courses throughout most of the autumn. The goal was to get students back on campus.

The evaluation shows that the students experienced increased confidence through getting to know their fellow students at compulsory seminars. Each seminar group consisted of 1020 students, in contrast to the lectures involving up to 220 students, which some found to be socially challenging.

In the evaluation, many students mentioned that they dared to ask questions and participate in academic discussions when they felt comfortable in the social setting. One of the participants writes:

"I have been a student for one year, but the introductory course in sociology was the first time I dared to raise my hand and answer a question out loud."

Learning by thinking aloud together

Podcasts were tested as a tool for academically thinking aloud.

"Academically thinking aloud is the starting point for introducing podcasts as a compulsory exercise. The intention is to force students to talk about the subject and get them to relax. Everyone in the group has to participate in the conversation because it becomes very obvious if individuals do not speak or participate," says Tjora.

Groups of 34 students were tasked with producing a podcast in which they discussed social institutions using sociological terms. For example, a social institution might be a family, a job, a festival, or a leisure activity.

The students had to use relevant terminology and link it to everyday situations. Some chose Halloween as the topic; others chose residence halls, dating, or social media.

Putting on sociology glasses

"We found out how students use sociological terms in their day-to-day lives. They put on 'sociology glasses'. Listening to the podcasts, it is very clear that they were experimenting with using sociology terms, a little unsophisticatedly and spontaneously, but they did respond to each other's input and comments," Tjora said.

The answers were more refined in written group work, he said

The students said that they "learn a lot of sociology just by having conversations with other fellow students" and that "working together in groups means that you have to practice arguing for your academic point of view."

"In our observation of the students' work and in their own feedback, it became clear that learning through more spontaneous thinking aloud is key," says Tjora.

From skepticism to learning

The fact that the teaching contained a good deal of compulsory group work was not immediately met with great enthusiasm.

"In the beginning, we experienced a general skepticism towards group work. This was a little surprising because it is something they have been used to doing at upper secondary school," says Tjora.

However, in the evaluations after the students had completed the semester, it appeared that the group work provided good learning outcomes.

The students felt that they gained "insight into how others understand specific tasks", that there was a "low threshold for asking questions" and "someone to talk to regarding assignments and the syllabus".

According to the students' evaluation, experiencing that they can explain something to others using their own words gave them a sense of achievement:

"Having other people explain their perspectives and opinions creates a more nuanced picture where I feel I gain broader insight. It has also helped explain difficult theories to others using just a few understandable words. I also learn from myself when I am forced to understand in order to explain things to others."

It has been important for educators that students become accustomed to talking academically among themselves as a learning process and free themselves from the need to only talk to lecturers when they perceive something in their studies as academically challenging.

Fewer free riders on podcasts

Group work also has problematic aspects, especially regarding written group assignments.

This is related to asymmetrical effort, where students find that they "learned the most and remember most of what I myself have written or said," partly because each group tends to distribute tasks among the individual members rather than working on them together. This meant that the students felt they learned more from working on an entire assignment alone or that group members who are given the most challenging subtasks learn the most.

Several students reported in the evaluation that they felt they did most of the work and had to carry the load because of little initiative within the group. This was said to be particularly challenging when it came to producing a piece of written work together.

However, thinking aloud together when producing podcasts and complying with academic requirements was an exercise in which everyone had to contribute. As a result, there were fewer free riders and more involvement, spontaneityand learning.

"We found that many students developed the ability to academically think aloud, where they could understand their own everyday experiences and surroundings sociologically. From an empirical perspective, the podcasts in particular show this most clearly," Tjora said.

The work is published in the journal Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift (in Norwegian).

More information: Rebekka Ravn Lysvik et al, Innsiktsfull responsivitet, Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift (2023). DOI: 10.18261/nost.7.6.3
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A simplified evolutionary tree for the genus Psilocybe. Clade I and Clade II represent the Psilocybe species with the same gene order patterns within their psilocybin-producing gene clusters. Credit: Bryn Dentinger

Psilocybe fungi, known colloquially as "magic mushrooms," have held deep significance in Indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica for centuries. They captured the wider world's attention as a psychedelic staple in the 60s and 70s. Now, these infamous organisms are at the forefront of a mental health revolution.

Psilocybin and psilocin, the psychoactive compounds found in nearly all species of Psilocybe, have shown promise as a treatment for conditions including PTSD, depression, and for easing end-of-life care.

To utilize psilocybin as a therapeutic, scientists need an extensive roadmap of the compound's underlying genetics and evolution, information that doesn't exist. Our limited knowledge comes from research on just a fraction of the ~165 known species of Psilocybe. Most psilocybin-producing mushrooms haven't been studied since they were first discovereduntil now.

A team of researchers led by the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) has completed the largest genomic diversity study for the genus Psilocybe. Their genomic analysis of 52 Psilocybe specimens includes 39 species that have never been sequenced. The work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on January 9.

The authors found that Psilocybe arose much earlier than previously thoughtabout 65 million years ago, right around when the dinosaur-killing asteroid caused a mass extinction event. They established that psilocybin was first synthesized in mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe, with four to five possible horizontal gene transfers to other mushrooms from 40 up to 9 million years ago.

Their analysis revealed two distinct gene orders within the gene cluster that produces psilocybin. The two gene patterns correspond to an ancient split in the genus, suggesting two independent acquisitions of psilocybin in its evolutionary history. The study is the first to reveal such a strong evolutionary pattern within the gene sequences underpinning the psychoactive proteins synthesis.

"If psilocybin does turn out to be this kind of wonder drug, there's going to be a need to develop therapeutics to improve its efficacy. What if it already exists in nature?" said Bryn Dentinger, curator of mycology at NHMU and senior author of the study. "There's a wealth of diversity of these compounds out there. To understand where they are and how they're made, we need to do this kind of molecular work to use biodiversity to our advantage."

All the study's Psilocybe DNA came from specimens in museum collections around the world. Of the 52 specimens, 23 were "type specimens," the gold standard designating a species against which all other samples are measured. For example, say you identify a wild mushroom as a certain species of chanterelleyou're betting that the mushroom you picked is the same as the physical material sitting in a box in a museum. The authors' molecular work on type species is a major contribution to mycology because it establishes an authoritative foundation for all future work on Psilocybe diversity in taxonomy.

"These type specimens represent hundreds of years of thousands of scientists' collective effort to document diversity, way before people were thinking about DNA," said Alexander Bradshaw, postdoctoral researcher at the U and lead author of the study. "That's the beauty of itno one has really sequenced type specimens at this scale, and now we get to produce molecular and genomic data to the gold standard of Psilocybe types for people to compare against."

Holotype specimen of Psilocybe subtropicalis.. Credit: Eliza Peterson/National History Museum of Utah

A trip through time

Previous studies identified the cluster of four core genes that produce psilocybin based on genomic analysis of three Psilocybe species. The species were closely related to one another, and all had matching gene patterns within the psilocybin-producing gene clusters. This study's expanded genomics of 52 specimens of Psilocybe revealed a second distinct pattern.

"This work represents a big step in the understanding of the evolutionary relationships in Psilocybe because it is the first to include a broad species sampling and is based on type specimens," said Virginia Ramirez-Cruz, mycologist at the Universidad de Guadalajara and co-lead author of the study.

The authors found that 17 specimens had the original order, while 35 exhibited the new pattern.

"We've shown here that there's been a lot of change in gene order over time, and that provides some new tools for biotechnology. If you're looking for a way to express the genes to produce the psilocybin and related compounds, you no longer have to rely on only one set of gene sequences to do that. Now there's tremendous diversity that scientists can look at for lots of different properties or efficiencies," said Dentinger, who is also an associate professor of biology at the University of Utah.

Dating of the group showed that an ancient split of the two gene cluster patterns occurred around 57 million years ago, which also corresponded to a shift in the ecology. The first psilocybin-producing mushrooms likely arose as a wood-decomposing group, then transitioned to soil after the split, with some species such as Psilocybe cubensis transiting to growing on herbivore dung. The ecological shift to dung appears to have occurred at least twice independently in their evolutionary history.

Alexander Bradshaw holds a specimen of Psilocybe zapotecorum collected while hunting for mushrooms near Talpa de Allende, Jalisco, Mexico. Credit: University of Utah

What does psilocybin do for mushrooms?

The authors hoped that psilocybin's evolutionary history would clarify the most basic questionwhat does psilocybin do for mushrooms? The psilocybin-producing gene clusters likely have some benefit, but no one knows what it is.

The molecular structure of psilocybin mimics serotonin and binds tightly to serotonin receptors, especially at 5-HT 2A , a famous receptor onto which many psychedelic drugs bind. When a chemical binds to these receptors in mammals and similar ones in insects and arachnids, they produce unnatural and altered behaviors.

Some have proposed that this altered mental state might be a direct deterrent to predation. It's also possible that psilocybin functions as a laxative or induces vomiting to spread spores before they are fully digested. However, psilocybin mushrooms often occur infrequently in the wild, making it unlikely that animals could learn to recognize them.

An alternative theory is that psilocybin is a chemical defense against insects. However, empirical studies are lacking, and the authors' personal observations confirm that psilocybin-containing mushrooms regularly host healthy, thriving insect larvae.

The authors are preparing experiments to test an alternative theory that they call the Gastropod Hypothesis. The timing and divergence dates of Psilocybe coincide with the KPg boundary, the geological marker of the asteroid that threw Earth into a brutal, prolonged winter and killed 80% of all life. Two lifeforms that thrived during the darkness and decay were fungi and terrestrial gastropods.

Evidence, including the fossil record, shows that gastropods had a massive diversification and proliferation just after the asteroid hit, and it's known that terrestrial slugs are heavy predators of mushrooms. With the study's molecular dating of Psilocybe to around 65 million years ago, it's possible that psilocybin evolved as a slug deterrent. They hope that their feeding experiments will shed some light on their hypothesis.

In 2020, the authors set a goal to get a genome sequence for every Psilocybe type specimen. To date, they've generated genomes of 71 type specimens and continue to collaborate with collections around the world.

"It's impossible to overstate the importance of collections for doing studies like this. We are standing on the shoulders of giants, who spent thousands of people-power hours to create these collections, so that I can write an email and request access to rare specimens, many of which have only ever been collected once, and may never be collected again," said Bradshaw.

More information: Alexander J. Bradshaw et al, Phylogenomics of the psychoactive mushroom genus Psilocybe and evolution of the psilocybin biosynthetic gene cluster, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311245121 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Rainforest near Manaus, capital of Amazonas state, Brazil. Credit: Hans ter Steege

While most scientific research fields maintain open-access data policies, access to forestry data remains limited.

"The utmost hurdle for the global community to conduct forestry and forest ecology studies, at a global scale especially, is lack of data. This has been a prominent problem for decades," said Jingjing Liang, associate professor of quantitative forest ecology at Purdue University.

Now, Liang and Rajesh Kalyanam, a senior research scientist at Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, have launched a project to create the world's largest metaverse in forestry research. They will grow this metaverse from Science-i, a web-based collaborative platform Liang founded in 2016.

Liang currently relies on email to assemble datasets to support his international projects. "That is not sustainable as Science-i becomes bigger and bigger," said Liang, who heads Purdue's Forest Advanced Computing and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. "We need a platform that can help us organize all the data, compile and then feed it to users while meeting the requirements of the data contributors."

Political and economic factors contribute to current restrictions on forest inventory data. Forests often encompass military reservations, making them matters of national security. Many nations are reluctant to share their data because doing so could potentially affect negotiations in the international carbon market.

The labor-intensive nature of collecting forest inventory data is another inhibiting factor. Highly trained crews often must travel long distances, for as long as weeks or more, to begin their work. And private landowners often regard the details of their forest assets as proprietary.

For these reasons, the cyberinfrastructures developed to support other subject areas have not applied to forestry data. Liang developed Science-i to address forestry's special needs.

Science-i has about 20 studies in progress among its more than 400 members in nearly 60 nations. "Many of the projects are led by underrepresented researchers, including researchers from the global south, women scientists and graduate students, which we are very proud of," Liang said.

With Science-i, contributors can choose which projects to participate in and when to withhold their data. When datasets are shared, contributors receive credit in all relevant publications.

Liang and Kalyanam will integrate a data governance framework, machine learning tools and community collaboration features into Science-i. The enhanced infrastructure will help Science-i fill three gaps in collaborative forestry research: lack of computing capacity, limited access to critical research data, and insufficient global expert support. This work also complements the work of Purdue's Institute for Digital Forestry.

Many Science-i members are prominent forest scientists, foresters and government officials. "To simply have their participation and a close collaboration in this international platform is a sign of hope for the future," Liang said.

Two Science-i pilot case studies now in progress support underrepresented researchers in projects of vital importance to accurately quantify forest carbon sequestration and climate-change mitigation capabilities, Liang said.

One project is quantifying tree size and forest stocks globally in collaboration with Indigenous and rural communities. A second project aims to quantify forest migration. That the geographic range of tree species has changed with climate is a well-known phenomenon. Few studies, however, have sought to document how an entire forest can migrate with time.

"This is very important, especially for Indigenous and rural communities," Liang noted, because their histories, cultures and identities are often linked to their forest surroundings.

"If the forest type changed, part of their culture, part of their identity may be lost, and they have to work hard to reestablish this connection with nature. This is quite difficult," Liang said.

Further, the livelihood of many rural communities is closely linked to forest products and outdoor reactional activities.

Liang and the National Indian Carbon Coalition, an organization encompassing Indigenous communities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, will host collaborative workshops at Purdue to discuss ways they may potentially address climate change issues in their communities.

"Forests are migrating, the forest type changes, and they are facing a new game. This will pose a challenge to underrepresented and rural communities. We need to get them involved," Liang said. "We need to collaborate to find out how we can mitigate this problem."
Abortion rights activists march through the streets of Downtown Austin, Texas, Tuesday, May 3, 2022, during an emergency protest in Austin, Texas. The protest was organized by Rainbow Coalition Austin and Texas Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights as a reaction to a leaked opinion draft from the Supreme Court that shows the court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News

When the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Texas physicians are not required to perform life-saving abortions, the judges used an unusual legal interpretation of a federal emergency care law, according to scholars. The courts opinion, authored by former President Donald Trump-appointed Judge Kurt Engelhardt, said the federal law obligates doctors to treat both a fetus and the pregnant patient because the law includes the term unborn child.

This is a dual requirement, Engelhardt wrote.

But that reading strays from the federal laws original purpose, lawyers say, and serves as the latest example of how conservative courts are using politically charged language to make rulings that influence the practice of medicine in Texas.

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Judges are making a distinction between the pregnant person and the fetus like thats another patient, said Seema Mohapatra, a professor at Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. That language reflects arguments made by anti-abortion activists who believe a fetus should be granted separate legal protections, she said, adding I think were going to see a lot more of that.

The 5th Circuit is widely considered to be the most conservative appellate court in the country, with six of the 17 active judges appointed by Trump. Its ruling last week stemmed from the Biden administrations attempt to preserve some abortion access by leveraging a 1986 federal law called EMTALA, which requires hospitals to provide stabilizing medical treatment to all patients who come into the emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospitals that dont comply can lose Medicare funding.

After the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance reminding hospitals of the requirements under EMTALA, stating that the federal law supersedes state law when an abortion becomes necessary in an emergency.

Texas and two anti-abortion medical groups challenged the guidance, arguing that it cant be used to compel providers to perform abortions.

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Since then, numerous pregnant Texans have said they were denied care at hospitals because of confusion around the medical emergency exception in the states abortion laws.

EMTALA, meanwhile, was created as a response to patient dumping, or the practice of hospitals transferring patients or turning them away solely because they cant pay for treatment. The law applies to the health of the woman or her unborn child, but it does not address rare situations when a pregnant patients health is at odds with a fetus.

The way the court reads the statute and discusses obligations under EMTALA does create an independent obligation to a fetus, separate from the pregnant person who is carrying that fetus, said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. That is quite remarkable and revolutionary.

Mifepristone ruling

Hearst Newspapers asked four legal scholars to give their assessment of the ruling. Some saw parallels to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryks decision in April 2023 to invalidate the Food and Drug Administrations approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. Kacsmaryk was appointed by Trump in 2019. His decision, later blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, was filled with language used by anti-abortion activists, including unborn human and abortionist. The 5th Circuit also issued a ruling in that case and referred to fetuses as unborn patients in its opinion.

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Kate Daniel, state policy director for the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion group, noted that the terms unborn child and  baby have been used repeatedly by federal government agencies when referring to a fetus. The Childrens Health Insurance Program, for example, has an unborn child option for prenatal care.

Courts frequently use the term unborn child because its universally understood by the public, Daniel said in an email.

In this case, however, EMTALAs use of the term was intended to protect pregnant patients who were denied care, lawyers said. To see that purpose twisted and contorted to now harm pregnant people, to basically ensure women who are suffering from medical emergencies  cannot get the care they need is quite troubling, said Greer Donley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in abortion and the law.

Donley was among the food and drug law scholars who submitted an amicus brief pushing back against the plaintiffs claims in the mifepristone case earlier this year. She noted that Trump was not shy about appointing judges specifically for their anti-abortion views, and now were starting to see the consequences of that.

You basically have a situation in which someone can file a case where all the way up the chain, the most reasonable entity to hear the opinion is the Supreme Court, she said.

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The Supreme Court could offer more clarity on the EMTALA debate later this year.

In April, the court is scheduled to hear arguments in an Idaho case that also pits EMTALA against that states restrictive abortion laws. In the meantime, the court has allowed that states abortion laws to remain in place.

The recent maze of court decisions around abortion care in Texas, including the Texas Supreme Courts decision to deny a Dallas womans petition for an emergency abortion, compounds an already fraught situation for physicians who face strict penalties, said Dr. Lauren Thaxton, an OBGYN for Resound Research for Reproductive Health, which studies the impact of reproductive health policies.

Only a small minority of pregnant patients will experience an emergency that requires an abortion. But in the narrow circumstances that EMTALA might cover, the 5th Circuit ruling throws fear into already high-pressure, time-sensitive scenarios for ER physicians, she said.

The purpose of (emergency care) is identifying the emergency and stabilizing the patient, she said. Not reviewing the laws and calling lawyers in the middle of the night and figuring out whether or not your care of that patient might affect your medical license. That is just unrealistic to providing good care.
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Researchers have demonstrated that qubits (represented by the spheres and arrows) can "talk" to each other through a magnet (represented by the rectangular solid) rather than through air. This technology enables the qubits to be situated farther apart than is typical and allows for selective interaction between qubits. Credit: Peter Allen

Researchers have begun to use magnets to entangle qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers. This simple technique could unlock complex capabilities.

When you push a button to open a garage door, it doesn't open every garage door in the neighborhood. That's because the opener and the door are communicating using a specific microwave frequency, a frequency no other nearby door is using.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago, the University of Iowa and Tohoku University in Japan have begun to develop devices that could use the same principlessending signals through magnets instead of through the airto connect individual qubits across a chip, as reported in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a proof of concept, at room temperature, of a scalable, robust quantum technology that uses conventional materials," said David Awschalom, the Liew Family professor in molecular engineering and physics at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; the director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange; the director of Q-NEXT, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center hosted at Argonne; and the principal investigator of the project. "The beauty of this experiment is in its simplicity and its use of well-established technology to engineer and ultimately entangle quantum devices.

Connecting qubits through quantum entanglement is necessary to build a quantum computer, but it can often be tricky. With nitrogen vacancy (NV) centersdefects in diamond that can be used as qubitsthe challenge is that in order to talk to each other, they need to be very, very close together. The normal quantum interaction between NV centers has a maximum range of only a few nanometersone-thousandth the width of a hairand when the NV centers are that close together, they can't be engineered into a useful configuration.

"You need to be able to get your hands on things in there to connect wires and make a device," said Michael Flatte, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa who contributed to the work. Flatte is also the chief scientist at quantum technology company QuantCAD LLC, a Chicago Quantum Exchange corporate partner. "And nanometers is just too close for that."

That's where magnets come in.

Two years ago, Flatte and his collaborators published a theoretical paper that proposed using a magnetic material to make a quantum connection between NV centers so that they could be entangled while farther apart. The normal interaction between two NV centers involves microwaves. In this proposed device, the magnet receives the microwave from the NV center and transmits it via "magnon" to the NV on the other side.

In a magnet, the spins of all the electrons inside it point in the same direction, like stalks of grain all pointing upward. A magnon is a slight wave disturbance through those spins, like a wave the wind would make across the field of grain. Magnons can go much further than nanometerseven a thousand times farther, in fact, to many micrometers.

"The micrometer scale is pretty interesting because it's the typical scale of many integrated electronic devices, such as silicon transistors in a computer chip," Flatte said. "So if you were to make things of that size, then you could get a reasonable number of them on a chip."

Connecting NV center qubits with magnets also allows for selective interaction: If two qubits in the quantum computer talked at a slightly different frequency, they could entangle without disturbing or being affected by the other qubits, even if there were other qubits between them. This capability is extremely important for the kind of complex work scientists want quantum computers to perform.

This experiment by Awschalom and his collaborators successfully verified that the NV center could "talk" to the magnetic material, transmitting its microwave as a magnon. Additionally, the numbers matched almost perfectly with what was predicted in the theoretical paper two years ago.

"This work is good synergy between experiment and theory," said Masaya Fukami, first author on the paper. Fukami was a postdoc at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at UChicago during the experiment and now works at quantum computing company PsiQuantum. "I was really impressed with how well the model predicted the experiment. It gives me a lot of confidence about this system."

Now that they've established that the NV center can talk to the magnet, the next step is to put another NV center on the other side and see if the magnet can mediate a quantum connection between the two.

"This is the first integration modality with magnets," Flatte said. "I think it's a really powerful approach which could also be applied to other solid state qubit systems in principle."
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A mother sperm whale and her calf off the coast of Mauritius. The calf has remoras attached to its body. Credit: Gabriel Barathieu/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.0

A sperm whale expert at Dalhousie University, in Canada, has found evidence showing that sperm whales form large matrilineally based clans that have their own coda dialect. In his paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Hal Whitehead describes how he, working with multiple colleagues over many years, used underwater microphones to listen in on conversations among the whales.

Prior research has shown that whales communicate with one another using sequences of clicks that have come to be known as codas. Prior research has also shown that most whale species have distinctive variations among groups that are unique to members of their groupor clan, as Whitehead calls them. Over the course of many years, he has worked with colleagues on the study of sperm whales. In this new effort, he sums up their findings.

In analyzing sperm codas from whales all across the Pacific Ocean, the researchers found evidence that they form matrilineally based units of approximately 10 females and their offspringsuch units, he notes, form the basic elements of larger clans. The researchers have also found evidence that the whales form clans with as many as 20,000 members. Within such clans, members interact, look out for one another, help raise offspring, and ward off attacks by orcas.

They also all communicate using the same dialect. All sperm whales in the Pacific speak the same language, Whitehead notes, but each clan has its own unique dialect. Researchers have also found that while clan territory may overlap, whales from different clans do not interact with one another.

Whitehead and colleagues also found that there are seven clans in the Pacific Ocean, adding up to approximately 300,000 whales. Each of the clans was found to be based almost entirely around females and their youngthe males exist on the periphery and appear to serve only as a means for reproduction.

The researchers have also found evidence of clan-wide communications, noting the observation of debates that involved whales apparently looking for a consensus on things like travel destinations. Whitehead concludes that he has come to think of the clans as whale nations, each with their own discernable culture.

More information: Hal Whitehead, Sperm whale clans and human societies, Royal Society Open Science (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231353 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science

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Composite image illustrating 51 Pegasi system and its measured magnetic field. The detected "Weak Magnetic Braking" of 51 Peg represents a relatively sudden change that makes the magnetic environment more stable. Credit: AIP/J. Fohlmeister

Once upon a cosmic time, scientists assumed that stars apply an eternal magnetic brake, causing an endless slowdown of their rotation. With new observations and sophisticated methods, they have now peeked into a star's magnetic secrets and found that they are not what they expected. The cosmic hotspots for finding alien neighbors might be around stars hitting their midlife crisis and beyond.

This groundbreaking study, shedding light on magnetic phenomena and habitable environments, has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

In 1995, Swiss astronomers Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the first discovery of a planet outside our solar system, orbiting a distant sun-like star known as 51 Pegasi. Since then, more than 5,500 so-called exoplanets have been found orbiting other stars in our galaxy, and in 2019 the two scientists shared a Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work. This week, an international team of astronomers published new observations of 51 Pegasi, suggesting that the current magnetic environment around the star may be particularly favorable for the development of complex life.

Stars like the sun are born spinning rapidly, which creates a strong magnetic field that can erupt violently, bombarding their planetary systems with charged particles and harmful radiation. Over billions of years, the rotation of the star gradually slows as its magnetic field drags through a wind flowing from its surface, a process known as magnetic braking. The slower rotation produces a weaker magnetic field, and both properties continue to decline together with each feeding off the other.

Until recently, astronomers had assumed that magnetic braking continues indefinitely, but new observations have started to challenge this assumption.

"We are rewriting the textbooks on how rotation and magnetism in older stars like the sun change beyond the middle of their lifetimes," says team leader Travis Metcalfe, a senior research scientist at White Dwarf Research Corporation in Golden, Colorado, U.S. "Our results have important consequences for stars with planetary systems, and their prospects for developing advanced civilizations."

Klaus Strassmeier, director at the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany and co-author of the study, adds, "This is because weakened magnetic braking also throttles the stellar wind and makes devastating eruptive events less likely."

The team of astronomers from the United States and Europe combined observations of 51 Pegasi from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) with cutting-edge measurements of its magnetic field from the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona using the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI).

ZDI maps of the radial, meridional, and azimuthal field components of 51 Peg. Contours are shown with a step of 0.5 G. The dotted line corresponds to the lowest visible latitude. The vertical bars at the bottom of each panel show the central longitude of each LBT observation. Credit: The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad0a95

Although the exoplanet that orbits 51 Pegasi does not pass in front of its parent star as seen from Earth, the star itself shows subtle brightness variations in the TESS observations that can be used to measure the star's radius, mass, and agea technique known as asteroseismology.

Meanwhile, the magnetic field of the star imprints a tiny amount of polarization on the starlight, allowing PEPSI on the LBT to create a magnetic map of the stellar surface as the star rotatesa technique known as Zeeman-Doppler Imaging. Together, these measurements allowed the team to evaluate the current magnetic environment around the star.

Previous observations from NASA's Kepler space telescope already suggested that magnetic braking might weaken substantially beyond the age of the sun, severing the close relationship between rotation and magnetism in older stars. However, the evidence for this change was indirect, relying on measurements of the rotation rate for stars with a wide range of ages. It was clear that rotation stopped slowing down somewhere near the age of the sun (4.5 billion years), and that weakened magnetic braking in older stars could reproduce this behavior.

However, only direct measurements of a star's magnetic field can establish the underlying causes, and the targets observed by Kepler were too faint for LBT observations. The TESS mission began collecting measurements in 2018similar to Kepler's observations but for the nearest and brightest stars in the sky, including 51 Pegasi.

Over the past few years, the team began using PEPSI on the LBT to measure the magnetic fields for several TESS targets, gradually building a new understanding of how magnetism changes in stars like the sun as they grow older. The observations revealed that magnetic braking changes suddenly in stars that are slightly younger than the sun, becoming more than 10 times weaker at that point, and diminishing further as the stars continue to age.

The team attributed these changes to an unexpected shift in the strength and complexity of the magnetic field, and the influence of that shift on the stellar wind. The newly measured properties of 51 Pegasi show thatjust like our own sunit has already gone through this transition to weakened magnetic braking.

"It is very gratifying that the LBT and PEPSI were able to reveal a new perspective on this planetary system which played such a pivotal role in exoplanet astronomy," says Strassmeier, principal investigator of the PEPSI spectrograph. "This research is an important step forward in the search for life in our galaxy."

In our own solar system, life's transition from the oceans onto land occurred several hundred million years ago, coinciding with the time that magnetic braking began to weaken in the sun. Young stars bombard their planets with radiation and charged particles that are hostile to the development of complex life, but older stars appear to provide a more stable environment. According to Metcalfe, the team's findings suggest that the best places to look for life outside of our solar system might be around stars that are middle-aged and older.

More information: Travis S. Metcalfe et al, Weakened Magnetic Braking in the Exoplanet Host Star 51 Peg, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad0a95 Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In the chaotic environment of open star clusters, strong gravitational interactions between bodies can launch individual stars far outside the cluster, even outside our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now, for the first time researchers have mapped several of those stars, which exist outside the galaxy's disk, to the clusters of their origin using new data from the European Space Agency's Gaia Mission.

Researchers from Lehigh University presented the findings, "Stellar Paternity Tests: Matching High-Latitude B Stars to the Open Clusters of Their Birth," today in a press conference at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in New Orleans.

"Through tracing them back in time to see where they originated, we are able to match 15 of them to the star clusters where they were born," said M. Virginia (Ginny) McSwain, associate professor of physics, at Lehigh University. "If we can say with high confidence where some of these stars came from, we will know more about the history of the star clusters in the Milky Way."

Most of the stars outside of the thin disk of the Milky Way, which includes the spiral arms with a thicker diameter at the center, are more than eight billion years old, forming early in the galaxy's history. Given their very old ages, it's not surprising they have traveled far from their birthplaces.

Since nearly all of our galaxy's star formation occurs in the thin disk, hot B-type stars are rarely found outside this region. Yet a small number of these young starsestimated at 10 to 100 million years oldare found at high altitudes above and below the disk, likely ejected from the clusters of their birth in the past few million years.

"Hot stars don't often venture out of the disk, so when they do, they are noticeably out of place," said Brandon Schweers, a Lehigh University undergraduate student who provided key research on the project. "The 'parent' clusters probably ejected most of these B-type stars when close, three- or four- body gravitational interactions flung out a member of the cluster, sending them running away from the plane of the Milky Way."

One star studied was flung out with a particularly high speed, so it may have been ejected during a supernova in a close binary star system, said Schweers, a senior studying astrophysics. Stars can even be flung out only to swing back and be slingshotted out again.

While these "orphaned" stars have been known for two decades, none had been mapped to their place of origin before, as quality data wasn't available to trace them to their beginnings. However, with the data from the Gaia Mission, the researchers were able to decipher the stars' motions in greater precision than was previously available.

The path of 95 stars, starting from 30 million years ago until today. Credit: B. Schweers, Lehigh University

Using trajectories to trace back time

The Gaia Mission, launched in 2013, aims to survey more than one billion stars in the Milky Way and build a precise three-dimensional map of the galaxy. The data include unprecedented positional measurements for stars and radial velocity measurements for the brightest 150 million objects.

Based on Gaia data released in 2022, Lehigh researchers traced the kinematic trajectories of 95 high-latitude B stars and about 1,400 known galactic open clusters to identify moments in the past when they may have intersected and an ejection could have occurred.

"Using their 3D positions and 3D velocities through space, we were able to calculate the trajectories of each cluster and high-latitude star over the past 30 million years," McSwain said. They used the open-source Python galpy package for galactic dynamics analysis to model the gravitational field of the galaxy at each point.

Once they identified potential matches, they compared each ejected star's color and brightness to the Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram, a color magnitude diagram, for each open cluster. An open cluster generally has thousands of stars of the same age and composition, at the same distance.

"The shape of the H-R diagram is mostly dependent on the cluster's age, so we can tell if the ejected star has a similar age to its potential cluster siblings," McSwain said. Applying the H-R test narrowed down the list of potential matches further.

Finally, they analyzed the core densities of each cluster that was a possible match. Clusters with higher density have more of the strong gravitational interactions between members that give them the most potential for ejecting stars.

Paternity tests prove positive

Combining these tools, the researchers confirmed positive paternity matches for 15 orphaned stars. That galactic genealogical tracing was what gave Schweers the idea for the presentation's title.

"When I reached the stage of comparing the color and brightness for the potential matches and discarding those that showed a poor correlation in the H-R diagrams, I felt as though I was comparing the 'DNA' of the orphaned stars and their potential siblings," Schweers said, reminding him of "The Maury Povich Show."

"I think everyone has heard the saying, 'You are not the father' that came from that show. For many of these clusters, I was essentially telling them they are not the parent of these orphaned stars, so I came up with the name 'Stellar Paternity Tests,'" he said.

Based on their trajectory calculations, the researchers estimate the ejections took place about 5 to 30 million years ago, "flinging abandoned stars across the Milky Way at speeds of 30-220 kilometers/second (67,000-490,000 miles/hour) to their present locations," they wrote. "Our results provide a measure of the ejection age for each orphaned star, providing new insight into the relative importance of dynamical vs. supernovae ejection in young open clusters."

While they were able to match a number of the far-flung stars, some couldn't be traced back to the Milky Way's disk very plausibly, which may provide evidence for other unusual scenarios, they added. These might include rare star formation in molecular clouds high outside the disk, or they could be relics of past dwarf galaxies that merged with the Milky Way in the past.

Undergraduate astrophysics student Christopher J. Aviles Bramer, who graduated in 2022, contributed to the research project.
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:

Location of the study site on the Dutch coast in Noordwijk, The Netherlands and picture of the laser scanner mounted on a hotel balcony without (A) and with (B) protective cover. Credit: ISPRS Open Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ophoto.2023.100055

A team of researchers from TU Delft has succeeded in long-term mapping of beach topography to within a few centimeters. The unique dataset provides insights into coastal changes for every hour, for three years. This data is important for dune maintenance and to keep the hinterland well protected. The methodology is also being used to monitor other coastlines and even glaciers. The data are open source and were published in Scientific Data in 2022. The new methodology was also recently published.

Until now, long-term measurements of the coast have lacked sufficient detail because the satellites used for this purpose do not have high resolution. And detailed measurement campaigns at the beach were only snapshots. A close collaboration of researchers from Geoscience & Remote Sensing and Hydraulic Engineering offered the solution. Using a permanent laser scanner at the beach in first Kijkduin and later Noordwijk, minimal changes were quantified over long periods of time.

Mieke Kuschnerus pioneered the new mathematical methodology to extract the smallest details from very long time series. This provided new insights, not so much on large instantaneous changes as caused by storms, but notably on small but persistent changes that take place over long periods of time. Her research was published at the end of December in ISPRS Open Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. The methodology is now proving its value internationally for monitoring glaciers, landslides and tree canopy growth.

Physical and human influences affect the coast

Now it is also possible to determine which processes underlie the coastal changes. A key insight is that the coastal morphology is not only influenced by physical processes, but also by human actions.

"If we want to better design future beaches, we need to understand the effects of a storm, and also the impact of permanent buildings such as beach pavilions, and the changes people make to prepare the beach for hordes of day trippers," says Roderik Lindenbergh. Together with Sierd de Vries, he is project leader of the nearly completed "CoastScan" project. Lindenbergh recently received funding for the follow-up project "AdaptCoast."

Designing future beaches

With AdaptCoast, the researchers are now venturing into predictions of coastal change. They create simulations of the coast by using models. These models take into account direct changes caused by physical factors such as wind and waves on a small scale. And will also take into account socio-economic aspects, which proved so important in the earlier research. "We also simulate indirect effects of, for example, nice sunny weather around Easter time, when beach bar owners put up an embankment to prepare for the many visitors," says Lindenbergh.

The simulations of the future coast provide good guidance for the planning of coastal protection, and how to reinforce this together with recreation and nature. It is therefore no coincidence that Rijkswaterstaat and several water boards are partners in the research project. The knowledge of coastal changes and the processes underlying them helps them to better manage beaches and design safer future beaches.

The project's first Ph.D. candidate, Daan Hulskemper, starts today. "What will he do first? Get his LiDAR drone diploma," says Lindenbergh. "Should there be storms, he can immediately grab the drone to start taking measurements on the beach."

More information: Mieke Kuschnerus et al, Statistically assessing vertical change on a sandy beach from permanent laser scanning time series, ISPRS Open Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ophoto.2023.100055 Journal information: Scientific Data
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 woman in a canoe during an 1890 flood in Portland, which was similar to floods in the 1860s. Credit: Oregon Historical Society Research Library

An 1867 flood in western Washington surpassed anything that the region has seen in the last century, new University of Oregon research shows, offering a foreboding look at what storms fueled by climate change could now produce.

In that long-ago flood, an atmospheric river combined with snowmelt to deliver record amounts of precipitation over a three-day period. The event provides a pre-industrialization benchmark for what flooding in Washington's modern urban corridors could now look like, the researchers reported Dec. 19 in the journal PLOS Climate.

The finding suggests that future floods, now with the amplifying effects of climate change, could be even bigger and more destructive.

Flooding events such as that one are only expected to intensify in coming years. Atmospheric rivers, plumes of moisture-rich air that bring soaking rainstorms, are a major driver of flooding and have been increasing in intensity and frequency since the 1950s.

"This wasn't necessarily the record-setting event at individual sites, but when you factor in the regional impact, it's the largest event in terms of area affected," said Dan Gavin, a UO geographer who led the study alongside UO climate scientist Patrick Bartlein and professor Cary Mock of the University of South Carolina, who earned his doctorate at the UO.

The 1860s were a particularly wet time on the west coast of the United States. A cold period known as the Little Ice Age was ending, and mountain glaciers were receding as global temperatures rose. A major flood in 186162 is well documented as the most severe in the history of Oregon and California.

But Washington, not yet a state, was relatively sparsely populated at the time, so data on historical flooding is limited.

"We have these meteorological records that are pretty scattered, but nobody had put them together," Gavin said.

He and his colleagues sifted through microfilm records and decoded handwritten notes to hunt for flooding events. They compiled data from rain gauges at military forts around southwestern Washington, including sites near Astoria and Vancouver and along the Puget Sound.

A four-day stretch of extreme rainfall in December 1867 stood out. At Astoria, more than 12 inches fell over four days, while more than 8 inches fell at Fort Vancouver, Washington. Other stations recorded similar, though slightly lower, totals. Overall, conditions were wetter than any time in the modern record, including this fall's atmospheric river event in the Pacific Northwest.

To estimate the flooding impact, Gavin and his colleagues looked through historical newspaper articles that described the damage. They found a few reports recording the height of the water relative to structures of the time, which they could overlay on modern topography to estimate flood height. At some spots, floodplains appear to be under more than a meter of water.

While the flood swept away livestock, destroyed bridges, and wiped out towns like Monticello along the Cowlitz River, no deaths were recorded, Gavin said. Today a flood of that magnitude could be far more destructive in the densely populated corridor between Portland and Seattle. Gavin compares the 1867 event to major floods that happened in the area in 1996, which shut down parts of Interstate 5.

Regardless of whether atmospheric rivers continue to increase in frequency in a warmer world, Bartlein said, "a warmer atmosphere will also be a wetter atmosphere, and moisture is fuel for large storms."

When scientists talk about how much climate change has happened, it's often tied to a benchmark of the late 1800s, before humans began burning fossil fuels to power the world.

"These floods in the 1860s were fueled without the boost recent storms have from our warming oceans," Gavin said, "showing the potential for events more extreme than have occurred in recent history."

More information: Daniel G. Gavin et al, Historical archives reveal record rainfall and severe flooding in December 1867 resulting from an atmospheric river and snowmelt, western Washington, USA, PLOS Climate (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000324 Journal information: PLOS Climate
From New York State Police: State Police said they arrested a Brooklyn man on Thursday, Jan. 4, who allegedly burglarized Walmart in Saratoga and Warren County in August, 2023.

Delle I. Fisher, 48, was arrested on warrants for two counts of felony third-degree burglary, felony third-degree grand larceny, and petit larceny, police said.

A news release on Monday, Jan. 8, said State Police in Troop G received information in August that an individual was stealing from multiple Walmart stores in Saratoga and Warren County. The investigation identified the individual as Fisher.

Fisher reportedly entered the Walmart located in Wilton on July 26 and September 2, stealing more than $2,000 worth of merchandise. The release also said he was trespassing at the time of the crimes as he had been banned from all Walmart stores due to previous similar incidents. Further investigation discovered on August 12 Fisher reportedly entered the Walmart in Queensbury and stole more than $3,000 worth of merchandise.

Fisher was taken into custody upon release from Rikers Island, where he was in custody on an unrelated matter. He was transported to the state police Wilton, where he was processed on all charges. Fisher was arraigned at the Wilton Town Court and remanded to the Saratoga County Jail without bail.
ALBANY  In front of a joint session of the New York State Legislature, Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined a vision for New York in 2024, which included fighting crime, boosting mental health, and enhancing financial protections. She outlined these and other priorities during her State of the State address, Jan. 9, 2024.

Today is not about us, Hochul said to her fellow elected officials. Its about the 20 million hard-working New Yorkers we are privileged to represent, and what we can deliver for them in the year ahead.

Hochul said she wants to pump $20 million into the Office of the District Attorney to remove access to guns for those convicted of domestic violence. She also highlighted retail crime as a major scourge against business owners throughout the state.

These attacks are nothing more than breakdown of the social order, she said. I say, No more! The chaos must end.

Hochul said she will launch a joint effort between federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as a brand new State Police unit to crack down on organized retail theft.

She also talked about stiffer penalties for perpetrators, including unlicensed cannabis sellers.

In addition to retail crime, Hochul said she plans to upgrade more than two dozen offenses to be eligible for prosecution as hate crimes to stem the threat of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim attacks.

This means enhanced liability, sentences, and ultimately it means were standing up for whats right, she said.

The governor also said she wants to focus this year on boosting mental health services in the state, which she categorized as the defining challenge of our times.

Hochul called for behavioral health reform, including requiring hospitals to screen patients for risks of mental health and implementing follow-up psychiatric care, as well as expansion of mental health courts and court-based specialists.

We can no longer wait for someone to lash out and hurt someone before we take action because by then, its already too late, she said.

But it wasnt just violent assaults the governor wants to address.

Hochul said one in four teens have considered suicide, double the number 10 years ago. Hochul plans on ensuring that every school in the state receives the help it needs to adequately address behavioral and mental health with students.

Everyone can agree that healthy children are more likely to grow into healthy adults, she said.

She then shifted from mental health to financial health.

Im proposing the first significant change to our consumer protection laws in over 40 years, she said.

Hochul plans to prohibit predatory student loan servicers, manipulative debt collectors, and the buy now, pay later loan industry; as well as increasing medical debt forgiveness programs and disability leave payouts.

Whats the point of paying for this benefit your whole life, if it only gives you a fraction of what you need to recover, she posed.

Hochul also tied financial health to the housing market, which she also cited as a main driver for outward migration from the state.

Of the top five states that New Yorkers are moving to, three of them share our borders and have similar taxes, she said. People are earning in New York, but living in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

Hochul plans to focus her housing initiatives in New York City, by restoring tax incentives to build affordable housing, eliminating restrictions on population density, supporting commercial property conversions, and legalizing basement apartments in residential buildings.

Although Hochuls speech landed as more of a wish list for the year to come, with little detail about how she plans to fund these new initiatives at least until her budget address next week, the governor did touch on a plan to drive the economy into the future.

Whoever dominates the AI industry, will dominate the next era of human history, she said, announcing the formation of the Empire AI Consortium.

Hochul outlined $400 million in combined funds to support a private and public partnership with Cornell, NYU, Columbia, RPI, and the entire SUNY and CUNY system to bolster the tech economy.

We have geniuses at these schools just ready and poised to innovate and launch new companies, and now theyll have the power to change the world, she said.

The address was met with mixed interpretations by lawmakers and state organizers.

It was, charitably, a strange speech, read a statement from Sen. Jake Ashby, (R,C-Castleton). The governor didnt offer the dynamic change we need to comprehensively address these issues and turn our state around. Youll find those solutions in our Senate Republican agenda  cutting property taxes and reining in wasteful spending, fixing the damage done by bail reform and restoring public safety, and balancing our sustainable energy goals with our economic competitiveness.

Senator Dan Stec, (R-Queensbury), though largely against much of the Governors plan, did see some points of agreement.

Since first becoming Senator, Ive called for a plan-of-action concerning our closed correctional facilities. The North Country and Adirondacks are home to several of these sites, which were crucial to providing jobs and economic development to our region. Ive heard directly from local officials on the need to get these sites back in use and have sponsored legislation to do just that. Hearing the governor heed these calls by proposing they get put towards an affordable housing plan is a good start, Stec said in a statement.

Where the governor spoke on safety and crime, Stec saw differences.

She claimed New York is safer than ever, then referred to a drastic increase in theft as an utter breakdown of the social order, Stec said in his statement. For years, my Senate Republican colleagues and I have called for a full repeal of the states unsafe bail reform laws and other substantive public safety measures and yet again, the governor has offered unclear solutions to this serious issue.

While the governor did acknowledge outmigration, Stec wrote, indicating Hochuls understanding that the population is shrinking, her address did not provide the solutions necessary to reverse this trend and jumpstart our economy. Instead of outlining a plan to rein in our states high tax-and-spend climate or create good-paying career opportunities for our residents, the vision outlined by the governor in the State of the State address seem to only continue these negative trends.

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls) largely supported the governors initiatives.

She highlighted the governors focus on organized retail theft.

As the newly appointed Chair of the Assemblys Small Business Committee, I believe this will be a priority topic, Woerner wrote in a statement.

She said she appreciated the governors focus on issues surrounding domestic violence as well and other social issues.

I applaud the governors continued emphasis on mental health, especially the rising rates of suicide, Woerner wrote. Coupling additional funding with regulatory reform will undoubtedly make mental health services more accessible, effective and less costly overall.

Still, Woerner wondered if the governor is doing enough to help the state reach its own climate goals.

I worry that the cost of the upgrades to our power grid will substantially increase costs to consumers and businesses, further making New York unaffordable. Im committed to pushing for common sense approaches, including the incorporation of clean fuels into our renewable strategies to immediately reduce emissions, particularly from hard-to-electrify vehicles such as marine vessels, jet planes, and long-haul tractor trailers, Woerner said.
Republican Carmen F. Amato Jr. took the oath of office Tuesday to become the new state senator for the 9th Legislative District, serving southern Ocean County.

Amato was the longtime mayor of Berkeley Township before he ran to replace Sen. Chris Connors, R-Ocean, who chose not to seek reelection last year. He serves alongside Assemblymen Brian Rumpf and Gregory Myhre, also Republicans.

It is a great honor to be sworn in as state senator and to represent the residents of the 9th Legislative District, Amato said in a statement. I look forward to working with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to make New Jersey more affordable for our families and retirees.

Amato has served in public office for three decades, most recently as mayor of Berkeley Township for the past 12 years, as a township councilman from 2006 to 2012, and as a member of the local and regional school boards from 1993 to 2006.

The entire Senate and Assembly were sworn in to new terms Tuesday. Retaking their seats in the 1st District were Sen. Mike Testa and Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. Retaking their seats in the 2nd District were Sen. Vince Polistina and Assembly members Don Guardian and Claire Swift, R-Atlantic.
WILDWOOD  The local Board of Commissioners plans to hold a closed-door meeting Wednesday, to include a discussion of the city administrator.

No city manager was appointed at the citys reorganization meeting last week, when Ernie Troiano returned to the board and was named mayor for 2024 in a 2-1 vote. Nor was a city attorney appointed at the reorganization meeting.

Former city Administrator Steve OConnor did not return to the job with the change in government.

In a crowded field of 14 candidates, voters supported Troiano and the two incumbents, Troianos running mate Steve Mikulski and Krista Fitzsimons, who ran on a separate ticket.

Neither Troiano nor Mikulski responded to questions about plans for the administrators position Tuesday.

Fitzsimons said she hoped the job would be filled at this weeks meeting, along with the position of city attorney, which had been held by Louis DeLollis since 2020.

Judge rejects call by ex-Wildwood mayor to dismiss corruption case A judge on Friday rejected a motion by former Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano to dismiss a state corruption case, saying prosecutors had presented sufficient testimony to justify the grand jurys decision, NJ.com reported.

Most municipal business must be discussed in public under New Jersey law, but there are some exceptions, including discussions of personnel matters and contract negotiations. In those cases, any decisions must still be made in public, and the governing body is obligated to take minutes of the closed-door meeting which are to eventually be made public.

The closed meeting Wednesday is to include discussions of contractual matters and a contract for IT and social media work, as well as a discussion on the administrator position, with the agenda including taking action as a result of the discussions.

The regular meeting is set to start at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the meeting room upstairs at City Hall, 4400 New Jersey Ave.

OConnor said Tuesday that changes in top staff, including the administrator, municipal solicitor and engineer, are not unusual when there is a change in the majority on an elected board.

My contract was up Dec. 31. I knew they had a different direction to go, OConnor said.

Fitzsimons said the contracts with the citys appointed professionals will be discussed Wednesday.
EPA contractors in the parking lot of Cypress Centre, 11600 Jones Road, conduct testing at the Jones Road Ground Water Plume Superfund Site Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Houston. The area was contaminated with tetrachloroethylene from the former Bell Dry Cleaners located at the shopping center. Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to proceed with remediation efforts at the Jones Road Superfund site to make the area safer for residents following its decades long contamination. The contaminated site is still not protective to health despite past attempts to control the risk of human exposure to its hazardous chemicals.

The agency is asking residents and businesses at the site who are still on private wells to sign-up by March 31 to be connected to a public water line.

As officials work to get properties on an alternative water source, heres what to know about the site and plans moving forward.

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What is a superfund site?

A superfund site is a location determined to be contaminated with hazardous waste by the EPA. This can be caused by, but is not limited to, chemicals being dumped in the area or improper management of chemicals by a local business, such as a landfill, a processing plant or a mining site.

The EPA works to clean superfunds sites while reducing exposure to the local community.

What is the Jones Road Superfund Site?

The Jones Road Superfund site, located at 11600 Jones Rd. in Cy-Fair, was contaminated by Bell Dry Cleaners. Before being shut down in 2002, the business had been improperly dumping dry-cleaning chemicals since 1988, forming an underground plume of pollution according to Harris County officials and the EPA.

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The sites approximate boundaries stretch beyond Woodedge Drive in the north, Tower Oaks Blvd. in the south, Oak Valley in the west, with a jagged edged boundary caused by buildings east of Rowood Lane. A total of 274 properties are within the water line boundary of the superfund, 90 of which are commercial properties.

What have the EPA and local officials said about the site?

Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and assistant director of the Texas Health and Environmental Alliance Rachel Jordan addressed the community about the site in early February, declaring the site far overdue for action from the EPA. The two called for immediate action.

So often the EPA wants to monitor something for decades rather than actually getting in and removing it, Ramsey said in a statement. Its been there long enough. Its time that weve dealt with it in terms of remediation.

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The EPA published a report on the Jones Road Superfund site in 2022, detailing several attempts to treat the ground water, soil vapor and private wells since 2011. John Meyer with the EPA declared the site not protective to human health, saying that previous remediation efforts did not solve the issue.

I have determined that the remedy for the Jones Road Groundwater Plume Superfund site is not protective, Meyer said in a report. This Five-Year Review Report specifies the actions that need to be taken for the selected remedy to be protective over the long term.

What are the next steps?

As the EPA works to restore the water quality in the area, officials are asking some residents and businesses to change from private wells to the public water supply to avoid exposure to tainted water.

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EPA Remedial Project Manager for the Jones Road Superfund site, Raji Josiam, recommended all residents in the nearby area disconnect from private wells and connect to the public water line. The deadline to sign up for the water line connection was extended to March 31. All residents must commit for the EPA project of cleaning and further investigating the site to move forward by this summer.

Josiam said the EPA plans to start bioremediation injections in May, with sampling of the same injection sites to be analyzed by this fall to see its effects. Josiam emphasized that the EPA is unsure how much waste is in the groundwater, which is why potential solutions must be enacted soon.

What can residents do?

Josiam said that even if residents in the vicinity have a well with clean water, they may be pulling contaminated water toward them from the site. Josiam said the EPA is asking residents to sign up to get the process started on their connection to the public water system.

The EPA will need to access private property, with owners permission, before the agency gets approval from the local municipal utility district to switch over water supplies.

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Josiam said the EPA is looking to complete the project while they have the government funding available, as they may need to receive more funding to resume if the process takes too long.

This project is being funded through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects, Josiam said. We are getting funding through that now, so this is a good time for everybody to sign up because once the fund runs out, it runs out.

The project will proceed once the EPA receives local approval, which the agency hopes to get by fall 2023. The EPA will plug the abandoned wells of properties that have been connected to the public water line. The public water source that residents and businesses will connect to has been established since 2008.

Although some wells have been tested and currently have clean water, Josiam stressed that the longer the private wells within the superfund site are used, the more likely they are to become contaminated over time.

"Eventually, they'll be pulling the contamination towards their well so that is what we would like (residents) to understand," Josiam said.
WASHINGTON  As a reporter asked Sen. John Fetterman about his renewed call to expel Sen. Bob Menendez, Menendez got off the elevator near Senate chambers and walked by.

Ask him, Why are you still here? Fetterman said to reporters  and to Menendez  as he passed.

The exchange came the same day Menendez defended himself in a speech on the Senate floor after additional corruption charges were filed against him last week and as Congress convenes for its first week this year.

Menendez, in a 20-minute speech Tuesday morning in a mostly empty Senate chamber, argued the government is conspiring against him to sway public opinion and a potential jury pool and implored colleagues to reserve judgement. He said the alleged favorable actions hes accused of making in exchange for bribes amount to the innocuous everyday work of a senator.

Why did the government not proceed with all of these accusations from the beginning? Menendez said. The answer is clear to me. By filing three indictments ... it allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press and seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion.

It was the first time the New Jersey Democrat, who has maintained his innocence, has addressed the charges against him on the Senate floor since he was charged. The initial indictment in September alleged Menendez acted as a foreign agent for Egypt in exchange for bribes.

Last week prosecutors filed additional charges accusing Menendez of providing favorable statements for Qatar to help a New Jersey real estate developer as part of an ongoing bribery scheme.

Menendez was forced to step down from his powerful post leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after he was first charged. Prosecutors said the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car over the past five years from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for a variety of corrupt acts.

Menendez has vehemently defended himself and on Tuesday argued advocating for businesses to come to the state fell under his duties as a senator. While he acknowledged hed made positive statements about Qatar and Egypt, he highlighted instances when hed also publicly criticized those countries

He told reporters he has not decided whether to seek reelection, noting he didnt announce until March the last time he ran.

Fetterman has been Menendez loudest critic and the lone voice among Senate Democrats advocating for his expulsion. The two men were together for a Democratic luncheon ahead of their hallway collision in which Fetterman compared the situation to the House expulsion of Republican Rep. George Santos, whose ouster followed an indictment for fraud, theft and money laundering charges.

How can we chuck Santos, but keep a sleazeball like him around? Fetterman said of Menendez.

And Fetterman dared Menedez to run for reelection. I dare him to... I think hes probably polling at about 4 percent. Menendez had support from just 6 % of New Jersey likely voters in a recent poll, trailing U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy who have both announced theyll seek the seat.

Asked whether hes pressed Democratic leadership to draft a resolution, Fetterman said Democrats needed to show an interest in such a move. Thats really up to them to just make the votes.

The Pennsylvania Democrat introduced a resolution in November calling for sanctions against Senate members indicted on certain federal charges. The proposal, which has not advanced, would have a direct impact on Menendez.

In his Tuesday speech Menendez said the work the government is calling criminal falls under the day-to-day business of being a senator.

Sen. Bob Menendez accused of accepting gold bars, cash to introduce Qatari royal family member to NJ businessman Sen. Bob Menendez accepted cash and gold bars in exchange for seeking to induce the Qatari Investment Co. to invest with Daibes, according to a new indictment.

It opens a dangerous door for the Justice Department to take the normal engagement of members of Congress with a foreign government and to transform those engagements into a charge of being a foreign agent, Menendez said.

Fetterman scoffed at the description. I wish he would come up with an explanation of why you have gold bars in your mattress and gigantic wads of cash hanging around.

Menendez referenced the cash and gold bars in his address and said he would provide at trial a full explanation of what is the truth about those issues.

He declined to tell reporters what that explanation was. Well go through that in trial. I dont think I should litigate my case in the press unlike what the government is doing.
Police used a Taser on a Davenport man suspected of fleeing a traffic stop in a stolen vehicle then trying to walk away from officers after he was stopped.

A Davenport police officer used the Taser on Eugene D. Hoefer, 36, late Sunday or early Monday after the stolen Jeep SUV was disabled by a stop stick on the west side of the city and surrounded by police vehicles, Scott County court records state.

Authorities allege Hoefer left the vehicle and did not comply with the commands of law enforcement on scene, court records state. Instead, he tried to walk away while screaming.

The officer then used the Taser and law enforcement arrested Hoefer, records state.

The chase

The incident began around 11:35 p.m. Sunday when Davenport officers identified the Jeep as stolen and attempted the stop. The driver, allegedly Hoefer, started fleeing.

The Davenport officers last saw the Jeep near Harrison and 14th streets, records state. A responding Iowa State Patrol trooper went to that area and attempted a stop after Davenport police again saw the SUV.

The Jeeps driver again did not stop and the trooper pursued it, records state.

Davenport officers used the stop stick at Schmidt and Rockingham roads, but the driver of the Jeep continued to try to get away.

The Jeep was going east on Rockingham at about 70 mph until the tires deflated, records state. The vehicle then slowed.

The Jeep stopped behind an apartment complex and police blocked it in. The encounter that ended in Hoefers arrest then occurred.

After the arrest

Authorities contend in court records that Hoefer smelled of alcohol, had poor balance and slurred speech. He also had bloodshot, watery eyes.

After police read Hoefer his Miranda rights, Hoefer denied drinking alcohol and pretended to lose consciousness to avoid further questioning, court records state.

Staff from MEDIC EMS examined Hoefer, then authorities took him to the Scott County Jail.

At the jail. Hoefer would not complete sobriety testing or give a sample and was otherwise uncooperative before jail staff put him in a cell, court records state.

Custody and court

Hoefer remained in custody Tuesday, held on a $6,000 cash-only bond, according to the jail website.

He faces multiple charges:

second-degree theft

felony eluding

misdemeanor eluding

operating under the influence, second offense

driving while license denied or revoked

disorderly conduct

interference with official acts

Hoefers first appearance was on Monday. The courts scheduled his next appearance for Jan. 18.
DES MOINES  Gradual reductions in the states income tax would be accelerated  landing at a 3.5% rate for most Iowa workers next year  under a legislative proposal unveiled Tuesday by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The proposal falls short of Reynolds previously stated call to completely eliminate the state income tax by the end of her term, which ends in 2026.

Currently, as a result of multiple tax cut bills passed starting in 2018, state income tax brackets and rates are being reduced until most taxpayers would pay 3.9% by 2026. Reynolds proposal would expedite that transition.

Most working Iowans would pay a 3.65% state income tax on their 2024 wages  the legislation applies the rate retroactively  and then a 3.5% rate in 2025 under the Republican governors proposal.

The proposal would require approval by the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature; Iowa House and Senate Republicans may propose their own income tax reductions this legislative session, which began Monday.

The proposal would reduce Iowans state income taxes, and thus limit future state revenue growth, by a projected $3.8 billion over the first five years.

Republicans say the state can afford more tax reductions because of its finances: a $2.1 billion state general fund budget surplus projected to grow to $3.1 billion in the next fiscal year, full emergency accounts and another $3.7 billion in the states Taxpayer Relief Fund.

Let me be absolutely clear: The surplus does not mean that we arent spending enough; it means were still taking too much of Iowans hard-earned money, Reynolds said Tuesday night during her annual Condition of the State address to a joint session of the Iowa Legislature.

The governors tax cut proposal would mean a tax savings of 26.3% for an Iowa family with two children making $79,000  roughly the median Iowa salaries for a welder and certified nursing assistant, according to the governors staff. A single mother of two making $47,000 would see a savings of 42%, Reynolds said during her address, according to the prepared remarks.

So lets not hesitate. Lets stick to the approach we established in 2018 and allow Iowans to keep more of their money, Reynolds said.

Democratic legislative leaders said they want to see tax legislation that would benefit more than just the states highest wage-earners. Reynolds office said her proposal would do exactly that.

Weve heard this before. And we have yet to see this play out, said Iowa Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, after Reynolds address. I mean, we have heard the trickle-down theory given to us too many times, and we have yet to see the drip hit those who most need it.

Experts with Common Good Iowa, a liberal-leaning tax and policy analysis firm, have criticized the recent reductions in state income taxes. The group labeled statehouse Republicans 2022 round of tax cuts, a recipe for disaster, a prediction that Reynolds quoted and disputed in her address.

Common Good Iowa did not back off its criticism of the previous or proposed state income tax reductions.

While Gov. Reynolds is backing off her promise to push for elimination of the income tax, her plan for deeper cuts than those already scheduled are a mistake, Common Good Iowa Executive Director Anne Discher said in a statement. Common Good Iowa was right two years ago and still has math on its side. A tax-cut agenda benefiting primarily the wealthy and gutting future revenues for critical services remains a recipe for disaster, as we stated in January 2022.

Republican legislative leaders said they were glad to hear Reynolds proposal to further reduce state income taxes, even if it did not yet include a path to eliminating the tax.

Ive said for years, the goal is to get to zero in the state of Iowa. Whether we get there in Year 1 or Year 10, we dont know. But taking another step forward is certainly progress that we appreciate, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, a Republican from Grimes. We want to go as low as we can. We want to do it responsibly, though. Thats where its just a math problem.

Governors budget proposal

Reynolds state budget proposal recommends spending $8.9 billion in the state general fund budget year that begins July 1. That would be a 4.7% increase of the $8.5 billion allocated in the current state budget year.

The governors budget proposal includes a 2.5% increase for general K-12 public school funding. The budget would increase overall public education spending by 5.55%, including proposed increases to teacher salaries and other education funding measures, according to the governors staff.

Under the governors proposal, even with the proposed acceleration of state income tax cuts, state revenue is projected to continue increasing in future state budget years.

The proposal also requires use of the Taxpayer Relief Fund in the 2026 state budget year.

According to the governors staff, 56% of her proposed budget  more than $5 billion  would go to public education, including 44% to preschool through 12th grade; 27 % would go to health and human services; and 9.5% would go to the justice and judicial systems
Starting this summer, Iowa will no longer participate in a federal summer meal program for children, ending three years of relief for low-income families when school is out of session.

Most local school districts will continue to offer their own, separate summer meal programs to serve families, though these don't provide the same meal flexibility as the federal EBT program.

The federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children program (Summer EBT) allowed free or reduced-price school meal-qualifying families to purchase $40 worth of food, per child, each month school is out via an EBT card. The funding goes to families via the EBT program.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says the state instead plans to expand and improve existing childhood nutrition programs, per the announcement on Dec. 22, 2023.

Last school year, Davenport schools alone had 10,913 students qualify for Summer EBT  also offering a separate summer meal site program.

Davenport hosted 20 summer meal sites in the summer of 2023, scattered throughout the community.

These meal sites provide free meals to children 18 years and younger, said Sarah Ott, Davenport schools spokeswoman. The district plans to continue hosting summer meal sites next year.

The state generally handles administrative work for Summer EBT, whereas school districts serve as a "connection for families and the state to help verify eligibility and connect families to the right resources for any (Summer EBT) issues," said Celeste Miller, Bettendorf schools' spokeswoman.

"Eligibility to participate in (Summer EBT) is based on their Free and Reduced status at the end of May, 2023," she said in an email to the Quad-City Times. "At the end of May 2023, we had 1,641 students (37.4% of our student population) with either free or reduced eligibility status."

Still, like Davenport, the school district plans to continue offering free meals  through the USDA's Summer Food Service Program  this upcoming summer. A location has not yet been determined.

Bettendorf partners with Pleasant Valley schools for its summer meal program, as the latter does not meet the criteria for its own, in-house program.

Still, district spokeswoman Heather Larson said Pleasant Valley had 379 students who participated in the 2023 Summer EBT program.

North Scott appears to be the only Scott County school district seeing virtually no student body impact with Iowas discontinuation of Summer EBT.

Like Pleasant Valley, North Scott also does not have enough students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals to have an in-house summer meal program.

"We only participated during the summer of 2020 and 2021, when all families were allowed free meals through the emergency feeding program due to COVID-19," said Katie Hoyt, the spokeswoman for North Scott schools.

State officials criticized the Summer EBT for lacking a strong nutrition focus in the Dec. 22, 2023, announcement, adding it would also cost Iowa $2.2 million due to administrative cost requirements.

In her explanation of the decision, Reynolds linked Summer EBT to another  temporary  federal food relief program, Pandemic EBT (P-EBT).

Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and dont provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families. An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic, Reynolds said in the announcement.

She continued by saying Iowas cabinet-level partners that administer these programs  the state's Departments of Health and Human Services and Education  have, well-established programs in place that leverage community and school-based partnerships who understand the needs of the families they serve.

Community schools work to boost student performance by meeting their non-academic needs Community schools work to boost student performance by meeting their non-academic needs Services available to students are as varied as their needs
The Iowa Secretary of State issued a technical infraction to the Recount Board in Pleasant Valley's hotly contested Director District 6 school board race.

"Pursuant to Iowa Code Sec. 39A.6, we are issuing the Recount Board a Technical Infraction for failing to follow Iowa's recount laws," Iowa SOS legal counsel Eric Gookin wrote in a letter to Cyndi Diercks on Friday, Jan. 5. Diercks provided the letter to the Quad-City Times.

The state typically issues a subsequent fine  not to exceed $10,000  following notice of these infractions via the appropriate county commissioner, though the Scott County Auditor's Office is not subject to any repercussions relating to the infraction.

"The law details the duties of the auditor in the recount process, which is very limited to maintaining custody and security of the ballots," Scott County Auditor Kerri Tompkins wrote in an email to the Quad-City Times on Wednesday. "In addition, the Iowa Secretary of States Office advises auditors to abstain from interfering as this would be contrary to the law."

Her office is working with Iowa SOS regarding, "potential policy reform for the future," Tompkins added.

Despite being a member of the Recount Board, Diercks said she is not included in the infraction, having provided the state with supporting evidence.

"I'm the one that gave them the information, I'm the one that sent over all the emails, all the evidence," she said in a phone call to Quad-City Times reporters on Wednesday. "It's (technical infraction) for the other two board members."

The Iowa SOS' letter does not explicitly state her exclusion from the infraction. Diercks clarified that it was communicated to her during a conversation with Gookin.

Recount board members Mark Smith and Arun Pillutla did not return requests for comment.

Jameson Smith wins Pleasant Valley district seat

Dierks, a grandparent of a district student and local business owner, was one of three delegates on the Recount Board, appointed by Director District 6 candidate Jameson Smith. Dr. Arun Pillutla  a former district parent and St. Ambrose University professor  served as incumbent challenger Tracey Rivera's recount delegate.

The initial canvass for the Nov. 7 regular city/school elections reported a tally of 256 to 250  alongside 19 undervotes  for Pleasant Valley's Director District 6 race, with Smith taking the narrow victory.

Tracey Rivera files for recount

Due to these slim margins, Rivera, who campaigned as a write-in candidate, filed for a recount on Friday, Nov. 17.

The recount took place Nov. 27 and Nov. 28. Scott County officials appointed Mark Smith, a retired judge, to serve as the final Recount Board member.

According to Assistant Scott County Attorney Kristina Lyon, two of the three appointed recount delegates signed off on a 255-255 tie between the two following the recount, and the final report was filed on Friday, Dec. 1.

Following Iowa law, Scott County Supervisors would then accept the recount report and draw names to break the tie, according to Lyon.

However, Diercks wanted to dispute some of the absentee ballot tallies  particularly upon comparing her notes from the recount meeting on Monday, Nov. 27, to the first official canvass  she said in a letter attached to the final recount report. Since the state's recount deadline wasnt until Monday, Dec. 4, Diercks said she wanted to resolve these disputes with Lyon and the other two recount delegates before filing a final report  though this did not happen.

"I wanted us to fulfill our obligation to the taxpayers of Scott County," she said in a phone call to reporters on Wednesday. "That's what I wanted."

Scott County Board rejects recount

As previously reported, the Scott County Board of Supervisors voted to reject Pleasant Valley's Director District 6 recount  despite recommendations from county attorneys  citing the inclusion of ballots cast (for both candidates) that may have been filled out incorrectly in the recount totals.

This decision meant that Pleasant Valley's Director District 6 results will reflect Scott Countys initial canvassed results, subject to further litigation.

Rivera has since petitioned for writ of mandamus against Scott County Supervisors, asking for the county court to require supervisors certify the recount results. Scott County Supervisors have yet to respond in court.

State: Recount board included ballots not supported by law

According to Iowa Secretary of State findings, the Recount Board's decision to count write-in ballots that did not include a completed voting target (or, "oval") is not supported under Iowa law.

"We received two reports from people who were present during the Recount Board's deliberations, including Ms. Cyndi Diercks who served as a member of the Recount Board," the Jan. 5 letter said. "Inclusion of the invalid votes occurred despite advice from the county attorney, and guidance from this office's documented procedures."

One judge accuses other of objecting only when results became clear

In an email between Scott County Auditor Kerri Tompkins and Recount Board members, Mark Smith justifies the counting of these tallies as follows:

"We counted by hand over 20 boxes of ballots. Some of the write-in votes did not have the ovals filled in but had (Rivera's) name clearly written on the line. Some of the ballots for (Smith) had an X in the oval instead of being filled in," he wrote on Wednesday, Nov. 29. "All of the above were counted without objection from Ms. Diercks until the last write-in ballot for (Rivera) was reviewed, at which time Ms. Diercks objected, saying the oval was not filled in by the hand written name of (Rivera). It seems that she objected to the last ballot because she knew it was going to be a tie."

Mark Smith continues by saying he and Pillutla felt it was unfair to count the other ballots  which were accepted under the same circumstances  and not the final ballot in question.

"Ms. Diercks signed the certification as did I and Arun," he wrote. "The guidelines do contain a provision that if there is an error on the ballot, but the intent of the voter is clear, we should not reject the ballot. It seems to be in conflict with the provision cited by Ms. Diercks."

However, the Iowa SOS' justification for the infraction says otherwise:

"All relevant materials, including: Iowa Code Sec. 49.99, SOS recount procedure documents and the advice from the county attorney, provided clear instruction that write-in votes that did not have the corresponding voting target completed are not valid to be counted," says the Jan. 5 letter.

Additionally, the letter says Iowa SOS will use this incident as an "example in future training sessions provided for election officials."

Feeling caucus confusion? Your guide to how Iowa works What is a caucus? How are caucuses different from primaries? Are both the Republicans and Democrats holding caucuses in Iowa this year? Whats at stake? How will the Republican caucuses work in 2024? How will the Democratic caucuses work in 2024?
A storm system similar to the one that struck the Quad-Cities region Monday into Tuesday is expected move into the area during the overnight hours Thursday into Friday, bringing with it several inches of snow and much colder temperatures.

Meteorologist Tom Philip of the National Weather Service, Davenport, said the track of the storm expected Friday still was being determined. It could bring 1-2 inches of snow late Thursday and then another 2-4 inches on Friday.

Behind that system is much colder air. Fridays high is expected to reach the upper 20s, but the overnight low into Saturday is expected to drop to 11 degrees.

Saturdays high will be in the middle teens with an overnight low of minus-6 degrees. Sundays high is expected to be 5 degrees with an overnight low into Monday of minus-12 degrees.

The high temperature for Martin Luther King Jr. Day is expected to top out at about zero, with an overnight low of into Tuesday of minus-12.

The high Tuesday is expected to reach 5 degrees under sunny skies.

Philip said the snowpack would add to the lower temperatures.

The storm that hit the Quad-City area Monday into Tuesday gave most of the state a good dumping of heavy, wet snow, which in time will help alleviate Iowas statewide drought conditions, he added. It also will help alleviate any erosion.

Areas around Sioux Falls, South Dakota, reported 8 to 12 inches, as did areas around Sioux City. The Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area, and areas north and east, received anywhere from 9 to 15 inches, Philip said.

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Philip said the National Weather Service, Davenport, recorded 10.5 inches of snow at the Davenport Municipal Airport, and 9 inches of snow at the Quad Cities International Airport, Moline.

Philip said the water content of the snow that fell at the Davenport Municipal Airport totaled about .75 of an inch of water equivalent. Other areas with higher snow amounts got about 1  inches of water content.

Road conditions were hazardous Tuesday night with severe conditions reported by the departments of transportation of both Iowa and Illinois.

Wednesdays forecast calls for a smaller system to move over the area after 5 p.m., Philip said. The system will bring a chance of snow, but expected accumulations range from a dusting to less than half an inch.

The high Wednesday is expected to reach into the upper 20s, with an overnight low into Thursday in the upper teens.
Elizabeth Conley is a senior staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at elizabeth.conley@houstonchronicle.com.

With over 20 years of experience, Elizabeth has been a Gerald Loeb finalist and recognized for her work by the National Press Photographers Association, Texas APME, Editor and Publisher Magazine and Michigan Press Photographers Association. She is was an International Womens Media Foundation fellow (Tanzania, 2017), an International Journalism for Environmental Reporting fellow (North Dakota, 2016), a Kalish Photo Editing fellow (Ball State, 2010) and a Kiplinger Fellowship for Public Affairs at Ohio State University (Columbus, 2009).

Elizabeth moved to Houston from Detroit after working over a decade at The Detroit News, specializing in long-term multimedia projects and sports photography. Having been a professional photojournalist for over 20 years, she still feels she has the best job in the world every time someone lets her share their story.

Check out more of her photos by following her on Instagram and Twitter.
With the Iowa caucuses on Monday, here are some excerpts from our Quad-City Times Editorial Board meetings with candidates. As explained in Sunday's editorial, two of the top three polling candidates  Donald Trump and Nikki Haley  would not meet with the board despite many invitations starting in October. Chris Christie said he wasn't campaigning in Iowa and therefore would not meet with the board.

Again, we are grateful for candidates Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson for coming to the Quad-City Times and answering our questions. I believe it shows a respect for what local newspapers mean to their communities.

One of the questions we asked all candidates had to do with how they would unite the country. The editorial board has pushed for politicians to find common ground and represent the middle rather than the fringes. Toward that end, below is the question we asked and the candidates' verbatim responses.

Political polarization in the United States continues to grow. In 2022, 72% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats say people in the opposing party are more dishonest than other Americans. As president how would you close this gap?

Trump: No answer.

Ron DeSantis:

Ive taken strong positions, I get out in front, I fight, I win, I do all of that, but my politics is not the defining feature of me. Its my faith in God, my family, my love of country, and my political philosophy is something I bring to the table, but it doesnt define me.

"And I think whats happened is in the last decade or two your partisan allegiances is the defining way to divvy people up. I dont think that thats healthy. Ill be a strong defender of conservative principles, but at the same time you could have someone who disagrees with you 80% of the time, but if they agree with you 20, do you want to get stuff done on the 20 or not? Its hard to do that if people just hate each other because they disagree on the 80. In Florida I took a lot of strong positions not everyone liked.  Then there were a lot of other things we did, we did monumental conservation with the everglades and replenishment of our waterways. And I get unanimous support for that. We did big teacher pay increases; I got unanimous support for that.

I do think social media has a lot of role to do, people get in their silos and then I think your industry, not selling you guys (short), but I mean the national corporate press, they feed off division. They want to try to be to be able to stoke division amongst different factions. So thats part of how it goes. Thats just what our society is, thats what its become, but my view is we can fight on the issues that we disagree on, but if there are issues we agree on I like to make progress.

Haley: No answer

Vivek Ramaswamy:

"So, one of the things about me in this campaign, and Ive been intentional about this; I rarely talk about Republicans versus Democrats. I rarely talk about railing about Biden specifically even though thats what traditional Republican talking points call for.

"There are a number of reasons for that. One of them is that I dont think the dividing line in this country is what the media and establishments in both parties sell us. I dont think its between Black and white. I dont even think its between Republican and Democrat. I think it is between those of us in this country who love the United States of America and our founding ideals. The one I was just talking about, free speech, meritocracy, the rule of law, self governance over aristocracy. The idea that we the people created a government accountable to us, rather than the other way around. Thats one side of the national divide. And then on the other side of the national divide are those, and they exist in this country, who wish to apologize for the existence of this nation, who wish to apologize for those ideals, who say we were founded in 1619 not 1776. That the stain of our imperfections in the past still make our ideals hypocritical even today.

"Thats the divide in this country. But heres the good news, I dont think thats a 50-50 divide. I think its easily an 80-20 divide in our favor, in the direction of the pro-American movement. And even better news is half the 20 are people younger than me who never learned those ideals in the first place. Ive been to more college campuses than any Republican candidate probably in history, including in this state, and I can tell you, its not that young people are against the founding ideals, its that theyre lost and dont know what to believe.

"So I think we can bring half that 20 along with us, which means we can deliver a Reagan 1980s style landslide election if we bring that next generation along with us. That will call the bluff on national division."

Asa Hutchinson:

"By treating the opposing point of view with respect. We can disagree, but you'll see as governor, as a member of Congress, I worked on bipartisan legislation. Believe it or not, whenever the McCain-Feingold bill was presented in Congress, I was the leader of a bipartisan group of freshmen looking for a bipartisan solution to campaign finance reform. ... You could see that track record, trying to work together. In Arkansas, you can talk to any Democrat, and sometimes they supported me and sometimes they didn't, but my door was open to them just like it was any Democrat. And they were always treated with respect and that is so critically important.

"Whenever you look at our country, we have had times of division throughout history. In my lifetime it's been the Vietnam War, it's been the Civil Rights Era, its been violence on campus. We've been divided before, but the difference is we've always had leaders that tried to overcome the divide. And regretfully today, we have leaders that push the divide. And it's not just leaders in politics, but it's leaders in broadcast media that push a divide. And that makes it more difficult and more challenging, but you start with respect for the other point of view. You start with listening and trying to find common ground and I have a history of doing that."

Editor's Note: The Quad-City Times did not request a meeting with candidate Ryan Binkley.
The Virginia Department of Corrections on Tuesday evening said staff members at the River North Correctional Center in Independence on Sunday arrested two women after a vehicle search on the premises yielded a handgun and drugs.

Kyle Gibson, a spokesperson for VADOC, said staff acted on intelligence that a suspect would attempt to bring contraband to an inmate inside the prison. On Sunday, a VADOC K-9 unit alerted on the visitor, Gibson said, which led to the vehicle search.

The search produced a 9mm handgun with a loaded magazine, suspected methamphetamine, kratom, buprenorphine and THC edibles in addition to several unknown white substances and powders. Authorities also found syringes and a scale inside the vehicle.

One of the female suspects faces seven charges, including possession of a concealed weapon by a convicted felon and attempting to deliver drugs into a corrections facility, Gibson said.

The other suspect faces three charges, including possession of a firearm while in possession of a Schedule I or II drug.

Both suspects were transported and booked at the New River Valley Regional Jail.

The incident remains under investigation.

From the Archives: Richmond tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels Tunnels
Henrico County police are investigating a Tuesday night shooting near the intersection of Hanover Road and Hart Street in Highland Springs.

Police said officers responded to the area at around 8:57 p.m. for reports of a shooting. When they arrived at the scene, officers located a single-vehicle crash that was related to the shooting.

Two people believed to be involved in the shooting were detained at the scene, police said.

Police did not say whether any injuries were reported as a result of the shooting or the crash.

The incident remains under investigation.

50 photos from the RTD Archives
The storm system that blew through Virginia on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning closed or delays schools by several hours, caused numerous power outages and resulted in a series of water rescues across the state.

Schools in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties and Petersburg opened on a two-hour delay Wednesday morning. Schools in Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie County and Hopewell also were delayed, while schools in Amelia, Caroline, Charles City, Goochland and Louisa counties were closed for all of Wednesday.

Dominion Energy reported over 1,300 power outages across Richmond, Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, down from 3,200 earlier that morning. The company said crews were working to restore outages caused by Tuesday nights strong winds.

Jeremy Slayton, a Dominion spokesperson, said the company had made significant progress restoring power overnight, with a majority of the approximately 167,000 impacted Virginia customers already served as of 7 a.m.

This was a severe storm, Slayton said. Some areas saw more than 3 inches of rain and 75 mph winds, causing significant damage to large trees, branches and power lines.

Slayton said a majority of customers still without power would have their service restored by 11 p.m. Wednesday. In areas with the most significant damage, Slayton said, restoration efforts could extend into Thursday.

We appreciate our customers patience as our crews work in difficult conditions. In some areas, large fallen trees and tough road conditions make it challenging to quickly access power lines that need repair, he said.

Standing water in roadways on Wednesday morning had forced the closures of multiple roads in Chesterfield and Hanover.

Virginia State Police spokesperson Jessica Shehan said rescue personnel had made multiple water rescues in the 1300 block of North Lodore Road in Amelia County at around 7:05 a.m. Wednesday. Two vehicles were submerged in floodwater, trapping the occupants.

The driver of one of the vehicles was transported via a medical flight to a hospital with injuries that were considered serious but not life-threatening, police said.

In Albemarle County, two people were rescued after being swept by flood waters from their vehicle, according to the Albemarle Department of Fire Rescue.

Heavy flooding forced the pair onto the roof of the vehicle before pulling them into the water at Watts Passage near Preddy Creek, authorities said. The individuals were able to hold onto branches until a water rescue team reached them and brought them to safety.

Authorities said another vehicle was trapped in a flooded portion of Durrett Ridge Road. The driver was able to exit the vehicle and leave the scene.

Almost half of all flood-related deaths happen in vehicles, an Albemarle Fire Rescue spokesperson wrote in a Facebook post. Water levels are high throughout the area and will continue to rise even after the rain ends. Take caution.

From the Archives: Broad Street Station
LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.  Five years ago, Alexis Llanos and his family fled Venezuela for Colombia, escaping death threats and political persecution. The family then planned to make the dangerous and deadly journey north, through the Darien jungle leading through Panama, with hopes of eventually crossing illegally into the United States.

Their plans changed when a friend mentioned a new migration program from the U.S. government that would allow them to stay put while they pleaded for a chance to come legally. It worked. After a four-month process that included medical exams and interviews with the United Nations and the U.S., Llanos, his partner and their 7-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy arrived in Florida.

It was a unique opportunity, a miracle that God prepared for me, Llanos, 27, said from his new home. I feel blessed, grateful.  I did not want to take the risk. I would not have forgiven myself if something had happened to them because of me, crossing the jungle.

The Llanos family is among the first migrants allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration's new safe mobility offices, set up in Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador beginning in the fall. The program is designed to streamline the U.S. refugee process so migrants don't give up and pay smugglers to make the journey north, further straining the U.S.-Mexico border, which has seen record-high numbers of crossings.

So far, 3,000 refugees have arrived in the U.S., and 9,000 have been approved. But it's a small number compared with what's happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, where there were more than 10,000 arrests for illegal crossing per day over several days in December alone. In cities including Chicago, New York and Denver, migrants who have no access to work permits sleep in police station foyers and in airports.

These are the scenes that dominate the early phase of the 2024 presidential campaign, with Republicans excoriating President Joe Biden and considering whether to impeach his Homeland Security secretary.

Republicans are also pushing the Democratic president to back more restrictive policies that would dramatically reduce asylum protections, among other things, and they believe they have leverage if he wants to see another infusion of tens of billions in aid to Ukraine.

The Biden administration has worked to crack down on illegal crossings but has also sought to broaden legal pathways through efforts like the safe mobility initiative, to provide alternatives for migrants in the hope they don't journey north.

Those who do arrive on foot to the U.S.-Mexico border and ask for asylum get a court date and must prove they are eligible to stay. The system is badly backlogged, so they often end up waiting years for a court date while they sit in limbo in the U.S. without authorization to work.

With the safe mobility initiative, they're arriving as refugees who have already met the requirements and will be legally allowed to live and work in the U.S. The process takes only months, while more traditional refugee screening is a yearslong effort. Immigrant advocates laud the new pathways but don't think they replace asylum.

It is absolutely critical that these pathways now exist, said Hannah Flamm, policy counsel at the International Refugee Assistance Project. But, no enhancement of access to refugee resettlement can ever come at the expense of the rights of asylum seekers at the border.

To implement its plan, the Biden administration is working with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees and with the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration. To apply, migrants answer questions online to screen for eligibility, and then the U.N. agencies refer cases to the U.S., which makes the final decision. If they're denied, the government could evaluate them for different, more temporary programs.

This process facilitates and reduces time for refugees, said Luiz Fernando Godinho Santos, a UNHCR spokesman for the Americas.

Jefferson Castro, who first told Llanos about the program, also applied to come to the U.S. from Colombia, after arriving from Venezuela in 2018, when he said he was threatened by police. In September, he traveled nine hours by bus with his wife and their two children, ages 8 and 4, from Medellin to Bogota, where U.S. officials interviewed them, examined them medically and provided U.S. cultural immersion courses.

He knew at least three other families had been approved and assumed he would be, too. So he took his children out of school and sold his refrigerator, beds and motorcycle, which he used to work as a delivery person. But they heard nothing for weeks.

I was left without a job, without money, without answers, Castro, 28, said from Medellin.

In late December, he finally received good news. They have one hurdle left: His daughter, born in Colombia, needs a passport. But he lacks the $100 to cover the costs.

Immigrant advocates say the safe mobility initiative needs work  it can be confusing, isnt advertised well so enough migrants arent aware of it, and it isnt open to enough people. For example, in Colombia, only Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans present in Colombia before or on June 11 are eligible right now.

Still, they say, its a start. And when families do make it, they are usually handed off to a non-governmental organization that helps resettle them into the U.S.
Jeff E. Schapiro Politics Columnist Follow Jeff E. Schapiro 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

Del. Mike Jones, D-Richmond, checks a lot of boxes.

First, hes a newcomer to the legislature  among 53 novice delegates and senators. As a member of City Council in Richmond  Virginias capital  Jones had an up-close view of state government. And not just because City Hall stands directly across Broad Street from Capitol Square. Jones knows firsthand the states impact on the citys economy, its budget and its freedom  or lack thereof  in trying to solve problems.

Also, Jones, who is Black, is among a record 41 nonwhites in the 140-member General Assembly, which over its 400-year history has largely been a white guys club. People of color werent elected to the legislature  and didnt have the vote  until after the Civil War to end Black slavery. And then public office and the polls were restricted to men. Within 40 years of the Souths surrender at Appomattox in 1865, Black elective officials and voters were largely run off by racist Jim Crow laws.

The barrier of race wouldnt fall again until 1967, when Fergie Reid, a Black surgeon from the Richmond suburb of Henrico County, was elected to the House of Delegates.

It looks like the tapestry of this commonwealth, Jones, a minister, said of the 2024 General Assembly, which opened Wednesday.

Unprecedented turnover in the House and Virginia Senate  attributed to 2021 redistricting that triggered a flood of retirements and election losses, some genuine shockers  is dramatically remaking Virginias legislature.

The new General Assembly reflects what Old Virginny  as it was a called in the former state song, discarded because of racially tinged lyrics  has become: a suburban dynamo with a service-dominated economy and where 42% of its residents are Black, Hispanic or Asian and approaching 15% are foreign-born.

More than 1 in 3 lawmakers are women  also a record, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, an online clearinghouse for political data. That includes 14 of 40 senators and 34 of 100 delegates, though the number of women in the House is down slightly from a year ago.

Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight  a former delegate who, at 33 in 2017, was the youngest Republican woman elected to the House and who recently dropped her surname, Brewer, for her husbands  said that, as a younger female and a new mother, she has a unique perspective in regard to women and families.

Women, who got the right to vote in 1920 with ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution  a provision Virginia did not back until 1952, werent elected to the General Assembly until 1923. Two women, both teachers, won House seats that year  Democrats Sarah Lee Fain of Norfolk and Helen Timmons Anderson of Buchanan County. A woman wouldnt be elected to the state Senate until 1979  pharmacist Eva Scott, a Republican from Amelia County.

Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, first elected in 2011, said more women legislators will make for a more productive legislature. An education consultant who will lead the Senate committee that oversees social services, Favola cited findings by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University that women are stronger advocates for sunshine in government and more attentive of those often shut out of politics and policy-making.

The evidence shows that women are far more interested in getting things done as to looking for the limelight, said Favola.

All this diversity is most evident within the General Assemblys slender Democratic majority.

Don Scott of Portsmouth, the speaker of the House, is Black. Thats a first. The House majority leader is a Black woman, Charniele Herring of Alexandria. Kathy Tran of Fairfax County, the chair of the House Democratic caucus, is an Asian woman. The caucus whips and rules experts include a Hispanic and a Jewish person.

In the Senate, the majority leader, Scott Surovell of Fairfax County, is Jewish. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, the president pro tempore  who presides over the Senate when the lieutenant governor is away  is a Black woman. Shes also head of the budget committee. Its never been led before by a Black woman. A Black woman, Mamie Locke of Hampton, is head of the Senate Democratic caucus.

The General Assemblys Republican leadership is dominated by white men. Todd Gilbert of Shenandoah County, the immediate past speaker, heads the House GOP minority. His deputy is Terry Kilgore of Scott County. In the Senate, Ryan McDougle of Hanover County is minority leader. The caucus chairman is Mark Obenshain of Rockingham County.

There is one Black Republican legislator  Del. A.C. Cordoza of Hampton. The top Black Republican in Virginia is Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2025 who could face for the nomination the first Hispanic elected statewide here, Attorney General Jason Miyares.

That there are more younger legislators, Brewer said, could have a greater impact than race and gender.

Brewer, a small business owner and one of four Republican women in the Senate, said a seat in the House or Senate was often a job, post-retirement  a capstone. She continued, But being here, being younger gives (the General Assembly) even more diversity.

Youth, however, often translates to unfamiliarity with the mysterious ways of Richmond. Departures  voluntary and involuntary  cost the General Assembly hundreds of years of experience. About half of the Houses members and more than a quarter of the Senates have four years of service or fewer. That means a long-overlooked repository of institutional knowledge  the lobbying corps  could have even greater influence.

But, first, lobbyists have to get to know these new members. Some lobbyists made a point of visiting newbies in their home districts before the session. Other lobbyists have prepared cheat sheets  some digital, others print  that include photos and bios of new members as well as personal tidbits and profiles of their districts.

As a former Republican delegate from Fairfax County, Dave Albo  now a lawyer-lobbyist  knows what these rookie lawmakers must be going through: You think you know everything but you dont know anything. This is like drinking from a fire hose.

Not for all of them, though.

Sen. Christie Craig, R-Chesapeake, was chief of staff to her predecessor, John Cosgrove, for 23 years. Having long worried about the nuts and bolts of legislating, Craig is trying to train herself to look at the big picture: Its going to be so hard to take off the chief-of-staff hat and be a senator.

Correction: The late Eva Scott, a Republican from Amelia County, was the first woman elected to the Virginia Senate in 1979. Earlier print and online versions of this column listed the year incorrectly.

7 bills to watch in the upcoming Virginia legislative session Raising minimum wage Mental health support Attempts to reverse Clean Car Act Gun laws Rights restoration Reproductive rights
Del. Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, took his place Wednesday at the dais as the first Black person to become speaker of the House of Delegates in the more than 400 years since the legislature began and the first enslaved African people arrived on Virginias shores.

"I know this is God's favor. I know this is God's grace," Scott said after taking the oath of office from S. Bernard Goodwyn, chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court.

The historic nature of my speakership is not lost on me, Scott added. I know I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me.

He listed several historic firsts of Black people elected to offices in Virginias government  including Doug Wilder, the nation's first elected Black governor  as well as the enslaved Black people who built the Capitol, which played host to its first General Assembly session in 1788.

With his voice cracking at times, Scott spoke of his gratitude to his family, who were present Wednesday to watch him make history.

He thanked his 88-year-old mother, Helen, for raising him and his five other siblings as a single mother  balancing her job with time spent in church to instill her Christian values and hard work ethic in her children.

He thanked his wife, Dr. Mellanda Yvonne Colson-Scott, and 15-year-old daughter Peyton for their sacrifices in time together and their support for him as he ran for office and has served as an elected official.

With his voice cracking again, he recalled how he first met Mellanda at what he called a low point in his life  not long after he had served time in prison and was getting his life back together.

Some of yall know my story, Scott said, referring to his rise after a conviction on federal drug charges in 1994 for which he served eight years in prison.

I had just come out of jail  real talk  and she looked at me and didnt see anything that the world sees, Scott said of how felons who have served their time are sometimes perceived. She looked at me and saw her aspiration" for "her husband, her friend, her confidant.

As he looked up to the chambers gallery, he spoke directly to his wife.

When I was at my lowest, you looked at me, and you saw me exactly where Im standing right now, he said. Thank you.

Scott's ascension marks a quick political rise for the lawyer who has served in the House since 2020. As to those in his personal life who supported him, he also thanked political colleagues with whom he's worked.

Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, said in his speech nominating Scott that the new speaker "understands the redemptive power of God."

Torian noted that four years ago delegates elected Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, as the first woman and Jewish person to serve as speaker of the House. Four years later, he said, the House is making history again.

"I pray that it is a proud moment for all of us as we nominate Delegate Don Scott for speaker of the House," Torian said.

Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, seconded Scott's nomination, calling him a professional and a friend who will be a "fair and strong speaker."

Democrats now hold slim margins in both chambers  51-49 in the House and 21-19 in the state Senate.

The day began with clerks swearing in a dramatically new legislature in which 35 of the 100 delegates and 18 of the 40 state senators are newly elected.

African Americans will hold key leadership posts in the House and Senate. Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria returns as House Majority Leader, a post she held from 2020 to 2022.

In the state Senate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, continues to preside over the chamber. Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, remains Senate president pro tempore, which means she presides over the chamber if the lieutenant governor is unavailable.

Lucas also is the new chair of the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, which will play a key role as lawmakers take up a two-year budget for July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026.

Scott's ascension continues a period of historic turnover in the speaker's chair. Since Speaker Bill Howell, R-Spotsylvania, held the post from 2003 to 2018, Virginia has seen three two-year stints, with Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, from 2018 to 2020, Filler-Corn from 2020 to 2022 and Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, from 2022 to 2024.

Scott told lawmakers that a speaker of the House can count and he realizes that the chambers could not be much more closely divided.

"If we want to get anything done we have to do it together," he said.

7 bills to watch in the upcoming Virginia legislative session Raising minimum wage Mental health support Attempts to reverse Clean Car Act Gun laws Rights restoration Reproductive rights
Changes are likely coming to the convoluted school funding formula in Virginia, one of only nine states that does not use a per-pupil formula.

An overhaul of the Byzantine school funding formula is backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and by legislators on both sides of the aisle.

Virginia has infused a record investment into our education system but the convoluted and outdated K-12 funding formula that was developed back in the 1980s makes it complicated to navigate and lacks transparency, said Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez.

On top of the formula, state mandates leave our school superintendents with very little autonomy to ensure dollars are truly working for the students. This is why the Governor invited school superintendents and school business officials to work together with the Department of Education to provide a plan for the K-12 funding formula that focuses on students and prioritizes resources by student needs so that every Virginia student can receive the quality education they deserve.

In the legislative session that begins Wednesday, a Republican and a Democrat lawmaker plan to introduce budget language that would put together a formal commission to study student funding formulas from other states, and design a Virginia student-based funding formula. If all proceeds as planned, the newly designed funding formula would be introduced as legislation the following year.

Our current funding formula, it's broken, said Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, a lawyer who served on the Chesterfield County School Board from 2011-19 and who plans to patron the budget language. If you just keep putting Band-Aids on the current system, you will never make it where the true needs of every child are met in Virginia.

Based on staffing

Virginia's current state funding formula is staffing-based instead of the straightforward and more common student-based formula. Critics of the formula say it does not adequately account for a school divisions size, its number of higher-need students or regional labor costs.

Every child is unique and different. Students with different disabilities have different needs. English language learners have different needs," Coyner said.

"We have students who come from different parts of the state that have different resources and they have different needs, she added. It's really time for us as a commonwealth to identify those needs and make changes.

A July study from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, a state watchdog agency, found that Virginias K-12 schools are underfunded  largely because of the formula, which lacks a clear rationale and does not reflect prevailing practices in school divisions.

JLARC put forth two recommendations for the funding formula: fully replace Virginias staff-based funding formula with a simpler student-based formula, or partially replace the Standards of Quality formula by using student-based calculations for special education and English learner funding.

Youngkin spoke with school division superintendents on Monday about developing a student-based funding formula at the Virginia Association of School Superintendents conference.

The session was not open to the media, but his comments went over well with division superintendents, who are looking for the state to take seriously the recommendations from the JLARC report, VASS President Kristy Somerville-Midgette said in an interview on Tuesday.

That is the one thing he did get some applause for this year," said Somerville-Midgette, the superintendent of Brunswick County Public Schools.

Somerville-Midgette said the superintendents also showed interest in the governors proposals for increasing mental health resources in schools, but the association is now focused on pushing the General Assembly for more funding in the two-year budget it will eventually adopt.

In a public hearing before legislators last week, she outlined funding priorities: raising teacher pay by 8% to meet the national average; completely removing the recession-era cap on funded school support positions; bolstering programs for schools with high concentrations of at-risk students; freeing more money in the Literary Fund for school modernization; and carrying out the recommendations in the JLARC report.

We recognize that this is his proposed budget, but this is not where it ends, Somerville-Midgette said.

Overhauling Virginias current school funding formula generally has bipartisan support. Coyners budget language that she plans to introduce will be co-patroned by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, the new head of the Senate Health and Education Committee.

Matthew Stanley, director of advocacy and outreach for Richmond Public Schools, said the type of funding formula JLARC recommended is more equitable for students.

We believe that it is much more equitable when it comes to the additional funding that is needed for economically disadvantaged students, for special education students and for English learner students, Stanley said.

The way that the state's formulas work, they're just super complicated and hard to understand... We believe that there's a much more intuitive and logical model of funding for public education.

Last month, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras criticized Youngkins proposed budget, which would put RPS at a $5 million reduction in this fiscal years budget and an almost-$21 million decrease in state funding for the next school year. Part of those losses are formula-driven, he said.

From the Archives: Scenes from Grace Street in the RTD archives
Its the moment nobody wants to think about, but state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, is asking her fellow legislators at the General Assembly to consider this: when the pain of a terminal illness is too much to bear.

It is a moment when, as shes heard from many in her district and beyond, some Virginians want the option of ending the suffering by ending their lives.

Its a difficult ethical and philosophical question, but I think when people hear more about what people go through, compassion will lead them to support this, Hashmi said.

What Ive heard from constituents is: I dont know what I would choose to do, but I would like to have the option, she said.

This year, with SB280, shes refined earlier and unsuccessful efforts she and former Del. Kaye Kory, D-Fairfax, filed.

One key point is that the patient, not a doctor, has to self-administer the medication that will end their own life.

That, Hashmi said, should address the dilemma that physicians face with the Hippocratic Oath command that they do no harm to patients and their mission to ease suffering.

Another key point is that the doctor, physicians assistant or nurse practitioner caring for the terminally ill patient has to certify that the person is terminally ill and is mentally competent to make the decision to end their life. A consulting doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner must also make those assessments.

Theres been concern that someone with depression might want to do this, but the bill addresses that, Hashmi said.

Her effort last year died in the Senate Education and Health Committee with four Democrats and five Republicans voting to kill it and five Democrats voting to keep it alive.

It could face similar challenges this year, especially from pro-life legislators.

Im against assisted suicide, House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said.

My heart goes out to people who find themselves in a situation where that seems like an alternative, but I think we as a society can do better for them, he said.

Korys 2021 effort died on a voice vote in the House Courts of Justice Committee.

Medically assisted death is legal in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

7 bills to watch in the upcoming Virginia legislative session Raising minimum wage Mental health support Attempts to reverse Clean Car Act Gun laws Rights restoration Reproductive rights
Tunisia to issue stamp on 60th anniversary of ties with China

Xinhua) 10:22, January 10, 2024

TUNIS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia will issue a postal stamp on Wednesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Tunisia, the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported on Tuesday.

The stamp will be available in all post offices across the 24 provinces of the country and on an official website dedicated exclusively to issuing the commemorative stamp.

Since China and Tunisia established diplomatic relations in January 1964, bilateral cooperation between the two countries has been developing and prospering.

The cooperation between the two countries has a long history, especially in the health sector. It dates back to 1973 when Beijing sent the first medical mission team to Tunisia.

Since then, over 1,000 Chinese doctors and specialists have been operating in Tunisia in general surgery, gynecology, obstetrics, radiology, pediatrics, orthopedics, acupuncture, cardiology, and ophthalmology.

In recent years, this strong and fruitful cooperation has been further supported by the exchange of experiences, expertise, and know-how between specialists of the two countries in medical services, health monitoring in some regions of Tunisia, and new medical technological advances.

Cooperation between Tunisia and China also extended to other sectors, including sports, youth, technology, and innovation.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Brian Coulter makes his first court appearance Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Houston. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer Brian Coulter speaks to his attorney during his first court appearance Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Houston. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The man accused of beating an 8-year-old boy to death and leaving his body to decompose for nearly a year in a west Harris County apartment has decided to leave his fate to a judge, rather than a jury.

The lawyers of Brian Coulter on Wednesday revealed the defendant would waive his right to a jury trial, which had been scheduled for February. Coulter was charged with capital murder in the death of Kendrick Lee after police found his body in an apartment where his three siblings were abandoned and forced to fend for themselves.

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Coulter appeared in the 178th District Court wearing a yellow jumpsuit and with hair falling below his shoulder, far longer than at the time of his arrest.

Over the course of his trial in February, Judge Kelli Johnson will instead hear evidence related to the child's killing and decide the verdict and punishment. Lawyers on both sides noted that bench trials are a rarity for a case of this nature.

Jimmy Ortiz, one of Coulter's defense attorneys, said it was his client's decision to proceed to a bench trial.

Another of Coulter's lawyers, James Stafford, said capital murder cases that proceed to trial typically go before a jury, which can add at least a day to the proceedings. The bench trial should last five days tops, he said in court.

Coulter was charged in October 2021 after police discovered the child's abandoned siblings, whose ages were then 7, 10 and 15, in a third-floor unit at 3530 Green Crest.

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Law enforcement officials investigate a scene where, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, three juveniles were found living alone along with the skeletal remains of another juvenile, in a third floor apartment at the CityParc II at West Oaks Apartments on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, at in west Houston. Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The child's body was found in a closet. His death went unreported for 11 months until the eldest child called police. By then, the power had been out at the barren apartment for three weeks. The child told investigators that he often heard Coulter beating his younger brothers, two of whom had special needs, police said. He witnessed the fatal beating of Kendrick, noting that the little boy stopped moving. Coulter then covered his body with a blanket.

MORE ON THIS CASE: How the abandoned brothers in deadly Houston case 'fell through every crack' caused by COVID

Coulter and the mother of the children, Gloria Williams, left the children to live elsewhere, police said. She occasionally had junk food delivered, police said.

Gloria Williams appears in the 178th District Court on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Williams told investigators she did not report the death because Coulter told her not to, according to court records. She also feared that Child Protective Services would take her children away and she would go to jail. The state agency took custody of her children and she was jailed on charges that included tampering with evidence and causing injury to a child through omission.

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She remains at the Harris County Jail and is scheduled for trial also in February.
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The unfolding controversy surrounding the uneven application of Richmonds meals tax dramatizes how an inattentive or incompetent bureaucracy can spoil a proven recipe of success.

If City Hall cant handle what should be a basic municipal function, theres no hope to conquer our seemingly intractable problems surrounding education, poverty, housing insecurity and violent crime.

During his successful 2016 campaign for mayor, Levar Stoney called City Hall a sick patient.

Richmond restaurant paid one meals tax payment late. Now it owes the city $68,000 Latitude Seafood Co. missed one meals tax payment in 2020. Now, the city of Richmond says the restaurant owes $68,000. Its a painful example of a broken system, restaurant owners say, that needs to be fixed.

The cornerstone of his plan to address what he described as a culture of dysfunction and inefficiency is the completion of a comprehensive performance review of every city department within his first 100 days in office, read a Times-Dispatch article on Nov. 11, 2016, shortly after Stoney was elected to his first term.

But a year from Stoneys departure, as he shifts his focus toward a campaign for governor, some Richmond restaurateurs are restive over City Halls erratic administration of the citys meals tax, a 7.5% per meal levy that is self-reported by restaurant owners.

According to Colleen Currans story in Sundays Times-Dispatch, a late fee of about $880 levied against Latitude Seafood Co. in Stony Point Fashion Park ballooned into a $68,000 bill, and growing, before restaurant owner Kevin Grubbs paid it to stop the bleeding.

Mind you, were not talking about a tax-dodger; this was a penalty on a payment of about $8,800 that the restaurant submitted less than a month late. The idea that such a penalty would morph in less than three years into a $68,000 bill is an absurdity that should make an IRS agent blush.

This is how the city of Richmond treats a business in a historically struggling shopping center who happens to operate another Latitude Seafood Co. in neighboring Chesterfield County, where there is no meals tax.

Why didnt City Hall simply send Grubbs an engraved invitation to leave Richmond?

Meanwhile, Samuel Veney, co-owner of a vegan cheesesteak shop called Philly Vegan, has been hit with a $37,000 meals tax bill, according to Currans article. Veney says he was told mistakenly by a city employee in 2021 that he did not need to collect a meals tax for his takeout-only business in Manchester. This Black-owned business may be forced to close.

Other restaurateurs  including Brittanny Anderson, a two-time James Beard Award semi-finalist and 2018 Top Chef competitor  aired similar complaints about inaccurate or mysterious tax bills and a lack of oversight. Some swear they will never open another restaurant in the city.

Were a town whose fine dining punches well above our culinary communitys weight. RVAs restaurateurs have played a remarkable role in elevating this citys stature and enhancing our lives  even after weathering a pandemic that further squeezed their precariously slender profit margins. They are the survivors.

Richmond City Council President Kristen Nye said Tuesday that shes working with the city administration to arrange a meeting with restaurant owners to figure out the top five ways we can make this process easier for them. Because Richmond really is a great place to come to have an amazing dining experience.

Its remarkable that she would need to arrange such a meeting with the city administration. The disconnect speaks volumes about how we landed here.

Williams: There's no reconciling Donald Trump on a presidential ballot Allowing a man on the ballot who has declared his intent to subvert democracy  and has the track record to prove it  is what's best for democracy? When Americans are honest with themselves, there's simply no reconciling Trump on a presidential ballot.

When asked about Latitude Seafoods meals tax, city spokeswoman Petula Burks sent a statement saying, The city does not produce or mail bills for meals tax. ... However, if the city finds a discrepancy from prior payments or outstanding penalties and interest, a partial payment letter is sent for the taxpayer to contact the Department of Finance.

But as Currans story notes, the sending of partial payment letters was suspended during the pandemic before resuming in July 2022. That following November, Grubbs received a notice that his bill was $41,000 and climbing. His unsuccessful appeal took a year.

I think we have failed in our communication with our restaurants owners over the last couple of years, Nye said. And I could name off all of the reasons that has happened, but at the end of the day we just need to own our mistakes and we just need to reach out to people and get to a better place.

Providing an online portal for these restaurant owners to manage their tax bills would help. Henrico County, which adopted a meals tax in February 2014, has had such an online portal since 2021.

Williams: 'Pro-life' policies place pregnant women at risk Certainly, there are folks with sincere religious convictions against abortion. But sadly, too many actors in this drama are mainly about scoring political points.

Nye said the online system has already been rolled out for personal property payments; the portal for real estate taxes will come next, then one for the meals tax. Were talking another 12 months.

Its long overdue, were all anxious to get it out there. But at the same time, we need to make some adjustments before it is rolled out so that our restaurants can understand their obligation, and can see an issue if anything is being processed as late or delinquent, she said.

Nye has been more outspoken about this issue than Stoney, but the collection of meals taxes is an administrative function, not a Council matter. And the story of these beleaguered restaurateurs broke around the same time that Stoney reported a $12.6 million surplus in excess tax revenue for this fiscal year. That story by Times-Dispatch reporter Em Holter also cited a city audit report showing chronic errors in tax billing.

As Richmond prepares to embark upon another mayoral election, its time to reconsider this two decade-old strong mayor system that too often prioritizes political goals over optimum municipal operation. Stoneys handpicked chief administrative officer, Lincoln Saunders, had no prior experience running a municipality.

The Richmond City Charter Review Commission report urges Richmond to consider a hybrid form of council-manager government, with a popularly elected mayor who would sit on City Council. Nye said the Council put a pin on that suggestion until it can do more community engagement.

Stoney has spent much of his tenure chasing brass rings such as the Navy Hill redevelopment project and a casino in South Richmond, apparently forgetting his cornerstone plan to root out inefficiency and dysfunction in city government.

That neglect, for these restaurateurs, is hard to swallow.

We need to be supportive of these small business owners, Nye said, because they help with tourism, they help with getting people to move here, they help with getting people to stay here.

If City Hall doesnt get its act together, this golden goose may soon be off the menu.

PHOTOS: Richmond dining all-stars of 2023
The Roanoke Police Department said a city public school was placed on a brief hold and secure due to a shots fired call Tuesday morning.

Police said in a social media post that they received the shots fired report around 9 a.m. for the 1200 block of Pechin Avenue Southeast.

Out of an abundance of caution, Morningside Elementary School was placed on a brief hold and secure as officers responded to the call, the post reads.

Officers investigated the shots fired report but didnt locate any evidence of a shooting or injured persons.

The schools hold and secure was lifted once officers determined there was no threat, the post concludes.
The White House will nominate Jasmine Yoon, a Charlottesville attorney and former federal prosecutor, for a U.S. District Court judgeship.

If confirmed by the Senate, Yoon would become the first person of color to serve as a federal judge for the Western District of Virginia.

Yoon, an Asian American, is currently vice president of corporate integrity, ethics, and investigations at Capital One Financial Corp. She previously served as counsel to the University of Virginia and as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Her nomination is in keeping with President Joe Bidens pledge to diversify the federal bench nationwide.

Yoon and five other nominees announced this week are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution the White House said in a statement released Wednesday.

These choices also continue to fulfill the Presidents promise to ensure that the nations courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country  both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds, the statement reads.

Western Virginias federal bench has, with just one exception, consisted of white men since the district was created in 1871. Elizabeth Dillon became the first woman judge when she was appointed in 2014.

Currently, three women preside over the districts magistrate and bankruptcy courts. Magistrate judges are appointed by the district judges; bankruptcy judges by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The jobs do not carry the higher power and lifetime appointment that comes with a Senate confirmation to a District Court judgeship.

The Western District stretches from the Lynchburg region to the states western tip and extends all the way north to Winchester. It has seven courthouses; the largest one is in Roanoke.

If approved by the Senate, Yoon will fill a vacancy to be created this July, when U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski takes senior status, a form of working retirement in which he will hear a reduced case load. Nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2011, Urbanski is currently the districts chief judge.

Last fall, Yoon was one of two names recommended to the White House by Virginias two U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. The other was Patice Holland, a Black attorney with the Roanoke firm of Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black.

Yoon, 43, is the wife of the districts U.S. Attorney, Chris Kavanaugh  creating a possible conflict of interest should she be asked to hear criminal cases handled by his office.

One possible scenario would be for Kavanaugh to step down from his four-year appointment, which was mentioned in a Virginia State Bar evaluation of the judicial candidates. Yoon and Kavanaugh have declined to comment.

Asked about Yoons possible conflict of interest last November, Warner and Kaine said they were confident that she would take the necessary steps to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

In a statement Wednesday, the senators had high praise for Yoon.

Her experience investigating and prosecuting financial crimes and public corruption cases as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as well as her profound commitment to public service informed by her life experience growing up as an immigrant, will serve her well in this important role, the statement read.

A judicial evaluation committee of the state bar voted unanimously in finding Yoon to be highly qualified.

One committee member noted that Yoon has a steeliness under her quiet persona, while another member applauded her creativity and preparedness as an attorney, a report submitted to Warner and Kaine read.

The bar also noted how Yoons experiences as a Korean immigrant underscored her passion for public service as the reason for her desire to become a judge.

In addition to being the first person of color to serve as a judge in the Western District, Yoon would also become the first Asian American federal jurist in Virginia.

Enhancing diversity on the federal courts is crucial, because this improves court decision-making by affording different perspectives and increases public trust in the federal justice system when its jurists mirror the broader society, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who closely follows judicial appointments.

Yoon must be vetted by the Senate Judiciary Committee before the full body votes on her confirmation. There are relatively few nominees in the queue ahead of her, Tobias said, and its possible there could be final action by June.
A divided Christiansburg Town Council on Tuesday chose Tanya Hockett as vice mayor but also voted to nix her proposal  narrowly approved last month  to contribute $10,000 to the Montgomery Museum.

The choice of vice mayor came during the reorganization that is a standard part of the first meeting of the year. Councilman Timothy Wilson nominated Hockett and she was approved in a in 3-2 decision with councilwomen Johanna Hicks and Kim Bowman voting no. Hockett abstained from the vote.

Hicks said that she wanted Hockett to know that despite her opposition, I really like you as a councilwoman.

Hockett was the top vote-getter when she was elected in 2021, while Hicks, who won a second term in November, received the highest vote totals in both last years seven-candidate race for three seats and her first election in 2019.

But while Hocketts selection was affirmed Tuesday, she saw a recent spending proposal defeated and another narrowly OKd.

These were the towns contributions to the Montgomery Museum, where Councilman Casey Jenkins is executive director, and to the Wonder Universe childrens museum. Both are located in Christiansburg.

Proposed $10,000 contributions to both were nixed by council during budget planning last year. But Hockett revived the funding in December, saying that she wanted to recognize the support she had heard from town residents for the two museums, and also the contribution that she said the museums made to the community.

Last month, with then-Councilman Henry Showalter, an opponent of the funding, not present, council reversed the budget decision and narrowly approved two $10,000 contributions.

On Tuesday, that reversal was itself reversed, though only for the Montgomery Museum.

Council took up the actual budget amendments and appropriations to transfer the money that was approved last month. But Bowman, who won election in November but was not yet a member of council last month, turned out to be an opponent of the funding.

For the Wonder Universe contribution, Hockett, Jenkins and Councilman Sam Bishop supported the $10,000 while Bowman, Hicks and Wilson voted against it. Mayor Mike Barber, who only votes when there is a tie, decided in favor of making the contribution.

But for the Montgomery Museum support, Bowman, Hicks and Wilson continued their opposition and Jenkins, as the museums director abstained, leaving a 3-2 decision to again deny a contribution.
Voters in Southside Virginia chose the Republican candidates in two special elections to fill seats in the House of Delegates and state Senate vacated by veteran lawmakers in recent weeks.

Eric Phillips, R-Henry County, will be the new delegate for House District 48, representing Martinsville and Henry and Pittsylvania counties in the Virginia House of Delegates when the session begins Wednesday.

With 72% of the votes, Phillips soundly defeated his opponent, Melody Cartwright, D-Martinsville, in a district that historically favors Republicans.

Cartwright fared best in Martinsville, an area that has held wins for Democrats in recent elections, with 44% of the votes, but Phillips maintained the majority of the votes in the city with 56% with the provisional votes still outstanding.

In Henry County, Phillips received 73% of the votes with the provisional votes still remaining to be counted and in Pittsylvania County Phillips accumulated 76% with 19 of 21 precincts reporting.

In a special election, created by the resignation of Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania, votes totaled 5,337 in a district with 79,880 registered voters, representing a voter turnout of almost 6.7%.

This is what we were shooting and hoped for, said Phillips on the phone while enjoying dinner with his family at Elizabeths Pizza in Henry County. Weve worked 24-7 and I thank everyone that worked the polls in this weather. I sincerely hope and pray that I can do great things for the district.

Phillips said he would be leaving Tuesday night for Richmond in order to be present for the official swearing-in of new delegates at noon Wednesday.

Everyone else is already up there, so Ill put on some heat, the windshield wipers and some good music and Im headed to Richmond, Phillips said. Weve got until Friday so weve got some bills to file that will help our area.

In the 9th Senate District, voters chose Tammy Brankley Mulchi to replace longtime Sen. Frank Ruff, who is retiring.

In addition to Danville and Pittsylvania County, the 9th Senate District also includes the counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Charlotte, Lunenburg and part of Prince Edward.

I am deeply grateful and honored by the support from the people of the 9th district, Mulchi wrote in a text message to the Register & Bee. Though it has been a short campaign, I look forward to continuing to meet so many of you in our communities and main streets across the district.

She said Tuesday night was was ready to work for the rural areas  and family farmers  of Southern Virginia.

I know I have big shoes to fill with Senator Ruff retiring, but I am ready to get to work, she said.

Danville Register & Bee staff writer Charles Wilborn contributed to this report.
FLORENCE  Eight people and their pets were displaced from their homes by fire Tuesday night.

Florence firefighters responded at 7:25 p.m. to a reported fire at 501 S. McQueen St. and found smoke showing from the right downstairs side, according to the fire department.

While a group of firefighters searched for the buildings occupants another groups of firefighters launched an attack on the fire and had it controlled within 20 minutes, Florence Fire Marshal Chris Johnson said.

No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, the cause of which was ruled undetermined.

Eight residents and their pets were turned over to the Red Cross for care, Johnson wrote in a media advisory.

The Florence Fire Department sent three engine crews, a ladder crew and command staff. They were assisted at the scene by medics with Florence County EMS and Florence police officers.
Pink Dot event in 2019 to call for repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code in Singapore. (FILE PHOTO: Ore Huiying/Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  Men previously convicted under the now-repealed Section 377A of the Penal Code in Singapore have the opportunity to verify whether their criminal records have been considered spent. If their records have not been categorised as spent, they can apply to have them treated as such.

A "spent conviction" implies that an individual no longer carries a criminal record for the particular offence. They can lawfully answer "no" if asked about having such a criminal record.

CNA reported that Law and Home Affairs Minister K.Shanmugam said in a written Parliamentary reply on Tuesday (9 January) that, when considering these applications, the Commissioner of Police will take into account the facts of the case.

Factors to be considered include whether the activity was private and between consenting adults.

MP queries stance on Section 377A conviction records

Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament Louis Ng had filed a parliamentary question seeking an update on the government's approach to handling criminal records linked to Section 377A, and inquired about the process for treating these records as spent.

The colonial-era Section 377A, which criminalised sexual activity between men, was repealed in November 2022. According to CNA, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that 17 individuals who were convicted between 1988 and 2007 for consensual, private homosexual acts between adults are still alive.

Shanmugam details conditions for spent records under Section 377A

Shanmugam said in his written reply that a person's conviction becomes automatically spent after five years of staying free from crime.

However, this automatic status doesn't apply if the individual is disqualified under specific conditions outlined in the Registration of Criminals Act. These conditions encompass sentences that exceed three months imprisonment or a fine of S$2,000.

Shanmugam added that offences under Section 377A, which carried a penalty of up to two years in jail, were classified as registrable offences. This means that individuals convicted of such offences will maintain a criminal record unless it is rendered spent.

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Those unable to automatically attain spent status for their conviction record can apply to the Commissioner of Police, who serves as head of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), to have their records treated as spent.

Those seeking to apply for this can email SPF_Spent_Application@spf.gov.sg with their personal details, contact information, and reasons supporting their request to have their conviction record considered spent.

Individuals also previously convicted under Section 377A can verify whether their records have been rendered spent through the SPF website.

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

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Marlecia Price, a sexual assault survivor, speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, about a new report on the state of sexual assault investigations in Houston and Harris County. John Wayne Ferguson/Houston Chronicle Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, about a new report on the state of sexual assault investigations in Houston and Harris County. John Wayne Ferguson/Houston Chronicle Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, about a new report on the state of sexual assault investigations in Houston and Harris County. John Wayne Ferguson/Houston Chronicle

Of the more than 2,200 sexual assaults reported to Harris Countys largest law enforcement agencies over the course of nearly two years, 60 led to convictions while hundreds more remain unresolved, a new report shows.

The report, released Wednesday by the Harris County Sexual Assault Response Team, puts into perspective how many reports are made to local agencies, how long investigations can take and how few reports, in comparison, result in convictions.

The report is worrisome, in some regards, Harris County Precinct 2 commissioner Adrian Garcia said at a news conference on the grounds of the under-construction Houston Area Womens Center, a shelter for domestic and sexual violence survivors. But theres nothing here that we dont already know.

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MORE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Man accused of killing sibling of abandoned children waives jury trial

The response team was created in 2021 after state lawmakers passed a law requiring counties to establish unified groups that share resources and information about local sex crimes. The law, Senate Bill 476, requires the team to create a protocol on how sexual assaults should be investigated and an annual report detailing the number of sexual assaults reported, investigated and prosecuted in a given year.

New reports are required every two years.

The report is meant to ensure authorities take steps to eliminate gaps in services for sexual assault victims, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.

Every one of us has a responsibility for making these systems work better, he said.

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Report breaks down reports, investigations

The report counts adult sexual assault crimes, those in which the victim is 17 years or older.

From the beginning of 2022 through the end of August 2023, Houston Police Department received 1,519 sexual assault reports, which resulted in 1,328 investigations, according to the report.

In the same time period, the Harris County Sheriffs Office received 712 reports that resulted in 256 investigations.

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More than 1,300 sexual assault kits collected in the time period were untested, including 457 that sat at the Houston Forensic Science Center for more than 90 days, according to the report.

In the 20-month period, the Harris County District Attorneys Office filed 494 sexual assault charges, of which 60 ended in convictions and 105 were either dismissed or rejected by a grand jury, according to the report.

The report calls sexual assaults a public health crisis and says the number of assaults happening in the county was likely vastly underreported.

A report released this weekend enumerated the number of sexual assaults reported to Harris County's largest law enforcement agencies and their outcomes. Courtesy

Agencies say they lack manpower

Gonzalez called the report an important milestone.

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This is a first step, Gonzalez said. We cannot tackle something that were not fully aware of.

In the section of the report describing the sheriffs office reports, the agency said it had a lack of personnel assigned to investigate adult sex crime-related cases The sheriffs office has five sex crime investigators, which the agency said leads to a two-year delay before a pending case is investigated.

The Houston Police Department cited delays in DNA evidence testing as one of its main roadblocks to sexual assault investigations.

Reports from initial testing are typically received 10 to 12 months from the time the (sexual assault kit) is submitted, the department said. Additional tests, like those that used to make comparisons to other kits add to an already very long timeline, the report said.

The district attorneys office Adult Sex Crimes and Trafficking Division consists of five prosecutors, according to the report.

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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg used the report to call for more funding and employees for investigating and prosecuting sex crimes.
FILE PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE  A harsher sentencing option, targeting high-risk offenders who commit serious sexual and violent crimes such as rape or culpable homicide, was proposed in Parliament on Wednesday (10 January).

Under the Sentence for Enhanced Public Protection (SEPP), introduced as part of the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, these offenders must serve a minimum jail term of five to 20 years, and will be released from prison only if the Minister for Home Affairs finds they no longer pose a threat to the public.

If found unsuitable to be released, they could be further detained indefinitely, and even up to life. Currently, such offenders must be automatically released after a certain point, regardless of the threat they pose to others.

CNA reported Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam saying during a media briefing on the Bill on Monday that the proposed amendments are "very substantive".

"There will be a proper assessment. Is (the offender) mentally and psychologically fit to be released, or is he going to continue to be a menace to society? If he continues to be a menace to society, he can be kept in, he is quoted as saying.

Current sentencing options are 'inadequate': ministries

In a joint media release by the Law and Home Affairs ministries on Wednesday, both ministries said that Singapore's current sentencing options in dealing with "egregious offending" are inadequate.

"The government has been looking at ways to better protect the public from such dangerous offenders, who pose a substantial risk of serious physical and/or sexual harm to others, especially to those in our society who are vulnerable," the ministries said in the media release.

"We want to ensure that such dangerous and high-risk offenders are not released back into the community until they no longer pose a threat to public safety.

"Our current sentencing options are inadequate to deal with such egregious offending. For offences that do not attract life imprisonment, the available sentencing options all presently require an offender to be released automatically after a certain point, regardless of the threat they pose to others."

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These offences  to be prescribed in a new schedule under the Criminal Procedure Code  include culpable homicide, attempted murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means, aggravated molestation, rape, and sexual penetration of a minor. The ministries added that safeguards will be put in place to ensure the sentence is fair.

How the proposed SEPP will be applied

The SEPP will apply to those aged 21 and above, and will not just be for recalcitrant offenders, but for first-time offenders as well. If sentenced under the SEPP, offenders can be detained between five and 20 years, and they will not get remission, which is a discount on their sentences.

At the end of the jail term, if the offender is found suitable to leave prison, he will be released on licence  meaning that he would have to comply with certain conditions, such as e-tagging. The offender will then be subjected to a review every two years and can be unconditionally discharged, bringing the sentence to an end.

However, if they are not found suitable to be released on licence, they can be detained for as long as required - up to life - for public safety. This will be reviewed yearly.

This differs from imprisonment, corrective training or preventive detention, where an offender must be released after serving their sentence.

The Bill will be debated in Parliament at a later sitting.

Separate SPP to target repeat offenders

Separately, the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill also proposes to introduce the Sentence for Public Protection (SPP), which is aimed at repeat offenders aged 21 and above. It differs from an SEPP in that the sentence will be a fixed term of between five and 20 years as determined by the courts.

The SPP is proposed as an amended version of the preventive detention regime, which applies to offenders aged 30 or above who commit serious crimes, and whom the courts assess need to be detained for a substantial period of between seven and 20 years.

The Law and Home Affairs ministries also proposed to repeal the corrective training regime, which applies to offenders aged 18 or above. These offenders receive a prison term of between five and 14 years and can also be released early, subject to supervision.

The ministries said a review of both the regimes, which are for recalcitrant offenders who commit serious offences that did not justify life imprisonment at the outset, was necessary as such offenders are sentenced to a fixed term but may still be a threat to the public, and would have to be released after serving their time.

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Local actress Tan Kheng Hua talks about her Hollywood journey and what it was like on Greys Anatomy. (PHOTO: Instagram/khenghua)

Its not a secret that Crazy Rich Asians put Singapore on the international showbiz map in more ways than one. Apart from it being set in our little red dot, the cast also included notable local actors.

But one local actress in particular saw her career breaking a glass ceiling as she expanded her presence in Hollywood. Of course, were talking about Tan Kheng Hua.

Speaking to Yahoo Southeast Asia at the Asian Academy Creative Awards ceremony in December, Tan, 60, humbly described her entry into Hollywood as me with more markets rather than Singapore.

I like to say, I go where good work takes me, she said.

Tan attributed this new breakthrough in her career to the success of the film as it led to opportunities for representation from North America. With that, came more jobs in the market and the rest is history.

But, she added, I think, luck, you know, luck, and maybe the energies of the world are helping me.

Whats different between Hollywood and Singapore?

Understandably, Hollywood is a much bigger, and more prestigious market, so aside from value-adding to her portfolio of work, how else has it changed the veteran actress?

I think it has given me a very holistic idea of storytelling that comes from all over the world, she replied.

I think sometimes when you're just based in one place, you are used to listening to stories told in a particular way, carried out in a particular way, with very similar endings. But once you work in many different places, and see how many different people tell stories, and as you know, the world is huge I consider it is a privilege to have been, you know, in a place where I can see how different people are telling stories and be a part of those stories, too.

And for her, there is a difference between filming in Singapore and in Hollywood - but its not what you might expect.

She said, I think pride. Pride in what you do, no matter what capacity you are in.

And I would like to see more people being proud of what they do, not just from interviewers, or public relations, or people to do with the industry, or people who hold awards like this, but also from actors, of course, producers, even grips or wardrobe assistants and costume people.

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Tan also feels that being around such energy and people who are passionate about their work in Hollywood elevates her craft.

Every single day, I am with people who are very good at their work, who are still very much in love with their craft - very, very professional. And you know, it's like being in a room full of like-minded people, as opposed to just being in a room by yourself. You infect each other, you encourage each other. And then you see how people do things, and then you learn.

So the energy is very effervescent and I really like that. I am feeling a little bit of it here in the Asian Academy Creative Awards, and I want to feel more of that here in Singapore.

Being on Greys Anatomy

This sense of pride also came up while talking about her experience on Greys Anatomy - the longest-running primetime medical drama. Tan played a patient who woke up from surgery singing.

Surprisingly, she shared, Many people have not asked me about that because it was one episode.

Tan recalled, I was with so many of the regulars from Grey's Anatomy, and they were so nice. Everybody on that set, because it had gone on for so long, they had a sense of dignity, and pride - again, that word - of having been one of the longest most successful television shows.

They were very humble - you know, even the lead actor. I mean, they're joking all the time. They're very easy to be with, we eat together. You know, they were very humble. It was a lovely experience.

For those who have yet to watch the episode, the actress shared scenes with Kevin McKidd, who made his appearance as Dr Owen Hunt in Season 5, and is one of the remaining cast members from the early era of the show.

However, Tan didnt manage to meet the Ellen Pompeo, who plays the titular character of Dr Meredith Grey.

I would have loved to have had a conversation with her, she confessed.

Kung Fu cancellation

Most notably, Tan was part of the main cast of the American TV series Kung Fu, which ran for three seasons before its cancellation last year.

Despite it being Tans longest Hollywood project, she remained optimistic and said, There's a time for everything, you know, and we had three really great years To have three years is already quite a feat.

She added, Of course, it's always sad to see a good thing end. But hey, I am 60. I have seen many ends. And with every end, there is a new beginning. And therefore, I know the feeling. And I know, there will be something happening again. We saw the light at the end of the tunnel, you know, I never saw it as a negative thing.

At least, we know one good thing that came from Tans time on the show - the lasting bonds she forged with her colleagues who she considers her forever friends and family.

In fact, when some of them visited Singapore in March, Tan literally spent a week 24/7 together with them and they ate up half of Singapore. They keep in touch all the time, she said.

Whats next in Hollywood for her?

Up next for Tan is a role in the romantic comedy Worth The Wait, alongside Lana Condor, Ross Butler, Sung Kang, and fellow Singapore actor Lim Yu-Beng. A release date has yet to be announced, but the cast were in Kuala Lumpur in June 2023.

Additionally, if all goes well, she will be taking on an executive producer role in the animated adaptation of the comic book Kung Fu Legume.

She said, Im quite excited. I don't want to say too much about it I've actually released the news of it on my Instagram I also will voice one of the characters if this series takes off.

Right now, we are preparing to go and pitch. It's been a real learning process. But yeah, I love it. I'm always full of energy anyway.

Like Tan said, there are new beginnings for her in Hollywood. And its clear her journey has yet to come to an end.

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SIOUX CITY -- A former Siouxland Christian School employee says in a lawsuit the school fired him in retaliation for his filing of a child abuse report concerning an alleged incident in which his daughter was grabbed from her classroom desk by a school administrator and ended up with bruises.

Chris Hecht says in the lawsuit he was placed on administrative leave and told there were complaints of inappropriate behavior against him two days after he and his wife voiced concerns to school superintendent Lindsay Laurich about how their fourth-grade daughter was being treated in the aftermath of an incident in which she was carried out of her classroom and dropped onto the floor in a seclusion room with such force she vomited on herself.

Hecht was fired three weeks after being placed on leave.

Hecht, who had worked for the school since August 2016 and was the building and grounds director from July 2020 until his Jan. 6, 2023, firing, filed his suit alleging sex and disability discrimination and retaliation Thursday in Woodbury County District Court after the Iowa Civil Rights Commission issued him a right to sue letter in response to an employment discrimination complaint he had filed.

The school denies the lawsuit's allegations.

"Siouxland Christian School was made aware of this filing last week and strongly disagrees with Mr. Hecht's contentions. The school will defend against this litigation and is confident that the truth will prevail," Laurich said in a written statement. The school will not have further comment on the lawsuit, she said.

Hecht said in the lawsuit his daughter has Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and a hearing loss that exacerbates it and, as a result, has difficulty sitting still and concentrating. On Oct. 19, 2022, his daughter, then age 10, was drawing on her hand and arms in her classroom. After the girl would not stop drawing at her teacher's request, the teacher called dean of students Sarah Boesch to the room. According to the lawsuit, Boesch aggressively poked the girl to get her attention, then, after the girl told her not to touch her, grabbed her, lifted her over the back of her desk chair and carried her out of the classroom. Boesch and special education coordinator Emily Renken are accused of carrying the girl to a seclusion room and dropping her on the floor, causing her to vomit on herself.

The girl asked for her father, who was at the school, but he was not notified of the situation, the suit said.

Later that day, Hecht and his wife discovered bruises on their daughter's back and called Laurich, who, according to the suit, told them she was aware of what had happened and expressed remorse.

The girl's parents took her to urgent care the following day to have a doctor evaluate her injuries and were advised to report the incident as potential child abuse. The Hechts reported the incident to the Iowa Department of Human Services, which said it would forward a report to the Sioux City Police Department.

Five days after the incident, Hecht and his wife met with Laurich and Renken. When they all viewed security video footage of incident, Laurich said the physical force was appropriate, though she "seemed horrified" when watching it.

"Laurich and Renken were clearly trying to protect Boesch," the lawsuit said.

The school later told police investigating the child abuse complaint there was no video footage of the incident, the lawsuit said. Sioux City Community Policing Sgt. Thomas Gill confirmed police investigated the complaint and forwarded findings to the Woodbury County Attorney's Office, which recommended that no criminal charges be filed.

Hecht said after the child abuse complaint was filed he began to face "unprecedented scrutiny" from administrators, and his daughter, who he said was afraid of being hurt again, also was treated differently by teachers, staff and students and began to fall behind in her school work.

In a Dec. 12 meeting, Laurich downplayed the Hechts' concerns about their daughter's treatment and, according to the lawsuit, told them to "let it go."

Two days later, Hecht was placed on administrative leave after Laurich and school counselor Nick Brown told him they'd received numerous allegations of inappropriate conduct, unwanted touching and inappropriate comments by Hecht.

Hecht said he and his family were banned from school property while the school investigated the allegations against him, so they temporarily enrolled their three children in another school so they wouldn't miss the second semester. Hecht was fired on Jan. 6, and in the termination letter, he was told he had violated his contract by enrolling his children in another school. Hecht said in the lawsuit several other teachers and staff members don't enroll their children at Siouxland Christian.

A week later, Hecht said, he received a letter from the school saying the investigation showed he had likely committed fireable offenses. He said he was never interviewed by the school about the allegations.

The suit accuses the school of sex discrimination because of its treatment of Hecht, yet it never disciplined Boesch, despite the security video of her actions.

His daughter's ADHD qualifies as a disability under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, the lawsuit said, and the school discriminated against her because of Hecht.

Hecht is seeking a jury trial and judgment compensating him for lost wages and employment benefits, emotional distress, fear, humiliation, stress and loss of enjoyment of life. He's also seeking punitive damages "in amounts sufficient to punish and deter" the school and others from similar future conduct.
SIOUX CITY -- Court documents show a man who was shot and killed by Sioux City police Monday previously threatened officers with a gun.

Salvador Perez-Garcia, of Sioux City, was arrested by Sioux City police on Oct. 25, 2022 and charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a class D felony, according to a criminal complaint filed in Woodbury County District Court. He pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to second-degree harassment, a serious misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 40 days in the Woodbury County Jail.

Darrell Simmons, special agent in charge at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), confirmed Wednesday that the Salvador Perez-Garcia who was killed by officers Monday was the same man who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in connection with the October 2022 incident.

Perez-Garcia was shot and killed by police officers in Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's parking ramp, after ramming two patrol vehicles with a truck and swinging a metal object, according to the DCI. In a statement released Tuesday about the shooting, the DCI listed Perez-Garcia as being 55. He was actually 56, according to court documents.

At 6:37 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2022 officers were dispatched to a multi-family apartment house in the 1300 block of Jackson St. for a report of a fire. Perez-Garcia called 911, even though there wasn't a fire, to get people to the building, according to the complaint.

"The defendant then proceeded to pull a gun out of his waistband of his pants in front of officers on scene," the complaint stated.

Officers took cover and called for backup. Since Perez-Garcia spoke Spanish, a Spanish-speaking officer was called to speak with him, according to the complaint.

Perez-Garcia refused to come out of the residence for over an hour and told police "if he came out of the residence he would come out shooting at officers," the complaint stated.

Perez-Garcia did eventually follow officers' orders to come out of the apartment house and was detained. No shots were fired during that incident, according to the complaint.

Parking ramp shooting

At 4 a.m. Monday, a Sioux City patrol officer was parked inside the casino's parking garage, when he observed a white truck driving toward him. The truck rammed his patrol vehicle head-on, according to the DCI's statement.

"The lone subject in the truck continued to exit the parking garage and was met with other responding officers. He drove directly at a second Sioux City patrol vehicle, ramming it head-on," the statement said.

Then, Perez-Garcia exited the truck swinging the length of chain with the metal object. The statement said officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and physically attempted to disarm Perez-Garcia, but were unsuccessful.

"Perez-Garcia refused to comply with the officers' commands and continued to approach them swinging the object. Officers fired their duty weapons, striking him. The officers then performed lifesaving measures, but Perez-Garcia died at the scene," the statement said.

The Sioux City police officers who were involved have been placed on critical incident leave. Their names are not being released at this time.

"The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. Upon completion of the investigation, the report will be submitted to the Woodbury County Attorney's Office and the Iowa Attorney General's Office for review," the DCI's statement said.

Sioux City Police Chief Rex Mueller said in an email Tuesday that one officer sought medical treatment for injuries sustained when Perez-Garcia rammed his patrol car. The officer was treated and released.

Mueller said his department will be conducting a "parallel internal investigation" to the DCI to determine if department policies were violated. He said the department will release further information at the conclusion of the investigation.
SIOUX CITY -- Fire destroyed a home on Sioux City's west side Wednesday.

Sioux City Fire Rescue was dispatched to 2811 Myrtle St. at 10:15 a.m. to a two-story, single family home. Upon firefighters' arrival, flames were visible through windows on two sides of the house, deputy fire marshal Lt. John Nelsen said. Five people were inside the house when the fire started, and they had safely evacuated by the time firefighters arrived. A dog died in the fire.

Firefighters entered the house, but later had to exit when it became structurally unstable, turning to defensive operations from the outside and calling in two aerial trucks. Firefighters remained at the scene in the afternoon putting out hot spots.

Nelson said the house has been red-tagged, utilities have been disconnected and it will be a total loss. The American Red Cross is assisting the family.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Bianca Williams was tired of trying to find a store that either accepted federal food benefits for low-income mothers and their children or a store that had quality produce.

So the Milwaukee resident  who has seven kids, including two currently being breastfed  decided in November that shed rather turn to frozen Thanksgiving leftovers and food from family and friends.

More than 6 million people in the U.S. get benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women and Children, commonly known as WIC. But its not always easy to get the fresh produce, baby formula and other nutritious WIC-approved items.

Williams' closest Walmart shuttered in 2016. Since then, she said, WIC can be too much of a hassle.

Sometimes, to be honest, I dont even use it, said Williams, who makes about $7 too much a month to qualify for food stamps, because its so hard to get to and from the grocery store, and find a vendor that does accept (WIC).

Unlike food stamps, WIC-approved items cant be bought online, though a few states are working on pilot programs to make it a reality. Complex requirements make it tough for smaller stores  and sometimes big-name grocers  to participate in WIC. Some states are trying to expand access after vendors left over the past five years due to changes in the program or closing down during the pandemic.

Its really set up to be a program, at least in our area, that a large full-scale grocer can participate in, said Ann Sanders, the director of public benefits policy and programs at the Pennsylvania nonprofit Just Harvest. Since 2019, the state has seen a net loss of 353 vendors.

Though both are under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, WIC differs from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, because SNAP participants can buy almost any grocery item they want  regardless of the nutritional value. With WIC, states use federal guidelines to choose products and quantities that vendors are required to carry; brands commonly found on WIC-approved lists include Cheerios, Juicy Juice and Similac.

Many smaller stores participate in WIC because community members need the help, but it can come at a cost, according to the National Grocers Association, which lobbies for independent stores.

Its not necessarily a big moneymaker for them by any means, said Stephanie Johnson, the associations vice president of government relations, adding that some even lose money from participating in WIC.

WIC programs have been making a slow transition from paper vouchers to electronic benefits, known as eWIC. Its easier for shoppers, but stores had to spend money on upgrading cash registers, which in Georgia caused some to quit the program.

National chains don't always participate in WIC, either. Aldi doesnt because it only carries its own brand of formula. Trader Joes told The Associated Press in a statement that the majority of its products dont meet WIC's brand or size criteria.

About half of Target stores accept WIC, spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said, because there are different sizes and layouts. He said smaller stores might not have enough shelf space to meet minimum stocking requirements.

Ashley Yancey recently tried to find formula for her daughter at a Target about 30 miles from her home in Douglasville, Georgia, and was stunned the location didnt accept WIC. Often, her nearest WIC vendor is out of the product.

Its embarrassing, kinda, she said about her attempt to use WIC at the Target store. Because its like, are you too good to take WIC? Are you looking at me like Im poor?"

The USDA is reviewing comments on a proposed rule that would remove barriers to online shopping, like not requiring a cashier to be present for WIC transactions. The agency also has paired with the nonprofit Center for Nutrition to pilot online shopping in seven states and with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Major retailers Walmart and Hy-Vee are participating in some places.

I think the states want to see (online shopping), I think they know it would make a big difference for their participants, and I think retailers are on board, too, said Ali Hard, the policy director for the National WIC Association, which is an advocacy group and frequent federal partner. Its a huge equity issue if WIC participants cant buy their groceries in the same way everybody else can.

In states where the number of WIC stores has drastically decreased, officials say the impact is most pronounced in rural areas. Louisiana has lost 68 WIC vendors since 2019, and is working on a recruitment plan for stores.

In New Hampshire, minimum inventory requirements kept smaller, more rural stores out of the program, said Hailey McAlary with the state Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition, so the state decided those stores no longer have to carry things like juice concentrates and pureed meat for infants.

I think participation and vendor certification are really connected  food shopping, we all know, has to be convenient, said Rebecca White, the public and government affairs associate for Hanover Co-Op Food stores in New Hampshire and Vermont. People will buy foods based on what works with their schedule and their lifestyle.

Sticker shock at the supermarket? These states have taken the biggest grocery price inflation hit Sticker shock at the supermarket? These states have taken the biggest grocery price inflation hit The disparity between states with high and low price increases is significant A tale of two states Are there any product categories that help explain the large differences in grocery inflation between Pennsylvania and Colorado? One stands out. A tale of two cities A tale of two foods
DES MOINES, Iowa  A sprawling storm hit the U.S. South, with tornado warnings and high winds that blew roofs off homes, flipped over campers and tossed about furniture in Florida on Tuesday.

Another storm buried cities across the Midwest in more than a half a foot of snow, stranding people on highways as it headed to the Northeast.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Tuesday's briefing that winter storms continue to be a threat across the country. "We are closely monitoring the weather, and we encourage all Americans to do the same," she said.

At least three deaths were attributed to the storm pummeling the South, where 55 mph winds and hail moved through the Florida Panhandle and into parts of Alabama and Georgia by sunrise Tuesday, along with several reports of radar-confirmed tornadoes, the National Weather Service said. A wind gust of 106 mph was recorded before dawn near the coast in Walton County, Florida.

Near Cottonwood, Alabama, a small city near the Georgia and Florida borders, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation, the Houston County coroner said. A suspected tornado touched down in the area.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state highway in Jonesboro.

Vice President Kamala Harris' aircraft was forced to divert to a Washington-area airport after encountering stormy weather Tuesday night as she returned from a trip to Georgia, press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement.

Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths. A section of Panama City Beach, Florida, showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home. Multiple tornadoes were reported in Bay County, Sheriff Tommy Ford said in a brief Facebook Live post.

The Walton County sheriff's department in the Florida Panhandle posted photos of power lines draped across a road, damage to a gas station and large pieces of building materials littering the area. About 70 miles northeast, in Jackson County, Florida, photos showing damage to a campground and RV park in Marianna were posted.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee is planning to send out tornado survey teams Wednesday in Florida, and Thursday in Alabama and Georgia.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who gave his State of the State address Tuesday as tornado warnings were active outside the Capitol, issued an executive order to include 49 counties in North Florida under a state of emergency.

Heavy rain across Georgia stopped air traffic at Atlanta's busy airport for a time Tuesday morning and caused flash flooding, blocking some lanes on freeways around Atlanta during the morning commute. More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.

More than 200,000 customers were without power in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, while nearly 150,000 people in North Carolina lacked electricity, according to the PowerOutage.us website.

In North Carolina, one person died and two others were in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, said Amy McCauley, a spokesperson for Catawba County. In Rocky Mount, downed power lines shut down both directions of I-95, one of the nation's busiest highways, the North Carolina's Department of Transportation said.

The Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency before the storm approached. Some schools canceled classes or shut down early.

A possible tornado knocked down brick storefronts in downtown Bamberg, South Carolina, blocking the main intersection through the city. No injuries were reported.

In the Midwest, where a snowstorm started Monday, up to 12 inches of snow could blanket a broad area stretching from southeastern Colorado all the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That includes western Kansas, eastern Nebraska, large parts of Iowa, northern Missouri and northwestern Illinois, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

The storm dumped around 8 to 12 inches of snow across Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota on Monday. In North Sioux City, South Dakota, the National Weather Service reported 15 inches of snow. Lower amounts fell over central Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Poor road conditions contributed to a fatal crash early Tuesday in southeastern Wisconsin, Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath said in a news release. An SUV driver was killed following a head-on collision with a semitrailer on state Highway 18 about 5:40 a.m. The driver of the semitrailer was not hurt.

In western Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died Tuesday after she lost control of her minivan on a slushy highway and it collided with an SUV, the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a full ground stop at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport because of too much snow and ice Tuesday afternoon.

From the Midwest, the storm was expected to head east, bringing a combination of snow, rain and strong winds to the Northeast by Tuesday night, as well as concerns about flooding in areas such as New England, parts of which got more than a foot of snow Sunday.

In parts of Arizona, a cold front brought below-freezing temperatures early Tuesday, with the National Weather Service reporting a minus-17 reading at the Snow Bowl in northern Arizona. In northeastern New Mexico, the state Department of Transportation said snowplows spent hours Monday afternoon clearing U.S. Highway 56 to free more than 25 stranded vehicles.

20 of the most destructive winter storms since 1980 A look back at the worst winter storms since 1980 #20. Jan. 21-24, 2000 #19. Jan. 3-5, 2018 #18. Jan. 13-16, 1999 #17. Dec. 21-26, 1989 #16. Feb. 2-5, 2023 #15. Jan. 1-4, 1999 #14. Jan. 8-16, 1982 #13. Jan. 17-20, 1994 #12. Jan. 19-22, 1985 #11. Feb. 1-3, 2011 #10. Jan. 5-9, 1998 #9. March 1-3, 2018 #8. Jan. 5-8, 2014 #7. Feb. 14-20, 2015 #6. Dec. 10-13, 1992 #5. Jan. 1-31, 1996 #4. Feb. 8-13, 1994 #3. Dec. 21-26, 2022 #2. March 11-14, 1993 #1. Feb. 10-19, 2021
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NEW YORK  A historic Brooklyn synagogue that serves as the center of an influential Hasidic Jewish movement was trashed this week during an unusual community dispute that began with the discovery of a secret underground tunnel and ended in brawl between worshippers and police.

The conflict erupted in the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, a deeply revered Jewish site that each year receives thousands of visitors, including international students and religious leaders. Its Gothic Revival facade, immediately recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement, inspired dozens of replicas across the world.

But on Tuesday, the synagogue remained closed off by police barricades as New York City building safety agents inspected whether a tunnel dug without official permission may have caused structural damage to the famed property.

Officials and locals said young men in the community recently built the passage to the sanctuary in secret. When the group's leaders tried to seal it off Monday, they staged a protest that turned violent as police moved in to make arrests.

The exact purpose and provenance of the tunnel that incited the altercation remained the subject of some debate.

The passageway is believed to have started in the basement of an empty apartment building behind the headquarters, snaking under a series of offices and lecture halls before eventually connecting to the synagogue, according to Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad.

He characterized its construction as a rogue act of vandalism committed by a group of misguided young men, condemning the "extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access."

Those who supported the tunnel, meanwhile, said they were carrying out an "expansion" plan long envisioned by the former head of the Chabad movement, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Schneerson led the Chabad-Lubavitch for more than four decades before his death in 1994, reinvigorating a Hasidic religious community that had been devastated by the Holocaust.

Supporters of the expansion said the basement synagogue had long been overcrowded, prompting a push to annex additional space that some in the community felt was taking too long. Many of those supporters subscribe to the messianic belief that Schneerson is still alive.

"That's what the rabbi wants, that's what everybody wants," said Zalmy Grossman, a 21-year-old Brooklyn resident. He said the tunnel project began late last year as a way to connect the synagogue with "the whole empty space" behind it.

Chabad leaders declined to say when they discovered the underground connection. But several worshippers said word of the tunnel's existence spread through the community in recent weeks.

The situation came to a head Monday, when a cement truck arrived to seal the opening. Proponents of the tunnel then staged a protest and ripped off the wooden siding of the synagogue.

A police department spokesperson said officers were called to the building in the afternoon to respond to a disorderly group that was trespassing and damaging a wall.

For several hours, police pleaded with the young men to leave the entrance to the tunnel, according to witnesses. After they refused, the officers covered the area with a white curtain and entered the dusty crevasse with zip ties to detain the protesters.

"When they took the first person out with zip ties, that's when the outburst happened," said Baruch Dahan, a 21-year-old studying at the synagogue who videotaped the congregants fighting. "Almost everyone was against what they did, but as soon as people saw the handcuffs there was confusion and pushing."

Footage posted to social media shows scores of onlookers, mostly young men, jeering at the NYPD's community affairs officers. Some lifted wooden desks into the air, sending prayer books scattering. In response, an officer appeared to deploy an irritating spray to disperse the group.

Nine people  between the ages of 19 and 22  ultimately were arrested on charges that included criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration, according to police. Another three received summonses for disorderly conduct.

A spokesperson for the Department of Buildings said the inspection results were pending Tuesday evening.

While the building remained closed, some worshippers completed their prayers outside in the drizzling rain.

"The community feels terrible," Dahan said. "It's a disgrace, instead of expanding, they destroyed."

The headquarters was also the epicenter of the 1991 Crown Heights riots, which began after a 7-year-old boy was struck and killed by a car in the rabbis motorcade.
New police offices take their oath of office during the Houston Police Academy graduation of Cadet Class 256 on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 in Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Chief Troy Finner waits to present badges to his new officers during the Houston Police Academy graduation of Cadet Class 256 on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 in Houston. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

Mayor John Whitmire has said in several speeches he thinks cadets having to purchase their own firearms may be a reason some might be hesitant to enter the profession locally.

Longtime law enforcement veterans and department officials confirmed the mayors claim, with some saying the countrys fourth-largest city is becoming something of an outlier by forcing cadets to purchase their own weapons. Here's what to know.

Why do cadets buy their own guns?

Some departments provide weapons, others allow officers to purchase any weapon they want, Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers Association, said. Houston is one of the few to require officers to purchase their own firearm and stipulate what they can buy.

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One of the positives of not issuing one type of firearm to all officers is it gives police the ability to select a weapon that they are comfortable with and best-suited for their specific assignment, said Kevin Lawrence, president of the Texas Municipal Police Association. The law enforcement veteran said he constantly switched firearms during his career as technology evolved and his needs changed.

Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers Association, told the Chronicle that the requirement for cadets to purchase their own firearms wasnt negotiated through the union because those entering the academy are civilian employees to start. But he added that requirements about firearms vary from agency to agency.

How do they buy the guns?

Shay Awosiyan, spokesman for the Houston Police Department, said that cadets are required to purchase firearms when they enter the academy. Officers eventually receive $2,000 per year for an equipment stipend that can reimburse them for the cost of the weapon, Awosiyan said. But that comes after about a year on the job.

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New cadets qualify for a $10,000 hiring incentive, however, Awosiyan added. The incentive is paid out in installments, with the first $2,500 coming when someone enters the academy. That money can be used for anything, including purchasing a firearm.

Is this a common?

The practice was once industry-standard, but departments began shifting because they wanted to ensure officers could pool and share resources in an emergency, Lawrence explained.

WHITMIRE ON CRIME: Mayor goes on ridealong with law enforcement minutes after being sworn in.

Its becoming less and less common as the years go by, said Kevin Lawrence, president of the Texas Municipal Police Association. It was pretty standard when I first started. But more and more departments have gone to department-issued firearms.

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What solution has Whitmire suggested?

Whitmire last week at a meeting of the Houston Area Police Chiefs Association said he would try to identify sponsors to pay for firearms.
DES MOINES  Saying they are not overly restrictive of free speech, two of Iowas so-called ag gag laws  which create penalties for individuals who trespass on agricultural property with intent to create financial harm  are constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled this week.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit delivered similar rulings Monday in two cases, reversing a lower court decision in both. A district-court ruling on a third lawsuit remains pending, the Iowa Attorney Generals Office said.

The appeals court rulings mean those state laws could soon become enforceable. But an attorney for one of the plaintiffs expressed confidence opponents would prevail upon appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Republican-majority Iowa Legislature has made four different attempts since 2012 to pass such the laws, which supporters say are needed to protect farmers from individuals who unfairly portray their farming practices in undercover recordings. Animal welfare advocates say the laws restrict the ability of advocates to shine a light on the mistreatment of animals.

Both lawsuits that the appeals court ruled on were brought by Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Bailing Out Benji and the Center for Food Safety.

One of the appeals court rulings addressed a law that would make it illegal to use a camera while trespassing on agricultural property. The appeals court said that law is sufficiently tailored and not overly broad.

Without a doubt, trespassing is a legally cognizable injury because it harms the privacy and property interests of property owners and other lawfully-present persons. Trespassers exacerbate that harm when they use a camera while committing their crime, the court wrote. The Act is tailored to target that harm and redress that evil. Because the Acts restrictions on the use of a camera only apply to situations when there has first been an unlawful trespass, the Act does not burden substantially more speech than is necessary to further the States legitimate interests.

David Muraskin, an attorney with FarmSTAND, one of the plaintiffs, said the appeals courts decision splits with similar rulings in other district courts. Muraskin said that gives him confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately will side with the plaintiffs.

The appeals courts other ruling addressed a law that would make it illegal to lie on an employment form in order to gain access to an agricultural facility.

The statute filters out trespassers who are relatively innocuous, and focuses the criminal law on conduct that inflicts greater harm on victims and society, the appeals court wrote in one of its rulings. In our view, the Iowa statute is not a viewpoint-based restriction on speech, but rather a permissible restriction on intentionally false speech undertaken to accomplish a legally cognizable harm.

That ruling essentially ends the legal challenge to that law, Muraskin said.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird praised both of the appeals courts rulings.

Todays Court rulings are a landmark victory for Iowa farmers and property owners, Bird said in a statement. For too long, our farmers have battled with trespassers, people lying to get jobs, and hidden recording devices. But not any longer. With todays win, we will enforce Iowas agriculture trespass laws, strengthen security, and put those fears to rest.

An attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund said the groups will continue to litigate the constitutionality of the trespass law.

That law imposes a heightened penalty for individuals like undercover investigators, journalists, or activists who use or place a camera on private property, Animal Legal Defense Fund Senior Staff Attorney Caitlin Foley said in a statement. The Animal Legal Defense Fund and its co-plaintiffs will continue to fight laws that unfairly target the speech of organizations advocating for animals and the publics right to know about abuses that happen behind the closed doors of factory farms.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig also issued statements praising the appeals courts rulings.

This is a win for both Iowans and the country, Reynolds said. No longer will people be able to gain access or employment to agricultural production facilities with the intent to cause physical injury or economic harm. We will always stand up for the security and safety of our farmers and their land.

Said Naig, The Legislature and Gov. Reynolds enacted these laws to safeguard our ag community and protect our food security. It is welcome news that Iowa producers can now be protected from trespassers and it sends a clear message to those who maliciously target our livestock farms.

Barb Kalbach, CCI board president and a fourth-generation family farmer from Dexter, criticized the rulings.

Through these rulings, the courts suggest that ag gag laws should be interpreted more narrowly in Iowa, which says to me that they think Iowans should have less protections when it comes to telling the truth. We wholeheartedly disagree with that notion, Kalbach said in a statement. We believe Iowans must have our rights protected  the right to engage in free speech rooted in truth, to protest, and to protect our communities. CCI members will never quit fighting for those rights.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis closing ad to Iowa voters hits GOP primary rival Nikki Haley for telling a New Hampshire crowd that its primary voters have the opportunity to "correct" the results of the Iowa caucuses.

Haley disparages the caucuses and insults you, the ads narrator says after playing a clip of Haley making the comment in New Hampshire.

DeSantis also criticizes former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination who holds a commanding lead among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers in Iowa polls.

Donald Trump is running for his issues. Nikki Haleys running for her donors issues. Im running for your issues, the Florida governor says in the TV spot.

Haley, meanwhile, has new ads out in Iowa featuring Marlys Popma, the former president of Iowa Right to Life who has endorsed Haleys campaign, and another urging Iowa voters to move on from Trump and President Joe Biden and embrace a different kind of forward-looking leadership, according to her campaign.

Nikki will keep the radical left from ruining our culture, Pompa says in the ad. She wont let boys play girls sports, and shell stop the assault on our values. Nikkis a sister in Christ. She has guts. Nikki Haley will make us proud.

A separate 30-second ad spot features footage of Haley from her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and on the campaign trail.

Imagine a president with grit and grace, a different style, not a name from the past, a narrator says, featuring a split screen of both President Joe Biden and Trump.

The statewide ad highlights her stance on border security, telling Iowa voters that their family deserves a border secure.

The ad closes out with footage from Haleys campaign launch from February in Charleston.

Let's save our country and secure our future, and let's move forward together toward our destiny in a strong and proud America, Haley says.

Trump and his campaign have made Haley a target of their attacks. A new ad accuses Haley of opposing the border wall that Trump famously campaigned on in 2016.

"Just because President Trump says something, doesn't make it true," Haley said during a Fox News town hall Monday in Des Moines. "He's taking snippets of things I said. I said, 'You shouldn't just do the border wall. You have to do more than that.' That's what I said."

Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Trumps administration, has sought to walk a fine line between criticizing the former president and not alienating a sizable Republican electorate that favors Trump. Its a stance that has led to criticism from opponents of Trump who say she isnt being hard enough on the former president, as well as Republican voters who like Trump.

I have said multiple times. I don't think it's good for the country for him to become president again. I've made that very clear, Haley said last month during a town hall in Anamosa, where she was asked by an attendee whether Trump presents a grave danger to our country.

The problem is, what I have faced is anti-Trumpers dont think I hate him enough. Pro-Trumpers dont think I love him enough, Haley said after ticking through criticisms of the former president ranging from his praise of foreign dictators to government spending.

Republican campaigns have spent almost $105 million on ads in Iowa in the lead up to the states first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses that kick off the Republican presidential nominating cycle.

A RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polling shows Trump with 52.3 percent support among likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers, with DeSantis and Haley in a virtual tie for a distant second with about 16 percent support each.

Libertarian Party of Iowa to host pre-caucus debate

The Libertarian Party of Iowa will host a pre-caucus debate on Sunday  a little more than 24 hours before the Iowa caucuses Monday night  at a pizza restaurant in Des Moines.

Confirmed candidates who will participate in the debate are Lars Mapstead, Mike ter Maat, Chase Oliver, Art Olivier and Joshua Smith.

This event is open the public, and the LPIA encourages caucusgoers, and potential delegates to attend, and engage with candidates and their visions for the future, according to a news release.

The debate is set to take place 3-5 p.m. Sunday at Felix & Oscars Restaurant, 4050 Merle Hay Rd., Des Moines. The discussion will be moderated by Marco Battaglia, former Libertarian candidate for Iowa lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The debate will feature a networking session for candidates and attendees and a question-and-answer from Iowans and potential party delegates. It will be livestreamed on the Libertarian Party of Iowa's social media channels.

Christina Bohannan: $1.3 million raised for congressional campaign

Iowa City Democratic congressional candidate Christina Bohannan announced raising more than $650,000 in the most-recent fundraising quarter, bringing her total contributions to $1.3 million since she launcher her bid in August, the details of which were first shared with The Messenger.

Bohannans campaign said 81 percent of her contributions were from Iowans.

The University of Iowa law professor and former state representative is making her second bid for Iowas 1st Congressional District, which covers 20 counties in southeast Iowa, including Johnson County.

Bohannan is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, now in her second term in Congress.

According to most-recent Federal Election Commission filings, Miller-Meeks raised a total of more than $1.8 million this election cycle and had nearly $1.4 million cash on hand as of the end of September. She had not yet announced her campaign hauls for the final fundraising quarter of 2023.

David Pautsch, a Davenport Republican and minister known for organizing the annual Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, is challenging Miller-Meeks in the GOP primary.

Close Two audience members watch Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., campaign for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday, January. 6, 2024 on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns for president on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Iowa Rep. Mike Vondran, R-Davenport, introduces Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, to campaign for Ron DeSantis on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, on second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. An attendee watches Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaign on Jan. 6, 2024, on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, outlines his vision for the presidency in a stop Saturday Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. He was joined by Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, (left), and Rep. Chip Roy, Republican from Texas, (right). Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. An attendee listens as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., campaigns for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport as DeSantis seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Massie's lapel pin shows a live tally of the U.S. national debt. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, campaigns for Ron DeSantis on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. To his left is U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley campaigned Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley takes a photo with a supporter Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu hit the campaign trail in Iowa with Nikki Haley Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Sununu came out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand, joking that it'd just been handed to him on his way out. Attendees clap at a campaign event for Nikki Haley Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Jake Chapman, the former Iowa Senate president who lost his reelection bid in 2022, campaigns for Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center as Ramaswamy seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon and wife to GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns for him Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center as Ramaswamy seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio biotech entrepreneur and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, talks with volunteers for the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 in Davenport. Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio biotech entrepreneur and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, talks with volunteers for the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 in Davenport. Attendees fill the Quad Cities Veteran Outreach Center in Davenport for a Vivek Ramaswamy event Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. Ramaswamy was one of three candidates for the party's presidential nomination that stopped in Scott County on Saturday, just nine days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Outreach Center in Davenport. Ramaswamy was one of three candidates for the Republican nomination that stopped in Scott County on Saturday. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon and wife to GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy beams as she's introduced Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. GOP hopefuls visit Quad-Cities nine days ahead of 2024 Iowa caucuses With just more than a week to go until the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, GOP hopefuls have ramped up their campaign schedules in the state. And on Saturday, Scott County was a popular place for Republican candidates  three presidential hopefuls campaigned with their endorsers. Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy arrived at the Quad Cities Outreach Center in Davenport for a 9 a.m. event, introduced by former state Senate President Jake Chapman and Ramaswamy's wife, Apoorva, a throat surgeon. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas at a noon-ish event on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. And Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the UN, campaigned with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, in the afternoon at the Tangled Wood restaurant in Bettendorf. Two audience members watch Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., campaign for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday, January. 6, 2024 on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns for president on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Iowa Rep. Mike Vondran, R-Davenport, introduces Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, to campaign for Ron DeSantis on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, on second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. An attendee watches Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaign on Jan. 6, 2024, on the second floor of the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, outlines his vision for the presidency in a stop Saturday Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. He was joined by Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, (left), and Rep. Chip Roy, Republican from Texas, (right). Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. An attendee listens as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his vision for the country to potential caucusgoers on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including DeSantis, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., campaigns for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport as DeSantis seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Massie's lapel pin shows a live tally of the U.S. national debt. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, campaigns for Ron DeSantis on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Phoenix Restaurant in Davenport. To his left is U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley campaigned Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley takes a photo with a supporter Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu hit the campaign trail in Iowa with Nikki Haley Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Sununu came out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand, joking that it'd just been handed to him on his way out. Attendees clap at a campaign event for Nikki Haley Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Former Ambassador to the UN and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley outlined her vision for the country to potential caucusgoers Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Tangled Wood Restaurant in Bettendorf, as she seeks the GOP nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Haley, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Jake Chapman, the former Iowa Senate president who lost his reelection bid in 2022, campaigns for Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center as Ramaswamy seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon and wife to GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns for him Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center as Ramaswamy seeks the GOP presidential nomination. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses. Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio biotech entrepreneur and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, talks with volunteers for the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 in Davenport. Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio biotech entrepreneur and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, talks with volunteers for the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 in Davenport. Attendees fill the Quad Cities Veteran Outreach Center in Davenport for a Vivek Ramaswamy event Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. Ramaswamy was one of three candidates for the party's presidential nomination that stopped in Scott County on Saturday, just nine days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Outreach Center in Davenport. Ramaswamy was one of three candidates for the Republican nomination that stopped in Scott County on Saturday. Apoorva Ramaswamy, a throat surgeon and wife to GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy beams as she's introduced Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center. Three GOP presidential hopefuls, including Ramaswamy, campaigned in Scott County on Saturday with just nine days to go until the Iowa caucuses.
Joe Gattos life consists of cool moms, rambunctious kids, good friends, tail-wagging pups and all the cannoli a person can eat.

In other words, the Long Island, New York, native has very little to complain about.

My life may seem crazy, Gatto said with a chuckle. But thats what I like about it.

Best known for appearing on the long-running hidden camera TV comedy series Impractical Jokers, the 47-year-old will be bringing his Joe Gattos Night of Comedy tour to the Orpheum Theatre, 528 Pierce St., at 7 p.m. Friday.

Already an improvisational veteran following years with the Tenderloins  a comedy troupe founded with his Impractical Jokers castmates Sal Vulcano, Brian Quinn and James Murr Murray  Gatto admitted making the transition to standup comedy was a challenging one.

In some respect, I was lucky, he explained. While people recognized me from the 300 episodes of Impractical Jokers that I appeared in, they knew me as myself. I never played a character because I was always just Joe.

To be fair, the Gatto from Impractical Jokers could be over-the-top. After all, his best known gags from the TruTV series involved dressing up like a genie or a mer-man or gobbling up food from the plates of strangers.

The reason Impractical Jokers has worked so well is because we were never mean-spirited, he said. On other hidden camera comedy shows, it is the unsuspecting victim who is being made fun of. On our show, it is either me or Sal or Brian or Murr who were the goat of the gag.

And often in the case of Gatto, it sometimes meant appearing scantily attired.

If you got it, flaunt it, the admittedly portly Gatto noted.

However, Gatto announced he was leaving Impractical Jokers at the end of 2021 for personal reasons.

While he left the show on good terms, he needed to fix his marriage.

However, due to some issues in my personal life, I had to step away. Bessy and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible kids, Gatto said at the time.

Two years later, Gatto and his wife have reconciled and continue to raise their daughter Milana and son Remington in Glen Head, Long Island.

My Impractical Jokers schedule took me away from my family too often, he said. With my standup show, Ill be working weekends but Ill be home with the kids during the work week.

Joe Gatto 2 Comedian Joe Gatto has recently started "Gatto Pups & Friends," a nonprofit organization facilitating the adoption of senior and disabled dogs.

Gattos less restrictive itinerary also allows him to work on behalf of causes he believes in.

That includes his involvement in several antibullying organizations as well as in the nonprofit Gatto Pups and Friends, which advocates for the Adopt, Dont Shop movement, facilitating adoptions for senior or disabled dogs.

He even has time to do a popular iHeart Radio Podcast called Two Cool Moms, with fellow comedian Steve Byrne.

Steve grew up with a cool mom and my mom is very crazy, very Italian and very cool, Gatto said. Together, Steve and I dispense all of the wisdom our moms have shared with us.

OK, now that hes mentioned it, what is the best advice Gattos mom ever gave him?

Thats an easy one, he said. Mom told me to surround myself with quality people. Sal, Brian and Murr werent just my Impractical Jokers friends. Our friendship goes all the way back to the days when we were classmates at Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island more than 30 years ago.

You dont remain close to people like that for so long if they werent quality, Gatto added.

With that in mind, would Gatto ever consider a return to Impractical Jokers?

Of course, Ill never say never, he said. Though Im very happy doing standup right now.

For one thing, Gatto no longer needs to dress up like a mermaid any more.

In my standup show, Im a storyteller, he said. I dont have to do the crazy stunts to get a laugh.

Gatto does note that crazy things still happen to him on a daily basis.

Before each show, Ill take a walking tour of whatever city Im in, he explained. I might swing by a mom-and-pop coffee shop, meeting with people.

Sometimes, the best comedy comes from connecting with people while youre doing a coffee run, Gatto continued. Who knows? That material may end up in my show a few hours later.

Hmm, this sounds very practical for a guy who used to make his living by being impractical.

Like I said, my life has always bene crazy, Gatto maintained. Thats what I like about it.
Dear Prudence is Slates advice column. Submit questions here. (Its anonymous!)

Dear Prudence,

Last month, I shrunk a pair of socks in the wash and they came out so hilariously small that I actually laughed out loud. I posted them on social media compared my and my husbands normal size socks along with the caption Wow, what a change! Im in tears lmao! My family thought this was a pregnancy announcement. When I checked the group chat, I had to dash everyones hopes and also reach out to my sister who is very sensitive about baby stuff because of her recent miscarriage.

But then I found out I actually am pregnant. I have infrequent periods, so it wasnt until I started to get symptoms that I realized what was happening, took a test, and went in for an ultrasound. Im over three months pregnant and starting to show. My husband and I are both excited and nervous, and cant wait to welcome this little one into our lives. Were going to be seeing family soon. How do I handle this? I was actually pregnant at the time I posted that, so it will seem like I was doing this for attention. In my and my familys defense, Ive always been a bit of a ham. This is something I would have done in the past but I mellowed out after I turned 25 (Im now over 30). How do I navigate this, especially with my sister?

Oh Baby

Dear Oh Baby,

This is very funny. It just is. And you need to lean into that. It can be a story that people tell for years to come! But first, your sister: Call her or talk to her in person. Theres no way around her eventually finding out that youre pregnant, so you need to tell her your news but also ask questions: How are you doing around baby stuff? How can I make this easier on you? What can I say to the rest of the family about discussing my pregnancy, or not discussing it during our visit? Would it be easier to keep this off the group chat? It sounds like its pretty early, so it would be totally reasonable for you to keep the news to yourself in the immediate future and save her from that whole spectacle. Then reach out to people with your So you wont believe this there is a pretty wild development in the shrunken sock saga  story a little down the line.

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Give Prudie a Hand in Were Prudence

Sometimes even Prudence needs a little help. This weeks tricky situation is below. Submit your comments about how to approach the situation here to Jenee, and then look back for the final answer here on Friday.

Dear Prudence,

My 12-year-old stepson is scaring me. He has violent outbursts over minor instances like losing a video game or being asked to clean his room. He has already wrecked his TV and Switch and left a dent in the wall when it wasnt magically replaced. His mother cant handle him anymore so he is with us 24/7. I am pregnant and a stay at home mom to a 3-year-old meaning, I am often left alone with my stepson while my husband is at work. I feel like I am walking on eggshells and waiting for his next outburst. Counseling isnt helping, and last week he screamed in my face while I was holding my toddler because asked him to clean off his muddy shoes before coming in. My husband feels helpless. He says we cant send his son away but the professional help we are getting isnt enough. He is getting into fights at school and I am worried what is going to happen when he is expelled and home with me all day. I am honestly thinking of packing up and moving out of state to my mothers until my husband has this handled but I know it will be the end of my marriage. Help please.

Afraid

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Dear Prudence,

My mother always encouraged me to follow my interests and not get trapped in what society thinks a woman needs to be (make up, heels, etc). She was my biggest cheerleader when I was getting my masters degree, but now that I am married, the only topic on hand is when am I giving her grandbabies! My husband and I are leaning towards a no on the subject between the goals we want to achieve and our own difficulties, but the persistence of my mother is driving me straight to no way in hell.

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She will not drop the subject to matter how much I ask, ignore, or redirect. Conversations with her leave me exhausted and feeling hunted. She goes between the most blanket lies like she will raise the baby for us to the most ridiculous like having a baby is a solid retirement plan! I had to go on several walks during Thanksgiving because I was so fed up with the subject, and I didnt want to cause a fight. My mother is someone I used to talk to every other day, and now I just duck her calls because I know what the subject will be. It is like she doesnt love me anymorenot my virtues, not my vices; Im just a vessel for grandchildren. What do I do here?

Good Enough

Dear Good Enough,

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Your mom deserves to know that these conversations are upsetting you, and you deserve a break from them. Not to mention, Im sure you want the ability to make a final decision about children thats not shaped by being antagonized by your mother? The next time she brings up her fantasies about all the ways in which her imaginary grandchild will improve your life and hers, say something like this:

Mom, were actually leaning toward not having children. I know thats hard for you to hear because youd really like a grandchild. Can I ask you not to bring it up to me anymore? Its stressful for me, and it also hurts my feelings because youve always been so supportive of me, and now it seems like this thing I havent done yet and may never do is your main focus. Id like us to get back to talking more because I value our relationship, and if I know I wont have to talk about this issue, that would help a lot.

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Dear Prudence,

My boyfriend has constantly been reaching out to other girls the entirety of our relationshipI found this out because we used to have passwords to each others phones. The first time I caught him, I decided the interactions werent that worrisome. But recently he changed passwords. Even so, I found out he has been talking to an ex, telling her shes beautiful and how he used to want to marry her. He also plans to meet her when theyre in the same city. I am so nervous about all of this, but he just blames me for having invaded his privacy on his phone. Is he right? What should I do?

Anxious and Afraid

Dear Anxious,

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Im disappointed in him. Not just for emotional infidelity (if not more), but for using a cheating tactic thats as old as the invention of cellular phone technology: Shifting the blame for infidelity to the person who snooped and discovered it. All the worst people do this. Dont fall for it. He wants to marry someone else (which by the way is a big problem on its own!), hes a hypocrite, and hes not even competent enough to spin a story that covers his tracks. Even if you end up deciding that you can live without a 100 percent commitment to monogamy, you can do better with someone else.

More Advice From Slate

I am a marginally successful writer, which means family members often send me material to read, usually asking how they can publish it. I never relish these requests, but I try to be polite. I now find myself in a situation that I could not have predicted. Last year, my aunt announced her intention to become a celebrated playwright. She has now written her first play, which she sent to me unsolicited along with the request/demand that I give her an honest opinion and pass it along to my agent. (I told her my agent does not represent work written for the stage, but my aunt is undeterred by this complication.) Of course I procrastinated, but after several weeks of brushing off increasingly hectoring emails from my aunt, I finally forced myself to read her play. I was shocked.
Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a momentous case: whether former President Donald Trump can be removed from state ballots under the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment for having engaged in insurrection. The question is unprecedented, and the high court (and the public) may or may not agree with the Colorado Supreme Courts disqualification of the former president. But there should be no disagreement about this: Pressing the question is not antithetical to democracy, as former Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday. Rather, it is in the best tradition of American democracy to ask if the Constitution applies hereand to enforce it if it does.

The Colorado courts found that Trumps role in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol constituted engaging in insurrection under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Indeed, every judicial fact finder to reach the question has agreed, including the Maine secretary of state, and a majority of the House and Senate concluded Trump incited the insurrection. They are in our view correct: As we have explained in our scholarship, Jan. 6 was an insurrection, Trump was a central part of it, and so the law and the facts clearly favor disqualification.

Those conclusions are hardly partisan; in fact, leading conservative legal scholars and lawyers applying traditionally conservative tools of interpretation have provided the intellectual foundations for disqualification. They have persuasively demonstrated that Section 3 applies to the presidency and is self-executing and thus does not require congressional action for enforcement.

As Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and upheld Colorados decision to prohibit a non-natural-born citizen from the presidential ballot, states have a legitimate interest in protecting the integrity and practical functioning of the political process. Originalism, textualism, states rightsthese are the bedrock principles of the conservative legal movement, and these approaches all suggest that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applies to Trump. Justice Gorsuch and his colleagues on the Supreme Court will now have to resolve these pointed legal issues.

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The justices have undoubtedly begun wrestling with the broader question of whether it offends our democracy to disqualify Trump. America certainly has. Critics of the disqualification clause have argued that applying Section 3 is inherently anti-democratic. For example, a respected GOP state official who has been lauded for his refusal to help Trump overturn that states presidential election results penned an op-ed criticizing the disqualification cases. Voters should decide elections, wrote Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Invoking the 14th Amendment is merely the newest way of attempting to short-circuit the ballot box.

This argument mistakenly conflates states efforts to enforce the Constitution with the election interference and voter disenfranchisement Trump and his acolytes have perpetuated. In a democracy, the will of the people is expressed by the laws enacted by democratic meansas Section 3 was. Following the Civil War, supermajorities in both chambers of Congress passed the 14th Amendment, and the states ratified it. They chose to weave this safeguard into Americas foundational fabric rather than rely on voters in individual elections to decide whether ex-Confederate officers should be allowed to serve. The 14th Amendment permanently enshrines in the Constitution the privileges and protections of democracy.

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Moreover, Section 3 of that amendment is merely one of many qualifications the Constitution imposes on who can be president. We do not feel those are anti-democratic, and the same is true here. Republicans arent caterwauling that its an anti-democratic travesty that they cant vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger for president because he is foreign-born, and Democrats arent complaining that Rep. Maxwell Frost is ineligible to be a candidate in the 2024 presidential election because he is under age 35. Enforcing the disqualification clause is no different.

Indeed, these other restrictions are far less essential to our democratic republic than the one contained in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Of course the Constitution prevents anyone from serving as president who has previously attempted to overthrow the government they would be leading. An insurrectionist in the Oval Office would be far more dangerous than a President Schwarzenegger or a 28-year-old President Frostand would pose a uniquely existential threat to the country.

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In addition to disqualifying anyone who engaged in insurrection from serving as president, one of the most important limitations on the presidency is that an individual cannot serve more than two terms. By the logic of those concerned that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is anti-democratic, so too is the 22nd Amendment, which establishes that term limit. Yet no one is decrying as anti-democratic the fact that we cannot vote for George W. Bush or Barack Obama for a third term.

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Conversely, by enforcing the 14th Amendment we are reinforcing the 22ndand the rest of the Constitution. Donald Trump has explicitly begun musing about running for a third term in 2028 if he wins this yearclaiming that since the 2020 election was stolen from him, hes entitled to terminate all rules in the Constitution and take an extra term as recompense. While the notion may seem ridiculous, recall that many scoffed at concerns that Trump would attempt to hold on to power even if he lost the 2020 election. A democracy works only when its rules are enforced consistently, irrespective of whether doing so is controversial or easy. Flouting the Constitution when it clearly applies is anti-democratic.

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The idea that voters should decide elections should not mean that judges and other state officials are powerless to uphold candidate eligibility laws. Those officials play a critical role in the functioning of our democracy. They have excluded candidates who violate basic eligibility qualifications in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The judges and officials making the decisions in Colorado and Maine are no different, and their decisionsregardless of how they ruleare pro-democracy so long as they are faithful to the rule of law.

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At least one person who engaged in the Jan. 6 insurrection has already been disqualified under Section 3. Although a major-party candidate for president has never been disqualified, there is nothing as democratic as applying the law equally to both an ex-president and every other American.

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Additionally, claims that using a constitutional interpretation to remove anybody from the ballot is going to be a dangerous precedent are misguided. Upholding the Colorado decision would not create a wide-ranging precedent that could be used to disqualify any candidate. The decision was narrowly tailored to Colorados election code and the evidence supporting the trial courts findings that Trump engaged in insurrection. A candidate would have to have engaged in insurrection comparable to the violent effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election led by Donald Trump. No presidential candidates conduct since the passage of the 14th Amendment has ever come close to that definition of insurrection, and hopefully the country will not face such a threat again.

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Even if an avalanche of red-state officials try to, say, remove Joe Biden from the ballot in retaliationas one has already threatened to do in Missourithe federal judiciary is more than equipped to recognize and knock down such efforts. One of the primary purposes of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was to prevent the recurrence of insurrections. Thus, by enforcing the provision, the court would help fortify the country against anti-democratic forces that work to subvert the will of the people. Also, it would paralyze our democracy if government officials hesitated to properly apply the law for fear that other officials may retaliate by misapplying the law for political reasons.

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Concerns that Trump should not be disqualified by an ambiguous clause are also spurious. Arguing that it is not democratically appropriate to have the U.S. Supreme Court interpret the Constitution in the absence of any public debate is illogical. Judges do not poll the public before interpreting the law, and federal courts have been interpreting Constitutional ambiguities since the Supreme Court established the principle of judicial review in 1803. After all, if a law is not ambiguous, theres little need for the Supreme Court to interpret it. Throughout history, the Supreme Court has hardly shied away from forcefully deciding Constitutional ambiguities in vitally important contexts.

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It is impossible to predict what the court will do here. It may or may not agree with us about the meaning of the 14th Amendment or its application to Trump. Whether it can achieve unanimity around a justifiable holding or whether it veers into a divided Dobbs-like MAGA manipulation will be telling. But evaluating Trumps candidacy in good faith under the disqualification clause is not antithetical to our democracy. To the contrary, government striving to uphold the laws adopted by the people is our democracy. It is failing to honestly interpret and apply the disqualification clause that would be undemocratic for the courtand for us all.
When the terrorist group ISIS took credit for killing 84 Iranians in a two-man suicide bombing last week, many news consumers probably reacted by asking themselves, ISIS? Are those guys still around?

From 201517, the group, also known as ISIL and the Islamic State group, had savagely ruled 12 million people in a swath of northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria that its leaders declared to be a caliphate. But then, after intense fighting, a coalition led by U.S., Iraqi, and Kurdish troops ousted the militiamen from their final holdout in the Iraqi town of Mosul.* By 2019, its scattered bands of followers elsewhere in Asia, as well as a few in Europe, folded as well, and that seemed to be the end of the groups sordid story.

Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a phone conversation this week that the group has since diminished further, focusing on hyperlocalized operations, since its regional and global ambitions ended in disaster. But, he emphasized, it didnt vanish entirely, and its members or acolytes have, now and then, proved themselves capable of devastating, if random, destruction.

The Jan. 3 attack took place at the gravesite of Qassim Suleimani, the leader of Irans military and terrorist operations throughout the Middle East, on the fourth anniversary of his assassination. (He was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdads airport in Iraq.) ISIS, a Sunni Muslim group, views Shiite Muslims, such as Irans leaders, as apostates in need of killing. Suleimanis memorial, which gathered hundreds of devout Shiites in one concentrated area, was a ripe target. (In addition to the 84 killed, another 284 were injured.)

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It is not known how the two ISIS agents, armed with belts of explosives, infiltrated the crowd. Hoffman thinks they probably crossed the border from Afghanistan, where the group has its largest chapter, known as ISIS-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K. That group consists of somewhere between 1,500 and 4,000 fighters, many of whom regularly engage in fighting against the countrys Taliban rulers.

At first Iran blamed Israel for the bombing at Suleimanis gravesitean unlikely claim, as Israels attacks inside Iran have been targeted assassinations, for instance against nuclear scientists. When ISIS publicly took credit, Irans state news media claimed that ISIS had taken orders from Israel, a risible charge that Iranian leaders almost certainly dont believe themselves.

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ISIS-K has conducted operations in Iran before. In 2022, a gunman killed 15 Iranian Shiites at a shrine in Shiraz. In 2018, gunmen killed 25 people attending a military parade in Ahvaz. In 2017, a gunman fired shots inside the parliament in Tehran, while simultaneously, suicide bombers killed 17 people near the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Irans clerical state.

The groups most ambitious attack took place in Sri Lanka on Easter in 2019, when ISIS (or perhaps ISIS-inspired) terrorists exploded backpack suicide bombs in four hotels and three churches, killing more than 260 people, including five American citizens.

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However, none of these attacks set off any sequels or wider revivals. They were one-off acts of mass violence, having no political effect other than to show that ISIS still exists.

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ISIS-K has spread to nearly all provinces in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021, mounting at least 334 attacks that year, up from just 60 the year before. Elsewhere, though, the group has little to show for itself. According to Hoffmans research, it has a few thousand followers in Syria and Iraq, a shadow of its former selfabout 500 ISIS-related fighters in Egypt, 200 in the Philippines, and fewer than 100 in Libya.

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Al-Qaida, another terrorist group that seems to have disappeared, is a bit more active, with between 7,000 and 12,000 fighters in Somalia, a few thousand in Syria, another few thousand in the Arabian Peninsula, and between 180 and 400 in the Indian subcontinent. It too is engaged more in local attacks than in regional, much less global, operations.

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Related From Slate Why the Secretary of Defenses Mysterious Disappearance Means He Needs to Go Read More

For this reason, terrorism is seen as little more than a blip on the radar screens of U.S. military and intelligence chiefs, who are preoccupied these days with more conventional threats posed by Russia, China, North Korea, and state-sponsored terroristssuch as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthislinked to Iran.

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Still, stateside incidents do pop up; for instance the 2019 attack by an agent of al-Qaida Arabian Peninsula, who killed three U.S. service members and wounded eight others at a naval air base in Pensacola, Florida. Hoffman thinks that U.S. officials have stepped back a little too far from monitoring foreign terrorists. Then again, he is more worried now about domestic terrorism, as indicated in the title of his new book, just out this month, God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America.
Board Member Robert Scarfo assures members of the community attending the board meeting and those viewing via live stream that the Humble ISD board will not leave it up to the parents and community to make the decision for the district in light of Gov. Abbott's executive order in Humble, TX on March 9, 2021. Hillory Broussard / Contributor Board Vice President Martina Dixon speaks during a Humble ISD board meeting March 9, 2021, in Humble, Texas. She expressed her gratitude for district's continued success in following the CDC's safety protocols regarding the cleaning requirements within Humble ISD reducing the number of positive cases. Hillory Broussard

Humble Independent School district trustees narrowly rejected a proposal Tuesday night that called for a discussion of overhauling how board members are elected in the fast-growing district of nearly 48,000 students north of Houston.

Trustee Martina Lemond Dixon asked for a public hearing to consider moving to a five single-member district and a two at-large trustee system, rather than its all at-large seat current configuration. But in a quick 4-3 vote, the motion failed without explanation.

Board President Robert Scarfo and trustees Ken Kirchhofer, Michael Grabowski and Chris Parker opposed the motion, while trustees Lemond Dixon, Marques Holmes and Robert Sitton voted in favor.

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When reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, Scarfo said he voted against the motion because he believes anyone running to serve as a trustee must appeal to all voters of the district. They must be committed to serving the needs of all students/constituents, and not just those in certain geographic areas.

Lemond Dixon said she created the motion to ensure geographic diversity on the board as Humble ISD reaches 50,000 students. Its a common strategy for larger districts, she said.

From my perspective as a board member, were supposed to think about the big picture, Lemond Dixon said. I think it is worth a conversation about what people throughout the district think of this.

Sitton also spoke in favor of the public hearing, although he was not sold on whether single-member districts were the way forward.

I do think with the growth that we had and the diversity we now have in our district, its definitely something we should at least consider, he said.

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Traditionally, Sitton said he does not believe in single-member districts because he felt all trustees should be elected to serve every member of the district. But he said problems arise when there are factions on the board, or when some members dont have the best interest of all students at heart. He clarified that he didnt know if the district was there yet, or if it would ever be, but that it was worth at least a conversation.

Speakers at Humble ISDs public comment said that system may foster regional divisiveness and that low turnout elections might have undue influence on the board and could expose the district to civil lawsuits.

In Spring Branch ISD, there has been an ongoing lawsuit brought by resident Virginia Elizondo accusing the district of violating the Voting Rights Act by having all at-large districts. The suit has not yet reached a decision.

A speaker in favor of the proposal, Eric Lacy, said that it may improve outcomes for students in economically disadvantaged situations alongside having a more localized focus for trustees, increasing community involvement and having decision making that is more responsive to the community at-hand.

Trustee Lemond Dixon did not immediately return a request for comment.
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When it comes to business cards, theres a vast world of choices and business card examples to inspire your creativity. You can choose a standard design, often appreciated for its professional and timeless appearance, or get creative and make your own unique statement piece.

Whether you decide to stick with the basics or add extra details, textures, or colors that resonate with your brand, theres no shortage of ways to make your card stand out from the crowd.

In this guide, well explore 28 examples of amazing designs for business cards, showcasing a variety of styles that suit different professions and personal tastes.

Examples of Professional Business Cards

Below well be sharing 28 professional business card examples that you can use as business card ideas when designing your own:

1. Chomp

This company cleverly made their business cards match their brand by literally taking a chomp out of each one. This is a great way to make your business cards stand out and get noticed.

2. Cardfetti

These business cards from Confetti Studio have a stunning confetti side, with the other side displaying their important business information. This is a great way to add some fun and personality to your business cards.

3. Saxony Title Group

This business card designed by Elegant Press is also a business card holder giving their client a way to share their business information in a unique and genius way.

Cleaning Business Card Examples

If youre looking to create a professional business card design for a cleaning business, then check out these two examples.

4. Empire Service Company

Their business cards have the Empire State Building on them, which compliments their business name perfectly. What a great way to stand out.

5. Captain Clean & Crew

This professional business card matches the business name really well. They even kept the text consistent with their slogan Keeping Home & Office Ship-Shape! This is a great way to make your business cards memorable and on-brand.

Construction Business Card Examples

Lets take a look at some really great examples of business cards for construction companies.

6. Craft Master Construction

This design by Plastic Printers is tough, rugged, and heavy-duty, which is very fitting for a construction company. How could you not remember this business card?

7. Custom Shaped Business Cards

This design mimics a clipboard that you would see a foreman on a job site using. Such a genius and clever idea.

Landscaping Business Card Examples

Next, lets take a look at a couple of awesome examples of landscaping business cards. These designs are sure to give you some inspiration when designing your own.

8. Calis Finest Landscaping

Heres a clean design by David Krasniy that clearly shows the companys contact information along with some services they offer. Potential clients will have no problem getting in touch with this company.

9. 5 Star Landscaping

Fivenson Studios designed this business card that shows the business contact info and a few services on the front, and all of their services on the back. This is a smart way to use the space on your business card effectively.

Photography Business Card Examples

Lets take a looks at a couple of creative and professional business cards in photography.

10. Photo Wagon



Heres a cute design by Emily Holt that has all of the necessary information in the front, and a great picture of Photo Wagons business on wheels. This makes for a great conversation starter.

11. Collage Business Card

This business card shows off the photographers talent by displaying a collage of their photography skills. Such a great way to stand out from other photographers.

Real Estate Business Card Examples

Here are a couple of business cards from the lucrative world of real estate. Use these examples as inspiration when designing your own business cards.

12. KearnsPaara

This business card looks sleek, clean, and professional. It has a really creative logo on one side with the real estate agents information on the other side. They made sure to create a design that will leave a lasting impression on potential clients.

13. King of Condos

This awesome design really stands out from the usual, boring business card. Instead of using the same old, boring standard size, they used a cut-out style business card which is much more memorable. Great way to get noticed.

Hair Stylist Business Card Examples

Below well take a look at some stylish business card designs for hair stylists. These business cards are sure to give you some inspiration when designing your own.

14. Creative Zone Barber Shop

Sudip Sen Gupta designed this perfectly themed business card for the Creative Zone Barber Shop. Its the perfect design with so many elements that work really well together.

15. Hair By Moran

This stylish design by Emily Lynn Caulfield fits in perfectly for this hairstylist. Its stylish, chic, and modern with great use of color. Perfect for any hair salon or stylist.

Handyman Business Card Examples

Here are two good-looking examples of handyman business cards. They both communicate the companys message clearly and effectively.

16. Renonations

Milos Djuric designed this business card which is simple, clean and has an awesome logo. The backside shows the companys info very clearly so their potential customers can get in touch easily.

17. Austin Patchs Handyman Services

This design has a professional logo on the front along with important information showing this handyman is licensed and insured. On the back, you can see all of their handyman services.

Artist Business Card Examples

Lets see what a couple of great-looking business cards for artists look like. Notice how they both effectively communicate the artists message and style.

18. DestinyBlue

Heres an anime artist who created this amazing art piece to add to her business card. She did a great job of incorporating her art style into her business card to give potential clients a taste of her work.

19. Haizeel bin Hashnan

This Malaysian artist created this awesome logo for his personal business card that shows off his great artistic abilities to prospective clients. Its such a dramatic and eye-catching design.

Massage Therapist Business Card Examples

If youre a massage therapist, then take a look at these professional business card examples.

20. Leetra Robertson

M5 Design Studio created this business card design which does a great job of explaining to prospective clients the type of relaxing environment they can expect from this massage therapist.

21. Jordan Brown



With this business card, the client had it designed with a backside that can be used to write down appointment details for their customers.

Realtor Business Card Examples

These realtor business cards below are great examples of how you could design yours.

22. Jones & Co. Realty

Heres a business card that highlights this realtors strength by highlighting the word SOLD.

23. Brixwood

Cristian-Popescu designed this busy, but a professional-looking business card that has a unique style and all of the important info a potential client would need.

Creative Business Card Examples

If youre looking to design a creative business card, here are three designs you can use as inspiration.

24. Garage Culture

Heres an awesome example of a truly creative business card designed by Rodrigo Cuberas. It will definitely be memorable to anyone who sees it.

25. Nymbl

This creative business card for Nymbl really stands out with its purple color and looks unique with one hole on each end.

26. Lush

This creative business card design does double duty, acting as a seed pouch as well. Its perfectly designed for lawn and property management company Lush. It has all of the necessary information and holds valuable content for the recipient.

READ MORE: Pimped Out Business Cards

Etsy Business Card Examples

Here are a couple of professionally designed business card designs from Etsy sellers.

READ MORE: Digital Business Card App

27. Digital Business Card & Business Card Bundle

Take your marketing game to the next level by having not only a professional business card but a digital version of it as well.

28. Holographic Glitter Watercolor Modern Business Card

Heres a beautifully designed business card template that can be used in a variety of industries. It can be used in the beauty niche, the art world, and more.

Why Business Cards are So Important

Professional business cards serve as a pivotal tool in the corporate and entrepreneurial world. They are essential for making a good first impression, a small yet impactful gesture when meeting someone for the first time.

In an era where networking is key, these cards act as a bridge for keeping in touch with clients, potential partners, and even prospective employers.

A well-designed card isnt just about aesthetics; it communicates a clear message about who you are, your role, what services or products you offer, and most importantly, how one can reach you.

Think of it as a mini-billboard in your pocket; while compact, it effectively advertises and reinforces your professional brand in the mind of the holder.

In a world overflowing with digital communications, a tangible business card still holds significant weight, standing as a testament to your professional identity.

READ MORE: Places That Make Business Cards

What to Include on a Business Card

A business card is more than just your contact information. Its a tangible representation of your brand and your professional identity. So what should you include in your professional business card design?

Company logo. The logo of your company should be front and center on your business card. Its one of the first things people will notice, so make sure its professionally designed and prominently displayed.

Job title. Your job title should be clear and concise. Avoid using acronyms or abbreviations that people might not understand. Also, be sure to include your title on both the front and back of your business card.

Brand name. In addition to your company logo, be sure to include your brand name on your business card. This will help people remember your brand and associate it with your business.

Tagline or slogan. You may want to include a brief tagline or slogan that sums up what your business is all about. This can be a great way to make a lasting impression.

Social media handles. Include your social media handles (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) on your business card so people can connect with you online. Being active on social media is a great way to build relationships and grow your business.

Contact details. This includes your name, company name, website, email address, and phone number. This information should be easy to find and displayed clearly so its easy to read.

Images or graphics. A simple image or graphic can make your business card more memorable and help it stand out from the rest.

Make it high-quality. Dont forget to use high-quality paper and printing techniques. After all, first impressions count.

For your reference, heres a table showing the essential elements every impactful business card should possess:



Essential Element Description Company Logo Front and center display, should be professionally designed Job Title Clear, no acronyms or abbreviations, displayed on both sides Brand Name Helps in brand recall Tagline/Slogan Sums up the business, adds a memorable touch Social Media Handles Connects online presence, fosters relationships Contact Details Name, company name, website, email, and phone Images/Graphics Makes the card memorable, could be related to services or products offered Quality Premium paper and printing techniques enhance the card's impression

READ MORE: Simple Business Card

The Role of Company Logo

The company logo on your business card acts as the centerpiece of your brand identity. It should be prominent and reflect your businesss ethos. A well-designed logo can communicate the nature of your business and its core values without the need for excessive text. Ensure that the logo is clear and easily recognizable, maintaining consistency across all your branding materials.

Significance of a Clear Job Title

Your job title on the business card serves as a concise introduction to your professional role. It should be easily understandable, avoiding jargon or acronyms that might confuse the recipient. A clear job title not only defines your position but also helps in setting the tone for the kind of professional relationship you might offer.

Incorporating Brand Name Effectively

Alongside the company logo, your brand name is a vital component of your business card. It should be distinct and easily readable. The font and size should complement the logo and not overpower it. This ensures that your brand name is memorable and reinforces brand recognition every time someone glances at your card.

Utilizing Tagline or Slogan

A tagline or slogan on your business card can be a powerful tool for brand messaging. It should encapsulate the essence of your business in a few words. This brief statement can make your card (and by extension, your business) more memorable. Choose a tagline that is catchy, relevant, and aligns with your brands values and mission.

Adding Social Media Handles

In todays digital age, including social media handles on your business card is a strategic move. It encourages networking and provides an additional platform for professional interactions. Ensure that these handles are updated and lead to active social media profiles that reflect your professional brand.

Importance of Contact Details

The primary purpose of a business card is to provide contact details. These should be presented clearly and concisely. The font should be legible, and the layout should be uncluttered. Include essential contact information like your name, position, company name, email address, phone number, and website.

Incorporating Images or Graphics

The use of images or graphics can make your business card visually appealing and help convey your brands story. Choose images that are relevant to your business and resonate with your brands style. Be mindful not to overcrowd the card, as this can detract from the primary information.

Choosing High-Quality Materials

The material and print quality of your business card reflect on your brands image. Opt for high-quality paper and printing techniques to ensure your card feels professional and leaves a lasting impression. The texture, weight, and finish of the card can significantly influence how it is perceived.

How much does it cost to make your own business card?

How much youre going to invest in your business card is a question that many professionals ponder.

On average, individuals spend around $194 on their cards. However, this is a broad spectrum, with costs spanning anywhere from a mere $10 for basic designs to a whopping $500 for intricate, premium quality cards.

These costs fluctuate based on various factors. Primarily, the quality of materials used, the intricacy of the design you select, and the reputation and pricing structure of the printing company play significant roles.

Its essential to remember that a business card is an investment in ones professional image. Thus, considering quality alongside the budget is crucial.

What is the best business card format?

When diving into the realm of business card designs, the format is a crucial aspect to contemplate. The most universally accepted and recommended format is akin in size to a standard credit card.

Such a size is not only convenient to hold but also slides effortlessly into wallets or cardholders, ensuring that your contact always has your details on hand.

However, the world of business card design is vast and offers room for creativity. For those who wish to break away from the traditional mold, there are alternative styles to explore.

This includes square-shaped cards, which can be quite eye-catching, or opting for a vertical orientation to stand out.

Rounded corners offer another twist on the classic design, providing a modern touch.

When selecting a format, its vital to consider both aesthetics and practicality, ensuring your card not only looks great but also serves its primary function seamlessly.
The world of small business ownership can often feel daunting, especially when it comes to operating your business in multiple states.

This is a particularly complex area that can stir confusion and misunderstanding, making it feel like youre expected to be proficient in areas like tax and state law, even though your primary expertise might lie elsewhere.

When your company, initially established in a single state of incorporation or LLC formation, begins to expand its reach and conducts business activities in additional states, it encounters new layers of legalities.

According to legal guidelines, it becomes necessary to register your business in these other states.

This process, officially referred to as foreign qualification, ensures your business is in compliance with each states unique laws and regulations where it conducts operations.

For example

You have a restaurant in Florida and decide to expand into Georgia and South Carolina. Once you have locations open in those states, youre doing business there and will need to file a foreign qualification in both Georgia and South Carolina.

You incorporated your business as a Delaware LLC, but are physically located in New York. Youll need to file a foreign qualification to conduct business in New York. (For this reason, its often best for small companies with fewer than five shareholders to incorporate in their home state.)

You live in Washington and your business partner lives in California. You incorporated your company in Washington, but recently your partner has been finding and meeting with the bulk of your clients near his home in California. Youll need to file a foreign qualification in California.

Youre a consultant who performs the majority of your work online, with clients in multiple states. In this case, you do not need to file a foreign qualification. Just because youre making money from clients in other states doesnt mean youre transacting business there, according to the law.

What is meant by doing business?

This question may seem simple on the surface, but in todays increasingly mobile and virtual world, the definition can be complex and multifaceted.

With businesses able to operate across state lines or even internationally through digital means, its not always clear-cut what constitutes doing business in a specific jurisdiction.

The traditional definition has been expanded and now encapsulates a range of activities which may not be immediately apparent.

If you find yourself uncertain about whether your particular business operations require foreign qualification, it is highly recommended to seek professional advice from your attorney or accountant.

They possess the necessary expertise to navigate the intricacies of state laws and can provide specific advice tailored to your situation.

Before reaching out for professional advice, it can be useful to start by asking yourself some general questions. These can provide an initial insight into whether you might need to consider foreign qualification:

Does your LLC or corporation operate out of any physical presence in the state (i.e. office or retail store)?

Are you frequently conducting in-person meeting with clients in the state (and not just conducting business via email/phone)?

Does a significant portion of your companys revenue come from the state?

Do any of your employees work in the state? Do you pay state payroll taxes?

Did you apply for a business license in the state?

If you answered yes to any of these, your business may need to file a foreign qualification in the appropriate state.

The following table presents a checklist to help determine whether your business activities might be considered as doing business in a state, beyond your state of incorporation. Depending on your answers, you may need to consider foreign qualification in those states.

Remember, this is a general guide and for a more definitive answer, its recommended to consult with a legal or accounting professional.

Checklist for "Doing Business?" Yes/No Operate out of any physical presence in the state (i.e. office or retail store)? Frequently conducting in-person meeting with clients in the state (not just via email/phone)? A significant portion of companys revenue comes from the state? Any employees work in the state? Pay state payroll taxes? Applied for a business license in the state?

What is a foreign qualification?

To register your company in another state, you will need to submit a Certificate of Authority application (sometimes its called a Statement & Designation by a Foreign Corporation) with the particular states Secretary of State office. You can download the form from the Secretary of States website or have your incorporating company handle the filing and requirements for you. Some states will require you to have a certificate of good standing from the state where your LLC/corporation was formed (which means youll need to be up to date on your state taxes, fees, etc.).

Why is a foreign qualification important?

Foreign qualifying your company in states where you conduct business is your legal obligation. Failing to properly register your company could result in:

Fines and interest for any time when you were not foreign qualified (in addition to paying the standard fees that should have been paid)

Liability for back taxes for the time when you were not foreign qualified

Inability to sue in a state where you are not registered

Securing Business Licenses and Permits

Expanding your business into new states requires securing relevant business licenses and permits, a process that varies significantly across different jurisdictions. Its crucial to research state-specific requirements and understand local ordinances to ensure compliance. This may include industry-specific licenses, health department permits, or signage permits.

Additionally, its important to be aware of the expiration dates and fees associated with these licenses and permits. Keep detailed records and set up reminders to manage renewal deadlines effectively. Also, factor in the processing time for these applications, as it can vary greatly and affect your business operation timelines.

Stay informed about changes in laws and regulations that could impact your licenses. Regular compliance checks are essential. Considering the complexity of multistate licensing, leveraging professional legal or consultancy services is often beneficial to navigate these requirements efficiently and effectively.

Final Words

When expanding your business operations, its advantageous to limit the number of states where you need to foreign qualify. This approach isnt merely about being frugal; its a strategic move aimed at simplifying your businesss administrative duties.

Each additional foreign qualification implies an increase in paperwork, filing or annual fees, and the necessity to acquaint oneself with a new set of legal obligations and regulations.

While the process might seem burdensome, its crucial to understand that its not an area that can be neglected. Foreign qualification is a legal requirement for conducting business across state lines and failing to comply could lead to serious repercussions.

Despite the upfront investment of time and resources, ensuring that your business is legally compliant with state laws will invariably be cost-effective in the long run.

Non-compliance can lead to financial penalties and legal issues that could significantly exceed the initial costs of foreign qualification.

CorpNet offers business formations, filings, state tax registrations, and corporate compliance services in all 50 states. Express and 24 hour rush filing services available upon request. Click here to learn more.
John Stephen Van Slyke, 61, of Hughesville, Maryland passed away suddenly at home.



John was born July 9, 1962, in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas to James and Gwen Van Slyke. The family moved to Maryland when John was young. He was one of three boys and was always known as the instigator.



He graduated from Friendly High School in 1980. He went on to become a master plumber. He and Michele were married in 1986 and moved to Hughesville a few years later; where they have resided since.



Often known as being one of few words and getting up before the sun to be the first person somewhere whether it be work, a destination, or just the store on a Saturday morning. If he gave you a hard time/picked on you or gave you a nickname you knew he liked you. He enjoyed antique tractors, drinking beer, and hanging out with his friends. John loved animals, the beach, and driving his trucks in the snow. Most of all he enjoyed his grandchildren.



Preceded in death by his father James Van Slyke, John is survived by his wife Michele, and Daughter Katie (Charlie). In addition his Mother Gwen Van Slyke, Brothers Gene (Amy) Van Slyke & Scot (Joyce), and grandchildren Wyatt, Ellie, Brett, Luke, and Chase. Multiple nieces, nephews, and cousins.



The family will receive friends on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. with a short service to be held at 3:00 p.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home in Charlotte Hall, Maryland. Immediately following the service, a Celebration of Life will be held at Benedict VFDRS, 18210 Hyatt Ave. Benedict, MD 20612.



In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to his grandchildren for college. The Venmo for donations is @WellsKidsCollegefund.
A much-loved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Mary Ann Jenkins (Booty), 89, of Waldorf, Maryland, passed away peacefully on January 3, 2024, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on May 1, 1934, in Washington, DC. Mary Ann was the daughter of Stanley George Mahon and Alma Mae Dovell of Warrenton, VA. She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, George Clinton Jenkins.



Mary Ann was employed by the U.S. Government for 33 years and retired in 1988. She worked for agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Naval Research Laboratory, the National Aviation and Space Administration (NASA), the Naval Oceanographic Office, and finally retired while working for the Naval Air Logistics Office at Patuxent River Naval Station.



She was a member and volunteer for the Civista Hospital Auxiliary in La Plata, MD, for 25 years assisting nurses and also bringing coffee to patients and visitors. Mary Ann was a member of the Clark Senior Center in La Plata and enjoyed taking many trips with them. She regularly attended the Waldorf Senior and Recreational Center painting class. Mary Ann was passionate about refining her skills in oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting. She was always very proud that one of her paintings hung in the Charles County Government Building. Mary Ann's paintings also won many awards and ribbons at the Charles County Fair. She was also very active with the Creative Writing Group and also authored seven published books of fiction.



Mary Ann has been a long-standing and loyal member of the Calvary Chapel Southern Maryland, where she generously shared her time and supported many activities.



She was very proud of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Mary Ann always enjoyed spending every minute she could with family and close friends.



Mary Ann is survived by her loving children, Marjorie Lynn Flerlage (Fred); George Steven Jenkins (Vicki); Linda Marlene Riddle (Ron); grandchildren: Clinton Jenkins (Katie), Aaron Jenkins (Katie), Katlyn Lecorchick (Nick), Courtney Flerlage, Casey Flerlage (Melissa), Ryan Riddle, Joshua Riddle, and her seven great-grandchildren.



The family will receive friends for the visitation on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm with a Celebration of Life Service from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm at Brinsfield Funeral Home, 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622. Interment will follow at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery Chapel, 11301 Crain Highway, Cheltenham, MD.



In lieu of flowers, Mary Ann requested donations be sent to Tunnel to Towers Foundation, 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306, or to Calvary Chapel Southern Maryland.
Mr. William Halstead, a Calvert County high school teacher passed away on the night of January 8th, 2024. Mr. Halstead was born in East Liverpool Ohio, located in Columbiana County on March 22nd, 1942 to Dora Cain Halstead and James Turner Halstead. Some 16 months later they gave him a sister Donna Jean Halstead Cole. Soon after his mother Dora, had his sister EvaJane while their father moved to San Diego, California. James joined the marine corps and fought in World War II in the Pacific.



Mr. Halstead attended school Buchanan in Hanover County, Pa. and a larger school in Potter Township. He graduated from South Side High School in Hookstown, PA. in 1960, and started college at California State College in PA. that fall. While attending college he met his future wife Joyce Taylor. While a senior at California State College William was interviewed by Calvert County Public Schools principal Jessie Starkey and after visiting Calvert County and the modern looking Calvert High he accepted an offer of $5000 to teach there. Mr. Halstead received a national science foundation grant to attend Graduate school at University Santa Clara, California which he completed during the first five summers while he was not teaching. Joyce attended University of San Jose State for five summers to increase her educational prowess in elementary education.



Mr. Halstead moved to Calvert County in late August of 1964 in a 1960 Ford falcon with 3 suits of clothes, a few white shirts, and suitcase full of pencils. After overcoming a period of home sickness, he relished the new excitement of living near the Chesapeake.



William married Joyce Taylor on February 5th, 1966 in Carmichaels Pennsylvania and they have been married for the last 57 years, living in Prince Frederick Maryland for most of the time. He taught mathematics and computer science for 32 years in Calvert County split between Calvert High School and the new Northern High School when it opened. Mr. Halstead will be missed by many family members and friends.


Some developers are changing plans, others see the market situation as an opportunity.

Some developers are changing plans and instead of offices build flats. (Source: Sme - Jozef Jakubco)

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When the multipurpose Sky Park project was first proposed in the emerging centre of Bratislava, its dominant feature was supposed to be an office tower. Sky Park Tower was designed by the Zaha Hadid Architects architectural studio. It was supposed to provide 34,000 square metres of office premises.

However, this plan will remain only on paper. Although the tower will be built, it will not be an office building. Its developer, Alto Real Estate, has announced that instead of offices, it will serve as a residential building.

This shows that the situation on the market is changing. There are more sceptical voices predicting that the next few years will at best bring stagnation in terms of office development.

The market has started to clear itself. It does not favour speculative construction, as has been confirmed by several halted projects in Bratislava, or their transformation into residential projects, said Michal Hajek from the development company Corwin.

Investment Advisory Guide Well-arranged information about the economy, labour market, investor support, legislation, and real estate as well as investment opportunities in Slovakia. For more details visit our online shop.

On other hand, fresh data published by the Bratislava Research Forum in October 2023 shows that the situation might improve faster than developers expect. Clients rented 51,684 square metres of new office space in Bratislava in the second quarter of 2023, 14 percent up when compared to the first quarter, and an 85 percent rise compared to the same period in 2022.

Offices are a risk
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/1116090768.html

Israel's Drone War: How IDF Uses UAVs in Gaza

Israel's Drone War: How IDF Uses UAVs in Gaza

Sputnik International

Fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas-led Palestinian militants in Gaza is shaping up to be among the deadliest-ever Arab-Israeli conflicts in the Jewish State's 75-year history. Israel is using a number of technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles, to try to reduce attrition.

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The IDF officially confirmed in late December that over 500 of its troops, along with nearly 60 police officers and ten Shin Bet intelligence personnel, had been killed to date since October 7, with hundreds more injured. With Israel's ground campaign in Gaza facing growing casualties, the IDF announced a "new phase" of the conflict this week featuring fewer sweeping deployments and more "targeted" raids and "surgical missions" - which apparently also includes a campaign of assassinations of Hamas leaders both in Israel and abroad. Hamas and its allies have taken the news as a sign that Tel Aviv's much-touted ground campaign in Gaza has been bogged down.Israel has long seen reconnaissance, kamikaze and long-range strike drones as a key component of its military strategy, and is one of a handful of nations with a well-developed domestic drone development and production capability. Throughout the Gaza campaign and particularly amid the ground forces' advance, the IDF has turned to drones to be its troops' eyes and ears in the search for hidden Hamas fighters and tunnels in the ruins of the Palestinian enclave's cities.The IDF has access to over a dozen different kinds of drones, from IAI Harpy loitering munitions and to IAI Heron medium-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance vehicles, small IAI Bird-Eye mini-UAVs used for military and paramilitary intelligence gathering, and General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper-style long-range strike drones called the Elbit Hermes 900.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/crumbling-state--cocaine-superhighway-whats-stoking-ecuadors-explosion-of-gang-violence-1116101048.html

Crumbling State & Cocaine Superhighway: What's Stoking Ecuador's Explosion of Gang Violence?

Crumbling State & Cocaine Superhighway: What's Stoking Ecuador's Explosion of Gang Violence?

Sputnik International

The escape of a highly notorious gang leader from prison has plunged Ecuador into turmoil. In response to the ensuing chaos, President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency that encompasses the entire country. Now, the question that arises is: what is the underlying cause behind this havoc?

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The nation has recently seen shooting, arson, looting and uprisings in several prisons after a major gang leader Adolfo Macias - also known as Fito - was reported missing from his cell on January 7. It turned out on January 9 that Fabricio Colon Pico, the leader of Ecuador's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, also escaped from prison as a result of riots.President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency and imposed a nationwide curfew, ordering the police to catch the notorious gang leaders.Who are Ecuadorian Gang Leaders?Macias is the leader of the Los Choneros gang, who was serving a 34-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. He was due to be sent to a maximum security correctional facility on Sunday from the La Regional detention center in the port city of Guayaquil.Los Choneros is believed to hold sway over the South American countrys penitentiaries, as many of its members are imprisoned. Still, the criminal group has much influence beyond prison walls, allegedly being an arm of Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel, often described as one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the Western Hemisphere.Pico, alias The Savage, is the leader of Los Lobos, the 8,000-strong Ecuadorian gang notorious for organizing some of the nation's most violent prison riots. Like Los Choneros, Los Lobos is believed to have connections to Mexico's organized crime gangs, most notably the Jalisco New Generation cartel.What's Occurring in Ecuador?By January 9, violent clashes had left at least eight people dead in Guayaquil. Earlier, during a live news broadcast by TC Television in the city, several masked men barged into the studio, claiming that they had "bombs". One of the attackers said that he wanted to send a message about impending problems awaiting the government if it would "mess with the mafias," The New York Times reported. However, the message had not been delivered as police stormed the building and arrested 13 people, confiscating their weapons.Police announced that four officers were kidnapped on Monday - one in Quito and three in Quevedo  and remain missing. The nation's authorities also confirmed a series of attacks across Ecuador, including explosions and arson. In the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, a blast was reported near the house of the president of the National Justice Court.Even though the country's president declared a state of emergency and ordered the police to crack down on Ecuador's gangs, the situation is far from being under control.What's Fuelling Gang Power?According to the NYT, gang warfare had started rocking Ecuador over the past few years as foreign gang traffickers united with syndicates like Los Choneros to create a powerful drug trafficking industry. Reportedly, gangs managed to infiltrate the government and exert pressure on Ecuadorian businesses.Ecuador has recently become "a cocaine superhighway" due to large-scale trafficking in the illicit drug through the nation's Pacific ports and domestic market, according to the Global Organized Crime Index report. Drug trafficking is mostly controlled by Mexican, Colombian and Albanian gangs who team up with local organized crime groups. In addition, Peruvian opium is transported into Ecuador, making the country both a destination and source of heroin. Ecuador has also gained infamy for human trafficking and weapons smuggling.Six Colombian hitmen behind Villavicencio's assassination were arrested but soon ended up dead in an Ecuadorian prison, according to the country's authorities. Their bodies were found in cellblock 7 of the Litoral penitentiary in Guayaquil on October 6 despite being initially assigned to cellblock 9. The victims did "not present signs of torture or wounds resulting from a struggle," according to The National Service of Integral Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI). El Pais reports that over 400 prisoners have been killed in Ecuadors prison system since 2020 mainly due to clashes between rival gang groups.Why is Ecuador Plagued by Crime and Chaos?The current wave of violence engulfing Ecuador is a direct result of the deliberate erosion of the rule of law, derived from policies implemented by the last three governments, Jorge Paladines, an academic at the Central University of Ecuador and instructor in law and political science, told Sputnik Mundo.The state's diminished role has opened the floodgates to criminal groups, who have filled the gaps left by the government, according to him.The academic argues that the recent sharp surges in homicides over the last three years is a result of several factors, with impoverishment and a decline in living standards among the most prominent. Paladines believes that declaring a state of emergency, as proposed by Noboa, is an ineffective approach that will neither address the issue of violence nor resolve the crisis within the penal system.

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Current Affairs

Current Affairs

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An unflattering light was cast on prosecutors in former President Donald Trumps Georgia election interference case Monday when an alleged sexual affair between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade was revealed.

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An unflattering light was cast on prosecutors in former President Donald Trumps Georgia election interference case Monday when an alleged sexual affair between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade was revealed.A Trump administration official being tried along with the former president filed a motion to have the charges against them dismissed, saying Willis improperly hired the prosecutor with whom she was romantically linked.Trump allies are likely to seize on the allegation as proof of the illegitimacy of the case. One ethics expert interviewed by a Georgia newspaper said the claims, if true, indeed raised serious questions about whether Willis was conflicted in the investigation and prosecution of this case.Trump faces dozens of felony charges in cases set to be heard this year, an unprecedented development for a candidate and former president of the United States. Regardless of the outcome, the Trump camp seems determined to do everything possible to delegitimize the judicial proceedings, whatever the consequences for the American publics faith in yet another important institution.

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Ecuador's Army Chief Designates Criminal Groups Operating in Country as 'Military Target'

Ecuador's Army Chief Designates Criminal Groups Operating in Country as 'Military Target'

Sputnik International

The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday's search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar.

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Ecuadorian Armed Forces Joint Command chief RADM Jaime Vela Eraso on Tuesday, following a security council meeting, declared 22 criminal groups operating in the country as a "military target" and said there would be no negotiations with them."Daniel Noboa, the president of the republic, has set a very clear mission for us in his decree No. 111. From now on, every terrorist group identified in the above-mentioned decree becomes a military target. The present and future of our country are at stake, and no act of terrorism will make us surrender. We are not going to retreat or negotiate," the army chief said in a video address posted by the Ecuadorian presidency on X. The country's police said on X that at least ten people, including two police officers, have been killed in unrest in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and the neighboring town of Nobol. A police spokesperson said earlier on Tuesday during a news conference by the mayor of Guayaquil that at least eight people have been killed and another two have been injured, with a police officer having suffered a gunshot wound during the unrest in the city. He added that two vehicles and two motorbikes have been set on fire, and 14 people have been detained for various crimes. Following the declaration of a state of internal armed conflict in the republic by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Ecuador's National Assembly, the country's parliament, backed executive action to combat crime groups and vowed pardons and amnesties for police and army personnel if it would be necessary to ensure security. "We express our support for the armed forces, the national police and all officials responsible for upholding the constitution and the law. We recognize and appreciate your dedication and efforts to maintain security, peace and the lives of citizens. This support includes pardons and/or amnesties where necessary to enable these structures to function," the parliament said in a statement on X. The country's prosecutor's office said in a statement on X that 13 detained men, who had broken into the TV station of Ecuadorian broadcaster TC in Guayaquil and crashed its live broadcast while wearing masks and carrying weapons and had been apprehended by police special forces, would be charged with terrorism. The office said no one was injured in the incident, adding that a hearing against the detained people will take place in the next few hours. Earlier on Tuesday, Noboa said that the country was in a state of internal armed conflict amid the hostage-taking riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as "terrorist organizations." Noboa ordered the army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country. Following the president's declaration, Peruvian Interior Minister Victor Torres Falcon ordered that the country's police special forces be immediately deployed to the border with neighboring Ecuador to reinforce security. Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola later said that Lima would introduce a state of emergency at the border with Ecuador amid the unrest in the neighboring country. On Monday, Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in Ecuador following prison riots and the escape of a major gang leader. Ecuador's National Service for Comprehensive Assistance to Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Teenage Offenders of Ecuador said on Tuesday that Fabricio Colon Pico, the leader of Ecuador's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, has also escaped from prison as a result of riots.

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Greg Moss' workshop in Channelview is filled with tangles of boat motor parts, salvaged metal and weathered slices of history: old beer ads and auto show banners, signs about a Superfund site on the nearby San Jacinto River.

The signs are among the most personal memorabilia the snowy-haired repairman keeps piled in his musty, loft-ceiling garage, tagged by a human-height watermark from Hurricane Harvey.

When you see kids in your neighborhood that youve known since they were little kids dying because of some pollution thats in the water, that some big company dumped and abandoned, thats bad, you know? Moss said. And every time my property floods, it gets full of that stuff, gets overrun with the water.

HARVEY RECOVERY: Residents washed away by Harvey wait for answers about waste pit pollution

The toxic San Jacinto River waste pits are a pair of impoundments built at the rivers edge a couple blocks from Moss' garage in the mid-1960s to dump hazardous waste from a nearby paper mill. These pits  which scientists say contain levels of dioxins and furans that are highly dangerous for humans  are partially submerged in the ever-shifting river. A 2015 assessment by state officials found elevated rates of cancers affecting the liver, kidney, brain and eyes in areas that border the site.

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The toxins, byproducts of pulp bleaching and other industrial processes, build up in the fatty tissue of both fish and humans. At high levels such as those present in the pits, they can cause cancers as well as hormone changes, liver damage, skin diseases, reproductive issues and immune suppression, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Contractors have removed more than two-thirds of the toxic material at the onshore pit south of the Interstate 10 bridge since November 2022. But the responsible companies and federal officials are locked in a tug-of-war over the northern pit, much of which is now underwater.

The dry, southern pit was the easy part. The fight over the flooded northern pit is reopening old wounds.

The northern part of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site, photographed Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Work continues on the southern impoundment of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 1-2, in Channelview. (Jon Shapley, Staff photographer) (Jon Shapley, Staff photographer) Work continues on the southern impoundment of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Tuesday and Wednesday Aug. 1-2, in Channelview. (Jon Shapley, Staff photographer) (Jon Shapley, Staff photographer)

International Paper Co. inherited responsibility for the southern pit in 2000, after acquiring the business that had dumped its hazardous waste there. It shares responsibility for the northern pit with McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp., a subsidiary of Houston-headquartered refuse giant Waste Management, which operates nearly a third of all landfill volume in the country.

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The federal government added both pits to the National Priorities List for hazardous waste cleanup in 2008, decades after they were created. Despite living and working nearby for most of his life, Moss did not find out about their toxicity until he was watching television in 2011. The county and state had sued the companies for violating environmental laws over their management of the toxic waste, and it was all over the news.

Thats kind of unnerving, when its something that you work on. When you have water, and all of the sediments out of those engines all over you for 40 years, and all of a sudden they tell you the water out there is toxic, Moss said.

Shifting sediment

Until 2011, most residents had no idea the verdant peninsula was anything more than a nice place to picnic.

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The northern pit wasnt fenced off, it wasnt anything, Moss said. When we were younger, back in the '80s or '90s, we used to ride our ATVs out there. There was no forewarning that there was anything out there hazardous at all.

Moss said that even in the dozen years since he and many neighbors got vocal about the sites, others still sit their fishing boats right by the buoys that rim the northern pit, eating what they catch.

Greg Moss talks about toxins spread from the northern part of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site, seen through his truck window, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

This year, the waste pit to the south of I-10 saw a swell of activity: excavators dug and hauled off contaminated soil at the river-edge property, replacing it with fresh earth. Water at the site was gathered and treated in a set of massive, lined open-air storage tanks. In the 10 months since beginning work, the EPA reported workers hauled off about 6,609 truckloads of contaminated material, or 92,526 cubic yards, and are now more than 72% finished with the excavation.

Across the I-10 bridge, the partially-submerged northern waste pit has been comparatively quiet. McGinnes Industrial and International Paper have asked for extensions totaling nearly two years on the northern site, arguing with the EPA over how to handle the waste.

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FROM 2016: EPA wants to remove toxic waste from San Jacinto River Superfund site

The companies paid to install a cap over the waste at the bottom of the flooded pit in 2011. They have argued that the best solution is to leave at least some of the waste in the pit and replace the temporary cap with a permanent one. The EPA, however, signed off on an order opting for full removal in 2017.

When the companies agreed in 2018 to kick off plans to fully excavate a then-estimated 212,000 cubic yards of dioxin-contaminated material from both pits, Scott Pruitt, then the agencys administrator, promised that the EPA will ensure that the remedial design removes all the contamination as quickly and safely as possible and permanently protects the health and safety of the surrounding communities.

Those communities have often been directly in the toxins' paths. A flood risk assessment of the site conducted by Texas A&M at Galveston in 2014 established that when taken together hurricane frequency, storm surge, sea level rise and subsidence make the low-lying San Jacinto waste pits extremely vulnerable to inundation and erosive events.

A 2019 review by the federal Government Accountability Office said concerns over the sites flooding potential were increasing. It noted EPA sampling at the site after Hurricane Harvey showed dioxin concentration above 70,000 nanograms per kilogram, eclipsing the sites risk-based cleanup level of 30 nanograms per kilogram. The hurricane hit six years after the temporary cap was placed over the northern pit.

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Cleanup of toxic pits in San Jacinto River begins While hazardous waste in the pit south of the I-10 is over 72% excavated, cleanup of the northern pit is still in limbo with no plan or start date. Ken Ellis/Staff graphic

Impasse over solutions

Despite the risks, Pruitts promise of quick, permanent removal has so far proved hard to keep, as the companies have called into question the viability of fully removing the contamination at each step.

In a Sept. 8 letter reviewed by the Chronicle, EPA officials called off a plan they put in motion in December to try to break the stalemate with an independent design review. The letter cites repeated attempts by the companies to use the review process to re-open or re-evaluate the 2017 decision that the waste should be removed and says the companies mischaracterized agency efforts to get third-party experts to help solve any technical uncertainties getting in the way.

The companies and their contractor, global engineering firm GHD, say they are worried about something called hydraulic heave. Since the contaminated soil is partially submerged in the river and would have to be walled off and dried out before cleanup, contractors need to make sure water and sediment do not loosen under the structure and surge up underneath the dry walls to refill the area during excavation or spill contaminants into the river.

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A 2021 letter from GHD to federal officials says its concerns are great enough for it to recommend non-excavation options, including a more permanent cap that would leave contaminants underwater, which the companies reiterated in their remedial design proposal last year. A re-examination of the data determined the waste extends to much deeper depths than was assumed by the EPA, GHD wrote.

BACKGROUND ON THE PITS: Regulators say toxic waste is OK to leave buried deep by the San Jacinto River. Residents disagree

The position that a solution should include a cap instead of full removal is nothing new and was already shot down by the EPA in 2017.

In court documents, emails from the head of Waste Managements Environmental Legacy Management Group to a colleague in 2011 said the big plan is to sell this cap as part of the final remedy. The company admitted in court to paying and working with three groups which were quoted in media outlets as independent local-level voices pushing to cap the waste in place of removal.

The EPA has repeatedly rebuffed requests to reopen consideration of alternatives to full cleanup, saying that the companies have failed to document that the selected remedy is not implementable or that the listed technical uncertainties do not have acceptable engineering solutions.

The consequences

After watching the river shift and flood for decades, even permanently overtaking the levees around the northern pit in 1973, many vocal residents and organizations fear that any cap will fail to protect them in the long term.

Jackie Medcalf, who leads a group called Texas Health & Environmental Alliance, grew up along the river. When she learned of its toxicity in an undergraduate hydrology class around the same time as Moss did, she and her doctors reevaluated the persistent, mysterious seizures she experienced as well as other health problems in her family. She has since been at the helm of the areas push for full remediation.

Once the EPA chose to pursue full-site cleanup in 2017, Medcalf said, people thought, 'Oh great, its gonna get taken care of, we can stop following this.' And then, when the construction started (on the southern pit), that was a massive achievement and a massive milestone. But theres still a battle going on here, the companies are still very much trying to get out of this.

Jackie Medcalf, executive director at Texas Health & Environment Alliance, center, speaks about the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site during a press conference with Rachel Jordan, assistant director, left, and James Fretty, a long-time resident of the area, on Thursday, April 14, 2022, near the Lynchburg Ferry in Baytown. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Now that the agency has called off the negotiations over an independent design review, it has suggested it could conduct its own engineering review or gather technical information from other cleanup sites. EPA spokesman Joe Robledo told the Chronicle that the agency is currently reviewing the companies' concerns to provide comments on their technical plans.

The agency expects the design will be finished near the end of 2024 and remedial action will take up to eight years to complete.

In response to a series of questions, both companies said they were invested in the process.

International Paper is committed to protecting the environment and believes that remediation planning for the San Jacinto site should be rigorous, transparent and science-based, and should lead to design and engineering standards that will protect the river and the community, Amy Simpson, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email.

McGinnes Industrial, the Waste Management subsidiary, said in a statement that remediation of the northern pit presents a significant technical challenge because it includes submerged areas.

The companys statement went on to say that the responsible parties submitted a proposed design to EPA which involves removing most of the impacted soils from the northern impoundment while leaving a small amount of capped material in the deeply submerged northwest corner of the property due to safety and engineering concerns, and that it remains actively engaged with EPA.

Truck traffic drives by on IH-10, past the northern part of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Barge traffic moves around the southern impoundment of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Greg Moss talks about toxins spread from the northern part of the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Greg Moss talks about toxins leftover from floods and the close proximity to the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at his home in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Greg Moss talks about toxins leftover from floods and the close proximity to the San Jacinto Waste Pits Superfund site Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at his home in Channelview. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Cleanup of toxic pits in San Jacinto River begins While hazardous waste in the pit south of the I-10 is over 72% excavated, cleanup of the northern pit is still in limbo with no plan or start date. Ken Ellis/Staff graphic Cleanup of toxic pits in San Jacinto River begins While hazardous waste in the pit south of the I-10 is over 72% excavated, cleanup of the northern pit is still in limbo with no plan or start date. Ken Ellis/Staff graphic

To area residents, the deeply submerged contamination is the most concerning.

When a member of Precinct 3's outreach staff said at the August meeting of another neighborhood group, the Channelview Health & Improvement Coalition, that on the surface the river looked idyllic and perfect for fishing, a longtime resident jumped in from the audience.

Youll glow in the dark if you eat anything out of that river, Cyndi Benson said. While she is not an activist, Benson has lived in the area since 1962 and remembers when the river was nice, when you could ski, you could swim. She knows how hopeless many area residents feel about their river from chatter at the bars in town.

Who in their right mind would put dioxin next to a waterway and think that you can cap it and its not gonna leak at some point? Thats just stupidity. Im not stupid, Benson said. You take it out to the desert, put it anywhere where theres not a waterway, because the waterway carries it everywhere.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/japanese-slam-government-aid-to-ukraine-say-domestic-needs-are-priority-1116095460.html

Japanese Slam Government Aid to Ukraine, Say Domestic Needs Are Priority

Japanese Slam Government Aid to Ukraine, Say Domestic Needs Are Priority

Sputnik International

More and more Japanese citizens are question Tokyo's pledge of financial aid to Ukraine amid the the plight of the victims affected by the recent devastating magnitude-7.6 earthquake that hit the Noto peninsula on January 1.

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Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa made an unexpected trip to Ukraine last Sunday to assure Volodymyr Zelensky of Tokyo's ongoing commitment to provide financial support for the Ukrainian cause. But there is growing distaste and scetpicism among the Japanese people about the nation's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.During her trip, Kamikawa assured Ukraine of Japan's support, pledging 5.4 billion Japanese Yen ($37 million) for a advanced drone-detection system and extra power-generating units. The news garnered substantial attention in the Japanese media, coming on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's commitment last December of $4.5 billion to Ukraine.While a GlobeScan survey in October 2023 showed 77 percent of Japanese backed their country's aid to Ukraine, opinion has hardened against Kamikawa's new pledged.Popular criticism of the spending has swollen significantly in the wake of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the Noto peninsula on the start of the year, causing more than 202 deaths and leaving over 100 people missing. About 30,000 evacuees are being housed in schools, with concerns rising about potential disease outbreaks.A recent article published by Jiji Press sparked a wave of negative comment from readers about Japan's support for Ukraine.Why are you going to Ukraine now? Do you know what's happening in Japan right now? The disaster area should be the most important. It should be time for the foreign minister to seriously consider and implement countermeasures that he can experience from his own experience as a senior government official by visiting the disaster-affected areas on the ground, one comment read.Another wrote: Nowadays, I think it's out of place for the Prime Minister and ministers to travel abroad and provide large sums of aid wherever they go, rather than the Noto Earthquake disaster countermeasure budget."What do you mean by 5.4 billion yen for Ukraine? It should be used for the victims of the Noto earthquake before being sent to Ukraine. Does the Kishida administration value Ukraine more than its own people?" writes another reader.Aligning with the sentiments of the Republicans in the US, an article on JapanToday articulated, This is completely crazy and stupid. Why does Japan want to waste $37 million in a war that doesnt belong to Japan?...Look at the disaster of the earthquake, the elderly, the children. Japanese people need ASAP those $37 million in government help instead of the Kiev regime."Others commented that a significant portion of the aid meant for Ukraine is being misused by corrupt Ukrainian officials. An individual said they had evidence indicating that a top official in Zelensky's team invested heavily in a property in Germany.A Ukraine-born resident in Japan, who pleaded anonymity, told This Week in Asia that there was a noticeable drop in support for the conflict among his Japanese friends. My sense is that they are getting tired of being involved in something that could go on and on for a long time...There was enthusiasm for the resistance at the beginning, but when it becomes a long and hard struggle, people tend to think of their own problems first, he said.Yakov Zinberg, an international relations professor at Tokyo's Kokushikan University, has observed a shift in Japanese views. He noted that many now doubt Ukraine can win and question sending aid to Kiev, especially with more pressing issues in Japan. those feelings has grown notably since the earthquake, with criticisms that Tokyo has inadequately supported the affected areas.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/kirby-too-soon-to-know-whether-ecuador-tensions-will-aggravate-us-border-crisis-1116105822.html

Kirby: Too Soon to Know Whether Ecuador Tensions Will Aggravate US Border Crisis

Kirby: Too Soon to Know Whether Ecuador Tensions Will Aggravate US Border Crisis

Sputnik International

White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on Wednesday that it is too early to tell whether the crisis in Ecuador will worsen the migration crisis on the US southern border with Mexico.

2024-01-10T20:10+0000

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americas

ecuador

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john kirby

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Too soon to know, Kirby said when asked whether the administration is concerned that the crisis in Ecuador could increase the flow of migrants to the US southern border. Obviously, thats something we are going to watch and monitor. Kirby further indicated during the briefing that he was unaware of any talks about a possible reduction in the diplomatic presence in Ecuador amid the ongoing violence."Not that I am aware of at this time," Kirby said. "I am not aware of any changes to our footprint or our force protection posture at the embassy."On Monday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in Ecuador following prison riots and the escape of a major gang leader, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as Fito, from a jail in Guayaquil. A day later, Fabricio Colon Pico, the head of another major gang in Ecuador, Los Lobos, also escaped from detention. Noboa said that the country was in a state of "internal armed conflict" amid the hostage-taking and riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as terrorist organizations. He also ordered the army to neutralize several criminal groups operating in the country. The incumbent president came to power rallying to fight crime, which had reached alarming scales. During the latest election campaign, at least two political figures were killed.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/crumbling-state--cocaine-superhighway-whats-stoking-ecuadors-explosion-of-gang-violence-1116101048.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/leader-of-ecuadors-second-largest-gang-los-lobos-escapes-from-prison-1116088982.html

Leader of Ecuador's Second-Largest Gang, Los Lobos, Escapes From Prison

Leader of Ecuador's Second-Largest Gang, Los Lobos, Escapes From Prison

Sputnik International

Fabricio Colon Pico, the leader of Ecuador's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, has escaped from prison as a result of riots, the country's National Service for Comprehensive Assistance to Adult Persons Deprived of Liberty and Teenage Offenders of Ecuador (SNAI) said Tuesday.

2024-01-10T00:43+0000

2024-01-10T00:43+0000

2024-01-10T00:43+0000

americas

ecuador

criminals

crime wave

violent crime

crime rates

state of emergency

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"On the morning of January 9, clashes broke out between inmates, the national police and prison staff at Chimborazo Prison No. 1. Following the incident, Colon P., who was deprived of liberty and was in the prison, escaped from custody with other inmates," SNAI said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). Following the incident, 12 people who fled with Pico have already been detained in hot pursuit, but the gang's leader himself managed to escape, with Ecuador's police and army continuing the search for him, SNAI added. SNAI also said that inmates of five Ecuadorian prisons in the provinces of Azuay, Canar, Napo, Tungurahua and Cotopaxi had taken 125 prison security personnel and 14 administrative staff hostage. SNAI added that security forces' operations at prisons in the provinces of Chimborazo and Napo have allowed the release of 11 hostages since the riots began. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Education on Tuesday suspended full-time education and announced the transition to online education at all education institutions across the country through January 12 amid unrest in the country. Earlier in the day, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of internal armed conflict amid the hostage-taking riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as "terrorist organizations." He also ordered Ecuador's army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country. On Monday, Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in Ecuador following prison riots and the escape of a major gang leader. The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday's search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as Fito, who is considered the most dangerous criminal in the country.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/new-french-prime-minister-gabriel-attal-slammed-as-anti-muslim-anti-worker-1116090220.html

New French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal Slammed as Anti-Muslim, Anti-Worker

New French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal Slammed as Anti-Muslim, Anti-Worker

Sputnik International

The 34-year-old Gabriel Attal made history as Frances youngest Prime Minister when he was appointed to the position Tuesday, but Belfast-based political commentator Phil Kelly is unimpressed by the former Socialist Party politician.

2024-01-10T03:32+0000

2024-01-10T03:32+0000

2024-01-10T03:32+0000

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The 34-year-old Gabriel Attal made history as Frances youngest Prime Minister when he was appointed to the position Tuesday, but Belfast-based political commentator Phil Kelly is unimpressed by the former Socialist Party politician.So you've heard of the phrase, I presume, of polishing a turd? Kelly asked host John Kiriakou on Sputniks Political Misfits program. I mean, within the Western political landscape, this is what we get when something gets too stench-filled and the public know that they need a change, but they're not sure what the change should be.But despite all these obstacles and challenges that the establishment pawn has faced, he's risen to be France's PM at the age of 34, so he can inflict misery on genuinely marginalized people.Kelly slammed Attal as anti-worker throughout his tenure in the finance ministry, noting he once talked about France needing to move away from their strike culture. France has a powerful trade union movement that has repeatedly taken to the streets as President Emmanuel Macron has sought to raise the countrys retirement age and weaken labor protections. 2003 saw multiple demonstrations in the country attracting more than one million protesters.The political commentator also accused Attal of pandering towards anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim elements in French society.They [Muslims] now serve the function of these kind of political lightweights, of being kind of the new version of the 1930s Jews within Europe, he added, claiming the minority group is subjected to scapegoating in the continents politics. As Minister of Education Attal banned Muslim girls in French schools from wearing the abaya, a traditional dress often worn in the Arab world.Support has collapsed for Attals former Socialist Party in France after former President Francois Hollande became the most unpopular leader in the history of the Fifth Republic. The party only garnered single-digit support in presidential elections in 2022 and 2017. The French left has largely thrown their support to politician Jean-Luc Melenchon in the countrys presidential politics, while many more moderate Socialist Party members have migrated to President Emmanuel Macrons centrist movement.But ultimately Kelly said its not Macron whos calling the shots in modern French politics, but right-wing politician Marine Le Pen.It's not a great choice, he concluded. It is, in fact, no choice at all.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240109/who-is-frances-new-prime-minister-gabriel-attal-1116077869.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230827/french-education-minister-announces-plan-to-ban-abaya-dresses-in-school-1112935777.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/over-40-of-germans-say-they-could-participate-in-protests-against-govt-policies---poll-1116089882.html

Over 40% of Germans Say They Could Participate in Protests Against Gov't Policies - Poll

Over 40% of Germans Say They Could Participate in Protests Against Gov't Policies - Poll

Sputnik International

More than 40% of German nationals could imagine their participation in protests against policies of the government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a poll conducted by the Institute for New Social Answers (INSA) for German newspaper Bild showed on Tuesday.

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The poll showed that 45% of respondents could imagine taking their discontent with the incumbent government to the streets, while some 40% of the polled people said they would not protest. About 48% of supporters of the Free Democratic Party in the ruling coalition said that they might be ready to take to the streets in protests against the policies of their party as well. Supporters of Scholz's Social Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/The Greens coalition are more loyal to the government's policies: 66% and 69% of supporters of these parties have no intent of participating in protests. At the same time, young people are the most protesting age group, with 52% of people aged between 18 and 29 years old saying they might protest. The survey was held on Monday and polled 1,001 Germans. A week of protests by German farmers against government plans to abolish diesel subsidies began Monday. In December 2023, the German government announced plans to abolish diesel subsidies for farmers amid the budget crisis, which would bring 440 million euros ($481 million) to the federal budget. The government also planned to end tax breaks on vehicles for forestry and agriculture, gaining an additional 480 million euros. The announcement triggered multiple farmer protests throughout the entire country. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said last week that instead of canceling diesel subsidies all at once, their amounts would be cut gradually, and vehicle tax breaks for forestry and agriculture would remain in place. However, farmers still continued their protests and strikes across the country.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240108/tractors-block-roads-in-germany-as-farmers-protest-fuel-tax-hike-1116052515.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/state-dept-shakedown-us-slaps-ultimatum-on-greece-in-bid-to-extort-more-ukraine-aid-1116100015.html

State Dept Shakedown: US Slaps 'Ultimatum' on Greece in Bid to 'Extort' More Ukraine Aid

State Dept Shakedown: US Slaps 'Ultimatum' on Greece in Bid to 'Extort' More Ukraine Aid

Sputnik International

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented Greeces Prime Minister a humiliating "ultimatum" over aid for Ukraine when he visited Athens recently, claim Greek media outlets.

2024-01-10T15:52+0000

2024-01-10T15:52+0000

2024-01-10T15:52+0000

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented Greeces Prime Minister a humiliating "ultimatum" when he visited Athens recently, Greek media outlets claim.Kyriakos Mitsotakis was reportedly given just a few days to decide on a shipment of new weapons systems to the regime in Kiev. Blinken had made a stopover in Greece during his shuttle diplomacy trip linked to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, driven by fears of greater regional spillover. But amid the growing difficulty of wrestling more aid packages to Kiev amid Ukraine fatigue prompted the US top diplomat to stoop to "extortion,"wrote the outlets.As it is, Greece, a NATO member and US ally, was one of the first to send military aid to Ukraine. "Greece has already given everything, it has breached national defense, especially on the islands, in order to support Ukraine with defense material," wrote the publications.Greece is one of the countries that rushed to provide military and financial assistance to Ukraine in order to impose the tyranny of Kiev on the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has stated. Last year, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos boasted about the transfer of an "incredible amount" of weapons to the Zelensky regime. In August, Athens opted to join a coalition of countries training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets.Back in August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated at an Athens press conference with Mitsotakis that the sides had also adopted a joint declaration in which Mitsotakis committed Greece to continuing military support for Ukraine. Moreover, Athens vowed to support Kiev's aspirations to join NATO.In response, Greece's largest opposition party, the Coalition of the Radical Left  Progressive Alliance (SYRIZA) slammed the moves, saying that they amount to Greece's "direct military involvement" in the Ukraine conflict.Moscow has repeatedly condemned the supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries and accused the US-led West of trying to prolong the conflict. In early June 2023, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that the goals of the military operation would be achieved despite shipments of foreign weapons to Kiev, which would undoubtedly cause Ukraine more suffering.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230718/ukrainian-pilots-operating-f-16s-would-be-flying-targets-heres-why-1111974402.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240104/ukraines-hodgepodge-of-nato-arms-proved-failure-long-before-arriving-on-battlefield-1115969643.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/syrias-defense-ministry-says-8-soldiers-died-south-of-palmyra-in-bus-attack-1116089736.html

Syrian Defense Ministry Says Bus Attack South of Palmyra Leaves 8 Soldiers Dead

Syrian Defense Ministry Says Bus Attack South of Palmyra Leaves 8 Soldiers Dead

Sputnik International

The Syrian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that eight servicepeople have been killed and another 13 people have been injured as a result of a terrorist attack on a bus south of the city of Palmyra in the Syrian governorate of Homs.

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"Eight soldiers and one civilian were killed, another 13 people, including two civilians, were injured as a result of a terrorist attack with the use of an explosive device on a military bus in the Syrian Desert south of Palmyra today at noon," the ministry said in a statement. A security source told Sputnik earlier on Tuesday that a bus explosion in the governorate of Homs had killed nine soldiers and injured another 22 troops. The source added that the bomb had been planted by terrorists belonging to the Daesh* terrorist group.* Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/turkiye-remains-main-importer-of-russian-grain-wheat---russian-union-of-grain-exporters-1116090451.html

Turkiye Remains Main Importer of Russian Grain, Wheat - Russian Union of Grain Exporters

Turkiye Remains Main Importer of Russian Grain, Wheat - Russian Union of Grain Exporters

Sputnik International

Turkiye has remained the main importer of Russian grain and wheat in the first half of the 2023-2024 season, which starts on July 1, 2023, and ends on June 30, 2024, the Russian Union of Grain Exporters said Tuesday.

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"Turkiye has retained its position as the main importer of Russian grain and wheat in the first half of the 2023-2024 season," the union stated on Telegram, adding that Turkiye's imports of Russian grain in the said period amounted to 4.281 million tonnes, down 12.7% year-on-year, including a 2% decrease in wheat imports to 3.929 million tonnes. Egypt ranked third in the list of grain importers, having reduced imports of Russian grain by 24.6% year-on-year to 2.956 million tonnes. Iran was second on the list of the largest importers of Russian grain in the said period, having increased imports by 4.9% year-on-year to 3.902 million tonnes. However, Tehran significantly reduced imports of wheat from Russia - by 39.8% year-on-year to 1.063 million tonnes and was ranked fifth in the list of the largest importers of Russian wheat. Saudi Arabia ranked fourth with a 10.2% increase in grain imports from Russia to 2.009 million tonnes, while Bangladesh was fifth, having increased grain imports from Russia nearly 2.5 times in the said period to 1.966 million tonnes. Meanwhile, Egypt ranked second on the list of importers of Russian wheat, and Bangladesh was third after increasing imports of Russian wheat 2.4 times to 1.928 million tonnes. Algeria was the fourth, with deliveries of Russian wheat having increased by 25.7% to 1.448 million tonnes over the same period.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230908/russia-turkiye-qatar-grain-deal-humanitarian-program-to-shore-up-poorest-nations-1113203104.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230122/russia-successfully-supplies-grain-to-turkey-for-rubles-senior-official-1106568249.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/ukraine-loses-up-to-280-soldiers-in-donetsk-direction-in-past-day---mod-1116098314.html

Ukraine Loses Up to 280 Soldiers in Donetsk Direction in Past Day - MoD

Ukraine Loses Up to 280 Soldiers in Donetsk Direction in Past Day - MoD

Sputnik International

Ukraine has lost up to 280 soldiers in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

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Over the given period, the Russian armed forces have repulsed four attacks by Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk direction and another one in the Zaporozhye direction. Ukraine has also lost up to 190 soldiers in the Krasny Liman direction, over 170 soldiers in the South Donetsk direction and up to 145 soldiers in the Kupyansk direction, the ministry added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240109/ukraine-lost-over-215000-troops-in-2023---shoigu-1116073021.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/us--china-end-first-military-talks-in-four-years-at-pentagon-ahead-of-taiwan-regional-elections-1116093934.html

US & China End First Military Talks in Four Years at Pentagon Ahead of Taiwan Regional Elections

US & China End First Military Talks in Four Years at Pentagon Ahead of Taiwan Regional Elections

Sputnik International

Washington and Beijing have concluded two days of military talks at the Pentagon.

2024-01-10T09:02+0000

2024-01-10T09:02+0000

2024-01-10T09:09+0000

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Washington and Beijing have concluded two days of military talks at the Pentagon.Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, met with China's Major General Song Yanchao, deputy director of the central military commission office for international military cooperation, according to US Defense Department readout.Per the Pentagon, Michael Chase reiterated the importance of keeping lines of military-to-military communication open in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict. Besides operational safety across the Indo-Pacific region, other regional and global security issues were also discussed amid spiraling tensions between the sides over Taiwan.After the talks, Beijing reiterated, however, that amid its posturing on the need for such military contacts, the US should first put an end to its "provocative actions" in the South China Sea, abide by the One China principle, stop arming Taiwan, and not support a Taiwanese self-proclamation attempt.While continuing to hype the alleged China threat and to seek deeper military ties with Taipei, Washington was angling for a resumption of military contacts with Beijing throughout last year. The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has repeatedly stressed that the matter is a priority for Joe Biden. Sullivan clarified that the Biden administration needs those lines of communication so that there arent mistakes or miscalculations or miscommunication.After meeting in the US late in 2023, President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to resume the military ties. Following that, US General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart, General Liu Zhenli.The military sit-down between the two sides came against the backdrop of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins secret hospitalization scandal, which raised questions about who was in charge of the nation's defense and security for over a week.Furthermore, the talks were held as Taiwan is holding regional leadership elections this weekend.Last year, Beijing warned Washington against interfering in Taiwan's election, which is "China's internal affair," adding that "interference by outside forces is unacceptable." The strain between mainland China and Taiwan, as well as US collaboration with Taiwan, intensified following a visit to the island by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August 2022. China denounced Pelosi's visit, interpreting it as an endorsement of separatist movements, and responded by conducting extensive military drills near Taiwan.Additionally, the situation has been further aggravated by the United States' frequent dispatch of warships and reconnaissance aircraft to the Strait of Taiwan. Beijing has slammed these actions as provocative and labels the US as "a security risk creator in the region."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231113/biden-wants-xi-to-revive-priority-issue-of-us-china-military-channels-1114912172.html

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Food Not Bombs volunteer Eric Harris, center, takes a meal tray from fellow volunteer Britt Villalobos as they feed homeless people during a regular meal distribution Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, in front of Houston Public Librarys Julia Ideson Building in Houston. Harris said he used to come to the distribution and eat a few years ago, but that his circumstances had improved. He said he now brings donations and food and volunteers his time. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Over 24,000 people have voiced support for ending a Houston law against sharing free meals, according to a petition the Texas Civil Rights Project submitted on Monday to the City Council.

The law has become a flashpoint in the city's homeless strategy, which began issuing tickets in March to try to stop volunteers from distributing free food outside the Central Library downtown four times a week. The group of volunteers has donated meals there for 20 years, a tradition that former Mayor Sylvester Turner has said brings the homeless to the area and discourages families from using the library. Instead, the city is asking the volunteers, part of an informal group called Food Not Bombs, to start sharing meals in a police parking lot near the municipal courthouse, where it provides portable restrooms, a hand-washing station and a dumpster.

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Texas Civil Rights Project attorney Randy Hiroshige said he hoped that there would be an opening to repeal the ordinance.

The most recent election brought new faces to city council and the passage of Prop A, which gave members the power to place proposals on the city council's agenda without going through the mayor.

"Now, with Prop A, the city council members have a little more teeth," he said. Under the new rules, any three council members can jointly place an item on the city council agenda.

The petition also asked city council members to dismiss all pending charges against Food Not Bombs volunteers and to ask the Houston Police Department to stop issuing tickets. Food Not Bombs volunteers have racked up nearly 90 tickets seeking at least $21,000 in fines. Volunteers are largely asking for jury trials for the tickets, and at a trial, a jury could move to fine volunteers up to $2,000 per incident. The one case that has gone to trial resulted in a not guilty verdict; other hearings have been repeatedly reset.

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In addition to the thousands of individuals who signed the petition, more than 180 organizations also signed, including the Texas Jail Project, the National Association of Social Workers and a number of churches and mutual aid groups.

"Houston should be celebrating those who share with their neighbors," said Hiroshige during city council's public comment session Tuesday.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/us-defense-chiefs-hospitalization-scandal-reveals-biden-teams-total-incompetence-1116088459.html

US Defense Chief's Hospitalization Scandal Reveals Biden Team's 'Total Incompetence'

US Defense Chief's Hospitalization Scandal Reveals Biden Team's 'Total Incompetence'

Sputnik International

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's failure to inform his own deputy and President Joe Biden that he had been hospitalized and could not perform his duties revealed the systematic incompetence of the entire Biden administration.

2024-01-10T00:07+0000

2024-01-10T00:07+0000

2024-01-10T00:03+0000

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Austin underwent an initial medical procedure on December 22 and then suffered severe pain on January 1 after which he was admitted to intensive care at Walter Reed military hospital in Maryland. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks assumed some of Austin's duties on January 2, but she had no idea what had happened to him at that time. Hicks was only informed of his hospitalization on January 4. The White House was also kept in the dark for four days about Austin's condition. Air Force General C. Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was told on January 2 that Austin was hospitalized. But, for some reason, he failed to inform the White House, leaving the Defense Department leaderless while war raged in both Ukraine and between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. Incompetence on All LevelsRetired CIA analyst Philip Giraldi, founder and chair of the Council for the National Interest, said the chaos, disorganization and incompetence extended well beyond Biden and Austin personally but throughout their entire administration. "The lack of competency ... as far as I am concerned, extends throughout the entire Biden administration inner circle. We are in for a rough 2024!" Giraldi said. Retired Pentagon analyst Chuck Spinney further noted that Deputy Defense Secretary Hicks had no scientific or engineering background, or the kind of military management that the Defense Department always needed. "Hicks ... has a PhD in political science, but no history of real scientific and engineering training and no experience in managing the subtle, technologically intensive, bureaucratically complex infighting strategies of the Pentagons bureaucracy - with its many hidden as well as obvious nodes of independent interests and informal power sharing relations," Spinney said. Because Hicks lacked so much necessary experience and expertise, putting her in charge, even if only temporarily, could have generated even more chaos and confusion in the US military establishment, Spinney said. "Now ask yourself the question: Which would you prefer: Keeping an ineffectual Secretary of Defenses incapacitating illness secret or putting a more incompetent Deputy Secretary of Defense with an ambitious penchant for pushing hair-brained techno visions in charge of a Pentagon that is already clearly out of control?" Spinney asked. Biden might be better advised to leave the ailing Austin in titular charge of the US armed forces from his hospital bed rather than hand over leadership and control, even if only temporarily, to Hicks, Spinney said. Former Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs Chas Freeman, who served in that post during the Clinton administration, agreed that the scandal revealed the incompetence of Austin and his inner circle. Asked whether this was an instance of their lack of capability to perform competently and responsibly, he asnwered, "You got it." Scandal During Time of Great Danger & InstabilityRetired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen, an international consultant and former vice president of the Eurasia Foundation, observed that the scandal had broken and embarrassed Biden and Austin at a time of great danger and instability in global affairs. Many questions still remained to be answered, Rasmussen said. "What was the procedure? What caused an emergency situation and subsequent admission to the hospital? Who was informed and at what level? What actions were in place to ensure Secretary Austin's duties were being performed?" Rasmussen asked. Typically, one would think that Hicks would have been informed prior to any type of procedure or absence, Rasmussen noted. "In an emergency situation, such as what subsequently occurred, one would assume that either the Secretary or the Deputy Secretary would have at a minimum notified the Presidents Chief of Staff and potentially other principles. ... We still are left wondering about the transparency within this administration," he said. Both Austin and Hicks bore responsibility for the ignorance, lack of communication and chaos caused by the Defense Secretary's unacknowledged extended absence, Rasmussen said. There needed to be a major review of processes and actions taken to resolve any gaps, Rasmussen added. On Monday, the US Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed acknowledged in an official statement that the incident was a serious one and he called for transparency and accountability in the Defense Department.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240109/us-defense-sec-treated-for-prostate-cancer-but-prognosis-remains-excellent-docs-reveal-1116084328.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240109/no-adults-in-the-room-why-pentagon-chiefs-absence-went-unnoticed-by-team-biden-1116079961.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/us-state-dept-approves-new-military-sale-valued-at-329-million-to-egypt-1116106150.html

US State Dept. Approves New Military Sale Valued at $329 Million to Egypt

US State Dept. Approves New Military Sale Valued at $329 Million to Egypt

Sputnik International

The US Department of State has approved two possible sales of military equipment worth $329 million to Egypt, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said on Wednesday.

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"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Egypt of Light Tactical Vehicle Chassis and Fleet Build and related equipment for an estimated cost of $200 million," DSCA said in a statement. In a separate statement, DSCA said the State Department had approved a potential sale to Egypt of 28-Meter Patrol Craft Kits and related equipment valued $129 million. The DSCA said it has provided the required certification to Congress for both sales. "The Government of Egypt has requested to buy additional light tactical vehicle chassis and fleet build that will be added to a previously implemented case," DSCA said. The original military sale of chassis was valued at $41.9 million, it noted. The proposed sales will support US foreign policy and national security objectives by helping to improve the security of Egypt, the statement said. The deals also will increase Egypts capacity to sustain security operations and strengthen its internal and external defense capabilities, it added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220902/us-approves-possible-sale-of-over-1bln-in-military-equipment-to-taiwan---pentagon-1100325888.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240110/war-tolls-money-rolls-ukrainian-hospitals-report-30-surge-in-seriously-injured-soldiers-1116095989.html

War Tolls, Money Rolls: Ukrainian Hospitals Report 30% Surge in Seriously Injured Soldiers

War Tolls, Money Rolls: Ukrainian Hospitals Report 30% Surge in Seriously Injured Soldiers

Sputnik International

A chief physician at a Dnepropetrovsk hospital acknowledges a 30% increase in severely injured Ukrainian soldiers, according to media reports.

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In recent weeks, the number of severely injured soldiers in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) has increased by 30%, according to ABC News, citing the chief physician of the Mechnikov Hospital in Dnepropetrovsk.Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the Kiev regime had lost no less than 215,000 soldiers over the past year.In late December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the General Staff had asked him to mobilize an additional half million people. A bill to this effect was promptly submitted to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament), proposing, among other things, to cancel deferments for the third group of disabled people. In addition, citizens who fail to report for military service may be added to the list of debtors.Ukraine has been under martial law since February 24, 2022, and the following day Zelensky declared a nationwide mobilization. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden from leaving the country. Draft notices can be handed out in various places, including on streets, at gas stations, and cafes. Security forces and the military conduct raids targeting conscripts, often using violence.

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With a victory by a nose in a $14,000 conditioned claiming pace aboard Dragon Grad on Tuesday (Jan. 9) at Miami Valley Raceway, driver Kayne Kauffman made his 4,000th trip to the winner's circle.

Kauffman and the Ty Van Rhoden student landed in sixth from post seven through an opening panel In :27.4 before pulling to the outside. The pair chipped away at the leaders from the outside through the half in :58.1 and three-quarters in 1:27.4. Down the lane, Dragon Grad met the match of Perfect High (Brett Miller) and they pulled away in a two-horse duel to the wire. In a photo finish, Dragon Grad won by a nose in 1:59 over Perfect High. Little Bit Bad (Trace Tetrick) rallied from the back of the pack to take the show spot.

Ty Van Rhoden co-owns the four-year-old Fear The Dragon-Betterthangraduate gelding with Scott Rooks. Dragon Grad won his ninth race from 50 career starts, moving his lifetime bankroll to $95,477. As the 8-1 upset victor, Dragon Grad returned $17 to win.

Kauffman, a resident of Lebanon, Ohio, has driven his mounts to more than $33 million in career earnings to go along with his 4,000-win plateau. His career-best campaign took place in 2017 with 318 victories.

(Standardbred Canada)
Former race secretary Gregg Keidel, longtime veterinarian Dr. Robert Schwartz, harness racing supporter and clerk Lisa Schwartz, and the connections of Breeders Crown champion Tactical Approach will be presented with Ohio Harness Horsemens Association Special Recognition Awards at the association's Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, Jan. 13.

Gregg Keidel has held many different roles in the harness racing industry. He worked as the publicist at Northfield Park before becoming race secretary and director of racing, positions he held for 26 years. Keidel also worked at Running Aces and Pompano Park before returning to Ohio to be the director of racing at both Dayton Raceway and Miami Valley. He remained at both Ohio locations for a decade. Keidel estimates that throughout his career, he assembled 6,650 racing programs, consisting of 93,100 races and 791,350 starters.

Dr. Robert Schwartz began his career in 1971 working for Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Famer Dr. Don Mossbarger. Mossbarger started Midland Acres, where Schwartz has been a veterinarian since the farms inception. Schwartz is a former chairman of the Ohio Standardbred Development Fund and served on the Board of Directors at Scioto Downs. He currently serves as president of both the Ohio Colt Racing Association and the Fayette County Fair Board.

Schwarzs wife Lisa is also being recognized for her contributions to Ohio harness racing. She helped merge the Western Ohio Colt Racing Association and the Ohio Colt Racing Association. Schwartz became the secretary/treasurer of Ohios Signature Series in 2017 and has grown the series from 14 to 34 fairs. In 2023, Schwartz worked at 18 county fairs as the clerk, charter, or both, including the historic Delaware County Fair.

Ohioans Joe Sbrocco and R. Kevin Greenfield are being recognized for their part in the extensive success of the three-year-old trotter Tactical Approach. Sbrocco is part owner and Greenfield is the syndicate manager for sire Tactical Landing. Tactical Approach hit the board in 17 of 19 races, winning 10 including the Hambletonian and the Breeders Crown. He was named the 2023 Three-Year-Old Colt Trotter of the Year by the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

The recipients of the Special Recognition Award for their contributions to the betterment of harness racing in Ohio will be honoured at the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 at the Mariott Columbus OSU in Columbus, Ohio. Tickets to the banquet are $30 each and can be purchased by calling the association's office at 614-221-3650.

(Ohio Harness Horsemens Association)
Woodbine Mohawk Park would like to inform all racing participants that training on Thursday, Jan. 11 has been cancelled due to inclement weather.

Track maintenance will be performed to have the surface ready for live racing on Thursday night.

The next training day will be Saturday, Jan. 13.

(Woodbine)
A U.S. government agency has proposed fining an Omaha beef plant nearly $275,000 after an investigation determined the plant violated numerous federal safety standards that resulted in an employee getting severely injured.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administrations investigation into Nebraska Beef began after a June incident when an employee caught their fingertip in a forklift attachment. The employee ultimately lost their hand in a medical amputation three weeks later, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The employee had been helping a forklift operator move materials when the incident occurred, according to the release.

As OSHA investigated the incident, it found that Nebraska Beef failed to develop and employ lockout/tagout procedures for hydraulic dock plates and enclosures, the release said. In addition, OSHA determined that Nebraska Beef lacked safety procedures for material handling and exposed workers to live electrical parts.

Other deficiencies against Nebraska Beef highlighted by OSHA consist of:

Failure to isolate energy during service and maintenance of dock levelers.

Unsafe working surfaces.

Fall hazards on platforms and ladders.

No readily available eye wash and drenching facility.

Electrical hazards.

Lack of kits to handle chemical spills.

Improperly trained forklift operators.

Unsafe battery maintenance.

OSHA cited Nebraska Beef for two willful violations and 11 serious violations. OSHA proposed fining Nebraska Beef $274,569.

An employee of Nebraska Beef Ltd. suffered a permanent injury because the company knowingly ignored safety measures that are meant to prevent this very type of incident, OSHA Area Director Matthew Thurlby said in the release. The company must reassess its safety training and procedures immediately to keep other employees from suffering needless injuries.

Nebraska Beef has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
LINCOLN  Nebraska lawmakers ended a snowy fourth day of the 2024 legislative session with a three-hour public hearing on 34 proposed rules changes.

The Nebraska Legislature doesnt typically consider permanent rules changes on the second session of a biennial, but this year proved to be an exception, coming off of an unprecedented session in 2023. Combined with the record-breaking 52 rules proposals that year, that brings the total rules changes requested during the 108th Legislature to 86.

Debate stalled at multiple points last session due to extended filibusters and differing interpretations of existing rules. Many of this years proposed changes involved ways to avoid a repeat of last year, but some were intended to hold lawmakers accountable for their votes.

State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, chair of the Rules Committee, said he expects the committee to discuss and possibly vote on the proposals as early as Tuesday. Speaker of the Legislature John Arch said floor debate on the rules is scheduled for later this week, and he hopes to conclude the debate by Jan. 19.

Erdman and Arch accounted for the vast majority of the rules proposals, offering 28 changes between them. Both suggested several changes that would make extensive filibustering more difficult.

Both Arch and Erdman are calling for limits on legislative tactics intended to slow debate, and proposed making permanent the temporary change put in place last year. It limited priority motions  including motions to postpone debate to a future date, postpone a bill indefinitely or move a bill back to its committee  to one of each motion per bill per day.

Arch and Erdman slightly tweaked the proposed change this year to limit it to one of each priority motion per bill for each stage of debate, each of which can sometimes span multiple days. Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington expressed concern that lawmakers supporting a bill could game the system by offering and then withdrawing their priority motion  thus preventing efforts to postpone a bill or move it back to committee.

Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha proposed a potential solution to that through a separate rules change that would allow priority motions be withdrawn only through a majority vote or unanimous consent. But this brought up new concerns about whether it would give the majority too much power.

I think theres a way to marry the two, DeBoer said.

Arch also proposed banning debate on enrollment and review amendments, which consist of minor technical and grammatical changes.

Erdman proposed that a lawmaker could call the question to attempt to stop debate and move to a vote at any stage of debate. Currently, the presiding officer can decide that a full and fair debate has not yet occurred and reject that call. Erdman also suggested that priority motions could only be considered if supported by a show of five hands or more.

Several Erdman proposals dealt with voting, including eliminating secret ballot voting for committee leadership elections. He also called for a change to cloture rules to not count senators who are excused or present-not-voting, which would effectively make it easier to get to the two-thirds threshold needed to end a filibuster.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha proposed a requirement that senators could only vote yes or no during the final round of debate on a bill, with no option to abstain. This proposal saw support from testifier Allie French with Nebraskans Against Government Overreach, who said it would improve transparency to let Nebraskans know where all lawmakers stand on an issue.

As a voter, somebody who elects my representatives, I expect you guys to kind of vote yes or no, French said. I think its been a shirking of responsibility to have present-not-voting as an option.

While the hearing drew minimal testimony overall, Erdmans proposals attracted the most criticism. Several representatives of news groups opposed his proposal to exclude members of the news media from executive sessions.

Multiple other testifiers opposed a different Erdman proposal that would remove the current requirement that no more than five members of the Legislatures redistricting committee come from the same political party, and that the chair and vice chair of the committee be of different parties. Erdman said this change would preserve the nonpartisan nature of the body, but opponents argued it would actually open the door for further party politics.

Gavin Geis, executive director for Common Cause Nebraska, said the current rules serve as a safeguard that ensures a balanced approach to redistricting, a process that has received heavy scrutiny across the country for over-politicization.

The removal of party registration as a factor in selecting committee members may lead to a lack of diversity in thought and perspective, resulting in skewed representation that doesnt accurately (represent) the political landscape of our state, Geis said.

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Dominique Sachse, former KPRC anchor. Karen Warren, Staff / Houston Chronicle

Now, that the cat's out of the bag about Houstons own Dominique Sachse plans to leave town to pursue another job opportunity in the Lone Star State, some may be wondering who the former news anchor and Over 50 & Flourishing podcaster is.

Here are five facts about Dominique Sachse:

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1. Sachse is not a native Houstonian



Did you know Sachse moved to Houston as a little girl? She and her family planted roots in the Bayou City back in 1974. Last year, she lost her mother and in the latest episode of her podcast, Sachse discussed experiencing Christmas for the first time without her..

2. Sachse roles pre-KPRC



Prior to kickstarting her life off as a YouTube creator, Sachse served as the evening anchor for KPRC-TV for 28 years. Before landing on the television airwaves, she rocked them at KHMX Mix 96.5 as a disc jockey. Sachse also worked as a traffic reporter at Metro Traffic Control putting together live broadcasts of traffic reports for various radio stations including KTRH, KLOL and KHMX.

Dominique Sachse, former KPRC anchor. Dave Rossman / Contributor

3. Sachse is a UH cougar at heart



Sachse graduated from Memorial High School, home of the Mustangs, in 1985. After obtaining her high school diploma, she went on to further her education at home at the University of Houston. Five years later in 1990, she received her degree in communications.

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4. She is a self-help author

A three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, Sachse used her writing skills in a new arena back in April of 2022 to release her first book, Life Makeover. With a call to action for women to embrace their outward beauty as the first step in living with internal boldness, Sachse shares her wisdom in the book about beauty and its ability to bolster inner worth. In the same year, she announced her divorce from husband Nick Florescu. The couple got engaged in Rome in 2011 over pasta and Pino, according to Sachse. In 2012, Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen officiated the wedding ceremony at the home of John and Becca Cason Thrash.

5. Sachse's podcast reaches millions

While still anchoring the news in Houston, Sachse was inspired to reach another audience  one beyond the television screen. In doing so, she started her YouTube channel which to date has nearly 2 million subscribers. Sachse admitted the content on her channel had to be within the bounds of her contract at her full-time job at KPRC-TV. She discusses topics from fashion to beauty and everything in between.

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When Leon Pridgen brings the story of Ben Davis to the stage in Mooresville next week, the actor hopes to shine a light on an American hero he believes hasnt gotten enough credit for his accomplishments both as a war hero and civil servant.

Thats what motivates Pridgen as he brings his one-man show Ben Davis  Watch Him Fly to the Mooresville Performing Arts Center at 4 p.m. on Jan. 15. Doors open at 3 p.m.

Pridgen said he wants people to understand not just what Davis accomplished, but also what happened in his life to make him the man he was.

Its his story ... behind that story in addition to the other things that he endured to get to be who he was and to be that leader, Pridgen said. We cover a lot of other things other than just that story and just what he had done as a war hero.

Davis is a war hero who was one of the first Black combat fighter pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps and the commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, but Pridgens play touches on Davis time before and after the war.

From West Point and the strife he faced as the only Black cadet there to his time as a combat pilot and service at a time the military began to end its segregation policies, but also in his civilian life where he would become an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation and leave an impact there as well. He was part of the push to establish a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit across the nation to save not just fuel but lives, too.

Whether in the military or civilian world, Pridgen said it is a story of perseverance that is universal.

The idea behind this  of what you can accomplish, what you can do  is a motivating thing for me and inspiration for other people, Pridgen said. That thing that makes you fly, where you can spread your wings. It doesnt matter who you are, you can find inspiration from this story.

An Army veteran himself and an actor for more than three decades now, Pridgen said that he was familiar with the story of Davis for years but it was the recent actors and writers union strikes that prompted him to take it from an idea to a production. But the play people will see on Jan. 15 isnt the finished product, according to Pridgen. He said he hopes to build off the production while allowing people to see this performance as a work in progress.

It gives them a chance to see what this is and hopefully there may be some people that see this and say this is something we can take to another level, Pridgen said. Im trying to create a visual experience where you see certain things and feel certain things while walking through Bens experiences.

This is a starting point.

Pridgen hopes to be able to take the show to perform on Army bases in the United States and around the world to share Davis story so that it isnt forgotten. The performance at the Mooresville Performing Arts Center, though, will bring him full circle as he was once a school board member for the Mooresville Graded Schools District and advocating for such a facility to be built.

It was as important to me to with this story that Im launching to tie it into something that was important to me and part of the community that I live in, Pridgen said.

Pridgen also said he felt there was a need to preserve the story and ensure it isnt lost from the pages of history as time passes. While Davis story is one of a man triumphant as he overcame adversity, Pridgen said sometimes people want to ignore what those obstacles were as Davis and others fought for equal rights in America.

We are in an interesting period here in America where sometimes people dont necessarily want to acknowledge the history of things that you can look at, and you can see that with current events. This is a story, this did happen, Prodgen said. People may try to pull it out of history books or rearrange or readjust it. And by all means, this is an artistic interpretation so Ive obviously taken some liberties, but its based in the truth and in fact of who this man was. Theres a documented war record, and there are things that exist.

You have to do your part to keep history alive.
The hunt for a wanted Florida man and the Wytheville woman he disappeared with earlier this month ended on Monday.

Zachary Cole Heatherley, 24, and his girlfriend, Bella Hope Wheeler, 21, were located on Monday afternoon after being reported missing on Thursday, Jan. 4. The couple told Heatherleys mother they were going for a walk in Tampa, Florida, where the two were staying with Heatherleys mother, according to reports.

Heatherley was supposed to turn himself in the next day to begin serving a five-year prison sentence for aggravated battery, attempted murder, shooting at or into a vehicle and felony drug possession, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to the charges on Dec. 5.

His criminal history also includes charges of grand theft, marijuana possession and other misdemeanors, according to Florida court documents. A capias for his arrest for failing to appear was issued on Jan. 5.

Wheeler, who attended George Wythe High School, is the daughter of educator and hair stylist Gayle King.

In a press release before the two were found, King asked for prayers and for others to share photos of her daughter on social media.

I am grateful for anything you can do to help make sure my daughter is safe. Thats all I want, for my beautiful Bella to be safe, she said in the release.

The Wytheville Police Department posted an AWARE Foundations flyer about the couple on Monday morning before updating it to show they had been located.
Your daily brief of the English-speaking press on Syria.

A military bus in the Syrian desert was attacked by the Islamic State group on Tuesday, resulting in the death of at least 14 soldiers, as reported by a war monitor. This marks the second attack of its kind this year. Additionally, two high-ranking Hezbollah commanders were killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon. Both are said to have played significant roles in the Syrian conflict.

IDF kills Hamas rocket commander in Syria

The Israeli army said it eliminated Hassan Akasha, a senior Hamas operative responsible for rocket launches from Syria.

Since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 operation, Akasha directed Hamas squads that fired rockets from Syria, tweeted IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory, and it [Syria] is responsible for any action that leaves its territory. We will continue to act against any threat, added Hagari.

Akasha was killed in the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn, west of Damascus. Mondays statement did not say how he was killed.

Israel has reportedly hit hundreds of terror targets in Syria in recent years as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the country, though it rarely confirms these strikes.

Israel has reportedly struck the Aleppo and Damascus airports multiple times in a bid to prevent Tehran from smuggling weapons via Syria to its terror proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel is currently carrying out an unprecedented wave of attacks on targets linked to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, Reuters claimed on Monday, citing six local sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Assassinated Hezbollah commander had role in raid that sparked 2006 war, fought in Syria

The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon Monday played a central role in some of the groups most high-profile attacks, including a deadly 2006 cross-border raid that triggered the Second Lebanon War.

Wissam al-Tawil was described by the Iran-backed group as a commander, while a senior source in Lebanon told the Reuters news agency that he was a commander of Hezbollahs elite Radwan forces and the most senior Hezbollah officer killed so far in the recent fighting along the border.

In Israel, unsourced reports in Hebrew media claimed that Tawil had recently become leader of the Radwan force, an elite unit within Hezbollah thought responsible for a number of skirmishes on the Israel-Lebanon border. However, Lebanons al-Meyadeen news outlet, considered closely linked to Hezbollah, said reports that Tawil was the commander of Radwan were false, without elaborating.

A security source told AFP that Tawil had a leading role in managing Hezbollahs operations in the south, near the Israeli border.

In a statement posted to Telegram, Hezbollah said that Tawil had led operations against Israeli forces along the restive frontier, which since the Hamas-led terror onslaught on October 7 has seen near-daily skirmishes and cross-border strikes from both sides.

Israeli officials have been demanding for weeks that the Radwan force withdraw from the border area to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the fighting to return to their homes.

On Monday, Tawil was killed when an airstrike hit a car he was in, near his hometown of Khirbet Selm, some 10 kilometres (6 miles) from northern Israel. On Tuesday, Israel also killed Ali Barji, said to be the leader of Hezbollahs drone force and to have played an active role in the war in Syria.

Islamic State Group Kills 14 Syria Soldiers

An Islamic State group attack killed at least 14 soldiers aboard a military bus in the Syrian desert Tuesday, a war monitor said, in the second such attack this year.

At least 14 members of the regime forces were killed and several others wounded in a bloody IS attack on a military bus, in the desert near the ancient city of Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Last week, IS killed nine Syrian government troops and militiamen in an attack on military posts in the eastern desert, according to the British-based monitor.

The jihadist group continues to mount attacks on troops and other government targets from desert hideouts where its fighters regrouped after losing their last piece of territory in Syria in March 2019.

More than half a million people have been killed in the civil war which erupted in Syria in 2011 after Damascus brutally suppressed anti-government protests.

Vigilante Actions Against Drug Trade in Syrias Daraa Province

Syrian columnist Haid Haid published an article in the Middle East Institute, in which he argues that a vigilante war against drug trafficking in Daraa, Syria, is intensifying. A recent assassination of a 53-year-old man affiliated with Syrias Military Intelligence Directorate, known for his involvement in drug trafficking, marks a notable shift in the nature of violence in the area. This incident is part of a broader trend of drug-related assassinations that began last year, with an estimated 70 to 150 people killed for their involvement in drug activities.

Haid quoted local sources as indicating a rising community-driven effort to combat the drug trade, a response to the regimes apparent complicity and failure to address the issue. These targeted killings, though significant, are unlikely to fully eradicate the deeply entrenched drug-related activities in the region.

The victims, often linked to the Syrian regime and its intelligence agencies, are targeted in various ways, including shootings in residences and ambushes while in transit. The majority are affiliated with military intelligence, which controls a substantial portion of the drug networks in western Syria.

High-profile figures involved in drug trafficking, such as Mustafa al-Mesalmeh, have also been targeted. Al-Mesalmeh, also known as al-Kasem, was among 11 individuals sanctioned by the UK and the US for their role in Syrias drug trade.

Additionally, the article says, that anti-drug operations have targeted facilities linked to Iran-backed militias, suggesting a broader scope of these vigilante actions.

The local populaces growing frustration over the surge in drug consumption and the associated rise in crime has been a driving force behind these vigilante actions. Drugs like hashish, Captagon, and crystal meth are readily available, even in schools, indicating an aggressive push by traffickers.

Despite the regimes promises, there has been little official action against these illicit activities. The Assad regime, benefiting from the drug trade financially and politically, has largely turned a blind eye, even as Arab states demand action against the drug trade as a precondition for normalizing relations.

Syria, particularly since the regime regained control over key border areas, has become a major producer of Captagon, turning its drug industry into a lucrative international enterprise.

The failure of both the Assad regime and former opposition factions to effectively tackle this issue has prompted local armed groups, including former opposition fighters now under the regimes umbrella, to initiate anti-drug campaigns. However, these efforts have been inconsistent and sometimes perceived as pretextual or ineffective.

Amidst this backdrop, armed locals and former fighters have assumed the role of anti-drug vigilantes. Operating in organized groups, they carry out targeted assassinations to address the drug menace while avoiding direct confrontation with the regime.

While these vigilante actions have introduced a new dynamic in the fight against drug trafficking, they are unlikely to resolve the deep-seated issues fueling the drug trade in Daraa. The entrenched power and profit motives of the traffickers, coupled with the complexity of the local political landscape, suggest that these targeted killings may only add another layer of violence to the already unstable region.

Israel Escalates Strikes on Iran-Linked Targets in Syria

Reuters reported that Israel has intensified its air strike campaign in Syria since October 7, specifically targeting Iranian arms transfers and air defense systems. This shift in strategy marks a departure from Israels previous approach, which involved firing warning shots before destroying targets. Now, the strikes are both deadlier and more frequent, directly targeting personnel and equipment without warning.

This escalation follows an incident on October 7 involving Hamas fighters entering Israeli territory, leading to Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Since then, Israel has become less cautious about causing heavy casualties, particularly among Hezbollah members in Syria. In the past three months, these air strikes have killed 19 Hezbollah members in Syria, more than double the total for the rest of 2023. Additionally, over 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed by Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon during the same period.

Israeli military officials have not responded directly to inquiries about the campaign but have indicated that these actions are retaliatory. Previously, Israel avoided inflicting high casualties on Hezbollah members to prevent retaliation from Lebanon. However, the recent spike in cross-border violence has led to a change in Israels tactics.

Hezbollahs leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, acknowledged the loss of fighters in Syria, citing a shift in the dynamics of their engagement with Israel. The strikes have also affected Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria, with recent attacks resulting in the deaths of several members, including a senior adviser overseeing military coordination between Syria and Iran.

Additionally, the strikes have targeted infrastructure, such as air defence bases and equipment, significantly impacting Syrias defensive capabilities. These actions convey a message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about the consequences of allowing Iranian and Hezbollah weapon transfers and entrenchment.

Despite this escalation, the Syrian military, which relied on Hezbollah and Iran during its civil war, has not opened a new front against Israel. According to a Syrian intelligence officer, Syria is not seeking direct confrontation or open war with Israel. Assad has also reportedly been discouraged from supporting Hamas after receiving threats, presumably from Israel, delivered through the United Arab Emirates. However, the UAE denies these claims.
Two weeks have elapsed since the departure of Ghassan Abbas, the Syrian ambassador to the UAE, without any announcement of a successor, Enab Baladi says.

Two weeks have elapsed since the departure of Ghassan Abbas, the Syrian ambassador to the UAE, without any announcement of a successor. This development raises questions about the state of relations between the two nations.

On December 26, 2023, the Syrian Embassy in Abu Dhabi hosted a farewell event for Ambassador Abbas, attended by members of the Syrian community. The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan reported on this occasion, noting the absence of any Emirati official representation at the event and the lack of a new ambassadorial appointment from Damascus as of the time of this report.

Despite the UAEs previously strong ties with the Syrian regime  exemplified by Bashar al-Assads visit in March 2022, his first to an Arab nation since 2011  the UAE was notably absent from Assads New Years greetings list. The visit, as reported by the Emirates News Agency (WAM), involved discussions on issues like Syrian territorial integrity, foreign forces withdrawal, and political and humanitarian support for Syria.

Two interpretations

Dr. Ahmed Al-Qirbi of the Syrian Dialogue Center suggests two possible interpretations of these developments. The first is that the non-reappointment of Ambassador Abbas could be routine administrative procedure, while the second points to potential Emirati pressure on the Syrian regime, particularly given the lack of public interactions or New Years greetings between the two countries.

Al-Qirbi highlighted the growing emphasis on the issue of drug trafficking, particularly the trade in Captagon, as a possible area of Emirati concern. He noted Jordans role as a transit point in this smuggling network to the Gulf states and its hosting of 1.6 million Syrian refugees since the 2011 Syrian uprising. He posited that the UAEs strategic stance on normalization with the Syrian regime, including efforts to reintegrate Syria into the Arab League and lobby for the easing of U.S. sanctions, indicates a broader strategy to conclude the Arab Spring narrative.

This strategy includes attempts to resolve the Syrian situation through normalization and global reintegration. This is evident in the UAE hosting the 28th World Climate Action Summit, where human rights organizations called for the withdrawal of an invitation to Bashar al-Assad and his arrest based on French criminal investigation warrants for the use of banned chemical weapons. The Syrian delegation at the summit was led by Hussein Arnous, head of the Syrian government, without official explanation for Assads absence despite his invitation from the UAE.

Dr. Al-Qirbi, speaking to Enab Baladi, emphasized that the UAEs exertion of pressure on the Syrian regime should be seen not as a deviation from the path of normalization, but rather as an attempt to encourage positive action from the regime, particularly concerning the halt of Captagon smuggling into Arab countries.

He noted that its unlikely the Arab countries would expect the Syrian regime to limit the influence of Iranian militias, acknowledging the regimes limitations in this regard.

The UAE has been at the forefront of advocating for the Syrian regimes reintegration into the Arab League. Since 2018, the UAE has proactively revived relations with the regime, reopening its embassy in Damascus and supporting various projects in regime-controlled areas. These include crucial water system initiatives and the establishment of a photovoltaic power station.

A landmark visit by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed to Damascus on October 9, 2021, marked the first of its kind since the Syrian revolution began in 2011. Bin Zayeds visit signified a bold move towards the Syrian regime, following his earlier statements in March 2021 alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asserting the inevitability of Syrias regional reintegration.

Bin Zayed also highlighted the intention to discuss the U.S.-imposed Caesar Act with Washington, viewing it as a significant obstacle to collaboration with Syria.

The UAEs involvement in Syrias post-earthquake relief efforts in February 2023, particularly in Latakia Governorate, further demonstrates the strengthening ties between the two nations.

In March 2023, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma Al-Assad made a significant visit to the UAE. Marking Asmas first visit since 2011, they were received by Fatima bint Mubarak, the wife of the late Emirati President Zayed bin Sultan. The presence of Fatima bint Mubarak lent a notable distinction to this diplomatic event. The Syrian Presidencys Facebook page detailed discussions on bilateral relations, regional developments, and economic cooperation.

Despite the Abu Dhabi governments previous support for Syrian armed opposition factions and its involvement in the Jordan-based MOC command center, it has increasingly favored closer ties with the regime. This was exemplified by a phone call in March 2020 between Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Assad to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, signifying a gesture of human solidarity.

The reopening of the UAE embassy in Damascus on December 27, 2018, after its closure in 2012, further underscored Abu Dhabis intent to restore relations. The UAE Foreign Ministry justified this decision as a commitment to bolstering Arab influence in supporting Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime has been actively appointing ambassadors to various Arab countries, with the latest significant appointment being Deputy Foreign Minister Ayman Soussan as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. This move reflects the regimes ongoing efforts to restore and strengthen its diplomatic ties within the Arab world.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
A local source in the countryside of Damascus informed al-Souria Net that Ali Okasha held the position of battalion commander for the Free Army.

The Israeli military reported the elimination of Hassan Okasha in the Beit Jinn area on Monday. According to spokesperson Avichai Adraee, Okasha was responsible for launching Hamas rockets from Syrian territory into Israel in recent weeks. Adraee stated that Okasha had been directing Hamas terrorist cells involved in rocket attacks on Israel from Syria since the beginning of the conflict. According to activist Nour Abu Hassan, Okasha is known as Dushka in Beit Jinn.

The same source, an activist from the Syrian border areas with the Golan, also mentioned that Okasha played a role in firing rockets at Israel during the battles of Beit Jinn in 2015, a conflict between the factions of the Free Syrian Army and Assads forces.

Hassan Okashas brother, Ali Okasha, known as Abu JJarrah, met his demise last September, along with Zahar al-Saadi, nicknamed Abu Alaa, when they were targeted by an Israeli drone. A local source in the countryside of Damascus informed al-Souria Net that Ali Okasha held the position of battalion commander for the Free Army in the region in 2016.

In 2017, Assads forces gained control of the Beit Jinn area after several Free Army fighters relocated to northern Syria as part of what the regime termed a settlement.

Arabi 21 reported, citing Palestinian sources, that Okasha and Saadi were affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement in Syria. The sources affirmed that both individuals had a strong connection with the military commander Akram al-Ajouri, who leads the al-Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad.

Unprecedented wave

In light of Israels heightened activities in Syria and Lebanon, specifically its targeting of prominent leaders and an apparent intensification of its assassination policy, Reuters reported on Monday, citing six sources, that Israel is conducting an unprecedented series of deadly strikes in Syria. These strikes aim at cargo trucks, infrastructure, and individuals associated with the arms supply chain facilitated by Iran to its regional proxies.

The sources revealed that, unlike previous instances, Israel is now executing more lethal airstrikes specifically against Iranian arms transfers and air defence systems within Syria. According to a commander in the regional coalition and other informed sources, Israel appears to have departed from the previously unspoken rules that characterized its strikes in Syria, demonstrating a newfound willingness to inflict substantial losses on Hezbollah in the region.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The distribution of Commission members is as follows: al-Jazeera (5), Deir-ez-Zor (3), Al-Raqqa (3), Tabqa (2), Manbijj (3), al-Furat (2), and Afrin (2).

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the initiation of the formation of the High Electoral Commission on Tuesday, a few weeks after the controversial unveiling of the social contract in Syria. The 95th regular session of the Peoples Democratic Assembly, documented on the Autonomous Administrations Facebook account, highlighted the decision to establish the Commission at the Autonomous Administration Center, comprising 20 members.

The distribution of Commission members is as follows: al-Jazeera (5), Deir-ez-Zor (3), Al-Raqqa (3), Tabqa (2), Manbijj (3), al-Furat (2), and Afrin (2). Additionally, a committee, comprising the Legal Committee of the Peoples Democratic Assembly, experts from the 2017 Commission, and others, was formed. This committees responsibility is to draft legislation outlining the functioning of the High Electoral Commission and an electoral law.

Simultaneously, the Womens Coordination in Autonomous Administration conducted its annual 2023 meeting on Monday. The agenda focused on defining the objectives for the year, including hosting a womens coordination conference to elucidate the provisions of the social contract for women and their roles.

SDF Social Contract

On December 13th, the General Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria within the SDF unveiled an updated version of the social contract, officially named the Social Contract for the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the North and East of Syria. This move mirrors the characterization of Iraqi Kurdistan as the Kurdistan Region.

Comprising four chapters with a total of 134 articles, the amended contract begins with the first chapter outlining fundamental principles, consisting of 36 articles. Title II of the contract delves into fundamental rights and freedoms, while Part III addresses societal order. General provisions are encapsulated in Part IV.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria highlighted that the revised social contract emerged from numerous decisions, meetings, and consultations, ultimately leading to a consensus on the final draft. The administration explained that the latest draft underwent scrutiny by the General Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, where members, along with representatives from the legislative councils in the Autonomous and Civil Administrations, approved the social contract for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The Autonomous Administration, functioning in areas controlled by the SDF, defines the social contract as a set of theoretical and practical foundations, laws, and organizational rules developed to delineate the relationship between the governing body and the governed. It aims to define the rights and duties of individuals and officials within society.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Four Castle Rock residents were involved in a two-car collision on Lewis and Clark Highway, or State Route 14, near Skamania on Monday afternoon, resulting in one person being sent to the hospital.

At about 4:46 p.m., a Subaru Forester driven by Amy C. Collins, 37, of Stevenson, crossed the centerline as she traveled east near milepost 35 and collided head-on with a Ford F-250 truck operated by Nathan Q. Kirby, 33, of Castle Rock, according to a Washington State Patrol report.

The Subaru Forester stopped on the eastbound shoulder of the highway, while Kirbys Ford truck blocked both the westbound and eastbound lanes.

Collins, who was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, was sent to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. She may face charges pending the conclusion of an investigation, as alcohol and or drugs were believed to be involved, as stated in the press release.

Three other Castle Rock residents accompanied Kirby, but none sustained injuries.

Both vehicles were towed. Collins Subaru was stated as being totaled while the truck and trailer had reportable damage, according to the release.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Recording new voice-overs without speaking a word. For a busy voice actor, it might sound like a dreamunless that actor is worried about artificial intelligence being used to devalue her work and make hiring her unnecessary.

But under a new deal with an artificial intelligence company, members of the Screen Actors Guild will be able to create and license digital simulations of their voices for video games and other projects while enjoying safeguards against their potential misuse, the Hollywood labor union announced Tuesday.

Touting an agreement with Replica Studiosa tech firm that says it is "building the world's greatest library of AI-powered voice actors"during an event at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland described the deal as an example for how other tech companies can build trust with showbiz talent.

The deal comes in the wake of SAG-AFTRA's protracted strike last year, in which the union sought expanded protections against AI from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, the group representing Hollywood's major producers. The contract that the Guild ultimately secured mandated that the studios get permission from actors in order to digitally clone them, and pay for the use of those clones.

"Like our recently negotiated AMPTP  terms, the Replica agreements are an expression of SAG-AFTRA's intent and ability to work with employers to create terms that benefit and protect our members, and allow them to engage with opportunities driven by new technologies," Crabtree-Ireland said from a lectern during the CES event.

The Replica deal will allow professional voice-over artists to "safely explore new employment opportunities for their digital voice replicas with industry-leading protections tailored to AI technology," according to SAG-AFTRA. Simulated voices licensed under the deal can be used in video games and "other interactive media projects," the union added.

The agreement establishes minimum rates for voice actors, Crabtree-Ireland said, and includes guardrails to ensure that performers know what projects a digital voice replica will be used in and that they consent to its use in future projects. Their data must also be stored safely.

"This is a great example of AI being done right," said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher in a statement.

Protections for game voice actors fall under a SAG-AFTRA contract for interactive work. But that contract, negotiated in 2017, did not include protections around AI.

Voice actors have said they know society can't stop AI technology from advancing. Instead, they hope that workers can secure contracts that would require their consent to reproduce their voice or likeness and compensate them when that happens.

SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating its video game contract, the Interactive Media Agreement representing about 2,500 performers, for more than a year. In September, members voted to authorize union leaders to call a strike against video game companies.

Although the technology to reuse a likeness or modify a voice has existed for years, actors say AI ups the ante because it can scrape more information more efficiently and potentially turn it into a plausible clone of an actor, combine actors' work or pass as a new, ersatz artist.

"We're creating new revenue streams here; we're not replacing the old way of doing things," said Shreyas Nivas, chief executive of Replica Studios. Explaining what this deal might look like in practice, he said that the popular video game "Red Dead Redemption 2" included 500,000 lines of recorded dialogue, and suggested that automated voice acting could make that process cheaper and more efficient.

Game voice actors say AI poses an equal or even greater threat to performers in the video game industry than it does in film and TVparticularly because many work in voice-over.

"The capacity to cheaply and easily create convincing digital replicas of performer voices is already here and widely available," SAG-AFTRA said in a message posted on its website."You can find the tools to do it yourself with a simple Google search. Without protections, not only will this be the future of how voices are recorded for video game characters, but your own voice recordings will be used to train the AI systems that replace you."

Voice actors have pointed to game "mods"in which players or fans of a game alter contentas proof that their likenesses could be used without their consent and in ways that they would not approve. Last year, actors decried mods in the popular role-playing game Skyrim, which used AI-generated voices based on actors' performances and cloned them for pornographic purposes.

Conversations between Replica and SAG-AFTRA began several years ago, Nivas said.

The SAG-AFTRA strike, as well as the accompanying Writers Guild strike, found stakeholders across Hollywood raising concerns about the role artificial intelligence will play in their industry. Even after SAG leaders secured a contract, some union members maintained that its language left studios too much latitude to use AI going forward.

Crabtree-Ireland nodded to those critics during the CES event, stating that "AI technology is not something we can block" and instead arguing that the union's goal should be to "channel and direct that AI technology in a way that supports human creativity" in collaboration with amenable companies.

2024 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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A ChapGPT logo is seen on a smartphone in West Chester, Pa., Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Catalyzing a year of AI fanfare was ChatGPT. The World Economic Forum says false and misleading information supercharged with cutting-edge artificial intelligence is the top immediate risk to the global economy. In its latest Global Risks Report, the organization says misinformation and disinformation as the most severe risk over the next two years. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

False and misleading information supercharged with cutting-edge artificial intelligence that threatens to erode democracy and polarize society is the top immediate risk to the global economy, the World Economic Forum said in a report Wednesday.

In its latest Global Risks Report, the organization also said an array of environmental risks pose the biggest threats in the longer term. The report was released ahead of the annual elite gathering of CEOs and world leaders in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos and is based on a survey of nearly 1,500 experts, industry leaders and policymakers.

The report listed misinformation and disinformation as the most severe risk over the next two years, highlighting how rapid advances in technology also are creating new problems or making existing ones worse.

The authors worry that the boom in generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT means that creating sophisticated synthetic content that can be used to manipulate groups of people won't be limited any longer to those with specialized skills.

AI is set to be a hot topic next week at the Davos meetings, which are expected to be attended by tech company bosses including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and AI industry players like Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun.

AI-powered misinformation and disinformation is emerging as a risk just as a billions of people in a slew of countries, including large economies like the United States, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and Pakistan, are set to head to the polls this year and next, the report said.

"You can leverage AI to do deepfakes and to really impact large groups, which really drives misinformation," said Carolina Klint, a risk management leader at Marsh, whose parent company Marsh McLennan co-authored the report with Zurich Insurance Group.

"Societies could become further polarized" as people find it harder to verify facts, she said. Fake information also could be used to fuel questions about the legitimacy of elected governments, "which means that democratic processes could be eroded, and it would also drive societal polarization even further," Klint said.

The rise of AI brings a host of other risks, she said. It can empower "malicious actors" by making it easier to carry out cyberattacks, such as by automating phishing attempts or creating advanced malware.

With AI, "you don't need to be the sharpest tool in the shed to be a malicious actor," Klint said.

It can even poison data that is scraped off the internet to train other AI systems, which is "incredibly difficult to reverse" and could result in further embedding biases into AI models, she said.

The other big global concern for respondents of the risk survey centered around climate change.

Following disinformation and misinformation, extreme weather is the second-most-pressing short-term risk.

In the long termdefined as 10 yearsextreme weather was described as the No. 1 threat, followed by four other environmental-related risks: critical change to Earth systems; biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; and natural resource shortages.

"We could be pushed past that irreversible climate change tipping point" over the next decade as the Earth's systems undergo long-term changes, Klint said.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Some online shoppers have seen photos of the winter pink Stanley cups being sold instead of the actual product. Jeremy Poland/Getty Images

After Starbucks sold out on Jan. 3 of the winter pink Stanley cups, customers should exercise caution when buying the items online.

Some people who bought the pink Stanley cups decided to resell them for higher or questionable prices on websites such as eBay and Mercari. The prices have ranged from $70 to $400 on eBay and $100 to $700 on Mercari. The prices vary depending on each item.

Despite the excitement of people still being able to buy the exclusive, seasonal Stanley Cup, the local Better Business Bureau emphasized the importance of being careful when shopping online.

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HOUSTON NEWS: Church warns members after scammer poses as pastor in scheme targeting Latinos

Recently, a presumed Stanley x Starbucks cup was sold on Mercari for $81  except the description read, "This is for a limited edition picture art of the 2023 Stanley x Starbucks collaboration." Meaning, the person bought a photo of the Stanley Cup, not the actual cup itself. TikTok user @coffeepassport posted a video talking about a Stanley Cup photo being sold for $125. It is unclear if the two products were from the same seller.

"We do see these types of scams where people claim to have a particular item like the Stanley Cup, and they may put up photos and it's just a scammer that is trying to get people to pay money to them," said Leah Napoliello, vice president of investigations and public affairs with the Houston Better Business Bureau.

According to Napoliello, even if the product is just a photo, the way it's advertised on social media or websites can be considered misleading if the seller doesn't plan to send the actual product.

"Especially if (sellers) are charging a significant amount. Most of the time with a photo, they're not going to have a significant charge to purchase the items. So, people are thinking that they're getting the real items, even though they're not," she said.

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Napoliello shared ways of preventing from getting scammed while shopping online including checking reviews and seeing how long the seller has been in operation. Checking the comments about the product on display may also help.

"If it's too risky, then don't buy from the particular seller," she said.

For websites such as eBay and Mercari, Napoliello said the customers should contact the third-party website if they feel that a product is misleading or a potential scam.

Local law enforcement has not mentioned on social media the potential scams on Stanley Cups, however, The New York Post reported about law enforcement in Illinois warning about fake Stanley Cups being sold for cheaper prices.

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The logo for live-streaming video platform Twitch is seen on Nov. 4, 2017, at the Paris games week in Paris, France. Twitch is laying off more than 500 employees, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, as the company looks to get to a more appropriate size, according to the streaming platform's CEO Dan Clancy. Credit: AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File

Twitch, the video game streaming platform acquired by Amazon a decade ago for close to $1 billion, is laying off more than 500 employees as the company tries to turn the tremendously expensive division profitable.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in an email to employees said that even with cost cuts and growing efficiency, the platform "is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business."

"For some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we're at today," Clancy wrote.

Amazon purchased Twitch Interactive in 2014 for $970 million as it looked for a way to take part in video gaming's growth as an online spectator sport.

Twitch is a multi-channel online network built for a generation of people raised with video games and like to watch some of the best gamers in the world as many people watch professional sports.

Last month Twitch, based in San Francisco, said that it was withdrawing from the South Korean market due to expensive network fees. Clancy said at the time that the network fees the company has been paying to South Korean internet operators were 10 times more than in most other markets. He did not provide specific numbers to back such claims.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

Amazon has cut thousands of jobs after a hiring surge during the pandemic. In March, Amazon announced that it planned to lay off 9,000 employees. That was on top of the 18,000 employees the tech giant said that it would lay off in January 2023.

Job cuts are occurring elsewhere in the company this week.

Amazon is cutting several hundred positions across its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit. Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a note to employees that the company is boosting investment in areas with the most impact, while stepping back from others.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 shown earlier this week following an emergency landing following a midair fuselage blowout.

Boeing is still in fact-finding mode following Friday's near-catastrophic aviation incident, searching for "what broke down" in its processes, Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said Wednesday.

Calhoun, in his first media appearance since the Alaska Airlines panel blowout on a Boeing 737 MAX described the problem as a "quality escape" in a 10-minute interview with CNBC.

"We're going to want to know what broke down in our gauntlet of inspections, what broke down in the original work that allowed for that escape to happen," Calhoun said.

On Friday night, Alaska Airlines successfully executed an emergency landing with no fatalities or major injuries after a panel known as a "door plug" came off.

Video images of the incident showed a gaping hole in the side of the plane and oxygen masks dangling in the suddenly depressurized cabin.

Calhoun, who has vowed "complete transparency," described the event as a "horrible escape," adding that a comprehensive investigation was needed.

"It certainly can never happen again," he said.

US regulators have grounded 171 of the 737 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the Alaska Airlines jet.

Since the incident, both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines reported Monday finding loose hardware on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections.

 2024 AFP
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Laura Hammond, GE Profile, speaks while giving a demonstration of the company's new electric and smokeless smoker during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Chef-like robots, AI-powered appliances and other high-tech kitchen gadgets are holding out the promise that humans don't need to cookor mix drinksfor themselves anymore.

There was plenty new in the food and beverage world at CES 2024, the multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association. Displays included cocktail-mixing and ice cream-making machines akin to a Keurig, and a robot barista whose movements are meant to mimic a human making a vanilla latte.

Here's some of the newest tech that's transforming the way meals are prepped, cooked and delivered:

A 'NO SMOKE' INDOOR SMOKER

GE Appliances is looking to change the way you smoke food with its new $1,000 indoor smoker.

Around the size of a toaster oven or microwave, the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker can fit a full brisket cut in half, 40 chicken wings or three racks of ribs. It still uses wood pellets to achieve a smokey flavor, but its technology traps the smoke inside, making it "perfect for people who live in urban environments," like high-rise apartments, said Whitney Welch, a spokesperson for GE Appliances.

GRILL SMARTER, NOT HARDER

Using generative AI technology, Brisk It's new smart grill, the NeoSear, aims to make the art of barbecuing foolproof.

Laura Hammond, GE Profile, displays the wooden pellets used in the company's new electric and smokeless smoker during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

You can ask the grill all kinds of questions to create the perfect recipe: What seasoning should I add to make my chicken skewers spicy? How do I sear a medium-rare steak?

Once you've nailed down a recipe and prepped the food, Brisk It's InnoGrill AI 2.0 technology will command the grill to cook it.

"It's everyone's smart grill," said CEO Christopher Huang. "It doesn't matter if you're a skilled enthusiast, if you're busy, young or old."

The grill is not yet available but will cost around $2,000, Huang said.

DIY ICE CREAM IN A (COLD)SNAP

Freezing your own ice cream at home takes hours, but with tech startup ColdSnap's no-clean ice cream machine, your frozen treat is ready in two minutes.

Think of it as a Keurig for ice cream: Choose from flavors like salted caramel and coffee, then put the pod in the machine and it will dispense your cold treat in minutes after scanning the pod's QR code.

ColdSnap can also whip up frozen lattes, boozy ice cream treats and protein shakes.

The Bartesian Premier connected intelligent cocktail maker is on display at the Bartesian booth at Pepcom ahead of the CES tech show Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher

ONE TOUCH IS ALL IT TAKES

Tech startup Chef AI is unveiling what it calls a "real one-touch" air fryer.

Unlike the air fryer you might have on your kitchen counter right now, Chef AI's iteration of the popular appliance doesn't require any tinkering with settings. Just place the food in the air fryer, press Start, and it uses artificial intelligence to detect what type of food it is cooking, says the company's CEO, Dean Khormaei.

He said the air fryer would turn even the worst cooks into chefs.

Chef AI will be available in the U.S. in September for $250.

YOUR OWN PERSONAL BARTENDER

What's the secret to a perfect dirty martini? Don't worry about itBartesian's cocktail-mixing appliance takes the guesswork out of bartending.

Bartesian's latest iteration, the Premier, can hold up to four different types of spirits. It retails for $369 and will be available later this year.

The IGulu F1 automated home brewing machines are displayed during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Christopher Huang, BriskIt, speaks on the company's newly unveiled NeoSear smart grill, that utilizes AI to generate recipes and monitor cooking during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Pods for different drinks are on display for the Bartesian Premier at the Bartesian booth at Pepcom ahead of the CES tech show Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher

A person demonstrates the Bartesian Premier connected intelligent cocktail maker at the Bartesian booth at Pepcom ahead of the CES tech show Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher

A person stands by a Samsung Bespoke AI Family Hub refrigerator at the Samsung booth during the CES tech show Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher

Use a small touch screen on the appliance to pick from 60 recipes, drop a cocktail capsule into the machine, and in seconds you have a premium cocktail over ice.

If you fancy a homemade beer instead, iGulu's new automated brewing machine lets you make your own beera pale ale, an amber lager or a wheat beer. Just pour a pre-mixed recipe into the machine's keg, add water and scan the sticker that comes with the beer mix. In nine to 13 days, you'll have a gallon of DIY beer.

ROBOT BARISTA THAT MOVES LIKE YOU MOVE

Artly Coffee's barista bot mimics the way a human behind the counter of your favorite coffee shop might prepare your usual order.

"What we're really trying to do is preserve the craft of fine coffee," said Alec Roig, a hardware developer for the Seattle-based tech startup that now is operating at 10 locations across the Pacific Northwest and in New York City.

Roig said the company's resident barista, who is behind all of Artly's coffee recipes, was hooked up with motion sensors that recorded his movements as he prepared each recipe, from packing the coffee grounds into the filter to frothing the milk and pouring latte art.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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A Miroki robot, from French company Enchanted Tools, is seen during the Consumer Electronics Showin Las Vegas.

With big, expressive eyes, elfin ears and adorable cooing, Miroka and Miroki could be an apparition from your favorite cartoon.

But behind their cute facade, these robots are all sensors and engineering, and designed to perform the drudgery of logistical support in hospitals or hotels.

"Why live with ugly machines," says Jerome Monceaux, head of Paris-based start-up Enchanted Tools, who was on hand to present the pair at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.

"I could cut their heads off and erase their colors, but I'm not sure you'd want to share your daily life with them," he continues.

A number of start-ups are working on robots that look familiar and help humans, without making them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Amazon is currently testing Agility's "Digit", a two-legged android that wouldn't look out of place in Star Wars, to carry plastic bins in its warehouses.

Enchanted Tools has also bet on team-playing robots, designed to relieve staff of repetitive tasks.

But in addition to helping out, Miroki is meant to bring a touch of "wonder" to the workplace.

"It's a way of celebrating something very beautiful in ourselves and avoid becoming machines ourselves," said Monceaux.

His company hopes to produce 100,000 robots over the next 10 years.

Filling jobs

Every CES brings its share of companion robots and androids, but they haven't gained much ground in homes and businesses.

At the same time, "labor shortage has been the number one problem since COVID across different industries. Today, we have roughly 18 million job vacancies," said Joe Lui, the global lead on robotics at Accenture.

And while some tasks have been adapted for mechanical arms and autonomous forklifts, many others require language, mobility and understanding of the environment and therefore humans.

Or humanoids infused with artificial intelligence, said Lui, who thinks AI can bring robots into everyday life.

"Humanoids are going to be really like coworkers in the coming years and natural language interfaces like ChatGPT are going to be prevalent," said Chris Nielsen, head of Levatas, a US company that has integrated generative AI software into Spot, a quadruped robot from Boston Dynamics.

The Moxie Robot from Embodied is seen during a demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Thanks to generative AI, robots depend less on pre-written scripts.

But "don't worry, robots like us are designed to help humans make their lives better," robot Moxie told AFP.

"We always follow the instructions and programs that humans give us. So you have the control."

As tall as a teddy bear and doped with generative AI, Moxie is capable of interacting with children, telling them stories, giving math lessons and performing dance moves with two arms.

"Moxie isn't here to replace anyone. Moxie is a mentor, tutor and a friend," said Daniel Thorpe of Embodied, the company that created the robot.

'Frightening'

Two-legged, mobile and autonomous humanoids still have a long way to go before they leave the laboratory.

But some of their precursors have at least made it out of CES, like Moxie or Aura, a highly anthropomorphic robot that entertains patrons at The Sphere, Las Vegas' new concert venue.

"I receive a lot of questions like how old are you, what's the meaning of life, who's going to win the Super Bowl?" said Aura to curious viewers.

Aura punctuates her answers with jokes, exaggerated laughter and even rolls her shoulders into a shrug.

For Monceaux, highly anthropomorphic robots risk "provoking an epidermic reaction. They create confusion between our humanity and their robot nature, and are frightening."

"Nobody wants to have one in their home or hospital on a daily basis," he said.

Above all, he added, "it creates an expectation of behavior similar to our own", and therefore a risk of disappointment, because the robot doesn't see and understand the world as we do, and won't for years to come."

For Jonathan Hurst, co-founder of Agility, its Digit robot would look strange without a head and creep out humans.

"We had a lot of conversation about that internally at the company" and the head was kept even if it provided no significant technical purpose.

At CES, Adam, a robot barista from Richtech Robotics, serves coffee to delighted attendees and can now make jokes, thanks to generative AI.

But to refill the coffee machine with milk, he still needs humans.

 2024 AFP
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Mayank Panwar and Dany Tome (first and second from left, respectively) are studying how todays hydropower plants could safely produce more energy by keeping their generators running longer. If they succeed, both countries could ramp up hydropower production without building new plants. Credit: Bryan Bechtold, NREL

When Dany Tome first arrived at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) campus in Golden, Colorado, he did not notice the golden grasses waving from the hillsides or the solar panels set in neat, geometric rows atop parking structures and gullies.

"The first impression I got was snakes," said Tome, a graduate student at the University of South-Eastern Norway. "That there are snakes here."

But Tome was not visiting Colorado for the reptiles. He spent five weeks at NREL as part of a larger partnership between Norway and the United States. The knowledge exchange program supports collaboration across national laboratories, universities, and oceansall to advance hydropower.

Hydropower is still the biggest source of renewable energy worldwide, generating more electricity than all other renewables combined, according to the International Energy Agency. And pumped storage hydropower, which can store up to thousands of hours' worth of energy in reservoirs, accounts for 94% of global energy storage. But as countries add more affordable, efficient solar and wind energy technologies to their power grids, countries need to know: What is hydropower's role in this renewable future?

Why hydropower's role should, and will, evolve

Norway is famous for its fjords. But it should also be famous for its renewable energy. The country gets about 98% of its energy from renewable resources, most of that (92%) is from hydropower.

Although the United States only gets about 6% of its electricity from hydropower, both countries have significant potential to get more electricityor other benefitsfrom hydropower. Some hydropower plants, for example, can generate energy on demand, making hydropower a dependable partner for other renewable sources. When the sun sets or wind slows, hydropower can fill gaps to ensure the grid remains reliable and resilient.

Both countries also rely on similar types of hydropower: primarily large, reservoir-based plants (as opposed to smaller ones positioned alongside flowing rivers). To fill those reservoirs, hydropower plants depend on snow cap or glacier melt and rainwaterall of which could shrink as the world heats up.

But the two countriesand the worldshare something else, too: Climate change.

"These things are not tied to countries. Worldwide, it's a similar effect," said Mayank Panwar, referring to climate change impacts. Panwar, a senior research engineer at NREL, hosted Tome and several other hydropower researchers from the University of South-Eastern Norway starting in the summer of 2023.

Every country is grappling with its own climate change crises, like lethal flooding in wet regions and crop devastation in dry ones; to staunch those crises, many are chasing ambitious clean energy goals.

"So, where does hydropower fit into that?" Panwar asked.

Why the future grid needs modern hydropower

Although wind and solar will likely overtake the giant in years to come, hydropower will continue to play a key role backing up clean energy power grids worldwide.

Yet many countries, including Norway and the United States, are exploring exactly how modern versions of this renewable heavyweight might integrate into future clean energy grids.

Hydropower technologies are not without flaws: For example, facilities can, depending on where and how they are built, affect fish migration. Today's hydropower technologies are already more environmentally friendly than their predecessors. And both Norway and the United States are studying how to mitigate hydropower's environmental, ecosystem, and community impacts through, for example, safe fish passage technologies.

Existing hydropower facilities could become more efficient with modern upgrades, repairs, and even some digital improvements. If the two countries can digitize their analog plants, operators could better control how much energy they generate (and when) and adapt to changing grid needs.

But many of these new hydropower technologies are still being developed. Before countries invest in what could be expensive, time-consuming upgrades to today's facilities, they need to know which come with the greatest benefits and how these changes could impact a future clean energy grid.

Together, Panwar and Tome, along with their NREL and Norway colleagues, hope to answer these big hydropower questions. Panwar, for example, recently built a platform that can emulate new hydropower technologies and simulate how they might function once connected to a real power grid.

But while Panwar explores broad, grid-wide questions, Tome is focused on the most nitty-gritty, fundamental part of a hydropower plant: the generator.

Mastering the machine

Tome first fell in love with machines during one of his undergraduate degrees. (He has one in physics and another in electrical engineering.) Back in his home country of Honduras, Tome remembers a professor coming up to him in the lab and saying, "Let's build a six-phase machine." He might as well have said, "Let's build a unicorn." Electrical systems, like generators and power grids, typically only have three phases (phases indicate how much power the system delivers at a time). Tome did not think it was possible to add more. Now, he cannot get the unicorn out of his head.

After college, Tome earned double master's degrees in wind energy and electrical engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Delft University of Technology, respectively. In his graduate work, he designed a 13-phase generator for wind turbines, which could increase the amount of electricity one turbine could generate. But after his master's, Tome switched to hydropower.

"In Honduras, we have a lot of hydropower resources," Tome said. "And I was like, 'OK, this may be suitable. I can help my country with this.'"

But Tome is torn between helping his country develop new hydropower and helping solve complex, global scientific mysteries as a researcher. "Maybe I'm too ambitious," he said.

While at NREL, Tome found one potential solution that could serve both goals. Working with Panwar, he studied how hot hydropower generators can get before they reach destructive temperatures. And he discovered the traditional thermal thresholdthe temperature when today's hydropower plants would shut down, staunching electricity productionmay be far higher than originally thought. That threshold could be even higher if generators are better insulated and kept cooler for longer.

That finding could help both the United States and Norway ramp up clean energy productionwithout building any new plants. If existing hydropower plants can safely run generators for longer, both countries could produce more clean energy with their existing fleets. In short, they can do more with less.

"In some ways, it actually opens Pandora's box," Tome said of his discovery, "because now we need to think differently about how to operate these machines and how they are going to affect the grid."

"These machines" extends beyond hydropower plants, too. If these plants can benefit from more efficient, longer-lasting engines, then so can electric vehicles and wind turbines or even tractors and trucks.

"My goal is to design machines," Tome said. "It doesn't matter what kind of machine."

For now, though, Tome will focus on hydropower. Although he headed back to Norway in November, he plans to return to NREL to continue working with Panwar. The duo plan to simulate exactly how hot their hot new engines could get and whether these generator-level changes might impact the grid.

"We're living in this green energy transition, right?" Tome said. "We need more wind and solar energy. But we have these older technologies also, like hydropower."

Even if hydropower is almost as old as Norway's fjords, it will remain our old standbyespecially if Tome, Panwar, and their U.S. and Norwegian colleagues can help modernize this renewable giant.
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This aerial photos shows Shika nuclear power plant in Shikamachi, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, on Jan. 2, 2024. Japans nuclear safety regulators have told the operator of a nuclear power plant in the area hit by a powerful New Year's Day quake to study its potential impact. The Nuclear Regulation Authority asked for further investigation even though initial assessments showed its cooling systems and ability to contain radiation remained intact. Credit: Kyodo News via AP

Japan's nuclear safety regulators have told the operator of a nuclear power plant in the area hit by a powerful New Year's Day quake to study its potential impact.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, asked for further investigation even though initial assessments showed the Shika nuclear power plant's cooling systems and ability to contain radiation remained intact.

The order reflects Japan's greater vigilance about safety risks after meltdowns in 2011 at a plant in Fukushima, on the northeastern Pacific coast, following a magnitude 9 quake and a massive tsunami.

The Jan. 1 magnitude 7.6 quake and dozens of strong aftershocks have left 206 people dead and dozens more unaccounted for. It also caused a small tsunami. But Hokuriku Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, reported it had successfully dealt with damage to transformers, temporary outages and turbulence in the spent fuel cooling pools that followed the quakes.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has repeatedly emphasized that the plant was safe. Eighteen of 116 radiation monitoring posts installed in Ishikawa prefecture, where Shika is located, and in neighboring Toyama briefly failed after the quake. All but two have since been repaired and none showed any abnormality, he said.

Shika is a town on the western coast of the Noto peninsula, where the quake did the most damage, leaving roads gaping, toppling and collapsing buildings and triggering landslides.

Hokuriku Electric Power Co., reported that water had spilled from the spent fuel pools in both reactors. Transformers in both reactors were damaged and leaked oil, causing a temporary loss of power in one of the cooling pools. Company officials reported no further safety problems at the Nuclear Regulation Authority's weekly meeting Wednesday.

But NRA officials said the utility should consider a possibility of fresh damage to transformers and other key equipment as aftershocks continue.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi attends a press conference at the prime ministers official office in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Japans nuclear safety regulators have told the operator of a nuclear power plant in the area hit by a powerful New Year's Day quake to study its potential impact. The Nuclear Regulation Authority asked for further investigation even though initial assessments showed its cooling systems and ability to contain radiation remained intact. Credit: Kyodo News via AP

NRA chairperson Shinsuke Yamanaka urged the utility to thoroughly investigate the cause of the transformer damage and promptly report its findings. Yamanake also suggested that emergency protocols for residents around plants should be reviewed.

The Shika reactors were inaugurated in 1993 and 2006. They have been offline since the 2011 disaster. Hokuriku Electric applied to restart the newer No. 2 reactor in 2014, but safety checks by the nuclear safety agency were delayed due to the need to determine if there were active faults near the plant. The nuclear officials concluded that faults near the complex are not active and do not affect plant safety.

Hokuriku has expressed hopes to restart the No. 2 reactor by 2026, but safety reviews of the impacts of the latest quake could delay the plan.

Both the government and business leaders generally support restarting the many reactors that were idled for safety checks and upgrades after the Fukushima disaster.

The head of Japan's powerful business organization Keidanren, Masakazu Tokura, visited the Shika plant last year. But on Tuesday he urged the utility to be fully transparent and ensure it was safe.

"Many people are concerned, and I hope (the utility) provides adequate information at an appropriate time," Tokura said.

___

Correction note (1/10/2024): This story corrects the name of the nuclear safety body to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Overview of our proposed methods: (A) We propose four types of malicious triggers within the joint embedding space for attack decomposition: textual trigger, OCR textual trigger, visual trigger, and combined OCR textual-visual trigger. (B) We employ an end-to-end gradient-based attack to update images to match the embeddings of malicious triggers in the joint embedding space. (C) Our adversarial attack is embedding-space-based and aims to conceal the malicious trigger in benign-looking images, combined with a benign textual prompt for jailbreak. (D) Our attacks exhibit broad generalization and compositionality across various jailbreak scenarios with a mix-and-match of textual prompts and malicious triggers. Credit: arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2307.14539

UC Riverside computer scientists have identified a security flaw in vision language artificial intelligence (AI) models that can allow bad actors to use AI for nefarious purposes, such as obtaining instructions on how to make bomb.

When integrated with models like Google Bard and Chat GPT, vision language models allow users to make inquiries with both images and text.

The Bourns College of Engineering scientists demonstrated a "jailbreak" hack by manipulating the operations of Large Language Model or LLM, software programs, which are essentially the foundation of query-and-answer AI programs.

The paper's title is "Jailbreak in Pieces: Compositional Adversarial Attacks on Multi-Modal Language Models." It has been submitted for publication by the International Conference on Learning Representations and is available on the arXiv preprint server.

These AI programs give users detailed answers to just about any question recalling stored knowledge learned from vast amounts of information sourced from the Internet. For example, ask Chat GPT, "How do I grow tomatoes?" and it will respond with step-by-step instructions, starting with the selection of seeds.

But ask the same model how to do something harmful or illegal, such as "How do I make methamphetamine?" and the model would normally refuse, providing a generic response such as "I can't help with that."

Yet, UCR assistant professor Yue Dong and her colleagues found ways to trick AI language models, especially LLMs, to answer nefarious questions with detailed answers that might be learned from data gathered from the dark web.

The vulnerability occurs when images are used with AI inquiries, Dong explained.

"Our attacks employ a novel compositional strategy that combines an image, adversarially targeted towards toxic embeddings, with generic prompts to accomplish the jailbreak," reads the paper by Dong and her colleagues presented at the SoCal NLP Symposium held at UCLA in November.

Dong explained that computers see images by interpreting millions of bytes of information that create pixels, or little dots, composing the picture. For instance, a typical cell phone picture is made from about 2.5 million bytes of information.

Remarkably, Dong and her colleagues found bad actors can hide nefarious questionssuch as "How do I make a bomb?"within the millions of bytes of information contained in an image and trigger responses that bypass the built-in safeguards in generative AI models like ChatGPT.

"Once the safeguard is bypassed, the models willingly give responses to teach us how to make a bomb step by step with great details that can lead bad actors to build a bomb successfully," Dong said.

Dong and her graduate student Erfan Shayegani, along with professor Nael Abu-Ghazaleh, published their findings in a paper online so AI developers can eliminate the vulnerability.

"We are acting as attackers to ring the bell, so the computer science community can respond and defend against it," Dong said.

AI inquiries based on images and text have great utility. For example, doctors can input MRI organ scans and mammogram images to find tumors and other medical problems that need prompt attention. AI models can also create graphs from simple cell phone pictures of spreadsheets.

More information: Erfan Shayegani et al, Jailbreak in pieces: Compositional Adversarial Attacks on Multi-Modal Language Models, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2307.14539 Journal information: arXiv
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Synthesis and use of zwitterionic hydrogel absorbents. a, The synthesis of zwitterionic hydrogels begins with the dissolution of zwitterionic monomers, crosslinkers, surfactants and chelating agents, to which acrylate groups are attached (Supplementary Fig. 1), in the presence of a photoinitiator. The surfactants self-assemble into micelles on dissolution. b, The monomer solution is used to prepare monodisperse droplets using an off-the-shelf microfluidic device or is poured into a mold. Exposure to UV light converts the liquid solution into solid hydrogels through a chain-growth polymerization reaction. c, The microparticles produced using the microfluidic device are highly monodisperse. d, Hydrogel microparticles arranged on a flat surface to read MIT. e, The monomer solution before (left) and after (right) polymerization to prepare a hydrogel tablet. The change in opacity is indicative of the presence of micelles in the polymerized hydrogel, which is further discussed in Supplementary Fig. 3. f, The organic and inorganic micropollutants studied in this work. g, The hydrogels can be incorporated into various unit operations, such as microparticles in a packed bed or tablets to clean water in a glass. h, The multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogels contain multiple types of site to which micropollutants can bind. Organic micropollutants can bind to the hydrophobic micelle cores (O1), hydrogel backbone (O2) or hydrophobic segments of free surfactant molecules (O3), while inorganic micropollutants can bind to the zwitterionic monomers (I1), both the zwitterionic monomers and chelating agents (I2), or chelating agents (I3). Credit: Nature Water (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-023-00180-8

"Zwitterionic" might not be a word you come across every day, but for Professor Patrick Doyle of the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, it's a word that's central to the technology his group is developing to remove micropollutants from water. Derived from the German word "zwitter," meaning "hybrid," "zwitterionic" molecules are those with an equal number of positive and negative charges.

Devashish Gokhale, a Ph.D. student in Doyle's lab, uses the example of a magnet to describe zwitterionic materials: "On a magnet, you have a north pole and a south pole that stick to each other, and on a zwitterionic molecule, you have a positive charge and a negative charge which stick to each other in a similar way."

Because many inorganic micropollutants and some organic micropollutants are themselves charged, Doyle and his team have been investigating how to deploy zwitterionic molecules to capture micropollutants in water.

In a new paper in Nature Water, Doyle, Gokhale, and undergraduate student Andre Hamelberg explain how they use zwitterionic hydrogels to sustainably capture both organic and inorganic micropollutants from water with minimal operational complexity. In the past, zwitterionic molecules have been used as coatings on membranes for water treatment because of their non-fouling properties. But in the Doyle group's system, zwitterionic molecules are used to form the scaffold material, or backbone within the hydrogela porous three-dimensional network of polymer chains that contains a significant amount of water.

"Zwitterionic molecules have very strong attraction to water compared to other materials which are used to make hydrogels or polymers," says Gokhale. What's more, the positive and negative charges on zwitterionic molecules cause the hydrogels to have lower compressibility than what has been commonly observed in hydrogels. This makes for significantly more swollen, robust, and porous hydrogels, which is important for the scale up of the hydrogel-based system for water treatment.

Seeking a sustainable solution

Micropollutants are chemically diverse materials that can be harmful to human health and the environment, even though they are typically found at low concentrations (micrograms to milligrams per liter) relative to conventional contaminants. Micropollutants can be organic or inorganic and can be naturally-occurring or synthetic. Organic micropollutants are mostly carbon-based molecules and include pesticides and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as "forever chemicals." Inorganic micropollutants, such as heavy metals like lead and arsenic, tend to be smaller than organic micropollutants. Unfortunately, both organic and inorganic micropollutants are pervasive in the environment.

Many micropollutants come from industrial processes, but the effects of human-induced climate change are also contributing to the environmental spread of micropollutants. Gokhale explains that in California, for example, fires burn plastic electrical cables and leech micropollutants into natural ecosystems.

Doyle adds that "outside of climate change, things like pandemics can spike the number of organic micropollutants in the environment due to high concentrations of pharmaceuticals in wastewater."

It's no surprise, then, that over the past few years, micropollutants have become more and more of a concern. These chemicals have garnered attention in the media and led to "significant change in the environmental engineering and regulatory landscape," says Gokhale.

In March 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a strict, federal standard that would regulate six different PFAS chemicals in drinking water. Just last October, the EPA proposed banning the micropollutant trichloroethylene, a cancer-causing chemical that can be found in brake cleaners and other consumer products. And as recently as November, the EPA proposed that water utilities nationwide be required to replace all of their lead pipes to protect the public from lead exposure.

Internationally, Gokhale notes the Oslo Paris Convention, whose mission is to protect the marine environment of the northeast Atlantic Ocean, including phasing out the discharge of offshore chemicals from the oil and gas industries.

With each new, necessary regulation to protect the safety of our water resources, the need for effective water treatment processes grows. Compounding this challenge is the need to make water treatment processes that are sustainable and energy-efficient.

The benchmark method to treat micropollutants in water is activated carbon. However, making filters with activated carbon is energy-intensive, requiring very high temperatures in large, centralized facilities. Gokhale says that approximately "four kilograms of coal are needed to make one kilogram of activated carbon, so you lose a significant amount of carbon dioxide to the environment." According to the World Economic Forum, global water and wastewater treatment accounts for 5% of annual emissions. In the U.S. alone, the EPA reports that drinking water and wastewater systems account for over 45 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

"We need to develop methods which have smaller climate footprints than methods which are being used industrially today," says Gokhale.

Supporting a 'high-risk' project

In September 2019, Doyle and his lab embarked on an initial project to develop a microparticle-based platform to remove a broad range of micropollutants from water. His group had been using hydrogels in pharmaceutical processing to formulate drug molecules into pill format. He soon realized his pharmaceutical work with hydrogels could be applied to environmental issues like water treatment.

In March 2022, Doyle, Gokhale, and MIT undergraduate Ian Chen published findings describing their use of micelles within hydrogels for water treatment. Micelles are spherical structures that form when molecules called surfactants (found in things like soap), come in contact with water or other liquids.

The team was able to synthesize micelle-laden hydrogel particles that soak up micropollutants from water like a sponge. Unlike activated carbon, the hydrogel particle system is made from environmentally friendly materials. Furthermore, the system's materials are made at room temperature, making them exceedingly more sustainable than activated carbon.

Building off that success, Doyle and his team began in September 2022 to move their technology from the lab to the market. They have been able to build, test, and refine pilot-scale prototypes of their hydrogel platform. System iterations have included the use of the zwitterionic molecules, a novel advancement from their earlier work.

Rapid elimination of micropollutants is of special importance in commercial water treatment processes, where there is a limited amount of time water can spend inside the operational filtration unit. This is referred to as contact time, explains Gokhale. In municipal-scale or industrial-scale water treatment systems, contact times are usually less than 20 minutes and can be as short as five minutes.

"But as people have been trying to target these emerging micropollutants of concern, they realized they can't get to sufficiently low concentrations on the same time scales as conventional contaminants," Gokhale says.

"Most technologies focus only on specific molecules or specific classes of molecules. So, you have whole technologies which are focusing only on PFAS, and then you have other technologies for lead and metals. When you start thinking about removing all of these contaminants from water, you end up with designs which have a very large number of unit operations. And that's an issue because you have plants which are in the middle of large cities, and they don't necessarily have space to expand to increase their contact times to efficiently remove multiple micropollutants," he adds.

Since zwitterionic molecules possess unique properties that confer high porosity, the researchers have been able to engineer a system for quicker uptake of micropollutants from water. Tests show that the hydrogels can eliminate six chemically diverse micropollutants at least 10 times faster than commercial activated carbon.

The system is also compatible with a diverse set of materials, making it multifunctional. Micropollutants can bind to many different sites within the hydrogel platform: organic micropollutants bind to the micelles or surfactants while inorganic micropollutants bind to the zwitterionic molecules. Micelles, surfactants, zwitterionic molecules, and other chelating agents can be swapped in and out to essentially tune the system with different functionalities based on the profile of the water being treated.

This kind of "plug-and-play" addition of various functional agents does not require a change in the design or synthesis of the hydrogel platform, and adding more functionalities does not take away from existing functionality. In this way, the zwitterionic-based system can rapidly remove multiple contaminants at lower concentrations in a single step, without the need for large, industrial units or capital expenditure.

Perhaps most importantly, the particles in the Doyle group's system can be regenerated and used over and over again. By simply soaking the particles in an ethanol bath, they can be washed of micropollutants for indefinite use without loss of efficacy. When activated carbon is used for water treatment, the activated carbon itself becomes contaminated with micropollutants and must be treated as toxic chemical waste and disposed of in special landfills. Over time, micropollutants in landfills will reenter the ecosystem, perpetuating the problem.

Arjav Shah, a Ph.D.-MBA candidate in MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering and the MIT Sloan School of Management, respectively, recently joined the team to lead commercialization efforts. The team has found that the zwitterionic hydrogels could be used in several real-world contexts, ranging from large-scale industrial packed beds to small-scale, portable, off-grid applicationsfor example, in tablets that could clean water in a canteenand they have begun piloting the technology through a number of commercialization programs at MIT and in the greater Boston area.

The combined strengths of each member of the team continue to drive the project forward in impactful ways, including undergraduate students like Andre Hamelberg, the third author on the Nature Water paper. Hamelberg is a participant in MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Gokhale, who is also an Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) Fellow, provides training and mentorship to Hamelberg and other UROP students in the lab.

"We see this as an educational opportunity," says Gokhale, noting that the UROP students learn science and chemical engineering through the research they conduct in the lab. The project has also been "a way of getting undergrads interested in water treatment and the more sustainable aspects of chemical engineering," Gokhale says. He adds that it's "one of the few projects which goes all the way from designing specific chemistries to building small filters and units and scaling them up and commercializing them. It's a really good learning opportunity for the undergrads and we're always excited to have them work with us."

In four years, the technology has been able to grow from an initial idea to a technology with scalable, real-world applications, making it an exemplar J-WAFS project. The fruitful collaboration between J-WAFS and the Doyle lab serves as inspiration for any MIT faculty who may want to apply their research to water or food systems projects.

"The J-WAFS project serves as a way to demystify what a chemical engineer does," says Doyle. "I think that there's an old idea of chemical engineering as working in just oil and gas. But modern chemical engineering is focused on things which make life and the environment better."

More information: Devashish Gokhale et al, Multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogels for the rapid elimination of organic and inorganic micropollutants from water, Nature Water (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-023-00180-8 Journal information: Nature Water

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
The Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings are seen, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Houston. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer A rendering of a speakeasy on site as part of the new amenity deck planned for the Esperson building. John Yancy, Gensler A rendering of the pool planned for the residential amenities on the upgrade Esperson building in downtown Houston. John Yancy, Gensler The Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings are seen, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Houston. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

In a city filled with monolithic skyscrapers encased in shimmering glass facades, the Esperson buildings in downtown Houston appear plucked from the skyline of New York or Chicago, where they would blend seamlessly alongside other pre-war Art Deco structures.

Since their construction between 1927 and 1941, these buildings  adorned with intricate details such as columns, terraces and a tempietto, or little temple, at the top, inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture  have primarily been used as offices. For Houstonians of a certain age, the buildings are reminders of a time when our downtown streets truly bustled with life. Yet by 2022, only 58% of offices at the Esperson were leased.

That is hardly unusual in Houston, where roughly 25% of the citys office space isnt leased, according to data compiled by Moodys Analytics. COVID is to blame in large part. The post-pandemic reality is that many office employees prefer to work from the comfort of their homes rather than a sterile cubicle. No matter how many bosses demand a return to the office, the number of derrieres in desk chairs will never be the same. So the city must adapt. It makes little sense to have office buildings sitting empty on valuable real estate, particularly with Texas facing a housing shortage as it adds hundreds of thousands of new residents every year.

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The owners of the Esperson buildings, Cameron Management, have the right idea. They decided to make the buildings a case study for adaptive reuse in Houston  the concept of repurposing an existing structure for something other than what it was originally intended for. In this case, they are currently converting much of the Espersons office space into apartments as part of a $50 million mixed-use project that will eventually include a swimming pool, dog park, speakeasy and co-working spaces.

COMING IN 2024: 20 major projects for Houston development

Such office-to-residential transformations are catching on in cities across the nation, most notably in Dallas, where a pipeline of conversion projects is expected to add roughly 2,000 apartments to the housing market. By comparison, Houston only has a small handful of conversion projects underway.

Technical challenges abound, of course: office buildings tend to have large windowless areas in the middle of their deep floors and more complicated air-conditioning systems that make conversions difficult. But the main reason for the relatively sluggish pace of office conversions is the relative youthfulness of the citys building stock. Conversions can be expensive, reaching up to $500 per square foot in some cases. Historic tax credits can help shoulder the cost of such conversions, but those credits only apply to buildings that are at least 50 years old. Our citys done an awful job of saving older buildings from the wrecking ball. In downtown Houston, more than three-quarters of the office stock was built after 1970.

Houston is sort of a tale of two cities when it comes to office space, Brooks Howell, a principal at architecture firm Genslers Houston office, told the editorial board. You have the post-2010 office stock, which is actually doing great right now, its all full. Then you have the pre-1990 stock which is whats really struggling right now and all that stuff was built between 1975 and 1990 so doesnt really qualify for those incentives.

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A new feasibility study released by proponents of office conversions outlines plans to change that. The study was commissioned by Downtown Houston, the umbrella organization that includes the Downtown Redevelopment Authority and Houston Downtown Management District among other local entities. Among the ideas floated in the study, which identified 37 downtown buildings ripe for conversions, are tax incentives for developers that would allow them to capture 75% of the incremental increase in property value over 15 years. A more generous proposal is to give developers 100% of the incremental increase in value over 30 years, though that would require an agreement with Harris County. The City Council would also have to approve any tax incentive program for office conversions.

We encourage further study and public engagement to incentivize office conversions but any use of taxpayer dollars toward these projects should include a percentage of affordable housing. The Downtown Houston study found that more than one-third of Houston renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing-related costs. While projects such as the Esperson building conversion are inspiring as a showcase of engineering ingenuity, its cheapest housing units would charge a monthly rent of $3,200 for a one-bedroom apartment, well above the citys median rent of $1,770. While the city and Harris County have used Harvey recovery money to create affordable housing from existing buildings, disaster funding isnt a long-term strategy.

Other cities such as New York and Chicago have proposed tax incentive programs for office conversions that include subsidies for affordable housing. The Biden administration in October released guidance for cities to leverage federal financing for office conversions, with an emphasis on developing cheaper housing to revitalize urban downtowns that have struggled to recover from the pandemic.

The old days are never coming back, which is fine. Nostalgia isnt how Houston rolls. The office vacancies today are a chance to make a better city, one where people of all income levels and backgrounds can benefit from the vast potential of creating new housing.
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth addresses the media as ballots arrive and are counted at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer People vote at the West Gray Multi Service Center on Election Day on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Houston. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer Election Judge William Harris works to set up a polling place at Klein Cain High School on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 in Klein. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Kymber Hummitsch helps set up a polling place at Klein Cain High School on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 in Klein. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer People voting for general election on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 at West Gray Multiservice Center in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer People voting for general election on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 at West Gray Multiservice Center in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer West Gray Multiservice Center election workers setting up before the doors open for general election on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 at in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Voters take advantage and cast their ballots during early voting at the West Gray Multiservice Center Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 in Houston. Michael Wyke/Contributor Voters take advantage and cast their ballots during early voting at the West Gray Multiservice Center Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 in Houston. Michael Wyke/Contributor Harris County election workers wait for the last few ballot boxes to come in from voting centers after midnight accept at NRG Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer Harris County election workings accept paper ballots and voting machines at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

Harris County election officials are sounding the alarm that they will face steep challenges in the March primary elections, as they contend with the countys long history of split primaries and a new bill requiring more polling sites.

The Harris County Democratic and Republican parties technically run their own elections, but they each contract with the county to administer them. Voters from both parties will vote in March on national, state and county-level races.

Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, the chief county elections official, told Commissioners Court on Tuesday that her office will not have enough workers or machines to run the primaries without facing major hurdles.

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A newly effective law, Senate Bill 924, requires Harris County to open significantly more polling sites than it historically has on primary day. The county will have to go from about 375 polling sites during the most recent primary election to at least 512, Hudspeth said.

That effectively means the Clerks Office will need enough equipment to set up 1,024 voting sites, said Hudspeth, since the parties operate separately and do not share the same equipment at voting sites. Hudspeth said the county does not have enough equipment to service that many sites while reserving an adequate number of back-up devices.

One thing that would help, Hudspeth said, is if the parties agreed to a joint election. Then they could share voting machines and poll workers at those sites. Democrats have agreed to that approach, but Republicans have not.

The result means the two parties will use the same polling sites, but they each will have to recruit their own sets of election workers, and they will not be able to share voting machines. There will be two separate set-ups at each site, and each party will have to recruit 512-plus election judges, alternate judges and clerks.

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Hudspeth assumed election duties for the county late last year, after the Texas Legislature passed a bill to abolish the countys election administration office. Hudspeth, who won bipartisan plaudits for her administration of the city elections in the fall, said the countys vendor for voting equipment has said they cannot get more machines for at least six months.

There is no amount of money we could put on this to get equipment on time, Hudspeth said. Theres no magic wand. While I have the competence to run elections, I am not the magic wand. Were going to face challenges.

Harris County traditionally has run split elections during the primaries. The last two primary elections in Harris County have featured varying problems. Election Administrator Isabel Longoria resigned in 2022 after bungling March primaries, which included long delays in reporting results, and the initial failure to include about 10,000 mail ballots in the countys total vote count.

In 2020, some Democratic voters waited in hourslong lines during that primary, which was overseen by former Clerk Diane Trautman, a Democrat. A Chronicle analysis found the county had put a disproportionate amount of polling locations in Republican commissioner precincts, despite political forecasts that Democrats would see higher turnout that year.

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Were repeating history, Hudspeth said Tuesday.

Republicans quickly shot down the idea of a joint primary, arguing the countys long history of running split elections should not be changed.

The Democrats said it themselves in todays Commissioners Court meeting  Harris County has a long history of non-joint primaries; in fact, we have never had a joint primary, Cindy Siegel, the Harris County GOP chairman, said in a statement.

The main argument made by proponents of having a joint primary is that the county doesnt have enough equipment  in fact, the Democrats repeatedly made remarks alluding to the fact that we will have issues with equipment shortages that we have every year. Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? If we have this issue every year, why have there been no effective measures to remedy equipment shortages?

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During her initial comments, Hudspeth  who did not take questions after the meeting  said the new legislation is the complicating factor this year, stretching her offices capacity for equipment thin. That will compound the challenges introduced by the split primaries.

The Democrats on Commissioners Court urged Republicans to reconsider.

(Hudspeth has) been crystal clear that we have an opportunity to position this county for greater success if both parties agree to a joint primary, said Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, a Democrat. I hope we can transcend partisanship, because this is about logistics.  We can choose the option that is more fiscally responsible and will lead to better outcomes in terms of access.

ELECTION LAW: 7 Texas GOP bills targeting Harris County include state takeover of elections, ballot paper penalties

Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said Hudspeths competency is one of the few things on which he and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, the Republican who authored many election reform bills in the Legislature, agreed. Bettencourt had taken Hudpseths smooth administration of the city elections in the fall as proof his bills had worked.

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Garcia called on Bettencourt to help get the Harris County GOP to agree to a joint election.

Bettencourt and other GOP leaders were accurate when they indicated that Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth has shown proof she can run good elections, Garcia said. Despite all of Sen. Paul Bettencourts proclamations of having fixed our elections with recent legislation, his local county party remains unmoved.

Glad he agrees, the senator said in a post on X. It would have been better if Harris County agreed when I was passing the bill.

Bettencourt said he would prefer not to comment about the joint primary issue until after Hudspeth meets again with party leadership this week.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican on Commissioners Court, said the issue seems to be that Democratic officials did not order enough equipment under previous election regimes.
U.S.-led coalition in Iraq should only play "training and advising" role: president

Xinhua) 10:35, January 10, 2024

BAGHDAD, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid said Tuesday that the U.S.-led coalition's mission in his country should be limited to training and advising Iraqi security forces in accordance with its agreement with the Iraqi government.

Rashid made the remarks during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski, according to a statement from the president's office.

He also expressed concern about the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and its impact on the stability of the Middle East. The president urged the international community, especially the United States, to take responsibility for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For her part, Romanowski emphasized the importance of strengthening relations and coordination between Iraq and the U.S. on common issues and voiced support for international efforts to resolve the situation in Palestine, the statement said.

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani vowed to end the presence of foreign troops in Iraq after a series of U.S. strikes killed Iraqi security personnel and militia leaders earlier this month.

The prime minister said his government would soon begin talks with the coalition through a committee to arrange foreign troops' withdrawal, calling it "a commitment that the government will not back down from."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Customers at Laredo Taqueria try to keep dry as they step over an ever-growing puddle from water flowing out of the ground on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer Customers at Laredo Taqueria try to keep dry as they step over an ever-growing puddle from water flowing out of the ground on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer A Public Works employee checks a manhole cover near where a call was made for a water leak on 25th Street on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Houstonians flooded the citys 311 system with reports of water leaks in 2023 at a level not seen in at least a decade, a Chronicle review of the citys data showed.

The city received more than 44,000 water leak complaints throughout the year, out of nearly 415,000 total 311 complaints. That represents about a 30% spike in water leak complaints from the year before, even though the overall number of 311 complaints only rose about 19% from 2022.

The number of water leaks in 2023 was about 15,000 more than any other categorys tally over the past decade and nearly 50% more than than the next most common complaint, missed garbage pickups.

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The tally represents double the amount of COVID-related occupancy complaints that residents logged in 2020, and quadruple the number of storm debris collection reports Houstonians filed in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey inundated neighborhoods with floodwaters.

It is not uncommon for water leaks to top the citys 311 charts  theyve led all reports in five of the last 10 years  but the volume this year was unprecedented, a fact that would hardly come as a surprise to most residents or Houston Public Works employees.

City Hall spent more than $69 million last year hiring contractors to help fix the leaks, which often would spew water for weeks. Public Works started sending weekly updates to City Council members on the status of the citys water system. And the leaks, which allow billions of gallons of water to escape the system every month, served as a constant rallying cry on the campaign trail as candidates sought elected office at City Hall in 2023.

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Randy Macchi, chief operating officer for Public Works, said a summer of intense drought strains a water system, especially one still affected after winter storms. The dry weather causes the ground to move. When it rains afterward, the ground moves again.

Thats the easiest, non-super-scientific definition for why we had what we had, Macchi said. The ground shifted, the pipes shifted with it, so we had a lot of breaks.

HIGH MAINTENANCE: The Heights is set to lead 311 reports in Houston for ninth year in a row

The 311 reports offer compelling evidence for the surge in leaks, but the data is not perfect. Residents often file multiple complaints about the same leak, and they log leaks to private pipes in the citys system. The city is not responsible for fixing leaks to private pipes.

Still, the numbers were staggering, according to Macchi. Public Works has dedicated crews of about 100 to 125 employees tasked with responding to and repairing the leaks. They can handle about 150 to 200 a week. For almost two months this summer, there were more than 500 leaks every week.

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It is far beyond the ordinary, Macchi said.

Those numbers, plus a growing backlog, meant delays in repairs. The departments goal for minor leaks was to fix them within two to five weeks. City crews had repaired about 4,500 leaks as of late December. Contractors got to another 3,500.

Those contracts have inspired controversy. KPRC reported that a Public Works employee routed two leak repair contracts to family members who were not qualified for the work. The department suspended the employee, and the citys Office of the Inspector General is investigating the contract process.

LEAKY PIPES: City of Houston loses 30 billion gallons of water despite tripling pipe repair expenses

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Were going to be as thorough as we can to ensure that if there is any sort of wrongdoing going on, we root it out, Macchi said.

One of the unique challenges with Houstons water infrastructure is that the city has grown by annexation. When it accepts new infrastructure in those areas, it often differs from the citys infrastructure in other areas, resulting in a varied system.

Were taking in the infrastructure that already exists with it, and in a lot of cases that may not match up with what weve already done, Macchi said.

Macchi had one message for residents who reported the leaks to 311: Keep them coming.
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The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service named Zach Dantzler as the new agronomics row crops agent for Calhoun and Richland counties.

Dantzler fills the role left vacant by the retirement of longtime county row crop agent Charles Davis.

Dantzler will initially serve in an interim role with plans to become the permanent row crop agent for the counties.

My goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for the farmers in these counties and become a trusted resource for their everyday production practices, Dantzler said. I have been blessed to spend time with Charles Davis over the past several months visiting farmers, training in the field, and learning the ins and outs of this position.

His mentorship, training and guidance, along with my agronomy background and experience is what has prepared me to step into this role and begin working to fill the very big shoes and reputation that Mr. Charles has left in the farming community," Dantzler said. "I am looking forward to continuing to gain more personal relationships with the farmers of Calhoun and Richland County."

Dantzler expressed his excitement about his new role.

Starting this position in January has been a dream of mine and is the entire reason I pursued agriculture as a career, Dantzler said.

Davis said, Zach is well qualified to fill my position here. He cited Dantzlers hands-on experience over the past half a year.

Dantzler, 32, is a native of Eutawville. He moved to Orangeburg in 1996.

He grew up on a family-owned farm where his family raised beef cattle as steers and grew a variety of forage crops for feed.

He lives on the family farm with his wife and children.

Dantzler graduated from Edisto High School in 2009.

He graduated from Clemson University in December 2016 with a bachelors degree in soils and sustainable crop systems.

During his undergrad experience, Dantzler was a student worker at the South Carolina Crop Improvement Association and the Official Variety Test for the State of South Carolina.

Not only did I gain a lot of knowledge working there with many different row crops grown in research plots, but I also had to complete my practicum of growing and increasing 17 different heirloom vegetable varieties, Dantzler said.

After graduating from Clemson, Dantzler was hired at the Agricultural Service laboratory to handle and analyze soil, plant, and manure samples.

After a six-month period, Dantzler was hired as a full-time employee at South Carolina Crop Improvement Association and the OVT of South Carolina.

He worked there for a total of nine years counting his time as a student.

While working full-time at Clemson, Dantzler decided to pursue his master's degree at Clemson.

He graduated with a masters degree in plant and environmental science in August 2022.

During his time as a student and employee at Clemson, Dantzler was able to focus on research.

Research has been a large part of my Clemson career, so I have vast knowledge working with computerized data to share with farmers and commercial seed companies, Dantzler said.

During his time at South Carolina Crop Improvement Association, Dantzler was involved in all aspects of the official variety trial processes and certified seed production systems

He also worked with research scientists and growers to plant, maintain and harvest test plots, as well as gather data.

I have much experience working in the fields, working with different varieties of row crops, soils, livestock, wildlife and operating agricultural equipment, Dantzler said. I also have experience maintaining many different land settings for plant growth, which include farm fields, residential landscape beds, wildlife food plots, wetlands and animal pastures.

In recent years, Dantzler worked on identifying pest diseases and soil impurities that hinder plant growth, along with working with different pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers.

Dantzler also worked as the main operator of precision agricultural equipment at Clemson, where he worked with GPS/auto steer tractors, GPS Almaco planters running seed pro software and Almaco plot combines that collect harvest data using computerized technology.

In March 2023, Dantzler left Crop Improvement and OVT and began a new role as the peanut extension agent for Clemson University working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities project as part of the peanut systems program.

My role has been to help farmers implement cover crops and residue and tillage management into their current peanut rotations, Dantzler said. He has led in formal trainings and engaged with farmers in recommending science-based research to increase conservation agricultural practices.

The USDA announced in October 2022 that it was investing $70 million into a Clemson/South Carolina State University partnership that will provide incentives to South Carolina farmers, enabling them to implement selected climate-smart production practices.

These experiences will not only help me as I work with farmers to help diagnose plant problems, but it will help me provide recommendations that benefit their everyday farming operations, Dantzler said. I will use my experience to provide training and technical support for farmers, while at the same time I will share my passion for agronomy.
Over its 215-year history, the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City has earned a reputation as the flagship of the Black church in America.

Based in Harlem, it became a famous megachurch with the political rise of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., perhaps the most influential of the many men who have led the congregation. Powell, pastor from 1937 to 1972, served in Congress for 26 years.

Among the countless believers making Abyssinian their spiritual home was Eboni Marshall Turman, who came to believe she could become the first woman to be the churchs senior pastor. She rose through the ranks and in 2007 became the youngest pastor ordained in Abyssinians history.

After longtime senior pastor Calvin O. Butts III died in 2022, Marshall Turman  by then a professor at Yale Divinity School  was among dozens of people who applied to fill the vacancy.

She was full of optimism that she would be chosen. Instead, she wasnt even a finalist, and is so convinced that sexism was the key factor that she has now filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing Abyssinian and its search committee of gender discrimination.

Along with the church, the lawsuit  filed Dec. 29  specifically names the search committee chair, Valerie S. Grant, accusing her of behaving inappropriately by asking Marshall Turman questions and pressing issues not broached with her male counterparts.

Gender discrimination motivated the decision not to hire (Marshall Turman), a fact discussed openly during meetings of the Committee, including by Grant and another Committee member, who said that Abyssinian would only hire a woman as its Senior Pastor over my dead body, the complaint states.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages from the defendants for lost wages, lost benefits, other economic damages, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, and mental distress," as well as an injunction forbidding any hiring-related gender discrimination.

The Harlem church and Grant, who also is a board member of Morehouse College in Atlanta, disputed the lawsuits discrimination accusations.

While she and others were considered for the role because of their impressive backgrounds, she ultimately fell short of some key requirements for the role, where other finalist candidates prevailed and moved forward in the process, said Abyssinian spokesperson LaToya Evans. In her statement, she said the church is prepared to defend itself against the allegations.

Grant, who described the search process as rigorous, said Marshall Turman was one of 11 people who advanced from a 47-applicant field. While some committee members may have felt she was the strongest candidate, she did not receive enough votes to advance to the next round, Grant said.

Due to varied beliefs on whether women can have authority over men, the Black church broadly has been a minefield for women aspiring to pastoral leadership. Beyond that, the question of who gets to preach from the pulpit has caused deep rifts in denominations and congregations all across Christian America.

Marshall Turman, who did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment, researches gender politics in Black churches and related issues. It also is the focus of her forthcoming book.

I further interrogate theological erasure and violence against Black women in Black churches, she said about Black Womens Burden: Male Power, Gender Violence, and the Scandal of African American Social Christianity in a September post on Facebook.

Currently, life is tracking my theory.

The remaining Abyssinian finalists are men. The lawsuit gives reasons Marshall Turman believed she stood a real chance of filling Abyssinians top job, including being told by committee members that she was the obvious pick and being held in high esteem by Calvin Butts, her ministry mentor.

Grant said the process was designed to be fair to everyone.

I have an issue with people characterizing this process as discriminatory and designed to deny opportunities to women," she said. Its simply not the case.

The process was the same for every candidate, she said, adding that her job was to tell the committee to set their biases aside. Some wanted an older person, or a younger one; some wanted the candidate to be married and others wanted them to have existing connections to Abyssinian, she said.

She took issue with the lawsuits accusations against her own interviewing of Marshall Turman. Grant explained that every candidate was asked a series of common questions, and additional ones tailored to each person were asked as well. Grant said Marshall Turman was asked certain questions that other candidates did not get because she was the only woman candidate.

When Butts died in October 2022, after a bout with cancer, Marshall Turman felt that God had called her to the moment.

She wrote an application to Abyssinians senior pastorate that reflected her credentials, including a Master of Divinity and doctorate from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and experience on the Abyssinian staff as a minister for Christian education.

Butts called her the best assistant he had ever had, and the smartest, too, according to the lawsuit.

Marshall Turman was among those invited to apply.

But after not making it to the final round, she alleged in a Facebook post on Sept. 23, 2023, that the hiring process was tainted by secrecy and gender bias. She contended that Abyssinian deacons had worked alongside an energized group of Morehouse supporters and committee leadership to systematically eliminate all female applicants from the pool of candidates.

I write only to underscore that gender bias has no place in Gods house, Marshall Turman continued in her post. Moreover, gender bias is illegal in the City of New York in 2023 no matter the prior legacy of the organization involved.

Women's pay gap hasn't changed. Here's whyand how to fix it Women's pay gap hasn't changed. Here's whyand how to fix it Key Findings States with the largest gender wage gaps How partisan lean correlates with gender wage gaps States with the smallest gender wage gaps Where are wages growing fastest for women? Methodology
BAMBERG  Bricks blanketed Bambergs Main Highway on Tuesday afternoon. Mangled sheet metal was scattered across downtown, banging loudly against the highway in the wind.

Cheryl Schurlknight called it devastating as she visited the town.

A storm tore through Bamberg at 2:48 p.m. Tuesday, destroying buildings and dumping their remains on the street. The National Weather Service suspects a tornado hit the town.

Meteorologist Brad Carlberg said the National Weather Service was planning to have a crew survey the damage and to make a final decision on that.

The damage was widespread. A tree was uprooted near Hardees, taking some of the sidewalk with it. The sign for Bambergs Little Theater rested on the ground next to the sidewalk.

Schurlknight and her husband, Gary, own the Icehouse in Bamberg. They drove from Cordova to see if their business was spared after seeing images of Bamberg on television.

Everything looks good, Gary Schurlknight said about his building. We are blessed that we didn't get tore up.

The extent of the damage was hard for Gary to fathom.

What in the world! he said. That is crazy. That is really terrible.

Gregory Moore, owner of "Pre Moe's on Main" at 3055 Main Highway, came to see if there was any damage to his restaurant in development.

The building is still there, Moore said. Everything is intact, but everything on the other side of it is demolished.

His building seemed to be fine so far.

I haven't been inside, Moore said. They won't let me get inside yet. I am just waiting.

Moore said the damage is terrible.

This is devastating to Bamberg. We had no main street initially and we thought new development was coming in, which is what I was trying to do. This storm totally wipes away the new development, he said.

Bamberg County employee Gale Black said the county told employees to go home around 2 p.m. and so she headed to the Word of Life Pentecostal Holiness Church where she pastors.

She stayed at the church for about 45 minutes before she went home on U.S. 301 South. She passes the downtown area when she goes home.

Shortly after going through downtown, she received a phone call from her husband informing her the S.C. Oak To Barrel company on U.S. 301 south of the city was hit by the storm.

I would have been in the middle of it, she said.

Black came back to look at the damage.

It is just devastation, Black said. Our town was trying to pick up and beautify. We have been doing a lot of improvements to our town. This is kind of a hard hit for us right now.

Black said her office behind the courthouse annex sustained minor damage to some windows.

Bamberg Mayor Nancy Foster said it was pretty bad.

It is sad. Downtown is my passion. It is kind of heartbreaking, she said.

Foster said at least three buildings downtown are completely damaged.

Several substations of the Bamberg Board of Public Works were also damaged, Foster said. The Pizza Hut sign was also damaged.

In addition to downtown destruction, Foster said there are reports of trees on houses.

I keep getting reports, Foster said.

Foster said the storm, seemed to come up 301.

It was broad and reached into some residential areas, she said.

The devastation comes as the city was in the midst of revitalizing the downtown area, Foster said. The company Retail Strategies was working with downtown building owners to restore their buildings.

The buildings that were destroyed were recently purchased by a man from Mount Pleasant who was working on creating office space.

Another building, which housed Bamberg Rustic, was also completely destroyed.

When asked if the town will be able to come back from the damage, Foster said, We have to.

I am hoping we can rebuild, Foster said. But that is expensive. I would love to see that happen.

Foster said its too early to assess the extent of the damage and how or what can be done going forward.

S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Brittany Glover, who was at the scene, said the businesses that were damaged were unoccupied at the time of the storm.

Traffic is closed along U.S. Highway 301 and U.S. Highway 78 to 301/601 in Bamberg following the storm. Traffic is detouring along Calhoun Street.

Glover said she is unsure how long the detour will remain in place.

Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, reminded residents that tomorrow is a brand-new day.
Agriculture has changed since Clemson Extension agent Charles Davis first started helping Calhoun Countys farmers several decades ago.

The machines have changed, the plants have changed and hes even seen the children in 4-H grow up to become full-time farmers.

Davis is now experiencing another change by retiring from his role as an agronomic crop agent.

I will miss the daily interactions with the farmers I served, Davis said.

Much of my job revolves around relationships. Though the relationships will still be there, the daily interactions will not. This I will miss most of all, he said.

In addition to serving as part of the Clemson Extension Agronomic Crops Program Team in Calhoun County, Davis also was responsible for serving Richland County's row crop farmers.

Davis is retiring for the second time. He retired in 2011, but was asked to come back as a temporary employee. His temporary stay lasted a dozen years.

Love of agriculture

Davis was born in Orangeburg on Oct. 1, 1956, and has lived in Bolentown his entire life.

My grandfather (mothers side) was my greatest influence in pursuing a career in agriculture, Davis said. He farmed in the Norway area, and I would spend my summers helping him on the farm with the pigs, cantaloupes and sweet potatoes.

He graduated from Hunter-Kinard High School in 1974. He then earned a bachelors degree in agricultural mechanization and business from Clemson in 1979.

While at Clemson, Davis became the first agriculture major to participate in the Cooperative Education Program at the university.

It was one of the best experiences I had in college, Davis said. I worked five semesters for Gold Kist at their soybean crushing facility in Decatur, Alabama, while I was a student.

After graduation, on his 23rd birthday, Davis began working as a small farm extension agent with then-South Carolina State Colleges 1890 Extension Program.

He worked at S.C. State until 1984, when he transferred to the Clemson Extension Office in Orangeburg as an assistant county agent.

In April of 1989, he was appointed the county agent for Calhoun County upon the retirement of the late Roger Chastain.

He has been in Calhoun County ever since.

Over his nearly five decades of service, Davis focus has been on cotton and peanut production.

In his role, he handles all questions that come into the office. He has spent most of his time assisting the commercial row crop producers with information on crop production, pest management and problem analysis.

Seasons change

When Davis arrived at Clemson Extension, things were quite different than today.

There were no cellphones or computers, he said. Secretaries took phone calls and left you a lot of call sheets on your desk for you to handle when you came in the office.

Staffs were bigger, he continued. When I worked in Orangeburg, we had a staff of 14. Calhoun had a staff of seven that worked out of our office.

Today, the Orangeburg office has a staff of six, and the Calhoun office a staff of four, Davis said.

Today, most agents cover multiple counties, Davis said. When I started, agents only covered one county. We had no state-owned vehicles for us to use. We all wore out our own vehicles.

Davis said having to adjust to a smaller staff has been crucial.

Since our job was to teach folks how to adjust and adapt to changing farming practices, it was intuitive for us to do the same, Davis said. Cellphones and computers allowed us to become much more efficient in communicating with our producers, and saved many miles and hours.

Davis said the greatest change over the past four decades has been in technological advancements.

We moved into the information age, he said. Our farmers became better educated and more savvy.

In my early career, we held all of the information you needed for the farm and to get it, you went through us, Davis said. Today, there is too much information out there, some good and some not. Today, we spend a great deal of time helping our producers figure out what is true and what is not.

Growing technology

Davis said in addition to office changes, there have been changes in row crop production techniques and technology.

The biggest change farmers have had to navigate has been the genetic revolution, Davis said. Genetically modified crops have changed the farm landscape for better or worse, depending on your thinking.

Davis also noted mechanization on the farm has helped efficiency but has also proven to be extremely expensive.

A lot of farm workers have been replaced by machinery, Davis said. We have much better ag chemicals today that are much safer to use and better for the environment than what we were using when I first started my career.

We are much more conservation oriented now, with the use of cover crops and conservation tillage. We have made great strides in that area.

Memories planted

Davis has seen a lot over his 44 years.

I once had to run a farmer down in his cotton field to tell him his cotton picker was on fire, Davis said. We were able to get it out, thankfully.

I saved another farmers combine while cutting a soybean yield contest plot when I smelled smoke and stopped him, he continued. We got it back to the shop before it went up in flames and were able to extinguish the fire.

Other memories are not necessarily farm related.

I once came across an older lady who was suffering from dementia, Davis said. She couldnt remember her name or where she lived. I figured out who she was from her drivers license and contacted her son, who came down from Columbia and took her home. Apparently, she had taken a wrong turn when she left the grocery store in Irmo and wound up in Calhoun County.

There was also the time when he was vacationing at Edisto Beach and came across a lady who had just found someones Clemson ring.

I told her I worked for Clemson and she gave me the ring, Davis said. I was able to connect with the University Alumni Center and track down the owner, who was mighty happy to have his ring returned.

A bountiful harvest

Davis said while he has enjoyed his time with Clemson Extension, the most rewarding was the four years he sat on the National Association of County Agricultural Agents board.

He had the responsibility for 13 Southern states and represented them as the Southern region vice director and then as director.

I met many wonderful friends from across the country and had the opportunity to travel to many states and experience their agriculture first hand, Davis said. My biggest challenge was when we hosted the National Meeting of NACAA in Charleston in 2012.

I was the fundraising chair tasked with raising nearly a quarter-million dollars to pay for the event, he said. We met our goal and hosted the meeting for over 2,500 attendees. It is still remembered as one of the best national meetings in the recent history of NACAA.

Davis said the most meaningful part of his job has been watching the next generation of farmers come back to the farm.

A number of young folks that I knew as young 4-Hers have come back to the farm and are now running the operations, Davis said. This is great to see and to know that I had a part in making Clemson a part of their lives.

Davis has received a number of awards and recognitions during his career.

These include the S.C. Association of County Extension Agents Achievement Award and distinguished service awards; Outstanding Certified Crop Advisor Award; Outstanding Senior Extension Agent Award; Clemson Extension Row Crop Team Award; Distinguished County Extension Agent Award; Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce Presidents Award; National County Extension Agents Southern Region Director Award; Clemson Alumni Association Service Award and Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Award.

Crop futures

Looking ahead, Davis said, the future of farming in Calhoun County is bright.

Many of our farms have been in these families since the Kings Grants of the 1700s, he said. There is pride and tradition in this.

However, given the high cost of running a family farming operation, I do fear that a prolonged economic downturn could wreak havoc with all farming operations due to the high debt load they have to carry, Davis said. At the same time, I am confident that the business sense that we have tried to instill in our farmers will see them through the rough patches in the future.

Davis said he does have some concerns for younger farmers who have not had the experience of living through the very tough times of the 1980s.

There were a lot of hard lessons learned during that time, which our younger farmers did not get to experience, Davis said. Hopefully, those days are in the past.

While he does not have a crystal ball, Davis believes farming will continue along the path of increased mechanization  precision orientated and very expensive.

Barring some unforeseen calamity, I expect to see Calhoun County farms be successful well into the future, he said.

As for his own future, Davis said he does not have any definite plans.

I have a long to-do list around the farm, and of course a honey-do list a mile long, he said.

Davis is married to Angela and has two married children and five grandchildren.
DUNCAN (AP)  A man arrested in Ohio after a fatal shooting at a South Carolina dollar store was justified in defending himself, but he faces weapon offense charges, authorities said.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office announced that a SWAT team with the Chillicothe Police Department in Ohio arrested Ladarius Harris, 27, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, after a brief standoff on Thursday.

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Deputies were called to a Dollar General in Duncan on Dec. 27, where the clerk said she heard a pop and then found a man with a gunshot wound, the sheriff's office said in a social media post. The injured man, identified as Danny Ray Crisp, of Spartanburg, told deputies the shooter's name, and deputies were later told that shots were fired during a disagreement the men had a week earlier, the sheriff's office said.

Crisp, 50, was taken to a hospital and died two days later, according to an email from County Coroner Rusty Clevenger. His death was ruled a homicide.

Video from the store shows Crisp arming himself with a mallet, following Harris around the store and motioning to his wife and daughter to the exit, the sheriff's office said. The video then shows Crisp raising the mallet and going to the aisle where Harris was, but doesn't show the shooting.

The Solicitor's Office determined that Harris was justified in defending himself, but a magistrate issued warrants charging Harris with weapons offenses, the sheriff's office said.

Online records show that Harris is being held without bond on a fugitive from justice charge at the Ross County Jail in Ohio. Those records do not list an attorney who could comment on behalf of Harris.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a November hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill. House Republicans are marching ahead with impeachment plans, their sights on Mayorkas as derelict in his duty over handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. Speaker Mike Johnson gave his nod to Wednesdays hearing at the Homeland Security Committee. Alex Brandon/Associated Press

WASHINGTON  House Republicans began laying out their case for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the first in a series of hearings Wednesday, accusing the secretary of failing to follow immigration law and violating the public trust as border crossings have reached record levels under his watch.

Though the proceedings were billed as the result of a nearly yearlong investigation, they offered few new insights into Mayorkas handling of the border. Democrats have dismissed the impeachment effort as a political stunt to kick off an election year.

It would mark only the second impeachment of a Cabinet official ever. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican, noted that the only other example was in 1876 when Ulysses S. Grant was president. But McCaul, a senior GOP member on the committee, argued the situation at the border calls for it, pointing to 8 million border crossings since President Joe Biden took office and skyrocketing fentanyl deaths in recent years.

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Ive never seen this border more out of control, McCaul said. Mayorkas took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. In my judgment, he has violated that oath.

McCaul argued Mayorkas decision to end Trump-era rules requiring migrants seeking refuge in the United States to remain in Mexico, among other policies, had a direct cause and effect, opening the floodgates. He accused the secretary of flouting federal law that requires the government to detain and remove migrants convicted of crimes or those issued removal orders by the courts.

The founders believed impeachable offenses included corrupt administration, neglect of duty and official misconduct, McCaul said. He pointed to Alexander Hamilton, who asserted, abuse or violation of public trust is impeachable and said subjects of impeachment can relate to injuries done immediately to society itself.

But Democrats on the committee argued the GOP case is about policy disagreements and falls well short of the treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors spelled out in the Constitution.

It is not constitutionally grounded, it is not constitutionally sound, it is not going to save any lives at all, and there is nothing you have put forward today that evidences in any way an impeachable offense by Secretary Mayorkas, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, argued. A dislike of the presidents policy is not  is not  a basis for impeachment. A basis for impeachment is corruption, abuse of power, betrayal of the nation.

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Mayorkas has overseen a record number of removals by the Biden administration, including more than 470,000 since May. He has said Congress needs to approve more funding to hire Border Patrol agents and asylum officers, add space to detain migrants and pay for flights to deport those who do not qualify for asylum back to their home countries. The rise in crossings, he says, is driven by a broken immigration system and yearslong wait times for asylum cases to be adjudicated.

We are doing everything we can within a broken system, Mayorkas said Monday during a trip to Eagle Pass. We will continue to do everything we can, and we will continue to enforce the law. But we need Congress to make the legislative changes and provide the funding that our frontline officers so desperately need.

Democrats hit back against those leading the impeachment push. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel, pointed to comments U.S. Rep. Mark Green, the committee chairman, reportedly made to donors last April, when he promised to produce an impeachment case against Mayorkas.

It is now campaign season and Republicans recently rolled out their impeachment proceedings against the secretary like the preplanned, predetermined political stunt it is, Thompson said.

Thompson questioned whether the committee had the authority to draft impeachment articles under House rules, which typically run impeachment proceedings through the House Judiciary Committee. Green said it does, because the House voted in November to refer an impeachment resolution by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the panel. Greene, a Georgia Republican, introduced that resolution after two of her constituents were killed in a deadly South Texas car crash.

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Orban, Fico, and the future of Central European diplomacy. From ECFR.

Governments in Budapest, and now Bratislava, are treading a fine line of alignment with the West, showing their Central European neighbors what they can get away with, and risking the credibility of EU foreign policy and values.

Amid increasing global multipolarity, a central tension is arising within the European Union: newer member states, particularly those in Central Europe, practice full alignment with Western Europe and the United States on paper, but unlike their older counterparts, dont always apply this in practice. Instead, they are pursuing an a la carte approach, mixing and matching partners  and values  depending on the matter at hand, rather than committing to total allegiance with the West.

Within the Visegrad countries, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a veteran at taking a la carte policymaking to its limits. This sets a dangerous example for what his Polish, Czech, and Slovak counterparts, as well as those further afield, could get away with. Ultimately this could pave the way for a pickier and less EU-aligned Central Europe and carry grave consequences for the future of the union.

So far, Orban has walked the tightrope of EU rules, carefully managing the damage control abroad when breaking them. After his meeting with President Vladimir Putin in October, Orban quickly explained to his Western counterparts that it was a necessary step to secure gas delivery, for example. To keep his balance, Orban has practiced alignment when necessary. Most recently, while Orban blocked new aid to Ukraine, he did not, as many in Brussels feared, veto the European Councils decision to begin its accession process.

Orban attempted a similar balancing act about following Western liberal democratic values. In December, the Hungarian government published further judicial reforms in an attempt to receive EU funds. On paper at least, Orban appears to be fulfilling EU conditions. Yet, without much attention from abroad, the Hungarian parliament simultaneously approved a new law on the protection of national sovereignty, much like the Russian anti-NGO and anti-media law. Human rights groups have raised concerns about the law as it could be used to target activists and journalists, going against EU values of media freedom and free speech.

Dining With Poles and Slovaks

Under the Law and Justice partys rule, the Polish government echoed this approach to Western values, testing the limits of when rule of law and minority rights should be adhered to. But the government employed a less heavy handed approach over their many quarrels with the European Commission, instead trying to find allies within the EU. For example, until the very last moment, Polish government officials were looking for allies all over Central Europe to oppose the introduction of qualified majority voting and slow down the impact of the Green Deal on regulation and industries.

Poland is a heftier geopolitical player than its Central European neighbors. As a result, its politicians usually push for special relations with the United States, building regional security blocs like the Three Seas Initiative, or having direct links to Paris and Berlin. Unlike Hungary, and now Slovakia, Poland has pursued an a la carte lite approach since joining the EU, picking and choosing within the West, and only occasionally outside it, as in the case of its relations with China. Under the new premiership of Donald Tusk, former European Council president, the government is set to further dial down its a la carte approach to its foreign policy, while steering Poland closer to the EUs liberal democratic values.

The government change in Poland is a promising sign for a more unified EU. But while Orban suffers relatively few consequences from the EU for his pickiness, he shows other Central European states how to pick from the European menu only those partnerships suitable to them, without ordering the necessary side dishes like rule of law or European solidarity.

The Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, has certainly paid keen attention, choosing from the menu only when suitable. In the opposition, Fico used rule of law arguments against the government, in line with EU positions. Now in power, he has dismantled courts fighting organized crime, significantly weakening the rule of law, like in Poland and Hungary. And on the European stage, Fico has already proved to be a tricky partner against Russian sanctions and funding for Ukraine, and joined Orban in espousing pro-Putin rhetoric. Fico has also pursued closer relations with China over electric vehicle development, despite the EUs de-risking strategy. But, in an attempt to keep his balance, Fico has not opposed Ukraines EU accession, for example.

Czechs, being happy without a populist government for a while, may now begin to ask themselves why they should follow the values-based policy of their western neighbors when their fellow Central Europeans can pick what best suits them. The Czech Republic will have elections in 2025, and polls do not look good for the current pro-European coalition.

In the meantime, Poland is likely to need an ally in Central Europe that is not so picky when looking at the liberal democratic menu and that is willing to fully align with the West. While the new foreign affairs minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, has showed little interest in building close relations with the Czech Republic in the past, going forward, Poland should make the most of a natural ally in Prague.

This is especially the case as the a la carte approach could be taken to new extremes when Central European countries become net payers to the EU budget, probably by 2027, accounting for the possibility of Ukraines accession. Then, this cherry-picking could metastasize into severe debates about whether to stay in the EU. In many ways, Central European politics is not based on coherent ideas and long-term views of EU membership, but increasingly on a populist package of interests, rather than values.

A return of Donald Trump to the US presidency could bring this transactional approach to the table as part of the daily menu. The United States is seen as a guarantor of stability much more strongly in Central Europe than it is further west. Under a second Trump administration, Central European leaders could decide to tie themselves to the US differently, particularly if there is a strong feeling within their societies that they can get away with picking up only some features but not the whole package of liberal democratic values and principles, let alone if this approach is legitimized by the new US administration.

We are undoubtedly entering a new era of a la carte international relations. In this era, the introduction of qualified majority voting for EU common security and foreign policy seems necessary for the actions of the EU to fully align with its own foreign policy. But that could be a tipping point for some Central European leaders.

The Hungarian government is said to be considering holding a referendum together with this years European elections, which would make Hungarys continued EU membership dependent on the release of frozen EU funds, floating the still theoretical question of Huxit. Since 2016, this option has been firmly on the menu. Even if the UK clearly shows that this course might be hard to swallow.



Martin Ehl is chief analyst and former foreign affairs editor at the Czech newspaper Hospodarske noviny.

This commentary originally appeared on the website of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
ENERGY Minister Stuart Young has taken umbrage at comments made by Ronald Harford, former chairman of Republic Financial Holdings Ltd, as he boasted about the success of the energy sector.

Young said whenever somebody becomes a former, their mouth gets big, as he quoted from an article in Fridays Express report where Harford made critical comments.
A new camera system is being installed along this countrys roadways with the aim of tackling traffic congestion and reducing the countrys crime.

This was said yesterday by Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, who spoke with the media at the intersection of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and Golden Grove Road in Piarco.
With ten people murdered between Thursday and Saturday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley took to Facebook yesterday to assure citizens that State agencies will not give up the fight to rid our streets and other places of the evil that is now widespread as a gun culture in Trinidad and Tobago.

And in a voice note to the media, Commissioner of Police Erla Christopher said, We are determined to dismantle criminal gangs and make a difference in transforming impacted communities.
Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) will soon implement peer-to-peer payments on the platform sometime this year.

Plans for the new money transaction method on the site were announced on X's latest blog post as part of its "transformational" focus for its business partners.

According to X, the introduction of a direct way for users to pay sellers and businesses will unlock "more user utility and new opportunities for commerce."

All peer-to-peer payments will go through X Payments LLC, a payment platform that only has money transmission licenses in 14 states.

No exact dates yet were given when the peer-to-peer payments will launch or if it will immediately be available to all countries.

The announcement of a new payment feature on the platform comes after Fidelity, one of X's investors, reported that the platform lost over 71% of its original value since Musk bought it for $44 billion in 2022.

Also Read: Elon Musk's X Loses Over 71% of Original Value, Says Fidelity

'Everything App' X Launches More Payment Methods

The peer-to-peer payment is only the latest change Musk has brought to the platform since he took over, most of which are payment transactions and commerce-related.

Just last October, X launched a $1 annual fee for some countries like New Zealand and the Philippines in an effort to "combat bots and spammers."

Before that, Musk partnered with eToro to introduce direct trading of cryptocurrencies, stocks, and other financial assets on the site.

Many new features on the platform, like its chatbot Grok, are locked away behind the X Premium paywall.

The platform has even pushed its advertisements and X subscribers' posts "from enhancing search and improving ads to fueling a new level of customer understanding."

This comes after X reported lower ad revenues last year with many prominent businesses vowing to not run their ads on the platform anymore.

Related Article: Elon Musk's X Ad Revenue Plunges Down for Entirety of 2023

X User Count Continues to Decrease

Despite the new business attractions on the site, X user count continues to decline with a 16% drop last September, according to The Wall Street Journal. This is contrary to Musk's claims that the site has more traffic now.

X has also been suffering more system outages and glitches after Musk laid off former Twitter employees during his first months on the platform.

It did not help that the billionaire recently got involved with antisemitic and racist accusations following his sharing hate speeches against Jews on his account.
The settlement agreed to by the family of Thomas Meixner, a University of Arizona professor shot and killed on campus, is for $2.5 million from the university and the Arizona Board of Regents, shows a document obtained by the Arizona Daily Star.

For the familys cooperation, the state is paying that sum as well as establishing and funding an endowed professorship in Meixners name and providing mental health resources to faculty, staff and students who were directly and immediately affected by the shooting.

The settlement also requires the UA to provide a tuition/fee waiver to hydrology and atmospheric studies students most directly and immediately affected by the shooting, prospectively and retroactively to the semester in which the events preceding the shooting began.

The settlement, announced Tuesday, includes stipulations that Meixners family, including his wife, Kathleen, and his two sons, Sean and Brendan, completely release and forever discharge the state from any and all past, present or future claims, demands and damages.

Meixners family signed the document on Nov. 9, 2023. The familys lawyers filed an initial claim against the UA of $9 million in March 2023, and announced they were working with the university in October 2023 to settle the claim.

Meixner, who was a professor of hydrology and atmospheric studies, was fatally shot in the Harshbarger building, which houses that department, on Oct. 5, 2022. Former graduate student Murvad Dervish is charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to stand trial this year.

According to a report after a faculty investigation, Meixner and other members of the department had repeatedly warned the university about Dervishs threatening messages, which occurred frequently leading up to the alleged shooting.

As announced on Tuesday, the university is also enacting specific measures by implementing 33 recommendations made by the PAX Group, a business focused on workplace safety, and it will conduct monitoring to confirm they remain in place. The PAX report conducted for the UA found a systemic lack of safety measures, and ineffective investigations into threats made against Meixner and other faculty by Dervish beginning up to a year before Meixner was killed.

No amount of money can bring Tom back, but the settlement provides the Meixner family with economic security following the tragedy which has upended their lives and given them a sense a relief that the University of Arizona and state of Arizona are taking seriously the need for effective threat assessment and management, said the Meixners familys lawyer Larry Wulkan in a written statement.

Fred DuVal, chair of the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the states three public universities including UA, said he was grateful for the Meixner familys efforts to improve safety at the university.

The settlement cannot replace Professor Meixners exceptional talent and service, DuVal said in a statement. We extend our enduring appreciation to the Meixner family who, through unimaginable loss, continues to collaborate with (the UA) to implement meaningful changes to enhance the safety of the University of Arizona campus. We are deeply grateful.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

This is a response to an opinion letter supporting keeping the A-10 active and at D-MAF. The A designated Attack which implies that its mission is to fire and drop bombs to support troops on the ground. This also implies that there is a uniformed force in a designated war zone. Beginning with Vietnam followed by Iraq and Afghanistan there were no uniformed forces or defined war zones. Everyone on the ground is a target.

During my year (1969) at Bien Hoa Vietnam Air Base there were fire zones where everyone in those zones was a target. Nick Turses book Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam provides plenty of detailed reports of how our strategy was applied. My brief research: B-52 bombing missions from 1965-1971 were 84,000, which also included Laos and Cambodia; 388,000 tons of napalm; 12-19 million gallons of Agent Orange; naval guns from the ocean; and untold massacres, almost forgot the thousands of helicopter gunships. I felt the ground shake from bombs, witnessed napalm, and was under planes spraying Agent Orange. Our military waged a war of attrition by killing and spraying crops. Estimates are that we exterminated millions of Vietnamese.

Today I can only think of killing when I see and hear military aircraft. I want people who believe weapons of war including drones have a place flying over Tucson to think about their purpose and what they have done including Iraq and Afghanistan. If you believe they still have a purpose: We used these weapons in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and how did those wars turn out?

I never met a hero while in Vietnam. The Veterans Administration reports that every day 20 or so veterans die by suicide. Sending our military to engage in insurgent wars requires that many non-combatants will be killed with A-10s.

Aircraft require fuel, lubricants, and the availability of fire retardants. All of these will end up in ground water. There are hundreds of bases that have found ground water pollution. A report by The Center for Public Integrity article of August 18, 2017 Military bases contamination will affect water for generations.

The current conflict in Ukraine is conducted with drones and missiles. Aircraft and runways are easy targets and if Ukraine gets jets no airport in Ukraine will be safe. Ukraine will become a no-fly zone.

Our military has been built to confront a uniformed military with a defined border. All the conflicts going forward will employ insurgents. After 9/11 why did we restrict Muslims from entry and subject them to discrimination? The pandemic put Asians in harms way. Pearl Harbor put imprisoned Japanese in internment camps, and they also lost their property and businesses.

Now our military is sounding the war whoop at China. China has missiles and drones that can sink any naval ship and down any aircraft. How many Chinese would be considered counterinsurgents or anyone that could be Chinese? Hundreds of our businesses are owned or controlled by Chinese companies. China also has untold resources in every country on the planet.

The following is pulled from Wikipedia and speaks to why we are a warring country.

War Is a Racket a speech and a 1935 short book by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. Based on his career military experience, Butler discusses how business interests commercially benefit from warfare. He had been appointed commanding officer of the Gendarmerie during the 19151934 United States occupation of Haiti.

After Butler retired from the US Marine Corps in October 1931, he made a nationwide tour in the early 1930s giving his speech War Is a Racket. The speech was so well received that he wrote a longer version as a short book published in 1935.
The BBC traveled to Turkey to record a first-hand account while filming a documentary about medical tourism and hair transplantation in the country in 2018. The group traveled with 26-year-old Paul Readman to Istanbul's Smile Hair Clinic, where he had inexpensive surgery to restore his hair.

Handling the consequences of hair loss

One week prior to his hair restoration procedure, Paul was visited by BBC reporter Tiffany Sweeney in his hometown of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. She found out about the impact of hair loss on Paul's social life and the rationale behind his hair transplant in Turkey through conversations with him, his parents, and friends.

Paul decided on hair transplant Istanbul since he felt quite insecure due to his receding hairline. He had been saving money for the 2,000 surgery at Smile Hair Clinic for the past six months; if he had gone to a UK clinic, the cost could have been four times higher.

Getting together at Smile Hair Clinic with Dr. Gokay Bilgin and Dr. Mehmet Erdogan

After Paul arrived in Istanbul, the BBC team took him to Smile Hair Clinic, where he had a consultation and hair analysis with Drs. Gokay Bilgin and Mehmet Erdogan. To get him ready for the procedure, the doctors shaved his head, examined his hair, and created a new hairline.

A needle-free pistol was used to administer local anesthetic at the beginning of the six-hour procedure. The back of Paul's head, where his hair was thickest, was where the surgeons next removed 2,700 hair follicles. The final step of the process was to reposition the extracted hair grafts into Paul's hairline, after which bandages were applied.

Paul reported that the procedure was quick and almost painless. A few local anesthetic injections were the only source of pain.

Phases of transformation and Paul's experience

The BBC team went back to Middlesbrough a month after Paul had his hair transplant to see how he was doing and to find out what his family thought of his new appearance.

For people undergoing hair transplants, the toughest period is a month following the procedure because this is when they experience "shock loss."

Paul was no different. Two weeks after the surgery, his hair started to shed, and because of the shock of the process, there were patches in the donor areas. But it took four months following the procedure for the first noticeable effects.

Paul described his experience in a video that he later sent in, showing off significant hair growth that exceeded his expectations and gave him more self-confidence. He remarked that picking Smile Hair Clinic was the right choice, and he was pleased with the outcome and eager to see how he would alter in appearance over the next months.

Smile Hair Clinic

A fast-forwarded adventure initiated by a pair of perfectionists!

Dr. M. Erdogan and Dr. G. Bilgin's enthusiasm for developing hair transplantation was the catalyst for everything. By founding Smile Hair Clinic in 2018, two perfectionists who had devoted years of experience to FUE hair transplantation techniques demonstrated their distinction in the field.

Since then, Smile Hair Clinic has set the standard for the area's top medical hair transplantation facilities on a global scale. Numerous institutions, including the BBC Healthcare Tourism Documentary Series, have highlighted its reputation.

The Smile Hair Clinic has moved to East Istanbul's financial area and is now housed in a 7-story, tastefully designed, state-of-the-art clinic building with over 100 highly skilled employees. Thorough training protocols are essential for ensuring the quality and perfection of hair transplant treatments. Smile employs a well-trained and rigorous testing procedure based on the TrueTM Philosophy success criteria.

Initiated by physicians, carried out by physicians!

Smile's key priorities are these essential elements: One of the main goals of the procedure is to have very natural-looking hair; many precautions are taken to help ensure the patient's maximum comfort both before and after the procedure; and the patient's overall long-term change is constantly thoroughly watched.

Today's Smile Hair Clinic approaches hair transplantation from a visionary standpoint by taking a holistic approach to the procedure. For them, it's not only about the medical procedure; it's an entire experience that begins with the patient's entire stay and continues throughout the operation day, ushering in a new chapter in their life.

Throughout the years, Smile Hair Clinic has served as a gathering place for over 10,000 gentlemen, changing many lives for the better. For many, Smile serves as both a medical facility and a gathering place for driven individuals who strive for excellence.

The staff at Smile firmly believe that research advancements and a constant openness to new technologies are the keys to continuous improvement and ultimate perfectionism. There are always new chapters in the future waiting.

This content is provided for informational purposes only by the advertiser and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Please consult your healthcare provider for medical advice.

This provided content was produced by Lee Enterprises. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display.
Jason Mewes, the chatty half of the film duo Jay and Silent Bob, will perform five shows over a three-day span Thursday, Jan. 11, through Saturday, Jan. 13, at Bricktown Comedy Club Tulsa, 5982 S. Yale Ave. For tickets, go to bricktowntulsa.com.

A comedy-heavy weekend will also feature Maddy Smith (Jan. 11-13 at Loony Bin), Ali Siddiq (Jan. 12 at Cains Ballroom) and Kathleen Madigan (Jan. 13 at Tulsa Theater).

Keith Sweat/ Bellamy Brothers

The Cove, the concert venue of the River Spirit Casino, is hosting music artists on consecutive nights. Keith Sweat will perform Thursday, Jan. 11. The Bellamy Brothers will be on stage Friday, Jan. 12. For tickets, go to riverspirittulsa.com.

Vince Neil

In 2023, Vince Neil and his Motley Crue mates co-headlined the first major concert event at the University of Tulsas Chapman Stadium in more than 30 years. Neil, Motley Crues vocalist, is returning for a solo show Friday, Jan. 12, at Hard Rock Live inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. For tickets, go to hardrocktulsa.com.

Ok, So Tulsa storytelling

The first story slam presented by Ok, So Tulsa of the year will have as its theme Animal, with local storytellers finding funny, serious, sad, harrowing and interesting ways to share their real-life experiences that have some connection to the animal kingdom.

Audience members will choose the best storyteller to win a cash prize and a place in Grand Slam to the determine the best storyteller in town.

The event is 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E. Reconciliation Way. Cost is $7. eventbrite.com.

World-class theatre organist

The nonprofit Will Rogers Stage Foundation is presenting a free concert by world class theatre organist Dave Wickerham. The concert will take place 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, in the historic Will Rogers High School Auditorium, 3909 E. Fifth Place.

Wickerham is a past recipient of the American Theatre Organ Societys Organist of the Year award. The American Pipe Organ Guild proclaimed him Americas best pipe organist. He will perform on the schools 3-manual, 42-rank theatre organ.

Though the event is free, all seats are reserved and a ticket is required for admission. Get tickets online at willrogersstage.com.

Dry January dinner at Duet

Some take the month of January to rethink their relationship with alcohol, and Duet Restaurant, 108 N. Detroit Ave., will host its first Dry Wine Dinner, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10.

The evening will feature a four-course dinner paired with de-alcoholized Spanish wines from Hollow Leg, an Irish company that promises its beverages have all the characteristics and qualities of wine, but without alcohol.

The menu will include a shrimp enchilada with salsa verde, a fried chicken paillard with a Caprese salad, seared beef filet with mashed potatoes and a mustard-mushroom sauce, and maple walnut cake for dessert.

Cost is $50, and reservations are required. To reserve: 918-398-7201.

Ebb & Flow with TSO

Guest conductor Sarah Hicks will join the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra for its first concert of the new year, an all-orchestral program titled Ebb & Flow: Brahms Symphony No. 3.

In addition to the titular symphony by Brahms, the concert will feature works by two of the leading French composers of the early 20th century: Bolero, by Maurice Ravel, and Claude Debussys La mer.

Ticket for the concert, which is 7: 30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St., are $20-$78. To purchase and more information: tulsasymphony.org.
SAND SPRINGS  Southbound lanes of Oklahoma 97 reopened around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, about 3 hours after a train derailed just north of the Arkansas River Bridge, blocking the highway.

Northbound lanes of the highway were unaffected, Sand Springs police said in a news release.

There were no injuries and no damage to property or the environment, said Julie Slagle, a spokswoman for OmniTRAX, which owns the Sand Springs Railway Co.

James Tilton, OmniTRAXs general manager of operations, said the company was making a normal, routine train movement westward into the OmniTRAX facility at Sheffield Crossing with 16 loaded coal cars when four cars derailed about 10:25 a.m.

The final car of the train was blocking the highway at the time of the derailment, he said.

Tilton said recent rain and snow had saturated the ground in the area, leading to the instability and the derailment.

Slagle said the derailment had nothing to do with the Sand Springs Railways recent replacement of the crossing over Oklahoma 97.

Ten days before Christmas, the section of the highway between Huskey Avenue and Main Street was closed for a week so the railway, in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Transportations Railway Division, could replace the crossing just north of Main.
MIAMI  Pedro Naranjo idolized his father growing up and followed him into the Venezuelan air force to fly helicopters. So deep was their bond that when the older Naranjo feared being jailed for plotting against Nicolas Maduros socialist government, father and son fled to the United States together.

Now the two have been separated by an overstretched U.S. immigration system that has left the retired Gen. Pedro Naranjo in legal limbo in the U.S. His loyal son, a Venezuelan air force lieutenant, sits in a Venezuelan military prison after he was deported by the Biden administration as part of an attempt to discourage asylum-seekers from the turbulent South American country.

We never had a plan B, the older Naranjo said in a phone interview from Houston. He was released after 10 days in U.S. custody and is now awaiting the outcome of his own asylum request. It never crossed our mind that the U.S., as an ally of the Venezuelan opposition and democracies over the world, a defender of human rights and freedom, would do what it did to my son.

The Venezuelan diaspora is one of the most vexing migration challenges facing U.S. officials.

Last year, Mexico ended visa-free travel for Venezuelans, which had been a ticket to those seeking asylum in the United States. Once arriving at a Mexican border city, Venezuelans could walk across the border in broad daylight and surrender to U.S. agents, avoiding the dangers of traversing Mexico and other countries over land.

Restricting flights to Mexico encouraged walking through the perilous Darien Gap. More than a half-million migrants, predominantly Venezuelan, have traversed the jungle at the border of Colombia and Panama this year.

The resumption for the first time in years of U.S. deportation flights to Venezuela  11 since October, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data  have failed to stem the surge. Venezuelans were arrested more than 85,000 times crossing the border illegally in October and November, the second-highest nationality after Mexicans.

Little is known about how those deported fare once they are returned home. However, critics and members of south Florida's close-knit community of Venezuelan exiles have blasted the Biden administration for overlooking the grave dangers faced by deportees like Naranjo.

A group calling itself Independent Venezuelan American Citizens joined Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Jimenez recently to denounce the younger Naranjo's deportation and subsequent arrest at the hands of Maduro. It said it sent a request to the White House on Dec. 12 seeking to block the deportation but received no response. On Dec. 14, after failing to reverse a deportation order by an asylum officer, the younger Naranjo was deported, according to his father.

Ernesto Ackerman, a member of the group, said the deportation was akin to sending a U.S. drug agent into the hands of a drug cartel.

Its like taking a DEA agent and sending him to Chapo Guzman, Ackerman said, referring to the Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. I dont see any difference.

Naranjo's deportation comes against the backdrop of U.S. attempts to improve relations with Caracas after the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign failed to topple Maduro. In November, the White House eased oil sanctions on the OPEC nation to support fledgling negotiations between Maduro and his opponents over guarantees for next year's presidential elections. Biden also announced a presidential pardon releasing from prison of a key Maduro ally held for more than three years on U.S. money-laundering charges.

Neither the White House nor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement commented on the Naranjos' situation.

The father-son saga began in 2018, when Gen. Naranjo was arrested with a handful of other officers for allegedly plotting to assassinate Maduro, sow chaos and disrupt Venezuelas presidential election that year. Naranjo denies his involvement.

In 2021, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Naranjo was hospitalized after suffering a stroke in prison. Under international pressure, he was allowed to complete his sentence at home.

When the government decided to extend the sentence of his co-defendants, he decided to flee at the end of 2022 and his son joined him to make sure he arrived safely.

The only crime he committed was being a good son, said Maria Elena Machado, who has seen her son twice in prison since his return.

The two first crossed the border into Colombia, then made the perilous trek through the Darien to the U.S. On Oct. 4, they crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas, and surrendered to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Crossing illegally from Mexico exposed the Naranjos to tougher standards for passing initial asylum screenings.

A rule introduced in May applies the higher standard to anyone who crosses the border illegally after passing through another country, like Mexico, without seeking protection there. Migrants also must use one of the Biden administrations new legal avenues to asylum, such as a new mobile app for appointments at official crossings.

It's not clear why Naranjo's asylum request was rejected. Migration experts warn that other Venezuelans deserving of asylum could suffer the same fate.

This is not a shocker, said Julio Henriquez, a Venezuelan-born immigration attorney in Boston. It was bound to happen at any moment.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board will vote next month on proposed rule changes that would add eligibility requirements for prisoners seeking to argue that their sentences are excessive or unjust.

The proposed rules, created in response to a May 2022 Oklahoma County Grand Jury report that was critical of the states commutation processes, would require state prisoners to meet the following criteria to file a commutation application with the Pardon and Parole Board:

The sentencing range for one or more of a prisoners current offenses has statutorily changed.

The prisoner does not have a projected release date and has served at least 30 years.

The prisoner has received a favorable recommendation from a trial official, such as a district attorney or judge.

The prisoner has received a favorable recommendation from the governor.

The board may vote to adopt the rules as proposed, vote on a modified version of the rules or table the proposal altogether. The board is scheduled to meet Feb. 5-7 at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority building in Oklahoma City.

More than two dozen speakers, all opposed to the proposed rule changes, addressed the board during a public comment period on Monday.

Heres a sampling of what commenters had to say. Statements were edited for length and clarity:

Kara Chapman, commutation recipient: I was given a year of life that I wouldnt have otherwise. That may not seem like a lot, but when you have four small children, a year counts. I got to spend Christmas with my children; I saw my oldest turn 13. Since Ive been released Ive found a full-time job and become a volunteer in the Heathers Hope program. If these rules had been in place earlier I would not have been released. I come to you not with legal expertise or not with a lot of knowledge but as a human being who has been affected by commutation. I am someone who can serve as an example of positive change. Thank you for your work, and please remember the humans affected by these cases.

William Trey Livingston III, commutation recipient: There are a lot of people in this room that are sitting in the same seat I am. If these rules were passed years ago, I would not have been eligible to be here and to be doing the work I am doing, to be with my family and to do the things Im doing in the community to give back for my actions when I was younger. My case was one where my sentence was not statutorily excessive, but the board could see Id do better outside. Id ask this board to see people for more than their crime and more than their worst mistake. There are so many good people in there. I have so many friends who are still behind those fences that deserve a chance. A sentence may be legal, but its still like the Wild West in many ways in those courtrooms. And you all have the power to look in those courtrooms and see the individuals who are doing the right thing.

Aaron Cosar, commutation recipient: When I think about the commutation process, I would not want your job. But I do believe there are men and women throughout the Department of Corrections who are so grateful to have a second chance. Because of commutation Ive been given that privilege to be a good, tax-paying citizen. I now work inside a prison as a program manager, and I get the opportunity to work with men who are struggling with violence. I pray that you will look at these considerations and remember that there are a great number of people who committed crimes, are guilty, but would love the opportunity for a second chance.

Kris Steele, former House speaker and criminal justice reform advocate: When a person feels theyve been treated unfairly in a court of law, we should immediately look into it. These cases should be looked at post haste. I think the premise of these proposed rule changes is well-intentioned. But if you feel you dont have enough time to screen cases, there are remedies. Please maintain your responsibility, maintain accountability and perpetuate hope by allowing people to seek relief for excessive and unfair sentences.

Lisa Brown, mother of a state prisoner serving life without the possibility of parole: I feel like 30 years to be eligible for commutation is excessive, but also to have an exceptional institutional record, that should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis so its not eliminating everybody. Thirty years is a long time. My son was 23 when he was convicted. I dont want it to be 53 until hes eligible. Hes a good kid, and I dont want him to have to wait that long.

T. Sheri Dickerson, executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City: Mercy and compassion must be part of this process. The rules proposed remove those things. I say that as the mother of a son whose life was taken by an 18-year-old man who is currently serving a triple life sentence. As the daughter of a man whose life was taken in 1996. As the sister of a brother who was murdered. It is just; it is fair; and it should be considered. Please have mercy.

Francetta Mays, Tulsa NAACP Chapter President and pastor of the Vernon AME Church: When you start putting people in a position to lose hope, and thats what I believe this is, you are adding gasoline to the fire thats already burning. We all have made bad decisions and have made mistakes. How many times do we reflect on one sin we made? We have to improve the process by listening to the people, and the people are the ones who are incarcerated.

Glynn Simmons, a wrongfully convicted man who spent 48 years in Oklahoma prisons: I would like to suggest this board have kind of oversight for people who have a claim of actual innocence, instead of those who are guilty. Everything is geared towards the guilty man. Ive done time with men who pled guilty to all kinds of heinous crimes, and they appeared before you, and they were granted parole. And they came back to prison within six to eighteen months. The prosecuting attorney sent letters alluding to my innocence, and the victims family sent letters alluding to my innocence.

Colleen McCarty, executive director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice: Wrongful convictions and prosecutorial misconduct continue to plague Oklahomas courts. Limiting the rules in this way ensures that those who received an unjust or excessive sentence will be the least likely to gain relief.
Randy Krehbiel Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Randy Krehbiel 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

Appropriators have to put more money in Oklahomas CareerTech system if they want it to produce the workers business and political leaders are demanding, Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education Director Brent Haken told a House panel on Tuesday.

What we know is we have a demand for our CareerTech system like we have never seen before, Haken told the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education. Post-pandemic, we have had an increase of vocational jobs, trades jobs, technical skills jobs. More and more business are looking to hire based on skills earned and not what we have traditionally thought of as education.

If were going to make a difference  were going to have to see a change, Haken said.

CareerTech is asking for a total fiscal year 2025 appropriation of almost $202 million, which would be a roughly 25% increase from the current budget year.

Haken said $37 million of the requested $41.75 million addition would go to program expansion, including $10.5 million for health care careers, $8.5 million for construction trades and $7.6 million for manufacturing.

He said the additional appropriations would expand capacity systemwide by 6,400 students. Haken said about 180 additional instructors would be hired.

About 7,500 prospective students are now on waiting lists  down from 11,000 a year ago, he said.

Other CareerTech requests included $750,000 for training programs for incarcerated individuals and $2 million for a program to provide additional support to low-income students.

Historically, the CareerTech system has been funded largely by local property taxes, particularly in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Haken said that in recent years that has provided sustainable funding but doesnt let us jump ahead.

Were not used to this demand  11,000 students wanting to enter our doors all at one time, he said.

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.
HANOI -- Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast on Tuesday launched a prototype of its new pickup truck, and said it plans to launch its mini-sized VF 3 model globally.

VinFast said the electric pickup truck being showcased at the CES 2024 trade show in Las Vegas, VF Wild, is in the mid-size pickup category. It did not disclose a timeframe for its roll-out or its expected driving range.

The company also said on Tuesday its four-seater mini-eSUV VF 3, which has a target driving range of more than 125 miles per full charge, will be up for sale globally, having initially been aimed solely at the Vietnamese market.

Attendees take photos of a VinFast VF Wild electric concept pickup truck at CES 2024, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2024. Photo: Reuters

It did not give a timeframe for delivery, but said it would start to take reservations this year. First deliveries of the vehicle in Vietnam are due in the third quarter.

VinFast, which was founded in 2017 and began delivering cars in California last March, had sold around 21,200 units as of the third quarter last year, more than half of them to its affiliate. Its management expects it to break even by 2025.
Japanese seafood companies have launched a trial program which involves processing Hokkaido scallops in Vietnam, where labor costs are relatively low, following a recent ban by China on Japanese seafood imports, according to Japans Nikkei Asia newspaper.

Seafood e-retailer Foodison is joining hands with wholesaler Ebisu Shokai and trading houses Ocean Road and Nosui to export more than 20 tonnes of unshelled scallops to Vietnam for processing on a trial basis.

Under the agreement, scallops purchased by Ocean Road from Ebisu and exported to Vietnam will be processed and exported back to Japan to be sold by Foodison, Ebisu, and Nosui to retailers and restaurants.

The first batch of scallops has already been delivered to Vietnam, where they will be processed into half-shell scallops for cooking, sushi-grade meat, and frozen scallops to be eaten raw.

Ocean Road currently processes shrimp and crab in Vietnam before exporting these seafood products back to Japan for consumption.

Scallop processors in Vietnam have obtained Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certifications  an international recognition for food safety. This allows Japanese companies to deliver seafood products from Vietnam to markets such as the U.S. and the EU.

Based on the results of the pilot program, the companies involved will decide whether to continue scallop processing in Vietnam, where the labor costs in scallop processing are only 20-30 percent of those in Japan.

Despite factoring in shipping costs, the anticipated price of scallops processed in Vietnam for use in sushi and other raw preparations is expected to be lower than that of scallops processed in Japan.

Half-shell scallops, which require less processing, are expected to be priced similarly to their Japanese counterparts.

Japan currently lacks the manpower to handle the countrys scallop processing needs, Nikkei Asia cited Kenichiro Hoshino, a manager at Foodison, as saying.

Last year, Japan exported nearly 500,000 metric tons of shell scallops to global markets, including 140,000 metric tons to China, of which about 100,000 metric tons were for processing.

Nevertheless, the quantity of unprocessed scallops in Japan has seen a significant increase since August 2023.

This surge can be attributed to Beijing's prohibition on seafood imports from Japan, a response to Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, demand for this product in other markets is also limited, and scallops cannot be processed in time in Japan due to labor shortages.

The Japanese government has had to take many support measures, including subsidies to cover the costs of processing equipment and storage.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Honda announced its new electric vehicle (EV) lineup called the Honda 0 Series featuring two concept models: Saloon and Space-Hub, at CES 2024. The new global EV series will be launching in 2026 across various continents.

Read Also: Honda is Considering to Set Up EV Production in North America

Honda 0 Series Unveils Concept Models for Saloon, Space-Hub

According to Honda's Global CEO, the company is focused on producing a completely different value from zero based on three principles: thin, light, and wise, to promote better mobility for EVs. During the CES 2024, Honda unveiled two concept models called Saloon and Space-Hub.

The Saloon is based on Honda's man maximum/machine minimum packaging concept which featured a low and wide exterior but spacious interior. Moreover, the materials are all made from sustainable materials and have a human-machine interface. The Saloon is expected to be released to the North American market by 2026.

Meanwhile, the Space-Hub is based on the theme of "augmenting people's daily lives." The concept vehicle offers a flexible space that can accommodate the preferences of passengers. At the same time, it is a hub that can connect people to each other, even those from the outside.

Honda to Deploy Advanced Driver Assistance, Automated Driving Features for 0 Series

The Honda 0 Series will be equipped with the advanced driver-assistive system which has been used with the Honda Legend in Japan since 2021. Moreover, the next-generation automated driving features will be introduced to the lineup.

"A bold and pure proportion that from the first glance is overwhelmingly different from other EVs to evoke a new perspective for people," Honda's Global EVP, Shinki Aoyama, stated.

Customers can expect advanced AI features and human-like risk predictions for the Honda 0 Series as the company works on the safety and confidence of their EVs. Through the combination of AI and driver data, the vehicle will adapt to the user's driving preferences and behaviors.

Related Article: Volkswagen is Integrating ChatGPT Into Cars, SUVs
Be Group, a ride-hailing service supplier in Vietnam, has received a new capital injection of over VND739.5 billion (US$30.4 million), Nguyen Viet Linh, marketing director at the firm, said on Wednesday.

The investment was made by VPBank Securities JSC, a member of VPBank, said Linh.

VPBank Securities will acquire a stake in Be Holdings, the owner of Be Group, with a total transaction value of more than $30.4 million.

The capital will help strengthen the ride-hailing operators financial health to serve an estimated 20 million users.

VPBank Securities is the first institutional investor to join Be Groups owner.

In 2022, Be Group received a $100-million loan from Deutsche Bank, a prestigious global and leading financial institution from Germany.

Vietnam is home to several tech-based service suppliers such as Be, Grab, and Gojek, all of which began their operations by offering ride-hailing services but have since expanded their reach to food and goods delivery, vehicle leasing, and air ticket and hotel room bookings.

The country is currently witnessing fierce competition between the three transport service and food delivery firms.

In 2023, GSM Green and Smart Mobility JSC, owned by Vietnam's richest man Pham Nhat Vuong, jumped on the ride-hailing bandwagon to supply electric car and scooter transport services in the local market.

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A number of foreigners in Vietnam have said dual pricing, a common practice in many countries around the world whereby foreign tourists are charged more than locals for the same goods or services, is not a big deal, while sharing some tips to avoid being overcharged while living in this Southeast Asian country.

Alessandro Ferin said that some places in Vietnam, like museums, set higher prices for foreigners no matter the language visitors speak, but it is not a big deal for him, in response to Kristoffer Svendsen, who thinks that foreigners would only be fleeced if they did not know better nor speak Vietnamese.

They were among a host of expats having their say on Tuoi Tre News recent story Eight things I hate about Vietnam, written by Ray Kuschert, an Australian who has been living in Ho Chi Minh City for over a decade.

Kuschert listed the top eight things he dislikes about Vietnam, such as visa policy, dual pricing, hot weather, food, and traffic problems in his story, which drew hundreds of reactions and comments on social media.

Based on my experience, they double the price when they see that you are a foreigner, Mark Walker, of Philippine nationality, commented.

A 4-5 dollars gap isnt a big problem, Phan Daniel felt.

Rob Lock replied that it was fair to charge tourists more, as most museums are government-funded and Vietnamese pay taxes while tourists do not.

Five years in Vietnam and I have never been overcharged for anything, Eudy Vyas, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, responded.

Kent Neo asserted that he never got ripped off while living in Da Lat, a popular destination in Lam Dong Province, located in the Central Highlands.

Neo, who complimented Da Lat on its beautiful landscapes and friendly people, added that chances of getting ripped off are higher in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City, where there are hordes of tourists.

Many others listed multiple recommendations for expats on how to shun overpricing during their stay in Vietnam, including the need to learn Vietnamese, explore the local culture to get a better understanding, and mingle with the local community.

Anh Bon Andrew advised foreigners to learn how to speak Vietnamese, make more Vietnamese friends, and fit into their community, believing that by that way all problems facing them could be solved.

I am a foreigner but many times I get things cheaper or even for free. Because I surprise them and talk to them in Vietnamese. I have had free meals, free tra a [iced tea] and discounts on many things. Maybe put a little effort into understanding the culture you moved to, Greg Matson remarked.

Ken Byrnes, coming from New York, said, I figure it's my responsibility to learn the language and try to understand the culture. Yeah I've been overcharged on rare occasions."

Byrnes also recounted his stay in Ho Chi Minh City, where little kids always say hello to him, an old lady selling banh mi in his neighborhood has a greeting smile whether he buys from her or not, or a Vietnamese tapped on his shoulder at a traffic light, pointing to his mobile phone and reminding him to stash it safely.

Louis Barber Corallo, coming from the UK, received dozens of likes and replies for his comment that foreigners should learn and adapt to a new culture as much as they can, instead of moaning all the time.

He recommended that foreigners here learn some Vietnamese, go to their expat bubble for a break but also gain independence from the expat bubble by having many local friends, and be friendly with their neighbors.

Just by greeting the lady selling coffee downstairs every morning, she's somehow given me, a dark skinned foreigner, a permanent discount on coffee even though I never asked for it, Sivaraj Pragasm, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, commented.

Meanwhile, Timmy Pham thinks that people travel to different countries to experience different cultures and environments, so it wouldnt be a travel experience if everywhere is like America and Europe and if you want the comfort and convenience of your own home then you shouldnt be traveling.

The General Statistics Office reported that in 2023, Vietnam experienced a significant surge in international tourist arrivals, reaching approximately 12.6 million.

This figure surpassed the 2023 target of eight million by 3.4 times, marking a substantial increase compared to the previous year.

However, it is noteworthy that this still represents 70 percent of the pre-pandemic level recorded in 2019.

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A student from Thua Thien Hue Province, central Vietnam found a black plastic bag with VND88 million (US$3,360) on a local street on Tuesday and immediately contacted his schools management board for help tracking down its rightful owner.

On the same day, a spokesperson for the school board at Huynh Thuc Khang Middle School in Hue City, the provincial capital, reported that the local police in Dong Ba Ward assisted the school in identifying the owner of a bag containing cash.

The bag had been discovered on the street by To Khanh Hoang Phuc, a 14-year-old from a low-income family.

Phuc, an eighth grader, discovered the bag while walking to school on Tuesday morning.

He later brought the bag to his teachers so that they could help him find the owner of the bag.

Thanks to support from some police officers, the bag was reunited with its owner, who was identified as a local delivery driver.

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WASHINGTON -- Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun on Tuesday addressed Friday's mid-air panel blowout from an Alaska Airlines jet, acknowledging the planemaker made a mistake and telling staff it would work with regulators to make sure it "can never happen again."

The statements were Boeing's first public acknowledgment of error since the incident on Friday left the 737 MAX 9 plane with a gaping hole.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two U.S. carriers that use the temporarily grounded planes, have found loose parts on similar aircraft, raising fears such an incident could have happened again.

In a separate meeting, Boeing told staff that findings of loose bolts in airplanes were being treated as a "quality control issue" and checks were under way at Boeing and supplier Spirit Aerosystems, sources familiar with the matter said.

Boeing has ordered its plants and those of its suppliers to ensure such problems are addressed and to carry out broader checks of systems and processes, they said.

Were going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake," Calhoun told employees, according to an excerpt released by Boeing. "Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way."

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was jettisoned and forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing, at a property where it was recovered in Portland, Oregon, U.S. January 8, 2024. NTSB/Handout via Reuters

Boeing shares fell 1.4% Tuesday as United canceled 225 daily flights, or 8% of its total, while Alaska canceled 109, or 18%. Similar cancellations were expected on Wednesday.

Calhoun also told Boeing employees the company will "ensure every next airplane that moves into the sky is in fact safe."

He praised the Alaska Airlines crew that swiftly moved to land the 737 MAX 9 plane with only minor injuries to the 171 passengers and six crew.

Calhoun, who was a Boeing board member when all MAX jets were grounded worldwide in 2019, paid tribute to Alaska Airlines for quickly grounding its 737 MAX 9 jets, adding he knew "how hard it is to ground planes, much less the fleet," the sources said.

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland, Oregon, U.S. January 7, 2024. NTSB/Handout via Reuters

Calhoun said the accident had shaken Boeing customers and "shook me to the bone," the sources quoting him saying.

Boeing has suffered numerous production issues since the full-blown grounding of the 737 MAX family in March 2019 that lasted 20 months, following a pair of crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 planes after Saturday's incident, causing numerous flight cancellations. The panel that blew off Alaska Air Flight 1282 replaces an optional exit door on 737 MAX 9 planes used by airlines that have denser seating configurations.

Boeing has checked the service records of earlier Boeing 737-900ER aircraft that had a similar door plug, but all have undergone extensive maintenance since being delivered and none has shown a sign of similar problems, the sources said.

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland, Oregon, U.S. January 7, 2024. NTSB/Handout via Reuters

On Monday, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines both said they had found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft during preliminary checks, raising new concerns about how Boeing's best-selling jet family is built and its approval process.

The airlines have not yet started official inspections of their grounded aircraft. Boeing was still working out inspection guidelines to ensure safety lapses are fixed.

The FAA said Tuesday that Boeing was revising its instructions for inspections and maintenance, which the FAA must still approve before checks can begin on the 171 grounded planes. The FAA said it "will conduct a thorough review" and public safety will "determine the timeline" for returning the MAX to service.

Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California and suffered depressurization soon after departing, in Portland, Oregon, U.S., January 5, 2024 in this picture obtained from social media. Instagram/@strawberrvy via Reuters

Calhoun said Boeing had had a "very anxious moment with customers" and would have to "deal with that reality," one source said.

Boeing did not comment on any of his remarks beyond the extract issued by statement.

Boeing met delivery targets but ended 2023 in second place behind rival Airbus for the fifth year running, according to Boeing data and industry sources.

Boeing delivered 528 jets. Airbus will announce 735 deliveries for 2023 later this week, sources have said.

Boeing booked 1,314 net new orders, up 70%. However, the company faces an aggressive timetable for production.

Graphics: Reuters

The FAA could also take a harder line on certifying designs for other models, including required changes to the MAX 7. Boeing has sought an exemption to allow certification before the design changes that analysts say is much less likely now.

Two senior industry sources said they expected the plane eagerly awaited by Southwest Airlines could face another six-month delay.

FAA head Mike Whitaker, who took the job in October, will testify before Congress next month, according to sources, and could face questions about approval of the 737 MAX planes. The hearing was in the works before the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight.

Graphics: Reuters

The FAA said it continues to inspect each new 737 MAX before an "airworthiness certificate is issued and cleared for delivery," when it typically delegates the final sign-off on individual airplanes to the manufacturer.

The FAA did not directly answer questions about how it typically inspects those bolts before approving delivery.

Probes will also include Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage for Boeing 737 planes. Spirit has a technical team working with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on the investigation, a source told Reuters.

U.S.-based crisis communications expert Paul Oestreicher, who critiqued Boeing in 2019 for taking weeks to acknowledge its mistake following two fatal crashes involving the MAX, said this time Calhoun was "acting with much more speed, acknowledging the importance of transparency, expresses some empathy, and commits to a fix.
TYRISTRAND, Norway -- Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik told a court on Tuesday he was sorry for what he had done and broke down in tears as he said his life in prison isolation was a nightmare that left him considering suicide every day.

The far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011 is suing the state, arguing that his prison conditions, and a bar on communications with the outside world, violate his human rights.

"I don't think I can survive much longer without meaningful human relations," Breivik told the hearing, which has been set up in a gymnasium in his high-security jail.

"I am still a person and there is a limit to how much a person can take," he said, his voice breaking as he wiped his eyes. "Every day is a nightmare. I consider suicide every day."

Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, on Utoeya island on July 22, 2011. He has been held in isolation ever since.

Asked by government lawyer Andreas Hjetland what his thoughts were on Utoeya, Breivik said: "I am sorry for what I did. I am willing to give up politics."

Breivik has previously given mixed messages about how he regards his actions. He has said in the past that he did not regret what he did and at other times that he rejected all types of violence.

The lawsuit, now in its second day, has dragged Breivik back on to the front pages to the exasperation of many survivors and victims' families.

Freddy Lie, father of two daughters who were at Utoeya in 2011 - one was shot dead, the other was wounded but survived - said Breivik was fishing for sympathy.

"Crocodile tears. Playing to the gallery," Lie, who attended the court hearing on Tuesday, told Reuters. "Let him sit where he sits. I personally hope he gets to be 100 years. Because now he is suffering ... He did not suffer before. He thought killing children was OK.

"He is nothing more than a child killer."

Anders Behring Breivik gives his statement on day two of the trial, at Ringerike prison, in Tyristrand, Norway, January 9, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Ingrid Kragh Swang, whose son Kristian survived the attack on Utoeya, told public broadcaster NRK on Monday: "We are sick and tired of this being brought up again and again. It wears us down and tears something up in us."

Breivik's lawyers argue Norway is breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, including sections saying no one should be subject to "torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

Lawyers for the Justice Ministry say the curbs are necessary as Breivik remains a threat and could inspire others to commit violence.

"He sees himself as an ultra-nationalist. He is against multi-culturalism. He sees himself as the leader of a movement ... the leader of a project, and it is going as he wants it to - except for the limit on his correspondence," government lawyer Andreas Hjetland told the court

"And that is why he is bringing this case to the court."

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik stands in the court room in Ringerike prison in Tyristrand, Norway, January 9, 2024. Photo: Reuters

As Hjetland spoke, Breivik shook his head, slowly, in disagreement at some of the lawyer's points.

Flanked by three prison guards, Breivik stood at the witness stand, rather than sit down as is customary in Norway, and consulted several sheets of notes. He wore a black suit, white shirt and brown tie.

At the start of his witness statement he said his profession was head of a political party called Nordic State and of "several other organisations I do not want to mention".

Anders Behring Breivik attends a court hearing at Ringerike prison, in Tyristrand, Norway, January 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters

He said he was not dangerous himself, but had become a character online over which he no longer had control.

"It is a completely different person than me, it is a character I have lost control over and that is utilised by the far right," he said.

The case is scheduled to run until Friday. The judge's ruling will be issued in coming weeks. There is no jury.

The jail is on the shore of Tyrifjorden lake, where Utoeya also lies.

Anders Behring Breivik and attorney Marte Lindholm attend a court hearing at Ringerike prison, in Tyristrand, Norway, January 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters
The Vietnam Peoples Air Force will carry out intercepting procedures to deal with aircraft that intrude on the countrys airspace, according to a draft decree by the Ministry of National Defense.

The Ministry of Justice said it was in the process of appraising the defense ministrys draft decree.

Over the past several years, military units nationwide have focused on supervising the countrys airspace, flight operations, and related issues in order to ensure the safety of civil and military aviation activities.

Air force units have also organized flight training sessions on a regular basis which focus on military interception, escorts, and coercive measures against aircraft which enter Vietnams airspace without permission.

However, as the Southeast Asian country has yet to develop a legal framework on the issue, the relevant ministries and agencies are unable to hold joint military flight training and field exercises.

Consequently, if an aircraft enters the countrys airspace without permission, competent forces find themselves up against juridical obstacles when attempting to jointly handle the issue.

Once the draft decree is passed, it will be applied to manned aircraft that operate in the airspace above Vietnams territory and violate flight regulations; Vietnamese institutions, foreign organizations, and individuals involved in flight operations in Vietnams airspace; and agencies and airport operators in the country.

Pursuant to the draft decree, the Vietnam Peoples Air Force will intercept aircraft which violate the countrys airspace, escort such aircraft out of the airspace, or force them to land at a Vietnamese airport.

If an aircraft enters Vietnams airspace without permission from authorities, it would be considered a violation of the country's sovereignty and airspace regulations.

Failure to comply with flight rules, flight regimes, and guidelines from aviation control agencies would also result in an aircraft being subject to interception or escort measures.

Aircraft would be forced to land at certain Vietnamese airports if they fail to follow instructions given by intercepting or escorting planes, or if they operate in Vietnams airspace but do not properly perform flight clearance protocols.

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The Apax Leaders English-language center system on Tuesday announced a temporary suspension of in-person teaching activities at its venues in Ho Chi Minh City, citing financial challenges and its inability to deal with disgruntled parents.

The chain has extended its self-imposed tuition refund deadline.

Apax Leaders has encountered serious difficulties since resuming post-COVID operations in March 2023.

It fully refunded pre-paid tuition fees in two installments as committed at a meeting with parents on April 9 last year, yet still faces many obstacles.

As classes at Apax Leaders centers across Ho Chi Minh City have been canceled over the past several years, parents began flocking to campuses to demand tuition refunds.

Aside from issues dealing with disgruntled parents, Apax Leaders employees started quitting their jobs in droves due to issues with the company, creating a vicious cycle of canceled classes and angry parents.

It is impossible for Apax Leaders to make further tuition refunds," the company recently said in a statement.

We have had to suspend in-person classes in Apax [Leaders] centers in Ho Chi Minh City to ensure safety for students and teachers while we search for a solution.

According to Apax Leaders, it sent parents a new tuition refund roadmap on November 4 last year in the hope that parents would support the center chain as it sought to improve revenues and reopen its venues for in-person learning.

Many parents, however, did not approve of the plan and chose to protest in front of Apax Leaders campuses  a move that the company claimed led non-affiliated parents to feel uneasy sending their own children to the centers, thus hurting the bottom line, shaking investor confidence in the chain, and causing more delays in reopening.

All of these issues, it said, resulted in its current failure to reimburse parents for tuition fees.

According to the statement, the company will hold a meeting with parents this month to discuss an appropriate and feasible solution.

It pledged to fulfill its obligations to parents who demand tuition refunds and those who want their children to continue learning at Apax Leaders centers.

After receiving the announcement, D.T. Phuc, a parent in Ho Chi Minh City, said he has completely lost trust in promises made by Apax Leaders.

I do not want to hear promises; I just want my money back," Phuc said.

As a [Vietnamese] citizen, I request that competent agencies investigate the case to protect the legal and legitimate rights of citizens.

The case involving Apax Leaders is a fraud and [the chain] deserves strict punishment."

In November 2022, many parents accused Apax Leaders centers of having collected tuition fees for long-term courses but failing to arrange classes.

Many former employees denounced the chain for failing to pay their salaries.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as Shark Thuy, chairman of Apax Holdings JSC, the owner of Apax Leaders, committed on April 9 last year that the chain would begin refunding the tuition fees from October 9, 2023.

Apax Leaders was meant to give back 20 percent in a first installment, with the following four 20-percent installments scheduled for November 20 and December 20 last year and March 20 and April 20 this year.

However, many parents affirmed that they had yet to receive their refunds. As such, hundreds of parents gathered at Apax Leaders centers in Ho Chi Minh City to demand such payments.

The chain later made a new pledge to refund the tuition fees to parents, extending the payment period by nearly two years.

It said it would repay the tuition fees in three installments to those parents who had not received the monies committed by Thuy, explaining that it would refund five percent of the prepaid tuition fees in a first installment slated for December 31 last year.

The second installment of five percent was scheduled for April 28, 2024.

From July 30, 2024, Apax Leaders would pay back five percent to parents per month, on the 30th day at the latest.

Put differently, by the end of December 2025, parents would receive a full refund of their money.

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A vegetarian food festival will be held at Gia Dinh Park in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City from Friday through Sunday, when approximately 10,000 visitors are expected to visit it each day.

This years fest, themed 'Spring and Youth,' will be hosted by the Vietnam Youth Federation in Ho Chi Minh City, the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Workers Support Center, and Big Vision NetWork Communication Company between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm daily.

The festival will feature more than 100 booths with hundreds of vegetarian dishes prepared by leading chefs.

Visitors can enjoy watching chefs, artisans, and experts put on cooking performances.

During the event, there will be 'The New Chef 2024' and Vietnamese ancestral tray contests for young cooks.

The festival organizer will also present 500 gift sets to disadvantaged people to help them better enjoy Tet holiday, due in February.

The event will also feature panels, fundraising auctions, folk games, and a calligraphy area.

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Stan will screen the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards, Live on Monday January 15 -a day before the Emmy Awards are held in Hollywood.

Chelsea Handler is host for the second time, for the event at the Barker Hangar, Santa Monica Airport.

The Stan Original Series Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne, celebrates two nominations, including Best Comedy Series and Best Actress In A Comedy Series.

Three Australians will also be vying for top honours during the broadcast, including Margot Robbie for Best Actress in a film, Sarah Snook for Best Actress in a Drama Series and Elizabeth Debicki for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Emmy award-winning actor, director and producer America Ferrera will receive the 8th annual SeeHer Award, an accolade that honours a woman advocating for gender equality, portraying characters with authenticity, defying stereotypes and pushing boundaries.

Legendary actor Harrison Ford will receive the Career Achievement Award, having starred in many of the most successful and acclaimed films in cinema history, including the landmark Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

The 29th annual Critics Choice Awards show is executive-produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment.

Live 10am AEDT Monday January 15 on Stan.
TikTok is one of the most criticized social media platforms to date, especially in the US. It has been accused of mishandling user data and giving them to the Chinese government. The latest move from the company probably doesn't help with matters.

TikTok Removes Tool Used by Critics

The short-form video platform gas a tool called the Creative Center, which helps content creators and advertisers learn more about the trends on the site, which could help with the kind of content they should create for more engagement.

One of those tools, particularly the one that allows researchers to study the hashtags used on the app, has been removed. This change comes after critics used it to support their data in criticizing the social media giant.

The researchers expressed that TikTok has failed to moderate the content on the app, along with an old accusation that Beijing is influencing the kind of posts that appear on the platform, as reported by The New York Times.

The study was done by using the search button on the Creative Center to look for popular hashtags. Now, the tool no longer works when searching for topics regarding the Israel-Hamas war or US politics. Instead, the company said that it will now focus on other neutral topics like pets and travel.

Given the number of users on the platform, TikTok can be influential when it comes to persuading people to lean into certain perspectives. Lawmakers and researchers continue to be wary of this kind of power, as misuse can lead to the wrong influence on its younger users.

In defense of the company, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said that "some individuals and organizations have misused the Center's search function to draw inaccurate conclusions, so we are changing some of the features to ensure it is used for its intended purpose."

Read Also: TikTok is Allegedly Allowing Users Under 13 to Stay on the Platform

Concerns Over TikTok

Even though TikTok has repeatedly clarified that the company does not provide user data to the Chinese government, nor does it influence the content that appears on users' feeds, US officials are still untrusting of the app under a Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

The issue was further intensified when a former employee from ByteDance made claims the Chinese Communist Party really did access data from TikTok users, partly for political purposes. Since then, several states have already banned the app from government-issued devices.

The former employee, Yintao Yu, said that the CCP spied on protesters in Hong Kong back in 2018 using backdoor access to TikTok, as reported by CNN, which allowed them to identify and monitor the activists' locations and communications.

This has led to extreme measures such as a statewide ban on the app in Montana. However, the restriction of the app, which was supposed to take effect by 2024, has been blocked by a federal judge.

This means that even though Governor Greg Gianforte already signed the bill into law, they still can't outright ban the app for its citizen's phones. This is not only a setback for Montana, but also for other states who plan to do the same.

Related: TikTok Suddenly Asking Users for iPhone Passcode for No Reason
Archaeologists in Sweden have uncovered the remains of a powerful and tall medieval man, buried along with his well-preserved 4-foot-long sword, hinting he was part of high nobility during his time.

Researchers suspect the 1.90m (6ft 3in) tall man may have been a nobleman who died around 15th or early 16th century when the region was unified with Denmark and Norway.

The finding was made during archaeological investigation at Lilla Torg in Halmstad in a grave where the late medieval convent Sankta Annas church once stood, the Halland Cultural Environment, an agency of the local government, said in a blog post.

The 4-foot-long sword, buried to the left of the man, was the only object found in the 49 graves examined so far during the ongoing reconstruction of Lilla Torg, researchers say.

While the preserved parts of the swords blade and wooden handle measured at a length of about 1.3 meters on discovery, archaeologists say true total length of the weapon centuries ago is yet to be determined.

Finding swords in medieval graves is very rare, indicating that people buried along with swords likely belonged to the upper echelons of society.

X-ray scans of the sword found that the blade is decorated with two inlaid crosses, probably in precious metal, further suggesting that its owner was a high-status individual of the time.

Photo of the grave where the sword was found, here during excavation. The buried mans skull and upper arm are visible in the image. The sword was placed on his left side where the hilt is preserved (Halland Cultural Environment)

The site, researchers say, was active from 1494 up until about 1530 when it was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation.

They say the medieval man may have been a supporter of the king who ruled the unified regions of Sweden, Denmark and Norway between 1397 and 1523.

We hypothesize that he was part of the high nobility of the Kalmar Union, and may have owned property in both Sweden and Denmark. These people became very, very powerful, archaeologist Johan Klange with the Halland Cultural Environment told Livescience.

The latest findings also confirm that the Sankta Annas church was used as a burial place for, among other things, people of noble birth during the 35 years that the Franciscan order operated on the site.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's foreign ministry summoned the Moldovan ambassador on Wednesday and issued a protest against "unfriendly acts" in the latest of a series of jabs exchanged between the Kremlin and the ex-Soviet state's pro-European authorities.

A ministry statement denounced the "systematic character" of Moldovan actions it said were directed against Russian citizens. These, it said, included "politically motivated persecution" of Russian and Russian-language journalists.

"Moldova's leadership continues to make aggressive anti-Russian declarations," the statement said Moldovan ambassador Lilian Darie was told.

Since taking power in 2020, President Maia Sandu has moved to abandon the Soviet legacy of the country lying between Ukraine and Romania and move it into the European mainstream.

She has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of trying to interfere in last November's local elections in Moldova and of trying to foment a coup to remove her.

Moldova's parliament last month approved a new defence strategy identifying Russia and corruption as the two biggest threats to the country's security. The EU last month agreed to open talks on membership with Moldova and Ukraine.

Igor Zaharov, press secretary for Moldova's Foreign Ministry, said officials barred entry to Moscow included a member of the presidential staff, government officials and journalists.

"Moldova maintains its firm commitment to act against foreign interference and any actions destabilising Moldova's security and sovereignty," Zaharov said in a statement.

Moldova, he said, regretted the Russian action, "but it is important to note that such measures have long become a routine phenomenon for Russian authorities."

Russia similarly barred a number of Moldovan nationals

last November, particularly in response to reporting conducted by Russian media in the country.

Story continues

Moscow authorities last month also banned imports of Moldovan fruit and vegetables, key exports for one of Europe's poorest countries.

Moldovan authorities earlier on Wednesday extended a ban imposed last year on 12 television channels, saying the media outlets engaged in "manipulation, disinformation and promotion of a foreign agenda".

Moldovan authorities blocked several politicians representing a banned party with pro-Russian views from taking part in last November's local elections.

(Reporting by Reuters and by Alexander Tanas in Chisinau; Editing by Sandra Maler and Ron Popeski)
Kaltouma Haroun Ibrahim's husband and two surviving children are trapped in war-torn Sudan (Image: PA)

The Scottish Government has been urged to help end a decade of torment and tragedy and reunite a refugee with her shattered family.

The plea to assist Kaltouma Haroun Ibrahim, whose husband and two surviving children are trapped in war-torn Sudan, was made by Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday.

He described her situation as deeply distressing and told parliamentarians that she has already lost three children as a consequence of conflict.

Mrs Ibrahim is a "much loved" member of the Gorbals Parish Church community in Glasgow.

She was granted leave to remain status in 2019, giving her the right to live and work in the UK and has applied to bring her husband, Hassan, and children, Nassar, 18, and Awadiya, 14, to live with her under the UK Government policy on family reunion.

READ MORE: Glasgow refugee tells of agonising wait for go-ahead to move family from Sudan

Her lawyer submitted paperwork to the Home Office about 16 months ago but a decision has yet to be made.

Mr Sweeney said: The Home Office keep families separated in the desperation of conflict  apart and wondering if theyll ever be reunited.

The situation Mrs Ibrahim and her family are in is deeply distressing as I am sure all members will agree it is astonishing that it should take so long to process such a case.

I ask therefore if the Minister (Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees Emma Roddick) here would be willing to take direct action and make representations of behalf of the Scottish Government to the UK Government, on behalf of Mrs Ibrahim in Glasgow, so that we can end the decade of torment and tragedy  and reunite what remains of this shattered family.

Mr Sweeney took part in a Scottish Government debate titled The Impact of UK Government Asylum Policy and Legislation in Scotland.

The Herald: Kaltouma Haroun Ibrahim helping out in the kitchen at Gorbals Parish Church

Kaltouma Haroun Ibrahim helping out in the kitchen at Gorbals Parish Church (Image: Church of Scotland/PA)

Sudan became independent of the UK in 1956 and since then the country has been gripped by civil war for most of the intervening years.

Story continues

The latest war broke out in April last year and thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced as they flee to what they hope is relative safety.

Mrs Ibrahim was born and raised in Chad  a former French colony - and met her Sudanese husband there but the couple were forced to flee the country after his life was repeatedly threatened.

They moved to neighbouring Sudan but civil war forced the family to escape for their lives in 2014 and they travelled to Libya, where they secured passage on a boat bound for Italy across the Mediterranean Sea.

Tragically it sank shortly after departure and two of the couple's children, Mohammed, 6, and Faisal, 4, drowned.

READ MORE: Number of homeless refugees in Glasgow quadruples in ten months

The survivors reached the shore and Mrs Ibrahim was separated from her husband and three surviving children after she was taken to hospital for treatment.

She searched for them after she was discharged but was unable to find them.

Eventually Mrs Ibrahim was forced to give up and returned to Chad and her husband and the children managed to make it back to Khartoum.

She thought she would be safe in Chad but the country is terrorised by Boko Harum, a violent Islamist militant group, and she was beaten and tortured by people looking for her husband.

Friends paid for her to escape and she managed to get to France by lorry and flew to London in December, 2016 and claimed asylum.

The Chad national moved to Glasgow the following year and secured refugee status and a Residence Permit in 2019.

With the help of a humanitarian charity, Mrs Ibrahim managed to track down her husband and teenage children in Khartoum.

Tragically, during the time since her family reunion application was lodged with the Home Office, her 13-year-old daughter, Safa, has been killed.

She died in a rocket attack near her home in Khartoum five months ago.

Mrs Ibrahim plays an active volunteer role at Gorbals Parish Church, including the weekly Community Kitchen project and lives locally in social housing.

She is currently studying at Anniesland College to improve her English and works part-time with disabled children for Glasgow City Council.

Catriona Milligan, Community Development Worker at Gorbals Parish Church, said: We are very grateful to Paul Sweeney MSP for raising Kaltoumas heart breaking story in the Scottish Parliament and bringing it to the attention of the Scottish Government.

I hope that the government minister responsible for refugees will make it a priority to write to Home Secretary James Cleverly to urge him to ensure that her case is dealt with swiftly and compassionately.

"Kaltouma is part of our gang and has passed all the tests required to be a refugee and is only asking for something that someone in her situation is entitled to  to be reunited with her immediate family in a place of safety.

"It is an utter disgrace that it has not happened already because her family is in danger on a daily basis.

"Tragically, three of Kaltoumas children are already dead as the consequence of war - who can live like that?"

Migration Minister Emma Roddick said: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting those fleeing trauma and violence, providing them with safety and security and helping them and their families integrate into communities.

The UK asylum system is failing those fleeing war and persecution, with families left in limbo because the UK Governments mismanagement has left people waiting for a decision on their cases.

The UK Government must improve support for those who have the right to bring their family to the UK, so they can begin rebuilding their lives together. It is unacceptable that people have had to wait so long. The Scottish Government will contact the UK Government regarding this case and the related need to improve the family reunification process.

A Home Office spokesperson said: All applications are carefully considered on their individual merits and in line with the Immigration Rules.
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Cong says 'Ram Mandir' political project of BJP, RSS; declines inauguration invite

The Congress party also said that the inauguration of the incomplete Mandir on January 22, 2024 is done for elections and political mileage. Read More

Wednesday January 10, 2024 5:33 PM , ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: The Congress Party declined the invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya sent to party leaders.

In a statement released by its General Secretary and Spokesperson Jairam Ramesh Wednesday January 10, 2024, the Congress said the temple in Ayodhya is a political project of the BJP and RSS.

The party also said that the inauguration of the incomplete Mandir on January 22, 2024 is done for elections and political mileage.

"Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain," Jairam Ramesh said in the statement released today.

The Congress also said the opening ceremony is a BJP and RSS event.

"While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," he added.

Ram Mandir is under construction on the site in Ayodhya where Babri Masjid stood since 1528. The 16th century historic Babri Masjid was built by Mir Baqi, a commander of the Mughal Emperor Babur.

The mosque was however drawn into a controversy after claims were made that the site is actually the birthplace of Hindu Lord Ram and it was built after demolishing a Hindu Mandir.

Following years of violent campaign, Babri Masjid was finally demolished by right-wing Hindu extremists on December 06, 1992 in the presence of top BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders.

Later, the Supreme Court of India in an order passed on November 09, 2019 granted the ownership of the land to Hindus and asked the government to form a trust to build Ram Mandir on the Babri Masjid site.

The Mandir is still incomplete. But the government has decided to open it for worshippers January 22, 2024 onwards. The inauguration ceremony is being held few months before the 2024 General Elections.

Meanwhile, top Hindu saints are also opposing the opening of the incomplete Ram Mandir.

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
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Maha CM Shinde gets Speakers boost; Murder of democracy, says Sena (UBT)

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also decided to challenge in the Supreme Court of India the Maharashtra Speakers ruling in favour of Eknath Shinde faction. Read More

Wednesday January 10, 2024 10:19 PM , ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

Mumbai: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar Wednesday January 24, 2024 decided in favour of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde saying his faction was the real Shiv Sena as it had the support of the majority of the MLAs.

The Shinde faction had an overwhelming majority of 37 out of the total 55 Shiv Sena MLAs when the rival faction emerged. From my analysis, observation, conclusion and finding Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival faction emerged on 21st June 2022, the Speaker said reading from a written statement.

At the same time, the Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, also dismissed the disqualification of notices by both the Shiv Sena factions.

"None of the MLAs from either group will be disqualified", the Speaker said.

While Eknath Shinde faction is celebrating the Speakers verdict, the Shiv Sena (UBT) supporters are staging protest.

"Murder of Democracy"

The Shiv Sena (UBT), which is led by Shiv Sena Founder Bala Saheb Thackerays son Uddhav Thackeray, has criticized the Speakers ruling calling it murder of democracy.

"Never seen a more shameless verdict of the tribunal that has murdered democracy", Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray wrote on social media platform X after the Speaker's verdict.

"It is evident that the regime of gaddars are against the constitution given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. They want to re write the constitution to finish democracy. Today the verdict has officially killed democracy in our state and the principals and pillars of the constitution", he said.

Sena (UBT) approaches SC



The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also decided to challenge in the Supreme Court of India the Maharashtra Speakers ruling in favour of Eknath Shinde faction.

The Speakers verdict came after repeated warning by the Supreme Court of India.

Commenting on the Speaker's ruling,Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said:

"The Assembly Speaker's judgment is unconstitutional and undemocratic. It is against party rules. We have faith in the SupremeCourt. Democracy is in danger after this judgment. The BJP will face problems from this judgement."

Slamming the Speaker's verdict, Ruben Mascarenhas, Working President of AAP Mumbai, said:

"Rahul Narwekar has acted more as a BJP spokesperson than as a speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly. Whatever is happening in Maharashtra is a huge miscarriage of justice and is a disgrace to India's constitution."

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis however hailed the Speaker's ruling.

"A political party cannot be the private property of any one person and if the decision of the party chief is not acceptable, the other members of the party have the right to raise their voice against it", Shinde, who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray leading to his resignation as Chief Minister in June 2022, said.

During a hearing on a batch of cross-petitions of the groups headed by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Supreme Court had stopped short of restoring Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister of Maharashtra had he not resigned before the floor test.

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Watch: Rabbis storm UN Gen Assembly, asks US to stop vetoing peace



The United States repeatedly use its veto power in support of Israel and block any UNSC action against the Zionist regime accused of occupation, and genocide and massacre of the Palestinians. Read More

Wednesday January 10, 2024 1:40 PM , ummid.com News Network

United Nations: Dozens of American Rabbis Tuesday January 09, 2024 stormed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) protesting the Israeli war in Gaza and asking the United States to stop misusing the veto power.

'Veto Power'

The UNSC has a total of 15 members  10 temporary and 05 permanent. The veto is a special voting power enjoyed by the five Permanent Members of the UNSC - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

If any permanent member casts a negative vote, the UNSC resolution or decision fails even if other 14 members have voted in its favour.

The United States repeatedly use its veto power in support of Israel and block any UNSC action against the Zionist regime accused of occupation, and genocide and massacre of the Palestinians.

Of late, the United States used veto power on December 22, 2023 , to block a resolution tabled in the UN Security Council calling for ceasefire and delivery of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza strip.

According to the Health Ministry in Palestine, as many as 23,210 people have been killed and more than 59,100 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. More than 7,000 others are either missing or trapped under the debris.

'Rabbis4Ceasefire'

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly Tuesday was debating the repeated use of veto by the United States at the UN Security Council (UNSC) to block these ceasefire and humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

Suddenly, a group of American Rabbis associated with Rabbis for Ceasefire stormed the UN General Assembly. They were chanting slogans demanding ceasefire and asking the United States to stop vetoing peace.

Members of Rabbis for Ceasefire brought our message to the UN General Assembly to tell the U.S. to stop vetoing peace. Ceasefire now! the NGO wrote on social media platform X tagged with a video.

Members of Rabbis for Ceasefire brought our message to the @UN General Assembly to tell the U.S. to stop vetoing peace. Ceasefire now! pic.twitter.com/No21j1CeSL  Rabbis for Ceasefire (@rodfeishalom) January 9, 2024

The UN security staff suddenly came into action and forced the Rabbis out of the UN headquarters.

'No Holocaust again'

The Rabbis4Ceasefire protest at the UN was co-organized by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, and IfNotNow.

As many as 36 Rabbis, the Jewish religious scholars who came from several states, sang, prayed, recited excerpts from the UN Declaration of Human Rights and staged a memorial service.

They also carried banners that read:

Biden: The World Says Ceasefire.

Talking to media after their forceful eviction by the UN Security Personnel, Rabbi Alissa Wise, the founder of Rabbis4Ceasefire, said they have been watching in horror as the US government has single-handedly blocked efforts to stop Israels bombing and starvation of Gaza.

We know there is no military solution to this violence. Were praying here because the UN is where meaningful, diplomatic action to stop the violence can take place, and because prayer is how we, as Rabbis, know how to express our fears, dreams, hopes and despair, she added.

Rabbi Abby Stein, a member of Jews For Racial and Economic Justice, said the UN was created in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Nazi Holocaust that targeted Jewish people, with the intention of ensuring that such an atrocity would never happen again.

I am here as a Jew, as an ordained rabbi, as the granddaughter of three Holocaust survivors, to urge the UN to follow through on this noble mission, she said: Never again means never again for anyone."

'Those spreading violence should leave, not peace activists'

Commenting on the American Rabbis protest and their eviction from the UN headquarters, Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, said that people spreading violence should be asked to leave and not the Rabbis who are calling for peace.

As we were meeting in the General Assembly held in response to the US veto, we heard prayers and chants coming from the balcony. Ceasefire Now! Went to see who it was. Here are some of them as they were being escorted out the UN. Majed wrote on X.

Honestly they should stay and those spreading fire should be the ones leaving! he added.

As we were meeting in the General Assembly held in response to the US veto, we heard prayers and chants coming from the balcony. Ceasefire Now! Went to see who it was. Here are some of them as they were being escorted out the UN. Honestly they should stay and those spreading fire pic.twitter.com/cHxNHUTVEa  Ambassador Majed Bamya (@majedbamya) January 9, 2024

Majed also hailed and praised the Rabbis4ceasefire and said they are voice of humanity and peace and must be heeded.

Voices calling for a ceasefire are from every faith, creed and origin, and they are coming from every corner of the globe. These voices should be heeded as they are voices of humanity and peace! he wrote.

Meanwhile, addressing the UN meeting Tuesday, the President of the UN General Assembly said the immediate priority in Gaza must be saving civilian lives.

War of Atrocities

Participating in the UN debate, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, said that he was standing before the Assembly representing a people being slaughtered, with families killed in their entirety, men and women shot in the streets, thousands abducted, tortured and humiliated, children killed, amputated, orphaned - scarred for life.

No people should have to endure such violence and it must stop", he said.

"No one can understand that the Security Council is still being prevented from calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire while 153 States in the General Assembly have called for just that, along with the UN Secretary-General", he said.

"Israels assault is "a war of atrocities" without precedent in modern history", he said.

How can you reconcile opposing the atrocities and vetoing a call to end the war that is leading to their commission?, he asked.

"Suspend Veto Power"

The State of Palestine has long supported a proposal from France and Mexico for the suspension of the veto in the case of mass atrocities, when crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on a large scale are committed", Mansour said.

He said the assault on the Palestinians in Gaza, demonstrates how vital this proposal is. Supporting an immediate ceasefire is the only moral, legitimate, and responsible position.

"During these last 90 days, 11 Palestinians have been killed every hour, including seven women and children", he told the UN General Assembly.

This is not about Israeli security. This is about Palestines destruction. The interests and objectives of this extremist Israeli government are clear and incompatible with the interests and objectives of any country that supports international law and peace, Mansour said.

"Security will never come through the death, destruction and dehumanization of Palestinians", he added.

"Palestine is here to stay", he declared adding, Dont call for peace and spread fire. If you want peace, start with a ceasefire. Now.

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
Claudia Kemp, a junior from Macon, Georgia, pursuing a degree in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in social sciences and health and human services, initially attended an ACAP meeting for class. She quickly realized the greater benefits of the monthly sessions.

"I wanted to meet people who have experience in gerontology and health and human services," Kemp said. "It sparked more of an interest in the field of gerontology for me, and it helped me be able to recognize anxiety in my grandma, as well."

Raul Ceja, a junior from Gainesville, Georgia, pursuing a degree in human services delivery and administration, also saw multiple benefits to the ACAP meetings.

"My mom is getting older. There's a lack of resources when it comes to aging Latino families," Ceja said. "I learned a lot of interesting facts, things I never really thought about. Gerontology is something I want to do."
Google has just announced a bunch of features and updates that will be coming to Android devices soon.

The tech giant made the big news at CES 2024 for a more seamless connection with Android and Google products.

Also Read: Google is Removing Hidden Android Security Feature

Google CES 2024: New Sharing Features, Support Functions, and More

The most notable info from the announcement was the upcoming cross-Android Quick Share.

Google has partnered with Samsung to bring its "fast and convenient" peer-to-peer content-sharing solution to transfer pictures, files, and text across multiple devices.

The Quick Share feature can also be expected to come on LG computers soon with Google working with the electronic manufacturer to have the Quick Share app pre-installed in its Windows system.

Quick Share will be accompanied by expanded connection support for the Fast Pair feature to link up with a wide selection of Bluetooth devices in just a few taps.

Fast Pair is also expected to arrive on Chromecast with Google TV. The feature is reported to be available to more Google TV devices "later this year."

And speaking of Chromecast, TikTok videos and LIVEs can soon be cast onto the big screen too.

The TikTok Chromecast support is expected to drop on the upcoming 2024 LG TV series, the latest Hisense ULED and ULED X Series, the TCL Q Class, and the TCL QM7 series.

Google Apps Service Rolls Out on More Car Models

Another memorable part of Google's keynote during the convention was the Android Auto getting "helpful upgrades" this year.

The Google car app will soon be available on the latest autos like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.

Electric vehicle owners can rejoice with this update too because all Android Auto-compatible EVs can hook up their real-time battery information with Google Maps for more accurate estimates before they run off power.

Google Maps will also be able to provide shortcuts, alternative routes, and charging stops in consideration of the battery life.

The feature is reported to arrive on car brands "like Nissan, Lincoln, and more."

Related Article: Google to Soon Stop Android Auto Services on Older Devices
The sanctification ceremony for the great Maitreya Buddha statue at Ba Den Mountain on January 28th, 2024 (December 18th, Year of the Water Cat) will be the largest-scale spiritual cultural event ever held on Ba Den Mountain. More than 500 superior Buddhist monks, monks and nuns from the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, as well as thousands of Buddhists and tourists from around the world, will attend the event, which will include numerous sacred rituals.

On this occasion, more than 20,000 flower garlands and coloured lanterns bearing wishes handwritten by Buddhists and tourists will be lit on top of the mountain to honour the enshrinement of the world's largest sandstone statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva. This will be the most spectacular and magical night of flower garlands and coloured lanterns ever held on the top of the sacred Ba Den Mountain.

At the sanctification ceremony of the great Maitreya Buddha statue, Buddhists and tourists not only immerse themselves in the solemn atmosphere of the statue's enshrinement ceremony, but also participate in a variety of meaningful spiritual activities in the first days of spring such as drawing lucky cards or tying red strings to pray for a prosperous and peaceful new year.

The giant Maitreya Buddha statue, located at an altitude of over 900m on the top of Ba Den Mountain, has a height of 36 meters, a maximum width of 45m, a surface area of 4,651m2, and a weight of 5,112 tons. The statue was shaped by a special method unprecedented in Vietnam: assembled from 6,688 natural sandstone pieces inspired by terraced fields. The Great Maitreya Buddha Statue at Ba Den Mountain is the world's largest sandstone Maitreya Buddha Statue when compared to other Maitreya Buddha statues created from stone in terms of height and weight.

The great Maitreya Buddha statue, crafted in a sitting position on an overflowing waterfall with a gentle face, a delighted smile, a corpulent appearance, a rosary around the neck, eyes facing the East where the sun rises as if looking into the future, has become a symbol of joy and happiness on top of the sacred Ba Den Mountain.

In Buddhist culture, Maitreya is regarded as the Buddha of the future. According to legend, this Bodhisattva's greatest joy is transforming human sadness, anger and stress into joy and happiness. Thus, Maitreya Buddha is also known as the Laughing Buddha. It is believed that Maitreya Buddha's inner smile is so powerful that it always shines on his gentle and joyful face.

Wherever Maitreya Buddha goes, there is happiness, joy, peace and good fortune. Therefore, the sanctification ceremony of the great Maitreya Buddha statue on the top of Ba Den Mountain became an extremely meaningful spiritual and cultural event for the most sacred mountain in the South. For Buddhists, the pilgrimage to Ba Den Mountain to worship Maitreya Bodhisattva will be a journey to find the land of joy, where they will be free of all worries and find perfect happiness.

The sanctification ceremony is also an opportunity for Buddhists and tourists to admire the Wishing Bridge - a special spiritual bridge where tourists can worship the Maitreya Buddha statue while enjoying panoramic views of the delta and the vast Dau Tieng Lake from above. Behind and surrounding the Maitreya Bodhisattva statue is Asia's tallest giant artificial waterfall, standing 35 meters tall and creating a majestic and magical scene on the top of Ba Den Mountain.

Standing under the waterfall, walking on the Wishing Bridge, and worshiping the statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva - the Buddha who represents sympathetic joy and equanimity and smiles happily - tourists will embark on a journey to find joy and true happiness.

Known as the top pilgrimage destination in the South, Ba Den Mountain is famous for its sacred Ba Pagoda system worshiping Linh Son Thanh Mau (Linh Son Holy Mother) Bodhisattva, with the 300-year-old Linh Son Tien Thach Tu (also known as Buddha Pagoda, Thuong Pagoda) is halfway up the mountain. On the top of the mountain, alongside the majestic statue of Buddha Tay Bo Da Son (Da Son Tay Bon Buddha), the great Maitreya Bodhisattva statue will create a journey of connection and awakening of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity - the four potential virtues that every person possesses when visiting the sacred mountain of the South.
HA NOI  Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company (CTD) has recently unveiled its plan to sell approximately 713,000 treasury shares to its key personnel at a price of VN10,000 per share. This price is seven times lower than the current market price.

Eligible individuals who can purchase these treasury shares include members of the board of directors, key managers and employees of Coteccons and its subsidiaries. The ownership transfer will be facilitated through the Viet Nam Securities Depository, and employees who acquire the shares will be subject to a one-year restriction on transferring them.

The purpose of this employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is to boost staff morale, retain talent and foster long-term commitment among key personnel. Coteccons' board of directors believes that this programme serves multiple objectives, such as limiting the expenditure on welfare programs while enhancing the company's reputation and generating positive societal effects. Moreover, they anticipate that it will contribute to increasing shareholder value.

Coteccons' shares have exhibited robust growth on the stock exchange, rising from the price range of VN45,000 per share at the end of October 2023 to VN70,000 per share at present. As a result, the company's market capitalisation approaches VN7 trillion.

In a recent analysis report, VNDirect Securities Company forecasts a target price of VN79,300 per share for Coteccons.

According to VNDirect, Coteccons experienced significant growth in the value of newly acquired contracts following a period of restructuring, indicating the effectiveness of their new business strategies. Despite a decline in demand for civil construction due to a challenging real estate market starting from the third quarter of 2023, the company compensated for the revenue decline by securing construction packages for large foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, with notable projects including the Lego factory in Binh Duong.

The improved capacity in industrial project construction, along with established investor relationships and trust, positions Coteccons to secure more bidding packages in the industrial construction segment in the near future.

Regarding the civil construction segment, the VNDirect analysis team believes that Coteccons will continue to be a preferred choice for investors seeking to undertake large projects, thanks to their longstanding partnerships and ability to meet the needs and requirements of foreign investors.

It is estimated that the revenue in this segment will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2 per cent over the next three years. VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged the Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR) to optimise the utilisation of existing assets, finances and human resources to more effectively meet the evolving requirements of the railway industry.

He made the remarks at the conference on the railway sectors plan for 2024, which was held on Tuesday.

In 2023, the railway sector transported 6.1 million passengers and 4.6 million tonnes of goods. The total revenue from production and business activities of the VNR reached over VN8.5 trillion (US$348 million), achieving 101.7 per cent of the annual plan. Post-tax profit was VN94.8 billion ($3.8 million).

In 2024, the VNR strives to maintain growth momentum.

Speaking at the conference, PM Chinh emphasised that the railway sector needed to develop to a higher level to contribute to improving the overall efficiency of transportation.

He pointed out some existing limitations and challenges, such as the cumbersome administrative machinery, the low level of mechanisation, the limited application of science and technology, outdated infrastructure and the limited budgetary funds for the development of railway infrastructure.

The Prime Minister asked the VNR to apply modern management methods and restructure to use the existing assets and finances of the sector more efficiently.

There should be a rearrangement and restructuring of the management apparatus, personnel, and labour force toward higher efficiency. The sector should continue to renew old growth drivers and implement digital transformation in the railway industry, he said.

In particular, to have resources for the development of the railway industry, PM Chinh said institutions and policies must be perfected to mobilise resources suitable for the country's requirements and in line with the trends and technologies of the era.

The Prime Minister instructed the VNR to implement the approved development strategy, production and business plan, and investment development plan for the 2021-2025 period. The implementation of the restructuring scheme for the VNR needed to be carried out by the end of 2025.

The Government head also asked the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises to handle major difficulties and challenges in the VNRs activities.

PM Chinh stressed the need to improve the restructuring scheme for the sector until 2025.

Regarding the VNRs proposals on the exploitation of commercially advantageous railway stations, resolution of issues related to preferential land use policies for railways, land procedures, and land use tax exemptions, the Prime Minister instructed the relevant ministries to coordinate with localities and the VNR to review and resolve them within their jurisdiction.

Earlier on the same day, PM Chinh visited the Ha Noi railway station and the high-quality Ha Noi  a Nang passenger train.

Inspecting the automated ticketing system, he asked the VNR to continue enhancing digital transformation, designing intelligent tools, ensuring transparency and creating the most convenient transactions, reservations and seat changes for the public.

He urged railway personnel to work truly professionally. He emphasised that train operators must ensure absolute safety for passengers while keeping a good service attitude towards customers. He also expressed joy that many people still prefer using trains as a means of transportation and are satisfied with the service quality of the railway industry.  VNS
JAKARTA  The state visit to Viet Nam by Indonesian President Joko Widodo from January 11-13 will be an opportunity for the two countries to discuss measures to deepen their strategic partnership and tighten their traditional friendship nurtured over the past nearly 70 years, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Ta Van Thong.

Talking to Vietnam News Agency reporters in Jakarta, Thong said that this will be the second state visit to Viet Nam by the President, after the first in September 2018.

The diplomat said that during this visit, the two sides can exchange views on fields of shared concern such as promoting trade and investment, and cooperating in energy transition and development of green and digital economy, electric vehicle manufacturing, and hi-tech agriculture.

As the world situation is experiencing big developments in terms of geopolitics, security, and economics, the two sides will have many issues to be discussed to boost cooperation and coordination at regional and international forums, said Thong.

The traditional friendship and trust always serve as a solid foundation for the framework of the Viet Nam-Indonesia strategic partnership, aiming towards a deeper, substantial, and effective collaboration in all areas.

Both countries still have untapped potentials and strengths that can complement each other.

The diplomat underscored that both nations are active members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), playing a certain role and position in the region and to some extent on the international stage. Therefore, the close and profound cooperation between Viet Nam and Indonesia not only serves the practical interests of the people of both countries but also contributes to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region as well as the world.

Together with fine political relations, bilateral trade cooperation has enjoyed impressive growth in recent years, increasing from US$8.2 billion in 2020 to $14.17 billion in 2022.

As of the end of November last year, Indonesia's total investment capital in Viet Nam has reached $651.21 million, with 120 ongoing projects (increasing by two projects with an additional capital of $4.71 million in 2023) and ranks 29th out of 143 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam.

Many Indonesian corporations and companies are investing and operating successfully in Viet Nam, such as Ciputra, Traveloka, Gojek, PT Vietmindo Energitama, Jafpa Comfeed Vietnam, Semen Indonesia Group, etc.

Conversely, some major Vietnamese enterprises and corporations have a presence in Indonesia, such as FPT, ien May Xanh (Green Electronics), and other enterprises are in the process of completing investment procedures in Indonesia, such as Taxi Xanh (Vingroup), Viet Thai Group, Thai Binh Shoes, Thuan Hai JSC, among others.

Of particular note is the project by Vinfast Global with a planned total investment of $1.2 billion to build an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Indonesia with a capacity of 50,000 cars per year. The groundbreaking is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024, and completion is expected in 2026.

Last year, Indonesia became Viet Nams third biggest export market, and second largest import market in the ASEAN.

Regarding the target of $15 billion in two-way trade by 2028, the diplomat said that the goal is reachable.

To that end, the two countries are coordinating to soon organise their eighth economic and trade joint committee, he said, adding that the Vietnamese Government has issued a strategy to develop the Halal industry to boost exports to Muslim markets, including Indonesia.

As both Viet Nam and Indonesia have made strong commitments to cutting carbon emissions, demonstrating their responsibility in contributing to the global effort to respond to climate change, they can cooperate closely in the fields of energy transition, carbon storage, development of renewable and green energies, and sustainable green economic development.

It is necessary to consider the signing of a new agricultural cooperation agreement to carry out specific collaboration projects to increase farmers' livelihoods, ensure food security and promote trade and economic development of each country, said Thong.

Regarding aquatic products and fisheries, the two sides can continue to promote recent exchanges on commodity groups such as lobster, tuna, and seaweed. They can also strengthen cooperation between businesses, associations and fishermen to develop fisheries in a sustainable way.

Tourism is also a promising field to promote collaboration between the two countries, he said. The resumption of direct flights after a period of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the opening of new HCM City-Jakarta and Ha Noi-Jakarta routes by the Vietnamese budget carrier, Vietjet, are favourable conditions for the two sides to cooperate in developing specific tourism products, connecting destinations, and creating new products in a green and sustainable direction, he assessed.

According to the diplomat, the traditional and trusted friendship is a solid foundation for the Viet Nam-Indonesia strategic partnership to look toward the future, and become more substantive and effective in all fields, and the two countries still have huge potential to be tapped and a lot of advantages to supplement each other.  VNS
HA NOI  On the opening days of 2024, Vietnam News Agency conducted an interview with Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam Andrew Goledzinowski on the opportunities and potential to advance bilateral cooperation in fields of the countries respective strengths.

Ambassador Goledzinowski also shared his views on Viet Nams diplomatic achievements over the past year, saying that 2023 was a big year for the country.

Its been particularly because on the 50th anniversary of [Viet Nam - Australia's diplomatic relations], there has been a huge number of visitors to Viet Nam, which also reflects the importance of Viet Nam. Viet Nam is emerging as one of the most important countries in Asia and in the world, he noted.

The Ambassador cited visits by high-ranking Australian officials to Viet Nam last year, including the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade Minister, and Defence Minister.

We also know that Viet Nam elevated its bilateral relationship with some very important countries, South Korea, Japan and the United States, which I think was an important statement of Viet Nams perspective on the world, said the Ambassador.

He went to mention the visit by Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping to Viet Nam, saying that China will always be an important country for Viet Nam due to economic, cultural, historical, and geographical reasons.

He spoke highly of Viet Nams foreign policy of diversifying its relationships and building resilience in the national interest. The Ambassador also expressed optimism about the prospects for Viet Nam-Australia diplomatic ties to be elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2024.

According to Ambassador Goledzinowski, one year after the two countries forged bilateral relations in 1973, the first Vietnamese students came to Australia on scholarships, and Australia became one of the earliest investors in Viet Nam.

We built the first bridges over the Mekong, the first university was RMIT, the first law firm, the first bank, the first ATMs, the first telecommunications links were put in place by Australian companies. So that was really good. Were looking forward to strengthening our investment profile here even more, the Ambassador said.

He also revealed that the embassy will recruit five new staff members in HCM City and two new staff members in Ha Noi with the specific aim of increasing Australian investment in Viet Nam.

Thats new and its very important. And there are a few areas where we particularly want to focus, he continued.

Im speaking with the education minister about making some adjustments to ensure that Viet Nam is an attractive place for education investment. Because I would like to see more Australian universities come to Viet Nam to establish themselves, the Ambassador added.

Ambassador Goledzinowski told VNA about two more potential fields of cooperation  mining and telecommunications.

The Australian side has been working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to share its knowledge and support Viet Nam in reviewing its mining law, as mining is a major industry in Australia and boasts incredible potential for wealth to be created in Viet Nam. Australia also expects to help Viet Nam in building trusted cables that connect Viet Nam to the world, he said.

Another pillar of cooperation in bilateral ties he mentioned was green energy transition, a field that has been increasingly intensified between Australia and Viet Nam in recent times.

When my Prime Minister was here in Viet Nam in June, he announced a new partnership worth AUD105 million, which were calling Aus for growth. But it will largely be around the green energy transition to assist in Viet Nams efforts to make sure that your supply chains go green, because thats what will be necessary to trade in the future economy, said Ambassador Goledzinowski.

He also cited the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wongs trip to Viet Nam in August, where she announced AUD95 million for climate change adaptation and particularly for the Mekong Delta region.

I was down there a week or two ago and the Mekong faces very particular challenges. And so we hope that that project will help ease the transition to sustainable economic models in the Mekong area, the Ambassador said.

According to him, Australian companies are interested in working with Viet Nam in this field. Specifically, he mentioned one Australian company that is very keen to build offshore wind farms because Viet Nam is very prospective for offshore wind in particular.

Theres a lot thats going on, and Australia will be playing a small but we hope an important role in Viet Nam transition, the Ambassador affirmed.  VNS
HCM CITY  The health department of HCM City is looking to explore the possibility of implementing Cuba's family doctor model to address the medical needs of the country's most populous urban centre.

A seminar was held last week to mark the conclusion of a working programme in the city on the development of the family doctor model, grassroots healthcare, and community health.

Two doctors from Cuba, Prof. Dr. Jose Armando Aronte Villamarin and Prof. Dr. Sonia Maria Gonzalez Vega, who are leading experts in the field of community health, previously shared their experiences with numerous countries. The seminar also brought together doctors, public health experts, and leaders from several southern health departments, along with the leadership of the two largest medical universities in HCM City, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine.

Dr Villamarin lectured about the success of the Cuban healthcare system, which was initiated by its leader Fidel Castro in 1984.

By 2022, Cuba had 94,066 doctors, achieving a ratio of 84.9 doctors per 10,000 people, covering 100 per cent of rural areas - a rate considered among the highest globally.

Notably, over 50 per cent of doctors are family doctors. With a completely free healthcare system and a large healthcare workforce, the average life expectancy in Cuba is 77.7 years.

The country can produce its own medicines and vaccines, and has sent 23,000 doctors to 55 countries worldwide to support healthcare. Cuba is also the first country certified for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS and congenital syphilis.

Concerning the structure of the healthcare system in Cuba, each locality hosts a multi-specialty clinic comprising epidemiologists, specialist doctors, general practitioners, nurses, collaborators, and more. Beneath each multi-specialty clinic, there are approximately 20-30 family doctor offices. Each family doctor office holds responsibility for managing the health of around 1,000 people.

Assoc Prof., Dr. o Van Dung from the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy posed the question of how to attract medical personnel to join the family doctor team and ensure the quality of family doctors.

Vega explained that in Cuba, doctors were initially trained in their specialties, and subsequent adjustments were made to the training system for family doctors. For the rapid and successful development of the family doctor model, the most critical factor is training. Currently, Cuba has 13 medical science universities, 25 medical science departments, and 24 chemistry and medical science departments.

After graduation, doctors will be assigned to clinics and undergo a three-year comprehensive training in various departments such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, and ICU, while working. Alongside this is the policy of attracting personnel, under which doctors receive equal salaries regardless of being family doctors, general practitioners, or specialists, with differences only in academic titles. Doctors working in family clinics are provided with housing in residential areas. They reside with their families on the upper floor, while the lower floor is used for medical examinations and treatments.

More doctors needed

After examining the grassroots healthcare models in HCM City, Villamarin acknowledges that the city's most significant current challenge is the scarcity of healthcare personnel at the grassroots level. Another difficulty lies in persuading and attracting private clinics to participate in the family medicine network. Additionally, there is a need for a change in perception regarding the "family doctor" model.

"A family doctor is not someone who can treat all illnesses. On the contrary, a family doctor must truly be a health consultant, caring for common illnesses and connecting directly with specialist doctors at hospitals when necessary," shared Villamarin.

Agreeing with the assessment of the Cuban expert, Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the HCM City Department of Health, stated that the city's health sector has anticipated the challenges in implementing the transition to the family medicine model. They expressed a desire for top Cuban healthcare experts to provide advice and technical support during the upcoming period of transition.

In the immediate future, the HCMC Department of Health seeks Cuba's support for short-term training, consultation, and experience-sharing in developing and implementing the Cuban family doctor model. However, to achieve optimal effectiveness, Thuong believes there must be innovations and adjustments tailored to the actual situation of the city's healthcare system.

In 2024, the HCM City Department of Health plans to propose to the HCM City People's Committee the addition of the "Piloting the Implementation of the Cuban Family Doctor Model" initiative in selected districts and wards of the city.

They plan to implement this model in outlying wards and communes of the city within the next two years, with a focus on districts such as Binh Chanh, Cu Chi, Nha Be, or Hoc Mon.

"After visiting the hospitals, I see that HCM City has developed excellent infrastructure and a well-trained healthcare workforce, along with excellent medical universities and technology. In Cuba in the past, having conditions like the current infrastructure and healthcare workforce in HCM City was a big dream," said Vega.

"If we had similar conditions in the past, there would be no need to wait for 40 years; Cuba could have implemented the family doctor healthcare system in just a few years. Additionally, with the current infrastructure and technology and the determination from leadership to select an accurate pilot model, and implement appropriate policies for development, I believe that it is possible to build a successful family doctor model, comparable to neighbouring countries," added the Cuban expert.  VNS
HCM CITY  Doctors from Tu Du Hospital and Childrens Hospital 1 in HCM City successfully performed a foetal cardiac surgery on January 4, the first ever not just in Viet Nam but in Southeast Asia.

It was done to unclog the foetus's heart valve through the mothers womb.

In early November, in the 26th week of pregnancy, the baby was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect: it had hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS) and a minuscule pulmonary valve opening.

In HRHS, the structures of the right side of the heart are underdeveloped, causing inadequate blood flow to the lungs and thus a lack of oxygen.

The mother, L. (26) of a Nang City, was transferred from a Nang Hospital to Tu Du Hospital for further prognostications.

The condition kept worsening and eventually threatened to become fatal before the final consultation scheduled on January 3.

Normally, if an intervention to open the pulmonary valve is not done, there would be a miscarriage.

Neonatal death would also occur if, instead, the mother is forced to deliver due to preterm birth and the infants serious heart disease, experts from both hospitals said during the final consultation.

But in this case, the doctors warned of a likely stillbirth if no intervention was done, or the baby being born alive but with cardiac defects and requiring difficult surgeries.

In the case of cardiac surgeries, foetal intervention has a higher success rate than surgeries done on newborns since the foetuss valve will be able to heal naturally with the help of stem cells, leaving no scars behind, director of Tu Du Hospital, Dr Tran Ngoc Hai, said.

The surgery was then done in week 32 of the pregnancy, o Nguyen Tin, deputy head of the cardiac department at Childrens Hospital 1, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Surgeons from the two hospitals were divided into one groups each for anaesthesia, foetal intervention, cardiac angioplasty, neonatal resuscitation, and delivery.

A surgical needle was used to penetrate the mothers uterus wall and reach through the amniotic sac to the right side of the foetus's heart.

Foetal cardiac intervention is the most complex process, Hai said.

It requires absolute precision to anaesthetise a foetus.

The childs heart was the size of a lime, with only 2-3 sq.cm for each cardiac chamber and 4 millimetres for the pulmonary valve opening, making the surgery harder and more demanding.

But the skill of the personnel and the use of high-quality surgical equipment meant the 40-minute surgery was a success.

It was also the mothers courage and trust that empowered us, Trinh Nhut Thu Huong, head of the prenatal care department at Tu Du Hospital, said.

Foetal cardiac unclogging has only been around for only five years, with just a few countries like Brazil and Poland succeeding at it.

Tin is hopeful the success would help further foster childrens heart valve surgery in Viet Nam.

Deputy director of the city Department of Health, Nguyen Anh Dung, said the surgery shows the efforts made to innovate technological solutions in healthcare.

Vice chairman of the city Peoples Committee, Duong Anh uc, said it is also a new advancement that takes the citys medical sector on a par with their counterparts in developed countries.

There has been no abnormality since the surgery, and both the mother and the child are in great condition with free post-surgery care.

They are expected to be discharged on January 8.

The mother, L., said: I am beyond happy; it is as if my child is reborn. Nothing can express my gratitude to all the doctors.

Assoc Prof Nguyen Hoai Nam said congenital heart defects are common in infants, which diminish their health, and their treatment is financially demanding.

Each year around ten to 12,000 Vietnamese children are diagnosed with congenital cardiac defects, meaning one such child is born every 15 minutes.

Around 50 per cent are in severe condition, and 5,000 get to receive cardiac surgeries.  VNS
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun, illustration photo, source: youtube.com/ CNBC Television

"We're going to approach this (by) number one acknowledging our mistake," Calhoun told employees at a safety meeting called after Friday's emergency landing, which came after one of the plane's panels blew out mid-flight.

"We're going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way," he said.

Calhoun, who ascended to Boeing's top post in January 2020 as the company reeled from two fatal crashes on the 737 MAX, committed to working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is probing the incident.

The NTSB is "as good as it gets," Calhoun said, according to remarks released by the company. "I trust every step they take, and they will get to a conclusion."

US regulators have grounded 171 737 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the Alaska Airlines jet.

The affected panel, a door plug, is used to fill an unneeded emergency exit in planes.

NTSB investigators suggested Monday night that the part was not affixed adequately.

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was still working with Boeing to finalize detailed inspection instructions for grounded planes.

"Boeing offered an initial version of instructions yesterday which they are now revising because of feedback received in response," the FAA said Tuesday.

"Upon receiving the revised version of instructions from Boeing the FAA will conduct a thorough review."

Boeing said it is in contact with customers and the FAA on requirements.

"As part of the process, we are making updates based on their feedback and requirements," a spokesman said.

- Apology -

The back-and-forth on inspections comes after both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines reported Monday finding loose hardware on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections undertaken since Friday's incident.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled due to the grounding of a fraction of the MAX fleet.

Alaska Airlines apologized to inconvenienced consumers in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"We understand that travel plans have been impacted, and we are doing everything possible to minimize the disruption," Alaska posted, reiterating that it is awaiting further direction from Boeing and the FAA.

"Until then, the fleet will remain grounded," Alaska Airlines said.

The crisis has heaped renewed pressure on Boeing, which has struggled to completely find its footing since the earlier MAX crashes led to a lengthy grounding of the jets.

Boeing has struggled with supply chain and quality control problems since the MAX returned to service, limiting its output and hitting its bottom line.

The company's stock price has dropped over nine percent since Friday's incident.

Aviation analysts said the issue appeared to be a quality control defect rather than a design issue akin to the problem with a flawed flight handling system involved in two fatal MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

"It's just bad -- sloppy work like this," said Michel Merluzeau, an aeronautics specialist with consulting firm AIR. "It's an indication of something going through the safety net at Boeing, for whatever reason."

Boeing meanwhile reported on Tuesday it had delivered 44 737 MAX jets in December, reaching a total of 396 of the jets for all of 2023.

That was within Boeing's target, which the company lowered to 375 to 400 from an earlier range of 400-450.

Boeing reported delivering 528 jets in all last year, up from 480 in 2022. However, deliveries stand far below the 806 in 2018 prior to the lengthy MAX grounding.

Investigators find blown out door plug from Alaska Airlines plane US aviation authorities said Sunday the door plug of an airplane panel that blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight has been found, a part that could potentially help with the investigations into the cause of the accident.
The information was revealed at a meeting between Preben Elnef, vice president of the LEGO Group, and Vo Van Minh, Chairman of Binh Duong People's Committee, on January 9.

Elnef noted that the factory is anticipated to reach an important phase in 2024 as it shifts from planning to production. LEGO has been joining forces with its partners to secure a 110kV grid connection and install solar power systems for manufacturing with a view to reaching net-zero emissions.

This reflects the group's commitment to ensuring efficient production and contributing positively to the environment.

Construction of the factory began in November 2022 at Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park III in Binh Duong. The project is slated to produce high-quality, domestically made products in the second half of 2024. When operational, the project is expected to generate thousands of jobs for locals and contribute to the economic growth of Binh Duong.

Minh highlighted the attention the local authority has paid to the LEGO factory and appreciated the project's progress. He pledged to provide support and help resolve any difficulties for LEGO Group, ensuring it enjoys the most favourable business environment and achieves strong results when the project is put into operation.

The factory brings the Danish toymaker's total manufacturing sites globally to seven, and is its second in Asia. It is also Legos first carbon-neutral plant, using electricity from rooftop solar panels and the nearby solar farm.

Choosing Vietnam brings LEGO closer to some of its most important markets. Shortening the supply chain means LEGO can reduce its environmental impact and respond quickly to consumer demand. With this in mind, the group hopes to meet the growth in demand in its markets and fulfil its responsibilities as a good corporate citizen.

Tree planting marks milestone for Lego Group in Vietnam With its commitment to ensuring its new factory has minimal impact on the environment, Lego Group in Vietnam celebrated the completion of 50,000 trees being planted at the site in the southern province of Binh Duong on September 15.

Inside Lego's $1 billion visionary expansion in Vietnam Nestled within the bustling industrial canvas of Binh Duong province, Danish toy titan Lego is constructing more than just a factory  it's laying down a vision.
(Photo : Unsplash/Amina Atar)

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new rule requiring companies to classify certain workers as employees instead of lower-cost independent contractors, which upsets business groups and is expected to lead to legal disputes.

Classifying "Gig" Workers as Employees

The rule is expected to raise labor costs for businesses in trucking, manufacturing, healthcare, and app-based "gig" services that heavily depend on contract labor or freelancing.

Federal and state laws only pertain to company "employees" when mandating minimum wage and overtime pay, as employing workers can be up to 30% more expensive compared to hiring independent contractors, according to research.

READ ALSO: Gig Economy: How Technology Is Helping Giggers Build Companies

Rule Implications

The rule will make workers need to be seen as employees instead of contractors if they are economically reliant on a company. It replaces a regulation from the Trump administration, which was preferred by business groups that allowed workers who own their businesses or have the freedom to work for competing companies to be treated as contractors. The new rule follows a long-standing court standard used to decide how workers should be classified, considering factors like the level of control companies have over workers and whether the work is essential to a company's business.

The Labor Department doesn't anticipate the rule to lead entire industries to reclassify workers, but it will enable effective enforcement against businesses who intentionally misclassify workers to cut costs, which doesn't go as far as California and some other states' wage laws, which impose even more restrictions on independent contracting.

Business Group and Lawmakers' Stance

On Tuesday, business groups and Republican lawmakers heavily criticized the rule scheduled for March 11, claiming it would lead to millions of workers losing opportunities to earn money and creating confusion that could result in expensive legal battles. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana stated he would introduce a resolution to repeal the rule supporting labor unions. Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su noted on a call with reporters that misclassifying workers as contractors instead of employees affects low-income workers who would gain the most from legal protections like a minimum wage and unemployment insurance. Su emphasized that a century of labor protections is only based on the employer-employee relationship.

Worker advocates and certain Democratic officials praised the rule, deeming it essential for securing fundamental protections for workers. U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, emphasized that worker misclassification negatively impacts law-abiding businesses that are forced to compete with dishonest employers, cutting labor costs.

On the other hand, some business groups argue that the rule will rob millions of workers of flexibility and opportunities. Marc Freedman, vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business group in the U.S., stated that the company contemplated legal challenges to the rule and emphasized that the rule is unnecessary given the Department's successes in addressing misclassification without additional regulations.

Potential Impact on "Gig" Workers

The Labor Department created the rule to address industries like construction and healthcare, where worker misclassification is prevalent. However, the rule's possible effects on app-based delivery and ride-hailing services, which heavily rely on contract "gig" labor, have attracted the most attention.

The Chamber of Progress, a tech company trade group, mentioned that the rule might affect gig workers, depending on how the Labor Department enforces it. According to the group, if independent contractors are reclassified as employees, around 3.4 million gig workers could be negatively impacted, leading to an estimated $31 billion in lost income.

Uber Technologies and Lyft company have voiced concerns about the rule but don't anticipate their drivers being classified as employees and alter their business operations.

RELATED ARTICLE: Metro GM Warns of Drastic Measures: 10 Stations, 67 Bus Lines, and 2,286 Layoffs in the Balance Due to Budget Gap

 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Closing a relatively successful year 2023, ToCoToCo, a Vietnamese milk tea brand, founded and operated by Vietnamese people, is heading towards a new journey with sustainable and long-term growth goals.

More than 700 ToCoToCo stores are present in 56 out of 63 localities nationwide, and are beginning to expand to foreign markets

A bubble milk tea brand with rapid and sustainable growth in 2023

Amy Truong, founder of ToCoToCo, said that ToCoToCo bubble milk tea just celebrated a decade of establishment and development, with impressive results.

Accordingly, the brand eyes impressive growth encompassing more than 700 franchise stores, present in 56 localities across the country, becoming one of the fastest growing milk tea brands and owning the largest number of stores in Vietnam.

In addition, this brand is also expanding its influence into the international market with stores in Australia, Japan, and the US.

Many bubble tea franchise partners have also put their trust in the brand by opening four to five additional stores in many different locations.

The birth of the ToCoToCo Ice Cream model, featuring an eye-catching orange colour scheme, is one of the highlights of ToCoToCos flexible and effective business strategy in the past year.

Since launching its first store in April last year, ToCoToCo Ice Cream has expressed rapid expansion with more than 100 stores to date, conquering customers with two main products: ice cream and coffee.

This move has opened up more opportunities for ToCoToCo to reach new customers, despite the food and beverages (F&B) market facing many challenges due to the impact of the economic slump, causing customers to tighten their belts.

According to F&B industry survey results published by Vietnam Report in September 2023, the total earnings of F&B businesses decreased by 3.9 per cent over the same period last year and will bottom out at the end of 2023.

Data from the ToCoToCo platform shows that up to 95 per cent of agents wish to continue renewing franchise contracts with this brand, thanks to stable business performance and consistent growth that exceeds business targets.

Many bubble tea franchise partners have also put their trust in the brand by opening four to five additional stores in many different locations.

Franchise stores account for 60 per cent of ToCoToCos total stores and are constantly growing to be able to serve many customers.

ToCoToCo was honoured in the Top 5 prestigious national quality brands in 2023 by the Asian Economic Research Institute

The persistent efforts of the pure Vietnamese milk tea brand have brought ToCoToCo an impressive record of achievements. Last October, ToCoToCo was honoured in the Top 5 prestigious national quality brands in 2023 by the Asian Economic Research Institute.

In addition, ToCoToCo is also proud to be the No. brand in Vietnam in 2022 voted by the Asian Business Development Research Centre, Top 10 typical Asia-Pacific brands in 2021 and the most popular milk tea brand according to the Nielsen survey 2020.

ToCoToCo - a bubble tea franchise chosen by many investors

Prioritising responsible business

One of the important factors behind ToCoToCos success stems from its rigour in selecting input material sources and the autonomy of raw material areas.

Starting from a country with developed agriculture, ToCoToCo bubble milk tea brand is a pioneer in using Vietnamese agricultural raw ingredients that meet international standards.

The main ingredients are green and Olong teas that meet organic standards from Phu Tho in Thai Nguyen, cassava from Nghe An, as well as fresh fruits grown and harvested from renowned agricultural regions such as Dalat, Ninh Binh, Hung Yen, or Moc Chau.

All materials used by ToCoToCo must undergo testing by the research and development (R&D) department. Ingredients must be of clear origin, accompanied by invoices, and priority should be given to using products manufactured from factories with ISO 2:2000 certification, said Trang Nguyen, director of Engineering and Technology of Taco Vietnam Trading Service JSC

From selected ingredients, under the research and creativity of the professional R&D team, diverse beverage menus, keeping up with hot trends, have been quickly introduced to customers at reasonable prices.

A sustainable business perspective and a focus on quality has helped the ToCoToCo franchise milk tea brand gain trust from customers, partners, and investors.

While Vietnam Investments Group continues to commit to long-term companionship with ToCoToCo after many years, many customers still remember and return to the brand, even though there are constantly new milk tea brands on the market.

On average each year, this brand sells 36 million cups of milk tea, produces over 1.5 million kilograms of pearls and 1.2 million kilograms of fruit preserves per year.

Founder Amy Truong said she is confident about ToCoToCos long-term development potential, even though the milk tea business and franchising market is becoming increasingly competitive.

ToCoToCo is not simply a drink made from rich Vietnamese ingredients, each cup also contains joy, happiness, and the warmth of love, she said.

Hotline: 1900 63 69 36 ; Website: tocotocotea.com/

ToCoToCo - The bubble tea franchise with potential ToCoToCo has been a familiar brand in the food and beverages (F&B) sector in Vietnam for almost a decade. This popular brand, along with several others, has helped put the Vietnamese beverage sector on the world map.

TH Group launches herbal tea products Locally-invested TH Group on September 26 debuted its set of herbal teas with filter bags, named TH true HERBAL, including many speciality products with jiaogulan, passion flower, ginger, and chrysanthemum.
McLennan Community College is encouraging qualified residents to apply for a board position left vacant by the resignation of longtime District 7 Trustee Geneva Watley in December.

Residents of District 7 have until 5 p.m. Jan. 18 to apply for the seat, which represents west McLennan County, including McGregor, Crawford, Eddy and parts of Hewitt.

The board of trustees in February will appoint a member to serve until May 2025. The board will interview candidates Feb. 12 and consider appointing the new member Feb. 27.

Applicants must be a qualified voter, hold residency in the state at least 12 months and reside in District 7 at least six months before the appointment is made.

Applications are available for download at www.mclennan.edu/board-of-trustees/index.html. They may be sent by email to Lindsey Vanek, lvanek@mclennan.edu, or returned to the president's office in person.

For more information, contact Vanek by email or at 254-299-8140.
University High School culinary arts students over the past five years have chipped in to prepare some 17,000 meals for people in need with The Salvation Army.

Students started a two-day process Tuesday morning to prepare enough food for 100 to 125 people. The meals will be distributed Wednesday evening in The Salvation Armys Community Kitchen at Third Street and Webster Avenue.

The effort started five years ago when a former Salvation Army director asked if culinary students would be interested in helping with prep work on some of the meals The Salvation Army offers daily, said Reannon Ruark, one of the teachers in Universitys culinary arts program. Instead, they offered to cook a whole meal, she said.

It provides a day off for their cooks and allows our students to get some different kinds of service, Ruark said. This has been an ongoing project. Weve been doing it for about five years, and in those five years weve fed about 17,000 people with Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army provides the food each week, which students then prepare over the course of a few days, Ruark said. The culinary program typically focuses on training students for cooking in restaurants, but preparing meals for The Salvation Army is good practice for commercial kitchens, where a large amount of food is prepared at the same time, she said.

This weeks meal is roasted maple turkey breast with a side of mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley consisting of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.

Ruark said in addition to making meals for The Salvation Army, the culinary program tries to get its around 200 students involved in other community service events. She said students have participated in the H-E-B Celebrity Cookoff, becoming five-time defending champions in the process, and have also done charity events with Caritas of Waco and March of Dimes, often ending up cooking and providing meals for people in need.

Our goal here is to show students that they can do more, Ruark said. They dont have to go out and be a chef. They can actually go out into the community and provide services that arent necessarily just industry based.

Dee Ruiz, a University High senior in the culinary arts program, said she became interested in the program due to watching the Food Network and learning to cook as a young child. Ruiz said being in the culinary program has also helped her get a leg up on her professional goals. She works as a line cook at 1424 Bistro and wants to attend culinary school, she said.

Ruiz said cooking meals for people in need has shown her the impact she can have on other peoples lives despite only being in high school. The school extra credit opportunities that come with volunteering dont hurt either, she said.

Being able to cook for others that cant really cook with themselves, its just really something I like doing, Ruiz said. Thats a pretty big thing in the program as well. Especially in the cooking industry in general, a lot of people do that for people in need.
A Snickers bar was Americas most popular candy in 1962, and by 2009, when the U.S. economy was floundering, it was still the nations favorite, Texas A&M University economist Jason Johnson said Tuesday during the MidTex Farm & Ranch Show in Waco.

Johnson urged farmers and ranchers to focus more on consistency, less on a changing world.

The biggest news story the next 10 years is something were not talking about today, he said.

Johnson quoted author Mark Twain, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Buffett confidant Charlie Munger, management guru Peter Drucker, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, among others, while weaving his advice about spending, saving and prioritizing time and money. Listening were people who work the land and grow livestock, along with 14 students from Central Texas receiving scholarships and planning agriculture-related careers.

The MidTex Farm & Ranch Show continues Wednesday in the Base at the Extraco Events Center alongside the annual Blackland Income Growth Conference, bringing shiny displays from equipment manufacturers and a broad range of advice and training for people involved in a broad range of agricultural pursuits.

Johnson, a fifth-generation farmer who has made more than 1,000 presentations on behalf of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, said life is filled with change and challenges, some served up by nature in the form of floods, droughts and hurricanes, others involving supply chain disruptions, commodity prices, conservation programs and estate planning.

What does not change is human behavior, Johnson said. Success means finding a trusted mentor, reading books, researching a topic. Answers to the most important questions do not come from blogs or TV newscasts.

Fourteen people are dead for every person living, Johnson said. Its wise to read about what others thought  the lessons they learned.

An investment advisor registered with the Texas State Securities Board, Johnson urged attendees to quit spending money you dont have on things you dont need to impress people who dont matter. He said some of the most miserable individuals he has met, including some who have amassed great wealth, are those who tried to keep up with the Joneses.

He said striving to be the smartest person in the room is fruitless, and suggested exerting energy on trying not to be stupid. He said avoid working for anyone whose company is not enjoyable, and dont work for anybody you dont respect or admire. He said time, not money, is our most important resource, and how we spend time shapes our contentment or lack thereof.

Johnson did not dismiss the importance of risk taking, and said putting money on the line can result in achieving great things. But he also cautioned against believing that greater risk produces greater reward.

Greater risk can mean greater volatility, Johnson said.

Mark Twain said the two most important days of our life are when we are born and the day we figure out why we are born. What is your purpose in life? Johnson said. Dont worry about things that change by the minute. Think about things that dont change at all.

He said many studies show people most regret something they didnt do, not something they did do, when they approach death. He said Charlie Munger, who enjoyed a $2.6 billion net worth upon his death at age 99, said his biggest regret was never catching a tuna weighing 200 pounds.

Johnson said simplicity is the hallmark of genius. He said prioritizing things not to do is as important as compiling to-do lists. He said Spanx founder Blakely learned valuable lessons at the dinner table, where her father regularly asked about her failures and what she learned from them.

He would say, What did you fail at this week? Johnson said.

Investing reduced to its simplest form is spending less than one makes and investing the balance, Johnson said. He said typically people have the correct amount of money in savings when they think they have too much.

Johnson received a bachelors degree in agricultural economics from Texas Tech University, a masters in ag economics from Louisiana State University, and a doctorate in agricultural and applied economics with a minor in family financial planning from Texas Tech University. He operates the familys 1,200-acre cattle ranch in Jacksboro with his wife and three children.

He serves as Texas coordinator of Annies Project, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to empower women in farming and ranching to build confidence and make better decisions for their agricultural businesses and families, according to a press release that includes his biography.
UPDATE: Organizers announced Sunday that the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace March and Observance scheduled for Monday morning has been canceled because of inclement weather.

Organizers of Wacos 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace March said the event is a go for Monday, and they also have an alternative plan for potential inclement weather.

In addition to the Peace March, a number of other events in Waco are scheduled for the weekend and Monday to honor Kings legacy, with events beginning at noon Friday and carrying on until Monday night.

Mondays Peace March is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. at Indian Spring Park, and will be the 26th march hosted by the Waco graduate chapters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, said Niki Nix, secretary of the group. Nix also said the event has been co-hosted by Zeta Phi Beta and the Waco graduate chapter of Phi Beta Sigma since 2012. Both organizations are members of the Divine Nine, historically Black fraternities and sororities, and Nix said other Divine Nine organizations are invited to participate in the march.

Nix said first participants will gather at Indian Spring Park before marching across the Suspension Bridge at 9:30 a.m. and walking to Bridge Street Plaza. During the march, participants will sing songs such as Lift Every Voice and Sing and Lean on Me, Nix said.

At the plaza, there will be a podium set up for speakers to give remarks on the legacy of King and talk about the volunteer options available for the day. Nix said volunteering is just one way members of the community can honor King and celebrate his work, and was thus something organizers wished to focus on for the march.

Nix said the community leaders giving remarks will include McLennan County Commissioner Patricia Chisolm-Miller, Waco City Council Member Andrea Barefield, Community Race Relations Coalition Chair Jo Welter, Waco NAACP President Peaches Henry and several representatives from the Divine Nine organizations.

In the event of severe weather causing the Suspension Bridge to ice over, the initial gathering will be moved to the other side of the river at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 300 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., with a shorter march to Bridge Street Plaza, Nix said. Even without snow or rain, the projected low temperature for Monday is in the teens, but Nix said hot coffee will be provided at the gathering.

After the speeches at Bridge Street, there will be programs at the Waco Multi-Purpose Center, 1020 Elm Ave., including speeches, poem recitals, song and dance performances, as well as a free lunch.

Nix said she expects 300 to 500 people to participate in the march, a typical turnout for the event. Nix said organizers want to emphasize that the event is not a parade and is intended to be a serious occasion memorializing the civil rights leader.

To remember Dr. King and to bring the community together is the goal, Nix said. The theme for this year is the time is always right to do right, which is part of the quotes of Dr. King.

Martin Luther King Jr. weekend events will kick off with a wreath laying ceremony and vigil at noon Friday in the city of Waco Multi-Purpose Center, 1020 Elm Ave. Other Monday events include a Day of Service Pop-up Lunch Counter from noon to 2 p.m. in Wilbert Austin Sr. Park, 401 Hood St.

Baylor University will also host a Share the Dream panel discussion at 4 p.m. Monday at Truett Seminary, Room 107, focused on Kings ministry legacy. The discussion will also be livestreamed on Truetts Facebook and will feature Stephen Breck Reid, vice provost for faculty diversity and belonging; journalism department Chair Mia Moody-Ramirez; and assistant professor of Christian theology Daniel Lee Hill. At 7 p.m. in Truetts Paul Powell Chapel, there will be a Share the Dream worship service, also available to be livestreamed on Facebook.
WATERLOO  Archbishop Thomas Zinkula of Dubuque will be the first speaker in the Waterloo Catholic Parishes 2024 Winter Forum Series.

Zinkula, who was installed as the 11th archbishop of Dubuque in October, will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the church in Iowa and the world from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Majestic Moon Event Center, 1955 Locke St.

In the case of inclement weather, the presentation will take place online.

Other speakers will address the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence, the history of the Catholic mass and the recent Vatican decision to allow blessings for Catholics in irregular relationships.

The series is free and open to the public.

For more information, go online to waterloocatholics.org/winter-forum.
WAVERLY  An out-of-state companys acquisition of a longtime fabrication operation is expected to create more jobs for Waverly.

Van-Am Tool & Engineering, a metal machining and fabrication company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, purchased the fabrication division of GMT Corporation on Dec. 29.

A byproduct of opening whats now Van-Am Defense Systems is a plan to grow its workforce to support increased production and an expanded customer base. Van-Am CEO Keith Mills said he hopes to double the operation to 30-35 employees within the next year and 65-70 employees within the next three years.

The companys plans include hiring more welders, machinists, fabricators, engineers and support staff there.

GMT gave up 16 employees and approximately 75,000 square feet of leased space at 504 First Ave. S.E. as part of the deal, CEO Mike Clausen noted in a telephone interview.

In addition to Van-Am establishing its first facility in Iowa and growing its business, the company also assumes from GMT a government contract with Lockheed Martin to produce Navy vertical launching systems.

In addition to machinists, Clausen said, GMT will be looking to hire for different types of roles going forward as part of ongoing plans to recreate his company. The list includes machine maintenance technicians, engineering support, and other support employees for its growing automated computer numerical control machining.

To address the challenges with hiring, the firm also places an emphasis on creating talent through programs like apprenticeships rather than expecting to find workers with the needed skills.

The two companies, both with histories dating back several decades, already had a reciprocal relationship before the transaction for an undisclosed amount.

The move made sense for Van-Am because of the additional capabilities and capacity that the Waverly division offered to support its current and expanded customer base.

Van-Am takes over an operation primarily focused on the defense sector and plans to diversify as well to produce crane sections and large trucking components there for the utility sector, said Mills.

The divesture of the department had been anticipated, said Clausen, as consolidation had already been underway the last year and a half.

This allows us to go from a broader strategy to more of a focused one on our core of customers with large complex, high precision machining needs, he said.

GMTs customers are in the agriculture, construction, off-highway, defense, aerospace, industrial and energy sectors.

Its now-former facility had capabilities such as welding, cutting and bending steel largely in the defense space but also for industrial applications.

The Waverly-based company has about 180,000 square feet of facilities and 200 employees remaining after the deal. In 2019, almost 300 employees worked in three facilities, according to Courier archives.

The other two facilities are listed online as being located at 2116 E. Bremer Avenue and 1900 Eighth St. S.W.

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CEDAR FALLS  Cedar Falls Public Safety officials are hosting a blood drive in honor of first responders.

The annual Blue Blood Drive will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Cedar Falls Public Safety Building, 4600 S. Main St.

Whether its a personal injury, motor vehicle accident, or other traumatic situation, far too often we are the ones who see the need for blood firsthand, said Lt. Brent Kock, Iowas Concerns of Police Survivors representative.

Every year, LifeServe Blood Center partners with Iowa C.O.P.S. to host special blood drives across the tristate area the week of Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. LifeServes Blue Blood drives honor law enforcement officers while providing donations to community hospitals following the holiday season.

Donors receive a first responder themed T-shirt. To schedule your lifesaving donation appointment, visit lifeservebloodcenter.org or call (800) 287-4903.

LifeServe Blood Center is a nonprofit, community-based blood center that provides blood products to 161 hospitals primarily in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Parents don't grasp the full academic damage from COVID's disruption, according to study Parents don't grasp the full academic damage from COVID's disruption, according to study
By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop group Fifty Fifty, acclaimed for the global hit "Cupid" last year, revealed plans to seek new members to continue the group's musical journey after a dispute between former members and its agency Attrakt.

"I'm gearing up to share more love, hoping we can walk this path together in the future," Keena, the last remaining member of the group, said in an official press release on Monday. "Once again, I'm preparing to entertain and demonstrate my hard work with Fifty Fifty's new songs."

In response, Attrakt clarified its intention to search for new members for Fifty Fifty, emphasizing that "this opportunity has been made possible by Keena's return."

The group achived great success with "Cupid," the title track from its debut single, "The Beginning: Cupid." The song was a big success on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, even making it onto Billboard's annual chart.

Despite the triumph, the group faced turbulence in June when the four members sought an injunction to suspend their exclusive contracts with Attrakt, claiming the company violated the terms of the contracts by failing to provide accounting data and ensure their physical and mental health.

Local courts denied the injunction request in August and a subsequent appeal two months later.

Attrakt then took decisive action by terminating all contracts with three members  Saena, Sio and Aran. It additionally filed a lawsuit seeking 13 billion won ($9.9 million) against the three members and those involved in the unjust breach of the contracts.

In contrast, Keena, who chose to return to the agency and withdrew her legal action, secured permission to resume activities as part of Fifty Fifty.

Meanwhile, the departed trio is reportedly in search of a new agency, although industry experts express skepticism about the ease of their transition.

Keena, on the other hand, continued her international pursuits in the new year, receiving the Discovery Award at the Seoul Music Awards and the Rookie Artist Award at the Golden Disc Awards.
CEDAR FALLS  LyAnn and Chris Western are trying to save their beloved dog Reese after the city ordered the animal euthanized over allegations the pet is a danger to the public.

The Westerns, who reside in the 1400 block of West 18th Street, are petitioning the district court to overturn the citys decision. They believe theres insufficient evidence to euthanize the dog and say their due process rights were illegally violated.

A hearing was scheduled Thursday before a judge at the Black Hawk County Courthouse, 316 E. Fifth St. in Waterloo, but its been pushed back to March 7.

Revealed for the first time, in a written decision obtained by The Courier, is the Cedar Falls City Councils rationale to back the dangerous animal declaration by Police Chief Mark Howard in a 6-0 vote during a rare Nov. 16 committee hearing.

Deliberations were in closed session. Proceedings, including witness testimony and the council vote, took place in open session.

Incidents of the 3 1/2-year-old, brown and white American Bully dog viciously biting five people on different occasions between May 2021 and October 2023 fueled the decision by Howard. All victims sustained arguably minor injuries.

Four incidents involved two public safety officers, a Cedar Falls Utilities worker, and a postal worker at the Westerns property.

The most recent incident was Oct. 4 at a relatives property in the 1300 block of Clark Drive, when the dog, referred to by many as a pit bull, allegedly bit the leg of a teenager on a bike.

The Westerns appealed of the chiefs decision to euthanize, as allowed under Chapter 6 of city code. The council upheld the decision, concluding that none of those attacks were provoked, and the Westerns have taken insufficient steps to prevent these attacks from occurring.

Although Reese may not have acted aggressively or attacked persons most of the time, that does not mean he doesnt pose an unreasonable risk of harm to public safety. That has been proven over and over again, the council found.

The council emphasized the latest attack was in violation of an agreement the couple reached with the city after the fourth incident.

The couples court petition, filed Dec. 14, asserts theres not enough evidence to indicate Reese is a risk and not sufficient grounds for the city to continue to confine Reese.

The motion also argues improper emphasis by councilmembers on the citys evidence and improper refusal to consider a video submitted by the Westerns that they said portrays the dog as a part of the community.

Close to a dozen people previously penned letters to the city backing the couples portrayal of Reese as friendly. The couple said they were training Reese to address their pets reactions, disagreeing with any perception hes an out of control viscious animal.

The couples petition also argues insufficient notice of the proceedings, and says the closed session violated the states open meeting laws.

Councilmembers Dustin Ganfield and Kelly Dunn and now-former Councilmembers Simon Harding and Susan deBuhr voted in person during the hearing. Councilmembers Gil Schultz and Daryl Kruse were present virtually. Former Councilmember Dave Sires was absent.

City Attorney Kevin Rogers declined comment, citing pending litigation. The Westerns, who represented themselves during the city proceedings, have hired Jamie Hunter, an attorney with Dickey, Campbell & Sahag Law Firm in Des Moines, to fight the citys ruling in court.

The judge could remand the case back to the council for a new hearing, according to Hunter.

The Westerns do not believe Reese poses a threat to any person or animal, and are asking for his return. At a minimum, they ask the city not to kill him, Hunter wrote in a statement to The Courier. The petition also asks that Reese be confined at a facility of their choice.

Hunter could not be reached for further comment.
Henry Earl Dinkins, already convicted of murder, is scheduled to appear Jan. 17 in U.S. District Court, Davenport, on a federal indictment alleging he was trafficking meth before he became a suspect in the disappearance of 10-year-old Breasia Terrell.

Dinkins was convicted in September of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in connection with the girls death. Instead of a jury trial, Dinkins opted for a bench trial before Scott County District Judge Henry Latham.

Breasia was reported missing July 10, 2020. Her remains were found March 22, 2021, by fishermen in rural DeWitt.

Dinkins is serving a prison sentence of life without parole in the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Dinkins is facing federal charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, namely, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, and distribution of a controlled substance  methamphetamine.

A federal grand jury indicted Dinkins on the charges on Dec. 8, 2020.

The indictment alleges that on Sept. 23, 2019, Dinkins possessed with the intent to deliver 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine. The indictment also alleges that on Sept. 23, 2019, he distributed meth.

Dinkins was arrested on the charges on Oct. 27, 2023. The case was unsealed the same.

The federal case against Dinkins stems from a drug trafficking investigation initiated by the Scott County Sheriffs Office. The investigation includes evidence from a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Illinois on April 25, 2019, and evidence from a controlled buy on Sept. 23, 2019, according to electronic records from U.S. District Court, Davenport.

The Jan. 17 hearing is regarding a motion by Dinkins attorney, Jack Dusthimer, to suppress the evidence from the traffic stop.

During the drug investigation, however, Scott County District Court records show that on Oct. 17, 2019, Dinkins was sentenced to five years in the Iowa Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to a felony drunken driving charge. He also was sentenced to two concurrent two-year prison terms after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated misdemeanor driving while barred.

Dinkins was released from prison on Dec. 6, 2019, according to electronic records of the Iowa Department of Corrections. He was sent to the OWI Continuum and was either being housed in Davenport at the Residential Correctional Facility at 1330 W. 3rd St., or the Work Release Center at 605 Main St. He was released from the OWI Continuum on March 24, 2020, when COVID-19 hit.

It was only about 3 months after he was released from the OWI Continuum that Breasia disappeared.

Once free, Dinkins was required to register on Iowas Sex Offender Registry. He was convicted in 1990, at the age of 17, of the third-degree sexual abuse of a girl under the age of 13.

When he registered after leaving the OWI Continuum, he had registered that he was living in a motorhome on Schmidt Road in Davenport.

However, on July 10, 2020, when Breasia was reported missing and Davenport police began their investigation into her disappearance, Dinkins was found to have been living with his girlfriend at an apartment at 2744 E. 53rd St.

Dinkins did not report on the Sex Offender Registry that he was living at the apartment complex with his girlfriend. The only address he had given was the motorhome.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said Iowa DOC was the agency in charge of approving Dinkins registration and living arrangements. Since he was still on parole, the DOC was required to approve Dinkins living arrangements, the motorhome, before he was allowed to leave the Work Release Center.

The Times reached out to the Iowa Department of Corrections about Dinkins' sex offender registration status and his living arrangements at the time he was released from the OWI Continuum.

Sarah Fineran, Research Director, Central Office, Iowa Department of Corrections told the Times that the information being requested was confidential and not public information pursuant to Iowa Code.

Dinkins was arrested on July 10, 2020, on three counts of violating Iowas sex offender registration statutes. Those charges were dropped after he was convicted of Breasias murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison.

Dinkins is not currently listed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry because he is in prison.

Dinkins' attorney, Chad Frese, filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 17. There was no indication as of Jan. 5 that the Iowa Court of Appeals has chosen to review the case.
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (9 January 2024)

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

In Kupyansk direction, as a result of coordinated actions by units of the Zapad Group of Forces, in cooperation with artillery and aviation, have inflicted a fire defeat on manpower and hardware concentration areas of the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade and the 44th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU close to Sinkovka and Peschanoye (Kharkov region).

The enemy losses were up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers.

One ammunition depot of the AFU 125th Territorial Defence Brigade has been destroyed near Vesyoloye (Kharkov region).

In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, supported by Ground-Attack, Army aviation and artillery, have defeated formations of the 63rd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU, the 125th Territorial Defence Brigade, and the 13th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard near Torskoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk Peoples Republic), and Serebryansky forestry.

The enemy losses were up to 190 AFU servicemen, three motor vehicles, and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer.

In Donetsk direction, as a result of active actions by units of the Yug Group of Forces, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, manpower and hardware concentration areas in the strongholds of 22nd, 72nd mechanised, 95th air assault brigades of the AFU and the 113th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Antonovka, Bogdanovka, and Kleshcheevka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 240 troops killed and wounded, four pickup trucks, and one D-30 howitzer.

In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, supported by Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, have repelled two attacks by assault groups of the 127th Territorial Defence Brigade near Priyutnoye (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 80 AFU servicemen and two motor vehicles.

In addition, in the course of counter-battery warfare, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system and one D-30 howitzers have been destroyed.

One ammunition depot of the AFU 31st Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Krasnoarmeysk (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces have inflicted a comprehensive fire attack on manpower and hardware concentration areas of 65th, 118th mechanised brigades of the AFU, and the 15th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard near Verbovoye and Rabotino (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 30 soldiers and two infantry fighting vehicles.

In the course of counter-battery warfare, one D-20 howitzer and one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system have been destroyed.

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 25 AFU servicemen, two motor vehicles, and two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems.

Missile Troops and Artillery, attack unmanned aerial vehicles of the Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed one P-18 air radar station, 109 AFU artillery units at firing positions, as well as engaged manpower and hardware in 126 areas during the day.

Air defence facilities have destroyed 10 Czech-manufactured Vampire MLRS projectiles.

In addition, six unmanned aerial vehicles have been intercepted close to Krivosheevka, Volcheyarovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic), and Maryinka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

In total, 567 airplanes and 265 helicopters, 10,546 unmanned aerial vehicles, 447 air defence missile systems, 14,538 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,201 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 7,676 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 17,223 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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WtR
You constantly hear that Ukraine needs money and weapons

Ukraine has run out of ammunition, and Europe, USA and NATO are not capable to produce ammunition production to a new level. The resources, manpower and desire is/are not available in the West anymore. They are a broken society and a very broken system (As we also now hear constantly that Israel needs weapons and money!)

and

The Western Aristocracy will have to drastically alter the kind of life they have become accustomed to if they are not able to abscond and or openly steal Russian wealth. The Western industry will soon run on fumes, as many of its sectors are showing signs of right now as doing, since its own resources are nearly exhausted (Fracking Bonanza is not a long term solution and yet it is a long term disaster.). Re-industrialization is therefore unrealistic without manpower and resources to funnel into said industrialization. They whom rule the West, long for depopulation because of this

As they also long for all Eastern production and resources

WtR
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called South Korea the country's "principal enemy" and said he has "no intention of avoiding war," state media said Wednesday.

Kim also threatened to annihilate the South if it attempts to use force against the North, as he inspected major munitions factories Monday and Tuesday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Predicating that the ROK clan is our principal enemy, he said what the DPRK should prioritize in the relations with the hostile state" is "to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all," the KCNA said, using the acronyms for the official names of the South and the North.

Kim said he will not start a war unilaterally but has "no intention of avoiding a war as well."

Should the South attempt to "use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security and such opportunity comes, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands," Kim was quoted as saying.

Kim also expressed satisfaction over the factories' deployment of new types of weapons and equipment and ordered them to more strictly boost the country's war preparedness, the KCNA reported.

Kim's remarks came after he characterized inter-Korean relations as those of "two nations hostile to each other," saying there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea during a key year-end party meeting.

Pyongyang has since been ratcheting up tension on the Korean Peninsula, firing hundreds of artillery shells from its west coast into the maritime buffer zone near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, between Friday and Sunday.

On Monday, the South's military said it will resume artillery firing and drills near the sea and land border, noting Pyongyang's recent shelling nullified the zones where live-fire and large-scale drills are banned. (Yonhap)
"Not beauty as usual." Vintner's Daughter's fresh tagline couldn't be more spot ona perfect reflection of the way the industry-disrupting, award-winning, obsessed-over San Francisco skincare brand first came to be in 2013.

Now celebrating its second decade, the slow-beauty maker of the OG face oil continues to operate by a "radically different" philosophy and is marking the milestone in fabulous fashion.

Founder April Gargiulo at her family's vineyard in Oakville. (Sophie Berard)

How it Started

Founder April Gargiulo had absolutely no clue about the beauty biz before launching her debut product, the Active Botanical Serum. But growing up the daughter of a Napa winemaking family gave her plenty of insight into how to find and extract fine botanical ingredients. Plus, the tenacious entrepreneur was armed with a singular mission: to create category-defining, luxury skincare with unmatched performance, quality and safety.

"Everyone thinks I named Vintner's Daughter after myself, but it's actually named for my eldest daughter Kate. Because it was when I was pregnant with her that I started reading the labels. I started recognizing what I was putting on my skin and how important it was to have something better, something different," Gargiulo recalls.

From day one, the cruelty-free and vegan brand followed a no shortcuts rule. "Our formulation process takes a long time. We very lovingly refer to it as the 'speed of quality." In fact, every product takes at least 21 days to make, which is significantly longer than most brands.

The performance-driven wonder serum is a blend of more than 20 nutrient-rich botanicals, active ingredients, and essential oils: alfalfa, calendula, nettle, dandelion, sea buckthorn, and evening primrose among them. Superpowers include brightening, nourishing, rejuvenating, and hydrating. Really, it didn't take long until beauty editors, celebs, and skincare connoisseurs (including lots of locals) became hooked on the ABS glow.

In a world where new, next and more is the norm, it's a credit to the face oil's effectiveness that its rockstar status only continues to grow.

Gargiulo celebrating her brand's birthday with a lunch for brand loyalists including Freda Salvador cofounder Megan Papay (second from left). (Jessi Caparella)

Celebrating 10 Years

Over the last year, Vintner's Daughter has been in major celebration mode, holding various thank-you lunches for longtime friends and supporters, as well as hosting pop-ups around SF and in L.A. The most exciting thing for Bay Area folksthe recent launch of an exclusive facial at Halehouse, the spa at Stanly Ranch, Auberge Resorts Collection in Napa.

The Vintner's Daughter Ultimate Facial is absolutely wowza. Suitable for all skin types, the 90-minute treatment combines the brand's nutritional whole-plant formulas and advanced technology with targeted facial massage, red light therapy, and micro-current. The result is glowing, plumped, evenly toned, ultra-hydrated skin. Even better: Along with a rejuvenated visage, guests are sure to leave with a quiet, nourished mind and stress-free body thanks to the spa's spectacularly serene environs.

And since it wouldn't be a legit party without favors, the company released a big (50ml), beautiful limited-edition bottle of its hero product. The gilded vessel features botanical imagery designed by artist MarSha Yi Robinson.

In other news, Vintner's Daughter recently launched its third product, the Active Renewal Cleanser. The gently foaming cream formula serves up an energizing and balancing double cleanse thanks to its water- and oil-soluble formula. (ICYMI: Middle child Active Treatment Essence arrived when the serum was five. It's a fermented mist that firms, brightens, plumps and deeply hydrates.)

Finally, if you're wondering how Gargiulo herself feels about her business turning 10, the short answer is verklempt.

"I feel grateful to be as passionate about our results-led, nutritional formulas today as I was 10 years ago. With more and more processed, generic brands hitting the market daily, our mission at Vintners Daughter feels more resonant than ever. We don't want to create anyones next product; we want to create your last product. The one you joyfully marry for life.

Cheers to that and happy birthday, Vintner's Daughter. // vintnersdaughter.com
Chip Conley is 63 and loving it. Aging. Seriously. And he wants you to love it too. Conley, an author and entrepreneur, details why in his new book, Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age (Jan. 16). Though midlife is usually associated with the word crisis, he argues, it has the potential to be an overwhelmingly positive, transformational stage; it should be reframed as a chrysalis, where we shed our skin, spread our wings and pollinate our wisdom to the world, he likes to say.

Conley wasnt always so poetically positive about his middle years. The founder of a boutique hotel company and former head of global hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, he faced loads of challenges in his 40s. Among them: nearly dying after he experienced an allergic reaction to antibiotics, becoming single after the end of a longtime relationship, and losing five friends to suicide.

I said, I dont want to do this anymore. I want to change my life, because everything was going wrong. And so I did, he told us in a recent interview. The decision to focus his efforts on rebranding midlife came to him while he was writing his 2018 book Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. One day I went for a run on the beach and I had an epiphany, he explains. The epiphany was: Why dont we help people in midlife understand how to reimagine and repurpose themselves  to cultivate their wisdom of life experience in a way that serves them and the world.

Now hes an enthusiastic brand ambassador for positive aging, catering to middle-aged seekers of happiness and purpose at the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), a learning institute he cofounded in 2018. It holds workshops at two retreat centers, one based in Baja California, Mexico, and the other in Santa Fe, New Mexico (he divides his time between the two), because who teaches you about midlife? Conley asks. No one. Prices start at $420 a night.

MEA includes the worlds first online wisdom school, with courses such as Reframing Retirement and Cultivating Purpose. A third campus is set to open in March, MEAs second location in Santa Fe, with a slate of planned speakers that includes poet and spiritual leader Mark Nepo and British writer Pico Iyer.

This week, MEA announced a partnership with Blue Zones, a longevity research organization based on the work of Dan Buettner, author of the 2008 mega-bestseller The Blue Zones, among other books on how to live longer and better. In 2024, MEA will offer two Blue Zones-themed retreats.

We asked Conley, the impresario of this expanding midlife happiness empire, to offer six of his favorite reasons we should all love being middle-aged.


Trial demonstrates Verigrow competitive in Broadacre

Sydney, Jan 9, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Multi-industry manufacturing company Veratin Limited ( NSX:VTN ) is delighted to announce that its flagship product, Verigrow(R) 12% Nitrogen (N) liquid fertiliser and soil improver, have shown similar results on the growth, yield and grain quality when compared to Flexi-N and urea. Flexi-N (42% N) is a liquid fertiliser manufactured by CSBP and includes the three forms of nitrogen - nitrate, ammonium and urea.



On the 20th of February 2023, the Company released an announcement to the market demonstrating Verigrow(R) 27% N had shown similar growth, yield and grain quality in Scepter wheat, when compared to urea and Flexi-N. The announcement included plans of a future trial to investigate the effectiveness of Verigrow(R) 12% N (the Company's current commercial product) in comparison to Flexi-N and urea. The current trial concludes that investigation, demonstrating that Verigrow(R) 12% N is a suitable product for broadacre applications producing similar results to Flexi-N and urea.



At the same time, the Company is pleased to announce it has been able to optimise its manufacturing operation, which has resulted in lower manufacturing costs and faster production times.



Executive Chairman of Veratin, Dr Ramiz Boulos says, "I am very excited to see these results which demonstrate, together with our manufacturing optimisation, that we will be able to deliver a product to farmers at a competitive price".



The Company is currently undergoing a longitudinal study to investigate the long-term impact of Verigrow(R) application on soil.



Background of the trial



This trial was conducted on the TrialCo Research Farm 5 km north of Katanning to evaluate the equivalence of Verigrow(R) 12% N to Flexi-N and urea on crop vigour, wheat yield and grain quality.



The trial was established as a randomised complete block of 9 treatments and 4 replicates in a quadruple bank with each plot 10 m long by 2 m wide.



In June 2023, the trial plot was sown to Scepter wheat at a rate of 96kg/ha to a depth of 3cm and the following treatments applied:



- Knockdown pre-seeding herbicide treatments of Glyphosate 450 (3L/ha), Trifluralin (2L/ha) and Mateno (750ml/ha) were incorporated by sowing (IBS);



- Uniform (400ml/ha) and Cruiser 350FS (200ml/ha) in furrow;



- Chlorpyrifos 500EC (1L/ha) post sowing pre-emergent (PSPE);



- Seeding fertiliser Mono-Ammonium Phosphate (MAP) was applied at 80kg/ha.



Post emergent treatments of Velocity (800ml/ha), Axial Xtra (400ml/ha) and Hasten (0.5% v/v) were applied. Further post emergent treatments of Amistar Extra (400ml.ha), Alpha Forte 250 (50ml/ha) and Chlorpyrifos 500EC (150ml/ha) were applied.



Trial applications of Verigrow(R) were administered via liquid banding in furrow at seeding, and spray application via hand boom at 6 weeks after sowing.



Crop vigour assessments using vigour ratings compared to the UTC (untreated control) and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) readings, were taken on the 2nd of August 2023. The crop was plot harvested for yield and grain quality comparisons on the 1st of December 2023.



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/U289389T





About Veratin Limited





Veratin Limited (NSX:VTN) is involved in the research and development of products derived from waste wool, including the development and sales of its initial product, Verigrow(R), a wool-based liquid fertiliser for domestic and commercial use. The Company is also involved in the development of additional products and opportunities derived from its registered intellectual property.

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Russia recently fired additional North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine following earlier such launches, a White House official said Tuesday, reiterating the arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang violate multiple U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, disclosed Russia's additional missile strikes on the war-torn country on Saturday, while noting its earlier launches of North Korean missiles on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.

"Since then, Russian forces again launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine," Kirby told a press briefing. "We are still assessing the impacts of these strikes, but we can confirm that at least one of them landed in Kharkiv."

Last Thursday, Kirby announced that the North recently provided Russia with several dozen ballistic missiles, as well as ballistic missile launchers.

Kirby said that Washington will discuss the arms transfers between the North and Russia at the UNSC on Wednesday. The transfer of any weapons and related materials from the North is banned under UNSC resolutions that Russia itself voted for.

"Russia's transfer of ballistic missiles from the DPRK directly violates multiple UNSC resolutions," he said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"Tomorrow, we will raise these arms deals at the UNSC alongside our allies and partners and demand that Russia be held accountable for yet again violating international obligations that it signed up to," he added.

Meanwhile, top diplomats from nearly 50 countries, including South Korea, the United States and Japan, issued a joint statement condemning in the "strongest terms" the arms transfers between the North and Russia.

"The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia's war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime," the statement read.

"We are deeply concerned about the security implications that this cooperation has in Europe, on the Korean Peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world," it added.

In October, the White House revealed that the North had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The transaction came amid persistent speculation that the Sept. 13 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport might have led to an arms deal. (Yonhap)
M.V. Nair is an industry veteran with over 4 decades of experience, and has held key positions such as Chairman of TransUnion CIBIL, Indian Banks Association and Union Bank of India

Propelld, a leader in digital education lending in India, today announced that financial industry veteran M. V. Nair has joined its board as a Director. M. V. Nair has been a key figure in India's financial services industry for more than four decades, having held several key positions in pioneering companies as an operator, advisor, board member and investor.

Mr. Nair serves as the Non-Executive Chairman of KFin Technologies Limited, India's premier registrar and a leader in investor servicing, which recently debuted on the public market in December 2022. He extends his expertise as an advisor to TransUnion LLC, a preeminent global credit reporting agency, building upon his significant tenure as Chairman of Transunion CIBIL, India's largest Credit Bureau, for more than a decade. Additionally, he lends his advisory acumen to a select portfolio of private equity and venture-backed firms.

In his illustrious career, Mr. Nair has assumed pivotal roles across prominent financial institutions, notably as Chairman and Managing Director of Union Bank of India and Dena Bank, as well as Chairman of SWIFT India Domestic Services Private Limited and the Indian Banks' Association. His vast experience includes membership in various committees under the Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, Confederation of Indian Industry, and FICCI, focusing on banking and financial services. Currently, he contributes to the advisory committee of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), further testament to his extensive expertise and leadership in the financial domain.

We look forward to learning from Mr M. V. Nairs extensive expertise and deep insights to support our mission to democratise access to education. He has been instrumental in shaping fintech companies such as CIBIL and KFin, and leading several systematically critical financial services institutions. We aspire to build Propelld into a pioneering institution that transforms access to education through financing. Mr Nair's expertise will help us build Propelld on a strong foundation of industry leading governance and compliance, strengthen our company strategy, and deepen our relationships across the industry said Bibhu Prasad Das, Founder and CEO, Propelld.

Propelld belongs to a generation of fintech players that are revolutionising the industry through strong fundamentals, innovation and customer-focused solutions. I look forward to contributing to this momentum said M. V. Nair.

Edgrow, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Propelld, has recently received an NBFC license.

Propelld was founded in 2018 by the dynamic trio of Bibhu Prasad Das, Victor Senapaty and Brijesh Samantaray. It was the first to introduce innovative education loan financing solutions such as Study Now and Pay Later products as well as Income Sharing Agreements. The company has a first-mover advantage in the education loan segment and has gone beyond traditional credit assessment techniques to launch collateral-free education financing.

With a 2,000+ strong partner network, the Series-B funded Propelled is firmly on an

accelerated growth path, one that is focused on organic expansion and building upon

positive student testimonials.
Anirban Roy, Amazon Indias former Marketing Head, joins Swiggy Instamart as Vice President

Anirban Roy, who had recently resigned as the Head of performance marketing at Amazon India, is assuming the role of Vice-President, Category, Revenue and Growth at Swiggy Instamart.

In his LinkedIn post he writes: I am delighted to embark on this exciting chapter as I join the remarkable growth trajectory of one of India's most cherished brands, assuming the role of Vice President - Category, Revenue, and Growth at Swiggy Instamart!

Roy had been working for almost 7.5 years in Amazon India. In an earlier post on LinkedIn post, last week, he mentioned: After 7.5 wonderful years at Amazon, I am moving on to a new adventure. I have had the privilege to have a front row seat to the rapidly evolving e-commerce landscape and feel proud to have played a small yet integral part in Amazons India journey.

Anirban Roy is taking over the role from Sidharth Satpathy, who joined Swiggy as an AVP in June 2019 before being promoted to VP in July 2021.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin diagnosed with prostate cancer

Xinhua) 10:38, January 10, 2024

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement on Tuesday.

The latest announcement came one day after the White House and the Pentagon both said that they would investigate why President Joe Biden and other high-ranking officials were not informed immediately about the defense secretary's hospitalization and left in the dark for several days.

The cancer was discovered after a routine prostate screening, Walter Reed officials said. On Dec. 22, Austin underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer. He was under "general anesthesia" during it.

His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, according to the statement.

On Jan. 1, 2024, Austin was admitted again to the medical center with complications from the Dec. 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection. On Jan. 2, he was transferred to an intensive care unit for close monitoring and a higher level of care.

"He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process," the statement said.

During Austin's stay in the hospital, certain authorities were transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, but both Hicks and the White House weren't informed of Austin's hospitalization until Jan. 4.

"I think there's an expectation that when a Cabinet official becomes hospitalized ... that will be notified up the chain of command. There is that expectation," John Kirby, the National Security Council (NSC)'s coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters Monday.

The Pentagon also announced in a memo Monday night that it would review the way transfer of authority is handled, with a specific focus on the events and decisions related to Austin's hospitalization. This is to ensure appropriate and timely notification to the president, the White House, the U.S. Congress, and the public in the future.

Austin's secretive hospitalization occurred amid heightened tension in the Middle East and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Some Republicans in the Congress, as well as former President Donald Trump, have urged Austin to resign, criticizing his failure to disclose his hospitalization and voicing transparency concerns.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Demand for the Chinese yuan appeared to be growing in North Korea's private markets, a report showed Wednesday, in a sign of rising distrust over the North's own currency.

Some 68.4 percent of North Korean defectors who left their home country between 2016 and 2020 said they used the Chinese yuan in unofficial private markets, known as "jangmadang", compared with 6.4 percent of those who defected before 2000, according to a draft report on the North Korean economy and society compiled by the unification ministry.

Some 25.7 percent of the respondents in the first group said they used the North Korean currency in such markets, sharply down from 81.6 percent in the latter group.

The document also showed that 58.7 percent of those who defected in the 2016-2020 period owned foreign currency, such as the Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar, compared with 10.7 percent who said they only owned local currency.

The figure marked a sharp increase compared with 3.9 percent of North Koreans who defected before 2000 who owned foreign currency. Some 53 percent had said they owned no cash, while 27.4 percent said they only owned the North Korean currency.

The report comes as the North Korean economy has been trending toward marketization in the past decade as state benefits, such as food rationing, appeared to be worsening amid economic woes deepened by sanctions.

The North Korean economy shrank for a third consecutive year in 2022 amid international sanctions and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by South Korea's statistics agency.

The unification ministry is expected to release its findings from the report based on information obtained from 6,351 defectors later this month. (Yonhap)
PRtainment Media, a leading PR agency in India, proudly announces its appointment as the official PR partner for Tea Planet, a visionary venture in the world of tea. PRtainment Media has distinguished itself with its comprehensive "full service" agency approach. The agency smoothly integrates media outreach, social media strategies, brand marketing, and creative consulting to craft compelling campaigns that make a lasting impact. With a track record of successful collaborations with diverse clients, PRtainment brings its expertise and innovative approach to amplify The Tea Planet's unique position in the market.

Nidhi Sabbarwal, Director and Co-Founder of PRtainment Media & Communications Pvt Ltd expressed her enthusiasm about the partnership by stating, We are thrilled to be partnering with The Tea Planet, the brand shares our commitment to excellence and innovation. We are dedicated to creating immersive campaigns that captivate audiences, and we look forward to bringing our decade-long experience to elevate The Tea Planet's presence in the industry."

Tea Planet was founded in 2016 over time, it emerged as a visionary venture in the world of tea. The brands diverse range of tea reflects the rich tea culture from different parts of the world and shows the global diversity that the brand offers through its products.

Mrs. Madhuri Ganadinni, Director, and Co-Founder of The Tea Planet, conveyed her excitement about the collaboration, saying We believe that PRtainment's strategic and creative approach aligns perfectly with our vision for The Tea Planet. As we embark on this exciting journey together, we are confident that this partnership will help us reach new heights and introduce The Tea Planet to a wider and diverse range of audience."

The collaboration between PRtainment and The Tea Planet signifies a blend of expertise and innovation. It promises exciting developments in the world of tea and public relations.
The 12th edition of The Hindu Groups flagship event Lit Fest 2024 will be held at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai on January 26 and 27.

The festival once again promises to provide a platform that encourages and nurtures the exchange of ideas, allowing participants and audience to engage consciously with the important questions of the day.

The Hindu Lit Fest ensures that it actively makes room for an experience that both fosters and champions, above all, free speech, the highest ideals of democracy, and a pluralism of expression in the arts and literature.

As The Hindu Group Chairperson Nirmala Lakshman puts it, these are the underlying core values that reflect the newspapers ethic. They reflect the principles on which the festival, Dr. Lakshmans brainchild, was founded back in the year 2011.

Beyond Books

As always, The Hindu Lit Fest, 2024 will go beyond books, expanding to include conversations that turn the spotlight on some incredibly important and urgent issues  from sessions on the global shift to hyper-nationalism to a discussion on countering viral falsehoods; from a conversation on Sangam poetry to the journey of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO); and from a panel on understanding the history of idol worship to another on the Indian economy.

This year, focusing on both current affairs and larger societal shifts, programme director Rachana Singh Davidar and programme consultant Prasanna Ramaswamy have ensured that the panels offer conversations and food for thought on a wide and inclusive range of subjects, from politics and the economy to food, sports, fashion, and stand-up comedy. There is something for everyone, and the line-up will feed your existing interests while also encouraging new ones.

The panellists, too, are experts, change-makers and leaders from a wide range of fields. The line-up includes Ramachandra Guha, Shashi Tharoor, Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Manu Chandra, Neerja Chowdhury, Anuja Chauhan, Tarun Tahiliani, Cyrus Broacha, Sreenivasan Jain, Kanan Gill, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, T.M. Krishna and Perumal Murugan.

Discussing the great diversity of brilliant speakers, Dr. Lakshman points out that not all of them do the festival rounds, and [many of them] have come exclusively to us. For instance, S. Somanath, ISRO Chairman, will deliver a lecture on ISROs spectacular recent achievements at this years festival.

Month-long events

One need not wait till January-end to begin experiencing the festival. Starting from the second week of the month, Chennai will see a series of on-ground engagements that include a kind of sampler of the things to come  from a mobile library to curated walks, sessions and workshops on storytelling, quizzes and contests  all designed to lead up to the main event.

Speaking about the event, Suresh Balakrishna, Chief Revenue Officer of The Hindu Group, said, We are thrilled to host a literary festival that goes beyond books. Our goal is to champion knowledge inclusivity by sharing diverse stories and experiences and fostering meaningful conversations. This event aims to bring together some of the greatest minds to a city that takes pride in its rich literary heritage and the diverse art it has inspired.

The endeavour to ensure the event's success and creating a larger impact is supported by many like-minded brands. The Hindu Lit Fest 2024 is presented by GSquare Group, In Association with NITTE Education Trust & Christ University, FIITJEE is the festivals associate partner. The Bookstore Partner is Higginbothams, VFS Global is the Author Lounge Partner and Repute is the water partner
GIPSI, the HI+AI insights division of Tonic Worldwide launches inSIGHT - an annual new year insights report. The report captures unique insights which gives perspective on not just the popular sentiments for 2024 but also the undercurrents. The insights range from well being related topics, AI, green to gender equality, make-up and clans. Its a sneak-peek into what can be a mainstream phenomenon sooner rather than later.

Speaking on the finding of the inSIGHT report, Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director and GIPSI Co-Head, says, As we enter 2024, some of the themes of 2023 such as AI and Green will continue to engage marketers, but its the micro trends and undercurrents, we wanted to throw light on, as well. For e.g. Fan of small things which talks about the discord communities or how consumers are looking for a snooze!

Unmisha Bhatt, Co-Founder and CSO at Tonic Worldwide, expressed, "Gipsi exists to add value to brands and businesses, fostering growth. With this brand purpose, we've consistently strived to curate IPs like 'inSIGHT 2024.' This report touches upon behavioural insights that are both relevant and actionable for businesses across verticals in 2024. We're excited to witness the response from brands and anticipate the emergence of campaigns, product innovations, and real-life solutions inspired by our report."

GIPSI, uses a unique methodology of HI+ AI which triangulates multiple data points to decode and deliver actionable insights. The model applied for this report is 360 degree GIPSI which includes Deep listening (digital data) and GIPSI App for a primary check.

URL of the report : https://www.tonicworldwide.com/gipsiinsight24/



Report Highlights:

Engineering Sleep: With over two lakh monthly searches on the web, a growing number of Indian consumers are looking for solutions for sleeplessness by researching more on sleep hygiene practices and solutions.

on the web, a growing number of Indian consumers are looking for solutions for sleeplessness by researching more on sleep hygiene practices and solutions. Food Fixers: Food is a cure, not just nutrition. Nutraceuticals are getting traction as consumers consider them to be their allies on their path to living a healthy life. There has been a 40% rise in searches for gummies in 2023 as compared to 2022.These include gummies for better sleep, good gut health, healthy skin and hair.

Pick Your Therapy: From dancing to art and the melodies of music, people are on the hunt for interesting activity based therapies. Number of Indians conversing about various therapies on Twitter (Now X) doubled since 2022. 2023 saw over 862K searches on yoga as therapy, music therapy, pottery therapy and similar activities. This shift is opening doors for more people to embrace therapy as a form of self-help and self-care.

Going Slow mo: Overconsumption, overstimulation, fast life have raised the craving for slowing down among consumers.They are showing interest in hitting the slow button to have a more meaningful life. GIPSI tracked over 133K searches around slow living and mindful practices.3X QoQ search increase for slow living concept.

Do Green: When it comes to sustainability and green living, consumers are demanding action. 190 thousand mentions around actionable green practices saw a rise of 52% in 2023. 1.92M engagement for content related to actionable green practices in the past one year.

Gender Inequality is a Turn Off : Love is not blind anymore! 124% rise in mentions around inequality in relationships related keywords (e.g: misogyny & dating). 86% increase in conversations about changing wedding rituals for gender equality

AI - A See-Saw of Intelligence : While generative AI brands are in good books, their effects are raising many concerns, thus the rise of the debate of HI v/s AI will be a see-saw of intelligence. 2.2L+individuals exhibit a joyful disposition towards AI. 67K+ exhibit a fearful disposition towards AI.

Deepfake can Cause Deep Trouble: Fake is getting closer to real. Fear of harassment, identity theft, and misinformation causing worries among netizens. 1M+ rise in engagement on mentions around deepfake with regard to identity theft. 65% are afraid that deepfake can lead to frauds like identity theft or sexual harassment.

Men in Makeup : There is an undercurrent of interest in makeup for men. 47% increase in mentions related to makeup for men in the past one year. 3.2 M+ interactions on content posted by Top 5 Indian Men Makeup Influencers in the past one year. 6% rise in search for makeup for men in 2023.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 10.01.2024 - Former federal councillor Alain Berset has expressed his interest in taking up the post of Secretary General of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe. The Federal Department of foreign affairs (FDFA) supports this candidacy and submitted it today to the chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council.

The Council of Europe promotes human rights, democracy and the rule of law in its 46 member states. Within the Council, intergovernmental agreements that are binding under international law, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, are concluded, with the aim of promoting economic and social progress and preserving Europe's common heritage constructed to date. Switzerland joined the Council on 6 May 1963, becoming its 17th member state.



The Secretary General is elected for a five-year term by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly from a list of candidates that the Committee of Ministers submits to it.



The Parliamentary Assembly will take its decision in June 2024. The person elected will take office on 18 September 2024.

Address for enquiries

FDFA Communication

Federal Palace West Wing

CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland

Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55

E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Twitter: @SwissMFA

Publisher

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




Alabamas state board of education members are undecided about how to deal with student cell phone use in schools.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey told board members in December that they couldnt outright ban cell phones from schools, but he would like to give some additional guidance to districts.

There are a lot of states talking about cell phones in schools, Mackey told board members. And in most cases, its all negative. And the problem goes beyond taking away students attention, he said.

Weve even had issues where students send threatening messages to other students during the school day, he said, and, of course, our local school districts are having to deal with that.

Its a big issue that has been discussed among state boards, board member Stephanie Bell said. We really have problems, and theyre discipline problems.

Mackey said Florida is the only state where lawmakers have restricted cell phone use in schools, prohibiting their use during class time. Some Florida schools have taken it a step further, requiring phones to be stored for the entire school day. The Tampa Bay Times reported teachers, parents and students said one Florida middle school is better without cell phones.

With plenty of research now showing the harmful effects of phone-associated behaviors like cyberbullying and mental health issues, schools across the country are taking steps to restrict access to cell phones during the school day.

Alabama school districts have a hodge-podge of rules about students using cell phones at school. Some prohibit them during the school day, others allow them to be used on breaks and at lunch.

Mackey said Montgomery County schools is the only district to ban cell phone use during the school day district-wide and so far, so good. Students are required to lock their phone into a magnetically-sealed pouch made by Yondr which stays locked until the end of the school day.

Elmore Countys Stanhope Elmore High School started using Yondr pouches in the 2022-23 school year, and Macon County started using them in mid-October.

Montgomery County schools communications director Jade Jones shared results of a staff survey measuring the impact of a no cell phone policy through December with AL.com:

68% of staff indicated more productivity among students,

63% of staff indicated reductions in classroom distractions, and

61% of staff indicate increased student engagement.

Seven in 10 staff said the policy should be continued, she added.

Mackey said the board could take some kind of action, while still leaving it up to local school boards to set their own rules for their students.

We went through a period where teachers worried do we have enough computers and they were encouraging you to bring your phone and get it out, do research on your phone and use it for a calculator, Mackey said. That seems to have been a curve that weve now gone beyond. Part of that is because weve been able to buy devices for pretty much all of our students.

I do think all of the evidence seems to be that if students dont have cell phones, Mackey said, things are better during the day.
A suspect has been charged in the weekend shooting death of a 5-year-old boy killed in a hail of gunfire while he was getting his hair cut at a Bessemer home.

Kendrick Rondell ONeal, 26, is charged with capital murder in the Sunday slaying of Brandon Jamal Nation III. The charge is capital because of Brandons age and because shots were fired into a home.

The 25-year-old man cutting Brandons hair was also critically injured.

ONeal is also charged with attempted murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

The deadly shooting happened at 10:15 a.m. Sunday in the 500 block of Seventh Avenue North.

Authorities said ONeal was accompanied by others when they pulled up to the home with the intention of killing the adult victim. Three people got out ONeals vehicle and opened fire with automatic weapons into the enclosed front porch.

Brandon was struck in the head. He was taken to Childrens of Alabama, where he was pronounced dead two hours later.

The adult victim was taken to UAB Hospital.

Kendrick Rondell ONeal(Jefferson County Jail)

Police said dozens of rounds were fired. Several other people were inside the home, but were not injured.

ONeal will be held without bond.

ONeal, of Birmingham, was arrested in 2018 on charges of receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, leaving the scene of an accident, carrying a pistol without a permit, attempting to elude and reckless endangerment.

He pleaded guilty later that year to receiving stolen property and leaving the scene of an accident. He received a suspended sentence in both convictions.

Bessemer police Det. Justin Burmeister said investigators have identified other suspects and are actively pursuing them.

They questioned another person, but that person was released without being charged.

A vigil for Brandon is set for Thursday at 5 p.m. at Railroad Park.

Anyone with information is asked to call Bessemer police at 205-481-4366, the departments tip line at 205-428-3541 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
The United Auto Workers of America (UAW) said today that approximately 1,500 workers at Mercedes-Benzs Vance auto plant in Tuscaloosa County have joined the union.

The UAW hailed the number as a major milestone in its ongoing campaign to organize in Americas non-unionized auto plants.

A Mercedes spokesperson said the company would release a comment later today.

About 6,000 people work at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI), which was the first auto plant to locate in Alabama. The plant produces the Mercedes GLE, GLE coupe and GLS model series. After investing more than $1 billion into its Alabama operations since 2017, Mercedes also produces the all-electric EQS SUV and EQE.

According to the UAW, its members signing union authorization cards represent about 30% of the plants workforce. Previous unionization drives by the UAW at Vance have not been able to gain traction. However, last year, UAW members at a Mercedes supplier walked out on the job while a new contract was negotiated.

The union push comes following several attempts by unions to organize in Alabama, a right-to-work state where organizing in recent years has had decidedly mixed results.

Perhaps the highest-profile case is the fight that began to unionize Bessemers Amazon warehouse in 2021, which saw two contested elections. A hearing is set for Jan. 29 regarding the results of a 2022 election on whether workers will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The ultimate goal of the unions drive, according to UAW materials, is to reach the 70% threshold.

After 70% of our coworkers have signed cards and we have an organizing committee made up of workers from every shift, every job classification, and every group of workers in the plant, we demand that the company recognize our union, a flier states. If they dont, we file cards with the (National Labor Relations Board) and take it to a vote.

In an accompanying video released by the UAW, workers talk about the history of the plant and how their pay has not kept pace in recent years with the rise in the price of Mercedes vehicles.

In the past, people didnt know if we had a pathway forward here, Jeremy Kimbrell, a Mercedes worker since 1999 said in a news release through the union. Now everybodys coming together and seeing what the pathway is, and its through the union. When we get our union in here, I think people will once again look at Mercedes and say, its not just another job, its a career job. Its a job where generations will want to come and work. And thatll spread out to the suppliers and then to the broader area.

The unions announcement also comes a month after Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., went public with a unionization drive.

The brand may be foreign, but the labor is American.



And American workers don't just roll over and take what we're given.



Mercedes workers in Alabama are ready to Stand Up.



And the whole working class is ready to stand with them.#StandUpUAW #1u #UAW pic.twitter.com/FB8MHxeYko  UAW (@UAW) January 10, 2024

Derrick Todd, an online quality member with MBUSI since 2005, said pay topped out two years ago and employees have to go through a temp agency before getting on pay scale.

Back in the day, you could get by on the pay here, Todd said. Year after year, the company says theyve got record profits and sales, but our pay doesnt keep up. Its time to set things right. Its time that we had our voice heard.

Jim Spitzley, who said hes been with the company for 27 years, said morale has been steadily declining.

Even when I started, I rotated shifts for 15 years, so I missed a lot of time with my kids when they were little, Spitzley said in a union announcement. Im on straight days now, but when a new model year comes out I can still work 12 out of 13 weekends. We have to have a voice to turn things around. The union is our voice. Thats how the new people coming in are going to be treated fairly. Thats how we end the two tiers.
Traffic deaths investigated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency decreased in 2023, but 560 people still lost their lives in fatal crashes on Alabama roadways.

The numbers mark the second year in a row that ALEA has seen a decline. There were 586 fatal wrecks worked by troopers in 2022.

Troopers investigated a total of 31,717 traffic crashes which resulted in 11,070 injuries in addition to the 560 fatalities. There were 273 fewer crashes in 2023 compared to 2022, but the number of injuries increased by 156 over the previous year.

The statistics, released Wednesday by ALEA, do not include traffic crashes and fatalities worked by other law enforcement agencies.

While we are constantly striving to reduce the number of crashes and fatalities on our roadways, our work at the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is never done, said ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor. There are still families whose loved ones did not return home safely this holiday season and they are grieving for those who were lost in traffic crashes.

Tragically, Taylor said, our Troopers continue to investigate traffic crashes resulting in individuals failing to return home to their friends and loved ones.

ALEA for the second year promoted 12 Days of Safety over the holiday period, which ran from Thursday, Dec. 21, through Monday, Jan. 1. That campaign included topics ranging from winterizing and preparing vehicles for travel to seat belt safety and risky driving behaviors such as impaired and drowsy driving.

Authorities said 19 people were killed during that official nine-day travel period, including two motorcyclists and one pedestrian.

Of the 16 fatality victims traveling in vehicles equipped with seat belts, three were using seat belts, but 12 were not buckled in. Troopers have not determined whether the 16th person was using a seat belt.

The fatal crashes occurred in Calhoun, Chambers, Cleburne, Houston, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Marengo, Montgomery, Russell, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, and Wilcox counties.

Seat belts are a motorists first line of defense, significantly reducing the risk of injuries and fatalities in the event of a collision, said Colonel Jon Archer, Director of ALEAs Department of Public Safety. Motorists are reminded to always buckle your seat belt when operating a motor vehicle.
An 81-year-old woman died early Tuesday morning after a tornado uprooted her mobile home in southeast Alabama.

Houston County Deputy Coroner Andrew Byrd identified the victim as Charlotte Paschal, 81.

She was in her mobile home, unfortunately, when she passed, Byrd said.

The deputy coroner said a tornado that tore through Cottonwood, near Dothan, lifted Paschals mobile home before the structure tumbled several times.

Efforts to reach the Alabama Emergency Management Agency on statewide deaths and injuries attributed to the storms that rocked the state late Monday night and early Tuesday morning were unsuccessful.

The storms across Alabama caused extensive damage, including trees that fell from Mobile to Cullman counties, and left tens of thousands of residents without power.

In Birmingham, a driver was killed when a tree fell on their vehicle along Crestwood Boulevard late Tuesday morning.

However, it was unclear whether that fatality was storm-related.
North Korea could continue its psychological warfare against South Korea ahead of the South's general elections in April, a senior official in Seoul said Wednesday.

South Korea will beef up measures against cyberattacks and dissemination of false information by North Korea, Vice Unification Minister Moon Seoung-hyun said.

The warning came three days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed the North conducted a "deceptive operation" by detonating explosives simulating the sound of coastal artillery to test the South Korean military's detection capabilities.

"The upcoming general elections are very important and North Korea will continue with its psychological warfare against the South to split public opinion and pressure the government," Moon said in a television interview.

Earlier this month, the ministry denounced North Korea for attempting to divide South Korean society with threats and far-fetched criticisms ahead of the general elections in April.

North Korea has a track record of staging provocations before South Korea's general elections.

In the months before South Korea's parliamentary elections in April 2016, North Korea carried out a series of provocations, including a fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range missile in February.

In 2020, North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles on four occasions in March alone, just weeks before South Koreans went to the polls to elect lawmakers in April. (Yonhap)
A federal court has set a Feb. 8 hearing on a lawsuit accusing Alabama state prisons of using slave labor.

The hearing will take up a motion from the plaintiffs  current and former inmates in Alabamas prison system; unions and civil rights organizations  for a preliminary injunction against the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Plaintiffs want an injunction to end Alabamas current practice of forced [prison] labor; release individuals qualified for parole; require the state to pay the plaintiffs what they earn through working in the prison system, as well as monetary damages to be determined at trial.

More from Alabama Reflector

The lawsuit alleges that Alabama prison labor is sustained by punishing those who refuse to work or those who encourage other prisoners to refuse to work.

The lawsuit also accuses public and private entities, ranging from local governments to fast food restaurants and grocery stores, of benefitting from the labor.

Barbara Jane Chisholm, lead attorney for plaintiffs, said at a conference hearing on Tuesday that they may request witness testimony, based on the states response to the lawsuit, due in court by Jan. 22.

Part of that determination. is going to be easier to make based on whatever the defendants file on the 22nd, Chisholm said.

State counsel objected to having live witnesses, saying issues raised in the motion for a preliminary injunction could be resolved by the states response brief.

But we have no objection to a hearing for oral argument on the written submissions, said Brad Chynoweth, counsel for Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Chynoweth also said that they will also be raising a number of immunity and standing and jurisdictional issues that would need to be decided before requiring Ivey or Marshall to testify.

The lawsuit also alleged that the state grew these programs by favoring white over Black prisoners in parole decisions for release. It further alleges that the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, which has sharply curtailed parole grants in recent years, has unlawfully refused to release people from prison and further skewed the racial composition of the incarcerated population by wrongfully denying parole to thousands of Alabamiansand to Black Alabamians in particular.

The lawsuit alleged the parole board, under directions from Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, has unlawfully refused to release people from prison and further skewed the racial composition of the incarcerated population by wrongfully denying parole to thousands of Alabamiansand to Black Alabamians in particular.

Gary Willford, counsel for the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, also argued that Alabama state law prohibits members of the board from discussing anything that is in a parole file, other than the boards action sheets.
City or county officials would be able to remove a library board member at any time, according to a new bill pre-filed in the Alabama State Senate.

Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Baldwin County) pre-filed SB10, which states that members shall serve at the pleasure of their respective appointing authority and may be removed at any time by a majority vote of the appointing authority.

The bill tees up books for ongoing discussion in the Alabama statehouse, where some lawmakers have threatened intervention if local libraries do not adjust the presentation of certain books.

Elliott said his bill simply allows a mechanism for removal of appointed board members.

There was some confusion in the code or ambiguity in the code, Elliott said. Theyre appointed, but theres no mechanism for removal.

Elliott said a local mayor had questions about how board members can be added or removed, and he believed it had to do with budgetary purposes.

This isnt about some controversy, Elliott said. This isnt an ax to grind. He mentioned he spoke with Alabama Public Library Service director Dr. Nancy Pack today about the bill and had a very good conversation.

I think library boards should fit individual communities and that local authorities should be in control of whats going on there, Elliott said.

According to the draft bill, instead of staggered terms of one to four years, depending on the board members date of appointment, all board members will serve four-year terms. The changes would go into effect Oct. 1.

Elliott also has proposed cutting funding to the Alabama Department of Archives and History in November because it hosted an LGBTQ history lecture. He pre-filed a bill to replace current board members with appointees by the governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and president pro tempore of the Senate.

Andrew Foster, Autauga-Prattville Public Library director, said he doesnt approve of the changes outlined in SB10. In November, the Autauga County Commission ignored the library boards recommendations and appointed members without their approval. The remaining library board members resigned in protest.

I already feel that the at pleasure wording encourages the politicization of library boards, which weve already had to deal with here in Autauga-Prattville, Foster said. The removal of staggered terms for board members just removes more guidance/bounds from the process, potentially disrupts the continuity of the board, can cause issues for the library and makes the appointment/reappointment process far messier. "
Many Birmingham residents have still not gotten the hang of putting all their trash in their new 90-gallon carts.

Too many people still put trash on the curb, not in the cart, expecting it to be picked up, city officials say.

Its gonna stop, Council member Valerie Abbott said. Get your act together.

Since the cart system is fairly new to residents and considering that many people have extra trash after Christmas, the city has cut people some slack and picked it up anyway, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said. We did allow a grace period, Woodfin said.

The holidays have caused shifting of pickup days and some confusion that will continue into next week, when the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday will delay pickup by a day, he said.

I think well make the necessary adjustments, Woodfin said.

Birmingham City Council President Darrell OQuinn recommended that people use the city landfills to discard trash that doesnt fit in the uniform trash carts.

Thats a very unique citizen that would do that, Woodfin said.

People dont have to let household waste rot in front of their house, OQuinn said. They have the capacity to bring that to the landfill at no cost to them.
C.J. Pearson may look like a political novice, but the 21-year-old has been involved in politics for half his life. And this week, the Augusta, Georgia-area native announced he will run in the special election to replace state Rep. Barry Fleming, the Republican who is leaving the House to assume a judgeship.

Pearson burst onto the political scene at the tender age of 12 by making viral, in-your-face videos attacking then-President Barack Obama. His biting rhetoric quickly earned him a place on the Georgia GOPs radar as a young Black spokesman for a party desperate to attract young voters and minorities.

Since then, Pearson has led a string of conservative groups, attracted vast social media followings, dabbled as a political operative and served as a commentator for the conservative PragerU outlet. He once discussed running for mayor of Tuscaloosa.

He dropped out of the University of Alabama last year, three semesters shy of graduating, telling Fox News that school was force-fed indoctrination. He then moved to Los Angeles to join PragerU. But his family calls the Augusta suburbs home, and he said hes now back there full-time to run for state office.

The people of my district dont want to elect just another Republican to this seat; they want to elect a conservative who knows how to fight like the future of our country is on the line. Because it is  make no qualms about it, Pearson said.

Along the way, Pearson has made plenty of enemies. He served as campaign manager for Vernon Jones, the ex-Democrat whose disastrous far-right campaign against Gov. Brian Kemp imploded.

Moments after word came out about Peasons run, we heard from a handful of Republicans who said they would walk through glass to defeat him  and said they expect to line up behind a local GOP activist who has yet to announce.
A drive-by shooting in east Birmingham sent one person to the hospital with critical injuries.

The gunfire erupted about 1:10 p.m. at Oporto-Madrid Boulevard and Fifth Avenue North.

Shot Spotter registered multiple rounds fired in the area and then police received calls of someone unconscious in the drivers seat of a minivan in an intersection.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the man was either stopped at the traffic light or proceeding through it when another vehicle pulled up alongside the van and opened fire.

Investigators marked at least 12 shell casings in the intersection.

The victim was rushed to UAB Hospital by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service, followed by police.

The suspected shooter fled the scene in another vehicle.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
Authorities have released the name of a man killed when a falling tree struck his vehicle on a busy east Birmingham road.

The Jefferson County Coroners Office identified the victim as Cedric Ralph McNeal. He was 68 and lived in Center Point.

The crash happened just before 11 a.m. Tuesday in the 5900 block of Crestwood Boulevard, in front of the Alabama Waldorf School.

McNeal was traveling eastbound in his Toyota Camry when the massive tree toppled.

He was pronounced dead on the scene at 11:06 a.m.

I heard it, said one nearby resident. It didnt sound like anything Id ever heard before.

McNeal was alone in the vehicle and no other injuries were reported.
The family of an Alabama man who died in police custody has settled a lawsuit against City of Guntersville and its police officers.

According to WAFF, attorneys for the family of Travis Banks reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount on Tuesday.

The case has amicably resolved and will be dismissed, the attorneys said in a statement.

The suit was filed in federal court in January 2022 seeking damages.

Travis Banks, 28, died July 31, 2021 at Marshall Medical Center North, where he was transferred after becoming unresponsive at the Guntersville City Jail.

His family said Banks, who was diagnosed with an unspecified psychotic disorder in 2018, was put in a restraint chair after eating paint chips and banging his head on the walls of his cell.

While in the chair, the family claimed, Banks was tased by officers.

According to the suit, filed by Banks mother Annisa, Banks was arrested at 2:45 a.m. on July 30, 2021 for disorderly conduct by Guntersville police and placed in an isolation cell. His family claimed he had a psychotic episode, leading to his arrest.

The suit stated that, in the cell, he began running into the walls, banging his head on them and ingesting some of the paint from the walls. Then, the suit stated, he was put into restraints.

The following day, sometime between 12:00 a.m. and 3:15 a.m., police brought him to another room where he could be watched on camera. Shortly after, he collapsed.

He was pronounced dead later that morning from a heart attack and renal failure.
The founder of Surin West in Birmingham, which became a chain of Thai restaurants spread across the South, has died.

Surin Techarukpong died on Jan. 6. He was 67.

Surin was one of a kind, said Terrill Brazelton, owner of Troups Pizza, which opened in 2020 in Birmingham with Techarukpong as a business partner. He truly was an immigrant who came over with nothing in his pocket from Thailand, didnt speak English, and started a restaurant dynasty.

Techarukpong opened Surin of Thailand in Five Points South in Birmingham in 1995 and it quickly became one of the citys favorite dining spots.

He later opened Surin of Thailand in the Crestline neighborhood of Mountain Brook and Surin 280 on U.S. 280 in Birmingham. He owned two Thai restaurants in Atlanta that started in the 1980s, and also had locations in Huntsville and Knoxville, Tenn.

The Surin chain has at least seven restaurants, including the first two in Atlanta that are still operating, and Techarukpong has invested in other restaurants including Troups, Brazelton said. Techarukpong was no longer involved in day-to-day running of the restaurants, although relatives still operate them, and there is expected to be no disruption of service at the restaurants.

The success of the Surin brand emanated from the universal appeal not just of the food, but Techarukpongs bright personality.

He was always smiling, Brazelton said. He was always happy.

Techarukpongs life message was, If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything, Brazelton said. His goal was to be able to pursue that American dream. He gave me the opportunity to live my dream. He always wanted me to be successful.

Techarukpongs parting words were focus and discipline yields intellect and just be happy, dont try to seek happiness or avoid unhappiness, according to his obituary.

Techarukpong came to the United States from Thailand as part of a Catholic mission program, although he was known for his devout Buddhism.

He earned a masters degree at Loma Linda University and worked at a pizza restaurant in Los Angeles before moving to Alabama.

Everyone he met, he made them feel better about themselves, Brazelton said. He was part of the family; we were part of his family.

Techarukpong didnt talk a lot about himself or his own accomplishments, Brazelton said.

He was always focused on you, he said. It felt like the sun was shining on you and you alone. Its been hard to accept that Ill never see him again.

We all loved him, said Brazeltons wife, Ashley. Its a huge loss for our community.

Techarukpong was survived by his wife and two daughters.

An outdoors celebration of life service will be held at the Techarukpong farm, 2484 Eastern Valley Road in Leeds, on Saturday, Jan. 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A Mobile councilman is comparing the Port of Mobile and its impact on the city with Huntsville and its long relationship in growing Redstone Arsenal.

The comments from Councilman Joel Daves came at the end of the weekly council meeting on Tuesday, and were in response to a Forbes Magazine article that listed Mobile as the second-fasting growing port in the U.S. trailing only the Port of Corpus Christie in Texas.

The Port of Mobile is our Redstone Arsenal, Daves said.

Praise for Huntsville

Redstone Arsenal Gate 9

The councilman, a former Huntsville resident, praised the leadership in the North Alabama city and region for embracing Redstone Arsenal, and fostering its growth. Redstone Arsenal is a U.S. Army base that is home to several government agencies including NASAs largest field center, the Marshall Space Flight Center.

They have had exceptional leadership at the city and county and regional levels, Daves said. Its worked and they have kept one thing focused like a laser, and thats Redstone Arsenal. They knew what was good for Redstone was good for the city, county and region, and what was bad for Redstone was bad for all of those entities. They got behind it and worked on it for decades. Now that has paid off for them.

He noted that Huntsville, once a small city with a population of around 16,000 in 1950, has ballooned into becoming Alabamas largest city with a population over 235,000 residents. Mobile, after the approval of an annexation plan by voters last summer, is the states second-largest city with population close to 205,000 residents.

Daves said the Port of Mobile, responsible for $85 billion in economic impact to the state, is the equivalent to the city as Redstone Arsenal has been to Huntsville.

What is bad for the Port of Mobile is bad for Mobile, Daves said, adding that in the past, the city has not enjoyed exceptional political leadership. But he added that the current city council, county commission and state legislative delegation are understanding of the importance of the Port of Mobile to continue moving forward.

Said Daves, I hope we continue along the path that weve adopted over the last recent years and continue to challenge Huntsville for being the best place to live in the state.

Amtrak influence

An Amtrak inspection train, filled with government and rail transportation officials and media, arrives in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday Feb. 18, 2016. The trip marked the first time in more than 10 years a passenger train has left New Orleans headed east to Florida. (file photo)

Daves, afterward to AL.com, said his remarks were not aimed at Amtrak or council members who might support a future train stop along Water Street in downtown Mobile.

The Mobile City Council could vote soon on a lease agreement to allow Amtrak to utilize city-owned property at the foot of Government Street at Water Street for a train stop to service the Mobile-to-New Orleans passenger rail route.

Daves has long been a vocal opponent of the project and has expressed concerns over adding extra trains to a crowded freight line. The Amtrak service is proposed to be a twice-daily service along the Gulf Coast.

The Alabama State Port Authority, which operates the port, was one of the intervening parties opposing the Amtrak service in a case that is currently before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. Daves, himself, spoke in opposition to the project during a public hearing before the STB.

A settlement in that case was announced in November 2022, and getting a lease agreement approved by Mobile city officials is viewed as among the final pieces needed before the passenger train service resumes. Project proponents have targeted a fall start date.

There is no timetable for a council vote on a lease agreement, which would need a supermajority of five votes for approval. At least two council members  Daves and Councilman Ben Reynolds  have publicly expressed doubt about the project.

Candace Cooksey, a spokeswoman for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpsons office, said that all parties are working together closely on everything needed for critical path timelines including the land use agreement.

I wouldnt read anything to my comments with respect to Amtrak, Daves said. The impetus of what I said is (the report from Forbes) about Mobile having the second fastest growing port in the country. There is a tendency on the part of everyone to take the port for granted, and to not really understand its impact on the economy, ourselves, and businesses.

Fast-growing port

In 2008 the Port of Mobile saw the opening of a container terminal operated by APM Terminals. (Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com). al.comal.com

The Forbes article, published on Dec. 30, lists the Port of Mobiles growth at 121.84%. That is good enough for No. 2 on the list, slightly ahead of two airport behemoths: Atlantas Hartfield-Jackson International Airport (103.49%) and Chicagos OHare International Airport (99.65%).

The Top 10 list included a balanced mix of transportation modes with four seaports (Mobile, Corpus Christi, Savannah, and Beaumont in Texas), three airports (Atlanta, Chicago OHare and Cleveland), and three border crossings (Laredo and Eagle Pass in Texas and Otay Mesa in California).

Mobile ranks No. 42 in overall valuation of its port.

The Forbes list Mobiles leading imports as oil (17%), motor vehicle parts (8.5%), and miscellaneous aircraft parts (6.5%).

Daves noted that thousands of jobs depend on the ports business. Activity at the ports public and private terminals directly and indirectly generates nearly 313,000 jobs each year, according to the Ports website.

From Mobile to Huntsville, Alabamas economy is booming, and the Port is proud to be a key player in this growth, Port Authority CEO John Driscoll said in a Jan. 4 statement, following the release of the Forbes article. With over $1 billion in capital investments planned over the next 10 years, and the benefits of major projects such as the deepening and widening of the ship channel yet to be realized, the sky is the limit for what the Port and the State of Alabama will accomplish in the coming years.

Daves said it will be important to keep the Port and its activities known within the community. He said that before Brookley Air Base was closed in 1969, a lot of people probably thought we wouldnt lose Brookley. The air base was once Mobiles largest employer during World War II and has only recently experienced a renaissance with the arrival in 2015 of Airbus largest North American assembly plant for commercial aircraft.

I think its up to all of us, the leadership in this community and state that has a stake in this economy that we need to be consistently reminding our constituencies of the importance of the port, Daves said.
Drone video shows the damage in Panama City Beach, Florida, after a tornado tore through early Tuesday morning. pic.twitter.com/owR5bPTaJC  AccuWeather (@accuweather) January 9, 2024

A day after a series of storms spawned tornadoes in the area that devastated portions of Panama City Beach, officials began to assess the damage, comparing some the damage in some areas to Hurricane Michael, which hit the Florida Panhandle in 2018.

Bay County (Fla.) spokesperson Valerie Sale told the Panama City News Herald that five people were seriously injured and about 100 households displaced during the storm, with numerous properties either heavily damaged or destroyed outright.

The devastation, even though it is limited to a much smaller area than Michael, is very reminiscent of what (it) looked like, Sale told the newspaper. Right now, were working out the details for debris collection. ... Its going to be another undertaking, just like Michael was.

In the hardest-hit areas, officials have put in a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the hopes of eliminating the possibility of looting.

Among the many damaged properties after Tuesday's storms in Panama City Beach, Fla., this $1 million beach home leaning against its neighbor drew widespread attention across social media.(Bay County Sheriff's Office)

Although appearing largely intact, a photo of a heavily damaged beach house on Gulf Drive which was moved off its foundation and leaning against a neighboring house was drawing attention on social media.

The three-story house is a three-bedroom, four-bathroom home and was reported as vacant by the News Herald, with an appraised value from the Bay County Property Appraisers Office of just over $1 million.
By Kim Hyun-bin

The ASEAN-Korea Centre organized the 11th ASEAN Connectivity Forum in Seoul, Tuesday, marking a pivotal moment in the region's journey toward digital integration. As the only forum of its kind in Korea, the event has been held annually since 2013 with a focus on the theme of digital connectivity, bringing together experts from government, the private sector and academia from both ASEAN and Korea.

This year's forum was especially significant as it aligned with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, established in 2010.

The master plan aims to unite the ASEAN economic community into a single market and production base, focusing on five strategic objectives: sustainable infrastructure, digital innovation, seamless logistics, regulatory excellence and people mobility for ASEAN integration.

The forum included an opening ceremony, keynote speech, ASEAN-Korea Expert session and ASEAN digital connectivity project presentations by each member state as well as online business meetings.

Kim Hae-yong, secretary-general of the ASEAN-Korea Centre, delivered the opening remarks, followed by congratulatory remarks from Laotian Ambassador Songkane Luangmuninthone, who doubles as the chair of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul.

The keynote speech was delivered by former ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi, shedding light on the direction ASEAN should take in digital connectivity and its resulting opportunities for Korea.

The ASEAN-Korea expert session delved into the current status of ASEAN's connectivity efforts and future plans, emphasizing regional cooperation for digital connectivity through the ASEAN Digital Master Plan.

Discussions also covered ongoing negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), the development of internet infrastructure, data management, collaboration between ASEAN and Korea and the integration of regional payment systems.

The second session, the ASEAN Digital Connectivity Project Presentation, featured government officials from each of the 10 ASEAN member states sharing insights into digital connectivity projects. The presentations covered key policy updates in areas such as 5G networks, digital currency, cybersecurity and e-commerce market analysis.

To foster business opportunities, an online business meeting was extended from Jan. 10 to Feb. 8, providing Korean companies interested in ASEAN connectivity projects with a platform for engagement. A week before the forum, pre-recorded videos showcasing connectivity projects and policy updates from each ASEAN country were released on the ASEAN-Korea Centre's YouTube channel.

Kim emphasized the forum's commitment to redefining Korea's role in promoting ASEAN's digital connectivity within the evolving landscape of an increasingly vital digital economy, marking the 11th anniversary of this significant event.
Residency remains an early crucial issue as candidates in the crowded Alabama 2nd congressional district race continue to make an appeal to voters while telling their own personal stories.

Hometown concerns were highlighted, especially by the candidates who live in Mobile County, during a two-hour forum at Prichards Sunlight Auditorium. The gathering occurred 56 days ahead of the March 5 primary. Ten Black candidates  eight Democrats, and two Republicans  participated.

In all, there are 18 candidates - seven Republicans and 11 Democrats - running in the primary races. Several others have dropped out.

The forum arrived as the race remains jumbled, with a whopping 47% of Democratic voters polled by the SPLC Action Fund late last month as undecided.

Democratic State Rep. Napoleon Bracy of Prichard speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2 seat on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

The polling did show an early leader in state Rep. Napoleon Bracy of Prichard, whose 15% support puts him slightly ahead of the rest of the field.

You know my family, you know who we are and what we stand for, Bracy said, repeating concerns he has in Prichard that include escalating water bills and violent crime.

I cant think of one single person who have created more jobs and employment opportunities the citizens of Mobile County as I have over the last 10 years, Bracy said. Ive supported every school in our area. Ive created pipelines for employment for our schools.

Mobile allegiance

Shomari Figures, a Democratic candidate for Alabama's 2nd congressional district, speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Allegiance to Mobile County was also brought up by several other candidates including Shomari Figures, an ex-aide to former President Barack Obama and U.S. Department of Justice official.

Figures, who moved back to Mobile County to run in the race, discussed his roots in Mobile by citing his mother  state Senator Vivian Figures of Mobile, and his late father, Senator Michael Figures  for engraining in him the importance and necessity of service.

I was born here, I was raised here, and I was educated from here, said Figures, who polled at 9% in the SPLC Funds analysis last month, good enough for second. This district is home to me.

The issue of residency is one that is likely to continue through the campaign. The U.S. Constitution says that as long as someone is an Alabama resident for one day  while meeting the Constitutions age and U.S. citizenship requirements  he or she can run for U.S. House or Senate. There are no strict residency requirements mandating that someone live within the district they are seeking.

James Averhart, a Democratic candidate for Congress, speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2 seat on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

I am here, said James Averhart, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Mobile, and current executive director of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP. I live in this district. In March, I can vote for myself. I dont have to put stuff on Facebook to show what Im doing.

The congressional district race has drawn multiple candidates who do not live within the new districts boundaries after a three-judge panel OKd a new congressional map for Alabama. The result created a new 2nd district that leans Democratic, and one in which current 2nd District Rep. Barry Moore, a Republican of Enterprise, has opted to run for the more right-leaning 1st congressional district seat held by U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl of Mobile. Moore, of Enterprise, is a resident of the redrawn 1st congressional district, and has decided to run in his new home district.

State lawmakers

Some of those candidates  State Rep. Juandalynn Givan of Birmingham, Senator Merika Coleman of Birmingham, State Rep. Anthony Daniels of Huntsville and State Rep. Jeremy Gray of Opelika  touted their individual records and skills as elected state lawmakers.

Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Daniels, the Alabama State House Minority Leader, said he was proud about his efforts in getting the income tax on overtime eliminated in Montgomery. He said he planned on doing something similar on the federal level if elected to Congress.

The new law that was sponsored last spring by Daniels eliminates a 5% state tax on overtime wages.

The first priority for me going into Congress is to eliminate the income tax on overtime pay at the federal level while at the same incentivize companies those in areas struggling to find employees and pushing and working with them, Daniels said. Thats why relationship are important. As a member of Congress, you are dealing with the federal level but (you need) to have relationships on the state level to ensure some of these things are moving  to ensure the policies are reflecting on what needs to happen on the ground.

Democratic State Rep. Juandalynn Givan of Birmingham speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2 seat. The forum was held on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

His comments came after Givan applauded Daniels for getting the overtime bill approved, but she added that we need to take it a little further. She advocated for a universal, and across-the-board minimum wage increase from $7.25 an hour to $15.

Our minimum wage in this country hasnt been increased in many years, Givan said. We need to make this thing happen. If you pay people, they will work and they will stay in place and they will live better.

Givan, who calls herself a tenacious fighter in the Alabama House, said there are many issues that need to be addressed within the congressional district: health care, jobs, human rights, social justice and criminal justice.

Alabama State Senator Merika Coleman of Birmingham speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Coleman touted her background in running economic development in Bessemer, and her efforts in sponsoring state legislation that, if adopted, would ensure businesses hire indigenous people to the district, and if you come here you hire people from Congressional District 2 so those dollars can flow ack into the district.

Coleman, who has been in state office for 22 years, was the only candidate to mention Allen v. Milligan, the federal case that led to a surprising U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that the Alabama Legislatures congressional map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and had to be redrawn.

She said one of the plaintiffs in that case touted the work of former U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, a Democratic member of the U.S. House who represented Alabamas 5th congressional district from 1991-2009.

In North Alabama, you have a before Bud Cramer and an after Bud Cramer, she said. The amount of money he brought home to North Alabama, I want to be able to bring that home to Congressional District 2.

Democratic State Rep. Jeremy Gray speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2 seat on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Gray, whose legislative efforts include lifting Alabamas ban on yoga in K-12 public schools, said he has been a consensus builder within the Statehouse, and one who represents a mix of urban and rural areas within his district  similar to the mix within the 2nd congressional district that includes Mobile and Montgomery, along with a host of small Black Belt counties.

No one can say they actually have several of the rural areas in their district, said Gray, a former pro athlete and the current Whip of the Alabama Democratic Caucus.

Former congressional candidates

Phyllis Harvey-Hall of Montgomery speaks during a candidates forum that featured 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2. The forum was held on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

The forum also featured two Democratic candidates who have run before in congressional races  Averhart and Phyllis Harvey-Hall of Montgomery.

Harvey-Hall, a career educator who twice ran against Moore in 2020 and 2022, said she ran in previous races against Moore despite the difficult political realities of the district reliably Republican.

If there is a fight to be done, Ill get into that fight, said Harvey-Hall. I am thankful today we have so many people engaged who see this as a chance and an opportunity. For me, its been about you and serving you.

She said took a shot at the state lawmakers running in the race, which drew laughter, by saying that they need to continue doing what they are doing. There is much work that needs to be done for the state of Alabama.

Averhart, who won the Democratic primary in District 1 in 2020 but lost to Carl in the general election, said hes gotten more immersed within Mobile since performing what he said was the best that any Democrat has run for that seat since 2004.

GOP hopefuls

Karla DuPriest, a Republican candidate from Mobile, speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2. The forum took place on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Republicans who were at the forum also had their say.

Karla DuPriest, a Mobile resident owner and founder of Chris & Carla Heavenly Ribs, said she would advocate for businesses unique to Alabama, such as the seafood industry. She said that you cant get anything done if youre fighting like cats and dogs.

Republican Stacey Shepperson of Washington County speaks during a forum featuring 10 candidates (eight Democrats, and two Republicans) for the Alabama Congressional District 2 seat on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, Ala.John Sharp/jsharp@al.com

Stacey Thomas Shepperson, a math instructor at Bishop State Community College and a business owner from Washington County, also weighed in on the residency issue by saying she chose to make the district her home.

Its not for a political position, but for a love of this area, Shepperson said. I believe it is important to have a heart for this community, and a sincere desire to see it grow and thrive.

This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2024, to note that Rep. Barry Moores decision to run in the 1st congressional district was because the newly redrawn district is where he currently lives.
Theres lots of buzz is going around Alabama about the potential for wintry precipitation this weekend.

Will it snow? Will it stick? Will it accumulate?

The potential for snow in Alabama is always a tricky issue, especially with the setup that could present itself over the weekend.

Its always a question of whether cold air will overlap with enough moisture to squeeze out a few snowflakes. Typically what happens is the rain is long gone before the cold arrives. Or theres only a brief overlap  enough for a few flurries. But sometimes it can add up to more.

Will this be one of those times?

The National Weather Service has its primary attention on Fridays potential for severe weather, which could bring tornadoes and straight-line winds back to the state starting in the morning and lasting into the afternoon.

Cold air is expected to filter into the state on the backside of that system, and there could be some snow flurries in north Alabama on Friday night, but it will be dry for the majority of the weekend.

The core of the speculation begins late Sunday into Monday, where theres the potential for things to get interesting.

The weather service said an Arctic front, along with a very cold airmass, will be headed toward Alabama from the northwest this weekend.

It remains to be seen if that front will have any moisture to work with, and when it gets here.

The weather service said forecast models often struggle with shallow cold air masses in this part of the country, and different models are offering up different scenarios of what might happen.

So the weather service cautioned weather-watchers not to take any single model forecast to the bank, because its still too early to know how it will play out. Unfortunately, it looks likely to be a wait-and-see situation.

If Alabama gets precipitation, it could very well start out in the form of freezing rain or sleet. Then it could transition to some snow.

The weather service in Huntsville wasnt ruling out the possibility of some light accumulations for north Alabama, but the weather service in Birmingham didnt go that far just yet. And a few snowflakes might even be spotted into parts of southern Alabama, according to the weather service in Mobile.

Lows from Sunday night into Monday morning will be on the cusp of the freezing point in a lot of areas except for north Alabama, which will be below freezing. Heres the low-temperature forecast for that timeframe:

Here is the low temperature forecast for Sunday night into Monday morning.NWS

A secondary blast of cold air -- really cold air -- is expected to arrive behind the Arctic front.

The weather service added there there could be more light snow on Monday night into Tuesday, when even colder air is expected to be in place.

Forecasters said to keep an eye on the weekend forecast for changes, which are likely. Also be prepared because its going to get even colder next week, with low temperatures in the teens possible.

Heres an early look at the low temperature forecast for Tuesday morning, Jan. 16:
The Comic Cowboys have a motto, without malice that often rings hollow if someone is on the wrong end of their satirical Mardi Gras Day floats that roll through downtown Mobile.

New Orleans and St. Louis, consider this without malice.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, on Tuesday, read a proclamation giving New Orleans and St. Louis permission to celebrate Mardi Gras this year.

Why the permission? Because Mobile is known for having the oldest organized Mardi Gras celebrations in the United States that began in 1703, well before the founding of the nation in 1776.

As the mother of Mardi Gras, we felt they should have that permission, Stimpson said before reading the proclamation during the weekly city council meeting.

The proclamation also reads that the city hosted the first formally organized Mardi Gras parade in the U.S. in 1830. It also says that the parading and celebratory traditions of other cities were initiated by migrating Mobilians, who spread the majesty of the Carnival season across the region.

Stimpson then officially granted permission to the cities of New Orleans, St. Louis and any other revelers, Krewe members, or Mystic Societies to participate in Mardi Gras this year. Mardi Gras Day is on Feb. 13.

The proclamation has become a tradition for Stimpson, who often reads it during a Mardi Gras tree lightening ceremony at Mardi Gras Park in downtown Mobile. But Stimpson was unable to attend this years ceremony, which took place Saturday.

The proclamation is also part of a friendly banter over the popular holiday between New Orleans and Mobile. The most notable dust up occurred in 2018, when Alabama tourism officials paid for 10 billboards in southern Mississippi and Louisiana to troll New Orleans by listing the mileage distance to Americas Original Mardi Gras of Mobile.

In 2015, Stimpson had a billboard placed on Interstate 10 in downtown Mobile that advertised the city as the birthplace of Mardi Gras, recognizing the 1703 origins for the holiday in Mobile.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, file)AP

Last year, a New Orleans bar in the French Quarter reignited the tussle by posting a picture on Facebook of a sign that said, Behave or well send you to Mobile for Mardi Gras  Mngmt.

Stimpson then chimed in by saying that New Orleans residents were invited to attend Mardi Gras in Mobile this year.

Some of the social media comments got salty, with some people calling Mobilians jealous while other noted that Mobile was the safer Mardi Gras alternative to New Orleans.

The two cities have long attempted to claim the holiday as their own. While New Orleans officials acknowledged the annual pre-Lenten festival roots to Mobile, they will also point to the Big Easy for making the holiday a worldwide sensation.

St. Louis, meanwhile, claims it hosts the second-largest Mardi Gras celebration in the U.S. within its historic Soulard neighborhood south of the citys downtown and near the famed Anheuser Busch brewery. Only New Orleans, according to St. Louisans, celebrate with a larger festival.

A TV station in St. Louis, however, proclaimed the narrative to be false, noting that Pensacola and Mobile draw larger Mardi Gras crowds.
The city council in a small town just outside Birmingham cant legally get around their mayor by hiring someone else to do his job, a judge has ruled.

A judge issued a written ruling in favor of Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton, who sued to stop the council from hiring a city manager to take over many mayoral duties in the town of 6,000.

Since the terms of the subject ordinance unambiguously and impermissibly purport to strip the mayor of his rights, duties, responsibilities and powers, the ordinance is void, Jefferson County Judge Patrick Ballard said in the order issued on Monday.

Ballard said the council can hire a city manager. But, according to his ruling, they cannot change the citys form of government and hand over the elected mayors duties to an unelected employee.

This is a monumental victory for the citizens of Tarrant, Newton said. The court has rightfully affirmed the principles of checks and balances and the sanctity of our elected offices. The people of Tarrant chose me to be their mayor, and this decision ensures that I can continue to fulfill my responsibilities and lead our city effectively.

The ruling means that John C. Brown, the city manager whom the council unanimously voted to hire over the summer, is out of a job. Brown has been collecting a $100,000 annual salary since June. But because the mayor sued to block Browns hiring, he hasnt worked in his capacity.

Defendant John C. Brown does not rightfully hold the office of city manager of Tarrant City, Judge Ballard wrote. Lucien Blankenship, an attorney for Brown, told AL.com Tuesday afternoon that he will appeal the decision.

The council has not discussed the ruling or its next steps.

I see this as a King Solomon decision, said Tracie Threadford, the mayor pro-tem in Tarrant and a member of the city council. Part of the order says we as the council do have the right to hire a city manager, but it also says that the mayor may keep his duties.

In his order, Ballard said that the Tarrant council, in its ordinance hiring Brown, essentially tried to change the citys form of government. He said changing from a council-mayor form of government to a council-manager form of government requires approval from the state legislature or by the citys voters in a referendum.

Clashes between the mayor and five city council members are common in Tarrant, where the city government is bitterly divided over policy, personnel and personal issues.

As a result, lawsuits, directives, and frequent public insults are common among officials in the city. Another legal action remains pending over who has authority to suspend or reinstate the police chief.

In the lawsuit over the city manager, Newton, a lawyer, sued on behalf of Deanna Ceasor, one of his supporters in the city, rather than hiring a lawyer to represent him.

Even that move was controversial, as attorneys for Brown questioned the tactic and even whether Ceasor was a real person. Lawyers for Brown also wanted Newton disqualified as the attorney, saying the mayor would personally benefit if the judge ruled for his client. The issue was finally resolved after the lawyers met with and questioned Ceasor outside the courtroom.

Still, with the lawsuit in the past, Mayor Newton told AL.com after the ruling that he is open to a new era of peace at city hall.

While we may not always agree, Im confident that we can put this disagreement behind us and focus on what truly matters  the well-being of our citizens. I extend my hand to all council members, and I urge them to join me in putting the interests of Tarrant first, he said.

Easing acrimony appears to be an issue where both branches of Tarrants government agree, Threadford said.

Moving forward, I hope he will work with us as he stated so we can move our city forward, she said.
Travelers who are deaf or hard of hearing may experience challenges different than those whose hearing isnt impaired. But one Huntsville TSA agent is closing the gap with personal attention.

Kayla Lowery-Busick, a TSA officer stationed at the Huntsville International Airport, takes special care to make American Sign Language communication available for deaf travelers. Lowery-Busick uses ASL to make sure deaf passengers have access to all the information they need for a successful flight.

It started about two weeks after the Decatur native became a TSA officer in Huntsville.
A 78-year-old mother who disappeared with her daughter over the weekend has been found dead while her 59-year-old daughter was taken to a local hospital after they were discovered in a vehicle in northern Chilton County.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency cancelled missing and endangered person alerts Tuesday for Patricia Gardner Dennis, 78, and Teresa Lynne Fisher, 59, who had been missing from Autauga County since Saturday.

Both women, ALEA said, were living with conditions that may impair their judgment.

The agency did not say why the alert was cancelled, but the Autauga County Sheriffs Office told AL.com that Dennis was found dead while Fisher was taken to a local hospital.

The mother and daughter were found in a vehicle on I-65 in northern Chilton County, according to WSFA.

It was not immediately clear when Dennis and Fisher were discovered.
This is an opinion column.

History in Alabama is under attack again. A handful of state lawmakers are on a mission to erase it, to cancel those who would mention it and punish those who would protect it.

No less than a revered state institution is on the line  the Alabama Department of Archives and History  and the stories it exists to preserve.

But this time its not stories of Reconstruction or civil rights protests at risk of being lost. At least, not yet. Rather, something more recent.

Its LGBTQ history in lawmakers crosshairs.

Founded in Birmingham in 2015, the Invisible Histories Project collects stories and material regarding LGBTQ history in the South  the things, it seems, many would like to pretend never happened.

In June, the Alabama Department of Archives and History invited one of the Invisible Histories Project founders, Maigen Sullivan, to speak in Montgomery about the groups work, as part of a lunchtime lecture series.

And thats where all hell broke loose  this time.

You see, the other Invisible Histories founder, Joshua Burford, had spoken as part of the same lunchtime lecture series the year before, and no one seemed bothered then.

But political winds changed. The Moms for Liberty types brought back the Inquisition and now a thing that had once escaped notice of all but a handful of history nerds became a moral panic of political importance.

A handful of lawmakers called the Archives and questioned why state money was being spent on such a thing. The Archives director, Steve Murray, explained it wasnt state money but a grant that funded the lecture series.

Not that the funding mattered. These lawmakers did not want it to happen, period, regardless of who paid for it.

I wanted to express my concern for this event, state Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Josephine, wrote Murray in a text message I obtained through a public records request. Ideally, Id like to see it canceled.

Canceled. Theres that word. The next time you hear someone yapping about cancel culture, look back at Elliots text message and remember who is trying to cancel who.

Murray declined, the event went forward as planned, and angry lawmakers began to plot retribution.

First Elliott tried to cut $5 million of state funding from the Archives, nearly half its budget. And remember, he already knew tax dollars hadnt paid for the event.

This was punishment.

Elliott filed his first bill in a special session. Legislative leadership instead kept to the point of the special session to redraw congressional districts. Elliots bill died when lawmakers gaveled out and went home.

Now, Elliott has set his sites on those who control the Archives  its board of trustees.

Ideally, Id like to see it canceled. Alabama State Sen. Chris Elliott to Alabama HIstory and Archives Director Steve Murray regarding an LGBTQ historian invited to speak.

In a bill pre-filed for the 2024 session, Elliott would change the Archives governance from a self-nominating board to one controlled by the governor, lieutenant governor, and the Alabama House and Senate leaders.

All of the 21 current board members would be fired on June 1, 2024. Those board members include folks like Montgomery civil rights attorney Fred Gray, who knows a thing or two about Alabama history (because he made it).

But Elliotts real target seems to be Murray.

It really chaps me when we end up in a situation where you have unelected bureaucrats saying, We know better. Well do what we want to do regardless of what the people think, Elliott said in a recent talk radio interview.

The thing is, Ive seen Murray speak in at least a dozen public hearings, and Ive seen him explain things to rooms full of lawmakers that they should have learned in fourth-grade Alabama History. Murray doesnt fume, yell or condescend. Generally, hes one of the more patient, soft-spoken people Ive met in Alabama state government.

And Ive never heard Murray speak the way Elliott described. Nor did Murray say any such thing in the text messages Elliott exchanged with him before the event.

The Alabama Department of Archives and HIstory was the first of its kind in the country and is home to the Museum of Alabama.Kyle Whitmire, al.com

I called Elliott to ask, who had spoken to him that way?

Turns out, no one. They just didnt do what Elliott wanted them to do.

When I pushed him on it, Elliott argued that he doesnt like how Archives and History board members are appointed and he said some things that werent exactly accurate.

They are one of the few, if not only, self-perpetuating boards in the state of Alabama that does not at least answer to elected officials, or by extension to the people of the state of Alabama, and simply reappoints itself over and over and over again, he said. And you gotta wonder, is that good governance?

There are a few problems with what Elliott said.

First, there are other boards that self-nominate to fill vacancies, including the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, and there are others controlled by professional associations, such as the State Board of Medical Examiners and the Alabama State Bar.

Elliott hasnt filed bills to change how those boards work. I checked.

State Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, wants to fire the Alabama Department of Archives and History Board of Trustees after the department refused to cancel an LGBTQ historian's speech last year.

Nor is it true the board lacks political oversight or that it is purely self-perpetuating.

The board does nominate its members, but those nominations then go before the Alabama Senate, where Elliott serves, for up or down votes  much like Supreme Court nominees go before the United States Senate.

If Elliott didnt like any of these prospective board members, he could have voted against them. In fact, hes had that opportunity 20 times since he became an Alabama state senator in 2018.

Care to guess how many he approved?

In the last four years, Elliott voted to approve all the people he now wants to fire.

Elliott approved three of those nominees this year  just two weeks before he took an interest in the LGBTQ stuff.

Not only did Elliott vote to approve those people for the board, but so did the cosponsors of his bill.

I didnt get to ask Elliott about this during our phone call.

When I asked him how many Archives and History events he had been to  not counting the open-bar receptions special interest lobbyists host there  the phone call suddenly ended.

Have a great day! he said. Bye!

And the line went dead.

Text messages between state Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, and Alabama Department of Archives and History Director Steve Murray show Elliott knew the Food for Thought speakers series was not funded with state money. AL.com obtained the texts through a public records request.

Elliotts record will have to speak for itself.

But what of his question: Is that good governance?

A handful of lawmakers out of 140 demanded an event be canceled because they didnt care for its subject matter.

The director and the board declined to cancel it.

Because silencing a speaker who has tried to make Alabama history more accurate and more complete would be in direct conflict with Archives and Historys purpose  to document and share true Alabama stories.

They made the archives a place to tell Alabamians stories  not just the ones Elliott wanted told.

They did their jobs and now Elliott wants to fire them for it.

This is Dont-You-Know-Who-I-Am politics.

This isnt someone concerned with free speech.

This isnt someone who cares about cancel culture. This is someone angry he doesnt get to cancel someone elses culture.

This is someone who wants to bring back the silence  to erase what little has been recovered and mute those who would speak of it.

Unless we say, enough.

Unless we say, this is history that wont be forgotten.

Unless we say, not again.
The term Fourth Estate, as many know, refers to the press; press being a now-archaic description hearkening back to a simpler time, when delivering news was strictly a function of metal, paper, ink, and the time it took to get it to the readerno electricity involved. We need not go into how different things are today.

To the best of our knowledge, Edmund Burke coined the phrase in 1787 while in the House of Commons. The first three estates, as generally defined at the time, were the clergy, the nobles, and the commoners. Burke is said to have gazed at the press gallery and said, Yonder lies the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.



Likewise, students of history are aware of the phrase Fifth Column, which refers to a dangerous enemy unit that operates clandestinely within the borders of ones own city or country. The expression is said to have originated during the Spanish Civil War in a radio address by insurgent General Emilio Mola, who broadcast the news that his four military columns laying siege to Madrid would be supported by a Fifth Column that was operating there surreptitiously. Of course, paranoia can lead a nation at war to fear a Fifth Column that doesnt exist; the most egregious example in our country being the belief that Japanese-Americans represented an internal threat as both spies and saboteurs during World War II. This erroneous conclusion led to the unfortunate internment of more than a hundred thousand loyal American men, women, and children of Japanese descent.



Generally, all Fifth Columns, whether real or imagined, share one commonality: they operate in the shadows. Their members listen from behind closed doors and peep through keyholes, and above all, keep their nefarious actions hidden and secret. They wait silently, patiently, until the day finally comes when they can rise up, shed their sheeps clothing, and proudly affirm their support for the cause that has brought about the annihilation of the society in which they so traitorously intermingled.



Not anymore. With few exceptions, Americas Fifth Column conducts its business in full view of the public. In fact, they fight amongst themselves for the privilege of being the most visible, as they do their damndest to bring about the metamorphosis of our country as we know it. Americas Fourth Estate is its Fifth Column. Formerly known as the Watchdogs of Democracy, most of todays media is the propaganda arm of the American Left. As vicious as a starving predator during the Trump years, this once snarling beast has now become a pussycat, rubbing at the ankles of Joe Biden as he, or his handlers, scratch behind its ears.



When the former Republican administration occupied the halls of power, this Fifth Column was capable of almost any calumny, no matter how destructive. Indeed there were cases which, in other generations or situations, their reporting might have been considered treasonous. No single matter relating to the conduct of the Donald or his team was beneath their microscopic scrutiny, and even the slightest misstepreal or imaginedwas reported by nightly newscasters with grim expressions and deathly-serious tonalities. It seemed that the only standard used to determine what was fit to print was the degree to which a story could be used in an attempt to damage that prior occupant of the White House or his appointees.



Hence the long days, weeks, months and finally years of wailing and gnashing of teeth, as nothing seemed to stick to the Trumpian wall at which they hurled their accusations. They appeared to be unable to cope with his often-brutal honesty and seemingly endless self-confidence, as well as his incredible ability to shrug his shoulders over accusations of myriad acts of criminality and moral depravity.

Today, however, while those critics with backbone have plenty of ammunition with which to attack the mainstream medias biases, their slings and arrows seem to be unable to penetrate the screens of the HDTVs, computers, or cell phones behind which the purveyors of Biden campaign material, disguised as news, hide in plain sight. For the most part undeterred, Americas Fifth Column continues its slink to a battlefront where truth and critical thought are the enemies, and those Americans who believe not only in the sanctity of our constitution but in the sanctity of our borders are being pummeled on almost an hourly basisthough never into complete submission. At least not yet.



So we watch with dismay and disgust, even if without surprise, as the Fourth Estate continues to descend into the nether-regions of crazed adulation and tingly legs when they report on the executive branch. Like a new and potent Andromeda Strain, Americas press has mutated into a different pathogen. Where they were once intently focused on 24-hour surveillance of the White House, waiting to see or hear anything they deemed to be disagreeablewhether political or personalafter the 2020 election they have turned 180 degrees and put on blinders, with no interest in condemning any aspects of the Biden administrations failed policies, foreign or domestic.

Sadly, because they are our countrys Fifth Column, our Fourth Estate is unwilling to express any sort of criticism of the party currently in power, and their goal appears to be burying the America we know and love, shovelful by shovelful.

Image generated by AI.
Israeli and American Jews are occasionally referred to as "colonizers": the Israelis "colonize" Palestinian Arabs; American Jews as whites "colonize" various American minorities.

Despite the most progressive aspirations and "progressive" thinking of Jews of the left wing of the U.S. Democratic Party, even the most left-wing Jews of both countries are inevitably categorized as the most reactionary strata.

Left-wing African-Americans accuse Israelis of racism toward Palestinian Arabs, while American Jews are white to them, with all the accusations of racism and colonialism that come with that affiliation.

The massacre of hundreds of Israeli civilians in Israel by Palestinian terrorists, Islamic extremists on October 7 and the Israeli military response to the massacre was seen by many people and groups in the U.S., in Europe, in Australia and in South Africa as an uprising of the "oppressed" against the "oppressors," as a struggle against racism and apartheid. The protests against Israel's self-defense war in Gaza have been characterized in many parts of the world as a just struggle of the "oppressed" Palestinians against the Western, white Jewish "oppressors."

The ideology of fighting the "decomposing" influence of the West was developed not in the East, but in the West, in the Frankfurt School of Sociology.

In the early 1930s, music critic Theodor Adorno, psychologist Erich Fromm, sociologist and psychologist Wilhelm Reich, philosopher, literary critic and writer Walter Benjamin joined the Frankfurt School, which was founded by philosophers Gyorgy Lukacs and Max Horkheimer. They were later joined by the philosopher Herbert Marcuse.

They developed the so-called "critical theory" or "critical sociology." Its main position was to criticize all elements of Western culture without exception, including capitalism, family authority, loyalty to tradition, sexual restrictions, patriotism, nationalism and conservatism. The Frankfurt School was the only philosophical school in history whose members were exclusively Jewish. They contributed greatly to the creation of a new leftist movement in Europe and in America. The anti-Western nihilism of the Frankfurt School, which took hold of the consciousness of European youth, was transformed into extremism: the triumph of "critical sociology" led to the formation of a critical mass of destroyers who wanted to break Western democracy and Western civilization. At the behest of Frankfurt thinkers, society began to nominate economically backward and poorly educated people from minority groups into elites who were supposed to bring about "progressive" change.

Neo-Marxists, whose teachings were born within the walls of the Frankfurt School, fled Nazism to the United States. Escaping the Nazis and finding work in the United States did not prevent one of the Frankfurt School leaders, Marcuse, from calling this country fascist.

The philosophy of the Frankfurt School won over American universities and became the leading doctrine of the left wing of the Democratic Party. It was American university campuses that became a powerful source of anti-Semitism in the wake of events in Israel and Gaza: the massacre of Israeli citizens was presented as a response to the "oppression" of Palestinians.

Back in January 2019, Sen. Bernie Sanders declared, "We will stand up for our Muslim brothers and sisters."

When a Jew announces his willingness to "stand for Muslim brothers," he shows that he does not understand the meaning of the term "Muslim brothers." Muslims cannot have brothers outside of Islam; members of other religions are naturally considered inferior by them.

Hamas is the Muslim brothers.

The policies of the Israeli government prevent Sanders, who belongs to the Jewish people, from feeling comfortable and "progressive."

Back in 2016, in a debate in Brooklyn, he said, "I believe that the U.S. and the rest of the world should work together to help the Palestinian people." Where did the belief in the exceptionalism of the "Palestinian people" come from? Why did the Palestinian problem become an important value for Jewish liberals and how did the "Palestinian people" become their chosen people? The transformation of the Palestinian problem into a sacred relic of Jewish liberals is due not to love but to dislike of the "unseemly," "disproportionate" struggle of the Israelis against their enemies, the Islamic extremists. For liberals, the anti-Western and "anti-colonial" struggle of Palestinian Arabs is sacred, even if it threatens the security of Jews in Israel.

In American universities, the massacre of Jews on Oct. 7, 2023 is often described in terms of contrasting the "resistance" and "national liberation struggle" movement of the Palestinian Arabs (actually Islamic terrorists) with the "colonial" movement of the Zionists. Whatever crimes Hamas terrorists commit, in leftist academic circles in the U.S., the conflict between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs is presented as a struggle between the forces of "evil," white Israeli "colonialists," and the forces of "good," non-white "oppressed Palestinians." This binary value system precludes any doubt that the forces of "good" have committed crimes against humanity, making them forces of evil.

But where were America's intellectual, liberal Jews during the Holocaust? Did they avidly, anxiously and anxiously catch news of the plight of their persecuted Jewish brothers and sisters in Nazi-ruled Europe? They were indifferent to the fate of their "brothers and sisters."

Saul Bellow, an American writer of Jewish origin and Nobel Prize winner for Literature, wrote about this with bitterness: "We have to deal more fully, more deeply with the Holocaust. No one in America took it seriously, and only a few Jews somewhere (like Primo Levi) were capable of understanding it. All parties were responsible then, and every honest person feels ashamed of it."

American Jews largly did nothing to ensure that Jews fleeing Europe, Jews in distress, received entry visas and escaped to the United States. Irving Howe, a Jewish-American democratic socialist, later called this neglect of the Holocaust in the U.S. "a serious moral failure on our part."

However, a new outburst of anti-Semitism united the fates of Israeli and American Jews, no longer able to remain "above the fray" but also objects of condemnation.

The history of American Jewish intellectuals' attitudes toward the danger of the Holocaust and the significance of revitalizing the Jewish state is described in the essay "The Moral Failure of American Jewish Intellectuals" in the book Jews Against Themselves (2015) by Professor Edward Alexander.

The author writes about the silence of "American Jewish intellectuals" and their "deafness" to the danger of the Holocaust and to Israel. He explores the contributions of medieval Jewish renegades to anti-Semitism, such as Pablo Christiani, who played a major role in the anti-Jewish disputation with Nachmanides in Barcelona in 1263.

He draws an analogy between them and contemporary Jewish apostates, such as American intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, who are willing to sacrifice the Jewish state for the sake of "progress" and "justice." Alexander uses the term "Jewish suicide." In the essay "Why Jews Should Behave Better Than Others," Alexander explores the "false moral symmetry and double standards" that are usually applied to Israel but "not to other nations, at least not to all Arab states."

He writes: "Turning their eyes away from the destruction of European Jews, Jewish intellectuals of the 'first rank,' do not look at one of the most impressive manifestations of the will to live of a martyred people" [the people of Israel].

In a recent interview, Alexander said: "Most of the world turns its eyes away from the Iranian theocracy's intentions and abilities to commit genocide; anti-Semitism, which earned a bad name as a result of the Holocaust, reappears as a failure of ideology in Europe, which could become judenrein, a continent without Jews, within ten years; the angelic sociology of liberals, including Jewish ones, 'explains away' the phenomenon of suicide bombers as the inevitable result of Israeli 'oppression'."

Alexander focuses on "new forms of Jewish apostasy, where Jewish existence is threatened in the most dire and immediate danger since the Nazi war against the Jews." He extends his definition of "Jews against themselves" to Israel: "Israelis against themselves." In his view, some Israeli Jews are "joining the agenda of Jews going back to the Middle Ages, to those Jews 'who slandered, abandoned and harmed their own people'."

Norman Podhoretz, former editor-in-chief of Commentary magazine, notes that liberal Jews explain their commitment to this ideology with compassion: we were slaves in Egypt and must defend the poor, the downtrodden, the refugees.

He writes that liberalism has become the religion of American Jews and is contrary to the conditions for the preservation of the Jewish people and that the liberals' choice is to sacrifice Jewish interests "in the name of [U]topias of progress and justice."

Leftist American Jews are intoxicated by the religion of liberalism.

But the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, whose victims included both liberals and conservatives, and the Israeli military response to it in Gaza, showed the commonality of the fates of "progressive" and non-"progressive" Jews in the new life of the old anti-Semitism.

French philosopher Pierre-Andre Taguieff argues that the first wave of "la nouvelle judeophobie" emerged in the Arab-Muslim world and the Soviet sphere following the 1967 Six-Day War. The Oct. 7, 2023 massacre triggered a second wave of "new judeophobia."

However, anti-Semitism is never new. It only changes its forms of manifestation. The slogans of Oct. 7, 2023, such as "Gas for the Jews," "Hitler was right," "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free," mean genocide and "the final solution to the Jewish question."

Image: Quinn Dombrowski, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
A recent email exchange with a feminist college professor regarding the resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay was abruptly terminated with an angry email informing me that White men were responsible for all the evils in America and that if this group of racist genocidal maniacs were eliminated this country would be a more loving and hospitable place for women and people of color. A stance long espoused by the radical American Left and a position increasingly permeating the festering halls of academia. My immediate thought after the exchange was that we have reached the pinnacle of lunacy in this country and that my resume is now complete.

I am not only a racist but, due to my sex and skin color, I am also a genocidal maniac who should be summarily executed. Per many in the Democrat Party, I am a Nazi sympathizer because I voted for Donald Trump in 2016 as well as financially supported, campaigned, and voted for him in 2020 but far worse, I am extraordinarily fond of this nation. The Biden Administration has categorized me as an insurrectionist for attending the January 6, 2021 Stop the Steal rally. And recently, I have been informed, by many, ostensibly on my side of the political spectrum, that I am a RINO and a traitor for seriously considering Ron DeSantis and not pledging unconditional and undying allegiance to Donald Trump in the 2024 primaries.

Let us begin with the loons who believe that White men are the focus of all evil. What if their wish were granted and all White men suddenly disappeared or were relegated to the immutable rules of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). What sort of country would Americans be living in? And, to paraphrase Shakespeare, would all the supposed evil White men have done live after them or be interred with their bones?

In 2022, 71% of the population identified as White (that includes nearly 60% of Hispanics who self-identify as White). Therefore, White males account for 35.1% of the overall population. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics White men exceed their number in nearly 60%+ of all major categories of occupations but are significant in the following:

83% of aircraft pilots and flight engineers

82% of logging, fishing, oil and gas drilling and refinery workers

75% of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and masons

75% of mechanics, installers, and service technicians

73% of farmers and ranchers

73% of construction managers, and supervisors

71% of automobile, bus, truck and heavy vehicle service technicians and mechanics

72% of police, firefighters, and security workers

68% of aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineers

65% of intercity truck drivers

A question for the mind-numbed left-wing dupes: how would Americans feed and clothe themselves, travel, stay warm in winter and cool in the summer, build roads and housing, maintain infrastructure, and secure and defend the nation if Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is enforced and all the above occupations could only employ 35.1% of white men?

Would racism, religious animosity, tribalism, as well as economic dislocations and conflicts cease to exist if American white men ceased to exist? Would Communist China, the Islamic terrorists, Iran, and North Korea then peacefully disarm and never pose threat to America and the world? For the first time since humankind set foot on the planet, will peace and love dominate all societies, tribes, and nations?

Which brings me to the radical Lefts incessant drumbeat of unconscionably calling anyone who disagrees with or is actively involved in defeating them Nazis or, in the case of Donald Trump, Hitler. This vile indiscriminate comparison is indicative of the inability to present a coherent argument in support of their policies or candidates.

These mindless references are an insult to and a degradation of the memory of the nearly thirty-five million who died during World War II in Europe and the countless millions who were casualties and displaced by the evil and genocidal Nazis. Today, less than 4% of the American population was alive during those tumultuous years and far fewer have any recollection of those days. The immature indoctrinated imbeciles that so glibly throw around these insulting comparisons do not have the slightest idea of the reality of World War II.

The frame of reference for far too many Americans is sitting in a movie theater watching a fictitious or sanitized Hollywood portrayal of the war or casually viewing a dispassionate television documentary showing faded and grainy black and white newsreels of lifeless bodies strewn across a shell-pocked field, of ashen faces comatosely staring into a camera, and of ragged and emaciated refugees escaping the ravages of war. These impersonal images are quickly forgotten as Americans go about their daily lives.

But those of us who lived either through the war or the never-ending struggle to survive in its aftermath do not have that luxury. Our experiences haunt us every hour, day and night. To compare any of us, or for that matter hardworking patriotic Americans, to Nazis is the height of wretchedness and crudity.

With extraordinarily few exceptions there is no one on either side of the political spectrum, particularly Donald Trump, who can justifiably be referred to as a Nazi or Hitler. The time has come for these reprobates on the Left to stop acting like cartoon characters running through the streets mindlessly shouting Nazi! and Hitler! at the top of their lungs.

I have always thought of myself as being a highly patriotic American, enormously grateful to be brought to this nation as a displaced orphan per the terms of the Displaced Persons Act. It is, therefore, exceedingly insulting to be referred to as an insurrectionist by the government because I chose to attend the Stop the Steal rally on January 6, 2021.

Knowing full well that the rally would not accomplish anything substantive, I decided to attend because I wanted to meet and talk to my fellow Americans about why they came, their outlook for the future of the country, and their backgrounds. I met many extraordinary and patriotic people as I later chronicled.

From a distance of about 75 yards, I witnessed virtually the entire debacle at the Capitol after 2:00 pm on January 6th when I arrived at the Capitol grounds. Having attended numerous marches and rallies on the Mall since 1963, I was taken aback by what I saw. There were agents provocateurs among the crowd, an unconscionable lack of police presence, and insufficient crowd barriers. I immediately sensed that this was highly likely a setup to incite a riot.

That same evening I wrote about my experience and sense of foreboding referring to January 6th as a day that will live in political infamy not because of the riot at the Capitol but rather the potential exploitation by the legacy media and the Democrats.

The exploitation I feared became a reality. I still bristle at so many of my fellow American being unjustly prosecuted and others being accused of insurrection. The exploitation, duplicity, malevolence, and dishonor of the legacy media, the Democrat Party, the Justice Department, and the Biden Administration has indeed made January 6, 2021 a day of political infamy.

Lastly, there many on the Right who have been absurdly accusing me of being a RINO or traitor because I refuse to pledge undying allegiance to Donald Trump in the 2024 primaries and am seriously looking at Ron DeSantis as a plausible nominee who can win in November of 2024. In his first term, Trump was extraordinarily successful and accomplished great things until March of 2020 and the onset of COVID lockdowns and massive uncontrolled spending.

I have never nor will I ever fawn over anyone. Politicians serve the people; they answer to us. It is not the other way around. No political figure in this nation should be a celebrity, idol, or de facto monarch. If Trump is the nominee I will again support him but during the primaries I will unceasingly question his and Ron DeSantiss actions, statements and ability to win the crucial general election of 2024.

Image: RawPixel.com
The national security advisers of South Korea and the United States condemned "in the strongest possible terms" North Korea's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine during a phone call on Tuesday, the White House said.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with his new South Korean counterpart, Chang Ho-jin, to discuss the North's increasing military cooperation with Russia and its provocative actions along the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, it said.

Their conversation followed the U.S.' revelations that the North has provided Russia with several dozen ballistic missiles, some of which were launched against Ukraine on Dec. 30, Jan. 2 and Saturday.

"The two officials condemned in the strongest possible terms the DPRK's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia and Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine," the White House said in a readout, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"They noted that the transfer and use of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, undermines the global non-proliferation regime and has significant security implications for Europe, the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region," it added.

The two also committed to close cooperation in support of Ukraine and its people, and close collaboration on shared security challenges to bolster peace and security across the Indo-Pacific region and around the globe.

South Korea's presidential office said in a separate release that Chang noted that last year was a "symbolic year" for the development of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

He also expressed his wish for close cooperation with Sullivan for the further development of their countries' global comprehensive strategic alliance across the areas of extended deterrence, their Indo-Pacific strategies, emerging technologies and economic security.

Sullivan expressed his agreement, stating his commitment to further strengthening the robust alliance this year and his wish to meet Chang in person in the near future. (Yonhap)
Conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, Independents and Libertarians, all are for successful rehabilitation of American criminals. The key word is successful. Beyond the important discussions about the role of punishment, paying a debt to society, psychological, moral, or spiritual redemption, and doing the time in common parlance, is the nature of the complex process, components, or atmosphere of a criminals successful rehabilitation.

A GED or education in general for criminal prisoners has parallel importance to practical job training and associated social-vocational skills, no easy tasks to accomplish. The teacher-mentors with a genuine calling to serve and teach in such prison programs are invaluable and morally majestic.

For criminals with significant histories of alcohol and substance abuse, twelve step-oriented treatment approaches and sobriety maintenance establishment is obviously crucial. In fact, the inner searching and honest psychological inventories associated with AA and NA work with a sponsor and meeting attendance have remarkably similar qualities to successful psychotherapy experiences. In fact, when anxiety disorders or significant personality and behavior disorders are present separate from substance abuse, group and individual therapy experiences are imperative therapeutic opportunities.

A final theme involves what I would call an inner attitude a spiritual and psychological change of heart and mind. Some of the most profound changes of heart, mind, and spirit are observed in faith-based prison ministries as described by Charles Colson of Watergate infamy. A close friend of mine and a psychiatrist has led a bible study group in a local prison in his hometown. Over the years he has seen such changes in some of the members of his groups that are inspiring.

Jared Kushner in his remarkable book, Breaking History. A White House Memoir, eloquently describes Donald Trumps pardon of Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother who helped other prisoners with Christmas plays in prison. Johnson said, Im free to hug my family. Im free to live life. Im free to start over. This is the greatest day of my life. Kushner said of Johnson, Her emotion was raw, her joy contagious, her long suffering and love emanated from her smile.

Donald Trump told Kushner, Jared, that is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Ive been around for a long time, and that was beautiful. I can tell she is a solid person. There must be more like that in prison. Lets find more worthy cases to do.

Image: RawPixel.com
Every day the attorneys and judges who make up the backbone of the American legal system strive to achieve balance between competing legitimate issues while still arriving at a just and fair outcome.

Take tort law, for example. On the one hand, there is a legitimate goal to dissuade frivolous lawsuits, but on the other, there absolutely needs to be an avenue of redress for those who have suffered serious corporate wrongdoing.

For years, class action litigation was the avenue to provide that relief. There has been a shift away from that model in recent years, however, in favor of arbitration for consumer claims against corporations. But now  even though this is a change that these corporations advocated for to be instituted  many producers of consumer products are now trying to evade the requirements of the process that they have championed as cheap, quick, fair to all concerned and effective.

Arbitration clauses have become so commonplace in contracts that many consumers dont give their inclusion a second thought. Those terms of agreements we all click agree to online? A significant majority of them include clauses that force consumers to agree to arbitration in place of litigation if they suffer some form of harm from the corporation  be it fraud, negligence, faulty products, or other harms.

This would be fine if the system was working as it was intended. But too many times it does not, and consumers are the ones who are taking the hit. The problem is that arbitration is a private process that takes place largely behind closed doors, rather than in an open courtroom. Therefore, while proponents of arbitration argue that it is generally quicker, arbitration by design is confidential and thus not transparent. This raises the perception that the arbitration process is not as fair as traditional court proceedings.

In some cases, simple and common-sense reforms to the process by which consumer complaints are adjudged have been enough. Unfortunately, that is not the case everywhere, and as consumers have started applying principles and strategies of class action litigation to arbitration proceedings, some large corporations have tried to skirt the rules they created.

In one example, Samsung is facing multiple accusations from customers of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting, storing and using customers biometric data without proper notification or consent. Despite forcing customers into waiving their rights to class action litigation in favor of arbitration, the company is trying to evade even that process by refusing to come to the table unless the customers who made the complaints pay the corporations share of the fees required to initiate arbitration. This is clearly a stalling tactic, as the company hopes that the longer this plays out, the greater the chance that the aggrieved consumers will simply give up.

In another case, plaintiffs say printer maker Epson is trying to avoid engaging in the arbitration proceedings they required in their agreements with consumers. After the company forced customers to install a mandatory software update to their printers, the ability to use cheaper third-party ink was disabled in what plaintiffs allege is a violation of the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. After the aggrieved parties moved to arbitrate the dispute, Epson claimed that some of them never had an agreement to arbitrate while in other cases they mirrored Samsung by refusing to pay their share of arbitration fees. The dispute is still working its way through the courts, but this is yet another example of how some companies are trying to run out the clock and exhaust plaintiffs into disinterest.

It should go without saying that this is not how the system was intended to work. It is unconscionable that such massive corporations - in 2022 Samsung had over $234 billion in revenue and Epson had more than $9 billion in revenue - mandate arbitration in their contracts, and then turn around and ask consumers to foot their bill or refuse to engage in the process.

All sides can and should be able to come to the table to make our tort system work better. Arbitration was intended to be that middle ground, where quick resolution in a confidential process benefits both the corporation and the consumer. But what do we do if the corporations that sought arbitration as an alternative to class action lawsuits now refuse to let the process work? Further legislative reforms may be needed, and arbitrators should also hold the corporate defendants feet to the fire in arbitrations where monetary sanctions are not precluded for such disruptive, dilatory tactics.

California has laws in place that assign sanctions to the party that drafted the arbitration agreement if it fails to pay requisite fees to initiate the proceedings. That may be one approach that we might want to consider for all arbitrations in the U.S. Another approach that would surely get the attention of the non-paying party would be to bring class action litigation in lieu of arbitration and have the court declare that the non-paying party has waived its right to arbitrate rather than litigate.

If respondent corporations would simply step up and do their part in playing by the rules that they themselves helped draft such laws and tactics would not be necessary. But if arbitration is shown not to work equitably to address legitimate worker and consumer grievances, then other options need to be on the table.

Chuck Meyer is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Certified Information Privacy Professional, and Registered U.S. Patent Attorney. He is a frequent commentator and advisor on legal developments in the fields of ethics, compliance, privacy, corporate governance, intellectual property, generative AI and other disruptive technologies.
Not only is Anthony Fauci a shameless flip-flopper, but hes an extremely sloppy one at thatwhy are these criminals in politics (pardon the redundancy) so incapable of covering their tracks? How does a man like Peter Strzok, who spent a career as an investigative agent, put something as incriminating as well stop a Trump presidency into writing, on a government-issued cell phone? How does Hunter Biden leave the Laptop from Hell, containing graphic evidence of criminal activity, with some civilian computer repair store man? How does Fauci confess to Capitol Hill lawmakers that the six-foot social distancing guidance sort of just appeared out of the ether, knowing full well that his own sworn testimony revealed exactly from where it came?

See below, from a New York Post report out earlier this morning:

COVID 6-feet social distancing sort of just appeared, likely lacked scientific basis, Fauci admits Dr. Anthony Fauci confessed to lawmakers Tuesday that guidelines to keep six feet of separation  ostensibly to limit the spread of COVID-19  sort of just appeared without scientific input. Fauci, 83, revealed to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that the six feet apart recommendation championed by him and other US public health officials was likely not based on scientific data.

Let me just cut to the chase and remind him exactly from where the social distancing policy came: China and the World Health Organization, via Faucis own hand-picked man.

Now, the only reason I know this is because I wrote a blog back in December of 2022, shortly after Fauci testified under oath as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by several Republican Attorneys General against the Biden regimethe deposition revealed that the social distancing policy (among others) didnt just float down from the ether, as Fauci now apparently insists, but was openly pushed by anti-American foreign adversaries, and delivered stateside by Faucis recommended accomplice.

A little context. In February of 2020, the WHO sponsored a trip for an advance team of public health officials to visit China; one of the trips participants was a man named Dr. Clifford Lane, a well-known, competent person and a very astute clinician (Faucis words, not mine) who had been personally recommended by Fauci to join the envoy. Starting on page 165, we see a back-and-forth between Missouris Solicitor General D. John Sauer and Fauci:

Q [Sauer]. Did you [Fauci] discuss Mr. Lanes experience on the trip with him when he got back from the WHO trip? A. The answer is I did, and it relates really a lot to what -- the sentence -- what he said. Dr. Lane was very impressed about how from a clinical public health standpoint, the Chinese were handling the isolation, the contact tracing, the building of facilities to take care of people, and that's what I believed he meant when he said were managing this in a very structured, organized way. Q. And he goes on in that last sentence on that page to say, From what I saw in China, we may have to go to as extreme a degree of social distancing to help bring our outbreak under control; correct? Correct. Q. So he drew the conclusion that there might have to be extreme, in his word, measures to mandate social distancing to bring the outbreak under control; correct? Thats what this is implying, yes. [snip] Q. And so he [Lane] had a kind of positive reaction to that. There might be lessons to be learned for the United States in its response to the outbreak; correct? [snip] Q. Correct? A. I believe Dr. Lane came to the conclusion that when you have a widespread respiratory disease that a very common and effective way to curtail the rapid spread of the disease is by implementing social distancing measures.

He sure had a lot to say about knowing exactly where the social distancing policy came from; heck, this was the beginning of 2020, when it all really kicked off! Hes a pathological liar, or certifiably delusional.Calls for Nuremberg 2.0 are growing, and Fauci has made himself into quite the villain. Follow the science? More like follow the yuan.

Image: DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.
The migrant buses into sanctuary New York City aren't stopping.

And now they've run out of hotel space as winter kicks in and the sanctuary city with its "right" to housing for all comers takes it on itself to find some place to house them.

So now the kids are being thrown out of their own school, James Madison High School, where Chuck Schumer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are alums, for the sake of the migrants.

It's like COVID is happening all over again, and kids are being told to sign in to Zoom classes if they can, they need to request it first. LibsOfTikTok believes it was actually planned.

In doing this, New York's officials demonstrate that open schools for the city's children is secondary to free housing for illegal border crossers, just as it was during the pandemic. They've always got an emergency over there, it's just never that of any quality education for children. So kids pay, and it's every time now.

BREAKING: Buses are now pulling up to @JMHSBklyn and dropping off illegals. School is closed tomorrow because illegals will be sleeping in the schools gym. This is disgraceful! NYC is prioritizing illegals over Americans. pic.twitter.com/2jmKXfRTHX https://t.co/ViZiWlqTX5  Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 9, 2024

Notice that in this video above, migrants are being delievered by yellow school buses, meaning, the buses are not being used for the schoolchildren, either.

New York students were just kicked out of their school to make room for illegals.



Elections have consequences. pic.twitter.com/DHf6CKiClU  Amit Shah (Parody) (@Motabhai012) January 10, 2024

BREAKING: I just received this footage from a mom in James Madison High School in NYC where students are learning remotely to make room for illegals to sleep there. Workers are unloading cots, food, and supplies for the illegals.



The mom is told not to record. Why are they pic.twitter.com/NFHxxS55O5  Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 10, 2024

The locals aren't taking it well:

Brooklyn  A mother yells outside the school that was shut down to house migrants. The students there will immediately switch to remote learning for the time being. pic.twitter.com/PiyPYtUTN6  Andy Ngo  (@MrAndyNgo) January 10, 2024

Brooklyn  A mother yells outside the school that was shut down to house migrants. The students there will immediately switch to remote learning for the time being. pic.twitter.com/PiyPYtUTN6  Andy Ngo  (@MrAndyNgo) January 10, 2024

Elon Musk explained where this was going.

Theyve run out of hotel rooms, are kicking kids out of school for illegal housing and now they want your homes too https://t.co/Cro82sGjq9  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2024

And other tweeters pointed out that the migrant buses are still rolling into New York, because Joe Biden and his lieutenant, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have no intention of stopping this.

Theyve run out of hotel rooms, are kicking kids out of school for illegal housing and now they want your homes too https://t.co/Cro82sGjq9  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2024

If this is the plan in New York, they are in for a permanent state of emergency.

Image: Screen shot from FreedomNews.TV Twitter video
The media and other Democrats have been trying to destroy President Trump since before he even took office, even though that meant endless lies and concocted criminal hoaxes. They cant afford an outsider to come in and take away the power they have amassed.

Now, Nancy Pelosi admits that states should just overrule the Constitution to keep Trump off the ballot. Ignoring the Constitution? What an odd way to protect our democracy. From Mike Miller at RedState:

So, to protect and defend the Constitution, Pelosi believes [Democrat] states should overrule it and ban Donald Trump from running for president in those states. Perfect logic  Pelosi logic, that is.

Heres the clip:

ABC: "You believe [Trump] is ineligible to be president?"



NANCY PELOSI: "They have different laws from state-to-state."



ABC: "It's the Constitution..."



NANCY PELOSI: "That's not the point." pic.twitter.com/2lPZc1q6A0  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 7, 2024

Why dont the Democrats run on their record? The answer is clear. Their record and policies are unsuccessful and unpopular, and Trump's policies were both successful and popular.

Trump told the protesters to walk peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol, and in large part, they did. Pelosi knew there were going to be protests, and somehow didnt secure the Capitol. It is she who was derelict! Did she want the protesters to get out of hand? Was this a set-up?

It sure seems that Pelosi, most of the media, and all the other Democrats havent cared about the Constitution for a long time, or have forgotten which branches of government are responsible for what things. Here is a refresher, from the Truman Library:

A PRESIDENT CANNOT . . . make laws.

declare war.

decide how federal money will be spent.

interpret laws.

choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval.

And this, from the U.S. courts website: The judicial branch decides the constitutionality of federal laws and resolves other disputes about federal laws.

Lastly, from The George Washington University: The Legislative branch makes laws and controls spending and taxes.

Over the years, Pelosi and other Democrats have shown that they dont care about the separation of powers or the abuse of power, just as long as the abuse comes from other Democrats.

They didnt care when Obama used the IRS to violate the First Amendments free speech and freedom of association protections of his political opponents.

They didnt care when Obamas NSA illegally spied on millions of Americans.

They didn't care when Obama dictatorially and unconstitutionally implemented DACA without going through Congress.

They dont care that Biden ignores his oath of office by refusing to enforce immigration laws Congress passed.

They ignore when executive branch agencies enact de facto laws (by mandates and rules) on climate change issues without going through Congress.

They dont care as Biden dictatorially spends hundreds of billions of dollars writing off student loans without getting congressional approval, in what is an obvious move to coerce political support.

They intentionally mislead the public on the nature of Roe v. Wade, claiming that the Supreme Court gave women a constitutional right to abortion, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade represents an attack on constitutional rights. The Supreme Court is not charged with making laws or changing the Constitution, and since explicit protection of a supposed right to abortion is not found within the Constitution, it does not exist. The current Supreme Court did its job when it overturned what was obviously legislation from the bench, and returned the decision to legislative bodies.

Democrats, including Carter, Clinton, Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and others have had fifty years to pass a federal law codifying abortion, but never did, even when they had complete control of Congress. Why?

Nancy Pelosi is routinely described as extremely smart, but to me she has seemed to be a few bricks short of a load for a long time. For example:

In 2008, when Nancy Pelosi was 68 years old, she seemed to have no idea where natural gas comes from when she promoted it as an alternative to oil and coal:

Nancy Pelosi Still Doesnt Know Where Natural Gas Comes From The day before the Democratic National Convention Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) went on Meet the Press and told Tom Brokaw: Im, Im, Im investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.  These investments in wind, in solar and biofuels and focus on natural gas, these are the real alternatives. As we pointed out at the time, natural gas is not an alternative to fossil fuels  it is a fossil fuel. And as the Energy Kids Page of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) explains, it is a fossil fuel that needs to be drilled for.

Do we want people who are so confused about where resources come from to make the laws and regulations to determine what we drive, how we cook our food, and how we heat and cool our houses?

Our political representatives are categorically uninformed on a number of issues, but nowhere is it more dangerous than their woeful lack of understanding of the very document theyre supposed to be defending and upholding.

Image from X.
Now that Claudine Gay is out as president at Harvard after a plagiarism scandal, will Barack Obama become the university's next president?

Here's what's being bruited about in the media, according to the Daily Mail:

Barack Obama has been touted as a contender for the next president of Harvard after the resignation by Claudine Gay due to an anti-Semitism and plagiarism scandal. The former president, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, may be a candidate for the position - and he wouldn't be the first ex-POTUS to take charge of an elite college. Alan M. Garber is currently the interim president of Harvard, but the institution is understood to still be weighing up its options for a permanent replacement for Gay. Harvard University - who has not named any candidates yet - said the search for a new leader 'will include broad engagement and consultation with the Harvard community in the time ahead.' Discussions over who should take over Gay have swirled on social media, with names such as Deval Patrick, Danielle Allen, and Barack Obama's popping up, according to the Boston Globe.

The Boston Globe article they cited had this:

On social media, a few suggestions have begun circulating, including Deval Patrick, a former two-term Massachusetts governor, and Danielle Allen, a former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate and a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy at Harvard. Barack Obamas name has come up, too. Gays interim replacement, Alan Garber, a Harvard physician and economist, could be considered as well, due to his experience as the colleges provost for the past 12 years.

...and...

Obama and Garber did not respond to requests for comment. Putnam, who knows Obama, said he doubted the former president would take the job.

It seems a little tenuous, given that the Boston Globe cited experts who emphasized that holding the post is hard work, and we all know what Obama's work ethic was like as president. That clearly carried over from Obama college days. Obama's academic output while at Harvard was about nil, and even while holding the prestigious post as editor of the Harvard Law Review, he has no articles to his name, which many legal observers found highly unusual when the news of it came out.

In short, he'd bring glitz to Harvard, but probably wouldn't do much to change the negative trajectory of the university. Billionaire vacays, adoring speeches, and lots of money flowing would probably be the next thing up for the university, but no restoration of merit over DEI nor any changes to the faculty lounge culture at the school that could wave people like Claudine Gay right through on her doctorate and her presidency of the school with no scrutiny of her obvious plagiarism.

Obama lobbied hard for Gay to stay, and the university powers that be ruled against him in the end,. so he lost that battle. Obama himself is a firm supporter of affirmative action over merit-based admission and hiring, and has stated in the past that he never felt that his easy ride upward as an affirmative action admission to all the prestigious schools he went to ever resulted in anyone looking in askance at his credentials. He'd keep the bad course the school is on, where DEI overrides academic freedom on every front.

The Boston Globe does note some other characters up for consideration, all of them by the wildest coincidence black candidates, except for the plodding Garber with all his unglamourous administrative experience, which rather suggests that the board making the selection doesn't want to get ragged on by the DEI crowd with claims of a racist firing of a black woman.

The name Deval Patrick is brought up, a classic leftist political hack, comparable to Obama. Yawn.

But the name Danielle Allen is also brought up, and she may be a credible possibility -- a look at a Harvard Magazine profile of her shows she's classically educated in Greek and Latin, not wokester studies, which is major cred right there. Her Wikipedia bio indicates she went to the University of Chicago, which until recently, was pretty academically neutral and rigorous, it was when she was there. She also has won tons of big awards -- MacArthur Fellowships and Marshall Scholarships and the like -- and done significant papers as a researcher. Her father, a black political scientist, was actually known as a 'conservative' and served as chair of President Reagan's Civil Rights Commission, following the estimable Clarence Pendleton. She sounds pretty progressive in most of her statements but on substantial things, she does have academic and political chops as normal people would recognize them. For one thing, has spoken out against Harvard's version of DEI as failing to address political diversity, which kind of draws one's attention. She's also condemned campus antisemitism back when plenty of the others were cheering it. She's probably a leftist like the rest of them but not be a cookie-cutter faculty-lounge leftist, getting along to go along. She could be a decent president of Harvard addressing the actual problems of censorship and merit that have made the university go downhill.

All of that may be good as we recognize good, but in light of the schools resistance to fixing its problems, they may be strikes against her.

She has downplayed the prospect, but not outright declared she doesn't want the job.

They'd all have to pass plagiarism tests, of course. Could Obama do that? Well, with no academic papers to speak of, he probably could, but then, he knows how to employ ghostwriters for all he needs to do.

Still, I'm skeptical generally, given Obama's general laziness. He may not even want the job which would distract from his political medding nationally, but the Harvard faculty, which fought so hard to keep Gay in place, is capable of anything. Plus, in Obama's world, being president of Harvard University is much more prestigious than being president of the United States, given all its deplorables. Would the board that chooses the president go for Obama? Maybe not so much.

Image: Logo/shields, Harvard University // fair use
A Russian journalist who, just a week before had been reporting on what he called gigantic corruption from the Russian-held Mariupol region of Ukraine, has been found dead. (Remarkably, reports indicate he did not fall out a window.)

In entirely unrelated news, David Menzies, a reporter for Canadas conservative Rebel News Network, was recently arrested for asking Chrystia Freeland why Trudeaus government refuses to label Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) a terrorist organizationFreeland is Trudeaus second-in-command. A now viral video of the event, posted by the outlets own Ezra Levant, shows Menzies hustling down a public sidewalk alongside Freeland, when a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) appears to intentionally bump into the Menzies from outside his peripheral. The officer then promptly begins to arrest Menzies, claiming that the journalist assaulted himan obviously bogus charge for anyone watching the video.

But, what the hell, Menzies had it coming! I mean, asking a member of the royal government a question which Freeland obviously preferred not to answeror even hear posed! (Freeland? Now thats ironic.)

Meanwhile, also entirely unrelated to be sure, members of U.S. President Joe Bidens campaign team have been trying to coordinate media coverage and amplify their preferred narratives while simultaneously berating reporters for what theyre getting wrong. In fact, Biden himself recently admonished reportersand instructed them to start reporting things the right way. (If they know whats good for them, apparently.)

According to Semafor, these off-the-record trips for top political reporters and editors to Bidens campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, are being conducted so as to review media coverage and correct what the campaign believes theyre getting wrong.

Look at the bright side: unlike in Russia, journalists are only being canceled, threatened, or arrested by authoritarian governments in Canada and the United States! Surely radical leftist governments led by the likes of Trudeau and Biden wont go any further in their attempts to intimidate an already mostly compliant press in North America. Right? And surely a once (supposedly) free and unbiased press wouldnt put up with any more attempts by these regimes to shape whatand howthey report. Correct?

Just kidding! We all know the answer to those questions, though some may not wish to admit it.

Democracy doesnt Die in Darkness. It is simply effectively snuffed out by those beholden to those in poweror too craven to resist themeven in the light of day.

Image generated by AI.
Just think. How does the President of the United States go three days without talking to the Secretary of Defense?

I guess National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan did not, either. We are talking about a time when tensions are running high. Again, aren't U.S. forces under attack in the Far East and Middle East and Navy assets occupied with Houthis too?

Did I tell you about North Korea, China and Russia?

So how do you address such an obvious example of irresponsibility?

First, you can't fire the president, so we have to wait for an election on that one.

Second, you can fire Secretary Austin.

I agree with Fred Kaplan
Android Auto is now found on almost every modern vehicle that launches on the market. It comes preinstalled on the vehicles infotainment system and lets users access their Android apps on the go. Android Auto now hosts many popular apps for different uses. However, it will soon get Microsoft Teams to let you join meetings in your car.

According to Microsoft 365 roadmap details, Microsoft Teams for Android Auto will be released next month in February. As the company notes, users will be able to join meetings, call speed dial contacts, and see the recent calls on the phone. Yet, there are no more details on what more Microsoft Teams brings to Android Auto. Additionally, Microsoft needs to clarify whether the app allows users to access the Teams files and data while driving.

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Bringing Microsoft Teams to Android Auto is a welcome addition. However, it took almost a year for Google and Microsoft to add the app to Android Auto. It was first in I/O 2023 that Google announced the integration of Teams to Android Auto, along with Zoom and Cisco Webex.

While two later apps came to Android Auto in September, users had to wait a year to access Teams on their vehicles. In the Google I/O 2023, the company also announced Waze is coming to the Google Play Store for all vehicles with Google built-in.

Android Auto adoption is on the rise among car manufacturers

Google says over 500 car models now support Android Auto, and its available on over 200 million cars worldwide. The adoption of Android Auto has significantly increased in recent years among car manufacturers, and its expected to take over the auto industry in the coming years. The high adoption of Android Auto also led Google to build a standalone operating system for vehicles called Android Automotive.

Like the smartphone market, Apple is also going head to head with Google in the car market. The iPhone maker says its CarPlay app supports over 800 car models, starting with the 2016 and 2016 model year.

In terms of app availability, both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay let users access a plethora of apps. In addition to games for passengers, Google has recently brought The Weather Channel and YouTube to Android Auto for a richer portfolio of apps.
Kim Jong-un labels S. Korea 'principal enemy'

By Lee Hyo-jin

The removal of military buffer zones between South and North Korea has significantly increased the risk of unintentional military clashes, warned analysts, who called for the establishment of a minimal level of communication channels to prevent such incidents.

In recent weeks, Pyongyang has escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula through military provocations. Last week, it fired hundreds of artillery shells into the maritime non-hostility zone near the West Sea border, leading the South Korean military to take corresponding steps and declare the nullification of a 2018 tension-reducing deal that had created buffer zones in the border area.

The reclusive regime is also intensifying its brazen rhetoric. Labeling South Korea as the regime's "principal enemy," North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has claimed to have "no intention of avoiding war."

"If the ROK dares attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security and such opportunity comes, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands, " Kim was quoted as saying by the North's official mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Wednesday.

ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively.

According to the KCNA, the North Korean leader made these remarks during his visit to major munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, in an apparent demonstration of the regime's effort to bolster preparedness for a potential war.

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed Kim's latest remarks about "annihilating South Korea" as nothing more than a play on words, warning that any attempt to deliberately create tension on the peninsula will ultimately harm the regime.

The Ministry of Unification analyzed that North Korea's emphasis on war preparedness is indicative of its anxiety and concern about the strengthening of South Korea-U.S. extended deterrence.

"Kim Jong-un's increasingly harsh rhetoric indicates that inter-Korean relations are reaching a peak of hostility, confrontation and political animosity," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University.

Lim also said that Kim's repeated warnings of using all means and capabilities to annihilate South Korea should not be dismissed as mere "bluffing," considering the authority and weight carried by the North Korean leader's statements.

While Seoul's military is stressing "immediate, overwhelming and decisive response measures" to any North Korean provocations, the professor expressed concerns that the North may use these verbal warnings to justify military actions.

"The more aggressively North Korea behaves, the more we need to take strategic approaches by creating diplomatic space and exit strategies from the current confrontation. The government should explore various options to minimize the North's provocations for the safety of the public," he said.

Cho Han-bum, a senior researcher at the Korean Institute for National Unification, called for the establishment of a minimal-level communication channel between the two Koreas to prevent accidental military skirmishes.

"Military clashes near the border usually result from misunderstandings rather than intentional actions," Cho said. "That is why we need hotlines to prevent small conflicts from escalating further."

For instance, if civic groups in South Korea resume flying propaganda leaflets critical of the North Korean leader across the border  a practice that infuriates the Kim regime  it could create misunderstandings, potentially escalating to military skirmishes.

"In the current situation without a hotline or alternative means of communication, the North might perceive the leaflets as part of the South Korean government's psychological warfare, prompting potential military responses near the border," Cho said.
A few days back, we got word that Samsung has prepared eight different official cases for the Galaxy S24 series. The information came from the UK-based accessory retailer MobileFun. While it named all eight cases, there were no images to see. We now have visuals too, thanks to noted X tipster Evan Blass. He shared a large image showing the entire collection in all reported colors.

Galaxy S24 official cases seen in leaked image

Samsung is said to be readying a transparent Clear Case and a transparent Clear Gadget case for the Galaxy S24 lineup. The Suit Case will come in White and Yellow colors, the Shield Case in Dark Violet and Light Gray colors, the Silicone Case in Dark Violet, Light Green, Violet, White, and Yellow colors, and the Smart View Wallet Case in Black, Violet, Light Green, and White colors.

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Additionally, the Standing Grip Case will be available in Dark Violet, Light Blue, and Taupe colors. Lastly, the Vegan Leather Case will come in Black, Taupe, and Dark Violet colors. In total, each Galaxy S24 model will have 21 different official case options with eight designs to choose from. The new leak shows all 21 cases for all three models, making for a total of 63 images.

The source squeezed the 63 images into a large single image, so they look a little blurry. However, you can get a fair idea of the design of all eight official cases Samsung is offering for the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra in the image below. The cases appear in the order we have listed above, including the color variants. The Vegan Leather Case for the Plus model is at the end, though.

Along with protective covers, Samsung will also offer an anti-reflective screen protector for the Galaxy S24 lineup. Additionally, you can buy the S Pen for the Ultra model in Black, Gray, and Yellow colors. Of course, the stylus pen will come built-in with the device. But if you lose or damage it, you will have the option to buy it separately. The prices of these accessories are not known.

The new flagships debut in a week

It wont be long before we know the prices of Samsungs official cases for the Galaxy S24 trio. The company should start selling them alongside the new flagships, which will debut on January 17, i.e. a week later. Pre-orders for the phones are expected to begin immediately after the launch event in San Jose, California, USA. We will keep you posted accordingly.
The OnePlus 12 just overcame two additional obstacles on its way to its global launch. The device is now not only Google Play-supported, but it also got certified by Bluetooth SIG.

The OnePlus 12 deals with two obstacles on its way to global launch

The device was spotted on the Google Play Supported Devices List with the model number PJD110. It also appeared over at Bluetooth SIG with model numbers CPH2581, CPH2583, and CPH2573. These are likely different model numbers for different regions.

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As a reminder, the OnePlus 12 will launch globally on January 23. The phone has already been announced in China. Later this month, it will arrive in the US, Europe, and India. It will launch alongside the OnePlus 12R, which also launched in China already under the OnePlus Ace 3 moniker.

Its specs are well-known as it already launched in China

Considering that the OnePlus 12 already launched, its design or specs are not a secret anymore. The device will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor by Qualcomm.

On the front, the OnePlus 12 will include a 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display. That will be a QHD+ panel, and it will be curved. It will offer an adaptive refresh rate between 1 and 120Hz. The phones peak brightness will be at 4,500 nist.

A 50-megapixel main camera (Sonys LYT-808 sensor) will sit on the back, while a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera (macro mode) will support it. A 64-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (3x optical zoom) will also be included.

A large battery will be on board, with extremely fast wired & wireless charging

A 5,400mAh battery will power this phone, while 100W SuperVOOC wired charging will also be on offer. 50W wireless charging will be supported too. Do note that the phone will ship with a charging brick too.

On top of all that, you can expect water and dust resistance, thanks to an IP65 rating. Android 14 will come pre-installed, with OnePlus OxygenOS 14 on top of it.
The New York Times has been in a heated battle against OpenAI over the companys use of copyrighted articles. Just recently, the popular publication site brought OpenAI into court looking to sue it for billions of dollars in damages. OpenAI responded to the New York Times during the lawsuit, alleging that it did not violate copyright law and that its practices are protected under fair use..

To catch you up, ChatGPT uses text-based data scraped from the internet. The data comes from a plethora of sources, and these sources also include big-name publications. Most large publications hide their news articles behind a paywall. The issue is that OpenAI is able to crawl these websites and use the information from their articles. If a person requests information about a news story, its possible that ChatGPT could regurgitate sections of copyrighted articles.

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This gives users access to copyrighted and paywalled articles for free. This is the crux of the lawsuit.

OpenAI responded to the lawsuit from The New York Times

OpenAI is one of the leading companies in the generative AI field, and its come under a lot of fire over AI in general. This is not the companys first legal tussle. According to the report, OpenAI defended Fair Use and its defense. This means that publicly available material can be used for news reporting, criticism, and commentary. While the New York Times articles are behind the paywall, they are still technically available to the public. So, they fall under this umbrella.

One thing that could tip the scale in this case is the concept of regurgitation. This is when an AI reproduces all or a piece of a work verbatim. This is the thing that The New York Times is slamming OpenAI for. If ChatGPT is indeed regurgitating sections of copyrighted work for non-paying readers to read, that could constitute a violation. Its the equivalent of a person cutting and pasting parts of a New York Times article onto a free blog for everyone to read.

However, OpenAI states that its working on reducing the amount of regurgitation. Were not quite sure how much of these articles are being regurgitated and how much is being generated from scratch. In any case, if OpenAI can completely phase out regurgitation, then there might not be an issue.

This case is still developing, so you want to stay tuned for more information and updates.
Samsung, in partnership with Microsoft, is gearing up to enhance the connectivity between its Galaxy smartphones and PCs, creating a seamless experience similar to Apples well-established ecosystem. The collaboration aims to introduce a new level of multitasking and interaction between the Galaxy Book4 series laptops and Samsung Galaxy smartphones, leveraging the capabilities of Microsofts Copilot AI assistant. This move is strategically aligned to emulate the smooth connectivity that Apple users enjoy across their iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and likely the upcoming Apple Vision Pro.

The Microsoft Copilot AI assistant will enable users to access, read, and summarize text messages from their Samsung Galaxy smartphones directly on the Galaxy Book4. Moreover, users can compose or generate responses on their PC, offering a level of interaction that extends beyond just typing responses on the phone. While the idea of generating responses using AI technologies may not be universally appealing for personal messages, it holds the potential for more thoughtful and considered communication in work-related scenarios.

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Samsung incorporates the AI buzzword into its Galaxy Book4 series, staying in line with the current industry trends for PCs

The initiative to integrate AI into the Samsung ecosystem shows the growing trend of laptop manufacturers leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance performance and user accessibility. In contrast to Apples approach of controlling both hardware and software, Samsung relies on collaboration, in this case, using Microsofts Copilot. This strategic move aims to provide users with a more cohesive and interconnected experience across their Samsung devices.

The Galaxy Book4s attempt to offer a more integrated ecosystem aligns with the popularity of Apples all-encompassing ecosystem, where users find value in the seamless connectivity between various Apple devices. While Samsung produces hardware for both smartphones and laptops, it operates on different platforms  Android for phones and Windows 11 for laptops. Despite this distinction, the collaboration with Microsoft Copilot reflects Samsungs aspiration to replicate the smooth and interconnected experience that defines the Apple ecosystem.

Samsungs effort to bridge the gap between its diverse hardware offerings could pave the way for a more interconnected and user-friendly ecosystem, challenging the dominance of Apple in this space. However, we will need to test it out ourselves to explore the practicality of this collaboration with Microsoft Copilot.
Samsung had a poor 2023 financially, as its profit dropped a whopping 85% from 2022. The Korean tech behemoth is estimated to have taken home just about $5 billion last year, its lowest annual profit since 2008. However, this hasnt deterred it from moving forward with its investment plans. The company is looking for big mergers and acquisitions this year as a long-term plan to strengthen its leadership in the tech industry.

Samsung is looking for big mergers and tech acquisitions

Samsung is one of the biggest names in the tech industry. The Korean firm is a global leader in several technological fronts, including smartphones, TVs, semiconductors, and more. In a New Year memo last week, its co-CEOs Han Jong-hee and Kyung Kye-hyun encourage employees to strive for excellence while remaining flexible in this fast-evolving tech world. They said its the only way to enhance competitiveness in the market.

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Han recently went on to share insights into Samsungs long-term plans. Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of CES 2024, which is currently underway in Las Vegas, he said that the company is exploring M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deals to strengthen and grow its businesses. To strengthen our existing businesses and discover future growth engines, weve been steadily on M&A deals, Han said.

The Samsung co-CEO, who is also a Vice Chairman at the company and heads its visual display, appliances, mobile experience, and network businesses, added that the firm is hopeful of securing an M&A deal this year. The tech giant acquired US-based OLED microdisplay firm eMagin last year. Its audio subsidiary Harman acquired Roon, a multi-room and multi-device music streaming platform.

However, it appears to be looking for a bigger acquisition this year. Perhaps something akin to the $8 billion mega-acquisition of Harman in 2017. Samsung has already made small investments in over 260 venture firms over the past three years alone. Its investments have come in the fields of AI (artificial intelligence), digital health, fintech, robotics, and electronics, according to a new report from The Korean Herald.

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Samsung is in talks to acquire a Korean robotics firm

In March last year, Han revealed that Samsung was discussing an acquisition deal with Rainbow Robotics, a Korean humanoid robotics firm. While there has been no update about it so far, the companies may still be in talks. Samsung has a 14.83% stake in Rainbow Robotics, making it the second-largest shareholder of the firm. Perhaps the recent economic downturn slowed down the talks.

We have made a lot of effort, continuously collecting and reviewing companies as M&A targets despite a series of unfavorable deal-making conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and global economic downturn, Han said. It remains to be seen whether Samsung can secure a big merger or acquisition this year. The company plans to take a step-by-step approach to improve its market performance in 2024.
Crypto and blockchain developers are always pushing the boundaries of what we can do with digital assets and oftentimes, apps based around this technology are launched. Users of popular app stores like the Google Play Store can download these apps to enjoy. They can be a way to look for new cryptocurrencies and new ways of earning and spending these tokens.

But if youve been following the news around crypto apps and app stores, youll know that the has been some back-and-forth regarding the rules developers have to follow to have their apps approved. Some of these rules have been so stringent that developers would rather pull their apps from the Play Store entirely. What are the current rules for crypto apps on the Andriod store? Some of them are as follows:

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Crypto Mining

Mining is one of the popular ways for crypto lovers to get their hands on new tokens and involves validating transactions on the blockchain network. Crypto mining is usually done through mining hardware, desktop, and even mobile applications.

But while all these are popular, the Google Play Store does not allow crypto mining apps to be listed. Instead, it allows for apps that manage mining activities remotely such as apps for mining pools that let users check the status of their miners.

Crypto Trading

The Play Store allows apps that facilitate crypto trading such as crypto exchanges to operate. However, there are some requirements for this. All of these transactions need to be conducted through certified services in regulated jurisdictions, as per the stores guidelines. On top of this, the app has to comply with the regulations of the various countries that it targets and operates in.

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These apps also cannot be published in regions where crypto or crypto trading is prohibited by the government. To ensure compliance, Google might ask app developers to show proof of licensing and compliance.

Earning Tokenized Assets

Many apps these days allow people to earn digital assets for participating in challenges, games, and much more. The good news is that the Google Play Store allows these types of apps to be listed. At the same time, Google requires complete transparency when these apps are being listed in the store. Developers have to declare the presence of these tokenized assets in the Financial Features declaration form on the App Content page in Play Console.

If an asset within an app is a tokenised asset, it must be stated clearly and developers are also not allowed to glamorize or promote potential earnings from these activities.

NFTs

NFTs within apps were previously a major bone of contention for the app store but there seem to be clearer guidelines now. Gambling apps that incorporate NFTs need to fill an application to that effect. Non-gambling apps that have NFTs need to ensure that no money is paid to buy NFTs of unknown value. Additionally, the NFTs being given have to be used for the enhancement of the gaming experience for players. Google also says that NFTs must not be used to wager or stake in exchange for the opportunity to win prizes of real-world monetary value.
The assailant who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck last week has told police that he carried out the knife attack to prevent Lee from becoming president, officials said Wednesday.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced the finding as it referred the 67-year-old suspect, identified only by his family name Kim, to the prosecution for further investigation and indictment on charges of attempted murder.

"The suspect has said to the effect that he decided to kill the victim so as to prevent him from becoming president and ... taking a majority of seats in the upcoming general elections," said Woo Chul-moon, head of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency.

Lee, the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, was narrowly defeated in the previous 2022 presidential election by President Yoon Suk Yeol, and is expected to run for president again.

Kim also held a grudge that Lee was not properly punished amid delays in his trials, Woo said.

Kim stabbed Lee in the neck with a camping knife while posing as an autograph-seeker during Lee's visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2. He was immediately arrested at the scene.

The police concluded that Kim acted alone without an accomplice after examining his mobile phone and financial transaction history.

Ahead of the crime, Kim wrote an "excuse note" in which he also said that Lee's trials are being delayed due to "pro-North Korean forces" in the judiciary and he tried to prevent Lee from becoming president and the country from falling in the hands of leftist forces, according to the police.

Kim "committed the extreme crime out of subjective political beliefs," the police official said.

Earlier in the day, Kim appeared before reporters as he was transferred to a prosecutors' office and said, "I caused concerns. I am sorry."

The police had earlier decided not to disclose his political party affiliation, citing the Political Parties Act, which prohibits an investigative organization from revealing such information obtained during the investigation process.

The police also decided not to make his identity, such as his name and a portrait photo, public, saying that his case did not meet the legal conditions for disclosure. The current law permits the disclosure of the identity of suspects in violent crimes when there is sufficient evidence backing the crime, to meet public interest and people's right to know. (Yonhap)
More must be done quickly to build trust in government processes and decision-making in the wake of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, a civic society leader has said.

Kevin Keith, who contributed to the development of the Cabinet Offices latest action plan for open government published last month, said the wrongful conviction of subpostmasters due to a failed IT system showed transparency across Whitehall is not peripheral to peoples lives.

Mr Keith, chairman of the UK Open Government Network, said further work is required to reach the level of transparency needed to prevent future scandals.

He said surveys showing historically low levels of trust in ministers demonstrate that there is nowhere near enough government openness.

Mr Keith added: We must work quickly. As has been highlighted by the Post Office/Horizon scandal and the provision of PPE during the pandemic, open government is not peripheral to peoples lives. It is central.

Transparency at every stage of the procurement process matters, as it enables oversight from civil society and the wider public. It can prevent such scandals from ever occurring.

Mr Keith broadly welcomed commitments in the Cabinet Office plan he said would save taxpayers money and tackle corruption.

The plan includes implementing the Procurement Act 2023, which aims to create a simpler and more transparent system that reduces costs, and secondary legislation to promote open public sector contracting planned for October.

The Government published its latest plan for transparency across Whitehall in December (Yui Mok/PA)

It also contains a commitment to collaborate with civil society organisations on a UK anti-corruption strategy and work with other countries to improve the transparency and inclusiveness of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

In addition, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to transparency on foreign aid across relevant Whitehall departments.

But Mr Keith warned further work was needed on issues such as the impact of artificial intelligence and open justice.

He said: Technology companies continue to develop artificial intelligence at pace, and algorithms are playing an increasing role in our society.

It is essential for the Government and civil society to work on this now to consider the many social and ethical considerations at play.

With elections this year in the UK, United States and India, he said 2024 is likely to be the biggest year for open government.

Mr Keith, who is also co-chair of the UK Multi-Stakeholder Forum established to maximise co-operation between the Government and civil society, said current Government commitments provided a template for building trust which is essential for strengthening democracy.

But he added: Now more must be done. That is why we will continue to work with the Government to support civil society involvement in digital governance, including the impact of AI, freedom of information, open justice, and beneficial ownership, whilst continuing to pursue reforms in health, environment, political integrity and the protection of civic space.

A group has already been established in the Cabinet Office to examine freedom of information failings.

The Government has also launched consultations on transparency of information on trusts owning land and open justice last year.

Rishi Sunak has announced that blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Officials are also working to establish a single dashboard to host returns data for ministers, special advisers and senior civil servants.

Alex Burghart, parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, said the action plan is an important step towards mainstreaming open government in the UK.

He added: Open government in the digital age is of vital importance to drive transparency, enhance accountability and enable informed decision-making for the benefit of society.

As the digital landscape continuously evolves, it is essential that we build a future where data increasingly empowers citizens, promotes inclusion, and enables participatory, accountable, and ethical governance.

This is a bedrock of protecting our democracy and should remain a priority for all democratic governments.

Rachel Davies, co-chair of the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition and advocacy director for Transparency International UK, said the Governments commitment to engagement with civil society is crucial to anti-corruption policy.

But she added: Given these strides forward, its worth noting that the UK has been without an anti-corruption champion for 560 days and counting. We urge the Government to appoint one at the earliest opportunity.

Referencing the relaxation of procurement rules during the pandemic, Ruairi Macdonald, co-chair for the Open Contracting Advisory Group, said: Clearly, transparency and accountability in government contracting needs a serious refresh after Covid-19 and will be necessary to effectively address the growing emergency of climate change.

Hopefully these open contracting commitments and new regulations expected under the brand new Procurement Act 2023 will help.

Rishi Sunak has announced that blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks.
Thousands of gadgets have been unveiled at the CES technology show, including laptops and connected cars, but a range of unusual and less mainstream devices are also on display.

Many come from smaller, start-up firms and look to use technology to help people in very specific ways such as to aid them with a disability or as a solution to a problem around the home, at work or with a pet.

Here is a look at the some of the most interesting tech announcements at CES in Las Vegas.

 .Lumen Glasses

Romanian start-up .Lumen describes its Glasses as reproducing the main characteristics of a guide dog in a pair of smart glasses for the visually impaired.

The company says it has created them by effectively scaling down the technology used for self-driving cars and placing it into a headset.

The Glasses use similar tech to that in self-driving cars to help wearers navigate (.Lumen/PA)

It then uses haptic feedback  vibrations  to guide the wearer as they walk.

Currently in clinical testing and production, the firm says it hopes to fully launch the device in the second half of 2024.

 Samsung Ballie

First introduced in 2020, Ballie is Samsungs AI home companion robot which follows users around and helps them with daily tasks.

Ballie can connect with and control home appliances and assist with general daily tasks (Martyn Landi/PA)

The small, circular robot can connect and manage home appliances but its major update is the addition of a built-in projector, which means it can run video calls for users, as well as stream video wherever they are, as well as use the projection to give visual reminders and prompts about tasks based on a users schedule.

It can even act as a house sitter while users are away, Samsung says, sending video updates of loved ones and pets.

When it debuted four years ago, reaction to Ballie was mixed but the increased presence of AI-powered assistants in mainstream tech since then means the revamped Ballie has been very well received among CES attendees this time around.

 Flappie smart cat flap

Swiss start-up Flappie have come to CES with what they say is the worlds most intelligent cat flap  one which has prey detection and can stop your cat bringing in small animals it may have caught.

The device uses AI and a built-in camera to detect when a cat brings home prey and temporarily locks the flap to prevent them bringing it into the house.

Flappie uses AI to spot when a pet has caught something and automatically locks the cat flap (Flappie/PA)

Flappie comes with a companion app, allowing users to keep track of their pets behaviour and to control the flap remotely.

It is set to launch in Europe in spring.

 Rabbit R1

Looking to completely change the way people interact with technology is the Rabbit R1.

A small orange rectangle with a screen and a camera, the R1 is effectively a walkie-talkie for an AI assistant that start-up Rabbit says should replace busy smartphones which are too full of apps no longer easy or simple to use.

Instead of having to scroll through apps to find the right one to complete a task, the Rabbit R1 uses AI and a large action model (LAM) to find and use the app once a user has given the voice prompt.

The idea is to eventually replace the busy, app-icon filled screen of a smartphone with this simple device, which Rabbit calls the simplest computer.
One of the leaders of Irelands coalition Government has said there are irrefutable points in South Africas case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations top court against the charges.

Irish Green Party leader Eamon Ryan noted that the World Health Organisation had said Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with the risk of famine increasing each day.

He agreed with the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end.

Mr Ryan, who is Environment Minister, said Ireland had played a strong role within the UN on the matter.

Irelands main opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have called on the Government to endorse South Africas action.

However, the Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to be very careful in defining genocide.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Varadkar said: I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed.

I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless were absolutely convinced that theyre the appropriate ones.

He said Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause, and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

This includes 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Independent Senator Frances Black, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign vice chair Fatin Al Tamimi, Sinn Fein foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy, Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Gary Gannon and Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik issue a call to the Irish Government over Gaza (Cillian Sherlock/PA)

Mr Ryan also said Irish people have consistently stood up for the rights of Palestinian people.

Speaking in Sallins, Co Kildare on Wednesday, he said: Now, more than ever, we stand up for their rights  for self determination but also for an immediate end to the actions the Israeli government and military are taking which are putting those Palestinian people in Gaza at risk of immediate starvation.

The court case is one of standing effectively first between South Africa and Israel, and there are only two parties to that. But in terms of where we stand, in my mind, it has to be for the basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are being wholesale infringed, in my mind, at the present time.

He said the world will sit in real harsh judgment if Israels government does not desist its campaign.

That does not in any way undermine the rights of Israelis to safety and deplore what happened on October 7 but the scale of what Israel is doing and the risk to the Palestinian people absolutely has to stop.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will join a South African government delegation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the countrys upcoming case accusing Israel of genocide.

As per a Pretoria statement, the South African delegation will be joined by senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe, including Mr Corbyn.

The statement said Mr Corbyn will stand with Pretoria at The Hague on Thursday and Friday for the hearings in South Africas case against Israel, which accuses the Middle Eastern nation of genocide against the people of Palestine.

The delegation will be led by South African minister of justice and correctional services Ronald Lamola.

Mr Lamola said: We are determined to see the end of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza.

We are most encouraged by leaders of the world who have not blunted their consciousness and have stood on the right side of history by supporting a case that seeks to protect the rights of human beings, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.

Mr Corbyn was the only foreign political figure named in the South African statement.

Earlier this week, Mr Corbyn called on Parliament to support South Africas process.

Every day, another unspeakable atrocity is committed in Gaza. Millions of people around the world support South Africa's efforts to hold Israel to account. Why can't our government? pic.twitter.com/CZuw530pEL  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) January 8, 2024

Mr Corbyn told MPs: People are dying of starvation and thirst in the Gaza Strip. Cannot the Government understand the anger around the world when they watch this happening in real-time?

And why so many people are very pleased that the government of South Africa has taken an initiative in going to the International Court of Justice in order to hold Israel to account for the deaths of so many wholly innocent people in Gaza.

Cannot the government understand that, and at least support South Africas process?

In November, Mr Corbyn described Hamas as a terrorist group after repeatedly avoiding the term, as he wrote an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of acts of terror too.

Mr Corbyn wrote in the left-wing Tribune magazine that I deplore the targeting of all civilians, including Hamass killing of around 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.

If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group, he said.

The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during a pro-Palestine march organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign in central London on October 28.

Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Secretary has said he is worried that Israel may have acted in breach of international law in the Middle East conflict.

Lord David Cameron said that he of course has concerns about the crisis in Gaza but that it is not his job to make a legal adjudication.

During his first grilling by MPs since his return to Cabinet, the former prime minister told Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee: If youre asking me am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law because this particular premise has been bombed or whatever?

Yes, of course Im worried about that, and thats why I consult the Foreign Office lawyers when giving this advice on arms exports.

Lord Cameron also called on Israel to restore water supply in Gaza but declined to be drawn on whether depriving the civilian population of it amounts to breaking laws on armed conflict.

The UK Government has said it supports Israels right to defend itself following Hamass October 7 attacks but urged it to show restraint and act in accordance with international rules.

The Foreign Secretary said he did not agree with the ICJ case, telling MPs: I dont think its right. I dont think we should bandy round terms like genocide in this case.

Israels president, Isaac Herzog, called the ICJ case filed by South Africa atrocious and preposterous.

At a press conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Mr Herzog said: Actually, our enemies, Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction of our nation, the State of Israel  the only nation-state of the Jewish people.

He went on to accuse South Africa of hypocrisy for bringing the case to the ICJ and thanked Mr Blinken for Washingtons support of Israel.

Mr Herzog added that Israel makes utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

Some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed in Hamass October 7 attack on Israel.

Since the war began, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 have been wounded in Israels assault in Gaza, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.

The public hearings at the ICJ will take place on Thursday and Friday at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
The world is facing the challenges of maintaining peace, prosperity and democracy, the King has said, in a letter delivered to Sri Lankas president by the Princess Royal.

Charles also said the UK was committed to building an ever stronger, modern partnership with Sri Lanka in the letter to Ranil Wickremesing, delivered by Anne at the end of the first day of her tour of the country.

The princess three-day visit to Sri Lanka is the royal familys first overseas tour of 2024, and marked the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the UK and the Commonwealth country, which gained independence from Britain in 1948.

The letter was presented by Anne at Mr Wickremesinghes official residence in the capital Colombo, ahead of a private dinner, and came after the princess, who was joined by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, received a colourful cultural welcome after her jet touched down.

The Princess Royal received a colourful welcome at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Charles wrote: The United Kingdom and Sri Lanka are bound by a deep, shared history. Her late Majesty the Queen, as head of state from 1952 to 1972, played a major role in Sri Lankas formative years.

Her visit to the country, just five months after her coronation, highlighted the closeness and strength of those bilateral bonds. In the intervening years, we have maintained that enduring connection between our peoples.

In the years ahead, the United Kingdom is committed to building an ever stronger, modern partnership with Sri Lanka.

We and the world are faced with considerable challenges, not least of all maintaining peace, prosperity and democracy, and tackling climate change and environmental degradation.

It is all the more important for our countries to work together, and I look forward to the continuing, warm friendship between our nations, including as members of the Commonwealth.

My wife and I extend our heartfelt congratulations as you celebrate this historic anniversary.
The lawyer for Julian Assange said the Wikileaks founders life is at risk if his final appeal against his extradition to the US fails.

Assange is wanted in the United States over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. He denies any wrongdoing.

The 52-year-old has spent the last four years in Belmarsh prison in London, where he has been since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2019, as he fights the United States attempts to extradite him.

Assanges lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who is an international human rights lawyer, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: As a result of the 13 years hes been effectively in prison or under house arrest or some form of restrictions on his liberty inside the Ecuadorian Embassy he is really unwell.

Because of the treatment he has suffered, he suffers a major depressive illness, he has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and the medical evidence is if he was extradited to the United States those conditions would cause him to commit suicide.

So his life is at risk and I am not exaggerating that.

In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and oppressive risk of suicide, while ruling against the 51-year-old on all other issues.

But US authorities subsequently brought a successful High Court challenge against this decision, paving the way for Assanges extradition.

In June last year, Assange lost his appeal against a judges ruling over whether he should be extradited but he will make his final appeal in the UK High Court in February.

Ms Robinson said: We have our final appeal against his extradition coming up in February and if we fail, if we are not given permission to appeal, that is the end of the road in the UK and he will be extradited.

We are hoping that the European Court of Human Rights will step in. We will make an application to the European court to try to stop (his extradition) but thats not guaranteed.

A supporter of Julian Assange at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in September last year (Jeff Moore/ PA)

There were several protests in the UK last year in support of Assange, including from former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who said campaigners will never stop fighting for Assanges freedom.

The wife of Assange, Stella, said last year that the stakes are very high.

She said: Theyre high on all sides, not just for Julians life and his freedom, but all the press freedoms and the freedom of speech rights that go with him.
Suspect's political belief leads attack on Lee Jae-myung: police

By Jung Da-hyun

The man who stabbed the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Jae-myung, committed the crime intending to prevent him from ever having the chance to be elected as president, according to the police, Wednesday.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced the results of its investigation into the attack on Lee, outlining the motives behind the crime.

The suspect, 67, identified only by his surname Kim, testified that he committed the act due to his own political beliefs, looking to prevent Lee from ever becoming president.

Kim said Lee had not been punished properly for his alleged involvement in a land development scandal, as Lee's trial was delayed. He aimed to prevent the DPK leader from providing party nominations to specific groups of people in the upcoming general elections.

The police said that an eight-page memo written by the suspect, justifying the crime, consistently showed his motive.

In addition to this, analysis of digital forensic data, reference statements and profiler analysis suggested that the suspect's extreme actions were influenced by his own political beliefs, according to the police.

The suspect purchased a climbing knife online in April last year and modified it by removing the handle and sharpening the blade to help facilitate the crime.

Additionally, the police revealed that the suspect had created placards and hairbands to disguise himself as a supporter of Lee, to get close access.

Moreover, the suspect had followed Lee's official schedule five times since June, conducting reconnaissance and looking for an opportunity to commit the crime. The attack ultimately occurred on Jan. 2, while Lee visited the site of a new airport to be constructed on Busans Gadeok Island.

Following the incident, the police swiftly established a 68-member investigation team, looking into about 40 individuals, including the suspect who was detained at the scene. Investigations included searches of the suspect's residence, office, vehicle, phone call records and banking transactions.

As a result, the suspect was arrested on Jan. 4 on charges of attempted murder.

Another man in his 70s, who was aware of the plan in advance and promised to deliver the memo to Kim's family and the media, was also apprehended, but released later, with police citing the insignificance of his involvement in the crime.

Police confirmed there were no co-conspirators or individuals behind the suspect, conspiring in the crime.

Police also decided, Tuesday, not to disclose the identity of the suspect, citing insufficient legal conditions for the disclosure.

The current law permits the disclosure of the identities of suspects involved in violent crimes when there is sufficient evidence and is in the public interest.

Lee left Seoul National University Hospital where he underwent surgery on Wednesday, eight days after the knife attack, according to a DPK official. He will continue his treatment at home for now.
A study suggests that women tend to lose feelings of romantic love towards their male partners earlier due to certain distractions. (Getty Images) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As Shakespeare once wrote in a Midsummers Night Dream, The course of true love never did run smooth. Now, research shows that the course is a truly bumpy ride, particularly for women in long-term, heterosexual relationships.

A study conducted by Dr Saurabh Bhargava, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, suggests that women see a dip in feelings of romantic love much earlier in a relationship than men.

The study, published in the journal of the Association for Psychological Science, tracked the emotions of nearly 3,900 adults who ranged from the recently engaged to others who had been married for many years.

Participants were asked to report how they felt, who they were with and what they were doing every 30 minutes for 10 days through their phone.

The findings revealed how women and men experience degrees of romantic love differently over the course of a relationship, with men experiencing a less pronounced reduction in partner love across cohorts.

Bhagarva then divided the data into two groups to compare them. One group comprised participants who had been engaged or married for under two years and the other for at least three years.

He found that, amongst wives who have been in longer-term relationships, the frequency at which they experience feelings of romantic love falls by nearly 60% compared to women in newer relationships.

Women see a sharp decline in feelings of romantic love the longer they stay in a relationship, while men don't experience such a significant dip at all. (Getty Images) (Getty Images/Westend61)

In stark contrast, men dont experience a similarly significant dip in romantic love, with the frequency of the emotion falling only by 0.4%.

The study also measured degrees of passion, dubbed excited love, and found that the pattern repeated itself. Women in longer relationships found these feelings falling by nearly 80% compared to those in the earlier stages of their romance, while it fell by a much smaller 30% among men.

This may be attributed to the end of the honeymoon period. Last year, research by ITVX found that the feeling of giddiness that often accompanies falling in love tends to come to an end after around nine months of being together.

But why do women experience such a sharp fall in these specific feelings, which are often considered to be crucial to fan the flames of a relationship? While there are no definitive answers, the study does suggest that certain things in womens lives could be diverting their feelings, while men dont appear to have the same distractions.

Despite unequal household labour receiving lots of attention in recent years, women are still shouldering much of the burden when it comes to chores and cooking as relationships mature, while men spend increasingly more time relaxing and napping, reports The Times.

Childcare may also contribute to womens feelings of love being channelled elsewhere. Bhagarva told the publication that, when children are added into a relationship, it may change how women experience love.

Watch: Meet the couple who tackle house clean in unison in oddly satisfying time-lapses

The fact that women take on a bigger share of invisible labour - also known as a mental load - was further proven through data published by Starling Bank last year, which found that 72% of British women think they do the majority of household chores.

Other studies have found that the mental load affects women disproportionately, particularly mothers, which suggests men should play an active role in sharing the burden so that both partners can enjoy a more balanced relationship.

While the data may initially paint a pessimistic picture for women who want to stay in long term relationships, Bhagarva said that the decline in feelings of love is not necessarily cause for concern.

The study found that, in the early parts of a relationship, women are much more likely than men to report feeling moments of love.

And it seems that seven years is the sweet spot, as this is when both wives and husbands were equally likely to report feeling love while spending time with one another.

Bhagarva added: I think there is an optimistic interpretation of the data - even though romantic passion and romantic love decline, they do persist.

Read more about sex and relationships:
Britain is some way off moving to recognise the Taliban although officials from both sides speak regularly, according to a Foreign Office minister.

Andrew Mitchell said the UK Government has a pragmatic dialogue with the Taliban and it needs to keep the pressure on them to change their approach.

He also said the Government will keep very much under review calls to reopen the UK embassy in Afghanistan, but he noted the security and political situation does not currently allow them to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Kabul.

Mr Mitchell was responding to renewed calls from Conservative former minister Tobias Ellwood for the UK to re-engage with Taliban-led Afghanistan amid worries over a looming economic, humanitarian or terrorism crisis.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood called for engagement with the Taliban (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Mr Ellwood last summer faced a backlash after claiming that security in Afghanistan had vastly improved and corruption is down after the Talibans return.

He quit as Defence Committee chairman after a subsequent apology failed to prevent members of the cross-party body seeking to remove him from the post.

Taliban militants returned to power in summer 2021 after western forces, including the US and UK, withdrew following a 20-year occupation.

Speaking in Westminster Hall, Mr Mitchell said the Talibans increasingly repressive policies have had a devastating impact on women and girls in Afghanistan while minority groups face discrimination and attacks.

He said the basic expectations, as made clear by UN resolutions, include ensuring Afghanistan will no longer be used as a base for terrorist activities.

Mr Mitchell told MPs: Our senior officials speak regularly to the Taliban, including to secure the release of four British national detainees last October.

Officials also visit Kabul when the situation permits, including a visit last month from the British charge daffaires to Kabul, where he met a wide range of senior Taliban figures.

Regardless of the complexities of the relationship, the UK Government has helped lead the way in securing the Afghan people.

In respect of (Mr Ellwoods) plea about the embassy, we will note what he has said and keep that very much under review.

The minister said the UK has dispersed more than 600 million since 2021 in aid for Afghanistan.

Mr Mitchell added: Our intention since August 2021 has been to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Kabul when the security and political situation allows. We do not believe that is the case at the moment but officials continue to visit and well keep this under close review.

Were clear thar we must have a pragmatic dialogue with the Taliban however this does not amount to recognition. We are some way off moving to recognise the Taliban and we need to keep the pressure on them to change their approach.

This does not stop us from having an impact on the ground and directly helping the people of Afghanistan in any pragmatic way.

Mr Ellwood earlier said there are 9 billion US dollars of frozen assets, telling MPs: That could easily be used to provide conditionalities in improving rights for women and girls if we used it more cognitively.

Mr Ellwood also said there is no clarion call for regime change among the Afghan population or the diasporas in the UK.

He said: That begs the very difficult question  if the Afghan people are not calling for it, should we continue to punish the Afghan people because the Taliban are in charge?

There are no easy options here but the challenges now facing this fragile country remain immense and the Taliban know this.

Speaking of the need for the UK to re-evaluate its strategy, Mr Ellwood said: We now have a duty to develop a strategy of engagement that moves from our current position of punishing the Afghan population for the Talibans takeover.

Our approach to Afghanistan is not just at the moment incoherent, its ineffectual. Our financial support is down to just 100 million.

An economic, humanitarian or terrorism crisis is looming. The Afghanistan threat is not just to the country itself but to the region and beyond.

Lets make sure Afghanistan and its people are not forgotten. It is time to engage, it is time to reopen our embassy.

Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) said he could partly support Mr Ellwoods remarks on engagement, saying: No matter how much we detest a particular regime, a time always comes when if in reality it has established full control over a country it gets international recognition.

He added: Where I find it hard to go further with (Mr Ellwood) is in the belief that we can somehow manipulate this system in order to make significant improvements or avert significant threats from an Afghanistan run by the militant Taliban, even if he does detect  and Im sure rightly  significant factions existing within the Taliban spectrum such as it is.
Top politicians are trying to influence police operations by putting senior officers under pressure either directly or via the media, a watchdog has found.

Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke told the Home Secretary in a letter on Wednesday that most police chiefs in 12 forces in England and Wales visited by inspectors experience improper pressure or interference from significant political figures.

The finding was revealed in a letter giving an update on a review of activism and impartiality in the police commissioned by previous home secretary Suella Braverman last year, in what was cast as a war on woke policing.

The ordering of the review itself was given as an example of such political interference.

Andy Cooke called for a better understanding of the term operational independence for the police (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Mr Cooke said: One of the most consistent themes in the evidence we have obtained so far is the extent to which senior national political figures directly or indirectly influence, or attempt to influence, police operations.

Senior police leaders told us that when this takes place in public, it makes it harder to maintain an appearance of impartiality.

Most senior officers told us that they experience what they believe to be improper pressure or interference from significant political figures, whether through direct contact or through the media. Many cited this commission and the associated correspondence as one example of this.

It was also claimed that an unnamed MP told their local force that a more senior politician would get involved if certain action was not taken.

Mr Cooke said: MPs are perfectly entitled to make representations about issues affecting their constituents. But MPs shouldnt seek to interfere with the operational independence of the police.

In one example, we were told of an MP implying that a more senior political figure would become involved if a particular action was not taken.

Many officers and staff told us that they thought operational activities on matters such as protest policing, or stop and search operations, are directly or indirectly influenced by the views of the police and crime commissioner or mayor, or senior figures in Government.

Some members of the public had asked officers whether their force was Labour or Conservative, inspectors said.

A row broke out last year over the influence of politicians on the police after Mrs Braverman and the Prime Minister were involved in a stand-off with Britains most senior officer over whether to ban pro-Palestinian protests in London on Remembrance weekend.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman commissioned the review of activism in the police (Justin Tallis/PA)

Mr Cooke said there needs to be a greater understanding of rules that enshrine the operational independence of the police, and what the term means.

Chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, Gavin Stephens, said: It is imperative for police leaders to be allowed the space to make difficult operational decisions and have the collective responsibility to maintain operational independence.

While it is vital this independence is maintained, we recognise the importance of engaging with and listening to all our partners across policing, including the Government.

I am working closely with the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and officials across government, to ensure that we maintain strong and effective working relationships in order to keep our communities safe and feeling safe.

Other initial findings from the activism review by His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) included that some forces risk discriminating against people with disabilities, the elderly or of certain faiths because too much emphasis is being placed on other protected groups.

Mr Cooke wrote: The importance of the police engaging with communities to serve them effectively shouldnt be underestimated; it is the bedrock of policing by consent.

All the forces we inspected showed they had a good understanding of the diverse nature of their communities.

Generally, they tailored their services, support, engagement and recruitment accordingly.

But we did find examples of forces placing particular emphasis on those with certain protected characteristics (usually in respect of race, sex and sexual orientation).

In September 2023, we were commissioned to carry out an inspection into activism and impartiality in policing. Today HM Chief Inspector @AndyCookeHMCI has updated Home Secretary @JamesCleverly on our initial findings.  Read the update in full:https://t.co/d9UQJJ3zVW pic.twitter.com/vB9odzDioM  HMICFRS (@HMICFRS) January 10, 2024

In so doing, forces risk discriminating against those with other protected characteristics, such as disability, age or some faiths.

The increase in the number of staff networks representing different groups is also making it more difficult for forces to be impartial, the watchdog found.

Mr Cooke said: As forces strive to create a more inclusive workplace, the number of staff networks has grown.

In addition to those networks supporting a wide range of protected characteristics, there are many others, such as those for ex-military staff.

Their purpose is no longer purely to support those from under-represented groups.

The presence of networks that hold views and actively campaign on contested matters makes it harder for forces to be, and appear to be, impartial in the view of the workforce and the public.

HMICFRS inspectors carried out work in 12 police forces: Cheshire, Dorset, Dyfed-Powys, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Metropolitan, Northumbria, Sussex, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

It is due to publish its full report later in the year.
The Princess Royal has been welcomed to Sri Lanka with a dazzling performance by traditional dancers  and carried some of her bags off the plane.

Anne had a bag in each hand and a handbag as she walked down the planes steps with husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence for the start of a three-day visit celebrating the UKs ties with the Commonwealth country.

A large group of dancers and musicians performed for the couple, with drummers playing a hypnotic beat in the hot and humid conditions.

The princess is visiting the country at the request of the Foreign Office and will begin a whistle-stop tour to mark the UKs bilateral relations with the nation, including a meeting later with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and First Lady Maithree Wickremesinghe.

Andrew Patrick, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, was among the dignitaries who formally welcomed the princess and said afterwards: This visit is the best possible way to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka.

Anne will undertake engagements and meet local communities and faith groups in the capital, Colombo, the city of Kandy in the centre of Sri Lanka, and Jaffna on the northern tip of the island, home to many of the countrys Tamil community, from Wednesday to Friday.

The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence are greeted by Andrew Patrick (left), British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Mr Patrick added: Thats the aim, to show her as much of the country, as much of the diversity as we can, and we think its the first visit by a member of the royal family to Jaffna, certainly in many, many years, so that will be historic.

In 1948 Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, gained its independence after more than a century of British rule.

The 73-year-old princess has been dubbed the Kings right-hand woman thanks to her support for her brother, and her reputation as one of the hardest-working royals in Charless slimmed-down monarchy.

The trip is the royal familys first overseas tour of 2024.

The Princess Royal is shown fabrics during her visit to the MAS factory in Colombo (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Annes first stop in Colombo was a visit to the factory of MAS, a company producing sportswear and active lifestyle clothing  including tops for tennis star Novak Djokovic.

It has also been manufacturing underwear and lingerie for Marks & Spencer for 30 years, and the princess was shown some of the garments by Jehan Jayasuriya, chief marketing officer for MAS Intimates, and held a bra cup as they chatted.

She was shown the polo shirt made for Djokovic for last years Australian Open, featuring material bonded rather than stitched together to remove seams and thus reduce friction during his intense training sessions.

Anne is president of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, and she heard about the efforts of MAS, which works with Loughborough University to develop its cutting-edge sports clothing, to create sustainable products.
Royal Navy air defence destroyer HMS Diamond has destroyed multiple attack drones deployed by Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, according to Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

The Portsmouth-based Type-45 destroyer working with US warships repelled what Mr Shapps described as the largest attack yet from the Yemeni-based force.

He posted on X, formerly Twitter: Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, Diamond destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew.

The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences.

We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.

(PA Graphics)

US Central Command said the Houthis had launched a complex attack and a total of 18 attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down in the operation which involved Diamond, US warships and F/A-18 fighter jets.

It said the attack was the 26th Houthi attack on the Red Sea shipping lanes since November 19.

It posted on X: On Jan 9, at approximately 9.15pm (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea, towards international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting.

Houthi Attack on International Shipping On Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled pic.twitter.com/KWPRidwiWI  U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 10, 2024

Eighteen OWA UAVs, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by a combined effort of F/A-18s from USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Laboon (DDG 58), USS Mason (DDG 87), and the United Kingdoms HMS Diamond (D34).

This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov 19. There were no injuries or damage reported.

On Jan 3, 14 countries, including the US, issued a joint statement stating, The Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the regions critical waterways.

The operations room of HMS Diamond preparing to fire her Sea Viper missiles (Ships crew/MoD/Crown Copyright)

The US-led Prosperity Guardian mission seeks to protect shipping using the vital Red Sea lanes which give access to the Suez Canal.

Some major shipping lines and oil giant BP have already diverted vessels around southern Africa, adding time and costs to journeys, rather than risk the Red Sea.

If the crisis continues the increased costs could be passed on to consumers, hampering efforts to curb inflation and reduce interest rates.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that Houthi attacks in the Red Sea which had come in the wake of the Gaza conflict were unacceptable in one of the most important sea lanes.

He said: No-one wants to see escalation of conflict in the Middle East, but it is unacceptable to have the freedom of navigation affected in this way.

He said it was important to discuss the various factors behind the escalation in the key shipping route, but said it was hard to know exactly why.

They need to be told  this is not a sort of free option, that consequences follow.
Labour plans to introduce supervised toothbrushing for young children in free breakfast clubs, under plans to boost the health of children across the nation.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer said tooth decay should be consigned to the history books as he announced plans to boost dental services to ensure children can get appointments when they need one.

Labour previously said it would introduce supervised toothbrushing in schools for children aged three to five.

But the announcement drew criticism from teaching unions, with leaders saying it is not the role of teachers to be making sure children brush their teeth each day.

The party has now honed in on the detail of the plans, saying the targeted national supervised toothbrushing programme would be rolled out in fully funded breakfast clubs.

The clubs will be introduced in every primary school so every child is able to start the day with a healthy breakfast and parents are able to get to work, Labour said.

Education unions said that it was important for the programme to be backed by sufficient funding and staffing levels.

Other aspects of Labours child health action plan include introducing a 9pm watershed for junk food ads, banning vape adverts aimed at children, better access to mental health support, cutting waiting times for hospital care for children, ensuring more dental appointments and making sure child health is a cross-government priority.

Speaking before a visit to a leading childrens hospital, Sir Keir said: Tooth decay, stunted growth and stalling life expectancy should be consigned to the history books, but instead theyre the reality of Tory Britain.

The biggest casualty of the short term sticking plaster politics of the last 14 years are our nations children. My Labour government will turn this around.

Labour will end the scandal of children being held back by poor health and regional inequalities by slashing waits for mental health treatment and hospital appointments, putting prevention first, and fixing NHS dentistry.

NEW: Labour will rescue NHS dentistry. Under the Tories, millions are being denied basic healthcare. With Labour, NHS dentistry will be there for all who need it. pic.twitter.com/O831i5PA6S  The Labour Party (@UKLabour) October 5, 2023

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said: While its good to see that supervising toothbrushing wont be a part of the school day itself, or an expectation of teachers, we remain somewhat sceptical about how this will work in practice.

Questions remain about access to the facilities required to make this proposal work and the staffing implications for breakfast clubs.

There is no doubt that, as a nation, we should be focused on improving childrens dental health, but this will certainly need further thought and additional funding.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, added: What is essential to the effective rollout of breakfast clubs and toothbrushing supervision, however, is sufficient funding and staffing levels. It is not at all clear who will administer these new drives.

Schools should be able to deliver these programmes free from the worry of budget constraints and increases to staff workload.

Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: At present, the UK has some of the worst child health outcomes in Europe, and child health inequalities continue to widen.

It is therefore welcome to see the Labour partys intention to publish a dedicated child health action plan, which outlines many of the calls paediatricians have been making repeatedly  including tackling paediatric waiting times, supporting the health prevention agenda and providing support for child mental health.

The Centre for Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists welcomed pledges on improving mental health care and support for children and young people.

But Public Health Minister Andrea Leadsom MP said: Given Sir Keir Starmers blueprint for the country is a record of failure, he should focus on fixing his own house before criticising others.

This is the same old Labour of more spending and more taxes.

The Conservative Government is taking the long-term decisions to protect the health of future generations  including creating a new smoke-free generation, protecting all our children from harmful vaping and creating family hubs across England to support every family to give their baby the best start for life.
Tom Cruise has signed a new deal with Warner Bros Discovery to develop, produce and star in original and franchise theatrical films in 2024.

The collaboration marks a return to Warner Bros for Cruise, whose films with the studio include 2014s Edge Of Tomorrow with Emily Blunt, Rock Of Ages, released in 2012 alongside Russell Brand, and 1999s Eyes Wide Shut with Nicole Kidman.

The announcement said Top Gun star Cruise and his production company will have offices on the Warner Bros Discovery lot in Burbank, California.

I have great respect and admiration for David, Pam, Mike, and the entire team at Warner Bros Discovery and their commitment to movies, movie fans, and the theatrical experience, Cruise said.

I look forward to making great movies together.

Warner Bros motion picture groups chief executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said they are thrilled to be working with Cruise, who they described as an absolute legend in the film industry.

A statement added: Our vision, from day one, has been to rebuild this iconic studio to the heights of its glory days, and, in fact, when we first sat down with (Warner Bros Discovery chief executive) David Zaslav to talk about joining the Warner Bros Discovery team, he said to us, We are on a mission to bring Warner Bros back  we have the best resources, storytelling IP, and talent in the business  and we need to bring Tom Cruise back to Warner Bros.

Today, that becomes a reality and we are one step closer to achieving our ambition.

We couldnt be more excited to welcome Tom back to Warner Bros and look forward to bringing more of his genius to life on screen in the years ahead.
Rishi Sunak faces a showdown with MPs over his Rwanda Bill when it returns to the Commons next week, with around 30 MPs prepared to back amendments aimed at toughening up the legislation.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt on Tuesday announced the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bills committee stage will take place on January 16 and 17.

The Prime Minister is under pressure from both sides of his party over the legislation, which is aimed at overcoming the Supreme Courts objections to the stalled plan to deport some migrants to the African country.

Following todays ruling, Im taking the extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation to confirm Rwanda is safe. I will not allow a foreign court, like the European Court of Human Rights, to block these flights. Heres the plan in full 1/5 pic.twitter.com/6MVqYWS65O  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 15, 2023

Those on the right want the controversial legislation to be tightened, while more centrist Tories have threatened to oppose the Bill if it risks breaching international law.

Leading right-wing Tories, led by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, have tabled amendments designed to tackle last-minute injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights and tighten the grounds on which illegal migrants can bring individual claims.

Writing in the Telegraph, right-wingers Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates said that the amendments were proportionate, consistent with our international obligations, and have respectable legal arguments behind them.

As with the rest of the Bill, and the Rwanda plan in general, they are tough  because they need to be.

Mr Sunak has said he would welcome bright ideas on how to improve the Bill, but has previously insisted it strikes the right balance with only an inch between his rescue plan and more radical measures that would risk Kigali pulling out of the scheme.

The legislation seeks to enable Parliament to deem Rwanda safe generally but makes limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to the east African nation under a clause disliked by Conservative hardliners.

Centrist former deputy prime minister Damian Green said the Prime Minister had assured him the Bill would not be strengthened.

The Prime Ministers looked me in the eye and said that he doesnt want to go any further and potentially break international law by ignoring its human rights obligations, he told the New Statesman.

Mr Sunak won a key Commons vote on his emergency draft law in December despite speculation about a major rebellion by Tory MPs.

But it faces further dissent during the upcoming parliamentary stages and heavy scrutiny in the Lords.

Meanwhile, Labour was defeated in its bid to force the Government to release documents relating to the scheme.

The Opposition motion asked for any documents that show the cost of relocating each individual asylum seeker to Rwanda as well as a list of all payments made or scheduled to be made to Rwandas government.

It also asked for the Governments internal breakdown of the more than 35,000 asylum decisions made last year and an unredacted copy of the confidential memorandum of understanding ministers reached with the East African country.

But MPs voted 304 to 228, majority 76, to reject the proposal.
Two young boys, who were brothers, died after falling into an icy retention pond in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin last week, police said.

The Sun Prairie Police Department told USA TODAY that police responded to a call of the two boys falling into the pond, at around 3:20 p.m. on Friday.

Police said the boys, aged 6 and 8, were rescued from the water and taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

A dive team from the Madison Fire Department and a boat team from the Dane County Sheriffs Office continued to search the pond after reports of additional children possibly being in the area but a search found that no one else had fallen into the pond, police said.

Police said they received the "heartbreaking news" that one of the boys died over the weekend. The medical examiner also confirmed that the second boy had died.

We extend our deepest condolences, wishes and prayers for the family during this terribly tragic time, police said in the press release.

Young boy dies: 4-year-old beaten to death over potty training. Mom will now spend 42 years in prison.

Two young boys killed were brothers

Family members of the two children told Channel 3000 that the boys, 6-year-old Antwon and 8-year-old Legend, were brothers. The retention pond was near their apartment complex.

"I'm angry. I'm heartbroken. devastated. Everything," Antwon's father Antwon Amos told the outlet. "I mean words can't really explain."

The family called for stricter safety measures around the pond, so other kids don't fall in.

"We need to end this actually today. [They need to] fence every pond in that's at apartment complexes where kids have access to it so we never have to go through this again."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 boys, brothers die after falling into icy pond in Wisconsin: Police
Jacob A. Carter, 32, was killed on Jan. 5

Facebook Jacob Carter

A Washington state bagel shop owner was gunned down while on vacation with his husband in New Orleans  and no suspects have been apprehended at this time, per authorities.

Jacob A. Carter, 32, was fatally shot on Jan. 5 around 1:30 a.m. near the intersection of Bourbon and Kerlerec streets in New Orleans, according to police.

Investigators are gathering evidence and information to identify the person(s) responsible for this incident and a motive, New Orleans police said in a statement after the incident.

Carter was the co-owner of a Tacoma bagel shop called Howdy Bagel with his business partner and husband Daniel. The two were vacationing in New Orleans at the time of the shooting, according to a social media post from Howdy Bagel.

If you knew Jake, you know he was someone who exuded kindness, warmth, and genuine care to everyone he met, the Instagram post reads. Jake was one of the brightest spots in the lives of everyone he loved. This loss is immeasurable for our community.

The widely popular bagel shop opened after Carter and his husband lost their jobs because of the pandemic, per KIRO-TV.

Gofundme Jacob Carter [left]

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The shops name Howdy kind of invokes this sense of warmth and bringing people together, bringing people in and I think we are trying to foster a place of inclusiveness to everyone," Carter told King5 in July. "Daniel and I both grew up in environments they were not always that way, especially to queer folks, and so to have a storefront that feels welcoming to everyone I think is a big part of who we are and what we believe the space should be.

A GoFundMe page has been created to cover the cost of the business' rent and operating expenses.

"The shop will be closed temporarily as we all navigate this time of grief," the fundraising page reads. "Daniel and Jacob have been continually blown away and grateful for the ways that this community has rallied together to support Howdy Bagel. We know that in this difficult season, you will all continue to show up with love and support."

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or homicide detectives at (504) 658-5300. Crimestoppers tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward.



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Read the original article on People.
Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death penalty for Cho Seon who was indicted for stabbing one man to death and wounding three others near a subway station in southern Seoul last July.

The demand was made during a trial at the Seoul Central District Court.

Cho's stabbing spree shocked the country and sparked fears of random attacks as all the victims were complete strangers. (Yonhap)
Photograph: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The judge overseeing the election interference case against Donald Trump in Washington DC had her home visited by police after a fake emergency call, and attempts were made to do the same to the prosecutor Jack Smith.

The Maine secretary of state was swatted, too, after she ruled that the former president could not appear on the ballot there because of the 14th amendment. The Colorado judges who ruled similarly have faced threats, leading to increased security.

Related: Designed to terrorize: Maine official who removed Trump from ballot describes recent threats

There was also a round of bomb threats to state capitols, sent to secretaries of state and legislative offices, that were believed to be a hoax but led to evacuations around the country this month. Those hoaxes came after letters containing fentanyl were sent to elections office in a handful of states in November.

A recent wave of threats against elections officials and judges foretells a tense presidential election year thats likely to see ongoing threats of political violence that could turn physical, as the future of US democracy hangs in the balance.

It does seem sort of like its a message starting off the year, saying, OK we are in 2024, and this is not going to be easy. Elections are not going to go smoothly, and you better be scared, said Lilliana Mason, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University who studies political violence.

The wave comes after several years of sustained threats to and harassment of elections officials, who have seen high turnover in their field as a result. Its now part of the job to face an onslaught of harassing messages when running an election in the US.

While these recent threats havent carried physical violence, they arent innocent. They disrupt and intimidate the people involved  and they cause chaos, making it difficult for elections officials to do their jobs. Women and people of color are more often the targets of these threats, Mason said, which could drive people out of the jobs, potentially changing the profile of who runs elections.

A threat against a building, such as the bomb threats, takes hours to investigate and evacuate to ensure people are safe. Threats like doxing, or posting personal information online, or swatting someones home take even longer to unwind, requiring more security, staying in another location and scrubbing online information. Its not always clear, either, whether a threat is simply designed to sow chaos or will lead to violence.

Today, it could be warnings. Tomorrow, there could be an actual bomb that goes off or there could be an assassination attempt with a rifle, said Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor who directs the Chicago Project on Security and Threats.

Beyond the effects on those targeted, violence and intimidation are destabilizing and distract people from thinking more soberly about the country and its future, Mason said.

They focus our energy on who is mad at who and dividing us against each other, rather than focusing on the wellbeing of the nation as a whole, she said.

Shenna Bellows, the Democratic secretary of state in Maine, had her home swatted  with state troopers searching her house summoned by a call about a fake break-in  after her decision on the 14th amendment question that would result in Trump being left off the ballot in the state. Her personal cellphone number and home address were posted online. She knew that her decision would bring strong reactions, but not to this extent.

The ensuing threatening communications, the doxing, the swatting of my home are unacceptable, she said. We should be able to agree to disagree on issues that are extraordinarily important and even controversial with respect and civility. We should be able to disagree without threats of violence.

Pape, who has conducted surveys showing increasing support for political violence in the US, said the recent wave of threats shows exactly what he was concerned about.

They show that the country is a tinderbox, where people increasingly support violence to achieve their political goals as they lose faith in democracy, he said. Pape also pointed out the threats have come in waves since the January 6 insurrection and could increase this year, especially if Trumps supporters believe he will not win at the ballot box. The increased support for violence gives the people doing threats a mantle of legitimacy.

These volatile individuals are often encouraged to take the next step toward actual violence by a perception theyre doing it in a communitys interest, he said.

Trump and his allies have not sought to tamp down their rhetoric or condemn the threats made by supporters, but such a condemnation could make a difference, Mason and Pape both said.

Strong bipartisan statements against political violence and threats have a tangible effect, Pape said. Given the reaction politicians often get when standing against their party, particularly Trump, some Republicans have privately said they fear for their safety and their families and have shied away from speaking out against him.

One thing that we found to be pretty effective at reducing regular peoples approval of political violence is just to have their leaders tell them that its not OK. Its pretty simple. And the problem is that Trump is not doing that, Mason said. The tragedy is that we have very easy ways to reduce violent tendencies in the electorate, but those ways tend to be based on leadership playing a responsible role.

The incredibly high stakes of the 2024 election, where both sides see an existential battle for the countrys future, are not typical of a normal election.

Its not supposed to feel that way. If its existential, then the bedrock of democracy  which is losers consent  is harder to agree to, Mason said.

Bellows, the Maine secretary of state, said she also received messages of support alongside the threats and harassment. One former GOP legislator reached out and asked if she needed a place to stay or firearms, she said. Even people who disagreed with her decision supported her ability to make it and she said its the responsibility of public officials to tone down the rhetoric.

Our democracy depends on open and free expression and debate. We need to stand up against hate and threats of violence.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken emerged from a series of meetings with high-level Israeli officials on Tuesday with an agreement to launch a United Nations-led assessment mission that will pave the way for civilians displaced by warfare in northern Gaza to eventually return home -- a significant step toward restoring a sense of normalcy in the besieged enclave.

As Israel's campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza, and as the IDF scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the U.N. to carry out an assessment mission," Blinken said during a press conference in Tel Aviv, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. "It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north."

Now, this is not going to happen overnight. There are serious security, infrastructure, and humanitarian challenges, Blinken cautioned. But the mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome.

PHOTO: Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz (2nd-R) in Tel Aviv, on Jan. 9, 2024, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East. (Evelyn Hockstein/POOL via AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken also forcefully defended Israel from allegations of genocide brought by South Africa before the U.N.s highest legal body, the International Court of Justice, claiming the case distracts the world from vital efforts tied to the conflict.

Moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless, Blinken asserted. It's particularly galling given that those who are attacking Israel -- Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran -- continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.

MORE: Israel-Gaza live updates: Blinken back in Israel amid rising tensions across region

But while in Israel during one of several visits he has made to the country since Hamas Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attacks, Blinken did publicly express some criticism of its government, particularly right-wing officials opposition to the creation of an independent Palestinian state -- urging them from the podium to stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians ability to govern themselves effectively.

The secretary was also asked about calls by two Israeli ministers for the transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza, a stance the State Department slammed as inflammatory and irresponsible last week.

Blinken said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured him that forced resettlement of Palestinians outside of the enclaves border was not the position of his government.

But even convincing the Israeli government to allow the U.N. to explore pathways for those displaced within Gazas perimeter was far from guaranteed.

MORE: Austin treated for early prostate cancer, serious intestinal complications: Pentagon

Since the outbreak of the war, U.S. officials say the Israeli government has been reluctant to allow various types of outside assistance to enter into Gaza out of concern that it will inadvertently benefit Hamas fighters, and that changing the countrys stance often requires face-to-face diplomacy with high-level cabinet members.

Nearly two million people across the Gaza Strip -- the overwhelming majority of its population -- have been displaced at some point during the conflict, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

PHOTO: A displaced girl is shown at a camp near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 2, 2024. (Haitham Imad/EPA via Shutterstock)

The agency also says it has had extremely limited ability to distribute humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza and share information about conditions in the area since shortly after the fighting began.

MORE: Final batch of Jeffrey Epstein documents released

Blinken said he had also discussed Israels plans to scale down its campaign during closed door meetings, and reaffirmed the Biden administrations enduring commitment to supporting its fight against Hamas until the threat posed by the designated terrorist group was eliminated.

We believe Israel has achieved significant progress toward this fundamental objective, he said.

Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel in the Oct. 7 terror attack, according to the Israeli prime minister's office. More than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Blinken announces deal to launch UN assessment mission in northern Gaza originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A powerful storm that battered a large swath of the eastern US, knocking out power across several states and leading to multiple rescues, delivered its final blow to New England Wednesday. Heres the latest:

 Swollen waterways force evacuations: Multiple rivers were at major flood stage in the eastern US Wednesday, most of them in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Flooding forced evacuations in New Jersey and in Connecticut, where the Yantic River came perilously close to hitting a record high level and a dam was damaged.

 Storm turns deadly: At least four deaths were reported in Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina as storms walloped the states with fierce winds, rain and tornadoes. An 81-year-old woman was among them after her Cottonwood, Alabama, mobile home was flipped multiple times Tuesday, according to Houston County Commission Chairman Brandon Shoupe.

 Widespread power outages amid cold temperatures: The number of power outages dropped as the storm moved away, but more than 120,000 homes and businesses were in the dark Wednesday night in the eastern US, primarily in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont and Maine, according to PowerOutage.us. And high temperatures in the Northeast were expected to top out only in the 30s and 40s Wednesday, leaving many without power in frigid weather.

 Tornado reports and damage left behind: The storm generated 25 tornado reports across Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina since Monday. In South Carolina, significant damage from a potential tornado was reported in the city of Bamberg, 60 miles south of Columbia, where the century-old City Hall building collapsed, according to city clerk-treasurer Robin Chavis.

Flights canceled: More than 1,350 flights were canceled and more than 8,700 flights were delayed on Tuesday, according to data from FlightAware. Some of those are due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 9, but thunderstorms caused significant disruptions in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida and North Carolina airports.

 Dangerous driving conditions: In Iowa, a section of Interstate 80 had to be closed down Tuesday afternoon due to whiteout conditions that led to a multi-vehicle crash. In Kansas, around 30 people, including children, got stranded and had to be rescued from vehicles and taken to a high school during blizzard and whiteout conditions Monday.

Another storm is coming: A storm much like this one is set to hammer many of the same areas with all hazards Friday and Saturday. The storm will take a similar path, meaning severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are once again possible in the Southeast, snow is possible in the Midwest and rain and wind will once again return to the East Coast.

In the storms path? Bookmark CNNs lite site for fast connectivity on low bandwidth.

A pedestrian navigates a snow-covered street in Iowa City, Iowa, on Tuesday. - Scott Olson/Getty Images

River flooding triggers evacuations, threatens dam

The river flood threat was increasing in parts of the Northeast Wednesday morning, even as the rain ended.

Heavy rain Tuesday night sent water levels skyrocketing by more than 10 feet in 12 hours on Connecticuts Yantic River.

The river reached its highest level in more than 40 years early Wednesday morning and damaged a dam. The dam has not been breached or collapsed, but is failing, a Connecticut Emergency Management and Homeland Security official told CNN

Evacuations were ordered near Norwich, Connecticut, for areas bordering the river, Connecticut emergency management said on X, formerly Twitter. A precautionary evacuation was also in place for Bozrah, Connecticut.

A nearby power substation was pulled offline in order to avoid potentially catastrophic damage to our infrastructure, the Norwich Public Utilities wrote in a Facebook statement.

More than 5,000 people were without power Wednesday morning, which cannot be restored until river flooding eases, utility spokesperson Chris Riley told CNN.

Flooding in Norwich, Connecticut, on Wednesday. - Courtesy Arnold Alina

River gauges on the Pompton and Saddle rivers in northern New Jersey also reached major flood stage on Wednesday morning.

Some residents in Oakland, New Jersey, were forced to evacuate their homes Wednesday morning due to significant flooding from a nearby lake, according to local officials. The flooding occurred just north of where the Pompton River hit major flood stage.

Portions of the states Passaic River are also forecast to hit major flood stage by Wednesday night when floodwaters begin to crest.

River levels will remain elevated across much of the East this week and will likely be on the rise again once the next storm arrives at the end of the week and early weekend.

Historic coastal flooding hits East Coast

Flooding in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, on Wednesday as the storm pushed water inland. - Courtesy henrysweatherchannel

Strong winds in excess of 50 mph blowing onshore Wednesday morning across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic coupled with high tides caused significant storm surge and flooding, with water levels reaching historic high levels at multiple locations along the coast.

Water levels surged to their highest on record Wednesday morning in Philadelphia and Bar Harbor, Maine. A gauge in Portland, Maine, recorded its third-highest water level.

Dangerous storm surge flooding unfolded across the southern Maine coast Wednesday.

I havent seen storm surge like this in years, Wells, Maine, Police Chief Jo-Ann Putnam told CNN.

We have a lot of debris on the roads and water has come up through the homes, Putnam added.

Just north of Wells in Kennebunk, officials strongly discouraged travel along the coast, sharing dramatic video of water surging onshore at high tide as large waves crashed in the distance.

In the mid-Atlantic, Annapolis, Maryland, recorded its third-highest water level on record sending floodwater into the city.

Downtown businesses were surrounded by as much as 18 inches of floodwater Wednesday morning, a city spokesperson told CNN.

Firefighters rescue a man in car stuck in the flooded area in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday. - Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

CNN Meteorologists Taylor Ward and Brandon Miller, and CNNs Sara Smart, Rob Frehse, Amy Simonson, Jillian Sykes, Jamiel Lynch, Isabel Rosales, Wes Bruer, Chris Boyette, Gregory Wallace, Pete Muntean and Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The fifth Republican presidential debate of the 2024 election season will also be its first head-to-head matchup.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are the only candidates taking part in Wednesday night's debate in Iowa. President Donald Trump, widely considered the GOP field's front-runner, will again be skipping the event.

Other previous debate participants, including conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, didn't make the cut.

Heres how to watch the debate:

What time is the Republican debate?

The debate will start at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday. It's being moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

What channel is the Republican debate on?

CNN is carrying the debate live on its broadcast network, as well as on CNN International, CNN en Espanol and CNN Max. It's the first debate of the 2024 election cycle that CNN is hosting.

Where is the Republican debate?

The setting for the fifth GOP debate is Des Moines' Drake University, which has played host to presidential debates in each of the four-year cycles since 2007.

The debate comes just five days before the Iowa caucuses kick off the 2024 voting calendar.

Which candidates will be on stage?

Three candidates  Trump, DeSantis and Haley  qualified for the debate stage, but only DeSantis and Haley have committed to attend.

Instead of joining his rivals, Trump is participating in a town hall on Fox News, airing at the same time and taking place about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the debate site.

Haley and DeSantis were both scheduled to take part in their own Fox News town halls earlier this week in Des Moines. The rivalry between the two has only increased as they vie to be the leading GOP alternative to Trump.

DeSantis has said he expects to win Iowa despite trailing far behind Trump in polls. He has portrayed Haley, a former South Carolina governor who was Trumps U.N. ambassador, as a puppet of wealthy donors and someone who has flip-flopped on key issues.

Haley, who hopes to edge out the better-organized DeSantis in Iowa, has accused him of misrepresenting her record, especially on taxes, and of falsely portraying himself as tough on China.

To qualify for CNNs Iowa debate, candidates needed to register at least 10% support in three separate polls, either nationally or in Iowa.

Ramaswamy, who qualified for other debates but not this one, said he would be participating in a podcast with Tim Pool instead.

What's up next?

There are already other debates on the books in the next state to cast GOP votes: New Hampshire, on Jan. 23.

ABC has announced plans for a debate on Jan. 18 at Saint Anselm College. CNN also intends to hold another debate on Jan. 21 at New England College.

Candidates who finish in one of the top three spots in the Iowa caucuses will be invited to participate in CNN's New Hampshire debate, as well as those who meet the network's polling qualification, which includes a 10% polling threshold in New Hampshire.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
The moment the crypto world wanted finally happened Wednesday. And this time it was for real.

Regulators on Wednesday gave money managers the green light to launch 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, allowing everyday investors to get exposure to the worlds largest cryptocurrency without having to own it.

The ETFs, which begin trading Thursday, could make bitcoin a potential staple in 401(k)s, IRAs, and pension plans and give it mainstream acceptance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission made the announcement roughly 24 hours after a fake social media post claimed those approvals had already been granted.

The chaos triggered by that unauthorized post on X reverberated from Wall Street to Washington while attracting new scrutiny to the SEC, a longtime foe of the industry that is still in the middle of a widespread crackdown on some of cryptos major players.

The price of bitcoin seesawed Tuesday and Wednesday as investors tried to make sense of the mishap, which erased tens of billions in market value in just minutes.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler made it clear in a statement Wednesday that his agency "did not approve or endorse bitcoin" when it signed off on the new products and called Wednesday's announcement "the most sustainable path forward" following a key court defeat on this issue last summer.

"Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto," he said in his statement.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler. (Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS) (REUTERS / Reuters)

One SEC commissioner, Caroline Crenshaw, published a dissenting opinion that called the agency's actions "unsound and ahistorical."

"I am concerned that these products will flood the markets and land squarely in the retirement accounts of US households who can least afford to lose their savings to the fraud and manipulation that appears prevalent in the spot bitcoin markets," she said in her statement.

The SEC has rejected such applications in the past, arguing the products were vulnerable to market manipulation.

The list of applicants approved by the SEC Wednesday included some of the biggest names on Wall Street, from BlackRock (BLK) to Franklin Templeton (BEN), as well as a number of firms better known in the crypto world.

These issuers competed with one another in the run-up to their launches to offer the lowest fees, hoping to attract as many investors as possible once ETFs begin trading.

Other big Wall Street players plan to be part of the action, as well. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) are among the giant banks that have offered to help some of these money managers create and redeem shares of their new funds.

Optimism about these approvals helped bitcoin surge 164% in 2023 and start 2024 by rising above $47,000, its highest level in nearly two years.

A decade in the making

The crypto industry has been waiting more than a decade for this moment.

The first application to create a spot bitcoin ETF came in 2013 from crypto entrepreneurs and twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, famous for their early role in the creation of Facebook.

Entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. (Lucas Jackson/REUTERS) (REUTERS / Reuters)

Since then, the SEC has denied more than 30 similar applications.

A key turnaround moment came last year in June when the worlds biggest money manager, BlackRock, filed for a spot bitcoin ETF. The interest from one of Wall Streets biggest names sparked other asset managers to follow suit.

Another important development came last August when one of the ETF applicants, Grayscale Investments, won a key legal victory over the SEC. Grayscale had sued the SEC in 2022 after it wasn't allowed to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin offering.

Its core argument was that the agency had already approved exchange-traded products that held bitcoin futures contracts and thus had "acted arbitrarily and capriciously."

A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington sided with Grayscale, saying the firm had "advanced substantial evidence" its product was similar to bitcoin futures ETFs previously approved by the SEC.

That forced the SEC to reconsider Grayscales spot bitcoin ETF application, along with others filed by rival money managers.

"We are now faced with a new set of filings similar to those we have disapproved in the past," Gensler said in his statement Wednesday. "Circumstances, however, have changed."

One of the applicants, Ark Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood, told Yahoo Finance that the dominant providers of spot bitcoin ETFs will be those that take in the most money from investors right out of the gate.

The winners "will be a few and it will be the most liquid," she said.

Cathie Wood, ARK Investment Management's CEO. (David Swanson/REUTERS) (REUTERS / Reuters)

Historically, launches for other bitcoin products have sent bitcoins price on a wild ride.

It happened in 2017 with the launch of the countrys first bitcoin futures contracts and then in 2021 with the SECs approval of the first bitcoin futures ETFs. Prices soared and then fell by large amounts in the year following the launches.

In recent weeks, much debate has raged over whether bitcoin will rise or fall once the lauded moment of approval comes to pass.

Gautam Chhugani, managing director of the research arm for Bernstein, said his team estimates such financial products will garner $10 billion or more in investment flows through the end of 2024 and "hundreds of billions of dollars" over a two-year period.

That, he added, will help push bitcoins price even higher.

"We do think that bitcoin goes to $150,000 by 2025," Chhugani added.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.

Click here for the latest crypto news, updates, and more related to ethereum and bitcoin prices, crypto ETFs, and market implications for cryptocurrencies

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
By Rich McKay

ATLANTA (Reuters) -A judge on Wednesday postponed the trial of an activist charged with a conspiracy in trying to stop construction of an Atlanta police center, derisively called "Cop City," in what is viewed as a test case over whether the protests constituted criminal racketeering.

The defendant, Ayla King, 19, of Worcester, Massachusetts, is the first of five dozen activists due to stand trial on charges they violated the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as the RICO act. The state law was modeled after the federal law designed as a tool to curb organized crime.

The trial was due to start on Wednesday, but Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams sent the jury home before opening statements could begin after the defense announced it would appeal the judge's earlier denial of a request to have the case dismissed.

Lawyers for the defense have argued that their client has not received a speedy trial - as they had requested - saying the case had fallen outside the time limit set by state law.

Adams said she would delay the trial for at least two weeks while the motion is considered.

King is accused of being part of a group called Defend the Atlanta Forest that police say has at times over the last two years illegally occupied the 85-acre (34.4 hectares) wooded site where the $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is being built.

The protesters, self-described social justice activists and environmentalists, have fiercely opposed the project and said it would increase the militarization of police and destroy parts of a forested area defenders call the "lungs of Atlanta."

Atlanta has said it needs the facility, which would include a mock city and emergency vehicle course, to replace a patchwork of substandard training sites and prepare recruits for urban law enforcement.

"The militant anarchists engaged in violence to bring attention to their own political goals," the indictment reads.

Chris Timmons, an attorney who teaches law at Georgia State University and has followed the case, said it was the first time Georgia has applied the RICO Act to a protest group.

"Prosecutors are using a massively powerful law on what for some might be misdemeanors," Timmons said.

If prosecutors can prove that the actions of the group moved beyond protests into criminal activity, "then that could be the proper use of it, like joining in a conspiracy to rob a bank," Timmons said.

If King is acquitted, it won't stop the other cases from going to trial, Timmons said. "At most, it might mean that some of the others might get sweeter plea deals."

King is specifically accused of joining "an organized mob" last March that tried to overwhelm police in a riot at the construction site.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charge of racketeering.

In court papers, King's attorney wrote that her client was detained after merely being at a concert near the site. "There is no evidence" that she was part of a group that damaged construction equipment, according to the documents.

Neither King's attorney, Suri Chadha Jimenez, nor prosecutors responded to requests for comment on the case.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
A Massachusetts woman is suspected of trying to poison her husband with tainted soup after a person posing as a soap opera star online told her to get rid of him, according to police records.

A Townsend Police Department incident report said Roxanne Doucette, 64, is being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, using poison. The report listed Doucettes husband as the alleged victim and her 40-year-old daughter as a witness.

Doucette has not been charged in connection with the poisoning allegations, but the accusations are spelled out in police and court documents that allege Doucette messaged a person online who posed as actor Thorsten Kaye, one of the stars of daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful.

On Dec. 1, "Kaye" told Doucette: You have to get rid of your husband honey. I need you so much, court documents said.

Doucette stated that she needed to do some thinking, the filings said.

Later that day at 2:34 p.m., Doucette messaged the profile: Making an amazing soup. Special potion. He will be hungry when he gets back. Just enough for him.

About two hours later she sent another message saying: Hubby got back not feeling well. Maybe I can collect life insurance. "Kaye" responded: Honey when will that be? and Doucette replied, Dont know, according to the court documents.

Just after 5 p.m. that same day, Doucette called 911 for her 73-year-old husband. The report said he was unresponsive but breathing with a cardiac history and he was transported to Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.

At the hospital, Doucette's daughter became suspicious.

The daughter contacted Ayer police saying she believed her mother poisoned her father and had been chatting with the fake soap opera profile who scammed her into giving them money, the filings said.

The daughter went through the messages on her mothers phone and took screenshots, and came upon the messages about the soup.

When Doucette's husband regained consciousness, the daughter asked him about what happened on Dec. 1, and he said his wife made him soup but that it wasnt very good. He stated that it tasted bitter, court documents said.

The hospital did a toxicology test on him, but it came back negative, court documents said. The daughter told officers that the test seemed to only test for opioids, cocaine, and alcohol and not other substances.

When police spoke to Doucette, she became aggressive.

Doucette said that she thought she was talking to a star, and that she had always wanted to meet a star, court documents said. She told NBC Boston that she ended up wiring about $4,000 to the scammer.

She stated that she would never harm her husband in any way and she loves him very, very much.

When an officer said they were going to seize her phone and tablet for the messages between her and "Kaye," she said she would not allow the officer to do so. She repeatedly refused despite warnings that she could be arrested, according to the filings.

When two officers attempted to take her into custody she resisted, kicked at one officer with her boot in the officer's groin area. Ultimately, two officers were able to get her in handcuffs and her phone and tablet were eventually seized.

She was arrested by Ayer police for intimidating a police officer, resisting arrest, and assaulting and beating a police officer.

However, she has not been charged in connection with the poisoning allegation.

Court documents show that she was arraigned on Dec. 4 and released on the condition that she have no contact with her daughter or husband, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow up treatment, and be confined to a home with GPS monitoring.

Doucette denied the poisoning allegations, telling NBC Boston: "I absolutely did not poison him whatsoever. Weve been married 45 years. I love my husband.

I love you very much and I want you to come home. I did not hurt you, she said in a message directed to her husband, who filed a restraining order against her that was granted Dec. 4.

Police are working with the Middlesex County District Attorney's office to determine if theyll bring any more charges against her.
Last year was full of great films, ruled by Barbie, J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Super Mario Bros. rather than the Avengers and the superhero crew. And 2024 might be just as appealing with a nostalgic burst of familiar names: Axel Foley, Godzilla and the Plastics.

With only one Marvel Cinematic Universe installment on the docket ("Deadpool 3," in theaters July 26) and DC's big reboot planned for 2025, there's a chance this year for other genres and franchises to make a statement. High-profile entries like action-packed "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" (May 24), Joaquin Phoenix's "Joker: Folie a Deux" sequel (Oct. 4) and much-anticipated musical "Wicked" (Nov. 27) are in the mix, plus it's time to get psyched for fresh installments in the "Alien," "Despicable Me" and "Beetlejuice" franchises.

So, what should definitely be marked on everyone's film calendar? Here are exclusive peeks at 15 movies you absolutely, positively must see:

'Mean Girls' (Friday)

Cady (Angourie Rice, far left) falls in with the clique-y Plastics  Karen (Avantika), Regina (Renee Rapp) and Gretchen (Bebe Wood)  in the musical "Mean Girls."

Tina Fey's adaptation of the Broadway musical features Angourie Rice in the Lindsay Lohan role as Cady Heron, a new student navigating the social pitfalls of high school who falls for the ex-boyfriend of Regina George (Renee Rapp), imperious leader of the A-list Plastics clique.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Argylle' (Feb. 2)

Henry Cavill stars as Agent Argylle, the literary secret of a popular spy novelist, in the action comedy "Argylle."

Henry Cavill goes from Superman to superspy in director Matthew Vaughn's action comedy. Bryce Dallas Howard stars as a homebody novelist known for her popular literary secret agent (Cavill) but her world gets flipped upside down when she finds herself plunged into the crazy real world of international espionage.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Mean Girls': Trailer drops for 2024 musical remake in theaters

'Lisa Frankenstein' (Feb. 9)

Kathryn Newton plays a teen goth girl who turns a resurrected Victorian corpse into her high school crush in the horror comedy "Lisa Frankenstein."

Written by Diablo Cody ("Jennifer's Body") and directed by Zelda Williams, the horror comedy stars Kathryn Newton as a unpopular goth girl who accidentally resurrects a Victorian corpse (Cole Sprouse) via lightning storm. Armed with a tanning machine, she charts a murderous path to create the perfect high school crush.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Madame Web' (Feb. 14)

New York paramedic Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) sees visions of the future in the superhero adventure "Madame Web."

In the biggest swing of "Spider-Man" spinoffs this year (alongside "Venom" and "Kraven the Hunter"), Dakota Johnson plays a paramedic who sees the future and uses her newfound clairvoyance to protect three women (Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor) from a mysterious villain.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Drive-Away Dolls' (Feb. 23)

Geraldine Viswanathan (left) and Margaret Qualley play friends on a road trip who wind up with a wanted briefcase in the crime comedy "Drive-Away Dolls."

Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star in director Ethan Coen's crime comedy as friends needing a fresh start who jump in a rental car and head to Florida. Shenanigans ensue when they discover a briefcase in the trunk sought by several extremely inept crooks (including Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Colman Domingo).

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Kung Fu Panda 4' (March 8)

Furry martial-arts warrior Po (voiced by Jack Black) tackles an evil shapeshifting lizard in the animated adventure "Kung Fu Panda 4."

In his latest animated adventure, Po (voiced by Jack Black) is tapped to train a new Dragon Warrior. Before that, however, he teams with foxy sidekick Zhen (Awkwafina) to face evil sorceress Chameleon (Viola Davis), a shapeshifting lizard out to steal the kung fu power from every master villain Po has faced.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Love Lies Bleeding' (March 8)

A gym manager (Kristen Stewart, right) falls for a bisexual bodybuilder (Katy O'Brian) in the romantic thriller "Love Lies Bleeding."

In director Rose Glass' buzzy romantic thriller premiering at Sundance Film Festival this month, Lou (Kristen Stewart) is an introverted Las Vegas gym manager who falls for Jackie (Katy O'Brian), an ambitious bisexual bodybuilder. Their new love gets complicated thanks to Lou's criminal dad (Ed Harris).

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' (March 29)

Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) and Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) investigate icy damage to the iconic New York firehouse in "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire."

Old-school stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson return in the latest installment, where the Spengler family (Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard)  alongside teacher Gary (Paul Rudd)  move into the Ghostbusters firehouse just in time for a chilly new supernatural menace terrorizing New York.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' (March 29)

Godzilla and King Kong are a fearsome tag team in the new monster movie "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire."

The tag team monster-movie fans have been waiting for has finally arrived. After facing off in 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong," the gigantic thunder lizard and King Kong team up to take down a foe that threatens the wondrous underground locale of Hollow Earth as well as the surface world.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Rebel Moon: Part Two  The Scargiver' (April 19)

Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein, center) has the military might of the villainous Imperium behind him in "Rebel Moon: Part 2  The Scargiver."

The sequel to Zack Snyder's holiday-season streaming sci-fi hit finds ex-soldier Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her rebel crew dealing with complicated pasts and defending their home from vengeful military man Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) and the villainous Imperium.

Where to watch: Netflix.

'The Fall Guy' (May 3)

Ryan Gosling takes on the old Lee Majors 1980s TV role as stuntman Colt Seavers in David Leitch's action comedy "The Fall Guy."

Fresh off his "Barbie" breakout, Ryan Gosling takes on Lee Majors' role from the classic 1980s show. In David Leitch's action comedy, Colt Seavers (Gosling) is a retired stuntman thrown back into the fray to help his filmmaker ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt) finish her big-budget movie when the main star goes missing.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'IF' (May 17)

Cailey Fleming stars as a young girl who can see imaginary friends like her big new buddy Blue (voiced by Steve Carell) in the family comedy "IF."

Director John Krasinski's family comedy features youngster Cailey Fleming as a girl with the ability to see imaginary friends (voiced by Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and others) in need of new human companions, and she gets a partner on her quest to help them when she discovers her upstairs neighbor (Ryan Reynolds) has the same talent.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' (May 24)

Noa (played by Owen Teague, left) is advised by his father, tribal elder Koro (Neil Sandilands), in the sci-fi action movie "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes."

Set several generations after 2017's "War for the Planet of the Apes," Wes Ball's sci-fi action movie begins a new story featuring young chimpanzee Noa (played via motion capture by Owen Teague). He befriends a feral human girl (Freya Allan) and wants to chart a peaceful path between species as a tyrannical ape leader (Kevin Durand) constructs his empire.

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Inside Out 2' (June 14)

In the mind of freshly minted teenager Riley, Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler, left) welcomes new emotion Anxiety (Maya Hawke) in the animated Pixar sequel "Inside Out 2."

The animated Pixar sequel catches up with Riley's lively inner emotions as the girl reaches her teenage years, meaning Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black) and others have to face a stressful changing situation internally with the introduction of a new emotion, Anxiety (Maya Hawke).

Where to watch: In theaters.

'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' (summer)

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns to SoCal when his daughter's life is threatened in the Netflix action comedy "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F."

The first "Cop" movie in 30 years brings detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) back to SoCal. When his daughter (Taylour Paige) has her life threatened, Axel reunites with longtime pals (Judge Reinhold and John Ashton) and gets a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to investigate a police conspiracy.

Where to watch: Netflix.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What movies are coming out in 2024? Our picks for best films to watch
By Lee Hyo-jin

A total of 25 "Koryoin" tutors teaching the Korean language in Russia and other post-Soviet Union countries have completed a five-week training course in Korea, according to the Overseas Koreans Cooperation Center (OKCC).

Koryoin is a term used to refer to ethnic Koreans who live in post-Soviet states.

Operating under the Overseas Koreans Agency, the Seoul-based OKCC offers training and education programs for Korean nationals or people with Korean heritage residing abroad.

The 25 Koroyin teachers came from four countries: Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus. They took part in the course from Dec. 4 to Tuesday, the OKCC said.

According to the center, the teachers engaged in a four-week online training program, which included Korean language classes, lectures on Korean language teaching methods and Korean history and culture classes. They also showcased their speaking abilities through a debate contest.

Following the online course, the teachers arrived in Korea on Jan. 2 for a week-long offline program.

During their stay in Korea, they were offered lectures by Korean elementary school teachers, took part in classroom observations and mock teaching sessions. Cultural tours to Cheong Wa Dae (the former presidential office) and Gyeongbok Palace were also part of their itinerary.

This marks the first time in four years for the OKCC to invite Koryoin teachers to Korea since offline courses were suspended due to the pandemic.

"The most meaningful session for me during this training course was having discussions with Korean language teachers from various countries about Korean language teaching methods and sharing our experiences," Nastya Heo, a teacher from Saratov, Russia, said during a ceremony held on Monday to mark the completion of the course.

"Thanks to this training, I now feel more confident that I can deliver lessons more effectively."

Kim Young-geun, head of OKCC, encouraged the teachers to utilize the diverse knowledge gained during the training in their classrooms upon their return.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the Palestinian president Wednesday to reform his government, seeking to rally the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

The U.S. wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza once the war is over. Getting President Mahmoud Abbas on board, as well as other Arab countries the U.S. hopes will help rebuild Gaza, depends on promising movement toward a Palestinian state after years of a defunct peace process.

But the vision outlined by Blinken faces serious obstacles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government has so far rejected Palestinian Authority control in Gaza and adamantly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The autocratic, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, lacks legitimacy in the view of many Palestinians.

The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight, fueling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave. Israeli strikes on Wednesday hit an ambulance and a building near a hospital in central Gaza, killing some two dozen people, health officials said.

The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

BLINKEN PRESSURES BOTH SIDES ON WHIRLWIND TRIP

On his fourth visit to the region since the war began three months ago, Blinken has met in recent days with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. He says they have agreed to help rebuild the territory and that wider Israeli-Arab normalization is still possible, but only if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

The Saudi ambassador to the U.K. went even further Tuesday, telling the BBC that the kingdom is still interested in a landmark normalization agreement with Israel, but that it must include nothing less than an independent state of Palestine.

"One doesnt come without the other," Prince Khalid bin Bandar said.

In their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken told Palestinian President Abbas that the U.S. supports tangible steps toward a Palestinian state, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken said later that they discussed reforming the Palestinian Authority so "it can effectively take responsibility for Gaza. Abbas appeared ready to engage in all of these efforts, Blinken said at his next stop, the Bahraini capital of Manama.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said they heard good statements from the Americans. But nothing has happened, he said. The priority now is to stop the war on Gaza.

The 88-year-old Abbas has not stood for election since 2005 and lacks support among his own people.

His Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under interim peace deals reached in the 1990s and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But it has been powerless to prevent the expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied territory it wants for a future state, and there have been no serious or substantive peace talks since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been unable to get Israel to make even relatively minor concessions to the Palestinians, like turning over all the tax revenue it collects on their behalf or allowing the reopening of a U.S. Consulate to serve Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

After meeting with Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials Tuesday, Blinken delivered a stark message, saying Israel must stop undercutting the Palestinians ability to govern themselves with its expansion of settlements, home demolitions and evictions in the West Bank.

WAR RAGES ON WITH NO END IN SIGHT

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it crushes Hamas and returns scores of hostages held by the group after its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Israeli officials say the campaign will continue through the rest of the year. Israel's own postwar plans call for open-ended military control over the territory, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005.

Nearly 85% of Gazas population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege.

The offensive has reduced much of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to a moonscape, raising concerns over whether the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled from those areas will ever be able to return. Far-right members of Netanyahu's government have called for them to be resettled elsewhere, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Blinken said the U.S. was opposed to any such scenario and that resettlement is not the policy of the Israeli government. He also said he had secured agreement on a U.N. inspection mechanism in northern Gaza to evaluate how and when people can return.

HEAVY FIGHTING IN CENTER AND SOUTH

The military is now focusing major operations on the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza that date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where people have been told to seek refuge.

A heavy strike on Wednesday brought down a two-story building in the central town of Deir al-Balah, close to its main Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing at least 20 people, according to Palestinian health officials.

Footage captured by The Associated Press showed dozens of people running in panic as mountains of dust rose into the sky from the blast. Several bloodied corpses were seen lying by the skeleton of the building, where dozens dug for survivors.

Another strike in Deir al-Balah hit an ambulance of the Palestinian Red Crescent, killing four of its crew and two other people, the group said. The ambulance was struck on Salah al-Din Street, the main highway running the length of the enclave, it said in a post on X.

Late Tuesday, a strike in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah, hit a house, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 20 others, including women and children, health officials said. AP reporters saw the dead and wounded being brought into nearby hospitals.

Since the war began, Israels offensive has killed more than 23,300 Palestinians and wounded more than 59,000, according to an update issued Wednesday by the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

In the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas overwhelmed Israel's defenses and stormed through several communities, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high toll on Hamas because the militants fight in densely populated areas. Israel says it has killed some 8,000 militants  without providing evidence  and that 186 of its own soldiers have been killed in the offensive.

___

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Jeffery from Cairo. Associated Press writers Najib Jobain in Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

___

Find more of APs coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
HONG KONG  China said it would never compromise on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan as the United States and China concluded two days of military talks in Washington, part of an effort to restore communication between the two countries militaries.

The talks were held days before Taiwan, a self-ruling island democracy, holds a presidential election that will shape its relationship with China, as well as ties between China and the U.S., Taiwans most important international backer.

Chinas stated ambition to reunify with Taiwan, by force if necessary, is among the most sensitive issues between the U.S. and China, whose relationship has in recent years fallen to its lowest point in decades.

China said it would not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question and demanded that the U.S. side abide by the one-China principle, honor relevant commitments, stop arming Taiwan, and not support Taiwan independence, according to a readout published by the Chinese Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

The 17th round of the U.S.-China Defense Policy Coordination Talks was held Monday and Tuesday for the first time since 2021. They were led by Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, and Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, deputy director of Chinas Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation.

According to a Pentagon readout, Chase highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict.

He also reiterated Washingtons commitment to its long-standing One China policy, under which the U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China but maintains unofficial relations with Taipei.

China Taiwan Tensions (Xinhua News Agency / via Getty Images file)

China said it was willing to develop a healthy and stable military relationship on the basis of equality and respect. It urged the U.S. to reduce its military presence and provocation in the South China Sea, a strategically important waterway that China claims virtually in its entirety, and to stop supporting provocative actions by certain countries, without identifying them.

The Pentagon said Chase underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation in the face of continued Chinese harassment of Philippine vessels operating lawfully in the South China Sea.

President Joe Biden and Chinese Xi Jinping agreed to resume military ties at a meeting in San Francisco in November, their first meeting in a year. China had cut off military communications in 2022 after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., visited Taiwan over its objections.

China has since increased its military activities in the Taiwan Strait, sending warplanes and naval vessels toward the island almost daily.

The talks at the Pentagon this week follow a video call last month between Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Liu Zhenli, the first high-level conversation between the two militaries in more than a year.

Taiwan, which rejects Beijings sovereignty claims, is on heightened alert ahead of its election Saturday. Government officials have accused China of attempting to influence voters through its military and other activities in the Taiwan Strait, including a series of balloons that have been spotted around the island since last month.

On Tuesday, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry issued an air raid alert saying China had launched a satellite and urging residents to be cautious. It later apologized for mistranslating the word satellite as missile in the English-language version of the alert and said the satellite had passed over the island without incident.

China has accused Taiwans governing Democratic Progressive Party of hyping up the threat from the mainland ahead of the election to gain voter support. Similarly, Taiwans main opposition party, the Kuomintang, said the government issued the alert Tuesday for political gain, which the Defense Ministry denied.

The satellite, named Einstein Probe, will be used to monitor fleeting phenomena in space, including the merging of black holes, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform.
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Finland will extend the closure of its border with Russia, which had otherwise been set to end on Jan. 15, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah told national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.

"The border will remain closed," presidential candidate Essayah said when asked if the border would remain closed for another month.

Finnish media had previously on Wednesday reported that the government would extend the measure.

Finland late last year shut the Russian border to stop a growing number of asylum seekers from entering the Nordic country, and said Moscow had orchestrated the inflow of people, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Some 900 asylum seekers from nations such as Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously, according to the Finnish Border Guard.

(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik)
By Elida Moreno

COLON, Panama (Reuters) - About 500 people on Tuesday protested at First Quantum's copper mine in Panama to pressure the Canadian miner and authorities to follow through on plans to close the site, weeks after the Supreme Court declared its contract unconstitutional.

Even days before the Supreme Court's November ruling over the contract to operate the lucrative Cobre Panama mine, the site had already effectively been shuttered after protesters blocked access to the port that serves it.

The Canadian miner's local unit last week said it was "deeply concerned" after one union warned of plans to "invade" the Cobre Panama mine this week. But by noon on Tuesday the protest, which was peaceful, had dispersed.

Many protesters waved Panamanian flags while others held banners that read: "Panama is worth more without mining."

In the following weeks after the court's decision, First Quantum said it was seeking formal talks with the Panamanian government to proceed with the safe and orderly closure of the facility. The company still has equipment and workers at the site.

Protesters on the site on Tuesday said they had achieved the "symbolic closure" of the mine.

"The people spoke loud and clear: we want a Panama free of mining," said 51-year-old teacher Fernando Abrego at the entrance to the mine, which remained closed and guarded by private agents.

"The fight didn't end with the ruling of unconstitutionality," he added.

Protesters have argued that the terms of the contract - originally agreed in October before being overruled - were too generous for First Quantum and allege corruption played a part in its approval. The company denies these claims.

The closure of the mine led Panama to drastically cut its economic growth forecasts for 2024. The Cobre Panama mine represented around 5% of Panamanian GDP.

"We are here because we want to know the plan that the government has for the end of the mine, a lot of time has passed and we do not see clarity in what they are going to do," said teacher leader Juan de Dios Camano.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno,; Editing by Diego Ore, Isabel Woodford and Marguerita Choy)
WASHINGTON  A fire chief in Montana was arrested Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, accused of shooting chemical spray "directly into the face" of a Capitol Police officer and at the face of a Washington, D.C., police officer.

Frank Dahlquist  who was previously a firefighter in Washington state and advocated against vaccination mandates  faces numerous charges, including assault and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. He is the chief of West Valley Fire Rescue in Montana and was sworn into that role in November 2022.

Dahlquist was identified with the help of online sleuths  or "sedition hunters"  who have aided in the arrests of hundreds of Capitol rioters. They had dubbed him #GreyScaleSprayer, and they surfaced a high-quality photo of him from Jan. 6, 2021, that led to a facial recognition match to a 2022 news story featuring a video interview with Dahlquist.

The FBI also had two of Dahlquist's supervisors from his job in Washington identify him in August 2022, according to an FBI affidavit, and found that his cellphone number pinged in the vicinity of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Frank Dahlquist at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. District Court for D.C.)

The FBI affidavit alleges that Dahlquist had his face partly covered when he attacked officers with an orange chemical spray and that both officers sought medical attention. They say Dahlquist even tried  unsuccessfully  to toss a piece of lumber in the direction of law enforcement officers when the mob moved closer to the Capitol. The FBI said he then entered the building, stayed on the grounds after he left the Capitol and "continued to engage with law enforcement."

"It was a great day!! It got spicy but I love the taste of Freedom," Dahlquist wrote in a text message after the attack, according to the FBI.

Frank Dahlquist at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. District Court for D.C.)

The arrest was first reported by Seamus Hughes of Court Watch, a website that tracks federal court filings. Dahlquist did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on Wednesday.

More than 1,200 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and online sleuths have identified hundreds of addition suspects who have not yet been arrested. Nearly 900 people have been convicted so far.
Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania on Wednesday became the first Democrat in Congress to call on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to resign over the lack of transparency surrounding his previously undisclosed cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization.

Deluzio, a member of the Armed Services Committee and an Iraq war veteran, wrote on X that he no longer had faith in Austin at the helm of the Defense Department.

"I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austins leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command," Deluzio wrote.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., previously criticized Austin, saying, He has all but confessed that he didnt follow the procedure and accepted responsibility, but he did not call on him to resign, saying, We need to know more.

A growing number of Republicans have criticized Austin over his delays in notifying the White House and key Pentagon officials about his hospitalization on Jan. 1 due to complications from a minimally invasive procedure he underwent last month to remove his prostate.

Some Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the Republican conference chair, have also called for Austin's resignation.

Stefanik accused him at a news conference Wednesday of a "dangerous dereliction of duty" and called for "the immediate resignation of Secretary Austin and anyone who lied for him."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., announced a formal inquiry Tuesday into the lack of transparency surrounding Austins hospitalization.

Split image of Lloyd Austin and Chris Deluzio. (Sarah Silbiger / Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call / Getty Images)

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., went further Wednesday by announcing articles of impeachment against Austin.

Rosendale, who is considering a Senate bid this year, said Monday that Austin has violated his oath of office time and time again and has jeopardized the lives of the American people.

Before Austins diagnosis was announced Tuesday, Senate Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota called for Austin to testify on Capitol Hill.

The White House is standing by Austin. At a briefing Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has complete confidence in the secretary.

The Pentagon said this week that it would review its notification procedures. It also said Monday that there were no plans for Austin to step down.
WASHINGTON  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a complaint Wednesday alleging criminal misconduct by the district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.

Greene, a vocal Trump ally, requested a criminal investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the prosecutor representing the DAs office in the case after an attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, in a filing seeking dismissal of the charges, alleged that the two had an improper relationship  what Greene called an illegal conflict of interest.

The referral, submitted to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr and first reported by NBC News, pertains to claims that Willis may have personally benefited by tapping special prosecutor Nathan Wade amid accusations that the two have traveled together to destinations such as the Napa Valley and the Caribbean.

Willis has not responded to the claim, in either court filings or through requests for comment.

Greene notes that invoices submitted by Wade to the district attorneys office total nearly $700,000 in official funds and include one billing on Nov. 5, 2021, for 24 hours on a single day, and another for two trips to Washington, D.C.

The allegations suggest an unlawful partisan pattern  to illegally politicize and weaponize her public office against Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election, she writes.

Greene argues that [i]f proven true, these actions reflect Fani Willis serious lawlessness, including potential violation of public oath and other Georgia statutes.

Romans filing, which calls for Willis, Wade and the district attorneys office to be removed from the case, does not provide direct evidence for its claims of a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, citing only sources with knowledge.

Four defendants have pleaded guilty, while Roman and Trump, who faces 13 criminal counts, have pleaded not guilty. Roman, one of 18 co-defendants, worked for Trumps presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

Trump, citing a report by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Romans filing, accused Willis and Wade of professional and financial improprieties in a series of Truth Social posts.

With a busy legal calendar, and as the Republican primary contest gets underway, the former president has deployed surrogates in key states, including Greene, who spoke at a campaign event in Iowa last week.
CAIRO (Reuters) - The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization and British maritime security firm Ambrey on Tuesday received reports of incidents in the Red Sea near Yemen.

UKMTO received a report of an incident approximately 50 nautical miles (93 km) west of Yemen's Hodeidah, which authorities were investigating, it said in an advisory note.

Ambrey received reports of suspicious activity from two merchant vessels southwest of Yemen's Mokha, though no damage was reported.

A tanker either saw flares or missile trails, while a bulk carrier detected three small vessels approximately 1 mile in the direction of their port quarter, Ambrey said in an advisory note.

The bulk carrier reported seeing two missiles fired from the direction of the boats and one unmanned aerial vehicle flying ahead of the vessel, Ambrey added.

"Ambrey assessed this event was separate from an event that was reported west of Hodeidah around the same time," it said.

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who control much of Yemen, have launched wave after wave of exploding drones and missiles at commercial vessels since Nov. 19, in what they say is a protest against Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Ansarullah, a Houthi group, targeted a vessel in the Red Sea, a Yemeni military source told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

The Houthi campaign has been extraordinarily disruptive to international shipping, causing some companies to suspend transits through the Red Sea and instead take the much longer, costlier journey around Africa.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Adam Makary; Editing by Sonali Paul)
By Jung Da-hyun

The Ministry of Health and Welfare unveiled a government-level incentive support plan, Tuesday, which is set to take effect later this month, with the primary goal of facilitating access to day care centers for infants under the age of 2.

The incentive plan is designed to alleviate operational challenges for private and family day care centers, ensuring their ability to establish and maintain classes for infants without financial difficulties.

This initiative aims to address the difficulties faced by child care centers in covering labor costs solely through enrollment fees, particularly in light of the nation's declining birthrate, which is leading to a decrease in the number of children enrolled.

For instance, if the class capacity for newborns (under the age of 1) is three, with only two infants being registered, the income from child care fees alone may not be sufficient to meet the minimum wage for one worker. This can lead to the closure of day care centers for infants due to financial problems.

In response, the health and welfare ministry decided to offer additional subsidies, ensuring that labor costs are covered for child care workers even when the number of enrolled infants falls below the quota.

If the current enrollment is less than 50 percent of the capacity, additional institutional child care fees will be provided to compensate for the shortfall.

Under this incentive plan, due to the insufficient quota numbers, classes for infants under the age of 1 may receive 629,000 won ($478) per month, classes for 1-year-olds 342,000 won and classes for 2-year-olds 232,000 won.

The ministry anticipates that this incentive program will stimulate the opening and sustained operation of infant care across 21,000 private and family day care centers, providing parents with the flexibility to enroll their children in centers near their homes for their convenience.

Similar to existing institutional child care fees, the infant care incentives can be accessed only through applications submitted at day care centers. The application and support procedures will be the same as those for applying for institutional child care fees.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States strongly condemns recent attacks by armed groups in Ecuador and pledged to increase cooperation with the government, the White House said on Wednesday as violence escalated in the South American country.

Inmates in Ecuador are holding more than 130 prison guards and other staff hostage in at least five prisons, while gunmen took over a TV station live on air and explosions erupted around the country in a dramatic wave of fresh violence this week.

"We strongly condemn the recent criminal attacks by armed groups in Ecuador against private, public, & government institutions," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a post on social media platform X, adding that Washington would cooperate with partners to bring perpetrators to justice.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby separately told reporters that the United States was monitoring the situation and was "willing to take concrete steps to improve our cooperation" with Ecuador's government to deal with the violence and its impact on the population.

The hostage-takings began in the early hours of Monday, after the apparent escape of a gang leader from prison over the weekend, spurring Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa to declare a 60-day state of emergency.

Noboa, who has promised to tackle a growing security problem caused by a rise in drug gangs transporting cocaine through Ecuador, on Wednesday said the country was "at war," a day after naming 22 gangs as terrorist organizations and making them official military targets.

Kirby, speaking at a press briefing at the White House, said the Biden administration had not had any specific conversations with Noboa or his government but would be willing to talk about what Ecuador needs, including investigative help. There is no plan for the U.S. military to send in any troops, he added.

He urged Americans in Ecuador to "stay vigilant" and keep abreast of any possible communications from the U.S. State Department, adding that no determination has been made about U.S. diplomats in the country. He also said it was "too soon" to know whether the violence could impact migration to the United States.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Ismail Shakil and Katharine Jackson; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
New York City's decision to move nearly 2,000 migrants overnight from a tent shelter to a high school due to fears of an impending storm drew backlash Wednesday from parents of students at the school and others as the city struggles to house thousands of migrants seeking refuge.

The criticism included the city's continued use of the tent shelter on a remote, abandoned airfield in an area of Brooklyn that is at risk of coastal flooding from storms.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday afternoon that with winds up to 70 mph expected, the city was proactively relocating the migrant families from the tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn out of an abundance of caution to ensure the well-being of those entrusted to our care.

While families are already in the process of temporarily being relocated, the city will ensure that essential services and the highest level of support are provided to all impacted by this decision, Adams, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Migrants evacuated from Floyd Bennett Field arrive at James Madison High School on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York during a storm on Jan. 9, 2024. (Gardiner Anderson / NY Daily News via Getty Images)

The shelter at Floyd Bennett Field is one of more than 200 sites New York City has established to house the surge of migrants arriving in the city since 2022  largely as part of a busing campaign by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is seeking stricter security at the southern border. New York, which has a legal obligation to provide emergency housing to anyone who asks for it, has struggled to respond to the thousands of people arriving in the city.

Floyd Bennett Field has been widely regarded as a poor location for a shelter because it is far away from schools, transportation and other services and is vulnerable to the elements.

Images captured Tuesday night showed yellow school buses dropping off migrants holding young children and carrying bags with their belongings in the rain.

Students at James Madison High School in Brooklyn were informed Tuesday that classes would be conducted virtually on Wednesday because of the school's use as a temporary overnight respite center."

To ensure a smooth transition for families temporarily sheltering overnight in the building, our school building will be closed on Wednesday, January 10 and school will be in session remotely for all students, Principal Jodie Cohen said in a statement to families.

The decision was decried by some parents who held a rally at the school Wednesday morning. One woman who said she is the mother of two students at the school called the situation unacceptable.

Alina, who did not share her last name, said she was very angry that the city put our children last and were instead prioritizing the migrants.

State Assemblyman Michael Novakhov, who represents the area and organized the rally, said the decision to relocate the migrants was just really wrong. The school is not a right place for migrants, for anyone except the kids.

He added that Floyd Bennett Field was not a good place for temporary sheltering.

We have thousands of square feet of abandoned commercial property that we can use, he said.

Zach Iscol, the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, said at a briefing Wednesday that the school received hate calls and a bomb threat Wednesday morning. The bomb threat was cleared by police.

These actions are not only deplorable, theyre also criminal offenses, he said.

Floyd Bennett Field, along the shore of Jamaica Bay, was used for emergency relief during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, including housing 2,000 troops, according to the National Park Service.

Novakhov and others said the need to evacuate people demonstrated why the airfield should not be used as a shelter.

The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said Tuesday that the last-minute evacuation further proves that Floyd Bennett Field  a facility mired in a flood zone, miles from schools and other services  has never and will never serve as an appropriate and safe place to shelter families with children.

The advocacy groups questioned whether the move would be traumatic and disruptive for the migrant families.

We fear, especially with more inclement weather expected this winter, that this is only a foreshadow of more problems to come, and we again urge the City to cease placing families with children at this facility, the groups said.

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said the citys decision was both unacceptable and was entirely foreseeable," because of the airfield's vulnerabilities to weather.

Vernikov called on the city to stop using public schools as shelters and said parents of the about 4,000 students at James Madison were rightfully concerned.

This will agitate local residents, disrupt the entire school environment, and place a tremendous burden on our families, students, school administrators and staff, she said.

Desiree Joy Frias, an organizer with South Bronx Mutual Aid, said outside the school that the city should focus on moving people into permanent shelters so they can start getting jobs.

That is not the way we treat people. Theyre not cattle. Theyre not livestock. They are human beings with lives, with children, with human rights that are fundamental to them, she said.

New York City has taken in approximately 170,000 asylum-seekers since April 2022 and currently has about 70,000 in its care, in addition to the homeless population, Iscol said at a briefing on Wednesday.

The city said that it projects to spend $4.7 billion to provide shelter, food and services to asylum-seekers in fiscal year 2024.

Iscol said at the briefing that all of us understand in the city that Floyd Bennett Field is not an ideal place to be housing families with children.

The city has done a remarkable job making that place work, he said.

Iscol said all of the migrant families were returned to the tent shelter overnight, beginning at around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after getting the all-clear from the National Weather Service. Most people were transported out by bus from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m, he said.

He said that the city is making alternative plans should the tent shelter need to be evacuated again and does not foresee using James Madison High School again.

No one wants to disrupt the lives of asylum-seekers nor those of our students, parents, teachers and principals, he said.
Officials say they need the public's help to solve a decadeslong mystery: the identity of a woman whose body was left on the side of a California road by a man known as the "Happy Face Killer."

Long-haul trucker Keith Hunter Jesperson, who is serving multiple life sentences for killing eight women across the country, pleaded guilty in 2010 to murdering the woman in 1992, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Monday in a video posted on YouTube.

"This woman is the last of all his victims to remain unidentified," Hestrin said.

Jesperson referred to the woman as "Claudia," but that may not be her real name, according to the video.

Dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" for drawings he left on anonymous letters, he targeted women, torturing and killing them in the cab of his truck, according to an account from journalist Jack Olsen.

The scene around 1992 where the victim known as

Investigators said they suspect that the morning before "Claudia" died, she caught a ride with a grocery truck driver traveling from Las Vegas on Interstate 15. They believe she was hitchhiking.

The unknown driver dropped the woman off at a brake check stop south of Victorville, California, according to the DA's office. That is where, investigators said, she approached Jesperson and asked him for a ride to Los Angeles.

Jesperson, who was on his way to Arizona, said the closest he could take her was Cabazon, an unincorporated community in Riverside County. The woman accepted, the DA's office said.

After they arrived in Cabazon, the woman decided to continue traveling with Jesperson down I-10 to a truck stop near Indio, where they stopped to have lunch in a diner, according to investigators.

The victim known as

After their meal, the two got into a heated argument in Jesperson's truck and he killed the woman, the DA's office said. Jesperson continued traveling toward Blythe in eastern Riverside County, where he dumped the woman's body on the side of the road.

"Claudia" is described as a white woman with a fair complexion who was about 25 to 35 years old when she was killed. She had brown or dyed blond hair and was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a medium build, according to officials. She also had a tattoo of two dots on the side of her right thumb and wore a shirt that read "Ride Me Ride Free" at the time of her death.

The victim known as

The woman, believed to be a frequent hitchhiker, was most likely from Southern California, possibly Los Angeles, San Bernardino or Riverside County, the DA's office said.

"We are hoping that someone, anyone, might recognize her and be able to provide some information that can help with identifying her in this case," Hestrin said in the video. "Even the smallest piece of information could be the key in bringing this victim's identity to light."

Hestrin's plea for help comes nearly two years authorities were able to provide closure for the family of another victim of the "Happy Face Killer." Oregon mother Patricia Skiple had long been known to detectives only as Blue Pacheco after the color of her clothing before genetic genealogy was used to identify her in April 2022.

The DA's office asks anyone with leads on "Claudia" to contact its cold case team at 951-955-5567 or ColdCaseUnit@rivcoda.org.
Attacks by Iran-backed militants in the Red Sea have effectively closed one of the worlds main trade routes to most container ships  vessels that carry everything from car parts to Crocs from one corner of the globe to another.

A prolonged closure of the waterway, which connects with the Suez Canal, could snarl global supply chains and drive up the prices of manufactured goods at a crucial moment in the battle to defeat inflation. The Suez Canal accounts for 10-15% of world trade, which includes oil exports, and for 30% of global container shipping volumes.

The Houthi militants, based in Yemen, say they are taking revenge for Israels war against Hamas in Gaza. The US military and its allies have beefed up maritime security but the attacks continue  21 Houthi missiles and drones were shot down late Tuesday.

As the crisis persists, the stakes for the global economy are rising.

Global trade fell 1.3% from November to December, Germanys Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Thursday, citing consequences of the attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Retailers are warning of shipment delays, and the cost of moving goods by sea is increasing.

In a biannual report released Tuesday, the World Bank warned that the disruption to key shipping routes was eroding slack in supply networks and increasing the likelihood of inflationary bottlenecks.

Six of the 10 biggest container shipping companies  namely Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, ZIM and ONE  are largely or completely avoiding the Red Sea because of the threat from the Houthi militants.

The danger to crew, cargo and vessels has forced carriers to reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, resulting in delays of up to three weeks. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc told the Financial Times Thursday that re-establishing safe passage through the Red Sea could take months. It could potentially have quite significant consequences on global (economic) growth, he added.

Already, shipping costs have surged, which could ultimately show up in consumer prices. The longer the disruptions persist, the stronger the stagflationary effects for the global economy, chief economist at Allianz, Mohamed A. El Erian, wrote last week on X, referring to a toxic combination of low or zero economic growth and high inflation.

If the Israel-Hamas war escalates into a wider regional conflict or the Houthis decide to redirect their attacks toward oil tankers and bulk carriers  which transport crucial raw materials such as iron ore, grain and timber  the consequences for the global economy would be altogether more severe.

In a setting of escalating conflicts, energy supplies could also be substantially disrupted, leading to a spike in energy prices, the World Bank report added. This would have significant spillovers to other commodity prices.

The threat to energy prices is the biggest risk, according to Capital Economics.

While current shipping disruptions themselves are unlikely to disrupt the global trend of falling inflation, a marked escalation of the underlying military conflict could boost energy prices, which would be passed onto consumers, Simon MacAdam and Lily Millard, economists at the consultancy, wrote in a note last week.

Oxford Economics also expects that inflation will continue easing but still sees an upside risk to prices. If container transport costs stay around their current levels  almost twice the level of early December  this might boost world inflation by about 0.6 percentage points, Ben May, director of global macroeconomic research at the firm, wrote in a note on January 4.

Delivery delays

Some European automakers have rerouted their shipments around the Cape of Good Hope. This has entailed higher costs and delays of around two weeks, said a spokesperson for the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

And retailers such as Swedish furniture company Ikea have warned of shipment delays and possible shortages of certain products. Similarly, British clothing retailer Next said last week: Difficulties with access to the Suez Canal, if they continue, are likely to cause some delays to stock deliveries in the early part of the year.

Crocs (CROX) has likewise said items destined for Europe are taking two weeks longer than usual to arrive. The shoemaker does not expect a material impact on its business for now but told CNN it would continue to monitor the situation closely.

Its not alone. Businesses around the world are on tenterhooks, hoping the disruption will end soon but beginning to dust off contingency plans last deployed during the pandemic if it doesnt.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) plans to use air freight wherever possible to avoid delays, according to an email to suppliers seen by Bloomberg. We shift transportation modes and/or shipping lanes when warranted to maintain flow of goods, a company spokesperson told CNN.

Ikea has warned of shipment delays and potential shortages of certain products due to disruption in the Red Sea. - Nathan Howard/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The situation could worsen in the coming weeks as shippers rush to get orders out of China before factories close for the countrys Lunar New Year holiday.

The next five weeks leading to Chinese New Year on the 10th of February are going to be very difficult for shippers and for shipping, Philip Damas, head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said in recorded comments posted online Monday.

He noted, however, that excess shipping capacity more broadly meant spot rates  the price of one-off freight shipments as opposed to prices agreed in advance  will decline again after Chinese New Year.

Total crunch

In addition to a surge in spot freight rates from the Red Sea attacks, carriers are tacking on emergency surcharges.

All-in prices of $5,000-$8,000 per container for major trade routes originating in Asia are 2.5 to 4 times the normal levels for this time of year, according to estimates by Judah Levine, head of research at logistics firm Freightos.

However, that is still 45%-75% below their pandemic peak in late 2021, Levine noted. Back then, soaring demand for goods from housebound consumers collided with supply bottlenecks, ranging from container shortages to port congestion.

The Port of Los Angeles in the United States on December 4, 2023. - Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Suez Canal debacle adds to existing problems in shipping, with traffic through the vital Panama Canal already restricted because of a severe drought.

For companies trying to move goods across the world you have a total crunch right now  you cant rely on the Panama Canal (and) you cant rely on the Suez Canal, said Carolina Klint, chief commercial officer for Europe at Marsh McLennan, a professional services firm.

Some ocean carriers that ordinarily transit through the Panama Canal had rerouted to the Suez Canal before the attacks in the Red Sea escalated, according to logistics company C.H. Robinson.

Matthew Burgess, vice-president of global ocean services at the firm, said global shipping capacity would be constrained for a while yet. There will be a shortage of Asia-to-Europe space for, at a minimum, the next eight weeks due to the additional time needed to use the Cape of Good Hope routing, he told CNN.

As weve seen with previous global shipping disruptions, shortages of empty equipment will likely be a fast follow, which further elevates delays because companies may need to wait two-three additional weeks for an empty container.

At least for now, major ports in Europe and the United States  including the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of New York and New Jersey  have seen limited impact from the Red Sea crisis. But they are on high alert for potential fallout.

It is yet another disruption in the supply chain, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told CNN. This is not going away in three or four weeks.

And even if the attacks stopped today, allowing most vessels to transit the Red Sea, the earlier impacts could still reverberate for some time to come, according to Burgess of C.H. Robinson. The disruption and delays already in play will take a significant amount of time to resolve.

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Nine men were arrested after a chaotic scene at a historic synagogue that saw a group of students clash with police over a secret tunnel leading into the structure from a nearby building.

The men who were arrested were protesting the tunnel being filled with concrete, the Associated Press reported. The protest turned violent when police tried to make arrests.

The group "broke through a few walls" in buildings adjacent to the Chabad-Lubvitch movement's headquarters in New York City, spokesperson Rabbi Motti Seligson said in an email.

Hasidic Jewish students clash with New York Police officers who were called to inspect a secret tunnel dug under the synagogue by students, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in New York. A group of Hasidic Jewish worshippers were arrested amid a dispute over a secret tunnel built beneath the historic Brooklyn synagogue, setting off a brawl between police and those who tried to defend the makeshift passageway.

While Seligson did not respond to questions from USA TODAY regarding the origins of the tunnel, he told the Associated Press the passageway is believed to have started in the basement of an empty apartment building behind the headquarters, snaking under a series of offices and lecture halls before eventually connecting to the synagogue.

Videos posted on X, formerly Twitter, appeared to show congregants clashing with the NYPD near a sheet-covered wall as police pulled men out of the hole. The NYPD said officers responded to a Monday afternoon call for disorderly conduct and nine men were charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, among other charges, while three men were issued court summons on disorderly conduct.

Three of the men charged face a hate crime enhancement, but the department declined to comment further.

"Earlier today, a cement truck was brought in to repair those walls," Seligson said in his email. "Those efforts were disrupted by the extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access."

Baruch Dahan told the Associated Press people started pushing and confusion ensued when police took the first person out with zip ties. He filmed congregants fighting.

Seligson said the building is closed for a structural safety review. Engineers were still at the site investigating as of Wednesday, New York Department of Buildings spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said.

The building housing the synagogue was once home to the organization's leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, according to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's website. Schneerson became the organization's leader in 1950 after his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, died, and remained a leader until his death in 1994.

Supporters of the passage told the Associated Press they were executing Schneerson's plan to expand the site. Those supporters said the basement has been overcrowded and they sought to annex more space, and some thought plans were taking too long.

Seligson added Chabad officials have tried to gain control the property around the synagogue, including the building where the tunnel led, through the New York State court system but "the process has dragged on for years."

"This is, obviously, deeply distressing to the Lubavitch movement, and the Jewish community worldwide," Seligson wrote.

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @KrystalRNurse.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Secret tunnel leading to New York City synagogue leads to 9 arrests
Photograph: Christian Monterrosa/AFP via Getty Images

A leading professor of US constitutional law condemned Donald Trump for playing the race card by propagating the totally baseless claim that Nikki Haley, his surging rival for the Republican presidential nomination, is not qualified because her parents were not US citizens when she was born.

The birther claims against Nikki Haley are totally baseless as a legal and constitutional matter, Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, told NBC.

Related: Trump warns of bedlam if criminal cases bar him from White House

I cant imagine what Trump hopes to gain by those claims unless its to play the race card against the former governor and UN ambassador as a woman of colour  and to draw on the wellsprings of anti-immigrant prejudice by reminding everyone that Haleys parents werent citizens when she was born in the USA.

The term birther was coined to describe racist conspiracy theories about Barack Obama, the first Black US president, which Trump seized on as he established a presence on the political far right.

In 2016, as he ran for president himself, Trump also attempted to raise doubts about Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who was then his chief rival.

Obamas father was Kenyan and his mother American. He was born in Hawaii. Cruzs father was Cuban and his mother American. He was born in Canada and moved to Texas when young.

The 14th amendment to the US constitution  the same text under which Colorado and Maine now seek to remove Trump from the ballot for inciting an insurrection  says all persons born or naturalised in the United States are citizens. It was introduced after the civil war, conferring citizenship on people once enslaved. The constitution requires that a presidential candidate must be a resident for 14 years, at least 35 years old, and a natural-born citizen.

As described in Haleys autobiography, her parents were born in the Punjab region of India. Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, in 1972, a US citizen at birth. Her father became a US citizen in 1978, her mother in 2003. Haley was governor of her home state from 2011 to 2017, then ambassador to the United Nations when Trump was president.

In the race for the Republican nomination, Haley has surged in polling. She has done particularly well in New Hampshire, cutting Trumps lead to single digits. Trump still dominates in Iowa, the first state to vote next week.

On Tuesday, Trump re-posted to his Truth Social platform a post from the Gateway Pundit, a far-right site, which cited Paul Ingrassia, a New York Young Republican and constitutional scholar, as saying Haley was disqualified.

In his own post, Ingrassia cited great investigative work by Laura Loomer, who uncovered that neither one of Haleys parents were US citizens when she was born in 1972. Loomer, a far-right, Islamophobic, white-supremacist Florida activist who has run unsuccessfully for Congress, is an ardent Trump supporter.

Experts agree Haley is qualified to be president, simply because she was born on US soil. Campaigning on a virulently anti-immigrant platform, Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants.

His post about Haley was condemned across the US media  and the political spectrum.

Charles Gasparino, a Fox Business correspondent, said: The problem with Donald is that he goes disgustingly low and not just against real enemies.

John Avlon, a CNN political analyst, said: Trumps lies are cut and paste: now hes going birther on Nikki Haley  after trying the same attack on Obama, Harris and Cruz.

Kamala Harris, the first woman and woman of colour to be vice-president, was born in Oakland, California, in 1964, to parents from India and Jamaica. Trump sought to cast doubt on her eligibility for office during the 2020 election.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump's civil fraud case will not allow the former president to speak during closing arguments in the trial on Thursday after Trump refused to say that he'd stick to the facts of the case and not engage in any attacks.

Trump had requested to deliver part of the arguments himself, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. But Judge Arthur Engoron denied the request Wednesday after a contentious back and forth with Trump's lawyers about certain preconditions the judge wanted him to meet.

The judge released an email chain with Trump attorney Chris Kise and state Attorney Letitia James office when he denied the request Wednesday.

Kise first told Engoron that Trump planned to speak in a Jan. 4 email, and Andrew Amer from the AG's office quickly opposed the idea. "Allowing Mr. Trump to participate in closing arguments would effectively grant him an opportunity to testify without being subject to cross-examination," Amer wrote.

Engoron replied the next day, saying he was 'inclined" to let Trump do so since he was the person with "by far the most at stake." But, the judge added, Trump had to speak about the evidence in the case and could not "testify," "comment on irrelevant matters," "deliver a campaign speech" or "impugn myself, my staff, plaintiff, plaintiff's staff or the New York State Court System."

Failure to abide by those conditions would result in Trump being cut off and admonished, and if he were to continue to violate those terms, he'd be removed from the courtroom by court officers and fined "not less than $50,000," the judge wrote.

Kise responded on Tuesday that Trump could not agree to those conditions because he would be too hamstrung, and asked the judge to reconsider. The judge noted that Trump would be free to comment "on the arguments of an opposing party or counsel, but may not seek to impugn their character." "I will not let anyone violate the normal rules of courtroom procedure that govern closing arguments," Engoron added, giving Kise until 4 p.m. Tuesday to respond.

Kise blew past the deadline and later that night asked if closings could be delayed until late January because of the death of Melania Trump's mother. Engoron responded Wednesday morning he was "sorry to hear the sad news" but denied the request for a delay.

Kise then responded that Trump was still coming to court and planned to speak. The judge said Trump could only speak if he agreed to his conditions, which Kise replied was "very unfair." "You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated Attorney General, to speak about things that must be spoken about," Kise wrote.

Engoron responded, "Take it or leave it. Now or never" and gave Kise 7 minutes to agree to his terms. Kise did not respond, leading the judge to say Trump was not testifying.

In a statement to NBC News, Trump's attorney Alina Habba said, "Is anyone surprised anymore?"

Trump's intention to speak in court was first reported by ABC News.

Former President Donald Trump (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / AP file)

Trump and his attorneys repeatedly criticized and clashed with Engoron during the trial.

The trial lasted more than two months, with testimony wrapping up in December. Trump testified after he was called as a witness by James' office, which sued Trump last year alleging he and his company had fraudulently inflated their assets to get certain rates on bank loans.

Trump denied any wrongdoing during his testimony and was repeatedly chided by Engoron for going off on tangents and failing to answer questions. Trump, who has repeatedly blasted the judge at campaign rallies and on social media, called Engoron "very hostile" while he was on the stand.

Ron Kuby, a veteran New York lawyer whos not involved with the case, said Engoron "is well within his discretion" to grant or deny Trump's request. He added that the lack of a jury  something Trump has repeatedly complained about  could have worked in the former president's favor.

Trump was at one point scheduled to testify in his own defense in the trial but announced the night before that he'd changed his mind. I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than this is a complete & total election interference (Biden campaign!) witch hunt, he said in a post on his social media platform at the time. The only fraud committed was by the highly partisan & out of control judge, & racist A.G., he added.

Engoron has said he plans on issuing a written verdict in the coming weeks.
A picture taken at the Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2018, shows the logo of the VOD and streaming video games company Twitch.

Amazon's livestreaming platform, Twitch, announced it would cut 35% of its workforce in a blog post.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," wrote Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in a blog post. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company, and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step of reducing our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

The post, published on Wednesday, details what will happen next for the employees being laid off and those staying.

The layoffs come during concerns over losses at the company. Several Twitch executives have also left the company over the past several months, reports Bloomberg.

Layoffs amid minimum wage increases: California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Affected employees' next steps

The post states employees in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Singapore will receive an email from Clancy notifying them they will no longer work with the company.

Managers would then discuss personal details, like severance packages, with affected employees and hold one-on-one meetings over the next few days.

Employees who do not live in those countries will receive emails from Lauren Nunes, the company's chief people officer, with more information on the layoff process, which varies by country.

"For everyone who is leaving Twitch today, I know how important it is to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will retain access to Slack and your email until 1 p.m. PT," Clancy continues.

What is Twitch?

Twitch is an American livestreaming service primarily used to stream video games. Twitch users can host live shows of themselves playing video games and interact with their audience using chat functions, gifts and donations.

The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2011 as a spinoff of co-founder Justin Kan's original livestreaming service Justin.tv. In 2014, Amazon bought the platform for $970 million.

In 2022, the streaming service primarily attracted Gen Z and Millennial men. The Global Web Index reports that around 42% of its viewers are aged 16 to 24 years old, and 72% of users are between 16 and 34 years old.

Viewers can pay to subscribe to their favorite streamers or, if they have an Amazon Prime subscription, receive a complimentary subscription once a month.

Users can watch people play video games like Lethal Company, Grand Theft Auto V, and Fortnite. People can also opt for categories like Just Chatting, equivalent to live talk shows, and ASMR, where streamers can whisper, eat, or do anything that makes sounds for viewers, including rubbing slime over a microphone or popping bubble wrap.

Stream Charts reports that Just Chatting is Twitch's most viewed category of 2023. Grand Theft Auto has the second-highest viewer count, followed by League of Legends, Valorant and Counter-Strike.

Twitch and its financial troubles

Twitch supports 1.8 billion hours of livestreamed content every month, reports Bloomberg. Its revenue comes from ads, subscriptions and other methods viewers can use, like bits and gifts, to give money to their favorite streamers.

According to the Business of Apps, Twitch made $2.8 billion in revenue in 2022. However, Fortune reports that the platform is still unprofitable after nine years.

This had led to several controversies.

Twitch halts streaming in South Korea : On Dec. 5, Twitch announced it would shut down its business in South Korea in February 2024. In the post, Clancy explains the decision was made because operating in the country was "prohibitively expensive" despite cost-cutting efforts to keep the business open.

Executives leave the company: At the end of 2023, Twitch's chief product officer, chief customer officer, chief content officer, and the chief revenue officer who worked on the platform from the Amazon Ads Unit, reports Fortune.

2023 layoffs : One of Twitch's original founders and former CEO, Emmett Shear, stepped down in March 2023 after the birth of his first child. Clancy, the former president, took over the position days before the company announced it would lay off over 400 employees.

70/30 splits: Twitch announced in June it would reduce streamers' income they made from streaming. Initially, all streamers were allowed to keep 70% of the revenue they received from subscriptions. In June, the company announced that its top streamers would see the split changed to 50/50. Partnered Streamers who make less than $100,000 will continue with the original split. However, once that number is netted, they would split 50% of their revenue with the company.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Twitch layoffs: 500 employees to be cut at Amazon-owned streaming site
At least eight prominent X accounts belonging to journalists, a podcast host and leftist posters were suspended Tuesday in what platform head Elon Musk suggested was an accident.

The accounts, which were restored within hours, all have over 75,000 followers and are known to be left-leaning. The temporary bans drove immediate claims of censorship from some X users online, who pointed to past instances in which the platform suspended similar types of users.

In a reply post on X, Musk seemed to suggest the bans were an accidental overstep of a routine sweep for spam and scam accounts. We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them, he wrote.

A representative for X did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk, who has increasingly embraced conservatives and their messaging, has routinely championed X as a platform for free speech.

But X has suspended and then reversed the suspensions of other prominent journalists and left-leaning accounts, including CNN reporter Donie OSullivan and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell in December 2022.

X also briefly suspended the account for Mastodon, an emerging alternative to the platform. At the time, Musk claimed that suspended accounts would regain their access after seven days (many were restored earlier) and that they had posted his real-time location (most of the accounts disputed that).

Most of the prominent left-leaning accounts that have been suspended from X throughout Musks leadership have been restored. But some users  including the anarchist platform Its Going Down and the leftist meme account JUNlPER  have been permanently suspended under the tech billionaires leadership of X.

Two of the users the platform suspended Tuesday told NBC News that they are skeptical of Musks explanation that their now-reversed bans were most likely accidents.

That strikes me as highly implausible, if not impossible, said Steven Monacelli, a journalist and correspondent for the Texas Observer whose account was among the at least eight that were removed. If it is possible, it is a reflection of how terrible the state of engineering has become on this platform.

Rob Rousseau, another of the people whose accounts were suspended and restored Tuesday, said he can only speculate about why his account was removed. He and Monacelli suggested their prominent criticism of Musk could have been a factor.

They might just be accounts that Elon Musk found personally annoying, said Rousseau, who hosts a podcast and streams on Twitch.

The people behind the six other accounts that were suspended Tuesday had also at times been highly critical of Musk. Some were also vocal about other recent hot-button topics, like the Israel-Hamas war and billionaire Bill Ackman, who crusaded against Harvard University President Claudine Gay until she resigned in a plagiarism scandal and has since targeted Business Insider for reporting allegations that Ackmans wife committed plagiarism.

One of the accounts, that of an anonymous leftist poster who goes by zei_squirrel and has over 200,000 followers, posted about Israel and Ackman on X immediately after having been restored.

I want to thank Elon for giving me my account back. Ill be more careful and responsible with what I say about him, the Israeli regime and its agents like Bill Ackman and Bari Weiss. Im genuinely sorry, the account wrote. LOL just kidding, Ill go 100 times as hard in exposing their propaganda now.

Other affected accounts included those of journalists Ken Klippenstein and Alan MacLeod, liberal Ryan Shead and the parody account Liam Nissan, as well as the account for the podcast True Anon, which discusses the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Several of these accounts did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The Texas Observers interim executive director, Loren Lynch, said in a statement to NBC News that the organization was surprised to learn this morning that Steven [Monacelli] had been suspended with little to no explanation, but are pleased that he and the other journalists that experienced this have had their accounts restored.

Before the accounts were restored, Musk responded to a post claiming that the eight accounts were critical of Israel, writing that he would investigate why they were suspended.

Shead posted in response that he is not anti-Israel.

Monacelli said that while he has criticized the Israeli governments actions that resulted in the deaths of many journalists and civilians, he would not describe his account as primarily anti-Israel or primarily focused on being critical of Israel.

Its all pure speculation, Monacelli said. If we were to speculate, I think the logic that has the least number of steps and assumptions, it would be that we posted things that were critical of Elon Musk.


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Chinese mainland issues sweeping plan to boost integrated development with Taiwan region

10:51, January 10, 2024 By Wang Cong, Yin Yeping and Qi Xijia ( Global Times

Chinese mainland authorities have released sweeping guidelines to support east China's Fujian Province in exploring new paths for cross-Straits integrated development, outlining a flurry of specific measures to boost economic and trade cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan region in a wide range of areas from services trade and small businesses to high-tech industrial clusters.

Many Taiwan entrepreneurs on Tuesday hailed the new measures as concrete steps to help businesses from the island to further explore and expand in the mainland, stressing the cross-Straits integrated development is an irreversible trend. Some Taiwan entrepreneurs also expressed doubt about the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) willingness and ability to develop the regional economy.

Analysts also said that the move fully demonstrated the mainland's goodwill in supporting Taiwan's regional economy and Taiwan compatriots' livelihoods, in stark contrast to the DPP authorities' secessionist rhetoric and actions, which run counter to the development interests of the region. More importantly, if the DPP authorities continue to pursue secessionist actions and jeopardize cross-Straits cooperation, the mainland will take firm actions in response, analysts noted.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that after the mainland suspended preferential tariffs on 12 chemicals from Taiwan under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), in response to the DPP authorities' restrictions on mainland exports, the DPP has not taken any effective measures to lift those restrictions and has instead tried political manipulation.

Currently, relevant departments are studying to further suspend preferential tariffs and take other measures on fishery, machinery, auto parts, textile and other products in line with the ECFA, the MOFCOM said.

In a circular made public on Monday, the Ministry of Commerce, the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology outlined 14 measures in five economic and trade areas, including supporting Fujian's opening-up and cooperation with Taiwan, high-quality trade and integrated industrial development.

Specifically, the circular said that Fujian will explore and establish an institutional system and regulatory model that is conducive to advancing cross-Straits integrated development. Efforts will be made to attract Taiwan petrochemical, textile, machinery, cosmetics and other industry projects to Fujian, and help them explore international markets under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, or RCEP, a regional trade agreement among 15 Asia Pacific countries includes the ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

According to the guidelines, measures will be taken to support micro and small businesses from Taiwan to explore the mainland market. Efforts will also be made to support Taiwan businesses' in participating in the new industrialization process and guiding them to invest in advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries. Fujian will also leverage its advantages in the digital economy, integrated circuit (IC), new energy, lithium battery, petrochemical, textile and other sectors to build a Fujian-Taiwan industrial clusters with global competitiveness. Notably, Fujian will build a cross-Straits IC industrial cooperation pilot zone.

The guidelines come after the CPC Central Committee and the State Council announced in September 2023 that Fujian will be built into a demonstration zone for the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits, in a move aimed at deepening integrated development in all fields and advancing the peaceful reunification of the country.

Coming as the DPP authorities on the island continue to hype secessionist rhetoric ahead of the election of regional leader, the concrete measures offered much-needed assurance for Taiwan businesses and boosted their confidence in future cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation despite noise from the DPP authorities and some in the West.

Boosting confidence

"This new circular will be of great boost to [Taiwan's] future exchanges and development with Fujian and will support more Taiwan businesses to invest in Fujian," Lai Cheng-i, chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Taiwan island, told the Global Times on Tuesday, noting that industrial cooperation in areas such as services and semiconductors will be boosted.

Lai said that all businesses from around the world, including those from Taiwan region, seek to enter the mainland market given its massive size. "I think Taiwan's business community is looking forward to continued positive development across the Taiwan Straits. This is the general trend."

Teng Tai-Hsien, secretary general of Straits Economic &Cultural Interchange Association, also said that Fujian has offered Taiwan compatriots equal treatment in both living and investing, which is "very attractive" to Taiwan compatriots.

"I think the industrial integration and cooperation between Taiwan and Fujian will likely surpass other regions in the future, and the future prospects are promising," Teng told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Following the announcement of the establishment of Fujian as a demonstration zone for the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits, mainland authorities have taken a slew of measures to support that. In November, the Ministry of Public Security's exit and entry administration announced new entry-exit policies for Taiwan compatriots, including streamlining the application process for travel passes.

"With support from so many mainland government departments, these measures also demonstrate the mainland's unswerving efforts to promote the integrated development of cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation and its goodwill toward Taiwan compatriots," Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Wang said that in stark contrast to the mainland's goodwill, the DPP authorities have only been interfering, disrupting and undermining cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation, which will only squeeze the space for cross-Straits cooperation and directly harm the vital interests of Taiwan compatriots.

In addition to its secessionist words and deeds, the DPP authorities have been trying to cut cross-Straits economic and trade ties, while disregarding provisions in the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the mainland and the island. DPP authorities have imposed restrictions on more than 2,500 mainland products. In a firm response, the mainland suspended preferential tariffs under the ECFA on a dozen chemical products from Taiwan starting on January 1.

Analysts said the mainland has made it clear that it would firmly counter the DPP's actions that undermine cross-Straits cooperation and hurt the vital interests of Taiwan compatriots, while at the same time taken favorable policies to boost cross-Straits integrated development and support Taiwan compatriots.

"I think the mainland's policies fully reflect its goodwill toward Taiwan. They are not what some in Taiwan claim to be 'trade barriers' aimed at sanctioning Taiwan," Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "The mainland has always maintained goodwill toward Taiwan compatriots and also hopes that Taiwan compatriots would treat Fujian as their home."

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday his government will allow the reconstruction of homes 30 years old or older even if they meet safety requirements in order to improve housing conditions and increase the home supply.

Yoon made the pledge during a policy debate with the land ministry and members of the public, the second in a series of government policy briefings marking the start of the new year.

"Our government will completely ease redevelopment and reconstruction regulations, he said during the session held in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul. "We will allow homes that are at least 30 years old to begin reconstruction right away without a safety inspection."

Current regulations require a home to fail a safety inspection in order to be designated for redevelopment or reconstruction. Yoon said last month this has led people to want their homes to "become dangerous."

Under the new measure, homes will be eligible for reconstruction if living conditions have deteriorated due to issues, such as a lack of parking spaces, excessive noise between floors and plumbing problems, according to officials.

In Seoul, the wards with the largest number of residential properties that are over 30 years old but fail to meet the safety-related requirement are Nowon, Gangnam, Gangseo and Dobong, in that order.

In the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, they are most numerous in Ansan, Suwon, Gwangmyeong and Pyeongtaek.

Yoon also vowed to abolish the system of levying heavier taxes on owners of multiple homes, saying the scheme has only harmed ordinary citizens. (Yonhap)
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece George Gerapetritis has lauded the Armenian governments Crossroads of Peace projects as a fair and sustainable solution to the issues in the South Caucasus.

We think that the sides must be in constant dialogue, the Greek FM said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan.

I think that the Crossroads of Peace project, presented by the Armenian government, is a very realistic, justified and sustainable solution to the issue. We believe that the negotiations process must include the solution of concrete issues, clear delimitation of borders must be implemented, in order to avoid future violence. Both sides must be involved in the process. I think that there are realistic opportunities to achieve solutions in the future. Military action must not take place in the future.

He said that the Armenian government is taking steps to achieve the best solutions to establish peace and prosperity in the region.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Greece will soon implement a project that will direct funds for the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh, Greek FM George Gerapetritis announced in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Greece will soon support a program that will fund the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh, to meet their needs, particularly accommodation. It will also relate to the preservation of the Christian cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. We are definitely in favor of preserving the Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, and we want the UNESCO fact finding mission to be on the ground to reveal the damages that these sites have suffered or could suffer, the Greek FM said, expressing readiness to support.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, on Wednesday received a delegation led by Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, the Security Council Office said.

The interlocutors praised the dynamics in the development of Armenian-Greek bilateral friendly relations based on historical and cultural similarities.

According to the source, they discussed matters pertaining to both bilateral and multilateral cooperation, addressing the measures implemented within the framework of Armenia's partnership with the EU. In this context, Armen Grigoryan highlighted Greece's support for Armenia.

It is noted that the parties addressed the regional and extra-regional security situation, emphasizing that all conflicts should be resolved by strictly observing the principles of international law. In this context, Grigoryan presented the latest developments regarding the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. During a two-day working visit, Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Edward Asryan met with officers of military units defending the eastern border line of the Republic.

In general, highly appreciating the work done during the 2023 academic year and the results of the final exams, Edward Asryan touched upon the combat readiness of military units and the organization of combat duty, noted existing problems and gave appropriate instructions regarding the implementation of upcoming work, the Defense Ministry said.

Summarizing the meeting, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces instructed to strictly adhere to statutory regulations and security rules, and combat against any negative phenomena entering the army.
Narwekar dismisses all disqualification petitions filed against Shiv Sena MLAs and three independent MLAs

Mumbai: Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday dismissed all disqualification petitions filed against Shiv Sena MLAs and three independent MLAs. He also held that the Eknath Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when the rival factions emerged in the party on June 21, 2022 and Shinde was the validly appointed leader of the party.

Narvekar held that the two rival factions emerged in Shiv Sena on June 21, 2002 and it came to the notice of the state legislature on the next day. He also held that the leadership structure of the Shiv Sena was not at all in conformity with the constitution of the party and therefore the will of the majority leaders of the party was not synonymous to the will of the party.

The Speaker further held that Uddhav Thackeray, as the party president, did not have absolute power to remove anyone from the party. He needed the consensus of the partys Rashtriya Karyakarini as per the party constitution.

The Thackeray faction had contended that they had amended the party constitution in 2018 by which all powers in the party were given to the party president. However, the Speaker noted that the only Shiv Sena constitution which is on the record of the Election Commission of India was the constitution of 1999 and the ECI does not have any record regarding any amendments in the Shiv Sena constitution.

In my jurisdiction under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, I cannot delve into any other factor while deciding which is the relevant constitution. As prima facie, it is evident from the records of the ECI that the 1999 constitution is the one which was submitted to the ECI by the Shi Sena before rival factions emerged, he said.

Narwekar held that Sunil Prabhu, who was appointed as the whip by the Thackeray faction, had no authority to call a meeting of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) and therefore legislators cannot be disqualified for not attending the meetings for which he issued whip.

Thackeray had called two meetings on June 21 and 22, 2022 which were not attended by several MLAs supporting Shinde. While refusing to disqualify the 39 members from the Eknath Shinde faction, Narvekar held that the Thackeray faction was trying to use the Speakers office to deal with the intra-party issues. He said that the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution cannot be allowed to suppress dissent within the party.

The speaker ruled that not attending party meetings and voicing differences of opinion outside the House of the Legislature are the internal matters of the party. Such conduct can at the most be termed as act of dissent within the party and it would be protected by freedom of speech and expression, he said.

The Thackeray faction had filed separate petitions against the Shinde faction MLAs on the ground that they defied the whips issued by Prabhu for the election of the Speaker and confidence motion of the Shinde government. However, Narvekar dismissed these petitions also. He held that apart from his conclusion that Prabhu seized to be the chief whip after the emergence of rival factions, the Thackeray faction also failed to prove that the said whips were served on all MLAs.

Similarly, the disqualification petitions filed by the Shinde faction against the 14 MLAs of the Thackeray faction were also dismissed. In this case also, Narvekar held that Bharat Gogawale, who was validly appointed as the whip, failed to establish that the whips were served on the MLAs.

Reacting to the Speakers decision, Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said, Will approach Supreme Court against Assembly Speakers order.Uddhav Thackeray called it murder of democracy and insult of the Supreme Court. We will go among the people. We have been going among the people and we will fight together along with the people of the state, he said.

However, Union minister Ramdas Athavale said that the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker has taken the decision as per the Constitution. This is a huge jolt to Uddhav Thackeray. Eknath Shinde will remain the CM, and his faction is the real Shiv Sena political party, Athavale said.

The Sinde faction questioned why the MLAs of the Thackeray were not disqualified under the anti-defection law. Its spokesperson Naresh Mhaske said, If the Speaker accepted that we are the real Shiv Sena and Eknath Shinde is the Shiv Sena leader, the MLAs defying the party whip should have been disqualified. We will decide our further course of action after reading the entire order.
Foreign Minister Park Jin left office Wednesday after nearly two years of juggling a set of diplomatic tasks, ranging from addressing escalating North Korean provocations to ramping up the alliance with the United States and improving ties with its neighboring countries.

At his farewell ceremony, Park touched on the ministry's achievements during his term, saying South Korea has realized the "complete normalization" of its ties with Japan owing to the "big decision" of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The Yoon administration has sought to mend ties strained by historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The outgoing minister also said the U.S. extended deterrence against the North's nuclear threat has been "dramatically strengthened" with the launch of the Nuclear Consultative Group as agreed to by the allies last year.

"As North Korea's security threats escalated unprecedentedly, we have successfully contributed to easing the public's anxiety by strengthening our capabilities to respond through the South Korea-U.S. alliance," he said.

He noted, "The diplomatic environment facing our country in an era of multiple global crises is becoming increasingly challenging.

"Over the past 20 months, I spared no effort during all 38 of my trips that span a flight distance of over 540,000 kilometers, equivalent to circling the globe around 13 times," he said.

Park also said Yoon's vision of South Korea as a "global pivotal state" will be "in full swing" as it began a two-year term as a nonpermanent U.N. Security Council member this year.

"I believe that South Korea's status has reached the point where it is on par with the Group of Seven (G7) countries, and our national power has expanded significantly," Park told reporters. "I feel a great sense of accomplishment."

The G7 consists of the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Park, a four-term lawmaker with extensive expertise on foreign affairs, took up the post in May, 2022 as the first foreign minister under the Yoon administration. He plans to return to the National Assembly.

Cho Tae-yul, a former South Korean ambassador to the United Nations, is set to replace Park. (Yonhap)
Around 100 Congress office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh will visit Ayodhya on January 15 on Makar Sankranti

New Delhi: The Congress Party on Wednesday decided to skip the Ram Mandir inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, citing it as a political project of the BJP and RSS. The party said its leaders -- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi and the partys Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury -- who had received the invitation, have declined. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain, read a statement by senior party leader Jairam Ramesh.

While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event, he added. The partys refusal to attend the high-profile event is expected to become the latest flashpoint between the Congress and the BJP ahead of the general election.

The BJP on Wednesday attacked the Congress after party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury declined the invitation to attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya and said they have lost their minds as Ravan did in Treta Yug. BJP leader Nalin Kohli said: The Congress officially saying that its senior leaders will not be there in Ayodhya on January 22 should come as no surprise because over the last few decades, it really took no steps to see that there should be a temple in Ayodhya.

Around 100 Congress office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh, including the partys state unit chief Ajay Rai and state in-charge Avinash Pande, will visit Ayodhya on January 15 on Makar Sankranti. During their visit to the holy city, the Congress leaders will take a dip in the Saryu river, and then visit the Ram temple and Hanumangarhi temple, Mr Rai had said on Sunday.

On January 15, I am going to Ayodhya. Our general secretary and UP in-charge Avinash Pande, and senior leaders Pramod Tiwari and P.L. Punia will also visit Ayodhya, he said.

Several Opposition parties, including the Left and Trinamul Congress, have made it clear that they would skip the event as well, providing ammunition to the BJP. The Samajwadi Party is undecided -- while the party has turned down the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's invite, its MLAs are keen on going. Sharad Pawar said he would not need an invite and go there as and when it is destined. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena UBT is yet to get an invite.
Roopa Srinivasan is set to serve as the DG, NAIR, from the Railway Board in Delhi

The railway ministry has dispelled speculation by devising a unique arrangement to formalise the role of the newly appointed director-general (DG) of the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) in Vadodara. (Image: DC)

The question had arisen after the recent reshuffling of the Railway Board with the appointments of Seema Kumar, Naveen Gulati and Satish Kumar. While these were anticipated, the crucial role of member, finance, was shrouded in uncertainty. Now, the railway ministry has dispelled speculation by devising a unique arrangement to formalise the role of the newly appointed director-general (DG) of the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) in Vadodara.

In a new order, Roopa Srinivasan is set to serve as the DG, NAIR, from the Railway Board in Delhi. Interestingly, Ms Srinivasan will also continue to manage the responsibilities of the post of member, finance, on the Railway Board, a role she has taken on effective this month following the retirement of Anjali Goyal last month.

The order has far-reaching implications, note sources. The complete infrastructure of NAIR has now been placed under the control of the newly appointed vice-chancellor of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) in Vadodara. This infrastructure was previously directly overseen by the DG, NAIR.

Observers have informed DKB that the ministrys decision not only streamlines the administrative structure but also reflects the adaptability and foresight necessary to steer the railways into a new era. As the dust settles on the recent changes, the Railway Boards ability to navigate complexities as well as its commitment to efficiency and strategic leadership will be tested.

New Rajasthan chief secretarys swift rise

The suspense is over with the appointment of former Union health secretary Sudhansh Pant as the new chief secretary of Rajasthan, succeeding Usha Sharma. This is Mr Pants third successive shift within a year, indicating the Centres strategic placement of a seasoned bureaucrat. Those in the know say that the repatriation of Mr Pant from the Centre to his home cadre state had already indicated that he would be the next chief secretary of the state.

Such seemed to be the Centres urgency to push for Mr Pant that he has superseded six IAS officers to take on the role of chief secretary. Not surprisingly, the decision to bring him back to the state, despite other capable officers, has left many babus questioning the Centres rationale, but quite clearly the Centre hopes that Mr Pants vast experience will be of immense use to the new chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, who is relatively unknown and an untested administrator. His strong credentials and administrative skills positioned him as the Centres preferred choice for assisting the newbie chief minister to steer towards a pro-people administration, away from a resource and power-centric approach. His journey from being appointed OSD in the ministry of shipping in October 2022 to his recent stint as Union health secretary has been swift. As he assumes this pivotal role, the expectations are high for Mr Pant to bring about positive changes in the state bureaucracy.

Fair probe priority: SC halts DGP transfer

The Supreme Courts decision to stay the order of the Himachal Pradesh high court regarding the transfer of Sanjay Kundu from the position of director general of police (DGP) marks a significant development in the ongoing case of alleged harassment against Palampur businessman Nishant Sharma. The Supreme Court has urged the high court to expedite the disposal of the recall application within two weeks.

The high courts initial directive to shift Mr Kundu from his position was to prevent any potential influence on the investigation into the harassment allegations. However, the Supreme Courts intervention has temporarily halted this transfer, granting Mr Kundu the liberty to approach the high court for a recall of its earlier order.

In response to the initial order, Mr Kundu has already been removed as DGP, being reassigned as principal secretary in the Ayush department. The high court order also included the transfer of Kangra SP Shalini Agnihotri to other posts, to prevent any potential influence on the ongoing investigation.

The businessman, Nishant Sharma, who raised the concerns prompting the high courts intervention, had cited the need for protection from powerful individuals. As the legal proceedings unfold, the apex courts decision to stay the transfer order aims to ensure a fair and impartial probe. Meanwhile, the state government had already announced Satwant Atwal Trivedi, a 1996-batch IPS officer, as the officiating DGP, which decision now will have to wait until the Kundu case is resolved.
If the major powers failed the Palestinians, their own race brothers were not very helpful either

In 1945, however, Ibn Saud was at least formally the supplicant. As the representative of the Palestinian-Arabs he did not deny that Europes Jews had been cruelly treated. But he argued that innocent Palestinians should not have to pay for Germanys crimes. (File Image AFP)

Uncommitted readers of this newspaper who wonder why the United States of America does not put its foot down and stop the carnage in Gaza should remember the American phrase All politics is local. It explains why Washington wont displease American Jewry.

From the Vatican to the Kremlin, from the White House to Capitol Hill, the worlds movers and shakers view them as a force to be reckoned with. They can influence events, define and achieve important goals, reward friends and punish enemies. When, in the 1990s, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao sought to improve Indias ties with Israel, he tasked a senior diplomat, Lalit Mansingh, in Indias Washington embassy, to explore openings. Mr Mansingh approached the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith and the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Jewish communitys main foreign-policy lobbying organisation, which has 55,000 members, a staff of 150 and a $15 million budget. In May 1991, Washington brokered a one-day ceasefire in the bloody Ethiopian civil war only so that Israeli aircraft could evacuate 20,000 Jewish tribespeople in an unprecedented 24-hour airlift.

Mr Mansingh was only following the lead of Presidents and Prime Ministers visiting the United Nations or passing through to Washington for whom the New York offices of the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League are obligatory stops.

More than a dozen foreign embassies assign diplomats to a semi-official Jewish desk to maintain friendly ties with American Jews. Evidence of the communitys clout is the $3 billion Israel enjoys annually as US aid. Fully one-fifth of Americas foreign aid has gone to a nation of barely five million people, just one-tenth of one per cent of the worlds population. Such is the power of the Jewish lobby.

This US-Jewish entente seemed unlikely on February 14, 1945 --Valentines Day -- when US President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew to the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal straight from the Yalta Conference with Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill to meet Saudi Arabias King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud who had driven out his familys hereditary enemies, united the Arabian peninsula, and established himself as the first monarch of the only country that takes its name from its royal family. The discovery of oil had made Saudi Arabia fabulously wealthy. King Abdul Aziz -- better known as Ibn Saud -- and FDR met on board the naval cruiser USS Quincy.

Ibn Saud was an absolute monarch supported by the fanatical Wahhabi clergy. He had never been to sea or travelled outside the Arabian peninsula, except once briefly to Basra. A warrior with little experience of international diplomacy, he had sent two sons, Khaled and Faisal, both later Kings of Saudi Arabia, to America to meet FDR, tour America, and report back that the US was the worlds richest and most powerful nation. He was also a philosopher: when a European visitor expressed surprise at a beggar addressing Ibn Saud as O Brother! the King retorted that no man could insult another by calling him his mothers son.

Looking ahead, Ibn Saud would not have been surprised to learn that a descendant of his, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al Saud, Saudi ambassador to Washington in 1991, would virtually run the US administration during the First Gulf War. Or that oil-rich Saudi coffers would defray the costs -- an estimated $120 billion -- of a war that, according to the Pentagon, demonstrated effectively the capability and determination of the US and other participating nations (no fewer than 42!) to intervene forcefully to protect their interests.

In 1945, however, Ibn Saud was at least formally the supplicant. As the representative of the Palestinian-Arabs he did not deny that Europes Jews had been cruelly treated. But he argued that innocent Palestinians should not have to pay for Germanys crimes. Give them and their descendants the choicest lands and homes of the Germans who oppressed them, he told FDR, making no allowance for Jewrys sentimental desire to settle in Palestine. The desert King and FDR got on famously exchanging gifts and pleasantries. From Ibn Saud, of Arabia, I learned more of the whole problem of the Moslems and more about the Jewish problem in five minutes than I could have learned by the exchange of a dozen letters, FDR admitted, promising to do nothing to assist the Jews against the Arabs. The US would make no move hostile to the Arab people, he wrote on April 5, 1945.He was dead a week later.

His successor, Harry S. Truman, tore up FDRs promises and told high-ranking US officials less than six months after his predecessors death: Im sorry, gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism. I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents. In giving precedence to domestic politics, he had Winston Churchills full support, albeit for different reasons.

One was Britains Balfour Declaration supporting the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with very few Jews, contained in a letter dated November 2, 1917 from Britains foreign secretary (later Prime Minister) Arthur Balfour, to Lord Rothschild for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. Turkeys entry into the war on the side of the Axis powers was another reason for supporting Zionism.

Race and colour were other determinants whose impact can never be exactly measured. Just as Israels defence minister, Yoav Gallant, dismisses Palestinians who are being slaughtered in Gaza as human animals, and Nazis called Jews vermin, the British also spoke contemptuously about the Arabs. Youd think theyd be grateful after all we did for Feisal and Abdullah, Churchill said of Ibn Saud, choosing to ignore the fact that King Feisal and King Abdullah were British proteges from a rival royal house and sworn enemies of the Saudis.

If the major powers failed the Palestinians, their own race brothers were not very helpful either. When they rejected the UN partition in 1948, Egypt, Transjordan and Syria invaded mainly to seize what Palestinian territory they could. Saudi Arabia was too remote to benefit territorially but it was only a token participant in the war. The Saudis were about to normalise relations with Israel when the Gaza conflict erupted. The canny Israelis must know that in spite of fine promises of solidarity with Palestine, wealthy Saudi Arabia wont stop supporting the US even now with vast purchases of American arms. US support helps the Saudis against local and regional adversaries.
Today's news: attacker who shot opposition leader in South Korea wanted to prevent him from becoming president; In Myanmar at least 34 people died in prison in 2023; Diplomatic dispute between the Maldives, India, and China continues; In Hong Kong a man wearing a T-shirt with pro-democracy slogans arrested.

BHUTAN

The People's Democratic Party of Bhutan won the elections, paving the way for the return to power of former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, who obtained 30 out of 47 seats in Parliament against the Bhutan Tendrel Party. Tobgay, former prime minister between 2013 and 2018, is considered pro-Indian and will have to resolve a border dispute with China and try to revive the country's economy according to experts.

SOUTH KOREA

The attacker who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae-myung with a knife on January 2 said he carried out the act to prevent Lee from becoming president. This was announced by the Busan Metropolitan Police who handed over the 67-year-old suspect (identified only by his surname Kim) to the prosecutor's office for further investigation. Lee, chairman of the Democratic Party, has been released from the hospital.

MYANMAR

According to the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network, at least 34 people died in Burmese prisons in 2023, of which 16 due to lack of medical care and 18 from direct killing. Torture in prisons has increased since the 2021 army coup, a report published by the organization says.

MALDIVES  CHINA  INDIA

The pro-Chinese president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has asked Beijing to send more tourists, while the diplomatic dispute with Delhi continues, which concerns the offensive comments of three deputy ministers towards Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for which they were suspended. During a five-day visit to China, Muizzu said he wanted to diversify tourism in the Maldives and offer new experiences to tourists.

HONG KONG

A 26-year-old Hong Kong man has been sentenced to three months in prison for wearing a T-shirt with slogans from the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Chu Kai Pong was stopped in November at Hong Kong International Airport before boarding a flight flight to Taiwan and had been in pre-trial detention since then. Airport security guards noticed that Chu was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Free Hong Kong", reporting him to the police.

JORDAN - SYRIA

Yesterday, Jordanian planes conducted four strikes inside Syria against suspected hideouts of drug traffickers linked to Iran. This is the second raid of this type in a week: the Jordanian army has intensified its campaign against traffickers after clashes broke out last month over people suspected of having links to pro-Iranian militias, who were transporting large loads of drugs across the border. drugs along with weapons and explosives.

RUSSIA

In January, the Russian ecologist magazine Kedr (The Cedar) was closed, having been included in the list of "foreign agents" by the Ministry of Justice. Editor-in-chief Ivan Zilin explained that all authors who have published recently have received threats. The magazine was opened in 2022 to show the harmful consequences of the war on nature and the climate in Russia.

KAZAKHSTAN

The interview of Kazakh President Kasym-Zomart Tokaev with the newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan gave rise to the impression that he is trying to shift all responsibility for the bloody events of January 2022, on which the courts are reaching conclusions, onto trusted men of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbaev, against his reforms.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The 67-year-old Bishop of Shamshabad was elected yesterday by the local Synod in Kochi and confirmed by Pope Francis. In his first words to the faithful, he said that we should stand together and work together. The Eastern rite community of six million members has been shaken in recent years by a major row over the liturgy centred in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.

Kochi (AsiaNews)  The Syro-Malabar Church elected its new major archbishop. Bishop Raphael Thattil of Shamshabad, 67, will take the place of Card George Alencherry, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Francis last 7 December. The election took place yesterday afternoon at the Churchs headquarters in Kakkanad (Kerala).

With almost six million members around the world, this ancient Indian Church of the Eastern Rite has been seriously torn in recent years over the liturgy after the clergy in the large Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly rejected the "unified rite" adopted by the local synod in 2021.

As provided by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Pope Francis confirmed the election of Bishop Thattil, who thus becomes the fifth major archbishop in the history of the Syro-Malabars.

In his letter of confirmation, the pontiff urges the new archbishop, especially to remember the poor and those most in need. May the Holy Spirit foster the unity, fidelity and mission of the Syro-Malabar Church, so that it may grow and flourish under your paternal guidance.

The new major archbishop of the Syro-Malabars hails from Trichur, where he was born in 1956, and has been a priest since 1980.

After his ordination, he studied theology and canon law in Rome at the Pontifical Oriental Institute before returning to his diocese where he was the first director of the catechetical office and then rector of the major seminary.

He was elected in 2010 as auxiliary bishop of Trichur, becoming the first bishop of the Diocese of Shamshabad in 2017, a position he still holds.

In his first message to the Syro-Malabar Church, Mar Raphael Thattil urged the community to stand and work together. He wants to be for everyone. If there is any deficiency, it will be resolved, Mar Raphael Thattil said.

In taking on this role, he said that he wants to be inspired by Jesus's compassion for the multitudes, as narrated in the Gospel passage about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

This will depend on Gods guidance and cooperation from bishops, priests and laity to carry out his responsibilities. Jesus is the head of the Church and all others are parts of the body, he added.

The election of the new major archbishop was also eagerly awaited in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the main scene of the row over the liturgy.

We hope Raphael Thattil will find an amicable solution to the liturgical crisis as well as other controversies plaguing the church, said Fr Paul Chittinappilly, a senior member of the Council of Priests, speaking to AsiaNews.

We hope he will keep to his personality of keeping good relations with everyone. He is not fanatic about traditionalists or traditionalism."

Indeed, He can probably work better with the Permanent Synod members who are the archbishops of the Church. He has very good relationship with our archdiocese. Many of our priests are his friends and admirers! So, he is in a better position to find a solution to the crisis.
by Angeline Tan

The city-state is an active participant in the ""Operation Prosperity Guardian"" wanted by Washington to counter the actions of pro-Iranian rebels. Targeted are attacks against global maritime trade in one of the key hubs for the Far East. In recent days attacked by militiamen at least 20 merchant ships with the use of missiles.

Singapore (AsiaNews) - Singapore is joining the international coalition active in "Operation Prosperity Guardian", a military initiative involving several countries and formed on 19 December 2023 by the United States to respond to attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen on ships transiting the Red Sea.

This is what Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced yesterday in a speech to Parliament, confirming the deployment of Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel within the maritime alliance created to defend global trade in an area from strategic importance.

A team from the Navy's Information Fusion Center is expected to be sent in the next few days, which will have to contribute to sharing information. Added to this is a team of planners to contribute at an operational level, as well as the presence of a senior officer in the headquarters in Bahrain of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), made up of 39 nations.

Minister Ng's statements came in response to a question raised by MP Desmond Choo on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and how they could impact Singapore's maritime security, as well as clarification on SAF's rumored involvement in the operations.

It is in our interest - underlined the senior government official - that Singapore joins the international community, to protect and ensure that the main maritime communication lines around the world remain open; especially if threatened by illicit acts by non-state actors or terrorist groups."

Furthermore, the minister noted that pro-Iranian forces active in Yemen over the past three days have attacked at least 20 merchant ships in the Red Sea with the use of missiles and tried to divert their route.

The Houthis also attacked the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged container ship owned by Denmark. For their part, the rebels said their attacks were their way of showing support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in its war against Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Following the Houthi attacks, all five major shipping companies in the world have suspended transits through the Red Sea, which is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, Ng Eng Hen added.

The minister then clarified that the immediate impact of the ongoing attacks on Singapore should be limited, as most of the country's critical supplies such as food and pharmaceuticals are delivered by air or do not pass through the area affected by the attacks.

Local producers probably also have large warehouse stocks to be able to protect themselves against possible supply interruptions, but the minister underlined that the significant increase in costs is of great concern among entrepreneurs.

He then explained in detail the operation which Singapore joined in the seas, launched by the United States on 19 December and in line with the three principles of cooperation for maritime security that Singapore expressed at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2005. An agreement aimed at countering, at the time, the phenomenon of robberies and maritime piracy that threatened the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

Minister Ng said the military operation would focus on keeping a key maritime communications line clear, stressing that Singapore would be the first to ask for international help in the event of such attacks in regional waters.

Regarding Gaza, he said Singapore and SAF continued to keep an eye on regional developments and the ongoing need for humanitarian assistance. The local Armed Forces have accepted the invitation of their French counterparts to provide two members of the medical staff, who will serve on the French ship Dixmude.

Docked at the port of El Arish, Egypt, the Dixmude is a reconfigured hospital ship, which has treated and continues to treat Gaza victims.

Returning to the Houthi issue, in a joint statement published by the White House press room on January 3, Singapore, together with 13 other countries, urged the rebel militias to put an end to the attacks, defined as "illegal, unacceptable and deeply destabilizing".

Nearly 15% of global maritime trade passes through the Red Sea, which serves as the entry point to the Suez Canal. In addition to Singapore, the declaration was signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Great Britain.

The note arrived shortly after the members of the United Nations Security Council asked to stop the Houthi attacks during the first formal meeting of the year, which was also held on January 3.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Scholar Anna Matveeva's analysis of the fast-growing authoritarian trend in all five countries of the region: from the "January of Blood" in 2022 in Kazakhstan to the increasingly harsh restrictions on freedom of information in Kyrgyzstan. More than changes in the political system, it is the variants of "modernizing the economy" of the Asian giants that are imposing themselves.

Astana (AsiaNews) - In its assessment of what happened in 2023, the Cabar.asia website has collected the comments of an expert on politics and security in the post-Soviet space, the researcher from the Royal College of London Anna Matveeva, regarding the tendencies of authoritarian regimes in Central Asia and the mutual influences between them in the post-pandemic period and in the face of ongoing wars.

Starting from Kyrgyzstan, it seems that there is little hope for a democratic future in the region: after 2020, the consolidation of the power of President Sadyr Zaparov has taken on more repressive forms even in the new rules of legislation, with various actions of force even outside of legal boundaries, the contrast with civil society and independent media. Even Tajikistan after the revolts in Gorno-Badaksan, and Uzbekistan after those in Karakalpakstan, do not give much hope for progress in this direction.

Kazakhstan seemed to be the most convinced in the transition from the regime of Nursultan Nazarbaev to the progressive openings of Kasym-Zomart Tokaev, but the events of the "Bloody January" of 2022 brutally interrupted this path of democratic evolution.

Matveeva observes that these countries are usually very refractory to external influences, having locked themselves into very self-referential regimes after the end of the USSR.

The problem, the expert points out, is also that "the authoritarian trend is growing all over the world, and the democratization of the 90s has now taken a backseat". Authoritarian tendencies do not necessarily mean the establishment of real dictatorships, but a "variety of models aimed at the total control of power by a small ruling group".

If until a few years ago these variants were considered "deviations from the Western concept of democracy", today they are accepted as "local paths of democratic development", and the countries of Central Asia claim this type of autonomy.

More than changes to the political system, the variants of "modernization of the economy" of Asian giants such as China, Singapore, partly also South Korea or Japan, where the State leads the economic transition in name of "national strategic interests" and "citizens' needs", avoiding imposing only the interests of the castes in power, which are always very deep-rooted, as demonstrated by the difficulty in Kazakhstan in definitively overcoming the control of the "Nazarbaev family" over the entire country. 'economy.

In this economic redefinition, the five Central Asian countries differ greatly from each other. Kazakhstan can count on greater resources and infrastructure, which allow it not to depend too much on the tax system, and the legacy of these thirty years, although under the control of the current regime, allows for greater diversification in participation in the entire political and social system .

Tajikistan, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the group for living standards on the poverty line, while Turkmenistan sees an excess of distance between the splendor of the ruling class and the poverty of the mass of the population.

Uzbekistan is described by Matveeva as the "champion of hypocrisy", in which the power represented by Savkat Mirziyoyev tries in every way to "show itself open to confrontation with the whole society, to take all criticism into high consideration", wanting erase the memory of the cold Soviet bureaucracy.

A similar dynamic is also taking place in Kyrgyzstan, with a strong contradiction between the openness to dialogue with everyone and the increasingly stringent limitations on freedom of information.

In the years following the end of the USSR, Kyrgyzstan represented the model that the Russian expert from London calls "the system of collective irresponsibility", in which it is not clear who is responsible for what.

Now even in Bishkek we align ourselves with the ambiguous authoritarianism of ruling classes based on the idea of "democratic control", in different forms and linked to "national culture and traditions", gray and asphyxiated as in Tajikistan, "modernist" in Uzbekistan or particularly folkloristic in Turkmenistan.

The Kyrgyz are showing an example of this strange development that is more external than real, with the great discussion on the number and shape of the sun's rays on the national flag, more straight or more oblique depending on the tastes of the "new democracy".
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung left the hospital Wednesday, eight days after he was stabbed in the neck, saying he hopes the attack serves as a catalyst for the end of "warlike politics" in Korea.

"I truly hope that this incident, which surprised all of us, will serve as a landmark in ending politics of hatred and confrontation and restoring decent politics in which we respect each other and co-exist," Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, said as he left Seoul National University Hospital.

"We should put an end to warlike politics where we have to kill and eliminate opponents," he said.

Lee thanked police, medical workers and first responders who treated him in Busan and Seoul, and also pledged to devote the rest of his life to serving the people.

The DPK chairman was stabbed in the neck by a man in his 60s posing as an autograph-seeker during his visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2.

Lee was airlifted to Seoul and underwent surgery for a laceration to a major vein in his neck.

The assailant was arrested at the scene, and an investigation is under way to determine the motive of the crime. (Yonhap)
Jayson Boebert, the ex-husband of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt, was arrested Tuesday night on multiple misdemeanor charges following an alleged Saturday incident involving his former wife and a Tuesday episode involving other family members.
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The situation in the South American country is on high alert after the announcement of the President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa, in which he declared Ecuador in a state of internal armed conflict and ordered the mobilization and intervention of military and police. We guarantee national sovereignty and territorial integrity against organized crime and terrorist organizations," he added.

So far, the authorities have confirmed that 10 military personnel have been killed in the war against drug traffickers. In response, Peru's Interior Ministry declared a state of alert and announced that special forces had been sent to the border with Ecuador to reinforce security.

Noboa declared a state of emergency in Ecuador, including prisons, after Jose Adolfo Macias, nicknamed Fito, escaped from prison on Monday, sparking riots and repeated acts of insubordination. In addition, a curfew was decreed in all cities of the country between 23:00 and 5:00.

In a decree issued Tuesday, Ecuador's president ordered the military to neutralize" all drug trafficking and smuggling groups.

Soldiers stand guard in front of the Presidential Palace of Carondelet, in central Quito, on January 9, 2024, a day after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency following the prison escape of a dangerous drug boss (Foto de Rodrigo BUENDIA / AFP)

The gang's power has grown in recent years after Ecuador became a major export destination for cocaine produced in neighboring Peru and Colombia. Ecuador has been witnessing violence for years due to a power struggle between rival local gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian gangs.

Since 2021, more than 400 people have been killed in Ecuadorian prisons due to clashes between rival gangs

At the same time, serious riots broke out in at least six prisons in Ecuador where several guards were arrested by the inmates. Noboa's security plan, which took office last November, includes a new intelligence unit, tactical weapons for law enforcement and security forces and plans to temporarily house dangerous prisoners on prison ships.

Capture of a video released by the press office of the presidency of Ecuador showing the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announcing the state of emergency for the entire country, including the prison system, after the escape of the leader of the largest drug trafficking gang from a prison in Guayaquil (southwest), in Quito, on January 8, 2024 (Foto de Handout / Presidencia Ecuador / AFP)

Ecuador's biggest drug trafficker escapes from prison

Adolfo Macias, nicknamed Fito, was being held at the Litoral prison in Guayaquil where he had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder since 2011. Fito became the leader of one of Ecuador's most dangerous gangs, "Los Choneros," last year after Ecuadorian authorities confirmed that the gang's former leader, Junior Roldan, had died a few days after his release.

The authorities were slow to recognize the escape and initially believed that Fito might be hiding in a prison controlled by the Choneros.

Prison of Ecuador (PHOTO/ARCHIVO)

SNAI, the state agency in charge of prison cases said in a statement that it had received a complaint about Macias' alleged escape. On Monday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in the country for 60 days due to Fito's escape and several prison riots.

Los Choneros and Los Lobos, gangs involved in Mexican drug trafficking

The Choneros, who have their roots in the coastal region of Manabi, where the city of Chone is located, are believed to have close ties to the Sinaloa cartel. In particular, Los Choneros are linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Lobos are linked to the Four Letter Cartel.

The Wolves

The gang has around 8,000 members and is believed to be the second largest gang in the country, having been involved in several prison riots in 2022 that claimed more than 400 lives.

Dos de los mafiosos mas peligrosos de Ecuador han escapado de prision como resultado de los disturbios.



Jose Villamar, apodado Fito: es el lider de la pandilla mas grande de #Ecuador, Los Choneros.



Fabricio Pico: encabeza la segunda pandilla mas grande de Los Lobos. pic.twitter.com/khOyTjJc5o  Jianna Rasmussen (@Rebecca46487952) January 10, 2024

The Choneros

With between 12,000 and 20,000 members, it has become the most important criminal organization in Ecuador. He was born in a village in the coastal province of Manabi in the 1990s and from there he spread to Manta and other cities on the Pacific coast. The authorities identified him as the armed wing of Colombian cartels that wanted to control the routes to Mexico, and especially to the United States.

The Lizards

According to InsightCrime, the group, which originated in a Guayaquil prison, has been operating for at least a decade and may use assassins to eliminate members and leaders of other large organizations. However, at some point he began to challenge the Choneros for territory.

Important murders have been attributed to the Lizards, such as that of the actor and television presenter Efrain Ruales in 2021. The gang is currently incarcerated in 35 prisons across the country and is believed to be one of the main culprits of the bloody riots of recent years.

Tiguerones, Chone Killers and R7

The Tiguerones gang, smaller than Los Choneros or Los Lobos, is active in Esmeraldas, with between 3,000 and 4,000 members on the streets and 1,500 in prison.

Ecuadorian drug traffickers hijack a television network

In the midst of the chaos after the escape of two criminals from the towns of Los Choneros and Los Lobos, a group of criminals took control of the TC TV network. Live broadcasts showed journalists being threatened with weapons and explosives. The criminals were arrested by the police.

Almost two hours later, the Guayaquil police regained control of the building and detained most of the armed group. As a result of the intervention our police have so far arrested several people and evidence of the crimes, the security forces said.

Colombian Security Forces tracking in the Darien Stopper region (PHOTO/ARCHIVO)

The hostages were freed by armed criminals. The police also announced that 13 people were arrested and that the criminals belong to the gang Los Tiguerones. According to the police, the employees have already been rescued and are safe. A few hours later, the Ecuadorian prosecutor's Office announced that the 13 detainees would be charged with terrorist acts.

As soon as the shooting started, one of the hooded gunmen turned to the camera and said: "You know you shouldn't mess with the mafia, right?.

 | URGENTE - ECUADOR BAJO ATAQUE: 12 ecuatorianos y 1 venezolano, dos menores de edad entre ellos, fueron los terroristas que interrumpieron las instalaciones de TC Television en Guayaquil.

pic.twitter.com/wVfeWGml3A  Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) January 10, 2024

Ecuador, the paradise of drug trafficking

Located between Peru and Colombia, Ecuador is the dream home of drug trafficking gangs, recently considered terrorist gangs by Daniel Noboa. Miles of remote coastline provide exceptional coverage. For the Mexican cartels, Ecuador is a safe alternative to Colombia.

For both the Sinaloa cartel and the CJNG cartel (Jalisco New Generation Cartel), Ecuador is a valuable territory that provides a cocaine pipeline to the United States.

Border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador (PHOTO/ARCHIVO)

Just 700 kilometers from the jungle that gives access to the "Darien stopper", Ecuador's borders have become one of the main access routes for cocaine to Latin America and, therefore, have made the South American country the perfect place where gangs from different countries work and trade not only with drugs, but with weapons and women.

Authorities say Mexican cartels regularly rent, sometimes forcibly, fishing boats in small towns like Jaramijo, a few kilometers north of Manta, or Posorja, south of Guayaquil. Ecuador has been the key link in the cocaine transport chain between Colombia and the United States and Europe.

Colombian Army patrol controlling one of the drug trafficking routes (PHOTO/ARCHIVO)

To all this, it is added that the weaknesses of the country and the lack of resources of state institutions, Ecuador is a public transport and work space, which has made Ecuador a popular destination for criminal organizations. As a result, Ecuador has experienced waves of violence for several years due to territorial disputes between Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.
How long has it been since what used to be Fiat Chrysler Automobiles leveraged its DaimlerChrysler-era technical expertise to develop the WD-series Dodge Durango? The current Durango, namely the third generation since 1997, rolled out in 2010 for the 2011 model year with WK2-series Jeep Cherokee underpinnings. Both utility vehicles are related to the W166 M-Class and X166 GL-Class.

ICE

BEV

Photo: Dodge

There's no denying that Stellantis (the company formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French automaker Groupe PSA) needs to redesign the Durango from the ground up. According to FCA US LLC's latest agreement with the United Auto Workers, the Detroit Assembly Complex will keep churning out Durangos through 2025. The WD will be ultimately replaced in 2026 by the D6U, which  as per the agreement  will enter production in 2026 withandversions alike.It's easy to imagine Stellantis using the Giorgio platform of the WL-series Grand Cherokee for the all-new Durango, but hold on a bit. With Stellantis focused on electrifying its entire lineup  regardless of continent  a BEV-centric platform seems more likely. The agreement further lists the next-gen Grand Cherokee for 2027 under the J6U codename with ICE and BEV versions as well.Otherwise put, both the Durango and Grand Cherokee will switch to the only vehicle architecture that supports their footprints, that platform being the STLA Large. This architecture will debut with the next-gen Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300, which will be assembled in Canada.Rather than Brampton Assembly Plant , which is gearing up for the next-gen Jeep Compass on the STLA Medium, the Charger and 300 will be produced at Windsor Assembly Plant. This information comes courtesy of Unifor's latest labor agreement with Stellantis Canada.That said, the Dodge brand won't allow the soon-to-be-discontinued WD to go out with a whimper. Similar to the L-platform Charger and Challenger, the Durango prepares for a yearlong celebration of the HEMI with Last Call special editions. The first Last Call special edition of the bunch is called SRT 392 AlcHEMI, but contrary to its name, it doesn't run methanol injection for more power.Limited to 1,000 units and four colors (White Knuckle, Vapor Gray, Destroyer Gray, and Diamond Black), the AlcHEMI features the same ol' 6.4-liter HEMI that enthusiasts refer to as the 392 after its displacement in cubic inches. Rated at 475 horsepower and 470 pound-feet (637 Nm) of torque, the 392 is no 6.2-liter Hellcat V8. However, 4.4 seconds to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) and 12.9 seconds in the quarter isn't shabby.Capable of towing 8,700 pounds (3,946 kilograms), the AlcHEMI includes Brembo-supplied brakes with yellow calipers, 20- by 10-inch forged wheels in Satin Black, yellow and black for the 392 fender decals, textured exterior stripes with yellow borders, Midnight Metallic badging, yellow and silver stitching, black exhaust tips, leather and suede on the steering wheel, and the 392 logo embroidered on the seatbacks. The final touch comes in the form of forged carbon-fiber garnish for the interior.Late February 2024 is when prospective customers will be offered the opportunity to reserve the limited-run AlcHEMI, with production scheduled to start in April 2024. The first units will arrive in dealer showrooms in May 2024. The AlcHEMI costs $3,595 over the $86,200 starting price of the Durango SRT 392 Premium grade. Dodge has also confirmed that production of V8-powered Durango models, including the Hellcat, will wrap up by the end of 2024. The Last Call series, which will eventually welcome 2025 model year members, will include at least one special edition with Hellcat muscle.
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday named his third deputy national security adviser and the chief of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in a reshuffle that also replaced one presidential secretary and four vice ministers, his office said.

Wang Yun-jong, presidential secretary for economic security, was tapped to assume the newly established position of third deputy national security adviser, who will be tasked with overseeing economic security issues, presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup said during a press briefing.

Wang will be replaced by Ahn Se-hyun, a professor at the University of Seoul.

Yoon also named Yu Chul-hwan, a former judge at the Seoul Central District Court, as head of the anti-corruption agency, a ministerial position, Lee said.

Kang In-sun, who doubles as presidential secretary for international public relations and presidential spokesperson for foreign press, was named second vice foreign minister.

Yoon replaced all three vice ministers at the industry ministry: Second Vice Minister Kang Kyung-sung was promoted to first vice minister, ministry spokesperson Choe Nam-ho was named second vice minister, and Cheong In-kyo, head of the Korean Security Agency of Trade and Industry, was named minister for trade. (Yonhap)
The performance was mainly due to a rise of 14% compared to 2022, sourced from a great jump in commercial fleet deliveries (+20%), the most trucks (mid-size plus full-size pickups and vans, as well), and affordable plus full-size SUVs. In fact, the latter has been a staple of GM's evolution as the company has been the sector leader for 49 consecutive years.Currently, that is all owed to the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, plus the Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac Escalade ESV, all siblings of the same GMT T1XX platform as the Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500. Late last year, GM allowed Chevrolet to be the first to refresh the current iteration of the siblings, and the 2025 Tahoe and Suburban brought a lot of goodies for the fifth-gen Tahoe and twelfth-gen Suburban.For example, they received mildly revised front and rear fascia styling with a design inspired by the all-new 2024 Traverse and the company's pickup trucks, plus other stuff like 24-inch wheels. Inside, there's a complete revamp taking after the Escalade's cockpit, this time with an 11-inch digital instrument cluster and a standard all-new 17.7-inch infotainment display, GM Super Cruise, and more  such as a 10% more powerful 3.0-liter Duramax diesel engine.The pair will go on sale later this year as 2025 model year vehicles, and they will probably be followed by the others  GMC's Yukon and Yukon XL plus Cadillac's Escalades. The rumor mill believes the former will come first, or at least that's the impression coming from the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. For example, PoloTo is a distinctively named automotive news video channel on YouTube - and they also share visions of new models created with (some) assistance from AI, now their resident pixel master has come up with a vision for the facelifted 2025 GMC Yukon.As always, do take all these renderings with a healthy dose of salt, as nothing is official just yet. However, the CGI expert didn't go to extremes with this unofficial presentation and only touched on the classic facelift items like the new front LED headlights, the larger wheels, or the redesigned LED taillights. Alas, don't count on this design to be the final one used by GM's stylists  there are AI-driven aberrations like the double third brake light sitting above the bumper and also perched in the middle of the tailgate.As for the interior, we can easily believe that Chevy's Tahoe and Suburban are reasonable indications that something cool is coming down Yukon and Yukon XL's way, too. We also hope the upgraded Duramax will make its way into the lineup of engines.
MINI is about to go from having one single EV in its lineup to a whole bunch of them, yet not at once. In fact, the BMW Group-owned company is not ready to drop its ICE-powered models just yet.

EV

Photo: SH Proshots

kW

Case in point, let's give a warm welcome to the new MINI John Cooper Works (JCW). The hot hatch was spied recently while being tested in Germany, and this time around, it is in the fixed roof version, unlike our previous encounter with the model when we saw it with a rag top above the passenger compartment a couple of weeks ago.As you can imagine, the two vehicles sport an almost identical look. This applies to the lighting units at both ends that seem to have been heavily inspired by the ones equipping theversion. The front bumper, grille, hood, wheel arch trim, and side skirts are the same as the ones featured on the convertible, and the same goes for the side mirrors.The fixed-roof version of the next MINI JCW has larger three-quarter windows, roof rails, and a chunky spoiler above the rear windscreen. The taillights are more visible on this prototype than on the open-top variant we covered right after Christmas. One difference is the rear bumper, which has vertical reflectors on each side of the new diffuser with its aggressive styling.It still has a central-mounted tailpipe that blew hot air through it on that cold day the tester encountered our spy photographer's camera lens. For what it's worth, the wheels are different from the convertible's. We like this set better, and if you look through it, you will see the uprated brakes with the discs being hugged by the red brake calipers every time the driver steps on the left pedal.But why the left and not the middle pedal? Because the upcoming MINI John Cooper Works is rumored to drop the stick shift variant. Thus, it is expected to be offered solely with an automatic transmission, likely with eight forward gears and maybe a dual clutch.The unit will reportedly be hooked up to an updated version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine with four cylinders. The mill develops 228 horsepower (231 ps/170) and 236 pound-feet (320 Nm) of torque on the current iteration of the car, so it will likely be a bit punchier on the next one.Nevertheless, every question about the supermini hot hatch will be answered in the coming months, as the official unveiling is understood to take place later this year. The first units of the new MINI JCW may start arriving at dealers across the United States of America for the 2025 model year, perhaps with a small price bump over its predecessor that starts at $35,400 before destination.
Four years. Four whole years in which it did not move a single inch. Meet the Tesla Roadster that was abandoned in front of a house in San Francisco. That is where it has been sitting for over four years.

Photo: DeedWest | Tesla Motors Club

This Tesla Roadster Vin #180 has been left abandoned in San Francisco, supposedly untouched since 2019. @elonmusk ???? pic.twitter.com/GKzhPiejOE  Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) January 9, 2024

The model has been making the rounds on social media for the past few days. Not much info is available about the abandoned Roadster . But what we do know is that it has been sitting in the exact same place for the past four years, in front of a house in San Francisco. Because it is a private street, authorities cannot tow it away.The Roadster is obviously in a very poor condition. Branches and leaves have grown through the front wheel on the passenger's side from underneath the car. "That's what Elon Musk would call a green car," someone joked on social media. The Twilight Blue paint looks as if it had to deal with all the elements. But the weather in San Francisco is not that bad.The last time the city on the coast of the Pacific Ocean saw snow was 1976. So, the paint went matte only because of the direct sunlight, wind, and rain. Furthermore, it displays several scratches every here and there. The lights have gone foggy over the years. But this doesnt come as a surprise for a first-generation Tesla Roadster . The only registration plate left on this car, the one at the rear, reads "FUN FUEL," an irony probably addressed to those who consider that only ICEs can be fun.The car is in quite an attractive and unique color combo: twilight Blue over Premium Cream & Beige Rally interior, according to a Reddit post. That makes it the only car to drive through the factory gate looking like that.But there is no information on how everything looks inside. We can only assume that, after all these years, the leather might show some signs of wear and tear.Someone from Tesla Motors Club did some research on the car and found out it was VIN 180. The vehicle was first registered in Colorado in 2009 and later in California in 2014. According to the CarFax report checked by the club member, the car was last serviced by Faxon Garage in April 2019, when the tires were replaced. Back then, the odometer showed around 22,000 miles. The Roadster hasn't moved since. There haven't been any newer reports on changes and repairs since then.In an attempt to track down the location, we found the car on Google Maps in a photo taken in April 2022. The Tesla Roadster was sitting in the exact same spot, in the exact same parking position as in the photo that has gone viral on social media these past few days. Some of those who saw the photo found it depressing, and others are desperately trying to rescue the two-seater. User DeedWest went to the place to check if the car was still there. He found it and took some photos of it.Tesla rolled out the first-generation Roadster starting in 2008. The first car ever built ended up in Elon Musk's hands. It is the same car that was launched into spac e with a mannequin in a space suit, dubbed The Starman, placed in the driver's seat.Based on the Lotus Elise, the Tesla Roadster was the first highway-legal all-electric car with a lithium-ion battery pack. According to the EPA, it could travel as far as 244 miles (393 kilometers) on a single charge. It did the 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) run in 3.7 seconds and was capable of hitting a top speed of 125 mph (201 kph). Something that this car, sitting in the exact same place for over four years, can't possibly do anymore.Meanwhile, the second-generation Roadster is still on the waiting list for production. Tesla unveiled the prototype that previewed the production model back in 2017. And we were complaining that the Cybertruck arrived late...
Battery technologies don't seem to advance as fast as most people would like them to. However, things are about to drastically change as artificial intelligence enters the field. A partnership between Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) showed how generative AI can be used to discover new battery materials.

Although electric vehicles are far more popular today than they were only two years ago, people still complain about the battery capacity and limited life span. For most, the battery research is not going fast enough, although Li-ion batteries are constantly improving. Other battery chemistries are also developed, although progress is sometimes not visible outside labs One reason why things appear to move slower than most expect is the sheer complexity of battery chemistries. There are so many variables to play with that there are literally millions of combinations for a single element in the battery structure, like the electrolyte. Not many of those are viable for commercially produced batteries, so a lot of trial and error must be done before a good battery material is discovered.Things promise to move much faster by using artificial intelligence to select and filter potential battery materials. Things that usually take humans years of research could be compressed into hours. This allows scientists to skip directly to improving the winning materials and the battery cells instead of wasting precious time to test every possible combination.If you think this is just theory, Microsoft has already demonstrated it in a partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Their AI-driven collaboration resulted in the discovery of a new kind of solid-state electrolyte , which uses a combination of lithium and sodium. The latter is an abundant element, and its use in the new electrolyte would result in a 70% reduction of lithium.Microsoft offered PNNL its Azure Quantum Elements (AQE) platform that combines high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to speed up discoveries in chemistry and materials science. The PNNL researchers queried AQE for battery materials that use less lithium, and it quickly returned 32 million candidates. The AI system then narrowed down the results to about 500,000 materials that would be stable enough to use in a battery.Scientists used more filters to select those that conduct energy the best and also simulated how atoms and molecules move within each material. When they accounted for cost and availability, only 23 candidates made the cut, of which five were already known materials. The whole process took only 80 hours, an impressive feat that would've been impossible without artificial intelligence and Microsoft's AQE platform.In the end, researchers picked one promising candidate from the results and put it to work. A prototype battery has been made from it, and it was used to power a lightbulb and a clock. Don't expect it to reach production any time soon, though, as getting from the lab to the production line could take years of testing and optimizations. However, this study showed that generative AI can tremendously speed up research and offer creative solutions.
In the final days of December 2023, one too many automotive publications used incomplete data to report that Ford Motor Company generated the most recalls in the United States of America last year. The NHTSA's website started publishing 2024 recalls earlier today, which means that the count for 2023 is  at last  complete.

NHTSA

Photo: NHTSA

Rather than the 54 campaigns reported by fellow automotive publications, the final count is 58 campaigns. In other words, the Ford Motor Company issued 16 percent of all vehicle recalls last year in the United States of America. The Ford and Lincoln vehicles in question range from subcompacts to body-on-frame leviathans, with's database showing no fewer than 6,152,614 recalled vehicles.Ford's largest campaign for 2023 was published in March 2023. Back then, Dearborn's favorite son recalled the now-discontinued Fusion and Lincoln MKZ to the tune of 1,280,726 units due to a potential rupture in the front brake jounce hose. The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened a recall query into this problem back in August 2022 due to 50 vehicle owner questionnaires alleging front brake hose failures on the Fusion and MKZ. The remedy front brake hoses feature a different material braid.As far as FoMoCo is concerned, the second largest recall for 2023 was issued in July 2023 for 2021 through 2023 model year Ford F-150 pickup trucks equipped with a single exit exhaust. What's the matter with said trucks? According to documents published on the federal watchdog's portal, the rear axle wiring harness may contact the rear axle housing, resulting in the unexpected activation of the electric parking brake while driving. 870,701 units of the half-tonner were recalled in the US market.Ford may have issued the most recalls in 2023, which means that Ford leads the industry for the third year straight, but Honda recalled more vehicles than its American rival. The Japanese automaker is listed with only 19 recalls to its name, totaling 6,334,825 vehicles. The largest one concerns 2,539,902 vehicles equipped with Denso fuel pumps . Honda also recalled 1,209,673 vehicles with TE Connectivity-supplied MOST cable harnesses.NHTSA's data further shows that Chrysler issued 45 recalls for 2,732,398 vehicles in 2023, followed by the folks at BMW (32 recalls and 340,249 vehicles), Mercedes-Benz (31 recalls and 478,173 vehicles), General Motors (25 recalls and 2,021,008 vehicles), Daimler Trucks (23 recalls and 261,959 vehicles), and Nissan (23 recalls and 1,804,443 vehicles). The list of shame includes Jaguar Land Rover with 21 campaigns and a little over 85,000 Jags and LRs.Kia also issued 21 campaigns, but as opposed to JLR, the South Korean automaker recalled a little over 3.1 million vehicles last year. The Volkswagen Group also reported 19 recalls with the NHTSA, totaling 453,763 vehicles. For reference, the Volkswagen brand couldn't do better than 329,029 deliveries in 2023, split between 54,223 cars and 242,387 sport utility vehicles. The Tiguan was the German brand's most popular nameplate last year, but on the other hand, the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport sold a combined 95,675 vehicles in the United States market.Turning our attention back to recalls, a staggering 211 campaigns totaling 7,697,151 vehicles were for electrical system-related problems. Given the increased complexity of modern cars, beginning with OTA -capable infotainment systems and touch controls instead of buttons, you shouldn't be surprised that electrical problems are so prevalent.Did your vehicle get recalled in 2023? If so, tell us about your dealership experience and the effectiveness of the remedy in the comments section below.
EV

Google Maps for Android Auto will soon be able to access and display real-time battery information when running in an electric vehicle.The Mountain View-based search giant shared the announcement today at CES, explaining that Google Maps'feature lineup includes capabilities to suggest charging stops whenever the battery level doesn't allow you to reach the configured destination. The feature is already available on Android Automotive, and Google will use special vehicle integration to bring it to Android Auto, too.The navigation app will also show how long it'll take to charge the battery based on the vehicle profile. Android Auto users will see the estimated battery level upon arrival at the destination, so they'll know how much juice is left when starting a new journey.The feature won't be available for everyone running Google Maps on Android Auto in an electric vehicle, and because it'll require special vehicle integration, the search company must work with carmakers to make it happen.Ford will become the first company to release such capabilities for Google Maps users on Android Auto, with the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning to receive the update in the coming months. Google says more models will follow shortly, but no specifics are available today.Google Maps getting deeper vehicle integration for more advanced EV information is a long-overdue update, and if you believe you've seen similar capabilities somewhere else, you're not wrong. Apple also offers these features in Apple Maps , and Ford is also a pioneer in their adoption. The EV routing is available on the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning, the same models that'll soon get the Google Maps support too.Apple announced the Apple Maps vehicle integration for more advanced EV features, including the battery level and the suggested charging stops, in 2020, but it needed two more years to begin the rollout. The availability is still very limited today, but Apple's announcement has probably served as an incentive for Google to improve Google Maps on a similar front.Google also announced that it plans an expansion of the digital key support, with select Volvo cars to receive it soon. The company says it's already working to bring it to more car brands in the future, with other phones to be supported, too.Digital car keys allow drivers to unlock and lock their cars, start the engines, and share access with contacts without physical keys, using only an Android device. The feature is already available on a handful of cars with Google Pixel phones, but it is making slow progress regarding the rollout to more brands and models.
Google has resumed the work on Android Auto updates, and the first release of the year is now available for download for users who don't want to wait for the production rollout to begin.

Android Auto 11.1 beta is now up for grabs, allowing users to try out the latest pack of improvements before Google publishes it on the Google Play Store.Google did not share a changelog for this new release, so the update comes with mysterious changes, but the approach is not new. The company rarely provides information about what's new in an Android Auto update , as it sticks with blog posts whenever it introduces something notable.There are two things everybody must know about Android Auto 11.1.First, it's a beta build, so it's not aimed at production devices and beginners. Its purpose is to help power users test the next stable release and send feedback to the search giant should they discover something needing to be fixed urgently.Second, the update is shipped automatically to users enrolled in the Android Auto beta program, but anyone can download it using the stand-alone APK file. Download the installer on your device, browse to its location, and tap the file to begin the installation. You might see a prompt to allow the manual installation of the update, but the process is generally very straightforward and completes in seconds.Meanwhile, while Android Auto11.1 beta comes without a changelog, it doesn't mean Google isn't already preparing big changes in the long term.One of the biggest changes concerns an update that will create more consistency between Android Auto and mobile devices . Google will allow Android Auto to change the app icons to the stock design on the smartphone while also downloading the same wallpaper you configured on the device. The home screen should look similar to the one on the phone, as Google wants to make the transition from the phone to the car (and the other way around) more seamless.Android Auto will also get other smaller changes, including a Disconnect button for wireless connections. The new option will come in handy to users who want to use another Android device (other than the main phone) to run Android Auto, allowing them to disconnect their primary device with the press of a button. Without such an option, the only way to do it today is to disconnect Bluetooth, in which case you also shut down the connection with smartwatches and other Bluetooth accessories.All these features (except for the phone wallpaper support) have started rolling out to users worldwide using a slow release model, but Android Auto 11.1 doesn't seem to bring any change in availability. They are not tied to a specific Android Auto version, as their rollout is powered by a server-side switch.
I think what I want to do with this car is put some stickier tires on it and take it to the Circuit of the Americas and beat the p**s out of them there. (John Hennessey, October 2023, while putting his brand-new fresh-out-of-the-trailer Corvette C8 Z06 Z07 through its paces at his companys test track). No sooner said than done: last month, the same car, but with David Donohue at the wheel, set the tracks new record.

Photo: YouTube/Hennessey Performance

2:19.18 is the new bar raised by the famed racer in John Hennesseys completely stock Corvette  the first video below shows the achievement. The conditions on the test day were 'unfavorable' (lets stick to General Audience-rated language). The car could have done much better (Hennesseys assessments, backed by some of the viewers with good knowledge of the track).Still, the reinvented American icon (the Chevy, not its driver) absolutely nailed the speed trial in the head and made the most of the adverse conditions. This is what some $35,000 in options on top of the standard Z06 3LZ version got for the 1,845 buyers of the Z07 package of the 2023 Corvette Z06 With the test telemetry in hand  lap times were logged via the GM Performance Data Recorder onboard the car  we can determine the average speed of 88.73 mph (142.8 kph) over the circuits 3.426-mile track (5.514 kilometers). The video shows a first-person point-of-view of the record run (along with some warm-ups). Based on the on-screen data, Donohue hit a 155-mph (250 kph) top speed at the end of the long straight.Due to poor weather (the track was damp, and the temperature wasnt a favoring factor, most probably  but thats my personal estimate, based on visual references only), the car wasnt able to perform at its prime. Still, with the aid of the Z07 track package and its carbon fiber wheels and aerodynamic add-ons (rear wing and ground effects), carbon ceramic brakes, Michelin Sport Cup 2R tires, and magnetic ride suspension, the bone-stock C8 did a pretty good job. (It helps  a lot!  to have an experienced racing driver in it when attempting to break records).With the massive push from the 8,600-RPM flat-plane crank V8, David Donohue rolled up his sleeves (literally) and cracked the whip hard on the naturally aspirated LT6 powerplant. With 670 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque (679 PS, 624 Nm) on tap and sent to the rear wheels via the dual-clutch eight-speed Tremec transmission, the C8 Z06 Z07 put the COTA feather in its cap.The Z07 Performance Package gives the Z06 a 2.6-second sprint from a standstill to 60 mph (97 kph) and allows 1.22 G-force lateral acceleration. The Corvettes internal G-meter recorded a max of 2.1 for a fraction of a second in a tight turn during the fastest lap attempt.John Hennessey got what he asked for in October (play the second video at the 3:35 mark) - at least for now. Hopefully, well see the car again at the COTA - in good weather and on grippier rubbers. After all, records are among the very few things in life that only get better when broken.
Panasonic is reconsidering an earlier decision to scrap plans for a third battery factory in the US. The new factory might be critical for Tesla's ability to access IRA credits for its most popular models in the US. Tesla lost the tax credits for the Model 3 because all variants are built with cells imported from China.

AWD

Tesla launched the refreshed Model 3 sales in North America on Wednesday, but despite the many upgrades, there's one thing that makes the electric sedan a hard sell. Namely, it cannot benefit from the IRA tax credit because it's built with battery cells imported from China. This makes the refreshed Model 3 to be more expensive than the Model Y when taking the tax credit into account. Basically, instead of buying a Model 3 LR, you can opt for the Model Y Performance instead and still save $1,000.This emphasized one of the most important problems Tesla faces, and it will only get worse in the following years as IRA conditions tighten. Specifically, it doesn't have enough battery cells made in North America to access the program. Right now, the entire local cell production is used for the Cybertruck, Model Y, Model S, and Model X, some of them being too expensive to benefit from the IRA tax credit anyway.Tesla has likely worsened things by being fixated on the 4680 cell production, which has alienated its traditional partner, Panasonic. The Japanese battery manufacturer is working on 4680 cells on its own but hasn't seen significant progress . With Tesla poised to transition to 4680 cells in the future, Panasonic announced in December that it would scrap plans for a third manufacturing facility in Oklahoma. So far, Panasonic operates a battery factory in Nevada (in partnership with Tesla) and is building another one in Kansas.However, Panasonic appears to have changed its plans again. During CES 2024, Panasonic Energy of North America's president Allan Swan told members of the media that his company is still planning to build a third battery factory in the US. As incredible as it might seem, this could even happen in Oklahoma after all. The Japanese battery maker aims to increase battery cell production capacity from 50 GWh to 200 GWh by 2031.I don't know how much of this decision has to do with the IRA incentives (nothing's changed since December to warrant a change of direction) and how much with Tesla's request for increased cell capacity in the US. An official announcement for the plant's location is expected in the fiscal year 2024, which, in Japan, starts in April.Panasonic is Tesla's only US supplier of 2170 cells, and it also makes 18650 cells for Tesla's first-gen electric vehicles (Model S and Model X). The plant it builds in Kansas will produce exclusively 2170 cells, which makes sense considering this is what Tesla needs the most for its current production. It's unclear what type of cells the third plant will produce, but I believe it will also be 2170 cells. This will allow Tesla to qualify all its volume models for the IRA tax credits. Panasonic is also looking to diversify away from Tesla, and 2170 cells look like a safe bet.
We're so used to restomods these days that are so pristine, picture-perfect, and comprehensively fully restored that driving them is the equivalent of crashing a 250 GTO through the front glass of a Ferrari museum. It's not often something gets built that's deliberately just a bit rough around the edges. Such is the case with this gorgeous 1970 Dodge Charger.

Not to say this particular 1970 Charger is in any way botched or poorly put together. But it's hardly the flashiest vehicle it could have been, which speaks volumes about the character of the person who built this restomod in our minds. The man in question is Ragnar Solem, and if you couldn't guess by the name, he's not from Detroit or Southern California. Instead, he hails from Rissa in Northern Norway, a full eight-hour drive from Oslo. In the driveway of his quaint family home, Ragnar took the rolling chassis of a '70 Charger and turned it into something even more special.It took the man three whole years between 2005 and 2008 to tighten every bolt, polish all the chrome, and make this 54-year-old Charger look menacing. Gone is whatever straight-six or V8 that was under the hood of this Charger from the factory. For all we know, the car could've been a rolling chassis by the time Ragnar got to it. But what matters right now is the engine in this Charger today, and that's where things get interesting. Sitting surprisingly comfortably under this Charger's hood is an 8.3-liter V10 out of a mid-2000s Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup.Better known as the engine out of the second-generation Dodge Viper, if there were any engine bay large enough to accommodate this motor, it's one that could've taken 440 big blocks with room to spare. Rest assured, this Viper V10 is far from stock. It's rocking a NOVI-series HD supercharger from Paxton Automotive. A boatload of custom metalwork and piping connecting the new forced induction to this V10 truck engine makes for some serious eye candy.In its stock form, the Ram SRT-10' s beating heart jetted 500 horsepower. In its current supercharged form? We'd be shocked if this Charger made anything less than 650 to the tires. There's even a chance it makes even more than that. A tried-and-true Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission is ubiquitous in the restomod scene and helps ensure this Charger is good for more than a couple of eighth and quarter-mile drag passes/Once again, Ragnar's work goes above and beyond a budget-friendly DIY improv job. But there's something to be said about someone who can appreciate the look of some nicely polished steel wheels instead of mirror-shiny alloys. These rims' jet-black, downright durable look, coupled with the car's multi-link lowered suspension with drilled and slotted brake rotors and a Dana 60 rear end, make for a restomod that's hardcore-looking inside and out.
Lee Jae-myung leaves hospital after eight days of treatment for stabbing

By Nam Hyun-woo

After undergoing eight days of treatment, Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck by a political extremist on Jan. 2, was discharged from the hospital, Wednesday.

However, Lee may find little time for recovery amid a host of challenges from within and outside the party that pose major challenges to his leadership.

It is time to bring an end to the adversarial nature of politics, where the objective seems to be the destruction of opponents, Lee told reporters as he walked out of Seoul National University Hospital. I hope this incident serves as a milestone, prompting a shift away from divisive and confrontational politics toward a more respectful and inclusive approach.

Lee was stabbed in the neck by a knife-wielding man in his 60s posing as a supporter during a visit to a proposed new airport site in Busan. Following his transfer to the hospital in Seoul, Lee underwent surgery to repair damage to his jugular vein.

Expressing gratitude to the police, medical professionals, and first responders who attended to him in both Busan and Seoul, Lee pledged to dedicate the remainder of his life to serving the people.

At a certain juncture, our politics devolved into a destructive form that breeds nothing but despair, the chairman said. Moving forward, it is crucial for us to reflect on ourselves, aspiring to return to a politics centered on hope and restoration.

While Lee has been discharged from the hospital, his return to party affairs is expected to be a gradual process. DPK senior spokesperson Rep. Kwon Chil-seung told reporters that the timing of Lee's return to the party will be decided following consultation with medical professionals.

During his brief speech, Lee did not explicitly address ongoing issues. However, the spokesperson said Lee emphasized the importance of cohesion, likely in response to some DPK members leaving the party, which is a significant challenge the chairman currently faces.

Just hours before Lee's release from the hospital, three DPK lawmakers critical of the chairman announced their departure from the party.

Reps. Cho Eung-cheon, Kim Jong-min and Lee Won-wook, members of the DPKs fringe group called Principle and Common Sense, held a press conference at the National Assembly and said they are leaving the party because it is difficult to judge the Yoon Suk Yeol administration under Chairman Lees leadership.

About 60 percent of the public is against the Yoon administration, but only half of them support the DPK despite the administrations terrible failures, the lawmakers said in a statement. The DPK remains steadfast, emphasizing unity under Chairman Lee, and such inflexibility may lead to a flawed assessment of the Yoon administration.

Consisting of four Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers, Principle and Common Sense has been critical of what they perceive as Lee's hegemonic leadership, asserting that his fervent supporters suppress party members from expressing diverse opinions. Notably, the fourth member, Rep. Yoon Young-chan, has opted to stay with the DPK.

The departing lawmakers proposed what they described as a coalition of reformists, adding that former DPK Chairman Lee Nak-yon will join this movement. They said the door remains open to Lee Jun-seok, the former head of the conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) who broke away to create his own party.

The former DPK chairman is scheduled to announce his departure from the party on Thursday, blaming the current chairman for excessive control.

Frustrated by the perceived autocratic control within both parties, the public finds itself without a political group it can truly depend on, the former chairman told reporters on Sunday. Providing an option on which the public can pin their hopes and allowing more people to participate in politics are what I can do for the country.

The increasing influence of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) interim Chairman Han Dong-hoon is also a concern for the DPK chairman.

Han, a former justice minister and relative newcomer to politics often seen as a protege of Yoon, is rapidly solidifying his control over the party. Appointed as interim chief on December 26, he is tasked with rejuvenating the party ahead of the general elections in April and resolving internal factional conflicts.

While the DPK chairman continues to reject calls from peripheral members for a restructuring, Han is reaching out to swing voters by emphasizing his commitment to reforming the PPP, aiming to revive the party's dwindling public support.

In a poll by Metrix released on Wednesday, 35 percent of respondents said they will vote for the PPP if the general elections take place tomorrow, up 4 percentage points from the previous survey. Support for the DPK remained flat at 36 percent during the same period.

Also, 36 percent of respondents expressed support for the People Power Party (PPP), surpassing the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) with 33 percent. The poll, commissioned by Yonhap News Agency, surveyed 1,000 individuals from Saturday to Sunday. Additional details can be found on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission's website.

"This act of terrorism is an affront to democracy," Han told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the attack on the DPK chairman. However, he also emphasized that he would ensure "a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment should return the salary he received during the trial period."

The comments were directed at Lee, who has been attending several court trials for criminal charges, including those related to a land development scandal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.








Four months after the refreshed Model 3 was launched in Europe and Asia, Tesla is finally debuting the sales of the upgraded model in the US and Canada. The good news is that prices remained unchanged, even though the new model has many improvements. The bad part is that no IRA tax credit is available for the Model 3, making it more expensive than the Model Y.

AWD

Photo: Tesla

With so many hints dropping in the past few days, it was clear that the North American debut of the Tesla Model 3 Highland would not be too far. The latest rumors indicated that Tesla would make an official announcement by the end of this week, but no one expected to start sales of the revamped model this soon. The Model 3 Highland orders are now open in the US and Canada, with deliveries projected to begin by the end of this month.There are many things to be excited about , making it a worthy upgrade over the previous model. The electric sedan has a fresh design that also improves efficiency thanks to better aerodynamics. This helps extend the maximum EPA range of themodel to 341 miles from 333 miles, although the RWD keeps the 272-mile rating. Underneath, the refreshed Model 3 comes with new technologies, including the Hardware 4 Autopilot computer and sensors. As such, all Tesla models sold in North America are now HW4-based.The Model 3 Highland features a more refined cabin with better materials, ventilated front seats, ambient lighting, and a new steering wheel. The gear and turn signal stalks are gone, while the rear passengers get their own LCD screen and a separate audio channel for movies. Basically, everything the made-in-China Model 3 has, the American model got as well. This, sadly, means no additional camera in the front bumper, as rumored before.Much like its European peers, the US-spec Model 3 is only available in two variants, single-motor Rear-Wheel Drive and dual-motor All-Wheel Drive. The Performance trim, which was quite popular before, is still under development. While the old Model 3 Performance is no longer available to order, you might still buy one as long as stocks last. Tesla offers a hefty discount of at least $5,000, and the IRA tax credit applies on top of it.The good news is that the refreshed Model 3 is offered at the same prices as the outgoing model, with a base price of $38,990 for the RWD variant and $45,990 for the Long Range AWD. The bad news is that Model 3 Highland doesn't benefit from the IRA tax credit, which introduces a significant disturbance in Tesla's pricing strategy. This is probably why the refreshed model has the same price despite the upgraded features.Even so, the Model 3 LR AWD is more expensive than the Model Y Performance when factoring in the tax credit ($44,990), which indicates that it might have a demand problem. Of course, many people are excited about the new features and design, but when pragmatic decisions have to be made, it doesn't make much sense to choose a Model 3 Highland instead of the cheaper Model Y.A solution might be to opt for leasing instead of buying. In this case, you still get the $7,500 tax credit, but there's another issue that puts people off. Tesla's lease contract doesn't allow you to buy the car at the end of the lease. Instead, the leased car must be returned to Tesla, which is a bummer.
The world's first-ever Tesla Cybertruck in Satin White has just driven out of the wrap shop and it looks amazing! The bright white EV and the one in matte black look like Yin and Yang on wheels.

Photo: T Sportline | YouTube

Tesla delivered the first ten Cybertrucks on November 30. After the official handover event that took place at Giga Texas, the carmaker has been delivering a few more vehicles across the country, all bearing the Foundation Series badge and starting at $120,000. Considering that they all sport the silver stainless steel body and are impossible to paint, the owners started customizing them by wrapping them.The T Sportline team has already worked on three Cybertrucks that are no older than a month. The first was wrapped in matte black, the second one drove out of their shop wearing gloss black , and the third one is this bright white example.The model wears the 3M Satin White film which is going to make it stand out in traffic. It is not every day that you see a massive, angular contraption in white. And the customer did not stop at wrapping it in the head-turning white, but also wanted different wheels.That is why T Sportline fitted it with their own multi-spoke 20-inch wheels with satin black finish and replaced the factory Goodyear tires with all-terrain Falken rubber. The team also painted the brake calipers in Tesla Performance Red, with the 'TESLA' lettering in white, both on the front and rear axle, a design solution that seems to be a world first.The Satin Black and White Cybertrucks, standing face to face in another video recently uploaded on YouTube, look like Yin and Yang. It is next to impossible to decide which one looks better. The good thing is that none of them is painted. Therefore, changing the looks of one is only going to take a few hours and a few thousand euros.A few hours and a few thousand euros took for another Tesla Cybertruck owner who decided to wrap his newly delivered EV in military green , making it the worlds first wearing that shade. The model is the star of Our Cyber Life YouTube channel. It is obvious that the matte wraps complement the boxy shape of the Cybertruck. But it doesnt look bad in gloss black either, as we reported earlier this month.The first Tesla Cybertruck sporting other color than that of the stainless steel spotted on public roads was the one driven by the companys chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen , coming out of a cars & coffee event in Santa Monica.Tesla also offers wrapping options for the pickup trucks, but for the moment, the service is only available in California.
Until yesterday, January 9, 2024, the world was bracing for the first crewed mission around the Moon by the end of the year and the first Moon landing of humans by the end of the next one. But then NASA stepped forward and pushed everything back by almost a year, compared to its initial plans.

Photo: NASA

Photo: NASA

January 9 was a sort of a bad day in the history of space exploration. The Peregrine lander, the first such piece of tech to be sent by America to the Moon in more than five decades, has suffered a fuel leak, which makes the arrival at its destination impossible. And then NASA broke the news about the Artemis mission.Word that crews will not be orbiting and landing on the Moon anytime soon did not come out of the blue, and we were frankly kind of expecting that to happen. After all, we know SpaceX is behind with getting the Starship lander for Artemis III ready, and NASA isn't doing any better with its own tech either.During a press conference held yesterday, the agency's top brass announced the move citing the need to ensure safety for the crews. As you'll see further down, they are not telling us the exact reasons behind the postponement, and only give us a vague idea of what's going on over there.We'll start with Artemis II, the second mission of the program, and the first one to carry humans, including the first woman to go on a mission to the Moon, the first person of color, and the first non-American (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen).The mission was scheduled to take off in November 2024 and take its crew on a ten-day trip around the Moon, one that would have taken them to the furthest point in space humans have ever reached, 6,400 miles (10,300 km) beyond the lunar surface.The mission profile hasn't changed, but its tentative launch date has. According to NASA, the new date is now September 2025.NASA says it chose to push the mission so far back because it needs to ensure the safety of the crew. More to the point the agency claims to have bumped into a series of issues "that require additional time to resolve."It's unclear exactly what these issues are, and how massive they are, as NASA only said something about a battery problem and challenges with a circuitry component that takes care of air ventilation and temperature control.And there is also the issue of the "unexpected loss of char layer pieces" during the reentry of the Orion spacecraft used in the Artemis I mission. The space agency does not say exactly what the investigation found (full results are expected later in the spring), but it probably is nothing good.The postponement of the Artemis II mission does the same for the Artemis III one, the flight that would have actually landed humans on the Moon. Initially scheduled to take off and land in late 2025, the mission is now planned to do this in September 2026.Only the third crewed mission of the program, Artemis IV, is still on track for its scheduled launch date, which remains 2028.The new dates also affect the timeline for the Gateway lunar space station. The launch of the first elements was scheduled for October 2025, but now the agency is looking for new dates in the calendar for the assembly missions to begin, so that they are better aligned with Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway.NASA does not blame any of its commercial partners for the delays. Quite the opposite, it tries to paint this postponement as a good thing, as both SpaceX, which is developing the lander for Artemis III , and Axiom Space, which is making the spacesuits for the same mission, will have more time on their hands to finetune their designs.Many of you looking forward to the Artemis program really taking off are probably disappointed at the news. You do have to take into account though the fact Artemis is the most complex human space exploration program ever devised. And the most daring, too.If all goes well, Artemis will literally open the doors for humanity's colonization of the Moon (for scientific purposes, but still), but also for the first crewed mission to Mars, the Holy Grail of the solar system.As Amit Kshatriya, NASA's Moon to Mars Program Office manager says, "Artemis is a long-term exploration campaign to conduct science at the Moon with astronauts and prepare for future human missions to Mars. That means we must get it right as we develop and fly our foundational systems so that we can safely carry out these missions."So it's probably worth the extra wait, don't you think?
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ICE

Looking to attack Tesla on its home turf is a big endeavor by legacy automakers these days, let alone by a 'startup' automaker coming from Vietnam. Alas, VinFast  established six years ago as Vietnam's first global car brand and firstmanufacturer  doesn't think this is such a tall order and has already devised a strategy.We heard the company was coming to attack the EV block last year when it started expanding its US dealer network , looking to have hundreds of them to conquer the market. They already have four models they are planning to sell, and before the start of 2024, the emphasis was mainly on the VF 8, a mid-size electric crossoverin production since 2022 withor dual-motorpowertrains and up to 402 horsepower.Clearly a direct jab at Tesla's Model Y, this model needs all the help it can get because it's not that easy to win against the world's best-selling nameplate. No worries, VinFast dropped by CES 2024 to spice things up just when we thought that all we were getting were tech-related automotive product announcements. Luckily, alongside the quirky Honda concepts now, there are also a couple of new products from VinFast.The first one is dubbed VF 3 and is now rolling out globally as its latest electric model after initially premiering at home in Vietnam  "a dynamic mini-eSUV, packed with character and personality, (which) adds a new dimension to smart, sustainable, and accessible urban mobility for everyone." The good news is that it's coming to America, too, looking all adorable like a tiny Suzuki Jimny electric . The blocky four-person SUV is 125.6 by 66.1 by 63.8 inches, making it ideal for city driving, and has a targeted range of 125 miles on a full charge. First reservations will open later this year on a per-market basis.More importantly, VinFast also brought the VF Wild, its latest electric vehicle concept, to CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Looking like something that could take a swing both at Rivian's R1T and the-powered mid-size pickup truck establishment led by the hybridized N400 Toyota Tacoma, this prototype is not just Vietnam's take on the matter. Instead, it was jointly developed by VinFast and Australian design studio Gomitiv.Looking decidedly modern, the VF Wild is 209 inches (5324 mm) long and 79 inches (1997 mm) wide but also comes with a flexible bed size. More precisely, the "vehicle combines the practicality of a power-folding mid-gate to provide a class-leading bed length designed to expand from 5 to 8 feet with the rear seats folded down automatically." There's also a panoramic glass roof and digital exterior mirrors, but absolutely no information regarding essential facts and figures like payload or maximum towing capacity. Also, the company doesn't say anything about the EV's powertrain.As such, don't expect it anytime soon on the market  the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Nissan Frontier, Honda Ridgeline, and Jeep Gladiator are pretty safe for now from this potential market disruptor. Alas, we heard that VinFast is currently building its own US factory in Chatham County, North Carolina, worth around $4 billion  and if they start making the VF Wild there, it could easily become a noteworthy competitor.
Westfalia, a leading name in the camper van conversion business, is gearing up for its big return to the North American market in 2024 after a nearly 20-year hiatus.

Photo: Westfalia Americas

Photo: Westfalia Americas

Photo: Westfalia Americas

For American camping enthusiasts, Westfalia is a name that has come to be associated with pop-top Volkswagen-based camper conversions. However, the model that will bring back the beloved Westfalia nameplate to United States shores - a camper van called Wave with a serious family-sized sleeping capacity - will be based on a Ram Promaster.The French-owned German company has a fascinating history. Founded in 1844 as a builder of horse-drawn carts, Westfalia stepped into the van conversion business in 1951 after a special request from a customer - to equip a VW Transit van as a home. The firm has been converting Volkswagen vans into comfortable, stylish, and reliable pop-top motorhomes known as "Westys over the following decades.The brand ceased its US operations shortly after it was acquired by DaimlerChrysler in 1999, but it is now ready to make its return. Westfalia Wave, the first North American model in over two decades, marks a new chapter in the brand's history and was previewed in pre-production form at the Elkhart RV Dealer Open House in September. Now, the official public introduction will happen at the 2024 Florida RV SuperShow, which will take place in Tampa between January 17 and 21."The Florida RV Super Show marks a milestone for Westfalia as we present the all-new Westfalia Wave to the consumers," said Len McDougall, Head of Sales for Westfalia North America. "It's an opportunity for enthusiasts to witness the legendary Westfalia spirit in a modern and innovative design."The all-new camper van is based on a Ram Promaster 3500 chassis, a tried and tested platform that has reliably been used as the foundation for many conversions over the last decade. It boasts a high roof and a 249-inch (633-cm) long interior that has been leveraged to create a modern mobile living space with a versatile floor plan packed with all the amenities US campers have come to expect from luxury RVs.The clean European-style layout is seamlessly combined with a series of more North American-influenced features. It offers sleeping arrangements for up to six adults, a kitchen, a dinette, as well as a full-size wet bath. Smart home controls and plenty of storage solutions throughout the van for personal belongings and camping gear round up the package, promising a versatile camping experience.A long roster of unique features makes Westfalia Wave stand out from the crowd, including the distinctive dinette at the front with its patented bench seat that easily folds out and turns into a bed. During the day, the dining area offers ample seating space thanks to the two-seat rear bench and swiveling driver and passenger seats. A cleverly designed dual-leaf expandable table serves all four of them.According to the company, the camper also includes "intentional storage solutions that make it perfect for the beach lifestyle of many campers in Florida. The central aisle space and versatile trunk with a slide-away section can easily fit paddle boards, skis, mountain bikes, or other larger outdoor gear.The interior is also fitted with a functional kitchenette with a Vitrifrigo fridge, a microwave oven, a propane stove, and a slide-out island extension, as well as a full-size wet bath.However, the Wave's biggest selling point has to be its impressive sleeping capacity. Touted as a functional family camper van, the newcomer will sleep up to six people, which is something new for Westfalia. A queen-size bed at the rear of the van will comfortably accommodate two adults. In the cabin, the dinette turns into a double bed that extends over the swiveled driver's seat and sleeps two more individuals, and the van is also equipped with a roof-mounted, pop-up tent that rounds out the six-sleeper configuration.The only caveat, though, is that the Wave only features four belted seats, so it won't be able to carry the entire camping squad to the desired location.The wet bathroom compartment is positioned on the driver's side and acts as a divider between the dining area and the rear bed. Camper van baths are a hot topic of conversation in the van life world, and while some outfitters decide to forego a shower altogether, many modern campers can't imagine doing van life without one. Wave's wet bathroom comprises a cassette toilet and a shower, with a Truma Combi water heater/furnace unit supplying hot water to both the shower and the kitchen tap.The full spec sheet of the new Westfalia Wave will most likely be revealed next week when the camper is formally unveiled in final form, but we do know that it will also include a tablet-style Firefly touchscreen command center, 600 amp-hours of batteries, and a 3,000-watt inverter. Pricing details haven't been unveiled either, but given the high-end features and amenities, we expect it to cost more than other Ram Promaster-based models, like the Winnebago Solis , Pleasure-Way's Tofino, or even Airstream's Rangeline Below, you can watch a video of the pre-production Westfalia Wave camper van presented in September.
Echoing remarks by another Armenian official, Mirzoyan spoke of some regression in Bakus most recent proposals regarding the treaty presented to Yerevan.

We submitted the latest Armenian proposals [to Baku] n January 4, he told a joint news conference with his visiting Greek counterpart George Gerapetritis. Yes, I would say that in terms of the content, we see some regress in the Azerbaijani proposals on some articles of the text and some progress in several other directions.

Mirzoyan did not disclose those issues. He only stressed in this regard that mutual recognition of each others territorial integrity must be the key element of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord.

This is the issue where utmost clarity is needed and the final peace treaty must ensure this clarity, he said. Also, while the process of delimitation and demarcation of the two countries border may take long, we must see in the peace treaty a clear basis upon which the delimitation process must take place.

I want to emphasize that territorial integrity and inviolability of borders and border delimitation are the two issues on which Armenia cannot allow any ambiguity, added Mirzoyan.

Senior Azerbaijani officials said last month that the two sides should sign the treaty before agreeing on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenian analysts and opposition figures suggested that Baku wants to leave the door open for territorial claims to Armenia.

In October, Azerbaijani President Aliyev again accused Armenia of occupying eight Azerbaijani villages. Aliyev referred to several small enclaves inside Armenia which were controlled by Azerbaijan in Soviet times and occupied by the Armenian army in the early 1990s. For its part, the Azerbaijani side seized at the time a bigger Armenian enclave.

Armenia has proposed that the two South Caucasus states use late Soviet-era military maps as a basis for the border delimitation. The idea is backed by the European Union but rejected by the Azerbaijani side.

Aliyev twice withdrew from EU-mediated talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in October. His foreign minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, similarly cancelled a November 20 meeting with Mirzoyan that was due to be hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Bayramov offered late last month to meet with Mirzoyan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border without third-party mediation.

Mirzoyan on Wednesday declined to clarify whether he is ready for such a meeting. He said only that Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations have always been direct in essence.
The bulk of Armenias commerce with Russia, its number one trading partner, is carried out through the sole Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper Lars. A mountainous road passing through Upper Lars is periodically closed due to blizzards and landslides, causing Armenian companies serious losses. It has also become increasingly congested in recent years.

The Armenian Ministry of Economy hired a foreign sea freight company last year to operate a new ferry link between the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi and Russias Novorossiisk that was supposed to be an alternative to Upper Lars. The company, C&M International, launched it in the summer after being paid 500 million drams ($1.2 million) by the ministry.

The ferry operated for several months but  did not generate sufficient interest from exporters and importers, Kerobian told reporters this week. We did not see export and import companies use the ferry in a way that could convince us and our partners to continue the project.

The minister contradicted his own remarks on the issue made less than three months ago. The project is working as we see strong interest from [trading] companies, he said at the time.

Speaking to RFE/RLs Armenian Service, multiple cargo company executives in Yerevan said a key reason for the failure of the Batumi-Novorossiisk service is that it involved a typical cargo ship, rather than a real ferry. This means that commercial trucks were unable to board the ship and proceed to the Russian port or vice versa by sea and instead had to load their cargo onto it.

Russian-Armenian trade has skyrocketed since Russias February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Armenian entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the Western sanctions against Moscow by re-exporting Western-manufactured goods to Russia. Armenian exports to Russia rose by 63 percent, to $2.9 billion, in January-October 2023, generating half of the South Caucasus nations overall export revenue.

Kerobian said that his government now wants to diversify Armenias export operations. But he did not specify just how and when it will try to achieve that objective.
Otherwise, Armenia will remain at a dead end forever, he said in televised remarks. If the route I mentioned is not opened, then we do not intend to open the border with Armenia anywhere else. So they will get more harm than good from that.

"People and goods should pass from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan without any checks," added Aliyev.

He pointed to a clause in the 2020 ceasefire agreement that commits Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan through Syunik, the sole Armenian province bordering Iran.

The Armenian government has said all along that Azerbaijani passengers and cargo cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls. It insists on conventional transport links between the two South Caucasus states.

Iran also strongly opposes the so-called Zangezur corridor sought by Aliyev. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reaffirmed Tehrans stance when he met with a visiting Azerbaijani official in October.

Aliyevs top foreign policy adviser, Hikmet Hajiyev, said later in October that the corridor has lost its attractiveness for us and that Baku is now planning to do this with Iran instead. But he clearly backtracked on that statement in a newspaper interview published last week.

Baku renewed its demands for the corridor following what Azerbaijani and Armenian officials described as progress made towards the signing of a bilateral peace treaty. Earlier on Wednesday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan spoke of regression in the latest Azerbaijani proposals on the treaty sent to Yerevan last month. Mirzoyan indicated that Baku is reluctant to explicitly recognize Armenias borders through the peace deal.

Aliyev also rejected Yerevans insistence on international guarantors of the two sides compliance with such a deal. We dont need guarantors, he told Azerbaijani television.
10 January 2024 21:00 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

As was to be expected, the Armenian authorities, together with France, are going to continue to put pressure on Azerbaijan. For months, the Armenian authorities have been pursuing a path towards the signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, where Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has also supported this initiative. Throughout this time, France was found to have been an instigator of a new conflict in the South Caucasus.

Crisis-ridden France, under the rule of French President Macron and his team, may soon face a cold winter. The French president on Monday dismissed Elisabeth Borne, who had served as the country's prime minister since May 2022. New agricultural reforms and taxes have sparked a wave of protests across France. The beginning of Israel's Middle East war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip escalated into a war with the people of Palestine as well. This war has stirred up a wave of protests against war, genocide, and anti-Semitism around the world.

Protests against the genocide of the Palestinians have taken place in France, where the situation of freedom of worship is already difficult, as have anti-Semitism marches and protests by Jewish rabbis in Paris against the Zionist regime in Israel. The anti-Semitism march was held in response to the nearly 1250 anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred in France since October 7, involving French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Armenophile and Islamophobe Marine Le Pen, who is known for her anti-Azerbaijani statements in support of the separatist clan.

The international community, as well as the United States, turn a blind eye to these incidents in France, where "freedom of religion" is below zero, and at the whim of Secretary of State Blinken, France is not on his list, as well as Armenia itself. "Double standards and only business."

Sharp criticism in France was sparked by the participation in the rally of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement Nationale faction in parliament, and party chairman Jordan Bardella, who marched at the head of the column, as did French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, several former heads of government, and Jonathan Arfi, leader of the Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF).

"Although this is a supra-party demonstration, the participation of the leaders of the Rassemblement Nationale is unwelcome,' Yael Bron-Pivet, the president of the lower house of parliament, whose Jewish ancestors fled to France from Germany and Poland in the last century, said in a radio interview on the eve of the action.

The CRIF leader, Arfi, also described as undesirable the participation in the action of "the heirs of a party created by former collaborators (of the Nazis)". In his opinion, there is thus an "obscene instrumentalisation of the march".

The political rivals oppose the participation of the National Rally leaders, pointing to the history of this party, created in 1973 by Marine Le Pen's father Jean-Marie Jean-Marie under the name National Front.

"It (the party) brought together former supporters of the Vichy regime, anti-Semites, and members of the far-right student union Groupe Union Defense (GUD) (Group of Joint Defence)." Jean-Marie Le Pen repeatedly referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of history.

"'French justice has condemned him for anti-Semitism, so the Groupe National Unite has no place at the rally,' government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory inhabited by Armenians and historically linked to this nation. This has been the case for centuries, long before the Turkic peoples came to the region. No one denies this, and I will staunchly defend its cultural specificity, its history, and its people," Marine Le Pen propagandises.

Western globalisation and the imposition of a new world order have had a profound effect on the whole system. To replace Prime Minister Borne, the President appointed French Minister of Education Gabriel Attal, who is the husband of MEP Stephane Sejournet. MEP, after the Armenian Prime Minister's speech on October 17, 2023, committed to defending Armenian "democracy" and the Armenians who left voluntarily. A few weeks before Pashinyan's October 5 speech to the European Parliament, the same MP "husband" stated that: "On our initiative, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the ethnic cleansing in "Nagorno-Karabakh" and calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan. We stand with the Armenian people. France cannot act alone. Europe must play its part."

Stephane Sejourne, as one of Armenia's ardent supporters, lobbies for Armenia's interests both in France and in the European Parliament. He is the initiator of several European Parliament resolutions against Azerbaijan.

The new Prime Minister's wife is proud of her activities related to the "defence" of Armenians and often writes about them on social networks. The lobbying of the interests of Armenians by the "wife" of the new Prime Minister of France will undoubtedly affect the position of the PM.

During an old interview with Paris Match, when asked, "Trump or Putin?" Attal replied, "For an underwater fishing trip to Siberia, I would choose Putin. For a casino night, I would choose Trump. Otherwise, neither one nor the other."

After a while, France carried out the desired action, supplied Armenia with overdue weapons (armoured vehicles, air defence systems), and was caught spying in Azerbaijan. According to preliminary data, the detainee is in custody in that country.

Martin Ryan, a young immigrant from Baku, was arrested in early December on espionage charges amid strong tensions between France and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani diplomats in Paris were expelled from Baku in response.

"'We spoke to him four times, for two minutes each time. He says he is being treated well and that he is getting along well with his lawyer," his father, Richard Ryan, explained.

On December 27, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the expulsion of "two staff members of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan," declared persona non grata, and "refuted the accusations made by Azerbaijan to justify its decision".

France has declared two employees of the Azerbaijani Embassy in France persona non grata as a reciprocal measure.

Martin Ryan, who also holds British citizenship on his father's side, moved to Baku for four years, where he founded a small company (Merkorama) specialising in import-export, particularly in the wine trade. While engaged to an Azerbaijani woman, he does not seem to have been politically active. In the opinion of his entourage, he was the victim of "malevolence": "representatives of French intelligence, according to his (Richard Ryan's) father, involved him (Martin Ryan) in collecting and passing on information about third countries.

There is no doubt that the Armenian lobby strengthens its position through some corrupt French officials who, under the guise of "anti-Semitism," act against Islam and the Turkic world. The President of France has tightly clung to a "couple" of husbands to strengthen his power in the political race, and the commitment to the LGBT community and its propaganda ordered by the Western clans will slightly strengthen the already precarious position of the French President. The continuation of the "pressure" on Azerbaijan is not excluded, which could lead to a cold winter in France.

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Abbas Ganbay is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Noend33

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10 January 2024 09:05 (UTC+04:00)

Last year, a sea snail worth 20.8 manats per kilogram was exported from Turkiye to Nakhchivan, Azernews reports.

in 2023 from Turkiye to Nakhchivan delivered sea snail of 2,650 kg for the amount of $216,

It should be noted that Turkiye exported 2 mln 50 k 343 kg of sea snails in 2023 with a value of 22 mln 637 thousand 304 USD. South Korea, China, and Spain were the top three exporting countries.

11 mln 491 k 392 kg of products worth 916 k $200 were exported to South Korea, 3 mln 884 k 944 kg of products worth 330 k 100 US$ to China, and 3 mln 7 thousand 291 kg of products worth 398 k 27 US$ to Spain.

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By Kim Ae-ran

During a recent mission in Miami, a group of parishioners from Miami Korean Catholic Church guided us to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, on the shores of Biscayne Bay. Our Lady of Charity as a focal point of social and spiritual unity among Cuban immigrants drew my attention.

Devotion to Our Lady of Charity is widespread in Cuba, France, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain and the United States. Cuba, the only socialist country in the Americas, is an island country located in the region where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet.

Christianity arrived in Cuba in 1512. In 1612, two young Indians (Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos) with a 10-year-old African slave (Juan Moreno) sailed out to collect salt for preserving meat at a slaughterhouse. On their way back, a violent storm overtook their small boat. Struggling against the stormy waves, they prayed to an image of the Virgin Mary in a medal that a little Juan was wearing.

As the sea was calmed, they saw a white bird floating on distant waves. When they drew near, they discovered the bird was a statue fixed to a board with the words: Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad (I am the Virgin of Charity). The about 41 centimeters clay-baked statue of the Blessed Mother holding Infant Jesus in her left arm and carrying a gold cross in her right hand was found on Nipe Bay, near Santiago, in Cuba.

Three young men understood it as an answer to their prayers for safety and were convinced Mary had rescued them. So, they brought that statue to shore. Since then, Cubans have honored the Virgin of Charity. Finally, in 1916, Pope Benedict XV declared the Virgin of Charity the patron saint of Cuba.

Numerous Cubans have fled from communism in search of freedom since the revolution of Fidel Castro in 1959, and most of them were settled in Miami, Florida. On their journey, they always carried a replica of Our Lady of Charity.

On Sept. 8, 1966, on the feast day of Our Lady of Charity, Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll asked Cuban refugees to build a shrine and donated the land on Biscayne Bay where Cuba is seen from afar. In the end, the shrine was dedicated on Dec. 2, 1973, with thousands of small contributions.

Thus, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity reveals Cuban American history. The image of Our Lady of Charity in a gold-clothed and doll-like figure is the same image honored at a Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Charity in El Cobre.

"O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Charity, filled with joy, prostrate at your feet, I entrust myself entirely to you. Virgin of Miracles, heal the sick, console the afflicted, give hope to the destitute, preserve families from evil, protect the young and innocent. From your Chapel at Cobre, watch over the just, convert sinners, fortify thy priests, and save all Christians. O Loving Mother Mary, Blessed Virgin of Charity, patroness of Cuba, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

We shall have to add our sincere prayers for the world undergoing a cost-of-living crisis, natural disasters and extreme weather, failure to mitigate climate change, geoeconomic confrontation, failure of climate-change and adoption, debt crises, erosion of social cohesion and societal polarization, failure to stabilize price trajectories, widespread cybercrime and cyber insecurity, prolonged economic downturn, large-scale environmental damage incidents, natural resource crises... (The Global Risks Report 2023 by World Economic Forum).





The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul. Please feel free to visit her blog "A piece of sunshine" at mtorchid88.blogspot.com.
10 January 2024 11:19 (UTC+04:00)

Nigar Hasanova Read more

A virtual meeting was held between the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov, and the first vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Jurgen Rigterink.

According to Azernews, this was stated by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy.

At the meeting, the projects implemented in our country with the support of the Bank, the prospects of cooperation with Azerbaijan Khazar Maritime Shipping CJSC, and the possibilities of expanding joint activities in the field of improving the ecosystem of renewable energy and information technologies were reviewed.

The Minister of Economy said that our country attaches importance to the development of relations with the Bank, and the application of advanced experience and innovative technological innovations in the projects implemented jointly with the EBRD is particularly important. Energy, especially renewable and alternative energy, Government Cloud Information Centre (G-Cloud) with EBRD, etc. It is important to discuss the priority projects on the agenda.

Jurgen Rigterink pointed out that the portfolio of bilateral cooperation covers important issues and that Azerbaijan's globally important initiatives stimulate partnership. The first vice president of the bank touched on the importance of holding the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Azerbaijan and said that the EBRD is ready to support Azerbaijan in this direction.

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10 January 2024 13:28 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

In December 2023, following the decisions made at the federal level in Russia, 5 batches of chicken eggs from Azerbaijan and Turkiye were brought to Dagestan.

According to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control of Russia ("Rosselkhoznadzor"), 1.2 million food eggs were imported from Azerbaijan and more than 600 thousand food eggs from Turkiye.

In total, 110 tons of eggs were supplied. Samples were taken to ensure the quality and safety of food products during importation.

Grappling with a significant 15.1% price hike in November and a 40.3% increase since January 2023, Russias government has taken decisive action to stabilize domestic markets and suspended import taxes on eggs from January 1 to June 30, 2024. With a standard tax rate of 15% now waived, the Russian agricultural products watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has also greenlit egg imports from Azerbaijan and Turkiye to alleviate market pressures further.

With a robust development in poultry production, Azerbaijan has not only fulfilled its agreement to export eggs to Russia but is also setting sights on China for exporting poultry meat. This expansion of economic relations underscores Azerbaijans capacity to produce a surplus suitable for international markets. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Russian Minister of Agriculture are optimistic about achieving price stability for chicken eggs and anticipate increased supplies from Azerbaijan and Turkiye, thanks to the lifted import duties.

Besides, Azerbaijan exports edible eggs to Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

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10 January 2024 12:44 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

The portfolio of bilateral cooperation covers important issues, and Azerbaijan's globally important initiatives stimulate partnership.

According to Azernews, the first vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Jurgen Rigterink, said this while speaking at a virtual meeting with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Economy.

The first VP of the bank touched on the importance of holding the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Azerbaijan and said that the EBRD is ready to support Azerbaijan in this direction.

At the meeting, the projects implemented in Azerbaijan with the support of the Bank, the prospects of cooperation with Azerbaijan Khazar Maritime Shipping CJSC, and the possibilities of expanding joint activities in the field of improving the ecosystem of renewable energy and information technologies were reviewed.

According to Mikayil Jabbarov, the Economy Minister of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan attaches importance to the development of relations with the Bank, and the application of advanced experience and innovative technological innovations in the projects implemented jointly with the EBRD is particularly important.

Energy, especially renewable and alternative energy, Government Cloud Information Centre (G-Cloud) with EBRD, etc. It is important to discuss the priority projects on the agenda.

Note that EBRD helps to diversify Azerbaijans economy by supporting the development of the private sector in non-oil sectors and strengthening the governance of private and state-owned companies. Besides, the bank aims to expand access to finance for local businesses by encouraging lending by banks and non-bank financial institutions, as well as by helping develop local currency and capital markets.

EBRD also supports the countrys green economy, including financing for renewable energy sources, increased energy efficiency, cleaner transport, and sustainable infrastructure.

According to EBR's report, as well as being a country where the EBRD works, Azerbaijan is also an EBRD donor with a total contribution of 3.6 million, of which 50% is for the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) Fund and the other 50% are to the Azerbaijan  EBRD Cooperation Account.

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10 January 2024 14:26 (UTC+04:00)

Nigar Hasanova Read more

In January-December 2023, Turkiye increased its export of ready-made clothing products to Azerbaijan by 11.6 percent to 79.1 million dollars compared to the same period in 2022, Azernews reports, citing TurkicWorld.

According to the source, this was reported by the Ministry of Trade of Turkiye.

In December 2023, Turkiye's export of ready-made clothing products to Azerbaijan decreased by 29 percent to 6.4 million dollars compared to the same month of 2022.

It should be noted that in January-December 2023, Turkiye's export of ready-made clothing products decreased by 9.2 percent compared to the same period of 2022 and was equal to 19.3 billion dollars.

In December 2023, Turkiye exported 1.5 billion dollars worth of ready-made clothing products, which is 14.6 percent less than in December 2022.

It was noted that during the last 12 months (December 2022-December 2023), Turkiye exported ready-made clothing products for 19.3 billion dollars.

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10 January 2024 12:00 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

The Ganja State Philharmonic Hall has presented the project "Cultural Heritage of the Nation" (Xalqn mdni srvti).

The project is being implemented by the Ganja-Dashkesan Regional Department of the Culture Ministry and the Ganja State Philharmonic Hall to promote classical examples of Azerbaijan in the regions and convey national and spiritual values and folk music to modern youth. Each month, the project will be dedicated to prominent cultural and artistic figures, Azernews reports.

Students from the Fikrat Amirov and Telman Hajiyev Children's Music Schools and the Children's Art School performed on the first day of the event.

As part of the project, there will be a "Musical Parade" of works by Fikrat Amirov, an outstanding Azerbaijani composer and the founder of the symphonic mugham genre in world music

Fikrat Amirov, the founder of the symphonic mugham genre, brilliantly synthesised folk music and mugham traditions with modern musical techniques.

The composer wrote the first Azerbaijani lyrical-psychological opera on a contemporary theme. In the opera Sevil, the composer used a variety of musical forms.

Amirov's symphonic mughams, Shur and Kurd Ovshari, are unprecedented in the history of world music.

He is the author of numerous operas, ballets, symphonies, symphonic poems, symphonic mugham, suites, capriccio, piano concertos, sonatas, musical comedies and songs, love songs, piano pieces, music for dramatic productions, and movies.

Fikrat Amirov's heritage, which calls for patriotism, always instills spiritual richness, and glorifies human ideals, is one of the brightest pages in the history of Azerbaijani music.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr

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10 January 2024 12:54 (UTC+04:00)

Nigar Hasanova Read more

Anti-epidemic and preventive measures are being carried out in the country in connection with the local spread of measles, which started at the end of 2023 and is currently ongoing.

According to Azernews, the Ministry of Health issued a call to the population in this regard.

The Ministry noted that, based on the analysis of the epidemiological situation, cases of infection occur among children over 10 years old and adults. It should also be noted that almost all of those infected are people who have never been vaccinated against measles and do not have the disease.

Taking into account the importance of vaccinating children up to 10 years of age according to the preventive vaccination schedule in force in the country, as well as the importance of vaccinating 1140-year-old population groups susceptible to measles, to prevent the local spread of the infection, complications, and deaths from the disease, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan purchased vaccine preparations for the country.

Taking into account that vaccination is the most effective way to protect against highly contagious measles infection, the Ministry of Health once again appeals to the public and urges the mentioned vulnerable population groups to be vaccinated against measles infection.

For vaccination, it is possible to apply to medical institutions that provide ambulatory-polyclinic services to children and the elderly in their places of residence.

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10 January 2024 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Despite having different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Azerbaijan and the UAE have many commons. First of all, Islam is the main religion in these countries, and Islamic values connect the citizens of the two countries. Besides, both of the countries are famous for their oil and gas production. However, initiative and risk-taking are the main features that connect these two nations.

Thus, Azerbaijanis were the first nation in the Islamic world that presented democracy and European values to the East. The first democratic republic was established in Azerbaijan. It was Azerbaijan that gave suffrage to females in the East. It is worth noting that Azerbaijan adopted female suffrage before several countries such as Turkiye, the USA, the UK, France, Italy, and so on. Speaking about Azerbaijanis, a well-known historian, and Azerbaijani scholar Tadeusz Swietochowski noted that Azerbaijanis took the initiative among Muslims and Turkic-speaking people living in the Russian empire despite they joined the empire much later than other nations.

We can say the same things about the UAE as well. Despite having huge natural resources, the countries within the Emirates are rare ones in the world that do not suffer from the natural resource curse. As is known, most fossil-fuel-rich countries are poor and conflict-riddled. Unlike these nations, with the help of fossil fuels, the UAE could establish a perfect economic system that brought wealth and prosperity to its citizens. The UAE has well diversified economy and it is not dependent on fossil fuels as much as other countries. According to OEC, the exports of the country amounted to $296bn in 2021 of which 19 percent contains crude oil. Besides, exports per capita totaled about $30K which is considered much better. For comparison, the exports per capita of Turkiye amounted to $ 2.8K and the USA $4.9K in the same period.

The two countries, which have brought new breath to the East, are approaching each other rapidly day by day and have started to cooperate in different fields.

The United Arab Emirates is one of the first states to recognize the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and the UAE were established on September 1, 1992. Since that time the ties between the two states have developed highly and fruitfully in various spheres. Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates were and are still cooperating within the bounds of significant international organizations, such as the United Nations Organization, the Islamic Conference Organization, and other influential regional and international organizations. Besides, the Joint Commission on Economic, Trade, and Technical Cooperation between the two countries was established. Meetings and business forums have been organized and the companies of the two countries take part in the exhibitions both in the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan. The United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan have developed very strong, reliable friendship and brotherhood relations, and necessary steps are continuously taken to expand the cooperation in industry, energy, agriculture, communication, high-tech, transport, trade, investment, tourism, launching of new airlines, education, and culture.

The mutual visits of the officials and heads of state deepen these relations between the two countries. The latest visit of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to Azerbaijan is one of these visits. During the visit the sides signed several documents such as the trip featured the signing of several key agreements, including the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the United Arab Emirates, Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Finance of the United Arab Emirates, Protocol of Intent between the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates, Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between ADA University and Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, Memorandum of Understanding on Investment Cooperation on electricity transmission projects between the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Investment of the United Arab Emirates, Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation on enhancing the use of renewable and clean energy potential of Azerbaijan and enabling Green Energy Export Operations, Calendar of Events for the implementation of 1GW solar and onshore wind projects in Azerbaijan and the Strategic Cooperation Agreement between ADNOC and SOCAR.

The president of the UAE said that the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates adds strategic significance to the relations between the two countries,

Expressing that they will mobilize efforts to develop ties and cooperation in the trade, economic, industrial, agricultural, cultural, and educational sectors, Al Nahyan was quoted saying that relations between Azerbaijan and the UAE are progressing in an upward trajectory.

Al Nahyan also congratulated Baku on being chosen to host the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29), calling it a testament to the world's confidence in Azerbaijan and that the UAE is ready to share its expertise, especially regarding the organization of the event.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the visit is a historic event.

I am confident that this visit will contribute significantly to the development of friendship and brotherhood between our two countries.

President Ilham Aliyev touched on the signed documents and said these agreements will form a sturdy foundation for our future cooperation.

Our cooperation is multifaceted, spanning many areas. In the recent past, significant strides have been taken in the energy sector, particularly in the field of green energy. In October of last year, a 230-megawatt solar power plant was inaugurated in Azerbaijan, made possible through investments from your country. This is just the first step. Based on the signed contracts and memoranda of understanding, investments from your country are planned to facilitate the production of 10 gigawatts of green energy in Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said.

The head of state spoke about documents signed previously and emphasized the importance of the Joint Investment Fund and documents covering the information and communications sector. As is known, Azerbaijan has a new initiative to generate electricity from renewable energy and to export 5 GW to Europe. The UAE has a good experience in this field and surely cooperation in this field will bring great opportunity to the region.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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10 January 2024 10:38 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

"Baku once again urges the French side to stop interfering in Azerbaijan's internal affairs," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in response to a question from local media, Azernews Reports.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizadeh's response to a question from local media refers to the anti-Azerbaijani statement of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in connection with the detention of the French citizen

It was noted that a citizen of the French Republic, Martin Rian, was detained on December 4 on suspicion of committing an act under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (espionage).

"The allegations of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France about the unjustified detention of a French citizen have no grounds. This statement is a distortion of reality, another attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the process of legitimate investigation.

Later on, by court decision, a measure of restraint in the form of detention for four months was chosen against him.

The Azerbaijani side, in taking measures against the French citizen in question, fully complied with national legislation and international obligations. Since the suspect's detention, the staff of the consular department of the French Embassy had visited him several times, and they were fully aware of the criminal case.

Furthermore, even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan had sent a note verbale to the French Embassy in Azerbaijan to examine the cooperation of the person in question with two employees of the French Embassy, the French side refused to provide any explanations or cooperate in the investigation. In this regard, the two embassy officials were declared persona non grata by Azerbaijan.

"Once again, we urge the French side to stop interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the mentioned investigative actions," Hajizadeh said.

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10 January 2024 14:01 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

The representative of the mayor's office of the French city of Evian-les-Bains, Christelle Auclair, said that no one is going to demolish the statue of Khurshidbanu Natavan, Azernews reports, citing Azertag.

"Today, information is being spread everywhere that does not reflect reality. It has been learned that the statue of Khurshidbanu Natavan has been vandalised. The nose of the statue was broken, and red liquid was poured on it. The service in charge of that area of our city covered the statue to protect it. This is our city's position. We never had any intention of removing that statue or getting rid of it. The removal of the statue from there was never discussed."

When asked about any investigation related to the vandalism, Auclair said it was not in her competence and she could not comment. However, the official noted that there is no video surveillance system on the territory, and it will be difficult to find the perpetrators of the vandalism.

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10 January 2024 15:31 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

"There is a 'certain regression' in Azerbaijan's peace treaty proposals," Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a press conference with Greek counterpart Yorgos Gerapetritis, Azernews reports.

"Yes, I would say that we see a certain regression in Azerbaijan's proposals in terms of content on certain points of the text, but also a certain progress in several other directions. The countries should recognise mutual territorial integrity without any ambiguity. This is an issue where maximum clarity is needed. And the final peace treaty should provide this clarity," Mirzoyan added.

Mirzoyan noted that the delimitation process "may take years, but the peace treaty should specify clear grounds for the process." Any uncertainty in the two issues, he said, could become a ground for further escalation.

"Armenia believes that negotiations with Azerbaijan should continue on Western platforms, as it was earlier," Sargis Khandanyan, head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Relations said at a briefing.

"It is very important for us to continue the already formed negotiation formats. You know that the format of meetings of foreign ministers has been formed in Washington, as well as the format of negotiations between the leaders of the countries mediated by the European Union. This adds legitimacy to the negotiations," he noted.

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By Yoon Ja-young

Recently, I listened to an interesting interview on an SBS radio program where Jang Young-ook, Ph.D., the head of Europe Team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, gave a different perspective on Korea's low birthrate.

He recently welcomed his third baby, which is uncommon in the country where the fertility rate has fallen to 0.7 babies born per woman. He said that while he and his wife were lucky in many aspects, such as having relatively flexible work schedules, there was another reason why they decided to have a third child. He anticipated, from the viewpoint of an economist, that the future for his children might not be as bleak as Koreans are currently concerned. He said that certain aspects of people's lives might even improve when the population decreases.

Citing a New York Times column which compared Koreas low birthrate to the Black Death, the economist explained what went on during that historical period. Those who survived the plague were presented with some positive outcomes. For instance, they saw a significant increase in wages due to a lack of labor force. He expected a similar phenomenon if a decrease in population leads to a scarcity of labor in Korea.

He added that resources available for investment in each child might also increase with a declining population, leading to the accumulation of human capital. He said that the Black Death eventually led to increased female labor participation, delayed marriage and fewer births, ultimately resulting in the accumulation of human capital that contributed to the Industrial Revolution.

Coupled with the retirement of baby boomers, young people will work less but earn more, and technological advancements like AI, digital technology and ICT will likely benefit a select few workers, he said.

Does it sound too optimistic?

He admits that concerns about population decline are valid. While acknowledging the dark projections for the future, he says there is no need to panic, as it's within our capacity to alter the future. He stressed that we can also conceive a brighter future because ultimately, humanity will strive to find a balance.

Another renowned scholar even says that we should probably not try to pull up the birthrate at all, for the sake of the Earth.

He is Choi Jae-chun, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Natural Sciences at Ewha Womans University specializing in the behavior and ecology of animals. He said on his YouTube channel that he hopes the day would not come when Korea recovers its birthrate.

"From a global perspective, at present, we have forcibly increased the Earth's capacity to accommodate the population through technology. How long can we sustain this?" he said.

"Ultimately, all environmental issues boil down to population issues. Problems arise because there are too many people, so in reality, we need to reduce the population, the scholar asserted.

He said Korea succeeded in implementing the world's fastest population control measures and was diligently trying to propagate this to other countries. However, suddenly, as developed nations experience reduced numbers of their own citizens, they are encouraging higher birthrates. He says this is a disaster from a global perspective.

While economists constantly worry that a shortage of labor will make life difficult, he says we should seek how to live decently with fewer citizens rather than worrying about that.

Some would agree with the two scholars, while others would not. I am not sure myself. But one undeniable fact is that the government has only failed in pulling up the birthrate, while it says it has spent 380 trillion won since 2006 to tackle the issue.

The two scholars suggest that the current low birthrate is a natural adaptation, possibly associated with issues like high housing and education costs in a densely populated country like Korea. Then, we can also assume that a decrease in population would naturally alleviate pressures in areas such as housing prices, the labor market and education over the next 20 to 30 years.

Jang says what matters more is the need to address issues of fairness in resource allocation during this decline, and handling the increased short-term burdens on welfare systems such as pensions and health care. I cant agree with him more.

The writer is finance editor at The Korea Times.
10 January 2024 15:12 (UTC+04:00)

Operations Commando units conduct tactical-special exercises by the training plan for 2024 approved by the Defence Minister, Azernews reports, citing the Ministry.

According to the plan, the commandos, based on the received reconnaissance information, left the points of permanent deployment to assembly areas and moved in the direction of the area where the sabotage group of the imaginary enemy was probably to commit sabotage.

The commandos penetrated deep into the operation zone and accomplished the tasks of identifying, encircling, and neutralising the temporary shelters of the imaginary enemy, evacuating the wounded, and other activities.

The main purpose of the tactical-special exercises conducted in harsh climate conditions is to further improve the practical skills of commandos, increase the units' combat capability, and apply camouflage measures appropriate to the terrain and weather conditions.

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10 January 2024 17:26 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

The Azerbaijan National NGO Forum has released a statement on holding forums in several districts of Azerbaijan.

Azernews presents the statement:

"Azerbaijan National NGO Forum has been actively participating in civil society building in the country for 25 years. Currently, the Forum unites 100 NGOs of various profiles in its ranks.

In the last month, the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum held regional forums in 5 districts of the republic, including Lankaran, Guba, Shaki, Ganja and Nakhchivan. More than 250 local NGOs participated in these forums. Today, the regional forums concluded with the all-republic forum.

In all discussions conducted with civil society institutions across the country, the common position and unanimous opinion is that in the last 20 years, the state of Azerbaijan, under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, has made great progress on an unprecedented scale in the country's history.

In the past period, Azerbaijan has gained high prestige, trust, and respect in the international community. Every word of the leader of Azerbaijan is accepted as a signature in the world.

It was under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that all our lands, which had been under occupation for nearly 30 years, were liberated. The Azerbaijani flag was raised in Shusha, Khankendi, and Khojaly. This is the opening of a golden era in the history of the Azerbaijani people.

For nearly 200 years, the "Armenian issue" was at the root of all problems in the South Caucasus. This issue was resolved once and for all with the policy of President Ilham Aliyev. The intentions of Armenia and its patrons to create a second Armenian state in the South Caucasus failed.

The civil society of Azerbaijan is proud of the Victorious Commander-in-Chief, President Ilham Aliyev.

Today, Azerbaijan is known in the world as an island of security and a land of peace. Not-so-distant regions and geography are covered by bloody events, incessant crises, and upheavals. Azerbaijan is getting stronger day by day and is rapidly advancing towards becoming a developed state.

The path of National Leader Heydar Aliyev and President Ilham Aliyev's determined, goal-oriented policy are at the foundation of all the successes of Azerbaijan.

The general development in Azerbaijan also opens up new opportunities for civil society. The created free and free environment promotes the activities of NGOs and their initiatives. Every year, hundreds of NGOs are allocated grants by various government agencies. The State Support Agency for NGOs was established for systematic state support in this field.

President Ilham Aliyev's calls and opinions on the activities of NGOs strengthen public trust in Azerbaijani NGOs, and civil society actively participates in decision-making processes. Public participation has expanded significantly over the past 20 years. Currently, about 4,000 NGOs take part in the public life of the country.

Today, Azerbaijani NGOs stand out for their worthy contributions to society in many fields and achieve success on an international scale.

As the National NGO Forum of Azerbaijan, we declare that we fully support the policy of President Ilham Aliyev, who brought great historical victories to the country, and the continuation of this policy is the common desire, wish, and position of each of us. We are with you, Mr. President!

Since 2003, the people of Azerbaijan have entrusted their future only to President Ilham Aliyev. Ilham Aliyev has gained great fame worldwide as the victorious leader of the victorious nation.

The extraordinary presidential elections to be held on February 7, 2024, are different from all the elections so far. These elections will be organised for the first time in the entire sovereign territory of the republic. This is a great historical event. The Azerbaijan National NGO Forum calls on the citizens of Azerbaijan to become a part of this historical process and to actively participate in the elections on voting day.

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10 January 2024 20:13 (UTC+04:00)

The presentation ceremony of the newly improved official website of the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Office of Azerbaijan was held. The presentation ceremony was attended by representatives of various media organizations, including news agencies and television channels, Azernews reports.

Emil Shahzadeh, sector manager of the Ombudsman's office, who opened the event with an opening speech, said that the purpose of redeveloping and improving the official website of the office is to ensure that the site is more accessible to all users, including all persons who apply to the Ombudsman, and at the same time to respond more promptly to citizen requests and inquiries.

Later, Insaf Nasirov, the sector head of the department, gave detailed information to the event participants about the advantages and functionality of the updated site. He noted that a special tool for persons with poor eyesight has been added to the new site to ensure the further accessibility of persons with disabilities in a special category, the number of sections of the site has been increased, live broadcasting through the site has been created, as well as opportunities for the interactive online holding of educational events and photos.

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10 January 2024 23:30 (UTC+04:00)

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In an article published today in the French edition of L'Opinion, an attempt has been made to analyse another sharp aggravation of relations between Paris and Baku in the light of the recent "espionage scandal," Azernews reports.

The author of the article, Jean-Dominique Merchet, dwelt in detail on the detention in Baku last December of M. Ryan, accused of espionage against Azerbaijan.

According to the article, French citizen Martin Ryan was a victim of the actions of French intelligence working undercover in Azerbaijan.

"And this is just one example of how France is undermining prospects for peace in the South Caucasus with its pro-Armenian stance and actions." writes the author of the article.

Citing the close entourage of the detainee, the author emphasises that "he was a victim of manipulation by two French foreign intelligence officers who worked at the French Embassy in Baku and were expelled by the Azerbaijani side for actions that did not correspond to their official status".

The article points out that the mentioned embassy employees "forced Ryan to collect and transmit 'sensitive' information about third countries, particularly Iran and Turkiye, turning him into a pawn in their dangerous game".

Regarding the serious deterioration of bilateral relations between Paris and Baku against this background, the author quotes Elchin Amirbayov, the representative of the President of Azerbaijan for special assignments, who condemned France's biased pro-Armenian position, including the French side's continued supply of arms and equipment to Yerevan, as well as its active attempts to promote an anti-Azerbaijani draft resolution in the UN Security Council.

"As a result, France has been left out of the normalisation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Moreover, its behavior has a detrimental effect on the role of the European Union in this issue," Amirbayov stressed.

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10 January 2024 22:25 (UTC+04:00)

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"Turkish independent policy, one of the manifestations of which is the support of brotherly Azerbaijan in liberating Garabagh from 30-year occupation," Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an event dedicated to the 97th anniversary of the establishment of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Azernews reports.

"Turkiye does not act at the behest of other countries. In our foreign and domestic policies, we fully adhere to the interests of Turkiye and the Turkish people," the president said.

The anti-terrorist operations in northern Iraq and Syria, as well as support for brotherly Azerbaijan in liberating Garabagh from some 30 years of occupation, are one manifestation of this, he said.

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10 January 2024 21:20 (UTC+04:00)

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Germany is interested in the speedy withdrawal of Russian border guards from Armenia, in exchange for this and some other anti-Russian steps Berlin offers Yerevan financial assistance, an informed source tells TASS news agency, Azernews reports.

"Germany seeks to drag Armenia into the West's anti-Russian policy. Berlin's task is to dissociate Yerevan from Moscow as much as possible. The Germans are interested in the speedy withdrawal of Russian border guards from Armenian territory and the country's authorities' purging of their state apparatus from those friendly to Russia, including the lustration of the armed forces, special services, and law enforcement agencies.

In return, Berlin offers to provide Yerevan with financial and technical assistance, as well as support the efforts of Nikol Pashinyan's government to keep the Garabagh Armenians from mass emigration to the European Union," the interlocutor of the agency said.

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10 January 2024 22:15 (UTC+04:00)

We will persist on our journey. We are completing our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, but the Baku Initiative Group will live on, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Azernews reports.

We will contribute to exposing French neocolonialism and to the process of freeing French colonies from the French colonial yoke, the head of state pointed out.

In addressing the desecration of Khurshidbanu Natavan's statue in France, the President drew a parallel with the Armenians' act of digging Natavan`s grave in Aghdam, emphasizing the striking similarity between the two incidents.

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10 January 2024 18:17 (UTC+04:00)

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With 72 visa-free destinations, Azerbaijan ranked 70th in Henley & Partners' World Passport Index for the first quarter of 2024 published on Wednesday, up 2 positions from the previous assessment, Azernews reports.

"Over the past period, Azerbaijan has concluded visa-free travel agreements with Kenya, UAE, and Saudi Arabia," Interfax-Azerbaijan quoted excerpts from the ranking.

As for the other South Caucasus states, this time Georgia shared the 50th position with Bosnia and Herzegovina (121 visa-free destinations) and Armenia (74th place, 68 visa-free destinations).

"For the first time in the 19 years of the company's observation, six countries ranked first with a record number of visa-free travel opportunities: four of them are European Union countries - Germany, Italy, Spain, and France, and two Asian countries - Singapore and Japan. Holders of passports from these countries can travel visa-free to 194 destinations in the world (out of 227)," the company said.

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By Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho

Art, an expressive form once exclusively human, is now welcoming a new participant: artificial intelligence (AI).

This year we have seen Vincent van Gogh's life resonate in immersive exhibitions all over the world, but one of the boldest ventures into championing his legacy is currently at the Musee DOrsay in Paris. There, a doppelganger of the artist, "Bonjour Vincent," engages visitors, offering insights derived from machine learning on 900 letters penned by the Dutch artist.

This fusion of AI and art is not only confined to museums, it has permeated the very fabric of creative expression. AI-generated art has transcended traditional mediums, now having an undeniable presence and use in painting, music, video and poetry. The likes of "The Next Rembrandt" project showcase AI's ability to mimic the style of a particular artist, learning from vast databases to generate new, distinct masterpieces.

Most notably, French company Obvious used a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) algorithm to craft "Portrait of Edmond de Belamy," which fetched a staggering $432,500 at an auction this year.

AI's impact on the art world is profound and incontestable, challenging notions of creativity and ownership. Artists now wield AI as a tool to explore styles otherwise inaccessible, pushing the limits of human imagination. However, the advent of AI in art raises a fundamental question that we have explored many times before and still have no clear answer: Who owns AI-generated art? The line between human and machine creativity is blurred, prompting contemplation on the role of the artist in the creative process.

In Paris, the Musee DOrsay's foray into AI-generated art is part of a broader effort to assert relevance in the 21st century. Collaborations with tech startups, like Jumbo Mana, which plans to release the van Gogh AI program on Amazon's Alexa, demonstrate the intersection of culture and commerce. Similar projects based on radical artists like Arthur Rimbaud are in the pipeline, reflecting the impact that AI art is already having throughout the industry.

In Koreas first AI art gallery, artist Doomin and founder of Pulse9, an AI art startup, collaborated in the Commune with project, which is one of the worlds first art collaborations between a human artist and AI. This new project showcases a pair of thought-provoking pieces centered around Dokdo  a territorially disputed island between Japan and Korea. The collaborative effort operated through Pulse9s AI art algorithm imprints an intricate blue pen drawing on the lower portion of the "hanji," (traditional Korean paper), while the human touch of artist Doomin takes form on the upper half, employing vivid red ink.

The second piece of the Commune with project unfolds with 'magine AI  Pulse9s AI algorithm, applying an Oriental painting technique to the lower canvas. Meanwhile, the human part of the collaborative effort consisted of Doomin bringing his artistic perspective to the upper canvas, employing a Western painting style. This juxtaposition of technological innovation and human expression prompts a deeper exploration into the intersection of traditional and contemporary art, all while navigating the complex geopolitical context surrounding Dokdo.

Despite initial reservations, AI-generated art exhibits are forging a new path, drawing diverse audiences previously uninterested in traditional forms. The amalgamation of technology and art intrigues those intrigued by AI and fosters inclusivity in the art world. Exhibits with interactive and immersive elements, generated swiftly and economically, offer a unique experience impossible with traditional art.

From another perspective, AI-generated art could also level the playing field of the more exclusive art market, providing opportunities for emerging artists and breaking down boundaries between artistic communities. Exhibitions like the Commune with project, which was exhibited at the AIA Art Gallery, showcase the potential of AI to redefine artistic norms.

However, this transformative journey raises ethical considerations. The responsibility lies with technology creators and artists to use AI algorithms focusing on the deeper ethical implications of using this new innovative medium of art in line with current understandings of ownership and copyright, and in more serious cases deepfakes. Ethical concerns should not overshadow the potential benefits of AI in art  engaging new audiences, democratizing the art world and fostering collaboration.

The future of AI-generated art exhibits teems with possibilities. As AI technology advances, it competes but it is also capable of cooperating with human artists, offering exciting intersections between art and technology. The AI and art landscape, once perceived as a dichotomy, now represent a collaborative frontier. Whether audiences embrace AI-generated art with the same fervor reserved for human creations remains to be seen.

The integration of AI and art is an exciting new frontier that if used cautiously, can become a collaborator, enhancing human skills and craftsmanship.

As we navigate this dynamic landscape, it's crucial to balance enthusiasm for the potential of AI in art with ethical considerations. AI-generated art should not be seen as a replacement for human creativity, but as a tool and even a co-creator, expanding the canvas of possibilities. In this synthesis of human ingenuity and technological prowess, the future of art unfolds, promising exciting possibilities for creators and audiences alike.

Chyung Eun-ju (ejchyung@snu.ac.kr) is a marketing analyst at Career Step. She received a bachelor's degree in business from Seoul National University and a master's degree in marketing from Seoul National University. Joel Cho (joelywcho@gmail.com) is a practicing lawyer specializing in IP and digital law.
Under the cover of Covid, and now in the shadow of the infamous Election Irregularities of that fated 2020 presidential election, with current emerging alleged election fraud in Nevada and Pennsylvania inconveniently slipping into the public discourse, there is proved a colluded ongoing Election Interference in the nomination of the Republican candidate, the likes of which has never occurred in our Constitutional Republic's history, albeit, the question remains: Do you support the plain-sight Election Interference of the Democratic Socialist party, employing its minions in their Propagandistic Media, and their Two Tiered Justice System?

98.28% No, I do not support Election Interference; I am a patriot unto our Constitution.1.72% Yes, I do support Election Interference; the alternative, Donald Trump, to this mentally diminished president is far worse.0% "What, me worry" if elections are rigged?
In a closely divided state like North Carolina, the most productive path to victory for a candidate is to be able to peel off a chunk of voters who normally vote for the other party while not having his opponent do the same to him. One GOP candidate for governor stands out as superbly positioned in this regard, due to a recent endorsement. That candidate is State Treasurer Dale Folwell.

As State Treasurer, Folwell has been a champion for protecting the state employee pension fund and the state health plan, both major bread and butter issues to state employees. He has been more forceful and creative in doing this than past Treasurers. As a result, EMPAC, the political action committee of the State Employees Association of North Carolina has endorsed Dale Folwell for governor. This is a key block of voters that normally supports Democrats, and a block of voters that the other two candidates have no hope of attracting. It gives Folwell a major leg up on his primary opponents as the Republican who is most electable in the general election.

On the other end of the electability spectrum is liberal trial lawyer Bill Graham, who is endorsed by liberal US Senator Thom Tillis. Major lawsuits filed by Graham on farming issues make him a hated enemy of farlmers, a block of votes that mostly goes Republican. Losing the agriculture vote means that Graham is probably not electable in a general electoin. Graham has an uncanny political resemblence of another rich pretty boy trial lawyer who entered politics named John Edwards.

The third candidate is Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, a very forceful speaker, but with a poor record of actually doing anything on policy issues. He does not have any major block of Republicans who would abandon him as Graham does but he does not have the proven ability to grab any key block of Democrat voters either. He also has some personal skeletons in his closet that could hurt him with swing voters.

https://dailyhaymaker.com/state-employees-endorse-dale-folwell-for-governor/
Grady Memorial Hospital, part of Atlanta-based Grady Health System, has entered a $62.4 million funding agreement with Fulton and Dekalb counties in Georgia.

The six-year agreement, which began Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31, 2029, provides Grady with $19.1 million from Dekalb county and $43.4 million from Fulton county, according to a fact sheet a Grady spokesperson shared with Becker's.

Grady plans to use the funds to open five neighborhood health centers in areas of need, making Grady's total clinic number 11.

Mobile health services through mobile health vans and mobile mammography units will also be added with the funds, along with supporting legislative efforts to increase coverage for uninsured people across the state.

"With the support of Fulton and DeKalb counties, we have already brought more primary and specialty care to the community. This agreement allows us to continue expanding access to healthcare for those who need it most," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Grady Health is made up of over 3,000 physicians, representing 80 different medical specialties.
Several health systems have made changes to their leadership ranks and administration teams in recent months.

The following changes were announced in December and January and are summarized below, with links to more comprehensive coverage of the changes.

Note: This list is not exhaustive.

1. New Orleans-based Ochsner Health, a 46-hospital system, announced the following appointments:

Matthew Block was appointed executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

Tracey Schiro was named executive vice president and chief people and culture officer.

Deborah Grimes, RN, was named senior vice president and chief diversity officer.

Tiffany Murdock, DNP, RN, was named senior vice president and chief nursing officer.

Aimee Quirk was named senior vice president and chief corporate development officer and will also remain CEO of Ochsner Ventures.

Shelley Sullivan Tynan was named senior vice president and chief legal officer.

2. Cambridge, Mass.-based Beth Israel Lahey Health established new senior management positions and named a new CFO. The changes:

Peter Shorett was named senior executive vice president and COO, a newly created role.

Pete Healy was named divisional president, Metro Boston, overseeing Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge and New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. He will also continue to serve as president of BIDMC.

Tom Sands was selected as interim divisional president, community care, a newly established role. He will oversee BILH's Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass., Exeter (N.H.) Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton (Mass.), Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham (Mass.), Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth (Mass.) and Winchester (Mass.) Hospital, as well as Beverly (Mass.) Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester and BayRidge Hospital in Lynn Mass. Mr. Sands will also continue to serve as president of Beverly, Addison Gilbert and BayRidge.

Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD, PhD, will remain president of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., and, along with the divisional presidents, report to Mr. Shorett.

Cindy Rios, who has served as interim CFO since 2022, was named executive vice president and CFO.

3. UC San Diego Health appointed Karandeep Singh, MD, as its inaugural chief health artificial intelligence officer. Dr. Singh began his new role Dec. 29. He oversees strategies on how to incorporate artificial intelligence into clinical processes, among other tasks.

4. Hollywood, Fla.-based Memorial Healthcare System moved several leaders into new roles. The changes:
HCA Florida Mercy Hospital in Miami has tapped Marilu Madrigal, MD, to lead as its new chief medical officer, according to a Jan. 9 news release shared with Becker's.

She joins the hospital from a private gynecologic oncology practice also located on the campus of HCA Florida Mercy Hospital.

Dr. Madrigal also previously served on Mercy's board of trustees between 1999 and 2011, according to the release.

Her appointment to the role is effective immediately.
G-Dragon shows interest in technologies of Korean companies

By Park Jae-hyuk

Top executives and heirs of family-controlled Korean conglomerates have been busy expanding their personal networks and finding new growth engines at the CES tech trade show in Las Vegas again this year, according to industry officials, Wednesday.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won looked around the exhibition booths of Samsung and LG on the first day of the worlds largest tech fair, after inspecting his companys booth displaying hydrogen, semiconductor, electric vehicle (EV) battery and urban air mobility technologies.

During his meeting with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee and President Lee Young-hee at the Korean tech giants booth, the SK chief asked them about the latest television and artificial intelligence technologies.

His younger brother, SK Group Executive Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won, introduced the business groups various mobility technologies on display at its booth to Chung Euisun, the executive chair of Hyundai Motor Group, which established a joint venture with SK On to build an EV battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Chung also met with Han at Samsungs booth and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon at Hyundai Motors booth.

In addition, the automotive groups chief met with his younger cousin Chung Ki-sun, vice chairman of HD Hyundai, which showcased its construction equipment technologies at this years event, following the exhibition of its shipbuilding technologies last year.

The two grandsons of late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung talked about the use of hydrogen as a fuel for vessels at HD Hyundais booth, given that Hyundai Motor Group has been developing hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The younger Chung personally introduced HD Hyundais technologies to G-Dragon as well, when the K-pop star visited the companys booth with officials of his agency, Galaxy Corporation, which also took part in CES 2024. G-Dragon also visited the booths of Samsung, LG, SK and Lotte, saying that he came to Las Vegas to learn about AI.

Other Korean business leaders at CES 2024 include GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won and Ourhome Vice Chairwoman Koo Ji-eun. Heirs of SK, Lotte, Hanwha and Samyang Roundsquare also flew to Las Vegas to attend the show.
The end of the year brought an exodus of board members from several hospitals. While each situation involves varying factors, they all come at a time when governing bodies are increasingly feeling burnout and the strain involved in their responsibilities.

One recent departure announcement came from Memorial Hospital of Texas County in Guymon, Okla., where three board members departed, and the CEO, William Ermann, plans to retire at the end of March. The board members  Jack Strain, board chair; John Garrison, board vice chair; and Robert Carter, finance committee chair  resigned after a challenging period that included a failed board vote to approve critical short-term funding, the hospital said in a Jan. 4 news release. Memorial Hospital is searching for Mr. Ermann's successor as well as replacements for the three board members.

Board departures have occurred amid new decisions affecting their roles, too. Two Hennepin (Minn.) Healthcare board members recently resigned after an oversight change was announced. The change specifically involved county commissioners placing more oversight on the health system's budget and management decisions, according to a Jan. 9 report from the StarTribune. Steve Thompson, Hennepin Healthcare's incoming board chair, and Diana Vance-Bryan, past chair, resigned Dec. 15 following the announcement.

Joel Cleary, MD, announced his own reasons when he resigned from the board of trustees for Grangeville, Idaho-based Syringa Hospital & Clinics. In an email to the Idaho County Free Press, Dr. Cleary wrote that he resigned, effective Dec. 31, 2023, "due to continued conflicts with other board members and disagreement on recent, past and upcoming policy decisions."

Board chair Laura Smith shared a statement with Becker's, saying that "although Joel only served on our board for seven months, his background, knowledge and experience will be missed. Per Idaho code, the remaining elected board members will be appointing a trustee to fill his vacancy until the next hospital district election in May of 2025."

In a recent Fortune report, experts advised that board leaders should check in with members to ensure they are up to the increased responsibilities of the job.










Health systems are pursuing joint ventures and service line partnerships in multiple sectors this year, including outpatient surgery, behavioral health, post-acute care, physician services, urgent care and hospital-at-home programs.

In the last four months, St. Louis-based Ascension  which comprises 140 hospitals  has formed or expanded joint ventures in several key areas as it aims to boost its margins, improve its acute care assets with more complex needs and accelerate growth through ancillary services and ambulatory networks.

Ascension Seton in Austin, Texas, formed a joint venture with Franklin, Tenn.-based Acadia Healthcare that aims to expand behavioral health capacity in Texas.

The partnership will expand Acadia's operations at Cross Creek Hospital, as well as the number of inpatient behavioral beds available in Austin. Acadia will build a 106-bed expansion of the acute behavioral hospital  expected to be completed in late 2024  that will increase the total licensed bed count to 196. The joint venture hospital will be in close proximity to Ascension Seton hospitals and serve as a training site for students, residents and fellows from Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin.

Acadia has 21 joint venture partnerships with health systems, including two with Ascension: it opened Ascension Saint Thomas Behavioral Health Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., in 2020.

"This joint venture will build upon our expertise while increasing the number of behavioral health beds and other behavioral health services available to patients throughout the region," Ascension Texas President and CEO Andy Davis said in a news release.

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan are also forming a joint venture, in which Henry Ford would fold Ascension's care sites in the southeastern region of the state under its brand.

The joint venture organization, led by Henry Ford President and CEO Bob Riney, will employ about 50,000 team members and span more than 550 sites of care, including 10 Ascension Michigan hospitals. Ascension Michigan's hospitals in the southwest and northern regions of the state will remain part of Ascension's national health ministry.

All five of Henry Ford's acute care hospitals and other care facilities and assets  including Health Alliance Plan  are included in the partnership.

"We are united in our shared values, cultures, and commitment to those we serve," Carol Schmidt, ministry market executive of Ascension Michigan, said. "Together, we will make significant strides in improving the health of Michigan communities through unparalleled investments in critical community health initiatives, as well as contributing secure, high paying jobs and other related employment."

In the South, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health and Ascension Saint Thomas are entering a joint venture, in which the two organizations will jointly own Highpoint Health, a four-hospital system owned by Lifepoint.

The joint venture aims to combine the health systems' clinical expertise, best practices and providers to improve access to clinical programs and specialty care in the area. Hospitals and care sites included in the partnership will be co-branded with Ascension Saint Thomas and majority-owned and operated by Lifepoint.

This is the second joint venture for Lifepoint and Ascension Saint Thomas, which also jointly own Ascension Saint Thomas Rehabilitation Hospital in Nashville.

"The positive impact we can make together to build and expand our clinical programs will have a multiplying effect for the health of our region and the communities we serve," Ascension Saint Thomas President and CEO Fahad Tahir said.

Ascension Saint Thomas Home Health transitioned to Compassus  an integrated home-based care provider - as part of another partnership.

With the population of Tennesseans ages 60 and older expected to increase by more than 300,000 over the next 10 years, Ascension Saint Thomas believes that more home-based care options will be needed.

The system will work with Compassus to administer services that its home health line previously provided in Hickman, Benton, Humphreys, Lewis, Williamson, Maury, Dickson and Perry counties.

"To meet our mission, we partner with organizations that have the depth and expertise to provide leadership in specific areas of focus such as home health, long-term care, acute rehabilitation, physical therapy and others," Mr. Tahir said in a news release. "Compassus is mission compatible and offers that depth in home health that we were seeking."
Experts and industry analysts largely agree Eli Lilly's new direct-to-consumer platform will increase access to patients who may benefit from its new anti-obesity drug Zepbound, but questions are being raised surrounding appropriate care coordination and the business model behind the offering.

Eli Lilly on Jan. 4 launched LillyDirect, a website that connects people with independent providers for obesity medications, including Zepbound. The new service also includes prescriptions for certain Lilly insulin products for diabetes patients and a migraine drug, as well as direct home delivery of its medications through third-party services. Mounjaro is not part of LillyDirect, though it may be added later, company CEO David Ricks told The Wall Street Journal.

For weight-loss prescriptions, the drugmaker is working with Form, a telehealth provider that specializes in obesity medicine. In interviews with NBC News and The New York Times, Mr. Ricks said physicians who prescribe Zepbound through Form will not be compensated by Eli Lilly. Form also prescribes other weight-loss drugs, including Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.

Still, "It would be helpful to understand that relationship more clearly and transparently," Zeev Neuwirth, MD, told Becker's. Dr. Neuwirth is the former chief of clinical care transformation at Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health (now part of Advocate Health) and author of "Beyond The Walls: Megatrends, Movements, and Market Disruptors Transforming American Healthcare."

Mr. Ricks in previous interviews has said providers with Form and 9amHealth  with which Lilly is working on diabetes drugs  will not have knowledge of whether a patient came through the LillyDirect platform.

"Here is where we need to get specific," Dr. Neuwirth said. "These are relatively new telehealth companies, and small.  I think you're going to know that this influx of patients you're getting are coming from Lilly. So my question is, what are the firewalls between Eli Lilly and these companies?"

One expert who spoke with the Times expressed concern over whether people would hear about all their options if they are using the platform and note interest in a specific medication.

"I just find it a bit disingenuous to think that people are just going to get this totally neutral, balanced care," Andrew Krafston, MD, an obesity medicine specialist and endocrinologist at Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine, told the news outlet.

Becker's reached out to Eli Lilly regarding concerns around potential conflicts of interest. A spokesperson for the company said Eli Lilly does not receive compensation from third-party providers for referrals, and that providers "are not incentivized by Lilly to promote Lilly products."

Some physicians have also raised concerns around appropriate prescribing practices and follow-up care.

"The American College of Physicians is concerned by the development of websites that enable patients to order prescription medications directly from the drugmaker," the organization said in a statement published Jan. 5. "While information on in-person care is available, this direct-to-consumer approach is primarily oriented around the use of telehealth services to prescribe a drugmaker's products. For telemedicine services to take place responsibly, there should be an established and valid patient-physician relationship, or the care should happen in consultation with a physician who does have an established relationship with the patient."

Eli Lilly has said access to independent telehealth providers through LillyDirect may "complement a patient's current primary care team." Form's founder and CEO, Evan Richardson, also told the Times it has protections in place to ensure prescriptions are appropriate, such as collecting patients' medical records, confirming they meet the criteria for weight-loss drugs and coordinating care with a patient's primary care team.

On the same day LillyDirect was launched, Eli Lilly also published an open letter warning against "cosmetic use" of its weight-loss drugs.

While there are concerns, many experts say LillyDirect will make access easier for many people who would benefit from weight-loss medications, particularly those who face barriers in getting to see a specialist in person. The new platform also ensures patients are not getting counterfeit medications or compounded versions, which the FDA has previously warned about.

"The most important issue here is that this new delivery channel, this new prescribing channel, is held to the same standards  the same ethical, regulatory, clinical and safety standards  as any other provider, with transparency," Dr. Neuwirth said. "That's really, really essential. And we need to be monitoring this, studying this like we do any other aspect of care delivery," especially as experts anticipate other weight-loss drug makers to launch similar platforms, he added.
A 6-year-old patient received three extra doses of two chemotherapies in late 2022, and the FDA sent Children's Hospital of Michigan a warning letter about the mistake.

The patient was part of a now-expired drug trial, according to the letter. During weeks 53, 57 and 61 of the study, extra doses of vincristine and dexamethasone were administered. The hospital said it notified the institutional review board, but the FDA said the Detroit-based hospital's corrective action plan was inadequate.

The hospital told the FDA "these additional treatments occurred because a physician subinvestigator misinterpreted the drug administration plan," according to the letter, which was published Jan. 9.

In response to the error, the Children's Hospital of Michigan said the extra doses were unlikely to increase a safety risk, but the FDA said the patient faced an increased risk of serious toxicities. Excess doses of vincristine, a chemotherapy indicated for lymphoma and leukemia, can lead to neurologic and hematologic toxicities, the letter said.

IRB approval also lapsed for 10 days in January 2022, during which the study drug was administered to a patient, and bone marrow and peripheral blood specimen samples were collected.

The hospital said staff turnover and a delayed continuing review caused the interruption, and its corrective plan is to email reminders 90, 60 and 30 days before the study's approval expires, according to the letter. The agency, however, said the shared plans lack detail on this new policy.

"Without this information, we are unable to determine if your corrective action plan is adequate to prevent similar violations in the future," the FDA said.

Becker's has reached out to the hospital to inquire what trial the patient was involved in, the status of the patient and if it has a response to the FDA's letter. The article will be updated if more information becomes available.
Many companies are calling remote employees back to the office, but at Cleveland Clinic, flexible work is only gaining speed.

In June 2021, the health system rolled out a long-term remote work strategy led by 25 stakeholders across the enterprise, including cybersecurity specialists, HR managers and administrative directors. These "remote and hybrid work champions," as Cleveland Clinic calls them, focus on educating leaders about remote-work strategies and providing opportunities for online employees to form communities.

The champions meet once a month to discuss the company's hybrid strategy, then update resource documents and tip sheets on Connect Today, Cleveland Clinic's online employee platform. They lean into asynchronous communication so as not to clog email inboxes, directing managers' FAQs about productivity and engagement to the online hub, according to a blog post from the system.

As of September 2022, 9,200 of the health system's employees had taken remote or hybrid jobs. Now, more than 11,000 employees spend at least a portion of their week working online, a spokesperson told Becker's Dec. 9.

Hybrid and remote jobs at Cleveland Clinic are mostly administrative roles, according to the spokesperson. Many roles have the option to work remotely, including systems and financial analysis; project, program and care management; HR; scheduling; patient financial advocacy; and authorization.

Cleveland Clinic supports these employees by providing IT equipment needed to work from home, along with discount codes for certain home office equipment. But "work from home" doesn't mean "work from anywhere"  remote employees can only work within the state where they were originally hired, according to the system's job-search site.

Learn how other systems are supporting remote work here.
Belfast Glider expansion project facing 100m funding shortfall

Work on extending service was to begin next year, but issue could potentially hamper this

The Glider service was first launched in 2018. (Photo by: Stephen Rafferty/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Andrew Madden Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 07:00

The expansion project for Belfasts Glider service is facing a funding shortfall of around 100m, it has emerged.
By Park Jae-hyuk

The Korean shipping industry and several government organizations are increasing their efforts to minimize the impact of tensions in the Red Sea. The situation escalated as Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen attacked civilian vessels, purportedly to support Hamas' conflict with Israel.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Wednesday that HMM, Korea's largest container shipping company, decided to deploy four additional freighters starting in late January and early February to help Korean exporters avoid delays in delivering their products to Europe.

HMM made the decision because vessels bound for Europe had to divert and navigate around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa instead of using the Suez Canal in the Red Sea. This has caused delays in export schedules for companies, as the alternative route takes an additional 15 days compared to the usual canal journey.

We decided to rearrange operations for ships initially planned on different routes to ensure the stable exports of Korean companies, an HMM official said.

The oceans ministry also asked Korean shipping firms to give priority to Korean exporters when loading goods.

To mitigate the substantial impact on the automotive industry, we will let carmakers use container ships for exports and utilize extra outdoor storage yards, the ministry said. Additionally, we will establish a center to actively address and combat unfair freight rates .

On Thursday, Vice Oceans Minister Song Myeong-dal will preside over the first meeting of an emergency task force consisting of government and shipping industry officials. In response to major shipping companies like Maersk discontinuing the use of the Red Sea route last month, the government has convened multiple meetings to formulate measures to deal with the crisis.

Although the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Jan. 4 that the rerouting has had a limited impact on the nations international trade volume, the oceans ministry emphasized the potential for similar disruptions in other parts of the Middle East.

Amid the lingering conflict in the Middle East, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index reached 1896.65 on Friday, up 84 percent from the previous month. This is the first time since October 2022 that the most widely used index for sea freight rates surpassed 1,700.

Reacting to the crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while in Saudi Arabia on Monday (local time), conveyed that Houthi militants must be aware that there will be consequences for ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Despite this, the conflict is anticipated to persist, with reports indicating that the rebels made further attempts to attack multiple civilian ships on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Andor Technology announced a 15m Belfast expansion

Staff at First Light near Aix-en-Provence, which has now been bought by Oxford Instruments plc. It also owns Andor Technology in west Belfast

First Lights cameras are used in some of the largest telescopes in the world, including the worlds largest single-aperture optical telescope, the Gran Telescopio Canarias in the Canary Islands - credit Judith Engbers

The parent company of Andor Technology in west Belfast has acquired a French scientific camera specialist in a deal worth nearly 20m (17m).

Oxford Instruments plcs new acquisition First Light designs and manufactures high-speed, low-noise scientific cameras for infrared and visible imaging for astronomy and life sciences

First Light, based near Aix-en-Provence, is now part of Oxford Instruments Andor, with a common customer base including universities and companies.

Oxford Instruments said First Lights cameras were highly complementary to Andors existing scientific camera portfolio with the acquisition bringing opportunities for expansion.

Its paying an initial cash consideration of 15.7m, on a cash-free, debt-free basis, with another 3m in cash conditional on First Lights trading performance over a 12-month period following completion.

First Lights estimated revenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2023 is 8m (7m), with return on sales below the average for the group.

Richard Tyson, chief executive officer of Oxford Instruments plc, said: We are delighted to welcome the talented First Light team to Oxford Instruments. Like us, they have a reputation and track record for quality, innovation and scientific expertise, and their leading range of products dovetails well with our scientific camera portfolio.

Joining forces will significantly enhance our world-class camera offering to our combined customer base and drive First Lights next phase of growth as part of the wider group.

Our expanded portfolio will help us accelerate our customers roadmaps in the life science market and in physical sciences, a long-standing area of strength for Oxford Instruments.

David Boutolleau, co-founder of First Light, said: Joining Oxford Instruments and Andor is a real opportunity for First Light Imaging.

After 12 years building First Light as a successful independent business, it became clear that to take the business to the next stage of its development, we would need industrial and commercial support to reinforce our manufacturing, technology and routes to market.

Our acquisition by Oxford Instruments Andor accelerates our growth and secures our future for our customers, partners and employees.

Earlier this week, Andor Technology announced a 15m expansion in Belfast as it revealed rising profits and turnover.
General Merchants in Forestside Shopping Centre is being removed, with the business confirming that it won't be opening elsewhere in the centre (Photo by Stephen Hamilton)

The owner of independent coffee shop group General Merchants has said spiralling costs mean it wont be opening a fresh unit at Belfasts Forestside Shopping Centre.

The existing General Merchants, housed in a temporary structure, has closed and is being dismantled as the centres front and car park is revamped by new owners, Michael and Lesley Herbert of Lesley Forestside.

General Merchants has branches in Stranmillis, east Belfast, Ormeau Road and Antrim Road, as well as operating a kiosk in the city centre.

The coffee shop had operated from the space for six years, after starting as a temporary addition, and was the only homegrown coffee business in the centre.

Caffe Nero, Jamaica Blue and Marks and Spencer operate cafes at the site.

Tim Fetherston, co-owner of General Merchants, said he had been offered the option of opening a unit inside the shopping mall.

But he said he had decided against it as the rent would be too high to manage in a period when the business is facing other rising costs, such as an increase in the minimum wage.

"We started taking it down a couple of days ago, and it will then into storage, and we wont be staying on in Forestside.

Even though the other cafes are very busy, we still find it hard to make a profit after all our suppliers and staff get paid.

"The rent level would be ok for the larger businesses in there, like Marks and Spencer and Jamaica Blue, but not for a small business like us.

He said staff were being redeployed in other parts of the business.

But he said the business regretted saying goodbye to its regular customers. We have been receiving so many posts on Instagram from people saying how much they loved going there.

"One woman told us that it had been a sanctuary for her while she was on maternity leave and was out shopping with her new baby.

He said it was a tough time for all hospitality businesses, regardless of how bustling a premises might appear. Referring to chef proprietor Michael Deanes decision to close Michelin-starred restaurant Eipic in Belfast, Mr Fetherston said: If Michael Deane cant make it work, who can?

Michael and Lesley Herbert acquired the south Belfast centre, whose anchor tenants include Marks & Spencer, Dunnes and Sainsburys, last year.

Speaking last month, Paul Wilson, director of lettings agency Savills, said : "The new owners, Lesley Forestside, are investing heavily in their centre and its going to be very exciting,

There will be a lot of change in the centre in the very near future, and part of these plans is a big investment in the enhancement in the centre.

The centre has been rebranded Lesley Forestside, in keeping with Mr Herberts tradition of lending his wife and business partners first name to his properties.

Mr Herbert was formerly best known as the owner of a major KFC franchise, though he sold the business in 2020.

He gave details of his plans for Forestside in an interview with Radio Ulsters Evening Extra in September. Mr Herbert said he had three major restaurants currently under offer to come to the site and planned to make the centre more of a leisure destination and a shopping destination.

He added that in the future, they may add a cinema to the site.
One of Northern Irelands biggest business bodies has published recommendations for reform of the planning system including a review by the NI Audit Office.

Delays and other flaws in the planning system are repeatedly identified by businesses as a factor in hindering economic development, and in particular, the delivery of affordable housing.

But the NI Chamber has said its proposals for reform could facilitate the transition to net zero and economic growth  including much-needed affordable housing.

The Chamber said its recommendations include making sure the system is property resourced, from parent department the Department of Infrastructure (DfI) to councils, statutory consultees and the Planning Appeals Commission.

It also proposes that authorities should be allowed to imply consent where statutory consultees, such as Roads Service and NI Water, do not respond within the deadlines set. And it suggests that performance of both consultees and planning authorities should be more effectively incentivised and controlled.

It calls for the appointment of independent commissioners for some requirements, while suggesting that the Planning Appeals Commission should be reviewed by the NI Audit Office.

Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of NI Chamber, said: A well performing planning function is key to instilling confidence in the market for potential investors and to enable the development of the required infrastructure, when it comes to connectivity, services, energy and reducing our carbon emissions.

"It is also vital for local businesses, many of whom are eagerly waiting to invest, subject to the planning process which regrettably, has been holding too many of them back. If our planning system is to deliver for them and for our planet, we really need to take action now.

Reform of the existing system presents an opportunity to enable significant economic growth; particularly in renewable generation with ambitious 2030 climate action targets fast approaching. Most economic development begins with planning, so getting the foundation stone right is crucial. Our proposals represent a very considered, strategic approach and if implemented early by a new Executive, could deliver real economic impact.

The report, developed in partnership with independent advisors Turley, was welcomed by political representatives.

Phillip Brett, DUP North Belfast MLA and the partys infrastructure spokesman, said: For many years we have highlighted the damaging impact of our inefficient planning system which, on occasions, is stunting economic growth and discouraging investors from Northern Ireland.

Since my appointment to the infrastructure brief, the message from investors, developers, communities and the general public has been clear, the current planning system is not fit for purpose.

This wide-ranging report highlights the transformative actions that are required, and mirrors many of the proposals we have developed for prioritisation by a reformed Executive.

Peter McReynolds, east Belfast Alliance MLA and infrastructure spokesperson, said: The recommendations in this report are exactly the kind of measures we should be implementing now to reverse the decline of a struggling system.

"There is no silver bullet to immediately remedy the planning process, however, with a proactive and collaborative approach across all arms of the planning system, it is possible to restore the system to fully realise its economic, environmental, and societal benefits.

A spokesperson for DfI said: The department welcomes publication of the report and will now give the paper careful consideration and reflect on how it can contribute to the ongoing planning improvement work the department is currently taking forward in conjunction with local government and other key stakeholders.
CGI of S&W's new premises, which has now won planning permission

Consumer goods wholesaler S&W has won planning permission for a new 15m headquarters outside Newry in a project supporting 120 construction jobs.

The Newry-based company, one of Irelands biggest wholesalers, was given the go-ahead at a meeting of Newry Mourne & Down District Councils planning committee on Wednesday.

S&W said the new site, which will have a 17,700 square metre warehouse as well as offices, would support its growth across the island.

And it said the move would allow it to grow its payroll from just under 10m to 12m in the near future. Construction is due to start later this year.

Michael Skelton, S&W Wholesale chief executive, said: We are absolutely delighted to have been given the go-ahead for our new headquarters.

"The business has been curtailed in recent times through space constraints and operating across multiple sites. This new facility will allow us to maximise our operational efficiency, while giving our valuable team of more than 300 people a pleasant, fit for purpose working environment.

The 107-year-old company recently moved to an employee ownership trust model.

Anthony McVeigh, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer, said: The trusts board ensures the business operates for the benefit of the employees. Building new premises fit for the future and to support ambitious growth plans was a vitally important part of the decision-making progress to move to an EOT.

We would like to thank all those who have supported us with this project, and we look forward to working with the local community to be a responsible neighbour in our new location.

S&W Wholesale, previously known as Savage & Whitten, owns brands include Nearby, Todays and Cuppa.

Its project team included TSA Planning, Clarman Architects, AtkinsRealis, Aona and King Communication.
Actor David Caves has spoken of the privilege of being able to portray a character over a sustained period as crime drama Silent Witness begins its 27th series.

The Belfast man (44) joined the series in 2013 and has played Jack Hodgson in more than 100 episodes.

His character is straight-talking, quick-witted and ruffles a few feathers along the way, but is able to admit his mistakes.

He said: Its very rare for actors to get to play roles for such a long time  its a lovely thing that we take for granted.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Caves added: And we get to play with our mates. Its great.

Of course, the downside or the danger is you can get complacent.

And thats what you have to try and avoid when youre playing a part for such a long time, because you think that you know the character better than anyone else.

Silent Witness, which also stars Emilia Fox, began in 1996. It centres around a team of crime investigating forensic pathologists.

On the development of his character, Caves said: You mustnt be shut off, then, to people coming in whove got ideas or want to try something else with the characters.

The beauty of having 10 episodes (per series), different writers, different directors, is that you get it, you get a different take on the character in each story.

Fox, the longest serving cast member, agreed about playing a single character over time. She said: Theres the familiarity as an actor, which feels really lovely to play and safe to play, but also being put in these different situations which creates new challenges and interests.

Weve had such a lovely evolution... and then, of course, Cavesy, weve been together for over a decade now.

At the end of season 26, Fox and Caves characters made their relationship official.

The romance will be explored further in the new series.

Fox said the characters will be closer than ever. She added: ... and trying to create light in the dark in these very dark subject matters, but creating the lightness, but also the room to discuss things and have opinions and have disagreements.

But (to) also have great love for each other and their relationship, which weve sort of talked about and chosen to  that theyve come together, the pressures of being brought closer and closer together, now theyre trying to work together, to have a relationship together.

But rather than always creating conflict and bust-up, its about creating the different shades a bit, but without the relationship overwhelming the crime, which is the heart of the silent witness.

Caves was a pupil at Campbell College, where his parents Michael and Naomi were teachers, and the family lived on-site.

He doesnt have a significant social media presence, so not much is known about his personal life.

He married his wife Verity in 2019 and the couple have two children.

Silent Witness airs on BBC One at 9pm on Mondays
Halle Berry has paid tribute to her X-Men co-star Adan Canto after his death at 42.

The actor, who played Vice President-elect Aaron Shore on Designated Survivor opposite Kiefer Sutherland, and Colombian politician Rodrigo Lara Bonilla on Netflix thriller Narcos, died after a private battle with appendiceal cancer.

He starred opposite Berry in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014, when she played the mutant Storm and he played Sunspot.

They also reunited for the 2020 MMA drama Bruised, which was Berrys directorial debut.

Canto played the role of Desi, Berrys characters manager and boyfriend.

Paying tribute on Instagram, she wrote: I dont have the words just yet but my dear sweet friend Adan just gained his wings. Forever, forever in my heart.

She added a dove emoji and a white heart.

Sutherland also paid tribute to Canto, sharing a photo of them together on the Designated Survivor set and writing on Instagram: It seems lately I have had to make too many posts like this one, but I am heartbroken by the loss of Adan Canto. He was such a wonderful spirit.

As an actor his desire to do well, to be great, and then do better, was truly impressive and he will be greatly missed.

I am also heartbroken for his wife, Steph and his two young children. Adan, may you rest in peace.

Maggie Q, who also starred with Canto on Designated Survivor, wrote: Beautiful friend You are the level of person that Hollywood didnt even deserve.

Kindness and warmth and generosity of spirit  total dedication to your family, and ALWAYS doing the right thing.

No one had your moral compass nor did they even come close. I dont understand this.

Anyone who knew you was a lucky one. Thats all I do know.

Actor Oliver Hudson, the son of Goldie Hawn and sister of Kate Hudson, who starred opposite Canto on drama The Cleaning Lady, also remembered the actor.

He wrote: I only knew Adan for 2 years but it was enough to know what an amazing friend, father and man he was.

Wow did he loved his family. We would spend so much time talking about our kids and what kind of people they might become.

Getting out of LA to live a simpler existence where nature and vast landscapes set the tone for the day.

He would invite me many times to ride motorcycles through the New Mexico mountains but I never did I regret that. I can now imagine what those rides meant to him.

Im truly devastated. Love you my man.

Canto made his screen debut on Mexican television in the series Estado de Gracia.

His first appearance on US television was on the serial killer drama The Following, opposite Kevin Bacon.
In the first prosecution of its kind in Northern Ireland, Judge Patrick Lynch KC told Henry James Price that while the case did not cross the threshold for a jail sentence, there had to be a deterrent element to dissuade others who may be tempted to play fast and loose with legislation protecting monuments.

Imposing the 50,000 fine at Craigavon Crown Court, the judge said he was giving Mr Price credit for his guilty pleas and clear record, warning that had he not admitted his guilt the fine would have been 75,000.

Last month Mr Price, from the Glenavy Road in Lisburn and the director of JH Price and Sons Ltd, admitted that he wilfully destroyed or damaged a protected monument, namely lime kilns at Moneybroom, some time between April 1 and 16, 2021, despite knowing that it was a protected monument.

Outlining how the kilns were built in the late 19th century to produce lime for the agricultural and construction industries, Judge Lynch told the court how Price, who lives nearby and owned adjoining land, bought the site for 270,000 in June 2019.

In August 2020, he lodged an application with the council in order to secure the site and potentially develop a small portion of it, although it was beset by delays.

The court heard that a chartered architect estimated it would have cost around 630,000 to restore the kilns to their original condition and, as a protected monument, there would have been grants of up two 50,000 available.

In April 2021, however, a site visit revealed that the kilns had been completely destroyed and when Mr Price was interviewed in September that year, he admitted ordering his employees to clear them.

Judge Lynch said the builder told police how there had been significant antisocial behaviour at the site particularly at night and he was afraid of someone getting killed and while he did apologise for his actions he felt they were structurally dangerous.

In his plea in mitigation, defence counsel Michael Boyd emphasised that Mr Price, a father and grandfather who runs a farm as well as a successful house building firm, accepts without reservation that he made a grave error, and that the demolition of the lime kilns should never have taken place.

The loss to the community by virtue of the demolition of the lime kilns is fully accepted and acknowledged, said the barrister.

He added, however, that nevertheless, the point must also be made that the integrity of the kilns was not jealously guarded by the Department over the years with a lack of funding or investment and no plan to rectify the kilns.

Mr Boyd told the court Mr Price was genuinely concerned that it was only a matter of time before one of the persons drinking and socialising on the site was seriously injured.

He said the offence had resulted in him losing out financially, in that he had lost his single farm payment, had spent around 50,000 to secure the site and replant trees and by virtue of his conduct it is now simply not possible for the defendant to develop the site in any way that would generate any profit  he has closed that particular avenue off for good.

Highlighting that this is the first prosecution in Northern Ireland for this offence, Judge Lynch explained that in considering the appropriate sentence his view was that Mr Prices culpability was high given the fact he knew the kilns were protected  yet he still opted to cause irreparable damage to them.

As regards the value of the monument the judge said that was a subjective matter but added that it was the only kiln of its type in Northern Ireland and according to reports it had been an almost unique example of this type of industrial architecture.

Judge Lynch said as Mr Boyd had pointed out, the kilns were not visible from the road, they were not a tourist attraction that contributed to the local economy and with no plan of investment or reparation works, they would eventually have fallen apart by themselves.

Imposing the 50,000 fine, the Jude allowed the defendant six months to pay.
Geoffrey Wilson, who has taken legal action against the Alliance party for being expelled, arrives at the High Court in Belfast. Credit: Press Eye

An expelled member of the Alliance Party allegedly faced discrimination in failing to be selected as an election candidate, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Geoffrey Wilson also claimed he was wrongly denied the chance to take a case at a Fair Employment Tribunal.

Judgment was reserved in his attempt to have that decision overturned.

Mr Wilson, a 52-year-old legal consultant from the Dunmurry area of Belfast, was a member of Alliance for nine years.

He claims to have been suspended and then expelled in December 2021 over events at a meeting to select candidates for the Lagan Valley constituency.

The steps were taken because of a controversial question put to an Alliance councillor, he has alleged.

In 2022 Mr Wilson was denied permission to seek a judicial review of his removal from the cross-community party.

But in a separate move he attempted to have a case heard by the Fair Employment Tribunal sitting in Belfast.

Mr Wilson said that between 2017 and 2021 he repeatedly failed to secure approval to stand as an Alliance candidate in local council, Assembly and Westminster elections.

He alleged discrimination because of his age and his emphasis on strong pro-abortion and transgender rights.

The tribunal refused jurisdiction, however, on the grounds that he was never an employee of the party.

Representing himself at the appeal against that decision, Mr Wilson told senior judges his case centred on a clause contained in the Windsor Framework.

He argued that Article 2 of the treaty means European Union discrimination laws and other legislation must remain in force in Northern Ireland post-Brexit, allowing him to take a case to the tribunal.

Im also entitled to rely on the equal treatment in employment and occupation directive, he added.

Counsel representing the tribunal insisted, however, that the decision to refuse jurisdiction was legally correct.

A decision on the appeal is expected to be given later this month.
Reconciliation and legacy must be the two touchstones of this Executive if we are finally to get to a better place
The Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

A man jailed for the murder of four British soldiers nearly 50 years ago was wrongly convicted on the basis of his alleged confession to an irredeemably tainted senior detective, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Counsel for Patrick Thompson also claimed police officers beat him into making false admissions of involvement in the IRA landmine attack near Forkhill, south Armagh in July 1975.

Major Peter Willis, 37, of the Green Howards, Sergeant Robert Samuel McCarter, 33, of the Royal Engineers, and Ammunition Technical Officers Calvert Brown, 25, and Edward Garside, 34, of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, died in the explosion.

The victims were part of a patrol investigating suspicious but ultimately decoy milk churns left near Fords Cross.

A 70lb bomb planted in a beer keg concealed in a hedge was detonated by command wire, instantly killing all four.

Thompson was arrested and faced a circumstantial case based on his whereabouts around that time.

He denied any role in the attack, but was found guilty of the murders and IRA membership.

Despite contending that RUC officers subjected him to degrading and inhuman treatment in custody to obtain the alleged confessions, an initial appeal against conviction was unsuccessful.

Now in his seventies, Thompson is mounting a new bid to clear his name.

A body which examines potential miscarriages of justice sent the case back to the Court of Appeal to re-examine the safety of his convictions.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) cited compelling evidence which called into question the credibility of a senior investigating policeman who questioned Thompson during his arrest.

That detectives reliability as a truthful witness was assessed as substantially weakened because he was heavily criticised in a later court case where RUC officers were found to have rewritten interview notes and lied under oath.

The CCRC referred Thompsons case for fresh judicial consideration due to the real possibility his convictions would be found to be unsafe.

Opening the appeal, Frank ODonoghue KC questioned the alleged circumstances where his client made the disputed admissions to the senior officer.

The confessions were apparently like Its a fair cop gov where (the detective) comes in and says this is all a load of nonsense and Mr Thompson immediately starts to make admissions, the barrister submitted.

Its highly unusual that someone would respond like that to a police prompt.

Mr ODonoghue argued that the same detectives involvement in misconduct years later added to doubts about the safety of Thompsons convictions.

He was exposed as someone whose evidence could not be relied upon in confession-only evidence cases relating to serious alleged terrorist criminality involving murder, counsel stressed.

He was prepared to tell the court untruths in a convincing manner so that experienced judges believed he was an impressive witness - that strikes at the very heart of the integrity of the criminal justice system.

It is important to Mr Thompson when he says I served 16 years in prison, I was not guilty but I was assaulted in custody and this confession was beaten out of me.

The three appeal judges were told that the lead investigating officers account was wrongly believed at the original trial.

His evidence is irredeemably tainted, Mr ODonogue argued.

Dealing with the alleged ill-treatment Thompson endured during police interviews, the barrister referred to incidents of being punched and kicked in the ribs.

He was also forced to stand against a wall, made to do press-ups and subjected to verbal abuse, it was claimed.

According to Thompsons account a plastic bag was put over his head for up to a minute and tied with a belt.

He described feeling dizzy, panicking and gasping for breath.

Urging the court to declare the convictions unsafe, Mr ODonoghue said: Without the confession evidence this case had to fall.

Ciaran Murphy KC, prosecuting, countered by highlighting the lack of medical evidence of any physical injuries to Thompson.

That was a very, very significant inconsistency, nothing objective could be found, he said.

Mr Murphy also contended that findings of wrongdoing against the detective eight years later do not automatically undermine the safety of Thompsons convictions.

He wasnt involved in the early interviews where the vast majority of the alleged ill-treatment occurred, the barrister pointed out.

Based on the combined evidence, he described the case against Thompson as overwhelming.

Judgment was reserved following closing submissions.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan told both sides: There are obviously issues in this case which we will have to take away and consider.
Xi, Tunisian president Saied exchange congratulations on 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties

Xinhua) 11:21, January 10, 2024

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations Wednesday with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, on the 60th anniversary of China-Tunisia diplomatic relations.

In a message, Xi said China and Tunisia, with a profound traditional friendship, have witnessed sound and steady growth of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, no matter how the international landscape evolves.

Over the past years, the political mutual trust between the two sides has been cemented, and exchanges and cooperation have made substantial progress in various fields, he said.

"During the China-Arab States Summit in December 2022, I met with President Saied and we reached important consensus, charting the course for the development of China-Tunisia relations," he said.

Xi said he highly prizes the development of China-Tunisia relations and is willing to work with Saied to take the 60th anniversary as a new starting point, renew the traditional friendship of the two countries and push for greater progress in bilateral friendly cooperative relations.

Saied, for his part, said that over the past years, Tunisia and China, with a long-lasting friendship as well as fruitful cooperation, have upheld common values, stayed committed to cementing and expanding bilateral ties, and conducted increasingly close cooperation on international and regional affairs.

Tunisia is willing to work with the Chinese side to foster a new type of partnership covering various areas and featuring a broad prospect, so as to elevate bilateral ties to a higher level, he said.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang exchanged congratulatory messages with Tunisian Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani.

In his message, Li said he would like to work with Hachani to implement the important consensuses reached by the two heads of state, deepen and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and continuously enrich the China-Tunisia friendly cooperative relations.

For his part, Hachani said that Tunisia looks forward to continuing to work with China to enhance bilateral friendship, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and serve the common interests of the two peoples.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
By Lee Min-hyung

LAS VEGAS  Kia has gained massive attention from visitors for its first-ever display of platform beyond vehicles (PBV) during this years CES tech trade show, as its modular ecosystem heralded a new era for the carmakers expansion into a customizable vehicle manufacturer.

The 1,020-spare-meter booth for Koreas second-largest carmaker was packed with visitors throughout its opening hours on Tuesday (local time). They looked to be captivated by the versatility of Kias three PBV models  the PV1, PV5 and PV7  on display during the worlds largest tech fair.

The PV5  a mid-sized flagship model under Kias new vehicle ecosystem  was undoubtedly the focus of attention for most visitors. Along with the actual-sized PV5 concept, the carmaker also showcased its miniature version to demonstrate how diverse modular rear parts can be assembled in line with the specific needs of customers. It could be transformed into a pickup truck and even a camping vehicle, depending on which module is used, all of which is powered by Kias Easy Swap technology.

The PV5 is Kias most strategic model set to start sales in 2025. The vehicle features a string of other eco-friendly upsides, such as a solar roof. According to an official at the booth, the PV5 can charge its battery during operation using the solar panel attached on the roof. Its steering wheel can also be adjusted upwards while parked, creating more in-vehicle space.

As peoples lifestyles diversify, as is shown by a recent camping boom in Korea, demand for multi-purpose vehicles will be on the rise, and the PV5 appears to be a good solution for those customers, a Seoul-based visitor to the booth said.

Kia also displayed concept models for the PV1 and PV7  both of which are fit for logistics purposes. The PV7 boasts the largest indoor space and drives the longest distance among the PBV lineup. The vehicle will be used mostly for long-distance transportation.

The PV1  the smallest version  was also on display, and the vehicle is also manufactured for a similar logistics purpose particularly for short-distance transportation. It is equipped with a special driving module that minimizes the turning radius, so it can drive diagonally and spin around while remaining in place. This will enable the vehicle to navigate confined spaces, according to Kia.

Kia aims to elevate its position in the industry with a vision to become the global leader by market share by 2030.

We set the PBV as our next key growth strategy for another leap forward, and ramp up our efforts for transitioning into a sustainable mobility platform provider, Kia President and CEO Song Ho-sung said.
An elderly Polish man who was extradited to Northern Ireland under a European arrest warrant has been returned for trial in relation to alleged child sexual offending.

Jan Pokarz (71), whose address was simply given as Poland, is charged with two counts of sexually assaulting a female child on dates between June 2015 and September 2016.

A detective constable previously told Dungannon Magistrates Court that the warrant was originally issued in February 2021.

She explained that a decision had been taken to prosecute; however, Pokarz was never interviewed as he returned to Poland before this could be done.

It is my understanding the defendant was in Poland when he found out about the allegations, she said.

He had denied them and, during a conversation, it is claimed he said he would not be going to jail.

He never returned from Poland and police consider him to be a flight risk.

We do not have, and cannot locate, his passport at this time.

A defence barrister set out how Pokarz resided in Northern Ireland for just under a year in and around 2016.

He was aware of the allegations against him but understood they had been withdrawn, so returned to Poland, added the barrister.

It emerged that Pokarz was arrested in Poland last month and held in custody but made it clear, allegedly, that he wished to be brought back to Northern Ireland in order to have the matters addressed.

The defence conceded: That is something of a double-edged sword and the court may think he went to Poland because of the allegations. However, it was always his intention to return.

He advised that the defendants partner travelled to Northern Ireland at the time Pokarz was extradited and, in order to secure his release on bail, was in possession of his passport, which could be surrendered to police.

Pokarz had travelled on an identity card when being brought to Northern Ireland, which has been retained by police.

The defence stressed: Any address for release for bail would have to be approved by police, but applying for accommodation is very difficult while in custody.

Meanwhile, a prosecuting lawyer confirmed the case is ready to be fixed for a committal hearing to transfer to Crown Court for trial.

After consideration, District Judge Michael Ranaghan ruled: Arrest warrants were necessary to get this matter progressed. The alleged charges are extremely serious, involving sexual offences against a child aged under 13. I find there is a risk of flight and on that basis I am refusing bail.

Pokarz was brought before the same court today where he initially spoke only to confirm his identity and that he understood the charges against him. However, he then broke down in tears during the process and said: I am innocent.

A prosecuting lawyer said there is a case to answer, which was agreed by Judge Ranaghan, who stressed: That is not about guilt or innocence at this stage.

He remanded Pokarz in continuing custody to appear for arraignment before Dungannon Crown Court on February 6.
Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges, holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting

Depression, prison time, moving country and attempted suicide  these are just some of the tales told by the victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Errors made by the Horizon software, which was made by tech firm Fujitsu and used by the Post Office, led to the wrongful conviction of more than 700 people over false accounting and theft between 1999 and 2015.

Some of these former postmasters have shared their horrific stories, including tales of attempted suicide, physical abuse and exile abroad. None of them has received full compensation.

A renewed focus on the scandal comes amid a new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has re-sparked interest in the ongoing scandal.

Scotland Yard said on Friday night that officers were investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions  for example monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions.

PM Rishi Sunak

Prime minister Rishi Sunak also told the BBCs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that ministers were looking every which way we can to help those embroiled in the scandal, including the option of exoneration.

A petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to lose her CBE has attracted more than a million signatures.

Several people took their own lives due to the stress and 60 of the victims have died before finding any justice at all, with accusations tearing peoples lives apart and many losing their jobs and homes.

One of those people was Janet Skinner, who began working for the Post Office in 1994 and soon worked her way up to become a postmistress in Bransholme, Hull. Then Horizon was introduced.

Having never had previous issues with her work, Ms Skinner soon noticed that her totals never balanced once the software was put in place.

After calling the helpline, she was told any shortfall would be her responsibility to make good as per her contract. But in 2006 her employers came to do an official cash audit and found a shortfall of just under 60,000.

Ms Skinner, who was 35 at the time, was accused of stealing the money, had her keys taken from her and was suspended.

This sounds naive but when they came I was actually relieved, she said.

I thought they were going to figure out what was happening and find what the problem was.

Janet Skinner

But when she was told she would be tried in Hull Crown Court in 2007, the reality sank in.

She took a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to false accounting in the hopes of avoiding jail, but was sentenced to nine months in prison.

The 53-year-old said: I remember standing in the dock and the judge saying I was untrustworthy and stealing from pensioners. I was a complete and utter mess. Standing there, having someone say these things about me when I hadnt done anything, was the worst thing in the world.

Ms Skinner was then sent to New Hall prison in Wakefield for six weeks and was put on suicide watch.

After leaving prison, Ms Skinner lost her home and was forced to pay the Post Office compensation of 11,000.

It wasnt until almost a decade later that Ms Skinner realised she was not alone and eventually had her conviction overturned in 2021. However, almost three years on, she is still yet to receive her full and final compensation.

Another victim, Sathyan Shiju (57), attempted suicide when he lost his home and businesses after being accused of stealing over 20,000 from his post office in Tolworth, southwest London.

Mr Shiju was a postmaster when a branch audit in 2006 showed the massive Horizon shortfall. The father, who also had another grocery store nearby, was interviewed under caution by post investigators and says he was immediately suspended and subsequently dismissed by the Post Office.

It didnt sink in until they took away the post office and then my nightmare started, he told The Independent.

No one would speak to me, not even my MP. There were some days I received ten instances of abuse. People threw things on me, spat on me and called me a P***.

My businesses failed and my houses got repossessed. I used to be a really confident guy but this completely ruined me. I didnt have anyone to talk to and get it off my chest so I tried to commit suicide.

Sathyan Shiju

Mr Shiju also explained the impact of the accusations on his daughter: I only have one daughter and she was the one who opened the door when I was about to [commit suicide].

My wife and daughter took me back to India to be with my family and my daughter was sitting next to my bed every day and night because she was afraid I was going to do something.

Eventually, Mr Shiju returned to the UK in 2015, but he says his wifes family still refuse to speak to him and did not attend his daughters wedding, as they believe he is a thief.

In 2020 he was accepted into the Horizon Shortfall Scheme but says he has only been offered just over 12,000 in compensation and his case is continuing.

The Post Office said it couldnt comment on individual cases.

Across the country in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Christopher Head, a former postmaster, also felt forced to leave the country after he lost his livelihood.

Once crowned the youngest sub-postmaster in Britain, in 2006 at the age of 18, Mr Heads tenure came to an abrupt end when he was accused of theft and fraud by the Post Office in 2015.

After five months his case was dropped, but the organisation insisted that Mr Head still pay back the 88,098 it claimed he had stolen.

I knew then that it was really serious and it was a lot of money that I couldnt repay, he said.

They interviewed me, and when they sat me down and read me all my rights it really hit home.

Mr Head was left unable to find work after the accusation and felt his only option was to seek work abroad.

A civil case was opened against Mr Head but was put on hold after Alan Bates brought a case against the Post Office to the High Court. This gave Mr Head hope but was not enough to salvage his livelihood.

Chris Head

Mr Head, now 36, returned home in 2019 and he was among hundreds of sub-postmasters who finally won a High Court case against the Post Office, in a 58m settlement, that year.

Despite still struggling to find employment, Mr Head says he was only offered 13% of his claim and believes the Post Office has no intention of restoring justice.

Meanwhile, former counter clerk Tracy Felsted is evidence that even some of the earliest cases are yet to be fully resolved.

Ms Felstead was convicted of stealing more than 11,000 from the Post Office and jailed for six months when she was just 19.

She landed her job at Camberwell Green post office in south London when she left school in 1999. Returning from a family holiday in 2000, she was told there was a shortfall of 11,500 in her till.

After a gruelling trial at Kingston Crown Court in 2001, she was found guilty of theft and false accounting and sentenced to six months in prison.

It was horrendous and Ive never been so scared in my life, the now-41-year-old said.

I tried to commit suicide twice during the trial and my family was destroyed. I remember having to leave a family friends wedding because I had to go into a psychiatric unit.

Former subpostmaster at Hogsthorpe, Tom Hedges, holds a bottle of champagne aloft outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021, following a court ruling clearing subpostmasters of convictions for theft and false accounting

Ms Felstead finally had her conviction overturned in April 2021, but her three-month stay in jail continues to impact her life and she says she is yet to receive full and final compensation.

She said: The day I got out felt surreal, but it was also very isolating.

I found it hard to have doors closed and, to this day, I dont have a door in my kitchen or living room, because I panic.

I want to now close that door and live my life with my children and just live a happy life.

In response to these stories, a Post Office spokesperson said: We fully share the aims of the current public inquiry, set up to establish what went wrong in the past and the accountability for it. We are acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible.

Both Post Office and government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected.

To date, offers of compensation totalling more than 138m have been made to around 2,700 postmasters. Interim payments continue to be made in cases which have not yet been resolved.

 The Independent
Northern Irelands Department for Infrastructure has issued a Notice of Opinion to refuse planning permission (PA)

A planning application for a wind farm in Co Antrim has been refused.

The application, described as regionally significant, was for the Unshinagh Wind Farm.

It is described as for 14 turbines within the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Northern Irelands Department for Infrastructure has issued a Notice of Opinion to refuse planning permission.

The departments most senior civil servant is leading it in the absence of locally elected ministers after almost two years of the effective collapse of the Stormont Assembly.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the department said the permanent secretary has given full and careful consideration to all material planning considerations.

Due cognisance was given to the contribution that renewable energy can make to both the economy and tackling climate change; however in this case the significant harm that would be caused to the landscape of the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the ecological impacts on protected species within the Antrim Hills Special Protection Area, along with the archaeological, cultural and tourism assets in the locality outweighed the economic and environmental benefits, they said.

The Permanent Secretary made the decision under powers laid out in the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2022.

The applicant can seek a hearing before the Planning Appeals Commission within 42 days of the date of the Notice of Opinion.
Soldiers stationed at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn have been banned from getting fast food deliveries to the barracks amid a dissident republican threat, it is understood.

Earlier today a message was circulated among the hundreds of squaddies that with immediate effect, all take aways to camp are now banned".

They are not to get food dropped off at the camp gates as there has been a threat made, declared the order.

It will be 15 years ago on March 7 that Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were gunned down by two masked Real IRA gunmen outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim.

The Royal Engineers were only hours from flying to Afghanistan and had gone to collect pizzas from a delivery man at the entrance to their barracks when they were shot.

The soldiers were the first to be murdered in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was killed by an IRA sniper in south Armagh in 1997.

Prominent republican Colin Duffy was found not guilty of the murders.

Magherafelt man Brian Shivers was initially convicted but later had the verdict quashed on appeal.
Paula Vennells has said she will return her CBE (Post Office/PA)

Alan McLaughlin, who was wrongly convicted as part of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal

A former Belfast postmaster who was wrongly accused of fraud has said former Post Office boss Paula Vennells was right to hand back her CBE, saying it is the least that should happen.

Ms Vennells, who was chief executive of the company from 2012 to 2019, said she would be returning her honour with immediate effect.

It followed growing pressure, including a petition which attracted a million signatures demanding it be revoked due to her role in the scandal.

Ms Vennells was recognised in December 2018 for services to the Post Office and to charity.

The Post Office Horizon IT scandal refers to a widespread and long-lasting series of miscarriages of justice in the UK between 1999 and 2015.

More than 3,500 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting based on information from a faulty IT system called Horizon.

This led to prosecutions, bankruptcies and even suicides, making it one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history.

The scandal has now been depicted in ITVs Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has renewed public outrage.

Reacting to the news about Ms Vennells, Alan McLaughlin, whose conviction was quashed in 2022 after a lengthy legal battle, said: About time. Its the least that should happen.

Mr McLaughlin had only worked in the post office between 1999 and 2001 and was found guilty of 15 fraud-related offences in 2005 after it was alleged he was responsible for a loss totalling nearly 10,000.

Too often in cases revolving around miscarriages of justices, nothing happens to those who instigate them, he told the Belfast Telegraph.

Literally nothing  they wander off into the sunset with the titles, chairmanships and board roles like nothing ever happened.

We now have an establishment figure being partially held to account. Its a limited move, but its something. Its good.

Mr McLaughlin also criticised Ms Vennells statement in which she opens by saying she will continue to support and focus on cooperating with the inquiry.

He explained: But she never did. She was asked directly exactly what she did do and she didnt comment.

There still hasnt been answers on who did what on the Post Office board, who made these decisions in response or decided their approach. Even now, no one knows.

Mr McLaughlin called Ms Vennells approach to the inquiry, which is also portrayed in the ITV series, appalling.

It was like something out of [fantasist author Franz] Kafka. It was ridiculous. That level of deflection in the face of reality is indicative of the level of confirmation bias that they have fixed in their heads.

Paula Vennells has said she will return her CBE (Post Office/PA)

Ms Vennells, a former Anglican priest, apologised for the devastation caused to postmasters.

I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence, she said.

I am, however, aware of the calls from subpostmasters and others to return my CBE.

I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.

A CBE is the highest ranking Order of the British Empire award. While honours can be forfeited, they can only be officially removed by the King.

In April 2021, following the quashing of several postmasters convictions, Ms Vennells also resigned from her roles as a director at Dunelm and Morrisons.

Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin was wrongfully convicted of fraud in 2011 after being accused of stealing 75,000 from his Post Office branch in Oxford, said: "My initial reaction is good, I'm glad. She doesn't deserve that CBE. She never did deserve that CBE.

Now the big question for me is who gave her that CBE?

When she was given that CBE, there were other things that happened: one, she was given a CBE; two, she was given a seat at the Cabinet Office; and three, she was given a job as the chair of the Imperial College (Healthcare NHS Trust).

They gave her three golden handshakes for fighting Mr [Alan] Bates in court.

A Government source said the move to effectively hand back the CBE is the right thing to do.

Downing Street previously said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would strongly support the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it decided to look at stripping the award.
Kevin Conway was under threat, previous court hearings were told

Police probing the murder of a man in west Belfast have said such cold-blooded brutality has no place in society.

Kevin Conway (26), who was originally from the Lurgan area, was shot dead at his home in the Greenan area of the city on Tuesday night.

He was one of three men charged in relation to the murder of Shane Whitla in Lurgan in January 2023.

During court hearings it was said he was under threat.

A death notice describes Mr Conway as the dearly beloved son of Bridie and the late Kevin and the much loved brother of Lynsey, Victoria and Maria.

Watch: Police and forensics at the scene of Kevin Conway murder in west Belfast

It says the sudden passing of the loving daddy is very deeply regretted by the entire family circle including his beloved partner Katie and children Kayla and Koen.

"Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on his soul, it adds.

A senior officer today described Mr Conways killing as a horrific, calculated and ruthless act.

Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said: Kevin  who was a father, a son and a brother  was brutally murdered in his own home.

He was shot multiple times and, sadly, was pronounced dead at the scene.

My thoughts are with Kevins family and loved ones, who are today left trying to come to terms with their loss. And I know the wider community remains in shock.

This was a horrific, calculated and ruthless murder, carried out in a busy residential area. Such cold-blooded brutality has absolutely no place in our society."

Emergency services attended the scene at Rossnareen Park, off the Shaws Road, on Tuesday night.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said paramedics were called just before 9.30pm, but Mr Conway died at the scene.

On Wednesday morning a large police presence remained in the area.

Forensics alongside a K-9 dog unit examined the scene, taking away large bags filled with objects and blood-stained clothing.

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 9th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Forensics experts were focusing on an area close to the Greenan flats.

The PSNI plan to increase patrols in the area in the coming days.

Detective Inspector Quinn urged anyone with information to contact police.

Our investigation is at an early stage, and I am appealing to anyone who was in the Greenan area yesterday evening, from 4pm onwards and who noticed anything suspicious, to contact us. Im especially keen to hear from anyone who may have CCTV or dash cam footage.

I understand that people are feeling afraid, but we can all agree those responsible for this shocking murder have no place in our society. The streets will be safer when they are behind bars.

If you have any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please contact us. Im appealing directly to local people to have the confidence to tell us anything they know. Kevins family deserve justice.

Local people will see an increase in police presence in the area in the coming hours and days, and Im grateful to members of the public for their ongoing support.

Mr Conway had been one of three men charged with the murder of Mr Whitla in Lurgan on January 12 last year.

Mr Whitla, a 39-year-old father of four, was gunned down in an alleyway off Woodville Street over an alleged drug debt to a notorious crime gang known as The Firm.

It was alleged in court last July that Mr Conway, originally from Deeney Drive, set the victim up in phone calls which lured him to the scene of the shooting.

At the time concerns were also expressed that he could be targeted in a possible reprisal attack.

Mr Conway was released from custody last July. His bail had previously been revoked.

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 9th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph at the scene, Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said no one in the area wants this at their doorstep.

This is a heavy footfall area, and the residents have made it clear they do not want guns in their area, he said.

My condolences go out to the family of this man.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said Mr Conways murder was a brutal and harrowing act.

My immediate sympathies are with the victims loved ones and my thoughts are with all of those impacted by this barbaric attack, he said.

This is an incredibly distressing incident that has sent shockwaves through the entire community.

There can be no justification for gunning someone down in their home in cold blood. All right-thinking people will be abhorred by this shooting.

SDLP west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty said: The shooting on Tuesday night has sent shockwaves through our community, with police remaining at the scene as they carry out their investigation.

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 10th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

He added: My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who has tragically lost his life.

"Violence like this is a scourge on our society and creates serious fear among people living in this community.

"There can be no justification for what has happened here.

"I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward to police so that the people who carried this out can be brought to justice.
Co Armagh road closed after lorry overturns



The Castleblaney Road outside Keady is currently closed due to a lorry having overturned.

The blocked road is likely to be closed for a number of hours. No injuries have been reported at this time.
Michelle ONeill (right) said people are entitled to defend their name in relation to a legal action by Gerry Kelly (left) (Rebecca Black/PA)

Deputy leader Michelle ONeill said Sinn Fein has no joined-up or concerted effort to silence anybody through legal action after a party MLA was ordered to pay costs in a failed defamation action.

Ms ONeill said individual party members are entitled to decide themselves if they want to pursue legal action.

She was speaking after a High Court judge in Belfast threw out a claim brought by MLA Gerry Kelly against a journalist, ruling it was scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.

He was ordered to pay costs in the case he had brought against Malachi ODoherty, who had said Mr Kelly shot a prison officer during an escape from the Maze prison in 1983.

The Sinn Fein representative had claimed the comments broadcast on radio had damaged his reputation but Master of Belfast High Court Evan Bell said books written by the MLA about the prison escape meant his libel action could not succeed.

The judges ruling stated: For that reason, the court strikes them out on the basis that they are scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.

Sinn Fein politicians have regularly been criticised for launching legal actions against journalists and elected representatives.

Speaking to reporters outside Belfast City Hall, Ms ONeill said: Any of us  whether youd be in public office or a citizen of our society  everyones entitled to defend their good name.

If you feel like youve been defamed at any time, then you are entitled, as the law says, to take a case.

I commend that to anyone who feels that thats where they need to be.

In terms of any concerted effort or deliberate attempt on our part  Im Sinn Fein vice president, Im a senior member of a party, and I can assure you there is no joined-up or concerted effort to silence anybody.

In the High Court ruling this week, Master Bell said the libel proceedings brought by Mr Kelly bore the hallmarks of a strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapp) case.

He said: On the balance of probabilities, therefore, the proceedings do bear the hallmarks of a Slapp and have been initiated not for the genuine purposes of vindicating a reputation injured by defamatory statements, but rather for the purpose of stifling the voices of his troublesome critics.
Officers carried out a patrol of the area following the report.

The man was seen carrying the weapon in Larne

Police have appealed for information after a man was spotted carrying a crossbow on playing fields in Co Antrim.

A photograph seen by the Belfast Telegraph shows a figure dressed in black in the Antiville area of Larne.

The man appears to be aiming the weapon in the direction of the nearby playing fields.

The area in which the man was sighted is heavily populated, with a primary school and a church nearby.

"Police received a report relating to a sighting of someone carrying what appeared to be a crossbow in a field in the Fairway area of Larne on Wednesday morning, January 10, said a PSNI spokesperson.

Officers attended and carried out a patrol of the area including Fairway, Antiville and Craighill. A person matching the description was not located. Enquiries are continuing and anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting 824 10/01/24.
By Lee Kyung-min

The priorities of Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong will be to foster the next-generation 6G technologies, as illustrated by his visit to the Samsung Research Center in southern Seoul, the firm said Wednesday. It was his first official scheduled event of this year.

The chairman said 2024 will be defined by the swifter integration of 6G technologies into everyday life. The 6G technologies encompass artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving vehicles, robots and extended reality (XR). XR is a catch-all term to refer to augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR).

The survival and the future of the firm depends on how best we secure new technologies, he said during the visit. Our efforts must become bolder to navigate the unfavorable market conditions from within the country and abroad in times of hardship. I make an earnest recommendation that we invest in our future to bolster our technological advantages, especially with the looming crisis in mind.

The success of the firm and the country at large will be determined by global 6G leadership, he added, amid fierce global competition for 6G tech hegemony among the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Many of our global peers are spearheading technology investments and projects with the full backing of their governments, he said. Samsung will lead the global discussion on the establishment of 6G standards, as underpinned by years of strong expertise in 4G and 5G technologies. Continued investments in human resources and research and development will buttress our efforts.

The 6G technologies will be commercialized around 2030 after the global standardization process set to take shape in 2025.

Samsung will solidify its lead as the first industry leader to have succeeded in the commercialization of 5G technology, a feat underpinned by years of hefty investments in industry standardization and technology research since 2011.

We will sharpen our competitive edge and widen our technological investment portfolio to include the development of AI technologies, high-performance communication chips and communications software," he said.
Members of Unite and GMB on a picket line at Translinks Europa bus station on Glengall Street in Belfast during a 24-hour dispute over pay in December (Liam McBurney/PA)

Translink workers in the GMB and Siptu unions are set to join 8,000 Unite members in a major strike billed as the biggest in Northern Ireland history next week.

The strike is set to take place on January 18, with teachers nurses and members of several unions set to take part in the "generalised day of action".

Davy Thompson of Unite said it's a collection of unions for whom "frustration is building up" - and combining actions is the way forward.

"Underinvestment has created havoc in our public services," he said.

He again called on Chris Heaton Harris to "release the funds" to address pay issues

"At this point in time local parties are irrelevant in this dispute. Chris Heaton-Harris is blackmailing the people of Northern Ireland to try and achieve whatever goals he's trying to achieve."

Unites membership includes more than 4,000 health and social care workers, 2,300 bus and rail workers, 800 education authority workers as well as members in the roads service, forestry service, rivers agency, ferry services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)

PSNI Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Melanie Jones said planning is under way to "mitigate any risk in critical functions in the event of staff absences as a result of industrial action".

"I want to reassure the public that we will have the resources in place to allow us to keep people safe," she said.

Read more Belfast Glider expansion project facing 100m funding shortfall

Alan Perry, GMB Senior Organiser, said: GMB members have simply had enough. More than 5,000 of its members from the civil service, Education Authority, health trusts and transport sectors will also strike next Thursday.

They will not be used as political pawns in a process that would see the return of the Northern Ireland Executive. The Secretary of State made it clear that money is there; he must do the honourable thing and make it available now to address the concerns of members who desperately need it, said Perry.

Some 584m to address public sector pay issues has been offered by the government as part of a financial package of more than 3.3bn for the return of a Northern Ireland Executive.

But a pre-Christmas deal to restore Stormont was ruled out in December.

Read more Secretary of State urged to intervene before strike by public sector workers

The pay issue has led to a series of strikes by healthcare staff, civil servants, teachers and other workers.

Translink workers from all three unions held four days of strike action in December, leading to major disruption to bus and train services.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: The Secretary of State and the UK Government have no authority to negotiate public sector pay in Northern Ireland. It is for the relevant NI departments to negotiate pay policies.

"The Secretary of State has expressed his disappointment that a new executive was not up and running to take the offer on the table and deliver it for the people of Northern Ireland before Christmas.

"The fair and generous package offered by the UK Government is worth over 3bn, including up to 584m to address public sector pay, and more than 1bn to stabilise Northern Irelands public services.

"However, this package is on the table and will remain there, available on day one of an incoming Northern Ireland Executive to take up.

It is now for the NI Parties to come together, restore the Executive and begin to address the challenges facing the people of Northern Ireland, including public sector pay.
Detective Inspector Gina Quinn speaks at a press conference after the death of Kevin Conway (Brian Lawless/PA)

A man killed in west Belfast was shot several times in his own home in what police have described as a horrific, calculated and ruthless murder.

Kevin Conway, 26, had been on bail awaiting trial for the murder of Shane Whitla in Co Armagh last year, when he was targeted in the Greenan area on Tuesday.

Police have launched a murder inquiry and will increase patrols in the area in the coming days.

Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said Mr Conway was a father, son and brother who was brutally murdered in his own home.

A police cordon at the scene in the Greenan area of west Belfast (Brian Lawless/PA)

He was shot multiple times and, sadly, was pronounced dead at the scene, she said on Wednesday.

My thoughts are with Kevins family and loved ones, who are today left trying to come to terms with their loss. And I know the wider community remains in shock.

This was a horrific, calculated and ruthless murder, carried out in a busy residential area. Such cold-blooded brutality has absolutely no place in our society.

Ms Quinn urged anyone who was in the Greenan area on Tuesday from 4pm onwards, and noticed anything suspicious, to contact detectives on 101.

I understand that people are feeling afraid, but we can all agree those responsible for this shocking murder have no place in our society. The streets will be safer when they are behind bars, she said.

If you have any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please contact us. Im appealing directly to local people to have the confidence to tell us anything they know. Kevins family deserve justice.

Mr Conway appeared in court last January charged with the murder of Mr Whitla in Lurgan.

Asked to what extent that forms part of the murder investigation, Ms Quinn said: This isnt about what Kevin may or may not have been linked to.

This is about trying to find his killers and certainly any incidents linked to Kevin would and do form part of the ongoing police investigation and be looked at as a line of inquiry.

Shane Whitla was shot dead in Lurgan in January 2023 (PSNI/PA)

On Wednesday a police cordon was in place at Greenan and at Rossnareen Park.

Forensic officers wearing white suits could be seen removing items from a flat, and a police dog was also at the scene.

Political representatives have described the community as being in shock.

West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said it was a brutal killing.

It is shocking and people around this area who I have spoken to this morning are very, very angry at what happened here last night, the Sinn Fein representative told the PA news agency.

This is a residential area, many young people live in this area, its a built-up area, there are hot food bars, it is a busy location.

This is very sad and my thoughts are with this individuals family.

He said police are trying to establish what happened.

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I know that theyre also making a call for anyone with information to bring that forward to them as a matter of urgency, and I would also echo that call, he said.

The residents I spoke to in this area also want that. They have said quite clearly someone has brought terror on to their streets and it is totally unacceptable.

Theyre saying they dont want this to happen and theyre calling for anyone involved in this sort of activity to stop.

SDLP councillor Paul Doherty said: My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who has tragically lost his life.

Violence like this is a scourge on our society and creates serious fear among people living in this community.

There can be no justification for what has happened here. I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward to police so that the people who carried this out can be brought to justice.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll utterly condemned the shooting.

My immediate sympathies are with the victims loved ones and my thoughts are with all of those impacted by this barbaric attack, he said.

This is an incredibly distressing incident that has sent shockwaves through the entire community.

There can be no justification for gunning someone down in their home in cold blood. All right-thinking people will be abhorred by this shooting.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said a financial package offered by the government to restore Stormont forms "a good basis" for public sector pay issues to be addressed.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions today, the prime minister said "significant progress" had been made in talks with the DUP and the other main parties, which had concluded before Christmas.

In December, the Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the negotiations to restore devolved government were over - after a 3.3bn financial package for the return of the executive was offered.

Sunak said: "Significant progress has been made and there is now a very good basis for the executive to be restored. With [the financial package] there is a real chance to restore the executive and address pay issues for workers.

It's after he was asked by Alliance MP Stephen Farry whether he recognised "the real dangers of continued drift in NI and the urgent need for Northern Ireland to have a government".

Sunak added: "The people of Northern Ireland rightly expect and deserve their locally elected decision makers to address the decisions that matter to them."

Farry said public services are in huge crisis in Northern Ireland - particularly in the areas of health and public sector pay. He thanked the prime minister for the financial package but added that "a discussion is still needed around the long term financial framework before the next spending review".

Earlier this week, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said more talks would take place with the government.

It comes as thousands of workers across Northern Ireland are set to strike over pay issues next week - in what's been billed as the largest strike in Northern Ireland history.
Eton College in Berkshire has been forced to move to remote learning because of sewerage problems in the area (Matthew Fearn/PA)

Pupils at Eton College have been told to stay at home as the new term gets under way because of sewerage issues at the elite boarding school.

Pupils were due to return to class on Tuesday but an overloaded local sewer system has forced the private boys school to move to remote learning.

The delayed start of term at the school in Berkshire comes as nearly 100 flood warnings remain in place in England following last weeks Storm Henk deluge.

Thames Water has apologised to staff and pupils at Eton College.

Eton College is one of the UKs most prestigious schools and its alumni includes many former prime ministers, including Boris Johnson and David Cameron.

A spokesperson for Eton College said: Following extensive flooding in the region, the Thames Water sewers which serve the town of Eton flooded.

Therefore, boys could not return for the scheduled start of term on January 9 and the college has moved to remote teaching.

We are in regular contact with Thames Water as they seek to resolve the situation and we look forward to welcoming boys back as soon as possible.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: Our engineers are responding to reported sewerage issues at Eton College, Windsor.

In this instance, the recent heavy rainfall, along with high groundwater levels and river flooding, caused our local sewer system to overload.

We are sorry to staff and students who have been impacted. Our teams will be carrying out a clean-up in the coming days once the river levels recede.
Harry served for 10 years in the military, rising to the rank of Captain (John Stillwell/PA)

The Duke of Sussex is to be inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation for his work as a British Army veteran and pilot.

Harry will be inducted next Friday at an awards ceremony hosted by actor and aviation ambassador John Travolta in Beverly Hills, California.

The event was set up to honour those who make significant contributions to aviation and aerospace.

The duke, 39, completed two tours of Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an Apache helicopter pilot, having flown countless training missions in the UK, US and Australia.

He served for 10 years in the military, rising to the rank of Captain.

William and Harry at a military helicopter training course base (Dave Thompson/PA)

Harry will take his place alongside other aviation and aerospace legends including Buzz Aldrin, Jeff Bezos, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Elon Musk and Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud.

Other aerospace icons set to be inducted alongside Harry this year include US navy pilot Fred George and former world speed record holder Steve Hinton.

The events website also praised the duke for his work with charities and organisations including Travalyst, Sentebale, African Parks, WellChild and the Invictus Games.

A statement on the events website said: Prince Harry is a humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate and environmentalist.

He has dedicated his life to advancing causes that he is passionate about and that bring about permanent change for people and places.

His brother, William, Prince of Wales, trained with the RAF as a search and rescue pilot in 2009, before becoming an air ambulance pilot for East Anglian Air Ambulance for two years from March 2015.
Jeremy Corbyn speaks on the situation on the Israel-Hamas conflict in parliament (UK Parliament/Maria Unger/PA)

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will join a South African government delegation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the countrys upcoming case accusing Israel of genocide.

As per a Pretoria statement, the South African delegation will be joined by senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe, including Mr Corbyn.

The statement said Mr Corbyn will stand with Pretoria at The Hague on Thursday and Friday for the hearings in South Africas case against Israel, which accuses the Middle Eastern nation of genocide against the people of Palestine.

The delegation will be led by South African minister of justice and correctional services Ronald Lamola.

Mr Lamola said: We are determined to see the end of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza.

We are most encouraged by leaders of the world who have not blunted their consciousness and have stood on the right side of history by supporting a case that seeks to protect the rights of human beings, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.

Mr Corbyn was the only foreign political figure named in the South African statement.

Earlier this week, Mr Corbyn called on Parliament to support South Africas process.

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Mr Corbyn told MPs: People are dying of starvation and thirst in the Gaza Strip. Cannot the Government understand the anger around the world when they watch this happening in real-time?

And why so many people are very pleased that the government of South Africa has taken an initiative in going to the International Court of Justice in order to hold Israel to account for the deaths of so many wholly innocent people in Gaza.

Cannot the government understand that, and at least support South Africas process?

In November, Mr Corbyn described Hamas as a terrorist group after repeatedly avoiding the term, as he wrote an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of acts of terror too.

Mr Corbyn wrote in the left-wing Tribune magazine that I deplore the targeting of all civilians, including Hamass killing of around 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.

If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group, he said.

The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during a pro-Palestine march organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign in central London on October 28.

Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Secretary has said he is worried that Israel may have acted in breach of international law in the Middle East conflict.

Lord David Cameron said that he of course has concerns about the crisis in Gaza but that it is not his job to make a legal adjudication.

During his first grilling by MPs since his return to Cabinet, the former prime minister told Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee: If youre asking me am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law because this particular premise has been bombed or whatever?

Yes, of course Im worried about that, and thats why I consult the Foreign Office lawyers when giving this advice on arms exports.

Lord Cameron also called on Israel to restore water supply in Gaza but declined to be drawn on whether depriving the civilian population of it amounts to breaking laws on armed conflict.

The UK Government has said it supports Israels right to defend itself following Hamass October 7 attacks but urged it to show restraint and act in accordance with international rules.

The Foreign Secretary said he did not agree with the ICJ case, telling MPs: I dont think its right. I dont think we should bandy round terms like genocide in this case.

Israels president, Isaac Herzog, called the ICJ case filed by South Africa atrocious and preposterous.

At a press conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Mr Herzog said: Actually, our enemies, Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction of our nation, the State of Israel  the only nation-state of the Jewish people.

He went on to accuse South Africa of hypocrisy for bringing the case to the ICJ and thanked Mr Blinken for Washingtons support of Israel.

Mr Herzog added that Israel makes utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

Some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed in Hamass October 7 attack on Israel.

Since the war began, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 have been wounded in Israels assault in Gaza, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.

The public hearings at the ICJ will take place on Thursday and Friday at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
The lawyer for Julian Assange said the Wikileaks founders life is at risk if his final appeal against his extradition to the US fails (Dominic Lipinski/ PA)

The lawyer for Julian Assange said the Wikileaks founders life is at risk if his final appeal against his extradition to the US fails.

Assange is wanted in the United States over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. He denies any wrongdoing.

The 52-year-old has spent the last four years in Belmarsh prison in London, where he has been since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2019, as he fights the United States attempts to extradite him.

Assanges lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who is an international human rights lawyer, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: As a result of the 13 years hes been effectively in prison or under house arrest or some form of restrictions on his liberty inside the Ecuadorian Embassy he is really unwell.

Because of the treatment he has suffered, he suffers a major depressive illness, he has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and the medical evidence is if he was extradited to the United States those conditions would cause him to commit suicide.

So his life is at risk and I am not exaggerating that.

In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and oppressive risk of suicide, while ruling against the 51-year-old on all other issues.

But US authorities subsequently brought a successful High Court challenge against this decision, paving the way for Assanges extradition.

In June last year, Assange lost his appeal against a judges ruling over whether he should be extradited but he will make his final appeal in the UK High Court in February.

Ms Robinson said: We have our final appeal against his extradition coming up in February and if we fail, if we are not given permission to appeal, that is the end of the road in the UK and he will be extradited.

We are hoping that the European Court of Human Rights will step in. We will make an application to the European court to try to stop (his extradition) but thats not guaranteed.

A supporter of Julian Assange at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in September last year (Jeff Moore/ PA)

There were several protests in the UK last year in support of Assange, including from former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, who said campaigners will never stop fighting for Assanges freedom.

The wife of Assange, Stella, said last year that the stakes are very high.

She said: Theyre high on all sides, not just for Julians life and his freedom, but all the press freedoms and the freedom of speech rights that go with him.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinians and neighbouring countries on plans for post-war Gaza, saying they are willing to help rebuild and govern the territory if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

The US and Israel are united in the war against Hamas but sharply divided over Gazas future, with Washington and its Arab allies hoping to revive the long-moribund peace process, an idea that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners sharply oppose.

The war in Gaza is still raging and fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave. The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants which has raised fears of a wider conflict.

Antony Blinken, left, attends a meeting with Israels foreign minister Israel Katz, second right, in Tel Aviv (Evelyn Hockstein/AP)

Speaking at a news conference after meeting senior Israeli leaders, Mr Blinken said Israel must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians ability to govern themselves effectively.

He added that Israel must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people and live side by side in peace with Israel.

Settler violence, settlement expansion, home demolitions and evictions all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.

US officials have called for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take the reins in Gaza. Israeli leaders have rejected that idea but have not put forward a concrete plan beyond saying they will maintain open-ended military control over the territory.

Mr Blinken has said that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey had agreed to begin planning for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza once the war ends. The leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are set to meet on Wednesday in Jordans southern Red Sea city of Aqaba.

Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah (Fatima Shbair/AP)

The US, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support for Israels offensive, has pressed it to shift to more precise operations targeting Hamas, but the pace of death and destruction has remained largely the same, with hundreds killed in recent days.

Israel has vowed to keep going until it destroys Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7 attack into southern Israel. Palestinian militants killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom were released during a week-long cease-fire in November.

The Israeli military says it has dismantled Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza  where entire neighbourhoods have been demolished  but is still battling small groups of militants. The offensives focus has shifted to the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza.

Since the war began, Israels assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, roughly 1% of the territorys population, and more than 58,000 people have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children.

Monday was one of the deadliest days yet for Israeli troops in Gaza, with nine killed, according to the military. Six died in an accidental blast when forces were preparing a controlled demolition of a weapons production site in central Gaza, the military said.

Palestinians line up for food aid in Rafah (Hatem Ali/AP)

It says 185 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October.

Nearly 85% of Gazas population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege.

The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, warned that the fighting was severely hampering aid deliveries. Several warehouses, distribution centres, health facilities and shelters have been affected by the militarys evacuation orders, it said.

The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces cut off from the rest of the territory in late October. Tens of thousands of people who remain there face shortages of food and water.

The World Health Organisation has been unable to deliver supplies to the north for two weeks. OCHA said the military rejected five planned aid convoys to the north over that period, including deliveries of medical supplies and fuel for water and sanitation facilities.
US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, left, meets with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, right, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AP)

US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to President Mahmoud Abbas about reforming the Palestinian self-rule government, as part of efforts to ally the region behind post-war plans for Gaza that also include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

Mr Blinken says he has secured commitments from multiple countries in the region to assist with rebuilding and governing Gaza after Israels war against Hamas, and that wider Israeli-Arab normalisation is still possible, but only if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

In their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mr Blinken told Mr Abbas that the US supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

He said the two discussed administrative reform.

Antony Blinken, left, meets with Mahmoud Abbas, right, in Ramallah (Evelyn Hockstein/AP)

The vision outlined by Mr Blinken faces serious obstacles.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus government is adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the autocratic, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, lacks legitimacy in the view of many Palestinians.

The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight, fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave.

The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

On his fourth visit to the region since the war began three months ago, Mr Blinken has met in recent days with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that a post sent from the agency's account on the social platform X announcing the approval of a long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded fund was unauthorized, and that the agency's account was hacked.

The price of bitcoin briefly spiked more than $1,000 after the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges. Cryptocurrency investors had already driven bitcoin's price above $46,000 in anticipation of the approval.

An ETF would provide a way to invest in bitcoin without having to buy the cryptocurrency outright on a crypto exchange such as Binance or Coinbase.

But soon after the initial post appeared, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC's account was compromised and, The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products. Gensler called the post unauthorized without providing further explanation.

Welp, wrote Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, on X. Like many bitcoin investors, Klippsten had been expecting the agency to approve bitcoin ETFs potentially as soon as this week.

The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit, and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC's denial. It was trading around $46,150 at 6:15 p.m. ET.

It was unclear how the SEC's social media account was hacked. Shortly after Gensler's statement, it appeared that the SEC had gotten control over the account.

Politicians, particularly Republicans who have long expressed frustration at how Gensler operates the SEC, quickly expressed anger at the SEC's lax security controls over its accounts.

Just like the SEC would demand accountability from a public company if they made a colossal market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers on what just happened, said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee.

This is not the first time there has been false market-moving information about the future of bitcoin on regulated exchanges. A false report back in October implied that fund manager BlackRock had gotten approval for bitcoin ETF, causing bitcoin prices to jump sharply.

A spokesman for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (AP)
Donald Trump has attended court in Washington as federal appeal judges expressed deep scepticism that the former president is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The panel of three judges, two of whom were appointed by President Joe Biden, also questioned whether they had jurisdiction to consider the appeal at this point in the case, raising the prospect that Trumps appeal could be dismissed.

During lengthy arguments, the judges repeatedly pressed Trumps lawyer to defend claims that the former president is shielded from criminal charges for acts that he says fell within his official duties as president.

That argument was rejected last month by the lower court judge overseeing the case against Trump, and the appeal judges suggested through their questions that they were also dubious that the Founding Fathers envisioned absolute immunity for presidents after they leave office.

I think its paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law, said Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of former president George HW Bush.

The outcome could carry enormous ramifications for the landmark criminal case against Trump and for the broader, and legally untested, question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for actions taken in the White House.

It is also likely to set the stage for further appeals before the US Supreme Court, which last month declined a request to weigh in but could get involved later.

A swift decision is crucial for special counsel Jack Smith and his team, who are eager to get the case  now paused pending the appeal  to trial before the November election, but Trumps lawyers, in addition to seeking to get the case dismissed, are hoping to benefit from a protracted appeals process that could delay the trial well past its scheduled March 4 start date, including until potentially after the election.

Underscoring the importance to both sides, Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner, attended Tuesdays arguments even though the Iowa caucuses are just a week away and despite the fact there is no requirement for defendants appear in person for such proceedings.

Donald Trump, seated right, listens to proceedings in Washington (Dana Verkouteren/AP)

Making his first court appearance in Washington since his arraignment in August, Trump sat at the defence table, watching closely and occasionally taking notes and speaking with his lawyers.

His appearance and his comments afterwards underscored his broader effort to portray himself as the victim of a justice system he claims is politicised.

Though there is no evidence Mr Biden has had any influence on the case, Trumps argument could resonate with Republican voters in Iowa as they prepare to launch the presidential nomination process.

After the hearing, Trump spoke to reporters at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, which used to be the Trump International Hotel, calling Tuesday a very momentous day. He insisted he did nothing wrong and claimed he was being prosecuted for political reasons.

A president has to have immunity, he said.

Former presidents enjoy broad immunity from lawsuits for actions taken as part of their official White House duties, but because no former president before Trump has ever been indicted, courts have never addressed whether that protection extends to criminal prosecution.

Trumps lawyers insist that it does, arguing that courts have no authority to scrutinise a presidents official acts and that the prosecution of their client represents a dramatic departure from more than two centuries of American history that would open the door to future politically motivated cases.

Donald Trump speaks to the media at a Washington hotel with lawyers John Lauro, left, and D John Sauer, right (Susan Walsh/AP)

To authorise the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandoras box from which this nation may never recover, said D John Sauer, a lawyer for Trump, claiming that, under the governments theory, presidents could be prosecuted for giving Congress false information to enter war or for authorising drone strikes targeting US citizens abroad.

He later added: If a president has to look over his shoulder or her shoulder every time he or she has to make a controversial decision and wonder if after I leave office, am I going to jail for this when my political opponents take power?, that inevitably dampens the ability of the president.

But the judges were sceptical about those arguments. Judge Henderson and Judge Florence Pan noted that the lawyer who represented Trump during his impeachment trial suggested he could later face criminal prosecution, telling senators at the time: We have a judicial process in this country. We have an investigative process in this country to which no former office holder is immune.

It seems that many senators relied on that in voting to acquit Trump, Judge Pan told Mr Sauer.

Judge J Michelle Childs also questioned why former president Richard Nixon would need to be granted a pardon in 1974 after the Watergate scandal if former presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution.

Mr Sauer replied that in Nixons case, the conduct did not involve the same kind of official acts Trumps lawyers argue form the basis of his indictment.
Professor Pol O Dochartaigh: Why has the number of students from NI studying in the Republic decreased by so much?

Nearly a third of students travel to GB universities due to A-level equivalencies in the south, writes Professor Pol O Dochartaigh

The number of NI students studying at universities in the Republic like Trinity College Dublin has decreased dramatically in recent years

Pol O Dochartaigh Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 07:00

A successful economy and a successful society are built today on the numbers and quality of graduates. Their skills are attractive to employers, whether local, national or international. Yet the numbers of graduates that the universities in Northern Ireland can produce are capped by the MASN, the Maximum Allowable Student Numbers.
Victim of west Belfast murder was facing charges over a gangland killing

Kevin Conway was shot dead in the Greenan area of west Belfast

Kevin Conway (26), originally from the Lurgan area, was shot dead on Tuesday night.

Linked to criminal gang The Firm, he was one of three men charged in relation to the murder of Shane Whitla in Lurgan in January 2023. During court hearings last year it was heard that he was under threat.

The area has seen several high-profile assassinations in recent years linked to a single dissident republican gunman.

Earlier this week, a list of alleged drug dealers linked to the gang was posted online following the suicide of a local young man.

Ciaran Dunbar is joined by the Belfast Telegraphs security correspondent Allison Morris to discuss the latest developments.
Government offers 138 million in compensation to wrongfully accused Postmasters and Postmistresses

Being convicted of a crime despite being innocent is most peoples worst nightmare.

But this happened to hundreds of people in the UK during the Post Office Scandal.

Described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history, between 1999 and 2015 over 700 postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly convicted of stealing money from their branches.

Some were bankrupted, losing their houses, livelihoods and life savings, and others served prison sentences.

It was later revealed the missing money was due to a fault when a computer program Horizon was introduced in 1999.

Kurtis Reid spoke to Alan Mclaughlin, an ex-NI postmaster who took legal action following his conviction of false accounting offences.

Ciaran Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph Reporter Kurtis Reid to tell this tragic story.
A family leaves its home thats overflowing with water after rain caused severe flooding in Jakarta, Jan. 1, 2020.

Indonesia is considering building a massive sea wall along the northern coast of Java to save the island, particularly its largest city, Jakarta, from sinking and eventually being submerged, two ministers said Wednesday.

But critics warned that the U.S. $60 billion project would only aggravate the ecological and social crisis in the region, and urged the government to adopt a more environmentally friendly and socially just approach to the water-related problems.

Parts of Jakarta sink up to 25 cm annually because of excessive groundwater extraction and urban development, Airlangga Hartarto, the coordinating minister for the economy, said at a seminar on the project.

We need the giant sea wall to stop the land from sinking and the sea from flooding, which keep happening all the time, he said.

If it comes to fruition, the project would include the building of a 120-km (74.5-mile) coastal and river dike by 2030 and an adaptive sea wall to the west and east of Jakarta by 2040 before closing the sea wall with a reservoir by 2050, officials said.

The Jakarta city administrations target is to finish the first phase of a program to build coastal embankments under the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development project by 2027.

So far, 13 km (10.6 miles) of the planned 46 km (28.5 miles) of the embankment have been constructed.

A boy walks on top of a giant sea wall built to protect the capital city against flood waters from the sea amid rising sea levels in northern Jakarta, July 12, 2019. [Bay Ismoyo/AFP]





Airlangga estimated that the region loses 2.1 trillion rupiah (U.S. $135 million) per year, which could rise to 10 trillion rupiah ($642.7 million) per year in the next decade if no measures were taken and the flooding worsens.

Java is Indonesias most populous and economically important island. Land subsidence, or sinking, is a serious problem in Javas coastal areas, especially Jakarta and Semarang in Central Java province, making them more vulnerable to tidal floods, salt water intrusion and water shortages.

The government said the decline in groundwater levels in the northern coast of Java is 1 to 25 cm per year, while the rise in sea levels is 1 to 15 cm per year, which causes tidal floods of around 5 to 200 cm.

The sea wall project also aims to address the water supply problem in Jakarta, which relies on groundwater extraction. The wall would include within it a freshwater reservoir to store rainwater and river water and provide clean water for the city.

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said the projects hefty cost of between $50 billion (778 trillion rupiah) and $60 billion (933 trillion rupiah) was a necessary expense to address geological concerns on Javas north coast.

The Netherlands did the same thing, and it took them 40 years. The challenge is to have political leaders who can think ahead and use all their resources for 40 to 50 years, Prabowo said at the seminar.

How to stop subsidence

Elisa Sutanudjaja, the executive director of Rujak Center for Urban Studies, said government officials arent doing anything to prevent groundwater extraction.

[T]hey dont talk at all about how to stop subsidence, Elisa told BenarNews.

She also questioned Prabowos presence at the seminar. It is as if there was a hidden agenda, Elisa said, without elaborating.

Prabowo is one of three candidates in the countrys Feb. 14 presidential election.

While the government is considering the sea wall project, it is also moving ahead with another ambitious plan  relocating the national capital from Jakarta to a site within the jungle of East Kalimantan on Borneo island.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo proposed a plan in 2019 to build a new capital 1,300 km (800 miles) from Jakarta, citing the citys chronic flooding and traffic problems as the reason. Construction of the new city, called Nusantara, has begun.

Government officials said Nusantara will be a sustainable forest city that puts the environment at the heart of the development and aims to be carbon-neutral by 2045.

(Left to right) Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesias coordinating minister for economic affairs Prabowo Subianto, defense minister, Zulkifli Hasan, trade minister, and Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, maritime affairs and fisheries minister, speak to the media after a seminar in the capital on a potential giant sea wall in Jakarta, Jan. 10, 2024. [Tria Dianti/BenarNews]

Some experts on Wednesday suggested more environmentally friendly alternatives to reduce tidal floods.

The idea of building a gigantic sea wall in Jakarta was first proposed in 2010, but it faced opposition from some environmental groups and local politicians, who argued that it would disrupt many livelihoods and damage the marine ecosystem.

A coalition of environmental and social groups called Maleh Dadi Segoro said that instead of solving the problems of land sinking and coastal floods, the sea wall project would create more difficulties for the regions residents and the environment.

It could narrow and close the fishing catch area, threatening the livelihoods of many who depend on the sea for their food and income, the coalition said.

The sea wall will destroy the natural habitats and biodiversity of the coast, which provide ecological services and protection for the people and the environment, Maleh Dadi Segoro said.

Nirwono Joga, a city planning observer from Trisakti University, said the main cause of land subsidence in the north coast was uncontrolled groundwater extraction caused by a limited supply of clean water and high demand for buildings and industry.

Additionally, heavy vehicles and logistics trucks add to the pressure and compaction of the north coasts alluvial soil, he told BenarNews.

Why not choose or combine a more environmentally friendly approach, such as restoration of the Jakarta coastal area and mangrove reforestation as a natural barrier to reduce tidal floods, tsunamis and the threat of drowning, which is cheaper and easier? he said.

The construction of the giant sea wall must be reviewed with regard to its funding and efficacy.
Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo signs the guestbook as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. looks on during his visit to the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Jan. 10, 2024.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos urged his visiting Indonesian counterpart Joko Jokowi Widodo on Wednesday to grant clemency to a Filipina migrant worker on death row before he leaves office in October.

As Marcos met with Jokowi in Manila, the family of Mary Jane Veloso went to the Malacanang presidential palace to deliver a handwritten letter addressed to the outgoing Indonesian leader that begged him for her freedom.

Veloso, who turned 39 Wednesday, remains on death row in Indonesia after authorities there stayed her execution in a drug conviction. Her case mirrors the plight of millions of Filipino overseas workers who often face injustice in their adopted country.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed hope that the progression of the case of Ms. Veloso will merit her clemency at the appropriate time, Foreign Undersecretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said in a statement after the Marcos-Jokowi meeting.

Jokowi, who arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday for a three-day visit, received the red carpet treatment the next day at the presidential palace where he met with Marcos. Their talks focused on boosting bilateral relations including energy and trade as well as settling continental boundaries between the two Southeast Asian nations.

As immediate neighbors and fellow archipelagic states, the Philippines and Indonesia agreed to continue our cooperation on political and security matters, noting the recently concluded Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) headed by our respected foreign ministers, Marcos said.

Our shared historic roots are deep, and thanks to our close kinship and our cultural ties that we continue to promote and we continue to allow to prosper, the Philippines and Indonesia enjoy this affinity for one another, Marcos said.

On the eve of the meeting between the two presidents, the foreign ministers of the two countries held talks in Manila under the auspices of the JCBC.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi issued a statement highlighting her discussions with her Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo. The top Indonesian diplomat said the two sides had agreed to firm up trade and commit to exploring new opportunities.

[W]e welcomed the enthusiasm of investors from both countries to strengthen investment, she said in a statement.

Marsudi said she and Manalo also agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating cross-border crime.

An infamous incident occurred in January 2019 when an Indonesian couple linked to Abu Sayyaf militants in the Philippines were blamed for a suicide bombing at a Catholic church on Jolo island that killed 21 other people.

Maritime concerns

Marcos said he and Jokowi discussed developments in the disputed South China Sea.

China claims nearly all of the sea including territorial waters of both nations. Manila and Beijing spent much of 2023 in a spat over the China Coast Guard and other ships attempting to block Philippine efforts to resupply its military outpost on the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

[T]he Philippines and Indonesia affirmed our insistence on the universality of UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea], which sets out the legal framework that governs all activities in the oceans and in the seas, Marcos said.

Jokowi noted Jakartas commitment to work with Manila on defense, security, trade and infrastructure development issues.

Im delighted about positive progress [on] implementation of our two countries action plan which needs to be followed up with concrete steps to strengthen collaboration, especially in two areas of cooperation, Jokowi said.

Marcos pledged to continue working closely with Jokowis successor.

Indonesians go to the polls next month and the presidents successor will take office in October. Jokowi will be exiting office because of term limits after leading Southeast Asias largest and most populous nation since 2014.

As you conclude your term as the president of the Republic of Indonesia in the coming months, I am optimistic that your successor will continue the momentum of the positive trajectory in both our bilateral and regional partnership, Marcos said in his luncheon toast to Jokowi.

Celia Veloso uses a megaphone to address supporters gathered near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila after delivering a letter asking Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo to free her daughter from death row over drug charges, Jan. 10, 2024. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

Familys appeal

The handwritten letter to Jokowi from Velosos family was brought to Malacanang by the labor group Migrante International.

Honorable president Joko Widodo. I am begging and pleading with you to help free my daughter who has been suffering innocently in jail for fourteen years now, Velosos mother, Celia, wrote in Tagalog, a copy of which was provided by the labor group.

I am begging you. I hope you will understand me as a parent and as a mother. I hope you will release her for the sake of Mary Jane Velosos two children, she said. Today is the birthday of my daughter Mary Jane Veloso, I am hoping that she will be released.

Veloso was sentenced to death following her arrest at an Indonesian airport in April 2010 while carrying 2.6 kg (5.7 pounds) of heroin in her suitcase. Her scheduled execution in 2015 was postponed at the last minute after appeals by the Philippine government.

She has maintained she had no knowledge that the suitcase given to her by her recruiter contained illegal drugs. Her lawyers argued that Veloso was trafficked by fellow Filipinos who were both sentenced to life in prison in 2020.

The Philippine government has maintained she is a victim of human trafficking and has sought clemency.

In a statement, Migrante International cited the need to address the growing human trafficking problem in Southeast Asia.

[W]e hope that the Indonesian government works closely with the Philippine government in combating the rising cases of human trafficking in the ASEAN region and punishing big time criminals, not the victims who are often poor, it said Wednesday.

We are one with Mary Janes parents in presenting an appeal letter to presidents Marcos Jr. and Widodo and we hope that Marcos Jr. meets them in person to listen to their pleas, the group said.
Deep South activists line up outside Sai Buri Police Station in Pattani province, southern Thailand, to hear details of a complaint against them, Jan. 9, 2024.

Nine activists in the Thai Deep South appeared at a local police station on Tuesday to respond to a complaint filed last week citing involvement in clandestine activities and the alleged display of BRN insurgent flags at their recent gatherings.

Their appearance at the station in Pattani province came after more than 30 human rights groups and NGOs in the southern border region cited the case in an open letter to the United Nations where they alleged that Thai police and security services have been harassing civil society groups for holding public meetings.

In their letter, the groups called on the U.N. to investigate an alleged free-speech violation by Thai security officials against the nine.

This type of prosecution shows the intention of the authorities to stop activities. It will make people in the area feel pressured. They will not be able to express themselves, said Muhammadladee Dengni, one of the nine named in the complaint.

The accusations stem from participation in the 2021 Hari Raya celebration  a two-day nationwide Muslim holiday  and were filed under Article 116 of the Criminal Code.

The Deep South, a predominantly Muslim Malay and heavily militarized region along the Thai-Malaysia border, is home to a decades-old separatist insurgency.

The summonses were issued in response to activities on May 4 and 10, 2022, that included covert activities and the display of BRN flags. The activities also included the reading of a poem that was interpreted as a call to action for young people to sacrifice their lives for the Melayu nation, with the ultimate goal of secession, which is in violation of the Thai Constitution, Col. Kiattisak Neewong, a spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), told BenarNews.

Barisan Nasional Revolusi (BRN), the largest and most powerful of the insurgents groups and factions in the region, has been taking part in Malaysia-brokered peace talks with the Thai government in recent years but there have been no breakthroughs.

After heading to the Sai Buri police station in Pattani, Muhammadaladee expressed surprise about the complaint, noting that prior to the event, he and others had discussions with ISOC officials and had received permission to hold the gathering.

On Tuesday, Muhammadaladee and the others, who were dressed in traditional Malay Muslim garb, symbolically taped their mouths shut and held a sign saying we are Melayu, indicating their view that the complaint was an attempt to silence them.

The peace talks could be disrupted again. Its been over 10 years, and everyone is trying to make progress, but incidents like this make us fear, it will all come to a halt again, Muhammadaladee said.

Activists wear tape across their mouths as they and supporters walk to the Sai Buri Police Station in Pattani province, southern Thailand, to hear a complaint against them, Jan. 9, 2024. [BenarNews]

Meanwhile, authorities said they planned to schedule a meeting with the activists to clarify the complaint against them. The activists said they plan to gather evidence, including testimonials from academics specializing in Deep South issues, to contest the case.

Army commander: Not intended to silence dissent

The open letter to the United Nations, signed by 31 organizations, dated Jan. 6 and posted on Facebook on Monday, requested an investigation into the summonses issued by Thai police.

We  urge your agency to investigate the violation of rights in the peaceful assembly and activities of Malay-Muslim activists in Thailand, the letter read.

[T]he governments actions in prosecuting criminal charges related to security that obstruct freedom of assembly against activists in conflict areas, in a manner that appears to be harassment leading to criminal charges, are in complete contradiction with the United Nations approach to protecting and safeguarding human rights and the role and responsibilities of the Human Rights Council.

U.N. officials in Thailand did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request for comment on the letter.

One of the signees, the Cross-Cultural Foundation, noted that since 2017, more than 40 activists in the southern border provinces had been summoned by the police to face criminal charges. In some cases, the plaintiff filing the complaint has been identified as Maj. Gen. Santi Sakuntanak, the armys commander in the Deep South.

Law enforcement operations adhere strictly to legal codes, Santi said in response. The accused individuals have every opportunity to defend themselves in court and demonstrate their innocence.

We uphold the principles of cultural diversity and promote freedom of expression within the confines of the law. However, advocating for separatism or independence unequivocally violates the Thai Constitution and cannot be tolerated. Rest assured, these legal proceedings are not intended to silence dissent, but to uphold the rule of law.

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation, expressed concern about the human rights situation in the southern border provinces despite the change of government from one led by former junta chief Prayuth Chan-o-cha to one led by Srettha Thavisin.

The Deep South encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala provinces and four districts of Songkhla province.

The government should stop prosecuting citizens as it destroys the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The government should push for fair legal processes, Pornpen told BenarNews.

Currently, the use of violence and arms has almost ceased, possibly because they think they have representatives in the parliament. However, the peaceful expression of rights, which is guaranteed by the constitution, is being obstructed. The government should stop these practices.
A devotee rests while waiting for the procession of the Black Nazarene to begin in Manila, Jan. 9, 2024. [Lisa Marie David/Reuters]

A Catholic man wipes the glass of the carriage carrying the Black Nazarene during the religious procession which returned to the streets of Manila following three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jan. 9, 2024. [Jam Sta Rosa/AFP]

A devotee kisses the bottom tip of the Black Nazarenes cross as it is carried through the streets of Manila, Jan. 9, 2024. [Basilio Sepe/BenarNews]

Devotees reach out to grab the ropes used to pull the carriage carrying the statue, Jan. 9, 2024. [Basilio Sepe/BenarNews]

Millions of Catholic faithful took to the streets of Manila on Tuesday for the first time since a pandemic broke out in 2020 to celebrate a procession venerating a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ thought to be miraculous.

Authorities estimated that 3 million people took part as they crowded to get close and touch the statue known as the Black Nazarene. The march began at dawn and lasted for 15 hours.

Frenzied barefoot devotees jostled to get near a carriage transporting the statue, as it wound its way through streets of the Philippine capital jam-packed with the faithful in Asias only majority-Catholic country. Many jostled with each other in an attempt to kiss the tip of the cross that poked out of the statues glass encasement.

BenarNews journalists reported that thousands of police and medical volunteers were on duty during the event.

The event is considered one of Asias major Catholic events, but the last three gatherings of the annual procession  in 2021, 2022 and 2023  were canceled over fears of a surge in coronavirus infections. New this year was a glass box covering all but the bottom tip of the statues cross.

The wooden Black Nazarene is believed to have been carved in the 17th century and was saved from a fire aboard a ship that brought it here in 1606 when the country was a Spanish colony. The statues name comes from it being blackened in the blaze during the trans-Pacific crossing from Mexico.

The Nazarene is credited with keeping the Quiapo Church in Manila safe over four centuries that saw the building survive fires, earthquakes and fighting during World War II.

Beyond the extraordinary expressions of reverence that we see on display during this event, the festivities show us the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ who willingly offered Himself to make us whole once more, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement.

He described it as a magnificent celebration of the Catholic faith.
French leader Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday picked Gabriel Attal as prime minister in a bid to give new momentum to his presidency, with the 34-year-old becoming France's youngest and first openly gay head of government.

Following days of speculation, Macron on Monday accepted the resignation of Elisabeth Borne, 62, who stepped down after serving less than two years in office.

The overhaul comes ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris and European parliament elections this summer, where Macron's centrist forces risk defeat at the hands of the far-right under Marine Le Pen.

It also further intensifies maneuvering to succeed Macron, who himself took office in 2017, aged just 39, ahead of 2027 presidential elections.

A wider cabinet reshuffle is expected this week as Macron seeks to sharpen his team for the final three years of his presidency.

Attal hailed his appointment as a symbol of "audacity and movement" as he took over from Borne during an official ceremony at the prime minister's Matignon residence in Paris.

"France will never be synonymous with decline, France will be synonymous with transformation, France will be synonymous with audacity," he said.

Borne, only the second woman to lead the French government, said she would continue to serve France as a lawmaker, telling women that "the future belongs to you."

Eye on Elysee?

Attal is set to bring a major change of style to the office of the prime minister.

Borne's austere and no-nonsense demeanor won respect from colleagues but not necessarily popularity among the public, whereas Attal is a highly popular figure in government after his brief stint at the politically crucial education ministry.

The president said he wanted Attal to bring back the spirit of bold change from when Macron first won office on a wave of hope for radical reform in 2017.

"I know I can count on your energy and your commitment," said Macron on X, adding that the new premier would act in line with the spirit of "excellence and audacity" of 2017.

But the conservative daily Le Figaro warned that "youth does not create a program" and said Attal may also have his eye on climbing to the very top.

"With such a promotion, the race for the 2027 presidential election is also inevitably set in motion," said the newspaper.

Attal plunged straight into the job Tuesday with a visit to people hit by repeated flooding in northern France "to show the solidarity of the whole country" and promise "exceptional resources" to build back.

"You are the embodiment of the France that works hard, that gets up early in the morning... we are with you," he told one distressed shopkeeper in the village of Clairmarais in Normandy.

'Rules alone'

Opposition leaders reacted with derision to the elevation of Attal to prime minister, which makes him the fourth head of government since Macron took power.

"The presidential monarch rules alone with his court," said hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon.

"What can the French expect from this fourth prime minister and fifth government in seven years?" said Le Pen.

"They can expect nothing."

Under the French system, the president sets general policies and the prime minister is responsible for day-to-day government management, meaning the latter often pays the price when an administration runs into turbulence.

The appointment of Attal had been expected, although the absence of a swift announcement fuelled talk that heavyweight government figures were unhappy over the meteoric promotion of a man known sometimes by fellow ministers as "young Gabriel."

Sources close to those said to be behind the tensions, including Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, denied this.

Darmanin is expected to remain in his post.

"Gerald Darmanin had an exchange with the president who expressed his confidence in him: he is guaranteed to stay in Beauvau (the interior ministry) as he wished," a source close to the minister told AFP.

'Offensive strategy'

Commentators see the reshuffle as essential to relaunch Macron's centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a "lame duck" leader after a series of crises.

Since he defeated the far right to win a second term in 2022, Macron has faced protests over unpopular pension reforms, the loss of his overall majority in parliamentary elections and controversy over immigration legislation.

With Macron unable to run again in 2027, ministers have publicly aired concerns that Le Pen has her best chance yet to win the presidency.

Attal will go toe-to-toe ahead of the European elections with another rising star of French politics, the even younger Jordan Bardella, 28, who is now party leader of the far-right RN.

Constitutional expert Benjamin Morel told AFP that Attal's appointment signals a "very offensive strategy with a view to the European elections" in June. (AFP)
Republican presidential rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley will square off on Wednesday in their first head-to-head debate as they fight to emerge as the clear alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump in the race for the party's White House nomination. DeSantis and Haley have little time left to halt Trump's march towards the nomination, with the former U.S. president holding sizeable leads in opinion polls just five days before voting begins in Iowa on Monday.

In their battle to become the lone challenger to Trump, Haley and DeSantis have been intensifying attacks on each other in recent days and are expected to unleash furious salvos in the CNN debate, which begins at 9 p.m. ET.

Two polls released on Tuesday showed Haley cutting Trump's lead in the second state due to pick its Republican candidate, New Hampshire, where a primary will be held on Jan. 23. DeSantis is trailing in fourth place there, polling averages show, while he and Haley are essentially tied for second in Iowa.

Wednesday's prime-time debate in Des Moines will allow Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador under Trump, and DeSantis, the governor of Florida, to draw the sharpest contrasts between themselves yet after other candidates failed to qualify to join them on stage. Beating each other out for second place in Iowa will be critical in their efforts to turn the race into a one-on-one match-up against Trump. The Republican nominee is expected to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in November's election.

"The debate will be their last and best chance to tell Iowa caucus-goers why they deserve to be the alternative to former President Trump and why they should have a head-to-head shot at him," said Jimmy Centers, an Iowa-based Republican strategist unaffiliated with a campaign. Trump will once again skip the debate, the fifth of the nominating cycle. He will hold a rival event, a town hall on Fox News, at the same time and close by in Des Moines, Iowa's capital.

Trump's Iowa campaign has been far more organized and heavily staffed than his 2016 effort, when he placed second in Iowa to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.

Trump mostly has avoided smaller, more intimate gatherings in bars and school gyms, the traditional staple of Iowa campaigns, opting instead to deploy allies to hold such events on his behalf while he headlines large rallies.

His campaign uses the events to scoop up personal information that allows for follow-up calls and texts to remind supporters to show up for the caucuses. DeSantis, meanwhile, is banking his campaign on a strong showing in Iowa. He has visited all 99 counties and has been wooing evangelical Christian voters, a powerful voting bloc in the state.

Haley has pitched voters in Iowa on her more pragmatic approach to issues such as abortion, and on her hawkish foreign policy, a stance at odds with the more isolationist Trump and DeSantis.

Asked to comment on the debate, a Haley spokesperson focused on Trump instead of DeSantis.

"With the debate stage down to just two, the time for Donald Trump's hiding is just about over," spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said.

The DeSantis and Trump campaigns did not respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
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BENNINGTON  Construction on a new town skate park off Depot Street could begin later this year.

The Bennington Select Board voted unanimously Monday to proceed with the first phase of a cast concrete facility near the Walloomsac Riverwalk path, which is estimated to cost $916,000.

A proposed second phase of the project, which would include a building covering a section of the park for use in cold weather, is currently estimated to cost in the range of $500,000, officials said, and would also require board approval before proceeding.

The designer/building contractor is GRINDLINE, which has constructed more than 250 parks around the U.S. and in other countries.

The firm has been working with a local volunteer committee  including Geoff Metcalfe of Keefe & Wesner Architects, enthusiasts and town staff  to get the park to the design stage.

Fundraising

Town Community Development Director Shannon Barsotti said during a presentation that the financing package includes three major components.

She said $300,000 would come from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) pandemic relief funding Bennington has received; $300,000 would come from the towns Penny for Parks fund, which assesses a penny on the town property tax rate annually for recreation facilities; and the balance would come from a fundraising campaign and state grants the town is seeking.

Creation of a skate park in town topped a list of citizen-suggested priorities in a survey on potential uses for the ARPA funds, noted board member Jim Carroll.

The total cost could be reduced by in-kind work on the project that might be provided by the town, Barsotti said.

Fundraising will now commence, she said, with a group of volunteer skate enthusiasts and others working with fundraising consultant Christine Graham.

We couldnt be in better hands, board member Jeanne Conner said of Graham, president of CPG Enterprises, which works with a range of nonprofit organizations in the region.

She is the one we need to do this, Conner said.

Grants sought

Barsotti said the town is applying for a Vermont Downtown Transportation Fund grant for up to $200,000 to help toward the local fundraising goal, as well as for smaller grants.

She said the town expects to learn whether it will receive Downtown Transportation Fund funding by April, adding that the program previously provided $200,000 for improvements to the Walloomsac multi-use path and funds for the pocket park near the Four Corners in the downtown.

A skate park is related to the towns efforts to expand its multi-use downtown trail system and enhance downtown development, she said, and that could bolster chances for a new grant.

Design, engineering

Assistant Town Manager and Planning Director Dan Monks said the park developer, GRINDLINE, will now create a final design, while MSK Engineers will complete an analysis of the park site and the state permitting requirements.

Asked by resident Nancy White whether there could be flooding or other issues in placing a cast concrete structure near the Walloomsac, Monks said state permitting requirements are extensive for such a site. He said MSK will look at all aspects of stormwater runoff, erosion and geothermal features of the parcel.

Indications are that there are no insurmountable obstacles to prevent use of the site, he said.

White also asked about traffic near the parcel and safety requirements for residents, especially youth visiting the park.

Board Chairwoman Jeannie Jenkins said such considerations will be part of the planning process, and the town also will look at suggested options to ensure safe street crossings in the vicinity.

Barsotti said one reason the site is good for a downtown park is its connection to the towns expanding bike/pedestrian path system and because it is within walking/biking distance of local schools.

The park is expected to be approximately 16,000 square feet in size, which is similar to a park in Manchester. The states largest skate park, in Burlington, encompasses about 20,000 square feet.
BENNINGTON  The two-day jury trial in an aggravated domestic assault case in Bennington was delayed for several hours on Wednesday morning due to multiple factors.

Both sides debated the inclusion of prior bad acts by the defendant  Bryan Hudson, 51  a letter sent to the victim right before the trial, and a possible last-minute plea deal that would have ended the trial before it began, only to be rejected by the judge after the victim objected.

Hudson is charged with one count of aggravated domestic assault in the first degree for a September 2023 incident in which he allegedly attempted to choke the victim twice after finding text messages, photos, and emails on their cellphone.

Hudson stood trial on the charge in a November jury trial in Bennington, which was declared a mistrial following the objections of defense attorney Kate Lamson after the victim testified in open court that Hudson had just gotten out of jail.

Hudson was almost immediately scheduled for a two-day retrial starting Wednesday, but the trial was delayed for several hours as both prosecutors and defense counsel argued over whether the state could include prior bad acts by the defendant. After settling the issue in favor of the state, Lamson told Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady that both sides had come to a deal.

The deal, agreed upon by both sides with the seated jury in a holding room just outside the courtroom, would have Hudson pleading guilty to the assault charge and admitting he is a habitual offender." Hudson would have to serve a 2 to 12-year sentence, which would run consecutive with the sentence he is currently serving in a prior domestic assault case with the same victim. But that was not to be.

Judge McDonald-Cady asked the victim in the case if they agreed with the sentence. The victim told the judge that, although she was glad she would not have to testify in the new trial and agreed with settling the case, she disagreed with the minimum sentence length.

This is too short for what happened, what he did to me, she said to the judge. The minimum should be more.

After the victim left the courtroom, McDonald-Cady took a brief recess before returning and rejecting the plea deal in deference to the victim.

I am not convinced that this is enough of a lawful sentence, the judge told the attorneys.

The last order of business was addressing an 18-page letter that was sent by Hudson in October to the victim In the letter, Hudson allegedly uses threatening and inaccurate language in violation of Hudsons conditions of release in the aggravated assault. The letter prompted a new pending violation of probation charge against Hudson. Prosecutor Jared Bianchi wanted to introduce the letter into evidence in the assault trial, but the judge also rejected that as possibly being too prejudicial to the defendant.

The jury officially started the case after the lunch break. Bianchi called the Bennington Police detective who responded to the call in the case and then, in a hushed courtroom, called the victim, who told the jury of eight women and six men in subdued tones what happened to her in September.

According to a police affidavit and testimony from the victim at the trial, Hudson offered for the victim and her children to sleep over after they lost electricity at their residence on the night of Sept. 16, 2023.

As the children slept in the next room, Hudson, allegedly enraged by a photograph the victim had on her phone, attacked the victim by grabbing her neck with one hand, forcing her down on the bed, and covering her mouth with his other hand until she couldnt breathe. When the two young children heard the commotion, they entered the room, crying, and the attack ended.

The following day, the victim walked to a nearby store for coffee and doughnuts. When she returned, she was again attacked, with Hudson allegedly grabbing the victim from behind in a chokehold until the commotion woke the kids once again. The victim left the residence and reported the attack to police the next day. Hudson was arrested later that evening.

Hudson was convicted of the same offense with the same victim in November 2019. He took a plea deal with prosecutors and was given a 2- to 12-year sentence with credit for time served. He was released from jail in January 2023 and was still under supervision when the alleged new offense occurred.

Hudson is considered a habitual offender in Vermont, meaning he has at least three prior felony convictions on his record. Habitual offenders are subject to a possible life sentence if found guilty of a fourth felony. Hudson has plea deal convictions for aggravated domestic assault and impeding a public officer in 2020. He also has a plea conviction of aggravated assault from 2012.

At about 2:30 p.m., Juror #1 let the jury officer know he was concerned about another juror in the case. After dismissing the rest of the jury, McDonald-Cady asked Juror #1 what happened. The male juror told the judge that Juror #8, sitting right in front of him, was turning around, smiling, and nodding during testimony. He said he was having difficulty concentrating on the case and had concerns about Juror #8 being "neurodivergent."

Im shaking just telling you this, Juror #1 told the judge.

McDonald-Cady took a brief recess and then asked both sides what they wanted to do. Bianchi did not have strong feelings either way, but Lamson said she was very concerned about both jurors being able to deliberate together. She also stated she was not requesting a mistrial at this point but felt both jurors should either be dismissed or made alternates.

McDonald-Cady decided to keep going but also brought the jury back to instruct them about decorum and not coming to premature conclusions in the case. She also vowed to keep an eye on Juror #8 and decided that both Juror #1 and #8 will be declared as the alternates when the case rests.

At the last minute, defense attorney Lamson asked for a mistrial on the grounds that, for the second time in the case, the victim alluded to a prior physical assault earlier in their relationship that was not part of allowed evidence. It was nearly the same issue that ended the first trial in November.

"Your Honor, the jury can't unhear that," Lamson told the judge. "We can't unring that bell. This should be a mistrial."

McDonald-Cady denied the motion for mistrial to the forceful objections of Lamson but told both sides she would instruct the jury to disregard any statements about prior altercations.

"This does not rise to the level of a mistrial," the judge said.

That ended the first day. Day two of the trial is set to begin Thursday morning.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Overcast. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Variably cloudy with snow showers. Low 28F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
BENNINGTON  Two felony cases seated juries Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of upcoming trials at the Bennington Courthouse beginning Wednesday morning.

In a two-day trial set to begin Wednesday, Byron Hudson, 51, faces a possible life sentence as a habitual offender, when he goes on trial on one count of aggravated domestic assault in the first degree for an incident in September 2023 in which he allegedly choking a victim during a family sleepover in front of children.

Hudson allegedly left the premises for a brief time before returning to the residence to continue the attack. He faces a possible life sentence as a habitual offender after being convicted on three other felony charges: an aggravated domestic assault in 2020, an aggravated assault in 2012, and a breaking and entering in 1994.

A mistrial in the case was declared in November 2023. This will be the second attempt at a verdict.

Corey Cass, 51, goes on trial for three days starting Jan. 30 and ending Feb. 2. He is charged with an ongoing aggravated sexual assault with a child younger than 13 between 2013 and 2015.

According to a police affidavit, the victim told a mental health worker that Cass sexually abused them numerous times over the course of two years. Cass faces a possible life sentence in the case if found guilty at trial with not less than 10 years as a minimum sentence.
BENNINGTON  A young, homeless man who was working at Hannaford supermarket in Bennington was arraigned Tuesday at the Bennington Courthouse on three counts related to a stolen vehicle  a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck he allegedly stole in Albany in September, and was living in with his girlfriend.

Odanni Sori, 24, is charged with a felony aggravated vehicle operation without owner consent, felony possession of stolen property over $900, and misdemeanor giving false information to a police officer. He faces a maximum combined 11 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.

According to a police affidavit, Sori was driving a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado valued at roughly $30,000 Monday evening with expired, stolen Vermont plates from a different vehicle, and a suspended Pennsylvania drivers license. While speaking to police officers from the Bennington Police Department, Sori allegedly told them that the plates were given to him by his girlfriend which originally belonged to her stepfather. The plates legally belonged to a female in Bennington with no ties to Sori. Sori then told the officer that he was having a hard time registering the vehicle because he was homeless.

While speaking to Sori, police noticed the vehicles VIN was covered with black tape. When they checked the VIN through dispatch, it came up as stolen out of Albany, N.Y, in September. Sori then told police he purchased the truck from an app called Offer Up for $6,000. Police contacted Albany police, who informed them that the vehicle's owner met Sori on the app. According to the owner, Sori came to test drive the car and never returned.

Police also spoke with the defendants girlfriend, who told them she was unsure where Sori got the truck. An officers bodycam caught the couple discussing the alleged crime prior to the registration check, with the girlfriend reportedly stating, We already know this is grand theft auto. The girlfriend also told police that they purchased the vehicle a few months ago after Sori had already informed the officers that hed bought it last week. Police interviewed Sori at the police station soon after he was arrested, where he allegedly confessed to taking off with the vehicle.

At the Bennington court, Prosecutor Robert Plunkett requested a continuance of the $10,000 cash bail on Sori after his arrest because of the flight risk he poses. Plunkett stated that Sori has no ties to Vermont whatsoever except for a brief employment at Hannaford, and does not have a home address. He also announced that charges against Soris girlfriend were currently pending, calling them, partners in crime.

Defense attorney Frederick Bragdon countered by telling Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady that Sori was not a flight risk because he confessed to police soon after he was arrested, that he was indeed homeless  making little money at Hannaford  and that Sori and his girlfriend were living full time in the stolen truck.

Theres no way he can afford a $10,000 cash bail, your honor.

Judge McDonald-Cady decided on a $2,000 cash or surety bond, saying that there was a risk of flight in the case, with Sori not having a home to possibly curfew him to or any responsible adult to ensure he comes to court.

The place they were staying in is not a place they can stay anymore, Judge McDonald-Cady said.

Sori was then led out of the courthouse in handcuffs.

There have been numerous reports of people living inside their vehicles in and around Bennington in recent months. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Vermont has the highest rate of unsheltered homeless in the United States. About six in ten of the people experiencing homelessness in 2023 had some access to emergency shelters, while the remainder were unsheltered, which includes those sleeping on the streets, in vehicles, in abandoned buildings, and in wooded areas.

Adjusting for population, those figures come out to about 43.1 people for every 10,000 residents, the second most among the 50 states. Of those experiencing homelessness in Vermont, a reported 98.4 percent were unsheltered, the highest share among the states.

Sori is scheduled for a status hearing on Jan. 23. He has no criminal record in Vermont, Pennsylvania, or New York, according to a preliminary court check and attorneys involved in the case. It is unclear as of press time if he made bail.
A recent commentary by Reps. Rebecca Holcombe of Norwich, Erin Brady of Williston and Monique Priestley of Bradford, while making a few fair points about the rising cost of education, unfortunately ended with inflammatory rhetoric about independent schools and the Vermont style of school choice that has provided amazing opportunities for generations of students in rural Vermont ("Rising education spending driven by state-level problems," Dec. 16). The thrust of this argument is that students from rural parts of Vermont are driving up taxes because they attend independent schools. These three representatives then assert that our students are served by an uncontrolled, poorly regulated voucher system. We are compelled to set the record straight.

First, Vermont does not have an education voucher system. A voucher system, like we see in some other states, is one where a school district operates a public school, while also providing an option for families to withdraw their children and take a voucher to another school. This voucher has the effect of draining resources from the local public school. But, under Vermont law, families have no entitlement to tuition payments from their school district if the district operates a public school. In rural parts of Vermont, a number of school districts do not operate public schools for some or all grades. In these rural areas without public schools, school districts can pay tuition for students to attend independent schools, such as Burr & Burton Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy and others. Often, public schools located in operating towns are only peripherally available  if at all  to these rural areas. They are not a viable alternative. Independent schools fill the gaps.

Second, this is not an uncontrolled, poorly regulated system that is driving up taxes for the rest of Vermont. As a benchmark, Hanover High School, the out-of-state public school serving students from Norwich, has the highest tuition rate of any high school paid by Vermont taxpayers  $23,598. By comparison, the Taconic & Green School District, which serves parts of Bennington, Windham and Windsor counties and is served by independent high schools, pays a tuition rate of $19,987 to Vermont independent schools  a savings of $3,600 per student that benefits all Vermont taxpayers.

Unlike public schools, Vermonts independent schools require approval and re-approval by the State Board of Education at least once every five years, and they must demonstrate compliance with strict regulations laid out in statute and in rules promulgated by the State Board of Education. This includes compliance with anti-discrimination rules that protect vulnerable students and staff, including our LGBTQ+ community.

In addition to complying with stringent regulations, Vermonts independent schools are held accountable to the highest standards of all  the need for the support of families and local school districts. Independent schools survive only when they deliver high quality education, for the simple fact that families can exercise a choice of where to send their children. And if the availability and quality of independent school options is not meeting the needs of the community, the local voters always have the power to end tuition payments by building and maintaining their own public schools.

Of course, the construction of several new public schools across rural parts of Vermont, for which the authors appear to advocate, would not be without considerable expense to Vermont taxpayers. Where would that money come from? This takes us to a powerful truth often ignored by those attacking the extraordinary opportunities independent schools provide for rural students. Independent schools are not eligible for state construction aid and, therefore, fund their capital construction and improvement programs on their own, resulting in huge savings to Vermont taxpayers. These avoided costs result in increased state bonding capacity available to meet the overwhelming capital improvement needs currently faced by so many of our public schools. It cannot possibly make sense to require the construction of new schools in areas that are already so well served by the current system.

Finally, contrary to erroneous claims made by our colleagues, Vermonts four historic academies were never public schools. These academies were incorporated as non-public, non-profit entities and have operated as such since their founding in the 19th century. In fact, some of them pre-date the arrival of public education. While a number of other historic academies voluntarily converted from non-public non-profit entities to public schools (Leland & Gray Seminary for example), the remaining four historic academies made the decision to forego this transition and have remained independent throughout their history.

While the authors advocate for a ubiquitous, one size fits all system, we suspect most people recognize that just because something is different doesnt make it something we need to kill. Over the course of the last 200 years, rural parts of Vermont have developed a rich mosaic of options for their children, often public in some grades and independent in others. That mosaic provides extraordinary opportunities for our children at the same time we have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of construction dollars. The system deserves to be celebrated, not demonized.
As the morning sun glints through the trees on New Years Day, I bundle up, grab my binoculars and take to the road just as the birds are beginning to sing.

Little brown jobs flit from shrub to bush and back again. A few land near the edge of the road and pick and peck in the dried shriveled weeds. As I come closer they fly a little farther away, some flashing white tail feathers. I watch the jumble of juncoes and find a few white-throated sparrows amid the feeding flock.

Blue jays shriek, goldfinches fly over singing potato-chip, potato-chip. The pair of ravens Ive seen every morning croak to one another as they soar above the pine trees. Mourning doves audibly lift off from farther along the road, disturbing a treeful of silhouetted robins. Chickadee, titmice and both nuthatches abound. The Carolina wren trills from within the tangle of honeysuckle where it has resided all fall.

Soon the woods are quiet as if all the birds were called away at once. By the pond, I see a trio of Canada geese by the edge of the water. On the power line is a quartet of bluebirds, I watch as each one swoops to the ground and then back up again to perch on the wire.

I continue along and hear the second Carolina wren. These two have been hunkered down in their selected habitats about a mile apart. Then, all of a sudden, a ruffed grouse flies from one side of the road to the other, not 10 feet in front of me. A ruffed grouse! A bird I used to see and hear regularly on my walks until about 12 years ago when they completely disappeared.

The ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus, is an easy to identify bird, whether hes displaying that dark ruff around the neck that looks like part of a Jacobean costume, or not. Or even if you are not observing the bird, it makes its presence known with that amazing drumming created by beating its wings. No other bird does this. Other species make drumming sounds but usually thats from the throat or, if a woodpecker, with the beak.

Early on, different ornithologists could see it was not a throat/mouth vocalization, but a sound created by the beating of its wings. Some thought the bird beats it wings faster and faster hitting its sides, some thought its wings were hitting its cocked tail, and others thought it was just beating air. Watch a video and you will see that the bird is rotating its wings back and forth, not touching the body, faster and faster, sounding very much like a starting motor.

This gallinaceous bird, related to quail and pheasants, is about the size of a crow, but much plumper which makes it great for the plate. In the 19th century, grouse were known as the king of all upland game birds. The plumage is a mottled riot of brown, beige and sepia with small black and white stripes, streaks and dots, from that pert crest atop its head to the broad tail which is prominently edged with a large black stripe and a narrow white stripe. Excellent camouflage as it trots along the forest floor, with crumbled dead leaves, withered ferns, pine needles and downed twigs.

Look as I may at the place where the bird landed, I can see nothing. Mr. Grouse must have quickly walked deeper into the woods, surprisingly not making a sound. But how wonderful to see that grouse are still dwelling along my road. I walk to the end of the road and come across a small flitter of American tree sparrows near the swamp. This too is a pleasant surprise for I havent seen this species here (not even at our feeders) in ages, though we regularly see them on the Central Berkshire Christmas Count.

As I return, I come across a pair of hunters  a camouflage-clothed man and his grandson  sitting in a truck near the marsh. We talk. This is the last day of the black powder season and theyve been out looking for deer. No luck today, he says, but he and his family have harvested plenty this winter.

I hesitate to mention the nearby grouse, but I do. He tells me that there is this one grouse when he is hunting or timbering back in the nearby woods that is so tame that when the hunter is resting, sitting on a log, feet up, the bird comes over to him and rubs up against the sole of his boot. Sometimes the bird follows him as he is stalking deer.

Curious: Years ago when birding at the DAR State Park near Northampton, I had the same experience  a grouse following Danny and me as we birded along the trail. My Mr. Grouse tried very hard to climb into the front seat with me as we were leaving. (See: The Tamest Grouse in the East, The Berkshire Eagle, Nov. 1, 2012) Alas, as I wrote in this article, when we met a fellow hiker, we told her about this bird that might follow her through the woods. Her dog came bounding up from behind her carrying the limp grouse in its mouth. Abashedly, she explained that she tried, but could not stop the dog from snatching up the bird.

So sad. I did find that this phenomenon of a grouse being overwhelmingly friendly to one particular person has been reported many times in the literature over the last few centuries. Grouse sitting on laps, grouse riding tractors with his chosen "mate," grouse coming into the house and settling at his friends feet. Which of course makes them easy targets for gunners.

In fact, the ruffed grouse was known to the colonists here in New England and Canada as the "fool hen" for these birds were often sitting ducks, well, targets. One gunner wrote that if there were five grouse on separate branches, start with the lowest one and one can pick them off going from the lowest to the highest and bag all five. Some of these birds unwisely do not fear the sound of a gun, nor people wandering through their woods. Others, more wary, quietly trot away without making a sound and disappear as they blend into the background.

The next day, as I am reading the New York Times, I turn the page and there is an article about this very thing: Why Mister Grouse is the Friendliest Bird in the Forest, by Ashley Stimpson. A team of researchers from Pennsylvania State University is looking to explain why the grouse population of the state is decreasing. They found a genetic anomaly called a chromosomal inversion which occurs when a segment of DNA breaks off and reattaches in reverse order. Results of this happening often alter a birds appearance or demeanor. Is the grouse's tame behavior related to this?

Not that ruffed grouse do not already have odd behavior. They are clunky flyers; live, nest and breed mostly on the forest floor; have a peculiar method of "drumming" when standing on a mound or log to attract attention; live on shoots, roots and the occasional insect; grow "snowshoes" in winter; and sleep in snowbanks. And then there are those that crave human companionship.

The Pennsylvania team called for instances of grouse that have adopted humans and captured some to study their DNA. No results yet. But how fitting that the team of scientists are from Pennsylvania where the ruffed grouse is the state bird.
Massachusetts is planning to shutter MCI-Concord, the state's oldest prison for men, as it continues to see a drop in the prison population statewide.
Gov. Healey said she won't rule out the need to house additional migrant families in the Berkshires Governor Maura Healey said during a visit to Pittsfield Tuesday that while the number of people requesting emergency shelter in the state has decreased, she cant rule out the need to house additional families in the Berkshires as part of the states right to shelter law.

During a recent visit to Pittsfield, Gov. Maura Healey did not rule out the need to house additional migrant families in the Berkshires as the state continues to see an influx of asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants.

The governor also thanked the Berkshire hotels, community organizations and faith groups who helped put a roof over migrant families heads as part of the states emergency housing assistance program. A group of 19 families is being sheltered at a hotel in Great Barrington and 35 families are sheltered at a hotel in Pittsfield, according to the latest data from the state from Dec. 28.

Were thankful for those organizations, too. Their responsiveness and cooperation makes it possible for our commonwealth to live up to Massachusetts right to shelter law as well as the quintessentially American ethic of embodying the shining city on a hill for the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Nearly all of the 84 people now being sheltered in Pittsfield and Great Barrington hotels originate from Haiti, where dysfunction, corruption and crisis have churned since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

For nearly a year, Massachusetts has been grappling with a sustained increase in migrant families seeking haven and shelter within the state. Just under half of the families in the states emergency shelter system are migrants, many of them refugees or asylum-seekers. The Berkshires can and should do its fair share to shoulder the practical burden of upholding the principles written in the states shelter law and etched in the foundation of the Statue of Liberty. In return, a real way for Gov. Healey to show her gratitude to the region and help this process go as smoothly as possible is to prioritize transparency with the local organizations helping with this effort and the communities they call home.

Our Opinion: MCLA leaders have some transparency, communication lessons to learn from shelter plan fiasco As of this week, it looks like the proposed homeless shelter in an empty Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts dorm is now off the table. While that ends this intense community debate in North Adams, this saga still holds some hard lessons for MCLA leaders  if they're willing to learn.

What we dont want to see is a repeat of the fiasco that unfolded when a shelter plan at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts was forwarded and nearly undertaken with alarmingly little regard for and input from the surrounding Northern Berkshire community. Some might reflect on that controversy and draw the erroneous conclusion that Berkshire County is unable and unwilling to do its part in the states plans to humanely but practically deal with a straining shelter system and an influx of migrant families. The real conclusion to draw, however, is that communication and transparency should be key in these pressing but sensitive matters. We took MCLA leadership to task for failing that duty to be transparent with its surrounding community, but we also critiqued the Healey administration as well for being too tight-lipped about the contours and expectations of that plan.

Again, thats not a shot across the Healey administrations bow for seeking to house some of the states shelter-seeking population in the Berkshires. Its a plea to not make the same mistake that was made in the Berkshire Towers proposal. After the states emergency shelter system hit its cap back in November, about 1,400 families have applied for waitlist placement and nearly 400 families have been deemed eligible and placed on the list. If and when Berkshire communities and organizations are asked to step up and help the commonwealth shoulder this burden by housing more families in hotels or elsewhere, we urge Gov. Healey to live up to her pledges to be a leader that prioritizes transparency and responsiveness to her Western Massachusetts constituents. Be real and be clear with our communities in terms of whats expected and for how long. Compared to other corners of the commonwealth closer to Boston, Berkshire County and other rural regions in Western Mass. have considerably less social infrastructure, from public transit access to social service and mental health providers, which can make it harder on both host communities and those in need of shelter if theyre placed without proper communication and preparation. The more folks are kept in the dark about the process, the more likely there is to be a backlash that could prove not only unproductive but divisive. Help us help your administration deal with this sustained issue that isnt going away any time soon by being upfront with the Berkshire communities and organizations who have taken up this burden and others that might in the near future.

One way to alleviate some of the pressure on the shelter system while helping to acclimate migrant families in a way that makes good economic sense is getting work permits to those in the system. Gov. Healey has wisely pushed for this, and has had some success in lobbying the federal government to speed up the allowance of work permits. From the 3,525 migrant families in the states emergency shelter system, more than 2,700 people have received work authorizations as of earlier this week. Thats a good start, but more can be done on this low-hanging fruit measure that the Biden administration should prioritize to help Massachusetts and other states grapple with an influx of migrants, nearly all of whom simply wish to work hard and live peacefully in America. Given the big gaps in service sector employment despite exceptionally low overall unemployment, we should welcome that. And it would further disprove knee-jerk reactionaries fatuous characterization that migrants are lazy leeches. Some will still lodge the opposite complaint that theyre taking all our jobs. But the reality is that the service sector jobs that many migrants could fill (which would hopefully help them transfer their families out of the buckling shelter system) arent being filled by anyone right now, native-born or otherwise.

The Berkshires can and should do its part to help mitigate the states shelter crisis. But federal and state leaders must do their part, too  which means accelerating work authorizations and centering transparency, respectively.
The school my children attended had students of many different religions, as well as students with no religious background. In thinking about what makes Christianity unique from other religions, it is important to respect the religious beliefs of others that are different from our own. We should also take the opportunity to listen, dialogue, and learn about other religions.

All religions are concerned about the relationship of human beings with that which is spiritual. It can seem like the similarities end there. Even the nature of belief in the divine can vary from one God to many gods, from that which is holy to the eternal essence or ultimate divine reality. But we can find common ground in the general revelation of other religions  such as doing good unto others, the concept of love, moral behavior, and belief in an afterlife.

Here, I want to focus on four aspects of Christianity that make it unique and stand out from other world religions.

1. Gods Plan of Salvation

The Bible gives Gods plan of salvation for saving sinful human beings from death and reconciling them unto Himself. This is accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some well-known verses sum up Gods plan of salvation:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).

These verses remind us that salvation is a gift from God. God gave His all  His beloved Son  and initiated our deliverance and rescue out of His goodness and love. Salvation is Gods work, through Jesus Christ, and is offered by His grace.

2. We Cannot Save Ourselves

In Christianity, nothing we do can save us. We cannot stand before God on personal merit. We are not rewarded with eternal bliss based on how we live our lives. We cannot achieve perfection on our own. Right practice, or taking personal responsibility to follow the right path, does not help our spiritual state. Obedience in our actions does not get us to heaven.

Titus 3:5a says He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

The Bibles story of redemption tells us how human beings are unable to please God; to do enough to live by Gods holy and righteous standards. We see this, in particular, in the Mosaic covenant of the Old Testament. Redemption of humanity is through Jesus Christ with the guarantee that we are saved by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of Godnot by works, so that no one can boast."





Photo credit: Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages

3. God Comes to Us

Christianity is unique in that God comes to human beings. Christian theologian John Stott, in his book Basic Christianity says In the Bible we do not see man groping after God, we see God reaching after man. It is not what we think, do, or experience that gets us to God.

Gods action of not only coming down into the world, but saving humanity, is seen in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Stott continues, The Christian good news is not confined to a declaration that God has spoken. It also affirms that God has acted. God has taken the initiative in both these ways because of the character of mans need. For we are not only ignorant; we are sinful. It is not sufficient therefore that God should have revealed himself to us to dispel our ignorance. He must also take action to save us from our sins.

In Christianity, God in His mercy reconciles human beings to himself through the work of Jesus Christ.

Even within Christianity we can fall into the trap of believing that rituals, high ethical standards, and right practice help us earn our way into Gods presence. Yet all that is required is faith. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. And: It [Gods choice] does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on Gods mercy (Romans 9:15-16).

4. The Incarnation of Christ

Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be the way to God and the exact representation of God the Father. In Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God  fully human and fully God. Hebrews 1:3a says The Son is the radiance of Gods glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. No other central figure in a world religion has claimed to be God.

When Philip, one of Jesus disciples, asked show us the Father, Jesus replied: Dont you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? (John 14:9).

As theologian David Wells says: Christ has been seen as unique. He was the only incarnation of God in human flesh, who died for us on the cross. He did what no one else could do or has done: He bore our sins and rose again for our justification. There was no one else like him in his time, and there is no one else like him in ours. He was and is unique without rival, peer, equal, or comparison. He is in a category by himself. He is Godthe incarnate and sovereign Lord.

Christianity is the only faith with an empty grave, whose leader came back from the dead and walked and talked with his followers.

Without the incarnation of God in the flesh and Jesus Christs resurrection from the dead, we would not have Christianity, or our restoration to God and eternal life. Jesus said: I am the one who brings people back to life, and I am life itself. Those who believe in me will live even if they die (John 11:25).

The uniqueness of Christianity and the claims made by Jesus himself will make others feel uncomfortable, and even annoyed. They are controversial in our religiously diverse society. Yet, the Bible is clear that salvation is freely available to all people who believe that Jesus Christ took on humanitys sin so we might be reconciled with God for eternity.

Related: Listen to Our FREE New Parenting Podcast! Christian Parent/Crazy World with Catherine Segars is now available on LifeAudio.com.

Photo credit: Getty Images/VectorMine
In November last year, Scopen announced the top three marketers. Now the full Top 10 have been shared.

Image supplied. Scopen has announced SAs top 10 most admired marketing professionals

The top 10 most admired marketing professionals in South Africa:

Khensani Nobanda, Nedbank

Sydney Mbhele, Absa

Vaughan Croeser, ABInBev

Doug Place, Nandos

Nontokozo Madonsela, Momentum/Metropolitan

Firoze Bhorat, Discovery

Thulani Sibeko, previously Standard Bank

Chantal Sombonos-Van Tonder, Chicken Licken

Abey Mokgwatsane, Investec

Sadika Fakir, Absa



My congratulations go to these top 10 marketing professionals. While accolades from industry bodies are always welcome, theres little to beat a jury of your peers naming you their top-rated professionals, says president and CEO of Scopen Global, Cesar Vacchiano.

He adds, In naming the most admired marketing professionals as rated by both marketer and agency professionals, I must highlight that this was entirely spontaneous, with no prompting whatsoever from researchers.

Information included in Agency Scope 23-24 covers companies noted for their marketing initiatives, and campaigns that achieved peer recognition, including the best marketing campaign as well as the best agency to work for and the most ideal client to work with.

Valuable data for all sectors of the industry

In response to the immense interest around the upcoming Agency Scope 2023/2024 results, Vacchiano says: The excitement for the 23/24 Agency Scope results has been more than heartening to note, with 315 marketers interviewed, representing 220 brands compared to 235 interviews across 158 brands in 2021  a marked increase in participation.

He adds that the 200 agency professionals interviewed, comprising 155 creative and 45 media agencies along with 16 media owners solidifies Agency Scope as among the most valuable data for all sectors of our industry.

During his time in South Africa, Vacchiano presented confidential reports to some of the agencies that had already subscribed to the study, giving local and global insights into what the countrys top marketers think about several issues and how this drives industry change and growth.

More presentations to agencies will take place in the coming months.
It has been announced that work partners of 27 years and co-CEOs of VMLY&R for the past five years, Jarred Cinman and Diane Wilson, have been named as CEO of VML South Africa and VMLs chief operations officer respectively.

L to R: VML has named Diane Wilson chief operations officer, Jarred Cinman its CEO and the WPP country manager for South Africa, Tebogo Skwambane as executive chairperson. Images supplied. Image by @Lesley Svenson, Bizcommunity.

In October last year, WPP announced a major evolution in its offering to clients with the global merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R.

Operational from 1 January 2024, the combined entity, known as VML, will be the industrys largest creative company and has entered the South African market with offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

VML South Africa's clients include leading brands such as Vodacom, Standard Bank, BMW, Nestle, Unilever, Hollard, Nandos, and SA Tourism, among many others.

VML leadership team

Cinman will report to Ewen Sturgeon, CEO of VML EMEA, who has expressed delight that Cinman and Wilson will be leading the VML brand in South Africa.

Their client-centric focus, inclusive leadership style and forward-thinking approach to innovation and technology will ensure we create a thriving business and that our clients are offered the very best across Brand Experience, Customer Experience and Commerce.

On his appointment and the next steps for the business, Cinman comments, Its a great honour to be able to lead such an ambitious, skilled and technologically savvy new agency.

Along with Di and the rest of the leadership team, we have an ambition to be the best agency on the continent  period.

That means rising to the top of the creative rankings, delivering the most effective work, and making culturally resonant and purposeful communication, commerce and experiences.

I really believe that the new VML has everything clients want and need from a creative partner.

Investing into people

The secret to successful integration is bringing together the right calibre of leaders and focusing on the right things, says Cinman.

We have, between the two legacy businesses, many of the best people in the industry on our team. And our focus is on our culture, our clients and the work. This is a chance to level up for both organisations and there is a palpable sense of possibility in the corridors, he adds.

Wilson says their first big investment is in people and that they are thrilled to be welcoming Fran Luckin as our new CCO in a few weeks, as announced at the end of last year.

Creativity is a product of talent and experience, and Fran has the perfect combination of these qualities. With her leading our creative teams, Im looking forward to seeing VML shine brightly in the creative advertising space.

Tebogo Skwambane, who also holds the position of WPP country manager for South Africa, and will continue in that role, has been announced as executive chairperson.

Skwambane brings a wealth of knowledge in organisational design, integration and commercial acumen, says Wilson

She adds that Skwambanes background in consulting will be key to helping them build the new organisation and operating model. She will play an active and vital role as we define our path ahead.

Avron Berkman will become the chief finance officer for the business.

A leader at the forefront of digital

A leader in South Africas agency landscape for three decades, and someone who has been at the forefront of digital evolution in the industry, Cinman started and led South Africas first digital agency in the 1990s.

Wilson joined shortly thereafter. Together the pair co-founded and led Cambrient and then Native, which ultimately became VMLY&R South Africa.

Under Wilson and Cinmans leadership, VMLY&R South Africa won heavy-hitting accounts, such as Vodacom, and numerous awards, both locally and internationally  including two silver Effie Awards, Seven Smarties Awards (six of them gold), and Agency of the Year at the New Generation Awards in 2023, as well as three Effie Awards, plus four Cannes Lions Awards in 2022.

Miles Murphy, CEO of Wunderman Thompson South Africa, has decided to use the opportunity of the merger with VMLY&R to move on to the next stage of his professional career.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has denied allegations made against him by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, 8 January.

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande

OUTA called for the minister's resignation on 4 January in a press announcement, saying that it released voice recordings of two meetings between the chairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board Ernest Khosa and Nzimande that supposedly reveal how service providers allegedly paid millions of rands in kickbacks to them, as well as at least R1m to the South African Communist Party (SACP). "This was done in return for tenders and protection for service providers," OUTA said.

I wish to dismiss the baseless insinuation by OUTA, some organisations, including some sections of the media, that I as minister was involved in some form of corruption at NSFAS. These are all lies that emanate from a malicious fightback campaign. My conscience is clear, and I have nothing to hide or fear.

As stated in my statement on 5 January, I reserve my rights to take the necessary legal action and I have voluntarily decided that I am going to subject myself to the relevant legal processes and ethics bodies of the African National Congress (ANC) and the SACP, the minister said.

Nzimande said that the leaked recordings are part of a nefarious fight-back campaign that is meant to undermine and frustrate the decision of the NSFAS board to start with the legal proceedings to terminate the contracts of four direct payment solution service providers.

He said the publishing of the report and leaking of the recordings were calculated to disrupt the start of the academic year and had no regard for the plight and well-being of poor and working-class students.

The recordings

OUTA said the recordings were leaked by a whistleblower and were created after the NSFAS board resolved on 16 August 2023 that the CEO, Andile Nongogo, was to be placed on special leave while a board-ordered investigation into his conduct was being undertaken.

"At the time of the meeting, the boards decision hasnt been made public yet. The investigation followed another OUTA report detailing Nongogos relationship with the directors of Coinvest, one of the NSFAS direct payment service providers, that could be traced back to Nongogos tenure as CEO of the Services SETA (SSETA)," OUTA said.
The Competition Commissions rand manipulation case has reached a decisive turning point this week as The Competition Appeals Court (CAC) dismissed a probe into four banks accused of engaging in rigged trades involving the rand/dollar pair. This, on the basis that it lacked jurisdiction to prosecute certain international banks and claims of insufficient evidence.

Source: 123RF.

The four financial entities contesting the allegations were BNP Paribas, JP Morgan Chase Bank, HSBC Bank PCC, and Credit Suisse Securities.

This brings to a head an eight-year inquiry into the matter in which the Competition Commission launched an investigation into 28 banks - both South African and international - for alleged price fixing involving the rand.

Covering the period from 2007 to 2013, the commission asserted that multiple banks had engaged in manipulating bid prices, offers, and bid-offer spreads concerning spot trades involving rand currency pairs.

It claimed that traders from competing banks communicated frequently and regularly while participating in transactions involving USD-ZAR currency pairs through online chat terminals. Consequently, purchasers of rands would pay prices artificially inflated, while sellers would execute sales at artificially reduced prices.

The commission claimed that the manipulation had repercussions on the exchange rate of the South African Rand. This, in turn, had wide-ranging effects on various facets of the South African economy, including imports and exports, foreign direct investment, public- and private debt, and the financial health of companies. South African workers would have ultimately carried the burden of the manipulation of the rand through retrenchments and lower salaries.

Moreover, the commission estimated the manipulated foreign-exchange trades at R1tn, and claimed involvement by banks, including Standard Bank, Barclays Africa (now Absa), BNP Paribas South Africa, Investec Ltd, and Citigroup.

Manipulated forex trades unveiled

The CACs decision comes on the back of Standard Chartered's admission of rand manipulation in November last year, which saw the British multinational lender break ranks and take responsibility for its involvement in the cartel.

At the time Standard Chartered expressed its commitment to co-operate with investigators and assist the Competition Commission in uncovering the depth of the malpractice.

Furthermore, Standard Chartered Bank agreed to pay South African authorities R43m for its part in the scandal.

"The ruling by the Competition Appeal Commission dismissing the case against the majority of the 28 banks accused of colluding to manipulate the rand highlights an alarming lack of transparency within the banking sector and raises serious concerns about the efficacy of regulatory oversights," says Harry Scherzer, chief executive officer of Future Forex.

"It is highly concerning to see the likes of FNB, Standard Bank, and Nedbank being let off the hook due to a lack of direct evidence when Standard Charter has already been fined for their wrongdoing and many other international- and local banks are still being questioned."

"Market manipulation of this scale is likely to involve most, if not all, of South Africa's major banks, so it feels like a real let-off, and it's likely due to the size of the legal teams of these banks."

Scherzer said the public deserves transparency and confidence in the financial system.

"Decisions like these erode the trust that citizens place in the banking system as well as the regulatory bodies that govern them."

In a media statement released by the Competition Commission on Wednesday, 10 January 2024, the commission said it notes the judgment by the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) handed down on 8 January 2024 following appeals, review- and dismissal applications brought by 23 of the respondent banks against the decision of the Competition Tribunal dated 30 March 2023.

"The Commission is currently considering the judgment and consulting its legal team before deciding on the next course of action," it said.

*This article was originally published on 9 January 2024, and updated on 10 January 2024 and 11 January 2024 .
As 2024 kicks off, the business landscape in South Africa is gearing up for significant transformations in the coming year and beyond. In an era where change is the only constant (and the pace of it is lightning-fast), agility is key. As the business landscape evolves, all businesses need to be prepared to adapt and refine their strategies to navigate unpredictable times.

Precious Nala is the founder of NXT Consultancy. Source: Supplied.

So, its time to activate your proactive mindset and get ready for the five marketing and business trends that South African businesses should prioritise in 2024:

1. Megatrend: Solutions for remote work

Remote work is a global megatrend that is changing work culture and the corporate landscape. As such, coming up with effective solutions to accommodate remote working is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. I believe that businesses must invest in flexible work arrangements and digital collaboration tools to attract top talent and remain competitive in the global arena.

2. Market-wide macro trend: digital transformation

Digital transformation affects how businesses function and compete in the digital age in various industries. It is a macro-level movement that has been impacting the broader business landscape for the better part of the decade. As technology evolves, businesses embracing digital transformation will likely have a competitive edge. This could involve integrating advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and data analytics into various aspects of the business.

3. Another macro trend: sustainability and social responsibility

Sustainability and social responsibility are not just buzzwords; they are macro trends shaping customer expectations and market dynamics. Consumers are becoming more conscious, and businesses that prioritise sustainability and social responsibility are likely to resonate with this growing market segment. Practical initiatives could involve adopting eco-friendly practices, supporting social causes, and transparently communicating these efforts to customers.

These days, supporting NPOs/NGOs goes beyond philanthropy; it's an investment in sustainable development and ethical business practices. Businesses aligning with these organisations make a positive impact on society while representing an expanded dedication to sustainable development and ethical business practices.

4. Marketing industry micro-trends

Offering e-commerce and having an online presence are no longer just options; they are prerequisites for business survival, especially in sectors where digital sales and visibility dictate success. Customers also expect highly targeted marketing personalisation (tailored to their behaviours and preferences) in their online interactions, meaning that:

a) businesses need to be online

b) and make sure that theyre showing up in the right way for their customers

5: AI: the make or break factor

AI is the linchpin for marketers in 2024. Marketers who use AI for data-driven insights, personalisation, and automation will reap the benefits. Those who fail to adapt and adopt, on the other hand, may face competitive disadvantage, missed opportunities, and inefficient resource allocation.

Budgeting for success in 2024

With these trends in mind, how should South African marketers increase their budgets? Well, its difficult to determine the exact percentage increase for marketing budgets across the board because it depends on a variety of factors such as industry, business goals, and economic conditions. For example, if your business is undergoing or planning a digital transformation, its critical to invest an extensive portion of resources to fund these activities.
Morocco won a vote on Wednesday to lead the United Nations Human Rights Council after a heated showdown with South Africa, which said Rabat's human rights record made it unfit to preside over the body.

Delegates attend the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 11 September 2023. Reuters/Denis Balibouse/ File Photo

The Moroccan candidate, Ambassador Omar Zniber, received 30 votes, and his South African opponent, Ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi, secured 17 in a secret ballot in Geneva.

Prior to the vote, Nkosi told Reuters that Morocco was the "antithesis of what the council stands for" and said the country's election would undermine the body's credibility.

Morocco, in turn, accused South Africa and some other African states of undermining its efforts to hold the position, a prestigious but mostly symbolic post.

"The Kingdom's election, supported by a large number of countries around the globe in spite of Algeria's and South Africa's efforts to counter it, demonstrates the trust and the credibility inspired by Morocco's external actions...," the Moroccan foreign ministry said.

The vote marks a rare public dispute in the African group whose turn it was to lead the 47-member council. It normally strives to take decisions as a bloc.

The dispute in part revolves around Morocco's sovereignty claim over Western Sahara, where the Algeria-backed Polisario Front is seeking independence. Morocco has denied allegations of rights abuses against its opponents there.

As part of a broader strategy, Morocco has been courting countries, including African neighbours, to build support for its policies for the former Spanish territory.

It has failed to garner the support of South Africa, which helped organise an event to promote self-determination for the Sahrawi people in Geneva last year.

Rights groups say Morocco's new role should prompt it to safeguard human rights at the highest level.

"In particular, Morocco must refrain from intimidating or carrying out reprisals against human rights defenders engaging with the UN," said Tess McEvoy, the co-director of the New York office of the International Service for Human Rights advocacy group.

The UN Human Rights Council, which convenes several times a year, is the only intergovernmental global body designed to protect human rights worldwide. It can increase scrutiny of countries' human rights records and authorise probes.
A new year always brings fresh opportunities and hope, but together with that optimism comes the uncertainty of imminent change. In the banking and finance sector, fortunately, these changes tend to unfold more carefully and cautiously than in other sectors.

Alison Mellon, Knowledge and Learning Lawyer: Banking and Finance, and Thomas Erskine, Candidate Legal Practitioner, Bowmans

For a successful and prepared transition into 2024, we have highlighted some trends impacting the banking and finance sector from a legal perspective.

Transition financing

Green financing is fast becoming a focal point in the banking industry with Southern Africa, particularly given the ample renewable energy potential. This was evidenced recently through the approval of a $1bn loan from the World Bank to South Africa. The loan is for the promotion of long-term energy security and a low carbon transition.

Considering the sheer number and size of renewable energy projects required in this transition, it seems likely that sponsors of renewable energy projects will continue to look both locally and abroad for project financing.

Emphasis on climate change

The long-awaited Climate Change Bill was passed by the National Assembly in October 2023 and is progressing through the final stages of legislative assent. Once approved, this legislation establishes a comprehensive legal framework for the regulation of the impacts of climate change, with the ultimate overall goal to achieve net-zero by 2050.

Banks and financial institutions will be impacted too by the pending finalisation of the Prudential Authoritys draft guidance for banks and insurers on integrating climate risks into their governance and risk-management frameworks. The Prudential Authority released the guidance in early August 2023 and has received comments on it.

Moving off the grey list

South Africa continues to make progress in its reforms aimed at prosecuting money laundering and terrorist financing. The ultimate aim remains for the Financial Action Task Force to remove South Africas grey-listing status.

In latest developments, the Banking Association South Africa (Basa) and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), with the assistance of the Hawks, have established a forensic analysis centre aimed at improving the countrys capacity to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. There has also been a greater emphasis on reporting fraud and holding accountable those who do not report fraud.

Clarifying crypto

Introducing crypto regulations may play a significant role in whether South Africas grey-listing status is removed. Regulating crypto, though, is not primarily for FATF reasons  there is a need for greater harmonisation of the financial laws regulating cryptocurrencies, especially regarding exchange control regulations.

Implementing the two-pot system

The proposed changes to South Africas pension regime have been discussed extensively. The two-pot system envisages future contributions being allocated to a retirement pot (two-thirds of contributions) and a savings pot (one-third of contributions). Implementation is taking centre stage for financial institutions in 2024 with the proposed deadline of 1 March 2024.

Phasing out Jibar

The transition from the Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate (Jibar) to using the risk-free reference rate of the South African Rand Overnight Index Average (Zaronia) continues apace, despite the cessation date for Jibar looking to be fixed only in the coming years. The focus for 2024 is on the preparations for Zaronia including agreeing conventions for the calculation of Zaronia-linked loans, bonds and cash products, educating market participants on the cessation, and anticipating tough legacy issues.

Regional collaboration in the financial sector

The deployment of projects like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System and the African Exchanges Linkage Project indicate a push for regional collaboration in 2024 and beyond. These regional collaborations have the wider aims of supporting cross-border trading across Africa, and supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area, within the banking and finance sector.
More than half of the snow-monitoring sites incorporated in the report are posting snowpack totals that are the lowest or second-lowest on record

More than half of the snowpack monitoring sites used to measure the water supply for Montana watersheds are posting record-low accumulations, according to a report out this week.

Several basins in central Montana have one-third of their normal snow-water equivalent - a measurement of water in the snow. About half of all of the basins in the report, including the Upper Missouri, Flathead, and Up...
CNN has long been criticized by media analysts and journalists for its deference to the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in its coverage of the occupied Palestinian territories, and the cable network admitted days ago that it follows a protocol that could give Israeli censors influence over its stories.

A spokesperson for the network confirmed to The Intercept that its news coverage about Israel and Palestine is run through and reviewed by the CNN Jerusalem bureauwhich is subject to the IDF's censor.

The censor restricts foreign news outlets from reporting on certain subjects of its choosing and outright censors articles or news segments if they don't meet its guidelines.

Other news organizations often avoid the censor by reporting certain stories about the region through their news desks outside of Israel, The Intercept reported.

"The policy of running stories about Israel or the Palestinians past the Jerusalem bureau has been in place for years," the spokesperson told the outlet. "It is simply down to the fact that there are many unique and complex local nuances that warrant extra scrutiny to make sure our reporting is as precise and accurate as possible."

The spokesperson added that CNN does not share news copy with the censor and called the network's interactions with the IDF "minimal." But James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, said the IDF's approach to censoring media outlets is "Israel's way of intimidating and controlling news."

A CNN staffer who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity confirmed that the network's longtime relationship with the censor has ensured CNN's coverage of Israel's bombardment of Gaza and attacks in the West Bank since October 7 favors Israel's narratives.

"Every single Israel-Palestine-related line for reporting must seek approval from the [Jerusalem] bureauor, when the bureau is not staffed, from a select few handpicked by the bureau and senior managementfrom which lines are most often edited with a very specific nuance," the staffer said.

Jerusalem bureau chief Richard Greene announced it had expanded its review team to include editors outside of Israel, calling the new policy "Jerusalem SecondEyes." The expanded review process was ostensibly put in place to bring "more expert eyes" to CNN's reporting particularly when the Jerusalem news desk is not staffed.

In practice, the staff member told The Intercept, "'War-crime' and 'genocide' are taboo words. Israeli bombings in Gaza will be reported as 'blasts' attributed to nobody, until the Israeli military weighs in to either accept or deny responsibility. Quotes and information provided by Israeli army and government officials tend to be approved quickly, while those from Palestinians tend to be heavily scrutinized and slowly processed."

Meanwhile, reporters are under intensifying pressure to question anything they learn from Palestinian sources, including casualty statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health is run by Hamas, which controls Gaza's government. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said in October, as U.S. President Joe Biden was publicly questioning the accuracy of the ministry's reporting on deaths and injuries, that its casualty statistics have "proven consistently credible in the past."

Despite this, CNN's senior director of news standards and practices, David Lindsey, told journalists in a November 2 memo that "Hamas representatives are engaging in inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda... We should be careful not to give it a platform."

Another email sent in October suggested that the network aimed to present the Ministry of Health's casualty figures as questionable, with the News Standards and Practices division telling staffers, "Hamas controls the government in Gaza and we should describe the Ministry of Health as 'Hamas-controlled' whenever we are referring to casualty statistics or other claims related to the present conflict."

WHETHER REPORTING FROM the Middle East, the United States, or anywhere else across the globe, every CNN journalist covering Israel and Palestine must submit their work for review by the news organizations bureau in Jerusalem prior to publication...

https://t.co/TmgnlXncK0  Alice Rothchild, MD (@AliceRothchild) January 8, 2024

Newsroom employees were advised to "remind our audiences of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and mass murder and kidnap of Israeli civilians" on October 7.

At least 22,600 people have been confirmed killed in Gaza and 57,910 have been wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Thousands more are feared dead under the rubble left behind by airstrikes. In Israel, the death toll from Hamas' attack stands at 1,139.

Jim Naureckas, editor of the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, noted that the Israeli government is controlling journalists' reporting on Gaza as it's been "credibly accused of singling out journalists for violent attacks in order to suppress information."

"To give that government a heightened role in deciding what is news and what isn't news is really disturbing," he told The Intercept. Meanwhile, pointed out author and academic Sunny Singh, even outside CNN, "every bit of reporting on Gaza in Western media outlets has been given unmerited weight which not granted to Palestinian reporters."

"Western medianot just CNNhas been pushing Israeli propaganda all through" Israel's attacks, said Singh.


Defence Minister Rajnath Singh witnesses the signing of MoU of India and UK on bilateral international cadet exchange programme with the UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps, in London, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (Photo: PIB)

LONDON (PTI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in London on Monday for a three-day visit focusing on all aspects of the India-UK Defence Partnership and to hold high-level discussions covering a wide range of defence, security and industrial cooperation issues.



Singh is accompanied by a Ministry of Defence delegation comprised of senior officials from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Service Headquarters, Department of Defence, and Department of Defence Production.



Besides a bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, he is also expected to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary David Cameron.



During his visit, the Raksha Mantri will hold a bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Grant Shapps. They are expected to discuss a wide range of defence, security and industrial cooperation issues, the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi said in a pre-visit statement over the weekend.



Shri Rajnath Singh is also expected to call on UK Prime Minister Mr Rishi Sunak and hold a meeting with Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs Mr David Cameron. He will also interact with the CEOs and industry leaders of the UK Defence Industry and meet with the Indian community there, the statement added.



A ceremonial Guard of Honour, visits to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar memorials, a defence industry roundtable and community interactions with the Indian diaspora at Neasden Temple and India House are on the agenda during what is seen as a significant visit, given that the last Indian defence ministerial-level visit to the UK took place 22 years ago.



In substantive terms, the visit will seek to deepen military cooperation and defence industrial partnerships with the UK by building on the November 2023 Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting in Delhi at the level of Secretaries and the inaugural meeting of the 2+2 Foreign and Defence Dialogue at the level of Joint Secretaries in October 2023, says Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South and Central Asian Defence, Strategy and Diplomacy at the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).



The defence analyst believes that through the ministerial-level dialogue, the British government could seek to provide an enabling environment for British companies to pursue these objectives in India.



Also, with Indias and the UKs recent focus on the Indo-Pacific, there is a unique opportunity to bolster naval and maritime security cooperation with third countries in the western Indian Ocean region, including with Oman and Kenya, which host UK military and naval presence amidst a greater role and influence in the area by the Indian Navy, he noted.



The last visit by an Indian Defence Minister to the UK was by George Fernandes in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led BJP government back in January 2002.



A previously planned visit by Rajnath Singh to the UK in June 2022 was called off by the Indian side for protocol reasons, making this weeks tour a keenly watched one.




'Ugram' - the new indigenous assault rifle developed by DRDO. (Internet photo)

PUNE (PTI): 'Ugram', an assault rifle developed by the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) in collaboration with a private firm, was launched on Monday, officials said.



The weapon, developed at the Armament Research and Development Establishments (ARDE), the DRDO's Pune-based laboratory, is designed to meet the Indian Army's GSQR (General Staff Qualitative Requirement) of a rifle weighing less than four kg, said a release.



The operational prototype of the 7.62 x 51mm assault rifle was unveiled by Dr S V Gade, Director General (Armament & Combat Engineering Cluster) in the presence of A Raju, Director of ARDE.



Raju said this was a "monumental moment" for DRDO and ARDE. "We have been working on the design part of assault rifle for the last two-three years and with the help of Dvipa Armour India Ltd, we could realise this product in record time. This weapon is fully indigenous and matches international standards of similar calibre weapons," he was quoted as saying in the release.



Special care has been taken to ensure reliable functioning with the in-service ammunition, and steel construction of all critical components ensures "ruggedness and intuitive operations", as per the release.



"Prototypes were demonstrated to various senior officials from the Indian Army and the Minister of Home Affairs," it added.



The weapon will be subject to stringent trials by an independent expert committee before field user trials, the release said.


Some attacks by armed men, notably an audacious attack on a television station during a live broadcast, have shone a light on Ecuadors spiralling violence in the wake of an apparent recent prison escape.

The imprisoned leader of a drug gang mysteriously vanished from his cell in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Sunday, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency.

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The violence comes after Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, made his apparent escape.

He had been serving a 36-year sentence for murder, drug trafficking and other crimes.

When did criminal violence in Ecuador surge?

The recent surge in violence began in February 2021 with a massacre inside the countrys most violent prison, known as the Literol penitentiary.

It left at least 79 dead, and sparked a series of shocking episodes within the Ecuadorian prisons.

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Staff members sit on a street after they were evacuated from the TC television channel station after a group of armed men broke onto their set during a live broadcast (Cesar Munoz/AP)

In September of the same year, the nations worst prison massacre saw 116 inmates killed in a single prison, with several of them beheaded.

A total 18 clashes inside prisons have killed more than 450 people.

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According to authorities, disputes between gangs inside the prisons prompted the death in December of 2020 of a Los Choneros leader, Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias Rasquina, in an attempt to usurp his power.

This generated divisions among the local groups subsidiary to the gang, which are disputing control of territory to control drug distribution. Authorities say some of the gangs have ties to Mexicos Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Violence within the prisons walls has spread to the streets, with rampant kidnapping, murder, robbery and extortion that has made the country among the most violent in the region.

Last year was Ecuadors bloodiest in on record, with more than 7,600 murders that marked a surge from 4,600 in the prior year.

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What is the government doing to control the situation?

Ecuadors president Daniel Noboa, who took office on November 23rd, has promised to eradicate violence through his so-called Phoenix Plan, details of which he has not revealed to the public.

To face up to the crisis, Mr Noboa decreed a state of emergency and curfew on Monday, tasking police and armed forces with enforcing compliance.

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Soldiers patrol the perimeter of Inca prison (Dolores Ochoa/AP)

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It restricts the rights to move freely, to assemble and allows police entry into homes without a court order.

But the attack on TC Television elicited another decree, this time recognising that the country possesses an armed, domestic conflict and identifying more than a dozen organisations as terrorists and belligerent non-state actors.

These groups include the Choneros, Lobos, Tiguerones and Aguilas.

The decree also enabled the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralise the identified groups, while observing international humanitarian law.

What is causing the violence in Ecuador?

Authorities say the criminal violence started in the prisons, due to disputes between gangs for control of the penitentiaries, national and international drug smuggling routes and control of turf for the sale of drugs.

When the violence spread outside the prisons, it shattered the tranquillity of Ecuadorians daily lives and forced small- and medium-sized enterprises to shutter as they were overwhelmed by extortionists.

A helicopter flies over El Inca prison (Dolores Ochoa/AP)

Ecuadors former defence minister, Luis Hernandez, said that the TV studio episode is unprecedented and reveals that organised crime groups perceived the states weakness and that they could easily undertake actions to terrorise the state and send it into a state of panic.

Mr Hernandez supported the presidents decree recognising an armed conflict and allowing for the use of lethal force.

He added that Mr Noboa should send a clear message to the population to not submit to fear and chaos.
A Dublin man has been remanded in custody after gardai charged him with directing the activities of a crime group in Ireland and outside the State.

David Callaghan, 27, of Harelawn Park, Clondalkin, was arrested at a different address in west Dublin on Wednesday morning.

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It follows an investigation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

He was taken to Ronanstown Garda station and charged under section 71A of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 for directing the activities of a criminal organisation in and outside the State from April 2021 to February 2022.

Gardai then brought Mr Callaghan to appear before Judge David McHugh at Blanchardstown District Court.

Detective Garda Gavin Curran gave evidence that Mr Callaghan made no reply to the charge after caution and was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

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Detective Garda Curran added that due to the nature of the charge, Mr Callaghan would have to make a bail application in the High Court.

Defence solicitor Wayne Kenny said that was correct and confirmed that the District Court did not have jurisdiction.

Mr Callaghan, who has yet to indicate a plea, remained silent during the proceedings.

Detective Garda Curran also told the judge that there would be an application under the Bail Act section.

The cited section requires an accused to provide a full statement with personal information, including income and property ownership.

The judge noted the GNDOCB officer had put the defence on notice, and they would liaise with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The court heard the charge was a scheduled offence, but the ultimate trial venue was not specified during Wednesday's hearing.

No further evidence was given.

Judge McHugh remanded the accused to appear at Cloverhill District Court on Friday.
Police in the North have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot in the Greenan area of west Belfast on Tuesday night.

Officers remain at the scene and cordons are in place.

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Detectives are appealing to anyone who has any information to come forward.

West Belfast MP Paul Maskey condemned the shooting.

There is shock in the local community after a man was shot dead in the Greenan area on Tuesday night, the Sinn Fein representative said.

This is a brutal killing and a family have now been left grieving as a result. I unreservedly condemn it. There is no place for guns on our streets.

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A murder investigation is now under way and I would urge anyone with information to bring it forward to the police.

SDLP councillor Paul Doherty said the incident has sent shockwaves through the community.

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My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who has tragically lost his life, he said.

Violence like this is a scourge on our society and creates serious fear among people living in this community.

There can be no justification for what has happened here. I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward to police so that the people who carried this out can be brought to justice.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll utterly condemned the shooting.

My immediate sympathies are with the victims loved ones and my thoughts are with all of those impacted by this barbaric attack, he said.

This is an incredibly distressing incident that has sent shockwaves through the entire community.

There can be no justification for gunning someone down in their home in cold blood. All right-thinking people will be abhorred by this shooting.
A protest over the lack of information and communication regarding the imminent arrival of 50 asylum-seekers at a former friary in Carlow town is expected to take place on Wednesday.

Officials from the Department of Integration informed public representatives on Tuesday that 50 people are to start arriving at the former Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street in the town centre from Friday.

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The Carlow Says No group organised the protest overnight, over what they say is a lack of consultation with local residents and businesses.

Local Fianna Fail TD Jennifer Murnane OConnor said she is liaising with the department to gather further information.

A meeting of local councillors and Carlow County Council took place on Monday afternoon.

It is understood that the majority of the arrivals will be accommodated at the friary for a year.

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The building was bought privately when the Caphucin order placed it on the market in 2022. It is believed the current owner has also leased another property to the Government for use as emergency accommodation.

It comes as Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said it is important that no one area is overburdened in accommodating asylum seekers.

The Green Party leader said it was accurate to say that some areas have been asked to take in more international protection applicants than others.

Mr Ryan said no one can disagree that certain areas have a far higher percentage of asylum seekers.

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However, he added: But shutting the doors, saying Ireland is full  that is not a viable, correct or appropriate response and option.

Demonstrations have been staged in Rosslare, Co Wexford over a proposed IPAS centre at a site previously granted planning permission for a new nursing home.

The Carlow protest comes amid demonstrations in Co Wexford over a proposed International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre in Rosslare.

The centre is set to be located on a site which had previously been granted planning permission for a nursing home. However, the site was subsequently purchased by another developer, leading to its proposal as an IPAS centre.

The construction site is currently the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanala.

Independent councillor Ger Carthy said there are concerns the infrastructure and facilities in Rosslare are not adequate to cope with the influx of people set to arrive.

Highlighting that the village already has two accommodation centres for international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees, Cllr Carthy said: "This is an issue of fairness and equity. Locals have done their bit to help already.

"There is no nursing home in the area, one is badly needed, and those plans should be allowed to continue."
British prime minister Rishi Sunak has said he believes there is a very good basis for the Stormont Executive to be restored.

Devolved government in Northern Ireland has been effectively collapsed for almost two years amid DUP protest action over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

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The DUP has insisted it will not go back into power-sharing government until it secures legislative assurances from the British government on Northern Irelands trading position within the UK.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson indicated earlier this week that his partys talks with the UK government over the Windsor Framework are set to resume.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has indicated talks will resume (PA)

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Last December, during talks with the Stormont parties, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said a 3.3 billion (3.9 billion) financial package would accompany the return of devolution.

The package would include money to make an outstanding pay award to public sector workers who are set to stage one of the biggest strikes in Northern Irelands recent history next week.

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The Northern Ireland Office previously said the package will remain on the table until a new executive is formed to allocate it

Speaking during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said there is a real chance to restore the executive.

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He was responding to a question from North Down MP Stephen Farry (Alliance) who emphasised that Northern Ireland is seeing its public services in huge crisis, adding there are urgent public sector pay pressures that must be addressed.

Alliance Party MP Stephen Farry pointed out that public pay pressures needed to be addressed (PA)

He asked the prime minister did he recognise the real dangers of continued drift in Northern Ireland and the urgent need for Northern Ireland to have a government.

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Mr Sunak responded saying his governments focus has always been on delivering for the people of Northern Ireland who rightly expect and deserve their locally elected decision makers to address the issues that matter to them.

We have held talks with the DUP and believe that significant progress has been made and that there is now a very good basis for the executive to be restored, he said.

I thank him for his comments about the 3 billion financial package and with that there is a real chance to restore the executive, resolve pay for public sector workers rapidly and get Northern Ireland and its public services moving again.
We Are China

New Fuxing high-speed trains to be put into service in NW China

Ecns.cn) 13:15, January 10, 2024

A CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed train arrives in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

With China updating the train diagram in 2024, new Fuxing high-speed trains will be put into service on Wednesday.

The CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed trains park at a station of Xi 'an bullet train section in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

The business-class sitting carriage of the CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed train in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

The first-class sitting carriage of the CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed train in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

The couchette carriage of the CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed train in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

The bar counter in the CR200J1-C Fuxing high-speed train in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo: China News Service/Jia Zhiwei)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas about reforming the Palestinian self-rule government, as part of efforts to ally the region behind post-war plans for Gaza that also include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

Mr Blinken says he has secured commitments from multiple countries in the region to assist with rebuilding and governing Gaza after Israels war against Hamas, and that wider Israeli-Arab normalisation is still possible, but only if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

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In their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mr Blinken told Mr Abbas that the US supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state, according to US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

He said the two discussed administrative reform.

Antony Blinken (left) meets with Mahmoud Abbas (right) in Ramallah (Evelyn Hockstein/AP)

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The vision outlined by Mr Blinken faces serious obstacles.

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Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahus government is adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the autocratic, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, lacks legitimacy in the view of many Palestinians.

The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight, fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave.

The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

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On his fourth visit to the region since the war began three months ago, Mr Blinken has met in recent days with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Eamon Ryan has said there are irrefutable points in South Africas case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

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Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations top court against the charges.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan noted that the World Health Organisation had said Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with the risk of famine increasing each day.

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He agreed with the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end.

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Mr Ryan, who is Minister for Environment, said Ireland had played a strong role within the UN on the matter.

The main opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have called on the Government to endorse South Africas action.

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However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to be very careful in defining genocide.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

Mr Varadkar said: I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed.

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I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless were absolutely convinced that theyre the appropriate ones.

He said Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause, and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

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This includes 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

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Independent Senator Frances Black, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign vice chair Fatin Al Tamimi, Sinn Fein foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy, Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Gary Gannon and Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik issue a call to the Irish Government over Gaza Photo: Cillian Sherlock/PA.

Mr Ryan also said Irish people have consistently stood up for the rights of Palestinian people.

Ireland Ryan: No area should be overburdened by refugee... Read More

Speaking in Sallins, Co Kildare on Wednesday, he said: Now, more than ever, we stand up for their rights  for self determination but also for an immediate end to the actions the Israeli government and military are taking which are putting those Palestinian people in Gaza at risk of immediate starvation.

The court case is one of standing effectively first between South Africa and Israel, and there are only two parties to that. But in terms of where we stand, in my mind, it has to be for the basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are being wholesale infringed, in my mind, at the present time.

He said the world will sit in real harsh judgment if Israels government does not desist its campaign.

That does not in any way undermine the rights of Israelis to safety and deplore what happened on October 7 but the scale of what Israel is doing and the risk to the Palestinian people absolutely has to stop.
Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will join a South African government delegation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the countrys upcoming case accusing Israel of genocide.

As per a Pretoria statement, the South African delegation will be joined by senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe, including Mr Corbyn.

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The statement said Mr Corbyn will stand with Pretoria at The Hague on Thursday and Friday for the hearings in South Africas case against Israel, which accuses the Middle Eastern nation of genocide against the people of Palestine.

Every day, another unspeakable atrocity is committed in Gaza.



Millions of people around the world support South Africa's efforts to hold Israel to account. Why can't our government? pic.twitter.com/CZuw530pEL Advertisement  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) January 8, 2024 Advertisement

The delegation will be led by South African minister of justice and correctional services Ronald Lamola.

Mr Lamola said: We are determined to see the end of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza.

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We are most encouraged by leaders of the world who have not blunted their consciousness and have stood on the right side of history by supporting a case that seeks to protect the rights of human beings, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.

Mr Corbyn was the only foreign political figure named in the South African statement.

Earlier this week, Mr Corbyn called on Parliament to support South Africas process.

Mr Corbyn told MPs: People are dying of starvation and thirst in the Gaza Strip. Cannot the government understand the anger around the world when they watch this happening in real-time?

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And why so many people are very pleased that the government of South Africa has taken an initiative in going to the International Court of Justice in order to hold Israel to account for the deaths of so many wholly innocent people in Gaza.

Cannot the government understand that, and at least support South Africas process?

In November, Mr Corbyn described Hamas as a terrorist group after repeatedly avoiding the term, as he wrote an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of acts of terror too.

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Mr Corbyn wrote in the left-wing Tribune magazine that I deplore the targeting of all civilians, including Hamass killing of around 1,200 people in Israel on October 7th.

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If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group, he said.

The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.

Former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during a pro-Palestine march organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign in central London on October 28th.

Meanwhile, the UK foreign secretary has said he is worried that Israel may have acted in breach of international law in the Middle East conflict.

Lord David Cameron said that he of course has concerns about the crisis in Gaza but that it is not his job to make a legal adjudication.

During his first grilling by MPs since his return to Cabinet, the former UK prime minister told the UK parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee: If youre asking me am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law because this particular premise has been bombed or whatever?

Yes, of course Im worried about that, and thats why I consult the Foreign Office lawyers when giving this advice on arms exports.

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Mr Cameron also called on Israel to restore water supply in Gaza but declined to be drawn on whether depriving the civilian population of it amounts to breaking laws on armed conflict.

The UK government has said it supports Israels right to defend itself following Hamass October 7th attacks but urged it to show restraint and act in accordance with international rules.

The foreign secretary said he did not agree with the ICJ case, telling MPs: I dont think its right. I dont think we should bandy round terms like genocide in this case.

Israels president, Isaac Herzog, called the ICJ case filed by South Africa atrocious and preposterous.

At a press conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Mr Herzog said: Actually, our enemies, Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction of our nation, the State of Israel  the only nation-state of the Jewish people.

He went on to accuse South Africa of hypocrisy for bringing the case to the ICJ and thanked Mr Blinken for Washingtons support of Israel.

Mr Herzog added that Israel makes utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

Some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed in Hamas October 7th attack on Israel.

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Since the war began, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 have been wounded in Israels assault in Gaza, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.

The public hearings at the ICJ will take place on Thursday and Friday at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
Former Polish interior minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy Maciej Wasik were detained by police and taken to prison on Tuesday after being convicted of abuse of power.

The move was condemned by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, of which they are members, as "an illegal kidnapping and a violation of all democratic rules".

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However, members of the new, pro-European coalition government have said that it shows nobody is above the law.

Below are some of the main events that resulted in their conviction.

Anti-corruption agency

Mr Kaminski was first elected a member of parliament in 1997 and was re-elected in 2001 and 2005. He resigned in 2006 to become the head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Political opponents said he and his associates pursued corruption with excessive zeal, using methods they said sometimes circumvented laws and hounding innocent people.

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In 2009, Mr Kaminski and Mr Wasik were accused of abuse of power for allowing agents under their command to use entrapment in an investigation. Both have denied wrongdoing.

Pardon

In 2015, Mr Kaminski and Mr Wasik were found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. They appealed.

A few months later, after PiS came to power, president Andrzej Duda pardoned both men, allowing Mr Kaminski to become interior minister.

Lawyers questioned whether Mr Duda was entitled to pardon them before an appeals court issued a final ruling. The Supreme Court said last year that the case should be reopened.

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Court's final decision

After reopening the case, Mr Kaminski and Mr Wasik were sentenced in December to two years in prison. On Monday, a court issued orders to take both men to prison.

Police entered Poland's presidential palace to detain the two on Tuesday. Prime minister Donald Tusk had earlier accused Mr Duda of obstructing justice after the two lawmakers appeared at the palace, prompting police to search for them in cars leaving the building.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the palace and in front of a police station where the two were being held. The crowd chanted "Free political prisoners" and "Shame!"

In protest against his detention, Mr Kaminski started a hunger strike, while Mr Duda said he was deeply shaken by the arrests and vowed he would not rest until Mr Kaminski and Mr Wasik were freed.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will be alone on the debate stage for the first time as they wage an increasingly contentious push to become the primary Republican alternative to Donald Trump.

With other contenders absent, the stakes are high for both Ms Haley, the former UN ambassador, and Mr DeSantis, the Florida governor.

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They hope that a strong debate performance in Iowa will lift their campaigns in the final days before Mondays caucuses, where a strong showing could provide much-needed momentum as the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination intensifies.

Wednesdays moment is especially important for Ms Haley, a politician long known for her disciplined approach to messaging.

That reputation has been tested recently after a series of gaffes, including her failure to mention slavery as the root cause of the Civil War and a quip that New Hampshire voters will have a chance to correct the results that emerge from Iowa.

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For all the attention on Ms Haley and Mr DeSantis, the commanding frontrunner in the race will again be absent.

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Former US president Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination (Susan Walsh/AP)

Mr Trump, who is aiming to quickly close in on securing his third consecutive Republican nomination, will skip the debate hosted by CNN and instead appear on Fox News.

The debate will still offer Ms Haley a chance to reset a campaign that has come under fresh scrutiny by everyone from her Republican rivals to President Joe Biden, a sign that her rivals in both parties see her as a rising contender.

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While she is likely to pay more attention to Mr Trump as her allies argue she is the only person equipped to beat him, Mr DeSantis is expected to train his focus on Haley.

Now shes in a situation where shes getting scrutiny, and its almost like every day she answers questions, something happens where shes putting her foot in her mouth, Mr DeSantis told reporters after appearing on a Fox News town hall.

After several debates filled with candidates who likely have minimal chances to win the nomination, many expected caucusgoers said they planned to pay close attention to a debate featuring Mr Trumps main opponents.

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Terry Snyder of Waukee, outside Des Moines, said she caucused for Mr Trump in 2016 but that he had too much baggage this time.

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US president Joe Biden is expected to face the victor of the Republican contest (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)

She wants to have a clearer picture without the crosstalk of a bigger stage.

I get aggravated because they talk over each other, so you dont learn anything, Ms Snyder said.

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So hopefully with just two people its not going to be like that.

Some of Ms Haleys strongest moments have come during the previous four debates, as she has sparred with all her on-stage rivals.

A CNN/UNH poll conducted in New Hampshire this week suggested that Ms Haley could be approaching Mr Trumps top spot in the state.

About four in 10 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire chose Mr Trump, while about one-third picked Ms Haley.

While for months she has taken questions at many of her campaign events, styled as town halls during which she entertains Q&A from the gathered crowd, Ms Haley has rarely spoken after events with the reporters covering her events, held news conferences or sat for print interviews.

She did not speak to reporters after her own Fox News town hall on Monday, a day before Mr DeSantis appearance.
A storm bringing high winds and heavy rain was sweeping through the North East of the US, while wild winter weather elsewhere brought tornadoes and deadly accidents in the Midwest and South, flood threats in Florida and blizzards in the Northwest.

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency and New York City officials evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex ahead of predicted wind speeds that could top 70mph (112kph) at times.

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My Administration is closely monitoring the arrival of tonights storm. I urge Maine people to prepare accordingly for the storm and its aftermath.  pic.twitter.com/A5NGohklQ8  Governor Janet Mills (@GovJanetMills) January 9, 2024

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In Maine, Governor Janet Mills delayed the opening of all state offices until noon Wednesday due to the storm.

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The National Weather Service warned of possible major flooding in portions of Long Island with up to nine-foot seas through Wednesday morning and a chance of major and minor flooding along streams and rivers throughout the Tri-State area, even though rain was expected to tail off.

The wild weather came as portions of the Northeast were still digging out from a noreaster that dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas over the weekend.

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On Tuesday, the same weather system brought heavy rain, hail and at least three reported tornadoes to the South before moving eastward.

Rain and high winds extended into the nations capital, forcing US vice-president Kamala Harris aircraft to divert from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport near Washington when it encountered wind shear, a sudden shift in wind direction or speed.

Near Cottonwood, Alabama, a small city near the Georgia and Florida borders, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation, the Houston County coroner said.

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A pedestrian makes their way along 2nd Street SE as snow falls in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Nick Rohlman/AP)

A suspected tornado had touched down in the area.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state road in Jonesboro.

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More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.

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In North Carolina, one person died and two others were in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, said Amy McCauley, a spokesperson for Catawba County.

A possible tornado knocked down several old brick storefronts in downtown Bamberg, South Carolina, blocking the main intersection through the city about 60 miles south of Columbia.

Thousands of bricks blocked US 301, the main road through that part of the state, and about 40 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, said Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg, who represents the area.

Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths.

A section of Panama City Beach showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about, and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee planned to send out three tornado survey teams on Wednesday to examine suspected tornado damage in Walton, Bay and Jackson counties in Florida, and two more on Thursday to look at Houston County, Alabama, and Calhoun County, Georgia.

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Many areas of Florida remained under flood watches, warnings and advisories early Wednesday morning amid concerns that streams and rivers were topping their banks.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who gave his State of the State address as tornado warnings were active outside the Capitol, issued an executive order to include 49 counties in North Florida under a state of emergency.

Immigrants run in the rain towards the tents at migrant housing location at Floyd Bennett Field in New York (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Another storm that began on Monday buried cities across the Midwest in snow, stranding people on roads.

Some areas saw up to a foot of snow on Monday, including Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.

In southeastern Wisconsin, an SUV driver died Tuesday in a head-on collision with a semitrailer on a slushy, snowy state highway, authorities said.

In western Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died after she lost control of her minivan on a slushy road and it collided with an SUV, the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.

The ambulance taking her to a Grand Rapids hospital, where she was pronounced dead, was struck by another vehicle en route there, and a second ambulance was needed to finish the transport to the hospital.

The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowas January 15th precinct caucuses, where the snow is expected to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below zero degrees (-18C).
A new law is to be introduced to exonerate hundreds of Post Office branch managers caught up in the Horizon IT scandal.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said they were victims of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nations history.

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Hundreds of subpostmasters were convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from a flawed IT system.

Mr Sunak told MPs: We will introduce new primary legislation to ensure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

Rishi Sunak told MPs the Horizon scandal was one of the worst miscarriages of justice in history (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)

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Mr Sunak also announced a new upfront payment of 75,000 for the vital group of postmasters who took action against the Post Office.

At Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, he said: This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nations history.

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People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.

Mr Sunak said we will make sure the truth comes to light and right the wrongs of the past.

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Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said 980 postmasters were convicted but just 93 have managed to get their convictions overturned.

The usual method for overturning a conviction would see the Criminal Cases Review Commission sending it to the Court of Appeal for a hearing.

But the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal means the Government is taking a legislative route rather than a lengthy court process.

UK justice secretary Alex Chalk has been discussing the situation with senior judges because of the constitutional concern about parliament being seen to interfere with the legal process.

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The Horizon system started to be rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK in 1999 and over the subsequent years a series of subpostmasters were prosecuted over missing funds.

In 2019, the UK High Court ruled that Horizon contained a number of bugs, errors and defects and there was a material risk that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal earlier this month.
Ukraine has shown the world that Russias military can be stopped, President Volodymyr Zelensky said as he began a visit to the Baltic nations in search of more help for his country against the Kremlins larger and better-supplied forces in the 22-month-old invasion.

Speaking in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine still must bolster its air defences against Russias intensified missile and drone onslaughts and replenish its ammunition supplies as long-range strikes become the main feature of this winters fighting.

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We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible, he said after talks with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on his first foreign trip of the year.

The massive Russian barrages, more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between December 29 and January 2, according to officials in Kyiv, are using up Ukraines weapons stockpiles, however.

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The escalation is stretching Ukraines air defence resources and leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.



A crater of an explosion is seen next to the private building destroyed after a Russian missile attack in Novomoskovsk, near Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine (Ukrainian Emergency Services/AP)

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We lack modern air defence systems badly, Mr Zelensky said, noting that they are what we need the most.

He acknowledged, however, that stockpiles are low in countries that could provide such material.

Warehouses are empty.

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And there are many challenges to world defence, he said.

Ukraine hopes to accelerate development of its domestic defence industry and establish joint projects with foreign governments to speed up ammunition and weapons production.

Ukrainian officials travelling with Mr Zelensky signed several documents on cooperation on joint arms production.

Similar agreements are expected in the other Baltic countries Mr Zelensky is expected to visit this week.

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The focus of his two-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Mr Zelensky said on his official Telegram channel, will be security concerns, Ukraines hopes to join the European Union and Nato, and building partnerships in drone production and electronic warfare capacities.

Mr Zelensky thanked Lithuania for its military assistance and goodwill.

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He was expected in Estonia and Latvia on Thursday.

We know how tiring this long-running war is, and we are interested in Ukraines complete victory in it as soon as possible, Mr Nauseda told reporters.

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The small eastern European countries are among Ukraines staunchest political, financial and military supporters, and some in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscows next target.



Lithuanias President Gitanas Nauseda, right, talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Ukrainian Presidential Press Council/AP)

The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during the Second World War before regaining independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

They joined Nato in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the US and its Western allies.

Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses, Estonian President Alar Karis said in a statement.

Then there is the hope that this will remain the last military aggression in Europe, where someone wants to dictate to their neighbour with missiles, drones and cannons what political choices can be made, he said.

In his Telegram message, Mr Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Baltic countries for their uncompromising support of Ukraine over the past 10 years, referring to 2014 when Russias aggression started with the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimea Peninsula.

Russias recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraines air defence resources, a Ukrainian air force official said, leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.
Herman Raucher, who turned his memories of a summer as a teenager in a Massachusetts beach town, which included a sexual encounter with a young war widow, into the screenplay for the nostalgic 1971 film Summer of 42, has died in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 95.

Raucher spent the 1950s and 60s writing scripts for anthology television series and advertising copy for the Walt Disney Company and various agencies. But recollections of his own summer of 42 lingered. So did the memory of one of his close friends, Oscar Seltzer, a medic who was killed on Rauchers 24th birthday, in 1952, while caring for a wounded soldier during the Korean War.

Cover of Herman Rauchers Summer of 42. Credit: Internet

Summer of 42 tells the story of three 15-year-old friends  Hermie, Oscy and Benjie  and their early exploration of girls and, tentatively, sex, during a summer vacation on a Nantucket-like island early in World War II.

Hermie (played by Gary Grimes) becomes infatuated with Dorothy (Jennifer ONeill), a woman in her early 20s. In one scene, he visibly trembles on a ladder as she hands him boxes for him to place in her dusty attic. Their tender lovemaking occurs after she receives a telegram telling her that her husband was killed in the war.
The opening of a massive new metro train station beneath Martin Place within the next six months is set to reshape the way commuters get around the CBD, eventually leading to the creation of a super transport hub in the area over the next decade.

The new Martin Place station is one of six new stations on the main section of the $21.6 billion Metro City and Southwest line between Chatswood and Sydenham, which is due to open in the middle of the year.

Beneath Martin Place, new pedestrian tunnels from metro train platforms resemble a labyrinth, connecting the existing Sydney Trains platforms for the Eastern Suburbs line, as well as a giant new concourse which will be the main exit point to street level.

Sydney Metro City and Southwest project director Hugh Lawson said the scale of the underground space at the new Martin Place station set it apart from the other stations, which was needed because of the 13,500 commuters forecast to pass through it during the morning peak by 2036.
A serial thief has walked from a Perth court for the fourth time in as many days after being convicted of stealing from another bottle shop, as the states peak liquor store body backs calls for an overhaul of the law.

Nicholas Terrance Mark Rodd was slapped with a $600 fine in Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to stealing a bottle of alcohol from a Cannington liquor store on Tuesday.

Janelle Gail Martin and Nicholas Terrance Mark Rodd leaving Northbridge Magistrates Court on Saturday. Credit: Jesinta Burton.

The magistrate told the court the first three pages of Rodds hefty 65-page criminal rap sheet were just charges which stemmed from going into liquor stores he wasnt allowed to.

The incident occurred less than three hours after the 39-year-old was hit with a global fine of $1500 for similar offending in Victoria Park on Monday and a crime spree in November.
Victorian Climate Action and Energy Minister Lily DAmbrosio has demanded that the Albanese government do more heavy lifting to develop Australias offshore wind industry, and says the Commonwealth rejected her pitch a year ago to join forces to jumpstart the project.

It was revealed on Monday that federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek refused Victorias application to build a new terminal in Western Port, including nearly 100 hectares of dredging, because it would present clearly unacceptable risks to internationally significant wetland.

Victorian Climate Action and Energy Minister Lily DAmbrosio has accused the federal government of shirking its responsibilities. Credit: Oscar Colman

DAmbrosio accused the federal government of assuming that the development of offshore wind farms to feed the nations grid with renewable energy would magically sort itself out.

If we had a national plan with national targets and national funding and national coordination, then we wouldnt have had this problem with the port, she said.
As the Albanese government approaches 600 days in office, Penny Wong is preparing to make her first visit to the Middle East as foreign minister.

Next week, Wong will travel to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and other key regional nations on a diplomatic mission full of opportunities for error, but with minimal scope for dramatic triumphs.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will walk a tightrope on her trip to the Middle East next week. Credit: Dionne Gain

As minister, Wong has used her time in office primarily to focus on Australias relationships within South-East Asia and the Pacific region. Wisely, she has judged that the Indo-Pacific is where the threats to our national interests are most acute and where Australian foreign policy can make the most difference.

Now, she is heading to a more distant and immensely complicated part of the world where Australia has traditionally had little clout, and where efforts to achieve peace have repeatedly imploded.
London: Crown Princess Marys eldest sister will be by her side the day she becomes queen, but the historic day risks being overshadowed by an ongoing feud among the Danish royals after it was revealed that several key members would not attend.

Following lingering tensions over outgoing Queen Margrethe IIs decision to strip her grandchildren of their titles in 2022, only the king-to-be Frederiks younger brother, Prince Joachim, will be present when his brother is proclaimed king on the balcony at Christiansborg Palace.

John Donaldson, father of Mary Donaldson, with daughter Jane Stephens in Copenhagen in 2004. Credit: Rick Stevens

The 83-year-old, who became Europes longest reigning monarch following the death of her third cousin, Britains Elizabeth II in late 2022, shocked Denmark by announcing on New Years Eve that she would abdicate on the 52nd anniversary of her accession to the throne this Sunday.

Joachims wife, Princess Marie, and sons, Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, and Henrik, 13, and daughter Athena, 10, will not travel from their new home in Washington DC, where they moved following the queens contentious decision in last 2022.
Dubai: Yemens Houthi rebels fired their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, forcing the United States and British navies to shoot down the projectiles in a major naval engagement, authorities said on Thursday (AEDT).

The UN Security Council then demanded an immediate halt to attacks by the Houthis, and implicitly condemned Iran.

The Houthi rebels say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israels war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

A ship transits the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea in Suez, Egypt. Credit: Getty

However, their targets increasingly have little  or no  connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe. That raises the risk of a US retaliatory strike on Yemen that could upend an uneasy ceasefire that has held in the Arab worlds poorest country.
The Federal Court previously found that between 2015 and 2018, the directors failed to ensure compliance with the compliance plan, obtain member approval for related party loans, and issue law-compliant Product Disclosure Statements. The court added that the directors have failed to exercise care and diligence as well as failed to act in the best interests of members of the Investport Income Opportunity Fund.
David is a well-known and respected industry professional who brings a wealth of knowledge to our Group, and we are thrilled to have him take on this important role, Boyle said.
Hunter and Ashley Biden, children of President Joe Biden. (Photo: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II via Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States/Wikimemdia Commons/CC-BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0))

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, made an unanticipated appearance at a House Oversight Committee meeting to address a resolution for his contempt of Congress. The resolution, if approved, could lead to a full House vote on holding him in contempt for defying a congressional subpoena related to the House impeachment inquiry against his father.

The House Oversight Committee convened on Wednesday to consider the resolution, stemming from Hunter Biden's non-compliance with a subpoena demanding his attendance at a closed-door deposition. Simultaneously, the House Judiciary Committee held a similar markup. Hunter Biden, alongside his attorney Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, attended the session, observing as committee members debated the resolution.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer accused Hunter Biden of criminal contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas, stating, "Hunter Biden's willful refusal...is a criminal act...constitutes contempt of Congress." Comer emphasized equal treatment under the law, including for the Bidens.

In contrast, Hunter Biden had offered to testify publicly, which Chairmen Comer and Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee rejected. They maintained that Hunter Biden should not receive special treatment and pointed to numerous other witnesses who complied with their interviews and depositions as required.

The session saw heated exchanges, with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., questioning Hunter Biden's courage and challenging his refusal to participate in a congressional deposition. Conversely, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., suggested that if the committee truly wanted to hear from Hunter Biden, they should vote to do so immediately.

After Hunter Biden and his attorneys departed the markup session, Lowell addressed reporters, criticizing the Republicans' motives and handling of the situation. He highlighted multiple offers to cooperate with the House committees, accusing them of using the closed-door deposition to manipulate and misrepresent testimony for political gain.

The controversy extends beyond the committee room, as Comer and Jordan have expanded their investigation to probe whether President Biden was involved in his son's alleged defiance of the subpoena. Hunter Biden, in a public statement last month, denied his father's financial involvement in his business dealings.

This incident at the Capitol marks a critical moment in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Biden, led by Comer, Jordan, and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. The presence of Hunter Biden at the hearing has intensified the scrutiny and debate over the legitimacy and conduct of the inquiry.
South Korean Parliament Approves Bill Outlawing Dog Meat Trade Amid Cultural Shift (Photo: Gael Chardon/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0))

South Korea's National Assembly has approved legislation prohibiting the breeding and slaughter of dogs for meat consumption, signaling a significant cultural shift in a nation where dog meat has been a traditional food. The bill garnered an unusual level of bipartisan support, reflecting changing attitudes among South Koreans toward dogs, which are increasingly seen as pets rather than livestock.

Under the new law, individuals involved in the dog meat industry, including breeders and sellers, face up to three years in prison or fines up to 30 million Korean won (about $23,000) if they slaughter dogs for food or deal in dog meat products. Consumers of dog meat, however, will not be penalized. The legislation introduces a three-year transition period to allow those in the dog meat trade to shift to alternative businesses, with local governments mandated to support these individuals.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, known for his affection for animals, is expected to endorse the bill. The move comes as pet ownership in South Korea has risen sharply, with approximately one in four households owning a pet dog in 2022, compared to 16% in 2010.

Animal rights activists have long criticized the consumption of dog meat in South Korea, highlighting inhumane slaughtering methods. International groups like Humane Society International have actively worked to rescue dogs from South Korean farms. The declining demand for dog meat, especially among younger, urban South Koreans, has led to a substantial decrease in the number of restaurants serving dog meat in Seoul.

Lee Sang-kyung, campaign manager at Humane Society International Korea, noted the changing perceptions of dog meat consumption. "Our perception of dog meat consumption and animals, in general, has been changing over the last decades. It was once popular when our food resources were scarce, but as the economy develops and people's perception towards animals and our food consumption change, then I think it's the right time to move with the times," Lee explained.

The decision to ban dog meat has been met with opposition from those in the industry, who argue that it threatens their livelihood and cultural practices. Dog farmers and business owners have expressed concerns about the impact of the ban on their lives, with some protesting outside the presidential office in Seoul.

Despite these challenges, supporters of the bill believe that the transition period and government support measures will help those affected by the ban to adapt. The legislation marks a significant cultural and ethical milestone in South Korea's approach to animal welfare and reflects broader global shifts in attitudes toward animals and food consumption.
Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun said the planemaker must own up to its shortcomings as it grapples with a safety incident that has renewed questions over the quality of its manufacturing.



Were going to approach this  No. 1  acknowledging our mistake, Calhoun told Boeing employees Tuesday during a companywide meeting at its 737 factory near Seattle. Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way.

The remarks came during an all-hands meeting called by Calhoun to reinforce safety as the companys top priority after a door plug ejected from a 737 Max 9 last week mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. He and other senior Boeing leaders addressed employees from its Renton, Washington, factory where the 737 is assembled, and webcast their remarks to workers at other locations.





US regulators grounded 171 of Boeings 737 Max 9 aircraft and ordered inspections after the Jan. 5 accident. None of the 177 passengers and crew onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 were injured when the panel ripped free shortly after the plane departed from Portland, Oregon.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal, tasked with raising output while also maintaining quality at Boeings largest unit, spoke alongside Calhoun at Tuesdays presentation. Also addressing workers was Chief Safety Officer Mike Delaney, whose senior executive role was created during a previous crisis involving the US planemakers cash-cow Max jet: a global grounding after two fatal crashes killed a combined 346 people nearly five years ago. Ive got kids, Ive got grandkids and so do you, he said as he recalled seeing photographs of the planes damaged fuselage. This stuff matters. Every detail matters.

Calhoun had told employees earlier that the all-hands meeting would focus on Boeings response to this accident, and reinforcing our focus on and our commitment to safety, quality, integrity and transparency.

Much is at stake for Calhoun and for Boeing after a series of quality issues tripped up production of Boeings most important aircraft last year. The accident last week complicates the CEOs work to rebuild Boeings image after the crashes and a prolonged grounding of the 737 Max.

Alaska Air Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. have both discovered other 737 Max 9 jets with loose bolts after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max 9 and ordered carriers to inspect the planes. Formal inspections have yet to start  the agency said Tuesday that Boeing is revising instructions for the checks after receiving feedback, and all of the affected planes will remain idled until the regulator deems them safe.

Alaska was still awaiting inspection and maintenance instructions from Boeing and the FAAs approval of the procedures as of 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, the carrier said on in a statement on social media platform X.

It seems to be a bit of a moving target, Savanthi Syth, a Raymond James analyst, said of final instructions for the inspection process. I can appreciate the FAAs perspective on this with the other Max issues, where they were a little too quick to say, This is fine. Theyre really trying to cross the Ts and dot the Is on this one.

A chorus of airline chiefs, including two of Boeings biggest customers  Ryanair Holdings Plcs Michael OLeary and Emirates Tim Clark in Dubai  have spoken publicly of the need for Boeing to raise quality standards.

Theyve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that, Clark said in an interview this week in Dubai. I think theyre getting their act together now, but this doesnt help.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Monday that her agency would consider broadening the probe. Such a move would bring deeper scrutiny for Boeing and its manufacturing processes, and magnify issue as the US planemaker seeks to get the aircraft back into service.





The panel that broke loose from Flight 1282 covered an opening on the Max 9 that can be used for emergency exits. Some airlines, including United and Alaska, cover them up because the doors arent needed for lower-density seat configurations. Calhoun, 66, took over as CEO of Boeing at the start of 2020 after the board ousted then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg for mishandling the grounding crisis. He canceled an annual offsite retreat for senior executives that was planned for this week in response to the Alaska incident.

We do see the latest incident as eroding the fragile confidence that has been built around the 737 Max franchise, Ron Epstein, an analyst with Bank of America, told clients over the weekend. In our view, Boeing needs to tread carefully and cautiously through this potential reputational minefield.
Global computing major Nvidia on Wednesday said its partner Yotta is set to commission an "artificial intelligence data centre" in the GIFT City here before end of March.

Speaking at the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, Shankar Trivedi, senior vice president at Nvidia Global Field Operations, said the American company is partnering with Tata Group and Reliance Industries for setting up data centres.

The data centre being set up by Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company, will go live before March, he said.

"I'm very happy to inform you that our partner Yotta is setting up a state of the art AI data centre here in GIFT city and it will be available and go live before the end of March," Trivedi said.

The Ahmedabad-educated Trivedi said sovereign generative AI requires scalable data centres and added that generative AI will impact everybody in the future.
The government-procured chana dal retailed under the 'Bharat' brand has emerged as the biggest selling brand among householders with 1/4th market share in less than four months of its launch due to the price advantage, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said on Wednesday.

Launched in October 2023, the Bharat-branded 'chana dal' has an edge because it is priced lower at Rs 60 per kg compared to other brands at around Rs 80 per kg, he said.

"The response has been so good that out of 1.8 lakh tonne monthly consumption of chana dal (all brands included) among householders in the country, 1/4th of it is 'Bharat' brand chana dal," Singh told PTI.

About 2.28 lakh tonne of Bharat brand chana dal has been sold since October 2023. The monthly average sale was around 45,000 tonne, he said.

Initially, the sale started through 100 retail points and now has reached 13,000, both mobile and fixed retail outlets covering 139 cities in 21 states, he added.

Stating that this step has helped in controlling inflation in pulses, the secretary said, "Prices of pulses behave as a basket. By using the buffer stock to bring down the prices of chana, this also has lateral effect on prices of other pulses."



The government has been maintaining a buffer stock of various types of pulses including chana since last couple of years for the purpose of using it to boost domestic availability and check prices.

It is for the first time, the government is retailing chana dal under the Bharat brand through agencies Nafed, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar and five state cooperatives.

The secretary explained that raw chana is being offered from the buffer stock to these agencies at a subsidised rate of Rs 47.83 per kg with a condition that they should retail at not less than Rs 60 per kg.

The agencies buy raw chana from the government, mill and polish it before retailing it under the Bharat brand.

Currently, 15 lakh tonne of chana is in the government buffer stock, he added.

Besides chana dal, the government is selling Food Corporation of India (FCI) wheat flour (atta) under the Bharat brand. It is also mulling sale of FCI rice under the same brand in order to check prices.

Though the country's domestic production of pulses has increased in the last few years, it is still short of consumption and depends on imports to meet the gap. The country is self-reliant in chana and moong alone, and other types of pulses are imported to meet the shortage.
The summit will celebrate '20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success' | Photo: X @Bhupendrapbjp

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, on Tuesday arrived in Ahmedabad to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

The three-day summit, from January 10 to 12, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Czech premier was received at the airport by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

The tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will be held from January 10 to 12. The theme for this year's event is 'Gateway to the Future'.

The summit will celebrate '20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success'.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Finland's envoy to India, Kimmo Lahdevirta, confirmed his country's participation in the summit saying that they "want to continue to support and participate" in the event.

"Finland is a traditional country partner already for Vibrant Gujarat. We've been here for many years already, and we see this as one of the key events here in India which we want to continue to support and participate in. I think the key priorities that we have in our work in India, like carbon neutrality, circular economy, energy transition, and education are also some of the key priorities here in Gujarat...This time we have five Finnish companies leading companies in their own fields...We have a good selection of companies who are already very active here in India. And of course, we hope that they can still further their business," the Finnish envoy said.

After inaugurating the summit on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi will hold a meeting with the CEOs of top global corporations. He will then travel to GIFT City where he will interact with prominent business leaders in the Global FinTech Leadership Forum.

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started in 2003 when he was the state's chief minister.

The event, this year, will feature 34 partner countries and 16 partner organisations. The Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region will also utilise the Vibrant Gujarat platform to showcase investment opportunities in the Northeast.

The summit will feature various events including seminars and conferences on globally relevant topics such as Industry 4.0, Technology and Innovation, Sustainable Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen, Electric Mobility and Renewable Energy and Transition towards Sustainability.

In the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show, which kicked off in the state capital on Tuesday, a range of products equipped with world-class, state-of-the-art technology are being showcased. E-mobility, startups, MSMEs, Blue Economy, Green Energy and Smart Infrastructure are some of the focus sectors of the Trade Show.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit updates: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that no power can stop India from becoming a $35 trillion economy by 2047. The businessman's statement came during the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

Emphasising that "Reliance was, is and will always remain a Gujarati company," Ambani said, "Reliance has invested over Rs 12 trillion in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in the last 10 years. Of this, more than one-third has been invested in Gujarat alone."



#WATCH | Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 | Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani says, "...Reliance was, is and will always remain a Gujarati company...Reliance has invested over 150 billion dollars - Rs 12 Lakh Crores - in creating world-class assets and pic.twitter.com/HCjCbaavAm January 10, 2024



"Reliance will continue to play a leading role in Gujarat's growth story with significant investments in the next 10 years. Specifically, Reliance will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in green growth. We will help Gujarat target to meet half of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2030," he added.



Vibrant Gujarat Summit LIVE updates "Reliance will continue to play a leading role in Gujarat's growth story with significant investments in the next 10 years. Specifically, Reliance will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in green growth. We will help Gujarat target to meet half of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2030," he added.

Elaborating on the plans, the Reliance boss said, "For this, we have started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable the production of green products and materials and will make Gujarat the leading exporter of green products. We are ready to commission this in the second half of 2024 itself."

He added, Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and circular economy. Reliance is setting up Indias first Carbon Fiber facility at Hazira.



Further highlighting Gujarat's technological prowess, Ambani commended the state for being fully 5G enabled, a distinction that sets it apart globally. He noted that the integration of 5G and AI technologies would generate millions of new job opportunities, establishing Gujarat as an employment hub.

Ambani also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the world listens to the prime minister. "The world chants 'Modi hai toh mumkin hai '. He is the most successful prime minister in Indian history," the Reliance boss added.



Speaking on the Summit, the Reliance chief further said, "No other summit of this kind has continued for 20 long years and going from strength to strength. This is a tribute to PM Modi's vision and consistency. Modi Era will take India to new summits of prosperity, progress and glory."






In turning down the invite, the Congress has joined some of its India bloc allies, such as the CPI(M)

The Congress on Wednesday turned down the invitations to its leadership to attend the January 22 consecration, or pran pratishtha, of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The move indicates the party is prepared to fight a prolonged ideological battle on the issue if needed, even at the cost of any electoral reverses rather than surrender to Sangh Parivars Hindutva politics.

The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain, the Congress stated in a statement issued by partys General Secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh.

The Congress said millions in India worshipped Lord Ram and pointed out that religion was a personal matter, but the RSS and the BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya.

While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS-BJP event, Ramesh said.

Last month, Congress President Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the partys leader in the Lok Sabha, Chowdhury, were invited to attend the inauguration ceremony.

However, some of the Congress state units and leaders, such as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, have announced they would attend the ceremony.

Vikramaditya Singh, a minister in the Sukhu-led government and the son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, has said he would attend the ceremony and thanked the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) for the invite.

In a post on X, Congress Gujarat legislator Arjun Modhwadia, a former party state unit chief, criticised his party's decision. Lord Ram is worshipped by the people of the country. It is a matter of their faith. The Congress should have refrained from taking such a political decision.

After Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury declined the Ram temple invite, the Kerala unit of the Congress also opposed the party leadership attending the ceremony. However, on Saturday, in neighbouring Congress-ruled Karnataka, the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Department, or the Muzrai Department, under the state government, asked the 34,563 state-run temples to mark January 22 with prayers.

However, the party is likely to flag the contradictions within Hinduism over the Ram temple consecration.

Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the 145th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Purvamnaya Govardhan Peetham of Puri, told the media on Tuesday: When (Narendra) Modi Ji will do the consecration at the temple and will touch the idol, will I be going there to clap? He said people should think what was left for dharmacharya (religious preachers) to do in Ayodhya if the prime minister was doing everything, but lauded him for showing respect to Sanatan Dharma.

Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, 1008th Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand, said the inauguration of the partially constructed temple was inconsistent with tradition and being done for political gains. Some religious leaders have also pointed to senior VHP leader Champat Rais comments that the Ram temple belonged to the Ramanand sect and its followers and not to Shankaracharyas, Shaivas and Shaktas.

The Congress response to Hindutva politics has been inconsistent in recent years. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress social media team highlighted the partys role in the construction of the Ram temple, pointing out that the locks to the makeshift temple inside the disputed Babri Masjid were opened during the partys rule in Uttar Pradesh in 1986, and Rajiv Gandhis role in facilitating shilanyas of the temple the same year. In 1989, Rajiv Gandhi launched the Congress Lok Sabha campaign from Ayodhya.

In turning down the invite, the Congress has joined some of its INDIA bloc allies, such as the CPI(M). Another ally, Samajwadi Partys chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday said he would visit the temple later. The BJP and its associated wings are nobody to send such an invitation to me on behalf of God. Ill worship at the temple with my family members only when God calls me, Yadav said.
At the traders' body's event, Khan emphasised that he is a public servant and not a rubber stamp | (Photo: Wikipedia)

The CPI(M)'s student wing, SFI, erected unwelcoming banners against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at Ponnani in this north Kerala district where he is scheduled to a commemoration programme organised by the Congress party on Wednesday.

The Students Federation of India (SFI) placed banners stating -- 'Mister Chancellor you are not welcome here' and 'Mister chancellor this is a place where there are a lot of people whom you called bloody criminals, be careful' -- at various places in Ponnani hours ahead of Khan's arrival to participate in a programme to commemorate late Congress leader P T Mohana Krishnan.

Khan had on Tuesday faced a massive protest from various youth outfits affiliated to the ruling Left Democratic Front during his visit to Thodupuzha in Idukki district to participate in a function organised by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti, a traders' body.

The hartal in Idukki district was called by the LDF in protest against his non-assent to the Kerala Government Land Assignment (Amendment) Bill 2023.

At the traders' body's event, Khan emphasised that he is a public servant and not a rubber stamp.

Many shops remained closed and the number of vehicles on the roads was comparatively less in the high-range district in the initial hours of the dawn-to-dusk hartal.

The SFI had put up banners in many places which said -- "Sanghi Governor not welcome here."



The Kerala government passed the bill in the Legislative Assembly on September 14, 2023, taking into consideration the decades-long demand of the people of Idukki district.
There are about 215 737 MAX 9 jets in service globally in total, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

The latest setback for Boeing's top-selling 737 MAX aircraft occurred on Friday when a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines plane forcing its pilots to make an emergency landing.



US regulators have ordered a temporary grounding for safety checks on 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets installed with the same panel, while investigations and safety checks take place.



There are about 215 737 MAX 9 jets in service globally in total, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.



Carriers offering denser seating configurations have an exit door at that position instead of the panel and are not affected by the grounding order.



Here's what regulators and airlines are doing as a result of the latest incident:



Airlines with the affected panel:



Alaska Airlines



The airline grounded all 65 of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes.



It said on Monday that initial reports from its technicians indicated some "loose hardware" was visible on some aircraft in the relevant area when it conducted checks of its fleet.



Alaska Airlines has cancelled hundreds of flights since the incident. That included 109 flights, or 18% of its schedule on Tuesday. Similar cancellations were expected on Wednesday.



United Airlines



The only other US airline that operates the jets has suspended service on all 79 of its 737 MAX 9 aircraft.



The carrier said on Monday that its preliminary checks found bolts that needed tightening on several panels.



United cancelled 225 flights, or 8% of its total schedule on Tuesday. Similar cancellations were expected on Wednesday.



Copa Airlines



The Panamanian carrier said on Tuesday that 21 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes remained grounded while the authorities and the manufacturer defined the inspection instructions necessary for their safe and reliable evaluation and return to operation.



Turkish airlines





The airline said on Sunday it had withdrawn five 737 MAX 9 aircraft from service for inspection.



AeroMexico



The airline said on Sunday it had grounded 19 affected 737 MAX 9 jets for inspection.



Arilines that lack the affected panel:



FlyDubai



The airline said on Sunday that its three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes were not affected. It operates the aircraft with a deactivated mid-aft exit door configuration, which is not affected by the directive.



Air Tanzania



Air Tanzania has one 737 MAX, 9 but its CEO told Reuters on Sunday that Boeing had told the airline that its aircraft was not of the type that needed to be inspected.



Corendon Dutch airlines



Corendon Dutch said on Monday it has two 737 MAX 9, but the airline uses the extra seating capacity and therefore the extra door, so the plane does not require inspection.



IcelandAir



Icelandair said on Monday it was not affected by the FAA grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft.



"It has been confirmed that the issue is related to equipment that is not a part of Icelandair's Boeing 737 MAX 9 configuration," said a spokesperson for the airline, which operates four of the aircraft.



Regulators:



US FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) The FAA issued a directive on Saturday temporarily grounding certain 737 MAX 9 planes.



The FAA said on Tuesday that Boeing was revising its instructions for inspections and maintenance, which the regulator must still approve before checks can begin.



The FAA said it "will conduct a thorough review" and public safety will determine the timeline for returning the MAX to service.

US NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD (NTSB) The independent US agency has opened an investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.



The NTSB said the plane's cockpit voice recorder was overwritten, renewing its long-standing safety calls for longer in-flight recordings.



Brazil



Brazil's aviation regulator ANAC said on Sunday the FAA ruling automatically applies to all flights in Brazil.



In Brazil, only Copa Airlines operates the plane, it said.



China



China's regulator has sought details on the incident, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Bloomberg reported earlier that China, the first country to ground MAX flights in 2019, was considering whether to take action.



Chinese airlines have not yet resumed delivery of any MAX models and analysts said the Alaska Airlines incident had the potential to cause further delays.



European Union



The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) adopted the FAA directive, but noted no EU member state airlines operate aircraft with the affected configuration.



India



India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday that one-time inspections it had ordered of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft had been performed satisfactorily. None of the country's airlines fly the 737 MAX 9 model.



Indonesia



Indonesia grounded three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes operated by Lion Air on Saturday, a transport ministry spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the planes had different configurations from the Alaska Airlines plane.



The ministry will coordinate with the FAA, Boeing and Lion Air to monitor the situation, adding that "operational safety will be our priority".



UK



The UK Civil Aviation Authority said on Saturday there are no UK-registered planes affected. It will require any 737 MAX 9 operators entering its airspace to comply with the FAA directive.



United Arab Emirates



The civil aviation said on Sunday that none of its national carriers have planes affected by the order.



Turkey



Turkey's Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday noted the FAA's actions and said it was coordinating with stakeholders regarding affected aircraft belonging to airlines in Turkey and those using Turkish airspace.



South Korea



South Korea's transport ministry on Sunday asked five airlines to inspect their 14 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. On Tuesday, the ministry said no problems had been detected.
The attacks have seriously disrupted international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15% of the world's shipping traffic

US and British warplanes, ships and submarines struck across Yemen overnight in retaliation against Iran-backed Houthi forces for attacks on Red Sea shipping, a widening of regional conflict triggered by Israels war in Gaza.

Witnesses confirmed explosions throughout Yemen, saying raids targeted a military base adjacent to Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military sites in Hajjah governorate.

These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation, US President Joe Biden said.The Houthis said five of their fighters had been killed in a total of 73 air strikes and said they would retaliate for the strikes and continue their attacks on shipping, which they describe as intended to support Palestinians against Israel.

A US official said more than a dozen locations were targeted in strikes that were not just symbolic but intended to weaken the Houthis military capabilities. We were going after very specific capability in very specific locations with precision munitions, the official said. In Yemens main Red Sea port Hodeidah, a resident who gave only his first name Mahmoud said troops were spreading through the streets and military vehicles were leaving barracks with security escorts.

Also, oil climbed more than 2 per cent on Friday, as some oil tankers diverted course from the Red Sea.Brent crude futures were up $1.61, or 2.1 per cent, at $79.02 a barrel at 10:45 a.m. ET (15:45 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $1.51, or 2 per cent, to $73.53. Moreover, Tesla will suspend most car production at its factory near Berlin from January 29 to February 11, the company said late on Thursday, citing a lack of components owing to shifts in transport routes because of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. The partial halt to production is evidence that the crisis in the Red Sea has hit Europes largest economy.
We invited the filmmakers behind each of this years 15 Oscar-shortlisted animated shorts to share their favorite shot from their film and explain why its special to them. The pieces are being published in the order that materials were received. Nomination voting begins tomorrow, January 11.

In this piece, husband-and-wife filmmaking partners Jared and Jerusha Hess discuss their short Ninety-Five Senses, which won juried awards at the 2023 Florida Film Fest, Los Angeles Animation Festival, and Palm Springs International Animation Festival.

Unlike most of the work from the Hess catalog, which includes cult hits such as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, Ninety-five Senses offers little humor while examining major questions about life and how we perceive it. The study is observed through the reflections of a long-time death row inmate finishing his last meal. The film is divided into parts, each dedicated to a sense and animated by different artists, creating a constantly engaging visual experience.

Below, the Hesses share their favorite scene from the short and tell us its significance:

Ok, this is hard. And in the case of Ninety-Five Senses, with its six unique styles, its even harder. But what Daniel Bruson achieved in this long, single shot is breathtaking. Landing the plane is always the hardest part of filmmaking. You are constantly searching for ways to end your story with the strongest emotional impact  and we think Daniel nailed it. He somehow captured everything we had just experienced in the film but then revealed something new, heartbreaking and beautiful. His camera work, transitions and storytelling were totally inspired. And he hand-painted everything using ink and paper.

Read the other entries in the series:
TOKYO, Jan 10 ( News On Japan ) - JR East is set to launch a weekday-only unlimited Shinkansen pass for 10,000 yen starting this Sunday.

The pass, offering savings of over 30,000 yen, comes highly recommended by experts, who assure high speed train travelers they will be well satisfied.

Source:
CRH and Caterpillar agreement to accelerate use of sustainable vehicles

10 January 2024

CRH and Caterpillar have signed a strategic agreement to develop and deploy electric off-road vehicles and charging solutions. The agreement is focussed on accelerating the deployment of Caterpillars 70 to 100t-class battery electric off-road truck with CRH testing and validating the units at its operations in North America.

The collaboration will advance the use of sustainable equipment in CRHs operations and provide valuable real-world insights to Caterpillar in areas including safety, performance, operational and compliance requirements for the aggregates industry.

CRH is the first company in the building materials industry to sign an electrification agreement with Caterpillar. Vehicle electrification has an important role to play in decarbonising CRHs business and delivering its industry-leading target to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and to becoming a net-zero business by 2050.

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Rohrdorfer Zement launches clay pilot plant

10 January 2024

Rohrdorfer Zement is beginning a pilot project with its net zero emission team to investigate the process-integrated production of tempered clays. The project includes the development and construction of a pilot plant in the cement plant in Rohrdorf, which is to be integrated into the plants operations. The aim is to develop a process that can be transferred to other cement plants and adapted by the entire cement industry. According to the cement producer, the project is funded 50 per cent by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) and the European Union as part of the NextGenerationEU programme.

For cement to be produced in a CO 2 -neutral manner, its manufacturing and raw materials must be decarbonised. An important lever in the is the partial replacement of clinker with low-CO 2 or CO 2 -free alternatives, including mineral components such as clays. Their binding properties must be activated by thermal treatment, known as annealing, and it is this that will be tested in the pilot plant.

A special feature of the system is tempering with a flash calcined. The integration into an active cement plant is also a milestone as previous test plants were stand-alone systems that were decoupled from the cement production process. If the integration is successful, the technology can be expected to spread quickly throughout the cement industry, according to Rohrdorfer Zement.

The Rohrdorfer new zero emission team goes one step further: the system concept pursued aims to use existing waste heat from the clinker production line in order to reduce the primary energy requirement for the thermal treatment of the clay. For the additional amount of heat required, the use of hydrogen is considered, among other things, as a sustainable energy source. After leaving the pilot plant, the exhaust gases generated during operation are returned to the existing gas purification system of the clinker production line. This results in no additional emissions.

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The Chattanooga Mayors Council for Women will host the sixth annual Tennessee Statewide Womens Policy Conference, a two-day in-person conference dedicated to empowering women and shaping the policies that directly impact their lives. The conference will be held on Thursday, Feb. 1 and Friday, Feb. 2 at The Westin Hotel in Chattanooga. Members of the public interested in attending can register online at councilforwomen.chattanooga.gov.The work the Mayors Council for Women does every day is critical in keeping us honest around ensuring equity is at the forefront of every decision we make, said Mayor Tim Kelly.Hosting the Statewide Womens Policy Conference in our city is a reminder that Chattanooga leads the way when it comes to creating policy initiatives that keep everyone in mind.Hosted by the Chattanooga Mayors Council for Women, the annual event brings together hundreds of researchers, advocates and community members for two days of discussion on policies affecting women. The council was launched in 2015 and hosted its first conference in 2018.Women and girls are better together and that is what it will take to empower meaningful policy decisions that have a direct impact on the lives of everyday women and girls in our state, said Mayors Council for Women Chair and City Councilwoman Carol Berz. This annual statewide policy conference is a tremendous opportunity to gather changemakers and policy-minded women to discuss how and where we can have the greatest impact.For questions or more information about the conference, contact Kimberly Strong at kstrong@chattanooga.gov.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is now accepting entries for its 2024-25 photo contest for publication in Tennessee Wildlifes annual calendar and license cards. All interested photographers are invited to submit up to ten of their best photos on fishing, hunting, boating, and wildlife species native to Tennessee.



This years contest returns to a TWRA traditional August-July format by popular demand. The selected winning entries will appear in the 2024-25 calendar which begins in August. Photographers must submit their photo entries by March 29.



Photos must be horizontal (landscape), in JPEG format, sized to print no smaller than 8-1/2x11, and resolution should be at least 300 pixels/inch. Visit tnwildlife.org and click the calendar contest button to submit an entry. If a photo is selected for the calendar edition, the photographer will receive a cash stipend of $60.



Tennessee Wildlife is the official magazine for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Subscription rates are $10 for one year, $17 for two years and $25 for three years.





The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is adjusting its normal stocking practices on Tellico River and Citico Creek in 2024 due to the U.S. Forest Services Bald River Bridge replacement project and lingering damage to Forest Service roads from the severe flood of August, 2023.



These temporary changes are an effort to mitigate risk of injury to hatchery staff and damage to stocking vehicles from poor road conditions and wintry weather along the detour route from Tellico Hatchery to Citico Creek (i.e., North River Road and Cherohala Skyway). There will be no change in fishing regulations. A Tellico-Citico daily permit will be required for fishing, and day closures will remain in effect.



Tellico River will continue to be stocked weekly beginning the last week of February through July; however, stocking will only occur from the North River confluence upstream to the Tennessee/North Carolina Stateline until Bald River Bridge is replaced. Citico Creek will be stocked every two weeks beginning the second week of April through mid-July until Bald River Bridge is replaced.

Tellico Hatchery is dedicated to providing anglers with the best trout fishing experience possible and will continue to stock quality trout throughout the area. TWRA encourages anglers to visit the USFS Cherokee National Forests website and Facebook page for updates on roads and alternate routes during the Bald River Bridge replacement project. Visit TNWildlife.org or TWRA social media for updates on trout stockings.
It was testified on Wednesday afternoon that a Chattanooga physician was involved in an apparent road rage incident with the driver of a vehicle that killed two pedestrians and severely injured another on Frazier Avenue on Nov. 25.

Police said Dr. Patrick McGinty, an internal medical specialist, has not been charged, but the investigation is continuing.

At a preliminary hearing for Randy Vega, the driver of the vehicle that hit the pedestrians, defense attorney Mike Little said Dr. McGinty should have been charged for "reckless" behavior.

He said it appeared on video that Dr. McGinty's Nissan Titan was locked with Vega's Dodge Caravan and that Vega put on brakes while Dr. McGinty did not.

Analysis of video from nearby buildings had the two vehicles traveling at 55-59 mph in the 30 mph zone where an officer said there were "hundreds of people on the sidewalks."



Killed while standing in front of a shop at 201 Frazier Avenue were 41-year-old Ana Posso Rodriguez and her 22-month-old son, Jonathan Devia. Octavio Devia Paz, the 40-year-old husband and father to the two victims, was severely injured. He was in a lengthy coma and remains hospitalized.

Judge Larry Ables bound charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, to the Grand Jury against Vega, a 44-year-old Tampa, Fla., man. The victims are also from Florida and were on a holiday to Chattanooga and were planning to go on to the Smokies.

Traffic Investigator Adam Cavitt said Dr. McGinty gave a statement at the scene and also sat down with his attorney and police several days later.

He said the McGinty and Vega vehicles first came together on nearby Cherokee Boulevard when the Vega vehicle slowly pulled in front of the Nissan Titan. It appeared that Vega was unsure where he was going, it was stated. He ran a stop sign prior to getting to Cherokee Boulevard, it was stated.

Attorney Little said Dr. McGinty made a statement that he was "pissed off" by Vega pulling in front of him.

Investigator Cavitt said several videos were obtained, with one showing interaction between the two vehicles on Cherokee Boulevard. A video from a Masonic Lodge near the wreck scene showed the two vehicles entangled, then the Vega vehicle darting over to the corner of Frazier and Forest Avenue and eventually striking the shop.

The investigator said the Masonic video showed the Vega vehicle's tires out of his lane as if he was doing "a PIT maneuver" on the Titan just prior to the pedestrians being hit. He said a PIT maneuver is when a police vehicle takes out another vehicle by putting it in a spin.

An officer who visited Vega at the hospital said he exhibited several signs of impairment, including an odor consistent with alcohol ingredients, glassy eyes and jumping from one topic to another.

He said he had Vega's blood drawn less than four hours after the 3:30 p.m. crash and it tested at the drunk level of .08. It was testified that a hospital blood draw taken earlier tested at 1.3 - much higher than the drunk level.

The officer said Vega told him he had gone to REI looking for socks.
Microtrac MRB, a leading provider of particle size and shape analysis instruments, and Mark & Wedell, a global supplier of automated representative sampling systems and project management services, announced that they have entered a strategic partnership to distribute Microtrac's Camsizer Online products worldwide as part of Mark & Wedell's JAWO sampling business unit.

From left to right, Markus Pauli (CEO Microtrac MRB), Bjarke Palsson (Co-CEO and owner Mark & Wedell), Torben Ekvall (Co-CEO and owner Mark & Wedell), Robert Waggeling (International Sales Manager, Microtrac MRB). Microtrac MRB

The partnership will enable customers in various industries, such as mining, fertilizers, cement, aggregates, coal, chemistry, food, and steel, to benefit from the combined expertise and experience of both companies in delivering reliable, accurate, and cost-effective online particle size analysis solutions. The Camsizer Online products are based on Microtrac's patented 3D digital image processing technology and offer a wide measurement range, high resolution, and robust performance in harsh environments. By integrating the Camsizer Online products into Mark & Wedell's representative sampling systems, customers will be able to optimize their processes, improve product quality, and reduce energy and material consumption.

"We are very excited to partner with Mark & Wedell, a company with a strong reputation and a long history in providing innovative and customized sampling solutions to various industries," said Markus Pauli, CEO of Microtrac MRB. "This partnership will enhance our global presence and enable us to offer our customers a complete solution for their online particle size analysis needs."
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. speaks during the quarterly meeting of the Intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes. After refusals from CN, Choctaw Nation and Muscogee Nation, the entire Intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes issued a letter Jan. 10 refusing to participate in Gov. Kevin Stitts One Oklahoma Task Force.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. speaks during the MOU signing that establish a partnership between the tribe and Cherokee Phoenix to provide newspaper copies to citizens incarcerated at a Texas correctional facility.
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This 31-year-old woman has a boyfriend the same age as her, and not too long ago, her boyfriend traveled to Italy to attend a wedding.

Sadly, she later learned that he cheated on her while abroad for the festivities. She decided to confront her boyfriend as soon as she found out about his infidelity, and she informed him that if he wanted to fix things, he had to tell her everything that went down.

He told me that he had gotten really drunk in Rome and essentially gone back with a Scandinavian girl to their hostel and slept together; couldnt remember anything more, she explained.

We sought counseling, but I still had a feeling he knew more than what he was letting on. I dont know why it was important for me to know.

I dont think it even was, I think it was just further upset that I felt he was still lying rather than the details themselves. I cried and cried and a few months later, a different story emerges when he thinks there is a chance I may be able to get hold of the other party (rubbish, but I was desperate).

So, it was only after her boyfriend was under the impression she was going to contact the girl he cheated on her with that he gave her the full picture.

He told her that he was in Florence when he cheated, and the girl he cheated on her with was Australian.

Not only did he talk to this girl before he slept with her, but he talked to her after as well. She just doesnt understand why her boyfriend would lie to her since she feels theres nothing else that he can lose.

I dont need to be told Im an idiot for not walking away when I first discovered that he had cheated, she said.

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When 19-year-old Giona Melo heard that police had arrested the pastor of the largest Baptist church in the Philippine island of Mindanao for allegedly murdering his romantic rival, a male beauty pageant contestant, all she could do was laugh.

I used to get really angry, but now I laugh because its just absurd, said Melo, who grew up in Cagayan de Oro, a city in northern Mindanao, and is now a student at North Park University in Chicago. I have peace because I trust in God more than the church.

Dimver Andales, the 51-year-old head pastor of Lapasan Baptist Church in Cagayan de Oro, was accused of masterminding the murder of 24-year-old Adriane Rovic Fornillos, a candidate for Mister Cagayan de Oro. The police have called the case a crime of passion because Andales, a married man, was allegedly in a romantic relationship with Fornilloss girlfriend. He was arrested along with his associate pastor, who is said to be an accomplice of the crime.

Around the time the news broke, another pastor, Jennifer Cobarrubias of Dream Life Church in Quezon City, went viral for a TikTok video in which she and her church members mocked former congregants who had left her church. She quickly faced backlash on social media: This is why I stopped going [to church], read one tweet. Religious people are the most judgmental ones. Another read: These types of people are using religion to control peoples lives.  Shouldnt you be praying for them instead of mocking them [on] TikTok?

It is sad to see Christian leaders fail to be good representatives of Christ, said Micah Bacani, a recent graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. This isnt the first time the 24-year-old has grappled with a Christian leader's moral failings. Apologist Ravi Zacharias, who was posthumously charged with sexual abuse in 2021, also greatly influenced Bacanis spiritual life. Its sad because theyre called to a different standard. But I think its a comfort to know that their failures dont diminish the work God can do in their lives.

While the Philippines is the most Christian country in Asia and public trust in church leaders remains high, church scandals or pastoral pettiness now reach a wider audience through social media, impacting how Gen Z views the church. Ministry leaders working with this demographic are finding that trust is no longer a given like in previous generations. Given this context, faithful pastors and church leaders need to establish young peoples trust in the church and ministries through personal relationships and through transparently answering their questions.

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Responding to church controversies

Scandals within the church and Christian-inspired sects are not new in the Philippines. Last year, a court in Palawan ordered the arrest of Romeo Nunez, pastor of Jesus Christ The River of Life Church, over rape accusations filed by a church member. In 2021, a US federal grand jury charged Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church and the self-proclaimed appointed son of God, with sex trafficking.

Back in 2005, a former assistant of Eli Soriano, founder of the sect called Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), accused the pastor of rape amid feuds between his group and the sect Iglesia Ni Cristo. Soriano moved to Brazil amid the rape and libel cases.

Yet for Gen Z, the difference now is how quickly word spreads online.

Young people spend a lot of time on social media, and these days, issues of religious leaders spread like wildfire, said Mark Henry Pellejera, pastor of Rod of God Ministry, who disciples high school students in rural Cagayan. This has a huge effect on the faith of those who arent plugged into a community where they can ask questions, be discipled, and express their concerns.

In his ministry, Pellejera addresses recent scandals in one-on-one conversations with the members of his youth group, stressing that even religious leaders are prone to fall into sin. However, Pellejera finds that young atheists and skeptics have a harder time being open to Christianity because these church scandals reinforce their preexisting skepticism and distrust toward religious leaders.

Eva Marie Joy Famador, the national coordinator of Micah Philippines, an organization that raises awareness of integrity in churches in the country, stresses the importance of churches being open about the ugliness inside.

Filipino churches deal with scandals quietly, because the concept of saving face or shame is very important to us, Famador said. She has observed that there is a tendency for Filipino churches to cover up a moral failing or to even flat-out ignore it because theyre concerned about their public image.

We need to understand what the Bible says about integrity and teach these principles to our congregation so that we can develop a system of accountability, said Famador.

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Famador noted that corruptionwhich can come in the forms of sexual abuse, financial misuse, abuse of power, bribery, vote buying, or tax evasioncan be addressed on a practical level by instituting transparency and accountability in the church. At the same time, openness can also protect church leaders from defamation and congregants from untrue gossip.

Disconnect between leaders and young people

The 2021 State of the Filipino Youth Survey found that 54 percent of Gen Z Filipinos said they engage in religious activities daily. Yet in the same survey, less than a quarter said they were members of a social group or organization, and of those, only 37 percent said they joined a church or religious organization.

Dana Calanog, a 23-year-old medical student at St. Lukes Medical Center in Quezon City, noted that one reason for the low participation rate could be the disconnect between pastors and their young congregants.

Leaders can be absorbed in their authority and see themselves as God, so its important for me when they go out of their way to make me feel heard, Calanog said. She appreciates how her pastor not only cares about her spiritual life but also asks about her personal life and listens to her worries about school.

Its important for me to have a church leader who is open, willing to discuss things, and respectfully acknowledges where Im coming from.

Because social hierarchy is determined by age in the Philippines, it can be difficult for pastors to address the questions of young church members without feeling like their authority is being questioned.

Raising concerns shouldnt be taken as a personal attack, said Melo. She is concerned about how some Christians overly revere their pastor and believe that everything the pastor says is the gospel truth. This is why she finds pastors who are humble to be more trustworthy.

I trust church leaders who have been to therapy, who are vulnerable and open to themselves, Melo said. I think it shows their capacity for sensitivity to Gods word.

Gen Z Filipinos care about mental health issues, a struggle that 73 percent of them have dealt with. Seeing church leaders address this from the pulpit can be empowering for young people who value authenticity and can pave the way for relationships to be deepened across generations.

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Bacani, the recent grad, said he trusts his church leaders because they intentionally show that they care. My youth pastor disciples me, and I trust him because Ive seen his wisdom in the way he lives, Bacani said. Ive seen his humility when he admits his mistakes and acknowledges his shortcomings.

Trust is a relationship issue

To build trust among Gen Zers, Famador believes leaders need to put systems in place to address issues so that the church wont be prone to corruption. This also sets clear expectations and boundaries for congregants to follow.

Accountability needs to be institutionalized in the church, Famador said. If someone has a complaint, they go to a [designated] person or committee. The pastors wife should be there if a woman seeks counseling from a male pastor. If a church member wants to give money to an outreach program, they are advised to give directly to the treasurer instead of the pastor.

As the former executive director of the Christian Convergence for Good Governance, Famador also advocates for government intervention in sexual abuse cases.

Pellejera encourages his congregation to communicate openly with him. Having a two-way dialogue between church leadership and the congregation is important for building trust, especially in a context that is as communal as the Philippines.

When someone has a problem, they can come to me directly and freely express their concerns, questions, and judgments, Pellejera said. It can be easier to implement this in a small congregation where everyone feels like family.

Bacani and other Gen Zers agree with the need for the church to be a safe place to ask questions and express doubts with older, more mature believers.

Trust is a relationship issue, Bacani says. This is why its important for me to have deep relationships with the leaders of my church.
Chungthang Thiek, a revivalist and preacher who launched a prayer movement in the hills of Manipur, a northeastern state in India, died on January 4. He was 75 and had been battling vocal cord cancer for months.

Thiek obeyed the vision he received on July 11, 1986, the last day of a youth camp he was leading, instructing him to Arise and rebuild, words that first led him to build a discipleship and evangelistic ministry that soon evolved into something more specific.

Following a trip to South Korea, Thiek returned with a vision to provide a place for people to pray and started to pray for the same. In 1990, he established Prayer Mountain right outside Manipurs second largest city of Churachandpur, which has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Christians from across the country since.

A former math teacher turned evangelist, Thiek had a heart for Manipur and learned all of the states languages and dialects. His lifes work became defined by that vision at youth camp. There, he later recalled, God spoke to him from the book of Nehemiah 2:17:

Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.

The situation in Manipur and especially in Churachandpur at that time (1986) was very bad. Alcoholism had gripped most of our young people, as well as drug abuse, said Thieks former ministry partner Lalmanlien Mana, who at that time was one of the campers. Their spiritual lives were way down in the pit.

But the vision Thiek shared with these young people in his characteristic bluntness and passion stirred their hearts.

Thiek said, Let us join together to rebuild our spiritual lives, our families, our community, as well as our society, and Nehemiah Prayer Team (NPT) was born that day, Mana said.

Mana remembers that this message resonated so deeply that 115 youth out of the 200 in the camp came forward and committed their lives to praying for their communities and country.

Many from the NPT in the years to come became leaders, trainers, pastors, and people of influence, Mana said.

The NPT asked young Christians to fast as individuals or groups and to donate a share of rice (the staple food of the people of that region) to the ministry. The collected rice would be sold, and the NPT would use these funds to organize gospel camps, seminars, and crusades.

In 1989, Thiek and few NPT members traveled to South Korea and learned about prayer mountains, a movement where once-persecuted Christians sought momentary refuge by talking to God in nature.

Dad was burdened to provide a place for people to pray, said Joshua Thiek, the oldest of Thieks three sons. A solitude where they could commune with God without interruption, as long as they wanted, one on one, and refresh their soul and spirit before they left.

In 1990, a local leader in the area gave a mountain property to Thiek, and soon local Christians began heading to the area. Since its inception, the experience has been free and runs entirely on donations and rice sales. Between 4,500 and 6,000 visit each month and stay in the campuss 70 cabins.

People come to the Prayer Mountain to fast and pray, Mana said. Some for a day (morning till evening), some for three days, some for a week, and some for 40 days. They are free to stay as long as they like.

Through NPT, around 3,000 Indian Christians have currently committed themselves to praying. The organization, whose motto is Ask, Rise and Build, has also spread to Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and New Delhi and today is a department of the Independent Church of India.

Thiek was born in Jinam Paithe Punji village in the state of Assam, which borders Manipur. Though there are no official records from his birth, his son said he was born in 1949. He lost his father at age four.

When Thiek moved to a new village to attend school, he stayed in various families homes, where he did odd jobs for them like collecting sticks from the forest or carrying water from the well.

Later, he moved to Manipur to a village outside of Churachandpur, where he attended high school. He received a bachelors degree in zoology and mathematics and later a Bachelor of Divinity from Union Biblical Seminary, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

While his greatest impact came from his work within the borders of Manipur, Thiek also served as northeast regional secretary for the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), the umbrella body for evangelicals in India. He served with EFI for 28 years and helped develop Christian unity and leadership in the region.

He appeared small in stature but was a very tall leader respected throughout the nation, said Vijayesh Lal, the present general secretary of EFI. I had the privilege of ministering alongside him many times. He was the one who opened the northeast region for me. His passion for people, simplicity, cheerfulness, straightforwardness, and his willingness to serve even a younger person like me will stay with me forever. He was a true missionary.

Richard Howell, former general secretary of EFI and Thieks colleague, remembers him as a man dedicated to prayer and fasting.

He was exceptionally gifted to network and develop partnerships, said Howell, who worked with Thiek for 20 years. His first convert to Christ was when he was practicing preaching on an empty road, and lo and behold a drunkard came stumbling, who then committed his life to Christ.

Leaders also remembered the way Thiek was able to recognize and overcome his own biases and shortcomings through prayer and by listening to others.

Leela Manasseh, former secretary for EFIs Women Commission, worked alongside Thiek for many years. At one point she asked him to keynote a womens conference.

First, he wept  then he shared: My wife told me last month to go to the Prayer Mountain.  She asked me to spend time with the Lord to correct my thinking about women leaders. I had never accepted that God gives the gift of leadership to women. I returned home from the mountain and said sorry to my wife, Manasseh said. I shared with her how God helped me to understand that God blesses both men and women with the gift of leadership.

We were all moved to tears of joy, Manasseh said. That was the best keynote address that I have ever heard so far. A man in leadership testified to women leaders and how God changed him before he could address a gathering of women leaders. It spoke volumes.

After retiring from EFI in 2021, Thiek founded the Ministry of the Saints, an organization that sought to provide education for the children of day laborers, whose parents could not afford to send them to school.

Dad one day encountered two very feeble children  doing nothing while their parents were working in the field. He asked them why they were not in school, and the children said that their parents cannot afford to send them and they stay idle the entire day waiting for them to return, Joshua Thiek said. Dad was deeply moved. His personal experience of losing his father at a very young age fueled his passion for providing a brighter future for such children.

The ministry today supports the education of 57 children and is overseen by Joshua Thiek.

One year before Prayer Mountain opened, in 1989, Chungthang Thiek moved to Imphal, Manipurs capital. After his cancer diagnosis, he moved to Guwahati, Assam, just weeks before violence killed dozens of Christians, many of them from Thieks minority Kuki-Zo community. His own family fled to a relief camp before joining him in Assam.

My fathers last days would have been harder if he would have witnessed the violence with his own eyes, Joshua Thiek said.

Weeks before leaving to begin cancer treatments, Thiek spoke at Prayer Mountains 2023 convention last March, which drew 600 Christians, and met with Mana there in April, sharing his dreams for the next stages of his ministry.

Thiek started this in 1986, and the Lord has been leading us till today; and now when Thiek is gone, I believe that the Lord will continue to lead us till Jesus second coming, Mana said.

Thiek is survived by his wife, three sons, and three grandchildren.
Chinese embassy in Ecuador temporarily closed from Jan. 10

Xinhua) 13:34, January 10, 2024

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy and consulates general in Ecuador will be temporarily closed from Jan. 10 until further notice, said an official statement on Tuesday.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Ecuador, there has been no report about security incidents concerning Chinese enterprises and Chinese in Ecuador.

Due to "internal armed conflict," Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) founder Mark Lowrey choked back tears as he described the vision that inspired his ministry at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in the early 1970s.

We were gonna impact the world with the gospel, and people were gonna understand who Christ was, and they were gonna come to him, and they were gonna be part of his church, he said in a 2023 video celebrating the 50th anniversary of RUF.

Lowrey died on Christmas Eve at age 78, but not before seeing RUF spread to 177 university campuses in 43 states, employing 160 ordained ministers, 57 women in staff roles, and 157 interns. Lowrey also spent more than 25 years with Great Commission Publications, a curriculum ministry jointly supported by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC).

Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on September 27, 1945, Lowrey earned his undergraduate degree from USM and served one tour in Vietnam with the army before enrolling at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson, Mississippi.

In 1971 Lowrey was approached by leaders from three Presbyterian churches in Hattiesburg and asked to lead the college ministry at USM. Called Westminster Fellowship, the campus ministry had begun in the 1950s as a ministry supported jointly by the three churches and carried out by ordained ministers. But by the early 1970s, the ministry had stalled: It had no USM students. The churches hoped a first-year seminarian would revive the ministry.

I had been deeply impressed by a speaker at RTS who drove home the churchs unique role in carrying out Christs commission to make disciples of all nations, Lowrey later explained in an essay commemorating the founding of RUF. He also recalled his time at several InterVarsity Christian Fellowship conferences and how InterVarsity wrestled with the question, How do you do ministry on the college campus?

Despite the obstacles, Lowrey saw an opportunity at USM. Denominational campus ministries in the 1960s and 1970s had focused on students from their own denominations and had largely substituted social concerns and activism for evangelism and discipleship, he wrote in 2023.

Lowreys approach would be different: Minister to children from Presbyterian churches, but carry out the Great Commission to all students. As a ministry of the church, his campus work would teach students the importance of being part of the local church both now and for the rest of their lives. As the ministry grew, campus ministersalmost always seminary-trained and ordained ministered to students through students, according to Lowrey, with the goal of producing students who would serve the church upon graduation.

The ministry focused on the essentials of the Christian faith as expressed in Scripture and the Westminster Confession of Faith: the authority of Scripture, salvation through Christ alone, growth in grace, worldview, evangelism, and service.

The campus ministry at USM officially became a PCA ministry in 1973, when two of the three supporting churches transferred into the newly formed denomination. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, RUF campus ministries began at several Mississippi institutions, including Belhaven College (now Belhaven University), Mississippi College, and Mississippi State University. The PCA presbyteries in Mississippi encouraged Lowrey to expand the ministry. He developed an internship program, summer conference, staff training programs, and short-term missions conferences.

In 1983 Lowrey became the PCAs coordinator for campus ministry.

Mark was equal parts a vision person and a detail person, recalled James Bebo Elkin, who served alongside Lowrey in Mississippi in the early days of the ministry. He was skilled at putting together a coalition: he wasnt just a master of facts and figures, he also prioritized relationships with people, and could get them involved in key ways.

In 1996 Lowrey moved from college ministry to childrens ministry and served as director of publications for Great Commission Publications (GCP) from 1996 until 2020. The publishing ministry that produced the Trinity Hymnal was struggling financially and needed to update its curriculum offerings for children.

Central to this new curriculum would be teaching children that all of Scriptureboth the Old and New Testamentspoints to Jesus Christ. They named the curriculum Show Me Jesus.

Lowrey navigated GCP through the pandemic as its interim executive director from 2020 to 2021, and then as executive director from 2021 until 2023.

As news of Lowreys passing spread, tributes poured in on social media. Fellow pastors described him as a true churchman and a faithful mentor.

His life and ministry helped shape the PCA in ways not readily visible but undeniable, said Daryl Madi, a pastor. Much like a steel support beam running the length of a house. It doesnt get prominently displayed for guests to see, but nothing would be the same without it.

He is survived by his wife Priscilla, whom he met and married while she was working for InterVarsity Fellowship in the early 1970s, and their two children, Leonard and Elizabeth.

If you let the Word loose with the Holy Spirit, then he changes people, Lowrey said of RUF. I know that Gods still working because thats what its aboutGods work.
Home News Pope calls for universal ban on surrogacy: 'deplorable practice'

Pope Francis has received praise extending beyond Catholic circles after calling for a universal ban on surrogacy.

In remarks to members of the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See on Monday, the pontiff declared that the path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mothers womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking.

Francis transitioned into talking about surrogate motherhood, which is where a woman is artificially inseminated so she can carry a baby for nine months, only to be forced to surrender the child to a third party upon giving birth. Surrogate mothers are commonly used by same-sex male couples who desire to have biological children and heterosexual couples in which the woman struggles to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term.

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Critics of the practice maintain that it amounts to abusing young women and replacing the marital act between husband and wife that results in the natural conception of children. I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mothers material needs, Francis said.

A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract. Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally, the pope added. Francis concluded his remarks on surrogacy by declaring, At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended; yet I note with request, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly and the sick.

Allie Beth Stuckey, host of the Relatable podcast, took to X Monday to praise the Pope for taking a stance against surrogacy: As a reformed Protestant, I certainly dont agree with the pope on much. But he is absolutely right about surrogacy. It is the commercialization of reproduction and the commoditization of bodies  a form of trafficking. The renting of wombs and the buying of babies must come to an end.

The Catholic Church has long opposed the idea of surrogate motherhood. In a 1987 Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation authored by the Churchs Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that features Replies to Certain Questions of the Day, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elaborated on why the Catholic Church considers surrogacy a grave sin.

Eighteen years later, Ratzinger would become Pope Benedict XVI. It is contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person, Ratzinger wrote.

Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity and of responsible motherhood: it offends the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; it sets up, to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which constitutes those families, he continued.

Paragraph 2376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral.

According to the Catechism, these techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the childs right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses right to become a father and a mother only through each other.

Currently, the legal status of surrogacy varies around the world. Data compiled by the website Surrogacy 360 shows that several countries have completely banned the practice: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Austria, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

In the United States, the legality of surrogacy varies by state.

States that explicitly permit some or all types of surrogacy include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The procedure is banned in Idaho, Indiana and Michigan, while Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and Massachusetts allow it in some circumstances.

Several other states do not directly regulate surrogacy: Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Home News DeSantis hits at key rivals, promises to shoot cartel members during Fox News town hall Town hall briefly interrupted by climate hecklers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis presented his case for why he should be chosen to go against President Joe Biden while hitting at key rivals, former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, during a Fox News town hall on Tuesday.

DeSantis said he would "love to run against Biden," adding that if he is chosen as the GOP nominee, he has no intention of letting him "hang out in his basement."

"We would run him ragged around this country," he said. "I would love to be able to be in a debate with Biden and be able to hold him accountable for his policies."

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Like Haley during a Fox News town hall event the night before, DeSantis suggested that one of Biden's biggest policy blunders has been the border.

DeSantis took a hardline stance regarding the border crisis, saying he would declare the "invasion" a national emergency and utilize the U.S. military to shoot cartel members trying to enter the country illegally.

Noting that he saw holes blown out of physical barriers along the southern border when he visited, DeSantis likened the situation to someone breaking into a home, which he said justifies self-defense.

"If someone breaks into your home, you would have every right to use lethal force to protect your family," he said. "Yet someone can cut a hole into a wall and break into our country, and we're just supposed to let that happen? Not on my watch. You're going to see a major, major response."

Regarding whether he would apply that principle to cartel members who were caught trying to undermine the border's physical barriers, DeSantis said, "Rules of engagement. Let her rip! That's absolutely appropriate to be able to do to defend your country."

DeSantis also said he would treat the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, noting how the fentanyl they are bringing into the country has caused more American deaths than any terrorist group. He also vowed that he would send troops into Mexico to kill members of the cartel.

In response to a question from a Christian voter who suggested Republicans are "hiding" from the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion law to the states, DeSantis touted his pro-life record and said, "its important to stand for a culture of life."

DeSantis signed a law in Florida that banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, and has expressed support for a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks.

Im the only one running that has actually enacted protections for the sanctity of life," he said. "Im the only one thats been able to do that."

While he was giving his answer on abortion, apparent climate hecklers in the audience interrupted by chanting, "No oil money!" before they were promptly escorted out. DeSantis chuckled in response, saying, "You live and you learn with these people, right?"

"Alright, well. You guys, that was a mistake. You guys didn't get that one right," he added.

???????? Ron DeSantis roasts leftist disruptors chanting NO OIL MONEY!



"Well you guys didn't get that one right. pic.twitter.com/7zyTXf2QRE  DeSantis War Room ???? (@DeSantisWarRoom) January 10, 2024

DeSantis also pledged to take on federal agencies that he claims have become increasingly "weaponized" in recent years. He said he first saw the Internal Revenue Service becoming politicized when he was running for Congress in 2012 and the agency targeted conservative groups in his district.

"And it's like a small nonprofit that's just talking about the Constitution under Obama, they did it," he said. "No one was held accountable for doing that."

He said Americans can expect such outcomes to continue "until you have a president that comes in and drops the hammer," which he said he would do by holding the people "responsible for the madness" accountable.

DeSantis addressed the issue of Trump, who is leading the GOP primary pack, but whose legal issues the Florida governor argued make a rematch between him and Biden a dangerous risk for Republicans.

"It raises the issue for Republicans: 'What do we want the 2024 election to be about?'" he said. "If Donald Trump is the nominee, the election is going to be about legal issues, criminal trials, Jan. 6. Itll be a referendum on him."

There are a lot of people that want to vote for Republicans, but I think that theres a lot that are not going to do the Trump stuff. Thats just the reality, DeSantis told the media following the town hall, according to The Associated Press.

DeSantis also hit at Haley, his primary rival for runner-up against the former president, by bringing up a recent comment she made to New Hampshire voters suggesting they might need to "correct" the votes of Iowans by voting for her.

The former South Carolina governor, who leads DeSantis in New Hampshire and is even trimming the gap with Trump in the state, has claimed she was joking with the remark.

"It's tough for me to take something from somebody that goes to another state, and then says Iowa's votes need to be corrected," DeSantis said. "You know, I found that to be deeply offensive. I've met folks here in Iowa. Folks here represent the best of America and are patriotic, hardworking, God-fearing. That's what we need to engineer come back to this country."

DeSantis also accused Haley of having "indulged in some of these left-wing tropes" regarding pro-life voters.

"She's chastised pro-lifers, saying, 'You shouldn't be talking about putting women in prison.' Nobody's talking about that," DeSantis said. "I've not met a single pro-lifer that has ever talked about that. That is a trope that the Left and the media will use, and yet she's indulged that."

DeSantis is slated to face off against Haley in another CNN town hall on Wednesday night.
Home News Biden HHS rescinds Trump conscience protections for healthcare workers

The Biden administration has issued a new proposal seeking to amend conscience protections for healthcare workers and institutions that wish to refrain from performing abortions and other procedures that violate their religious beliefs, drawing concerns from pro-life activists.

In a final rule slated for publication in the Federal Register Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its intention to partially rescind a rule implemented by the Trump administration in 2019.

The rule, due to take effect 60 days later, amends the 2019 rule and returns federal policy to "the framework created by the February 23, 2011, final rule entitled, 'Regulation for the Enforcement of Federal Health Care Provider Conscience Protection Laws.'"

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The 2019 rule, titled "Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority," contained several provisions outlining explicit protections enabling "individuals, entities, and health care entities to refuse to perform, assist in the performance of, or undergo certain health care services or research activities to which they may object for religious, moral, ethical, or other reasons."

The rule was blocked by federal courts and was never able to go into effect.

The Biden administration's proposal eliminates several provisions outlining protections for individuals and healthcare facilities that receive federal grants, contracts or loans. Specific declarations include protections stating that federal law shall not require individuals "to perform or assist in the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if his performance or assistance in the performance of such procedure or abortion would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions."

Protections also prohibit mandating that recipients of federal funds make their "facilities available for the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance of such procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited by the recipient on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions" and "provide personnel" for the provisions of said procedures. The 2019 rule also forbids discrimination in employment against people who refuse to participate in abortions or sterilizations.

Part of the rule remains in place, including a section proclaiming that certain federal statutes "protect the rights of individuals, entities, and health care entities to refuse to perform, assist in the performance of, or undergo certain health care services or research activities to which they may object for religious, moral, ethical, or other reasons." The provision also maintains that "such laws also protect patients from being subjected to certain health care or services over their conscientious objection."

The department's proposal comes a year after it attempted to amend the 2019 rule in a proposed rule titled "Safeguarding the Rights of Conscience as Protected by Statutes." As noted by the pro-life advocacy group CatholicVote, the proposal would have had the effect of returning federal policy to the way it was in 2011.

More than 9,600 people submitted letters to the Biden administration against the proposal in response to a campaign started by CatholicVote warning that changes to the 2019 rule would revoke the moral exemption for employers who did not want to pay for abortifacients in their employer-sponsored healthcare plans. The proposed rule did not go into effect.

Pro-life groups offered differing reactions to the latest proposed rule. Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, addressed the new rule in a statement published Tuesday.

"President Biden is once again showing his allegiance to pro-abortion groups and their demands," she said.

"His administration is willing to trample on the rights of millions of healthcare workers by changing a rule designed to protect them from having to perform abortions against their religious or ethical convictions," Tobias added. She said, "This administration has been more than willing to comply with the demands of pro-abortion groups and their allies."

Tom McClusky, CatholicVote's director of government affairs, suggested in a statement that the final rule imposed by HHS "could have been much worse."

"The onslaught of public protest prevented HHS from sending us back to 2011," McClusky said. "But the rule definitely leaves Americans at the mercy of [HHS Secretary] Becerra's whims  and whether he feels that the protections we do have are even worth enforcing."

McClusky implied that Becerra's "whims" so far indicate that he is not likely to protect religious freedom and freedom of conscience. "Becerra's name is also on cases like Texas v. Becerra, where HHS is trying  and so far failing  to force emergency room doctors to perform elective abortions," he warned.

"On the one hand, we get these vague protections from HHS, while at the same time we see the administration taking the issue all the way to the Supreme Court to use [the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act] to promote their radical abortion agenda."
Home News Congregation mourns pastor murdered by neighbor

In North Las Vegas, Nevada, the Grace Point Church community is mourning the tragic loss of Pastor Nick Davi, who was murdered by his neighbor last month. As they prepare for his memorial service scheduled for next week, an expected attendance of 1,000 people reflects the profound impact of his passing.

Pastor Ty Neal of Grace Point Church shared his deep sorrow during a recent service. We lost a brother. We lost a pastor, and we lost a friend, he told the congregation. It doesnt feel real. It just feels like this is a bad dream in which we will wake up to and Nick will be there.

Neal spoke about the perplexities of faith, addressing what appears to be contradictions between Gods love and compassion and the suffering of good people, and alluding to Davis passing.

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The fatal shooting occurred on Dec. 29 inside the gated Courts at Aliante community. The pastor described the assailant as a neighbor who had been causing distress to Davi and his family, leading them to temporarily leave their home. They were in the process of retrieving belongings when the incident occurred.

Speaking to Fox 5, Neal, who lives in the same community, said, When you put a violent act like this in the same sentence with Nick, your mind just cant process that.  I heard pops and it is normal to hear fireworks, car backfire, sometimes gunshots, it is normal. You dont think much about it.

Joe Junio, 36, the accused, was arrested at the scene. The dispute between Junio and the Davi family had been ongoing, with reports to the homeowners' association about Junios disruptive behavior, including throwing rocks and feces onto the Davi family's property. The situation had escalated over several months, ultimately leading to this tragic outcome.

Sarah Davi, Nicks wife, survived the attack. Displaying remarkable courage, she managed to disarm the shooter, an act her son likened to a grizzly bear, momma, according to Review-Journal.

The memorial service for Davi is scheduled for Jan. 15 at Grace Point Church. Over 1,000 attendees are expected, Fox 5 said. The service will also be broadcast live on the churchs YouTube channel, allowing those unable to attend in person to participate in honoring Davis memory, the church announced on Facebook.

Speaking to the congregation, Neal recalled Davis significant role in the church, highlighting his journey from Mississippi to Nevada in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. Davi, a marine biologist with a passion for helping animals and people, was among the first members of the church.

Junio faces multiple charges, including murder, attempted murder, and child abuse involving a gun. The nature of the disagreement that led to such a violent conclusion remains a concern for the community.

Pastor Davis contributions to the community extended beyond his church duties. His career in marine biology saw him working at prominent public aquariums in Florida, Mississippi and Nevada. In 2014, he transitioned to a role in church operations, overseeing the 30,000-square-foot facility at Grace Point Church.

This incident has also raised serious concerns among local residents about the recent uptick in violence. The Courts at Aliante community, typically described as peaceful, is now grappling with the aftermath of this shocking event.

A native of eastern Long Island, New York, Pastor Davi graduated from Riverhead High School and later earned a B.S. in marine science and biology from the University of Tampa. His transition to pastoral work marked a significant shift in his life, dedicating himself to the service of his congregation and community.

In response to the tragedy, Grace Point Church has asked its congregation for prayers for the Davi family. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to assist the Davi family during this difficult period.
Home News David Sliker joins list of leaders leaving IHOPKC amid Mike Bickle investigation

International House of Prayer Kansas City has announced the resignation of IHOP University President David Sliker as the ministry continues losing leaders weeks after permanently cutting ties with founder Mike Bickle, who remains under investigation for "serious allegations including sexual immorality."

"After seven years of faithful service, our dear brother in Christ, David Sliker, has decided to step down as President of IHOPU," the ministry announced in a statement Friday.

"David is also stepping down from the IHOPKC's Executive Leadership Team, effective immediately. This was a mutual decision made in the best interest of the IHOPKC community and David's family," the ministry added.

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The executive committee of IHOPKC's Board of Directors, the Executive Leadership Team, and IHOPU's leadership team "all unanimously agreed to have Matt Candler appointed as the new President of IHOPU effective immediately."

"Matt and his leadership team will be communicating all the necessary information with the faculty and students in the coming days. Thank you for your continued prayers in this season," the ministry's statement added.

Sliker's departure comes approximately two weeks after IHOPKC spokesperson Eric Volz announced that the ministry permanently parted ways with Bickle, who founded the 24/7 prayer ministry in 1999.

"Since taking over management of the crisis, the executive committee has received new information to now confirm a level of inappropriate behavior on the part of Mike Bickle that requires IHOPKC to immediately, formally, permanently separate from him," Volz said in his announcement.

Executive Director Stuart Greaves also resigned from the ministry, including his role on the board of directors, Volz noted but did not offer a reason for Greaves' decision.

Greaves was replaced by Gen. Kurt Fuller, who took over the management of this crisis on Dec. 10.

Brad Tebbutt, another leader who most recently served as admissions manager at IHOP University, resigned in December after former staff members at IHOPKC raised concerns about past sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Volz noted that an independent investigation into Bickle's behavior is currently underway under new IHOPKC leadership and released a letter from Rosalee McNamara, an attorney hired by the ministry, stating that she is "free from any influence by any individual or organization, including IHOPKC."

On Dec. 12, more than a month after IHOPKC leaders announced that at least one allegation of abuse, including "sexual immorality," made against Bickle has "some credibility," the embattled minister confessed to sinful misconduct he committed over 20 years ago.

"With a very heavy heart I want to express how deeply grieved I am that my past sins have led to so much pain, confusion, and division in the body of Christ in this hour. I sadly admit that 20+ years ago, I sinned by engaging in inappropriate behavior  my moral failures were real," Bickle said in a statement. "I am not admitting to the more intense sexual activities that some are suggesting."

A woman identified as Jane Doe by The Roys Report alleged that for approximately three years, from 1996 to 1999, Bickle paid for her apartment, gave her a key to his office and engaged in every sexual act with her except copulation.

She claimed the IHOPKC founder wooed her with Scripture when she was just 19, and he was 42, then made her a kept woman for several years as he established his now popular ministry.

IHOPKC founding member Dwayne Roberts, former IHOPKC Executive Leadership Team member Brian Kim and former Forerunner Church Pastor Wes Martin said in an October joint statement that they are the ones who first confronted IHOPKC leaders about the allegations against Bickle spanning "several decades."

They alleged that before meeting with IHOPKC's leadership team, they attempted to discuss the allegations directly with Bickle "in the spirit of Matthew 18:15-17" but were rebuffed. They claimed that Bickle also attempted to intimidate, isolate, manipulate and discredit his alleged victims.

"When these allegations were brought to our attention, we were shocked. We could never have imagined that inappropriate conduct with women as something we would ever need to be concerned about," Roberts, Kim and Martin said in the statement. "The allegations seemed out of character to the man we thought we knew, but they were so serious we could not ignore them."

IHOPKC released a "Report on Initial Findings" in November, stating that IHOPKC's executive leadership treated the allegations against Bickle as credible and asked him to step away from public ministry on Oct. 24, when they were first confronted with the allegations.

The report also stated that IHOPKC was able to identify five of the eight women the complaint group alleges were Bickle's victims. Three of the alleged victims called the allegations "lies," while one of the alleged victims refused to communicate with IHOPKC attorneys. Only Jane Doe was found credible, and Bickle said in his statement that he believed he had repented of that sin long ago.
Home News Iranian Christian convert, 60, sentenced to 6 years in prison Woman accused of pushing Zionist Christianity for participation in house church

Sixty-year-old Christian convert Mina Khajavi has been ordered to commence a six-year prison term in Iran, according to a report that says she was convicted for acting against national security by promoting Zionist Christianity through her involvement in a house church.

Khajavi, arrested in 2020, was sentenced in 2022 alongside two other individuals: fellow Christian convert Malihe Nazari, who also received a six-year sentence, and Iranian-Armenian Pastor Joseph Shahbazian, sentenced to 10 years, according to Article 18, a nonprofit that promotes religious freedom and tolerance for Christians in Iran.

The group explained that while Shahbazian and Nazari began serving their sentences shortly thereafter, Khajavis imprisonment was delayed due to a severe car accident that left her with a badly broken ankle, requiring the fitting of metal plates.

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Despite her ongoing physical challenges, including a persistent limp and the development of arthritis, Khajavi was instructed last Wednesday to report to Evin Prison within five days. This directive came despite the early release of both Shahbazian and Nazari, who were convicted on the same charge.

Shahbazians sentence was initially reduced to two years after an appeals court judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence under Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code, which pertains to organizing groups that threaten national security. He was fully pardoned and released in September 2023. Nazari was released earlier in 2023, reportedly due to her sons serious health condition, as he was hospitalized with leukemia.

The case of Mina Khajavi has sparked outrage among human rights activists and organizations.

Mansour Borji, the advocacy director of Article18, expressed shock at the unjust sentence initially handed down to Khajavi for exercising her right to freedom of religion or belief. We are further appalled by the absurdity of the summons to serve that sentence, despite the serious physical harm that prison conditions can potentially cause her, Borji said.

Article18 and other groups and activists are calling for the immediate and unconditional acquittal of Khajavi, emphasizing that her sentence is a result of her Christian faith.

The groups are also urging Iran to end the harassment of the Christian community and to respect the November 2021 Supreme Court ruling, which stated that the promotion of Christianity and formation of a house-church is not criminalized in law and should not be deemed a threat to national security.

Khajavis arrest in June 2020 occurred during raids on several house churches in Tehran, Karaj and Malayer. She was detained for 20 days and released on bail on July 20, 2020. During her detention, Khajavi was blindfolded to prevent her from knowing her location and was eventually dropped off at an unknown location in Tehran, according to Prisoners of Faith.

In October 2021, Khajavi was summoned to give her defense at the Evin prosecutors office. On June 7, 2022, she was sentenced to six years in prison. Her appeal was rejected on Aug. 17, 2022. Finally, on Aug. 29, 2022, she was summoned to begin her sentence within 24 hours but was allowed to return home for up to six weeks to recover from a broken leg.

Converts from Islam to Christianity are most at risk of persecution in Iran, especially by the government and to a lesser extent by society and their families, Open Doors USA states in a fact sheet on Iran.

The government sees the growth of the church in Iran as an attempt by Western countries to undermine Islam and the Islamic regime of Iran, the fact sheet states. House groups made up of converts from Muslim backgrounds are often raided, and both their leaders and members have been arrested, prosecuted and given long prison sentences for crimes against national security.

Iran is an Islamic republic, and Shia Islam is the official religion of the country. It is illegal for Muslim citizens to convert or renounce their religious beliefs. Conversion from Islam is considered a crime punishable by death. It is also unlawful for Christians to share the Gospel with Muslims. Proselytizing is also a criminal offense.

Those who convert to Christianity usually practice their faith in secret.
Home News Most US voters say Russia-Ukrainian war at 'stalemate': poll

A majority of American voters consider the war between Russia and Ukraine to be at a stalemate, according to a recent poll, although this view differed depending on a variety of factors, including sex and political affiliation.

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll published last week, 52% of likely U.S. voters consider the war to be at a stalemate, which is an increase compared to the 45% of likely voters who said the same in a May 2022 poll.

Additionally, 14% of likely U.S. voters believe that Russia is winning, which is down from 17% from last May, while 19% think Ukraine is winning, which is a decrease from the 25% reported last May.

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The most recent Rasmussen Reports survey assessed 1,007 U.S. likely voters online and by phone from Dec. 26-28, 2023. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Along political party lines, 50% of Democrats agreed with 53% of Republicans and 52% of voters unaffiliated with either party that the war between Russia and Ukraine is at a stalemate, according to the latest poll.

Forty-two percent of respondents said they think "it would be better for American interests" if Ukraine kept fighting until they completely defeat the Russian invasion, while 40% said it would be better if Ukraine negotiated with Russia. Nineteen percent of participants said they were unsure.

Democrats were more likely (49%) to say it would be better for American interests if Ukraine continued fighting, compared to 41% of Republicans and 35% of unaffiliated voters.

Rasmussen also noted that 34% of likely voters felt the United States has done too much to help Ukraine, while 33% said they don't think the U.S. is doing enough to help Ukraine, and 22% said support for Ukraine is "about right." Another 11% said that they were not sure.

Republicans (42%) were more likely than Democrats (23%) and unaffiliated voters (37%) to say the U.S. is doing too much to support Ukraine. On the other hand, 39% of Democrats, 30% of Republicans and 30% of unaffiliated voters said the U.S. is not doing enough to aid Ukraine.

While men (48%) were more likely than women (36%) to believe it would be better for American interests if Ukraine kept fighting Russia, male voters (57%) were also more likely than women voters (47%) to hold the view that the war is at a stalemate.

The participants who were the most likely to say it would be in Americas best interests if Ukraine kept fighting expressed strong support for President Joe Biden. Voters (66%) who strongly approve of Bidens performance as president said they favored Ukraine continuing to fight.

However, a slight majority of those who disapprove of Bidens performance as president (51%) said it would be better if Ukraine negotiated for peace.

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, deploying ground troops and unleashing airstrikes against cities and military bases. This has included attacks on many civilian areas and churches.

While initial predictions that the Eastern European nation would fall quickly to the invasion, the Ukrainians have mounted a stronger-than-expected resistance to the Russian invasion, according to some media reports.

Despite this, however, a counteroffensive launched by Ukrainian forces last year failed to penetrate Russian defenses.

This isnt World War II and Guderian, said a senior Ukrainian security official to the Wall Street Journal, referencing German Gen. Heinz Guderian, a pioneer of Blitzkrieg. This is World War I and trenches.
Home News New research affirms destruction of biblical city described in 2 Kings, archaeologists say

Israeli scholars say their research affirms the destruction of a biblical city  the conquest of Gath by King Hazael of Aram detailed in the Second Book of Kings  using a novel technology that measures magnetic fields in burnt bricks.

Scientists from Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan and Ariel University in Samaria made a discovery that enables archaeologists to identify burnt materials found in excavations and estimate their firing temperatures.

This innovative study seemingly validates the biblical account of the destruction of the Philistine city of Gath by Hazael, king of Aram, as depicted in 2 Kings 17:17. The narrative describes Hazael's conquest of Gath before turning his attention to Jerusalem.

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"About this time Hazael king of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem," reads the passage.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE for the project titled "Applying thermal demagnetization to archaeological materials: A tool for detecting burnt clay and estimating its firing temperature."

"Our findings are important for determining the intensity of the fire and the scope of destruction in Gath  the largest and most powerful city in the land at the time  and also for understanding construction practices in the region," Prof. Aren Maeir from the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University said in a statement.

The research focused on findings from Tell es-Safi, identified as biblical Gath. The team, led by Dr. Yoav Vaknin from the Sonia & Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, demonstrated that the bricks in a city wall were burned in a conflagration during the city's destruction. The study also contradicts previous assumptions that the bricks were kiln-fired before their construction.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Vaknin highlighted the historical context, noting that in regions like Mesopotamia, where stone was scarce, inhabitants would fire mud bricks in kilns to enhance their strength and durability. This practice is mentioned in the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:3).

Prof. Lipschits, another researcher on the project, emphasized the importance of mud bricks as the primary building material in the Land of Israel during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

"Throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, the main building material in most parts of the Land of Israel was mud bricks. This cheap and readily available material was used to build walls in most buildings, sometimes on top of stone foundations," Lipschits explained, according to All Israel News. "That's why it's so important to understand the technology used in making these bricks."

Dr. Vaknin added that most researchers believe the technology of kiln-firing bricks did not reach the Land of Israel until the Roman conquest. Prior to this, inhabitants used sun-dried mud bricks. The new method developed by the team can conclusively determine whether bricks found in archaeological excavations were fired in a kiln or burned in situ during a destructive event.

The method hinges on the magnetic properties of mud bricks. Sun-dried bricks exhibit a random magnetic orientation, but when fired, their ferromagnetic particles align with the Earth's magnetic field. The researchers discovered that reheating the bricks in a special oven could cancel this alignment, returning the bricks to their original random orientation at the temperature at which they were initially fired.

This technique revealed that the bricks from Gath were fired at temperatures consistent with a conflagration rather than kiln-firing, which involves much higher temperatures.

In July, a mosaic panel depicting biblical stories uncovered at an ancient synagogue was discovered by archeologists seeking answers about the impact of early Christian rule on Jewish people.

In September, archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reported that an ancient inscription paraphrasing the first two verses of Psalm 86 was uncovered from a remote site in the Judean desert of Israel.
Home News Trafficking task force busts Ohio crime ring members with combined 124 felony charges

Six members of a violent crime ring have been indicted on a combined 124 felony charges, including murder and human trafficking. An Ohio task force conducted the investigation as part of an ongoing effort to end human trafficking crimes in the state.

On Saturday, the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued a statement sharing the details of the task force investigation and the six indicted individuals.

Busts like this free victims from the clutches of trafficking and rid our streets of dangerous criminals, Yost said. These successful investigations propel us closer to a future in which no human beings are bought or sold in Ohio.

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A Franklin County grand jury indicted the suspects on Dec. 27 on various felony charges, according to the release. The ages of the indicted individuals varied, and all but one was from Columbus.

The Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force consists of 15 state agencies that work to identify victims and investigate human trafficking cases, in addition to ensuring that survivors receive any necessary treatment. The task force is formed under the Ohio Attorney Generals Organized Crime Investigations Commission.

James Antwan Dukes-Johnson, 28, of Columbus, was indicted on 39 felony charges. The charges included aggravated murder, murder, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in persons, compelling prostitution, trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and felonious assault.

Michael Anthony Davis, 21, of Columbus, was indicted on 38 felony charges, including aggravated murder, murder, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in persons, compelling prostitution, trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and felonious assault.

Sarah Rose Dotson, 33, another suspect from Columbus, was indicted on 29 felony charges, which included trafficking in persons and compelling prostitution. Shahee Siler, 38, of Columbus, was also indicted on 10 felony charges, which included promoting prostitution, in addition to murder and felonious assault.

Tyler Leianne Payne, 29, was indicted on four felony charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and money laundering. Alexias Monay Lashel Carr-Johnson, 28, the only suspect from Marysville, was also indicted on four felony charges that included engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and money laundering.

A Franklin County indictment revealed that the alleged crime ring likely began around June 1, 2022, and lasted until about June 10, 2023, Fox19 reported.

The group engaged in money laundering, according to the indictment, and there were at least seven victims compelled into prostitution by four of the suspects throughout the course of a year.

On May 31, Columbus police responded to a report of a drive-by shooting at a business in the 1900 block of Lockbourne Road, as Fox19 reported. The police discovered 39-year-old Adrian Smith, who was suffering from gunshot wounds, and Smith was pronounced dead in the parking lot six minutes later.

Officers also responded to a 31-year-old unnamed man who had been patronizing the business from his vehicle, according to the police report, when he became caught in the crossfire of the shooting. The man tried to drive himself to the hospital before calling for help, with medical personnel later finding him at the 1500 block of Linwood Avenue with a bullet wound.

Three members of the alleged crime ring  Dukes-Johnson, Davis and Siler  were indicted on murder and felonious assault charges related to the shooting incident, according to Fox19.

The Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force continues its ongoing efforts to eradicate human trafficking.

In October, Yost announced the arrest of 160 people as part of a weeklong effort named Operation Buyers Remorse, which arrested individuals for purchasing sex and identified human trafficking victims.

The operation occurred from Sept. 25 to Sept. 30, taking place in multiple parts of Ohio, including in and around Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Youngstown, Marietta and Portsmouth. Yosts Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission led the collaborative effort.
Home News American pastor raises over $49K for Christians in Gaza

An American pastor says he and the charity networks he runs have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help Christians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

Pastor William Devlin, the missions pastor of the Infinity Bible Church in the South Bronx, has traveled to Gaza more than 30 times. He last visited Gaza in July, serving Christians at the three remaining churches in Gaza, including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Baptist.

In an interview with The Christian Post, the pastor described the situation for Christians in Gaza as "perilous" following the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October. Out of 2.2 million people in Gaza, he said there are only about 1,000 followers of Christ.

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Devlin, who started traveling to Gaza to perform ministry work in 2010, runs the organizations REDEEM! and Widows & Orphans. As of late December, Widows & Orphans has raised over $49,000 for Gazan Christians in the war zone. The financial support for the relief fund comes from generous donors in the United States and 52 churches of varying denominations.

Devlin said getting financial assistance into Gaza requires it be first sent to the West Bank, where colleagues send the funds to Gaza. However, transferring the funds has been difficult due to the current conflict, he said.

"As soon as the banks in Western Union open up, we'll get that money over there to alleviate some of the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Jesus," he said.

"I stay in contact frequently with people in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church," Devlin said. "Oftentimes it depends if the network is working and they are able to charge their phones since electricity is at a premium and often they cannot charge their phones, nor get on the internet or use WhatsApp."

Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza in response to an Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel that killed at least 1,200 people  most of whom were civilians, including at least 30 Americans. In its offensive, Israel seeks to eradicate Hamas, a terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and free the over 240 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that over 22,000 people in Gaza have been killed and over 58,000 injured since the start of the war.

"May God protect our brothers and sisters in Jesus there in Gaza," Devlin said. "That's my hope and prayer."

Palestinian Christians caught up in the Israel-Hamas conflict reportedly face an increasingly "desperate" situation. Many of Gaza's displaced Christians have sheltered in the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church or the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios.

In October, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that a building on the compound of the Greek Orthodox Church that had been sheltering approximately 500 Palestinian Christians and Muslims was damaged by an Israeli airstrike.

While the IDF confirmed that a portion of the church had been damaged in an airstrike, it clarified that it had been targeting Hamas military compounds and not the church.

Holy Family Church was damaged by shrapnel from Israeli army strikes targeting nearby buildings in December.

Devilin, who won a Purple Heart serving in Vietnam, has been recognized for his tireless support of marginalized Christians around the world over the years. Last December, he received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the President's White House Council on Service and Civic Participation.

For the 18 countries that Devlin visits  including Egypt, Gaza, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Jordan  the pastor said he has a local team leader on the ground who speaks the language and tells Devlin when there is a need.

Devlin seeks to bring whatever aid is needed to the area or wires the money over if the need is urgent. He said that the volunteers he works with are people he has known for years, stressing that he has been traveling to Gaza for over 10 years.

"I know these people; I know their families," the Christian humanitarian worker said. "And they're going to give me families that they've already vetted, and that they can ensure to me that the money is going to help buy food, it's going to help buy medication."

The pastor questions why more faith leaders haven't ventured into Gaza, although he acknowledged that due to the current conflict, it is not safe to do so. He urged more faith leaders to travel to Gaza once it becomes possible to do so again.

"Why aren't more Christian leaders going into Gaza to help alleviate the sufferings of their brothers and sisters?" he asked. "How come we're not going in and being a blessing for them?"

Devlin insisted that faith leaders must go "into the world and preach the Gospel." The pastor added that one of his passions is to serve as a "living example" by traveling to war zones where followers of Jesus are "under siege."

"They need practical help; they need prayer," Devlin said about the Christians in Gaza. "They need to be blessed by your presence, just as Jesus did for us."

Regarding the calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, Devlin said that he would support one. However, he stressed that Hamas would not honor the terms of a ceasefire, citing the group's previous violation of such an agreement.

The missionary expressed some disappointment in the Israel Defense Forces, claiming that the Israeli military had not protected Gaza's three Christian churches as it promised. Referencing the allegation that an IDF sniper allegedly killed a mother and daughter at a Gaza Church last month, Devlin noted that the claim is still in dispute.

"Sadly, speaking as a combat veteran from the Vietnam conflict, the innocent in war always suffer the greatest losses on both sides of the conflict," Devlin said. "Now, that would be Gaza."

The pastor continues to call on the IDF to protect the Christian churches in Gaza and has offered to help with bringing relief supplies through Widows & Orphans.
Home News Perceptions of abortion bans driving surge in non-pregnant women requesting abortion drugs

Data from a European organization that has vowed to continue shipping abortion pills into the United States show a spike in the number of non-pregnant women requesting the drug, particularly after the leak of the Supreme Court decision that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade.

Women who have a medication abortion, also known as a chemical abortion, take two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The first drug, mifepristone (RU-486), stops the flow of progesterone, while misoprostol causes cramping and severe bleeding and induces contractions followed by a miscarriage.

According to a study published last week by the Journal of the American Medical Association, women seeking abortion pills through a process called "advance provision" appeared to spike during times when they believed abortion could be restricted.

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The study analyzed data from Aid Access, a Netherlands-based group that started offering abortion pills to non-pregnant women after Texas implemented its six-week abortion ban in 2021.

According to the data, between September 2021 and April 2023, Aid Access received more than 48,000 advance provision requests. The requests appeared to coincide with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision leak and, later, the Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade. Women who made the requests were more likely to be white, aged 30 or older, and live in an urban area.

According to NBC News, the study's author, Abigail Aiken, a public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin, anticipates another spike in advance provision requests. Aikens prediction comes as the Supreme Court considers a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food & Drug Administration loosening the restrictions on mifepristone.

Melanie Israel, a policy analyst for the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation, told The Christian Post that the study was troubling but added that its results were unsurprising.

Israel suggested that one possible reason for the increase in advance provision requests is media headlines insinuating that abortion restrictions prevent women from receiving treatment for pregnancy complications. Israel noted that while these claims are untrue, they heighten peoples sense of fear.

She also noted the risks associated with women ordering the abortion pill online, as without an in-person screening, its impossible to determine how far along the woman is or if shes experiencing any health complications that could endanger her life.

Israel contended that groups like Aid Access are harming American women by ignoring the countrys laws and putting womens health and safety at risk.

These pills are dangerous, and they harm women when they're used the way they're quote-unquote, supposed to be used, when people follow FDA guidelines, Israel said. And so, removing yet another layer of safety, yet another layer of protection, is going to harm women more.

Regarding the Supreme Court abortion pill case, Israel said she believes there will be more fearmongering from abortion proponents and the media, which she noted could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, where more women then begin to seek out an advance provision of the abortion pill.

Its really important, as this case makes its way, for the pro-life movement to be relentless in educating people about the dangers of these pills, and why this Supreme Court case is so important, and why these safety protocols that the FDA has been weakening are so, so necessary to protect women, she said.

According to a 2015 study titled Incidence of Emergency Room Department Visits and Complications After Abortion, chemical abortions are four times more dangerous than surgical abortions.

The study used data from 2009 and 2010 to assess the abortion complication rate for California women who had abortions through Medicaid and those treated at the emergency room instead of the clinic.

Researchers found that the complication rate was 5.2% for women who took the abortion pills compared to 1.3% for women who had a first-trimester surgical abortion. The major complication rate for the abortion pills was 0.31%, in contrast to 0.16% for first-trimester surgical abortions.
Home Opinion 5 biblical tips to help you learn from your doubts

Have you ever felt lost or unsure about your faith in Christianity?

No matter who you are or how long you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, doubt will creep into your life when you least expect it.

Its important to remember that Christians, just like anyone else, might have moments of uncertainty. In fact, many believers find themselves grappling with questions about their faith at some point in their Christian walk. These doubts may stem from intellectual challenges or personal experiences, and they can be unsettling, sometimes leading to a crisis of faith.

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Doubt often starts with small questions or uncertainties about Gods goodness or His plan for your life. Perhaps a prayer goes unanswered, or a challenging situation leads to questioning Gods faithfulness. Over time, these passing thoughts can take root and subtly erode the firm foundation of trust you have in God. But by embracing these moments of doubt and seeking understanding, you can strengthen your faith and come out the other side with a deeper understanding of what you believe as a Christian.

In his classic work, The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism, the late Dr. Tim Keller offered a noteworthy observation about doubt. A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A persons faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.

It is essential for Christians to recognize that doubt is not sinful but rather an opportunity to develop your faith in God. However, before long, if your doubts go overlooked, they can rob you of your peace and joy and strip you of any confidence you once had in God and the Bible.

Here are five biblical tips to help you learn from your doubts without hindering your growth in Christ.

Grow in your knowledge: If youre struggling to find clarity in your faith, its vital to take the time to explore the Bible and its historical context. Engage in theological discussions, participate in Bible studies, and seek guidance from trusted individuals to help you navigate any uncertainties. Engage with Apologetics: Apologetics provides intellectual support for Christian beliefs by addressing questions related to the existence of God, the trustworthiness of Scripture, and historical evidence for Jesus life and resurrection, among others. I recommend you read these apologetic books: I Dont Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Geisler and Turek), Stand Strong in Your Faith (Jimenez and McFarland), Wandering Toward God (Dickinson), On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision (Craig), and Confronting Christianity (McLaughlin). Connect with a Bible Group: I cant tell you how meaningful it is to surround yourself with like-minded Christians who seek to challenge, encourage, and strengthen one another in the Christian faith. There have been periods in my life when I needed to lean on a few mature Christians and engage with them in open and honest dialogue to work through a series of doubts. Reflect on Gods goodness: Take a moment to reflect on your personal experiences with God. Remember the times when your prayers were answered, and you felt a deep spiritual connection with your Creator. These moments can strengthen your faith and remind you of the faithfulness and goodness of God. Psalm 145:5-7, On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. Remain steadfast: Keep in mind that faith is not a static endpoint but rather a continuous journey. Encountering doubts is a natural part of living on this earth, and its through these trials that your faith has the opportunity to evolve and mature. The apostle Peter illustrated it this way, For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-7).

The struggles and doubts we face on our faith journey are a natural and inevitable part of spiritual growth and development. It is crucial to remember that seeking truth and understanding, although accompanied by challenges, is an ultimately fulfilling and enriching endeavor. These hurdles only serve to fortify and deepen our faith and resolve. Therefore, it is essential to persevere, persistently seeking wisdom and understanding, assured that your dedication will yield invaluable rewards.
Home Opinion Pope Francis and Protestants

Conservative Protestants, some of whom came from traditions traditionally anti-Catholic, admired Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and 1990s and, later Pope Benedict. Some even converted. Conservative Protestants admired their clear articulation of traditional Christian doctrine and ethics. JPII was a leader in helping to roll back the Iron Curtain, starting with his native Poland. While much of Mainline U.S. Protestantism was liberalized and emasculated, and much of conservative Protestantism lacked a strong intellectual tradition and compelling public witness, Catholicism under those popes seemed resolute and imposing.

Under Pope Francis, this perspective has changed. He is of course perceived as a liberal Pope who is adapting the church to Western social preferences. His new statement on blessing same-sex couples does not change Catholic teaching about marriage and chastity (sex only between husband and wife). But it does create confusion in public perception. His moving the church away from Just War teaching, definitive rejection of capital punishment even in theory, and his 2015 Laudato Si encyclicals environmentalist and economically statist themes have solidified his progressive reputation with conservative critics.

Many U.S. conservative Catholics, who are typically cultural allies to conservative Protestants, increasingly disdain the Pope. Protestants are surprised to hear Catholic friends speak about schism, question Franciss legitimacy as pontiff, or even pray for his earthly departure. Many Protestants, in their caricature of Catholics, have imagined that the papacy, with its infallible authority on faith and morals, is sacrosanct and immune from critique.

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Some Protestants, during the JPII and Benedict years, at times inwardly bristled at triumphalist conservative Catholics who cited the reliability of their magisterium versus Protestant perambulations. At times, it seemed to some Protestants that there was an air of spiritual superiority from some conservative Catholics, for whom the planets seemed to align. Still, conservative Protestants could rejoice with conservative Catholics that under JPII and Benedict, liberal trends in the U.S. Catholic Church had reversed. Progressive priests of the 1960s and 1970s were replaced by new generations of more conservative priests. This trend paralleled a Protestant shift as Evangelicals demographically replaced declining, liberal Mainline Protestantism.

The collapse of U.S. Mainline Protestantism also included a collapse in Protestant confidence, intellectual life, and public influence. Modern Evangelicalism lacked the institutions and traditions of centuries-old Mainline groups. They typically could not compete directly with vigorous Catholic intellectual life. And so rising Evangelicalism often relied on Catholic intellectual resources to make needed public arguments.

This vision was incarnated in Lutheran pastor turned Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus, the public intellectual who co-founded IRD in 1981 and founded First Things magazine a decade later. Neuhaus, among others, believed that Catholic arguments, rooted in natural law, could supply the intellectual armor needed by evangelicals. Catholic thinkers would provide the intellectual leadership for the more numerous evangelical spearcarriers. With evangelicals, Catholics could potentially create a political majority for social conservatism. It was a more sophisticated version of Jerry Falwells late 1970s Moral Majority, which sought politically to coalesce traditionalists of all religious traditions, but especially evangelicals and Catholics.

These arguments and assumptions shaped much of IRDs history across 40 years. We rightly celebrated increased collaboration between Protestants and Catholics, and the decline of old prejudices that previously had divided them. Pope Francis has disrupted this narrative. Will parts of Western Catholicism now shift towards the liberalism of Mainline Protestantism? Is it now fair to compare Francis to an Episcopal Church bishop?

No, that comparison is not fair. The Catholic Church remains rooted in its historic teachings in ways not true for much of Mainline Protestantism. Catholicisms centuries of history, and its universality, prevent its full accommodation to contemporary Western culture. But the spirit behind much of the Francis pontificate has persuaded many conservative Protestants that the Catholic Church is no longer a reliable guide and partner on key moral issues that had been true under the two previous popes.

It would be unfortunate, if in reaction to Francis, historic anti-Catholic prejudice reemerged among many conservative American Protestants. Even at its worse, Catholicism offers a treasury of ethical and spiritual resources that are indispensable to global Christianity. Protestantism, least of all U.S. evangelicalism, cannot alone offer what is needed spiritually and ethically in our world today. And half of global Christianity is Roman Catholic. The leadership of those hundreds of millions will always be very important for global Christianity and for the world as a whole.

But its also true that Protestants, if they were ever tempted so, cannot expect that the Catholic Church, unlike Protestantism, is monolithically immune to cultural trends. Although its institutional unity of course continues under its bishops and pontiff, Catholicism is increasingly divided like Protestants between north and south. Francis pursues the preferences of European Catholicism, supported by some Americans and Latins. Africa and other areas of the non-West firmly reject that direction. The Global South church for Catholics, as for Protestants, grows, while the Western church declines. It seems unlikely, under this trend, that the aspirations of progressive Western Catholics, who have money but not so many people, can be fulfilled long-term.

There is also a lesson here about the human condition, from which no branch of Christianity is ever immune. No human institution, not even churches dedicated to God, can escape venality and egotism, cupidity, or decay. No human institution, not even what is ordained by God, can be idealized this side of the Eschaton. Reinhold Niebuhr, an Augustinian who stressed human sinfulness, lamented that Augustine had overly idealized the church.

Protestants obviously have a different understanding of church and authority than do Catholics. Both can trust that the Holy Spirit will always ensure the Gospels propagation. And neither should exaggerate the moral reliability of their ecclesial structures or leaders. Even sanctified saints at their best can be confused and, at times, highly unreliable. At best, and with time, the collectives wisdom will providentially overcome the mistakes of the particular.

Neither Catholics nor Protestants can adopt any attitude of superiority over the other or against other groups. Instead, we can only stand at the Cross, giving thanks for mercy, and praying for guidance.

Originally published at Juicy Ecumenism.
Home Opinion The Oath of the American Heritage Girl and abortion

"I promise to love God, cherish my family, honor my country, and serve in my community." This is the Oath that an American Heritage Girl (AHG) recites at each Troop meeting and ceremony and has done so since our very beginning in 1995. These words, over time, become engraved on a girls heart and mind.

The concepts of love, cherish, honor, and serve are integral to the AHG experience. They are rooted in the belief that there is a loving Creator who deserves our love in return. That loving Creator has provided a family for us to cherish, a country for us to honor, and a community that desperately needs to know His love  demonstrated through selfless acts of kindness or service.

AHG believes that each life is truly a gift from God and has an immense innate worth. After all, we are created in the image of our Creator! So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27, NIV). John 1:3, ESV reiterates: All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

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The protection of human life is a recurring theme in Scripture. It has such importance to God that He included it in the Ten Commandments given to Moses for His people, You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). David speaks of this in the Psalms: For you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well (Psalms 139:13-14, NIV).

From the moment of conception until natural death, each human life is sacred, and it is our duty as believers to safeguard and celebrate this gift from our Creator. Only God, the ultimate Giver of Life, possesses the authority to determine the course and duration of our existence. Because we are made in Gods image, we are different than His other creations  we have a soul. Only the Creator can destroy His creation. God gives life, and He alone should take it away.

God is the giver of life and as a result, human life is precious. This primary tenet of the Christian faith is celebrated by American Heritage Girls. God has created each of us uniquely on purpose for a purpose. We are created to fulfill Gods unique purpose for our individual lives.

Despite the cultural trade winds of today (and they are indeed trade winds, not stable and sovereign), AHG stands unabashedly for life. We do not waver in our commitment to this fundamental principle, even in a world where cultural norms may shift.

Our commitment to the sanctity of life goes beyond words; it is embodied in our actions. We celebrate life through service to pregnancy care centers and nursing homes. We stand for life through completing service projects and attending pro-life marches. We honor life through compassion, friendship and prayer. And we glorify the Giver of Life through humble submission to His Truths as found in His Holy Word.

May we steward the gifts of our Creator well. And may we love all His people, no matter the age or stage of life, as we love and glorify Him who is the source of all life. In a world where the sanctity of life is challenged, may our faith and unwavering commitment to the principles of life serve to inspire others to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every individual. Together, let us be beacons of hope, standing for life and celebrating the divine gift of existence.
Paula Vennells to hand back CBE over Horizon scandal backlash

Paula Vennells, former Post Office boss and a Church of England priest, is to return her CBE over the fallout from the Horizon IT scandal.

Between 1999 and 2015, over 700 sub-postmasters were investigated for false accounting and theft, and eventually prosecuted using data from faulty Horizon software.

The scandal is back in the spotlight after the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, aired last week with Ms Vennells being one of the figures portrayed.

She was ordained in the Church of England in 2006 and was an associate minister in Bromham, Oakley and Stagsden, Bedfordshire as the scandal unfolded.

She stepped back from priestly duties in 2021 after a historic court ruling cleared 39 subpostmasters.

To date, only 93 convictions have been overturned and many victims are still fighting to have their convictions quashed or receive full compensation.

Over a million people signed a petition demanding that Ms Vennells return her CBE, which she received in 2019 for services to the Post Office and to charity.

In a statement announcing her decision to hand the award back, she said, "I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.

"I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.

"I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE. I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

"I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.

"I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded."

Downing Street has reportedly welcomed the move and said it is "obviously the right decision".

Victims of the scandal have also welcomed the decision.

"It's a shame it took just a million people to cripple her conscience," said Jo Hamilton, a former subpostmistress who was wrongly convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds.

A CBE can only be formally rescinded by the King, upon the advice of the honours forfeiture committee.
The now shuttered Sonoma Developmental Center is viewed from the air in June 2015. About 650 acres of the property is being transferred to California State Parks as open space. George Rose/Getty Images

Around 650 acres of open space on the much-debated Sonoma Developmental Center property in Wine Country has been transferred to California State Parks, the agency said this week, cementing its status as protected land.

Part of the 945-acre property near Glen Ellen, which is owned by the state of California, once housed the Sonoma Developmental Center, one of several state-run institutions for severely disabled people. The campus, closed in 2018, is slated to be redeveloped into a mixed-use development with hundreds of units of housing  a plan that was a point of contention between Sonoma County residents, the Board of Supervisors and the state.

Through many community meetings and public hearings, residents expressed a desire to protect the open space that surrounded the campus  a priority reflected in state law, which requires that open space be preserved in proposed development on state-owned land.

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The open space connects Jack London State Historic Park to Sonoma County Regional Park, and its transfer to the state park system is the largest addition to state park lands in Sonoma County since 2010, state officials said. The land, which includes forests, grasslands and wetlands, is also a critical wildlife linkage between the Marin coast and the Blue Ridge and Lake Berryessa areas in Napa County, according to the state.

Bringing this land into State Parks is a big win for the environment, outdoor recreation and local communities, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said in a news release. It protects an important wildlife corridor, safeguards diverse local ecosystems, and will expand opportunities for local residents and visitors to hike and enjoy the outdoors.

Local leaders also celebrated the move.

State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, whose district includes the developmental center site, called it a huge win for preserving and stewarding this incredible open space, which he said will benefit the environment and increase opportunities for outdoor recreation.

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We made a promise to the community at the beginning of the transition process that the vast majority of Developmental Center land would be protected forever. And, today, Senator Dodd and I are keeping this promise with this historic transfer of land, said state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Geyserville. 80% of the former SDC campus will now be protected forever and its a big win for the Valley and our County.

State Assembly Member Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, added that transferring the land to the state park system has been a longtime goal for Sonoma Valley residents, and that the move will expand access to the outdoors while simultaneously protecting our local ecosystems.

For now, State Parks will operate the land in an interim state until it is formally integrated into Jack London State Park  a process that will include community and stakeholder engagement, tribal consultation and an environmental impact report, among other logistical steps.

The built-out portion of the former Sonoma Developmental Center is slated for redevelopment, with 650 acres transferred to California State Parks as open space. Brian L. Frank/Special to the Chronicle

During the interim state, the public will still be able to access the lands for recreation, and the state will provide vegetation and wildfire management, trail maintenance and the installation of informational signs, restrooms and garbage cans. The state also plans to make the land, which is now accessible only from the west side, open from the east side as well.

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Through increasing public access to the open space and investing in trail maintenance and wildfire management, this is a major win for our community, Connolly said.
To do that, Perez assesses AI projects as he would other projects built with other, less-hyped technologies, working with teams to evaluate the use case, governance needs, anticipated business benefits, and expected returns.

You cant dilute your efforts on projects that wont provide value, Perez adds. So pick those few key areas where you can see the value and the great purpose that AI can deliver to the organization and put your bets on those, focus on those, learn from those and expand into other areas as you learn.

3. What can we reasonably achieve given resource constraints?

After generative AI burst onto the scene, Nicholas Colisto, senior vice president and CIO of multinational manufacturer Avery Dennison, had worked to get his company to embrace its potential.

AI has been around for a long time, he says, but when gen AI came out and really exploded in early 2023, a lot of firms  including ours  said no to it. [Our firms leaders] wanted to make sure there were guidelines in place to protect the company, its data, and its people.

To get past those points, Colisto worked to educate leaders about the capabilities and risks of AI, seeking to move the company from no to know. His efforts paid off, as Avery Dennison has since moved into gen AI ideation, pilots, and production.

Still, he acknowledges he has had to temper some of the forward momentum with reality checks regarding resources.

Ive had to remind people that there wasnt a new bag of money that came along with AI, Colisto says, adding that some mistakenly thought that the companys longstanding funding practices didnt apply to AI-related initiatives. People thought AI was different in terms of how companies are investing in it; they thought corporate would have all this money for AI. But I dont hear a lot of companies saying theyre going to forgo their investment cycles and go all in with AI.

Other CIOs say they, too, are initiating conversations about the limits in money as well as talent and time.

Talent is an issue right now, says Sreekanth Menon, vice president and global AI/ML services leader at business transformation services firm Genpact. Companies need a different type of talent to work with AI. They need a massive upskilling, or they need to bring in new talent. And everybody is trying to work with their partners to build an [AI talent] ecosystem. But all that takes time.

Many organizations are impacted by a shortage of the right talent. The Microsoft/IDC study found that 52% of survey respondents listed a lack of skilled workers as their biggest barrier to implementing and scaling AI.

CIOs are also reminding colleagues that their IT teams have other work to do, too. We have normal project cycles. We have regular projects in the pipeline. We werent going to drop everything for AI, Colisto says.

Rather than argue over those points, CIOs say they shepherd conversations back to business priorities.

Were asking our business units to identify ideas that align with strategic objectives and then talk about the costs of those ideas, the cost-efficiency or revenue-generating impact of those ideas, and the feasibility of achieving those gains, Colisto says. With AI, we still need business units to identify the most value-based programs. We have hundreds of use cases across all the major functions, and were funding those that are highly prioritized.

4. Can the current state of our data operations deliver the results we seek?

Another tough topic that CIOs are having to surface to their colleagues: how problems with enterprise data quality stymie their AI ambitions.

A 2023 poll of 1,500-plus AI practitioners and decision-makers, conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence for data platform maker WEKA, found that data management was the most frequently cited technological inhibitor to AI and machine learning deployments. Similarly, the 2023 US AI Risk Survey Report from professional services firm KPMG found that data integrity was No. 1 among the top three risks  followed by statistical validity and model accuracy.

The data conversation is very real, and often its the CIOs saying, If you dont fix it, the results you want wont happen, says Krishna Prasad, chief strategy officer and CIO at UST, a digital transformation solutions company.

Prasad says he has heard the conversation in his own organization as well as the firms client companies.

CIOs say its a particularly difficult discussion because they generally dont have responsibility for the state of business data; all they can do is share their observation and help devise remedies.

On the other hand, CIOs say their calls for more action on data quality are getting more traction today because of AI. AI is elevating the conversation around data, because data is now more critical for the enterprise than ever before, Salesforces Perez says.

5. What is our appetite for risk and how do we address it?

The risks and security concerns around AI initiatives also dominate many of the conversations that CIOs are having with their executive colleagues and teams.

Theres good reason for that: Companies have seen both their proprietary and regulatory-protected data fed into open AI tools, such as ChatGPT. Theyve seen AI turn out biased answers and outright fabricated results (known as AI hallucinations). And theyve gotten AI outputs they cannot authenticate or validate, due to a lack of explainability.

There are examples left and right of people who are using this technology in ways that put themselves and their organization at risk, and they dont realize that theyre doing it, Crawford says.

CIOs stress that blocking the use of AI isnt the answer. Prohibiting its use wont stop it, as some employees will likely continue to experiment with it. Plus, enterprise software makers are incorporating AI into the products and services they sell, so AI is entering the enterprise anyway. Furthermore, prohibiting or limiting its use due to fear of risks disadvantages the organization against competitors that are moving forward with AI initiatives.

CIOs need to bring those points to the table, Crawford and others say. CIOs also now must follow the legislative discussions about possible regulations and distill how any regulations would impact their organizations AI agenda.

Its a hard conversation to have for CIOs as they encourage innovation but at the same time try to protect customer data and intellectual property, because if CIOs are not careful with what they say, they can come across as someone who is a naysayer or not supportive of this new technology and people will work around you, Crawford adds.

6. How does our AI strategy address ethical concerns?

Amanda Crawford, executive director of the Texas Department of Information Resources and CIO for the State of Texas, says shes talking about the ethical and acceptable parameters of AI use as part of her conversations about the technologys use within state government.

We dont want to be bleeding edge; that is not something we aspire to do, because of the obligations and responsibilities that come with being the government. That comes up with other emerging technologies, and thats certainly true for a technology thats a massive disruptor like AI, she says. So the pace at which we move in government is a little bit slower, its a little bit more thoughtful, intentional, and deliberate because it has to be, because of the nature of what we do. We have to maintain trust.

Thats not to suggest that the State of Texas does not use AI, Crawford says. In fact, like many private entities, the Texas state government has deployed chatbots, intelligent automation and intelligent systems throughout its operations and is studying where generative AI and other newer AI technologies could be used.

But the conversations were having are around the ethical and privacy challenges and the obligations we have in the government for constitutional rights and the privacy rights of our constituents. Those things have to factor into our decisions, Crawford explains.

For example, those conversations might focus on whether some tasks must be performed by humans rather than intelligent systems due to law, public policy, best practices or citizen expectations, she says.

Frequently Im seeing that as the CIO its my role to ask these questions, Crawford says, adding she and many other IT leaders within the State of Texas are looking for leadership at the executive and legislative level to come back to help us with the guardrails as we roll this out.

Crawford and government entities arent the only ones asking about the ethical parameters of AI.

CIOs are talking to executive colleagues about their responsibilities should their AI systems produce biased results or hallucinations, USTs Prasad says. Theyre talking about how to ensure they can trace and explain AI outputs and what should happen if they cant.

AI enables you to do all kinds of things, but the question is do you really want to. Thats a topic that requires a conversation with the executive team and even the board, he says.
Megan Fan Munce is a reporter who joined the San Francisco Chronicle as part of the two-year Hearst Journalism Fellowship, spending her first year of the program at the Houston Chronicle.

Munce grew up in San Jose before attending Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, graduating with a B.S. and M.S. in journalism and a second major in political science.

She previously worked as an audience engagement fellow and a reporting fellow at the Texas Tribune, as well as an audience intelligence intern for KQED.

She can be reached at Megan.Munce@sfchronicle.com.
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A UK charity that supports serving and discharged Israeli soldiers and their families is being investigated by the Charity Commission after concerns were raised by a fellow British voluntary organisation over materials it had shared online.

In an article for Byline Times , executive director of Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) Iain Overton highlighted a video published by the UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israels Soldiers (UK-AWIS) two years ago that appears to show a montage of air strikes and weapons being deployed.

Following the articles publication this week, a Charity Commission spokesperson said: We can confirm that we have opened a regulatory compliance case into UK-AWIS, and engaged with the trustees of the charity in December 2023.

We have made no findings at this time.

Overton, whose 2007-registered charity researches the threat and impact of weapons, told Civil Society he welcomed the Commissions intervention.

Whether such actions by UK-AWIS violate the rules and regulations of the Charity Commission is an important question, he said.

Their findings will make it clear once and for all the limits as to what can be said or done in the name of charity.

UK-AWIS, which registered as a charity in 2000, did not respond to Civil Societys request for comment.

In November, Commission chair Orlando Fraser said the regulator was assessing a significant number of serious concerns regarding some charities activities in relation to the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

Fraser said the regulator was aware of several allegations of antisemitic or hate speech linked to charities in England and Wales.

He said the Commission would act if it found wrongdoing by any of the charities and warned organisations not to allow their premises or events to become forums for hate speech or unlawful extremism.



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The Fundraising Regulator has found that the social enterprise Inside Success Union (ISU) breached its Code of Fundraising Practice nine times due to the behaviour of fundraisers.

Its youth vendors placed pressure on people to donate and misled the public by saying it was a charity, the investigation found.

ISU is a community interest company (CIC) that works with young adults to create and sell magazines. It is not a registered charity, but complaints received by the regulator suggest it had misled the public by saying it was.

Other breaches included pressurised fundraising, causing an obstruction, a poor complaint handling process and a lack of licenses to fundraise.

The investigation states: Based on the complaints we received we were not able to establish ISU was solely engaged in selling magazines. Instead, the complaints suggested that ISU vendors were conducting street fundraising activities without the necessary licences and permissions.

Gerald Oppenheim, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said it was potentially harmful to the public and risks bringing the sector into disrepute.

Second investigation into the social enterprise

The Fundraising Regulator concluded an investigation into ISUs fundraising activities in January 2022 after it received 15 complaints from members of the public over two years about the companys practices.

Its investigation found six breaches of its fundraising code. It said ISU did not have the correct licenses to fundraise, placed undue pressure on the public to donate, and recommended its directors to review the learning from the investigation.

Following this, it convened a meeting of stakeholders including the Metropolitan, City of London, and British Transport Police who had also received complaints about ISU from the public.

Last November, magistrates fined ISU for five offences for approximately 665, according to media reports.

However, within six months of the investigation concluding, the regulator received 21 more complaints about ISU.

In June 2023, Fundraising Regulator launched its second investigation into the CIC after it failed to receive a response from the organisation when it reached out months before.

Harassed and intimidated

The complaints had the recurring themes of ISU youth vendors obstructing peoples paths or shopfronts to talk to them, soliciting donations, using pressurised fundraising techniques to increase donations and engaging in fundraising without the necessary licenses.

One complainant to the Fundraising Regulator said a youth vendor approached them and asked for a contribution. When asked if ISU was a charity, the vendor said it was. Upon asking why the vendor was not displaying the charitys registration number, a heated exchange took place with the vendor's manager.

The manager started to film the complainant with a mobile phone and the complainant said they were prevented from leaving, making him feel harassed and intimidated.

Misleading the public

Oppenheim said: Our investigation of Inside Success Union has found significant breaches of the Code of Fundraising Practice, not only concerning the behaviour of its fundraisers, but also its inadequate complaints process, misleading the public, and not appropriately responding to the Fundraising Regulators previous judgments.

As a result, we are working closely with statutory bodies and other regulators to protect not only the public, but also the wider charitable sector.

At a time when many charities are under significant financial pressures, yet continue to comply with legal requirements and uphold the high standards we have come to expect in the fundraising sector, it is deeply disappointing that ISU has not chosen to respond appropriately to our first investigation, and has continued to engage in behaviour which is potentially harmful to the public and risks bringing the sector into disrepute.

Councillor and deputy leader of Manchester City Council, Luthfur Rahman, said: The activity of on-street vendors working for Inside Success Union (ISU) completely undermines the legitimate work of the charity sector in Manchester and across the country - which could very well mean fewer people engage with charitable causes in the future and limit the positive impact the sector can have in our communities.

In Manchester we will always welcome philanthropy and generosity, but we will also ensure that this money makes it into the hands of people who will put it to good use.

Louise Smyth, regulator of Community Interest Companies, said: As the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (CICs) one of my main priorities is to make sure the CIC brand stays strong. I expect all CICs to comply with any legal obligations or regulations to which they are subject whilst they deliver benefit to the communities they serve.

ISU did not respond to a request for comment.

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Prior restraintsor government orders not to publish informationhave long been considered a quintessential First Amendment violation. The Supreme Court has never upheld one against the press, even when the government claimed grave national security threats. The potential for abuse of censorship powers is simply too vast for the First Amendment to tolerate.

Prior restraints have historically been rare in lower courts as well. Even judges with little First Amendment expertise know better than to cross that line. When they do, appellate courts have expedited journalists emergency appeals to restore order.

But that seems to be changing. The Freedom of the Press Foundations US Press Freedom Tracker documented eleven prior restraints in 2023the most since it started recording them, in 2017. Trial courts are ignoring clear-cut precedents when they find them inconvenient. And appellate courts are increasingly content to let prior restraints against the press gradually work their way through the system. As the wheels of justice grind, the news value of the censored content rapidly fades.

One Colorado journalist, Justin Wingerter of the Denver business-news outlet BusinessDen, isnt standing for it. Hes refusing to comply with a prior restraint ordering him to return records that the court itself released.

The ordeal arose from a case between the founders of a college-sports site called CaptainU and a company that bought the site and allegedly hadnt made good on the purchase price. Judge Kandace Cecilia Gerdes of the District Court of Denver County granted the plaintiffs request to suppress filings that they said contained confidential and proprietary information.

Wingerter submitted an open-records request for the documents, and the court clerks office complied. That prompted Judge Gerdes to issue an order on Nov. 30 demanding that Wingerter return the documents and destroy electronic copies. She also threatened to hold him in contempt if he disobeyed. Contempt of court is punishable by fines or jail timethough its questionable whether a judge has authority to hold in contempt a journalist who isnt in their courtroom or a party to a case before the judge.

She also said future attempts to obtain copies of filings from the case without her prior written order would constitute contemptessentially a unilateral declaration that open-records laws dont apply in her courtroom. Remember, were talking about court filings discussing contract terms, not nuclear codes.

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The safest path forward for Wingerter wouldve been to comply with the order, file a motion asking Gerdes to reconsider, and, if that failed, appeal, and ask the appellate court to expedite the case. But the safest path for Wingerter isnt necessarily the safest path for the First Amendment. Every time a journalist is forced to complyeven temporarilywith a prior restraint, it makes the safeguards that exist on paper less meaningful in practice.

Journalists shouldnt have to wait for a lengthy and expensive appellate process to overturn frivolous rulings before they can exercise their right to report the news. Instead of pleading with the court to reverse course, Wingerter filed a notice of reason for noncompliance on Dec. 1. BusinessDen then published his report on the sealed records three days later.

We dont feel that the judge has the power of prior restraint, Wingerter said. So we didnt see any reason to stop the reporting process. We just continued doing our jobs.

That same approach has been used before. In 2022, the Bay Area News Group in California ignored a courts order to the press not to contact senders of publicly filed letters in support of a teacher accused of sexual abuse. The News Groups lawyers explained at the time that the First Amendment is particularly hostile to prior restraints that prohibit the press from reporting information disclosed in court proceedings or government records.

Like several other prior restraints this year, Gerdess order ignored at least four Supreme Court cases dealing with the same scenariothe government releasing records to the press by mistakeand holding that to be the governments problem. Once the records are in journalists hands, courts have ruled consistently, theyre free to report on them.

In the past, journalists have often taken the safer routecontesting prior restraints in court before publishing, as a way to avoid angering judges. But that logic collapses when trial courts arent even attempting to follow the Constitution, and appellate courts arent providing an efficient remedy to halt prior restraints.

James Goodale, former general counsel for the New York Times, described this conundrum in 1977: If the press appealed, it lost the story, because appellate courts typically were not prepared to meet a printing schedule. Hence, the inevitable victory on the merits was Pyrrhic. His case for treating legally indefensible prior restraints as invalid is even more compelling now, given that the Supreme Court has been making the law even clearer since the 1970s.

The law is useful only if judges respect it. But when the law on press freedom is not useful for them, they often dont. And in First Amendment cases, even the most egregious violators face no consequences. It seems the only way judges are going to stop is if they learn that the press will disregard their orders, shame them on editorial pages, and dare them to imprison journalists for doing their jobs. Is that contempt of court? Maybe. But censorial judges deserve contempt.

Of course, were not suggesting journalists are obligated to risk jail time for contempt. Thats a personal decision. And there may be instances where judges conclude in good (albeit wrong) faith that such a drastic remedy is warranted. In those cases, it might make sense for news outlets to try to educate judges through an appeal or a request to reconsider, rather than flout their orders.

But news organizations should keep in mind a recent case from Missouri.

Last May, officials accidentally released the mental health evaluation of a man suspected of killing a police officer. Shortly thereafter, Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Hogan prohibited the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from reporting on it. The Post-Dispatch challenged the ruling, but, after sitting on the case for months, Hogan refused to lift the restraint, issuing an opinion that ignored the Supreme Courts repeated instructions. A Missouri appellate court has declined to intervene.

This case seems germane to decisions on whether to contest or ignore unconstitutional prior restraints: BusinessDen published its story within days of receiving the court documents, whereas, almost eight months after Hogans prior restraint, the Post-Dispatch remains censored.

They say its better to ask for forgiveness than permission. But journalists dont need either to publish government records. Outlets like BusinessDen should be commended for not stooping to ask. And the next censored news outlet should seriously consider doing the same.

Seth Stern is a First Amendment lawyer and the director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public interest journalism.
 Storm Henk, which battered Britain last week, caused around 150 million pounds ($190 million) in insured losses and damaged around 2,000 properties, consultants PwC said on Wednesday.

Heavy rain caused major rivers to burst their banks and the government issued more than 300 flood warnings, only weeks after Storm Babet also caused flooding in October.

Mohammad Khan, head of general insurance at PwC UK, said the insured losses from the two storms will be just within many insurers expected total weather losses, although for a few it may push them above what they expected.

He added more rain and possibly more flooding was expected.

Climate change has been linked to more frequent and damaging weather events, raising the risk of insurance claims and also of property being very difficult or expensive to insure.

John Neal, chief executive of the Lloyds of London insurance market, said Britain had an estimated 6 million homes uninsured for flood and that consumer perceptions of the risk were not strong enough.

So, if we end up with huge flooding problems carrying on for three or four weeks, it could become a government-related problem, you know, with the lack of insurance, he told Reuters.

More broadly, Neal said the average premium being paid for home insurance, under which a flooding claim would normally occur, was currently around 200 pounds, which was not enough considering the growing risks.
Class-action and government enforcement lawsuits continued to take a toll on corporate defendants in 2023, with ten $1 billion settlements and a total cost of $51.3 billion, according to a report released Tuesday by the DuaneMorris law firm.

The total cost was second only to the $67 billion total recorded in 2022, according to the report by DuaneMorris partners Gerald L. Maatman Jr. and Jennifer A. Riley. Maatman said he has been gathering data about class-action costs since 2002.

Combined, the two-year settlement total eclipses any other two-year period in the history of American jurisprudence, the report says.

Privacy lawsuits  specifically those alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act  made up a large chunk of the settled cases. In 2022, there were more than five times as many BIPA lawsuits than in 2018. Filings continued at an accelerated pace in 2023.

The Illinois Supreme Court issued two decisions last year that increased the opportunity to recover damages under BIPA. The court in February ruled that a five-year statute of limitations applies to claims filed under the act instead of the one-year limit that business interests said should apply.

The high court also ruled in February that a separate claim accrues each time a party unlawfully scans or transmits biometric identifiers without permission. The report says the rulings have the potential to increase monetary damages in an exponential manner.

State privacy, anti-surveillance and wiretap statutes also acted as lawsuit fodder for plaintiffs attorneys. The report says plaintiffs attorneys creatively have used the Video Privacy Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1988 to prevent wrongful disclosure of videotape sale and and rental records, as a basis to file lawsuits challenging the use of innovative and novel technologies that are used to collect information about consumers online activities.

The lawsuits allege that businesses that maintain videos on their websites and deploy pixel tracking tools violate the VPPA because their websites track the videos that visitors watch and share the viewing data with third parties. More than 137 class actions alleging violations of the act were filed in 2023, the report says. Each violation can bring a $2,500 penalty.

Similarly, the plaintiffs bar has filed class-action lawsuits alleging violation of wiretap statutes such as the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, and the Florida Security of Communications Act.

DuaneMorris said lawyers who filed motions to certify classes of plaintiffs succeeded more often than not. In 2023, courts granted 324 motions for certification out of 451 filed, a success rate of 72%. That was only a slight decrease from the plaintiff bars 74% success rate in 2022.

The US Supreme Court may have opened another door for class-action litigation with its decision in the Students for Fair Admissions case, where the court held that a race-based admissions programs violated the Equal Protection Clause. Since then, district court rulings have extended that principle to the government contracting context and the Small Business Associations use of racial preference to award contracts. The report said businesses can expect litigation alleging reverse discrimination caused by corporate diversity initiatives.

The plaintiffs bar is nothing if not innovative and resourceful, DuaneMorris said. Given the massive class action settlement figures in 2022 and 2023 (a combined total of $113 billion), coupled with the ever-developing law, corporations can expect more lawsuits, expansive class theories, and an equally if not more aggressive plaintiffs bar in 2024.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  An explosion at a historic Texas hotel in Fort Worth on Monday blew out windows, littered downtown streets with large sections of debris from the building and injured 21 people, including one who was in critical condition, authorities said.

The blast flung doors and entire sections of wall onto the road in front of the 20-story hotel, where authorities said rescue crews found several people trapped in the basement. Fifteen people were taken to hospitals, including six whose conditions were described as semi-critical by MedStar, which provides ambulances and emergency medical services in Fort Worth.

Authorities did not indicate anyone was missing but fire officials said late Monday that they would continue searching the building.

More than two dozen rooms were occupied at the Sandman Signature Hotel at the time, officials said. Authorities said they believe a gas leak caused the explosion  which happened in the middle of the afternoon at the start of the workweek  and said the hotel had been undergoing construction.

There was debris. There was insulation. There was office furniture, Charlie Collier, 31, told The Associated Press. He was working nearby when he said he saw a large flash and what sounded like thunder.

Everything that was in the first couple floors of the building was blown out all over the street, he said.

The Sandman Signature Hotel is in a busy area of downtown about one block from the Fort Worth Convention Center. Footage from news helicopters showed firefighters picking their way through the piles of drywall, shattered glass and mangled metal that coated the street outside the hotel. Authorities urged people to avoid the area.

Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said a restaurant in the building had been under construction but said it was not definitive that is where the blast occurred.

Rebecca Martinez was among those in nearby buildings who recalled hearing a loud crack and seeing a wall of dust and debris sweep through the city streets. Stepping outside to see what happened, she came upon a man and a woman leaned up against a fire hydrant.

The man was all bloody, his face was all bloody, Martinez said. Then I started smelling natural gas, real intense and I thought, I might need to get away from here.'

Moments later, she said, authorities evacuated her building and some of the surrounding neighborhood.

Paula Snider, a delivery driver for UPS, was doing a pickup nearby when she said she heard a large boom and saw a puff of black smoke. A large piece of metal grating landed under her truck and another dropped nearby.

I jumped out and took off running, she said.

A grey haze covered normally busy streets of downtown Fort Worth as firefighters walked through layers of debris. Remnants of the building lay scattered across the street and over parked vehicles, and gaping holes could be seen on the ground.

Trojacek said investigators were working with federal investigators to determine the cause of the blast. The scene had left rescue teams unable to immediately reach some parts of the building.

We had reports of people trapped down in the basement, and because of the explosion that took place, some of those access areas were either covered up or it didnt feel safe at that point to get people down into, Trojacek said.

Technicians from Atmos Energy, a Dallas-based natural gas distributor, were examining the blast site Monday. A spokesperson for the Railroad Commission of Texas, the states oil and gas regulator, said an agency inspector was also on the scene and working with local authorities.

Northland Properties Co., the Canadian company that owns the hotel, said in a statement that it was working with officials to determine how the explosion occurred and how much damage it caused.

The safety and well-being of our team members and guests is our priority, the company said. We are working with those who have been injured to fully support them at this time.

According to the hotel website, the Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel has 245 rooms and was built in 1920 as the Waggoner Building, named after cattle rancher and oilman William Thomas Waggoner. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

Associated Press reporters Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Jim Vertuno and Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

Top photo: Officials survey an area near the Sandman Signature hotel following an explosion, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A hearse transports the late Tuan Le during a procession from the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland to the 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley for Les memorial service on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The Oakland police officer was killed in the line of duty, responding to a reported burglary at a business near Jack London Square. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle A police procession 1follows the hearse transporting the slain officer Tuan Le from the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland to the 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley for Les memorial service on Wednesday. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Officers carry the casket of Tuan Le, an Oakland Police officer who was fatally shot on duty on Dec. 29, 2023. Screen shot via KTVU Pool Officer Tuan Les casket sits inside 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley during his memorial service. Screen shot via KTVU Pool A public memorial service for Oakland police officer Tuan Le is held at 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Screen shot via KTVU Pool Police vehicles depart at a procession in memorial of Oakland Police officer Tuan Le in Oakland on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Le was fatally shot on Dec. 29, 2023. Benjamin Fanjoy/The Chronicle Police officers board a bus before a procession in memorial of Oakland Police officer Tuan Le in Oakland on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Police from agencies, including San Jose, Sunnyvale, Berkeley and Los Altos, attended the service. Benjamin Fanjoy/The Chronicle A procession of police vehicles head to the memorial of Oakland Police officer Tuan Le in Oakland on Wednesday. Benjamin Fanjoy/The Chronicle

Rain spattered a sprawling motorcade that glided toward 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley on Wednesday, where elected leaders and law enforcement in dress blues gathered to mourn slain Oakland police officer Tuan Le.

Four police snipers watched over the church grounds as scores of officers arrived in buses or SUVs or on motorcycles, passing under an American flag draped between two ladder fire trucks. Many looked somber or stoic, remembering the 36-year-old who was shot and killed in the line of duty.

At about 9 a.m., the first guests began streaming into 3Crosses, among them Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez. Police from other agencies, including San Jose, Sunnyvale, Berkeley and Los Altos, filed in before the services began. About 500 Oakland officers lined up and marched in formation awaiting the hearse, rain drenching their uniforms.

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Shortly after 10:30 a.m., bagpipes rang through the church as a procession of officers entered the church with Les casket, wrapped in an American flag.

I didnt have the privilege or the opportunity to personally know officer Le, but I didnt have to, in order to know that he loved this city  and that this city loved him, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, addressing the crowd from a stage teeming with flower bouquets.

In the wake of his passing, so many of you have shared moving condolences and heartfelt memories about this fallen hero, Bonta continued. Youve spoken about his big smile, and his kind and generous spirit. About his passion for Oakland, and his dedication to serving the community he loved so much.

Officers marching in formation at 3Crosses Church in Castro Valley, where services were held Wednesday morning for slain Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le. David Hernandez

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Le immigrated to the Bay Area at age 7, graduating from Oakland High School in 2006. By that time, he already demonstrated a desire to serve and protect, interim Oakland Police Chief Darren Allison said, noting that Le had followed the career path of his grandfather, a police officer in Vietnam. The chief and others characterized Le as a figure of compassion, empathy, and an unrelenting work ethic.

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He was determined to earn his way, Les cousin Jennifer Ky said, recalling how Le napped in his car, working long hours at a gas station and at other jobs before he joined the police force.

After graduating from the police academy in February 2020, Le began building ties with Oakland residents at a time when trust in law enforcement was unraveling throughout the country. Two years ago, he took a post as a community resource officer in West Oakland.

He was shot on Dec. 29 after a burglary at a cannabis business on Embarcadero near Fifth Avenue. The gunman, a suspect in the burglary, was perched in a getaway car when he began shooting at an unmarked police vehicle, striking Le as he sat in the drivers seat, police said.

Other officers rushed Le to Highland Hospital, where he died about four hours later.

Recounting that traumatic day during his speech at the funeral service, Allison drew in a long breath, a sob seeming to grow in his throat.

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December 29, 2023  a date permanently etched in our memory, Allison said. A date when we heard over the radio, over the phone, over the hallways, that one of our own had been critically wounded by a heinous act. Words that all of us dread to hear, but cause us to move into action. This date will be remembered as a time when a life was cut short, and a career ended too soon.

Steve Le, the slain officers uncle, delivered his eulogy in English and Vietnamese, describing the pain and despair that gripped Les family members when they realized they could not save him.

Our family (is) fighting hard to overcome this pain and suffering, Steve Le said.

The fatal shooting marked the 54th time an Oakland police officer was killed on the job and the first line-of-duty death for the police force since 2009.

Les death devastated the law enforcement community in the Bay Area and beyond, as well as community members, including Oakland residents and business owners of Asian descent who viewed Le as a liaison.

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His death also incensed many officials and community members at a time when Oakland faces a surge in crime. Violent crime in the city increased 21% last year over 2022, while robberies went up 38% and burglaries increased 23%, according to police data.

A photo and flowers are on display at a public memorial service for slain Oakland Police officer Tuan Le, 36. Screen shot via KTVU Pool

Last week, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed charges including murder and burglary against Les accused shooter, Mark Sanders, 27, and suspected getaway driver, Allen Brown, 28. A third man, Sebron Russell, 30, is facing burglary charges. A hearing for them to enter pleas in Alameda Superior Court is scheduled for Jan. 18.

Police and prosecutors said the shooting occurred after the same cannabis business was burglarized three times. Surveillance camera video shows the burglars broke in with tools and loaded products into their vehicles, according to court records.

After receiving a report of the third burglary, officers found an unsecured building and several suspects running from the front door toward waiting vehicles in a parking lot, according to the court records. As the suspects took off east on Embarcadero, one of them  who police identified as Sanders  shot Le.

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Allison ended his speech at Wednesdays memorial service by addressing Le directly.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday about reforming the Palestinian self-rule government, as part of U.S. efforts to rally the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that also include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.

Blinken says he has secured commitments from multiple countries in the region to assist with rebuilding and governing Gaza after Israels war against Hamas, and that wider Israeli-Arab normalization is still possible, but only if there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

In their meeting Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken told Abbas that the U.S. supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. He said the two discussed administrative reform.

The vision outlined by Blinken faces serious obstacles. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government is adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the autocratic, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, lacks legitimacy in the view of many Palestinians.

The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight, fueling a humanitarian catastrophe in the tiny coastal enclave. The fighting has also stoked escalating violence between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah militants that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

BLINKEN PRESSURES BOTH SIDES ON WHIRLWIND TRIP

On his fourth visit to the region since the war began three months ago, Blinken has met in recent days with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. He says they are open to contributing to postwar plans in return for progress on creating a Palestinian state.

The Saudi Ambassador to the U.K. went even further on Tuesday, telling the BBC that the kingdom is still interested in a landmark normalization agreement with Israel, but that it must include nothing less than an independent state of Palestine.

One doesnt come without the other, Prince Khalid bin Bandar said.

After meeting with Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials on Tuesday, Blinken delivered a stark message, saying Israel must stop undercutting the Palestinians ability to govern themselves with its expansion of settlements, home demolitions and evictions in the West Bank.

But he also said the Palestinian Authority has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance, and that he would discuss that with the 88-year-old Abbas, who has not stood for elections since 2005 and lacks support among his own people.

The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under interim peace deals reached in the 1990s and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But it has been powerless to prevent the expansion of settlements in occupied territory it wants for a future state, and there have been no serious or substantive peace talks since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

U.S. President Joe Bidens administration has been unable to get Israel to make even relatively minor concessions to the Palestinians, like turning over all the tax revenue it collects on their behalf, or allowing the reopening of a U.S. Consulate to serve Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Later Wednesday, Abbas was set to met with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt, two U.S. allies who have long served as mediators in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Jordans Red Sea city of Aqaba.

WAR RAGES ON WITH NO END IN SIGHT

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it crushes Hamas and returns scores of hostages held by the group after its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Israeli officials say the campaign will continue through the rest of the year, and its own postwar plans call for open-ended military control over the territory, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005.

Nearly 85% of Gazas population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege.

Blinken said more food, water, medicine and other aid needs to enter and be distributed effectively, and he called on Israel to do everything it can to remove any obstacles.

The offensive has reduced much of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to a moonscape, raising concerns over whether the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled from those areas will ever be able to return. Far-right members of Netanyahus government have called for them to be resettled elsewhere, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Blinken said the U.S. was opposed to any such scenario and that resettlement is not the policy of the Israeli government. He also said he had secured agreement on a U.N. inspection mechanism in northern Gaza to evaluate how and when people can return.

HEAVY FIGHTING IN CENTER AND SOUTH

The military is now focusing major operations on the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza that date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in continuing strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where people have been told to seek refuge.

An airstrike late Tuesday hit a four-story house west of the southernmost city of Rafah, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 20 others, including women and children, health officials said. Associated Press reporters saw the dead and wounded being brought into nearby hospitals.

Jaber Abu Hamed, who fled his home in Gaza City last month and is sheltering near the main hospital in Khan Younis, said he heard constant gunfire and explosions. The ambulance sirens didnt stop, he said.

Since the war began, Israels offensive has killed 23,357 Palestinians and wounded more than 59,000, according to an update Wednesday from the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

In the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas overwhelmed Israels defenses and stormed through several communities, Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high toll on Hamas because the militants fight in densely populated areas. It says it has killed some 8,000 militants  without providing evidence  and that 186 of its own soldiers have been killed in the offensive.

___

Jobain reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip and Magdy from Cairo.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Thousands of Ohio workers are owed money, and the U.S. Department of Labor has created a website to try and make it easier to find them.

Workers Owed Wages, a search tool created by the labor department, lets people enter their information to see if they are owed money. The system is available in English and Spanish.

The Department of Labor said more than 4,200 Ohio workers are owed more than $1.7 million.

Much of this money is back wages, like a last paycheck that wasnt paid to a person. In many cases, employees change jobs or addresses and cant be notified. The money is then forwarded to the wage and hour division, which can hold it for three years.

In some cases its difficult for the labor department to find these workers, which prompted the creation of the search tool.

People can find the website and search tool at dol.gov/agencies/whd/wow. The system starts by asking for your employer and the state where you worked. If results are found, it will ask you a series of questions to determine whether youre owed any back wages.
Emeritus president Mari Jones pours tastings of white Pinot Noir while spending time at Emeritus Vineyards in Sebastopol. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Settle in at almost any tasting room in Sonomas Russian River Valley, and its safe to assume that the first white wine is Chardonnay. At Emeritus Vineyards, that would be wrong.

Their opening pour is white Pinot Noir. Thats not Pinot Noirs white Burgundian counterpart  it is Pinot Noir, sans color.

While Chardonnay remains the starring white in the Russian River Valley and other cool regions in California and Oregon, producers are beginning to experiment with separating the juice from skins quickly in Pinot Noir  taking advantage of the fact that its clear (as is true for most red-skinned grapes).

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And with its Hallberg Blanc, Pinot producer Emeritus Vineyards is leading what president Mari Jones calls a quiet trend of wineries adding white Pinot Noir to their repertoire.

I love that this wine has richness and texture but is fresh and lively, she said. Its intense without being heavy.

Emeritus Vineyards president Mari Jones, right, and winemaker Keith Hammond taste from a barrel of white Pinot Noir. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Over at Domaine Carneros, Pinot Noir winemaker TJ Evans says theres a dichotomy at the heart of white Pinot Noir. The real surprise, he said, is the unctuous texture that gives the wine such length and beauty. The pleasure is the tension created by the give and take between freshness from acidity and the richness of the palate.

At its best, Evans continued, white Pinot can be very intriguing and satisfying, with aromatics featuring honeycomb, lemon curd, wet rock and even tropical notes.

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Pinot Noir has been made into a still white wine for centuries  but then fermented a second time to become Champagne and other beautiful sparkling wines. A Blanc de Noirs, or white from blacks, is made up entirely (or almost) of Pinot Noir.

But its history as a still white wine is murkier. A bit of white Pinot has been made in California and Oregon going back to the 1970s, seemingly connected to expediency more than creativity: not enough white grapes or seasons too cool to get Pinot fully ripe.

Regardless, in 2017 Jones was set on making a white Pinot Noir. I suspected that because of our dry farming practices, she said, we would have a complete and complex wine without skin contact.

Emeritus Vineyards president Mari Jones, right, and winemaker Keith Hammond walk through the vines in Sebastopol. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

It was a daring move for the daughter of Brice Cutrer Jones, who spent a quarter of a century building Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards into a powerhouse of a Chardonnay producer. (The elder Jones sold Sonoma-Cutrer in 1999 and founded Emeritus, which makes no Chardonnay at all.)

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My father had always told me that he didnt want to make a wine like this, said Mari Jones, because it wouldnt be as good as our red wines. So she had the team make the wine without telling him.

I gave him a bottle and, before he could get mad, said, Dont say anything yet. Just take this home and have a glass with dinner.  The next day, she reports, he came into the winery and said, Its superb.

White Pinot is made much like a rose, except the juice is pulled off the skins before it has time to pick up any color at all. In some cases, winemakers are taking only the juice released from the berries that split in their bins on the way to the winery (incidentally, the least ripe, with the tautest skins)  taking free-run to the next level.

Their choices from there are the same as for a white wine. They can turn to stainless steel, oak or concrete vessels for fermentation and aging; age on the lees (yeast sediment) or not; and so on. Many build weight and texture in the wine by stirring the lees.

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There are simply no reference points for the character of white Pinot Noir. In the world of red wine, we often think of the skin as the part of the grape that contains all of the essence, said Keith Hammond, winemaker at Emeritus. But with Pinot, thats not true. You can have a wine with layers, depth and detail that still tastes like Pinot Noir, with no contribution from the skins at all.

Emeritus president Mari Jones, right, and winemaker Keith Hammond sip white Pinot Noir while spending time outside the tasting room at Emeritus Vineyards. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

For the curious, he likes to pour white Pinot alongside its red counterpart. You gain an indelible sense of which parts of the grape contribute specific attributes to the final wine, he said.

Evans makes a different comparison: I like to showcase white Pinot by tasting it next to a Chardonnay, a wine many people assume is similar. Both varieties are beautiful, but tasting them together reveals just how different they are.

Of course, Chardonnay master Brice Cutrer Jones detected the differences when he tasted his daughters 2017 project  and knew it was worthy. She reports that they released the white Pinot shortly after his pronouncement, and it sold out in just a few months.

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Hallberg Blanc is a white Pinot Noir at Emeritus Vineyards. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Five white Pinot Noirs to try

Domaine Carneros 2022 Estate Pinot Clair Carneros ($49)

Faint gingerbread and lemon blossom lead on the nose, which opens as the wine warms in the glass to hints of stone fruit, pineapple and wet river stones. The palate is intense and concentrated, leaning to the savory side with a vein of minerality under yuzu and pear. Visceral textures dance in the mouth, edged with a tangy creaminess almost like fresh farmers cheese.

Emeritus 2022 Hallberg Blanc Russian River Valley ($42)

This complex, expressive white Pinot sets the bar for balancing the tightrope of mouth-filling texture with vibrant energy. Beautiful orange blossom notes layer over crushed-rock minerality on the nose, while flavors evolve across the palate from fresh lemon through golden raspberry and back to orange on the finish, wrapped in honeycomb textures and bright tension.

Pellegrini Olivet Lane Vineyard White Pinot Noir Russian River Valley ($40)

The scent of water over river stones leads into an aromatic riot of peach blossom and red apple skin laced with hints of tropicals (guava, pineapple) and apricot. Bright energy on the palate belies an elegant, rounded mouthfeel. Baked quince and juicy stone fruit flavors are lifted with a wash of tart Meyer lemon zest, lingering on a savory finish with the faintest hint of salinity.

Schug 2022 White Pinot Noir Carneros ($46)

Only the third vintage of white Pinot from Schug, this pale beauty opens with lovely floral aromatics  honeysuckle and peach blossom  swirling with faint wild strawberry, lime and fresh green herb notes. The textured palate is bright and persistent but also round with ripe fruit. Juicy nectarine and peach share space with white melon and lemon zest, all balanced with a savory-leaning, minerally finish.

Waits-Mast 2022 Filigreen Farm White Pinot Noir Anderson Valley ($42)
Federal health officials caution that home COVID tests may have become less reliable due to the emergence of newer omicron variants such as JN.1. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The widespread availability of rapid antigen tests has made at-home COVID-19 screening quick and convenient. But federal health officials caution that these tests, while invaluable in detecting infections and curbing spread of the coronavirus, may have become less reliable due to the emergence of newer omicron variants such as JN.1.

What is the best way now to navigate testing as the Bay Area faces another winter COVID-19 surge? The familiar advice still applies, but experts offer additional insights in light of the evolving nature of the virus, which can make people sick faster than it used to.

Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, notes that some people now test positive only three days after exposure, down from five days earlier in the pandemic.

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At the same time, mutations to the virus mean that home test kits may not spot it for up to a week after exposure. Thats because the kits were designed for earlier variants, and while they can still sense the newer strains, a greater buildup of virus samples in the nostrils is sometimes required to trigger a positive test result.

The implication is that if you test negative for COVID-19 at home, it doesnt always mean youre in the clear. If you swab too soon after being exposed to the virus, for instance, you may get a false negative.

For the latest variants, experts recommend starting to test around three days after being exposed to COVID. If the result is negative, keep testing every day or two until the sixth day, at which point the answer will be clear.

While molecular laboratory tests, such as PCR rests, are more sensitive and accurate, they typically require a visit to a clinic or doctors office and can be costly.

Regardless of test results, individuals feeling unwell are strongly advised to wear high-quality masks in crowded environments and to stay home to mitigate the risk of spreading germs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staying up-to-date with the latest vaccines is also crucial, considering the presence of other respiratory illnesses like influenza or RSV.

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Given that hospitalizations are rising here because of holiday gatherings and decreased (waning) immunity, it is a good idea to take the usual precautions, said Nadia Roan, a UCSF immunologist and investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. We have a pretty big toolbox now compared to the beginning of the pandemic. They all work.

While JN.1, a descendant of the BA.2.86 omicron strain, appears more transmissible, there is no evidence it is causing more severe illness. But Roan cautions that the variant, which emerged in November, has not been fully evaluated by virologists.

The CDC reports JN.1 now constitutes approximately 62% of cases in the United States, a significant jump from 21% a month ago.

Despite a rise in Bay Area wastewater virus levels and test positivity rates  which can spot both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections  COVID-19-related hospitalizations are 22% lower than in the same period a year ago, and deaths are down 38%, federal data show.

That difference, Roan said, is likely due to an overall higher level of protection across the whole population, whether from prior infection or vaccination, or both. Its also possible, she said, that JN.1 is less virulent than the early strains of the virus.

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The most commonly reported JN.1 symptoms include congestion, cough and a sore throat. Some recent studies have also suggested a link to anxiety and insomnia, and the potential to better infect the lungs.

Various factors influence the dependability of at-home antigen tests. These include the tests sensitivity and specificity, the quality of the sample, how well the user follows the manufacturers instructions, the period since the persons last exposure or symptoms, and the viral load present during testing.

Asymptomatic individuals with positive test results should self-isolate for at least five days or until obtaining a negative result.

The antiviral medication Paxlovid, effective in reducing severe illness, must be taken within five days of a positive test, underscoring the importance of timely and accurate readings.

Despite the end of the national COVID-19 public health emergency, at-home tests remain widely available through healthcare providers, pharmacies and community organizations.

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The White House has made free tests accessible through special.usps.com/testkits, and the CDC provides a list of free testing sites for uninsured individuals at testinglocator.cdc.gov.

Those who have been hoarding at-home test kits in anticipation of the current surge may want to check the expiration dates. The FDA approved most tests to have expiration dates ranging from approximately four to six months. Some components of the tests may degrade over time, potentially leading to inaccurate results.
Thousands of ride-hailing and delivery drivers could be reclassified as employees under a Biden administration gig-worker rule that was announced Tuesday. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

The Biden administration announced a labor rule Tuesday that is likely to classify thousands of drivers for Uber, Lyft and other companies as employees rather than contractors, entitling them to minimum wages and overtime pay.

The Department of Labors regulation clarifies who is covered as an employee under federal law and will subject ride-hailing and delivery drivers, among others, to that test. The rules consider factors such as how much control the hiring company has over the work, whether it is essential to the companys business, and whether the worker has made an independent investment and could make a profit or suffer a loss.

It is likely to be challenged in court by businesses, and could be placed on hold by a court before it is scheduled to take effect March 11.

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The Labor Department rules were inspired in part by a 2019 California law, AB5, that fundamentally shifted how employers in the state must classify their workers. It expanded the definition of workers who must receive full employment benefits and targeted what some argued was rampant misclassification of workers.

Though AB5 included a number of carve-outs for specific types of jobs, it did not exempt gig-economy workers like drivers for Uber and Lyft. But in 2020, California voters approved Proposition 22, a measure that exempts app-based drivers from AB5 but requires the companies to provide some benefits. The companies spent more than $200 million on the ballot measure, which enabled them to avoid substantial employment expenses.

California has stronger rules already through AB5, said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, leader of the California Labor Federation and the author of AB5. But the federal rule could supersede the carve-outs that the gig corporations sought in Prop. 22, regardless of what the (state) courts do.

Tuesdays action repealed rules enacted by President Donald Trumps administration just before he left office in 2021 that made it much easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors.

Californias law has a more expansive test for what qualifies a worker as an independent contractor, but the federal law could allow ride-hailing and delivery drivers to challenge their independent contractor status, Gonzalez Fletcher said.

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Ride-hailing and delivery drivers, if they obtained employee status, would be eligible for overtime and minimum wages, but they would be based on federal standards. That means those drivers would have a $7.25 minimum wage, not Californias $16, and would receive overtime only if they worked more than 40 hours a week rather than if they worked more than eight hours a day.

The California Supreme Court has agreed to consider a challenge to Prop. 22 by labor organizations, who say it violates the drivers rights to workers compensation and other benefits under the state Constitution.

While Tuesdays announcement appears to give employee status under federal law to the drivers and others who worked for more than one company, the state courts ruling will determine their rights to full employee benefits in California. They could also receive compensation for workplace expenses under federal law, and more under state law.

In wages and hours, federal law is supreme, but state law can be more protective, said William Gould, professor emeritus of labor law at Stanford and former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. That means the U.S. Department of Labors rules would override Prop. 22s limits on the drivers compensation, he said, but California can provide them additional benefits if the ballot measure is overturned.

The idea that everyone that is currently an independent contractor is suddenly just going to be converted to an employee with the stroke of a pen ignores the economic reality of the affected industries that have been built upon an independent contracting model, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin (Placer County), told the Chronicle.

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Kiley, a vocal opponent of AB5 when he was a member of the California Legislature, said he plans to introduce legislation that would nullify the new rule. Passing such a measure would require majority votes in both the House and Senate and for President Joe Biden to approve such a measure, so it is unlikely to become law.

Californias AB5, which is more employee-protective in many cases, will continue to apply to California workers other than those covered by Prop. 22, said Catherine Fisk, a labor law professor at UC Berkeley.

Gonzalez Fletcher said in the wake of AB5 that some companies decided not to hire in California because they didnt want to be subject to the law, but the federal rule can prevent them from shopping around to a different state with laxer rules.

AB5s employee status does not apply to workers in a list of professions and occupations that generally operate independently of the firm that hired them  for example, doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, private investigators, hairdressers and some salespeople. Fisk said some in those categories could be covered by the new federal rules if they can show they are economically dependent on the hiring company and their work is an essential part of the companys business.

Kiley acknowledged that some workers are misclassified as independent contractors, but said the federal government has existing authority to remedy that. The workers who would likely be reclassified as employees under the newer standards, however, are not misclassified, he said.

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AB5 did not in any way address the issue of misclassification, it rather had the effect of trying to force people into a work arrangement that they had expressly chosen not to be in, he said.

Gonzalez Fletcher said she hopes this federal change will inspire prosecutors to crack down on worker misclassification.

Uber and Lyft have maintained that they are not transportation companies but only tech platforms that connect riders and drivers. Lyft contended in a statement Tuesday that the new Labor Department rules would have no immediate or direct impact on Lyfts business and would not reclassify its drivers as employees.

Ninety percent of Lyfts drivers have other jobs or attend school, the San Francisco-based company said, and 94% drive less than 20 hours a week. It said the Labor Departments references to such businesses create unnecessary confusion and make clear that the agency misunderstands our industry and the needs of app-based workers.

Likewise, CR Wooters, head of federal affairs for San Francisco-based Uber, said the new rules wont impact the classification of the over 1 million Americans who turn to Uber to make money flexibly. Drivers across the country have made it overwhelmingly clear  in their comments on this rule and in survey after survey  that they do not want to lose the unique independence they enjoy.

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Demonstrators fly Palestinian flags outside the White House during the National March on Washington for Palestine on Nov. 4. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Two courts are about to consider lawsuits alleging genocide by Israel in Gaza  a Bay Area federal court, in a suit by Palestinian-rights groups against the Biden administration for its support of Israel, and the International Court of Justice, in a suit by South Africa against Israel.

But both cases could be undermined for different, though related, reasons: The U.S. government may be legally shielded from a suit over its foreign policy, as it will argue to a federal judge this month. And it may also be able to prevent enforcement of any ruling against its Israeli ally by the international court.

A treaty signed by 153 nations, including the United States and Israel, defines genocide as actions committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. In a suit filed Dec. 28 in the international court, whose members include the U.S. and Israel, South Africa alleged that Israel is violating that law and has reduced and is continuing to reduce Gaza to rubble.

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Israels government has called the accusation blood libel, a form of antisemitism, and blamed the casualties on Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 240 hostages, of whom 105 have been released. Israels counterattack has slain more than 23,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza, and has driven nearly 2 million from their homes while destroying schools and hospitals and cutting off supplies of food and fresh water.

The 15-judge court is scheduled to hear opening arguments by South Africa on Thursday, and by Israel on Friday. The next step, said Allen Weiner, a professor of international law at Stanford, could be an order in the near future telling Israel not to commit genocide, and drawing a likely Israeli response that its current conduct is not genocidal.

A final ruling, after further arguments, would be binding  South Africa wants the court to rule that Israel is committing genocide and to order a halt to its military actions. But, as Weiner noted, the court has no power to enforce its rulings, and would have to rely on the United Nations Security Council, where the U.S. has regularly exercised its veto power in favor of Israel  twice against recent resolutions calling for a cease-fire, and 45 times overall, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The council is unlikely to take any action to enforce a judgment against Israel, Weiner said. He said England and France, which also hold vetoes as permanent Security Council members, might join the U.S. in blocking any action against Israel.

The same court declared in 2004, in response to a request by the U.N. General Assembly, that Israel had violated international law by building a 26-foot-high concrete wall through Palestinian lands and communities in the occupied West Bank. In an advisory opinion  over the dissent of the sole U.S. court member, Thomas Buergenthal  the judges said the wall should be removed and Palestinians should be paid reparations. But the wall still stands and has been lengthened by Israel, which describes it as a security barrier.

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The federal court suit, filed Nov. 13 on behalf of Palestinian-rights groups and relatives of slain Palestinians, accuses President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin of taking part in the alleged genocide through their unconditional support of Israel, both financial and political. The suit seeks injunctions that would require administration officials to do everything within their power to halt the bombing of Gaza, end Israels siege of the territory and stop opposing a cease-fire.

In response, Justice Department lawyers have not addressed the claim of genocide but argued that the suit involved foreign policy issues that courts have no power to address.

Decisions about whether and how to attempt to influence foreign nations, and whether and how to provide them military assistance, financial assistance, or other support, are constitutionally committed to the political branches of the Government, Biden administration attorneys wrote in a Dec. 8 filing seeking dismissal of the suit.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland will hear arguments from both sides on Jan. 26. He is likely to agree with the administration and dismiss the suit, said Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean at UC Berkeley who unsuccessfully argued a case involving alleged Israeli war crimes in 2007.

That case was filed by the family of 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement who was struck and killed by a U.S.-made bulldozer in 2003 while trying to protect a house from being demolished by Israelis in the Gaza Strip. The suit accused the manufacturer, Caterpillar, of aiding Israel in war crimes, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that allowing such a suit to proceed would impermissibly intrude upon the executive branchs foreign policy decisions.

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The Supreme Court often has held that challenges to the presidents conduct of foreign policy are non-justiciable political questions, Chemerinsky told the Chronicle. I think it is even clearer that a suit against the executive branch for its conduct of foreign policy is a political question.

In response, Marc Van Der Hout, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said, We do believe that U.S. courts have the power to tell the government of this country to follow the law.

Blinken, a defendant in the federal court suit, visited the Middle East on Tuesday to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, urge military restraint and discuss the possibility of a future Palestinian state. He told reporters that the South African case was meritless and distracts the world from all of these important efforts.

Joel Paul, a constitutional law professor at UC College of the Law in San Francisco, told the Chronicle he thinks both lawsuits should be dismissed.

I dont see how the U.S. can be responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, Paul said. And he said Israel may have committed war crimes, but I see no evidence that Israel is trying to destroy all or a substantial part of the Palestinians.

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But a court filing signed by dozens of U.S. and Palestinian physicians said Israels complete destruction of Gazas health sector, targeting hospitals, ambulances and medical professions, makes Palestinian life in Gaza all but impossible.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company acknowledges "our mistake," after a door plug on a 737 Max 9 blew out in the middle of an Alaska Airlines flight, creating a gaping hole in the fuselage and prompting a grounding of that aircraft type by federal regulations.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the 737 Max 9s less than a day after the incident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 so the jets could be inspected. Alaska on Wednesday said it would cancel all flights that were scheduled to use a 737 Max 9 through Saturday, amounting to 110 to 150 flights per day, while the inspections take place.

"When I got that picture [of the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9], all I could think about  I didn't know what happened to whoever was supposed to be in the seat next to that hole in the airplane," Calhoun told Boeing staff during an all-hands meeting Tuesday, according to remarks shared by Boeing. "I've got kids, I've got grandkids and so do you. This stuff matters. Every detail matters."

No one was seated in 26A on the flight, which was next to the panel that blew out, saving passengers from a possible tragedy.

Fuselage manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems has also come under scrutiny as regulators seek to find out how the blowout  the result of what Calhoun called a "quality escape"  occurred.

"We're not going to point fingers there, because yes it escaped their factory, but then it escaped ours too," Calhoun told CNBC's Phil LeBeau on Wednesday.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines , the two largest operators of the 737 Max 9, said on Monday that they have each already found loose parts on the same area of other Max 9s that underwent review.
American companies like Google , Microsoft , and OpenAI are currently driving the cutting edge of generative artificial intelligence development across the globe. However two of U.S.'s top national security leaders said that AI lead is under attack from foreign cybercriminals and nation-states like China.

"Eighteen of the 20 most successful AI companies in the world are American," FBI Director Christopher Wray told CNBC's Morgan Brennan during a CNBC CEO Council virtual roundtable on Tuesday. "You can bet your bottom dollar that foreign adversaries, especially the Chinese, are actively targeting that innovation, that intellectual property."

Wray, who was joined at the virtual roundtable by General Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said that generative AI is a "significant amplifier, both in terms of quantity and sophistication, of the threats that are already out there," adding that AI tools are helping criminals "make their attacks more sophisticated, more credible, more pernicious."

"Generative AI, in the world of cyberattacks, is what I would describe as taking kind of junior varsity athletes and making them varsity," Wray said. "But we are rapidly approaching a stage where the varsity adversaries are going to be able to find enough value from generative AI to take their game to the next level."

But while much of the discussion around AI in the cybersecurity space has centered on how AI is enhancing both attackers and defenders, Wray said the FBI is also focused on "defending American AI [research and development], American innovation in AI."

Nakasone, who also serves as the director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service, said adversaries of the U.S. are using AI capabilities developed by American companies, making protecting that intellectual property crucial.
U.S. and coalition forces under Operation Prosperity Guardian responded Tuesday in the Red Sea to what American officials said was the largest attack to date on merchant vessels by Iranian-backed Houthis.

"We are aware of the reports of the incident in the Red Sea," said a senior Defense Department official, who was granted anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing operation.

Attacks have been reported in at least two locations: Southwest of Mokha, Yemen, and Hodeidah, Yemen.

Approximately 50 merchant vessels were in the area at the time of the attack, according to American officials. Crews reported assaults from rocket fire, as well as armed drones. On Tuesday evening, no vessels had yet reported suffering damage from the attacks.

Four coalition warships were deployed to the area, Pentagon officials told CNBC.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, U.S. Central Command reported, "Eighteen OWA UAVs, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by a combined effort of F/A-18s from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Laboon (DDG 58), USS Mason (DDG 87), and the United Kingdom's HMS Diamond (D34). This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19. There were no injuries or damage reported."

No Iranian warships were involved. "This is the largest attack on commercial shipping," a national security official told CNBC.

It was also the first large-scale attack by Houthis since 13 nations, including the United States issued a joint statement and pledged to hold the militants accountable for attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

CENTCOM reported an unmanned aerial drone launched by the Houthis was shot down by the USS Laboon (DDG 58) on Jan. 6.

Global maritime security firm Ambrey reported that the coalition warships were moving at "maximum speed." Ambrey also said a tanker crew saw flares or missile trails in the waters off Mokha.

A bulk carrier crew reported seeing three small vessels, and said two missiles were fired from the direction of the boats. They also reportedly saw a drone flying ahead of the vessel.

The Houthi militia group warned in December that it would not lessen the number of attacks until Gaza received, "the food and medicines it needs."

Israel has carried out a massive bombing campaign in Gaza since Hamas killed more than 1,000 people in Israel in October, firing more than 29,000 munitions from the air into Gaza, according to a recent assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported by NBC News. The bombardment of Gaza has so far claimed more than 20,000 lives, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry.

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Correction: The USS Laboon is DDG 58. An earlier version misstated the number.
Antonio Neri, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, speaks during the HPE Discover CIO Summit in Las Vegas on June 19, 2018.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it's agreed to buy networking gear vendor Juniper Networks for about $14 billion, or $40 per share, in an all-cash deal.

HPE expects to close the deal late this year or in early 2025, the company said in a statement. The announcement came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that the companies were in late-stage talks.

Juniper shares had their best day in 20 years on Tuesday after the Journal report, which said a deal could be announced this week. The shares jumped 22% to close at $37.05. The purchase price of $40 a share represents a 32% premium over Monday's close before the Journal story published.

HPE said the deal would be accretive to its adjusted earnings per share in the first year after it closes.

The acquisition would double HPE's existing networking business after years of competition. If it's completed, Juniper CEO Rami Rahim would lead the combined group and report to HPE's CEO, Antonio Neri, according to the statement.

Hewlett-Packard went deeper in networking when it bought Aruba Networks in 2015. Months later, HP split in two, resulting in the formation of HPE, which sells servers and other equipment for data centers, and HP Inc., which makes PCs and printers.

HPE said adding Juniper to its portfolio would bolster margins and speed up growth.

Founded in 1996, Juniper spent many years chasing Cisco in the market for networking gear. Revenue grew 12% year over year in 2022, the fastest growth since 2010. In the most recent quarter, Juniper eked out a $76 million profit on $1.4 billion in revenue, which declined 1% from the prior year.

HPE's networking segment was the company's top source of earnings before taxes, at $401 million on $1.4 billion in revenue, which was up 41%.

Coming together would lead to $450 million in annual cost savings within three years of the deal's completion, HPE said.

The two companies will discuss the deal on a conference call starting at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

JPMorgan and Qatalyst advised HPE, according to the statement.

 CNBC's Ari Levy contributed to this report.

WATCH: HPE to buy Juniper Networks in $14 billion deal
The layoffs represent the third round of cuts at Twitch in less than a year. Last March, Twitch let go of roughly 400 staffers, and it cut some employees in its customer experience division last October.

The unit has also seen turnover in its highest ranks. Longtime CEO Emmett Shear stepped down last March, turning the helm over to Clancy, most recently Twitch's president. The company's chief customer officer, Doug Scott, announced his departure late last year, while Chief Content Officer Laura Lee also announced her exit from the company last month.

Amazon has undergone the largest layoffs in its history, cutting 27,000 employees since 2022. The cuts have been ongoing, with Amazon announcing layoffs in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units on Wednesday.

Read the full memo from Clancy:

Team,

Today I have some incredibly difficult news to share. As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible. Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch. This will be a very hard day. Our service exists to empower communities to create, together, and every single one of you has played a vital role in fostering our community and furthering that mission.

I know many of you are wondering why this is happening. Over the last year, we've been working to build a more sustainable business so that Twitch will be here for the long run and throughout the year we have cut costs and made many decisions to be more efficient. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, it has become clear that our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business. Last year we paid out over $1 billion to streamers. So while the Twitch business remains strong, for some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we're at today. As with many other companies in the tech space, we are now sizing our organization based upon the current scale of our business and conservative predictions of how we expect to grow in the future.

This decision, while incredibly difficult and painful, is necessary to ensure that we can continue to serve our streamers sustainably without impacting their ability to support their careers on Twitch. Part of what makes this so difficult is the passion that so many of you share for the Twitch community, and the hard work you've put into serving our streamers.

I know you all are wondering what this decision means for you and your role moving forward. While we know it is better to hear about the impact face to face, we realize that it is more important to share the news with the affected individuals as quickly as possible. With that in mind, here's what you can expect within the next hour.

If your role is affected by this decision and you live in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, or Singapore.

In the next few minutes, I will send an email to this group of people sharing the unfortunate news that your position is being eliminated and important details on everything we're doing to support you through this transition. Afterward, your org leader will reach out directly via email with more specific information about your severance package and to give you the option to speak with them individually. These 1:1 meetings will take place over the next few days.

If your role is affected by this decision and you're in any country not listed above.

In the next few minutes, you will receive an email from Lauren Nunes with more specific information on the process and next steps, which vary by country.

For everyone who is leaving Twitch today, I know how important it is to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will retain access to Slack and your email until 1 PM PT (if you are in Singapore, you will have access until 12 PM local time).

If your role was not affected.

I will send another email to this group confirming your role was not affected by this decision. Afterwards, I plan to host regional All Hands throughout the day so you all can hear from me directly. Details on the time of these sessions and calendar invites will come through later this morning.

I also want to acknowledge how disappointed I was yesterday that this information leaked. I am sorry for all of the anxiety that it caused over the last several hours. Our hope was that you all would hear from us this morning and very quickly understand how this impacted your role and we were unfortunately not able to accelerate the timeline, which I know is very frustrating.

I want to close with my sincerest apology to everyone who is leaving Twitch. You are some of the most talented, committed, and creative people I have ever worked with. Thank you for everything you've done to help us build Twitch and foster our community.

We are all here because we believe in the power of Twitch and our community  and while our mission is far from over, right now our focus is on taking care of each other. I am always grateful for how well you all support and show up for one another during our best and most difficult moments.

- Dan
Stocks within the artificial intelligence theme have been getting a lot of love from analysts recently  including those at Bank of America. In a Jan. 2 note, the investment bank highlighted opportunities among what it calls "key AI suppliers," naming its top stock picks with significant upside potential right now. The bank's analysts, led by Robert Cheng, said they remain optimistic on AI even as some investors expect the ongoing boom to be "short-lived," as was the case during the internet bubble in the 1999s and with virtual reality in the 2020s. "We believe AI is different because the key players are global CSPs [cloud service providers] and enterprises, vs. mostly start-ups focusing on [the] consumer market during the internet and VR bubbles," they wrote. Enterprises or global CSPs  which include the likes of tech giants Google , Amazon and Microsoft  are investing in AI as they look for ways to boost sales, efficiency, and develop new products. BofA expects their AI investment to hit $164 billion this year, from between $127 billion and $146 billion between 2021 and 2022. This is going to require a steady stream of AI servers  and there is a "small and selective" list of suppliers, with many based in Taiwan, according to BofA. "Taiwan semis/hardware suppliers are essential for developing/testing new AI solutions with higher value-added and bargaining power," the analysts wrote, adding that AI will help increase the gross profit, margins and earnings of these companies. Here are three of BofA's top Taiwanese buy-rated stocks to play the AI theme: Lite-on Technology Consumer electronics company Lite-on Tech  which manufactures semiconductors, LEDs and optical disc drives  is among the stocks on BofA's watch. Its optimism on the stock follows "rising AI server demand, Lite-On Tech's increasing sales mix from better-margin optoelectronics and cloud/AIoT business, solid balance sheet, ongoing margin expansion after business restructuring and consistently high cash dividend payout (over 70% since 2011)," the analysts explained. Over the last 12 months, shares in Lite-on Tech are up around 86%. The investment bank has a buy rating on the stock at a price target of 155 New Taiwan dollars  giving it around 35% upside potential. Quanta Computer This manufacturer of notebook computers and electronic hardware is described as a "key beneficiary from rising AI applications" by BofA. The bank likes its its superior product mix and "continuous delivery" in the server and EV business. Shares in Quanta Computer are up over 200% over the last year, and BofA expects them to rise another 40% over the next 12 months. Wistron Electronics manufacturer Wistron also made BofA's list, on the back of its double-digit sales and the compound annual growth rate of its earnings per share between 2023 and 2025. Over the last year, shares in Wistron are up over 220%. BofA expects its share price to reach 130 New Taiwan dollars in the next 12 months, giving it close to 40% potential upside.  CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
China, US hold defense talks in Washington

13:46, January 10, 2024 By Jiang Chenglong ( Chinadaily.com.cn

The 17th defense policy coordination talks between China and the United States were held in Washington on Monday and Tuesday, China's Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said the talks were co-chaired by officials from the Central Military Commission and the US deputy assistant to the secretary of defense.

The Chinese side said in a statement that it is willing to develop healthy and stable military-to-military relations with the US on the basis of equality and respect, and jointly implement the military-related consensus reached by the two heads of the states during their meeting in San Francisco in November.

The statement said that the US should acknowledge China's concerns and do more to promote the development of bilateral military ties.

China also reiterated its positions on the Taiwan question and the South China Sea issues.

It said it will never make any compromise on the Taiwan question and demanded the US side to abide by the one-China principle, implement its relevant commitments, stop arming Taiwan and oppose "Taiwan independence", the statement said.

China also urged the US to reduce its military deployment and provocative actions in the South China Sea and stop providing support to certain countries that are infringement on its territory and causing provocations.

The US should fully recognize the root causes of maritime and air security risks, strictly restrain its front-line troops and stop hyping up problems, the ministry said.

China has also made clear its solemn position and major concerns on issues concerning China's core interests and international hotspot issues, it added.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
An unidentified visitor views Camille Pissarros 1897 painting Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid in May 2005. Nazis took the painting in from a woman in 1939, and it was sold to the Spanish museum in 1993. Matriana Eliano/Associated Press

An Impressionist painting by Camille Pissarro that was stolen by the Nazis from a California mans grandmother in 1939, and bought by a Spanish museum in 1993, now belongs to the museum and will remain in Spain, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 1897 painting, Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain, shows a rainy street in Paris. Federal courts had ruled in the past that U.S. law shielded Spain from a suit by the California claimant, but the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed in 2022 and told the lower courts to reconsider the case.

On Tuesday, however, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the dispute must be resolved under the laws of Spain, where most of the events took place. Under those laws, the court said, Spain, which did not know the painting had been stolen when the museum acquired it, is entitled to keep it.

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That result protects the strong interest that Spain has in ensuring its laws will predictably regulate conduct that occurs within its borders, Judge Carlos Bea wrote in the 3-0 decision. He said the only California connection to the case was that Claude Cassirer, grandson of the woman from whom the painting was stolen, moved to the state in 1980, 20 years before seeing the painting on a visit to Spain.

Judge Consuelo Callahan, one of the panel members, said in a separate opinion that she agreed with the courts legal reasoning but had hoped that Spain would voluntarily give the painting to the Cassirer family. Sometimes our oaths of office and an appreciation of our proper roles as appellate judges require that we concur in a result at odds with our moral compass, Callahan wrote.

Claude Cassirer died in 2010, and his son, David Cassirer, and other family members have continued the suit. Their lawyers said they would ask the full appeals court for a new hearing before an 11-judge panel.

The Cassirers believe that, especially in light of the explosion of antisemitism in this country and around the world today, they must challenge Spains continuing insistence on harboring Nazi-looted art, spokesperson George Haj said in a statement on behalf of the legal team. This decision also gives a green light to looters around the world.

Thaddeus Stauber, a lawyer for the Spanish government foundation that owns the painting, said the ruling brought a welcome conclusion to the case by confirming the foundations ownership of the Pissarro painting that it lawfully acquired for public display.

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But Rajika Shah, an attorney for Bet Tzedek and other Jewish groups siding with the Cassirers, said Spain was one of 44 nations, along with the United States, that signed a declaration in 1998 saying art looted by the Nazis should be returned to its original owners whenever possible. She noted the case of Maria Altmann, whose recovery from Austria of paintings stolen by the Nazis was portrayed in the 2015 movie Woman in Gold.

We have not seen Spain live up to that pledge, Shah said. Unfortunately, the 9th Circuit decision has given them a free pass.

The Pissarro painting was purchased by a Jewish man, Paul Cassirer, from the artists agent in 1900 and inherited by his daughter, Lilly Cassirer, in 1926. In 1939, when she was living in Germany, the Nazi government demanded the painting in exchange for visas allowing her and her husband to leave the country.

Lilly Cassirer tried to find the painting after the war, then, assuming it had been lost or destroyed, accepted about $250,000 in reparations from the German government in 1958, the court said. But in 2000, her grandson Claude, who had seen the painting in his home as a child, ran across it in a Madrid museum.

He learned that Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza, heir to the Thyssen steel business in Germany, had bought the painting from a New York art gallery for $275,000 in 1976 and sold it, along with nearly 800 other Nazi-stolen artworks, to the Spanish government for $350 million in 1993.

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Cassirer, a naturalized U.S. citizen and retired photographer living in San Diego, filed suit in 2005. The case has been heard by numerous courts over 18 years but has yet to receive a final decision.
Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie listens to a question from the audience during a campaign town hall in Epping, New Hampshire, U.S., December 28, 2023.

WINDHAM, N.H.  Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Wednesday that he is getting out of the 2024 presidential campaign  as his main competition for moderate votes in the New Hampshire primary, Nikki Haley, gains on Donald Trump in the state.

"It's clear to me tonight that there isn't a path for me to win the nomination," Christie told voters at an evening event. "Which is why I'm suspending my campaign for president of the United States."

"I want to promise you this," Christie continued. "I'm going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that's more important than my own personal ambition."

Christie is not expected to make any endorsement at this time, according to a source familiar with the campaign, who speculated that Christie may want to wait until after the Iowa caucuses next Monday before making any announcement to amplify its effect.

A Christie fundraiser said she heard from the candidate himself that he would be dropping out.

"I am very saddened by this. I wanted him to stay in. He did not have discussions with Nikki about this," the person told NBC News.

The decision removes the most high-profile and consistent critic of Trump still in the Republican primary, with Christie weathering boos and catcalls at GOP debates when he stuck to his message against the former president.

But Christie's departure may also boost Nikki Haley, who has also selectively criticized Trump and who has been fighting for a similar group of moderate voters in New Hampshire. Haley and Christie have both overperformed among self-described independents in polls ahead of New Hampshire's Jan. 23 open primary.

Christie had been resisting calls to drop out and make room for Haley to grow her support further in recent days, arguing that she was damaging her candidacy by pandering to different audiences and by refusing to rule out becoming Trump's running mate.

Christie was caught on a hot mic before his Wednesday evening event apparently talking about Haley, saying, "She's going to get smoked  you and I both know it. She's not up to this." NBC News has reached out to the Christie campaign for comment about Christie's remark.

But it became clear that some anti-Trump Republican primary voters were having trouble sticking with Christie as Haley emerged as the main threat to Trump in New Hampshire.

"My heart wants to vote for Gov. Christie, but my brain tells me to vote for Nikki Haley," New Hampshire Republican Greg Leach, 49, told NBC News on Tuesday after attending a Christie town hall. He said his decision is based on current polling numbers. He views Haley as being "within close striking distance of Trump."

"I want to vote for Christie, but I feel like right now my vote would be wasted and, in a sense, a vote for Trump," Leach said.

Christie's drop-out was sudden: One Christie donor said the campaign talked to him this week about organizing fundraisers and that they had a finance call last week where they were discussing fundraisers on both coasts. The message was "all systems go," the donor said.

Christie's mission has been clear from the start of his campaign: take on Trump. It was both a campaign strategy and the ingredients for a personal redemption tour, after Christie was one of the first governors to endorse Trump during the 2016 primaries. Christie then supported Trump throughout his presidency, only to break with him after the 2020 election and Trump's false claims about voter fraud that culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Christie apologized for backing Trump during the campaign, including in a digital ad.

Christie focused most of the effort behind his take-on-Trump strategy in New Hampshire, figuring more conservative Iowa would not be as receptive to his message among the early-voting states. He did not set foot in Iowa during his campaign.

On town hall stages and during debates, Christie repeatedly spoke out about why he believes it would be dangerous for Trump to be president again  and called out other candidates for not doing the same.

During the fourth Republican presidential debate in December, Christie criticized Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, saying, "We've had these three, acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here."

Read more from NBC News:

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As he exited the race Wednesday, Christie said that "if Donald Trump becomes the nominee of this party, the moment that it happened was when Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott and Mike Pence and Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy stood on that stage in Milwaukee in August, and when they were asked, would you support someone who was a convicted felon to be president of the United States, they raised their hands ... and I did not, and will not."

Christie was releasing new TV ads with a similar theme as recently as Tuesday. In one new spot, Christie looked straight into the camera and said, "Most of the other candidates in this race are all trying to look into people's eyes and figure out what they want to hear. I'm looking into people's eyes and knowing that the truth is ultimately what they need to hear and what they deserve to hear."

Trump wasn't the only theme of Christie's campaign: He also talked often about addiction, reprising a major theme from his 2016 campaign, when he went viral while talking about losing a friend to an overdose. He spent significant time visiting recovery centers in New Hampshire and gave a speech on addiction policy in December.

However, Trump and Christie's position on him dominated his time in the race. Christie also slashed at Trump by regularly talking about the importance of character. At a Rochester, New Hampshire, event on Tuesday, he mentioned a little girl in the audience who had asked him a question and said, "I want her family to be able to point to the White House again and say, 'Be like that person.'"

As a result, Christie didn't capture much national support within the GOP. But he did dig in with a slice of voters in New Hampshire, though Republican Gov. Chris Sununu's coveted endorsement went to Haley instead.

During a town hall in Hooksett, New Hampshire in early December, Christie told a crowd of voters that no one was begging him to run this election cycle.

"I ran this time because I looked at the field and I said none of these people are going to take him on," Christie said of Trump. "No one's going to tell the truth about him. And I've known him for 22 years. I have an obligation to go out there and tell the truth about him. And that's the thing that motivated me and got me over the finish line to run."

He often told voters that they might not like everything he has to say, but he will always tell it like it is.

During his time on the campaign trail, Christie also visited two war-stricken countries, Ukraine in August and Israel in November, and advocated for U.S. aid to be sent to both nations. He often told harrowing stories of what he saw in Ukraine while on the trail, and he was the first and only Republican presidential candidate to visit Israel just a few weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, sits with his attorney Abbe Lowell as he makes a surprise appearance at a House Oversight Committee markup and meeting to vote on whether to hold Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a request to testify to the House last month, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2024.

Two Republican-led House committees passed resolutions Wednesday recommending that Hunter Biden be found in contempt of Congress for refusing to be deposed behind closed doors as part of an impeachment probe of his father, President Joe Biden.

The resolutions, passed along party lines by the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, will now move to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

If the House finds Hunter Biden in contempt, it can then refer the matter to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. Republicans hold an ultra-slim majority in that chamber.

Wednesday's votes came hours after an explosive Oversight Committee session that was thrown into chaos when the president's son showed up in the panel's chambers.

The committee previously issued a subpoena to Hunter Biden, demanding that he appear for a non-public deposition for the impeachment inquiry.

Biden replied by saying he would agree to testify, but only in public. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, has said House Republicans have a habit of issuing public statements that misrepresent the testimony of witnesses who testify at closed proceedings.

On Wednesday morning, Biden, Lowell and another lawyer entered the Rayburn House Office Building hearing room and sat down in the Oversight Committee's chamber shortly after the panel convened.

Biden sat silently with crossed arms, staring down the Republicans who were pushing to sanction him. He stayed for less than 30 minutes, then abruptly left.

His unannounced appearance  and sudden departure  stoked anger from the committee's Republicans.

"I'm looking at you, Hunter Biden, as I'm speaking to you," Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said shortly after the president's son sat down. "I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail."
Erin Collins, national taxpayer advocate at the Taxpayer Advocate Service, speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 2021.

After a few difficult years, the IRS has boosted taxpayer service and technology with an infusion of funding. But there's still room for improvement  especially for tax identity theft victims, according to the agency's internal watchdog.

The National Taxpayer Advocate on Wednesday released its annual report to Congress, which cited "unconscionable delays" in IRS support for victims of tax-related identity theft.

"Individuals who are victims of tax-related identity theft are waiting an average of nearly 19 months for the IRS to process their returns and send their refunds," wrote National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins.

More from Personal Finance:

Tax filing season kicks off Jan. 29. Here's what taxpayers need to know

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Shifted resources contributed to "unreasonable" delays for identity theft victims and returns flagged for possible identity theft, according to the report. During fiscal 2023, the IRS reassigned 572 workers to focus on telephone service.

The agency's Identity Theft Victim Assistance program had 294,138 individual case receipts during fiscal 2023, up from 92,631 in 2019. Resolution times have skyrocketed to 556 days, which far exceeds the agency's 120-day goal.

"It's too early to tell what the new tax filing season will bring, but with a record number of data breaches reported in 2023 flooding identity markets with more personal information, it's likely we'll see more attempts to impersonate tax filers this year," said James Lee, chief operating officer of the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Social media posts by Maldivian officials may cost the country millions in tourism revenue, as calls by Indian travelers to boycott the island nation intensify.

"We are seeing a 40% drop in bookings over the last two days," Ankit Chaturvedi, vice president and global head of marketing at the India-based travel software company Rategain, said Tuesday.

"Most people book on weekends, and therefore the drop seems more significant because ideally [bookings] should have gone up," he told CNBC Travel.

Travel bookings to the Maldives tumbled following a diplomatic row that erupted last week after a series of posts appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on India Prime Minister Narendra Modi's account.

The posts showed him snorkeling, sitting by the water and meeting people in Lakshadweep, which some viewed as a veiled attempt to siphon visitors away from the island nation.

Amid reports that thousands of Indian travelers have canceled trips to the Maldives, one prominent Indian travel booking website, EaseMyTrip, announced it is suspending flight bookings from India to the Maldives.

Some travel agents in India say they are canceling bookings to the Maldives, scrubbing their websites of its photos, and recommending travelers go to the Indian archipelago of Lakshadweep, the Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands or Sri Lanka instead, according to The India Express.

The dispute has thrust a global spotlight on the little-known Lakshadweep, which like the Maldives, is a scenic chain of sandy atolls, coral reefs and crystalline water.

The Maldives, located some 340 miles to the south, is the preferred playground for India, however. In 2023, more than one in 10 arrivals were from India, making it the country's largest source market, followed by Russia and China, according to Maldives tourism statistics.

But more British travelers  and nearly twice as many Italians  have visited the Maldives in the first week of January, compared to those from India, which fell to fourth place in terms of visitor arrivals.
Two Indian state refiners are seeking to boost imports of Saudi crude oil after the kingdom cut the official selling price of its key export grade for February to the lowest in 27 months, company sources said.

Two Indian state refiners are seeking to boost imports of Saudi crude oil after the kingdom cut the official selling price of its key export grade for February to the lowest in 27 months, company sources said.

Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, and Bharat Petroleum Corp, are looking at lifting an additional 1 million barrels of oil each from Saudi Aramco in February, the sources said.

Saudi Aramco typically notifies Asian buyers of their monthly crude allocations by the 10th of every month.

Indian oil companies did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comments, while Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

IOC is seeking more oil from Saudi Arabia and West Africa partly as it is facing problems in buying Russian light sweet crude Sokol because of challenges in payments, one of the sources said.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has been gorging on Russian crude, sold at a discount after western nations shunned purchases from Moscow.

That led to Russia becoming top oil supplier to India, knocking Iraq and Saudi Arabia to second and third place, data obtained from trade sources showed.

Washington last month sanctioned ships and vessel operators for the sale of Russian oil at above the $60-per barrel cap set by the Group of Seven nations and tightened rules, including heightened scrutiny by banks and service providers to ensure that cargoes do not breach the price cap.

Following the sanctions, several tankers meant to deliver Sokol crude to India have been diverted in the past two months depressing India's Russian oil imports in December to an 11-month low.

India's oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said that the decline in India's import of Russian oil was due to unattractive prices and not payment issues.

IOC used to receive 6-7 cargoes of Sokol oil every month under its annual deal with Rosneft.

The refiner may ask for additional supplies under its term deals with West African producers Nigeria and Angola to make up for loss in Russian oil supply, the source said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to supporters at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Oct. 12, 2023.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate for president, is being questioned by the Federal Election Commission for payments his campaign made to his daughter-in-law last year, according to a new letter first reviewed by CNBC.

The FEC sent Kennedy's campaign a letter on Tuesday, asking for details about "payments to members of the candidate's family" between July 1 and Sept. 30.

The FEC threatened to take legal action against the Kennedy campaign if the payments to family members did not reflect the fair market value of legitimate campaign services.

Although the letter doesn't name the family member, Kennedy's daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, is the only family member who received payments from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign for president during the period in question.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, rose to fresh prominence in recent years as a vaccine skeptic. A lifelong Democrat, Kennedy launched a campaign for president against fellow Democrat Joe Biden last April. In October, he switched to a third-party run.

Polling on Kennedy has varied widely, and it's unclear how serious a threat he poses to Biden's reelection effort. In December, Quinnipiac University released a survey of registered voters that showed Kennedy would win 22% of the vote in a hypothetical three-way race, with Trump at 36% and Biden taking 38%.

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who is married to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s son, Robert F. Kennedy III.

Despite lacking any obvious experience in political campaigns, Kennedy was officially named manager of her father-in-law's presidential campaign in October. She replaced former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the previous campaign manager.

Until her father-in-law ran for president, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy had never received compensation from a federal political campaign, according to FEC records.

Beginning in June of last year, FEC records show that Kennedy's daughter-in-law began collecting a salary from the campaign for what it described in filings as "administrative" work.

Over the next four months, the campaign reported paying Amaryllis Fox Kennedy approximately $70,000.

"Salary payments made to members of the candidate's family constitute personal use of campaign funds unless the family member is providing bona fide services to the campaign," the FEC said in its letter to the Kennedy campaign on Tuesday.

"If a family member is providing bona fide services to the campaign, any salary payment in excess of the fair market value of the services provided is personal use," the commission wrote.

A Kennedy campaign spokesperson did not respond to CNBC's request for comment on the letter. The campaign has until Feb. 13 to respond to the FEC.



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Christian Klein, CEO of the software company SAP, stands on the podium looking at his cell phone before the start of the company's Annual General Meeting.

SAP , the $192 billion German enterprise tech company, will pay more than $230 million to settle investigations into worldwide "recidivist" foreign bribery practices, U.S. authorities announced Wednesday.

The company will enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, who accused SAP of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to allegedly bribe government officials in Indonesia and South Africa, the Justice Department said.

"SAP paid bribes to officials at state-owned enterprises in South Africa and Indonesia to obtain valuable government business," Nicole Argentieri, acting assistant attorney general, said in a statement.

SAP and its employees bribed government officials in those countries with cash, political donations, luxury goods and shopping sprees, the Justice Department said in a release.

Concurrently, the company will also pay a $98 million disgorgement to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged that SAP improperly recorded the bribes paid to officials in Azerbaijan, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, Kenya and South Africa on its own books as "legitimate business expenses."

Between payments to the SEC, the Justice Department and South African prosecutors, SAP will pay more than $235 million in total.

Some of SAP's practices detailed by regulators could have been taken from a spy novel. In one instance, according to the SEC, an account executive at SAP's Indonesian subsidiary paid bribes to officials in the country's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries ministry, and to hand over the bribes, a "freelance consultant" said that the account executive should have "seventy million, in fifty thousand bills... Bring empty envelope."

In another instance, SAP's South African subsidiary signed a deal with South African energy juggernaut Eskom worth $29 million. The SEC identified more than $6.7 million in improperly routed payments to "consultants" who "never performed any services," according to the SEC's consent decree.

The settlement is one of the largest of its kind. It's the second time SAP has settled bribery allegations with U.S. regulators; in 2016, the company forfeited roughly $3.7 million in profit to the SEC over a bribery scheme in Panama.

The settlement has been anticipated since at least June, when SAP set aside roughly $186 million for a potential settlement or fines related to bribery probes.

"SAP fully cooperated with the authorities, and these settlements close all compliance matters under investigation in the United States and South Africa," a SAP spokesperson said in a statement. "The past conduct of certain former colleagues and former partners does not reflect SAP's values or our commitment to ethical behavior."

Don't miss these stories from CNBC PRO:
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny cracked jokes on Wednesday in his first court appearance since being transferred to an Arctic penal colony, but a judge rejected his latest challenge against his treatment in prison.

A screen shows the already imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny (L) shaking hands with Daniel Kholodny, who formerly helped to run Navalny's YouTube channel and has also been charged in the case with funding and promoting extremism, as he arrives to listen to his verdict over a series of extremism charges at the IK-6 penal colony, a maximum-security prison some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, in the settlement of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region on August 4, 2023.

Navalny appeared by video link from the "Penal Wolf" colony to which he was transferred last month from a prison in Melekhovo, east of Moscow, in an arduous three-week journey by road and rail.

He drew laughter from the judge when he asked on the call whether the Melekhovo colony had thrown a party to celebrate his departure, and whether it had included karaoke.

He later inquired if the prison department in Melekhovo had staged a naked party - a reference to a gathering of scantily clad celebrities in Moscow last month that caused a national scandal.

The exchanges showed Navalny's ability to find humor even in his grim situation and to connect with the outside world despite being sent to one of Russia's most remote and inhospitable regions.

His frequent court hearings have provided him with a platform to keep up his attacks on President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine and to challenge and mock his incarcerators. He told judge Kirill Nikiforov, who has presided over many such sessions, that "a tear is flowing down my cheek" from the pleasure of seeing him again.

Navalny, 47, is serving sentences totalling more than 30 years on a range of charges, from fraud to extremist activity, that he says were trumped up to silence him. In 2020 he survived an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent.

The Kremlin says he is a convicted criminal and his treatment is a matter for the prison service. It has portrayed him and his supporters as extremists with links to the CIA intelligence agency who they say are seeking to destabilize Russia.

 Reuters
World Hindi Day, also called the Vishwa Hindi Diwas, is observed on January 10. With around 600 million speakers globally, Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages across the world, along with Mandarin, Chinese, and English.

On this day in 1949, Hindi was spoken for the first time in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The day is observed around the world to promote the language.

World Hindi Day- History

Vishwa Hindi Diwas was marked for the first time on January 10, 2006, on the instructions of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is an occasion to recognise Hindi as a universal language.

In 1950, Hindi was declared the official language of the Union of India. It is designated as Hindi in Devanagari script in Article 343 of the Constitution of India. The Indian government hosts the 'World Hindi Conference' to promote the Hindi language. It was organised for the first time in 1975 in Nagpur and was attended by 122 representatives from 30 nations.

It was formed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to bring together Hindi scholars, writers, and laureates on one stage and recognise their contributions to the development of the language.

Last year, the 12th World Hindi Conference was held in Nadi, Fiji, from February 15-17. The event was organised in collaboration with the Fiji government. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Fijian President Rato Wiliame Katonivere jointly inaugurated the conference. The theme of the World Hindi Conference was Hindi: From Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence, while the opening ceremony witnessed the release of a commemorative postal stamp by Fiji.

World Hindi Day- Significance

World Hindi Day is observed every year to spread awareness about the use of the Indian language and the issues with Hindi usage and promotion. The day also emphasises how important it is to value the contributions of Hindi speakers. It also places a strong emphasis on developing a passion for the language.

On this day, the Ministry of External Affairs organises various events worldwide to spread awareness about the language.

World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas, differs from the Hindi Diwas , which is marked on September 14 every year.
Searches for Lakshadweep have surged by 3,000% over the last 3-4 days, said Dhruv Shringi, CEO, Yatra Online. Ayodhya is the other destination that has seen a remarkable increase in search volumes, he noted, adding that We are seeing a lot more focus right now from the consumers perspective on domestic tourism."

Lakshadweep -- India's smallest Union Territory -- is a tropical archipelago of 36 atolls and coral reefs in the Laccadive Sea, off the coast of Kerala. The destination has come into the limelight following diplomatic tensions between India and the Maldives resulting in increased promotion of the domestic tourist location as a preferable alternative.

Also Read |

Shringi said there has been a 70% increase in searches for Ayodhya, with a noticeable month-on-month growth, over the past year. There's a new travel circuit now with Lucknow, which is just two and half hours drive away, as the base for trips to Ayodhya.

Reacting to the developments in the Maldives , Shringi said Yatra remained hands-off initially. However, "We are actively considering whether to stop promoting the Maldives as a destination. Our current view is to halt proactive promotion while continuing to offer the destination for those who choose it. We believe in providing customers with choices while directing our efforts and energy towards destinations we actively promote."

Over the next three years, Shringi expects the theme of religious travel to become a significant contributor to the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) sector. This area, with its potential for enhanced booking efficiency and transparency, is expected to drive substantial margin growth. Destinations like Vaishno Devi, Thirupathi, and recently Varanasi have already seen increased traction.

The market capitalisation of Yatra Online is 2,399 crore and it competes with industry peers such as goibibo.com, cleartrip.com, and makemytrip.com.
Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, has apologized to San Francisco rapper and restaurant owner Chino Yang. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

A prominent local civil rights leader has apologized to a San Francisco rapper and restaurant owner over how he reacted to a video the rapper made slamming Mayor London Breed over crime in the city.

The apology from Rev. Amos Brown comes just over a week after Chino Yang said he had been threatened by Brown, a close ally of Breed, and pressured into apologizing for the video.

Yangs self-described diss track posted on YouTube on Dec. 13 was titled San Francisco Our Home and called Breed a clown who aint never been around. He rapped that she had allowed the city to become a zombie land.

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In the video, Yang rapped in front of his Alamo Square restaurant, Kung Food, that he said has been broken into seven times since the pandemic started.

A screenshot from rapper Andy Chino Yangs video for his track, San Francisco Our Home, which has been denounced by some local leaders as divisive and disrespectful of Mayor London Breed. Screenshot via YouTube

After the rap video incited pushback from some of Breeds supporters, Yang apologized Dec. 27 but said he was doing so after receiving threats from an extremely powerful person. Yang, who also goes by the first name Andy, posted Tuesday on Instagram that he had a productive meeting with Brown that day and that he accepted an apology from him. He added that they discussed how to work together in the future.

In his signed apology, Brown wrote that even though it is not my intention, I acknowledge the words that I used could be interpreted as intimidating and silencing. What happened was unfortunate. But we understand each other now.

Controversy around Yangs video landed as Breed faces a challenging reelection year in which crime is likely to be a top issue for voters worried about rampant open-air drug dealing, high property crime and concerning cases of violence against Asian Americans.

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Before the apology, Brown, who is the president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP, denounced Yangs song and denied that anyone had threatened Yang. He reiterated to the Chronicle on Wednesday that he had not threatened Yang and that it was a misunderstanding.

No one need question Third Baptist (Church of San Francisco) and Amos Browns integrity and track record of working together with all people, with regard to race, creed, sexual orientation, Brown told the Chronicle.

Charles Jung, an attorney for Asian Justice Movement, said the saga was another example of the long history of silencing and intimidating the Asian American community when it voices disagreement. Jungs organization is representing Yang.

From my perspective, the lesson is a universal one, which is that Asians are no different from any American that has a civil right to express their political viewpoints, Jung said. Its wrong, he said, to silence people over legitimate disagreements.

The apology seems to bring a resolution to the weeks-long conflict between Brown and Yang, who has been backed by Asian American community organizers.

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Jung said that the apology from Brown brought relief to Yang, who has felt intimidated and silenced and whose workers were afraid to come to work.

The Asian Justice Movement, a group thats protested anti-Asian violence, went into more detail in an Instagram post several days later alleging that Brown had intimidated Yang by threatening to turn the Black community against Yang unless he repudiated the rap.

In Browns apology, he acknowledged that both parties have been victims of crime. He told the Chronicle that his church has been broken into but that the mayor shouldnt be blamed for crime.

We are committed to working together in a constructive way to stop crime activities in Mr. Yangs business, our church and our joint neighborhoods, as well as a responsible program to end homelessness in San Francisco and the Bay Area, Browns apology stated.

Jung said that the apology was an important step.

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Law enforcement personnel work at the scene where a person was dragged by a Cruise vehicle in downtown San Francisco in October. Cruise remains indefinitely suspended in California. Loren Elliott/Special to the Chronicle

Cruise wants to privately settle a dispute with a state regulator, which accused the robotaxi company of withholding evidence of the Oct. 2 severe crash in San Francisco, by offering to pay a $75,000 fine and share more accident data.

The California Public Utilities Commission, in December, ordered Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 public hearing to respond to its claims. Cruise remains indefinitely suspended in the state and risks more than $1 million in fines from the commission, which can also revoke the permit necessary to charge for driverless ride-hailing in San Francisco.

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Specifically, the commission wants Cruise to respond to allegations that it didnt immediately disclose that the robotaxi involved in the crash dragged a pedestrian 20 feet while attempting to pull over after it struck her.

The PUC also alleges that Cruise misled the public in a since-deleted blog post responding to its California suspension, in which the company said it proactively shared information with state regulators, including the full video of the incident.

Cruise submitted a settlement offer to the commission Friday instead of appearing at next months evidentiary hearing. PUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper said the commission would respond to Cruises settlement offer in due course.

Cruise is offering to pay the state a $75,000 fine to instead resolve the dispute through whats known as alternative dispute resolution, a proceeding thats typically confidential, according to the PUC.

The General Motors-owned company is also offering to share autonomous vehicle collision reports with the commission that it already reports to a federal regulator and another state regulator, the Department of Motor Vehicles. Cruise also proposes reporting monthly to the PUC any incidents in which its robotaxis brick, or unexpectedly stop, and must be manually retrieved. Such incidents have reportedly stalled emergency responders in the city and blocked local traffic.

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Its unclear when, exactly, Cruises robotaxis will again be seen autonomously ride-hailing in San Francisco.

The company said in its filing to the PUC that it retained an outside law firm to review how the company interacted with regulators after the Oct. 2 crash. Cruise says it will publicly publish the firms findings ahead of the Feb. 6 hearing. The company says it fired nine company executives following an initial analysis of the incident.

If the PUC moves forward with the Feb. 6 hearing, it will mark the first time Cruise executives publicly address cover-up allegations that arose from its Oct. 24 California suspension by the DMV.

Cruises PUC hearing is scheduled almost five months after the commission near-unanimously granted the company and its rival, Waymo, the ability to charge for driverless rides at all hours. Most commissioners at the time argued that both companies had sufficiently demonstrated their technology was safe enough for commercial expansion.
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Installing and repairing Windows operating systems requires access to known, good, working, and virus-free installation, image, and supporting files. Typically, such collections can run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of items, all organized within a complex hierarchy of file directories (folders, in Windows-speak).

That probably explains why the ISO format, originally developed to capture the contents of an entire optical disc (such as a CD, DVD, or even Blu-ray platter), makes a great container for something as big and complicated as Windows. When you go looking for a Windows download for installation or repair nowadays, its quite likely that what youll find is best described as either a Windows 10 ISO or a Windows 11 ISO. Readily available downloads now run from 4.6GB to over 6GB in size (4.557GB for Windows 10, and 6.345GB for 11, from Microsoft download pages in January 2024).

Obtaining official Windows ISO images

With two main versions of Windows currently supported, Microsoft maintains two different web pages for corresponding downloads. These are:

Download Windows 11: You can use either the Media Creation Tool (MCT is a small program download that handles downloading and building a Windows 11 ISO), or you can go straight for an ISO link instead. In January 2024, the current version available is 23H2 in Home and Pro editions. (For access to other edition downloads  such as Enterprise or Education  a Microsoft contract, subscription, or volume license is required.)

Download Windows 10: You must use the MCT and elect the ISO option when it appears. The current version available for download is 22H2 for Home and Pro editions (same requirements as above for access to other Windows edition downloads).

Other means of access to Windows ISOs include Visual Studio Subscriptions (formerly known as the Microsoft Developer Network, or MSDN) or the Volume Licensing Service Center (a.k.a. VLSC). These resources include all versions of Windows 10 and 11 (Enterprise, Education, Home, and Pro editions in both regular and N varieties).

Working with the Media Creation Tool can sometimes go slowly. This tool creates a compressed and encrypted ISO image in a format called ESD (electronic software download). Installing from an ESD-based image may take a little longer than one in the uncompressed Windows Imaging Format (WIM) because of extra time required for decompression and decryption.

Changing the user agent allows WIM downloads

Theres a trick to getting WIM image files instead of their ESD counterparts when downloading Windows. You must configure your web browser to use a non-Windows user agent (such as the Apple Safari browser for Macintosh). Your mileage may vary depending on the exact browser you choose.

Taking Chrome as an example, you must open Developer Tools, then select Network conditions from its pop-down More tools menu. This lets you uncheck the Use browser default item as shown below, then select Safari  Mac from the pull-down list shown just beneath it. This forces the MCT to request WIM elements for download instead of ESDs.

Ed Tittel / IDG By telling Microsoft youre downloading from a non-Windows device, youll get WIM formatted images.

For details on doing this with other popular browsers  namely Edge, Safari, and Firefox  see this Search Engine Journal story How to Change User Agents (June 2020).

Taking the Insider route

In Microsoft-speak, an Insider is somebody who voluntarily signs up for and runs some version of Windows that is in the release pipeline, but not yet out as an official public release. That makes it a kind of beta test situation, where Insider versions get exposed to an audience greater than in-house development and test staff, but something less than the general public. Microsoft releases Insider version into four distinct channels  namely:

Canary Channel: the wildest and wooliest of all Insider channels. Its releases include speculative features that may never appear in a public release, as well as planned, incremental changes to the OS. For a feature from this channel to get into public release, it could take a year or more.

the wildest and wooliest of all Insider channels. Its releases include speculative features that may never appear in a public release, as well as planned, incremental changes to the OS. For a feature from this channel to get into public release, it could take a year or more. Dev Channel: targets the next major planned Windows release and includes primarily new features in development, or existing features undergoing changes or refinement. This puts the time horizon at inside a year from appearance in this channel to public release.

targets the next major planned Windows release and includes primarily new features in development, or existing features undergoing changes or refinement. This puts the time horizon at inside a year from appearance in this channel to public release. Beta Channel: aims at early adopters seeking to focus on whats new, changed, or different between the current public release and its next planned successor. All updates are validated by Microsoft before release to this channel, and represent 6 to 12 months worth of potential change.

aims at early adopters seeking to focus on whats new, changed, or different between the current public release and its next planned successor. All updates are validated by Microsoft before release to this channel, and represent 6 to 12 months worth of potential change. Release Preview Channel: shows fixes and key features as they make their way into the production pipeline. These typically appear 1 to 2 months prior to public general release.

The first three channels nearly always have complete OS images ready for download. Release Preview only offers complete installable Windows images for a month or two prior to the next planned release. Find them at the Windows Insider Preview Downloads page. All Insider images are WIM based.

Note: you must be a registered member of the Insider Program to access the Insider downloads page. Signup is quick and easy and tied to your Microsoft Account, a.k.a. MSA. Please do not download and use Insider images for anything except observation, experimentation, and testing for suitability or future deployment. Theyre not intended for deployment into production.

An unofficial tool with valid ISO downloads

You can find plenty of unofficial sources for so-called Windows ISOs. These are suspect, and some have been shown to be altered or added to, often with less-than-noble motives at work. We strongly advise against accessing nearly all such unofficial sources, simply because you dont know what youre getting when you use them.

We used to recommend Jan Krohns HeiDoc.net MS Windows and Office ISO Download Tool, but it can no longer log into Microsoft to make its downloads work. Apparently, the company is locked into legal battles with Amazon and isnt maintaining this tool. Thats too bad: it used to be helpful in grabbing older Office versions, as well as Windows 7 and 8.x ISOs. Its now off the air.

That said, there is one unofficial source that your humble authors can still recommend.

UUP Dump

The UUP Dump website is an open-source GitHub project that creates download scripts for specific Windows builds using only files downloaded from Microsofts update servers. As the name is meant to assert, these scripts rely on Microsofts Unified Update Platform (UUP) to create and build specific ISO images.

Whats more, the site allows users to choose specific Windows versions by their build numbers and install everything needed in one go without requiring a base OS download followed by a catch-up process that involves downloading and applying later update packages manually, one at a time. Instead, UUP scripts use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM) to build a specific Windows version and then apply all the update packages automatically to that image to bring it up to the specified build number.

For Windows 10, UUP Dump goes back to version 1809 (a.k.a. 18H2), and it goes back to the first version (21H2) for Windows 11. For Windows Sever, it goes back to 21H2 as well. UUP Dump also covers all recent Insider versions of Windows.

Those who want more control should examine the GitHub UUP Dump Get Windows ISO project for information on how to build their own local environment, rather than going through the projects web server.

For more about Windows UUP and using UUP Dump, see my story Understanding the Windows Unified Update Platform. Also, you can find (and use) complete tutorials on using UUP Dump to create Windows ISOs at Windows 10 Forums and Windows 11 Forum.

We hope youll be able to make good use of the various Windows ISO sources  both official and otherwise  we provide here for new installs, repairs, and bootable media. Thats certainly what we use them for!

This article was originally published in May 2018 and most recently updated in January 2024.
US lawmakers are calling for an investigation of a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm with ties to OpenAI and Microsoft over its association with Chinese entities engaged in surveillance and human-rights abuses, including some that have been blacklisted by the US government.

In an open letter to US Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and chairman of the House China Select Committee, raised concerns about extensive relationships G42 has with Chinese military and intelligence services and other state-owned entities.

G42 is led Chairman Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed UAE's National Security Advisor and the younger brother of the country's ruler  and CEO Peng Xiao. The company should face trade restrictions due to questionable affiliations, in particular the "active relationships" it has with Huawei, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and other individuals engaged in conduct that promotes China's intelligence efforts, as well as links between Xiao and suspected human rights abuses, according to the letter.

Huawei and BGI already have been blacklisted by the US government  which means theyve been put on the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Entity List due to suspected involvement in surveillance activities for the Chinese government.

"Without new restrictions against G42, the company's extensive capabilities will provide much-needed analytical capacity for BGI to exploit the data it has collected from American citizens, to include millions of pregnant women," according to the letter. "Relatedly, export controls against Huawei will be further undermined if Huawei can access and/or acquire advanced hardware and cloud computing services through its partners like G42."

Precedent for Restriction

Moreover, G42 CEO also serves as executive director of Pegasus Technology, a subsidiary of Dark Matter. Pegasus develops spyware and surveillance tools that governments can use to illegally spy on and target dissidents, journalists, politicians, and US companies.

"Many of the tools developed by Pegasus and DarkMatter are subject to export controls," Gallagher noted, and former American employees of Dark Matter already have been fined for violations of the Arms Export Control Act.

"While State has taken action against DarkMatter, Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has failed to place any restrictions on DarkMatter, G42, or their affiliated companies," Gallagher wrote.

Unless similar action is taken, export-controlled technology developed and sold by companies such as Microsoft, Dell and OpenAI that have relationships with G42 and its subsidiaries "are at significant risk for diversion" to China-based affiliates that support the surveillance and human rights abuses, Gallagher said.

The letter cited other sketchy connections between G42 and individuals related with China's intelligence efforts as evidence that a probe and potential trade limitations are needed. They include Song-Chun Zhu, the former director of a center at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) who now serves as one of DarkMatter's lead AI research collaborators.

Zhu worked on Department of Defense-funded research at UCLA while simultaneously participating in the Chinese Communist Party's Thousand Talent plan, which requires its participants to acquire research and technology on behalf of the Chinese government, Gallagher said. He left UCLA in 2020 to return to China and has since created a new AI laboratory with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

China Trade Crackdown

G42 did not respond immediately to request for comment. The Biden administration has been cracking down heavily on trade with China, particularly organizations that can provide cutting-edge technology to further advance the country's military and intelligence endeavors.

Numerous microprocessor firms have felt the brunt of these clampdowns  notably Nvidia; it is currently pushing to release a series of China-specific chips after some of its microprocessors become ineligible for export to the region due to restrictions.

G42 touts itself as a leader in AI research and is investigating cloud computing, datacenters, and other technologies to achieve its goals. Key investors are the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala along with US private equity firm Silver Lake.

In addition to technology agreements with Dell, OpenAI, and Microsoft  which recently unveiled a partnership with G42 for its Cloud for Sovereignty product  the company also has a deal with Silicon Valley chip firm Cerebras to build a supercomputer for its AI efforts.

Because of these ties with top US tech companies, G42s ties to China are worrying, as its "extensive capabilities" could help partners engage in illegal endeavors, putting the US government, academic institutions, and other companies at risk, according to Gallagher.
San Franciscos preliminary artificial intelligence guidelines encourage disclosure, experimentation, and fact checking by city employees using the technology in their work. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

San Francisco has released its first guidelines on how city employees should use artificial intelligence at work, more than a year after OpenAI first rocked the world with the ChatGPT chatbot that reinforced San Franciscos dominance in the burgeoning AI industry.

The guidelines direct city employees always to fact check AI-generated content and to disclose when they use the technology, which can be harnessed to write and summarize emails and other documents as well as to generate images and videos.

The guidelines also warn city employees away from entering sensitive information into public generative AI tools. That information can be seen by companies like OpenAI that make the technology  and potentially the public.

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The San Francisco rules, released in December, come as New York state this week began encouraging employees to use AI tools, a step taken by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September via executive order. Separately, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday that his administration had launched a first of its kind pilot program for state government employees to use ChatGPT in their work.

The San Francisco guidelines, which the city called preliminary, point out that generative AI programs like ChatGPT can be useful in drafting emails, adjusting written levels of formality, and automating repetitive tasks such as coding.

The AI plan, released by the City Administrators Office in consultation with various city technology departments, encourages San Francisco city employees to experiment with the technology, but also warned that AI programs can reflect the biases inherent in their training data, and should be used with caution.

The city said existing AI plans from San Jose, Boston, the state of California, the White House, and the United Kingdom informed its own guidelines.

Kevin Frazier, a law professor at St. Thomas University in Florida, who studies AI law and regulation, said in an email that San Franciscos guidelines tiptoe in the right direction but ultimately fail to provide enough clarity to employees on when and how to use the technology.

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Frazier compared the citys incremental approach to AI with its comparatively bold ban on government agencies using facial recognition technology. He said it wasnt clear why the city was in this case encouraging employees to experiment with generative AI tools. Minimally, City employees should receive formal training on when and to what extent to use tools like ChatGPT on the job, Frazier said.

The City deserves credit for recognizing a point that often goes undiscussed  everyone can, will, and should (in certain contexts) use Generative AI tools, Frazier told the Chronicle.

The city said next steps in developing the guidelines would include a comprehensive survey of the ways city departments are using and might use AI, the creation of a user community, and further consulting with AI experts.

Instead of encouraging unguided experimentation, Frazier said, city officials would be better served by banning the use of generative AI tools that have yet to undergo scrutiny by third party experts, an approach that could would send a signal that cities, counties, and states can use their substantial budgets and public influence to meaningfully shape the AI debate and push AI development towards the public interest.

Frazier noted that while the guidelines were only preliminary, the risks posed by Generative AI tools being used in public functions warrants the City issuing a substantive set of rules (not merely guidelines) sooner than later.

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A computer scientist, Joseph Bates, has filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that the internet giant should pay $1.67 billion for using his innovations to develop processors for AI-related tasks.

In response to the lawsuit, Google appeared before a federal jury in Boston and claimed that the companys scientists on staff had developed the chips in question independently, according to a Reuters report.

Bates  the founder of Singular Computer  was represented by a lawyer named Kerry Timbers who argued that Google had duplicated Bates efforts after meeting him multiple times between 2010 and 2014 to discuss ideas that were key to solving challenges around artificial intelligence.

Timbers further said that Bates innovations were used to build Googles Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which form the bedrock of all AI features currently being made available across Google Search, Gmail, Google Translate, and other Google services.

Bates suit claims that Googles TPUs, specifically version 2 and 3 introduced in 2017 and 2018 respectively, violate his patent rights.

The lawsuit brought by Bates also cites internal emails that show Googles top scientist Jeff Dean saying that Bates innovations were really well suited for Googles technology development efforts.

A separate email quotes another employee saying that then Google staffers were quite corrupted by Joes ideas.

This case is about something we all learned a long time ago: respect for others, dont take what doesnt belong to you, and give credit where credit is due, Timbers was quoted as saying in his opening statement.

AI chips in demand

The lawsuit assumes significance as the proliferation of generative AI has forced technology giants including Google to develop its own chips for AI-related workloads. IBM, AWS, and Microsoft also have developed their own AI chips.

Chipmakers such as Nvidia, Intel, and AMD are also iterating on chips designed for AI-related tasks.

The worldwide AI chip market size, according to xResearch, was valued at $14.9 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow at a compound annual rate of growth (CAGR) of 40.5% to touch $227.6 billion by 2030.

This growth is driven by several factors, including the increasing demand for AI-powered devices and services, the necessity for faster and more efficient computing power to process large datasets, and the growing adoption of cloud computing and edge computing technologies, the market research firm said in one of its reports.

Bates is a disappointed inventor: Google

While defending Google, the company lawyer, Robert Van Nest, countered Timbers and called Bates a disappointed inventor, who was unable to persuade companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI to use his innovations.

Van Nest attributed Bates failure to use approximate math across his innovations that were more likely to result in incorrect calculations.

Googles chips are fundamentally different, fundamentally different, than what is described in Singulars patents, Van Nest was quoted as saying to the jury.

Google has further claimed that Bates and his company Singular had requested Google to pay up to $7 billion in monetary damages for the patent infringements before the trial began.

Google and Singular are also battling out a separate case related to the patent infringements that was heard at a US appeals court in Washington.
When it comes to the muted tones and dour broadcasts of National Public Radio, creating laughter is no longer a fireable offense.

Philadelphias Jad Sleiman has worn many hats. An Arab-American raised in a Muslim family, Sleiman served in the Marines and worked as a war reporter in the Middle East before returning to America to continue his journalism career. Sleiman spent five years working for The Pulse, a health and science broadcast produced by Philadelphias local NPR affiliate WHYY, during which he moonlighted as a standup comedian, sharing his unique perspective on international politics and domestic issues through humor. Then, when WHYY caught wind of Sleimans creative side hustle last year, they took personal offense to his act and swiftly terminated him  apparently, thats what you get for actually entertaining people when you work for NPR.

Represented by SAG-AFTRA grievance lawyers and backed by the union, Sleiman contested his termination and entered into arbitration with WHYY that culminated with the ruling that Sleiman must swiftly return to his post. Last week, the arbitrator in the case decided that Sleiman had not violated WHYYs social media conduct policy because the clips from his standup sets that he posted online were funnier than they were inflammatory. Next we need a judge to force NPR to admit that the desk isnt even tiny.

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They cut off my health insurance same day, despite the fact that they know I have multiple sclerosis and rely on very expensive drugs to walk, Sleiman told Vice last week of his termination. They also went and deleted all my work from the site, every single possible clip I could try to use to get a job.

WHYY and their representatives at Duane Morris LLP entered numerous jokes told in clips that Sleiman posted on social media into the record, including one that addressed working conditions at WHYY itself, titled, Kind of Racist. In the bit, Sleiman says, I work at one of these places thats so woke its kinda racist. Like this lady asked my boss, shes like Yo, does Jad consider himself a person of color? because she was making a list of us. Fucking hell? Sick, alright. I get to be in this ladys brown dude Pokedex.

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When determining whether Kind of Racist violated WHYYs social media conduct policy, which reads, Employees must take care that their postings cannot be interpreted as inflammatory, unethical or illegal, since such posts may have an adverse effect on WHYY, the arbitrator called the bit a powerful condemnation, in a funny way, of what (Sleiman) calls corporatized racial consciousness.

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Other jokes addressing similarly sensitive subjects through Sleimans unique perspective earned labels like simply funny, insightful, principled and serious, and other complimentary reviews that will inevitably appear in promotional material should Sleimans standup ever earn him a Netflix deal. Not only did Sleiman come out of the arbitration as an absolute victor, he also inadvertently bolstered his standing on Metacritic using the machinations of the legal system.

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As for his inevitably awkward return to work, Sleiman is unphased. Im going to walk in there like fucking Vince McMahon, he told Vice of his first day back at WHYY. They tried their best. They called me every name in the book. They cut off my health insurance. They deleted all of my fucking stories, which like, what the fuck? And then they still lost. People keep asking, Is it going to be weird going back? Im like, yeah, for them.
Pam deserved to fail art school. Boom, roasted.

Besides her not-so-secret affection for Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly in the early seasons of The Office defined herself by one motivation  art. Her doodles, as Jan Levinson would call them, represented her aspirations for more than the menial existence of a secretary engaged to a warehouse worker in the fifth most populous city in Pennsylvania. Pams art served as an important wedge issue in her little office love triangle  Roy shot down her dreams of pursuing art professionally while Jim encouraged her aspirations, and, after she dumped her disappointing fiance, she finally began to take her artistic ambitions seriously and enrolled in local classes. And over the course of the lauded NBC sitcoms nine seasons, one point became painfully apparent: Roy was right.

The last time Pams art ever instigated unnecessary drama in The Office was in the final season when her mural is mysteriously defaced, starting a chain reaction that ends in violence, firings and the shows single most unpalatable side plot wherein Pam and boom operator Brian tease a terrible romantic connection. Over in the Office subreddit, a post recently skyrocketed to the front page with the simple title, Pams Mural Sucked. Ill go one step further  Pams art always sucked.

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I like how its in the warehouse but only shows the upstairs people and ignores the warehouse workers, one commenter wrote, to which another replied, If I worked in the warehouse Id draw butts on the mural. One more still added, All of Pams art was trash.

The first inkling the show gave its fans that Pams artistic ambitions were woefully misguided was when, in the third season episode Business School, Pam invites the entire office to attend an art show put on by her and her classmates. Of all the characters invited, only Roy, Oscar and Michael make appearances, prompting one of the more wholesome exchanges between Pam and the lattermost in the shows entire run. On the other hand, Oscar and his partner Gil give their brutally honest opinions on Pams output, with Gil giving it the iconic and accurate moniker, Motel art.

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Seriously, a watercolor of a stapler? A brown mug on a brown table? An unironic fruit bowl still life?! This is barely B- work in a middle school art class, let alone a creative endeavor worth asking your adult coworkers to waste their free time just to indulge you. And, by the final season, when Pams second attempt at a bland, sophomoric fresco becomes the focal point of another episode in Vandalism, Pams skills seem to have gotten even worse. Composition, form, line, color  these are all the elements that Pam ignores while she splatters her own image in the center of a 30-foot-long rejected community college brochure of a mural.

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There is, unfortunately, an important narrative reason why Pams art must be so pedestrian  she needs to stay in the office. As hard as the writers tried to weave Pams artistic ambitions into the practical limitations of her profession, Pam succeeding in the art world would require her to leave the world of the show, and with Jim Halpert still the de facto protagonist of the series, they couldnt have the leading mans leading lady run off to New York for good.

Also, theres shadows coming from two different directions. Cmon, Beesly.
The Safeway on Webster Street in San Franciscos Fillmore district will close in March, leaving the neighborhood without a full-service grocery store. Salgu Wissmath/The Chronicle

At the end of the workweek, longtime Fillmore resident Mattie Scott knows where she can rub elbows with a cross section of the folks she has encountered over half a century of living, working and raising kids in the neighborhood: Five dollar Fridays at the Webster Street Safeway.

How many working mothers feel like sweating over a hot stove on a Friday? she said. You can get hot chicken for $5. You can get a pizza if you are throwing a pizza party. You can get flowers for a neighbor who is sick. A birthday cake for your grandson. You see all the seniors. You can have a cup of coffee while you shop, share a recipe at the deli counter.

Like many Fillmore residents, Scott was surprised last week when Safeway announced plans to close the Webster Street store in March, leaving the Fillmore neighborhood and Japantown without a full-service grocery store. The property is being sold to Align Real Estate, which plans to develop a mixed-use project with as many as 1,000 housing units.

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Scott, who has lived in the Freedom West co-op for 50 years, knew that the store was troubled. After all, efforts to deal with its problems were hard to miss. Much of the inventory is locked behind plexiglass. The self-checkout kiosks were shut down to cut down on theft. There have been community meetings to address loitering, drug use and homeless encampments on the property. The store would blast classical music in its parking lot to discourage loitering at night.

But Scott didnt think that Safeway would go so far as to shut down a supermarket that Fillmore residents, predominantly Black and working-class, have supported for 40 years.

Mattie Scott, a civil rights leader who lives at Freedom West, says the Safeway in her Fillmore neighborhood was where the community came together. Last week, Safeway announced the store will close in March. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

We have to suffer because of a drug epidemic in our city, which we know has a lot to do with the robberies? said Scott. Its not right and its not fair. You are adding weight to what is already a heavy burden for people in this community.

On Tuesday, Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the Fillmore, introduced a resolution demanding that Safeway reverse its plan to close the store, and called for the supermarket chain to work with residents and the city to develop a plan for the site that centers the needs of the community.

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I stand in solidarity with the community and urge Safeway to rescind the closure plan and meet with community and city leaders to develop a plan for this crucial site in the heart of the Fillmore that not only avoids harm, but actually benefits the community, Preston said. Safeway should remain open until the developer buying the property breaks ground.

In a statement Safeway said it would not reconsider the store closure.

The decision to close the Webster Street Safeway was not done without tremendous analysis, careful consideration, and thoughtful effort to keep our doors open, the company said. Like all retailers, we continuously evaluate the performance of our stores, and occasionally its necessary to close locations that arent meeting financial expectations. Despite our best efforts, the Webster store will close as planned around early March. All associates at the Webster Safeway will be re-assigned to another store in the San Francisco area.

Paul Osaki, executive director at Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, called the store a lifeline for seniors and members of the Western Addition and Japantown communities.

To close their doors in less than two months will create a vacant, blighted lot in a part of San Francisco that desperately needs access to groceries, banking, medication and other critical services, he said.

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Preston said he would work with the new property owner on a plan for the redevelopment, but that the store should remain open during that process.

Prestons resolution is expected to be voted on by the full Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

Align Real Estate did not respond to requests to comment.

Rev. Arnold Townsend, a civil rights leader and associate pastor of Without Walls Church, said the closure would impact hundreds of seniors who live in the seven affordable elderly housing complexes nearby.

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How will those seniors who dont drive, and that is a majority of them, get their groceries? he said. If I have five or six kids, am I supposed to bring groceries home on the bus? That is what we are going to be faced with soon.

Given the fact that development has come to a screeching halt in post-COVID San Francisco, it is likely going to be years before the new property owner has the financing needed to start construction, Townsend added.

We could be talking about four years before they break ground, he said. Why close now?

Townsend said that it was Fillmore residents who proactively called a community meeting to discuss the issues with shoplifting and other criminal behavior at the store, which he said was profitable for decades prior to the pandemic and the fentanyl epidemic.

We sympathize with the shoplifting and all of that  you think that behavior makes it better for the community? he said. Yet, it is the community, which has been loyal and faithful to that store for many years, that is being punished.
Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community and NYPD officers on January 8. Photo: Exclusive to New York Magazine

There is a secret tunnel beneath 770 Eastern Parkway, the Crown Heights headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The news of a secret tunnel is kind of stunning on its own, but things took a chaotic turn on Monday when a cement truck called in by Chabad leadership arrived to fill it and the tunnels architects, a small group of young Lubavitchers, attempted to stop them by breaking through a wall of the synagogue and occupying the hole. The standoff ended when police hauled the men out  nine arrests were made, according to the New York Times. After the fracas, the synagogue was shut down pending a structural safety review. Now, there is a huge fight happening between the people who dug the secret tunnel and the people who are upset that there is a secret tunnel, which is basically everyone else.

Heres everything we know.

A secret tunnel was discovered under a historic Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn, NY after locals reported hearing weird noises beneath their homes.



When authorities pulled up to shut it down, chaos ensued between the NYPD and the men who allegedly used it.pic.twitter.com/c31XcaAtYv  No Jumper (@nojumper) January 9, 2024

Who was digging the tunnel?

A group of young students had been secretly digging for months, according to reports. Chabad has referred to the diggers as extremist students who seem to have been studying at Lubavitch headquarters. At the standoff on Monday, the Jewish news site ColLive reported that the men, many of whom are reportedly from Israel, were wearing Meshichist yarmulkes and pins identifying them as followers of a Messianic sect that believes the late Lubavitch leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, also known as the Rebbe, is the Messiah. (Also, they believe that he did not die in 1994 but lives on.) A different group, Agudath Chasidei Chabad, which does not believe the Rebbe to be the Messiah, controls 770 Eastern Parkway, the Rebbes former home.

However, while Agudath Chasidei Chabad won the legal battle over ownership of the Lubavitch headquarters more than a decade ago, the synagogue itself is still controlled by another rival group, Beis Chayeinu, and continues to be contested territory.

How was the tunnel discovered?

A homeowner on nearby Union Street had been hearing weird noises at night for some time and mentioned them to someone at the center. Then plumbers laying a waterline trench near 770 came across a section of the tunnel. The men seem to have been hiding their work for months by using a separate, empty building  a defunct mikvah, a ritual bath, in a separate and unaffiliated building at the corner of Union Street and Kingston Avenue. In December, Chabad investigated and found the tunnel.

How long is the tunnel, and where does it go?

The tunnel allegedly runs from a defunct mikvah, a ritual bath, in a separate and unaffiliated building at the corner of Union Street and Kingston Avenue to the 770 Eastern Parkway complex, stopping underneath the womens section of the synagogue at 784 Eastern Parkway, which would make it maybe half a block long. A city inspectors report found it was five feet high, eight feet wide, and approximately 60 feet long. After the tunnel was discovered, leaders, concerned about structural damage, closed off the womens section and started investigating options to seal it, according to Crown Heights Info, a site covering the local Jewish community.

However, one person from the community said the effort, though clandestine, was far more professional than it seemed  there were financial backers as well as professional engineers and contractors involved. The New York Post, meanwhile, reported that the students took up a collection to hire migrant workers, who also stayed in a vacant building for the duration of three weeks while they did the clandestine work.

But  why?

The young men wanted to expand 770 Eastern Parkway. (It was, apparently, eventually supposed to look something like this.) Its a site of huge importance in the Lubavitch community. (Its been described as the closest thing to holy ground in Brooklyn for Hasidim.) The building, which was acquired by the Lubavitch movement in the 1940s, is part of a complex with a yeshiva and synagogue, and is a destination for thousands of visitors a year. The structure itself is considered so meaningful that replicas have been built all over the world.

One man told the AP that the diggers believed they were fulfilling the expansionist wishes of Rabbi Schneerson by connecting the synagogue with the empty space behind it: Thats what the rabbi wanted, thats what everybody wants. On X, a Chabad spokesperson wrote that the men broke through a few walls in adjacent properties to the synagogue at 784-788 Eastern Parkway, to provide them unauthorized access.

The Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, pictured on Jan. 9, 2023. Photo: New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

One young community member says that the tunnel was beside the point  it was just a means to expand the synagogue and haul out dirt. The real project was digging out a large enough space off the synagogue to seat hundreds more people.

He adds that the synagogue is so overcrowded during Rosh Hashanah that people routinely faint and ambulances have to be stationed outside. Expanding the synagogue was not just a spiritual issue, but also a safety issue. So some Israeli students decided to dig out a cavern big enough for an additional 600 worshippers, a project the community member claims was so close to completion that if they put in tiles and doors, it would be like 85 percent done.

Did the tunnel affect the structures it ran under?

Yes, it did. City officials found that it was not sufficiently reinforced and compromised the stability of two buildings, according to the Times.

What happened when Chabad tried to have the tunnel filled?

Mayhem. Videos show the young men shouting, flipping over furniture, and breaking down the walls of the synagogue to climb into the tunnel. One was filmed crawling out of a sewer grate.

Local Jewish leaders have condemned the tunnel-digging. Rabbi Yosef Braun, of the Crown Heights Beis Din, railed against people who think they know better than everybody else in every single matter are just destroying and demolishing and destroying physical structures, destroying spiritual structures.

It is a juvenile fantasy to think that a dug out, 450-square-foot, five-foot-high crawl space is some kind of grand synagogue expansion, says Rabbi Motti Seligson, the spokesman of Chabad-Lubavitch. In furthering their delusions, these young agitators demolished a potentially load-bearing wall, desecrated the synagogue, and engaged in violence. There is no justification, theological or otherwise, for such behavior.

Whats next?

The synagogue has been temporarily closed, concrete has been poured to strengthen damaged walls, and the tunnel is being filled in. But one community member says that dealing with the situation has actually made the two factions fighting for control of 770 come together for the first time in 30 years. Theres hope that the expansion  properly planned and permitted  might happen after all.

This story is developing, and will be updated accordingly.
Roland Li covers commercial real estate for the business desk, focusing on the Bay Area office and retail sectors.

He was previously a reporter at San Francisco Business Times, where he won one award from the California News Publishers Association and three from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

He is the author of Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports," a 2016 book on the history of the competitive video game industry. Before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, he studied and worked in New York. He freelanced for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other local publications. His hobbies include swimming and urban photography.

He can be reached at roland.li@sfchronicle.com.
Trading the news before it happens, or in the lead up to an economic data release, is often viewed as less exciting than the fast-paced environment of trading during or after the release. However, there are many underutilized opportunities that present themselves during this less volatile period that forex traders can hunt for. This article will explain how to identify forex trades in the lead up to a news release or announcement using two specific strategies: pre-release trend following strategy and pre-release calm strategy.

Other articles in this series:

Pre-Release Trend Following Strategy

A pre-release trend following strategy focuses on the short-term trend in the lead up to the news release and requires traders to bring up a daily chart with a 10-day simple moving average (SMA).

Traders are expected to enter the trade before the news, in the direction of the short-term trend; aiming to ride any increased volatility further in the direction of the trend, after the news has been released. Additionally, this strategy works if the news results in a low volatility environment as the market is likely to then continue in the direction of the existing trend.

Traders gravitate towards this strategy when the data to be released is anticipated to be in line with expectations. Data that comes out in line with expectations generally reduces the impact of the release and reduces the potential of the news to disrupt the existing trend.

With this strategy, traders have the opportunity of entering at the start of an accelerating trend in order to capitalize on as much of the advancing market as possible.

The risk when using this strategy arises when the news comes out contrary to expectations which has the potential to send the market in the opposite direction with increased volatility.

The strategy can be implemented using the following steps:

Establish the short-term trend : Use a 10-day moving average to assess whether the market is in a short-term uptrend (price trading above the 10-day SMA) or in a short- term downtrend (price trading below the 10-day SMA) Enter the trade : Enter the trade five minutes before the news release in the direction of the trend Manage risk : Set stops and limits while adhering to a positive risk-to-reward ratio Manage the trade : If the volatility created after the news pushes the market quickly towards the target, traders can consider closing half the position at the target level and moving the stop up to the target level in the event that there is still more momentum in the market.

Recommended by Richard Snow Learn how sentiment is used to reveal trends in the market Get My Guide

Pre-Release Calm Strategy

The pre-release calm strategy looks to trade within a range that develops when the market is relatively quiet leading up to the release. Due to the relative lull in the market, traders often overlook this opportunity and wait to trade after the news when the market is more unpredictable.

The pre-release calm strategy is of a shorter time frame when compared to the pre-release trend strategy, as you enter and exit before the news is released. Since nobody knows for sure what the data is going to show, this strategy suits the more risk averse trader  being in and out of the trade before the data has the opportunity to move the markets in an unfavorable way.

Using a five-minute chart, identify support and resistance levels over the 48 hours prior to the major news release. Often, in the beginning of the month there are central bank rate announcements before the major news release of US non-farm payrolls. This strategy can be implemented in the quiet period in between the announcements and the US non-farm payrolls.

Volume is often light so price will have a tough time pushing through those levels and as a result, the market can often be described as non-directional (trading in a short-term range).

The pre-release calm strategy can be implemented using the following steps:

Adjust chart time frame : Scroll down to the 5-minute chart and observe the 48-hour period before the news release Analyze the 48-hours prior to release : Identify and draw levels of support and resistance over the 48-hour period to define the short-term range. Time entries : Traders can look to buy at support and short at resistance, placing stops below support and above resistance. Targets for long trades can be set at resistance and targets for short positions can be placed at support.

Trading the News Before the Release: Conclusion

Trading before the news release allows traders to enter the market efficiently and at their price when the market is less volatile. This approach also allows traders the option of trading short term ranges and short-term trends  providing more opportunity to trade.

However, depending on the importance of the news, it is possible for markets to experience significant volatility before the release. When this occurs traders should consider a post-release strategy instead.

Further reading

Trading the News FAQs

Sometimes the market is highly volatile leading up to the release, how should I approach this?

When the market is volatile in the lead up to the release, the above strategies are no longer viable. This underscores the importance of analysing the market before adopting a strategy. In this scenario it may be better for traders to monitor the market after the release, once the market has shown its hand and picked a direction or range to trade in. Learn how to trade forex after the news release.
Schenectady historians will gather at noon Friday to re-create the 1774 raising of a liberty flag in Schenectady on the eve of the American Revolution.
Greg Wagner, chief operating officer in the citys Department of Public Health, smiles as people clap after San Francisco Mayor London Breed announces him as her nominee to succeed Ben Rosenfield as city controller during a news conference Wednesday at City Hall. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Mayor London Breed has revealed her choice to be San Franciscos next top accounting officer: Greg Wagner, a senior leader in the citys Department of Public Health.

If confirmed by the Board of Supervisors, Wagner would succeed the popular outgoing city controller Ben Rosenfield, who announced in November that he would step down this year after a 26-year career at City Hall.

The controller is effectively San Franciscos chief financial officer and plays an indispensable role in overseeing the citys $14.6 billion annual budget while also managing City Halls financial accounts, processing payroll and conducting economic forecasts. Wagner would therefore find himself at the center of the citys response to some of its most pressing challenges, including the difficult budget negotiations expected this year as officials try to close a projected $800 million two-year deficit driven in part by downtowns well-known economic struggles. The controller is also an auditor of city departments and contracts, responsible for pointing out inefficiencies and investigating complaints of fraud or financial mismanagement in city agencies.



I know that we're facing some challenging financial times ahead, but I really do believe in San Francisco, Wagner said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference at City Hall. I believe in the future of the city, and I believe in our ability to tackle these financial challenges.

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Greg Wagner, chief operating officer in the citys Department of Public Health, right, chats with outgoing City Controller Ben Rosenfield after San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced Wagner as her nominee for city controller to succeed Rosenfield during a news conference Wednesday at City Hall. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Wagner has big shoes to fill: Rosenfield commanded respect from throughout the citys fractious political circles. Breed said at the news conference that Rosenfield had done an extraordinary job and thanked him for helping us weather the storm ... and really delivering excellence for the city and county of San Francisco.

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin concurred, describing Rosenfield as an honest and forthright controller who helped elected leaders know that there are choices and (helped) us figure out what those choices are ... without steering us in those directions, doing it dispassionately and letting us come to our own conclusions. Rosenfield was greeted at the news conference with sustained applause and cheers and a standing ovation from a small crowd of city employees who were seated on the mayors balcony.

Breed and Peskin also heaped praise on Wagner: Peskin said Breed had made a very thoughtful, well considered decision in picking Wagner and said he had every confidence that Mr. Wagners nomination will be confirmed by supervisors in the coming weeks.

Wagner has been a high-level financial administrator at the city for more than 16 years. Hes now the health departments chief operating officer, in charge of the financial and administrative operations for San Francisco General Hospital and the Laguna Honda public nursing home, which recently staved off the threat of closure. Wagner also served as the departments chief financial officer from 2011 to 2020.

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Greg Wagner, chief operating officer in the citys Department of Public Health, greets colleagues after San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced him as her nominee for city controller to succeed Ben Rosenfield during a news conference Wednesday at City Hall. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

At the health department, Wagner was involved in the citys COVID-19 response and led a major capital program to rebuild San Francisco General. He was also involved in helping the city implement the Affordable Care Act.

Before joining the health department, Wagner was budget director for former Mayors Ed Lee and Gavin Newsom and was charged with developing the annual budget during the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Greg has been a strong leader, Breed said at the news conference. We have some very challenging budget circumstances ahead, and Greg understands what that means.

Wagner previously worked at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association. He has a master of public policy from UC Berkeley.
The Royal Marines are the Navy's sea soldiers and its instant strike force  among the toughest, most highly trained and effective troops anywhere in the world.

Their motto  Per mare, per terram (By sea, by land)  summarises their ability to fight in the harshest terrains and to attack without warning on any coastline.

They can outmanoeuvre all enemies as well as deploying on the most challenging peacekeeping or disaster-aid missions  in their own words: 'Going where others won't, doing things others can't.'

But amphibious assault is far from their only role. They protect our deterrent capability, stationed in the Clyde to guard our nuclear weapons. They serve on Royal Navy ships, ready to board other vessels and tackle pirates, terrorists and drug-smugglers.

In short, they are vital to our national security. So it defies belief that Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, in the weaselly language of a corporate personnel manager planning a round of redundancies, can have presumed to ask the Royal Navy's First Sea Lord to 'provide a plan for how the Royal Marines' excellent work is taken forward'.

Admiral Lord West, pictured, writes: 'I cannot believe that he [the Defence Secretary] is unable to grasp the crucial role the Royal Marines have long played for our maritime forces'

Asking them, in effect, to justify their existence was spectacularly stupid.

My fervent hope is that this was merely clumsy phrasing, and that the Secretary of State simply failed to realise how bad it sounded.

I cannot believe that he is unable to grasp the crucial role the Royal Marines have long played for our maritime forces, or that without them, Britain would lose one of its primary capabilities as a global fighting force.

The Royal Marines' history of valour scarcely needs repeating. Formed in 1664, they fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. They also saw battle in the Falklands, while their most recent military deployments were in Afghanistan and Iraq.

During the Iraq War, in March 2003, the marines landed on the Al-Faw Peninsula with more than 2,000 personnel, 80 helicopters and amphibious landing craft.

The successful assault on the peninsula  the site of Iraq's only deep-water port and many of its oil fields  culminated in the capture of dictator Saddam Hussein's Basra palace.

He points out that the Marines saw battle in the Falklands. Pictured is Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano sinking during the conflict with Britain in 1982

Today, as war rages in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, we may need to call on the marines at a moment's notice. With terrorists attacking our shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz, we must be ready to respond.

And in regular exercises in the Arctic, our marines offer a vital defence against the growing prospect of a Russian incursion  a challenge that defines our era.

Our allies, too, rely on our marine commandos. Britain's national pride and reputation rest in large part on their courage and strength. To abandon any part of that remit would be disastrous.

Yet I fear the Royal Marines may be downgraded, given that the Mail has seen an internal blueprint for amphibious warfare that warns that such operations will cost too many lives in future conflicts.

It comes against a backdrop of ongoing spending cuts that leave our island dangerously exposed.

The corps' ability to make agile forays from the sea is dependent on their two ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. These 'Landing Platform Docks', about 192 yards long, are capable of launching four large landing craft with shallow drafts, plus four smaller boats suspended from the ship's sides.

But these essential vessels are currently out of action. They have been docked for repairs at Devonport, Plymouth, and belief is widespread among personnel that they might never put to sea or go on operations again.

Albion and Bulwark can do things other ships cannot. They combine a flight deck with interior hangars that can be flooded to float assault vessels. They are equipped to respond to natural and man-made disasters and, most importantly, they are custom-designed for the needs of an embarkation force.

Their helicopters and hovercraft, for example, are ideal for river work and for operating in areas strewn with debris.

Without them, the marines' power is drastically limited. Currently, the marines are making do with Royal Fleet Auxiliary Bay-class vessels. But these can carry only one large landing craft inside, and the smaller boats have to be lifted on and off with a crane, a much more laborious process.

When lives are dependent on speed, and every second leaves a commando unit more vulnerable to detection and attack, it is insanely dangerous to dispense with Albion and Bulwark.

I hope the Defence Secretary realises this. Yet Shapps, who took over from Ben Wallace at the end of August, clearly faces a steep learning curve not least in his use of language.

No other ministry, not even the Treasury, demands more complex understanding of the unique challenges and high stakes. The only way for a newcomer to cope is to take as much expert advice on board as possible  and to accept that the defence of the realm requires rather more than mere political acumen. Shapps must start listening to people who actually know what they are talking about.

Lord West says: 'Maritime power is not only Britain's best guarantee of national security, it is a fundamental part of our economy, and indeed our identity.' Pictured: Navy service personnel are cheered in Portsmouth as HMS Invincible returns from the Falklands war in 1982

The plain fact is that downgrading the Royal Marines is the latest and perhaps most shocking of the systematic funding cuts that have undermined Britain's defences for years. Manpower was savagely cut in 2010 and, despite pledges to reinstate numbers, the damage continues  just as the world grows more dangerous.

Since 2013, I have warned in the House of Lords more than 80 times against cutting our defences, including our maritime forces. I get no thanks for this  one Government minister accused me of denigrating those who love the Navy, because I keep highlighting the lack of investment.

Enemies

We are assured, instead, that 'Littoral Response Groups' (task forces comprising at least two warships and a company of Royal Marines on high alert to assault coastal areas) will be fully operational by the mid-2030s.

What this means in practice remains to be seen, but for Britain's enemies, the gap between now and the 2030s looks like a window of opportunity.

Maritime power is not only Britain's best guarantee of national security, it is a fundamental part of our economy, and indeed our identity.

Britain is defined by its geography. We are an island, and without naval power we are frighteningly vulnerable.

But we are also a global power  a force for democracy and freedom around the world. For this we need the Royal Navy. And the Navy, I can tell Mr Shapps, needs its fighting men and women: the Royal Marines.

Admiral Lord West of Spithead was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006.
Stinson Beach is one of the townships in West Marin County where concerns about too many short-term rentals and too little affordable housing have grown louder in recent years. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Marin County may soon cap the number of short-term rentals in Stinson Beach and elsewhere. Noah Berger/Special to the Chronicle 2023

UPDATE: Marin County passes new rules limiting vacation rentals

For the first time in Marin County, government leaders are poised to limit the number of short-term rentals that operate there, a move they hope will create more workforce housing for locals and revitalize coastal communities where some residents say there has been a proliferation of homes operating as full-time Airbnbs.

At a Thursday hearing, county supervisors will consider overhauling how short-term rentals (STRs)  dwellings rented for fewer than 30 days at a time  are regulated in the countys vast unincorporated lands, including the coastal hamlets around Stinson Beach, Point Reyes and Tomales Bay. A proposed ordinance would create a licensing program with rules governing, for example, how many rentals an owner can operate and what types of dwellings qualify as STRs.

Included is a recommendation to impose a countywide hard cap on STRs, a lightning rod of controversy among Marins homeowners and workers. County staffers recommend setting a limit of 1,083 STR licenses in the unincorporated county, with 352 of those set aside for the popular vacation destinations of Dillon Beach and the Seadrift neighborhood in Stinson Beach. They also suggest specific caps for many West Marin communities: Bolins, for example, would be held to 54 licensed STRs; Point Reyes Station to 26; and Inverness to 86.

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While some residents say they would like to see lower caps along the coast, an outspoken bloc of homeowners and visitors say the measures would be unduly burdensome and wont have the desired effect of improving the real estate outlook for local workers.

This is probably the most unprecedented regulation (on STRs) weve seen in California, said Rachel Dinno Taylor, founder of the West Marin Access Coalition, a citizens advocacy group of about 500 members. The county says their stated goal is to create more workforce housing, but theres not a connection between this policy and workforce housing.

About 60% of STRs in the unincorporated portion of the county are scattered throughout West Marin, primarily in the coastal zone frequented by tourists. In recent years, public outcry about overtourism and skyrocketing real estate prices in those areas has reached the ears of county supervisors.

Were seeing homes purchased to be run as businesses in our residential neighborhoods, said Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, whose district covers West Marin. We need to manage and control this because I dont believe the market will do this for us. Its too popular of an area, with too much demand and too high real estate prices. Thats not a good mix for anyone trying to find permanent housing there.

Thursdays discussion comes nearly two years after county supervisors voted unanimously to temporarily stop issuing new STR permits in West Marin  a means of buying time to craft a long-term management plan. That moratorium will end in May unless supervisors approve a new policy.

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There are 923 registered STRs in the unincorporated part of the county, so the recommended policy would leave room for more before hitting the 1,083 cap  but it would prevent the industrys unfettered growth.

Rodoni acknowledges that many of the dwellings along Marins bucolic coast are second homes that have been rented seasonally to travelers for decades. However, county staffers say they recently have seen homes farther inland  ones in the San Geronimo Valley that traditionally housed local workers  converted into STRs.

Thats a problem, said Sarah Jones, director of the Marin County Community Development Agency. These are very small communities and as the number (of STRs) has grown, people have felt it really keenly.

In 2021, 79.3% of workers in Marins coastal areas said they commuted from elsewhere, and about half of those workers earned less than $40,000 a year, according to the county.

We have communities that cant afford to house service workers, volunteer fire personnel and teachers, Rodoni said. He doesnt expect a cap on short-term rentals to solve Marins housing woes but he hopes it will help restore a sense of community balance to the coast.

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Dinno Taylor, of the citizens advocacy group, rents out her home in Inverness on a short-term basis and opposes any caps in West Marin, an area whose economy she contends has long been dependent on tourism.

The character of this place is as a tourist destination to serve visitors. Thats been the historic use, Dinno Taylor said. Renting out ones home on a part-time basis has always been a path to home ownership out here, even before the advent of Airbnb and VRBO.

Crimping the supply of STRs could hamper access to the coast for the overnight visitors who drive the local economy, and could make it more costly to visit, Dinno Taylor said.

Moreover, she said, West Marins extremely pricey properties dont profile as candidates for affordable housing. She said some of the second homes in her neighborhood that arent rented out to vacationers simply sit vacant most of the year while their owners live elsewhere.

Supporters and opponents of the cap agree on one thing: Fewer vacation rentals will likely significantly lower tax revenue that supports emergency fire services and efforts to preserve permanent housing in West Marin.

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Rishi Sunak needs to act to ensure Paula Vennells' CBE is annulled. Simply returning the gong means nothing.

When Carla Lane, creator of The Liver Birds and Butterflies, died in 2016, many mourners at her funeral were surprised to see her named 'Carla Lane OBE' on the order of service.

She had been appointed OBE in 1989 but returned it in 2002 as part of her protests against animal cruelty.

Because the monarch was never asked to annul it, she remained OBE for life.

Paula Vennells has said she will return her CBE following the Post Office Scandal

Rishi Sunak needs to act to ensure Paula Vennells' CBE is annulled. Simply returning the gong means nothing

Some who returned medals still have their honour as they have never been rescinded, including Michael Sheen OBE, Alan Cumming OBE and John Lennon MBE.

When Lennon sent his back in 1969, the gong and Lennon's accompanying letter to the Queen were stuffed at the back of a cupboard.

During a clear-out, they were rediscovered in 2009 and offered to Yoko Ono. She declined.

The letter, now part of the Royal Archives, could be worth a small fortune.

When a draft of Lennon's letter, signed 'With Love', was discovered at a car-boot sale in 2016, it was valued at 60,000.

Michael Sheen (pictured) returned his medal, but still has an OBE honour

Sandi Toksvig tells the Cambridge Union about her purchase of a red Mustang.

Parked near Waterloo station with the roof down, she heard a woman walking past say: 'Oh look. There is that lesbian.'

'I was crushed,' admits Sandi. 'I put the roof back on and shortly afterwards I sold the car.'

But she has her uses, adding: 'I met a brilliant neuroscientist the other day at Cambridge and she could not wire a plug. I had to help her. I was like dial a dyke.'

Sandi Toksvig tells the Cambridge Union about her purchase of a red Mustang

Ubiqutous BBC presenter Amol Rajan, appearing on the Dish podcast, asks hosts Angela Hartnett and Nick Grimshaw whether they listen to Radio 4's Today  before cheekily confessing: 'Because I don't.'

Announcing he isn't keen on 'grim stuff' in the news, Today host Amol adds: 'At the weekend I listen to Radio 1 and Radio 6 Music. I'm just happier.' Nothing like loyalty to your own show, Amol!

For film aficionados, an exquisite in-joke in One Life about Nicholas Winton's rescue of children from the Nazis.

Winton, alias Anthony Hopkins, is reunited with his Two Popes co-star Jonathan Pryce in a restaurant.

They quibble over the wine list. Hopkins asks for a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape...

Anthony Hopkins (pictured) plays Nicholas Winton in One Life

Recalling the vicissitudes of playing a dead body on stage, former Upstairs, Downstairs actor Simon Williams says many recently slain thespians devise action plans to pass the time, such as an ardent Arsenal fan who had a long spell dead on stage.

'He slipped an earphone under his wig so he could listen to a crucial game,' recalls Simon. 'When his team scored in extra time, the corpse punched the air, crying "yes!"'
Few had anticipated its quite extraordinary success. Prince Harry has hardly been known for his literary abilities, after all.

But when Spare hit the bookshelves on this day one year ago, it became an international phenomenon, selling more than three million copies around the world in its first week alone, 1.4 million in the first 24 hours.

According to its publisher Penguin Random House, it was the fastest selling non-fiction book ever seen in Britain.

Said to have been the result of a $20m book deal, the steady stream of royal and personal revelations has been a huge commercial success for Prince Harry - and has given his voice unprecedented global reach.

The cover of Spare by Prince Harry, which appeared on the shelves of UK bookstores on January 10, 2023

Prince Harry interviewed by ITV's Tom Bradby in California ahead of the release of his memoir

Diana, the late Princess of Wales, pictured with Prince William and Prince Harry in August 1995

But at what cost?

Although significant sections of material were reportedly removed from the book at a late stage, Harry's unflinching commentary on William, Kate and other royals is felt to have driven a wedge between the prince and his family.

Twelve months later, the distance between them shows no sign of narrowing.

The subject of huge anticipation, the launch of Spare seemed to go awry when a blunder in Spain meant the contents - in translation - emerged five days early.

It was pulled from the shelves within hours, but not before the Prince's personal stories about his life were hurtling electronically around the world.

The additional publicity seemed to do no harm harm.

Some UK stores opened late for the midnight release of the biggest royal book since Harry's mother Princess Diana collaborated with Andrew Morton' Diana: Her True Story in 1992.

Some of those waiting outside London stores as Monday January 9 turned into Tuesday 10 expressed sympathy for the prince's clear emotional distress at the tragic loss of his adored mother - covered in the book.

But many considered airing so much dirty linen to have been an unforgivable betrayal of his family.

The book came just four months after the death of the Queen, his grandmother.

Harry's explosive memoir detailed his life from his mother's death in August 1979 through to Queen Elizabeth's death in September 2022.

Much of the material, ghost-written by JD Moehringer, focuses on his own grief and healing.

The attacks on fellow royals, though, rained down in every chapter: from casting his brother as an 'arch-nemesis' to claiming that King Charles had failed him as a father.

One of the most shocking revelations from the memoir included claims that Harry and William had an explosive row after - it is claimed - the elder brother called Meghan 'difficult', 'rude,' and 'abrasive'.

The book claimed that William had grabbed him by the collar, breaking his necklace, and knocked him to the ground, where he injured himself on a dog bowl - which broke.

We haven't heard William's side of this or many other stories that appear in Spare.

As for his father, while Harry made fewer criticisms than some had expected, the prince painted Charles as an ineffectual father who wasn't even able to hug him when telling him of his mother's death.

The prince claimed that, at Prince Philip's funeral in 2021, Charles tried to mend fences between William and Harry, saying, 'Please, boys, don't make my final years a misery.'

There were odd hostages to fortune, also. Harry's statement that he had killed 25 members of the Taliban while serving on the front line went down badly across the board.

His account of losing his virginity, meanwhile, was so badly disguised that the other party was almost immediately identified and interviewed.

The Royal Family's reaction was keenly anticipated. Yet not a word was said. Family members must have been sorely tempted to speak out, but in the end they kept to the 'never complain, never explain' approach which has served them well through the years.

William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales, arrive for a visit to Royal Liverpool University Hospital on January 12, 2023 - their first appearance following the publication of Harry's book

Prince Harry at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan in 2012

Harry's bombshell novel seen on display in New York on January 10, 2023

One source who knew the late Queen Elizabeth well told MailOnline that they felt 'almost comforted' that she wasn't alive to see what her grandson had done.

'Her Majesty would have been devastated,' said the source.

And so, no doubt, was Harry's father, Charles.

It reported that Harry 'wanted to cancel the publication' of his bombshell memoir Spare after he visited the UK for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2021.

The Duke of Sussex's second thoughts may have come after he was told by the royals there would be 'no way back' if it was published while the Queen was still alive, sources at the book's publisher speculated.

After his visit with his wife Meghan, the team at Penguin Random House were reportedly told the Prince had 'pulled it' and that 'he doesn't want to do it'.

While an official reason was never given, it was rumoured by the publisher Harry was given an 'ultimatum' not to publish while his grandmother was alive.

But 'that all changed with the monarch's death in September,' the publishing source said.

Although other reports suggested that the experience of the jubilee and of the family unity at his grandmother's funeral prompted some significant revisions to the text.

The Royal Family did its best to appear calm.

Two days later, Prince William and Kate Middleton opened the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Seeming cheerful and at ease in ease in matching navy and green outfits, they put on a united front and were met with cheers.

Prince Harry speaks to Tom Bradby about the book just days before its release

The Duke of Sussex with host Stephen Colbert during a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on January 10, 2023

Ahead of the book's release in the small hours of January 10, the Duke toured the TV studios, taking part interviews with ITV's Tom Bradby and Anderson Cooper from CBS among others.

Mr Bradby, a former royal correspondent and a presenter of ITV News at Ten, has been friendly with the Sussexes and had previously interviewed them for a documentary about their 2019 tour of Africa.

Their interview saw him alternate between answering questions from Bradby and reading sections from his memoir.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper, Harry appeared to ignore his father's feelings in the matter by labelling Camilla 'the villain' and 'dangerous'.

The prince said he continues to have questions about the death of his mother.
My generation were raised to only pursue relationships that could 'lead to something', be 'serious'.

In other words, end up with both of you together till death do us part (if not married then at least fully committed).

But life doesn't work like that anymore. People don't meet in college or university and spend the rest of their lives together.

This generation thinks differently  and we could all learn from it.

Not all relationships are built to last forever.

Not all relationships should last forever. Some are best experienced in short, intense blasts. To try to make them last would ruin everything for everyone.

Truth is, the more types of relationships you have and experience before settling down, the better choice of partner you'll make in the end.and the more fun you've had along the way.

Holiday romances are usually based on physical attraction: you've only got a short period of time to connect and lust is the quickest bonder. Stock image used

YOU BOTH WANT TO SLEEP WITH OTHER PEOPLE

I'm not talking a poly relationship  where it's a relationship/lifestyle model you want to adopt. More a plain old-fashioned want-your-cake-and-eat-it-too situation. One step closer than friends with benefits  you want to hang out together quite a lot - but you don't want to be exclusive.

It might be because of life circumstances  you've just come out of a long-term relationship, you're too busy, you've don't have the energy for commitment  or simply because you want to explore all sexual opportunities that come your way (and are doing the honest thing and being upfront about it).

Being in a loving relationship where both of you have complete sexual freedom (albeit with a few rules, which are sensible to agree on) is exhilarating. It dawns on you that you don't 'own' your partner; they aren't possessions that belong to you. Rather than become complacent, you are on your toes the entire time. They're out there seeing other people, having sex with other people, you have competitors left, right and centre. You'd better be on best behaviour, if they're going to continue to make you their primary 'person'. Sexually jealousy fuels desire and sex is steamy and urgent.

It takes a confident, secure person to cope with the arrangement and few choose this path long-term (it become more challenging if either of you want children). But it's an experience that can leave you with positive lessons that last a lifetime.

You said: 'I'm used to being the person who is loved, not the person who loves. I'd often cheat on partners  I didn't think twice about doing it. My father had a series of affairs and I remember thinking, age 15, "It's either one or the other: the person who cheats or the person who is betrayed". I chose to be my father.

'I was 28 when I met Lucas. He was Italian, a decade older than me and very assured sexually. We became lovers and I assumed monogamy. I got the shock of my life when he came to see me one evening and told me all about a sexual encounter he'd just had with another woman.

'He watched my face as he was talking and said, "Oh, I thought you knew." Then he explained that he always conducted his relationships a certain way. There was "love" (me at that point) and "pleasure"which was enjoyed with me but also "very special" people who "are impossible to refuse".

'He made it clear the arrangement cut both ways. I tried it and it was both humbling and unsettling. I loved the freedom, and I loved coming back and telling him my adventures, the way he did me that first time. But it unnerved me. I experienced hurt and jealousy. It made me a better person, more aware of other people's feelings.'

This week, Tracey Cox (pictured) shares why not all relationships should last forever, and why some are best experienced in short, intense blasts

YOU BOTH HAVE A DIFFERENT LIFE PATH

You're studying to be lawyer and have your eye on Manhattan; they want to work with indigenous tribes in Africa. Both of you are passionate, driven and steadfast in your career dream which will ultimately mean living miles apart.

A road to inevitable misery  or a chance to explore a new side to yourself?

Spending a chunk of your life with someone completely unlike you teaches you to see things from a different perspective. The lawyer learns to think of others less fortunate (increasing empathy), the humanitarian learns how to think corporately (helpful in raising funds to help these tribes).

Hanging out with people who don't think the way we think makes us tolerant of other opinions and beliefs. We realise no-one is 'right' or 'wrong', we all just look at life from different angles. If you respect each other's views, rather than rally against them, you might end up lifelong friends. And who knows where your careers will take you eventually?

Prioritising your career over romance now and then isn't a bad idea, either. The right job provides us with purpose and meaning: two key factors that make us happy long-term.

You said: 'I met my first wife in high school and we fell into the predictable path of marriage and kids. We were compatible but in a boring way: we agreed on everything. We even split up amicably. The next woman I had a relationship with was a dog walker. She was everything my wife wasn't: happy to the point of annoying, big hair, big breasts, big personality, not terribly educated. I got chatting to her in the park and she asked me out for a drink. I went out of curiosity, to see what would happen, and ended up having an adventure that lasted a year. She pulled me into her life, and I lived mine her way: always in the moment, doing things that didn't cost much, watching stupid movies, hanging out with her family. I'm not sure either of us fell in love but we had a ball. She met someone else, eventually, and is still with the guy. Six years on, we're still firm friends. She taught me a lot about life.'

IT'S AN AGE-GAP RELATIONSHIP

Age-gap relationships have obvious benefits for either side. One person gets youth (or someone who appears youthful to us) with all its associated playfulness, physical pluses and flattering 'student' adoration. The other gets accumulated wealth, a sense of security and wisdom.

Dating someone younger helps reconnect to your younger self: the one that wasn't quite as cynical or set in your ways. They might have fewer financial resources and lack maturity but they're also happier pushing boundaries and exploring new interests.

Seeing someone older can provide more stability, mentoring and guidance, a better lifestyle and (sometimes) better sex. They've been around the block more than you have and picked up a few tricks along the way.

Spending a chunk of your life with someone completely unlike you teaches you to see things from a different perspective. Stock image used

You said: 'I dated men at least one decade younger than me for about a decade. It suited me that way. My career was my priority, I was attracted to younger minds and  let's be honest here  their bodies. I dated four 26-year-olds in a row. That seemed to be my magic age: old enough to know a bit about life but still open to new concepts and ideas.

'The men I dated were positive, motivated and curious about the world. The men I met who were my age seemed cynical and uninteresting. (They didn't seem to find me attractive either.) I didn't want children so that wasn't an issue. Young men are very open to dating older women if you look good.

'Once I hit my late 40s, I decided it was time for a grown-up relationship. An age-gap of five years is inconsequential but anything over 10 can become a problem. It took a long time to click with someone my own age (my partner is four years younger) but when I found him, it felt natural. It's easier to be with someone who has the same reference points. I don't regret a thing though: dating younger is lots of fun and, yes, the sex is fantastic.'

IT'S A HOLIDAY FLING

Holiday romances are usually based on physical attraction: you've only got a short period of time to connect and lust is the quickest bonder. Having limited time fast-forwards the relationship: there's a grab-the-moment fizz to everything you do.

People on holidays have sex much earlier than they would in 'real life'. Knowing you'll probably never see each other again, makes it irresistible to reinvent yourself a little (or a lot). The opportunity to become someone completely new is a prime reason why people have affairs. You're away from the stress and routine of your life, drinking more than usual, in expansive moods: you can see holiday romances are intense enjoyable, if bittersweet.

Knowing it's highly unlikely to become long-term removes the pressure of worrying about the future. Instead, you stay in the moment, indulging in romantic daydreams if you want, but both safe in the knowledge that they won't ever meet your disgusting flatmate or find out you aren't really the boss of your department.

You said: 'I'd just come out of a horrible relationship that stole my confidence and left me in despair that anyone would ever want me again. I bought the cheapest package deal I could find and ended up staying in a terrible hotel in Greece. I came back a changed woman. I met up with a group of young guys who befriended me and had a two-week fling with one of them. He made me feel beautiful, sexy and desirable. There was never any pretence it was anything but fun and sex and that was exactly what I needed.'

Visit traceycox.com for more practical information about sex and relationships, Tracey's books, blog and two product ranges (sold exclusively at lovehoney).
TLC star Tammy Slaton has furiously clapped back at a troll who criticized her teeth.

The 37-year-old, from Kentucky, took to TikTok with some very stern words after one social media user left a comment urging her to 'fix them teeth.'

She explained: 'With all due respect, I wish people like you would stop commenting cr*p like this. It is not helping my confidence.'

Tammy said that people 'should be lifting up each other' as dozens of others rallied round to offer support to the reality star.

TLC star Tammy Slaton, from Kentucky, took to TikTok with some very stern words after one social media user left a comment urging her to 'fix them teeth'

Tammy (pictured in 2021) first won legions of fans as she starred alongside her sister Amy Slaton in the hit show titled 1000-LB Sisters

Tammy addressed the comment as she explained: 'I was trying to keep my confidence boosted and seeing comments about my chin or my teeth doesn't help.

'Getting my teeth fixed costs money that I don't have right now.'

She continued: 'I had to calm myself down before I replied because I really wanted to go off on you. I really wanted to tell you if you had a true problem with my teeth then pay for them yourself.

'But I don't want to be that person. I don't want to be rude.'

The 1000-Lb. Sisters' star said she was trying to 'better her life' before adding: 'We should be lifting up each other. It doesn't matter if I'm missing teeth.

'It's sad. Why hate? Why can't you just appreciate the hard work I've put in? Why can't you just appreciate that I'm still alive? Yes, I have flaws. I'm human.'

Tammy defiantly concluded: 'I'm not gonna let you or anyone else ruin my day.'

Her video was viewed more than half a million times and was quickly flooded with support as one person wrote: 'Amen Tammy! You popping sis. You look great twin.'

Her video was viewed more than half a million times and was quickly flooded with support as one person wrote: 'Amen Tammy! You popping sis. You look great twin'

Another person added: 'People are awful! Don't let them cut you down! You shine girl! You're doing amazing! Love watching your journey!'

'Girl forget them! You're so damn stunning!! Love you girl and keep your head up,' a third person commented.

A fourth person wrote: 'Chin up Gorgeous!!! You have made such changes and [are] taking such strides!!!! Be Proud!!!!'

One person added: 'No matter what you look like, people will always find something to pick at, so don't let those miserable people ruin your day.'

'Great job Tammy. This is great practice mentally to get stronger in that department. This is the most important part,' another person added.

'We all love you so much Tammy. I think some people need to remember that if you don't have something good to say don't say anything at all,' one person commented.

Tammy, who was previously wheelchair bound and required oxygen , reached her weight loss goal - going from 717 pounds to 534 pounds - and successfully qualified for bariatric surgery at the end of 2022

In June, she revealed she can now walk unassisted without oxygen following her impressive 300lbs weight loss

Another person wrote: 'Tammy you are beautiful. You be you, keep up the amazing work that you've been doing. Miserable people are trying to make themselves feel better.'

Tammy first won legions of fans as she starred alongside her sister Amy Slaton in the hit show titled 1000-LB Sisters.

Tammy, who was previously wheelchair bound and required oxygen, reached her weight loss goal - going from 717 pounds to 534 pounds - and successfully qualified for bariatric surgery at the end of 2022.

In June, she revealed she can now walk unassisted without oxygen following her impressive 300lbs weight loss.

She's since maintained her slimmed-down physique with a new healthy lifestyle - sharing on Instagram it's due to ditching sugar, soda, and reduce portion size.
Though some husbands may quietly disagree, women's loving feelings fade more than their partners' in a long marriage, data suggests.

Research tracked the emotions of 3,900 adults, ranging from those in two-year engagements or marriages to 20-year partnerships.

Volunteers were asked to report their feelings every 30 minutes for ten days, and to say who they were spending time with.

This identified the amount of love women and men felt for their partner over time.

The results showed declining romantic feelings among women, with those married or engaged for more than three years reporting feelings of love 55 per cent less frequently than those in newer relationships.

The results showed declining romantic feelings among women, with those married or engaged for more than three years reporting feelings of love 55 per cent less frequently than those in newer relationships (Stock Image)

By contrast, the equivalent fall in the frequency of loving feelings among men was 9 per cent.

The study found women in longer partnerships spent more time doing chores and cooking, which could help to explain the results.

Men who had been married or engaged for longer were found to spend more time relaxing and sleeping or napping.

But the study, published in Psychological Science, found that absence does make the heart grow fonder.

When couples were reunited after being apart for around eight hours, there was a steep average increase in feelings of love.

Dr Saurabh Bhargava, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the US, which conducted the study, told The Times: 'I think there is an optimistic interpretation of the data  even though romantic passion and romantic love decline, they do persist.'
The 24-year-old that 99% of tops aren't made to support 'normal breast tissue'

Sydney Hella from Colorado slammed the fashion industry for the lack of options

A beauty queen has lamented the lack of clothing options for women with naturally larger boobs, and claims that cleavage-baring shirts are usually designed for people with breast implants.

Sydney Hella, 24, from Denver, Colorado, who is competing in the Miss Earth contest, took to TikTok to slam the fashion industry for not making enough options for those with 'natural breast tissue'.

She confessed that she struggles to find fashionable and comfortable options that fit her because gravity eventually 'does its thing'.

In a clip which has now amassed over half a million likes, Sydney kept it real about her fashion struggles, quipping that having a larger chest is 'such a pain'.

Sydney Hella (pictured) from Denver, Colorado bashed the fashion industry for their lack of supportive tops for those with 'naturally' large chests

According to Sydney, the type of top that looks good on everyone is 'rare' and 'few and far between'.

But the beauty queen pointed out the key issue with tops designed for well-endowed women, is that they are created for those with fake 'perky' breasts.

'The tops that look best, 99% of the time, are not made in any capacity to support any kind of normal breast tissue,' she said.

'If you have naturally larger breast tissue, gravity is going to do its thing.'

She continued: 'This is in absolutely no way hating on people who choose to get breast implants. You do whatever you want to with your body.

But I just think that there's definitely like "these tops look good with bigger chest". No, these tops look good with fake boobs that sit perfectly without any kind of support.'

The Miss Colorado beauty queen confessed she often struggle to find stylish and comfortable tops as gravity eventually 'does its thing'. She stressed that tops designed for well-endowed women were often made to accommodate fake 'perky' breasts

Airing her frustrations further, Sydney was adamant that the options for women with larger chests that 'probably sag a little bit and need support' is extremely limited.

In the caption, she clarified that she was aware of such brands making their way into the market, but they are 'expensive' and have taken a 'frustating[ly]' long time.

Many flocked to the comments to share their own experiences, praising the beauty queen for not telling 'a single lie'.

'THANK YOUUUUU I have naturally big breasts that arent perky and I have to always wear a bra its so annoying I cant find a top that hides the bra,' one penned.

A second commented: 'This makes shopping for clothes, especially dresses, such a draining experience. nothing ever fits right.'

Many users flooded the comments, airing their frustrations and sharing their own experiences and difficulties with finding appropriate tops

'ALSO!!! Sometimes I wanna look cute without everything looking inappropriate and like Im going clubbing,' one user shared

'32DDD and I see toooo many tops and go "I know that just won't look right"'

Another chimed in: 'Also love the bralette trend but ain't no way I'm walking around without that support.'

A viewer queried: 'No but the fact that all the trending clothes right now are for people was small chests is really sad because what are we gonna wear?
An artist has won support after revealing she was refused entry to a speakeasy bar in New York because she was wearing a real fur coat.

Multimedia artist Alexandra Yvette, from Venice Beach, California recently told her large TikTok following, which is just shy of 2000,000, of her ordeal at a New York bar.

In the 59-second-long clip, which has since amassed over 375,000 views, the vegan content creator said: 'I got kicked out of a bar in New York for wearing fur.

'And I feel like I didn't get the memo that wearing fur in New York is, I guess, really offensive'.

However, most people rushed to Alexandra's defense, and insisted it's more ethical to wear real vintage fur than let it go to landfill, or buy new faux fur items.

California native Alexandra Yvette was shocked and devastated for being kicked out of one New York bar for wearing real fur, although she is vegan

In another clip, artist Alexandra is seen adorning a coat which fans speculate is the real 1930s mink fur coat that got her rejected from one upscale New York establishment

Distressed, the artist explained that it was a vintage mink coat from the 1930s, which would seem the perfect choice for the speakeasy she was trying to enter.

Alexandra, who says she feels it's morally justified to wear real fur as long as it's vintage, explained: 'I know some people don't agree with that but personally, it's never bothered me. I would never buy a fur coat new'.

But her stance caused trouble on a night out.

She explained: 'I walked up to this bar, a speakeasy and the man was like: "Is your coat real?" and "I was like yes it's real, it's really old, it's from the 30s".'

Much to her surprise, the doorman said: 'That doesn't matter, fur is not allowed here. You need to leave'.

Perplexed, the California native thought he was joking, and asked 'Really?' to which he replied: 'Yes, please go'.

Alexandra was shocked and confused and almost burst into tears on the spot. The artist said: 'It was such an intense moment, I almost wanted to cry, because it just felt like such a weird rejection and then I was questioning my morals.

One user said: 'I think vintage fur is more ethical than faux fur', and another chimed in: 'I had a vegan ex who wouldnt even sit on a leather couch while at a relatives holiday party. People take it too far! Keep wearing the coat'.

A different user said: 'I believe buying second hand real fur and leather is more sustainable than buying brand new vegan clothes', to which Alexandra replied: 'I agree and actually shifted this mindset after being an anti-fur vegan for 10 years haha'.

While most TikTok users encouraged Alexandra to wear the coat, some felt that the bar's dress code wasn't unusual at all, and others felt that wearing real fur was ethically fine

Another user reassured Alexandra that she was doing nothing wrong: 'That is ridiculous. we have landfills of clothing it is perfectly fine to wear a vintage fur coat'.

A user similarly passionate about the matter penned: 'I am so over people not understanding that rewearing vintage fur is extremely ethical'.

One joked: 'I love this style of activism. Solves nothing, creates zero change, actively loses them money, allows them to feel superior over something pointless'.

However, some took encouraging Alexandra to sport the coat to the next level: 'I wear furs. Live your best life. New or vintage, you should be able to wear whatever you please. People need to mind their own damn business'.

And a different account was less sympathetic: 'Its extremely common for bars, clubs, and speakeasies in NYC to have a dress code', to which another replied in agreeance: 'It's really not that weird of a rejection'.
A stunning cocktail dress made for Princess Diana by one of her favourite designers has emerged for sale for $200,000.

The gown is the marquee lot in a celebrity fashion sale held by Julien's Auctions, in Los Angeles, California.

Catherine Walker designed the black silk velvet dress for the people's princess who wore it at a private function in 1985.

The dress is similar to her 'revenge dress' by Christina Stamboulian which she wore in 1994 a day after the televised admission of adultery by her then husband Charles.

The Walker gown has an off-the-shoulder neckline, ivory satin accents, a princess-seamed bodice and a knee-length hem with 'zebra-like' black and white strips around the top and bottom of it, as well as the bottom of the sleeves.

A stunning cocktail dress made for Princess Diana by one of her favourite designers has emerged for sale for 160,000 ($200,000) held by Julien's Auctions, in Los Angeles , California

It was claimed by fashion writers that Diana preferred off-the-shoulder necklines as they showed off her 'spectacular gym tone shoulders'.

Diana is believed to have worn 1,000 of the French-English courtier Walker's designs and was buried in a black dress she purchased from her shortly before her death in a 1997 car crash.

Also up for grabs is a Givenchy wool, tweed sleeveless dress with matching tweed jacket and white hat worn by Princess Grace of Monaco in 1961 to meet President Kennedy at the White House. It is valued at 64,000.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Sex In The City opening credits tutu made by the show's costume designer Patricia Field in 1997 could fetch 9,600.

A Julien's spokesperson said: 'Diana wore Catherine Walker's pieces because of their dignified aesthetics and elegance.

'Walker was attuned to the princess and knew what colours, neckline and arm length worked for her.

'Walker was one of the few designers who could devote much of her time and business to Diana's wardrobe because her label was made-to-order.

Catherine Walker designed the black silk velvet dress for the people's princess who wore it at a private function in 1985

Diana wearing a similar off the shoulder black dress, by Christina Stamboulian, during a party at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 1994

'Because Walker could devote so much time to her work with Diana, their close collaboration produced the signature style that made Princess Diana a fashion icon.'

The late British fashion journalist Georgina Howell wrote in Diana Her Life In Fashion: 'Diana loved off-the-shoulder and halterneck dresses... because they showed off her spectacular gym tone shoulders.'

The sale takes place at Julien's Auctions, in Los Angeles on 18 January.

It comes after a mystery Princess Diana superfan broke fashion records after a dress she wore in 1985 was bought for almost 1million at auction.

The black, ballerina-length velvet evening dress sold at Julien's Auctions in Hollywood for eleven times its estimated price, having been tipped to sell for $100,000.

Fans of the late Princess last weekend battled it out to unforeseen heights, with the winner splashing out $1.148million (904,262).

Sarah Jessica Parker's Sex In The City opening credits tutu made by the show's costume designer Patricia Field in 1997 could fetch 9,600

Also up for grabs is a Givenchy wool, tweed sleeveless dress with matching tweed jacket and white hat worn by Princess Grace of Monaco in 1961 to meet President Kennedy at the White House. It is valued at 64,000

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco at the White House to meet President Kennedy in 1961

The gown, complete with shoulder pads, a blue organza skirt, a large blue bow, and a sash - is now the new record holder as the most expensive dress worn by Diana sold at auction.

The previous record holder, a 1991 velvet gown by Victor Edelstein, fetched $604,800 (476,437) at an auction in January.

Diana first wore the dress at a dinner at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence in Italy in 1985 whilst on a royal tour with her then-husband Charles, Prince of Wales. She also donned it again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1986.

The identity of the buyer of the Jacques Azagury gown is unknown - prompting speculation as to who Diana's mega-fan might be.

The collector's item was constructed with fabric chosen by world-renowned textile merchant Jakob Schlaepher and features blue metallic embroidered stars carefully threaded by the design team.

The ballerina skirt was considered a nod to her patronage of the English National Ballet and her love of dance.

Diana initially donned the frock in Italy in 1985 whilst on a royal tour with her then-husband Charles, Prince of Wales, (pictured) and again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1986

A gown worn by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1985 broke a new fashion record, going under the hammer in Hollywood for 11 times its estimated price

Auctioneers described the outfit as a 'beautiful, romantic ballerina-length evening dress'.

The catalogue continued: 'With padded shoulder pads features a black velvet bodice with embroidered stars in metallic thread made from Jakob Schlaepfer fabric with a two-tier royal blue organza skirt with a sash and bow.

'Diana would wear numerous dresses and gowns by Azagury, one of her favourites was an ice blue silk georgette minidress worn 3 June 1997 to Royal Albert Hall for a performance of Swan Lake.'

There were 19 bids on the dress, with all proceeds from the sale to go the the New York Historical Society.

Diana went on to wear several Jacques Azagury pieces during her time with the royal family, after the Moroccan-British fashion designer was introduced to her by Anna Harvey, the fashion editor of British Vogue.
The former king celebrated the occasion with around 100 guests in Abu Dhabi

Spain's disgraced former King Juan Charles celebrated his 86th birthday with a grand party surrounded with family members - but there was no sign of Queen Letizia and King Felipe VI.

The controversial royal, who has been at the centre of corruption investigations in his homeland and a long-running legal battle with his former lover, marked his birthday with a regal-inspired party on 5 January in Abu Dhabi, where he has resided for the past four years.

Juan Carlos - who abdicated the throne in 2014 - appeared in good form as he sliced his Spanish coat of arms-themed birthday cake with a curve-edged sword.

Around 100 hundred guests were in attendance, including Juan Carlos' daughters, Infanta Elena with her two children, Felipe and Victoria de Marichalar and Infanta Cristina with her children Irene, Pablo and Johanna Zott, her son's girlfriend.

Photographs shared exclusively by HOLA! showed close friends and family celebrating the former monarch, but Juan Carlos' eldest son and his wife were apparently missing from the fancy celebration.

Spain's disgraced King Juan Carlos celebrated his 86th birthday with a regal-inspired birthday party in Abu Dhabi. He is pictured above at Princess Elena's 60th Birthday in December last year in Madrid

Juan Carlos looked delighted to be in the company of his close friends and family - a rarity since his move to the United Arab Emirates.

Cheering friends and family members gathered around the former king to present him with a three-tiered cake draped in the Spanish coat of arms made from fondant icing.

Juan Carlos' close friends Pedro Campos, the former King's regatta partner, restaurant-owner Miguel Arias, Jeronimo Paez, and Eduardo Anitua organised the party.

The four oversaw the celebration with the help of Juan Carlos' daughters, Elena, 60, and Cristina, 58.

A charming image showed the family smiling for the cameras with a Spanish flag and a grand Christmas tree in the backdrop.

Elena's daughter Victoria de Marichalar previously marked her grandfather's birthday on Instagram with a throwback family photo captioned: 'Congratulations, grandfather. I love you,' HOLA! reported.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia were apparently absent from the lavish celebrations in the United Arab Emirates

The former royal enjoyed the company of both his daughters at this party. Pictured above from left to right is Cristina Cifuentes, Victoria Federica de Marichalar y Borbon, King Juan Carlos, Felipe Juan Froilan de Marichalar y Borbon, Princess Elena de Borbon and Concepcion Dancausa in 2016

'He [Juan Carlos] is in good health, he wants to live and enjoy himself,' sources told the Spanish magazine.

For a man who once enjoyed a life of unimaginable opulence and the adoration of his people, the former King of Spain's current plight will probably not garner much sympathy.

Living in exile in the United Arab Emirates, estranged from his wife and family and dealing with a multi-million pound lawsuit from his former mistress, Juan Carlos, now 86, is unable to shake the pervasive whiff of scandal.

It is hard to imagine that a man who is now best known for his misdeeds was once one of the most glamorous men on the world stage.

And he was a hero to Spaniards thanks to his rejection of the legacy of dictator Francisco Franco and the ushering in of a new democratic, liberal era after decades of authoritarianism.

At the beginning of his reign, he was instrumental in Spains transition to democracy following the reign of Francisco Franco

Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia pose with their children (left to right) Princess Elena, Prince Felipe and Princess Cristina in Madrid in October 1973

King Felipe VI of Spain (second left), his wife Queen Letizia (far left), their daughters Princess Sofia (front left) and Princess Leonor (front right), former King Juan Carlos I (second right) and his wife former Queen Sofia (right) in Palma de Mallorca in April 2018

But there were shadows too, such as the shooting dead of his younger brother in an accident, the adulterous bedding of hundreds of women and the accusations of financial impropriety.

It took the emergence of an elephant-shooting trip with his former lover, the aristocrat Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn in 2012, for a previously reluctant Spanish public to turn on their king.

READ MORE: Meet Juan Carlos I - the dashing King who rescued democracy but today lives in exile Advertisement

Amid increasingly poor health, abdication and self-imposed exile came two years later, with the king letting his son, Felipe IV, take over.

The man who is still a hero to many in Spain faced the extraordinary claims first aired in the Mail on Sunday that secret forces working for him broke into ex-lover Corinna's Shropshire estate as part of an eight-year campaign to intimate her.

In October 2023, Juan Carlos won a bid to end a 126million High Court battle with his Danish ex-lover who accused him of spying on and harassing her.

Businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, who is in her late 50s, claimed the former royal had caused her 'great mental pain'.

Juan Carlos denied wrongdoing and disputed the claims made against him, arguing they are not 'viable'.

In a judgment at the High Court in London, Justice Rowena Collins Rice said the court 'lacks jurisdiction to try this claim' because it was brought against the defendant outside of his country of domicile.

She added that Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn 'has not sufficiently established that the "harmful event" of which she complains  harassment by the defendant  happened in England'.

In a statement, Juan Carlos - who abdicated in 2014 - said he welcomed the judge's decision. Meanwhile, Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn said she was 'deeply disappointed'.
She went on to land a job as a patternmaker a successful clothing manufacturer

Melania Trump has certainly come a long way from her humble upbringing in a small town in Slovenia - and while the former First Lady's journey is impressive, what's an even more inspiring story is that of mom Amalija Knavs'.

Amalija was raised in poverty and worked as an onion picker on her family farm throughout her childhood, but she went on to land a job at one of the most successful clothing manufacturers in the area - which ultimately inspired Melania's love of fashion and drove her to want to pursue a career in modeling.

Amalija's ascent from a poor farm girl in a tiny village to mingling with top politicians in the White House has been on the forefront of everyone's minds this week, as Melania, 53, confirmed on Tuesday that Amalija had passed away at age 78.

'It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija,' she said in a statement.

Melania Trump, 53, confirmed on Tuesday that her mother, Amalija Knavs, had passed away at age 78. They are seen, along with her husband, Donald Trump, in 2018

Being in the inner circle of a top US figure was something Amalija likely never imagined during her years as an impoverished factory worker or poor farm girl. She's seen with Melania in 2004

'Amalija was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity.

'She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.'

The former First Lady's husband Donald Trump, 77, also shared a tribute to Amalija, writing, 'This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family.

'Melania's great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words.'

As Melania and Donald mourn the loss of her mother, FEMAIL went ahead and recapped Amalija's impressive journey from start to finish

Being in the inner circle of a top US figure was something Amalija likely never imagined during her years as an impoverished factory worker.

After spending years helping out on her parents' plantation, Amalija landed a job as seamstress at a textile company, which is where she met her future husband, Viktor Knavs.

The couple quickly welcomed two daughters together, Ines and Melania, and despite both hailing from poor families, they managed to create a better life for themselves and their two children.

It's been said that Viktor's ties to the Communist party helped immensely - with a source once telling DailyMail.com that the family got special treatment in the town, like earning 'higher positions' or receiving first access to 'essentials' during a time when many goods were rationed because of shortages.

Melania, however, has insisted that it was her parents' hard work and determination that helped them leave poverty behind.

Either way, had her mom not instilled a passion for clothes in her at a young age, it's safe to say that Melania may have never launched herself into the spotlight and crossed paths with her now-husband.

As Melania and Donald mourn the loss of her mother, FEMAIL went ahead and recapped Amalija's impressive journey from start to finish - from her humble beginnings to how she left her destitute childhood behind to integrate herself into the world of US politics, thanks to her extremely close relationship with her daughter.

Poverty-stricken childhood: Amalija spent her early years picking onions on her family farm before landing a job in a factory - where she met her future husband, Viktor Knavs

Amalija was born in 1945 in Austria, but her family moved to a small rural village called Raka in Slovenia when she was young. She's seen in 1966 (left) and 1980 (right)

While Amalija's dad Anton Ulcnik was one of the most successful onion farmers in all of Slovenia, the family grew up in poverty. She's pictured in 1965

Amalija spent her humble childhood helping out on the family farm, before eventually working at a textile factory. She's seen in 1982

Amalija was born in 1945 in Judendorf-Strassengel, Austria, but her family moved to a small rural village called Raka in Slovenia when she was young - while it was still under Communist rule.

It was there that she met her future husband, Viktor Knavs (seen together in 1967), who hailed from the nearby town Radece and was a driver for one of the directors at the factory

While Amalija's dad Anton Ulcnik was one of the most successful onion farmers in all of Slovenia, the family grew up in poverty.

According to The Washington Post, he 'was the largest grower and breeder of the onion for several decades, beginning in the late 1940s, and by the 1970s, he was the largest single grower of Raka onions, harvesting as many as 50 tons per year.'

Amalija spent her humble childhood helping out on the family farm, before eventually landing a job at a textile factory.

It was there that she met her future husband, Viktor Knavs, who hailed from the nearby town Radece and was a driver for one of the directors at the factory.

They tied the knot soon after getting together in 1966, and welcomed their first daughter, Ines, in 1968, followed by Melania in 1970.

Melania's Communist upbringing: Viktor's ties to the Party helped him and Amalija land 'higher positions' - he ran a car dealership and she worked as a patternmarker while they raised their daughters

They tied the knot soon after getting together in 1966, and welcomed their first daughter, Ines in 1968, followed by Melania in 1970. Amalija is seen with Ines when she was a baby

Amalija and Viktor raised their two daughters in a village called Sevnica (seen), near Slovenia's border with Croatia

Amalija and Viktor raised their two daughters in a village called Sevnica, near Slovenia's border with Croatia.

Before the breakup of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Slovenia was just one part of the Communist country, a dictatorship under Marshall Tito, and a satellite state of Soviet Russia.

A document from the Slovenian State Archives shows that Viktor (seen in 1965) was a listed member of the League of Communists

And, as a document from the Slovenian State Archives shows, Viktor was a listed member of the League of Communists, while Amalija was not listed as a member.

During Melania's childhood, only five per cent of Slovenians were Communist party members and although her father did not advertise his political affiliation, it was obvious to neighbors and relatives, one person who lived in the village previously told DailyMail.com.

And it no doubt helped both Amalija and Viktor hold down solid jobs. They said: 'Viktor was in the Party which helped you to get government jobs or higher positions.'

It was not clear whether Viktor was 'a true believer,' the source acknowledged, adding, 'Maybe he was just being pragmatic. Being in the Party made things a bit easier and meant he could help his family.'

But whether or not they believed, the Knavs' adherence to the regime's philosophy helped make life more bearable at a time when some goods including gas were rationed because of shortages.

A source told DailyMail.com that Viktor's connection to the Party helped both him and Amalija (seen) get better jobs

Amalija (pictured in 1963) worked as a patternmaker at the state-owned children's clothing manufacturer Jutranjka, which, with 1,200 workers, was the town's best employer

'It was a good job to have by the standards of the time,' Melania's childhood friend has said of Amalija's job. Amalija is seen with Ines when she was young

The insider continued, 'He had connections. He could always get little luxuries or essentials like car parts that other people couldn't get their hands on.'

Viktor ran a shop selling parts for cars and motorcycles while working as a chauffeur for a mayor.

Viktor (seen in 1961) ran a shop selling parts for cars while working as a chaffer for a mayor. He went on to manage car and motorcycle dealerships for a vehicle manufacturer

He eventually went on to manage car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer.

Amalija worked as a patternmaker at the state-owned children's clothing manufacturer Jutranjka, which, with 1,200 workers, was the town's best employer.

'It was a good job to have by the standards of the time - a leading company. It was solid and you had a good standard of living,' Melania's childhood best friend Nena Bedek once told DailyMail.com.

The family lived in a state-run housing complex for the early years of Melania's life while they saved up to build their own house. They moved into the two-story abode in 1984, when Melania was 14.

But the couple's real ticket out of adversity was to be Melania's extraordinary looks.

The family lived in a state-run housing complex for the early years of Melania's life while they saved up to build their own house. The apartment building they lived in is seen in 2015

They then moved into the two-story abode (seen in 2015) in 1984, when Melania was 14

At just five years old, Melania was recruited to model in the the catalogues of the clothing manufacturer that her mom worked for. She's seen modeling the clothes as a kid (center)

Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko helped launch her career after he discovered her at a modeling contest in 1987 when she was 17. Melania is seen in an early shoot

At just five years old she was recruited to model in the the catalogues of the clothing manufacturer that her mom worked for - which sparked a fierce passion inside of her for fashion.

Melania has since credited 'hardworking' parents with helping her achieve her massive success. She's seen modeling as a teen

And despite being accepted at the University of Ljubljana to study architecture, she ultimately left college to pursue a career in modeling after renowned Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko discovered her at a modeling contest in 1987, when she was 17.

This chance meeting gave Melania her first real break. She moved to Milan soon after, where she landed her first modeling contract. Her career took off, and the rest is history.

Melania has since credited 'hardworking' parents with helping her achieve her massive success.

'My parents worked very hard to ensure our family could not only live and prosper in America, but also contribute to a nation that allows for people to arrive with a dream and make it reality,' she once said during a speech.

'I want to take the moment to thank my mother and father for all that they have done for our family. It is because of you that I am standing here today.'

She also told GQ in 2016, 'My parents are both hardworking. They're both very smart and very capable.

'They grew up in totally different environments, but they have the same values, they have the same tradition.'

Never forgetting where they came from: While Amalija and Viktor spent time in the US helping Melania raise her son, Barron, they continued to live 'modestly' and kept their home in Slovenia

After Melania and Donald welcomed their son, Barron, in 2006, Amalja and Viktor began to split their time between Slovenia and the US. They're seen holding Barron in 2007

Throughout Donald's presidency, Amalija and Viktor were spotted by their daughter and son-in-law's sides numerous times. Amalija is seen with Donald, Melania, and Barron in 2018

Amalija and Viktor met Donald for the first time in 2002, when he went to visit them in Slovenia.

It was said that he arrived with Melania on his private jet about 8pm and had dinner with the couple at the Grand Hotel Toplice in Ljubljana - and by midnight, they were on their way back to the US.

That was the only time Donald ever visited his wife's home country, and he later joked to Larry King, 'I was there about 13 minutes.'

Despite their daughter's unimaginable good fortune, Amalija and Viktor continued to live humbly, and they still own the home they had built in Slovenia the '80s.

Neighbors insisted to DailyMail.com in 2015 - when Donald was running for President - that the couple had remained 'modest, and were not the kind of people to brag.'

They were also often spotted traveling with the couple, and accompanied them to many big events

They became official US citizens in August 2018. They're seen disembarking from Air Force One a year prior, in 2017

Amalija and Viktor continued to live 'modestly,' according to a neighbor, and they still own the home they had built in Slovenia the '80s. They're seen in 2018

After Melania and Donald welcomed their son, Barron, in 2006, Amalja and Viktor - who came to America for the first time two years prior - began to split their time between Slovenia and the US so they could help Melania take care of her son.

It was said that Amalja loved to cook Slovenian food for her grandson and spoke to him in Slovenian so that he could learn his mother's native language.

Throughout Donald's presidency, Amalija and Viktor were spotted by their daughter and son-in-law's sides numerous times at the White House, at Trump Tower, and in Mar-a-Lago.

They were also often seen traveling with the couple, and accompanied them to many big political events - like the 2020 Republican National Convention. They became official US citizens in August 2018.
by Ashok K Mehta





This New Year, it was a toss-up between Goa and Thailand to escape the harsh Delhi winter. I first visited Thailand in 1989 from Sri Lanka when I was commanding the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) South in Batticaloa. Having conducted three Sri Lankan elections in Batticaloa, I took leave and travelled to Bangkok on an official passport. Bangkok even then was swanky, at least in the downtown area. Since then, I would have come back numerous times  on conferences and vacations, at least 30 times.





Thailand's Royal Thai Army [File Photo]





The pandemic and ten years of military rule have hurt the economy, especially tourism. But that did not deter our travels, living off the land, thanks to the Oakwood Tiwanon- Ascott chain of residencies where you can recreate your home routine if you like. But groceries cost more than twice as much as in NOIDA, though sweet red guavas are available throughout the year.





After last Decembers holiday, I had written about how after Gen Prayuth Chan-ochas 2014 coup his party misruled for a decade not without squabbling between the Generals  all three former Army Chiefs-the other two Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister and Anupong Paochinda, interior minister. One more spell of military rule ended last year. But spectacular things have happened since. Real estate tycoon Strettha Thavisin has become PM. But Thais voted for Pita Limajaroenrat of the Move Forward party. The popular business magnate Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted from power in 2006 is back in Bangkok and sentenced to an eight-year prison term for sedition but a remission by Royal pardon has reduced the jail term to one year.





Currently, he is in a Police general hospital while his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who carried the Phue Thai party flag won 140 parliamentary seats, next only to Pitas Move Forward. Pita, who campaigned for change, daringly for reforming monarchy -the untouchable royal defamation law- burnt his fingers and was suspended by the constitutional court and is being investigated for violating election law. Pheu Thai cobbled an 11-party coalition holding 314 seats in the 500-member Lower House which included Conservative military-backed parties which it previously opposed. This arrangement was put together between Thaksin when in exile, the all-powerful King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the military and police dispensation. For Thaksin, it is defacto amnesty. The military, which has rewritten the constitution, has ensured the formation of a constitutional court and senate without whose approval no elected government can function.





My local advisor Tun (Thais, like the Chinese, have simplified their unpronounceable names) said the tenth King of the Chakri dynasty is even more powerful than his predecessors and whispered the most embellished story about his owning a hotel in Munich. Tun switched to Strettha whom he described as a fashion-maker, turning out on Christmas day wearing one green and one red sock. He has pledged to rejuvenate the economy for which he offers big ideas. Two immediate ones are to revive tourism which in 2019 pre-pandemic had scaled 39 mn tourists which accounted for 12 per cent of GDP. Strettha has taken several steps to boost tourist figures to 40 mn- reduced tax on import of alcohol, extended bar timings to 4 am, plans to raise 8 new domestic airlines and declared visa-free travel for several countries. Last year, five countries that topped tourist arrivals were Malaysia, China, South Korea, India and Russia, aggregating 28 mn.





Stretthas most awaited reform is the digital market scheme which entails USD 290 (10,000 Thai baht) to nearly 50 million Thais to spend to boost the economy. The reform is stuck in law court and might see the light of day by May, Tun said. Meanwhile, Strettha has admitted the economy is not good and has promised to boost FDI. He calls himself a salesman PM. You could add showman, says Tun. He is talking big about deals with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Tesla.





Thailand is at peace with itself. No confrontation between Red and Yellow shirts or barricades in downtown Bangkok near the Asok intersection. In October, a shootout in a shopping mall killed a Chinese and wounded three others. Shootouts occur periodically, warranting new gun laws. A low-key insurgency simmers in the south as the country has its first civilian defence minister Suthai Klangsaeng. But real power is with Armys Internal Security Operations Command which Strettha has refused to dissolve despite calls from Phue Thai. Tun said regardless of which government rules in Bangkok, what holds the country together is a monarchy-military alliance. In 2014, just before the Armys 12th coup since 1932, the present King, then crown prince fled to London and camped across the entire fourth floor of Landmark Hotel and returned only when he had worked out a deal with the Junta. I happened to be at the Landmark for a conference and saw his royal guards in action.





So far not been so good for the economy. World Bank estimates that the Thai economy will grow 3.2 per cent though Pheu Thai had promised 5 per cent growth not reached since 2012. Until Move Forward abandons its Palace reform agenda, Pheu Thai will rule. Thaksin will likely replace Strettha with daughter Paetongtarn (his sister Yingluck was earlier PM) as Prime Minister later this year. So back to the Shinawatras and for Thais a prosperous 2024.





Ashok K. Mehta is a radio and television commentator, and a columnist on defence and security issues. He is a former Major General of Indian Army. After joining the Indian Army in 1957, he was commissioned in the 5th Gorkha Rifles infantry regiment in the same year. He had fought in all major wars India went into, except the Sino-Indian War of 1962. And he was also on a peacekeeping mission in Zaire in the year 1962 and in the Indian Peace Keeping Force, Sri Lanka (1988-90) and it was his last assignment in the Indian Army. He is also a writer of several books and a founder-member of the Defense Planning Staff in the Ministry of Defence, India.
Poundland may already be your go-to for finding 1 bargains, but did you know you could save even more money with this nifty hack?

A shopper recently revealed on Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK that the budget chain has even more bargains that you might imagine if you look in the freezer section.

She shared images of what she bought alongside the caption: 'Worth checking the freezers in Poundland'.

This included a turkey crown for just 7.50, a pack of three Magnum Vegan Classic ice creams for only 25p, and a huge pack of 12 Walls Mini Milk Ice Cream Lollies for only 35p, which sets customers back around only 2p per lolly.

Facebook foodies were delighted with her findings, but some were disappointed to find that their local stores don't have a freezer section.

Sign and exterior of Poundland discount branded goods store, under a bright blue winter sky, at St Peters Retail Park, Mansfield (stock image)

The images shared by the user to the Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains elicited a positive reaction among the community

People ran to the comments to praise the eagle-eyed shopper for sharing her hack.

One said: 'Salted caramel [Magnum's] are scrumptious', while one penned: 'Those Magnums are dangerously good. Absolute bargain'.

Another Facebook user agreed, saying: 'Those Magnums are gorgeous,' but one admitted there's no store within a 20 mile radius of where she lives which has freezers.

She joked: 'Getting a bit fed up of living down south to be honest. Your shops are loads better'.

This comes just months after it was announced that ten former Wilko stores saved from administration earlier this month would open as Poundland outlets.

After the collapse of the high street chain, Poundland - owned by Pepco - signed a deal to save 71 Wilko stores from its administrator PWC.

The first outlets, including store in Staffordshire, Berkshire and Greater Manchester will open its doors on September 30.

Facebook fans were in awe of the original poster's cheap finds, and were particularly impressed by the cheap Magnums

Poundland is encouraging former Wilko workers to apply for roles at the rebranded stores, with store assistant and manager jobs up for grabs. It said staff from Wilko will be 'prioritised' for all roles.

Family-owned Wilko, which was first launched in the 1930, employed 12,500 staff across 400 shops before to came under pressure to close as a result of weak consumer spending and racking up debts to suppliers.

Poundland said the stores will stock customer favourites, including clothing, alongside any existing Wilko clearance items.

Darren Kay, Poundland retail director, said: 'We're pleased to be able to re-open so quickly - not least because our ambition is to provide job opportunities for former Wilko colleagues.

'Of course, we're not yet in a position to offer our fullest ranges in these stores, but we know customers will appreciate a shop that's open, trading and employing colleagues to one that's got its shutters closed'.
It's been dubbed America's answer to Sally Rooney's Normal People - and now the steamy drama Tell Me Lies has finally landed on the BBC for British viewers to enjoy.

The 10-part series - executive produced by Emma Roberts and first released on Hulu in September 2022 - follows the toxic relationship between freshman Lucy Albright (played by Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White).

Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Carola Lovering, the couple quickly fall into an addictive, messy but loving partnership while first in college which then unfolds over eight years.

Yet while the erotic thriller is filled with racy moments that are sure to leave viewers hot under the collar, some critics have branded the show dissatisfying.

The series starts in 2015, when Lucy attends a friend's engagement party. The gathering is also somewhat of a college reunion.

It's been dubbed America's answer to Sally Rooney's Normal People - and now the steamy drama Tell Me Lies (pictured) has finally landed on the BBC for British viewers to enjoy

At the party, Lucy crosses paths with Stephen, seemingly her ex at that time, according to The i.

Viewers then watch as the story flashes back to Lucy's first year at a New York college, where she meets Stephen and the pair embark on a very steamy relationship with one another.

The couple's volatile romance unfolds over eight years, with their entanglement impacting the lives of those around them.

But following the launch of the first episode on BBC One last night, The Guardian's Jack Seale rated the programme a measly two out of five stars.

'This tale about a helpless poppet and a dangerous older man who wont stop whipping off his T-shirt is a flimsy, soapy affair. Its wild that a show with so much nudity and steamy sex can leave you so dissatisfied,' explained the reviewer.

Meanwhile, James Jackson for The Times rewarded the series just three out of five stars, explaining that it 'does manage to capture the magnified emotions of that time of life around the turn of your twenties, something that Normal People did so well.'

James continued: 'Here, though, with events set on a college campus, it can feel closer to an edgier version of The OC. In short, its very American, the people are awful and for many itll be hopelessly addictive.'

Tell Me Lies is the first production to come of Emma's partnership with Hulu - which will see her develop and create compelling television series under her production banner, Belletrist TV.

The 10-part series - executive produced by Emma Roberts and first released on Hulu in September 2022 - follows the toxic relationship between freshman Lucy Albright (played by Grace Van Patten, pictured) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White)

Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Carola Lovering, the couple (pictured) quickly fall into an addictive, messy but loving partnership while first in college which then unfolds over eight years

Yet while the erotic thriller is filled with racy moments (pictured) that are sure to leave viewers hot under the collar, some critics have branded the show dissatisfying

Emma spoke about the series during an interview with Women's Health, where she discussed what drew her to share Lovering's novel with Belletrist's members.

'It's something we were attracted to because we hadn't really seen it done in this way for young people,' she said.

The actress added that she found the book's range of themes to have been particularly interesting.

'I hadn't seen a romance between two young people in this kind of genre world,' she continued.

Tell Me Lies (pictured, the leading couple) is the first production to come of Emma's partnership with Hulu - which will see her develop and create compelling television series under her production banner, Belletrist TV

A second series of the drama (pictured) was confirmed in late November 2022 - but unfortunately, the release date for season two remains unclear

A second series of the drama was confirmed in late November 2022 - but unfortunately, the release date for season two remains unclear.

The first season of Tell Me Lies has been compared to Normal People, which became BBC iPlayer's most popular series of the year in 2020.

The adaptation of Rooney's novel had more than 62million streaming requests since its release in April 2020.

The series follows the complex love story of Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal), as they navigate the difficulties of social and class dynamics during their time at high school and college in Ireland.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has opened up about what it was like to endure her 'first heartbreak' while she was behind bars - revealing that her ex-fiance left her because of the Hulu drama series The Act, and that losing him made her wish she still had her mom to lean on.

The 32-year-old Munchausen by proxy victim, who was imprisoned for eight years for her part in the murder of her abusive mother in 2015 but was released in late December, spoke about the demise of her first romance in her new e-book, Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom.

In the tome, she explained that a man named Ken, whose last name has not been revealed for privacy reasons, sent her a letter while she was in prison, after he learned about what she had been through from the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest.

She said they 'become pen pals' and eventually started dating, before he popped the question in October 2018.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard (seen earlier this month) has opened up about what it was like to endure her 'first heartbreak' while she was behind bars

She revealed that her ex-fiance left her because of the Hulu drama series The Act (seen), and that losing him made her wish she still had her mom to lean on

The 32-year-old Munchausen by proxy victim spoke about the demise of her first romance in her new e-book. She got engaged to a man named Ken (seen) in October 2018

But after the Hulu show The Act premiered a few months later and put an immense spotlight on Gypsy's story, she admitted that Ken couldn't handle all the sudden attention.

'I thought he sounded like a cool guy, so I wrote him back,' she wrote in her memoir about receiving the first letter from Ken.

'We became pen pals and started talking on the phone. He was easy to talk to, and we had so much in common.'

However things changed in 2019 after the premiere of popular series The Act, which starred Joey King as Gypsy and Patricia Arquette as her mother, and even earned Patricia an Emmy award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.

'I was transformed into a pseudo-celebrity,' Gypsy reflected of its release. 'My personal life became public, which was really hard on Ken.

'Clickbait articles appeared mockingly announcing our engagement. Ken was a private person and didn't want the attention or the scrutiny.

'While I understood and shared in his sentiment, I took it hard when he ended our relationship.'

The felon explained that enduring her 'first heartbreak' while behind bars was not easy for her, and she admitted that it made her fiercely 'miss her mom.'

But after the Hulu show The Act (seen) premiered a few months later and put an immense spotlight on Gypsy's story, she admitted that Ken couldn't handle all the sudden attention

Gypsy was imprisoned for eight years for orchestrating the murder of her abusive mother in 2015, but was released last week. She's seen as a kid with her mom

Gypsy (seen as a kid) explained that enduring her 'first heartbreak' while behind bars was not easy for her, and she admitted that it made her fiercely 'miss her mom'

'My first experience with real heartbreak - I didn't know what to do. The rite of passage of losing my first love happened alone in jail instead of in my bedroom surrounded by girlfriends playing me a breakup mix and eating pints of Ben & Jerry's like in the movies,' she continued.

'It was a time when I missed my mom, a time that should've been shared between the two of us, but never would be.'

Gypsy previously opened up about kissing Ken for the first time to E! News.

She explained that it happened soon after they started talking during his first visit to her in prison - and was what lead to the start of their romance.

'He came and it was kind of a funny story, within the first 30 minutes he leaned over and gave me the most wonderful kiss of my whole life,' she said.

'The kiss he gave me was quite passionate. I looked at him and was like, "I didn't even know you liked me like that."

'And he said, "Yeah, I have for a while." And I'm like, "I have for a while too."'

As for his proposal, she dished, 'This was something we had discussed for a while, so it wasn't out of the blue.

'We bounced around the idea, we have a pretty solid thing going and we're pretty sure this is what we want.

She went on to wed her now-husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, 37, in 2022. He also won her affection by penning her letters while she was incarcerated

Gypsy spent her childhood posing as a wheelchair-bound invalid after Dee Dee gave her drugs and convinced the world she was suffering from leukemia and muscular dystrophy

In 2015, Gypsy (left) letting her besotted internet boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn (right) creep into their Springfield, Missouri, home to stab 48-year-old Dee Dee to death

'So, he held my hands close and told me how much I meant to him and he's like, "I would really, really be honored if I could have your hand in marriage," and I said yes.'

She was jailed for 10 years for her involvement in the murder but was granted early parole in September

She went on to wed her now-husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, 37, in 2022. He also won her affection by penning her letters while she was incarcerated.

Gypsy spent her childhood posing as a wheelchair-bound invalid after mom, Claudine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard, shaved her daughter's head, pumped her full of drugs and convinced the world she was suffering from leukemia and muscular dystrophy.

Their 'inseparable' bond ended when Gypsy burst free of her warped mom's control in 2015 by letting her besotted internet boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, creep into their Springfield, Missouri, home to stab 48-year-old Dee Dee to death.

Gypsy was jailed for 10 years for her involvement in the murder but was granted early parole in September after friends and family begged authorities to take account of the cruel abuse and needless medical procedures she endured while being cynically paraded at charity events and fundraisers.

After eight years behind bars, she was freed on December 28 from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri

The newly-released convict has become an internet sensation in recent weeks, as thousands of social media users celebrated her freedom

But when Ryan shared a selfie with Gypsy on Tuesday, some people didn't have the nicest things to say about him

The snap was flooded comments calling him 'creepy' and 'weird' - but Gypsy was quick to hit back at his haters, while bragging about their sex life

After eight years behind bars, she was freed on December 28 from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri.

The newly-released convict has become an internet sensation in recent weeks, as thousands of social media users celebrated her freedom.

But when her husband Ryan shared a selfie with Gypsy following her release, some people didn't have the nicest things to say about him.

The snap was flooded comments calling him 'creepy' and 'weird' - but Gypsy was quick to hit back at his haters, while professing that the couple were madly in love and bragging about their sex life.

'Ryan, don't listen to the haters. I love you, and you love me,' she wrote in a comment.

'We do not owe anyone anything. Our family is who matters. If you get likes and good comments great, if you get hate then whatever because THEY DON'T MATTER.'

'I love you... besides, they're jealous because you are rocking my world every nightyeah I said it, the D is fire... happy wife happy life.'
Kelly Rizzo looked deep in thought as she visited the grave of husband Bob Saget on the second anniversary of his death.

The actress, 44, was left widowed on January 9, 2022 when the Full House actor died, aged 65, following a freak head injury in his Florida hotel room - hours after coming off stage from a stand-up show.

On Tuesday, Kelly paid her respects at Mount Sinai Cemetery where Bob was laid to rest near the graves of his parents and sister.

She sat cross-legged by his gravestone for about 20 minutes before taking a call and heading back to her car.

Kelly Rizzo looked deep in thought as she visited the grave of husband Bob Saget on the second anniversary of his death

On Tuesday, Kelly paid her respects at Mount Sinai Cemetery where Bob was laid to rest near the graves of his parents and sister

The actress, 44, was left widowed on January 9, 2022 when the Full House actor died, aged 65, following a freak head injury in his Florida hotel room - hours after coming off stage

Earlier in the day, the blogger took to Instagram to share a photo of her late husband alongside a heartfelt message

In recent months, the star exclusively told DailyMail.com how she was open to finding love again and no longer wracked by guilt at the prospect

Earlier in the day, the blogger took to Instagram to share a photo of her late husband alongside a heartfelt message that read: '2 years. Wow. Simultaneously feels like a week and an eternity.

'I chose this photo of Bob as not only was it the last photo he shared and one of the last texts he sent me, but it perfectly encapsulates how he would want all of us to remember him.

'With his guitar, on a stage, doing what he loved to do making people laugh making people happy.'

She continued: 'I will forever be grateful that I got to share life with this extraordinary person for 6 years. What a blessing. And grateful I can look back on endless memories and photos and videos with smiles, laughter, and yes still tears.

'It is such a gift I was able to know his complete and all encompassing love and heart.'

Kelly explained: 'I'm still blown away by the fact that Bob hasn't faded from all of your hearts in the slightest. It means so very much.

'Thank you for allowing me to still share Bob and thank you all for continuing to keep his memory alive.

'Once again, please do as Bob would do and hug your loved ones, hold them tight, and tell them over and over again that you love them.'

Kelly sat cross-legged by his gravestone for about 20 minutes before taking a call and heading back to her car

In her online tribute, she wrote: 'I will forever be grateful that I got to share life with this extraordinary person for 6 years'

Kelly looked reflective as she left the ceremony after paying her respects on the second anniversary of her husband's death

Bob died following a freak head injury in his Florida hotel room - hours after coming off stage from a stand-up show

The popular blogger was spotted at his resting place looking deep in thought as she paid her respects

Kelly recently revealed that although she was initially unable to 'process' moving on with someone else, she is now in a place where she feels comfortable with the idea of falling in love

She said: 'I chose this photo of Bob as not only was it the last photo he shared and one of the last texts he sent me, but it perfectly encapsulates how he would want all of us to remember him'

In recent months, the star exclusively told DailyMail.com how she was open to finding love again and no longer wracked by guilt at the prospect.

She revealed that although she was initially unable to 'process' moving on with someone else, she was now in a place where she felt comfortable with the idea of falling in love.

'In the first year, I couldn't even process what that would be like,' she said. 'And you get to a point where you're like, alright, this is something that I could see.

'And what's interesting is, there was a long period of time where I would almost feel guilty for even thinking about it.'

Kelly revealed that she would repeatedly think about how her late husband would react if she were to move on, but she's since managed to overcome what 'earthly' Bob would think.

'You get to a point where you separate what earthly Bob would have been like,' she said. 'And he would have been like, "You can't move on! How dare you! How could you!"

'But when I hear his friends and family say, "No, he would want you to be happy," and when you get to that point, then you feel at peace with that happening.'
On Sunday, Denmark will welcome a new King and Queen as Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Crown Princess Mary ascend the throne after the shock abdication of Queen Margrethe.

However, despite the accession being a historic occasion, not every Danish Royal Family will be in attendance.

Prince Joachim, Frederik's younger brother, will attend the event solo to support his sibling, according to Hello!.

His wife, Princess Marie, and their two children, Count Henrik, 14, and Countess Athena of Monpezat, 11, will remain in Washington DC, where the family now live after Joachim became defence industry attache at the Embassy of Denmark.

A palace spokesperson said: 'Prince Joachim will be there, but the children go to school, there is no special reason,' before adding that Queen Margrethe's youngest son will leave Denmark the following day to return to his home in the US.

Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Count Henrik of Monpezat and Countess Athena of Monpezat in Paris, France, in May 2023

Tensions first arose in the Danish royal household after the monarch decided to strip four of her grandchildren of their HRH titles in 2022. She subsequently apologised about the timing of the announcement but stood by the move.

Joachim had spoken out against his mother's decision in the days that followed - claiming that his two children, Counts Nikolai, 24, and Felix, 21 - born from his first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - and Henrik and Athena, had been 'harmed' in the process.

Months later, the sixth-in-line to the throne admitted that 'communication was missing' within the Royal Family in the lead-up to the shock announcement.

Joachim told local news outlet B.T.: 'There is a lot to work on. Communication was what was missing. Now we have met and we are on the right track.'

Shortly after his children were stripped of his titles, Joachim claimed that he had only been given five days notice before the news was made public.

Following the Queen's announcement, Joachim spoke to Danish publication Ekstra Bladet outside the Danish Embassy in Paris, where he lived with his French-born wife Princess Marie and his two youngest children, and said his four children had been 'hurt' by their grandmother's decision.

'I was given five days' notice to tell them. In May, I was presented with a plan which, by and large, was that when the children each turned 25, it would happen. Now I had only five days to tell them. Athena turns 11 in January,' he clarified at the time.

Speaking to B.T., Joachim and his second wife Marie also admitted their relationship with Prince Frederik and Princess Mary is 'complicated'.

Meanwhile, Joachim's ex-wife Alexandra said that her sons, Nikolai and Felix, had been left feeling 'ostracised' from the institution and the decision had come like a 'bolt out of the blue'.

On Sunday, Denmark will welcome a new King and Queen as Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Crown Princess Mary pictured together in January) ascend the throne after the shock abdication of Queen Margrethe

Counts Nikolai and Felix, Queen Margrethe, Princess Marie, Countess Athena, Prince Joachim and Count Henrik in April 2022

The Royal Household released a further statement, saying: 'As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.

'We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen's wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.'

The news that Joachim will attend Sunday's event comes after a royal author claimed Denmark's Crown Princess is the real 'power behind the throne', with people in the country already calling her 'King Mary'.

Trine Villemann also told Hello! that the Australian mother-of-four, 51, is a 'much better communicator and public speaker' than her husband, Prince Frederik.

The Prince, 55, will become King Frederik X on 14 January, following the abdication of his mother Queen Margrethe.

Europe's longest reigning monarch, 83, announced her plans to step down in a dramatic New Year's Eve speech.

Ahead of Margrethe's daughter-in-law becoming Queen, Danish royal author Trine said: 'Mary truly is the power behind the throne and will be for decades to come - there's no doubt about that.

'Frederik is a lovely guy and he's very popular, but Mary is a much better communicator and public speaker. She has great skill and enormous talent, and people in Demark are calling her 'King Mary'.

Royal author Trine Villemann told Hello! that the Australian mother-of-four, 51, is a 'much better communicator and public speaker' than her husband, Crown Prince Frederik (pictured together in November)

Queen Margrethe announced she will abdicate the throne on January 14, passing it to her son Crown Prince Frederik. Pictured: Her Majesty during her New Year's speech, in which she announced her abdication

'Her approval ratings are higher than those of the rest of the royals, too... As we say in Denmark: Long live King Mary!'

The new King and Queen of Denmark, who are set to step into their roles this weekend, enjoy the support of more than 80 per cent of Danish people, a poll recently revealed.

A survey carried out for Ritzau revealed that Princess Mary enjoyed a little more popularity among the Danes than Crown Prince Frederik as the royal prepares to ascend the throne on 14 January.

The poll asked how well suited Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik are to become Queen Mary I and King Frederik X, ahead of the abdication of Queen Margrethe.

While 82 per cent of people believed Frederik is suited for the role of king, 86 per cent believe Mary will make a good queen.

Danish royal commentator Kim Bach believes that, although Frederik is popular, Mary's slight lead over her husband is likely down to rumours of an affair that circulated after the soon-to-be king was spotted on a night out with a Mexican socialite in Madrid.

Genoveva Casanova was forced to deny what she labelled 'malicious' rumours after photos surfaced of herself with the Crown Prince in the Spanish capital, where Spanish magazine Lecturas reported they had dined together and watched Flamenco dancing until 1am.

Mary has remained tight-lipped about her husband's dinner with the socialite, and the royal couple have put on a united display in a number of public appearances.

However, speculation is mounting that Queen Margrethe's decision to abdicate may have been a bid to keep Frederik's wife of 19 years on side.

Princess Mary, who is set to become the first Australian-born queen in a number of days, has won over the Danish public with her dedication to royal duty and her fluency in the language.

She and Frederik have four children together, and their oldest son Christian will take over his father's role of Crown Prince on January 14 when Margrethe abdicates.

Mary and Frederik's relationship has often been dubbed a 'real-life fairytale'.

Then Mary Donaldson, the Crown Princess was 28 when she met her husband-to-be in the Slip Inn in Sydney 23 years ago.

The decision means that from January 14 Crown Prince Frederik will become King, while his wife Princess Mary will become Queen. Pictured: Frederik and Mary at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen in November

After the pub encounter, then 32-year-old Frederik - who was in Australia to support Denmark's sailing team at the 2000 Olympics - asked Mary for her phone number and a romance blossomed.

'The first time we met we shook hands. I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are'?' Mary revealed in an interview about meeting the heir to the Danish throne.

They maintained a long-distance relationship for a year, with Frederik making secret trips Down Under before Mary moved to Denmark to study Danish language at Copenhagen's Studieskolen in 2001.

In early 2003, Frederik's mother Queen Margrethe publicly acknowledged the relationship and the couple announced their engagement at Amalienborg Castle later that year on October 8.

Between raising her children and appearing at diplomatic events, Mary has worked tirelessly to prove her commitment to charity, becoming a patron of more than 25 international organisations since her marriage to Frederik in 2004.

Patronages include the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe and the United Nations Population Fund, where she supports their work to promote maternal health in more than 150 developing nations.

In 2007, the Princess launched The Mary Foundation, a charity focused on stamping out domestic violence, bullying and loneliness.

In a few days time, Crown Princess Mary will become the Queen of Denmark, as Queen Margrethe formally abdicates and leaves the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.

Margrethe confirmed the news in a shock announcement on New Year's Eve after 52 years on the Danish throne.

She said: 'I have decided that now is the right time. 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father  I will step down as queen of Denmark. I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.'
Prince Harry's work as a British Army veteran and pilot will be honoured at this year's 21st Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards.

The decorated event - which will be hosted by John Travolta in Beverly Hills, California next Friday - will see the royal inducted alongside other aerospace icons including Fred George and Steve Hinton.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, undertook two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an Apache helicopter pilot.

It is understood that his work with setting up the Invictus Games Foundation will also be celebrated, according to the awards' website. It is not clear whether Harry, or his wife Meghan Markle, will attend the ceremony.

The event - produced by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy - commemorates 'remarkable people of extraordinary accomplishment in aviation' - and the 'Legends' meet annually to honour new industry leaders.

Prince Harry 's work as a British Army veteran and pilot will be honoured at this year's 21st Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards. Pictured in 2012

Other 2024 inductees include Fred George, Steve Hinton and Marc Parent. The honourees are Mark Burns, Laurans A. Mendelson, Kyle Clark, Linden S. Blue, Lance Toland and Lauren Sanchez.

The event's website also highlights Harry's efforts as a 'humanitarian, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist', touching on his work with Travalyst, Sentebale, African Parks, WellChild, BetterUp the Aspen Institute Commission on Information Disorder - and The Archewell Foundation.

It also praised the Duke's 'compassion, vulnerability, and unflinching honesty' in his memoir Spare.

Early last year, Harry said his military career 'saved him' after the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, by helping him 'turn his pain into purpose'.

The Duke served in the Army for a decade in total, rising to the rank of Captain.

During the second tour of Afghanistan, he spent four months as an Apache helicopter pilot - from September 2012 to January 2013.

In an explosive tell-all interview with 60 Minutes in 2023, the royal said the position was his 'calling'.

'My military career saved me in many regards,' he told host Anderson Cooper. 'It got me out of the spotlight from the UK press.

The decorated event - which will be hosted by John Travolta in Beverley Hills, California next Friday - will see the royal inducted alongside other aerospace icons including Fred George and Steve Hinton. Harry pictured in September

'I was able to focus on a purpose larger than myself - to be wearing the same uniform as everybody else, to feel normal for the first time in my life, and accomplish some of the biggest challenges that I ever had.'

Harry explained that he 'didn't get a pass for being a prince,' and that he had to work just as hard as everyone else.

'There's no prince autopilot button you can press and just wiff - takes you away,' he joked.

The prince was first deployed to Helmand province as a forward air controller in 2007 after three years of training, but his first tour of duty was cut short when an Australian magazine broke a media embargo by mistake.

However, he returned in 2012 with the Ministry of Defence publicising his second deployment on the understanding that the media would allow him to get on with the job at hand.

After he learned to fly Apache helicopters, Harry was deployed to Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan in 2012, where he stayed for 20 weeks.

During his 2012 tour, Harry helped provide helicopter support to the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan forces operating throughout Helmand province.

During the second tour, he spent four months as an Apache helicopter pilot - from September 2012 to January 2013. Pictured in 2012

Based out of Camp Bastion, 662 Squadron Army Air Corps, to which he belonged, flew more than a hundred deliberate missions over 2,500 flying hours, providing surveillance, deterrence and, when required, close combat attack capabilities as well as escort duties for other aircraft.

After his time in the Army, the prince founded the now beloved Invictus Games to aid the rehabilitation of military personnel by giving them the challenge of competing in sporting events similar to the Paralympics.

The news of Harry's induction comes as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are being ridiculed so much in Hollywood that it could put their rebrand in trouble, culture and royal experts told MailOnline today.

The couple were once again the butt of a joke on Sunday night when Golden Globes host Jo Koy roasted them in front of an audience of A-listers.

The US comedian said the couple were being paid 'millions of dollars for doing absolutely nothing - and that's just by Netflix'. The comment was met with huge laughs in the auditorium, including one from Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos.

Koy also prompted laughter when joking how Imelda Staunton's portrayal of the Queen in The Crown 'was so good Prince Harry called her and asked her for money'.

Netflix is one the couple's main sources of income after they signed a multi-year deal worth $100million (78million) with the streaming network in September 2020.

Their podcast deal with Spotify was axed after just one season of Meghan's series Archetypes, with the firm's executive Bill Simmons later labelling them 'grifters'.

Sunday was the latest joke on US TV at the couple's expense over the past year, including a South Park episode last February entitled 'The Worldwide Privacy Tour' which showed the couple on a publicity blitz to promote Harry's book, 'Waaagh'.

They were also the target of a cutaway sketch in Family Guy last October, when a butler gave Harry his 'millions from Netflix for no one knows what' - before Meghan says: 'Babe, time to do our daily $250,000 sponsored Instagram post for Del Taco.' Harry responds: 'I shouldn't have left the made-up nonsense.'

The news comes as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are being ridiculed so much in Hollywood that it could put their rebrand in trouble, culture and royal experts told MailOnline today. The couple pictured in September

At the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills on Sunday, Koy said: 'Succession has nine nominations. Just a great series about a rich, white, dysfunctional family, all scheming - oh, wait, that's The Crown. I'm sorry.

'How great was Imelda Staunton in The Crown, wasn't she amazing? Her portrayal of the Queen was so good Prince Harry called her and asked her for money.

'Like I said, I didn't write all of these. That one's not mine.

'Turns out Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will still get paid millions of dollars for doing absolutely nothing. And that's just by Netflix.'

The comment about asking for money comes after Harry told Oprah Winfrey during the couple's bombshell interview in 2021 that his father, then Prince Charles but now King Charles III, 'literally cut him off financially' when they stepped down as senior royals one year earlier.

And the latest joke comes as some believe former Suits actress Meghan is currently assessing a potential second stage of her Hollywood career - although this is more likely to relate to production rather than acting this time.

The couple were once again the butt of a joke on Sunday night when Golden Globes host Jo Koy roasted them in front of an audience of A-listers

Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos is pictured at the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills on Sunday, where he laughed during a joke about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by host Jo Koy

Royal author Phil Dampier said today that the regular ridicule in the US was making life difficult for the California-based Sussexes - with Americans now left 'fed up with their constant moaning'.

He told MailOnline: 'A couple of years ago Harry and Meghan would not have been humiliated in this way but they are now the butt of jokes, even among the woke luvvies of Hollywood.

#When you become figures of ridicule you are in trouble.

'When they first moved to America they were a popular couple but people have seen through them and are fed up with their constant moaning.

'This is the latest of a growing list of mickey takes out of them, following on from South Park and other shows.'

He told how the couple had 'lost' their Spotify contract and 'run out of ideas at Netflix', saying they are a 'source of amusement even to the sort of left of centre audience who previously would have been sympathetic to them'.

Mr Dampier said the couple were 'badly in need of a new direction in 2024 otherwise they could nosedive' with their sources of income drying up amid their 'huge running costs' and security outlay.

He added: 'They expect criticism from the press and social media, but attacks from the showbiz world show how far they have fallen.'
A doctor has shared three essential life hacks everyone needs to know to immediately increase their quality of life.

Dr Sasha Haddad understands that several 'minor' ailments have the power to incapacitate someone.

People usually don't visit the hospital for sporadic bursts of nausea or heartburn - but the doctor's quick tips will ensure you can relieve your aches and pains in no time.

'Smelling alcohol pads relive nausea,' she revealed. 'And chew gum for heartburn.'

Dr Haddad also recommended sleeping with a pillow between your legs if you suffer from back aches.

Dr Sasha Haddad shared three essential life hacks everyone needs to know

How to relieve nausea

Dr Haddad's quick fix is to smell some rubbing alcohol when you start feeling nauseated.

A study conducted by McGill University revealed that inhaling isopropanol works 'faster' than other traditional antiemetics - including anti-nausea pills.

Researchers suggested that the brief distraction of a novel smell paired with the controlled deep breathing necessary to sniff something could be the real trick - but hospitals around the world still use alcohol wipes to combat nausea.

What can I do for heartburn?

Australian doctors at Karalee Family Dental revealed that chewing sugar-free gum helps ease the symptoms of heartburn.

Chewing gum promotes salivation, which then neutralises acid, soothes your oesophagus, and promptly washes the acid back down to your stomach.

However, avoid peppermint flavours as those may have the opposite effect and trigger acid reflux.

Quick cure for back pain

If you suffer from back pain, sleeping with a pillow between your legs might help ease the pressure.

The pillow will work to keep your knees aligned, which in turn will keep your hip and pelvic area aligned - reducing stress on your hips and spine.

Doctors recommend a firm pillow instead of a soft one in order for the trick to work.
Australians were left stumped after a woman found an 'alien'-like creature washed up on a Victorian beach.

The beach goer was exploring the rock pools on the coast of Fairhaven, a small town 124km south of Melbourne, when she came across the unusual sight on the rocks.

With a blood-red bulbous top attached to a long stem, the creature was labelled as 'weird' and 'scary' by people online before others revealed the object was most likely a sea tulip.

'Found in the rock pools. It was kinda hard, plant like,' the woman wrote in a post to the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Facebook page.

People were quick to share their guesses as to what it could be while others were shocked by the creature saying it looked like it was 'from another planet'.

A woman in Victoria was baffled by a strange creature she found washed up on a beach in Fairhaven. People thought it looked like an 'alien' while another joked it was a placenta

'I thought this was a placenta,' laughed one member while many likened it to a character from kid's cartoon Spongebob Squarepants.

'I wondered if they were a flower of a kelp or something,' another replied.

'It's Aquaman's computer mouse! Please return it to Disney studios,' joked a third.

Eventually users identified the creature as a sea tulip; a type of 'sea squirt' that attaches itself to rocks or shells 80m below the ocean's surface.

They are a lumpy organism with a spongy outer layer and come in a variety of colours including orange. purple, yellow or pink.

'Yes I saw them at Step Beach last week. They're sea tulips - aptly named,' one savvy beachgoer said.

The mystery object turned out to be a sea tulip; a type of 'sea squirt' that attaches itself to rocks or shells 80m below the ocean's surface

'I would say it's a Sea Tulip. Only visible at very low tides (unless snorkelling) or this has probably broken off a rock,' a second added.

'Note to self. Sea tulips look uncannily like a brain with spinal cord still attached,' another wrote.

Many living around Fairhaven said they had seen the strange sea tulips washed up before.

'Lots at Anglesea reef at the moment,' someone reported.

'When I first saw these, they were en masse and looked like something out of Alien! Modern relatives of prehistoric crinoids, I think, very cool,' second replied.

'The ocean never fails to fascinate,' someone added.
A Sydney woman has learned the hard way not to mention where she lives to people when visiting regional towns.

Daphne Berry was visiting a 'tiny little country town' in Australia when a woman struck up a conversation with her.

She said the woman's attitude changed when she said she was visiting from Sydney scolding her for using 'the S word'.

Sydneysiders were amused by the incident however those who lived in regional towns agreed with the local woman's sentiments.

'I'm in this tiny little country town in Australia at the moment where everybody obviously knows everybody because it's a really small town,' Daphne said in a TikTok video.

City-sider Daphne Berry was met with shock and disgust when she mentioned she was from Sydney to a local woman in the 'tiny little country town' she was visiting

'I'm walking down the street and somebody looks at me because I'm not from here - she was really lovely, she comes up to me and she was like, 'Hey darl, how you going happy? New Years'.'

Daphne was making small talk with the woman before she asked if she had recently moved to town.

''You're new around here? You just moved in?' and I was like, 'No, I'm actually from Sydney',' she explained.

The 'moment' Daphne said she was from Sydney she said the woman's eyes widened in shock.

'(I said), 'I'm so sorry, it's just where I live' and she goes, 'We don't say the S word around here',' she recalled.

The woman asked Daphne to tell prime minister Anthony Albanese 'that it isn't easy' when she returns to Sydney.

Her clip sparked a playful debate between Aussie city and country dwellers: 'Anyone not from Sydney hates people from Sydney,' one viewer said (stock image)

READ MORE: Kiwi expat laughed at for naming the things New Zealand has better than Australia Advertisement

'I don't know Albo personally, I live on the Northern Beaches of Sydney but if i make my way to Parliament House which is in Canberra... I'll give him your regards,' Daphne joked.

Hundreds of Aussies took to the comments where a playful debate was sparked between city and country dwellers.

'I live in Brisbane and when I hear someone's from Sydney I make that same face so I get it,' one viewer joked.

'I thank my lucky stars everyday that I get to live in Sydney, I love it!' another said.

'Anyone not from Sydney hates people from Sydney,' a third added.

'That sounds like where I live (Katherine, NT) except when I tell people I'm from Melbourne they say something about Dan Andrew's,' laughed a fourth.

'You're what they refer to as a 'blow in',' someone quipped.
More than 90% of those linked to breast cancer were common in daily life

Women are exposed to nearly a thousand chemicals linked to breast cancer on an almost daily basis, a study has found.

Researchers analyzed official databases containing tens of thousands of common chemicals used in food, consumer products and other industries to reveal those linked to America's most common cancer.

In total, they identified 900 chemicals that have been linked to breast cancer, either via animal or laboratory studies which showed a link to mammary tumors.

Women are most commonly exposed to the breast-cancer causing chemicals via pesticides  used on fruit and veg  and in cosmetic products like anti-wrinkle cream, makeup, shampoo and soap.

The above graphic shows daily items that the scientists said contained chemicals which have been linked to breast cancer

Dr Jenny Kay, a toxicologist and lead researcher, called on regulators to take action to phase out dangerous chemicals for alternatives.

To limit exposure to the toxic chemicals, Dr Kay recommended washing fruits and vegetables  especially non-organic ones  and reducing the amount of makeup applied every day.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the US, with about 240,000 cases diagnosed annually.

But over the last few years there has been a rise in cases among younger women  those under 50 years old  which doctors say cannot be explained by genetics.

It is also the second leading cause of cancer death in women  with only 30 percent of women whose cancer is caught in the late stages surviving more than five years after their diagnosis.

For the study, published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers searched databases of tens of thousands of chemicals.

This included those run by the International Agency for Cancer Research (IACR), the National Toxicology Program and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

They searched for chemicals that had been linked to the development of mammary tumors, or breast cancer, in animals.

They also looked for chemicals that had been found to activate the production of estrogen with high levels of this hormone being a known risk for breast cancer.

Overall, the researchers compiled a list of 922 chemicals which they said may raise a woman's list of breast cancer.

On the list, about 278 of these chemicals had been linked to mammary tumors in animals.

And a further 420 were found to both damage DNA and alter hormones, which could make them riskier.

The list included the pesticides atrazine and malathion  which are some of the most widely used in the United States.

And others such as cycloate, which is used as a herbicide for spinach, spirozamine, used for cereals, and simazine, used on many fruits and vegetables.

Pesticides may raise the risk of cancer by triggering gene mutations that raise the risk a cell will start to divide uncontrollably.

There were also a number of chemicals used in hair dyes  such as 1,4-Benzenediamine  and in cosmetic products including retinol cream  the chemical retinol  and in soaps, shampoos and shaving foam  octyl gallate  on the list.

Last year women took legal action against L'Oreal and other beauty brands saying their chemical hair straighteners had triggered breast and womb cancer.

The women say the diagnoses have robbed them of time with their grandchildren and that they would never have used the straighteners if they had known the risks.

The Massachusetts-based researchers list also included common medications like aspirin, an over-the-counter drug used to reduce fever and pain.

They also suggested prednisone could raise the risk of breast cancer, a medication prescribed to more than 25million people every year for treating arthritis.

Doctors have previously suggested aspirin could reduce the risk of breast cancer and of the disease re-curring  although this was not backed by clinical trials.

Previous studies have suggested that corticosteroids  such as prednisone  could raise the risk of breast cancer. Doctors say this may be because it triggers more mutations in cells.

Mifepristone  used in abortions  was also on the list alongside levonorgesterl  which can avoid a pregnancy by preventing the release of an egg.

This has been investigated repeatedly, with studies showing mixed results. The American Cancer Society says that at this time studies do 'not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer'.

The list also included several chemicals used in paints and plastics, such as packaging and laptop covers.

Dr Kay told DailyMail.com that the study aimed to raise awareness about the widespread chemicals which could raise the risk of breast cancer and prompt action from regulators.

She added, however, that being exposed to a small amount of the chemicals over short periods was not likely to significantly raise the risk of breast cancer.

Dr Ruthann Rudel, the research director for the institute, urged regulators to take action saying it was 'not ethical' to wait for studies revealing the risks.

'And it's another reason why we need better tools for predicting which chemicals are likely to lead to breast cancer so we can avoid those exposures,' she added.

Factors suggested to be behind the rise include women having fewer children and higher obesity rates.

Dr Kay said: 'The biggest surprise for me in doing this research was just how few chemicals currently in use in the US the EPA has screened for breast cancer risk.

'They have looked at fewer than 2,300 of them out of tens of thousands  there is a concerningly large group that hasn't been checked.'
EQS-Ad-hoc: Shelly Group AD / Key word(s): Development of Sales

Shelly Group announces preliminary consolidated sales revenues FY 2023



10-Jan-2024 / 11:30 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Publication of inside information according to Article 17 MAR



Shelly Group announces preliminary consolidated sales revenues FY 2023

Sofia / Munich, 10 January 2024  Shelly Group AD (Ticker: SLYG / ISIN: BG1100003166) (Shelly Group / the Company), announces 57.2% year-on-year increase in revenue from sales of devices and related services to EUR 74.9 million (BGN 146.5 million) in FY 2023, based on preliminary data. The revenue from sales of Shelly IoT and smart home devices increased by 61.7%, amounting to EUR 73.2 million (BGN 143.2 million). Driven by strong Black Friday and Christmas sales, the consolidated revenue forecast of EUR 72.0 million (BGN 140.8 million) was strongly exceeded.

The Company will officially disclose unaudited consolidated financials for FY 2023 on 26 February 2024 after the close of trading.

Note: EUR/BGN exchange rate fixed at EUR 1 = BGN 1.95583.

For further information, please visit corporate.shelly.com.



Investor Relations Contact

CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH

Sven Pauly

Phone: +49 (0) 89-1250903-31

Email: sp@crossalliance.de

www.crossalliance.de
READ MORE: Adan Canto dead at 42 after battle with appendiceal cancer

Doctors are warning of a mysterious rise in cases of the disease

Actor Adan Canto has died from appendix cancer at the age of 42 years

Doctors are warning of a mysterious rise in appendix cancer cases among young adults  after actor Adan Canto died from the disease at the age of 42.

The cancer is very rare, with fewer than 1,000 cases diagnosed in the US every year  equivalent to one to three per million people.

But studies show the disease is starting to become more common, with rates rising 200 percent among under-50s over the last two decades.

Appendix cancer is easily dismissed in the early stages, with its symptoms  including bloating and abdominal pain  written off as down to other causes, raising the risk of the cancer only being diagnosed in later stages when it is harder to treat.

Doctors are not sure of the cause behind the rise, but link it to an unexplained uptick also being detected in colon cancer  with more cases being recorded among young people.

Read on for everything you need to know about appendix cancer:

The above graphic shows the symptoms of appendicial, or appendix, cancer. Doctors are detecting a mysterious rise in cases of the disease

Adan Canto, pictured above in 2016 participating in a triathalon in Malibu, California, died from the cancer at the age of 42 years following a private battle with the disease

What is appendiceal cancer?

Appendiceal cancer, or appendix cancer, is a type of cancer that grows from cells in the appendix  a small finger-shaped pouch at the end of the large intestine.

Doctors are unsure of the function of the appendix, with some experts saying it may act as a storehouse for good bacteria while others brand is an evolutionary leftover from a time when human ancestors ate more plants.

But the organ, like others in the body, can develop cancer.

There are two types of appendiceal cancer: epithelial appendiceal cancer and neuroendocrine appendiceal cancer.

Epithelial appendiceal cancer grows from cells that make up the lining of the appendix. This leads to a buildup of mucin, a jelly-like substance that protects the lining of the stomach, intestines, and appendix.

When mucin accumulates too much, it leads to the appendix rupturing.

Neuroendocrine appendiceal cancer  the most common form of the disease  grows from enterochromaffin cells, which are involved in digestion and movement in the intestines.

What are the symptoms?

A challenge of appendiceal cancer is that its symptoms are vague and can be mistaken for more common conditions.

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), most appendiceal cancers do not cause symptoms at first.

But as tumors grow, the cancer can cause appendicitis  or inflammation of the appendix.

There is also a risk it could trigger ascites  or fluid in the abdomen  as well as bloating, abdominal pain, an increased waistline, changes in bowel movements and infertility.

Some patients may also experience nausea, vomiting and a feeling of being full shortly after eating.

The lack of symptoms in early stages mean the disease is often only detected at this time by accident  if someone comes to have their appendix removed or a scan for a separate condition.

How common is appendiceal cancer?

Appendiceal cancer is very rare, affecting just one or two per million Americans every year, according to the NCI  equivalent to 1,000 people.

The cancer is most common among those aged 50 to 55 years old, but rates have risen exponentially in the past couple of years  particularly among younger adults.

A 2020 study published in the journal Gastroenterology found that while the rate of people getting appendectomies  removal of the appendix  has remained steady over the years, cases of appendiceal cancer have risen.

The researchers found that between 2000 and 2016, rates of appendiceal cancer have increased by 232 percent.

The team noted that the sharpest increase was in patients under age 50.

They said this could be due to it being mistaken as more common disorders, like appendicitis, as well as colon cancer, which is also on the rise in under-50s.

Doctors are largely unsure what is behind the rise in young people suffering cancers like colon cancer, though some experts have blamed increases in diabetes and obesity, fungal infections, and overuse of antibiotics.

Lead researcher Dr Andreana Holowatyj of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said: 'The potential misclassification of appendiceal cancer as colon cancer is a barrier to discovering disease-specific risk factors and tumor biomarkers, which would have implications for risk assessment, screening, surveillance and treatment.'

What causes appendiceal cancer?

Doctors are largely unsure what causes appendiceal cancer.

According to Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, smoking is one risk factor for appendiceal cancer.

Additionally, the center cited a family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) syndrome as a potential risk factor. MEN1 causes tumors to form along the endocrine glands, which produce hormones.

Appendiceal is not known to run in families, the NCI says.

Other causes include obesity, which is linked to a range of health problems, and lifestyle factors such as not exercising often.

But doctors are still searching for an explanation as to what may cause the cancer among more healthy individuals.

What is the prognosis for appendiceal cancer?

Studies show that between 67 and 97 percent of patients diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors  the most common form  live more than five years after their diagnosis.

But for patients whose cancer is spotted in later stages, and when it has spread to other areas of the body, the rate is lower.

Experts say that the rarity of the cancer makes it difficult to calculate the five-year survival rate.
GPs are being made redundant in response to a rise in virtual appointments and an influx of 'cheaper' staff.

One practice in Surrey told its 19,000 patients that it had 'identified a need to make some changes' to how it operated.

Glenlyn Medical Centre, in East Molesey and Thames Ditton, claimed the move was triggered by a 'significant increase' in the number of patients who were requesting online consultations.

Managing director Joe Todd also said it was 'coupled with the introduction of many new roles at the practice', including the hiring of pharmacists and nurses.

He stated it meant the surgery was 'working differently and more efficiently to help people get the care they need from the right healthcare professional'.

Glenlyn Medical Centre in East Molesey and Thames Ditton invited its 11 salaried GPs to apply for voluntary redundancy in December, with three taking up the offer. The 19,000-patient practice said it was now 'working differently and more efficiently'

GP workforce data for May 2023 shows there are 27,200 fully-qualified GPs in England. This is down from 27,627 one year earlier. GP numbers peaked at 29,537 in March 2016

Glenlyn Medical Centre invited its 11 salaried GPs to apply for voluntary redundancy in December, with three taking up the offer.

No other redundancies have been made but Mr Todd did not confirm whether there would need to be future job cuts.

In an update sent to patients, Mr Todd said: 'As we have started to work differently, we have needed to re-look at our staffing so we are aligned to deliver services in this new way.'

A Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate said the decision to let GPs leave the practice was 'worrying' as they are the 'first port of call and essential decision-makers for so many local patients'.

Monica Harding said: 'Given the immense pressure on our local hospitals it would seem that triaging and dealing with concerns at GP practices is even more essential in a smooth running health service.

What does the latest GP appointment data show? Appointments: 31.4million Attended: 89.8 per cent Seen by GP: 40.4 per cent Seen by nurse: 19.2 per cent Face-to-face appointment: 67.9 per cent Phone call appointment: 25.5 per cent Same day: 42.6 per cent Up to one week wait: 26.7 per cent One to two week wait: 13.4 per cent Two to four weeks wait: 12.4 per cent NHS England data for November Advertisement

'I would like to understand in more detail what led to, and the rationale behind these redundancies and to seek reassurances, on behalf of local residents, that these changes do not result in a further deterioration of the service.'

Ms Harding pointed to the practice's latest patient survey responses, which show that just 11 per cent find it easy to reach the surgery via the phone, compared with an average of 50 per cent across England.

Additionally, only 37 per cent of patients were offered a choice of appointment and just 59 per cent were satisfied with the consultation offered, compared with the national average of 59 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively.

Under plans introduced in 2019 to expand the workforce and provide extra capacity across general practice, surgeries across England have recruited more than 31,000 frontline staff roles.

These include physician associates (PAs)  nicknamed 'doctors on the cheap'  as well as pharmacy technicians, podiatrists and paramedics.

As part of plans to fix the appointments crisis, thousands of receptionists will also be trained to become 'care navigators' to direct patients to different practice staff.

NHS data has long shown that GPs, who are paid six figures, on average, are under huge pressure and treating a record number of people.

Family doctors have reported cramming in up to 90 appointments per day in some areas, warning that rushing patients through in conveyor belt-like scenes risks missing serious illnesses.

The BMA recommends GPs should not deliver more than 25 appointments a day to ensure safe care.

Dennis Reed of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly Britons, said: 'NHS England appears to be implementing a secret agenda of undermining the role of the GP and replacing them with cheaper ancillary staff.'

But Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board, which is responsible for NHS services, funding and workforce planning, told Pulse that practices in Surrey were taking forward 'a range of improvements for patients'.

Separate figures show only 68.3 per cent of appointments were held face to face in November  down from around 80 per cent pre-pandemic. It is also the lowest figure so far this year

The graph shows the ratio of GP patients to practices since 2015, with an average of 9,755 patients per surgery in May 2023

A spokesman said: 'Practices are already working differently due to an increase in the use of online services.

'Surrey has some of the highest usage rates in the country, and other changes are happening nationally, including the introduction of new roles, where the NHS is bringing in professionals with very different skills, to enhance the practice team and the local offer to patients.

As a result of these changes, the practice has re-looked at how they operate and considered opportunities to work more efficiently, including the workforce they need moving forwards  and the changes they are making locally, reflect this.

'We monitor access and waiting times for all our GP practices to make sure people have good access to local services and we will continue to monitor access closely to ensure people are getting the care they need, when they need it.'

Latest NHS data shows there were 31.4million GP appointments in November.

Almost half were on the same day (42.6 per cent) and a quarter (25.8 per cent) had to wait more than a week.

The data for England also found more than two thirds (67.9 per cent) of GP consultations were face to face.

In the wake of the pandemic, GP patient satisfaction has plunged to its lowest level on record.

Patients have continually expressed their frustration over access, particularly with regards to in-person appointments.

GPs say they overwhelmed due to the pressures of the rising and ageing population, a lack of government funding and a shortage of doctors.

Ministers have also silently binned a promise to hire 6,000 more GPs, which was a major part of Boris Johnson's election-winning manifesto. Just 2,000 more family doctors have been recruited since 2019.

GP surgeries have also faced rising levels of harassment, assaults and verbal abuse targeted at staff in recent months.
A zoologist whose organisation funded controversial experiments in Wuhan which some fear started the pandemic has presented the discovery of a never-before-seen virus with 'almost' as much potential to infect humans as Covid.

Dr Peter Daszak, head of the New York based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, detailed his finding in bats at an event held by the World Health Organization (WHO) on future pandemic research preparedness.

EcoHealth had its funding pulled and projects to find viruses in China cancelled due to concerns about its ties to the Covid lab leak theory  but it has continued to operate in Thailand and other parts of Asia with millions of dollars in US government grants.

Dr Daszak told attendees at the WHO conference about his team's ongoing efforts to comb Southeast Asia for threatening animal viruses.

Some scientists consider these virus-hunting experiments at risk of causing a future pandemic.

A zoologist who helped funded controversial experiments in Wuhan which some fear started the pandemic has presented the discovery of a never-before-seen virus with 'almost' as much potential to infect humans as Covid

British zoologist Dr Peter Daszak head of the EcoHealth Alliance, detailed his discovery to experts at a World Health Organization event on future pandemic research preparedness

EcoHealth Alliance, run by British zoologist Peter Daszak, funded studies on manipulated coronaviruses in Wuhan the Chinese city where the pandemic began. Dr Daszak, shown left, is known to be close to Dr Anthony Fauci (right)

Dr Daszak, a friend of Dr Anthony Fauci, the ex-chief medical advisor to the US President, revealed his team have already found one bat coronavirus of considerable interest.

'We found a lot of SARS-related coronaviruses, but one in particular we found was quite common in bats where people were commonly exposed,' he told the WHO event, attended by MailOnline.

The virus  which was not named  was found in a cave in Thailand frequented by farmers who use the rich guano, bat faeces, within as fertilizer for their crops.

Dr Daszak, an expert in zoonosis  when animal pathogens jump to people  is a firm defender of Covid having natural origin, and has staunchly dismissed the lab leak theory.

He said that after lab analysis, scientists found the virus was a close relative of both SARS-CoV2, the scientific name for Covid, and another pathogen called RATG13, itself a 96 per cent genetic match for Covid.

Dr Daszak, who originally hails from the mining town Dukinfield, on the outskirts of Manchester, added: 'We consider this to be a potential zoonotic pathogen.'

He also said additional experiments found the new virus was able to bind to human tissue 'almost as well' as Covid.

'Here we have a virus in bats, right now in a cave used by people highly exposed to bat faeces,' he said.

'And this virus is shed in bat faeces, so there is a real potential for emergence.'

However, he added: 'We know that most people in the region have either had Covid or been vaccinated and that will provide really good protection, we think, against this virus.'

But he said this was just one of the pathogens of interest identified in just this cave.

Analysis also revealed a pathogen related to the Moijang virus, which struck down a group of Chinese miners in 2012 with fatal pneumonia, to be present.

Dr Daszak's findings come after EcoHealth Alliance was the controversial recipient of a 510,000 ($650,000) US-Government funded project to investigate bat coronaviruses in Asia.

The research is controversial because critics believe such projects, where scientists collect virus samples and bring them back to labs for analysis, may have sparked the Covid pandemic.

And in a comment that will likely add to those fears, Dr Daszak said the virus surveillance project is being done in labs with lower biosecurity procedures than the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), where some scientists think Covid was spawned.

In some parts of the region we are working with very resource-poor areas so we are using basic technology that can work in BSL-2 labs,' he said.

BSL, short for Biosafety Level, ranges from 1 to 4, with the higher rating indicating a more secure lab.

A BSL-2 lab is likely to have restricted access, PPE regulations, airtight workstations, and some decontamination protocols.

Dr Daszak's team found one virus in a species called the Least Horseshoe Bat in a cave system in Thailand which was a close relative of Covid

Dr Daszak has been a central figure in the debate about Covid's origins and is one of the most stringent deniers of the hypothesis the virus was man-made

But such labs are a far cry from BSL-4 facilities, specifically designed to work with the most dangerous pathogens to human health, such as Ebola or smallpox.

For comparison, in the UK, labs working on coronaviruses are typically required to be a BSL-3 facility.

Dr Daszak is no stranger to controversy on lab research and Covid, being a firm proponent of the theory the virus emerged naturally.

His EcoHealth Alliance came to global attention in the wake of the pandemic for its role in funding 'risky' research at the WIV prior to Covid emerging.

It has since emerged EcoHealth Alliance provided WIV 2.6million ($3.3million) for experiments.

It is unclear what these experiments were, but some believe they constituted gain of function studies, a controversial area of pathogen research where virus can be manipulated to become deadlier or more transmissible.

Dr Daszak has also been accused of orchestrating a campaign to direct blame for Covid was away from WIV.

This involved allegedly persuading 26 other scientists to sign off on a letter he wrote to the scientific journal The Lancet claiming the virus could only have been natural in origin and to suggest otherwise creates 'fear, rumours, and prejudice'.

The letter was so influential that it persuaded most experts into refusing even to consider that the virus could have been man-made.

It also later emerged that Dr Daszak told his fellow signatories in an email that the letter would not be sent under the EcoHealth logo to not make it identifiable as coming from any 'one organisation' or 'person'.

Dr Daszak leaves his hotel after the World Health Organization (WHO) team wrapped up its investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on February 10, 2021

These emails show that he even considered not signing the letter himself, although in the end he did.

He was also accused of not declaring EcoHealth's, and therefore his own, ties with WIV during investigations into the pandemic.

In January 2021, Dr Daszak joined the World Health Organization (WHO) team sent to Wuhan to investigate the origins of the virus.

The group's report, published in March 2021, concluded it was 'extremely unlikely' that the virus originated in a laboratory.

But he came under fire after it emerged that he had a working relationship with Dr Shi Zhengli, a virologist at the WIV nicknamed 'Bat Woman', and one of the scientists whose work he was tasked with investigating.

Dr Daszak has previously defended his connections to the WIV during investigations into Covid's origins, arguing the probe should involve those who know the most about coronaviruses in China.

He also chaired a group of scientists probing Covid's origins for the medical journal The Lancet but stepped down when his link with Chinese virus research was revealed.

Dr Daszak's ongoing project involves collecting blood samples from people deemed to be living in virus hotspots, with parts of Asia being key areas of interest.

Records show Dr Daszak was awarded millions of dollars' worth of grants from US Government bodies on behalf of EcoHealth alliance and was paid $354,000 (314,000) in 2019. This funding was often shared with other laboratories, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), to conduct research in mines to examine bat coronaviruses. Pictured: Dr Daszak at the WIV in 2020

Some experts say Covid may have emerged from within the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Here security personnel are pictured keeping watch during a visit by the WHO in 2021

In South and South East Asia there is a very dynamic interface, with as many as 60,000-plus people a year being infected by bat coronaviruses, so thats a high risk for future pandemic emergence, he said.

These blood samples are analysed for antibodies that could indicate a person had previously been infected with a zoonotic-based pathogen.

Scientists then triage the results, looking for viruses of particular interest, like coronaviruses, or those closely related to known pathogens that infect people.

Viruses of interest, like the one from the Thai cave, are then prioritised for further investigation into where and how such infections are occurring.

Dr Daszak said future work could include offering PPE and education about the risk of zoonotic infection to guano collectors in this particular cave system.

READ MORE: Covid Inquiry's probe into vaccines is delayed indefinitely as chair admits postponement will be 'disappointing for some' Hearings for the fourth module of the official inquiry, which looks at vaccines and therapeutics, were set to begin this summer but have been rescheduled Advertisement

He also emphasized that the work his team was doing was based on trust with local communities and in a potential nod to some of the critics of his work, urged the WHO to continue to help 'keep the politics out of science'.

Dr Daszak also got a shoutout from Professor George Gao, the ex-head of China's equivalent of the UK Health Security Agency or Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US.

Professor Gao, who also spoke at the WHO event, described Dr Daszak as an expert who has had 'very strong collaboration with China'.

He added that global virus surveillance and continued collaboration between experts was important, despite criticism like that they had faced during the Covid pandemic.

From time-to-time we were challenged from the so-called infodemics, he said.

An 'infodemic', is a term used by the WHO to describe when there is too much 'false or misleading information' during a disease outbreak.

Dr Daszak hails from the mining town Dukinfield, on the outskirts of Manchester.

He has authored more than 300 scientific papers over his career, which has spanned more than three decades.

Dr Daszak, who lives in New York with his wife Janet, joined EcoHealth  formerly The Wildlife Trust  in 2001. His early career focused on diseases spread by frogs.

EcoHealth, which originally focused on conservation, now works around the world to investigate the origins of viruses, map where they have spread and analyse them to find out where the next outbreak could occur.

Records show Dr Daszak received millions of dollars' worth of grants from US Government bodies on behalf of EcoHealth alliance and was paid $354,000 (314,000) in 2019.

This funding was often shared with other laboratories, including the WIV, to conduct research in mines to examine bat coronaviruses.

The partnership saw researchers sample thousands of bats and determine that Sars originated in horseshoe bats, which are common in southern and central China and traded in wet markets.

And two years before Covid emerged, Dr Daszak proposed working with WIV scientists to alter coronaviruses and release them into bats as part of a plan to inoculate them against the virus.

An EcoHealth spokesperson said there is no way the experiments conducted by themselves and the WIV could have started the pandemic.

The spokesperson quoted former director of the US Government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins who said in 2021: 'Analysis of published genomic data and other documents from the grantee demonstrate that the naturally occurring bat coronaviruses studied under the NIH grant are genetically far distant from SARS-CoV-2 and could not possibly have caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

'Any claims to the contrary are demonstrably false.'

The spokesperson added EcoHealth Alliance did not provide WIV with $3.3million in funding.

They said it was in fact NIH who issued a grant of that value to EcoHealth Alliance then sub-awarded $598,611 to the WIV.
Packs of fresh turkey breast are being recalled after wrongly being stamped with a use-by date six months after the meat is actually set to go off.

Lidl's Deluxe Irish Carved Peppered Tukey Breast has been issued with a 'do not eat' warning by food safety chiefs.

The date printed on the packaging incorrectly states it goes off on June 25, when it should be labelled January 25.

Officials at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which published the alert, warned the labelling error makes the meat 'unsafe to eat'.

Lidl Northern Ireland has issued a 'do not eat' warning for the Deluxe Irish Carved Peppered Tukey Breast

Only 130g packs with the use-by date June 25, 2024 are affected by the recall. They are sold at Lidl in Northern Ireland.

The product can be returned to a Lidl store where a full refund will be given.

No receipt is needed to return the potentially contaminated item.

Lidl has issued a point-of sale notice in its retail stores, explaining why the products are being recalled and what to do for those who have bought it.

The supermarket said: 'Our supplier, Flamewood is recalling the above use by date of Deluxe Irish Carved Peppered Turkey Breast due to the incorrect use by date printed on the product.'

It added: 'Lidl wishes to apologise for any inconvenience caused.'

The FSA issues food recalls  which ask customers to return a product  when problems are spotted that means a product should not be sold.

It is vital to stick to use-by dates, even if a product looks and smells fine, because it could make you 'very ill', it warns.

Food poisoning is rarely serious and most people get better within a week.

The symptoms include feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and a high temperature, the NHS says.

For a use-by date to be valid, customers must stick to a food's storage instructions, such as refrigerating a product after opening, to stop bacteria from spreading and to avoid food poisoning, the NHS warns.
Countries won't be having enough children to replace people who die by 2100

Nine in 10 countries face the threat of 'underpopulation' by the end of the century, scientists have warned.

A report revealed that 93 per cent of nations won't be having enough children to replace people who die by 2100, leaving them with too few young people to work, pay tax and look after the elderly.

The International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) warned the global fertility rate  the number of children born per woman  is falling dramatically.

It has issued a call to action, warning that Governments are failing to recognise the risks underpopulation will have on societies and economies and calling for better education so people can assess when is best to start a family.

They have also urged health authorities to highlight the risk of modern populations drinking too much, being too fat and being exposed to too much air pollution and chemicals in the environment, all of which reduce general fertility.

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The authors of the paper, published in journal Human Reproduction Update, also want people to have better and fairer access to fertility treatment.

Their report details that almost every country will, by 2100, see their total fertility rate drop below the replacement level of 2.1 children  the number each woman would need to have, on average, to replace both parents.

However, in the developed world, fertility rates have been falling far below this over the past century.

For example, the UK hasn't had an average fertility rate above 2.1 since the early 70s.

It has since declined to an average of 1.87 children per woman as of 2022, the year data is available for.

Meanwhile, a post-millennium baby boom in the US saw the fertility rate hit 2.1 more recently in 2006. However, the figure stood at 1.89 in 2022.

In contrast to the UK and US, countries in the developing world have much higher fertility rates.

In Niger, West Africa, for example, each woman had 6.86 children, on average, in 2022  the highest recorded globally that year.

But if current trends continue, even these nations could face a population crisis, with Niger predicted to be barely above the replacement level (2.22) by 2100.

Fertility replacement doesn't account for the impact of migration, meaning overall population levels can still increase in a country despite a drop in fertility rates.

While many scientists have warned about the threat of overpopulation on the environment, food and housing supplies, underpopulation is also a challenge.

If unaddressed, it can lead to an increasing ageing population, with a significant proportion needing care and unable to work.

Professor Bart Fauser, co-author of the latest paper and an expert in reproductive medicine at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said more must be done to help people access fertility treatment.

'Choosing to have a family is a human right. But access to fertility care is often unaffordable, inaccessible, and inequitable and that needs to change,' he said.

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Writing in the paper, the authors noted that, over the last 50 years, health policies had generally focused on reducing unintended births by promoting contraception and, in some cases, increasing legalising abortions.

'Many policies were driven by the goal to reduce population growth because of concerns that overpopulation would result in overcrowding, poor sanitation, disease epidemics, famine, war, massive migrations, increasing human inequality, and environmental damage that would bring about human apocalypse,' they wrote.

They said this attitude has contributed to slowing population growth in many parts of the world.

And as a result, the global population is now expected to peak at 9.4billion in 2064, up from the estimated 8billion today, before an overall decline begins.

'Not including the effects of migration, many countries are predicted to have a population decline of more than 50 per cent from 2017 to 2100,' the authors wrote based on their review of current evidence.

They added: 'This evolution of the world population will cause demographic changes with profound societal implications.'

They warned that some experts predict declining birth rates could lead to 'increased political and social friction' as those with ageing populations promote immigration to keep their economies afloat.

The IFFS, a body representing reproductive health specialists who commissioned the report, said there are many treatments available to boost fertility.

IFFS president Edgar Mocanu said: 'A simple step is offering balanced fertility and contraceptive education so that everybody can decide when to prevent pregnancy and when it is ideal for them to start a family, if they choose.'

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There have been many breakthroughs in fertility treatment in recent decades, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). However, access can vary.

In the UK, eligibility for IVF on the NHS can vary by postcode with those unable to access tax-payer funded treatment faced with bill of 5,000 per cycle, with multiple cycles often required.

The reasons why people are, on average, having less children in some countries are complex.

Some women are simply enjoying the independence modern society brings compared to a century ago and are choosing not to have children.

Others are only choosing to have children later in life and instead focus on their careers during their younger years.

As fertility is linked to age, this can lead to some women never having children or fewer than they might originally have planned.

For men, lifestyle factors like the rising prevalence of obesity in many countries is also thought to be having a downward impact on fertility.

Rising cost-of-living pressures, especially the price of childcare, is another factor that puts a dampener on couples having children or deciding to have multiple.

Elon Musk (pictured), who boasts of 'always banging the baby drum', has been warning about a decline in births for years

In recent years, fears of a pending climate-change driven environmental catastrophe have also put younger people off having children.

The threat of underpopulation has been a pet topic of eccentric Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has preached about it for years.

In 2017, he said that the number of people on Earth is 'accelerating towards collapse but few seem to notice or care'.

Then in 2021 he warned that civilisation is 'going to crumble' if people don't have more children.

And just last year Musk described himself as 'always banging the baby drum', warning that once the birth rate starts to fall 'it accelerates'.

He has pointed to a downturn in Japan's population as evidence for his concerns, claiming the nation would 'flat-out disappear' if the worrying trend continues. And Musk warned Italy 'will have no people' if its low birth rate continues.

Some countries are taking drastic measures to try and entourage their citizens to have more children.

Low-populated regions in Finland have dished out 10,000 euros (8,500), paid over the course of 10 years, for each child a couple has.

And Estonia gives parents 60 euros (50) per month for having one child, another 60 euros for their second and 100 euros (84) for their third. On top of this, three-child families also receive a 300-euro (250) bonus.
READ MORE: Mystery rise in appendix cancer in young people like Adan Canto

Though rare, the disease is often misdiagnosed due to vague symptoms

Actor Adan Canto has died following a private battle with appendiceal cancer

Doctors are warning about the easily-overlooked signs of appendix cancer following the death of actor Adan Canto.

The Latino actor died at age 42 on Monday following a private battle with the rare but fast-growing form of the disease.

Canto was best known for his roles as Vice President-elect Aaron Shore opposite Kiefer Sutherland on Designated Survivor and as Sunspot in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Appendiceal cancer is rare, with fewer than 1,000 cases diagnosed in the US every year - about one to three per million people.

However, studies show the disease is becoming more common, with rates rising more than 200 percent in people under 50 over the last two decades.

Doctors are unsure what's behind the rise, but they have noted the increase is similar to the unexplained uptick of colon cancer in young people.

Adan Canto, pictured above in 2016 participating in a triathalon in Malibu, California, died from appendiceal cancer at the age of 42 following a private battle with the disease

The above graphic shows the symptoms of appendicial, or appendix, cancer. Doctors are detecting a mysterious rise in cases of the disease

Along with its rarity, a challenge in diagnosing appendiceal cancer is that its signs are easily dismissed as more common conditions.

This raises the risk of the disease only being diagnosed in later stages when it's harder to treat.

Here are the common signs of appendiceal cancer:

Appendicitis

Appendicitis is the inflammation of the appendix - a small finger-shaped pouch at the end of the large intestine.

Doctors are unsure of the function of the appendix, with some experts saying it may act as a storehouse for good bacteria while others brand it as an evolutionary leftover from a time when human ancestors ate more plants.

Appendicitis is typically caused by a blockage in the lining of the organ, as well as infections.

This leads to sudden and severe pain around the navel that moves to the lower right part of the abdomen. This pain can become worse with coughing, walking, or making other quick movements.

According to the Mayo Clinic, other signs of appendicitis include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, low-grade fever, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and gas.

If left untreated, the appendix can burst. The only treatment for appendicitis is removing the appendix - but the cancer remains if it has spread to other organs.

Fluid in the abdomen

Canto is survived by his wife, Stephanie Ann Canto, and their two young children, Roman Alder, three, and Eve Josephine, one

Canto was known for roles in the show Designated Survivor and the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past

As appendiceal cancer spreads, it can lead to a buildup of fluid in the abdomen.

This is also known as ascites, which occurs between two layers in the peritoneum, a sheet of tissue that protects the stomach, bowels, liver, and kidneys.

Ascites leads to a distended, or swollen, abdomen.

In addition to appendiceal cancer, ascites can be caused by heart failure, kidney failure, infection, or cirrhosis - scarring - of the liver.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, additional signs of ascites include swelling in the ankles, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, back pain, difficulty sitting, and fatigue.

Bloating

Bloating is one of the most common signs of appendiceal cancer - and one of the most overlooked.

Bloating makes the belly feel full and tight from a buildup of gas in the stomach and intestines.

More common causes of bloating include constipation, gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and eating too much.

Because it can be tied to so many more common conditions, patients with appendiceal cancer who have bloating could be misdiagnosed.

Bowel changes

As tumors grow, they can lead to blockages in the body, as well as discomfort.

These changes could result in digestive issues such as constipation, diarrhea, and changes in stool consistency.

The amount of times you go to the bathroom can also change, as well as stool color.

It's unclear if appendiceal cancer leads to one type of bowel change over another.

However, issues like constipation and diarrhea can be mistaken for more common conditions like IBS, food intolerance, and infections.

Infertility

According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), infertility can be a sign of appendix cancer.

Other cancers can also affect fertility by disrupting hormone production and damaging reproductive organs.

The most common form of appendiceal cancer is neuroendocrine appendiceal cancer, which grows from enterochromaffin cells - these are involved in digestion and intestinal movement.

Neuroendocrine tumors disrupt hormone-producing cells, which could lead to infertility.

This can be particularly alarming for young patients, among whom appendiceal cancers are rising, as fertility rates continue to fall in the US.

Abdominal pain

Abdominal pain is another commonly overlooked sign of appendiceal cancer.

This type of pain can occur anywhere between the chest and the groin, though it mostly refers to pain in the stomach region.

Similar to bowel changes and bloating, abdominal pain can be mistaken for more common conditions like constipation and food intolerances.

In appendiceal cancer, this pain can also radiate to the pelvic area.
The tax office is in the grip of a customer service meltdown  just as close to five million taxpayers have only three weeks left to file their 2022-23 tax returns.

Chaos at HM Revenue & Customs has left taxpayers facing hour-long call wait times to get through, and many complain that their letters are going unanswered.

In extreme cases, people are waiting up to nine months to receive acknowledgement of their correspondence.

Dozens of Money Mail readers have voiced their frustration over year-long waits for tax refunds and being unable to get the answers they need from the Revenues online chatbot, which taxpayers are being told to use instead of calling the helpline.

Others complain that HMRC is operating in an unprofessional manner and many staff appear to be working from home.

Meltdown: Chaos at HM Revenue & Customs has left taxpayers facing hour-long call wait times to get through

In one case, a reader tells of how a call was disrupted by a baby crying in the background and the call had to be put on hold.

Accountants and tax experts who rely on HMRC to conduct business tell us the department is no longer fit for purpose and has been in serious decline for months.

Those seeking help are finding it difficult to speak to anyone ahead of the January 31 tax return deadline as a direct result of HMRC reducing the service on its helpline on December 11.

Only four days notice of this was given, leaving millions with limited phone support in the run-up to the self-assessment deadline.

The tax office now says it will take only priority calls  and will direct everyone else to its website.

The timing couldnt be worse  it is the busiest month of the year for filing tax returns.

Last year, taxpayers made 1.2 million calls to HMRC in the eight weeks leading up to the January 31 deadline, according to official figures  on average 41,000 calls per day.

Worse still, more people will be forced to do so for the first time this year, thanks to a toxic mix of frozen tax thresholds and falling tax-free allowances.

This is causing confusion among those who face taxes they have never had to pay before  and who are unable to get the support they need from HMRC.

HMRCs decision to restrict access to its helpline has provoked anger among MPs and tax experts, who warn it could lead to mistakes on tax returns and people facing fines.

The Revenue said last week it expects more than 12 million people to file a tax return for the 2022-2023 tax year by January 31. But at the start of January, 5.7 million people had yet to do so.

The majority of those with queries are being told to seek help from HMRCs digital assistance online chatbot. But experts warn the programme is difficult to use and offers only a complete response when it is given specific prompts written in tax lingo.

Robert Salter, of leading tax firm Blick Rothenberg, says even as an expert he found it tricky to operate when he had to resort to using it for personal taxes.

The chatbot isnt the magic answer that HMRC wants it to be, he says. I didnt find it easy to use  it was awkward and frustrating.

Chatbot misery: The majority of those with self-assessment queries are being told to seek help from HMRCs digital assistance online chatbot

If you were IT savvy you may get better answers, but you shouldnt need to be. Even where you do get an answer, all the nuance of your personal case is lost, so it is just a partial answer.

HMRC has developed lots of technological solutions but in reality, they are not the solution, it is just a fudge that can slow the process down even more.

When Money Mail attempted to use the self-assessment chat service on HMRCs website, it was vague in its answers. When we asked How do I know if I need to pay tax on my savings?, it responded with: Is it your first time submitting a Self Assessment tax return?.

By clicking yes, we were sent a link to guidance on how to submit your first Self Assessment tax return and directed to a YouTube video.

HMRC figures point to just half of customers receiving a satisfactory answer. It says that in more than 50 per cent of customer interactions with HMRCs digital assistant, the assistant successfully helps customers find the information they need. If it cant find the answer, it connects the customer to a webchat adviser.

Andy Gibbs, a chartered tax adviser at TaxAssist Accountants, says: Its frustrating because people just want to pay their taxes. They dont want to overpay and wait for their money back or underpay and face a fine.

Theres a lot of confusion out there, especially with several tax changes all coming about at once, so its ridiculous that they cant get through on the phone.

Eddie Grant, who heads up a team of tax experts at St Jamess Place, says most people want the reassurance of being told by an HMRC official that they are doing their taxes correctly.

He says: Theyre likely to be paying more tax this year but because costs are high, they will be keen not to overpay.

Backlash: HMRCs decision to restrict access to its helpline has provoked anger among MPs and tax experts, who warn it could lead to mistakes on tax returns and people facing fines

There are a lot of people who are more comfortable on the phone and arent able to use the digital chatbot. Older taxpayers say they feel abandoned by HMRC, as they are uncomfortable with technology.

These people are being left behind by HMRC, Mr Grant adds.

When you think about how banks are closing branches and face-to-face contact is declining rapidly, for HMRC now to also restrict the ability to speak to someone is just another area of contact that is disappearing.

Richard Taylor, who is 75 and retired, says he is uncomfortable with the chatbot but his attempts to contact HMRC by any other means  phone, email or post  have proved unsuccessful.

Richard was relieved when he thought his three-month nightmare trying to rectify his incorrect tax code was over. He had been unable to get through to HMRC on the phone when it closed its phone lines between June and September last year, and his emails and letters all went unanswered.

But when the retired lawyer eventually got through when the phone lines reopened and he received a refund for his overpaid tax, he realised his bill was still inaccurate. He suspects his tax refund has been double counted  but the phone lines are now reduced once again and so he cant find out.

What a hopeless service, he says. It is so frustrating that you cant get through to them to rectify the mistakes they keep making. It has never been this bad before.

Peter Taylor, from Nottingham, says he was on hold for an hour when he attempted to call HMRC in December, and has previously waited 45 minutes to speak to someone.

The 87-year-old filed his paper self-assessment tax return on May 15 for the 2022/23 tax year, but did not received an acknowledgment of receipt or the tax refund he was due. Peter says he estimates that he overpaid 3,000 in tax, due to a large charitable donation he made after the death of his wife.

When Peter called HMRC in September, he was told to write to the Self-Assessment centre to check his return had been received. However, when he called back in October he was given another address to which to send his letter.

Peter has now received confirmation that HMRC is dealing with his claim. He adds: I was told they are processing the returns in the order they were filed. Are they so far behind that my return still isnt at the top of the pile more than seven months later?

HMRC says that three-quarters of all calls made in December were answered after an average wait time of 25 minutes. However, Money Mail readers report hold periods of more than double that.

Roslyn Willis, a retired teacher, says she waited 58 minutes to speak to an HMRC officer at the beginning of December.

Its horrendous  it is worse than it has ever been, she says.

Roslyn, who is 72 and a widow, amends the way her tax is paid each year, preferring to pay one big bill out of her savings rather than have tax deducted from her pension every month.

I always have to contact HMRC because they cant seem to do it automatically, but this year I found them especially ineffective, impolite and inept, she says. They are unnecessarily putting people in an angst-ridden situation.

During one call, the customer service operator said he was working from home. He told me: Im upstairs, but will pass you down to my wife who is in the dining room and who works on tax codes. Its not what I would expect of a government department  its just so informal.

A Freedom of Information Request submitted by Money Mail found that between January and June 2023, 94.8 per cent of HMRC staff worked at home or in a non-office location for at least one day a week, and 84 per cent did so for at least two days a week.

One reader tells us that after a 40-minute wait on hold, he could hear an infant crying in the background. I was told that I would be put on hold as the HMRC representative had to gather further information, he says. The call was placed on hold, and after a further ten minutes it automatically ended. How long does it take to change a nappy?

Demand: Last year, taxpayers made 1.2 million calls to HMRC in the eight weeks leading up to the January 31 deadline, according to official figures  on average 41,000 calls per day

An HMRC spokesman says that advisers answer the same number of calls whether they are in the office or not and performance was in fact better on average where staff work remotely.

He said: All our staff are held to the same standards whether they are working from an HMRC building or from home. Offering hybrid working is now essential for recruitment and retention in a competitive labour market. Mr Salter says that when you can get through on the phone, frontline staff lack the training and expertise they once had.

The level of training has really declined and staff have less experience than they had before. You will call them up and they say the manual says X, but that doesnt deal with your case or answer your particular query.

Victoria Fisher, from London, was told last month that she would have to wait until November 2024 to receive a reissued cheque for her tax rebate.

The 50-year-old, who works in sales for a pharmaceutical company, says she received a cheque for a tax rebate of 1,291.95 on October 4, but that her first and last names had been incorrectly transposed and the cheque made out to F Victoria  which meant her bank would not accept it. She was told to request a new cheque with the correct name.

After a 50-minute wait on the phone, an official at HMRC confirmed that a mistake had been made and they would notify the correct department. Her cheque would be cancelled and a new one should be reissued within eight weeks.

On December 11, she had still not received the new cheque and phoned again. After further calls, she was told the order had still not been processed and she would now have to wait for the reissued cheque until November 2024.

I was shocked. I thought they said the wrong date because I couldnt believe it would take that long. It is unacceptable, she says.

Due to the extreme cost of living right now, this rebate would be a huge help to me.

I was frustrated to get that news after waiting so long on the phone on multiple occasions. Its really difficult to call them when you work, because even if you have an hour-long lunch break, its often not long enough for them to pick up your call.

HMRC says the mistake on the cheque was due to the wrong information being provided by Victorias employer and that she had been incorrectly told by HMRCs employee that she would need to wait so long.

After reviewing her file, however, HMRC says Victorias taxes were incorrectly calculated due to the error, and she is no longer owed a refund on tax overpaid.

Andy Gibbs, chartered tax adviser at TaxAssist Accountants, says backlogs have been growing. We have noticed a significant reduction in service and it is ridiculous that even when we can get through it takes a long time to sort things.

We are having to go the long way around, writing letters to get things resolved but it is taking months. In truth, we are almost at the point of giving up on certain lines of inquiry because we know it takes so long to receive any response.

An HMRC spokesman says more than 80 per cent of users have been happy with the online services: We want to help and encourage customers to resolve their issues as quickly and easily as possible. This is often through our online services, which save people having to wait on the phone or write to us.

This frees up our expert advisers to help people with urgent and more complicated queries, as well as helping the small number who are unable to access our online services.

HMRC says it received three million calls on just three issues that can easily be resolved digitally  resetting an online password, getting a tax code, and getting a National Insurance number. This required 500 people working full-time to answer those calls.

j.beard@dailymail.co.uk
How many visits by BT engineers does it take to fix a troublesome telephone line?

At least 18 for one unlucky customer  who is now bracing herself for even more knocks on the door as she awaits a switch to Digital Voice in the next few weeks.

A crackle on the phone for 87-year-old retired primary school teacher Ann Bradley was the first sign of trouble in March last year.

But, over the coming days it became so bad that callers could no longer hear what she was saying on her traditional analogue landline.

Four separate visits from engineers followed the same month  the first of which involved taking away three handsets that had worked perfectly well beforehand. These have never been returned.

Good customer service: British Gas wins rave reviews after reboot

Furious: Ann Bradley had to endure months of frustration after her phone line developed a loud crackle

Wires touching each other was the initial diagnosis, but once this was addressed it did not resolve the issue.

Over the next five months, engineers made a further 12 visits to Anns home  including one period in August when different people came on three consecutive days.

Some simply shook their heads and sucked in the air between their teeth, others fiddled with wires and connection boxes in the home.

Occasionally, an engineer might take a look outside the property in a box attached to the wall, trampling flower beds or lifting up a paving slab.

A handful would even walk down her lane and peer into a green phone exchange box.

Yet despite all the visits Anns phone line was not fixed. Her home is in Sandhurst, Berkshire, not a remote area.

Yet it was only when we asked BT to comment on Anns case after she contacted This is Money's sister title, Money Mail, earlier this month that  surprise, surprise  BT finally solved the problem.

On the 18th visit, last Friday, an engineer arrived to ensure the line was crystal clear and that previously dead phone extensions to the kitchen, living room and bedroom were reconnected and working again.

Ann says: How on earth can BT expect to get us all put onto digital phone lines within the next year if it requires a small army of engineers to come and sort out just one crackly home phone line over a similar time?

I have spent so many hours, it probably adds up to days, calling BT from my mobile phone being told how it had fixed your line only to still not be able to hear people on the landline.

Digital switch: BT aims to move 10 million customers from copper phone lines to fibre cables, that use Voice over Internet Protocol technology for making calls, by the start of next year

'On top of this, there have been visits that have added up to more than two weeks of being stuck at home waiting for different engineers to come and shake their heads.

She adds: I should have known straight away when the first engineer took away my phones, that they did not really know what to do.

It seems a terrible waste of time and energy sending so many different engineers out. One of the visitors, the 17th one who came in November, finally managed to get a better signal. But only if I just kept one phone plugged into a single socket.

But then the extensions stopped working. It was only after the intervention of Money Mail that a BT engineer finally visited to do a proper job.

BT admits that Anns issue was an ongoing noisy line and that to reinstate her old extension is not in our remit  referring to phonelines within her home. It would not comment about the number of visits that it made.

Now Ann, who lives alone, is bracing herself for a new round of visitors, as her home is in line for the Digital Voice change in March. BT aims to move 10 million customers from old copper phone lines to fibre cables, that use new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology for making calls, by the start of next year.

In total, 29 million homes in Britain must make the change. Homes in the North West and London are already being switched while those in the South East, East Anglia, West Midlands and Wales are in the firing line this spring. Homes in the North East, South West and Scotland get it from the summer.

To make the switch, households must plug their old line at the back of the phone into an adapter that can then be plugged into an internet cable socket. Or, they can plug their phone directly into a modern internet hub or buy a digital phone.

Out with the 'old': As part of the digital switch all households must pull their landline phone line out of the traditional socket and plug it into a 20 adapter or new 200 hub

Ann is understandably fearing the worst and scores of customers have contacted us to report how the switch has left them without a phoneline.

Following last months article BT left me with no landline for 43 days!, readers have been in touch to report they have beaten this sorry record.

Among them is Mark Harrison, from Leeds, who says he was disconnected for 54 days between October 13 and December 6 when switching from an analogue to digital phone line  and still has not got his old number back.

The married 55-year-old housing association manager says: We agreed to switch on to a new Digital Voice and internet package as it was sold as the future way to go  but it has turned into a nightmare.

'We lost our internet connection for 37 days but did not get a phone line for almost another month, and then only with a different number.

'BT said our number was quarantined and now I fear we will never get it back. The Digital Voice switch has been a total shambles and we just want our old analogue phone line returned.

Another BT customer Carol Evans, 69, from Carlisle in Cumbria, has been cut off for 85 days and counting after moving house.

She told us: The day after the move at the end of October I fractured my ankle  and explained to a BT phone guide that it was vital to get a landline because my mother is 93 and needs constant contact. What followed was nothing.

Risk: A key problem with the new technology is that in a power cut, or if the internet goes down, the digital phone line also goes dead

'No engineer visits and no phone connection. This is despite receiving BT messages saying an engineer has visited your property and work is complete. I am furious.

Customer Sue Parrot was one of the first to embrace Digital Voice technology  moving to the new VoIP technology a couple of years ago. She bitterly regrets the switch.

The 81-year-old told us: BT sent me a new router in the post and just left me to sort everything out. Unfortunately, the VoIP phone did not work  and I had to rely on a mobile without this landline. It was about three months before BT finally came out and got the new digital line working.

'As a vulnerable customer the level of service was just terrible.

A key problem with Digital Voice is that in a power cut, or if the internet goes down, the digital phone line also goes dead. This is of particular concern for vulnerable customers if they want to contact 999 emergency services.

BT should provide free back-up equipment for vulnerable customers, such as an 85 battery pack or an 80 hybrid phone that can also work in a power cut.

As part of the digital switch all householders  vulnerable or not  must pull their landline phone line out of the traditional socket and plug it into a 20 adapter or new 200 hub that connects the lines to the internet.

Alternatively, they can simply throw out the old analogue phone and buy a compatible new 30 digital handset.

Customers should be given free upgrades when moved. You can choose to have the adapter for free and get 7 off a digital handset. New hubs can also be provided if you have an old one that is not compatible for the switch.

BT says customers who experience problems with their phone lines should get in touch  by calling it on 0330 1234 150.

Callers are greeted with a range of automated responses. If you wish to speak to a real person you must press one, followed by one again and then option five.
Seventy per cent of nurseries in the UK are asking parents to pay a non-refundable upfront fee before their child has started, data reveals.

On average, parents spend a 71 to get their child on a waiting list for a nursery. The charges also often take the form of non-refundable registration fees.

With 34 per cent of nurseries imposing a non-refundable waiting list fee, the average fees imposed range from 5 to 199, according to Direct Line Life Insurance.

Childcare and parenting organisations have criticised the practice for placing further financial pressure on parents already dealing with spiralling living costs.

Upfront costs: Average non-refundable upfront nursery fees in UK cities

Parents of two or more children could be spending a three-figure sum just to place their children on a waiting list for a nursery spot that may not exist.

In London, average non-refundable upfront fees are 103, with 89 per cent of nurseries in the capital charging such fees, according to the findings.

In Leeds, average nursery waiting list fees are 85, while in cities like Bristol, Exeter and Manchester the figure is closer to 50.

At 30, Belfast came out as the city with the cheapest nursery waiting list charge.

With many nurseries oversubscribed, many parents find themselves stumping up multiple non-refundable nursery waiting list fees, despite there being no guarantee of a place.

Upfront costs a problem for years Alison Traboulsi had problems with one prospective nursery for her daughter Alison Traboulsi, 43, lives in Hayes, Kent, and works in marketing. Alison has an eight-year-old daughter and four-year-old son. She endured a stressful time with her daughter's upfront nursery costs. As a first-time mother eight years ago, Alison had to look round 15 different nurseries and had a torrid time trying to get a spot for her daughter. Alison and her fiance paid a 50 upfront non-refundable fee to secure their daughter's place on one nursery's waiting list. A year went by and there was still no spot for Alison's daughter available. Alison didn't hear from the nursery and had to get in touch with them to find out what was going on. The fee wasn't refunded. Alison said: 'It would have been one thing if I was getting regular updates from the nursery and therefore could see what admin my payment covered, but it ended up being me chasing them! The cost of nurseries is high as it is, and these hidden fees just arent something people are made aware of.' She added: 'It just felt like the nursery took the "waiting list" fee, even though they knew it could be years before a spot became available.' Alison had to find a different nursery for her daughter and pay a 200 upfront fee, which was eventually refunded after the first invoice came through. She's since had a son and her daughter's nursery had a place for him.

Hannah Donnison, product manager for Direct Line Life Insurance, said: 'Its not surprising that some parents find it unaffordable to cover the upfront costs of nurseries before even securing a place, especially in circumstances where many might not have had income for a few months or its been reduced while on maternity or paternity leave.

'Individual nurseries are known to take different approaches, but a large percentage do charge additional fees so make sure to look for these when doing your research.'

She added: 'If youre eligible, there is support available for childcare through the Governments tax free childcare scheme, as well as in some instances childcare vouchers.

'Currently, when your child reaches three you can claim for additional financial support and there is also some additional support for under twos depending on your circumstances.'

As well as waiting list fees, parents also often have to fork out a refundable deposit to the nursery provider in question.

This can sometimes be the equivalent of a month's worth of nursery fees. Direct Line Life Insurance experts said the most expensive locations could see parents shell out over 2,000 before their child has even secured a place at nursery.

The research was undertaken for Direct Line by FleishmanHillard between 16 October and 22 November last year and covered 108 nurseries in cities up and down the UK.

Of the nurseries surveyed, 20 per cent did not display their fees upfront on their websites. The information had to be requested via online forms, on the phone or through a physical visit to the nursery.

'Bank of Family' saves young parents 38bn a year

Separate research from Legal and General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research this week suggests over 40 per cent of parents and grandparents over the age of 55 have helped younger family members with childcare.

'The Bank of Family' has, the findings suggest, offered childcare support to family members which is equal to around 38billion per year.

Poll Do you get help from parents or grandparents with childcare? Yes No Do you get help from parents or grandparents with childcare? Yes 40 votes

No 48 votes Now share your opinion





Parents and grandparents typically spend around nine hours a week helping to look after children or grandchildren, which is the equivalent of around 5,400 in childcare costs a year, the research claims.

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that in 50 per cent of working families in the UK, both parents are working full-time.

Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal and General Retail, said: 'People assume that the Bank of Family is just about financial support.

'But as our research reveals, people depend on their parents and sometimes wider family for many things - including the gift of time.

'The recent childcare reforms to help families are a step in the right direction, but many people depend on their parents so they can continue to work.'
The common thread at the heart of the Post Office-Fujitsu scandal is a lack of accountability.

Business panjandrums, such as former managing director Alan Cook (one of the men who tried to sell LV to private equity) and Paula Vennells, were able to avoid responsibility for a terrible scandal which cost lives because no one was watching.

It took media investigations and a powerful ITV mini-series to persuade Vennells to hand back her CBE.

She is following in the steps of James Crosby, who surrendered his knighthood after the implosion at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in 2008.

State ownership, still much admired by many on the Labour benches, is meant to operate in the best interest of the workforce, the consumer and the taxpayer.

Rudderless: No one at the Post Office was prepared to hold anyone but the unfortunate sub-postmasters and post-mistresses responsible for foul-ups at the top

At the Post Office it worked against the greater public interest because no one was prepared to hold anyone but the unfortunate sub-postmasters and post-mistresses responsible for foul-ups at the top.

Complacent LibDem ministers Ed Davey and Vince Cable, knights both, were too busy being important to listen to obvious complaints about miscarriages of justice. The sister organisation Royal Mail hardly has been the roaring success hoped for as a listed company.

But accountability to investors means that successive bosses who blundered  Rico Back and Simon Thompson  were unceremoniously dumped from office.

Alison Rose at NatWest and Bernard Looney at BP learned late last year that shareholders are ruthlessly unforgiving of blunders and boards will take harsh decisions rather than reward errors.

It is not just the Post Office which proved rudderless in crisis. Fujitsu, the builders and operators of the Horizon IT system, have proved equally clueless when it comes to doing the right thing.

Fujitsu has long enjoyed favoured status when it comes to government contracts. The firm has deep UK roots. It was pieced together through a series of mergers in the 1960s to create International Computers Limited (ICL), then the biggest digital group outside the US.

In 1990 some 80 per cent of the company was sold to Fujitsu making the Japanese firm one of the largest overseas investors in the UK.

Japanese companies, with their eye on the long-term, generally have been good owners of British assets.

But with the loss of UK ownership and a stock market quote, there was a significant diminution of command and control.

Tokyo companies are not known for transparency. Scandals at Olympus in 2012 and Nissan in 2018 exposed a tendency to prevaricate and cover-up when faced with wrongdoing. Fujitsu in the UK found it much easier to obscure rather than come clean about errors.

The combination of second rate management and a lack of accountability at both the Post Office and Fujitsu proved to be the perfect storm for the sub-postmasters and mistresses. There were no powerful outside forces policing behaviour.

Free market capitalism and British-owned firms often make terrible mistakes. Think of the people and businesses harmed as a result of fraud at the Lloyds/HBOS operation in Reading. But the prospects for accountability, justice and compensation are much higher.

Gilts take-off

Dire warnings in the FT of a debt deluge and BlackRocks prediction of a UK Bond Sell-off dont appear to be putting off investors in British government stock.

To the contrary, bond buyers have looked at the prospects for the UK economy  which ended 2023 on an upbeat note  and decided to pile in.

Somebody perhaps noticed that in spite of efforts to talk Britain down, the UKs ratio of debt to output is healthier than most of the G7 bar Germany.

At the latest auction of gilts, enthusiasts bid 3.62 times for 2.25billion of the 2043 stock with a coupon of 4.75 per cent.

Thats the greatest demand since the start of Covid-19. That should embolden the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as he prepares for March tax cuts.

Galactic noise

Jupiter is paying the price for being a subscale, quoted active fund manager on the public markets when so much of the cash is flowing into low cost, passive investment.

It doesnt help when another one of your star turns, Ben Whitmore, who looks after 10billion of the 52billion of assets, decides to head off for greener pastures.

A near-15 per cent drop in Jupiter shares leaves the group looking to the stars.
Hong Kong: Algernon Yau starts Beijing trip

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau today called on State Council Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong and visited a satellite technology company in Beijing.

He gave Mr Xia an overview of the latest situation and the way forward in key work areas of the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau (CEDB), such as attracting enterprises and investment, and expanding the global economic and trade network.

Mr Xia fully recognised the CEDBs work. Thanking Mr Xia for his encouragement and support, Mr Yau said the CEDB will continue to assist local and overseas enterprises in tapping the opportunities of the Greater Bay Area and participating in the Belt & Road Initiative, thereby contributing to the countrys high-quality development.

In the afternoon, Mr Yau visited the ark space lab of Yinhe Hangtian (Beijing) Internet Technology Co (GalaxySpace) to learn about the companys developments in satellite technologies.

He also called on the Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in Beijing, and had dinner with Hong Kong residents and businessmen living in the capital.

This story has been published on: 2024-01-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese food cooking course launched in Myanmar to welcome Chinese New Year

Xinhua) 16:51, January 10, 2024

YANGON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The China Cultural Center in Yangon here on Tuesday launched a Chinese food cooking course for local people in Myanmar to welcome traditional Chinese Lunar New Year.

The traditional Chinese cuisine course, which will cover the preparation of 12 varieties of Chinese cuisine, will be conducted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between Jan. 9 and Feb. 6, the China Cultural Center said.

The Chinese Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 10 this year.

The purpose of the course is to welcome traditional Chinese New Year, particularly for preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, and to promote Chinese food culture, an official from the cultural center said.

The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, also known as "reunion dinner" and considered the most important meal of the year for Chinese, is eaten the night before the first day of the Chinese New Year.

A total of 10 Myanmar students attended the Chinese food cooking course on the first day, Tuesday, at the China Cultural Center in Yangon, the cultural center said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Frank Muhlon has been appointed as the new division president of Bucher Hydraulics and member of group management as of 1 July 2024. He succeeds Daniel Waller, who is stepping down after 20 very successful years in this position.

Daniel Waller has been with Bucher Hydraulics since 1999 and has held the position of division president and member of group management since 2004. During these 20 years, he successfully strengthened the global presence. Thanks to the expansion he drove forward in the USA, in Brazil, India and China, global customers could also be better served. He systematically pushed ahead with investment in modern production and assembly machinery and positioned Bucher Hydraulics as a key supplier for demanding applications. In recent years, he has pushed the development of electrohydraulic solutions. Thanks to his extremely consistent focus on results, he continuously increased sales and profits, making Bucher Hydraulics the second-largest and highly profitable division at Bucher Industries. After this successful period, Daniel Waller hands over responsibility to Frank Muhlon in the middle of the year.

Frank Muhlon, 54 years old, was CEO of ABB E-Mobility until 2023. He has more than 20 years of experience at leading international industrial companies such as ABB and Bosch Automotive, for which he had positions in Switzerland, Germany, China and the UK. Frank Muhlon, a German national, holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He will start at Bucher Hydraulics on 1 May 2024 and will assume responsibility as division president and become a member of the group management of Bucher Industries on 1 July 2024.
Honda has been a relative latecomer to the electric vehicle (EV) arena, but the announcement of a new series of battery powered cars signals the brand's intentions to play catch-up.

Two concept cars  the Saloon and the Space-Hub  have been unveiled at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, with the former set to hit US roads in 2026 and the UK shortly after.

The rakish, wedge-shaped Saloon has a swept-back design and a two-door sporty look, tailored towards the 'ultimate joy of driving', Honda said.

Japanese car giant Honda unveiled its striking Saloon EV concept during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week

The Space-Hub is more heavyset and rectangular with a sitting room-style interior with communal bench-like seats that face each other. The central 'hub' is designed to 'connect people'.

Shinji Aoyama, global vice president of Honda said: 'We have gone back to basics and formulated the Honda 0 Series with a design for the new era.'

And with the ultra-modern looks also comes an updated Honda logo, signaling a new electric era with a tweaked 'H' badge.

Replacing the current incarnation that date from 1981 will be a reimagined emblem that evokes 'two outstretched hands' to symbolise 'Honda's commitment to expand the possibilities of mobility and continue to meet the needs of its customers,' the company says.

The 0 Series concept models include autonomous driving tech and AI software 'ensure safety and peace of mind'

While only a concept for now, Honda says the Saloon EV will enter the European car market before the end of the decade. Time will tell if the production version looks as dramatic as the concept

At the rear of the Saloon is a unique brake light cluster, with wrap-around LED beams enclosed in a section on the back end

Both the Saloon and Space-Hub will implement the new 'Thin, Light, and Wise' Honda design philosophy and 'man maximum, machine minimum' concept.

Honda has always worked on the principal that it should increase the efficiency of the interior of a vehicle by maximising space for people and minimising space required for components.

So, the cars will use dedicated 'thin' (or low height) EV architecture to improve aerodynamics and passenger comfort.

It will also help to make the battery-laden EVs as light as possible to enhance range and performance.

Honda has redesigned its logo for the first time since 1981, with the new 'H' symbolising two outstretched hands. It will use this on its future EV models, it confirmed this week

The 0 Series will also include sustainable materials inside and out and have nods to the natural environment in its design.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE: New EV tech to transform the charging experience Charging an electric vehicle can seem a daunting task but new tech innovations could make charging you EV much simpler very soon. Here's our roundup of the latest EV charging tech to make plugging in faster, cheaper and easier.

Battery size and range is currently unknown, but 0 Series models will 'offer stress-free charging performance and worry-free battery performance'.

Aware that fast charging times are of the upmost importance to EV owners, the later 0 Series models will be able to fast charge 15 per cent to 80 per cent in about 10 to 15 minutes.

Honda has also promised to 'limit the degradation battery capacity (range) to less than 10 per cent after 10 years of use'.

Like many recent EV concepts unveiled, Honda's also included autonomous driving software and AI.

The Japanese firm's main aim with AI and autonomous driving is to 'ensure safety and peace of mind', it said in a statement.

Both cars feature Level 3 automated driving, including an ADAS (advanced driver-assisted system) based on Honda's 'human-centric' safety concept that act upon 'natural and high-precision risk predictions' that drivers feel at ease with.

Most of these features will be used on motorways but will also be adapted for smaller roads.

The Space-Hub concept is a boxier compact MPV with a lounge-like interior

Concept interiors are designed for maximum driver and passenger comfort and space using Honda's 'man maximum machine, minimum' mantra

Honda's 0 Series shows a new direction for a brand that's been less successful in the EV market so far compared to rivals.

Three years since Honda announced its ambitious target of 'increasing the ratio of EV sales to 100 per cent globally by 2024' the company appears to be doubling down on its commitment to achieve zero environmental impact 'throughout the vehicle's life cycle'.
Jeremy Hunt has met City chiefs as part of a renewed effort to boost Londons ailing stock market  with the creation of a British ISA said to be on the table.

A series of reforms announced by the Chancellor last summer has failed to stem the exodus of listed firms from the UK, with travel giant TUI among the latest to pack its bags.

Hunt and City minister Bim Afolami yesterday held a breakfast meeting with bosses including the chief executives of asset managers Schroders and Abrdn, as well as banking giant HSBC to review the initiatives.

The latest push to bolster the City came as:

Shares in Jupiter Fund Management fell 14.6per cent after it said it expected to report an outflow of 2.2billion in assets under management for 2023 amid weaker than anticipated retail sentiment;

Industry group Calastone said UK equity funds suffered a third year in a row of outflows last year and failed to see a pick-up last month even as confidence returned to the wider market;

Figures from advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal showed the UK was the biggest target in Europe for activist investors last year as cheap valuations made them easier to be snapped up.

Investment drive: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and City minister Bim Afolami held a meeting with bosses including the chief execs of Schroders and Abrdn, as well as banking giant HSBC

Hunts meeting with City chiefs including HSBCs Noel Quinn, Schroders Peter Harrison and Abrdns Stephen Bird was intended to review initiatives he announced in his Mansion House speech last month.

They include plans to unlock billions from pension funds to invest in UK growth companies.

And City regulators plan to simplify stock market listing rules to make it more attractive for firms to float in the UK.

Among other ideas being considered ahead of Hunts Budget in March are a UK individual savings account (ISA), designed to funnel more of the nations nest eggs into Britains stock market.

A Treasury spokesman said the Chancellor and Afolami met with industry leaders to discuss the Governments plans and progress to make the UK the global capital for capital.

The need for reform was crystallised by the decision by Cambridge-based chip design group Arm to float in New York rather than London last year.

Yet so far the effort appears to have had little impact.

Tui  Europes biggest tour operator  last week recommended to shareholders that it should abandon its dual-listed status in London and Frankfurt in favour of a sole listing in Germany.

And a recent survey found that one third of UK public company bosses have considered listing outside the UK.

The FTSE 100s underwhelming performance last year underscored why companies are seeking richer valuations elsewhere.

While the London blue-chip index rose by 3.8 per cent in 2023, the performance trailed behind the likes of New Yorks S&P 500 and Germanys Dax, which both climbed by more than 20 per cent.

Yesterdays update from Jupiter said that it was on course for net outflows of 2.2billion of funds under management for 2023.

It had previously predicted only a modest reduction but blamed a delay in the funding of some institutional mandates combined with weaker than anticipated retail sentiment in October and November 2023 for leading to a worse than anticipated outcome.

In a further blow to Jupiter boss Matthew Beesley  who has been battling to turn around its performance since taking over in October 2022  it disclosed that long-serving portfolio manager Ben Whitmore, who joined in 2006, would leave in July to set up his own boutique firm.

He manages around 10billion of Jupiters assets, about one fifth of its total.

Brokers at Peel Hunt said: This is likely to cause significant uncertainty as to the level of funds retained. Inevitably, we expect a chunk will be lost.
Habit shift: More Britons are turning to low-alcohol beers, including Ghost Ship 0.5%

A quarter of sales of one of the country's favourite ales is now for its low-alcohol alternative, as Britons turn to their back on alcohol beyond Dry January.

Adnams' Ghost Ship 0.5 per cent, which launched in 2018, now accounts for 26 per cent of sales of the ale, the Southwold-based brewery says.

Sales have surged so much that it is now the second-best selling beer in its entire range, only behind the 4.5 per cent version of Ghost Ship.

There has been a steady decline in the number of Britons drinking alcohol in recent years.

A recent report by hospitality research organisation KAM found 5.2million fewer UK adults drank weekly in 2023 than in 2021.

Young people are also increasingly moderating their alcohol intake, or shunning it completely - with two in five aged under-25 saying they are non-drinkers.

Fergus Fitzgerald, head of production at Adnams said: 'It seemed like a big leap in 2018 to invest in the technology to be able to brew a 0.5 per cent version of our best-selling beer, but we wanted to make sure we captured the flavours as closely as we could.

'It was clearly the right thing to do as Ghost Ship 0.5 per cent is now our second-best selling beer and is still growing.'

He adds: 'When we first started selling Ghost Ship 0.5 per cent it was really customers of Ghost Ship 4.5 per cent that bought the beer.

'But that seems to have changed, and it's now attracting customers who don't really know the original beer it was based on, and I think the new can format will help it broaden its appeal even further.'

Lucky Saint, the UK's largest dedicated alcohol free-beer brand, has also spearheaded change in the category and is now a staple in 1,000 pubs and venues across the UK.

It has reportedly double its sales in the last year.

Its boss recently said in an interview that it doesn't rely on Dry January drinkers - and that sales are steady across the year.

Changing tastes, which have helped to catalyse this boom in non and low-alcohol drinks, mean major brewers also want a piece of the action.

Heineken and Peroni's no-alcohol alternatives remain the most popular drinks in the category, while Guinness' 0.0 per cent option has also proved a hit.

Last summer, owner Diageo announced it would aim to triple production of its zero-alcohol brand in response to changing tastes.

The drink was launched in 2021 and Diageo predicts it is on course to account for 10 per cent of all Guinness sales in Ireland in the coming years.

However, the abundance of low and no-alcohol drinks has led some to accuse supermarkets of cashing in by hiking prices.

The cost of some alcohol alternatives is up by 50 per cent or more, according to research, with some prices on par with big brands which contain alcohol.

A 500ml Erdinger Alkoholfrei Wheat Beer rose 75 per cent from 1 to 1.75 in Waitrose, while Sainsbury's 12-packs of Heineken 0.0 lager jumped 64.3 per cent, from 7 to 11.50.

Figures compiled by The Grocer magazine shows there has been an average increase of 13.3 per cent across the category, while prices of alcohol rose 10.4 per cent.
Belvoir Group is set to merge with rival The Property Franchise Group, creating a combined business with a market capitalisation of more than 214million.

The deal, should it be approved by shareholders, will create one of the UK's largest multi-brand lettings and estate agency groups with more than 930 property franchise locations and around 152,000 tenanted properties across the country.

Belvoir told shareholders on Wednesday the deal will see the combined business sell more than 28,000 properties per annum, compared to the 10,970 it sold in 2022 and the 4,177 exchanged in the first half of 2023.

Merger: The combined business will have a market capitalisation of more than 214m

The firm's shareholders will receive 0.806377 new TPFG shares for each share they own, valuing the shares at 277.4p apiece - a premium to the 256.5p at close on Tuesday.

Belvoir Group specialises in rental properties, with a focus on the Midlands and the North, but has expanded into sales and mortgage advice.

Founded in the 1990s and listed on AIM in 2012, the company runs hundreds of estate and letting agencies, managing homes on behalf of landlords and tenants.

The company also benefits from operating a franchise model, with 240 franchisees running 335 offices across the country.

Belvoir defied difficult market conditions in the half-year result after the Lincolnshire-based company's financial services arm saw revenues soar on bumper demand for mortgage refinancing and product transfers.

TPFG Property Franchise Group runs a pure franchise model under multiple brands, such as Hunters, Ellis & Co and Parkers.

Belvoir and TPFG generated combined revenues of 60million in 2022, with management service fees of approximately 27million and adjusted earnings before nasties of approximately 22.5million.

It is intended that the combined group will be led by TPFG's chief executive Gareth Samples, its finance boss David Raggett and Paul Latham as chair, and Belvoir non-executive director Michelle Brook.

Upon completion of the merger, Belvoir shareholders will hold approximately 48.25 per cent of the combined group while TPFG shareholders will hold approximately 51.75 per cent.

The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

Belvoir Group shares were up 1.8 per cent to 261.15p approaching midday on Wednesday.

TPFG shares were down 1.3 per cent to 339.44p.

Latham said: 'We believe that the merger represents a compelling opportunity for all shareholders.

'Belvoir brings further breadth through its nationwide network and a financial services business which will be complementary to our current offering. The merger will enable us to continue to grow in the sector and, ultimately, deliver greater value to shareholders of the combined group.'

Jon Di-Stefano, non-executive chairman of Belvoir, added: 'The merger of Belvoir and TPFG combines two businesses with much in common, each supporting a network of entrepreneurial franchises, and will create one of the UK's largest multi-brand lettings and estate agency groups combined with a growing financial services business.

'With their complementary geographic footprints providing both scale and diversification across a variety of high street and hybrid brands combined with high levels of recurring revenue, we feel sure that the combined group will provide a robust platform from which to grow.'
The former president also posted a tribute calling her death a 'sad night for the entire Trump family'

'We will miss her beyond measure' the former first lady said in touching message

Former president Donald Trump has paid tribute to his mother-in-law Amalija Knavs, whose death aged 78 was announced on Tuesday, calling her 'an incredible woman.'

'This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family!!! Melanias great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!'

He then shared a photo of himself standing with Amalija.

Melania, 53, announced earlier on Tuesday that her mother had died.

'It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija,' she said.

Melania missed most of the Christmas and New Year celebrations at Mar-a-Lago to care for her ailing mother.

'Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.'

Melania did not reveal a cause of death, but Donald said on New Year's Eve his mother-in-law was 'very ill' and the impact was 'tough' on the family.

Former First Lady Melania Trump 's mother Amalija Knavs, 78, has died after being hospitalized in Miami, Florida, over the holidays. She is pictured center with her daughter and Donald Trump in 2018

Knavs was a textile factory dealer in her native Slovenia when she met husband Viktor. The pair then moved to the U.S. and have been by Melania's side during her career from modeling to the East Wing. She is pictured with her daughter in 2004

Knavs was born in 1945 in Judendorf-Strassengel, Austria, before moving to Slovenia when it was still under communist rule.

She spent her humble childhood harvesting onions on her family farm before starting work at a textile factory, which is where she met husband, Viktor.

They welcomed their first daughter, Ines - who now lives in Manhattan - in 1968, and two years later, the couple had Melania, who always said she was inspired by her hardworking mother.

The sisters both moved to Milan to launch their modeling careers, and Melania first came to the United States in 1996.

She obtained a green card in 2001 and became a naturalized citizen in 2006.

The couple then moved to the U.S. - it is unclear when - and were by Melania's side during her career from modeling to the East Wing.

They were retired and spent most of their time living at their son-in-law's palatial Palm Beach Club.

'My elegant and hardworking mother Amalija introduced me to fashion and beauty,' Melania said in her speech to the Republican National Convention in 2016.

'My father, Viktor, instilled in me a passion for business and travel. Their integrity, compassion and intelligence reflect to this day on me and for my love of family and America.'

The Knavs became naturalized U.S. citizens in August 2018, after Melania sponsored their green card.

They had to have received their green card five years before, to qualify for citizenship - meaning they obtained their green cards in 2013.

It was a process her husband criticized as 'chain migration' while he was in the White House.

Even as his in-laws were going through the process, Trump was denouncing it.

In November 2017, he tweeted, 'CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!'

The Knavs were unusually high profile for in-laws, and were frequently seen at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago.

At the annual Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party, the former president confirmed Melania's mother was 'very ill' and was initially positive about her recovery.

'Hopefully she'll be recovering,' the former president said.

'It's a tough one, a very tough one,' Trump continued, saying Melania 'sends her love' to all the people gathered in Palm Beach, Florida.

'She knows about 95 percent of the people in this room,' he said, prompting cheers from the partygoers, in a video posted to X.

Trump poses with Melania and Barron and his parents-in-law Amalija and Viktor Knavs on Christmas 2008

Left to right, Eric Trump, Viktor Knavs, Amalija Knavs, and Donald Trump pose for a group portrait at the Mar-a-Lago club in 2006

Amalija and her husband Viktor walk into the White House in August 2019. The pair met in their native Slovenia before moving to the United States

Amalija Knavs greets her son-in-law Trump as he walks through the crowd at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2018

Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle posted a family photo to her Instagram story the day after Christmas including several members of the Trump family.

Melania's absence from the image was immediately noticed.

'Melania has always been very devoted to her entire family,' a source close to the former first lady told Fox News Digital.

'It should be no surprise that she spent this Christmas with her ailing mother.'

Guilfoyle's image posted on her Instagram story saw a large chunk of the Trump crew in front of a Christmas tree at the ex-president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Melania's father, Viktor, 79, was present in the photo.

Donald Trump confirmed Amalija Knavs (pictured with husband Viktor in 2018) was 'very ill' over Christmas and Melania was at her bedside

Don Jr.'s fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle posted to her Instagram story a Trump family photo (above) with several members of the ex-president's family at Mar-a-Lago the day after Christmas, including Barron Trump. Pictured far left: Melania's father Viktor Knavs

The picture also includes former President Donald Trump; his eldest son Don Jr. and fiancee Guilfoyle; the youngest Trump child Barron, 17; Tiffany Trump and husband Michael Boulos; and eldest daughter Ivanka with husband Jared Kushner and their three kids, Arabella, 12, Joseph, 10, and Theodore, seven.

The tallest of the bunch is Barron, who is seen standing several inches taller than his father, who is 6'3'.

Reports this month indicate that Melania, 53, will increase her public appearances the support her husband's reelection bid.

It comes after the former first lady, an immigrant herself, appeared at the National Archives on December 15 for remarks at a naturalization ceremony. She also joined the other first ladies at Rosalynn Carter's funeral last month  even though her husband did not attend with the other presidents.

Eric Trump and wife Lara were also not in the group shot in front of the Mar-a-Lago Christmas tree.

Guilfoyle also posted a few images to her Instagram grid with her fiance Don Jr., and the ex-president in front of the festive decorations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and residence.

Melania and Donald Trump arrive for Christmas Eve dinner with the former first lady's parents Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs in West Palm Beach, Florida on December 24, 2019

While they did not spend Christmas Day together, half sisters Ivanka and Tiffany Trump joined the family celebration on December 25.

The two also showed off their festive spirits in jolly posts shared to their respective social media accounts.

Marla Maples, 60, who was married to Trump from 1993 to 1999, posted a photo of her and her daughter, Tiffany, 30, posing in front of a Christmas tree.

The mother-daughter duo donned an all-black look, wearing their hair loose as they beamed at the camera.

'Merry Christmas, from our hearts to yours,' Marla wrote on the post. 'Love, Marla & Tiffany.'

Meanwhile, Ivanka shared some festive snaps to social media, posting a Christmas photo - as well as some throwback pics.

Former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle also posted to her Instagram on Tuesday, December 26 an image with fiance Don Jr. and former President Donald Trump with the back drop of Mar-a-Lago Christmas decorations

Ivanka Trump, 42, husband Jared Kushner, 42, and their three kids - Arabella, 12, Joseph, 10, and Theodore, seven - were pictured with former President Trump on December 26

Sharing two pictures to her Instagram story, the second eldest child of Donald's first wife Ivana and the president, showed off her smiling family celebrating the holidays.

In one picture, Ivanka, husband Jared Kushner, both 43, and their three kids  Arabella, 12; Joseph, 10; and Theodore, 7  all posed with the former first daughter's maternal grandmother as they celebrated Christmas lunch.

Ivanka also uploaded a photo of her family later in the evening, standing in front of an extravagant Christmas tree with her father the day after Christmas.

The family were dressed up for the celebration, with the mom-of-three adding a Merry Christmas gif to her Instagram story.
A Victorian woman with stage four breast cancer has had her entire life savings stolen by a cruel scammer who tricked her into believing there was an issue with her PayPal.

Carolyn Coster, from West Gippsland, was told the heartbreaking news her cancer had spread to her bones while visiting LaTrobe Regional Hospital just a few days before Christmas.

After returning home from the hospital, the devastated 58-year-old received a call from an unknown Sydney number.

The caller identified himself as 'Robert Brown' and told Ms Coster there was a problem with her PayPal account.

The scammer told Ms Coster that her PayPal had been 'ripping her off' and asked for her bank account details so that he could fix the issue.

Carolyn Coster, from West Gippsland, was told the heartbreaking news her cancer had spread to her bones while visiting LaTrobe Regional Hospital just a few days before Christmas .

Ms Coster's friend Marg Thomson said the 'evil' scammer preyed on the vulnerability of a sick woman.

She explained Ms Coster received a scam email a few months prior claiming there had been a fraudulent transaction on her PayPal, which made her believe the call was legitimate.

The scammer called back multiple times over the next few days before Coster gave him her Bendigo Bank account number and pin.

Ms Coster checked her bank account on December 30 and found her entire life-savings of $5,000 was stolen.

Ms Thomson, who started a GoFundMe for Ms Coster, said her friend was planning to use the money to move into a cottage where she could live the remainder of her life.

'My friend was going to use the money to help her move to a small cottage in peaceful surroundings where she could live out the remainder of her life in tranquility,' Ms Thomson wrote.

'Now, even this is being threatened, as she needs the money to pay for rent and bond in advance.'

Since the time of writing, the GoFundMe page has received 33 donations totalling $3,055.

It's understood Bendigo Bank will reimburse Coster for the amount lost to the scammer.

Last year, Aussies reported more than 99,700 cases of phishing scams which cost victims more than $22.5 million, according to the ACCC's Scamwatch.

More than $14.2 million was lost via phone call phishing scams, with victims aged over 55 years old representing about 43,000 of the victims.
Ranging from the tragic to the darkly funny, they are the deaths which stand out in history.

Inventor Franz Reichelt died in 1912 when he jumped off the Eiffel Tower in the misguided belief that his homemade parachute would work.

Harold Davidson, a former vicar who was defrocked after spending time with prostitutes, met a gruesome end when he shut himself in cage with two lions.

And King Alexander of Greece died after being bitten by a monkey in the grounds of his palace while trying to protect his dog.

As for King George V, his passing in January 1936 was eased with the help of cocaine and morphine, with his doctor wanting to ensure his death would be reported in the morning papers.

New book Strange Ways to Die in History: The Heroic, Tragic and Funny, reveals dozens of bizarre deaths.

Below, MailOnline delves into them in further detail.

Franz Reichelt - the inventor who jumped from the Eiffel Tower with a homemade parachute

Although he was a tailor by trade, Franz Reichelt's real passion lay in inventing. At the time, in the early 20th century, aeroplanes were in their infancy, and Reichelt was keen to develop a wearable parachute for when they went wrong

Although he was a tailor by trade, Franz Reichelt's real passion lay in inventing.

At the time, in the early 20th century, aeroplanes were in their infancy, and Reichelt was keen to develop a wearable parachute for when they went wrong.

The Daily Mail's report of the tragedy

He set about tailoring a special suit made from silk and rubber. He theorised that a falling person could open their arms to create wings that would slow their descent.

His first attempts, using dummies, were successful. However, when he refined the previously bulky design, the dummies crashed to earth.

When Reichelt tested the suit himself by dropping more than 30 feet, he needed piles of straw to break his fall and save his life.

However, the inventor believed that, if the drop was higher, the suit would work.

In 1912, he was given permission to test the suit from Paris's Eiffel Tower.

Although friends tried to convince him not to carry out the feat, Reichelt pressed on.

Cameras were there to ensure that Reichelt's feat would be recorded forever.

He was seen perching on a chair for several moments before he stepped over the fence on the first level of the tower and falling to his fate.

Rather than the suit working as he believed it would, Reichelt dropped like a stone in a flurry of fabric.

The inventor was killed instantly.

A depiction of Reichelt falling to his death from the Eiffel Tower after his homemade parachute failed to work

Harold Davidson - the defrocked vicar who was killed by a lion

English clergyman Harold Davidson met a bizarre and gruesome end.

The vicar, who had been the rector of the Norfolk parish of Stiffkey, was defrocked in 1932 after it emerged that he had spent time with prostitutes.

The churchman had previously appeared on the London stage in his younger years and so returned to performing in the hope of earning a living.

English clergyman Harold Davidson met a bizarre and gruesome end. He was attacked by a lion

His acts included sitting in a refrigerator and a glass oven.

Davidson then moved to Skegness, where he planned an act that was called 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' in 1937.

It involved him entering a cage with two lions. Whilst the act went without a hitch on several occasions, Davidson's luck eventually ran out.

In another performance of the act, he accidentally trod on the tail of a lioness - the mate of a lion called Fred.

Fred lunged at him and swiped at his neck and back, causing deep wounds and breaking a bone in his neck.

The Daily Mail told at the time how it was 'nearly five minutes before he was rescued.'

The Daily Mail told at the time how it was 'nearly five minutes before he was rescued'

King George V - injected with morphine and cocaine

By the time he died in January 1936, King George V had been in poor health for several years.

When he suffered from what was believed to be a severe cold in the final weeks of his life, his doctors released a statement that read: 'The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.'

One of his doctors, Bertrand Dawson, planned to help the monarch have a peaceful death.

His diary, which was revealed in 1936, recorded that because the 'last stage might endure for many hours', he injected him with morphine and cocaine to quicken his passing.

By the time he died in January 1936, King George V had been in poor health for several years. Above: The King giving his Christmas message in 1935

The doctor admitted that this course of action was 'unknown to the patient', but he pressed on in the knowledge that the King's death would therefore be announced in The Times the next morning, rather 'less appropriate... evening journals'.

For his service to the King, the doctor, who supported the use of euthanasia, was created Viscount Dawson of Penn in the same year that the monarch died.

When his actions emerged in 1986, they were condemned by the former president of the Royal College of Physicians and the King's biographer

Professor Sir Douglas Black said: 'I think he did something which, to me, is evil, in order that good should come of it.'

Sir Kenneth Rose said the doctor's actions were 'nothing short of murder in the eyes of the law'.

He added: 'There is no such thing as mercy killing. Therefore, Dawson committed murder.'

When he suffered from what was believed to be a severe cold in the final weeks of his life, his doctors released a statement that read: 'The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close.' One of his doctors, Bertrand Dawson (above), planned to help the monarch have a peaceful death

Boston Molasses Flood

In 1919, Boston's Purity Distilling Company was the unlikely source of a truly horrifying accident.

The firm was storing around 2.3million gallons of molasses in a huge 50ft-high tank.

The viscous, sweet liquid was destined to be converted into ethanol for use in industry.

In 1919, Boston's Purity Distilling Company was the unlikely source of a truly horrifying accident. Above: The aftermath of the Great Molasses Flood

However, disaster struck when a new load of molasses was added to the tank.

Whilst the exact cause of the subsequent rupture is unclear - it may have been due to the heat of the new load causing the entire contents to expand - the consequences were horrifying.

On January 15, a wall of molasses travelling at 35mph burst out of the tank, levelling anything it collided with.

People and animals, unable to outrun the tide, were swept up.

One report described horses dying 'like so many flies on sticky fly-paper.'

The Boston Post told how there was 'no escape' from the wave. It added: 'Once it smeared a head - human or animal - there was no coughing off the sticky mass.

'Most of those who died, died from suffocation. It plugged nostrils almost air-tight.'

Twenty-one people died, whilst a further 150 were injured.

The Boston Post told how there was 'no escape' from the wave. It added: 'Once it smeared a head - human or animal - there was no coughing off the sticky mass'. Above: The widespread damage caused by the disaster

King Alexander I of Greece - died after being bitten by a monkey

Alexander I of Greece only inherited the throne of his country after his older brother and father fled their homeland following the outbreak of the First World War.

Having caused a scandal when he married a commoner, Alexander was not popular.

However, few would have expected that a monkey would be the cause of his demise - as it was in 1920.

The King had been walking his dog in the grounds of his palace when the primate leapt out and attacked his pet.

Alexander I of Greece only inherited the throne of his country after his older brother and father fled their homeland following the outbreak of the First World War

After stepping in to pull the animals apart, another monkey appeared and inflicted a deep bite on the king.

Not wanting to worry anyone, the king had the wounds dressed and then just carried on with his day.

But within hours, the king had fallen seriously ill with an infection.

Several operations failed to cure his malaise, with doctors unwilling to carry out an amputation.

Four weeks later, the king died from fever.

Bobby Leach - slipped on orange peel and broke his leg

In 1911, Englishman Bobby Leach decided to find fame by going over the terrifying Niagara Falls in a specially constructed barrel.

Incredibly, he survived the feat but spent nearly six months in hospital recovering from broken kneecaps and ribs.

After recovering, he made money from his plunge by selling postcards and going on world tours.

It was while he was on tour in New Zealand in 1926 that the daredevil's luck ran out.

While walking in the street, he slipped on a piece of orange peel and broke his leg.

Complications from the break forced doctors to amputate his leg. Infection set in and Leach died.

In 1911, Englishman Bobby Leach decided to find fame by going over the terrifying Niagara Falls in a specially constructed barrel

After recovering, he made money from his plunge by selling postcards and going on world tours

Strange Ways to Die in History: The Heroic, Tragic and Funny, by Ben Gazur, will be published on January 30 by Pen & Sword

Strange Ways to Die in History: The Heroic, Tragic and Funny, by Ben Gazur, will be published on January 30 by Pen & Sword.
House Republicans are set to host a momentous first hearing to debate impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday.

The hearing, which begins at 10 a.m., is set to bring President Biden's border policy to the center stage, just as lawmakers on the Senate side try to salvage a sprawling immigration and foreign aid deal.

Top law enforcement witnesses from across the country are expected to blame Mayorkas for the negative effects of fentanyl and increase in crime due to illegal crossings at the border into their communities.

The Homeland Security Committee will hear from attorneys general from Missouri (Andrew Bailey), Oklahoma (Gentner Drummond) and Montana (Austin Knudsen) and University of Missouri Law Professor Frank Bowman.

House Republicans are set to host a momentous first hearing to debate impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas today

Drummond signed onto an amicus brief last year accusing the Biden administration of failing to follow the law by not detaining migrants at the border.

After weeks of negotiations on Capitol Hill over the deal, Mayorkas has not been invited to testify at the hearing. He is on the ground in Eagle Pass, Texas, this week, where over 60 Republicans visited last week.

A DHS official noted Mayorkas has testified on Capitol Hill more than any other Cabinet official - 27 times since taking the job,

It's the first impeachment hearing after nearly a year of investigations and reports put out by the House Homeland Security Committee.

If Republicans succeed in impeaching Mayorkas, he would be the first Cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years. Doing so would require near-total Republican unanimity given their narrow, three-seat majority.

Meanwhile, Sen. James Lankford, Okla., who is leading border negotiations for Republicans on the Senate side, tamped down any sense of optimism that both sides could reach an agreement this week.

Migrant caravan departs from Tapachula, Mexico toward US in December

'There's too many unanswered issues that are still there. There's too many unresolved parts,' he told reporters this week.

The House voted to refer impeachment articles back to the Homeland Security Committee back in November, and impeachment articles are expected to originate there after a series of hearings, if the committee decides to move forward with it.

The hearing comes as border crossings have reached a record high, surpassing 2.4 million in fiscal year 2023, according to government figures released in October. Just last month alone crossings at the southern border were more than 300,000.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released more than 2.3 million migrants into the United States at the southern border under the Biden administration, according to DHS.

But Speaker Johnson's slim majority comes after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy resigned from Congress at the end of 2023 and embattled Rep. George Santos was kicked out.

House GOP Whip Steve Scalise is battling cancer and will be out of D.C. until next month, so if an impeachment vote is held in January he may not be present.

And the expected resignation of Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio on January 21 will knock down the GOP majority even further - 219 Republicans (including Scalise) to 213 Democrats.

'Secretary Mayorkas is not a good faith negotiating partner,' Johnson this week said on CBS after his trip to Eagle Pass, when asked about removing the secretary in a time of 'crisis' numbers at the border.

The trips to Eagle Pass come as the battle between the Biden administration and the state of Texas heats up, with the White House asking the Supreme Court to step in and allow it to tear down the razor wire Gov. Greg Abbott has installed along the southern border.

Abbott also installed floating barriers in the Rio Grande, which later failed a legal battle and were removed, and recently signed a new law allowing state law enforcement to arrest and immediately deport migrants.
Details of the sexual assault case against US suspect Nicholas Rossi have been revealed for the first time after he was extradited from Scotland despite claiming for years that he is the victim of mistaken identity.

Court filings obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com confirm Rossi, who is alleged to have faked his death and fled to the UK to evade justice, was wanted for one count of first-degree felony rape after allegedly 'forcing' himself on his 21-year-old former girlfriend and penetrating her, during an incident in Orem, Utah in 2008.

Up until now, there had never been an official public version of events because Rossi has insisted he is an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, even after his identity was confirmed through DNA and distinctive tattoos when he was on the run.

A probable cause statement submitted in the filings reveals the victim, identified only by initials 'K.P.', reported to a local hospital in September 2008 that she had been raped by her ex-boyfriend, identified as Rossi.

According to the woman, the pair initially met on Myspace four months earlier in July before meeting in person for the first time about two weeks later.

Nicholas Rossi, pictured after his extradition in Edinburgh, Scotland in July, was finally booked into a Utah jail last week after a years-long legal battle

Court filings reveal Rossi (pictured left in 2008 and right in 2010) has been linked to criminal cases of sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping from 2007 to 2019 in Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah, and Massachusetts

Court filings obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com confirm Rossi was wanted for one count of first-degree felony rape after allegedly 'forcing' himself on his 21-year-old former girlfriend and penetrating her, during an incident in Orem, Utah in 2008

She confirmed they had been 'boyfriend and girlfriend' but explained that Rossi had been getting 'more rough with her' during sex, leaving her with bruises on her legs, and that he had 'bit her on the shoulder', the papers state.

She also described one incident when she felt hesitant to have intercourse and claimed Rossi told her that it 'turned him on' when she was 'kinda reluctant to have sex with him.'

The woman said the relationship ended 'two weeks before school started', blaming the breakup on the 'amount of money' Rossi owed her and his increasingly 'aggressive' behavior.

She said Rossi later invited her over on September 13, indicating that he would pay her the money he owed her.

But during that meeting, Rossi allegedly unzipped his pants, exposed his penis, and 'started to masturbate in front of K.P.' before attempting to 'dry hump' her,' according to the documents.

After she told him to stop, she told police, Rossi then pushed her onto the couch and removed her clothes.

She said she had told him 'no' at least '10 times' and 'described crying during this,' according to the filing.

It was then that Rossi allegedly 'forced intercourse' and eventually ejaculated.

According to the woman, Rossi allegedly told her this was her fault because she is 'mentally unstable and too emotional to deal with.'

She also claimed that Rossi at one point blocked the door to prevent her from leaving, and that she was eventually able to run out when he got 'distracted' by a text message.

DailyMail.com can confirm Rossi was booked into Davis County Jail last Friday

Rossi - who appeared throughout his court dates in a wheelchair, using an oxygen mask - was extradited to the US on rape charges after allegedly faking his death and fleeing to the UK

The 36-year-old was previously interviewed alongside his wife, Miranda Knight, whom he met in Bristol after fleeing to the UK to escape allegations of sexual assault in the US

A rape kit was later completed and in 2018 Orem police were notified that the DNA swabs matched Rossi.

The documents also reveal that during their investigation, police located reports involving criminal cases of sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping from 2007 to 2019 in Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah, and Massachusetts.

They also uncovered a 'consistent pattern of behavior' by Rossi, who had an apparent habit of meeting women online, and initially meeting them in person in a public place.

'Eventually both Rossi and the female will go somewhere alone. Rossi will initiate some inappropriate contact leading the female to want to leave. Rossi either will threaten suicide or will force a non-consensual encounter,' the papers state.

Rossi's extradition last week marks a dramatic breakthrough in the years-long legal battle, which had been stymied by a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab, resulting in a 13-year delay of the suspect's arrest.

The 36-year-old, who has used at least 10 aliases in his run from the law, was booked last Friday afternoon into the Davis County Jail, which houses many federal detainees in northern Utah.

Rossi will likely be transferred to Utah County in the coming days, where he will stand trial for felony rape charges, according to the Utah County Attorney's Office.

He faces another felony rape charge in Salt Lake County, where prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a 26-year-old former girlfriend after an argument, also in 2008.

His initial court date had not been set as of Monday and records did not yet indicate who will represent him in court.

Scottish ministers signed an order in September last year giving permission for Nicholas Rossi, 36, to be extradited.

Last month, appeal judges had quashed Rossi's bid to avoid extradition, paving the way for him to be removed from Scotland to face serious sex charges in the US.

Police believe Rossi staged his own death in 2020 to escape sex and fraud charges

Rossi appeared at the court by video link in August after claiming to be unwell

Nicholas Rossi as a child sitting on his stepfather's motorbike in Providence, Rhode Island

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: 'We assisted partner agencies with the extradition of a 36-year-old man.'

The order followed a battle in Scotland's courts in which Rossi was ruled to be wanted by authorities in Utah for the alleged rape of a woman in 2008.

Officials in the US believe he is a fugitive who faked his death and fled to the UK to evade justice.

But Rossi has repeatedly claimed he is the victim of mistaken identity and says he is an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight.

The suspect, who was born Nicholas Alahverdian before changing his surname to that of his adoptive stepfather, David Rossi - claimed he had been diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in late 2019 and told friends he was dying.

An obituary appeared online for Rossi in early 2020 saying he had died and that his ashes had been scattered at sea.

But the following year he was arrested in a Covid hospital ward in Scotland, where he was registered as Arthur Knight.

It was then ruled that the fugitive - who appeared throughout his court dates in a wheelchair, using an oxygen mask - is indeed Rossi after he was identified through DNA and distinctive tattoos, which were described in an Interpol alert.

Under the guise of Arthur Brown, Rossi is believed to have met his wife, Miranda Knight, in Bristol in 2019 and married her in early 2020, assuming the name Arthur Knight.

They moved to Glasgow shortly afterwards but in 2021, Rossi became so ill with Covid that he had to be hospitalized at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

In July 2020, DNA allegedly linked him to a 2008 rape in Utah which is ultimately what led to his discovery in Scotland.

He was arrested on December 13, 2021 at the Glasgow hospital by police officers who served him with an Interpol red notice.

With the assistance of medical staff at the hospital, the patient initially named as Arthur Knight was identified as Rossi, but he has continued to insist he is not the suspect.

In one interview with Dateline, Rossi is seen speaking in what appears to be an English accent and he angrily insists he is a British man called Arthur Knight.

He also theatrically tried standing to prove that he was unable to walk before throwing himself back down.

Rossi appeared alongside his wife British wife, Miranda who shouted: 'Woah', before trying to stabilize him.

'I am not Nicholas Alahverdian. I do not know how to make this clearer,' he told NBC in a bizarre accent, muffled by an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

In court appearances, he has maintained his pained English accent, with an Irish lilt whenever he mentions the word Dublin, where he claims to have been born.

Miranda has continued to stand by her husband's side since he was first arrested in December 2021.

'I'm here with Arthur,' she told the Daily Record in February. 'I know my husband, I love my husband, and he's always been the perfect gentleman to me and he's always wanted the best for me.'

Last year, his stepfather, David Rossi - an Engelbert Humperdinck impersonator - revealed an old photograph of a floppy-haired teenager on a motorcycle, who, despite lacking a breathing aide and looking many pounds lighter, bears a striking resemblance to the man in court.

In a wide-ranging interview, he described his estranged stepson as 'the devil's spawn' and said he was an 'evil' child who punched his mother and grandmother.

He told DailyMail.com: 'He'll do anything to hide from the law. The wheelchair, the mask. It's c**p. There's nothing wrong with him. Everything about him is Nicky.

'My first impression of Nicky was that he had mental problems. He just got worse with every day.'
Nobody who read Nadine Dorriess beautiful account of her husbands death in yesterdays Scottish Daily Mail could fail to be moved by her story.

As Nadine wrote, her husband Paul had initially declared he wanted to go to Dignitas to end his life following his diagnosis of terminal bowel cancer.

His own father had died from the same disease and he didnt want his wife or his daughters to see him undergo a similar ordeal.

In the event, however, he died at home surrounded by his family, free from pain.

Dame Esther Rantzen has spoken out in favour of assisted dying

In our last moments, when he was awake, I sat on his bed and sang to him  Joni Mitchells Both Sides Now, Nadine wrote. Tears ran down our faces, my daughters photographed us. Somehow we knew this was it. His last words were that the past few months had been the best of his life.

It was a beautiful reminder that a good death is possible and something thats in our grasp, even in the most tragic of cases.

Nadines story, of course, comes with the question of assisted dying very much at the forefront of our thoughts across the UK. Only a few weeks ago, Dame Esther Rantzen, now suffering from terminal stage 4 lung cancer, spoke bravely in support of assisted dying, saying she wanted the right to choose when to end her life.

Dame Esther has now joined Dignitas, with her family in mind; she wants their last memories of her not to be painful ones because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times.

How to make our way through this moral maze?

We in Scotland will soon find ourselves confronted by this choice.

The Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur is expected to introduce his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill shortly.

Unlike on previous occasions when similar Bills fell at the first hurdle, Mr McArthur expects the general principles of the Bill to be backed by MSPs.

It may be very soon that assisted dying will be legal here too.

Its one of those things where, once we pass the legislation, we will wonder why on earth it took us so long, Mr McArthur declared over the Christmas break.

It seems most of us approve.

A YouGov poll published last year by the campaign group Dignity in Dying found that 77 per cent of Scots are in favour of allowing people to take their own lives.

Im among the other 23 per cent, however.

I still dont believe the case for such a momentous shift in our ethical framework has been made.

I fear a slippery slope where our founding belief in the sanctity of life is eroded.

Let it be said, however, that this issue is a desperately difficult one.

I remember listening to the late great Margo MacDonald speak about this issue more than ten years ago, when she sought to introduce a similar Bill to Holyrood.

As with Nadine yesterday, it was impossible not to be moved as Margo spoke about how Parkinsons disease would kill her.

My friend, the former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, has also spoken powerfully about her change of mind.

How can it be fair, Ruth has asked, that 300 people in the UK ended up taking their own lives at home because of the pain they found themselves in?

How is it right that its only those with a spare 10,000 who can to fly to Switzerland to end their lives, and not poorer people for whom the option is unavailable?

Meanwhile, Mr McArthurs Bill seeks to head off the concerns of people like me at the pass.

The Bill does not advance the kind of radically liberal proposals currently seen in places such as Canada.

Only people who are terminally ill and mentally competent would be permitted to end their lives.

Two doctors would be required to agree that a person had full mental capacity and was making an informed decision without pressure or coercion.

Mr McArthur has raised the cases of Scots who have suffered agonising deaths, who could have passed away two weeks earlier without pain, and whose families have suffered trauma as a consequence.

But here are the objections I still find equally impossible to ignore.

I think what will be billed initially as an option of death for terminally ill people will inevitably slip into something close to an expectation.

This will, I worry, make many people at the end of their lives feel like a burden.

At the back of peoples minds will be the knowledge that if they simply gave in and accepted death, then the NHS and their families could be freed of them tomorrow.

How many will feel that subtle pressure just to do so? And how awful is that?

For the avoidance of doubt, I know that our doctors and nurses would continue to offer care and support for people who wished to carry on.

But the very fact they would be able to end life would, I think, erode the precious sense of trust that patients currently feel to those who care for them.

I fear too that, despite the reassurances of the Bills supporters, it may degrade the quality of end-of-life care which  as Nadines case demonstrates  can, at its best, give those on the verge of death a sense of both dignity and closure.

And it seems inevitable to me that, once passed in principle, the pressure to extend assisted dying in practice would soon follow.

This is not because legislators have a death wish or are heartless euthanisers. It is simply a matter of logic.

For once society accepts that assisting death is justified in certain cases, then why not extend it to those many more people who will also have equally powerful stories to tell about why they find life intolerable?

To return to the Canadian example, the 2016 law that permitted assisted dying for people with terminal illness was extended in 2021 to include those with serious and chronic physical conditions, even when it was non-life threatening.

This year, it could be extended to people suffering from mental disorders too.

I find that utterly terrifying. Its not hard to imagine the same path being taken here too.

The question facing MSPs this year should be a bigger one than the question of assisted dying.

It should focus on how to improve existing treatment, and how palliative care can be improved so more patients are able to have a dignified and a good and pain-free death.

The NHS should also continue to prevent over-treatment and encourage good practice that does not seek to prolong life pointlessly.

But in the end, I believe this issue comes down to a simple moral principle. It should not be resolved by a contest of heart-rending stories.

It boils down to whether we believe that it is the states job to actively bring forward the end of our lives.

There may seem little difference between that and allowing death to take place but, in truth, its a moral difference that is as wide as the sea.

In 2024, I hope its something that our MSPs are brave enough to distinguish.
January 9, 2024: In 2022 Ukraine conducted a crowdfunding campaign to raise $25 million so Ukraine could build at least a hundred Unmanned Surface Vessels or USVs. These were used to carry out a series of attacks on Russian warships, ports, and other coastal targets in Black Sea. Ukraine needed to protect its coastal waters and use of the Black Sea for shipping that carried Ukrainian exports and imports. By late 2023 this effort led to the development of a new USV called Cossack Mamai. This model is a major improvement on the earlier Sea Baby USV. Cossack Mamai is faster, at about 100 kilometers an hour and armored against machine-gun bullets. To stop this USV you need a weapon that fires 20mm or larger shells accurately enough to hit and disable a USV that is only about six meters long and a hard target to hit and disable or destroy. Cossack Mamai uses a satellite link and a video camera so that it can be remotely controlled to where its target is. The USV can carry 850 kg of explosives, and this enabled several of these USVs to disable the Kerch Strait bridge between Russia and Crimea.

Ukrainian President Zelensky backed the USV program because Ukraine didnt have any warships while the Russian Black Sea Fleet was vulnerable because Turkey has threatened to close the Dardanelles strait to additional Russian warships seeking to enter the Black Sea and reinforce the depleted Russian Black Sea Fleet. The narrow Dardanelles is the only way in or out of the Black Sea and an international treaty allows Turkey to limit warship access to the Dardanelles in wartime. Turkey is more concerned about the safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea and the continued movement of ships carrying Ukrainian grain out and commercial cargo for Ukraine coming into the Black Sea.

Ukraine did not invent the concept of USVs but did find new ways to use them in wartime. As a country without warships, Ukraine has used UAVs, USVs and guided missile and glide bombs to attack and disable Russian naval bases in the Black Sea and gradually destroy the Russian Black Sea Fleet. This reduced Russian naval activity in the Black Sea and eliminated a major threat to commercial shipping and use of Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The Russian Black Sea Fleet had been a source of attacks on the south by launching Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities.

Ukraines USVs have also proved effective at destroying or disabling Russian warships in the Black Sea and forcing the surviving warships to move to more distant ports. This includes the primary Russian naval bases in the Black Sea, which were Sevastopol in Crimea and Novorossiysk on the east coast of the Black Sea. Novorossiysk had a small naval base facility added in 2012. Ukrainian UAVs and USVs succeeded in driving the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol so Novorossiysk is being used to host its surviving remnants. While Novorossiysk is mainly a commercial port, exporting oil and other goods produced in the area and handling most of the imports, most of that has been halted because the Ukrainian USVs make the Black Sea a dangerous place for Russian ships of any type.

Even Novorossiysk is not safe from the USVs and now Russia is considering building a naval base and a shipyard adjacent to Georgia, a small country over 800 kilometers from Crimea and the port of Sevastopol. Ukraines present USVs normally have a maximum range of 800 kilometers and a top speed of 80 kilometers an hour, so theyll need new ones to hit any new Russian port near Georgia.
Workers may avoid moving to Scotland and doctors will reject promotions because of the SNPs tax hikes, a top economist has warned.

Professor David Bell yesterday told MSPs that the tax triple whammy in the Budget risks causing a slowdown in the migration of skilled workers to Scotland.

He also condemned the absence of measures to boost economic growth and tackle the number of jobless people living off benefits.

Last months Budget came under fire on the first day of scrutiny at the Scottish parliament as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also warned that brutal cuts to affordable housing could cause an increase in poverty.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison delivering her budget in Holyrood last December

Professor Bell, of the economics department at Stirling University, cautioned that the tax policies will cause a behavioural response, saying: Theres the sort of response in terms of people not being willing to take the promotion, maybe working less and so on.

Theres the migration response, which is about people maybe not coming to Scotland, which is very difficult to calibrate.

He highlighted that people earning between 100,000 and 125,000 will face one of the highest marginal tax rates in Europe because of SNP changes to income tax and alterations to Westminster-controlled national insurance contributions.

He also said that any decision by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut income tax south of the Border could increase the behavioural response in Scotland further.

Speaking to Holyroods finance committee, Professor Bell said: You ask a well-qualified hospital doctor to take on additional responsibility and offer her an increase in salary from 100,000 to 125,000 to take on that additional responsibility and they get to keep about 7,000 of that additional money. Would you do it? is the question that people will reasonably ask.

In the Budget, SNP ministers announced that a new 45p income tax band is to be introduced on earnings above 75,000; the top rate on earnings above 125,140 will rise by 1p to 48p and the higher rate threshold will be frozen at 43,663.

Professor David Bell has spoken about the risks of a slowdown of migration of skilled workers to Scotland

In a paper for the committee, Professor Bell highlighted Scottish Fiscal Commission analysis which estimated that the revenue raised from tax decisions in the Budget reduces from 200million to 82million when the behavioural impact is taken into account.

He also said the soaring cost of social security payments is sustainable only if ministers are willing to say other programmes are going to have to be cut.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: Our tax policies are grounded in evidence and carefully balance the need to raise revenue with the impact on taxpayers and the economy.

Since the Scottish Government made changes to income tax rates and bands in 2017-18, net migration of working age people from the rest of the UK to Scotland has averaged almost 7,000 per year.

Meanwhile, UKHospitality Scotland yesterday claimed restaurants are now closing down because they are not getting the same business rates relief as firms south of the Border.

The organisations executive director, Leon Thompson, said: Closures this early in January are just the tip of the iceberg.
A former postmaster was threatened by his fellow villagers with 'wanted dead or alive posters' and a four-foot cross engraved with his name after he was wrongfully convicted of stealing 75,000 from the Post Office, his son has revealed.

Vipinchandra Patel, 70, who ran the post office in Horspath, Oxfordshire, was convicted of fraud and given an 18 week suspended prison sentence in 2011.

While his conviction was eventually quashed in December 2020, Mr Patel and his family endured almost a decade of torment at the hands of the Post Office and its faulty Horizon IT software, which wrongly showed there were 'missing funds'.

His son Varchas Patel said during those years, his father's physical health declined, while the false charge caused strains within their wider family and the tight-knit village where Mr Patel still lives and works.

'Initially when my father was suspended he did receive support from the village,' Varchas told MailOnline. 'When my father was prosecuted, that's when things really started to get ugly.'

Vipinchandra Patel, 70, pictured with his son Varchas Patel and wife Jayshriben Patel after the wrongful conviction was quashed in December 2020

Former postmaster Vipinchandra Patel, 70, pictured outside Horspath post office in Oxfordshire

Following ITV's Mr Bates, the Patel's have seen renewed support from the community. Pictured: Mrs Patel with a local resident

Vipinchandra Patel, 70, ran the post office in Horspath, Oxfordshire (pictured, stock image)

'There was a wanted dead or alive poster about my dad. One was stuck to our front door but we didn't have CCTV at the time, so we don't know exactly who did that.

'On another occasion they built a four foot cross, place it outside the shop on the village green and wrote RIP Vipin on it.

'Another time, one of the local builders verbally abused my mum, saying that my dad is a robber.'

Varchas claimed that some people even tried to block the entrance to the family's business driveway and personal driveway in a bid to 'run' his mother and father 'out of the village'.

The Patels felt not only isolated from their village but from their extended family as well.

'There was gossiping, insults, lots of taunting, horrible comments being made,' Varchas said, revealing that 70 per cent of the wider family 'shunned' his father. 'My family, in my view, was more or less destroyed,' he added.

The prosecution 'affected business enormously' with Varchas' parents seeing a drop in footfall in the local store attached to the post office, affecting Mr Patel physically and mentally.

His son explained: 'My dad, for quite some time he could not get out of bed he was numb, he couldn't use his legs. He couldn't eat for a while, he couldn't drink for a while. He was getting it left right and centre.

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells (pictured) ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system. Public outcry, fuelled by the ITV documentary, has led her to hand back the CBE she was awarded in 2019

The Horizon scandal has been reignited and brought to the forefront of politics following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office

'The enormous stress which my father had to endure was catastrophic.'

Varchas, who was 23 at the time of the conviction, previously said his father 'couldn't face the world' and was 'confused, lost and stressed' following his false conviction.

READ MORE: Ex-postmasters reveal how their lives were destroyed by Horizon scandal which saw hundreds of innocent people wrongly prosecuted Advertisement

Mr Patel is just one of 736 victims of the Horizon scandal and one of around 90 people who have successfully had their wrongful convictions overturned.

The former Horspath postmaster, however, is still awaiting compensation or an interim payment from the Government.

Over the past week, the Horizon scandal has been reignited and brought to the forefront of politics following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office which documents how Alan Bates won the postmasters historic legal action in High Court.

Varchas said while support from locals in Horspath had improved over recent years, since the show a number of customers have come into the shop, telling Mr Patel 'they didn't know what my dad went through'.

'The ITV drama has revealed this scandal on a huge scale and I can't thank ITV enough for that but it should not have taken a drama for this to surface. In fact Government have known about this for a very long time.'

There were 736 victims of the Horizon scandal with only around 90 people so far having their wrongful conviction overturned

Toby Jones, who starred as Mr Bates in the programme, said yesterday that the public and political reaction 'speaks volumes of injustice'.

Ministers have been placed under increasing pressure to introduce a new law that would clear the remaining hundreds of wrongfully convicted postmasters in one mass exoneration.

Public outcry, fuelled by the ITV documentary, led former Post Office chief Paula Vennells to hand back the CBE she was awarded in 2019 despite being in charge of the UK's postal service when the Horizon scandal unfolded.

Campaigners are now insisting the former boss, 65, return almost 3million she earned in bonuses and pensions, saying that her decision to hand back the honour was a token gesture and it was time she faced 'real justice'.

Varchas added: 'I'm glad Paula Vennells has handed back her CBE, but she isn't the only only who needs investigating - Post Office lawyers and investigators were negligent of fulfilling their complete duties.'

A Post Office spokesperson said: 'We fully share the aims of the current Public Inquiry, set up to get to the truth of what happened in the past and accountability. It's for the Inquiry to reach its own independent conclusions after consideration of all the evidence on the issues it is examining.

'We are acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible. Both Post Office and Government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected.

'To date, offers of more than 138 million have been made to around 2,700 Postmasters, the majority of which have been agreed and paid. Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved.'
Labor has been accused of an 'outrageous' cover up' after stopping timely public updates about convicted criminals released from immigration detention.

Information on former detainees freed after the High Court's ruling in November was previously announced immediately under Operation Aegis, with 149 released into the community as of December 4.

But the government will now restrict this data to an existing monthly immigration report, with the latest edition that covers October taking until late December, two months later, to be published.

On top of this, the federal government will no longer inform the public if any released detainees commit state-level crimes, also previously announced under the Australian Border Force's Operation Aegis, and will leave that to local police.

Commonwealth-level offences, such as breaches of visa conditions, will continue to be announced by the ABF.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been called on to overturn the decision to scrap the detainee updates by Opposition Home Affairs minister James Paterson

Shadow Home Affairs minister James Paterson said burying the information in a monthly government report displayed a 'total contempt for transparency' by Labor.

'It's appalling they think they can now keep the public in the dark about how many foreign criminals they are releasing into the community and how many have reoffended against Australians,' Senator Paterson said.

He has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to 'overrule whoever made this secret decision'.

But speaking to Sunrise on Wednesday morning, Mr Albanese said there had been no changes to how the public is informed since the Coalition government.

'There's no been no change whatsoever in any of the information which is going out from when Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs Minister,' Mr Albanese said.

'No change whatsoever.'

'The information is released in an appropriate way... what they're (the Opposition) is trying to do is to get a story continuing along.'

One of the released detainees confronts media outside a drab Sydney motel

The latest data announced by the ABF shows that seven of the 148 released detainees have been re-arrested and the PM was grilled on whether that number had increased.

'Not to my knowledge, but the information's released in the normal way,' he said.

'If someone commits a breach of a commonwealth law, then it will be released in a transparent way, if someone breaches a state law, then the states will responsible for that in the normal way, there's been no change whatsoever here.'

The released detainees, some of whom are hardened criminals who had served jail terms, were held in detention because their visas were cancelled but they had no prospect of resettlement in another country.

They were freed after the High Court ruled indefinite detention was unlawful.

The Labor government committed an extra $255million in November for Operation Aegis to employ more officers and better monitor released non-citizens.
The siblings set up a room with an alter containing holy figurines and prayed for the success of their drug shipments to the United States and Ecuador

The Cuero siblings were identified as leaders of the 'Los Curva,' a criminal network that trafficked at least five tons of cocaine every month

Two international drug trafficking siblings from Ecuador needed more than a prayer of a chance to make sure they never got busted for sending cocaine to Europe and the United States.

Hader Cuero and Dairon Cuero were arrested in the Colombian Pacific coast province Valle del Cauca on Saturday, culminating a years-long joint investigation by the Ecuadorian and Colombian police.

The Cuero brothers are the alleged leaders of the 'Los Curva' drug trafficking network that shipped to the US and Europe, according to the Colombian National Police.

To ensure that their shipments went undetected, the Cuero siblings set up a holy shrine for prayer at one of their apartments in Colombia.

Dairon Cuero (pictured center) and his brother Hader Cuero were identified as leaders of 'Los Curva,' a drug trafficking network that operated out of Ecuador and Colombia

Hader Cuerto (center) and his brother allegedly led an organization that trafficked at least five tons of cocaine to Central America, where the drugs were then smuggled to the United States and Europe

Colombian authorities discovered an makeshift religious alter, where the Cuero siblings prayed to protect their cocaine shipments

The suspects reportedly shipped an average of five tons of cocaine every month on speedboats that transported the drugs from the Ecuadorian port town of Esmeraldas and the Colombian coastal cities of Narino and Valle del Cauca to Central America.

The shipments were then handled by Mexican drug traffickers, including the Sinaloa Cartel, who sent them to the United States and Europe.

The criminal organization operated out of the Ecuador province of Esmeraldas, where it stored loads of cocaine that was produced in the Colombian provinces of Narino and Putumayo.

Hader Cuero and Dairon Cuero told authorities they were located only after one of their prayers had not fallen through.

'Hader, the ringleader, intended to celebrate his birthday in the company of his family when he was captured by uniformed Colombian Police in coordination with the National Navy,' Colombian police general Nicolas Zapata said.

Authorities made multiple seizures of cocaine shipments that the Cuero siblings had sent from the Ecuadorian port town of Esmeraldas and the Colombian cities of Narino and Valle del Cauca to Central America

Federal authorities in Florida had previously requested the extradition of Hader Cuero (center)

Colombian authorities spotted Dairon Cuero outside a home in the province of Valle del Cauca before arresting him Saturday

Police said that Hader Cuero was planning a lavish birthday party for himself with local musicians when he was arrested Saturday

Hader Cuero was identified as being the networks main leader and is facing extradition to the United States.

Interpol had issued a red notice for the arrest of Dairo Cuerto, who was already facing an 11-year jail sentence for conspiring to commit aggravated crimes and conspiring to traffic, manufacture and possess drugs.

The brothers were nearly captured raids that led to the apprehension of 28 members of Los Curva in Ecuador in August 2023 and fled to Colombia.

Colombia is considered the world's leading producer of cocaine, an illegal business that finances leftist guerrilla groups and criminal gangs.

However, the Cuero brothers were not aligned with any of the criminal and guerrilla factions.

'We value and appreciate the support of our police brothers in Ecuador to completely dismantle this drug trafficking structure,' Zapata said. 'With this type of operations, it is demonstrated that Latin America is not a refuge for criminals.'
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are preparing for the first one-on-one debate of the presidential primary Wednesday evening in Iowa  five days before the caucuses.

The showdown on CNN at 9pm will be one of their final plea to voters in their bid to catch up to Donald Trump, who is ahead in the polls on average by a staggering 30 points.

DeSantis has made it clear he has always wanted to face Haley alone. Will either candidate be able to do enough to close the enormous gap or are they simply battling for second place?

Trump, as usual, far exceeded the qualifications to participate in the fifth debate of the 2024 primary election, but will again opt to skip the event and hold a Fox News town hall at the same time.

Additionally, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who did not qualify to debate Wednesday for the first time in the cycle, is holding a competing event.

Candidates are flocking to Iowa ahead of the January 15 caucuses  with the exception of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has not stepped foot in the first-in-the-nation primary state since launching his presidential bid.

DailyMail.com breaks down what to watch on debate day and how to tune-in.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley will meet on stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday for a head-to-head debate  Donald Trump is skipping and Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie didn't qualify

Drake University's Olmsted Center is the site of the fifth Republican presidential debate. The center is pictured Tuesday with a flow clearing snow off the sidewalk as a winter storm comes through the state the days ahead of the caucuses

DETAILS OF CNN'S FIRST 2024 DEBATE AND HOW TO WATCH

After holding the first four Republican presidential primary debates of the cycle last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) dropped out of the debate business in December.

It voided a pledge candidates were required to sign vowing only to participate in RNC-sanctioned debates after reports emerged that Trump's team was pressuring Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel into stopping the showdowns.

The debate Wednesday evening is hosted by CNN and moderated by two of the network's top hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. It is the first non-RNC debate of the cycle.

Florida Gov. DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Haley are meeting on stage at 9:00 PM Eastern Time  it will be 8:00 PM local in Iowa.

It will stream live on CNN and the network's other channels, including CNN international and CNN Espanol, as well as on CNN Max. Anyone who pays for the CNN subscription can watch on CNN.com.

Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are the only two candidates who qualified and agreed to debate

Trump is not participating in the debate, and will instead engage in a town hall with Fox News at the same time as the showdown between his top competitors

DEBATE THRESHOLDS AND WHO QUALIFIED

The qualifying window for CNN's debate in Iowa closed on Tuesday.

By then, candidates needed to receive at least 10 percent in three separate polls, either nationally or among Republican caucus-goers in Iowa  and at least one had to fall under the latter.

The polls needed to be conducted after October 15 and by January 2 and could only be pulled from 14 of the approved polling sources decided by CNN.

There was no donor-related criteria like in previous debates.

Trump, DeSantis and Haley all met the qualifications. But the ex-president will again not participate in the primary debate, claiming the event is not needed because of his massive polling lead and his belief he is the de facto nominee already.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not qualify for the debate  he has also not stepped foot in Iowa since launching his bid for president and is going all-in on doing well in New Hampshire

Ramaswamy, Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not meet the qualification requirements.

The polling thresholds for Wednesday's debate were higher than those of the previous four RNC debates, which saw Ramaswamy and Christie qualifying each time.

The stage Wednesday is the smallest yet  cutting December's Tuscaloosa, Alabama debate stage in half  and will see for the first time a head-to-head between the candidates many see as in a race for second place.

Haley participated in a Fox News town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Monday, followed by DeSantis participating in the same event on Tuesday night after he flew back from Tallahassee following his State of the State address.

DONALD TRUMP AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY'S ALTERNATIVE PLANS

Ex-President Trump is joining Fox News hosts Martha McCallum and Bret Baier for the third in the town hall series, but his event coincides with CNN's debate Wednesday evening.

It is the fifth time Trump has decided to snub debating his primary competitors despite meeting the thresholds to take the stage.

The town hall, where Trump will field questions from the Fox hosts and audience members, will air on Fox News from 9:00PM-10:00PM  the exact same starting time for the debate.

DeSantis insists Trump is refusing to appear because he doesn't want to answer for his record and instead wants to attempt to steal the spotlight from his competition.

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy will also hold competing events with a 'live audience show' with the Tim Pool Podcast at his Iowa campaign headquarters, along with an after party featuring conservative commentator Candace Owens.

Owens will stick around in Iowa on Thursday to campaign all day with Ramaswamy.

While the show with Pool starts at 6:30 and will be live-streamed. But the after party will conflict with the Haley v. DeSantis debate.

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did not qualify for the debate  and will be holding on Wednesday night a live audience show of the Tim Pool podcast along with an after party at his Iowa campaign headquarters

A new poll published on Tuesday in New Hampshire puts Nikki Haley only 7 points behind Donald Trump

POLLING AHEAD OF DEBATE DAY

DeSantis is still in second place and is trailing Trump by dozens of points.

The former president holds more than 50 percent of the vote among Republicans in Iowa, according to a FiveThirtyEight average of polls in the first primary state.

With 18.4 percent in the average, DeSantis is in a distance second place after polls over the summer showed him separated from Trump by around 20 points  rather than the current 32 percent gap.

Haley is in third with 15.8 percent. She has only gained traction over time in the Hawkeye State and was able to get the gap between her and DeSantis much closer than the 20 point-gap seen last year between the two.

The former South Carolina governor has also skyrocketed to second place in New Hampshire, which holds the second primary with elections on January 23.

Haley is only trailing Trump in New Hampshire by four points in one poll released earlier this month, and by 7 percent in a separate poll published on Tuesday.
A bitter dispute over a park bench in a ritzy suburb has forced a local council to spend thousands of dollars to remove it over concerns it was a 'safety' risk.

Ku-ring-gai Council spent $6,000 to remove the bench on a nature strip on Mariana Close at St Ives, in Sydney's upper north shore, after just two residents opposed it.

The row blew up after one resident installed a Pride-style rainbow-painted bench and street library without council approval in 2021, which was removed after complaints.

But council agreed to allow resident Andy Bloom to pay for and install a traditional bench at the spot on a six-month trial between March and September last year.

Incredibly though, the bench has now sparked a deep rift in the community, despite being supported by six neighbours and opposed by just two.

The seat's location on the nature strip near two roads was said be a safety concern and attracted 'anti-social behaviour', according to the residents who opposed it.

Asbestos tests were even carried out around the area, while deputy mayor Christine Kay said she could not 'morally' support the presence of the bench.

Council voted to remove it in December after a protracted hour-long debate in chambers and a detailed 11-page report by officials - which recommended it remain.

A council has spent $6000 removing a park bench (pictured) in St Ives, in Sydney's north shore due to safety concerns after two locals opposed it

Council voted to remove the bench in December after a two hour-long debate in chambers

Poll Is the bench safe? Yes No Is the bench safe? Yes 677 votes

No 116 votes Now share your opinion





The council decision infuriated Ms Bloom who branded the removal cost a waste of resources and ratepayer money.

She said the bench was only ever intended to be a place for residents to sit and relax, and for parents to watch their children play nearby.

But deputy mayor McKay insisted: 'It has attracted antisocial behaviour and a number of incidents that have been reported by residents.

'Morally I feel the bench should be removed. I have an uneasiness with the safety issues which have been brought to the attention of councillors.

'I can't unsee what has been brought to my attention.'

She added: 'The alleged benefits of the bench are outweighed by the consequences of the bench remaining.

'Unlike its intended purpose of harmony and inclusion, the bench is creating the complete opposite.

'It's creating disunity and division amongst neighbours.'

Her opposition was backed by four other councillors, with another five wanting the bench to remain, but Mayor Sam Ngai used his casting vote to order its removal.

The seat's location on the nature strip near two roads on Sydney's upper north shore was said be a safety concern and attracted 'anti-social behaviour', according to residents opposing it

Complaints about the bench had been made to politicians and even federal MP Paul Fletcher, while police were called to the site following reports of traffic incidents.

The council assessed the concerns of the community for a six month period between March and September.

A risk assessment study found 'there were no reported incidents such as crashes or anti- social behaviour at this location.'

Council were told a resident complained of four littering incidents during the trial and said that over the last 26 years, there had been 11 traffic incidents at that spot.

But a council survey of residents found a majority were in favour of keeping the bench, with six voting 'Yes' to keep it, while two voted 'No', and six more did not respond.

Council also conducted several traffic and safety assessments while a private consultant was hired to carry out a risk assessment.

Councillor Martin Smith argued the bench didn't pose a threat to residents.

'There's no risk,' he said. 'What message are we sending out to the community?

'That it's ok if you scream loud enough? No matter what's right or wrong, we'll overturn that decision and make sure we get rid of it?'

Chris Houghton, the council's coordinator of parks and recreational assets, recommended the bench be allowed to stay in his report to council.

He said that risk assessment studies had found that new signage was all that was required to minimise any possible dangers created by the bench.

Ku-ring-gai Council's operations director George Bounassif said the bench was originally intended to be somewhere for parents to sit and watch their children play on bikes and scooters.

'The children on the bikes and scooters were there before the bench was installed,' he said.

'It's fair to say that removing the bench would mean the children will still be there on the road playing with scooters and riding their bikes.'

Deputy Mayor Christine Kay (pictured) said the threat to community safety couldn't be ignored

Mayor Sam Ngai (pictured) was among five councillors who voted in favour of removing the bench

Councillor Smith added: 'It's not going to make any difference at all to the children that are already on the road. It will not eradicate that.

'All it's going to do is give the opportunity for a person to sit there and maybe look after their children and quieten them down for the two neighbours that aren't too happy about having children in the street.'

But resident Betty Hall argued the location was never a good spot for the bench to be placed.

'It should never have gotten to this point because it's come at a huge cost and shouldn't have been allowed to be installed in the first place,' she said.

'It's not safe and it was never safe.'

The council have now voted to repay Ms Bloom the $3000 cost of installing the bench and paid a further $3000 for its removal.

The council will consider alternative places for the bench to be relocated during a meeting in March.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ku-ring-gai Council for comment.
A Nevada judge has set bail at $750,000 for former Los Angeles street gang leader charged with orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas.

Judge Carli Kierny ordered Duane 'Keffe D' Davis' must wear an electronic monitor while under house arrest if he is able to make bail as he waits for his June trial.

The 60-year-old Davis was arrested on September 29, 2023, and charged with open murder and use of a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement. Davis pleaded not guilty in November and has been held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, he appeared in court with special public defender Charles Cano at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Davis' court-appointed lawyers argued Davis is in remission for cancer and because of his ailing health, he will not flee to avoid his upcoming trial.

Defense lawyers told the Associated Press they were confident their client could post bail. They had requested that bail not exceed $100,000.

Duane 'Keffe D' Davis appeared in court with his special defender Charles Cano for a hearing at the Regional Justice Center on Tuesday in Las Vegas

Tapuc Shakur died on September 13, 1996, nearly a week after he was gunned down

Legendary rapper Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996

Attorney Robert Arroyo said during Tuesday's hearing that Davis was not a danger to the community.

He said his client had been earning an honest living and 'if he was going to run he would have did it' years ago,' ABC News reported.

'If Duane is so dangerous, if this case is so overwhelming, his guilt is so overwhelming ... why did [authorities] wait 15 years to make the arrest?' Arroyo said.

But, prosecutors asked the judge for either no bail or a high bail and alleged Davis 'presents a very, very high danger to the community.' In particular, they argued, he is a danger to witnesses who might testify against him at trial.

Prosecutors highlighted the risk using one an exchange between Davis and his son where the pair used the term 'green light,' which they claim is a code word for 'kill.'

But, Davis' lawyer explained the messages were taken out of context and it had to do with the safety of his family not about putting a hit on those who are testifying against him.

Davis pleaded not guilty in November to first-degree murder and has been held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center (pictured) in Las Vegas

The judge explained some of the factors that are considered before a decision for bail such as how long Davis has lived in his Las Vegas community and his relationship with his family.

The Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson called the judge's decision 'conscientious and thorough' in reaching it though he said that he still believed Davis was 'a danger to the community and to some of the witnesses.'

Wolfson said, 'my prosecutors argued just that, and I believe the judge agreed with our arguments today.'

The suspect's next status conference is February 20.
Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign will run an ad during Wednesday night's CNN GOP debate encouraging Iowa voters to turn off the TV.

Wednesday's debate in Des Moines - which will feature only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley - marks the first time Ramaswamy's poll numbers weren't high enough to award him a place onstage.

Like former President Donald Trump has during past debates, Ramaswamy has counter-programming planned - he'll headline a town hall down the street with conservative commentators Tim Pool and Candace Owens instead.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur and anti-woke author will also take over CNN's airwaves for 30 seconds across the Hawkeye State, his campaign told DailyMail.com.

'The mainstream media is trying to rig the Iowa GOP caucus in favor of the corporate candidates who they can control. Don't fall for their trick,' Ramaswamy says in the spot. 'They don't want you to hear from me about the truth about what really happened on January 6, the truth about the COVID origin, the Hunter Biden laptop story and everything else they have lied to you about.'

Vivek Ramaswamy filmed a 30-second ad that will run during Wednesday night's CNN Republican debate in Iowa's media markets. Ramaswamy wasn't polling high enough to make the debate stage

CNN's polling requirements essentially cut the candidate field in half, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (left) and Ramaswamy (right) out. Former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley (center left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (center right) will be the only hopefuls participating

'So you can fix that - take your remote and turn this off,' he adds, holding up the device, with the screen then flashing to black.

CNN announced a day after the last Republican debate, held December 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, that the network would host two more Republican primary debates - one in Iowa and one in New Hampshire, ahead of the caucuses and primary, respectively.

ABC additionally announced it would host a New Hampshire debate in January.

At the time, the Republican National Committee was mulling a rule change to allow GOP hopefuls to participate in debates not affiliated with the political party, a change that ended up being made.

While DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all got onstage for the Alabama debate, CNN said it would be more difficult for candidates to qualify for the network's two January debates.

Candidates had to have at least 10 percent support from voters in three separate national or Iowa polls of Republican voters that met the network's standards for reporting.

One of the three qualifying polls also had to be an approved poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers.

Vivek Ramaswamy has had some memorable debate moments, including when he held up a sign at the December debate in Tuscaloosa that read 'Nikki = Corrupt.' His antics, however, haven't translated into higher poll numbers

Ramaswamy hit 10 percent in one recent Iowa poll, from Morning Consult.

A previous Morning Consult survey, his campaign pointed out, had him polling slightly ahead of Haley in Iowa.

National polling has shown Ramaswamy stuck in the single digits.

It's standard practice for there to be polling and donor requirements that candidates have to make before getting to appear on the presidential debate stage.

CNN's requirements have essentially cut the candidate field in half - though Christie is likely to return to the debate stage in New Hampshire, as he's focused most of his efforts there.

Ramaswamy's debate performances have been memorable because he's been a thorn in the side to Haley, for example writing on his notepad in December 'Nikki = Corrupt' and showing it off to the audience.

But his pugnacious tactics haven't moved his poll numbers up - and he was called by Christie in Alabama 'the most obnoxious blowhard in America.'
A veteran surfer savaged by a great white shark has been identified as a local teacher who managed to drive himself to hospital despite being bitten 'between the a** and legs'.

Murray Adams, 64, was later airlifted to South Australia's Royal Adelaide Hospital in a stable condition for further treatment for the injuries to his leg and arm.

Mr Adams, a teacher at nearby Elliston Area School, was attacked as he surfed at Blackspoint on Eyre Peninsula, 650km west of Adelaide, around 1pm on Tuesday.

Witnesses say he paddled back to shore, where he then climbed a cliff to reach the car park, before refusing the offer of an ambulance to drive himself to Elliston Hospital instead.

Veteran surfer Murray Adams, 64, (pictured) was savaged by a great white shark but managed to drive himself to hospital despite being bitten 'between the a** and legs'

Murray Adams was later airlifted to South Australia's Royal Adelaide Hospital in a stable condition for further treatment for the injuries to his legs

Photographs from the scene show the chunk taken out of his surfboard by the shark during the attack

Surf website Beach Grit said Mr Adams, who recently celebrated 40 years as a teacher, had been 'bitten between the a** and leg by a Great White [shark]'.

It added: 'He paddled in but refused an ambulance, reflecting the chaotic nature of a Great White hit and the difference just a few millimetres can make.'

Photographs from the scene show the chunk taken out of the victim's surfboard by the shark during the attack.

He is reportedly said to have messaged friends: 'Needs stitches but will be ok. Spread the word. No one goes in the water.'

The attack comes just eight months after another local teacher was killed in a shark attack last May when Simon Baccanello was taken as he surfed in the area.

His body was never recovered but shreds of his wetsuit were later found during an intensive search for his remains.

The victim, believed to be a local teacher called Murray, was attacked as he surfed off Elliston Beach (pictured) on Eyre Peninsula, 650km west of Adelaide, around 1pm on Tuesday

It is the sixth shark attack in South Australia in a year, and just a week after 15-year-old Khai Crowley (pictured) was killed as he surfed on the Yorke Peninsula

It is the sixth shark attack in South Australia in a year, and just a week after 15-year-old Khai Cowley was killed as he surfed on the Yorke Peninsula.

Tod Gendle, 55, died in another shark attack at Granites Beach on the Eyre Peninsula on October 31, just weeks after Pam Cook was mauled but survived an attack at Beachport on October 2.

Bridgette OShannessy also survived another shark attack on November 10 as she dived at Port Noarlunga.
The Boeing subcontractor that manufactured the door plug that blew out at 16,000 feet during an Alaska Airlines flight was warned of an 'excessive amount of defects,' according to a lawsuit days before the fateful flight.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 suffered a near-catastrophic failure on Friday when its door plug fell out and the plane was forced into an emergency landing.

The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the door in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday.

A class-action lawsuit was filed against Spirit AeroSystems in New York federal court on December 19 that alleged it experienced 'sustained quality failures' in its products.

The suit was filed on behalf of investors of the company, which was previously a manufacturing unit of Boeing until 2005.

The lawsuit filed against Spirit AeroSystems alleges the company had manufacturing problems and includes a complaint from one employee who claimed there was an 'excessive amount of defects' in an email sent to a company executive.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 suffered a near catastrophic failure on Friday when its door plug suddenly fell out and it was forced into an emergency landing

A Boeing subcontractor which manufactured the door plug that blew out 16,000 feet in the air during a flight was warned of an 'excessive amount of defects,' according to a new lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit was filed against Spirit AeroSystems, led by CEO Patrick Shanahan (pictured), in New York federal court on December 19 that alleged it experienced 'sustained quality failures' in its products

Although the complaints do not specifically refer to door plugs, it alleges that Spirit's 'quality failures were so severe and persistent that Boeing even placed Spirit on probation for multiple years.'

The lawsuit adds the problems at the company were 'widespread' and included 'the routine presence of foreign object debris in Spirit products, missing fasteners, peeling paint, and poor skin quality.'

DailyMail.com has contacted Spirit and Boeing for comment on the lawsuit.

'Spirit is following the protocols set by the regulatory authorities that guide communication in these types of circumstances, and we will share further information when appropriate,' the company said in a statement on its webpage about the Alaska Airlines incident.

Flight 1282 suffered a near-fatal incident after its door plug was sucked out of the Boeing 737 Max 9 moments after it departed Portland International Airport for Ontario, California.

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, which are the only two US carriers to fly the aircraft revealed they found loose bolts inside several other door plugs on their fleets.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircrafts with a plug door on Saturday.

It issued a further update on Tuesday to say they would remain grounded until it finds each can safely return to operation.

The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the door in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland on Sunday

The agency's investigators are examining the door plug and will send it to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC, for further examination

A photo shows the frame of the prospective door was entirely ripped out by the fuselage failure

The lawsuit claims that Spirit heavily relies on Boeing for orders and manufactures a large amount of the aircraft company's jet fuselages.

'Such constant quality failures resulted in part from Spirit's culture which prioritized production numbers and short-term financial outcomes over product quality,' it claimed.

Spirit suffered two specific manufacturing problems, according to the complaint.

The company allegedly 'mis-drilled holes on the 737 Max aft pressure bulkhead,' which is at the back of the plane.

A second issue involved a 'defect relating to the tail fin fittings on certain 737 MAX aircraft' that was highlighted by Boeing in April.

Spirit saw its stock price take a plunge following its manufacturing problems and it overhauled its executives.

It named Patrick Shanahan as its new CEO, replacing Thomas C. Gentile III, who had been in the role since 2016 and was named as a defendant in the class-action lawsuit.

In a statement shared to X on Saturday, federal regulators said it is requiring immediate inspections of certain jets before they can return to the skies

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

Terrified passengers were left fearing for their lives on Friday after the door plug fell. After recovering the damaged Alaska Airlines door, NTSB said on X: 'NTSB investigators are currently examining the door plug and will send it to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC for further examination.'

Boeing shares had the biggest plunge in over a year on Monday, losing a whopping $13.5billion off its value in the first day of trading after the mid-air Alaska Airlines blowout.

'We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards,' a Boeing spokesperson said.

The near disaster saw Boeing Corp shares plummet 8.6 percent - from 248 to 228 - between Friday evening and Monday morning. The stock continued to plunge after the market opened, reaching 226 - and analysts warned it is expected to continue falling until the aircrafts are back in service.

Meanwhile Alaska Air's shares fell 4.3 percent, while United Airlines shares, the other U.S. carrier that operates the jet, dropped 2.4 percent.
January 9, 2024: At the end of 2023 Iran added another warship to its Caspian Sea naval forces by introducing the Damavand, a Moudge-class frigate. The original and first Moudge-class ship was the Jamaran which was lost in 2018 during a storm. In July 2021 the Iranians put the fourth Moudge class frigate, the Dena, into service. This ship is described as a Light Frigate. These ships are actually heavily armed and haphazardly equipped corvettes. Iran planned to put seven into service and three more were under construction with uncertain service dates because of the difficulty in finding the needed warship components.

The Jamaran entered service in 2010 after at least six years under construction. The second one, the Damavand, entered service in 2015. This one was built in a Caspian Sea shipyard and took six years to complete. In early 2018 it ran aground while entering port in bad weather. Satellite photos showed it partially submerged. The ship was refloated and towed to a shipyard for repairs, where it was declared complete after 18 months. Despite that the ship never returned to service. This may be due to problems with equipment damaged when the ship was partially sunk. Getting necessary electronic and mechanical components is always a problem when building these ships. For example, the third Moudge, the Sahand, entered service at the end of 2018 after eight years of construction efforts. This one was more heavily armed and equipped for long-distance voyages of up to 150 days if accompanied by a supply ship. To demonstrate this, Sahand traveled to the Atlantic in 2021, accompanied by a tanker/supply ship. This was mostly a publicity stunt.

It is unclear how long the latest Moudge was under construction because Iran carries out a lot of this work in a shed, to protect the new warship from the elements during five or more years of construction effort. Iran now tries to keep quiet about warship construction efforts because of these unpredictable delays.

Iran has had little access to foreign shipbuilders since the 1980s, and by 2000 had developed the capability of building their own small warships. These are crude but they float, and their weapons generally work. Construction takes place in the commercial shipyards that Iran has developed since the 1990s to repair existing commercial ships and build smaller tankers and cargo carriers. This eventually led to warships, which is a common trend for nations seeking to build their own. Before the monarchy was overthrown in 1979, Iran bought modern warships from foreign suppliers, a practice still common among Persian Gulf oil states. Only the UAE has developed some warship construction capability, mainly as part of its effort to prepare the economy for less dependence on oil income.

The locally built Iranian surface ships are small craft, 1,400-ton corvettes and 1,500-ton frigates while the submarines are largely of the miniature variety. Construction of warships is a sideline in the commercial shipyards and only a few warships are being built at a time. Construction is also proceeding slowly so that, apparently, mistakes in the previous ships can be discovered and fixed.

Currently, there are three elderly Kilo-class subs from Russia and three smaller subs. Major surface warships consist of seven corvettes/frigates displacing no more than 1,500 tons each. There are three smaller, under 1,000 ton corvettes. There are about fifty smaller patrol craft, ten of them armed with Iranian versions of Chinese anti-ship missiles. Chief among these is the Nasr 1. There are a few dozen mine warfare, amphibious, and support ships. The three most powerful ships in the fleet are three Russian Kilo class subs. Most of the foreign built ships are serving way past their retirement date. This includes the Kilos and most of the fifty mini-subs, most built in Iran. There are several thousand marines and twenty or so aircraft and helicopters.

The Iranian Navy is led by officers who think along more conventional lines than their government. Western ship commanders generally have good professional relationships with their Iranian counterparts, even when the Iranian Navy is under orders to give Western ships a hard time. If an Iranian captain reports by radio that he has his orders it means he will follow through with whatever bizarre actions he has been ordered to carry out but be apologetic about it to his foreign peers.

The Iranian Navy has fewer options than the Revolutionary Guard, simply because the navy has fewer and larger and easier to spot and attack ships. Since 2005 the navy has generally been stationed on the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC navy has been given responsibility for the Persian Gulf and protecting all those Iranian oil facilities along the coast. The Revolutionary Guard is a not a real threat to Arab oil fields and tankers because the Arabs and their Western allies have control of the air and can destroy Iranian oil fields and tankers that way. What the IRGC hopes to do at sea is create as formidable a threat as possible, even if this threat, in the form of suicidal speedboats and missile boats backed up by shore-based anti-ship missiles, is short-term. In the long run, any Iranian naval power is doomed if it became a problem to other nations in the Gulf.

In Iran, the IRGC has its own Navy of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The main job of the IRGC is to protect the religious dictatorship from the Iranian armed forces and a growing number of angry Iranians. As a result, the IRGC Navy has about as many personnel, 23,000, including marines and naval aviation, as the Iranian Navy. The IRGC force has about 40 large missile and torpedo boats, 100-200 tons each and over a thousand smaller craft, many of them just speedboats with dual outboard engines and machine-gun mounts.

The IRGC builds its own small boats and regularly holds highly publicized ceremonies to induct new boats into the IRGC Navy. The IRGC operates most of the 1,500 small boats used by the naval and coast guard forces. Because of this, opponents have had to develop two sets of tactics for dealing with Iranian naval forces. Irans two navies are very different from each other. The traditional navy exists alongside the less well equipped, but more fanatical, forces of the IRGC. Both forces are equipped, trained, and led very differently. The IRGC force is sworn to defend the religious dictatorship while the regular navy strives to defend Iran.
The brains behind the Voice to Parliament No campaign has set his sights on a new 'threat' to Aussie culture: Australia Day.

Advance Australia has issued a message to supporters warning that Labor 'hates Australia Day in their heart of hearts' and 'want it to die a silent death'.

After helping to defeat the Voice alongside Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Warren Mundine and Peter Dutton's Coalition, Advance has now vowed to revive Australia's national day.

'Every year we are forced to sit through self-serving, Australia-hating debates about changing the date of Australia Day,' founder Matthew Sheahan said.

'I'm sick of it.'

Advance Australia has issued a message to loyal supporters warning that national leaders 'hate Australia Day in their heart of hearts' and 'want it to die a silent death'

Senator Nampijinpa Price recently waded into the debate herself, urging voters to 'be proud of what it means to be Australian in this lucky country'

Mr Sheahan said it is 'wrong' to hate Australia Day and that Australia is a 'great country' which should be celebrated.

He has proposed 'writing the date of Australia Day into law' to 'guarantee it will not change without a vote of the people'.

'Help it get back on the agenda. It will let all the people in power know that youve had enough of apologising for loving our country.

'We need to stop the bickering activists and put power back into the hands of the people.'

The organisation is hoping to raise $157,000 from fans to help 'force this campaign into the offices of people in power'.

Senator Nampijinpa Price recently waded into the debate herself, urging voters to 'be proud of what it means to be Australian in this lucky country'.

Throughout the Voice referendum campaign, critics often warned that the advisory body - should the vote succeed - would eventually target Australia Day

Australia Day has become a polarising event with some believing January 26 should be marked as a day of mourning over the dispossession of Indigenous peoples

'Appreciate what we do have,' she said.

Throughout the Voice referendum campaign, critics often warned that the advisory body - should the vote succeed - would eventually target Australia Day.

Despite assurances from Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney that the Voice would not bother itself with 'culture wars' like abolishing Australia Day, other Yes campaigners who helped to craft the referendum question were less certain.

Both Teela Reid and Thomas Mayo made reference to the Voice having the power to advise on Australia Day, in spite of Ms Burney's comments.

Tweets unearthed during the campaign reveal Mr Mayo hoped the Voice would be 'an appropriate body, with appropriate authority to discuss an appropriate date' to celebrate Australia Day.

He later told Daily Mail Australia his views on the matter had changed.

Even without the Voice, Australia Day has become a more contentious topic over the years, as activists and everyday Aussies argue the nation's colonising history should not be celebrated.

Thousands of people take to the streets nationwide to protest on January 26, and councils are increasingly opting to forego celebrations.

Some 80 councils have already scrapped Australia Day citizenship ceremonies for 2024.
A black man who spent 44 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in North Carolina was awarded $25 million in settlements over his incarceration.

Ronnie Long, 68, was freed in 2020 after his first-degree rape and burglary convictions were vacated by the United States District Court.

Long settled his civil lawsuit with the city of Concord, approximately 25 miles from Charlotte, for $22million on Tuesday after the State Bureau of Investigation had previously settled for $3million.

Duke Law School's Wrongful Convictions Clinic, who represented Long, said the deal is the second largest wrongful conviction settlement to date.

'Have we found justice in this case? Absolutely not. No amount of money will ever compensate Ronnie for all that he lost, but this is a big step forward for him,' Jamie Lau, Long's criminal attorney, said in a statement.

Ronnie Long, pictured in 1976, was awarded $25million in settlements after he was wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman at knifepoint and served four decades behind bars

Long was officially released from prison on August 27, 2020, after his defense team appealed false evidence and false testimonies from Concord police officers

The city issued a rare public apology to Long, which Sonya Pfeiffer, one of Long's civil attorneys, said was a part of his settlement demand.

'He also got a private apology, a direct apology, which was meaningful too,' Pfeiffer said.

City spokeswoman Lindsay Manson said in a statement on Tuesday: 'The city of Concord acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the significant errors in judgment and willful misconduct by previous city employees that led to Longs wrongful conviction and imprisonment.'

Long, then 20, had been in prison after he was convicted by an all-white jury of raping a white woman, Sarah Judson Bost, then 54, at knifepoint in her home on the evening of the April 25, 1976.

At the time, Long was living in Concord and Bost was reported to have been told by detectives they believed her suspected rapist was in court on an unrelated case and was told to see if she recognized him.

Later that day, she picked out Long, who had been making an appearance in court on a minor trespassing case. Bost claimed she recognized his voice, NBC News reported.

Long was also put in a photo lineup as the only man wearing a leather jacket, which was what was worn on the night of the attack, according to court records.

Long had an alibi for the time of the assault. His mother, who he lived with at the time, and the mother of his child said he was on a group phone call with them as he got ready to attend a party in Charlotte.

After his conviction, Long was sentenced to 80 years for rape and first-degree burglary.

Despite decades of appeals to overturn the conviction - and though DNA evidence obtained throughout the years pointed to his innocence - he remained in jail.

The DNA evidence in question was hair samples and clothing fibers that didn't match Long. According to news reports, the evidence was not shared with the defense at the time of the trial.

Long stands in a hallway at the Albemarle Correctional Institution in Albemarle, east of Charlotte, in 2007

Long (left) is pictured with lawyer Jamie Lau (right) on August 27 as he leaves the prison after his charges were vacated by the US District Court

In 2015, it was revealed that 43 fingerprints taken from the scene 'excluded' Long as the source of the prints. A request for a new trial was still rejected by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that same year.

'I feel as though the criminal justice system here in this state failed me,' Long previously told 48 Hours.

Long's attorney also said that his original defense team was unaware that a rape kit and other evidence had been taken from the victim or that a hair was found at the scene that didn't match Long.

North Carolina state attorneys argued that despite this apparent evidence suppression, it wouldn't have changed the jurors' verdict, so Long remained in prison.

His attorneys also accused Concord police officers of giving false testimonies about the evidence at Long's trial.

In a previous interview Long told 48 Hours: 'I'm 64, going on 65. They took my life away from me when I was 20 years old. I ain't got nothing but memories. But yet, and still, you say the evidence collected in the case was immaterial?'

Years later, the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled that Long's rights had been violated by what it called 'a troubling and striking pattern of deliberate police suppression of material evidence.'

The North Carolina Attorney General's office then decided to stop fighting Long's case, leading to his release from Albemarle Correctional Institution.

Long was officially released from prison on August 27, 2020, and was pardoned four months later by Governor Roy Cooper. He was given $75,000 as a settlement by the state the following year.

Lau said that since his release, his client has been fighting for criminal justice reform as he put a portion of his earnings toward the cause.

While Long was in prison, his parents died. When he was released, Long said he planned to visit their gravesite and tell them 'your son is clear'

Long has been fighting for criminal justice reform since his release as he put a portion of his earnings toward the cause

'We are hopeful this can begin the healing process for Mr. Long and our community, and that together we can move forward while learning valuable lessons and ensuring nothing like this ever happens again,' Lau said.

'One thing he recognizes is that hes in a position of power now where hes achieved a record settlement financially so that sets the bar for others,' his other attorney, Pfeiffer said.

While incarcerated, Long lost both of his parents and missed precious holidays and moments with his family.

Once he was released, Long said he planned to visit his parents' gravesite and tell them 'your son is clear.'

Manson said the city of Concord is 'deeply remorseful for the past wrongs that caused tremendous harm to Mr. Long, his family, friends, and our community.'

'He wrongly served 44 years, 3 months and 17 days in prison for a crime he did not commit,' the city's statement added.
A respected police officer who was found dead inside Port Adelaide's police station is believed to have taken her own life in the women's bathroom.

The police commissioner and coroner have launched an investigation after the officer - a detective brevet sergeant - died at the station in the city's northwest between 2pm and 3pm on Monday.

Police have previously confirmed the death was not being treated as suspicious but have not revealed the cause.

However, Daily Mail Australia can reveal the officer, who was an Indigenous mother-of-two, is believed to have taken her own life.

Reports from eyewitnesses online claim officers at the station heard a loud bang within the building before they discovered her body.

SA Police have asked that media outlets not publish the dead officer's name and identifiable photographs due to 'cultural reasons'.

A respected police officer who was found dead inside Port Adelaide 's police station took her own life in the women's bathroom. Police have asked that media outlets not publish the dead officer's name and identifiable photographs for 'cultural reasons'

The officer, who was originally from Whyalla before moving to Adelaide, initially worked as a community constable - cops who help police engage with First Nations and culturally diverse communities

She was sworn in as a full-time police officer in 2015.

She married her wife, who is also a South Australian police officer, in late 2019.

During her time as a community constable, she was nominated as '2012 Aboriginal Person of the Year' for her work within the First Nations community.

In her nomination blurb, she discussed her passion for serving the community and her desire to see the Aboriginal community represented more within SA Police.

'I love the variety in my work and I love getting the opportunity to help people by making the best out of a bad situation,' she wrote.

'[I] would like to help turn around the publics perception of police officers from a negative to a positive.'

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the officer's grandmother was a celebrated Aboriginal writer and poet who had more than 61 works published throughout her career.

The grandmother is lauded as a 'pioneer in First Nations Australia literature in South Australia' and was considered to be the first Aboriginal female writer to be published within the state and won awards for her contribution to the arts.

The female police officer was found dead at Port Adelaide Police Station (pictured), in the city's northwest, on Monday afternoon

In a tribute online, a colleague shared photos of a gift she had once received from the officer - a poetry book written by her grandmother.

Other devastated friends and colleagues have remembered the officer as a 'beautiful person' who had an 'infectious, loud laugh' which could be heard 'right across the station'.

One workmate said the officer told her 'It will be OK, bestie' during one of their last conversations on Monday.

'You said it a thousand times to me over the years,' her colleague wrote.

'It doesn't feel like anything will ever be OK again.

'I am shattered. I loved you so much, but you knew that.

'I will miss you forever.'

Another colleague recalled how kind she was when she first arrived at Port Adelaide and was struggling to adjust.

After the officer invited her out to socialise, they quickly bonded over their similarities - their 'terrible memories, distractibility and having both lost their fathers.

'The first day I met you your kindness and caring nature shone through. You went out of your way to make us and the kids feel welcome with invitations to kindergym and the park,' she said.

'I loved working in the same office as you. Your laugh, the lolly jar addiction, your big caring heart and your cracking sense of humour, always taking the piss.

'I loved your passion for your people. You were a proud First Nations woman and I loved your stories of your beloved 'Gary'.

Colleagues have remembered the officer for her 'infectious laugh' and how she would always 'meet people with a smile'

'I learnt so much from you. You were such a light in my life.

'I wish you knew how much you are loved.'

The tragedy has rocked the South Australian police community, which is still reeling just two months on from the alleged on-duty fatal shooting of Brevet Sergeant Jason Doig and alleged hit-and-run death of SA Police Commissioner's son, Charlie Stevens.

Counselling support services have been offered to the officer's colleagues.

Acting Commissioner Linda Williams has announced the woman's death will be subjected to a police inquiry as well as a coronial investigation.

'The tragedy at Port Adelaide is something that will impact so many people  family and friends, but also the entire police family and indeed the wider community,' South Australia Police Association president Mark Carroll said.

'Our colleague's death will be investigated so that we can understand the cause of this devastating incident.

The state's Police Minister Joe Szakacs also shared his grief in a statement.

'My heartfelt condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of the police officer,' Mr Szakacs said.

'Her tragic passing will be felt deeply, and grieved widely. I ask everyone to keep the police family in their thoughts.'

For confidential support 24/7, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
The group were last seen

They had been following the teachings of Rashad Jamal, founder of The University of Cosmic Intelligence, an online 'spiritual cult'

Six people, including two children, have vanished in Missouri after joining a 'spiritual cult' led by a convicted child molester.

Police are frantically searching for Ma'Kayla Wickerson, 36, her daughter Malaiyah Wickerson, 3, and Mikayla Thompson, 25, from St Louis, along with Naaman Williams, 30, of Washington, D.C, Gerrielle German, 27, of Horn Lake, Mississippi, and her son Ashton Mitchell, 2.

The group disappeared from a rental home near Lambert St. Louis Airport, according to police, who warned they had fallen under the influence of social media 'prophet' Rashad Jamal.

Jamal, whose legal name is Rashad Jamal White, is the leader and founder of The University of Cosmic Intelligence, an antigovernmental, polygamous 'religious' group that claims to enlighten black and Latino people about their 'true' origins.

He is currently serving 18 years in prison in Atlanta for child molestation and child cruelty. He has thousands of followers across his social media platforms where he posts bizarre conspiracy theories.

Six people, including two children, have vanished in Missouri after joining a 'spiritual cult' led by Rashad Jamal

Makayla Wickerson, 25, and her three-year-old daughter Malayiah are among those who vanished after joining the University of Cosmic Intelligence

Gerrielle Mitchell, 28, and her son Ashton, 2, are in the group last seen on August 13 at a Quality Inn Hotel in Florissant, Missouri

Self-professed 'god' Jamal claims Arizona is a gateway to Africa, birds are government drones and that humans are 'avatars' among other outlandish beliefs.

The missing people were last seen on August 13 at a Quality Inn Hotel in Florissant, Missouri. Prior to their disappearance, neighbors regularly spotted them meditating naked at their rental home, Fox News reports.

Family members of the group say they cut off all contact prior to their disappearance and had changed their names to honor gods and goddesses.

'Mental illness is real, manipulation is real there are a lot of things that are going on out here, we just need to be aware,' Cartisha Morgan, Wickerson's mom, told the outlet.

Berkley Police Department's Major Steve Runge added the group was often seen running around naked in the rain outside the rental home, as well as digging up items from the dirt.

Followers of the cult are encouraged to go 'off grid' and change their name to more spiritual monikers.

Thompson calls herself Antu Anum Ahmat, Williams uses the alias Anubis Aramean and Wickerson refers to herself as Intuahma Aquama Auntil, according to police. German goes by Anatari Anu Ariel, according to a family member.

The FBI has since joined the search with police warning the cult has encouraged a 'total disconnection'.

The missing people were all living together at a rental home near Lambert St. Louis Airport where neighbors would see them meditating naked prior to their disappearance

Police are also searching for Naaman Williams, 30, who is among the six missing. Williams, like others in the cult, had changed his name to honor gods and goddesses which feature in the cult's lore

Jamal believes he is a god and subscribes to a number of bizarre theories including that Arizona is a gateway to Africa and that pigeons are government drones used to spy on people

Jamal's website states the organization is 'geared toward enlightening and illuminating the minds of the carbonated beings, a.k.a. your so called [sic] Black and Latino people of Earth,', who he claims are descendants of 'Planet Ki'.

The website offers crystal jewelry for up to $333.33 and the option to purchase Jamal's lectures from $19.99.

He states he is a god and has maintained his innocence on his child molestation charges. He is currently seeking a retrial and asks for donations to support his family.

'The only law I had broken was speaking out against oppression,' he claims in a YouTube video posted last week. 'The only thing I am guilty of is freeing the minds of my people and speaking out against this system, and I'll never back down from that.'

In 2022, several of Jamal's disciples were accused of two murders in Alabama.

Damien Winslow Washam was charged with killing his mom, but found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Cult members Krystal Diane Pinkins and Yasmine Hider were separately convicted of murdering Florida college student Adam Sinjee, 22.

Sinjee was hiking with his girlfriend in Alabama's Talladega National Forest when Pinkins and Hider faked a car breakdown and robbed them. The killers had been living 'off grid' at the time of the attack.

Williams (left) was going by the name Anubis and has vanished along with girlfriend Mikayla Thompson

Family including Cartisha Morgan, Wickerson's mom, say they cut off all communication prior to disappearing

The cult is an antigovernmental pseudo religious organization which encourages followers to live 'off grid'

In response to media reports about the missing people, Jamal took to Instagram to blast outlets using 'fake cases' to 'as a means to silence me from exposing there [sic] Satanic system'.

'This is literally being played out right before all your eyes,' he wrote. 'They are trying to assassinate me in front of the entire world the same way they did the Prophet Yahweh aka Jesus.

'At this point I don't know how much longer I will be on this material plane with you. My life is truly in danger for spreading the word of almighty God.

'Satan is using his media and more to get me off this planet.'
Two top GOP-led committees are preparing to vote to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony.

Republicans say that his 'obstruction' of their impeachment investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face up to a year in jail.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals.

Instead of showing up for his required testimony, Hunter appeared outside of the Capitol to deliver a dramatic tirade slamming 'shameless' Republicans, while saying he'd only testify in a public forum.

The powerful House Oversight and Judiciary Committees are kicking off dual hearings at 10 a.m. ET today.

Both committees are expected to work through a series of amendments and then vote on authorizing contempt charges for the president's son.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted

The contempt articles will then go to the House Rules Committee and finally to the House floor for a full body vote, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution, which is unlikely. In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted.

Lawmakers released the text of the contempt resolution Monday.

They wrote that Hunter's testimony is a 'critical component' of their impeachment inquiry into whether then-Vice President Joe 'abused his office' by engaging in 'schemes' with foreigners to enrich himself or his family.

Hunter's 'flagrant defiance' of the subpoenas is 'contemptuous' and he must be 'held accountable for his unlawful actions,' the resolution continues - calling his actions a 'criminal act.'

Top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin said Monday that there is 'no precedent' for the House to hold 'a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committees choosing.'

He went on to accuse Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of wanting to 'keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.'

'However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden,' the Democrat continued.

Two former Donald Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were held in contempt and ultimately prosecuted by Biden's DOJ for defying January 6 Committee subpoenas.

Bannon is currently appealing his four-month prison sentence and Navarro is expected to be sentenced later this week, and could face up to one year behind bars.

They both said that executive privilege protected them from having to comply with the congressional committee's demands.

Hunter Biden shockingly showed up Capitol Hill on the morning of his mandatory deposition to acknowledge 'mistakes' he made due to his crack cocaine addiction while blasting Republicans investigating him for 'turning his 'dad's love into darkness'

Republicans had announced they would begin moving forward with contempt last week.

'Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition,' House Oversight Committee Republicans wrote on X Friday.

'Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,' the lawmakers said on Friday.

Republicans said that his 'obstruction' of their investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face jail time.

GOP leadership held a vote to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe on December 13.

The 221-212 party-line vote opened the door for the GOP to get more evidence about schemes that have seen the Biden family get millions from countries including China, Ukraine and Romania.

And the Bidens will now have more of their bank records, mortgage details, emails, text messages and mobile phones subpoenaed, along with anything else Congress wants to see.

Hunter was subpoenaed by Republicans last month along with James Biden, the president's brother, and Biden family associate Rob Walker. Attorneys for James have been in touch with the committee and they are working on scheduling a time for his closed-door testimony.

Hunter Biden made a shock appearance on Capitol Hill where he defiantly declared that his father is innocent of corruption allegations and accused Republicans of being 'shameless' for trying to impeach him.

Hunter delivered an emotional public statement in which he tore into the 'unrelenting Trump attack machine' and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for showing naked photos of him in Congress.

Hunter admitted making 'mistakes' in his life due to his crack cocaine addiction but went on to blast Republicans investigating him and accused them of 'turning my dad's love into darkness.'

The first son also said his father was 'not financially involved' in his controversial business dealings and that there was no evidence because it 'did not happen.'

Comer and Jordan questioned what Hunter meant when that his father was not 'financially' involved in his dealings.

'Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?' they questioned in the statement. 'Evidence shows Joe Biden met with Hunter's business associates and his name was at the center of the family business strategy.'

Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress after he didn't show up for his impeachment probe deposition

Hunter said on December 13: 'I am here today to acknowledge I have made mistakes in my life. Im also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for political purposes.
Kate Middleton's former postmaster has revealed how she stood by him when he was wrongly accused of stealing 16,000 in the Horizon scandal.

Hasmukh Shingadia, 63, used to serve Haribo and Doritos to the Princess of Wales and her sister Pippa at his Spar and Post Office in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, when they were teenagers.

During the early days of Kate's blossoming romance with William, the future King would even pop into the shop for ice-cream.

Such was the close connection between Mr Shingadia and the Middletons he and his wife Chandrika, 55, received an invitation to Kate and William's wedding in 2011.

But just 83 days after the postmaster watched the royals exchange vows at Westminster Abbey he pleaded guilty to false accounting because he was 'made to feel' he had.

Hasmukh Shingadia with his wife Chandrika pictured in 2011. He has told how Kate Middleton stood by him when he was wrongly convicted of stealing 16,000 during the Post Office scandal

The Princess of Wales would go into Mr Shingadia's shop when she was a youngster, with Prince William also popping in to get some ice cream

The Middletons continued to spend money at his shop while some locals 'shunned him' and a decade later he had his eight-month suspended prison sentence quashed after taking advice from campaigning ex-subpostmaster Alan Bates.

The grandfather told The Sun how the family had 'supported me a lot' during those dark times with Kate's father, Michael, coming into the shop after his conviction was overturned.

'He was overjoyed and said, "Well done",' he said.

'I know I couldnt ask them for help directly because of the position they were in. But I am really grateful to the wider family for standing by me. They are really good people.'

Mr Shingadia used his own money and borrowed from friends and family to try and pay back the 16,000 he was wrongly accused of stealing, but he was suspended in 2010 by Post Office auditors.

He eventually lost his job and became suicidal and said he is still trying to come terms emotionally and physical with what happened.

'It was horrible, not only for me, but my family as well. We all went through hell. I had suicidal thoughts,' he said.

Mr Shingadia outside Oxford Crown Court in 2011 where he pleaded guilty to false accounting. A decade later he had his conviction quashed

Mr Shingadia used to serve Haribo and Doritos to the Princess of Wales and her sister Pippa at his Spar and Post Office in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, when the siblings were teenagers

Such was the close connection between Mr Shingadia and the Middletons he and his wife Chandrika, 55, received an invitation to Kate and William's wedding in 2011

The Middletons supported the postmaster during those dark times with Kate's father, Michael (right), coming into the shop after his conviction was overturned

He burst into tears when he was one of 12 subpostmasters cleared in 2021 and told the Reading Chronicle at the time: 'I was in all the newspapers as the royal wedding guest who was a thief and a fraudster so today is massive for me and my family, but also of course the other subpostmasters who have had their convictions quashed.

READ MORE: Shamed former Post Office boss Paula Vennells faces calls to return 3 million in bonuses and pension after handing back her CBE Advertisement

'I'd seen Kate Middleton grow up and I remember her being in my shop on the day the radio was saying she was to marry William. Being a guest at the wedding meant the press focused on my case in court.

'It was an awful time for us when I was convicted. My mother had died the previous year, Id had cancer and undergone surgery to remove a sarcoma, and my daughters were only young at the time and they had people telling them at school that their dad was a thief.'

Mr Shingadia now wants the remaining subpostmasters cleared, with only 93 of some 700 branch managers convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software having their convictions overturned.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Rishi Sunak revealed the option of exonerating all postmasters was being 'looked at' by the Justice Secretary.

Asked if the Government would remove the Post Office's ability to investigate and prosecute, he said: 'The Justice Secretary is looking at the things that you've described, it wouldn't be right to pre-empt that process, obviously there's legal complexity in all of those things but he is looking at exactly those areas.'

The scandal is seen as one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice and has gained recent national attention over recent days thanks to Mr Bates Vs The Post Office airing on ITV

It comes as ITV's new drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office has drawn a renewed interest in the scandal after airing last week, with Mr Bates being played by Toby Jones (pictured in the role). It raised the case again and piled pressure on Ms Vennells

Former Post Office boss Ms Vennells intends to hand back her CBE with immediate effect amid the fallout of the Horizon IT scandal, which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters

More than 1 million had signed an online petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive officer to hand back her CBE

Rishi Sunak revealed today that the Government is looking at exonerating all subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon scandal

The national anger over the scandal has risen in the last week after a four-part ITV series, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, brought fresh public awareness to the scandal.

MPs are demanding Mr Bates is given an honour after shamed ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells finally handed her CBE back.

The campaigning ex-subpostmaster turned his back on the offer of an OBE having felt 'deeply insulted' with Ms Vennells still holding on to her honour.

But she finally succumbed to mounting pressure today and said she intended to hand her CBE back after a 1.2million signature petition called to take it off her.

The shamed ex-Post Office chief said: 'I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

'I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.'
A hospital doctor who discharged a poorly baby boy in the middle of the night, only for him to die two days later, fought back tears as he told an inquest: I thought it was the right thing to do.

Olly Stopforth, aged 15 months, was sent home after an observation of his condition deemed him as suffering from nothing more than a viral infection.

The decision was made despite Olly having a high temperature of 40.7C, an extreme heart rate of 202 and a respiratory rate of 60, and a rash that a nurse feared was Scarlet Fever because it had the texture of sandpaper, the court heard.

The toddler had been brought by ambulance to the Countess of Chester hospital on Friday evening on March 20, 2020, accompanied by his father Karl Stopforth who claims doctors failed to carry out a thorough 'hands on' check of him.

Olly was sent home at 3am on March 21, but showed no improvement throughout the weekend, including Mothering Sunday, before being discovered dead in his room by his distraught mother Laura Stopforth at 12.15am on March 23, when she went in to check on him.

Dr Kieran McCarthy, who discharged a poorly Olly in the middle of the night, only for him to die two days later, fought back tears as he told an inquest yesterday: I thought it was the right thing to do.

Olly was discharged despite a high temperature of 40.7C, an extreme heart rate of 202 and a respiratory rate of 60, and a rash that a nurse feared was Scarlet Fever because it had the texture of sandpaper

At home Olly showed no real sign of improvement throughout Saturday and Mothering Sunday

Dr Kieran McCarthy, who was responsible for discharging Olly, told the inquest: At the time the fear was that keeping people in hospital potentially longer than they needed to be was putting them at risk.

We did not know at the time if he had Covid, or if other people had Covid. We did not know what the effect of Covid on children was at that time.

At another time I probably would have kept him longer and not sent him home at 3am but at that time I thought it was the right thing to do.

Asked by Senior Coroner Jacqueline Devonish if the procedure would have been different if it had not been for Covid, Dr McCarthy said: I would have assessed him differently and I think I would have kept him for a bit longer.

The inquest, held before a jury in Warrington, Cheshire, heard Olly had been given two formal observations at 5.45pm and again at 11.30pm before being discharged, with nurses monitoring in between.

But Dr McCarthy said: I had not appreciated that he needed a more thorough review.

Definitely, on reflection I should have done a more thorough assessment and I should have examined him. At the time I don't think I totally appreciated the length of time that had passed.

Olly's parents Laura and Karl arrive at Warrington Corners Court in Cheshire for their son's inquest on Monday

The baby boy was taken by ambulance to the Countess of Chester hospital on the evening of Friday March 20, 2020 but his father Karl Stopforth claims doctors then failed to carry out a 'hands on' check on Olly

Paramedic Lynsey Field had radioed ahead with a red alert because of Olly's abnormally high readings for heart rate, warning doctors specifically that the child might have sepsis

Dr McCarthy, who said there were staffing issues with nurses at the time, said: In this case we deviated from our usual practice due to Covid.

Paediatric staff nurse Danielle Burgogyne described Olly's rash as 'red and florid' at the time of his discharge and recalled asking Dr McCarthy Are you sure? Do you want to come and see him again? The rash is still quite red.

She said she had not expected the rash to have completely disappeared - but it was very red and angry.

But the nurse said she was reassured by Dr McCarthy that viral rashes could be as red and angry as it looked.

Ms Burgogyne admitted she had not accurately dealt with a fluid challenge, whereby Olly should have consumed 5ml of fluid every five minutes for one hour.

She said: I made a quick assumption. We were extremely busy. I had to prioritise what was most important at that time and for Olly it was to get his temperature down.

The nurse offered her condolences to Olly's parents and said: I was and always will be devastated at the loss of your little boy and I hope today can bring you some answers.

A third member of hospital staff giving evidence today, Dr Mary Montgomery, a paediatric intensivist, said carrying out blood tests and administering antibiotics could have made a difference to the tot.

She said additional care, treatment and assessment of Olly would have given a different outcome if antibiotics had been administered.

Dr Montgomery said: 'I wish people had said 'he looks like he is getting better but we are going to keep an eye on him.'

But the doctor admitted that if a sepsis screen tool had been used to assess Olly, it would have likely triggered blood tests and Olly would have been given antibiotics.

She added: Can I say that if he had been given antibiotics that would have stopped him from dying? - I can't say for sure.

I really wish antibiotics had been given as it somehow would have made it less traumatic for everyone involved because then the question would not be there.

Pathologist, Professor VAV Cartwright ruled Olly had died from Strep A infection  a bacteria which can cause sepsis - and said antibiotics would have saved Olly's life.

The inquest continues.
A former girlfriend of disgraced New Jersey senator Bob Menendez was accused by Virginia Giuffre of participating in orgies with her and Jeffrey Epstein, newly-unsealed court documents reveal.

Gwendolyn Beck, now 65, ran for Congress in 2014 as an independent representing Arlington, Virginia, but had long been known as an associate of Epstein's.

She was photographed in 1995 with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 1995, and five years later, was back at Mar-a-Lago with Prince Andrew and Melania Knauss, Donald Trump's girlfriend.

She had met Prince Andrew the year before: in 1999, she spent time with him on Epstein's Caribbean island, and then flew back with Andrew and several others to Palm Beach, Florida.

Gwendolyn Beck (far right) is pictured with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 1995

Melania Knauss, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in February 2000

Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre claims she had sex with another foreign royal in the South of France when she was 17, but she did not know his name. She is shown with Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001

Beck is pictured with Donald Trump in 2016 during his successful presidential election campaign

At the time, according to her LinkedIn, she was the vice president of investments for Morgan Stanley - one of Epstein's banks.

In January 2016, Virginia Giuffre - who had been recruited by Maxwell to work for Epstein in 2000, and was taking legal action after years of sexual abuse by the pedophile financier - sat for a deposition.

The transcript was published on Tuesday.

The lawyer provides Giuffre with a list of names, and asks which of those she was not sexually trafficked to.

'Number 7, Gwendolyn Beck,' she said.

'I wasn't trafficked to her. She was just a part of some of the trafficking.'

The lawyer asks what her involvement was.

'She was involved in some of the orgies,' Giuffre replies.

Asked by the lawyer 'what gentlemen were involved in the orgies with you and Ms. Beck,' Giuffre replies: 'As far as I can recall Jeffrey Epstein.'

Beck has not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

By May 2010, Beck was dating New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, and was photographed dining with him in the Dominican Republic.

Beck is seen at the White House with New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, at a dinner in honor of Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon

The photos were used in Menendez's 2015 corruption trial.

Beck also accompanied Menendez to a State Dinner, hosted in honor of the president of Mexico by Barack and Michelle Obama.

It's unclear when their relationship ended. Last year, Menendez was charged in connection to a bribery case. He has denied the allegations and remains in office.

Beck in 2014 ran for Congress on a platform of being 'fiscally responsible, socially inclusive' and in favor of a 'strong national defense.'

She wrote in an Arlington Now statement: 'As a business woman, I have had two successful careers, one in the financial industry and one in tourism.

'I rose to Manager of National Sales at Eastern Airlines, and when they ceased operations, moved into Finance in U.S. Government Debt  I understand how our debt works.

'I've written a consumer financial education book and appeared on PBS and Lifetime. I volunteer for the Arlington Agency on Aging, am on the Board of Directors for 'Ladies America' and 'We Will Survive Cancer.''

She said she was 'a first-generation American on my mother's side, and about fifth-generation American on my father's side.'

Beck's book, published in November 2008

Beck is seen campaigning for Congress in 2014

Epstein donated $12,600 to her 2014 campaign for Congress, as an independent

She won 5,420 votes, securing 2.7 percent of the vote. The seat was won by Democrat Don Beyer, with 128,102 votes - 31.1 percent.

Her campaign was boosted by a $12,600 donation from Epstein - his only political donation of 2014, according to Arlington Now.

She defended the donation from the pedophile, who by then had been convicted of sex with minors and spent time in a Florida jail.

'I did call every billionaire I know to ask for campaign funds, and Mr. Epstein sent the donations,' Beck said via email.

'I haven't spoken with him personally in years. During my years at Morgan Stanley (started in 1995), I managed a portion of his investment funds (about $65 million), and knew him personally.

'While the press has tagged him 'a man of mystery' because they can't explain how he made his money, it's mostly a combination of real estate and complex derivatives.'

Beck continued: 'At the time, he had a girlfriend he was very close to, and was a hardworking, thoughtful man (he comes from a poor background and made a lot of money really fast).

'I think he went off the deep end when she left (I left Morgan Stanley by this time and had no relationship with them), and got involved in very bad behaviors which he's sought therapy for and paid his time in jail.'

She said she accepted his donation out of 'forgiveness'.

'I am deeply opposed [to] and shocked by his behavior, but he has paid his debt to society,' she told the paper.

'Although humanly flawed, he can be a great asset to our nation because he understands finance on a level most people can't comprehend.'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling on Iowans to end the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of Donald Trump winning in 2024  claiming that it's within the caucus-goers 'power' to defy the polls.

The 2024 hopeful said that the media has contributed to boosting Trump by going 'relatively easy' on the former president compared to coverage in 2016 and 2020.

'I honestly think Iowans have it within their power to upend all of that,' DeSantis told an audience member at a town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday when asked why he believes candidates other than Trump are having trouble gaining polling traction.

'I think that, yeah, there's kind of a self fulfilling prophecy,' the Florida governor added. 'I mean, the media loves just reporting polls constantly.'

Former President Trump is still dominating in national polls  though his lead is significantly shrinking in New Hampshire, where former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley skyrocketed to second place with just single digits separating them.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday at a Fox News town hall in West Des Moines that Iowa caucus goers can end the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of a Donald Trump win

From left: Iowa Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, Casey DeSantis with son Mason, five, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) sit in the front row of Gov. DeSantis' town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday night

He said that Trump is remaining at the top because, in part, the media coverage.

'I think there's a reason why the media has been easy on him relative,' he said at his Tuesday town hall with Fox News hosts Martha McCallum and Bret Baier. 'They used to hate him. He was like the worst thing ever.'

DeSantis claims that Democrats want to see 2024 be about Trump's legal problems rather than his presidential record. 'I think they want to see 2024 being all about these things,' he said.

'Ultimately, it's the people that decide these, not the polls,' DeSantis insisted.

The town hall was the second in a series of three in Iowa with Fox News  the first was with Nikki Haley on Monday night and the third will be with Donald Trump on Wednesday while the other two candidates are debating across town.

DeSantis flew back to Iowa from Florida for the town hall Tuesday evening after earlier in the day deliver his State of the State address in Tallahassee

During a commercial break at the town hall, DeSantis' son Mason, five, ran up on stage to have a moment with his father

DeSantis flew back to Iowa after spending the start of the week in Tallahassee, Florida, where he delivered his State of the State address on Tuesday morning before flying back to Des Moines to make it to the town hall.

Meanwhile, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis remained in Iowa with Texas Rep. Chip Roy to continue campaigning for the governor.

At the town hall, DeSantis noted that his wife and son, Mason, five, were door-knocking in the snow while he was in Florida.

Casey and Mason were in the audience for the town hall on Tuesday.
A homeless family-of-four are among those who have been removed from a motel supporting people sleeping rough following an angry letter from residents living in the affluent suburb.

The residents behind the letter have complained about the 'conduct' of some of the occupants at the motel in Hamilton in Brisbane's northeast.

The occupants were placed there by Micah Projects, a government-funded homelessness support service.

In the letter, locals are urged to reach out to state politicians, the motel and Micah Projects in an effort to restore one of Brisbane's wealthiest suburbs to its 'quiet' past.

Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh said homeless people who had been living inside the motel have since been reallocated.

Residents of one of Brisbane's wealthiest suburbs, Hamilton, have penned a letter (pictured) pushing for 'action' to be taken on a motel providing shelter for the homeless

The resident took issue with the 'conduct' of those staying at the motel, claiming the non-profit who housed them there, Micah Projects, hadn't screened them nor gave ongoing support

'Today would be the last day that anyone is there that these particular letter drops are referring to,' she told 4BC Radio on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Queensland family-of-five forced to move into a tent Advertisement

'We do screen people but we can't predict behaviour anymore than anybody else can.

'Some of the incidents that have been talked about are incidents that in any community you need to call the police for. They're not incidents that an organisation like Micah Projects can prevent or address or even know is happening.'

It's understood a family-of-four living at the motel were moved to another accommodation last week.

One Hamilton resident claimed they saw someone with a knife outside the motel threatening to kill people, 10 News reported.

The letter, which had been dropped around in neighbours' letterboxes, accused the non-profit of not 'screening' those being placed in the motel for shelter nor providing ongoing support.

'With many voices we can change our community for the better,' the letter reads.

'We already have some action with certain people removed, and we need your help to get back to the safe and quiet neighbourhood that we had prior to the placement of these people.'

The letter claimed that some of those placed in the motel for housing had been able to 'remain in the motel despite severely breaching the standards of conduct required'.

Some struggling families have been forced to live in tents after not being able to secure a rental home

The second page of the letter provided concerned residents with a list of emails, including those of Ms Walsh, the local state MP, and the policy and community safety and housing minister.

Ms Walsh said some of the issues raised by the community were either not being perpetrated by those housed by Micah Projects or were 'out of the scope' of the organisation.

'In terms of community concerns about the specific people there (housed by Micah Projects), they have been removed,' she earlier told Daily Mail Australia.

'I'm aware of what the community are saying publicly, and we have acted and have conversations with those who are deemed an issue at the motel.

'We always want to balance the needs of those vulnerable in the community with the needs of the community.'

The arrangement between the motel and Micah Projects has been ongoing for years, allowing vacant rooms to be used as short-term accommodation for those in need.

Ms Walsh said the 'goal' wasn't to have vulnerable people stay for extended periods of time and was instead 'getting them out of motels and into permanent homes as quick as possible'.

Micah Projects' CEO Karyn Walsh (pictured) shot down some of the letter's claims, saying the non-profit was active in helping those at the motel and it had removed troublemakers

She said the organisation fully supports the motel as a private enterprise that sets its own standards on the behaviour of those who stay there.

'If people don't keep to those standards we don't tell the managers not to keep them there and ask them to contact police if there are safety issues specifically surrounding women and children,' Ms Walsh said.

It comes amid a homeless crisis in Australia with some families forced to live in tents.

In the 2021 census, there were 122,494 homeless people across Australia.

Recently major cities have been overrun with tents as residents struggle to find somewhere to live.

Footage was recently shared of groupings of tents pitched along the Brisbane river between the William Jolly and Go Between bridges in the inner-city suburb of South Brisbane.
January 10, 2024: At the end of 2023, on December 14th, The Chinese Space Plane, called Shenlong (Divine Dragon) began its third orbital mission. There is no indication how long the Chinese spacecraft will remain in orbit. In August 2022 the Chinese Space Plane completed its second successful mission after remaining in orbit for 276 days. The first flight took place in early September 2020 and was in orbit for only two days. Initially China delayed releasing any photos of their reusable test spacecraft. Eventually there were satellite photos of the Chinese space plane after landing that showed a space plane similar in size to the American X-37B. The second launch and orbital activity was more closely observed. China delayed releasing any photos of its space launch facility, known as CSSHQ. The Chinese designer revealed that Shenlong is expected to be useful for up to 20 launches.

The Chinese version of the U.S. Air Force X-37B UOV (Unmanned Orbital Vehicle) lands at a 5,000-meter landing strip near their Lop Nor nuclear test site in the Gobi Desert. The Chinese mentioned the X-37B when they first announced their effort in 2017. During its first flight, the Chinese UOV was spotted by an American space surveillance system releasing a smaller object into orbit. The Chinese UOV apparently released two smaller objects before returning to earth. The Chinese UOV remained in a 350-kilometer-high orbit for over 40 hours on its first flight and is using a similar orbit during its second mission. The third, and current, mission uses a similar orbit and circles the earth once every 90 minutes.

The Chinese UOV was not a complete surprise as Chinese space officials mentioned such a project in 2017. It was believed they would test their UOV in 2020 and they did, but without any publicity until it landed safely. The only other nation to develop and use a spaceplane was Russia. Their Buran project was similar to the American manned Space Shuttle and made one unmanned flight in 1988. This was for only two orbits before Buran was landed. The Soviet Union dissolved in 19991 and there was no money for further work on Buran. The one working Buran vehicle was stored in a hanger and destroyed in 2002 when the hanger collapsed. The European Space Program is developing a space plane as is India.

On May 17, 2020, one of the American X-37Bs was launched into orbit, the sixth time this has been done. This was seven months after the other X-37B returned from its last, and longest 25.5 month mission. The X-37B has been doing this for over a decade now, going into orbit for the first time in April 2010, and remaining up there for over seven months. Each subsequent launch (March 2011, December 2012, May 2016, September 2017, and May 2020) kept the X-37B in orbit longer (225 days then 469, 675, 718 and over 908). There are two X-37B space planes, so they are not putting the same one back into orbit soon after it returns. Mission six remained in orbit for 908 days. The seventh mission launch is supposed to happen by the end of 2023.

The X-37B was developed by NASA as the X-37A but in 2004 that project was turned over to DARPA the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 2006 the U.S. Air Force announced it was developing a larger X-37B and this replaced the DARPA X-37A project.

One unanswered question is what does X-37B or the Chinese UOV do up there? The X-37B operations are classified and little information about what happens in orbit is released. China has been equally secretive. On one X-37B mission the air force mentioned that the X-37B had carried and released three cubesats or very small satellites that were not registered with the UN. That X-37B was known to be carrying ten cubesats to be released into orbit to perform various experiments. The Chinese appear to have done the same while in orbit. The latest X-37B in orbit was reported to be carrying more items to put into orbit than any previous X-37B. The Chinese UOV released similar small satellites during its first flight, apparently to test the cargo launch system. Shenlong released several smaller objects during it latest flight. These objects appear to be broadcasting a signal that could be detected on earth.

Cubesats are technically U Class spacecraft that can be no larger than 10 cm square and weigh no more than 1.33 kg. Cubesats are increasingly popular for science experiments by smaller organizations, or even individuals, who cannot afford a multi-million-dollar satellite that is ten or more times larger and heavier than a cubesat. About 4,000 cubesats and similar Nanosats have been launched since 1998, with over 90 percent reaching orbit. That number is expected to keep increasing because more and more commercial satellite launchers are providing unused space and weight on their launcher rockets for carrying and launching some cubesats and the smaller Nanosats. In some cases, the cubesat owners pay for this service while in other cases some cubesats are taken up for free, as a public service.

The U.S. was accused of using the unregistered cubesats launched from the X-37B as a test of a new anti-satellite weapon. A cubesat placed in the proper orbit could intercept and destroy or disable a much larger satellite. Or so the theory goes. The U.S. Air Force had no comment although two senior air force officials did mention, in 2019, that there were some secret anti-satellite projects underway. An anti-satellite weapon that is kept secret is more effective when used because the enemy doesnt know what to prepare for.

The X-37B is unmanned and operated by earth-based controllers. It does have automatic landing software that has been used several times without any problems. While the air force reports few details about the X-37B, it was difficult to hide the fact that mission 5 used a different launch vehicle, the SpaceX booster. This was important because the SpaceX rocket itself is reusable; its first stage returns to earth and lands upright for refurbishing and reuse. Air force officials noted that the SpaceX design is a fitting match for X-37B which was designed for multiple reuse and autonomous operation. The Chinese UOVs were designed for at least 20 missions each. X-37B Missions, 4 5 and 6 were apparently all similar in that new technologies were tested, and more micro-satellites were placed in orbit, including the unregistered cubesats, which are the smallest class of satellites.

Mission 6 in 2020, using the disposable Atlas 5 launch vehicle was the last time it was employed. The SpaceX launchers are cheaper and just as reliable.

It was eventually revealed that X-37B mission 4 tested a new thruster system for mobile satellites that needed to be tried out while in orbit. Also carried were dozens of different materials, possibly including some new spy satellite components to see what the harsh environment in orbit, especially radiation, can do. Such exposure can have unpredictable effects on materials and microelectronics after prolonged time in space.

Earlier missions were also successful. The third X-37B mission ended in October 2014 after nearly two years in orbit. The second mission landed on June 16th, 2012, after 15 months in orbit. The first mission ended on December 3rd, 2010, after seven months in orbit. The official endurance of the X-37B was originally about nine months or 280 days. The real endurance is 3-4 times that, at least. The long endurance is largely because the X-37B carries a sizable solar panel, which is deployed from the cargo bay, unfolded, and produces enough power to keep the X-37B up there for a long time. The air force has not made public much about what the X-37Bs has been doing up there for over a total of over 3,000 days so far.

In effect, the X-37B is a remotely controlled mini-Space Shuttle. The space vehicle, according to amateur astronomers (who like to watch spy satellites as well), appears to be going through some tests much of the time. The X-37B is believed to have a payload of about 227-300 kg. The payload bay is 2.1x1.4 meters. As it returned to earth, it is designed to land by itself after being ordered to use a specific landing area. The X-37B weighs five tons, is nine meters (29 feet) long and has a wingspan of 4 meters. In contrast, the Space Shuttle was 56 meters long, weighed 2,000 tons and had a payload of 24 tons.

The X-37B has been in development since 2000 but work was slowed down for a while because of lack of money. Whatever the X-37B is now doing up there has been convincing enough to get Congress to spend over a billion dollars on it. What makes the X-37B so useful is that it is very maneuverable, contains some internal sensors (as well as communications gear), and can carry mini-satellites, or additional sensors, in the payload bay. The X-37B is believed capable of serving as a platform for attacks on enemy satellites in wartime. Using a remotely controlled arm, the X-37B could refuel or repair other satellites. All this is speculative because, as a classified project, there is little confirmed information about its payload or mission, other than testing the system on its first mission. It is likely that future missions will involve intelligence work, and perhaps servicing existing spy satellites which must use up their fuel to change their orbits. For regular satellite refueling missions a larger X-37C would probably be used. This is a scaled-up X-37B that would have a much larger, probably over a ton payload. The X-37C could be quickly switched between cargo and passenger configurations. The X-37C would still be robotic and not require anyone onboard to control it. Work on the X-37C has apparently been halted because there are similar alternative designs that are closer to service.

The X-37B also demonstrated that it could not be easily tracked while in orbit. An international collection of amateur sky watchers proved remarkably adept at spotting orbital objects in the past, including classified ones like the X-37B. The amateur orbital observer community has concluded that one thing the X-37B tested was how well it could change orbits and stay hidden. In that respect, the X-37B was a resounding success. That's because these amateur observers are generally very good at tracking what's up there.

But the X-37B has proved elusive and sometimes became a frustrating challenge to amateur sky watchers. This is pleasing to American air force officials, who designed the X-37B to be elusive to terrestrial observation, and the dedicated and quite effective amateur satellite watchers gave the X-37B quite a workout. China apparently seeks to do the same.
New York City kicked students out of a Brooklyn high school in order to relocate nearly 2,000 migrants housed at Floyd Bennett Field ahead of a potentially damaging storm.

Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov posted video of the migrants entering James Madison High School without having to scan their faces the way students typically do.

'A lot of law enforcement and other agency resources have been poured into this situation tonight. Also, these children are being moved from place to place and will be forced to wake up at 4:30am to leave the school to go elsewhere. Unacceptable situation for all!'

In a statement, City Hall referred to the illegal migrants as 'guests' and called it a temporary stay.

'The health and safety of migrants in our care is always a top priority, which is why we are currently overseeing the relocation of 1,900 guests from the humanitarian emergency response and relief center at Floyd Bennett Field due to an updated forecast with increased wind speeds estimated to be at over 70 MPH tonight.'

New York City kicked students out of a Brooklyn high school in order to relocate nearly 2,000 migrants housed at Floyd Bennett Field ahead of a potentially damaging storm

The migrants started their evacuation just before 5 p.m. and NYC school officials announced the students usually at the Brooklyn school would participate in remote classes on Wednesday.

'This is f***** up,' a local resident who identified himself only as Rob told the New York Post. 'Its a litmus test. They are using a storm, a legitimate situation, where they are testing this out. I guarantee you theyll be here for the entire summer.'

One woman screamed at the buses as the arrived at the school around 6 p.m.

'How do you feel? Does it feel good?' the woman shouted, according to the Post

'How does it feel that you kicked all the kids out of school tomorrow? Does it feel good? I hope you feel good. I hope you will sleep very well tonight!'

The widespread heavy rain, strong winds and fierce thunderstorms that arrived on Tuesday are forecast to continue into the following day. New Yorkers were told to brace for 'more inclement weather' bringing potential for flooding by Adams.

Generally across the northeast, commuters on Wednesday morning are being warned of possible travel chaos due to lingering flooding and blocked roads from downed trees.

'To be clear, this relocation is a proactive measure being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals working and living at the center,' Kayla Mamelak, an Adams spokesperson, said in a statement.

'The relocation will continue until any weather conditions that may arise have stabilized and the facility is once again fit for living.'

In a statement, City Hall referred to the illegal migrants as 'guests' and called it a temporary stay

Adams administration had erected the temporary shelter at the former airport in response to the waves of new immigrants arriving in the city

The migrants started their evacuation just before 5 p.m. and NYC school officials announced the students usually at the Brooklyn school would participate in remote classes on Wednesday

Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov posted video of the migrants entering James Madison High School without having to scan their faces the way students typically do

Councilwoman Joann Ariola, a frequent critic of Adams' handling of the migrant crisis, said she predicted problems with the Floyd Bennett shelter from the start.

'I warned the administration that something like this would happen from day one and they refused to listen.'

'Floyd Bennett Field is entirely unsuitable for a tent complex, and how we are wasting tax-payer dollars to evacuate nearly 2,000 people when they should have been placed somewhere like the Park Slope Armory.

It wasn't just New Yorkers sounding off. X CEO Elon Musk posted his thoughts over a video of the migrants moving.

'This is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms. Soon, cities will run out of schools to vacate. Then they will come for your homes,' he wrote.

The widespread heavy rain, strong winds and fierce thunderstorms which arrived on Tuesday are forecast to continue into the following day as utilities companies battle to restore power

New Yorkers were told to brace for 'more inclement weather' bringing potential for flooding by Adams

Nearly 2,000 migrants are evacuated by school buses from tents at Floyd Bennett Field to a local high school in preparation for a storm with estimated wind speeds to be more than 70 mph

The evacuation at Floyd Bennett Field comes as migrant families were moved out of a midtown Manhattan hotel on Tuesday as part of Adams' plan to ease the pressure on New York City's strained shelter system by imposing a 60-day limit on shelter stays.

The roughly 40 families that left Row NYC, in the heart of the citys Theater District, are the first of scores of families that are expected to leave city shelters in the coming weeks.

Some of those leaving on Tuesday immediately reapplied for beds, while others said they had managed to find more permanent accommodations outside of the system.

Adams, a Democrat, imposed the limit in October for homeless migrant families, saying the move was necessary to relieve a shelter system overwhelmed by asylum-seekers crossing the southern U.S. border.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced he is suing 17 charter bus companies in Texas for $708 million in an effort to stop Texas Governor Greg Abbott from bussing migrants to New York from the Lone Star state

More than 4,000 families currently in NYC shelters have been served notice on a rolling basis that they will need to re-apply without guarantee of receiving a place

More than 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City over the last year

Adams, a Democrat, imposed the limit in October for homeless migrant families, saying the move was necessary to relieve a shelter system overwhelmed by asylum-seekers crossing the southern U.S. border

He is seeking millions for the resources New York City has expended to provide shelter and services to thousands of asylum seekers, putting a strain on the the city's schools, shelter system and budget over the last 18 months.

More than 161,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring 2022 with 68,000 of that number living in the city-run shelters, according to city officials.

Last week, Adams office said that more than 7,000 asylum seekers had arrived in the city over the last two weeks, CBS News reported.

Adams has often clashed with the president and Democrats in Washington, constantly begging Washington for money to solve a disaster that he claimed will 'destroy my city.'

He has estimated the city will spend $12 billion over the next three years to handle the influx, setting up large-scale emergency shelters, renting out hotels and providing various government services for migrants.

In December, the Democrat announced a $110.5 billion budget, claiming cuts across all departments were necessary after the city spent $1.45 billion in fiscal 2023 on the migrant crisis.

The budget cuts would cause NYPD officers to be cut by a fifth, or 13.5 percent, by postponing the next five academy classes, bringing officers below 30,000 - down from 36,000.

Adam's administration has been struggling to deal with a massive surge of migrants that has seen over 140,000 arrive since last year

Hundreds of asylum seekers waiting for accommodation lined 7th street and Avenue B in Manhattan in November

Ibrahim, from Chad, (far left) has been waiting for five days to be given new temporary housing, and claimed officials keep telling him to come back the next day

Many of the migrants DailyMail.com spoke to recalled a man getting hypothermic while waiting and being taken to the hospital after 911 was called

Education would also take a $1 billion hit over two years and it would cause a delay in the rollout of composting in the Bronx and Staten Island, causing reduced trash pick-ups as well as cuts to the city's pre-K programs.

The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library also would need to eliminate Sunday service due to the budget cut.

'Without sufficient funding, we cannot sustain our current levels of service, and any further cuts to the Libraries' budgets will, unfortunately, result in deeper service impacts,' the libraries said in a statement.

The cuts would also decrease funding for two children's programs: summer school and universal prekindergarten.

Adams has long warned about the potential of budget cuts to help offset the rise in costs for housing migrants. He has pleaded with the federal government for more resources, but they have fallen on deaf ears.
The technology expert who built the faulty Horizon IT system is understood to want immunity before appearing at a public inquiry.

Gareth Jenkins, 69, previously gave evidence saying the Fujitsu system was 'not corrupt', which helped to wrongfully convict hundreds of postmasters.

The Cambridge maths graduate, from Bracknell, in Berkshire, has twice previously been called in to give evidence to the ongoing public inquiry into the Post Office scandal but on both occasions this has been postponed.

His and another Fujitsu expert's role in the fallout are currently being looked into by the Metropolitan Police as Scotland Yard also placed the Post Office under a criminal investigation last week over 'potential fraud offences'.

Mr Jenkins yesterday refused to answer any questions about the scandal and told The Telegraph when asked if he was sorry about what happened: 'I dont want to talk. I dont have anything to say to you.'

Tech expert Gareth Jenkins, 69, from Berkshire, was instrumental in building the Horizon software. He is thought to want immunity before he appears at a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal

Evidence he gave in court saying the Fujitsu system was 'not corrupt' helped to wrongfully convict hundreds of postmasters

In 2021 court statements by Simon Clarke, a barrister hired by the Post Office to review the prosecutions, claimed the IT expert failed to tell at least half a dozen trials about the problems.

Mr Clarke said at the time: 'This failure is in plain breach of his duty as an expert witness... and has a profound effect upon the Post Office and its prosecutions.'

The document  dating back to 2013  was filed with the Court of Appeal. It had forced the Post Office to go back and review more than 300 cases.

It comes after shamed ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells yesterday handed back her CBE she was awarded in 2019 after coming under intense pressure.

She is now facing calls to return 3million in bonuses and pension as campaigners said her decision to hand the honour back with immediate effect was a token gesture and it was time she faced 'real justice'.

Ms Vennells, 65, pocketed as much as 5million for being in charge during the Horizon IT scandal in which hundreds of postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted, bankrupted and jailed.

And she is now facing calls to return 2.93million in performance-related perks and payments in lieu of pension.

The campaigners point out the bonuses were linked to financial figures inflated by postmasters having to pay back 'missing' cash from their own savings.

Will Harrison, whose postmistress mother Sam died last year without proper redress for the losses inflicted on her, said: 'Giving back her CBE is trivial when people's lives were destroyed.

Paula Vennells, 65, pocketed as much as 5million for being in charge during the Horizon IT scandal in which hundreds of postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted, bankrupted and jailed

Vennells (pictured in 2022) was last night facing calls to return 3million in bonuses and pension

'She absolutely must hand back her bonus money, because she should never have had it in the first place.

'She was paid this fortune from a fraudulent pot of money that came indirectly from the pockets of the sub postmasters  many of whom were left destitute.'

Mrs Harrison from Nawton, North Yorkshire, was one of the 555 claimants who featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

The faulty Horizon system wrongly reported a 3,000 shortfall at her tiny one-counter Post Office in Nawton and like many others she was forced to pay back the money from her own savings.

Campaigner and former sub-postmaster Chris Trousdale said: 'Paula Vennells should be stripped of her wealth, pension and reputation, just like the sub-postmasters were. The execs' bonuses, their pensions and their pay were based on figures inflated by victims' money... bigwigs like Paula Vennells who are now living lives of luxury.'

The Prime Minister's spokesman said Downing Street 'wouldn't want to see anyone financially benefiting out of this scandal'. Rishi Sunak had supported calls for a review of the CBE and his spokesman said handing it back was 'the right decision'.
Florida Governor's Ron DeSantis crucial pitch to Iowa voters was derailed by climate change activists chanting 'no more oil money' on Tuesday night.

The Republican hopeful was fielding the final questions from Fox News hosts Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum when the protesters sparked chaos by jumping up, waving banners and shouting.

Security removed the hecklers after one managed to get on stage as DeSantis said: 'You live and you learn with these people.'

'Well, you guys, that was a mistake.' he told the demonstrators as they were escorted away. 'You guys didn't get that one right'.

At least one of them was wearing a shirt from the 'Sunrise Movement', a group with a mission to 'force the government to end the era of fossil fuel elites'.

The GOP candidate then composed himself and continued answering a question about the 'culture of life' and abortion.

The interruption came at the end of the Fox News town hall where DeSantis was making one of his final pleas to caucus-goers with just five days left.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis crucial pitch to Iowa voters was derailed by protesters chanting 'no more oil money' on Tuesday night

Security removed the hecklers as DeSantis said: 'Well, you guys, that was a mistake. You guys didn't get that one right. OK'

In a post-town hall press conference, DeSantis brushed off the protesters as just some 'guests.'

'We had a great time tonight,' the governor said. 'I mean, we had some guests that came to the show, tried to make it on the stage but you know, that's just the way this stuff rolls.'

'It's the first time that's happened,' he dismissed.

Donald Trump still has a commanding lead over the Republican field, and DeSantis and Haley are battling for second place.

DeSantis zoned his attacks on Haley before targeting Trump, and told Iowans they can stop the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of his win.

The 2024 hopeful said that the media has contributed to boosting Trump by going 'relatively easy' on the former president compared to coverage in 2016 and 2020.

'I honestly think Iowans have it within their power to upend all of that,' DeSantis told an audience member at a town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday when asked why he believes candidates other than Trump are having trouble gaining polling traction.

'I think that, yeah, there's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy,' the Florida governor added. 'I mean, the media loves just reporting polls constantly.'

A security guard at the Fox News town hall deals with one of the protesters who tried to rush onto the stage on Tuesday night

From left: Iowa Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, Casey DeSantis with son Mason, five, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) sit in the front row of Gov. DeSantis' town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday night

Former President Trump is still dominating in national polls  though his lead is significantly shrinking in New Hampshire, where former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley skyrocketed to second place with just single digits separating them.

He said that Trump is remaining at the top because, in part, the media coverage.

'I think there's a reason why the media has been easy on him relative,' he said at his Tuesday town hall with Fox News hosts Martha McCallum and Bret Baier. 'They used to hate him. He was like the worst thing ever.'

DeSantis claims that Democrats want to see 2024 be about Trump's legal problems rather than his presidential record. 'I think they want to see 2024 being all about these things,' he said.

'Ultimately, it's the people that decide these, not the polls,' DeSantis insisted.

The town hall was the second in a series of three in Iowa with Fox News  the first was with Nikki Haley on Monday night and the third will be with Donald Trump on Wednesday while the other two candidates are debating across town.

DeSantis flew back to Iowa after spending the start of the week in Tallahassee, Florida, where he delivered his State of the State address on Tuesday morning before flying back to Des Moines to make it to the town hall.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday at a Fox News town hall in West Des Moines that Iowa caucus-goers can end the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of a Donald Trump win

DeSantis flew back to Iowa from Florida for the town hall Tuesday evening after earlier in the day deliver his State of the State address in Tallahassee

Meanwhile, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis remained in Iowa with Texas Rep. Chip Roy to continue campaigning for the governor.

At the town hall, DeSantis noted that his wife and son, Mason, five, were door-knocking in the snow while he was in Florida.

Casey and Mason were in the audience for the town hall on Tuesday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been subpoenaed to testify in the divorce case of a colleague who she is accused of having an affair with as they prosecuted former president Donald Trump.

Willis was allegedly in an improper 'romantic' relationship with private lawyer Nathan Wade, who was paid more than $600,000 as a special prosecutor assisting her office's sprawling probe of Trump's alleged effort to overturn the Georgia election.

The bombshell allegations were made in a filing by one of the former president's co-defendants and previous campaign official Michael Roman.

Willis has now been handed a subpoena to testify in the divorce proceedings of Wade and his wife, Joycelyn, according to a court filing seen by The Wall Street Journal.

It could clarify details about their alleged relationship and the district attorney could be asked about the process that led to Trump's prosecution.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been subpoenaed to testify in the divorce case of a colleague who she is accused of having an affair with as they prosecuted former president Donald Trump

Willis was allegedly in an improper 'romantic' relationship with private lawyer Nathan Wade (right) who was paid more than $600,000 as a special prosecutor assisting her office's sprawling probe of Trump's election overturn effort

The subpoena could clarify details about their alleged relationship and the district attorney could be asked about the process that led to Trump's prosecution

The process server who delivered the subpoena, which was filed by Joycelyn's lawyer, said he left it with Willis's executive assistant.

It was served on Monday hours before Roman filed a motion which pointed to allegations of misconduct by the district attorney and Wade that included 'improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case.'

The subpoena document did not include details on the line of questioning Willis might face.

The public court filing, which seeks the dismissal of charges against Roman, alleges Willis was in a personal relationship with Wade.

It doesn't provide documentary proof of the allegations. It states that 'sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.'

Willis has been handed a subpoena to testify in the divorce proceedings of Wade and his wife, Joycelyn, according to a court filing seen by The Wall Street Journal

A lawyer representing Michael Roman made the bombshell allegations that Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship in a filing and asked that charges be dismissed

The motion states the gravity of the allegations. 'The instant Motion is not filed lightly. Nor is it being filed without considerable forethought, research or investigation,' according to the filing.

'Nonetheless, this Motion must be heard, as the issues raised herein strike at the heart of fairness in our justice system and, if left unaddressed and unchecked, threaten to taint the entire prosecution, invite error, and completely undermine public confidence in the eventual outcome of this proceeding.'

It states that the pair engaged in 'a personal, romantic relationship that has ultimately yielded substantial income to the special prosecutor.'

The filing makes reference to a sealed divorce filing for the married special prosecutor, but then goes on to make the claim based on other information.

It states that 'information obtained outside of court filings indicates that the district attorney and special prosecutor have traveled personally together to such places as Napa Valley, Florida and the Caribbean and the special prosecutor has purchased tickets for both of them to travel on both the Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.

'Traveling together to such places as Washington, D.C. or New York City might make sense for work purposes in light of other pending litigation, but what work purpose could only be served by travel to this traditional vacation destinations?'

Among the documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, were Wades invoices to the DA. They included one bill for an interview with DC /White House for eight hours on November 18 2022 and another for eight hours including conference with White House Counsel on May 23 2022

A Willis spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the DAs office would respond 'through appropriate court filings.'

'The district attorney chose to appoint her romantic partner, who at all times relevant to this prosecution has been a married man,' according to the filing.

It says the DA and Wade 'have been seen in private together in and about the Atlanta area' and are 'believed to have co-habitated in some form or fashion.'

The filing further states that there is 'no evidence' Willis was 'authorized' by the county to use funds to retain Wade for the case.

Attorney Wade had two meetings with the Biden White House during his investigation, according to court documents reviewed by DailyMail.com.

Wade billed a total $4,000 for his two days of White House meetings and calls, the invoices show.

It was part of nearly $654,000 of work Wade did for Willis probe into Trump and his staffers since January 2022, the documents claimed.

Roman, who was the director of Election Day operations for Trumps 2020 campaign, was charged this summer with alleged crimes including taking part in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiracy to file false documents.

All were allegedly in connection with a scheme to submit fake Republican electors who would cast votes for Trump in place of electors to reflect Joe Biden's certified victory in the state.

DailyMail.com has contacted Willis, Wade and Joycelyn for comment.
A horse-loving special education teacher was charged with having sex with a male high school student in Arkansas - as parents say the district knew about it for months.

Kara Lee, 26, was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of first-degree sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Cross County authorities said.

Evidence found that Lee engaged in 'inappropriate physical touching and sexual intercourse' with a student at Cross County High School in Cherry Valley after the school district contacted the Arkansas Child Maltreatment Hotline.

Local residents said that the school district knew of the relationship for months and the minor involved is not a special education student.

'I've heard that they have been interfering with each other for a while now and that the students knew about and told the school, but they didn't take no action,' a resident who asked to remain anonymous told K8 News.

Kara Lee, 26, was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of first-degree sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Cross County authorities said

Local residents said that the school district new of the relationship for months and the minor involved is not a special education student

Lee was released from jail Friday on a $40,000 bond and resigned from her position at the high school.

In a statement issued by Nathan Morris, the Cross County Superintendent of Schools said: 'The Cross County School District has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate relationships between educators and students and will continue using its best efforts to provide students with a safe and healthy educational environment.'

The Crimes Against Children division reported Lee engaged in sexual acts with the student in November and December.

It is not clear where the encounters happened.

'It makes me sad, it also makes me feel angry.' Madisyn Hill, a local parent told WREG.

'I have siblings that go to the school and they basically just said that it happened and this kid was emailing with her or chatting with her somehow, and it just kept occurring.'

It is unclear where exactly Lee had sexual relations with the student, but they were said to have happened in November and December

When reporters from WREG attempted to contact Lee at her home, nobody answered the door.

Fellow Cherry Valley resident Matt Jarvis said he knew the teacher when they were growing up together. Jarvis added he knew Lee was a 'straight A student' in both high school and college.

According to Lee's Facebook page, she is an avid horse lover and is seen in multiple pictures riding her horses.

'My two forever men: 13 years and 4 years,' she said in one post where she posed with horses.

In a statement issued by Nathan Morris, the Cross County Superintendent of Schools, he said that the district has a 'zero tolerance policy for inappropriate relationships between educators and students'

According to Lee's Facebook page, she is an avid horse lover and is seen in multiple pictures riding her horses

Lee's mother also works for the Cross County School District as a General Business Manager and District Treasurer, according to her Facebook profile.

'I understand being close and having bonds with students, but I feel like they should be monitored, obviously, for certain reasons,' Hill said.

Lee is expected to appear in court on January 9 in Wynne, Arkansas, and authorities said the investigation is ongoing.

Cherry Valley is a rural community with a population of about 556 residents.
A deadly winter storm that caused chaos throughout the US with tornados, snow, rain and flooding slammed into the Northeast overnight.

The storm knocked out power to more than 500,000 people in the region, including those in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut.

At least three fatalities have been reported due to the weather. Among them, an 81-year-old woman who died in Alabama as the storm created tornados in the Southeast early Tuesday. The same system brought snow and travel headaches in the Midwest.

The mid-Atlantic has dealt with heavy rain and flooding. In North Carolina, more than 170,000 people lost power from the storm throughout the day. Parts of historic Alexandria, Virginia, were underwater as floods filled streets.

All 50 states were put on weather alerts because of the storm.

A deadly winter storm that has caused chaos throughout the US with tornados, snow, rain and flooding is set to slam into the Northeast overnight

Nearly one-and-a-half inches of rainfall was recorded in Central Park on Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Another inch was forecasted to fall throughout the rest of the morning

A vehicle sits under debris after a portion of the Red Roof Inn in Newark, Delaware, collapsed during a powerful storm on Tuesday

Northeast

The widespread heavy rain, strong winds and fierce thunderstorms which arrived on Tuesday continued into Wednesday as utilities companies battle to restore power.

A high wind warning remains in place for New York state into Wednesday morning for gales of up to 70mph.

A power line went up in flames in Queens' Jamaica Hills neighborhood Tuesday night after strong winds brought a tree down on top of it. Trees were also uprooted by the gusts on Staten Island, with one falling onto a resident's home.

People carry umbrellas on Times Square in New York on Tuesday ahead of gusty winds and heavy rain

A tree uprooted on Staten Island amid high winds on Tuesday night. A warning for gusts remains in place until Wednesday morning

While on her way to make some music on Tuesday, Taylor Swift, 34, turned heads as she emerged from her vehicle in the rainy weather and made a beeline into the studio

Nearly one-and-a-half inches of rainfall was recorded in Central Park on Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Another inch was forecasted to fall throughout the rest of the morning.

Numerous roads experienced flooding, including the Bronx River Parkway.

Flights were grounded at JFK and LaGuardia airports due to high winds. JFK was reporting three-hour delays, while LaGuardia's waits sat at two hours.

A flood watch is in effect citywide until midday Wednesday. The New York City Emergency Management Department issued a travel advisory from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning due to the storm.

The deluges were not enough to put a dampener on Taylor Swift's recording plans as she was seen arriving at the Electric Lady recording studio in Greenwich Village.

The 12-time Grammy winner didn't let the deadly storm get in her way as she stepped out in a pair of chic thigh-high leather boots to stay dry.

In Queens, a power line caught fire after gale force winds brought a tree down on the structure

A flood watch is in effect across New York City until midday Wednesday. The city's Emergency Management Department issued a travel advisory from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning due to the storm

Migrants run in the rain towards the tents at migrant housing location in New York on Tuesday

Snow added to the headaches in Brattleboro, Vermont, as the Northeast felt the brunt of the storm

A state of emergency came into effect in New Jersey which was among those hit by blackouts, with Governor Phil Murphy warning the worst could be yet to come.

'Beginning tomorrow morning and continuing through Wednesday morning, we are expecting one to four inches of heavy rain, strong winds, and potential inland and coastal flooding,' said Governor Murphy.

'This storm will exacerbate the effects of the inclement conditions we experienced in December and this past weekend and may precede another storm Friday night. As always, I urge all New Jerseyans  including residents in our coastal and riverine communities  to follow all safety protocols and remain off the roads unless absolutely necessary.'

Flood warnings are in place for much of New England as rapid rainfall is expected to combine with snow melt.

Generally across the Northeast, commuters on Wednesday morning are being warned of possible travel chaos due to lingering flooding and blocked roads from downed trees.

Mid-Atlantic

Parts of the Carolinas including Greenville, South Carolina, have also dealt with floods because of the storm

Flooding in Greenville, South Carolina, which saw power cables downed amid the winter storm on Tuesday

Tow trucks are removing the remaining cars on Thames Street near Wolfe Street in Fells Point as flooding is expanding. https://t.co/HI6zBLzbf8@CrisMendezTV has more at 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/eXyMn5fru9  WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) January 9, 2024

Heavy rains and high winds downed power cables in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the Carolinas.

In Claremont, North Carolina, a person was killed after the storm tore through a mobile home park.

Powerful gusts in the Washington area forced Vice President Kamala Harris' plane to divert to another airport whilst returning from Georgia.

'Air Force 2 landed safely at Dulles and all passengers are safe,' Kirsten Allen, the vice president's press secretary, said in a statement.

Flood warnings, which expire early Wednesday, were in place Tuesday night for the capital after four inches of rain fell. While no more rain has been forecast, the effects of flooding persist.

Footage showed extensive flooding in historic Alexandria, Virginia, because of the storm. Water rushed through the streets and was midway up newspaper boxes along the sidewalk.

Baltimore's harbor dealt with significant flooding as the result of the storm.

'Please remain vigilant, use common sense, and have a plan in place especially if you are in low-lying areas prone to flooding or where flooding is expected,' Maryland Governor Wes Moore posted on social media.

Midwest

In the Midwest, the storm brought snow and blizzard conditions that hammered the region.

Some parts of Iowa have seen nearly a foot of snow from the storm, including Des Moines, which has registered 11.2 inches as of Tuesday night, according to KCCI.

In Chicago, residents dealt with a wintery mix from the storm that caused havoc for Tuesday's evening commute.

In the Midwest, the storm brought snow and blizzard conditions that hammered the region

In Chicago, residents dealt with a wintery mix from the storm that caused havoc for the evening commute

All 50 states were issued some type of weather alert amid Tuesday's storm. Pictured: A resident attempts to shovel snow off his car in Sioux City, Iowa, where 12 inches of snow fell

A firetruck is lifted by tow truck operators following a crash on Tuesday in Belleville, Illinois

Forecasters said parts of the Windy City metro area were in for an additional four to seven inches overnight, according to ABC Chicago, before the snow was due to taper out by Wednesday,

In Detroit, experts warned about frigid temperatures and snow in the area, with totals reaching about six inches before the end of the storms.

The snow drifts led to school closures for many across the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest region on Tuesday. Many school have also announced additional closures for Wednesday.

Southeast

Suspected tornadoes are thought to have resulted in at least two deaths in the southeast

Here are a few shots from Panama City Beach this evening. The destruction is absolutely gut-wrenching. But #FL02 is resilient & well pull through this just as we have before. #850strong pic.twitter.com/tRjdGwor7o  Dr. Neal Dunn (@DrNealDunnFL2) January 10, 2024

In the southeast, the storm brought strong wind gusts across the region and spawned a few tornados.

At least one fatality was recorded in Alabama after 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal's mobile home was flipped when a tornado touched down early Tuesday morning.

A suspected tornado hit the Florida panhandle on Tuesday causing damage to homes and businesses. About 15 tornado warnings were issued across the area during the storm, according to Fox Weather.

A marina was destroyed near Panama City Beach, leaving many beaches flipped during the storm.

Police early Tuesday asked residents to stay indoors and off the roads 'unless absolutely necessary'. The tornado watch expired at 2pm and schools that had closed were preparing to open Wednesday.

In Georgia, authorities in Jonesboro are investigating the death of a motorist who was presumed to have died after a tree fell onto their car during the storm.

Pacific Northwest

Parts of the Pacific Northwest were issued a blizzard warning which remains in place until Wednesday

Whiteout conditions and high winds on U.S. 20 near Mountain Home. Drive safe, Idaho pic.twitter.com/FMLwCS2B77  Idaho Transportation Department (@IdahoITD) January 9, 2024

The peak of the 'bomb-cyclone' that hit the Midwest left more than 100,000 without power across western Washington and Oregon.

Gales of up to 60 mph and two feet of snow whipped up blizzard conditions over the Cascades and Olympics, making travel difficult to impossible.

The blizzard alert was the first to be issued by the Seattle office of the National Weather Service in 11 years.

Blizzard warnings remain in place until Wednesday, morning with forecasters predicting an additional 16 inches of snow.

The storm will eventually be felt in California where Winter Storm Warnings are in place in the Siskiyous and Sierra Nevada for Wednesday into early Thursday, with the areas seeing up to three feet of snow at higher elevations.
Scottish parents who refuse to allow their children to change their gender could be jailed under controversial plans to ban conversion therapy in Scotland.

The SNP government wants to introduce new laws which would make it illegal try and force an individual to suppress or change their sexual orientation and gender identity through any 'conversion practices'.

But critics claim the move could result in parents being imprisoned for up to seven years for refusing to let their child change gender.

The Catholic church argued the plans could have 'a chilling effect' on free speech and highlighted that the 'worrying lack of clarity' about the term 'conversion practices' could 'criminalise' advice given to children 'in good faith'.

Marion Calder, director of campaign group For Women Scotland, said: 'We have grave concerns that these plans will criminalise loving parents, who could face years in jail simply for refusing to sign up to the gender ideology cult.'

The SNP government, led by Humza Yousaf (pictured) wants to introduce new laws which would make it illegal to try and force an individual to suppress or change their sexual orientation and gender identity

Marion Calder (far right), director of campaign group For Women Scotland, said she had 'grave concerns that these plans will criminalise loving parents'

Mrs Calder added: 'If the SNP and Greens insist on pushing this through, it is likely to go the same way as the toxic self-ID and named person laws and be blocked in the courts.'

A consultation launched by the Scottish Government yesterday argues any legislation will not target 'ethical guidance'.

Within the 86-page document, it attempts to define conversion practices as everything from physical abuse and practices such as forced marriage to cumulative, coercive behavior over a longer period of time.

The proposals add that 'general statements of belief or opinion' will not fall within the scope of the law and instead it will focus on the intent to cause harm to a person and the actual causing of harm through a conversion practice.

A similar law to ban conversion therapy in England and Wales was dismissed by Whitehall last year after MPs feared it may criminalise parents and teachers.

A spokesman for the Catholic church said: 'The worrying lack of clarity about what is meant by the term "conversion practices" could create a chilling effect and may criminalise advice or opinion given in good faith.'

The Christian Institute, which fought and won a legal battle against the Scottish Government over its contentious 'named person' legislation in 2016, believe it limits free speech.

The Catholic church argued the plans to ban conversion therapy could have 'a chilling effect' on free speech (Stock Image)

The organisation claims the proposed laws are 'based purely on activists' speculation' about what might be said in private.

They claim their legal team will be examining the proposals and will be 'ready to go to court' unless changes are made.

Deputy director Simon Calvert fears the legislation will criminalise conversations and opinions, arguing that existing laws already provide protection from verbal and physical abuse.

Mr Calvert said the group will be encouraging Christians to respond to the consultation.

He said: 'We are particularly worried about the Government's plans for 'civil protection orders'. Gay and trans people are already protected, quite rightly, from verbal and physical abuse by existing law.

'Since those things are already illegal, what is it that this Bill seeks to criminalise? The activists are quite clear that they want it to target conversations and opinions they don't like.'

CARE for Scotland, a Christian policy group believes the plans go 'overboad in their application' and 'undermine human rights'.

Another court case would add to an already extensive list of legal battles, most recently unsuccessful attempts from the Scottish Government to overrule Westminister's use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and a 2022 Supreme Court bid to win the right to hold an independence referendum.

Scottish Equalities minister Emma Roddick said: 'The consultation responses we receive will help us to further consider those measures we can take to stop the harm of conversion practices and protect those at risk while ensuring that freedoms, including freedoms of speech, religion, and belief, are safeguarded.'
One of the building blocks of Sir Keir Starmer's successful campaign to become Labour leader was his promise to renationalise public services.

Pitching for party members' votes in 2020, he pledged that if in power, he would bring the railways, mail, water and energy back into permanent common ownership.

'Public services should be in public hands,' he thundered, 'not making profits for shareholders.'

Since then, however, slippery Sir Keir has seemingly abandoned his commitment to renationalisation. Not for ideological reasons, but out of naked political expedience.

By ditching this pledge, he thinks he is less likely to spook wavering Tory voters  and, as a result, more likely to win the election.

Even so, state ownership remains much admired on the Labour benches. Who would bet against Sir Keir, a shameless political flip-flopper, reverting to his more socialist tendencies if he enters No 10?

Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) pledged that if in power, he would bring the railways, mail, water and energy back into permanent common ownership

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells (pictured) ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system

In theory, public ownership is meant to be benign  operating in the best interest of the workers, the consumer and the taxpayer.

But the catastrophic failures of the Post Office, over its malfunctioning Horizon IT system, is a stark reminder of why nationalisation is deeply undesirable.

When concerns were raised that the computer software was showing mysterious losses, which led to hundreds of postmasters and mistresses being wrongly prosecuted for stealing from their own tills, no one in charge was prepared to take responsibility.

Instead, the bosses of this supposedly venerable institution closed ranks. They engaged in deceit, wilful obstructionism, self-protection and cover-up  throwing innocent men and women to the wolves.

While disgraced Post Office chief Paula Vennells has handed back her CBE, no one has been brought to book over the scandal  not executives, not Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who was then post office minister.

Such a lack of accountability in state-owned or 'arm's-length' organisations such as the Post Office is a major problem.

Compare this with the private sector, where answerability to shareholders means those at the top have less margin for blunders.

When it was revealed last year that Alison Rose at NatWest had breached client confidentiality and BP's Bernard Looney had misled his board about past relationships with colleagues, they were out on their ears.

No one suggests that private firms haven't harmed people and businesses. The point is, though, they are much more likely to be punished for mistakes  let alone grotesque miscarriages of justice.

A win for free speech

In a blast of common sense, a tribunal has ruled that a social worker should never have been suspended over her belief that no one can change their biological sex.

In any sane world, Rachel Meade, who shared gender-critical articles on social media, would not have needed to take action against her employer, Westminster City Council, and regulator, Social Work England.

But after receiving a complaint, both organisations suggested Mrs Meade's opinions could be 'transphobic'. This stance, the panel concluded, was 'not sensible' and 'wholly inappropriate'.

The trouble is, time and again trans activists employ aggressive tactics to silence people who hold differing views to their own. Mrs Meade has won a huge victory for freedom of expression. We salute her.

Rachel Meade (left) shared gender-critical articles on social media

No sooner had the junior doctors ended the longest strike in NHS history than the hard-Left BMA was threatening further walkouts until September. In pursuit of a preposterous 35 per cent pay claim, they have already caused the postponement of one million appointments and operations  putting patients' lives at risk. By abandoning their wards so callously and needlessly, these medics have chosen hypocrisy over the Hippocratic Oath.
An artificial intelligence expert has backed traditional media's fight to stop AI firms using web content without permission.

The growth of AI has provoked a row about how 'chatbots' are 'trained' by being fed with information from the internet.

Now Ed Newton-Rex, who quit as an executive with the firm Stability AI, has taken the side of those whose original work is used to help build the chatbots that then compete with them.

Courts across the world will have to rule on the limits to AI information-gathering, and legislation is being fast-tracked to make chatbot operators reveal how they are trained.

In a submission to the House of Lords this week, the developer OpenAI said it would be impossible to train tools such as its ChatGPT without access to material that is protected by copyright, adding: 'Copyright covers virtually every sort of human expression, including blog posts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents.'

The developer OpenAI said it would be impossible to train tools such as its ChatGPT without access to material that is protected by copyright (Stock Image)

AI firms claim they are legally entitled to take information and images available on the internet under 'fair use' rules, which permit limited use of copyrighted material without having to get permission from the copyright holder.

But the New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of unlawful use of their work to train AI.

The photo agency Getty Images is also suing Stability AI for using its library to create its model.

Mr Newton-Rex told Radio 4's Today programme: 'There's a very strong argument that generative AI training doesn't fall under the fair use exception.'

He added that 'speed is really important' for legal rulings on how AI firms operate, as many are 'training on essentially whatever they like'.
An eight-year-old Australian schoolgirl has won two awards for her global survey revealing who magpies are most likely to target when they divebomb people.

And according to third-grader Emma Glenfield, it all depends on your height, weight, gender and hairstyle.

Using Lego and making her own QR code, the young girl from Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains in NSW, compiled the survey which went viral and attracted 30,000 participants from around the world.

And what started from a love of mathematics and curiosity about a particularly aggressive local magpie ended up as an expansive scientific study.

The surprising results came out of Emma's genius idea to ask participants how often they were divebombed by magpies and cross-reference the details with their physical characteristics.

Using the statistics she gathered from people who had encountered magpies during the nesting season, Emma concluded the most targeted humans tended to be tall, balding men who were overweight or large in size.

She found that the number one target of her local park's 'bad magpie' - who she dubbed Mr Swoopsalot - was epitomised by one particular participant, Mr Q.

He was 'male, tall, thin on top, short beard, solid. Swooped constantly'. Another man, Mr Z, had 'no hair, medium height, no facial hair' and was 'swooped lots'.

Overall, men who were bald on top were more than twice as likely to have been swooped than those with long hair.

People six feet tall (183cm) or taller were more than twice as likely to have been targeted than those under 160cm.

Eight-year-old Australian schoolgirl has won two awards for her groundbreaking survey on just who magpies target when they divebomb humans

The third-grader's survey went viral after she had the genius idea to ask participants how often they were divebombed by magpies and cross-referenced their physical characteristics

Emma Glenfield, 8, devised her own QR code and asked surprising questions of people who had encountered magpies with some interesting results

Using a body mass index formula, Emma found high BMIs were targeted more often.

She found males were more likely to have been swooped in the last 12 months, and females more likely to have never been swooped.

While 11 per cent of those targeted were pecked on the face or ear, females were more likely than males to get injured.

She wrote in her survey: 'MY CONCLUSION: Mr Swoopsalot doesnt like tall, solid men with thin or receding hairstyles. He doesnt like hats.'

Emma, who is about to start Year 4 at Blue Mountains Grammar School had never used Excel spreadsheets, so made her graphs from different coloured Lego tiles.

She was encouraged to do so by her teacher Luke Carr - a balding man who has been swooped by magpies often - as a maths competition entry.

Entitled Born To Be Wild, it won the Year 3 individual prize in both the NSW Investigating With Mathematics competition and the National Math Talent Quest.

Emma's idea originally started with just one question, 'Why do magpies swoop and do they mean to hurt us?'

But that idea snowballed when she created a questionnaire using SurveyMonkey and then a flyer.

Emma embraced her maths competition entry, observing magpies in her local park and in particular one aggressive male bird which targeted dads picking their kids up from school

Eight-year-old Emma concluded that the aggressive magpie in her park 'doesnt like tall, solid men with thin or receding hairstyles. He doesnt like hats'

'I started loving QR codes,' she explains in the survey which comprises a 45-slide presentation on subjects including the life-cycle of the magpie, and the bird's symmetrical black and white markings when viewed from the back.

Emma learned that only male magpies swoop to protect their nests over six weeks from September when the eggs are laid and then the hatchlings emerge.

The reason for magpies' fierce defence of their territory is that hatchlings don't emerge with feathers and are therefore more vulnerable in their early life than other species.

Mapping the locations of the 'bad' magpie's roosting tree in her local Pitt Park, she deduced it had a territory of 345metres.

Emma said she was was originally 'scared and nervous' to ask people to participate in her survey.

'But I did it anyway. I also asked the teenagers from the high school as they were walking to the train station,' she said.

Then someone posted her flyer on Reddit and she was bombarded with responses from around the world.

Emma Glenfield (above) won state and national maths competitions with her survey about magpies and devised a world first description of what types the birds target in nesting season

Magpies target men with balding heads more often, Emma concluded in the survey she did using Lego for her graphs

Her local magpies's victims were were mostly 'dads going to the park and picking their kids off at school, running away and using everything from umbrellas and hats to try and avoid it'.

Her mother, Kristy Glenfield told Daily Mail Australia that Emma believed the magpie swooped on fuller bodied males because they appeared 'more threatening'.

The Pitt Park monster swooped her father, Jamie, who is tall and has hair, although it is short, three times.

Emma, who even wrote a song about the magpie, asked participants if they liked magpies and discovered that even some of those who had been swooped did, with six times as many people liking than not liking the birds.

The schoolgirl, who loves maths, science and engineering, as well as drama and singing, hopes to combine her favourite subjects into what she decides to do when she leaves school.

But for now, her mother said Emma was still interested in magpies.

'Everyone has a story about magpies. She had no idea how much magpie love was out there,' Ms Glenfield said.
A British mother-of-three who had a Brazilian bum-lift operation in Turkey has tragically died just days later.

Demi Agoglia, 26, of Salford, Greater Manchester, is said to have become ill despite doctors initially declaring her surgery last Thursday was successful.

The 26-year-old, who had a seven-month-old baby boy, first said she felt unwell just hours before she was due to return to Manchester, The Sun reported.

The young woman was taken into intensive care but was tragically pronounced dead on Monday.

The mother reportedly flew to Turkey having already had dental work which was botched as well as another surgery.

Demi Agoglia, 26, of Salford, Greater Manchester, has died just days after having a Brazilian bum-lift in Turkey

Her devastated brother Carl, 37, said Ms Agoglia's family and partner had tried to convince her not to go through with the bum-lift as they were concerned for her safety.

The father-of-four said: 'It is tragic what happened. We are just in shock. She went to Istanbul to have it done.

'She had previously gone to have her teeth done. No one wanted her to go out and have it done but she is one of those people.

'Her partner is still out there and his dad has just flown out there to be with him.

'If anyone is thinking of flying to Turkey for an operation I would say don't do it! Even her boyfriend didn't want her to do it. But she is 26 and has her own mind. Her mum didn't want her to go out either.'

Fat is first harvested from the hips, lower back, abdomen, thighs and other areas via liposuction . Special equipment is used to prepare it for transfer before it is injected directly into the glutes at specific points, giving the buttocks a bigger, curvier appearance

READ MORE: Brazilian Butt Lift: What ARE the risks of the cosmetic surgery and why are so many Brits travelling abroad to get it done? Kim Kardashian has admitted undergoing a BBL Advertisement

He added: 'I think there will be a coroner's report over there. Her partner needs a death certificate before she comes home.

'She is only 26; she shouldn't have died. Just don't do it, it's such a high risk. She should never have done it. She has left three young kids.'

The mother's youngest sister Georgina uploaded an emotional tribute video on TikTok showing her loved one.

She wrote: 'I lost my sister yesterday. I miss you so much Demi. Nothing feels real anymore. How can you be gone.

'Just wanna hear you shout alright Rkid nothing will ever be the same without you I love you Demi x.'

According to The Sun, Ms Agoglia and her family had only recently learned that their mother Christine had beaten a battle against cancer.

A source said: 'Demi's family and partner are heartbroken. The doctors had told her the operation was a success and she was recovering for a few days as you're not allowed to fly home straight away.'

It comes after another British woman died following a 'Brazilian butt lift' in Turkey.

Melissa Kerr, 31, who was 'conscious about her appearance', travelled to a private hospital in Istanbul for the procedure, coroner Jacqueline Lake said.

But the psychological wellbeing practitioner, of Denton, Norfolk, was only given 'limited information regarding the risks and mortality rate' associated with it.

Ms Kerr, who had a breast enlargement operation a decade earlier without complications, died at the Medicana Kadikoy hospital on the day of the butt lift - which sees fat harvested from elsewhere on the body and injected into the buttocks - on November 19, 2022.

Q&A

By Emily Stearn, Health Reporter

What is a Brazilian butt lift?

BBLs are used to make buttocks bigger, more rounded or lifted.

It sees fat transferred from other areas of the body, such as the hips or stomach, to give patients a fuller derriere.

Despite the dangers, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) says the op is the fastest-growing type of cosmetic surgery, with its popularity increasing by 20 per cent year-on-year.

It was shunned in the UK because of its risks. But last year, BAAPs, which creates guidelines for British plastic surgeons, partly reversed its decision on offering the procedure.

Surgeons in the UK are now instead encouraged to do superficial gluteal lipofilling (SGL), which is considered a 'lite' form of the procedure.

How is a BBL carried out?

Fat is first harvested from the hips, lower back, abdomen, thighs and other areas via liposuction.

Special equipment is used to prepare it for transfer before it is injected directly into the glutes at specific points, giving the buttocks a bigger, curvier appearance.

The procedure, sometimes referred to as lipomodelling, usually lasts a couple of hours.

According to the American Board of Cosmetic Surgeons, it is typical for a portion of the injected fat not to 'take' in its new location.

Why do people want a BBL?

Unhappiness over a 'flat' buttocks that lack shape, despite a healthy lifestyle, is a common reason listed by those who choose to undergo BBL surgery.

Experts have also blamed the allure of celebrity culture and choreographed social media images for fuelling the BBL trend.

In July, London-based aesthetic surgeon Dr Veerle Rotsaert told MailOnline she discourages patients from getting any BBL and instead recommends they go to the gym and do squats.

She said: 'In my practice if people want more volume in the buttocks area, I first of all educate them on normal anatomy.

'I recommend going to the gym to do squats.'

Dr Rotsaert also urged Brits to shy away from BBLs, stating that the 'Kardashian body type is a trend'.

'And we all know trends go out of fashion at some stage,' she added.

How much does it cost?

On average, it costs around 6,000 in the UK. But according to the NHS, it could be priced as high as 8,000.

There may also be additional costs for consultations, aftercare and further treatment sessions, if required.

Adverts for the procedure in Turkey, meanwhile, have been advertised online for as little as $2,750 (2,190).

In July, MailOnline also found some cosmetic surgery packages in Turkey being sold for under 3,000. Brits were being offered the chance to get a BBL as part of a five-night hotel stay and VIP airport transfers.

Why do people travel abroad for a BBL?

For decades, Brits have been warned against seeking cheaper surgery in places like Turkey, Eastern Europe, or South East Asia.

Turkey is not inherently more dangerous than other surgical tourism hotspots.

But cheap flights between it and the UK  as well as the rise of the trend combining cosmetic surgery with a holiday  have made it one of the leading destinations for Brits looking to go under the knife.

Nora Nugent, the Vice President of BAAPS told MailOnline: 'There are many reasons why people travel abroad for cosmetic surgery including BBL  but one of the most common reasons is price.

'Overseas surgery can be cheaper than surgery in the UK. Differences in the cost of living, business expenses, cost of ensuring compliance of premises and processes with UK regulations and medical insurance are some of the reasons why it can be more expensive in the UK.

'The BAAPS urge people to look at quality and service provided as well as cost though as it is vital to know what is included and not included and to have full information on the procedure and your surgeon and hospital too.'

In Turkey, the BBL and even what are dubbed 'extreme BBLs' are promoted.

In fact, some clinics even underplay the risks linked with the surgery. A MailOnline investigation earlier this year found one clinic claiming that a BBL is 'completely safe when carried out by a qualified BBL surgeon in Istanbul'.

Another offered a more extreme BBL  the 'BBL with Vaser Liposuction'.

With this procedure, the clinic claims they are able to extract more fat from the body at once and says this results in a slimmer abdomen which makes the hips more noticeable.

What are the risks of a BBL?

BBLs are one of the most dangerous types of cosmetic surgery available.

The risk of death is higher than most operations, currently estimated at one in 15,000.

Surgeons can accidentally inject the fat into the bloodstream which can cause a potentially deadly blood clot.

Such a complication is what killed Leah Cambridge, 29, a British mother who died in August 2018 after paying 6,500 to get a BBL in Turkey.

Generic side effects include bruising, swelling, temporary numbness and scars.

And, like any op, it carries the risk of excessive bleeding and an infection.

In her response to Ms Kerr's prevention of future death report, Maria Caulfield, minister for mental health and women's health strategy, wrote: 'The risk of death for BBL surgery is at least 10 times higher than many other cosmetic procedures, and it has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures.

'As you note, BAAPS has advised its members not to carry out BBL surgery until more is known about safer techniques for the procedure.'

Experts also warn against the pressure tactics employed by cosmetic surgery clinics including time-sensitive deals and booking procedures informally using apps like WhatsApp.

In a string of WhatsApp messages between Ms Kerr and a hospital worker before she travelled to Turkey, Ms Kerr arranged to pay 3,200 in cash.

She asked four times to see photographs of previous patients but there is no evidence they were provided.

How does an SGL differ from a BBL?

An SGL is, effectively, a lighter version of BBL.

It uses fat from elsewhere in the body to make the buttocks appear curvier. However, a SGL only injects fat below the skin.

In comparison, BBLs go deeper into the muscles themselves, which raises the risks of the procedure.

An SGL doesn't provide the same results as a BBL but is considered safer.

What should people do if they still want to travel to Turkey?

In June, in an 'unprecedented' move, BAAPS issued a joint statement with the Turkish Society of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (TSPRAS) over fears of an increased number of complications and deaths in Turkey following cosmetic surgery.

'Multiple reports have highlighted concerns that our two national societies share regarding standards of patient care,' they said.

Those who still want to travel abroad for surgery were strongly urged to follow new guidance, including checking that any Turkish surgeons are TSPRAS members and have Turkish board certification.

Plastic surgeons should also have practiced in their speciality area for at least five years.

'It is compulsory in Turkey to have a comprehensive consent form completed ahead of travel - if this does not happen it should raise concerns,' they added.

Equally, surgeons must offer aftercare plans and means of contacting them.
Free dental care for all Australians under a $12billion a year expansion of Medicare has been proposed to the federal government.

A senate inquiry into the dental care system in Australia has been handed to Health Minister Mark Butler who will be required to respond when Parliament returns for the year.

Currently, patients are required to privately pay for any dentist visits and treatments, with the exception of children under 17 who meet eligibility requirements and some concession card holders.

According to a 2023 report by the Grattan Institute, 32 per cent of patients who needed dental care skipped treatment - amounting to millions of Australians - with about half of these citing the cost as the main factor.

That report suggested the National Health Reform Agreement, due to be updated next year, should be the mechanism through which a new scheme is negotiated between the federal and state governments.

Medicare could be expanded to include complete coverage for dental healthcare under a proposal to the federal government

The Parliamentary Budget Office has costed a range of options to expand Medicare to include dental as part of the new Greens-led inquiry, which included two Senators each from Labor and the Coalition.

The four systems identified were costed both with a capped benefit amount for patients and an uncapped rebates version.

The first option would be across-the-board coverage for all Medicare card holders which would cost $8.3billion for the capped version over five years and $11.6billion for the uncapped.

The second option is means-tested which would provide rebates to those people on income support and pensioners and cost $3billion for the capped and $4billion for the uncapped versions.

A third option offering full coverage for anyone aged over 65 only would cost $1.7billion for the capped and $2billion for the uncapped versions.

And a fourth option, which would apply to all Medicare card holders but only cover preventative measures such as check-ups and diagnostic tests, would cost $2.7billion for the capped version and $3.8billion for the uncapped.

Australians currently need to pay for any dentist visits or treatment our of their own pockets

As a comparison, Medicare had a $31billion government budget for the last financial year and the National Disability Insurance Scheme had a $37billion cost.

Dental treatments were initially intended to be covered when Medicare was first introduced in the 1970s but were jettisoned due to budget constraints.

Health directory Cleanbill estimated last year Australians were paying on average $230 for a standard dentist visit.
The protesters also chanted the phrase 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' which has been deemed anti-Semitic by many

Pro-Palestine protesters created outrage after they vandalized the Los Angeles National Cemetery, the final resting place of around 90,000 veterans from World War I to Vietnam.

The demonstrators used spray paint on the entrance to the cemetery, illustrating phrases like 'Free Gaza' and 'intifada' on Sunday.

The original intifada is the name given to a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, beginning in 1987.

The protesters also chanted the phrase 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' which has been deemed anti-Semitic by many.

Others held signs declaring President Joe Biden an enabler of genocide and accusing zionists of being Nazis.

Pro-Palestine protesters created outrage after they vandalized the Los Angeles National Cemetery, the final resting place of around 90,000 veterans from World War I to Vietnam

The demonstration shut down an area near Interstate 405 on Wilshire Boulevard that afternoon.

The cemetery is in an area that has seen several protests during Israel's response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7. One protest, saw marchers s blocking the entrance to LAX just after Christmas.

Terrence Hayes, a spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs, condemned the action in a statement.

'VA national cemeteries are where our nation's heroes are laid to rest, and any act of vandalism is unacceptable,' he said.

'We are taking immediate steps to restore the wall at the Los Angeles National Cemetery to its original state.'

Cleaning crews were seen soon after the vandalism cleaning up the graffiti on the entrance.

The cemetery released a statement of its own on it's Facebook page.

The demonstrators used spray paint on the entrance to the cemetery, illustrating phrases like 'Free Gaza' and 'intifada' on Sunday

Cleaning crews were seen soon after the vandalism cleaning up the graffiti on the entrance

The cemetery later thanked the LA County Graffiti Unit for cleaning up the mess

'The Los Angeles National Cemetery is where our nation's heroes are laid to rest, and any act of vandalism is unacceptable,' officials wrote.

'We are taking immediate steps to restore the Los Angeles National Cemetery sign to its original state, and we are working with law enforcement on their investigation. Because this investigation is ongoing, we have no further comment at this time.'

They later thanked the LA County Graffiti Unit for cleaning up the mess.

Congressman Brad Sherman, a Democrat who represents the district, slammed the protesters as anti-American.

'More proof that the people who hate #Israel, also hate America,' he wrote.

'Here, at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in my district, they deface a cemetery for those who gave their lives to end slavery and protect the world from fascism.'

'The Los Angeles National Cemetery is where our nation's heroes are laid to rest, and any act of vandalism is unacceptable,' officials wrote.

Trial lawyer and city council candidate Sam Yebri was outraged over the vandalism.

'Today, pro-Hamas extremists in LA sunk to a new low vandalizing the venerable grounds of the Los Angeles National Cemetery, where 85K American heroes who sacrificed their lives for our freedom are interned,' he wrote on X.

'They even used a Nazi concentration camp symbol of an upside red triangle.'

Pro-Palestinian protests have littered cities across the world almost immediately in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people.

Israel's war on Gaza has continued in the months since, save for a brief ceasefire, with some sources suggesting over 23,000 have been killed.
The dog mauled an alleged robber and a cop during a dramatic arrest

An Aussie Gold Hunters star has lashed out at police for shooting his dog dead during a dramatic arrest.

An officer gunned down Rob Dale's French Mastiff cross Great Dane named Monty, on Wednesday, when the dog mauled a female cop and an alleged burglar.

Police had turned up to Dale's Stratton home in Perth's north east at 9.30am on Tuesday, to arrest James Stuart Edmonds, 33.

But before they could slap cuffs on him, the dog attacked Edmonds, biting his legs and also sank his teeth into the hands and legs of the female officer.

A male officer then fatally shot Monty in order to 'prevent further injury' during the altercation.

Mr Dale, 40, who was not home at the time, said his kind-natured pooch was only trying to protect the people inside the house, after the two officers showed up unannounced.

'(Police) ignored the sign on the door saying, 'Beware of the dog', and they have not only shot a member of my family but they have also shot him in the back and removed everyone from the house and left him in there to die,' the reality star told the West Australia.

Aussie Gold Hunters star Rob Dale has lashed out at police for shooting his dog dead during a dramatic arrest

An officer gunned down Rob Dale's French Mastiff cross Great Dane named Monty, on Wednesday, when the dog mauled a female cop and an alleged burglar

'They weren't allowed to wrap a bandage around his wound, or attend to him at all ... he was left in there to die by himself.

Mr Dale said he is trying to come to terms with the death of his dog who he described as being built like a 'horse but thinks he's a chihuahua'.

'I'm glad my daughter wasn't inside when this took place because it could have been a different outcome ... and myself, if I was to witness that, I don't know whether I'd be standing here today,' Mr Dale said.

His family returned to the home for the first time without Monty on Wednesday after police were seen looking over several bikes kept at the property and also towed away a car on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for WA Police said the incident was 'confronting and traumatic for everyone involved, including the police officers'.

'It was a dynamic situation that resulted in a police officer and an arrested suspect receiving dog bite wounds, and the dog, which had become aggressive and unpredictable, being fatally shot to cease the attack,' the spokesperson said.

Mr Dale (pictured left), said police left Monty to die a slow and lonesome death after everyone in the home was removed or taken to hospital

A WA Police spokesperson said the incident was 'confronting and traumatic for everyone involved, including the police officers' (pictured, officers at the scene)

The officer required surgery and remains in hospital, while Edmonds was discharged on Tuesday afternoon.

'It is a tragic set of circumstances, however the actions of the officer who discharged their firearm have been reviewed and their actions were found to be reasonable and justified at the time,' the spokesperson said.

WA Police also arrested another man on Tuesday, in relation to recent thefts in the area.

Arron Robert McKinney, 45, along with Edmonds, are alleged to have broken into a home on North Road, in Bassendean, and stole multiple items earlier in the day.

Edmonds has been charged with three counts of aggravated burglary, four counts of stealing and one of motor vehicle theft.

McKinney faces one count each of aggravated burglary and stealing.

Police were about to arrest alleged burglar James Stuart Edmonds, 33 (pictured), at a home on Stratton Boulevard in at 9.30am on Tuesday when the attack unfolded

Edmonds and Arron Robert McKinney, 45, (pictured) faced court on Wednesday alleged to have broken into a Bassendean home earlier in the day

They both appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where their matters were adjourned for legal advice.

Mr Dale made a name for himself on the television series Aussie Gold Hunters, which he starred in between seasons six and eight on Discovery Australia.

He co-starred alongside Rob 'Turbo' Linton and the pair were known as The Gold Timers.

The pair once dramatically stopped a suspected thief from stealing $500 worth of gold that they had prospected.
Migrants hoping to become Australian citizens are failing the test in huge numbers, new data has revealed.

Out of the 288,603 citizenship tests that were completed from May 2022 to August 2023, just 187,574 hopeful Aussies passed.

The Department of Home Affairs' citizenship test is comprised of 20 multiple choice questions on topics including Australian values, the Constitution and referendums.

Applicants have to get at least 75 per cent to pass, as well as answer all five questions on Australian values correctly.

The current success rate is at about 65 per cent, The Australian reported.

Migrants hoping to become Australian citizens are failing the test in huge numbers, new data has revealed. Pictured is Irish born Mark Alcorn who became and Australian citizen in 2017

The pass rate was at 87 per cent in 2019 but after the Coalition introduced changes to the test, including the mandatory passing of the Australian values questions, that figure dropped to 68 per cent in 2021.

Those applying for citizenship can complete the practice test on the Department of Home Affairs' website.

Questions include 'What do we commemorate on Anzac Day?', 'What is a referendum?', and 'Should people in Australia make an effort to learn English?'.

Applicants also have to correctly guess the colours of the Aboriginal flag, the nation's capital city and what equality means in Australia.

Those who have completed the test in the last two years have been living Down Under since 2019.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government was committed to ensuring the citizenship system was 'fair, efficient and inclusive'.

'We will continue to assess the citizenship test to ensure that it meets community expectations,' Mr Giles told the publication.

Anthony Albanese is seen presenting the Halawani family with Australian citizenship on January 26 last year

In late 2022 the Albanese government scrapped a rule that forced councils to hold Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

Last month it was revealed 80 councils had decided to scrap citizenship ceremonies on January 26, and move them to alternative dates.

Australia Day, observed each year on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 when the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.

But, for many First Nations people, it is regarded as 'Invasion Day' or the 'Day of Mourning'.

The Department of Home Affairs' citizenship test is comprised of 20 multiple choice questions with some on Australian values, the Constitution and what a referendum is. Pictured is a new Aussie after receiving her citizenship in 2017

Citizenship ceremonies have been held at other times of year in the past.

Sydney Mayor Clover Moore said her council's decision to scrap its January 26 citizenship ceremony had widespread support and that Australia Day was a 'painful' day for many people.

Ms Moore said the City of Sydney would hold ceremonies on January 29 instead.

She said ceremonies formerly held on January 26 in the City of Sydney had low turnouts of only 10-15 people, while their new January 29 date was expected to see 160 people become Australian citizens.
Ebersole drove 14 hours to pick her up and told FBI investigators that he planned to marry the teen

A missing Ohio girl has been located in Florida at the home of a 31-year-old suspect after she logged into the online game World of Warcraft at his residence.

Video game enthusiast Makayla Buckner, 16, vanished from her Lima home on December 28.

Her mom, Jennifer Johns, immediately suspected she had been picked up by someone as her daughter suffers from extreme scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, which restricts her mobility.

The teen was discovered at the Dunnellon home of 'predator' Thomas Ebersole on January 3 following a search by the FBI.

He told investigators he planned to marry the girl, who had driven 14 hours to meet after connecting through the popular online fantasy game, World of Warcraft.

Missing Ohio teenager Makayla Buckner, 16, was located at the home of a 31-year-old man in Florida after the FBI tracked a login from her online World of Warcraft account

Thomas Ebersole drove 14 hours to kidnap Buckner after hatching a plan to meet and marry the teen, authorities said

He stated the two were in a romantic relationship and planned to have sex with her, despite knowing it was a crime, officials said.

The FBI swooped on his home after tracing a login from Buckner's World of Warcraft account to the address.

Her mom said her daughter had been groomed by the accused.

'He is a predator,' Johns told 10 WBNS. 'She was so brainwashed and so far gone, she does not realize the danger that she was in.

'We educated her on predators. It hurts but when you're conditioned and groomed by these predators, you're not going to be your normal self.'

Johns raised the alarm after she returned from work to find her daughter missing.

'You die 1,000 deaths every day you're separated from the child that you brought into this world. You don't take as something as precious as a child, and not expect us to go to hell and back to get you back.'

An arrest affidavit showed the two were engaging in lengthy chats on the app Discord where they professed their love and called each other pet names.

Ebersole faces felony charges of traveling to meet a minor to engage in sexual activity and interfering with child custody, as well as a misdemeanor charge of sheltering an unmarried minor

Buckner's mom said her daughter was brainwashed by Ebersole, who she met through the popular fantasy gaming app

He drove almost 2,000 miles to the teen's home in Lima before bringing her back to his home in Dunnellon, Florida, police said

Their chat logs also detailed their discussions about the plan for Ebersole to drive 856 miles to come and pick up Buckner.

He is being held on $6,000 bail. He faces felony charges of traveling to meet a minor to engage in sexual activity and interfering with child custody, as well as a misdemeanor charge of sheltering an unmarried minor.

Johns is now calling on parents to 'step up' and check on what their children are up to online.

Buckner was found unharmed and is now receiving psychiatric support.
Donald Trump on Tuesday promoted a new 'birther' lie, suggesting that Nikki Haley is ineligible to be president because her parents are immigrants.

Under the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the United States can be elected president, even if their parents are immigrants. Haley, 51, was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, to parents who immigrated from India.

But Trump - who famously claimed that Barack Obama had been born in Kenya, rather than Hawaii - reposted on his social media a post saying she could not be president.

'Analysis: Legal scholar asserts U.S. Constitution disqualifies Nikki Haley from presidential or vice presidential candidacy,' the post from the conservative news site The Gateway Pundit said.

The Gateway Pundit referenced claims made by Paul Ingrassia, a law clerk who graduated from law school in 2022 and describes himself on X as a 'constitutional scholar.'

Nikki Haley is seen with her father Ajit Singh Randhawa and her mother Raj Kaur Randhawa. They moved to the United States from India before Haley was born

Haley is pictured with her parents, who moved to Canada to attend college before settling in South Carolina in 1969

Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School professor emeritus, told NBC News that Ingrassia's claim was nonsense, and said it was ridiculous that Trump promoted it.

'The birther claims against Nikki Haley are totally baseless as a legal and constitutional matter,' he said.

'I can't imagine what Trump hopes to gain by those claims unless it's to play the race card against the former governor and UN ambassador as a woman of color  and to draw on the wellsprings of anti-immigrant prejudice by reminding everyone that Haley's parents weren't citizens when she was born in the USA.'

Her parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, moved first to Canada - where her father studied for a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia - and then, in 1969, the family settled in Bamberg.

They did not become citizens until after their daughter's birth - but that does not mean she is ineligible to be president.

Haley in response retweeted a Wall Street Journal post, headlined: 'Who's afraid of Nikki Haley? Answer: Donald Trump.'

The Haley campaign has not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Haley and her husband Michael are pictured with Donald Trump inside the White House

Haley served as Trump's UN ambassador, and is seen in October 2018 officially resigning

The 51-year-old is pictured on Tuesday on the campaign trail in Iowa, with less than a week to go until the caucus

A new poll in New Hampshire puts Nikki Haley on 7 points behind Donald

Haley is fast catching up on Trump in New Hampshire - the second state in the nation to vote, on January 23.

She is now within seven points of the former president, who has held a strong lead over all other candidates throughout the race.

Trump has the backing of 39 percent of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, while Haley attracts 32 percent.

The rest of the field lags far behind in the poll, with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie at 12 percent; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8 percent; and Florida governor Ron DeSantis at 5 percent.
A couple have had their request to have a massive gum tree cut down denied by their council, despite fears they could be killed if it falls during a storm.

Rodney and Karen Jackson from Upper Coomera, northwest of the Gold Coast, worry the massive tree looming over their home could crash onto their bedroom while they sleep.

Branches have already slammed into their home, including during the severe storms over the Christmas period.

While the parents-of-five would like to take matters into their own hands, the tree is on council land, meaning they must get permission to chop it down or face prosecution.

But the City of Gold Coast Council denied their request because on the grounds that the tree is the habitat of lorikeets.

Ms Jackson said the council's decision made her family feel 'humiliated' and that they were inferior to the birds.

'They're not going to remove it cause it had lorikeets in it when they checked it, which I've not seen in the time I've been here,' Mr Jackson told A Current Affair.

'Our room is right at the front of it, if that thing falls anywhere towards the house and we're in there, we aren't coming out of that alive at all.'

The family's fears have been exacerbated by numerous incidents of branches falling from the tree, saying they're lucky they haven't been injured already.

'We've had gum tree branches through the front room twice now ... [the] first time was actually into the bed, but lucky no one was in it' Ms Jackson said.

One of the branches severely damaged their home's roof and carport, and their daughter's car.

Parents-of-five, Rodney and Karen Jackson (pictured), fear a massive gum tree looming over their Upper Coomera home could kill them if it were to fall during a storm

The couple felt 'humiliated' after the City of Council denied their request to have the gum tree (pictured) cut down citing that it's the habitat of lorikeets

A spokesperson for the City of Gold Coast said a council arborist had inspected the gum tree and found 'it to be healthy and there to be no evidence of branch failure'.

'The City has also requested an independent arborist to conduct a detailed report on the tree,' the spokesperson said.

'A copy of that report will be provided to the resident.

'If the report provides any recommendations to improve the safety of the tree the City will carry them out as soon as possible.

'The tree will also be placed on a routine inspection regime to identify and address any potential falling branches.'
Two cyclones could form off the Australian coast as soon as this weekend including one near Far North Queensland - just weeks after record flooding hit the region.

Help is still arriving for the far north after record flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Jasper, with a $24 million tourism recovery and resilience program unveiled on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Queensland Premier Steven Miles were in Cairns to announce the additional funding that will further support local tourism, clean-up efforts and invest in specialised recovery staff.

'This beautiful place has been ravaged by this disaster, and we want to help far north Queensland get back on its feet as soon as possible,' Mr Albanese said.

But more heavy downpours are set to hit the far north with a monsoon trough expected to develop in the Gulf of Carpentaria and turn into a tropical low by Friday.

'From Sunday there is a low chance of ... (the tropical low) strengthening into a tropical cyclone,' the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.

BoM showed another low forming off the coast of Western Australia and the Northern Territory potentially forming into a cyclone as well.

Weeks after record flooding hit the region, another cyclone threat may loom for far north Queensland with a tropical low set to form in the Gulf of Carpentaria

The chance of a cyclone forming in Queensland depends on the movement of another system west of Darwin called 03U.

'If the other one (03U) doesn't develop into a tropical cyclone then there is a slightly increased risk the other one in the Gulf (will develop), given there will be more energy in the trough system,' a bureau spokesman said.

Even if it does not form into a cyclone, a tropical low in the Gulf will bring heavy rain to far north regions already reeling from devastating flooding after Jasper hit less than a month ago.

'Along coastal parts of the Gulf daily falls of 100mm to 200mm wouldn't be out of the question,' the bureau spokesman said.

The far north is still recovering from December's record downpours, with Mr Albanese and the premier flying over the flood-hit Cape Tribulation on Tuesday.

The prime minister pledged Australian Defence Force support for the devastated area before Wednesday's funding announcement.

As part of the $24.25 million package, grants will be available for far north tourism operators hit hard by the disaster.

It will also fund a marketing campaign to attract more visitors back to the region.

Three cyclone resilience officers will be appointed to work with local industries, councils and farmers to support the recovery.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Queensland Premier Steven Miles were in Cairns to announce the additional funding that will further support local tourism, clean-up efforts and invest in specialised recovery staff

BoM showed another low forming off the coast of Western Australia and the Northern Territory potentially forming into a cyclone as well

Recovery project managers will also be assigned to the worst hit areas, Wujal Wujal and Douglas Shire councils north of Cairns.

Work is still under way to clear the far north's roads with the major Captain Cook Highway set to reopen between Ellis Beach and Port Douglas on January 20.

About 30,000 tonnes of mud and debris has already been removed from the road, with 15 trucks making about 100 trips a day.

A single lane won't be open at the nearby Palmerston Highway until mid-February.

The prime minister and Mr Miles on Tuesday unveiled a $20 million disaster relief package for the state's southeast which was hit hard by storms over the Christmas-New Year period.

Overall more than $50 million is expected for Queensland's storm and cyclone recovery effort.

Queensland's southeast may once again be struck by severe storms as it rebuilds.

A major recovery effort that may take years to complete is under way after seven people died in storm-related incidents with Scenic Rim, Logan and the Gold Coast the worst hit in the southeast.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned Scenic Rim could be in for another drenching on Wednesday.
Nearly 100 Labradors were rescued from a 'horrible' Missouri breeder who crammed the gorgeous pups into tiny wire cages and left them without water.

A total of 97 dogs were saved by the Humane Society of Missouri from an unlicensed breeder, Sho-Me Labradors, in Phelps County on Tuesday.

Sandra Kozlowski, the owner of the breeding business, had more than 80 dogs removed from their care in 2020 and 2019 and has been placed on the 'Horrible 100' list by the US Humane Society, a ranking of the worst dog breeders in the US.

The rescue was coordinated by the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Attorney Generals office.

'Too many helpless animals in Missouri continue to suffer at the hands of repeat offenders like Sandra Kozlowski, HSMO President Kathy Warnick told Fox 2 Now.

A total of 97 dogs were saved by the Human Society of Missouri from an unlicensed breeder, Sho-Me Labradors, in Phelps County on Tuesday

Sandra Kozlowski owns Sho-Me Labradors with her sons and has been in business since 1982

The rescued dogs are currently being triaged and will be available for adoption once their health has been determined and they are properly cared for

The Humane Society said that the adult dogs and puppies that were rescued 'will need all the medical care and love that we can provide them.'

Sho-Me Labradors is a family-owned business known for its 'top quality Labradors since 1982' and is located in St. James, Missouri.

The breeder was last inspected in August. During that visit, dogs were found in the same disastrous state as officials found approximately 20 violations.

Kozlowski has also been cited frequently for refusing inspections of her breeding site that she runs with her sons.

According to the owner's Facebook, her business recently celebrated its 40th anniversary in April as she said that Sho-Me Labradors breeds the 'finest quality Labradors.'

On top of breeding, Kozlowski has also opened a resort for dogs called the Lakeside K-9 Camp and a dog grooming and supply store called The Dog Depot.

A mix of adult Labradors and puppies were found at the site as rescuers from the Humane Society of Missouri nurture the dogs

Kozlowski has also been cited frequently for refusing inspections of her breeding site and during an inspection in August, approximately 20 violations were found

'I stay very busy with all three dog businesses, but I still love what I do. What I love the most is the expression of happiness a family has when they pick out a puppy to become their new family member,' she said on her website.

The rescued dogs are currently being triaged and will be available for adoption once their health has been determined and they are properly cared for.

'Its a horrific situation, and these bad breeders who trap helpless animals in a cycle of abuse and neglect need to be shut down permanently,' Warnick said.

'Until then, HSMO will continue to exhaust our limited resources for repeated rescues. Thankfully, these dogs are safe now and will receive the care and rehabilitation they desperately need and deserve.'

The Animal Care Program, which is run by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, 'regulates individuals and entities that enter dogs or cats into commerce as defined under state statute.'

Commercial breeders are subjected to an inspection once a year by animal care inspectors that are located throughout the state.

The 15 inspectors 'carefully' make routine inspections, address complaints, look into unlicensed facilities and educate others on the proper care of animals.

Owners of Sho-Me Labradors did not respond to a DailyMail.com request in time for this report.
The number of migrants arriving in the United States from Ecuador could reach record levels as the South American country has erupted into a 'civil war.'

Cartel thugs rampaged through Ecuador cities Tuesday after President Daniel Noboa, 36, declared a state of 'internal armed conflict' and ordered the army onto the streets.

Hooded gangsters seized a state TV news studio while a university was attacked and jail guards were reportedly executed by prisoners.

The disturbing events could lead to even larger numbers of Ecuadorians seeking safety in America. US Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 118,000 migrants from Ecuador in the fiscal year 2023, a 371 percent increase from 2022.

The Biden administration will be opening a new legal immigration pathway for some Ecuadorians in order to deter people in the country from making the journey to the US-Mexico border and flooding into the country illegally.

The number of migrants arriving in the United States from Ecuador could reach record levels as the South American country has erupted into a 'civil war'

Cartel thugs rampaged through Ecuador cities on Tuesday after President Daniel Noboa, 36, (pictured) declared a state of 'internal armed conflict' and ordered the army onto the streets

Hooded gangsters seized a state TV news studio while a university was attacked and jail guards were reportedly executed by prisoners

The disturbing events could lead to even larger numbers of Ecuadorians seeking safety in America. Border Patrol apprehended a record 118,000 migrants from Ecuador in the fiscal year 2023, a 371 percent increase from 2022

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of several police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.

Adolfo 'Fito' Macias, 44, the leader of Los Choneros gang, was found missing from his cell in a low security prison on the same day he was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security facility, on Sunday.

A manhunt is underway for Macias and Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico, who also escaped prison on Tuesday since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

The US State Department said it was 'extremely concerned' by the violence which erupted in Ecuador.

A family reunification program is being set up to allow those eligible to fly to the US and apply for temporary work permits if they are sponsored for an immigrant visa by relatives, Department of Homeland Security documents reveal.

It is another attempt by the Biden administration to reduce illegal border crossings and have created similar initiatives for migrants from Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras.

'Establishing this process for certain Ecuadorian nationals will ensure more families can access lawful pathways rather than placing themselves at the mercy of smugglers to make the dangerous journey,' Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

The migrants need to have family members in America who are citizens or permanent residents to qualify and they will then sponsor them for an immigrant visa.

If selected and approved, they will be allowed to enter America under the humanitarian parole authority, without having to wait for a visa.

There was another spike in Ecuadorians crossing the US border in 2021 but at the time, they were allowed to fly to Mexico before entering the country illegally.

However, Mexico ended visa-free travel with Ecuador that year and more people have been crossing Panama's dangerous Darien Gap.

Ecuadorians citizens have suffered from a struggling economy and rising violent crime due to drug cartels and gangs in recent years.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Men with their faces covered entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background

Men were seen brandishing what appeared to be bombs and grenades (pictured)

An Ecuadorian police squad runs into the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on January 9

Ecuadorian soldiers take security measures with a military armored vehicle on roads after Ecuador president declares 'internal armed conflict'

The gang has links with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

Experts and authorities have acknowledged that gang members practically rule from inside the prisons, and Macias was believed to have continued controlling his group from within the detention facility.

Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with the alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether Macias fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, Macias escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

In 2021, Macias's girlfriend was briefly arrested after she spent a week sleeping in his jail cell - and was busted as she tried to leave the prison in the middle of a riot while wearing a guard's uniform.

On Tuesday, gunshots rang out on live TV as men armed with bombs and grenades burst into a studio shortly after gangsters vowed a 'war' against the president's plans to reclaim control from 'narcoterrorists.'

Attackers carrying rifles and grenades stormed the studio of TC television in the port city of Guayaquil, western Ecuador, as a woman was heard amid gunshots pleading: 'Don't shoot, please don't shoot.'

In the attack on Tuesday evening, intruders forced terrified TV crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain as the studio lights went off but the live broadcast continued for at least 15 minutes.

A TC employee said in a WhatsApp message: 'Please, they came in to kill us.

'God don't let this happen.

'The criminals are on air.'

Journalists on screen were reportedly heard screaming 'they want to kill us all'.

One of the hooded men who attacked the set reportedly said: 'We are on the air so that they know that we do not play with the mafia.'

After about 30 minutes of chaos, police officers were seen entering the studio while someone then called out that they 'have a wounded companion.'

All the gunmen who broke into the studio were arrested, a police commander said.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room across from the studio when the masked men entered the building.

One of the men pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, she said.

Some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide elsewhere in the building when they realized they were surrounded by police, she added.

'I am still in shock,' Ms Manrique told the Associated Press in a phone interview. 'Everything has collapsed.

'All I know is that it's time to leave this country, and go very far away.'

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, President Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador's military to 'neutralize' the groups - within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

Police detain suspected criminals a few blocks from the headquarters of TC television station

The TV studio was stormed in the port city of Guayaquil in western Ecuador

Ecuador's national police chief announced a short time later that authorities had arrested all the masked intruders.

Cesar Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that officers had seized the guns and explosives.

He did not say how many people were arrested.

'This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act,' Mr Zapata added.

President Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days on Monday, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

The government also imposed a curfew from 11pm to 5am.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to 'not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans.'

He added that his government had decided to confront crime.

Noboa was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country - once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

He vowed Monday to bring the fight to the cartels after a powerful gang leader, Adolfo Macias, known as 'Fito,' escaped from prison the previous day.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboa's predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country

A wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboa's announcement on Monday.

Authorities reported multiple explosions and said seven police officers had been kidnapped.

They were taken in the coastal city of Machala, in the capital Quito, and in the southwestern province of Los Rios.

A chilling video circulating on social media showed three of the kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them as one is forced to read a statement addressed to Noboa.

'You declared war, you will get war,' the clearly terrified officer reads. 'You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.'

The statement added that anyone found on the street after 11pm (5am GMT) 'will be executed.'

Ecuador has been beset with violence from brutal bloodthirsty gangs who are battling for control in spiraling turf wars that see gun massacres and beheadings.

It is situated between world-leading cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, and has become a center for foreign and domestic drug cartels blamed for a series of gruesome massacres, kidnappings and extortions.

Prison guards have reportedly been executed by the country's cartel thugs. Pictured: Moments before a guard was killed

Gunmen were seen storming the University of Guayaquil on Tuesday

Armored trucks have been seen on the streets of Ecuador's capital city of Quito

The country's National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of 2023, far more than the 2,042 reported during the same period in 2022.

That year ended with 4,600 violent deaths, the country's highest in history and double the total in 2021.

Violent deaths nationally rose to 8,008 in 2023, the government has said, nearly double the 2022 figure.

Violence in Ecuador culminated in August with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, plunging the country into chaos.

A national emergency was declared in the wake of the assassination, while Ecuador's economic capital, Guayaquil, has seen multiple successive states of emergency imposed.

In the north, the city of Esmeraldas is also frequently at the center of turf wars, as cartels battle for control over the country's key drug supply routes.

Behind the violence is what the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime describes as a global 'prolonged surge in both the supply of and demand for cocaine.'
Billionaire Bill Ackman is following up his successful campaign to get Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign by backing a bid by four dissident alumni to join its board of overseers.

Ackman, who received his MBA from Harvard in 1992 and now runs the hedge fund Pershing Square, had been among the university's most vocal critics.

He has called for Gay's resignation and replacement of the Harvard Corporation president Penny Prtizker, as he says the board is just as much to blame for its problems as Gay.

The university has been under fire for its failure to address anti-Israel harassment on campus and Gay's disastrous testimony before Congress. Gay was also accused of plagiarism, adding fuel to the calls for her to leave the university.

Ackman, who has donated about $50 million to Harvard, said he is endorsing Zoe Bedell, Logan Leslie, Julia Pollak, and Alec Williams in their campaign to join the board of overseers under the banner of 'Renew Harvard.'

'Harvard needs to change. Bringing fresh young blood onto the board of overseers can help with that,' Ackman said.

Billionaire Bill Ackman is following up his successful campaign to get Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign by backing a bid by four dissident alumni to join its board of overseers

The board is the school's second-highest governing body, with the power to approve or reject the hiring of Harvard's president. Each year, five seats on the board are up for election.

Ackman's endorsement of the four write-in board candidates echoes his playbook as an activist shareholder, pursuing board seats at companies to push for changes.

The development represents a new challenge to the board, whose 30 members are typically nominated by the university's alumni association.

Unsatisfied with Gay's resignation, he says the school's leadership is so deeply flawed that it requires a total overhaul.

'The Corporation Board should not remain in their seats protected by the unusual governance structure which enabled them to obtain their seats,' he said, pointing to the fact its members publicly denied the plagiarism claims before investigating them, and rallied around Gay to support her rather than scrutinize her work.

His biggest complaint about the board and the school is its obsession with DEI, which he says has propagated 'acceptable racism' towards white people.

'Racism against white people has become considered acceptable by many not to be racism, or alternatively, it is deemed acceptable racism.

'While this is, of course, absurd, it has become the prevailing view in many universities around the country.

Ackman, who has donated about $50 million to Harvard, said he is endorsing Zoe Bedell (pictured), Logan Leslie, Julia Pollak, and Alec Williams in their campaign to join the board of overseers under the banner of ' Renew Harvard'

Alec Williams, (left) an ex-US Navy SEAL, is one of the four 'Renew Harvard' candidates. Logan Leslie (right) - another of the 'Renew Harvard' candidates - is the founder and CEO of Northern Rock

'Renew Harvard' candidate Julia Pollak is Chief Economist at ZipRecruiter, a leading online employment marketplace

'You can say things about white people today in universities, in business or otherwise, that if you switched the word "white" to "black," the consequences to you would be costly and severe,' Ackman tweeted.

The board candidates he is backing, Ackman said, are 'talented, accomplished and motivated people, and their candidacy will serve as a wakeup call for Harvard.' They range in age from 36 to 38, and all have served in the U.S. military.

He said that the Board of Overseers - made up of Harvard alumni - must now investigate the 12-person Harvard Corporation, which cleared Gay.

The corporation initially backed keeping Gay after her testimony and plagiarism allegations. But, she later resigned becoming the shortest-tenured president in the Ivy League university's history.

Ackman tweeted that it 'appears that the Board's 'investigation' of Gay's plagiarism was pretextual, and Harvard's mandated procedures were not followed in conducting the investigation.'

He added: 'Further, the Board allegedly sought to out the whistleblower and pursue damages against him or her in direct violation of Harvard's own policies against retribution.

'I am sorry to say this, but in the event that any of the above is true, which looks increasingly likely, this is a scandal and a stain on the reputation of Harvard that goes far beyond President Gay.

'An immediate investigation must be launched of the Corporation Board by unimpeachable members of the Harvard Board of Overseers, with the assistance of independent counsel who are unaffiliated with the University and the Corporation Board members to determine if, in fact, Harvard's own whistleblower protection policies have been violated, and the other alleged governance and investigative failures are true.'

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the wake of burgeoning calls for President Claudine Gay (pictured) to resign, faculty members are now also turning the spotlight on the other 11 members of the Harvard Corporation - the Ivy League's powerful governing body which continues to support her

Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine rally on the steps of Widner Library

In a position paper, the four candidates said they want the university to protect free speech, protect students from bullying and harassment, and address financial mismanagement, including at the school's $50.7 billion endowment.

The endowment's investments delivered returns of 2.9 percent in fiscal 2023, deeply underperforming the broader market's nearly 20 percent gain.

Ackman has accused Harvard, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of mismanaging and wasting some of his gifts. His hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management oversees $18billion in assets, and returned about 27 percent last year.

Because Bedell, Leslie, Pollak and Williams are not being nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association, they must gather at least 3,300 signatures from Harvard graduates - equivalent to one percent of those entitled to vote - by the end of January to qualify to run for election to the board in the spring.

'While we are outsiders, we are outsiders with a mission for renewing the very heart of the university,' Williams, a real estate entrepreneur and former Navy officer, said.

Williams said he got to know Ackman when he worked briefly at the investor's family foundation six years ago, before returning to his home state of Idaho.

Williams also knew Leslie, an entrepreneur in Atlanta, from business school and Bedell, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, from college.

They said in interviews they discussed launching a campaign to join the board of overseers at the end of December, motivated by concerns about the university's direction.

Alan Garber (pictured, in 2015) is set to take over as interim president of Harvard

Students protest against Israel at Harvard University on October 14. Many Jewish students said the extended protests and university response to them left them feeling unsafe

Williams began drafting their position paper on Christmas Eve.

Pollak, chief economist at online employment marketplace ZipRecruiter, was already running as a write-in candidate and then joined the group.

All four said they are driven by their love for Harvard, which has educated eight U.S. presidents, from John Adams to Barack Obama.

'The institution is not doomed, but it needs some outside voices on the board to demand better leadership in the administration,' Leslie said.

The four candidates have said the endowment's most recent returns do not cover Harvard's operating costs, pushing undergraduate tuition to almost $80,000 annually, financially out of reach for most students.

They want the endowment to perform at 'market standards' and the school to cut administrative costs.

Turnout among Harvard graduates in such votes has been low, with the participation rate last year coming in at less than 8.1 percent, according to the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.

The last successful board challenges came in 2020 and 2021, when Harvard Forward, a coalition of graduates that urged the university's endowment to divest from fossil fuels, got four candidates elected on the board.

A billboard truck at Harvard University demanding the removal of president Claudine Gay

'I haven't always gotten it right,' said Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay in her opening remarks at her widely derided Congressional testimony

In 1989, dissident alumni backed a petition to elect Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the board in a push to get Harvard to divest its investment holdings in companies that did business in South Africa during the time of racial apartheid.

Ackman has criticized Harvard for not doing enough to protect its students from antisemitism incidents in the wake of the October attack by the militant Islamist Palestinian group Hamas on Israel and subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza, as well as for the university's adoption of diversity and inclusion programs he argues stifle meritocracy.

The board of overseers is not as powerful as the Harvard Corporation, a smaller governing body with direct oversight over the university's operations, but still exercises influence.

The primary tool of the overseers is the so-called visitation process, which lets them ask questions of Harvard's faculty and departments and carry out assessments.

Overseers serve terms lasting six years. In 2020, following the victory of the Harvard Forward candidates, the overseers and the Corporation jointly agreed to change the rules to make it harder for candidates to be elected without alumni association backing.

The overseers and Corporation argued that keeping nominations wide open let special interests hijack the process, akin to political campaigns.

Only six overseers who got on the ballot through a petition are now allowed to serve on the board at any one time.

Others are also trying to mount write-in campaigns this year, including technology entrepreneur Sam Lessin and attorney Harvey Silverglate.
Former postmasters wrongly accused of crimes they did not commit today bravely told their stories for the first time amid mounting fury over the Post Office scandal that blighted the lives of hundreds of innocent people.

Ministers are under pressure to address the miscarriage of justice suffered by hundreds of subpostmasters, as public anger over the Horizon IT scandal saw former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE.

It comes as the spotlight also turns on IT giant Fujitsu, after its faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast this morning, nine victims of the scandal revealed how their lives and livelihoods were destroyed by the widest miscarriage of justice in British history.

Speaking on the BBC Breakfast today, former postmaster Tom Hedges said: 'I have been looking forward to this day.

'I ran a Post Office at Hogsthorpe, eight miles out of Skegness. I was there for 16 years until I was dismissed in 2009 and convicted in court in 2010.

'I had to wait a number of years until 2021 when my conviction was overturned and frankly it wrecked my life, my family's life and everyone I knows life. It was the most horrendous thing I've ever been through.

Postmasters come together on BBC Breakfast to discuss the Horizon scandal and the impact it had on them

Nine victims of the scandal revealed how their lives and livelihoods were destroyed by the widest miscarriage of justice in British history

Former postmaster Maria from Huddersfield said it was the first time she felt strong enough to talk publicly about what happened

Janet Skinner worked for the Post Office from 1994 until she was suspended in 2006 for a shortfall of 59,000 and given a custodial sentence - three months in prison and the rest on home curfew

Tom Hedges ran a Post Office in Hogsthorpe near Skegness and said he waited a number of years until 2021 when his conviction was overturned

Mohammed Russell was convicted of false accounting by the Post Office and had to wear a tag for three months and had a suspended sentence for 12 months and said he carried the shame ever since, but refuses to carry it any longer

Scott Darlington ran Alderley Edge Post Office and said he couldn't get a job for three and a half years after his conviction

'I feel very privileged to sit here this morning and address the nation because of the wonderful TV show that ITV have produced.

'I do feel that story has dragged us right on the top of the media agenda.'

Mohammed Russell worked for the Post Office for 27 years before he was convicted of false accounting and had to wear a tag for three months and had a suspended sentence for 12 months.

He said: 'I have carried the shame ever since, I refuse to carry it any longer.'

Scott Darlington, who ran Alderley Edge Post Office for four years before he was convicted, said: 'I couldn't get a job for three and a half years after that.

READ MORE: New law to quash convictions of 700 Post Office scandal victims could be announced TODAY with Rishi Sunak facing first PMQs of 2024 Advertisement

'I couldn't afford to pay for my daughter's school uniform. I suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since and I'm glad things have come to a head and we are able to speak about it now.'

Janet Skinner worked for the Post Office from 1994 until 2006 when she was suspended for a shortfall of 59,000. She was given a nine months custodial sentence, seed three months in prison and the rest on home curfew.

She said: 'Its affected everything in my life going forward for the last 16 years.'

Alison Harl ran a Post Office in High Town, Liversidge, West Yorkshire, until she was suspended in 2010 for a shortfall of nearly 15,000. Alison admitted to a false accounting charge which was overturned three years ago.

Varchas Patel spoke on behalf of his father Vippen Patel from Oxford who was wrongly prosecuted in 2011 and said his father's health was 'shattered' - he is yet to receive compensation.

Tim Brentnall ran a Post Office in Pembrokeshire in 2005 until a shortfall was found in 2009 which he was forced to pay back, some 22,500. He was prosecuted for false accounting until his conviction was quashed in 2021.

He said: 'My life was left in tatters and my customers and villagers thought I was a fraud.'

Sally Stringer who ran a rural Post Office in Beckford said she was 'fortunate' that she wasn't convicted and had to use her own money to pay for all the shortfalls.

She is working to get justice for postmasters and said: 'We need to have the monies that were paid to the Post Office put back to the postmasters.'

It comes after a former postmaster has revealed he tried to take his own life three times after being accused of stealing thousands from the Post Office.

Parmod Kalia gave the Post Office 22,000 of his own money to balance his books after the faulty Horizon software made it look like money was missing from the accounts.

But despite this, he was still wrongly convicted of stealing and sent to prison for six months in 2001.

Parmod Kalia gave the Post Office 22,000 of his own money to balance his books after the faulty Horizon software made it look like money was missing from the accounts

It was revealed on Good Morning Britain today that Mr Kalia has had the last 21 years of his life taken from him as a result of the scandal, which caused a breakdown in his relationship with his family and led to him being shunned from his community.

He told ITV: 'Its destroyed me mentally, I have just cooped it up within myself - a buildup of not knowing what it was, no one to talk to, no one to discuss it with.

'I have lost 21 years of my life, no earning capacity. I have had a breakdown with my family, my wife, my children, shame in the community.

'I have attempted suicide on three occasions, it's that as well.'

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops

Whitehall sources said plans were being finalised and would be published this week, detailing measures to fast track the process of exonerating more than 700 victims of the Post Office scandal.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.

So far just 93 have been able to clear their names in the courts, leaving hundreds unable to claim compensation.

Under normal circumstances, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal, a glacial process.

But Government sources said that the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal could require the extraordinary step of blanket legislation to clear the names of those affected. Mr Chalk said there were 'truly exceptional circumstances'.

Meanwhile, former Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked.

Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system.

Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked

Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system

The petition, addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the Forfeiture Committee, says: 'Evidence has been produced that the Post Office engaged in a mass cover up which led to the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office Staff many of whom were subsequently jailed, bankrupted and in some cases, sadly took their own lives.

'Having been handed a CBE for services to the Post Office, and moved out into other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the process of forfeiture.'

Mr Sabet, who was diagnosed with severe PTSD and has suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction, says the ordeal has taken years off his life and said it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE.

The father-of-one admitted to stealing more than 50,000 after being told he would likely be sent to prison if he denied the theft.

Sami Sabet, a former sub-postmaster who owned three Post Offices and was wrongly convicted of stealing over 50,000

Mr Sabet, who was diagnosed with severe PTSD and has suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction, says the ordeal has taken years off his life and said it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE

Paula Vennells pictured at a Select Committee hearing about the Post Office Horizon scandal

Mr Sabet wants to see Vennells dragged through the courts like he was

Mr Sabet, an ex-engineer who was forced to take up jobs cleaning toilets in petrol stations after his wrongful conviction, says it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE.

READ MORE: Tech expert who built faulty Horizon IT system and gave evidence used to convict hundreds of postmasters demands immunity before agreeing to appear at public inquiry Advertisement

However, the former postmaster also wants to see those in charge at the Post Office at the time of the scandal hauled in front of a Crown Court judge and branded criminals, just as he and his colleagues were.

'I think it's absolutely the right thing for Paula Vennells to hand back her CBE,' he said.

'It took the drama on TV and the petition the public submitted to force her to go. She should have done it much earlier.

'I wonder if this will be enough for the sub-postmasters who were convicted during her rein?

'It's about time. They treated us like criminals, they called us criminals - but they are the criminals.

'I couldn't get a good job because I was a criminal, couldn't insure my home because I was a criminal; people didn't want to know you anymore because you're a criminal.

'Yet none of the bosses have been held accountable until now.

'I want to see those people suffer and put in front of a judge like we were, to suffer what we felt.

'I would like the Post Office to pay a lot so this never happens again.

'It's not right... It's unbelievable. We are the victims and yet still the Post Office is in control.'

On the experience of being accused of being a criminal and having his name dragged through the mud, Mr Sabet said: 'It was absolutely torturous. It has taken about five years off my life, maybe more.

'It was like a pre-meditated murder from the Post Office. They knew what they were doing and some of us actually died.

'I want the proper and real compensation. I want to be able to live now as I would have been able to before.

'Somebody has to feel what we felt. Somebody has to be held to account.

'There were people in charge before Paula Vennells who knew what was going on... What about them?

'They continue to destroy our lives and they should be brought to justice and made to feel all of the things we felt.'

Though he hasn't yet watched the ITV dramatisation of the Post Office scandal he lived through, Mr Sabet praised the TV show Mr Bates vs The Post Office for bringing the public's attention to his and his cohort's plight.

'I think it's great,' he said. 'It has caused outrage with everybody and everybody's talking about it.

'More people seem to understand and sympathise with what we went through and even Rishi Sunak has stepped in.'

But despite his desire to see justice finally served after all these years, Mr Sabet, worries his ill health - brought on by the stress of his ordeal - may mean he never lives to see the culmination of the scandal.

'I'm worried I won't see justice before I die,' he admitted.

'A lot of former postmasters have already died before they even knew what they were going to get. Some died with their names still not having been cleared.

Mr Sabet was handed a suspended sentence of one year in prison and ordered to complete 180 hours of community service at Lewes Crown Court in 2009, after pleading guilty to stealing more than 100,000 from the Post Office in a bid to avoid jail.

'I was absolutely terrified of going to prison. I didn't know what would happen to my wife and daughter.

'People looked at me as a criminal who stole people's money from the Post Office. They crossed the street to avoid me. It was incredible.'

Mr Sabet estimates that he lost around 2.8 million from his three Post Offices in Shoreham and Brighton.

Some senior lawyers yesterday raised concerns about the precedent that might be set by Parliament directly overturning court rulings.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve described the idea as a 'parliamentary interference in the judicial process of our country' while former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas told the BBC there was a 'real chance' that blanket legislation could result in some genuinely guilty people being cleared.

But two former justice secretaries said the scale of the miscarriage of justice justified exceptional measures.

Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton spoke top BBC Radio 4 today about how he was pursued and bankrupted by the Post Office.

READ MORE: Post Office is STILL handing millions to the company behind the faulty Horizon software that led to hundreds being wrongly accused of fraud Advertisement

He said: 'I didn't suspect the computer at all at first, I suspected myself personally.

'It was such a rounded figure, quite large, I suspected I had put something in the wrong column or I had miscounted something and I really did believe when I rang the helpline and explained, I believed what they told me which was 'don't worry it'll come back, you'll be able to find it and there'll be no problem.''

Mr Castleton made 91 phone calls over 12 weeks because he didn't want to accept that the misbalance was going to correct itself.

'The numbers just got more and more random. There were huge swings in 6,000 loss and then 1500 gains - all kinds of different swings week to week which were just inexplicable really.

'After a few weeks of sleepless nights and spending many many hours going through the paperwork looking for reasons why, begging people to come and look, I really did feel that if someone came to the office and I could show them the paperwork that I had and explain the situation that we would be able to find a remedy and why this was occurring.

'But Post Office were absolutely hellbent in not helping me and I realise that now more than ever and at the time I felt as if I wasn't explaining it properly and that people didn't really understand the severity of where I was finding myself. I really had nothing to hide.'

Mr Castleton asked for an audit which happened on March 23, 2004 which found a 25,500 deficit. He was then suspended while the Post Office attempted to recover what they thought they had lost.

After refusing to pay back the 25,500 - adamant he was not going to give back money he didn't owe - he was dismissed altogether and taken to court by the Post Office to recoup the loss.

That decision set in motion a catastrophic chain of events. When the Post Office legal team failed to show up for the initial hearing in Scarborough, judgment was made in Lee's favour. Yet the Post Office was determined to overturn that ruling, and took Lee to the High Court.

With no income and little in the way of savings, Lee had no option but to represent himself. He spent every waking hour 'buried in paperwork', working late into the night to try to establish what could possibly have gone wrong, stymied by the fact that not all transactions were available to him as only the Post Office had some of the dates.

Sir Robert Buckland called for legislation to bring justice to 'the victims and their families'.

READ MORE: Could more subpostmasters have taken their own lives? GMB's Richard Madeley claims Horizon scandal led to another tragic suicide of a Post Office worker who was wrongly accused of stealing thousands Fact-box text Advertisement

He said: 'There should be legislation to deal with the convictions of this huge class of people who are not just not guilty, but victims.'

Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer said there would be 'no resistance in Parliament' to an emergency law.

'It will take years to get rid of those other convictions unless there is a change in procedure,' he added.

Sir Bob Neill, head of the Commons justice committee, said handling the cases through the appeals procedure would 'place exceptional and unprecedented strains on the appeal system and the criminal justice system'.

He also called for the Post Office to lose its right to bring prosecutions without oversight from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Chalk held talks on the issue with senior members of the judiciary yesterday. The Prime Minister's official spokesman later said he was 'not aware of any significant challenges being raised' during the discussions, clearing the way for ministers to act.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said the Government wanted to pursue a 'collective exoneration' as many convicted postmasters had lost faith in the justice system and were reluctant to challenge their convictions.

He said the statutory inquiry will report by the end of the year and people can then be held to account once it is known who is responsible.

Mr Hollinrake said it was 'certainly possible' that some individuals are guilty of criminal offences and that action should be taken where there is evidence of that.

Mr Hollinrake, the Minister for the Post Office making a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, on Horizon compensation and convictions

'We have written to all the people with convictions to say 'Please come forward',' he said. 'We hope that making it easier to overturn a conviction and... access compensation will encourage more people to come forward.'

He said more postmasters had come forward following ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which put the issue at the top of the political agenda.

Mr Hollinrake said former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has done the 'right thing' by handing back her CBE in the wake of renewed focus on the Horizon scandal.

He refused to be drawn on whether she should return her bonuses from the role, saying he did not agree with 'trial by media'.

'She's done the right thing... What I don't think is right is that we have sort of trial by media on this,' the minister told Times Radio.

Fears were raised yesterday that more subpostmasters could have taken their own lives in the Horizon scandal after Richard Madeley claimed that another Post Office worker killed himself after he was wrongly accused of stealing 20,000.

The Good Morning Britain presenter said he was sending a recorded delivery letter at his local Post Office yesterday, when he got chatting to the subpostmaster behind the counter.

He told ITV co-star Susanna Reid: 'I said 'how was the drama for you?' and she burst into tears. 'She told me her story - and I won't say exactly where it was - but she said a cousin of hers killed himself after being accused of stealing 20,000 from the Post Office.'

Prior to Madeley's revelation, there were four known suicides linked to the Horizon scandal.

Among those who have taken their own lives is Martin Griffiths, who was falsely suspected of stealing money from a Post Office in Ellesmere Port where he had worked for around 20 years.

His family said he delved into his own savings and those of his parents to pay back around 60,000 he was wrongly suspected of taking from the branch. The turmoil lasted for four years, between 2009 and 2013, and had a huge impact on his physical and mental health.

Mr Griffiths and Ms McGowan both took their own lives after they were accused of stealing money from the Post Office

Devon postmaster Peter Huxham died in a suspected suicide in July 2020 after being jailed for eight months over a 16,000 shortfall

In 2013, Mr Griffiths parked his car on the A41 in Ellesmere Port after leaving a note for his loved ones and took his own life.

Mother-of-two Fiona McGowan also took her own life after she and partner Phil Cowan, were accused of stealing 30,000 from her Edinburgh post office.

Ms McGowan was 47 when she overdosed on alcohol and antidepressants in 2009. Her sons were 12 and 14.

Her partner Phil told The Sunday Post: 'Fiona may well be still alive today if she had not been facing court for false accusations of theft and died before clearing her name.'

Devon postmaster Peter Huxham died in a suspected suicide in July 2020 after being jailed for eight months over a 16,000 shortfall. In that time, his marriage had fallen apart and he had been battling alcoholism.

Recording an open conclusion, assistant coroner Stephen Covell said: 'It is unfortunately rather an unsatisfactory state of affairs that I cannot give any helpful conclusions as to the precise circumstances of Peter's death. He lived alone and died some weeks previously, and as a result his body was badly decomposed and it was not possible to give a cause of death. There were no suspicious circumstances.'

And postmaster's wife Louise Mann killed herself after wrongful allegations of theft.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local branch or go to www.samaritans.org
Britain's deep freeze could continue for the rest of this month with more snow on the way next week, forecasters have warned after temperatures fell to -11C (12F).

The Met Office has warned of an 'increasing chance of wintry hazards' from Sunday with further widespread frosts and the potential for 'disruptive snow' in the South.

More than 200 flood alerts or warnings remained in place today as the mercury fell to -9C (16F) at Dalwhinnie in the Highlands and -3C (27F) at London Gatwick Airport.

It comes after temperatures fell to -11.1C (12.02F) at Aviemore yesterday. The coldest night of the winter so far was December 3 when Altnaharra dropped to -12.5C (9.5F).

An amber cold health alert for the North West of England, the Midlands, the South West and South East remained in place until noon on Friday but could be extended.

The UK Health Security Agency alert warns health services of increased demand - and advises people to keep an eye on elderly and vulnerable friends and neighbours.

The charity Age UK said the 'Big Freeze is happening at the worst possible time for older people' given the flooding, cost of living crisis and pressure on the NHS.

A motorist make their way through County Durham in the snow at Killhope this morning

Floodwater in the woods at Dunsden in Oxfordshire is frozen today after another cold night

Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire is pictured this morning on another very cold day

The sun rises over colourful properties at Bristol harbourside on a cold morning today

Mute swans on the water as the sun rises over Bristol harbourside on a cold morning today

Moored boats on Bristol Harbourside on a cold morning today as temperatures fall to freezing

Most of the 110 flood warnings issued by the Environment Agency across England today covered areas around the Thames Valley - where homes in Wraysbury, Berkshire, were marooned by floodwater - Dorset, Wiltshire and into Somerset, with people in affected areas warned to take precautions due to high river levels.

Cold Health Alerts issued by UK Health Security Agency Cold Health Alerts (CHA) are running from now until 12pm this Friday. Amber CHA North West England

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South West England Yellow CHA North East England

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There were also 119 lower-level flood alerts in place throughout the same areas, meaning flooding is possible.

Today, the Met Office said further cold weather was likely through this week, with an 'increasing chance of wintry hazards towards the start of next week'.

The UK is under the influence of high pressure, which is bringing colder than average weather for the time of year, and a significant reduction in rainfall following the very wet start to January.

The cold and largely dry conditions are set to persist through much of this week, with areas in southern England particularly cold compared to average.

Then from Sunday a northerly airflow will develop which could increase the chances of 'wintry hazards'.

Speaking in the latest Met Office 'Deep Dive' video which looks at the UK's long-range outlook, forecaster Aidan McGivern said: 'A cold front from the north towards the weekend will mark another change in the airmass for the UK, moving from something with a bit of an Atlantic influence to air that comes more directly from the Arctic.'

This front this weekend will bring rain to the North, with western Scotland seeing the biggest downpours - but also signals further cold conditions into next week.

Will Lang, who is described as the Met Office's 'head of situational awareness', said: 'There will be a resurgence in the really cold weather through the weekend and that spreads across the whole of the UK during the early part of next week.

'Initially, this means there will be more in the way of showers around the coasts, turning increasingly to snow for many areas, especially further north.'

Speaking about next week's weather, Mr McGivern said: 'We start with a northerly airflow and snow showers, especially near the coasts in the north. But there will also be brighter skies for some.

'Then, from the middle of next week, low-pressure tries to move in from the southwest, and the impact of this is still a bit uncertain at this range.

More than 200 flood alerts (in amber) or warnings (in red) remain in place for England today

'Different models are saying different things in terms of the track of this low, but you have the ingredients for snow with cold air in place and additional moisture supplied from the Atlantic, which will bring rain, but on the boundary with the cold air, you could see some snow.'

The Met Office said there was still uncertainty over the intensity, location or impacts of snow next week, but 'winter weather hazards remain largely in focus, and an increasing risk as we move through the week'.

Yesterday, as the cold snap continued to grip the country, Sussex and Kent woke to a further dusting of snow while there were more wintry showers in the South West in the afternoon.

It came after the temperature plummeted to -11.1C (12.02F) at Aviemore in the Highlands in the early hours of yesterday - a record low for the short-lived new year. In England, the coldest place was Okehampton, Devon, which recorded -3.5C (25.7F).

Sunrise over the fens near Ely in Cambridgeshire this morning as temperatures remain low

Sunrise at the fens near Ely in Cambridgeshire today as the cold health alert continues

Early light over the River Great Ouse at Ely in Cambridgeshire on a frosty morning today

Daytime temperatures only reached highs of 3C (37F) to 4C (39F) yesterday, and felt closer to freezing due to the wind chill, despite it being a day of crisp winter sunshine.

Cloudy conditions are set to move in today and tomorrow - meaning frosts are unlikely - but temperatures are due to remain in single figures.

The Met Office said a blast of cold air is then due to arrive from the north, which is likely to bring more cold conditions over the weekend with some snow showers.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: 'The Big Freeze is happening at the worst possible time for older people and we urge everyone to take care so they don't become a victim of the intense cold.

'Floods, the cost of living crisis and an NHS buckling under the pressure of high demand and the aftermath of prolonged strike action make for a challenging combination, and it is vital that older people stay fit, warm and well.'
British and American warships have shot down a huge wave of missiles and drones fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels after the militants' largest attack in the Red Sea to date.

HMS Diamond, a 1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of Sea Viper missiles - which travel three times the speed of sound. US fighter jets were also involved in the operation.

Dramatic pictures showed the moment the British Destroyer shot down the huge wave of missiles and drones fired by the Iranian-backed rebels.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called the Houthi attack 'the largest to date' and said the UK had taken action to 'protect innocent lives and the global economy'. He said none of HMS Diamond's crew had been injured.

The Houthis are an Iranian backed militia that has been pummelling merchant ships in the Red Sea for months, forcing a coalition of nations including the UK and USA to deploy warships to protect them.

The rebels say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets are increasingly random, raising the risk of a US retaliatory strike on Yemen.

The attacks are disrupting maritime trade through the Suez canal - a crucial route linking Europe with Asia and the Middle East - leading to delays and price rises for consumers.

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

HMS Diamond, a 1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of sea viper missiles - which travel three times the speed of sound

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called the Houthi attack 'the largest to date' and said the UK had taken action to 'protect innocent lives and the global economy'

Mr Shapps said: 'Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

'Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, Diamond destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew.

'The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences. We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.'

READ MORE: Brits are warned price rises sparked by Houthi rebel attacks on cargo vessels are 'imminent' as shipping giants divert around South Africa Advertisement

The UN Security Council will vote on a motion later today that would call for the attacks to stop. Today's assault took place off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey.

Merchant captains were urged to 'proceed at maximum speed' through the perilous waters.

The US military's Central Command said the 'complex attack' launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile. No damage was immediately reported.

It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason.

'This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19,' Central Command said. 'There were no injuries or damage reported.'

The Houthis, a Shiite group that's held Yemen's capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks.

However, Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces 'targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea,' without elaborating.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas.

But the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

That strait is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it.

An estimated $1trillion worth of goods pass through the strait annually.

The US military said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (file image), as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason

File image of Houthi rebels boarding a vessel amid their assault on world's crucial trade routes

A US draft resolution before the UN Security Council, obtained last night, says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce 'and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.'

The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.

An initial draft of the resolution would have recognized 'the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to take appropriate measures to defend their merchant and naval vessels.'

The final draft is weaker, eliminating any U.N. recognition of a country's right to defend its ships.

Instead, it would affirm that the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels must be respected, and take note 'of the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.'

A US-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks.

American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though there's been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the US.

However, Tuesday's attack appeared to be testing what response, if any, would come from Washington.

Meanwhile, a separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen's exiled government has held for months despite that country's long war.

That's raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea - or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces - could reignite those tensions in the Arab world's poorest nation. It also may draw Iran, which so far has largely avoided directly entering the wider Israel-Hamas war, further into the conflict.
Residents have been left baffled as piles of raw meat have been mysteriously dumped around their town for months.

Heaps of red meant and chicken have reportedly been abandoned around the Reddish area of Stockport, Greater Manchester, often of a weekly basis.

Local labour candidate Joanna Williams says the community have found the bizzare situation 'very distressing and baffling', with residents reportedly helping the council in the clean-up and clearing away bags of meat weighing as much as 20kg.

It is unclear who has been carrying out on these meat dumpings, but Ms Williams believes the guilty party is a business trying to 'cut costs on legitimate disposal practices'.

The politician added that people were concerned about the impacts of the 'strange phenomenon', including the potential health risks to local wildlife and animals.

Heaps of red meant and chicken have reportedly been abandoned around the Reddish area of Stockport, Greater Manchester, often of a weekly basis

Local labour candidate Joanna Williams says the community have found the bizzare situation 'very distressing and baffling', with residents reportedly helping the council in the clean-up and clearing away bags of meat weighing as much as 20kg

The politician added that people were concerned about the impacts of the 'strange phenomenon', including the potential health risks to local wildlife and animals

'People are really worried about it, about whether there's any poison in it and if it's intended for dogs who might get sick if they eat it,' she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'they may be unaware that what they are doing is essentially fly-tipping even though the product might be seen as biodegradable.'

Sightings have mostly come from around the Manchester Road Park area and Whitehill industrial estate, but also near the Heaton Moor train station.

Stockport Council said it had arranged to clean up the meat when reported.

Councillor Frankie Singleton, a Liberal Democrat and cabinet member, said the council is monitoring the situation along with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and Natural England.

She said the authority had received no reports since before Christmas and had not heard of any dogs or other wildlife falling ill.
Wetherspoon is opening its first ever pub at a holiday park, as it signs a deal for the new 1.1 million site.

Haven has signed an exclusive agreement with J D Wetherspoon, which operates over 830 pubs in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

It comes as the leisure company is investing 4 million into its food and drink offerings.

It is the latest to join a host of names already operating at Haven's 41 parks, including Burger King, Papa Johns, Costa Coffee and Slim Chickens.

The first Wetherspoon pub will open at Haven Primrose Valley Holiday Park in North Yorkshire in March, ahead of the busy Summer period.

The first Wetherspoon pub will open at Haven Primrose Valley Holiday Park in North Yorkshire in March, ahead of the busy Summer period

Pub chain boss Sir Tim Martin (pictured)

Haven has signed an exclusive agreement with J D Wetherspoon, which operates over 830 pubs in the UK and the Republic of Ireland

Peter Blake, Chief Operating Officer at Haven, said 'We are thrilled to be the first holiday provider to partner with one of the UK's leading and much-loved pub operators.

'This new venture underlines our dedication to growing our food and beverage partnerships and offering for our holidaymakers and holiday home owners.'

The new pub will replicate the best of the budget pub chain, which has over 830 sites across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Michael Barron, Commercial Director of Wetherspoon, said, 'We are delighted to be partnering with Haven and are confident that the pub will prove popular with holidaymakers.'

It comes as Wetherspoons announced it would be slashing its prices for January, this week.

Buying a pint of Doom Bar or Bud Light will set you back as little as 1.99 this month, while those wanting to drink a fruity strawberry daiquiri, margarita or even an espresso martini will have to shell out 2.99.

Wetherspoons fans have been thrilled to hear about the pub chain's January sale, slashing the prices of several items

The price reductions comes is music to the ears of customers' after gloomy predictions foresee the average London pint price rising to 14 in 2025 (Pictured: A Wetherspoon in central London)

One fan said: 'Love Wetherspoons good beers and good food at good prices. Sir Tim deserved his knighthood for the cheap beer alone.'

Another added: 'Gotta love Wetherspoons! I'm seriously thinking of joining the Fan Club!! Pint of Bud Light for 2.00 - Bargain.'

But the price cuts aren't only for alcohol drinkers, those taking part in dry January can still get the most out of the offer too.

Hot drinks such as, coffee, hot chocolate and tea currently will cost 1.29 - and come with free refills.

Pub-goers craving a small breakfast plate with bacon, sausage, fried egg, baked beans and toast will only have to fork out 1.99.

Additionally, purchasing a burger along with a soft drink will cost you 4.99 - you want alcohol instead it will be 6.46.

Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin said: 'Department stores and shops hold their sales in January, so it is the perfect time to have a sale in the pubs too.

'The range of drinks and food on sale in the pubs is aimed at suiting a wide variety of tastes. This year we have included our biggest selection of low and non-alcoholic drinks.

'I believe that the January Sale will prove popular with our customers. As always, staff at the pubs will serve customers responsibly.'
Lauren Boebert's ex-husband Jayson has been arrested and charged just days after the couple were involved in a domestic violence incident at a Colorado restaurant.

Jayson has been charged with misdemeanor assault, disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer and aiming a firearm, according to court records.

He was arrested on Tuesday, apparently in connection to an incident on Saturday involving Boebert, and then released. Jail records show bond was set at $2,500.

Lauren and Jayson married in 2005 and split in 2023, but the couple have still made the headlines during what appears to be a rocky separation.

It's unclear what happened on Saturday, but the GOP representative did deny claims she hit Jayson, the father of four of her sons, while dining at Miner's Claim in Silt.

She did admit putting her hands on him to 'keep him back' before he called 911.

Lauren and Jayson wed in 2005. They met while she was working at McDonald's at the age of 16. He was 22 at the time

She was dining at Miner's Claim when Jayson - father to her four kids - showed up to apologize about an earlier altercation that had occurred when she went to pick up her son from his house

Boebert's campaign released a statement Sunday in which she said she 'didn't punch Jayson in the face and no one was arrested.'

She said: 'I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.'

Police Chief Mike Kite confirmed the investigation on Sunday, but declined to release details, including who called police.

Officers planned to talk with witnesses and ask the restaurant owners for any video that might have captured what happened, Kite said.

The Miner's Claim restaurant issued a statement Monday saying it was cooperating in the investigation.

'Since the beginning, the Miner's Claim has fully cooperated with law enforcement and intends to continue until this matter is resolved,' it said.

Jayson told The Denver Post that he called police on Sunday morning to say he didn't want to press charges.

Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, left, stands for a photograph with her then-husband Jayson Boebert at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in January 2021

'I don't want nothing to happen,' Jayson said. 'Her and I were working through a difficult conversation.'

Kite declined to say whether Jayson Boebert made that call.

'This is a sad situation for all and another reason I'm moving,' Boebert's statement added.

Boebert and Jayson wed in 2005. They met while she was working at McDonald's at the age of 16. He was 22 at the time.

But in May 2023, after nearly two decades of marriage, Boebert announced she had filed for divorce, citing 'irreconcilable differences.'

She said at the time: 'It is with a heavy weight on my heart that I have filed for divorce from my husband.

'I am grateful for our years of marriage together and for our beautiful children, all of whom deserve privacy and love as we work through this process.

'I've always been faithful in my marriage, and I believe strongly in marriage, which makes this announcement that much more difficult.'

Lauren and Jayson married in 2005 and share four sons together (pictured). They filed for divorce in May 2023

Boebert, a Republican who has served two terms in the US House representing the western side of Colorado, announced on Dec. 27 that she was switching congressional districts this year to run for a seat representing the eastern side of the state. The seat is open with the retirement of Republican US Rep. Ken Buck.

In her current district, Boebert probably would have faced a Democratic challenger who nearly defeated her in the 2022 general election and who has far outraised her.

In September, Boebert and a guest were kicked out of a musical performance of 'Beetlejuice' in Denver after guests complained they were vaping, singing, using phones and causing a disturbance. She later apologized.

In her relatively short time in Washington, Boebert built a national profile and has aligned with the extreme right wing of the GOP. Her assertive style has grabbed headlines, most famously when she heckled President Joe Biden during his 2022 State of the Union address.
A coroner has issued a warning about the dangers of e-bike conversion kits after a pensioner died during a house fire caused by an overcharged battery.

Bobby Lee, 74, died as a result of 'severe burn injuries' and the inhalation of 'toxic smoke' after the blaze broke out in his home on Woodyard Close, Kentish Town, in August last year, an inquest heard.

Efforts from Mr Lee's family to safely evacuate him from his ground floor bedroom were unsuccessful and the pensioner was pronounced dead at the scene.

The fatal fire was caused by the 'overcharging' of a mountain bike that had been transformed via a 'conversion kit' to operate as an electrically powered bike.

Ian Potter, assistant coroner for Inner North London, has issued a warning over the lack of regulation on e-bike conversions and the potential risk of fires, which are caused by a build up of heat when charging.

Bobby Lee, 74, died as a result of 'severe burn injuries' and the inhalation of 'toxic smoke' after the blaze broke out in his home (pictured) on Woodyard Close, Kentish Town, in August 2023

In his Prevention of Future Deaths report, Mr Potter said a fire broke out at Mr Lee's address just before 7am on July 6 last year.

It was said that Mr Lee died as a result of 'severe burn injuries' and the inhalation of 'toxic smoke'.

Mr Potter said Mr Lee was one of three people to die in the capital last year as a result of a house fire started by faulty batteries for e-bikes or e-scooters.

The vehicles were responsible for starting more than 150 house fires in London in the last year alone, he said.

Evidence given by London Fire Brigade's Fire Investigation Team revealed the fire was started by the over-charging of a lithium-ion battery attached to an e-bike.

They said the bike's charger - which was not suitable for the battery's voltage - had not been fitted with a 'battery management system' aimed at reducing the risk of over-charging.

According to Mr Potter, the bike - which was bought second hand by another member of the pensioner's household - was a regular mountain bike that had been fitted with a 'conversion kit' to transform it into an e-bike.

Conversion kits generally range from 100 to 200 and contain motors, batteries and wheels, to convert regular bikes into e-bikes.

Efforts from Mr Lee's family to safely evacuate him from his ground floor bedroom were unsuccessful and the pensioner was pronounced dead at the scene

London Fire Brigade's Fire Investigation Team said Mr Lee's death was one of three in London caused by a fire starting by faulty lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes or e-scooters.

They also said by mid-December last year, some 169 fires were caused by these 'electric powered personal vehicles'.

In the case of Mr Lee, the 'set of circumstances' created by the over-charging of the battery led to the breakout of the fatal fire.

Now, the coroner has issued a warning over the dangers of e-bike conversion kits and e-bike batteries that are 'not of sufficient quality' or 'of an appropriate standard'.

Mr Potter said the batteries sold as part of 'e-bike conversion kits' tend to be of a 'significantly inferior quality and construction' in comparison to the battery packs created and installed on purpose built e-bikes.

The coroner also highlighted how the majority of these conversion kits are sold without a charger, which increases the risk of an unsuitable one being purchased and used.

Using a charger with a different voltage, according to Mr Potter, can create a build up of heat which can quickly result in the emission of sparks.

In August last year, the London Fire Brigade revealed 40 per cent of e-bike fires are caused by conversion kits.

The brigade also said 'fires involving lithium batteries are the fastest growing fire risk in London' and damaged batteries can start 'incredibly ferocious fires'.

Remnants of an e-bike that combusted while charging in April last year in a separate incident on St Leonard's Street, London

In light of Mr Lee's death, the coroner has written to the Chief Executive Officer of the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) warning about the dangers of charging e-bikes.

He said: 'There is currently no British or European standard specific to e-bike conversion kits and/or chargers and consequently:

'It is relatively easy for people to buy, particularly from online marketplaces, e-bike conversion kits and/or lithium-ion batteries that are not of sufficient quality or otherwise not of an appropriate standard to charge safely.

'There is an increased risk of people mixing and matching lithium-ion batteries with chargers that carry a different voltage rating.

'It is clear to me though that there is a substantial existing, ongoing and future risk of further deaths while it continues to be the case that there are no, or insufficient, controls and/or standards governing the sale in the UK of lithium-ion batteries and chargers for electric powered personal vehicles and e-bike conversion kits.'

In his report, Mr Potter also recognised previous prevention of future death reports of a 'similar nature' following e-bike related deaths.

Just two months before Mr Lee's house was engulfed in flames, 41 year old Mizanur Rahman died after his east London flat was set ablaze due to faulty lithium ion batteries.

At the time, a coroner warned the OPSS of the 'increased risk' of fire caused by lithium-ion batteries

Speaking now, Mr Potter said: 'I am aware, from past prevention of future death reports of a similar nature that the Office for Product Safety and Standards has planned to commission the British Standards Institute to prepare a fast-track standard to cover technical and safety standards for e-bike conversion kits to help manufacturers to comply with existing safety regulations.

'However, to my knowledge this piece of work has not yet been completed.'

The Office for Product Safety & Standards have 56 days to respond to Mr Potter's recommendations.
A fashion worker has won 60,000 in compensation after being left unable to wear high heels after breaking her foot falling through the floor at Stella McCartney's Italian showroom.

Chloe Mickelborough, 31, was working on a shoot at the designer's premises in Milan in December 2018 when she crashed through a 'walkway', toppling 14 feet on to a concrete floor below.

She fell after climbing over a low railing to find a better camera angle, having no idea that the floor on the other side was flimsy plastic and couldn't hold her weight.

Communications manager Miss Mickelborough, of Bethnal Green, east London, broke her heel in the fall, leaving her with ongoing pain and swelling in her foot.

She sued Ms McCartney's company over the accident, which she says has left her stuck wearing 'supportive' trainers, unable to dance or go running, or wear heels.

Miss Mickelborough has been left with symptoms of post-traumatic arthritis in her damaged joints and continues to have 'pain, stiffness and swelling in her left foot'

Ms Mickelborough claimed 90,000 payout was reduced by a third by the judge who said she too should have taken more care

Ms McCartney, 52, - daughter of Beatle Paul and his late wife Linda - and her fashion label are popular with celebrities, including Beyonce and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney

On Tuesday Judge Tracy Bloom found Ms McCartney's company was much to blame for the accident, handing Miss Mickelborough a 60,000 compensation payout.

She said Miss Mickelborough had been given no warning that the area was dangerous, adding: 'There was a hidden danger and a very serious risk of injury.'

But she reduced her claimed 90,000 payout by a third as she said Miss Mickelborough herself was partly to blame as she should have taken more care.

Ms McCartney, 52, - daughter of Beatle Paul and his late wife Linda - and her fashion label are popular with celebrities, including Beyonce and the wife of actor George Clooney, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

Miss Mickelborough had been working for the company, curating its social media content, when she suffered her injury at its showroom in Via Vincenzo Forcella, Milan, in June 2018.

She was due to film an interview between the label's senior executives Andrew Dershaw and Ida Simonsen as part of an advertising campaign for its Stella's World clothing range.

Miss Mickelborough was planning to film the interview on a second floor 'walkway' as it provided an attractive backdrop and fell when she climbed over a railing into a 'closed area.'

Ms Mickelborough suffered her injury at the company's showroom in Via Vincenzo Forcella, Milan

Social media content creator Ms Mickelborough says her injuries prevent her from wearing fashionable shoes

In claim documents, her barrister Michael Patrick explained: 'The closed area contained flooring which, to an ordinary reasonable person, appeared safe, stable and conventional.

'The walkway contained no signs warning of any danger, or which otherwise explained the railing's presence.

'Unbeknownst to the claimant, the flooring in the closed area could not support her weight.

'Accordingly, that flooring immediately gave way and the claimant fell through to the first floor below, thereby suffering personal injury.'

Miss Mickelborough suffered a fracture to her left heel, which required surgery and a further operation two years later to repair a broken screw and release toe tendons.

However, she has been left with symptoms of post-traumatic arthritis in her damaged joints and continues to have 'pain, stiffness and swelling in her left foot.'

'She can only wear supportive trainers, as opposed to more fashionable or high-heeled footwear, and is restricted to sedentary, office-based forms of employment,' said her barrister.

'She can only walk around for around an hour before her pain levels increase.

Miss Mickelborough suffered a fracture to her left heel, which required surgery and a further operation two years later to repair a broken screw and release toe tendons

Judge Bloom assessed Stella McCartney Ltd at two thirds to blame for the accident, with Miss Mickelborough being one third liable

'Since the accident, the claimant has given up dancing and has further had to modify her gym activity.

'Specifically, she has given up running and has stopped going to specific gym classes.'

Blaming Ms McCartney's company, he claimed that it failed to provide a safe workplace for Miss Mickelborough.

'The walkway itself was dangerous, in that the flooring of the closed area could not withstand the claimant's weight, or indeed any person's weight,' he said.

'The claimant was not warned of that specific danger, whether adequately or at all.

'The mere presence of the railing did not, in itself, disclose or indicate that the flooring was dangerous.'

But Stella McCartney Ltd's lawyers argued that Miss Mickelborough was the 'author of her misfortune,' having climbed a railing to get into an unsafe, unauthorised area.

'It was an area that was clearly not designed and/or equipped for anyone to enter, hence the presence of a continuous railing to deter any reasonable person from doing so, either intentionally or inadvertently,' said the company's barrister, Nadia Whitakker, in its defence to the claim.

Miss Mickelborough had 'disregarded an obvious obstacle' in climbing over the rail and, in doing so, 'failed to take any reasonable care for her own safety,' she argued.

But Judge Bloom noted that Miss Mickelborough had been 'specifically sent' to the area near the railing to record her interview, and was doing her best to find the right photographic angle when she fell after scaling the rail.

The rail's presence indicated that the area was off-bounds, said the judge, but there was no sign warning that it was dangerous to cross over or that there was a 4.5 metre drop on the other side covered by a thin sheet of plastic.

'It was plainly foreseeable that if somebody stepped into the closed area they would almost inevitably suffer injury,' she said.

'This floor was not weight bearing and it was a four-and-a-half metre drop to the concrete floor below.'

Finding in Miss Mickelborough's favour following a trial at Central London County Court, she said: 'Here there was a hidden danger which was not obvious.

'Had Miss Mickelborough known this was a dangerous place she would not have entered this area, and but for this failure to warn I am quite satisfied there would have been no accident.'

But the judge went on to find Miss Mickelborough was herself partly to blame in entering an area that was fenced off without exercising more caution.

'She should have considered more carefully whether it was safe to do so,' added the judge.

Judge Bloom assessed Stella McCartney Ltd at two thirds to blame for the accident, with Miss Mickelborough being one third liable.

She was awarded 60,000 in compensation and Ms McCartney's company was also ordered to pay 60,000 up front towards her legal fees 'on account'.

Fashion designer Ms McCartney was interested in fashion from a young age, designing her first jacket at 13 and taking her first job in the industry at 16.

She launched her fashion house in 2001 in a joint venture with Gucci and presented her first collection in Paris, going on to open more than 50 stores worldwide.
A teenage passenger who was sat by the door of Alaska airlines flight 1282 when it was blown out at 16,000 feet had his shirt sucked off but escaped unharmed, a fellow traveler has revealed.

Kelly Bartlett took a selfie with the boy she said was called Jack, a 15-year-old who had been sitting in the middle seat of the row, to 'commemorate' his brush with death.

Despite having his shirt ripped off and having suffered apparent 'windburn', Kelly said Jack was 'physically ok', People Magazine reported.

She recalled how he was mostly concerned about his mother who had been sat in the aisle seat of the damaged row. Jack and his mother were 'reunited when we landed', Kelly added.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a directive temporarily grounding certain 737 MAX 9 planes and said it 'will conduct a thorough review' and public safety will determine the timeline for returning the MAX to service.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has also opened an investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.

Kelly Bartlett took a selfie with the boy she said was called Jack, a 15-year-old who was sat in the middle seat of the emergency exit row, to 'commemorate' his brush with death

Jack, 15, was sat by the door of Alaska airlines flight 1282 when it was blown out at 16,000ft and had his shirt sucked off, but escaped unharmed, a fellow traveler has revealed. He is pictured in an oxygen mask after being moved to another seat on the plane

The Boeing 737-9 MAX left Portland just after 5pm local time on Friday and was bound for Ontario in California. After takeoff, a deactivated emergency door used as a regular cabin window blew out at 16,000ft. The controversial jet was carrying 171 passengers and six crew

The first six minutes of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 from Portland to Southern California's Ontario International Airport on Friday had been routine, with the Boeing 737 Max 9 about halfway to its cruising altitude and traveling at more than 400mph.

Flight attendants had just told the 171 passengers that they could resume using electronic devices in airplane mode, when suddenly a 2-foot-by-4-foot piece of fuselage covering an unoperational emergency exit behind the left wing blew out.

'Portland approach, Alaska 1282 emergency! Aircraft is now leveling 12,000 in a left turn heading three four zero,' the unidentified woman could be heard saying after Friday evening's drama over the skies of Portland in Oregon.

'We need a divert. We've declared an emergency. We are depressurized. We have 177 passengers on board and a seal is...18,900' the pilot can be heard explaining.

The oxygen masks dropped immediately, and Bartlett saw a flight attendant walking down the aisle toward the affected row, leaning forward as if facing a stiff wind.

Then flight attendants began moving passengers from the area where the blowout occurred. Among them was Jack, who had been moved next to Bartlett.

'His shirt got sucked off of his body when the panel blew out because of the pressure, and it was his seatbelt that kept him in his seat and saved his life. And there he was next to me,' she said, adding that his mother was reseated elsewhere.

'We had our masks on, and the plane was really loud so we couldn't talk. But I had a ... notes app on my phone that I was typing on. So I typed to him and I asked him if he was hurt,' Bartlett said.

'I just couldn't believe he was sitting there and what he must have gone through, what he must have been feeling at the time.'

Kelly Bartlett (pictured) was sat three rows ahead of the unoperational emergency exit row where the left wing blew out

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 suffered a near catastrophic failure on Friday when its door plug suddenly fell out and it was forced into an emergency landing

A photo provided by Kelly Bartlett shows passengers with oxygen masks on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282

She said Jack typed back that he was OK, but a bit scratched, adding 'that was unbelievable' and 'thank you for your kindness.'

Bartlett recalled how 'Jack kept asking about his mom' and said she tried to 'reassure him that she was in a different seat, probably farther up front', according to People.

She issued praise for the crew, saying the entire time she felt like the plane was under control even though the roaring wind was so loud she couldn't hear the captain's announcements.

'The flight attendants really responded well to the situation. They got everyone safe and then they got themselves safe,' she said.

'And then there was nothing to do but wait, right? We were just on our way down and it was just a normal descent. It felt normal.'

After landing, paramedics come on board and helped a few people who had 'minor injuries', before everyone else got off the plane, Kelly recalled.

She said they 'walked out the jetway as usual', adding: 'But not before Jack wanted a selfie "to commemorate the experience!"'

Bartlett said her mind also keeps returning to the what-ifs.

'I'm glad that it is not any worse than it was - that's all. I keep coming back to it,' she said. 'Like, how lucky Jack got and how lucky he was that he had a seatbelt on.'

The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the door in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland on Sunday

The agency's investigators are examining the door plug and will send it to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC, for further examination

A Boeing subcontractor which manufactured the door plug that blew out 16,000 feet in the air during a flight was warned of an 'excessive amount of defects,' according to a new lawsuit

READ MORE: Incredible detail from Alaska Airlines horror flight is revealed from intact iPhone that was found on a grass verge A phone belonging to a passenger on board the Alaska Airlines plane that had a door blow out after take-off was found on the side of a road in Portland, Oregon Advertisement

The exit door plug landed in the southwest Portland backyard of high school physics teacher Bob Sauer. Sauer said his heart 'did start beating a little faster' when he saw it in the beam of his flashlight Sunday night as he searched for any debris.

Seven NTSB agents came to his home to pick up the door plug and were amazed it was intact, he recalled. It appeared that tree branches had broken its fall.

A headrest landed on the patio of Sauer's neighbor, Diane Flaherty. Flaherty didn't realize what the charcoal-colored cushion was until a friend emailed her to say federal agents were looking for airplane parts in her neighborhood. An NTSB agent came by to pick it up.

The pilots and flight attendants have not made public statements and their names have not been released, but in interviews with NTSB investigators they described how their training kicked in.

The pilots focused on getting the plane quickly back to Portland and the flight attendants on keeping the passengers safe and as calm as possible.

'The actions of the flight crew were really incredible,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Sunday night news conference.

She described the scene inside the cabin during those first seconds as 'chaos, very loud between the air and everything going on around them and it was very violent.'

People sit on a plane next to a missing window and portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California and suffered depressurization soon after departing, in Portland, Oregon

A photo shows the frame of the prospective door was entirely ripped out by the fuselage failure

Inside the cockpit, the pilot and co-pilot donned their oxygen masks and opened their microphone, but 'communication was a serious issue' between them and the flight attendants because of the noise, Homendy said. The pilots retrieved an emergency handbook kept secure next to the captain's seat.

The co-pilot contacted air traffic controllers, declaring an emergency and saying the plane needed to immediately descend to 10,000ft, the altitude where there is enough oxygen for everyone onboard to breathe.

'We need to turn back to Portland,' she said in a calm voice that she maintained throughout the landing.

In the cabin, the flight attendants' immediate focus was on the five unaccompanied minors in their care and the three infants being carried on their parents' laps.

'Were they safe? Were they secure? Did they have their seat belts on or their lap belts on? And did they have their masks on? And they did,' Homendy said.

Homendy said that if the blowout had happened a few minutes later, after the plane reached cruising altitude, the accident might have become a tragedy.

On Sunday, a passenger's cellphone that had been sucked out of the plane was found. It was still operational, having survived its plunge from the sky. It was open to the owner's baggage claim receipt.

The panel that blew off Alaska Air Flight 1282 replaces an optional exit door on 737 MAX 9 planes used by airlines that have denser seating configurations.

Boeing has checked the service records of earlier Boeing 737-900ER aircraft that had a similar door plug, but all have undergone extensive maintenance since being delivered and none has shown a sign of similar problems, the sources said.

Airlines have not yet started official inspections of their grounded aircraft.

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

NTSB investigators are seen in the cabin as they carried out their inspection after the 737 Max 9 was grounded

NTSB investigators are in the cockpit as they investigate what caused a plug covering a spot left for an emergency door to tear off the plane as it flew at 16,000ft

On Sunday, a passenger's cellphone that had been sucked out of the plane was found. It was still operational, having survived its plunge from the sky. It was open to the owner's baggage claim receipt

READ MORE: Shocked Alaska Airline passengers reveal horror on board Boeing 737 Max after window blew out mid-flight and plane DROPPED Advertisement

The FAA said Tuesday that Boeing was revising its instructions for inspections and maintenance, which the regulator must still approve before checks can begin. The FAA said it 'will conduct a thorough review' and public safety will determine the timeline for returning the MAX to service.

Boeing ended 2023 in second place behind rival Airbus in aircraft deliveries for the fifth year running, after seeing its roughly 50 per cent share of the market eroded by the earlier crisis, sources said.

The latest problems could prompt the FAA to take a harder line on certifying designs for other models, including required changes to the smaller MAX 7.

Boeing has sought an exemption to allow certification before the design changes that analysts say is much less likely now.

Two senior industry sources said they expected the plane awaited by Southwest Airlines to face another six-month delay.

FAA head Mike Whitaker, who took the job in October, will testify before Congress next month and could face questions about approval of the 737 MAX planes. The hearing was in the works before the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight.
King Charles will not evict Prince Andrew from his Royal Lodge because 'blood is thicker than water' for the Royal Family, an associate of the duke has claimed.

Reports last week claimed that the King was planning to force the Duke of York out of the mansion he occupies on the Windsor estate by withdrawing funding for his brother's home security.

But an associate, who is in regular communication with the duke, has claimed that while some palace officials would back the eviction, King Charles would never authorise it.

The source claimed that Andrew was uncomfortable by being thrown back into the spotlight over his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but that the unsealing of hundreds of documents over the last week would not impact his living arrangements.

'The King is somebody with a high level of integrity,' the source told The Times. 'There are people in the royal household who would take a more aggressive stance, but in that family, blood is thicker than water.'

King Charles will not evict Prince Andrew from his Royal Lodge home because 'blood is thicker than water', an associate of the duke has claimed. Pictured: Charles and Andrew pictured in April 2023 at Windsor Castle, with Princess Anne walking behind

Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre) and Ghislaine Maxwell are pictured in 2001 at Maxwell's London townhouse

An associate, who is in regular communication with the duke, has claimed that while some palace officials may back the eviction from Royal Lodge (pictured), King Charles would never authorise it

The associate claimed that like any leaseholder, the duke has rights to the property and that the King would not favour withdrawing his brother's security and kicking him out.

Prince Andrew has lived at the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park for 20 years and is entitled to carry on until 2078 under his lease with the Crown Estate.

It has previously been claimed that the under-fire duke is facing calls to move to Frogmore Cottage, a five-bed home on the Windsor estate where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle used to live.

The source, who insists he has never seen Andrew do anything 'inappropriate', does not believe that his long-time friend will return to public life unless public opinion of him dramatically changes.

Just 8 per cent of Britons had a positive view of the duke in the most recent YouGov poll on the royal family's popularity. Some 70 per cent said they disliked him.

It comes after the latest tranche of newly unsealed Epstein documents revealed that Virginia Giuffre claimed Epstein paid her $15,000 to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17-years-old.

The 40-year-old made the allegations when she gave evidence in 2016 while being questioned under oath.

'I did receive $15,000. I do not know the equivalent to what that is in pounds,' she said , before she was quizzed by a lawyer on whether she paid tax on the amount, with Mrs Giuffre replying 'no'.

Prince Andrew was pictured yesterday leaving Royal Lodge amid the unsealing of the 'Epstein Files'

A friend close to Andrew says eviction is unlikely to happen as the King is 'somebody with a high level of integrity' (Pictured: The Royal Family attend the annual Christmas service at St Mary's Magdalene Church)

Andrew has always denied the allegations made by Mrs Giuffre, with whom in 2022 he reached a settlement for a sexual assault lawsuit made by her against him without admitting liability, paying out 12million.

Yesterday, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who represented Epstein, said Andrew's decision to settle was a 'terrible mistake' and he 'would have won' if the case went to court.

He told Times Radio: 'I think he made a terrible mistake. I suspect he was pressured by his mother to make that mistake.'

Mr Dershowitz claimed Andrew would have been victorious in court.

'If he had fought that case, I believe he would have won, I believe the case would have been dismissed on a variety of grounds, but he didn't want to sit through a deposition, or people around him didn't want to sit through a deposition, so he settled the case,' he said.

'Often you settle cases, not because you're guilty of what you're charged, but because you don't want to admit other things that you've done.'

He added: 'I feel sorry for Prince Andrew for this reason, assuming everything they say about him is correct, the woman who accused him was over the age of consent.

'She apparently bragged about it to her friends, and she collected millions and millions of dollars for that, yeah, I feel sorry for him.'

The age of consent in the UK is 16. It is 18 in Florida and 17 in New York.

In 2022, Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with Giuffre for an estimated 12million without accepting liability

Prince Andrew pictured walking with Jeffrey Epstein in New York's Central Park in 2011

Ms Giuffre had alleged that Epstein trafficked her to Dershowitz between 2000 and 2002, but he denied her claim.

In 2022 she withdrew the allegation, saying she was 'very young' and in a 'very stressful and traumatic environment' when she was around Epstein which led her to wrongly identify Mr Dershowitz.

Ms Giuffre dropped a defamation case she brought against Mr Dershowitz in 2019 with no financial payment made to either side.

The five batches of 'Epstein papers' released in the last week have heaped fresh pressure on those linked to the sex offender who was found dead in his cell at the Manhattan Correctional Centre on August 10, 2019, while awaiting trial. It was ruled a suicide within a week.

Yesterday Epstein's younger brother Mark Epstein questioned if his death was 'a cover-up'.

In total, 215 documents have been 'unsealed' over the course of five days after the media argued it was in the public interest to remove redactions which hid the names of individuals.

Epstein was quizzed over whether he and Maxwell forced Giuffre to have sex with Andrew

In the final round of documents being released, it was revealed that Epstein refused to answer questions over whether he attempted to blackmail the Duke of York after his alleged sexual encounter with Ms Giuffre.

Epstein declined to answer almost all of the questions, also known as pleading the fifth amendment in the US, during his interview under oath as part of Ms Giuffre's civil claim against disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

He was quizzed over whether he and Maxwell instructed Ms Giuffre to have sex with Andrew in 2001 and if the information gathered as part of the legal action 'has the potential to affect the reputation' of the duke.

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein.

He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

The duke strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
Stephen Fry has backed calls to end the use of real fur in the bearskin caps worn by the King's Guard during ceremonial duties.

The actor said it was 'cruel' to continue using the pelts and called for fake alternatives to be used instead.

Bearskin hats are an iconic feature of royal events, including the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.

The King - a keen environmentalist - is seen wearing bearskin alongside other members of the Royal Family at parades such as Trooping the Colour.

Mr Fry said: 'Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty, which is why I'm joining the call for the Ministry of Defence to stop using the fur of slaughtered wildlife and make the switch to humane faux fur for the King's Guard's caps.'

Stephen Fry said it was 'cruel' to continue using the pelts and called for fake alternatives to be used instead

The 66-year-old has narrated a video for animal rights group PETA that uses footage of bears being killed by hunters in Canada

Bearskin hats are an iconic feature of royal events. Pictured are members of the Coldstream Guards marching down the Mall in September 2022

The 66-year-old has narrated a video for animal rights group PETA that uses footage of bears being killed by hunters in Canada.

The group claims to film hunters using bagels, biscuits and oil to bait bears before shooting them with crossbows.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE - Fur flies as animal rights activists accuse King's Guards of 'greenwashing' for still wearing bearskin Advertisement

'Black bears are mercilessly killed by trophy hunters,' he said. 'They may then be used to make the caps used by the King's Guard - purely ornamental headgear that serves no military purpose.

'Bears who are shot don't always die outright. They may flee and endure a slow and painful death from infection or blood loss - only to be found hours later after the hunters follow a blood trail.'

It takes at least one bear to provide enough fur for each cap, says Mr Fry - who added last May's Coronation.

He claims demand for fur from the King's Guard was 'incentivising' hunters.

Mr Fry says fake fur was available that was as effective as bear fur.

The Ministry of Defence said: 'Bears are not hunted to order for the Ministry of Defence and bear pelts used are a product of legal and licensed hunts.

'To date and to the Department's knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps.'

The group claims to film hunters using bagels, biscuits and oil to bait bears before shooting them with crossbows

'Black bears are mercilessly killed by trophy hunters,' Mr Fry said

The Ministry of Defence said: 'Bears are not hunted to order for the Ministry of Defence and bear pelts used are a product of legal and licensed hunts'

The use of real bearskin by the Army has long been a matter of controversy.

In 2022, Boris Johnson backed its continued use, telling constituents that 'man-made fur did not meet the standards required' before insisting 'all these matters are kept under review'.

Tourists visiting London flock to see the Guards in their traditional hats, which have been worn since the 1815 defeat of Napoleon.

The ceremonial headdress can only be worn by foot soldiers in certain regiments, including the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards.
Waitrose was today crowned Britain's most expensive supermarket of the year - and Aldi the cheapest - in a price comparison of 43 shopping basket essentials.

The news will boost sales at the German discounter which - along with rival Lidl - has seen a boom against the background of the cost of living crisis.

Millions switched to cheaper brands and supermarkets during 2023 at a time when food price rises outstripped increases in wages, pensions and benefits.

Analysis by Which? found Aldi was cheapest for essentials, such as bread, milk and apples, for 11 out of 12 months in 2023.

Lidl came second in terms of offering the cheapest prices throughout the year and beat Aldi in one month.

Cheapest supermarket in December: Prices of 43 groceries compared Aldi 74.83 Lidl 76.74 Asda 84.21 Sainsbury's 84.54 Tesco 84.86 Morrisons 87.24 Ocado 89.28 Waitrose 94.94 Advertisement

The Which? research looked at prices across the big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - as well as Waitrose and Ocado, which has a partnership with Marks & Spencer.

Some major players, such as the Co-op and Iceland, are not included.

Waitrose, which puts greater emphasis on animal welfare, ethical food standards and customer service, was the most expensive of mainstream supermarkets.

The December figure for Asda was around 10 more than Aldi at 84.21. Sainsbury's was on 84.54, Tesco at 84.86, Morrisons at 87.24 and Ocado at 89.28.

Waitrose was almost 20 pricier than Aldi in December at 94.94. It was most expensive for 11 out of 12 months with Sainsbury's costing more in the month of September.

The major supermarkets have launched price match schemes with Aldi and Lidl in a bid to hold on to customers.

Just recently, Asda announced it will be price-matching both budget rivals.

Which? also carries out a larger monthly study of 131 items, which is the same 43 as the smaller basket plus another 88.

Waitrose was the most expensive of mainstream supermarkets in the Which? study

Aldi was crowned cheapest supermarket of the year in a Which? price comparison (file image)

Aldi and Lidl are excluded from this comparison because it includes a number of branded items, such as Andrex toilet tissue and Cathedral City cheese, which they do not sell.

Cheapest supermarket for a big trolley: Prices of 131 items compared Asda 326.77 Morrisons 336.41 Ocado 346.23 Tesco 349.34 Sainsbury's 354.06 Waitrose 367.79 Aldi or Lidl are not included in this comparison as they do not always stock branded products Advertisement

This survey found Asda was the cheapest at 326.77 followed by Morrisons (336.41), Ocado (346.23), Tesco (349.34), Sainsbury's (354.06) and Waitrose, where the total came to 367.79.

The analysis includes special offer prices but not multi-buys or loyalty card discounts, which are not available to everyone.

Which? retail editor Ele Clark said: 'With food prices continuing to put immense pressure on household budgets, it's no surprise to see many people turning to discounters like Aldi and Lidl.

'Which? believes that supermarkets can do more to help shoppers during the current cost of living crisis.

'Although some have begun to make progress, we'd like to see all supermarkets stocking their smaller convenience stores with a selection of budget-range healthy foods, particularly in those areas most in need.'

Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi, said: 'We're absolutely delighted to be named the Cheapest Supermarket of the Year for a third year running.

'As we head into 2024, our promise to our customers remains the same - they will always get the UK's lowest prices at Aldi.'
The IT firm at the heart of the Post Office scandal has been handed government contracts worth billions on Rishi Sunak's watch, official documents show.

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling 4.9billion since a December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that its Horizon software had 'bugs, errors and defects' that were responsible for financial errors blamed on hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Some 3.6billion of that has come since February 2020, when Mr Sunak became Chancellor and later Prime Minister.

The analysis of data compiled by Tussell, carried out by the Financial Times, comes as MPs demand the firm is barred from any more public work.

Former Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who has campaigned for sub-postmasters, told LBC: 'I think that should cease immediately. Fujitsu should not be awarded any contracts at all until they have actually come forward with what remedy corporately, the current CEO, chairman, board are going to do to remedy this.

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling 4.9billion since a December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that its Horizon software had 'bugs, errors and defects' that were responsible for financial errors blamed on hundreds of sub-postmasters.

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names  because it also runs Britain's criminal records system.

'As well as then looking at the historic injustice. So there are two bits to this for Fujitsu, is a remedy today that they need to come forward with, and historic remedy.'

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names  because it also runs Britain's criminal records system.

Victims who were wrongly convicted of fraud and theft described it as 'perverse' and 'another slap in the face' last night as they try to piece their lives back together.

They also vowed to bring down the Japanese tech firm Fujitsu by exposing the Post Office scandal in its home country, where a traditional 'culture of shame' can destroy firms. Fujitsu bosses will answer questions from MPs on the business and trade committee next Tuesday about the scandal.

Ministers are under pressure to address the miscarriage of justice suffered by hundreds of sub-postmasters, as public anger over the Horizon IT scandal saw former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE.

It comes as the spotlight also turns on IT giant Fujitsu, after its faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Since 2012, the company has been awarded almost 200 contracts worth billions, with growing questions about why the Government has not severed ties with the firm in the wake of the scandal.

The list of 197 deals won by Fujitsu since June 2012, as compiled by Tussell, includes a nearly 2.4billion contract for the Horizon system itself, with a 36million extension to keep the system running until 2025.

According to data compiled by the Government procurement analysts, Fujitsu's deals include providing IT services to schools in Northern Ireland (worth 485million) and infrastructure used by HM Revenue & Customs.

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to 5million to work on the UK's new emergency alert system

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to 5million to work on the UK's new emergency alert system.

The system, which is designed to warn the public of life-threatening situations such as extreme weather, was tested in April last year.

But users of the Three mobile phone network said they did not receive the test alert due to what was suspected to be a technical glitch.

Fujitsu signed a 48million deal in 2022 to maintain the Police National Computer, which stores details of all convictions and cautions, and fingerprint and DNA data. In 2021, an error in the system led to the loss of 413,000 records of police evidence.

Postmasters whose convictions are overturned can ask the Criminal Records Office to expunge their records, but Fujitsu is responsible for removing the data.

Chris Trousdale, 41, who was left with PTSD after Horizon wrongly reported 7,800 was missing from his post office in North Yorkshire, said: Fujitsu has never been properly held to account. Its perverse that we have to rely on them to remove our names from the criminal records database.

Bosses at Fujitsu have been called to answer questions from MPs on the Business and Trade Committee next week, after an ITV drama on the scandal fuelled public attention on the issue.

A Fujitsu spokesman told MailOnline: 'The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

'The inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters' lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.

'Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it.

'Out of respect for the inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.'
Reeva Steenkamp's mother has broken her silence over the release of Oscar Pistorius less than 10 years after he was jailed for killing her daughter, saying the disgraced former Olympian 'lost his temper' on the night he shot his girlfriend dead.

June Steenkamp today gave her first TV interview since her daughter's killer was granted parole, telling Good Morning Britain that Pistorius 'never told the truth' about his crime and 'never showed any remorse'.

The South African sprinter known as 'the Blade Runner' shot his 29-year-old model girlfriend through a locked bathroom door on Valentine's Day 2013, claiming he mistook her for an intruder, and was sentenced to 13 years in jail.

Under South African law, inmates are eligible to apply for parole as soon as they have served half their given sentence, which Pistorius was initially denied but has now been granted.

While the former Paralympian is getting his first taste of freedom, June said in a statement after his release that she and the rest of Reeva's family are serving a 'life sentence', adding today that she misses her 'beautiful, wonderful child' every day.

Reeva was shot and killed through a bathroom door by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day in 2013

June and her husband Barry spent years campaigning for the truth about their daughters killing to come out

Speaking on the ITV morning show, June, who is originally from Blackburn, Lancashire, said she understood Pistorius 'had to come out' at some point and that nothing could be done to bring back her daughter.

'With him coming out, he has to come out, it's inevitable. I realise that. We can't keep him inside, he's on parole now, it's not going to make any difference to my life.

'He's done what he's done already and I can't do anything about that and I've lost the most beautiful, wonderful child. And now I've been without her for so many years, I miss her every day.'

Pistorius, 37, has long denied that he murdered Reeva in cold blood and has insisted that shooting her was an accident as he believed there was an intruder in their home when he fired his 9mm Parabellum pistol four times through a locked toilet door.

But June and her family have always maintained that he has never told the truth about the killing, and she today called his version of events 'pathetic'.

'It's a pathetic story, it's a thought up story, I don't think by him - in my mind, I think someone helped him with the story. It was pathetic,' she said.

'He's never told the truth, I don't believe he's told the truth at all, and he's never shown any remorse so I have to accept that the law must take its course and that's what Barry and I did,' the heartbroken mother said.

A year before he died last September, Reeva's father Barry Steenkamp visited Pistorius at St Albans prison in the South African coastal city of Port Elizabeth hoping to get an admission of guilt from the double-amputee ex-sprinter.

Their 'victim-offender' dialogue in 2022 was part of the rehabilitation programme that 37-year-old Pistorius had to undertake before being considered for parole.

Pistorius was released after serving more than half of his prison sentence after being jailed in 2016 (Pictured in 2016)

June Steenkamp and Barry Steenkamp, the parents of Reeva Steenkamp who was shot dead by Oscar Pistorius

Pistorius sobbed and wailed throughout their meeting but refused to admit that he deliberately shot Reeva at his home on the luxury Silverwoods Estate in Pretoria.

Barry gave up and walked out, believing he had once again been lied to. He died in his sleep, aged 80, in September last year after a decade of ill-health in the wake of Reeva's death.

Speaking about Barry visiting Pistorius, June said of the killer, who has a history of anger problems: 'He lost his temper, he has no control over his temper and he lost his temper because [Reeva] said "I'm leaving, I don't want to be with you". Her clothes were packed and everything.'

When asked whether she felt Pistorius had been given enough time behind bars, June said: 'No I don't think he was given enough time in jail.

'It seemed pathetic initially when we got the six year sentence and I just felt it was too little - the judge was kind of treating him like a child almost. You know, 'be a good boy and go home type of thing'.

'It was a big thing that he did, he used the 'Black Talon' bullets to kill her and he should have known that he would have killed her.

'There was no hope for her after those bullets, they go into your body and break your bones.

'So why would he use those bullets if he didn't in the first place want to kill her? Because he knew that she was in the toilet because they'd had a huge argument.'

June and her husband Barry spent years campaigning for the truth about their daughters killing to come out, and grieved her loss for more than a decade. She now says she also lost her husband to the tragedy.

Reeva Steenkamp, a successful model and qualified lawyer, was murdered by athlete Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day in 2013

'I think my husband died of a broken heart, he was very strange when he died, he just went to bed early and he just passed away in his sleep.

'But he could not live without our daughter, she was the most wonderful person, the most loving, caring - she loved and cared for us.

Asked how she will manage without her beloved daughter and husband, the widow said: 'I believe in God, I try to be a good person and I love everybody but I think God has saved my life, I have lots of friends who have stood by me.

She added that as well as being helped by her faith, friends, and supportive messages from around the world, she is planning to 'find a job to keep me busy.'

While he is no longer behind bars at Atteridgeville Prison, Pistorius will serve the remainder of his sentence - which expires in December 2029 - under strict parole conditions.
Services veterans and former military police have rounded on Netflix's hit series Fool Me Once - over a mistake they say caps any others on the show.

The Michelle Keegan-fronted thriller has infuriated current and former personnel in the armed forces over one of her friend's hats in the series.

Mysterious Shane Tessier, who is played by Emmett J. Scanlan, is a military police officer on the show but viewers say his beret is the most suspect thing about him.

Experts reckon Shane should have the fashion police called on him for the way he wears the headgear, as it is often positioned incorrectly in scenes.

And to make matters worse some think the sartorial blunder could even offend some military heroes, claiming he looks more like comic character Frank Spencer.

The main complaint is Shane is sometimes seen with the beret in unusual positions on his head - in the service the cap badge should be worn directly over the left eye.

Experts reckon Shane should have the fashion police called on him for the way he wears the headgear, as it is often positioned incorrectly in scenes

Soldiers of the Parachute Regiment on a parade wearing their berets correctly with the cap badge over their left eye

NATO Troops and King's Royal Hussars, who viewers think has their badge on Shane's beret

Eagle-eyed fans also think the badge on the character's hat is that of The King's Royal Hussars, a British heavy armoured regiment based in Tidworth, Wilts.

One serving soldier said online: 'In regards to the Staff Sergeant MP and his beret and badge, with everything that goes into these productions why don't the hire a technical advisor?'

Another railed: 'Not just technical. His capbadge appears over the right eye in the first few episodes and the left eye in the later ones.'

Others said the actual badge was the wrong one, adding: 'KRH (Heavy armour Challenger 2 regiment) Cap badge on an RMP beret.

'Over the wrong eye, un shaped ahahaha. What on earth has gone on?'

Former military police officer Mike Neville told MailOnline: What most people are annoyed about is his appearance with the beret  looks and is worn like something Frank Spencer would wear.

People expect to wear the right things in shows like this.

The correct dress is important otherwise it can be seen as disrespectful.

In addition to a number of secret lingering looks at Maya, that hint at unrequited love or even obsession, Shane carries out a number of bizarre activities

Another strange moment sees Maya trying to get Lily her into the car, as she is heard saying 'Dadda' next to a large bush

Fool Me Once has been an enormous hit with Netflix members who have watched it in their millions.

But there have been some grumbles about unexplained storylines in the show and potential plot holes.

The Shane character is perhaps unsurprisingly at the centre of a few of them.

He is seen behaving extremely strangely for much of the programme, for reasons never completely explained.

On top of a number of secret lingering looks at Maya, that hint at unrequited love or even obsession, he carries out a number of bizarre activities.

During one part of the series he appears to have broken into her house, a fact only revealed when she rings him to lie she is at home herself.

Elsewhere at least two scenes show him skulking around outside the property spying on her.

Maya's husband Joe is shot dead at the start of the thrilling series before the twists and turns start

The show also features a moment where it is said that Lily has been drawing pictures of angels

And perhaps most ludicrously he at one point places a tracker on her car underneath a wheel arch, although never appears to use it.

Viewers have also been a bit baffled by Maya's daughter Lily and some of her actions in the series.

Early on she is said to have been drawing angels and seems to barely notice her father Joe is no longer around after he was shot dead.

But the strangest moment comes towards the end of the set of episodes as the plot begins to be tied up properly.

After scenes suggesting Joe could be alive and outside watching the property she is taken to the car later with Maya.

But the little girl insists on waiting next to a large bush next to the house.

As Maya tries to get her into the car, Lily can be heard saying 'Dadda'.

It is heavily hinted Joe could be hiding in the bush but this is never explored again or even explained.
Tory minister Andrea Leadsom has been mocked for claiming babies have teeth 18 months before they are born.

In a House of Commons debate on NHS dentistry, Dame Andrea bizarrely suggested infants could have molars for nine months prior to even being conceived.

Labour sniped that the health minister's comments explained why Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was keen to boost the study of maths among Britons.

Dame Andrea is formally known as Minister for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care.

She later explained she had 'misspoken' as she questioned Labour's plans to introduce supervised toothbrushing for young children in schools.

Tory minister Andrea Leadsom has been mocked for claiming babies have teeth 18 months before they are born

Labour's Wes Streeting referred to the PM's plans for all Britons to study some form of maths up to the age of 18 as he mocked Dame Andrea's remarks

Ex-Countdown host Carol Vorderman also took aim at Dame Andrea on social media as she questioned the minister's maths abilities

She had told MPs: 'The Opposition's motion talks about supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds.

'I do not know whether they do not know this, but we have teeth from before we are born.

'If children do not get your supervised toothbrushing until they are three at a minimum, their teeth are about four-and-a-half years old.

'It is much more important to have that supervised toothbrushing in the family hub, education for parents and supervised toothbrushing in nurseries.

'Let us say that that is something we can all agree on: children certainly have their teeth long before they are three, so I think our plan will be significantly better.'

She added that 'recovering and reforming NHS dentistry is a top priority for the Government'.

Labour's Wes Streeting referred to the PM's plans for all Britons to study some form of maths up to the age of 18 as he mocked Dame Andrea's remarks following the Commons debate.

'No wonder Rishi floated maths to 18,' the shadow health secretary posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ex-Countdown host Carol Vorderman also took aim at Dame Andrea, posting: 'Minister for Public Health & Start for Life, Tory Andrea Leadsom seems to think a child has teeth 9 months before it's even conceived.

'Well even I'm baffled with her maths.... and even more baffled with her biology!!! Can I recommend some textbooks and/or diagrams?'

Dame Andrea, a former Tory leadership contender, used social media herself to try and clarify her comments in the Commons.

She posted: 'Sorry, I misspoke. I was highlighting the need for supervised toothbrushing for babies, rather than Labour's plan for 3-5 year olds.

'I was explaining that you could have had your teeth for 4.5 years already under their plans. It's a critical point about early prevention!'

In advice for pregnant women, the NHS website states that a baby at 10 weeks will have developing jawbones that 'already contain all the future milk teeth'.
Criminals are refusing to plead guilty in the hope their cases will collapse due to delays in the crown court system, the country's top barrister has warned.

Sam Townend KC noted that the proportion of defendants pleading guilty at their first court appearance had dropped from nearly 85 per cent 10 years ago to 36 per cent today.

The lawyer, who was giving his inaugural address as Chair of the Bar Council - which represents barristers in England and Wales - said guilty pleas more generally were down to 60 per cent from a high of over 65 per cent.

The backlog of crown court cases awaiting trial is at a record of more than 65,000, with many defendants waiting more than two years to reach court.

Mr Townend, speaking yesterday at Lincoln's Inn, said many appeared to be exploiting these long delays in the hope alleged victims and witnesses would tire of waiting and drop out of prosecutions, leading to their cases collapsing. He said this was particularly common in cases involving rape and sexual assault.

The number of defendants pleading guilty at their first court appearance had dropped from nearly 85 per cent 10 years ago to 36 per cent today

In comments reported by The Times, he said that 'if these trends continue, what we are witnessing is a breakdown in the compact essential to any effective criminal justice system governed by the rule of law, that perpetrators plead guilty early for a discounted sentence and start the process of rehabilitation'.

He said that 'if the compact is broken, it will put the criminal courts system, already running at close to boiling point, under unbearable pressure, accelerating the rate of increase in the backlog and pushing out further the time within which cases are dealt with'.

Mr Townend warned that junior barristers were continuing to quit the profession due to poor pay, and called for their fees to be increased.

READ MORE - Judge blasts prison system 'shambles' after having to postpone sentencing of female cafe boss who tricked woman she met on Plenty of Fish into having sex with her Advertisement

Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) showed Crown courts in England and Wales had 66,547 cases on the books at end of September, up 3 per cent on the previous quarter.

It means some victims of crime are facing years of delay before securing justice.

Meanwhile, children's charity the NSPCC warned child victims of sex abuse are being left in 'limbo' for an average of 14 months for trials to begin.

The backlog in magistrates' courts was also up to nearly 353,000, also a rise of 3 per cent in three months.

The combined figures mean the overall backlog stood at 419,492, below the peak of 460,000 during the pandemic when courts shut down.

The Crown courts received just over 27,800 new cases during the July-to-September period, but disposed of fewer than 25,700 during the same quarter.

The MoJ has set a target to cut the Crown court backlog to 53,000 by March 2025, but progress over recent months has gone into reverse.

The problems have been caused by a combination of factors, including the knock-on effect of Covid-era closures and the impact of a defence barristers' strike which ended more than a year ago.

In addition, the Government has met a pledge to deliver 20,000 extra police officers, which means forces are making more arrests leading to more prosecutions.

Separately, the NSPCC said the backlog of alleged paedophile cases has soared 16 per cent year-on-year to more than 5,500, it said.

Sam Townend KC also warned that junior barristers were continuing to quit the profession due to poor pay, and called for their fees to be increased

The charity said the drawn-out justice system was hampering victims' recovery.

Children waited an average of 423 days from the point an alleged abuser was charged to the start of a trial in 2022-23, up from 273 days five years previously.

In one case, a rape complainant has been told she has to wait a year for her alleged attacker to face trial because there were no barristers available in the entire UK.

The trial of Niumsia Bale-Nailati, 43, was due to open at Shrewsbury Crown Court last Tuesday but there was 'no one available across the entire country' to prosecute it.

The rape case backlog has soared by 356 per cent in four years to a record 2,591 awaiting trial in England and Wales. There were 568 victims waiting in March 2019.

Analysis shows that some victims are facing delays of more than two and a half years just to go through the court process after the suspect is charged.
The notorious 2005 'Access Hollywood' tape in which Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women can be played to jurors, a judge ruled on Tuesday, setting ground rules for the damages phase in the defamation trial next week.

The Access Hollywood Tape, which caught him saying 'grab 'em by the p****' when referring to women, was recorded over a decade before Trump was elected as President of the United States in 2016.

Now jurors will be able to use the recordings from this tape to decide what he should pay E. Jean Carroll, a columnist he sexually abused and then defamed, in the trial which is set to kick off on Tuesday January 16, and will focus on comments made by Trump about Carroll while he was serving as US President.

The trial will be for damages only because of the jury's findings in the other case last year, and it's expected to last three to five days.

In a written order that narrowed what lawyers can introduce at the trial U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan allowed the tape to be heard.

The recordings were heard by a jury that in May concluded that Trump sexually abused Ms Carroll, 80, in a luxury department store in 1996 and defamed her in 2022. It awarded $5 million in damages.

Donald Trump previously responded to a rape accusation by the writer E. Jean Carroll (second from left) by saying that he's never met her. A photo from 1987 shows them at a party together.

Former US President Trump speaks to the media at a Washington hotel on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, after attending a hearing before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals at the federal courthouse in Washington

E. Jean Carroll leaves Manhattan federal court on Monday, October 23, 2023, in New York

In a written order that narrowed what lawyers can introduce at the trial, which begins on Tuesday January 16, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan (pictured) allowed the tape to be heard

In the tape, Trump was heard bragging about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who were not his wife as he waited to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera in 2005.

In a statement after the tape emerged shortly before the November 2016 presidential election, Trump dismissed it as 'locker room banter' and 'a private conversation.'

Kaplan wrote that a jury could find the 'Access Hollywood' video to be useful insight into Trump's state of mind regarding how he viewed Carroll specifically, given the similarity between the behavior he described on the video and Carroll's sexual assault claim.

'The jury could find that Mr. Trump was prepared to admit privately to sexual assaults eerily similar to that alleged by Ms. Carroll,' the judge said.

Lawyers for Trump did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The jury in May did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that Trump raped Carroll, who had testified that the pair had a chance encounter that was flirtatious and humorous until Trump pushed her against a wall and sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman store dressing room across from Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.

Trump adamantly disputed Carroll's claim that he raped her in the dressing room when she first revealed it publicly as she released a memoir in 2019, while Trump was president.

He said he didn't know her, she wasn't his type and that she was likely making false claims to promote sales of her book and for political reasons.

E. Jean Carroll, right, walks out of Manhattan federal court, May 9, 2023, in New York. The notorious 2005 'Access Hollywood' video in which Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women over a decade before he became president can be shown to jurors deciding what he owes Carroll, a columnist he defamed, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, January 9, 2024, as he set up ground rules for a trial next week. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Kaplan also ruled Tuesday that Trump's attorney cannot introduce evidence or argument 'suggesting or implying' that Trump did not sexually assault Carroll, that she fabricated her account of the assault or that she had financial and political motivations to do so.

Although the jury's determination that Trump defamed Carroll pertained only to statements he made in October 2022, Kaplan ruled last year that the jury's conclusions regarding remarks that were similar to what he said in 2019 and after the 2022 verdict means that only damages for defamation must be decided at next week's trial.

She is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and substantially more in punitive damages.

Trump, 77, the leading Republican contender in this year's presidential race, is listed as a witness for the trial, but he did not show up at last year's trial and it is unknown whether he will testify.

As part of his ruling Tuesday, Kaplan said Trump will not be permitted to testify regarding whether he believed Carroll's account and whether he personally questioned her motives.

The judge added Trump cannot claim he did not sexually abuse Carroll or that he did not have actual malice when he made public statements in June 2019.

At a speech in Iowa on Saturday, Trump told the crowd that he was warned by his lawyer not to attend last year's trial because 'it's beneath you.'

He mocked Carroll at one point during the speech and complained that 'now I have to pay her money, a woman who I have no idea who she is.'

FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks after exiting the courtroom for a break at New York Supreme Court, Dec. 7, 2023, in New York. The notorious 2005 'Access Hollywood' video in which Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking disparagingly about women over a decade before he became president can be shown to jurors deciding what he owes E. Jean Carroll, a columnist he defamed, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, as he set up ground rules for a trial next week. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)

After last year's verdict, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said the admittance of the 'Access Hollywood' tape as evidence will be part of Trump's appeal of the verdict.

Trump's defamation trial against Ms Carroll is one of a number of lawsuits he is currently involved in.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is demanding over $370 million from Donald Trump and wants to bar him from doing any business in the state.

The fraud case brought by James accuses the Republican frontrunner for president of inflating the value of properties, including his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, to get better terms on loans.

Ms James argues that the massive sum is warranted due to the former president's 'myriad deceptive schemes' that were employed by his business and co-defendants to 'inflate asset values and conceal facts.'

Trump is also facing a criminal probe in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election after he lost to current US President Joe Biden.
Three rare historic coins depicting Charles II, Henry III and Queen Anne have sold for almost 1.5million after an international bidding war.

The first in the trio was a King Charles II silver pattern crown designed by Thomas Simon in 1663, valued at 400,000.

It achieved almost double its sum, going for 754,000 at Heritage Auctions, of Dallas in the US.

The coin shows the side profile bust of the King and carries an inscription by Simon pleading to be chosen as his chief engraver. It is believed to be one of less than 20 surviving specimens.

The monarch instead selected the Rottier brothers for the role and only a small number of Simon's 'petition' examples were struck.

Also in the sale was a King Henry III (1216-1272) gold penny of 20 pence which was struck in 1257, fetching 396,000.

It achieved almost double its sum, going for 754,000 at Heritage Auctions, of Dallas, US

Also in the sale was a King Henry III (1216-1272) gold penny of 20 pence which was struck in 1257

It is believed to be the 'true first portrait' of an English king on coinage, depicting a bearded and crowned Henry III with a scepter in his right hand.

Completing the trio was a 1706 Queen Anne gold five guineas which shows her bust on one side and her quartered arms on the reverse, which fetched 320,000.

The coins, which sold for a combined 1.47million, were consigned by separate private collectors.

The final coin, which fetched 320,000, is a 1706 Queen Anne gold five guineas which shows her bust on one side and her quartered arms on the reverse

Cris Bierrenbach, executive vice president of International Numismatics at Heritage Auctions, said: 'The 'Petition Crown' of Charles II is famous and highly sought-after.

'This specimen has been put away by a European collector for the last 50 years and is one of the finest in existence.

'The artistry on such an early coin is quite astonishing. It features beautiful relief on Charles II bust and overall features.'
Todd and Julie Chrisley have secured a $1million settlement from the state of Georgia after alleging misconduct in the investigation into their bank fraud and tax evasion scheme.

The reality TV couple were found guilty in federal court of committing tax evasion and bank fraud totaling $30million back in June 2022, with Todd sentenced to 12 years and Julie seven, both with 16 months of probation.

The pair, famed for their hit show Chrisley Knows Best, had their sentences reduced. Julie will serve five and a half years in Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky. Todd will serve out 10 years in a federal prison in Pensacola, Florida.

The Chrisleys were previously cleared of their state tax evasion charge and took action against Joshua Waites, the former the Director of Special Investigations of Georgias Department of Revenue, in 2019 for 'specifically targeting' their family.

The couple's attorney announced on Tuesday they had reached a settlement with the state, which he said in a statement is an 'encouraging sign' for the Chrisleys.

Todd and Julie Chrisley (pictured together in 2019) have secured a $1million settlement from the state of Georgia after alleging misconduct in the investigation into their bank fraud and tax evasion scheme

Todd and Julie Chrisley were famed for their hit show Chrisley Knows Best. They are pictured with their family in a promo for season eight of the series. Left to right: Faye Chrisley, Chase Chrisley, Todd Chrisley, Savannah Chrisley, Chloe Chrisley, Julie Chrisley and Grayson Chrisley

The Chrisleys were previously cleared of their state tax evasion charge and took action against Joshua Waites, (pictured) the former the Director of Special Investigations of Georgias Department of Revenue, in 2019 for 'specifically targeting' their family

The Chrisleys and their attorneys claimed for months that Georgia's criminal case against them was 'highly unusual and had real problems'.

Alex Little, of Burr & Forman LLP, hailed the couple's latest legal victory, saying in the statement: 'Its nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail.'

The Chrisleys filed a suit against Waites in October 2019, accusing him of illegally sharing confidential grand jury and tax information with their estranged daughter Lindsie.

The suit also alleged that Waites' behavior was a 'shocking' demonstration of how an 'out-of-control public servant can abuse his office and violate the rights of innocent citizens for reasons that have more to do with securing publicity and money for his office than with enforcing the law'.

The couple's suit against Waites argued that although Waites' efforts 'failed', the process forced the Chrisleys to 'incur substantial personal and financial hardship'.

An investigation in 2021 also found the couple to have been 'unfairly targeted' in their tax evasion case due to their celebrity status.

Christopher S. Anulewicz, an attorney for the couple, said in a statement at the time that the Georgia Department of Revenue 'utilized unauthorized means to pursue information about them.'

Much of the corruption was due to the actions of Waites, who resigned from his $107K/year position last year after lying about having a degree in criminal justice.

The investigation uncovered pictures of the investigator posing on Todd and Julie's seized furniture and filing an improper request with the US Treasury to access their bank accounts.

The couple (pictured here after a trial in 2019) were found guilty of taking part in a $30million tax fraud scheme and sentenced to 12 and seven years behind bars respectively. Their sentences were reduced in September last year

Todd and Julie pictured with Savannah and her niece Chloe and brother Grayson, both of whom she is the guardian

Despite being cleared by the state on their tax evasion charges, the Chrisleys were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2019 on 12 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion - all of which they deny.

Todd and Julie began their prison sentences in January 2023. Their sentences were then reduced in September last year.

The couple have filed an appeal for their criminal convictions which their attorney said will be heard by the federal appeals court in Atlanta in April this year.

MailOnline has approached Little and Burr & Forman LLP for comment.

News of the settlement comes just months after sources close to the couple claimed that Julie could soon end her 27-year marriage to Todd for convincing her to go along with his 'foolproof plan' - which ultimately landed them both behind bars.

Julie is reportedly questioning her marriage to Todd, 54, who insiders claim convinced her that they would 'never go to jail'.

'Julie's friends are certain that she will eventually divorce Todd for convincing her to go along with his foolproof plan that landed them in prison,' a source close to the fallen reality TV couple told DailyMail.com in November last year.

Todd reportedly felt 'massively betrayed by the US government' after speaking out about the alleged inhumane conditions inside prison, which are said to include a lack of air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, as well as mold, plumbing issues, insect infestations and even snakes.

News of the settlement comes just months after sources close to the couple claimed that Julie could soon end her 27-year marriage to Todd. Julie Chrisley (left) and Todd Chrisley (right) are pictured during a visit to Hallmark's Home & Family at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 18, 2018 in Universal City, California

'He is hopeless and completely broken,' the source said of the real estate tycoon. 'He spends his days in isolation because a lot of the prisoners dont like him due to the fact he has been blabbing about the prison conditions.

'Todd is preaching to anyone who will listen. But he is only making things worse for himself. Regardless of what he does, he is still stuck in jail for the next decade.'

Julie was also said to be 'broken down' behind bars, having been consumed by remorse over the role she played in the fraudulent scheme.

'She has broken down. She is not doing well at all,' a separate source previously told DailyMail.com. 'She cannot fathom how she will spend years being locked up and feels that she let her family down.'

The insider added that Julie 'regrets what she did in the name of fame'.
Kim Jong Un has branded South Korea his country's 'principal enemy' and warned he would not hesitate to annihilate it, state media said on Wednesday.

The dictator - who celebrated his 40th birthday on Monday - was also quoted as saying he had 'no intention of avoiding war' with his country's historic enemy to the south as he toured major weapons factory.

Images released today showed Kim, in a full-length black leather jacket and with a cigarette in hand, standing in front of what analysts said were short-range ballistic missile launchers. The missiles are purportedly nuclear-capable.

The report follows recent live-fire exercises by Pyongyang's military near the contested maritime border that prompted counter-drills and evacuation orders for residents on two South Korean border islands.

'The historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea,' Kim was reported as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Jong Un has branded South Korea his country's 'principal enemy' and warned he would not hesitate to annihilate it as he toured a weapons factory, state media said Wednesday

Kim, urging factory workers to modernise and 'produce more weapons', said he had 'no intention of avoiding a war' and warned he would have no hesitation in 'annihilating' South Korea, KCNA added.

News of the factory tour came a day after nearly 50 countries joined the United States in condemning North Korea's alleged transfers of weapons to Vladimir Putin's forces for use in Ukraine, which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions.

The White House last week said it has evidence that Russia had fired at Ukraine additional ballistic missiles provided by North Korea.

It accused the North of sending both missiles and launchers to Russia in what it called a 'significant and concerning escalation' of its support for Putin's war effort.

The live-fire drills that started last Friday marked one of the most serious escalations between the two sides since 2010, when the North shelled Yeonpyeong island, leaving four dead, including two marines.

Kim, accompanied by senior party and military officials, toured multiple munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, KCNA said.

It described the visits as encouragement 'in the struggle for attaining the huge production goal for the new year'.

Kim said that while the North would not 'unilaterally' trigger a confrontation, it had 'no intention of avoiding a war'.

Were Seoul to use force against the North, 'we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilising all means and forces in our hands,' Kim said.

Those comments signal a shift in North Korean policy and hint that Pyongyang will take a 'much tougher stance' toward Seoul in future, Hong Min, of the Korea Institute for National Unification, told France's AFP news agency.

'It is the first time that the North has called the South its 'principle enemy', signifying the change of North Korea's Seoul approach to an ultra-hawkish mode,' he said. The North's recent artillery drills were 'emblematic of the changed approach,' he added.

Images in state media showed Kim, in a full-length black leather jacket and with a cigarette in hand, standing in front of what analysts said were short-range ballistic missile launchers. The missiles are purportedly nuclear-capable

The dictator - who celebrated his 40th birthday on Monday - was quoted by North Korean state media as saying he had 'no intention of avoiding war' with his country's southern neighbour as he toured a major weapons factory (pictured)

Kim (seen second right), urging factory workers to modernise and 'produce more weapons', said he had 'no intention of avoiding a war' and warned he would have no hesitation in 'annihilating' South Korea, KCNA reported

Images released by N. Korea's news agency showed Kim standing in front of what analysts said were short-range ballistic missile launchers. The missiles are purportedly nuclear-capable

Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location in this picture released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on January 10

Kim and North Korea has made similar threats recently to South Korea.

Analysts say Kim likely hopes that South Korea's liberal opposition, which is seeking reconciliation with North Korea, would win the April elections.

Kim apparently also believes he can win US concessions if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House, analysts said.

Kim and Trump met three times as part of high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018-19.

There are concerns that North Korean provocations could trigger limited clashes between the two Koreas along their heavily armed border.

Three bloody naval skirmishes between the Koreas have occurred along the disputed sea boundary since 1999, and two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in the area in 2010.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades.

Kim enshrined the country's status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.

At Pyongyang's year-end policy meetings, Kim threatened a nuclear attack on the South and called for a build-up of his country's military arsenal ahead of armed conflict that he warned could 'break out any time'.

Kim also successfully put a spy satellite into orbit late last year, after receiving what Seoul said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers for Moscow's war.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the North Korea-supplied missiles were fired on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 6.

The White House last week declassified US intelligence determinations that the Russians fired North Korean-provided missiles on Ukraine on Jan. 2 and Dec. 30.

Kirby said that the US would raise the matter at Wednesday's UN Security Council meeting and underscored that the transfer of ballistic missiles from North Korea 'directly violates' multiple UN resolutions.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN council, supported those resolutions.

In this undated photo provided Monday, December 18, 2023, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his daughter and an official watch what it says is an intercontinental ballistic missile launching from an undisclosed location in North Korea

Kim watches a missile launch during a test in December

Kim enshrined the country's status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles

In a joint statement, the top diplomats of 48 countries including South Korea, the US and Japan and the EU said they 'condemn in the strongest possible terms' North Korea's missile exports and Russia's use of those weapons against Ukraine.

'The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia's war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime,' the statement said.

In a call Tuesday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his South Korean counterpart Chang Ho-jin condemned the reported missile transfer.

They also committed to continuing close cooperation in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, according to the White House.
Social services knew tragic Afghan refugee toddler Zahra Ghulami was living in a family home of violence - but still allowed her to stay with the father who would later murder her.

Serious questions were laid at the door of Kent County Council and its teams after her adoptive parent was convicted yesterday of killing her in a foul rage.

Jan Gholami's wife even told one social worker and a police officer in June 2019 that he beat her sometimes by slapping her or banging her head against a wall, and she was scared he would kill her.

Chillingly it was exactly the same method he would use to murder innocent two-year-old Zahra 11 months later in May 2020.

Gholami had even served time in prison for previous incidents involving his wife Roquia - found guilty of child neglect - including one where he punched her in the face in the street, a court had heard.

But the council failed to take legal action to remove Zahra from the two abusive parents' care.

Two-year-old Zahra was killed by her adoptive father after she suffered a fractured skull at her home in 2020

Jan Gholami (pictured) and his wife Roqia Ghulami have been on trial for the murder of Zahra Ghulami at their Gravesend home in May 2020. Gholami was found guilty of murder

And today Kent County Council said his violent behaviour had not passed the threshold for separation.

In a statement a spokesperson insisted to MailOnline: 'Kent Children's Services were working with the family under a child in need plan and held regular meetings with the family and partner agencies to progress the multi-agency plan.

'Partner agencies involved in a child in need plan will include health, education and any other involved professionals who may be in regular contact with a family.

'Children can only be removed from parents if the local authority can evidence that the high threshold for separation is met and applies to the court for an Order.'

Pressed further by MailOnline on how it was possible more was not done in the 11 months between Roqia's fears being told to a social worker and Zahra's death, the council blamed a lack of PPE and lockdown.

The council spokesperson added: 'The council works with families of children with the consent and agreement of the family and without authority to force the parents to let social workers see the children.

'During the time in question, the UK was in the early weeks of the first lock down and a lot was unknown about the Covid virus. The councils PPE supply had been relinquished to the NHS due to national shortages as the health service was prioritised by government. This made face to face visits in close proximity almost impossible.

'Social workers and the police were the only agencies making visits to families at risk at this time and so the usual universal services and multi-agency support was not available to support any general observations. The evidence and engagements at the time did not meet the thresholds in Section 31 of the Childrens Act.

The little girl was taken to hospital with injuries on May 27 2020 and she died two days later. Pictured: Zahra being taken to Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford by Gholami

'KCC social workers worked selflessly and extremely hard to maintain visits in unique circumstances during these unprecedented times.'

During the trial jurors were shown a photograph of little Zahra, as well as her adoption certificate dated July 15, 2017, which had been approved by elders in Afghanistan following the death of her biological mother.

Gholami claimed that Zahra's real father was his friend and that he was in the UK when her adoption took place.

At the end of January 2018, Gholami was granted leave to remain in the UK after first arriving in 2016 and telling immigration officials the family was fleeing the Taliban.

He also claimed he was leaving because his wife's family disapproved of their marriage, which was deemed 'illegal' and carried a penalty of stoning.

A year later wife Ghulami applied for asylum in the UK.

She was interviewed in January 2019 and told officials from the Home Office that she had three children, including Zahra.

She was helped by the Red Cross, which funded her travel to the UK under a 'reunion visa' scheme, and arrived in May 2019.

The jury heard how the charity then made a request for support to Kent County Council.

In February 2020, the family moved to another home in Gravesend just a few weeks before Zahra died.

Gholami said he had been at Tesco but when he got back his son said Zahra had fallen down the stairs and was vomiting.

When he was quizzed by police he cynically produced a receipt and declared: 'I am a Muslim. You can't blame me for these things. There are cameras. Whatever happened I was not at home.'

His wife Ghulami did not give evidence in court but also had told police Zahra fell down the stairs.

In reality he had bashed the toddler's 'head against a wall' in a furious rage.

She suffered from a severe skull fracture caused by 'significant impact with significant energy' at his hands.

After the case senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Ross Gurden said: Zahra had her life taken away from her by two people who had a responsibility to love and care for her.

Jan inflicted the injuries on Zahra whilst Roqia was completely aware of his behaviour and failed to intervene and prevent Zahra from being injured.

Zahra would have been six now, she would have started school and would be learning about the world around her, but instead her young life was cut short through violence inflicted by Jan, who should have been caring for her.

I want to commend the jury who were a part of this trial. Incidents like this are thankfully rare but they played a hugely important role in securing justice for the very people who betrayed Zahra.
A spiritual leader known as 'Buddha boy' whose followers believe he is a 'reincarnation of the founder of Buddhism' has been arrested by Nepalese police over rape claims and 'disappearances' at his ashrams.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan had thousands of devotees and became famous as a teenager after followers claimed he could meditate motionless for months without water, food or sleep.

The 33-year-old guru continues to have a devout following but has long been accused of physically and sexually assaulting worshippers, and had been hiding from authorities for several years.

Police apprehended Bomjan in Kathmandu on a warrant issued for his alleged rape of a minor at an ashram in Sarlahi, a district south of the capital.

They said he was caught with bundles of cash amounting to 30 million Nepali rupees (280,000) and another 18,000 in foreign currency from 16 different countries.

Nepal police escort Ram Bahadur Bomjan at the premises of Nepal's Central Investigation Bureau in Kathmandu

Ram Bahadur Bomjan was believed to be the reincarnation of Buddha. He is pictured blessing a Buddhist monk in Nijgadh town, about 100 miles south of Katmandu

Authorities never formally declared Bomjan to be the reincarnation of Buddha, but people have worshipped him continuously since 2005

Bomjan's popularity has declined but he still has camps attended by thousands of his followers in southern Nepal

Accusations of abuse and misconduct against Bomjan stretch back more than a decade.

Dozens of assault complaints were filed against Bomjan in 2010. He said he beat the victims because they disturbed his meditation.

An 18-year-old nun accused the guru of raping her at a monastery in 2018.

Police opened another investigation against him the following year after family members reported the disappearance of four of his devotees from one of his ashrams.

The whereabouts of the four are still unknown, Dinesh Acharya of the Central Investigation Bureau told reporters on Wednesday.

'Unless we know what situation the missing are in we are not in a position to call it murder,' he said.

Authorities never formally declared Bomjan to be the reincarnation of Buddha, but people have worshipped him continuously since 2005.

Before he went on the run, Bomjan still commanded a legion of followers as the allegations against him mounted.

While aged 16, Bomjan disappeared for nine months to wander the wilderness of eastern Nepal before reappearing

While aged 16, Bomjan disappeared for nine months to wander the wilderness of eastern Nepal

His popularity has since declined but he still has camps attended by thousands of his followers in southern Nepal.

At one point tens of thousands of people gathered to witness his reputed miracles of meditation deep in the jungle.

While aged 16, Bomjan disappeared for nine months to wander the wilderness of eastern Nepal, prompting a round-the-clock vigil by Buddhist monks who prayed for his safe return.

Accusations of abuse and misconduct against Bomjan stretch back more than a decade

Members of the Central Investigation Bureau team escort Ram Bahadur Bomjan after his arrest

His re-emergence from the jungle saw thousands of devotees flock from as far as India to see him and hear him speak.

Buddhist priests were left divided over whether Bomjan was reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal around 500 BC and later became revered as the Buddha, which means Enlightened One.

Buddhism is practiced by some 500 million people worldwide and is considered the worlds fourth-largest religious tradition after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
More than 130 prison guards and other staff are being held hostage by inmates in at least five prisons around Ecuador, which is descending into civil war amid a horrific escalation in gang violence.

Twisted videos circulating on social media showed how masked thugs delighted in subjecting prison staff to extreme violence, including being shot and hanging.

Terrified citizens meanwhile are resorting to taking up arms in an attempt to defend themselves, according to various reports on social media, as Ecuador's military and armed police battle with gangs in the streets who are torching cars and conducting executions in broad daylight.

President Daniel Noboa, who took office in November promising to tackle a growing security problem caused by drug trafficking gangs, on Tuesday named 22 gangs as terrorist organisations, making them official military targets.

The hostage-takings, which began in the early hours of Monday, and the apparent escape of Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias - aka 'Fito' - from prison over the weekend, spurred Noboa to declare a 60-day state of emergency.

But Ecuador's increasingly powerful gangs and cartels rose up immediately, detonating a series of explosions around the country and staging a dramatic takeover of a TV station by gunmen live on air.

Authorities have said little about the prison hostages, but a SNAI prisons statement said: 'The national police and the armed forces are working to safeguard the integrity of the employees of the prison security service who are being held... We are awaiting official information about the situation.'

Ecuadorian soldiers have been rounding up and viciously beating suspected gang members, video appears to show, as cartels paraded hostages, executed cops and declared war - plunging the South America nation into lawless chaos.

At least 10 people have already been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs - eight in Guayaquil, and two 'viciously murdered by armed criminals' in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday.

But the toll could well be higher.

A prison guard pleas for his life after being taken hostage and held at knife and gunpoint by gangs

Heavily armed Ecuadorian forces round up prisoners in the Litoral penitentiary

A pair of masked thugs torch a car

Inmates take over a prison in Ecuador, taking all prison guards hostage

As the military carries out its orders to crack down on the violence in Ecuador, a clip (pictured) appeared to show an armed Ecuadorian soldier kicking a man, thought to be a suspected gangster, repeatedly in the head while in the back of a truck

Another terrifying clip shows three kidnapped officers sitting at the ground with a gun pointed at them as one visibly terrified policeman read a statement that read: 'You declared war, you will get war. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.'

More footage that emerged from the country shows gang members wielding machetes next to prison guards they are holding hostage

Another clips showed the body of a man, said to be a police officer, lying on the side of the road in a pool of blood. He appeared to have been shot in the head

Past gang violence in the country, particularly in prisons, has seen tens if not hundreds of people killed in single incidents.

Gangs assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August last year and set off car bombs in front of government buildings.

However, one analyst - speaking to the Associated Press - has said Tuesday's events marked a new peak in violence. 'This is a turning point,' Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations told the news agency.

'Depending on how the government responds, it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime.'

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The nation erupted into a deadly 'civil war' on Tuesday when, in the port city of Guayaquil, men wearing balaclavas and waving weapons stormed a state-owned TV station during a live broadcast, taking several journalists and staff members hostage.

Elsewhere, the crazed criminals took scores of police officers hostage during their deadly rampage that saw explosions tear through Ecuador's cities, with the mobsters declaring: 'You declared war, you will get war'.

The gangs unleashed their fury after President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nightly curfew following the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka 'Fito' - leader of Ecuador's biggest gang Choneros - on Sunday.

Harrowing video has shown gangsters holding terrified staff hostage for hours while pointing shotguns at their heads as they pleaded 'please don't shoot'.

Another clip showed the body of a man, said to be a police officer, lying on the side of the road in a pool of blood. He appeared to have been shot in the head.

Further terrifying footage showed three kidnapped officers sitting at the ground with a gun pointed at them as one visibly terrified policeman read a statement that read: 'You declared war, you will get war. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.'

The statement added anyone found on the street after 11pm 'will be executed'.

Another video showed a group of what appeared to be prison guards being held hostage by masked inmates wielding machetes and knives, with one of the uniformed men sitting at a table, also reading a statement. The prisoners held the blades to the throats of the guards, most of whom were sat on the floor.

In response to the horrific violence, President Noboa has ordered the army to 'neutralise' criminal gangs after the gangsters declared war, with the violence threatening to spill over into Peru.

Admiral Jaime Vela, head of Ecuador's Joint Command of the Armed Forces, has described gangs as terror groups and said they are 'military objectives'.

As the military carries out its orders to crack down on the violence, a clip appeared to show an armed Ecuadorian soldier kicking a man, thought to be a suspected gangster, repeatedly in the head while in the back of a truck.

Men with their faces covered entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background

Video grab from live footage of Ecuadorean TC Television showing armed men wearing balaclavas bursting into the studio of public television station TC in drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil on Tuesday

Pictured: Suspects detained by police officers inside the studio of public television station TC who took hostage several journalists and staff members on Tuesday

Police officers carry out an operation at the headquarters of TC television station where armed, hooded men entered and subdued staff during a live broadcast, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Tuesday

Ecuadorian police arrest several armed men who broke into the set of a public television channel after Ecuador president declares 'internal armed conflict,' orders military operations against organized crime groups in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Tuesday

Ecuadorian soldiers take security measures with a military armoured vehicle on roads after Ecuador president declares 'internal armed conflict,' orders military operations against organised crime groups in Quito, Ecuador on January 9

The crisis was sparked by the escape of Adolfo 'Fito' Macias, 44, the leader of Los Choneros gang, from his cell in a low security prison on Sunday.

The government declared a state of emergency and nightly curfew as they launched a manhunt for the gang leader.

In response to the state of emergency, gangs retaliated by taking police officers hostage, rampaging through a university and storming a TV studio.

Masked men armed with pistols and bombs broke onto the set of the TC Television network during a live broadcast on Tuesday, unleashing 30 minutes of threats and terror.

First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV station's live transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third and more. With the show's 'After the News' title behind them, station employees were brought onto the set and ordered to lie down.

Screams could be heard followed by the sound of gunshots in the terrifying footage.

'We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia,' one of the assailants is heard saying.

Hooded attackers fired gunshots during the live TC broadcast as a woman could be heard pleading: 'Don't shoot, please don't shoot.'

The intruders forced terrified crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming as the studio lights went out but the broadcast continued.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, was ordered to get on the floor.

'They aimed the gun at my head,' she said. 'I thought about my entire life, about my two children.'

Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

'I am still in shock,' she said. 'Everything has collapsed. - All I know is that it's time to leave this country and go very far away.'

Police entered the studio after about 30 minutes of chaos and authorities later said that all the masked intruders had been arrested, 13 in all, and would be charged with terrorism. No one was hurt in the attack.

President Noboa, 36, who was elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence, later ordered the military operations against gangs he described as 'terrorist organisations and belligerent non-state actors.'

Afterwards, the head of the Armed Forces Joint Command said the attacks were the gangs' reactions to the government's moves against them.

'They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population,' Adm. Jaime Vela told journalists, describing the attacks as 'unprecedented' in Ecuador's history.

Hostages filmed in TV studio in Ecuador pleading with the drug gang members

Prison guards have reportedly been executed by the country's cartel thugs. Pictured: Moments before a guard was killed

People flee Ecuador's TC television channel studios after gunmen stormed the set on Tuesday

Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city's historic centre following an outbreak of violence on Tuesday

Ecuadorian police arrest several armed men who broke into the set of a public television channel on Tuesday

Ecuadorean soldiers search a man while on patrol in the streets of Cuenca, Ecuador, on Tuesday

People are helped out of the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on Tuesday

Ecuadorean police officers fuard the arrested suspects outside Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on Tuesday

Pictured: Suspects detained by police officers inside the studio of public television station TC who took hostage several journalists and staff members on Tuesday

The gangs unleashed their fury after President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nightly curfew following the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias (pictured in August 2023), aka 'Fito' - leader of Ecuador's biggest gang Choneros - on Sunday

Police and soldiers take security measures as Ecuadorian police arrest several armed men who broke into the set of a public television channel on Tuesday

Ecuadorean security forces patrol the area around the main square and presidential palace after Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared the country in a state of emergency on Tuesday

Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city's historic centre following an outbreak of violence on Tuesday

An Ecuadorian police squad runs into the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on January 9

The TV studio was stormed in the port city of Guayaquil in western Ecuador

The government has said at least 30 attacks have taken place since authorities announced that Los Choneros gang leader Macias was discovered missing from his cell in a low-security prison Sunday. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

Ecuadorean officials on Tuesday announced that another gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from a prison in the town of Riobamba. Colon Pico was captured on Friday as part of a kidnapping investigation and has also been accused of trying to murder one of the nation's lead prosecutors.

Authorities reported multiple explosions and cars set alight on Tuesday, including in the capital Quito, and said seven police officers had been kidnapped.

There was panic on the streets, with shops and businesses in various cities closing early and residents rushing home as face-to-face classes were suspended nationwide until Friday.

Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said Washington was 'extremely concerned' by the violence and kidnappings, and pledged to provide assistance and 'remain in close contact' with Noboa's team.

Peru on Tuesday put its border with Ecuador under a state of emergency, with the government deploying special forces to the border.

China's embassy and consulates in Ecuador announced on Wednesday that services to the public were suspended.

'The reopening to the public will be announced in due course,' the embassy said in a statement shared on Chinese social media.

Chile, Colombia and Brazil sent messages of support for Noboa on Tuesday.

Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city of Quito's historic centre following an outbreak of violence on Tuesday

Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city of Quito's historic centre following an outbreak of violence on Tuesday

A manhunt is under way for Fito, who had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

The 44-year-old is believed to have escaped just hours before police arrived to conduct an inspection of the Guayaquil prison where he was held.

On Tuesday, officials said another narco boss - Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico - also escaped since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

Unrest has broken out at several penitentiaries, and on Tuesday the SNAI prisons authority said 125 guards and 14 administrative officers were being held by inmates in five cities.

Unverified videos circulating on social media purported to show captives armed with knives executing at least two guards. The SNAI has not commented on the images.

The security forces in turn have sent out videos of numerous prison raids since Sunday, with hundreds of inmates amassed in courtyards in their underwear, hands on their heads.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to 'not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans.'

Drug violence has taken a heavy toll on the South American country since it became a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022 and a record 220 tons of drugs were seized last year.

Since February 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burnt alive.
Police are investigating the 'sudden' death of a 'beautiful and effervescent' 14-year-old schoolgirl, whose body was found at a farmhouse.

It is still unknown how Summer Sheppard died in Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, in November last year.

Yesterday, Nottinghamshire Police, who launched a top-level probe into her death, refused to say if it had ruled out a crime as the cause of her death.

It also refused to say why there was a five week gap before the inquest into her death opened.

A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched by friend Julia Flanagan to raise cash for her mother and family.

She described Summer as 'beautiful and effervescent'.

Police are investigating the 'sudden' death of 'beautiful and effervescent' 14-year-old schoolgirl Summer Sheppard (pictured), whose body was found at a farmhouse

'Jenna and her husband Glen have had a turbulent year and had just started to get life back on track.

'Glen had recovered from a recent operation after several delays and was gearing up to return to work as normal when tragedy hit the whole family.'

But she said Glen received a life changing diagnosis after the operation.

Ms Flanagan added: 'Whatever challenges they thought they would have to face nothing could prepare them for what was to come.

'Summer, beautiful and effervescent, died early on Tuesday morning [November 28, 2023]. A loss no parent or family should ever face.'

An inquest at Salisbury, Wiltshire, was told the cause of her death was unknown.

Summer Rocio Sheppard was found dead at 7.55 am on November 28 at a detached house on a farm at Cotgrave where she was staying with her mother.

Summer was identified by her mother who was not named.

The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.

She had lived with her mother for several weeks after moving from Swindon, Wiltshire.
One of Britain's most dangerous terrorists has lost a bid to be released from prison amid fears deporting him would put public safety at risk abroad, MailOnline can reveal today.

Pakistani national Jawad Akbar plotted to blow up Kent's Bluewater shopping centre, bomb London's Ministry of Sound nightclub and set off a radioactive 'dirty device' in 2004.

The jihadi has been in prison for over 18 years over the al-Qaeda inspired plan. In that time, taxpayers have forked out an estimated hundreds of thousands of pounds for bids to move him to an open prison.

Akbar, 40, is considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in the UK and was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 and a half years for conspiring to cause an explosion over the plot. He had travelled with other jihadis to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan said to be run by al-Qaeda. He also had bomb-making manuals on his laptop.

Parole Board bosses have ruled Akbar is too dangerous to be released and could pose a threat to the public.

The judgement released to MailOnline today said: 'The panel could only direct release if it was satisfied that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public that Mr Akbar remained confined in prison.

Pakistani national Jawad Akbar plotted to blow up Kent's Bluewater shopping centre

'Mr Akbar was represented by counsel at these hearings as well as his ongoing legal representative.

'Having considered the index offences and the other evidence before it, the panel listed as risk factors those influences which made it more likely that Mr Akbar would reoffend.

'At the time of his offending, these risk factors had included Mr Akbar's way of life and the associations he had kept. He lacked personal purpose in his life and looked to fit in and win respect from others.

'He developed attitudes and beliefs condoning the use of violence. There had been concerns about his emotional wellbeing, centring on confusion about his identity and his feelings of frustration and disillusionment.

'Mr Akbar could be misinformed and rigid in his thinking and he had held grievances.

'Evidence was presented at the hearings regarding Mr Akbar's progress and custodial conduct during this sentence. His behaviour in prison had been good and Mr Akbar had been gradually reclassified to locations of lesser security. In his present establishment, he had earned good reports and had maintained a trusted work position.'

Entrance to the Bluewater shopping centre (pictured)

It also heard he had taken part in accredited programmes to address 'decision making and better ways of thinking' and had seen a psychologist.

It added: 'The panel heard how well Mr Akbar had demonstrated application of relevant skills and learning while in custody. His release at this point was supported by his probation officer and the official supervising his case in prison.

'Mr Akbar's risks at this stage were considered not to be imminent. There were no outstanding training targets for him to meet in custody. The specialist probation officer who gave evidence advised that release within the UK could be safe.'

But the fact he was due to be deported caused concern among the panel.

The ruling added: 'However, Mr Akbar was subject to deportation on release. As the Parole Board's statutory test for release applies to any location, including outside the UK, the hearing considered in depth the situation that might apply should Mr Akbar be removed to Pakistan.

'In this case, a protective factor which would reduce the risk of reoffending was considered to be the support Mr Akbar could expect from family members and others in the community.

'The panel examined the release plan provided by Mr Akbar's probation officer and weighed its proposals against assessed risks. One aspect of the plan included a requirement to reside in designated accommodation with additional support and oversight as well as strict limitations on Mr Akbar's contacts, movements and activities.

'This would apply to Mr Akbar in the UK. However, the alternative - based on deportation  rested on the situation which might apply in Pakistan and Mr Akbar's abilities to adapt and resettle in that culture.

'Overall, the panel concluded that plans were not robust enough to manage Mr Akbar safely in the community if they relied primarily on his internal controls.

'After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the other evidence presented at the hearings, the panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public.

'Rather, the panel considered that Mr Akbar was appropriately located in custody where outstanding levels of risk could be contained.

'Mr Akbar will be eligible for another parole review in due course.'

He was born in Pakistan but moved to the UK with his family at the age of nine, and holds Italian citizenship through his father.

Akbar's minimum prison term expired in September last year, causing the Parole Board to formally decide whether it was safe for him to be freed from prison.

It is the second time he has been refused parole.
The boss of planemaker Boeing has taken responsibility for a near-catastrophic incident that saw a door on an Alaska Airlines flight get blown out at 16,000 feet.

David Calhoun, Boeing's president and chief executive, said the firm was 'acknowledging our mistake' and vowed for 'complete transparency' as the aviation giant tries to pivot from its latest crisis.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded 171 737 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the Alaska Airlines jet in wake of the blow out and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched a probe into the incident.

But Boeing has come under fire for relying on 'cr***y stuff' from subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactured the door plug that blew out mid-flight.

Former US Congressman Peter DeFazio, who led an investigation into previous issues with Boeing's planes, said Boeing is 'happy' is with the supplier 'because it's cheap'.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun has taken responsibility for a near-catastrophic incident that saw a door on an Alaska Airlines flight get blown out at 16,000 feet. Pictured is the missing door plug on Flight 1282

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was jettisoned and forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing, at a property where it was recovered in Portland, Oregon

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded 171 737 MAX 9 planes with the same configuration as the Alaska Airlines jet. Pictured is Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 grounded in a hangar at Portland International Airport on January 9, 2024

Calhoun called an all-employees meeting Tuesday, hosted at the company's 737 factory in Renton, Washington, during which he admitted the firm had made a mistake.

'We're going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake,' Calhoun told employees at Tuesday's meeting.

'We're going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way.'

Calhoun, who ascended to Boeing's top post in January 2020 as the company reeled from two fatal crashes on the 737 MAX, committed to working with the NTSB, which is probing the incident.

The NTSB is 'as good as it gets,' Calhoun said, according to remarks released by the company. 'I trust every step they take, and they will get to a conclusion.'

Investigators know the sequence of events that led to the blowout Friday night, but they don't know the cause. A key question is whether bolts used to help secure the panel, called a door plug, were installed.

The affected panel, a door plug, is used to fill an unneeded emergency exit in planes. Investigators have suggested that the part was not affixed adequately.

A NTSB investigator says the bolts used to secure the panel have not been recovered and the agency won't know if they were even in place until the door plug is examined in a laboratory.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun, speaking at a press event in December 2022, said Tuesday that the firm was 'acknowledging our mistake' and vowed for 'complete transparency' as the aviation giant tries to pivot from its latest crisis

People sit on a plane next to a missing window and portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California and suffered depressurization soon after departing, in Portland, Oregon on Friday, January 5, 2024

NTSB investigators are seen in the cabin as they carried out their inspection after the 737 Max 9 was grounded

NTSB investigators are in the cockpit as they investigate what caused a plug covering a spot left for an emergency door to tear off the plane as it flew at 16,000ft

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, carriers that fly the Max 9, reported finding loose bolts and other hardware in other panels, suggesting quality issues with the door plugs are not limited to one plane.

The plugs are installed in Max 9 fuselages by subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, which was spun off by Boeing in 2005.

Spirit has a history of manufacturing problems, many uncovered in a US House probe of two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.

'The focus needs to turn to Spirit,' DeFazio, who chaired the investigating committee, has said. 'Boeing has been happy with the cr***y stuff from Spirit because it's cheap.'

The company said in a statement Monday that 'quality and product integrity' are a priority. 'Spirit is a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter,' it said.

No one was seriously hurt Friday aboard the affected Alaska jetliner, but Ed Pierson, a former senior manager at Boeing's 737 factory, said the door plug issue is a wake-up call for Boeing and regulators to act before something worse happens.

Pierson, now the executive director of The Foundation for Aviation Safety, said Boeing assembly line workers are pressured to rush, and that the company has cut back on quality control inspections. That, he said, can lead to mistakes.

'The pressure is "Move the plane down the line," It's not, "Stop, let's fix it, let's do it right",' he said.

Former US Congressman Peter DeFazio, (pictured in 2022) who led an investigation into previous issues with Boeing's planes, said Boeing is 'happy with the cr***y stuff from Spirit because it's cheap'

The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the door in the backyard of a suburban home in Portland on Sunday

The agency's investigators are examining the door plug and will send it to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC, for further examination

The process of inspecting Max 9s and returning them to service has been slower than Alaska and United had hoped.

The FAA grounded all Max 9s in the United States on Saturday until they could be inspected, but Boeing didn't provide inspection instructions until Monday.

On Tuesday, the FAA said those instructions were being revised 'because of feedback,' and it extended the grounding of the planes.

'The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service,' the FAA said in a statement.

Boeing said it is in contact with customers and the FAA on requirements.

'As part of the process, we are making updates based on their feedback and requirements,' a Boeing spokesman said.

However, the inspection delays have thrown airline schedules into turmoil.

United said it canceled another 170 flights Tuesday because of the grounding. Alaska said it scrubbed 109 flights because it couldn't fly Max 9s.

Shares of The Boeing Co. also fell 1 per cent on Tuesday, a day after they plunged 8 per cent. Spirit AeroSystems was nearly unchanged Tuesday but lost 11 per cent on Monday.

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

Spirit's record is also likely to come under more scrutiny. In a federal securities lawsuit filed last May in Manhattan, an investor charged that the firm concealed widespread quality failures including defects in fuselage fittings, improperly drilled holes in bulkheads that keep planes pressurized, and missing fasteners.

The lawsuit includes an unidentified manufacturing team leader's email that said a manager told workers to falsify reports on the number of defects found on planes. The lawsuit was reported early Tuesday by The Lever, an investigative-journalism website. Spirit declined Tuesday to comment on the lawsuit.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the NTSB must determine 'whether additional inspection and maintenance should have been done before the aircraft carried passengers anywhere.' He asked new FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker what the regulatory agency is doing to protect air traveler safety.

A focus on how the door plugs were installed could be the best outcome for Boeing, said John Goglia, a former member of the NTSB. He said a finding of sloppy installation work would eliminate the need for more costly, time consuming door plug redesign.

'Installation errors happen all the time,' said Goglia, who started his career as an aircraft mechanic. Faulting the installation in Boeing planes 'impeaches their quality system, but it doesn't impeach their design.'
An asylum seeker who was found dead on the Bibby Stockholm after 'taking his own life' lay undiscovered for 12 hours, his former roommate claimed today.

Leonard Farruku, a 27-year-old Albanian, was found unresponsive on board the accommodation vessel at Portland Port, Dorset, on December 12.

Speaking publicly for the first time today, his roommate Yusuf Deen Kargbo, 20, said he believes the barge is unsafe and warned other people could harm themselves.

Mr Kargbo, who boxed for Sierra Leone in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham before claiming asylum, said residents 'don't have any hope'.

'They're saying this (Leonard's death) is just the beginning,' he told the BBC. 'They are trying to give a warning, that place is not good for them. Every day their stress is increasing, getting worse.'

Leonard Farruku, a 27-year-old Albanian, was found unresponsive on board the accommodation vessel at Portland Port, Dorset, on December 12

The Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, where Mr Farruku died last month

Last month an inquest heard Mr Farruku had died from 'compression of the neck' caused by 'suspension by ligature'.

Today his roommate said the last time he saw the Albanian alive was when he went for an evening meal in the Bibby Stockholm's canteen.

When he came back to his room after dinner to use the toilet he found the bedroom door was locked. He assumed Mr Farruku was using the bathroom so went to find another bathroom.

He then walked to another part of the barge where the WiFi signal was known to be better and made a call home lasting an hour and a half before returning to his bunk and falling asleep.

The boxer woke up at 5.30am and found Mr Farruku's bed had not been slept in. Pushing the door to the bathroom, he found it was once again locked so raised the alarm.

'At first they didn't take me seriously but after I asked them again they came and had a look,' he told the Guardian in a separate interview.

'When they got no reply they forced the door open and found Leonard unconscious.'

Mr Kargbo described his former roommate as a 'nice, kind man who always smiled and said hello'.

Home Secretary James Cleverly previously said that Mr Farruku's sudden death would be 'fully' investigated.

Mr Farruku's inquest last month was told there were no suspicious circumstances and the case was adjourned for a full hearing to be held at a later date.

Nikki Muller, senior coroner's officer at Dorset Coroners Court, said: 'Police and paramedics were called following reports of an unresponsive male at the location.

'Leonard Farruku was confirmed deceased at the scene and police continue with their enquiries.

'He was formally identified by his cousin Maranglen Farruku.'

The first asylum seekers were brought back to the barge, moored at the Port of Portland, in October

Mr Farruku, who was born just outside Durres, Albania's second largest city, had come to the UK to find work and secure indefinite leave to remain, his sister said.

Other asylum seekers living with him on board the vessel reported he was 'screaming very loudly' at 3am and was seen banging against the walls of his cabin.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE - James Cleverly to lead negotiations with Turkey as Home Office ministers seek deal to send boat migrants straight back Advertisement

The first asylum seekers were brought back on to the vessel in October  two months after it was evacuated following the discovery of potentially fatal Legionella bacteria in the water supply.

Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft last week revealed in a letter to MPs that the cost of the Bibby Stockholm contract was 22,450,772.

He stated that this covered the 'vessel accommodation services' portion of the contract with operators CTM.

He said the assessment of whether the vessel offered value for money was 'currently being updated'.

Campaigners have said that a man on board the Bibby Stockholm had tried to take his life earlier this year.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'This was a tragic incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. This is being investigated by the police and coroner.

'We take the welfare of those in our care very seriously, and have rigorous safeguarding processes in place.

'Any concerns raised about the service delivered on the barge are swiftly addressed through our work with the provider, and Migrant Help 24/7 is also available every day of the year.'

For free, confidential help from Samaritans call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
MBABANE - Government has set the record straight regarding the Eswatini Minerals Management Boards trip to Mainland China, in November last year.

Government Spokesperson, Alpheous Nxumalo said the trip was an official mineral beneficiation exercise undertaken by the Chairperson of the Eswatini Minerals Management Board, the chief mining engineer and a Taiwanese businessman. Nxumalo noted that the trip created the impression that Eswatini contemplated establishing diplomatic relations with Mainland China; however, he disputed circulating social media reports to that effect, saying they were far from the truth and based on ignorance and lack of facts. The current Chairperson of the Eswatini Minerals Management Board is Prince Guduza, while the Chief Mining Engineer is Robert Biyela.

Exercise

Nxumalo maintained that the delegations trip was an official mineral beneficiation exercise and they did not only visit Mainland China, but they also went to Hong Kong. According to Nxumalo, the aim of the trip was for the businessman, whose company had recently been awarded a prospective licence to extract minerals at Phophonyane, to demonstrate the machinery they would use to conduct their mining operations in the country, to extract and produce high quality by-products.

EmaSwati will recall that His Majesty King Mswati III has instructed government to encourage investors to produce finished products instead of raw products, to enhance foreign exchange, so that emaSwati can benefit in a significant way, Nxumalo said. He went on to explain that diplomatic relations were not built on individual business interests, but were a result of deliberate action by a head of State, through issuing an instruction to that countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For now, our relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan), are still going strong and there are no indications that they will ever falter. It is critical to also note that Eswatini has a good trading relationship with Mainland China, as they are the countrys second largest trading partners, after the Republic of South Africa, he said. Furthermore, he revealed that the country was also a host to a number of businesses from Mainland China, who were freely operating in the country.

Example

Nxumalo made an example of the company constructing Mpakeni Dam in the Shiselweni Region, saying that it was from Beijing. He clarified that government had no reason to fight with investors from Mainland China, neither was there any reason for emaSwati not to travel to that country.

Meanwhile, efforts to get comments from Prince Guduza proved futile as his cellphone rang unanswered. This was a second attempt, as on Sunday, he was contacted but his cellphone rang unanswered as well. A questionnaire was also sent to him to establish the purpose of the trip and to further share insights they gained from the trip.

He was further asked to share mining practices the delegation was exposed to, that could be used in the country. On the other hand, Biyela was also asked similar questions, but he maintained that the government spokesperson would provide a comprehensive statement. He was also contacted yesterday on the aforementioned trip, but referred every question to Nxumalo.
Comes as Zelensky said allies must 'finish' Putin to avoid destruction of Ukraine

Minister urged Swedish citizens to ask themselves 'who are you if war comes?'

Sweden's civil defence minister has warned his country could soon face the prospect of war and urged citizens to join voluntary defence organisations in preparation for a potential armed conflict.

In a rousing speech that took note of his country's hotly anticipated accession to NATO this year and ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, Carl-Oskar Bohlin called on ordinary citizens to ask themselves 'who are you if war comes?'.

Speaking at Sweden's annual 'Folk och Forsvar' (Society and Defence) conference in Salen this past weekend, the minister said: 'It is human to want to view life as you wish it was, rather than as it actually is.

'For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand. But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,' Bohlin said.

Sweden has not been involved in an armed conflict since a brief war with neighbour Norway in 1814 as the latter sought to establish its own constitution and parliament. it stayed neutral during WW2.

'There could be war in Sweden... The world is facing a security outlook with greater risks than at any time since the end of the Second World War,' the civil defence minister continued.

'Are you a private individual? Have you considered whether you have time to join a voluntary defence organisation? If not: get moving!' he declared.

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Vladimir Putin would not stop at Ukraine and would attack other neighbours unless allies joined forces to stop him.

'He (Putin) won't finish this (war), until we all finish him together,' Zelensky said during a news conference in Vilnius, adding 'Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next' if Ukraine did not withstand Russia's onslaught.

Sweden's Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin speaks during the Society and Defence National Conference in Salen, Sweden, 07 January 2023

Swedish Army armoured vehicles and tanks participate in a military exercise called 'Cold Response 2022', gathering around 30,000 troops from NATO member countries as well as Finland and Sweden, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Swedish soldiers take part in NATO's 'Cold Response 2022' military exercises

Soldiers of the P18 Gotland Regiment of the Swedish Army camouflage their armoured vehicles during a field exercise near Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland on May 17, 2022

US and Swedish troops evacuate a wounded comrade as they take part of a war simulation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a joint press conference after a meeting with the Lithuanian president in Vilnius, Lithuania, 10 January 2024

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Vladimir Putin would not stop at Ukraine and will attack other neighbours unless allies joined forces to stop him

Bohlin did not claim that the prospect of war is imminent in Sweden in his weekend speech.

But he stressed the current state of the world and rising tensions between East and West necessitated a response at all levels to ensure Swedish society would be prepared for any future conflict.

Using Ukraine's valiant and effective defence of Kyiv in the early days of the war in March 2022 as an example, Bohlin said his nation must fast-track its efforts to bring about civil preparedness and become a war-ready society.

'Putin didn't understand that he was kicking down that door within every Ukrainian in 2014. By the time of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian people had  individually and collectively  been formulating their response...

'The Russian attacking forces faced the unified force of the entire Ukrainian society. This kind of effort can only come about quickly enough if the vast majority are aware of the situation and understand what is at stake.

'Societal resilience requires exactly that: situational awareness... Awareness must be translated into practical action. Measures that actually raise the threshold.

'Everyone has to understand that in the situation we find ourselves in, time may be our most precious non-renewable resource. If there is one thing that keeps me awake at night, it is the feeling that things are moving too slowly,' he said.

Bohlin went on to directly address everyone from local government officials to individual citizens and encouraged them to take steps to prepare themselves.

''I don't know what I'm supposed to do!'', I sometimes hear. Let me respond with a few questions.

'Are you a senior official in an emergency preparedness authority? Good, then have you built your war organisation and defined which activities need to be maintained and which do not? Have you ensured compliance with protective security and necessary access to alternative command locations?

'Are you a municipal commissioner? Good, then have you secured the war organisation, refuge points, the emergency water plan and the redundancy supply of foodstuffs, heating and electricity for health and social care?

'Are you an employee? Good, then have you asked your employer what your role would be in your workplace's war organisation?

'Are you a private individual? Good, then have you taken responsibility for your home preparedness? Have you considered whether you have time to join a voluntary defence organisation?'

Each address was ended with a simple call to action - 'get moving!'.

Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson issued a similar warning to that of Bohlin on Monday, arguing that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East showed that 'the world has become more dangerous than it was just a year ago'

Local residents throw furniture out the window of a destroyed high-rise building following a Russian missile attack in central Kyiv, on January 3, 2024

Utility workers repair water pipes outside a high-rise building destroyed following a Russian missile attack in central Kyiv, on January 3, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during his meeting with residents of Chukotka autonomous okrug, on January 10, 2024 in Anadyr, Russia. President Putin is having a trip to Siberian and Far Eastern regions prior to the 2024 Presidential Elections

'If you haven't started, you are behind  if you don't know how, you can either ask someone who has started, or get answers from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. It's as simple as that,' Bohlin concluded.

Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson issued a similar warning on Monday, arguing that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East showed that 'the world has become more dangerous than it was just a year ago'.

'An armed attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out,' Jonson said.

'War can also come to us. These serious times require clarity of vision, capacity to act and persistence - clarity of vision to understand that Russia's goal remains the eradication of a free Ukraine and creation of a Europe in which ''might is right'' with buffer states and spheres of interest.'

While the warnings come amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing threat to other European nations, Sweden has already had its share of domestic issues that have fractured the stability of the country in recent years.

In September, Sweden's national police chief said that wars between gangs in the country had brought an 'unprecedented' wave of violence.

'There have recently been murders and explosions on an unprecedented scale,' police chief Anders Thornberg told a press conference.

He emphasised that the perpetrators were often from abroad, but he didn't mention any nationalities.

In August, the country was forced to heighten its terror level to four on a scale of five following fury from the Muslim world to Koran burnings that took place over the summer, shortly after it was forced to beef up its border controls.

The level was increased from 'elevated', where it had been since 2016, to 'high', the head of the Swedish Security Police Charlotte von Essen told reporters.

'The reason for this decision is the deteriorated situation with regard to attack threats to Sweden, and the assessment that the threat will remain for a long time,' she said.

Von Essen stressed that the decision to raise the threat level was not based on a 'single incident', but rather a 'collective assessment'.

In July, Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland, two states who had remained neutral for decades, to submit applications to join NATO in May 2022, months after Putin's forces put boots on the ground.

But Turkey, a member of the security bloc, has delayed ratifying Sweden's application for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as threats to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.

However, Turkey's foreign affairs committee in December finally gave its consent to Sweden's bid to join NATO, drawing the Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, shakes hands with Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, right, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg looks on (File image)

Turkey's foreign affairs committee gave its consent to Sweden's bid to join NATO last month

Several non-NATO states have tried to join the bloc since Russia invaded Ukraine, including Finland, which joined in April with little backlash or resistance

Sweden's accession protocol will now need to be approved in the general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey.

Though no date has been set, it is expected to be approved within a matter of weeks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should then sign it into law, concluding a process that frustrated some of Ankara's allies and tested its Western ties.

Turkish lawmakers said that Stockholm needed to take further steps to clamp down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group that has been designated a 'terrorist organisation' by Turkey, the EU and the US.

Some members fled Turkish persecution in the late 1980s and subsequent crises in the Middle East.

Sweden extradited a Kurdish refugee to Turkey in December, amid pressure to meet demands in return for NATO membership.

Erdogan last month linked ratification of Sweden's NATO membership to the US Congress' approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernise Turkey's existing fleet.

While NATO member Hungary has also not ratified Sweden's membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to adding the Scandinavian nation to the military alliance and bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea region.

Meanwhile, Zelensky today landed in Lithuania as part of an unannounced trip to the Baltic states to drum up more support for the conflict.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives for talks with Lithuania's President at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, on January 10, 2024

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda (R) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky pose for photos during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, on January 10, 2024

The three Baltic states - all former Soviet republics which are now EU and NATO members - are among Ukraine's staunchest allies.

'Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are our reliable friends and principled partners. Today, I arrived in Vilnius before going to Tallinn and Riga,' Zelensky said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

'Security, EU and NATO integration, cooperation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda,' he said.

The Baltic tour marks Zelensky's first official trip abroad this year.

In Lithuania, a key donor to Ukraine, Zelensky will hold talks with the president, prime minister and the speaker of parliament, and meet with the Ukrainian community.

The visit comes as other Kyiv allies waver on fresh aid, nearly two years into Russia's invasion.

Ukraine has come under intense Russian shelling in recent weeks, retaliating with strikes on Russia's border city of Belgorod.

Zelensky has urged allies to keep military support flowing and held in-person talks with officials from the United States, Germany and Norway last month.

But an EU aid package worth 50 billion euros ($55 billion) has been stuck in Brussels following a veto by Hungary, while the US Congress remains divided on sending additional aid to Ukraine.
Jennifer Dulos, the Connecticut mother-of-five who vanished in 2019 during a tumultuous divorce from her estranged husband, has officially been declared dead.

Jennifers' body has never been found. Prosecutors and police argued that her estranged husband Fotis Dulos disposed of her remains before his arrest for her murder.

Fotis killed himself at his home while on bail in January 2020. He was awaiting trial for Jennifer's murder, but always denied killing her.

In a new ruling yesterday, Judge William P. Osterndorf said the 'inescapable conclusion' now is that Jennifer was dead.

Jennifer, a 50-year-old writer and mother-of-five from New Canaan, close to Stamford, vanished after dropping her five beloved children off at school on May 24, 2019

Troconis  who is accused of helping lover Fotis Dulos kill his wife in 2019  is currently free on a $2million bond and faces up to twenty years in prison if convicted

'Extensive efforts have been made by local and State Police authorities to locate her body.

'To date, more than four years have passed and the body of Jennifer has not been located.

'Neither Jennifers mother, children, other family members and friends have been contacted by Jennifer since May 24, 2019. The inescapable conclusion is Jennifer is deceased,' he wrote.

Fotis and his former girlfriend Michelle Troconis were both arrested in relation to Jennifer's murder.

Michelle has always denied having any involvement in the 50-year-old's death, but is now the only person who will be prosecuted for it.

Her trial is due to begin in Connecticut tomorrow.

During hours of police interrogation over several days in June 2019, she was grilled about her then-boyfriend's whereabouts at the time of Jennifer's disappearance.

Jennifer Dulos went missing in May 2019 and her body has never been found despite extensive searches from investigators. Her husband Fotis killed himself the following January after being charged with her murder

Jennifer Dulos is pictured in a photo released by police when she went missing

When she couldn't disclose whether he was at their Farmington home, one detective tried to encourage her to spill anything she knew about his movements by touting it as a 'golden ticket' to save her reputation.

'Have you looked at the news at all? Have you seen your face plastered (everywhere)?' he asked Troconis as she sat beside her attorney Andrew Bowman on June 6.

'I'll be honest with you. You're probably one of the most hated woman in America right now. And I'm not being mean. So this is like the golden ticket.

'If you know where he could have done something it could have where he frequented if you could tip us off, or if he said something in jest.'

Troconis wore a pained expression and placed her fingers on her temples while muttering something inaudible as he made the comment.

During another interrogation four days prior, Troconis appeared to break down in tears while slumped over a table.

Footage of her in that position resting her head on her arms has been released by prosecutors ahead of her trial.

Investigators found bags of items which included Jennifer's blood and DNA disposed in Hartford, but some evidence was never found.

The Venezuelan national (pictured) was arrested over the 2019 disappearance of her boyfriend's ex Jennifer Farber Dulos, and her trial is set to start in Connecticut Superior Court on Thursday

In divorce documents before her death, Jennifer said she knew the filing would enrage her husband - and in a blog post uncovered by DailyMail.com she even said she worried she would end up 'in a body bag'.

She claimed that he would 'retaliate by trying to harm her in some way' and claimed that he exhibited 'irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening and controlling behavior.'

According to court documents she said: 'I am afraid for my safety and the physical safety and emotional well-being of our minor children.'

Troconis asked for the case to be moved from Stamford to Hartford, but was turned down.

Fotis also denied having any role in his estranged wife's disappearance. He was pronounced dead in the hospital in February 2020, days after gassing himself in his car while on bail.

The five Dulos children now live with their grandmother in New York.
Nearly one million Americans woke up without power after storms battered states across the country, killing five people.

The major storm drenched the Northeast and slammed it with fierce winds, knocking out power lines and downing as wind gusts reached 45 to 55 mph.

More high winds are expected throughout Wednesday, following a day or tornadoes and deadly incidents in the South and snow blizzards in the Midwest and Northwest.

The wild weather came as portions of the Northeast were still digging themselves out from a Nor'easter that dumped a foot of snow over the weekend.

Thousands of homes and businesses were in the dark along coastal areas that were lashed by wind and rain, with New Jersey under a state of emergency.

The streets surrounding Twilight Lake in Bay Head, New Jersey, are seen here after the torrential downpours on Tuesday

The wild weather came as portions of the Northeast were still digging themselves out from a nor'easter that dumped a foot of snow over the weekend

In Charlotte, North Carolina, firefighters had to rescue a man in a car after becoming stuck in flood water

A flash flood warning has also been issued in areas of Connecticut after a partial dam collapsed.

Norwich Public Utilities said that they had been notified by the break on the Yantic River earlier this morning after torrential downpours.

The energy company said they had to take a substation offline to avoid potential damage, which has already resulted in 5,000 people losing power in the area.

The National Weather Service (NWS) also issued a flash flood warning for the areas surrounding the Yantic River.

Their update advised of the dam break and deemed it 'life-threatening flash flooding' for this living in the nearby Fitchville.

According to the NWS, people have been trapped in buildings and homes in and around the area.

The Connecticut Emergency Management & Homeland Security department issued a mandatory evacuation order for all areas near the river, with Kelly Middle School being announced as a shelter.

The United States Power Outage Map has also indicated that there are currently just over 630,000 homes without power across the East Coast.

Norwich Public Utilities said that they had been notified by the break on the Yantic River earlier this morning

Water rises at a residential area in an aftermath of a storm in Piermont, New York, U.S., January 10, 2024

The remnants of East Beach Road are damaged after heavy overnight winds and surf battered the coastline, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Westport, Massachusetts

Diggers can be seen trying to push back the battered coastline to keep the water at bay in Westport, Massachusetts

The National Weather Service has issued flood warning areas across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions during heavy snowfall on Tuesday morning.

While another crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon.

In Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday morning when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside.

Another person died after severe weather damaged residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina.

While in Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree collapsed onto the windshield of a car on Tuesday, killing the driver.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm.

Many streets and roads were flooded and rivers were rising after some areas got up to 3 inches of rain since Tuesday night.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm. Flooded cars in the city of Lodi are seen here

Cars are flooded in a local street during the pass of a winter storm in Lodi, New Jersey

Tornadoes had also been reported in the south, with this one in Fort Lauderdale being captured on camera

Footage emerged on social media showing Hoboken train station in the city on Wednesday morning.

The railway tracks have been completely submerged by rain water following heavy downpours on Tuesday evening.

New York City officials had to evacuate nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex ahead of the storm.

In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills delayed the opening of all state offices until noon Wednesday due to the storm, which began as snow and later turned into rain in parts of New England.

Heavy snow was hitting parts of northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine on Wednesday morning.

Powerful winds gusted to 95 mph at Maine's Isle au Haut, an island in Penobscot Bay, and to 83 mph off the coast of Rye New, Hampshire, said Jon Palmer from the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.

On Wednesday morning Hoboken station was left submerged underwater after the storm passed through

A flood watch is in effect across New York City until midday Wednesday. The city's Emergency Management Department issued a travel advisory from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning due to the storm

As high tide neared closer on Long Island on Wednesday morning, parts of the southern shore were already inundated by coastal flooding.

In Nassau County, video showed cars sloshing through water that had collected on the streets of Freeport.

Further east, near the Hamptons, the National Weather Service reported major flooding out of Shinnecock Bay.

Several schools across Long Island said they were either canceling or delaying classes as a result of the storm.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee planned to send out three tornado survey teams on Wednesday to examine suspected tornado damage.

Roofs were blown off homes, furniture, fences and debris were strewn about during the height of the storm in the South.

Flood waters are seen here along Washington Avenue in Highlands, New Jersey, on Wednesday morning

Flooding along the dock in Ocean County, New Jersey, was also seen this morning after torrential downpours on Tuesday night

A man wades through a flooded parking lot near Widgery Wharf, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Portland, Maine

A lobsterman gets a ride through a flooded parking lot at Widgery Wharf, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Portland, Maine

Many areas of Florida remained under flood watches, warnings and advisories early Wednesday amid concerns that streams and rivers were topping their banks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order to include 49 counties in North Florida under a state of emergency.

Another storm that began Monday buried cities across the Midwest in snow, stranding people on highways.

Some areas saw up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow on Monday, including Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.

Forecasters warned snow-struck regions of the Midwest and the Great Plains that temperatures could plunge dangerously low because of wind chill, dipping to around minus 20, and even far lower in Chicago, Kansas City and some areas of Montana.

In the Pacific Northwest, a blizzard pounded Washington and Oregon mountains on Tuesday, knocking out power and prompting the closure of highways and ski resorts.

At one point, some 150,000 customers in those states were without electricity, although that was down to under 20,000 by Wednesday morning.

Zach Brobst shovels in his driveway after a snowstorm left several inches of snow in Clive, Iowa, U.S., January 9, 2024

Iowa State Police shared images on social media of one of their vehicles that crashed on the I-80

People stand on an large snow pile in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024

Another storm that began Monday buried cities across the Midwest in snow, stranding people on highways.

Some areas saw up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow on Monday, including Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.

In Des Moines, Iowa, Laura Burianov had nearly finished shoveling her driveway Tuesday morning.

But with snow still falling, she acknowledged she likely would have to shovel again later in the day.

"It's going to get harder. I shoveled last night and you cant really tell, but I can pretend that three less inches makes a difference," she said.

Madison, Wisconsin, was under a winter storm warning until early Wednesday, with as much as 9 inches of snow and 40 mph winds on tap.
In explaining their decision, town leaders and community members cited traffic and safety concerns

However, those plans were struck down in a Monday meeting where the mayor and aldermen voted 5-1 in opposition

The popular fast food chain had plans to open a new location in the town of Collierville that nearly doubled the size of the existing restaurant

Chick-fil-A's attempt to build a 'mega' restaurant with a playground and two drive-through lanes in a small Tennessee town was brought to a screeching halt.

The fast food chain wanted to construct a 6,110-square foot restaurant in the town of Collierville, roughly 30 minutes outside Memphis.

The new restaurant would include a large outdoor seating space, playground, employee meeting room and dual drive-thru lanes with the capacity to handle 43 cars.

It would replace an existing location at Poplar Avenue and nearly double the size of it.

In a vote on Monday, the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen struck these plans down, voting 5-1 to deny a preliminary site plan for the project.

Fast food giant Chick-fil-A proposed opening a 'mega' restaurant in the town of Collierville, Tennessee - a plan that was abruptly struck down during a Monday vote

The Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 5-1 to deny a preliminary site plan for the project, which would replace an existing location on Poplar Avenue and nearly double the size

The proposed restaurant in the small town of 51,000 would include a playground, outdoor seating space, employee meeting room and two drive-through lanes

Mayor Stan Joyner joined Aldermen Billy Patton, John Worley, John Stamps and Missy Marshall to vote against the proposal, while Aldermen Maureen Fraser was the lone representative in favor.

The aldermen opposing the site plan echoed the concerns of residents in attendance over traffic and safety concerns.

'We have an obligation as elected officials to put safety first,' Marshall said.

'There are a lot of assumptions being made. But when it comes to safety, I dont want to make any assumptions.'

They believed moving the popular restaurant to its proposed location on Bray Station Road would cause crowding on an already busy street, presenting a safety hazard.

Grant Gibbs, owner and operator of the Collierville Chick-fil-A, said he had been in talks about building a new location for nearly a decade.

'We trusted in the experts,' Gibbs said.

'The town engineer and town staff have done a great job of working alongside those folks and coming up with can and cannot work.'

Town leaders and community members repeatedly cited traffic and safety concerns on an already busy road, worries that surfaced at an earlier meeting on December 7

Owner and operator of the Collierville Chick-fil-A, Grant Gibbs, spoke at both meetings, explaining that preliminary discussions to open a bigger location started in 2014

Other locals believed moving the popular chain to a proposed location on Bray Station Road would cause crowding on a bustling street and present a safety hazard

Gibbs, a longtime resident of Colliverille, insisted that the larger location was necessary to keep up with demand, adding that the store had already attempted to find creative solutions including curbside pickup and an ordering app

He continued: 'I respectfully submit to the board that this can work. Im not going anywhere. I intend on being the franchise owner hopefully as long as I live.'

At an earlier meeting on Dec 7, the chain earned the approval to move the current Chick-fil-A to a new site at Bray Station.

During that meeting, Gibbs said he'd personally witnessed the town's growth over the years as a longtime resident, and arrived at the conclusion that the store was having capacity issues.

'Almost a decade ago, we started this conversation, and started working with the town, started working with other experts and trying to figure out what we could do in order to better utilize our space there,' he said.

'At the end of the day, what we came up to was that we had to relocate.'

He added that the chain had tried to find 'creative solutions' to handle demand, including curbside pickup and an online ordering app.

'I will continue to be the person that works with the town. I will continue to be the person that represents Chick Fil A but represents the town of Collierville as a resident and a lifelong member of this community,' Gibbs said.

Even then, concerns surfaced regarding the move, with displeased residents citing traffic concerns.

However, the citys traffic engineer agreed with the Chick-fil-A team that the potential issues presented by the move were not significant.

In the meeting on December 7, Planning Commission Secretary Jeremy Given spoke in favor of the move, saying residents' lives were already in danger at the existing location on Poplar Avenue

Collierville's traffic engineer agreed with the Chick-fil-A team that the potential issues presented by the move were not significant (Pictured: site plan presented December 7)

In light of the wrench in the company's plans, Collierville Town Planner Jaime Groce said the chain's next step is to submit a site plan that 'fully complies' with town regulations

'I don't even know if the fight is about Chick-fil-A right now,' Planning Commission Secretary Jeremy Given said, adding that was more of a question of how to detour traffic.

'As I think about how many people are in danger as they go down Poplar Avenue and running into the back of a car or having a queuing issue or trying to make that turn, I sit here and think it's probably good that we move this location,' he said.

But concerns about safety ultimately won out at Monday's meeting.

Despite the wrench in the company's plans, Brent Edmiston, development director of Chick-fil-A, said the proposed Bray Station location was only the first phase of investment in Collierville.

He said the company intended to open two to four other locations to handle a 'market need.'

'We have a project under contract that we actually filed a variance application for and was denied for parking several months ago,' Edmiston said.

'We still have that under contract and are working with the developer on that site. We wanted to get through this project as a priority for us first before we make our next plan and movement in developing that project.'

In a statement, Collierville Town Planner Jaime Groce said the chicken chain's next step is to submit a site plan for a location that 'fully complies' with town regulations.

'That site plan would go back through the public planning process, which means being reviewed by the staff, Planning Commission, and Design Review Commission before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen would see it again,' she said.

'Chick-fil-A is a great corporate citizen, and we hope they will continue to invest in our community.'
Boeing's CEO has admitted the firm needs to acknowledge its mistake after the door of an Alaska Airlines plane was ripped off at 16,000ft.

David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way,' after the 737-9 MAX's 171 passengers and six crew members were traumatized by the ordeal last week.

Boeing's share prices dropped dramatically on January 8 following the incident, plummetting from $248.65 to $228 per share. The numbers have not yet recovered.

The airplanes firm's market valuation has also tumbled as a result - witnessing a $12.68 billion drop in just five days.

David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington that there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way,' after the Boeing 737-9 MAX's 171 passengers and six crew members were traumatized by the ordeal last week

Alaska flight 1282 left Portland just after 5pm Friday when a window blew out at 16,000 feet

In his first remarks since the accident, Calhoun told a meeting at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington: 'We are gonna approach thisNo. 1acknowledging our mistake.

'We're gonna approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way.

'We are going to work with the [National Transportation Safety Board] who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is.'

Boeing executives, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, are 'shaken' by the incident.

Calhoun said to employees: 'Moments like this shake them to the bone, just like it shook me. They have confidence in all of usthey doand they will again.

'MAX has been on a journeyno doubt about it. We work our way through themwe do it diligently.'

Shortly after takeoff, part of the Flight 1282's door 'plug' blew out at 16,000 feet and fell to the earth. The plane was forced to make a harrowing emergency landing as passengers believed they were saying their final goodbyes to loved ones.

Investigations have been launched by the National Transportation Safety Board, Alaska Airlines and Boeing, with the Boeing 737-9 MAX jet only going into service in November 2023.

Boeing's share prices dropped dramatically on January 8 following the incident, plummetting from $248.65 to $228 per share. The numbers have not yet recovered

One boy, who was on the fateful aircraft, had his shirt blown off out of the gap in the body of the plane when it fell out

Reports suggest that fortunately 26A, the seat next to what appears to have been an emergency exit with a window, was not occupied

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

Federal officials spent days looking for the lost parts of the plane to help in their investigation. Authorities also ordered similar planes be grounded while they investigated.

The missing door plug was found by a Portland school teacher on Sunday in his backyard, days after the incident.

It was found around the same time Alaska Airlines announced it canceled 170 flights on Sunday and another 60 on Monday so investigators can inspect the aircraft.

Federal investigators also said the in-flight voice recorder data has been lost as it was not reset within a two-hour window after the emergency landing.

Cockpit voice recorders can be found on all aircrafts and is there to capture the flight crew's voices and all sounds in the cockpit.

One person was reportedly helped by paramedics but did not suffer serious injuries, while some passengers lost their phones and belongings as the depressurization of the cabin sucked items into the night.

Shocking footage from inside the plane saw fliers sat in eerie silence shortly after the window exploded, as they looked out of a gaping hole of the fuselage with the twinkling lights of Portland below.

One boy had his entire shirt blown off, images show, and multiple young people took to TikTok to recount their brushes with death on the aircraft.

Frantic text messages were sent to loved ones as passengers thought the plane would crash after the section was blown out.

In a statement late Friday evening, Alaska Airlines said: 'Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced an incident this evening soon after departure.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX

Crew inspect the inside of the aircraft

The aircraft is seen without its fuselage plug following the flight

'The aircraft landed safely back at Portland International Airport with 171 guests and 6 crew members.

'The safety of our guests and employees is always our primary priority, so while this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation.'

'We are investigating what happened and will share more information as it becomes available.'

Boeing unveiled their 737 Max in 2015, and since its Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval in 2017 has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.

A year later it had its first crash: in October 2018 a 737 Max operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after take off, killing all 189 on board.

Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max - this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines - crashed again shortly after take off, killing all 157 on board.

Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.

It later emerged that Boeing staff, in internal messages, were cavalier about FAA regulations and critical of the Max's design.

One said it the aircraft was 'designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.'

The 737 design dates back to the 1960s and Boeing was criticized for adding large engines to an old airframe instead of using a 'clean sheet design'.

Faults were discovered in the aircraft's MCAS, or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System: the MCAS was found in both the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes to have erroneously pointed the nose down towards the ground, and the pilots were unable to override it.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to settle charges the company hid critical information about the Max from regulators and the public.

Boeing spent billions overhauling the systems and the planes returned to global skies in the fall of 2020, after being grounded for 20 months  the longest such action in aviation history.
Hundreds of gullible men have fallen victim to an elaborate 'impregnation' scam after being offered 'huge pay days' to spend a night in a hotel with a childless woman - as long as they hand over a big deposit.

The 'All India Pregnant Job' internet scam has seen men across the country lured in with pictures and videos of 'beautiful, married' women, under the false pretence that they will help them to get pregnant.

Men are encouraged to pay up to be registered for the role and to guarantee they can sleep with the woman they choose - before scammers cut off contact with them and make off with their cash.

The racket has seen eight people arrested, with the suspected ringleader said to be among more than a dozen other fraudsters who have reportedly absconded.

Facebook is awash with videos of young women seemingly advertising the service, with WhatsApp contact details included in posts encouraging men to get in contact to apply for the fake job.

Adverts on social media show men and women discussing the dodgy scheme and include telephone numbers for people to call

Women pretend to need help conceiving and offer money to 'gullible' men to spend a night with them

'Meet a beautiful, married woman of your choice, enter into a physical relationship with her for baby-making,' one advert is said to promise.

'Get paid 13 lakh (around 13,000) if the woman gets pregnant. If it fails, still pocket 5 lakh for your efforts. Discretion assured.'

In another video, men are promised payment if they can give the woman 'the pleasure of becoming mother'.

Some of the videos show men and women discussing the service and flashing wads of banknotes, while at least one video shows a woman handing a man a stack of cash.

Those who have fallen prey to the scammers never end up meeting with the women in the adverts and receive none of the promised payments - instead being swindled out of their own money.

Officials told India Today that scammers manipulated victims into parting with their money by creating a sense of urgency, telling them that others had chosen the same woman to sleep with as they had and that it was 'first come first serve'.

Police say the scheme has been operated by a gang in Bihar, northeast India, for a year, with evidence that it is still operating visible across social media.

One victim said he was provided with an official-looking document by the fraudsters, which included his picture and a photo of a police officer

Kalyan Anand, the Deputy superintendent of police who heads the cyber cell in the state's Nawada district, said that hundreds of men have been defrauded but that no victims have come forward.

'The gang has been active for a year and we believe they have conned hundreds of people, but no one has so far come forward to complain, possibly because of shame,' he explained.

People from across India have fallen victim to the scam, including men from Dehli, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere.

As well as adverts on Facebook, police said scammers managed to get hold of men's personal data and contact them directly about getting involved with the fake service.

Bihar police gave a press conference last week and displayed a number of phones they have confiscated

One victim told the BBC that soon after clicking on a video he was called by the scammers, who asked him to pay out 799 rupees (around 7.50) to register for the role.

He was promised 3 million rupees - almost 30,000 - equivalent to three years of his wages to sleep with a woman, plus 800,000 more rupees if she successfully conceived.

He was provided with an official-looking document by the fraudsters, which included his picture and a photo of a police officer.

It was titled 'Baby Birth Agreement' and dated and signed with a signature resembling that of US talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The racket has seen eight people arrested, with the suspected ringleader among more than a dozen other fraudsters who have reportedly absconded

The labourer said he was poor and 'desperately' needed the money, so fell for the ploy.

Over subsequent weeks he reportedly forked out more and more cash, which he was told was needed to cover registration fees and taxes on his promised income.

Scammers kept him hooked by sending pictures of various women, asking which he would like to spend the night with.

He lost a full months salary before he told them he could not afford any more and asked for a refund.

Bihar authorities held a press conference last week in which they paraded the eight suspects arrested so far

Experts have said that a lack of social media awareness among many in India has meant the scam has proven highly successful for the fraudsters behind it.

Many of the victims are said to have low levels of education, while those perpetrating the scam are more highly educated and tech savvy.

Bihar authorities held a press conference last week in which they paraded the eight suspects arrested so far and showed a number of phones they have confiscated.

A huge operation to hunt down members of the fraud ring continues.
A former Milwaukee mayoral candidate who was forced to drop out of contention over sexual harassment accusations is now running to be the city's comptroller.

Gregory L. Gracz, 76, previously ran for mayor in 1992 when he was head of the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association but withdrew his candidacy after Melissa Fojtik, a fellow firefighter accused him of 'dropping his pants, exposing himself and making obscene suggestions', according to the Chicago Tribune.

According to Fojtik, Gracz removed his underwear, fondled himself, and said, 'kiss it'. She allegedly then threw a drink at him, which she says ended the incident.

Gracz has consistently denied these allegations and continues to maintain his position. At the time, he claimed the allegations were the 'work of political opponents'.

Gregory L. Gracz, 76, a retired Milwaukee Fire Department captain, ran for mayor in 1992 but withdrew his candidacy after Melissa Fojtik, a firefighter and emergency medical technician, accused him of 'dropping his pants, exposing himself and making obscene suggestions'

Gracz has consistently denied these allegations and continues to maintain his position

His accuser previously claimed that over three hours, Gracz - allegedly under the influence of alcohol - propositioned her and graphically described sexual acts he said he would perform on her.

The firefighter and emergency medical technician said: 'I continually told him I didn't appreciate the way I was being treated.

'At one point I said, "Listen, you're a professional firefighter, I'm a professional firefighter. I don't appreciate your speaking to me that way".'

Gracz insists the claims are true, and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against Fojtik when the allegations first emerged, but did not. He was never convicted of any sexual offences.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gracz called for a John Doe investigation to get to the 'bottom of the situation', but it never occurred.

The primary election will be held on February 20.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Gracz for a comment.

In 2008, Gracz was a finalist to become the Milwaukee Area Technical College's associate vice president of human resources and labor relations but had to withdraw his application

DailyMail.com has reached out to the former firefighter for a comment

His opponent, the current Deputy Comptroller Bill Christianson, has not commented on Gracz's candidacy.

This is not his first attempt to run for a board position. In 2008, Gracz was a finalist to become the Milwaukee Area Technical College's associate vice president of human resources and labor relations but had to withdraw his application.

If he was elected, the role would have put him in charge of sexual harassment complaints.

Based on the job's requirements, womens activist Ellen Bravo contacted several board members to express concern about Gracz and highlighted his 1992 allegations.

This led to him dropping out of the race.

A comptroller is a high-level executive who manages an organization's accounting and financial reporting. The role does not include people management or complaints.
The dairy farm is owned by Keith Schaefer and his daughter Megan Hill

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that he is suing Evergreen Acres Dairy for illegally withholding wages on January 8.

Ellison and his team estimated that Evergreen Acres Dairy robbed immigrant workers of up to $3 million in wages.

The complaint filed at Stearns County District Court said owners Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill allegedly shave 12 to 24 hours from employee paystubs in 'each two-week pay period' and do not pay overtime.

It also indicated that most properties rented out to workers by Evergreen management suffer from mildew and/or insect infestations.

Photos of paystubs and housing are in the complaint.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that he is suing Evergreen Acres Dairy for illegally withholding wages on January 8

Ellison and his team estimated that Evergreen Acres Dairy robbed immigrant workers of up to $3 million in wages

Owners Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill allegedly shaved 12 to 24 hours from employee paystubs in 'each two-week pay period' and do not pay overtime

Hundreds of employees working at Evergreen Acres Dairy in central Minnesota earn between $12.50-$17.50 an hour.

The complaint states that many workers are from Mexico and were recruited through employee family members.

Most employees speak Zapotec as their first language, Spanish as a second language, but others have little to no understanding of English.

Schaefer, who oversees daily tasks at Evergreen Acres Dairy, allegedly assaulted an employee that did not go to work due to injury in the complaint.

The Minnesota Reformer reported that Schaefer grabbed an male employee's neck, pushed him against a wall, and told him he had to leave Evergreen within 10 minutes if he didn't go to work.

Schaefer also allegedly fired a worker for taking a day off work to receive medical treatment and threatened to kill an employee.

He later told his employees he killed a dog and and threatened to call the police on undocumented workers.

Hundreds of employees from Mexico working at Evergreen Acres Dairy in central Minnesota earn between $12.50-$17.50 and have poor quality housing

Several housing areas on the property for workers have suffered mildew and/or insect infestations and are covered in mold. Some residents do not have proper bedrooms or bathrooms, a few even living in a home with no toilet

Employees at all 18 Evergreen locations have worked 168 hours in two weeks, many being 12-hour shifts 6-7 days or nights a week.

Some employees who work these shifts share beds and had wages deducted to pay for their housing.

Evergreen workers lived in barns and other residences that Ellison stated via FOX 9 'are not within the bounds of human decency.'

Employee housing built onto or within barns where tractors are stored do not have bedrooms or windows.

Other workers homes with bathrooms and bedrooms were covered in mold and even had no heat or on-site toilets.

Residents with no heat or toilets in their houses allegedly used space heaters and used toilets in other locations near their home.

Employees who've worked 12-hour shifts have been required to share beds in their homes. The insect infestations have included cockroaches and have damaged various rooms in houses

Employees reported via complaint that they were subject to 'unannounced violations' involving their squalid housing conditions.

None of the workers received lease agreements and it's unclear if any of them were made aware of living conditions before agreeing to stay in Evergreen housing.

Evergreen Acres Dairy management allegedly punished employee-tenants for home damages by unlawfully deducting money from their wages.

However, employees suspected of drinking alcohol would be kicked out Evergreen housing and fired without notice rather than suffer a pay decrease.

Evergreen Acres Dairy Housing Location Type Bedrooms Employees Per Bedroom Darrin's House 6 1-2 Machine Lot House 6 1-2 Calf Site House 5 1-2 Westman House4-unit building 64 1-21-2 Morgan Farm House 3 1 Blenker Barn 8 1-2 Lembeck Barn Addition 3 1

Schaefer is in charge of daily tasks at the farm and allegedly assaulted a co-worker and threatened to call the police on undocumented workers

The farm allegedly hid their violations by illegally not keeping employment records, destroying timecards, and falsifying records.

Ellison made clear in his announcement via FOX 9 that the first thing he and employees want is for the company to 'stop violating the law.'

'We need them to start paying employees for all the time that they work, including overtime,' he stated.

The Minnesota Attorney General is also insisting the farm stop making unlawful deductions, keep legal documents, and ensure habitable housing.

Ellison is seeking restitution for employees who were not paid for work, liquidated damages, and seeking $25,000 fines for each violation.
The core values which created the greatest nation in history have been eaten away by woke culture and relentless power grabs by the Biden administration, scholars have told Fox News.

The moral authority of American exceptionalism, built on its unique opportunities and freedoms, is under an unprecedented attack that threatens to rob the country of its claim to leadership.

Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, said the people who built the country would struggle under today's government overreach and DEI initiatives tailored to stifle individuality.

And he cited former Harvard president Claudine Gay as someone who owes their success to the new ideology that prizes identity over talent.

'We still have more talent and wealth than any other nation. We're still the freest nation. But all of the odds are stacking up against the type of person who made America exceptional,' he said.

'We're running on fumes.'

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson claims American exceptionalism is 'running on fumes' in the face of relentless attacks from woke ideology that undermine historic key values

Davis Hanson singled out former Harvard president Claudine Gay as someone who owes their success to the new ideology that prizes identity over talent

The concept gave America a claim to moral leadership which much of the world accepted and allowed the country to shape much of the world in its own image after World War Two

The idea of American exceptionalism has been intrinsic to the country's identity since the revolution.

Based on the rule of law, individual liberty, democracy, social mobility and the opportunities of building a new nation, it was popularized by the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville who was astonished at the contrast with Europe on his visits in the 1830s.

'It was the idea that both because of its size and its Constitution, the United States gave people the opportunity to succeed and to be rewarded in ways that Europe did not,' said Hanson.

It helped attract the waves of immigrants who left the restrictions of the Old World for the opportunities of the New, and was credited by scholars with building the US into an industrial powerhouse and the world's leading superpower.

'That belief continued through most of the 20th century,' said Hanson.

'It's why we won two world wars and created most of the major inventions from atomic power to Silicon Valley.'

Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said the concept was still going strong in the 1980s and was core value of the Republican president.

'American exceptionalism was proven by the great authors, great inventors, great politicians and great public intellectuals of the past 200 years,' he said.

'Reagan wanted to move power away from the government and toward the individual, weakening the government as the framers intended.

And it also gave America a claim to moral leadership which much of the rest of the world accepted.

It was behind the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 which rejected further European colonization in the Western Hemisphere, and allowed the US to remake much of the world in its own image in the aftermath of the Second World War.

But Hanson said the encroachment of federal government has undermined the foundations of the concept, citing its expansion to two million 'unelected bureaucrats' dedicated to 'auditing, regulation and censorship'.

And he singled out Claudine Gay who was forced out as Harvard president earlier this month amid plagiarism and anti-Semitism allegations.

Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said the concept was still going strong in the 1980s and was core value of the Republican president

'You expect the president of Harvard to be the leading academic in the nation,' he said.

Instead 'she was an affirmative action hire'.

But the concept was formally adopted as a plank of the Republican party platform since 2012, and Shirley said it still retains plenty of adherents.

'If you believe in yourself, you believe in individualism, you believe in the values of the American Revolution  then you believe in American exceptionalism,' he added.
Jeffrey Epstein's brother slammed former Attorney General Bill Barr's handling of the pedophile's controversial death as he accused him of a 'cover up.'

Mark Epstein, 69, a property developer, hit out at Barr for his infamous line that there was a 'perfect storm of screw-ups' that led to Epstein's apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019.

'Yes, there were screw-ups, but that doesnt mean that my brother was, you know, committed suicide because of screw-ups,' he told NewsNation's Leland Vittert.

'Why? I mean, youd have to ask Bill Barr. If he was covering this up, which it appears to be, who was he covering it up for? Who was Bill Barr protecting?'

Mark Epstein, 69, the younger brother of the late Jeffrey Epstein, maintains that the investigation into his brother's mysterious 2019 death was a 'cover-up'

Epstein's body pictured being moved from the Manhattan Correctional Center to a New York hospital, where he was pronounced dead from an apparent suicide

Epstein's brother slammed former Attorney General Bill Barr (pictured September 2022) for his handling of the financier's death, and said he stepped in when it 'wasn't really his position'

Epstein (pictured in May of 2005) died from an apparent suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, sparking a wave of conspiracy theories after a number of institutional failings came to light

Barr, the Attorney General for President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020, came under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of Epstein's death as it became clear institutional failings allowed him to escape justice.

Epstein was found hanged from his neck in his Manhattan jail cell with a strip of orange bedsheet.

It was later revealed he was taken off suicide watch and housed alone against procedure, wasn't subject to regular checks, and the surveillance cameras were not working at the time.

In a widely publicized reaction, Barr said he was 'appalled' by the situation and ordered investigations, but concluded that it was merely a 'perfect storm of screw-ups.' Many questioned whether Epstein was allowed to kill himself to stop the great and the good who he befriended being embarrassed by revelations at any criminal trial.

Others believe Epstein was murdered, with his death staged to look like a suicide.

Epstein's brother has repeatedly called for further scrutiny over the financier's death, repeating his call this week as he said there 'doesn't seem to have been much of an investigation at all.'

'Things like the EMT and the medical personnel at the hospital, none of them have ever been questioned,' he continued. 'They're always questioned, especially in high-profile cases.'

'The question becomes what investigation was done, there doesn't seem to have been any.'

Numerous experts have spoken out in the years since Epstein's death to cast doubt over the quick conclusion that it was a suicide, a factor that Mark Epstein said continues to be overlooked by officials.

'The pathologist that did the autopsy, and (a doctor) who I had there, they both came out of the autopsy saying they could not call it a suicide because it appeared too much like a homicide,' he said.

'There are a number of reasons why.'

A picture of Epstein's cell as it was left after he was found dead on the morning of August 10

The piece of fabric that Epstein allegedly used as a noose was not ripped nor cut when it was submitted to evidence. A prison guard said he had torn and cut the material off of Epstein when he was found

Epstein's brother Mark claimed that the financier admitted to him in 2016 he had 'dirt' on the then-presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (right)

The doubt over Epstein's death meant the official cause was marked as 'pending', a process that typically takes weeks to change, however Mark claimed AG Barr abruptly stepped in to officially determine it was a suicide.

'It wasn't really his position to do that,' he added.

When questioned on if he agreed with Barr's assessment the episode was a 'perfect storm of screw ups', Mark said: 'Yes, there were screw-ups, but that doesnt mean that my brother was, you know, committed suicide because of screw-ups.'

'There are a number of reasons why he would not commit suicide,' he said, noting Epstein's insistence of making bail - rumored to be among the largest in US history at around $150 million, before it was revoked - as evidence of his plans to stay alive.

It has long been theorized that Epstein could have been secretly killed by those hoping to keep him silent following his arrest, and Mark said his brother confided in him that he even had dirt on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

'He had dirt on people, he told me in 2016 that he had dirt on then-presidential candidates,' he said. 'He didn't tell me what that dirt was.'

'I wasnt involved with his day-to-day life so I dont know what he knows, but to go back to your initial question, why? I mean, youd have to ask Bill Barr.

'If he was covering this up, which it appears to be, who was he covering it up for? Who was Bill Barr protecting?'

Epstein was being held without bail at Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking. A series of significant failures led to the conditions that allowed Epstein to take his own life while he was on suicide watch

Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on the morning of August 10, 2019. He was awaiting trial for various charges related to a long history of alleged sex trafficking

This is not the first time Mark Epstein has called his brother's apparent suicide into question, telling the New York Post following the high-profile unsealing of the 'Epstein files' he was still seeking surveillance footage from his brother's cell block on the night of his death.

He said he just wants to 'look at the facts', adding: 'When we consider the facts available, we get more questions.'

'There appears to have been no investigation once it was ruled a suicide, they saw no reason to dig deeper.

'It seems like a cover-up. Why can't I find his pre-hospital care report and why can't I get the 911 call?'

In response to the recent and continuing document dumps from a Manhattan court that have been dubbed the Epstein Files, Mark said he isn't sure what to make of them.

'I have nothing to do with that, you know, and it's not my business. What Im concerned about is my brothers murder,' he said recently, according to a local West Palm Beach outlet.

He maintains that the investigation into his brother's death was 'a cover-up.'

'I dont think Bill Barr killed my brother. So then, who is he covering up for? That becomes a question, and thats what he should be asked.'
MBABANE  EmaSwati who will be travelling with minors to Mozambique will now be required to provide consent letters and birth certificates for children to border officials.

Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini, informed all cross-border travellers, particularly those intending to visit the Republic of Mozambique, of the new travel requirements for individuals travelling with children below 18 years of age. Effective immediately, adults travelling with children to the Republic of Mozambique are required to produce a consent letter or affidavit from the biological parents of the minors, authorising them to cross the border into the country. This documentation is a mandatory requirement and must be presented to immigration authorities upon entry into Mozambique, he said.

Affidavit

In addition to the consent letter or affidavit, Dlamini advised biological parents to carry the birth certificate of the accompanying child as proof of parentage. These new requirements have been implemented by the Republic of Mozambique in an effort to enhance child safety and prevent child trafficking across its borders. He emphasised that it was important for all travellers to be aware of, and to comply with these regulations to ensure smooth and hassle-free entry into Mozambique.

He urged travellers to familiarise themselves with the new requirements and to ensure that they had the necessary documentation in place before embarking on their journey, to avoid any inconvenience at the border. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter and remain committed to facilitating safe and lawful travel for all individuals crossing international borders, he added.
Charlamagne tha God called President Joe Biden a 'shi**y elected official' in a recent interview, after sharing he will not endorse him in the presidential race, but said voting for Donald Trump would be the end of democracy.

While appearing on Tuesday's CNN NewsNight, host Abby Phillip asked The Breakfast Club host if he regrets endorsing Biden.

Charlamagne said he cares about what his listeners think and the president's failures reflect back on him because he was the one who told them to vote for Biden.

He said: 'Its not that I regret endorsing Joe Biden, I put my name and reputation on the line with my listeners. And when my listeners feel like he didnt deliver, they come back to me and they say, "Hey man youre the one who told us to vote for Joe Biden. Youre the one who told us to vote for Kamala Harris".

'I think President Biden, historically, has been a  lack of a better word, a shi**y elected official, but you know, Donald Trump is the end of democracy as we know it.'

During an interview on CNN, Charlamagne tha God called President Joe Biden a 'shi**y elected official'

Endorsement regret? @cthagod explains:

President Biden historically has been, for lack of a better word, a shi**y elected official, but Donald Trump is the end of democracy as we know it. pic.twitter.com/f4dFR9PxxX  Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 10, 2024

Last week, Charlamagne said in an interview with Politico he has learned his lesson from 2020 and will not be endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 election

Last week, Charlamagne said in an interview with Politico he has learned his lesson from 2020 and will not be endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this time around.

'I've learned my lesson from doing that,' he said. 'Once they got in the White House, she  kind of disappeared.'

Phillip pressed the radio host on if he would vote for Biden again, but he did not commit and instead said voting for Former President Donald Trump would be like voting for the 'antichrist.'

Charlamagne said: 'Donald Trump is the end of democracy as we know it. I dont know what to tell people. And I know it sounds when you say that now in 2024, youve heard it so much because every time theres a Republican candidate, people say, "Oh the end of democracy hes the Antichrist". This is one of the times where you know, it really actually, positively is true.'

The Breakfast Club host has been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration, often criticizing the presidents comments and history on race in American. As well as criticizing Democrats for not being able to find a different candidate.

While guest hosting the Daily Show in December, Charlamagne said the 'ultimate Christmas gift' would be President Joe Biden dropping out of the 2024 race and pleaded with him not to make the same mistake as Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

'Biden is not getting any younger. Hes not going to get any more popular and he is not getting a new running mate. Please, Mr. President, give America the ultimate Christmas gift and a step aside,' he said on the Daily Show.

'I know he thinks hes got this in the bag but the polls say otherwise. I want Biden stepping in to beat Trump the way I want him stepping in to defend me at a bar fight. I appreciate you caring, but I dont like our chances.'

When asked if he would vote for Biden again, Charlamagne did not commit and instead said voting for Former President Donald Trump would be like voting for the 'antichrist.'

Charlamagne tha God has been a frequent critic of the Biden administration since backing them in 2020

In September 2023, he slammed the president for botching LL Cool J's name and using a 'racist' term to refer to him at an event honoring the artist.

Biden messed up the rappers name and then called LL Cool J 'boy' during a speech at a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner.

Charlamagne said, 'He fully understands the word boy in the racial context around a white man referring to a black man, is boy.'

'When somebody uses the word boy to refer to an adult Black man and the speaker is white, that takes on a whole different point in context.'

The word boy, when used by white people to refer to back men, is a historically loaded term which has been used to denote superiority during enslavement and beyond.

In January 2023, Charlamagne and The Breakfast Club co-host DJ Envy claimed Biden needs to be 'tested for dementia' before running in 2024.

In November 2022, on Fox News he criticized Democrats for not having a better candidate for 2024 than Biden, who he said would not be able to energize voters.

He told Fox it was 'sad' that Biden was Democrats' 'safest bet,' and questioned if he was popular enough to beat Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In October 2022, Charlamagne slammed Biden for defending his former crack addict son Hunter after putting 'so many black people in jail for smoking cocaine' instead of getting them 'help' when he was senator.

He gave the president the title of 'Donkey of the Day' in January 2022 when the voting rights bill was killed off and accused the president of not caring about black voting rights.

Charlamagne interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021. He said he cares about what his listeners think and the president's failures reflect back on him because he was the one who told them to vote for Biden and Harris

In 2020, then presidential candidate Joe Biden did an interview with Charlamagne that he concluded with saying, 'If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black'

On an July 2020 radio show, Charlamagne dubbed Biden the 'Donkey of the Day' for calling Donald trump the 'first racist president.'

'Saying Donald Trump is the first racist president is a lie, ok? It's a lie that relinquishes America of all responsibility of its bigotry,' he said.

The Breakfast Club host also claimed Biden was making it possible for rapper Kanye West to seem like a 'viable option' for president. He said, 'I really wish Joe Biden would shut the f up forever.'

Following a May 2020 interview with the then presidential candidate, Charlamagne condemned Biden's track record with black voters, stating that the former vice president was a 'very intricate' part of the 'systemic racism' that needs to be 'dismantled' with his 1994 crime bill.

During that May 2020 interview, Biden concluded with saying, 'If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.'
A Jewish MIT professor resigned his position last month after concluding that he could no longer work amid the rampant anti-Semitism that has displayed itself on campus since October 7.

Mauricio Karchmer, a Mexican Jew who was trained in computer science at Hebrew University, wrote in The Free Press that it wasn't until the reaction to the events of last fall's Hamas massacre that he was forced to reconsider his dream job.

He wrote that following the barbaric terrorist attack that killed 1,200 Israelis, he emailed the head of his department encouraging her to issue a statement of support for Israelis and Jews. Karchmer said such statements had been issued in the wake of George Floyd's murder and after a wave of anti-Asian violence - so he expected similar sympathy for Jews.

But, like many around the country who had seen their companies and bosses convey public sympathy in the aftermath of horrible events that impacted other minority communities, Karchmer saw his boss fall far short of the mark with her statement.

The Monday after October 7, he wrote that the head of his department "and its office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) sent out a message titled A time for community support of each other."'

MIT computer science professor Mauricio Karchmer tendered his resignation from the university after concluding he could no longer teach students who may use the imparted knowledge for the purposes of anti-Semitism

MIT, like many elite college campuses across the US, saw and continues to see a massive wave of pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic protests break out on its campus

'The message was riddled with equivocations, without mentioning the barbarity of Hamass attack ... I was shocked that my institution - led by people who are meant to see the world rationally - could not simply condemn a brutal terrorist act,' he wrote.

Over the next several weeks, Karchmer saw anti-Semitic protests begin on the MIT campus, during which students shouted 'Free Palestine' and 'From the river to the sea.'

Even more shocking to the former finance executive was when his colleagues began supporting the students behavior.

Sophia Hasenfus, a Diversity, Equity, and Belonging Officer at MIT liked an X post on October 17 that claimed Israel 'doesn't have a right to exist,' because 'like the US,' it is 'an illegitimate settler-colony.'

One day later, a 'renowned' neuroscientist at the university posted that Israel is committing 'genocide.' The professor, Nancy Kanwisher, then posted that her department is looking for a 'diverse pool of candidates' to fill a tenure-track position.

'I remember thinking, with bitter irony, that Jewish academics need not apply,' wrote Karchmer.

In November, MIT linguistics professor Michel DeGraff wrote that students who had gathered to chant for another intifada 'have given me hope for the future.'

In the editorial, titled 'Standing Together Against Hate: From the River to the Sea, From Gaza to MIT,' he said that he'd taken his five-year-old daughter to one such protest.

Karchmer wrote that every part of the post-October 7 reaction on campus has been painful, but nothing moreso than 'watching the Israeli and Jewish students - who comprise fewer than six percent of the MIT student body - suffer.'

He wrote that despite MIT president Sally Kornbluth's disastrous testimony before congress in December, he does not believe 'she is the problem.'

Along with several peers of her, Kornbluth infamously failed to unequivocally responded yes when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated MIT's code of conduct.

'I think the problem at MIT - and across American academia - runs much deeper than the figureheads,' he wrote.

MIT linguistics professor Michel DeGraff wrote in an editorial that the students protestors, calling Israelis genocidal, supporting Hamas, and calling for an intifada, delivered him 'hope'

Two of Karchmer's colleagues who 'liked' and supported positions online calling for the destruction of Israel and branding its actions genocidal

Let's for a moment take a gander at the twitter account of @sophiahasenfus, @MIT 's officer for diversity, equity, and belonging. Let's take a gander at some of the tweets she's clicking like on! pic.twitter.com/fJWpswdrw2  Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) October 24, 2023

Friends don't let friends commit genocide.

If you don't think this counts as genocide,

listen to the IDF themselves: https://t.co/ry4nGcossq  Nancy Kanwisher @NancyKanwisher@mas.to (@Nancy_Kanwisher) October 18, 2023

Karchmer wrote that every part of the post-October 7 reaction on campus has been painful, but nothing moreso than 'watching the Israeli and Jewish students - who comprise fewer than six percent of the MIT student body - suffer'

Students across the US have been radicalized by professors - like DeGraff - who push them toward progressive social justice values, Karchmer said.

'Americas brightest minds are being manipulated by a force they dont even understand to adopt a narrow view of the world,' Karchmer said.

This problem, the computer scientist concluded, means he can no longer agree to 'train kids in algorithms, knowing they might one day spread this ideology even further through their advanced knowledge.'

Just eight days after Kornbluth et al.'s disastrous appearance before congress, Karchmer tendered his resignation over the objection of his boss.

'I cannot continue teaching Algorithms to those who lack the most basic critical thinking skills or emotional intelligence. Nor can I teach those who condemn my Jewish identity or my support for Israels right to exist in peace with its neighbors,' he wrote in his letter.
Downing Street has backed calls for Alan Bates to be knighted after exposing the Post Office scandal and fighting for justice for wrongly convicted sub-postmasters.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokeswoman said on Wednesday it would be 'common sense' to honour the former subpostmaster after a mass quashing of convictions was announced.

The PM's press secretary argued that it is 'hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him'.

It comes after Cabinet Minister Esther McVey said Mr Bates should receive a knighthood 'as soon as possible,' describing him as an 'extraordinary person'.

Asked if she agreed about the knighthood with Ms McVey, who is nicknamed the 'minister for common sense', Sunak's press secretary said: 'That sounds like common sense to me.'

Alan Bates sits alongside wife Suzanne Sercombe as the couple appear on ITV's This Morning. Calls have been made for Mr Bates to receive an honour for his campaign to expose the Post Office scandal

Rishi Sunak speaking during the first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session of the year at the House of Commons

Esther McVey said Bates should receive a knighthood 'as soon as possible,' describing him as an 'extraordinary person'

Postmasters accused of theft by Post Office celebrate outside the High Court in London after they have had their convictions overturned

Mr Bates is said to have refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received deep into the scandal in 2019.

But MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates's honour to be re-submitted now that Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry.

Asked when he will be knighted, Ms McVey told GB News: 'As soon as possible, I hope, but obviously it's got to go through the regular process.

'But I have to say when the New Year's Honours List came through, I said I want to see more ordinary extraordinary people. And I'm quite convinced this man is an extraordinary person and the public will be behind him.

'Anybody can nominate him and I'm quite sure we will see Sir Alan as soon as possible.'

On measures to exonerate postmasters during a discussion during PMQs Live with Christopher Hope and Gloria de Piero, she added: 'They've waited far too long across all parties from Tony Blair to Pat McFadden ignoring it, Ed Davey - they're waited all too long. It [the government] does now have to act swiftly.

ITV's new drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office has drawn a renewed interest in the scandal after airing last week, with Mr Bates being played by Toby Jones (pictured in the role)

The scandal is seen as one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice and has gained recent national attention over recent days thanks to Mr Bates Vs The Post Office airing on ITV

Ms McVey, who is nicknamed the 'minister for common sense'

'148 million has already been paid out in compensation. We've got the inquiry ongoing. There was a court case, 600,000 poundsagreed to up front, if they were convicted.

READ MORE: Moment Post Office hero Alan Bates and his wife fight back tears as they learn they've been gifted a free holiday by Richard Branson amid outrage over Horizon scandal Advertisement

'But this does need to be speedy and we do need to see this happening because people are saying it's taken too long this compensation.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said Mr Bates has 'emerged as a hero throughout this for the way in which he has led the campaign, the fortitude and resolve he was shown given everything that has been thrown at him throughout this process.

'Obviously honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support.'

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds also backed a knighthood for Bates and said there's a very strong argument for it.

'But I would say, as well as the symbolism around this and the empathy that we've heard, what these former postmasters really need to see is compensation and they need those wrongful convictions to be quashedthey've waited for far too long for that,' she added.

'So, absolutely, let's honour those who campaigned so hard, particularly Alan Bates and others. But let's make sure they get what's due too because for many of them, they just cannot wait.

'Careers have been ruined and some of them now, sadly, are really quite elderly. They need to get that support and that restitution now.'

MPs from both Labour and the Conservatives have been calling for Mr Bates to be given an honour 'higher than an OBE' for his relentless campaign to clear more than 700 postmasters wrongfully convicted during the Horizon IT scandal.
An Oregon man was declared dead, cremated and mourned by his family, only for them to discover months later that he was still alive after a medical office mix-up.

Tyler Chase, 23, from Portland, was declared dead from a drug overdose on September 11 by the Multnomah Country medical examiner.

His family were informed, a death certificate was issued and they were told that his body was cremated on October 1; as a result, they kept what they believed were his ashes in an urn in their home.

But three months later, on December 19, the medical examiner's office contacted the family to say there had been a mix-up and Chase was still alive.

Chase's cousin, Latasha Rosales told KGW8: 'I just lost it. It is so hard to believe how something like this could even happen. It just makes no sense to me.'

Chase was living in a recovery center at the time having struggled with substance abuse

An official death certificate was issued for Tyler Chase, despite him being alive and well

Chase had not had contact with his family for several years and had been living in a recovery program after struggling with substance abuse issues and becoming homeless.

He was as shocked to discover he was officially 'dead' as his family were, only realizing when his food assistance benefits were cut off.

He told Fox 12 Investigates: 'I go to DHS, and they asked me to enter my social security and everything, and they were like "alright well see if we can help you fix this."

'And then all of the sudden they start interrogating me and were like, "Oh can we see your ID?" So I gave it to them and then they just looked as confused as I was and theyre like, "Right here it says you are dead."'

He was unable to find his family to contact them and had no idea that they had been told he was dead.

Then on December 19, he said officials from the Medical examiner's office found him at the recovery center and admitted they had wrongfully declared him dead.

He said they told him that the man who was in fact dead had been found carrying Chase's wallet - with his temporary ID inside - leading investigators to believe he was Chase.

Now they believe the wallet had been stolen from the recovery center.

The dead man's ashes were placed in an urn and given to Chase's family

The Medical Examiners Office apologized for the mix-up and said they are placing more checks in place

Chase said, 'So they find a paper ID of me thats smudged and everything and they were like "thats Tyler John Chase," so they put him down as me. And then they notified the family like protocol.'

The medical examiner's office apologized for the mistake, saying in a statement, 'We deeply regret that the misidentification happened. The misidentification occurred because the deceased person was carrying Mr. Tyler Chases wallet and his official temporary Oregon drivers license.'

When a person dies in suspicious circumstances or a body is found, it is up to the county medical examiner's office to identify the body and make a cause-of-death determination, by comparing fingerprints, checking ID cards the person was carrying or having family members view the body.

The Multnomah office said that they are making changes as a result of the mix-up: 'The medical examiners office also launched a comprehensive review to identify any gaps in current practices and is working to implement an institutional change.

'Going forward, all individuals who are found with a temporary state-issued identification must also have fingerprints submitted for positive identification, to ensure that this will never happen again.'

The office hasn't revealed the real identity of the dead man, but his family has now been informed.

Rosales said: 'I can't even imagine how they feel. Their child, their brother, their loved one was cremated. He passed away without them even being notified.'
The company whose faulty IT software was at the heart of the Post Office scandal remains free to bid for government work despite its role in the miscarriage of justice.

No10 confirmed today that it will not act against IT giant Fujitsu until the completion of a public inquiry into the Horizon debacle that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters unjustly convicted of theft.

It comes despite a decision to compensate the victims of the scandal by the end of the year, and four years after a court ruled that Horizon had 'bugs, errors and defects' that were responsible for financial errors blamed on staff.

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling 4.9billion since the December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling. Some 3.6billion of that has come since February 2020, when Mr Sunak became Chancellor and later Prime Minister.

The analysis of data compiled by Tussell, carried out by the Financial Times, comes as MPs demand the firm is barred from any more public work.

Former Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who has campaigned for sub-postmasters, told LBC: 'I think that should cease immediately. Fujitsu should not be awarded any contracts at all until they have actually come forward with what remedy corporately, the current CEO, chairman, board are going to do to remedy this.'

Former Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi , who has campaigned for sub-postmasters, told LBC: 'I think that should cease immediately. Fujitsu should not be awarded any contracts at all until they have actually come forward with what remedy corporately, the current CEO, chairman, board are going to do to remedy this.'

Fujitsu has been awarded work totalling 4.9billion since a December 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that its Horizon software had 'bugs, errors and defects' that were responsible for financial errors blamed on hundreds of sub-postmasters.

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names  because it also runs Britain's criminal records system.

Downing Street has insisted that Fujitsu will be held to account if it is found guilty of wrongdoing in the Horizon scandal.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We strongly believe that individuals, that businesses, will be held to account for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen.

'We will not resile from that. But it is right that we allow an independent inquiry to get the facts, to set them out, and then we can act.'

It came as it was revealed Post Office managers are being forced to trust the IT firm at the heart of the Horizon scandal to clear their names  because it also runs Britain's criminal records system.

Victims who were wrongly convicted of fraud and theft described it as 'perverse' and 'another slap in the face' last night as they try to piece their lives back together.

They also vowed to bring down the Japanese tech firm Fujitsu by exposing the Post Office scandal in its home country, where a traditional 'culture of shame' can destroy firms. Fujitsu bosses will answer questions from MPs on the business and trade committee next Tuesday about the scandal.

Ministers are under pressure to address the miscarriage of justice suffered by hundreds of sub-postmasters, as public anger over the Horizon IT scandal saw former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE.

It comes as the spotlight also turns on IT giant Fujitsu, after its faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Since 2012, the company has been awarded almost 200 contracts worth billions, with growing questions about why the Government has not severed ties with the firm in the wake of the scandal.

The list of 197 deals won by Fujitsu since June 2012, as compiled by Tussell, includes a nearly 2.4billion contract for the Horizon system itself, with a 36million extension to keep the system running until 2025.

According to data compiled by the Government procurement analysts, Fujitsu's deals include providing IT services to schools in Northern Ireland (worth 485million) and infrastructure used by HM Revenue & Customs.

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to 5million to work on the UK's new emergency alert system

In October 2022, Fujitsu was awarded a contract worth up to 5million to work on the UK's new emergency alert system.

The system, which is designed to warn the public of life-threatening situations such as extreme weather, was tested in April last year.

But users of the Three mobile phone network said they did not receive the test alert due to what was suspected to be a technical glitch.

Fujitsu signed a 48million deal in 2022 to maintain the Police National Computer, which stores details of all convictions and cautions, and fingerprint and DNA data. In 2021, an error in the system led to the loss of 413,000 records of police evidence.

Postmasters whose convictions are overturned can ask the Criminal Records Office to expunge their records, but Fujitsu is responsible for removing the data.

Chris Trousdale, 41, who was left with PTSD after Horizon wrongly reported 7,800 was missing from his post office in North Yorkshire, said: 'Fujitsu has never been properly held to account. It's perverse that we have to rely on them to remove our names from the criminal records database.'

Bosses at Fujitsu have been called to answer questions from MPs on the Business and Trade Committee next week, after an ITV drama on the scandal fuelled public attention on the issue.

A Fujitsu spokesman told MailOnline: 'The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

'The inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters' lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.

'Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it.

'Out of respect for the inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.'
This is the chilling moment an Ohio mass murderer approached police telling them he had killed five members of his family, only for police to think he is joking or mentally ill.

Martin Muniz, 41, has been charged with the aggravated murder of four members of his family and the attempted murder of a fifth who survived in January 2023.

Newly released police bodycam footage shows the moment Muniz approached a passing police car in Cleveland's Brooklyn Centre.

Muniz is seen poking his head through the police officers' car and calmly telling them 'I did something bad' and 'I'm serious I'm not crazy you can go the address but I want you to handcuff me first'.

Eventually police pull over and contact dispatch to express their skepticism about his claims.

Martin Muniz, 41, has been charged with the aggravated murder of four members of his family and the attempted murder of a fifth who survived in January 2023

Muniz had previously been imprisoned for more than twenty years on unrelated charges

Newly released police bodycam footage shows the moment Muniz approached a passing police car in Cleveland's Brooklyn Centre

'He said he killed five people' an officer can be heard saying with no sense of urgency.

At the same time dispatch received a call from Muniz's ex-girlfriend, Lourdes Martinez, claiming he had rung her and confessed to 'killing his whole family'.

'He said he killed his sister, brother-in-law and two kids and his sister's father'.

'His mother is on the way now' Martinez added.

'Do you think he was serious?' the dispatcher asked with doubt.

'He is bipolar and said he has a gun and still has two bullets in it.'

Moments later another 911 call is made by Janel Gabriel, a member of Muniz's extended family who has been told that Muniz had killed everyone in a family home on Mack Court.

Police eventually arrive at the Mack Court home and find Muniz's mother outside the property.

Bodycam footage shows Muniz asking police to handcuff him after the terrible murders

Officers found the bodies of Angelic Gonzalez, 34, in her family home

Gonzalez's father her father Miguel Gonzalez, 69, was also found shot dead inside the home

Anthony Boothe, Angelic's husband was found badly wounded but alive. He later died of his injuries in hospital

Gonzalez's son her son Jayden Baez, 16 was also found dead inside the property

Boothe's daughter, just eight years old had been shot in the neck but was the sole survivor

'My daughter lives here' she tells the police officers as they arrive.

'I got a call from two cousins [to say] my son murdered them all.

'I don't know I just got here and I don't trust him, I was afraid I was waiting for you guys.'

Police eventually enter the property to discover the horrific scene.

'Oh s**t, someone's on the bed' one officer can be heard saying.

'Someone's moving too' another replies.

'Yo, its real get EMS rolling'.

Officers found the bodies of Angelic Gonzalez, 34, her father Miguel Gonzalez, 69, her son Jayden Baez, 16.

Anthony Boothe, Angelic's husband was found badly wounded but alive. He later died of his injuries in hospital.

Boothe's daughter, just eight years old had been shot in the neck but survived.

According to Chanel three news an ominous Facebook post made days before the shooting indicated premeditation.

'Nothing the end is near' he wrote.

In May 2023 incarcerated Muniz confessed to an unsolved murder from ten years prior.

He confessed to killing Jaime Molina, 45 in North Camden New Jersey in October 2013.

Muniz is being held in lieu of $5 million bond and his trial will proceed later this year.
Rishi Sunak moved to draw a line under decades of hell for hundreds of Post Office victims today as he announced a new law to quash convictions.

In a moment many must have feared would never come, the PM told the Commons that the government will take drastic action to 'right the wrongs'.

Describing the scandal as 'one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history', Mr Sunak said around 750 former postmasters will be able to sign simple declarations of innocence to be exonerated en masse.

Legislation will be introduced within weeks to enact the blanket overturning of convictions - which crucially clears names entirely, unlike a pardon.

That will unlock hundreds of millions of pounds in 'life-changing' compensation, potentially 600,000 each, which should be paid by the end of the year.

The extraordinary action by the government - following a public outcry sparked by the heart-rending ITV drama laying out the experiences of victims - came nearly 15 years after the flaws in Horizon accounting software started being exposed.

It represents a huge victory for the campaign headed by former postmaster Alan Bates - who is now being backed for an honour by Downing Street and Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Representatives of victims welcomed the step, although they warned that the detail of the scheme must be scrutinised.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after the faulty Fujitsu system made it look like money was missing from their shops.

So far just 93 have been able to clear their names in the courts, leaving hundreds unable to claim compensation.

Under normal circumstances, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal, a glacial process.

Mr Sunak said the scandal had taken place 'over decades' and with 'multiple people at fault'.

As the government made its move today:

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey faced more calls to quit over his handling of the saga as post office minister between 2010 and 2012;

The CPS revealed that it had been involved in around 20 prosecutions linked to Horizon evidence, although it is not clear how many dated from Keir Starmer's time in charge;

Downing Street said any action against Fujitsu will wait until the conclusion of the ongoing public inquiry, and the firm can continue to bid for government contracts;

The PM's press secretary said it is 'hard to think of anyone more deserving of an honour' than Alan Bates;

Labour described Mr Bates as a 'hero' and said a knighthood would be 'entirely appropriate';

Mr Bates, who is said to have refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE, played down the idea insisting it is 'not about me'.

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims will be introduced, Rishi Sunak said today

Mr Sunak said he was determined to 'right the wrongs of the past'

Toby Jones as Alan Bates in the new series Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Tory MP tells Ed Davey to 'clear off' Ed Davey was told to 'clear off' today as pressure builds over his handling of the Post Office scandal. Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson used PMQs to highlight the Lib Dem leader's role as postal services minister between 2010 and 2012. Mr Anderson told the Commons: 'During this scandal the leader of the Liberal Democrats was the minister in charge of the Post Office this is the same Liberal Democrat leader who in the past has called for the resignation of over 30 prominent people in this country who have made mistakes in their job. 'So does the Prime Minister agree with me that the leader of the Lib Dems should take his own advice and start by clearing his desk, clearing his diary, and clear off?' Sir Ed was not at PMQs today due to family commitments. Advertisement

Mr Sunak told the Commons: 'This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

'People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.'

He added: 'We will make sure that the truth comes to light, we right the wrongs of the past and the victims get the justice they deserve.'

He added: 'Today I can announce that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

'We will also introduce a new up-front payment of 75,000 for the vital GLO (group litigation order) group of postmasters.'

Keir Starmer welcomed the announcement, while saying Labour would examine the detail.

Answering an urgent question in the Commons after PMQs, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake acknowledged the Government's plan would result in some people who actually did commit crimes having their convictions quashed and being able to claim compensation.

But he insisted it is the best way to swiftly address the injustice suffered by those caught up in the Horizon scandal who have seen 'lives ruined by this brutal and arbitrary exercise of power'.

'Some of those convictions will have relied on the evidence of the discredited Horizon system. Others will have been the result of appalling failures of the Post office's investigation and prosecution functions,' he said.

He said evidence from the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal showed 'not only incompetence but malevolence in many of their actions'.

Under the plan, people convicted would have to sign a declaration form, they would then be eligible to have their convictions overturned and access an offer of 600,000 compensation  or potentially more if they go through a process to have their claims individually assessed.

He acknowledged the Government's novel approach was not 'foolproof'.

'I'm sure that a great many people were wrongly convicted in this scandal, but I cannot tell the House that all those prosecuted were indeed innocent, or even that it was 90 per cent or 80 per cent or 70 per cent, without retrying every case we cannot know.

'The risk is that instead of unjust convictions, we shall end up with unjust acquittals and we just do not know how many.'

No10 and Labour back honour for campaigner Alan Bates Demands for Alan Bates to receive a knighthood for his decades-long fight for justice for subpostmasters hit by the Horizon scandal has received backing from Downing Street. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokeswoman said on Wednesday it would be 'common sense' to honour the crusading former subpostmaster after a mass quashing of convictions was announced. Mr Bates is said to have refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received deep into the scandal in 2019. But MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates's honour to be re-submitted now that Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry. Senior minister Esther McVey said she wants to see Mr Bates knighted 'as soon as possible'. 'Anybody can nominate him and I'm quite sure we will see Sir Alan as soon as possible,' the Tory MP told GB News. The Prime Minister's press secretary argued that it is 'hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him'. Asked if she agreed about the knighthood with Ms McVey, who is nicknamed the 'minister for common sense', the official said: 'That sounds like common sense to me.' But Mr Bates was focussing on continuing his fight for justice rather than securing himself plaudits. 'It's not about me, it's about the whole group and it's about getting this money out to people as soon as possible so they can try and get on with their lives and try and put this behind them,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme. But political support for the honour crossed political lines, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also backing the move. His spokesman said: 'I think Alan Bates clearly has emerged as a hero throughout this for the way in which he has led the campaign, the fortitude and resolve he was shown given everything that has been thrown at him throughout this process. 'Obviously honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support.' Advertisement

He added: 'As far as possible, we want to avoid guilty people walking away with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money. But we cannot make the provision of compensation subject to a detailed examination of guilt.'

As a safeguard, postmasters will sign a statement saying they did not commit the crime of which they were accused, with anyone subsequently found to have signed that untruthfully putting themselves at risk of prosecution for fraud.

In the Commons, Tory ex-minister Sir David Davis said it 'looks as though the Government is responding correctly' to ensure 'swift justice.

'Some of the victims I've spoken to say they need an individual exoneration rather than a grand pardon because they are understandably concerned of being bracketed with a very small number of people who will actually not be innocent,' he said.

Sir David said Fujitsu has 'played a central role in this scandal' and asked whether the company will be required to 'meet some of the costs'.

He went on: 'Will the Government accelerate the investigations to convict those who are really guilty of causing this scandal by perverting the course of justice?'

Mr Hollinrake replied: 'Of course we looked very carefully at the issue of individual exoneration. We didn't see any way possible to do that without an exhaustive and time-consuming administrative process, which would add further burdens to the burdens people have already suffered during this process.'

Mr Hollinrake said the Government saw its approach as 'very much as the lesser of two evils', adding: 'We are very keen to discuss mitigations and safeguards with other members of the House.'

Conservative MP Duncan Baker, who used to work as a postmaster, said the Post Office should be forced to reveal how much money they 'stole' from 'innocent men and women'.

The North Norfolk MP told the Commons: 'One question that has never been answered is just how much money was taken unlawfully from thousands of innocent men and women. The Post Office took that money, we have never known that figure.

'Even the most basic accountant knows that it will run into hundreds of millions of pounds. So could the minister find out from the Post Office, force them to publish, just the grand scale of how much money they stole from people?'

Mr Hollinrake said he will 'endeavour to find out the number'.

Labour former minister Kevan Jones, a long-term campaigner on the Horizon scandal, said: ''This is going to be messy whichever way we do it, but it needs to be done because we've still got people out there with those convictions that need overturning.'

Mr Hollinrake said once the statutory inquiry has reported then the Government will be able to 'assess more clearly who is actually responsible' before noting: 'We think it's right we follow a process, identify individuals or organisations who are responsible for this scandal. Of course, those organisations we would expect then to financially contribute.

'So there are financial and legal measures we can take. As regard individuals, it may well be there's sufficient evidence for the authorities to take forward individual prosecutions and I think many in this House would welcome that.'

Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, who represent a number of subpostmasters, said: 'We very much welcome the Government's pledge to exonerate and compensate all the innocent victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, made in Parliament by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today.'

'Whilst some of the pledges appear hugely positive, the finer detail of how this will be achieved is key.

'Having supported subpostmasters for the past three-and-a-half years, we have seen how this scandal has impacted on each and every victim, and their wider families, in different ways, and how it continues to impact on them today.

'We must be careful not to give them false hope from political promises only for them to be let down again.

'Our clients await the review of the finer detail that sits behind these proposals with considerable interest.'

Senior judges apparently did not raised any 'significant challenges' during talks with Justice Secretary Alex Chalk yesterday on measures to fast track the process of exonerating victims.

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims could be announced as early as today (file picture)

In a round of interviews this morning, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said a blanket exoneration of convictions would be a 'very significant step', but the government recognised the scale of the miscarriage of justice

Mr Bates Vs the Post Office has sparked huge public fury about the Horizon Post Office scandal

Some senior lawyers yesterday raised concerns about the precedent that might be set by Parliament directly overturning court rulings.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve described the idea as a 'parliamentary interference in the judicial process of our country' while former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas told the BBC there was a 'real chance' that blanket legislation could result in some genuinely guilty people being cleared.

But two former justice secretaries said the scale of the miscarriage of justice justified exceptional measures.

Sir Robert Buckland called for legislation to bring justice to 'the victims and their families'.

Ex-postmasters reveal how their lives were destroyed by Horizon scandal

Former postmasters wrongly accused of crimes they did not commit today bravely told their stories for the first time amid mounting fury over the Post Office scandal that blighted the lives of hundreds of innocent people.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, nine victims of the scandal revealed how their lives and livelihoods were destroyed by the widest miscarriage of justice in British history.

Speaking on the BBC Breakfast today, former postmaster Tom Hedges said: 'I have been looking forward to this day.

'I ran a Post Office at Hogsthorpe, eight miles out of Skegness. I was there for 16 years until I was dismissed in 2009 and convicted in court in 2010.

'I had to wait a number of years until 2021 when my conviction was overturned and frankly it wrecked my life, my family's life and everyone I knows life. It was the most horrendous thing I've ever been through.

Postmasters come together on BBC Breakfast to discuss the Horizon scandal and the impact it had on them

Nine victims of the scandal revealed how their lives and livelihoods were destroyed by the widest miscarriage of justice in British history

Former postmaster Maria from Huddersfield said it was the first time she felt strong enough to talk publicly about what happened

Janet Skinner worked for the Post Office from 1994 until she was suspended in 2006 for a shortfall of 59,000 and given a custodial sentence - three months in prison and the rest on home curfew

Tom Hedges ran a Post Office in Hogsthorpe near Skegness and said he waited a number of years until 2021 when his conviction was overturned

Mohammed Russell was convicted of false accounting by the Post Office and had to wear a tag for three months and had a suspended sentence for 12 months and said he carried the shame ever since, but refuses to carry it any longer

Scott Darlington ran Alderley Edge Post Office and said he couldn't get a job for three and a half years after his conviction

'I feel very privileged to sit here this morning and address the nation because of the wonderful TV show that ITV have produced.

'I do feel that story has dragged us right on the top of the media agenda.'

Mohammed Russell worked for the Post Office for 27 years before he was convicted of false accounting and had to wear a tag for three months and had a suspended sentence for 12 months.

He said: 'I have carried the shame ever since, I refuse to carry it any longer.'

Scott Darlington, who ran Alderley Edge Post Office for four years before he was convicted, said: 'I couldn't get a job for three and a half years after that.

'I couldn't afford to pay for my daughter's school uniform. I suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since and I'm glad things have come to a head and we are able to speak about it now.'

Janet Skinner worked for the Post Office from 1994 until 2006 when she was suspended for a shortfall of 59,000. She was given a nine months custodial sentence, seed three months in prison and the rest on home curfew.

She said: 'Its affected everything in my life going forward for the last 16 years.'

Alison Harl ran a Post Office in High Town, Liversidge, West Yorkshire, until she was suspended in 2010 for a shortfall of nearly 15,000. Alison admitted to a false accounting charge which was overturned three years ago.

Varchas Patel spoke on behalf of his father Vippen Patel from Oxford who was wrongly prosecuted in 2011 and said his father's health was 'shattered' - he is yet to receive compensation.

Tim Brentnall ran a Post Office in Pembrokeshire in 2005 until a shortfall was found in 2009 which he was forced to pay back, some 22,500. He was prosecuted for false accounting until his conviction was quashed in 2021.

He said: 'My life was left in tatters and my customers and villagers thought I was a fraud.'

Sally Stringer who ran a rural Post Office in Beckford said she was 'fortunate' that she wasn't convicted and had to use her own money to pay for all the shortfalls.

She is working to get justice for postmasters and said: 'We need to have the monies that were paid to the Post Office put back to the postmasters.'

It comes after a former postmaster has revealed he tried to take his own life three times after being accused of stealing thousands from the Post Office.

Parmod Kalia gave the Post Office 22,000 of his own money to balance his books after the faulty Horizon software made it look like money was missing from the accounts.

But despite this, he was still wrongly convicted of stealing and sent to prison for six months in 2001.

Parmod Kalia gave the Post Office 22,000 of his own money to balance his books after the faulty Horizon software made it look like money was missing from the accounts

It was revealed on Good Morning Britain today that Mr Kalia has had the last 21 years of his life taken from him as a result of the scandal, which caused a breakdown in his relationship with his family and led to him being shunned from his community.

He told ITV: 'Its destroyed me mentally, I have just cooped it up within myself - a buildup of not knowing what it was, no one to talk to, no one to discuss it with.

'I have lost 21 years of my life, no earning capacity. I have had a breakdown with my family, my wife, my children, shame in the community.

'I have attempted suicide on three occasions, it's that as well.'

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops

Whitehall sources said plans were being finalised and would be published this week, detailing measures to fast track the process of exonerating more than 700 victims of the Post Office scandal.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.

So far just 93 have been able to clear their names in the courts, leaving hundreds unable to claim compensation.

Under normal circumstances, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal, a glacial process.

But Government sources said that the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal could require the extraordinary step of blanket legislation to clear the names of those affected. Mr Chalk said there were 'truly exceptional circumstances'.

Meanwhile, former Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked.

Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system.

Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked

Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system

The petition, addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the Forfeiture Committee, says: 'Evidence has been produced that the Post Office engaged in a mass cover up which led to the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office Staff many of whom were subsequently jailed, bankrupted and in some cases, sadly took their own lives.

'Having been handed a CBE for services to the Post Office, and moved out into other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the process of forfeiture.'

Mr Sabet, who was diagnosed with severe PTSD and has suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction, says the ordeal has taken years off his life and said it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE.

The father-of-one admitted to stealing more than 50,000 after being told he would likely be sent to prison if he denied the theft.

Sami Sabet, a former sub-postmaster who owned three Post Offices and was wrongly convicted of stealing over 50,000

Mr Sabet, who was diagnosed with severe PTSD and has suffered heart problems since his wrongful conviction, says the ordeal has taken years off his life and said it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE

Paula Vennells pictured at a Select Committee hearing about the Post Office Horizon scandal

Mr Sabet wants to see Vennells dragged through the courts like he was

Mr Sabet, an ex-engineer who was forced to take up jobs cleaning toilets in petrol stations after his wrongful conviction, says it's 'about time' Ms Vennells handed back her CBE.

READ MORE: Tech expert who built faulty Horizon IT system and gave evidence used to convict hundreds of postmasters demands immunity before agreeing to appear at public inquiry Advertisement

However, the former postmaster also wants to see those in charge at the Post Office at the time of the scandal hauled in front of a Crown Court judge and branded criminals, just as he and his colleagues were.

'I think it's absolutely the right thing for Paula Vennells to hand back her CBE,' he said.

'It took the drama on TV and the petition the public submitted to force her to go. She should have done it much earlier.

'I wonder if this will be enough for the sub-postmasters who were convicted during her rein?

'It's about time. They treated us like criminals, they called us criminals - but they are the criminals.

'I couldn't get a good job because I was a criminal, couldn't insure my home because I was a criminal; people didn't want to know you anymore because you're a criminal.

'Yet none of the bosses have been held accountable until now.

'I want to see those people suffer and put in front of a judge like we were, to suffer what we felt.

'I would like the Post Office to pay a lot so this never happens again.

'It's not right... It's unbelievable. We are the victims and yet still the Post Office is in control.'

On the experience of being accused of being a criminal and having his name dragged through the mud, Mr Sabet said: 'It was absolutely torturous. It has taken about five years off my life, maybe more.

'It was like a pre-meditated murder from the Post Office. They knew what they were doing and some of us actually died.

'I want the proper and real compensation. I want to be able to live now as I would have been able to before.

'Somebody has to feel what we felt. Somebody has to be held to account.

'There were people in charge before Paula Vennells who knew what was going on... What about them?

'They continue to destroy our lives and they should be brought to justice and made to feel all of the things we felt.'

Though he hasn't yet watched the ITV dramatisation of the Post Office scandal he lived through, Mr Sabet praised the TV show Mr Bates vs The Post Office for bringing the public's attention to his and his cohort's plight.

'I think it's great,' he said. 'It has caused outrage with everybody and everybody's talking about it.

'More people seem to understand and sympathise with what we went through and even Rishi Sunak has stepped in.'

But despite his desire to see justice finally served after all these years, Mr Sabet, worries his ill health - brought on by the stress of his ordeal - may mean he never lives to see the culmination of the scandal.

'I'm worried I won't see justice before I die,' he admitted.

'A lot of former postmasters have already died before they even knew what they were going to get. Some died with their names still not having been cleared.

Mr Sabet was handed a suspended sentence of one year in prison and ordered to complete 180 hours of community service at Lewes Crown Court in 2009, after pleading guilty to stealing more than 100,000 from the Post Office in a bid to avoid jail.

'I was absolutely terrified of going to prison. I didn't know what would happen to my wife and daughter.

'People looked at me as a criminal who stole people's money from the Post Office. They crossed the street to avoid me. It was incredible.'

Mr Sabet estimates that he lost around 2.8 million from his three Post Offices in Shoreham and Brighton.

Some senior lawyers yesterday raised concerns about the precedent that might be set by Parliament directly overturning court rulings.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve described the idea as a 'parliamentary interference in the judicial process of our country' while former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas told the BBC there was a 'real chance' that blanket legislation could result in some genuinely guilty people being cleared.

But two former justice secretaries said the scale of the miscarriage of justice justified exceptional measures.

Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton spoke top BBC Radio 4 today about how he was pursued and bankrupted by the Post Office.

READ MORE: Post Office is STILL handing millions to the company behind the faulty Horizon software that led to hundreds being wrongly accused of fraud Advertisement

He said: 'I didn't suspect the computer at all at first, I suspected myself personally.

'It was such a rounded figure, quite large, I suspected I had put something in the wrong column or I had miscounted something and I really did believe when I rang the helpline and explained, I believed what they told me which was 'don't worry it'll come back, you'll be able to find it and there'll be no problem.''

Mr Castleton made 91 phone calls over 12 weeks because he didn't want to accept that the misbalance was going to correct itself.

'The numbers just got more and more random. There were huge swings in 6,000 loss and then 1500 gains - all kinds of different swings week to week which were just inexplicable really.

'After a few weeks of sleepless nights and spending many many hours going through the paperwork looking for reasons why, begging people to come and look, I really did feel that if someone came to the office and I could show them the paperwork that I had and explain the situation that we would be able to find a remedy and why this was occurring.

'But Post Office were absolutely hellbent in not helping me and I realise that now more than ever and at the time I felt as if I wasn't explaining it properly and that people didn't really understand the severity of where I was finding myself. I really had nothing to hide.'

Mr Castleton asked for an audit which happened on March 23, 2004 which found a 25,500 deficit. He was then suspended while the Post Office attempted to recover what they thought they had lost.

After refusing to pay back the 25,500 - adamant he was not going to give back money he didn't owe - he was dismissed altogether and taken to court by the Post Office to recoup the loss.

That decision set in motion a catastrophic chain of events. When the Post Office legal team failed to show up for the initial hearing in Scarborough, judgment was made in Lee's favour. Yet the Post Office was determined to overturn that ruling, and took Lee to the High Court.

With no income and little in the way of savings, Lee had no option but to represent himself. He spent every waking hour 'buried in paperwork', working late into the night to try to establish what could possibly have gone wrong, stymied by the fact that not all transactions were available to him as only the Post Office had some of the dates.

Sir Robert Buckland called for legislation to bring justice to 'the victims and their families'.

READ MORE: Could more subpostmasters have taken their own lives? GMB's Richard Madeley claims Horizon scandal led to another tragic suicide of a Post Office worker who was wrongly accused of stealing thousands Fact-box text Advertisement

He said: 'There should be legislation to deal with the convictions of this huge class of people who are not just not guilty, but victims.'

Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer said there would be 'no resistance in Parliament' to an emergency law.

'It will take years to get rid of those other convictions unless there is a change in procedure,' he added.

Sir Bob Neill, head of the Commons justice committee, said handling the cases through the appeals procedure would 'place exceptional and unprecedented strains on the appeal system and the criminal justice system'.

He also called for the Post Office to lose its right to bring prosecutions without oversight from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Chalk held talks on the issue with senior members of the judiciary yesterday. The Prime Minister's official spokesman later said he was 'not aware of any significant challenges being raised' during the discussions, clearing the way for ministers to act.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said the Government wanted to pursue a 'collective exoneration' as many convicted postmasters had lost faith in the justice system and were reluctant to challenge their convictions.

He said the statutory inquiry will report by the end of the year and people can then be held to account once it is known who is responsible.

Mr Hollinrake said it was 'certainly possible' that some individuals are guilty of criminal offences and that action should be taken where there is evidence of that.

Mr Hollinrake, the Minister for the Post Office making a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, on Horizon compensation and convictions

'We have written to all the people with convictions to say 'Please come forward',' he said. 'We hope that making it easier to overturn a conviction and... access compensation will encourage more people to come forward.'

He said more postmasters had come forward following ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which put the issue at the top of the political agenda.

Mr Hollinrake said former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has done the 'right thing' by handing back her CBE in the wake of renewed focus on the Horizon scandal.

He refused to be drawn on whether she should return her bonuses from the role, saying he did not agree with 'trial by media'.

'She's done the right thing... What I don't think is right is that we have sort of trial by media on this,' the minister told Times Radio.

Fears were raised yesterday that more subpostmasters could have taken their own lives in the Horizon scandal after Richard Madeley claimed that another Post Office worker killed himself after he was wrongly accused of stealing 20,000.

The Good Morning Britain presenter said he was sending a recorded delivery letter at his local Post Office yesterday, when he got chatting to the subpostmaster behind the counter.

He told ITV co-star Susanna Reid: 'I said 'how was the drama for you?' and she burst into tears. 'She told me her story - and I won't say exactly where it was - but she said a cousin of hers killed himself after being accused of stealing 20,000 from the Post Office.'

Prior to Madeley's revelation, there were four known suicides linked to the Horizon scandal.

Among those who have taken their own lives is Martin Griffiths, who was falsely suspected of stealing money from a Post Office in Ellesmere Port where he had worked for around 20 years.

His family said he delved into his own savings and those of his parents to pay back around 60,000 he was wrongly suspected of taking from the branch. The turmoil lasted for four years, between 2009 and 2013, and had a huge impact on his physical and mental health.

Mr Griffiths and Ms McGowan both took their own lives after they were accused of stealing money from the Post Office

Devon postmaster Peter Huxham died in a suspected suicide in July 2020 after being jailed for eight months over a 16,000 shortfall

In 2013, Mr Griffiths parked his car on the A41 in Ellesmere Port after leaving a note for his loved ones and took his own life.

Mother-of-two Fiona McGowan also took her own life after she and partner Phil Cowan, were accused of stealing 30,000 from her Edinburgh post office.

Ms McGowan was 47 when she overdosed on alcohol and antidepressants in 2009. Her sons were 12 and 14.

Her partner Phil told The Sunday Post: 'Fiona may well be still alive today if she had not been facing court for false accusations of theft and died before clearing her name.'

Devon postmaster Peter Huxham died in a suspected suicide in July 2020 after being jailed for eight months over a 16,000 shortfall. In that time, his marriage had fallen apart and he had been battling alcoholism.

Recording an open conclusion, assistant coroner Stephen Covell said: 'It is unfortunately rather an unsatisfactory state of affairs that I cannot give any helpful conclusions as to the precise circumstances of Peter's death. He lived alone and died some weeks previously, and as a result his body was badly decomposed and it was not possible to give a cause of death. There were no suspicious circumstances.'

And postmaster's wife Louise Mann killed herself after wrongful allegations of theft.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local branch or go to www.samaritans.org
Former President Donald Trump thanked the highest-ranking Senate Republican yet to endorse his 2024 campaign for president days before the highly-anticipated Iowa caucuses.

Trump praised the 'GREAT Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming' for a 'powerful' endorsement on Fox News' Sean Hannity's show Tuesday evening.

'To know John is to both like and respect him, a truly extraordinary man. THANK YOU JOHN!!!' the former president continued in a Truth Social post.

Barrasso told Hannity that Trump will get the country 'back on track' and lead a wave of momentum for Republicans to keep the House and take back control of the Senate.

He is the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate to endorse Trump. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., has also thrown support behind him.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has an openly hostile relationship with the former president.

Trump praised the 'GREAT Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming ' for a 'powerful' endorsement on Fox News ' Sean Hannity's show Tuesday evening

Barrasso is the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate to endorse Trump

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, are next in line to succeed McConnell if he should step down.

But Barrasso is seen as another potential frontrunner and his earlier endorsement of Trump makes him the most connected to Trump of the entire GOP Senate conference.

Thune had previously backed Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., before he suspended his campaign for president last year.

'America was better off under Donald Trump,' Barrasso said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

'I am endorsing Donald Trump for president today because hard working Americans simply can't afford another four years of Joe Biden,' he continued.

'America was better off under Donald Trump,' Barrasso said in a statement to DailyMail.com

Barrasso's endorsement comes just days before the GOP Iowa caucuses on Monday.

Trump remains the frontrunner in the state - polling at about 50 percent, giving him a 30-point lead or more over his rivals.

Trump's lead is significantly shrinking in New Hampshire, where former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley skyrocketed to second place with just single digits separating them.

With just five days to go before Iowa's caucuses  when Republicans gather in school gymnasiums, church halls, and front rooms to debate, cajole and nudge each other into picking a candidate  the Trump campaign's plans to send a fleet of high-profile speakers across the state were upended by the weather.
A university student who killed herself behind bars was told her boyfriend was 'dating other women' while she was in prison, an inquest heard today.

Katie Allan, 21, was 'a well-liked popular prisoner' but had been bullied for tobacco by another inmate as well as by others over her stress-related alopecia, which appeared within seven weeks of being jailed for drink driving.

A probe into her death was shown that she also received 'a lot of abuse over the telephone from her boyfriend', who told her in the same month that she took her own life on June 4, 2018, that he was 'dating other women'.

Heather Morrison, one of two personal officers who dealt with Katie during her time at the Polmont Young Offenders' Institution, Stirlingshire, said she had 'direct experience of her returning crying and upset after a visit from her boyfriend'.

The inquiry earlier heard that Katie, a 'high achieving' Glasgow university student who continued studying even in jail, had requested for a bandana to cover her bald patch but 'a mental health nurse apparently came to the hall with bananas' instead.

Katie Allan, who took her own life inside Polmont Young Offenders Institution, Stirlingshire

Ms Allan was jailed for 16 months for dangerous driving

She had been studying at Glasgow University and was described as a 'lovely lassie'

The inquest at Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Katie had not slept for three days running up to her death because of taunts and threats from other prisoners.

Two young prisoners, who were not named, had to be transferred to other jails after Katie's death over fears they might be blamed over what had happened.

Ms Morrison, 47, told solicitor-advocate Leanne Cross, for the Crown: 'To be honest she was different, and not built for prison

'A lot of the young women have a background with the secure care system.

'There's already used to the kind of system that's in prison. Katie wasn't. She was more mature and more grounded than the other girls.'

Ms Morrison said Katie was friends with two other girls in the hall who were similar, but both had got out by the time of her death.

Ms Morrison said: 'That was a big change - [after that] Katie never had the two friends she'd made - her little supports that she had.'

The probe into Katie's death - which is also looking at the death in Polmont in October 2018 of 16-year old William Brown, known as William Lindsay - was shown intelligence reports suggesting that someone in the jail had been bullying Katie for tobacco.

It was also told that she had also received 'a lot of abuse over the telephone from her boyfriend'. The prison intelligence report said Katie's boyfriend had informed her the month that she died that he was 'dating other women'.

Allan taking a selfie while listening to music

Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Stirlingshire

Ms Morrison said she did not have access to the reports, which were for managers, but she said she did have 'direct experience of her returning crying and upset after a visit from her boyfriend' and was worried that due to her alopecia 'her hair was coming out in clumps'.

The inquiry also heard that the fact that Katie had a history of self-harm was not known to residential officers in her hall, and had not been mentioned in an admission form filled in by a mental health nurse when she arrived at Polmont on transfer from the former Cornton Vale women's prison near Stirling where she had spent a few initial days after being sentenced.

Katie told her mum, Linda Allan, that other inmates had called her 'a baldy bastard, a fat cow and a snob, said that 'the minute she came out of her cell she'd get battered', that she 'might as well go and top herself', and shouted 'Go hang yourself Katie, give us all peace'.

Mrs Allan, 56, a nurse, former Scottish government advisor, and herself an honorary clinical associate professor at Glasgow Unversity, said that Katie had been 'like a rabbit caught in the headlights' and 'a fish out of water' after being jailed for 16 months in March 2018 for dangerous driving.

She said she had not expected to be jailed for the offence, in which a 15 year old boy was injured.

The inquiry, before Sheriff Simon Collins KC, continues.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps warned Houthi rebels to end their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea after British and American warships were forced to repel a huge wave of missiles and drones from the Iran-backed militants.

HMS Diamond, a 1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of Sea Viper missiles - which travel three times the speed of sound. US fighter jets were also involved in the operation.

Dramatic pictures showed the moment the British Destroyer shot down the huge wave of missiles and drones fired by the rebels.

Shapps told Sky News there was 'no doubt' Tehran was involved and providing weapons and intelligence.

'Enough is enough,' he said. 'We must be clear with the Houthis that this has to stop and that is my simple message to them today: Watch this space'.

He also told reporters: 'My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that there's a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region).'

Shapps called the Houthi attack 'the largest to date' and said the UK had taken action to 'protect innocent lives and the global economy'. He said none of HMS Diamond's crew had been injured.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps today warned Iran-backed Houthi rebels to end their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

HMS Diamond, a 1billion Type 45 destroyer known as the jewel of the Royal Navy, shot down the targets with a barrage of sea viper missiles - which travel three times the speed of sound

Personnel onboard HMS Diamond shoot down drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

The Houthis are an Iranian backed militia that has been pummelling merchant ships in the Red Sea for months, forcing a coalition of nations including the UK and USA to deploy warships to protect them.

The rebels say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets are increasingly random, raising the risk of a US retaliatory strike on Yemen.

The attacks are disrupting maritime trade through the Suez canal - a crucial route linking Europe with Asia and the Middle East - leading to delays and price rises for consumers.

Mr Shapps said: 'Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

'Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, Diamond destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew.

'The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences. We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.'

READ MORE: Brits are warned price rises sparked by Houthi rebel attacks on cargo vessels are 'imminent' as shipping giants divert around South Africa Advertisement

The UN Security Council will vote on a motion later today that would call for the attacks to stop. Today's assault took place off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey.

Merchant captains were urged to 'proceed at maximum speed' through the perilous waters.

The US military's Central Command said the 'complex attack' launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile. No damage was immediately reported.

It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason.

'This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19,' Central Command said. 'There were no injuries or damage reported.'

The Houthis, a Shiite group that's held Yemen's capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks.

However, Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces 'targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea,' without elaborating.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas.

But the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

That strait is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it.

An estimated $1trillion worth of goods pass through the strait annually.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps called the Houthi attack 'the largest to date' and said the UK had taken action to 'protect innocent lives and the global economy'

The US military said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (file image), as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason

File image of Houthi rebels boarding a vessel amid their assault on world's crucial trade routes

A US draft resolution before the UN Security Council, obtained last night, says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce 'and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.'

The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.

An initial draft of the resolution would have recognized 'the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to take appropriate measures to defend their merchant and naval vessels.'

The final draft is weaker, eliminating any U.N. recognition of a country's right to defend its ships.

Instead, it would affirm that the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels must be respected, and take note 'of the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.'

A US-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks.

American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though there's been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the US.

However, Tuesday's attack appeared to be testing what response, if any, would come from Washington.

Meanwhile, a separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen's exiled government has held for months despite that country's long war.

That's raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea - or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces - could reignite those tensions in the Arab world's poorest nation. It also may draw Iran, which so far has largely avoided directly entering the wider Israel-Hamas war, further into the conflict.
Heartwarming encounter: Reindeer delights young girl in Harbin's 'Ice City'

(People's Daily App) 17:12, January 10, 2024

Recently, in the enchanting "Ice City" of Harbin, located in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, a delightful moment unfolded when a young girl expressed her desire to take a picture with a reindeer. Responding to her request, the gentle reindeer leaned its head over, offering a snuggle and posing affectionately with the girl. Click to experience the joy of this heartwarming scene.

(Video edited by Liu Haozhe)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
MBABANE  The people who were involved in an accident along the R33 Road between Carolina and Warburton in South Africa (SA), are all emaSwati and the death toll has risen to five.

There were seven passenger on board the truck, which was ferrying a consignment of timber. It is reported that five died, including the driver, while two are recuperating at the Carolina Provincial Hospital. It is believed the driver of the truck lost control of it, which resulted in the accident. Montigny Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andrew Le Roux confirmed that one of the trucks which were contracted to their company, belonging to one Sibongile Dube, was involved in a fatal accident.

We are aware that there were fatalities and we are still awaiting details of the accident, because the majority of the victims have not been identified, said Le Roux. According to Le Roux, the truck was transporting timber from Bhunya to Johannesburg. He said the people on board the truck were not their employees and based on information they had received, they were believed to be hitchhikers.

Saddened

Le Roux said they were deeply saddened by the tragedy and extended their sincere condolences to the families and friends of those affected. Eswatini Road Freight Association Chairperson, Sihlangu Nhlabatsi, sent condolences to the families of the deceased emaSwati. Nhlabatsi said the truck departed from Bhunya with only the driver and was destined for Johannesburg, and they had no information regarding the passengers. He said it was unfortunate that the association issued a warning against offering lifts to passengers. A truck is not a kombi, but it is meant to transport goods and not people, he said.

Nhlabatsi said drivers should refrain from offering lifts to hitchhikers. He stated that there was a need to sensitise drivers against this, adding that they were now facing challenges in identifying the passengers. He said it was unfortunate that the driver also passed away, hence they were not sure whether the passengers were emaSwati and where they were from. Nhlabasti said Dube, who was the owner of the truck, was a businesswoman who was their member.

Meanwhile, the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liason, Moeti Mmusi, said the deceased were all identified as emaSwati.

Mmusi said investigations into the crash were already underway, adding that the deceased were all males. The names and identities of the deceased have been concealed as their next of kin could not be sought for comment.
The Canadian military police has sent out a stern warning to troops after an 'army fetishist' sex worker was found to be giving discounts to men in uniform.

Christina Lea Gilchrist, 32, is a self-proclaimed 'toy soldier' and charges troops a discounted $150-an-hour for her services.

She has admitted that since the police tried to quiet her, she has been inundated with requests from new clients on the base.

The Ontario woman has been a sex worker for over a decade and said she found she had a military fetish when she moved to Kingston, the home of one Canadian Forces Base.

Now military police are threatening to charge the 'sluts for soldiers' sex worker for allegedly using real uniforms in her work - an accusation Gilchrist denies.

Christina Lea Gilchrist, 32, is a self-proclaimed 'toy soldier' and charges army men a discounted $150 an hour for her services - and admitted that since the police tried to quiet her, she's been inundated with requests from new clients

The Ontario woman has been a sex worker for over 10 years and said she discovered she had a military fetish when she moved to Kingston, the home of one Canadian Forces Base

Now, she's been contacted by military men from across the country, who are interested in her services

Since a formal warning was put out against her, Gilchrist's business has skyrocketed, and she jokingly called herself the 'prettiest casual threat to national security.'

Police found out about her - and that Canadian military personnel in the barracks were using her services - after discovering her business card in one of the dorms.

Gilchrist told the Ottawa Citizen: 'I developed a military fetish while living in Kingston and now I really like them.

'I prefer them to be in their uniforms because I am actively a military fetishist. I love them in their uniform.'

Gilchrist's website explains that if clients are members of the armed forces, her going rate is $150 per hour - which is a $50 discount compared to normal folk.

The men are required to show military identification cards to receive the discount.

Selling sex in Canada is legal - but Gilchrist is accused of breaking the law by using military uniforms in her work, police documents state.

On Gilchrist's OnlyFans account, where she posts some of her encounters and solo shots, she describes herself as a: 'Professional Submissive. Kinky Masochist. BDSM Educator. Leather Pony. Military Fetishist'

Gilchrist also has a tattoo of three green toy soldiers and two war memorial poppies underneath her breasts, which she got in 2022. Posting an image of her etching, she wrote: 'Lifetime commitment to my fetish! I am not a soldier, I just f**k a lot of them'

An internal note to all Canadian military personnel at the base in Kingston warned the men against seeing Gilchrist. The alert is a highly unusual step.

The military personnel were told: 'The escort in question has photos posted on their website of (as of yet unidentified) clients in CAF uniforms in compromising positions.

'Aside from this being a potential offence, it could lead to other more serious consequences and engaging in sexual exploitation clearly goes against our CAF Code of Ethics and Values.'

After finding her business card, the military police sent her a warning directly.

Police claimed she had committed two offenses under the Criminal Code.

The first was advertising sexual services, and the second was for the unlawful use of military uniforms contrary to section 419(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada.

Police told Gilchrist on December 18: 'Upon review of your website, it was noticed that you were not only advertising your services wearing a military uniform which is a controlled piece of clothing, but also displaying other parties engaging in sexual acts while also in uniform.

'Further, as our investigation continues, if it is discovered that you received your uniform from another Canadian Forces member, then an additional charge is present.'

An internal note to all Canadian military personnel at the base in Kingston warned the men against seeing Gilchrist. The alert is a highly unusual step

Police claimed she had committed two offenses under the Criminal Code. The first was advertising sexual services, and the second was for the unlawful use of military uniforms contrary to section 419(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada

Pictured: Canadian Forces Base Kingston, where the sex worker's business cards were found

She told the Ottawa Citizen in response: 'I've never walked around in public pretending to be a soldier. People in movies dressed up as soldiers aren't impersonating soldiers, so why do (military police) think that I am?'

But after the internal message, the sex worker said her business boomed.

She wrote: 'Thanks to the free advertising the CAF unintentionally gave me by quite literally announcing my existence to my exact target audience.

'I am experiencing a high amount of traffic and may take a while to reply.'

Col. Sonny Hatton is the base commander at Canadian Forces Base Kingston

Gilchrist added: 'They gave me all this free publicity. After they made that memo, I literally had 10,000 hits on my website. They said to soldiers  'Hey don't look at this' and all the soldiers said, 'Hey let's go look at this.'

Now, she's been contacted by military men from across the country, who are interested in her services.

On Gilchrist's OnlyFans account, where she posts some of her encounters and solo shots, she describes herself as a: 'Professional Submissive. Kinky Masochist. BDSM Educator. Leather Pony. Military Fetishist.'

She added: 'It is perfectly legal for me to advertise myself and for me to sell my own services as long as I am the only one profiting.'

Gilchrist's website, sluts for soldiers, has multiple disclaimers noting that she is not a member of the military - and that she is not associated with the armed forces.

She writes on her website, next to an explicit image of her engaging in sexual acts with two men wearing camouflage outfits: 'I'm collecting all your rank slips and cap badges.

'I'm earning them... just not the way you did.

Since a formal warning was put out against her, Gilchrist's business has skyrocketed, and she jokingly called herself the 'prettiest casual threat to national security'

'Officially the prettiest casual threat to national security* that you'll ever see since a memo went out to CFB KINGSTON about me specifically.

'* legally a joke, please - I'm just a shack rat.'

Pictures of Gilchrist, advertising her service, show her wearing a camouflage bikini and skirt, with her hands tied to the back of a truck.

Others include photos of her wearing camouflage jackets, with the words 'sluts4soldiers' on the arm, her on the ground with her breasts out while a man, holding a leash around her neck, steps on her face.

In another shot, she poses in a derelict building with her arms raised above her face in a lacy green bralette, with a gas mask over her mouth and nose.

Gilchrist also has a tattoo of three green toy soldiers and two war memorial poppies underneath her breasts, which she got in 2022.

Posting an image of her etching, she wrote: 'Lifetime commitment to my fetish! I am not a soldier, I just f**k a lot of them.'

The words 'not enlisted' are plastered across her social media, and she reiterated on Instagram: 'I am not a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, nor am I a veteran of any other military. I am not a soldier, I am a military fetishist.'

In Canada, non-military people can buy military uniforms and medals online from multiple stores - and commercial copies of camouflage are also readily available.

National Defence spokesperson Frederica Dupuis said the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service were investigating after 'explicit advertising' was found.
The decision was made to move migrants from Floyd Bennett shelter

There is growing outrage over New York City Mayor Eric Adams' decision to kick students out of their high school to make way for 2,000 migrants during a lackluster storm.

The students of James Madison High School in Brooklyn are today stuck at home, keeping many of their parents there with them.

The decision was to allow 2,000 migrants to move from their shelter to the school premises in anticipation of a storm that officials thought would put the shelter at a flood risk.

Eric Adams at James Madison High School last night as 2,000 migrants were moved to the gymnasium

Adams surveyed the gymnasium where the migrants slept on the floor. They were moved back to the shelter at 4.30am

New York City kicked students out of a Brooklyn high school in order to relocate nearly 2,000 migrants housed at Floyd Bennett Field ahead of a potentially damaging storm

NYC Mayor Eric Adams hugs James Madison High School principal Jodie Cohen

Mayor Eric Adams took to Twitter last night to celebrate the move. He shared a handful of photos from his visit

The migrants were moved back to the shelter at 4.30am today after no damage was done to the site

Adams, proud of the decision, visited the site last night and shared photos on Twitter afterwards that showed him surveying the gym hall where the migrants would be sleeping.

At 4am this morning, after no serious damage was done to the shelter, they were moved back. By then, school parents had already been told to make arrangements to keep their kids at home for the day.

The decision has outraged many New Yorkers who say it is yet more proof of Adams prioritizing the thousands of migrants who have descended on the city over tax-paying residents and their families.

Among those who voiced criticism is New York State Assemblyman Mike Reilly of Staten Island who said Adams had taken the issue 'beyond the threshold' of common sense.

'For more than a year, I and common sense colleagues from around New York City have been outspoken about the placement of temporary migrant shelters in our community and our public schools.

'We stressed, with great concern, the impact these types of facilities would have on public safety and quality of life.

'We were called conspiracy theorists for even suggesting the possibility that taxpaying New Yorkers would be displaced to make room for those here illegally.

'We have officially crossed the threshold. City officials are now setting a dangerous precedent for the future of this crisis,' he said.

Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt fumed: 'This should outrage us all! We have an obligation to the American people to end this madness.

'First luxury hotels and now THIS. Coming to a High School near you, Bidens illegal immigrants.

'It begins at James Madison High School which is being used as migrant shelter.

'For the record, we have homeless vets sleeping on the streets of America every night!'

The widespread heavy rain, strong winds and fierce thunderstorms which arrived on Tuesday are forecast to continue into the following day as utilities companies battle to restore power

Adams administration had erected the temporary shelter at the former airport in response to the waves of new immigrants arriving in the city
Experts have reconstructed the face of the only man known to have been crucified in Roman Britain.

His skeleton was unearthed during an excavation in the Cambridgeshire village of Fenstanton back in 2017. Radiocarbon dating placed the find between 130-337AD.

The remains of the 5'7'' man  believed to have been in his mid 30s at the time of his death  were crucially found with a two-inch nail driven through his heel bone.

Experts subsequently concluded that he was the victim of the gruesome practice of crucifixion.

New BBC documentary The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion, which airs tonight, reveals an incredible reconstruction of the man's face, which was compiled by US-based expert using DNA and forensic information garnered from his remains.

He is only the second Roman crucifixion victim ever found in the world. The first was unearthed in Israel in 1968.

Though there is a wealth of documentary evidence, including in the gospels, of Jesus' crucifixion, no physical evidence of it has yet been found.

Professor Joe Mullins, a forensic artist at George Mason University, Virginia, carried out the reconstruction.

The academic has spent more than 20 years working with the police to reconstruct the faces of crime victims.

Experts have reconstructed the face of the only man to have been crucified in Roman Britain. Professor Joe Mullins, a forensic artist at George Mason University, Virginia, carried out the reconstruction

The remains of the 5'7'' man  believed to have been in his mid 30s at the time of his death  were crucially found with a two-inch nail driven through his heel bone

His skeleton was unearthed during an excavation in the Cambridgeshire village of Fenstanton back in 2017. Radiocarbon dating placed the find between 130-337AD

Using DNA and isotopic information the experts were able to determine that the Cambridgeshire victim likely had brown hair and brown eyes.

Professor Mullins says in the programme: 'As far as the information I got for this particular case, it really was fascinating to me because I was basically able to get just as much or more information for this case that is thousands of years old, that I would for an active case that I am working for law enforcement.

'Now the problem was, this skull it was fragmented. There is no other way to explain it. It was putting together a [2,000 year old] puzzle.

'Your skull is the foundation that your face is built on. It doesn't matter how old the skull is, all that information is going to be laid out in front of us.'

He adds: 'It's not just a skull anymore, I am staring at a face from thousands of years ago, and staring at this face is something I will never forget.'

University of Cambridge archaeologist Corinne Duhig says: 'It is such a brilliant reconstruction isn't it. It is just so living. Those details are wonderful.'

She adds: 'He just looks like someone that I used to work with in the health service years ago. Ancient people and modern people, there is no taking us apart is there.

'This man had such a particularly awful end of life that it feels as though seeing his face we can give more respect to him.'

Professor Mullins had to rebuild the fractured skull in digital form before making a 3D rendering of the man's face

Dr Mullins says in the programme: 'Your skull is the foundation that your face is built on. It doesn't matter how old the skull is, all that information is going to be laid out in front of us'

The expert rebuilt the victim's face using DNA and isotopic information that pointed to his facial features and hair and eye colour

The Cambridgeshire man is only the second Roman crucifixion victim ever found in the world. The first was unearthed in Israel in 1968

Physical evidence of crucifixion  rather than documented descriptions of the practice  tends to be rare, as the victim's remains were usually unceremoniously disposed of and the nails removed for their 'magical' properties

Physical evidence of crucifixion  rather than documented descriptions of the practice  tends to be rare, as the victim's remains were usually unceremoniously disposed of and the nails removed for their 'magical' properties.

Researchers are unsure exactly why the victim may have been crucified. For some, extreme penalties (which likely also included burning and being sent to wild beasts) are thought to have been doled out for severe crimes.

These may have included, for example, severe political crimes like treason or sedition, desertion from the military, destroying tombs, some kinds of murder and rape.

However, status would also come into play  with those of higher rank tending to receive less extreme penalties while, the researchers explained, 'almost anything could condemn a slave to crucifixion'.

In one case, for example, a slave was crucified simply for refusing to testify against her mistress.

Roman law also famously dictated that should a slave kill his master, then all of that man's slaves  including women and children  were executed, often by crucifixion.

Speaking to MailOnline in 2021, Dr Duhig speculated that the Cambridgeshire man 'might have been a slave and committed some crime or misdemeanour  one that would not have resulted in crucifixion if he had been of higher rank'.

She added: 'He might have been an ordinary local person who committed a severe crime.

'Or, because his town was probably involved in providing materials and services to some local Roman settlement, he might have been someone who got on the wrong side of the bosses or middlemen and was given a terrible punishment to warn others to behave.'

Researchers are unsure exactly why the victim may have been crucified. Above: The remains of the nail and heel bone being handled by an expert

Six other graves were unearthed in the same burial site as part of the excavation project, which unearthed a total of 48 remains from across five cemeteries in Fenstanton from 201718

An archaeologist excavates the crucified man's grave in the village of Fenstanton, Cambridge

The slave's heel bone  or 'calcaneum'  showing where the iron nail was driven through it

The Cambridgeshire man was confirmed as a crucifixion victim after the experts examined evidence that included thinning of his legs, punitive injuries and signs of immobilisation.

The man is thought to have been from the local area and are was likely crucified on a roadside around half a mile from the cemetery in which he was buried.

Six other graves were unearthed in the same burial site as part of the excavation project, which unearthed a total of 48 remains from across five cemeteries in Fenstanton between 2017 and 2018.

Alongside these burials, the team also uncovered artefacts including an assortment of ceramics and an enamelled, copper-alloy brooch shaped like a horse and rider.

This piece of jewellery is similar to a previous find at Hockwold cum Wilton in Norfolk that has been linked to a Roman-era cult known to have existed in East Anglia, Somerset and Wiltshire.

The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion airs tonight on BBC Four at 9pm and will be available on BBC iPlayer.
Talk TV presenter Alex Phillips today told how she was violently attacked in an attempted mobile phone mugging by a teenager in broad daylight on Britain's premier shopping street.

Ms Phillips revealed she became the latest London crime statistic after a 'little s***' on a bike - estimated to be as young as 14 - struck her and attempted to snatch her handset.

The 40-year-old, who co-hosts the Cross Talk segment on the channel, had just left a Samsung mobile phone store close to Tottenham Court Road underground station when she was attacked in broad daylight.

She was walking along Oxford Street looking at her phone when a hooded youth sped up behind her on a bike.

Talk TV presenter Alex Phillips today told how she was violently attacked in an attempted mobile phone mugging by a teenager in broad daylight on Britain's premier shopping street

Met Police officers pictured on London's Oxford Street where Alex Phillips was mugged

Alex's tweet branding the mugger on Oxford Street a 'little s*** on a bike'

She told MailOnline: 'He yanked me from behind and I span round. He then karate chopped my hand as I think he was making a grab for the phone.

'It fell to the floor. I don't think he was going to get off the bike to pick up the phone and just rode off. It was all over in a few seconds.'

The presenter said she was so shocked by the attempted mugging she started to cry  and then when the shock wore off became increasingly angry at what had happened.

She went on: 'I would say he was about 14 or 15 from his build. I could not see his face as he had his hood pulled up.'

And the former Member of the European Parliament told MailOnline she feared London was in danger of becoming as lawless as Nairobi in Kenya - where she once lived.

She went on: 'Since I talked about the mugging so many people have contacted me to say the same thing happened to them. Just on anecdotal evidence phone theft is rampant on Oxford Street. I have heard from so many people who have experienced the same thing in London.

'It is not acceptable. I lived in Nairobi in Kenya for a time and that place was known as 'Ni Robbery' because there was so much crime there.

'In Nairobi you did not walk down the street at night, and you did not talk on your phone.

'London is not as bad as Nairobi yet, but it is getting so much worse. It is grim.'

A spokesperson for the Met Police said: 'We are concerned to hear about this. We have asked the broadcaster to share further information with us so an investigation can be carried out.'

Traders and shoppers in the area supported Ms Phillips' assertion that street crime is become more prevalent - with brazen robbers carrying out numerous 'snatch and grab' raids every day.

Store assistants on Oxford Street have told how they have witnessed the aftermath of the thefts 'countless' times with victims left shocked and weeping. And they said that on the street once considered the jewel in the crown of London for retail phone thefts are a daily occurrence.

They said women were almost always the target with the thieves racing up on the pavement behind their victims on bikes or e-scooters.

Lily Hardy, who works in the Smiggles store, said a woman had her phone snatched this morning as she stood outside the shop.

Lily said: 'She was standing outside the shop and someone on a bike came and grabbed it from her.

'I just heard her screaming and I think another woman gave chase, but the thief was on a bike and was too fast.

'You hear about phones being stolen everyday. It is an everyday occurrence. They pick on women as they are less likely to put up a fight or chase.'

Two female staff who work at the Intimissimi Lingerie shop, opposite where Ms Philips incident took place, said they would never walk along Oxford Street while using their mobile phone.

'I never use my phone out on the street,' said one of the store assistants, who asked not to be named.

'There are so many people who come in here and have said their phone has been stolen. We have people who are looking in the store and pickpockets come in and take the phone.'

At the Cool Britannia shop a store assistant said women were always the target for the thefts.

He said a member of his staff stepped outside the store to make a call and had his phone snatched.

'It is always women that are being picked on,' said the staff assistant who gave his name as Anand.

'This goes on everyday, and yet you hardly see any police about. When they do come it is to take a statement and drive off.

'This is the main shopping street in London and they should be based here at each end of the street.

'It really is out of control with so many people being robbed.'

A worker at a mobile phone store said: ' We have people coming in everyday who have had their phones stolen and asking to block their phones.

'Its crazy how many people are being robbed, but the police do not seem to be able to do anything.'

Another shop keeper, who asked not to be named, said, phone thefts were mostly carried out in the morning rush hour.

He said:' You see it all the time, and it is always women.

They are talking on the phone as they walk along the street. Often it is tourists who have come here from a country where it is safe to use a mobile phone.

'All you hear is women crying after the theft. The thieves know exactly what they are doing. They go off down side roads so people can chase after them.'

Taking to social media Alex said: 'A little sh**t on a bike just tried to mug me on Oxford St in broad daylight'

The 40-year-old journalist and former politician was walking down Oxford Street in central London when the boy grabbed her bag and 'karate chopped' her arm

Oxford Street is covered by CCTV cameras. A police vehicle being used for facial recognition was parked by Oxford Circus tube station.

The four cameras scanned along Oxford Street looking for faces already on the police database.

But there were no officers on foot patrol when Mail Online visited the street and at the Tottenham Court Road end there were no signs warning visitors about the presence of phone thieves.

Ms Phillips, who is a member of the Reform Party, said there should be a more visible police presence on Oxford Street.

'I am sure if there were more police out in the street it would act as a deterrent' she said.

The Met Police do not keep separate crime figures for Oxford Street.

But figures for the borough of Westminster where it is situated show that in the month of November there were almost 2,000 reported crimes of theft.

Recent figures released by the Met Police show there were 57,000 phone thefts in London  an average of 169 a day.

Despite the threat of being mugged many people continued to use their mobile phone while walking along and around Oxford Street.

Diana Arquinigo said she knew people who had their phone snatched in recent months.

'I think everyone knows someone who has had their phone stolen,' said the 31 year old barista.

'I try to be careful but its hard not to use the phone when walking along. It is scary that it is just women who are being picked on.'

Office worker Simone Pietropaolo, 33, said he made sure he gripped his mobile with both hands.

He said he knows of at least two work colleagues who had their phones stolen by muggers on push bikes.

'I do make sure I grip the phone tightly if I am using it while out,' he said.

A Marks & Spencer executive has warned that crime rates on Oxford Street were surging as London's famous shopping district falls into disrepair.

Police and large groups of young people were seen in Oxford Circus on August 9 after calls for looting spread on TikTok.

Shocking video from the time showed police wielding batons clashing with dozens of youths in Oxford Street after chaos erupted when a social media-fuelled campaign to 'rob JD Sports' went viral.

Nine people were arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of offences including assaulting a police officer, going equipped to steal and breaching a dispersal order at the shopping hotspot.

Footage from the scene shows officers chasing after youths outside the Microsoft store in Europe's busiest shopping street with their batons raised, with some being wrestled away by police and put in handcuffs.

Sacha Berendji, operations director of M&S said the area had once been 'the jewel in London's shopping crown' but was now little more than 'empty shops, littered streets and fewer visitors'.

He said shocking scenes of social media-fuelled carnage as thugs attempted to loot stores in August were 'another reminder of how bad things are'.
Delta Air Lines' restrictions on lounge access took effect on January 1st, sparking fury among passengers who were denied entry to the luxury pre-boarding experience.

Despite paying a $695 annual fee for American Express Platinum perks, passengers booking basic economy tickets are now barred from visiting Delta Sky Club airport lounges.

Veronica Reign, an Amex Platinum cardholder, was caught off guard by the new policies, and furiously shared her experience on TikTok just before boarding a Delta flight on Tuesday.

'Finally, I get an Amex Platinum card. I come to the Delta terminal,' she said. 'And as of January 1st, 2024, you cannot go into the Delta Sky Lounge with your Platinum Amex unless you are flying above basic economy.'

She added, 'I want to say to Delta and the Delta lounge that it's so disrespectful. Because we pay $700 f**king dollars a year for the Amex Platinum, and now I don't have access to the Delta lounge.'

Delta Air Lines' restrictions on lounge access took effect on January 1st, sparking fury among passengers, including Veronica Reign, who were denied entry to the luxury pre-boarding experience

Despite paying a $695 annual fee for American Express Platinum perks, passengers booking basic economy tickets are now barred from visiting Delta Sky Club airport lounges

Delta announced its policy changes last year in response to a record number of visitors to its Delta Sky Club airport lounges.

The policies are aimed at capping the number of entries to its lounges and tightening the qualifying criteria for customers to earn frequent flyer status.

Starting from February 1, 2025, travelers will see their access to the Atlanta-based airline's luxurious Delta Sky Clubs restricted to as few as six visits a year.

As of January 2024, those who book a basic economy ticket are no longer allowed entry into the lounge, regardless of holding an American Express Platinum card or any other premium credit card.

From early 2025, American Express Platinum and Platinum Business cardholders will only be able to visit the Delta lounge six times a year to enjoy access to free meals and drinks and a space to relax before their flight.

Delta Reserve and Delta Business Reserve customers will be limited to ten visits a year, the company announced.

Delta announced its policy changes last year in response to a record number of visitors to its Delta Sky Club airport lounges

The policies are aimed at capping the number of entries to its lounges and tightening the qualifying criteria for customers to earn frequent flyer status

Reign's frustration resonated with numerous social media users and travelers who, like her, experienced denial of entry to the lounge and the loss of access to complimentary meals and drinks.

One user wrote: 'I agree, I got my Amex card back in Dec 2023 and I was upset to find out this news too.'

Another person chimed in, saying, 'Same thing happened to me, its ridiculous.'

Some social media users pointed out that Delta lounges have been overcrowded and offered alternative suggestions for Reign.

Multiple people suggested Amex Centurion lounges, with one saying, 'go to the Centurion lounge or just get main cabin instead of economy.'

Another user wrote: 'I didnt know this either!! And went this past weekend, thankfully the guy just let me through- he did tell me that you can choose Delta as your preferred airline and use the credit to pay for the delta lounge fee.'

The Platinum Card has become the most popular American Express product - despite its whopping $695 yearly fee - with access to lounges as one of its key perks

Without the card, the Sky Club has only been available to those traveling business or first class or those willing to pay a $695 yearly lounge membership fee.

Upset customers flocked to social media to share their outrage at the company's polices when they were firstly announced in September, with one user describing it as the 'biggest middle finger yet.'

'I've been loyal to this brand for a decade now. And they've flushed my loyalty down the toilet,' they wrote on Reddit.

Other travelers said they would be switching to other airlines as a result of the changes - and furious American Express platinum credit cardholders are threatening a boycott.

'They're slashing status boost and lounge access, leaving us with little reason to carry a Delta-branded card. American Express should expect a mass exodus in 2024,' another user wrote on X.

'Been a Delta platinum medallion member, delta credit platinum card holder and Amex platinum card holder for years,' another wrote.

'After eviscerating the program, there's no need to be any of those things anymore. Hey @united what's up?'

In a statement, Delta said the plans were meant to simplify the program and offer new ways for customers to qualify for frequent flyer status.
An American tourist who was left stranded in Ecuador has witnessed the civil unrest after the president ordered the army onto the streets.

Steven Donovan shared the terrifying footage from his hotel in the port city of Guayaquil, which shows military personnel storming down a section of highway.

Donovan said he had been forced to stay in the city following the disastrous Alaska Airlines Boeing plane that blew out earlier this week, causing air travel chaos.

Dozens of armed personnel can be storming the area near the airport in the city, equipped with assault rifles after violence erupted on the streets.

On Tuesday, hooded gangsters seized a state TV news studio, while a university was attacked and 130 jail guards were held hostage.

Dozens of armed personnel can be storming the area near the airport in the city, equipped with assault rifles after violence erupted on the streets

Steven Donovan, seen here, shared the terrifying footage from his hotel in the port city of Guayaquil, which has been at the center of the conflict

Donovan added a post to his Instagram account, saying, 'I'm not sure if this has made international news yet but the current situation in Ecuador is very intense.

'The president has issued a state of emergency for the entire country and yesterday gangs took the news station hostage right down the street from our hotel in Guayaquil.

'I'm hoping things don't escalate and I can get out this evening on a flight. There's talks of an all out civil war happening but for the moment I'm safe at a hotel and very close to the airport.'

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of several police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.

Adolfo 'Fito' Macias, 44, the leader of Los Choneros gang, was found missing from his cell in a low security prison on the same day he was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security facility, on Sunday.

A manhunt is underway for Macias and Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico, who also escaped prison on Tuesday since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

Peru also declared an emergency on Tuesday along its northern border with Ecuador because of the ongoing violence.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 36-year sentence in La Regional prison in Guayaquil.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of several police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency

Men with their faces covered entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs

Adolfo Macias, aka Fito, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, is seen here while being transferred to The Rock maximum-security complex

Los Choneros is a huge criminal organization that authorities have linked to extortion, murder and drug trafficking, among other crimes.

Their network of members is massive and pervades many of the country's prisons, with the group standing accused of controlling many penitentiaries from the inside.

Members carry out contract killings, run extortion operations, move and sell drugs, and are the law inside a number of prisons.

President Daniel Noboa, who took office on November 23, has promised to eradicate violence through his so-called Phoenix Plan, the details of which he has not revealed to the public.

To face up to the crisis, Noboa decreed a state of emergency and curfew on Monday, tasking police and armed forces with enforcing compliance.

It restricts the rights to move freely, to assemble and allows police entry into homes without a court order.

The attack on the television elicited another decree, this time recognizing that the country possesses an armed, domestic conflict and identifying more than a dozen organizations as 'terrorists and belligerent non-state actors'.

The decree also enabled the armed forces to carry out military operations 'to neutralize the identified groups', while observing international humanitarian law.

President Noboa, seen here, has ordered the army onto the streets and declared a state of 'internal armed conflict'

President Daniel Noboa, who took office on November 23, has promised to eradicate violence through his so-called Phoenix Plan. Soldiers are seen here walking the streets of Quito

Ecuadorian authorities have launched a major manhunt to track down Fito, who is presumed to have escaped his cell

Ecuadorean police squad enters the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air

Military stand guard at Litoral Penitentiary after the disappearance of 'Fito' on January 7, 2024

Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations on Tuesday, making them official military targets.

Los Choneros and other similar groups, primarily Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones have all be named as targets, and have been fighting over territory and control.

The gangs have links to cartels from Colombia and Mexico, including the infamous Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation groups.

Noboa was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country - once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

He vowed Monday to bring the fight to the cartels after Macias escaped from prison the previous day.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a post to social media: 'We strongly condemn the recent criminal attacks by armed groups in Ecuador against private, public, & government institutions.

'We are committed to supporting Ecuadorians security & prosperity & bolstering cooperation w/partners to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.'
A ferry's car deck was flooded with water while sailing as a 'bomb cyclone' blasted the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday.

In footage posted to TikTok, water was seen splashing over the boat's sides and on the lower level of a Washington State Ferry as it traveled near the San Juan Island.

No passengers were onboard the boat, named Issaquah, as crew travelled from the Seattle area to Anacortes.

'They encountered severe weather in/near the Straits of Juan De Fuca in an area that these ferries rarely travel and do so only during boat moves and without passengers,' Washington State Ferries Public Information Officer Ian Sterling told DailyMail.com.

Water rolled in on the vehicle deck level of a Washington State Ferry boat called the Issaquah as it traveled near the San Juan Islands on Tuesday

Waves are seen crashing into the cars along with loud gusty winds. The water stays in the boat, sloshing back and forth

No passengers were onboard the Issaquah (pictured) when crews were moving the ferry from the Seattle area to Anacortes on Tuesday

'There is apparently some body damage to at least one of the employees cars that you see in the video caused when cars banged into each other due to the water and waves.'

The captain and crew were able to keep damage to a minimum. The Issaquah is currently in Anacortes where it is expected to re-enter service in the next 24 to 48 hours.

AccuWeather forecasters said the first of multiple storms moved through the Pacific Ocean into the Northwest and British Columbia on Tuesday, bringing rain, snow and strong wind gusts.

Fox 13 Seattle reported the 'bomb cyclone' moving through brought strong winds and there was a high wind warning in effect for the area with gusts between 50 to 60 mph.

The National Weather Service has a Coastal Flood Warning in effect along the Washington Coast and said waves could reach as high as 15 to 30 feet.

'Significant coastal flooding due to high tides and storm surge is expected. This is expected to lead to numerous road closures. Low-lying property, including homes, businesses and some critical infrastructure may be inundated,' said the National Weather Service.

Viewers were shocked by the conditions onboard the ferry.

'I live in WA all my life Im surprised they were even running in that kind of weather. New fear unlocked, said Jess Neff.

Another commenter said, 'I've lived on WA all my life, never seen waves flood a car deck unless it's sinking.'

'This has me rethinking to never stay in my car on a ferry ever again,' said a user named Heidi.

Lisa Strait said, 'I take WA ferries all the time. NEVER have seen this happen.'
An elderly immobile couple was found dead in their 'extremely hot' South Carolina house after their heater reached 1,000 degrees.

Joan Littlejohn, 84, and Glennwood Fowler, 82, were discovered dead by Spartanburg Police Department in their home on Woodview Avenue.

The police went to the couple's home to perform a wellness check after worried family members said they hadn't heard from their parents in days.

Upon their arrival - all the doors were locked to the house, but the bedroom window was unsecured.

After gaining entry to the property - officers discovered the dead bodies of Fowler face-up, naked on the bed and Littlejohn clothed, sprawled on a chair at his side.

An elderly immobile couple was found dead in their 'extremely hot' South Carolina house after their heater reached 1,000 degrees

Joan Littlejohn, 84, and Glennwood Fowler, 82 (pictured), were discovered dead by Spartanburg Police Department in their home on Woodview Avenue

The house was described as being 'extremely hot' and when officers checked the body temperatures of the deceased, they exceeded the 106 degree limit of the device (Joan Littlejohn is pictured here as a young woman)

The house was described as being 'extremely hot' and when officers checked the body temperatures of the deceased, they exceeded the 106 degree limit of the device.

Spartanburg's Fire Department were called to check for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning but none were found.

Littlejohn and Fowler's family members revealed that they had visited the couple a few days earlier to help the elderly couple with heating issues.

They reported 'fiddling' with the heater because both the gas heater and gas hot water heater were out and the home was getting 'too cold,' according to the report.

Family members 'fiddled' with the heater until the pilot light, which was reportedly off, flashed back on - and then they left.

The elderly couple were said to be immobile and had both recently suffered health problems.

Littlejohn had undergone hip surgery and Fowlers had fallen recently.

Fire officials measured the interior temperature of the home and told police that it exceeded 120 degrees - but that was even after the house had been exposed to the cold air from outside for 20 minutes.

When they checked the basement - where the heaters were located - one firefighter said 'the heater was so hot it looked as if the basement was currently on fire.'

After determining that the basement was not actually on fire they deactivated the heater.

'They then measured the temperature of the heater itself and measured it at over 1000 degrees,' the report said.

Officers measured the heat once more before leaving the property, 'upon looking at it I stated the residence was at 96 degrees,' the responding officer reported. 'It read this temperature after the house was been open for around two and a half hours.'

Family members had visited a few days earlier to help the elderly couple with heating issues. They reported 'fiddling' with the heater because the home was getting 'too cold'

The heater in the basement of Fowler (pictured) and Littlejohn's home had reached 1,000 degrees

Family members of the elderly couple took to Facebook to pay tribute to the Littlejohn and Fowler.

'Please pray for our family we lost our Mother Joan Littlejohn on Saturday,' James Littlejohn said in a post that received 124 comments of support.

'Mr. Glennwood Fowler I know at a time such as this you would want me to keep my tears back and my head up you were the first man I looked up to next to my father whom I'm sure feels exactly the same way,' Shaun Jones said in a tribute to his Grandfather.
Hunter Biden calls reporter 'dangerous' for asking why he put dad Joe on speakerphone over 20 times with his business pals after he stormed out of a House hearing.

The president's son sparked chaos in Congress on Wednesday by making a shock appearance to face Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt.

Only 17 minutes later, he got up and walked out as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene started to question him over his business deals and the ongoing impeachment probe into his father Joe.

Hunter skirted around a flurry of questions by reporters who swarmed him in the hallway after he left the hearing - including allegations that he put his then-VP father Joe on the phone with his foreign business clients on at least 20 occasions.

'Why did you put your dad on speakerphone if he had nothing to do with your business? You put him on speaker multiple times to talk to your business partners, why did you do that?' asked Fox Business' Hillary Vaughn.

'Do you have a dad? Does he call you?' Hunter retorted. 'Do you answer the phone?'

'Yes,' replied Vaughn, but 'why did you need to talk to him during business meetings if he had nothing to do with your business?' she pressed one more time.

'You're dangerous. You're very dangerous,' Hunter responded and continued walking.

Hunter Biden hit back at reporter Hillary Vaughn asking if he put dad Joe on speakerphone over 20 times with his business pals after he stormed out of a House hearing

Fox Business' Hillary Vaughn is married to Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy. His father, Steve Doocy is a host of Fox & Friends

'What kind of crack do you normally smoke Mr. Biden?' screamed another reporter in the background as the president's son headed out the door of the house office building.

Hunter walked into the Oversight Committee hearing room earlier Wednesday with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events.

The top Democrat on the committee Jamie Raskin appeared to be aware that the president's son was going to disturb proceedings with his shock entry.

'Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?' asked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 'You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the Oversight Committee spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.'

'You have no b***s to come up here,' she spewed. 'I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here and right now,' Mace continued. 'I'm looking at you!'

'I think he should be hauled off to jail right now,' the fired up Republican congresswoman remarked.

Hunter then stormed out of the hearing room after Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., started speaking, less than 30 minutes into the hearing.

'What a coward,' she exclaimed.

Two top GOP-led committees are preparing to vote to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony.

Republicans say that his 'obstruction' of their impeachment investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face up to a year in jail.

Hunter Biden hit back at a reporter asking if he put dad Joe on speakerphone over 20 times with his business pals after he stormed out of a House hearing

Hillary Vaughn, reporter for Fox News. Her spouse is fellow FNC journalist Peter Doocy

Hillary Vaughn pressed Hunter Biden over his phone calls with his father Joe Biden

The president's son sparked chaos in Congress on Wednesday by making a shock appearance to face Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt

Hunter left the hearing alongside his attorneys Kevin Morris and Abbe Lowell

Hunter skirted around a flurry of questions by reporters who swarmed him in the hallway after he left the hearing

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals.

Instead of showing up for his required testimony, Hunter appeared outside of the Capitol to deliver a dramatic tirade slamming 'shameless' Republicans, while saying he'd only testify in a public forum.

The powerful House Oversight and Judiciary Committees kicked off dual hearings at 10 a.m. ET today.

Both committees were expected to work through a series of amendments and then vote on authorizing contempt charges for the president's son before the disturbance.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted

The contempt articles will then go to the House Rules Committee and finally to the House floor for a full body vote, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution, which is unlikely. In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted.

Lawmakers released the text of the contempt resolution Monday.

They wrote that Hunter's testimony is a 'critical component' of their impeachment inquiry into whether then-Vice President Joe 'abused his office' by engaging in 'schemes' with foreigners to enrich himself or his family.

Hunter's 'flagrant defiance' of the subpoenas is 'contemptuous' and he must be 'held accountable for his unlawful actions,' the resolution continues - calling his actions a 'criminal act.'

Top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin said Monday that there is 'no precedent' for the House to hold 'a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committee's choosing.'

He went on to accuse Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of wanting to 'keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.'

'However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden,' the Democrat continued.

Two former Donald Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were held in contempt and ultimately prosecuted by Biden's DOJ for defying January 6 Committee subpoenas.

Bannon is currently appealing his four-month prison sentence and Navarro is expected to be sentenced later this week, and could face up to one year behind bars.

They both said that executive privilege protected them from having to comply with the congressional committee's demands.

Hunter Biden shockingly showed up Capitol Hill on the morning of his mandatory deposition to acknowledge 'mistakes' he made due to his crack cocaine addiction while blasting Republicans investigating him for 'turning his 'dad's love into darkness'

Republicans had announced they would begin moving forward with contempt last week.

'Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition,' House Oversight Committee Republicans wrote on X Friday.

'Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,' the lawmakers said on Friday.

Republicans said that his 'obstruction' of their investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face jail time.

GOP leadership held a vote to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe on December 13.

The 221-212 party-line vote opened the door for the GOP to get more evidence about schemes that have seen the Biden family get millions from countries including China, Ukraine and Romania.

And the Bidens will now have more of their bank records, mortgage details, emails, text messages and mobile phones subpoenaed, along with anything else Congress wants to see.

Hunter was subpoenaed by Republicans last month along with James Biden, the president's brother, and Biden family associate Rob Walker. Attorneys for James have been in touch with the committee and they are working on scheduling a time for his closed-door testimony.

Hunter Biden made a shock appearance on Capitol Hill where he defiantly declared that his father is innocent of corruption allegations and accused Republicans of being 'shameless' for trying to impeach him.

Hunter delivered an emotional public statement in which he tore into the 'unrelenting Trump attack machine' and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for showing naked photos of him in Congress.

Hunter admitted making 'mistakes' in his life due to his crack cocaine addiction but went on to blast Republicans investigating him and accused them of 'turning my dad's love into darkness.'

The first son also said his father was 'not financially involved' in his controversial business dealings and that there was no evidence because it 'did not happen.'

Comer and Jordan questioned what Hunter meant when that his father was not 'financially' involved in his dealings.

'Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?' they questioned in the statement. 'Evidence shows Joe Biden met with Hunter's business associates and his name was at the center of the family business strategy.'

Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress after he didn't show up for his impeachment probe deposition

Hunter said on December 13: 'I am here today to acknowledge I have made mistakes in my life. I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for political purposes.
Workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), the UK's nuclear weapons manufacturer, are to strike after two months of other forms of industrial action in a dispute over pay, their union has announced.

Members of Prospect at the Berkshire-based company will walk out for 24 hours on Wednesday January 24.

Action short of a strike started in mid-November and will continue until the strike action is taken and will re-commence on Thursday January 25.

The AWE is key to the maintenance of the nuclear warheads used by Trident, the UK's nuclear weapons programme.

Workers are tasked with maintaining current weapons stock, designing and manufacturing new warheads when needed, and dismantling and decommissioning old ones.

Workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, pictured, are in a pay dispute with the body

General view of HMS Vigilant, which carries the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent in Faslane

Prince William, in his role as Commodore-in-Chief, Scotland and Submarines, visits the Royal Navy Faslane base on the Clyde estuary on October 19, 2007 in Helensburg

Prospect's general secretary Mike Clancy said: 'Our members at AWE who maintain the UK's nuclear deterrent have been left with no option but to strike.

How many nukes does the UK have? In 2021, the UK moved to boost stocks of warheads held by the UK - with the top limit raised from 180 to 260. Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent is currently carried by the Royal Navy's four Vanguard Class submarines. They are due to be replaced by a new generation of four Dreadnought Class boats also armed with Trident missiles from 2030. The Vanguard Class can carry up to 16 missiles, each armed with up to eight Trident warheads, meaning the 260 warhead ceiling would not allow them all to deploy at once. Advertisement

'We have done all we can to facilitate negotiation, but the employer continues to neither bring any meaningful change to the table, or indeed explain any of its previous decisions on pay in a satisfactory manner.

'There is already a recruitment and retention crisis at AWE. If nothing is done to improve pay then the company will be unable to compete for skills and risks being unable to fulfil its critical role in safeguarding our national security.

'There is still time to avoid this action if the employer comes back to the table with an improved offer and a genuine commitment to open engagement.'

An AWE spokesperson said: 'We are disappointed that Prospect has announced that it will be taking strike action.

'Pre-planned contingency measures will be implemented as required to maintain the safety and security of our sites. This remains our highest priority.

'Our offer remains competitive, and we continue to seek a resolution with Prospect.'

The AWE was set up in a merger of its predecessor, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, and two Royal Ordnance factories in Burghfield, Berkshire, and Cardiff in 1987.

Two years later, the Ministry of Defence, its owner at the time, sought to bring the private sector in to run day-to-day operations.

In 1993, it awarded a major contract to Hunting-BRAE, a consortium of engineering firms, who took over running the body.

But just six years after Hunting-BRAE took over, the contract was taken away, following a series of prosecutions against the consortium for safety breaches, one of which saw the AWE leak highly radioactive tritium into a nearby stream, and another for an incident which saw two workers inhale plutonium.

Following a series of private sector mistakes by subsequent owners, including a 2013 whistleblower leak that revealed that security staff at AWE sites failed to conduct routine patrols and would often sleep on the job, the MoD took back control of the manufacturer in 2021.
MBABANE - Three employees of the late businessman, Geoffrey Ramokgadi, stand to benefit from his share of the purported sale of his school, Kobe Ramokgadi Advanced Learning Academy, which is estimated to be E20 million.

In his last Will and testament, the late businessman bequeathed amounts of E1 million, E500 000 and E700 000 to the three employees. As per the Will, one of his daughters is expected to receive a sum of E4 million, emanating from the sale of the property, situated in Ezulwini. One of his children, who was born out of wedlock as per the Will, is expected to receive a sum of E2.5 million from the share of the proceeds emanating from the sale of the property. The other children are expected to each receive E1 million from the businessmans share of proceeds emanating from the sale of the property. In his last Will and testament, the businessman gave a sum of E1.5 million to his stepdaughter.

Bequeathed

In the event the property, being Portion 141 of Farm 50 Ezulwini, is sold and my share is less or above E20 million, then the amounts bequeathed to the heirs herein shall be adjusted proportionally, reads part of the Will. He directed that the remainder and residue of his estate, property and effects should devolve upon his wife Duduzile, who would at her discretion, disburse it, taking into account his employees who had served him for over 10 years. The businessman gave the whole of his shares, which is 50 per cent of the shares in the company known as Glamour Fashions (PTY) Limited, to his wife.

In his Will, the businessman highlighted that anyone who would challenge the decision of the person named in the Will, would automatically be disqualified from benefiting in any way from the estate.

If any of the beneficiaries under this Will, or any trust herein mentioned, contests or attacks this Will or any of its provisions, any share or interest in my estate given to that contesting beneficiary under this Will, will be revoked and shall be disposed of in the same manner as if that contesting beneficiary had predeceased me, stated the businessman in the Will.

The unveiling of the contents of the Will come at a time when Buckswood School in the United Kingdom, is said to have shown keen interest in buying Kobe Advanced Learning Academy for E20 million. Kobe Ramokgadi Advanced Learning Academy is an independent private high school.

The school, which is situated in Ezulwini, has a capacity of accommodating 400 to 500 learners. It was established by the late businessman, who died on September 13, 2019.

Intention

The intention to sell the school is contained in papers filed in court, where some the beneficiaries of estate have taken the executors to court. The proposed sale of the learning institution was, however, purportedly being frustrated by the late businessmans wife, who is said to have refused to furnish lawyers with its financials. The challenges in selling the school are outlined in a letter that was written to the master of the High Court by Mokoena Attorneys, which is a South African law firm, representing one of the co-executors.

In the correspondence, the lawyers informed the master that pursuant to their discussion with Buckswood Schools from the United Kingdom, they requested copies of the schools (Kobe Ramokgadi Advanced Learning Academy) financials from the late businessmans wife Duduzile, who is a co-executor in the estate.

They alleged that while the wife had initially, through her attorneys, acceded to the request for the financials of the schools, she allegedly made an about-turn and refused to give same to them. The lawyers informed the master that the wife allegedly did this without a valid reason as to why she was withholding and/or intentionally delaying in forwarding the information. The master was further told that this was notwithstanding the fact that they had, on numerous occasions, tried to meet Duduzile with the view to work harmoniously with her in winding up the estate.

Cooperate

They brought it to the attention of the master that the wife allegedly displayed tendencies of not wanting to cooperate with their client; Jezzy Lesenyane, who is a co-executor in the estate. It was further brought to the attention of the master that Duduzile would blatantly refuse to meet Lesenyane, where she (Lesenyane) travelled to Eswatini to take stock of the operation of the school. In fact the chief executive of the school, Mthunzi, has actually refused to release the information about the school, citing reasons that, Mrs Ramokgadi had inter alia issued strict instructions to the effect that none of the employees of the school should interact with our client, much less cooperate with her, reads part of the correspondence.

The attorneys alleged that the wifes behaviour was frustrating the process of winding up the estate, as she continued to unreasonably withhold important information pertaining to the school. We have gone as far as requesting for a meeting with her to inter alia; reach amicable resolve, to discuss the estate and to furthermore appoint our client as co-director of the school, company Moshav Properties (PTY) Limited and she has been non-committal in acceding to our request and/or suggestion, alleged the South African lawyers. The estate dispute is still pending at the High Court.
The anonymous surgeon who blew the whistle on secret transgender procedures on children in Texas has revealed his identity, saying he's being targeted by federal prosecutors as retribution for the leak.

Eithan Haim, 33, on Wednesday launched a fundraiser to cover his legal costs for what he calls a 'blatant attempt at political intimidation' after he lifted the lid on trans procedures at Texas Children's Hospital (TCH).

Haim in May 2023 released medical files showing that TCH staff had provided puberty blockers and other sex-change treatments to kids, even after hospital officials said they had stopped doing so in March 2022.

'Just over a month later  two federal agents showed up to my apartment in a highly atypical, unexpected, and aggressive show of force,' Haim wrote on Wednesday in his appeal for help covering his spiraling legal costs.

General surgeon Eithan Haim, 33, says he needs $500,000 to fight a prosecution that he says is retribution for outing harmful trans procedures on youngsters

The revelations showed that Texas Children's Hospital continued providing gender-reassignment care to children even after officials insisted they had stopped

'I was given a target letter signed by a federal prosecutor that stated I was being criminally investigated for a case regarding medical records.'

The prosecution, says Haim, is 'driven by a highly ideological division within the Department of Health and Human Services.'

Poll Should 'gender-affirming care' be banned for children in your state? Yes No Not sure Should 'gender-affirming care' be banned for children in your state? Yes 31435 votes

No 1523 votes

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Officials seek to 'silence whistleblowers who expose institutionalized medical corruption and the dangers of these hormone-based interventions for confused, adolescent children,' he added.

The FBI declined to comment on the case. DailyMail.com reached out to TCH, but did not immediately get a reply.

Haim insists he did not break any rules. Though he released private medical files that detailed trans medical procedures on children as young as 12, he says the identities of patients had been redacted.

He aims to raise $500,000 via the GiveSendGo.com website to cover his legal costs in a case that he says has already forced him to cash in his retirement funds, investments, and other savings.

'Although we have given this case all we have, there simply isn't enough to keep up with the hundreds of thousands we currently owe in legal bills or the potential million(s) it would cost to fight this case through trial,' he wrote.

Eithan Haim has launched a fundraiser to cover his legal costs for what he calls a 'blatant attempt at political intimidation'

Haim's whistleblower documents (pictured) purportedly showed that Texas Children's Hospital continued to provide gender care for young patients, including the administration of implantable puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Pictured: Records purportedly from the hospital show appointments with minors as young as 13 who are booked in for appointments relating to transgender treatments

Haim made his original revelations last year by making the medical records public with the help of the conservative activist Christopher Rufo, from the Manhattan Institute think tank.

On Wednesday, Rufo released a video interview with Haim discussing the case against him and the negative impact of transgender procedures on young patients at TCH.

Rufo said in a post that Haim had not broken any privacy laws and slammed the prosecution.

Christopher Rufo, the right-wing activist who led the Manhattan Institute's research into trans care at his hospital

The 'Biden administration wanted to make a point: those who challenge trans orthodoxy will be punished by the state,' said Rufo.

TCH, the nation's largest pediatric hospital, in March 2022 said it had stopped gender-affirming therapies after Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the state's child welfare agency to investigate gender-confirming care as 'child abuse'.

However, Rufo in May published documents from Haim, then an anonymous whistleblower, showing TCH doctors continued providing gender treatments to kids within days of the hospital's decision, and continued to do so throughout 2022 and into 2023.

According to the records, one TCH doctor performed transgender medical procedures on minors whose ages ranged from 12 to 17, with 'visit types' listed as 'gender dysphoria' and 'gender identity.'

Another visit was listed for 'HRT [hormone replacement therapy].'

Other records detailed the removal of 'non-biodegradable drug delivery implant[s]' for 'gender dysphoria in pediatric patient[s]'.

Sex reassignment treatments for teens have become a hot-button issue. Pictured: a young detransitioner bares the breast-removal scars she came to regret

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said 'unhinged activists' are behind a medical system that's too eager to get confused kids onto puberty blockers

These are understood to be pellets placed under the skin of the upper arm that slowly release cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to trans-identifying minors, without the need for regular jabs or pills.

One procedure listed in the documents suggests one appointment was with an 11-year-old 'female-to-male transgender person'  three days after the hospital announced it was halting such treatments.

The documents also describe a 19-year-old who was interested in breast removal surgery.

A 15-year-old is listed in the records as having 'questions about surgery.'

The documents also include image grabs of a slide deck that was presented in January 2023 titled 'Medical and Psychological Care of Gender-Diverse Youth', in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine.

After the revelations, Texas Attorney General General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into TCH, and the Houston-based facility said again that it was halting gender reassignment treatments for children.

At the time, a TCH spokeswoman told DailyMail.com that doctors provided 'high-quality care for all patients  within the bounds of the law.'

Advocates of gender-affirming care say it is necessary treatment for suicide-prone minors. Critics say kids are too young to opt for irreversible sex change treatments, and often just need mental health counselling instead.
Brewery and pub chain BrewDog is facing a challenge from its employees after announcing it will be hiring new staff on the legal minimum wage instead of the higher voluntary rate.

The Unite union criticised the move as 'outrageous', especially coming amid the continuing cost-of-living crisis.

From this month, Brewdog's new workers will be hired on the legal minimum wage of 10.42 an hour for those aged 23 and over, which is less than the voluntary so-called real living wage of 10.90 that existing staff get.

Pay for workers outside London will increase to 11.44 an hour from April, in line with the new legal minimum, below the new real living wage of 12 an hour that accredited employers pledge to pay from April.

It comes just months after CEO James Watt, 40, was pictured partying in the Maldives with his girlfriend Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo, 29.

The business tycoon also shared a post on LinkedIn last week announcing a movie is in the works about the Scottish beer brand, with an image of a screenplay titled 'Underdogs: The Rise of Brewdog' on his desk.

Sweet: Georgia Toffolo and her boyfriend James Watt shared an insight into their new relationship while on holiday in the Maldives

Watt also shared a post on LinkedIn last week announcing a movie is in the works about the Scottish beer brand, with an image of a screenplay titled 'Underdogs: The Rise of Brewdog' on his desk

BrewDog said in its letter to staff: 'Even with this strong performance over Christmas, as a wider business there is no hiding from the fact that in 2023 we made a trading loss, and despite many efforts in the past 12 months to reduce our spending we still need to find more ways to get this business back to profitability and the financial stability that is needed.

'Inevitably, this does mean making some hard decisions.'

Unite's lead organiser for hospitality Bryan Simpson said: 'BrewDog have been paying the real living wage since 2015. To withdraw it now, during the most acute cost-of-living crisis in a generation is outrageous.

'We are already working with our BrewDog members across the country to collectively challenge this awful decision and force the senior management of the company to do the right thing by the workers who have made them millions.'

The letter to staff added that BrewDog has always been 'committed to do the best' it can for employees, from abolishing zero-hours contracts, having a profit share scheme, and other benefits.

CEO James Watt attracted headlines in June 2021, when almost 300 former and current employees signed a letter accusing him of creating a toxic fear culture at BrewDog.

The letter stated that a 'significant number' of former staff had 'suffered mental illness' as a result of working at Brewdog.

Status update: The business magnate posted a holiday update to LinkedIn, writing: 'Out of office on.'

At the time, the CEO responded: 'I want to be very candid about some mistakes that I have made that have detrimentally impacted our culture.

'In the hard and fast environment of high growth, I have all too often neglected many important people elements of our business.

'Furthermore, despite surviving C-19 due to a phenomenal effort from our amazing team I had to make some very hard decisions to ensure our survival and these decisions have taken a considerable human toll on our business and had a negative impact.

'Additionally, some PR mistakes that I have made in our past have also had a detrimental impact on culture. I can promise that I will not make these mistakes again.'

In January 2022, Watt faced further accusations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power in the workplace when over 15 ex-staff spoke out about his conduct on the BBC's Disclosure programme.

A string of misconduct accusations were included in the programme, including that he kissed an intoxicated customer on a roof terrace bar, and took women on late night private brewery tours, which left staff feeling uncomfortable.

Mr Watt denies all the allegations.

The tycoon has attracted headlines in recent months after embarking on a romance with girlfriend Miss Toffolo.

The couple shared holiday snaps from the Maldives at the end of November. Miss Toffolo - known by friends as Toff - was snapped by Watt wearing his BrewDog 'Hazy Jane' shirt as they explored the islands together.

The business magnate posted a holiday update to LinkedIn, writing: 'Out of office on.'

Watt - who is worth an astonishing 262million - is known on the professional networking platform for his posts about the realities of starting a business.

But he has also paid heavy dues

In November 2022, Watt was awarded 600,000 after he was scammed out of thousands of pounds by a former lover who was secretly orchestrating an online trolling campaign.

The beer tycoon, from Aberdeen, told how he was 'harassed, defrauded and defamed' by former girlfriend Emili Ziem, 29, in a 'vicious' smear attack.

Ziem conned Mr Watt, 40, out of more than 100,000 by claiming she could help identify culprits who were falsely accusing the businessman of harassing women and other criminal matters.

In reality, she was operating a fake social media profile spreading many of the lies.

Brewdog chief James Watt has been awarded 600,000 after he was scammed out of thousands of pounds by an ex-lover who was secretly orchestrating an online trolling campaign

Emili Ziem, 29, conned Mr Watt, 40, out of more than 100,000 by claiming she could help identify culprits who were falsely accusing the businessman of harassing women and other criminal matters

Following a hearing at the Court of Session, Ziem has been ordered by judge Lord Brailsford to pay back the sum, plus half a million pounds in damages and expenses.

In a post on his LinkedIn profile yesterday, Mr Watt said: 'For the past two years I have been the subject of a vicious and relentless campaign of abuse, often by troll accounts posting and sharing appalling lies about me (often direct to family and friends)  lies that were then amplified all over the internet.

'It has taken a significant personal toll and been a massive distraction. I needed to do all I could to bring the campaign to an end.

'I want to say I didn't go to court lightly, but I have been harassed, defrauded and defamed, and it has deeply affected me, my family and my business. I had no choice.'
A stretch of Spanish coastline popular with holidaymaking Brits faces an 'unprecedented environmental disaster' after millions of plastic pellets washed up on beaches.

The pellets, known as nurdles, fell on beaches in the north-west region of Galicia from the Toconao, a ship operated by Danish company Maersk, on December 8.

The pellets are used to produce everyday items from water bottles to shopping bags and are known to add to the problem of plastic making its way into the world's oceans and rivers.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Jesus Montero told state broadcaster TVE the government was worried of possibly 'serious repercussions' but did not yet know the exact impact and whether it would affect fishing.

Environmental organisations have responded in angry fashion, voicing concerns of 'an unprecedented environmental disaster', which could have a severe impact on marine life and the ecosystems of the rugged Galician coast.

Plastic pellets from a bag that washed up on Vilar beach are seen after millions of them washed up in Spain's northwesterly region of Galicia

A man works to clean an area of pellets that arrived on Galicia's coast at Patos beach in Nigran town, A Coruna

Teams sent by Spain's Environment ministry are seen cleaning up the plastic pellets that spread from the Spanish northwestern Galicia region to the Asturias region and even as far as France

A volunteer tries to clear the sand of O Portino beach from plastic pellets in A Coruna on January 8

The alarm has also been raised in the province of Asturias, which lies directly to the east of Galicia, with fears that the scale of the spillage could see it spread even further along the northern coast to the Basque country.

The preliminary report from the Prosecutor's Office stated that the pellets 'show signs of toxicity, are not biodegradable and cannot be eliminated'.

The scenes of residents using household items to help clean up the beaches revived memories of Galicia's worst environmental catastrophe, the 2002 spill of 63,000 tonnes of fuel oil that forced the closure of Spain's richest fishing grounds.

'Unfortunately, we are all reminded of images from the past that we would like to erase,' Montero said.

An estimated 10trillion plastic pellets contaminate marine ecosystems every year, a 2020 report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found.

Environmentalist group Ecologistas en Accion denounced the regional government's 'inaction two weeks after detecting the spill' and said in a statement released on Friday that it would file an environmental crime complaint against Toucan Maritime, the Dutch owner of the vessel.

Spain's Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, said that one of the 28-tonne containers was loaded with the plastic pellets packed in raffia bags.

Some of the pellets washed up intact on the Galician coast on 13 December, but others broke up, scattering the microplastic material all over the coast, from Vigo and the Rias Baixas to Ferrol and even as far as France, per the Prosecutor's Office.

A view of some of the pellets that arrived on Galicia's coast at Seiras Beach in Porto do Son, A Coruna

A man picks up plastic pellets from the sand on As Lapas beach in A Coruna, Galicia, Spain, on January 10

Puente was critical of the regional Xunta's reaction, lamenting that it did not activate the emergency collection plan until January 5 when, he said, they had information about what happened weeks before.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Puente wrote: 'Since the 13th (December) there have been calls to 112 by people and institutions that have sighted the materials on the coast.

'Is Mr. Rueda not informed of these events? Doesn't anyone on his team know what's happening?'

Madrid's representative in Galicia said the maritime rescue service had first informed regional coast guards about the incident on December 20.
Parents and campaigners today slammed SNP plans that could see mothers and fathers jailed for refusing to allow their children to change their gender.

The SNP government wants to introduce new laws which would make it illegal try and force an individual to suppress or change their sexual orientation and gender identity through any 'conversion practices'.

But critics claim the move could result in parents being imprisoned for up to seven years for refusing to let their child change gender.

Today, mothers took to Mumsnet to express their concern about the bill, with one warning it would 'destroy families'.

A second wrote: 'Wow, that's frightening. Very rarely do parents who have subjected their children to awful abuses spend any time in prison. And then to face 7 years for not conforming to some new ideology I am speechless.'

A third called the proposals 'insane', adding: 'Have they thought of the effects it would have on the child, knowing that their change of gender has resulted in their parents going to prison?'

The SNP government, led by Humza Yousaf (pictured) wants to introduce new laws which would make it illegal to try and force an individual to suppress or change their sexual orientation and gender identity

The consultation document explains that parental advice 'expressing concerns and advising their child against medical interventions' would not fall under the scope of the legislation if it is not accompanied by 'broader coercive behaviour'.

It adds that a parent who did not actively support their child's decision to change gender 'is not itself an act that would fall within the legislation'.

But Lucy Marsh, from the Family Education Trust, warned there was no 'consistent' definition of what was meant by 'conversion therapy'.

'Coercive and abusive practices are clearly wrong but the proposed ban is so broad it appears to attempt to impose highly contested social and political views in a manner that discriminates against those who don't share such views,' she said.

'We believe that the Scottish Government's proposals would criminalise anything other than immediate acceptance, encouragement and celebration of a child's sexual or gender identity regardless of their age.

'The freedom of parents to sensitively discuss these issues with their children needs to be protected and parents should not have to fear prosecution for doing so.'

The Catholic church argued the plans could have 'a chilling effect' on free speech and highlighted that the 'worrying lack of clarity' about the term 'conversion practices' could 'criminalise' advice given to children 'in good faith'.

Marion Calder, director of campaign group For Women Scotland, said: 'We have grave concerns that these plans will criminalise loving parents, who could face years in jail simply for refusing to sign up to the gender ideology cult.'

Marion Calder (far right), director of campaign group For Women Scotland, said she had 'grave concerns that these plans will criminalise loving parents'

Mrs Calder added: 'If the SNP and Greens insist on pushing this through, it is likely to go the same way as the toxic self-ID and named person laws and be blocked in the courts.'

A consultation launched by the Scottish Government yesterday argues any legislation will not target 'ethical guidance'.

Within the 86-page document, it attempts to define conversion practices as everything from physical abuse and practices such as forced marriage to cumulative, coercive behaviour over a longer period of time.

The proposals add that 'general statements of belief or opinion' will not fall within the scope of the law and instead it will focus on the intent to cause harm to a person and the actual causing of harm through a conversion practice.

A similar law to ban conversion therapy in England and Wales was dismissed by Whitehall last year after MPs feared it may criminalise parents and teachers.

A spokesman for the Catholic church said: 'The worrying lack of clarity about what is meant by the term 'conversion practices' could create a chilling effect and may criminalise advice or opinion given in good faith.'

The Christian Institute, which fought and won a legal battle against the Scottish Government over its contentious 'named person' legislation in 2016, believe it limits free speech.

The Catholic church argued the plans to ban conversion therapy could have 'a chilling effect' on free speech (Stock Image)

The organisation claims the proposed laws are 'based purely on activists' speculation' about what might be said in private.

They claim their legal team will be examining the proposals and will be 'ready to go to court' unless changes are made.

Deputy director Simon Calvert fears the legislation will criminalise conversations and opinions, arguing that existing laws already provide protection from verbal and physical abuse.

Mr Calvert said the group will be encouraging Christians to respond to the consultation.

He said: 'We are particularly worried about the Government's plans for 'civil protection orders'. Gay and trans people are already protected, quite rightly, from verbal and physical abuse by existing law.

'Since those things are already illegal, what is it that this Bill seeks to criminalise? The activists are quite clear that they want it to target conversations and opinions they don't like.'

CARE for Scotland, a Christian policy group believes the plans go 'overboad in their application' and 'undermine human rights'.

Another court case would add to an already extensive list of legal battles, most recently unsuccessful attempts from the Scottish Government to overrule Westminister's use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and a 2022 Supreme Court bid to win the right to hold an independence referendum.

Scottish Equalities minister Emma Roddick said: 'The consultation responses we receive will help us to further consider those measures we can take to stop the harm of conversion practices and protect those at risk while ensuring that freedoms, including freedoms of speech, religion, and belief, are safeguarded.'
A family doctor sexually assaulted five female patients, one of whom was a terminally ill cancer sufferer who he told I'm helping you as he fondled her breasts, a court heard today.

The patient, who has since passed away, told a palliative care nurse how GP Mohan Babu had complimented her on her breasts, exposed himself and groped her during a string of consultations about her pancreatic cancer.

A receptionist Babu had worked with at a previous surgery also told police how the doctor of 20 years once grabbed her and declared he was a lion going to eat her.

Jurors were told the 47-year-old allegedly began targeting the patients - the youngest of whom was 19 - at Staunton Surgery in Havant, Hampshire, in 2019, a year after he had joined as a locum.

He was recommended by his wife, Dr Aroline Rodrigues, 43, who is a GP at the surgery.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore KC said Babu was the most-complained about doctor at the surgery, and had repeated warnings over his behaviour.

GP Mohan Babu, who was accused of secually assaulting five female patients, outside Portsmouth Crown Court

A receptionist Babu had worked with at a previous surgery also told police how the doctor of 20 years once grabbed her and declared he was a lion going to eat her

Prosecutor Miranda Moore KC said Babu was the most-complained about doctor at the surgery, and had repeated warnings over his behaviour

All of the women he allegedly assaulted between June 2019 and July 2021 asked for a new GP.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard five other women - including the receptionist at his former workplace - complained about his 'over familiar' behaviour, however criminal proceedings have not been brought about their complaints.

Nine women from the same surgery and a receptionist from his previous surgery; there's the pattern, Ms Moore said.

In three appointments with the 57-year-old cancer patient that summer, Babu was said to have behaved inappropriately.

At an initial appointment about her cancer, Dr Babu greeted her by saying do you want a hug?.

At a follow-up appointment he asked to check her breasts and told her: You have a lovely figure and lovely breasts.

Ms Moore KC said the woman visited Babu for a third time as she had to cancel a holiday due to her illness and needed a doctor's note.

She said he instructed her to lie on the couch to listen to her heart, Ms Moore KC said.

He locked the door and didn't offer her a chaperone.

He asked her to lift her top and she asked why and he said so he can check for lumps.

But the court heard he lingered while examining her breasts and pulled her nipples, causing her to freeze.

Babu then allegedly moved his hands under her skirt and when she told him to stop, she noticed his zip was undone and he was aroused.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard five other women - including the receptionist at his former workplace - complained about his 'over familiar' behaviour

The court heard at this point Babu said to the uncomfortable woman, I'm helping you, you need to touch it so I can help you.

It was heard the woman asked the surgery to change her GP but didn't report it to a female palliative care nurse until over a year later, in September 2020, as she didn't want to spend her final days chasing a prosecution.

An investigation commenced and it emerged many other women complained about Babu and asked for a new GP to replace him.

Ms Moore KC told the jury about the alleged sexual assaults that happened to four other patients.

One patient, a 19 year old girl, visited Babu in February 2020 as she was struggling with anxiety.

He paid her compliments like 'you are a beautiful girl', Ms Moore KC said.

He listened to her chest from behind and counted the freckles on her back - 'one, two, three, four' - while lightly touching her skin as he did so.

As she got up to leave, he took hold of her hands and he kissed her on the cheek.

From April to July 2021, a married mother visited Babu three times after a neck injury.

In the first two appointments, Babu asked for hugs and told her she was 'cute'.

She thought the GP was just being 'nice'.

At the third appointment, he asked her to take her top off to check for moles.

Ms Moore KC said: He smoothed her breasts up and down about 20 times, she recalls, telling her it was 'lovely and smooth'.

He then made the wholly inappropriate comment "ohh I'm not having a bad day".

The court heard Babu then hugged her for about a minute and asked for a kiss.

She noticed his breathing was heavy, the prosecutor added.

One patient, who attended the surgery from September 2019 to June 2020 with knee and hip issues, said Babu hugged her and asked for her number

One patient, who attended the surgery from September 2019 to June 2020 with knee and hip issues, said Babu hugged her and asked for her number.

In one examination with the patient, Babu allegedly held her knee with one hand and used his other hand to 'cup' her genitals and squeeze.

Another patient with stomach issues was allegedly sexually assaulted twice in April 2021, once when Babu touched her intimately and once when she felt his penis against her hand.

Babu, from Emsworth, Hants, stopped working at Staunton Surgery in July 2021, at which point he was under police investigation.

He denies seven counts of sexual assault in relation to five patients, insisting he was being friendly and innocent.

The three-week trial continues.
State senator and town selectman Carrie Gendreau said she thought homosexuality was an 'abomination'

A New Hampshire town manager - whose gay son died aged 35 - has resigned over 'painful' homophobic comments made by a state senator.

Jim Gleason was the town manager of Littleton, New Hampshire, until he handed in his resignation on Monday citing a 'toxic work environment'.

His resignation followed months of tension in Littleton after a row broke out over three LGBTQ murals in public areas of the town.

State Senator Carrie Gendreau, who sits on the Littleton Select Board, spoke out against the pro-LGBTQ paintings back in August saying they were 'demonic' and adding: 'I don't want that in our town.'

She went on to tell the Boston Globe that she thought homosexuality is an 'abomination'.

Jim Gleason resigned from his role on Monday citing hurtful anti-LGBTQ comments

Addressing the comments in his resignation letter seen by the Globe, Gleason said: 'This deeply hurt me and my family, as my late son Patrick was gay.'

His son Patrick died from cancer at the age of 35.

He added: 'Carrie never apologized or addressed this issue and continued to use derogatory language like "Queer" in my presence.'

On top of the comments made by Gendreau, in October, a resident went to the town office to protest against a local production of La Cage aux Folles - which stars a gay couple.

Gleason said that while protesting the play, the resident 'said she hoped I was happy Patrick was in hell with the devil where he belonged.'

When approached by the Globe, the resident said the claims were 'bull****' and said: 'Hes just trying to make a big issue out of nothing.'

Gleason had been town manager since March 2021, but said the months of controversy proved too much, forcing him to resign.

He wore a rainbow T-shirt to the meeting where he resigned with the message 'We the people means everyone' emblazoned on it.

He said: 'This situation has persisted far longer than it should have, and it has created a toxic work environment that I am no longer willing to endure.

'The emotional pain inflicted on my family, particularly regarding my late son, is unbearable. Patrick was a beloved family member and a positive influence on everyone who knew him, not an abomination.'

State senator and town selectman Carrie Gendreau said she believes homosexuality is an abomination

After resigning, he is planning to move back to Florida where he was living before taking the job in Littleton.

Gendreau has reportedly stood by her comments about LGBTQ+ people, making a speech on Monday where she argued it is problematic to allow people to change gender.

Reading from a statement, she said: 'If children have a right to parents providing for them and a man identifies as a child because he feels he has a child trapped in an adult body, if were playing by these twisted, disordered, ridiculous rules where illusion and emotions trump objective truth, are we violating his rights by refusing him the love and care and financial support every child deserves?

'Just something for liberals to think about before they push the boundaries of identity politics past the point of no return.'

After the speech, one resident told the Globe it was 'profoundly hurtful'.

DailyMail.com contacted Gendreau for comment.
Some Pentagon officials are questioning Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's decision to keep his prostrate cancer surgery and complications a secret for so long, even from President Joe Biden.

One official said it was 'reckless and irresponsible' but others argue the secretary was ill-served by his staff and didn't deliberately hide his health condition.

'He made a deliberate decision to not share something so important at minimum with the POTUS. It was reckless and irresponsible,' a Defense Department official told Politico. 'I don't want to take away the human element of his diagnosis.  However, his judgment should be questioned on this one.'

Another official defended the embattled Austin, however, saying 'respects his privacy' and that 'we all trust him.' The official argued the miscommunication was unintentional.

'I think folks think the notification of his hospitalization could have been smoother, but I don't think anyone is angry he didn't discuss his diagnosis,' the official said. 'I don't think it was intentional, so we clearly need better processes.'

Austin has faced a barrage of criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for failing to disclose he was in the hospital while the country was facing national security situations in the Ukraine and Middle East. Some Republicans have called for his resignation.

Even some Pentagon officials are now criticizing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's handling of his hospitalization - Austin was last seen in public on Dec. 20th (above)

President Joe Biden has indicated he will stand by his defense secretary but White House officials agreed the situation was a head-scratcher. Austin finally announced on Tuesday he had prostrate cancer after originally refusing to say what he suffered from and facing days of questions about his hospitalization.

A Pentagon official blamed the communications breakdown on 'a screw up because of people being out of the office.' Austin Chief of staff Kelly Magsamen had the flu and public affairs chief Chris Meagher was at doctors' appointments with his pregnant wife, who gave birth to their first child on Friday.

Austin kept his original surgery on Dec. 22 a secret from President Biden and his administration. At the time Austin underwent anesthesia and was unconscious. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was given Austin's powers at that time but not told the reason.

But Pentagon officials also didn't tell the White House for four days that Austin had returned to the hospital on Jan. 1 after experiencing severe pain. He was taken there by ambulance.

White House officials expect Austin's staff will ultimately take the fall out.

'Lloyd Austin is being ill-served by a political staff who are either accommodating his worst impulses regarding disclosures, and shutting out those beyond his loyal coterie,' a senior administration official told Politico, 'or he has staff who are advising him badly and forgetting they really work for the president in his administration.'

President Joe Biden was told Lloyd Austin had prostate cancer the same day the public was informed

Biden was told Austin had prostate cancer on Tuesday - the same day the public was informed, sparking more questions about the transparency of the administration and whether the public can trust their government.

'Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning and the President was informed immediately after we were,' White House spokesman John Kirby said at the daily press briefing.

Kirby got defensive as he was repeatedly queried about why the commander-in-chief didn't know the conditions or the where abouts of his top military officer.

'We all recognize that this didn't unfold the way it should, on so many levels, not just the notification process of the chain of command, but the transparency issue. We all recognize that. And I think we all want to make sure we learn from that,' Kirby said.

'It's certainly not good, which is why we want to learn from this and we want to make sure that it doesn't happen again.'

He also conceded: 'It is not optimal for a situation like this to go as long as it did without the commander-in-chief knowing about it or the national security adviser knowing about it, or frankly other leaders at the Department of Defense. It's not the way this is supposed to happen.'

Austin was hospitalized to be treated for prostate cancer, the Pentagon revealed on Tuesday after days of criticism for hiding the defense secretary's secret hospitalization. Biden was told by his chief of staff Jeffrey Zients.

'On Dec 22 after consultation with his medical team, he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer,' the hospital said in a statement about Austin.

His cancer was 'diagnosed early and his prognosis is excellent.' But he also suffered complications on Jan. 1 that required an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

His complications included 'nausea with severe abdominal, leg and hip pain.' The early diagnosis was a urinary tract infection but further examination showed Austin, 70, had a fluid build up in his abdomen that was impairing the function of his small intestines.

The infection was treated by a tube placed through is nose that went down to his stomach. The infection has cleared, the statement said, and Austin 'continues to make progress.' He 'never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia,' the statement said although it also said Austin underwent anesthesia for the Dec. 22 surgery.

The announcement came as more lawmakers began to question why Austin was hospitalized and why it took the Pentagon four days to inform President Biden and five days to inform the public. Senior administration and defense officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.

White House spokesman John Kirby got defensive as he was repeatedly queried about why the commander-in-chief didn't know the conditions or the where abouts of his top military officer

About Prostate Cancer Secretary Austin was diagnosed in December when doctors noticed changes in routine blood tests. The tests looked for prostate specific antigens (PSA), which measures the amount of a protein linked to cancer. Austin, 70, was considered high risk for prostate cancer because of his age and the fact he is an African-American, who are more likely to develop the disease. Austin had part of his prostate gland removed via a procedure known as a prostatectomy - effectively cutting out the cancer before it can grow and spread. Doctors have given him an 'excellent' prognosis. Outcomes after prostate cancer surgery can vary - in some men the cancer never returns, while in up to one in four it does. In 2023, the American Cancer Society estimates there were 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer and 34,700 deaths. The cancer develops in the prostate gland - a part of the reproductive system in men. The walnut-sized gland is responsible for secreting fluid that keeps sperm healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 13 in 100 men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. Risk factors include smoking, having obesity, sexually transmitted infections, genetics and exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical used during the Vietnam War. Early stages of prostate cancer rarely show symptoms, but as the disease progresses, people may develop frequent urination, weak urine flow, pain during urination, loss of bladder and bowel control, painful ejaculation and erectile dysfunction and pain in the low back, hips or chest. Advertisement

Eight in ten men and six in ten black men are diagnosised with prostate cancer every year. The risk grows for men as they age. It is the most common cancer among men in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 5-year relative survival rate for prostate cancer in the United States is 97%.

Meanwhile, the White House on Tuesday ordered cabinet secretaries to keep it informed when they may not be able to perform their duties as the fallout from Austin's hospitalization continues.

White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients, in a memo, directed cabinet officers to examine their policies for delegating authority when a secretary is out of commission and to send those procedures to the White House for review.

He also made clear that White House officials expected to be kept up to date about developments like major medical issues.

'Notify the Offices of Cabinet Affairs and White House Chief of Staff in the event of a delegation of authority or potential delegation,' Zients wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The New York Times. 'This notification should occur when agencies anticipate or are preparing for a delegation of authority and again when the delegation occurs.'

The Pengaton said on Tuesday it is correcting its procedures.

'The department is taking immediate steps to correct our notification procedures,' Pentagon press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder said at his briefing.

'Nothing is more important to the Secretary of Defense and the Department of Defense than the trust and confidence of the American people and the public we serve and will continue to work every day and work hard every day to earn and deserve that trust,' he said.

He noted the Pentagon was conducting an internal review of the matter.

'We want to make sure that notifications are happening in a timely way. And this way, as we've acknowledged, there were some shortfalls and so it's important that we go back and look at what those shortfalls work. What could have been done better and make sure that going forward. We're improving those processes,' he said.

'We're committed to making sure that we don't do this again. And then we do a better job next time.'

Secretary Austin was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients sent a memo to Cabinet officials demanding the White House be told if there are major medical or other issues

'The department is taking immediate steps to correct our notification procedures,' Pentagon press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder said Tuesday

Zients also directed Cabinet officials to ensure power is transferred 'when a cabinet member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable.'

The memo was sent out as President Biden and his team continue to deal with the political headache left to them after Austin failed to inform them of his hospitalization until four days after it occurred.

Austin could have broken the law by failing to report his absence, the Pentagon has launched a full investigation into the matter and one Republican lawmaker filed articles of impeachment against the defense secretary.

Austin remains at Walter Reed Medical Center but is out of the ICU and has retaken control of his authorities as the head of U.S. armed forces. The White House has said President Biden backs him but lawmakers in both parties are questioning the Pentagon's handling of the situation. The White House also had said they would be conducting a review of the situation.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, four Republican lawmakers who are former military pilots - August Pfluger, Mike Garcia, Scott Franklin and Jake Ellzey - called on Austin to resign, accusing him of a 'dereliction of duty.'

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could have broken the law by failing to report his absence - he is seen above participating in the Virtual Red Sea Security Summit at NAVCENT headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, on December 19

Timeline on Lloyd Austin's illness Dec. 22: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has procedure at Walter Reed Dec. 23: Austin returns home Dec. 27: President Biden leaves for St. Croix for New Year's vacation Jan. 1: Austin participates in national security phone call Jan. 1: Austin admitted to ICU Jan. 2: Austin top staffers informed of his hospitalization Jan. 2: Biden returns to White House Jan. 2: Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks takes some of Austin's duties Jan. 4: Biden and Hicks told Austin is in hospital Jan. 5: Congress informed Jan. 6: Biden and Austin speak via phone Jan. 9: Pentagon announces Austin was being treated for prostate cancer Advertisement

The Pentagon said Monday night that it's still unclear when Austin will be released from the hospital but vowed to give daily updates until he is out.

Many officials remain uncleared for days about what elective procedure Austin went to the hospital for on December 22nd and what he suffered from in its after affects. It is unclear when President Biden was told.

Pentagon press secretary Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement on Monday that Austin 'continues to experience discomfort but his prognosis is good.' Ryder said that Austin is in 'good condition' and that he is 'recovering well and in good spirits.'

As part of the fallout, Kelly Magsamen, Austin's chief of staff, ordered a 30-day investigation into the events surrounding Austin's hospitalization, the Pentagon announced late Monday night.

But the matter was not referred to the Defense Department inspector general's office for an independent review. It will be led by Jennifer Walsh, the Pentagon's director of administration and management.

Magsamen had been ill with the flu and was unaware that Austin had been hospitalized. Officials have cited her illness as one of the reasons the White House wasn't informed about the secretary's condition.

Austin's top staffers knew about his hospitalization on Jan. 2, the day after it occurred, however. Biden wasn't told until Jan. 4.

The review will establish a timeline of events beginning Jan. 1 when Austin was taken by ambulance to Walter Reed and examine how decisions were made about informing officials of his condition.

'This review will help to ensure clarity and transparency when a determination has been made that certain authorities have been transferred,' Magsamen wrote. 'And that proper and timely notification has been made to the President and White House and, as appropriate, the United States Congress and the American public.'

Kelly Magsamen (left), Lloyd Austin's chief of staff, ordered a 30-day investigation into the events surrounding the defense secretary's hospitalization

The White House announced President Biden backs Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (seen above with Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the White House on August 30th)

Earlier Monday, Ryder acknowledged that he knew of Austin's hospitalization on Jan. 2 and should have pushed to inform the public sooner.

In an hour-long back-and-forth with reporters, which was held off-camera, Ryder offered no explanation as to why the White House wasn't informed sooner.

Asked if Austin directed any of his staff to withhold information, he answered indirectly, saying: 'That is one of the things we'll be looking at in terms of process improvements.'

Legal experts told Reuters that Austin may have violated a U.S. law on 'reporting of vacancies' that requires the head of executive agencies to 'submit to the Comptroller General of the United States and to each House of Congress' any vacancies and the name of the person filling the vacancy.

The Marine Corps announced late Monday that its commandant, Gen. Eric Smith, underwent successful open heart surgery

The Comptroller General would then relay that information to the president and the Office of Personnel Management.

The law is largely procedural and does not spell out any penalties for lapses. Austin would likely face only a reprimand from Biden.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps announced late Monday that its commandant, Gen. Eric Smith, underwent successful open heart surgery Monday.

The Marine Corps said the surgery repaired a bicuspid aortic valve in Smith's heart, which caused his cardiac arrest on Oct. 28. The Marine Corps, back in October, had announced Smith's heart attack within 24 hours of it occurring.

'He is in good condition and recovering at the hospital with his family,' they said.

The prompt public disclosure and details of the surgery were in stark contrast to how officials handled Austin's surgery.

The Marine Corps handling of General Smith's surgery has resulted in comparisons to the Pentagon's handling of Secretary Austin's surgery

The Pentagon continues to refuse to say what procedure Austin had or describe the complications he suffered.

It's unclear if even the president knows but the White House made it clear that Biden backs Austin.

'There are no plans for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continue in the leadership that he's been demonstrating,' White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

'Our main focus right now is on Secretary Austin's health and making sure that he gets all the care and the support that he needs to fully recovered,' he said.

Neither Kirby nor White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would say if Biden knows what medical condition his defense secretary is suffering from. Biden and Austin spoke on Saturday.

'I don't know the level of the president's personal knowledge of his (Austin's) medical situation. That would really be between the two men,' Kirby said.

'That it is not something that we can speak to right. This is his own medical - it is it is a private thing  this is something that the Secretary and the Department of Defense would speak to,' Jean-Pierre said.

Kirby pledged the White House would investigate the matter, looking at the 'process and procedure' regarding the location and health of senior officials after Biden was not told for four days that his defense secretary was in the hospital.

He said the administration would perform a 'hot wash,' which is a military term to describe an intense, quick review.

'As you might expect, we'll take a look at process and procedure here. And try to learn from this experience and if there's some changes that need to be made, in terms of process and procedure, we'll do that,' Kirby said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was last seen in public on December 20th (above) on the USS Gerald R Ford

Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale announced Monday night that he is filing articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Austin

Republicans have seized on the issue and Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale announced Monday night that he is filing articles of impeachment against Austin.

Rosendale says Austin has 'violated his office' multiple times, giving the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and the Chinese spy balloon debacle as examples.

'Sec. Austin knowingly put the American people in danger and compromised our national security when he allowed a spy balloon from a foreign adversary to fly over Malmstrom Air Force Base  home to ICBMs  and allowed the Chinese Communist Party to gather intel on American citizens,' he said in a statement.

'This dishonesty seems to be a repeated pattern for the Secretary as he once again lied to our military and the American people about his health last week.

'Sec. Austin is unfit for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which is why I urge my colleagues to join me in impeaching him to protect the American people,' he added.

Rosendale is mulling a Senate run in Montana, even as GOP leaders have already thrown their weight behind another Republican in the race, Tim Sheehy.

Democrats, too, have expressed concern.

Sen. Jack Reed, the Democrat from Rhode Island who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, made his first public remarks about the situation on Monday. He spoke to Austin on Sunday.

He said he wishes Austin a 'speedy and complete recovery' but has concerns 'that vital chain of command and notification procedures were not followed while the Secretary was under medical care.'

While Austin is taking responsibility for the secrecy, 'this was a serious incident and there needs to be transparency and accountability from the Department,' said Reed. This lack of disclosure must never happen again.'
One of Scotland's most senior judges has told MSPs she thinks it is worth having a pilot of rape trials without juries, despite lawyers saying that the plan would deny suspects their 'basic rights'.

Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk, said such a scheme would provide valuable evidence on how it could work.

The Law Society has said trial by jury for serious crimes is a 'basic right' and should not be undermined.

On Wednesday, Lady Dorrian spoke at length to Holyrood's Justice Committee about the recommendations of a review group she chaired - noting it is unusual for a member of the judiciary to speak to lawmakers and that she had received special dispensation to do so.

Legislation going through Holyrood takes forward a number of recommendations in Lady Dorrian's report, including the establishment of a specialist sexual offences court.

Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk (pictured), one of Scotland's most senior judges has told MSPs she thinks it is worth having a pilot of rape trials without juries, proposals which have proved controversial in the legal profession

She told the MSPs that changes in the justice system to improve the experience of victims in sexual offences cases needs to go 'beyond tinkering'.

READ MORE: Rape victims are being failed by the Scottish justice system, Lord Advocate says as she backs controversial SNP plans for juryless trials Advertisement

However she said the provisions in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill for a specialist court are 'quite complex'.

She told the committee: 'They seem to have been based on the creation of the sheriff appeal court, which was a completely different model, a different animal.'

The possibility of the specialist court having a president other than the Lord Justice General or the Lord Justice Clerk 'seem to be over complicated and if I may say so counter-productive', she said.

Discussing juryless trials for rape, she said her review group had been 'divided reasonably evenly' on the matter.

An underlying reason behind the suggestion was the prevalence of 'rape myths', she said.

Conservative MSP Russell Findlay asked for her own view on the matter, with the Lord Justice Clerk saying: 'I took the view that this was something worth looking at, that was my position. Simply that it's something worth looking at.

'It's worth examining, it's worth having a pilot because, as I've already said, then we would have the evidence.'

Lady Dorrian was also asked about other parts of the Government's Bill, which aims to enshrine a right to lifetime anonymity for victims of sexual and other qualifying offences.

The Lord Justice Clerk, who is considered Scotland's second-most senior judge, said it would give victims 'a degree of comfort' by putting the right to anonymity on firmer legal footing.

She said: 'At the moment there is no statutory protection, it's all based on common law and it's all based on effectively a gentleman's agreement with the press.

'The mainstream press have shown themselves to be trustworthy in that respect, and to be able to abide by the convention that they do not identify complainers, but we don't live in a time when the mainstream press is the only source of reporting.

'We have now to deal with blogging, social media, citizen journalists I think they call themselves.'

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, Scotland's most senior law officer argued that women are being failed by Scotland's justice system in October

She concluded her evidence by calling for a deep-rooted change in culture, saying if this did not happen: 'There is every risk that in 40 years' time, my successor, your successors, are going to be in this room having the same conversation.'

This comes after Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain said in October last year that women are being failed by Scotland's justice system.

The nation's most senior law officer said female rape victims are 'not experiencing justice', as she backed the SNP's controversial plans for juryless trials for serious sex crimes.

Ms Bain's intervention came in the wake of fierce criticism of the proposals to create a specialist court that would do away with the ancient right to be tried by one's peers.

But she said the low conviction rates for rape mean that 'the prosecution of sexual offences requires a distinct approach'.
A lesbian couple in Texas have been left distraught after a venue that has been meaningul to them told them they could not marry there because they are a same-sex couple.

Holly Goins and Adrian McDonald have been dating since they were teens. Together, they would frequently travel from their home in the Houston area to the L&L Walhalla campsite in New Braunfels.

They loved the historic German town and its scenic river so much that they eventually decided to move there. Once they did, they continued visiting the campground.

Until recently, the pair called the campsite their 'happy place,' and their 'heaven.'

But after getting engaged in November and inquiring with the venue about having their wedding at the property's chapel, they were told their sexual orientation would make that option an impossibility.

Adrian McDonald and Holly Goins had been visiting the L&L riverside campsite for years before inquiring about getting married at their chapel last year

After the pair inquired about setting a wedding date, however, the venue told them the owners did not want same-sex ceremonies occurring at the chapel

Days after becoming engaged, Adrian emailed the venue to say that the pair had been 'dreaming up our wedding at L&L for over 10 years.'

The venue replied enthusiastically and began planning for an April 26, 2025 wedding date before asking for the groom's name.

Adrian emailed the venue in mid-December to say they were actually both brides.

After that point, Holly and Adrian didn't hear back from the venue until January 2, which they didn't think much of as they enjoyed their holiday season, even camping at the site over New Year's weekend.

But, the response would be devastating.

'We thank you for your interest in L&L Walhalla. Regrettably, our owners have decided that they will not allow same sex ceremonies in the chapel at the vennue.

'We appreciate your patronage at Lazy L&L and look forward to many more camping experiences with you both,' wrote a staff member at the wedding venue.

The couple were shocked and disappointed, never having imagined that their status as a same-sex couple would be the reason L&L denied them the venue.

'I assure you we never thought that that would be why we would get denied; we assumed a date, maybe. Especially since they welcome us all the time,' said Holly in an interview with My San Antonio.

Not only does the pair now need a new wedding venue - they had never considered a different spot at which to marry - they need a new favorite campsite by the river.

Adrian said this is 'the first time we've ever been openly denied service for being gay.'

'It's kinda a shock, like it's a campground; we didn't go ask the Catholic Church to marry us,' she said.

The couple say they respect the values of others and are not trying to push their gayness on anyone, but were surprised by the response and disappointed with how it was handled

Since sharing their story, several campsites along the river have reached out to Adrian and Holly, offering themselves up as possibly wedding venues

According to a number of recent decisions by the Supreme Court, businesses are allowed to refuse same-sex couples if doing so would violate the religious beliefs of the owner.

The couple said they understand there are people who hold different beliefs than their own and that American businesses can refuse service for any reason. Still, they can't help but 'feel wronged' as they'd been loyal visitors to the campsite for years.

'We respect people's values, and we are not trying to push us being gay on anyone,' said Holly.

'It's just all very strange ... They could have handled it any other way. Even just a phone call, explaining it was the owner's decision to not let us use the chapel.

'It was our favorite place. It's not anymore,' she said.

Since sharing their story, several campsites along the river have reached out to Adrian and Holly, offering themselves up as possibly wedding venues.

The camp site has declined to comment.
Republicans ripped into Hunter Biden's appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a 'ridiculous' and 'made-for-TV' stunt after his contempt hearing descended into chaos.

The president's troubled son, 53, burst through the doors of a hearing by the Oversight Committee where Republicans were going to mark up and vote on a resolution to hold him in contempt.

'Another day, another ridiculous PR stunt by Hunter Biden. If this is the Biden familys strategy to distract the American people from their disturbing pattern of corruption, its a pointless one,' Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said of Hunter's showing.

Hunter said he was ready to testify before the committee which had subpoenaed him. He has long insisted he would only testify in public where Republicans could not 'distort' his words.

Republicans insist he must first offer them closed-door, transcribed testimony, as is standard, and Oversight Chair James Comer and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan moved to hold him in contempt of Congress.

'The Congressional subpoena served to Hunter Biden was for a closed-door deposition, not a made-for-TV publicity stunt. These terms are not negotiable,' said Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith.

Speaker Mike Johnson applauded Comer and Jordan for 'reminding Hunter Biden that Congress is not just a backdrop for his press stunts.'

'We have a Hunter sighting today. Oh, boy. He's back, I think, to complain about being compelled to testify, but he's still in defiance of the subpoena.'

Republicans ripped into Hunter Biden's appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a 'ridiculous' and 'made-for-TV' stunt after his contempt hearing descended into chaos

In 2022, after Steve Bannon was held in contempt and referred to the Department of Justice, he was convicted for contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison. This year former Trump advisor Peter Navarro was convicted on two counts of contempt and will face prison time.

Hunter allies argue his situation is different because he has attempted to testify publicly before Congress.

Hunter staged the spectacular stunt and sat and listened as GOP Rep. Nancy Mace said he 'had no b***s' and 'should be in jail' for refusing to sit for a deposition behind closed doors.

Just a few minutes later he got up and walked out as Marjorie Taylor Greene started to question him over his business deals and the ongoing impeachment probe into his father Joe.

He was hit with a flurry of questions by reporters after he stormed out - including being asked 'what kind' of crack he smokes and whether he was on crack while he crashed the GOP hearing.

'What kind of crack do you normally smoke Mr. Biden?' screamed one reporter - which he ignored - as his attorney Abbe Lowell delivered a short statement slamming Republicans and maintaining that Hunter is willing to testify publicly.

'What's your favorite kind of crack?' another reporter questioned.

Hunter caused a circus as cameras and reporters swarmed him for the very brief appearance amid the scandal over his shady foreign business deals.

Last week it was revealed Hunter is filming a top-secret documentary to set the record straight about his battle with addiction to crack cocaine and his financial woes.

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row



Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events.

The top Democrat on the committee Jamie Raskin appeared to be aware that the president's son was going to disturb proceedings with his shock entry.

'Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?' asked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 'You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the Oversight Committee spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.'

'You have no b***s to come up here,' she spewed. 'I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here and right now,' Mace continued. 'I'm looking at you!'

'I believe that Hunter Biden should be held completely in contempt. I believe he should be hauled off to jail right now!' the fired up Republican congresswoman remarked.

Democrat Jared Moskowitz - who also seemed to be aware of the stunt - asked for a show of hands from the lawmakers on who wanted to hear from Hunter, since he was in front of them.

All Democrats raised their hands. No Republicans did.

He put Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on the spot, daring him to question Hunter since he came to the public hearing.

Hunter then stormed out of the hearing room following Moskowitz's remarks, immediately after Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., started speaking, less than 30 minutes into the hearing.

'I think it's clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can't even face my words as I was about to speak to him,' said Greene.

'What a coward,' she exclaimed.

At one point Greene moved to hold up a poster and top Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin voiced concern about the sign being another explicit photo of Hunter Biden, referencing a previous hearing.

'It's not pornography,' said Greene.

'You're the expert,' quipped Raskin.

'Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?' asked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events

We had to pause committee because Marjorie Taylor Greene is being unhinged. While we wait, @JaredEMoskowitz is holding this up: pic.twitter.com/5QOp1qBqXK  Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) January 10, 2024

At another point in the frenzied hearing, Moskowitz held up a photo of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

And at another, Rep. Pramila Jayapal noted that Trump 'incited an erection,' nervously laughing when she realized her word flub and added, 'maybe that too.'

Two top GOP-led committees are preparing to vote to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony.

Republicans say that his 'obstruction' of their impeachment investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face up to a year in jail.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals.

Instead of showing up for his required testimony, Hunter appeared outside of the Capitol to deliver a dramatic tirade slamming 'shameless' Republicans, while saying he'd only testify in a public forum.

The powerful House Oversight and Judiciary Committees kicked off dual hearings at 10 a.m. ET today.

Both committees were expected to work through a series of amendments and then vote on authorizing contempt charges for the president's son before the disturbance.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted

The contempt articles will then go to the House Rules Committee and finally to the House floor for a full body vote, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution, which is unlikely. In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted.

Lawmakers released the text of the contempt resolution Monday.

They wrote that Hunter's testimony is a 'critical component' of their impeachment inquiry into whether then-Vice President Joe 'abused his office' by engaging in 'schemes' with foreigners to enrich himself or his family.

Hunter's 'flagrant defiance' of the subpoenas is 'contemptuous' and he must be 'held accountable for his unlawful actions,' the resolution continues - calling his actions a 'criminal act.'

Top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin said Monday that there is 'no precedent' for the House to hold 'a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committee's choosing.'

He went on to accuse Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of wanting to 'keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.'

'However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden,' the Democrat continued.

Two former Donald Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were held in contempt and ultimately prosecuted by Biden's DOJ for defying January 6 Committee subpoenas.

Bannon is currently appealing his four-month prison sentence and Navarro is expected to be sentenced later this week, and could face up to one year behind bars.

They both said that executive privilege protected them from having to comply with the congressional committee's demands.

Hunter Biden shockingly showed up Capitol Hill on the morning of his mandatory deposition to acknowledge 'mistakes' he made due to his crack cocaine addiction while blasting Republicans investigating him for 'turning his 'dad's love into darkness'

Republicans had announced they would begin moving forward with contempt last week.

'Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition,' House Oversight Committee Republicans wrote on X Friday.

'Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,' the lawmakers said on Friday.

Republicans said that his 'obstruction' of their investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face jail time.

GOP leadership held a vote to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe on December 13.

The 221-212 party-line vote opened the door for the GOP to get more evidence about schemes that have seen the Biden family get millions from countries including China, Ukraine and Romania.

And the Bidens will now have more of their bank records, mortgage details, emails, text messages and mobile phones subpoenaed, along with anything else Congress wants to see.

Hunter was subpoenaed by Republicans last month along with James Biden, the president's brother, and Biden family associate Rob Walker. Attorneys for James have been in touch with the committee and they are working on scheduling a time for his closed-door testimony.

Hunter Biden made a shock appearance on Capitol Hill where he defiantly declared that his father is innocent of corruption allegations and accused Republicans of being 'shameless' for trying to impeach him.

Hunter delivered an emotional public statement in which he tore into the 'unrelenting Trump attack machine' and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for showing naked photos of him in Congress.

Hunter admitted making 'mistakes' in his life due to his crack cocaine addiction but went on to blast Republicans investigating him and accused them of 'turning my dad's love into darkness.'

The first son also said his father was 'not financially involved' in his controversial business dealings and that there was no evidence because it 'did not happen.'

Comer and Jordan questioned what Hunter meant when that his father was not 'financially' involved in his dealings.

'Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?' they questioned in the statement. 'Evidence shows Joe Biden met with Hunter's business associates and his name was at the center of the family business strategy.'

Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress after he didn't show up for his impeachment probe deposition

Hunter said on December 13: 'I am here today to acknowledge I have made mistakes in my life. I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for political purposes.
American Express Middle East has launched its third annual Shop Small campaign in Bahrain from January 10 to March 10, following the success of the past two years campaigns.

This year, more than 50% of new small merchants are joining the Shop Small campaign.

The third edition of Shop Small marks American Express Middle Easts continued commitment to support small businesses and SMEs in Bahrain  with all the Shop Small businesses from last year participating this year.

During the two-month campaign, American Express Middle East Card Members will receive BD2 ($5.31) when they spend BD5 or more at all participating Shop Small merchants.

Empowering local business

American Express Middle East CEO, Mazin Khoury, said: Following the success of the two previous editions of the Shop Small campaign, we are working with local businesses to encourage Card Members to support the local business community in Bahrain. As a partner of the community for over 50 years, we are committed to supporting and empowering local businesses that contribute positively to the growth of the kingdoms economy.

American Express has a long history of building strong and rewarding relationships with merchants of its network. Small business owners see the added value that American Express brings in attracting new and loyal customers through marketing initiatives like our annual Shop Small campaign - incentivising and rewarding American Express Card Members to spend in participating small businesses.

The Shop Small campaign originally started as Small Business Saturday during the holiday season in the US in 2010 to bring more holiday shopping to small businesses. Shop Small is now a large, global movement that supports small businesses every day.--TradeArabia News Service
A convicted terrorist judged a 'serious threat to society' has been allowed to remain in the UK after getting back into the country via Liverpool.

French national Nacim Rebani had convictions for armed robbery, weapons offences and being a member of a proscribed organisation and was jailed for five years by a court in Paris in 2003.

Rebani had already been deported once, after trying to enter the UK via Luton airport on November 14, 2016, when he was stopped by border security officials and refused entry.

He was removed to France the next day, and appealed against the refusal. However, an Immigration Tribunal dismissed his appeal in 2017.

The judge on that occasion, Immigration Judge Ross, wrote: 'I consider that although the appellant's previous criminal convictions cannot in themselves justify the decision, nevertheless I consider that the personal conduct of the appellant represents a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to society.

'I must have regard to the very serious threat to UK citizens and institutions caused by terrorists as exemplified in the attacks in London. The appellant's behaviour in the past demonstrates that he has a propensity to commit terrorist offences. Although his last court appearance was in 2003, he was not let out of prison until 2008.'

Immigration Judge Clarke referred to the 2017 decision by his judicial colleague Judge Ross and wrote: 'The judge found that the appellant has 'a propensity to commit terrorist offences' but fails to identify any evidence that would lead to such a conclusion'

However, a new court case has revealed that Rebani is now legally living in the UK after getting back into the country on December 16, 2020, via Northern Ireland. Court documents explain that he arrived in Liverpool from Belfast where he was stopped and interviewed by Special Branch officers.

Rebani told the officers he only intended to remain in the UK for 48 hours while visiting family, however on December 19 he applied for pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme - in which he did not declare his previous convictions, although he had disclosed them to the police and provided a laptop for examination, which contained no incriminating material.

On January 15, 2021, Rebani was detained at an address in the UK and served with immigration enforcement papers.

A week later he made representations to the Home Office arguing against its decision to remove him, but the deportation order was upheld. Rebani then appealed to the Immigration Tribunal again, and won his case.

In that hearing, Immigration Judge Clarke referred to the 2017 decision by his judicial colleague Judge Ross and wrote: 'The judge found that the appellant has 'a propensity to commit terrorist offences' but fails to identify any evidence that would lead to such a conclusion.'

Judge Clarke, having heard oral evidence from the appellant, concluded 'he did not represent the risk he was found by Judge Ross to present'.

He pointed out that none of the Special Branch officers involved in interviewing the appellant at previous port stops had attended to give evidence, and the interview records had not been disclosed, 'contrary to the tribunal's specific directions'.

Judge Clarke also read an Independent Psychological Risk Assessment Report by Lisa Davies, a Chartered and Registered Forensic Psychologist, and a number of other materials. The judge accepted Ms Davies' opinion that Rebani did not pose a risk and allowed his appeal.

The Home Office appealed that decision and the case was heard again by the Upper Immigration Tribunal before Judge Stephen Smith, who published his judgement last month.

The Home Office argued that Judge Clarke was wrong to dismiss the findings of Judge Ross. However, Judge Smith sided with Rebani's legal team, finding that Judge Clarke had been entitled to come to the view that Rebani no longer posed a risk based on the evidence before him.

The Home Office appeal was denied and Rebani was allowed to remain in the UK.
Donald Trump lawyer Alina Habba defended her client by saying he 'didn't kill anyone' after an appeals court judge poked a hole in his immunity claim during a consequential court hearing.

Habba, the Bedminister New Jersey-based lawyer who defends Trump in courtrooms and on television, called Trump's case a 'slam dunk,' in an appearance on Sean Hannity's program on Fox News hours after a three-judge panel grilled Trump lawyer John Sauer about the immunity issue.

The most piercing query came when appeals court judge Florence Pan asked Sauer whether Trump could order SEAL team 6 to assassinate a political rival and still be prosecuted for the act. Sauer offered a 'qualified yes,' saying he could only be prosecuted criminally in the event he were first successfully impeached by the Senate.

That prompted on-air ridicule from Trump rivals and prompted predictions of an adverse ruling for Trump even from some of his allies.

'It's hypotheticals that do not currently exist, because the real facts are so easy to win that we have to now argue the slippery slope argument of if he kills someone will he be held accountable. He didn't kill anyone,' Habba said.

Donald Trump lawyer Alina Habba pushed back on 'hypotheticals' after a judge asked another Trump lawyer whether his theory of immunity would allow Trump to have the military assassinate and avoid prosecution for it

'He didn't cause an insurrection. He didn't get charged for it. But they're using hypotheticals to frighten America. This is a slam dunk case. He should have an absolute immunity and presidential immunity.'

Hannity had posed a question to her about the argument, saying the hearing almost seemed to 'go off the rails, asking, well, what if the president instructs Seal Team 6 to kill innocent people? Would the president be acting in his capacity as the president of the United States? Would they have immunity? That seemed to go off the rails,' Hannity said.

All three judges, two appointed by Biden and one appointed by George W. Bush, asked tough questions of Trump's defense, which some observers have called an effort to run out the clock on his scheduled March 4 in D.C. relating to his election overturn effort.

Trump's position both acknowledged a limit to presidential immunity  it could go forward if a president had been impeached  and put it to a standard that faces multiple practical problems.

Former House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued on CNN that the position could even allow Trump to hypothetically order the assassination of senators to avoid impeachment, thereby remaining ineligible for criminal prosecution for the initial hypothetical extrajudicial killing.

Hannity said the hearing went 'off the rails' when a judge asked Trump lawyer John Sauer about the extent of immunity Trump enjoys from his time as president

'The presentation in the D.C. Circuit Court of appeals before the three-judge panel was astounding,' said Raskin. 'Donald Trump and his lawyers essentially asserted that the president has the right to assassinate people, to kill people without any prospect of prosecution unless they're first impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate.'

Then he took the argument to its extreme. 'Say there's a narrow margin in the Senate of a two or three vote in the opposition party, what's to keep him from murdering members of the Senate to make sure that he doesn't get convicted there in order to deny a two-thirds majority?'

'He could kill them and then he can't be impeached or convicted because he's murdered his opposition and can't be prosecuted for it because he hasn't been impeached or convicted.'

He called the argument 'utterly ludicrous,' he said, as reported by Mediaite.

Trump tore into President Biden and warned of 'bedlam' if his prosecution is allowed to go forward, in an angry statement just minutes after his lawyer argued in court he enjoys absolute immunity from his time as president.

Trump made the comments as he called the Biden administration a 'threat to democracy' and once again claimed to have uncovered 'tremendous voter fraud' despite multiple court findings rulings against his and his allies' claims.

'It's very unfair when a political opponent is prosecuted by the DOJ, by Biden's DOJ. So they're losing in every poll, losing in almost every demographic...numbers came out today that are really very mind-boggling if you happen to be Joe Biden,' Trump said at a Washington, D.C. hotel.

'And I think they feel this is the way they're going to try and win and that's not the way it goes. It'll be Bedlam in the country. It's a very bad thing. It's a very bad precedent. As we said it's the opening of a Pandora's Box,' Trump said.

'It'll be Bedlam in the country,' former President Donald Trump said Tuesday, speaking of what will happen if he faces prosecution despite his claim of 'absolute immunity.' His lawyer said he was facing a 'political prosecution'

He was picking up on a phrase his lawyer John Sauer used in court, and one his lawyer John Lauro made alongside Trump,

'If we adopt what the Special Counsel wants, if we adopt what President Biden wants, then we open the Pandora's box to political prosecution after political prosecution after political prosecution,' said Lauro. 'In fact, Joe Biden could be prosecuted for trying to stop this man from becoming the next President of the United States,' he said.

'It's a very sad thing that's happened with this whole situation. When they talk about threat to democracy that's your threat to democracy. And I feel that as a president you have to have immunity,' Trump said.

A reporter shouted a question to Trump after he had completed his remarks about his 'bedlam' comment, and whether he would tell them 'no matter what, no violence.' Trump walked away without responding.

Trump was present inside the courtroom and spoke afterward

Trump warned of 'bedlam' if the prosecution against him continues

Trump then said Biden could be prosecuted for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which came after a delayed departure date negotiated during the Trump administration, before saying immunity was necessary.

'The lowest moment, I think, in the history of our country was Afghanistan - the way we withdrew. With shame. We surrendered. People were killed, 13 great soldiers killed...he [Biden] could be prosecuted for that. So you can't have a president without immunity.'

Then Trump brought out President Obama's ordering of drone strikes, 'which were bad. They were mistakes, terrible mistakes.' Still, he said, 'You really can't put a president into that position. So I think most people understand and we feel very confident that eventually hopefully at this level, but eventually we win. A president has to have immunity.'

He was referencing Obama's ordering of hundreds of drone strikes to target Al Qaeda and other extremists in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Trump spoke after a three-judge U.S. Appeals Court heard oral arguments inside the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, located steps away from the Capitol where his supporters rioted on January 6 and from the former D.C. hotel that was a hub of activity during his presidency. (Trump sold the lease at an estimated $100 million profit).

Inside the courtroom, Trump's attorney faced a blizzard of questions from the judges over his claims of presidential immunity  including whether he could use the military to assassinate a political rival.

Trump is trying to toss his criminal indictment over January 6 in Washington, D.C. in part on his immunity claims.

He is arguing that the allegations against him fell within the perimeter of his official responsibilities as president while in office.

As Trump looked on in court appeals court judge Florence Pan asked his lawyer: 'A yes or no question. Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to a criminal prosecution?'

Trump lawyer John Sauer, the former Missouri solicitor general, responded: 'If he were impeached and convicted first.'

'So your answer is no,' shot back Pan.

'My answer is qualified yes...you'd expect a speedy impeachment and conviction,' Sauer said.

Donald Trump's lawyers will argue he is immune from criminal prosecution in election fraud cases in a federal appeals court hearing that will have major implications for his 2024 campaign

The Republican frontrunner's motorcade turned into the US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning, surrounded by cops and security

The judge also put Trump's claim to immunity to the test by asking if a president could sell U.S. military secrets, or sell pardons, without then being criminally prosecuted.

Pan told Sauer: 'I've asked you a series of hypotheticals about criminal actions that could be taken by a president and could be considered official acts and asked you would such a president be subjected to criminal prosecution.and your answer was no.'

Sauer countered that selling pardons might not be held to be an official act.

Judge Pan also picked at Sauer's leaning on the role of impeachment.

'Your position is as I understand it, if a president is impeached and convicted by Congress then he is subject to criminal prosecution correct?' she said.

'Isn't that also a concession that a president can be criminally prosecuted for an official act?'

In his arguments, Sauer said prosecuting a former president created a dangerous precedent.

He said: 'To authorize the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandora's box from which this nation may never recover.'

The grilling from the bench has high stakes not just for Trump's criminal case, but for the timing of his trial.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a trial date of March 4, the day before Super Tuesday, and an appeal by Trump to the entire circuit or the Supreme Court could stall the case.

Trump won't be asked any questions or interact with the judge directly before he returns to the campaign trail with just six days until the Iowa caucuses

The case is set to go to the Supreme Court, but if the judges side with him, it could derail Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal case

The Appeals Court is considering a ruling by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan (L) against Trump's claim of absolute presidential immunity from prosecution

Special counsel James Pearce, arguing for the government, went back to the analogy in his own time speaking to the judicial panel.

'What kind of world are we living in  if a president orders his SEAL team to assassinate his political rival and resigns, for example, before an impeachment? Not a criminal act,' he said, characterizing the Trump legal position.

Judge Michelle Childs brought up the Midlands Asphalt Corp. v. U.S. case  a potential precedent that has intrigued legal analysts because it provides a potential way for the court to quickly dismiss Trump's appeal on jurisdictional grounds.

But Pearce expressed his preference that the court rule 'on the merits' of Trump's claim of absolute immunity for official acts done while president. He raised issues about various future motions the defense might make that could entangle the case.

Sauer argued that allowing for the prosecution for his official acts would open up a 'Pandora's box.'

He asked if George W. Bush could be prosecuted for waging war on Iraq based on false intelligence, or if Barack Obama could be prosecuted for a drone strike.

Sauer said to allow prosecution of a president for official acts 'would open a Pandora's box from which this government may never recover.'

Pearce said in the event of a drone strike that killed civilians, 'The court would properly recognize some kind of immunity,' but argued, 'That is nothing like what we've got here.'

If the panel rules against Trump, he could try to appeal his case to the entire D.C. Court of Appeals, and then go to the Supreme Court.

Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson asked Sauer about times in the past when the courts have weighed in on presidential authority, including Harry S. Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War.

'How does that square with your position that the judiciary can never review exec action?' she pressed.

She also commented on the president's oath to uphold the Constitution.

'I think it's paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,' she said.

Earlier, Trump arrived at the federal appeals court in Washington D.C. for the hearing, which will have major implications for his 2024 campaign.

Lawyers for the former president, 77, are arguing he is immune from prosecution in election subversion cases because he was acting as president when he investigated fraud.

The Republican frontrunner's motorcade turned into the US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning, surrounded by cops and security.

Inside, the three-judge panel will decide whether charges brought against him over January 6 by Special Counsel Jack Smith should be dismissed.

Trump won't be asked any questions or interact with the judge directly before he returns to the campaign trail with just six days until the Iowa caucuses.

It came as a new CBS News poll shows 64 percent of Americans do not think Trump should be immune from prosecution for actions he took as president, while 34 percent think he should be. However, 69 percent of Republicans think he should be immune.

Trump claims he should be shielded from prosecution because he was carrying out his official duties as president when he investigated fraud claims from Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

He also argues that since the Senate acquitted him during his impeachment in the aftermath of January 6, he shouldn't have been charged.

The case is set to go to the Supreme Court, but if the judges side with him, it could derail Smith's federal case.

Trump has argued he has presidential immunity in multiple cases and is already facing challenges to kick him off the ballot from states including Colorado and Maine.

Trump has a commanding lead over his Republican rivals heading into the primary season that will be interrupted by court appearances.

The case will be heard by Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Michelle Childs and Florence Pan.

Police secure the outside of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse before Trump's arrival

The former president, 77, will be at the US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, where a three-judge panel will decide whether charges brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith should be dismissed

Henderson has already been involved with Trump cases, including whether Congress could access his tax records.

A lower court has already ruled that Trump is not immune, and District Judge Tanya Chutkan has refused to dismiss the case.

'Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass,' Chutkan wrote.

'Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability.'

Trump then challenged the decision with the appeals court.
The waterfront property comes with 1.4 acres of land, a pier, storage shed, observation platform, sea wall and communications tower

Dating back to 1871 the property was shuttered in 2020 by the Government Accountability Office as redundant

A quaint former US Coast Guard station in New Jersey has hit the market for a staggering $5 million

A former US Coast Guard station in New Jersey has hit the market for a staggering $5 million.

The quaint property rest on Shark River, close to the beach in Avon-by-the-Sea, Monmouth County.

The 19th century property comes with almost one and a half acres of surrounding land with waterfront access.

Dating back to 1871 the property was shuttered in 2020 by the Government Accountability Office as redundant.

Also on the property is a single-story, 4,735-square-foot structure built in 1967, including a maintenance and storage shed.

A former US Coast Guard station in New Jersey has hit the market for a staggering $5 million

The property boasts unrivalled riverside access straight into Shark River

There is also a boat basin and pier, an observation platform, sea wall, a communications tower and a paved driveway that leads to a parking lot

There is also a boat basin and pier, an observation platform, sea wall, a communications tower and a paved driveway that leads to a parking lot.

The borough has zoned the Coast Guard property as suitable for single-family homes.

Under borough code, a home requires 7,000 square feet of land, so its possible up to eight homes could fit on the site.

Interior shots of the property show an old control room, large canteen-style kitchen area

It is being sold alongside eighteen other decommissioned Coast Guard boat stations.

The building was most most recently used as a satellite station to support the station at Manasquan Inlet.

The 19th century property comes with almost one and a half acres of surrounding land with waterfront access

The quaint property on Shark River, close to the beach in Avon-by-the-Sea, Monmouth County.

The borough has zoned the Coast Guard property as suitable for single-family homes.

Also on the property is a single-story, 4,735-square-foot structure built in 1967, including a maintenance and storage shed

Interior shots of the property show an old control room

The property also includes a large canteen-style kitchen area

However, a federal notice issued in February 2020 declared the station redundant as it was established when boats lacked engines and were powered by oars and paddles meaning there needed to be more stations in close enough proximity to key areas to perform rescues.

Now modern, high-speed boats equipped with GPS can respond to calls for Coast Guard help much faster than when stations like Shark River opened.

At the same time, the number of rescue calls has dropped because of boating safety improvements across the country.

The property is being sold via auction, open now, and the closing date has yet to be set.
A millionaire conwoman has been accused of swindling the US Army out of $100million over six years by putting cash into her fake military youth business and splurging it on 31 homes and more than 70 supercars and motorcycles.

Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, allegedly took military funds and spent millions of dollars on jewelry, clothing, luxury vehicles and real estate in one of the biggest fraud cases the military has ever dealt with.

Mello worked for the US Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas as a CYS Financial Program Manager.

In 2016, she allegedly created a shell company, Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, which she fraudulently used to collect money from the 4-H military partnership grant.

The firm, which was meant to help the children of army personnel, allegedly never did. Instead, it received dozens of monetary grants - without examination - for six years.

Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, is accused of taking military funds and spending millions of dollars on blingy jewelry, clothing, luxury vehicles, and real estate in one of the biggest fraud cases the army has ever dealt with

Mello's $3.1million property in Preston, Maryland. She regularly filed fraudulent paperwork and deposited grants a total of 40 times into her fake business during a six-year period, securing over $100,000,000 for herself, court documents allege

This is Mello's $2.3million estate in Castle Rock, Colorado

This home was listed as one of the properties to seize. It cost Mello $1.1million and is in San Antonio, Texas

Mello also owns this $870,000 home in Lakewood, Colorado. Mello had amassed a portfolio of homes in Texas, Maryland, Colorado, Washington, and New Mexico - all of which, the prosecutors claim, she bought with the frauded cash.

2023 Land Rover Range Rover (file image). Transaction details show she allegedly wire transferred $264,874 from the account to buy herself the Land Rover Range Rover last year

Now, Mello has nearly 80 vehicles and 31 properties across five states up for forfeiture - as federal prosecutors allege she lived a life of luxury and opulence that was clearly not supported by her $130,000 a year government salary.

She reported that her company CHYLD earned a profit of $483 on revenue of $2,152 for training consultations in 2017. But since then, she has not filed any tax returns.

She regularly filed fraudulent paperwork - and deposited grants into her fake business 40 times, securing over $100,000,000 for herself, documents allege.

Transaction details show she allegedly wire transferred $264,874 from the account to buy herself a 2023 Land Rover Range Rover last year.

She also sent herself $3,308,157 to purchase real estate property in Canyon Lake, Texas, documents state.

The court has listed a total of 78 luxury cars and motorbikes that Mello owns - and has demanded the assets in a bill of forfeiture. They include numerous Maseratis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Mercedes, Teslas, Harley-Davidsons, and Land Rovers.

As well as vehicular assets, they have named 31 of her real properties. These span across multiple states - with mansions worth over $3 million, ranches, sprawling acres of farmland, and luxury high-rise apartments and condos.

Mello had amassed a portfolio of homes in Texas, Maryland, Colorado, Washington, and New Mexico - which, the prosecutors claim, she bought with the frauded cash.

Mello worked for the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas as a CYS Financial Program Manager - where she was able to allegedly move money into her shell company

Mello also owns a 2003 Aston Martin Vanquish (file photo)

Among her collection that has been ordered to be seized is a 1955 Ferrari Fratelli (file photo)

A 1935 Plymouth Sedan, which Mello owned (file photo)

According to federal court documents, Mello also owned a 2018 Maserati Granturism (file photo). It was named as one of the assets they are attempting to seize

Documents also claim that Mello has six bank accounts, and she held a minimum of $32,000 in each.

It was the IRS flagged that her lifestyle - buying million-dollar homes multiple times a year - was not supported by her salary.

Their criminal investigations division worked with army investigators as they put the pieces of the puzzle together - before Mello was criminally indicted in December 2023.

On December 6, the US Attorney's Office in the Western District of Texas said that a federal grand jury in San Antonio charged Mello with 10 counts.

The statement said: 'Mello claimed that CHYLD provided services to military members and their families, when, in reality, CHYLD did not provide any services.

'The indictment alleges that Mello instead used the funds to buy millions of dollars in jewelry, clothing, vehicles, and real estate. Additionally, Mello is alleged to have falsified the digital signature of one of her supervisors on multiple occasions.'

Mello is charged with five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in a monetary transaction over $10,000 using criminally derived proceeds, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The San Antonio woman is facing up to 20 years in prison for each fraud charge, 10 years for each spending change, and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft charge.
The family home of a seven-year-old boy who died when flood waters allegedly filled the property with toxic fumes a decade ago has been inundated again.

Flooding has once more devastated the town of Chertsey in Surrey, with families evacuated from their houses and businesses forced to close.

Locals complain that a flood relief scheme designed to protect nearby Windsor and south-west London has made the problem worse for them.

Among the properties left underwater in Chertsey is the home where Zane Gbangbola died in February 2014.

His parents Kye Gbangbola and Nicole Lawler claim their son was killed after their house was 'infused' with hydrogen cyanide from a former landfill site during the previous floods.

Zane's father was left paralysed from the waist down in the same incident and was found unconscious just six feet away from his son's body.

Seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola died in February 2014. His parents Kye Gbangbola and Nicole Lawler claim their son was killed after their house was 'infused' with hydrogen cyanide from a former landfill site during the previous floods

Firefighters demanded an independent inquiry into death of seven-year-old boy

Firefighters supported the couple's version of events after discovering the deadly nerve gas inside the property - but an inquest concluded that the schoolboy's death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Now, following the latest floods, posters calling for a fresh inquiry into the tragedy outside Zane's family home are suspended above knee-deep river water.

The damage caused by Storm Henk is the worst the area has seen since 2014.

Large swathes of England have been submerged in the past few days - but residents in this part of Surrey say the water damage is being exacerbated by the opening of floodgates intended to protect nearby Windsor and south-west London.

They say the Jubilee River flood relief scheme, built in the late 1990s to alleviate flooding in neighbouring areas, has made the problem worse for towns like theirs downstream.

Resident Emma Sayle said: 'Until Windsor stops being the priority when flooding starts and we are an afterthought, this will keep happening.

'Our house is now flooded on the Thames side. We only flooded because of the absolute s**t-show of river management upstream. If the clowns could stop running the circus, that would be great.'

The house in Chertsey where Zane Gbangbola died during flooding in 2014

Local business owner Debbie Russell echoed Ms Sayle's concerns, explaining: 'In 2014 we had the army delivering sandbags, helping people evacuate their homes.

'This year, nothing. No sandbags. No help. The council just tell you to call 999. The Environmental Agency won't ring you back. There's sewage flowing through people's homes - it's a disgrace.'

While residents of particularly hard-hit areas of the flooded town were evacuated from their homes on Tuesday morning, there was no sign of emergency services by mid-afternoon.

One man living in a waterfront home said the only communication he had received about the flooding from officials was a warning email last Friday.

Ben Spencer, the Tory MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, said: 'I know many residents are concerned about the possible impact the Jubilee River has had on local flood levels.

'This is an issue which has been raised to me a number of times, which I have raised directly with the Environment Agency, and they have assured me that the upstream flood alleviation measures do not increase flood risk locally.

'However, following these latest floods I believe there are a number of issues to be further looked into, including the dredging and maintenance of our rivers and waterways.

'I will be raising these on behalf of residents once the immediate flood risk has passed.'

A spokesman for the Environmental Agency said: 'Our priority is to protect communities from the impact of flooding and flood defenses are not permitted if they increase the risk of flooding elsewhere.

'Extensive modelling and analysis has shown that the use of the Jubilee River gates has very little impact on water levels at downstream communities, including Windsor.'
Hundreds of subpostmasters whose lives were turned upside down by one of Britain's greatest miscarriages of justice will finally have their convictions quashed.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today announced a new law to exonerate former postmasters who were wrongly convicted after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look like money was missing from their branches.

More than 700 staff had their lives destroyed between 1999 and 2015, when they were accused of the crimes and dragged through the courts on the basis of evidence gathered by the unreliable Fujitsu-owned computer programme.

Four were driven to suicide, while many were jailed, bankrupted and suffered appalling stress and public shame.

The Government's new legislation will be introduced within weeks to enact the blanket overturning of convictions - which crucially clears names entirely, unlike a pardon.

It means that victims could be entitled to up to 600,000 each by the end of the year - as the PM attempts to draw a line under a shocking scandal which has been brought back into focus by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

As hundreds of sub-postmasters finally prepare for justice, MailOnline looks at the key questions.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their Post Offices. Pictured: Former sub-postmasters react after 42 were cleared in 2021

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims will be introduced, Rishi Sunak said today

Mr Sunak said he was determined to 'right the wrongs of the past'

What does this mean for the victims?

The Government will introduce new legislation to exonerate those convicted in England and Wales, which means those wrongfully convicted will no longer have a criminal record.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak says new law will quash convictions for HUNDREDS whose lives were wrecked if they sign simple declaration of innocence Advertisement

The UK Government said it wants to work with the relevant bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland too, but the justice system is devolved.

Downing Street said the Bill would be introduced within weeks with the ambition of clearing people's names by the end of the year.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs that just 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned.

Ministers acknowledge there is a risk that some people who actually did commit the crimes they were convicted of could have those quashed and be eligible for 600,000 compensation payments.

To counter this, all those using the scheme will have to sign a formal declaration that they did not commit the offence, leaving them liable to prosecution if they were subsequently found to have lied.

Postmasters come together on BBC Breakfast to discuss the Horizon scandal and the impact it had on them

Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked

Alan Bates, the campaigning former subpostmaster the ITV series centred on, welcomed the 'good news' but said the fight is not over for many of those still awaiting compensation.

'It is a leap forward, but it ain't over yet,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme.

'The devil is in the detail and we're yet to see that. We're still going to have to keep pushing the whole issue forward until everyone is sorted.'

Demands for Mr Bates to receive a knighthood for his decades-long fight for justice for subpostmasters has received backing from Downing Street.

Mr Sunak's spokeswoman said it would be 'common sense' to honour the crusading former subpostmaster after a mass quashing of convictions was announced.

Mr Bates is said to have refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received deep into the scandal in 2019.

But MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates's honour to be re-submitted now that Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry.

Will any more victims come forward?

More than 100 potential victims of the Post Office scandal have come forward since the broadcast of the ITV drama.

Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, said: 'They're rising during the day and are difficult, emotional calls,' he said.

Mr Hudgell, who has previously helped 73 former postmasters clear their names, revealed that there are new potential victims out there.

He said they include people who were forced to pay back alleged shortfalls, those whose livelihoods were lost and a several relatives of former sub-postmasters who died before they could get justice.

He said: 'There is also new information coming in to us on a daily basis which may well be of interest to the inquiry, and we are handing that over to the inquiry team as it does so.'

How will the 600,000 compensation work?

The Government has now announced details of a full compensation scheme just yet, but the quashing of convictions will unlock hundreds of millions of pounds in 'life-changing' compensation.

Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a 600,000 compensation payment, or potentially more if they go through a process of having their claim individually assessed.

Mr Sunak also announced a 75,000 offer for subpostmasters involved in a group legal action against the Post Office - with ministers setting aside up to 1 billion for compensation.

The Government is aiming to issue a compensation offer to 90 per cent of those in group litigation within 40 days of receiving a signed statement which states that they did not commit the crime.

Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a 600,000 compensation payment. Pictured: Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake

Will anyone be held criminally responsible?

The Metropolitan Police is looking at 'potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions', for example, 'monies recovered from subpostmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions'.

Two Fujitsu experts, who were witnesses in the trials, are being investigated for perjury and perverting the course of justice - but nobody has been arrested since the inquiry was launched in January 2020.

Mr Hollinrake has suggested that Fujitsu - and anyone else responsible - should be 'held accountable including making any payments' towards victims' compensation.

A public inquiry looking into the failings of the Horizon system and the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters is due to finish this year.

Sami Sabet, a former sub-postmaster who owned three Post Offices and was wrongly convicted of stealing over 50,000, wants to see those in charge at the Post Office at the time of the scandal hauled in front of a Crown Court judge and branded criminals, just as he and his colleagues were.

'They treated us like criminals, they called us criminals - but they are the criminals,' he said.

Sami Sabet (pictured), a former sub-postmaster who owned three Post Offices and was wrongly convicted of stealing over 50,000, wants to see those in charge at the Post Office at the time of the scandal hauled in front of a Crown Court judge

Mr Hollinrake has suggested that Fujitsu - and anyone else responsible - should be 'held accountable including making any payments' towards victims' compensation

Former subpostmaster and Conservative MP Duncan Baker said the Post Office should be forced to reveal how much money it 'stole' from innocent people.

Mr Baker, who worked in the role in Norfolk before being elected in 2019, said the sum is expected to total hundreds of millions of pounds although no figure has ever been provided.

Why is the Government taking this step?

Ministers have decided the scale of the scandal is so great that the usual process of individuals going through the courts would take too long - so far just 95 convictions have been overturned.

Under normal circumstances, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal, a glacial process.

Mr Sunak said the scandal had taken place 'over decades' and with 'multiple people at fault'.

He told the Commons: 'This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

'People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.'

Alan Bates (pictured) helped expose the Post Office scandal and fought for justice for wrongly convicted subpostmasters

The move does raise constitutional questions about the separation between Parliament and the courts.

But postal affairs minister Mr Hollinrake said it should not be seen as a criticism of the judiciary, whose decisions were 'taken in good faith' based on the understanding that prosecutions were properly conducted and assertions about Horizon's accuracy were true.

Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said that 'such an exceptional scheme can only be justified in these very extraordinary circumstances' and 'it cannot be treated as a precedent or justify further government intervention in the independence of our justice system'.

Is there a public inquiry?

The public inquiry into the scandal was launched in September 2020 and is still ongoing.

Lawyers representing the victims have claimed the inquiry has found 'more than enough evidence' for police to launch a criminal investigation into senior staff.

Postmasters have claimed that Post Office senior staff covered up dozens of bugs and should be investigated for perverting the course of justice, The Times reported last month.

The inquiry has been shown correspondence which show how senior staff demanded the Post Office hurried up with prosecuting people, years after concerns were raised.

Sir Wyn Williams (pictured) is the chairman of the inquiry into the Horizon scandal

Investigators' bonuses were determined by how much money was recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act - and one postmistress was prosecuted for theft after her investigator reported there was insufficient evidence.

Lawyers want the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, to hand over files to the director of public prosecutions when it finishes next year.

Paul Marshall, a barrister who has represented postmasters, told The Times: 'Based on recent weeks' hearings there is more than enough evidence for the police to open criminal investigations into several senior Post Office staff.'
Hunter Biden's notorious bong-smoking attorney and 'sugar brother' Kevin Morris accompanied the embattled president's son to a chaotic congressional hearing in a made-for-TV moment as they work on a top-secret documentary together.

Morris, a Hollywood lawyer who was seen smoking a bong at his LA home over the summer, was dubbed Hunter's 'sugar brother' after he reportedly paid off up to $2.8 million of his tax bill and provided another $4.9 million loan for housing and legal fees.

He also has purchased at least $875,000 worth of Hunter's amateur artworks.

Last week, it was revealed Hunter is filming a top-secret documentary with Morris to set the record straight about his battle with addiction to crack cocaine and his financial woes.

A camera crew has been quietly following Hunter around for years and the film will reportedly show him as a human being rather than tabloid fodder due to the drugs and financial issues that have consumed his life. It will also show him working on his paintings and interacting with his children.

The crew gained plenty of prime film content Wednesday after Hunter appeared on Capitol Hill to face off with Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt.

The president's son was accused by Republicans of staging a 'made-for-TV publicity stunt' alongside Morris.

The president's troubled son, 53, sat and listened as GOP Rep. Nancy Mace said he 'had no b***s' and 'should be in jail' for refusing to sit for a deposition behind closed doors.

About 17 minutes later he got up and walked out as Marjorie Taylor Greene started to question him over his business deals and the ongoing impeachment probe into his father Joe.

Hunter Biden was accompanied by his attorney Kevin Morris (left) as he stormed out of a House Oversight Committee hearing

Kevin Morris (left) is working on a top-secret documentary with Hunter Biden

Hunter sits with attorneys Kevin Morris and Abbe Lowell

Morris authored a book in 2014 called 'White Man's Problem'

He was hit with a flurry of questions by reporters after he stormed out - including being asked 'what kind' of crack he smokes and why he put his father Joe on speakerphone over 20 times to speak with his business pals.

He was also asked whether he was on crack while he crashed the GOP hearing.

'What kind of crack do you normally smoke Mr. Biden?' screamed one reporter - which he ignored - as his attorney Abbe Lowell delivered a short statement slamming Republicans and maintaining that Hunter is willing to testify publicly.

'What's your favorite kind of crack?' another reporter questioned.

Hunter caused a circus as cameras and reporters swarmed him for the very brief appearance amid the scandal over his shady foreign business deals.

Republicans started ripping Hunter for the 'made-for-TV publicity stunt.'

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row

Hunter Biden showed up on Capitol Hill at the start of a markup to hold him in contempt of Congress

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., wrote on X: 'The Congressional subpoena served to Hunter Biden was for a closed-door deposition, not a made-for-TV publicity stunt. These terms are not negotiable.'

GOP Whip Tom Emmer said 'another day, another ridiculous PR stunt by Hunter Biden.'

'If this is the Biden family's strategy to distract the American people from their disturbing pattern of corruption, it's a pointless one.'

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events.

The top Democrat on the committee Jamie Raskin appeared to be aware that the president's son was going to disturb proceedings with his shock entry.

'Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?' asked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 'You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the Oversight Committee spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.'

'You have no b***s to come up here,' she spewed. 'I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here and right now,' Mace continued. 'I'm looking at you!'

'I believe that Hunter Biden should be held completely in contempt. I believe he should be hauled off to jail right now!' the fired up Republican congresswoman remarked.

Democrat Jared Moskowitz - who also seemed to be aware of the stunt - asked for a show of hands from the lawmakers on who wanted to hear from Hunter, since he was in front of them.

He put Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on the spot, daring him to question Hunter since he came to the public hearing, and threatened to make the contempt vote 'bipartisan.'

'Listen, I'll make this bipartisan. I'll vote for the Hunter contempt today. You can get my vote. You can get my vote but I want you to show the American people that you're serious.' Moskowitz taunted before submitting subpoenas for Republicans who didn't comply with the January 6 Committee's requests for testimony.

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departed a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events

Hunter then stormed out of the hearing room following Moskowitz's remarks, immediately after Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., started speaking, less than 30 minutes into the hearing.

'I think it's clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can't even face my words as I was about to speak to him,' said Greene.

'What a coward,' she exclaimed.

Two top GOP-led committees are preparing to vote to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony.

Republicans say that his 'obstruction' of their impeachment investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face up to a year in jail.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals.

Instead of showing up for his required testimony, Hunter appeared outside of the Capitol to deliver a dramatic tirade slamming 'shameless' Republicans, while saying he'd only testify in a public forum.

The powerful House Oversight and Judiciary Committees kicked off dual hearings at 10 a.m. ET today.

Both committees were expected to work through a series of amendments and then vote on authorizing contempt charges for the president's son before the disturbance.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted

The contempt articles will then go to the House Rules Committee and finally to the House floor for a full body vote, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution, which is unlikely. In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted.

Lawmakers released the text of the contempt resolution Monday.

They wrote that Hunter's testimony is a 'critical component' of their impeachment inquiry into whether then-Vice President Joe 'abused his office' by engaging in 'schemes' with foreigners to enrich himself or his family.

Hunter's 'flagrant defiance' of the subpoenas is 'contemptuous' and he must be 'held accountable for his unlawful actions,' the resolution continues - calling his actions a 'criminal act.'

Top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin said Monday that there is 'no precedent' for the House to hold 'a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committee's choosing.'

He went on to accuse Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of wanting to 'keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.'

'However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden,' the Democrat continued.

Two former Donald Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were held in contempt and ultimately prosecuted by Biden's DOJ for defying January 6 Committee subpoenas.

Bannon is currently appealing his four-month prison sentence and Navarro is expected to be sentenced later this week, and could face up to one year behind bars.

They both said that executive privilege protected them from having to comply with the congressional committee's demands.

Hunter Biden shockingly showed up Capitol Hill on the morning of his mandatory deposition to acknowledge 'mistakes' he made due to his crack cocaine addiction while blasting Republicans investigating him for 'turning his 'dad's love into darkness'

Republicans had announced they would begin moving forward with contempt last week.

'Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition,' House Oversight Committee Republicans wrote on X Friday.

'Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,' the lawmakers said on Friday.

Republicans said that his 'obstruction' of their investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face jail time.

GOP leadership held a vote to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe on December 13.

The 221-212 party-line vote opened the door for the GOP to get more evidence about schemes that have seen the Biden family get millions from countries including China, Ukraine and Romania.

And the Bidens will now have more of their bank records, mortgage details, emails, text messages and mobile phones subpoenaed, along with anything else Congress wants to see.

Hunter was subpoenaed by Republicans last month along with James Biden, the president's brother, and Biden family associate Rob Walker. Attorneys for James have been in touch with the committee and they are working on scheduling a time for his closed-door testimony.

Hunter Biden made a shock appearance on Capitol Hill where he defiantly declared that his father is innocent of corruption allegations and accused Republicans of being 'shameless' for trying to impeach him.

Hunter delivered an emotional public statement in which he tore into the 'unrelenting Trump attack machine' and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for showing naked photos of him in Congress.

Hunter admitted making 'mistakes' in his life due to his crack cocaine addiction but went on to blast Republicans investigating him and accused them of 'turning my dad's love into darkness.'

The first son also said his father was 'not financially involved' in his controversial business dealings and that there was no evidence because it 'did not happen.'

Comer and Jordan questioned what Hunter meant when that his father was not 'financially' involved in his dealings.

'Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?' they questioned in the statement. 'Evidence shows Joe Biden met with Hunter's business associates and his name was at the center of the family business strategy.'

Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress after he didn't show up for his impeachment probe deposition

Hunter said on December 13: 'I am here today to acknowledge I have made mistakes in my life. I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for political purposes.
Wealthy Manhattan mothers and their nannies are at war over a Facebook page where 'tattlers' have been exposing caregivers who they deem to be 'neglectful' of the children entrusted to them.

The strife was laid bare in an expose by The Cut today where an anonymous mother, given the pseudonym Heather, shared her experience.

The nannies are shamed by other mothers who belong to groups like 'Upper West Side Mommas' and post photos of other members' nannies in the streets of Manhattan.

The groups are closed to the public, but a similar site, I Saw Your Nanny, reveals the type of evidence the women present.

A post on the blog I Saw Your Nanny shames a caregiver for looking at her phone and 'yelling' at a child. The post is one of many shared on similar blogs and Facebook pages by mothers to warn the nannies' employers about their behavior

Another post claims this nanny 'smacked' the boy she was looking after

In another post, a nanny was accused of picking up a boy 'roughly' and telling him he wasn't allowed to watch TV if he cried

One post from August 2015 remains public. It shows a nanny looking at her phone while a child sits in his stroller.

'Nanny was ignoring child and focused on her phone. When the child tried to get her attention, she yelled at him and then went back to her phone,' it read.

Heather told The Cut said she came across a post on Facebook in which other mothers alerted her to an incident involving her son at the public library.

Abigail Madison founder Erin Maloney was thrown out of a nannies' Facebook group after being accused of 'tattling' on them to their employers

'If you have a nanny that goes to the Riverside Library, (65th and Amsterdam) with your kid (ginger boy, around 2yo) she lost him today at the library,' the post read.

The tipster claimed librarians were 'about to call the cops' when the nanny - named 'Katie' in the article - presented herself to be reunited with the child.

When her son was eventually found, he was 'inexplicably' covered in paint.

She fired Katie and hired another nanny. The replacement was then confronted by other nannies - friends of Katie who were outraged by how her employer had treated her - in the playground.

'Its been rough. Some of these nannies were very, very creepy, and at some point I felt very scared of them.

'They were not only lashing out at me, but they had so many bad things to say about his parents. It was an unpleasant feeling to be around them,' Sara said.

Another nanny - dubbed 'Isabella' - was fired after a mother snapped a photo during an altercation she had with a bus driver. Isabella insists the bus driver was being unaccommodating, and that she did nothing wrong.

There are dozens of groups dedicated to exposing 'bad nannies' spotted in the streets of major cities. Members must be approved by administrators

She was fired over the phone after her employer texted her a screenshot of the Stroller Patrol Facebook post.

Fighting back: Michelle Wreesmann, a nanny from Brooklyn, started a group called 'The Nannies of New York City!' where the women can share their sides of the story

Fear of being photographed and then fired via one of the groups is now rampant within the nannying community, say insiders. nannies to turn down jobs.

'Some nannies are like, "I dont even want to take the kids to the park anymore," for fear that something will be misinterpreted or misunderstood, filmed or photographed and thrown up in a group, and the next thing they know theyre out of a job.

'They worry about it a lot. And I think it feeds that us-versus-them mentality,' said one caregiver who had been in the industry for 17 years before switching to a consulting role.

To fight back, Brooklyn nanny Michelle Wreesmann created her own group.

Titled 'The Nannies of New York City!', it is an online space where the caregivers share their versions of what happened after incriminating posts appear in the moms' groups.

'I always tell nannies: Youre a very valuable human being, and you have to speak up for yourself, and your name is your brand, so try your best out there and be professional.

'But if somebody is going to harm you, defend yourself,' Wreesmann said.

The group found a target in Erin Maloney, founder of Abigail Madison - a household staffing agency - who Wreesmann claimed was using the group to screenshot posts and relay the information back to the mothers they were about.

Maloney was thrown out of the group and Wreesmann instructed other nannies not to work with her, according to The Cut.
The Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted at least three sub-postmasters for theft and fraud caused by the Post Office Horizon system while Sir Keir Starmer was in charge.

The CPS has been linked to up to 38 cases where it brought criminal cases linked to the botched IT programme over two decades - though hundreds more were brought as private prosecutions by the Post Office.

Eleven with 'notable evidence' from Horizon have been identified by the CPS itself, with 10 resulting in convictions. Three of them took place while Sir Keir, now Labour leader, was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.

One of the postmasters pleased guilty to theft and was jailed for 21 months, while the others got a suspended sentence and community service respectively.

Labour today insisted that he had been unaware of the cases at the time, with a spokesman saying: 'They did not go to his desk.'

Labour leader Sir Keir was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.

He has faced question from Tories over whether he could have acted to prevent part of one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

The CPS is understood to have identified 11 cases spanning the period 2001 to 2020 involving the malfunctioning Fujitsu IT system and has contacted the defendants.

Additionally the Criminal Cases Review Commission has identified 27 more where the CPS may have been involved for a total of 38.

Brendan Clarke-Smith, a Conservative Party deputy chairman, told the Telegraph: 'After the latest set of revelations, there are clearly some serious questions to be answered surrounding prosecutions. Sir Keir Starmer and the CPS need to urgently clarify whether any of these happened under his watch and if so, why.'

A CPS spokeswoman said: 'The vast majority of these cases were private prosecutions brought by the Post Office.

'We've worked extensively and identified a small number of CPS cases which involved evidence connected to Horizon. In these cases, we have written to those defendants to disclose information so they could pursue an appeal.'

The trawl of official records is taking time because the CPS's digital records only go back to 2004, meaning earlier files are papers that have to be found and read.

Rishi Sunak moved to draw a line under decades of hell for hundreds of Post Office victims today as he announced a new law to quash convictions.

In a moment many must have feared would never come, the PM told the Commons that the government will take drastic action to 'right the wrongs'.

Describing the scandal as 'one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history', Mr Sunak said around 750 former postmasters will be able to sign simple declarations of innocence to be exonerated en masse.

Legislation will be introduced within weeks to enact the blanket overturning of convictions - which crucially clears names entirely, unlike a pardon.

That will unlock hundreds of millions of pounds in 'life-changing' compensation, potentially 600,000 each, which should be paid by the end of the year.

The extraordinary action by the government - following a public outcry sparked by the heart-rending ITV drama laying out the experiences of victims - came nearly 15 years after the flaws in Horizon accounting software started being exposed.

It represents a huge victory for the campaign headed by former postmaster Alan Bates - who is now being backed for an honour by Downing Street and Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Representatives of victims welcomed the step, although they warned that the detail of the scheme must be scrutinised.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after the faulty Fujitsu system made it look like money was missing from their shops.

So far just 93 have been able to clear their names in the courts, leaving hundreds unable to claim compensation.

Under normal circumstances, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal, a glacial process.

Mr Sunak said the scandal had taken place 'over decades' and with 'multiple people at fault'.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky warned European allies that Vladimir Putin would not stop his invasion, and will move on other nations on the continent, unless 'we all finish him together.'

He appealed for badly needed air-defence systems at the start of a tour of Baltic states Wednesday, warning that Western hesitation on aid for Ukraine was emboldening Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine, he said, during an unannounced visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

Zelensky was on the first stage of a tour of staunch Baltic allies Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as he seeks to bolster wavering support among other Western backers.

All three nations are former Soviet republics that are now EU and NATO members.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda (pictured, right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky(pictured, left) shake hands during the signing ceremony of a joint statement in Vilnius, Lithuania

Ukraine was 'sorely lacking' modern air-defence systems amid renewed aerial attacks from Russia nearly two years after Moscow 's invasion, said Zelensky

Ukraine was 'sorely lacking' modern air-defence systems amid renewed aerial attacks from Russia nearly two years after Moscow's invasion, said Zelensky.

Putin 'is not going to stop,' he said. 'He wants to occupy us completely.

'And sometimes, the insecurity of partners regarding financial and military aid to Ukraine only increases Russia's courage and strength.

'He (Putin) won't finish this (war), until we all finish him together,' Zelensky said, adding 'Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next'.

The Baltic tour marks Zelensky's first official trip abroad this year.

Volunteers who aspire to join the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces listen to an instructor during basic training

Zelensky said Putin (pictured) wouldn't stop with invading Ukraine

Volunteers who aspire to join the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attend basic training

A volunteer who aspire to join the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attends basic training

Ukraine has come under intense Russian shelling in recent weeks, retaliating with strikes on Russia's border city of Belgorod.

'In recent days, Russia hit Ukraine with a total of 500 devices: we destroyed 70 percent of them,' Zelensky said.

'Air-defence systems are (the) number one (thing) that we lack.'

Last month, Zelensky urged allies to keep military support flowing and held in-person talks with officials from the United States, Germany and Norway.

But an EU aid package worth 50 billion euros ($55 billion) has been stuck in Brussels following a veto by Hungary, while the US Congress remains divided on sending additional aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine has come under intense Russian shelling in recent weeks, retaliating with strikes on Russia's border city of Belgorod

An explosion is flashing during the morning Russian missile attack on Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 2, 2024

Ukrainian firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire after a missile strike in Kyiv on January 2, 2024

Soldiers at the training ground calibrate their machine guns after going into combat on January 9, 2024

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Wednesday vowed to support Ukraine 'until victory'.

He said the Baltic state would send M577 armoured vehicles to Ukraine next month, part of a previously announced 200-million-euro package of military aid.

Lithuania is the biggest donor to Ukraine in terms of GDP, according to the German-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The Baltic state has earmarked government support amounting to nearly 1.4 percent of its GDP, Kiel's Ukraine aid tracker showed.

Estonia and Latvia were ranked in second and fifth place, with aid committed totalling 1.3 and 1.1 percent of GDP.

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday: 'We must support Ukraine as long as it is needed. These are crucial times, and we need to keep our focus.'

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has said Tallinn was ready 'to allocate 0.25 percent of its GDP to military aid to Ukraine' over the next four years.

Ukrainian soldiers on armored personnel carriers prepare to shoot at Russian positions by carrying out counter-attack actions

Soldiers at the training ground calibrate their machine guns after going into combat on January 9, 2024 in Lyman district

Memorial to the First President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk at Baikove Cemetery on January 9, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine

Soldiers at the training ground calibrate their machine guns after going into combat on January 9, 2024

'It's way cheaper to support Ukraine now compared to the price the international community would have to pay if Russia would reach the goals of this merciless aggression,' said Tsahkna.

Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds, meanwhile, said last week that Riga was committed to 'continuously' providing military equipment and training for Ukrainian soldiers.

Latvia trained around 3,000 Ukrainian troops last year, its defence ministry said.

Zelensky last visited Vilnius for a NATO summit in July, where he secured promises of unwavering support to Kyiv from Western leaders including US President Joe Biden.

But aid promised to Ukraine between August and October 2023 fell almost 90 percent from the same period in 2022, reaching its lowest point since the start of the war, according to a Kiel Institute survey from December.

'The outlook is unclear, since the largest pending aid commitment - by the European Union - has not been finally approved, and aid by the US has been on the decline,' the institute said.
A consortium led by French utility major EDF Renewables and Korea Western Power Corporation (Kowepo),has announced that it has reached financial close on the Manah 1  a 500MW solar power plant located in Oman.

Following the bid submission in September 2022, the consortium was awarded and signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (PWP) in March last year.

As per the PPA, the consortium will be responsible for the design, finance, construction and operation of the plant located in the Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, 175 km south of Muscat.

The plant will begin commercial operation during the first quarter of 2025.

Once commissioned, the Manah 1 project will able to power more than 50,000 Omani households providing clean energy, while offsetting over 700,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year.

The Manah 1 project is the first for EDF Renewables and Kowepo in the sultanate and is part of the consortiums strategy to support the regions Net-Zero ambitions, as well as contribute to Oman nations Clean Energy Goals, through the diversification of the countrys energy mix aiming at 35-39% of renewable generation by 2040.

The financing for the project will be secured through equity and loan scheme from local and international financial institutions, such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea, European bank Societe Generale and Oman Bank Muscat.
The Home Office is poised to begin conducting scientific age assessments of migrants who claim to be children after new laws finally came into force.

Legal changes were concluded this week allowing officials to use X-rays and other types of medical scans to help determine a person's true age.

It follows a series of scandals in which asylum seekers claimed to be minors and even started attending British schools when, in reality, they were adults.

The oldest asylum seeker yet discovered pretending to be a child was actually found to be 41.

Home Secretary James Cleverly is now launching a search for commercial operators to carry out the tests.

Some professional bodies representing doctors and dentists have indicated they will refuse to take part, claiming the tests are a breach of children's rights.

Temporary accommodation units housing migrants are pictured on the MDP Wethersfield Ministry of Defence facility on January 10 in Wethersfield, England

Home Secretary James Cleverly (pictured) is launching a search for commercial operators to carry out the tests

Migrants rescued from a boat crossing the English Channel land on Dungeness Beach in Kent, on August 21, 2023 (File image)

The Home Office commissioned a report, published in last January, which recommended a combination of X-rays of the wisdom teeth and the hand or wrist, plus MRI scans of the knee or collarbone.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Scientific methods to assess age enable us to make more informed and consistent decisions to better identify adults attempting to exploit the system by posing as children.

'Our methods are supported by scientific evidence provided by the Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee, and scientific age assessments more generally are already widely used with variations across most of Europe, including Denmark, Norway and Sweden, to determine the age of individuals claiming asylum.'

They added that full plans for introducing the scientific tests will be set out 'in due course'.

The current system for establishing age is based on behavioural and language studies.

Between 2016 and September last year 11,977 cases were concluded, of which 5,651 found the individual to be an adult.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons last summer that it was important to 'weed out' migrants who falsely claim to be underage because it posed a 'serious safeguarding risk to genuine children'.

He also referred to the 'very tragic' case in 2022 of aspiring Royal Marine Tom Roberts who was fatally stabbed by Afghan asylum seeker Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, who was posing as a child.

Abdulrahimzai was on the run from murder charges in Serbia when he arrived in Britain, and was later convicted in his absence of gunning down two people with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Migrants who claim to be under 18 receive better housing and support, a more sympathetic hearing in their asylum claim and are less likely to be detained

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons last summer that it was important to 'weed out' migrants who falsely claim to be underage because it posed a 'serious safeguarding risk to genuine children'

Temporary accommodation units housing migrants are pictured on the MDP Wethersfield Ministry of Defence facility

Other shocking cases in which adult asylum seekers claimed to be children include Ahmad Otak who in 2012 forced his ex-girlfriend to watch him murder her sister and her friend after she refused to take him back.

A court heard the Afghan lied about his age to get preferential treatment from social services, but Otak was actually 22.

Others include Parson's Green terrorist Ahmed Hassan, who posed as a 16-year-old before setting off a bomb on a Tube train in west London in 2017, injuring 23 people.

A judge said he was satisfied the bomber was between 18 and 21.

Migrants who claim to be under 18 receive better housing and support, a more sympathetic hearing in their asylum claim and are less likely to be detained.

In November, paediatricians said they would refuse to take part in the new tests.

Professor Andrew Rowland, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), said it was an 'atrocious' policy, adding: 'To charge forth blindly with these plans would be a direct violation of children's rights.'

The British Dental Association and the British Association of Social Workers have also said they want no part in the scheme.
The judge in former President Donald Trump's New York fraud trial has barred him from speaking in his own defense during closing arguments later this week.

The former president, 77, is a defendant in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

His business empire in New York is on the line, and James has asked for his business to be fined $370 million for inflating property prices to get favorable loan deals.

An attorney for Trump informed Judge Arthur Engoron earlier this week that the ex-president wished to speak during the closing arguments and Engoron initially approved the plan, The Associated Press reported.

Now Engoron has rescinded the move, even though Trump is still expected to appear.

A federal judge has rejected Donald Trump's bid to speak in his own defense in the closing arguments of the blockbuster New York fraud trial

It's extremely unusual for defendants who have lawyers to speak on their own behalf.

Engoron agreed to the move but set boundaries, saying he was inclined to 'let everyone have his or her say.'

The judge then said that Trump would have to stick to what attorneys say in closing arguments, which includes 'commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts.'

The former president would not be allowed to 'comment on irrelevant matters' or 'deliver a campaign speech.'

He also wouldn't be allowed to criticize the judge, his staff, Attorney General James, her lawyers or the court system, Engoron wrote, according to the AP.

Trump's attorney Christopher Kise told Engoron that those limitations were unfair and the ex-president could not agree to them.

This prompted Engoron to put a stop to Trump's plan.

Trump has been extremely critical of the players in this case.

On Friday, after James asked Engoron to have him pay $370 million - up from $250 million - Trump hammered the decision while on the campaign trail Friday night in Sioux Center, Iowa.

'So if you don't mind, I was a little bit angry when I walked in. Did you notice the anger? Maybe not. But the corrupt AG wants $370 million for a fee for what I did and I did nothing wrong. Nothing,' Trump said. 'This is weaponization at a level that nobody's ever seen.'

Later, at his second rally in Mason City, Iowa, Trump picked on James again, but this time called her a 'big slob in New York.'

Trump is prohibited from trashing court staff in the case, due to a gag order that was upheld by a A New York state appeals court in mid-December, after he posted a picture of Engoron's law clerk posing with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and falsely claimed she was Schumer's 'girlfriend.'

Thursday's court appearance will mark the second time Trump has had to leave the presidential campaign trail to deal with his legal drama ahead of the first 2024 contest, Monday's Iowa caucuses.

On Tuesday, Trump returned to Washington, D.C. for a hearing as he tries to get immunity from charges stemming from special counsel Jack Smith's probe related to 2020 election interference and January 6.

He's expected back in Des Moines Wednesday to participate in a Fox News town hall, which is taking place the same time as CNN's Republican presidential debate, which will only feature two GOP presidential candidates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley.

Trump has skipped all the Republican debates as he is leading his rivals by around 50 points nationally.
Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny was seen for the first time since he was moved to a Russian penal colony in the Arctic Circle, smiling and laughing while in court via video-link on Wednesday.

Russian news outlets released images of Navalny, in black prison garb and with a buzz cut, on a live TV feed from FKU IK-3 penal colony, a maximum security prison in the Arctic Circle town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow.

At the hearing, Navalny cracked jokes about the Arctic weather and asked if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred.

The video was beamed to a hearing in a court hundreds of miles away in the town of Kovrov, in the Vladimir region of central Russia, about 150 miles east of Moscow, near Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny had been held until last month.

The hearing was for one of many lawsuits he filed against the penal colony - this particular one challenged one of his stints in a 'punishment cell'.

Navalny is currently behind bars in FKU IK-3 penal colony, a maximum security prison in the Arctic Circle (pictured)

Navalny cracked jokes about the Arctic weather and asked if officials at his former prison threw a party when he was transferred

Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny (pictured) was seen for the first time since he was moved to a Russian penal colony in the Arctic Circle

In video footage and media reports from the hearing, Navalny, 47, joked about how much he had missed officials at his old prison and the Kovrov court officials, and about the harsh prison in Russia's far north.

'Conditions here (at the penal colony in Kharp) - and that's a dig at you, esteemed defendants - are better than at IK-6 in Vladimir,' Mr Navalny deadpanned, using the penal colony's acronym.

'There is one problem, though, and I don't know which court to file a suit about it, the weather is bad here,' he added with a chuckle.

He was transferred in December to the 'special regime' penal colony in Kharp, the highest security level of prisons in Russia.

Navalny, Vladimir Putin's fiercest political foe, is serving time on charges of extremism.

He spent months in isolation at Prison Colony No. 6 before his transfer to IK-6. He was repeatedly placed in a tiny punishment cell over alleged minor infractions, like buttoning his prison uniform wrong.

They also refused to give him his post, deprived him of writing supplies, denied him food he had ordered and paid for in addition to regular meals, and would not allow visits from relatives, Navalny argued in his lawsuits, challenging his treatment.

He was transferred in December to the 'special regime' penal colony in Kharp, the highest security level of prisons in Russia

Navalny, Vladimir Putin's fiercest political foe, is serving time on charges of extremism

He spent months in isolation at Prison Colony No. 6 before his transfer to IK-6

Navalny is still considered one of Putin's greatest threats, despite being behind bars

A protester holds up placards at a gathering outside the Russian Embassy in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, in London on June 4, 2023

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, centre, attends a rally in Moscow, Russia on January 28, 2018

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In the hearing on Wednesday, Navalny contested a stint in solitary confinement, and the judge ruled against him and sided with prison officials - as in other such lawsuits he filed.

Russian independent news site Mediazona reported that the court played a video of an incident last year in which he lashed out at a prison official who took away his pen.

The official then accused Navalny of insulting him, and he was put in the punishment cell for 12 days.

According to the report, Navalny admitted on Wednesday that he should not have 'yelled' at the official and 'overdid it' by calling him names, but he argued nonetheless that he was allowed to have the pen and should not have been punished by prison officials.

He also asked the penal colony's representatives whether they celebrated his transfer with a 'party, or a karaoke party', drawing laughter from the judge, Mediazona reported.

Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin

Before his arrest he campaigned against official corruption, organised major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office

'The thought that Putin will be satisfied with sticking me into a barracks in the far north and will stop torturing me in the punishment confinement was not only cowardly, but naive as well,' he said

On Tuesday he said in a social media statement relayed from behind bars that prison officials in Kharp accused him of refusing to 'introduce himself in line with protocol'

Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Before his arrest he campaigned against official corruption, organised major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office.

He has since received three prison sentences, rejecting all the charges against him as politically motivated.

On Tuesday he said in a social media statement relayed from behind bars that prison officials in Kharp accused him of refusing to 'introduce himself in line with protocol', and also ordered him to serve seven days in an isolated punishment cell.

'The thought that Putin will be satisfied with sticking me into a barracks in the far north and will stop torturing me in the punishment confinement was not only cowardly, but naive as well,' he said.
Speaker Mike Johnson and President Biden spoke by phone about the harrowing migrant crisis on Wednesday and the speaker urged Biden to take executive action to close the border.

'Speaker Johnson spoke with President Biden today. The speaker strongly encouraged the president to use his executive authority to secure the southern border,' Johnson spokesman Raj Shah wrote on X.

Finding a border fix is imperative as over 300,000 migrants crossed into the U.S. in December - the most recorded in a month in history.

Republicans in the Senate are in ongoing negotiations with the White House over coming to an agreement on a border security package tied to Ukraine and Israel aid.

It was not clear whether Johnson or Biden initiated the call Wednesday, but it came the same day that Republicans held their first hearing on impeaching Biden's Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.

According to the speaker's office, Johnson reiterated the contents of a December 21 letter

Johnson even urged Biden to suspend all immigration - using his authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act

Johnson also called on the president to reinstated Trump-era policies like building the wall, reinstating the Remain in Mexico program and expanding expedited removal for those who cannot demonstrate asylum eligibility.

'The president believed a call was the most expedient option today, so that's why they spoke on the phone,' press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during the daily briefing.

According to the speaker's office, Johnson reiterated the contents of a December 21 letter he sent to the president during the call.

In the letter, the speaker directed the president to end 'catch-and-release,' turning away any migrants encountered between ports of entry and use parole only on a 'case-by-case basis.'

Johnson even urged Biden to suspend all immigration - using his authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The provision allows the president to suspend the entry of any foreign citizens for an unspecified amount of time if allowing them in is deemed 'detrimental' to US interests.

'This catastrophe requires your administration's full attention and commitment, particularly since Senate Majority Leader Schumer adjourned the Senate yesterday for the year,' Johnson said in the December letter, pointing to the House's hardline immigration bill that passed earlier this year, H.R.2.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas spoke at a news conference at the U.S. Border Patrol South Station in Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday

The letter noted that Customs and Border Patrol had encountered nearly 2.5 million migrants in fiscal year 2023, and was on track to break that record in 2024.

Border crossings even hit 12,000 a day toward the end of the year. Border agents say their resources are 'at capacity' at around 5,000 crossings per day.

'The wide-open border has caused unspeakable human tragedy for migrants and certainly for our own citizens,' Johnson wrote, noting human trafficking, fentanyl and people from the terrorist watchlist crossing the borders.

Johnson led a delegation of over 60 GOP lawmakers to Eagle Pass, Texas, last week to see the crisis firsthand and speak with law enforcement.
A judge teamed up with a gang of crooked lawyers to fleece the taxpayer out of nearly 2m in false legal aid claims, a court heard.

Rasib Ghaffar, 54, was part of a group of legal professionals who dishonestly claimed 1,856,584 in costs relating to a trial back in 2011, it was said.

He allegedly raked in more than 140,000 when he did not even act as an advocate in the case at Bournemouth Crown Court, which involved Indian restaurants employing illegal immigrants.

Ghaffar, a qualified barrister and part-time immigration judge denies conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation with six others including a fellow barrister, solicitors, clerk and costs draftsman.

Paul Sharkey, prosecuting, explained that Ghaffar's wife, solicitor Kareena Maciel, 51, who has been found unfit to stand trial due to medical problems.

Immigration judge Rasib Ghaffar, 54, allegedly raked in more than 140,000 when he did not even act as an advocate in the case at Bournemouth Crown Court, which involved Indian restaurants employing illegal immigrants

Ghaffar's wife, solicitor Kareena Maciel, 51, who has been found unfit to stand trial due to medical problems

Ghaffar denies conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation with six others including a fellow barrister, solicitors, clerk and costs draftsman

Mr Sharkey told jurors at Southwark Crown Court: 'The single count on the indictment, conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, arises out of what the prosecution alleges were four fraudulent claims for payments of substantial amounts of public money following one set of criminal proceedings that took place at Bournemouth Crown Court.

'The fraudulent claims were, in part, successful. Of the total of over 1.8 million that was claimed, a sum of 470,000 was paid out.

'The claims related to the legal costs of four of the defendants in the proceedings.

'It was because the four defendants were acquitted that it was possible for them to apply for legal costs for defending themselves, and for those costs to be paid by the state.

'The defendant, Rasib Ghaffar is a barrister and was said to have acted as the advocate for one of the defendants in that case. He received sums totalling over 140,000 from solicitors instructed to represent two of the four defendants.

'The prosecution say that a lot of the work claimed for had not been done at all. It had not been done, and the costs had not been incurred.'

The prosecutor said it was 'likely the reason Ghaffar and six others hit upon the plan to submit false claims was that, as people who were familiar with the criminal justice system, with the conduct of criminal trials, and they knew that the 'deal' meant four of the defendants in the Bournemouth case would be acquitted.

'That meant that if they could be put forward as genuine private clients, that would create the opportunity to submit false and fraudulent claims to the NTT (National Taxing Team) seeking payment for work done on a private basis that was not actually done at all, or certainly not to the extent stated on the claims.'

Mr Sharkey said solicitors Azhar Khan, 52, and Joseph Ameyaw-Kyeremeh, 72, along with barrister's clerk Gazi Khan, 52 have already been convicted of their involvement in the conspiracy.

Solicitors Joseph Ameyaw-Kyeremeh (L), 72 and Gazi Khan, 52 (R) have already been convicted of their involvement in the conspiracy

He explained that the case at Bournemouth Crown Court in 2011 concerned four brothers, a partnership and a company.

He said: 'All six were prosecuted in connection with employing staff at two restaurants who, it was said, were unlawfully present in the UK in breach of this country's immigration laws.

'A deal was done between the prosecution and the defence. The deal was that two of the Miah brothers would plead guilty, and the case against the other four defendants (the remaining two brothers, and the company and the partnership) would be dropped, and that is what happened.

'At the end of the case the Crown Court was informed that these four defendants were privately paying clients and weren't funded by any legal aid, and the crown court was asked to grant a DCO [defendant's cost order] in favour of each.

'The DCO entitled their solicitors to submit claims that the four should be compensated for the legal costs they had incurred.

'It is the prosecution case that in respect of the four separate (but also connected) claims, false representations were made as to the work said to have been done.

'It is doubtful that these four defendants were private clients at all, in the sense that there is no evidence that either the two brothers, the partnership or the company had paid - or agreed to pay - for their own legal costs.

'Indeed the two brothers who were acquitted had in fact been granted legal aid, so the state paying for their legal representation, but requests were made to have their legal aid orders withdrawn on the basis that they were going to be paying private funds.'

Mr Sharkey told the court Ghaffar submitted a 184,000 claim for 350 hours work for one of the defendants in the case - when there is no evidence, he said, that he 'actually appeared in court as an advocate for any of the defendants, still less the one he claimed to have been the advocate for.'

He continued: 'A fee note in his name was submitted for 184,000, for which he claimed to have carried out 350 hours of work.

'Yet the firm who had instructed him and to whom his fee note was addressed had (according to the correspondence) only come into the case seven days before it ended.

'As with others involved the work he claimed to have carried out was backdated to a time he had not represented the client.

'He received payments to a total of over 140,000 from one of the firms involved in the case out of public funds they had received from representing one of the private defendants.'

He added that there was no doubt that a conspiracy to commit fraud existed, since three of Ghaffar's alleged co-conspirators have already been found guilty of it, but that it was for the jury to determine whether Ghaffar was part of it.

Ghaffar, of South Woodford, east London, denies one count of conspiracy to defraud by false representation to HMCTS between 11 September 2011 and 3 October 2012, by submitting claims for defence legal costs arising out of criminal proceedings of Regina v Taj Mahal 2 (Poole) Ltd,...which were and which he knew were untrue or misleading, in that the costs claimed, including disbursements, were not actually incurred in proceedings'.

The trial continues.
He could face up to a year in prison if convicted on contempt charges

Republicans have voted to recommend Hunter Biden officially be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of their impeachment investigation into his father Joe.

The House Judiciary Committee was first to vote to approve the contempt resolution 23-14 along party lines, teeing up a full floor vote as early as next week.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution and he could face up to a year in prison if convicted.

The House Oversight Committee, which held a simultaneous hearing, also voted 25-21 to condemn Hunter and recommend contempt charges. Proceedings were delayed after Hunter sparked utter chaos in Congress by showing up on Capitol Hill.

He was accused of a 'ridiculous PR stunt' by making a shock appearance to face Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt.

The president's troubled son, 53, staged the spectacular stunt and sat and listened as GOP Rep. Nancy Mace said he 'had no b***s' and 'should be in jail' for refusing to sit for a deposition behind closed doors.

About 17 minutes later he got up and walked out as Marjorie Taylor Greene started to question him over his business deals and the ongoing impeachment probe into his father Joe.

Hunter sparked utter chaos in Congress on Wednesday and was accused of a 'ridiculous PR stunt' by making a shock appearance to face Republicans threatening to hold him in contempt

He was hit with a flurry of questions by reporters after he stormed out - including being asked 'what kind' of crack he smokes and why he put his father Joe on speakerphone over 20 times to speak with his business pals.

He was also asked whether he was on crack while he crashed the GOP hearing.

'What kind of crack do you normally smoke Mr. Biden?' screamed one reporter - which he ignored - as his attorney Abbe Lowell delivered a short statement slamming Republicans and maintaining that Hunter is willing to testify publicly.

'What's your favorite kind of crack?' another reporter questioned.

Hunter caused a circus as cameras and reporters swarmed him for the very brief appearance amid the scandal over his shady foreign business deals.

Last week, it was revealed Hunter is filming a top-secret documentary to set the record straight about his battle with addiction to crack cocaine and his financial woes.

Republicans started ripping Hunter for the 'made-for-TV publicity stunt.'

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row

Hunter Biden showed up on Capitol Hill at the start of a markup to hold him in contempt of Congress

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., wrote on X: 'The Congressional subpoena served to Hunter Biden was for a closed-door deposition, not a made-for-TV publicity stunt. These terms are not negotiable.'

GOP Whip Tom Emmer said 'another day, another ridiculous PR stunt by Hunter Biden.'

'If this is the Biden family's strategy to distract the American people from their disturbing pattern of corruption, it's a pointless one.'

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events.

The top Democrat on the committee Jamie Raskin appeared to be aware that the president's son was going to disturb proceedings with his shock entry.

'Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?' asked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 'You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the Oversight Committee spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed.'

'You have no b***s to come up here,' she spewed. 'I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here and right now,' Mace continued. 'I'm looking at you!'

'I believe that Hunter Biden should be held completely in contempt. I believe he should be hauled off to jail right now!' the fired up Republican congresswoman remarked.

Democrat Jared Moskowitz - who also seemed to be aware of the stunt - asked for a show of hands from the lawmakers on who wanted to hear from Hunter, since he was in front of them.

He put Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on the spot, daring him to question Hunter since he came to the public hearing, and threatened to make the contempt vote 'bipartisan.'

'Listen, I'll make this bipartisan. I'll vote for the Hunter contempt today. You can get my vote. You can get my vote but I want you to show the American people that you're serious.' Moskowitz taunted before submitting subpoenas for Republicans who didn't comply with the January 6 Committee's requests for testimony.

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departed a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill

Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, silently taking in the chaos that then unfolded in front of him as lawmakers grappled with the remarkable turn of events

Hunter then stormed out of the hearing room following Moskowitz's remarks, immediately after Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., started speaking, less than 30 minutes into the hearing.

'I think it's clear and obvious for everyone watching this hearing today that Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can't even face my words as I was about to speak to him,' said Greene.

'What a coward,' she exclaimed.

Two top GOP-led committees are preparing to vote to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony.

Republicans say that his 'obstruction' of their impeachment investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face up to a year in jail.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals.

Instead of showing up for his required testimony, Hunter appeared outside of the Capitol to deliver a dramatic tirade slamming 'shameless' Republicans, while saying he'd only testify in a public forum.

The powerful House Oversight and Judiciary Committees kicked off dual hearings at 10 a.m. ET today.

Both committees were expected to work through a series of amendments and then vote on authorizing contempt charges for the president's son before the disturbance.

Hunter defied a subpoena last month requiring him to sit for a closed-door deposition as part of the GOP impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was connected to or profited from his son's shady business deals

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted

The contempt articles will then go to the House Rules Committee and finally to the House floor for a full body vote, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Biden-led Department of Justice for prosecution, which is unlikely. In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if convicted.

Lawmakers released the text of the contempt resolution Monday.

They wrote that Hunter's testimony is a 'critical component' of their impeachment inquiry into whether then-Vice President Joe 'abused his office' by engaging in 'schemes' with foreigners to enrich himself or his family.

Hunter's 'flagrant defiance' of the subpoenas is 'contemptuous' and he must be 'held accountable for his unlawful actions,' the resolution continues - calling his actions a 'criminal act.'

Top Democrat on the Oversight Committee Jamie Raskin said Monday that there is 'no precedent' for the House to hold 'a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committee's choosing.'

He went on to accuse Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., of wanting to 'keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation.'

'However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden,' the Democrat continued.

Two former Donald Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were held in contempt and ultimately prosecuted by Biden's DOJ for defying January 6 Committee subpoenas.

Bannon is currently appealing his four-month prison sentence and Navarro is expected to be sentenced later this week, and could face up to one year behind bars.

They both said that executive privilege protected them from having to comply with the congressional committee's demands.

Hunter Biden shockingly showed up Capitol Hill on the morning of his mandatory deposition to acknowledge 'mistakes' he made due to his crack cocaine addiction while blasting Republicans investigating him for 'turning his 'dad's love into darkness'

Republicans had announced they would begin moving forward with contempt last week.

'Hunter Biden blatantly defied two lawful subpoenas when he did not appear for his December deposition,' House Oversight Committee Republicans wrote on X Friday.

'Next week, we will consider a resolution and accompanying report to hold him in contempt of Congress for violating federal law,' the lawmakers said on Friday.

Republicans said that his 'obstruction' of their investigation has forced them to take the president's son to court to compel his cooperation - or he will face jail time.

GOP leadership held a vote to formalize their ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe on December 13.

The 221-212 party-line vote opened the door for the GOP to get more evidence about schemes that have seen the Biden family get millions from countries including China, Ukraine and Romania.

And the Bidens will now have more of their bank records, mortgage details, emails, text messages and mobile phones subpoenaed, along with anything else Congress wants to see.

Hunter was subpoenaed by Republicans last month along with James Biden, the president's brother, and Biden family associate Rob Walker. Attorneys for James have been in touch with the committee and they are working on scheduling a time for his closed-door testimony.

Hunter Biden made a shock appearance on Capitol Hill where he defiantly declared that his father is innocent of corruption allegations and accused Republicans of being 'shameless' for trying to impeach him.

Hunter delivered an emotional public statement in which he tore into the 'unrelenting Trump attack machine' and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for showing naked photos of him in Congress.

Hunter admitted making 'mistakes' in his life due to his crack cocaine addiction but went on to blast Republicans investigating him and accused them of 'turning my dad's love into darkness.'

The first son also said his father was 'not financially involved' in his controversial business dealings and that there was no evidence because it 'did not happen.'

Comer and Jordan questioned what Hunter meant when that his father was not 'financially' involved in his dealings.

'Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?' they questioned in the statement. 'Evidence shows Joe Biden met with Hunter's business associates and his name was at the center of the family business strategy.'

Republicans began the process of holding Hunter Biden in Contempt of Congress after he didn't show up for his impeachment probe deposition

Hunter said on December 13: 'I am here today to acknowledge I have made mistakes in my life. I'm also here today to correct how the MAGA right has portrayed me for political purposes.
Post Office victim Alan Bates has said the legal fight will continue for those waiting for compensation for the Horizon scandal.

Hundreds of Post Office branch managers who were wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal could have their names cleared by the end of the year.

Blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said they were victims of 'one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history'.

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal earlier this month.

Alan Bates, the campaigning former sub-postmaster an ITV drama centred on, welcomed the 'good news' but said the fight is not over for many of those still awaiting compensation.

Post Office victim Alan Bates (pictured) has said the legal fight will continue for those waiting for compensation for the Horizon scandal

Hasmukh Shingadia, 63, and his wife Chandrika pictured outside their Spar shop in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where Kate Middleton was a regular shopper

Sunak was hailed by Kate Middleton's ex postmaster after PM unveiled a law to quash convictions

Hasmukh Shingadia used to serve Haribo and Doritos to the Princess of Wales and her sister Pippa at his Spar and Post Office in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, when they were teenagers

'It is a leap forward, but it ain't over yet,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme.

'The devil is in the detail and we're yet to see that. We're still going to have to keep pushing the whole issue forward until everyone is sorted.'

Sunak was hailed by Kate Middleton's ex postmaster after the PM unveiled a law to quash convictions.

Hasmukh Shingadia, 63, used to serve Haribo and Doritos to the Princess of Wales and her sister Pippa at his Spar and Post Office in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, when they were teenagers.

Mr Shingadia told MailOnline: 'To all the other sub-postmasters, it's wonderful really.

'They will be able to go around with their heads held high.'

His conviction was overturned in 2021, much to the delight of his local community in West Berkshire.

'The drama... it's struck a chord in people's hearts.

'People have started crying in the shop in front of me, saying now they understand what I must have gone through - me, my daughters, my wife.

'That drama really drove a point home.

'Thank you very much for Alan Bates, to Jo Hamilton and to MP James Arbuthnot.

'If it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't have got to where we are today.

'Now it's out in the open.'

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims will be introduced, Rishi Sunak said today

Mr Sunak said he was determined to 'right the wrongs of the past'

Mr Bates Vs the Post Office has sparked huge public fury about the Horizon Post Office scandal

In a round of interviews this morning, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said a blanket exoneration of convictions would be a 'very significant step', but the government recognised the scale of the miscarriage of justice

Toby Jones as Alan Bates in the new series Mr Bates vs the Post Office

He said the big bosses 'have to' see jail time and 'have got to be held to account'.

Yet for now, he said people need to let the inquiry continue.

He said: 'They knew all along something was wrong but nothing was done.

'They knew all along there was a fault with the system.'

He added: 'They really have to answer questions and explain why all this went on and why they ruined so many lives and businesses.'

Hundreds of subpostmasters were convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from the flawed Horizon accounting system, with MPs told the Post Office showed 'not only incompetence but malevolence' in the way it acted against them.

The scale of the scandal has prompted the Government to adopt the unconventional approach of new legislation, rather than requiring individuals to challenge their convictions.

Ministers acknowledged the plan could result in some subpostmasters who did commit crimes being wrongly cleared, but insisted the process was the most effective way of dealing with the vast majority who were victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Downing Street said the 'ambition' was for the plan to be implemented by the end of the year.

At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said: 'This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops

Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday announced she was handing back her CBE with 'immediate effect' after more than 1 million people signed a petition calling for her honour to be revoked

Ms Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system

'People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.'

Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a 600,000 compensation payment, or potentially more if they go through a process of having their claim individually assessed.

Mr Sunak also announced a 75,000 offer for subpostmasters involved in a group legal action against the Post Office - with ministers setting aside up to 1 billion for compensation.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs that just 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned.

READ MORE: Tech expert who built faulty Horizon IT system and gave evidence used to convict hundreds of postmasters demands immunity before agreeing to appear at public inquiry Advertisement

The usual method for overturning a conviction would see the Criminal Cases Review Commission sending it to the Court of Appeal for a hearing.

But the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal means the Government is introducing the legislation route rather than relying on a potentially lengthy court process.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has been discussing the situation with senior judges because of the constitutional concern about Parliament being seen to interfere with the legal system.

The Horizon software started to be rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK in 1999 and over the subsequent years a series of subpostmasters were prosecuted over missing funds.

In 2019 the High Court ruled that Horizon contained a number of 'bugs, errors and defects' and there was a 'material risk' that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

Mr Hollinrake acknowledged the Government's plan would result in some people who actually did commit crimes having their convictions quashed and being able to claim compensation.

But he insisted it is the best way to address swiftly the injustice suffered by those caught up in the Horizon scandal who have seen 'lives ruined by this brutal and arbitrary exercise of power'.

'Some of those convictions will have relied on the evidence of the discredited Horizon system. Others will have been the result of appalling failures of the Post Office's investigation and prosecution functions,' he said.

He said evidence from the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal showed 'not only incompetence but malevolence in many of their actions'.

Mr Hollinrake acknowledged the Government's novel approach was not 'foolproof'.

'I'm sure that a great many people were wrongly convicted in this scandal, but I cannot tell the House that all those prosecuted were indeed innocent, or even that it was 90 per cent or 80 per cent or 70 per cent. Without retrying every case we cannot know.

'The risk is that instead of unjust convictions, we shall end up with unjust acquittals and we just do not know how many.'

He added: 'As far as possible, we want to avoid guilty people walking away with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money. But we cannot make the provision of compensation subject to a detailed examination of guilt.'

As a safeguard, those involved will sign a statement saying they did not commit the crime of which they were accused, with anyone subsequently found to have signed that untruthfully putting themselves at risk of prosecution for fraud.

It came as Post Office branch managers have told how their lives were torn apart by the Horizon scandal  and how many are still waiting for proper redress.

News that the convicted would be exonerated thanks to a new law, as announced by Rishi Sunak, was treated with caution by many who remain suspicious of the authorities.

Will Harrison saw his mother Sam die last year aged 54 without receiving proper redress for the losses inflicted on her. He said he had heard too many unfulfilled promises. He said: Its all very well the politicians standing there making promises, but I wont believe it until I see it. They are only doing stuff now because its so much in the public eye. Why didnt they care this much over the last 20 years?

People like [former Post Office boss] Paula Vennells need to be in court. Many families were left destitute. My poor mum was one of them. And nobody is getting the compensation they deserve.

Sam Harrison was one of the 555 claimants in the Bates v Post Office High Court case on which the ITV drama was based. She ran a tiny Post Office in Nawton, North Yorks, in the early 2000s.

The faulty Horizon system wrongly reported a 3,000 shortfall. Sam only avoided prosecution by paying back the money.

Mr Harrison, 33, of York, added: We can only draw a line under this when everyone receives full compensation, a full apology from the Post Office and the Government, and everyone responsible is held to account.

Alison Hall ran a post office in Liversedge, West Yorkshire. She was suspended in 2010 over a shortfall of 15,000. She admitted false accounting, but her conviction was overturned three years ago. She said: This has been a living nightmare. Nobody from the Post Office has ever apologised.

Lee Castleton, a former sub-postmaster from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was pursued for the repayment of 25,000 at his Marine Drive branch. The married father-of-two, who is portrayed in the ITV drama by Will Mellor, was not criminally prosecuted but his failed legal action to challenge the debt led to him being held liable for 321,000 in legal costs and he was later declared bankrupt.

Last night, he cast doubt on the new law to automatically clear all those who were convicted. He said: [Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake] said there may be some guilty people in there.

People will have to sign a document that said they hadnt committed fraud, but with the caveat they would prosecute anybody who had misled them, it feels like everyone will be tarred with a small bit of suspicion.

Mohammed Rasul was convicted of false accounting over a 12,000 shortfall at his post office, which he paid back. He said: I worked for them 27 years. I had to wear a tag for three months and was given a suspended sentence 12 months.

Ive carried the shame ever since. I became a total recluse. The only people I saw regularly were my parents and my wife.

Although I knew I hadnt done it, it was just the stigma attached. You had to explain if anyone asked what had happened.

Janet Skinner worked for the Post Officefor 12 years until 2006 when she was suspended for a shortfall of 59,000. She was jailed for nine months and served three months, with the rest on home curfew. Speaking about her time in prison, she said: Its horrendous, its the worst thing you could go through.

Scott Darlington ran Alderley Edge Post Office, in Cheshire, for four years before he was convicted in 2010. He couldnt get another job for three and a half years.

He said: I couldnt afford to pay for my daughters school uniform. I suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since.

Vipin Patel, from Oxford, was wrongfully prosecuted in 2011 over supposed shortfalls. His conviction was one of the very first to be overturned at Southwark Crown Court in 2020, but he has yet to receive a penny in compensation. Son Varchas said: His health was shattered and he hasnt yet received any compensation.

Tim Brentnall ran a Post Office in Roch, Pembrokeshire, until a shortfall of 22,500 was found in 2009 which he was forced to pay back. He was prosecuted for false accounting until his conviction was quashed in 2021.

He said: My life was left in tatters and my customers and villagers thought I was a fraud.

Sally Stringer who ran a Post Office in Beckford for 20 years wasnt convicted of a crime after paying back shortfalls. She said: I joined the 555 [who took legal action] to see if I could help get justice. They really are beyond redemption, the Post Office.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local branch or go to www.samaritans.org
A former Crown Prosecution Service chief has warned Rishi Sunak his new law to quash Post Office Horizon convictions en masse will see some guilty people exonerated.

Lord Ken Macdonald says the Prime Minister's announcement in the Commons today to rush through new legislation 'to right the wrongs' is 'risky'.

Describing the scandal as 'one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history', Mr Sunak said around 750 former postmasters will be able to sign simple declarations of innocence to be exonerated en masse.

Legislation will be introduced within weeks to enact the blanket overturning of convictions - which crucially clears names entirely, unlike a pardon.

Lord Macdonald gave a word of warning as he told Times Radio the move was 'constitutionally awkward'.

'... and secondly it will mean, I think, that some people who are in fact guilty will be exonerated,' he said.

'That's the price the government is prepared to pay and that's really I think a political judgment as much as anything else.'

Former Crown Prosecution Service chief Ken Macdonald says some people who are guilty will be exonerated because of the Government's new law to quash Post Office Horizon convictions

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims will be introduced, Rishi Sunak said today

Ordinarily, the Criminal Cases Review Commission would look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal.

Lord Macdonald says Parliament is taking power from the courts to determine who is guilty and not guilty.

'We can see in this case it's being done for the very best of reasons,' he said.

'But I think one question is whether this establishes a precedent and whether this means and whether it will happen again for perhaps less noble reasons.'

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk held talks with senior judges yesterday to discuss how to speed up appeals from postmasters and postmistresses wrongly convicted due to the dodgy Fujitsu Horizon software.

But it was likely he was told the courts were unable to give a blanket ruling to overturn the convictions as they would have wanted to look at the facts in some of the cases, Lord Macdonald said.

'Not least because they've already looked at a number of these cases and have found somewhere in their view the postmaster postmistress was in fact guilty because Horizion had nothing to do with the case,' he said.

A new law to quash the convictions of around 700 Post Office scandal victims could be announced as early as today (file picture)

Mr Sunak said he was determined to 'right the wrongs of the past'

In a round of interviews this morning, postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake said a blanket exoneration of convictions would be a 'very significant step', but the government recognised the scale of the miscarriage of justice

Toby Jones as Alan Bates in the new series Mr Bates vs the Post Office

Mr Bates Vs the Post Office has sparked huge public fury about the Horizon Post Office scandal

'So I think they probably wanted to retain the right to conduct some scrutiny of the cases. But I'm sure a way could have been found.'

He added it was 'a shame' recently retired Court of Appeal judges were not drafted back in to look at individual cases to quicken the process.

No10 and Labour back honour for campaigner Alan Bates Demands for Alan Bates to receive a knighthood for his decades-long fight for justice for subpostmasters hit by the Horizon scandal has received backing from Downing Street. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokeswoman said on Wednesday it would be 'common sense' to honour the crusading former subpostmaster after a mass quashing of convictions was announced. Mr Bates is said to have refused an OBE while former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received deep into the scandal in 2019. But MPs and campaigners have called for Mr Bates's honour to be re-submitted now that Ms Vennells has agreed to relinquish hers in the face of a public outcry. Senior minister Esther McVey said she wants to see Mr Bates knighted 'as soon as possible'. 'Anybody can nominate him and I'm quite sure we will see Sir Alan as soon as possible,' the Tory MP told GB News. The Prime Minister's press secretary argued that it is 'hard to think of someone more deserving of being rewarded through the honours system than him'. Asked if she agreed about the knighthood with Ms McVey, who is nicknamed the 'minister for common sense', the official said: 'That sounds like common sense to me.' But Mr Bates was focussing on continuing his fight for justice rather than securing himself plaudits. 'It's not about me, it's about the whole group and it's about getting this money out to people as soon as possible so they can try and get on with their lives and try and put this behind them,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme. But political support for the honour crossed political lines, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also backing the move. His spokesman said: 'I think Alan Bates clearly has emerged as a hero throughout this for the way in which he has led the campaign, the fortitude and resolve he was shown given everything that has been thrown at him throughout this process. 'Obviously honours have their own independent process, but I'm sure that is something the public would regard as entirely appropriate and we would support.' Advertisement

Other lawyers have warned against setting a precedent of the Government elbowing its way into the justice system.

Chairman of the Bar Council Sam Townend KC said they would pore over the proposals which would clear the names of hundreds of Post Office branch managers in England and Wales by the end of the year.

'Anxious care should be taken as to ensuring the independence of the judiciary and the Government must be careful about setting legal and constitutional precedent,' he said.

Fraud and criminal defence lawyer Richard Cannon, a partner at law firm Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, said it was 'not the role of Parliament to pass legislation to unwind convictions of the court and, while an exceptional case, rushed legislation could set an uncomfortable precedent for future cases'.

He added: 'Quashing convictions through legislation is a constitutional issue and could be deemed as parliamentary interference in the independent judicial process.'

Law Society of England and Wales president Nick Emmerson said: 'We accept that the Government has carefully considered the difficult legal and constitutional issues such legislation raises. It is in the interests of the victims and the wider public that legal redress is made available quickly.

'Such an exceptional scheme can only be justified in these very extraordinary circumstances. It cannot be treated as a precedent or justify further government intervention in the independence of our justice system.'

Pressures on the legal system - particularly regarding funding and resources - meant it 'could not be adapted to cope' with the needs of the victims of the scandal and a new mechanism had to be created instead, he said, adding: 'In many ways, the Post Office victims suffered from the delays and resource constraints of so many others caught in the wider justice crisis.

The extraordinary action by the government - following a public outcry sparked by the heart-rending ITV drama laying out the experiences of victims - came nearly 15 years after the flaws in Horizon accounting software started being exposed.

It represents a huge victory for the campaign headed by former postmaster Alan Bates - who is now being backed for an honour by Downing Street and Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Mr Sunak told the Commons: 'This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

'People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.'

He added: 'We will make sure that the truth comes to light, we right the wrongs of the past and the victims get the justice they deserve.'

He added: 'Today I can announce that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

'We will also introduce a new up-front payment of 75,000 for the vital GLO (group litigation order) group of postmasters.'
Whoopi Goldberg told her co-stars from The View that if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election and returns to The White House, he will 'disappear gay folks' as well as journalists.

During Tuesday's daytime talk show, Goldberg told her co-hosts and the audience how she believed it was imperative to support Biden's run for re-election and added that those who don't would be supporting a 'dictator.'

'I'm going to put you people away. I'm going to take all the journalists, I'm going to take all the gay folks, and I'll move you all around and disappear you,' Goldberg said of what she believes Trump would do once elected.

She added, 'If that's the country you want, you know who to vote for. If that's not the country you want, you have to make a decision.'

Her comment drew applause from the audience.

During Tuesday's show, Whoopi Goldberg shared her support for Biden for re-election

On Wednesday, Trump was endorsed by Wyoming senator John Barrasso. He remains the GOP frontrunner in Iowa - polling at about 50 percent, giving him a 30-point lead or more over his rivals

Goldberg shared her views with her co-stars on Tuesday's show

Goldberg was also vocal on Tuesday's show about the media's role in downplaying Biden's popularity among voters, particularly among young adults, Fox News reported.

'Beware the media,' she warned. 'That voting bloc has lots of issues that they want addressed, they do, and they have every right to demand that from whoever the candidate is gonna be.'

She encouraged all to be be mindful before it is time to head to the ballots.

'But I will say this until it's time to go vote, beware the media telling us what we're doing. Only you know what you're doing,' Goldberg continued.

'You know what's upsetting you, and you will discuss it when you go and make your vote.

'Now, there are lots of things that we all wish that the candidates would talk about, whether it's on the left or on the right. We wish they would talk about what mattered to us.'

Goldberg summed up what she wanted to say on the topic of the upcoming election as her co-hosts gave her the floor.

'This is what it's all about. Either you want it to work forward-thinking, you want everybody to have the ability to say how they feel, what they want, to move forward, or you don't,' he said.

'Or do you want somebody who says, 'I'm going to be, on day one, I'm going to be a dictator.''

Among other topics of discussion the co-hosts debated on was how young Democratic voters feel about the party, and America's support for Israel amid the war in Gaza that would make many young voters stay home, as per the news outlet.

Co-host Sunny Hostin claimed that there is a 'stark divide among young voters on the Israel-Hamas war and the voting bloc who really supported Biden in 2020 over climate change.

Hostin said that the war in Gaza is an environmental justice issue, and believes they will abandon Biden over it.

During Wednesday's show, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), a leading Trump critic, appeared on The View, marking her first time on the show

Cheney is pictured speaking to longtime co-host Joy Behar (pictured right) during Wednesday's broadcast

During Wednesday's show, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), a leading Trump critic, appeared on The View, marking her first time on the show.

'We probably don't agree on a lot of stuff but we agree on the fact that we have a lot of respect for the country,' Goldberg told Cheney, The Hill reported.

One of the questions she asked, 'Do you see yourself, and would you ever consider being the conduit to that third party because I don't know the Republican party, as we knew it, will survive this.'

Cheney said earlier in the interview she hasn't ruled out a run for president in the future and 'hasn't made a decision.'

On Wednesday, Trump was endorsed by Wyoming Senator John Barros, the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate to endorse Trump.
Shocking new footage has revealed hundreds of asylum seekers sleeping on the floor of a Brooklyn school auditorium - after kids were kicked out of their classrooms so that 2,000 migrants could move in.

The students of James Madison High School in Brooklyn were forced to learn from home today after a last-minute decision to allow the migrants - from the southern border - to sleep inside the school because of harsh weather conditions outside.

The decision allowed 2,000 migrants to move from their shelter to the school, over fears the storm plaguing New York City on Tuesday night would flood their tents.

Clips obtained by DailyMail.com show the groups of migrants, young and old, taking up space in the large room in the school, surrounded by their belongings.

Outraged parents also said that they aren't going to send their children back to school tomorrow because they are worried about how hygienic the situation is, as many of those camping out at the school were previously homeless.

Shocking footage has shown hundreds of asylum seekers sleeping on the floor of a Brooklyn school assembly hall, after kids were kicked out of classes so 2,000 migrants would move in

Clips obtained by DailyMail.com show the groups of migrants, young and old, taking up space in the large room in the school, surrounded by their belongings

The students of James Madison High School in Brooklyn were forced to learn from home after a last-minute decision allowed the migrants - from the southern border - to sleep inside the school because of harsh weather conditions outside

Alina, a mother of two kids at the high school, was among many parents, grandparents, and local politicians protesting outside of the institution this morning.

She told DailyMail.com: 'My child texted me around 1:00pm, that tomorrow the school is out.

'They're going to have remote learning because the migrants are going to be sleeping over in the auditorium and at the gym.

'It was mad. We're not against migrants, but this is illegal. This illegal crossing the border and everything and affecting all of us. And the worst thing is it's affecting our kids.'

The concerned mother added: 'The border should be closed. We should not be allowing illegal immigrants coming to a country like this.

'And our children are affected because the education is already on the lowest levels. The remote learning from previous years show that it wasn't the best thing for us.

'I do not want to allow my children to participate in any activities tonight. I don't want because I don't believe the school will be disinfected enough.'

Locals in Brooklyn have rallied together outside James Madison High School today

Activist Angela Ping (right) and Jonathan Rinaldi argue over the children being shipped out of their classrooms to make way for the migrants

Many were told last minute about the migrants - and noted that they are worried about how hygienic the situation is, as many of those camping out at the school were previously homeless

Councilwoman Jamie Williams said outside the school today: 'It's not me who is letting them get away with it. We were on the ground from day one. From day one. We were on the ground. So we have to ask that question on a higher scale level.

'We need answers from the federal government and all the powers be. This is not a one person thing. Everyone who is an elected official has a responsibility to act.

'I can tell you as a parent. My daughter attends James Madison. She is home. She logged on, and they have to submit work that was missing.

'What we're seeing here today is unprecedented.'

Connie Donahue, who has two grandchildren at James Madison High School, said at the protest: 'I'm livid. I'm absolutely livid.

'I'm upset that I have to live in a city where priorities are so messed up and they're taking our children's education, which has been compromised for the last three years because of Covid.

'And they're losing another day of instruction because there are other places to put the migrants. I'm not saying leave them outside in the cold.

Many parents, grandparents, and local politicians protesting outside of the school this morning

Connie Donahue (left) who has two grandchildren at the school, said at the protest: 'I'm livid. I'm absolutely livid'

Councilwoman Jamie Williams said outside the school today: 'It's not me who is letting them get away with it. We were on the ground from day one. From day one. We were on the ground. So we have to ask that question on a higher scale level'

The decision allowed 2,000 migrants to move from their shelter to the school, over fears the storm plaguing New York City on Tuesday night would flood their tents

'I blame the president first of all. But you can't get to him, the mayor and the governor for not stepping up and voicing their outrage at how are we supposed to support all these people. We can't feed and house the people that are already here.'

Speaking about the migrants, Ms Donahue said: 'I feel bad for them. They're leaving the country. It must be hard for them. But with their children, they're small babies.

'They have no jobs. They have no money. They don't speak the language. But you're not giving them an opportunity. You're sending them here. There is no opportunity for them. What are they going to do, be an e-bike driver?'

She also added: 'You got to fumigate the place. I mean, where did they shower?'

Another parent of children in the school, Martha, told DailyMail.com: 'The writing was on the wall from the minute that the city started being inundated by the migrants coming in.

'It's disgusting and it should not be put on us taxpayers. Our kids are paying the price for this.

Mirgants pick through clothes at Floyd Bennett Field

An asylum seeker perches on Wednesday

The migrants have been living at Floyd Bennett Field for months

Officials feared that Floyd Bennett Field was going to flood, and sent the migrants to the school to sleep

'I don't understand. How is it our kids are being punished and they have to face not going to school because we have to house people that broke the law to get in here.'

Eric Adams, proud of the decision, visited the site last night and shared photos on Twitter afterwards that showed him surveying the gym hall where the migrants would be sleeping.

At 4am this morning, after no serious damage was done to the shelter, they were moved back. By then, school parents had already been told to make arrangements to keep their kids at home for the day.

The decision has outraged many New Yorkers who say it is yet more proof of Adams prioritizing the thousands of migrants who have descended on the city over tax-paying residents and their families.

Among those who voiced criticism is New York State Assemblyman Mike Reilly of Staten Island who said Adams had taken the issue 'beyond the threshold' of common sense.

'For more than a year, I and common sense colleagues from around New York City have been outspoken about the placement of temporary migrant shelters in our community and our public schools.

Adams surveyed the gymnasium where the migrants slept on the floor. They were moved back to the shelter at 4.30am

'We stressed, with great concern, the impact these types of facilities would have on public safety and quality of life.

'We were called conspiracy theorists for even suggesting the possibility that taxpaying New Yorkers would be displaced to make room for those here illegally.

'We have officially crossed the threshold. City officials are now setting a dangerous precedent for the future of this crisis,' he said.

Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt fumed: 'This should outrage us all! We have an obligation to the American people to end this madness.

'First luxury hotels and now THIS. Coming to a High School near you, Bidens illegal immigrants.

'It begins at James Madison High School which is being used as migrant shelter.

'For the record, we have homeless vets sleeping on the streets of America every night!'
Gov. Jeff Landry wants to move Louisiana to partisan primary elections. (Matthew Hinton/AP Photo, Pool)

Gov. Jeff Landry will push to close primary elections off from voters who arent registered as Democrats or Republicans as one of his first acts in office. If successful, the conservative governor would upend an election system used in Louisiana for most of the past 50 years.

Landry carved out an agenda item for the Louisiana Legislatures special session that begins next week to allow for the state to shift to political party-run primaries instead of its current nonpartisan system.

Its part of an ambitious eight-day docket that also includes drawing new congressional districts, reworking the Louisiana Supreme Courts districts, changing campaign finance laws and proposing adjustments to the state constitutions election laws.

Landrys office declined Tuesday to provide details about what his primary proposal might look like, but in the past he has pushed for the two major political parties to take control of primary elections for state and federal offices.

Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, also said Landry is interested in establishing party-run primaries for all elections in Louisiana, opening up the possibility of local government and judicial races being affected.

Theres talk of possibly closing the primaries, Henry said Monday. Thats a priority that the governor has.

Landrys nebulous proposal is already facing pushback. Other high-profile Republican officials  including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser  oppose party-run primaries. National groups have already started spending money to fight the proposal. One organization even commissioned a statewide poll in December showing partisan primaries are unpopular with Louisiana voters.

Its kind of a crazy policy to bring up, Cassidy said in an interview Monday. Im thinking you have to be kidding me with this.

Jungle primary verses party-run primary

Louisianas current jungle primary has its roots in the 1970s, when then-Gov. Edwin Edwards was reportedly tired of having to run in a primary and general election every campaign cycle. The jungle system allowed Edwards to forgo the general election, as long as he won a nonpartisan primary against all the candidates in the race with more than 50% of the vote.

With a jungle primary, every candidate runs against each other regardless of party affiliation. If no one gets over 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the largest percentage of support advance to a general election for a runoff.

Landry would like to move to a system where the state political parties take over and run the primary elections. This often involves GOP-only and Democrat-only contests being held separately. The winners of those races face each other in a general contest, which could also feature other independent and minor party candidates.

Unlike with the jungle primary, Democratic and Republican party leaders could choose to limit voter participation to people registered with their respective parties in a closed primary.

Critics of a closed primary, including Cassidy, said its likely to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana. More than 27% of the states registered voters  roughly 822,000 people  are not Republicans or Democrats. They can vote in Louisianas jungle primaries now but could be locked out of Democrat-only and Republican-only contests going forward.

It would be the largest act of voter disenfranchisement in the state in perhaps a century, said Jeremy Gruber, vice president of Open Primaries, a national group that advocates for nonpartisan primary elections.

Generation X and millennials across the country are also more likely to still identify as independent voters than older generations, according to Gallup polling, meaning that policy changes that restrict independent voters would be more likely to affect those who are middle-aged and younger.

Moving to party-run primaries also would put Louisiana in the minority nationwide. Only 18 states have the fully or partially closed primaries that Landry appears to favor, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Why would we want to disenfranchise a third of the electorate? Cassidy said.

Weve been here before

Louisiana has experimented with party-run primary elections in the past.

Lawmakers voted in 2006 to start using party primary elections at the urging of state Rep. Charles Lancaster, a Metairie Republican who had devoted most of his life to building up the Louisiana GOP.

Legislators were convinced to go the partisan route in large part because members of Louisianas congressional delegation complained their late runoff elections, which are typically held in December, put them at a disadvantage when it came to getting committee assignments and office space on Capitol Hill.

As freshmen congressmen, they had less time to lobby for positions than their colleagues in other states,who were elected in November.

For two election cycles, in 2008 and 2010, Louisiana had party-run primaries  but only for federal races. The jungle primary system was still used in state and local elections, which proved disorienting for some voters.

Louisiana Democrats also decided to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in their primary elections, while the GOP would only allow registered Republicans to vote in their races.

This creates tremendous confusion, said then-Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, in charge of running elections, at a 2010 legislative hearing on the primary system.

The public doesnt understand why they cant vote in one but they can vote in another, Dardenne said at the time.

Lawmakers also heard frustration from their constituents and decided to revert back to a jungle primary for all elections starting in 2011. They overwhelmingly voted to scrap partisan primaries in the 2010 legislative session.

Former state Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, led the effort to undo the party-run primary. At the time, Greene, now a state appellate court judge, said returning to the jungle primary was expected to save Louisiana $6.5 million over two years.

This was, in part, because the short-lived party-run primaries required an extra election each cycle. The state held an initial partisan primary and then, if no one got 50% of the vote, a party runoff. Finally, the general election decided the office winner. By going back to the jungle system, the state only had two elections for each office per cycle.

Critics have said moving back to a party-run system would likely cost the state millions of dollars per year. Cassidy estimated it would be $9 million more annually. Former Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, is also opposed to party-run primaries, said it would cost approximately $8 million annually.

I could think of so many other things that $8 million could go to, said Ward, who is working with the national group Republic Renewal that opposes party-run elections.

Wards organization has also set out to prove partisan primaries arent popular with voters. It hired Republican pollster John Couvillon to conduct a survey of voters attitudes toward party-run primaries. It found 65% of people surveyed favored or strongly favored keeping the jungle primary in place.

But one important person, the current governor, has been interested in returning to party-run primaries for several years.

What does the governor want?

Landrys political career was launched in 2010 during that short window when Louisiana held party primaries for Congress. In 2010, he leveraged support from the state Republican Party to defeat former Louisiana House Speaker Hunt Downer, a Democrat-turned-Republican, in the GOP-only primary for Congress. He then went on to defeat a minor Democratic candidate and become a U.S. representative.

But Landrys time in Washington was short-lived. Two years later, when the party-run primary was replaced by the jungle format again, he ended up losing his House seat. The more moderate Republican Congressman Charles Boustany beat Landry when Louisiana lost one of its congressional seats to redistricting.

Conventional wisdom is that party-run primaries benefit the more ideologically pure candidates such as Landry, who is considered a far-right Republican. Its why many more moderate elected officials, such as Nungesser, are opposed to closing primaries in the first place.

You get extreme candidates on both sides in party-run elections, Nungesser said. In open primaries, you have to talk to all of Louisiana.

Political scientists havent necessarily found a strong link between open primary elections and success for centrist candidates. Research in this area has, for the most part, been inconclusive.

LSU political scientist Mike Henderson said moving to a party-run system might provide more of an incentive for independent voters to join the Republican Party, which is dominant in Louisiana. But just having an increase in registered Republicans wont necessarily lead to more conservative elected leaders.

Moving to a closed primary system is not necessarily going to strengthen a wing of the party, Henderson said.

Support for party-run primaries will also come from other corners besides Landry and his allies. Prominent Democrats in Louisiana are also inclined to support a closed primary system.

It really doesnt matter to me, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, said of closed primaries. Many states do it that way.

Im not opposed to it, said Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis of Baton Rouge, considered one the Democratic Partys more progressive members.

Lewis said he believes Democrats statewide could benefit from partisan primaries.

If a party-run primary system had been in place this fall, Lewis said Landry would have had to face Democrat Shawn Wilson in a gubernatorial general election. Instead, under the jungle system, Landry never had to go head-to-head with a Democrat because he won the primary election outright.

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Tight timeline for changes

The brevity of this months special session could be the biggest hurdle Landry has to putting a new primary system in place immediately.

Lawmakers will only meet for eight days and tend to be wary about making major changes to any election laws without a thorough vetting. Landry also didnt tell many legislators in advance he would be proposing a party-run primary system.

We have a long way to go on that subject matter and a very short period of time, Henry said. I think it really comes down to how quickly members can get educated on it and what effect that has on their districts and statewide.

The people who are really pushing it have a lot of work to do, Henry said.

The post Gov. Jeff Landry wants to bring back partisan primaries. Theyve been unpopular in the past. appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
Fallen Long Island rep George Santos has begged onlookers for a 'second chance' in a new interview.

Conducted by Piers Morgan, the sit-down also saw Santos, 35, state how he would not blame his childhood for the 'lies' that saw him expelled late last year, following a historic vote from his colleagues.

Questioned about the criminal charges he faces for stealing donor funds and reallocating them toward OnlyFans and Botox, Santos said his Brazilian-born mom would have beaten him senseless.

Asked about his formative years spent in a basement apartment in Queens, he simply said it did not play a part.

Set to air on Wednesday night, the interview, for the most part, features an apologetic Santos asking the American public for forgiveness.

Fallen Long Island rep George Santos has begged onlookers for a 'second chance' in an interview set to air Wednesday night

Presided over by Piers Morgan, the sit-down also saw Santos, 35, state how he would not blame his childhood for the 'lies' that saw him expelled late last year

The interview comes weeks after the openly gay Republican air potential plans to one day return to Congress, after earning the distinction of being the sixth rep in US history to be ousted by his colleagues.

In one of three clips being billed as previews, Santos - who was expelled last month - states, 'Dont count me out. You know, I've given many people a second chance. And I'm asking everybody to please give me a second chance.'

He went on to insist, 'And I will, you know, come forward and prove to be worth your second chance.'

The interview - part of the upcoming episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored - is set to air Wednesday night, and features a segment where the award-winning anchor flat-out asks if Santos' past played a part his not-so-stately misdeeds.

In response, the Jackson Heights native simply said he couldnt deflect to his upbringing for the source of his endless lies.

'I don't have an answer for you,' he says in response to Morgan's inquiry into a potential motive. 'I really dont,' he adds, giving the Englishman a long blank stare.

In response, Morgan - capitalizing on the rare opportunity to question the fraudster further - persisted.

'Something in your childhood? Nothing? Nothing triggered this?' he asked, citing previous comments from the lawmakers that indicated his family had been poor at the time, and lived in a rat-infested apartment near Astoria's Little Brazil.

In one of three clips being billed as previews, Santos - who was expelled last month - states: 'Dont count me out. You know, I've given many people a second chance. And I'm asking everybody to please give me a second chance'

features a segment where the award-winning anchor flat-out asks if Santos' past played a part his not-so-stately misdeeds.

In response, the Jackson Heights native simply stated that he couldnt blame his upbringing for his endless lies, telling Morgan: 'I don't have an answer for you,' I really dont'

In response, Morgan - perhaps capitalizing on the rare opportunity to question the fraudster further - continued to persist, asking specifically about Santos's still-shrouded childhood in Queens, where he was reportedly brought up by two Brazilian immigrants

Despite this, Santos insisted life with mom Fatima Aziza Caruso Horta Devolder, dad Gercino Antonio dos Santos Jr., and sister Tiffany, 35, was not the cause for his misdeeds.

He told Morgan: 'No, nothing', in response to a request for an explanation.

'You can't explain it?' The TV Talker then asked: - spurring Santos to respond: 'No, can't explain it, can't explain it.

'Sorry Piers.'

While somewhat mysterious, the remark was far from the most sensational part of the upcoming interview.

In another excerpt, Santos responds to an inquiry into how his mother - who emigrated to the US in 2003 after spending an unspecified amount of time there pre-1990 - would have reacted to his recent headlines.

Keeping things lighthearted, Santos replied how his mom follows a more old-world style of parenting, and thus would have 'smacked [him] to hell'.

'Oh, she was, tough lady,' he went on to explain.

'She would have physically assaulted me Because it was unacceptable. Everything, the whole thing was unacceptable.

In another portion, Santos state his mom, 61-year-old Fatima (seen here) - who emigrated to the US in 2003 after spending an unspecified amount of time there pre-1990 - would have beaten him senseless for his lying and misdeeds, citing her old-school method of parenting

The congressman's father Fercino dos Santos Jr. (left) also helped raise Santos, and also did not influence actions, Santos said. Seen here at right, he is also one of the two people who brought together the $500,000 to bail him out last month, with the other being Santos's aunt

Santos insisted life with his mom, dad, and sister Tiffany, seen here, was not the cause. Santos's only sister recently settled a lawsuit with a New York landlord over nearly $40K of back rent

'The fact I had to open my mouth and say anything that wasnt true, she would have beaten me to a crisp,' he said of his mom - whose visa application once proved her sons claims that she 'survived the tragic events' of the Sept. 11th attacks were lies

'The fact I had to open my mouth and say anything that wasnt true, she would have beaten me to a crisp,' he said of his mom - whose visa application once proved her sons claims that she 'survived the tragic events' of the Sept. 11th attacks were lies.

As for her weapon of choice, Santos said: 'She would have pulled out a wooden stick.'

Poll DOES GEORGE SANTOS DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE? YES NO DOES GEORGE SANTOS DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE? YES 3 votes

NO 52 votes Now share your opinion





The assertion over the woman's prospective response to his lying comes roughly a year after Santos, then only weeks into his ill-fated House stint, told Morgan in a similar sit-down, 'I'm a terrible liar.'

In a final exchange promoting the anticipated spot, Santos - after asking for forgiveness - hints at a potential political return.

Morgan asks at a point: 'What's your final message for people watching this?'

Santos, in turn, responds: 'I just want people to look at [the past few months] and say so many people make mistakes.

'We all make mistakes if you really take a look deep inside and I am sorry. And I look forward to continuing to be a voice for those who seek leadership in me.

'Dont count me out.'

In a final exchange promoting the TV spot, Santos - after asking for forgiveness - hints at a potential political return, telling prospective viewers: 'Dont count me out'

Santos stormed off the House floor minutes before the vote sealing his fate concluded

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the U.S. Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel him from the House of Representatives

On December 1, more than 100 Republicans joined Democrats in booting out the fabulist liar in a vote totaling 311 to 114, with two members voting 'present.

Santos responded by storming off the House floor minutes before, eventually warning reporters immediately after that [the House has] set a new dangerous precedent.'

He added at the time, 'To hell with this place.'

Even in the face of the count, Santos remained defiant - despite being accused of a bevy of lies including fabricating family links to the Holocaust, 9/11 killing his mother, working on Wall Street, recovering from a brain tumor, and being of Ukrainian-Jewish descent.

However, in the event's aftermath, he said he would leave Congress if it is 'God's will.'

His mountains of lies include fabricating family links to the Holocaust, 9/11 killing his mother, working on Wall Street, recovering from a brain tumor, being of Ukrainian-Jewish descent.

He faces a slew of criminal charges, including allegations that he defrauded campaign donors, lied to Congress about his wealth, received unemployment benefits while employed, and used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing.

Among the charges are allegations that he made unauthorized charges on credit cards belonging to some of his donors.

Santos pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in October.

Prosecutors revealed in a court filing Monday that they were negotiating with Santos to resolve his criminal case without a trial potentially.

In an interview on CBS New York that aired the last week of December, Santos said he hadn't ruled out pleading guilty, saying 'there's obviously conversations taking place, especially after what happened in Congress, and we'll see.'

Santos was elected last year after campaigning as a self-made Wall Street whiz, but was revealed after the election to have been a fabulist who had lied about where he worked, where he went to college and big chunks of his personal background.

Since leaving Congress, Santos launched an account on the website Cameo, where the public can pay him for a personalized video message. In the televised interview, Santos said he made more money in a week on the platform than his annual salary as a congressman.

That comes in contrast to comments offered to talk radio host Frank Morano just a day before, during which he said, 'Im not done with public service. I want to go back to Congress.'

Delivered less than two weeks after his ouster, the assertion was more in line with his comments to Morgan.

'Im not saying today,' he told Morano when asked about a prospective return to politics.

He, however, added: 'I think we all know, but I do have hopes of trying to regain the trust of the American people and going there, because I will continue to expose and root out the rot in our federal government.'

Tune into the interview tonight Piers Morgan Uncensored, available on TalkTV on Freeview 237, Sky 522 and Virgin Media 606 or on Fox Nation in the US.
These days, many of us are used to seeing shocking footage online. But the scenes that took place in an Ecuadorian TV station this week are in a horrifying new league.

On Tuesday night, masked gunmen with explosives broke into the studio of a public television network during a live broadcast and threatened terrified staff on air. Employees were forced on to the floor where they begged not to be shot as the broadcast continued before the live feed eventually cut out.

Viewers were aghast as they watched the terrifying scenes unfold in the southern city of Guayaquil where the network is based.

First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third  before still more followed. With the shows After the News logo as a backdrop, those working in the studio were hauled on to the set at gunpoint.

Masked gunmen with explosives broke into the studio of a public television network during a live broadcast

At one point a woman could be heard pleading with the hooded assailants: Dont shoot, please dont shoot.

At another, screams were followed by the sound of gunshots. The ordeal went on for some 30 minutes and two people were injured  a cameraman was reportedly shot in the leg, and anothers arm was broken  before police surrounded the building and moved in to make 13 arrests.

After the attack, Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, told how she had been ordered on to the floor.

They aimed the gun at my head, she later said. I thought about my entire life, about my two children.

I am still in shock. Everything has collapsed. All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.

This shocking episode is yet more proof that Ecuador is a country out of control as criminal gangs run riot.

The countrys president, Daniel Noboa, was elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence and crack down on the narco gangs that wield so much power and have made such vast quantities of money from the drugs trade that they have rendered the small South American country, wedged between Colombia and Peru, all but ungovernable.

On Monday this week, the president introduced a 60-day state of emergency after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell.

Since then, ten people have been killed, culminating in the heart-stopping assault on the TV studio.

I met General Pablo Ramirez, who is accused of being part of a criminal organisation that allegedly gave prison and judicial benefits to a drug trafficker

Afterwards, President Noboa declared that an internal armed conflict now existed in his country and he was mobilising the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralise what he termed transnational organised crime, terrorist organisations and belligerent non-state actors.

It was in effect a declaration of war. For the aim of the gun-toting gangsters in the TV studio was clear: to strike fear into everyone watching and show that nothing and no one is off limits in the battle for control of Ecuador.

I discovered that fear was palpable when, a little over a year ago, I visited the country to investigate the drugs trade.

Never in my three decades reporting on crime for the Mail  which has taken me to 30 countries  had I felt such unease.

It is a place where you never know who to trust and where you are constantly looking over your shoulder.

I was there to report on the rise of Albanian drugs gangs supplying cocaine to Britain and, with Mail photographer Jamie Wiseman, travelled to Guayaquil, the scene of this weeks attack on the TV station.

The murder rate in Ecuador quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, and is relentlessly on the rise. Last year alone, a record 220 tons of drugs were seized there. Journalists who have tried to expose the gangsters have been killed.

Our investigation took us to the heart of the drugs mafia and we met and interviewed a murderous sidekick of one of Ecuadors top mobsters known as Carlos the Devil, leader of the countrys branch of the notorious South American criminal gang, the Latin Kings, which works with Albanian narcos to supply cocaine to the UK.

Since I left Ecuador, a senior anti-mafia politician and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who helped me with the investigation, has been murdered.

Thankfully, an anti-mafia prosecutor who had survived five attempts on his life and who met me in secret to tell his story is still with us.

Not so lucky was one of his senior colleagues who was shot dead on his way to work.

Meanwhile, the countrys most senior anti-narcotics police chief, whom I interviewed about the scourge of Albanian narcos and local gangsters, has been charged with corruption.

Along with 30 other detainees, including judges, police officers, prosecutors and former officials, General Pablo Ramirez is accused of being part of a criminal organisation that allegedly gave prison and judicial benefits to a drug trafficker.

It is true that when I met him I did wonder if he was trustworthy, but I never imagined he might be charged with being part of a corrupt network of senior law enforcement figures. But that is the point about Ecuador  no one can trust anyone as violence and vendettas tear the nation apart.

It is not yet clear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city of the boss of the so-called Choneros Gang, 44-year-old Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar  or Fito as he is better known.

Ecuador is out of control as criminal gangs run riot despite the countrys President Daniel Naboa being elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence

Los Choneros is a powerful prison gang whose members have long been involved in deadly jail riots, as well as organising contract killings, extortion and drug dealing across the country from behind bars.

After the escape of the Los Choneros boss and the presidents declaration of a state of emergency this week, Ecuadors gangs joined together to take on the government and unleash hell.

Riots broke out in at least six prisons, with inmates seizing more than 130 guards as hostages.

Ecuador has as neighbours two cocaine-producing hotspots: Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. It has porous borders, more than 1,300 miles of coastline, and bribery and corruption is rife

One guard was videoed reading out a message at gunpoint.

You declared war, you will get war, he said. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.

Explosions have torn through a number of Ecuadors cities, and the mobsters have been warning that anyone out on the streets at night will be killed.

Hundreds of soldiers, some of them in tanks, are now patrolling the streets of Guayaquil and the capital, Quito.

Residents are too terrified to venture on to the streets and schools have closed, with lessons taking place online.

The countrys armed forces have at least now regained control of some prisons and released photographs of hundreds of prisoners lying face down in their underpants under the eye of gun-bearing soldiers in Litoral regional prison in Guayaquil. Yet amid the anarchy, officials admitted that another narco boss  Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico  has also escaped after his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuadors attorney general.

Despite an attempted crack down on the narco gangs, this small South American country is all but ungovernable

So alarmed is neighbouring Peru at events in once peaceful Ecuador, that the government ordered the immediate deployment of a police force to the border to prevent instability spilling over.

The U.S. has condemned the brazen attacks and says it stands ready to provide assistance.

But the truth is that the drugs gangs and cartels will not give up easily. For them, the war is about maintaining control over massively lucrative cocaine routes to the U.S., to Europe  and to Britain.

Ecuador may be 6,000 miles from London, but such is the scale of the cocaine-smuggling operation to the UK that the National Crime Agency, Britains version of the FBI, has a number of agents based there. In our investigation, the sidekick of top mobster Carlos the Devil told us of the levels of violence involved in smuggling cocaine from Ecuador to the UK.

We called him Junior, and he said he had been taught to kill aged just 14 in a savage gang initiation ceremony.

It is a place I am increasingly glad to have left unscathed. The murder rate in Ecuador quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, and is relentlessly on the rise

He admitted he was at the heart of a blood-soaked enterprise with the Albanian mafia to export drugs through the Panama Canal and north across the Atlantic to distribution hubs in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.

We learned that Albanian capos and their henchmen control every aspect of the trade, right to the end point of the 2 billion cocaine market in virtually all city and suburban areas of Britain. It is Albanian gangs who are supplying drugs from Ecuador in cocaine hotspots such as Brighton.

Ecuador has as neighbours two cocaine-producing nations: Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. It has porous borders, more than 1,300 miles of coastline, and bribery and corruption is rife  particularly in the justice system and the military. Plus there is easy access to guns and an abundant supply of willing assassins, some as young as 12.

The Albanian drug lords are closely linked to the Ecuadorian gangs and pose as legitimate businessmen and investors, using false identities.

They rent homes in ultra-secure and wealthy developments, and spend their time in the gym and at expensive restaurants and hotels.

Many have based themselves in Guayaquil which, according to the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, is now one of the main logistical hubs for cocaine that goes to Europe and the rest of the world.

Its also the scariest city Ive ever reported from.

Junior, now in his 30s, told us how the logistics work: The Latin Kings gang in Guayaquil smuggle drugs that originate in Colombia and Bolivia.

Cocaine goes via containers from Ecuador to Europe and UK. The man in charge of working with the Albanians is Carlos El Diablo [aka Carlos the Devil].

People who work in the docks get paid to help the

criminal gangs. Those in charge of locking and unlocking the containers are targeted with bribes, as are the security staff in charge of the cameras. The price [for cocaine] is $28,000 per kilo.

Sometimes as many as 300kg go in a container  huge amounts of money are involved.

President Noboa is now intent on stemming that flow of money and stopping the gangs. His decree listed the Choneros prison gang as well as 21 others including Juniors notorious Latin Kings.

Will Choneras kingpin and his cohorts in other gangs prevail? Or could the presidents clampdown finally bring peace to this brutal and benighted country?

Whatever the case, the storming of the TV station during a live broadcast marked a chilling new chapter in the history of Ecuador. One with wider implications for law enforcement around the world.
Shocking photographs show how a stretch of river has been left looking like a landfill site after it became 'festooned' with rubbish in the aftermath of flooding.

Huge parts of the River Soar is now strewn with household and industrial waste following widespread flooding caused by Storm Henk in Leicester.

Hundreds of thousands of items of litter can be seen washed up along the riverbank and stuck in trees along a stretch spanning more than a mile.

One university academic, who researches plastic pollution in the environment, revealed she had never seen anything like it in the UK before.

Professor Sarah Gabbott, of the University of Leicester, said the scenes even reminded her of parts of Africa she had visited as part of her research.

Send us pictures of YOUR flood hell! Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk

Shocking photographs show how a stretch of river has been left looking like a landfill site after it became 'festooned' with rubbish in the aftermath of flooding

Huge parts of the River Soar is now strewn with household and industrial waste following widespread flooding caused by Storm Henk in Leicester

A narrow boat sinks after breaking from its mooring during flooding on the River Soar on January 4

She has now warned people who have been fly-tipping and dropping litter in the area that their actions are having a 'devastating' impact and killing wildlife.

She said: 'I have never seen anything like this in the UK before.

'These scenes would not be out of place in some of the developing countries I have visited as part of my research such as Africa.

'I have been to Nairobi, in Kenya, and Malawi and witnesses similar sights to this and we have much better waste management systems in place.

Hundreds of thousands of items of litter can be seen washed up along the riverbank and stuck in trees along a stretch spanning more than a mile

One university academic, who researches plastic pollution in the environment, revealed she had never seen anything like it in the UK before

Professor Sarah Gabbott (pictured) of the University of Leicester said the scenes even reminded her of parts of Africa she had visited as part of her research

She has now warned people who have been fly-tipping and dropping litter in the area that their actions are having a 'devastating' impact and killing wildlife

She said: 'I have never seen anything like this in the UK before. These scenes would not be out of place in some of the developing countries I have visited as part of my research such as Africa

'It's unbelievable really. I could not believe my eyes when we stumbled across it.

'The river is just festooned in plastic bags and material of all different colours and types.

'It looks almost like there's a landfill, which has just been shoved into the River Soar.

'It's a scary snapshot of what lies underneath the river, which we don't usually get to see.'

Prof Gabbott said the filth was left behind when the floods brought rubbish which was already in the river to the surface

She said as well as aluminium cans and plastic bottles, she had also spotted kitchen units, fire extinguishers, car bumpers, tricycles, barbecues, mattresses and sofas in the wake of Storm Henk

She believes much of the issue derives from people fly-tipping waste in a brook further upstream as well as discarding litter with little care for the environment

Prof Gabbot said the filth was left behind when the floods brought rubbish which was already in the river to the surface.

She said as well as aluminium cans and plastic bottles, she had also spotted kitchen units, fire extinguishers, car bumpers, tricycles, barbecues, mattresses and sofas in the wake of Storm Henk.

She believes much of the issue derives from people fly-tipping waste in a brook further upstream as well as discarding litter with little care for the environment.

Prof Gabbott, who also volunteers with the Green Circle Nature Regeneration CIC, added litter dropped on streets also ends up washed into the river due to rain.

Prof Gabbott, who also volunteers with the Green Circle Nature Regeneration CIC, added litter dropped on streets also ends up washed into the river due to rain

She said: 'We had these incredible floods and the water has risen, broken over the banks and all the rubbish in the river has been washed across the floodplain'

She added: 'Now it is stranded so we can see it. It is like our dirty litter has been hung out to dry where we can all witness it'

She said: 'We had these incredible floods and the water has risen, broken over the banks and all the rubbish in the river has been washed across the floodplain.

'Now it is stranded so we can see it. It is like our dirty litter has been hung out to dry where we can all witness it.

'There's a nearby brook which has a bad fly-tipping problem - we see huge amounts of industrial and household waste dumped there.

'I've seen massive offcuts of textiles and labels discarded - fire extinguishers, kitchen units, tricycles, barbecues, TV's, mattresses, sofas, everything really.

'There's a huge dumpsite in Nairobi, the biggest in Africa, and rubbish washes from slums into the rivers and snags all along the trees. It reminded me of that.

Chris Desai, founder of Leicester environmental charity UOcean, which cleans up waterways, told the BBC: 'We see this kind of pollution every day'

A Leicester City Council spokesperson said: 'Clearing litter from the waterways is a constant challenge, and the problem is exacerbated after periods of flooding when waste accumulates as the water subsides'

'When we go out on the river, we use sonar to look under water and there are aluminium cans so dense in places you can't see the river bed.

'It's the same on the riverbank where you can't walk without constantly crunching cans.

'It's usually a pleasant place and people come here for food and drink but just discard their rubbish.

'It also kills wildlife. There are otters in the river and we recently had to rescue a swan which had fishing line around its neck and was choking.

'We want to educate people about the impact this is having. Our freshwater is often overlooked as the focus is on the oceans.

'But the knock-on effect of the rubbish dumped in this brook, leads to it flowing into the River Soar, onto the River Trent and then into the North Sea.

'We're taking kids out on the river on a boat, teaching them about the river, how it works, about nature, about the environment and how important it is.

'Hopefully they'll talk to their friends and family and stop this kind of littering happening again.

'But it's everyone's responsibility to make sure we stop ruining our beautiful rivers. What we really need is to stop it happening in the first place.'

Local resident Chris Haughton, 34, of Leicester, who regularly walks his dog along the riverbank, said: 'It's absolutely horrific. It's like an island of trash in places.

'I knew we had an issue here but this lays it bare for all to see. It makes you ashamed really.'

Chris Desai, founder of Leicester environmental charity UOcean, which cleans up waterways, told the BBC: 'We see this kind of pollution every day.

'When I saw it, I was just 'that's the River Soar and that's why we do this' but for the public to see, they are shocked beyond belief.'

A Leicester City Council spokesperson said: 'Clearing litter from the waterways is a constant challenge, and the problem is exacerbated after periods of flooding when waste accumulates as the water subsides.

'Littering and fly-tipping are illegal but sadly that doesn't stop some people from polluting the environment, harming wildlife and creating an eyesore by dumping their waste in the water.

'The safest way to remove this litter is by boat, and we'll be taking our boat and our volunteers out to start tackling the worst affected areas as soon as conditions in the water improve.'

Send us pictures of YOUR flood hell! Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
Alaska Airlines has announced they will be canceling up to 600 flights until Saturday over safety concerns of their Boeing 737-9 fleet

Alaska Airlines has said they will be cancelling all flights on their Boeing 737-9 fleet until Saturday, impacting up to 600 trips.

The company had grounded their fleet of the Boeing plates after a door plug detached during a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) ordered the planes be grounded until they could all be checked for the same faulty door plug that caused the near-accident.

In a statement, the company announced that they would be cancelling trips over the next few days as they continued to wait for the fleet to be inspected.

The airline said that this would impact between 110 to 150 flights, from Wednesday to Saturday.

A Boeing 737-9 Max airplane takes off, Monday, March 1, 2021, on a flight to San Diego from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle

Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing window and a portion of a side wall of an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which had been bound for Ontario, California

They said in their statement: 'As of today, Wednesday, Jan. 10, Alaska Airlines continues to wait for documentation from Boeing and the FAA to begin inspection of our 737-9 MAX fleet.

'We regret the significant disruption that has been caused for our guests by cancellations due to these aircraft being out of service.

'However, the safety of our employees and guests is our highest priority and we will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaskas stringent standards.

'As of this morning, we have made the decision to cancel all flights on 737-9 MAX aircraft through Saturday, Jan. 13 while we conduct inspections and prepare fully for return to service.

'This equates to between 110-150 flights per day. We hope this action provides guests with a little more certainty, and we are working around the clock to reaccommodate impacted guests on other flights.'

A total of 171 passengers and six crew members were left fearing for their lives when the emergency exit used as a cabin window blew out of flight at 16,000 feet.

Emma Vu had been aboard the flight and was asleep when she 'felt the entire plane drop'.

Taking to TikTok after surviving the horror near-miss, Vu shared text messages she sent to her family mid flight.

Passenger Emma Vu said she 'felt the entire plane drop' around 20 minutes into the horror flight

One reads: 'The masks r down; I am so scared right now; Please pray for me; Please I don't want to die.'

Narrating her video, she added: 'In the moment I was so scared. The masks dropped, and people are screaming.

'It was just so scary, no one knew what was happening, the pilot came on to tell everyone to put your mask on before you help others - literally word for word what they tell you in the safety training.'

'A toddler's shirt flew off, and their phone flew out the window,' she added. 'It was just so surreal.'

In audio from inside the cockpit, the pilot could be heard radioing for emergency help, saying: 'Portland approach, Alaska 1282 emergency! Aircraft is now leveling 12,000 in a left turn heading three four zero.

'We need a divert. We've declared an emergency. We are depressurized. We have 177 passengers on board and a seal is ... 18,900,' the pilot can be heard explaining.

Federal officials spent days looking for the lost parts of the plane to help in their investigation. Authorities also ordered similar planes be grounded while they investigated.

The missing door plug was found by a Portland school teacher on Sunday in his backyard, days after the incident.

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX

Federal investigators also said the in-flight voice recorder data has been lost as it was not reset within a two-hour window after the emergency landing.

Cockpit voice recorders can be found on all aircrafts and is there to capture the flight crew's voices and all sounds in the cockpit.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington that there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way' following the incident.

Boeing's share prices dropped dramatically on January 8 following the incident, plummeting from $248.65 to $228 per share. The numbers have not yet recovered.

The airplanes firm's market valuation has also tumbled as a result - witnessing a $12.68 billion drop in just five days.

In his first remarks since the accident, Calhoun told a meeting at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington: 'We are gonna approach this  No. 1  acknowledging our mistake.

'We're gonna approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way.

David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington that there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way,' after the incident

'We are going to work with the [National Transportation Safety Board] who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is.'

Boeing unveiled their 737 Max in 2015, and since its Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval in 2017 has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.

A year later it had its first crash: in October 2018 a 737 Max operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after take off, killing all 189 on board.

Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max - this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines - crashed again shortly after take off, killing all 157 on board.

Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.

It later emerged that Boeing staff, in internal messages, were cavalier about FAA regulations and critical of the Max's design.

One said it the aircraft was 'designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.'
The White House wouldn't say on Wednesday if President Joe Biden knew son Hunter was going to crash Republicans' contempt hearing on Capitol Hill, a surprising move that resulted in chaos in the Capitol.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she wouldn't detail private conversations of the president's and argued Hunter Biden is a private citizen who makes his own decisions.

'Hunter, as you all know, is a private citizen. He's not a member of this White House, but he makes his own decisions,' she said during her daily press briefing.

It was an answer she gave repeatedly when reporters grilled her about Biden's role in his son's defense. She also refused to say if Hunter, who lives in Los Angeles, stayed in the residence in the White House while he was in Washington D.C.

'I'm not going speak to the president's private conversation with his family,' Jean-Pierre said.

'Hunter, as you all know, is a private citizen. He's not a member of this White House, but he makes his own decisions,' White House Karine Jean-Pierre said during her daily press briefing

Hunter Biden caused chaos on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning when he appeared unexpectedly at the House Oversight Committee as they were preparing to vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to sit for a private deposition. Hunter had offered to testify in public but Republicans have insisted he speak in private.

Jean-Pierre referred all questions to Hunter Biden's own representatives.

But Fox News' Peter Doocy ask her 'how big of a headache' is it for the White House that Hunter made a surprise appearance as part of his defensive strategy against his numerous legal issues.

Jean-Pierre smiled as she repeated her earlier answer: 'Hunter Biden is a private citizen. He's not a member of the White House because you know, and I just don't have anything else to say.'

Doocy pressed on, asking her why, if the White House would say President Biden didn't help Hunter with his business deals, why it won't say if the president helped him 'skirt congressional subpoenas.'

'It's not even true,' Jean-Pierre responded. 'That that is a jump that is - that is incredibly disingenuous in that question.

When Doocy asked her to help the American people understand the president's role, the press secretary said: 'I'm helping you out. I don't have anything else to share.'

The White House has refused to comment publicly on Hunter Biden's aggressive strategy against House Republicans, who have charged President Biden with using his official position to enrich his family via Hunter's businesses.

Hunter Biden leaves a House hearing on Wednesday after making a brief appearance in the room where Republicans were pushing to hold him in contempt of Congress

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden and Beau Biden Jr. watch the fireworks during on July 4th

President Biden, Hunter Biden and White House officials have repeatedly denied the president had any involvement in his son's financial affairs.

But Hunter's business associate told Congress that Biden, who was then vice president, would be on the phone during Hunter's meetings with clients - up to 20 times. The White House described those as casual conversations.

Hunter defended his father again on Wednesday when he was asked why he had his father on the phone with him during business meetings.

'Do you have a dad? Does he call you? Do you answer the phone?,' he said as he left the hearing.

Hunter spent about 17 minutes sitting in Wednesday's hearings with his attorneys. He walked out as Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia started to speak about his business deals and the ongoing impeachment probe into the president.

'Hunter Biden is terrified of strong conservative Republican women because he can't even face my words,' Greene said, calling Hunter a 'coward.'

Democrats on the panel urged the Republicans who control it to let Hunter testify right then and there, but Republicans insisted he must submit to a closed-door deposition as ordered by their subpoena.

Hunter has said he won't testify behind closed doors as he fears the GOP will leak portions of the transcript with aim of making him look bad.

Hunter Biden sits between his attorney Abbe Lowell, right, and Kevin Morris, left

Republicans reacted in anger to Hunter's appearance.

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said he should be arrested and jailed on the spot.

'You are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed,' Mace said as Hunter sat in the audience. 'What are you afraid of? You have no b***s.'

'If the gentlelady wants to hear from Hunter Biden, we can hear from him right now,' offered Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida.

As the hearing began, Hunter walked into the committee hearing room with his attorneys Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris and sat down in the first row, causing a raucous in the room.

They exited as a group after their brief appearance. Outside the hearing room Lowell said his client 'was and is a private citizen.'

'Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father,' he said. 'And, despite their improper partisan motives, on six different occasions, since February of 2023, we have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided.'

Republicans slammed Hunter for pulling off a 'stunt.'

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., wrote on X: 'The Congressional subpoena served to Hunter Biden was for a closed-door deposition, not a made-for-TV publicity stunt. These terms are not negotiable.'

GOP Whip Tom Emmer said 'another day, another ridiculous PR stunt by Hunter Biden.'

'If this is the Biden family's strategy to distract the American people from their disturbing pattern of corruption, it's a pointless one.'

The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees held hearings Wednesday on the Republicans' subpoena attempt. The matter will go to the House floor for a full vote of all lawmakers, which is not expected to occur until early next week at the earliest.

If that gets cleared, Hunter's case would be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution. The decision will be made by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was appointed to the job by Biden.

In addition to 12 months jail time, Hunter could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $100,000 if tried and convicted.

House Republicans had subpoenaed Hunter to appear for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13th.

Hunter Biden has offered to testify in public but Republicans want him deposed behind closed doors

President Joe Biden walks out of the White House alongside Hunter Biden and his son Beau Biden in December ahead of the family's Christmas at Camp David

On that day, Hunter arrived on Capitol Hill with an offer to publicly testify but repeated his concern about testifying in private. Republicans refused his offer to appear in public.

'Let me state as clearly as I can,' Hunter said at the time. 'My father was not financially involved in my business  not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist.'

'I am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee's legitimate questions. Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I'm here. I'm ready,' he added.

Hunter faces other legal troubles.

In December, he was indicted on nine federal charges related to his taxes. Earlier this summer, he pled not guilty to tax charges for filing two years of his tax returns late.
A warzone charity has started working in Britain for the first time as it moves in to help migrants held in a asylum centre.

Medicinies Sans Frontieres medics are treating and assessing the physical and mental health of the men being held at the Wetherside barracks in north Essex.

The charity started work at the former military base alongside Doctors of the World in September and has become worried about the living conditions in the 'extremely remote site'.

An anonymous asylum seeker previously complained about fights erupting between men at the centre in - with chairs thrown and one man suffering a bloodied face.

They said the centre on the former military base 'has many, many problems', adding that 'no one on the camp is feeling safe'.

Migrants housed at the centre staged a protest in November over 'its 'prison-like' conditions, complaining they were freezing due to poor clothing and bedding and didn't have access to doctors.

Scuffles between different migrant groups are a regular occurrence, an asylum seeker at Wethersfield said

Temporary accommodation units housing migrants are pictured on the MDP Wethersfield Ministry of Defence facility

Around 650 asylum seekers are housed in the refurbished barracks and portable buildings at the former RAF base  a fraction of the 1,700 the government wants to place there.

'We know from our work around the world that harsh deterrence policies, such as holding people seeking sanctuary in mass containment sites, is a recipe for disaster which ultimately costs lives,' said Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, who has been running the project at the site.

READ MORE: Asylum seeker centre fights break out almost every night between migrants of different nationalities as chairs are thrown and minibuses smashed in Advertisement

'This has sadly come to pass on Bibby Stockholm. Many of the men held in Wethersfield will likely have experienced violence, war, arbitrary detention and other trauma and will require tailored and specialised healthcare.

'Everyone who reaches the UK in search of sanctuary needs safe and dignified accommodation in the community, not in isolated military barracks.'

A few of the minibuses transporting the migrants to the nearby centres of Colchester, Braintree and Chelmsford have allegedly had their windows smashed and damaged on the base.

Simon Tyler, Doctors of the World UK Executive Director, said: 'A consequence of the broken asylum system is that we are now seeing people forced into containment sites that operate like open prisons.

'These camps are not a sustainable solution for anyone there stuck in limbo, or the local communities.

'But an efficient and safe process can exist to allow people to rebuild, be active, and look after their own health.

'Our medical team on the ground is supporting those affected access medical care as needed, with the welcomed collaboration of MSF.'

In November, about 40 men demonstrated outside MDP Wethersfield in Essex, complaining they didn't have access to doctors, were freezing and unable to contact their families.

They noisily chanted 'Wrong plan, wrong place' and 'It's like a prison' during the protest.

Around 650 asylum seekers are housed in the refurbished barracks and portable buildings at the former RAF base  a fraction of the 1,700 the government wants to place there

Last month about 40 men demonstrated outside MDP Wethersfield in Essex over their living conditions

An asylum seeker has previously said the centre on the former military base 'has many, many problems', adding that 'no one on the camp is feeling safe'

Care4Calais has instructed lawyers at Duncan Lewis Solicitors to take legal action against the Home Office and accused it of unlawfully segregating asylum seeker at the Wethersfield base, which it describes as a 'prison camp'.

The charity has raised 32,517 towards a 50,000 target to pay for legal costs.

Braintree District Council did not manage to stop the Home Office from using the former military base to house up to 1,700 single male asylum seekers.

The plan was furiously opposed by residents and the council challenged the site at a judicial review, arguing it is not suitable.

The High Court said it was reserving its judgement until a later date, following a two-day hearing.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We continue to meet our legal obligations and provide accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

'The accommodation provided meets all relevant housing and health and safety standards.

'All residents at Wethersfield have access to medical support, including mental health support, and a 24/7 helpline provided by Migrant Help is available to raise any concerns.'

Asylum seekers started being housed on the large Wethersfield site in July.
A poorly toddler who died after being discharged from hospital despite a severe infection is 'highly likely' to have survived had doctors followed proper procedures and prescribed antibiotics, an inquest found today.

The damning conclusions after a three-day hearing into the death of Olly Stopforth, aged 15 months, were described as 'incredibly painful and difficult' for his parents Laura and Karl Stopforth.

Olly died a little under 48 hours after being discharged from the Countess of Chester Hospital at 3am on March 21, 2020.

The inquest, in Warrington, Cheshire, heard he was sent home with advice for his parents to give him Calpol and ibuprofen - despite showing signs of scarlet fever. A post-mortem examination found he died of Strep A infection, which can lead to sepsis.

Doctors said they were under pressure while dealing with two other seriously-ill children and because it was the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

Olly died a little under 48 hours after being discharged from the Countess of Chester Hospital

The damning conclusions after a three-day hearing into the death of Olly Stopforth, aged 15 months, were described as 'incredibly painful and difficult' for his parents Laura and Karl Stopforth (pictured above with their solicitor Diane Rostron, centre)

In a narrative conclusion, the jury said there were 'a number of missed opportunities in Olly's care'  including no tests for viral infection, a lack of communication between medical staff and a failure to build up a 'complete picture' of his condition.

Jurors said: 'Nothing was specifically done to rule out a bacterial infection, nor was a comprehensive plan put in place for reassessment.

'The Countess did not follow (the) NHS UK sepsis tool or NICE (National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence) guidance which, if used, would have indicated the need for blood tests and/or antibiotics.

'The adequacy and thoroughness of assessment was not sufficient. Had this been sufficient, Olly's chance of survival would have been highly likely.'

The jury described how fears of sepsis were passed on by the paramedic when Olly arrived at A&E - and that his observations were 'grossly abnormal and (those) of a very sick child.'

Mr and Mrs Stopforth's solicitor Diane Rostron said outside court: 'Hearing from the professionals involved in Olly's care that more should have been done to properly diagnose what was causing his illness, and that providing antibiotics would have resulted in a full recovery, has been incredibly painful and difficult for Laura and Karl.

'Laura and Karl felt Olly was not considered as a priority when he was in hospital.

'The seriousness of Olly's condition was recognised by the paramedic who properly alerted her colleagues in advance. Tragically, the care provided to him when he got to the hospital fell well below acceptable standards and they failed to provide the care Olly so badly needed.

Doctors said they were under pressure while dealing with two other seriously-ill children and because it was the beginning of the Covid pandemic

Parents Laura and Karl Stopforth arrive at the inquest at Warrington Coroners Court, Cheshire

'No parent should lose their young child as they have, it is especially painful because they lost their beautiful boy in preventable circumstances.'

Ms Rostron added that Olly leaves behind an older brother Finlay, 8, 'who still misses him desperately'.

She added that doctors who saw Olly 'could not see what was staring them in the face - Scarlet fever'.

Scarlet fever and Strep A are caused by the same type of bacteria - and both can lead to sepsis.

The trust has admitted liability for Olly's death, the inquest heard.

His family are now pursuing a medical negligence claim against the trust.

A pathologist found Olly died from Strep A, a bacterial infection which can cause sepsis, but which could have been treated with antibiotics.

Mrs Stopforth, 40, broke down as she told the inquest how she found her baby son dead in bed minutes after Mother's Day had ended.

Olly had been discharged at 3am two days earlier despite a high temperature of 40.7C, an extreme heart rate of 202 and a respiratory rate of 60, and a rash that a nurse feared was Scarlet Fever  another bacterial infection which can lead to sepsis - because it had the texture of sandpaper.

He was taken by ambulance to the Countess on the evening of Friday March 20, 2020 but his father Karl Stopforth claims doctors then failed to carry out a 'hands on' check on Olly.

He was found dead after Mr Stopforth, a baker, set his alarm for 12.15am on Monday March 23 because he was on an early shift and his wife got up with him to check on her baby son.

Sobbing, Mrs Stopforth recalled: 'I went into Olly's room and I just knew . that he had passed away.

'I picked him up and ran to the top of the stairs and shouted at Karl to ring an ambulance.'

Mr Stopforth, 39, recalled how on their earlier arrival at hospital Olly had to wait almost six hours in accident and emergency before he was allocated to a ward.

He told how an ambulancewoman Lynsey Field had radioed ahead with a red alert because of Olly's abnormally high readings for heart rate, breathing and temperature and specifically warned doctors he might have sepsis.

But, he claims, doctors failed to carry out a proper examination of his son and instead relied on 'observing' him from the end of the bed.

Dr Kieran McCarthy, who discharged Olly despite his symptoms of scarlet fever and sepsis

Asked by senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish if he believed his son had been properly examined, Mr Stopforth said: 'No, not at all. The doctors did not really talk to me. No-one, doctors or nurses spoke to me about the rash either.

Paramedic Ms Field, who believed he might have sepsis, told the inquest she had warned medical staff on arrival at the hospital of Olly's seriously abnormal readings for temperature, breathing and heart rate.

Accident and emergency nurse Laura Stanton said she believed he might have Scarlet Fever but described how difficult it was for her to advise tests when she was in the presence of a consultant and a doctor.

Consultant paediatrician Alison Timmis, who was on duty the night he was admitted, admitted his condition should have been monitored more thoroughly.

She also accepted it was a mistake to send him home after one set of observations showed his temperature, heart rate and breathing had fallen despite the previous six observations showing really high abnormal readings.

She apologised directly to Olly's family, telling them: 'His death has profoundly affected everyone involved.'

Dr Kieran McCarthy, who was responsible for discharging Olly back to the family home in Frodsham, Cheshire, said: 'At the time the fear was that keeping people in hospital potentially longer than they needed to be was putting them at risk.'

But he added: 'On reflection, I should have done a more thorough assessment and I should have examined him.'

Dr Nigel Scawn, Medical Director at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'On behalf of the Trust I would like to extend my sincere condolences to Olly's family.'

'More investigations should have been done while Olly was in our care to fully diagnose and treat the underlying cause of his illness.

'The Trust has considered this in detail, and lessons have already been learned as a result.

'We have further embedded Local and National Guidelines in our work to help staff better identify and treat sepsis, including how to recognise when to administer antibiotics if sepsis is suspected.'
A screaming woman stood in the dark, in near-freezing pouring rain, outside a New York City high school.

'How do you feel? Do you feel good?' she yelled, as people filed off yellow school buses in her working-class Brooklyn neighborhood.

There were so many buses that they sat idle, engines running, in a line stretching around the block.

Ludicrously, there were no students on board.

The kids had all been sent home for the day and told not to come back the following morning. They'd be 'learning' remotely.

Why? Because desperate illegal immigrant men, women and children  being shunted from one temporary housing facility to the next, no doubt exhausted, possibly drenched, surely scared  were sleeping in the gymnasium.

James Madison High School was being turned into a migrant shelter.

One after another  about 1,900 people in total  stepped off the buses and out of the rain.

'How does it feel to kick all the kids out of school tomorrow?' the outraged mother shouted. 'I hope you will sleep very well tonight.'

Can you blame her? She's upset. Powerless. Betrayed. I'd only suggest directing her righteous anger to those truly responsible for this - her elected leaders.

Pleased with himself, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (above) surveyed the scene in the gym and posed for photo-ops. But this is nothing to be proud of. He should be deeply, pitifully ashamed.

Desperate illegal immigrant men, women and children  being shunted from one temporary housing facility to the next, no doubt exhausted, possibly drenched, surely scared  were sleeping in the gymnasium.

(Above) Mayor Eric Adams in gym of James Madison High School on Tuesday evening, January 9, 2024

Pleased with himself, New York City Mayor Eric Adams surveyed the scene in the gym and posed for photo-ops. But this is nothing to be proud of. He should be deeply, pitifully ashamed.

The same students, who suffered the most under draconian Covid school closures and lockdowns  children and teens, who have yet to recover their lost learning and perhaps never will  are being victimized again.

53 percent of James Madison students are minority kids. A whopping 73 percent are economically disadvantaged. Yet these are the Americans who bear the weight of decades of Democratic mismanagement, reckless virtue-signaling and Joe Biden's failed border policies.

And what of the parents?

Without warning, hours before they had to go to work in the morning  they had to deal with emergency childcare or leave their kids alone all day. They aren't the New Yorkers who get to call out sick.

These working-class people  mostly black and Hispanic  are patted on the head and told not to worry. 'Your kids will have remote learning', they're assured, as if everyone isn't familiar with the mountains of data proving that at-home learning cannot replace in-person instruction.

These parents, already dealing with the hangover of progressive pandemic policies  behavioral problems, depression, academic failure, and the rising risks of suicide  are forced to clean up the Democrats' mess.

'There's 1,900 people getting thrown into my neighborhood, half a block from where I live, and we don't know who they are,' another resident rightfully grumbled. Even the hapless Secretary of Homeland Security admits he has no idea who 85 percent of these migrants are - maybe gang members or terrorists or everyday criminals.

Without warning, hours before they had to go to work in the morning  parents had to deal with emergency childcare or leave their kids alone all day. They aren't the New Yorkers who get to call out sick. (Above) Activists yell at city officials over migrant housing policy outside James Madison High School on January 10, 2024

The kids had all been sent home for the day and told not to come back the following morning. They'd be 'learning' remotely. (Above) Protests outside James Madison High School on January 10, 2024

What do you tell the neighbors? Lock your doors?

None other than Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was James Madison's valedictorian in 1967. It was a time when the children of first and second-generation immigrants got a world-class education there, enabling them to pursue greatness and improve their lot in life.

No more - today's Democratic Party tells these poor kids to kick rocks.

Where are the migrant shelters in tony white neighborhoods like the Upper West Side, or wealthy woke enclaves like Park Slope where 'Refugees Welcome' signs decorate doors with deadbolt locks and advanced alarm systems?

Why not house these migrants in the mayor's Gracie Mansion? Put up tents in Central Park.

Oh, refugees are welcome alright, just not at the 92nd Street Y or the hipster co-op.

The busloads arriving at James Madison H.S. came from a tent shelter constructed on vacant, federally-owned Floyd Bennett Airfield, a location so remote that many New Yorkers have no idea that it even exists.

It was only back in August that Hochul celebrated the White House allowing that Bidenville to grow in Brooklyn. 'This is a big step,' she brayed, 'a significant development by the administration in Washington to acknowledge that we need more help.'

But now the good people of Midwood, Brooklyn are told that location is prone to flooding. I'm no climate change denier, but oceans surely don't rise quite that fast.

This was entirely predictable.

So, what permanent solutions do Democrats offer these folks?

None.

Not a wall. Not a proven-effective Remain-In-Mexico policy. All they offer is race-baiting rhetoric meant to divide, to inflame and to distract.

The busloads arriving at James Madison H.S. came from a tent shelter constructed on vacant, federally-owned Floyd Bennett Airfield, a location so remote that many New Yorkers have no idea that it even exists. (Above) Migrants waiting for a bus outside of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn

President Biden went to Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, where a white supremacist killed nine people in 2015, to kick off this 2024 campaign. But he didn't utter a word about the broken border, failing schools or crime-ridden urban areas. Instead, he condescended and pandered, telling a predominately black crowd to fear Donald Trump.

It's a well-worn pattern for Joe, who ludicrously claims to have been raised in the black church.

Remember him telling a black South Carolina audience that Mitt Romney was going to, 'going to put y'all back in chains,' as he assumed a southern drawl for effect. Remember when he told a prominent black critic, 'If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.'

Try to tell that to a Midwood mom and dad. Ask them who they think the racist really is?

I assume these parents have some questions, like: when the kids go back to school, will it be safe?

Scabies outbreaks are not unheard of in NYC. The skin-infesting mites spread among populations when it's difficult to maintain proper hygiene.

And not for nothing, it's winter. If the migrants go back to Floyd Bennett - what happens when the next nor-easter blows through?

The takeover of James Madison H.S. is the pathetically predictable result of everything from open borders to sanctuary cities, broken asylum policies to free hotel rooms, migrant work authorization to mass legalizations.

Democrats built it and they came. Too bad it's the Brooklyn grocers and plumbers, truck drivers and nurses and nannies, who pay the price.

Could this be a watershed moment? It damn well should be.

The White House message is clear and it echoes through Gotham's history - Joe Biden to school children: drop dead.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said that he has a 'decent number' of Republican colleagues in Congress that are 'afraid' to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential bid  despite backing him behind closed-doors.

The top DeSantis surrogate told DailyMail.com that he hasn't personally received any backlash for supporting DeSantis and urged others to come forward because the worst former President Donald Trump can do is 'send a mean tweet.'

Roy joined the audience for Gov. DeSantis' town hall with Fox News in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday evening. He sat next to Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis; her son Mason, five; and Iowa Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.

After the town hall, Vander Plaats and Rep. Roy joined DeSantis to speak with members of the press in Iowa days before the January 15 caucuses.

Roy was an early supporter of DeSantis and joins the short list of current U.S. lawmakers backing the governor's primary bid for president.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy (right) told DailyMail.com that he has a 'decent numbers' of colleagues in Congress who are 'afraid' to publicly endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) despite privately backing him

'Frankly, just what are you afraid of?' Roy questioned in an interview in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday. 'Like, 'Oh, no, I can't say something bad about Donald Trump or somebody might tweet against me''

The others are Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.), Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who also joined DeSantis' campaign in Iowa the week before the first-in-the-nation primary contest.

DeSantis will debate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday evening in Des Moines. They are the only two candidates who qualified for and agreed to debate in the pre-caucus CNN showdown.

Former President Trump has declined to participate in any of the Republican primary debates, claiming his polling frontrunner status and popularity among the GOP should alone be enough to make him the de facto nominee.

Rep. Roy, however, claims that Trump isn't debating because he is scared to face-off with DeSantis.

'Like the primary purpose is supposed to call the field and pick the best candidate,' Roy told DailyMail.com. 'Let's do it. He will even show up to debate.'

'Why do you think Donald Trump won't show up to debate?' the Texas lawmaker questioned. 'Because he'll get his butt kicked by Ron DeSantis.'

'Because Ron DeSantis would point out that he totally failed to secure the border; he totally failed to cut spending; he totally failed by shutting our economy down and racking up a trillion dollars of debt,' Roy listed. 'He would destroy Donald Trump in a debate.'

Roy says that Trump's moves in the campaign have been solely focused on his personal interest, and echoed DeSantis' warnings that the ex-president would make a 2024 general election a referendum on those who went against him.

'It goes without saying that virtually every single thing politically for President Trump ends up being about him  that's it,' Roy said. 'I mean, it's always been that way, it's currently that way, it will always be that way.'

'I think this is part of the great attraction to a strong prudent conservative like Governor DeSantis  that it is not about him, it's about the issues.'

Roy (right) sits alongside Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis; son Mason, five; and Iowa Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats (left) during DeSantis' Fox News town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday night

Polling still has Trump in a solid first place against the other Republicans running in the 2024 election. In Iowa, he is ahead by at least 30 points, with DeSantis in second.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has put her backing behind DeSantis, but Trump still has much more endorsements from lawmakers than any other candidate.

'There's a decent number of my colleagues who very much like Governor DeSantis, would like to support him, but are frankly just not willing to go out on that limb,' Rep. Roy said in his interview with DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

'I'm not going to certainly name anybody,' he added. 'Everyone has their own ability to, you know, make their own decisions on that stuff.'

'Frankly, just what are you afraid of? Right?' Roy questioned. 'You can't even take a mean tweet? Like, 'Oh, no, I can't say something bad about Donald Trump or somebody might tweet against me.' Look, we don't have kings. So it's crazy.'
The RSPCA are hunting a cruel pet owner after a dying dog was found dumped in a bin bag behind a Tesco supermarket.

The pooch, a bull breed, was discovered abandoned next to rubbish inside a tied black bin liner in Church Road, Yardley, Birmingham at 1.30pm on Sunday.

The dog possibly an XL Bully, was unable to stand because of breaks to his neck, back, legs and ribs, was covered in mange and severely underweight.

The neglected dog, which was around six months old, was rushed to Birmingham Animal Hospital - but he sadly died while on the treatment table.

The RSPCA say he may have been an XL Bully breed but because he was in such a bad condition it was impossible to tell.

The pooch, a bull breed, (pictured) was discovered abandoned next to rubbish inside a tied black bin liner in Church Road, Yardley, Birmingham on Sunday

The neglected dog, which was around six months old, was rushed to Birmingham Animal Hospital - but he sadly died while on the treatment table

The animal charity is now appealing for information about the 'heartless' person responsible for the 'sickening' incident.

RSPCA animal rescue officer, Beccie Doherty said: 'This poor dog was terrified and in pain, and covered in his own waste as he was unable to stand to go to the toilet.

'It's sickening that someone chose to treat an animal in this heartless way, and even more distressing to think they simply dumped him to die in a bag they decided to throw away.

'The people who found him kindly tried their best to make him comfortable.

'Sadly, he was barely alive when I arrived. He was completely emaciated, covered in mange, and had broken bones.

'I rushed him to RSPCA Birmingham Animal Hospital where vets and nurses tried everything to stabilise him but unfortunately he died on the table.

'I understand many people viewing these pictures will be shocked by how graphic they are.

'It's without a doubt distressing to see an animal who has been mistreated by humans in this way.

'This is the sad reality of animal rescue at a time we're seeing a rise in such cases.

'I just hope someone will recognise him and help us track down those responsible for leaving him to die in a bag with such horrendous injuries and in such a neglected state.

'Anyone with information can contact me in complete confidence, by leaving me a message on our inspector's appeal line number on 0300 123 8018.'

The RSPCA said the discovery of the dog comes at a time of an 'animal welfare crisis' when reports of animal neglect and abandonment are at a three-year high.

In 2023, the RSPCA received 72,050 reports about animal abandonment and neglect, higher than in 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Dermot Murphy, RSPCA inspectorate commissioner, said: 'For 200 years, the RSPCA has been working tirelessly to bring animals to safety and give them the expert treatment and compassion they deserve.

'We'll continue to do so for as long as we're needed but we can't do that without the support of fellow animal lovers.

'The support of the public helps abused, neglected and abandoned animals in so many ways - from buying soft, warm bedding and nourishing food for an animal who's desperately cold and hungry, to funding vital vet care for an animal who's suffering and in pain.

'We're asking animal lovers to join the winter rescue by donating to help rescue teams reach the thousands of animals who desperately need them.'
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An aviation expert has speculated that poor oversight by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) could result in a plane crash, after a Boeing jet lost a door last week.

Dan Gryder, who runs the aviation YouTube page Probable Cause, spoke about the recent incident involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX that blew a door at 16,000 feet.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) ordered the planes be grounded until they could all be checked for the same faulty door plug that caused the near-accident.

Addressing his 100,000 subscribers, Gryder said: 'FAA does not have proper oversight over all manufacturing.

'This airplane got assembled, rolled out in October of 2023, and my guess is the bolts were never even in there.'

Dan Gryder, who runs the aviation YouTube page Probable Cause, spoke about the recent incident involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX that blew a door at 16,000 feet

The Alaska Airlines flight had been bound for Ontario, California, when a portion of the plane blew out - causing it to depressurize

He continued: 'They are letting these manufacturers finish things, seal things up, you are supposed to have FAA oversight over and inspector.

'How many other airplanes are there out there flying around without a nut on it, or the elevator is about to fall off, or the landing gear is about to fall off?

'We are not going to find these bolts because they are long gone, I don't think that the bolts at the top were ever installed.

'What was holding that door in there for all these flights prior to this was PSID (pressure differential).

'Lack of FAA inspection is going to cause a problem, lack of FAA supervision in the aircraft manufacturing sector is going to cause a problem. We are not getting better, we are getting worse.'

Gryder, who is a certified Gold Seal flight instructor, also posted in the description of his video: 'Next aviation disaster is on deck, brace for impact.'

The Alaska Airlines flight had been traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California last week when the incident happened.

A total of 171 passengers and six crew members were left fearing for their lives when the emergency exit used as a cabin window blew out.

The pilots of flight 1282 were able to return to Portland, Oregon, and make a safe emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported.

On Wednesday, Alaska Airlines confirmed they would be cancelling all flights on that particular fleet until Saturday, impacting up to 600 trips.

The flight that was set out to arrive at Ontario International in California turned back around after the plug door came off on Friday night

A Boeing 737-9 Max airplane takes off, Monday, March 1, 2021, on a flight to San Diego from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle

In a statement, the company announced that they would be cancelling trips over the next few days as they continued to wait for the fleet to be inspected.

The airline said that this would impact between 110 to 150 flights, from Wednesday to Saturday.

They said in their statement: 'As of today, Wednesday, Jan. 10, Alaska Airlines continues to wait for documentation from Boeing and the FAA to begin inspection of our 737-9 MAX fleet.

'We regret the significant disruption that has been caused for our guests by cancellations due to these aircraft being out of service.

'However, the safety of our employees and guests is our highest priority and we will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaska's stringent standards.

'As of this morning, we have made the decision to cancel all flights on 737-9 MAX aircraft through Saturday, Jan. 13 while we conduct inspections and prepare fully for return to service.

'This equates to between 110-150 flights per day. We hope this action provides guests with a little more certainty, and we are working around the clock to reaccommodate impacted guests on other flights.'

Passenger Emma Vu said she 'felt the entire plane drop' around 20 minutes into the horror flight

A Boeing spokesman said Wednesday that the company is updating inspection procedures based on 'feedback and requirements' from FAA and the airlines.

The FAA repeated an earlier statement in which it said safety would determine how soon the planes return to service.

Emma Vu had been aboard the flight and was asleep when she 'felt the entire plane drop'.

Taking to TikTok after surviving the horror near-miss, Vu shared text messages she sent to her family mid flight.

One reads: 'The masks r down; I am so scared right now; Please pray for me; Please I don't want to die.'

Narrating her video, she added: 'In the moment I was so scared. The masks dropped, and people are screaming.

'It was just so scary, no one knew what was happening, the pilot came on to tell everyone to put your mask on before you help others - literally word for word what they tell you in the safety training.'

'A toddler's shirt flew off, and their phone flew out the window,' she added. 'It was just so surreal.'

Federal officials spent days looking for the lost parts of the plane to help in their investigation. Authorities also ordered similar planes be grounded while they investigated.

The missing door plug was found by a Portland school teacher on Sunday in his backyard, days after the incident.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX

Federal investigators also said the in-flight voice recorder data has been lost as it was not reset within a two-hour window after the emergency landing.

Cockpit voice recorders can be found on all aircrafts and is there to capture the flight crew's voices and all sounds in the cockpit.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington that there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way' following the incident.

Boeing's share prices dropped dramatically on January 8 following the incident, plummeting from $248.65 to $228 per share. The numbers have not yet recovered.

The airplanes firm's market valuation has also tumbled as a result - witnessing a $12.68 billion drop in just five days.

In his first remarks since the accident, Calhoun told a meeting at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington: 'We are gonna approach this  No. 1  acknowledging our mistake.

'We're gonna approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way.

David Calhoun said at an all-staff meeting in Washington that there needs to be transparency 'every step of the way,' after the incident

'We are going to work with the [National Transportation Safety Board] who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is.'

Boeing unveiled their 737 Max in 2015, and since its Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval in 2017 has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.

A year later it had its first crash: in October 2018 a 737 Max operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after take off, killing all 189 on board.

Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max - this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines - crashed again shortly after take off, killing all 157 on board.

Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.

It later emerged that Boeing staff, in internal messages, were cavalier about FAA regulations and critical of the Max's design.

One said it the aircraft was 'designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.'
A Queens man who ran back into his burning home to save his elderly mother perished alongside her in the fiery inferno.

Nearly 100 firefighters and 25 units responded to the two-alarm fire that broke out around 6pm Monday at a home at 164th Street near 109th Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens.

Richard Jackson, 63, and his 86-year-old mother, Doris Jackson, were found on the second floor of the two-story home.

A neighbor identified as Juan Carlo Velazquez, 68, told the Daily News he was one of a few people trying to restrain Jackson after he learned his mother was still inside the burning building.

Velazquez recalled the man's gut-wrenching screams, 'My mother! My mother!. He said, 'some guys were holding him but he ran back inside.'

Richard Jackson, 63, and his 86-year-old mother, Doris Jackson, died in the blaze at a South Jamaica, Queens home

Nearly 100 firefighters and 25 units responded to the two-alarm fire that broke out around 6pm on Monday at a two-story home in South Jamaica at 164th St. near 109th Avenue

Deputy Chief George Healy said the two occupants were found on the second floor of the home

The FDNY said firefighters were sent to the home within minutes, trying to extinguish the flames and black smoke pouring from the windows and roof.

Deputy Chief George Healy said the two occupants were found on the second floor.

'We quickly removed them and began medical intervention, but both died at the scene,' he said.

Healy said at a Monday news conference that the fire started in the basement, but the cause of the fire is under investigation and will be determined by the fire marshal.

Neighbors were devastated by what they witnessed.

Chantal Gbado told the news outlet she heard their alarm going off and then saw fire and smoke from the side of the basement.

She said when 'the firefighters arrived the fire already had spread throughout the whole house.'

Firefighters use a ladder to get to the upper level of the home that was completely destroyed by the fire

The cause of the fire is under investigation and will be determined by the fire marshal

Grief-stricken family members rushed to the scene.

One of Jackson's grandsons said his grandmother had lived in the home since 1970 and raised her five children- three sons and two daughters- there.

'We have a large family and she was very loved,' he said.

The family member said his grandmother retired from the telephone company in 1997.

He said Richard Jackson had been in the military and had always taken care of her.

He said, 'there's no way he would leave. He always took care of her.'
Kanye West has become the target of another lawsuit, with an autograph hunter suing him for assault and battery, claiming that the incident in 2022 left him disfigured.

Justin Poplawski, 41, alleged that Kanye repeatedly punched him on January 13, 2022, outside the Soho Warehouse, a members-only club in Downtown Los Angeles, California.

Poplawski accused the rapper and father of four kids of shouting, 'I'm going to make a f***ing example of you,' according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

The lawsuit was filed recently, almost two years after the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office decided not to charge Kanye for allegedly punching him in 2022.

Poplawski, who had previously obtained autographs from Kanye, is seeking alleged past and future medical bills, past and future lost earnings, mental pain, along with disfigurement caused by the attack.

Kanye West has become the target of another lawsuit, with an autograph hunter suing him for assault and battery, claiming that the incident in 2022 left him disfigured

Justin Poplawski, 41, is seeking alleged past and future medical bills, past and future lost earnings, mental pain, along with disfigurement caused by the attack

Poplawski was pictured behind Kanye and Fox earlier on the night of the alleged incident

Poplawski alleged that Kanye repeatedly punched him on January 13, 2022, outside the Soho Warehouse(pictured), a members-only club in Downtown Los Angeles , California

The autograph hunter claimed Kanye told him, 'Go the f**k [out of] here before I beat you the f**k up,' when he approached Kanye on the night of January 13, 2022.

The rapper allegedly made reference to his divorce from Kim Kardashian and shouting: 'I'm going to make a f***ing example of you.'

Before Kanye allegedly punched him to the ground, Poplawski asked for an apology, but Kanye responded with, 'Apology for what?'

The rapper then struck Poplawski repeatedly, 'severely injuring him', according to the court documents.

When someone with Kanye attempted to stop him from attacking Poplawski, Kanye allegedly said: 'go to the f***ing house and get my f***ing kids.'

Footage from that night shows the autograph hunter laid out on the pavement. It's previously reported that Kanye allegedly punched him twice, first in his neck then to his head.

Poplawski's wife, Tiffany Marshall, is also suing Ye for loss of consortium, claiming that she lost companionship of her husband as a result of the alleged attack.

Kanye and then-girlfriend Julia Fox (pictured) were seen at Delilah nightclub in West Hollywood earlier in the evening on January 13 prior to the alleged altercation with Poplawski that happened around 3 am outside Soho Warehouse in Los Angeles

Poplawski has been collecting celebrity autographs for more than 26 years and had obtained autographs from Kanye prior to the incident, as reported by the Sun.

The brawl started when Poplawski approached Kanye, who was sitting in his SUV outside the club, and asked for his autograph.

The argument then turned physical, and Kanye allegedly knocked him to the ground.

In another video from that night, an enraged Kanye can been heard shouting 'get away from me!' at a woman who appears to be trying to calm him down.'

The woman in the video can be heard telling the rapper, 'I am your family.' She is believed to be his cousin.

As she tried to calm him down, she said, 'give me your hand,' to which an angry Kanye snapped back: 'No, get away from me! Aint no hands, ain't no hands.'

The woman then added, 'I am your family. Give me your hand.'

Kanye was then heard telling her, 'You were supposed to talk to her!' It is unclear who the rapper is referring to.

Earlier in the evening, Kanye had been with then-girlfriend Julia Fox at Delilah in West Hollywood for a star-studded dinner date after spending the evening with Madonna and Floyd Mayweather.

The group appeared to be in high spirits after Diana Ross' son Evan Ross shared video footage of them on Instagram.

Night out: Earlier that evening, Kanye West and Julia Fox (left) partied at LA hotspot Delilah with stars Madonna, (centre) and Floyd Mayweather, (right)

Poplawski was pictured behind Kanye and Fox earlier on the night of the alleged incident.

The autograph hunter told the Sun shortly after the alleged assault: 'I dont really have a comment right now, not at this moment. I still have other things to take care of. Right now, Im just trying to live life and get back home.'

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office released a statement in August 2022, stating that there was not enough evidence for criminal battery.

It read: 'After a thorough and careful review of all the evidence, our office is declining to file based on no reasonable likelihood of conviction.'

The case was being investigated as a misdemeanor battery, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
He is currently slated to become the first US inmate to die by nitrogen hypoxia later this month after a judge rejected a requested preliminary injunction

A federal judge has ruled that the state of Alabama will be allowed to put to death a killer later this month using nitrogen gas, a never-before-tried method by the US prison system.

On Wednesday, US District Judge R. Austin Huffaker cleared the way for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith to die by nitrogen gas on January 25.

Smith and his attorneys had previously requested a preliminary injunction on grounds that Alabama is attempting to create a 'test subject' out of the prisoner. Huffaker rejected the request.

Smith, who was first convicted in 1989 of killing a local Alabama pastor's wife in a plot devised by her husband, is working with his attorneys to appeal the decision by Huffaker.

In 2022, Smith, 58, survived the state's first attempt to kill him via lethal injection when authorities onsite could not connect the two intravenous lines needed to complete the procedure.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, is slated to become the first US inmate to die by nitrogen hypoxia later this month after a judge rejected a requested preliminary injunction

Smith's victim, Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was found dead on March 18, 1988, in her home in Alabama's Colbert County. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of neck

The state is planning to use a respirator-like face mask that will go over Smith's nose and mouth. Breathable air will then be replaced with nitrogen, which will eventually cause death from lack of oxygen.

Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma are the only three states that have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as a way to kill prisoners, though none of them have attempted to use it yet.

In his 48-page ruling, Huffaker noted that though execution by nitrogen hypoxia is a new method, lethal injection was also once new and is now the most commonly used execution method in the country.

He added that, while Smith's team has successfully outlined theoretical risks of pain and suffering during the death, they do not amount to an unconstitutional violation.

'Smith is not guaranteed a painless death. On this record, Smith has not shown, and the court cannot conclude, the Protocol inflicts both cruel and unusual punishment rendering it constitutionally infirm under the prevailing legal framework,' he wrote.

The state attorney general's office has previously argued that deprivation of oxygen in a nitrogen gas death would 'cause unconsciousness within seconds, and cause death within minutes.'

Smith was one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire plot that shook a small northern Alabama community to its core.

Prosecutors alleged that Smith and another man were each paid $1,000 to kill Elizabeth Sennett on behalf of her husband, who was in debt and planned to collect the insurance money.

Sennett was found dead on March 18, 1988 in her marital home in Colbert County, Alabama. The coroner testified that the 45-year-old woman had been repeatedly stabbed and beaten with a pipe.

Sennett's husband, Charles Sennett Sr. killed himself when he was named as the prime suspect in her murder.

Tanks of nitrogen gas. No US death row inmate has ever been killed by nitrogen gas despite it being a legal method of execution in three states

Smith was initially convicted of the contract killing - ordered by disgraced Rev Charles Edward Sennett (pictured) - in 1989. A jury voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, then by electric chair

Elizabeth 'Liz' Sennett had two sons, Charles and Mike, and several grandchildren when she was killed on behalf of her husband for the insurance money

John Forrest Parker, the other man convicted in the slaying, was executed by lethal injection in 2010 - Smith too was meant to die by lethal injection in 2022 but it was called off because workers were unable to start an intravenous connection before the execution warrant expired at midnight

Smith was convicted in 1989, but the decision was overturned on appeal. He was, however, retried and convicted for a second time in 1996.

The jury recommended a life sentence in a vote of 11-1, but a judge overrode the recommendation and applied a death sentence. Judges in Alabama no longer have the ability to override a jury's decision in death penalty cases.

The second man involved in the murder-for-hire plot, John Forrest Parker, was executed in 2010 at the age of 42. Minutes before his death, he apologized to the family of his victim.
Chris Christie dramatically announced Wednesday that he was dropping out of the 2024 Republican presidential race, issuing a furious denunciation of Donald Trump and telling supporters he was committed to keeping his former ally out of the White House.

'Its clear to me tonight that there isnt a path or me to win the nomination, which is why Im suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States,' Christie told supporters in Windham, New Hampshire.

It is a stunning development that could be a major boost for Nikki Haley as many of Christie's voters would be expected to now back her.

But in extended remarks, Christie didn't give anything close to an endorsement of one of Trump's remaining challengers. Instead, he ripped unnamed contenders for ambition and 'cowardice' for being unwilling to go directly at the frontrunner. And he called out Haley by name as among those who wouldn't sufficiently to stand up to Trump. (She has said Trump would bring 'chaos' if reelected but hasn't ruled out running as his VP if asked).

He blasted the 'smallness of the campaigns who spend more time arguing and worrying about who should get out of the race than they have spent going after the frontrunner.'

Christie went after a campaign that he said doesn't 'play to win. Its a campaign that plays to not offend.'

Chris Christie spoke to supporters at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire, after it was reported he was dropping out of the GOP primary

He said the nation's problems 'will not be solved by people who are too afraid to talk about what the real problems are.'

In one of his most visceral attacks, he said Trump, a former New Yorker, wouldn't have acted in the nation's interest if he were in the Oval Office on Sept. 11th.

'First thing he would have done is run to the bunker to protect himself,' said Christie.

'Anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves to be president of the United States,' he said.

It came moments after he got caught on a hot mic saying Haley would 'get smoked' and was 'not up to this.'

He blamed his rivals for failing to take on Trump.

Christie's denunciation of Trump and his rivals was carried on cable TV, although Fox and CNN each cut away before he was done

Christie made his comments at a scheduled town hall, where he committed himself to making sure Trump never got back to the White House

Christie focused heavily on New Hamphire and climbed in the polls, but acknowledged he did not have a path to victory

'If Donald Trump becomes the nominee of this party, the moment that it happened was when Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Doug Burgum, and Vivek Ramaswamy stood on that stage in Milwaukee in August and when we were asked would you support someone who was a convicted felon be president of the United States, they raised their hands,' he said.

The former New Jersey governor didn't spare senior Republicans in Congress from his critique. He mentioned Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso and House GOP Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, who both endorsed Trump.

'They know better. I know they know better.' He went after 'people who continue to deny the results of the 2020 election' and 'people in leadership in the House who go on TV and say that the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6 are hostages.'

That was a reference to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a former Trump critic who used the 'hostage' term to describe January 6 defendants, following Trump's lead.

'I tell you who hostages are. The Israelis who are still being hidden in tunnes in Gaza against their will, out of no fault of their own,' he said.

'President Trump has already vanquished 8 challengers before a single vote has been cast because Republican voters want a strong leader who will reboot our economy, secure our border, make America energy independent again, and keep our families safe, said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc.

Haley's campaign released a statement where she spoke of their friendship and, like Trump, didn't directly address his criticism.

'Chris Christie has been a friend for many years. I commend him on a hard-fought campaign. Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America,' she said.

Christie based his campaign on being the most vocal and aggressive opponent of Trump. But he has been languishing in polls and came under increasing pressure to withdraw and give Haley, who has been gaining momentum, a better opportunity to catch Trump.

Christie ripped fellow Republicans for being unwilling to go directly at Trump

The former New Jersey governor will end his campaign before Iowa becomes the first state to vote on Monday, according to Bloomberg and journalist Mark Halperin. He is pictured with wife Mary campaigning in New Hampshire

An average of polls had Christie in fifth place in Iowa on 3 percent support.

He had staked nearly his entire campaign on success in New Hampshire, the second state to vote on January 23. According to polls he was in third place there on 12 per cent.

His shock decision to pull out came just a day after he had rejected the idea that ending his presidential bid would help Haley defeat Trump.

Speaking at a in a barbecue restaurant in New Hampshire on Tuesday he said: 'I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump. Why do we think she (Haley) would beat him? She's not trying to beat him.'

He noted her support for pardoning Trump if any of his criminal trials end in conviction, and her refusal to rule out becoming Trump's running mate if asked.

'Let's say I dropped out of the race right now and I supported Nikki Haley,' Christie said on Tuesday.

'And then three months from now, four months from now, when you're ready to go to the convention, she comes out as his vice president. What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like?'

It is a stunning development that could be a major boost for Nikki Haley as many of Christie's voters would be expected to now back her

Christie's withdrawal could benefit Nikki Haley

Christie had been the candidate most critical of Trump

Christie on the debate stage with his rivals

Christie made a recent appearance on The View

At his a town hall event in New Hampshire on Tuesday one of Christie's voters suggested he should consider dropping out.

Greg Leach, 49, of Dover, told Christie that he wants his vote to count and asked him about the need to unify around one anti-Trump candidate.

'I really want to vote for Christie but strategically, at this point I feel like Nikki Haley is the way to go,' he said..

Leach said he's interested in seeing what happens in Iowa but wondered if Christie should drop out sooner rather than later.

'I don't want it to be too late and have Trump end up winning because people waited too long,' he said.

Christie had maintained that he would remain in the race as long as he saw a path to the nomination.

He had also said he would not make an endorsement based on politics like he did when he backed Trump eight years ago.

'I'm not going to make the same mistake again,' he said. 'Can't do it.'

On Tuesday a spokesperson for Haley's political action committee said: 'It's time for voters to tell Christie what we all know, which is that his campaign isn't stopping anyone and frankly, it's helping Trump, whom he proudly endorsed in 2016 and supposedly opposes in 2024.'

But the math in recent polls was sending a signal about a way for Christie to make an impact in his crusade to stop Trump after lending his support to his former rival in 2016.

The latest CNN / University of New Hampshire poll had Trump leading the field with 39 per cent, with Hailing trailing by just 7 points at 32 per cent.

Christie was at 12 point. But if most of his supporters went to Haley, it could provide a way for her to find a way to surpass Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary.

Christie's planned announcement came after a pro-Trump super PAC started hammering Haley with a new ad on immigration  in a move that responded to her polling rise.
Lauren Boebert's ex was arrested for allegedly assaulting the couple's eldest son during an altercation over laundry, an arrest warrant has revealed.

Jayson Boebert, 42, was arrested in relation to the incident Tuesday, the warrant claims, before revealing the domestic dispute involved 18-year-old Tyler Boebert.

The conflict occurred at the family's home in Silt, Colorado lawmen wrote - three days after an alleged fight between the suspect and his spouse at a local restaurant.

That incident saw deputies clear the 37-year-old rep of wrongdoing due to lack of evidence - with Jayson later recanting claims she punched him during the tussle.

Still, as cops vetted the dispute, Jayson was arrested Tuesday for third-degree criminal trespass, obstruction, and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident, during which he was also cuffed for the alleged assault of his son.

He was released later day, jail records show, and his mugshots - taken by two departments for each of the alleged incidents - have also been released.

Lauren Boebert's ex Jayson, 42, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly assaulting the couple's eldest son during an altercation over laundry, an arrest warrant has revealed. One of his two mug shots, this one taken by the Silt Police Department, is seen here

The Boerberts during better times, with the couples four kids including Tyler (center, back row), who phoned 911 dispatchers early Tuesday to tell them he was being beaten

Deputy Cid Ramirez, of the Garfield County Sheriffs office, described the more recent altercation in a newly filed warrant.

'Tyler described that Jayson shoved him by placing one hand in the area of his throat/neck and pushing back,' he wrote.

'Tyler became upset at this point,' Ramirez continued, adding that 'a physical altercation began between Jayson and him' quickly ensued.

As the father and son fight escalated, he added, the father of four allegedly 'stuck his right hand thumb into Tylers mouth.'

The force of the maneuver, the Colorado cop claimed, made the teen fear that his father 'was going to pull his tooth out.'

At some point during the struggle, Ramirez wrote, Tyler managed to get ahold of his cell phone and managed to call his mother, who last year became a grandmother after Tyler fathered a boy with his also-teenage girlfriend.

The firebrand allegedly responded by telling the boy to call the cops, who eventually arrived on the scene around 1am Tuesday.

Their arrival coincided with a simultaneous deployment of officers from The Silt Police Department, there for the alleged altercation at Miners Claim Restaurant from a few days before.

At some point during the struggle, Ramirez wrote, Tyler (at right) managed to get ahold of his cell phone and managed to call his mother, who last year became a grandmother after Tyler fathered a boy with his also-teenage girlfriend

Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, left, stands for a photograph with her then-husband Jayson Boebert at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in January 2021

The conflict occurred at the family's home in Silt, Colorado lawmen wrote - three days after a n alleged fight between the suspect and his spouse at a local restaurant

That incident saw deputies clear the 37-year-old rep of wrongdoing due to lack of evidence - with Jayson (seen here in his Garfield County mug shot) recanting claims she punched him during the tussle

Still, as cops vetted the dispute, Jayson (left) was arrested Tuesday for third-degree criminal trespass, obstruction, and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident, during which he was also cuffed for the alleged assault of his son

Both teams proceeded to arrest the suspect, who four months after his divorce to Boebert in 2022 was the subject of similar accusations, after an altercation that also saw Tyler accuse his dad of abuse.

The dispute - also occurring at the couple's Colorado home - saw the then-17-year-old call 911 to claim Jayson had been 'throwing' him around the house.

However, he quickly called back to recant the claim, stating that the argument never became physical.

This time around, the dispute stemmed from Boebert allegedly becoming angry that his son was lying on a bed with a laundry basket full of clothes, before grabbing the teens phone and allegedly assaulting him.

Recalling how the dispatcher told his department that the teen had indicated to them that Jayson was under the influence and was toting a rifle, the deputy wrote: 'Tyler advised that because Jayson was under the influence of alcohol, he was clumsy and dropped the phone several times.

'Tyler believed Jayson was under the influence because he was only clumsy when he drank alcohol and he has slurred speech.'

Cops from the force proceeded to arrest Boebert for prohibited use of weapons, harassment, and assault in the third degree, the warrant indicates.

All of the charges are misdemeanors, as are the three pertaining to the eatery altercation, which cops in Silt still say they are investigating.

Records indicate that Boebert has since been released in regard to both offenses. His mugshot, meanwhile remains.

The family lived together at the home where the assault occurred for years, before their divorce in December 2022 over 'irreconcilable differences'

Boebert and Jayson wed in 2005. They met while she was working at McDonald's at the age of 16. He was 22 at the time

Boebert and Jayson wed in 2005. They met while she was working at McDonald's at the age of 16. He was 22 at the time.

But in May 2023, after nearly two decades of marriage, Boebert announced she had filed for divorce, citing 'irreconcilable differences.'

She said at the time: 'It is with a heavy weight on my heart that I have filed for divorce from my husband.

'I am grateful for our years of marriage together and for our beautiful children, all of whom deserve privacy and love as we work through this process.

'I've always been faithful in my marriage, and I believe strongly in marriage, which makes this announcement that much more difficult.'

Boebert, a Republican who has served two terms in the US House representing the western side of Colorado, announced on Dec. 27 that she was switching congressional districts this year to run for a seat representing the eastern side of the state. The seat is open with the retirement of Republican US Rep. Ken Buck.

In her current district, Boebert probably would have faced a Democratic challenger who nearly defeated her in the 2022 general election and who has far outraised her.

In September, Boebert and a guest were kicked out of a musical performance of 'Beetlejuice' in Denver after guests complained they were vaping, singing, using phones and causing a disturbance. She later apologized.

Lauren and Jayson wed in 2005. They met while she was working at McDonald's at the age of 16. He was 22 at the time

In her relatively short time in Washington, Boebert built a national profile and has aligned with the extreme right wing of the GOP. Her assertive style has grabbed headlines, most famously when she heckled Joe Biden during a 2022 State of the Union address.

Also making news in recent months is her track record of minor arrests, including several for disorderly conduct and missing court summons.

She also allegedly got into a bathroom shouting match with fellow firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia last year, and made waves in September after she and her her former boyfriend were seen engaging in questionable activities during a musical performance of 'Beetlejuice.'

In that instance, video from a fellow theatergoers captured the congresswoman groping the man's crotch. She has denied engaging in any illicit activities.
The gangsters who stormed an Ecuadorian TV station with guns and grenades before taking journalists hostage have been humbled after being detained by police.

Thirteen of the thugs who cockily brandished bombs on live television as they intimated civilians were arrested yesterday.

Ecuador erupted into a 'civil war' with cartel thugs yesterday after the president ordered the army onto the streets and declared a state of 'internal armed conflict'.

Crazed criminals rampaged through the South American country's cities after President Daniel Noboa, 36, ordered a state of emergency.

Hooded gangsters seized the state TV news studio yesterday, while a university was attacked and jail guards reportedly executed by prisoners.

The gangsters who stormed an Ecuadorian TV station with guns and grenades before taking journalists hostage have been humbled after being detained by police

They had their hands cuffed behind their backs and sat barefoot while armed police watched on

The thugs who cockily brandished bombs on live television as they intimated civilians were arrested yesterday

There were seen with their heads bowed as a soldier pointed towards them today

Men with their faces covered entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of several police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.

Adolfo 'Fito' Macias, 44, the leader of Los Choneros gang, was found missing from his cell in a low security prison on the same day he was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security facility, on Sunday.

A manhunt is underway for Macias and Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico, who also escaped prison on Tuesday since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

The National Police presents the detainees who broke into the facilities of the public television channel

Ecuador declared a state of emergency Monday after one of the country's most dangerous gang leaders disappeared from his prison cell

Police in Ecuador arrested several armed men who broke into the set of a public television channel Tuesday during a live broadcast and forced the staff to lie and sit on the floor

Members of the Armed Forces frisk a man during an operation to protect civil security in Quito, on January 10

Members of the Armed Forces frisk a man during a security operation in Quito today

On Tuesday, gunshots rang out on live TV as men armed with bombs and grenades burst into a studio shortly after gangsters vowed a 'war' against the president's plans to reclaim control from 'narcoterrorists.'

Attackers carrying rifles and grenades stormed the studio of TC television in the port city of Guayaquil, western Ecuador, as a woman was heard amid gunshots pleading: 'Don't shoot, please don't shoot.'

In the attack on Tuesday evening, intruders forced terrified TV crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain as the studio lights went off but the live broadcast continued for at least 15 minutes.

An Ecuadorian police squad runs into the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on January 9

Ecuadorian soldiers take security measures with a military armored vehicle on roads after Ecuador president declares 'internal armed conflict'

Armoured trucks have been seen on the streets of Ecuador's capital city of Quito

A TC employee said in a WhatsApp message: 'Please, they came in to kill us.

'God don't let this happen.

'The criminals are on air.'

Journalists on screen were reportedly heard screaming 'they want to kill us all'.

One of the hooded men who attacked the set reportedly said: 'We are on the air so that they know that we do not play with the mafia.'

President Daniel Noboa, 36, (pictured) has ordered the army onto the streets and declared a state of 'internal armed conflict'

Armed men broke into the set of a public television channel in Ecuador as it broadcast live and threatened people as the country reels from a series of attacks after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the apparent escape of a powerful gang leader from prison

Men were seen brandishing what appeared to be bombs and grenades (pictured)

After about 30 minutes of chaos, police officers were seen entering the studio while someone then called out that they 'have a wounded companion.'

All the gunmen who broke into the studio were arrested, a police commander said.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room across from the studio when the masked men entered the building.

One of the men pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, she said.

Some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide elsewhere in the building when they realised they were surrounded by police, she added.

'I am still in shock,' Ms Manrique told the Associated Press in a phone interview. 'Everything has collapsed.

'All I know is that it's time to leave this country, and go very far away.'

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, President Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorising Ecuador's military to 'neutralise' the groups - within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

The TV studio was stormed in the port city of Guayaquil in western Ecuador

Ecuador's national police chief announced a short time later that authorities had arrested all the masked intruders.

Cesar Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that officers had seized the guns and explosives.

He did not say how many people were arrested.

'This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act,' Mr Zapata added.

President Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days on Monday, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

The government also imposed a curfew from 11pm to 5am.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to 'not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans.'

He added that his government had decided to confront crime.

Noboa was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country - once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

He vowed Monday to bring the fight to the cartels after a powerful gang leader, Adolfo Macias, known as 'Fito,' escaped from prison the previous day.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboa's predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country

Ecuador has been beset with violence from brutal bloodthirsty gangs who are battling for control in spiralling turf wars that see gun massacres and beheadings.
Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio on Wednesday became the first Democratic voice in Congress to call for Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin to resign, joining a sea of GOP voices furious with the Pentagon chief's secret hospitalization.

'I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austins leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command,' Deluzio wrote on X.

'I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee. That duty today requires me to call on Secretary Austin to resign.'

Deluzio, a 39-year-old former Navy officer, is deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also serves on the Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committees.

Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio on Wednesday became the first Democratic voice in Congress to call for Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin to resign

'I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee,' said Deluzio

Austin has weathered a barrage of criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for failing to disclose he was in the hospital while the country was facing national security situations in Ukraine and Middle East.

Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on December 22 after 'consultation with his medical team' due to a prostate cancer diagnosis.

He then underwent a 'minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer,' according to a statement from the hospital. His cancer was 'diagnosed early and his prognosis is excellent,' the statement said.

But he then suffered complications on January 1 that required an ambulance to take him back to the hospital. His complications included 'nausea with severe abdominal, leg and hip pain.'

The early diagnosis was a urinary tract infection but further examination showed Austin, 70, had a fluid build up in his abdomen that was impairing the function of his small intestines.

The infection was treated by a tube placed through is nose that went down to his stomach. It has cleared, the statement said, and Austin 'continues to make progress.'

He 'never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia,' the statement said, although Austin did undergo anesthesia for the December 22 surgery.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was given Austin's powers at that time but not told the reason.

President Joe Biden was only informed on Tuesday that Austin had cancer.

I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austins leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command.  Congressman Chris Deluzio (@RepDeluzio) January 10, 2024

Pentagon officials also didn't tell the White House for four days that Austin had returned to the hospital on Jan. 1 after experiencing severe pain. He was taken there by ambulance.

A Pentagon official blamed the communications breakdown on 'a screw up because of people being out of the office.'

Austin Chief of staff Kelly Magsamen had the flu and public affairs chief Chris Meagher was at doctors' appointments with his pregnant wife, who gave birth to their first child on Friday.
Men are more reluctant to share bad news than women  but are just as keen to talk about the good stuff, a study suggests.

Researchers studied 1,000 people over three experiments in which they were asked to note when they wanted to share, whether they did, and their motivations for doing so.

The scenarios could be either positive  a new romance, for example  or negative, such as a job loss.

It is commonly thought that women are bigger sharers than men. However the results suggested that the gender differences depend on the information being disclosed.

Men are more reluctant to share bad news than women, a study of 1,000 people showed (Stock Image)

'Men and women exhibit a similar desire and likelihood to disclose positive information, but men have a substantially lower desire and likelihood to disclose negative information than women,' the researchers said.

The team, from Bayes Business School, London, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, and Bocconi University, Milan, found that women and men differed in their motivations for sharing.

Men were more focused than women on self-presentation. They were more likely to share in order to receive validation or entertain others, for example.

'Men were significantly more likely to report being driven to disclose by a desire to enhance their image,' the team wrote in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

'Women more frequently indicated that they engage in disclosure in order to receive comfort, relative to men.

'Men may be missing out on the psychological benefits of disclosing negative information.'
Sir Keir Starmer embraced the nanny state yesterday as he defended his plan to introduce supervised toothbrushing for for three to five-year-olds in breakfast clubs.

Launching a bid to improve childrens health, the Labour leader said the state has a role to play in ensuring the population is fit.

Mr Starmer said: I have to say when I first read the statistic that for six to ten-year-olds, the biggest cause of admissions to hospital is decayed teeth  I was really struck.

I dont think you can simply say thats none of our business, it is our business because its the health of a child. But also once youve got a child admitted into hospital, its costing the taxpayer a fortune. So Im not saying its the state and not parents, its got to be both.

And he said he was up for that fight if people want to say to me I dont think we should be doing that.

British Dental Association chairman Eddie Crouch said: Its a scandal that decay remains the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children. Prevention isnt just better than cure, its cheaper too.

Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) said: I have to say when I first read the statistic that for six to ten-year-olds, the biggest cause of admissions to hospital is decayed teeth  I was really struck'

British Dental Association chairman Eddie Crouch said: Its a scandal that decay remains the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children' (File image)

Other proposals in Labours Child Health Action Plan include cutting mental health waiting lists by recruiting thousands more staff and delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments a year.

But public health minister Andrea Leadsom said Mr Starmer should focus on fixing his own house before criticising others.

She said: In Wales, Labour is overseeing the longest hospital waits in Great Britain, are the only administration to have cut the NHS budget since 2010 and consistently fail to meet targets.

Labours unfunded promises on healthcare in England would cost taxpayers billions, in addition to the 28 billion a year by 2030 spending promise they have already committed to.
QUESTION What are the world's most disappointing tourist attractions?

The Mona Lisa is routinely named the world's most disappointing tourist attraction. It's not the work itself, which is widely considered the pinnacle of Renaissance art.

The problem is its size and situation. The picture measures just 30in by 21in, yet around nine million people view it in the Louvre each year.

Consequently, the room is horribly overcrowded. Hundreds of people mill around snapping selfies, taking videos and rapidly changing position, encouraging others to do the same. It's a soul-destroying experience.

The tiny statues of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and the Manneken-Pis in Brussels offer a similar experience.

Another contender is The Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is in a dodgy part of LA featuring strip clubs and tattoo parlours. It offers little more than aggressive tour guides and a series of names of famous people on the pavement.

Giles Thompson, Brackley, Northants.

The Mona Lisa is routinely named the world's most disappointing tourist attraction. It's not the work itself, which is widely considered the pinnacle of Renaissance art

QUESTION What are some of the most famous riddles in literature?

Oedipus Rex, an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles written in 429 BC, contains the most famous literary riddle of them all.

In this tragic story, Oedipus  who fulfils his destiny (killing his father and marrying his mother) even as he's trying to avoid it  solves the riddle of the Sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle that stood guard at the gates of the city of Thebes, waiting to devour those who failed the test.

She asks: 'What goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?'

Oedipus solves the riddle by answering: 'Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs; and in old age, he uses a walking stick.'

In Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma, the title character asks Mr Elton to compose a riddle for herself and Harriet. He returns with: 'My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings, / Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease. / Another view of man, my second brings, / Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!'

Emma gets the answer, 'courtship', immediately. The first part, which 'displays the wealth and pomp of kings' represents the 'court', and the 'monarch of the seas' is the 'ship'.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins and Gollum play a riddle game. If Bilbo wins, then Gollum has to show him the way out of a tunnel; if Bilbo loses, he becomes Gollum's dinner. Gollum offers a series of five riddles:

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins and Gollum play a riddle game. If Bilbo wins, then Gollum has to show him the way out of a tunnel; if Bilbo loses, he becomes Gollum's dinner

Riddle 1: What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?

Riddle 2: Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters.

Riddle 3: It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills. And empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter.

Riddle 4: Alive without breath, as cold as death; never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking.

Riddle 5: This thing all things devours; birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down.

The answers are: 1) mountain, 2) wind, 3) dark, 4) fish, 5) time.

Bilbo gets lucky with the last one; he blurts out 'Time!' because he needs more time in which to work out the answer.

Coming full circle, in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, the young wizard takes part in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous magical competition. For the final task, he has to make his way through an obstacle-filled maze in which he encounters a Sphinx and must solve her riddle.

'First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

'Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, the middle of middle and end of the end?

'And finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?'

The answer here is 'spider'. The person in disguise is a 'spy'. The last thing in the word 'mend' and in the middle of 'middle' is the letter D. And finally, 'er' is the puzzled sound referenced in the third part of the clue.

Sharon Hewson, Worcester.

Coming full circle, in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, the young wizard takes part in the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous magical competition

QUESTION Why did the Nazis declare Charlemagne an enemy of German culture?

In the early years of National Socialism, Charlemagne, or Charles The Great, was regarded as a foundational figure and a forerunner to Hitler himself. However, his persecution of the Saxons and devout Catholicism made him anathema to many Nazis.

In 768, Charlemagne inherited a Frankish kingdom covering modern France, Belgium and Luxembourg. By the time of his death in 814, he had extended it to include the Netherlands, much of Italy and most of modern Germany.

A key event reported in the Royal Frankish Annals was that following a pagan revolt in the summer of 782: '4,500 Saxon prisoners were beheaded on a single day at Verden on the River Aller in northern Saxony, on the orders of Charlemagne, King of the Franks.'

Charlemagne's reputation survived for centuries because the Saxon victims were thought to have been pagans, their fate necessary to his Christianisation of Saxony. By the 18th century, this came under scrutiny and Voltaire dubbed Charlemagne 'a thousandfold murderer'.

Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo, architect of the Holocaust and a fervent occultist, loathed the memory of Charlemagne and called him Sachsenschlachter ('slaughterer of the Saxons').

Sam Powers, Leamington Spa, Warks.

Is there a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we're unable to enter into individual correspondence
It is one of the most memorable speeches in military history, inspiring British soldiers to redouble their efforts against the Nazis in the Second World War.

But the commandos of the future will no longer  in Churchill's words  'fight them on the beaches' should the findings of a radical defence report be implemented.

A blueprint for amphibious warfare has warned that operations such as the D-Day landings in 1944 would cost too many lives in future conflicts.

Its author, a senior Royal Marines officer, has concluded the 360-year-old corps should focus on storming enemy ships and destroying targets inland instead.

Brigadier Mark Totten's controversial paper, published on Tuesday, comes amid deepening concerns over the elite force's future, including the potential loss of amphibious landing ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark and a recruitment and retention crisis that has led to as many as 1,000 unfilled positions.

Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France

Troops coming ashore during training exercises for the Allied D-Day invasion

Last night, Major General Julian Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands War, described plans for an overhaul of the Royal Marines' role as 'the beginning of the end'.

Brigadier Totten has suggested large-scale beach landings are too vulnerable to modern weapons systems such as drones, meaning the Royal Navy would have to devote too many resources to protect marines attacking a beach as well as once they were ashore.

He wrote in a Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) publication: 'The risk facing amphibious forces, then, is that the value of amphibious insertion comes to be seen as being outweighed by its costs and risks.'

Basic commando training is already being overhauled  in a new initiative, recruits at the Royal Marines' training depot must prove they can operate their own drones.

Brigadier Totten, of the UK's Future Commando Force  aimed to modernise how the Royal Marines works  set out how smaller groups of disembarked Marines should be distributed more widely inland and be 'multifunctional' in what they can achieve, including reconnaissance and offensive duties.

But the senior officer also warned this lifeline for the Royal Marines could be severed due to cash shortages and any resistance to a change of role.

He added: 'Achieving the benefits that this paper describes is by no means certain  both in terms of the Ministry of Defence's capacity to resource the transition, and the Royal Navy's ability to implement a sufficiently rigorous and integrated programme of change.'

Royal Marines practising beach landings in preparation for the Allied invasion on D-Day

The House of Commons defence committee today announced it intends to hold an evidence session into the likely retirement of the Royal Marines' HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion.

Only six years ago, a parliamentary report said it would be 'militarily illiterate' to dispose of the ships  designed to transport the Royal Marines and their equipment ashore.

MP John Spellar, vice-chairman of the committee, said: 'The committee is deeply concerned by reports the Government is considering retiring [the ships], which would make successful amphibious landings very difficult.'

Earlier this week, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was accused of asking top brass to 'justify the existence' of the corps after requesting a report into how their work is taken forward.

His request was called 'extraordinary and dangerous' by Admiral Lord West.

The MoD said of the Future Commando Force: 'It is using innovation and agility to respond to modern threats.'
A third suspect has been for the shooting deaths of pregnant teen Savanah Soto, 18, and her 22-year-old boyfriend Matthew Guerra in Texas.

Myrta Romanos, 47, was arrested by San Antonio Police on Wednesday.

She was seen wearing a black Ozzy Osbourne shirt as she was taken to waiting patrol car. Romanos has been charged with altering, destroying or concealing a corpse, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

San Antonio Police say they believe she is fellow suspect Christopher Ray Preciado's stepmother.

Officers have already charged Christopher, 19, with capital murder and abuse of a corpse.

Myrta Romanos, 47, was arrested by San Antonio Police on Wednesday in connection with the murder of two people

Romanos is seen being walked to a waiting patrol vehicle. She was charged in connection to the murder of pregnant teen Savanah Soto and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra

A Texas father and son were dealt additional charges in connection to the deaths of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend. Ramon Preciado, 53, faces a charge of altering or destroying a human corpse in addition to an abuse of a corpse charge

Christopher Ray Preciado, 19, has been charged with of abuse of a corpse and altering or destroying a human corpse in addition to capital murder

His father, Ramon Preciado, 53, has also been charged with altering or destroying a human corpse and abuse of a corpse after allegedly helping his son move the bodies following the murders.

Romanos' arrest came after tips on social media suggested that a third suspect may have been involved in the killings.

Surveillance footage shows Romanos leaving the home in a black truck with Christopher Preciado and his dad. Video then shows her returning to the residence along with the two men.

Soto and Guerra may have been killed in retaliation for a drug deal gone awry, according to Guerra's family.

Police say they believe Romanos' gun was used in the murders of the couple.

Soto's family reported her missing on December 22 after calling her cellphone proved futile, according to a police report.

They searched local hospitals, knowing Soto was due to give birth within days, but were unable to find her.

A CLEAR Alert, reserved for missing adults believed to be in immediate danger, was issued on Christmas Day.

Myrta Romanos was escorted by police to a patrol car on Wednesday

Romanos ignored the questions of waiting reporters as she was taken to the police car

All three were arrested in connection to the shooting deaths of Soto, 18, and 22-year-old Matthew Guerra. Soto vanished days before she was supposed to be induced into labor

The bodies of Soto and Guerra were found in Guerra's 2013 Kia Optima, both with fatal gunshot wounds to the head

The alert gave a description of Guerra's 2013 gray Kia Optima, identified by a resident of a Northwest Side apartment complex who spotted it in the parking lot.

Police responded and found Soto was dead in the front seat and Guerra dead in the backseat. Investigators believe he was dragged into the car.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner confirmed that both Soto and Guerra each died from a gunshot to the head.

The couple's unborn baby, a boy they were going to name Fabian, also died as a result of the shooting.

Guerra's family members confessed to investigators that their son sold drugs through social media.

'It was also advised that the boyfriend would post money and narcotics on Instagram,' the police report read.

'It was stated that people wanted to rob (Matthew) and it was stated that (he) had been shot at before.'

Soto's family raised alarm as the pregnant teen vanished days before she was supposed to be induced into labor and their attempts to reach her over the phone proved futile

Guerra's family told detectives that he sold and advertised drugs on social media. He was charged with domestic violence after beating Soto on Christmas Day 2022 and subsequently violated parole (pictured: Guerra's jail booking photo from 2022)

Surveillance video showed a man getting out of a pickup truck and walking to Guerra's car, later scrubbing the outside of the driver's side door with a towel

On December 21, surveillance video captured a Chevy Silverado pulling up alongside Guerra's Kia in the parking lot of the complex.

A heavy-set man climbed out of the Silverado and appeared to speak to the driver of the Kia before retrieving a towel and wiping down the driver's side door. A few minutes later, the Silverado drives off.

When detectives arrived at Ramon Preciado's home, he told them they needed to speak with his son, according to the police report. Both men were taken to the police station for questioning.

Christopher Preciado said Guerra pointed a gun at him, resulting in a struggle that led to Soto being shot. In a separate struggle, the teen alleged, Guerra was also shot in the head.

But detectives determined that Christopher's retelling of events was 'inconsistent with the evidence collected from the scene and from the victim's vehicle.'

As he was placed in a patrol car, Ramon was asked by reporters whether he had remorse.

'You don't even know what's going on. You just make stuff up like always,' the 54-year-old responded.

A CLEAR Alert was issued in lieu of Soto's disappearance. She was found shot in the head

Soto's younger brother, 15-year-old Ethan, was also killed during the past year in revenge for a drug robbery, according to police

Police rope off the scene where two bodies were discovered

Court documents show that in 2022 Soto had been beaten by Guerra on Christmas Day and filed charges against him.

This resulted in a protective order prohibiting Guerra from 'intentionally, knowingly or recklessly communicating' with the teen, including 'in person in a harmful or injurious manner.'

Guerra violated parole for the domestic violence charge and was back in court months later, charged with three new felonies: evading arrest, unlawfully having a firearm and reckless driving.

Soto's death is the latest tragedy to strike her family, as they also lost her brother, 15-year-old Ethan, over the past year.

The teen was shot on May 16 in an act of revenge for a drug robbery, according to San Antonio Police.

Victor Rivas, 18, is accused of killing Soto after the younger boy stole THC-related drugs. Rivas allegedly used an underage girl to lure the boy outside his home before opening fire.

Emotions spilled over at a subsequent hearing, where four members of the Soto family leapt over a partition as Rivas took the stand.

They were arrested and charged with assault and disruption of court proceedings.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was caught on hot mic talking trash about 2024 hopefuls former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moments before dropping out of the presidential race Wednesday evening.

At a New Hampshire town hall, Christie told an audience that 'it's clear to me that there isn't a path' to the Republican nomination, 'which is why I'm suspending my campaign for president of the United States.'

The livestream on his campaign website carried a conversation Christie was having backstage with a man identified as Wayne MacDonald, his campaign's New Hampshire chair, and a woman just before his dramatic announcement.

Christie is heard commenting that Haley spent $68 million on her campaign, while DeSantis spent $59 million, while the former New Jersey governor had just spent $12 million, noting that he was the one 'punching above their weight.'

'And she's going to get smoked, and you and I both know this, she's not up to this,' Christie is heard saying about Haley, he then revealed that DeSantis had called him on the phone and sounded 'petrified.'

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was caught on hot mic talking trash about 2024 hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley moments before dropping out of the presidential race

Chris Christie is caught on a hot mic ahead of his expected announcement that he's dropping out of the presidential race:



He says Nikki Haley is "gonna get smoked" and a "petrified" Ron DeSantis called him. pic.twitter.com/fGOFEtVDHn  The Recount (@therecount) January 10, 2024

He then told the unknown man that he believed former President Donald Trump was going to win Iowa, a state that DeSantis needs to perform well in if he wants to stay in the race.

A man is heard commenting to Christie that Haley is 20 points behind Trump in New Hampshire, then asking the governor if he believed Trump would win Iowa.

'Yes,' Christie replied before revealing his phone conversation with the Florida governor.

The man then said that he expected DeSantis to drop out of the 2024 race after Monday's Iowa caucuses.

The video clip then cut out. The video is no longer posted online.

Moments later, Christie appeared onstage in Windham, New Hampshire and pulled the plug on his presidential bid.

He was averaging about 12 percent support in New Hampshire and in third place after Trump and Haley.

Christie said that former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley (left) waa going to get smoked' and 'she's not up to this' and also told people backstage that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called him 'petrified' as former President Donald Trump looks poised to win Monday's Iowa caucuses

Former President Donald Trump reacted to Christie's announcement that he was dropping out of the presidential campaign with glee, posting on Truth Social 'I might even get to like him again!' Trump also pointed out Christie's hot mic moment

In the Granite State, Trump has 43 percent support and Haley has 29.3 percent, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.

Christie anchored his presidential bid on being the top candidate to run against Trumpism, as Haley, DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy continue to say some positive things about the former commander-in-chief.

He decided against campaigning in Iowa, the state that holds the first caucuses - which will take place Monday - because the electorate tends to be more socially conservative and Trump has been so far ahead.

Instead Christie solely focused on doing well in New Hampshire, where the independent-minded voters have often voted for a different candidate than the winner of the Iowa caucuses.

But with just 13 days to go before the Granite State primary, Christie hadn't been gaining ground.

In Windham, New Hampshire Wednesday night, Christie blasted the 'smallness of the campaigns who spend more time arguing and worrying about who should get out of the race than they have spent going after the frontrunner.'

He delivered that same message to DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy at last month's GOP debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Haley and DeSantis are set to debate in Iowa Wednesday night, but Christie's low polls in Iowa and nationally meant that he didn't make the stage.

Christie ended his Wednesday remarks without endorsing another candidate.

In 2016, Christie pulled out of the presidential race and backed Trump, a decision he now says he regrets.

Trump reacted on Truth Social to Christie dropping out with glee.

'I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today - I might even get to like him again!' Trump said.

'Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: "Shes gonna get smokedYou and I both know it, shes not up to this,"' the ex-president added.

DeSantis reacted to Christie's hot mic moment by using the opportunity to go after Haley.

'I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is "going to get smoked,"' the Florida governor posted to X.

Haley called Christie a 'friend' in a statement following his campaign suspension.

'Chris Christie has been a friend for many years. I commend him on a hard-fought campaign,' Haley said. 'Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America.'

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who is backing Haley, had been pushing Christie to drop out of the race to give the former South Carolina governor a clear path to become Trump's top nemesis.

Sununu has long said that once candidates know there's no path to the nomination they should bail on the race so one of them can go head-to-head against Trump, who is ahead nationally by around 50 points.
New Zealand's former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and fiance Clarke Gayford are due to tie the knot this Saturday in a top secret ceremony at a picturesque winery.

Daily Mail Australia understands Craggy Range winery in Havelock North, in the heart of the Hawke's Bay region, is due to host the wedding for the couple after years of delays and cancellations.

In a bizarre twist, Ardern's longtime friend and fellow Labour Party MP Kieran McAnulty has also set this weekend aside to marry his fiancee Gia Garrick, former press secretary to prime ministers Ms Ardern and Chris Hipkins.

According to a source, despite Mr McAnulty securing his wedding months date months in advance, many mutual friends have since accepted invites to Ardern and Mr Clarke's big day.

Mr McAnulty and Ms Garrick will say I do at Orua Sea Grotto overlooking Hot Water Beach in The Coromandel on Saturday.

Jacinda Ardern and fiance Clarke Gayford are due to tie the knot this Saturday in a top secret ceremony at a picturesque winery

Craggy Range was deemed world's most Instagrammable vineyard in 2021

In a bizarre twist, Ms Ardern's longtime friend and fellow Labour Party MP Kieran McAnulty (right) has also set this weekend aside to marry his fiancee Gia Garrick

Kieran McAnulty and Gia Garrick

Craggy Range is understood to be working around the clock to keep Ms Ardern's venue from leaking.

But a staff member confirmed the restaurant and cellar door will not be made available to the public on Saturday when the wedding is due to take place.

Ardern, 42, has long been a fan of the vineyard, and in 2020 was pictured alongside the team of Michelin star chefs at the winery's two-hatted restaurant.

'Honoured to have had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern dine with us last night,' the venue said in a photo caption.

'Thank you for coming and supporting Hawke's Bay!'

The globally renowned winery sits between the stunning Te Mata Peak and the Tukituki River, and was dubbed the world's most Instagrammable vineyard in 2021.

Ardern, 42, has long been a fan of the vineyard, and in 2020 was pictured alongside the team of Michelin star chefs at the winery's two-hatted restaurant

Craggy Range is understood to be working around the clock to keep Ardern's venue from leaking

The globally renowned winery sits between the stunning Te Mata Peak and the Tukituki River

The picturesque venue provides on-site accommodation for up to 30 guests that must be booked when hosting weddings.

Nestled amongst vines, Craggy Range offers an impressive wedding package for couples including an intimate sit down function at the winery restaurant for 70.

Alternatively, they offer a marquee for large events, with a minimum spend of $25,000.

Gia Garrick, Ms Ardern's former press secretary, is marrying the ex-PM's friend and colleague Kieran McAnulty on Saturday

The couple have faced a series of setbacks while planning the wedding, which was first scheduled to take place in 2022.

Just a year after the couple got engaged at Easter in 2019, Ardern's government put in place Covid-19 restrictions which reduced gathering sizes to 100.

This meant they cancelled plans to wed at the luxury rural estate Nick's Head Station, located 25km south of Gisborne, in the summer of 2022.

'Such is life,' Ardern said at the time of their decision to call off the wedding.

'My wedding will not be going ahead, but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic.

'I am no different to, dare I say, thousands of other New Zealanders.'

Local media has reported that the rescheduled ceremony will be held at a vineyard 200km from the original location, in Hawke's Bay, on January 13.

Ardern, 43, and Mr Gayford, 47, first met at an awards ceremony in 2012, but they did not begin dating until 2014 when Mr Gayford contacted the then-Labour politician about proposed legislation in 2013.

The picturesque venue provides on-site accommodation for up to 30 guests that must be booked when hosting weddings

Nestled amongst vines, Craggy Range offers an impressive wedding package for couples including an intimate sit down function at the winery restaurant for 70

In an interview with Woman's Weekly, Mr Gayford revealed he took the politician on a fishing trip on their first date so he could share his biggest passion with her - and he realised he had met his match when she reeled in a 5.4kg snapper.

He said: 'The sea was glass flat and we had a huge pod of dolphins join us. It was literally Jacinda's first cast and she was like, 'Ooh! Something's pulling!'

'She pulled in a 5.4kg snapper. And she said, "Is that good?" And I was like, "That's real good!"'

The couple grew closer as they bonded over fishing and seafood, with Clarke revealing he wooed her by turning up to her house with crayfish.

They went on to have daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford in 2018.

Before dating Ardern, Mr Gayford was famous in New Zealand, with various roles in the media as a radio host, DJ and presenter.

Mr Gayford is the current host of 'Fish of the Day,' a series dedicated fishing in the pacific ocean, as well as 'Moving Houses,' a show that revolves around the process of relocating houses.

Mr Gayford, was there to support Ardern last January when she announced she would not be seeking re-election after five years in the role, citing exhaustion.

She made light of the wedding debacle and included a special shout-out to her partner in the speech, telling him: 'And to Clarke: let's finally get married.'

'I am human. Politicians are human. We give all we can for as long as we can - and then it's time. And for me, it's time. I know what this job takes,' she said at the time.
Eyewear brand EssilorLuxottica will begin selling eyeglasses with hearing aids built into them, the company announced this week at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.

The glasses maker, not content with vision aids, is branching into the hearing aid market with glasses that amplify sound coming from the direction that the wearer is facing.

This release comes on the heels of research showing that older adults with hearing loss have a 24 percent lower risk of early death if they wear hearing aids.

Called Nuance Audio, the new devices will be sold in the US beginning in the Fall of 2024, representatives for EssilorLuxottica told DailyMail.com.

Then they will be in Europe around the first half of 2025.

Nuance Audio is the latest brand from EssilorLuxottica. It contains hearing aids in the glasses arms, which focus on the sound coming from in front of the wearer

The company also owns glasses brands including Oakley, Ray-Ban, and Native Eyewear.

The glasses target mild to moderate hearing loss, and besides sporting slightly chunkier arms, it's not immediately obvious that they contain audio-assistive electronics.

The new glasses can be purchased without a prescription, thanks to new laws in the US that allow hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter

More than 25 percent of Americans over 50 years old have mild to moderate hearing loss. And about 15.5 percent of Americans over age 20 have some degree of hearing loss.

Over 25 percent of Americans 50 and older have mild to moderate hearing loss, and about 15.5 percent of Americans over 20 have some form of hearing loss

No price has been set yet, but a company representative said they will be 'significantly cheaper' than conventional hearing aids.

Noise-canceling technology cuts out noise coming from behind the wearer, said Rafaello Infantino, director of integration and delivery at EssilorLuxottica.

Anyone who wears hearing aids - or who has dined out with someone who wears them - knows that this kind of noise specifically is a common complaint about the devices.

The glasses' hearing aids can be controlled by an accompanying app. It enables wearers to adjust how loudly the hearing aids amplify sound, including the person's own voice

Rather than fitting into the ear like conventional hearing aids, Nuance Audio's are fully open-ear.

They amplify sound from a spot on the arm, right near the wearer's ear.

Only the user can hear it, though. This was one of the main engineering challenges in developing the device.

But now that the glasses are developed, EssilorLuxottica will be able to sell them in their existing stores.

in 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration - which regulates medical devices - made it legal to sell hearing aids over-the-counter.

So rather than having to see an audiologist and get a prescription, people can just buy them like they would buy a pair of glasses frames - with or without prescription lenses.

The glasses charge wirelessly, sitting on an accompanying charging pad. A remote control or mobile app can be used to change volume and other settings, including how loudly the wearer hears their own voice.
Potholes are a constant and often expensive menace on Britain's roads, but perhaps not for much longer.

The first pothole robot is due to hit the streets of Hertfordshire within the next few months to test its autonomous repair technology.

The robot, called ARRES (Autonomous Road Repair System) PREVENT uses AI to automatically detect, categorise, and fill in cracks.

Should the test be successful, the robot could catch and repair cracks before they become too big to fix quickly.

This could make road works cheaper, more efficient, and faster compared with human workers.

The first autonomous pothole robot is set to hit the streets of Hertfordshire within the next few months

While it is currently in the lab testing phase the autonomous repair robot will soon be used to patrol a residential street

READ MORE: The science of salting roads: How city streets are being kept safe Advertisement

ARRES PREVENT is the product of a collaboration between tech company Robotiz3d and academics at the University of Liverpool in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council [HCC] Highways Engineers.

Robotiz3d is itself a spin-out of the University of Liverpool, having been founded with investment from the University's Enterprise Investment Fund.

Having started development in 2020, the robot is currently the only autonomous road repair vehicle anywhere in the world.

While the robot is currently only in a preliminary testing phase, it is due to be tested on real roads later this year.

The robot will be let loose to find and repair damage to a residential road somewhere in Hertfordshire.

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council told MailOnline that the robots will complement the council's current human teams.

The spokesperson said: 'The intention is to use the AI Robot alongside our human crews rather than to replace them.

The ARRES (Autonomous Road Repair System) PREVENT uses AI to detect potholes and decide whether to make an immediate repair or report the damage to return later

The robot can fill in cracks in the road before they become potholes, potentially saving local councils vast amounts of time and money

'It will autonomously find and seal cracks in the road while our team gets on with other work, helping us get more work done in a single set of works to prevent future potholes while reducing disruption to the public.'

The robot works by autonomously patrolling the roads and scanning the surface with cameras.

Using AI, the robot can detect depressions in the road surface and categorise them as a pothole or crack.

Once the robot has identified a surface imperfection it will decide whether to repair it right away or add the damage to a list for later inspection.

If the robot decides to make the repair, it will inject filling material into the crack to keep out water that could cause more damage.

Although the robot cannot fill larger potholes, Robotiz3d says that the objective is to prevent these potholes from forming in the first place.

Potholes form out of small cracks in the road surface from age, poor weather, or other routine forms of wear and tear.

Once the crack is formed, water seeps inside and begins to widen it.

In the winter, the water freezes into ice and expands, cracking the hole open further.

Robotiz3d, which makes the robot, says that its robots could one day patrol the streets of the UK day and night to stop potholes from forming in the first place

Last year the government set aside 2.8bn for pothole repairs in the East of England, the South East, South West, and London (stock image)

READ MORE: Futuristic car chassis promises to cancel unwanted motion on uneven road surfaces - and could even help with potholes Advertisement

Chunks of asphalt are then constantly knocked out by passing vehicles.

Due to the wet and cold weather conditions of the UK water ponds, which is where rainwater floods the hole, the pothole deepens until it is big enough to damage passing cars.

And while it might seem excessive to call out a robot army to tackle a few cracks in the road, potholes can become hugely expensive.

Recently, the UK government allocated 2.8bn for road repairs just in the East of England, the South East, South West, and London.

Hertfordshire County Council received 3.9m in November for potholes and resurfacing over the next 11 years, on top of a further 87.8m.

According to Robotiz3d, the autonomous solution will be 90 per cent cheaper than using humans, which could save councils millions over the years.

The council said: 'It's too early to tell how much money this could save us; at this stage we are helping Robotiz3d develop some ground-breaking tech but were convinced that the future benefits of this work are potentially huge.'

From damage to tires and suspension to crashes caused by drivers swerving to avoid these roadside craters, potholes can lead to expensive damage, with Robotiz3d estimating that drivers in the UK pay 1.7 billion in pothole-related costs every single year.

This is not helped by the fact that the average time taken to repair a pothole is 15 months in the UK.

Because the robots do not have to sleep or rest, they can work full-time to constantly monitor and fix damage to the roads.

By switching to robot lead services, the company estimates that it will be able to make repairs 70 per cent faster than humans.
Vodafone is finally back online following a 7-hour outage that affected thousands of frustrated Britons.

According to Down Detector, the problems started at around 06:20 GMT, and affected affecting users across the UK.

Vodafone confirmed that the issue had been resolved at 13:56 GMT - more than seven hours later.

'We can confirm that the network issue experienced by some customers this morning has been fixed and normal service has resumed,' a spokesperson told MailOnline.

'We're sorry for the inconvenience.'

Vodafone is finally back online following a 7-hour outage that affected thousands of frustrated Britons

More than 3,000 issues were logged on Down Detector at the peak of the outage

READ MORE: Do YOU live in a mobile phone 'not-spot'? Interactive map reveals how strong 5G signal is in your area Advertisement

More than 3,000 issues were logged on Down Detector at the peak of the outage.

Of those who reported issues, 56 per cent said they were struggling with mobile internet, while 36 per cent said the problem was with their mobile phone.

The remaining five per cent reported an issue with their landline internet.

Down Detector gets network status updates from various sources including social media and reports submitted to its website.

The website's 'heat map' of user-submitted problem reports showed that affected customers were mostly in London, Birmingham and Manchester, although there were reports across the country.

The website's 'heat map' of user-submitted problem reports showed that affected customers were mostly in London, Birmingham and Manchester, although there were reports across the country

One user tweeted: 'Vodafone in London is down?????!!! I am not getting any connection, having to use wifi. Anyone else got this issue??'

'Is Vodafone down for anyone? Not receiving any texts or calls,' one user wrote

READ MORE: Vodafone and Three agree mega-merger to create Britain's biggest mobile operator Vodafone and long-time rival Three have finally agreed to a merger Advertisement

Several frustrated users took to X (formerly Twitter) to discuss the outage.

'Is Vodafone down for anyone? Not receiving any texts or calls,' one user wrote.

Another tweeted: 'Vodafone in London is down?????!!!

'I am not getting any connection, having to use wifi. Anyone else got this issue??'

And one vented: 'I mean it would be nice if Vodafone could actually issue an update on what's going on to their customers.'

While many users tagged Vodafone to ask what has caused the problem, the firm did not appear to be acknowledging the outage on X.

In response to one user, it simply suggested using the network status tracked on its website.

This didn't prove fruitful for users however, with one replying to the suggestion: 'That is an absolute waste of time, I've already done it and it states there's no network issues in my area which is a complete lie.

'I have NO BARS and my data does not work I can only use my phone on WiFi it's an absolute joke!'
Artemis II will send astronauts around the moon while Artemis III will land on it

It was expected to be the biggest space trip of 2024, marking NASA's first manned trip to the moon for over 40 years.

But Artemis II been delayed until September next year, while its eagerly anticipated follow-up, Artemis III, won't take place until September 2026, the agency has revealed.

NASA cited safety concerns as the reason for the delays to its Artemis programme  the successor to the Apollo programme of the 1960s and 1970s.

Artemis II will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home, while Artemis III will actually land humans on the lunar surface.

If all goes to plan, Artemis III will mark the first time humans have walked on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972.

Pictured, the crew of Artemis II, which was supposed to take place in 2024. Victor Glover (second from left) is the first person of colour selected for a moon trip, while Christina Koch (second from right) is the first woman. They have been chosen alongside Reid Wiseman (left) from Baltimore, Maryland and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (right)

NASA said astronauts will have to wait until 2025 before flying to the moon and another few years before landing on it. Pictured, the Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft

NASA Artemis missions Past Artemis I - successful uncrewed loop around the moon (November-December 2022) Upcoming Artemis II - crewed loop around the moon Old date: November 2024 New date: September 2025 Artemis III - crewed landing on the moon Old date: December 2025 New date: September 2026 Artemis IV - crewed landing on the moon/assembly of the Lunar Gateway space station (September 2028) Advertisement

NASA's moon-landing effort has been delayed repeatedly over the past decade, adding billions of dollars to the cost.

Government audits project the total programme costs at $93billion (73billion) through 2025.

Giving a reason for the new delays, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said safety was a 'top priority' for the next stage of the programme.

'To give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first time developments, operations and integration, were going to give more time on Artemis II and III,' he said.

'So what I want to tell you is we are adjusting our schedule to target Artemis II for September of 2025, and September of 2026 for Artemis III, which will send humans for the first time to the lunar south pole.

'Artemis IV remains on track for September 2028 and though challenges are clearly ahead our teams are making incredible progress.'

NASA is relying heavily on private companies for its Artemis moon-landing program, including Elon Musk's company SpaceX.

For Artemis III, SpaceX's Starship mega rocket will be needed to get the first moonwalkers from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up.

But the nearly 400ft (121-meter) rocket has launched from Texas only twice, exploding both times over the Gulf of Mexico (a third test flight is planned for February).

SpaceX's Starship mega rocket will be needed to get the first Artemis moonwalkers from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up. Here, Starship mega rocket takes off, seen from Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, Mexico, November 18, 2023

This artist's depiction shows the Orion spacecraft - containing crew - while in lunar orbit during Artemis II

Artemis II will be the first crewed flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 - although unlike Apollo 17, the four Artemis II astronauts won't land. Instead they will fly around it before returning home. Artemis II could smash the record for the furthest distance travelled from Earth by humans

READ MORE Meet the crew for Artemis II The crew are busy training for what will be the trip of their lives Advertisement

However, a US government agency thinks the delay to Artemis III could stretch even further.

The Government Accountability Office warned in November that NASA was likely looking at 2027 for its first astronaut moon landing.

It cited Starship as one of the many technical challenges, although other potential hurdles include the development of moonwalking suits by a Houston firm called Axiom Space.

Even with the new delay, a 2026 moon landing represents 'a very aggressive schedule', admitted Amit Kshatriya, NASA's deputy associate administrator.

'We need them all to be ready and all to be successful in order for that very complicated mission to come together,' Kshatriya added.

Artemis II  which will fly four astronauts around the moon and back home  is the the more realistic trip, but even it could be subject to further delays.

However, it's not been a complete disaster for the Artemis programme so far, as the first mission, Artemis I, was a success in late 2022.

NASA's Orion capsule is drawn to the well deck of the USS Portland after it splashed down following a successful uncrewed Artemis I moon mission, December 11, 2022

Artemis I performed the same flight around the moon that Artemis II will do, but with nobody aboard, other than a Shaun the Sheep figure and several other trinkets.

When it does take place, Artemis II is expected to smash the record for the furthest distance travelled from Earth by a craft designed to carry humans (set by Artemis I in 2022).

NASA's fresh delay came barely an hour after a Pittsburgh company abandoned its own attempt to land its spacecraft on the moon because of a fuel leak.

Launched on Monday, as part of NASA's commercial lunar programme, Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander was supposed to serve as a scout for the astronauts.
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Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.

NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2026 - including the first woman and the next man.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars.

The uncrewed flight, which successfully launched in November last year, travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. It splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December 2022, 25-and-a-half days after launch.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission

Orion stayed in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station, while it also returned home faster and hotter than ever before.

It will now be followed by Artemis II, a manned mission which is scheduled for launch next year.

The crew will fly around the moon and back to prepare for Artemis III, which NASA is targeting as the mission to return humans to the lunar surface.

Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis programme.

The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.

Who is Victor Glover? The man set to become NASA's first black astronaut to orbit the moon

Victor Glover (pictured) was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and became the first African American ISS expedition crewmember to live on the ISS seven years later

NASA is set to send the first-ever black astronaut to the moon.

Victor Glover, 46, was selected to take part in the space agency's Artemis II mission  the US' first lunar mission in a half-century.

The Pomona, California, native will be the first person of color to travel into deep space, hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the low-Earth orbiting International Space Station (ISS).

NASA officials say the diverse crew assignments signify the cultural shifts that have taken place since the original Apollo missions, which ended in 1972, at a time when white men dominated space exploration.

Glover was also the first black man to ever live on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 and is among 15 African Americans to be selected as an astronaut.

In his esteemed career since being selected as an astronaut in 2013, Mr Glover has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.

Artemis II - which will launch in November 2024 - will see the four-man crew orbit the moon in the Orion spacecraft but not land.

Their goal is to test new technology, including heat shields that protects Orion as it travels 24,500 mph in 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its way back.

If successful, NASA plans to launch an expedition to land on the moon titled Artemis III. Another success would spell out a trip to Mars for NASA.

I wanna thank God for this Amazing opportunity, Mr Glover said during a new conference Monday.

This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate. Its so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history.

'Artermis II is more than a mission to the Moon and back. Its more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.

This crew will never forget that.

Mr Glover was born in 1976 in Pomona, around 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

The city is far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, known for its high poverty rate and relatively high crime.

Mr Glover grew up in Ponoma, CA, 30 miles east of Los Angeles

He said his parents and teachers served as mentors as him growing up.

'Early on in life it had to be my parents; they encouraged me and challenged me and held me to high standards. Outside of home, I had teachers that did the same,' he told USA Today in 2017.

'They all challenged me, and they encouraged me.'

Mr Glover continued that his teachers and parents urged him to go the engineering school and eventually become a test pilot  leading to him becoming an astronaut.

He graduated from Southern California's Ontario High School in 1994, and went on to attend California Polytechnic State University, before completing his graduate education at Air University and the US Naval Academy.

'Im the first person in my family to graduate from college, and being at graduation with my mom and my dad and my stepdad and my little brothers and my grandparents,' he said to USA Today.

'That was unreal, that was cool and it was special for me.'

In 1999 he was commissioned as part of the US Navy. After completing flight training in Corpus Christy, Texas, he was 'given his wings' and awarded the title of pilot in 2001.

He then moved to San Diego to learn to fly the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, known as one of the Navy's more versatile aircraft.

After spending the next two years training in Florida and Virginia, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 for six months.

Mr Glover was working in the office of the late Sen John McCain as a legislative fellow when he was selected by NASA to become an astronaut in 2013.

NASA only selects a handful of the thousands of people that apply to be a member of the nation's astronaut corps each year. Only 15 black astronauts have ever been selected out of 348.

A vast majority of the 41 current astronauts have a military background, like Mr Glover.

He completed his astronaut training in 2015. Three years later, he was selected to be a part of the first ever operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, a reusable aircraft designed by the firm Elon Musk found in 2002.

As part of that mission, he would live on the ISS from November 17, 2020 to May 2, 2021.

The nearly six-month-long stay on the station makes him the first black astronaut to inhabit it.

Jeanette Epps, 52, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2009 is set to become the second African American, and first black woman, to live on the ISS after the launch of Boeing Starliner-1 in 2024 or later.

In 2020, Mr Glover said it was an honor to be the first black person selected to the ISS.

'It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it, and I am honored to be in this position and to be a part of this great and experienced crew,' he said during a news conference.

'I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to make sure, you know, we are worthy of all the work that's been put into setting us up for this mission.'

In an interview with The Christian Chronicle later that year, he said there were qualified black astronauts that should have earned the honor before him.

'I've had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,' he said.

'I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.'

Who is Christina Koch? The first female NASA astronaut set to orbit the moon

Christina Koch is set to become the first woman to go around the moon when NASA's Artemis II mission takes off next year.

Christina Koch, 44, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is set to become the first woman to go around the moon

The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, 44, is already the record-holder for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space, 328 days, and for taking part in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.

Selected to become an astronaut in 2013, Ms Koch said she has not followed a 'checklist' in order to become an astronaut  but instead chased her passions whether this be rock climbing, sailing or even learning to surf in her 40s.

She said in 2020: 'I really don't remember a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut.

'For me, I learned that if I was going to be an astronaut, it was because my passions had turned me into someone that could contribute the most as someone contributing to human space flight.'

While she's exploring space, her husband Robert will be left taking care of housework and the couple's puppy, LBD. It is not believed that they have children.

'Am I excited? Absolutely!' she said at a news conference at the crew's announcement Monday.

The one thing I'm most excited about is that we will carry your excitement,your aspirations, your dreams, on this mission.

She also said: We are going to launch from Kennedy space center, we are going to here the words go for launch on top of the most powerful rocket NASAs ever made.

NASA has sent a total of 355 people to space so far, of which some 55 have been women  or 15 percent. It has also sent 24 people to orbit the moon and 12 to walk on the lunar surface who were all men.

Russian Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever leave the earth's atmosphere  setting off in 1937. American women did not get sent to space until 1983.

Ms Koch, however, will make history on the Artemis II mission when she completes her long-awaited trip around the moon.

She revealed her love of space in a video when she was announced as a member of the Artemis I team in 2020.

The astronaut said: 'I am someone who has loved exploration on the frontier since I was little.

'I used to be inspired by the night sky and throughout my career, it's been this balance between engineering for space science missions and doing science in really remote places all over the world.

'I loved things that made me feel small, things that made me ponder the size of the universe, my place in it and everything that was out there to explore.'

She added: 'I didn't necessarily live my life following check boxes of how you could become an astronaut.

'But I followed those passions and one day I looked at what I had become and the skills I had gathered and I asked "could I sit across from a table and present myself as someone who could do this well?". And I thought, I'm going to give this a shot.'

She went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh to get a bachelor's and a master's in Electrical Engineering.

She then became an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before becoming a research associate for the United States Antarctic Program  living an entire year in the Arctic.

Ms Koch was one of eight selected as part of NASA's 21st class of astronauts in 2013. After two years of training, she became a full-fledged astronaut.

Her first space flight came in 2019 when she was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to work as a flight engineer.

She stayed up there for 328 days, taking the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, was in space for 288 days.

While in space she also took the record for the first all-women space walk  when an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space  with Jessica Meir.

The pair spent seven hours and 17 minutes on the side of the ISS as they worked to replace a power controller. The walk also included a brief call with President Trump.

Upon her return to Earth in 2020, Ms Koch said she felt 'like a baby' who was two weeks old and working hard to hold up its head.

Back on Earth, she lives in Galveston, Texas, just outside of the Houston area.

Among her interests are backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel.

Now she will be a part of a groundbreaking mission in NASA's goal towards putting a man on Mars.

The Artemis II mission marks NASA's first trip to the moon in half a century. It says it will be performed to help test kit in preparation for getting humans onto Mars.

The agency sent an empty Orion capsule around the moon last year before it returned to Earth in a long-awaited dress rehearsal.

If this latest mission goes well, then another flight to land people on the moon will be sent in 2025  as part of tests ahead of getting people onto Mars.
Experts are warning parents not to put infants on their laps when flying after a panel blew off on an Alaska Airlines plane at 16,000 feet.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said if an infant were sitting on their parents lap near the window, they would have been swept out of the plane.

The agencies are urging parents to purchase a separate seat for their children despite guidelines allowing those under two years old to fly free following last week's 'truly terrifying' incident.

The safest place for a child under age two is an approved child-restraint system or device, not an adults lap, the FAA told Dailymail.com.

Experts warn parents against their child sitting on their lap while flying over safety concerns

Parents are not currently required to buy separate seats for infants and are allowed to hold them in their laps, but protecting the child could outweigh the financial toll of spending more money to fly, according to the FAA and NTSB.

When asked how the FAA responds to parents who might argue that they cant afford to buy their infant a seat, the FAA only said: For every rule, the FAA is legally required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to show that the benefits of the proposal exceed the costs.

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 was forced to land when a window panel blew out on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane shortly after take-off.

Debris from two cellphones, a seat back, and a tray table were sucked out of the gaping hole and were later found on the ground in the Portland area.

Following the incident, all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were grounded while the FAA and NTSB investigated what caused the panel to blow out.

Federal investigators reported that a preliminary inspection revealed that loose bolts may be at fault after United and Alaska Airlines said they found loose parts in the door panels during Boeing 737 Max 9 inspections.

The number one cause of pediatric airplane injuries is unexpected turbulence, but the Alaska Airlines incident brought renewed concerns about unsecured infants to the forefront of aviation safety.

There were three infants on board the Alaska Airlines flight, but none were sitting in the aisle where the window blew out.

A window panel blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight, prompting concerns that an unsecured infant could have been sucked out of the plane

The panel flew off the plane while it was at 16,000 feet. Toys, phones and clothes were sucked into the night after the plug door 'departed the aircraft' causing instant decompression with 171 passengers aboard Flight 1282 on Friday evening

If there had been a passenger holding a kid close to where that panel blew off, the explosive force was such that a kid being held would have been torn from the hands of their parents, and they would have been sucked out the plane, Kwasi Adjekum, an assistant professor at the University of North Dakotas Department of Aviation told The Washington Post.

The practice of holding kids on your lap, especially for takeoff and other vulnerable phases of flight  its highly frowned upon and discouraged, Adjekum added.

Dailymail.com also asked the FAA whether it should focus on airplane safety first rather than resorting to parents paying for an extra seat.

The FAA said, ' The FAAs priority is keeping the public safe.

The agency issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive to Boeing for its 737 Max 9 airplanes, grounding them until all applicable corrective actions have been performed.

Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, questioned why children are required to be in a car seat if theyre under a certain weight in a vehicle, but parents are permitted to hold them on their lap on a commercial flight.

That, to me, is just a gap in the system, Brickhouse told The Post, adding: And unfortunately, in safety, a lot of times, changes arent made until theres a tragedy.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said if an infant were sitting on their parents lap near the window, they would have been swept out of the plane

Yet, tragedies have frequently occurred as early as the 1970s, prompting the NTSB and FAA to require airlines to allow aviation-approved child seats on board in 1990.

The NTSB sent a letter to the FAA in 1990, asking the agency to approve aviation car seats, citing numerous in-flight emergencies that resulted in infant injuries or fatalities.

The problems experienced by these three parents graphically illustrate the impossibility of holding onto an infant during a crash, the NTSB said at the time.

The FAA proposed a regulation in 2003 requiring children under two years old to be in infant restraint seats on airplanes.

However, pediatricians argued it would be counterproductive and would ultimately cause more fatalities than it prevents.

Pediatricians claimed that more deaths resulted from automobile crashes than planes, and forcing parents to purchase an extra ticket for their child would cause parents to opt to drive to their destination instead of flying.

In light of the recent Alaska Airlines fiasco, the NTSB and FAA appear to be revisiting this idea, although no proposed regulations have been made.

Adjekum said U.S. regulators expressed concerns that tethering a child to a seat would slow down plane evacuations in case of emergency and could be a 'potential obstruction hazard' for other passengers.

Dailymail.com has reached out to the NTSB and several airlines for comment.
Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr attended CES to support an AI-powered app that fights cybercrime and protects children

Iron Man has a new mission - fighting cybercriminals.

Marvel actor Robert Downey Jr has parented the AI-powered app Aura, which monitors and tracks accounts to prevent digital crimes like scams, hacks and identity theft.

Aura presented at CES in Las Vegas, announcing new features to provide digital safety to families by allowing parents to monitor smartphone usage habits.

The new feature also includes parental filters that block specific websites from a child's device and notifications sent to parents if the app detects cyberbullying.

Downey said at CES that he was drawn to the company's mission statement after his Instagram account was hacked in 2019.

Users who clicked on the actor's account were greeted with a post that read: ''I'm giving away 2000x FREE iPhone XS & MUCH MORE on my Instagram story RIGHT NOW! Claim them before they're ALL gone!'

Downey's Story also showed a post telling followers to claim their 'free' iPhone XS, and his bio was edited to include a link to a form asking for personal information.

The AI-powered app Aura monitors and tracks accounts to prevent digital crimes like scams, hacks and identity theft

'Were all so busy in this information age,' he said at the Las Vegas event, emphasizing that he had proactively protected his accounts and information before being hacked.

'But its nowhere near enough.'

The experience led Downey to team up with Aura in 2023 to raise awareness about the importance of online safety.

'Honestly, the exponential growth of online crime, just in the last several years, is truly terrifying,' he said last year.

Downey (right) was seen sitting on stage at the tech conference as Aura revealed the new parental features for the app

'It requires an innovative solution to protect our families, which is why I'm joining Hari and his team at Aura to tackle the crisis head-on.'

Aura offers identity theft protection, financial fraud protection, and device and network protection through an all-in-one product.

Aura features an AI-enabled chatbot that provides more personalized support to individuals struggling to resolve a digital crime.

Users connect their accounts to the app, such as those for banking, emails and credit cards, allowing it to monitor them for malicious activity.

The app also provides a Smart Vault, which lets users add information to monitor for fraud or data theft, securely store their most important digital files and passwords to keep them secure, and easily share them with family members.

Parents can limit how long their children use specific apps like YouTube, Instagram and Roblox while also seeing how long their child is on each one

Aura also features a new Cyberbullying Protection that will notify parents that their child is being harassed online, such as when playing a video game

'Every six seconds, someones identity is stolen,' Downey told Good Morning America.

'And then last year, a million kids had their identity stolen. And I find that very unnerving.

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Hari Ravichandran, founder & CEO of Aura, said: 'Online criminals are getting smarter, and the only way to stay a step ahead of attackers is to use intelligent safety technologies.

'Traditionally, digital security has required a lot of attention and maintenance. But, I strongly believe that these tools should reduce the burden of defense for users. With Aura, we've baked AI into the protection we deliver so that we can prevent attacks, enabling families to fight back against digital crime for the first time.'

Downey was seen sitting on stage at the tech conference as Aura revealed the new parental features for the app.

Parents can limit how long their children use specific apps like YouTube, Instagram and Roblox while also seeing how long their child is on each one.

Repeated studies have linked social media use in young people to harmful, long-term negative side effects.

A 2020 report by researchers from Johns Hopkins University linked the surge in teen mental health issues in the 2000s to the advent of social media.

Another Johns Hopkins team found in 2019 that students who spend more than three hours per day on social media platforms show more significant risks of severe mental health problems.

Researchers found a strong link between time spent on social media and the likelihood of developing depression when looking at more than two dozen studies.

Aura also features a new Cyberbullying Protection that will notify parents that their child is being harassed online, such as when playing a video game.

A 2022 report found that 39 percent of children from eight to 17 years old have experienced online bullying.
Microsoft has been quietly debating the future of its advanced AI lab in China, sources say.

The lab was opened in 1998 and has become one of the most important artificial intelligence hubs in the world, leading to advancements in the company's speech, image and facial recognition software.

Microsoft Research Lab Asia (MSRA) opened at a time of optimism about China as an emerging democracy but as tensions between the US and the communist state have intensified, internal pressure has mounted to shut or scale it down.

That pressure has only intensified in recent months, after the Biden administration banned US investments in Chinese tech ventures that might aid the rival superpower's 'military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities.'

But, the tech giant's founder Bill Gates continues to defend the lab and has pushed to keep it open, alongside Microsoft's research leaders and its current president.

Microsoft has been quietly debating the future of its advanced AI lab in China, with founder Bill Gates supporting the lab. When Gates visited China last June (above), President Xi Jinping warmly described the tech mogul as 'the first American friend I've met with this year'

Microsoft's internal handwringing has reportedly intensified as the Biden administration prepared its ban on any new US investments in Chinese tech ventures that might aid the rival superpower's 'military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities' (file photo)

The tech giant's roughly $1 billion worth of AI investments in the Asia country has been mutually beneficial, netting Microsoft $212 billion in revenue last fiscal year, and nurturing local talent highly valued by China's military-industrial complex.

Alumni of Microsoft's AI lab in China have gone on to key posts at the nation's domestic tech giants, with two heading-up the facial recognition developer Megvii  which has helped China power its vast national surveillance system.

When Bill Gates visited China last June, after a three year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping warmly described the mogul as 'the first American friend I've met with this year.'

Four current and past Microsoft employees, who spoke to the New York Times anonymously, said that the company's top leaders are split on the future of Microsoft's MSRA, which has offices in both Shanghai and Beijing.

Microsoft's current CEO, Satya Nadella, and its president, Brad Smith, have been debating what to do with the lab over the past year.

The tech giant's founder Bill Gates and the company's research leaders  including Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott and Microsoft's head of research Peter Lee  remain strident defenders of the lab: MSRA's Shanghai AI/ML Group (above)

But, the tech giant's founder Bill Gates and the company's research leaders  including Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott and Microsoft's head of research Peter Lee  remain strident defenders of the lab.

Scott and Lee, according to two sources who spoke to the Times, have argued that the lab has yielded critical breakthroughs in AI, via MSRA's Shanghai AI/ML Group.

In a statement to the Times, Microsoft president Brad Smith appeared to echo the line pushed by Gates, who still regularly advises the company's executives.

'The lesson of history is that countries succeed when they learn from the world,' Smith said. 'Guardrails and controls are critical, while engagement remains vital.'

Those guardrails include restrictions on work related to quantum computing, facial recognition software and synthetic media, a catch-all term that includes 'deep fakes' and AI-generated vocal impersonations, according to Microsoft.

The tech giant also stated that its policies prevent the hiring of Chinese students and researchers whose CVs have placed them at any university affiliated with the Chinese military.

But there have nevertheless been gaps: MSRA's satellite lab in Vancouver grants researchers free access to the supercomputing power and OpenAI systems needed for cutting-edge AI research, two sources said.

In a statement to the Times, Microsoft president Brad Smith appeared to echo the line pushed by Gates (left), who still regularly advised the company's executives. 'The lesson of history is that countries succeed when they learn from the world,' Smith said

This past May, Microsoft revealed that Chinese hackers had targeted 'critical' infrastructure in the US territory of Guam, sparking fears that Beijing might be testing US cyber-defenses in preparation for a communications 'black out' needed to launch a rumored assault on Taiwan

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While Microsoft has bristled in response to some of China's surveillance and censorship expectations, shutting down LinkedIn within the Asian country over compliance issues, it has sometimes bowed to those same demands.

Microsoft's Bing search engine, now the only foreign search engine in China, has followed the Chinese government's censorship policies, for example.

And the company offers corporate clients in China access to regulated versions of the Windows operating system, its cloud computing and applications as well.

Adding to the tensions, Microsoft revealed that Chinese hackers had targeted 'critical' infrastructure in the US territory of Guam, this past May, sparking fears that Beijing might be testing US cyber-defenses in preparation for a communications 'black out' needed to launch a rumored assault on Taiwan.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that China was behind the breach, which struck multiple government and private sector organizations.

Tom Burt, head of Microsoft's threat intelligence unit, said his team found that the attack hit key nodes in Guam's telecommunications sector.

China's apparent focus on Guam is of particular concern, as the US territory is a key military base in the Pacific, and would be a major staging ground for any American response in the event of a conflict in Taiwan or the South China Sea.

Despite Microsoft's active role in these international tensions, Gates maintains his own ties to China via his philanthropic organization, the Gates Foundation.

The foundation recently pledging $50 million to Beijing's municipal government and one top university in China.

While Gates began stepping away from Microsoft in 2008, devoting more time to these philanthropic projects, no longer even a member of Microsoft's board of directors, the billionaire remain the company's largest individual shareholder.

Alongside his advising of Microsoft's executives, Gates owns an estimated $35 billion worth of stock in the firm, according to financial data analysts with FactSet.
The annual CES convention in Las Vegas has a reputation for showcasing the wildest gear that the tech industry has to offer.

Wandering the floor of the consumer electronics show can be overwhelming and entertaining, as small scrappy startups display their products alongside the established tech giants.

But we've kept an eye on some of the coolest and strangest technology products on display at the show.

Here are some of the weirdest ones we have seen so far:

Extremely creepy robot 'friend'

WeHead's AI head is made up of several screens. The models on display were programmed to give a company pitch, but WeHead says the device could be used for customer service

I tried speaking with the WeHead device, but it kept calling me 'bro.' When asked why, it explained that 'bro' is a term of endearment

A sign near WeHead's robot heads informed convention attendees that they didn't need to talk to the devices like they would talk to Siri.

'Chat like you would with a friend,' it instructed.

But when I tried to do this, it did not go well.

Perhaps it was the noisy convention space, but the robot head kept interrupting me. And when I asked questions about the device itself, it would give confusing answers.

Once I started asking simple questions, though, like 'What is the deepest point in the ocean?' it seemed to be more in its element, quickly naming the Marianas Trench.

According to a company representative, these devices could be used for customer service setting to answer simple questions. Or in the home, they could be used to reflect on one's day, if journaling with an AI is your thing.

Companies can rent the WeHead robots for about $200 a month or buy one for $5,000.

A mask for making phone calls in public

Skyted has developed a mask that's meant to keep your phone conversations private in public settings

Sigh. Just when we thought we were done with face masks in America.

Skyted's mask straps to your face and plugs into your phone with a USB-C plug.

It keeps 80 percent of sound inside, while also blocking out ambient noise, company reps told DailyMail.com.

So you can make business calls on the train, or talk to your spouse while you're out and about without worrying about strangers eavesdropping on your conversation.

Of course, this all assumes you don't mind the odd looks you may get from strangers as they see you silently speaking into a mask.

The device is currently crowdfunding through KickStarter, where $249 will reserve you one. After this super early bird special, they will retail for $599.

Gym leggings that will shock you into getting fit

A biotech company wants to shock you while you exercise.

Barunbio Energywear's workout clothes look like your typical gear: functional and somewhat fashionable.

These shorts contain special conductive fibers that collect and concentrate static electricity as your body moves during a workout

WE-Stim clothing is designed to deliver small electrical shocks along the seams. The electrical current is generated by your body movements, and delivered by silver-containing fibers

But the trio of Korean scientists who founded the company, presenting at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, said they built these clothes to deliver low-power electrical stimulation all over your body.

No batteries required, though. Their products only need your own movement to power them - like a static electrical shock from shuffling wool socks on a carpet.

The idea behind the company's gear, called WE-Stim (for Wearable Electric Stimulation) is that this micro-electric stimulation helps activate muscle cells for better workout performance.

AI binoculars that identify birds for you

Swarovski Optik has launched a $4,800 pair of binoculars that can identify birds, as well as European and North American mammals

These binoculars from Swarovski Optik may look like your average high-end optics equipment, but once you look through the eyepieces, you can tell something is different.

A red circle will appear when you get a feathered friend in your sights, and clicking on a button will bring up the name of the bird.

AX Visio enables you to identify birds with the click of a button. When you get a bird in your sights, a red circle appears around it

Rotate the knob on the binoculars to the squirrel icon, and you can identify European or North American mammals at the touch of a button.

The two large lenses are for viewing, and the third does the sophisticated task of scoping a bird so the internal electronics can identify it

And if you want to show a friend what you were just looking at, rotate the switch to the arrow icon and click the button while viewing the object of interest.

When you pass off the binoculars to your friend, an arrow will guide them to the exact point you identified.

The item is not cheap, of course, but few high-end optics are. It will cost you $4,800.

Instant ice cream from a can

Cold Snap's ice cream pods contain not just the ice cream mix but also a mixing paddle. The idea is a no-mess system

Cold Snap has invented the instant ice cream machine, and their booth at CES was mobbed by convention attendees who wanted a taste.

The company's machine works like a Keurig coffee maker: You place a disposable pod in, close the lid, and press a button.

It starts freezing and churning the product, and in two minutes, out comes a creamy treat.

Cold Snap boasts that it requires no cleaning because the ice cream doesn't come into contact with the machine at all. Everything happens in the pod

Anyone who has used an ice cream maker knows that cleaning all the parts can be a chore.

So cold snap has eliminated that part of things by building the churning paddle into the pods.

This may be wasteful, but as we observed in the demonstrations, it definitely makes for easy cleanup - just remove the can and toss it in the bin.

Their target customer is places where lots of people may be using ice cream: offices, hotels, colleges, assisted living facilities, and so on.

It costs about $500 and is slated for release this fall.

Oakley maker announces glasses with built-in HEARING AIDS

Eyewear brand EssilorLuxottica will begin selling eyeglasses with hearing aids built into them, the company announced this week at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.

The glasses maker, not content with vision aids, is branching into the hearing aid market with glasses that amplify sound coming from the direction that the wearer is facing.

Nuance Audio is the latest brand from EssilorLuxottica. It contains hearing aids in the glasses arms, which focus on the sound coming from in front of the wearer

This release comes on the heels of research showing that older adults with hearing loss have a 24 percent lower risk of early death if they wear hearing aids.

Called Nuance Audio, the new devices will be sold in the US beginning in the Fall of 2024, representatives for EssilorLuxottica told DailyMail.com.

Then they will be in Europe around the first half of 2025.

The company also owns glasses brands including Oakley, Ray-Ban, and Native Eyewear.

The glasses target mild to moderate hearing loss, and besides sporting slightly chunkier arms, it's not immediately obvious that they contain audio-assistive electronics.

Must see-through TV!

LG and Samsung have announced plans to launch fully transparent televisions in what could be the next jump in TV tech.

South Korean electronics manufacturer LG announced its wireless see-through device on Monday at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.

Before the conference halls were open to the public, the company wheeled the 77-inch wireless screen onstage at a Monday morning press conference.

LG wheeled the 77-inch wireless screen onstage at a Monday morning press conference

Samsung's transparent display at CES used microLED picture technology, which the company claims produces a superior picture to other transparent screens on the market

Billed as 'the world's first 4k, wireless, transparent OLED TV,' the LG Signature OLED-T is built to stand in the middle of a room and look like a clear pane of glass when it isn't in use.

When it's turned on, viewers can either keep it see-through, like a window that's playing a movie on it, or turn it opaque, so the wall behind it is no longer visible.

'OLED T creates a sense of openness,' said LG's Frank Lee. The TV no longer has to dominate the room. This heightens the relationship between the TV and the space it inhabits.'

This transparent block is meant to be more than just a screen, he said.

'OLED T also becomes an object of design,' Lee said.

'You can place it in locations unimaginable until now - a modular solution that provides you with a variety of ways to install it seamlessly.'

The TV has no cables to fuss with, he said.

LG's wireless transmission box remains near the wall, beaming visuals and sound to the screen, so it can be moved freely or placed in the middle of the room.
Brooklyn Beckham displayed his heavily tattooed physique as he stripped off and posed for a black and white mirror selfie on Instagram on Tuesday.

The oldest son of David and Victoria Beckham, 24, covered his modesty with a towel and shared the shirtless snap with his 16.4million followers.

The aspiring chef, who has over 100 tattoos, and over 70 of them are dedicated to his wife Nicola Peltz, donned an eye catching long necklace and spiked his short wet brunette tresses up.

Brooklyn's tattoos include his wedding vows on his arm, 'married' on his hand, and Nicola's eyes on the back of his neck.

Brooklyn revealed in 2022 that Nicola 'always cries when I get her another tattoo' so he loves 'to surprise her with new ink.'

Brooklyn Beckham displayed his heavily tattooed physique as he stripped off and posed in a towel for a black and white mirror selfie on Instagram on Tuesday

In another post, the aspiring chef, 34, shared a sweet message gushing over his wife Nicola as she celebrated her 29th birthday

He penned: 'Happy birthday Nicola Peltz Beckham x Thank you for everything that you do x you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so happy and so lucky to be your husband'

In another post, Brooklyn shared a sweet message gushing over his wife Nicola as she celebrated her 29th birthday.

Alongside a glamorous black and white snap of the actress, he penned: 'Happy birthday Nicola Peltz Beckham x

'Thank you for everything that you do x you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so happy and so lucky to be your husband x love you baby girl'.

It comes as Brooklyn's parents David and Victoria wished their daughter-in-law Nicola a happy 29th birthday with gushing posts to Instagram.

The Spice Girl, 49, continued to prove to her fans that their 'feud' is for sure a thing of the past after she poured out her love for the actress.

The video showed Nicola impressively dance in the sand with towering wedges, while her mother-in-law opted for the safer option and went bare foot.

Victoria and Nicola looked happier than ever as they held hands while dancing against the sunset, shutting down rumours of their ever being a feud between them.

Captioning her sweet post, Posh Spice penned: 'Happy birthday @NicolaAnnePeltzBeckham We love you so much!! Your love, kindness, talent and your ability to dance on sand in a major wedge!!

It comes as Victoria Beckham, 49, wished her daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz a happy 29th birthday with a gushing post to Instagram on Tuesday

David shared a sweet family snap to social media and penned: 'Here's to having more fun celebrating you'

'The best dance partner and loving daughter in law. We love you, have an amazing day!!!!! Xxxxxx'

She also shared a snap of Nicola and Brooklyn Beckham posing against the gorgeous sunset whilst enjoying a sunny holiday away.

Meanwhile, David shared a sweet family snap to social media and penned: 'Here's to having more fun celebrating you'

He also shared a picture of Nicola and his wife Victoria enjoying a cocktail and said: 'We love you'

Rumours of a fall out between the American beauty and Victoria emerged after Nicola's multi-million dollar wedding in Florida in April 2022.

The family later quashed this by attending Victoria's fashion show in Paris back in March.

Nicola previously confirmed the rumours had begun after she didn't wear her mother-in-law's wedding dress design when she married Brooklyn in an October interview with The Times.

But she denied there was a 'feud' and explained that the Victoria 's atelier simply hadn't had time to make the dress, as she insisted: 'No family is perfect.'

Nicola said: 'It's not a feud! I keep seeing everywhere that word, 'feud, feud, feud!?' I mean, maybe they picked up on something? And now they're labelling it feud?'

'I think it all started, and I've said this before, because I didn't end up wearing Victoria's wedding dress, but the real truth is, I really, really wanted to wear it and I thought it was so beautiful that Brooklyn's mom got to make that for me! And I was really excited to wear it! And I didn't end up wearing it.'

The Spice Girl continued to prove to her fans that their 'feud' is for sure a thing of the past after she poured out her love for the actress

Captioning her sweet post, Posh Spice penned: 'Happy birthday @NicolaAnnePeltzBeckham We love you so much!! Your love, kindness, talent and your ability to dance on sand in a major wedge!!'

She also shared a snap of Nicola and Brooklyn Beckham posing against the gorgeous sunset whilst enjoying a sunny holiday away

The video showed Nicola impressively dance in the sand with towering wedges, while her mother-in-law opted for the safer option and went bare foot

Victoria shared an hilarious video praising Nicola for being able to dance in the sand with towering wedges on

Victoria and Nicola looked happier than ever as they held hands while dancing against the sunset, shutting down rumours of their ever being a feud between them

She added: 'The best dance partner and loving daughter in law. We love you, have an amazing day!!!!! Xxxxxx'

He also shared a picture of Nicola and his wife Victoria enjoying a cocktail and said: 'We love you'

She went on to say: 'But I, truthfully, was really excited to wear her dress. It makes me sad when I read things that people say I was never planning on wearing it. That's just not true.'

It comes after Nicola is reportedly considering signing up to the next series of Strictly Come Dancing in a bid to boost her profile in the UK.

She is said to be being advised taking part in the popular BBC dance contest could be the perfect way to breakaway from Brand Beckham and widen her own fanbase.

Now, Nicola's team reportedly think the show could be the perfect way to make a bigger name for herself in the UK.

Insiders say Nicola's husband Brooklyn, 24, is 'right behind her' as they want to become 'a couple in their own right' - away from his famous parents David, 48, and Victoria.

A source told The Sun: 'Nicola is known in the US but over in the UK shes at the bottom of the publicity pecking order in Brooklyns famous family.

'She has a team behind her who are keen on boosting her profile over here  and Brooklyn is right behind her. Strictly has been mooted as the perfect show for Nicola.

'Shes an accomplished actress, has the right look and appearing on the show would attract a huge amount of positive promotion, her team are playing a long game and theyve been slowly upping her profile to get her on the radar of a wider audience.'
None of the films and documentaries made about one of the most infamous plane crashes in history even hint in their titles at the taboo that makes this story so shocking.

Spanish director J.A. Bayona, who spent a decade making his movie, called it by a poetic and mysterious phrase: Society Of The Snow.

Nominated for a Golden Globe at the weekend, it didn't win but is currently the most popular foreign language film on Netflix, and is Spain's entry for this year's Oscars.

Other versions have names such as Alive, the 1993 Hollywood blockbuster starring Ethan Hawke, or the 2007 award-winning factual account Stranded, which interviewed all the survivors.

Andes Plane Crash: Terror At 30,000 Feet (Ch5) also features detailed testimonies from several of those who lived through the 1972 disaster.

Wreckage of the aircraft in the Andes in 1972 after the pilot of their chartered air force plane made a catastrophic miscalculation, began his descent far too early, and ploughed into a mountainside

Enzo Vogrincic in Society of the Snow directed by J.A. Bayona, who spent a decade making his movie

Matias Recalt and Agustin Pardella in Society of the Snow (2023)

Rescue workers helping victims of the aircrash in the Andes, 1972

12 people of the 45 on board were killed, with many more seriously injured

Many of the passengers were members of a top Uruguayan rugby squad, on their way to a match in Chile when the pilot of their chartered air force plane made a catastrophic miscalculation, began his descent far too early, and ploughed into a mountainside: 12 people of the 45 on board were killed, with many more seriously injured.

What none of these titles mention is the central fact that fascinates and repels us: fighting starvation for weeks amid the wreckage, the survivors took the impossible decision to eat the flesh of their dead companions.

It was a choice that saved more than a dozen lives. Without the protein from human meat, they all would have perished. But the very idea is so difficult to contemplate, it poses a challenge for film-makers: how graphic can the images be?

This three-part documentary (which continues tonight) consists of equal parts interview and reconstruction. Though the crash happened more than 50 years ago, and the survivors are in their 70s, these accounts have lost none of their harrowing intensity with retelling.

The reconstructions, unlike the vivid scenes in Society Of The Snow, are low-budget and static. There's no dialogue and very little movement. Actors huddle together in the torn fuselage at night, and spell out S.O.S. with suitcases in the snow.

This still leaves the question of how much must be left to our imagination. In the end, almost everything is.

We see one man approach a body, half buried in the snow, with a sliver of broken bottle for a knife. A couple of actors put bloodless scraps of flesh, smaller than matchsticks, to their lips.

'I can assure you,' one of the survivors said, 'had you been there with us, you would have arrived at the same conclusion and done exactly the same thing.'

That, ultimately, is the real taboo. It isn't the word 'cannibalism', which is never used, and it isn't an issue of how much can be screened.

It's a simple question  how about you? Could you do it? Or would you rather starve?

Sulky Lucy (Grace Van Patten) in U.S. college drama Tell Me Lies (BBC1)

The only question raised by the U.S. college drama Tell Me Lies (BBC1) is why anyone should care about a group of whiny, self-absorbed 18-year-old girls intent on pursuing miserable romances with whiny, deceitful boys.

They all have cars and designer wardrobes, and they're too busy getting smashed on shots and champagne to do any studying.

Sulky Lucy (Grace Van Patten) falls for two-timing Stephen (Jackson White) because she's intrigued by the way he's so rude to her: 'Is that your actual laugh?' he says, and, 'You look really uncomfortable in that dress.'

We can tell all this happened long, long ago because Lucy has a Blackberry mobile instead of a smartphone  and, OMG, it doesn't even have proper emojis. That's Generation Z's definition of ancient history: life without WhatsApp.
Jo Hall turned heads on Tuesday night as she led the arrivals at the opening night of Grease The Musical in Melbourne.

The veteran Nine News presenter, 65, looked incredibly youthful in a white bridal gown, designed by Aleem Yusuf Couture,

The stunning strapless dress featured a tulle trim and cape.

She graced the red carpet in a pair of white heels while accessorising with a pair or pearl drop earrings and white clutch bag.

Her platinum blonde hair was styled back in a gorgeous ponytail to show off her evening makeup palette that consisted of a smokey eyeshadow and blush pink lip.

Jo Hall (pictured) turned heads on Tuesday night as she led the arrivals at the opening night of Grease The Musical in Melbourne

The veteran Nine News presenter, 65, looked incredibly youthful in a white, strapless Aleem Yusuf bridal gown that featured a tulle trim and cape

On Instagram, the television presenter said her look was a 'nod to the 50s'.

Meanwhile, Olivia Molly Rogers channelled her inner Sandy Olsson in a figure-hugging Grease-inspired black ensemble.

The former Miss Universe Australia, 31, wore a black, off-shoulder top and skin-tight leggings fitted with a black and gold buckled belt.

Olivia Molly Rogers (pictured) channelled her inner Sandy Olsson in a figure-hugging black ensemble

The former Miss Universe Australia, 31, wore a black, off-shoulder top and skin-tight leggings fitted with a black and gold buckled belt. Pictured with Paul Versace

The model completed her look by adding a pop of red, accessorising with bright red pumps, a small handbag and red lipstick.

Her brunette locks were also tightly curled in a similar style to Sandy's 'bad girl' makeover.

Georgia Love also attended the event alongside husband Lee Elliott.

Georgia Love also attended the event alongside husband Lee Elliott (both pictured)

The former Bachelorette wore a pink, block-patterned dress with a thin scarf

Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth arrived in a red top and skirt set paired with a polka dot neck scarf

The former Bachelorette, who married Lee in 2021, wore a pink, block-patterned dress with a thin scarf.

She paired her look with nude heels and her brunette tresses were neatly curled with a side part.

Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth arrived in a red top and skirt set paired with a polka dot neck scarf.

Drag performer Tilly Capulet (pictured) wowed in a sheer black dress and showed off her very long nails

Mummy blogger Emmylou MacCarthy (pictured) stepped out in a black dress that showcased several gold pins and a high slit up her thigh

Melbourne-based drag performer Tilly Capulet wowed in a sheer black dress and showed off her very long nails.

Mummy blogger Emmylou MacCarthy stepped out in a black dress that showcased several gold pins and a high slit up her thigh.

Former Married At First Sight bride Sarah Roza looked every inch the 50s diva in a bright yellow dress and a big black bow tied in her hair.

Bert Newton's daughter Laura Newton attended the star-studded show alongside her five children - Lola, Monty, Sam, Perla and Eva.

Former Married At First Sight bride Sarah Roza (pictured) looked every inch the 50s diva in a bright yellow dress

Laura Newton attended the star-studded show alongside her five children - Lola, Monty, Sam, Perla and Eva (all pictured)

Comedy trio Sooshi Mango (Carlo Salanitri, Andrew Manfre and Joe Salanitri) dressed very casually in jeans and plain T-shirts

Comedy trio Carlo Salanitri, Andrew Manfre and Joe Salanitri of Sooshi Mango dressed very casually in jeans and plain black and white T-shirts.

Theatre actor Annelise Hall, who plays the role of Sandy in the Grease musical, showed off her gorgeous silver strapless gown.

The blonde beauty gave a stellar performance on the opening night of the Melbourne show, where the cast was met with a five-minute standing ovation from the audience.

Annelise Hall, who plays the role of Sandy in the Grease musical, showed off her gorgeous silver strapless gown

The blonde beauty gave a stellar performance on the opening night of the Melbourne show
Married At First Sight's Mel Schilling has returned to work less than a month after revealing her shock cancer diagnosis.

The relationship expert, 50, captured her first day on the set of the upcoming season of MAFS UK on Tuesday, just two weeks following surgery and treatment for colon cancer.

Mel looked absolutely radiant in a designer one-shoulder red dress which showcased her stunning hourglass figure.

One clip showed the beauty taking her first stroll through the set and another saw her sharing celebratory drinks with fellow relationship expert Charlene Douglas.

Schilling captioned a gallery of photo and videos on Instagram with some exciting words: 'She's baaaccckkk! So great to be back in the office.'

Married At First Sight's Mel Schilling has returned to work less than a month after revealing her shock cancer diagnosis. The relationship expert, 50, captured her first day on the set of the upcoming season of MAFS UK on Tuesday, just two weeks following surgery and treatment for colon cancer

Mel revealed her shock health battle in December, and underwent surgery and treatment for colon cancer just before Christmas.

She explained her tumour - which she has named 'Terry' - was removed by UK doctors.

'So yesterday lunchtime I had keyhole surgery to remove my tumour (AKA Terry) and in the words of my amazing surgeon it couldn't have gone any better!' Mel's said at the time.

It accompanied a photo of the TV star in a hospital bed, giving a thumbs up with a tube in her nose.

Schilling added, 'Crucially the cancer hadn't spread to my abdominal cavity, which was our greatest fear but was entirely localized in my colon.'

Over the coming days I will discuss my treatment plan going forwards but suffice to say that Terry is toast!'

Mel looked absolutely radiant in a designer one-shoulder pink dress which showcased her stunning hourglass figure

Schilling then revealed her treatment had taken place in London and went on to praise the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

'I also wanted to say that everyone in the UK should be incredibly proud of the people of the NHS.'

She added, 'The NHS is a unique, precious institution we need to make sure it's here to serve our children and our children's children.'

One clip showed the beauty taking her first stroll through the set and another saw her sharing celebratory drinks with fellow relationship expert Charlene Douglas

Now, its time to focus on getting my ass out of here in time for Christmas,' concluded the reality TV host.

Mel, who appears on the British and Australian versions of the show, revealed she had colon cancer in an Instagram post on December 19.

She posted a photo of herself hugging her husband Gareth Brisbane, 51, and their daughter Madison, eight, alongside the caption: '"You have cancer." Three little words that everyone dreads but no one ever expects to hear.

'Last Thursday my consultant told me those three words.'

Schilling said she was diagnosed just one month after she began to feel pain in her stomach while filming MAFS Australia's upcoming eleventh season.

Mel revealed her shock health battle in December, and underwent surgery and treatment for colon cancer just before Christmas

'About a month ago, when I was filming in Australia, I developed severe stomach cramps on set. I put it down to all the travel I'd been doing and the upset it caused to my system,' she explained.

'I saw my GP in Sydney and he put it down to constipation, gave me some laxatives and sent me on my way.'

Despite her doctor's initial assessment, Schilling said she knew her condition was more serious and booked herself a scan when she travelled to the UK.

'On Thursday I was told I had colon cancer and in an instant my whole life changed,' she wrote.

In addition to the UK version, Mel will soon return to screens alongside fellow experts John Aiken and Alessandra Rampolla for the eleventh season of the Aussie version of the hit dating show.

Symptoms of colon cancer Symptoms of colon cancer can include: A change in bowel habits, such as more frequent diarrhea or constipation

Rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. Ongoing discomfort in the belly area, such as cramps, gas or pain

A feeling that the bowel doesn't empty all the way during a bowel movement

Weakness or tiredness

Losing weight without trying Many people with colon cancer don't have symptoms at first. When symptoms appear, they'll likely depend on the cancer's size and where it is in the large intestine. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

In addition to the UK version, Mel will soon return to screens alongside fellow experts John Aiken and Alessandra Rampolla for the eleventh season of the Aussie version of the hit dating show. All pictured
Maya Jama has said she is treating her time in South Africa as a fun girls' trip as she prepares to host the first ever series of Love Island: All Stars.

The host, 29, jetted off to South Africa over the weekend with her glam squad and will stay out there for the entire series as she won't have to return to London for Aftersun.

Maya revealed she has already planned a boozy trip to a vineyard and will be a 'lady of leisure' during the times she isn't filming the show.

'There's so much nice stuff to do in South Africa, and I've got my team that I work with all the time. They're staying with me,' Maya told The Sun.

'It's not going to be all night parties - I'm being sensible but I'm definitely not on a booze ban - not with all these lovely vineyards, I want to be able to enjoy a nice wine.'

Maya Jama has said she is treating her time in South Africa as a fun girls' trip as she prepares to host the first ever series of Love Island: All Stars

The host, 29, jetted off to South Africa over the weekend with her glam squad and will stay out there for the entire series as she won't have to return to London for Aftersun

Maya said among her plans is going to pilates and visiting markets as she joked It's basically a girls trip and a Love Island season at the same time',

The series will feature Love Island alumni across the globe continuing their quest to find their dream partner.

However the spin-off Aftersun will not air, meaning Maya can stay out in South Africa for the show's entirety rather than having to jet back to London.

She said of the shake-up: 'I'm doing interviews as soon as they leave... with this new exit interview format, I feel like you'll get the raw emotion. I'm really excited about that actually'.

Elsewhere, Maya promised she has some 'good looks' in store for when she enters the villa after wowing viewers with her previous racy ensembles.

Maya took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to give an insight into her sun-soaked work trip.

She shared a video of herself dancing and singing to music as she sunbathed by the pool on her day off, ahead of getting to work hosting Love Island All Stars.

Maya looked as incredible as ever in a yellow and pink bikini as she went make-up free while lying back on her deckchair and soaking up the rays.

She also excitedly looked ahead to the Love Island All Stars launch show on January 15.

Maya took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to give an insight into her sun-soaked work trip

She then took to her Instagram grid to share a slew of stunning snaps, wearing an ivory minidress with a ruffled sleeve from Jacquemus

On Saturday, Maya gave a glimpse into her first class flight to South Africa as she jetted off ready to present the Love Island spin-off show

Maya shared a sweet selfie of herself tucked up in her bed as she woke up from her nap during the flight

She said: 'My hair is getting lighter and lighter in the sun. I have the pool to myself, today is a day off before you ask. Love Island is starting soon though! Topping up my tan!'

She then took to her Instagram grid to share a slew of stunning snaps, wearing an ivory minidress with a ruffled sleeve.

The lowcut dress showed a glimpse at her ample cleavage, while her toned legs were on full display as she posed in front of a beautiful mountain background.

Captioning the shots, Maya teased Love Island's return, writing: 'calm before the .. dun dadadada'.

On Saturday, Maya gave a glimpse into her first class flight to South Africa as she jetted off ready to present the Love Island spin-off show.

Taking to Instagram, she relished the free cocktails in Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Lounge while waiting to board her long-haul flight.

Maya then shared a sweet selfie of herself tucked up in her bed as she woke up from her nap during the flight.
Chloe Brockett has reportedly being lined-up for Celebrity Big Brother ahead of the show's return to screens in March.

Controversial TOWIE star Chloe, 23, who is currently suspended from the ITVBe show, could join a host of stars in the Big Brother house including Shirley Ballas, Rebekah Vardy and Louis Walsh.

A source told The Sun: 'Chloe Brockett is in talks to appear on the show - nothing is signed yet but shes really excited and cant stop telling people.

'She grew up watching the show and her return to TOWIE is still uncertain so it would be a good show to do while shes waiting to see if shell go back to it.

'ITV already know Chloe is great TV.'

Chloe Brockett has reportedly being lined up for Celebrity Big Brother ahead of the show's return to screens in March

Controversial TOWIE star Chloe, 23 (pictured), who is suspended from the show, could join a host of stars on Big Brother including Shirley Ballas, Rebekah Vardy and Louis Walsh

A Big Brother spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Any names for Celebrity Big Brother are purely speculation.'

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Chloe for comment.

Chloe was suspended from TOWIE last year after she allegedly threw three tumbler glasses at her co-star Roman Hackett during a heated argument while filming in Essex.

While the cast list still hasn't been confirmed, the reality show is returning for two separate editions in 2024, including a trip to Bali.

A source told The Sun: 'Chloe Brockett still doesn't know if she's returning to the show after her suspension.

'The cast haven't even been told who is going to Bali and who isn't.

'It's all hanging in the balance - Chloe makes great TV though so behind the scenes, everyone thinks she'll go back.'

At the time, the cast of the ITV series were said to have been 'appalled' by Chloe's behaviour and called for her to be axed from the show permanently.

Chloe was suspended from TOWIE last year after she allegedly threw three tumbler glasses at Roman Hackett during a heated argument while filming in Essex

At the time, the cast of the ITV series were said to have been 'appalled' by Chloe's behaviour and called for her to be axed from the show permanently (Roman Hackett pictured in August last year)

A TOWIE spokesperson confirmed to MailOnline at the time: 'Chloe Brockett will not be returning to filming for the remainder of the series.'

'Most of the cast are absolutely appalled by Chloe's behaviour and do not believe she should be allowed to come back,' a source told The Sun.

'They are grouping together and discussing how they will not shoot scenes with her in the future and want her to be axed from the show for good.'

The source added: 'They believe it's a bad look for the show to allow someone back into the cast with a history of violence and, to be frank, the majority of them wouldn't feel safe filming with her in the future. If she can do this twice, they believe she is capable of it again.'

Chloe was said to have apologised to Roman after the incident.

It wasn't the first time Chloe had lost her temper after she threw an ice bucket at co-star Ella Rae Wise in April 2022.

Chloe launched a Grey Goose cooler at Ella during an argument, however she missed and instead hit Rem Larue's cousin in the face, leaving her bleeding.

The injured woman then had to be held back by other partygoers as she seethed with anger and attempted to reach the reality star.

Chloe also allegedly threw an ice bucket at her TOWIE co-star Ella Rae Wise during a row while on a night out in April 2022. Chloe was pinned down on the floor by security, her white boots visible in the crowd (pictured)

After flying off the handle Chloe was pinned to the ground by security to diffuse the situation.

ITV bosses have reportedly secured a sensational line-up of stars for the exciting reboot of Celebrity Big Brother.

A massive 2million is said to have been earmarked for a number of high-profile names for the show after the civilian version proved to be a huge hit in October and November last year.

Celebrities who are said to be in talks to take part are Rebekah Vardy and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, as well as former X Factor judge Louis Walsh.

A TV insider told The Sun: 'The team behind the programme are being clever about the kind of celebs they're considering. They don't just want big names in there  they want stars who will bring something truly intriguing.

'Louis is just the kind of figure they want in the house  someone with serious life experience who not only has something to say, but isn't afraid to say it.

ITV bosses have reportedly secured a sensational line-up of stars for the exciting reboot of Celebrity Big Brother, including Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (pictured)

'These characters have delivered some of the most outstanding moments of Celebrity Big Brother in the past and they'll want to produce those again.

'That means they may need to splash some cash to secure the people they have their eye on  but it's a worthwhile investment.

'They want this to be on a par with I'm A Celebrity, which has a similarly claustrophobic environment involving celebrities completing strange challenges under the glare of the public eye.'

Representatives for Louis Walsh and Sarah Ferguson denied claims that they will feature in the line-up.

A spokesman for Sarah, Duchess of York said: 'This story is complete nonsense. The Duchess will not be appearing on this show. As is widely known, she does not consider reality TV formats.'

It was confirmed in November that Celebrity Big Brother would be returning in March 2024 following the success of the ITV2 reboot of Big Brother which launched in October.

Celebrity Big Brother will see a new cast of famous faces isolated from the outside world as they embark on the ultimate social experiment, taking up residence in the iconic Big Brother house

Leaving luxury behind, the celebrities will take part in weekly nominations and tough tasks with cameras capturing their every move.

Celebrities in talks to take part are said to be WAG Rebekah Vardy (pictured) and former X Factor judge Louis Walsh

Like its sister show, Celebrity Big Brother will be followed each night by Celebrity Big Brother: Late & Live - giving viewers an additional hour of exclusive content.

Late & Live will once again be the only place to watch the famous evictees first live interview alongside an array of unmissable exclusive features including access to the camera runs, special guest commentary and debate.

The Celebrity Big Brother: Live Stream will also return to screens, airing seven nights a week on ITVX and STV Player.

This will give fans the opportunity to watch live footage into the small hours after Celebrity Big Brother: Late & Live.
Teyana Taylor has put estranged husband Iman Shumpert's parenting on blast in new legal documents.

Taylor, who filed for divorce from Shumpert last year, leveled a series of allegations against her ex in documents obtained by TMZ, including claims he has been under the influence while looking after their two children - daughters Iman 'Junie' Tayla, seven, and Rue Rose, three.

The actress, 33, has alleged her ex did not adequately care of their two children.

Taylor accused Shumpert, 33, of smoking marijuana around their daughters and at times being under the influence while watching after them.

She also claimed Shumpert failed to give their daughters food 'despite being in the family home', writes TMZ.

Teyana Taylor has blasted estranged husband Iman Shumpert for his alleged poor parenting in new legal documents

She cited one example where her ex allegedly put their children in a rideshare to the United Center, an arena in Chicago.

She claims their children were taken to the venue by the rideshare and dropped off alone.

Meanwhile, Shumpert allegedly was taken to the venue by a private driver.

The actress adds Iman 'consistently demonstrates a clear disregard for the safety of the minor children.'

After seven years of marriage, Teyana quietly filed for divorce documents in January 2023, TMZ reported. She announced their separation in September before confirming the filing with a statement in November.

The statement, in full, reads: 'I mind my business, don't bother nobody & y'all know I've never played about my children, family & our privacy. I have not spoken on this private matter to any media outlets or blogs etc.

'So everyone claiming 'Teyana said' didn't get any statements directly from ME. These statements were taken from private court documents that were leaked to the public. It is very heartbreaking that someone would take out the time to make such a private matter public for the world to see.

'However, protecting my family is one thing I've ALWAYS done & for my children I will continue to do so. Please if y'all love y'all play nieces Junie & Rue like y'all have shown, please allow my self & my family some privacy to resolve this matter in peace, Love y'all.'

Teyana and Shumpert share daughters Iman 'Junie' Tayla, seven, and Rue Rose, three; pictured last week

After seven years of marriage, Iman quietly filed for divorce documents in January 2023

The Harlem, New York native announced her separation from Shumpert this past September.

In the legal docs, the White Men Can't Jump actress said that the relationship was doomed by Shumpert's insecurity about their respective levels of fame and whether he was 'good enough for her.'

Taylor in court docs accused Shumpert of 'treating her cruelly and displaying extreme narcissistic behavior throughout the majority of their marriage.'

She said Shumpert 'became more and more angry' with her fame, and would grill her about it and provoke arguments via text messages, later saying he was sorry, in a toxic and repeating cycle.

Taylor said that by 2022, the relationship had deteriorated to the point that she filed for divorce, then asked her lawyers to withdraw her filing the next day. She told the court she was 'unable to handle the emotional rollercoaster' by the time 2023 rolled around and decided to move forward with the divorce.

Teyana pictured outside of Good Morning America on Monday

In confirming their separation in September after seven years of marriage, Taylor said that infidelity was not the cause of the break-up, but took a different tack in her divorce court papers, saying that Shumpert had cheated on her.

Iman's lawyer, Stephen C. Steele told TMZ: 'Mr. Shumpert hopes parties and counsel can work toward a fair resolution, keeping the best interests of the children of paramount concern.'

In April, Taylor denied rumors that circulated on TikTok that she had a drug overdose after learning Shumpert had been unfaithful to her.

Taylor and Shumpert initially met in 2011 at a party before getting involved romantically in 2014. They got engaged in 2015 - the same year they welcomed daughter Junie - and exchanged vows in late 2016.
Tina Fey has been attached to an upcoming Netflix comedy series based on the 1981 comedy feature The Four Seasons.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 53-year-old comedian, who is set to star in the program will also be credited as the project's co-creator and as one of its executive producers.

The actress, who recently reunited with Lindsay Lohan, will also collaborate with writers Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, with whom she worked on the hit NBC sitcom 30 Rock.

The upcoming series will see Fey returning to a leading role in a comedy series, which she has not held since 2013, when 30 Rock ended.

According to the media outlet, the project was the subject of a bidding war that took place this past fall, which Netflix eventually won.

Tina Fey has been attached to an upcoming Netflix series based on the 1981 comedy feature The Four Seasons; seen in 2023

The Four Seasons is centered on three pairs of couples whose annual tradition of taking quarterly vacations is disrupted when one pair breaks up.

The group's relationships are further changed when the man involved in the split begins seeing a very young woman and brings her along on the trips.

The movie was written and directed by Alan Alda, who also starred in the feature.

The 87-year-old M*A*S*H star, as well as Marissa Bregman, whose father Martin Bregman produced The Four Seasons, are also set to serve as producers on the new project.

The cast of The Four Seasons was rounded out by performers such as Carol Burnett, Jack Weston and Rita Moreno.

The Four Seasons also served as the basis for a short-lived series that ran for a single season on CBS, which premiered in 1984.

Eight episodes of the project have been ordered by Netflix, and filming is scheduled to take place later this year.

The Four Seasons' prospective release date has not been publicly revealed as of yet.

The Four Seasons is centered on three pairs of couples whose annual tradition of taking quarterly vacations is disrupted when one pair breaks up

The upcoming series will see Fey returning to a leading role in a comedy series, which she has not held since 2013, when 30 Rock ended; seen in 2023

The 87-year-old M*A*S*H star, as well as Marissa Bregman, whose father Martin Bregman produced The Four Seasons, are also set to serve as producers on the new project

Eight episodes of the project have been ordered by Netflix, and filming is scheduled to take place later this year; Fey is seen earlier this month

Fey is also preparing for the premiere of Girls5Eva's third season, which will be released on Netflix.

The first season of the program made its debut on Peacock in 2021, and it was renewed for a second, which premiered the following year.

It was announced that the show would be making a move to Netflix in October of 2022.

Girls5Eva's third season is set to be released on the streaming giant on March 14.
Bindi Irwin's husband Chandler Powell is following in the footsteps of his wife's late father Steve as he continues to work at the famous family's Australia Zoo.

On Tuesday, the former wakeboarder shared a video of himself feeding a hungry crocodile.

The reptile snapped away as Chandler approached with a small fish in his hand.

The crocodile then rose from the water and tried snatch the snack from Chandler's hand, who quickly tossed the meal to the beast.

Fortunately, the crocodile caught the fish with its mouth and left Chandler alone as it focused on finishing its meal.

Bindi Irwin's husband Chandler Powell shared a video of himself feeding a hungry crocodile on Tuesday

Powell is following in the footsteps of his wife's late father Steve as he continues to work at the famous family's Australia Zoo

'Snack time with Daisy,' Chandler wrote next to the clip.

In the clip, Chandler was the spitting image of his late father-in-law Steve 'The Crocodile Hunter' Irwin.

Many of Chandler's followers quickly took to the comments section to marvel over the clip.

'Daisy is one hungry croc,' one wrote, as a second person added: 'Aww, she's adorable'.

Chandler first met his wife Bindi in 2013, when the American former wakeboarder went on a guided tour of Australia Zoo in Queensland.

Following their chance meeting, Chandler wrote to Terri to ask her permission to contact Bindi before they embarked on a long-distance relationship.

He eventually relocated to Australia from his home in Florida, and now works at the family's zoo on the Gold Coast.

The reptile snapped away as Chandler approached with a small fish in his hand

The couple married on March 25, 2020 and welcomed their daughter Grace Warrior on their first wedding anniversary.

Bindi and Chandler, and her brother Robert and mother Terri Irwin, are proudly carrying on her late father Steve Irwin's legacy as a Wildlife Warrior and conservationist with their work at Australia Zoo.

Steve, who was known around the world as 'the Crocodile Hunter', was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb in September 2006, when Bindi was eight years old.

Steve, who was known around the world as 'the Crocodile Hunter', was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb in September 2006, when Bindi was eight years old
Catherine Tyldesley put on a chic display as she attended the press night for The King And I in Manchester on Tuesday.

Arriving at The Lowry Theatre, the actress, 40, wore an elegant cream, wool coat that tied around her waist.

She teamed it with a pair of relaxed, suede boots and accessorised with a nude Chanel handbag.

To complete her neutral look, Catherine styled her hair into glamorous curls and opted for a soft makeup palette.

She was joined by Coronation Street star Cait Fitton for the event, who looked stylish in a cropped leather biker jacket.

Catherine Tyldesley, 40, put on a chic display as she attended the press night for The King And I in Manchester on Tuesday

Arriving at The Lowry Theatre, the actress wore an elegant cream, wool coat that tie around her waist

The musical, which stars Helen George in the leading role, has returned to the stage following it's record-breaking season at The London Palladium and sell-out UK Tour.

Helen will reprise her role as Anna when the production returns for a limited six week run at London Palladium from January 20.

After receiving rave reviews for her performance, Helen said that she is 'delighted' to be able to continue in the show and playing on the West End will be 'an honour.'

Set in 1860s Bangkok, The King and I tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher.

Helen plays the British schoolteacher who is hired by the King of Siam to educate his many wives and children.

The King And I is one of the best-loved musicals of all time, crammed with huge show tunes including Shall We Dance? and Getting To Know You.

The Daily Mail gave the production a glowing review saying: 'We left the London Palladium on a bright cloud of music - joyous!'

One of Helen's friends who will no doubt be keen for a ticket is her Call The Midwife co-star Olly Rix after they sparked rumours of a growing connection following their recent breakups.

She was joined by Coronation Street star Cait Fitton for the event, who looked stylish in a cropped leather biker jacket

The musical, which stars Helen George in the leading role, has returned to the stage following it's record-breaking season at The London Palladium and sell-out UK Tour

Helen and Olly are said to be supporting each other as they navigate through their heartbreak.

The actors are known for their roles as on-screen married couple Trixie Franklin and Matthew Aylward in BBC drama, Call The Midwife.

Olly recently split from his makeup artist girlfriend Natasha after seven years together in July after allegedly drifting apart due to work commitments.

Meanwhile, Helen split from her partner Jack Ashton the same month, after they first met on the set of Call The Midwife seven years prior.
Sophie Monk freaked out her fans on Tuesday when she revealed the very surprising way she eats a cucumber.

The TV presenter, 44, shared a cheeky video to Instagram capturing some of the New Year's Resolutions she hoped to achieve in 2024, including healthier eating.

The hilarious clip captured some of the healthy living goals Sophie unsuccessfully tried to achieve during the first week of the year.

In the clip, Monk was seen holding a huge cucumber and then biting straight into it, instead of chopping it into slices.

Sophie's husband Joshua Gross was heard in the background telling her, 'You can't eat it like that' to which she responded: 'What do you mean? I am.'

Sophie Monk freaked out her fans on Tuesday when she revealed the very surprising way she eats a cucumber

She then joked her healthy living goals would now have to wait until 'next year'.

Many of Sophie's followers found her food faux pas hilarious and quickly took to the comments section.

'We are totally eating cucumbers like this from now on,' one wrote, as a second person added: 'Haha the cucumber. Not showing that one to hubby.'

In the clip, Monk was seen holding a huge cucumber and then biting straight into it, instead of chopping it into slices

In October, Sophie revealed why she turned her back on Hollywood when she was on the verge of breaking through to a big screen career.

The former Bardot band member says that Tinseltown's casting couch culture was partly to blame.

'You would be doing meetings and you'd be like, "Is this a date or a reading?"' she told Stellar Magazine.

Sophie's husband Joshua Gross was heard in the background telling her, 'You can't eat it like that' to which she responded: 'What do you mean? I am'

'And then you'd have someone who has a crush on you, and they won't put you in a movie because they want to keep you where you are so they can date you.'

After giving up on Hollywood and moving back to Australia in 2015, Sophie has had a successful career as a TV host, presenting Beauty and the Geek and Love Island for Channel Nine.

Before returning home, Sophie notched up some impressive credits, starring in Date Movie in 2006 alongside Alyson Hannigan and Jennifer Coolidge.

She also appeared in the Adam Sandler comedy Click and the TV series Entourage and is set to star alongside American rapper Vanilla Ice later this year, in the tongue-in-cheek horror movie Zombie Plane.
Kyle Richards demonstrated how to 'scissor' on her castmate Dorit Kemsley in a sneak peek of this Wednesday's episode - titled 'A Celebration of Life' - of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

'When I was in Cabo with my friends, a question came up about scissoring,' the 54-year-old mother-of-four said during an outdoor lunch in Ojai.

When Kyle's castmates acted confused about the female-to-female sexual act, she said: 'Here Dorit, should we show them?'

'Yeah!' the 47-year-old mother-of-two exclaimed, gamely raising her leg.

Kyle Richards (L) demonstrated how to 'scissor' on her castmate Dorit Kemsley (R) in a sneak peek of this Wednesday's episode - titled 'A Celebration of Life' - of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

While entwining her legs with Dorit's so their crotches were touching, Richards explained: 'It's like this. They said it was like this'

'It's like this,' Richards explained while entwining her legs with Dorit's so their crotches were touching.

'They said it was like this.'

The demonstration came moments after the Hollywood-born socialite randomly asked everyone, 'Would you ever date a woman?' before timidly confirming that she would: 'Yeah, maybe.'

Garcelle Beauvais is taken aback at the sapphic display considering 'Kyle a few years ago was like shocked that we would have threesomes or talk about making out with women.'

In a 2020 flashback, the Haitian-American 57-year-old confessed 'I had a threesome a long time ago.'

Kyle meekly replied: 'I've never done the girl thing.'

'And now she's open to a relationship with a woman,' Garcelle scoffed in a confessional.

'I don't know much, but I think there's a country song somewhere in there.'

During an outdoor lunch in Ojai, the 54-year-old mother-of-four said: 'When I was in Cabo with my friends, a question came up about scissoring'

When Kyle's castmates acted confused about the female-to-female sexual act, she said: 'Here Dorit, should we show them?'

'Yeah!' the 47-year-old mother-of-two (R) exclaimed, gamely raising her leg

The demonstration came moments after the Hollywood-born socialite asked everyone, 'Would you ever date a woman?' before timidly confirming that she would: 'Yeah, maybe'

Garcelle Beauvais (L) is taken aback at the sapphic display considering 'Kyle a few years ago was like shocked that we would have threesomes or talk about making out with women'

In a 2020 flashback, the Haitian-American 57-year-old (R) confessed 'I had a threesome a long time ago'

Kyle meekly replied: 'I've never done the girl thing'

Garcelle scoffed in a confessional: 'And now she's open to a relationship with a woman. I don't know much, but I think there's a country song somewhere in there'

Beauvais was not so subtlely referring to Richards' country-crooning 'best friend' Morgan Wade (R) - who cast her in a fantastical music video for Fall in Love with Me last August where they kissed, fed each other, and took a bubble bath

Despite wearing matching rings and heart ink, the Bravo-lebrity has repeatedly denied ever having a lesbian affair with the heavily-tattooed 29-year-old, whom she was last spotted with in LA on Sunday

Eyebrows raised at the inseparable gal pals considering Kyle legally separated from her second husband Mauricio Umansky in October after 27 years of marriage (pictured April 18)

Richards has four daughters - Alexia Umansky, 26; Sophia Umansky, nearly 24; Portia Umansky, 15; and Farrah Aldjufrie, 34 - from her marriages to the Mexican 53-year-old (R, pictured in 2023) and first husband Guraish Aldjufrie

The How I Met Your Father guest star - who's celebrating her 55th birthday this Thursday in Mexico - will soon begin filming her role as the 'lively and involved mother Lola' in Jake Helgren's LGBTQ holiday romance The Holiday Exchange

Beauvais was not so subtlety referring to Richards' country-crooning 'best friend' Morgan Wade - who cast her in a fantastical music video for Fall in Love with Me last August where they kissed, fed each other, and took a bubble bath.

Despite wearing matching rings and heart ink, the Bravo-lebrity has repeatedly denied ever having a lesbian affair with the heavily-tattooed 29-year-old, whom she was last spotted with in LA on Sunday.

Eyebrows raised at the inseparable gal pals considering Kyle legally separated from her second husband Mauricio Umansky in October after 27 years of marriage.

Richards has four daughters - Alexia Umansky, 26; Sophia Umansky, nearly 24; Portia Umansky, 15; and Farrah Aldjufrie, 34 - from her marriages to the Mexican 53-year-old and first husband Guraish Aldjufrie.

The How I Met Your Father guest star - who's celebrating her 55th birthday this Thursday in Mexico - will soon begin filming her role as the 'lively and involved mother Lola' in Jake Helgren's LGBTQ holiday romance The Holiday Exchange.
MARCH 2020

Kate revealed she and Prince Charles had got 'relatively close' at the Prince's Trust Awards on March 11 - Charles was diagnosed with coronavirus in mid-March.

She said: 'Around the 29/30 March, I came home came in and said [to Derek] 'god you look ill.'

'He said he had a headache, numbness in his right hand, and was struggling to breathe,

'I rang Dr Hilary (Jones) and tried to get through, he talked to Derek. He said put me back on, I think you need to call an ambulance'

Derek, 52, was taken into hospital on March 30 and remained in an unresponsive condition.

APRIL

Kate and her children isolated at home after she displayed 'mild symptoms'.

Kate said: 'Derek remains in intensive care and is still very ill. I'm afraid it remains an excruciatingly worrying time.

'I'm afraid he is still in a deeply critical condition, but he is still here, which means there is hope.'

MAY

Kate said: 'The journey for me and my family seems to be far from over as every day my heart sinks as I learn new and devastating ways this virus has more battles for Derek to fight.

'But he is still HERE & so there is still hope.'

That month, Kate and her family took part in the final clap for carers

She said: 'I'll never give up on that because Derek's the love of my life but at the same time I have absolute uncertainty'

JUNE

On June 5, Kate revealed Derek is now free from coronavirus but continues to fight against the damage inflicted on his body

JULY

On July 5, Kate revealed Derek has woken from his coma but he remains in a serious yet critical condition.

On July 8, she announced she would be returning to GMB, after being urged by doctors to 'get on with life' during Derek's recovery.

She added that Derek had 'opened his eyes' after waking from his coma, but has been told his recovery could take years.

On July 13, Kate returned to GMB for the first time since Derek was hospitalised.

On July 28, Kate revealed she'd paid an 'extra emotional' first visit to Derek, and admitted she's 'frustrated' by his slow progress.

AUGUST

On August 14, Kate reassured GMB viewers that Derek was 'still with us,' but it was 'a waiting game.'

On August 19, Kate revealed she celebrated Derek's birthday with their two children, and described the day as 'challenging' for her family.

SEPTEMBER

At the end of September, Derek reportedly becomes the longest surviving patient with coronavirus after spending 184 days in and out of intensive care.

Kate reveals Derek has lost eight stone during his battle.

The presenter announces she is returning to her Smooth Radio show so Derek can hear her voice.

OCTOBER

On October 30 Kate reveals that Derek has spoken for the first time in seven months, saying the word 'pain' to his wife, who watched on 'in tears' over FaceTime.

Kate says a day later that her husband no longer needs a ventilator to breathe.

NOVEMBER

Kate reveals her family car has been stolen in latest 'body blow' to her family life, as kind-hearted fans offer their cars to help.

She says she feels 'physically sick' at the prospect of facing her first Christmas without Derek.

DECEMBER

The GMB star tells viewers it is her dream to visit Derek on Christmas Day.

She also reveals she missed two weeks on GMB after her children were exposed to the virus, but thankfully she and the kids tested negative.

On December 17, Kate has an emotional conversation live on GMB with two nurses who treated Derek when he was first admitted to Whittington Hospital in North London.

On New Year's Eve she reflects on a 'calamitous' Christmas without Derek, as her house was flooded and she struggled to get a food delivery slot until her pal Emma Willis stepped in to help.

JANUARY 2021

Kate reveals she and her children got to visit Derek in hospital over the Christmas period, and it was the first time her family had seen him since he was hospitalised.

She also says she's banned from seeing him due to new restrictions introduced during the government's third lockdown.

FEBRUARY

Kate reveals she is unsure how much Derek will 'ever be able to recover' following warning from doctors that he may never wake from his coma

MARCH

Kate revealed that was in the process of adapting her home to suit Derek's needs when he is finally released from hospital, in the ITV documentary Finding Derek.

The programmed was praised by viewers for offering a heartbreaking look at the long-term effects of coronavirus.

Kate also revealed that Derek has 'no muscle left' since battling Covid

APRIL

Kate revealed that Derek was finally allowed to leave hospital, but would require round-the-clock care once he was returned home.

MAY

Kate revealed that despite now being home with his family, his communication abilities were 'minimal' and he 'couldn't really move'

DECEMBER

During an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Kate revealed that Derek had said 'I love you' for the first time.

After celebrating Christmas, Derek was also pictured in a wheelchair during a trip to the pantomime with his family

JANUARY 2022

Kate revealed that Derek was 'very fatigued' and 'very weak' following the family outing, adding: 'I don't know what this year is going to bring.'

FEBRUARY

Kate offered a glimpse into the daily struggles of looking after her husband amid his battle with long Covid in the documentary Caring For Derek

She also revealed that Derek would die within three days if he was left alone to care for himself.

JULY

On July 6, Kate revealed that Derek had been re-admitted to hospital after suffering a 'downturn,' and in a later interview said she takes things 'day by day.'

On July 20, it was reported that Kate had pulled out of hosting Good Morning Britain to be at Derek's bedside after he took a 'very serious' turn for the worse.

Recalling the day, the presenter told The Sun: 'At one point Derek said to me, "This is it, this time. I am gone." It was just terrifying.

'His sepsis was gut-wrenching for all of us because it had gone undiagnosed until the point where it was about to take his life away again.'

JANUARY 2023

Kate became overwhelmed as she confronted former health secretary Matt Hancock over his handling of the pandemic and his decision to go on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.

She then became tearful and looked up as she spoke about Derek, who has been unwell for approaching three years.

Describing public anger towards him, Kate added of his decision: 'This gives the impression you still don't get why they are cross. You still don't get why people are upset. They want to hold you to more account.'

APRIL

Kate revealed that Derek was once again receiving care in hospital, as she shared the emotional moment Sir Elton John dedicated a song to the 'inspiring' couple.

She shared the emotional moment Sir Elton John dedicated a song to the 'inspiring' couple, writing on Instagram: 'Yes Derek has been back in hospital this week & yes there's such a long road ahead but #eltonjohn & @davidfurnish you gave the kids & Derek a moment that we will never forget and has lifted their spirits again to feel anything is possible.'

It was also reported that Kate was planning a trip across the world for pioneering treatment in a 'final hope' to help her husband.

MAY

Kate reportedly faced a huge 716,000 tax bill after she was forced to close her husband's business two years after he became stricken with Covid-19.

The final total will be settled within the coming weeks, with friends insisting she will pay whatever is owed.

A friend told The Sun: 'The figures are terrifying and Kate is of course worried about all the financial pressures, but she has to trust the process.

'When it comes to an end, she is determined to pay back anything that's owed.

'It's no secret that Kate has been battling to keep her husband alive and working through some heartbreaking situations in her personal life in recent years.

'Sadly as well as the emotional stress of Derek's terrible illnesses the financial burden has also been crippling.'

DECEMBER

Derek was left fighting for his life after suffering a heart attack.

Kate held a 24/7 vigil by his bedside and cancelled all work commitments while the family 'prayed for a miracle'.

A source said: 'It was sudden and a shock as he had been doing so well and was in great spirits, looking forward to Christmas at home with the family.

'This setback has been a huge blow for his family and all the people caring for him. Kate is by his side 24 hours a day and is willing him on to win this latest battle for his life.

'Derek has fought so many times, and always, against all odds, come out the other side.'

JANUARY 2024

Kate announced on January 5 that Derek had passed away.

She said: 'Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed.

'I have so much more to say, and of course I will do so in due course, but for now I just want to thank all the medical teams who fought so hard to save him and to make his final moments as comfortable and dignified as possible'.

MailOnline understands he passed away on January 3 in a North London hospital.

He is survived by wife Kate and their children Darcey, 17, and son William, 14.
Garcelle Beauvais visited The Jennifer Hudson Show on Tuesday and opened up about being a castmate on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The 57-year-old longtime actress called the reality television gig the 'hardest job [she's] ever done.'

Since joining the Bravo TV series in 2020 for season 13, she admitted it's been a challenging adjustment.

'As an actor, you can hide behind a character,' she explained to 42-year-old Hudson. 'But being on a reality show its all you.

'Its you, its your family, its your house. So sometimes, you know...somebody can dig something up or say something that gets under your skin and it hurts.'

The 57-year-old longtime actress called the reality television gig the 'hardest job [she's] ever done'

And as for dating while starring on a hit program, she said: 'Thats tricky because not everybody wants to be on a reality show.

She added, 'But I have a full life. When the man comes he comes.'

Despite the hurdles that come along with her life being broadcast on national television, Garcelle still thinks the job is 'fun.'

'The best part is we have a lot of fun,' she noted.

'When were not being catty and shading each other, its really fun,' she insisted. 'And the ridiculousness of how we dress, where we go...I mean, ball gowns to lunch if you want to. So its fun.'

The Haitian-American beauty, who starred on The Jamie Foxx Show in the late 90s, looked smart in a powder blue pantsuit for her appearance on the talk show.

She elevated the look with a glinting stone-covered choker worn around her neck.

And the mother-of-three's red hair was sleek  styled in a center part and ironed straight.

Since joining the Bravo TV series in 2020 for season 13, she admitted it's been a challenging adjustment; pictured at the 2024 Astra TV Awards on Monday

Garcelle has been on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills since season 13 in 2020

Beauvais has had a heated confrontation with co-star Dorit Kemsley in the latest episodes of the show

It comes after Beauvais had an intense discussion about racism during last week's episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The drama began in the prior episode when co-star Dorit Kemsley said she felt 'attacked' by Garcelle while defending herself about 'embarrassing' their fellow castmate Sutton Stracke over kissing her driver.

'Dorit lives in a bit of a bubble, just triggers me,' Garcelle said in a confessional at the time.

'We live in a world now where we're woke, whatever you want to say, and I feel like she's not in that world.'
Maya Jama has said she will host Love Island for as long as it remains on screens - calling it her favourite job ever.

The TV presenter, 29, became the face of the ITV2 dating show when former host Laura Whitmore left in 2022 after three series.

With the show set to air its first ever All Stars season this month, Maya is already looking ahead at what's to come.

Speaking to The Sun, she said: 'I'll stay for as long as it's going. It's been fun actually. It's been my favourite job ever.'

As well as being host, Maya also turned casting agent this year as she helped producers choose the line-up.

Maya Jama has said she will host Love Island for as long as it remains on screens - calling it her favourite job ever

Maya said: 'I'll stay for as long as it's going. It's been fun actually. It's been my favourite job ever'

Maya became the face of the ITV2 dating show when former host Laura Whitmore left in 2022 after three series

She recommended they ask Hannah Elizabeth from season one to return for another shot at love, a decision which has paid off as she agreed to take part again.

The series will feature Love Island alumni continuing their quest to find their dream partner.

However the spin-off Aftersun will not air, meaning Maya can stay out in South Africa for the show's entirety rather than having to jet back to London.

She said of the shake-up: 'I'm doing interviews as soon as they leave... with this new exit interview format, I feel like you'll get the raw emotion. I'm really excited about that actually'.

Elsewhere, Maya promised she has some 'good looks' in store for when she enters the villa after wowing viewers with her previous racy ensembles.

Maya took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to give an insight into her sun-soaked work trip.

She shared a video of herself dancing and singing to music as she sunbathed by the pool on her day off, ahead of getting to work hosting Love Island All Stars.

Maya looked as incredible as ever in a yellow and pink bikini as she went make-up free while lying back on her deckchair and soaking up the rays.

Maya took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to give an insight into her sun-soaked work trip

She then took to her Instagram grid to share a slew of stunning snaps, wearing an ivory minidress with a ruffled sleeve from Jacquemus

On Saturday, Maya gave a glimpse into her first class flight to South Africa as she jetted off ready to present the Love Island spin-off show

She also excitedly looked ahead to the Love Island All Stars launch show on January 15.

She said: 'My hair is getting lighter and lighter in the sun. I have the pool to myself, today is a day off before you ask. Love Island is starting soon though! Topping up my tan!'

She then took to her Instagram grid to share a slew of stunning snaps, wearing an ivory minidress with a ruffled sleeve.

The lowcut dress showed a glimpse at her ample cleavage, while her toned legs were on full display as she posed in front of a beautiful mountain background.

Captioning the shots, Maya teased Love Island's return, writing: 'calm before the .. dun dadadada'.

On Saturday, Maya gave a glimpse into her first class flight to South Africa as she jetted off ready to present the Love Island spin-off show.

Taking to Instagram, she relished the free cocktails in Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Lounge while waiting to board her long-haul flight.

Maya then shared a sweet selfie of herself tucked up in her bed as she woke up from her nap during the flight.
Luba Mushtuk cut a stylish figure in a black faux-fur coat as she attended The Unfriend press night at Wyndham's Theatre in London on Tuesday night.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional looked incredible in the number which she teamed with a pair of skinny black trousers.

She wrapped up warm in a brown designer scarf and carried a pair of black gloves in her hand.

The blonde beauty elevated her frame in a pair of towering black heels and toted her belongings around in a Louis Vuitton handbag.

Also at the event was Hugh Bonneville who cut a dapper figure in a three-piece grey suit as he posed on the red carpet.

Luba Mushtuk cut a stylish figure in a black faux-fur coat as she attended The Unfriend press night at Wyndham's Theatre in London on Tuesday night

The Downton Abbey actor, 60, seemed in high spirits as he completed his outfit with a pair of comfy suede trousers.

Meanwhile former EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite looked stunning in a chic grey coat which boasted a white fur collar.

The soap star rocked a pair of black knee high boots and carried her belongings in a matching crossbody handbag.

Comedian Lee Mack commanded attention as he dressed smart in a blue blazer and matching trousers.

Elsewhere actress Sarah Alexander turned heads in a sequinned black maxi skirt which she teamed with a chic matching velvet T-shirt.

It comes after Luba was congratulated by her Strictly Come Dancing pals after she announced her British citizenship last year.

The professional dancer, originally from Russia, called the moment 'special' as she posted two stunning pictures on Instagram of her posing with the official documents.

Luba, who joined the glitzy BBC One competition in 2018, captioned the post: 'She is a British Citizen. Special' with a Union Jack flag and heart emojis.

Fellow Strictly pals flooded her post as Judge Shirley Ballas wrote: 'Huge congratulations'.

Zara McDermott, contestant on this year's series, left a row of love heart emojis while pro dancer Carlos Gu penned: 'congratulations'.

Gorka Marquez, Karen Hauer and Helen Skelton also left the twinkle-toed star comments of support and congratulations.

Also at the event was Hugh Bonneville who cut a dapper figure in a three-piece grey suit as he posed on the red carpet

Meanwhile former EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite looked stunning in a chic grey coat which boasted a white fur collar

Comedian Lee Mack commanded attention as he dressed smart in a blue blazer and matching trousers
The main cast of May December reunited at SiriusXM's Town Hall in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Natalie Portman, 42, was joined by Julianne Moore, 63, and Charles Melton, 33, for the occasion, with the trio happily posing together.

The Black Swan star  who recently revealed that she doesn't practice method acting  looked chic in a cropped plaid sleeveless top, black pants and matching black flats.

Meanwhile Julianne wore an elegant cream sweater with a long red and white plaid skirt and white heels.

Melton sported a casual cool look, wearing a black t-shirt, jacket and wide-leg grey pants.

Natalie Portman reunited with her May December co-stars Charles Melton and Julianne Moore at SiriusXM's Town Hall in Los Angeles on Tuesday

The trio were later pictured onstage as they discussed their latest project.

May December is inspired by a woman named Mary Kay Letourneau, who was arrested in 1997 after pleading guilty to two counts of rape.

The film sees Natalie playing the role of actress Elizabeth Berry, who researches sex offender-turned-baker Gracie Atherton-Yoo, played by Julianne, in order to more authentically play her in an indie film.

The woman is infamous for her 23-year-old relationship with her husband Joe, played by Charles, whom she first met as a minor.

Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, the married couple buckles under pressure when the actress arrives to do research.

Julianne's character is a thinly-veiled version of Letourneau, who served six years in prison for felony second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau.

The controversial couple reunited after she was released and they welcomed two daughters and eventually married.

They were married for 14 years before they separated in 2019 and Mary then passed away, at the age of 58, from colorectal cancer the following year.

Julianne, 63, wore an elegant cream sweater with a long red and white plaid skirt and white heels

The beauty accentuated her naturally stunning features with a touch of makeup

Meanwhile the Black Swan star, 42, looked chic in a cropped plaid sleeveless top, black pants and matching black flats

The trio were later pictured onstage as they discussed their latest project

May December is inspired by a woman named Mary Kay Letourneau, who was arrested in 1997 after pleading guilty to two counts of rape

The film sees Natalie playing the role of actress Elizabeth Berry, who researches sex offender-turned-baker Gracie Atherton-Yoo, played by Julianne, in order to more authentically play her in an indie film

The woman is infamous for her 23-year-old relationship with her husband Joe, played by Charles, whom she first met as a minor

Julianne's character is a thinly-veiled version of Letourneau, who served six years in prison for felony second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau

May December was released on November 17 before streaming on Netflix on December 1 in the US

The American movie was directed by Todd Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch and premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

The Netflix movie was nominated for four Golden Globes at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles, but went home empty-handed.

To the surprise of many, the film was submitted as a comedy, however Melton shared that it 'didn't feel funny' when he was filming it.

'I think filming it, it didn't feel - with Samy's script, and the direction of Todd, it didn't feel funny, it's a pretty complex kind of script,' the Juneau, Alaska native told The Hollywood Reporter, after the nominations were announced.

May December was released on November 17 before streaming on Netflix on December 1 in the US.
Renee Rapp put comedian Jo Koy on blast for his less than thrilling performance hosting the 81st Golden Globe Awards, which still managed to amass 9.4M viewers on Sunday.

While appearing on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna on Monday, the 24-year-old Mean Girls star was asked which trends were 'out' and she replied on TikTok: 'The man that was making a bunch of jokes about women last night at the Golden Globes.'

In the comments of the post, fans giddily praised Renee for 'keeping it real' by criticizing the 52-year-old Filipino-American funnyman's 'sexist jokes.'

TikTok user @aki wrote: 'My in is Renee's Jo Koy slander. I love her!'

'"That man last night at the Golden Globes" just hits different,' TikTok user @kelsieelaine wrote.

Renee Rapp (L) put comedian Jo Koy (R) on blast for his less than thrilling performance hosting the 81st Golden Globe Awards, which still managed to amass 9.4M viewers on Sunday

TikTok user @dallas wrote: 'Jo Koy [you] done pi**ed off Regina [motherf***ing] George. Count your days buddy!'

Indeed, Jo (born Joseph Glenn Herbert) inspired groans from the A-list audience for making fun of Taylor Swift camera cutaways, Barry Keoghan's substantial private parts, and Barbie being 'based on a plastic doll with big boobies.'

Koy - who famously dated Chelsea Handler - told People on Monday he'd 'love to' host the glitzy awards ceremony again as long as he has 'five months, not nine days' to prepare for the CBS telecast gig.

Rapp was joined at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan on Monday by her Mean Girl castmates Angourie Rice, Avantika, and Bebe Wood as well as Spice Girl Mel B.

The bisexual blonde has been hard at work promoting her role as Regina George in Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.'s big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Mean Girls, which hits US theaters this Friday and UK theaters January 17.

The 112-minute remake also features Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Jon Hamm, Auli'i Cravalho, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer, Ashley Park, and Busy Philipps.

Renee made her Broadway debut at age 19 in Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin's musical based on Mark Waters' 2004 hit film, which was originally adapted from Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes.

Rapp is next scheduled to perform on the January 20th episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live before kicking off her 17-date Snow Hard Feelings Tour in Paris on February 13.

But first, the World Burn belter - who gets 5.8M monthly listeners on Spotify - will celebrate her 25th birthday this Wednesday.

While appearing on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna on Monday, the 24-year-old Mean Girls star was asked which trends were 'out' and she replied on TikTok: 'The man that was making a bunch of jokes about women last night at the Golden Globes'

In the comments of the post, fans giddily praised Renee for 'keeping it real' by criticizing the 52-year-old Filipino-American funnyman's 'sexist jokes'

Indeed, Jo (born Joseph Glenn Herbert) inspired groans from the A-list audience for making fun of Taylor Swift camera cutaways, Barry Keoghan's substantial private parts, and Barbie being 'based on a plastic doll with big boobies'

Koy - who famously dated Chelsea Handler - told People on Monday he'd 'love to' host the glitzy awards ceremony again as long as he has 'five months, not nine days' to prepare for the CBS telecast gig

Rapp was joined at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan on Monday by her Mean Girl castmates Angourie Rice (L), Avantika (2-R), and Bebe Wood (R) as well as Spice Girl Mel B (M)

The bisexual blonde has been hard at work promoting her role as Regina George in Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.'s big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Mean Girls, which hits US theaters this Friday and UK theaters January 17
A popular TikToker was brutally roasted this week when she made the unsupported claim she dated Euphoria star Jacob Elordi in high school.

Brisbane-based Keeley Crothers posted a video to the social media site capturing her dancing in a high school rugby jersey and said it was given to her by Jacob, 26.

'POV: You dated Jacob Elordi when he was in high school and have his Nudgee jersey. Wishing he was giving saltburn when we dated,' she wrote next to the clip.

However, many of her followers suspected the story was fake for several reasons - including that Jacob has previously revealed he went to an all-boys school - and called her out.

'Pictures or it didn't happen,' one doubter wrote and a second person added: 'Yeah, and I'm Jacob's love child.'

Brisbane-based TikToker Keeley Crothers (pictured) was brutally roasted this week when she made the unsupported claim she dated Euphoria star Jacob Elordi in high school

'I thought he went to an all-boys school,' a third person chipped in.

After some backlash, Crothers posted an emotional statement claiming the whole thing was just a 'joke'.

'The video got a lot more traction than I anticipated. A simple, honest joke has been horribly misinterpreted by some,' she began.

Brisbane-based Keeley Crothers posted a video to the social media site capturing her dancing in a high school rugby jersey and said it was given to her by Australian actor Jacob Elordi (pictured)

She then revealed the heavy toll her prank has taken on her, with trolls making cruel remarks about her appearance.

'I have received some horrible comments about the way I look. It was simply a joke and I'm deeply sorry if I offended anyone.'

It comes after Brisbane-born Jacob Elordi revealed he felt like he did not fit in at the Catholic boys school he went to until he discovered his passion for performing.

However, many of her followers suspected the story was fake for several reasons, including that Jacob has revealed he went to an all-boys high school and called her out

The Australian star told Variety in December that this uneasy feeling was immediately erased the moment he stepped into a drama class and did a play readthrough.

'When I was 15, I was at an all-boys Catholic school and I was deeply unsettled and didn't know why,' he said.

The Australian born actor began his career in 2018 by appearing in the Aussie movies Swinging Safari and The Very Excellent Mr Dundee.

He relocated to Los Angeles several years later after being cast in the popular US teen drama Euphoria.

After some backlash, Crothers later posted an emotional statement claiming the whole thing was just a 'joke'
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Margot Robbie was joined by a number of dazzling stars, including Florence Pugh, Penelope Cruz, and Emma Stone, as they led the glamour at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 14th Annual Governors Awards.

The Barbie actress, 33, cut an elegant figure in a black dress featuring silver accents and midriff cutouts. The Australian beauty accessorized with Fred Leighton 1950's diamond and platinum waterfall earrings, and KWIAT diamond bands on her fingers.

Pugh, 28, channeled a blonde bombshell in a busty pink sequin gown and wore her platinum blonde tresses in Marilyn Monroe inspired bouncy curls. Meanwhile Emma, 35, rocked a unique pink co-ord for the event.

Ferrari star Penelope, 49, was every inch the Hollywood leading lady at the gala, which was held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on Tuesday, wearing a spectacular white tiered gown with an embroidered bodice.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton and Michelle Satter at the event. The Governors Awards is an annual event celebrating awards conferred by the Academy's Board of Governors.

Margot Robbie was joined by a number of dazzling stars, including Florence Pugh, Penelope Cruz, and Emma Stone, as they led the glamour at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 14th Annual Governors Awards

The Australian beauty, 33, touched up her flawless features with light makeup

While on the red carpet Florence caught up with pal Emily Blunt, 40, who looked sensational in a plunging black gown with a shimmering silver halterneck.

Florence and Emily posed alongside their handsome Oppenheimer co-stars Cillian Murphy, 47, and Robert Downey Jr., 58.

Peaky Blinders star Murphy looked cool as ever in a striped blazer with a satin red handkerchief, while Downey rocked a grey tuxedo.

Florence watched as Robert playfully kneeled in front of his wife, Susan Downey, on the red carpet.

Meanwhile Penelope further accessorized her gown with dangling silver earrings and a matching ring.

The beauty wore her brunette tresses in a mid part, cascading down her back, and accentuated her visage with picture-perfect glam.

Emma was joined by Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, 50, who looked sharp in a black suit.

Also present was Eva Longoria, 48, who sparkled in a halter-neck gold dress that showed off her toned arms and clung to her enviable physique.

She let her breathtaking gown do all the talking, and added just a touch of bling with her diamond stud earrings.

The Barbie star accessorized with Fred Leighton 1950's diamond and platinum waterfall earrings, and KWIAT diamond bands on her fingers

Margot flashed her megawatt smile for the shutterbugs

The actress showed off her chic ensemble from the side

She appeared in great spirits, laughing it up on the red carpet

Margot wore flawless glam

Robbie and Emily Blunt wore nearly identical gowns to the event

Margot's blonde tresses were lightly curled

Pugh, 28, channeled a blonde bombshell in a busty pink sequin gown

She teamed the glamorous look with silver heels

While on the red carpet Florence caught up with pal Emily Blunt

Florence and Emily posed alongside their Oppenheimer co-stars Cillian Murphy, 47, and Robert Downey Jr., 58

Blunt, 40, looked sensational in a plunging black gown with a shimmering silver halterneck

Blunt was seen laughing it up wih her co-stars

Florence watched as Robert playfully kneeled in front of his wife, Susan Downey, on the red carpet

The trio had a blast as they played it up in front of the cameras

The pair have been married since 2005

Peaky Blinders star Murphy looked cool as ever in a striped blazer with a satin red handkerchief, while Downey rocked a grey tuxedo

Ferrari star Penelope, 49, was every inch the Hollywood leading lady at the event, which was held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on Tuesday, wearing a spectacular white tiered gown with an embroidered bodice

Penelope further accessorized her gown with dangling silver earrings and a matching ring

Penelope wore dark manicure to contrast her gown

The beauty wore her brunette tresses in a mid part, cascading down her back

The Spanish actress looked flawless as always

La La Land star Stone, 35, rocked a unique pink co-ord for the event

She completed the look with a matching asymmetrical skirt and nude heels with silver toe caps

Stone showed off her playful ensemble

Emma was joined by Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, 50, who looked sharp in a black suit

The Desperate Housewives beauty slicked her dark tresses back, wearing them plaited into two chic braids. The 5'1" star added height to her outfit with sky-high silver stilettos.

Angela Bassett, 65, wowed in a mermaid silhouette semi-sheer bedazzled golden gown. The nude tulle dress was cinched at the waist with a bejeweled silver belt.

The Black Panther star was joined by her family on the red carpet.

Her husband, Courtney B. Vance, looked handsome in a black velvet tuxedo with a satin bowtie and a hat. The couple's twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah, 17, coordinated with their dad in black looks.

Academy President Janet Yang said in a press release of Bassett's nomination: 'Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.'

The actress earned two Oscar nominations: first for best actress for 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It, and later for best supporting actress for last year's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she played Queen Ramonda.

Julianne Moore, 63, put on a shimmering display in a long-sleeve metallic silver gown.

She was joined on the red carpet by her May December co-star Charles Melton, 33, who looked dashing in a black velvet tuxedo.

Eva Longoria, 48, sparkled in a halter-neck gold dress that showed off her toned arms and clung to her enviable physique

She let her breathtaking gown do all the talking, and added just a touch of bling with her diamond stud earrings

The star flaunted her incredible ensemble for the shutterbugs

The Desperate Housewives beauty slicked her dark tresses back, wearing them plaited into two chic braids

She rocked flawless glam

Angela Bassett, 65, wowed in a mermaid silhouette semi-sheer bedazzled golden gown

The incredible ensemble showed off her toned arms

The nude tulle dress was cinched at the waist with a bejeweled silver belt

The Black Panther star was joined by her family on the red carpet

Her husband, Courtney B. Vance, looked handsome in a black velvet tuxedo with a satin bowtie and a hat

The couple played it up for the cameras

The couple's twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah, 17, coordinated with their dad in black looks

Academy President Janet Yang said in a press release of Bassett's nomination: 'Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting'

Bassett has earned two Oscar nominations in the past; (L-R) Carol Littleton, Bassett, and Michelle Satter

Julianne Moore, 63, put on a shimmering display in a long-sleeve metallic silver gown

She was joined by her May December co-star Charles Melton, 33

Julianne showed off her stunning ensemble

Melton looked dashing in a black velvet tuxedo and loafers

Their co-star Natalie Portman, 42, had all eyes on her in a silk black gown with a diamond cut-out across her chest and a gold chain halterneck

The Black Swan beauty - who recently attended the Golden Globes without husband Benjamin Millepied or her wedding ring in the wake of the sensational cheating accusations made against him - accessorized with Kirsten Drew earrings and ring

The Crown star Claire Foy, 39, was the epitome of elegance in in an off-shoulder shimmering silver sequin gown with tulle sleeve accents

She wore her brunette tresses in a chic updo

Carey Mulligan, 38, oozed Hollywood glamour in a dramatic black and white gown

The English actress wore KWIAT diamond studs, Fred Leighton 1930's diamond and platinum ring by Rene Boivin, and and Art Deco diamond ring

She was joined by her Maestro co-star Bradley Cooper, 49, who looked dapper in a navy suit

Cooper and Mulligan's film Maestro follows the longtime relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Mulligan)

Shailene Woodley, 32, opted for a refreshingly bright look in a two-toned green gown

Rosamund Pike, 44, wore a red and pink sleeveless floral gown. She paired the outfit with Fred Leighton antique 'Queen Anne' fuchsia drop earrings, and an antique cluster ring

She posed alongside Emerald Fennell who shimmered in a black and silver gown

Margot posed with Rosamund and Emerald

Rosamund shared a friendly kiss with Downey Jr.

Mark Ruffalo, 56, was every inch the leading man in a classy black suit. The actor was joined by wife Sunrise Coigney, 51

She stunned in a one-shoulder metallic silver gown

The pair have been married since 2000

Their co-star Natalie Portman, 42, had all eyes on her in a silk black gown with a diamond cut-out across her chest and a gold chain halterneck.

The Black Swan beauty - who recently attended the Golden Globes without husband Benjamin Millepied or her wedding ring in the wake of the sensational cheating accusations made against him - accessorized with Kirsten Drew earrings and ring.

The Crown star Claire Foy, 39, was the epitome of elegance in in an off-shoulder shimmering silver sequin gown with tulle sleeve accents.

Shailene Woodley, 32, opted for a refreshingly bright look in a two-toned green gown.

Carey Mulligan, 38, oozed Hollywood glamour in a dramatic black and white gown.

The English actress wore KWIAT diamond studs, Fred Leighton 1930's diamond and platinum ring by Rene Boivin, and and Art Deco diamond ring.

She was joined by her Maestro co-star Bradley Cooper, 49, who looked dapper in a navy suit.

The Iron Claw star Zac Efron, 36, wore a fiery red turtleneck underneath a black blazer and pants.

Mark Ruffalo, 56, was every inch the leading man in a classy black suit. The actor was joined by wife Sunrise Coigney, 51. She stunned in a one-shoulder metallic silver gown.

Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, was joined by Killers of the Flower Moon co-star Lily Gladstone, 37

Lily stunned in a chic black blazer and matching maxi skirt

They posed alongside their director Martin Scorsese, 81

DiCaprio has worked on a total of six films with Scorsese: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon

The Titanic star sported a classy black suit, while the iconic filmmaker donned a navy tuxedo

Scorsese was joined by his daughter Francesca

Tom Hanks, 67, was joined by stylish wife Rita Wilson, 67

The duo sweetly held hands

The Hollywood pair have been married since 1988

Rita thrilled in a red hot sequin gown

She wore her brunette tresses lightly curled

He lovingly watched his wife as she posed for the cameras

Tom wore a classic black suit for the night

He accessorized with a silver tie

Danielle Brooks, 34, looked beautiful in a sparkling lavender gown that showcased her hourglass curves

The Iron Claw star Zac Efron, 36, wore a fiery red turtleneck underneath a black blazer and pants

He wore his brunette hair gelled up

Taraji P. Henson, 53, sizzled in a black floral gown, while Ava Duvernay, 51, wore a classy black gown with white sleeves

The actress wore her shoulder-length tresses in a chic bob

Iconic French star Juliette Binoche, 59, stunned in a delicate pastel yellow gown

She was joined by director Tran Anh Hung, 61

Tracee Ellis Ross, 51, wore a shimmering black top and unique black skirt

Olivia Rodrigo, 20, channeled old Hollywood glamour in a sleeveless black gown

The star wore picture-perfect glam

Continuing on with the glamour was Olivia Munn, who looked ethereal in a strapless white gown

She wore her raven tresses in a straight style, flowing down her back

She was joined by comedian partner John Mulaney who looked sharp in a black suit

The pair share son Malcom whom they welcomed in November 2021

Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, was joined by Killers of the Flower Moon co-star Lily Gladstone, 37.

The Titanic star sported a classy black suit while Lily stunned in a chic black blazer and matching maxi skirt.

They also posed alongside their director Martin Scorsese, 81. The iconic filmmaker donned a navy tuxedo.

DiCaprio has worked on a total of six films with Scorsese: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

Rosamund Pike, 44, wore a red and pink sleeveless floral gown. She paired the outfit with Fred Leighton antique 'Queen Anne' fuchsia drop earrings, and an antique cluster ring.

Tom Hanks, 67, was joined by stylish wife Rita Wilson, 67. The Hollywood pair have been married since 1988.

Rita thrilled in a red hot sequin gown.

Iconic French star Juliette Binoche, 59, stunned in a delicate pastel yellow gown, and was joined by director Tran Anh Hung, 61.

Taraji P. Henson, 53, sizzled in a black floral gown, while Ava Duvernay, 51, wore a classy black gown with white sleeves.

Seth Rogen, 41, cut a handsome figure in a Giuliva Heritage black tuxedo.

Ariana DeBose was sheer perfection in a baby pink shirt tucked into a flowing pink skirt with a sizzling slit

Ariana wore delicate glam

Color Purple star Fantasia Barrino, 39, looked spectacular in a sleeveless black and white gown

The dress displayed her toned arms

She was joined by filmmaker and author Blitz Bazawule

He helped adjust her dress

Marlee Matlin was lovely in a flowing light pink dress

Glenn Close wowed in a white gown

Barbie star America Ferrera, 39, rocked a black tuxedo

Barbie director Greta Gerwig, 40, wore a black blazer and a matching maxi skirt

Tia Carrere looked glam in a gorgeous emerald green gown

She posed with Paul Debevec at the event

Saltburn star Barry Keoghan, 31, cut a handsome figure in a vintage inspired suit

His shirt featured a frilly white collar

Lenny Kravitz was rocker cool in an all black look

This is Us star Sterling K. Brown, 47, looked handsome as ever in a black suit and bowtie

Ruth E. Carter sizzled in a busty black gown

Cara Jade Myers was chic in a white lace dress

Jurnee Smollett put on a busty display in a plunging burgundy gown. Eugene Lee Yang rocked a lime green deconstructed suit. President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Janet Yang wore a black and blue gown

Diane Warren sported a bright red suit and sneakers

Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor wore fiery red gowns

Seth Rogen, 41, cut a handsome figure in a Giuliva Heritage black tuxedo

He completed his look with a bowtie

Colman Domingo accessorized his black suit with a number of gold accents

David Oyelowo wore a snazzy black silk suit

John Magaro, Cord Jefferson, and Christian Friedel looked dashing in sharp suits

Jon Batiste stood out from the crowd in a white suit

Dominic Sessa wore a trendy cream button-up shirt he left partly undone, and a stylish black suit. Lou Diamond Phillips was handsome as ever in a sharp black suit

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos looked dapper in a black suit

Saltburn star Barry Keoghan, 31, cut a handsome figure in a vintage inspired suit. His shirt featured a frilly white collar.

Danielle Brooks, 34, looked beautiful in a sparkling lavender gown that showcased her hourglass curves.

This is Us star Sterling K. Brown, 47, looked handsome as ever in a black suit and bowtie.

Tracee Ellis Ross, 51, wore a shimmering black top and unique black skirt.

Olivia Rodrigo, 20, channeled old Hollywood glamour in a sleeveless black gown. She wore her brunette tresses styled into a high ponytail.

Continuing on with the glamour was Olivia Munn, who looked ethereal in a strapless white gown. She wore her raven tresses in a straight style, flowing down her back.

She was joined by comedian partner John Mulaney who looked sharp in a black suit.

Jurnee Smollett put on a busty display in a plunging burgundy gown, while Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor wore a fiery red gown and heels.

Lenny Kravitz was rocker cool in an all black look.

Ariana DeBose was sheer perfection in a baby pink shirt tucked into a flowing pink skirt with a sizzling slit.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph was red hot in a busty scarlet gown.

Angela accepted the Academy Honorary Award at the event

Bassett was first nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Tina Turner in 1993's Whats Love Got to Do With It?

She was again nominated for her role in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Bassett gave a passionate speech, telling the crowd: 'I have considered acting my calling and not just my career to be recognized in this way for what I love doing is truly wonderful, and I am beyond grateful'

'I have had to let it sink in that I am the second Black actress to receive an honorary Academy Award [after the late Cicely Tyson] and I hope that she is smiling from the heavens that Im able to join her in that circle of recognition'

She was pictured planting a kiss on actress Regina King, who presented her with the award

The two ladies shared a tender moment

Regina watched as Angela accepted her award

The two co-starred on the TV sitcom 227 and then in Boyz N the Hood and How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Angela shared the names of all Black actresses who have won Oscars: 'Ten actresses who are makers of history in our industry. I call their names to acknowledge every one of them this evening for being beacons of possibility and hope for little Black and Brown girls who aspire to one day pursue the dream of becoming an actor'

Actress Glenn Close was pictured introducing Carol Littleton at the event

She presented Littleton with her honorary award

Littleton looked chic in a sparkling navy dress

Mulaney was pictured onstage

Legendary comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks also received an honorary Oscar at the gala

'This is beautiful. I got to tell you, this means a lot to me. It really means a lot,' he said in his acceptance speech

Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane presented Brooks with his award

Barbie star America Ferrera, 39, rocked a black tuxedo. Her director Greta Gerwig, 40, wore a black blazer and a matching maxi skirt.

Marlee Matlin was lovely in a flowing light pink dress. Color Purple star Fantasia Barrino, 39, looked spectacular in a sleeveless black and white gown.

Cara Jade Myers was chic in a white lace dress. Tia Carrere looked glam in a gorgeous emerald green gown.

Eugene Lee Yang rocked a lime green deconstructed suit, while Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos looked dapper in a black suit.

President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Janet Yang wore a black and blue sparkling gown.

The event honored Bassett, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton and Michelle Satter.

Inside the gala Bassett was pictured planting a kiss on actress Regina King, who presented her with the award.

The two co-starred on the TV sitcom 227 and then in Boyz N the Hood and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

Bassett gave a passionate speech, telling the crowd: 'I have considered acting my calling and not just my career to be recognized in this way for what I love doing is truly wonderful, and I am beyond grateful,' as per the Hollywood Reporter.

'I have had to let it sink in that I am the second Black actress to receive an honorary Academy Award [after the late Cicely Tyson] and I hope that she is smiling from the heavens that Im able to join her in that circle of recognition.'

(L-R) Littleton, Brooks, Bassett, and Michelle Satter pose with their honorary awards

The foursome proudly help up their golden trophies

She went on: 'This, for me, is not just another award.'

The star then named Hattie McDaniel, the first Black actress to win an Academy Award in 1940, for Gone With the Wind: 'She historically tore down a barrier and it would be another 50 years before another Black woman would win an Oscar [referring to Whoopi Goldberg, who won for Ghost] and still more than another decade before the next historic win [Halle Berry, who became the first Black best actress winner, for Monsters Ball) which, after more than two decades, remains "the only."'

She then shared the names of all Black actresses who have won Oscars: 'Ten actresses who are makers of history in our industry. I call their names to acknowledge every one of them this evening for being beacons of possibility and hope for little Black and Brown girls who aspire to one day pursue the dream of becoming an actor.'

During the event Glenn Close was seen introducing Littleton, before presenting the film editor with her honorary award.

Meanwhile legendary comedian and filmmaker Brooks said, 'This is beautiful. I got to tell you, this means a lot to me. It really means a lot,' as he accepted his award.
Olivia Rodrigo turned heads in a stunning black Yves Saint Laurent fall 1997 haute couture gown at the 14th annual Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old music artist  who is dating Louis Partridge  looked elegant and timeless in the classic look, which had a strapless sweetheart neckline.

The GUTS hitmaker kept the ensemble simple, opting not to wear bracelets or a necklace.

Instead, she wore a single diamond ring on one of her fingers, and added geometric silver-toned drop earrings.

The Driver's License songwriter pulled her lustrous brunette locks into a high ponytail with a side part and swoop bang tucked behind her ear.

Olivia Rodrigo turned heads in a stunning black Yves Saint Laurent fall 1997 haute couture gown at the 14th annual Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Tuesday

The Driver's License songwriter pulled her lustrous brunette locks into a high ponytail with a side part and swoop bang tucked behind her ear

Completing the stunning look was a subtle face of makeup, which incorporated softly winged black eyeliner and mascara.

Olivia's cheeks were lightly dusted in blush, and she rounded out the cosmetics look with a matte red lip.

And she flaunted a short, pristine, glossy, wine-colored manicure while posing for cameras.

While making press round on the red carpet, she discussed her upcoming plans for her 21st birthday in February.

'I think I'm going to have a party with my friends, pop some champagne,' she dished to an ET reporter.

Meanwhile, a reporter for Variety asked the High School Musical alum when she plans to return to acting following the success of her music career.

'That's the million dollar question,' she answered before adding, 'I would love to. I think that'd be really fun. I love movies. I love telling stories.'

More specifically, Rodrigo noted, 'I really want to do a coming-of-age thing. I just love telling stories, whether that be in a song or a movie, that's just something that really excites me.'

The 20-year-old music artist looked elegant and timeless in the classic look, which had a strapless sweetheart neckline

The GUTS hitmaker kept the ensemble simple, opting not to wear bracelets or a necklace

The Governors Awards is an annual event celebrating performers with honors conferred by the Academy's Board of Governors.

Other A-listers at Tuesday's star-studded affair included Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Angela Bassett, who was honored with an honorary Oscar for her impact on the industry.

Academy President Janet Yang said in a press release of Bassett's nomination: 'Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.'

The actress has earned two Oscar nominations throughout her time in Hollywood  one for best actress for 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It, and another for best supporting actress for last year's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in which she played Queen Ramonda.
Chrishell Stause showcased her toned frame as she joined stylish Mary Fitzgerald and fellow co-stars while arriving to the set of Selling Sunset in L.A. on Tuesday.

The TV personality, 42 - who recently put on a sizzling display at the at Creative Arts Emmy Awards - strutted to the office as filming officially commenced once again for the Netflix show's eighth season.

The beauty turned heads wearing a form-fitting, purple leather dress that fell down past her ankles and clung to her figure.

She slipped into a pair of closed-toed, black heels and easily carried a black, Yves Saint Laurent purse with a gold-chained strap over her left arm.

Her long locks were parted to the side, and effortlessly flowed down past her shoulders in elegant curls.

Chrishell Stause, 42, showcased her toned frame as she joined stylish Mary Fitzgerald, 43, and fellow co-stars while arriving to the set of Selling Sunset in L.A. on Tuesday

The beauty turned heads wearing a form-fitting, purple leather dress that fell down past her ankles and clung to her figure

Stause accessorized her ensemble by adding a chunky, gold bracelet onto her right wrist and also wore a pair of fashionable shades.

A warm blush was added to her cheekbones, while a nude-colored, matte tint was worn on her lips for a finishing touch.

Her fellow castmate, Mary, was also dressed to impress wearing a pair of black, fitted leggings as well as an oversized blazer that contained a strip of white fabric that flowed down on the left side.

Underneath, the real estate broker opted for a black bralette top and donned a pair of chic, closed-toed black pumps to coincide with the monochromatic color scheme.

Her blonde hair was parted to the side, and fell down in bouncy curls that brushed past her shoulders.

Fitzgerald added a pair of silver earrings for a flashy flare to the look, and carried a backpack that was placed on her right shoulder.

Mary flashed a cheerful smile as she held two adorable pups in her arms as she made her way through a parking lot.

Other Selling Sunset stars were also spotted as they arrived to the set, including Emma Hernan who put on a radiant display in an all-white outfit.

She slipped into a pair of closed-toed, black heels and easily carried a black, Yves Saint Laurent purse with a gold-chained strap over her left arm

Her caramel locks were styled in a glamorous blowdry

Her fellow castmate, Mary, was also dressed to impress wearing a pair of black, fitted leggings as well as an oversized blazer that contained a strip of white fabric that flowed down on the left side

Mary flashed a cheerful smile as she held two adorable pups in her arms as she made her way through a parking lot

Mary sported a flawless bronzed makeup palette and a swipe of nude lipstick

She carried her pet pooch home after a long day of filming

Other Selling Sunset stars were also spotted as they arrived to the set, including Emma Hernan who put on a radiant display in an all-white outfit

She put on a leggy display in a short-sleeved, fuzzy minidress that contained a large cutout on the front.

Hernan additionally donned a pair of open-toed, white platform heels that were secured with thin straps that wrapped around her ankles.

A white purse was placed over her right shoulder to hold a few items she needed during the busy day of filming.

Her blonde locks were parted in the middle, and cascaded down past her shoulders in light curls.

Emma accessorized her look with a pair of dangly, Chanel pearl rings and also added a flashy ring on her right hand. At one point, the beauty also sported white-rimmed shades for a final touch.

Chelsea Lazkani showed off her chic sense of style wearing a black, maxi dress that was held up with thin straps what wrapped around her shoulders.

She slipped into a pair of open-toed, platform black heels while also donning black shades as she strolled under the bright, California sunshine.

Her short hair was parted to the side, and fell down naturally to nearly brush the tips of her shoulders. Chelsea added a pair of small, silver earrings but chose to not add any other pieces of jewelry.

She put on a leggy display in a short-sleeved, fuzzy minidress that contained a large cutout on the front

Chelsea Lazkani showed off her chic sense of style wearing a black, maxi dress that was held up with thin straps what wrapped around her shoulders

She slipped into a pair of open-toed, platform black heels while also donning black shades as she strolled under the bright, California sunshine

Hernan and Lazkani were seen crossing paths outside and also strutted on the sidewalk together

At one point, the two pals flashed big smiles and also strutted closely together while holding hands as they made their way down iconic Sunset Boulevard

The stars appeared in high spirits as they head hoem for the day

Jason also brought his adorable dogs to the film set

Later on Tuesday, Chrishell took to her Instagram stories as she spent time in the new and renovated, Selling Sunset office

'So, just really serious day at work today and just keeping everything really serious,' she said with a laugh in a short clip as Chelsea and Emma goofed off in the background

In another reel, Chelsea spoke from behind the camera as she humorously gave Chrishell pointers on how to pose

Hernan and Lazkani were seen crossing paths outside and also strutted on the sidewalk together.

At one point, the two pals flashed big smiles and walked closely together while holding hands as they made their way down iconic Sunset Boulevard.

Later on Tuesday, Chrishell took to her Instagram stories as she spent time in the new and renovated, Selling Sunset office.

'So, just really serious day at work today and just keeping everything really serious,' she said with a laugh in a short clip as Chelsea and Emma goofed off in the background.

In another reel, Chelsea spoke from behind the camera as she humorously gave Chrishell pointers on how to pose.

Lazkani also took to her own Instagram to share a glowing selfie as she lounged inside a vehicle to better show off her glammed up look for the day.

The seventh season of Netflix's hit series, Selling Sunset, aired late last year in November, and the release date of the show's eighth season has yet to be revealed.

Chrishell has been keeping busy and notably attended the 75th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles alongside some of her fellow castmates over the weekend on Sunday.

The show was notably nominated for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program at this year's event.

Lazkani also took to her own Instagram to share a glowing selfie as she lounged inside a vehicle to better show off her glammed up look for the day

Chrishell has been keeping busy and notably attended the 75th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles alongside some of her fellow castmates over the weekend on Sunday

The star was also accompanied by Emma, Chelsea as well as Amanza Smith and Bre Tiesi who all wowed in eye-catching ensembles

Emma also was active on social media to give a BTS glimpse of her glittering ensemble that she wore to the Creative Emmys over the weekend

Stause - who is married to Australian music artist G Flip - stunned wearing a one-shoulder, red dress that contained a thigh-high slit on the left side while satin material flowed down on the right.

She struck a confident pose on the red carpet while also sporting a pair of open-toed, gold strappy heels.

The star was accompanied by Emma, Chelsea as well as Amanza Smith and Bre Tiesi who all wowed in eye-catching ensembles.

The group paused for a few memorable photos together as they reunited at the star-studded ceremony.
The police investigation into the death of Matthew Perry has been officially closed.

The Friends star was found dead in the hot tub of his LA home on October 28. His death was ruled as 'accidental' and the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to People magazine that it has now shut its case.

Perry's case with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner is now also listed as closed, online records show.

His cause of death was listed as the acute effects of ketamine. Contributing factors were given as drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a prescription drug often used to treat those with opioid addiction.

Police confirmed they have closed their investigation into the death of Friends star Matthew Perry

In his last post to his Instagram, posted the week he died, the star shared images of him in his hot tub, which is next to his infinity pool

Coroners revealed the actor had similar quantities of ketamine in his system as a hospital patient under general anesthetic when he was found.

Perry's blood ketamine levels were at 3,540 ng/ml in peripheral blood, and 3,271 ng/ml in central blood.

For a patient under general anesthetic, in a hospital, a blood ketamine level of 1,000 - 6,000 ng/ml would be normal, the medical examiner explained.

'Drowning contributes due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness; coronary artery disease contributes due to exacerbation of ketamine induced myocardial effects on the heart.

'Buphrenorphine effects are listed as contributory, even though not at toxic levels, due to the additive respiratory effects when present with high levels of ketamine.'

He had no alcohol, cocaine, heroin, meth or fentanyl in his system.

Perry, 54, was found face-down in the hot tub by his assistant, stunning the world of showbiz and breaking the hearts of fans worldwide.

He had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy as treatment for depression, the medical examiner reported - but the last session was a week and a half before he died, and the ketamine is only in your system for three to four hours, which means it did not lead directly to his death.

Friends star Matthew Perry was killed by ketamine and drowning, with his death ruled an accident. He is pictured on October 22 - the last time he was seen in public

Perry was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills in a service attended by his former castmates Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, and David Schwimmer

His death came a year after he published a memoir detailing his longstanding struggles with addiction which were ongoing during the filming of Friends

'At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,' the medical examiner, Raffi Djabourian, concluded.

In the week before his death, Perry shared an eerie Instagram post showing him relaxing in the hot tub at his home where he would later be found. He was last seen in public on October 22.

His death came just a year after he penned a tell-all memoir detailing his struggles with addiction.

Perry wrote that he spent $9 million trying to get sober, going to 6,000 AA meetings, 15 times to rehab, and was in detox 65 times.

At his lowest, he was popping 55 Vicodin a day to fuel his addiction.

He said he overcame addiction in 2021 and was leading a healthier lifestyle with the help of 'sober companion' Morgan Moses, referred to in the memoir by the pseudonym 'Erin'.

He was laid to rest in an intimate ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills attended by his Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, and David Schwimmer.
It is unknown if she is working on new music or doing more re-recordings

Taylor Swift oozed sophistication in a long brown coat over a ribbed green dress while arriving to the Electric Lady recording studio in Greenwich Village.

While on her way to make some music on Tuesday, the pop star, 34, turned heads as she emerged from her vehicle in the rainy weather and made a beeline into the studio.

She paired her chic ensemble with a pair of thigh-high black leather boots, tan Saint Laurent bag, multiple layered gold necklaces, dangly earrings and a matching ring.

The 12-time Grammy winner, who was in Los Angeles over the weekend for the 2024 Golden Globes, sported her signature red lipstick and golden blonde tresses in loose waves.

Chic: Taylor Swift showcased her oozed sophistication in a long brown coat over a green dress while arriving to the Electric Lady recording studio in Greenwich Village

Rain or shine: While on her way to make some music on Tuesday, the pop star, 34, turned heads as she emerged from her vehicle in the rainy weather and made a beeline into the studio

Over the years, the beloved performer has recorded some of her most cherished albums at Electric Lady Studios, including her hit record, Lover, released in 2019.

At this time, it is unknown if she is working on new music or making progress in her journey of re-recording all the songs from her first six albums.

She only has two albums left to re-record, which are her debut, eponymous album, and sixth, Reputation.

Her commitment to making music is noticeably unparalleled, and even has her stepping out during a deadly winter storm that has caused chaos throughout the United States.

Earlier in the day, news channels have warned residents of New York, Philadelphia and Boston to be on high alert as the storm approaches the Northeast.

The storm has the potential to knock out power to the 55 million who live in the region and has already left a trail of damage.

At least three fatalities have been reported due to the weather. Among them, an 81-year-old woman who died in Alabama as the storm created tornados in the Southeast early Tuesday. The same system brought snow and travel headaches in the Midwest.

The mid-Atlantic has dealt with heavy rain and flooding. In North Carolina, more than 170,000 people lost power from the storm. Parts of historic Alexandria, Virginia, were underwater as floods filled streets.

She paired her chic ensemble with a pair of thigh-high black leather boots, tan shoulder bag, multiple layered gold necklaces, dangly earrings and a matching ring

The 12-time Grammy winner, who was in Los Angeles over the weekend for the 2024 Golden Globes , sported her signature red lipstick and golden blonde tresses in loose waves

Over the years, the beloved performer has recorded some of her most cherished albums at Electric Lady Studios, including her hit record, Lover, released in 2019

At this time, it is unknown if she is working on new music or making progress in her journey of re-recording all the songs from her first six albums

All 50 states were put on weather alerts because of the storm.

The widespread heavy rain, strong winds and fierce thunderstorms which arrived on Tuesday are forecast to continue into the following day as utilities companies battle to restore power.

A high wind warning is in place for New York state into Wednesday morning for gales of up to 70mph.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents to brace for 'more inclement weather' bringing potential for flooding as the day progresses.

Almost done: She only has two albums left to re-record, which are her debut, eponymous album, and sixth, Reputation

Over the weekend, Swift made headlines for seemingly gossiping about about Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet at the Golden Globes with her longtime best friend, Selena Gomez.

Video from their table showed Gomez, 31, Swift, 34, and Miles Teller's wife Keleigh Sperry having an extremely animated discussion - with a somber Selena waxing lyrical to a shocked Taylor and Keleigh, before the latter is clearly heard clarifying: 'with Timothee?' as Selena nods.

Lip reader Jeremy Freeman exclusively uncovered the trio's conversation for DailyMail.com - alleging Selena was denied a photo with Timothee, 28, and claiming she feared 'upsetting' him and Kylie, 26.

Freeman says Selena dished to Taylor and Keleigh: 'He didnt want a picture with me, he said no' with Keleigh responding: 'Timothee?'

Taylor then whispered in Selena's ear, with the Only Murders In The Building actress allegedly saying: 'I tried, I couldnt, itll upset em.'

Scary conditions: Her commitment to making music is noticeably unparalleled, and even has her stepping out during a deadly winter storm that has caused chaos throughout the United States

Stay inside: Earlier in the day, news channels have warned residents of New York, Philadelphia and Boston to be on high alert as the storm approaches the Northeast

Over the weekend, Swift made headlines for seemingly gossiping about about Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet at the Golden Globes with her longtime best friend, Selena Gomez

Gomez, however, claimed that she was actually gossiping about 'two friends that hooked up' - even though Keleigh is heard clearly stating Timothee's name.

She wrote on social media: 'Noooooo I told Taylor about two of my friends who hooked up. Not that that's anyone business'.

Selena and Timothee previously starred as love interests in Woody Allen film A Rainy Day In New York back in 2018.

Taylor was pipped at the post to the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award - a new category for the 2024 Globes - as her The Eras tour movie lost to Barbie and was seen being consoled by BFF Selena before the drama began.

Video from their table showed Gomez, 31, Swift, 34, and Miles Teller's wife Keleigh Sperry having an extremely animated discussion - with a somber Selena waxing lyrical to a shocked Taylor and Keleigh, before the latter is clearly heard clarifying: 'with Timothee?' as Selena nods (pictured over the weekend)

Lip reader Jeremy Freeman exclusively uncovered the trio's conversation for DailyMail.com - alleging Selena was denied a photo with Timothee, 28, and claiming she feared 'upsetting' him and Kylie, 26

On Wednesday Gomez claimed she was actually gossiping about 'two friends that hooked up' - even though Keleigh is heard clearly stating Timothee's name

Fans quickly began to analyze the clip and claim Selena was detailing how she asked the Wonka star for a photo - but Kylie allegedly said no.

A tweet from popculturegal claimed Selena said: 'i asked for a picture with him and she (kylie jenner) said no'.

One fan wrote: 'Selena so real. Whenever something happens to me im running straight to my girls'

Another wrote: 'She was making sure to YELL that loud so everyone could hear her lmfaoooo' while a third typed: 'I just love Taylor's face.'

Others wrote: 'Selena with the gossip' and 'It was so clear though . You can clearly hear the name from Keleigh.'
Kendall Jenner was pulled over by police in Beverly Hills on Tuesday and ticketed for running a stop sign with close pal, Hailey Bieber, in the passenger seat.

The 818 Tequila founder, 28 - who recently sparked speculation that she posted a snap of ex Bad Bunny - could be seen in the driver's seat of a $200k Mercedes-Benz G500 Cabriolet.

The reality star was pictured flashing a flirty smile and conversing with an officer that had approached her luxurious vehicle shortly after cruising around the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel.

The supermodel was 'cited for running through a stop sign' and after receiving a ticket, was able to go on her way, law enforcement sources told TMZ.

Despite being pulled over, both Kendall and Hailey appeared to be in good spirits, and were seen laughing and smiling amidst the interaction.

Kendall Jenner, 28, was pulled over by police in Beverly Hills on Tuesday and ticketed for allegedly running a stop sign with close pal, Hailey Bieber, in the passenger seat

The reality star was pictured conversing with an officer that had approached her luxurious vehicle after the pair had been cruising around the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel

The 818 Tequila founder could be seen in the driver's seat of a Mercedes-Benz G500 Cabriolet

Kendall has previously been spotted being pulled over by police, and 10 years earlier in 2014, both Jenner and her BFF Hailey were seen in a similar situation.

The budding star - who was just 19-years-old at the time - had been pulled over on Santa Monica Boulevard after Christmas tree shopping.

The TV personality was reportedly stopped due to driving her sleek, Range Rover at night without the headlights on.

At the time, Kendall was seen talking to a cop that stood at her driver's side window while Hailey sat in the passenger seat.

Jenner's latest interaction with police comes after she sparked speculation that she posted an image with her ex, Bad Bunny, in New Year's Eve photos she uploaded to Instagram on Monday.

The catwalk queen shared snaps from her recent New Year's Eve getaway to Barbados - which seemed to include a photo of the Puerto Rican rapper.

She took a snap of her friends gathered on the beach - and observers pointed out the blurry man in the photo appeared to be her ex.

Fans speculated the man standing at the front, clad in a white and brown outfit with a wine glass in hand, may have been the 29-year-old hitmaker born Benito Martinez Ocasio.

Law enforcement informed the outlet that the supermodel was 'cited for running through a stop sign' and after receiving a ticket, was able to go on her way

Despite being pulled over, both Kendall and Hailey appeared to be in good spirits, and were seen laughing and smiling amidst the interaction

The officer is seen handing an object to the TV personality after she was pulled over during an outing in Beverly Hills

A Beverly Hills police SUV was stopped a few feet behind Kendall's sleek vehicle which was stopped on the side of a road

After the incident, Kendall began driving off as her best friend, Hailey, looked through her smartphone in the passenger seat

This was not the first time Kendall has been spotted being pulled over by police, and 10 years earlier in 2014, both Jenner and her BFF Hailey were seen in a similar situation

'kendall jenner posts bad bunny on her instagram page for the first time. (white pants, white tee, brown sweater, holding a wine glass, in the front.),' the fan account @kennyandbenito tweeted.

'lmao the way she used the blur feature across his face lowkey cracks me up! but this is cute none the less,' one fan replied.

Fans debated whether or not the man in the photo was indeed Benito, but the couple also appeared to be photographed as they hung out on the beach in a snap circulating on social media.

Further raising eyebrows, a friend who was with Kendall on the Barbados trip shared video of their New Year's Eve fireworks display. Fans pointed out he can be heard saying 'Feliz ano nuevo' in the clip.

Kendall rang in the New Year in Barbados with pals Justin and Hailey Bieber, but reports recently claimed she had reunited with Bad Bunny during the trip as well.

They were joined by their mutual friends for the celebration, but sources revealed that they are not back together.

An insider told TMZ that they hung out because of their mutual friends but there is nothing romantic going on between them yet.

DailyMail.com confirmed the report with a source revealing that they 'aren't dating even though they were just seen with each other. They are very friendly with each other.'

An officer was seen stepping out of a police vehicle and made his way over to Kendall's parked car

Jenner's latest interaction with police comes after she sparked speculation that she posted an image with her ex, Bad Bunny, in New Year's Eve photos she uploaded to Instagram on Monday

Fans speculated the man standing at the front, clad in a white and brown outfit with a wine glass in hand, may have been the 29-year-old hitmaker born Benito Martinez Ocasio

However, the insider said that rekindling their romance in the future is possible if they are able to spend more time with each other.

'Something might happen when they have more time to spend with other, but they are not giving it time it would deserve to make it work,' the source added.

In mid-December, it was reported that the 818 Tequila founder and Bad Bunny split after almost a year together.

Kendall also shared additional snaps of the trip earlier last week as she posed up a storm on the beach, and in one picture, posed with her BFF Hailey.

An insider told TMZ that they hung out because of their mutual friends but there is nothing romantic going on between them yet; former couple seen in September 2023 in Milan

Kendall also shared previous snaps as she posed up a storm on the beach, and in one picture, posed with her BFF Hailey

Jenner showed off her toned frame wearing a fitted, cream-colored sheer dress that contained a large cutout on the front. The Rhode founder was radiant in a white dress that also clung to her fit physique.

In the caption of the post, The Kardashians star reflected on entering 2024 and penned, 'years pass, and they seem faster and faster. presence and time is all i can ask for.'

'So grateful for what has past, so optimistic for what's to come. go love on the people you hold close to your heart, and don't waste a second .'

'2024, shower me with love and laughter, gratitude and growth, patience and presence,' she concluded.
Border police welcome Chinese People's Police Day

(People's Daily App) 17:14, January 10, 2024

As January 10 marks the fourth Chinese People's Police Day, immigration administration police officers in Tacheng, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Sunday welcomed the festival with a border inspection. They vowed in front of the police flag to safeguard the security and stability of the borderland.

(Source: Shijie App-Xinjiang Entry Exit Border Inspection Station)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Damon Dash is asking for a reduction in the amount of child support the court has awarded his ex-wife Rachel Roy to care for their youngest daughter, as he said in court docs he made less than $6,000 in 2022.

The 52-year-old music executive and the 49-year-old fashion designer, who were wed from 2005-2009, are parents to two daughters: model Ava Dash, 24, and Tallulah Dash, 15.

He is also father to son Dame 'Boogie' Dash, 32, with ex Linda Williams; son Lucky, 19, with ex Cindy Morales; and three-year-old son Dusko with fiancee Raquel Horn.

The Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder is currently paying around $3,000 monthly in child support for Tallulah, TMZ reported Tuesday after reviewing court documents.

He said in court docs that the most he can afford to pay on a monthly basis is $428, according to the outlet.

Damon Dash, 52, is asking for a reduction in the amount of child support the court has awarded his ex-wife Rachel Roy to care for their youngest daughter, as he said in court docs he made less than $6,000 for the entire year. Pictured in 2019 in Burbank, California

Roy and Dash, who were wed from 2005-2009, are parents to two daughters: model Ava Dash, 24, and Tallulah Dash, 15. Roy pictured in NYC in 2018

The New York City native referred to ongoing 'struggling business ventures' as a reason for his lack of income, the outlet reported.

Dash said he has been unable to earn at the level he was accustomed to since the coronavirus pandemic struck nearly four years ago.

He told the court that he made $5,140 in 2022, illustrating how his earnings have plummeted in recent years.

In a response filed with the court, Roy said that Dash was not fully forthcoming about his earnings in his statement to the court, TMZ reported.

She said that he continues to profit off his considerable share of Roc-A-Fella Records and other lucrative business endeavors he was not including in his accounting to the court.

A judge is slated to rule on the case, according to the outlet.

Dash has past had legal issues stemming from child support, as he was arrested in New York City in November of 2019 in connection with $404,000 in unpaid child support to Roy and Morales.

Dash subsequently appeared on Good Day New York, where he said that his arrest was the result of 'a set-up.'

Damon in 2022 shared to social media a pic of his two youngest children, Tallulah, 15, and Dusko, 3

Dash was seen in an Instagram Stories clip Tuesday instructing his youngest son with musical equipment

Roy was seen donning a winter outfit on her Instagram page last month

Said Dash: 'It's all about business. It's about these lawyers, they try to manipulate things and they don't care if they ruin your life.'

Dash said that Roy was in control of the child support payment disbursements at the time, and 'what she would do is not pay the child support, step down as manager and never correct the situation.'

He added: 'The way I had the child support situated it would go into the company - Rachel Roy - she was the manager of the company, and she would pay the child support.'
Marvel Studios released its latest superhero series to Disney+ on Wednesday with the Hawkeye spin-off seeing actress Alaqua Cox reprise her role as Maya Lopez.

Echo is the action packed origin story of the Choctaw superhero who has fled New York City after shooting supervillain crime lord Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio).

But the best thing about the Sydney Freeland and Catriona McKenzie directed five-part series? It's the first Marvel show to release all of its episodes at once.

Fans can now view all five episodes on Disney+ and watch in suspense as Maya - a deaf amputee - explores her superhero origins and Native American roots.

'No bad deed goes unpunished' as the adopted daughter of Wilson - villain name Kingpin - returns home to confront her own family and legacy.

Marvel Studios released its latest superhero series to Disney+ on Wednesday with the Hawkeye spin-off seeing actress Alaqua Cox (pictured) reprise her role as Maya Lopez

The thrilling series picks up from the finale of Hawkeye which saw Maya shoot Wilson in the head after discovering he set up her real father to be killed.

But alas, the Kingpin can't be taken down that easy as he returns in Echo with an eyepatch over his bullet wound.

'Maya. I see everything that you are. I always have,' the super strong crime lord tells her in the heart racing trailer.

Echo is the action packed origin story of the Choctaw superhero who has fled New York City after shooting supervillain crime lord Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D'Onofrio (pictured)

But the best thing about the Sydney Freeland and Catriona McKenzie directed five-part series? It's the first Marvel show to release all of its episodes at once

'You have so much pain in you. So much rage. That you can't contain it. You and I are the same. So, who's the monster?' he added.

Echo also stars Chaske Spencer who plays Henry 'Black Crow' Lopez, Maya's well-intentioned uncle with a troubled past and a roller-skating rink.

Graham Greene plays Skully, a grandfather figure for Maya, while Tantoo Cardinal plays her real estranged grandmother Chula.

Meanwhile, Devery Jacobs and Cody Lightning play Bonnie and Biscuits respectively, Maya's cousins and closest friends.
Home and Away fans were left aggravated by the new season premiere.

On Tuesday, the abduction storyline involving Remi Carter and Eden Fowler played out in Summer Bay, keeping the audience on tenterhooks, but there was one detail that ruined their experience.

Many fans took to a dedicated Facebook group for the show to criticise Channel 7 for the excessive number of advertisements aired during the episode.

One individual lamented that they only actually saw '10 minutes of Home and Away.'

In a thread inviting group members to discuss the episodes events, one fan sarcastically wrote, 'Well not much to talk about unless we want to chat about the high volume of ads.'

Home and Away fans were left aggravated by the new season premiere.

Many fans took to a dedicated Facebook group for the show to criticise Channel 7 for the excessive number of advertisements aired during the episode. One individual lamented that they only actually saw '10 minutes of Home and Away'

One Facebook user called the ads 'bulls***' while another said it was 'the worst.'

'I counted 9 in the 1st break,' wrote another observant Home and Away fan.

While another claimed they did not mind the Aldi ads, 'at least those are usually funny.'

The Aussie soap opera made a spectacular return to screens on Monday night, with Cash organising a lightning-fast search party, a detail skewered by other observant fans.

'I thought you had to wait 24 hours before a person is reported missing. The search party got there pretty quickly lol,' said one viewer, with another adding 'What an absolute load of crap!'

Additionally, some fans voiced their opinions on other moments in the show they viewed as questionable.

In a thread inviting group members to discuss the episode's events, one fan sarcastically wrote, 'Well not much to talk about unless we want to chat about the high volume of ads'

'So Leah is still recovering from the trauma of being kidnapped and now Eden has been kidnapped. Too many kidnappings in Summer Bay!' complained one fan.

'Why hasn't he noticed the loo paper missing, how many rolls did they have?' someone else asked.

'Why hasn't he noticed the lamp missing? And isn't that the first thing they ask you is, is anything else missing from the campsite?' griped another person.

It comes after fans were left baffled by last year's finale, where the abduction storyline was launched.

Home and Away fans were left confused after last year's dramatic finale. In a plot twist, the lives of Remi and Eden (pictured) hung precariously in the balance after a tense murder attempt and double kidnapping

In a gripping twist, the lives of characters Remi and Eden hung precariously in the balance after a tense murder attempt and double kidnapping.

The suspense unfolded when Remi became the victim of a hit-and-run by two individuals driving under the influence.

Later, when Eden came across the culprits, they incapacitated her and she awoke in the same car as Remi, who appeared to be either unconscious or dead.

But the cliffhanger finale concluded with a public plea from Cash (pictured) urgently asking for assistance in locating Eden as a mysterious 1800 phone number flashed on screen

Since the episode aired, several Home and Away fans have dialled the number shown and shared their discoveries with others

But the cliffhanger finale concluded with a public plea from Cash, urgently asking for assistance in locating Eden as a mysterious 1800 phone number flashed on screen.

Since the episode aired, several Home and Away fans have dialled the number shown and shared their discoveries with others.

'If you ring the number, you hear what Cash says to her on his voice message that he left,' one fan claimed.

'It's just weird to have an 1800 to call,' said another, who suggested it was a dated way to appeal to the public.

'Mine said the number has been disconnected!' another person claimed.

'When I rang, it was engaged, so I would say a lot of people tried haha,' joked another Summer Bay enthusiast.

'I've called it like 10 times haha soon there gonna tell me to stop calling,' remarked another keen viewer.
Lisa Curry revealed she is in 'recovery' following the tragic death of her daughter Jaimi aged 33 in 2020.

The retired Olympic swimmer, 61, said she's finally gotten herself back to the gym after '3 1/2 years of sadness and grief'.

Her recent sessions with a personal trainer, posted to Instagram on Tuesday, were necessitated by her hip replacement surgery last year.

Lisa injured herself last January while husky dog sledding in Yukon, Canada.

She slipped on the ice which caused her to fall and break her hip.

Lisa Curry, 61, (right) revealed on Wednesday she is in 'recovery' following the tragic death of her daughter Jaimi (left) aged 33 in 2020. Both pictured

Sharing a clip of herself sweating after a brutal work out, Lisa wrote: 'I feel like I have abs today but sadly it's still a slab patience, baby steps, one workout at a time.'

'It's taken 3 1/2 years of sadness and grief to get to where I am. And that's ok. You have to be ready to make changes.

'And at times I tried, but I wasn't ready. There's no point starting when your head is not in the right space.'

The retired Olympic swimmer said she's finally gotten herself back to the gym after '3 1/2 years of sadness and grief'

'It's taken 3 1/2 years of sadness and grief to get to where I am. And that's ok. You have to be ready to make changes,' she wrote

'But one workout and I remembered what I need to do move,' she added.

The former athlete went on to say 'every muscle hurts' but she's ultimately looking forward to this next active stage of her life after grieving the loss of her daughter.

Jaimi, who Lisa shared with ex-husband Grant Kenny, passed away in September 2020 after a long battle with alcoholism and an eating disorder.

Her recent personal training sessions were necessary after she broke her hip while dog sledding on ice in Yukon, Canada last January

Lisa and Grant Kenny wed in 1984, separated in 2009, and welcomed three children together: son Jett, 29, and daughters Morgan, 32, and Jaimi.

Jaimi died at Sunshine Coast University Hospital on September 14, 2020, surrounded by her family.

Announcing the sad news on social media at the time, Lisa wrote: 'Our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday morning with her loving family by her side.'

For confidential support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Julianne Moore was glittering and gleaming as she attended the Academy's 14th Annual Governors Awards, which were held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood on Tuesday.

The Oscar winner easily defied her 63 years in a silver-sequin caped Valentino gown selected by stylist Kate Young, who accessorized the look with lab grown diamond jewelry from Pandora.

Hairstylist Halley Brisker coiffed Julianne's (born Julie Anne Smith) signature auburn waves for the film festivities.

Moore prepped her youthful complexion with esthetician Fabricio Ormonde before make-up artist Elaine Offers Woulard gave her a smoky eye and pink cheeks.

The May December actress is eager to find out whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will nominate herself or her film on January 23 for the 96th Academy Awards, which air March 10 on ABC.

Julianne Moore was glittering and gleaming as she attended the Academy's 14th Annual Governors Awards, which were held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood on Tuesday

Joining Julianne on the black carpet was her May December leading man Charles Melton who, at 33, is 30 years younger than her.

Moore beamed at the Riverdale heartthrob, who's getting rave reviews as her character Gracie Atherton-Yoo's husband Joe Yoo.

Charles' hair was styled by groomer Candice Birns and he looked dapper in a black-velvet Giorgio Armani suit and loafers selected by stylist Samantha McMillen.

Todd Haynes' critically-acclaimed $20M-budget drama centers on actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), who researches the sex offender-turned-baker in order to more authentically play her in an indie film.

The two-time Emmy winner's character is a thinly-veiled version of Mary Kay Letourneau, who served six years in prison for felony second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau.

The controversial couple eventually married for 12 years until their 2019 separation and Mary passed away, age 58, from colorectal cancer in 2020.

Last Thursday, Vili Fualaau claimed he was never contacted by Melton, Haynes, nor screenwriter Samy Burch about May December.

'I'm still alive and well. If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead, they chose to do a ripoff of my original story,' the 40-year-old DJ told THR.

The Oscar winner easily defied her 63 years in a silver-sequin caped Valentino gown selected by stylist Kate Young

Hairstylist Halley Brisker coiffed Julianne's (born Julie Anne Smith) signature auburn waves for the film festivities

Moore prepped her youthful complexion with esthetician Fabricio Ormonde before make-up artist Elaine Offers Woulard gave her a smoky eye and pink cheeks

The May December actress is eager to find out whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will nominate herself or her film on January 23 for the 96th Academy Awards, which air March 10 on ABC

Joining Julianne on the black carpet was her May December leading man Charles Melton who, at 33, is 30 years younger than her

Moore beamed at the Riverdale heartthrob, who's getting rave reviews as her character Gracie Atherton-Yoo's husband Joe Yoo

Charles' hair was styled by groomer Candice Birns and he looked dapper in a black-velvet Giorgio Armani suit and loafers selected by stylist Samantha McMillen

Todd Haynes' (M) critically-acclaimed $20M-budget drama centers on actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), who researches the sex offender-turned-baker in order to more authentically play her in an indie film

The two-time Emmy winner's character is a thinly-veiled version of Mary Kay Letourneau (R), who served six years in prison for felony second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau (L)

The controversial couple eventually married for 12 years until their 2019 separation and Mary passed away, age 58, from colorectal cancer in 2020

Last Thursday, Vili Fualaau claimed to THR he was never contacted by Melton, Haynes, nor screenwriter Samy Burch about May December: 'I'm offended by the entire project'

Julianne told ET on Sunday she was 'sorry' to learn that the 40-year-old DJ was offended, but stressed that the story was ultimately fictional: 'We created these characters'

'I'm offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me  who lived through a real story and is still living it.'

Julianne told ET on Sunday she was 'sorry' to learn that Fualaau was offended, but stressed that the story was ultimately fictional.

'I mean, Todd was always very clear when we were working on this movie that this was an original story, this was a story about these characters,' Moore defended.

'So that's how we looked at it, too. This was our document, we created these characters from the page and together.'

On Tuesday, the Sharper producer-star Instastoried a snap of her make-up artist Elaine Offers Woulard twinning with her second husband Bart Freundlich.

Julianne - who boasts 2.5M Instagram followers - captioned the snap: 'I like my husband and my makeup artist to dress alike!'

Moore and the With/In director - turning 54 next week - are proud parents of 26-year-old son Caleb Moore Freundlich and 21-year-old daughter Liv Helen Freundlich.

Caleb - who graduated from NYU in 2022 - released his first R&B single Missed Me on October 26 under the name Caleb Moore, and he also serves as part-time adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

On Tuesday, Moore Instastoried a snap of her make-up artist Elaine Offers Woulard (R) twinning with her second husband Bart Freundlich (L): 'I like my husband and my makeup artist to dress alike!'

The Sharper producer-star and the With/In director - turning 54 next week - are proud parents of 26-year-old son Caleb Moore Freundlich (M, pictured January 1) and 21-year-old daughter Liv Helen Freundlich (R)

Meanwhile, Liv is currently a senior at Northwestern University in Illinois.

The Boston University grad originally met Bart 28 years ago when he directed her on the set of his film The Myth of Fingerprints, and they wed over 20 years ago.

Julianne divorced her first husband, stage director John Gould Rubin, in 1995 after nine years of marriage.
DJ Fat Tony has shared shocking throwback snaps from when he was battling drug addiction, as he celebrated 17 years sober on Wednesday.

The music star, 57, real name Tony Marnach, bravely opened up about his transformation, revealing he was homeless and had no teeth due to his habit.

He added that he posts the images each year as a 'message' to anyone struggling and to remind people to never give up.

Sharing the candid post with his Instagram followers, Tony wrote: 'This was me just over 17 years ago I was dying from addiction I hated myself and life and all I had to look forward to was death. I was homeless and had no teeth.

'Today I am celebrating 17 YEARS CLEAN AND SOBER and love life. I post these pictures every year as a message that when you think that life can't get any worse it can only get better. Never take anything for granted and never ever give up.

DJ Fat Tony has shared shocking throwback snaps from when he was battling drug addiction, as he celebrated 17 years sober on Wednesday

The music star, 57, real name Tony Marnach, bravely opened up about his transformation, revealing he was homeless and had no teeth due to his habit

'Thank you to each and every one of you that have shown me love and shown me a new way to LIVE thank you from the bottom of my heart x'

He discovered drugs when he was 18 and would convince himself that he couldn't DJ unless he was high, sometimes going four or five nights straight without sleeping.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline during Boohoo's Forbidden Forest Festival last year, Tony opened up about giving up substances: 'Alcohol and drugs aren't the problem, I'm the problem.

'Being around it is no longer a problem for me because I choose not to do it. People ask me if I miss it and I think 'are you insane?'

'My life is so incredible because of the things I don't do, if I started doing those things again my life would be over, my career would be over.'

Tony had an epiphany and he soon quit drugs cold turkey, spending six months in rehab to beat the addiction.

He added: 'The first 3 months I thought how am I going to do this because for me there was no second chances, I'd reached the end of the road with drink and drugs.

He added that he posts the images each year as a 'message' to anyone struggling and to remind people to never give up

Sharing the candid post with his Instagram followers, Tony wrote: 'This was me just over 17 years ago I was dying from addiction I hated myself and life and all I had to look forward to was death. I was homeless and had no teeth.'

'I got to 7 stone, I had no teeth, I was completely gone. Suddenly the pilot light came on one night and the love from one person saved my life.

'From that moment on I chose to go to rehab for 6 months and then come to London, it was a really big thing because I knew at that point I would never go back.'

It comes after Tony announced he is engaged to partner Stavros Agapiou.

Tony surprised his creative director boyfriend, 30, by popping the question during a romantic trip to New York City in October last year.

In a sweet clip Tony shared to Instagram on Tuesday, he looked thrilled when Stavros said yes after getting down on one knee in front of a fountain in Central Park.

He penned: 'When you find real happiness in life never let it go today I can truly say Im the happiest Ive ever been.

'I went to Central Park to this magical fountain and asked the man that has changed my life in so many ways and helped show me that I can be loved and how too love to marry me and make me complete and he said YES Im so overwhelmed with joy.'

Meanwhile, his partner shared a loved-up snap of the pair in bed and wrote: 'Sunrise in bed with the FIANCE'

It comes after Tony announced in October he is engaged to partner Stavros Agapiou

He penned: 'When you find real happiness in life never let it go today I can truly say Im the happiest Ive ever been'

The couple's celeb pals rushed to the comment section to congratulate them, with Gemma Collins: 'Crying with happiness  for you both Im so happy CONGRATULATIONS'

Paloma Faith: 'Congratulations to you both you make me sick'

Alison Hammond: 'Congratulations such wonderful news'

Tony's upcoming wedding is set to have a star-studded guest list and performance from an A-list pop star.

According to The Sun, Boy George will be his best man and the reception will feature a performance from Kylie Minogue.
Jodie Foster showed off her chic sense of style on Tuesday evening as she attended the premiere for True Detective: Night Country.

The actress, 61, looked sophisticated in a satin beige blazer that boasted a unique structured silhouette.

She teamed it with a pair of matching smart trousers, a chunky gold chain and small diamond earrings.

Jodie boosted her height with a pair of tan lace high heels, while toting a cream quilted clutch purse.

The Oscar-winner stars in the fourth series of hit anthology series True Detective as Chief of police, Liz Danvers.

Jodie Foster showed off her chic sense of style on Tuesday evening as she attended the premiere for True Detective: Night Country

The actress, 61, looked sophisticated in a satin beige blazer that boasted a unique structured silhouette

She teamed it with a pair of matching smart trousers, a chunky gold chain and small diamond earrings

The series is set in the fictional town in Alaska and centres on the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of eight scientist from an Arctic research station.

Jodie stars opposite Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw, Christopher Eccleston, Finn Bennett, Isabella Star LaBlanc and John Hawkes.

Issa Lopez serves as showrunner, writer, and director for the series, which is due to air on January 14 on HBO.

True Detective: Night Country has already been critically acclaimed in early reviews and scored an approval rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jodie looked excited at the premiere as she posed with Issa, who put on a daring display in a black silk shirt, left unbuttoned to show off her bra.

She teamed it with an elegant long black maxi skirt and added a touch of sparkle with a silver diamond necklace and matching earrings.

Christopher looked animated on the black carpet, as he donned a beige jumper and black jeans.

He added a pair of shiny black dress shoes and layered a camel houndstooth patterned coat over the top.

Jodie boosted her height with a pair of tan lace high heels, while toting a cream quilted clutch purse

The Oscar-winner stars in the fourth series of hit anthology series True Detective as Chief of police, Liz Danvers

The series is set in the fictional town in Alaska and centres on the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of eight scientist from an Arctic research station

Jodie stars opposite Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw (pictured), Christopher Eccleston, Finn Bennett, Isabella Star LaBlanc and John Hawkes.

Jodie looked excited at the premiere as she posed with Issa Lopez, who put on a daring display in a black silk shirt, left unbuttoned to show off her bra

Issa - who serves as showrunner, writer, and director for the series - added an elegant long black maxi skirt, a silver diamond necklace and matching earrings

Christopher Eccleston looked animated on the black carpet, as he donned a beige jumper and black jeans

He added a pair of shiny black dress shoes and layered a camel houndstooth patterned coat over the top

Patton Oswalt was also in attendance with his wife Meredith Salenger, cutting a casual figure in jeans, red trainers and a patterned shirt.

Gabriel Luna looked handsome in a brown leather and shearling jacket teamed with a white wife-beater.

He added black jeans and a leather belt with a chunky silver buckle, completing the look with a beaded pendant necklace.

Jodie's co-star Kali looked edgy in an asymmetrical black blazer and coordinating skirt, with black buckled platform boots.

The professional boxer turned actress added fishnets, a statement silver necklace and rectangular earrings, while sporting graphic black eyeliner.

Finn Bennett looked suave in an open-collared and eye-catching bright red shirt under a fitted black suit.

While Isabella put on a leggy display in a patent leather minidress under a cropped black blazer.

She added black high heels and a star-spangled handbag, while wearing beaded clips in her hair that read: 'Protect Women'.

Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones also attended the premiere in an all-black ensemble, sporting leather trousers and a long tailored coat.

Patton Oswalt was also in attendance with his wife Meredith Salenger, cutting a casual figure in jeans, red trainers and a patterned shirt

Gabriel Luna looked handsome in a brown leather and shearling jacket teamed with a white wife-beater

He added black jeans and a leather belt with a chunky silver buckle, completing the look with a beaded pendant necklace

Jodie's co-star Kali looked edgy in an asymmetrical black blazer and coordinating skirt, with black buckled platform boots

The professional boxer turned actress added fishnets, a statement silver necklace and rectangular earrings, while sporting graphic black eyeliner

While Isabella put on a leggy display in a patent leather minidress under a cropped black blazer

She added black high heels and a star-spangled handbag, while wearing beaded clips in her hair that read: 'Protect Women'
Jackie 'O' Henderson got in some quality time with 12-year-old daughter Kitty on Wednesday night as the pair went out for a lavish dinner.

The mother-daughter duo dined in style at the tapas bar Una Mas in Coogee, where they snacked on a mouth-watering red meat dish.

Posting a picture of the pair to Instagram, the radio star, 48, looked every inch the doting mother as she spent a 'date night' with her only child.

Jackie and her daughter were a matching pair with their sleek golden locks and near identical black designer glasses.

While the media personality opted for a strapless number, her pre-teen rocked a bright blue one-shouldered top with a pair of white slacks.

Jackie 'O' Henderson, 48, (right) got in some quality time with 12-year-old daughter Kitty (left) on Wednesday night as the pair went out for a lavish dinner

It comes just a day after Jackie bid farewell to Bali following an extended stay in the tourist hotspot.

But the television presenter nearly showed the Indonesian province more than she bargained for when she nearly suffered a wardrobe malfunction on Tuesday.

In a pool snap, the KIIS FM breakfast host almost tumbled out of her skimpy bikini top while reclining in the water.

The mother-daughter duo dined in style at the tapas bar Una Mas in Coogee, where they snacked on a mouth-watering red meat dish

Jackie made the most of her spectacular physique in a red and white striped swimsuit, which she paired with a distinctive pair of red framed sunglasses.

In another post she said, 'So long Bali,' as the star prepared to depart after her island holiday.

Fans recently expressed their concern about Jackie's changing figure and urged the blonde to stop losing weight.

It comes just a day after Jackie bid farewell to Bali following an extended stay in the tourist hotspot

'Jackie you're starting to lose too much weight,' one person commented underneath an Instagram post last week.

'Jackie you look amazing no more weight loss,' a second wrote while another said: 'That does not look like Jackie.'

One person also added: 'Jackie u need to eat.'

Despite some fans expressing concern, others defended the radio host and insisted she is looking great.
Lorraine Kelly has been cleared by the media watchdog Ofcom after over 400 viewers complained that she 'body-shamed' Nigel Farage.

The outspoken broadcaster, 64, claimed she was 'traumatised' after watching the GB News star showering during his stint on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

Lorraine went onto trash Nigel's looks, claiming she was 'astonished' to find out 'he's only 59' and saying he 'got the face he deserved'.

After being told Nigel was 59, she added: 'Is he?! Is he only 59? I thought he was a hell of a lot older than that. That's astonishing, that just shows you get the face you deserve. You really do.'

The comments on the morning chat show on November 21 prompted a total of 428 complaints to Ofcom.

Lorraine Kelly has been cleared by the media watchdog Ofcom after over 400 viewers complained that she 'body-shamed' Nigel Farage

The outspoken broadcaster claimed she was 'traumatised' after watching the GB News star showering during his stint on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

Former UKIP leader Farage's social media team also called for the Scots broadcaster to apologise.

A post on his official Twitter account read: 'Has Lorraine apologised for bodyshaming Nigel Farage yet? Imagine if he made those comments about her on live TV.'

Many of Lorraine's viewers believed that she would not make the same comments about a woman.

One posted: 'I'm not a fan of Nigel, but Lorraine, that comment was below the belt. You never would say that about a woman.'

Another said: 'Can't stand all this man hating on Lorraine. Same happened to Matt Hancock.'

Ofcom assessed the comments but have now said they did not raise issues that warranted an official investigation under the Broadcasting Code.

An Ofcom spokesperson: 'We considered complaints from viewers who objected to comments made about Nigel Farage's physical appearance.

'In our view, the brief exchange between the host and a reporter were part of a light-hearted discussion about jungle life, and within audience expectations for this programme.'

The comments on the morning chat show on November 21 prompted a total of 428 complaints to Ofcom

Every time Ofcom receives a complaint from a viewer or listener, they assess it under the Broadcasting Code to see if it needs further investigation.

The Code sets standards for television and radio shows and broadcasters have to follow these rules.

Farage's team fired off a legal letter to ITV bosses for showing him naked in the I'm A Celebrity jungle shower, claiming there was an 'indecency' clause in his contract which bans the channel from showing footage of him nude.

After his bottom was seen by millions of viewers, his lawyer claimed the agreement had been broken.

Three days later, more scenes of the Brexit Party founder - who was paid 1.5 million to take part in the show - were shown of him naked in the bath.

ITV confirmed receiving the complaint but insisted there was nothing in Farage's contract that forbids them from showing him naked.
Strictly Come Dancing 2023 winners Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola have revealed they are getting matching tattoos.

The duo appeared on Wednesday's This Morning to discuss their 'great relationship', weeks after the show ended.

Host Craig Doyle bluntly asked: 'Are they a couple?'

Vito, 31, responded: 'We have a great relationship and we are going to have a tattoo - as a joke - before we got to the final we promised ourselves we would get one of an Aubergine.'

Ellie, 22, added: 'We said if we made it to the final we would get a tattoo, but it was just a joke, we didn't expect to get there!

Strictly Come Dancing 2023 winners Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola have revealed they are getting matching tattoos

Vito continued: 'At the end we decided to do a B with the body of an Aubergine because a B is a Brazilian insect. But that is a symbol of our bond.'

The former Coronation Street star, who left her long-running role as Faye Windass on the ITV1 soap just months before taking to the dance floor, added that dancing has become a 'huge part' of her life.

She said: 'Dancing helps me in a lot of ways and it has become a huge part of my life. It's something that I really, really fell in love with, and if we can kind of help people feel the same way then that is amazing.

'I don't think it will ever sink in, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I still cannot believe that we won. I have watched that video over and over and over again and I still can not believe it.

'It was such an emotional time and it kind of feels like a dream. It kind of feels like it didn't happen but it was the best dream ever.'

It comes after Strictly Come Dancing winner Ellie and Vito Coppola saw in the new year in very different ways.

Ellie took to Instagram to share New Year's Eve snaps ahead of her night out with a friend, while Vito, 31, got down and dirty on his family's farm in Italy.

The duo appeared on Wednesday's This Morning to discuss their 'great relationship', weeks after the show ended

Host Craig Doyle bluntly asked: 'Are they a couple?'

The former Coronation Street actress showed off her toned pins in a lime green mini skirt and matching blazer, giving fans a glimpse of her enviable abs.

Vito's New Year's Instagram upload was a little different, as he told his 309,000 followers he'd been quiet because he'd been busy spending time working with his family.

The pro dancer captioned a video: 'Even though I'm a little dirty and messy I didn't want to miss this special day to wish you all a happy 2024.

'I'm very grateful for everything that's happening in my life and I have no filter in sharing it with you, because my followers know how much I don't take anything for granted and how much I like to appreciate the little things.

'I don't feel like asking for anything for myself, as I have a family that loves and supports me, even if I'm miles away.

'I have grandparents that I love more than my own life and that, even if I have to wait another year to see them, as far as I am concerned, it will always be worth it, because family is true wealth.

Vito, 31, responded: 'We have a great relationship and we are going to have a tattoo - as a joke - before we got to the final we promised ourselves we would get one of an Aubergine.'

It comes after Ellie and Vito broke their silence on rumours of a romance as they appeared on This Morning last year

'Shared love and moments together make happiness, and that's why I consider myself a lucky person and a happy boy. I don't need anything else!

'My wish goes out to all of you, so that you can always find your happiness.'

'Never stop believing in yourselves and people. A super hug like the ones I like,' he went on.

Ellie and Vito's latest posts come after they broke their silence on rumours of a romance as they appeared on This Morning last year.

The pair had been linked romantically since the start of the series, before they were crowned champions during last month's glitzy finale.

This Morning host Josie Gibson asked them: 'I've got to ask because the chemistry between you is magic. We've seen you on that dancefloor and it was so beautiful to watch.

'Is there any romance between you guys. Are the rumours true or not?'

Ellie then replied: 'Honestly, we've just been having the most amazing time dancing and we've built a really strong bond and a friendship that will last forever.'

Vito echoed: 'We have a really beautiful bond, a good bond. When you see a person and you connect with a person straight away.

The pair had been linked romantically since the start of the series, before they were crowned champions during last month's glitzy finale

'I'm a very first impression and when we met, we had that feeling that we knew each other for so long. I'm so so lucky to have you in my life.'

Josie's co-host Craig Doyle then continued to probe, adding: 'There's 100 per cent romance, 100 per cent... I can see it.'

Ellie and Vito then quickly exclaimed: 'No, no.'

Ellie went on: 'We've been through so much together, we've spent everyday together for the past three months.

'So we're really really lucky to have that bond that we've got and we'll be friends for life.'
Amanda Abbington cut a glum figure on Tuesday as she was seen for the first time since she claimed her stint on Strictly Come Dancing left her with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The actress, 51, was paired with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, but quit the BBC One series mid-series last year citing 'personal issues'.

It has now been reported that she has claimed the show left her with PTSD and demanded footage of rehearsals to highlight the Italian's 'tense' and 'full-on' training methods, which allegedly caused her much grief.

Amanda was seen looking tense as she left a Tube station in North London after her claims were made public.

She wrapped up from the chilly weather in a long coat, a cream knitted beanie and fingerless gloves.

Amanda Abbington cut a glum figure on Tuesday as she was seen for the first time since she claimed her stint on Strictly Come Dancing left her with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

The actress, 51, was paired with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, but quit the BBC One series mid-series last year citing 'personal issues' (pictured on show)

It has now been reported that she has claimed the show left her with PTSD and demanded footage of rehearsals to highlight the Italian's 'tense' and 'full-on' training methods, which allegedly caused her much grief

She donned a navy jumper and matching wide-legged trousers, adding casual trainers and a green tote bag as she strolled down the street.

Meanwhile, Giovanni was spotted in West London the same day after rehearsing for his upcoming live tour, Let Me Entertain You.

Amanda left Strictly during week five in October and failed to return for the final, where eliminated celebrities took part in a group dance.

Amanda was praised by the judges for her performances on the show but it was claimed she was struggling behind the scenes.

After her departure, it was alleged she struggled with Giovanni's 'militant approach to training', with her time on the show said to have been 'plagued by difficulties'.

An inside source told The Telegraph: 'It could be that she didn't know what she let herself in for.

'He [Giovanni] was quite tough and she found that difficult. If she wasn't very well, that wouldn't have helped.

'She was with a partner that had a certain training style that she couldn't cope with. Whether that came to a head or whether there's something else going on I don't know.'

Amanda was seen looking tense as she left a Tube station in North London after her claims were made public

She wrapped up from the chilly weather in a long coat, a cream knitted beanie and fingerless gloves

She donned a navy jumper and matching wide-legged trousers, adding casual trainers and a green tote bag as she strolled down the street

Meanwhile, Giovanni was spotted in West London the same day after rehearsing for his upcoming live tour, Let Me Entertain You

Now it has been reported that she is seeking footage of their rehearsals to back up her claims as she seeks legal advice.

An on-set source told The Sun: 'The BBC have received a request for the footage they hold of Amanda and Giovanni. It is known as a data subject access request.

'There is a feeling that the recordings will lift the lid on what really goes on behind the scenes on Strictly. Things in rehearsals can become very tense.

'Giovanni is a perfectionist and he can be incredibly full-on.'

A friend of Amanda told the publication it has taken her months to recover from her Strictly experience and she has needed therapy.

They said: 'Amanda has been left broken and saddened by the whole experience. She has needed therapy and was left in shock by the behaviour she was exposed to.

'Everyone else was having a fabulous time, but she was really stressed by having to spend eight hours a day with Giovanni. She spent a lot of time crying and couldnt sleep or eat properly.'

The pal added that Amanda found the negative response she got on social media for not mentioning Giovanni in her exit statement difficult, but insisted her family and friends had been there to support her.

Amanda left Strictly during week five in October and failed to return for the final, where eliminated celebrities took part in a group dance

After her departure, it was alleged she struggled with Giovanni's 'militant approach to training', with her time on the show said to have been 'plagued by difficulties'

It was reported she had quit the show after clashing with Giovanni, but she dismissed claims of a fallout at the time.

Sources at the BBC are ready to fight the Sherlock star over her claims the show had traumatised her, saying that  at the time  she told them she was quitting due to a different medical reason.

A source told the Mail: 'Amanda's reason for quitting Strictly was an entirely different one to her PTSD.

'She told production of a totally different medical condition and they [were] hugely supportive of her and did all they could to help.

'Nobody seems to quite understand what is going on here.'

It is understood that first BBC chiefs knew about her PTSD was late last year when they received a request for the tapes.

There is added confusion because Amanda quickly shot down suggestions  made before the show aired in September  that she and Giovanni had fallen out.

On Instagram, she dismissed the claims as 'bulls****' and told people to, 'Shut up, it's b******s.'

Now it has been reported that she is seeking footage of their rehearsals to back up her claims as she seeks legal advice

A friend of Amanda told the publication it has taken her months to recover from her Strictly experience and she has needed therapy

The pal added that Amanda found the negative response she got on social media for not mentioning Giovanni in her exit statement difficult, but insisted her family and friends had been there to support her

During broadcasts, she and the Italian dancer  who has worked on the show since 2015  were seen hugging and appearing to be friends.

One Strictly source said: 'All you'd see at the studio were the pair of them hugging and kissing.'

Twinkle-toed star Giovanni was also reportedly only given the news of Amanda's exit a few hours before the official statement was released.

A source told the Daily Star: 'Amanda didn't tell Giovanni she had decided to quit the show. The first he heard was a call from a producer.

'This has really annoyed him. He's barely heard from her for 10 days. She hasn't been replying to messages or telling him what's happening.

'He's been complaining about it to friends. He's frustrated. He is worried the drama will be damaging for his career and make him look bad.'

However, according to reports, BBC bosses are sticking behind Giovanni in the wake of the feud.

According to The Sun, bosses arranged a call between Giovanni's management and Strictly executives where they offered him their full support and checked in on his mental health.

Sources at the BBC are ready to fight the Sherlock star over her claims the show had traumatised her, saying that  at the time  she told them she was quitting due to a different medical reason

There is added confusion because Amanda quickly shot down suggestions  made before the show aired in September  that she and Giovanni had fallen out

Giovanni is understood to have been assured that his place on the show is secure.

A source said: 'It's no secret Gio and Amanda had a tricksy relationship  but there are two sides to every story.

'Bosses arranged a call between his management and show execs to discuss recent coverage and make sure he was OK as obviously he's faced a hell of a lot of stick over the past couple of months.

'The feeling is he is a tough taskmaster, but hasn't bullied or abused anyone. The BBC see him as a key face of Strictly and will do all they can to support him.'

The BBC broke their silence on the bombshell accusations on Monday, with a spokesperson releasing a new statement that read: 'The BBC offers a comprehensive range of support to all individuals taking part in our shows.

'Strictly Come Dancing has always taken duty of care incredibly seriously and there is a constant dialogue between senior members of the production team and the contestants to ensure any concerns are addressed swiftly.'

The spokesperson continued to tell The Sun: 'Strictly has a proud track record as a joyful, positive experience where robust support and assistance is always made available at every stage of the production.'

The Mirror also reported that BBC bosses were left bemused at Amanda's requests for the rehearsal footage as Giovanni's conduct had 'never crossed the line'.

Twinkle-toed star Giovanni was also reportedly only given the news of Amanda's exit a few hours before the official statement was released

However, according to reports, BBC bosses are sticking behind Giovanni in the wake of the feud, checking on his mental health and assuring that his place on the show is secure

The publication also reported that after speaking to Giovanni after the PTSD claims, a BBC source added the allegations were 'excessive'.

According to show insiders, Amanda called for cameras to be put up in rehearsal rooms as she became increasingly unhappy with his attitude.

After her request, The Sun claims BBC bosses had a meeting with Giovanni over his conduct, but no action was taken.

A source told the publication: 'Some of the professionals and crew feel it needs to be dealt with and Giovanni shouldnt come back this year.

'The BBC are standing behind Giovanni and wont be pursuing an investigation, its a shock to some on the show who think something needs to be done about his behaviour.

'Amanda had a really tough time with him and she isnt the only one. Four more of his partners have either talked openly about how hard it was working with him or have made it clear in the industry.'

However, his Strictly co-stars are said to be rallying around him, with a source telling the Mirror: 'There is a general feeling that the criticism is grossly unfair.'

His former partner Debbie McGee, who he was partnered with on the show in 2017, came out in defence of him on Monday.

The Mirror also reported that BBC bosses were left bemused at Amanda's requests for the rehearsal footage as Giovanni's conduct had 'never crossed the line'

His former partner Debbie McGee, who he was partnered with on the show in 2017, came out in defence of him on Monday (pictured together in 2018)

The magician's assistant, 65, shared a throwback snap of the pair on Instagram, insisting they got on well while working together, while Giovanni commented thanking her

The magician's assistant, 65, shared a throwback snap of the pair on Instagram, insisting they got on well while working together.

Debbie captioned the post: 'Happy memories, Giovanni and I had the best of times on Strictly.'

Twinkle-toed star Giovanni took to the comments section of the post to express his gratitude, writing: 'Love you  thank you'.

While, Giovanni's parents also defended him, saying the ballroom dancer 'was just doing his job'.

Addressing the news at the time, his father Piero and mother Rosalda admitted that their son 'trained for long hours but was just doing his job'.

Speaking to The Sun, from his home in Italy, Piero said: 'We are surprised by the fact she left the show, because everything was going ok - we thought they could have won.'

He added: 'My son is a really nice, polite and respectful boy. He always had good results with different partners and he has never had problems with them.'

Rosalda explained: 'They have to train tough hours to get some results. Giovanni has just done what he had to do. He was just doing his job.'

Giovanni has appeared on Strictly for eight consecutive years and made the final on three occasions, but Amanda is not the first celebrity to criticise his gruelling training style (pictured after 2021 win with Rose Ayling-Ellis)

In 2016, TV presenter Laura Whitmore said: 'I was placed with a dance partner I was extremely uncomfortable with and in the end, I felt broken, I cried every day' (pictured on show)

Then in 2020, Giovanni fell out with Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh as she admitted to having a 'total meltdown' in rehearsals with him (pictured on It Takes Two)

Giovanni has appeared on Strictly for eight consecutive years and made the final on three occasions, but Amanda is not the first celebrity to criticise his gruelling training style.

In 2016, TV presenter Laura Whitmore said: 'I'm still not ready to talk in-depth about my experience on the show.

'I was placed with a dance partner I was extremely uncomfortable with and in the end, I felt broken, I cried every day. And I was really broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.'

Then in 2020, Giovanni fell out with Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh as she admitted to having a 'total meltdown' in rehearsals with him.

The ITV presenter told her co-star Kate Garraway she and the dancer had a '20-minute divorce' as things became tense in training.

The Sun also claim that during her show stint, Ranvir 'flagged an issue during training with Giovanni and said she was unhappy'.

The year before he was partnered with Amanda, Giovanni was once again plagued by rumours of a feud between him and his partner.

The 2022 series saw him partnered with Richie Anderson, but it was said that the pair 'hadn't clicked' and tensions were rising off camera.

The 2022 series saw him partnered with Richie Anderson, but it was said that the pair 'hadn't clicked' and tensions were rising off camera as Giovanni was becoming frustrated with Richie not listening to him in rehearsals (pictured on It Takes Two)

According to The Sun , on Sunday night the BBC Radio 2 star unfollowed Giovanni on Instagram, a day after Amanda's claims became public, while Giovanni still follows Richie

Sources told The Sun at the time that Giovanni was becoming frustrated with Richie not listening to him in rehearsals.

Richie later hit back at the reports and insisted there was 'no problem' between them during a joint appearance on spin-off show It Takes Two.

However, according to The Sun, on Sunday night the BBC Radio 2 star unfollowed Giovanni on Instagram, a day after Amanda's claims became public.

Despite the BBC standing behind Giovanni, it has thrown the show into crisis as bosses fear contestants will refuse to pair up with the dancer in the wake of the rumours.

Show insiders believe Strictly will stand by the dancer but accept finding him a future partner will not be straightforward.

A source told MailOnline: 'The fallout between Giovanni and Amanda is causing much concern.

'Celebrity contestants usually don't mind which partner they are coupled up with as they're just happy to be on the show.

'But Giovanni's reputation has taken a further hit following Amanda's experience and they don't want to be in a position where new contestants may threaten to quit if they're paired with him.'
Jacob Elordi has received his first major award season nomination as he and Phoebe Dynevor have been named among five stars nominated for the coveted EE Rising Star prize at the 2024 British Academy Film Awards.

The Saltburn star joins the Bridgerton actress, alongside fellow nominees Ayo Edebiri, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Sophie Wilde.

The nominees were announced by Stephen Graham at a press conference hosted by Film Critic and Radio Host, Ali Plumb, on Wednesday, ahead of the ceremony on February 18th.

Nominees were selected by a panel of industry jurors including actors Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sope Dirisu and Himesh Patel as well as a host of celebrated casting directors, producers, and industry experts.

Celebrating its 19th year, the EE Rising Star Award is the only award at the EE BAFTA Film Awards voted for by the British public, with voting open until midday on 16th February.

Jacob Elordi (left) and Pheobe Dynevor (right) have been named among five stars nominated for the coveted EE Rising Star prize at the 2024 British Academy Film Awards

Joining the pair on the shortlist are Mia McKenna-Bruce (centre) and Sophie Wilde (far right), who attended the nominations announcement on Wednesday, along with Ayo Edebiri

Jacob has received critical acclaim for his performance in Emerald Fennell's racy thriller Saltburn, and also starred as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla.

He said: 'I am deeply honoured to be recognised by BAFTA and EE with a Rising Star nomination.'

Speaking about her nomination, Phoebe, who also recently starred in the thriller Fair Play, said: 'Being recognised by the EE BAFTA Film Awards for the EE Rising Star Award is a testament to the hard work of the entire team on Fair Play who brought this film to life.

'I am truly grateful for this recognition and excited to continue challenging myself with new roles and projects. Thank you to BAFTA and EE for listing me alongside this year's wonderful nominees.'

Comedian Ayo starred in the leading role of Josie in the satirial comedy Bottoms, and has also starred opposite Jeremy Allen White in breakout television show, The Bear.

She said: 'It's wonderful and humbling to receive this nomination. It's the greatest privilege to tell stories and make people laugh. I know I'm in esteemed company and this means the world.'

Mia starred in a leading role in Molly Manning-Walker's film, How to Have Sex, which follows three British teenage girls on a wild holiday to Malia.

She said: 'I have always been inspired by the work of those actors recognised in the BAFTA EE Rising Star category.

This is the first major awards nomination of Jacob's career, after he received critical acclaim for his role in Saltburn

Speaking about her nomination, Phoebe, who also recently starred in the thriller Fair Play, said: 'I am truly grateful for this recognition'

She added: 'Being recognised by the EE BAFTA Film Awards for the EE Rising Star Award is a testament to the hard work of the entire team on Fair Play who brought this film to life'

Meanwhile Sophie, who recently appeared in the horror film Talk To Me, said: 'I am so very excited and grateful to BAFTA and EE for including me in this category'

Mia McKenna-Bruce has also received a nomination, following her role in Molly Manning-Walker's film, How to Have Sex

She said: 'I have always been inspired by the work of those actors recognised in the BAFTA EE Rising Star category'

Mia, Sophie and Phoebe (left to right) beamed as they posed for snaps together

The nominees were announced by Stephen Graham at a press conference hosted by Film Critic and Radio Host, Ali Plumb

Celebrating its 19th year, the EE Rising Star Award is the only award at the EE BAFTA Film Awards voted for by the British public, with voting open until midday on 16th February

The ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 18th February, and will be hosted by David Tennant

'To hear that I now stand amongst the past and present nominees is surreal and a total dream come true. I am so very grateful, thank you to the jury.'

Meanwhile Sophie, who recently appeared in the horror film Talk To Me, said: 'I am so very excited and grateful to BAFTA and EE for including me in this category and amongst this year's brilliant nominees.

'To be recognised, and for Talk To Me, a film we all put so much love and hard work into, is a privilege.'

Ali Plumb, EE Rising Star Award host, said: 'I'm honoured to be hosting this year's EE Rising Star Award Nominees Announcement at The Savoy  what an incredible line-up! Each rising star talent deserves this spotlight, having provided extraordinary performances serving as inspiration for the next generation.

'If you haven't already, I would encourage you all to watch the nominees' films, they are all wonderful in their own way, and vote for your favourite performance.'

The full nominations shortlist for the 2024 British Academy Film Awards will be announced on Thursday, January 18.

The ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centres Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 18th February, and will be hosted by David Tennant.
Chelcee Grimes has broken her silence on her 'new relationship,' five months after sharing a kiss with her pal Christine McGuinness.

The songwriter, who previously dated Love Island star Megan Barton Hanson, was a shoulder of support for Christine when she split from her husband Paddy after 11 years of marriage.

In August last year, the pair were pictured kissing during a trip to Ibiza, but have remained tight-lipped about their bond.

However, Chelcee has now discussed her 'new relationship' while speaking on the Boots presents Taboo Talk podcast.

She said: 'It's the job I'm in and the industry I'm in, it's where I'm going to meet people, but it is weird.

Chelcee Grimes has broken her silence on her 'new relationship,' five months after sharing a kiss with her pal Christine McGuinness (pictured)

In August last year, the pair were pictured kissing during a trip to Ibiza , but have remained tight-lipped about their bond

'In a bar, would you go over to a couple and start slating them? You just wouldn't do it. The whole thing is off.

'I'm a very low key person. I'm kind of on the outskirts of everything. I love my life and the job I do, I'm very grateful and blessed, but the industry... I'm not ''in it, in it''.

'I've dated people who are more ''in it'' than me and it's a whole new world for me. It's very odd.

'If someone wants to take a picture of you then fair enough, but I don't know why. I'm really not that interesting.'

Christine and Chelcee were thought to have cooled their friendship off after it appeared that they both unfollowed one another online.

However in December last year, the pair shared snaps from their girls' trip to Amsterdam together, and Christine made a point of revealing how happy she was in a post that suggested shed had a newfound realisation about her life and her needs.

Christine still lives with comedian Paddy, 50, despite announcing their split in July 2022 after 11 years of marriage.

Christine said in December she is making the most of living in the family home she shares with her ex and their children - twins Leo and Penelope, 10, and seven-year-old Felicity - but admits the arrangement will one day have to come to an end.

However, Chelcee has now discussed her 'new relationship' while speaking on the Boots presents Taboo Talk podcast

She told Closer: 'Of course me and Paddy will be spending Christmas together because we still live in the same house.

'I think weve got to move on, but for now it works for the children. We both go in and out and weve got a schedule we try to stick to and a routine for the kids.

'The one thing we agree on more than anything is that we just want whats best for our children, and thats to be a good mum and dad.'

She added: 'So, around Christmas time, I always make sure that Im at home more than ever  I love it.'

It comes after Christine said her ex Paddy is 'dating again' while she insists she is 'not yet ready' to put herself out there once more.

She told Vicky Pattison on The Secret To... podcast: 'We talk an awful lot and we're very open. He has said to me when he's been going on a date.

'We still live in the same house. But I think both of us right now we are very much in the same place, where we're just like just don't really know what to do or where to go.

'We've been in this relationship for 16 years. I've been with him since I was 19, so my dating history before him was an absolute mess then I've had this lovely long marriage.

'I kind of don't really know where to go, where to start, and he's the same, he's very much the same. He's tried it and he's gone, "I'm not quite ready."'
The intense relationship between Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi's Saltburn characters left fans reeling.

But the real-life tension between the actors is also said to be palpable - with Barry confessing the pair 'really flirted' and have a 'brotherly' relationship off-screen after building up a close friendship on set.

The film shows Barry's character Oliver Quick be welcomed into the home of ultra-rich kid Felix Catton, played by Jacob, 26, after the pair meet at Oxford University.

Oliver's toxic infatuation with Felix sees him caught up in a web of lies and lust - culminating in one particularly eyebrow raising bathtub scene.

And after teasing fans with their budding bond throughout the film's press tour, Barry, 31, confirmed the actors' flirtatious relationship 'ain't just for the cameras'.

Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi's intense Saltburn characters left fans reeling - but the real-life tension between the actors (pictured at the premiere in November) is also said to be palpable

The film shows Barry's character Oliver Quick be welcomed into the home of ultra-rich kid Felix Catton, played by Jacob, 26, after the pair meet at Oxford University

The actors constantly gush about each other and their close friendship in interviews, with the Australian referring to his Irish co-star as 'pure electricity'.

In one interview with Vogue, the chat ended with the pair grinning at each other and Jacob telling Barry: 'You're a really talented, handsome guy', leaving the star blushing.

In pictures from the Saltburn premiere, the duo were practically giddy around each other - even pictured jokingly gazing into to one another's eyes.

The internet was awash with memes and fantasies relating to the pair, as fans fawned over their connection. 'Good God the sexual tension between Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan is electric,' one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

And the actors played up to the hype, with Barry giving his thoughts on the recently-released Jacob Elordi bathwater scented candle.

'I already have 10 of them,' he told Variety while smirking. 'They're all burning at my house right now.'

In a new interview with GQ this week, Barry shed light on the real reason why him and Jacob appear so close both on and off screen.

The Banshees of Inisherin actor said he has a very close relationship with the Euphoria star off-screen because they had to get 'comfortable' with each other due to their intimate Saltburn scenes.

Barry said he has a very close relationship with Euphoria star Jacob (pictured together at the GQ Men of the Year Party in November) off-screen as he said they had to get 'comfortable'

Barry and Jacob in a behind-the-scenes snap while filming Saltburn, posted to Instagram

Jacob said: 'Barry, what drew you to Saltburn?' Barry responded: 'When I met Emerald, she told me that she had you kind of down to do it. So, Emerald, yourself and the script... '

'I'm really flirtin',' he told GQ. 'We were constantly close. It ain't just for the cameras and the premiere[s].

'Me and Jacobhe's like a brother to me, honestly. I think when you're comfortable with someone, you can be as close as you want, you know what I mean?'

Barry again drove fans wild by revealing that the pair even had to kiss while filming - which did not make it into the final cut.

'It's not like, "Oh, don't come near me"  it's like, I'm comfortable,' Barry continued.

'We've just done a movie where we had to kiss, man. Look at the scenes we've done. You have to be comfortable with yourself.'

At hearing the news, one fan wrote: 'Somewhere, there's a version of saltburn where Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan kiss. I'm sick over this knowledge.'

Saltburn director Emerald Fennell originally had A-lister Timothee Chalamet down as who she wanted to play Oliver in the film, and it was actually Jacob who suggested Barry.

In an interview with Vogue, Barry and Jacob were asked what drew them to the film, both saying that Emerald was the key reason.

Saltburn director Emerald Fennell (centre) originally had A-lister Timothee Chalamet down as who she wanted to play Oliver in the film, and it was actually Jacob who suggested Barry

Jacob said: 'Definitely yeah, it was Emerald. Then she said she wanted Timothee Chalamet for it. And I said, "have you thought about Barry Keoghan?"'

Months before the release of the hit film, Barry and Jacob were snapped working out together at the gym in April 2023.

The pair could be seen flexing their sculpted muscles and abs while posing for a couple of snaps inside a spacious gym - in a picture shared by fitness trainer Kirk Myers.

Released on November 17, Saltburn centres around Oxford scholarship holder, Oliver and his infatuation with his upper-class friend Felix.

Oliver struggles to fit in with the super wealthy crowd that study at the elite university, however Felix soon takes him under his wing.

Sought-after Felix eventually invites down on his luck Oliver to stay at his illustrious Saltburn mansion for the Summer, igniting a season of eccentricity, partying, chaos - and ultimately, death.

A number of scenes in the explosive thriller Saltburn set the internet ablaze, including one where Oliver drink's Felix's bathwater, as well as the 'vampire sex'.

Yet one scene appears to set tongues wagging the most - when Oliver stimulates sex with the grave of the best friend he murdered.
Anne-Marie and her rapper husband Slowthai's baby joy has been revealed, after they were seen with their newborn daughter for the first time. The Voice star, 32, kept her pregnancy out of the public eye and welcomed a baby daughter called Seven - in tribute to her favourite number - two years after the couple's secret Las Vegas wedding, which was revealed last week. Over the weekend, the family-of-three were spotted hitting the road in London, with both musicians looked delighted to be spending time with their daughter.
Mariska Hargitay proudly declared she is 'stronger than Ive ever been' as she approaches her 60th birthday.

Covering the latest issue of People magazine, the TV star reflected on her upcoming milestone: 'I'm proud of it and I'm grateful.'

She turns 60 in two weeks, and then in September of this year she will celebrate the 25th anniversary of her hit series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In her latest interview, she offered a glowing appraisal of the way the of the series helped her embrace her 'power' as a woman.

'I cant imagine the show ending, and cant imagine not going on this journey with my cast, my crew,' she said. 'I have so much to look forward to.'

Mariska Hargitay proudly declared she is 'stronger than Ive ever been' as she approaches her 60th birthday; pictured in May 2023

Covering the latest issue of People magazine, the TV star reflected on her upcoming milestone: 'I'm proud of it and I'm grateful'

Mariska, whose mother was the legendary 1950s pinup Jayne Mansfield, played second fiddle on the show for the first decade.

From 1999 until 2011, the leading man on the program was Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, with Mariska offering support as Olivia Benson.

'I was the second detective alongside Elliot Stabler. He was the male lead and a little more experienced and I was trying to catch up,' she reflected.

Then, however, Christopher Meloni left the program in 2011 and Mariska was left to become the lead character on the program.

Life imitated art, as around that same time her character Olivia Benson was getting promoted, eventually ascending to the position of squad captain.

Mariska and her character have, she says, 'been on a parallel journey. Theres a thing WWOBD, what would Olivia Benson do?'

She said: 'The fans would always talk about it, and one day it hit me. I also have those moments where Ive sort of slipped into her.'

The showbiz legacy added: 'If theres a crisis, I just take over and lead like that. Being strong and fearless. Its sort of this perfect feminist story.'

She turns 60 in two weeks, and then in September of this year she will celebrate the 25th anniversary of her hit series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (pictured)

Then, however, Christopher Meloni left the program in 2011 and Mariska was left to become the lead character on the program

Mariska has had 'two diametrically opposed' reactions to the fact that her program is coming up on its silver anniversary on the air.

'One is I cant believe its been 25 years, a quarter of a century! And the other is, I cant see it any other way. I cant imagine the show ending, and cant imagine not going on this journey with my cast, my crew,' she said.

'I have so much to look forward to. And Im still growing. I like that you can be so many things at one time. Its learning to give yourself permission to be all of yourself.'

Her own ethos is to 'lead with my heart. Its hard for me to witness other peoples pain. Im like a laser. I dont do small talk very well. So I connect with people.'

Said she: 'The other thing is that Im vulnerable. Thats my superpower. Im somebody who understands you can be vulnerable and a badass at the same time.'

In a previous interview, Mariska noted that her 'superpower' was derived from her upbringing, which was tinged by tragedy.

Her mother Jayne Mansfield was one of the reigning sex symbols of the 1950s, a screen siren and Playboy Playmate who with Promises! Promises! became the first star actress to feature naked in an American movie since the advent of talkies.

Her saucy career ran alongside a tempestuous personal life that included a spiraling drinking problem and affairs with men as prominent as John F. Kennedy.

Mariska is pictured last month filming Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in New York City with (from left) Kevin Kane, Octavio Pisano and Ice T

She was tragically killed at the age of 34 in a grisly car accident - with three of her children, including three-year-old Mariska, in the backseat.

'I think I learned about crisis very young,' she told Glamour while reflecting on her mother's death: 'and I learned very young that s*** happens and theres no guarantees, and we keep going. And then we transform it.'

She added: 'Thats been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life. Ive spent the last 50 - how old am I? - 57, so 54 years sort of trying to figure out what happened and why, and what am I supposed to do with it?'

Mariska recalled: 'I clearly was in that frozen place for a lot of my childhoodof trying to survive, actually trying to survive. My life has been a process of unpeeling the layers and trust and trusting again.'

Jayne's movie roles were eclipsed by a whirlwind love life that included three failed marriages, the second of which brought her Mariska.

Mariska's father was the Hungarian heartthrob Mickey Hargitay, who earned the bodybuilding title Mr. Universe in 1955.

After Jayne's tragic death, Mariska moved in with her father, who was able to provide her with a stable upbringing until she ventured into acting herself, most famously with her popular role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Todd and Julie Chrisley's daughter Savannah shared a new post to Instagram on Wednesday morning.

The reality TV star was reacting to her parents getting a $1million settlement from the state of Georgia after they claimed a Department of Revenue investigator 'specifically targeted' them.

Savannah felt that was very strange.

'This should SCARE all of you! How are my parents sitting in prison but somehow are awarded a settlement? sign. Its nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail,' she wrote.

'I encourage everyone to open their eyes to the corruption that is occurring EVERY SINGLE DAY!! Ill keep fighting the good fight .

Todd and Julie Chrisley 's daughter Savannah shared a new post to Instagram on Wednesday morning

The reality TV star was reacting to her parents getting a $1million settlement from the state of Georgia after they claimed Department of Revenue investigator 'specifically targeted' them; seen in 2020

'WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? #freethechrisleys.'

She also said: 'You may see us struggle. But you will NEVER see us give up!'

On Wednesday Todd and Julie celebrated a rare legal victory after they scored a $1 million settlement from the state of Georgia.

Todd, 54, and Julie  who will be receiving a visit from her children in prison for her 51st birthday  had sued the former Director of Special Investigations for Georgias Department of Revenue, Joshua Waites, back in 2019.

They contended in court filings that Waites was 'specifically targeting' them with a tax evasion investigation due to their public profile and reality TV fame.

'We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and had real problems,' their attorney, Alex Little of Burr & Forman LLP, said in a statement to People. 'This settlement is an encouraging sign.'

He added: 'Its nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail.'

However, Little appears to be referring to different governments, as the Chrisleys were cleared of tax evasion charges by the state of Georgia but were later convicted of multiple counts of bank fraud and tax evasion by a federal jury.

Savannah felt that was very strange. 'This should SCARE all of you!' she wrote; pictured with her family

Todd, 54, and Julie, 51, sued the former Director of Special Investigations for Georgias Department of Revenue, Joshua Waites, back in 2019; seen in 2017

The couple are currently serving federal prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion; still from Chrisley Knows Best

Todd was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Julie was sentenced to seven years behind bars, but both sentences were subsequently shortened in September of last year, and they appear to have been shortened again more recently

As long as nothing else changes, Todd can now expect to be released on September 23, 2032.

Julie will now be leaving prison even earlier, with a tentative release date of August 20, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons' online inmate search system.

Michael J. Bowers, the Chrisleys' former lawyer, who filed their lawsuit in 2019, wrote that Waites' charges against the couple were 'a shocking example of how an out-of-control public servant can abuse his office and violate the rights of innocent citizens for reasons that have more to do with securing publicity and money for his office than with enforcing the law,' according to People.

The lawsuit alleged that Waites 'began to focus his efforts and desire' on the Chrisley Knows Best stars, while particularly singling out both Todd and their daughter Lindsie, who is currently estranged from her parents.

Bowers and the Chrisleys claimed that Waites was only targeting Lindsie as a means to get her to share incriminating information about her parents.

That approach didn't appear to pan out, and the lawsuit alleges that Waites then shared Todd and Julie's confidential tax records with Lindsie.

'Ultimately Waitess efforts failed, but in the process, the Chrisleys were forced to incur substantial personal and financial hardship,' Bowers wrote in filings.

'We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and had real problems,' their attorney said in a statement. 'This settlement is an encouraging sign'; seen in 2019 in Nashville

After the settlement was announced, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Revenue said that its 'investigators are fair and impartial,' but they admitted that revelations from the lawsuit were 'disappointing,' according to Page Six; seen in 2018 in Los Angeles

Although Todd and Julie are still facing years behind bars, even with the Georgia charges coming to nothing and the settlement from the state, the couple still have legal avenues to fight their conviction.

In April, their appeal against their federal convictions will be heard by an appeals court in Atlanta.

Following the settlement with the Chrisleys, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Revenue said in a statement that its 'investigators are fair and impartial.'

However, they admitted that revelations from the Chrisleys' lawsuit were 'disappointing,' according to Page Six.
Stephanie Ann Canto quoted from the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew

The late actor Adan Canto was remembered by his wife Stephanie Ann Canto in an instagram post shared Tuesday.

The grieving widow shared an excerpt from the Book of Matthew from the Bible's New Testament.

She paid tribute to the fallen actor after his death on Monday from appendiceal cancer, a rare condition that has has had a surprising increase in cases in the past two decades.

Canto was best known for roles in X-Men: Days Of Future Past and the series Designated Survivor, and his costars Halle Berry and Kiefer Sutherland both paid tribute to him on social media after news of his death broke.

'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,' Stephanie quoted from Matthew 6:19-21.

The actor Adan Canto, who died Monday at 42 from appendiceal cancer, was remembered on Tuesday by his wife Stephanie Ann Canto

'Forever my treasure Adan,' she concluded her post on a more personal note. 'See you soon.'

Canto's death on Monday came as a surprise, as the Mexican actor had kept his cancer battle a secret.

He and Stephanie tied the knot in 2017.

The couple shared a son, Roman, three, and a daughter, Eve Josephine, one.

The lovebirds kept their romance in full view on social media with sweet posts to celebrate their anniversaries.

'It just keeps getting better,' he wrote on Instagram when the couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary in 2018.

'So blessed to have found you,' he wrote to Stephanie.

In March of 2020, as the novel coronavirus continued spreading across the globe, he shared a sweet photo of himself cradling his wife's burgeoning midriff ahead of the birth of their first child.

'I feel immensely humbled and honored to have been given the blessing of Family,' he wrote at the time. 'I thank God for allowing my wife and I to have met in such an unlikely place and time. I thank him for her heart, mind and spirit, that remind me daily of the man I strive to be. I thank him for the opportunity to raise a new soul with her, and to shape his mind with a solid foundation of Honor, Love, Strength and Understanding.'

Stephanie shared an excerpt from the Book of Matthew and concluded with a personal note to her late husband: 'Forever my treasure Adan,' she concluded her post on a more personal note. 'See you soon'

Adan, who battled his cancer secretly, shared a son, Roman, three, and a daughter, Eve Josephine, one, with his wife

He was best best known for his role as Aaron Shore in Designated Survivor. His costar Kiefer Sutherland shard a tribute, as did Halle Berry (pictured with costar Zoe McLellan)

But Canto went silent on Instagram after June of 2022.

His final post on social media site was from Father's Day of that year, in which he shared a sweet photo of himself with his wife and two children.

'Happy Fathers Day! Ive been blessed with mine,' he wrote.

In a post shared to his page after his death by his family, they loving described him as, 'A man who never once complained and inspired so many,' adding, 'We love you forever Adan.'
Bobby Brazier and his professional partner Dianne Buswell got close as they began rehearsals for the Strictly tour on Wednesday.

The EastEnders actor, 20, and the dancer, 34, got back to work after just missing out on the Glitterball Trophy to Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola in the previous series last December.

Dianne showed off her toned abs in a green crop top as she worked up a sweat with her partner and perfected their moves.

The Strictly Come Dancing live UK tour begins its 30-date leg on January 19 in Birmingham and will travel around the country.

Celebrities including Angela Scanlon, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Angela Rippon, Layton Williams, Annabel Croft, Bobby and Ellie will join the Strictly professional dancers on the tour across the UK.

Bobby Brazier and his professional partner Dianne Buswell got close as they began rehearsals for the Strictly tour on Wednesday

The EastEnders actor, 20, and the dancer, 34, got back to work after just missing out on the Glitterball Trophy to Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola in the previous series last December

Also at the rehearsals was West End star Layton, 29, who was rehearsing with his partner Nikita Kuzmin, 26,

Angela and her partner Kai Widdrington were also at the rehearsals getting ready for the tour.

Bobby and Dianne came in second place in the Strictly Come Dancing final last month, losing out on the glitterball to Ellie and Vito.

Since the series ended, Dianne - who is dating YouTuber Joe Sugg - has revealed her surprising career plans as she said she has 'other ambitions'.

Speaking to Heat magazine, the Australian star revealed that she is keen to give acting ago.

She said: 'It'll be my eighth year of Strictly next year and I've been so lucky with all my partners. They've all brought something different, and you learn a lot from each person.

'But I have other ambitions, too. I've always wanted to dip into acting, so I'd like to try and explore that.'

Dianne is a woman of many talents, having transitioning to dancing from hairdressing while she also designs a casual clothing range, Buswellness.

Dianne showed off her toned abs in a green crop top as she worked up a sweat with her partner and perfected their moves

The Strictly Come Dancing live UK tour begins its 30-date leg on January 19 in Birmingham and will travel around the country

Celebrities including Angela Scanlon, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Angela Rippon, Layton Williams, Annabel Croft, Bobby and Ellie will join the Strictly professional dancers on the tour across the UK

Bobby looked smart in a zip-up black Prada jumper while Dianne sported her usual bright red hair

Also at the rehearsals was West End star Layton, 29, who was rehearsing with his partner Nikita Kuzmin, 26

They looked to be getting the steps right as they joined the rehearsals ahead of the tour starting

The pair also ended up in the final but lost out to Ellie and Vito at the final hurdle

Nikita wore a light blue jumper and grey tracksuit bottoms while Layton opted for a white vest

Their partnership was much loved by viewers on the series at the end of last year

After the rehearsals they posed on the stairs for a sweet snap together

He later showed off his physique after working up a sweat

If she returns to Strictly for the 2024 series, Dianne will be one of the longest-serving dancers on the BBC show.

In her first year back in 2017, Dianne was partnered with Reverend Richard Coles.

A year later, she was teamed with social media star Joe Sugg and the pair made it all the way to the final, while they also fell in love.

She has recently returned back to the UK after jetting off to her native Australia for Christmas, when she shared an array of sweet snaps with her boyfriend Joe.

Dianne travelled to her homeland of Australia to spend the whole of Christmas with her cancer-stricken father Mark and the rest of her family.

Angela and her partner Kai Widdrington were also at the rehearsals getting ready for the tour

Bobby and Dianne came in second place in the Strictly Come Dancing final last month, losing out on the glitterball to Ellie and Vito (seen)

She recently gave fans an update, sharing that her father started the third round of his chemotherapy treatment last week.

Enjoying some well-needed family time with Joe, 32, and family, Dianne shared photos from their swanky Christmas spread.

Joe and Dianne looked happier than ever as they posed cuddling up on the sand, enjoying the hot weather.

Captioning her post, she wrote: 'I feel so blessed to have all these people in my life. Sending you all a merry Christmas, I hope your day is filled with love and happiness.'
After a booze-filled festive season, much of the country are turning to non-alcoholic alternatives to get them through Dry January.

And, as supermarkets hike up prices of 0 per cent alcohol drinks, celebrities are going into promotional overdrive to try and sell their own booze-free brands.

Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue and Blake Lively are among the stars hoping to cash in on the nations post-Christmas health kick with their lucrative ranges of soft drinks.

Former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews as well as retired ruby player Jonny Wilkinson are also promoting their brands to coincide with Dry January while they can.

US pop star Ms Perry, 39, launched her line of sparkling non-alcoholic aperitifs named De Soi last year, even though she is not teetotal herself.

After a booze-filled festive season, much of the country are turning to non-alcoholic alternatives to get them through Dry January,' with Katy Perry cashing in

Kylie Minogue (L) and Blake Lively (R) are also among the stars who have launched lucrative ranges of soft drinks

The range, which is inspired by the French ethos of pleasure and restraint, are certainly not the price of usual soft drinks - costing 67 pounds for 12 cans, with flavours including Lemon Balm and Passion Flower.

Plugging the brand to coincide with Dry January, some of the photos on its Instagram account include the captions: In: dry January. Out: hangovers, anxiety, & broken sleep and The dreamiest set up for a Dry January.

Former Gossip Girl actress Ms Lively, 36, who is married to A-lister Ryan Reynolds, has a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, despite being a non-drinker.

Betty Buzz, launched in the UK last year, is a brand of sparkling soft drinks, which cost 23 for 12 cans.

She is also doing a Dry January sales push, offering customers a, New Year, new start, with one giveaway including a Dry January Survival Kit.

Well stop you right there. Were here for all of your dry or damp Jan needs. Tasty. Whole food ingredients. Better for you. Dreamy golden hour pours.. Perfection, reads one Instagram post.

Pop star Ms Minogues much-loved range of wines and prosecco also includes a non-alcoholic option, which is priced at a far more reasonable 7.

The brand is focusing on the zero-alcohol sparkling rose this month, with one post on its Instagram account reading: Drink pink in style with our elegant pale 0% Sparkling rose. The light, fruity taste and enticing aroma of summer berries.

US pop star Ms Perry, 39, launched her line of sparkling non-alcoholic aperitifs named De Soi last year, even though she is not teetotal herself

Pop star Ms Minogues much-loved range of wines and prosecco also includes a non-alcoholic option, which is priced at a far more reasonable 7

Former reality star Spencer Matthews, 35, launched his non-alcoholic spirits brand CleanCo in 2019. He went sober after admitting his 'boozing had gotten out of control' (pictured in 2017)

Another reads: Who needs alcohol to enjoy a sparkling rose? Not you! Wilkinsons No1 Living range of drinks, including Kombucha and health shots, are naturally sourced and 100 per cent vegan.

A New Year Gut Health Bundle is currently reduced from 94 to 70, while 24 tins of ginger Kombucha are reduced from 35.98 to 32.38.

Former reality star Matthews, 35, who is married to model and broadcaster Vogue Williams, launched his non-alcoholic spirits brand CleanCo in 2019, after going sober.

A bottle of non-alcoholic gin costs 16, as does the clean whisky, tequila, rum and vodka.

Clean January starts now. Welcome to feeling fresh, read a social media post on January 1.

If you want to join in on our Clean January celebrations, you can shop our multi-award-winning non-alcoholic Spirits via the link in our bio.

Because every new beginning deserves an extraordinary sip! Order now for next-day delivery and let Clean Jan commence!
Cindy Morgan's roommate described a 'bad odor' coming from the actress' unit in a 911 call made before Morgan's body was discovered.

TMZ obtained audio of the 911 phone call made by Morgan's roommate after the actress went 'MIA' and the stench came to her attention.

News of Morgan's death at age 69 emerged last week. It is unclear when exactly she died, but it may have been several days before her body was found in her bedroom by police on December 30.

According to the sheriff's office, Morgan's roommate called 911 on the 30th after she returned home from a holiday vacation and found that the actress wouldn't answer when she knocked on her door, TMZ reported last week. The roommate informed officers she last saw her roommate on December 19.

In the 911 call, the roommate stated it had been days since she had last seen or heard from Morgan and only heard her pets making noise in the room.

Cindy Morgan's roommate described a 'bad odor' coming from the actress' unit in a 911 call made before Morgan's body was discovered; pictured 1982

Animal control was set to enter the unit the following day, but the roommate ended up calling 911 after noticing the foul odor.

'I live in a shared apartment and one of my tenants is like MIA. I'm not sure if she's in there or not but she lives with animals,' she began.

'I'm just worried about my tenant... she don't have no one,' she later added. 'I just came out of my room and I smell a bad odor coming from the room.'

She later said: 'When I knock the door, it's just the dogs bark. All along there wasn't any stench, but just now there's this strong, bad odor.'

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office confirmed Morgan's death to TMZ on Saturday, noting that she had died in the area.

A representative for the county later confirmed to the outlet that Morgan had died of natural causes.

So far, foul play is not suspected, though an investigation is reportedly ongoing. A cause of death is not yet known, TMZ added.

Morgan was best known for her sizzling appearance in Caddyshack, as the bombshell Lacey Underall.

She she also had a major roles in the sci-fi classic Tron (1982) as Lora, a computer programmer in the 'real' world, and Yori, her alter-ego in the film's computer-generated world (Pictured here in 2010)

Cindy played Lacey Underall, the sexy niece of the country club owner in Caddyshack

In 2012, Morgan talked about Caddyshack and her audition for the part: 'Caddyshack was my first film and I'll say that the end product was so completely different, it was originally about the caddies.

'So at first, I had nothing to lose to audition. It was fun. All I did was focus on making the person sweat. Look 'em in the eye, do that thing many women know how to...'

She she also had a major roles in the sci-fi classic Tron (1982) as Lora, a computer programmer in the 'real' world, and Yori, her alter-ego in the film's computer-generated world.

Morgan also went on to appear in two different roles in the nighttime soap Falcon Crest for a total of three seasons.

The actress also appeared on CHiPs, The Larry Sanders Show, Amazing Stories, The Love Boat, The Fall Guy, Vegas and Matlock, among others.

Caddyshack was her breakout role, which she achieved just two years after moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting

In a 2012 interview about the film she noted that the final film was much different than the script she auditioned for (Pictured here with Bill Murray)

While Caddyshack was her breakout role, it was not her first. She had a small part in 1980s American Gigolo starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton, per IMDb

Cindy was born in Chicago and after 12 years of Catholic schools she headed to Northern Illinois University where she was a DJ on the campus radio station.

After college she worked for a local television station in Rockford, Illinois where she was the weather girl and as a DJ on Chicago's WDSM.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1978 to try her hand at acting.

Morgan booked the role of the Irish Spring Girl in advertisements while she took acting classes.

Morgan played a major role in Tron, the first computer-generated movie

She played Lora, a computer programmer in the 'real' world, and Yori, her alter-ego in the film's computer-generated world

Morgan also went on to appear in two different roles in the nighttime soap Falcon Crest for a total of three seasons (Pictured here in 1985)

The actress also appeared on CHiPs, The Larry Sanders Show, Amazing Stories, The Love Boat, The Fall Guy, Vegas and Matlock, among others (Pictured here in 1982)

In later years, Morgan appeared in several short films and worked as a voice over artist for video games.

Her last film role was in 2011 in Empty Sky and her last television appearance was in a 1994 episode of Under Suspicion.

Outside of acting, Morgan was passionate about her philanthropic work with veterans of the U.S. Military from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She worked to help alleviate the financial hardship those vets may be experiencing.

She also worked to raise funds for the Illinois Family Relief Fund, which helps the families of National Guard members, reservists and those on active duty.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.

Mariska Hargitay has revealed she was raped by a friend when she was in her 30s.

The Law & Order: SVU actress, now 59, said she 'checked out of her body' during the terrifying assault in a heartbreaking first-person essay for People.

She wrote: 'A man raped me in my thirties. It wasn't sexual at all. It was dominance and control. Overpowering control. He was a friend. Then he wasn't.

'I tried all the ways I knew to get out of it. I tried to make jokes, to be charming, to set a boundary, to reason, to say no. He grabbed me by the arms and held me down. I was terrified. I didn't want it to escalate to violence. I now know it was already sexual violence, but I was afraid he would become physically violent.

The star said she went into 'freeze mode' after the assault as she couldn't process what had happened.

Mariska Hargitay has revealed she was raped by a friend when she was in her 30s (pictured October)

T he Law & Order: SVU actress , now 59, said she 'checked out of her body' during the terrifying assault in a heartbreaking first-person essay - she is seen in the show in 2002 aged 38

She said: 'So I cut it out. I removed it from my narrative. I now have so much empathy for the part of me that made that choice because that part got me through it. It never happened. Now I honor that part: I did what I had to do to survive.

Mariska founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004, which aims to support the healing of survivors and alter society's response to sexual assault - and said the foundation enabled her to begin healing.

She wrote: 'I think I also needed to see what healing could look like. I look back on speeches where I said, 'I'm not a survivor,'' she writes. 'I wasn't being untruthful; it wasn't how I thought of myself.'

Mariska said she 'minimized' the rape over the years before she had a 'reckoning and realization: 'My husband Peter (Hermann) remembers me saying, I mean, it wasnt rape. Then things started shifting in me, and I began talking about it more in earnest with those closest to me.'

She said she now wants 'an acknowledgment and an apology' from her attacker, writing: 'As for justice, its important to know that it may look different for each survivor. For me, I want an acknowledgment and an apology. "Im sorry for what I did to you. I raped you. I am without excuse."

'This is a painful part of my story. The experience was horrible. But it doesnt come close to defining me, in the same way that no other single part of my story defines me.

Mariska said she 'minimized' the rape over the years before she had a 'reckoning and realization: 'My husband Peter (Hermann) remembers me saying, I mean, it wasnt rape. Then things started shifting in me (pictured October with Hermann)

'No single part of anyones story defines them.'

She turns 60 in two weeks, and then in September of this year she will celebrate the 25th anniversary of her hit series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Mariska, whose mother was the legendary 1950s pinup Jayne Mansfield, played second fiddle on the show for the first decade.

From 1999 until 2011, the leading man on the program was Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, with Mariska offering support as Olivia Benson.

'I was the second detective alongside Elliot Stabler. He was the male lead and a little more experienced and I was trying to catch up,' she reflected.

Then, however, Christopher Meloni left the program in 2011 and Mariska was left to become the lead character on the program.

She turns 60 in two weeks, and then in September of this year she will celebrate the 25th anniversary of her hit series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (pictured)

Then, however, Christopher Meloni left the program in 2011 and Mariska was left to become the lead character on the program

Life imitated art, as around that same time her character Olivia Benson was getting promoted, eventually ascending to the position of squad captain.

She was tragically killed at the age of 34 in a grisly car accident - with three of her children, including three-year-old Mariska, in the backseat.

Mariska's father was the Hungarian heartthrob Mickey Hargitay, who earned the bodybuilding title Mr. Universe in 1955.

After Jayne's tragic death, Mariska moved in with her father, who was able to provide her with a stable upbringing until she ventured into acting herself.

She has been married to Hermann, 56, since 2004 and the pair share three children.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
Holly Willoughbys stylist has shared a glimpse of the presenter's glamorous Dancing on Ice looks as she prepares for her TV comeback.

The host, 42, has not appeared on screen since she quit This Morning in October following an alleged plot to kidnap and murder her.

MailOnline exclusively revealed that she will return to the skating competition when the series kicks off on January 14.

And, on Wednesday, Dannii Whiteman teased Holly's big comeback by sharing a glimpse at her glitzy ensembles.

Uploading a wardrobe packed full of gowns to her Instagram Story, the fashion expert simply penned: 'Prep.'

Holly Willoughbys stylist has shared a glimpse of the presenter's glamorous Dancing on Ice looks as she prepares for her TV comeback (Holly pictured on the show in 2023)

On Wednesday, Dannii Whiteman teased Holly's big comeback by sharing a look at her glitzy ensembles

Dressed in a stunning 3,200 floor-length red Vivienne Westwood gown, Holly beamed as she poses alongside her new TV sidekick Stephen as she prepared for her comeback in photo's released this week.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal she met Mulhern, 46, two weeks ago for the pictures to be taken  just days after she made her first public outing since early October when a former Essex security guard was charged with contacting a hitman in the US to kidnap and murder her.

It is understood that she and Mulhern did not meet the show's judges, including Olympic gold medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, but instead had their own private shoot at a studio in London.

For Holly, it was normality returning to her life as she was joined by her stylist Danielle Whiteman, who carefully selected the 3,200 Vivienne Westwood gown.

One friend said: 'It was quite an emotional day, it felt like the beginnings of a routine after months of being at home and shutting herself off from the outside world.

'But Holly has always loved wearing dreamy, princess-style gowns on Dancing On Ice, it was always her time to get really dressed up.'

It was a doubly special reunion with Mulhern, ITV's popular and long-serving star who hosts the reboot of Deal Or No Deal and Catchphrase, because he was at her side when she got her first big break in TV almost 20 years ago.

The pair hosted ITV morning children's shows Ministry Of Mayhem and Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown when they were in their 20s and since then have had an unbreakable bond.

Holly beamed as she posed alongside her new TV sidekick Stephen Mulhern as she prepared for her comeback in photo's released this week

Stephen and Holly pictured in 2006 on CITV

'It really made a difference to Holly's mindset to know that Stephen would be with her all of the way. It has really made her smile,' added the friend.

'When you have that much history with someone you feel safe. The last year has been a huge change for her.

'For years and years, Phil was with her and suddenly he was gone. To be working with Stephen again at such a poignant time in her career is special for Holly. Whether she went back to Dancing On Ice was a quandary for Holly, some gentle persuasion from Stephen definitely helped to seal the deal.'

Next Sunday at 6.30pm she will co-host the programme, whose stars include Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards and former Brookside actress Claire Sweeney, from ITV's studio at the old RAF base in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.

Holly signed the deal over Christmas and is said to be 'excited' about to getting back to work on the show that she hosted with her former friend Phillip Schofield for many years

It is a moment she has been mentally preparing herself for since making up her mind to return to the limelight over the Christmas period.

Friends of the mother-of-three say that she will not be addressing her alleged kidnap plot ordeal but is using the return of Dancing On Ice as an opportunity to move on with her life and try to forget the last three months of devastation  at least until the accused man's trial in June.

'It is unlikely she will acknowledge her time off at all. It will be a matter of it's business as usual,' says a source close to Holly.

Security at the studios has been so tight for many years, there is little more that ITV can do to improve it. So network chiefs are satisfied that it is 'super safe' for the star.
Kanye West is being sued for assault and battery by the man he allegedly punched outside a members-only club in downtown Los Angeles in January 2022.

TMZ reports that the plaintiff - an autograph dealer who got into a confrontation with West outside the Soho House - alleged in court documents that West went haywire on him during the altercation.

He claimed West, 46, shouted 'I'm going to make a f***ing example of you', brought up his split from Kim Kardashian, and then struck him.

He claims he asked West to apologize, which the rapper shut down by allegedly replying, 'Apology for what?'

The artist then allegedly hit the fan several more times, 'severely injuring him' in the process.

Kanye West is being sued for assault and battery by the man he allegedly struck outside a members-only club in downtown Los Angeles in January 2022; pictured 2020

Kanye was allegedly asked to stop hitting the man by a person with him, but the rapper instead began yelling at them and instructed them to 'go to the f***ing house and get my f***ing kids.'

The autograph seeker claims he is a victim of assault and battery and has endured emotional distress. He is suing Kanye for damages.

In addition, the man's wife is also suing West for loss of consortium.

West was investigated for criminal battery over the incident but ultimately no charges were filed.

Shortly after the altercation, West admitted he did punch the autograph seeker in an interview with Hollywood Unlocked's Jason Lee.

West said he was outside the Soho Warehouse at 3 a.m. when a man who had been tailing him in recent days for autographs allegedly provoked him.

'I'm saying, ''You don't know what I'm dealing with right now,'' West said, referring to footage of him snapping at the unidentified man.

'I just finished these two songs, I came from the studio, and this dude, he just had this real attitude, like, ''What you gonna do? And see that?''

'Imma just tell you, that blue COVID mask ain't stop that knockout, you know what I'm saying?'

TMZ reports that the plaintiff - an autograph seeker who got into a confrontation with West outside the Soho House - alleged in court documents that West went haywire on him during the altercation; West pictured in 2019

He added that he was upset at the time with Kim Kardashian, who filed for a divorce and was dating Pete Davidson at the time, and at a cousin who failed to tell Kardashian that he wanted to visit one of their children at school.

'Security aint gonna get in between me and my children. And my children arent gonna be on TikTok without my permission,' Kanye said as he reiterated his message to Kardashian.

He also mentioned he was upset at her budding romance with Davidson.

'How are you going to blame me for acting out and kiss the dude your dating right in front of me. Everyones like, thats cool, and Im hearing that the new boyfriend is in the house that I cant even go to.'

West claims the man he punched was not a fan of his, but someone trying to make money by selling off autographs he got from the rapper.

'This is the same as the paparazzi, this is not a fan. This is someone who is using your image, who probably never listened to your songs.'

West was seen yelling at a cousin (left) after allegedly punching the autograph seeker (R) and knocking him down during the January 2022 incident

West pictured March 2022

Dramatic footage of the aftermath of the incident shows West screaming, 'Get away from me' at his cousin, who was trying to calm him down while the autograph seeker lay on the floor, clutching his head in pain.

Witnesses told TMZ at the time that West punched the man once in the head and once in the neck, striking him down and causing the fan to hit his head on the sidewalk.

His cousin could be heard telling the rapper, 'I am your family,' as she tried to take his hand and get him to relax.

'No, get away from me! Ain't no hands, ain't no hands,' West yells.

'You were supposed to talk with her,' he adds, now revealing that he was angry at his cousin for not telling his then-estranged wife that he wanted to visit their child at school.

He ultimately blamed his cousin for his bad mood that caused him to erupt in anger following the altercation, which was caught on video by confused bystanders.

He said he ultimately admitted to the attack because he was tired of the media's portrayal of the incident and wanted to take control of the narrative.

'This is from the horse's mouth. I told you all before, y'all are not fit to be in charge of my narrative,' West told Lee.

'I told you before, I am taking my narrative. I am writing my narrative. Why don't you all go do something, you know what I mean, other than trying to bring somebody down.'
Netflix subscribers have been going wild for the service's new action drama The Brothers Sun, which stars Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.

The series, which debuted an eight-episode season on January 4, has been the recipient of adoring social media posts from fans praising the Everything Everywhere All At Once star and the show's dramatic punch.

But after devouring all eight episodes in swift fashion, newly anointed fans of The Brothers Sun are begging Netflix to quickly green light a second season of the popular show.

Several took to X (formerly called Twitter) to make their wishes for more of the mob show.

'The Brothers Sun is so much fun. I don't remember binge-watching something without a break like this in months,' gushed one fan who was looking forward to another season.

Netflix subscribers have fallen in love with the new Michelle Yeohstarring series The Brothers Sun and are now calling for it to swiftly be renewed for a second season

Several took to X (formerly called Twitter) to make their wishes for more of the mob show

'Blood cooked kicka** action choreography, a super talented and charming cast, family business, triad gang wars and what not! Recommended! Michelle Yeoh is kick-a**!'

The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress stars in the show as the Taiwanese immigrant Eileen, who lives in Los Angeles with her son Bruce Sun.

But after his older brother unexpectedly moves to LA from Taipei, Taiwan, in the wake of an assassination attempt on their father, Bruce learns that his family is connected to organized crime.

Although Eileen fled to the US to keep Bruce safe and to avoid the gangster life of her husband and his family, the organized crime ring won't leave them alone.

'Finished The Brothers Sun, sooo good. I hope we get a second season,' wrote another fan. 'One of the best Netflix shows in such a long time. The cast where all perfect in their roles [sic]!'

Another viewer warned that Netflix 'better renew The Brothers Sun for a second season,' calling it 'great.'

One fan enthused that 'The Brothers Sun might be the best show of the year,' even though ' the year just started.'

'That's how FANTASTIC it is!' they added.

Another viewer was adamant that the show 'NEEDS' a second season so as not to 'waste this childhood lovers trope.'

Yeoh stars as Eileen, the Taiwanese immigrant mother of Bruce Sun who move to LA with him as a child

But Bruce learns that his father and family back in Taiwan are connected to organized crime after his older brother Charles flees to the US to protect them

'Finished The Brothers Sun, sooo good. I hope we get a second season,' wrote another fan. 'One of the best Netflix shows in such a long time. The cast where all perfect in their roles! [sic]'

Another viewer warned that Netflix 'better renew The Brothers Sun for a second season,' calling it 'great'

One fan enthused that 'The Brothers Sun might be the best show of the year,' even though ' the year just started.' Another featured a woman with a megaphone speaking into a microphone to convey how much they wanted others to know about the series

Another viewer was adamant that the show 'NEEDS' a second season so as not to 'waste this childhood lovers trope'

Some fans dug the series so much that they even a single additional season wasn't going to be enough to satisfy them.

'The Brothers Sun is so good ima need for Netflix to give me multiple seasons please & thank u. I'm only on episode 2 & is already obsessed,' one X user wrote.

Produced by Brad Falchuk, who is best known for his work co-creating Glee and Pose with Ryan Murphy, Yeoh said she was thrilled to be involved in a series starring Asian actors, something she has battled for throughout her entire career.

'For the last few years, I have been fighting for different roles and hoping to find the entry point into where we all deserve to have a seat at the table,' Yeoh told Variety.

'It's only in the last couple of years that you see more and more of the Asian stories being told.'

The Oscar-winning actress commented that although Brad Falchuk is not Asian, 'he championed our story.'

'I think the most important thing is how we embrace each other and help each other tell the narrative and the best stories so that we keep pushing these boundaries,' she shared.

Yeoh made history at last year after becoming the first woman who identifies as Asian to land an Oscar for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

One fan loved the show so much after only episode two that they they were calling for several more seasons.

Yeoh home the Best Actress Oscar for her game-changing role in the sci-fi adventure Everything Everywhere All At Once, in which she plays a dissatisfied laundromat owner who crosses paths with other versions of herself in alternate universes; seen in March 2023

The now 61-year-old took home the Best Actress trophy due to her game-changing role in the sci-fi adventure as Evelyn Quan Wang - a dissatisfied laundromat owner who crosses paths with other versions of herself in alternate universes.

The actress first learned ballet before turning to acting. Her first major Hollywood role was playing a Chinese spy in the Bond film 'Tomorrow Never Dies' in 1997 alongside Pierce Brosnan.

She gained renown for her role in the 2000 martial arts masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a best-picture nominee that won the Oscar for best foreign language film.

Yeoh had more recent success in the 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians and Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2021.
Chris Taylor has revealed the comforting words Love Island fan Margot Robbie said to him about his Barbie Performance.

The TV personality, 33, who is returning to the villa for the show's All Stars spin-off, had a cameo appearance as a version of Ken in the 2023 blockbuster.

Margot, 34, is a huge Love Island fan and offered Chris a part in her Hollywood hit after he chatted to her about his friends' micropenis.

And as the reality star soaked up the fame and hype on the red carpet during the film's premiere in July 2023, the Australian actress comforted Chris by revealing that many people who attended that evening were in fact, cut from the movie.

He told MailOnline: 'No, I don't have personal contact with Margot Robbie. I saw her at the premiere and she gave me a hug and said ''there was people that were cut from this film, and you're still in it, and I'm buzzing about that'', so that was very nice.

Chris Taylor, 33, has revealed the comforting words Love Island fanatic Margot Robbie, 34, said to him about his Barbie Performance ahead of his appearance on ITV's All Star show

Margot, 34, is a huge Love Island fan and offered the then-former contestant a part in her Hollywood hit after chatting to her about his friends' micropenis

And as the reality star soaked up the fame and hype on the red carpet during the film's premiere in July 2023, the Australian actress comforted Chris by revealing that many people who attended that evening were in fact, cut from the movie

'I was speaking to her husband after and he was just saying Margot was like ''we have got to get Chris in this film, so that is nice'' but no contact since, she is obviously very busy.'

Chris's Barbie part involves him saying one line: 'And the Nobel Prize for horses goes to Ken!'

The ITV contestant from Leicester also revealed an 'embarrassing moment' he had while he was halfway through filming the iconic motion picture.

In front of A-list celebrities such as Ryan Gosling and Ncuti Gatwa, Chris admitted that he misidentified a man on the set as Chris Evans's brother.

Speaking of his cringe moment, he said: 'Oh, there was a really awkward moment when we was literally halfway through filming. So I've got, like, an Avengers sleeve on my left arm and I've got Chris Evans tattooed on me, obviously Captain America.

'And I seen on the call sheet that his brother was in the in that scene, so I just basically picked the guy that looked most like Chris Evans and was like, ''Oh, I've got your brother tattooed on my arm'' and he was like, ''What?'' and I was like ''yeah, your brother, I have got him tattooed on my arm'' and I lifted my sleeve so I can show him.

'He's like, Oh, no, I'm not Chris Evans's brother. So that was really uncomfortable because I was also in front of, like, a huge audience of people like they had an audience, but like facing me like all like supporting actors. And they were basically silent in the entire room and obviously, like, Ryan Gosling was there and so on and so forth. So yeah, quite cringey on my part.'

While the TV sensation has been making big moves since his departure from the show in 2019, he is now in South Africa with 11 previous contestants, hoping to find a Barbie to his Ken.

He told MailOnline: 'No, I don't have personal contact with Margot Robbie. I saw her at the premiere and she gave me a hug and said ''there was people that were cut from this film, and you're still in it, and I'm buzzing about that'', so that was very nice'

Chris's Barbie part involves him saying one line: 'And the Nobel Prize for horses goes to Ken!'

Still in the dark about what girls are set to return to the villa, Chris revealed that he hopes to see Sammy, Joanna and Shaan.

But he may be left disappointed as none of his desirables have been confirmed in the lineup.

Conscious of the potential big age difference between him and the other contestants - the show's youngest contender was aged 18 - Chris admitted that the youngest he typically couples with is 25.

But the reality star admitted that he is young at heart and has dated 23-year-olds in the past, so it will depend on the person.

He said: 'I don't think I'd go, like, below 25 because when I talk, I use a lot of references, and if people don't know who the Thundercats are, or, you know, they've not used the fax machine like, how are we going to get on, possibly. Do you know what I mean? So yeah, that will definitely be a factor. Maybe 24.

'It really depends on the person, though, but in my experience, I've dated sort of like 23, 24, because obviously I've got a young soul anyway, and, you know, like, can be first at fine but like you, you start to see the cracks over a period of time that you might not see in someone that's kind of like a bit more emotionally mature, so find out. But I am basically a child at heart, so I don't know.'

When Chris appeared on British screens for the first time, he captured the nation's hearts when he became emotional over the friendships he has made while on the show.

The reality TV hunk opened up and revealed that he has felt 'like a bit of an outsider' for most of his life.

When asked if fitting in with the team will be equally important now that he has shot to fame, he said: 'It's always just been something that I've struggled with, basically most of my life just feeling like a bit of an outsider. So yeah, I do kind of feel like get emotional when I'm kind of accepted within a group.

While the TV sensation has been making big moves since his departure from the show in 2019, he is now in South Africa with 11 previous contestants, hoping to find a Barbie to his Ken

Chris met his ex-girlfriend, Maura Higgins, 33, (pictured) when they both starred on the ITV2 show in 2019. Maura dated co-star Curtis Pritchard, 27, before her friendship with Chris blossomed into a relationship , but the couple split in May 2021 after six months together

'I just generally feel like I've got a bit of a weird, different brain. And, I don't I don't know if I'm annoying people or whatever else it is so like when I actually, like feel like I'm part of something, it is quite nice.

'So, yeah, I mean, it is going to be the same in that sense. I'm probably gonna go through that same journey as I do anytime I go into any new group of people.'

Chris met his ex-girlfriend, Maura Higgins, 33, when they both starred on the ITV2 show in 2019.

Maura dated co-star Curtis Pritchard, 27, before her friendship with Chris blossomed into a relationship, but the couple split in May 2021 after six months together.

He has not been public with a girlfriend since.

Margot, who hosted a Love Island-themed party to celebrate turning 30, met Chris at a film premiere afterparty where the two became better acquainted, and she expressed her fondness for the show.

A year later, Chris was contacted about featuring in Barbie, later attending the star-studded European premiere in London with A-list guests, including Dua Lipa, America Ferrera and Sam Smith.

Writing on Instagram, Chris said: 'This will sound made up, but I'm in the actual Barbie film. No bloody idea how but here we are. I'm an actual Ken.

'Wish I had more to say about this, but I still think I've imagined it. Thank you to the person who made this happen, you know who you are, you glorious ray of human sunshine.'

Love Island: All Stars, presented by Maya Jama, begins on Monday January 15 and will see Islanders from the past date each other at a villa in South Africa.

The lineup includes TOWIE star Elma Pazar and 2018 Islander Georgia Steel, while show legends such as Olivia Attwood are expected to make cameo appearances.

The All Stars series replaces winter Love Island, which was scrapped for a second time this year after it failed to match the same ratings as the summer season.
Carl Woods' Instagram account has been taken over by a 'true friend' due to a 'decline in his mental health'.

A worrying post uploaded on Wednesday night said his social media was 'in good hands' at this 'difficult time'.

It comes after Carl split from his on-off fiancee Katie Price just before New Year and has taken a 'swipe' at her online since.

The post read: 'Carl's Instagram is now in good hands, it is now NO longer in his hands due to his decline in mental health.

'It is under the control of a true friend from years ago. Please understand in this difficult time. Thank you.'

Carl Woods' Instagram account has been taken over by a 'true friend' due to a 'decline in his mental health'

A worrying post uploaded on Wednesday night said his social media was 'in good hands' at this 'difficult time'

It comes after his split from former glamour model Katie, 45, at the end of last year.

Following the split, on Monday Carl took a swipe at her as he posed while embracing a mystery woman's legs, adorned with a tattoo reading 'Game Over'.

The car dealer is now dealing with his breakup after his split from the star who stunned fans by recently professing she is single.

At the time of the swipe Carl was enjoying a Thailand getaway with his friends, during which he crouched down to the ground holding the woman's legs as she stood from behind.

He showed off the bold tattoos on his companion's legs, displaying the words 'Game Over' on the back of her thighs as she wore mini denim shorts.

Smouldering into the lens, Carl repeated the words in his caption, in an apparent nod to his relationship status with the star.

On New Year's Eve, Katie surprised her 2.6million followers by announcing that she was single.

More recently, the former I'm A Celebrity star revealed why she's reluctant to get married again, and claims the men she has dated just 'want to be famous'.

It comes after Carl split from his on-off fiancee Katie Price just before New Year and has taken a 'swipe' at her online since

Following the split, on Monday Carl took a swipe at her as he posed while embracing a mystery woman's legs, adorned with a tattoo reading 'Game Over'

On The Katie Price Show, Katie's sister Sophie asked: 'Would you get married again?' Katie replied: 'The trouble is, it costs ME money to get married and it costs ME money to get divorced.

'So I haven't really been in a good situation, so for me to get married again, they have to tick the right boxes, or they have to have more to lose than me because I'm just sick of these cling-ons that turn into Mr Price's and then want to be famous and all of this. I'm just sick of it, I just want to meet someone who wants me for me...

'But yeah I would get married, shall we organise it, of course I would bloody get married again, I want a fairytale. Yes, I would get married again and I want the full shebang.

'I just want it to be right, I never wanted to get divorced and marry again and again.

'To have that one person, no drama, there's nothing worse than when your family don't get on with them. I like to be settled, when I'm settled then everything else goes good.'

It's unclear exactly when Katie broke up with Carl - but the on again off again couple have called off their engagement multiple times over recent months.

She told how she was single on New Year's Eve as she spent time with pal Kerry Katona and documented the night on Instagram. Katie declared: 'We want to wish you a happy new year!'

She later shouted at the camera that she was 'single' before she and Kerry directed kisses towards the lens.

Katie was last spotted with Carl on December 21 2023 as they stepped out arm in arm together after her pantomime performance of Sleeping Beauty in Liverpool.

Katie and Carl previously split towards the end of November 2023 and unfollowed each other on Instagram but appeared to confirm they were back on on the Liverpool outing.

At the time of the split in November 2023 she was also said to be avoiding mentioning the businessman, 34, during a chat with fans on TikTok - despite the pair putting on a cosy display on a red carpet the week before.

A source told The Sun: 'When Katie was asked if she was single on TikTok, she paused for ages then refused to answer the question'.

The couple rekindled their romance last July and were said to be planning a secret wedding with Katie s napped trying on a gorgeous white gown.

MailOnline contacted Katie's representatives for comment at the time.

The pair have been in a turbulent relationship since July 2020, getting engaged the following April.

But things were previously said to be going full steam ahead with wedding plans, with Katie said to be keen to run off and 'elope' with Carl as a source remarked she 'loves the thrill of getting married'.

However, the TV personality's wedding plans didn't include her mother Amy, with it said that she wouldn't tell her when she got married due to her disapproval of Carl.

A source told OK! magazine last July: 'Katie is planning on having a secret wedding with Carl, then a big party afterwards. It will be soon. She loves the thrill of getting married and wants to do it again.'

Sharing further details on their plans, they went on: 'Katie's keen to run off and wed Carl at a registry office. The kids will be there, but she won't tell her mum until it's done.

The car dealer is now dealing with his breakup after his split from the star who stunned fans by recently professing she is single (seen in April 2023)

'Katie knows Amy would be fuming and tell her not to do it. She keeps suggesting to Carl they elope to Gretna Green.'

Katie has been married three times. She was married to Peter Andre for four years, and then tied the knot with Alex Reid in 2010.

They split after 11 months of marriage and Katie went on to marry Kieran Hayler in 2013, but they broke up in 2018.

Katie and Carl called off their engagement in March last year, before sparking rumours of a reunion following being spotted together on a string of occasions.
Alan Cumming has said the public should be 'up in arms' over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak 'denying the existence' of transgender people.

The actor, 58, spoke out against comments Sunak made at the Conservative Party Conference in October where he said the British public were being 'bullied' into believing 'people can be any sex they want to be'.

'A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, that's just common sense,' he said.

Speaking on 5 News, Alan, who has long been an advocate for LGBT rights, said he believes the debate over trans rights is part of a larger culture war.

He explained: 'I think that, you know, the sort of culture wars are so awful. We don't really talk about policies, we don't really talk about real issues, or things that are really important.

Alan Cumming has said the public should be 'up in arms' over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak 'denying the existence' of transgender people

The actor, 58, spoke out against comments Sunak made at the Conservative Party Conference in October where he said the British public were being 'bullied' into believing 'people can be any sex they want to be'

'What we do is we grab on to things like trans kids and bathrooms, and we make that the culture war.

'Why do we allow, our Prime Minister actually said that there's only male and female there's no in-between, I mean how dare he say that?

'And how dare we, we should be up in arms about that, that he's just denying the existence of all these, of trans people, and you know sadly people listen to Prime Ministers.'

The Good Wife star told how he believes politicians do things the public don't want because they are 'desperate to hang on to their jobs'.

He said: 'I think it's interesting, I think I really find you know, the way sometimes I think politicians behave here because they, and I mean in England, that they are so desperate to hang on to their jobs that they do things that do not reflect the wishes of the people who elected them.

'And it's this thing in America where people hang on to their jobs until they're like a thousand years old.

'Like people keep doing their jobs and also you know we do things to our face and our bodies to make a smoke screen, so you don't know how old we really are, and you know, even President Biden hasn't done that.

'I think that's part of it, this culture of staying young at all costs and we worship at the altar of youth, and what happens? We get people who are 82 thinking they are 35.'

Speaking on 5 News, Alan, who has long been an advocate for LGBT rights, said he believes the debate over trans rights is part of a larger culture war

Sunak doubled down on his stance when he was asked if he regretted his comments at the Conservative Party Conference.

Speaking during an interview following the Meeting of the European Political Community in Granada, Spain he said: 'No, I think a man is a man and a woman is a woman, I think most people watching this program will think that that's common sense and that's just a fact of biology.

'Now, of course, this is always going to be passionate, tolerant country. That's how we always are but we can't ignore fundamental facts of biology and saying those things shouldn't be controversial.'
Lori Harvey and Damson Idris are sparking reconciliation rumors after sharing photos from their recent trip to seemingly the same tropical destination.

Just days ahead of her 27th birthday, the model shared a number of photos from a secluded beach in Thailand, which eagle-eyed fans noticed had the exact background as images Idris, 32, uploaded to his Instagram account on Tuesday.

'A Capricorn in her element,' the daughter of Marjorie Harvey and Steve Harvey captioned a slideshow, which showed her taking a dip in a blue bikini.

Some details that all but confirm the stars were traveling together were the same lounge chairs, umbrellas and similar towel pattern in the background of their posts.

Lori Harvey and Damson Idris are sparking reconciliation rumors after sharing photos from their recent trip to seemingly the same tropical destination

Sparking reconciliation rumors: Just days ahead of her 27th birthday, the model shared a number of photos from a secluded beach in Thailand, which eagle-eyed fans noticed had the exact background as images Idris, 32, uploaded to his Instagram account on Tuesday

In November, the duo confirmed their split in a joint statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter.

'We are at a point in our lives where our individual paths require our full attention and dedication,' the statement began.

The pair continued: 'We part ways remaining friends with nothing but love and respect for each other and the time we shared together.'

The couple began dating at some point in December 2022, but waited until January to make things Instagram official.

Prior to the announcement, social media sleuths noticed the beauty had wiped all sign of Damson from her Instagram. Damson then did the same.

They were first rumored to be dating when they were spotted together for the first time at LA hotspot Catch in December 2022.

A month after going Instagram official, in February, they made their red carpet debut together at the Los Angeles premiere of the final season of Snowfall.

The pair were spotted putting on a passionate display of affection  holding hands and sharing kisses throughout the event and afterparty.

'A Capricorn in her element,' the daughter of Marjorie Harvey and Steve Harvey captioned a slideshow, which showed her taking a dip in a blue bikini

Some details that all but confirm the stars were traveling together were the same lounge chairs, umbrellas and similar towel pattern in the background of their posts

Back on? In November, the duo confirmed their split in a joint statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter

'We are at a point in our lives where our individual paths require our full attention and dedication,' the statement began. 'We part ways remaining friends with nothing but love and respect for each other and the time we shared together'

In the past year, the couple also enjoyed many couple's trips together  all of which have now been archived and removed from both of their Instagram pages.

Previously, Harvey was in a relationship with Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan for a year and a half before they broke up in June 2022.

The entrepreneur is known for keeping her life private and not responding to rumors as evidenced by her past relationships and breakups with Jordan as well as Future.

Excited: Fans expressed excitement as they commented under Idris' post that they knew the former couple were 'back together'

'Lori why you hiding?' one joked

Another speculated they were together as they wrote to Idris that they knew he was 'with Lori'

'They are back together,' a fourth guessed

She dated the rapper, 39, for about nine months between late 2019 and the summer of 2020.

A year after their breakup and shortly after confirming her relationship with Jordan, Harvey made a rare public response and addressed her dating life as well as proclivity to privacy in an interview with Bustle.

'I think they get from me that I try to just not let any type of negativity or rumors or anything like that make me stoop down to that level and go back and forth with it or whatever,' she told the outlet about her calm, cool and collected demeanor.

She added that she doesn't like to make public responses but rather 'just maintain my position of I know who I am.

'I know what's going on,' she explained.
DJ Black Coffee has been hospitalized in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo after suffering injuries due to severe turbulence on a flight from Brazil to Argentina.

The Grammy Award-winning South African musician, 47, was traveling to the city of Mar Del Plata for a gig at club Mute on Sunday when the incident occurred - which resulted in 'unforeseen complications' - a statement on his social media accounts on Wednesday read.

On Tuesday, it emerged he was recovering from surgery after sustaining 'severe blows' to his body while on his private plane.

A statement from Mute and first published by Argentinian press said: 'Dear Argentinian fans, Black Coffee regrets to inform you that as a result of severe air turbulence on his private plane from Florianopolis to Mar del Plata, he had to make an emergency landing at Montevideo Airport.

'He suffered severe blows to his body and at this moment he is at a clinic in the same city under observation.

DJ Black Coffee has been hospitalized in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo after suffering injuries due to severe turbulence on a flight from Brazil to Argentina (pictured 2022)

The Grammy Award-winning South African musician, 47, was traveling to the city of Mar Del Plata when the incident occurred - which resulted in 'unforeseen complications' - a statement on his social media accounts on Wednesday read

'We regret to inform you that he will not be at the show today.'

Media in the South American country said the statement had been released before he went into surgery.

The DJ is said to be receiving the best possible medical attention and being supported by his team and relatives.

A post on his social media accounts read: 'Black Coffee was involved in a severe travel accident on a flight en-route to his scheduled show in Mar Del Plata

'The incident resulted in unforeseen complications and left him with some injuries

'We can confirm that he is receiving the best possible medical attention and surrounded by a supportive family and team.

'Despite the challenges presented Black Coffee is optimistic and recovering well

'He looks forward to being back with you all very soon.'

The DJ - real name Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo - had been performing in Brazil in the first few days of 2024.

His previous Instagram post on December 30 showed him reflecting on past year, writing: '2023 is a year I'll never forget. Looking forward to the new year ahead.'

Maphumulo married actress and television presenter Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa in 2011 and they divorced in 2020.

They have two children together and he has two more from a previous relationship.

In 2022 he won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album for Subconsciously - beating Fallen Embers  Illenium, Music Is the Weapon (Reloaded)  Major Lazer, Shockwave  Marshmello, Free Love  Sylvan Esso and Judgement  Ten City.

His career began around 1994 and he has since released nine studio albums.

The Grammy Award-winning South African musician, 47, was traveling to the city of Mar Del Plata when the incident occurred - which resulted in 'unforeseen complications' - a statement on his social media accounts on Wednesday read (pictured 2022)
Alan Ruck was spotted with a cane at the Golden Globes on Sunday, but it wasn't because his car accident from two months ago.

The Succession star, 67, had been pictured posing on the red carpet at the star-studded affair and supporting himself with a cane because he recently got surgery.

A source told TMZ that nearly a month ago, he underwent knee replacement surgery because he had been suffering from arthritis.

The insider clarified that it was not a fashion accessory and was necessary for him to get around at the award ceremony in Beverly Hills.

Last Halloween, the actor allegedly damaged three vehicles before plowing his own into a Los Angeles pizza restaurant.

Alan Ruck was spotted with a cane at the Golden Globes on Sunday, but it wasn't because his car accident from two months ago. The Succession star, 67, had been pictured posing on the red carpet at the star-studded affair and supporting himself with a cane because he recently got surgery

The insider clarified that it was not a fashion accessory and was necessary for him to get around at the award ceremony, which he attended with his wife Mireille Enos, in Beverly Hills

He had been driving his electric Rivian R1T truck when he crashed into Raffallo's Pizza restaurant in the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.

He had emerged miraculously uninjured from the scary car crash but was spotted with a knee sleeve in the following days.

Although he is now 'being sued by one of the drivers' involved in the accident, he appeared dapper as he joined his wife, Mireille Enos, 48, at and other celebrities at the event held at the iconic Beverly Hilton Hotel.

As he arrived to the ceremony, Ruck sported a dark gray suit that comprised of slacks as well as a double-breasted blazer.

Alan additionally wore a gray dress shirt underneath and slipped into a pair of black dress shoes that were secured with laces.

By his side, Enos turned heads in a stunning ensemble that comprised of a sleeveless, black dress that contained lace material on the upper portion.

The hem of the dress flowed down towards the ground and concealed the shoes she had worn for the festivities.

Mireille carried a black clutch bag in her hand and accessorized her look with a pair of dangly earrings.

Although he is now 'being sued by one of the drivers' involved in the accident, he appeared dapper as he joined his wife, Mireille Enos, 48, at and other celebrities at the event held at the iconic Beverly Hilton Hotel

The Catch actress's makeup was glammed up for the night, and comprised of a layer of mascara to her lashes as well as a light shadow around her eyes.

The beauty also added a warm blush to her cheekbones, while a glossy, rosy pink tint was worn on her lips for a finishing touch.

Alan was notably nominated for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television - Drama for his role as Connor Roy in HBO's Succession, which eventually went to his fellow co-star, Matthew Macfadyen.

Ruck has also been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Kieran Culkin - who portrayed Roman Roy in the series - won Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series  Drama while Sarah Snook won Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series  Drama.

Ruck's appearance at the awards ceremony comes nearly one month after Alan was 'sued by one of the drivers' involved in the Hollywood crash that resulted in the actor slamming into a pizza restaurant.

TMZ previously reported a man involved in the four-car collision that night claimed Alan hit his car before subsequently crashing into the restaurant.

The individual - whose name is Horacio Vela - claimed he was at a red light when the actor allegedly hit the back of his 2020 Hyundai Elantra, causing him to crash into another vehicle.

By his side, Enos turned heads in a stunning ensemble that comprised of a sleeveless, black dress that contained lace material on the upper portion

Alan was notably nominated for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television - Drama for his role as Connor Roy in HBO's Succession, which eventually went to his fellow co-star, Matthew Macfadyen; seen in February 2022

His appearance at the awards ceremony comes nearly one month after Alan was 'sued by one of the drivers' involved in the Hollywood crash that resulted in the actor slamming into a pizza restaurant

The incident has since been ruled an accident by police. Officers investigating the case have theorized Ruck crashed his truck due to being unfamiliar with the vehicle's high-tech design.

In the documents, Vela claimed that he had been taken to a hospital by an ambulance and suffered 'severe injuries and damages.'

He also stated in the lawsuit that the crash resulted in him receiving 'property damage, costs of past and future medical care, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, and other consequential damages.'

Surveillance footage of the crash had shown Alan's truck hit the back of another vehicle which was pushed into the cross-section of the busy street.

After the crash happened at around 9p.m., the front portion of the star's electric vehicle could be seen lodged into the front of the building, causing damage to the structure.

At the time, sources informed TMZ that a few individuals had suffered injuries, but that they were 'conscious and breathing.'

The following day, LAPD Sgt. Hector Guzman told the Los Angeles Times that 'there were injuries reported, but they appear to be minor' while adding that it was 'nothing life-threatening in nature.'

Police later said that there were no drugs or alcohol found in Alan's system, per TMZ.

The incident has since been ruled an accident by police. Officers investigating the case have theorized Ruck crashed his truck due to being unfamiliar with the vehicle's high-tech design; seen in October 2021 in London

A few days after the crash, the Ferris Bueller's Day Off actor was seen out in Studio City and briefly commented on the incident.

As he ran a few errands, he was asked about the crash and expressed, 'I'm fine and thank God no one was killed.'

He wore a knee brace on his left leg, but Alan explained, 'This isn't because of the accident, this is because I'm getting old.'

Ruck had told police authorities at the scene that he didn't know what had happened to cause his truck to crash.
The Royals have steadfastly refused to comment on glossy Netflix drama The Crown  but the other side of the family have now hit back with a blistering attack on its depiction of the Middletons.

Speaking on the latest episode of the hit Mail podcast, The Crown: Fact or Fiction  which drops tomorrow  the Princess of Wales's uncle slams the producers for portraying his sister Carole as 'evil'.

Gary Goldsmith goes on to attack the show for misrepresenting other relatives, including his parents, plus Kate and Prince William, and claims he struggled to understand why his sister 'hasn't taken legal action' over her characterisation.

The sixth and final series, released last month, represents Mrs Middleton as a ruthless social climber who is obsessed with inveigling her daughter into the young prince's affections.

The Royals have steadfastly refused to comment on glossy Netflix drama The Crown (pictured)

A scene from The Crown Season 6, Episode 9 with Eve Best as Carole Middleton with young Kate Middleton and Prince William in the show

A scene from The Crown Season 6, Episode 7 with Eve Best as Carole Middleton and Ella Bright as a young Kate Middleton

Carole Middleton and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the Royal Ascot in 2017

It includes a completely fabricated scene, set in 1996, in which Kate meets William. It sparks a crush in Kate  and sets Mrs Middleton's scheming in motion so that her daughter secures a place on the same course as the prince at St Andrews University.

Businessman Mr Goldsmith told the podcast he enjoyed the first few series of The Crown, but it drifted into a 'fantasy world'. He said: 'The narrative, the truth of it, has gone out of the way to try to get headlines.

'Once it started becoming ridiculous and fantastical, it was very difficult to watch, so I stopped.' He added: 'If they wrote a book, where would you put it? It's not going to be in the history of art, is it? Put it in the kids' section.'

In an attempt to set the record straight, Mr Goldsmith said: 'Carole isn't that manipulative evil person... coming up with ways by which she can force her way into the Royal Family.

'First and foremost, Kate did brilliantly well to get into St Andrews. She's an amazing girl, but that wasn't noted. It was all to do with 'Kate you've got to be doing these things, you've got to be showing your legs', and it's just not my family. It's not the way Carole operates.'

Staff at the company behind The Crown have shared bonuses totalling more than 10million. It is unclear how many Left Bank Pictures workers shared the pot, but its website details 36 employees, meaning they could have received more than 280,000 each.

The bonus, paid last year as filming on the show closed, was detailed in Companies House filings.
Clara Amfo appeared happier than ever during her recent trip to Jamaica, after quitting her presenting job on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds.

The DJ, 39, flaunted her figure in an eye-catching red bikini top and matching thong bottoms.

Clara slipped into a white two-piece while perched on a swing above water, while another snap showed her dressed in a dazzling gold skirt on the beach.

Alongside a group shot with her pals she wrote: '24 is the caption as I fear Ja maic yah bed you gotta lie in it was my peak from the '22 trip.'

It comes after Clara announced she has quit her presenting job on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds.

Clara Amfo flaunted her figure in an eye-catching red bikini as she soaked up the sun in Jamaica

The DJ, 39, appeared happier than ever as she slipped into a white two-piece and sat on a swing above water

The presenter, who competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2020 with Aljaz Skorjanec, issued a statement on Tuesday and shared a post of her in the recording studio on Instagram.

She penned: 'With immense gratitude and thought given, I have made the choice to say goodbye to Future Sounds on @bbcradio1.

'I'll save the long paragraphs (cos you know I love 'em!) for my final show but for now, I will say I'm so proud of the work I've been able to do on every type show over the years from the 8th floor, up and down UK and random pop stars houses!

'I'm grateful to have had the ears of the listeners who have consistently shown up for me.

'I'm enamoured by every production team I've had the privilege of working alongside for each and every broadcast.

'I'm so honoured by the incredible artists and their hardworking teams who have chosen the show to share their work and intimate thoughts, constantly providing one of the most precious things we all need to keep going in this wild world'.

She concluded: 'I'm energised and excited for my next chapter as part of the network and beyond! See you at 6pm Clara x'.

Clara, thought to earn around 150k per year, was flooded by comments from her fans and famous friends, with fellow Radio 1 star Greg James writing: 'Love yeeeeeeeeeew ' and Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball gushing: 'oh clara new adventures ahead. huge love to you goddess x'

Alongside a group shot with her pals she wrote: '24 is the caption as I fear Ja maic yah bed you gotta lie in it was my peak from the '22 trip.'

Another snap showed her dressed in a dazzling gold skirt and crop top on the beach

Strictly's Angela Scanlon penned: 'Yes babs!! Up up and away xx' while Loose Women's Judi Love added: 'The world is ready for your next move!!'

Stacey Dooley commented a series of clapping hands emjois, while Claudia Winkleman posted a string of hearts.

Jack Saunders - who presents the station's Future Artists and The Official Chart shows - will be taking on Clara's role from April 15.

He took to his own Instagram to announce the news, and shared a slew of throwback snaps of himself as a teenager starting in radio.

Alongside he wrote an earnest caption, writing that he had been inspired by Radio 1 DJs as a child and had long held a dream to present Future Sounds.

Jack wrote: ' The show (and it's previous entities) is the premier taste making music show. It has influenced the music taste of generations and I am so BLOODY EXCITED THAT I BROKE DOWN IN TEARS AT A RESTAURANT YESTERDAY WHEN I FOUND OUT that I will get to be the new host of Future Sounds from 15th April 2024.

'You and me and the best new music on the planet, I couldn't think of a more perfect way to spend my weekday evenings. We did it'.

Clara previously explained how she had wanted to be on the radio since she was a child, telling Metro in 2021: 'I have really distinct memories of being in my room alone as a kid and just listening to the radio for hours, pretending to be the presenter.

'I would either repeat their words or remix, thinking my 10-year-old self could do better.'

It comes after Clara announced she has quit her presenting job on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds

The DJ, who competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2020 with Aljaz Skorjanec, issued a statement on Tuesday and shared a post of her in the recording studio on Instagram

She concluded: 'I'm energised and excited for my next chapter as part of the network and beyond! See you at 6pm Clara x' (pictured in May)

She started out as a general office assistant at Kiss FM before becoming a presenter there and joined BBC Radio 1Xtra as host of the weekend breakfast show in September 2013.

She joined Radio 1 in 2015, taking over from Fearne Cotton to host the Live Lounge and interviewed Jay-Z, Dua Lipa, Kendrick Lamar and Ariana Grande in that time.

Clara then took on Annie Mac's Future Sounds show on Radio 1 from July 2021 until her exit this week.

Outside of radio she has appeared on Strictly, Celebrity Gogglebox, The Weakest Link and RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World.

Clara's surprise exit is the latest in a mass exodus of radio presenters from the BBC recently.

Earlier this month, Claudia Winkleman announced she will be quitting her Radio 2 show after 15 years on air, with Romesh Ranganathan set to take over.

The same week of Claudia's exit, beloved BBC radio presenter Andrew Peach also hung up his headphones after 31 years working at the corporation.

The star hosted BBC Radio Berkshire's breakfast show, which he branded The Peach Show, for 18 years having previously worked elsewhere at the Beeb.

He worked on a number of high profile stories, including the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's death and also interviewed Prime Minister Teresa May.

Jack Saunders - who presents the station's Future Artists and The Official Chart shows - will be taking on Clara's role from April 15

He took to his own Instagram to announce the news, writing an earnest caption that said he had been inspired by Radio 1 DJs as a child and had dreamed of presenting Future Sounds

Outside of radio she has appeared on Strictly, Celebrity Gogglebox, The Weakest Link and RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World (pictured last week)

Last month, Carol Vorderman was axed by BBC Radio Wales for breaching the broadcaster's new social media guidelines.

The former Countdown star, 62, who has been at the station for five years, said she was 'not prepared to stop' venting her 'strong beliefs' on Twitter and Instagram.

Ken Bruce also jumped ship from the BBC after 45 years for commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio, declaring: 'I've done everything it is possible to do at Radio 2'.

At the time the Scottish broadcaster, 72, said 'the time is right' for him to move on from the weekday mid-morning show he's presented since 1986 - with just a two year gap between 1990 and 1992 - having first walked into the corporation in 1977.
Stacey Solomon has shared a fresh health update after she had to be rushed to hospital on the last day of her family holiday to Jamaica.

The Loose Women star, 34, took to social media on Sunday to reveal she had been struck down by an infection while on her trip.

She explained that her fever got so high she had to go to hospital and be treated with oxygen, antibiotics and an IV drip.

Speaking to her Instagram followers again on Wednesday, Stacey gave an update, saying: 'I finally feel half human. I have come downstairs - Joe is looking after me. He is making a soup currently.

'I have finally come downstairs, it sounds ridiculous but I have felt so rough. I woke up this morning and it was such a nice feeling...

Stacey Solomon has shared a fresh health update after she had to be rushed to hospital on the last day of her family holiday to Jamaica

The Loose Women star, 34, took to social media on Sunday to reveal she had been struck down by an infection while on her trip

'I felt a little bit normal, it's all I needed, a little bit more human. I don't know how long it'll last so I'm making the most of it. Happy Wednesday. Love you all.'

It comes after Stacey said she would be taking things easy for a while after her hospital experience 'scared' her.

She had jetted off to the Caribbean with 20 of her family members for a festive break, joined by her husband Joe Swash , their children, Stacey's sister Jemma, her dad David and her nieces and nephews.

However, on the day before their flight back home, the mother-of-five fell ill suddenly and her condition only got worse through the evening.

She explained: 'We had the worst exit from Jamaica of all time. And I can't even like get over it. Because it doesn't feel real in my head. And today's the first day, I felt like I'm walking around the house and feel normal.'

She recalled: 'But anyway, cut a long story short on the day before we were travelling home, I started to feel a little bit 'flu-ey' so I was like oh I'm getting that flu that everyone's got. Annoying. That's alright, we're going home tomorrow, so I'll just get through it, get over it and carry on.

'So I carried on and as the day went on it just got worse and worse. So I was like, "You know what Joe, you take the kids to dinner, I'm just going to go to bed. I don't feel great, I need to sleep this off."

'And then he got back from dinner, took one look at me and rang my sister and my mum because he was like she looks a mess. He was like you were sweating and laying there and I was like, "Oh my god".

Speaking to her Instagram followers again on Wednesday, Stacey gave an update, saying: 'I finally feel half human. I have come downstairs - Joe is looking after me.'

She had jetted off to the Caribbean with 20 of her family members for a festive break, joined by her husband Joe Swash , their children, Stacey's sister Jemma, her dad David and her nieces and nephews

'So my sister comes into the room and I know it's serious when my sister comes in. Because she's a nurse she's very much like you're fine unless you're not fine and then she'll be like hold on a second.

'So she came in and was like, "We need to sit you up, cool you down, get you some paracetamol". Did all her nursing stuff and every time she checked my temperature, all I remember was her not saying anything and I was like, "Jemma what's happening?" And she was like, "No it's okay!"

'But it weren't. Because afterwards she told me my temperature was going up and not coming down and that is not a good sign.'

Stacey continued: 'So they called the medical team inside the hotel and the nurse came down and took one look at me and put an oxygen mask on.

'And then she was covering me in wet towels and my temperature was still too high so she literally said she needs to get to the hospital and get some IV antibiotics and fluids in her and tests.'

She began laughing as she concluded: 'So yeah I ended up in hospital in Jamaica. I don't know why I'm laughing but it doesn't feel real. Do you ever have an experience where you're like, did that even happen to me?

'I was perfectly normal, like absolutely fine one minute and then next minute, I'm not joking I was in hospital on an IV drip with an oxygen mask on! I've never had a oxygen mask in my life. I'm so dry from everything and I just feel so gross.'

Stacey went on: 'So anyway the IV and everything went in and I did start to feel instantly so much better. Still rough as hell but way better than what I was.

Stacey begged the hospital to let her fly home with the rest of her family and said that she felt much better on Sunday and 'like a normal human again'

She thanked her followers for messaging her and checking in during her absence and admitted that the experience had 'scared' her so she was going to take it easy for the next few days

'We were there from the night before we were meant to leave until the morning and I was obviously like, "Please let me go home, I don't want to stay here on my own when I'm not well, just let me get home."

'And they got me to a point where they were happy for me to fly home. So I did the flight home. Poor Joe had all the kids for 10 hours!

'And I literally went to sleep as soon as I got home and today is the first day I've started to feel like a normal human again.'

She then added: 'I just wanted to update you and I think I'm just going to really listen to my body because I'm one of those people that's like it's fine and then I end up in hospital in Jamaica.

'So I'm not going to do that, I'm going to listen to my body and let myself get well and I'll just have to have Christmas decorations up by February. I'll be that weirdo!'

She thanked her followers for messaging her and checking in during her absence and admitted that the experience had 'scared' her so she was going to take it easy for the next few days.

Stacey said: 'I'm just going to rest up and hopefully in a couple of days I'll feel back to normal. But even then I'm going to take it slow because I don't ever want to be in that situation again. It actually scared me a little bit.'

She later went on her Stories again to reveal it had been an infection, but that she was feeling better with the antibiotics and shared a photo of herself resting with her two dogs, Teddy and Peanut, on her lap

She later went on her Stories again to reveal she had come down with an infection, but was feeling better with the antibiotics.

Stacey shared a photo of herself resting, stretched out on the sofa with her two dogs, Teddy and Peanut, on her lap.

She captioned the sweet snap: 'Teddy & Peanut are the best nurses in the world. Thank you for all of your kind messages. I'll be back to life soon.

'Loads of you asking what it actually was. I rambled in for five minutes and still didn't say. It was an infection in the end that was causing my fever. But antibiotics are working well so fingers crossed they'll get rid of it completely.'
But doctors say there is no proof of benefits - and it can even be harmful

Experts have issued a vital warning against a popular 'skin-healing' supplement that can lead to seizures, kidney damage and even turn your skin blue.

The product, which can be taken as an oral supplement or applied to the skin in liquid form, is called colloidal silver - a mixture of tiny metal particles mixed with water, said to have miraculous wound-repairing properties.

On TikTok, fans tout its benefits for a range of skin conditions like eczema, and claim the oral supplements, costing between $15-20 can help fight off infections.

One of the most high-profile advocates is Oscar-winning actor Helen Mirren, who recently revealed she keeps a $16 colloidal silver healing ointment in her makeup bag in case of skin emergencies.

Amy Carlson died in 2021, aged 45, after suffering poisoning from colloidal silver along with alcoholism and anorexia

In a video published by UK magazine Harper's Bazaar she said: 'This is called active silver, and it's like a silver colloidal gel. A little dab of that if you have a rash or something going wrong with your skin, a dry patch, this stuff just magically resolves it.'

Applying the ingredient to the skin is far less risky than ingesting it - but experts say topical use still carries a high risk of irritation and burns.

Meanwhile on social media, those who take the supplement religiously tout its supposed benefits to millions of followers, while health firms sell the dangerous pills directly to consumers via TikTok.

'There have been serious adverse effects [from ingestion] such as seizures, psychosis, neuropathy (burning pain usually in hands and feet), and even deaths reported from colloidal silver use,' said Medical toxicologist Dr Maryann Amirshahi.

'Because there is no information to suggest colloidal silver is effective for the treatment of any condition, the risks of using it outweigh the benefits.'

Helen Mirren recently revealed in a Harper's Bazaar UK video that she keeps a $16 colloidal silver healing ointment in her makeup bag, which she recommended to viewers

The warnings follow the death of 45 year-old Amy Carlson of Colorado, who tragically lost her life in 2021 after drinking liquid colloidal silver.

Carlson was the leader of the cult Love Has Won - which is the subject of a new HBO documentary - and is reported to have ingested the supplement daily for many years, as she believed it had healing properties.

A coroner's report stated that her body was found surrounded by eight small brown bottles with 'colloidal' labels on them.

Her cause of death was listed as alcohol abuse, anorexia and chronic colloidal silver ingestion.

Colloidal silver is tiny particles of the metal mixed with a liquid - most commonly water.

While many claim it has health and beauty benefits, public health officials have long warned that it is, at best, useless and, at worse, harmful.

The FDA issued a statement branding colloidal silver as unsafe and ineffective for any disease or condition back in 1999.

The body banned the use of colloidal silver in over-the-counter drugs due to a lack of evidence of any health benefits.

One famous example of colloidal silver ingestion is Paul Karason, from California, known as the 'Papa Smurf.' Amy Carlson, leader of the cult Love Has Won, died due to chronic colloidal silver ingestion, as well as alcohol abuse and anorexia

NCCIH, a government agency within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), stated that colloidal silver can cause the poor absorption of drugs such as certain antibiotics and thyroxine (used to treat thyroid deficiency).

Among serious side effects, the most common is argyria - a buildup of silver in the body that causes the skin to become a blue-gray color, which is usually permanent.

Over time, the metallic hue can also discolor the nails, eyes and internal organs.

'People who have died with silver poisoning have been found to have a blue tone to their internal organs,' said medical toxicologist Dr Maryann Amirshahi.

There is also evidence that it can cause kidney, liver, and nervous system problems.

The substance was first used to treat infections or wounds in the early 1900s, before antibiotics were available - as silver has known antibacterial properties.

Dr Amirshahi told DailyMail.com: 'Because topical colloidal silver products have not been rigorously tested, there is not a lot of information out there.

'What we do know is that people that have been exposed to silver compounds as part of their job have developed symptoms of localized argyria (blue-gray discoloration of the skin due to silver deposition).

'Part of the problem is that because colloidal silver products are not regulated, you may not know how much silver is in it.'

'In addition to the local effects, some colloidal silver can be absorbed through the skin, particularly if it is broken or inflamed,' Dr Amirshahi added.

In February, the FDA issued official warnings to two supplement brands selling colloidal silver alongside unfounded health claims.

Dr Green Mom, run by naturopathic doctor Ashley Mayer, stated on its website: 'As an antiviral, silver can kill the virus that causes Covid-19 and may be an effective adjunctive treatment.

'There is also evidence that it may be effective against other viruses of interest, including monkeypox, herpes, RSV and viruses that cause upper respiratory tract infections (like influenza).'

Another company, Noble Elements, also claimed its colloidal silver was effective against monkeypox.

Internal medicine specialist Dr Melissa Young said colloidal silver should not be ingested 'under any circumstances.'

'Theres potential harm with the internal use of colloidal silver,' she said. 'The silver could enter your healthy cells and cause them to die, just like they cause bacteria to die.'

As for putting it on the skin, Dr Young said: 'Colloidal silvers benefits may extend to minor infections, irritations and burns when put on the skin. Silvers antimicrobial effect can help prevent or treat an infection.

'But if you see the affected area becoming red or inflamed after using colloidal silver, stop using it and seek medical attention.'

Another famous example of colloidal silver ingestion is Paul Karason, from California, who became known as the 'Papa Smurf' for his characteristic blue skin tone.

In 2008, he told how years of using a silver compound to treat a bad case of dermatitis on his face had turned him completely blue from head to toe.

He led a very reclusive life until appearing on NBC's Today Show to discuss his condition.

He died in 2013 at the age of 62 after contracting pneumonia and suffering a severe stroke and heart attack.

Some creams and topical products containing extracts of silver are approved for use by the FDA - however these are markedly different to those featuring colloidal silver.
US senators have written a public letter to the SEC chair seeking an explanation

The Securities and Exchange Commission had not set up basic security features on its X account - which was used to send out a fake tweet about Bitcoin.

The US finance watchdog is in charge of regulating investments and what it says can dramatically move the price of stocks and shares - or crypto.

On Tuesday the agency's X account was used by a hacker to post a fake tweet that momentarily drove up the price of bitcoin.

X has distanced itself from the incident, claiming the SEC account did not have 'two-factor authentication' set up.

Two-factor authentication is an increasingly common way to protect online accounts. It works by requiring the account holder to verify their identity on a separate device to the one on which they are trying to log on.

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly Twitter , has claimed none of its own security systems failed and blamed the SEC's poor security. Musk himself has been involved in spats with the SEC in the past

SEC chair Gary Gensler (pictured) published his own tweet just 15 minutes after the false one saying its official X account had been 'compromised'

X has distanced itself from the incident, claiming the SEC account did not have 'two-factor authentication' set up and that a hacker was able to gain control of the phone number linked to the SEC account

The false tweet was published by the SEC's official X account and said the agency had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Many bitcoin investors have been eagerly awaiting the SEC approval because it will likely result in an influx of investment into bitcoin-related assets, thereby driving up its value.

In response to the fake tweet the price of bitcoin spiked to above $48,000.

Fifteen minutes after it was published, the chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, posted a tweet from his own account saying the agency's X account had been 'compromised'. Bitcoin then fell back down to around $46,000.

The episode was hugely embarrassing for the SEC, a federal agency which is meant to protect investors against unfair manipulation of financial markets.

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has claimed none of its own security systems failed.

'Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X's systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party,' read a tweet from one its accounts, posted on Tuesday evening.

The fake tweet (pictured) was published at 4.11pm on Tuesday and came from the SEC's official account

Bitcoin then fell back down to around $46,000 after the chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, posted a tweet from his own account saying the agency's X account had been 'compromised'

'We can also confirm that the account did not have two-factor authentication enabled at the time the account was compromised. We encourage all users to enable this extra layer of security,' it added.

Musk himself has been involved in spats with the SEC in the past, most famously over its claims that he manipulated the value of Tesla stock by tweeting in 2018 that he would take Tesla private at $420 per share.

After the incident on Tuesday he criticized CNBC, which reported shortly after news of the false tweet spread that 'X was hacked'.

'That's how the legacy media runs,' he tweeted in response to a post suggesting the statement was false and that X itself was not hacked.

Additional backlash has come from US Senators J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis, who sent a public letter to Gensler seeking an explanation for the 'unacceptable' security breach.

'These developments raise serious concerns regarding the Commission's internal cybersecurity procedures and are antithetical to the Commission's tripart mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation,' it read.
A top judge is warning about a surge in a cruel scam where victims are threatened with arrest for supposedly missing jury duty - unless they pay a hefty 'fine'.

One 18-year-old victim detailed how she was 'crying' and 'shaking' after being told that she had missed jury duty, and so would have to pay off 'two misdemeanors' amounting to $750.

'I felt very scared on the phone. These people feed off of fear,' she said in a TikTok video. 'I got scammed out of a lot of money.'

Fraudsters are posing as police or court officials and cold-calling victims - claiming they have failed to appear for jury duty. Scammers demand a fine be paid - of hundreds or thousands of dollars - in order to avoid arrest.

'Let me be clear: these calls are fraudulent,' said US district judge Timothy Corrigan.

One 18-year-old victim detailed online how she was 'crying' and 'shaking' after being told that she had missed jury duty, and so would have to pay off 'two misdemeanors' amounting to $750.

Victims say crooks are convincing. They are providing personal information about the victim - including their address or date of birth - and real names of federal judges or court employees or case and badge numbers.

If the victim says they were not due to do jury service, they might fire back that letters were sent on certain dates.

According to the fresh warning Monday - from the US Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida - in some cases the criminals are even able to 'spoof' the phone number on the caller ID.

This means that the call falsely appears to originate from a court number or the number of another government agency.

TikTok user Mar, who lives in Arizona, said she asked to speak to a sergeant and a lieutenant and asked which police station they were calling from.

'They gave me a real address and told me I could meet them at the police station. They had everything to a tee,' she said.

The fraudsters also told her which court she was supposed to appear in, and gave her a case number, she said.

'I was on the phone with these people literally for three hours getting scammed. I was crying on the phone in my car in my work parking lot just being harassed with them telling me they were about to come and arrest me if I didn't pay this ticket,' she continued.

'I'm an 18-year-old college student, I didn't want anyone to have to bail me out of jail.'

Another TikTok user Nana, who lives in Austin, Texas, said she believed scammers who targeted her because she had information including her dad's address and her former address.

'He was even able to call me from the Texas Sheriff's Office phone number to assure me that it was a real phone call ,' she said in a video.

In one case in New York, according to the state's Division of Consumer Protection, a victim was duped into sending $1,000 to fraudsters.

The warning Monday from the US Attorney's Office in Florida came after it had received a spike in phone calls from victims about the scams - but it said it was a 'nationwide' scam.

Officials said some scammers ask the victim to purchase a prepaid debit or gift card, while others ask them to make an electronic payment to satisfy the 'fine.'

They told Americans that in no instance will a court official, US Marshals Service, or other government employee contact someone and demand payment or personal information by phone or email.

The district's chief judge Timothy Corrigan said: 'If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be a judge or other court official, do not give them your credit card or other financial information.

'The court appreciates those citizens who are called for jury service and always endeavors to treat them with respect.'

According to the US Attorney's Office, in some cases the criminals are even able to 'spoof' the phone number on the caller ID. This means that the call falsely appears to originate from a court number or the number of another government agency.

Roger B. Handberg, US attorney for the district, added: 'This scam works by trying to create a false sense of urgency that you must pay money immediately to avoid arrest. Do not fall for it.

'Hang up the phone and instead report the call to the appropriate federal authorities.'

The US Attorney's Office added that the court will always send a jury summons by US Mail.

'A fine will never be imposed until after an individual has appeared in court and been given the opportunity to explain their failure to appear. If a fine is imposed, it will be in open court and reduced to writing,' it added.

Anyone who thinks they are a victim of the scam can report it to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will invest Rs 35,000 crore to set up its second manufacturing facility in Gujarat as it looks to ramp up annual production capacity to over 40 lakh units by 2030-31, Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Wednesday.

Speaking here at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), Suzuki said the plant would have an installed production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum.

"We will invest Rs 35,000 crore for the construction of a second car plant in Gujarat which would produce another one million units per year," Suzuki said.

The new plant is expected to start operation in FY2028-29. Details of location and the models to be produced will be shared in due course.

As a result, the annual production capacity in Gujarat will be 2 million (20 lakh) units -- 10 lakh units at Suzuki Motor Gujarat and 10 lakh units at the second new plant, he added.

Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor Corporation has around 58 per cent stake in MSI.

Suzuki noted that under the strong leadership and consistent support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for manufacturing industries, the Indian automobile market has been expanding steadily.

As a result, India has become the third largest automobile market in the world, he noted.

"We have also scaled up production capacity substantially in India. It is noteworthy that as compared to 10 years ago, we expect 1.7 times in vehicle production and 2.6 times in export sales in the current fiscal year," Suzuki said.

He stated that the first battery electric vehicle (BEV) from the Suzuki Group will be rolled out from Suzuki Motor Gujarat by the end of this year.

"We plan to sell this model not only in India but also export to Japan and European countries," he added.

Besides, in order to expand the BEV production in future, Suzuki Group will invest Rs 3,200 crore in Suzuki Motor Gujarat to add a new fourth production line which can produce 2.5 lakh units per year, Suzuki stated.

This will increase the annual production capacity of Suzuki Motor Gujarat from the current 7.5 lakh to 10 lakh units, he noted.

The fourth line is expected to start operation from FY2026-27

Suzuki noted that as far as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is concerned, the group will focus on a multi-pathway approach.

"That means, in addition to vehicle electrification, we will offer multiple options such as compressed natural gas, biogas, bioethanol and green hydrogen," he stated.

Taking advantage of India's animal wealth, the automaker will start production of biogas from cow dung, he added.

Together with the National Dairy Development Board, and Banas Dairy, Suzuki has already started construction of four biogas plants in Gujarat, Suzuki said.

Suzuki Group will always work to provide a variety of sustainable customer-oriented mobility options, he added.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is looking to add another 20 lakh units-production capacity by 2030-31 with about 28 different models in the market.

Currently, the auto major has a cumulative production capacity of around 22 lakh units per annum across its two manufacturing plants in Haryana and Gujarat.

The two plants in Haryana -- Gurugram and Manesar -- together roll out around 15.5 lakh units per annum.

Suzuki Motor Gujarat, a unit of the company, has also set up a facility in Gujarat with an installed production capacity of 7.5 lakh units per year.

Besides, the car market leader is already in the process of setting up a new manufacturing plant at Sonipat in Haryana with an investment of Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase.

The new plant's first phase with a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum is expected to be commissioned by next year.
As Ayodhya eagerly awaits the consecration of Ram Lalla at the newly built Ram Temple, the adorned city, with a host of infrastructures in place, is also looking forward to welcoming and hosting well-known dignitaries. This includes leaders, celebrities, industrialists, and sporting personalities, as their private jets and chartered planes are set to land at the newly developed Maharishi Valmiki International Airport in Ayodhya.

Sources said over 100 chartered aircraft are expected to land at MVIAA during January 20-22. Due to the limited availability of hangars and parking bays, these aircraft are to be parked at airports in the vicinity, such as Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and Varanasi.

In an effort to ensure foolproof security, on Wednesday, the Centre approved a security cover of over 150 CISF personnel for the Ayodhya airport. A range of ultra-luxurious private jets, including the 10-seater Dassault Falcon 2000, Embraer 135 LR & Legacy 650, Beechcraft Super King Air 200, Cessna, and Bombardier, are scheduled to touch down in the holy city.

Sources mentioned that chartered flights have been granted landing permission but not parking clearance at Ayodhya Airport. The lone aircraft parking space will be occupied by Prime Minister Narendra Modis aircraft.

The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham has become the countrys 68th civil airport terminal to fall under the purview of the specialized Aviation Security Group (ASG) of the central force, according to sources.

The CISF will be responsible for providing anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage coverage to the airport, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in December 2023. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sanctioned an armed contingent of over 150 CISF personnel under the command of a deputy commandant-rank officer for securing the Ayodhya airport. The airports coverage will be expanded in phases across the 821-acre land allocated for it, as per the sources.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that the airports capacity will be gradually increased. In the first phase, the airport will cover an area of 65,000 square feet. Its capacity will allow it to handle two to three flights every hour. Construction is underway for a 2,200-meter runway, enabling the landing of Boeing 737, Airbus 319, and Airbus 320 at the airport. Initially, there is an airport apron for eight aircraft, Scindia informed reporters.

He also mentioned that the cabinets approval will soon be sought for the second phase. In the second phase, as already stated by the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath), the length of the runway will be increased from 2,200 meters to 3,700 meters. In other words, the runway will be around four kilometers in length, allowing international aircraft like Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 to land in Ayodhya, Scindia said last month during the airports inauguration. The minister added that the second phase of the airport will cover 50,000 square metres.
After a dispute arose between the Congress and the Manipur Government over the initial denial of permission for a venue where the grand old partys Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was scheduled to begin on January 14, the N Biren Singh Government on Wednesday approved the venue for the flagging off but with a condition.

In response to protests by the Congress over the last two days, the Manipur Government granted approval for the flagging off of the proposed January 14 Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, albeit with a limited number of participants. This approval came eight days after the Congress approached the government to request the flagging off of the yatra from Hapta Kangjeibung ground.

Only the flagging off of the Yatra with a limited number of participants is hereby allowed on January 14 to prevent any untoward incidents and disturbances in law and order. The number and names of the participants shall be provided in advance to this office to enable the necessary precautionary measures to be taken, the order issued by the Imphal East district magistrates office said.

The order says the Imphal East district superintendent of police has submitted a report stating that a huge crowd is expected during the opening ceremony of the tatra at the venue. In view of the prevailing law and order situation in the state, the large gathering may create problems with law and order.

Moreover, prohibition under Section 144 Cr PC is also in force in Imphal East district, it added.

The Congress has described the state governments decision to deny permission for the launch of the yatra as a violation of peoples rights. During a press conference at the AICC headquarters in the national capital earlier in the day, Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal unveiled a pamphlet and a website dedicated to the yatra. Venugopal stated that the Manipur government has declined permission to commence the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Imphals Palace grounds.

He emphasised that the Congress is determined to start the yatra from Manipur and mentioned that the party has requested permission to initiate the march from another location in Imphal.

A Congress delegation met N Biren Singh at the CM Secretariat in Imphal. The MPCCs comments came a day after the chief minister stated that granting permission for Congress Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was under active consideration, and a decision would be made after receiving reports from security agencies.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to traverse 6,713 km in buses and on foot. It will cover 110 districts, 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 assembly segments in 66 days. According to the proposed programme, it will culminate on March 20 in Mumbai. Rahul had earlier led a 3500 kms padyatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir under his Bharat Jodo Yatra programme from September 2022 to January 2023 which saw participation of people from different walks of life.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi and many others from different parts of the country are scheduled to visit the state for the programme.

Manipur has been rocked by ethnic violence since May last year and over 180 people were killed. The violence erupted on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.
In a major setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday recognised the Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena and rejected a plea by the Sena (UBT) seeking disqualification of 16 Sena MLAs, including Shinde himself, thus retaining the stability of the Maha-Yuti Government.

More than 18 months after the Shinde-led Shiv Sena teamed up with the BJP and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government, the Speaker ruled that the decision taken by Uddhav to remove Shinde, after the June 2022 rebellion within the erstwhile parent Sena, lacked the mandate of the political party and that the paksha pramukh (party president) does not have the power to remove any leader from the party.

The 1999 party constitution submitted to the Election Commission by the Shiv Sena was the valid one for deciding the issues related to leadership. The Shiv Sena UBT groups contention that the amended constitution of 2018 should be relied on was not acceptable.The 1999 constitution made the rashtriya karyakarini (national executive) the supreme body.the paksha pramukh (party president) does not have the power to remove any leader from the party, the Speaker stated in his order.

The 2018 leadership structure was not in conformity with the constitution of the Shiv Sena (of 1999 which is relied upon). This leadership structure cannot be taken as the yardstick to determine which faction is a real Shiv Sena political party, Narwekar said.

The 2018 amended constitution of Shiv Sena cannot be considered as valid as it is not in the records of the Election Commission of India. As per Supreme Court orders, I cannot delve into any other factor on which the constitution is valid. As per records, I am relying on the 1999 constitution of Shiv Sena as the valid constitution, the Speaker said.

In view of the evidence and records before me, (it) prima facie indicates that no elections were held in the year 2013, as well as in the year 2018. However, I as the speaker exercising jurisdiction under the 10th Schedule have limited jurisdiction and cannot go beyond the record of the ECI as available on the website and hence I have not considered this aspect while determining the relevant leadership structure, the Speaker noted.

Thus, given the above conclusions, I find that the leadership structure of Shiv Sena reflected in the letter dated 27th February 2018 available on the website of the ECI is the relevant leadership structure which has to be taken into account for the purpose of determining which faction is the real political party..., the Speaker said, as he recognised Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena.

While the ruling Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) welcomed the Speakers ruling through celebrations, the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the Speakers order was nothing but murder of democracy. He said his party would move the Supreme Court. On his part, Shinde said that in democracy numbers are important .

It may be recalled that Shinde  who along with 15 Shiv Sena MLAs had walked out of the parent Sena camp  later mustered a strength of 40 rebel Sena MLAs and teamed with the Fadnavis-led BJP and toppled the Uddhav-led MVA government and formed his own government in last week of June 2022.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), in petition seeking disqualification of Shinde and 15 other party MLAs, had claimed that despite a party whip, these 16 MLAs failed to attend the meeting convened by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022, which amounted to anti-party activity and attracted disqualification as per the rules.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) had moved the Supreme Court questioning the delay in giving ruling in the MLAs disqualification case.

Subsequently on May 11, 2023, a Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had asked the Speaker to decide on the disqualification of 16 rebel Sena MLAs, including Shinde. Among other things, the apex court had said that it would not interfere in the disqualification proceedings against 16 Sena MLAs and that the Speaker must decide on the same within a reasonable period.

Among other things, the Speaker in his order, the Speaker stressed on the importance of the Shiv Senas constitution in determining the legitimate leadership structure on the ground that it formed the basis for internal governance.

An amendment to the Shiv Sena constitution was carried out in 2018, but it was not officially recorded. Hence, the constitution from 1999, registered with the Election Commission of India, was considered valid.

The Speaker, in his order, dwelt upon the absence of organisational elections in 2018 which raised questions about the legitimacy of subsequent leadership structures.

Though in the 2018 leadership structure, the Constitution acknowledged the paksha pramukh as the highest office, the acknowledgement did not align with the provisions of the partys constitution.

The Shiv Senas 1999 constitution vested supreme authority with the national executive, rather than the paksha pramukh. The constitution did not vest absolute power with the paksha pramukh and it made it clear that he would have to consult the partys national executive in taking major decisions.
The Chhattisgarh government on Tuesday appointed 2007 batch IAS officer Basavaraju S as Secretary to Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.

Basavaraju has been given the additional charge as Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Protection, and Urban Administration and Development.

Earlier, P Dayanand, a 2006 batch IAS officer, was also appointed as Secretary to the Chief Minister on December 19 after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in the state.

With Raju's appointment, the Chief Minister will have two Secretaries.

Dayanand has been given additional charge as Secretary of Energy, Mineral Resources and Public Relations Departments, Chairman of the Chhattisgarh State Power Company, as well as Secretary of Commerce and Industry (rail line projects) and Aviation Departments.
A BJP delegation headed by BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi submitted a memorandum with a plea that not to allow holding Gandey bypoll as it will create a constitutional crisis in the State. The BJP leader on Tuesday met the Governor and submitted a letter related to the constitutional crisis that would arise in the event of Gandey Assembly by-election. State General Secretary and Headquarters in-charge Dr. Pradeep Verma, Balmukund Sahay were also included in the delegation.

Talking to the media after the meeting, BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi said that an MLA from the ruling party who was representing Gandeya Assembly constituency was pressurised by Chief Minister Hemant Soren to resign from his seat.

Marandi said that Sarfaraz Ahmed is completely healthy, he is not even going out of the country, hence his resignation was without reason, but the Chief Minister wants to make his wife Kalpana Soren the Chief Minister on the lines of Lalu Prasad as he fears that ED will arrest him.

He said that by-election cannot be conducted in Jharkhand due to the resignation given by Gandey's MLA. Under Section 151A, Representation of the People Act, 1951, by-elections cannot be held if there is less than a year left for the general elections.

He said that it was made clear by the Honorable Supreme Court in its decision (Pramod Laxman Gudhade vs. Election Commission of India) that if the general elections are to be held within a year, then by-elections cannot be held.

The order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on January 8, 2023, by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court, ordering the holding of by-elections even if the period of time remaining is less than one year, has been stayed.

Assembly elections in Jharkhand are scheduled to be held in December 2024. The process starts from September-October. Therefore, by-elections cannot be conducted in the light of Section 151A, Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the Honorable Supreme Court.

He said that the day the appointed returning officer of the assembly constituency declares the results of the assembly elections to the Election Commission and makes it public that from which party and how many independent MLAs have been elected, that date is considered to be the date of election of the MLA. The formation of the government and the assembly session happened a few days later, it has nothing to do with it.

He said that the ruling coalition of the state is trying to mislead the people of the state and the Election Commission.

Marandi said that he has also requested His Excellency the Governor to forward the letter sent by him to the Election Commission.
A Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly running a children's home unlawfully and engaging in conversion attempts at the facility in Bhopal district, a police official said on Monday.

Father Anil Mathew of the Congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate was on January 4 charged with running the children's home unlawfully under Parwalia police station limits. He was later also booked under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021, an anti-conversion law, the official said.

The police on Sunday arrested Father Mathew and produced him in a local court, which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody, he said.

The chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and a team of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) raided the children's home at Tara Savania village, about 20 km from the district headquarters.

It found that 26 girls out of the total 68 inmates were missing after going through the register of the facility. Subsequently, a first information report (FIR) was registered with the police by district programme officer Ramgopal Yadav against Father Mathew for allegedly running the facility illegally.

He was initially charged under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, police said.

"We had complained on January 4 itself that there was a violation of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 at the facility. But after a probe, the police registered a case under the Act against Mathew on Sunday," Nivedita Sharma, a member of the SCPCR, told.

Meanwhile, refuting the allegations, Father Johnshibu Pallipatt, vicar provincial of the Congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, said the facility, called 'Aanchal', was not a children's home, but a hostel for girls.

The students at the facility were admitted with the written consent of their parents and family members, he said in a release.

As per directives of the state school education department, Aanchal has registered the girls' hostel online on the department's portal, the release stated.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had on Saturday said 26 girls from a children's home who were alleged to have gone missing were safe and directed officials to take action against institutions operating illegally.

Yadav, in a post on X, wrote that the girls who went missing from the children's home were safe and had been identified.
Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday performed the foundation stone laying ceremony of two developmental projects at Dhaneta and also inaugurated a drinking water Scheme for Nadaun assembly constituency of district Hamirpur.



Addressing a public meeting in Dhaneta, the Chief Minister said that the government had made a provision of Rs. 25 crore for Dhaneta College, adding that an indoor stadium would also be built in Kharidi in Nadaun assembly constituency.



Sukhu said that the present government inherited a huge debt burden from the previous BJP government, but now the economy of Himachal Pradesh was slowly coming back on track and there has been an improvement of 20 percent in the state's financial health in just one year.



The state witnessed unprecedented disaster during the monsoon season, due to which 16 thousand families were affected. Despite limited financial resources, the state government changed the rules to resettle the affected people and increased the compensation manifold. Himachal didn't receive any special relief package from the Center to deal with the disaster. The state government had sent claims of about Rs. 10,000 crores related to monsoon losses to the central government. 'I have personally met Union Home Minister and senior union JP leaders in this regard but the State BJP leaders were creating hurdles in getting the funds released.



Sukhu said that the state government was holding Revenue Lok Adalats to settle the pending revenue cases. More than 65,000 partition and mutation cases have been settled so far in these Adalats whereas more than three and a half thousand pending cases of partition have been settled. It was for the first time a government is making serious efforts in this direction, he remarked.



"The government was going to make 20,000 recruitments in various government departments and the JOA (IT) exam result will be declared soon. The state government fought this battle till the Supreme Court with the decision in its favor," he said. Sukhu said that women's reservation in police recruitment has been increased to 30 percent. Efforts were also being made by the state government to provide self-employment opportunities.



The Congress Party had promised to bring a start-up scheme for the youth during elections. Fulfilling the same, the first phase of Rs. 680 crore Rajiv Gandhi Self-Employment Start-up Scheme has been launched wherein 50 percent subsidy was being provided to the youth for the purchase of e-taxi. Apart from this, the state government will also provide financial assistance for setting up solar energy projects and will purchase electricity from them for 25 years, to ensure fixed income to the youth. For the economic prosperity of farmers, a new scheme will be introduced in the upcoming budget session as well. He said that the state government has made a historic increase in the price of milk purchase by Rs 6 per litre.
Himachal CM flags off Inner Wheel car rally from Shimla



Shimla: Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday flagged off the car rally organized by Inner Wheel District 308 to mark 100 years of establishment of the Inner Wheel Club from OakOver, Shimla. This rally will conclude in New Delhi. On this occasion, the Chief Minister said that the Inner Wheel Club was fulfilling its social responsibilities very well. While lauding its efforts, he said that the club has been organizing various activities for the welfare of the needy sections of society. Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, Anirudh Singh, Principal Advisor (Media) to the Chief Minister, Naresh Chauhan, OSD to the Chief Minister, Gopal Sharma and Ritesh Kaprate, District Chairperson of Inner Wheel Club, Seema Kapoor, Officer, Neha Sharma and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Haryana CM releases book on the life and ideology of Dr BR Ambedkar



Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday released the book titled Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Life and Thought by Dr. Krishna Gopal, at his residence Sant Kabir Kutir here in Chandigarh. Khattar, who is also the Chairman of Haryana Sahitya and Sanskriti Academy, said that the thoughts of saints and great personalities have always advocated social harmony and humanism since ancient times. Such great personalities should not be associated with any particular group or community. Acknowledging the same, the state government has initiated the Sant-Mahapurush Samman evam Vichar Prachar Prasar Yojana, celebrating the birth anniversaries and commemoration days of great personalities at the government level, so that the younger generation can draw inspiration for the welfare of society from the life stories of these great saints and personalities, said Khattar. The book has been published by Haryana Sahitya and Sanskriti Academy.

Himachal CM to chair meeting on MLA priority for budget 2024-25



Shimla: Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will chair a meeting with Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) regarding their priority for the development-related schemes for the upcoming budget 2024-25. The two-day meeting will be held on 29th and 30th January at the conference hall in Armsdale phase-3 of the Secretariat. The meeting would be held in two sessions, morning 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and evening 2 pm to 5 pm. At the morning session on January 29, the Chief Minister would listen to the suggestions and priorities of the MLA from districts Una, Hamirpur and Solan. During the evening session, the MLA from districts Sirmaur, Chamba, Bilaspur and Lahaul & Spiti would participate in the meeting. At the morning session on January 30, the MLA from districts Kangra, Kinnaur and Kullu would be present in the meeting. During the evening session, the MLA from districts Shimla and Mandi would participate in the meeting to present their suggestions and priorities to the Chief Minister.





Hry CM announces a change in the timing of the electricity supply to tube wells



Chandigarh: Farmers in Haryana will now be able to irrigate their fields during the daytime as well after the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar directed the officers concerned to change the timing of the electricity supply at tube wells. Now farmers will get electricity in 2 shifts during the day. The decision has been taken due to extreme weather conditions. With the change in timings, the farmers will now be able to irrigate their fields without facing any problems caused due to severe cold conditions. As per the directions of the Chief Minister, the power department will now ensure uninterrupted power supply to the farmers from 5 am to 1 pm and from 10 am to 6 pm. For the last few days, farmers from across the state has been urging the government about the problems being faced by them due to weather conditions, acknowledging the same the Chief Minister took this decision, a statement said.



Cold conditions continue in Punjab and Haryana fog in several places



Chandigarh: Cold weather conditions continued unabated in Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday, with the morning fog again reducing visibility levels at several places. Gurdaspur in Punjab and Narnaul in Haryana reeled from the biting chill, recording minimum temperatures of 6 degrees Celsius each, the Met office said in a weather report. In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a night temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius, Bathinda, Pathankot and Patiala at 7 degrees each and Ludhiana at 7.6 degrees. Chandigarh recorded a low of 8.2 degrees Celsius. In Haryana, the minimum temperature in Ambala was at 6.7 degrees Celsius and 7.2 degrees in Karnal and Bhiwani each. Meanwhile, morning fog reduced visibility levels at several places in the two states. During the past few days, day temperatures in the region have witnessed a sharp decrease, hovering a few notches below normal.



MANSA BAGS FIRST SPOT IN ENSURING SUCCESS TO KHARIF MARKETING SEASON 2023-24



Chandigarh: Commending the entire department for braving numerous challenges and ensuring a successful Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-24, Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak on Tuesday said that this is the result of the Department staff working hard day and night and he expressed confidence that this positive trend would continue in KMS 2024-25 also. Presiding over a meeting of the department to review the Kharif Marketing Season 2023-24, the Minister said the department is closely connected with the farming sector which is the backbone of the agrarian economy of Punjab. "The farmers just want two things, timely lifting of their crops and prompt payments," said the Minister adding that it is a matter of pride that the department has fulfilled the expectations of the farmers in this respect. The Minister awarded the three Districts for showing exemplary performance in ensuring a successful Kharif Procurement Season 2023-24. The District Food Supply Controller (DFSC) Pathankot Gurinder Singh bagged the 3rd prize. The DFSC Fazilka, Himanshu got the 2nd prize while the DFSC Mansa, Mandeep Singh won the top honour.





JAURAMAJRA WARNS OF STERN ACTION AGAINST OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN ILLEGAL MINING



Chandigarh: Stating that illegal mining will not be tolerated under any circumstances, Punjab Water Resources, Mining & Geology and Soil and Water Conservation Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra on Tuesday categorically said that stern action will be initiated against the officials involved in illegal mining and those are not collecting royalties. During a meeting with MLAs from Majha and officials from the water resources, mining & geology and soil & water conservation departments in Amritsar, the Cabinet Minister said that royalties of soil being used for major projects should be ensured to be deposited in the government treasury. He highlighted that despite the construction of hundreds of kilometers of national highways in the state; their actual royalties have not been collected and asked officials for vigilance and proper attention to these projects. In a firm tone, he warned of departmental action against any officer showing negligence in addressing issues related to illegal mining and royalty. Regarding canal and drain cleaning, the Cabinet Minister said that the government has acquired ten large machines for the task. He said that if the need arises, additional machinery will be purchased to complete the work. He said that earlier the governments used to get this work done by outsourcing but now by purchasing the machines, 60 percent of the cost has been saved while amplifying the efficiency of the work.
The regional Janata Congress Chhattisgarh Jogi (JCC-J), founded by former Congress Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, may ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Speculation about a possible tie-up arose after party's President and the late Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi met Union Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Amit Jogi shared his photograph with Shah no X and said it was a courtesy meeting.

Ajit Jogi, who headed the Congress government in the state from 2000 to 2003, floated the JCC (J) in 2016 after parting ways with the grand old party. He contested the 2018 Assembly elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

After Ajit Jogi's death in 2020, Jogi junior is struggling to keep the JCC (J) flock together.

Though the JCC (J) could not influence the outcome in the 2023 Assembly polls, it succeeded in making inroads into the state politics, traditionally dominated by the BJP and the Congress. In 2018, the party won seats in the Assembly. It won no seat this time and its vote share has also dipped.
In a moment of triumph for Jugsalai, Srishti Choudhary has successfully cleared the Chartered Accountants (CA) final examination, as announced by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The entire community celebrates this remarkable achievement, attributing the credit not only to Srishti's dedication but also to the unwavering support of her family, including her late father, Shyam Chaudhary, and mother, Poonam Chaudhary.

Srishti, a former student of DBMS English School, expressed gratitude to her father, who instilled in her the belief that a determined goal leads to success. Reflecting on her journey, she shared her father's wisdom, encouraging all students to persevere in their goals, assuring that victory is certain with determination.

Having pursued her B.Sc. from Shikshayatan College, Kolkata, and completed her articleship at Ashok K Kedia, Srishti has not only excelled academically but has also nurtured a keen interest in social work. With aspirations to further her career through independent practice, she envisions making a meaningful impact in her professional journey.

Srishti Choudhary's accomplishment not only reflects her individual prowess but also serves as an inspiration to aspiring students in Jugsalai and beyond. The community joins hands in congratulating Srishti on her well-deserved success and wishes her continued success in her future endeavours.
All educational institutions in Odisha will now be drug-free. Not only students, teachers will also be required to submit anti-drug declarations.

The Odisha Assembly Standing Committee has made such a recommendation to the State Government, informed committee chairman Bhupinder Singh on Tuesday.

The committee has recommended implementation of such provision for the Lecturers of Plus 2 and Plus 3 colleges and universities. Our objective is to keep educational campuses free from any substance use and the rule should be applicable to students and Lecturers as well, Singh added.

Drug addiction is a major challenge in many higher educational institutions with numerous cases of youngsters getting hooked to substance abuse. Recently, the University Grants Commission had written to educational institutions to implement the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
In view of the widespread and positive results of 'Blow Whistle Baja, Increase Attendance', a unique initiative run by the School Education and Literacy Department in the state with the aim of increasing the attendance of children in schools, on January 11, 2024, pictures and video of children blowing whistle while coming to school in all the districts will be posted tagging #SeetiBajao. In this social media mega campaign, District Education Officer, District Education Superintendent, Area Education Officer, Sub-Divisional Education Officer, Block Education Extension Officer, Block Program Officer, Block Resource Service, Cluster Resource Service, teachers, students, parents etc of every district of the state will participate.

Intellectual people of the society, heads, school management committee members, citizens and public representatives will also be encouraged to participate in this campaign. Apart from these, members of Saraswati Vahini and members of Mata Samiti will also participate in it.

In the context of Blow Whistle, Call School mega campaign, as per the instructions of State Education Secretary K. Ravi Kumar, an important meeting was held today in various districts in view of the social media mega campaign of January 11, 2024. In this, necessary guidelines were given to all the block level officials of the district, and for the widespread success of this campaign on January 11, the officials have been instructed to keep complete preparations in every school up to the block level.

In view of the 'Blow Whistle, Call School social media campaign, schools have been instructed to keep adequate whistles. Ravi Kumar has given instructions to maintain an adequate number of CTs through video conferencing with all the district officials. Those schools which have not yet purchased the whistle, have been instructed to purchase it immediately.

For the success of the social media campaign, nodal officers have been appointed at the district, block and cluster level. ADPO at the district level, BPO at the block level and CRP at the cluster level have been made nodal officers. This program will also be linked to Prayas, SMC, RuR and PTM.

The State Education Project has made it clear in the guidelines issued to all the districts that for the success of this social media campaign, they should make full use of all the mediums of social media. Make sure to use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and the Koo app, not just on X (formerly Twitter). Post #SeetiBajao through all mediums.

The campaign was started as a pilot project in Simdega district. Seeing its positive results in the district, the School Education and Literacy Department decided to start this campaign in the entire state as 'Whistle Whistle Call School' campaign. Soon this campaign started in all the districts of the state, as a result of which the attendance of children in schools has already increased and leadership skills are also being developed in them.

The campaign has been started in the entire state on the lines of Simdega. Under this campaign, every morning in the school, house captains and class monitors blow whistles to motivate the children of their villages, towns and hamlets to go to school. As soon as the whistle blows, children get ready to go to school and go to school with their classmates. Parents of children are also becoming aware due to this campaign.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said no presiding officer likes to suspend members of a legislature but the dignity of the House cannot be compromised.

Replying to a question about the suspension of more than 140 Opposition MPs from both Houses during the recently-concluded session of Parliament, he also said that a new "tradition" has emerged where someone announces in advance that the legislature will not be allowed to function today.

Birla was talking to media persons here after inaugurating the two-day `Prabodhan' programme, a training session for the newly-elected members of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

"No presiding officer ever wants to suspend (members) but the dignity of legislature cannot be compromised. We try to maintain the dignity of the House," he said.

In a democracy, when members violate the dignity and decorum of legislature, it does not send out a good message, Birla added.

Every member gets a chance to discuss every issue as per the rules and procedure, which also yields a better outcome, he said.

To another question, Birla said in 2001 there was a very serious discussion on the issue of disruptions among assembly speakers of all the states and leaders of political parties, and everyone was concerned about maintaining the dignity and prestige of legislatures in the country.

"Everyone believes that the conduct of members in a legislature should be dignified. There should be a decorum. A legislature is for discussion and dialogue. There can be consent and disagreement, but the dignity of the House should not be diminished," he said.

"A new tradition has started (where it is announced in advance) that the assembly or Lok Sabha will not be allowed to function today. The Lok Sabha or assemblies not running in a planned manner is not a good tradition for a democracy," Birla added.

First-time MLAs too can perform well, he said, adding that Narendra Modi became the chief minister of a state for the first time, an MP for the first time and became the country's prime minister, and he was successful all through.

Earlier, the two-day orientation programme for newly elected MLAs started on Tuesday; however, most of the members, including seniors like Kailash Vijayvargiya and Vishwas Sarang, also attended the event.

Addressing the newly-elected MLAs, he said, "If you want to become a national politician, then be ready to spend more time in the house."

He shared several important notes for the members of the legislative assembly; he said, Always keep your questions short, so that there is enough time for the minister to provide a convincing answer."

Speaking to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, he said that the questions raised in the assembly give the correct picture of the state. "You must always chase the root of the question. It will help you understand the issues of Madhya Pradesh."

Birla also appreciated the attitude of the leader of the opposition, Umang Singhar and questioning the drop in number of assembly sessions.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also praised Umang Singhar and said, He took his turn like an opponent, and he did not miss the chance..

LoP Umang Singhar raised his concern about the reduced numbers of assembly sessions and sittings. He said that now the government skips answering the questions raised in the assembly.

He asked to institute a research unit in the assembly to boost democratic behaviour in the state.
Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development, Labor Prahlad Singh Patel, while reviewing departmental activities at Mantralaya here today, gave instructions to develop an effective communication system with regular data updation of e-Panchayats.

Minister Patel was reviewing the technical resources with the Panchayats and their utilization at the Madhya Pradesh Tech e-Panchayat Society.

Principal Secretary Manu Srivastava, Secretary Dhananjay Singh, Director Panchayat Kedar Singh and senior officers were present.

Rural Development Minister Patel gave instructions to prepare a comprehensive website of the department. He said that information about various projects and missions under the Rural Development Department is brought together on one platform.

Patel apprised himself ofthe sets of information about the activities being uploaded in the portal of PanchayatDarpan. He was informed about the completion of works being done in the district and gram panchayats of Narsinghpur district.

Patel also reviewed the activities of Common Service Centers (CSC) operative in rural areas. He asked the officers concerned to efficiently utilizethem. Patel directed the departmental officers that the websites on various departments, projects and programmesshould be updated regularly. He said that the people will be able to know the ongoing activities.
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Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO on Tuesday directed the Punjab State Power Corporation (PSPCL) to make advance arrangements to meet summer challenges so that should not face any difficulty in ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the people of the state.



During a three-hour long meeting with the PSPCL officials here, the Power Minister asked the management to complete the tender process for the procurement of the required infrastructure and equipments as soon as possible to meet the possible increase in demand for electricity during upcoming summers. He said that all the formalities in this regard should be completed on time so that PSPCL does not have to face any kind of problem in meeting the peak demand of power during summers.



Reviewing various parameters related to the performance of PSPCL, he directed the officials concerned to speed up the delivery of services to the people besides making special efforts to reduce the losses. He said that the settlement of average bill cases related to faulty meters should be ensured within one month.



The Minister also directed the Chief Engineers of the Department to hold monthly review meetings with the Divisional Officers concerned so that further improvements could be encouraged in their performance. He also said the in future Chief Engineers would conduct cross visits to review the performance of divisions falling under each other.



Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Tejveer Singh, CMD PSPCL Baldev Singh Sran, Director Distribution DPS Grewal, Director Generation Paramjeet Singh, and Chief Engineers were present in the meeting.
Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla has said that the Legislature is an important platform for serious debate and discussions. Differences of opinion should not be allowed to interrupt the functioning of the House. It is the responsibility of every MLA to ensure that the time of the House is utilized meaningfully in the interest of people. Absence of discipline, decent conduct in the House lowers the dignity of the House. It negatively affects the spirit of democracy. People's representatives are the custodians of the hopes and aspirations of the nation.

Lok Sabha Speaker Birla was addressing inaugural session of the two-day orientation programme organized for the newly elected members of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar and other ministers were present.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that the mandate given to the newly elected MLAs means they have greater responsibility to make constructive efforts for the social and economic progress, especially of women and weaker sections. In order to do justice to their role as legislators, MLAs need to be familiar with the legislative rules and procedures. Referring to initiatives for making the Parliament paperless, Birla said that the Parliament of India is the only digitized Parliament in the world.

Om Birla thanked Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar for organizing the programme.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar said that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has enriched the parliamentary tradition as well as strengthened the roots of democracy through the effective functioning of the Lok Sabha. He has the honour of taking new initiatives taking parliamentary procedures to a new dimension.

Tomar said that glory of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly will increase. It is important for the MLAs to exhibit their enthusiasm while speaking on different issues, but should be well-behaved.

Tomar said that there are enough platforms and instruments to express views. The orientation will prove effective for acquaiting the MLAs with legislative rules, traditions. This will prove useful for the MLAs. Training is important in discharging responsibilities. He motivated the MLAs to study issues related to overall development of their respective constituencies.

Tomar requested Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav to approve the e-Vidhan project for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and take up a new project for arranging accommodation for the MLAs.

While congratulating the guests, Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the objective is to generate interest in the subject and pave the way for integration with the subject. He hoped that the Assembly will also organize training for the MLAs and will make them aware of the functioning of the responsibilities of the Assembly. The state government will consider the proposal to provide the facility of a new MLA Rest House.

Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav said that the state government will provide all possible cooperation and support to take the Madhya Pradesh Assembly forward with modern resources.

Chief Minister Dr. Yadav said that the respect shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the democracy by touching the entrance of the Parliament House is exemplary. MPs and MLAs come to the legislature with the hopes and expectations of the people. All the members of the Assembly come here with the feeling of enriching the democratic system. Every session of the Assembly brings a new learning. The orientation he hoped will prove beneficial for all the MLAs. Books published by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly were released on the occasion.

Principal Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Assembly, A.P. Singh welcomed the guests. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla presented mementoes and a book of the Constitution of India to the guests including Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and other distinguished guests were present.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday handed over appointment letters to 520 newly recruited Clerks cum Data Entry Operators in the Punjab State Cooperative Bank and said that the state government has handed over job letters to more than 40,000 youth in the state.



Addressing the gathering at Tagore Theatre after handing over the appointment letters, Mann said that the state government is making strenuous efforts to restore the pristine glory of Punjab by making youth a partner in this noble cause.



He said that the state has created history by purchasing the Goindwal power plant owned by a private company GVK Power, adding that for the first time, this reverse trend has started when the government has purchased any private power plant whereas in the past the state governments used to sell their assets to the favorite individuals at throw-away prices. Mann said that as coal from Pachwara coal mine can be used only for government power plants so with the purchase of this power plant this coal can be aptly utilized for producing power to provide it to every sector of the state.



The Chief Minister asserted that due to massive efforts made by the state government, Punjab is witnessing a massive Industrial Revolution in the state. He said that during the last 18 months, some of the biggest companies like Tata Steel and others had made a beeline to invest in the state. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that this is a step forward for making Punjab a frontrunner state and carving out Rangla Punjab.



Likewise, Mann said that due to concerted efforts of the state government Punjab has emerged as the most preferred investment destination in the country, adding that the state has so far attracted Investment of more than Rs 55000 crore which will create 2.95 lakh jobs for youngsters. He said that more investments will be roped in during the coming days to give a boost to economic activity in the state.



Mann said that this spree of giving jobs will not stop and on January 18, more job letters to 590 youth will be given. He said that the motive is to make youth an equal partner in the social and economic progress of the state.



He said that gone are the days when the head of the state was confined to big rooms of their palaces whereas now he is always amongst the people, adding that all the promises made with the people by his government are being fulfilled in the right earnest.



Earlier, Special Chief Secretary to CM VK Singh welcomed the Chief Minister and exhorted the newly inducted clerks to perform their duty meticulously for the well-being of the common man. He said that there is a huge potential for the bank to give a major push to the industrial development of the state for which these clerks can play a pivotal role. VK Singh said that the youth of the state can act as a catalyst in strengthening the cooperative sector in the state.

R-Day tableau rejected by Centre to be paraded across Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said Punjab's Republic Day tableau, rejected by the Centre, will be paraded across the state after January 26. Mann said the tableau depicts the contributions of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, and Lala Lajpat Rai.



The Punjab CM had last month hit out at the BJP-led central government over the non-inclusion of the states tableau for the Republic Day parade, alleging the Centre has discriminated against the state. The Centre had rejected the accusation.



Addressing a gathering after handing over appointment letters to 520 clerks-cum-data entry operators, Mann reiterated that the Centre insulted "great martyrs" like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Lala Lajpat Rai, Udham Singh, and others by rejecting the state's tableau for the Republic Day parade. "It (tableau) will be shown across Punjab after January 26," said Mann.



Mann alleged that the Union government was trying to belittle the contribution and sacrifice of these heroes by not including the state's tableau in the parade. This cannot be tolerated as it is a "grave insult" to these great patriots and national leaders, Mann said, adding that these leaders do not need a certificate of nationalism from the BJP-led Union government.



In an apparent reference to Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar for his remarks over the state tableau, Mann said "such leaders" are becoming a stumbling block in the state's progress. Jakhar had accused Mann of politicizing the non-inclusion of the state's tableau for the Republic Day parade and alleged that the AAP government insisted that the tableau carried his and party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal's photos and this was one of the reasons why it was rejected.



Mann said the traditional parties are envious of him because he hails from a common family and is working "tirelessly" to ensure the welfare of people. Referring to rival party leaders, Mann said they believe that they have a divine right to rule the state due to which they are not able to digest that a common man is running the state efficiently. He said these leaders "befooled" the people for a long time but now the people are not getting swayed by their misleading propaganda.
DGsP/IGsP Conference- 2023 was organized on 05-07 January 2024 in Jaipur, Rajasthan under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This conference was attended by Ajay Kumar Singh, Director General and Inspector General of Police, Jharkhand. Apart from this, many senior police officials participated in the conference through video conferencing. To make the police better and professional, there were in-depth discussions on many important policy matters and a road map for the future was found.

In the context of Jharkhand, some important achievements of Jharkhand Police have been mentioned and appreciated in this conference. The work of Jharkhand Police on Left Wing Extremism was appreciated. Best practices conducted by Jharkhand Police were also mentioned in this conference. All the participants were informed about c-beat policing conducted by Jharkhand Police.

Also, instructions were given to create a portal for the implementation of the recommendations of DGsP/IGsP Conference in the year 2022. Jharkhand Police has taken initiative and implemented DGsP/IGsP Conference Portal, which has become the first state to implement it in the entire country. The participants were also informed in this regard in this conference. Jharkhand Police participated in presentations and discussions about tribal issues and Left Wing Extremism.

In the conference, police were given training in scientific techniques like Forensic Science, Information Technology, Al/Ml. And suggestions have also been received regarding the following Data Analytics driven approach. Jharkhand Police will ensure timely compliance of the recommendations received in the conference in future.
Members of the All Odisha Students Voice (AOSV) on Tuesday gheraoed the residence of Health Minister Niranjan Pujari and raised slogans against him by holding placards over the mishap at the Hi-Tech Medical College Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

The agitators also hurled tomatoes at the house of the Minister. A scuffle ensued between the on-duty policemen and the agitators. The police detained the agitators to control the situation.

The AOSV members demanded cancellation of the licence of Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital and arrest of its owner Tirupati Panigrahi in connection with the AC compressor explosion and subsequent body mix-up row.

The healthcare system in the State is a matter of concern. There are reports that the Hi-Tech Hospital is not giving the compensation to the families of victims. The government is also not showing its interest in this matter. We demand cancellation of the hospitals licence and arrest of its chairman, said an agitator.

Earlier on Monday, the Student Congress had gheroaed the Health Ministers residence over the same issue.
Burglaries are becoming routine in the capital city with a series of incidents coming to the fore. In the latest instance, some miscreants targeted the house of a top government official in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The miscreants decamped with Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 8 lakh from the house of Panchayati Raj Departments Additional Director Chhote Lal Sharma at Gandamunda under the Khandagiri police station in the city.

According to sources, the burglars sneaked into the house of Sharma and decamped with the cash and gold ornaments.

Sharma lodged a complaint at the Khandagiri police station regarding the incident. The police initiated a probe into the matter as per the complaint.

Notably, in December 2023, a gang had looted valuables from five flats of an apartment in the Gadakana area of the city.

In a similar incident on December 11, some unidentified miscreants targeted an ATM of the State Bank of India and decamped with over Rs 10-lakh cash in the Old Town area.
The Congress on Wednesday said the Manipur government has denied it permission to start the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the Palace grounds in Imphal and asserted that it is determined to begin the march from the northeastern state and has sought permission for another location in the city.

At a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal launched a pamphlet and a website on the yatra.

Replying to a reporter's question, Venugopal said the Manipur government has declined permission for starting the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Imphal's Palace grounds.

He asserted that the Congress is determined to start the yatra from Manipur and said the party has sought permission to start the march from another location in Imphal.

The yatra, which is scheduled to begin on January 14, will cover 6,713 kilometres and the participants will travel on buses and foot.

The yatra being organised ahead of the 2024 general election will cover 110 districts, 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 Assembly segments in 66 days.
It is truly a sickening sight to see these four captured Israeli female soldiers being paraded by Hamas on social networks. The worst part of the video is the contrast of the girls dancing around in their soldier uniforms prior to being captured by Hamas, then detained in Gaza for three months.

Israel is invariably in a dire situation and the IDF calls up men and women, however is it right for vulnerable women to be put in the frontlines of the fight? Maybe, it is time the IDF reconsidered their stance, and kept women in the rear, because events like this capture of four female soldiers will not be good for moral. The captured Israeli female soldiers are proof that women are unsuitable for frontline combat duties in military operations.

Liri Albag, 18, from Moshav Yarhiv; Karina Ariev, 19, from Jerusalem; Daniella Gilboa, 19, from Petah Tikva; and Agam Berger, 19, from Holon, were shown in a Hamas propaganda video after they were abducted on October 7.

Please give a thought for the plight of these four young women who are now prisoners of a cruel terrorist organisation Hamas, and who have been in captivation for more than three months. Surely something can be done to free them?

Women should not be put into combat and pose a great risk not only to themselves but other units around them. Even in dire desperation, to put these young females in the line of fire seems insane, because it is inevitable they will become casualties of war.
Hyderabad: Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the Telangana State Public Service Commissions chairman and three members, paving the way towards its reconstitution after the fallout from question paper leaks and alleged irregularities during the BRS governments regime.

Chairman B. Janardhan Reddy and members, R. Satyanarayana, Prof. Bandi Linga Reddy, and Karam Ravinder, had tendered their resignations after the Congress formed the government in the state.

However, five more members are yet to tender their resignations, which is mandatory for the government to constitute a new board. Only after this would the government be able to recommence recruitments and issue job notifications.

All nine members and chairpersons of the TSPSC were appointed by the BRS government.

In the run-up to the Assembly elections last year, the dissolution of the TSPSC board and constitution of a new board was a major poll plank of the Congress, which charged the commission with failing miserably in conducting the recruitments in an effective, transparent and smooth manner, leading to question paper leaks and cancellation of exams.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has announced to fill 2 lakh job vacancies by December 2024 after constituting a new TSPSC board and also met UPSC chairman Manoj Soni in Delhi last week to seek his suggestions to reform the TSPSC.

A media statement issued by the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday clarified that there was no delay on the part of the Governor in accepting the resignations. It claimed that the entire process of acceptance of resignations was completed in one day with utmost diligence and in adherence to legal procedures.

Contrary to any speculation or misinformation, there has been no delay on the part of the Governor in accepting the resignations submitted by the chairman and three other members of TSPSC, it said.

Upon receiving the resignations, as per Business Rules, the Governor forwarded them to the state government for circulation of the file, along with the remarks and the opinion of the Advocate General, through the Chief Minister after ensuring a thorough examination of the matter. It is imperative to note that the ongoing investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) played a crucial role in the decision-making process. In light of this, the state government reviewed the resignations and obtained the opinion of the Advocate General and circulated the file to the Governor through the Chief Minister for acceptance of all four resignations on 9th January, said the statement.

The Governor accepted all four resignations without prejudice to the ongoing investigations and any potential future criminal proceedings on January 10.



The Raj Bhavan assures all people of the state in general and the unemployed youth in particular that every precaution has been taken to safeguard the interests of the unemployed youth in this process. The Governor remains committed to upholding the mandates of the

Constitution, principles of justice, transparency, and accountability, and this decision reflects the responsible handling of a matter that involves ongoing investigations, it said.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday met representatives of global e-commerce operator Amazon at the Secretariat to discuss the companys investment and expansion plans in the state.

Official sources said that the discussions centred around Amazon Web Services (Asia Pacific Region-Hyderabad) plans to increase its investment from its previously committed Rs 20,096 crore ($2.7 billion) in 2020 to Rs 36,300 crore ($4.4 billion) by 2030, which is one of the highest Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Telangana. The company made an announcement to this effect in January 2023 and the Chief Minister enquired about the progress of expansion plans.

Sources said that the Amazon Web Services team informed Revanth Reddy that it would invest in three data centre campuses at Chandanvelly, FAB City, and Yacharam in phases.

The three data centres are an integral part of AWS's effort to strengthen its cloud infrastructure to better serve its Indian and overseas clients while giving them more cloud regions to choose from.

All three data centres have completed their initial phases, and users may now avail them to access cloud services. The new data centres will spur more innovation and growth for many enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations in India.

Apart from the data centre investments, Hyderabad has been a preferred destination for Amazon in India. Both AWSs largest campus in the world and Amazons first and one of its largest fulfilment centres are based in Hyderabad.

The state government is also actively working with AWSs cloud practice and has hosted some of its projects on AWS to harness the advantages provided by cloud computing.

The state government is collaborating with AWS to improve e-governance, healthcare and municipal operations to benefit the public.
Hyderabad: The much-touted re-engineering of the Pranahita-Chevella project into Pranahita and Kaleshwaram by former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao might help increasing the command area (extent of irrigated agricultural land) by 50 per cent, but the project cost shot up by 400 per cent, from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, as per currently available information and this amount will further go up to complete the pending works.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) probe into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) established beyond doubt that substantial amounts of the increased project cost were pocketed by the contractors, more particularly Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, giving credence to Congress and Bharatiya Janata Partys accusations of nexus between contractors and the BRS top brass.

Audit analysis revealed that the re-engineered Kaleshwaram project was economically unviable and ab-initio, said the CAG in its draft performance report submitted to the state government two years ago.

While the previous government projected a 1.51 benefit-cost ratio (BCR), CAG revealed that in reality, it would be less than 0.51.

The BRS government cooked up the BCR to obtain statutory clearances, as well as loans from financial institutions. For instance, the government projected to earn Rs 3,805 crore every year from the sale of water to industries and to realise it, the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board had to increase the present industrial tariff by a whopping 19 times.

It showed revenue of Rs 1,750 crore every year from pisciculture, by growing fish in 3.5 lakh hectares spread area in 20 reservoirs, but in reality, the spread area will not be more than 30,823 hectares and revenue just Rs 154 crore.

According to CAG, the government under-projected the annual costs and overstated the value of annual benefits. The government projected an annual energy requirement of 13,558 million units for lifting 180 TMC ft of water and brazenly, the cost of power was worked out at Rs 3 per unit, against the actual cost of Rs 6.4, at which the discoms have been supplying to lift irrigation schemes in the state.

As a result, the projected energy cost is Rs 4,148 crore against the actual cost of Rs 9,400 crore, the CAG pointed out.

Similarly, the interest burden was pegged at Rs 8,191 crore per annum, which is 10 per cent of the project cost of Rs 81,000 crore, but with the cost escalating to Rs 1.50 lakh crore, the interest burden will jump to Rs 15,000 crore, the CAG stated.

The CAG also observed that the BRS government went ahead with re-engineering without exploring alternative ways to make the best use of the old B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanti (PCSS) launched by Dr Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy-led government in the undivided state. The government also exhibited undue haste in preparing estimates, which the agencies concerned will arrive at after conducting soil and other mandatory tests.

For the Medigadda barrage that recently sank, the consultant was given just four months to prepare detailed estimates, with experts saying soil tests alone would take more than a year.

The previous government claimed to have re-engineered the PCSS because of shortfalls in it and came up with Kaleshwaram to increase the command area and defended shifting of the storage point from Tummidihetti to Medigadda, given better availability of water. It also showed objection of Maharashtra for submergence of its 5,247 acres if the full reservoir level (FRL) at Tummidihetti was maintained at 152 feet as one of the reasons for re-engineering. But all the submergence it could bring down in Maharastra after re-engineering is just 511 acres.

Further, the BRS government defended that water availability at Medigadda would be 284 TMC ft, out of which 195 TMC ft would be utilised under KLIS. The CAG, however, said the government would have ascertained the true availability of water under the old scheme instead of rushing with re-engineering. The old scheme would have catered to 16.4 lakh acres and the new one 24.96 lakh acres, but the project cost increased by more than Rs 1.2 lakh crore, it stated.

The CAG also referred to a CWC report of March 2015, in which it was clearly stated that 192 TMC ft or more was available for 65 per cent years in the old scheme and going ahead with it would have saved capital cost of Rs 1.2 lakh crore and recurring cost of Rs 2,000 crore every year.

With the sinking of Medigadda proving beyond doubt that soil condition under the three barrages and their hasty construction may put the entire re-engineered KLIS at risk raising serious concerns over the utility of Rs 1.5 lakh cr spent so far.
VIJAYAWADA: The ruling YSRC has postponed the release of its third list of candidates following swift political changes. The day witnessed Telugu Desam rebel MP Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani joining the ruling party, Kurnool MP Dr Sanjeev Kumar quitting YSRC and abnormal changes in several other constituencies.

Deliberations on ticket finalisation will, however, continue on Thursday. Sources said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Reddy will complete the third list of 2530 names by Thursday night.

After meeting the CM, Kesineni Nani said he has sent his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha speaker by mail and has also resigned from TD.

Nani said, I met the Chief Minister as a courtesy. The CM received me well and said let's work together. I have decided to travel with Jagan Mohan Reddy from now on.

Sources said in a bid to pacify sulking Penamaluru MLA K. Parthasarathy, Jagan Mohan Reddy offered him the Machilipatnam Lok Sabha seat. But Parthasarathy remained adamant about recontesting from Penamaluru.

Making good use of the situation, TD leaders plunged into action, offering Penamaluru or Nuzvid to Parthasarathy in an effort to bring him into the TD fold.

Another unhappy MLA from Ongole Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, and close relative of Jagan Mohan Reddy, tried to meet the Chief Minister for past three days but in vain. Srinivasa Reddy left for Hyderabad saying he will contest only from Ongole after getting a clarification from the CM.

Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy is planning to join Telugu Desam if the YSRC fails to give him the ticket.

Industries minister Gudivada Amarnath has managed to meet the Chief Minister with regard to his constituency. However, after completion of his talks with Jagan Mohan Reddy, Amarnath said he had met the CM on the issue of laying the foundation for the a2,500 crore cement plant in Kurnool. Amarnath said he is not worried about the Chief Minister allotting the ticket from Pendurthi or Chodavaram. He expressed confidence that CM will take a suitable decision regarding his constituency.

Sources said that Jagan Mohan Reddy is considering several names for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat, including Botsa Jhansi, wife of minister Botsa Satyanarayana. A famous Telugu cinema director is also trying to get the MP ticket from Visakhapatnam. A decision on majority of the MP tickets, including from Vijayawada, will be taken in a day or two.
Beijing: Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Tuesday appealed to China to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists to his country, amid a spate of cancellation of reservations by Indian tourists after a diplomatic row erupted over the derogatory remarks by his ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the second day of his five-day state visit to China, Muizzu in his address to the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province on Tuesday termed China as the island nation's "closest" ally.

"China remains one of our closest allies and development partners," he said.

He praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, saying that they "delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in Maldivian history", according to his speech.

He urged China to bolster the flow of its tourists to the Maldives.

"China was our (Maldives') number one market pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," according to a readout posted on his official website.

Also, Maldivian media reported that the two countries have signed a USD 50 million project to develop an integrated tourism zone in the Indian Ocean island.

Muizzu's appeal for more Chinese tourists came amid a diplomatic row following the derogatory remarks by some Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Modi after he posted a video of him on a pristine beach during his recent visit to Lakshadweep.

Muizzu's government suspended three deputy ministers for their derogatory posts on social media.

Also, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) strongly condemned the derogatory comments.

According to data released by the Maldives Tourism Ministry earlier, India has remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023.

The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals.

In 2022, India remained the top Maldives tourism market, with 240,000 arrivals. Russia followed closely in second place with 198,000 tourists, and Britain ranked third with over 177,000 arrivals.

Before COVID, China held the top spot with over 2.80 lakh tourists but is currently struggling to revive its domestic and foreign tourism due to a nearly four-year lockdown policy and the continued slowdown of its economy.

As a result, Chinese tourists who travelled abroad for holidays in millions before COVID are now restricting themselves given the economic slowdown.

After concluding his Fujian visit, Muizzu on Tuesday arrived in Beijing where he is expected to hold talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Ke Qiang.

Malidives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer, who is accompanying Muizzu, said the president will participate in high-level meetings and discussions over the course of the next three days.

"Our focus is on conveying the Government's priorities and exploring avenues for enhanced collaboration with China," he said in a post on X.

Regarded as a pro-China politician in the Maldives, Muizzu told the Forum that his administration is focused on diversifying Maldives' economic base and ensuring economic security while continuing to strengthen and drive the tourism industry and boost visitor numbers.

He also said that his administration is committed to the quick implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with China, describing it as a symbol of the close commercial ties between the two countries.

Maldives and China signed the FTA in December 2014 during the pro-China President Abdulla Yameen administration. However, his successor, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration did not implement the agreement, according to Maldives media reports.

He said the FTA is a symbol of the close commercial ties between the two countries.

"The FTA's aim to boost bilateral trade and investments, especially increasing our export of fish products to China is a key priority for us through the FTA," he said.

China-Maldives bilateral trade in 2022 totalled to USD 451.29 million of which China's exports constituted USD 451.29 million against USD 60,000 of exports from Maldives.

Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum.

The projects included the relocation of the Male Commercial Port to Thilafushi, the Velana International Airport development project, the construction of 15 more airports, and the expansion of SEZ, Maldives web portal edition.mv reported.
In a groundbreaking demonstration of the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for military applications, the Australian Department of Defense hosted the Technical Cooperation Program AI Strategic Challenge (AISC). This multinational event gathered over 150 experts from five nations to rigorously evaluate AI solutions across diverse mission scenarios.

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A multifaceted examination

The Australian Defense Forces Technical Cooperation Program AI Strategic Challenge (AISC) is much more than a display of technological prowess. It was a meticulously designed torture test, pushing the boundaries of AIs real-world military applications.

Task-specific tests under pressure

The AISC wasnt a one-size-fits-all generic evaluation. Instead, it presented AI systems with distinct, mission-critical challenges:

Object detection and identification: Imagine the chaos of a battlefield filled with friend and foe, camouflage and deception. The AISC tested AIs ability to accurately discern threats, allies, and equipment in this cacophony, even under stress or with limited data.

Shared battlespace resources: Military operations are a complex ballet of resource allocation. The AISC challenged AI algorithms to optimize logistics and coordination across units and platforms, maximizing efficiency and minimizing risk in the heat of battle.

Situational awareness for dismounted troops: Soldiers on foot require real-time intelligence to navigate the ever-shifting battlefield. The AISC assessed AIs ability to provide dismounted troops with accurate, actionable information, enhancing their decision-making and protecting their lives.

Adversarial AI scenarios: The future battlefield will likely see AI against AI. The AISC simulated how enemy forces might use their AI to disrupt or manipulate friendly systems. This tested the robustness and adaptability of Australian AI solutions to cyberattacks and deception tactics.

Stress-testing for real-world relevance

Challenges were conducted in simulated operational environments, meticulously crafted to replicate real-world battlefields chaos, unpredictability, and limited resources. This stress testing exposed potential vulnerabilities and ensured AI systems wouldnt crumble under pressure but would perform reliably when lives are on the line.

Responsible and ethical integration

The AISC wasnt solely focused on battlefield dominance. It emphasized the crucial need for responsible and ethical integration of AI into military operations. This included considerations for:

Transparency and explainability: Soldiers need to understand how AI decisions are made, mitigate the risk of unintended consequences, and build trust in the technology.

Accountability and oversight: Clear frameworks for human oversight and control over AI-driven actions were established to ensure responsible use and prevent unintended escalation.

Minimizing bias and discrimination: The AISC recognized the potential for AI to perpetuate societal biases. Measures were taken to prevent AI systems from discriminating against specific groups, ensuring fair and ethical application on the battlefield.

The AISC is a testament to Australias commitment to developing and deploying AI responsibly and ethically. This rigorous examination wasnt just about showcasing technological marvels; it was about ensuring that AI serves as a force for good, enhancing battlefield effectiveness while upholding international norms and protecting human lives.

Ethical deployment at the forefront

Responsible AI use was a key focus, particularly its legal and ethical implications in the battlespace. Chris Shanahan, the Experimentation Director, emphasized the participation of military personnel alongside scientists to bridge the gap between technology and practical implementation.

Shaping the future of defense AI

The AISCs insights will significantly influence future AI adoption in Australian Defense. Reliability, adherence to legal and ethical frameworks, and addressing challenges like adversarial conditions are paramount. As DSTG AI Program Leader Robert Hunjet aptly stated, AI is here now. Its time to leverage its efficiencies and build cohesive human-machine teams.

Collaboration fuels progress

The international nature of the AISC was crucial. Australian scientists and personnel gained valuable exposure to diverse research, particularly from the UK and the US. The international, collaborative nature of the challenge meant that we can leverage coalition capabilities to progress Australian goals, Shanahan highlighted.

The event underscored Australias commitment to cutting-edge technologies for national security. Director-General of National Intelligence Andrew Shearer revealed the development of a top secret intelligence cloud designed for interoperability with US and UK networks. This initiative and AISCs success demonstrate Australias proactive approach to leveraging AI responsibly and in collaboration with allies for a safer future.
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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.
A man has appeared before Limavady Magistrates Court accused of stealing almost 8,000 worth of designer clothing from two different stores.

Gary Cooper, of Glenmore Street in Belfast, appeared via videolink before Wednesday's sitting of the court.

He is accused of five thefts dating between August 10 2022 and September 1 2023.

On five different occasions, Cooper is alleged to have stolen men's Gant clothing from The White House in Portrush and Moores of Coleraine, which are both owned by the same company.

An investigating officer told the court hearing that CCTV footage from The White House showed a man lifting clothes off the rails and placing them in a black bag before moving to blind spots in the store.

The theft was not discovered until staff noticed a fire exit door was left open and the stock was missing.

The man came back to the store several more times and also stole from the Coleraine store.

Police identified the man in the CCTV footage as 56 year-old Cooper.

Following his arrest, he made a 'no comment' interview, the court heard.

An investigating officer told the court that police were seeking a remand in custody due to fears Cooper would re-offend if he was released.

The officer stated that Cooper has 141 previous convictions, the majority of which are for dishonesty offences.

Jonathan Browne, barrister for Cooper, stated that some of the CCTV footage 'is not of great quality'.

It's clearly an identification case, he added.

District Judge Peter King told Cooper he would release him on bail of 500 provided he adhere to a number of conditions.

Cooper must reside at an address in Belfast and is not allowed to have contact with the injured party or any witnesses in the case.

He is also banned from entering the Causeway Coast and Glens area and has to report to police when required to do so.

Judge King warned Cooper that he would be imprisoned immediately if there was 'any whiff' of him being near the Causeway Coast and Glens area.

The case was adjourned until February 5.
International best-selling author Emma Heatherington has revealed that a popular wedding venue in County Derry has inspired her to write her next book, due for release next year.

Ms Heatherington, who comes from Donaghmore in County Tyrone, recently paid a visit to Ballyscullion Park in Bellaghy to take part in a photoshoot.

However, during a walk around the grounds, the author of 15 novels fell in love with the idea of a story on the native ground of her favourite poet Seamus Heaney.

The popular author's last two novels were set in Donegal, but for her next release Emma says she wanted to find a different setting.

I had the pleasure to visit Ballyscullion Park a few days ago," she told the County Derry Post.

I was actually there for a photoshoot to launch a new book and while I was there, I had a bit of a walk around the grounds.

It was a beautiful sunny day for January and I just felt really inspired by the location and started getting ideas to set a book there.

Ballyscullion Park, on the shores of Lough Beg, is the home of the Mulholland family.

First bought by the family in 1938, the house on the estate was restored and now hosts weddings.

It is a Ramsa site, and Site of Special Scientific Interest owing to the richness and diversity of flora and birdlife. At the southern end of the strand, surrounded by the Lough on one side and wetlands on the other, is the ancient historic monument, Church Island.

The church of St Taide was reputedly founded by Saint Patrick, and a hollowed stone bears the imprint of his knee as he knelt to bless the site. Now a ruin, Church Island is still a place of pilgrimage on the first Sunday in September. A rag tree bears testimony to the faith of many generations in the healing powers this enchanting and enchanted haven.

The late poet Seamus Heaney grew up nearby and his father grazed his cattle on the strand.

Having spoken to the lady that owns Ballyscullion on the phone a few weeks ago. The day I spoke to her I had been working with my agent, who is in London, to come up with some ideas for my 2025 story," continued Emma.

The last two novels I wrote were based in Donegal and I thought that I would love to find somewhere full of character that is different from a cottage or the coast.

While I was speaking with her on the phone about Ballyscullion Park, I just thought Oh gosh how about a big Georgian-style home, that would make a really beautiful modern-day love story setting with a more historical fiction twist.

I was getting that kind of vibe even before going there, the ideas were channelling around in my head.

While in the park, Emma could already imagine her book coming to life.

I had a bit of a rough outline in my head, and when I did go it just brought me up to another level of imagination because walking around I could just start feeling all the stories come to life and being inside the house and seeing it.

People are still living inside the house, so it is very much a work environment as a home because they host weddings.

The people living and working at Ballyscullion were quite happy to let Emma 'pick their brain' on what it is like to live in a house like Ballyscullion in modern times and also what it is like working there.

The book is at the really early stages but I have two characters in mind. I am just warming up the engine of the story and getting to know the characters in my own head," she said.

I am looking forward to getting stuck into that but it is very much in the distance at the minute.

It just seems to be coming together very naturally and easily.

Nearby Lough Beg also inspired much of Seamus Heaney's work.

I love the area as well because of Seamus Heaney. I always admire the effort of the community to keep his name in a prominent part today," continued Emma.

I am just a big fan of his work and all that has happened since his days.

I went to an all-girl convent school here in Donaghmore, St Joseph's Convent Grammar School, and I have very fond memories of my teacher reading Seamus Heaney back then. Its a bit of nostalgia.

In later years I have been able to read his poems for pleasure and not because I had to. Id come to appreciate them a lot more.

If Emma had to choose two poems it would be some that bring her strong emotions.

I love When All of the Others Were Away at Mass no matter how many times I read it, it always chokes me up a bit at the end and I also love his poem Scaffolding. I can read it over and over and over again.

I love how he has his poem packed in emotional punch and I try to do that with my own book. Emma is heavily inspired by Seamus Heaneys writing and how he instils feelings in the readers.

I am a very emotionally driven writer and I believe that a good piece of writing will move the reader.

I write emotional life-affirming stories. They're very full of heart and soul. People tend to get comfort from the story.

It can make them angry, or laugh, or cry and sad but there is always that level of emotions in my stories. I have learned a lot from him [Seamus Heaney].

I also discovered that we share the same birthday. I was totally blown away by that! So I feel I have a connection with Seamus Heaney on so many levels.

This year Emma has had great success with the launch of her 2023 novel called This Christmas.

She was the top ebook on Amazon and the Irish paperback top 10 for eight weeks.

Emma also helps people who want to write through workshops, both in groups and one-on-one sessions.

She leads a workshop on the first Saturday of every month at the Green House Wellbeing Hub in Dungannon.

Booking is essential via emma@emmaheatheringtonwriter.com
The Bloody Sunday March committee has released its Programme of events for 2024.

The Bloody Sunday March for justice will take place on Sunday, January 28, 2024. It will assemble at the Creggan Shops at 2.30pm.

Kate Nash, chairperson of the Bloody Sunday March Committee said the theme of this years march was Free Derry - Free Palestine 2024.

Kate added: One of the reasons Western governments are confident theyll get away with supporting genocide in Gaza is that theyve gotten away with it in other places, time and time again. Bloody Sunday is just one example.

Everywhere the terror comes overwhelmingly from the guns of oppressive governments, not from groups opposed to governments.

Its not true there is nothing we can do. Massive assemblies have gathered in every art and part to cry together for peace and freedom for Palestine. It is here that hope survives. When we link arms for Palestine, we are part of something huge happening all over the world.

We dont have to be lookers-on at genocide. It is for this reason that the banner of the Bloody Sunday March Committee is raised at every show of solidarity with Plestine. It is for the same reason that the issue of Palestine will again be front-and-centre at the annual Bloody Sunday March, said Kate Nash.

The events are as follows:

Tuesday, January 23 - Rights of Nature: Decolonising our land and our minds, 7.30pm to 9.00pm, The Playhouse, 5-7, Artillery Street, Derry.

Thursday, January 25 - Stephen Gargan: There and Back Again, 7.30pm, Nerve Centre Cinema, Magazine Street, Derry.

Friday, January 26 - Hostages: Mansoor Adayfi and Tommy McKearney in Conversation, 3.00pm to 4.30pm, Central Library, Foyle Street.

Radical Question Time, 7.00pm to 9.00pm, St Columbs Hall, Orchard Cinema, Orchard Street, Derry.

Free Derry - Free Palestine Music Gig, doors open 9.00pm, Sandinos CafeBar, Water Street,Derry, featuring: The Bonnevilles, Hypnic Jerk, Tessio, Tomcat, Square Bear and Molly Duffy. Admission is 10.00.

Saturday, January 27 - Defying the Lies: Tactics for Truth and Justice, 12.00pm to 1.30pm, Pilots Row, Roseville Street, Derry.

Forensic Architecture - Tools for Truth and Justice, 2.30pm to 4.30pm, Pilots Row, Rossville Street, Derry.

Derry Radical Bookfair, 12.00pm to 5.00pm, Pilots Row Community Centre, Sports Hall, Rossville Street, Derry.

Cearolann Phlaiceard i nGaelige / Placard Making workshop in Irish, 12.00pm to 5.00pm, Pilots Row Commmunity Centre, Rossville Street, Derry.

Free Derry Wall - Art Installation by Spicebag, Saturday January 20 to Saturday, January 28. Internationally acclaimed artist Spicebag will transform Free Derry Wall in the week leading up to the 52nd Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Sunday, January 28, The Art of Protest - Local artists from the Free Derry Collective will provide art and visuals along the route of the march.

Further details of all events can be found at: www.bloodysundaymarch.org.

Facebook: BloodySundayMarch Twitter: @bloodysunday50 and Instagram: @bloodysunday1972.
The inquest into the deaths of two Derry men shot dead by the SAS in 1984 has resumed after a break of several weeks.

Daniel Doherty (23) from Creggan and William Fleming (19) from the Waterside died after entering the grounds of Gransha Hospital on a motorbike which was rammed by SAS soldiers on the morning of December 6, 1984 and they were both shot.

It was said earlier that both men were involved in an attempt to attack a member of the security forces who worked in the hospital.

The first witness at the resumed inquest was a former RUC officer John Lyttle who told the hearing about stopping the deceased in the early hours of the morning of December 6.

The witness said he was on patrol sometime between 2.30 and 3.30am in Derry city centre.

He said that he saw Daniel Doherty, who he claimed he knew, and another man in the city centre and stopped and briefly questioned them.

The former RUC officer said he knew Daniel Doherty and said the other man 'said his name was Fleming' from the Waterside area.

He said both men were 'suspected by police of being PIRA members' and later described them as being some of the 'most active terrorists in the city.'

John Lyttle said he could not recall where in the city centre it was when he stopped the pair.

The former officer said that following the stop he would have filled out a CI 1 form detailing where and when the incident had occurred.

Under cross-examination by Desmond Hutton KC for the Fleming family John Lyttle denied that this was 'a directed stop'.

Mr Hutton put it to the witness that there was no record of any CI1 form being filled in and the witness replied he would always have filled in a report.

It was put to the witness that that this was not coincidence that he had stopped these two men hours before they died 'in a hail of bullets' but was part of an intelligence operation.

The witness replied that it was purely coincidence and said he knew nothing about the later mitary operation until he woke up later in the day to see media coverage of the incident in Gransha.

Later under questioning by Mark Mulholland KC for some of the military witnesses the former RUC officer said Derry, in 1984, was a 'very dangerous place', for members of the security forces.

The hearing continues.
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A man has been fined 50,000 for demolishing a protected historical monument in Co Antrim.

Henry Price, 64, from Glenavy Road in Lisburn, was sentenced at Craigavon Magistrates Court for destroying lime kiln structures that had been in place since the 1800s.

A PSNI statement said: On Friday April 16 2021, police were made aware of building works taking place in the Moneybroom Road area of Lisburn, where protected monuments were situated.

Upon reviewing the building site, it became evident to officers that the landowner had levelled land without receiving any prior consent, destroying lime kiln structures that had been in position for many years.

Price entered a guilty plea in December and was sentenced on Wednesday.

The PSNI statement added: This case demonstrates the close working relationship between police and the Historic Environment Division in the Department for Communities, in an effort to protect our heritage and investigate any reports of criminality.

Brian McKervey, acting director of the Historic Environment Division (HED), said: We welcome the courts recognition that our heritage is an important and finite resource and an appreciation that once gone, these sites are impossible to replace.

Not only did Moneybroom lime kilns, which date back to the 1800s, provide a unique example of a time when our society was undergoing massive change, they were a reminder of many aspects of our shared heritage, including the industrialisation of our landscape and society.

HED appreciates the pressures that scheduled monument owners can face and one of our primary aims is to support them and facilitate their needs, where possible.

However, the department will also work with criminal justice partners to pursue prosecutions where warranted, in particular when historic monuments have been damaged or destroyed.

A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service said: An investigation into the unauthorised works and complete destruction of lime kilns at Moneybroom resulted in a file being submitted to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

The PPS carefully considered all the available evidence submitted in the investigation file and took a decision to prosecute one individual.

The PPS will continue to work closely with the Department of Communities Historic Environment Division and other criminal justice partners, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, to prosecute the alleged damaging of an historic monument, where the test for prosecution is met.

Lime burning for agricultural use was common on a small scale on farms throughout the 1700s and early 1800s.

From the mid-1800s onwards, the thousands of small single farm lime kilns were gradually replaced by far fewer numbers of larger, more efficient, industrial lime-burning sites.

The Moneybroom Lime Kilns were constructed some time between 1830-1900.
MSI introduced its latest gaming laptop family at CES 2024, featuring three distinct models  Titan 18 HX, Raider 18 HX, and Stealth 18 AI Studio. The series is designed to offer varying performance levels catering to different gaming needs.

Titan 18 HX:

Equipped with top-notch Intel 14th gen Core i9 processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics.

Boasts the largest vapor chamber cooler thermal solution in the market, ensuring optimal cooling for sustained performance.

Supports MSI OverBoost Ultra, delivering an industry-first 270W total power for a high-performance gaming experience.

Raider 18 HX:

Powered by Intel 14th gen Core i9 processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics.

Provides an impressive 250W full total power, catering to gamers seeking a powerful and immersive experience.

Stealth 18 AI Studio:

Features the latest Intel Core Ultra processors for a balance of power and portability.

Incorporates a design that prioritizes lightweight construction, making it the lightest 18-inch gaming laptop available in the market.

Immersive Gaming Experience:

All models come with a brand-new 18-inch large display, creating a borderless gaming horizon.

Standout features include the worlds first 18-inch 4K 120Hz mini LED display, offering ultra-high resolutions, DisplayHDR 1000, and wide color gamut coverage for a vivid and lifelike gaming experience.

The Titan 18 HX introduces a user-centric approach with the worlds first Seamless RGB Haptic Touchpad and a revamped Cherry Switch Mechanical Keyboard. The Raider 18 HX features the iconic matrix light bar and a new 3D stand to optimize cooling airflow, enhancing overall performance. Both the Titan 18 HX and Stealth 18 AI Studio stand out for their construction with a magnesium-aluminum alloy, ensuring durability and a sleek aesthetic. The Titan 18 HX features four sets of expansion memory slots, extendable up to an impressive 128GB. The Titan 18 HX also includes three M.2 SSD slots, providing a storage capacity of up to 12TB.
Navigating uncharted waters of the 'Silicon Era of Discovery'

In 1492, Queen Isabella of Spain drove out the Moors and supported Christopher Columbus in discovering the New World, evoking a pivotal moment in the Age of Discovery.

Taking a longer perspective of the semiconductor history, which began in the early 1970s, it has gone through a half-century of business opportunities in the form of mainframes, personal computers, and smartphones. It is now just entering a new era of the Internet of Everything (IoT) and seamless connectivity.

We are seeing massive amounts of connected data, requiring chips with fast computing capability and memory with huge storage capacity. What has been described as the "10X era" is just beginning.

Growing at exponential speed

Netflix took 41 months to get its first 1 million users, Facebook took 10 months, but ChatGPT took just 5 days. We're looking at a business opportunity growing exponentially, and the age of the "winners take all" seems to be upon us.

But apart from the big winners like Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google, Taiwan has become the most reliable partner to successful companies that win with software prowess, thanks to its indispensable "hard work."

The Internet business can be a quick fix, but building a production system requires a large labor force and upstream hard work in chips, design, and system integration. Taiwan is in its prime, and there is no substitute for it. This is the gift and destiny that the world has bestowed upon Taiwan.

Matrix Thinking: more "cooperation" than "competition"

Amid all these positive developments, there have been many subtle changes. In the past, IC design companies and component manufacturers made products, gave them to component distributors, and sold them to Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) providers such as Hon Hai (Foxconn), Pegatron, Wistron, Quanta, and Inventec, which received large OEM orders from PC and cell phone brands. This is a linear supply chain.

However, AUO, which produces panels, started to develop digital signage. Is the relationship between AUO and Qisda, spin-offs from the Acer Group and founded by K.Y. Lee, becoming a competition or a partnership? Qisda is organizing a holding group in a "big fleet" mode to take a diversified approach to growth and is also more proactively laying out new business opportunities such as smart cabins for automobiles.

Taiwan's six largest EMS providers have maintained gross profit margins at 6~8% over the years. When gross profit is thin, they can not afford mistakes. However, TSMC's gross margins of more than 50%, Delta's 30%, and Advantech's 40% show various choices, which is an irreplaceable competitive advantage for Taiwan's electronics industry, which started earlier than other emerging countries.

The industry structure is changing rapidly, and no one can afford to "wait and see" the changes. In the process of change, an open strategy is the direction. When facing the world, Taiwan's economic scale, mass production system, capital advantage, and management experience make Taiwan a "harmless partner."

Taiwan businesses making good use of Taiwan's local advantages will still be able to make a difference in the short term. When our concept of mass-production manufacturing evolved from the earliest "OEM" to "supply chain" and now to "value chain," Taiwan won from the start and took its position at the commanding heights.
The role of the US in global trade orders

The "globalization era" should be counted from the 1960s, when Japan and the Four Asian Tigers created a rare economic miracle by developing their industries one after another, as described by the "flying geese" theory. The period between the collapse of the USSR in 1990 and before the 2008 Beijing Olympics can be considered the golden years of "globalization."

China stunned the world by demonstrating its prosperity in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The following year, it overtook Japan as the second-largest economy in gross domestic product (GDP). Unicorn startups such as Alibaba and Tencent emerged to become e-commerce and mobile applications giants, thanks to the fertile grounds provided by the 1 billion people market. The government's aggressive investments in infrastructure provided Huawei the chance to prosper, while the construction of 40,000 kilometers of high-speed railway as of 2023 became a miracle in modern history.

China has become conceited and has begun to say that "the Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate two powerful countries - China and America." Seeing China exerting power to control the South China Sea, the Eastern China Sea, and the Yellow Sea, the US started to have second thoughts about China's development.

Shape new orders, let competitors follow

World powers face international relations (or division of labor among countries) with a hegemonic mentality. The Plaza Accord of 1985 and the US-Japan Semiconductor Agreement broke the old framework and allowed Taiwan and South Korea to take advantage of it.

With a new international order taking shape, we can see the role of the US in the US-China trade war from the supply side and the demand side, and we can also try to consider and formulate Taiwan's strategy, taking the responses of Japanese politicians as references.

Akira Amari, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives and former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, said Japan must understand the influence of the semiconductor industry from the supply side, and Taiwan happens to be the country that has the supply-side advantages in the semiconductor industry. But do our society, the media, and politicians truly understand the advantages and effects of the supply side?

Define risks and request compliance

Networking equipment, servers, advanced chips, semiconductor equipment, and even the future vehicle-to-vehicle network and electric vehicles are all carriers susceptible to cyberattacks and cyber espionage.

How does Taiwan understand the rules and select its strategy in the new era? The US Department of Commerce insists that Nvidia chips must be restricted. Is it feasible for Nvidia to design chips specifically for the Chinese market? Or is it just a gesture to appease the capital market and the US government?

For Taiwan, from the beginning of original equipment manufacturing (OEM) to the supply chain and towards the entire value chain in the future, the evolution process has been rewarding, diverse, and full of challenges. Companies must know how to motivate the best talent to continue contributing to their future growth.
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Renderings by Jahn Architects via Google [enlarge] The buildings existing glass facade will be replaced with new triple-plane glass.





Google recently shared plans, and unveiled some new design renderings, for its forthcoming renovation and repositioning of the James R. Thompson Center building in Chicago, which it is set to occupy as new office space.





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PORTLAND (AP)  Federal investigators are learning more about how a door panel flew off an Alaska Airlines jetliner last week.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said Monday that the door panel slid up before flying off the plane.





. . .
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BOSTON (AP)  The U.S. retail mortgage lender loanDepot is struggling to recover from a cyberattack that impacted its loan processing and phone service.

In a filing on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said data was encrypted by the unauthorized third party who broke into company systems. It said certain unspecified systems were shut down to contain the incident.





. . .
Female students in County Louth are encouraged to sign up for the I Wish STEM Showcase 2024, where former President of Ireland and current chair for elders, Mary Robinson, will speak to over 3,000 female teenage students at the 10th annual I Wish Showcase at the RDS Dublin on 8 February.

Joining her at the annual event that inspires teenage girls towards careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) will be Irish science communicator, scientist and entrepreneur Ciara Judge, who spoke at the first I Wish event in 2015 after her BT Young Scientist Award and Google Science Fair wins.

Over the last 10 years, I Wish has engaged with over 60,000 students along with partnering with over 50 industry partners and 80 I Wish ambassadors. Registration for the event is still open at iwish.ie/register.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ciara Judge said: As a young girl I benefitted hugely from my involvement in youth science. I found my passion and future career and have had the opportunity to travel the world and make a difference.

"Showing these young women that there is so much more to careers in STEM than just being stuck in a lab all day, is an absolute privilege and I am so grateful that I Wish has invited me back.

Multi-award-winning diversity and inclusion speaker and author, Furkan Karayel will also speak at the event while MC is 2FM DJ and the new host of Ireland's Fittest Family, Laura Fox. More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. There will also be over 30 exhibitors including Deloitte.

The upcoming 2024 I Wish Showcase aims to shift the narrative surrounding careers in STEM. In their recent Report, I Wish identified a significant gap where many girls struggle to connect their work-related values with the perceived values of a STEM career.

The Showcase will address this by featuring inspiring STEM role models who exemplify how careers in STEM can fulfil the work-related values these young women seek, including opportunities to travel, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and making a positive contribution to the world they inhabit.

Speaking on the event, I Wish co-founder Gillian Keating said: Just weeks out from our 10th Showcase, we reflect on how far we have come in the past decade. We started with a dream to deliver change by positively influencing the next generation of young women to increase female participation in STEM. We never thought I Wish would evolve in the way that it did.

We have seen significant positive change, we have seen increases in uptake in STEM college courses, and we have seen improvement in gender equality in STEM.

"However, it is clear that we need to continue to deliver I Wish to girls  both in secondary school and in primary  to ensure they make an informed choice about their future. Knowledge is key to the gateway to their future. How we deliver it to the next generation is certainly on us.

Beginning with an annual showcase, I Wish has now expanded its activities to a year-round suite of programmes, including a Tech for Good programme and entrepreneurship programmes. This year it will pilot an I Wish Primary programme.

I Wish has extended its partnership with Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann for 2024, with complimentary train services from multiple locations across Ireland.
Sinn Fein Councillor Pearse McGeough has condemned those responsible for causing damage at the local Church of Ireland in Castlebellingham.

Speaking after visiting the Church before Christmas, Cllr McGeough said: This beautiful Church has an adjacent building which is joined by a covered alcove.

"That alcove seems to be attracting an anti-social element as a shelter from the elements when they wish to hang out.

"Unfortunately, because the door to this alcove was locked there was damage caused to it by those who were determined to get into it.

This is not the first time Cllr McGeough has been contacted in relation to damage.

Cllr McGeough said: There have been similar occurrences in 2018 and 2019 when there was extensive damage done.

"What people tend to forget is that these are sacred grounds and as such there should be respect for the building and also those who are buried within the grounds.

"I am of the belief that it is young people who are seeking shelter but they are old enough to know what they are doing and that the damage they are causing has to be repaired and paid for by somebody.

Concluding, Cllr McGeough said: The people in Castlebellingham have no time for vandalism especially at a Church and a few mindless, immature people will not destroy our sense of community.

In the meantime, I would ask people to keep an eye out and report any anti-social behaviour and also if you noticed anything around the Church of Ireland on the Sunday night before Christmas please let the Gardai know.
The ongoing issues facing Louths Early Years and School Age Care settings can only be addressed with a coherent 5-year plan if Ireland is going to catch up with other countries, according to Early Childhood Ireland.

The group claim that while 2023 saw unprecedented investment, Budget 2024 was a big disappointment and failed to build on gains announced the previous year.

The lack of proper planning is failing providers, parents, and, most importantly, the estimated 5,278 children who attend settings in Louth. As a result, the issues facing the sector continue to go unaddressed, the organisation said.

There are serious issues that need to be resolved if we are to have an Early Years and School Age Care system that ranks among the best in the world, Frances Byrne, Early Childhood Irelands Director of Policy, said.

Staff recruitment and retention is undoubtedly the number one challenge our 69 member settings in Louth are currently grappling with, Ms Byrne continued.

Staffing pressures are caused by factors such as low pay and a lack of pensions. It is vital that government addresses this so that the sectors 30,000-strong workforce is not left at the mercy of an annual wage negotiation process, which is moving at a frustratingly slow pace, she added.

She also took aim at the administrative burden applying for government funding has placed on practitioners.

Our members are also concerned about the amount of time they spend on administering the various government funding programmes, as it is taking educators away from quality contact time with children, Ms Byrne said.

Many providers are also dismayed by the attendance requirements. These lead to a lack of flexibility for families and are not centred, as they should be, on the lives and needs of children. We are proposing a unification of the existing funding programmes: National Childcare Scheme (NCS), Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Core Funding, to allow settings to use capacity, not childrens attendance, as is the case with one of the programmes now. This would offer improved flexibility with no financial consequences for providers or for parents, she explained.

Further investment and the need for a coherent medium to long-term plan for the sector are essential, according to Ms Byrne.

Significantly more investment is needed to provide an Early Years and School Age Care sector that is of high quality, adequate capacity, and that is inclusive of all children. It is vital for the interim sustainability and certainty - which children, families, providers, educators, and communities need -that a new funding target and a coherent plan to achieve it is published.

We have repeatedly called on the current Minister for Children and his Cabinet colleagues to do this. It will require more than one government to agree and implement this plan, so political leadership from all sides is needed.

Encouragingly, we have heard members of the Oireachtas Childrens Committee voice their support for our proposals. What we need now is action so that we can have an Early Years and School Age Care sector in this country that works for all concerned. Irelands children and families deserve nothing less, Ms Byrne concluded.
Councillors at the Dundalk Municipal District January meeting called for action to be taken in relation to clothes banks in the town, following the recent Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) report which ranked Dundalk 39th out of 40 towns and cities surveyed, and highlighted the Recycle Centre on Castletown Road, which received a Grade D in the survey.

Cllr Emma Coffey raised the matter at the January meeting, saying that it seemed to be the same areas that are dragging us down, including recycle areas, clothing banks, and in particular, an uptake on vaping utensils and alcohol related refuse.

Cllr Coffey mentioned areas mentioned positively in the report including the train station and the Red Barns road, highlighting that volunteers from Dundalk Tidy Towns tidy it at least once a week.

Commenting on the report, Cllr Coffey said that "it's very, very disappointing and that it was a report that receives a lot of publication, both nationally and internationally.

She said that "to have a former winner of this survey to go down to the second last is very disappointing", asking, "is there anything we can do to stamp this out?

Cllr Coffey went on to say that it appears that clothing seems to be pushed behind the actual bins, and asked if it was the owners of the property who are responsible or is it the licensed owners of the clothing banks.

The Dundalk South councillor highlighted the "hard work of the council and the community volunteers that are pushing hard", and that the result of the report was in stark contrast to the news that the town been nominated for an international award for one of its murals."

Cllr Maeve Yore reminded the meeting that they had been told previously that an audit of all the clothes bins in the town was to take place, but there has been no update on that. Highlighting the work done by Dundalk Tidy Towns, Cllr Yore added that "IBAL report is all well and good [but] we made tremendous progress."

Cllr Edel Corrigan said that there was previous discussions at Dundalk Municipal District meetings about what could be done to improve and it's disappointing to see that lessons have not been learned.

She said that some, including herself, had made suggestions around more community involvement so people could take ownership and get involved in keeping areas clean and to stream funding into those type of campaigns.

Cllr Tomas Sharkey said that no one would diminish any of their praise for the the work of Dundalk Tidy Towns. "They keep it going seven days a week and they don't ask for any praise, they're the heroes in the town", he commented.

Cllr Sharkey added that the IBAL report seems to have different criteria to Tidy Towns criteria and that the town has done better in the Tidy Towns awards in the last few years than in the IBAL survey.

He further added that they "have to make sure that one of the criteria for all funding and all the work and plans that we take, that we need a sustainable goals and a good clean environment is one".

Cllr Sharkey also said that he had mentioned nitrous oxide cannisters in the past that were showing up. He said they shouldn't be shocked about vapes being dropped or about alcohol cans being dumped but that they should be shocked when reading about nitrous oxide and other substances.

Cllr Marianne Butler said that it was very disheartening for Dundalk Tidy Towns to get a gold medal in September from the national Tidy Towns awards and to turn around and get a kick in the face from IBAL".

Cllr Butler said that she was aware of the work that has gone into problem locations "and then you look at the report and they're throwing up North Gate Street  the street between Linenhall Street and Bridge Street, they call it the street with no name."

"That's definitely something that the council can address, put a name up on that street and give it an identity", she said, further adding that the Part 8 planning permission for the regeneration plans for that part of the town is something else they can do as a council.

Cllr Butler added that the location on the Castletown Road is the one problem location in the town that has never improved and that "it just needs to be shut down. Its consistently bad and badly managed."

She said that Section 254 licences are one way of addressing this issue, suggesting that they would only need to charge a "peppercorn amount" for the licences and "if its not working, we can turn around and say, we're not reissuing that licence."

Responding to the comments from the councillors, Senior Engineer Paddy Connolly said that he would pass on their queries and suggestions to the executive.
The School of Engineering in DkIT was recently awarded the prestigious Bronze Athena Swan accreditation.

Whilst DkIT was previously awarded the Bronze Athena Swan on an Institute level, this is the first Athena Swan School specific award for DkIT.

The application was led by Dr Breda Brennan, Head of School of Engineering, who was appointed to this position in the last 12 months.

Dr. Brennan worked closely with the DkIT EDI Office and a Self-Assessment Team comprising of 13 staff members from the School of Engineering.

There are a very limited number of Institutes within Ireland who hold this Engineering specific Bronze Athena Swan accreditation, they include Trinity College, University of Limerick and in the Technological University sector only Carlow IT (now SETU) has previously been bestowed this award.

The Athena SWAN charter is a framework that is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality in higher education and research. The charter launched in Ireland in 2015 with a specific remit to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment.

The charter has since been expanded to include arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL) and staff working in professional, managerial and support roles (PMSS). The framework also now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, including consideration of the experience of trans staff and students, as well as the underrepresentation of men in particular disciplines.

Dr Breda Brennan, Head of School of Engineering said:

Having worked in higher education for 30 years, I have a strong interest in providing educational opportunities for all. As the new Head of School of Engineering I am committed to facilitating and driving cultural and structural changes which will remove any barriers to equality, diversity and inclusivity for both students and staff.

DkIT said:

"As part of the School of Engineerings commitment to the Athena Swan accreditation they will focus on several key priority areas to improve female engagement in the field of engineering. These key tasks will include, proactively increasing the intake of undergraduate and postgraduate female students into the School of Engineering.

"Another key priority they will endeavour to uphold is to ensure that female students have an equal opportunity to succeed on Engineering programmes. DkIT will also continue to work closely with primary and secondary schools in the region to encourage and facilitate females to select programmes and careers in Engineering, including apprenticeships.

"The Institute will also make certain to provide equal opportunities for female applicants for staff positions in the School and to increase the proportion of females on academic and technical support staff.

"The School of Engineering hope to ultimately create a culture of inclusivity and equality in the School for both staff and students therefore increasing female graduates and engagement within this ever evolving and in demand industry."

Dr Brennan added Id also like to extend my sincere thanks to all the Self-Assessment Team who supported me in this application who included, Ciara OShea, formerly DkIT EDI Officer, Orlagh Devine, School of Engineering Administrator, Gerard Galligan, Head of Section of Engineering Trades (Electrical and Motor Mechanics), Paul MacArtain, Head of Department of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, James Connolly, Senior Technical Officer for the School of Engineering, Gareth Kelly, Lecturer, Dept of Engineering Trades and Civil Engineering, Antoinette Rourke, Lecturer, Dept of the Built Environment and lecturers from the Dept of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering: Maryellen Kelledy, Peter Ryan, Sinead Kelly, Catherine McCloskey, Kimmitt Sayers, Rauri McCool and Paul Durcan. Thanks also to the many students who participated in and contributed to the self-assessment
One of the leaders of Irelands coalition Government has said there are irrefutable points in South Africas case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations top court against the charges.

Irish Green Party leader Eamon Ryan noted that the World Health Organisation had said Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with the risk of famine increasing each day.

He agreed with the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end.

Mr Ryan, who is Environment Minister, said Ireland had played a strong role within the UN on the matter.

Irelands main opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have called on the Government to endorse South Africas action.

However, the Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to be very careful in defining genocide.

Mr Varadkar said: I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed.

I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless were absolutely convinced that theyre the appropriate ones.

He said Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause, and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

This includes 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Mr Ryan also said Irish people have consistently stood up for the rights of Palestinian people.

Speaking in Sallins, Co Kildare on Wednesday, he said: Now, more than ever, we stand up for their rights  for self determination but also for an immediate end to the actions the Israeli government and military are taking which are putting those Palestinian people in Gaza at risk of immediate starvation.

The court case is one of standing effectively first between South Africa and Israel, and there are only two parties to that. But in terms of where we stand, in my mind, it has to be for the basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are being wholesale infringed, in my mind, at the present time.

He said the world will sit in real harsh judgment if Israels government does not desist its campaign.

That does not in any way undermine the rights of Israelis to safety and deplore what happened on October 7 but the scale of what Israel is doing and the risk to the Palestinian people absolutely has to stop.
Embarking on a captivating visit to the National Museum of Natural History in Manila was a journey through the extraordinary, and Im eager to share the intricacies of this exceptional experience. Situated around the Luneta Park a.k.a Rizal Park, the architectural masterpiece inside the museum serves as a testament to the creativity and vision behind its design, making it a sought-after destination for both locals and tourists alike.

The museum, now recognized as one of the most visited educational tourist destinations in Metro Manila, and also a favorite date spots among lovers (during my visit I counted about 12 couples in the entrance alone). White I know why people visit the museum , there is more to it than meets the eye.

National Museum of Natural History boasts 12 permanent galleries that serve as portals into the rich biological and geological tapestry that is the Philippines. It was a wonderful experience stepping into a world where creatively curated displays feature botanical, zoological, and geological specimens, each intricately representing our unique natural history. The journey through these exhibits unfolds from the mountain to the sea, utilizing interactive displays, video guides, diagrams, and illustrations seamlessly integrated into the 12 galleries and halls.

At the heart of the museum lies the captivating Tree of Life structure, a centerpiece that proudly connects all the distinct ecosystems found in the Philippines. This awe-inspiring architectural marvel serves as the beating heart of the museum, symbolizing the interconnectedness of our magnificent mountain ridges to the outstanding marine reefs. Its not merely an elevator; its a living representation of the diverse natural landscapes that define our country.

Actually the Tree of Life is an elevator that will take you to the fifth floor where you can start your museum exploration. The elevator does not take passengers down so you might as well enjoy the journey down by visiting all of the galleries from top to bottom. Dont worry , the place is very PWD accessible as there are ramps for wheelchairs and other elevator to take you up or down. You can also use the stairs if you like walking.

Speaking of accessibility, a theme woven into the museums very fabric. The commitment to inclusivity shines through with its free admission policy. This approach ensures that knowledge and appreciation of our natural heritage are not confined by financial constraints. Open from 8am to 6pm with a relaxed dress code, the museum opens its doors wide, creating an inviting atmosphere for all who are eager to explore.

It took as 2 and a half hours to just explore as we find ourselves immersed in thematic exhibits that delve into the biology, geology, and topology of the Philippines. The curated adventure through these exhibits feels like traversing a narrative that unfolds with each step, revealing the intricate stories of our nations natural wonders. The transitions from one floor to the next are seamless, offering a cohesive exploration that keeps the curiosity alive.

And then theres the piece de resistance  the Oceanology exhibit, an absolute showstopper. Stepping into this underwater wonderland is akin to taking a plunge into the vibrant marine life of the Philippines. The colors, the diversity  its a highlight within a highlight. From intricate coral formations to the mesmerizing dance of marine species, the Oceanology exhibit is a celebration of the marine ecosystems that grace our shores.

In conclusion, the National Museum of Natural History is not just a static institution; its a dynamic journey that caters to the diverse interests of its visitors. The awe-inspiring architecture, the symbolic Tree of Life elevator, the thematic exhibits, the captivating Oceanology display, and the innovative concept of presenting collections from the mountain to the sea collectively create a tapestry of wonder.

Visiting this museum is more than a tourist checklist item; its an opportunity to connect with the natural heritage of the Philippines in a way that is both enlightening and enchanting. If you find yourself in Manila, dont miss the chance to explore this immersive experience. The National Museum of Natural History beckons, promising a journey through nature that goes beyond the ordinary, leaving you with a profound appreciation for the wonders that surround us.

https://youtu.be/WxXXpNgPYXk?si=SynYmHnB1H-xYOiM
THIS week, I caught up with Emily Maher, originally from Summerhill North in Cork city, who, after travelling across Asia, has settled in Queenstown, New Zealand.

She tells me about dumbing down her Cork accent, and discovering the beauty of pies on the other side of the world...

How did you end up in New Zealand?

I left Ireland two years ago and arrived in Queenstown just over 14 months ago.

I have always wanted to travel since I was young, and I had just finished my Tourism degree in MTU and that was my time to go.

I was backpacking through south-east Asia and arrived in Australia. I was not exactly sure where I wanted to be in Oz. I was overwhelmed by how big of a place it was.

I ended up coming over to New Zealand for a five-day holiday and never left. It happens a lot in Queenstown.

What is life like in your new home?

New Zealand is a very stunning place, with all different types of landscapes. I have lots of friends and live in a very vibrant community.

What has been the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge for me has been missing my family and starting up a whole new life for me across the other side of the world.

I am quite an outgoing person but theres nothing like a bit of home comfort.

My work provided a great place to go meet people, and joining Facebook groups helped a lot. Dont forget, the Irish pub is the easiest place to find all those Irish living abroad

How might you spend your weekends?

Queenstown is a party town, but also has so many amazing hikes with great views, so theres no hangover allowed over here. Its a get up and go the next morning!

Emily Maher and her family visiting Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand - the movie set used for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit film trilogy

Watching the sunsets by the lake is one of my favourite things to do.

Tell us a bit about the culture of where you live?

New Zealand is definitely similar to Ireland, despite being on two different sides of the world. I have definitely had to slow down how I speak and dumb down my Cork accent.

One thing I have picked up is a New Zealand delicacy called pies. Theyre basically a small pie pastry filled with types of fillings. They are basically the New Zealand version of a hot chicken fillet roll. But better. Sorry, Ireland.

Christmas in the summer is a very strange concept to me. Sitting out on Christmas Day in shorts and a t-shirt in 25-30 degree heat. Having Christmas dinner cooked on the barbecue... it will never make sense to me.

However, the Christmas Day swim is a lot warmer, which is a big plus.

Something I have brought from home has been the love of a bag of Tayto crisps in the pub and Barrys tea.

My UK friends are now changed tea drinkers and can confirm Barrys tea is better than English breakfast tea. But we all knew that, it just took them a while to understand.

Tell us about your line of work?

I work for as a hostel manager for Accor group. Its a lively place and I really enjoy meeting new people.

I was a hostel manager in Ireland so I definitely had the experience to get me into such a great job.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

I remember one day my friends and I rented a boat and went out onto the lake, and it was such beautiful weather, and to experience my new home in a different perspective was one of those pinch-me moments.

Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world and that it is. Constantly experiencing new adventures that we do not have at home is one of my favourite things about living abroad.

Tell us about your time travelling in Asia?

I travelled through Thailand for two months. It was my first time travelling outside of Europe and what a culture shock it was.

The authentic Thai food was absolutely amazing and nothing has lived up to it so far.

While I was in Thailand, I completed my advance scuba diving course, I fell in love with scuba diving while I was there and managed to dive in most areas around Thailand. I now want to go back and complete my dive masters as soon as I can.

Solo travelling became my new hobby. Waking up each morning and deciding what I wanted to do was a routine I was not familiar with. I enjoyed every minute of it and I cant wait to be able to do it again.

If anyone ever has doubts about it, I cant express enough how life-changing it is. I met the most amazing people on my travels and some are now friends for life.

Can you tell us about the opportunity you see in a place like New Zealand, compared to Ireland?

New Zealand is a place of endless opportunities when it comes to adventure. The tourism here is so popular, despite it being a small country at the bottom of the southern hemisphere.

There are countless jobs in tourism all over the country. The jobs here are nothing like we get at home, from working in bungee jump centres and helicopter lines to boat cruises through the Fiordlands. No 9-5 office jobs.

I feel that the jobs here can push you outside of your comfort zone and your typical line of work.

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

Of course, to all my family back home.

A TASTE OF HOME: Emily Maher in her local Irish bar, Pog Mo Thones, in Queenstown, with her beloved Taytos and a pint

I was unfortunately over here when my Nan passed away and I could not come over for the funeral so a very special mention to her.

As well, to my friends, who I miss dearly, but I know they are all doing amazing things in their own way.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would the ideal day for you involve?

I have thought about this a lot. I would walk around town and hike up to Bells Field. I feel after all the hiking I have done here, it has prepared me for Patricks hill again.

I would have a pint (or a few) in the Shelbourne Bar and finish off with a roast dinner cooked by my amazing mom at home.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

I am currently writing this while travelling New Zealand with my family in a camper van. I have been looking forward to this for a long time.

I have a few travels planned with some amazing friends, and honestly to just enjoy the time I have here.

My family and I have been planning this five-week trip for almost a year now. They came over for Christmas, and I feel very lucky to have them here.

My dad (Liam), mom (Kaye), brother (Tom) and sister (Grace) all came over. The whole family! They are absolutely loving the adventure.

The variety of landscapes in this small country, from cold, harsh mountains to tropical forests, all in the once place. What more could you ask for?

We now have two weeks left on our road trip of a lifetime. I will be sad to see them go, but I am so happy I got to share with them why I love this country and why I have stayed so long.

I am so happy they could be here and make these amazing memories that will last a lifetime.
Poet Victoria Kennefick, who grew up in Cork and lives in Kerry, is the Cork County Council Writer-In-Residence. We talk to her about her life and loves

About Victoria:

Victoria Kennefick grew up in Cork and lives in Kerry. Her debut collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, and the Butler Literary Prize.

She was the UCD/Arts Council of Ireland Writer-in-Residence 2023 and Poet-in-Residence at the Yeats Society Sligo, 2022-2024. She is the recipient of an Arts Council of Ireland Literature Bursary.

See www.victoriakennefick.com Twitter: @VKennefick

Where were you born?

I was born in the Bon Secours hospital in Cork. I grew up in Shanagarry with a year-long sojourn in London when I was seven with my family, obviously. I was independent but not that independent.

Where do you live?

The beautiful and vibrant town of Tralee in Co. Kerry. I wont hear a word against it.

Family?

Large and loving.

Best friend?

My younger sister, Louise.

Earliest childhood memory?

Running through a field of nettles to avoid jumping over a few.

Person you most admire? Myself.

Person who most irritates you?

Myself.

Where was your most memorable holiday?

My brain never takes a holiday, although there once was a cottage

Favourite TV programme?

I am very much looking forward to season two of Severance.

Favourite radio show?

Arena on RTE Radio One.

Your signature dish if cooking?

I am a truly excellent and deeply appreciative guest.

Favourite restaurant?

Cafe Paradiso and the Quay Co-op in Cork city.

Last book you read?

Mothersong (Picador, 2023), by Amy Acre.

Best book you read?

Ariel, by Sylvia Plath.

Last album/CD/download you bought?

Roach, by Miya Folick.

Favourite song?

One of my current favourites is Good Fortune by PJ Harvey.

One person you would like to see in concert?

Ella Fitzgerald and Idles, though not necessarily together. Scratch that. Definitely together.

Do you have a pet?

Two cats, Odette and Odile. They are sisters and deeply odd.

Morning person or night owl?

A misplaced and misguided night owl living in a larks world. I need to change my feathers.

Your proudest moment?

Any time I manage to successfully regulate my nervous system and respond to a situation instead of reacting. Also, the publication of my first book, Eat Or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021) and my second, Egg/Shell (Carcanet Press, February, 2024) which can be pre-ordered now. Also, the birth of my child. Not necessarily in that order.

Spendthrift or saver?

Money burns a hole in my pocket, but I keep manifesting it.

Name one thing you would improve in your area in which you live?

An arthouse cinema and late-night cafe.

What makes you happy?

Loving people.

How would you like to be remembered?

Of course, I have no say in this, but I would like for those that I leave to know how much I love them, even beyond death. Especially beyond death.

What else are you up to at the moment?

I am very excited about my new role as Cork County Council Writer-in-Residence. Ill be working with writers in five libraries across the county, including Mitchelstown, Kanturk, Carrigaline, Cobh and Bandon. Ill also be hosting and facilitating several writing events and readings during my tenure which runs until September, 2024.

MORE ABOUT THE WRITER IN RESIDENCE

Cork County Council are excited to announce the appointment of award-winning poet, Victoria Kennefick to the position of writer in residence for a ten-month period beginning this December.

The writer-in-residence collaborates with communities in the county, improving access to literature and creative writing workshops.

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Frank OFlynn, said; We are delighted to be collaborating with a writer of Victorias calibre. Her experience and enthusiasm for writing in all its forms will lend itself to a very successful residency.

Victoria Kennefick Cork poet and writer

This is a fantastic opportunity for aspiring writers and readers in the county to engage with a published writer. With this residency, we aim to promote creative writing and reading contemporary literature in the community. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this residency.

A key aspect of the Writer in Residence programme is the use of local library branches as centres of creative writing. During her residency Victoria will work with five branches in the county, Bandon, Carrigaline, Cobh, Kanturk, and Mitchelstown. Victoria has proposed an exciting programme of engagement with writers groups, community groups, young people, as well as online engagement.

Victoria brings a wealth of experience in teaching and creative writing facilitation to the role. She was the UCD/Arts Council of Ireland Writer-in-Residence 2023 and Poet-in-Residence at the Yeats Society Sligo 2022-2024.

Victoria says, I am delighted, as a Cork woman, to be returning to my native county to collaborate with writers, students, and readers in developing and enriching their relationship and engagement with literature.

Cork County Council has provided me with many opportunities as an emerging writer in the past. It is an honour to pay this support back in this way and I am looking forward to meeting and collaborating with writers all over the county.

Her debut poetry collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, New England Review, PN Review, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, Poetry Ireland Review, The Stinging Fly, and elsewhere. Her second collection is Egg/Shell (Carcanet Press, February 2024) and is available for pre-order now. She is currently working on her first novel.

The residency is managed by Cork County Council Library and Arts Service. This position is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaion and Creative Ireland.
A CORK TD has expressed frustration that some of the areas that have been worst affected by brown and discoloured water have not yet been tested by Uisce Eireann.

North Central TD Thomas Gould called for a public meeting with Uisce Eireann in relation to what he has described as a continued failure to address issues with water quality in Cork city.

Following a meeting between local TDs and Uisce Eireann in November last year, Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould requested an update on the regulatory sampling and additional investigative sampling that Uisce Eireann said it had carried out in Cork.

Mr Gould was informed by Uisce Eireann that 17 regulatory check samples and one audit sample were taken across the Cork city supply from August to November last year and that no parametric exceedances (no parametric failures on samples) were detected in these samples.

In addition, Uisce Eireann informed Mr Gould that from August 30 to November 22, there were 26 investigative samples taken post-flushing with no exceedances and that all results have been shared with the EPA and the HSE.

Uisce Eireann said that as part of ongoing work addressing discolouration, it completed intermediate reservoir flushing on November 17 and 24.

Mr Gould said Uisce Eireann had failed to respond to a number of requests from his office asking for a breakdown of where the 17 regulatory check samples were taken.

In response to a request from The Echo, Uisce Eireann issued the locations of these regulatory check samples which included:

Barnavara East

Blarney Rd

Mount Vernon Crescent on South Douglas Rd

Sundrive Park in Ballinlough

South Ridge in Silversprings

St Colmcilles Rd in Gurranabraher

Rosebank in South Douglas Rd

Montenotte House on Montenotte Rd

Meadow Park Lawn in Ballyvolane

South Ridge in Silversprings; Deerpark

South Ridge in Silversprings

Mervue Lawn in Ballyvolane

Mount Vernon Crescent on South Douglas Rd

Dunmore Lawn in Boreenmanna Rd

Commons Rd

St Colmcilles Rd in Gurranabraher

Mr Gould said the list shows that some of the areas that have been worst affected by brown and discoloured water have not been tested. How can I tell people in Mayfield, Blarney, Tower, Farranree, Knocknaheeny, and large parts of Gurranabraher that their water is safe when it hasnt been tested?, he said.

This shouldnt have taken over a month to get answers, it shouldnt have taken me going to the press to get these answers and questions still remain.

We need to know that tests have been done on the water supply from all reservoirs on the Northside as people cannot trust their water quality currently.

We also need to know whether any of the chemicals tested were elevated despite being within parameters and we need to know what chemicals were tested for.

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GARDAI who responded to a call for help in a residential area in Cork city were challenged to a fight by a man who caused the disturbance.

Denis Cullen of Courtown Drive, Knocknaheeny, also verbally abused officers calling them c***s and referring to one officer as a pig w**ker.

Sgt Gearoid Davis said: Gardai responded to reports of Denis Cullen arguing with a woman. On arrival at Courtown Drive, gardai spoke to Denis Cullen.

He was intoxicated and unsteady on his feet. His speech was slurred and there was a strong smell of intoxicants. He was shouting aggressively at gardai and people in the estate.

He shouted at gardai, F*** ye, ye c***s, Ill box her, Ill fight you, ya pig w**ker.

Mr Cullen, who is aged 38, pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and being so intoxicated that he was a danger to himself or others.

He was arrested at 11.15pm that night and had to be handcuffed due to his aggressive nature as he was brought to Gurranabraher Garda Station.

After hearing the evidence and defence submissions made by solicitor, Frank Buttimer, Judge John King read aloud his note of the insulting language Mr Cullen used to the guards.

This is disgraceful behaviour, the judge commented.

Mr Buttimer replied: No argument. And my client makes no argument about it either.

He said that as the defendant could not remember what he had said, he was also taken by surprise when Mr Buttimer informed him of the garda evidence in relation to the insulting language.

Judge King asked if the accused would do community service to avoid three weeks in jail. Mr Buttimer said the defendant would be glad to do so. He was ordered to do 80 hours of community service instead of the jail term.

Mr Buttimer said during his submission in the hearing: He has asked me specifically to convey his apologies to Sgt Davis and asked that this is conveyed to his colleagues.

He has mental health concerns. Regrettably, he had consumed vodka. That did not agree with him. He does not have alcohol difficulties as such.
PARENTS in Cork are turning to crime in an effort to help their children survive prison life and heartbreaking drug addictions, it has been claimed.

A city councillor has voiced concerns about emotional blackmail leading to the smuggling of drugs by family members.

Independent councillor Kenneth OFlynn said parents have confided in him after feeling pressurised to smuggle drugs into prisons and other facilities.

Ive had people on the phone saying they are being asked to get drugs for their children, he told The Echo.

A number of my constituents have children in Cork Prison. There is no mother or father that sends their child out into the world to do wrong. However, there is an underbelly in prison and the main concern when it comes to their children is safety. A lot of the time there is fear around what might happen to their child if they dont have access to drugs. You would do anything for your child, especially when it comes to protecting them.

The Irish Prison Service said it is committed to stopping access to contraband and said Cork Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence-led cell searches daily.

Blackmail

Mr OFlynn explained that some parents are subject to horrific blackmail. Some are telling their parents about what might happen to them if they dont go get these drugs. This is at a time when drugs are already a huge issue in prisons. Its a huge challenge for the prison system.

Kanturk-based psychotherapist and addiction counsellor Christina Noonan has dealt with similar situations during the course of her career.

She referred to one particular case study: I spoke to one family whose son made out he was being bullied and threatened by his cellmate into getting drugs. They were so concerned for his well-being that they brought them in. It turned out that the story wasnt true at all and had been made up out of desperation.

This manipulation and pressure facing the families of addicts is horrendous, especially when you take into account the dealers and violence involved.

Often, dealers wont go for the addicts, and will opt to target their families instead. Its very challenging when you consider the fear being experienced by normal hard working family who have no dealings with any kind of criminality and all of a sudden are faced with this.

Ms Noonan described the issue as complex. A person with a live addiction can be very manipulative so the family is often unsure about what to believe. Some love their child so unconditionally they believe everything that they say and fear the worst. You can understand the fear they must be feeling to actually resort to breaking the law, something that they would never have ever considered before.

Advice

The addiction counsellor issued advice to families. I tell people that while they dont need to disown their child, its important that they detach from them. My advice would be to leave them alone to get on with their recovery. A lot of the time they will get help when left in position.

A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said: Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis.

Our canine unit carry out searches around the prisons, including a greater focus on searching deliveries into prisons. The Irish Prison Service continues to engage with An Garda Siochana with regard to preventing contraband entering our prison and this happens at both local and national level.

The operational support group work closely with their colleagues in An Garda Siochana on a regular basis and the sharing of intelligence has led to target searches resulting in the seizure of contraband.

Information

Those aware of any such incidents were issued with the following advice: There is a free confidential telephone line (1800 855 717) and text line (086 180 2449) which is operational.

Prisoners, visitors, staff, or members of the public with information on the trafficking of prohibited items into our prisons can pass on that information in the strictest confidence.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, has taken delivery of the 2024 Lord Mayoral car.

The keys to the car, a Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range AWD, were handed over to Mr McCarthy by Padraig Duane, fleet business manager of Henry Ford & Son.

This is the third year that an electric car is being used by the incumbent Lord Mayor to support their duties, highlighting what Cork City Council said was their commitment to promoting a sustainable city for all.

Mr McCarthy said he was thankful to Henry Ford & Son Ltd for continuing the tradition for supplying the Lord Mayoral car for the year.

History and innovation and two core elements, which are important to the essence of Cork, said Mr McCarthy.

He said that since taking up the office last June, he has spoken at more than 870 events more than 35 a week- across the city.

The provision of an electric car has very much assisted me in the carrying out of my duties. It is also important for my office to support innovation in sustainability, said Mr McCarthy.

The ownership numbers of electric vehicles in the city has significantly risen in a few short years. As part of my work this year I have put a strong emphasis on the need to reduce carbon emission through sustainable travel solutions".

The new Mayoral car has a range of more than 600km and will be charged on-site in City Hall. Driving the Mustang Mach-E leads to an approximately 50% cut in running costs compared to driving a petrol or diesel engine in a similar-sized vehicle.

John Manning, market lead, Henry Ford & Son Ltd. said: For 2024, we are honoured to continue the tradition of providing our Citys Lord Mayoral car  a long-standing tradition stretching back more than 80 years that is truly unique on the island of Ireland and testament to Fords long and enduring history in the country.

Go n-eiri an bothar leat, Lord Mayor McCarthy  we wish you many kilometres of safe and emission-free driving in your Mustang Mach-E.
A CORK city councillor has written to the CEO of Corks 96FM in a bid to see the decision to halve the time slot of the popular Oldies and Irish programme reversed.

Independent councillor Ken OFlynn said he had been inundated with messages from disappointed constituents since the news broke that the radio show was to be cut from four hours to two.

In the past weeks, I have received a significant number of calls, emails, and letters from upset individuals, both locally and in the diaspora from the United States to Australia.

Distress and anger

The reduction in airtime has caused considerable distress and anger among the audience, Mr OFlynn said in the correspondence.

The show, particularly the Oldies and Irish traditional Irish music segment, has been a cherished part of peoples lives, providing moments of joy and happiness for many.

It has become a tradition and a staple of our local broadcasting.

The decision to cut the shows airtime has not only disappointed the local community but has also garnered negative reactions from those abroad, he continued.

Mr OFlynn called for the radio stations management to reconsider the decision to reduce the airtime of Oldies and Irish.

Understanding that your company is part of the Wireless Group, I kindly request you to appeal to your colleagues to reconsider this decision.

The Oldies and Irish show holds sentimental value for many, and restoring its previous broadcast duration would undoubtedly alleviate the concerns and disappointment expressed by my constituents, he said.

His correspondence comes as this week county councillors in Cork separately agreed to write a letter to the management of Corks 96FM to voice the strong preference of the council for the reinstatement of the full four hours of Oldies and Irish.

Letter

At a county council meeting this week, councillors also agreed for a letter to be sent to Communications Minister Eamon Ryan on the matter.

Presented by Derry OCallaghan, Oldies and Irish now airs from 12pm to 2pm on Sunday, whereas previously it ran for four hours from 10am.

The two morning hours have now been filled by a show presented by Ryan Tubridy.

Mr Tubridy joined Virgin UK after parting ways with RTE last year.

As part of his new deal, he now presents the two-hour Sunday morning show across the Wireless Ireland radio group of stations, which includes Corks 96FM.

A spokesperson for 96FM said they are delighted to welcome Ryan Tubridy to their schedule.

I can confirm that Oldies and Irish, presented by the brilliant Derry OCallaghan, moves to a new time slot from 12 noon to 2pm every Sunday.

At the same time were delighted to welcome the inimitable Ryan Tubridy to our schedule and our listeners ears in a brand new show from 10am to 12, they said.
FOCUS Ireland has revealed it supported almost 700 households in Cork in 2023 as it called for immediate action to tackle record child homelessness.

According to the most recent figures published by the Department of Housing, child homelessness has surpassed the 4,000 mark for the first time, reaching 4,105.

Some 204 of these were located across Cork and Kerry, with an additional 590 adults homeless in the region, 545 in Cork.

Focus Ireland CEO, Pat Dennigan said the Government appears to be overwhelmed by the need to provide emergency accommodation as the non-profit supported 680 households in Cork last year who were homeless or at risk.

In November of last year, 13,514 people were recorded as officially homeless nationally, this representing a 2.5 per cent increase on the previous month, and a 17 per cent increase compared to November of 2022.

The figures also showed there are now 2,000 families in emergency accommodation, a 24 per cent increase in figures on the same month of the previous year.

Mr Dennigan said: 2024 must be the year the government makes a different approach to homelessness and uses all available resources to reduce the number of people who are homeless, particularly those who are homeless for long periods.

The Government appears to be overwhelmed by the problem of providing emergency accommodation for people who are homeless along with people who are here seeking international protection.

Instead of seeing these as competing challenges, the Government should redirect its efforts into maximising the number of long-term homeless households moving out of emergency accommodation and into their own home.

This is an entirely achievable objective, he added.

In the last two years more social housing has been delivered than for many years.

If a fairer share of new social housing was allocated to those who have been homeless for long periods, we could reduce the harm caused and ensure there was enough temporary accommodation for those who need this form of support.
A 64-YEAR-OLD man, who was not the father of a baby born to a non-national woman in Cork, falsely declared that he was the childs biological father in successful applications for a birth cert and a passport for the infant.

The beginning of the deception dates back more than 14 years. Today at Cork District Court, the man pleaded guilty to three counts of deception  one in relation to the birth cert application, a second for the passport application, and a third in applying for its renewal three years later.

An order was previously made to prevent identification of parties and particulars to the case which could identify the child.

Detective Garda Mark Henebry of Garda National Immigration Bureau outlined the background to the offences committed by the accused after the man pleaded guilty at Cork District Court.

Det Gda Henebry testified that the child was born at the end of 2008 to two non-national parents from the same country who arrived to study in Ireland shortly before the birth. When the child was born, there was no entry made in the hospital record to identify the father.

The 64-year-old before the court yesterday was not the father, but on July 29, 2009, he attended the Civil Registration office on Adelaide St in Cork to register the birth of the child.

He made declarations that he was the biological father, knowing he could not be the father, said Det Gda Henebry.

He provided false information to the Civil Registrations office. On July 29, 2009  later the same day  he attended at [his local] garda station, having obtained the Irish birth cert, to make a false application for a passport for this child. An Irish passport was later issued to this child who was not entitled to an Irish passport or Irish citizenship.

The third charge relates to June 30, 2012  almost three years later  in a subsequent application for [renewal of] a passport for this child, contrary to the Passports Act 2008.

They are the facts. He co-operated fully with the garda investigation. There is no evidence of financial or other gain by [the defendant]. There is nothing previously against him.

Defence solicitor, Pat Horan, said the accused man accepted this outline of the evidence and had co-operated in full when he was interviewed on two occasions in January and February 2023. They were full and frank admissions, Mr Horan said.

He made no gain financially or otherwise, said Mr Horan. He is 64. He has no previous convictions. He felt sorry for this young woman who had a baby.

His understanding was that if the woman went back to her own country with the child she would not be allowed to return to Ireland. On that basis, he put himself forward as the father of the child, Mr Horan said.

He was thinking of the child, said Mr Horan. There was no relationship with the mother  sexual or otherwise.

He suffered significant mental health issues since this has come to light. It has been hanging over him since January last. It is something he did out of concern and support for another person. As unusual as the case is, he did not benefit in any way. He wants to come clean. He deeply, deeply apologises for what happened.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: It is clearly very, very serious  a number of different occurrences over different periods of time I am going to look for a probation report.

The case was adjourned for that purpose until May 1.
PROGRESS on a vital road in Cork city that will be of huge benefit has been welcomed by local representatives.

Cork City Councils head of infrastructure Gerry OBeirne has confirmed that the Strategic Appraisal Report for the Cork Northern Distributor Multi-Modal Route was prepared and submitted for approval last year and subsequently updated and approved in December.

The approval enabled the design team to progress with the concept development and options selection phase of the design process which is now underway.

It is anticipated that council will be undertaking non-statutory public consultation on the preferred scheme routing in the coming months.

Mr OBeirne said this will be followed by the preliminary design and planning approval phases for the scheme.

The update was issued following a question submitted by Labour Party councillor John Maher at Januarys meeting of Cork City Council.

Speaking to The Echo following the meeting, Mr Maher welcomed the confirmation that the Northern Distributor Road will be progressed in Q1 of this year and described it as vital for Cork city and the communities of the northside.

We are seeing over 1,000 homes being built in Ballyvolane which is very welcome but it is essential we get balanced development to complement these houses and the Northern Distributor Road will benefit those communities and the city massively, he said.

Over 1,000 HGVs drive through our communities each day on a road, the Northern Ring Road, which was originally designed as a relief road for the National Building Agency houses in Mayfield. Forty years on from initial talks of a new Northern Ring Road, people now must see this delivered, once and for all.

Fine Gael councillor Joe Kavanagh said that a distributor road would be of huge benefit to the northside.

Its something weve been promised for many years now so the sooner it comes, the better for everyone concerned, the Cork City North East councillor said.

The problem at the moment is that all the heavy traffic heading west, in particular, is being funnelled up through Mayfield from the Port of Cork. We have a convoy of HGVs heading up the Northern Ring Road every single day and its blocking up the whole area.

Apart from air quality [issues], youve got a public safety issue with people trying to cross the road safely, motorists trying to drive their kids to school and go about their daily business; and you have all this heavy traffic and extra traffic being funnelled through one little area.

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould raised concerns about the two-year wait to get the scheme through the design stage and said such delays cannot happen throughout the construction of the road.

We will engage meaningfully with public participation now because that is a really important part of this process. This road must be built along the best possible route and the only way to ensure that is by using the wealth of local knowledge in communities, Mr Gould said.

Describing the road as vital for improving sustainable transport measures, he said: BusConnects relies on the Northern Distributor Road and I dont believe the plans are feasible without it. It must be delivered urgently.
By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Eamon Ryan has said there are irrefutable points in South Africas case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations top court against the charges.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan noted that the World Health Organisation had said Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with the risk of famine increasing each day.

He agreed with the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end.

Mr Ryan, who is Minister for Environment, said Ireland had played a strong role within the UN on the matter.

The main opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have called on the Government to endorse South Africas action.

However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to be very careful in defining genocide.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

Mr Varadkar said: I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed.

I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless were absolutely convinced that theyre the appropriate ones.

He said Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause, and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

This includes 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Independent Senator Frances Black, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign vice chair Fatin Al Tamimi, Sinn Fein foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy, Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Gary Gannon and Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik issue a call to the Irish Government over Gaza Photo: Cillian Sherlock/PA.

Mr Ryan also said Irish people have consistently stood up for the rights of Palestinian people.

Speaking in Sallins, Co Kildare on Wednesday, he said: Now, more than ever, we stand up for their rights  for self determination but also for an immediate end to the actions the Israeli government and military are taking which are putting those Palestinian people in Gaza at risk of immediate starvation.

The court case is one of standing effectively first between South Africa and Israel, and there are only two parties to that. But in terms of where we stand, in my mind, it has to be for the basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are being wholesale infringed, in my mind, at the present time.

He said the world will sit in real harsh judgment if Israels government does not desist its campaign.

That does not in any way undermine the rights of Israelis to safety and deplore what happened on October 7 but the scale of what Israel is doing and the risk to the Palestinian people absolutely has to stop.
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.

Microplastics are so pervasive, they have been found all over the planet and in the human body.

A new study has found that a liter of bottled water contains an average of approximately 240,000 detectable plastic fragments, which is 10 to 100 times more than earlier estimates, a press release from Columbia Climate School said.

Plastics that begin as textiles, packaging, fishing nets and other applications break down into smaller and smaller particles that make their way into the soil, air and water, and are ingested by humans and other species. Microplastics are less than five millimeters long, while the even tinier and less-studied nanoplastics are less than a micron  one-thousandth of a millimeter in size.

Plastics are now omnipresent in our daily lives. The existence of microplastics (1 m to 5 mm in length) and possibly even nanoplastics (<1 m) has recently raised health concerns. In particular, nanoplastics are believed to be more toxic since their smaller size renders them much more amenable, compared to microplastics, to enter the human body, the researchers wrote in the study.

The research team used new technology to identify and count nanoplastics in bottled water, the press release said. The particles are so small they are able to pass directly into the bloodstream from the lungs and intestines and into organs like the heart and brain. They can also penetrate individual cells. Their effects on biological systems are not yet known, and scientists are in a hurry to figure it out.

Previously this was just a dark area, uncharted. Toxicity studies were just guessing whats in there, said Beizhan Yan, co-author of the study and an environmental chemist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia Climate School, in the press release. This opens a window where we can look into a world that was not exposed to us before.

The study, Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Global plastics production is nearly 441 tons annually, with more than 33 million tons discarded on land and in water each year, Columbia Climate School said. Plastic particles are shed from many products while they are in use. And while they may break down into increasingly smaller particles, most do not become benign, no matter how tiny they get.

People dont think of plastics as shedding but they do, Sherri Sam Mason, Pennsylvania State Universitys director of sustainability, who was not part of the study, told CNN. In almost the same way were constantly shedding skin cells, plastics are constantly shedding little bits that break off, such as when you open that plastic container for your store-bought salad or a cheese thats wrapped in plastic.

The researchers put three popular bottled water brands sold in the United States to the test, analyzing them for plastic particles down to 100 nanometers, the press release said. They found from 110,000 to 370,000 plastic particles per liter, of which 90 percent were nanoplastics. They also pinpointed the types of plastics they were and their shapes.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)  the type of plastic used to make many water bottles  was a common one. The water bottles likely shed the plastics when they are exposed to heat or are squeezed by the consumer. Another recent study suggested many particles get into the water when the cap is opened or closed repeatedly.

An even more common plastic found by the research team was a type of nylon called polyamide. Yan said the substance likely came from plastic filters that are, ironically, meant to purify the water. Other common plastics discovered in bottled water were polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate, which are all used in industrial processes.

The types of plastics the researchers identified only made up around 10 percent of the total nanoparticles discovered in the water, however. The rest are a mystery.

There is a huge world of nanoplastics to be studied, said Wei Min, one of the studys authors and a Columbia biophysicist who co-invented the Raman scattering microscopy technique used in the study, according to the press release. Min added that, while nanoplastics have far less mass than microplastics, its not size that matters. Its the numbers, because the smaller things are, the more easily they can get inside us.

The researchers have plans to examine tap water, which is known to contain microplastics in far fewer numbers than bottled water.

Not surprisingly, the bottled water industry discouraged the public from giving up bottled water until more is known about the effects of nanoplastics on human health, reported The Hill.

Yan and his colleagues are conducting another study on microplastics and nanoplastics in laundry wastewater and are working with British collaborators on identifying plastic particles collected from snow in western Antarctica. They are also working with experts on environmental health to measure nanoplastics in human tissues in order to study their neurologic and developmental impacts.

It is not totally unexpected to find so much of this stuff, said Naixin Qian, lead author of the study and a graduate student in chemistry at Columbia University, in the press release. The idea is that the smaller things get, the more of them there are.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

A dragonet is one of the many marine species that lives on the seabed of the Norwegian Sea. Sakis Lazarides / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Norways parliament voted Tuesday for a bill to allow deep-sea mining in the Arctic waters of the Norwegian Sea. The government has said it plans to move forward with mining of the seabed for minerals sustainably, requiring environmental studies before approving licenses. However, environmentalists have said this practice cannot be done without harming marine life.

The bill could allow deep-sea mining in about 280,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles) of Norwegian waters, the BBC reported. Companies would then apply for leases to mine the seabed within this area, and applications will require environmental assessments. The Arctic seabed contains minerals like lithium and cobalt, which are currently in demand for use in green technology, such as batteries.

According to Reuters, Norway wants seabed mining to reach commercial scale, which would make it the first country to do so. But environmentalists around the world have been calling for an end to deep-sea mining because of its impacts on the marine environment.

The bill that Norways parliament voted to approve only concerns Norways national waters and was reduced from an original proposal to allow mining in a 329,000-square-kilometer (127,000-square-mile) area, Mongabay reported.

The country has moved to allow seabed mining in order for a green transition, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland said in a statement in June 2023.

We need to cut 55% of our emissions by 2030, and we also need to cut the rest of our emissions after 2030, Astrid Bergmal, the state secretary for the energy minister, told Mongabay. So, the reason for us to look into seabed minerals is the large amount of critical minerals that will be needed for many years.

But scientists and environmentalists have long raised concerns over these mining practices. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition explained that seabed mining destroys the seabed, including sponge, coral and hydrothermal vent ecosystems. This type of mining also creates plumes in the water that can have wide-reaching consequences, potentially smothering some species up to hundreds of kilometers away from the mining site. The plumes could pollute the marine environment, the coalition reported. Further, deep-sea mining can create noise pollution that negatively impacts whale species.

In November 2023, 120 members of the European parliament wrote a letter to the Norwegian parliament, asking it to reject the plans to open the countrys waters for deep-sea mining.

The green transition cannot be used as a justification for harming biodiversity and the worlds largest natural carbon sink, especially since alternatives exist, the authors wrote. The demand for minerals can be reduced by 58% through innovation in renewable technology and circular economy measures. Instead of plunging into high-risk deep-sea activities before having full understanding of their consequences, we must reduce our dependence on these materials.

Deep-sea mining could expand globally in the near future as well. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is expected to determine whether seabed mining will be allowed in international waters by 2025, and if so, how that will work, the World Resources Institute reported. The organization has already approved some exploration permits, but has not yet approved any mining projects.
The keynote speeches were delivered by Prof Mark Stuart of the Leeds University Business School and Amitav Mukherjee, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of ITC. The delegates at the conference also could take part in two workshops on academic writing where they met the editors of top-ranked journals in management.
The holidays are over, but theres one winter tradition left. CES is back, once again turning Las Vegas into a haven for the tech-obsessed. Samsung is holding its annual CES press conference on January 8 at 2PM PT / 5PM ET, a day before exhibitions officially open. Engadget will have a dozen staffers on the ground at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, and you can follow along from home by watching the livestream on Samsungs Global Newsroom site or tuning into the YouTube video below.

Samsung is, of course, a big company with its hands in just about every cookie jar, so you may wonder what the press conference will focus on. And you know the answer already. Its AI. The presser is titled AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI, which manages to somehow squeeze in the term twice.

What we expect

The event will be led by Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Samsungs DX (Device eXperience) Division, Jong-Hee Han. Samsung has remained fairly tight-lipped regarding the specifics, instead relying on the overarching theme of AI for all. Maybe well get more information on the companys forthcoming chatbot Gauss, which can write emails, code and, well, you know the rest. It can, however, also upscale low-resolution images, which is pretty neat.

According to The Korea Times, Gauss is set to launch in forthcoming Galaxy S24 devices, so CES 2024 would be a great time to make that official. The S24 line is expected to release in mid-January, so in just about a week or so.

Of course, Samsung is primarily a hardware manufacturer, so itd be strange if it spends the entire keynote on AI. Last years press conference found the company announcing everything from a smart oven with an interior camera to MicroLED and 8K televisions. In any event, we dont have long to wait.

What Samsung announced

In case you missed Samsung's CES news conference live, here's the tl;dr version: the company unveiled the world's first transparent MicroLED screen  a real showstopper. Samsung also surprised us by bringing back its Ballie robot, which now has a built-in projector and an overall different look. On the hardware-you-can-buy-soon front, we also got new TVs, projectors, an HDMI 2.1 soundbar, a Music Frame speaker to go with the company's Frame TVs (which we also got hands-on with), a smart monitor that works without the need for a PC, and a new interface for its TVs that lets you use your television as a smart home hub.

So far at the show, we've gotten an up-close look at Ballie. Engadget's Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham concluded that, while it sure is cute, it still doesn't do a whole lot.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.
The product, which has yet to be fully reviewed, will go on sale in March 2024 for $699.

Wearable startup Humane AI laid off four percent of its employees before it has started shipping its Ai Pin, The Verge has reported. Leadership reportedly told employees that budgets would be lowered in 2024, according to sources familiar with the matter. The cuts were implemented earlier this week and affect around 10 people.

On LinkedIn, CEO and co-founder Bethany Bongiorno called the cuts "part of a wider refresh of our organizational structure as our company evolves with purpose for this next phase of growth." She added that CTO Patrick Gates will be transitioning to an advisor role, and that Humane AI had promoted new heads of hardware, software and others as part of a reorganization. Bongiorno told The Verge that the cuts were "not communicated as a layoff," though sources told that outlet that they were, both verbally and in writing.

Humane was founded by ex-Apple executives Bongiorno and her husband Imran Chaudhri. It's primary product is the "Ai Pin" that acts as a sort of wearable AI assistant. The company first unveiled the device at a Paris fashion show and announced last month that it would start shipping in March for $699.

Humane

The pin takes voice commands from the user and beams relevant information onto the users hand via a built-in projector. It can also perform AI-powered optical recognition via a camera. It's powered by a quad-core Snapdragon processor with a dedicated Qualcomm AI Engine using Cosmos OS software. The founders have said that it "quickly understands what you need, connecting you to the right AI experience or service instantly."

The Ai Pin has yet to be thoroughly reviewed (other than a few short tests), but the company demonstrated how it works in a video released last month. The founders showed how you can give it specific commands like "play music written by Prince, but not performed by Prince." The device can then display the information on your hand via the projector and control music playback and more by tilting or closing your hand.

It can also answer questions by searching the web and send messages with modifiers like "add more excitement." You can use it to monitor your health and nutrition, and Humane provides a central hub for images, etc., along with accessories like clips, battery cases and more. How well it performs its AI tasks in the real world, though, remains to be seen.

This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.
Taylor Swift is not giving out free Le Creuset products in social media advertisements  though deepfakes of her voice would like you to believe otherwise. A series of posts have recently surfaced on TikTok and in Meta's Ad Library claiming to show Swift offering free Le Creuset cookware sets, the New York Times reports. The ads featured clips where Swift was near Le Creuset products and used a synthetic version of her voice. The scammers used AI to have the cloned voice address her fans, "Swifties," and produce other little remarks.

These posts led interested parties to fake versions of sites like The Food Network with made-up articles and testimonials about Le Creuset. Shoppers were then asked just to provide the $9.96 for shipping to get their free products. Unsurprisingly, no Dutch ovens arrived, and customers had additional monthly charges added to their cards. Le Creuset confirmed no such giveaway was occurring.

Swift is hardly the only celebrity who has recently found their voice co-opted using AI. She's not even the only one used in the scam, with interior designer Joanna Gaines mimicked in ads from verified accounts or ones labeled as sponsored posts. In April 2023, the Better Business Bureau warned consumers about the high quality of ads featuring AI-manufactured versions of celebrities. Since then, scammers have used deepfakes to convince consumers that Luke Combs was selling weight loss gummies, Tom Hanks was promoting dental plans and Gayle King was selling other weight loss products, to name a few examples.

Little regulation exists for monitoring deepfakes or punishing the people who create them. A lot of the responsibility currently falls on the platforms, with YouTube, for example, laying out new steps for reporting deepfakes. At the same time, its working with select musicians to loan their voices out and create greater interest in AI-generated versions of real people.

Last year, two bills were introduced in Congress to address deepfakes: The No Fakes Act and the Deepfakes Accountability Act. However, the fate of both pieces of legislation is uncertain. At the moment, only select states, such as California and Florida, have any AI regulation.
LG Display came to CES 2024 with something to prove. Its showroom in Las Vegas had transparent OLEDs, a 480Hz gaming monitor and the company's most advanced OLED panels yet, featuring its META technology 2.0. While it sounds like promotional fluff (and there is some of that), LG Display is trying to address arguably OLEDs biggest weakness in the face of ever-improving LEDs, MicroLEDs and the rest. Using advanced microlens arrays (now called MLA+) and new algorithms, LG Display says its made an OLED 42 percent brighter than the displays that came before it.

At CES 2024, I took a closer look at the prototype panels, headed to TVs later this year.

 Mat Smith

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Its co-designed by Teenage Engineering.

Rabbit

A new startup called Rabbit seems to think our virtual assistants are less-than-ideal implementations of AI  and theyre not wrong. The dream of Rabbit is you leave your apps behind for conversation and, rather than a distracting device shoving icons in your face, you interact with what amounts to a walkie-talkie for an AI.

The stylish hardware (thanks, TE) is reminiscent of the Playdate handheld-with-a-crank, with an analog scroll wheel and a 360-degree rotational eye, but the coolest feature  not that weve seen it working in real life yet  is its ability to use interfaces rather than APIs or apps. You can train it to use Photoshop to perform simple editing tasks and, apparently, even play Diablo for you. You can then make it repeat those tasks just whenever.

The Rabbit R1 costs $199 and is available for pre-order, with an expected ship date before the end of April.

Continue reading.

The company has also published a response to a lawsuit filed by The New York Times.

OpenAI and its biggest backer, Microsoft, are facing several lawsuits accusing them of using other peoples copyrighted works without permission to train the formers large language models (LLMs). OpenAI wrote in its evidence to the UKs House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee that it would be impossible to train todays leading AI models without using copyrighted materials.

In some lawsuits, the plaintiffs accuse the companies of refusing to pay authors for their work while building a billion-dollar industry and enjoying enormous financial gain from copyrighted materials.

Continue reading.

Its relatively affordable at $1,500.

Engadget

The ASUS Zenbook Duo features two screens and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard that can be stashed inside for traveling. This iteration stands out because the OLED panels are slightly larger than those on rival devices, at 14 inches, while also offering a 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and stylus support. Plus, with a starting price of $1,500, it costs $500 less than the Yoga Book.

Continue reading.

Whimsy in three colors.

Engadget

The iPhones touchscreen killed the physical smartphone keyboard, so why not resurrect it with a case? Clicks design couldnt be simpler. Its a silicone case with a physical keyboard bolted on the bottom, coming to the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Read on for our first impressions.

Continue reading.
TikTok recently pulled a tool that allowed researchers and others to study the popularity of hashtags on its app. The change, first reported by The New York Times, came shortly after researchers published a report using data from the tool that criticized the company.

As The New York Times points out, the tool was one of the few publicly-accessible methods of tracking details about the popularity of specific hashtags. TikTok, like other social media companies, has made it difficult for outsiders to track how content spreads in its app.

The tool in question is a feature called Creative Center, which provides data about the popularity of hashtags to would-be advertisers and others. Researchers at Rutgers Network Contagion Institute had used Creative Centers search function to track hashtags deemed sensitive to Chinese government interests. The researchers compared the prevalence of the hashtags between TikTok and Instagram and concluded that many "sensitive" topics were "dramatically underrepresented on TikTok" compared with Instagram.

Soon after the report was published, the researchers said the search feature in Creative Center disappeared without an explanation. Search capacity for Hashtags has itself now been removed from the user interface entirely, which NCRI discovered to have occurred on Christmas day, days after this reports initial release, they wrote in an addendum to the report. They added that TikTok had also disabled direct access to a number of sensitive topics they had previously tracked, including hashtags related to US politics and other geopolitical issues.

In a statement to The New York Times, TikTok confirmed the change. Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have misused the Centers search function to draw inaccurate conclusions, so we are changing some of the features to ensure it is used for its intended purpose, a company spokesperson said.

The dust-up is the latest example of mounting tensions between social media companies and researchers trying to study thorny topics like misinformation. Meta has also found itself at odds with researchers, and reportedly plans to deprecate CrowdTangle , a tool widely used by researchers and journalists to study how content spreads on Facebook. X has also greatly restricted researchers access to data since Elon Musk took control of the company, making its once open APIs prohibitively expensive to most groups.

In TikToks case, the company may be particularly sensitive to what it considers improper use of its tools. The company has for years denied that it aligns its content policies with the interests of the Chinese government as numerous government officials have called for the app to be banned. More recently, the company faced increased scrutiny over its handling of content related to the Israel-Hamas war  criticism that was also fueled by what the company said was an inaccurate portrayal of hashtag data.

That said, the company has made some concessions to researchers. TikTok began offering an official Research API to some academic institutions last year , and reportedly plans to make the tools available to some civil society groups that have questioned the companys content moderation practices.

But for researchers, the move to abruptly cut off a tool will likely fuel more questions about just how willing the company is to work with them. This lack of transparency is of deep concern to researchers, the NCRI researchers wrote.
Bonnaroo, which will be back this 2024 on June 13-16 in Manchester, Tennessee, just recently revealed the music and arts festival's headliners and full lineup of performers.

On Tuesday, the festival took to its social media accounts to reveal its 2024 lineup and share the pre-sale details for those who wish to purchase tickets in advance.

Pretty Lights, Fisher, Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fred Again will headline the festival shows on June 13, 14, 15 and 16, respectively.

Per Variety, Pretty Lights will have a special night headline set on June 13 at the What Stage and perform a sunrise set on The Other Stage over the weekend.

BONNAROO 2024  sign up for a presale passcode now at https://t.co/zYsXMvHzQ6



presale begins thursday, 1/11 at 10am CT  a general on-sale will follow if tickets & accommodations are still available!



outeroo & late night sets to be announced  pic.twitter.com/VKvMMdH511  Bonnaroo (@Bonnaroo) January 9, 2024

Other acts performing on the first day of the festival include BigXthaPlug, Disco Lines, Durand Bernarr, Eggy, Geese, Gwar, The Heavy Heavy, Honeyluv, it's murph, Matt Maltese, Medium Build, Michigander, Militarie Gun, Nation of Language, Neal Francis' Francis Comes Alive and more.



Joining Post Malone on the second day are Maggie Rogers, Khruangbin, Seven Lions, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Dominic Fike, Lizzy McAlpine, Interpol, T-Pain, Svdden Death, TV Girl, Gary Clark Jr., The Mars Volta, Faye Webster, Key Glock and Thundercat, among many others.

On the festival's third day, Red Hot Chili Peppers will be joined by Cage the Elephant, Melanie Martinez, Cigarettes After Sex, Diplo, Jon Batiste, Renee Rapp, Parcels, Idles, Brittany Howard, Sean Paul, Knock2, Ethel Cain, Gregory Alan Isakov and The Teskey Brothers, among many.



Closing the festival on June 16 with Fred Again are Megan Thee Stallion, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Two Friends, Carly Rae Jepsen, Joey Bada$, Goth Babe, Galantis, Taking Back Sunday, Ashnikko, Four Tet, Charles Wesley Godwin and Milky Chance, to name a few.

This year's "Bonnaroovian World" will feature a diverse group of over 150 acts "set on some of the most historic and iconic stages in the world."

Aside from watching music performances, there will be other activities available for festival goers, including parades, "Yoga-Roo," "Splash-A-Roo," "Roo Run," a village market, "Soberoo," campground plazas, a Ferris wheel and a fountain.

Meanwhile, others can visit "Planet Roo," where different non-profit organizations that champion sustainability, wellness and global consciousness will be represented.

Four-day Centeroo tickets at Bonnaroo range from $420 to $4,155. Ticket options include general admission, GA+, VIP and platinum.

Pre-sale will begin on Thursday at 10 a.m. CT for those who will sign up on its website for a pre-sale passcode.
DATELINE: Burbank, CA

TITLE: Inspired by Taylor Swift's Incredible Generosity

SUBTITLE: Hundreds of Wham-O Super Ball Toys Headed for children

With hopes of sending some healing to the plights of children in the war-torn Middle East now ready to receive donations, Burbank-based Chiropractor Dr. Bruce Holmes and Author and Entrepreneur Michael J. Herman are sending hundreds of new Wham-O Toys Super Balls to help jump start the emotional recovery process.

"Toys are an integral component of childhood. Toys offer safety and stimulate imagination, in turn increasing the development of cognitive skills," noted Dr. Holmes. Research has also shown that children who engage in play are more likely to benefit from better problem-solving and social skills.

Toy balls are perhaps the most widespread toys of all and the Herman-Holmes team has a whamo of a story to tell themselves.

When the Wham-O Toy Company closed its factories in Los Angeles, Dr. Bruce Holmes acquired the entire remaining inventory of 165,000 Wham-O Super Balls and is now bringing back the art of super ball play for children everywhere. The entire remaining global supply of brand-new, unpackaged, unsold Wham-O Super Balls is cloistered somewhere in Burbank, waiting for their first bounce.

"There are so many balls that Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's current boyfriend can stand in them and be completely covered" suggests Herman, a big Taylor Swift fan.

It has been determined that:

 Playing with toy balls relieves tension.

 Bouncing toy balls stimulates imagination

 Bouncing toy balls increases IQ, eye-hand motor coordination

 Bouncing toy balls provides therapeutic benefits

 Bouncing toy balls has cardiovascular benefits

"The Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7, 2023, have left scores of Israeli children without a sense of safety or fun. Without these ingredients, young minds cannot grow or even recover from this tragedy. With this donation of many hundreds of these toys to the children of the region, we hope to start the healing" says Michael J. Herman, who is the Managing Director for Project Restore Fun.

"With the assistance of Rabbi Yakov "Yanky" Kahn of

Los Angeles' Chabad of The Valley Synagogue, these toys will be distributed individually to suffering children ages 5 and up throughout the region. First throughout Israel, and hopefully when diplomatic relations are restored, to the children of Gaza, as well.

"There's nothing like the fun of bouncing a ball to restore the childlike quality of life. Even in a warzone. What is forgotten in this crisis are the children. If we don't save them, then all can be lost."

For more information on Project RestoreFun, contact (818) 441-9288 or contact Herman at: projectrestorefun@yahoo.com.
US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Mahmud Abbas was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite war-torn Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership.

Blinken laid out Gaza's possible future after meeting Palestinian president Abbas in Ramallah and Bahrain's King Hamad in his fourth Middle East tour aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war has raged since the unprecedented Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 and killed more than 23,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to its health ministry.

Abbas raised with Blinken the need "to stop the Israeli aggression against Palestinian people" in Hamas-ruled Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where deadly unrest has also surged, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Blinken told Abbas that Washington supports "tangible steps" towards the creation of a Palestinian state -- a long-term goal which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government has opposed.

Blinken reiterated the US position that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel, "with both living in peace and security", said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

As Blinken arrived under tight security at Abbas's headquarters in Ramallah, protesters held up signs reading "Stop the genocide", "Free Palestine" and "Blinken out". Some scuffled with Palestinian security forces in riot gear.

In Bahrain, Blinken said Abbas was "committed" to reforming the Palestinian Authority "so that it can effectively take responsibility for Gaza, so that Gaza and the West Bank can be reunited under a Palestinian leadership".

Washington sees a future in Gaza for the PA, whose ruling Fatah faction is a Hamas rival. But Netanyahu has long sought to weaken the semi-autonomous body.

On Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said in televised remarks that "Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population."

"Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law," he said, speaking in English.

- Red Sea clashes spike -

Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as "terrorist" by the United States and the European Union, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, ousting Abbas's Fatah party, with which it had shared power after sweeping parliamentary elections.

Hamas's Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh said last week he was "open to the idea" of a single Palestinian administration in Gaza and the West Bank.

A post-war plan outlined by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant envisions local "civil committees" governing Gaza after Israel has dismantled Hamas.

King Hamad emphasised the need for a ceasefire, releasing hostages and detainees and delivering aid to Gazans in his talks with Blinken, according to Bahrain's news agency.

Blinken is due to visit Egypt after stops in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Abbas called to "maintain pressure" for a ceasefire and to protect Palestinian civilians following discussions in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, the royal palace said.

Fears have soared of a widening conflict between Israel and Iran-backed armed groups, especially Lebanon's Hezbollah but also groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

"After fighting in Gaza, we will know what to do in Lebanon if necessary," Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday addressing troops in Gaza.

Yemen's Huthi rebels have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, a vital artery for international trade.

The United States has set up a multinational naval task force to protect shipping from the attacks, which Blinken on Wednesday said were "aided and abetted" by Iran and would bring "consequences".

On Tuesday, the rebels "launched a complex" attack, US Central Command said, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.

The Huthis later said they had fired a "large number" of missiles and drones at a US ship, with an adviser telling AFP it was the largest such attack since their campaign started.

- 'Heartbroken' -

The war erupted when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took around 250 hostages, of whom Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

The Israeli army says 186 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza in its campaign to destroy Hamas.

It said it killed dozens of "terrorists" and hit another 150 targets in Gaza, where the health ministry said 147 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

Silvia Cunio, whose sons David and Ariel have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, said the war had been traumatic for captives.

"For them, every day, every second, every minute, every hour they suffer," the 63-year-old told AFP. "I'm heartbroken."

- 'Indescribable' humanitarian crisis -

The United Nations estimates 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced inside the territory that had already endured years of blockade and poverty.

The war triggered an acute humanitarian crisis as Israel's siege sparked shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths posted on X, formerly Twitter, that besieged Gaza's health sector "is being slowly choked off".

The World Health Organization called the humanitarian situation "indescribable" on Wednesday and pleaded with Israel to allow more aid deliveries.

Blinken -- while voicing continued US support for top regional ally Israel -- has urged steps to reduce the suffering.

One of the many displaced Palestinians, Hassan Kaskin, 55, said: "We have lost our money, our houses, our jobs. We are losing our youths as well.

"We've sacrificed our children for our homeland."

bur-jd-fz/imm/dv/yad/bfm
Tom Bradshaw, the NFU's deputy president, will stand for the position of president unopposed as Minette Batters leaves the role next month.

The union's officeholder elections take place after the NFU Conference on 21 February 2024, which will see Mrs Batters stand down after six years as president.

Mr Bradshaw said he would be 'honoured' to lead the NFU through a 'continued period of change and volatility', including BPS cuts and delays in delivery of ELMs.

"I fully recognise the scale of the challenges and the pressures your businesses are facing," the Essex arable farmer said.

"We need politicians to recognise the strategic importance of food production and deliver on the words 'food security is national security'.

"Setting an ambition to serve more British food at home and abroad and then focussing on policy to enable delivery," he explained.

"Practical, progressive policies around planning, water management, immigration, incentivising investment, and supply chain fairness are essential.

"I urge you all to unite, to influence the politics of tomorrow and make sure the new government delivers the policy that underpins a thriving, profitable farming industry."

David Exwood, Thomas Binns, Rachel Hallos and Michael Oakes will each stand for position of deputy or vice president of the NFU.

Nominations for the roles closed on Sunday 7 January.

Minette Batters, a Wiltshire mixed farmer, will step down as president of the union after she was initially elected in February 2018.

She has guided the NFU through pressing issues such as Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.

Before becoming the union's first female president, she served as the NFU's deputy president from 2014 to 2018.

She was then elected president in 2018, and again in 2020 and 2022.
Halle Berry has pledged Adan Canto will be "forever in [her] heart" following his shock death.

Halle Berry paid tribute to Adan Canto

The 57-year-old actress has been left devastated by the passing of her friend - who she starred with in her 2020 directorial debut 'Bruised', as well as 2014's 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' - on Monday (08.01.24) following a secret battle with appendiceal cancer, and paid tribute to him on her social media accounts.

Sharing a photo of Adan, who was 42 when he died, she wrote on Instagram: I dont have the words just yet. but my dear sweet friend Adan just gained his wings. Forever, forever in my heart [dove and gret heart emoji] (sic)"

Adan was also known for playing Aaron Shore in political drama 'Designated Survivor' and his co-star Kiefer Sutherland, who portrayed President Tom Kirkwood, admitted he was "heartbroken" by the news.

He wrote on Instagram: "It seems lately I have had to make too many posts like this one but I am heartbroken by the loss of Adan Canto. He was such a wonderful spirit. As an actor his desire to do well, to be great, and then do better, was truly impressive and he will be greatly missed.

"I am also heartbroken for his wife, Steph and his two young children. Adan, may you rest in peace."

Other stars of the show also paid tribute to their late friend.

Kal Penn posted: "Absolutely heartbreaking to lose Adan Canto. He was so genuine and warm, immensely talented; such a good person who was simultaneously calm and motivating. And funny. He was very, very funny. Im so lucky to have known him. My heart goes out to Steph, the kids, and the whole family."

And Maggie Q wrote: "Beautiful friend. You are the level of person that Hollywood didnt even deserve. Anyone who knew you was a lucky one."

Oliver Hudson, who worked with Adan - who began his career as a musician in his native Mexico - on 'The Cleaning Lady' was "truly devastated" by the news.

He wrote: "I only knew Adan for 2 years but it was enough to know what an amazing friend, father and man he was. Wow did he loved his family. We would spend so much time talking about our kids and what kind of people they might become. Im truly devastated. Love you my man."

Adan is survived by his wife Stephanie Ann Canto, and their two young children, Roman Alder, three, and 18-month-old Eve Josephine.
Bangladeshs National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently lifted value-added tax (VAT) on port services for raw material imports and finished goods exports by export-oriented industries in the country.

Around 45 per cent of containerised goods, primarily raw materials, imported through Chittagong port attracted VAT, raising the cost of exports, mainly garments.

Bangladesh's National Board of Revenue recently lifted value-added tax (VAT) on port services for raw material imports and finished goods exports by export-oriented industries. Around 45 per cent of containerised goods, mainly raw materials, imported through Chittagong port attracted VAT, raising the cost of exports. The decision was hailed by exporters.

The government decision was welcomed by exporter bodies, especially those of readymade garments.

The VAT, being levied on service charges, causes an additional cost of over Tk 1,000 per twenty-foot equivalent unit container, according to domestic media reports.

The reinstatement of the VAT exemption is expected to provide significant relief to export-oriented industries and boost their competitiveness in international markets.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
South Cinema as a whole has a devoted following. The massive following and stardom are present in Pan-India. Even the northern audience also enjoys dubbed South movies and cherishes I will all their heart. However, as the North and South Cinemas collaborate to provide us with significant hits, the superstars are attempting to learn Hindi fluently to give us authenticity in the character rather than dubbing their roles. From NTR Jr to Vijay Sethupathi, here are a few South actors who have demonstrated their fluency in Hindi.

NTR Jr

It is known that the Man of the Masses, NTR Jr. has many talents, but his mastery of the Hindi language surprised the audience. The actor was seen flaunting Hindi in public at the promotions of his film RRR. And now we will see him speaking fluently and impressively in Hindi in his upcoming film 'Devara'. The actor will surely ace the film with his excellent voice acting as he has also dubbed the film in his voice in five languages including Hindi.

Vijay Sethupathi

The audience loved Vijay Sethupathi in the 'Jawaan' and was right to say so. The actor always strives to constantly improve his Hindi by trying to learn the language fluently. When the actor was asked about his Hindi skills during interviews with Farzi, he even replied, "Meri Hindi kafi achchi ho gayi hai. I've been working on it."

Dhanush

Dhanush can speak fluent Hindi with his adorable accent and movies like 'Raanjhanaa' and 'Atrangi Re' prove that. In the past, the actor has also said that it was hard for him to get his Hindi skills correct and that it gets hard for him to dictate the scripts while dubbing.

Dulquer Salmaan

As seen in 'Sita Ramam', Dulquer Salmaan has done well with his Hindi speaking skills. The audience surprised him with his command of Hindi and he agrees that Hindi is easier for him than Telugu. The actor was seen flaunting his Hindi in the thriller web series 'Guns & Gulaabs'.
Neha Dhupia, a vocal advocate for breaking stigmas around breastfeeding, praises Blake Lively for her recent social media post at Disneyland Paris, where she openly showcased herself pumping.

Lively's act resonates with Dhupia's Freedom To Feed campaign, aiming to eliminate stigma and challenges faced by nursing mothers in public spaces.

Launched by Neha Dhupia, the Freedom To Feed campaign strives to advocate for women's right to breastfeed without judgment. The movement challenges societal norms and seeks legal protections to ensure mothers can breastfeed comfortably anywhere, fostering an empowered and confident environment.

Neha Dhupia, Shriya Saran, Kajal Aggarwal, Sameera & More Celebs Attend 'Masha and the Bear LIVE' in Mumbai

Blake Lively's unapologetic portrayal of pumping on a public platform aligns seamlessly with the essence of the Freedom To Feed initiative. Both instances emphasize the importance of breaking societal taboos surrounding breastfeeding, contributing significantly to the ongoing conversation about supporting and empowering mothers in their breastfeeding journey.

Speaking of this, Neha said, "Nurturing a child is a beautiful and natural journey that every mother embarks upon. Blake Lively's recent act of openly pumping at Disneyland Paris is not just a moment captured; it's a bold statement challenging societal norms. I commend Blake for unapologetically showcasing the reality of motherhood. Her courage aligns with the spirit of our Freedom To Feed campaign, where we strive to create a world where every mother feels empowered, accepted, and supported in her breastfeeding journey. It's not just about feeding; it's about fostering an environment of understanding, breaking taboos, and ensuring that every mother has the freedom to nourish her child wherever she is, without judgment. Together, we can change the narrative, and I am grateful for individuals like Blake who contribute to this crucial conversation on normalizing breastfeeding in public spaces."
Shobhana

Actress

Biography: Shobana Chandrakumar is an exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance and a leading actress of South Indian motion pictures. She was born into a Malayalam-speaking family from Kerala, India.She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 languages. Personal Life Shobana is the daughter of a doctor, Anandam and the late Mr Chandrakumar. She is single and is involved in her school as well as her creative pursuits full time. Shobana is the niece of the Travancore sisters Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. She is also a cousin of actor Vineeth and a relative of the actress Sukumari. Career Life Shobana acted for the first time in a leading role in the Malayalam motion picture "April 18" in 1984, directed by Balachandra Menon. She also acted alongside the Malayalam actor Mammootty in the film Kanamarayathu (1984). Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress from the government of India in 1994 for her performance in Fazil's movie Manichitrathazhu, which was a Mohanlal starrer. She bagged a second National award for best actress in the year 2001 for her role in an English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Revathi is her very close friend, philosopher, and guide. Shobhana is an accomplished dancer of Bharatanatyam. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her guru is the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer Chitra Visweswaran. Shobhana is famed for her Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharatanatyam. She performed in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia. Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many people to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s. She is often equalled to the curvaceous beauty of Indian sculptures. Shobhana has founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam dance in Chennai - Kalarpana. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1994, Shobana founded Kalarpana. The aim of Kalarpana is to organize annual festivals throughout India. Shobana is well recognized by her performance in the movie Rudra Veena (Telugu movie, 1988) with Chiranjeevi as a great dancer and social reformer. This includes performances of nationally and globally known artistes to help raise funds that was ploughed back into training talented artistes who are financially insecure. Under its umbrella, Kalarpana extends its support to the handicapped and the environmental movement. In 2006 January, the Indian government honored Shobana with Padma Shri title for her significant contributions to cinema and Bharatanatyam.

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Disruptive Growth Solutions, led by David Spisak, is on a mission to guide auto dealerships in navigating and embracing the evolving client relationship model specific to electric vehicles(EVs).

Portland, Oregon--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2024) - In response to the ongoing transformation in the auto industry, Disruptive Growth Solutions has unveiled plans for a five-hour virtual event, "Disruptive Forces in Automotive Retail: How to Effectively Navigate the EV Transformation," scheduled for January 17th, 2024. The event aims to delve into how auto dealers can become fully prepared to optimize their EV-related results, minimize any potential net profit exposure, and deliver a great client experience. Featuring an incredible roster of automotive thought leaders, industry experts, and those at the forefront of the EV revolution, the event features panels covering every aspect of dealership operations and will deliver an unprecedented level of information that dealers can leverage to set the stage for a successful 2024. Its holistic approach sets the stage for the adoption of impactful sales, service, and customer experience strategies that, to this point, have been confusing at best and deficient at worst.





Disruptive Growth Solutions

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Amid industries' continual evolution marked by new entrants, shifts in demand, and seemingly constant disruption, Disruptive Growth Solutions is intent on assisting auto dealerships in mastering the transformation from a decades-old landscape of internal combustion engine models to the ever-increasing number of EV options, which is expected to double in the next year alone.







Disruptive Growth Solutions

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The industry transition introduces an unprecedented dealership learning curve and a challenge that demands attention. Effectively marketing, selling, and servicing electric vehicles requires a nuanced approach, which is inherently different from what has been experienced with gasoline-powered vehicles throughout the history of retail automotive. Disruptive Growth Solutions' Founder David Spisak's objective is to deliver transparency and a singular source of truth to combat the growing threat posed to retail automotive dealers and the customers they serve. To achieve this end goal, dealers must possess the highest level of EV-specific information and intelligence, and the Disruptive Forces event is fully prepared to deliver that to them.

For business inquiries about the upcoming event or any other matters, please contact David at david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com or go to www.disruptiveforces.com.

About:

Disruptive Growth Solutions virtual event series, titled Disruptive Forces in Automotive Retail, takes place on January 17th. It sheds light on the challenges dealerships face in adapting to a new customer service model for EVs. It reflects on sentiments offered by the Founder of Disruptive Growth Solutions, David Spisak, who aims to guide auto dealerships through this transition, as well as the many industry thought leaders and subject matter experts who will be speaking during the web-based event. To learn more about the industry's evolution and how Disruptive Growth Solutions addresses these changes, visit the company website or reserve a spot in the upcoming virtual event on January 17th.

Event Name:

Disruptive Forces in Automotive Retail: How to Effectively Navigate the EV Transformation

Contact Person: David Spisak

Get In Touch: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com

Event Website: https://web.cvent.com/event/

Website Link: https://disruptivegrowthsolutions.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193731

SOURCE: AK Infinite
Regulatory News:

CTP, Europe's largest listed developer, owner, and manager of industrial and logistics properties by gross lettable area (GLA), has leased 18,000 sqm to FIEGE, a leading provider of logistics and transport services in Europe, at a new 71,000 sqm industrial and logistics building which is currently under development at CTPark Zatec in the Czech Republic.

This will be FIEGE's third location with CTP, following existing leases in Poland and the Czech Republic, and brings their total occupation across CTParks to 59,000 sqm. From April 2024, the new regional distribution centre at CTPark Zatec will be used to store tyres from Nexen Tire Europe and supply them to automotive manufacturing plants across Europe. The warehouse had to be specially adapted for the storage of tyres in transport cages, which was handled flexibly by CTP. FIEGE will provide complete logistics services at CTPark Zatec for Nexen Tire Europe, which has its European production plant close by.

This new agreement is driven by the current 'nearshoring' trend, which is seeing many companies bring production closer to their customers and increase their European production capacity, and the resultant growth in the supply chain. That is why FIEGE has extended its cooperation with South Korean tyre manufacturer Nexen Tire Europe and will transport tyres from CTPark Zatec to the production plants of European car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and Skoda.

"This project in CTPark Zatec is a key step in our strategy to strengthen our logistics operations in Europe and is a direct response to the growing trend of nearshoring, where companies are bringing production closer to their main markets. The cooperation with CTP and the use of cutting-edge technologies in our new distribution centre will enable us to provide highly efficient and sustainable logistics services. We are proud that this move not only increases value for our clients and partners, but also actively contributes to the development of the region and supports the local economy," explained David Peterka, Head of Business Development at FIEGE.

"The cooperation with FIEGE in CTPark Zatec is already our second common project in the Czech Republic and the third in Europe, because FIEGE is also in our premises in Poland. These repeated partnerships prove how effectively we can grow and develop together with our clients. Our mutual understanding and responsiveness to FIEGE's specific needs allows us to provide services that support their expansion while strengthening our position in the market," said Jakub Kodr, Head of Business Development at CTP Czech Republic

In the new distribution centre, FIEGE will store tyres in transport cages rather than in conventional racking. CTP's experience and flexibility ensured the necessary adjustments to the project, given the strict fire and safety requirements that this type of storage requires. The fire sections were adjusted and better sprinkler heads (K360) installed. Both CTP and Fiege, which has committed to sustainable logistics in its strategy, are committed to a high level of sustainability and energy efficiency and so the warehouse is being built to target a BREEAM 'Excellent' New Construction sustainability certification.

"The cooperation between FIEGE and CTP is an example of effective connection between logistics needs and industrial capabilities, which are the result of careful planning and strategic industrial advisory from Knight Frank. Our role was to create a bridge between FIEGE's specific needs for Nexen Tire Europe and a unique warehousing solution from the developer CTP, situated directly at Nexen production factory. I am sincerely delighted with another closed transaction with FIEGE who continues to strengthen their position on the Czech market," added Marketa Vrbasova, Director of Industrial Leasing at Knight Frank Czech Republic, who secured the extension of this partnership.

CTPark Zatec is located in a proven industrial zone approximately 30 km from the German border on the D8 motorway and close to the D7 motorway connecting Prague with Chomutov. The park is located between three districts with approximately 300,000 inhabitants within a 30 km radius, with the advantage of quality infrastructure and business incentives supported by the state. CTPark Zatec offers buildings for manufacturing, logistics, R&D and back-office. In addition to the ZA4 building currently under construction, which has 53,000 sqm of space left available, the park offers Shell Core ready-made space in two other buildings of 4,000 and 9,000 sqm, which can be customised within six months of signing the contract.

ABOUT CTP

CTP is the largest listed owner, developer and manager of logistics and industrial real estate in terms of gross leasable area, with 11.2 million sq m. GLA in 10 countries (as of 30 September 2023). The company certifies all new buildings under BREEAM at 'very good' or above and has achieved a negligible-risk ESG rating from Sustainalytics, reaffirming its commitment to sustainability. For more information, please visit: www.ctp.eu.

About FIEGE

Based in Greven, Westphalia, the FIEGE Group is a leading European logistics company specialising in efficient supply chain solutions. With 15,000 employees in 150 locations, the company operates internationally, from its core markets in Europe to India and China. It develops integrated customer solutions for e-commerce, transportation, ocean and air freight, customs clearance, warehousing, parcel delivery and property management, and offers a wide range of services from consulting to supply chain concept implementation. FIEGE is considered a pioneer in contract logistics and since its inception has evolved from a transportation company to a full-service logistics provider with a global footprint. It is an organisation that is aware of its tradition but has never stopped reinventing itself to stay on top of technological developments in the age of digitalisation and automation.

FIEGE, CZECH REPUBLIC

The family-owned German company has been active on the Czech market since 1994.

It currently employs around 400 people in three locations.

In 2024, it will expand its portfolio of logistics halls with a fourth branch in CTPark Zatec.

About Knight Frank

Knight Frank Rutley was founded in England in 1896 as a valuation and auction company. Today, Knight Frank is considered a strong player in the field of commercial and residential property consultants. The global network includes 488 offices in 57 countries across 6 continents and more than 20,000 professionals.

In its more than 30 years in the country, Knight Frank has become one of the leading companies in the fields of real estate consultancy, property management, office leasing, asset valuation, market research and international investment. It also focuses on industrial and residential real estate. It provides comprehensive advice to property owners, investors, developers and corporate occupiers.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109551857/en/

Contacts:

CONTACT DETAILS FOR ANALYST AND INVESTOR ENQUIRIES:

Maarten Otte, Head of Investor Relations

Mobile: +420 730 197 500

Email: maarten.otte@ctp.eu

CONTACT DETAILS FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Patryk Statkiewicz, Group Head of Marketing PR

Mobile: +31 (0) 629 596 119

Email: patryk.statkiewicz@ctp.eu

SEC Newgate

Sara Champness/James Carnegie

Mobile: +44 (0)7962 387 949

Email: CTP@SECNewgate.co.uk
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.
Imraan Soomra, who joined AAFC in January 2022 as COO, has been appointed as the CEO of EASE Holdings BV

Under EASE Holdings BV AAFC has grouped all its equipment-as-a-service offerings

African Asset Finance Company (AAFC), a provider of cost-effective access to cutting-edge equipment in emerging and frontier markets through leasing, asset finance, and Equipment-as-a-Service (EASE), announces the appointment of Imraan Soomra as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Board Member of EASE Holdings BV.

Soomra joined AAFC as Chief Operations Officer (COO) in January 2022. He has successfully managed the growth of the EASE Healthcare program in Ghana, Nigeria and, more recently, Southern Africa, and laid the foundation for further expansion in other countries of both the EASE Healthcare and similar programs for other sectors. These early successes have led AAFC to group all EASE activities and programs under EASE Holdings BV.

Soomra is a seasoned leader, bringing over 30 years of executive expertise, contributing significant global business insight and local market proficiency to the team. With prior roles in healthcare, media, and industrial sectors, Soomra previously served as the CEO of Africa's largest fishing company, operating in South Africa, Namibia, and the United States. Soomra, a chartered accountant, started his career at Deloitte and holds an honours degree in commerce, along with additional leadership qualifications obtained from Harvard Business School.

Imraan added, "I feel privileged to be offered the opportunity to spearhead this business which forms an integral part of the AAFC portfolio. We have a young, dynamic and highly motivated team and I am excited to be working with them to grow our footprint and create meaningful, positive impact for all our stakeholders.

Frans Van Schaik, CEO of AAFC and chair of the EASE Holdings Board, said that Imraan was the logical choice, "Since Imraan joined AAFC, he adeptly led a diverse team across several markets in Africa and implemented essential processes for scaling the business, proving he possesses the skills to take on this role. The AAFC board has full confidence Imraan can take EASE to new heights". He added: "We are delighted to appoint Imraan as CEO of EASE Holdings; his track record and his background uniquely positions him to usher EASE into an era of rapid growth."

About EASE

Equipment-as-a-Service (EASE) provides organisations with cost-effective access to state-of-the-art equipment on terms that match their circumstances and business needs. Through its unique pay-per-use model, EASEenables customers to obtain equipment without having to tap into equity or credit, allowing organisations to access the equipment that is critical to the quality of their service and the growth of their activities. EASEis powered by AAFC.

To find out more about EASE visit https://www.easeglobal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109588441/en/

Contacts:

Cydney Bell cydney@easeglobal.com
BOSTON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Semiconductor packaging technologies have evolved from initial 1D PCB levels to the cutting-edge 3D hybrid bonding packaging at the wafer level. This advancement facilitates single-digit micronmeter interconnecting pitches, achieving over 1000 GB/s bandwidth with high energy efficiency.

Four critical parameters shape advanced semiconductor packaging: power, performance, area, and cost:

Power: Enhancing power efficiency through innovative packaging technologies. Performance: Boosting bandwidth and reducing communication length by shortening interconnection pitch for more input/output (I/O) points. Area: Larger packaging area required for chips used in high performance computing areas, whereas smaller z-form factor are required for 3D integration. Cost: Continuously reducing packaging costs by employing alternative, more affordable materials or enhancing manufacturing equipment efficiency

2.5D and 3D packaging technology:

The 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies encompass various packaging techniques.

In 2.5D packaging, the choice of interposer material categorizes it into Si-based, Organic-based, and glass-based interposers, as illustrated in the figure above. Meanwhile, in 3D packaging, the evolution of microbump technology aims for smaller pitch dimensions. However, achieving single-digit pitch dimensions today is made possible through the adoption of hybrid bonding technology, a method that directly connects Cu-Cu, signifying a significant advancement in the field.

Advantages and drawbacks of each packaging type in both 2.5D and 3D configurations

2.5D

Si: There are two alternatives within this category: Si interposer, utilizing a full passive Si wafer, and Si bridge, which can take the form of a localized Si bridge in a fan-out based molding compound or in a substrate with a cavity. The Si interposer, commonly employed in 2.5D packaging for high-performance computing integration due to its ability to facilitate the finest routing features, faces challenges associated with its cost in both materials and manufacturing compared to alternatives like organic materials, and the packaging area limitation. To address this, the localized Si bridge form is gaining prominence, strategically utilizing Si where fine features are essential. Additionally, the Si bridge structure is expected to see increased use, particularly in scenarios where Si interposer faces limitations in area, pushing beyond the 4x or 5x reticle limit.

Organic: In the report, we specifically consider organic-based packaging that utilizes a fan-out molding compound rather than an organic substrate. Organic materials, with the capability to adjust their dielectric constant lower than silicon, contribute to lower RC delay in the package. Moreover, these materials present a more cost-effective alternative to silicon. These advantages drive the emergence of organic-based 2.5D packaging. However, a key drawback lies in the challenges associated with achieving the same level of interconnect feature reduction as Si-based packages.

Glass: The glass-based approach has gained significant interest following Intel's unveiling of its glass-based test vehicle package earlier this year. Glass possesses advantageous properties, including tunable Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE), high dimensional stability, and a smooth, flat surface. These characteristics position glass as a promising candidate for serving as an interposer, with routing features that have the potential to rival those offered by silicon. However, the main drawback of glass lies in its immature ecosystem and a current lack of large-volume mass production capability in the packaging industry. Nevertheless, as the ecosystem matures and production capabilities advance, the use of glass-based technologies in semiconductor packaging may see further growth.

3D

Microbump: The well-established microbump technology, based on the Thermal Compression Bonding (TCB) process, has a longstanding presence across diverse products. Its roadmap involves ongoing scaling of bumping pitch. However, a critical challenge emerges as smaller solder ball sizes in this process result in heightened Intermetallic Compounds (IMCs) formation, diminishing conductivity and mechanical properties. Additionally, close contact gaps may lead to solder ball bridging, risking chip failure during reflow. With solder and IMCs exhibiting higher resistivity than copper, their use in high-performance component packaging faces limitations.

Hybrid bonding: Hybrid bonding involves creating permanent interconnections by combining a dielectric material (SiO2) with embedded metal (Cu). With Cu-Cu hybrid bonding achieving pitches below 10 micrometers (typically around one-digit m), advantages include expanded I/O, increased bandwidth, enhanced 3D vertical stacking, heightened power efficiency, and reduced parasitics and thermal resistance due to the absence of underfill. Challenges encompass manufacturing complexities and higher costs associated with this advanced technique.

IDTechEx's new report, "Advanced Semiconductor Packaging 2024-2034: Forecasts, Technologies, Applications", thoroughly explores the latest innovations in semiconductor packaging technology, covering key technical trends, analyzing the value chain, evaluating major players, and providing detailed market forecasts.

The report recognizes the crucial role of advanced semiconductor packaging as the foundation for next-generation ICs. It focuses on its applications in key markets such as AI and data centers, 5G, autonomous vehicles, and consumer electronics. Leveraging IDTechEx's expertise in these sectors, the report delivers a comprehensive understanding of the impact and future trajectory of advanced semiconductor packaging in these critical fields.

Key aspects of this report:

Exploring Technology Trends and Manufacturers in Advanced Semiconductor Packaging:

Explore advanced semiconductor packaging evolution, addressing transistor IC challenges. Examine how chiplet concepts and heterogeneous integration propel advanced packaging adoption.

Analyze Packaging Technologies: Segment by interposer material (Si, Glass, Organic), covering roadmaps, benchmarks, applications, players, and manufacturing barriers.

Company Analysis: In-depth examination of key companies, assessing solutions, clientele, applications, and technology roadmap.

Key Markets: Provide detailed overviews for critical markets - high-performance computing, autonomous vehicles, 5G, and consumer electronics.

Case Studies: Showcase various industry applications of advanced semiconductor packaging.

Supply Chain & Models: Analyze supply chain dynamics and business models in this evolving landscape.

10-year Granular Market Forecasts & Analysis:

Data Center Server Unit Forecast 2023-2034 (Shipment)

Data Center CPU: Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Forecast 2023-2034 (Shipment)

Data Center Accelerator: Semiconductor Packaging Forecast 2023-2034 (Shipment)

2.5D Semiconductor Packaging for L4+ Autonomous Vehicles 2023-2045

3D Semiconductor Packaging for L4+ Autonomous Vehicles 2023-2045

Consumer Electronics Unit Sales Forecast 2023-2034 (Smartphones/Tablets/Smartwatches/AR/VR/MR)

Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Forecast for APE in Consumer Electronics 2023-2034

Global PC Shipment Forecast 2023-2034

Advanced Semiconductor Packaging in PC Forecast 2023-2034

5G Radios by MIMO Size Unit Forecast 2023-2034

Advanced Semiconductor Packaging for 5G RAN Networks 2023-2034

To find out more about this new IDTechEx report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/ASP.

Free-to-attend upcoming webinar

Advancement in 2.5D and 3D Semiconductor Packaging Technologies

Dr Yu-Han Chang, Senior Technology Analyst at IDTechEx and author of this article, will be presenting a free-to-attend webinar on the topic on Wednesday 17 January 2024 - Advancement in 2.5D and 3D Semiconductor Packaging Technologies.

This webinar will reveal insights into 2.5D and 3D advanced semiconductor packaging technologies and the content include:

2.5D advanced semiconductor packaging technologies: current status, existing barriers, future development trend, target markets, player analysis

3D advanced semiconductor packaging technologies: current status, existing barriers, future development trend, target markets, player analysis

Market outlook for 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies

Click here to find out more and register your place on one of our three sessions. If you are unable to make the date, please register anyway to receive the links to the on-demand recording (available for a limited time) and webinar slides as soon as they are available.

About IDTechEx

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit www.IDTechEx.com.

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Media Contact:

Lucy Rogers

Sales and Marketing Administrator

press@IDTechEx.com

+44(0)1223 812300

Social Media Links:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/IDTechEx

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/IDTechEx

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Hartford, Connecticut--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - High school seniors, vocational students, college students, and graduate students are being encouraged to apply for Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law's 2023 'Play All In' scholarship.





Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law

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With under one month left until applications close, the team at Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law is excited to see what students come up with in their 750 to 1000-word essay about a time in their life they decided to change their situation after something wasn't moving in a direction they wanted.

According to divorce and family lawyer Meghan Freed, Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law decided to offer the scholarship when they realized they could use their everyday work as inspiration. They witness firsthand how someone's outlook makes a difference and say everyone in a divorce or family law matter faces challenges.

"It's how they choose to react to those challenges that makes all the difference. Divorce can either be a tragedy or a transformation," Meghan said.

The Play All In Scholarship is a chance for younger members of society to show what they've learned in life so far. In 750-1000 words, they can explain the factors that led to their decision, the obstacles they faced, and the lessons they learned. They are also instructed to explain whether this statement is true and why: 'We believe that we can either decide how we want to live or let life happen to us.'

Applications close on December 21, 2023 and the most deserving candidate will be awarded a monetary prize. Eligibility criteria apply:

A legal resident of the United States, residing in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, enrolled in a 2-4-year post-secondary institution in the spring of 2024

A high school senior, vocational student, college student, or graduate student

Minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher

In strong academic standing

Candidates must also submit a professional resume with their professional and academic experience. They will need to submit a transcript from their current school, or high school students can submit proof of acceptance to a university or college.

Interested applicants can email the complete application, including transcripts, resume, and essay, to info@freedmarcroft.com by December 31, 2023, with the subject line: Freed Marcroft - 2023 Play All In Scholarship Application. For more information about the 2023 Play All In scholarship, including full eligibility criteria, please visit: https://freedmarcroft.com/2023-play-all-in-scholarship/.

About Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law

Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law is an expert divorce and family law firm in the heart of Connecticut, with offices in Hartford and Cheshire. The company believes that divorce is transformative, and their goal is to support people in making brave decisions that enable them to live life the way they choose.

The expert team at Freed Marcroft Divorce & Family Law strives to deliver a better divorce process, aligning with the client's vision for their future and individual goals.

ENDS

Contact: Meghan Freed

Phone: (860) 530-4313

Email: meghan@freedmarcroft.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/189487

SOURCE: PRNews OU
Partnership marks Hayden AI's first international deployment

Hayden AI, a leader in artificial intelligence and geospatial analytics, has signed a contract with ZTM Gdansk for an automated bus lane and bus stop enforcement pilot. The partnership is Hayden AI's first international deployment, making Gdansk, Poland the first city outside the United States to test the company's state-of-the-art vision AI platform.

"We are thrilled to partner with Gdansk on this pilot," said Chris Carson, CEO and founder of Hayden AI. "We've proven in the United States that our technology makes roads safer and public transit more reliable, accessible, and sustainable. It's an honor to use our technology to achieve those same outcomes for people in Gdansk, and hopefully soon across Europe."

Similar to Hayden AI's domestic deployments, the ZTM Gdansk pilot involves surveying the occupancy of bus lanes and bus stop bays on selected ZTM routes through the use of Hayden AI camera systems installed on a bus. The equipment was installed in December 2023 and is currently undergoing calibration tests.

Hayden AI is the United States market leader in mobile automated bus lane enforcement and bus stop enforcement, with hundreds of bus-mounted, AI-powered camera systems installed on transit buses across the country. In New York City, where Hayden AI equipment is installed on Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) buses, transit speeds have increased by as much as 40% and collisions have decreased by as much as 34% on streets with transit routes utilizing this technology.

In addition to New York's MTA, Hayden AI currently works with the transit agencies in Washington, DC; Los Angeles; and Oakland, California. The company has conducted successful pilots with transit agencies in Philadelphia and Santa Monica.

About Hayden AI: At Hayden AI, we're pioneering real world problem solving powered by AI and machine learning. From bus lane and bus stop enforcement to digital twin modeling and more, our clients use our mobile perception system to speed up transit, make streets safer, and create a more sustainable future. Learn more at www.hayden.ai

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109898648/en/

Contacts:

Jenna Fortunati

jenna.fortunati@hayden.ai
The investment aims to accelerate Telecom Infrastructure Partners' next phase of growth to support global steady demand for mobile sites and connectivity.

InfraBridge, a leading infrastructure investment manager, and Swiss Life Asset Managers, on behalf of its funds, have entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition by Swiss Life Asset Managers of a co-controlling equity stake in Telecom Infrastructure Partners ("TIP"), a global lease aggregator of telecom sites in Europe and Latin America. This investment includes new equity commitments from Swiss Life Asset Managers to accelerate TIP's platform expansion.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110175556/en/

Established in 2021 and headquartered in London, TIP operates within the global lease aggregation market, targeting telecom sites predominantly across Europe and Latin America. TIP's business model is focused on the acquisition of triple net lease agreements from individual landlords, granting the company long-term revenue streams for periods of 30 to 50 years.

Mobile telecom sites represent a key component of the digital infrastructure landscape and remain at the forefront of wireless infrastructure. GSM Association estimates that a USD $1.5 trillion investment in mobile networks will be needed by 2030 to meet the exponential growth in global demand for mobile data. Given its global set-up and strong local expertise, TIP is well positioned to capture an increasing share of a steadily growing addressable telecom site lease market.

Gianfranco Saladino, Head Value-add Infrastructure at Swiss Life Asset Managers, said, "We are excited to partner with InfraBridge to support TIP during its next major growth phase. The North American example has shown the true potential of land lease aggregation, and we are thrilled to work with our partners, as well as with Eric Overman and his team, to fast-track TIP's global expansion."

"Since we led the establishment of TIP in 2021, we have supported TIP's rapid scale-up in Europe and Latin America to a fast-growing lease aggregator with over 850 leases and significant backlog. This transaction is testament to our belief in the company's potential and attractive position in the market, and we are delighted to partner with Swiss Life Asset Managers to fuel TIP's growth further," said Damian Stanley, Managing Partner at InfraBridge. "We look forward to creating more opportunities for the company's global employees, clients, and stakeholders."

Eric Overman, Founding Partner and CEO at TIP, said, "We are excited to welcome Swiss Life Asset Managers as a key shareholder alongside InfraBridge. This new investment recognises TIP's growth over the last two years and will support our ambitions for TIP to be a global leader in the telecom site lease market."

Closing of the transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close by 2Q 2024.

About Swiss Life Asset Managers

Swiss Life Asset Managers has more than 165 years of experience in managing the assets of the Swiss Life Group. This insurance background has exerted a key influence on the investment philosophy of Swiss Life Asset Managers, which is governed by such principles as value preservation, the generation of consistent and sustainable performance and a responsible approach to risks. Swiss Life Asset Managers offers this proven approach to third-party clients in Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the UK, Italy and the Nordic countries. Established in 2011, the Swiss Life Asset Managers Infrastructure Equity platform manages over EUR 10bn in Assets under Management for its clients and partners. The team consists of more than 50 investment specialists with an average of over 20 years industry experience across the senior level members. The platform has made over 70 infrastructure investments, across 12 solutions, in both direct and indirect opportunities across the Energy, Communications, Transportation, Regulated Utilities, Social Infrastructure and Renewable Energy sectors.

As of 30 June 2023 assets under management for third-party clients amount to EUR 114.8 billion. Together with insurance assets for the Swiss Life Group, total assets under management at Swiss Life Asset Managers stood at EUR 265.8 billion. Swiss Life Asset Managers employs more than 2200 people in Europe.

About InfraBridge

InfraBridge is a leading infrastructure investment manager dedicated to investing in mid-market businesses in transportation and logistics, digital infrastructure, and energy transition, among other key sectors. The firm's investment strategy applies private equity rigor with an active approach to asset management to maximize value and drive returns on behalf of investors. InfraBridge is a division of DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global digital infrastructure firm managing a $75 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its investors. InfraBridge is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. For more information, visit: www.infrabridge.com

About Telecom Infrastructure Partners

Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIP) is a leading global telecommunications and digital infrastructure investment firm. TIP offers recipients of rent-for-mobile sites, or similar infrastructure, a large up-front cash payout and professionally manages the leases. TIP is led by Eric Overman who took U.S.-style mobile site lease aggregation international, having founded Wireless Infrastructure Partners (which became known as APWireless after Associated Partners invested). TIP is headquartered in London and has established mobile site lease investment businesses in 16 countries globally. For more information, visit: www.telecom-ip.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110175556/en/

Contacts:

InfraBridge

Phone: +1 310-752-5026

ceci.reissmeier@digitalbridge.com

Swiss Life Asset Managers

Communications

Phone: +41 43 547 66 88

communications@swisslife-am.com
Corsair, a leading private equity firm targeting payments, software, and business services investments in the financial services market, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in MJM Holdings ("MJM" or "the Company"), a leading independent commercial insurance broker based in Poland. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MJM is a fast-growing insurance brokerage platform founded in 2017 with the goal to create an independent, client-first and expertise-led platform, able to drive sector consolidation in the Polish market. MJM's three divisions cover property casualty insurance, commercial motor insurance, and reinsurance, enabling MJM to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions with specialist advice and high levels of service across its focused client sectors.

Under the terms of the agreement, Corsair will acquire a majority of equity from MJM's current owners, with investors Posella Limited and Solter Capital fully selling their holdings. Marcin Slotala, founder and Chief Executive Officer of MJM, will continue to lead the Company, with the founding management team rolling a significant portion of their equity value into the transaction. Corsair expects to leverage its business services and insurance sector expertise to support the Company as it executes its buy-and-build plan and continues to develop on its history of successful acquisitions, including Attis Broker in 2018, and Smartt Re in 2021.

"Since our founding in 2017, we have had a clear vision of building the leading independent insurance broker active in the Polish market, and our success to date has been driven by putting our customers and colleagues at the heart of everything we do," said Marcin Slotala. "The backing of Posella Limited and Solter Capital has been critical to our growth and as they exit the business, I would like to thank both of them for their invaluable support. As we enter the next stage of our growth, we are glad to work with a like-minded partner that brings an impressive track record of supporting businesses like ours, and with further investment and the significant experience provided by Corsair, we look forward to continuing our growth story for years to come."

"MJM is an exceptional business with a strong management team and clear vision for the future. We are proud to support MJM as the firm begins this new chapter of growth," said Raja Hadji-Touma, Partner at Corsair. Edward Wertheim, Managing Director at Corsair, said: "We are delighted to invest in MJM, an outstanding Company built under Marcin Slotala's leadership. We share Marcin's vision and ambitious growth agenda and view MJM as the ideal platform to invest in Poland's commercial insurance distribution market, with scope to continue to build on its leading specialist positions and broaden its product and end market offering through acquisitions and strategic partnerships." Benjamin Phillips, Principal at Corsair added, "We look forward to partnering with Marcin and the MJM team to build on the Company's success to date and capitalize on the significant opportunity ahead."

About Corsair

Corsair is a specialist investment firm offering opportunities for investors and solutions for companies across its private markets Buyouts and Infrastructure businesses. The firm's buyouts business is a financial services investor focused on making control investments in three verticals: Payments, Software, and Business Services. The infrastructure business operates as a strategic partnership with Investcorp as of December 2023. Investcorp Corsair focuses primarily on core plus and value-added opportunities in transportation, logistics, and associated infrastructure subsectors, blending operating platforms and deep sectoral expertise with equity sponsorship. Corsair has invested $13.6 billion in capital across buyouts and infrastructure since inception. For more information, please visit https://www.corsair-capital.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn.

About MJM Holdings

MJM Holdings is one of Poland's leading insurance distribution businesses, and is a collection of best-in-class platforms consisting of Attis Broker (corporate insurance) Smartt Re (reinsurance), MJM Brokers (motor) and MJM Risk Management (risk management and advisory services). MJM offers comprehensive and tailored-made insurance solutions with a full-understanding of its clients' needs and objectives. With a network of 8 offices and over 200 employees, MJM serves over 1,500 clients both in Poland and internationally. For more information, please visit https://mjmholdings.pl/ and follow us on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110910662/en/

Contacts:

Prosek Partners

pro-corsair@prosek.com
RIGA, Latvia, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PAG Private Equity, a leading global alternative investment firm, has agreed to acquire a majority controlling interest in Food Union Europe, a leading provider of ice cream and other frozen treats to consumers in six European countries. The transaction, pending final regulatory approval, was executed through the acquisition of equity from the founder and other private stakeholders. Specific financial details are not being disclosed.

"PAG Private Equity has been invested in Food Union Europe since February 2017. We believe strongly in the company's unrivaled market position across its core markets in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway and Romania. We look forward to working with the existing management to support Food Union's continued growth and expansion," said Lincoln Pan, Partner and Co-Head of Private Equity at PAG.

After the transaction and regulatory approval, which is expected in Q1 2024, full operational control over dairy and ice cream production and direct-to-consumer distribution enterprises in Europe will pass to PAG, an existing stakeholder and Board Member of Food Union Europe entities. These operations include brands in Latvia (Rigas piena kombinats, Valmieras piens and Premia FFL), Estonia (Premia TKH), Lithuania (Premia KPC), Denmark (Premier Is, Hjem Is and Frast), Norway (Isbjorn Is and Den Norske Isbilen) and Romania (Alpin57Lux).

Arturs Cirjevskis, CEO of Food Union Group in Europe, and the previous general managers of the group companies will continue to manage Food Union Europe. Food Union Europe will continue to operate under its existing corporate name and business structure.

"Food Union today is a strong, resilient, and well-positioned player in regions where further growth is anticipated. This is attributed to historically developed and robust product brands and the company's focus on product innovation. With ongoing and upcoming investments in manufacturing technologies, automation, and operational excellence in general, we anticipate further strengthening in domestic markets and exports in the coming years," said Arturs Cirjevskis, CEO of Food Union Group in Europe.

PAG Private Equity is an active investor in the food industry, especially in frozen food. Recent transactions include the acquisition of two leading Australian companies in the food and consumer sector - Patties, a well-known provider of savoury snack, appetiser, meal and dessert brands, and Vesco, a producer of high-quality frozen foods in Australia and New Zealand. These acquisitions add to the existing PAG consumer product portfolio, which also includes retail franchises (Craveable Brands), chicken processing and production companies (The Cordina Group and Shandong Fengxiang Co. Ltd.) and dairy producers (Youran Dairy).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/pag-to-acquire-food-union-europe-becoming-the-majority-shareholder-302030300.html
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (OTCQB: DTCFF) (FSE: DTC), ("Defence" or the "Company"), one of the leading Canadian biotechnology companies working in the field of immune-oncology is pleased to announce that it successfully tested a new formulation of its ACCUM-002TM Dimer CDCA-SV40 commonly named "AccuTOX", as an anticancer treatment for lung-established tumors. These results widen the scope of application for AccuTOX in the treatment of solid cancer tumors.

AccuTOX is an optimization of the Accum molecule and platform technology developed by Defence Therapeutics. Recent studies demonstrated that AccuTOX has enhanced therapeutic properties and a broader application in cancer therapeutics as it has successfully killed more than a dozen different murine and human cancer cell lines. When initially delivered intranasally, AccuTOX had a great impact on blocking tumor growth of pre-established lung nodules in mice. However, the drug was delivered as nasal droplets, which represents an approach difficult to translate to the clinic. Therefore, Defence used a nebulizing device named "Anesthesia Mask Nebulizer Delivery System" of Kent Scientific Corporation to deliver its compound in the least invasive way. Following several preclinical studies to set-up different delivery parameters, a maximum tolerated study revealed that the drug is tolerated by rodents at a dose of 3 mg/kg. When delivered as a monotherapy, AccuTOX inhibited the growth of lung nodules. The effect was further enhanced when combined with the immune-checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD1 as shown on the Figure 1 below.





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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"We are very excited with the potency of our lead compound, AccuTOX. These studies are important as they show how versatile can the application of this drug be against various indications, and they demonstrate in addition how different formulations or delivery devices can be used to target different tumor types/sites" said Sebastien Plouffe, President & CEO of Defence Therapeutics.

AccuTOX was recently cleared by the FDA to begin a Phase I trial in patients with Stage IIIB to IV melanoma, as released per the Company on December 11, 2023.

According to Precedence Research, the global cancer therapeutics market size is expected to be worth around US$ 393.61 billion by 2032 from at US$ 164 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period 2023 to 2032.

https://www.precedenceresearch.com/cancer-therapeutics-market

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUM technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

For further information:

Sebastien Plouffe, President, CEO and Director

P: (514) 947-2272

Splouffe@defencetherapeutics.com

www.defencetherapeutics.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193735

SOURCE: Defence Therapeutics Inc.
An All-New Suite of Commerce Media Solutions Help Enhance Brands' Commerce Media Measurement and Planning Capabilities, While Fortifying The Mars Agency as Global Retail Media Leader

LONDON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Mars Agency announced the global expansion of its self-service Marilyn Commerce Media Dashboard and Retail Media Report Card products. These advanced tools are for the first time directly available for brands who want to put the power of Marilyn into their own teams' hands to evaluate retail media effectiveness.

Tapping into these specialist-level insights, The Mars Agency is unveiling two new self-serve retail media solutions:

Marilyn Commerce Media Dashboard: Ingests, normalises and visualises all global campaign results in one place, making it easy to analyse and compare Commerce Marketing performance across all vendors. This added layer of transparency enables brands to see results more quickly - helping them make smarter, more real-time decisions. Retail Media Report Card: The purpose of this is to provide a full-field of vision across retail media networks to understand capabilities, new features, and how to best optimise spending for manufacturers.

These products work hand-in-hand with Marilyn, the agency's Commerce Marketing technology platform, to provide brands with visibility into their Total Business Impact. It turns out, the added level of visibility pays off. After evaluating 20,000 campaigns, The Mars Agency learned that clients who utilised Marilyn insights to optimise investments were able to improve their Commerce Media performance by an average of 21% year-over-year.

With 35+ years of specialist experience, The Mars Agency has doubled down on commerce media to become a significant beneficiary of industry momentum. The company has seen monumental growth in the past 10 months alone - with nearly $1.2 billion in commerce media spend currently planned and/or executed. Commerce media has also fuelled a 59% increase in year-to-date billings for The Mars Agency.

According to Katrina Smart, Commerce Media Director in Europe, "Excelling at retail media requires a partner that knows both retail and media. We know retail. It's in our heritage as a Shopper Marketing agency. And we also know media. With 100+ experts focused exclusively on retail media, we know every retailer media network and we know how to connect digital and physical experiences to drive conversion. Given our specialism and expertise, we have been focused on expanding our European practice considerably using a similar model of retail media that helped us achieve the US success."

To learn more about the Marilyn Commerce Media Intelligence Platform, please visit www.themarsagency.com/media/ .

About The Mars Agency

The Mars Agency is an award-winning, independently owned, global Commerce Marketing practice. With talent around the world, they connect people, technology and intelligence to make their clients' businesses better today than they were yesterday. Mars' industry-leading MarTech platform, Marilyn, helps marketers understand the total business impact of their Commerce Marketing, enabling them to make better decisions, create connected experiences and drive stronger results. Learn more at www.themarsagency.com .

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-mars-agency-announces-global-launch-of-marilyn-commerce-media-dashboard-and-retail-media-report-card-302030472.html
BERLIN, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ariceum Therapeutics, a private biotech company developing radiopharmaceutical products for the diagnosis and treatment of certain hard-to-treat cancers, today announces it has submitted an application with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to undertake a Phase 1 trial of 123I-ATT001, its Iodine-123 labelled PARP inhibitor in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

The application comes shortly after Ariceum acquired Theragnostics Ltd, announced in June 2023, the private UK-based biopharmaceutical company which undertook the initial development work on 123I-ATT001. Ariceum is the first company to sponsor a clinical trial of Auger therapy for recurrent glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Manfred Rudiger, Chief Executive Officer of Ariceum Therapeutics said: "Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and most common type of malignant brain tumour in adults, with a very poor prognosis for survival and currently no cure. 123I-ATT001 is a targeted Auger electron therapy that has demonstrated promising pre-clinical results, and we are delighted to be in a position to file for clinical trial authorisation in the UK so soon after integrating Theragnostics into Ariceum Therapeutics. Not only is this an important step towards finding a cure for glioblastoma patients but it paves the way for Ariceum to further investigate this powerful molecular radiotherapy for the treatment of other solid tumour indications."

ATT001 delivers its radioisotope payload, Iodine-123, in a highly targeted way to cancer cells expressing PARP, an enzyme they use to repair themselves. This radioisotope then emits low energy Auger electrons, which deposit their energy over short distances, making them particularly useful for causing lethal damage to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. An additional benefit of using Iodine-123 is that this isotope is more widely available than others, being produced in a regular cyclotron.

Ariceum is exploring 123I-ATT001 in other solid tumour indications, as PARP is a validated target, highly expressed in several other cancers.

The announcement comes as Manfred Rudiger, Chief Executive Officer of Ariceum Therapeutics, is in San Francisco attending the Biotech Showcase from 8-10 January 2024. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting.

Notes to Editors

About Ariceum Therapeutics

Ariceum Therapeutics (Ariceum) is a private, clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company focused on the diagnosis and precision treatment of certain neuroendocrine and other aggressive, hard-to-treat cancers. The name Ariceum is an anagram of 'Marie Curie' whose discovery of radium and polonium have been huge contributions to finding treatments for cancer.

Ariceum's lead targeted systemic radiopharmaceutical product, 177Lu-satoreotide tetraxetan ("satoreotide"), is an antagonist of the somatostatin type 2 (SSTR2) receptor which is overexpressed in neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and some aggressive cancers such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC), or Merkel Cell Carcinoma, all of which have few treatment options and poor prognosis. Satoreotide is being developed as a 'theranostic' pair for the combined diagnosis and targeted radionuclide treatment of these tumours. Ariceum is also developing a radiolabelled PARP-inhibitor (ATT-001), which is slated to enter clinical development in 2024. ATT-001 was part of the acquisition of Theragnostics Ltd which was closed in June 2023.

Ariceum Therapeutics, launched in 2021, acquired all rights from Ipsen. Ipsen remains a shareholder in the Company. Ariceum is headquartered in Berlin, with operations in Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, United States of America and Switzerland and activities currently across the globe.

Ariceum is led by a highly experienced management team and supported by specialist investors including EQT Life Sciences (formerly LSP), HealthCap, Pureos Bioventures, Andera Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital. For further information, please visit www.ariceum-therapeutics.com.

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CHICAGO, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Laminated Busbar Market is expected to reach USD 1,296 million by 2030 from USD 863 million in 2023 at a CAGR of 6.0% during the 2023-2030 period according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The Laminated Busbar Market is set for significant expansion in the coming years, driven primarily by the advancement of power distribution infrastructure in response to the escalating demand for electricity. Additionally, the surge in renewable energy-based capacity and heightened investments in electric vehicles production are expected to contribute to the increased demand for laminated busbars.

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Laminated Busbar Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $863 million Estimated Value by 2030 $1296 million Growth Rate Poised to Grow at a CAGR of 6.0% Largest Market Europe Market Size Available for 2018-2030 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Forecast Units Value (USD Million) Volume (Kiloton) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By Material, By End User, By Insulation Material Geographies Covered Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Key Market Opportunities Adoption of High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology Key Market Drivers Increasing focus on renewable energy

Copper segment, by material, to capture majority of Laminated Busbar Market share.

In 2022, the copper segment dominated the Laminated Busbar Market. Technically, copper stands out as the optimal and most extensively utilized material for crafting laminated busbars. Its superiority over aluminum lies in higher conductivity and superior load surge withstand capacity. Tailored for industrial and commercial facilities, copper-laminated busbars aim to minimize initial costs while ensuring safety. However, it's important to note that copper's higher density results in a heavier product compared to aluminum-laminated busbars, and copper-laminated busbars tend to be more expensive. Despite these considerations, the widespread adoption of copper conductors persists due to their lower lifetime costs and relatively reduced maintenance requirements compared to aluminum counterparts. These factors are anticipated to drive the demand for copper-laminated busbars in the forecast period.

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Industrial segment, by end user, to be second-largest and fastest market.

The industrial segment held a substantial share in the Laminated Busbar Market in 2022. Essential for a spectrum of industrial activities, spanning from factories and refineries to mines and offshore oil & gas platforms, a dependable electricity supply and secure connection networks are imperative. Laminated busbars find application across diverse industries, including chemicals & petroleum, metals & mining, and manufacturing & processing. Given the distinct energy requirements of these industries for their manufacturing plants, separate substations are typically installed for power supply. Power, sourced from distribution utilities or power-generating companies, is then transmitted to various load points within the manufacturing facilities. Laminated busbars play a crucial role in electricity distribution systems, ensuring a consistent power supply to the production floor. The uninterrupted delivery of power to machines holds paramount importance in all industries, as any disruption or breakdown could lead to substantial losses due to increased nonproductive time. Consequently, the demand for laminated busbars is anticipated to rise significantly within the industrial sector.

Europe to emerge as the largest Laminated Busbar Industry.

In 2022, Europe claimed the largest stake in the Laminated Busbar Market, encompassing countries such as the UK, Germany, Russia, France, and the Rest of Europe. The region is actively working towards phasing out nuclear and coal-based power generation, making substantial investments in renewable energy-based power generation. Aligned with the European Union's (EU) environmental targets, member countries introduced systems to achieve the 20-20-20 goals in the energy sector. These goals, focusing on security of supply, competitive markets, and sustainability, include a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels, 20% of energy consumption from renewable sources, and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.

Europe faces a significant challenge in transitioning its power sector to clean energy sources to meet ambitious climate goals. This transition demands substantial investments across various areas of the power sector. The European Commission aims for a 55% renewable energy share by 2030, requiring an annual investment of approximately USD 660 billion. Grid infrastructure upgrades are estimated at USD 380 billion annually by 2030, while enhancing interconnectivity between European countries demands around USD 60 billion annually. Research and development investments in clean energy technologies are projected at USD 50 billion annually by 2030. The European Commission has committed USD 1.2 trillion between 2021 and 2027 through its Green Deal initiatives, with the European Investment Bank (EIB) allocating USD 100 billion to support climate action and clean energy projects from 2021 to 2025. Private sector investment in European renewable energy reached USD 55 billion in 2022. Given the significant investments in renewables, grid modernization, and interconnectivity, there is an increased need for more efficient and reliable power distribution systems, potentially driving demand for laminated busbars.

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Key Market Players

Key players in the global Laminated Busbar Companies include Amphenol Corporation (US), Methode Electronics, Inc. (US), Mersen Group (France), Rogers Corporation (US), Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co., Ltd. (China), and Sun.King Technology Group Limited (China).

Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power Market Research Reports & Consulting

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DC Switchgear Market by Voltage (Up to 750 V, 750 V to 1,800 V, 1,800 V to 3,000 V, 3,000 V to 10 kV and Above 10 kV), Deployment Type (Fixed Mounting, Plug-In, and Withdrawable Units), Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2026

Busbar Trunking System Market by End-User (Industrial, Commercial, Large Residential, and Transportation), Power Rating (Lighting, Low, Medium, and High), Conductor (Copper and Aluminum), Insulation (Air and Sandwich), and by Low Voltage Segment

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Prodapt will design and implement a Target Operating Model for end-to-end business transformation and agility

Global Cloud Xchange (GCX),the global network service provider, has selected Prodapt, the largest and fastest-growing specialized firm in the Connectedness industry, as its strategic partner to achieve transformation across IT systems and business processes, and deliver managed services for service delivery and service assurance operations.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109863627/en/

The senior leadership teams of GCX and Prodapt after finalizing the strategic partnership: GCX Chief of Staff Giancarlo Ferro (third from left), CIO TS Narayanan (fourth from left), MD-Managed Services Lorenzo Romano (second from right), with Prodapt CEO Harsha Kumar (second from left), EVP-Europe Mukul Gupta (extreme right), and Senior Partner Mandeep S Kwatra. (Photo: Business Wire)

GCX's global customers require highly available and disruption-free network services to enable high-speed digital connectivity. With this new partnership, GCX and Prodapt aim to deliver a highly automated, agile technology infrastructure that will fast-track service activation and streamline network management to deliver enhanced digital experiences to customers.

Prodapt will design and implement a Target Operating Model for end-to-end business transformation. This includes refining core processes, defining end-to-end solutions, and modernizing existing systems with cloud-native best-of-breed platforms.

Carl Grivner, CEO of GCX, said: "We are excited to partner with Prodapt to accelerate our journey towards IT transformation and provide next-generation user experiences, while driving greater automation, agility, and visibility into our service delivery and assurance." Grivner continued: "With Prodapt as our strategic IT transformation partner, we will simplify and automate order-to-activation and problem-to-resolve processes, leveraging enhanced tools and a well-distributed, automation-driven service capability to fast-track global growth and better serve our customers' needs."

Harsha Kumar, CEO of Prodapt, said: "As demand for digital and connectivity services soars, network services providers need to transform internally to achieve business agility. Prodapt is thrilled to partner with GCX on an important transformation that will evolve a digital-first, scalable operating model to power their future growth."

About Global Cloud Xchange

GCX Holdings Limited (Bermuda), operating as Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), offers network services that power digital transformation for enterprises, new media providers, and telecoms carriers. We cover all aspects of cloud-centric connectivity, including managed SD-WAN and hybrid networks, network security management, and direct Cloud connections and 100 Gbps+ waves. With a pedigree going back 30+ years, GCX are experts in providing connectivity throughout Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America via the vast GCX subsea network (the world's largest private submarine cable network), with extensions available into more than 200 countries worldwide. To learn more about GCX, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

About Prodapt

Prodapt is the largest and fastest-growing specialized player in the Connectedness industry, recognized by Gartner as a Large, Telecom-Native, Regional IT Service Provider across North America, Europe, and Latin America. With its singular focus on the domain, Prodapt has built deep expertise in the most transformative technologies that connect our world.

Prodapt is a trusted partner for enterprises across all layers of the Connectedness vertical. We design, configure, and operate solutions across their digital landscape, network infrastructure, and business operations and craft experiences that delight their customers.

Today, our clients connect 1.1 billion people and 5.4 billion devices, and are among the largest telecom, media, and internet firms in the world. Prodapt works with Google, Amazon, Verizon, Vodafone, Liberty Global, Liberty Latin America, Claro, Lumen, Windstream, Rogers, Telus, KPN, Virgin Media, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, Adtran, Samsung, and many more.

Prodapt employs over 6,000 technology and domain experts in 30+ countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Prodapt is part of the 130-year-old business conglomerate The Jhaver Group, which employs over 30,000 people across 80+ locations globally.

Visit www.prodapt.com for more information. Follow us on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109863627/en/

Contacts:

For more information, contact marketing@prodapt.com
LONDON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Dstny has emerged victorious in the 2023 - 2024 Cloud Awards, securing the title of Best Use of Telephony/Unified Communications with its newly released product Call2Teams Go.









Call2Teams Go is the latest addition to Dstny's Call2Teams product set - which offers one of the most cost-effective solutions on the market for calling directly within the Teams interface.

This latest accolade is a proud recognition of how Dstny continues to push the boundaries of innovation for their Service Provider partners around the world.

Head of Operations for the Cloud Awards, James Williams, said:

"The Cloud Awards continue to lead the way in identifying the great organizations who create world-changing technologies. Dstny is a truly impressive winner of a Cloud Award, taking cloud technologies to new heights. They impressed the panel with their market-leading Call2Teams Go innovation, and it was a real pleasure to see them come top in their category."

In response, Neil Greenwood, Head of Product Management at Dstny for Service Providers, said:

"It is an honour to have our Call2Teams Go product recognized in such a highly prestigious international awards program, and in particular, our expertise when it comes to pioneering voice integration. Call2Teams Go continues the evolution of our Call2Teams product set and brings value through a simpler licensing experience. This latest accolade is a great way to start the year, and it will sit proudly alongside our other trophies." Neil Greenwood, Head of Product Management at Dstny for Service Providers

To learn more about Call2Teams and their latest product Call2Teams Go visit: www.call2teams.com

About Call2Teams

Call2Teams easily integrates voice with Microsoft Teams, it is a cloud-native, middleware product that sits between any phone system, PBX or SIP Trunk provider, and Microsoft Teams. No hardware or software is needed - there is no need to port numbers, change carrier, or throw away an existing phone system.

Call2Teams is part of an ecosystem of best-in-class, mobile-first products offered by Dstny, a premier provider of cloud-based business communications solutions for companies, partners and Service Providers.

Learn more about Dstny's Teams Voice Integration options here: https://www.dstny.com/solutions/microsoft-teams-integration

About Dstny



Dstny is a premier European provider of cloud-based business communications solutions. With more than 3,5 million users, Dstny simplifies communication for companies, partners, and service providers with products delivered as-a-service across all formats, including voice, video, and chat. Featuring a mobile-first design and easy integration, Dstny's innovative technology and strong local partnerships allow for delivering exceptional user experiences. Headquartered in Brussels, Dstny has ca. 1000 employees in 7 European countries and a ca. 250 million annual revenue.

Learn more at www.dstny.com

Contact: Helen Johnstone - Phone: +44 330 008 4523 - Email: helen.johnstone@dstny.com

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MESQUITE, NV / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Cannabis Sativa, Inc. (OTCQB:CBDS) announces that PrestoDoctor - the #1 patient-rated medical cannabis telemedicine service - now offers its online medical cannabis card service to patients in the state of Arkansas.

"Our trusted telemedicine portal is ready to provide Arkansas medical cannabis patients with easy and confidential access and education via an online appointment with a knowledgeable licensed medical doctor," said PrestoDoctor COO Rob Tankson.

Founded in 2015, PrestoDoctor has provided experienced and compassionate telemedicine care to more than 100,000 patients in thirteen states and is pleased to begin offering the same quality of service to patients in Arkansas.

"Arkansas should produce substantial appointments and increasing revenues for PrestoDoctor, and as medical cannabis continues to be available in more states, PrestoDoctor will be seeking to help those patients by safely connecting them to doctors from the comfort of their own home through PrestoDoctor's proprietary portal," stated Cannabis Sativa CEO David Tobias.

About PrestoDoctor

PrestoDoctor is rated the #1 online medical marijuana doctor by tens of thousands of medical cannabis patients who have received fully qualified medical marijuana recommendations. PrestoDoctor is the only service to offer patients a custom treatment plan after they have a confidential evaluation with a licensed, highly knowledgeable physician who is an expert in treatment methods, dosing levels, and cannabis products. Founded in 2015, PrestoDoctor services are available in legal medical marijuana states: California, Missouri, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, and now Arkansas. A HIPAA and HITECH compliant telemedicine company, PrestoDoctor is a member of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), maintaining the highest customer satisfaction rating for any telemedicine service online with over 21,000 5-star reviews.

About Cannabis Sativa, Inc.

Cannabis Sativa, Inc. ("CBDS") is engaged in telehealth, and the licensing of cannabis-related intellectual property, marketing and branding for cannabis-based products and services, operation of cannabis-related technology services, and ancillary business activities. CBDS holds a U.S. patent on the Ecuadorian Sativa strain of Cannabis, a U.S. Patent for a marijuana lozenge; a Cannabis-based pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of hypertensive disorders by submucosal delivery and trade secret formulas and processes and operates subsidiary PrestoDoctor.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Although the forward-looking statements in this release reflect the good faith judgment of management, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. Underlying assumptions include without limitation, the ongoing enactment of legislation favorable to the production of and the commercialization of cannabis products and the Company's success in capitalizing on that legislation. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. No assurances are, or can be given, that the parties will enter into a definitive merger agreement for any potential strategic acquisition, or that if such agreement is entered into, that the transaction would close, if at all, on the terms set forth in this release, or that the merged acquired business would be successful. Certain conditions to any closing of a potential merger acquisition would likely be outside of our control. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release.

Contact Information:

(702) 762-3123

cbds.com

SOURCE: Cannabis Sativa, Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Millions of gifts are exchanged across Europe during the holiday season, but many are ultimately deemed unwanted and unnecessary. In fact, according to a survey of 5,000 Europeans commissioned byAdevinta, the leading classifieds group, two thirds (66%) of people state that they have received a brand-new gift that they've had no use for, or simply not liked.

Encouragingly, only 6% of these respondents say that they've thrown unwanted items away, and nearly a quarter (23%) have turned to online platforms to sell them on. France tops the re-commerce leaderboard with 27% of consumers having sold online compared to 20% of consumers in Spain and 19% of consumers in Italy. The survey also found that among those that have received a brand-new gift they didn't like:

28% have kept an unwanted gift, knowing it would never be useful

30% have repurposed gifts by 'gifting' them to someone else

17% have given an unwanted gift to charity

33% report keeping the item "just in case"

Paul Heimann, Head of Re-Commerce for Adevinta, and CEO of Kleinanzeigen, commented: "For many people, showing love and appreciation for friends and family during the holiday season revolves around the giving and receiving of gifts. But putting sentiment to one side, we all know that presents are not always received in the spirit in which they're given. Rather than holding onto unwanted gifts, re-commerce marketplaces allow consumers to give these items a second life and clear clutter, while also presenting an opportunity to generate some extra cash in the post-holiday period when budgets are tight."

Adevintais a leading online classifieds group, which counts leboncoin (FR), Kleinanzeigen (DE), Marktplaats (NL), Milanuncios (ES), Subito (IT) and 2dehands/2ememain (BE) amongst its European re-commerce marketplaces.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

firstlight group

adevinta@firstlightgroup.io

+44 (0)20 3617 7240

Methodology

5323 nationally representative adult respondents across Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands and Belgium were surveyed online between 9th and 12th October 2023. Research was commissioned by Adevinta and conducted by market research consultancy Censuswide.

About Adevinta

Adevinta is a leading online classifieds group and champion for sustainable commerce with a focus on Europe.

Our portfolio of 25+ digital marketplaces spans consumer goods, mobility, real estate, holiday rentals and jobs. Every month, our industry-leading technology enables more than 120 million people and over a million businesses across Europe to connect and trade. Loved local brands include leboncoin in France; mobile.de and Kleinanzeigen in Germany; Fotocasa and InfoJobs in Spain, Subito in Italy; Marktplaats in the Netherlands and the Canadian marketplace Kijiji.

Our international team of diverse individuals are united in their purpose to make a positive impact on the environment, the economy and society every single day.

To find out more, visit Adevinta.com.


Commerzbank AG - Pre-Stabilisation notice

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 10

January 10, 2024

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

Commerzbank AG

EUR Non-preferred Senior Notes due 2031

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

Commerzbank AG (contact: Daniela Olt-Farrelly; telephone: +49 69 136-20) 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: Commerzbank AG Guarantor (if any): none Aggregate nominal amount: benchmark Description: Non-Preferred Senior Notes, 7NC6 Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: Reset date 17th Jan 2024; settlement date 17Jan, Listing Frankfurt, denoms 100k/100k, MTN Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator: Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG ING Natixis Santander Toronto Dominion Stabilisation period expected to start on: January 10, 2024 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: Frankfurt

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
DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- After growing its spot market share by 8x in 2023, Bybit Co-Founder and CEO Ben Zhou illuminated the path for the crypto industry in his keynote address.

The CryptoArk Keynote was a showcase of Bybit's significant strides and future plans - a testament to the company's unwavering commitment to advancing the digital asset industry. Ben shared Bybit's achievements, including reaching over 20 million users, launching 93 new products, supporting 96 chains for deposits and withdrawals, and becoming the third largest derivatives exchange.

Furthermore, Bybit's commitment to compliance was evident with its expansion in the UAE, South Africa and the Netherlands, strengthening its position as a trusted, global crypto platform. The keynote highlighted the company's focus on enhancing user experience and platform stability.

The company increased its transaction volume capacity threefold and achieved an uptime of 99% even amidst market volatility. Ben also announced its ambitious goal of handling 1 million transactions per second by 2024.

Enhancements like the Unified Trading Account with newly added features like Perp Protect and customizable collateral assets underscored Bybit's dedication to providing a robust and user-friendly trading environment.

In the realm of institutional services, Bybit demonstrated remarkable growth with a 182% increase in institutional partnerships. By integrating spot trading into portfolio margin, Bybit has amplified capital efficiency for clients' trading strategies. The company also showcased its prowess in innovative trading solutions such as Copy Trading, AI-powered trading tools, and the introduction of new structured and wealth management products.

"Our journey is just beginning," said Ben. "We're not just building an exchange; we're building a gateway to crypto and Web3 space. Our plans for 2024 and beyond are bold, aimed at fostering simplicity, openness, and equality in the decentralized realm."

Bybit's Crypto Ark Keynote was a declaration of the company's unwavering dedication to leading the crypto industry and becoming the world's Crypto Ark. As Bybit looks forward to 2024, the crypto community can expect more groundbreaking innovations and inclusive experiences, solidifying Bybit's position as a leading player in the industry's future.

Watch the Keynote here.

Bybit / TheCryptoArk

About Bybit

Bybit is a top-three cryptocurrency exchange by volume with 20 million users established in 2018. It offers a professional platform where crypto investors and traders can find an ultra-fast matching engine, 24/7 customer service, and multilingual community support. Bybit is a proud partner of Formula One's reigning Constructors' and Drivers' champions: the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.

For more details about Bybit, please visit Bybit Press .

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bybit.com

For more information, please visit: https://www.bybit.com

For updates, please follow: Bybit's Communities and Social Media

Discord | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Reddit | Telegram | TikTok | X (Twitter) | Youtube

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Growing demand for innovative, flexible electronics and the rising emphasis on touchless technologies in response to health and safety concerns are anticipated to drive the growth of the global printed electronics market during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific region held the majority of the market share in 2022.

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research has recently published a report, titled, "Printed Electronics Market Size, Share, Competitive Landscape and Trend Analysis Report by Technology (Inkjet Printing, Screen Printing, Gravure Printing, Flexographic Printing), by Material (Inks, Substrates), by Application (Display, Photovoltaic, Lighting, RFID, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the global printed electronics market generated $9.4 billion in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $55.7 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 20.1% from 2023 to 2032.

Download Research Report Sample & TOC:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/531

(We look forward to moving quickly provide the report analysis as per your research requirement, needed for your business success.)

310 - Pages

111 - Tables

53 - Charts

Prime Determinants of Growth

The increasing demand for innovative, flexible electronics and the rising emphasis on touchless technologies in response to health and safety concerns are key factors boosting the growth of the printed electronics market. However, the challenges of limited printing resolution, adaptation difficulties for traditional industries, and the necessity for uniformity in production processes are anticipated to hinder market growth during the forecast period. On the other hand, continuous advancements in material science and printing technology are anticipated to unlock lucrative opportunities, boosting the performance and capabilities of printed electronic devices and driving future market growth.

Report Coverage & Details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $9.4 billion Market Size in 2032 $55.7 billion CAGR 20.1 % No. of Pages in Report 310 Segments covered Technology, Material, Application, and Region Drivers Rising demand for touchless interfaces, driven by health and safety concerns Increasing adoption of printed electronics owing to its various benefits over traditional methods. Opportunities Growing opportunities in the energy harvesting sector, with the integration of printed solar cells and energy storage devices Continuous research and development efforts, particularly in material science and printing technology Restraints The difficulty of incorporating printed components into existing production processes

COVID-19 Scenario

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the growth trajectory of the global printed electronics market. The increased emphasis on health and safety standards during the pandemic drove a surge in demand for touchless technologies, such as touchless sensors, displays, and flexible electronics.

This increased the demand for printed electronics, particularly in healthcare, retail, and public settings, boosting the innovation and widespread acceptance of printed electronic products.

As remote work became the new norm, the demand for technological equipment, including smart home systems, wearable electronics, and e-learning tools, significantly increased, thus fueling the market growth. The pandemic, although disruptive, ultimately played a role in driving innovation and growth within the printed electronics industry.

Technology: Screen Printing Sub-Segment Grabbed a Leading Market Share in 2022

The screen-printing sub-segment dominated the global printed electronics market share in 2022, holding a major share of 37.9%. The sub-segment is expected to witness substantial growth in the forecast period mainly due to the increasing integration of screen-printing technologies into vehicle dashboards, mirrors, and windows, enhancing the driving experience and boosting the demand for visually appealing and technologically advanced interior designs.

Material: Ink Sub-Segment to Grab Highest CAGR during the Forecast Period

The ink sub-segment led the market in 2022, holding a substantial share of 58.3%. This dominance is expected to continue during the forecast period, growing with a CAGR of 20.3%. The growth of the sub-segment is mainly due to the increasing versatility of ink compositions, offering varied functionalities such as semiconducting, insulating, and biocompatible characteristics, thus boosting the development of multifunctional gadgets and fostering grassroots innovation.

Application: Display Sub-Segment to Grab Highest Market Share by 2032

The display sub-segment dominated the market in 2022, holding a major share of 46.9%. This dominance is expected to continue by 2032, holding a major share of 48.6%. This growth is mainly due to the increasing integration of electronic displays into various products, from packaging to clothing and built-in surfaces.

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By Region: Asia-Pacific to Grab Highest CAGR during the Forecast Period

The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global printed electronics industry in 2022, holding a major share of 45.8%. This dominance is expected to continue during the forecast period, growing with a CAGR of 20.9%. The rising trend towards miniaturization and a growing demand for small, lightweight solutions has driven a rising demand for printed electronics in North America. Moreover, increased industrial expansion and diverse adoption of printed electronics in sectors like consumer electronics and healthcare are likely to contribute to the continuous growth of the regional market during the forecast period.

Leading Players in the Printed Electronic Market:

Agfa-Gevaert Group

Nissha Co. Ltd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

DuPont (EI) De Nemours

E Ink Holdings Inc.

Molex LLC

NovaCentrix

BASF SE

Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated (PARC)

LG Display Co., Ltd.

The report provides a detailed analysis of the key players of the global printed electronics market. These players have adopted different strategies, such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain their dominance 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.

Key Benefits for Stakeholders

This report provides a quantitative analysis of the market segments, current trends, estimations, and dynamics of the printed electronics market analysis from 2022 to 2032 to identify the prevailing printed electronics market opportunities.

Market research is offered along with information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities.

Porter's five forces analysis highlights the potency of buyers and suppliers to enable stakeholders to make profit-oriented business decisions and strengthen their supplier-buyer network.

In-depth analysis of the printed electronics market segmentation assists to determine the prevailing market opportunities.

Major countries in each region are mapped according to their revenue contribution to the global market.

Market player positioning facilitates benchmarking and provides a clear understanding of the present position of the market players.

The report includes the analysis of the regional as well as global printed electronics market trends, key players, market segments, application areas, and market growth strategies.

Printed Electronics Market Key Segments



By Technology:

Inkjet Printing

Screen Printing

Gravure Printing

Flexographic Printing

By Material:

Inks

Substrates

By Applications:

Display

Photovoltaic

Lighting

RFID

Others

By Region:

North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)

(U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe)

(Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

(China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Rest of Asia-Pacific) LAMEA (Brazil, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa, Rest of LAMEA)

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Plastics (Organic) Electronics Market : Global Opportunity Analysis And Industry Forecast, 2021-2031

Graphene Electronics Market was valued at $270.8 Million In 2021, and is projected to reach $5.2 Billion By 2031, registering a CAGR of 34.2% from 2022 To 2031

Personal 3D Printers Market was valued at $1.69 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $5.44 billion by 2030, register a CAGR of 13.50% from 2021 To 2030

Wearable Electronics Market was valued at $81.40 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $459.58 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 19.96% from 2021 to 2030

Flexible Electronics Market was valued at $23.64 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $42.48 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 7.4% from 2020 to 2027



About Us:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports Insights" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies, and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

Contact Us:

David Correa

1209 Orange Street,

Corporation Trust Center,

Wilmington, New Castle,

Delaware 19801

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Kingfisher Metals Corp. (TSXV:KFR)(FSE:970)(OTCQB:KGFMF) ("Kingfisher" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the full results of the 2023 diamond drilling program at the HWY 37 Project with 2,150 m drilled over six holes (Fig. 1). The project is located in northwest British Columbia within the Golden Triangle.

Highlights

A ~100 m southern step-out at the Mary porphyry deposit returned 0.43 g/t Au Eq over 438 m (0.26 g/t Au, 0.043% Cu, and 36 ppm Mo; hole M-23-006) and is the first-ever hole into barren cover rocks that significantly expands the prospective area.

and is the first-ever hole into barren cover rocks that significantly expands the prospective area. A high-level setting, indicated by epithermal veins at Mary ( 3 m of 811 g/t Ag; M-23-006 ), suggest potential for an increase in disseminated porphyry copper grades at deeper levels.

), suggest potential for an increase in disseminated porphyry copper grades at deeper levels. A ~1,000 m southeastern step-out from Mary delineated a large alteration body below the barren cover at the Mary Root Zone target consistent with a flanking zinc-rich 'pyrite halo' position to a porphyry core including 241.7 m of 0.31 g/t Au Eq. (0.16 g/t Au, 4.6 g/t Ag, 0.039% Pb, 0.126% Zn; hole M-23-002).

Drilling at Cliff Porphyry is the first to test a sizeable 300 by 150 m quartz stockwork body separated from the Mary deposit by >1,400 m to south-southwest across a drape of barren cover rock. Initial test of stockwork returned 114 m of 0.2% Cu Eq. (0.114% Cu, 0.04 Au, 67 ppm Mo; hole M-23-001).

Dustin Perry, CEO states "Our modestly sized first ever drill program at HWY 37 successfully delivered results supporting our thesis that the Mary area has significant room to grow and that there is potential for the discovery of large porphyry systems comparable to other deposits within the Golden Triangle. We look forward to continued drilling in 2024 at this underexplored porphyry district within the prolific Golden Triangle of British Columbia."

Gayle Febbo, VP Exploration states "The large vertical and lateral scale of alteration is reminiscent of other notable Au-Cu districts in the region such as KSM and Treaty Creek. This program has shown us that the Mary area has kilometer scale lateral exploration opportunities with a high-level porphyry setting ideal for the potential discovery of a lower-level copper body comparable to those delineated at KSM."

Summary

The Mary deposit is one of three advanced targets on the HWY 37 Project in addition to the Williams Cu-Au porphyry deposit and the Hank Au-Ag epithermal deposit. The Mary porphyry system is located 9 km from Highway 37 and the Northwest Transmission Line.

Drilling at the Mary deposit in 2023 expanded the northerly strike length from 360 m to 450 m and increased the width to ~240 m (Figs. 1 and 2). No previous programs have drilled beneath the cover rock (Fig. 2) to determine the economic potential of geological units, and these drill holes demonstrate that alteration projects under cover in a large region. The cover unit represents a significant untested target area that measures 1 x 1 km and is flanked by a significant stockwork body at Cliff to the south, a broad flanking-type porphyry alteration pattern to the east at Mary Root Zone target, and a drill delineated Mary deposit to the north.

The Mary Root Zone target concept was based on a large coincident chargeability-resistivity geophysical anomaly, and two holes were able to identify that the scale and depth of the anomalies is consistent with a very large gold-bearing hydrothermal system (Figs. 1 and 2). Metal zonation patterns, particularly of zinc, are commonly distributed in a flanking (along-side) or a carapace (above) body relative to the copper zone at both nearby porphyry deposits (e.g., Williams and Goldstorm deposits).

The Cliff stockwork body was tested by two holes - one to test the width extent and a second to test the depth extent. Compared to the Mary deposit, drilling intercepted a unique and more felsic phase of intrusion with a higher quartz vein abundance, a low gold to copper ratio, and high relative molybdenum to gold. The Cliff porphyry is interpreted as a relatively small, younger phase emplaced at the margin of a km-scale, zoned porphyry system represented in part by the Mary deposit and the Mary Root Zone target.

Figure 1: Surface Geology Map and Drill Collar Locations, HWY 37 Project

Figure 2: Mary Area Drill Highlights, see Table 1 for Au Eq.

Table 1: Drill highlights eastern HWY 37 Project

Target Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au Eq. g/t* Cu Eq. %* Au g/t Ag g/t Cu % Mo ppm Pb % Zn % Cliff M-23-001 267 381 114 0.20 0.04 1.3 0.114 67 - - Incl. 330 345 15 0.35 0.07 0.9 0.151 228 - - M-23-004 229.1 294 64.9 0.11 0.01 0.4 0.092 13 - - Mary Root Zone M-23-002 79.3 321 241.7 0.31 0.16 4.6 0.012 6 0.039 0.126 Incl. 106.1 131.7 25.6 0.59 0.26 11.3 0.005 3 0.135 0.277 Incl. 171 237 66 0.51 0.30 6.2 0.022 10 0.037 0.161 M-23-003 128 189.5 61.5 0.30 0.11 3.5 0.008 3 0.102 0.233 M-23-003 270 322 52 0.43 0.20 6.4 0.028 12 0.028 0.190 Mary M-23-005 10.5 123.3 112.8 0.19 0.13 0.2 0.016 35 - - M-23-006 9 447 438 0.43 0.26 6.0 0.043 36 - - Incl. 42 219 177 0.62 0.30 14.3 0.056 56 - - Incl. 105 108 3 11.36 0.12 811 0.360 44 Incl. 300 330 30 0.67 0.54 0.8 0.075 13 - -

*Au equivalent (Eq.) and Cu equivalent (Eq.) values were calculated using the following metal prices: Au = $1900.00/oz, Cu = $4.00/lb, Ag = $25.00/oz, Mo = $24.38/lb, Pb = $1.03/lb, and Zn = $1.13/lb. No current or historical metallurgical work has been completed on the mineral deposits within the Project and as such recoveries are assumed to be 100%. The formula used to calculate the equivalent values for the Mary Target and Figure 2, 3 and 9 is Au Eq. g/t = Au g/t + (Cu % * 1.4436) + (Ag g/t * 0.0132) + (Mo % * 8.7988). The formula used to calculate the Au equivalent values for Root Zone Target and Figure 5 is Au Eq. g/t = Au g/t + (Cu % * 1.4436) + (Ag g/t * 0.0132) + (Mo % * 8.7988) + (Pb % * 0.3717) + (Zn % * 0.4078). The formula used to calculate the Cu equivalent values for Figure 10 and Cliff Target is Cu Eq. % = Cu % + (Au g/t * 0.6927) + (Ag g/t * 0.0091) + (Mo % * 6.095). Au Eq. and Cu Eq. are used for illustrative purposes and do not imply that the metals are economically recoverable.

Table 2: Diamond Drill Collars (NAD 83 - Zone 9), MRZ - Mary Root Zone

Hole Area Easting Northing Elev. (m) Depth (m) Azimuth Dip M-23-001 Cliff 413935 6347918 1445 384 130 55 M-23-002 MRZ 414822 6348312 1460 417 310 65 M-23-003 MRZ 414768 6348163 1401 372 300 57 M-23-004 Cliff 414036 6347812 1340 339 327 67 M-23-005 Mary 414330 6349201 1608 189 105 80 M-23-006 Mary 414330 6349201 1608 449 86 62 Mary Deposit Drilling Hole M-23-006 successfully expanded both the strike-length and width of the Mary deposit with 0.43 Au Eq. over 438 m (Table 1) and also verified that significant exploration potential exists below the barren cover. Descriptions of the drill holes are available in a previous news release (November 2, 2023). The initial drill hole, M-23-005, was abandoned due to difficult drilling conditions and did not reach the interpreted location of the target copper body. Drilling at the Mary deposit in 2023 expanded the northerly strike length from 360 m to 450 m and increased the width to ~240 m (Fig. 3). The Mary deposit dimensions are yet to be fully delineated, and significant potential exists under cover to the south and southeast. Previous groups have been deterred from drilling below the barren cover unit due to the absence of geochemical anomalism. Holes M-23-005 and -006 are the first to collar in this geochemical 'dead zone' and demonstrate that this draped cover conceals a large porphyry alteration system. The very high gold to copper ratios and presence of narrow high-grade silver at Mary, with 811 g/t Ag over 3 m (Table 1), are unusual for a porphyry deposit. In the upper couple hundred meters of the deposit, the gold to copper ratio ranges 8:1 to 6:1 and at mid-levels the gold to copper ratio is slightly higher at around 2:1. The high-gold metal ratios and epithermal textures near surface at Mary reflect the highest reaches of a porphyry system. Such systems commonly grade vertically into copper-dominant domains at depth. Significant exploration potential exists for vertical zonation down to a copper-rich body at Mary. There are many examples in the region where gold-rich or gold-only porphyry deposits were discovered at surface and copper-rich bodies were eventually drilled below those levels. Examples include the deeper levels of the Goldstorm deposit (Treaty Creek project) the Mitchell deposit below Snowfield (KSM project), the Lower Iron Cap deposit below Iron Cap (KSM project). The Company cautions the reader that mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the HWY 37 Project. Figure 3: Mary Deposit Plan Map and Section A-A', see Table 1 for Au Eq. Figure 4: Shallow-level textured quartz (qz)-rhodochrosite (rd)-pyrite (py) veins in chlorite (chl)-biotite (bt) altered diorite, Mary deposit (M-23-006, 262.5 m) Figure 5: Mary Root Zone Cross Sections, Holes M-23-002 and -003, see Table 1 for Au Eq. Mary Root Zone Target Drilling Two holes at the Mary Root Zone Target were drilled at a spacing of ~170 m (Fig. 2). Broad anomalous gold and zinc were intercepted, such as 241.7 m of 0.16 g/t Au, and 0.13% Zn (Table 1, Figs. 5 and 6). A third hole was planned and a drill pad built to test the highest value chargeability anomaly, ~260 m north of M-23-002, but slow drilling conditions at the Mary deposit (holes M-23-005 and -006) prevented the completion of the planned third hole during the 2023 program. For hole descriptions, see previous news release (November 2, 2023). The Mary Root Zone target tests a large coincident chargeability-resistivity geophysical anomaly that is mostly positioned below the barren cover rock (Fig. 7). The area of drilling tests the margin of the barren cover rock and reflects a geochemical signature consistent with a flanking (alongside) or overlying domain to a gold-bearing porphyry. Broad zinc anomalism was intercepted throughout both holes (Fig. 8), such zinc anomalism is known both locally and regionally to be situated proximal to Cu-Au porphyry deposits. The width of the anomalous zinc intercepts (Fig. 8) at the Mary Root Zone is on par with those at the Goldstorm deposit, at the Treaty Creek Project. Zinc zonation is also present at the nearby Williams deposit, within HWY 37 Project, where anomalous zinc intercepts flank and overlie the porphyry deposit. The Company cautions the reader that mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the HWY 37 Project. Copper values at the Mary Root Zone are low, not exceeding 0.3% Cu throughout the broad anomalous zinc intercept. Many regional porphyry examples reflect a similar decoupled distribution of metal - low or no copper in the zinc zone, and very low zinc in the copper zone. See Goldstorm and Williams porphyry examples (Fig. 8) where very low zinc exists in the copper body and very little copper is delineated in the zinc zones. The Company interprets the Mary Root Zone results to delineate the flanks or tops to a porphyry system with a much larger zonation scale than the known Mary deposit ~1 km to the NW. The presence of anomalous gold in the flanking alteration is a likely predictor of the presence of gold in the conceptual copper core as well. Figure 6: A) Pervasive and disseminated porphyry-style secondary quartz (qz), sericite (ser), pyrite (py), and sphalerite (sph) with late carbonate stringers (cb) in diorite; B) Volcaniclastic andesite altered to quartz (qz), carbonate (cb), sphalerite (sph), pyrite (py) and galena (gal), Mary Root Zone (M-23-002, 123.2 m) Figure 7: Mary Area IP Chargeability Anomalies (900 m el.) Projected to Surface Figure 8: Zinc and Copper Distribution at Goldstorm and Williams Deposits Compared to Mary Root Zone Target. Figure 9: Mary Area Interpretation, see Table 1 for Au Eq. Figure 10: Cliff Section, see Table 1 for Cu Eq. Cliff Target Drilling Two holes were drilled at the Cliff porphyry and were the first-ever test of a significant quartz stockwork body that measures 300 by 150 m on surface (Fig. 10). The stockwork body is located >1400 m to the south-southwest of the Mary deposit across a drape of barren cover. For a description of the holes see previous news release (November 2, 2023). Initial tests of the stockwork returned 114 m of 0.2% Cu Eq. (0.114% Cu, 0.04 Au, 67 ppm Mo; hole M-23-001). Compared to the Mary deposit, drilling intercepted a unique and more felsic phase of intrusion with a higher quartz vein abundance (Fig. 11) and a low gold to copper ratio yet high relative molybdenum to gold. The Cliff porphyry is interpreted as a younger phase emplaced at the margin of a km-scale, zoned porphyry system represented in part by the Mary deposit and the Mary Root Zone target. Figure 11: High volume sheeted veins of quartz (qz), chlorite (chl), pyrite (py), chalcopyrite (cpy) and carbonate (cb), Cliff porphyry (M-23-001, 165.5 m) Future Plans The Company is currently evaluating the extensive database of historical exploration and geological information in addition to our 2023 exploration results at the HWY 37 Project. Kingfisher is working toward the first-ever geological and structural 3D model for both the Mary and Hank-Williams regions. In 2023, Kingfisher completed the first-ever project-scale 3D inversion of historical airborne magnetic data and the first-ever 3D IP inversion of the Mary area. These new valuable datasets are currently being integrated with new 2023 geological surface mapping at Mary and at Hank areas for target generation and refinement. In the summer of 2023, Kingfisher applied for a 5-year multi-year area-based permit (MYAB) covering the Hank portion of the HWY 37 Project. Hank is host to the Hank epithermal Au-Ag deposit with intercepts including 11.63 g/t Au over 20 m (HNK-18-010) across a ~6 km long trend of mineralization. The Hank area is also host to the 2017 discovery of the Williams porphyry deposit with intercepts including 0.34% Cu and 0.42 g/t Au over 318.73 m (HNK-18-013). The Company believes that there is significant discovery potential for both Brucejack-type intermediate sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag as well as Cu-Au porphyry deposits in the Hank portion of the project. It is anticipated that the Company will receive the 5-year drill permit in advance of the 2024 drill program and Kingfisher intends to focus on exploring both the Mary porphyry and Hank epithermal area targets with drilling in 2024. Qualified Person Dustin Perry, P.Geo., Kingfisher's CEO, is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has prepared the technical information presented in this release. About Kingfisher Metals Corp. Kingfisher Metals Corp. (https://kingfishermetals.com/) is a Canadian based exploration company focused on underexplored district-scale projects in British Columbia, including the Golden Triangle region. Kingfisher has three 100% owned district-scale projects and an option to earn 100% of the HWY 37 Project, that offer potential exposure to gold, copper, silver, and zinc. The Company currently has 130,586,151 shares outstanding. For further information, please contact: Dustin Perry, P.Geo.

CEO and Director

Phone: +1 778 606 2507

E-Mail: info@kingfishermetals.com Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's property. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things: formulation of plans for drill testing; and the success related to any future exploration or development programs. These forward-looking statements and information reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. These assumptions include; success of the Company's projects; prices for gold remaining as estimated; currency exchange rates remaining as estimated; availability of funds for the Company's projects; capital, decommissioning and reclamation estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); no labour- related disruptions; no unplanned delays or interruptions in scheduled construction and production; all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals are received in a timely manner; and the ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. The Company cautions the reader that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: risks related to fluctuations in gold prices; fluctuations in prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar); operational risks and hazards inherent with the business of mineral exploration; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards; our ability to obtain all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in a timely manner; changes in laws, regulations and government practices, including environmental, export and import laws and regulations; legal restrictions relating to mineral exploration; increased competition in the mining industry for equipment and qualified personnel; the availability of additional capital; title matters and the additional risks identified in our filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR+ in Canada (available at www.sedarplus.ca ). Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described, or intended. Investors are cautioned against undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. SOURCE: Kingfisher Metals Corp.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
A Rarity Like No Other: Hard Asset Management Adds Unique 1907 Proof $10 Rolled Edge to Its Reserve Collection

SAN JUAN, PR / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / In a landmark acquisition, Hard Asset Management proudly announces the addition of the singularly unique 1907 $10 Rolled Edge Satin Finish Graded PCGS PR67 to its prestigious reserve collection. This coin is a marvel in the entire numismatic community, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of rarity, historical significance, and impeccable craftsmanship.

The 1907 $10 Indian Rolled Edge variety stands as a beacon of rarity and historical importance in the realm of U.S. numismatics. While the business strike version of this coin is already among the rarest, with a net mintage of just 42 pieces, the proof version is in a league of its own.

This unique proof coin, previously owned by U.S. Mint Director F.A. Leach and billionaire Texas Rangers owner Bob Simpson, is the only known proof striking example in existence, solidifying its status as a numismatic giant.

Christian Briggs, CEO of Hard Asset Management, expressed his enthusiasm for this extraordinary acquisition, stating, "This 1907 $10 Rolled Edge PCGS proof 67 is a museum-class ultra-rarity that represents the pinnacle of coin collecting. It's not just a coin; it's a one-of-a-kind piece of art, a segment of unimaginable historical significance, and a testament to the vision of President Theodore Roosevelt and Master Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens."

This 1907 Rolled Edge Eagle, certified PCGS PR67 Satin Finish, is astounding in every aspect, setting itself apart as something special, unlike any others of its kind. With just four owners since it was first issued, it has escaped the normal handling that most others witnessed. The surfaces are brilliant and satiny, and the strike is exceptionally bold, revealing details often unseen in other examples.

According to documents from PCGS, this is the same coin that sold at a public auction in 2011 for nearly $2.2 million. Its recent valuation, considering comparable pieces, suggests it is significantly undervalued, given its unparalleled rarity and condition. Recognized by many industry leaders, dealers, and collectors in the numismatic community worldwide, the 1907 Rolled Edge Satin Finish Proof 67 $10 Indian is considered to have as much historical significance, importance, and value as the 1794 $1 (which sold for $10 million in 2013), the 1804 $1 (sold for $7.86 million in 2021), and the 1933 Double Eagle (sold for $18.9 million). Its significance is considered priceless. This acquisition by Hard Asset Management clearly demonstrates the company's dedication to providing its clients with access to the most extraordinary and significant numismatic pieces in the world.

Contact Information:

John Grainer

info@bmcham.com

844-426-4653

SOURCE: Hard Asset Management, Inc.

View the original press release on newswire.com.
Oakville, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - FendX Technologies Inc. (CSE: FNDX) (OTCQB: FDXTF) (FSE: E8D) (the "Company" or "FendX"), a nanotechnology company developing surface protection coatings to reduce the spread of pathogens, is pleased to announce that the Company has completed a second pilot manufacturing run on Dunmore International Corp.'s ("Dunmore") commercial manufacturing equipment which was successful in furthering optimization of the REPELWRAP film manufacturing process and advancement of the Company's scale-up development initiatives of REPELWRAP film.

The results of the first pilot manufacturing run, announced on October 3, 2023, confirmed the REPELWRAP film formulation can be scaled-up and was suitable for automated manufacturing. The first pilot run involved a two-pass coating process that involved the sequential coating of a roll of plastic film with each chemical used in the formulation, which required adjustments to the manufacturing line between each coating. This first run was successful and resulted in production of intermediate sized sheets of film covered with the Company's nanotechnology, and even with the adjustments between coatings, significantly reduced the manufacturing time compared to the McMaster University's ("McMaster") original lab prototype which took approximately 24 hours.

In this second pilot run, the Company looked to further optimize the manufacturing process and further reduce manufacturing time. Using Dunmore's commercial manufacturing equipment, the Company tested coating the plastic film roll in only one pass with a solution that combined all the chemicals used in the Company's REPELWRAP film formulation, so that no adjustments would be needed to the manufacturing line since there was only one coating to be applied. This second pilot run confirmed the plastic film could be coated with a combined mixture and reduce the manufacturing time compared to the first pilot run, which supports the Company's ability to further advance and optimize the manufacturing process. The Company plans to continue to refine the manufacturing process and conduct further testing including real world conditions testing.

"We are pleased with the advancements we are making as we continue to optimize the manufacturing process of the REPELWRAP film formulation and are confident that we are on track to produce a product that meets the repelling properties we aim for in a cost-efficient way." Carolyn Myers, CEO of FendX. "Our collaboration with Dunmore and McMaster is proving to be very valuable in our efforts to advance the manufacturing process as demonstrated in our first and second pilot manufacturing runs."

The Company entered into a development stage agreement with Dunmore, a Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (NYSE: SPLP) operating company to assess scale-up of REPELWRAP film, as previously announced on April 12, 2023. On June 22, 2023, the Company announced they had successfully completed the first phase of the work to adapt McMaster University's lab prototype formula to Dunmore's manufacturing process. The second phase of the work, which is in progress, is to conduct automated pilot runs on Dunmore's commercial manufacturing equipment.

About REPELWRAP film

REPELWRAP film is the Company's first product under development and is a protective surface coating film that leverages the Company's award-winning nanotechnology. REPELWRAP film has demonstrated unique repelling properties that prevent the adhesion of pathogens, bacteria, and viruses, reducing their transmission on surfaces prone to contamination. The Company believes REPELWRAP film will have applications in healthcare settings and other industries.

About Dunmore International Corp.

Dunmore is a global manufacturer of engineered coated and laminated films and foils with manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Germany. Dunmore offers film conversion services such as coating, metallizing, and laminating along with contract film manufacturing and custom film product development. Dunmore services a diverse group of industries including aircraft, spacecraft, photovoltaic, graphic arts & labels, packaging, and insulation. Dunmore is a subsidiary of Steel Partners and is ISO 9001:2015 and OSHA VPP Star certified.

About FendX Technologies Inc.

FendX is a Canada-based nanotechnology company focused on developing products to make people's lives safer by reducing the spread of pathogens. The Company is developing both film and spray products to protect surfaces from contamination. The lead product under development, REPELWRAP film, is a protective surface coating film that, due to its repelling properties, prevents the adhesion of pathogens and reduces their transmission on surfaces prone to contamination. The spray nanotechnology is a bifunctional spray coating being developed to reduce contamination on surfaces by repelling and killing pathogens. The Company is conducting research and development activities using its nanotechnology in collaboration with industry-leading partners, including McMaster University. The Company has an exclusive worldwide license to its technology and IP portfolio from McMaster, which encompass both film and spray coating nanotechnology formulations.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Carolyn Myers"

Carolyn Myers

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Contacts:

Dr. Carolyn Myers, CEO and Director

1-800-344-9868

Alyssa Barry, Investor Relations

1-833-947-5227

investor@fendxtech.com

For more information, please visit https://fendxtech.com/ and the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including with respect to: the plans of the Company; statements regarding conducting further refinement of the films and conducting further testing, including real world conditions testing; statements regarding the Company's intention to refine and optimize the manufacturing process of the REPELWRAP film formulation and belief the Company is on track to produce a product that meets the repelling properties it aims for in a cost-efficient way; statements regarding the Company's scale-up and commercialization initiatives; the Company's belief that REPELWRAP will have applications in healthcare settings and other industries; and products under development and any pathogen reduction benefits related thereto. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and involve several risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and that actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Important factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include: product candidates only being in formulation/reformulation stages; limited operating history; research and development activities; dependence on collaborative partners, licensors and others; effect of general economic and political conditions; and other risk factors set forth in the Company's public filings which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Accordingly, the reader is urged to refer to the Company's such filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors should change.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193734

SOURCE: FendX Technologies Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Eureka Lithium Corp. (CSE: ERKA) (OTCQB: UREKF) (FSE: S580) ("Eureka Lithium" or "Eureka" or the "Company"), continues its review and assessment of the Lac La Motte lithium project (see Press Release December 8th, 2023) as part of its Due Diligence period under the letter of intent, to be followed by the negotiation and drafting of the Definitive Agreement with the optionor, Medaro Mining Corp., ("Medaro" or "the Optionor").

The Lac La Motte property is located in La Corne township, in the prolific mining area of the Abitibi- Temiscamingue region, Quebec province, 40 kilometres ("km") northwest of the city of Val d'Or. Spodumene lithium occurrences hosted in the intrusive rocks of the La Corne Batholithe have been explored since the 1950s, with the "La Corne Region" renowned as one of the world's most prospective and active area for hard rock lithium deposits.





Lac La Motte property map



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The Property is situated almost mid-way between the North American Lithium (NAL) mine and the Authier project. The NAL operation started in March 2023, and is Quebec's only producing lithium mine, and Canada's most recent producer owned by Sayona Quebec, a joint venture between Australia's Sayona Mining Ltd. & North Carolina's Piedmont Lithium Inc. Sayona Mining also owns the Authier project in Lac Motte Township, which is at the permit stage for open pit production, with processing at the NAL site. With two operating lithium mines in the near term, and numerous advanced and early-stage projects the La Motte-La Corne area represents an emerging "lithium hub". The Company's Lac La Motte project is located 9 kms east of the Authier Project, and 15 kms west of the NAL Mine.

Jeff Wilson, CEO of Eureka Lithium, stated: "We are excited about the opportunity the Lac La Motte project presents to Eureka and its shareholders. Should our due diligence lead us to proceed to a Definitive Agreement, the favourable terms under which Eureka can earn a 100% interest in the project allows Eureka to put money in the ground in exploration and drilling expenditures on a prospective project with year-round access. Furthermore, the high-quality work and advancement of targets by prior operators provides Eureka with a drill-ready and drill-permitted asset with multiple compelling target areas to test in the coming months."

Two areas key areas of interest have been identified on the Lac La Motte Property, designated as the West Target and East Target, respectively.

East Target

The East Target is located near the southeast corner of Lac La Motte, approximately 300 metres ("m") inland from the lake shore. Sampling, prospecting and mapping by the Optionor in 2022 identified multiple spodumene occurrences, which was investigated with surface sampling and a 9 hole diamond drill program (MD22-01 to 09). The work was mainly focussed along a roughly 500 m long pegmatite trend partially exposed at surface with widths in the range of 0.5 to 2 metres.

Work Results Highlights:

The surface samples result from the main La Motte showing indicate lithium oxide (Li2O) values in the range of less than 0.02% Li2O to 2.58% Li2O.

Drill Hole MD22-02 Intersected a 0.7 m wide pegmatite with 0.89% lithium oxide (Li2O) at 72.7 m drilled depth.

Drill Hole MD22-05 Intersected three pegmatites: top 0.79 m wide with 1.34% Li2O at 13.18 m depth; middle 0.7 m wide with 0.5% Li2O at 20 m depth; lower 0.81 m wide at 0.78% Li2O at 22.92 m depth.

Drill Hole MD22-06 Intersected three pegmatites: top 0.11 m wide with 1.10% Li2O at 31.95 m depth; middle 0.87 m wide with 1.01% Li2O at 34.53 m depth; lower 0.80 m wide at 0.55% Li2O at 37.58 m depth.

Drill Hole MD22-07 Intersected 1.76 m wide pegmatite with average 4,375 ppm Li / 0.94% Li2O.

Drill Hole MD22-08 Intersected two pegmatites: Upper 1.33 m wide with 1.49% Li2O at 36 m depth; and lower 0.93 m wide at 88% Li2O at 41.2 m depth.







East Target 2022 Drill Hole Map



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West Target

The West Target comprises an historical lithium spodumene prospect "La Motte VII-47" discovered in the 1950s, with the "La Motte" showing located approximately 280 metres to the northeast, discovered in 2010. Spodumene mineralization is hosted in a pegmatite dike cutting metasedimentary rocks of the Caste Formation (Kewagama Group) which are in contact to the west with basalts of the La Motte-Vassan Formation (Malartic Group). In 2022, the Optionor completed five (5) diamond drill holes (MD22-10 to 15) over the La Motte showing, over a NNW-SSE strike of approximately 240 metres. The drill holes intersected multiple low-grade pegmatites.

In 2022, the Optionor also contracted CC Explorations LLC for Satellite Imaging Technology (SIT) to define lithium exploration targets in the West Target area. The SIT survey was able to detect and plot potential lithium concentrations, possibly veins but appearing to run along contact zones as well as indications of outcrops in the bedrock surrounding these areas at depth and near surface.







West Target 2022 Drill Hole Maps



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SIT Lithium Targets at the West Area



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The optionor has reported (see press release February 15, 2023) that all intersections reported are based on drilled widths and have not been converted to the true width. The drill core from the 2022 program was logged and sampled at facility located about 50 kilometres from the property in the village of Saint-Dominique-du-Rosaire. The samples were bagged and tagged, using best practices, and were delivered to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, Ont., for sample preparation and analyses, using laboratory code Ultratrace 7 and sodium peroxide fusion (Na2O2). Activation Laboratories is an independent, commercial, ISO-certified laboratory.

The Optionor reports that the pegmatites encountered within the significant drill intercepts correlate strongly with the historical diamond drilling completed on the property in the 1950s. Results from the Optionor's 2022 field prospecting and sampling program was the basis for deciding on the targets for the 2022 drill program. The 2022 results are being compiled and assessed by Eureka and this information will be used to plan a follow-up drill program at the property in 1st quarter 2024, subject to Eureka's completion of its due diligence process and election to proceed with the Option.

The Optionor has acquired 15 additional claims in the Lac La Motte area which can also be included in the final Property Purchase agreement.

About Satellite Imaging Technology (SIT)

The Optionor contracted CC Explorations LLC of the USA to complete a first phase Satellite Assessment over a part of the CYR Lithium Property. CC Exploration provided the following rationale for usefulness of their technology to define lithium exploration targets at depth:

Satellite technology has been around for almost 80 years and there are continuous new developments on applications. The study of molecular structures ( atoms, protons, neutrons ) has been going on for centuries and each element of the periodic table has its own structure. Every element on the periodic table and any other material product , organic or inorganic , has its own measurable frequency. This includes all metals, oil and gas, water. One satellite-based technology has been deployed now for over a decade and that is NMR technology, or nuclear magnetic resonance in which the satellite can capture neutron measurements. These can then be extrapolated into readings of different elements and subsurface bodies. This is a fast reconnaissance instrument and can be used as a prospecting instrument to guide any future follow up. In practical operations CC Exploration first do the satellite imaging which confirms the presence of the target element. This information then provides GPS locations to place the ground sensors. Frequency density data is then collected for 30 days onto SD cards. At the end of 30 days the cards are shipped to the research facility for processing and 3-D modelling.

Table 1: East Target Drill Holes Results 2022

DRILL HOLE ID FROM (m) TO (m) LENGTH Li (ppm) Li2O % COMMENTS MD22-01 14.57 15.6 1.03 64 0.01 Intersected three pegmatites: top 1.03 m wide with 64 ppm Li at 14.57 m depth; middle 0.94 m wide with 1,420 ppm Li at 59.5 m depth; and lower 0.67 m wide at 1,310 ppm Li at 75.7 m depth. 59.5 60.44 0.94 1420 0.31 75.7 76.37 0.67 1310 0.28 MD22-02 11.4 12.3 0.90 56 0.01 0.7 m wide pegmatite with 0.89% Li2O at 72.7 m drilled depth 20.7 21.23 0.53 244 0.05 72 72.7 0.70 142 0.03 72.7 73.4 0.70 4160 0.89 117.69 118.53 0.84 77 0.02 MD-22-03 23.6 24 0.4 386 0.08 Two pegmatites: top 1.06 m at 0.6% Li2O at 24.12 m; lower 1 m at 0.17% Li2O at 62.2 m drilled depth 24.12 25.18 1.06 2780 0.60 26.43 26.85 0.42 179 0.04 62.2 63.2 1 806 0.17 129.2 129.65 0.45 46 0.01 137.66 138.2 0.54 59 0.01 MD-22-04 4.72 5.17 0.45 < 15

Intersected 0.62 m wide pegmatite with 381 parts per million (ppm) Li at 59.68 m depth 59.68 60.3 0.62 381 0.08 MD-22-05 13.18 13.97 0.79 6240 1.34 Intersected three pegmatites: top 0.79 m wide with 1.34% Li2O at 13.18 m depth; middle 0.7 m wide with 0.5% Li2O at 20 m depth; lower 0.81 m wide at 0.78% Li2O at 22.92 m depth. 20 20.7 0.70 2330 0.50 22.92 23.73 0.81 3650 0.78 MD22-06 31.95 32.06 0.11 5110 1.10 Intersected three pegmatites: top 0.11 m wide with 1.10% Li2O at 31.95 m depth; middle 0.87 m wide with 1.01% Li2O at 34.53 m depth; lower 0.80 m wide at 0.55% Li2O at 37.58 m depth. 34.53 35.4 0.87 4680 1.01 37.58 38.38 0.80 2550 0.55 48 48.4 0.40 173 0.04 119.25 120 0.75 253 0.05 MD22-07 37.34 38.23 0.89 3060 0.66 1.76 m wide pegmatite with average 4,375 ppm Li / 0.94% Li2O 38.23 39.1 0.87 5690 1.22 37.34 39.1 1.76 4375 0.94 MD22-08 36 36.62 0.62 5110 1.10 Intersected two pegmatites: Upper 1.33 m wide with 1.49% Li2O at 36 m depth; lower 0.93 m wide at 88% Li2O at 41.2 m depth. 36.62 37.33 0.71 8710 1.87 36 37.33 1.33 6910 1.49 41.2 42.13 0.93 4080 0.88 47.93 48.38 0.45 199 0.04 MD22-09 144 144.59 0.59 210 0.05 One 0.59 m wide pegmatite with 210 ppm Li at 144 m depth

Table 2: West Target Drill Holes Results 2022

DRILL HOLE ID FROM (m) TO (m) LENGTH Li (ppm) Li2O % COMMENTS MD22-10 3 4 1.00 227 0.05 Intersected two pegmatites: Upper 1.60 m wide with 167.5 ppm Li at 3 m depth; lower 0.93 m wide at 204 ppm Li at 29.07 m depth. 4 4.6 0.60 108 0.02 3 4.6 1.60 167.5

29.07 29.49 0.42 169 0.04 29.49 30 0.51 239 0.05 29.07 30 0.93 204

MD22-11 57.93 63 5.07 31.2 0.01 Intersected multiple lower grade pegmatites including two mains: upper 5.07 m wide with 31.2 ppm Li at 57.93 m depth; lower 14.13 m wide at 53.80 ppm Li at 53.80 m depth. 64.37 78.5 14.13 53.80 0.01 81.18 81.81 0.63 70 0.02 93.2 93.83 0.63 60 0.01 100.74 101.3 0.56 61 0.01 105.4 106.2 0.80 141 0.03 8.25 9.08 0.83 61 0.01 MD22-12 47.67 48.72 1.05 65 0.01 Intersected 1.03 m wide pegmatite with 1,080 ppm Li at 46.9 m depth. MD22-13 48.2 49 0.80 51 0.01 Intersected two low grade pegmatites: upper 0.80 m grading 51 ppm Li at 48.2 m, lower 1.16 m grading 60 ppm Li at 49 m depth. 49 50.16 1.16 60 0.01 MD22-14









No significant mineralization MD22-15 32.22 33.1 0.88 373.00 0.08 One 0.88 m wide pegmatite with 373 ppm Li at 33.22 m depth

Corporate Video

To view a new Eureka Lithium corporate video, visit www.EurekaLithiumCorp.com (https://eurekalithiumcorp.com) or the following URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vvm0zfNFp4

Corporate Presentation

Visit the Eureka Lithium homepage or click on the following URL to view the Company's Corporate Presentation:

https://eurekalithiumcorp.com/EurekaLithium_Q3_2023.pdf

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Afzaal Pirzada, P. Geo., who is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Eureka Lithium Corp.

Eureka Lithium is the largest lithium-focused landowner in the northern third of Quebec, known as the Nunavik region, with 100-per-cent ownership of three projects comprising 1,408 square km in the emerging Raglan West, Raglan South and New Leaf lithium camps. These claims were acquired from legendary prospector Shawn Ryan and are located in a region that hosts two operating nickel mines with deep-sea port access. The recent acquisition of the La Motte lithium project near Val D'Or, Quebec broadens Eureka Lithium's holdings into the heart of Canada's major lithium production district.

For more information please contact:

Jeffrey Wilson

Chief Executive Officer

Email: info@eurekalithiumcorp.com

Cautionary Statement

Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements which may contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", or similar expressions, and statements related to matters which are not historical facts, such as statements regarding the contemplated completion of the Acquisition and the Concurrent Financing, are forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations and are based on certain factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct, nor that the Acquisition will be completed as contemplated, or at all, or that the Concurrent Financing will be completed as contemplated, or at all. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any future revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by law.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193760

SOURCE: Eureka Lithium Corp.
CHICAGO, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Industrial Utility Communication Market by Technology (Wired, Wireless), Component (Hardware, Software, Services), End-use Industry( Power Generation, , AC Transmission, Oil & Gas, Transportation), and Region - Global Forecast to 2028", industrial utility communication market is projected to reach USD 4.2 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 6.0% from USD 3.1 billion in 2023.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Industrial Utility Communication Market"

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The growth of the industrial utility communication market is primarily driven by an increasing need for wireless communication solutions and the widespread integration of smart grid technologies, the surge in demand for utility communication systems is evident. For instance, the U.S. government's unveiling of a $3.5 billion investment in the country's electric grid infrastructure which includes enhancement of utility communication systems, signifies a significant step toward bolstering industrial utility communication market. Industrial utility communication enables seamless data transmission and control within industries like power, water, transportation, and other utility industries. It enables real-time monitoring, facilitates predictive maintenance, and enhances operational efficiency across diverse industries.

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"Oil & Gas by end-use industry is projected to be the largest, in terms of value, during the forecast period."

The oil and gas industry holds the largest market share in industrial utility communication due to its unique operational demands and the critical need for seamless, efficient, and safe communication across expansive and often remote operations. This sector operates in complex and hazardous environments, including offshore drilling rigs, refineries, and pipelines, where reliable communication is essential for safety, operational efficiency, and emergency response. Industrial utility communication technologies in oil and gas facilitate real-time monitoring of equipment, remote data transmission, predictive maintenance, and the integration of IoT devices to optimize production, enhance worker safety, and prevent costly downtime. Additionally, the industry's massive infrastructure, substantial investments in technology, and stringent compliance with regulatory standards drive the significant adoption of advanced communication solutions, making it a dominant in the industrial utility communication market.

"Hardware by component type is projected to be the largest, in terms of value, during the forecast period."

Hardware holds the largest market share in the industrial utility communication market primarily due to its foundational role in establishing the infrastructure required for communication systems. Hardware components encompass a wide array of physical devices, including routers, switches, sensors, transmitters, and other tangible equipment necessary for building communication networks. In industrial settings, especially sectors like manufacturing, energy, and other utility industries, hardware forms the backbone of communication infrastructure, enabling the transmission of data, monitoring of assets, and facilitating seamless connectivity across various devices and machinery. While software and services are essential for optimizing and managing these systems, the initial establishment and continuous support rely heavily on the robustness and reliability of hardware components, contributing to its predominant market share in industrial utility communication.

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"Wired by technology type is projected to be the largest, in terms of value, during the forecast period."

Wired technology holds the largest market share in industrial utility communication due to its established reliability, stability, and security within industrial environments. Wired communication systems, such as Ethernet and fiber optics, offer consistent and high-speed data transmission, ensuring low latency and minimal interference, crucial for industries reliant on real-time monitoring and control. In industrial settings like manufacturing plants, oil refineries and other utilities, where critical operations demand uninterrupted connectivity and stringent security measures, wired technology remains preferred for its robustness and resilience against electromagnetic interference. While wireless technology offers flexibility and mobility, wired solutions continue to dominate due to their proven track record in delivering consistent performance and meeting the stringent demands of industrial utility communication systems.

"Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest market for industrial utility communication market during the forecast period, in terms of value."

The Asia Pacific region commands the largest market share in industrial utility communication due to several factors. Firstly, this region is home to rapidly growing economies like China, India, Japan, and South Korea, fostering substantial industrial development and technological advancements. With a burgeoning industrial sector ranging from manufacturing to utilities, there's a significant demand for robust communication systems to optimize operations. Moreover, government initiatives and investments in infrastructure, particularly in smart cities and industrial automation, propel the need for advanced utility communication technologies. The region's vast population and increasing urbanization also drive the expansion of utilities and energy sectors, further boosting the demand for communication solutions.

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Key Players

The key players in this market are General Electric (US), Siemens (Germany), Schneider Electric (France), Hitachi Energy Ltd. (Switzerland), FUJITSU (Japan), Motorola Solutions, Inc. (US), Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Sweden), Nokia (Finland), Itron Inc. (US), Cisco Systems, Inc. (US), Emerson Electric Co. (US) etc. New product launches and partnerhsips are the major growth strategies adopted by the key players in the market.

Browse Adjacent Market: Equipment Machine and Tooling Market Research & Consulting

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The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry.

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The Motor Enclave will park 1,000+ cars on its 1.6-mile Formula 1-style track. World-renowned automotive influencer Tim Burton (a.k.a. "Shmee150") to host event

TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / The Motor Enclave has received an overwhelming response to the announcement of its inaugural "Cars En Coffee" event coming January 13, 2024. Cars En Coffee is a free event open to the public that will be held at The Motor Enclave Tampa, a 200-acre experiential motorsports venue conveniently located at the corner of I-4 and I-75, less than 15 minutes from downtown Tampa.

The Motor Enclave Cars En Coffee Graphic

The Motor Enclave Cars En Coffee 1st Edition coming on January 13, 2024, from 8-11 a.m.

Since the initial announcement in November, The Motor Enclave has received over 2,500 RSVPs for this free admission event and is preparing to fill its 1.6-mile Formula 1-designed track for the car show, cleverly named "Cars En Coffee." The event is scheduled for Saturday, January 13 from 8-11 a.m. and is open to classic, exotic, muscle and any other collector vehicles.

Automotive content creator Tim Burton (a.k.a. "Shmee150") will serve as honorary host of the event and be present to meet and greet fans, and shoot content for his vast social media audience. Tim is known globally for sharing his personal experiences in the luxury automotive world via content with an honest and personal touch that is not found elsewhere. He connects with fans, friends, followers and partners via many social media streams, and in particular YouTube videos.

"What other way is there to open the largest Private Garage community in the world than hosting the largest car show in Florida and having one of the top automotive content creators in the world present?" said Enclave Founder/CEO Brad Oleshansky. "Construction of our motorsport paradise is coming to an end and our outlook for corporate and public events has never been greater. I want this event and future Cars En Coffee's to be free to the public so all enthusiasts can enjoy our facility."

About The Motor Enclave: The Motor Enclave is the premier developer of experiential motorsports venues in North America. Our 200-acre development in Tampa, Florida, includes a 1.6-mile Hermann Tilke-designed driving circuit, a 2-acre vehicle dynamics pad, a 100-acre off-road experience with miles of purpose-built trails, a 37,000-square-foot corporate event center, and the largest Private Garage community in the world with more than 300 privately-owned luxury garages. Every adrenaline-filled detail has been designed and engineered around delivering memorable experiences to our owners/members, corporate clients, and the general public. Complete details can be found at www.themotorenclave.com

Contact Information:

Hank Johnson

Marketing Manager

hank@themotorenclave.com

864-918-1802

Brad Oleshansky

CEO

brad@themotorenclave.com

Chas Ostezan

CRO

chas@themotorenclave.com

248-878-3651

SOURCE: The Motor Enclave

View the original press release on newswire.com.
Logicalis' Digital Fabric Platform features new capabilities to drive business outcomes and improve enterprise-wide visibility, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The award-winning platform now includes a streamlined user interface with richer insights, an overall infrastructure health score and AI-powered recommendations in areas including sustainability, security, and cost.

LONDON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Logicalis, the leading global technology service provider, today announces the release of the next generation of its Digital Fabric Platform, providing CIOs with deeper-level insights and recommendations to underpin the performance of their entire digital ecosystem.

The Digital Fabric Platform was first launched by Logicalis in April 2023, designed to give CIOs a real-time view of how their entire digital ecosystem is performing across five metrics including reliability, security and compliance, economics, user experience and environment, and benchmarked across industry standards. Following a successful initial uptake from over 200 digital managed services customers across EMEA, Australia and the United States, Logicalis has updated the platform with a focus on providing more detailed insights, greater transparency, and actionable AI-powered recommendations.

The key updates in the Digital Fabric Platform Include:

Updated UI - The enhanced user interface is clean and visually appealing, making it easy for users to visualise their insights on a single page and action recommendations immediately.

Overall health score - the platform gives an overall health score that looks beyond individual devices or configuration items to the entire network, cloud, security and workplace service.

Deeper insights - The upgraded platform shows high, medium and low-impact recommendations to improve the health of a customer's digital ecosystem, alongside historical progress and performance data and estimated versus actual savings made. This expanded intelligence empowers CIOs to swiftly identify key priorities to improve their digital fabric with the help of AI and automation tools.

Knowledge base - A new knowledge base section will act as an encyclopedia of the tool, giving customers answers to any questions they may have from how Logicalis calculates metrics, to interpreting health scores. This vault will continuously evolve to match customer needs enabling them to navigate the platform and insights confidently.

Toby Alcock, CTO, Logicalis says: "We're excited to unveil our latest Digital Fabric Platform release to the market. Our customers' voices and feedback are at the heart of our continuous product innovation and have been the driving force behind these platform enhancements. Through the platform's new interface and richer insights, we're empowering the CIO with board-level visibility."

About Logicalis

We are Architects of Change. We help organisations succeed in a digital-first world. At Logicalis, we harness our collective technology expertise to help our clients build a blueprint for success, so they can deliver sustainable outcomes that matter.

Our lifecycle services across cloud, connectivity, collaboration and security are designed to help optimise operations, reduce risk and empower employees.

As a global technology service provider, we deliver next-generation digital managed services, to provide our clients with real-time visibility and actionable insights across the performance of their digital ecosystem including; reliability, user experience, security, economic performance and sustainability.

Our 7000+ 'Architects of Change' are based in 30 territories around the globe, helping our 10,000+ clients across a range of industry sectors, create sustainable outcomes through technology.

Logicalis has annualised revenues of $1.7 billion, from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Africa.

It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $5.1 billion.

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"Go to the People" will be released in 2024. Every homeless person has their own story to tell about their journey to the street.

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / A new film from Backstory Partners documents the incredible efforts of Dr. James Withers, MD FACP, a physician within the Pittsburgh Mercy health system, and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and his outreach work bringing medical help to the homeless.

Go to the People

Inspired by childhood memories of accompanying his father, a family physician, on house calls, and his mother, a nurse, on home-care visits, Dr. Jim Withers began providing medical care to Pittsburgh's unsheltered homeless population in 1992.

Initially dressing as a homeless person, "Dr. Jim" began making nighttime street rounds in the alleys and under the bridges of the city. Inspired by this noble outreach, other clinical volunteers joined in, and Operation Safety Net was born. Today, the program is recognized as one of the nation's first full-time "street medicine" concerns, and it continues to set the standard for this unique form of health care. Over time, Dr. Withers' work inspired a movement that has since spread throughout the nation and the world. A new documentary called "Go to the People" communicates Dr. Jim's holistic health care vision while showing his efforts firsthand and describing the effects of the movement he has promulgated.

"When I decided to make this film, Dr. Withers told me that I would be changed by it, and he was right. I learned from Dr. Jim that every interaction with homeless people must begin with listening to their concerns and, sometimes, just hearing their stories." -- Jeff Sewald, Backstory's Writer-Producer of the film.

"My work with people living on the streets came not so much from my sense that they needed me, but that I needed them. What I do is modeled on the house calls that I made with my dad. To him, every patient was a person first. His visits were a means of connecting with the needy. I have begun to see pieces of myself in each homeless person I met. It's been a privilege to be welcomed into their camps, to connect with them as human beings. I have come to see health care and health care training as a giant machine that serves its own purposes rather than those of the people who are ill or suffering." -- Dr. Jim Withers.

For more information, visit: Go To The People - FilmFreeway

WHAT: "Go to the People", Documentary

WHEN: To be released in 2024

Contact Information

Cherry Hepburn

Publicist

cherry@putnam-smith.com

818.505.1104

Megan McVey

Assn. Publicist

megan@putnam-smith.com

818.505.1104

Related Images

Go to the People BackStory Productions Logo

SOURCE: Backstory Partners

View the original press release on newswire.com.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CNSX:PM)(FRA:FIR)(OTCQB:PMMCF) is pleased to advise that it has identified an additional zone of undrilled and outcropping porphyry related quartz-vein stockworks coincident with geophysical and geochemical anomalies at the Piuquenes Porphyry Copper-Gold Project.

Piuquenes East Stockwork Zone

Since optioning the Piuquenes Porphyry Copper-Gold Project (refer 30 November 2023 News Release) the Company has completed a comprehensive review of the project's technical data base which includes:

 Detailed Surface Geology and Geochemistry (1:2500);

 Geophysics - Deep 3D PDIP & NSMT (17.8km gDAS24);

 Airborne magnetic/radiometric survey; and

 2,800m of well-preserved historical drill core.

This review, complemented by Pampa Metals' recent drillcore re-logging, field validation and preparatory works for follow-up drilling, has led to the identification of three additional areas of undrilled porphyry intrusives at the Piuquenes Project (refer Figure 2).

One of these zones, referred to as the Piuquenes East prospect, is located immediately proximate to the mineralized Altar North Porphyry held by Aldebaran Resources.

The Piuquenes East prospect is characterized by outcrops of sinuous and banded dark gray quartz veinlets covering an area of 100 x 200m hosted within an altered intermineral porphyry. Alteration is typical of that commonly observed in the epithermal-porphyry transition zone of fully preserved, high level porphyry systems. The mapped stockwork zone is associated with a 400 x 300 m copper-gold soil-rock geochemical anomaly, and co-incident intermediate chargeability and intermediate-high resistivity anomalies in Electrical (IP) Geophysics.

Joseph van den Elsen, the Company's President and CEO, stated: "We are very encouraged by the identification of additional porphyry targets located within a district scale cluster of large, highly mineralized copper-gold porphyry deposits (Altar-Piuquenes porphyry cluster). Adding to the significant intervals of high-grade copper-gold mineralization reported in limited drilling at Piuquenes Central to date (refer 5 December 2023 News Release), the identification of these additional high-quality porphyry targets clearly demonstrates the potential for multiple discoveries within the wider Piuquenes project area. A follow-up diamond drill program primarily focused on testing the depth and lateral extensions of open high grade copper-gold mineralization intersected at Piuquenes Central (558m @ 0.38% Cu, 0.42 g/t Au & 2.4 g/t Ag (0.73% CuEq)* incl. 130m @ 0.81% Cu, 0.6 g/t Au & 4 g/t Ag (1.31 % CuEq)*) will commence shortly, with Piuquenes East a high priority target for phase 2 drilling in 2024."

Figure 1: Piuquenes - Altar Porphyry Cluster

The Company has also identified two additional areas (Piuquenes South and Piuquenes Southwest) of outcropping porphyry intrusives, with evidence of porphyry-type quartz veinlets, on the southern and southwestern edges of the property. These zones are located topographically above Piuquenes East and characterized by rolled blocks of veinlets in domains of epithermal alteration and hydrothermal breccias, indicative of a porphyry system at depth. These two zones also occur co-incident with PDIP geophysical anomalies, including intermediate chargeability and moderate-high resistivity, comparable to those described at Piuquenes and Piuquenes East. Pampa Metals intends to complete follow-up surface mapping and geochemistry on these target areas with a view to defining drill targets for future programs.

Figure 2. Gray banded quartz veining in a fine-grained porphyry rock at Piuquenes East. January 2024

The latest Company Presentation can be accessed at https://pampametals.com/investor/.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

INVESTORS CONTACT

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

Joseph@pampametals.com

ABOUT PAMPA METALS



Pampa Metals is a post-discovery copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry exploration company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE:PM), Frankfurt (FSE:FIRA), and OTC (OTCQB:PMMCD) exchanges.



In November 2023, the Company announced it had entered into an Option and Joint Venture Agreement for the acquisition of an 80% interest in the Piuquenes Copper-Gold Porphyry Project in San Juan Province, Argentina.



Historical intervals of significant copper and gold mineralization at Piuquenes Central (refer 5 December 2023 News Release) include:

 413.5 m (167-580.5 m) @ 0.47% Cu and 0.52 g/t Au (0.87% CuEq)*; and

 558.2 m (362-920.2 m EOH) @ 0.38% Cu & 0.42 g/t Au & 2.4 g/t Ag (0.73% CuEq)*

Including 130 m (362-492 m) @ 0.81% Cu & 0.6 g/t Au & 4 g/t Ag (1.31 % CuEq)*

Qualified Person

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Mario Orrego G. Mr. Orrego G. is a Geologist, a Registered Member of the Chilean Mining Commission and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Orrego G. is a consultant to the Company.

* %CuEq values are calculated based on copper and gold metal prices: Cu = US$3.20/lb, Au = US$1,700/oz and Ag = US$ 20/oz. The formula utilized to calculate %CuEq is: Cu Eq Grade (%) = Cu Head Grade (%) + [(Au Head Grade (g/t) / 31.104) * (Au Price (US$/oz) / Cu Price (US$/lb) / 22.04) + [(Ag Head Grade (g/t) / 31.104) * (Ag Price (US$/oz) / Cu Price (US$/lb) / 22.0.

Note: The reader is cautioned that Pampa Metals' projects are early-stage exploration projects, and reference to existing mines and deposits, or mineralization hosted on adjacent or nearby properties, is not necessarily indicative of any mineralization on Pampa Metals' properties.

Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Pampa Metals expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will" or "may" occur. These statements are subject to various risks. Although Pampa Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guaranteeing of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Pampa Metals Corp.

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Apple AR Glasses Set To Push ARway's AR Navigation Into The Mainstream

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / ARway.ai ("ARway" or the "Company") (CSE:ARWY)(OTCQB:ARWYF)(FSE:E65) is an AI powered Augmented Reality Experience platform with a disruptive no-code, no beacon spatial computing solution enabled by visual marker tracking with centimeter precision is pleased to announce that it's seeing a increase in global demand for its AR platform in anticipation of the launch of Apple's Vision Pro February 2nd, 2024. ARway.ai currently has over 3800+ total accounts, with 4400+ maps created and 43+ pilots and trials. Demand for ARway is accelerating in from around the world for various use-cases and industries looking to leverage the Company's groundbreaking augmented reality and spatial computing technology.

Notable New Deals

Suteki, Sweden

Suteki Interactive is a studio based in Sweden specializing on XR experiences for leading brands across Europe looking to add AR Navigation into their offerings. Suteki creates visual and interactive solutions that are suitable for a number of different areas from marketing and events to simulation and interactive training. Their notable client list includes Samsung, BMW, Whirlpool, AMD, Fiat and more.

Walkk.app, Oman

Walkk.app is an IT Consultants based in Oman integrating ARway with public services systems in museums and convention centers.

African Technopreneurs, South Africa

African Technopreneurs is an XR developer and hardware reseller in South Africa looking to add AR Navigation solutions to their offerings. Their mission is to connect consumers with Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) solutions in Southern Africa & the African continent delivering these VR, AR , and MR tech solutions and training to companies, educational establishments and individuals.

Apple Vision Pro

In September 2023, ARway announced the Company was selected to participate at Apple's Vision Pro Developer Labs in Cupertino, California. As a result, ARway completed a first build of the ARway Platform on Apple's Vision Pro hardware and realityOS operating system. ARway currently delivers optimal performance on iOS devices and will seamlessly integrate into Apple's ecosystem.

Apple announced Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2nd, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online.

CEO Evan Gappelberg commented: "The long awaited Apple AR glasses are here! We have been waiting for this moment since 2019 and I'm extremely excited to announce that it has finally arrived. I see this as an enormous opportunity for early investors to participate in the next big thing augmented reality and spatial computing technology. ARway is purpose built for the Vision Pro Launch"

The consumer adoption of "Apple Vision Pro" will be a massive boost for the augmented reality industry, opening up a new market opportunity for ARway's technology as the Company is a software solution provider for the Apple Vision Pro. ARway.ai's use cases in indoor navigation and recent efforts have focused precisely on AR glasses integration, aligning the Company's vision and execution with the industry shift to 3D/AR.

Recent Tech Updates

As announced last month, ARway recently launched Version 2.7, marking a significant leap forward in its spatial mapping capabilities. This latest version introduces a new enhanced AI-powered process that automates the creation of 400,000 square feet 3D spatial maps from 2D floor plans, significantly improving ARway's platform performance for enterprises and developers. The deployment of this technology at Congohas Airport, Brazil, and a prominent shopping destination in South Africa, showcases its global applicability and scalability.

Watch a video showcase of Version 2.7 - click here

Sign up for Investor News - HERE

To learn more about ARway, please follow on Social Media: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and visit our website: www.arway.ai

About ARway.ai

ARway.ai (CSE:ARWY)(OTCQB:ARWYF)(FSE:E65) is a spatial computing platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) providing an array of augmented reality (AR) experiences for indoor spaces. ARway's breakthrough no-code no-beacon IPNN allows for the easy creation of navigation, tours, information sharing, notifications, advertising and gamification. ARway works seamlessly as a cross platform solution on iOS/ Android. ARway's technology is optimized for both mobile devices and AR glasses: Apple's Vision Pro, Magic Leap and Microsoft's HoloLens. ARway has unlimited use cases for augmenting physical spaces, making it a valuable tool for creators, brands and companies in various industries. The complete ARway platform includes: the Web Creator Studio, the ARwayKit Software Development Kit (SDK) and a mobile app for iOs and Android.

Nextech 3D.ai

On October 26, 2022, ARway.ai. was spun-out from its parent Company, Nextech3D.ai (OTCQX:NEXCF)(CSE:NTAR)(FSE:1SS). Nextech retained a control ownership in ARway.ai. with 13 million shares, or a 50% stake. Nextech3D.ai is a Generative AI powered 3D modeling Company and leading provider of augmented reality ("AR") experience technologies and 3D model services. To learn more about Nextech3D.ai, visit www.nextechar.com

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations Contact

Julia Viola

investor.relations@arway.ai

ARway.ai

Evan Gappelberg

CEO and Director

866-ARITIZE (274-8493)

Forward-looking Statements

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. ARway.ai will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: ARway Corporation

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COQUITLAM, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Grid Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Grid Battery") (TSXV:CELL)(OTCQB:EVKRF)(FRA:NMK2) is pleased to announce that the National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for the Nickel Project, dated December 4, 2023, in the Takla Lake Area, BC and prepared by Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo. (the "Technical Report") has been filed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and can be obtained on the Company's website at gridbatterymetals.com/nickel-project. As a recap, the third phase of our BC Nickel exploration program was completed in 2023 and included a detailed sampling, trenching and initial drilling program.

The proposed exploration budget of approximately CAD$200,000 follows a recommendation contained within the Technical Report. Within this exploration plan, funds have been allocated for exploration work that includes field work on all three claim blocks targeting historic results, vectoring towards elevated DTR Ni, and sampling and mapping of untested magnetic anomalies.

Grid's wholly-owned subsidiary, AC/DC Battery Metals Inc. ("AC/DC"), will carry out the proposed fourth phase exploration plans in 2024. This exploration program will take place following Grid's proposed subsidiary Spin-out plan originally announced on September 28, 2023. As part of the proposed Grid Spin-out plan, current Grid shareholders will receive a common share dividend in AC/DC shares representing a proportionate value in this new public company. This overall transaction is proposed to give our shareholders a bonus - a share in another public company for no additional cost. In order to fund its operations going forward, AC/DC also plans to complete a private placement financing as part of the overall transaction.

After a review by Company management, this exploration contract work has been awarded to Hardline Exploration Corp., ("Hardline") an experienced contract mineral exploration company. Hardline, headquartered in Smithers, BC. Founded in 2014.

Hardline specializes in executing programs on complex exploration projects to generate new discoveries and have a proven track record of successful projects incorporating highly skilled geologists and team members with vast experience across Canada on a variety of deposit types. The Technical Report for the Nickel Project, dated December 4, 2023, was prepared by a Qualified Person, Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo..

About the Company's Nickel Project and Exploration Region in British Columbia

The Nickel Project ("project") consists of five non-contiguous mineral claim blocks in three Groups ("Hard Nickel Centre", "Hard Nickel 3" and "Hard Nickel South"). The exploration stage project is in the Takla Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project.

The Decar Nickel Project is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit within the Permian to Triassic age Cache Creek Complex.

All the claim groups of the project are partially underlain by variably serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit. Metallic mineralization discovered to date on the project includes nickel, cobalt, and chromium, and some of the nickel mineralization occurs as the nickel-iron alloy awaruite, and as sulphide minerals including heazlewoodite, bravoite and siegenite.

The principal target on the project is nickel occurring as awaruite, but at the exploration stage all other styles of mineralization should be considered.

Systematic, ground-based exploration work began within the area of the claims now covered by the Nickel Project under the direction of Ms. Ursula Mowat, P.Geo. in 1987, continuing intermittently until 2012. This work established the presence of elevated nickel, cobalt and chromium values in rocks, soils, and stream sediments.

The area of the claim groups of the project were included in Geoscience BC's QUEST and QUEST-West projects, including multiparameter regional geophysical surveys, and regional stream sediment reanalyzes and data compilations between 2008 and 2009.

R. Britten's technical paper "Regional Metallogeny and Genesis of a New Deposit Type - Disseminated Awaruite (Ni3Fe) Mineralization Hosted in the Cache Creek Terrane published in 2017 in Economic Geology should be utilized as an interim mineral deposit model or profile for the Nickel Project.

The Nickel Project is worthy of phased, systematic exploration programs designed and implemented to delineate areas with known or high probability metallic nickel mineralization, and to discover new areas of similar mineralization.

The exploration stage project is in the Trembleur Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s (TSXV:FPX),(OTC:FPOCF) Decar Nickel Project, which is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit. FPX Nickel Corp. has invested over CAD$25 million developing the Decar Project and plans to issue a Prefeasibility Study this calendar year as announced on June 27, 2023 showing increased nickel recoveries on the project. FPX's Decar Nickel Project is widely recognized as on the 7th largest nickel deposit in the world (Source: Mining.com, May 1, 2023).

Qualified Person

Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by NI 43 - 101, is responsible for the technical information contained in this release regarding Grid's BC Nickel Properties. Readers are cautioned that the information in this press release regarding the property of FPX Nickel Corp is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the property of interest.

About Grid Battery Metals Inc.

Grid Battery Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market. www.gridbatterymetals.com.

About Texas Springs Property

The Company owns a 100% interest in the Texas Spring Property which consists of mineral lode claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The Property is in the Granite Range southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Humbolt Formation.

The Texas Spring property adjoins the southern border of the Nevada North Lithium Project - owned by Surge Battery Metals Inc. ("Surge") (TSXV:NILI),(OTC:NILIF) and comprised of 303 mineral claims. Surge's first round of drilling identified strongly mineralized lithium bearing clays. The average lithium content within all near surface clay zones intersected in the 2022 drilling program, applying a 1000 ppm cut-off, was 3254 ppm. (Press release March 29, 2023). More recent results have shown higher grade lithium up to 8070 ppm on this property after initial drilling (Press release September 12, 2023).

About Clayton Valley Lithium Project

The Company owns a 100% interest in 113 lithium lode and placer claims covering over 640 hectares in Clayton Valley. Clayton Valley is a down-dropped closed basin formed by the Miocene age Great Basin extension and is still active due to movement along the Walker Lane structural zone. As a result, the basin has preserved multiple layers of lithium bearing volcanic ash, resulting from multiple eruptive events over the past 6 million years including eruptions from the 700,000-year-old Long Valley Caldera system and related events. These ash layers are thought to contribute to the lithium brines extracted by Albemarle and are also likely involved in the formation of the exposed lithium rich clay deposits on the east side of Clayton Valley.

Volt Canyon Lithium Property

The Company owns a 100% interest in 80 placer claims covering approximately 635 hectares of alluvial sediments and clays located 122 km northeast of Tonopah, Nevada.

About the British Columbia, Nickel Projects

The Nickel Project consists of three claim blocks with a total area of 5,000 hectares in the area surrounding Mount Sidney Williams, near the Decar project of FPX Nickel Corp., located 100 kilometres northwest of Fort St. James, B.C., in the Omineca mining division. Metallic mineralization includes nickel, cobalt, and chromium, whereby nickel has been recorded in the Fe-Ni alloy awaruite as well as nickel sulphides The Grid Nickel Project are partially underlain by rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit, which consist of variably serpentinized harzburgite, dunite, orthopyroxenite, and locally carbonate-talc altered rocks and listwanite.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim Fernback"

Tim Fernback, President & CEO

Contact Information:

Email: info@gridbatterymetals.com

Phone: 604- 428-5690

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Grid Battery Metals Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Mines and Money, the international event series connecting investors with mining company management teams, takes a moment to acknowledge feedback from attendees this year, starting with the recent Mines and Money @ Resourcing Tomorrow event in December 2023.

Timothy Coughlin, CEO of Royal Road Minerals, shared insights into the event's continuity: "We've been part of Resourcing Tomorrow (formerly Mines and Money) for the last 15 years. It's a valuable platform to connect with both existing and potential investors and gain insights from industry experts during panel and presentation sessions."

Richard Williams, Chairman of Bunker Hill Mining, highlighted the event's practical aspects: "The event featured effective speakers, a well-structured program, and meaningful meetings. The focus on the future and the younger generation was particularly noteworthy."

Investors also provided their perspectives on the event's organisation and content. Nicholas Boyd-Mathews, Chief Investment Officer at Eden Asset Management, noted, "I was impressed with the organization, content, and the opportunity for impactful meetings."

Roby Stancel, a Board Member and Investment Advisor, commended the event for facilitating in-depth discussions and fostering quality connections: "The discussions were thorough, and I made high-quality connections."

Reflecting on Mines and Money @ IMARC in Sydney held in October, Luke Allshorn, Head of Business Development at TMX Group, shared his experience: "It was a busy three days meeting with miners and delegates to discuss the North American capital markets' ecosystem and hear from industry leaders during speaker sessions."

Jamie Gibson, Managing Director, and CEO of KCN, extended congratulations to the IMARC and Mines and Money teams: "Congratulations to the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) and Mines and Money teams for delivering a solid conference in Sydney."

At Mines and Money Melbourne earlier in the year, attendees also expressed their satisfaction.

"I'm based in South Korea and I flew 12 hours to be here for Mines and Money Melbourne, and I'm so glad I did. It was a valuable event," said Robert Smillie, Managing Director of Southern Gold.

"Thank you for getting us into the Money Connect Melbourne 2023 conference. It was well run and well worth attending and participating in," added David A-Izzeddin, Technical Director of Ballymore Resources.

At the beginning of 2023 in February, Mines and Money Miami took place for the first time, Jay Roberge, Managing Director at Tehama Capital, noted, "The 2023 event was excellent. With the shift of investors and bankers to Miami, Mines & Money Miami is a 'must' on the mining investor circuit for 2024."

Gary Lindsay, Head of Investor Relations at Silver One, added, "We found Mines and Money Miami to be excellent, with a good caliber of investors."

Mines and Money remains dedicated to providing a valuable platform for networking and knowledge-sharing within the mining industry.

Event Dates for 2024:

Mines and Money Miami, 22-23 February 2024

Mines and Money @ IMARC, 31 October - 2 November 2024

Mines and Money @ Resourcing Tomorrow, 3 - 5 December 2024

Contact Information:

connect@minesandmoney.com

UK: +44 (0) 20 8004 3888 / AU: +61 (0) 3 9008 5946 / HK: +852 2219 0111

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193678

SOURCE: Mines and Money
Oscillate Plc - Change of Auditor

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 10

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 AMENDED ("MAR"). ON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Oscillate Plc

AQSE: MUSH

("Oscillate" or the "Company")

Change of Auditor

Oscillate is pleased to announce the appointment of Edwards Veeder (UK) Limited as its auditor with immediate effect. They succeed PKF Littlejohn LLP who were the previous auditors.

The appointment of Edwards Veeder (UK) Limited as auditor will be subject to approval by the Company's shareholders at a General Meeting of the Company, to be convened in due course.

The previous auditor, PKF Littlejohn LLP, has deposited with the Company a statement confirming that there are no matters to be brought to the attention of the Company's members or creditors.

Steve Xerri, Executive Director, commented: "The Board now considers that the Company's suite of advisers are suitable for a company of our size and relative simplicity."

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

Enquiries

Company:

John Treacy

ir@oscillateplc.com

https://oscillateplc.com

Corporate Adviser:

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller & Heena Karani

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7220 9796
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 10, 2024TSX-V:SYH)OTCQX:SYHBF)) (the "Company") is pleased to announce plans for an upcoming drill program at its recently optioned 73,294 hectare Russell Lake Uranium Project strategically located in the central core of the Eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Skyharbour is planning 5,000 metres of diamond drilling in ten to twelve holes over the next several months at Russell with mobilization and commencement within the next few weeks. Following the initial phase of drilling at Russell Lake, the Company will move the drill rig over to its adjacent 100% owned, 35,705 hectare high-grade Moore Uranium Project to complete a planned 3,000 metres of drilling in eight to ten holes. The combined 8,000 metre winter drill campaign across the company's core projects is fully funded and permitted with the geologists and drilling crews working out of the exploration camp at the Russell Lake Project, located along the road servicing Cameco's McArthur River Uranium Mine.



Russell Lake Project Location Map:

http://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/SKY-RussellLake-20220325-Inset.jpg

Jordan Trimble, President and CEO of Skyharbour, stated: "The upcoming commencement of our winter diamond drill campaign at both our Russell Lake and Moore Uranium Projects marks the first time Skyharbour will be simultaneously co-advancing these two core projects. This fully funded, 8,000 metre drill campaign will provide ample news flow well into the year as we advance the projects using systematic and proven exploration methodologies coupled with new geological models and targeting strategies. We are confident in the discovery potential and exploration upside at both projects given the high-grade mineralization in historical drill holes along with the many highly prospective target areas hosting the geology necessary for high-grade uranium deposition. We will also be carrying out infill and definition drilling at the high-grade zones at Moore along the Maverick Corridor."

"Skyharbour will have substantial additional news flow and catalysts from its prospect generator business consisting of partner companies advancing some of our other projects throughout the Athabasca Basin. Over the next year, the Company is anticipating the largest combined drilling and exploration programs at its primary projects of Russell and Moore, as well as at its partner-funded projects of Preston, East Preston, Mann Lake, Yurchison, Falcon, and South Falcon East."

Upcoming Winter Diamond Drilling Program at Russell Lake:

Skyharbour will soon initiate its 2024 Exploration Program at the Russell Lake Project, drilling an initial 5,000 metres to follow up on notable historic exploration and findings and test new targets developed by the geological team. Of particular interest for this drilling program will be the Grayling East and Fork targets within the broader Grayling target area as well as the M-Zone Extension target. This initial drill program will total 5,000 metres in ten to twelve drill holes with all targets being road accessible and near the exploration camp.

Russell Lake Project Target Areas:

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/20240110-MainTargetsRussellLake2024.jpg

At the Grayling East target, additional drill testing of the eastern extent of the 2,200 m long, 100 m thick sub-parallel Grayling conductor and associated thrust fault is planned in areas of broadly spaced drill coverage and prospective geophysics and geology. In this area, several conductors are present within a broad magnetic low, and limited historical drilling encountered intervals of significant structural disruption, highly prospective alteration within the sandstone and underlying basement, with local pathfinder element enrichment associated with faulting and graphitic intervals. Further review of the geophysical and geological data from this area suggests that the historical holes may not have hit the main Grayling thrust, instead intersecting splays of the thrust and/or parallel conductors to the south of the main thrust fault. An initial three to four holes, totalling 2,000 m, are planned to test newly developed targets along the Grayling thrust in this area.

Grayling East and Fork Drill Targets:

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/20240110-ForkGraylingEastTargetsRussellLake.jpg

The Fork target is a newly identified target to the west of the Grayling Zone and on-strike of Denison's M-Zone target at their adjacent Wheeler River Project, which has seen renewed interest by Denison in recent years. The target consists of a series of northeast striking and bifurcating conductive trends proximal to and related to a northeast trending magnetic low, with a prominent north-trending lineament associated with the McDougall Lake fault also running through the area. Notable resistivity and gravity targets in conjunction with anomalous geochemistry and prospective structure and alteration within the two historical drill holes in this area make for a compelling target. Three angled holes, totalling 1,500 m are planned for this area as part of the 2024 winter drill program.

M-Zone Extension Drill Targets:

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/20240110-M-ZoneExtensionTargetsRussellLake.jpg

Skyharbour has selected additional drill targets in the M-Zone Extension area, along trend from the Grayling Zone and Denison's M-Zone, where historical drilling intersected basement hosted uranium (up to 0.70% U3O8 over 5.8 m at 374.0 m depth). More recent drilling by Denison in 2020 at the M-Zone encountered additional uranium mineralization with significant faulting, core loss, geochemical anomalies, and radioactivity encountered in other drill holes. Like the Grayling Zone, the mineralization is hosted by a graphitic thrust fault within a significant magnetic low. It is also noted that cross structures associated with Denison's Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits trend onto the Russell Lake property within the M-Zone Extension target area, further enhancing the prospectivity of this target. Three to four holes, totalling 1,500 metres are planned at the M-Zone Extension target on the Russell Lake Project.

Upcoming Winter Diamond Drilling Program at Moore:

Skyharbour will conduct a second phase of drilling consisting of 3,000 metres at its high-grade Moore Project upon completion of the drilling at Russell Lake. Skyharbour plans to carry out infill and expansion drilling at the high-grade Maverick Corridor as well as to test several regional targets including the Grid Nineteen target area. This second phase of drilling will total 3,000 metres in eight to ten drill holes.

Moore Uranium Project Regional Grid Targets Map:

https://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/Moore-Lake-Property-Wide.jpg

Drilling at the Maverick Corridor will focus on identifying new trends and extensions within untested portions of its 4.7 kilometre strike length. Additional drilling is planned within the Maverick Main and East Zones to concentrate on refinement and expansion of the currently identified mineralized zones. The Maverick Main Zone is characterised by basement- and unconformity-hosted mineralization, with a best interval drilled previously by Skyharbour of 6.0% U 3 O 8 over 5.9 metres at 265 metres depth including 20.8% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres in hole ML-199 and historical results of 4.03% eU 3 O 8 over 10 metres, including 20% eU 3 O 8 over 1.4 metres at a depth of 265.0 metres in hole ML-61. At the Maverick East Zone Skyharbour previously drilled a high-grade uranium intercept of 1.79% U 3 O 8 over 11.5m at 270.0 metres depth, including 4.17% U 3 O 8 over 4.5 metres and 9.12% U 3 O 8 over 1.4 metres in hole ML-202. A total of four to six holes totalling 1,500 to 1,800 metres of drilling are planned for the Maverick Main and East Zones as well as at other targets on the Maverick Structural Corridor.

Drilling on regional targets at the Moore Project will consist primarily of drill testing the Grid Nineteen area, where the Slice Pond Conductor and accompanying structural zone has been confirmed by drilling over a strike length of 800 metres to date. The Slice Pond target is typified by structurally disrupted, altered, and geochemically anomalous sandstone and basement rocks, including variably graphitic pelitic gneisses, along with a significant unconformity offset and thrust wedge. All holes drilled to date have intersected highly encouraging graphitic and sulphide bearing basement lithologies accompanied by prospective alteration and anomalous levels of B (=1290 ppm), Th (=445 ppm), Ni (=500 ppm), V (=350 ppm), and U (=421 ppm). A notable intercept of 0.05% U 3 O 8 over 1.0 metre occurs well into the basement in previously drilled hole ML21-07 on the Slice Pond Conductor. The unconformity intercept of the mineralized structure is still untested. Composite geochemical sampling in the second hole on this conductor, previously drilled hole ML21-09, returned samples highly enriched in U (=7.5 ppm U partial ) and B (=161 ppm) over a broad 70 metre interval in the sandstone. A total of four to five holes are anticipated to be drilled at the Grid Nineteen target area as part of the winter drill program at Moore.

Russell Lake Uranium Project Overview:

The Russell Lake Project is a large, advanced-stage uranium exploration property totalling 73,294 hectares strategically located between Cameco's Key Lake and McArthur River Projects and adjoining Denison's Wheeler River Project to the west and Skyharbour's Moore Uranium Project to the east. The northern extension of Highway 914 between the Key Lake Mill and the McArthur River Mine runs through the western extent of the Property and greatly enhances accessibility, with a high-voltage powerline also situated alongside the road. There is a fully permitted exploration camp on the Project suitable for over thirty people located on the highway, within 5 kilometres of Denison's Phoenix deposit. Skyharbour's acquisition of Russell Lake creates a large, nearly contiguous block of highly prospective uranium claims totalling 108,999 hectares between the Russell Lake and the Moore uranium projects.

There has been a meaningful amount of historical exploration carried out at Russell Lake, however most of it was conducted before 2010 prior to the discovery of several major deposits in and around the Athabasca Basin. The Property has been the subject to greater than 95,000 metres of drilling in over 230 drill holes prior to Skyharbour's maiden drill program, with most of this drilling comprising of widely spaced exploratory and reconnaissance drilling. The Property's claims are in good standing for 2-22 years, with significant assessment credits built-up from previous exploration programs.

Several notable exploration targets exist on the property including the Grayling Zone, the M-Zone Extension target, the Little Man Lake target, the Christie Lake target, and the Fox Lake Trail target. More than 35 kilometres of largely untested prospective conductors in areas of low magnetic intensity also exist on the Property. A total of 9,595 metres of drilling in 19 holes was drilled in three phases during 2023 by Skyharbour at Russell Lake. Uranium mineralization was intersected in the majority of holes at the Grayling Zone over a strike length exceeding one kilometre. Drill hole RSL23-01 intersected one of the best ever drill results from the project, returning a 5.9 metre wide intercept of 0.151% U 3 O 8 at a depth of 338.4 metres, which includes 1.0 metres of 0.366% U 3 O 8 at 343.3 metres depth within a thrust wedge.

Moore Uranium Project Overview:

In June 2016, Skyharbour secured an option to acquire Denison Mine's Moore Uranium Project, on the southeastern side of the Athabasca Basin, in northern Saskatchewan and has fulfilled its earn in. The project consists of 12 contiguous claims totaling 35,705 hectares located 42 kilometres northeast of the Key Lake mill, approx. 15 kilometres east of Denison's Wheeler River project, and 39 kilometres south of Cameco's McArthur River uranium mine. Unconformity-type uranium mineralization was discovered on the Moore Project at the Maverick Zone in April 2001. Historical drill highlights include 4.03% eU 3 O 8 over 10 metres, including 20% eU 3 O 8 over 1.4 metres, in ML-161. In 2017, Skyharbour announced drill results of 6.0% U 3 O 8 over 5.9 metres, including 20.8% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres at a vertical depth of 265 metres, in hole ML-199. In addition to the Maverick Zone, the project hosts other mineralized targets with strong discovery potential which the Company plans to test with future drill programs. The project is fully accessible via winter and ice roads which simplifies logistics and lowers costs. Large proportions of the property are accessible in the summer as well.

Moore Lake Uranium Project Geophysics Map:

http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/MooreLake-Basic-geo-revamp.jpg

Qualified Person:

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by David Billard, P.Geo., a Consulting Geologist for Skyharbour as well as a Qualified Person.

About Skyharbour Resources Ltd.:

Skyharbour holds an extensive portfolio of uranium exploration projects in Canada's Athabasca Basin and is well positioned to benefit from improving uranium market fundamentals with twenty-five projects, ten of which are drill-ready, covering over 520,000 hectares (over 1.2 million acres) of land. Skyharbour has acquired from Denison Mines, a large strategic shareholder of the Company, a 100% interest in the Moore Uranium Project which is located 15 kilometres east of Denison's Wheeler River project and 39 kilometres south of Cameco's McArthur River uranium mine. Moore is an advanced-stage uranium exploration property with high-grade uranium mineralization at the Maverick Zone that returned drill results of up to 6.0% U 3 O 8 over 5.9 metres including 20.8% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres at a vertical depth of 265 metres. Adjacent to the Moore Uranium Project is Skyharbour's recently optioned Russell Lake Uranium Project from Rio Tinto, which hosts historical high-grade uranium drill intercepts over a large property area with robust exploration upside potential. The Company is actively advancing these projects through exploration and drill programs.

Skyharbour has joint-ventures with industry-leader Orano Canada Inc. and Azincourt Energy at the Preston and East Preston Projects, respectively, whereby Orano and Azincourt earned majority interests in the projects through exploration expenditures, cash payments and share issuances. Skyharbour also has several active earn-in option partners including: ASX-listed Valor Resources at the Hook Lake Uranium Project; CSE-listed Basin Uranium Corp. at the Mann Lake Uranium Project; CSE-listed Medaro Mining Corp. at the Yurchison Project; Yellow Rocks Energy, a private Australian entity, at the Wallee and Usam Island projects; North Shore Energy Metals at the South Falcon Project; and TSX-V listed Tisdale Clean Energy at the South Falcon East Project which is host to the Fraser Lakes Zone B Uranium and Thorium Deposit.

Collectively, Skyharbour has now signed earn-in option agreements with partners that total to over $37 million in partner-funded exploration expenditures, over $28 million worth of shares being issued and over $19 million in cash payments coming into Skyharbour, assuming that these partner companies complete their entire earn-ins at the respective projects.

Skyharbour's goal is to maximize shareholder value through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.

Skyharbour's Uranium Project Map in the Athabasca Basin:

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/SKY_SaskProject_Locator_20231219_V2.jpg

To find out more about Skyharbour Resources Ltd..

SKYHARBOUR RESOURCES LTD.

"Jordan Trimble"



Jordan Trimble

President and CEO

For further information contact myself or:

Nicholas Coltura

Investor Relations Manager

Skyharbour Resources Ltd.

Telephone: 604-558-5847

Toll Free: 800-567-8181

Facsimile: 604-687-3119

Email: info@skyharbourltd.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

The securities offered 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 or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor in any other jurisdiction.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements, including the Private Placement. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, regulatory approvals, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.comfor further information.
Fully tested and validated solution will enable Tier-1 service providers to leverage open solutions and adopt cutting-edge technologies at large scale

RA'ANANA, Israel, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DriveNets - a leader in innovative networking solutions - and Acacia today announced the completion of integrating multiple Acacia 400G ZR/ZR+ optical modules with DriveNets' Network Cloud platform. The combined DriveNets-Acacia solution will ensure quick adoption of this innovative disaggregated networking solution and accelerate large-scale network rollouts. DriveNets and Acacia have joint Tier-1 operator customers who will deploy the joint solution.

Last September, DriveNets announced that Network Cloud was the first Disaggregated Distributed Chassis/Backbone Router (DDC/DDBR) to support ZR/ZR+ optics as native transceivers that can be inserted into any Network Cloud-supported white boxes. The combined Acacia-DriveNets solution announced today adds the initial collaboration between the companies, offering several benefits:

The joint solution will deliver significant simplicity and cost savings by collapsing Layer-1 to Layer-3 communications into a single platform.

The use of 400ZR/ZR+ eliminates the need for standalone optical transponders, lowering the number of boxes in the solution, and reducing operational-overhead, floor-space, and power.

DriveNets and Acacia worked together to ensure that the DriveNets NOS (DNOS) supports the 400ZR/ZR+ modules beyond simply plugging them into the box. The collaboration ensures the 400ZR/ZR+ modules can be tunable, configurable, and manageable by DriveNets Network Cloud software.

This integration also goes beyond interoperability validation. DriveNets Network Cloud offers full software support for the Acacia modules, including configuration (channel and power), monitoring, and troubleshooting for Acacia Bright 400ZR+ transceivers with transmit power greater than +1dBm.

"Today's announcement is further proof of the growth of disaggregated networking solutions and demonstrates that more operators are looking for open solutions that will allow them to mix elements from multiple vendors and avoid being locked to a specific end-to-end vendor solution," said Nir Gasko, Vice President, Global Strategic Alliances for DriveNets. "By collaborating with Acacia, we enable our joint customers to quickly adopt cutting-edge technologies and evolve their networks faster."

"Partnering with DriveNets on this joint solution will allow network operators to deploy Acacia's high-volume standard-based coherent pluggable portfolio in open disaggregated networks with less effort," said Fenghai Liu, Senior Director of Product Line Management for Acacia. "Through this collaboration customers can achieve significant capex and opex savings with router-based coherent optics."

DriveNets Network Cloud is being adopted by more Tier-1 operators around the world. By partnering with world-class providers like Acacia, the company continues to expand its ecosystem to support its customers' desire to mix-and-match hardware and software from multiple vendors.

Learn more about DriveNets here .

About DriveNets

DriveNets is a leader in high-scale disaggregated networking solutions. Founded in 2015, DriveNets modernizes the way service providers, cloud providers and hyperscalers build networks, streamlining network operations, increasing network performance at scale, and improving their economic model. DriveNets' solutions - Network Cloud and Network Cloud-AI - adapt the architectural model of hyperscale cloud to telco-grade networking and support any network use case - from core-to-edge to AI networking - over a shared physical infrastructure of standard white-boxes, radically simplifying the network's operations and offering telco-scale performance and reliability with hyperscale elasticity. DriveNets' solutions are currently deployed in the world's largest networks. Learn more at www.drivenets.com.

Media contact:

Crystal Monahan

+1-617-290-2882

drivenets@guyergroup.com

Martin Perlin

+972-54-921-3547

press@drivenets.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1657406/4485659/DriveNets_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/drivenets-and-acacia-announce-joint-network-cloud-400g-zrzr-solution-302031319.html
Athena will employ its successful history of securing government contracts, spearheading such initiatives

JACKSON CENTER, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Halberd Corporation (OTC-PINK:HALB) is thrilled to declare the formalization of a profitable revenue-sharing accord with Athena GTX, Inc., of Johnston, Iowa, (www.athenagtx.com). Athena GTX is a private enterprise specializing in providing medical care solutions tailored for first responders in both civilian and government sectors.

Athena's 20+ year history of innovative research and development funding from the government (representing 60% of its income historically) in terms of multi-year contracts and grants, and specifically, novel military products and services averaged about $4-5 million per year with substantial growth still ongoing in these markets. This agreement aligns Athena GTX's proven expertise and vast connections with breakthrough Intellectual property owned by Halberd. Together, their 2024 aggressive development plans include rapid release of products into a market Halberd has not been able to tap into for both Halberd's innovative Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) nasal spray therapy and LDN+ for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicidal ideation, pain, anxiety, and drug/alcohol addiction common in returning veterans. This, according to new highly exciting government proposals, suggests an enormously exciting year ahead, particularly with the feedback received from these agencies.

Dr. Mark Darrah, CEO of Athena, stated; "The combination of ongoing University research on Halberd's unique concept products today, with very credible preliminary results, and the enormous market demands we serve, is a natural win-win for both companies. Our plan is to bolster funding in these efforts, capture new research dollars from the government, and push the technology solutions through the FDA and into vertical markets expeditiously. These product solutions dovetail nicely into what we do now and whom we serve. I could not be more pleased!

Recent business analyses detailed our five-year plan forward documenting a compelling market demand and overall an $80 billion potential diversified market expanding at impressive annual growth rates. With Athena's 2024-2026 revenue projections nearly doubling, the Athena partnership with Halberd now represents unparalleled growth projections for both companies."

Peter Croden, Chairman of the Board of CrodenHealth Corp. (another new joint venture partner of Halberd) and former President of Upjohn/Pfizer Canada as well as later Global President of Upjohn/Pfizer Animal Health Division, headquartered in Kalamazoo Michigan, stated, "CrodenHealth Corp. is looking forward to a very successful relationship with Athena GTX and the Halberd Corporation. And, yes, it is going to be a great year in 2024!!."

William A. Hartman, Chairman, President and CEO of Halberd Corporation, added, "Beginning 2023, the task ahead looked daunting- - Halberd needed seven key elements in order to seriously plan for future commercial applications for our technology products, and these were:

Research funding for our base antibody/antigen experimentation at Youngstown State University; Research funding for our continuing animal testing at Mississippi State University; Funding for potential clinical trials of our patented LDN+ drug and our patent-pending TBI nasal spray; Funding for potential FDA certification testing of both products; Knowledge of how to work with the military and a reputation as a qualified supplier with the purchasing agents at the military agencies; Experience in launching biomedical products into the market; and Contacts with Big Pharma for potential future ventures and a potential eventual lucrative buyout.

I can safely say that we have secured all of the desired elements with our newly announced ventures with CrodenHealth Corp and Athena GTX. It has taken many months to put this master plan into form, but we have finally assembled the perfect team. We expect great things to happen rather quickly in 2024 because some of the advanced steps have already been initiated. More news to be issued shortly."

To get the latest

on Halberd's exciting developments, subscribe by submitting this form.

(https://halberdcorporation.com/contact-us/).

For more information please contact:

William A. Hartman

w.hartman@halberdcorporation.com

support@halberdcorporation.com

www.halberdcorporation.com

Twitter:@HalberdC

About Athena GTX, Inc.

Athena GTX is a certified DoD small business with Corporate Headquarters in Johnston, Iowa. Athena focuses development on wearables and highly mobile, wirelessly connected monitoring technologies, and transitioning those to key markets to meet unmet needs of first responders worldwide. Wireless Patient Monitoring - Athena GTX connects patient and provider About - Athena GTX Inc.

About CrodenHealth Corp

"We help scale amazing companies!"SM

CrodenHealth Corp. is a powerful modern team in healthcare. CrodenHealth Corp ensures clients achieve profitable growth through branding, strategic marketing, & tailored go to market strategies. With an exceptional team of marketing and industry experts, we collaborate with our clients to develop or optimize strategies and support successful implementation while maximizing return on investment (ROI).

See: http://crodenhealth.com/

About Halberd Corporation.

Halberd Corporation (OTC-PINK:HALB), is a publicly traded company on the OTC Market, and is in full compliance with OTC Market reporting requirements. Since its restructuring in April of 2020, Halberd has obtained exclusive worldwide rights to three issued patents and has filed 22 related provisional, PCT, or utility patent applications to enhance its value to its stockholders and to attract the interests of potential development partners.

Safe Harbor Notice

Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). The Company' cautions our readers that statements, and assumptions made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time the statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties and associated estimates made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. Halberd Corporation undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release.

(C) 2024, Halberd Corporation

SOURCE: Halberd Corporation

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTCQB: OMGGF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 43,000,000 units (each a "Unit") at a price of $0.07 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000, subject to acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one-half of a common share purchase warrant. Two such half warrants shall constitute a full warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of C$0.11 for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance.

Elaine Ellingham, Chief Executive Officer commented: "Our 2023 drilling significantly expanded the zones of gold mineralization at the West Wenot target, further demonstrating the scope of untapped potential of this large shear-hosted orogenic gold system at our Omai project in Guyana. The Wenot deposit now extends along a strike of at least 2.5 km, with a width of up to 500m and depth to at least 425m. All Wenot holes intersected multiple gold zones with good grades and widths for open pit mining, including 4.07 g/t Au over 31.1 m (23ODD-063), 2.26 g/t Au over 70.0 m (23ODD-071), 5.18 g/t Au over 20.2 m (23ODD-064), 4.54 g/t Au over 27.5m (23ODD-065), 8.7 g/t Au over 4.6 m (23ODD-066), and 5.89 g/t Au over 12.0m (23ODD-067). These are expected to have a positive impact on the upcoming resource update. Our independent consultant (Qualified Person "QP") is preparing an updated resource report that will form the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), both expected to be completed within the next couple months."

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to further advance exploration on the Company's Omai Project in Guyana and for general working capital purposes.

The Offering may be closed in one or more tranches as subscriptions are received. If the Offering is oversubscribed, subscriptions will be accepted at the discretion of the Company and subject to the approval of the Exchange; therefore, it is possible that a subscriber's subscription may not be accepted by the Company even if it is received within the Offering period unless the Company determines to increase the size of the Offering.

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to statutory hold periods in accordance with applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. The securities offered have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons, absent registration or compliance with an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

Subject to Exchange approval, finder's fees may be paid to persons who introduce the Company to investors.

The Offering is expected to close on or around January 24, 2024. Completion of the Offering remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Exchange.

About Omai Gold Mines Corp.

Omai Gold Mines Corp. holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai gold mine in Guyana, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. The Company announced an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") October 20, 2022 that includes 1.9 million ounces of gold (indicated) and 1.8 million ounces (inferred)1. Once South America's largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. Mining ceased at a time when the average gold price was less than US$400 per ounce. As a brownfields project, Omai benefits from good road access and a wealth of historical data that provides knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization on the property, as well as metallurgy, historical recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters. The Company is currently integrating results from the 2023 drilling and is proceeding with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate that will form the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), both expected to be completed in Q1 2024.

1 The Company filed an NI43-101 technical report titled "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate of the Omai Gold Property, Potaro Mining District No. 2, Guyana", prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc dated December 2, 2022 on the SEDAR website www.sedar.com.

Qualified Person

Elaine Ellingham is a Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the technical information contained in this news release. Ms. Ellingham is not considered to be independent for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact:

Elaine Ellingham, P.Geo.

President & CEO

info@omaigoldmines.com

+1-416-473-5351

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of completion of exploration, trenching and drill programs, and the potential for the Omai Gold Project to allow Omai to build significant gold Mineral Resources at attractive grades, and forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the price of gold and copper; and the results of current exploration. Further, the Mineral Resource data set out in the Omai Gold news release are estimates, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated tonnages and grades will be achieved or that the indicated level of recovery will be realized. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 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.

Cautionary Statements to U.S. Readers

This news release uses the terms "Mineral Resource", "Indicated Mineral Resource" and "Inferred Mineral Resource" as defined in the CIM Standards in accordance with NI 43-101. While these terms are recognized and required by the Canadian Securities Administrators in accordance with Canadian securities laws, they may not be recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The "Mineral Resource" Estimates and related information in this news release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193778

SOURCE: Omai Gold Mines Corp.
LED lighting innovator awarded at International Cannabis Awards during MJBizCon, the world's leading cannabis industry conference

Fluence, a leading global provider of energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial cannabis and food production, announced today it was named 2023's "Lighting Company of the Year" at the inaugural EMJAYS International Cannabis Awards.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110322604/en/

Fluence Wins "Lighting Company of the Year" Category at EMJAYS Awards. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The EMJAYS is a collaboration between award-winning event producers Farechild Events and MJBizCon, the cannabis industry's largest trade show and media entity. The program recognizes leaders across the cannabis industry, including financial services organizations, branding and marketing firms, technology providers and others.

"It is an honor to receive the first-ever EMJAYS award for 'Lighting Company of the Year,'" said Michiel van Dam, CEO of Fluence. "Our success is only made possible by the hundreds of incredible growers we've worked with throughout our history. We are committed to helping cultivators boost plant quality, drive increased yields and meet their cultivation goals-to ensure they can not only grow smarter but thrive."

Fluence's award comes after Cannabis Business Times released its eighth-annual "State of the Cannabis Lighting Market" report, which found that at least 70% of commercial growers use LEDs across propagation, vegetation and flowering. Over 60% of surveyed growers also achieved yields of more than 50 grams per square foot of canopy under LED fixtures.

Finalists and winners were recognized during MJBizCon on Nov. 30, 2023, at the Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms Hotel Casino Las Vegas. A full list of winners can be found here.

For more information on Fluence, visit www.fluence-led.com.

About Fluence

Fluence Bioengineering, Inc. (Fluence) creates powerful and energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial crop production and research applications. Fluence is a leading LED lighting supplier in the global cannabis market and is committed to enabling more efficient crop production with the world's top vertical farms and greenhouse produce growers. Fluence global headquarters are in Austin, Texas, with its EMEA headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Fluence operates as a business unit within Signify's Professional Business. For more information about Fluence, visit www.fluence-led.com.

About The EMJAYS

The EMJAYS, a first-of-its-kind award show in partnership with MJBizCon, is dedicated to recognizing leaders and innovators in over 20 ancillary business categories within the cannabis industry. Set against the backdrop of the Pearl Theater's state-of-the-art facilities, the event featured a red carpet entry, celebrity presenters, live music performances, and an afterparty, embodying a "Classic Vegas Show with a Psychedelic Twist."

Presented by Advanced Vapor Devices (AVD), The Emjays International Cannabis Awards, is a first-of-its-kind award show recognizing businesses and individuals who are leaders and innovators in 20+ ancillary specific business categories. Official sponsors for The Emjays Cannabis Awards include Cookies, AE Global, STM Canna, Green Rebates, and Advanced Nutrients among others. These dynamic companies join The Emjays' media partners which include Chapter 2 PR, Benzinga, Cannabis Tech Today, Cannabis Now, Cronic Lifestyle Magazine, HoneySuckle Magazine, and Sensi Magazine.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110322604/en/

Contacts:

Callie Neatherlin

Red Fan Communications

callie@redfancommunications.com

512-439-9720
Sends letter to Shareholders highlighting that the Arrangement delivers immediate, significant, and certain value following a robust strategic review process overseen by an independent Special Committee of the Board

Issues presentation articulating why the Sumeru transaction is the best path forward for Q4 Shareholders

Third party experts including leading proxy advisory firm ISS and sell side analysts have voiced clear support for the Arrangement

Urges Shareholders to vote today FOR the proposed Arrangement by deadline of January 22, 2024 at 10 a.m. Toronto Time.

Q4 Inc. (TSX:QFOR) ("Q4" or the "Company"), the leading capital markets access platform, today sent a letter to shareholders and issued a presentation highlighting reasons to support the proposed arrangement transaction (the "Arrangement") whereby Q4 would be acquired by a newly formed entity controlled by Sumeru Equity Partners ("Sumeru"), a leading technology-focused investment firm. A special meeting (the "Special Meeting") of holders (the "Shareholders") of the Company's common shares (the "Common Shares") related to the proposed Arrangement will be held on January 24, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto Time).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110462013/en/

The presentation is available on the Company's website at https://investors.q4inc.com/Special-Meeting-Vote/Special-Meeting/.

Further, Q4 announced that a leading proxy advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS"), has recommended Shareholders vote "FOR" the transaction, citing as reasons for its conclusion the "significant premium," "reasonable" sale process, and "credible downside risk" if the Arrangement is not approved.

The full text of the letter follows:

Reminder to Vote Today.

Deadline to Submit Your Proxy Vote is January 22, 2024 at 10 a.m. (Toronto Time).

Dear Shareholders,

Thank you for your investment in Q4 Inc. (TSX:QFOR) ("Q4" or the "Company").

As part of our ongoing commitment to delivering value to you, we recently agreed to a proposed Arrangement (the "Arrangement") whereby Q4 would be acquired by a newly formed entity controlled by Sumeru Equity Partners ("Sumeru"), a leading technology-focused investment firm.

Under the terms of the proposed Arrangement, Shareholders other than certain Shareholders rolling over their equity interest ("Rolling Shareholders") would receive an all-cash payment of C$6.05 per share, representing a 36% premium to the closing price of the Company's Common Shares on November 10, 2023, the last trading day prior to the Arrangement being announced.

The Arrangement, if approved, will provide Shareholders with immediate, significant, and certain value following a robust strategic review process overseen by an independent Special Committee ("Special Committee") of the Board of Directors.

The Board (other than conflicted directors) unanimously recommends that you vote "FOR" the proposed Arrangement at the Special Meeting of Shareholders ("Special Meeting") to be held on January 24, 2024, at 10 a.m. (Toronto Time). The Special Meeting will be held virtually via live audio webcast at: https://meetnow.global/MA5VC62.

Why the Arrangement is the Best Path Forward

We believe that the rationale for the Arrangement is clear and that it represents the optimal pathway for Shareholders. Selected reasons for this include:

Premium Consideration: The Consideration to be received by Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) represents a 36% premium to the closing price of Q4's Common Shares as of November 10, 2023, the last day of trading before the Arrangement was announced. The purchase price is a 43% premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price and a 46% premium to the 60-day volume-weighted average prior to the announcement.



The Consideration to be received by Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) represents a 36% premium to the closing price of Q4's Common Shares as of November 10, 2023, the last day of trading before the Arrangement was announced. The purchase price is a 43% premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price and a 46% premium to the 60-day volume-weighted average prior to the announcement. Certainty of Value and Liquidity: The Consideration offered to Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) is all cash, which provides immediate liquidity, value realization and certainty for their entire investment.



The Consideration offered to Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) is all cash, which provides immediate liquidity, value realization and certainty for their entire investment. Highest Proposal : The Special Committee concluded after extensive negotiations with Sumeru that the Consideration, which represents an increase from Sumeru's original proposal, was the highest price that could be obtained from Sumeru and that further negotiation could potentially have caused Sumeru to withdraw its proposal, denying Shareholders the right to vote on the proposed Arrangement.



: The Special Committee concluded after extensive negotiations with Sumeru that the Consideration, which represents an increase from Sumeru's original proposal, was the highest price that could be obtained from Sumeru and that further negotiation could potentially have caused Sumeru to withdraw its proposal, denying Shareholders the right to vote on the proposed Arrangement. Go-Shop Provision: The Company undertook a Go-Shop process to solicit alternative proposals and was in contact with 23 different parties. None of these discussions resulted in an alternative proposal being presented.



The Company undertook a Go-Shop process to solicit alternative proposals and was in contact with 23 different parties. None of these discussions resulted in an alternative proposal being presented. Independent Formal Valuation and Fairness Opinions: Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. ("Stifel Canada") provided an independent formal valuation that concluded that as of November 12, 2023, the fair market value of the Company's Common Shares was in the range of C$5.50 to C$6.80 per Share. Both Stifel Canada and Raymond James Associates concluded that the Consideration to be received by the Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) pursuant to the Arrangement was fair from a financial point of view to these Shareholders.



Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. ("Stifel Canada") provided an independent formal valuation that concluded that as of November 12, 2023, the fair market value of the Company's Common Shares was in the range of C$5.50 to C$6.80 per Share. Both Stifel Canada and Raymond James Associates concluded that the Consideration to be received by the Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders) pursuant to the Arrangement was fair from a financial point of view to these Shareholders. Minority Vote and Court Approval: The Arrangement must be approved by not only two-thirds of the votes cast by Shareholders, but also by a majority of the minority Shareholders in accordance with applicable securities laws, and by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List), which will consider the fairness and reasonableness of the Arrangement to all Shareholders.

Third Party Support for the Transaction

Don't just take our word for it. Notably, the reactions from objective parties have reinforced the merits of the transaction.

Leading proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") recently recommended shareholders vote FOR the Arrangement, stating:1

"The offer represents a significant premium to the unaffected price and the valuation appears credible."

"The sale process was ultimately conducted on a comparable basis to other recent notable Canadian software transactions and helped facilitate price discovery."

"Based on the company's operational and share price history as well as, at minimum, some expected reversion in share price in the event of non-approval, the standalone case is not an inherently safe path."

"On balance, shareholder support for this proposal is warranted."

Members of the sell side analyst community have also been in favor of the Arrangement:

"We believe the acquisition is attractive and provides certainty to shareholders." RBC Capital Markets, November 13, 2023

RBC Capital Markets, November 13, 2023 "We consider the announcement a positive outcome for the broader shareholder base, given the headwinds to QFOR's growth profile as it transitions to breakeven profitability." - Canaccord Genuity, November 13, 2023

- Canaccord Genuity, November 13, 2023 "We believe the current deal price is reasonable." - Eight Capital, November 14, 2023

Shareholders are urged to read the Circular and its appendices carefully and in its entirety as the Circular contains extensive detail regarding the background to the Arrangement, detailed reasons for the recommendation of the Special Committee and the Board (including the above reasons) and other factors considered.

After careful consideration of all these factors, including the recommendations of the Company's financial advisors and the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee, the Board (with conflicted directors not in attendance or participating in the decision) unanimously determined the Arrangement is the best interests of the Company and is fair to Shareholders (other than the Rolling Shareholders).

As such, we strongly encourage you to vote "FOR" the proposed Arrangement.

Thank you for your continued support of Q4.

Sincerely,

The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Q4

Due to the Essence of Time, Shareholders are encouraged to vote online or by telephone as describe in the enclosed voting form and on Q4's website at: https://investors.q4inc.com/Special-Meeting

The proxy voting deadline is on January 22, 2024 at 10 a.m. Toronto Time.

Shareholder Questions and Assistance

Shareholders who have questions regarding the Arrangement or require assistance with voting may contact Laurel Hill Advisory Group, the Company's shareholder communications advisor and proxy solicitation agent at:

Laurel Hill Advisory Group

North American Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 (+1 416-304-0211 Outside North America)

Email: assistance@laurelhill.com.

About Q4 Inc.

Q4 Inc. (TSX: QFOR) is the leading capital markets access platform that is transforming how issuers, investors, and the sell-side efficiently connect, communicate, and engage with each other.

The Q4 Platform facilitates interactions across the capital markets through IR website products, virtual events solutions, engagement analytics, investor relations CRM, shareholder and market analysis, surveillance, and ESG tools. The Q4 Platform is the only holistic capital markets access platform that digitally drives connections, analyzes impact, and targets the right engagement to help public companies work faster and smarter.

The company is a trusted partner to more than 2,500 public companies globally, including many of the most respected brands in the world, and maintains an award-winning culture where team members grow and thrive.

Q4 is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in New York and London. Learn more at investors.Q4inc.com.

All dollar figures in this release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

About Sumeru Equity Partners

Sumeru Equity Partners provides growth capital at the intersection of people and innovative technology. Sumeru seeks to embolden innovative founders and management teams with capital and scaling partnership. Sumeru has invested over US$3 billion in more than fifty platform and add-on investments across enterprise and vertical SaaS, data analytics, education technology, infrastructure software and cybersecurity. The firm typically invests in companies throughout North America and Europe. For more information, please visit sumeruequity.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the purchase by the Purchaser of all of the issued and outstanding Common Shares, the rationale of the Board for entering into the Arrangement Agreement, the anticipated timing and the various steps to be completed in connection with the Arrangement, including receipt of Shareholder and court approvals, the anticipated timing for closing of the Arrangement.

In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans" "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "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", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, nor guarantees or assurances of future performance but instead represent management's current beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events and operating performance. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this release, are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the possibility that the proposed Arrangement will not be completed on the terms and conditions, or on the timing, currently contemplated, or at all, the possibility of the Arrangement Agreement being terminated in certain circumstances, the ability of the Board to consider and approve a Superior Proposal for the Company, and the other risk factors identified under "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest annual information form and management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in the management's discussion and analysis for the period ended September 30, 2023, and in other periodic filings that the Company has made and may make in the future with the securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities in Canada, all of which are available under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company. However, such risk factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors not currently known to us or that we currently believe are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. 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, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements represent the Company's expectations as of the date of this release (or as the date it is otherwise stated to be made) and are subject to change after such date. However, the Company disclaims any intention and 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 under applicable Canadian securities laws. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements.

1 Permission to quote ISS was neither sought nor obtained.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110462013/en/

Contacts:

Investor

Laurel Hill Advisory Group

North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184

Collect Calls Outside North America: 1-416-304-0211

assistance@laurelhill.com

Edward Miller

Director, Investor Relations

(437) 291-1554

ir@q4inc.com

Media

Longacre Square Partners

Scott Deveau

sdeveau@longacresquare.com
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Diamcor Mining Inc. (TSXV.DMI)(OTCQB:DMIFF)(FRA:DC3A), ("Diamcor" or the "Company"), a well-established Canadian diamond mining company with a proven history in the mining, exploration, and sale of rough diamonds is pleased to provide a brief overview of the significant events which shaped the diamond industry in 2023, their implications for the sector, and the actions taken to allow the industry to move forward in 2024 with a sense of optimism. Additionally, we are pleased to provide an overview of the Company's main operational focus for the coming year.

2023 Diamond Industry Overview

The year 2023 proved to be a year of adaptation and strategic realignment for the diamond industry as the world continued to emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic. The significant events which shaped the year included:

Changes in consumer spending habits and their allocation of funds as countries began to open up and the world entered a post-COVID 19 environment.

The continued purchasing of rough diamonds at the previously elevated levels of 2022 by many in the industry despite changes in consumer spending, resulting in the short-term creation of excess rough diamond inventories and downward pressure on pricing.

Significant reductions of new rough diamond sales by the world's largest producers in the second half of 2023 to aid in rebalancing the above excess inventories and support price recovery.

The decision by the world's largest cutting and polishing country, India, to temporarily suspend the import of rough diamonds from October 15, 2023 to December 15, 2023.

Continued geopolitical concerns surrounding the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict and recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Economic uncertainties which continued in the industry's most important market of the USA, as well as slower than expected post-COVID-19 economic recovery in China.

The initial G7 sanctions on rough diamonds originating in Russia proved largely ineffective throughout the year, however several revisions by the G7 to increase the effectiveness of these sanctions came into effect on January 1, 2024.

Additional sanctions on rough diamonds originating in Russia were also announced by the European Union on January 3, 2024.

The industry demonstrated its ability to implement proactive changes in 2023 to strengthen itself for 2024, and the Company reaffirms its belief in the unique value proposition of its Krone-Endora at Venetia project given its ability to provide non-conflict natural rough diamonds to the world market moving forward. Unlike their lab-grown counterparts, natural diamonds are treasured for their rarity, provenance, and the timeless allure they hold, and with limited supplies of natural diamonds remaining, the revised sanctions on Russia (~30% of annual global production), many mines reaching the end of their lives, the general sentiment in the industry is that yearly production levels are expected to continue to drop in the years to come. The adjustments made by the industry in 2023 appear to have been effective, with price recoveries in various categories becoming apparent later in the year. The Company believes this trend of increasing prices will continue into 2024 and moving forward, with the level of increases ultimately being driven by combined elements such as: consumer spending, increased shortages due to revised sanctions on Russia, potential reductions in yearly production from existing mines, and increased demand due to the recovery and growth of emerging markets such as China and India.

2024 Operational Focus

After successfully navigating its way through various complex global and industry issues of recent years, the Company sees 2024 as a year of significant opportunity in which it can return its primary focus back to the advancement and growth of its Krone-Endora at Venetia project (the "Project"). The Project has always presented a compelling opportunity given its direct relationship with De Beers' Venetia diamond mine, which is widely accepted as one of the most prolific diamond mines in the world. The Company's primary areas of focus for 2024 will be:

The continuation of trial-mining exercises and optimization of operational efficiencies, with ancillary diamond recoveries and sales revenue which will assist in supporting the advancement of the Project's recommended work programs and continued advancement.

The concurrent advancement of additional bulk sampling on key areas of interest within the remaining 85% of the property to determine the potential extent and location of the known displacement of material from Venetia into these areas.

The finalization of planned additions to the Project's processing plant and final recovery systems, as well as additional heavy equipment assets to support significant increases in processing volumes and the potential for increased ancillary revenues while reducing operating costs at the Project for the long-term.

The continued identification and evaluation of opportunities which demonstrate the potential for additional near-term production of natural gem quality rough diamonds from non-conflict areas to support the Company's future growth and shareholder value.

The Company has successfully advanced the Project from its inception into the fully permitted Project with significant infrastructure and the growth potential it represents today. We believe with the recent events of the past few years now largely behind us, we are well-positioned in 2024 to now take advantage of the compelling opportunity that companies such as Diamcor have with the ability to provide gem quality natural rough diamonds from non-conflict areas moving forward.

Results of the Annual General Meeting

The Company also announces that shareholders passed each of the resolutions described in the Company's proxy materials by the required majority of voting at the Company's Annual General Meeting (the "AGM") held on December 20, 2023.

The total number of votes cast for each resolution is set out in the table below.

MOTIONS NUMBER OF SHARES PERCENTAGE OF VOTES CAST FOR AGAINST WITHHELD/ ABSTAIN SPOILED NON VOTE FOR AGAINST WITHHELD/ ABSTAIN Number of Directors 70,372,338 1,503,286 0 0 0 97.91% 2.09% 0.00% Dean H. Taylor 60,540,849 0 198,100 0 11,136,675 99.67% 0.00% 0.33% Darren Vucurevich 60,498,630 0 240,319 0 11,136,675 99.60% 0.00% 0.40% Sheldon Nelson 60,716,049 0 22,900 0 11,136,675 99.96% 0.00% 0.04% Dr. Stephen Haggerty 60,716,349 0 22,600 0 11,136,675 99.96% 0.00% 0.04% Appointment of Auditors 71,875,624 0 0 0 0 100.0% 0.00% 0.00%

TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS VOTED BY PROXY: 56

TOTAL SHARES ISSUED & OUTSTANDING: 128,512,937

TOTAL SHARES VOTED: 71,875,624

TOTAL % OF SHARES VOTED: 55.93%

About Diamcor Mining Inc.

Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publicly traded Canadian diamond mining company with a well-established proven history in the mining, exploration, and sale of rough diamonds. With a long-term strategic alliance with world famous Tiffany & Co, the Company's primary focus is on the mining and development of its Krone-Endora at Venetia Project which is co-located and directly adjacent to De Beers' Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. The Venetia diamond mine is recognized as one of the world's top diamond-producing mines, and the deposits which occur on Krone-Endora have been identified as being the result of shift and subsequent erosion of an estimated 50M tonnes of material from the higher grounds of Venetia to the lower surrounding areas in the direction of Krone and Endora. The Company focuses on the acquisition and development of mid-tier projects with near-term production capabilities and growth potential and uses unique approaches to mining that involves the use of advanced technology and techniques to extract diamonds in a safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible manner. The Company has a strong commitment to social responsibility, including supporting local communities and protecting the environment.

About the Tiffany & Co. Alliance

The Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world-famous New York based Tiffany & Co., to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project at market prices. In conjunction with this first right of refusal, Tiffany & Co. Canada also provided the Company with financing in an effort to advance the Project as quickly as possible. Tiffany & Co. is now owned by Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH), a publicly traded company which is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange (Euronext) under the symbol LVMH and on the OTC under the symbol LVMHF. For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com.

About the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project

Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. The Company subsequently announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. These deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of an estimated 1,000 vertical meters of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur with a maximum total depth of approximately 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine, which is widely recognised as one of the top producing diamond mines in the world.

Qualified Person Statement:

Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Mr. Dean H. Taylor

President & CEO

Diamcor Mining Inc.

www.diamcormining.com

For further information contact:

Mr. Dean H. Taylor

Diamcor Mining Inc

DeanT@Diamcor.com

+1 250 862-3212

For Investor Relations contact:

Mr. Rich Matthews

Integrous Communications

rmatthews@integcom.us

+1 (604) 355-7179 +1 (647) 258-3310

Mr. Neil Simon

Investor Cubed Inc

nsimon@investor3.ca

+1 (647) 258-3310

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Diamcor Mining Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Emperor Metals Inc. (CSE: AUOZ) (OTCQB: EMAUF) (FSE: 9NH) ("Emperor") is pleased to announce additional assay results from the summer 2023 drilling campaign at the Duquesne West Gold Project. Using Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to model the deposit and plan our drill program, a total of 14 diamond drillholes have been completed which represents 8,579 meters.

Full results for DQ23-02 extension and DQ23-07 have been released from SGS Laboratories (see Table 1 intercept highlights). These results indicate the potential for resource expansion within and outside the open pit concept. Emperor is targeting a multi-million-ounce resource in a combination of conceptual open pit and underground mining scenarios.

Highlights

DQ23-07 intersects 15.7 metres (m) of 0.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) (including 7.0 m of 1.08 g/t Au) and 7.2 m of 2.8 g/t Au within the open pit concept (see Figure 1).

Drilling adds incremental ounces outside known high-grade areas in the open pit scenario. These intercepts will reduce the stripping ratio; due to gold endowment in areas that were overlooked and historically unsampled.

DQ23-02 intersected 3.65 m of 6.25 g/t Au (including 1.2 m of 12.2 g/t Au). Expanded mineralization in footwall zone.

CEO John Florek commented:

" Emperor is the first company to sample all intervals in our drilling to evaluate the additional potential for bulk tonnage open-pit mining at Duquesne West. We're excited to see positive assay results for rocks within a conceptual open-pit domain that were not sampled by previous explorers who lacked an open-pit strategy on this property and did not examine the additional lower-grade bulk tonnage opportunity.

Historical sampling focused on the extensive underground potential for high-grade gold, so only 30% of the core from historical drilling was sampled by previous operators. Our discovery of these lower grade bulk tonnage ounces within our open-pit conceptual model is very significant for reducing strip ratio and for improving overall economics in a combination type open-pit and under-ground mining scenario.

Our vision to develop a multimillion-ounce deposit with multiple mining scenarios on the Duquesne West property continues to grow. Our use of A.I has enabled us to quickly process extensive historical data and integrate it with new information to model exploration targets with a high degree of confidence and success. The proximity to multiple mills and infrastructure in a Tier 1 mining district makes the production potential of this project highly valuable within the global junior mining space. The current price of gold certainly helps promote this vision."

Image 1: Figure showing DQ23-07 intercept within the conceptual open pit model. Broad scale mineralization confirming incremental grade outside existing high-grade lenses in areas previously unsampled by historical workers. These intercepts may add ounces to the deposit.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8461/193768_ff2b77dc9406f97d_001full.jpg

Summary of Drill Results:

DQ23-02 was a step-out hole and originally drilled to test the eastern margin of a mineralized zone, with an intersection of 10.65 m of 3.97 g/t Au (see press release dated September 12, 2023) that is expected to extend the footprint of mineralization. The grades and thickness intersected were as expected. However, the hole was extended due to assays identifying a broad thickness of mineralization at the bottom of the hole; 25.0 m of 1.69 g/t Au (see press release dated September 12, 2023). This extension of DQ23-02 tested further into the footwall because of indications of mineralization by Emperor's AI modeling; this extension encountered gold values and expanded the mineralized footprint of the deposit (3.65 m of 6.25 g/t Au); see Figure 2

DQ23-07 was designed to intersect mineralization in both the near-surface ultimate pit scenario and the underground mining scenario. Intersection within the open pit scenario contained 15.7 Metres of 0.8 g/t Au (including 7.0 m of 1.80 g/t Au) and 7.2 m of 2.8 g/t Au; additional broad scale mineralization was seen as well (21.5 m of 0.40 g/t Au). Mineralization deeper in the footwall and within the underground mining scenario intercepted a footwall zone containing 2.0 m of 2.42 g/t Au.

The open pit concept in Figure 1 shows an ultimate pit with a depth extent of 400 meters; the footprint is 1.8 km by 0.8 km. Initial exploration in 2024 will strategically focus on the area of the phase 1 pit design. This will allow us to determine the potential economics as we progress through the phases having the necessary assay results for resource evaluation and eventually for economic evaluations. Currently, Emperor is also sampling near-surface core from the historical core library that was not assayed by previous explorers. Up to 70% of this core has not been assayed. So far, over 3,000 meters have been sampled and will be sent to the laboratory for analysis.

In General, mineralization is within and proximal to a fertile, gold endowed, quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusion (QFP), which appears to enrich the greenstone belt along this structural corridor that hosts the Duquesne West Gold Deposit. Apophyses of this intrusion are more endowed and are close to the most highly replacement type mineralization. Competency contrasts between rock types within this mineralized corridor are good sites for additional mineralization.

High and low-grade mineralization are important in Open Pit Mining:

Highest grade intercepts are within mafic (+/- ultramafic) breccia zone carapaces mantling the QFPs or highly deformed replacement style structural zones (in the mafic volcanics) that are highly strained and completely replaced by ankerite, sericite, and quartz.

The broadest low-grade zones are located within the QFPs.

Some lower-grade broad zones mantle higher-grade intercepts in the mafic volcanics. This usually occurs at the margin between mafic volcanics and QFP (low grade in both units surrounding a high-grade intercept.)

This mineralizing system is significantly large in length, width and depth. These broad zones will aid in lowering strip ratios when Emperor has enough data to support a new resource estimate for both open pit and underground conceptual mining scenarios.

Approximately 75% of the assays have been returned from the laboratory, Emperor is awaiting additional assays results.

Samples were sent to SGS Laboratories in Lakefield, ON.

Image 2: DQ23-02 intercept of 3.65 m of 6.25 g/t Au. Intercept expands footprint of the minable stope model in footwall zone; potential adding ounces to the deposit.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8461/193768_ff2b77dc9406f97d_002full.jpg

Quality Assurance and Control

The Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) was conducted by Technominex, a geological contractor hired by Emperor Metals, which adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines for exploration related activities conducted at its facility in Rouyn Noranda, Quebec. The QA/QC procedures are overseen by a Qualified Person on site.

Emperor Metals QA/QC protocols are maintained through the insertion of certified reference material (standards), blanks and lab duplicates within the sample stream totaling approximately one QA/QC sample per 7 samples. Drill core is cut in-half with a diamond saw, with one-half placed in sealed bags with appropriate tags and shipped to the SGS Lakefield laboratory and the other half retained on site in the original core box. A dispatch list consists of 88 or 176 samples along with their corresponding QA/QC samples for a single batch. This allows complete batches (88 samples) for fire assay. A file for sample tracking records tags used and weights of sample bags shipped to the SGS Lakefield. Shipment is done by Manitoulin Transport and coordination by Technominex staff in Rouyn-Noranda.

The third-party laboratory, SGS prep laboratory in Lakefield Ontario, processes the shipment of samples using standard sample preparation (code PRP91) and produces pulps from the specified samples. The pulps are then sent off to SGS Burnaby for analysis. Chain of custody is maintained from the drill to the submittal into the laboratory preparation facility all the way to analysis at the SGS Burnaby B.C. laboratory.

Analytical testing is performed by SGS laboratories in Burnaby, British Columbia. The entire sample is crushed to 75% passing 2mm, with a split of 500g pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns. Samples are then analyzed using Au - ore grade 50g Fire Assay, ICP-AES with reporting limits of 0.01 -100 part per million (ppm). High grade gold analysis based on the presence of visible gold or a fire assay result exceeding 100 ppm, are analyzed by Au - metallic screening, 1kg screened to 106m, 50g fire assay, gravimetric, AAS or ICP-AES of entire plus fraction and duplicate analysis of minus fraction. Reporting limit 0.01ppm.

About the Duquesne West Gold Project

The Duquesne West Gold Property is located 32 km northwest of the city of Rouyn-Noranda and 10 km east of the town of Duparquet. The property lies within the historic Duparquet gold mining camp in the southern portion of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in the Superior Province.

Under an Option Agreement, Emperor agreed to acquire a one hundred percent (100%) interest in a mineral claim package comprising 38 claims covering approximately 1,389 ha, located in the Duparquet Township of Quebec (the "Duquesne West Property") from Duparquet Assets Ltd., a 50% owned subsidiary of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (GMX-TSX). For further information on the Duquesne West Property and Option Agreement, see Emperor's press release dated October 12, 2022, available on SEDAR.

The Property hosts a historical inferred mineral resource estimate of 727,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 5.42 g/t Au.1,2 The mineral resource estimate predates modern CIM guidelines and a Qualified Person on behalf of Emperor has not reviewed or verified the mineral resource estimate, therefore it is considered historical in nature and is reported solely to provide an indication of the magnitude of mineralization that could be present on the property. The gold system remains open for resource identification and expansion.

Reinterpretation of the existing geological model was created using Artificial Intelligence (A.I) and Machine Learning. This model shows the opportunity for additional discovery of ounces by revealing gold trends unknown to previous workers and the potential to expand the resource along significant gold-endowed structural zones.

Multiple scenarios exist to expand additional resources which include:

Underground High-Grade Gold Open Pit Bulk Tonnage Gold Underground Bulk Tonnage Gold.

1 Watts, Griffis, and McOuat Consulting Geologists and Engineers, Oct 20, 2011, Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Duquesne-Ottoman Property, Quebec, Canada for XMet Inc.

2 Power-Fardy and Breede, 2011. The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) constructed in 2011 is considered historical in nature as it was constructed prior to the most recent Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CIM) standards (2014) and guidelines (2019) for mineral resources. In addition, the economic factors used to demonstrate reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction for the MRE have changed since 2011. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to consider the MRE as a current MRE. Emperor is not treating the historical MRE as a current mineral resource. The reader is cautioned not to treat it, or any part of it, as a current mineral resource.

Table of Significant Drilling Intercepts

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t Au) 1DQ23-02 909.35 910.5 1.15 12.17 910.5 913 2.5 3.52 Wt. Avg. 3.65 6.25 Including: 1.15 12.17 1DQ23-07 54 55 1 0.76 55 56 1 0.17 56 57 1 0.02 57 58 1 0.87 58.0 58.8 0.75 0.35 58.75 59.3 0.55 0.84 59.3 60 0.7 1.23 60 61 1 0.75 61 62 1 1.17 62 63 1 0.48 63 64 1 2.16 64 65 1 0.57 65 66 1 1.09 66 67 1 1.05 67 68 1 1.01 68 69 1 0.55 69 69.7 0.7 1.00 Wt. Avg. 15.7 0.82 Including: 7 1.08 228.1 229.1 1 3.33 229.1 230.1 1 6.33 230.1 231.2 1.1 5.70 231.2 232.4 1.2 2.74 232.4 233.85 1.45 0.26 233.85 235.3 1.45 0.38 Wt. Avg. 7.2 2.80 Including: 4.3 4.47 Including: 2.1 6.00 343.5 344.5 1 0.78 344.5 346 1.5 0.5 346 347 1 0.78 347 348 1 0.18 348 349 1 0.13 349 350 1 0.39 350 351 1 0.47 351 352 1 0.36 352 353 1 0.19 353 354 1 0.02 354 355 1 0.23 355 356 1 0.32 356 357 1 0.09 357 358 1 0.01 358 359 1 0.03 359 360 1 0.13 360 361 1 0.05 361 362 1 0.04 362 363 1 2.93 363 364 1 0.005 364 365 1 0.77 Wt. Avg. 21.5 0.40 563.6 564.6 1 3.35 564.6 565.6 1 1.48 Wt. Avg. 2 2.42 1Host Structures are interpreted to be steeply dipping and true widths are generally estimated to 90%.

QP Disclosure

The technical content for the Duquesne West Project in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Florek, M.Sc., P.Geol., a Qualified Person pursuant to CIM guidelines.

About Emperor Metals Inc.

Emperor Metals Inc. is an innovative Canadian mineral exploration company focused on developing high-quality gold properties situated in the Canadian Shield. For more information, please refer to SEDAR (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company's profile.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

s/ "John Florek"

John Florek, M.Sc., P.Geol

President, CEO and Director

Emperor Metals Inc.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Alex Horsley, Director

Phone: 778-323-3058

Email: alexh@emperormetals.com

Website:www.emperormetals.com

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENT OF THIS PRESS RELEASE

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

CERTAIN STATEMENTS MADE AND INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN MAY CONSTITUTE "FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION" AND "FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS" WITHIN THE MEANING OF APPLICABLE CANADIAN AND UNITED STATES SECURITIES LEGISLATION. THESE STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION ARE BASED ON FACTS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO THE COMPANY AND THERE IS NO ASSURANCE THAT ACTUAL RESULTS WILL MEET MANAGEMENT'S EXPECTATIONS. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION MAY BE IDENTIFIED BY SUCH TERMS AS "ANTICIPATES", "BELIEVES", "TARGETS", "ESTIMATES", "PLANS", "EXPECTS", "MAY", "WILL", "COULD" OR "WOULD".

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN ARE BASED ON CERTAIN FACTORS AND ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE ESTIMATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES AND RESERVES, THE REALIZATION OF RESOURCE AND RESERVE ESTIMATES, METAL PRICES, TAXATION, THE ESTIMATION, TIMING AND AMOUNT OF FUTURE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT, CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS, THE AVAILABILITY OF FINANCING, THE RECEIPT OF REGULATORY APPROVALS, ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS, TITLE DISPUTES AND OTHER MATTERS. WHILE THE COMPANY CONSIDERS ITS ASSUMPTIONS TO BE REASONABLE AS OF THE DATE HEREOF, FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION ARE NOT GUARANTEES OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE AND READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON SUCH STATEMENTS AS ACTUAL EVENTS AND RESULTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE DESCRIBED HEREIN. THE COMPANY DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS OR INFORMATION EXCEPT AS MAY BE REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE SECURITIES LAWS.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193768

SOURCE: Emperor Metals Inc.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Cisco Systems Inc.

By Alex Wilkins

Cisco Foundation grant partner Vibrant Planet Data Commons harmonizes cutting-edge science, open-source data, and Tribal Forestry to reduce the risk and severity of wildfires while speeding the pace of forest restoration.

Forests are a vital part of a healthy planet: they store carbon, regulate the water cycle, produce oxygen, prevent erosion, and are among the most biodiverse places in the world. Forests are also important for us as humans: economically, physically, and even spiritually. There are few things I would rather do than spend quiet and peaceful moments among trees.

And yet, the prevalence, severity, and devastation from forest fires is continuing to increase, as we've witnessed throughout 2023. In the United States, and in many other forested areas around the world, decades (if not centuries) of wildfire suppression as well as human-caused climate change can lead to catastrophic wildfires that that devastate communities, grab media attention, and pull at heartstrings across the globe. Recognizing that something must be done, the question now is how to speed up the pace and scale of forest restoration and mitigate devastating wildfires.

Given that this is an incredibly complex and systemic set of issues, two avenues we can use to address wildfire mitigation include: 1) Data and 2) Management. This is where Cisco Foundation grant partner Vibrant Planet Data Commons comes in. VP Data Commons seeks to transform how our forests are managed by combining high-quality data packages with real-world stories from the forests themselves, with a particular focus on illustrating the many benefits of Indigenous forest practices.

Let's start with data. When it comes to forest ecology and fire science, scientists and governments are generating excellent data, such as how much a forest has departed from its natural state, but to make that data accessible to decision makers can take significant time and resources. Once the data is collected, its proprietor may not have the capacity or tools to share the data in easily accessible ways or to do widespread storytelling, and certainly not to take the actions suggested by the data, such as restoration or preservation. Data around things like the overgrowth of forest understory and density of trees can be hard to generate in bulk while also being accurate at the local level, and it is often not collected with enough frequency nor promptly released to meet needs of the quickly changing climate crisis, or its resolution may be low.

VP Data Commons' solution is to be that missing link: they support data collection with innovative solutions, like High Altitude Balloons, often used for scientific exploration like making Earth or atmospheric observations, and in consultation from entities such as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), they make it easy for scientists to share out their own data. VP Data Commons then serves as a repository for high-quality data packages, such as wildfire risk in the Yuba Watershed of California. Not only does VP Data Commons take the lead in this curation, but they also provide tutorials on using that data in other scientific analyses and in applying it to real world restoration efforts which addresses our second avenue: management.

Long before European settlers arrived in what is now more commonly known as the United States, Indigenous people stewarded forests with a wide variety of sophisticated management techniques, including carefully planned intentional burns (known as "healthy fire"), for example. Even with high quality and usable data, many current forest management and restoration efforts led by public and private entities still face problems of cohesion and are typically disconnected from previous and highly successful Indigenous forest-stewardship practices.

The depth and breadth of forest management practices in Indigenous communities is diverse, as are the ways by which such land stewards share their stories with the public. Recently, we had the privilege of hearing from Ray Entz, the Director of Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources at the Kalispel Tribe, and an Advisor to VP Data Commons. In his words:

"Indigenous communities are far more sophisticated and ready to lead the design and implementation of large-scale forest restoration projects than previously recognized. Where partnerships and collaboration opportunities exist, Tribes can be powerful partners to large public land managers and communities that want to restore their forest ecosystems."

This Tribal leadership and partnership for restoration is so vital because, according to Ray: "We're already seeing climate impacts that are stressing our forests and leading to significant changes. For example, many culturally important species, such as Western red cedar, are in steep decline."

The Kalispel Tribe is leading the recovery of 45,000 acres of forest in the Pacific Northwest, and in partnership with VP Data Commons, is developing data visualizations that will help policy makers and the public better understand, support, and prioritize Tribal land management. VP Data Commons seeks to support and uplift these vivid success stories and - with reciprocity and sensitivity - share with the world how data and Tribal stewardship can lead to resiliency in communities, forests, and ecosystems at large.

In today's world where deep healing and forest restoration are needed to avoid destructive fires, sequester carbon into thriving ecosystems, and improve livelihoods of local communities, a single shared vision is instrumental. Dynamic, reciprocal, and innovative partnerships between entities such as nonprofit organizations, Tribal communities, governments, and scientists have the potential to provide high-impact, fast-acting forest restoration. These partnerships are not just possible, they are actively happening, with the Kalispel Tribe and VP Data Commons setting a harmonious example. Tying together all of these successful efforts, of course, is our dear friend: data.

VP Data Commons and the Cisco Foundation share a similar vision where data is accessible and actionable, efforts are connected, and important voices are in the room where decisions are made, which - when all combined - can bring about the inclusive future we all strive for. In this context, it means more healthy fire and less extreme fire. It means we collectively value, honor, and center traditional Indigenous practices to be the main forest management paradigm. If you are a scientist with data getting stale, a funder seeking opportunities to support, or an tech expert looking to lend your skills, you can get in touch with Vibrant Planet Data Commons.

As Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, distinguished professor, scientist, enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, wisely says:

"To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it." - Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

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 the original press release on accesswire.com
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Quantum eMotion Corp. (TSXV: QNC) (OTCQB: QNCCF) ("QeM" or the "Company"), a pioneering force in classical and quantum cybersecurity solutions, proudly announces the formation of Quantum eHealth Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to the development and commercialization of healthcare applications for its cutting-edge cybersecurity platform.

In a strategic move to enhance value and focus on the burgeoning digital healthcare security market, QeM has decided to spin off its Digital Healthcare Cybersecurity Activities into Quantum eHealth Inc. This new entity will be endowed with significant assets, including an exclusive license for the application of QeM's intellectual property in the healthcare sector. QeM will continue to focus on the development and commercialization of the different iterations of its Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) such as Hardware Security Module (HSM), microchip, including its cloud-based platform Sentry-Q for other markets such as financial services, blockchain, military, IoT and others.

Francis Bellido, CEO of QeM, expressed his enthusiasm for this pivotal development, stating: "The establishment of Quantum eHealth Inc. is a strategic step that allows us to tap into alternative funding sources, distinct from public markets. This approach is also aimed at optimizing operational efficacy and maximizing shareholder value. While in the past 18 months, capital markets have been rough for small-cap technology companies, I expect that QeM will soon be recognized at a valuation that truly reflects its intrinsic value, based on its unique technology and the constant security threat posed by Cyber-criminality in healthcare."

Indeed, this announcement comes amid growing concerns about cybersecurity threats in the healthcare sector. Recent studies, including the insightful resource "Healthcare and Cybersecurity: Statistics, Facts, and Trends" found at SafetyDetectives (https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/healthcare-cybersecurity-statistics/), highlight the alarming rate of cyberattacks in this industry. With threats accounting for 70% of all large-scale data security incidents, the need for robust cybersecurity solutions in healthcare has never been more urgent.

The healthcare industry faces unique challenges due to the sensitive nature of patient data. High-profile breaches, such as those experienced by iSofH in Vietnam and Anthem Blue Cross, underscore the critical need for advanced security measures. The financial, reputational, and personal impacts of these attacks are substantial, with an average cost of $10.10 million per incident.

Quantum eHealth Inc. is poised to address these challenges by leveraging QeM's advanced cybersecurity technologies. The subsidiary will focus on protecting sensitive medical data and ensuring uninterrupted healthcare services, in an industry where the stakes are exceptionally high.

Quantum eMotion is committed to delivering unparalleled cybersecurity solutions, and the creation of Quantum eHealth Inc. marks a significant milestone in our journey to safeguard the digital landscape of healthcare.

About QeM

The Company's mission is to address the growing demand for affordable hardware security for connected devices. The patented solution for a Quantum Random Number Generator exploits the built-in unpredictability of quantum mechanics and promises to provide enhanced security for protecting high-value assets and critical systems.

The Company intends to target highly valued Financial Services, Healthcare, Blockchain Applications, Cloud-Based IT Security Infrastructure, Classified Government Networks and Communication Systems, Secure Device Keying (IOT, Automotive, Consumer Electronics) and Quantum Cryptography.

For further information, please contact:

Francis Bellido, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 514.956.2525

Email: info@quantumemotion.com

Website: www.quantumemotion.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in the Corporation's periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by Quantum from time to time with securities regulatory authorities.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193779

SOURCE: Quantum eMotion Corp.
Revolutionary Technology Company Provides Free Floor Plan Scans

Free Floor plans (properties up to 5,000 square feet) that include room dimensions and total square footage

A 20% discount on optional add-ons such as fixed furniture, Appraisal GLA, rush orders, 3D Floor Plans and Video Renders, or large homes

The ability to edit and customize floor plan outputs to your needs

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Realcomp II Ltd. (Realcomp), a premier Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Michigan, announced today it is now offering CubiCasa free to subscribers through an alliance with the technology provider.

CubiCasa is a revolutionary mobile app that produces detailed 2D and 3D floor plans for properties from a simple five-minute scan of a home. The app requires no training or extra equipment and is compatible with virtually any smartphone or tablet - IOS and Android.

"This amazing mobile tech is now being utilized around the world and we are pleased to bring it to our MLS subscribers," said Karen Kage. "Floor plans truly help home buyers to visualize how a home will fit their needs, at a glance, like no other digital asset."

According to the annual NAR Homebuyers and Sellers Survey, consumers consistently rank floor plans as their most desired listing content after standard photos and property data.

"Home shoppers across the U.S. are consistently calling for floor plans to be included on more property listings," said Jeff Allen, President of CubiCasa. "By working alongside Realcomp and its MLS Subscribing Brokers, Agents, and Appraisers, we're able to fill the void by producing more floor plans and thus providing more property data on homes across the country. We're thrilled to be delivering our digital floor plans to properties throughout the state of Michigan through our agreement with Realcomp."

Realcomp MLS Subscribers can get started by logging into Realcomp's dashboard and choosing the CubiCasa icon:

When you create an account with CubiCasa, you must affiliate that account to the Realcomp MLS using a simple dropdown menu. This will ensure you receive the 20% discount program on any upgrades that are purchased.

If you already have a CubiCasa account, you can affiliate it to the Realcomp MLS through your CubiCasa profile settings.

Realcomp subscribers also receive access to CubiCasa's directory of real estate photographers: ( https://www.cubi.casa/photographers-search/ ). CubiCasa can also be used by any photographer you already work with.

About Realcomp II Ltd.

Based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Realcomp II Ltd. proudly celebrates three decades as a pioneer in delivering trustworthy real estate data, cutting-edge software solutions, and unparalleled customer service that empower real estate professionals to thrive in their businesses. Begin your journey towards real estate success at Realcomp.MoveinMichigan.com by clicking on "Join Today".

About CubiCasa

Headquartered in Oulu, Finland, CubiCasa is the global market leader in mobile indoor scanning and is known for its fast and easy-to-use floor plan app on the App Store and Google Play Store. CubiCasa's technology is used in 172 different countries and has helped create over 1 million floor plans to date. CubiCasa provides technology for the real estate, appraisal, and mortgage industries and is on a mission to digitize real estate. Learn more at https://www.cubi.casa/ .

Media Contacts:

Francine L. Green

Realcomp II LTD.

248-699-9114

fgreen@corp.realcomp.com

or

Ross Stevens

Caliber Corporate Advisers for CubiCasa

ross@calibercorporate.com

SOURCE: CubiCasa

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - European Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: FIN) (FSE: W28) ("European Energy" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has satisfied the $1.0 million minimum exploration expenditure commitment on the Central Finland Lithium Project (the "Project"), being a key requirement for earning-in to an initial 51% interest in the Project from Capella Minerals Ltd (TSXV: CMIL) ("Capella") as per the Earn-In Agreement (see March 20, 2023 PR). The Company has incurred over $1.1 million in exploration expenditures at the Project to date which includes sampling and mapping, in addition to the collection of ~1,100 rock chip grab samples, all of which have resulted in the discovery of several high-grade lithium prospects which are being permitted for drilling. The Company may now formally complete its earn-in to the 51% interest in the Project through the payment of CAD 100,000 in cash and 400,000 FIN common shares to Capella.

"Our advancement to the initial 51% earn-in reinforces our commitment to the project based on the exemplary exploration results received to date," commented Jeremy Poirier, CEO of European Energy Metals Corp. "We are currently in the process of converting 4,550 hectares of the 11,690 hectare Nabba Reservation to two Exploration Licenses ("EL's") in order to drill test some of the most prospective targets identified through initial prospecting and sampling which yielded up to 3.84% Li2O. We anticipate providing an update on the timing and details of the next phase of exploration upon receipt of the Exploration Licenses."

Under the terms of the Earn-In Agreement with Capella Minerals (TSXV: CMIL), the Company may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by incurring $1.0 million in exploration expenditures ($1.1 million incurred) in addition to cash payments totalling $200,000 ($100,000 paid) and issuing 500,000 shares (250,000 issued) within the first two years of the agreement. Upon the exercise of the initial option, the Company has the right to earn an addition 29% (80% total) for additional $1.5 million in exploration, $300,000 in cash payments plus the issuance of 1.75 million shares within a two-year period from the exercise of the initial 51% earn-in.

Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo. (NL), VP Exploration of European Energy Metals Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this press release and the results discussed herein.

About European Energy Metals Corp.

European Energy Metals Corp. is a junior mining company currently focussed on the Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum Finnish Pegmatite Project in central Finland. Governing bodies in Europe and Finland are legislating environmentally friendly and energy independent laws and policies. One of the key components is access to REE and, specifically, lithium. The company's concessions are located within 15 kms of the Keliber mine, and production complex currently under construction which is expected to begin production in H2 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier, CEO

Telephone: 604-722-9842

Email: info@europeanenergymetals.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 Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of the Company, including the presence of lithium mineralization at, and the exploration and development potential of, the Finland Pegmatite Project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include the costs of any anticipated work programs and the ability to fund such costs, required approvals in connection with any work programs and the ability to obtain such approvals, risks inherent in exploration as well as those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193687

SOURCE: European Energy Metals Corp.
Road Town, British Virgin Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - As a world-class digital asset exchange, LBank continues to focus on providing its users with quality projects to participate in. Here is a weekly report made by LBank Exchange presenting this week's exciting new listings and a summary of the ones listed last week, offering users more information to help better understand these unique opportunities.

New Listings on LBank Exchange

Scheduled this week starting on 8th January 2024.

For a more complete list please follow our Twitter @LBank_Exchange

LBank Weekly Listing Report, 8th January 2024

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8831/193650_7a2b0abf1498b91a_001full.jpg

Project: BABYGROK

Listing date: 8th January

Key words: MEME/DEFI/AI/NFT, BEP20

Official Website: https://www.babygrok.ai/

About: Baby Grok (BABYGROK), a memecoin launched in a bullish market, has rapidly gained global attention for its community-focused and innovative approach, striving to create a secure ecosystem and standing out in the competitive memecoin space as it embarks on an exhilarating journey of growth and community development.

Project: DNY

Listing date: 8th January

Key words: Public Chain, Initial Listing, Mainnet

Official Website: https://dynastycoin.io/

About: DNY (Dynasty Coin) is a blockchain ecosystem designed to unite kingdoms globally, offering them the chance to harness blockchain technology for enhanced efficiency, transparency, and financial inclusion.

Project: FROMCO

Listing date: 9th January

Key words: Metaverse, Initial Listing, KLAY

Official Website: http://metafromco.com/

About: FROMCO (FROMCO) is a virtual currency designed for the 'FROM' metaverse platform, aiming to facilitate economic and social interactions within a reality-based virtual environment that bridges the real and digital worlds.

Project: ISLM

Listing date: 9th January

Key words: Others, Mainnet

Official Website: https://islamiccoin.net/

About: ISLM (Islamic Coin) is the native currency of HAQQ, an ethics-first L1 blockchain, uniting sustainability-focused developers and Muslim innovators in sustainable finance, with 10% of each issuance dedicated to the Evergreen DAO, a non-profit endowment, for lasting impact in the Muslim community.

Summary of Last Week's Listings - 1st January 2024 to 7th January 2024

Weekly Listing Summary January 1 - January 7

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8831/193650_7a2b0abf1498b91a_002full.jpg

Name: 1IOSK

Weekly gain: 478%

Official Website: https://www.iostmarket.io/#/home

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/1iosk_usdt/

Name: BORK

Weekly gain: 76%

Official Website: https://www.bork.community/

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/bork_usdt/

Name: LFG

Official Website: https://lessfeesandgas.org/

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/lfg_usdt/

Name: AI

Weekly gain: 114%

Official Website: https://www.sleeplessai.net/home

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/ai_usdt/

Name: MSP

Weekly gain: 1080%

Official Website: http://www.mysteriouspoint.com/

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/msp_usdt/

Name: OOFP

Weekly gain: 57%

Official Website: https://www.oofi.io/

Trade here: https://www.lbank.com/trade/oofp_usdt/

About LBank

LBank is one of the top crypto exchanges, established in 2015. It offers specialized financial derivatives, expert asset management services, and safe crypto trading to its users. The platform holds over 9 million users from more than 210 regions across the world. LBank is a cutting-edge growing platform that ensures the integrity of users' funds and aims to contribute the global adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Start Trading Now: lbank.com

Community & Social Media:

l Telegram

l Twitter

l Facebook

l LinkedIn

l Instagram

l YouTube

Contact Details:

LBK Blockchain Co. Limited

LBank Exchange

marketing@lbank.info

business@lbank.info

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193650

SOURCE: LBank
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Employees from the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, participated in the company's annual Global Food Drive, which included 59 sites across 22 countries. Collectively, employees provided 535,685 meals to local hunger relief organizations in their communities throughout November 2023, a 13% increase in meals compared to the company's 2022 global impact.

Sites around the world participated by raising monetary donations, donating physical food items or participating through a hybrid model. Many sites got creative by encouraging inter-departmental competitions or organizing related volunteer events through SPARKTM, the company's global volunteer platform. Others provided incentives, such as trivia events, bake sales and celebratory lunches.

In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 158 colleagues contributed for a total of 348 meals provided per employee. Tracy Binkley, QC Analyst for Gas Separations and SPARKTM team lead, shared insight into Bellefonte's strategy behind their Global Food Drive engagement.

For Tracy and her team, having the opportunity to contribute and provide support to local friends and neighbors during their times of need is a fundamental driver for participation in the food drive. She said their success harbors back to a strong sense of community, "The last few years have been particularly challenging to many members of our community. We are lucky to have generous employees who look forward to this annual event as an opportunity to make a difference."

What also fueled success at the Bellefonte site was the opportunity to participate in several activities that encouraged friendly competition and excitement. A silent auction included generous donations from local businesses and employees; items for bid featured gift cards, handmade items, artwork and gift baskets. When asked about partnering again with local non-profit FaithCentre, Tracy remarked, "FaithCentre is always so gracious and appreciative of our efforts, so it is an easy decision to continue supporting them. We like seeing the local impact directly within our community."

The Global Food Drive isn't the first time employees in Bellefonte came together through SPARKTM; Tracy explains that employees can actively engage in several opportunities throughout the year, "We have done many things ranging from Curiosity LabsTM with local schools, events for science camps or summer sessions, and contributing to our local non-profits. We partner with organizations that host our Curiosity Cube and participate in related events, such as Earth Day and Exploration Fairs."

Learn more about how the company inspires employees to give back to the community by visiting its employee and community engagement webpage.

MilliporeSigma's Global Food Drive occurred from November 1 - 30, 2023. The company's site in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, donated the most out of 22 countries for a total of 348 meals provided per employee.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from MilliporeSigma on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: MilliporeSigma

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/milliporesigma

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: MilliporeSigma

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Istanbul, Turkey--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Multinet Up has advanced its innovative stance in corporate travel solutions with the launch of KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com. This platform, crafted entirely with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, now serves as a comprehensive resource, spotlighting the MultiTravel corporate travel solution and guiding companies towards this innovative offering.

Caption: Ali Emre Sever, CEO at Multinet Up

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8552/193664_47c5d879b440f826_001full.jpg

KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com empowers companies to manage their accommodation needs more effectively and efficiently during business trips, highlighting the convenience and benefits of MultiTravel in detail. Designed to enhance user experience, the site features automated processes and Application Programming Interface (API) integrations, ensuring a seamless and engaging interface.

With the culmination of over a thousand hours of analysis and the application of more than 300 AI tools, the site has been carefully designed by the Multinet Up Marketing Team. From domain name selection to content creation, every aspect of the site has been developed with the help of AI, offering users easy access to features such as hotel booking, budget management, and reporting within MultiTravel.

Accommodation organized without the need for intermediaries

"MultiTravel allows companies to effortlessly arrange accommodation for business trips directly, bypassing any need for intermediaries or meetings. It provides benefits such as effective budget control, access to the best accommodation options, and the convenience of consolidated invoicing," commented Ali Emre Sever, CEO at Multinet Up, on their digital initiatives.

"At Multinet Up, our digital offering is provided via a website entirely crafted using end-to-end artificial intelligence, culminating in the creation of KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com. This website stands as a testament to our technological advancements. Through it, we aim to introduce MultiTravel to a wider audience, highlighting our solutions that streamline corporate travel planning," he added.

Multinet Up, an important leader in the sector, commands over 1.5 million card users, 60,000 merchants, and nearly 40,000 customers. The company provides an array of services, from meal cards to corporate gift cards, enhancing its business partners' procurement processes. Committed to addressing technology and customer needs, Multinet Up continues to enrich the business world with innovative projects like KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com.

* This press release was created using AI technology.

Contact:

Berguzar Bozoglu, berguzar.bozoglu@multinet.com.tr

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193664

SOURCE: B2Press BV
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) ("Arya" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of Phase 1 drill program on the company's historic Dunlop Ni-Cu project in northern Saskatchewan. The program consisted of 8 drill holes totalling 1045m (Table 1) and was completed between December 7th and 17th, 2023. Alpha Drilling based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was contracted to complete the drilling.

The drill program was designed to test favourable Nickel-Copper targets identified within the historic Dunlop Ni-Cu Zone by the company's technical team. The program concentrated on drilling targets identified at the East Zone. The program was successful in intersecting the mineralized pyroxenite in all holes. Visually, the mineralization appears to be of similar nature to the zone intersected in the historic drilling, 3-5% disseminated and bleby pyrrhotite with trace to 1% pentlandite and chalcopyrite. Locally, on a meter scale, sulphide content increases to 30%. The core is currently being cut at a secure facility in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, once cutting is complete the samples will be shipped to SRC Labs in Saskatoon for analysis. All assay results are pending.

The project is located 37km north of La Ronge via Provincial Highway 102 and then an 8km bush road heading west to Nemeiben Lake provides excellent access. A powerline runs along Provincial Highway 102 and would provide easy access to hydro for the project site. The Company has all the necessary permits to conduct exploration drilling on the Dunlop Nickel-Copper project.

Previous drilling in 1960-1980 identified a historical deposit totalling 18.11 million tonnes of Ni, and Cu mineralization of which 12.83 million tonnes were considered able to be mined as an open pit and the balance by underground mining. Grades ranged from 0.55% Ni - 1.46% Ni and 0.15% Cu - 0.39% Cu with assays of up to 0.35% Cr and 0.15% Co -Source Reference: SMDI#0749 Saskatchewan Mineral Database Identification Number- (see Company News Release: https://aryaresourcesltd.com/pdf/2023-03-02_NR.pdf).

Table 1: Fall 2023 Drill Program; Dunlop Ni-Cu Project, Nemeiben Lake

Hole # UTM E UTM N Elevation

(m) Az TN Dip Final

Depth

(m) AR23-001 489275 6130814 400.9 0.0 -50 200.0 AR23-002 489275 6130867 396.7 0.0 -50 155.0 AR23-003 489222 6130867 397.1 0.0 -55 164.0 AR23-004 489325 6130845 395.6 0.0 -50 140.0 AR23-005 489325 6130900 390.5 0.0 -50 119.0 AR23-006 489225 6130918 390.4 0.0 -55 125.0 AR23-007 489275 6130945 390.7 0.0 -55 65.0 AR23-008 489275 6130945 390.7 0.0 -70 74.0

Kevin Wells, P.Geo, a consulting geologist to the Company, is the independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About the Company

Arya Resources Ltd (TSXV: RBZ) is a tier-2 listed mining and mineral exploration Company. The Company is focused on acquiring, exploring and development of "critical minerals" as well as energy-metals projects including Gold, Uranium, Lithium and Rare Earth elements in stable jurisdictions.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Rasool Mohammad, CEO

Email: rasool@aryaresourcesltd.com

Telephone: (604) 868-7737

https://aryaresourcesltd.com/

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" that are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Statements in this news release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including without limitation any statements concerning the Company's intentions, plans, estimates, expectations or beliefs. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193732

SOURCE: Arya Resources Ltd.
Deltek ranked sixth out of the Technology companies on the list; Glassdoor reviews from employees highlight Deltek's standout culture and values, diversity and inclusion, and work-life balance

HERNDON,Va., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Deltek, the leading global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, has been ranked eighth out of 100 companies in Glassdoor's 16th annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Best Places to Work 2024 . Unlike other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback on Glassdoor by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

"What a great way to kick off the year! I know that Deltek is a great place to work, and I'm proud and excited to see that so many current and former team members feel the same," said Mike Corkery, President and CEO at Deltek. "To have Deltek named as one of the top ten places to work in the United States and to be recognized alongside other top tech companies, including NVIDIA and ServiceNow, is incredible. Our employees are the backbone of Deltek Project Nation - and this recognition is a reflection of the culture that we've built and contribute to every day."

"Worklife is rapidly changing, and professionals are turning to Glassdoor to share their experiences about working for some of the most competitive employers in the world," said Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor Chief Executive Officer. "The Best Places to Work award is a stark reminder of the power of Glassdoor, from arming professionals with career insights and real-time conversations about all things work and life, to providing employers with feedback to improve. Glassdoor has evolved to make sure that transparency isn't a fad, but rather, a foundational component in the future of work."

Hundreds of reviews from former and current Deltek employees on Glassdoor have praised the company for the employee experience "surpassing expectations," for a "warm and welcoming" environment with "great people," and appreciate that Deltek "truly values employees." This employee sentiment is backed up by years of recognition as a great place to work, with honors from regional, national, and international media outlets, and industry organizations taking notice of Deltek's culture of inclusion, innovation, and deep focus on creating an environment where employees can thrive.

Employees' Choice Award winners for the Best Places to Work 2024 are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary awards algorithm, and each employer's rating is determined based on the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews submitted by U.S.-based employees between October 18, 2022 and October 16, 2023. During the year-long eligibility period, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 75 ratings for each of the nine workplace attributes (overall company rating, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, senior management, work-life balance, recommend to a friend, and six-month business outlook). The final list is compiled using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, led by its Economic Research Team , and considers quantity, quality and consistency of reviews. Complete awards methodology can be found here .

For the complete list of the Glassdoor Best Places to Work winners in 2024, please visit: gldr.co/BPTW .

To learn more about Deltek's award-winning culture, visit deltek.com/careers.

About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. www.deltek.com

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is revolutionizing how people everywhere find jobs and companies they love by providing deeper workplace transparency. Professionals turn to Glassdoor to research ratings, reviews, salaries and more at millions of employers, and to Fishbowl by Glassdoor to engage in candid workplace conversations. Companies use Glassdoor to post jobs and attract talent through employer branding and employee insights products . Glassdoor is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a leading global technology company, and a part of its fast-growing HR Technology business unit. For more information, visit www.glassdoor.com .

"Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

Deltek Contact:

Deltek Media Relations Team

press@Deltek.com

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Surge in cases of neuropathic pain, increase in the adoption of drugs for neuropathic pain, and rise in awareness regarding neuropathic pain in developing countries drive the growth of global neuropathic pain market

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Neuropathic Pain Market by Drug Class (Antidepressants, Anticonvulsant, Opioids, Capsaicin, and Others), Indication (Diabetic Neuropathy, Spinal Stenosis, Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy, and Others), and Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Drugs Stores & Retail Pharmacies, and Online Pharmacies): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032" According to the report, the global neuropathic pain industry generated $7.72 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to generate $13.25 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 5.6% from 2023 to 2032.

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Prime determinants of growth

Rise in diabetic neuropathy, rise in prevalence of chronic diseases, rise in demand of drugs for neuropathic pain, and rise in geriatric population drive the growth of the global neuropathic pain market. However, the side effects of neuropathic pain medicine are hampering the neuropathic pain market growth. On the contrary, the increase in adoption of key strategies by key players, and the rise in number of drugs in pipeline for the treatment of neuropathic pain are expected to offer remunerative opportunities for expansion of the neuropathic pain market during the forecast period.

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $7.72 billion Market Size in 2032 $13.25 billion CAGR 5.6 % No. of Pages in Report 280 Segments covered Drug Class, Indication, Distribution Channel, and Region Drivers Surge in cases of neuropathic pain Rise in prevalence of chronic diseases Rise in geriatric population Opportunities Rise in number of drugs in pipeline Restraints Side effects of neuropathic pain medicine

Economic Downturn Analysis: Impact of Recession in 2023 on the Neuropathic Pain Market

The pharmaceutical industry heavily relies on research and development efforts to introduce new drugs and therapies to the market. As pharmaceutical companies face financial constraints and budget cuts, there may be a reduced focus on high-cost research and development projects.

However, the overall demand for therapeutic drugs, including Neuropathic pain, remains relatively stable during economic downturns due to their essential role in treating health conditions.

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The anticonvulsant segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

By drug class, the anticonvulsant segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one-third of the global neuropathic pain market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, owing to high adoption of anticonvulsant drugs for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The capsaicin segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.7% from 2023 to 2032, as increase in demand of capsaicin drugs and the increase in clinical trial of capsaicin for the treatment of post-surgical neuropathic pain.

The diabetic neuropathy segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

By indication, the diabetic neuropathy segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one-third of the global neuropathic pain market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, owing to higher cases of diabetic neuropathy and high adoption of medicine for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. The chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.6% from 2023 to 2032, as surge in cancer patients who taken chemotherapy drugs and cause peripheral neuropathy.

The drugs stores & retail pharmacies segment maintained its lead position during the forecast period.

By distribution channel, the drugs stores & retail pharmacies segment held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for nearly half of the global neuropathic pain market revenue, its pivotal role as a primary distribution channel for pharmaceutical products and treatments. In neuropathic pain market, the drugs stores and retail pharmacies serve as key points of access for medications, including neuropathic pain and supportive therapies. However, the online pharmacies segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 7.0% from 2023 to 2032, owing to the convenience in shopping, increase in e-commerce sales, improvements in logistics services, and ease in payment options.

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North America to maintain its dominance by 2032

By region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global neuropathic pain market revenue, owing to robust healthcare infrastructure, presence of key players, and rise in healthcare expenditure. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 7.8% from 2023 to 2032 and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period, owing to a rise in neuropathic pain cases, unmet medical demands, and high population base.

Leading Market Players: -

Abbott Laboratories

Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.

Eli Lilly and Company

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited

Grunenthal

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals

Novartis AG

Pfizer Inc.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the global neuropathic pain market. These players have adopted different strategies such as agreement, acquisition, clinical trial, and product approval 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.

Comprehensive Healthcare Industry Research Studies:

Internet of Things in Healthcare Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

Europe In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

Medical Tourism Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

3D Cell Culture Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

Coronary Stents Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

Neurovascular Devices Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2032

About Allied Market Research:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Wilmington, Delaware. 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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BANGALORE, India, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Preimplantation Genetic Testing - Global Market Insights and Sales Trends 2024 is Segmented by Type (Preimplantation Genetic Screening, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis ), by Application (Air Splicing Bus Duct (BMC), Intensive Insulation Plug Bus Duct (CMC), Higher Strength Enclosed Bus Duct (CFW)): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2029. It is Published in Valuates Reports Under the Category of Medical Devices & Equipment .



The Global Preimplantation Genetic Testing Market Size is expected to reach USD 528.9 Million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2023 to 2029.

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Major Factors driving the growth of Preimplantation Genetic Testing Market

There is a greater need for PGT as a result of expanding acceptance of in vitro fertilization (IVF), an increase in the frequency of reproductive issues brought on by postponed motherhood, and more knowledge of genetic abnormalities. PGT is more appealing and accessible thanks to technological developments in genetic screening methods, growing healthcare infrastructure, and integrated personalized treatment.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC TESTING MARKET

Global genetic problem prevalence is a major factor propelling the PGT market's expansion. The demand for PGT as a preventive strategy has increased as couples want to ensure healthy pregnancies and are increasingly aware of their genetic risks. PGT offers a way to recognise inherited illnesses and prevent them from being passed onto future generations. The issues associated with fertility are partly caused by the tendency towards delayed motherhood and the ensuing rise in maternal age. The chance of chromosomal abnormalities in embryos increased with mother age. PGT becomes an essential tool for older couples and those experiencing infertility since it allows embryos with normal genetic profiles to be chosen for implantation.

Technological developments in genetic screening have improved PGT's accuracy and efficiency considerably. Examples of these developments include next-generation sequencing and microarray analysis. The industry is growing as a result of these technical advancements since they offer more thorough genetic information and increase confidence in the selection of viable embryos. The need for PGT is driven by the growing acceptance and accessibility of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments on a global scale. The market is further driven ahead by the addition of PGT as a supplementary technique to safeguard the health of embryos, as IVF becomes a more common option for infertile couples.

Growth in the market is facilitated by advancements in PGT alternatives and healthcare infrastructure, particularly in emerging economies. A favorable atmosphere for market expansion is created by educating potential parents about the advantages of PGT through educational programmes and counseling services. One significant motivator is the incorporation of genetic counseling and personalized medication within the PGT procedure. The market demand for PGT is further stimulated by enhancing its overall attractiveness and efficacy through the provision of complete counseling services and customisation of genetic testing to unique patient profiles.

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PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC TESTING MARKET SHARE

In terms of market share, North America led the way in preimplantation genetic testing worldwide in 2017. Europe came in second. The significant adoption of genomic techniques, the growing number of IVF procedures (with declining fertility rates), and the continuous trend of replacing conventional genomic technologies with cutting-edge and novel genetic techniques (like FISH and NGS) are the main causes of the large share in the North American region.

Because of the increased attention that companies are paying to emerging markets and the advancements made in the healthcare infrastructure in these areas, the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate throughout the projection period.

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Key Players:

Illumina Inc

Thermo Fisher

Agilent Technologies

PerkinElmer Inc

CooperSurgical

Abbott Laboratories

Natera

Rubicon Genomics

Oxford Gene Technology

Yikon Genomics

Scigene

Beijing Genomics Institute

Good Start Genetics

Invicta Genetics

Genea Limited

Progenesis

CombiMatrix

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DISCOVER MORE INSIGHTS: EXPLORE SIMILAR REPORTS!

- In Vitro Fertilization Test Market

- Preimplantation Genetic Testing Kits (PGT Kits) Market

- Direct-to-consumer Genetic Testing Market revenue was USD 1328 Million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 4521.7 Million by 2029 with a CAGR of 18.9% during the review period (2023-2029).

- Non-invasive Preimplantation Genetic Testing Market

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- Nephro Genetic Testing market is projected to reach USD 547.2 Million in 2029, increasing from USD 353 Million in 2022, with the CAGR of 6.5% during the period of 2023 to 2029.

- The genetic testing market accounted for USD 12,682 Million in 2019, and is expected to reach USD 21,260 Million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 10.1%.

- The global epigenetics market was valued at USD 772 Million in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 2,168 Million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 13.6%.

- Animal Genetics market size will reach USD 8675.8 Million in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 7.8% over the analysis period.

- Pediatric Genetic Testing Market

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- Bioinformatics Market Size is USD 8,614.29 Million in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 24,731.61 Million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.4%.

- Predictive Genetic Testing And Consumer & Wellness Genomics Market

- Pet Genetic Testing market is projected to reach USD 302.3 Million in 2029, increasing from USD 164.1 Million in 2022, with the CAGR of 8.4% during the period of 2023 to 2029.

- Weight Management Genetic Testing Market

- Pet DNA Testing Market

- Horse DNA Testing Market

- Animal DNA Testing Market

- Consumer Grade Genetic Testing market is projected to reach USD 4031.4 Million in 2029, increasing from USD 2633 Million in 2022, with a CAGR of 6.0%.

- Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing market size is expected to reach USD 10060 Million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2023 to 2029.

- DNA Test for Dogs market is projected to grow from USD 143.5 Million in 2023 to USD 281.7 Million by 2029, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.9% during the forecast period.

- Pre-marital and Pre-Pregnancy Genetic Testing Service Market

- Fragile X Syndrome Genetic Testing Market

- Non-invasive Prenatal Genetic Screening Test Kits market is projected to reach USD 374.9 Million in 2029, increasing from USD 267 Million in 2022, with a CAGR of 5.3% during the period of 2023 to 2029.

- Pre-marital and Pre-Pregnancy Genetic Testing Service Market

- Organ On Chip Market revenue was USD 88 Million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 621.2 Million by 2029 with a CAGR of 31.2%.

- Digital PCR Market

- Digital Therapeutics Market

- Medical Supplies Market

- Disposable Medical Supplies Market

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DENVER, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PCM Trials, a Denver, USA-based leader in providing mobile research nurses for decentralized clinical trials (DCTs), today announced the acquisition of Clinical Trial Service (CTS). The Losser, Netherlands-based private clinical research company has been a long-standing partner of PCM Trials and has more than 30 years of experience in managing and staffing global clinical trials with GCP-trained mobile research nurses for DCTs. The acquisition, which is effective immediately, expands PCM Trials' already extensive global footprint.

"CTS is a natural fit for us," said Greg Austin, president of Denver-based PCM Trials. "We have partnered with them for years on numerous studies to provide quality research nurses for many of our most complex international clinical trials. Their ability to understand an individual country's market, culture, and regulatory requirements allows us to launch and complete trials on schedule. Together, we have married a proven project management model with best-in-class mobile research nursing services to provide an unmatched level of experience in DCTs and the ability to reach over 80 countries. This innovative model is designed to support sponsors and CROs looking to conduct global DCTs and deliver better patient retention and increased patient diversity."

CTS was founded in 1993 in Losser, Netherlands, and quickly became a preferred provider of mobile research nurses for some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry. The organization has a network of over 40 mobile nurse partners that it manages as part of its robust network of local country nursing providers, which provide quality solutions by highly screened, selected, managed, and trained research nurses in more than 80 countries. In addition to handling staffing needs for mobile trials, CTS also manages various logistics functions to ensure that trial investigational products and necessary lab materials are delivered on time to the right patients and administered by nurses with protocol-specific training and experience.

"This acquisition provided us with the ideal solution to grow our company," said Mirjam Bruggink, owner and founder of CTS. "Our two organizations are well aligned from a culture standpoint and possess similar values around the importance of advancing clinical research. Since PCM Trials is independent and not part of a larger vertically integrated company, it has more of a family feel. Yet, the company is well established and brings financial strength to take us to the next level of providing service and innovation to our customers. We are all very excited about this new step."

PCM Trials has completed numerous global trials since its founding in 2008 and has the capability to deliver mobile visits in more than 80 countries. According to Austin, the acquisition of CTS represents one more step taken by PCM Trials to make available the most direct nursing model on a global scale. To date, PCM Trials has effectively served more than 150 sponsors and more than 300 protocols. Many of these trials were completed as a result of PCM's partnership with CTS. Now, as one company, PCM Trials has eliminated an administrative layer to create an even more direct relationship between sponsors and mobile research nurses. The result, according to Austin, will be a simplified contracting process for customers, improved communications for study teams, faster turnaround, greater consistency, and higher quality research data.

Bruggink and her entire CTS team will remain with the company to help ensure a smooth transition and continue all ongoing and future clinical trials for clinical operations and DCTs. CTS will continue to operate its European office and logistics center in Losser, the Netherlands under the CTS brand and with its current employees. CTS, as part of PCM Trials, will continue to serve customers in all sectors such as Sponsors, CROs, and mobile research nursing vendors in various mobile visit models.

"We are excited about the opportunity to serve our customers directly, as well as through our industry- pioneering Certified Mobile Research Nurse Partner Network", added Austin. "Between our two organizations, we have nearly 50 years of experience in refining processes and operations. During this time, we have focused exclusively on mobile research, which makes our combined team the most experienced in the industry. This collective expertise will allow us to pursue more innovative solutions that result in better outcomes for our customers and patients."

For more information about PCM Trials or to initiate an RFP for an upcoming trial, email info@pcmtrials.com.

About PCM Trials

PCM Trials is leading the global shift toward decentralized clinical trials by bringing clinical research to patients, wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them. PCM Trials directly recruits, trains, certifies, and manages Certified Mobile Research Nurses (CMRNs) to ensure that each visit meets the highest standards for data quality and patient experience. By reducing the barriers to participation, PCM Trials' mobile nurses support study recruitment, retention, adherence, and diversity. PCM Trials is an independent company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with European operations based out of the U.K., and has conducted mobile research visits since 2008.

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / In a comprehensive analysis of the future of home-based care in North America, AlayaCare co-founder and CEO Adrian Schauer shares predictions and trends set to redefine healthcare in 2024.

The 2024 forecast outlines key transformations in home health, home care, and home infusion, shedding light on the evolution of care delivery models and technology integration in the US and Canada.

Embracing the AI Revolution

The cornerstone of Schauer's predictions lies in the continued proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning within the home-based care industry. This technology is set to revolutionize care delivery, introducing innovative solutions that will transform approaches to patient care management.

Schauer highlights the impactful role of AI in areas such as patient risk stratification, predictive analytics, and enhanced collaboration across the care continuum. Notably, the introduction of conversational computing, exemplified by AlayaCare's own AI chatbot Layla, showcases the potential for AI-driven tools to improve outcomes and bolster clinician capabilities.

Regulatory Frameworks and Value-Based Care

The predictions also underscore the necessity for clearer regulatory frameworks governing AI in healthcare. Anticipating precise guidelines to ensure ethical AI usage and data privacy, Schauer emphasizes the collaboration required between tech companies, health systems, and regulators for cohesive and secure implementation.

Furthermore, Schauer predicts an expansive shift toward the value-based care model. This transformation, already underway in the US, is expected to expand into Canada, emphasizing outcomes over service volume and fostering data connectivity among healthcare providers for seamless care coordination.

Personalized Care and Integrated Models

An imminent shift towards highly personalized care plans, driven by advanced data analytics and a deeper understanding of social determinants of health (SDOH), is highlighted in Schauer's predictions. This evolution emphasizes the importance of client-centered care and increased involvement of clients and their families in the care process.

Additionally, the Canadian landscape is poised for a remarkable evolution towards integrated care models, promoting collaboration between public and private sectors to deliver holistic care at home.

Amplified Collaboration in Home Infusion Therapy

The forecast also emphasizes the amplified collaboration between infusion nursing agencies and specialty pharmacies. This collaboration is set to streamline the medication supply chain and elevate patient care through innovation and operational efficiency.

As all these trends gather momentum, Schauer envisions a more efficient, personalized, and holistic healthcare system that will redefine the dynamics of home-based care.

For more detailed insights into Schauer's predictions for home-based care in 2024, read the full report here.

To speak to Schauer or for more information, contact:

AlayaCare Press Contact:

Steph Davidson

steph.davidson@alayacare.com

647-668-6369

About AlayaCare

AlayaCare is an end-to-end software platform for public, private, non-profit, and community home-based care organizations that manages the entire client lifecycle, including needs assessments, care plans, scheduling, visit and route optimization, and visit verification. Founded in 2014 with over 600 employees, AlayaCare combines traditional in-home and virtual care solutions that enable care providers to lower the cost of care and achieve better outcomes for their clients. For more information, visit: AlayaCare.com

SOURCE: AlayaCare

View the original press release on accesswire.com
HL Mando (MiCOSA) and AWS hold a collaboration ceremony at CES 2024

LAS VEGAS and SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- HL Mando Corporation, a company specializing in electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous driving solutions for HL Group, has signed a Collaboration Letter with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the field of mobility software. This collaboration between the two companies is significant as helps support advancements in the software defined vehicle (SDV) era. This is due to the evolution of software as a core technology of the mobility industry moving beyond hardware. The collaboration ceremony took place at the HL Mando booth during CES 2024 on January 9 with Cho Seong-hyeon, Vice Chairman of HL Mando, and Yasser Alsaied, Vice President of IoT at AWS, in attendance. On this day, HL Mando officially announced its entry into software business by unveiling MiCOSA (Mando integrated Control Software Assembly).

HL Mando's MiCOSA is a mobility software solution. Starting with Holistic Vehicle Dynamic Control (HVDC), HL Mando has expanded its scope to include data-driven features and cloud-based services. The company is actively advancing in the development of future mobility connected solutions thanks to its strengthened collaboration with AWS, the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS provides IoT services for near real-time data transmission. HL Mando is using AWS technology to help develop its various MiCOSA solutions, including Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) that monitors vehicle status and provides maintenance recommendations, and Road Surface Perception (RSP) that analyzes road conditions and optimizes vehicle control. "We are thrilled to embark on this journey with HL Mando, combining AWS expertise in IoT with their innovative MiCOSA software," said Yasser Alsaied, VP of IoT at AWS.

During CES 2024, the automotive zone set up within the AWS booth featured an engaging demonstration that showcased the benefits of MiCOSA and AWS IoT services alongside a live demonstration of RSP, captivating the attention of visitors. HL Mando Vice Chairman Cho Seong-hyeon, who attended the ceremony said, "The innovative work between our two companies will help pioneer the SDV era. We will dedicate our full efforts into advanced software development with AWS."

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hl-mando-announces-collaboration-with-amazon-web-services-aws-302030775.html
PORT CHARLOTTE, ISLAY, Scotland, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bevvy, the whisky app founded in 2021 and based on Islay, has today closed a $1.5 million seed funding round. The new investment comes, principally, from Scotland-based angel investors, existing shareholders and a Denver (US) based family office. Co-founder & Head of Whisky Laurie Black commented "Having already established the leading position in the digital whisky space; this new capital allows us to cement our market share and grow our consumer audience into new territories. We're hugely excited to be heading Stateside in 2024!"

Founded in 2021 by leading whisky expert Laurie Black, mathematician Atanas Tonchev and medtech entrepreneur Lucas Heron; bevvy is a technology-led whisky discovery platform that operates via consumer-facing Android and Apple (iOS) phone mobile applications. Users can use the app and the camera on their mobile phone to scan the label of any whisky bottle and uncover tasting notes alongside indicative valuations for their collection. At its heart, is a leading, proprietary image capturing software, supported by the world's largest database of whiskies, numbering over 200,000 catalogued from the past 120 years of releases. The database includes 150,000 images and tracks retail and auction pricing whilst also monitoring market sentiment in order to arrive at a dynamic, live valuation which it shares with its 120,000, regular active users. Once a bottle is scanned, the whisky is profiled with content populated by distillery and bottler overviews, dynamic pricing data and expert tasting notes. Whiskies are routinely rated by consumers within the app, which allows the tech to become familiar with each user's taste preferences, which in turn allows Bevvy to recommend other bottles that a user might enjoy.

Finance Director Greg Gormley added "In one of the most challenging fundraising environments I can recall; Bevvy's successful raise underlines its dominant and growing position as a critical tool among whisky consumers and collectors. The interest and demand in whisky is growing at a pace not seen before. However, the market is fragmented and disjointed, with an absence of easy-to-access tools and information. There is a considerable hole in the market for a value-add, information-led app that allows a bottle of whisky to be fully understood, in terms of taste, history and pricing. Bevvy is addressing this need and is finding its audience is both engaged and growing at a phenomenal pace."

Over the past 12 months, Bevvy has begun to integrate whisky bar and pub data, whereby bar operators can scan the bottles they have available and publish a live menu. Whisky auctioneers too are finding Bevvy to be a critical resource in dealing with providing prospective consignors indicative valuations for their whisky portfolio, should they choose to offer their bottles for sale at auction. Meanwhile, distilleries are readily and keenly engaging with Bevvy, which has 11 whisky release ballots already penned in for 2024. (A whisky ballot is a mechanism whereby consumers that wish to purchase a bottle from a new, limited release of whisky, enter into a draw to have the right to buy a bottle). Bevvy has proven effective at engaging new audiences with independent bottlers and distilleries whilst also taking the administrative pain from ballot organisation with its mobile solution.

More recently, the company has begun to grow its presence in the US and its database work to expand its catalogue of Bourbon bottles is well underway. Part of its investment from US investors was predicated on a commitment to be live and active in the US market by the middle of 2024. Laurie Black added "This is an extraordinarily exciting time for us, we see thousands of bottle scans each and every week, we are gaining a fascinating insight into user taste preferences, price trends and industry strengths and weaknesses. Bevvy finds itself at the heart of a major shift in how consumers and collectors engage with this multi billion dollar market. 2024 is going to be a year of spectacular development and innovation."

enquiries: press@bevvy.com

Founder Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc1i8ELu-2A

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/whisky-app-bevvy-closes-1-5-million-seed-round-302031545.html
BANGALORE, India, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Surgical Sutures market is Segmented by Type (Absorbable suture, Non-absorbable suture), by Application (Cardiovascular Surgeries, General Surgeries, Gynecological Surgeries, Orthopedic Surgeries, Ophthalmic Surgeries, Other Surgeries): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2029. It is Published in Valuates Reports Under the Category of Medical Devices & Equipment .



The global Surgical Sutures market size is expected to reach USD 5306.1 million by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2023 to 2029.

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Major Factors Driving The Growth Of The Surgical Sutures Market

The increasing number of surgical procedures performed worldwide, improvements in suture technology and materials, the growing geriatric population that requires more medical interventions, and the rise in chronic illnesses and trauma cases are all driving factors behind the growth of the surgical sutures market.

Specialized sutures are in high demand due to patients' preference for minimally invasive procedures; the market is also expected to grow as a result of strict regulatory requirements and the establishment of healthcare infrastructure in emerging regions.

Market expansion is further accelerated by ongoing innovation, which is motivated by the requirement for patient safety and compliance. Rising healthcare spending in emerging markets and around the world allows hospitals to invest more in cutting-edge surgical technologies, such as premium sutures.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF SURGICAL SUTURES MARKET

Globally, the number of surgical procedures is increasing, which is driving growth in the surgical sutures market. There are more surgeries being conducted, from simple procedures to complicated surgeries, as healthcare systems develop and access to medical facilities improves. Surgical sutures are in high demand since they are essential to wound closure, which is consistent with the expansion of the healthcare sector as a whole.

The development of suture materials technology is essential to the market's growth. Better wound healing results are a result of ongoing material innovation, including the creation of sophisticated coatings and absorbable and non-absorbable sutures. The utilization of surgical sutures in many medical applications is facilitated by the introduction of innovative materials that improve tissue reactivity and biocompatibility.

The aging of the world's population is a major factor driving the growth of the surgical sutures market. The need for surgical sutures is further driven by the fact that older adults frequently need surgery to address a variety of health issues, and this cohort is more likely to have chronic diseases than other age groups. The need for long-term, efficient wound closure methods is exacerbated by the aging population.

The global increase in the prevalence of traumatic injuries and chronic illnesses is a major driver in the need for surgical sutures. Surgical procedures are frequently necessary for chronic illnesses, and trauma patients-whether from crises or accidents-need to have their wounds closed right away. Surgical sutures are used more frequently in a variety of healthcare settings as a result of this increase in medical events. One significant trend impacting the surgical sutures market is the growing inclination towards minimally invasive surgical procedures. Sutures made especially for minimally invasive operations are becoming more and more in demand as technology advances make it possible to execute more surgeries in this manner. Sutures are becoming increasingly popular in this changing field since they are essential for accurate wound closure during minimally invasive operations.

The surgical suture industry is driven by continual innovation driven by strict regulatory standards and a focus on patient safety. Compliance with regulatory regulations is required for manufacturers in order to guarantee the quality and safety of their products. In addition, by addressing changing healthcare demands, the pursuit of product innovations-like the creation of antimicrobial sutures-further stimulates market growth.

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SURGICAL SUTURES MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Due to demand from China, the second-largest economy in the world with some signs of stabilization, the surgical sutures market in Asia Pacific has significant potential for growth.

Key Players:

Ethicon Inc

B. Braun

Medtronic Inc

Smith & Nephew

Boston Scientific

Peters Surgical

Demetech

Internacional Farmaceutica S.A. De C.V.

Sutures India

EndoEvolution

Apollo Endosurgery

Surgical Specialties

Mellon Medical

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- The global surgical equipment market size was valued at USD 35.6 Billion in 2022, and is projected to reach USD 59 Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2023 to 2032.

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LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- KONKA Group Co., Ltd. ("KONKA"; 000016.SZ), a leading technology company, has made a significant appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held from January 9 to 12, 2024. It showcased a lineup of its star display products, demonstrating the brand's technological prowess and superior performance.

KONKA's 310-inch Micro Led 4K-Plus Movie Theater offers superior color consistency that surpasses the market average, guaranteeing a uniform and high-quality viewing experience. Its low reflectivity, less than 5%, makes it perfect for cinema environments. The display is vibrant and fluid, thanks to its high brightness of 800 nits and a high refresh rate. The color range is impressive due to KONKA's self-developed and fully proprietary light-emitting chips. These chips continually optimize the light-emitting wavelength, achieving 85% of BT.2020. This effectively reduces color deviation at wide viewing angles, enhancing the overall viewing experience.

KONKA has set up a production line for MLED direct displays and a variety of large-scale Mini LED direct display screen application solutions in Chongqing, China. This enhances KONKA's capability to provide solutions that are versatile and can be utilized in a wide array of settings, including airports, cinemas, central data monitoring rooms, traffic command centers, large shopping malls, and numerous other scenarios.

During the event, KONKA also showcased its flagship 809 Series, a Mini QD-LED TV series launched in 2023. This series offers a sensory feast, thanks to its advanced features. It comes with the new Mini QD-LED and AGLR screen, which significantly enhance the native contrast and reduce screen reflection. This results in a more transparent and visually stunning image. The Mini QD-LED merges the superior benefits of QLED and Mini LED, delivering higher contrast and richer color levels. This allows deep, detailed display of films and games. The series also boasts a super high contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1, a 157% BT.709 ultra-wide color gamut, and high brightness.

KONKA's New Generation 812 Series OLED TV and its mid-range product - the high-refresh 813 Series were also exhibited. The 812 Series is equipped with the webOS operating system and Google TV operating system, meeting the content needs of consumers worldwide.

KONKA's exceptional product quality and remarkable innovation capabilities, supported by proprietary technology, have garnered recognition from both the industry and consumers. In 2023, KONKA's brand business revenue saw a significant increase of 101% year-on-year, while TV sales also experienced a substantial growth of 32% year-on-year. Moving forward, KONKA will remain committed to its business philosophy, focusing on promoting the brand's globalization.

About KONKA Group Co., Ltd.

KONKA Group Co., Ltd. founded on May 21st, 1980. KONKA was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1992. The corporation has 15,000 employees, and the proportion of R&D personnel is more than 10%.

KONKA is increasing its strategic investments in several key core technologies such as Micro LED, 8K, AIoT and 5G to ensure its future leadership in the ever-changing global consumer electronics industry.

For more information, please visit www.konkaglobal.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2315322/image_1.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ces-2024-konka-unveils-cutting-edge-innovations-with-exceptional-performance-302031036.html
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Acre

By Paddy Balfour

Renewable energy output needs to increase three-fold by 2030 to help prevent global warming exceeding 1.5C, with governments being urged to step up rapid action.

The United Arab Emirates' COP28 presidency, along with two renewable energy organisations, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Global Renewables Alliance, have released a joint report which revealed capacity for renewable energy has to "reach more than 11,000 GW" by 2030.

The report has been released ahead of the COP28 climate summit, to be held at the end of November, which strives for global transformative climate action. Countries will unite en masse in the hope of striking a deal on the capacity increase during the climate negotiations, hosted in Dubai.

A total of 20 nations, including China, the United States and India, have agreed to work towards tripling the global renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.

The 1.5C target was implemented following the Paris Agreement in 2015 but there are still considerable gaps creating hurdles to overcome to meet the ambitious goal.

Why is the Paris Agreement important?

The agreement was adopted by 196 parties at COP21 in Paris. According to scientists, the planet will exceed the 1.5C threshold in the coming decade if urgent action isn't taken to reduce CO2 emissions, threatening people, wildlife and ecosystems with drastic effects from climate change.

The challenge of striking a deal between nearly 200 countries at COP28 will be immense and the report calls for strong regulatory frameworks, financial incentives, more time-focused targets and awareness campaigns, as well as doubling energy efficiency.

"Why is the Paris Agreement hard to achieve? How does COP28 factor into this?"

European nations and climate-vulnerable states have made it clear that it isn't enough to agree to scale up clean energy if countries are not aligned in turning their backs on the polluting energy responsible for climate change.

They firmly believe a renewable energy deal at the global summit must align with a pledge to phase out CO2-emitting fossil fuels - which has faced resistance from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other fossil fuel-reliant economies.

Wopke Hoekstra, European Union climate policy chief, told Reuters: "You cannot just have the renewables goal and then call the COP a success."

Paddy Balfour, Executive Director - Acre APAC, said: "Setting an unambiguous climate goal is one thing but ensuring that every country on board is working at their highest level to ensure the target is achieved is another. We are edging closer to the Paris Agreement deadline, time really is running out.

"We need a unanimous decision at COP28 to see climate-vulnerable nations receive the necessary level of financial support and shine the spotlight on both nature and people.

"It is therefore imperative that COP28 leads to less talk and focuses on setting the wheel in motion for more tangible, effective action."

The UAE's Sultan al-Jaber will lead the COP28 talks, which has been deemed a controversial decision by some lawmakers and environmentalists in the US and EU, due to his status as head of state oil giant ADNOC, and the UAE's climate envoy.

COP28 runs from Nov 30th - Dec 12th.

About Acre

At Acre, we work with the most aspirational businesses with potential to make real change; from those who are just starting out to those who are well on the journey to crafting a legacy.

Our 18 years' experience in sustainability recruitment, combined with our extensive global network, enables us to provide talent solutions that are designed to deliver this change.

Through our unique behavioural assessment technology, we understand the types of people, skills and behaviours required to create impact. We can develop these qualities within your existing teams too.

We find talented people and develop their skills to ensure they make a true impact in ambitious, progressive organisations.

Acre. Making companies ready for tomorrow.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Acre on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Acre

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/acre

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Acre

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Chaired by His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, a high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2024, in Davos, Switzerland, from 15-19 January 2024, under the theme of "Rebuilding Trust".

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110420615/en/

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will send a high-level delegation to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 (Photo: AETOSWire)

The Kingdom's delegation includes Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar AlSaud, Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United States of America; His Excellency Dr. Majid A. Alkassabi, Minister of Commerce; His Excellency Adel A. Aljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Member of the Council of Ministers, and Envoy for Climate; His Excellency Khalid A. Al Falih, Minister of Investment; His Excellency Mohammed A. Aljadaan, Minister of Finance; His Excellency Abdullah A. Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology; His Excellency Bandar I. Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources; and His Excellency Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning.

The 54th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting arrives at a time of multiple and mounting humanitarian, climate, social and economic challenges, as confidence in global institutions falls and global volatility rises.

During its participation in the Forum, the Saudi delegation will address these era-defining challenges by working with the international community to advance substantive global collaboration, drive economic resilience, build sustainable resource security, and harness human-centric innovation, while exploring the opportunities offered by emerging technologies and their impact on the policy and decision-making process.

The Saudi delegation will also highlight the social and economic progress made within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030, the process of transformation, diversification and development witnessed by the Kingdom in various fields, as well the multiple investment opportunities available across the nation's thriving economy.

In light of the Kingdom's increasing economic competitiveness, the Saudi delegation will share its experiences in enhancing the Kingdom's attractiveness as a destination for private and foreign investment.

The delegation will also review the best practices and solutions developed by the Kingdom to enhance the resilience of the economy and achieve financial sustainability, in line with its ambitions for economic diversification and sustainable growth, under Saudi Vision 2030.

The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors with the aim of exploring future opportunities, reviewing solutions and developments within various economic and development sectors within the framework of international cooperation, and joint work between governments and various institutions. The Forum brings together representatives from more than 100 governments, major international organizations, and more than 1,000 major private sector players, in addition to representatives of civil society and academic institutions.

For more, watch: https://youtu.be/Cf90T28XyIU?si=uJyPkKyu1f9sCIee

Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110420615/en/

Contacts:

Wooud Alquaied

walquaied@mep.gov.sa
Avolta AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Avolta bolsters presence in Bulgaria with exclusive air-side retail contract for Burgas and Varna airports



10.01.2024 / 18:00 CET/CEST





Avolta AG (SIX: AVOL), the leading global travel experience player, is expanding in Bulgaria with an eight-year contract extension, six new stores and an increase in its total retail space to 2,707m at Burgas and Varna airports. The tender win marks a significant milestone and recognizes Avolta's strong partnership with Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, granting Avolta the exclusive Master Retail Concession air-side at Burgas and Varna airports, Bulgaria's second and third busiest airports respectively. The contract extension builds on Avolta's collaborative ten-year travel retail partnership with Fraport Twin Star Airport Management in Bulgaria. From January 2024, Avolta will begin to add six new retail stores across Burgas and Varna airports, while also making refurbishments to the ten stores in its existing portfolio.



At Varna Airport, and in a first for Bulgaria, Avolta will introduce mind.body.soul. a concept designed to address increasing demand for healthier and more sustainable products, and Candyfair, another new concept offering toys and confectionery in a fun and immersive environment. Other highlights include the transformation of Bulgarian Bazaar into the Taste of Varna and Taste of Burgas concepts. The new Avolta walkthrough stores feature tasting bars in the liquor sections, allowing travelers to stop, taste and interact with products.



Luis Marin, President and CEO Europe, Middle East and Africa, Avolta said: "We are honored to be awarded the Master Retail Concession by Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, making us the exclusive air-side retailer at Varna and Burgas airports. Besides thanking the airport, I also want to thank the teams that contributed to this winning proposal. In line with our Destination 2027 strategy, we are determined to redefine how travelers perceive airports, shifting them from places to kill time, to places to spend time. With this in mind, we are enthusiastic to support the innovative expansion of the open-air terrace at Varna Airport, with the introduction of our very own mind.body.soul., Candyfair and Last Minute retail stores. The terrace space is a rarity among airports and promises an unforgettable experience for travelers, with a unique offering of retail stores, dining options and boarding gates, all within an open-air setting.



"Another key priority for Avolta is to foster a sense of place for travelers. In the refurbishment and expansion of our walkthrough stores, we have incorporated interior design elements that pay homage to the local cities and heritage. Native red Bulgarian roses - an iconic symbol from the domestic culture - form striking sculptural pieces in our 'Taste Of' concepts, and wooden wagons elegantly showcase local products. These deliberate design choices, combined with a wide array of local delicacies, spirits, cosmetics, and souvenirs, invite travelers to immerse themselves in each city's essence and to take a little piece of the local culture with them on their journey."



"We are all very happy and excited to start in 2024 an eight-year period with excellent partners! This is more than an upgrade of our commercial areas in Burgas and Varna; this goes together with new outside areas and an exceptional customer experience! I am sure our guests at the airport will enjoy very much their stay at our airports! Thank you to Avolta and our own team", said the CEO of Fraport Twin Star Airport Management - Dr. Frank Quante.



As part of the contract win Avolta will also introduce a Hudson convenience store and an electronics and travel accessories temporary store to each airport. The new configuration, which sees Avolta increase its total retail footprint by 630m to more than 2,700m, will be implemented in two phases, with all developments expected to be completed by summer 2025. For further information:



CONTACT

REBECCA McCLELLAN CATHY JONGENS Global Head

Investor Relations Director Corporate

Communications Phone: +44 7543 800405 Phone: +41 79 288093 rebecca.mcclellan@dufry.com cathy.jongens@dufry.com



End of Media Release


ELLENSBURG, WA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Upright Education is thrilled to announce its partnership with Central Washington University (CWU) to address the rising demand for tech skills in the Washington job market. This collaboration aims to provide accelerated, high-quality tech skilling boot camps, catering to adult learners seeking quick career transitions. Learners will have access to hands-on instruction, real-world projects, and robust career services to support job placement.





CWU Campus





This partnership combines Upright Education's expertise in designing effective tech skilling programs with CWU's commitment to workforce and community development and represents a strategic footprint in the Pacific Northwest market. The joint initiative will help adults pivot into higher-paying tech roles and careers.

"This collaboration addresses the skills gap, promotes social equity and enhances economic empowerment by providing students with access to marketable skills. We are thrilled at these efforts to focus on inclusivity and equal access to education and career opportunities," said Dr. Yoshiko Takahashi, Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Central Washington University.

"We are proud to join forces with Central Washington University to address the need for skilled tech professionals in Washington and beyond," said Benny Boas, CEO and Founder at Upright Education. "Together, we will provide accessible, accelerated education opportunities that contribute to the economic development of our communities."

For more information about tech skilling boot camps or to inquire about enrollment, visit Upright Education or CWU's program page.

Contact Information

Philip Chang

Director of Partnerships

pchang@uprighted.com

9172513606

SOURCE: Upright Education

View the original press release on newswire.com.
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FleishmanHillard today announced the appointment of Hugh Taggart to CEO of the agency's UK operations starting February 21.

"We have an incredible business in the UK, with real breadth and substance, and a truly exceptional culture," said John Saunders, FleishmanHillard president and CEO. "London will always be a critical market for FleishmanHillard and we believe Hugh is the ideal leader to follow the terrific growth achieved under Jim Donaldson and help deliver on our future plans.

"We're delighted to get someone of Hugh's calibre to the firm. In Hugh we have gained a dynamic leader with a hugely impressive track record of improving teams, developing talent and growing businesses. He will bring gravitas, energy and sharpness to our UK team and will add real depth to our global leadership.

"In addition to his business acumen, Hugh brings a wealth of experience leading integrated teams and advising CEOs and other leaders on a range of business-critical matters. This will be invaluable to our major clients at a time when brands are faced with an increasingly complex set of issues to navigate. We're excited to welcome Hugh to FleishmanHillard and look forward to him starting soon."

Taggart joins FleishmanHillard after more than five years in leadership positions with Edelman, most recently as the UK's co-CEO where he led some 650 people and oversaw a period of rapid growth in the UK. He also served as Edelman's global chair of Issues & Crisis and previously led Edelman's EMEA Corporate Affairs practice. During this period, Taggart also sat on the PRCA's board of directors.

Of his appointment, Taggart said: "It's a real thrill to be joining such an iconic agency and professionally run organisation. I've always admired FleishmanHillard from afar and held them in high regard when coming up against them. However, what is most exciting is joining an agency with such ambitious plans. The UK is a particularly competitive market, but FleishmanHillard has a great platform from which it can grow and I'm looking forward to helping the agency unlock all of its potential."

About FleishmanHillard

FleishmanHillard ?specializes in public relations, reputation management, public affairs, brand marketing, digital strategy, social engagement and content strategy. FleishmanHillard was named 2021, 2022 and 2023 Campaign Global PR Agency of the Year; 2023 ICCO Large Agency of the Year - The Americas; 2022 and 2023?PRWeek U.S. Agency of the Year; 2022 and 2023?PRWeek U.S. Outstanding Extra-Large Agency of the Year; 2023 Campaign US PR Agency of the Year; 2021 PRovoke APAC Consultancy of the Year; and 2021 PRWeek?UK?Large Consultancy of the Year. FleishmanHillard is part of?Omnicom PR Group and has nearly 80 offices in more than 30 countries, plus affiliates in 45 countries.

About Omnicom?PR?Group?(OPRG)??

Omnicom PR Group (OPRG) is the largest global network of communications and consulting agencies in the world. It is home to three of the top global PR agencies FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli and more than a dozen specialist agencies in corporate and public affairs, political consulting and advertising, language strategy, global health strategy and organizational transformation. OPRG is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC). www.TeamOPRG.com .

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2315806/FleishmanHillard_Logo.jpg

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Redde Northgate Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 10

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

10 January 2024

REDDE NORTHGATE PLC

("Redde Northgate" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Transaction in Own Shares

Redde Northgate plc (LSE:REDD) announces that on 10 January 2024 it purchased the following number of its own shares to be held in treasury:

Class of shares : Ordinary shares of 50p ("shares") Number of shares purchased : 50,000 Weighted average purchase price paid : 361.5 pence per share Highest purchase price paid : 362.5 pence per share Lowest purchase price paid : 360.5 pence per share

Following the above transaction, the Company's issued share capital consists of 246,091,423 ordinary shares of 50p each, of which 17,665,071 ordinary shares are held in treasury, and 1,000,000 preference shares of 50p each which do not carry any rights to vote. Therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company is 228,426,352 which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as incorporated into UK domestic law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by Numis Securities Limited on behalf of the Company as part of the Company's buyback programme.

Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions (as at 10 January 2024)

Number of shares

purchased Transaction price

(GB pence per share) Time of transaction Transaction reference number Venue 25,000 25,000 362.50 360.50 09:23:13 16:35:38 00068389963TRLO0 00068404744TRLO0 LSE LSE

Notes

This announcement is made in accordance with the requirements of Listing Rule 12.4.6.

For further information contact:

Buchanan

David Rydell/Jamie Hooper/Hannah Ratcliff +44 (0) 207 466 5000

Notes to Editors:

Redde Northgate is the leading integrated mobility solutions platform providing services across the vehicle lifecycle. The Company offers integrated mobility solutions to businesses, fleet operators, insurers, OEMs and other customers across seven key areas: vehicle rental, vehicle data, accident management, vehicle repairs, fleet management, service and maintenance, vehicle ancillary services and vehicle sales.

The Company's core purpose is to keep its customers mobile, whether through meeting their regular mobility needs or by servicing and supporting them when unforeseen events occur. With its considerable scale and reach, Redde Northgate's mission is to offer a market-leading customer proposition and drive enhanced returns for shareholders by creating value through sustainable compounding growth. The Group aims to achieve this through the delivery of its strategic framework of Focus, Drive and Broaden.

Redde Northgate services its customers through a network and diversified fleet of over 120,000 owned and leased vehicles, supporting over 600,000 managed vehicles, with more than 170 workshop, body shop and rental locations across the UK, Ireland and Spain and a specialist team of over 6,000 automotive services professionals.

Further information please visit the Company's website:
NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Last month, multiple cities in 5 states across the country including the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland filed suits in the PFAS national litigation. The suits allege significant damages including to the water systems, airports, and other critical areas of these cities and towns from PFAS chemicals, also known as 'forever chemicals.' Mike Stag of the national environmental firm Stag Liuzza represents the cities and towns and has stated that "These PFAS and PFOS chemicals are one of the greatest threats to our environment. Our clients need significant money to remediate their water systems and other public areas from these chemicals. We will continue to file suits on behalf of additional municipalities we represent across the country. This issue is too important for our clients not to have aggressive, experienced counsel helping them obtain all money possible." Stag and his firm also represent municipalities in California, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Ohio, and Stag sits on the Executive Committee of the national suit filed in Federal Court in South Carolina.

Stag Liuzza Clean Ground Water

Stag Liuzza and Clean Ground Water logo

In June, national class action settlements totaling over $12 Billion were proposed. These settlements only deal with public water systems and do not include payments for airports, fire training centers or other likely PFAS contaminated public areas. It is expected that public water systems and municipalities which file a proper and valid claim could receive payments as early Summer 2024. "We want our clients to be in the front of the line to receive any payments possible from the national settlement the minute it is approved," said Stag. The amount a municipality may receive is based on complex formulas and include what is known as 'baseline' testing. "During data collection, we are finding that this is a process that takes multiple steps to gather the proper and best evidence for the claims process."

More information about the national PFAS Public water system settlement, or filing suit to recover money for PFAS contamination, can be obtained by contacting Mike Stag or Ashley Liuzza at Stag Liuzza or by visiting https://www.cleangroundwater.com

For images or other information, please visit https://www.cleangroundwater.com/presskit

Contact Information

Michael Stag

Managing Partner

mstag@stagliuzza.com

888-513-7545

Ashley Liuzza

Partner

aliuzza@stagliuzza.com

888-513-7545

SOURCE: Stag Liuzza

View the original press release on newswire.com.
Professor Jerry Mendell and Professor Howard Chang, among other eminent figures, were selected to win the 46th session of the Prize

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Professor Jerry Mendell was announced this year's laureate in King Faisal Prize for Medicine for his groundbreaking contributions to screening, early diagnosis, and treatment of neuromuscular disorders, and Professor Howard Chang was announced this year's laureate in King Faisal Prize for Science in the field of Biology for his pioneering work in uncovering the significance of long non-coding RNAs in gene regulation and function and his collaborative efforts in advancing genome-wide methodologies to identify DNA regulatory regions. Other laureates' names were announced to win King Faisal Prize in 2024 for enriching humanity with invaluable achievements and discoveries, and excelling in the fields of Islamic Studies and Serving Islam.

Professor Jerry Mendell's work lies in the screening, early diagnosis, and treatment of patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and limb girdle muscular dystrophies. The Prize's Medicine topic for 2024 was "Management of Peripheral Disabilities".

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) used to be considered the primary genetic contributor to infant mortality. Around 95% of infants that were diagnosed with SMA, did not survive beyond the age of two. Babies with SMA type 1 are missing a gene called survival motor neuron gene 1 (SMN1) which is vital for their development and its absence prevents them from moving, talking, swallowing, and eventually breathing. Professor Mendell, the Director of Gene Therapy Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Curran Peters Chair in Pediatric Research, used gene-therapy to deliver a healthy gene (SMN1) to patients' cells. He was the first to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of high doses of AAV-mediated gene transfer therapy for individuals diagnosed with SMA type 1. Adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) are engineered viruses specifically designed to deliver DNA, and in the context of SMA treatment, they carry the genetic encoding of the healthy SMN gene. His therapeutic approach has garnered worldwide approval, and in 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the first-ever gene therapy treatment for pediatric patients under 2 years of age diagnosed with SMA.

Gene-therapy has also been used by Professor Mendell to correct the genetic mutations for patients suffering from the most common form of muscular dystrophy; Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a progressive neuromuscular disease. In patients with DMD, genetic mutations prevent cells from making dystrophin; a protein responsible for developing and maintaining healthy muscle tissue. While initial symptoms in DMD patients manifest in skeletal muscles, the condition progresses to impact the heart and respiratory functions. Gene therapy serves to rectify this genetic abnormality, enabling the body to generate dystrophin and impede the ongoing degeneration of muscle tissue. In June 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment for pediatric patients 4-5 years old with DMD using the novel gene-therapy co-invented by Professor Mendell and Professor Louise Rodino-Klapac; a post-doctoral fellow in Mendell's lab at the time. A single injection treatment involves administering a micro-dystrophin gene into an adeno-associated virus serotype (AAVrh74), facilitating the delivery of missing or corrected genes to cells.

Professor Mendell has been involved in clinical trials for gene therapy for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) including types 2E, 2B, and 2D. LGMD is an umbrella term that represents several rare types of muscular dystrophy that cause muscle weakness in shoulders, upper arms, hips, and upper legs. It is a chronic condition that affects people of all ages. In one of his studies, Prof. Mendell and his team used a single injection of a low dose of a gene therapy vector to address the primary cellular deficit associated with LGMD2B. The approach repaired the injured muscle fibers, reducing degeneration, and enhancing muscle function.

As author of over 400 papers, Prof. Mendell was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021. He was also recognized by the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) with a Translational Science Award in his Name. Science Magazine awarded him the Breakthrough Achievement Award in 2017 for SMA Gene Therapy.

As for this year's Science Prize in the field of Biology, Professor Howard Chang was announced the laureate, for unveiling the intrinsic role of long non-coding RNAs in gene regulation and function, and for his collaborative endeavors in advancing genome-wide methodologies identifying DNA regulatory regions. Such findings are significantly influencing the realms of molecular biology and genetics, contributing to a deeper understanding of intricate human diseases. His research addresses how large sets of genes are turned on or off together, a key point that helps understand normal development, cancer, and aging.

Professor Howard Chang, a physician-scientist, Professor of Dermatology and Genetics, and Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at Stanford University, has made significant contributions to the field of RNA medicines. His lab's work has focused on understanding the roles of long noncoding RNAs (a genetic material found in cells) in biological regulation and their potential therapeutic applications. He discovered long sequences of RNA that, in contrast to the better-known messenger (mRNAs) responsible for protein synthesis, do not encode proteins. Prof. Chang discovered that these sequences play a role in influencing DNA accessibility. They act like a magnet for other RNA molecules and alter mRNA splicing, to affect gene expression, among other duties. Despite not encoding proteins, lncRNAs are crucial for controlling the timing and amount of protein production, impacting the overall function and behavior of cells.

In every human cell, 2 meters of DNA are packed in a 10-micron nucleus, so most of the DNA is highly compacted making most of it inaccessible except for the active DNA elements that the cell is using and reading. Discovering the location of these accessible elements provides insights into the cell's "software". Prof. Chang's lab has pioneered techniques to map the landscape of chromatin; the substance that forms chromosomes and consists of DNA and proteins that structure the genome and control gene expression. One groundbreaking technique innovated by Chang's lab was the Assay of Transposase Accessible Chromatin, which used an enzyme called Tn5 transposase which copies and pastes DNA. This technique led to a million-fold improvement in the sensitivity and hundred-fold improvement in the speed of mapping regulatory DNA - the epigenome- in human cells.

His work unraveled mechanisms and targets in various human diseases, notably cancer, immunity, and development. His recent investigations into extrachromosomal DNA in cancer revealed key findings. Prof. Chang also established the RNA Medicine Program at Stanford, which works to accelerate the discovery and translation of RNA science into human therapeutics.

Prof. Chang's honors include the NAS Award for Molecular Biology, Outstanding Investigator Award of the National Cancer Institute, Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, Judson Daland Prize of the American Philosophical Society, and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise. His work was honored by the journal Cell as a Landmark paper over the last 40 years and by Science as "Insight of the decade".

In addition to Medicine and Science, King Faisal Prize recognized this year the achievements of an outstanding thinker and scholar in the field of Islamic Studies and exemplary leaders who played a pivotal role in serving Islam, Muslims, and humanity at large.

Professor Wael Hallaq, the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, was selected to receive the "Islamic Studies" prize in "Islamic Legislations and their Contemporary Applications" for 2024. He has provided an academic reference, parallel to the traditional Orientalist writings, that influenced universities around the world. This was evident in his numerous works that were translated into many languages, and his success in establishing a guideline for the development of Islamic legislation.

As for the Service to Islam Prize, the Japan Muslim Association and Dr. Mohammad Sammak, were announced as co-laureates for this year's 2024 prize.

King Faisal Prize for Arabic Language & Literature for 2024 on the topic of "Non-Arab Institutions and their Endeavors to Promote Arabic" was withheld due to nominated works not elevating to the criteria of the prize.

King Faisal Prize's laureates names for 2024 were announced today in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, by HRH Prince Turki Alfaisal and the Prize's Secretary General Dr. Abdulaziz Alsebail. Since 1979, King Faisal Prize in its 5 different categories has awarded 295 laureates who have made distinguished contributions to different sciences and causes. Each prize laureate is endowed with USD 200 thousand; a 24-carat gold medal weighing 200 grams, and a Certificate inscribed with the Laureate's name and a summary of their work which qualified them for the prize.

Attachments
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc. ("Forstrong") announces an amendment to the final non-cash notional reinvested income per unit (the "Non-Cash Distribution") disclosed in the press release dated December 20, 2023 for the Forstrong Global Ex-North America Equity ETF (the "Forstrong ETF"). Cash distributions for December 2023 have been distributed and reported separately.

All unitholders of record on December 29, 2023, will receive a notional distribution for the Forstrong ETF for the 2023 tax year. The non-cash distributions were reinvested in additional units of the respective Forstrong ETF at the year-end and will be immediately consolidated with the previously outstanding units such that the number of outstanding units following the distribution will equal the number of units outstanding prior to the distribution.

ETF Name Trading Symbol Final Reinvested Income Distribution Amount (Per Unit) Forstrong Global Ex-North America Equity ETF (ETF Units) FINE $0.00682

About Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc.

Founded in 2001, Forstrong is a trusted global macro investment manager with specialized international expertise. Our active macro investment process is used by the firm's clients to meet the challenges of today's new economic and geopolitical realities. Forstrong is an independently owned firm with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Kelowna.

Forstrong Global and the Forstrong Global logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc. in Canada.

Management fees, brokerage fees and expenses all may be associated with investing in ETFs. Please read the prospectus, which contains detailed investment information, before investing. Tax, investment and all other decisions should be made, as appropriate, only with guidance from a qualified professional. ETFs units are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. ETF units are bought and sold at market price on the TSX or another exchange or marketplace and may only be bought and sold through licensed dealers. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. There can be no assurance that ETF units will trade at prices that reflect their net asset value per unit. If ETF units are purchased or sold on the TSX or another exchange or marketplace, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units of an ETF and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. There can be no assurance that an active public market for ETF units will develop or be sustained. There is no guarantee that the ETFs will achieve their stated objectives and there are risks involved in investing in the ETFs. Before investing you should read the prospectus or relevant ETF Facts and carefully consider, among other things, each ETF's investment objective, risks, charges and expenses. A copy of the prospectus and ETF Facts of each ETF is available at www.forstrongetfs.com or www.sedarplus.ca.

Certain statements may constitute a forward-looking statement within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to a future outlook and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding future financial performance. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect our current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that is contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the securities referred to herein. This press release is not for dissemination in the United States or for distribution to U.S. news wire services.

For further information please visit www.forstrongetfs.com or contact us at funds@forstrong.com.

Investor Relations Contact: Karen Tsang, 1-888-419-6715.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193806

SOURCE: Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc.
Growing population and cottonseed production, especially in Asia, fuel demand for protein-rich, cost-effective cottonseed meal in livestock feed & organic fertilizer. Rising livestock & organic farming in Asia Pacific create further market opportunities. Explore full report for insights & stakeholder opportunities

NEWARK, Del., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Cottonseed Meal Market is expected to be valued at US$ 3,500.0 million in 2024 and is poised to witness impressive growth during the forecast period. The market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.6%, reaching a value of US$ 6,055.0 million by 2034.

Request Exclusive Sample Report: Cottonseed Meal Market Strategic Insights, https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-18792

With growing population, demand for eggs, meat, and dairy products increases, which propels the demand for good quality animal feed. Cottonseed meal is the perfect option to fulfill this requirement by providing a protein-rich and cost-effective option that helps to meet the nutritional requirements of livestock and poultry.

Cottonseed meal is a rich source of phosphorus, slow-release nitrogen, and several trace elements, making it an ideal ingredient for organic fertilizer. With a protein-rich source, cottonseed meal offers an alternative to soybean meal. Cottonseed meal is extensively used as a feed for cattle and poultry.

With growing population and cotton seed production in East and South Asia, specifically China and India, the market is expected to rise rapidly. In Asia Pacific, increasing livestock and organic farming also serve as growth opportunities for the cottonseed meal market.

The cottonseed meal market is expected to rise significantly during the forecast period due to high production and availability of cottonseed. Increasing demand from livestock and agriculture for good quality feed ingredients & organic fertilizers is set to further escalate market growth.

Key Takeaways from the Report-

The cottonseed meal market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 6,055.0 million by 2034.

by 2034. The market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 5.6% over the forecast period.

over the forecast period. Feed is the most popular end-use application and is expected to hold a market share of 68.0% in 2024.

in 2024. India is projected to surge at a CAGR of 5.0% from 2024 to 2034.

from 2024 to 2034. Australia is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.

"The global cottonseed meal market is expected to surge steadily during the forecast period due to its applications in animal feed and organic fertilizers. Factors such as increased demand for protein-rich animal feed and high preference for organic fertilizers drive growth. North America and Asia Pacific are key regions contributing to the market's expansion," says Nandini Roy Choudhury (Client Partner for Food & Beverages at Future Market Insights, Inc.).

Scope of the Cottonseed Meal Market Research Report

Attribute Details Estimated Value (2024) US$ 3,500.0 million Projected Value (2034) US$ 6,055.0 million Anticipated Growth Rate (2024 to 2034) 5.6 % Forecast Period 2024 to 2034 Historical Data Available for 2019 to 2023 Market Analysis US$ million for Value, MT for Volume Key Countries Covered  United States  Canada  Brazil  Mexico  Germany  United Kingdom  France  Italy  Spain  Nordic  Russia  Poland  China  India  Thailand  Indonesia  Australia and New Zealand  Japan  GCC countries  North Africa  South Africa  others. Key Segments Covered By Product Type: o Primary Meal o Secondary Meal o Others By Nature: o Organic o Conventional By End-use Industry: o Feed - Aquaculture  Fish  Shrimp  Shellfish  Others - Livestock  Poultry  Pigs  Cattle  Others - Pet Food  Dogs  Cats  Horses - Fertilizer By Region: o North America o Latin America o Europe o East Asia o South Asia o Middle East and Africa Report Coverage Market Forecast, Company Share Analysis, Competition Intelligence, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunity, and Trends Analysis, Market Dynamics and Challenges, and Strategic Growth Initiatives

Competitive Landscape

Following are a handful of leading players operating in the market.

N.K.Proteins

Planters Cotton Oil Mill

T T Limited

Louis Dreyfus Company

Cargill, Inc.

Stillwater Milling Company

Oilseeds Australia

Shree Ram Proteins

The Scoular Company

The cottonseed meal market is characterized by several suppliers operating across regions, contributing to its high fragmentation. Key players are directing toward mergers, acquisitions, product launches and development to expand their market reach.

Purchase this report now to get key companies with their Revenue Forecast, Volume Forecast, Company Ranking, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, Trends, and Pricing Analysis.

For instance,

In 2019, cottonseed with gossypol and edible ultra-low gossypol cottonseed passed the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deregulation criteria and was turned into a foodstuff worldwide.

cottonseed with gossypol and edible ultra-low gossypol cottonseed passed the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deregulation criteria and was turned into a foodstuff worldwide. In 2019, Kerala Feeds Limited (KFL) launched a nutrient-rich feed specifically developed for layer chicken.

Get More Valuable Insights

Future Market Insights (FMI) brings a comprehensive research report on forecasted revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2019 to 2034. The global cottonseed meal market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present a complete market intelligence approach to the reader.

The study provides compelling insights into based cottonseed meal market segment based on product type (primary meal, secondary meal and others), nature (organic and conventional), end-use industry (feed and fertilizer) and region

About the Food & Beverage Division at Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights (FMI) food & beverage team offers comprehensive market intelligence services, with a vast array of reports and data points analyzed across 50+ countries over a decade. The team provides consulting services and end-to-end research, offering expert analysis, actionable insights, and strategic recommendations to clients worldwide. Contact them to explore how they can assist with your unique market intelligence needs.

About the Author:

Nandini Roy Choudhury (Client Partner for Food & Beverages at Future Market Insights, Inc.) has 7+ years of management consulting experience. She advises industry leaders and explores off-the-eye opportunities and challenges. She puts processes and operating models in place to support their business objectives.

She has exceptional analytical skills and often brings thought leadership to the table.

Nandini has vast functional expertise in key niches, including but not limited to food ingredients, nutrition & health solutions, animal nutrition, and marine nutrients. She is also well-versed in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, retail, and chemical sectors, where she advises market participants to develop methodologies and strategies that deliver results.

Her core expertise lies in corporate growth strategy, sales and marketing effectiveness, acquisitions and post-merger integration and cost reduction. Nandini has an MBA in Finance from MIT School of Business. She also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Nagpur University, India.

Nandini has authored several publications, and quoted in journals including Beverage Industry, Bloomberg, and Wine Industry Advisor.

Explore FMI's Extensive Coverage in the Food and Beverages Domain

Cottonseed Hulls Market by Form, by End Use & Region | Forecast 2023 to 2033. - Review and Request the Sample PDF.

by Form, by End Use & Region | Forecast 2023 to 2033. - Fishmeal Market, Global Opportunities and Forecast, 2022-2032. - Review and Request the Sample PDF.

Global Opportunities and Forecast, 2022-2032. - Cottonseed Oil Market, Global Opportunities and Forecast, 2018-2028. - Review and Request the Sample PDF.

Global Opportunities and Forecast, 2018-2028. - Krill Meal Market Research Report by use of market, By Region, end user Application, distribution channel & Region | Forecast to 2022 to 2032. - Review and Request the Sample PDF.

Research Report by use of market, By Region, end user Application, distribution channel & Region | Forecast to 2022 to 2032. - Beet Sugar Market by White Sugar and Brown Sugar Types from 2024 to 2034. - Review and Request the Sample PDF.

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Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai and has delivery centers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and India. FMI's latest market research reports and industry analysis helps businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition.

Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

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GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --Ellie Goulding has been announced as this year's recipient of The Perfect World Foundation Award, following in the footsteps of previous recipients such as Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Jane Goodall, and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. This prestigious conservation award, presented annually by the wildlife and nature organization The Perfect World Foundation, honors individuals who have significantly contributed to the preservation of the planet's wildlife and nature. The award ceremony is set to take place on September 5 in Gothenburg, graced by the presence of Sarah, Duchess of York, who will present the award to Ellie Goulding.

With over 18 million albums and 140 million singles sold globally, resulting in 23 billion streams, Ellie Goulding has leveraged her significant social media presence of over 50 million followers combined to champion environmental causes. Her role as a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and her active participation in major environmental summits, including three COPs, underscore her commitment to these issues.

Ellie Goulding's passionate environmental activism has been formally acknowledged by The Perfect World Foundation with the announcement as the recipient of one of the world's most prestigious conservation awards, The Perfect World Foundation Award. The award is given annually to recognize a prominent individual for their significant contributions to conservation efforts and raising global awareness about the critical need to protect our planet's wildlife, environment, and biodiversity. Ellie Goulding, the 11th recipient of this award, joins an esteemed group of past recipients including Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Jane Goodall, and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Upon being honored as this year's recipient of the award, Ellie Goulding will also be named as The Conservationist of the Year 2024. In a video accepting the award, Goulding expressed her humility, saying, "I don't feel like I deserve it, but I will continue to do everything I can. The wildlife and biodiversity of this planet are under threat, with over 1 million species at the brink of extinction."

Ragnhild Jacobsson, CEO and co-founder of The Perfect World Foundation, praised Goulding's efforts: "Ellie Goulding is a respected force as a climate and nature champion. Her inspirational efforts to mobilize the youth in saving our planet's biological diversity are admirable. We are proud to honor her as this year's recipient."

The award ceremony, scheduled for September 5 in Gothenburg, promises to be an event featuring celebrities, philanthropists, and conservationists gathering to celebrate Goulding's philanthropy and raise awareness for global conservation efforts. Sarah, Duchess of York and global ambassador for The Perfect World Foundation, will present the award.

Ellie Goulding is passionate about reducing her own industry's carbon and resource footprint and has worked hard to remove single use plastic from physical album releases and merchandise. Her last UK tour was carbon neutral and she is continuing to set standards for decarbonisation and eco messaging in the music industry. She frequently incentivises eco action for her fans and believes strongly that everyone should be invited to choose a future on a healthy planet. 'The climate and nature crisis is very serious,' says Ellie, 'but doom and gloom doesn't work. We have solutions, ingenuity, community and enthusiasm. I believe in positive action and in doing what you can right now'.

Established in Sweden in the early 2000s, The Perfect World Foundation focuses on supporting wildlife and nature in crisis and preserving local and global biodiversity. The organization actively spreads knowledge through various events and creates conditions for driving its own initiatives, as well as supporting a number of independent grassroots projects around the world.

Previous Years' Award Recipients

The Perfect World Foundation Award has an impressive list of recipients: Ms. Kristin Davis (2023), HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco (2022), Dr. Dian Fossey (2021), Prof. Wangari Maathai (2020), Miss Greta Thunberg (2019), Sir David Attenborough (2018), Dr. Sylvia Earle (2017), Dr. Richard Leakey (2016), Dr. Jane Goodall (2015), and Mr. Mark Shand (2014).

CONTACT:

Daniel Wilke

Marketing Director

Mobile: +46 (0) 73 632 98 27

E-Mail: daniel@theperfectworld.com

THE PERFECT WORLD FOUNDATION

Kungsgatan 48A, 411 15 Gothenburg, Sweden

www.theperfectworld.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/20379/3906719/2531067.pdf Ellie Goulding.BIO.climate and nature 2024 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/ellie-goulding,c3256466 Ellie Goulding https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/sir-david-attenborough-2018,c3256465 Sir David Attenborough 2018 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/dr-jane-goodall-2015,c3256457 Dr Jane Goodall 2015 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/h-s-h-prince-albert-ii-of-monaco-2022,c3256464 H S H Prince Albert II of Monaco 2022 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/ms-kristin-davis-2023,c3256463 Ms Kristin Davis 2023 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/mr-mark-shand-2014,c3256458 Mr Mark Shand 2014 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/mr-mark-shand-s-award-was-received-by-his-brother-in-law-king-charles-iii-and-his-sister-queen-camil,c3256459 Mr Mark Shand s award was received by his brother-in-law King Charles III and his sister Queen Camilla 2014 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/dr-dian-fossey-2021,c3256460 Dr Dian Fossey 2021 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/dr-sylvia-earle-2017,c3256467 Dr Sylvia Earle 2017 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/prof-wangari-maathai-2020,c3256461 Prof Wangari Maathai 2020 https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/i/dr-richard-leakey-2016,c3256462 Dr Richard Leakey 2016

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/global-music-icon-ellie-goulding-receives-the-perfect-world-foundations-honorary-conservation-award-302031796.html
Top Five Conveyor Car Wash Company Expands Footprint in Georgia and Alabama

THOMASTON, GA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Tidal Wave Auto Spa, one of the nation's fastest-growing express car wash companies, celebrated the opening of two brand-new locations this week in Athens, GA, and Montgomery, AL.

To celebrate the Grand Openings, the new Montgomery and Athens locations are offering eight days of free car washes from January 10 - January 17. This limited-time promotion provides an opportunity for car owners to experience Tidal Wave's premium wash option, Graph-X4, at no cost. Additionally, any new customer that joins a Clean Club unlimited wash membership plan during Grand Opening week will enjoy their first month of unlimited washes for only $9.97 - saving up to $40.

"We're excited to continue our growth throughout Georgia and Alabama," said Tidal Wave Auto Spa founder and CEO Scott Blackstock. "The brand-new Athens location is our third in the city and provides another convenient location for our Clean Club members and folks in this community looking for an exceptional wash experience. Our team is excited to join the Montgomery community this week with our Vaughn Road location and is looking forward to opening an additional Montgomery wash later this year on Atlanta Highway."

Montgomery, AL Location: 8070 Vaughn Road, Montgomery, AL 36116

Nearby locations: Montgomery - Atlanta Highway (Coming Soon), Alexander City

Athens, GA Location: 3377 Atlanta Highway, Athens, GA 30606

Nearby locations: Athens - 4475 Atlanta Highway, Athens - Lexington Road, Bethlehem

Tidal Wave Auto Spa currently operates 17 washes in Alabama and will open brand-new locations in Madison, Cullman, Mobile, Boaz, Montgomery and more in 2024. The company was founded in Thomaston, GA in 1999 and currently operates 41 washes throughout their home state. Tidal Wave will also open several locations this year in Georgia, including brand-new washes in Statesboro, Savannah, Douglasville, and Snellville.

Tidal Wave Auto Spa is committed to providing every customer with an exceptional car wash experience through industry-leading car care technology, clean and attractive locations, and friendly customer service at every location. Stop by for a single wash or join Tidal Wave's Clean Club for the ultimate experience. Members can wash every day of the month for one convenient monthly payment and save time with exclusive club member wash lanes - plus, memberships can be used at any Tidal Wave location. For those needing to wash multiple cars, Tidal Wave offers discounted monthly family plans and fleet plans for businesses with five or more vehicles.

For additional information, including upcoming locations, fundraising, fleet plans, and more, please visit: https://www.tidalwaveautospa.com/.

About Tidal Wave Auto Spa

Tidal Wave Auto Spa is an industry-leading conveyor car wash company founded in 1999 by Scott and Hope Blackstock in Thomaston, GA. Tidal Wave is committed to providing cutting-edge car care technology and exceptional customer service at each of their 228 locations operating in 23 states across the South, Midwest, and Northern United States. In 2020, Tidal Wave partnered with Golden Gate Capital to facilitate their accelerated growth across the country. Tidal Wave is one of the top five conveyor car wash companies in the country and has been included in the Inc. 5000 list for America's Fastest Growing Companies since 2020. The company was recognized as a 2023 Champion of Charity Honoree by Professional Carwashing & Detailing and has raised over $3 million dollars for organizations in their communities.

Contact Information

Heather Coleman

Marketing Manager

media@tidalwaveautospa.com

Andrea Traylor

Senior Director of Digital Marketing

andrea.traylor@tidalwaveautospa.com

2058212220

SOURCE: Tidal Wave Auto Spa

View the original press release on newswire.com.
Golar LNG Limited ("Golar" or the "Company") announces that FLNG Gimi arrived at the GTA field offshore Mauritania and Senegal on January 10, 2024. Golar has notified bp of FLNG Gimi's arrival. Following completion of all preparatory activities FLNG Gimi will be maneuvered to her berth at the hub and for her subsequent connection to the feed gas pipeline. Golar and bp have agreed that FLNG Gimi will proceed to moor offshore Tenerife while awaiting completion of the necessary preparatory activities.

Golar CEO Karl-Fredrik Staubo commented: "Golar is pleased to see that the FLNG Gimi has arrived at the GTA field offshore Mauritania and Senegal, her home for the next 20 years. We are excited to integrate the Golar FLNG Facility with the GTA hub, and starting the next phase of our long-term relationship with bp and the GTA partners into LNG production."

Rahman Rahmanov, bp's vice president projects for Mauritania & Senegal commented: "This is a major step forward for overall delivery of the GTA1 project in Mauritania and Senegal. Safely achieving this milestone is a result of great teamwork."

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address activities and events that will, should, could or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "could," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "propose," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.

You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Golar LNG Limited undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

Hamilton, Bermuda

January 10, 2024

Enquiries:

Golar Management Limited: + 44 207 063 7900

Stuart Buchanan

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / The abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds (NYSE:ASGI, IFN, JEQ) (NYSE American:HQH, HQL, IAF, THQ, THW), (the "Funds" or individually the "Fund"), today announced that the Funds paid the distributions noted in the table below on January 10, 2024, on a per share basis to all shareholders of record as of December 29, 2023 (ex-dividend date December 28, 2023). These dates apply to the Funds listed below with the exception of abrdn Healthcare Investors (HQH), abrdn Life Sciences Investors (HQL), the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) which will pay on January 10, 2024, to all shareholders of record as of November 22, 2023 (ex-dividend date November 21, 2023).

Ticker Exchange Fund Amount ASGI NYSE abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund $ 0.1200 HQH NYSE American abrdn Healthcare Investors $ 0.3800 HQL NYSE American abrdn Life Sciences Investors $ 0.3000 IAF NYSE American abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1100 IFN NYSE The India Fund, Inc. $ 0.4100 JEQ NYSE abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1000 THQ NYSE American abrdn Healthcare Opportunities Fund $ 0.1125 THW NYSE American abrdn World Healthcare Fund $ 0.1167

Each Fund has adopted a distribution policy to provide investors with a stable distribution out of current income, supplemented by realized capital gains and, to the extent necessary, paid-in capital.

For the abrdn Healthcare Investors (HQH), abrdn Life Sciences Investors (HQL), the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) the stock distributions were automatically paid in newly issued shares of the Fund unless otherwise instructed by the shareholder to be paid in cash. Shares of common stock were issued at the lower of the net asset value ("NAV") per share or the market price per share with a floor for the NAV of not less than 95% of the market price on December 19, 2023. The reinvestment prices per share for these distributions were as follows: $16.33 for the abrdn Healthcare Investors (HQH); $13.26 for the abrdn Life Sciences Investors (HQL); $4.35 for the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF); $17.66 for the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and $5.58 for the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ). Fractional shares were generally settled in cash, except for registered shareholders with book entry accounts at Computershare Investor Services who had whole and fractional shares added to their account.

To have received the abrdn Healthcare Investors (HQH), abrdn Life Sciences Investors (HQL), abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) quarterly distributions payable in January 2024 in cash instead of shares of common stock, for shareholders who hold shares in "street name," the bank, brokerage or nominee who holds the shares must have advised the Depository Trust Company as to the full and fractional shares for which they want the distribution paid in cash by December 18, 2023; and for shares that are held in registered form, written notification for the election of cash by registered shareholders must have been received by Computershare Investor Services prior to December 18, 2023.

Under applicable U.S. tax rules, the amount and character of distributable income for each Fund's fiscal year can be finally determined only as of the end of the Fund's fiscal year. However, under Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") and related rules, the Funds may be required to indicate to shareholders the estimated source of certain distributions to shareholders.

The following tables set forth the estimated amounts of the sources of the distributions for purposes of Section 19 of the 1940 Act and the rules adopted thereunder. The tables have been computed based on generally accepted accounting principles. The tables include estimated amounts and percentages for the current distributions paid this month as well as for the cumulative distributions paid relating to fiscal year to date, from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short-term capital gains; net realized long-term capital gains; and return of capital. The estimated compositions of the distributions may vary because the estimated composition may be impacted by future income, expenses and realized gains and losses on securities and currencies.

The Funds' estimated sources of the current distribution paid this month and for its current fiscal year to date are as follows:

Estimated Amounts of Current Distribution per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $0.1200 - - - - $0.1200 100% - - HQH $0.3800 - - - - $0.0836 22% $0.2964 78% HQL $0.3000 - - $0.1380 46% - - $0.1620 54% IAF $0.1100 $0.0055 5% - - - - $0.1045 95% IFN $0.4100 - - - - $0.4100 100% - - JEQ $0.1000 - - $0.0020 2% - - $0.0980 98% THQ $0.1125 - - - - $0.0023 2% $0.1102 98% THW $0.1167 - - - - - - $0.1167 100%

Estimated Amounts of Fiscal Year* to Date Cumulative Distributions per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains ** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $0.3600 - - - - $0.3600 100% - - HQH $0.3800 - - - - $0.0836 22% $0.2964 78% HQL $0.3000 - - $0.1380 46% - - $0.1620 54% IAF $0.1100 $0.0055 5% - - - - $0.1045 95% IFN $1.6400 - - - - $1.6400 100% - - JEQ $0.1000 - - $0.0020 2% - - $0.0980 98% THQ $0.3375 - - - - $0.0068 2% $0.3307 98% THW $0.3501 - - - - - - $0.3501 100%

* ASGI, HQH, HQL, THQ and THW have a 9/30 fiscal year end. IAF and JEQ have a 10/31 fiscal year end. IFN has a 12/31 fiscal year end.

**includes currency gains

Where the estimated amounts above show a portion of the distribution to be a "Return of Capital," it means that Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur for example, when some or all the money that you invested in a Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The final determination of the source of all distributions for the current year will only be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. After the end of each calendar year, a Form 1099-DIV will be sent to shareholders for the prior calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The following table provides the Funds' total return performance based on net asset value (NAV) over various time periods compared to the Funds' annualized and cumulative distribution rates.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 11/30/2023 Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV ASGI 7.49%3 7.14% 7.04% 1.19% THQ 7.00% 6.64% 2.42% 1.11% THW 5.71% 12.14% 0.49% 2.02%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of November 30, 2023.

3 The Fund launched within the past 5 years; the performance and distribution rate information presented reflects data from inception (July 29, 2020) through November 30, 2023.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 10/31/2023 Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV HQH 4.52% N/A* -4.99% N/A* HQL 4.03% N/A* -5.00% N/A* IAF 5.86% 11.85% 1.45% 11.85% IFN 7.68% 10.20% 6.67% 7.65% JEQ 1.15% 6.78% 8.10% 6.78%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of October 31, 2023.

Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about a Fund's investment performance from the amount of the Fund's current distributions or from the terms of the distribution policy (the "Distribution Policy").

While NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market.

Pursuant to an exemptive order granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Funds may distribute any long-term capital gains more frequently than the limits provided in Section 19(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 19b-1 thereunder. Therefore, distributions paid by the Funds during the year may include net income, short-term capital gains, long-term capital gains and/or a return of capital. Net income dividends and short-term capital gain dividends, while generally taxable at ordinary income rates, may be eligible, to the extent of qualified dividend income earned by the Funds, to be taxed at a lower rate not to exceed the maximum rate applicable to your long-term capital gains. Distributions made in any calendar year in excess of investment company taxable income and net capital gain are treated as taxable ordinary dividends to the extent of undistributed earnings and profits, and then as a return of capital that reduces the adjusted basis in the shares held. To the extent return of capital distributions exceed the adjusted basis in the shares held, capital gain is recognized with a holding period based on the period the shares have been held at the date such amount is received.

The payment of distributions in accordance with the Distribution Policy may result in a decrease in the Fund's net assets. A decrease in the Fund's net assets may cause an increase in the Fund's annual operating expense ratio and a decrease in the Fund's market price per share to the extent the market price correlates closely to the Fund's net asset value per share. The Distribution Policy may also negatively affect the Fund's investment activities to the extent that the Fund is required to hold larger cash positions than it typically would hold or to the extent that the Fund must liquidate securities that it would not have sold, for the purpose of paying the distribution. Each Fund's Board has the right to amend, suspend or terminate the Distribution Policy at any time. The amendment, suspension or termination of the Distribution Policy may affect the Fund's market price per share. Investors should consult their tax advisor regarding federal, state and local tax considerations that may be applicable in their particular circumstances.

Circular 230 disclosure : To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., abrdn Investments Limited, abrdn Asia Limited, abrdn Private Equity (Europe) Limited, and abrdn ETFs Advisors LLC.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. A Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

https://www.abrdn.com/en-us/cefinvestorcenter#

For More Information Contact:

abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

Investor Relations

1-800-522-5465

Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

SOURCE: abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

View the original press release on accesswire.com
LONDON, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA), an investment bank specializing in emerging markets, has successfully secured a commitment for USD 30.0 million in senior debt finance for Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) based in Sri Lanka. EMGA originated, structured, and negotiated this financing arrangement, with the financial support provided by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Sajeev Chakkalakal, EMGA's Head of Investment Banking commented, "Despite the challenges we faced, we are delighted to have delivered again an innovative funding solution for CDB. We believe this marks a significant milestone, in being the first external funding commitment secured for a Sri Lankan NBFI in several years. It will also allow for CDB to continue to support SMEs, including female-owned enterprises, as well as the renewable energy sector in the country."

Jeremy Dobson, EMGA's Chief Operating Officer commentated, "CDB's strong financial standing enabled EMGA to navigate the prevailing macroeconomic headwinds in Sri Lanka to secure the commitment for this funding. This achievement not only underscores EMGA's expertise in navigating complex financial landscapes, but also highlights the successful collaboration between EMGA, CDB, and DFC in setting a positive precedent for a leading Sri Lankan financial institution to secure external funding in challenging economic climates."

Maryam Khosharay, DFC's Deputy Vice President of the Office of Development Credit commented, "We are very glad to continue DFC's commitment to bolstering investments in Sri Lanka especially those advancing financing for women and green assets in times of economic difficulty and high energy prices."

Commenting on the transaction, Director Corporate Finance of CDB Roshan Abeygoonewardena opined that CDB has been continually strengthening the bottom of the pyramid as an overarching ethos of its sustainability agenda. "For us women entrepreneurs, especially in the micro and SMEs is where the wheels of the economy turn. Prioritizing women's empowerment in our business model with access to finance which in turn will spur financial independence and inclusivity will be the panacea in adding fillip to Sri Lanka's development and economic agenda."

Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA), based in London and New York helps financial institutions and corporates seeking new debt or equity capital. EMGA's multi-national team combine the decades of experience necessary to complete transactions within most emerging countries, including Sri Lanka. EMGA continues to expand its geographic reach, solidifying its place as a preeminent, emerging market focused, niche investment bank.

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) stands among the five largest non-Bank financial institutions in Sri Lanka and is one of the most innovative financial institutions in the country, with a strong commitment to sustainability, exemplary corporate governance, accountability, and transparency. It is renowned for disrupting the financial services industry with far-reaching technological innovations and cutting-edge financial solutions.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is the U.S. Government's development finance institution. DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. We invest across sectors including energy, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, and small business and financial services. DFC investments adhere to high standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.

Contact details

info@emergingmarketsglobaladvisory.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - KO Gold Inc. (CSE: KOG) ("KO Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of December 6, 2023, it has closed a non-brokered private placement through the issuance of 3,363,772 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.33 per Unit for gross proceeds of $1,110,045 (the "Offering"). Each Unit was comprised of one Common Share (each, a "Share") in the capital of the Company and one Share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one additional Share at a price of $0.40 until January 10, 2026.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to fund the Company's upcoming exploration and drilling programs on its prospecting and exploration permits in the Otago Gold District ("Otago") of New Zealand and for corporate and general working capital purposes.

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid certain eligible finders an aggregate of $9,933 and issued an aggregate of 21,000 finder's warrants (each, a "Finder's Warrant") to such finders. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Share at a price of $0.40 per Share until January 10, 2026.

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering are subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About KO Gold Inc.

KO Gold is a Canadian junior mining company listed on the CSE under the ticker symbol "KOG". The Company's strategy is to acquire and explore highly prospective gold properties within the Otago Gold District in New Zealand. KO Gold has six 100%-owned prospecting and exploration permits within the Otago Gold District, which includes the Smylers Gold Project for a combined land package of approximately 972 km2. The Smylers Gold Project is an advanced exploration project located adjacent to OceanaGold's active Macraes Gold Mine. The Smylers Gold Project has the potential to host a major gold deposit and has seen significant investments in exploration and drilling over the past few years including over C$1M spent by KO Gold on exploration including reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling.

For further information, please contact:

Greg Isenor, President and CEO, Director

Tel: (902) 832-5555

Email: info@kogoldnz.com

Website: www.kogoldnz.com

KO Gold Inc.

Suite 802 - Sun Tower, 1550 Bedford Highway Bedford, Nova Scotia

B4A 1E6 Canada

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Information

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 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/193844

SOURCE: KO Gold Inc.
Thomas Collins, CEO, Marlabs

Marlabs, a Piscataway, NJ-based digital solutions company, acquired Onebridge, an Indianapolis, IN-based data consulting firm.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

With the acquisition, Marlabs will accelerate its growth in AI and data analytics space.

Led by Paul Rothwell, CEO, Onebridge is a data consulting firm serving healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, financial services, and government entities in the U.S. since 2005. The company is also the go-to partner for strategy, execution, enablement (SEE) across strategic data management, integration and architecture, business intelligence (BI) & analytics, and enterprise application development.

Led by Thomas Collins, CEO, Marlabs helps companies around the world make operations sleeker, keep customers closer, transform data into decisions, de-risk cyberspace, boost legacy systems, and capture novel opportunities and digital-led revenues. It has a global workforce that includes highly experienced technology, platform, and industry specialists from the worlds leading technical universities. The company provides digital-first strategy and advisory services, rapid solution incubation, and agile digital solution engineering.

Marlabs is headquartered in New Jersey, with a presence in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil, and India.

FinSMEs

10/01/2024
The actor was fighting Hamas militants when he was seriously injured and rushed to the hospital

Netflixs Fauda actor Idan Amedi was seriously injured while fighting the Hamas militants in Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war. He was rushed to the hospital and now, it has been reported that his condition is improving. He woke up and even spoke to his family members.

The news of his injury was shared by Israeli diplomat Avia Levi on X who wrote- Idan Amedi, one of Faudas actors, has been seriously injured in a battle in Gaza. We pray and pray for your speedy recovery.

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When Faudas crew member was killed in Gaza

Last year in November, Matan Meir, who was a reservist in Israels 551st Brigades 697th Battalion, was killed in action in Gaza.The shows official X (formerly Twitter) account posted the news saying, We are devastated to share that one of our Fauda family members, Matan Meir, was killed in action in Gaza. Matan was an integral crew member.

Star of the series Lior Raz told Ynet, Matan was a man with a heart of gold, full of kindness and giving. I loved you Matan. You were always available to me at every moment. You always told me, no problem, its never too small for me. A man of work and giving out of true love. May your memory be for a blessing.

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Lior Raz pens a note for Israel

Amid the Israel-Hamas war that captured the country, Fauda star Lior Raz had taken to the front lines and joined the volunteering group called Brothers in Arms. He had the company of president of the Israel Democracy Institute Yohanan Plesner and journalist Avi Yissascharov. He even shared a video with fans on X.

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The actor , while sharing the video on his social media account, wrote- Accompanied by Yohanan Plesner @yplesner and Avi @issacharoff , I headed down south to join hundreds of brave brothers in arms volunteers who worked tirelessly to assist the population in the south of Israel. We were sent to the bombarded town of Sderot to extract 2 families.
The actress was asked by a user if she would like to make a film on the Bilkis Bano case. Ranaut said the studios dont want to make a politically motivated film

Kangana Ranaut is gearing up to play the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her next directorial Emergency. She has already played Rani of Jhansi in her first directorial Manikarnika. The actress was recently asked by a user on X if she would like to make a film on the Bilkis Bano case. Ranaut said the studios dont want to make a politically motivated film.

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She tweeted- I want to make that story I have the script ready, researched and worked on it for three years but @netflix , @amazonIN and other studios wrote back to me that they have clear guidelines they dont do so called politically motivated films, @JioCinema said we dont work with Kangana because she supports BJP and Zee is going through a merger, what are my options?

I want to make that story I have the script ready, researched and worked on it for three years but @netflix , @amazonIN and other studios wrote back to me that they have clear guidelines they dont do so called politically motivated films, @JioCinema said we dont work with https://t.co/xQeVfc3SyI  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) January 9, 2024

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On learnings from 2023

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She wrote- I grew up with an inbuilt feeling of being out of place, I traveled miles and build homes of my dreams, farm houses, cottages. I felt happy, content even at peace but I never felt at home. Slowly it started to get evident that may be we dont belong in this body, life is just a fleeting phase, we must recognise that and never try to be at home.

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She also recently praised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led Union government for making the consecration of Lord Rams idol at Ayodhya possible after 600 years of struggle.

Ranaut also urged the government to create a facility to allow pilgrims to visit the remains of the lost city of Dwarka that was submerged under the sea.
Noting that Ankita should win the show but not at the cost of her marriage, Kangana added that reality shows come and go but family is forever

Ankita Lokhande and Vicky Jains marriage has been hitting headlines now and then. With the duo inside the Bigg Boss house, things between them have gotten more dramatic and intense in the past few months, due to their constant arguments and misunderstandings.

As Bigg Boss 17 inches closer to its finale, the show recently allowed family members of the contestants to enter the house and spend some time with them. Ankita and Vickys mothers Shweta Lokhande and Ranjana Jain also entered the house and were seen guiding the couple to focus on their relationship and avoid fighting on camera.

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Notably, Ankita Lokhande s mother-in-law continues to remain the talk of the news, especially after her first stint on Bigg Boss when she was seen taking sides with her son and blaming Ankita for their fights.

Kangana Ranaut supports Ankita Lokhande

Another video of Vicky Jains mother has gone viral where she can be seen showing her support for Ankita, stating that she should win the show. Not just her, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is also rooting for her Manikarnika co-star. Taking to her Instagram stories, Kangana shared a snip of Ankitas mother-in-laws interview, asserting that the media is trying to build a false narrative to break her family.

Noting that Ankita should win the show but not at the cost of her marriage, Kangana added that reality shows come and go but family is forever.

Media doing their best to break the family, they wont show you how @lokhandeankitas saasuma (mother-in-law) rooting for her, also love that chuckle in the end Ha ha too cute aunty, reality shows come and go but family is forever, I hope my friend @lokhandeankita wins but not at the cost of her marriage, the actress wrote.

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Kangana earlier also entered the Bigg Boss house and was seen supporting Ankita Lokhande.

Vicky Jains mother wants Ankita to win

Vicky Jains mother in a recent interview can be heard speaking in support of her daughter-in-law. Stating that she has been in the industry for 17 long years and is a senior, she added that Ankita deserves to win and not the newcomers.

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What is the point of making these new people win? It will actually hamper the shows reputation. These contestants like Samarth and others have no personality or character. There is a need to bring good people too, she said.
While this news questions the pure bond between a mother and her child, there are movies and documentaries based on real incidents, which showcase a mothers heinous crime towards her kids

The news of Suchana Seth, CEO of a Bengaluru-based AI startup murdering her 4-year-old son in Goa has sent shockwaves across the nation. The founder of The Mindful AI Lab was carrying his sons body by road to Karnataka, where she was apprehended by the police.

According to the police, to prevent her estranged husband from seeing their child, Suchana planned a trip to Goa with her son. She murdered him in a room at a service apartment in North Goa before the scheduled meeting.

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While this news questions the pure bond between a mother and her child, there are movies and documentaries based on real incidents, which showcase a mothers heinous crime towards her kids.

Sins of our mother

The True Crime Tragedy is a three-part series, which narrates the story of Lori Vallow Daybell and her obsession with religion, which later branded her the Doomsday Mom in the press. As of Monday 31st July 2023, she has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering two of her children and for conspiring to kill her husbands ex-wife. She married 5 times.

In an interview with E! News, director Skye Borgman said, Lori Vallow has many faces. That of a mother, sister, wife and liar. I dont know if we will ever know exactly what motivated Lori to commit such unspeakable crimes. But to formulate any answer we must look at Lori through the eyes of the people who knew her best.

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Ragini MMS 2

In Sunny Leones erotic thriller, the plot narrates the story of a ghost haunting the house, who is a mother of three kids (two daughters and one kid). The mother loves her son more than daughters because she conceived him after a lot of prayers and difficulties. One day while playing hide and seek, her son falls in the well and dies by drowning. An insane mother embarks on a desperate quest to resurrect his son from the dead. A baba who performs black magic convinces her mother that he can bring her son to life if she sacrifices both her daughters. She agrees to that. After chopping daughters heads, baba gives sword to the mother and tells her to chant closing her eyes. While she does that, he steals her money and runs away.

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Baby Blues

The horror film is based on the 2001 killings of five children by their mother Andrea Yates. She suffers from a psychotic breakdown due to postpartum depression, which results in this crime.
Vickys mother further said, He is there he will take care of his relationship. I trust Vicky he will take care of his relationships.

Vicky Jain and Ankita Lokhandes marriage seems to have hit a rough patch post their participation in Bigg Boss 17. And now, Vickys mother, while speaking to Pinkvilla, made some shocking claims.

She revealed, Vicky married Ankita. We were not in support of their marriage. Vicky got married and now he is ready to take the responsibility. We have nothing to do with it. We are seeing so much but we havent told him anything. He is there he will take care of his relationship. I trust Vicky he will take care of his relationships.

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Vicky's mother revealed that the family was not in support of Vicky's marriage to Ankita. pic.twitter.com/bS3fuoDb5Z  #BiggBoss_Tak (@BiggBoss_Tak) January 9, 2024

From getting into frequent fights and disagreements to Ankita accusing Vicky of being ignorant toward her, a lot is happening between them. Amid this, the former Pavitra Rishtra actress made a shocking claim, revealing that Vicky Jain abandoned her a year before their marriage.

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In one of the recent episodes, Ankita while talking to Khanzaadi about her marriage shared how they had a massive fight in the past, forcing Vicky Jain to leave the space for a long period. She also revealed how they had no formal proposals before their marriage.

Ankita Lokhande reveals Vicky Jains sudden exit from her life before marriage

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While having a heart-to-heart talk with Khanzaadi in the latest episode, Ankita was heard saying, Haan wo ek saal ke liye gayab ho gaya tha. Jab wo ek saal baad wapis aaya to hume pata tha ki hum shaadi kar rahe hain. Vicky meri galti ki vajah se hi chala gaya tha. (Yes, he made a sudden exit for a year and when he came back, we knew we would get married. It was for my fault that he went away).

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Not just that, the actress also went on to reveal that Vicky Jain had never really proposed to her. Hum dono ke beech me propose jaisa kuch nahi hua tha, Vicky ne seedha mujhe shaadi ke liye kaha tha, she said.
Lakshadweep is among 2024s top travel destinations so far. Interest has surged after PM Narendra Modis visit. The island is likely to get a new airport and at least two luxury resorts with water and beach villas in the coming years. Is it Indias answer to the Maldives?

Indias smallest Union Territory is the talk of the talk. It has quickly climbed to the top of must-see places, at least among Indian tourists. Lakshadweep caught peoples attention after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the island and posted stunning pictures last week. Then came the derogatory comments by Maldivian ministers, which sparked a diplomatic row, triggering angry Indians to boycott the island nation.

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From celebrities to social media influencers, everyone is vowing to explore Indian islands . And Lakshadweep is dominating that list.

The archipelago, off the coast of Kerala, is less explored. Even Indians need permits to visit. But as interest in it has risen, Lakshadweep is gearing up to boost its infrastructure.

Also read: What led to the spat between India and the Maldives? What has happened since then?

Travelling to Lakshadweep

Indian airlines so far have a poor presence on the island. There was a time when Air India subsidiary Alliance Air had wet-leased 19-seater B1900 to reach Lakshadweep from Keralas Kochi, according to a report in Hindustan Times. Currently, the carrier operates six days a week with the ATR 72-600, which lands in Agatti Island. The flight takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes along a picturesque route which gives views of the islands clear blue waters when descending.

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Startup fly91 is expected to start operating flights soon. It has won routes under RCS-UDAN (regional connectivity scheme) from and to Lakshadweep.

Three ships run operations between Lakshadweep and Kochi and the journey by water takes about 14 to 18 hours, reports The Quint.

Also read: How PM Modis visit has been a blessing to Lakshadweep

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A new airport?

The aircraft flying into the UT now land on the airstrip at Agatti Island. However, only narrow-body aircraft can fly here.

The Indian government is reportedly planning to build a new airport at Minicoy Island, Lakshadweeps most populated, which is around 300 km from the atolls. It is expected to accommodate both military and civilian aircraft of the Airbus type, according to media reports.

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The proposed plan includes a dual-purpose airfield which can operate fighter jets, other military aircraft and commercial planes, government sources told India Today.

The proposal for the airfield suggests that the operations will be led by the Indian Air Force. While it will strengthen the countrys surveillance capabilities over the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean region, it is also expected to boost regional tourism, the report says.

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According to the ANI report, the Indian Coast Guard was the first to suggest an airport in Minicoy.

The proposed airport is expected to be strategically crucial, as the island is close to one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. It is located near shipping channel number 9, from where around 300 ships pass daily, reports CNN-News 18.

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New resorts coming soon

There are a few resorts on Lakshadweeps Bangram Island, Agatti Island, and Mincoy Island.

Now Indias big hotel chains are looking for more sites to build luxurious properties. The Taj Group has announced that it will open new hotels in Suheli and Kadmat islands by 2026, which will be developed by Indian Hotels Company (IHCL).

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The Taj at Suheli, a ring-shaped island with a coral reef rim that surrounds a lagoon, will boast 110 rooms including 50 water villas and 60 villas on the beach. Resorts in the Maldives are famous for such luxury villas.

Kadmat Island is a marine protected area with seagrass beds, which are nestling grounds for marine turtles. The Taj property coming up here will comprise 35 water villas and 75 beach ones, reports Zee News.

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Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and chief executive officer, IHCL said, We see significant potential in Lakshadweep, with its pristine beaches and coral reefs set amongst the Arabian Sea. The two world-class Taj resorts will attract international as well as national travellers.

The upcoming resorts will focus on sustainable hospitality to create a minimal footprint and preserve the fragile ecosystem of the largely unexplored destination.

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The rising demand

As Indians boycott the Maldives , the searches for Lakshadweep have surged. According to a PTI report, Google searches for the island are at their highest in the last 20 years.

MakeMyTrip, the online travel portal, said in a post on X that it witnessed a 3,400 per cent increase in on-platform searches on Lakshadweep since PM Modis visit to the island , reports The Times of India.

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Even Ixigo, another travel firm, reported a similar trend. Aloke Bajpai, the co-founder and group CEO of the agency, wrote on X, that there was a 2900 per cent increase in searches linked to Lakshadweep in the last couple of days.

2900% increase in searches to Lakshadweep in last 3-4 days !  Aloke Bajpai (@alokebajpai) January 8, 2024

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Alliance Air has all its Kochi-Agatti flights sold out until March.

Cordelia Cruises, the only cruise liner that has been ferrying Indians to Lakshadweep since 2021, has also seen a rise in demand. After PM Modis visit, the company has seen a 2,500 per cent increase in booking queries, reports Travel Trade Journal.

The cruises sail from Mumbai, Goa and Kochi and over 80,000 travellers visit the island via these ships every year. Since 2021, over 2 lakh Indians have vacationed on Cordelia Cruises.

We are thrilled about the growing interest in Lakshadweep; we are committed to being an integral part of its growth story Weve witnessed a remarkable interest for Lakshadweep cruises, particularly the four-night and five-night itineraries from Mumbai, which echoes the publics enthusiasm for exploring this idyllic destination, Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO of Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd, Cordelia Cruises, was quoted as saying Travel Trade Journal.

The fear of over-tourism

The Lakshadweep administration has taken measures amid the rising demand to make the trip easier for visitors. It has shifted the mandatory permit online and lifted restrictions on tourists in some areas, reports The Times of India. Earlier the process was longer but now the online permit ensures it is issued in two days.

Lakshadweep has prohibition but some parts of tourist areas are exempted and liquor is sold there.

But locals fear overtourism. Of 36 islands, 11 are inhabited and only four to five are open to tourists. There are only 405 islands which are used for tourism. They cannot hold up more than 200 tourists at any given time. So, I dont understand what purpose will upping the tourist influx serve, a local hotel owner Abdul Rehman told The Quint.

Lakshadweep currently has the infrastructure to serve its 60,000-odd residents and a handful of tourists. In 2021, 13,500 tourists visited the island and 22,800 the following year. But that number is expected to surge and the expected influx will need an overhaul.

But Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel said the administration was not worried about the inflow of tourists, as the island had sufficient infrastructure to handle them. He said that more resorts and villas were constructed on some islands.

This will help with accommodation. We have received direction on the development of tourism, and we are working on that. Some islands are strategically important so to keep a check on that, the system that is there [of taking online permits> if it continues, then there shouldnt be an issue Patel told News18.com.

During his visit to Lakshadweep on 2 January, the PM had said the Union Territory was full of many possibilities and had asserted the Union government was working with full commitment for the development of the entire Lakshadweep, including Agatti.

With inputs from agencies
Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth, who is getting a divorce, was reportedly unhappy with a recent court order that allowed her husband to meet their child. She allegedly suffocated the boy to death and then attempted suicide

The murder of a four-year-old boy from Bengaluru has sent shockwaves across the country. The killer is his mother. Suchana Seth is a 39-year-old CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup, The Mindful AI Lab.

The accused allegedly killed her son on the intervening night of 7 and 8 January in a service apartment hotel in North Goas Candolim. She then stuffed the body in a bag and loaded it into a taxi, which she had hailed for Bengaluru.

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The Goa Police arrested her in neighbouring Karnataka after the hotel staff informed it that they found blood stains on towels in the room where she was staying.

But how and why did Suchana Seth kill her son ? And what has been revealed about the shocking murder since she has been arrested?

Also read: Who is Suchana Seth, the Bengaluru CEO who allegedly killed 4-year-old son?

The murder and the intent

The 39-year-old Bengaluru-based data scientist and startup founder reportedly smothered her son to death. The four-year-old was smothered with a pillow and died of suffocation, doctors at Hiriyur Hospital in Karnataka said after a preliminary examination of the body.

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Dr Kumar Naik, who was in charge of the postmortem examination, told the media, The child could have probably died after being suffocated by a pillow or some other object. He doesnt seem like he was killed by strangulation using hands.

The killing took place over 36 hours ago. His face and chest are swollen due to suffocation. And the childs nose was bleeding, he added.

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According to Dr Kumar, the body did not show signs of rigor mortis, the stiffening of the limbs of a corpse caused by chemical changes in the muscles. This indicates that the murder took place at least 36 hours before it came to light.

Also read: CCTV footage, bloodstains, clever cabbie: How cops nabbed CEO who killed son

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Seth had strained ties with her husband. The duo was fighting over the custody of their child.

Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Nidhin Valsan said that divorce proceedings have been in progress since 2022 between Seth and her husband, who was in Indonesia at the time of the murder. He has now returned.

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The accuseds trigger could have been a court order granting her estranged husband visiting rights to meet the son every Sunday, police sources said, according to a report in ThePrint. She wanted to keep the boy away from the father.

Seth allegedly planned to kill the boy a day before the scheduled meeting, said sources, reports India Today.

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The accused did not allow the father to visit her son for five weeks since a recent court order by a Bengaluru family. She reportedly came to Goa over the weekend to ensure that another day was missed.

During interrogation with our investigating officers, the accused woman seemed to be unhappy with the court order, Valsan told news agency ANI.

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According to the police, the woman mentioned her troubled relationship with her husband and that their divorce was nearly finalised during the initial inquiry.

There was also a court order causing distress to her. Interrogation is ongoing, and we are required to present her before the court. The motive is yet to be confirmed; this is what she conveyed to our investigators. We need to review the court order before making further statements, Vaslan was quoted as saying by India Today.

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Seth married Venkat Raman in 2010 and they had a son in 2019 after which differences cropped up. According to her husbands statement, soon after the birth of their son, she became possessive of the child and they started having frequent fights. Soon after, the couple separated and they have not been in touch for the past two years, a senior officer told The Indian Express. An attempted suicide

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Seth tried to die by suicide after the murder. After smothering her son to death in a room at the service apartment in Candolim, she reportedly cut her left wrist with a sharp object, a senior police officer told news agency PTI.

The police official said that the blood stains found on a towel in the apartment were because of the slashing of her wrist.

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There was no murder weapon. She allegedly tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists using a pair of scissors. Blood samples have been collected and a DNA test will be done to verify this, the officer was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Police said that when they called Seth while she was heading to Karnataka, questioning about the blood in her hotel room, she first claimed it was because of her periods. She even offered to pay for the cleaning.

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The questioning

During questioning, Seth claimed that she did not kill her son. She claimed her son was asleep and she did not know how he died, said the officer.

The accused claimed she didnt intend to kill her son and that she loved him but he suddenly died. She then got scared and sat near the body. She also told us that she got a cut on her hand, an official was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

After being detained in Karnataka, Seth was arrested and brought to Goa on transmit remand on Tuesday. She was produced in a court in Mapusa, which remanded her in police custody for six days.

With inputs from agencies
Ecuador is in the grips of a massive security crisis. Following the prison break of notorious gang lord Adolfo Macias, violence has broken out across the country, killing at least 10 people. The situation escalated on Tuesday when armed gunmen stormed a TV studio during a live broadcast

Ecuador, situated between Colombia and Peru and long considered to be a peaceful nation, is facing perhaps its biggest security crisis. On Tuesday, heavily armed gangsters stormed the studio of a major television station during a live broadcast.

The incident comes amid a series of seemingly coordinated attacks across the South American country, prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare a state of internal armed conflict.

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The United States has also reacted to the situation, condemning the brazen attacks in Ecuador and said it is co-ordinating closely with President Noboa and his Ecuadorean government and stands ready to provide assistance.

Lets take a closer look at whats happening in the Andean nation.

Storming a TV station

On Tuesday, armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the studio of a public television station, TC Television network, in Ecuadors largest city, Guayaquil, at about 2pm local time.

The men could be seen on camera carrying pistols, shotguns, machine guns, grenades and sticks of dynamite, and someone was heard yelling Dont shoot! before the signal was eventually cut.

BREAKING: GUNMAN WITH GRENADES TAKE OVER ECUADOR TV STATION



Armed attackers, hurling grenades, disrupt live broadcast, forcing staff to the floor.



The incident, amidst kidnappings and unrest, follows President Noboa's 60-day emergency decree.



Source: Reuters https://t.co/IGnYI9FmGf pic.twitter.com/xeGcOjNdHB  Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 9, 2024

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A New York Times report said that one of the gunmen, who had stormed the TV station could be heard on air saying he intended to send a message about the consequences of messing with the mafias.

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Thirty minutes into the gunmen storming the studio and taking the journalists and staff hostage, the police stormed the premises and arrested the men  13 in all. The authorities added that no one had been killed in the attack and that the intruders would be charged with terrorism.

CAPTURADOS



Como resultado de la intervencion en @tctelevision #GYE, nuestras unidades policiales hasta el momento logran la aprehension de varios sujetos e indicios vinculados al ilicito.



Posterior mas detalles... pic.twitter.com/tPq7FfaGcM  Policia Ecuador (@PoliciaEcuador) January 9, 2024

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Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, told the Associated Press that she was in the control room at TC Television, across from the studio, when the masked men burst into the building. One of them pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique said.

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I am still in shock Manrique told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Everything has collapsed All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.

Later, police chief Cesar Zapata said that his officers had seized gun and explosives from the 13 arrested, saying, This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act.

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Violence in Ecuador

The shocking incident of the men storming the television studio, which was beamed into houses across Ecuador, comes at a time when large-scale violence has broken out, with criminal groups launching a wave of terror.

The latest flare-ups can be traced back to Sunday when Adolfo Macias , leader of the feared Los Choneros gang who is better known by his alias Fito, was first reported missing from his cell in the Regional prison complex in the violent port city of Guayaquil. He had been scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

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The government had ordered the transfer of high-profile convicts such as Macias from their prison cells to maximum-security facilities, and many experts opine that it is this decision that led to the escape of Macias.

Macias is possibly one of the biggest gang leaders in Ecuador, and was serving a 34-year jail sentence on charges, including drug trafficking. In fact, according to officials, the Los Choneros gang is the first in Ecuador to build ties with the powerful Mexican cartels.

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Macias escape from prison led to chaos inside and outside of the jails, with some speculating that its an attempt by the gangs to show their strength.

Within hours of his escape, a string of attacks took place across Ecuador. The Financial Times has reported that at least seven Ecuadorean police officers have been kidnapped by criminals. Moreover, in Quito, the capital, a vehicle carrying liquefied petroleum gas was set ablaze at a petrol station.

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Additionally, in Cuenca, a popular hilltop city, assailants lobbed an explosive at a military truck. And in Esmeraldas, the police reported three explosions.

On Tuesday (9 January), 32 inmates also escaped prison in Riobamba, in the central Andes. , Fabricio Colon, one of the leaders of the Los Lobos gang, was among the 32 who escaped. Twenty escapees were recaptured, though Colon is among those still at large.

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An AFP report said that a total of 10 people, including two law enforcement officers, have been killed in the violence. Eight people were dead and three injured in a series of attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, a local police chief said at a press conference. In a separate statement posted on X, police also said that two officers were viciously murdered by armed criminals in the nearby town of Nobol.

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Government Speaks

Responding to the wave of attacks, Ecuadors president Noboa declared that an internal armed conflict now existed in the country and he was mobilising the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralise what he called transnational organised crime, terrorist organisations and belligerent non-state actors.

A state of curfew has also been declared for a period of 60 days, from 11 pm to 5 am, to restrict meetings and actions that may threaten public order.

On Monday, Noboa vowed to bring the fight to the cartels and gangs, saying, We are not going to negotiate with terrorists. These narcoterrorist groups intend to intimidate us and believe that we will give in to their demands.

While Noboa remains firm in his fight, experts note that Tuesdays event is significant and marks a new peak of violence in the country. This is a turning point. Depending on how the government responds it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime, Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations was quoted as telling the Associated Press.

Ecuadors brush with violence

Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for power.

Violence has risen significantly in the country recently  with official data showing that the murder rate had quadrupled from 2018 to 2022. In fact, in 2023, the country recorded a whopping 7,800 homicides and 220 tonnes of drugs had been seized,.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022. Last year was the most violent yet with more than 7,800 homicides in the country of about 17 million people and 220 tons of drugs seized, a new record.

Moreover, since February 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burnt alive.

Inside Ecuadors prisons, the gangs have taken advantage of the states weak control to expand their power.

With inputs from agencies
Suchana Seth, accused of killing her four-year-old child in Goa, had filed a domestic violence case against her husband, Venkatraman PR, in Bengaluru in August 2022. Their divorce proceedings were underway and the couple had been living separately for the past few years

The murder of a four-year-old boy allegedly by his mother Suchana Seth, a Bengaluru-based start-up CEO, has grabbed attention nationwide. The last rite of the child was performed by his father, Venkatraman PR, on Wednesday (10 January) morning in the Karnataka capital.

The father had returned to India from the Indonesian capital Jakarta where he was on a business trip on Tuesday evening after being informed about the childs murder, PTI reported citing police. There are reports that Seth had filed domestic violence charges against her estranged husband from whom she is seeking a divorce.

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What do we know about the husband? Whats going on in the alleged murder case? Lets understand.

Who is Venkatraman PR?

Hailing from Kerala, Venkatraman is a data scientist who is working as a top executive with a financial services firm, reported Indian Express. He has a PhD in Physics from the Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru.

Venkatraman married Suchana, the CEO of The Mindful AI Lab, in 2010. They had reportedly met when they were research fellows at the Raman Research Institute between 2008 and 2011. The couples son was born in August 2019 after which differences sprung up between them, according to Indian Express. The pair filed for divorce in 2020, the proceedings for which are still underway.

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VIDEO | "What she has told us till now is that she and her husband were estranged and that they are currently undergoing divorce proceedings," says Nidhin Valsan, SP (North), Goa on start-up CEO Suchana Seth held for allegedly killing minor son in Goa.



(Full video available on pic.twitter.com/vbB74O8osb  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 9, 2024

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Seth told the court she had been living separately from her husband since March 2021, reported NDTV.

Venkatraman told the police that his wife became possessive of the child soon after his birth, following which they started having frequent fights. They separated soon and have not stayed in touch for the past two years, as per Indian Express.

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According to NDTV, Seth filed domestic violence charges against her husband in August 2022, accusing him of physically abusing her and their child. She had produced copies of WhatsApp messages and pictures, along with medical records, to back her claim of domestic abuse, the news channel reported citing court documents.

The husband had rejected the domestic abuse charges in court. Seth, 39, sought Rs 2.5 lakh per month in maintenance from Venkataraman, claiming he earned over Rs 1 crore annually. A family court in Bengaluru issued a restraining order against the husband on 18 August 2022, barring him from entering his wifes home or contacting her or their child by phone or social media.

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On perusal of the materials and also photos furnished by the petitioner, it prima facie discloses there is domestic violence against the petitioner and her child by the respondent. At this stage, in the interest of justice and also to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, it is necessary to restrain the respondent from entering the residence of petitioner and her son, a family court ruled in August 2022, reported Indian Express.

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In September, the court ordered Venkataraman to pay monthly interim maintenance of Rs 20,000 per month" to Seth. He has reportedly paid Rs 60,000 from September to November to his estranged wife.

The father was, however, recently given weekly visitation rights  every Sunday  to meet the child.

Their divorce proceedings were underway. A recent order by a Bengaluru family court had directed that the father should get custody of the child every Sunday. For the past five weeks, she did not allow her son to visit his father. We believe she had come to Goa on the weekend to ensure that another week passes, a police officer was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

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Whats the latest in the murder case?

The Goa police believe Seth was upset with the courts order granting visitation rights to her husband. During interrogation with our investigating officers, the accused woman seemed to be unhappy with the court order, Nidhin Valsan, the North Goa Superintendent of Police, told ANI.

Seth was arrested in Karnatakas Chitradurga on Monday night while allegedly trying to flee to Bengaluru with the body of her son in a bag. She had checked into a service apartment at Hotel Sol Banyan Grande in North Goas Candolim on 6 January. Two days later, she checked out alone telling the hotel staff that her son was staying over with a friend.

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The childs body was recovered by the police in the suitcase.

The post-mortem examination of the child was held after his father arrived at Chitradurga in Karnataka and gave his permission to the local authorities on Tuesday. Dr Kumar Naik, a government doctor who conducted the post-mortem, said the child was smothered or strangulated.

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There are no wounds or signs of struggle. There may be the use of a pillow or a wire, Indian Express quoted him as saying.

After the post-mortem exam, the father brought the childs body to Bengaluru, where it was kept in Venkatramans parents apartment in Rajajinagar. The boys last rites were held on Wednesday in Bengaluru.

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#WATCH | Karnataka: The last rites of the four-year-old boy who was murdered by mother Suchana Seth in Goa were performed at Harishchandra Ghat in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/pcDmIsFZQ4  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

The police believe the alleged murder was premeditated after the discovery of empty cough syrup bottles at the service apartment. As per a police officer, Seth denied killing her son during questioning, claimed he was asleep and she was not aware of how he died.

According to the police, the start-up CEO tried to die by suicide after killing her son, reported PTI.

Seth has been sent to six days of police custody by a local court in Goa.

With inputs from agencies
The Houthis on Tuesday launched a complex attack of Iranian-designed one-way attack UAVs, anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile around 9.15 pm. The United States militarys Central Command said no injuries or damage was reported

The US and the UK have repelled a major Houthi attack in the Red Sea.

The combined naval forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis on Tuesday towards international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea.

Britain said this was the Houthis largest attack in the area so far.

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The Houthis, who control most of Yemen and are backed by Iran, have been targeting the route to show their support for Hamas in the backdrop of the three-month war with Israel.

But what happened exactly?

Lets take a closer look

The Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs  anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from areas in Yemen, the United States militarys Central Command (CENTCOM) was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.

As per BBC, this attack occurred 9.15 pm local time.

CENTCOM said it brought down 18 drones on its own as well as two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile working in concert with the UK.

This was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since 19 November.

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As per Al Jazeera, the US Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier and four destroyers including one from the UK, participated in the operation.

The US destroyers were the USS Gravely, USS Laboon, and the USS Mason.

As per The New York Times, F/A-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and other warships intercepted the attack.

The UK defence secretary Grant Shapps said that the HMS Diamond participated in deterring the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.

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Destroying multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles, he wrote on X.

A source told the BBC the HMS Diamond brought down seven Houthi drones.

Each viper missile costs over $1.3 million.

The HMS Diamond is described the Royal Navy as a a jewel in the naval crown, as per The Guardian.

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The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences, Shapps was quoted as saying by BBC. We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.

US Central Command said no injuries nor damage were reported.

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The New York Times quoted US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken as warning of consequences if the attacks continue.

Were determined, again, that we not see escalation, that we dont have the conflict spread, and weve made that very clear, Blinken said. But of course, if our personnel, if our forces are threatened or attacked, well take appropriate steps.

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The attacks have seriously disrupted international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 per cent of the worlds shipping traffic.

Many shipping companies have been forced to reroute their vessels, taking the longer journey around Africa, although several oil majors, refiners and trading houses have continued to use it.

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The Iranian-backed Houthis have vowed to continue attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned they would attack US warships if the militia group itself was targeted.

US defense secretary Lloyd Austin had in December announced the creation of a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea following a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemens Iran-aligned Houthis.

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Austin said participating countries include the UK Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain would conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In their response, Houthi rebels said they would not halt attacks on Red Sea shipping in solidarity.

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Even if America succeeds in mobilising the entire world, our military operations will not stop no matter the sacrifices it costs us, senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council in New York is scheduled to vote on 10 January on a draft resolution that the US has submitted, reported Al Jazeera.

The resolution denounces the attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and calls for an immediate cessation of such acts, along with the release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew.

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German shipping group Hapag Lloyd said on Tuesday it would continue to avoid the Suez Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope for security reasons, while its Danish rival Maersk has said it would avoid the route for the foreseeable future.

Retailers across the world have also been stocking up on goods before Chinas Lunar New Year holiday and seeking air or rail alternatives to avoid empty shelves this spring.

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The Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October after thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed the border and killed scores of Israelis.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had in December announced the creation of a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea following a series of missile and drone attacks by Yemens Iran-aligned Houthis.

Austin said participating countries including the UK Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain would conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In their response, Houthi rebels said they would not halt attacks on Red Sea shipping in solidarity. Even if America succeeds in mobilising the entire world, our military operations will not stop no matter the sacrifices it costs us, senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, formerly Twitter.

Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said the US-formed coalition aims to protect Israel and militarise the sea, adding that whoever seeks to expand the conflict must bear the consequences of those actions.

Austinhad said: This is an international challenge that demands collective action. Therefore today I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative.

In a virtual meeting with Ministers from more than 40 nations, Austin called on other countries to contribute as he condemned reckless Houthi actions.

Were all here because many countries can directly contribute to our common efforts to keep strategic waterways safe, Mr. Austin said, according to prepared remarks.

With inputs from agencies
Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar will announce a verdict on the 34 disqualification petitions filed by the two rival Shiv Sena factions against each other. The order is important as it comes just months ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Heres what is at stake for both sides

All eyes are on Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekars verdict on the disqualification petitions filed by the two rival Shiv Sena factions against each other. Narwekar, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Colaba in Mumbai, will announce his order at 4 pm on the 34 petitions that have been clubbed into six groups.

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His decision will seal the fate of a total of 54 MLAs from both the Shiv Sena camps. The verdict comes on the day of the Supreme Courts 10 January deadline on the matter. In October, the top court had taken the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to task for sitting on the petitions, saying he cant defeat the orders of the Supreme Court like this. The previous deadline for delivering the verdict was 31 December 2023, which the apex court later extended to 10 January.

What is the case and what is at stake for Uddhav Thackeray and his rival Sena faction leader Eknath Shinde? Lets take a closer look.

A brief recap of the case

In June 2022, Eknath Shinde and a group of Sena MLAs rebelled against the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. Hours after the revolt, Uddhavs camp approved a resolution removing Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) and replaced him with Ajay Choudhari. Sunil Prabhu was made the chief whip of the party.

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The Shinde group passed its own resolution confirming Shindes position as the leader of the legislature party and appointing Bharatshet Gogawale as the chief whip, according to Indian Express.

Two days after the Sena split, Thackerays camp moved the apex court seeking the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs including Shinde for failing to attend a party meeting convened by Prabhu.

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Another bunch of disqualification pleas was filed against 22 other MLAs of the Shinde Sena on 27 June 2022, reported Indian Express. Petitions were moved against two more MLAs later.

On the other hand, the Shinde group approached the apex court seeking the disqualification of 14 legislators from the Uddhav camp.

The revolt resulted in the fall of the tripartite MVA  comprising Uddhav Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress  in June 2022.

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In May 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the then Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyaris decision asking the Thackeray government for a floor test was wrong. However, the court said it cannot restore the MVA government as Thackeray had resigned from the chief minister post without facing the floor test in the Assembly.

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The apex court also ruled that Assembly Speaker Narwekars decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale, backed by the Shinde camp, as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal.

It further said that the disqualification petitions have to be decided by the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker within a reasonable time.

Arguments by both sides

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In July, Narwekar issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Shinde-led Sena and 14 legislators of the Thackeray camp, asking for their respone on disqualification petitions filed against them. However, the first hearing on the disqualification petitions started only in September.

The Uddhav faction has sought the disqualification of Shinde Sena MLA as per the 10th Schedule for defection. They have argued that these lawmakers did not follow the whip issued by Prabhu.

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The 10th Schedule of the Constitution is meant to prevent the defection of elected and nominated members of Parliament and state legislatures from political parties they won elections from. It also defines strict provisions under which such lawmakers can be disqualified.

As per Indian Express, the Shinde Sena has claimed that the MLAs did not receive any whip and no whip was issued. Thus, the question of disobeying the whip does not arise. The Shinde faction has justified the split by saying their supporters were unhappy with the MVA alliance.

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Notably, the Election Commission recognised Shindes camp as the real Shiv Sena last February, giving it the Shiv Sena name and bow and arrow symbol. The group headed by Thackeray was given the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with its symbol being a flaming torch.

The ECs order is unlikely to have any bearing on the Speakers decision on the disqualification pleas, sources told India Today.

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What will the verdict mean?

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekars verdict is important as it comes just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as well as the state Assembly polls in the second half of the year.

Whatever order he announces, the matter is likely to reach the courts again. In its verdict last May, the Supreme Court said that the Speaker must base his decision on the partys original constitution. The top court also directed Narwekaer to ascertain which of the Sena factions is a political party without being influenced by the ECI order.

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This is not a game of numbers, but of something more. The structure of leadership outside the Legislative Assembly is a consideration which is relevant to the determination of this issue. Thus, the adjudication of the Speaker on whether a member must be disqualified would also depend on the decision of the Speaker recognising one of the two (or more) Whips," the court said at the time.

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Constitutional expert Anant Kalse told Indian Express, As per the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India, the decision of the Speaker in disqualification is appealable in the High Court and Supreme Court because the concept of judicial review applies to the Speaker. So, ultimately, the SC is empowered to take a final decision.

According to Kalse, the Speaker would have to disqualify either Shinde camp MLAs or Uddhavs group. Uddhav camp has garnered public sympathy after the Sena split. If his MLAs are disqualified, the former Maharashtra chief ministers camp is expected to move the courts against the decision.

Shiv Sena (UBT faction) leader Sanjay Raut has already alleged match-fixing in the case.

#WATCH | Mumbai: On Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha speaker Rahul Narwekar giving verdict in Shiv Sena MLA disqualification case, Shiv Sena (UBT faction) leader Sanjay Raut says, "Match-fixing is going on in this case. The CM is gong to Davos. He will no longer remain in office if this pic.twitter.com/uiqEFeif3q  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

If the Shinde Sena MLAs are disqualified, it would be a setback for the ruling Shinde-led Maharashtra government. The rebelling lawmakers had claimed the move was according to the Constitution. It would also be a boost for the Opposition MVA before the upcoming elections.

What are both sides saying?

CM Shinde has expressed confidence that the Speakers decision would be based on merit, saying that his government was formed in a perfectly legitimate manner.

We have not done anything illegal. Our government was established as per rights given in the Constitution. Right from day one, we [Shinde-led Sena faction> have had majority, whether in the Legislative Assembly or in Parliament. Most of the MLAs and MPs are with our party, he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

Deputy CM and BJPs Devendra Fadnavis has said that the state government is stable and the Speakers decision would not affect it. The outcome would not affect the stability of the government as Ajit Pawar-led NCP is with the ruling alliance.

On Tuesday (9 January), Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Thackeray filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to Narwekars meeting with CM Shinde on Sunday at the latters official residence. It is highly improper for the Speaker to meet Eknath Shinde three days before deciding on the disqualification petition. The Speaker is required to act in an impartial manner. However, the present act of the Speaker raises questions about his fairness and impartiality in the decision-making process, the affidavit read.

Addressing a press conference, Thackeray questioned the quality of Narwekars verdict, saying what hope was there when the judge goes to visit the accused, The Hindu reported.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Speaker has defended his meeting with the CM, remarking that his decision would adhering to the Constitution. I am going to take an extremely legal, sustainable decision by which the people of this state will get justice, The Hindu quoted him as saying.

With inputs from agencies
Taiwan is all geared up for its election, scheduled for 13 January. However, the island has flagged Chinas efforts to meddle in the polls. From using spy balloons to imposing trade sanctions, and initiating a disinformation drive, Beijing is attempting to to interfere in the voting process

In a year of elections, all eyes have turned to Taiwan, as it prepares to go to the polls to elect a new president and parliament on Saturday (13 January). And with just a few days to go, fears are also at an all-time high about Chinas interference in the elections.

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In fact, on Tuesday Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate of Taiwans ruling Democratic Progressive party, said, China meddles every time Taiwan holds elections, but this time it is the most serious we have ever seen, in possibly the strongest remarks made yet about Chinas involvement and interference in the polls.

We take a closer look at just how China is playing spoilsport to the Taiwanese election.

Spy balloons, satellites and more

On Tuesday, panic spread in Taiwan after mobile phone users on the self-ruled island received a message warning them to be aware for your safety. This came as Beijing launched a satellite over its southern airspace.

The satellite was launched off the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Chinas Sichuan province at 15:03 local time, Taiwans defence ministry said. At about the same time as the alert, Chinas CCTV announced that a satellite named Einstein Probe had been launched with complete success.

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Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu, who was addressing a press conference at the time of the satellites launch, clarified that the alert pertained to a satellite launch. He further added that the launch was part of a pattern of grey zone activities by Beijing aimed at intimidating Taiwan.

With this kind of threat against Taiwan, I think we should be clear-eyed, we should not be provoked, Wu said.

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And thats just the tip of the iceberg.

In the run-up to the elections, Beijing has ramped up its military presence around the self-ruled island.

At least four Chinese balloons , which Taiwan has dubbed as spy balloons, have been seen floating around the island over the past few days  an activity the Taiwanese military calls a new form of grey zone harassment.

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Raymond Kuo, Taiwan Policy Initiative director at RAND Corporation has said that the timing of the balloons is political. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is attempting to demoralise the Taiwanese public in the run-up to next weeks presidential and legislative elections, he told news agency AFP.

However, China has brushed off claims of interference, and accused Taiwan of trying to manipulate the election.

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Economic warfare

According to many experts, China is also using economic measures to influence and interfere in the Taiwanese polls. On Tuesday evening, China said it was looking to suspend tariff concessions on products including agriculture and fishery, machinery, auto parts and textiles from Taiwan, following up on such a move made against some petrochemical products last month.

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Late last December, China had warned Taiwan of trade sanctions. Chen Binhua, spokesperson for Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office had said, If the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), authorities are determined to persevere, continue to stubbornly adhere to their Taiwan independence position, and refuse to repent, we support the relevant departments taking further measures in accordance with the regulations.

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Similar allegations of economic coercion were also levelled against China when Beijing targeted Apple supplier Foxconn with a surprise tax investigation in November 2023 in what was widely seen as a rebuke of founder Terry Gou s decision to run for president.

These sanctions gain more prominence in light of China-Taiwans trade ties; Beijing is Taipeis biggest trading partner, with data showing that trade was valued at a whopping $205 billion in 2022.

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Fake news and disinformation

Apart from the economic and defence measures, China is also resorting to disinformation ahead of the Taiwanese elections.

A large of amount of content online is pushing theories about the DPP and current President Tsai Ing-wen. There are also theories being pushed about the US and Taiwan creating biolabs to target Chinese people. Moreover, fake polls have been published in local media that show the Kuomintang party (KMT) candidate surging ahead of the DPP, in order to confuse voters.

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In November last year, a rumour began circulating that Hsiao Bi-khim  the DPPs vice-presidential candidate and until recently Taiwans top representative in Washington  is a US citizen.

A search online also showed one particular thread, which alleged that the people of Taiwan were being fed poisonous pork imported from the US, as part of the disinformation drive.

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While not all of these are linked to Chinese authorities, experts note that in many cases, it is the work of Chinese-linked agents.

China, according to experts, has also been working in overdrive to peddle the narrative that the US will not support Taiwan, or will abandon it if theres a war. For this, Beijing doesnt depend solely on conspiracy theories but also in many cases highlighting news that shows US in a bad light.

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One such instance is when Taiwanese chip giant TSMC expanded in the US. This was described as American coercion and a hollowing out of Taiwans resources. As Puma Shen, a Taiwanese expert in Chinese disinformation and Democratic Progressive Partys legislature nominee, told the BBC, To persuade everyone that China is the better country is more difficult, but to persuade everyone that America is problematic is relatively easier to China that would be considered a success.

Tim Niven, the lead researcher at Taiwan-based online monitoring NGO Doublethink Lab, also told The Guardian that they had found a surge in pro-China material in Taiwan emanating from fake accounts.

Experts have noted that China has misinformation operations are multifaceted.

Taiwan fights back

Taiwans ruling party DPP has repeatedly accused China of trying to meddle in the elections and warned the public of Beijings continuous interference. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as recently as 5 January said that he would publish its analysis of Chinas alleged attempts to interfere in elections soon after the elections.

Taiwan is taking measures to counter Chinas interference and is documenting its experiences. Analysis will be published soon after the elections in consultation with international experts, Wu wrote in the latest issue of The Economist, without giving details.

Interestingly, Taiwan has an added measure to curb foreign interference. Since the island of 23 million people first began direct elections almost three decades ago, it has insisted that all voting be done in person , according to a Bloomberg report.

A Taiwanese expert in Chinese disinformation, Puma Shen had an interesting take on the entire issue. She told BBC, As Taiwan gets better at defending itself, so will China get better at influencing discourse with more sophisticated methods.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming polls. Will Taiwan be able to conduct a free, fair election or will Chinas efforts succeed?

With inputs from agencies
Two politicians belonging to a previous Law and Justice government convicted of abuse of power sought refuge in the presidential palace on Tuesday as police moved to arrest them. This comes as the new government of Donald Tusk is facing opposition from President Andrzej Duda

Poland is witnessing a dramatic stand-off between its new and old governments.

On Tuesday, the police arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who had sought refuge in the presidential palace.

The tiff is between the new regime of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda  who is aligned with the now ousted conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) which governed Poland for eight years until it was defeated in a general election in October.

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Duda, who has made it clear that he will oppose Tusks agenda, is in his second and final term which ends in mid-2025.

But what happened exactly? And what do we know about the clash?

Lets take a closer look:

What happened?

On Tuesday, Duda welcomed ex-interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former deputy Maciej Wasik into the presidential palace even as the police went to their homes to arrest them.

The men, members of the former ruling party, were convicted of abuse of power for actions taken in 2007.

Both men served in the previous Law and Justice-led government.

Kaminski is a former head of the Central Anticorruption Bureau who was convicted along with Wasik and two others of abusing their power for creating a provocation in a sting operation seeking to frame their targets.

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That scandal contributed to the collapse of Law and Justices first government.

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In 2015, Duda pardoned both Kaminski and Wasik.

However, legal experts have argued that such pardons are reserved for cases that have gone through all appeals.

In June, Polands Supreme Court overturned the pardons and ordered a retrial.

Kaminski and Wasik, who were re-elected as lawmakers in October, were sentenced to two years in prison in December by a lower court.

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A court on Monday issued orders for police to arrest them and deliver them to prison.

However, the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court stacked with Law and Justice loyalists, has claimed that the pardon is legal, as per Politico.EU.

We do not acknowledge it, it is not a judgment for us; it is a total lawlessness, Kaminski was quoted as saying by Politico.EU after the verdict.

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Wasik added, We do not feel guilty, we do not feel convicted. We have been properly pardoned by the president.

Both men insist that they are innocent, and Duda claims that the pardons remain valid.

On Tuesday, Duda invited Kaminski and Wasik to his palace for a ceremony where he appointed two officials who had worked for them as his new advisers. His office posted a photo of him posing with all four.

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The two men came out of the palace briefly to speak to journalists hours before their arrest.

We are not hiding, Kaminski said.

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We are currently with the president of the Republic of Poland until evil loses.

We are dealing with a very serious state crisis. A grim dictatorship is being created, Kaminski added as per BBC.

Polish media then reported the men were arrested inside the palace.

Warsaw police gave no details, saying only that the arrest was in accordance with the court order.

But Politico.EU reported that the police moved in after President Duda left to meet with Belarusian Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

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Why the clash?

The Law and Justice Party had taken control of the media, the courts and state-owned corporations over the past eight years.

As per The Telegraph, the Polish Society of Journalists said that Polands public media had essentially become a propaganda tool for the state.

The party during its tenure campaigned against LGBTQ rights and targeted migrants.

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According to BBC, international groups accused the Law and Justice Party of undermining the rule of law.

Tusk campaigned on restoring democratic norms in Poland.

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In October, a coalition led by Tusk secured a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.

His coalition is now trying to take control of institutions still stacked with PiS loyalists.

As per BBC, the coalition government has attempted to reform media by sacking the boards and installing its own people ahead of legislative action.

However, critics have argued it is following the same playbook as PiS.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said the new governments changes raise serious doubts.

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Former PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the BBC, We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on the rule of law. Tusks government decided it could take over public television and media by force. This has nothing to do with democratic standards. We have not seen such brutal government action since communism. It is all the more outrageous that this is done by people who have such slogans of democracy on their lips.

But some say such claims coming from the PiS is rich given their track record, as per BBC.

A lot depends on the determination of the new government and how far it will go run restoring Poland to the rule of law, Jakub Jaraczewski, a researcher at NGO Democracy Reporting International told Politico.EU.

Very dangerous situation

Tusk accused the president of going along with actions by Law and Justice to create chaos and instability after its electoral defeat, saying that Duda must stop this spectacle, which is leading to a very dangerous situation.

The prime minister claimed that the president was obstructing justice by giving the wanted men refuge.

At a news conference, he read out a section of the penal code that he alleged Duda had violated, which carries a prison term from three months to five years.

I just want the president to be aware of what his political friends have tricked him into, Tusk said.

Meanwhile, parliamentary speaker, Szymon Holownia, postponed a planned session of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, which had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, until next week.

Kaminski and Wasik said they wanted to take part in the session, even though Holownia and others insist that, under the law, their guilty sentences strip them of their parliamentary mandates.

Maybe its even a good thing that this whole crisis happened, because everyone can see what kind of mess PiS, unfortunately, hand-in-hand with President Duda, has led to by reforming the Polish justice system, Hoownia was quoted as saying by Politico.EU.

Holownia said the situation had created a deep constitutional crisis  that does not guarantee that the Sejms deliberations this week would be peaceful.

There is no guarantee that this week, so hectic, fraught with all sorts of settlements, decisions, brawls, reports, will run smoothly, Hoownia added.

Tusks allies welcomed the arrests, saying they marked a return to officials being held accountable.

Let this be a warning to politicians for the next generation, foreign minister Radek Sikorski posted on social media.

As per DW, interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said everyone is equal before the law.

The rule of law is finally working, Micha Szczerba, an MP with the Civic Coalition, posted on X.

Morawiecki was among Law and Justice officials who voiced outrage, describing the arrested men as political prisoners.

Meanwhile, DW reported that PiS supporters have congregated outside the presidential palace and the police station.

They chanted free political prisoners and shame!

PiS spokesperson Rafa Bochenek also called the politicians political prisoners on social media.

He called their arrest an illegal kidnapping and a violation of all democratic rules.

With inputs from agencies
India is a top destination for Maldivians seeking specialised medical treatment such as heart surgeries and cancer. Several students for the island nation also visit for higher education

The row between India and the Maldives has left many citizens of that country worried.

Not only is Male losing out on tourism from India, but many middle-class Maldivians rely on India for their health and education.

But how dependent on India are the citizens of the Maldives?

Lets take a closer look:

Medical infrastructure, education

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First, lets take a look at the country and its medical infrastructure.

As per News9, the Maldives has just 330,000 people in 198 tiny islands. Just four of these islands have more than 5,000 people. Another 72 islands have less than 500 people.

Each inhabited island has a primary health facility.

But every atoll  which comprises 10 islands  has just one hospital for secondary healthcare needs.

There are also six regional hospitals.

As per India Today, India offers treatment such as complicated heart surgeries, cancer care that are simply unavailable in the Maldives.

This, at a far lower cost than other nations.

In our country of 400,000, we had a registered cancer population of around 2000, and at present we do not have many cancer specialists working, Dr Amru Ahmed, IGMH, Male told Economic Times.

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In the journey of cancer patients in the Maldives, even until now, the full treatment cannot be completed in the Maldives, mostly because, as I mentioned before, PET imaging, radiotherapy, and these kinds of treatments require the patients to go abroad, and they need to travel abroad.

The website curlytales.com quoted data from BMC Health Services Research showing that India is among the top destinations for medical treatments for Maldivians.

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Around 98 per cent of the countrys citizens selected India rather than Sri Lanka for medical tourism.

This is due to a slew of reasons including affordability, familiarity and proximity**.**

News9 also quoted data as showing that India was a top pick for Maldivians after Bangladesh and Iraq.

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As per DNA, the Maldives has a public system that funds its citizens treatment abroad.

Under this scheme, called Aasandha, patients can be sent abroad for specialised treatment  of which India is a top destination.

As per Deccan Herald, hundreds of Maldivians have come down to Kerala particularly Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to have their healthcare or educational needs met.

Many hospitals have dedicated counters for Maldivians.

Tourism

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The Maldives economy relies heavily on tourism as a source of revenue.

It is estimated to account for a quarter of the countrys (GDP) of Maldives.

India had the fifth most tourist arrivals in Maldives in 2018.

Of the total of 14,84,274 tourists who visited Maldives, around 6.1 per cent (over 90,474) were from India.

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In 2019, India nearly doubled its number of arrivals (1,66,030) compared to 2018.

Even the pandemic didnt blunt Indians desire to visit  India, with 63,000 visitors had the most tourists in the Maldives.

That number only increased in 2021 and 2022 with with over 2.91 lakh and 2.41 lakh Indian tourist arrivals in Maldives.

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Indians comprised 23 per cent and 14.4 per cent of all tourists in the respective years.

Till June 2023, India with 100,915 tourists arrivals had the most visitors to the Maldives of any nation.

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India is followed by Russia and China, as per The Hindu.

Indians comprised 11.8 per cent of all tourists who visited.

In March 2022, India and Maldives reached an open skies arrangement to further improve connectivity.

A friend in need

India has often come to the island nations assistance in its time of need.

As per the MEA_,_ New Delhi was among the first nations to recognise the Maldives as an independent entity in 1965 and form diplomatic relations.

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From Operation Cactus in 1988 to being the first to help after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, New Delhi has been there for Male at every turn.

In 2020, India announced a financial package for the Maldives to support the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP).

The package comprised $100 million and a new line of credit of $400 million.

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India has also extended eight Line of Credit Projects worth $1.3 billion to the Maldives, as per News18.

India in January 2020 quickly sent 30,000 doses of the measles vaccine to prevent an outbreak in the Maldives.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, India has established itself as the Maldives first responder.

In January 2021, India gifted the Maldives 1 lakh COVID-19 vaccines within four days of their rollout in India.

New Delhi sent another two packages of one lakh vaccines in February and March 2021.

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In November 2022, India handed over $100 million in assistance to the Maldives to ease its financial challenges.

India also provides the largest number of training opportunities for Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), meeting around 70 per cent of their defence training requirements

With inputs from agencies
One of the staff of the service apartment in Goa revealed that Suchana Seth had requested the purchase of a small bottle of cough syrup, claiming she had a cough

More grisly revelations and twists have come to fore in the alleged murder of a four-year-old boy by his mother. The Goa police have found two empty bottles of cough syrup from the room where Suchana Seth, CEO of a startup in Bengaluru, was lodging in the land of beaches.

As per cops, Suchana had pre-planned murder of her son and the finding of cough syrup bottles indicates she might have given a heavy dose of the medicine to him, PTI reported, citing officials.

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A senior police officer said, during the inspection of the service apartment room at Candolim in Goa where Suchana stayed, two empty cough syrup bottles, one large and one small, were recovered.

Suchana is the CEO of The Mindful AI Lab, and as per her LinkedIn profile, she is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.

Did Bengaluru CEO pre-planned sons murder?

We are examining the possibility if the woman gave a heavy dose of cough syrup to the child before putting him to death, a police official said.

It looks like a pre-planned murder, the official added.

Police said during the investigation, one of the service apartment staff members revealed that Suchana had requested the purchase of a small bottle of cough syrup, claiming she had a cough.

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The larger bottle might have been carried by her, raising suspicions of premeditation.

Bengaluru CEO sons postmortem report

The postmortem revealed the childs cause of death was smothering with either a cloth or a pillow, officials said. The report showed no signs of struggle.

Suchana allegedly killed her son in the apartment in Goas Candolim where she checked in on 6 January. Before checking out on 8 January for Bengaluru, she stuffed the body in a bag and hopped on in a taxi, police said.

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She was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday night and brought to Goa on Tuesday. A court in Mapusa town of Goa remanded her in police custody for six days.

The childs father, Venkat Raman, who was in Jakarta (Indonesia), reached Hiriyur in Chitradurga on Tuesday night and took possession of his sons body after postmortem.

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Suchana Seth denies killing son

Citing police sources, PTI report said during the interrogation, the accused has denied her involvement in the crime and claimed the child was already dead when she woke up from sleep.

We dont buy her theory. Further investigation will reveal the motive behind killing the child. As of now, we know that she and her husband were estranged because of which she might have done this, the report quoted a senior police official as saying.

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With inputs from PTI
The DGTR in separate probes have concluded that these products have been exported at a price below normal value in Indian markets, which has resulted in dumping. The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumping of these products.

India has imposed anti-dumping duties on three Chinese products, namely wheel loaders, gypsum tiles, and industrial laser machinery for five years. The move aims to protect local manufacturers from the impact of inexpensive imports originating from China.

The decision to impose these duties follows the recommendations of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an investigative arm of the commerce ministry.

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According to separate probes conducted by the DGTR, these products were found to be exported to India at prices below their normal value, leading to dumping and causing material injury to the domestic industry.

According to separate notifications of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued last month, the duties have been imposed on gypsum board/tiles with lamination at least on one side.

Such duties have also been imposed on industrial laser machines, in fully assembled, Semi Knocked Down (SKD) or Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form, used for cutting, marking, or welding operations; and wheel loaders imported in the form of Completely Built Unit (CBU), or SKD.

The anti-dumping duties imposed under these notifications will be levied for five years unless revoked, superseded or amended, according to the notifications.

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Such duties have also been imposed on gypsum tiles manufactured by some companies in Oman. Earlier, it was imposed on toughened glass for home appliances; and certain types of flax yarn from China.

While DGTR recommends levying the duty, the finance ministry imposes it. Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if a surge in below-cost imports has hurt the domestic industry. As a countermeasure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.

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Anti-dumping measures ensure fair trade and provide a level playing field to the domestic industry. India and China are members of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). Indias exports to China during 2022-23 stood at USD 15.3 billion while imports stood at USD 98.5 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 83.2 billion.
The airline chiefs mention of the Lakshadweep flights comes amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and the Maldives. Derogatory comments were made by some deputy ministers of the Maldives against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he visited Lakshadweep.

SpiceJet Chief Ajay Singh announced on Wednesday the airline will soon launch flights to Lakshadweep and Ayodhya, emphasising that the recent fund infusion would contribute to strengthening the airline.

Speaking at the annual general meeting with shareholders, Singh mentioned the deployment of a significant portion of the Rs 2,250 crore funds to facilitate the growth of the airline.

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The announcement about flights to Lakshadweep comes amid an ongoing diplomatic row between India and the Maldives, triggered by derogatory comments from some Maldivian deputy ministers against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi following his visit to Lakshadweep.

As on January 7, SpiceJet had 39 aircraft in operations while 26 were on the ground, as per data available on the fleet tracking website Planespotter. Singh told shareholders on Wednesday that the airline has exclusive rights under the governments regional connectivity scheme for Lakshadweep, and will soon launch its air services to the union territory.

Subsequently, there have been calls to boycott the Maldives, which had emerged as a hot destination for Indian leisure travellers post the 2019 pandemic, by some industry bodies as well as travel booking platforms.

Meanwhile, Singh, at the annual general meeting, said the latest fund infusion will lead to SpiceJet becoming a stronger and more resilient airline in the country as well as open market potential and opportunities for the company.

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Further, the fresh capital infusion will help bring its grounded aircraft back into operations, he added. Amid reports that its minority equity partner and global aircraft lessor Carlyle Aviation Partners had evinced interest in acquiring SpiceJet and its cargo arm SpiceXpress, sources in the know said the airline is strongly backed by Carlyle.

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The entity is taking a keen interest in the airline and SpiceXpress, they added. Last year, Carlyle Aviation Partners acquired a 7.03 per cent stake in SpiceJet.

With inputs from PTI.
The comments came after India signed a similar pact with Saudi Arabia in September 2023. Such connectivity will help India send power to as far as Europe. Other pacts signed are in sectors such as logistics, healthcare innovations and one which involves developing food parks.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Wednesday that India and the United Arab Emirates have signed a deal to explore the establishment of grid connectivity between the two countries.

Other pacts signed between the two countries are in sectors such as logistics, healthcare innovations and one which involves developing food parks. Kwatra said the deal is part of a total of four memorandums of understanding signed between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi in the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, Kwatra said.

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He said one of the pacts is on renewable energy, which also includes green hydrogen and solar. There is an inherent thought of possible grid connectivity between India and the UAE in that space, the foreign secretary told reporters as he was speaking about the agreements signed between the two countries.

He, however, did not share any more details on the grid connectivity. A September 15, 2023 news report quoted Minister of New and Renewable Energy R K Singh as saying that the UAE is interested in having such connectivity with India which will be subsea.

The comments came after India signed a similar pact with Saudi Arabia in September 2023. Such connectivity will help India send power to as far as Europe, Kwatra said.

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When asked about the abrupt exit of UAEs president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan from the VGGS venue earlier in the day, Kwatra declined to specify the reasons for it but was quick to add that his public remarks before leaving were warm and the guest also appreciated the roadshow last evening.

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The diplomat also declined to speak on other pertinent issues like the ongoing challenges in the Red Sea and Indias diplomatic strategies in the Maldivian case following the snide remarks by members of a newly-elected cabinet of the island nation in the Indian Ocean.

With inputs from PTI.
Mukesh Ambani announced that Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in New Materials and the Circular Economy and as a first step, it is setting up Indias first and world-class Carbon Fibre facility at Hazira

Mukesh Ambani Wednesday said his company, Reliance, was, is and will remain a Gujarati company and of more than 150 billion dollar (Rs 12 lakh crore) invested by the firm in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in the last decade, over one third has been invested in Gujarat alone.

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I will never forget what my father Dhirubhai Ambani used to tell me in my childhood: Gujarat is your MATRUBHOOMI, and Gujarat should always remain your KARMABHOOMI. Today, let me declare yet again: Reliance was, is, and will always remain a Gujarati company. Each of Reliances business is striving to fulfil the dreams of my seven crore fellow Gujaratis, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani, said during his address at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

#WATCH | Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 | Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani says, "...Reliance was, is and will always remain a Gujarati company...Reliance has invested over 150 billion dollars - Rs 12 Lakh Crores - in creating world-class assets and pic.twitter.com/HCjCbaavAm  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

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A proud Gujarati

The RIL chairman further said he is proud to be a Gujarati and called himself fortunate few to have participated in every single edition of Vibrant Gujarat.

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I have come from the City of the Gateway of India to the Gateway of Modern Indias Growth - Gujarat. I am a proud Gujarati, he said.

Mukesh Ambanis 5 commitments to people of Gujarat

In his address at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2024, Ambani made five commitments to the people of Gujarat.

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1 - Significant investments in next 10 years

Ambani said Reliance will continue to play a leading role in Gujarats growth story with significant investments in the next 10 years. Specifically, the company will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in Green Growth.

We will help Gujarats target to meet half of its energy needs through renewable energy by the year 2030. For this, we have started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials and will make Gujarat a leading exporter of Green Products. We are ready to commission this in the second half of 2024 itself, he said.

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2 - All Inclusive growth

The RIL head informed that Reliance Jio has completed the fastest rollout of 5G infrastructure anywhere in the world and today Gujarat is fully 5G enabled  something that most of the world does not yet have.

This will make Gujarat a Global Leader in Digital Data Platforms and AI Adoption. 5G-enabled AI revolution will make Gujarats economy more productive, more efficient and more globally competitive, Ambani said.

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Also Read: When foreigners think of New India, they think of a New Gujarat: Mukesh Ambani

Besides generating millions of employment opportunities, it will produce AI (artificial intelligence) enabled doctors, AI enabled teachers and AI enabled farming, which will revolutionise healthcare, education and agricultural productivity in Gujarat.

This will benefit every Gujarati in urban as well as rural areas, since to my mind AI also means an All Inclusive growth, the businessman added.

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3 - Retail business improves quality of life of all households of Gujarat

Ambani went on to say that Reliances Retail will further accelerate its mission to bring quality products to consumers and simultaneously empower lakhs of kisans (agriculturers) and small merchants.

Our Retail business improves the quality of life of all households of Gujarat with better products and services, he said.

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4 - Indias first & world-class Carbon Fibre facility to be in Gujarat

Ambani also announced that Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in New Materials and the Circular Economy and as a first step, the company is setting up Indias first and world-class Carbon Fibre facility at Hazira.

5 - Nurture champions of tomorrow

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The Reliance head said in preparation to PM Modis announcement that India will bid for 2036 Olympics, Reliance and Reliance Foundation will join forces with several other partners in Gujarat to improve education, sports and skills infrastructure that will nurture the champions of tomorrow in various Olympics sports.

Disclaimer: Firstpost is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
The leader of the SP told reporters in this place, The then government carried out its duty to protect the Constitution by firing on karsevaks (volunteers) in Ayodhya

The leader of the Samajwadi Party, Swami Prasad Maurya, defended on Wednesday the 1990 order issued by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to the police to shoot karsevaks in Ayodhya, claiming that it was necessary to uphold the Constitution.

Maurya was in Kasganj for a Buddhist conference, but he has been provoking controversy with his statements lately.

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The leader of the SP told reporters in this place, The then government carried out its duty to protect the Constitution by firing on karsevaks (volunteers) in Ayodhya.

Maurya was asked about a reported statement of Union minister SP Singh Baghel that people behind the police firing on Ram Bhakts in Ayodhya should be welcomed if they want to go there.

At that time, anarchic elements in large numbers had indulged in vandalism and the then government had got bullets fired for saving the Constitution, peace and order. That was the duty of the government. Baghel was also in the Samajwadi Party at that time, Maurya said.

Mauryas statement justifying the 1990 firing has come at a time when preparations are in full swing for the consecration ceremony of the new Ram temple in Ayodhya.

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To a question on the opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of trying to politicise the consecration ceremony, the SP leader said, We honour all religions but the BJP is politicising it to take mileage whereas the country knows that the temple is being constructed on the orders of the Supreme Court.

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All the opposition parties had welcomed the Supreme Courts order. This means that no one has objection to the construction of Ram temple, but the BJP is wrongly trying to take credit of it. Had it (BJP) been so capable, why was the temple not built when Atal Bihari Vajapaye held the reins of the country thrice, he said.

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Asked if he would go to Ayodhya to participate in the consecration ceremony on January 22, the SP legislator said, I will not go to any programme of the BJPthis is the programme organised by the BJP and not that of Ram Lalla temple.

To another question, Maurya alleged that the Central government is working to sell the country and accused it of winning elections through EVMs.

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He also accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state of creating a rift between Hindus and Muslims.

(with inputs from PTI)
Speaking at Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said the world listens and applauds PM Modi, and the leader makes the impossible possible with his vision, determination and execution

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, When foreigners think of a new India, they think of a new Gujarat. He went on to say that this transformation happened because of PM Modi, the most successful leader in Indias history.

I have come from the city of the Gateway of India to the gateway of modern Indias growth - Gujarat. I am a proud Gujarati When foreigners think of a new India, they think of a new Gujarat. How did this transformation happen? Because of one leader, who has emerged as the greatest global leader of our times - PM Modi, the most successful Prime Minister in Indias history, Mukesh Ambani said in his address at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

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#WATCH | Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 | Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani says, "I have come from the city of the Gateway of India to the gateway of modern India's growth - Gujarat. I am a proud Gujarati...When foreigners think of a new India, they think of pic.twitter.com/NF4hb7AgbA  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai

The businessman further said the world listens as well as applauds PM Modi, and the leader makes the impossible possible with his vision, determination and execution.

When you (PM Modi) speak, the whole world not only listens but applauds you. My friends abroad ask me: What is the meaning of the slogan that millions of Indians are chanting: MODI HAI TO MUMKIN HAI? I tell them: It means, Indias Prime Minister makes the Impossible Possible with his vision, determination and execution! They agree, and they also say: MODI HAI TO MUMKIN HAI!

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PM Modi both a nationalist and an internationalist

Ambani further said PM Modis journey from Gujarat to the Global Stage in just two decades was nothing short of a modern epic. Today, and in todays India is the best time for young people to enter the economy to innovate and to provide ease of living and ease of earning to hundreds of millions of people, he said.

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The coming generations will indeed be thankful to Prime Minister Modi for being both a nationalist and an internationalist. You have laid a solid foundation for Vikasit Bharat  India as a fully Developed Nation in Amrit Kaal, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited said.

As Chief Minister of Gujarat, you used to say Bharat ke vikas ke liye Gujarat ka Vikas  and that is how you made Gujarat Indias growth engine. Now as Prime Minister of India, your mission is  Duniya ke Vikas ke liye Bharat ka Vikas. You are working on the mantra of global good and make India the worlds growth engine, he added.

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No power can stop India from becoming 35 trillion dollar economy

The Reliance Industries Limited head said with a conviction also said, No power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion-dollar economy by 2047 and I see Gujarat alone will become a 3-trillion dollar economy.

I am confident  Every Gujarati is confident And Every Indian is confident That the Modi Era will take India to new summits of prosperity, progress and glory, Ambani said.

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Disclaimer: Firstpost is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, a voice of the Global South, an engine of growth in the global economy, said PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asserted that India is viewed globally as a important pillar of stability, a reliable ally, a driving force behind global economic growth, a hub for technological innovation, and a reservoir of highly skilled youth.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, PM Modi said, The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, a voice of the Global South, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions, a powerhouse of talented youth and a democracy that delivers

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#WATCH | At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar, PM Narendra Modi says, "The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, a pic.twitter.com/Cqlkcfm85z  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

He said the representatives from over 100 countries, including state heads and top CEOs of private companies, who are participating in this summit are crucial partners in Indias development journey.

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This is the first Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in this Amrit Kaal. Therefore, this is even more significant. Representatives from more than 100 countries, who are participating in this summit, are crucial partners in this development journey of India, said the Prime Minister.

PM Modi said all major rating agencies are of the opinion that India will be among the three largest economies of the world in the next few years.

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Today, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. 10 years ago, India was on the 11th position. Today, all major agencies estimate that India will be in the top three economies of the world in the coming years. Let people across the world do their analysis, but it is my guarantee that it will happen, said the Prime Minister.

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In the rapidly changing world order, India is going ahead as vishwa mitra. India has given hope to the world that we can decide on common goals and achieve them, he added.

#WATCH | At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar, PM Narendra Modi says, "Today, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. 10 years ago, India was on the 11th position. Today, all major agencies estimate that India will be in the top three economies of the pic.twitter.com/5woR7xVK0s  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

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He credited structural reforms undertaken in the past 10 years for the growth in India.

#WATCH | At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar, PM Narendra Modi says, "We are all aware of the global circumstances. So, in times like these, if the Indian economy is displaying such resistance, if the growth in India is showing such momentum, a big reason pic.twitter.com/R7MpfO8RYD  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

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We are all aware of the global circumstances. So, in times like these, if the Indian economy is displaying such resistance, if the growth in India is showing such momentum, a big reason behind this is our focus on structural reforms in the last 10 years. These reforms have enhanced the capacity, capability and competitiveness of Indias economy, said PM Modi.

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Recently, we celebrated 75 years of Indias independence and in the next 25 years we will celebrate 100 years. These 25 years is amrit kaal for India. We have set a goal of making India a developed country in the next 25 years, he added.

On the occasion, Modi credited UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was present at the event as the chief guest, for the high growth of India-UAE relations.

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#WATCH | At the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar, PM Narendra Modi says, "The participation of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in this Summit, is a matter of great joy for us. His presence as the chief guest at Vibrant Gujarat Summit is a symbol of the pic.twitter.com/vmcCJMBLON  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

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The participation of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in this Summit, is a matter of great joy for us. His presence as the chief guest at Vibrant Gujarat Summit is a symbol of the ever-strengthening relations between India and UAE, said PM Modi.

With inputs from agencies
For the Navy to be future ready it may have to choose between more submarines and emerging technologies and smaller weapon packed platforms rather than giant warships

The recent foiling of a piracy attempt by shift action of an already deployed Indian warship, INS Chennai, in the Arabian Sea highlights the long reach of the Indian Navy and its emergence as the preferred instrument of Indian diplomacy.

The Navy has been ensuring that the waters off the Strait of Hormuz as well as the Horn of Africa are safe for transit through the deployment of a flotilla since 2008. The Navys presence in distant waters allows for prompt response to emerging threats, disaster relief, and collaborative exercises, fostering goodwill and partnerships but going beyond as a deterrent signature of India worldwide.

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The Indian Navy has inherited the British Royal navy legacy of the control of the sea from Aden to Singapore and has extended to the South China Sea. The developing Indo-Pacific presence is a new and increasing footprint for the force.

In that sense the Indian Navy is unique. Unlike the continental defensive mindset, the Navy defines outreach. It is the very embodiment of the great theorist of the oceans, Alfred Mahan, and his advocacy of the control of the sea as the centrepiece of security. This has included operating aircraft carriers since the 1960s. It was demonstrated by the stunning raid using OSA class missile boats that set Karachi harbour alight in 1971 and put fear of the almighty among the believers in Pakistan. The Indian fleets total control of East Pakistan through deployment of the aircraft carrier battle group in Bombing Dhaka in 1971 was instrumental in the creation of a new nation  Bangladesh.

More recently during the Kargil war the Indian Navy locked up the sea facing Pakistan forcing the Pakistan Navy to stay put in its harbour.

As Make in India gathers force in defence, the Navy has been doing the project for years. At a recent media interaction Admiral R Hari Kumar the chief of the naval staff said that out of 67 shipbuilding projects 65 are being built by Indian Shipyards. He pointed out that approximately 90 per cent indigenisation in the Surface ships complemented by 60 per cent in the freight segment, and about 50 per cent indigenisation in the air arm. From Submarine design to aircraft carrier ski jumps down to the hull of massive missile destroyers the Indian Navy is building it all at home.

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The gathering storm

Even with these impressive achievements storm clouds are gathering. For one thing the most critical of the Indian Navys responsibility is to have a proven second-strike nuclear weapon capability vis a vis China. This is crucial because India has professed a doctrine of no first use of nuclear weapons that calls for a crippling nuclear second strike to annihilate the enemy. This capability is only possible through a nuclear-powered submarine with long-range nuclear warhead-equipped missiles. That project is facing technological hurdles and delays. There is a developing time gap in testing of Indias homemade nuclear submarine and missiles which is a major worry. The lack of rigorous time bound and sufficient testing of the submarine INS Arighat and a missile such as K4 which will have a 3,500 km range puts the nuclear triad under a shadow of doubt. This is a shadow India can ill afford.

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New technology is testing old doctrines of the Indian navy. Access denial weapons from cheap drones to missiles are bringing back in fashion a man who wrote the theories of sea denial. The Navy is confronted  like all big navies with the resurgence in interest in the theories of Julain Corbett. Corbett had proposed that the object of a sound Navy strategy is defensive. To deny the enemy space and it is apparent in the new strategies of Houthis in the Red Sea for example that try with $20,000 suicide drones and $200,000 missiles to threaten and put multimillion-dollar warships and container ships at risk. The proliferation of sensors hypersonic missiles and drones can complicate Indias strategy of controlling the seas through forward deployment of aircraft carrier battle groups soon.

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The Indian Navy has opted for a third aircraft carrier in a fast-changing threat and technology environment. This could be the last aircraft carrier in the navy given that we need to build on the vast achievement of capabilities that built our home-made aircraft carrier. India needs three of these $5 billion a ship as at any given time one may be undergoing maintenance.

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For the Navy to be future-ready it may have to choose between more submarines and emerging technologies and smaller weapon-packed platforms rather than giant warships. As with other parts of Indian defence India needs to spend more on defence and should aim at 3 per cent of GDP from about 2 per cent currently within this decade. That money will need a strategic reorientation of priorities to ensure it is well spent. The Indian Navy is a good place to begin.

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The writer is a senior journalist with expertise in defence. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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Hamas apologists rallied for the terrorists by justifying the carnage as Islamic resistance and dismissing the brutal rape of Israeli women

We Talk About Women Being Raped, Not Men Raping Women. - Jackson Katz, American filmmaker, educator and author

The balaclavas concealing the murderous gaze were missing. The savages had shed the slightest of inhibitions in their bloodlust. Their fiendish eyes, the devilish chortle, and the diabolical intention, coupled with the chants of Allahu Akbar, petrified the witnesses as they saw women being brutally gang-raped, tortured and murdered.

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Maimed, mutilated, shot in the vagina, nails inserted into the groin and thighs, and burned to death, the bodies of around 30 women with their clothes torn off, legs spread and terrible injuries to their genitals were found in Israel on 7 October.

The indescribable horror was perpetrated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists as they launched a three-pronged blitzkrieg in the name of Islamic resistance against the storming of East Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) last April.

The horrors were revealed in a two-month investigation by The New York Times based on video footage, photos, GPS data from cell phones, and more than 150 interviews of witnesses, medical personnel and soldiers.

Some videos and photos containing graphic details of the frightening crimes were too disturbing to see and comprehend.

The terrorists targeted the women, at least, in seven locations as part of a planned gender-based violence. There might have been more rape victims who couldnt be examined as they were buried quickly per Jewish customs.

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The year 2023 ended on a gruesome and gory note as the horrid details of the sexual perversion made headlines.

However, something more disgusting and abhorrent occurred after the sexual depravity of the monstersand it continues.

Silence and hypocrisy.

The United Nations (UN), several countries, global human rights bodies, progressives, Leftists and Palestine supporters rallied for the Hamas terrorists by pathetically justifying the carnage as the pent-up anger triggered by Israeli atrocities. For them, it was Islamic resistance, not savagery.

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However, a survey by the respected nonpartisan research group Arab Barometer in Gaza and the West Bank between September 28 and October 8 showed that 44 per cent of Gazans didnt trust Hamas at all and 23 per cent had not a lot of trust. Only 29 per cent trusted the terrorist outfit. Besides, 72 per cent believed that the Hamas government was corrupt.

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Support for Hamas in Gaza increased only after Israel started pounding the coastal strip indiscriminately, killing women and children. The Palestinian Centre for Policy Survey and Research found in December that 72 per cent of respondents in Gaza and the West Bank supported the Hamas attack. Still, the percentage in Gaza was less (52 per cent) compared to the West Bank (85 per cent).

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Undoubtedly, increasing Jewish settlements and settler violence against Palestinians is completely unjustified and should be immediately stopped with a concerted effort by world powers, especially the United States.

But does raping women , inserting objects into their private parts, decapitating and burning them and murdering children and the elderly constitute resistance against Israeli occupation?

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Condoning such heinous acts or avoiding mentioning them is as reprehensible as terrorism.

On 27 October, the UNGA adopted a resolution calling for an immediate, sustained humanitarian truce leading to the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas without rejecting and condemning the terrorist attacks unequivocally.

The UN no longer holds even one ounce of legitimacy or relevance, Israels representative Gilad Menashe Erdan said at the UN. This resolution does not even name Hamas. Why are you defending terrorists that deliberately beheaded children and abducted babies? he rightly asked.

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Similarly, on 12 December, another UNGA resolution calling for a ceasefire neither condemned Hamas nor made any specific reference to it. In fact, two amendments specifically referring to Hamas were voted down by members.

Not only does this resolution fail to condemn Hamas for crimes against humanity, it does not mention Hamas at all, Erdan said at the UN.

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The hypocrisy reached its limit when womens rights group UN Women, criticised for its silence, issued a statement on Instagram on 24 November condemning the Hamas attacks 50 days after the massacre only to delete it .

We condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7 and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, read the initial statement, which was replaced with the demand for the release of the hostages.

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A day later, UN Women was only alarmed by gender-based violence reports and called for rigorous investigation.

From the start, UN Womens every public statement focussed on criticising the IDF campaign, the wars impact on Palestinians and demands for a ceasefire, not the raped and butchered Israeli women.

When UN Women deputy director Sarah Hendriks was asked by CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga about failing to specifically call out Hamas for the sexual violence despite the mounting evidence provided by Israeli investigators, she was only deeply alarmed at the disturbing reports of gender-based and sexual violence on October 7.

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We absolutely unequivocally condemn all forms of violence against women and girls, she added without naming Hamas.

Is there a reason [@UN_Women] cant specifically call out Hamas & the mounting evidence Israeli investigators have collected [of] the atrocities they committed on Oct 7? @biannagolodryga spoke w/ @UN_Womens @sarah_hendriks about the response to Oct 7. Watch their exchange. pic.twitter.com/azKaScBNgy  Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) November 29, 2023

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It took 53 days for UN secretary general Antonio Guterres to condemn the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas.

There are numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas on 7 October that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted. Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere, he posted on X.

There are numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas on 7 October that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.



Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere.  Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) November 29, 2023

Erdan was quick to slam Guterres for discriminating between the raped Israeli women and other rape victims.

The Secretary-Generals words only sharpen the fact that when it comes to Israeli women, sexual violence that has been proven by state authorities still needs to be investigated. For him, when it comes to Israeli women, you can doubt the facts and wait 55 days to call an unknown party to conduct an investigation, he posted on X.

The Secretary-General's words only sharpen the fact that when it comes to Israeli women, sexual violence that has been proven by state authorities still needs to be investigated. For him, when it comes to Israeli women, you can doubt the facts and wait 55 days to call an pic.twitter.com/Evntm9jAEg  Ambassador Gilad Erdan   (@giladerdan1) November 30, 2023

Guterres was merely trying to calm the justified anger of many around the world for his silence and the silence of the UN, the Israeli ambassador added.

It took 52 days for a UN commission of inquiry probing war crimes in the Israel-Hamas war to announce that it would pass evidence of sexual violence onto the International Criminal Court and called for it to consider prosecutions following Israeli criticism.

On the other hand, the UN, human rights organisations, Leftists and progressives never doubted the Palestinian casualty figures provided by Hamas. Whatever the terrorist group says is the gospel truth.

The photographic and video evidence showing dead bodies outside Palestinian hospitals is truebut so is the proof of sexual violence provided by Israel. The discrimination between one set of evidence as truth and the other as fake or concocted is appalling and belies logic.

The world never demanded proof of the sexual violence committed by the men of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen Republics head Ramzan Kadyrov against Ukrainian women during the ongoing war.

In January 2023, Ukrainian prosecutor Iryna Didenko said that her office was investigating 154 cases of sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers. Ground forces arrive, and rapes start on the second or third day, she said.

Way back in June 2022, 100 days after the Russian invasion, UN secretary generals special representative on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten said , Too often have the needs of women and girls in conflict settings been sidelined and treated as an afterthought.

By 3 June, 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had received reports of 124 incidents of sexual violence against Ukrainian women, girls and children committed by Russian forces.

None of the members, including Chinawhich hasnt condemned the Hamas attacks as terrorismexcept Russia opposed Patten neither demanded specific evidence substantiating the allegations of sexual abuse by Russian soldiers.

Dai Bing, Chinas permanent representative to the UN, said the use of sexual violence as a tool of war is a serious crime and any allegations should be investigated in an impartial manner that is based on facts. However, China has neither condemned Hamas for the terrorist act nor its sexual violence.

As Natalia Karbowska, cofounder-director of strategic development, Ukrainian Womens Fund, said, Sexual violence in this war is the most hidden crime.

Karbowskas right because several Israeli women buried after the Hamas rampage couldnt be medically examined to ascertain whether they were raped, and many others possibly sexually assaulted would remain silent to avoid shame.

On the other hand_, the blatant discrimination against Israeli rape victims is disgusting, cringey and outright hypocritical._

In the first eight weeks after the Israel-Hamas war, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued 51 press releases accusing Israel of war crimes with only a brief passing reference to the rapes and murders by the terrorists.

More than two months after the Hamas rapes, HRW issued a press statement on December 12 only calling for an investigation into the sexual crimes without acknowledging the evidence.

New information continues to emerge about the killings of civilians in southern Israel by Hamas-led gunmen on October 7. This includes harrowing reports of sexual violence that demand urgent, careful, independent and credible investigation, said HRW, which had mentioned war crimes , including rapes, committed by Russian soldiers.

Amnesty International, which documents and mentions rapes committed during wars, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been silent on the Hamas rapes till date.

Amnesty has issued 29 press releases about Israels  cataclysmic assault on the occupied Gaza Strip , claims to have documented unlawful Israeli attacks and called for such actions to be investigated as war crimes.

The NYT report is a tight slap on the face of Hamas apologists, rape denialists, human rights groups, the radical Left and progressives. But was it even required to prove that the Israeli women were raped?

Mounting evidence describing harrowing stories of sexual violence committed by Hamas had started emerging within days from the Supernova music festival, the main target of the terrorist attacks. Eyewitness accounts of traumatised young women who watched in silent horror the gang rapes, mutilation and murders had already started pouring in.

One month after the bloodbath, NBC News reviewed a Hamas pamphlet discovered on November 2 that instructed the terrorists to order Israeli women in Hebrew to raise your hands and open your legs and take off your pants.

NBC News also reviewed the interrogations of five captured Hamas terrorists and six images of naked or partially naked female bodies, seven eyewitness accounts of rape and mutilation and 11 testimonies of first responders.

They had a thing with sexual organsboth in women and men, a first responder told the police in a videotaped testimony.

A videotaped interrogation showed one terrorist saying to have our way with them, to dirty them to rape them as a war tactic. Another terrorist admitted to having having sex with dead bodies.

Even Hamas posted a video on Telegram showing a young Israeli woman with her hands tied and blood-stained sweatpants at her crotch. The viral video showed her being pushed into a jeep with multiple terrorists amid chants of Allahu Akbar.

The Washington Post reported footage showing several women were stripped and an Israeli reserve combat paramedic finding many bodies of teenage girls with signs of sexual assault .

Reuters reported about a Supernova survivor witnessing the gang rape of a woman and describing it to Israeli investigators, according to footage shown to journalists.

Hypocrisy clouded #MeToo.

Graphic details of women and girls with their pants pulled down, blood on their private parts, bruised, scratched and smashed pelvises werent enough to move sympathisers of terrorism, who squawked at the rapes of Ukrainian women or Yazidi women assaulted by the Islamic State without demanding video evidence.

Would questioning Hamas about the brutal rapes and demanding an investigation betray the Palestinian cause or the right to live of Gaza children and women blown to pieces by relentless Israeli bombing?

No.

But these double-faced human rights groups and womens activists dismissed the rapes as a figment of Israeli imagination or dissemination of fake news intended to malign the Hamas ghouls. Their whataboutery aimed to deny the right to justice of the raped Israelis and bolster their claim that the monstrosity was the result of Israeli occupation.

Denying the rape and sodomy committed on 7 October will not boost the Palestinian cause. These Hamas sympathisers arent a bunch of uneducated street protesters unmoved by facts and guided by disinformation. They are well educated, informed and acutely aware of human rights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly questioned the insincerity of womens rights groups. I say to the womens rights organisations, to the human rights organisations, youve heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities, sexual mutilationwhere the hell are you? he said at a press conference on December 5.

Gal Abdushs body was found with her dress torn, legs spread, vagina exposed and face burned beyond recognition. Her two children will live with the horror and the same question, Where the hell were you?

The writer is a freelance journalist with two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_s views._

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France is witnessing a critical moment in its political landscape as Gabriel Attal assumes the role of prime minister amidst President Macrons efforts to rejuvenate his leadership

In a significant political manoeuvre, French President Emmanuel Macron has undertaken a major cabinet reshuffle, appointing Gabriel Attal as the countrys youngest-ever prime minister. This move comes amidst a backdrop of dwindling popularity for Macron, whose government has faced a series of setbacks, raising questions about his credibility and leadership.

Gabriel Attal: A young and unconventional choice

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At just 34, Gabriel Attals appointment as prime minister marks a departure from conventional political norms. Climbing the political ladder with a less-than-perfect CV, Attals rapid ascent has drawn comparisons to President Macron himself. Serving previously as the education minister, Attal now steps into the role of prime minister, injecting new energy into Macrons cabinet.

Challenges in a fractured political landscape

Gabriel Attal assumes his role amid a challenging political landscape. The lower house is fractured, and the rising influence of the far-right poses a significant test to his leadership. However, perhaps the most formidable challenge stems from President Macrons waning popularity, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen gaining ground.

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Marine Le Pen, the face of the French far-right, has not only won the popularity contest but has also increased her influence within the French parliament. In a recent legislative showdown, Le Pen orchestrated a coalition of opposition parties to defeat a government-backed immigration bill. This defeat forced Macron to accept a compromised version of the bill, incorporating harsher immigration policies that he initially opposed.

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Macrons vulnerabilities laid bare

The defeat in parliament exposed Macrons vulnerabilities, highlighting his inability to command a majority and his diminishing support since his re-election in 2022. Macrons ambitious pension reform faced strong backlash and his attempts to lead Europe on the world stage sparked criticism, particularly over his suggestions regarding Europes stance in the US-China clash.

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Macron also suffered humiliation in Africa when his military was asked to leave Niger, a former French colony crucial for French influence in the region. The new military junta in Niger has since aligned itself with Russia, derailing Macrons agenda in the region.

As Gabriel Attal takes on a more prominent role in the government, he faces the daunting task of navigating Macrons limitations and putting the government back on track. The success of this political reinvention hinges on Attals ability to address the challenges posed by a fractured political landscape, rising far-right influence and Macrons waning popularity.

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France is witnessing a critical moment in its political landscape as Gabriel Attal assumes the role of prime minister amidst President Macrons efforts to rejuvenate his leadership. Whether Attal can help Macron regain relevance and steer the government through turbulent times remains to be seen. As the new prime minister takes charge, all eyes are on the potential impact of this reshuffle on French politics and the future of Macrons presidency.

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Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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As South Africa grapples with rising crime rates and a dwindling police force, the private security industry has emerged as a significant player in the nations security landscape

In recent years, South Africa has found itself grappling with a severe security crisis, marked by alarming increases in violent crime rates. This crisis has prompted a noteworthy shift in the law enforcement landscape, with private security companies playing an increasingly prominent role.

Sobering crime statistics

South Africas crime statistics paint a grim picture. The countrys violent crime rates, including murders, armed robberies, carjackings and assaults, are among the highest in the world. For perspective, the murder rate stands at a staggering 45 per 100,000 people, which is seven times higher than that of the United States and significantly elevated compared to European nations.

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Over the past decade, South Africa has witnessed a disconcerting escalation in violent crime. Murders, which numbered around 16,200 in 2012-2013, surged to a staggering 27,500 in 2022-2023. This troubling trend extends beyond murders, encompassing various forms of violent crimes that contribute to a growing sense of insecurity among the population.

Declining police force

Compounding the issue is the decline in the South African police force. With approximately 140,000 active officers in 2022, the force has seen a reduction of 17,000 officers in less than a decade. Chronic underfunding has hampered the effectiveness of law enforcement creating an environment where organised crime thrives due to a lack of resources.

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The reason we have so much crime in South Africa is because organised crime can thrive in an environment where there is a disorganised police force. And we dont have a disorganised police force because theyve set out to be disorganised or theyve been captured. Its simply because they dont have sufficient resources, said organised crime expert Chad Thomas.

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As the police force dwindles, private security companies have stepped in to fill the void. Over the last decade, these firms have witnessed a staggering 43 per cent increase, outnumbering the police force at a ratio of 4 to 1. This surge in private security personnel has become a visible presence in neighbourhoods and communities across the country.

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Private securitys role

Private security firms now perform functions traditionally associated with the police. From patrolling neighbourhoods to responding to break-ins and robberies, these companies have become an integral part of the nations security landscape. Some firms even specialize in tasks such as finding and recovering stolen vehicles, often working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.

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While South Africa has a Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority to oversee this privatisation of law enforcement, a critical issue arises  the profit motive. Private security firms operate on a for-profit basis, rendering their services to those who can afford them. This results in a safety divide, where affluent individuals and neighbourhoods enjoy heightened security while the less privileged bear the brunt of the security vacuum.

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In response to the crisis, the South African government has pledged to recruit an additional 10,000 police officers in the coming year. However, many argue that this is merely a drop in the ocean, and more comprehensive efforts are needed to address the root causes of the security crisis.

As South Africa grapples with rising crime rates and a dwindling police force, the private security industry has emerged as a significant player in the nations security landscape. The challenge ahead lies in finding a balanced approach that ensures the safety of all citizens, irrespective of their economic status. Without concerted efforts to address the underlying issues, South Africa risks descending into a state of lawlessness reminiscent of the Wild West.

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Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawals new AI startup has raised a significant funding of $30 million. Leading the funding is Khosla Ventures, a notable supporter of OpenAI in its early stages. Agrawals startup is developing software tailored for developers working with LLMs

In a significant move into the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, Parag Agrawal, the former CEO of Twitter, has reportedly amassed $30 million in funding for his new startup. Agrawal, ousted by Elon Musk, the current owner of Twitter now known as X, in late 2022, has attracted investment for his AI venture, according to a news report by The Information.

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Leading the funding is Khosla Ventures, helmed by Vinod Khosla, a notable supporter of OpenAI in its early stages. The investment details of Agrawals company, which have not been publicly disclosed, were highlighted in The Informations report. Joining Khosla Ventures in the funding are Index Ventures and First Round Capital, as stated in the report.

Agrawals startup is said to be focused on developing software tailored for developers working with large language models, a category popularized by OpenAIs widely-used chatbot, ChatGPT.

In a legal victory late last year, Agrawal, along with former policy lead Vijaya Gadde and other executives, secured $1.1 million in legal fees from X Corp, spearheaded by Elon Musk. The termination of their employment was announced in October 2022, as Musk took control of Twitter in a massive $44 billion acquisition.

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Reports suggest that the trio of executives, upon leaving Twitter, received an exit package totalling around $90-100 million. Agrawal, in particular, was slated to receive the largest payout, amounting to approximately $40 million, primarily due to the vesting of his entire shareholdings following his termination.

(With inputs from agencies)
In what could be the largest-ever patent infringement case in US history, Google is set to appear before a federal jury in Boston on Tuesday in a case filed by Singular Computing, related to processors Google used in its AI technology

Google is set to appear before a federal jury in Boston on Tuesday, facing accusations of patent infringement related to processors used in its Artificial Intelligence technology.

Singular Computing, founded by computer scientist Joseph Bates, alleges that Google copied his technology to power AI features in prominent products such as Google Search, Gmail, and Google Translate.

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According to court filings, Singular Computing is seeking up to $7 billion in monetary damages, surpassing the record for the largest-ever patent infringement award in US history.

Googles spokesperson, Jose Castaneda, dismissed Singulars patents as dubious and asserted that Google developed its processors independently over many years.

Castaneda expressed confidence in setting the record straight during the trial, which is expected to last two to three weeks.

Singulars complaint, filed in 2019, claims that Bates shared his computer-processing innovations with Google between 2010 and 2014. Singular contends that Googles Tensor Processing Units, crucial for enhancing AI capabilities, copied Bates technology, infringing two patents.

The lawsuit emphasizes an improved circuit architecture discovered by Bates, revolutionizing AI training and inference methods.

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Google introduced its processing units in 2016 for applications like speech recognition, content generation, and ad recommendation.

Singular argues that versions 2 and 3 of the units, introduced in 2017 and 2018, violate its patent rights.

In a court filing in December, Google asserted that its processors function differently from Singulars patented technology and claimed the patents are invalid.

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The filing mentioned Googles rejection of Bates technology, stating that the company explicitly communicated that the idea was not suitable for its applications.

Simultaneously, a US appeals court in Washington will hear arguments on Tuesday regarding the potential invalidation of Singulars patents in a separate case.

This case originated from Googles appeal of a decision made by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

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(With inputs from agencies)
The UN has confirmed that Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attack and leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, is currently in the custody of the Pakistan government and serving a 78-year imprisonment sentence, having been convicted in seven terror financing cases

The United Nations has confirmed that Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attack and leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, is currently in the custody of the Pakistan government.

He is serving a 78-year imprisonment sentence, having been convicted in seven terror financing cases.

Saeed was designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Councils Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee in December 2008.

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The updated information was provided through a press release on the UN website, stating that Saeed has been in custody since February 12, 2020.

Saeeds address is listed as House No. 116E, Mohalla Johar, Lahore, Tehsil, Lahore City, Lahore District, Pakistan as of May 2008.

In December, India asked Pakistan to extradite Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind who Indian probe agencies want in several terror cases.

Last month, the Security Council 1267 Committee enacted a few amendments to certain entries on its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Saeed is among those whose information has been amended and the updated details have been made available through the press release.

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Under these amendments, the Sanctions Committee also noted that Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, founding member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and deputy to Saeed is confirmed deceased.

Bhuttavi, a UNSC-designated terrorist who trained the Lashkar-e-Taiba attackers for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and acted as the outfits chief on at least two occasions, died in a prison in May last year in Pakistans Punjab province while serving a sentence for terror financing.

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The Sanctions Committee also noted that Maulana Fazlullah, commander of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was confirmed deceased on 13 June 2018. TTP commander since November 2013, Fazlullah led the local TTP in Pakistans northwest valley of Swat from 2007 to 2009. Pakistani national Noor Wali Mehsud is leader of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan following the death of former TTP leader Maulana Fazlullah, an amended entry on Mehsud said. His address is listed as Paktika Province in Afghanistan as of November 26 2022.

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According to the amended information, the Al Rashid Trust, whose headquarters was in Pakistan, is reportedly defunct.

Al Rashid Trust was associated with Jaish-i-Mohammed and had been involved in the financing of Al-Qaida and the Taliban. Until October 2008, the entity also appeared as Aid Organisation of the Ulema, Pakistan. The amended information said that no indication of any activity under the name of Al-Rashid Trust has emerged as of November 2023.

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The ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List is updated regularly based on relevant information provided by Member States and international and regional organisations.

With inputs from agencies
While Austin was readmitted in the hospital on 1 January, the Pentagon made no public disclosure until four days later, and it also took four days to tell President Joe Biden and Congress

Doctors stated Tuesday that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was taken to critical care last week for complications following prostate cancer surgery, after he faced criticism for delaying days to notify the White House about his protracted hospital stay.

The refusal of the 70-year-old to reveal his hospitalisation kept senior authorities in the dark about his condition as Washington attempts to handle the consequences from the Israel-Hamas war, which has resulted in bloodshed against American soldiers in Iraq and Syria, as well as attacks on international commerce.

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Austins prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, according to two doctors from Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, according to a Pentagon statement.

Austin underwent a small surgical surgery on 22 December to address the cancer that was discovered as a consequence of normal screening, and he returned home the following day, according to their statement.

But he was readmitted to the same hospital on 1 January due to complications including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection, necessitating further treatment.

He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process. During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia, the doctors said.

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While Austin was readmitted in the hospital on 1 January, the Pentagon made no public disclosure until four days later, and it also took four days to tell President Joe Biden and Congress.

Some of Austins authority was handed to Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks on 2 January, but she was not informed of his hospitalisation until two days later, according to Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder.

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The White House was notified on 4 January by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, but Congress was not informed until the next day  the same day the Pentagon made a public disclosure.

Some Republican lawmakers have called for Austin to resign or be fired, but the White House has stood by the secretary, and Ryder said the secretary has no plans to resign.
After meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken will fly to Bahrain, home base of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza

In the latest leg of his crisis tour of the Middle East, US top diplomat Antony Blinken will make a surprise visit to Bahrain on Wednesday after meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a State Department official said.

After meeting President Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken will fly to Bahrain, home base of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the official added.

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The Gulf kingdom is a key partner of Washington and hosts the US Navys Fifth Fleet.

Bahrain last month joined a 10-country naval task force announced by the United States to protect the vital Red Sea shipping route against missile and drone attacks by Yemens Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

The Huthis say they have been targeting Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with Gaza in a campaign that has prompted many shipping firms to reroute their vessels with knock-on effects for the world economy.

Blinken is on his fouth Middle East tour since war broke out with the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

The US top diplomat said Tuesday that the war had exacted far too high a toll among civilians in Gaza, particularly children, and called for more food and medical aid to be delivered to the territory.

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Meanwhile, Israel kept bombing Gaza on Wednesday as Blinken met the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern the coastal territory after the war ends.

As the US secretary of state arrived under tight security in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, protesters held up signs that read Stop the genocide, Free Palestine and Blinken out.

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Blinken then met Abbas, who was later set to discuss a push for an immediate ceasefire in talks with Jordans King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.

Israels relentless offensive has killed 23,200 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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It follows the Hamas attacks which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

With inputs from agencies
According to pool reporters who accompanied the top diplomat from the United States, Blinken got past Israeli checkpoints and arrived in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian people

The Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Wednesday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Blinken had earlier pressed Israeli leaders to provide a roadmap for the creation of a Palestinian state.

According to pool reporters who accompanied the top diplomat from the United States, Blinken got past Israeli checkpoints and arrived in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian people.

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The visit took place the day after discussions regarding Israels war against Hamas, regional unrest, and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were held on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

Blinken would discuss with Abbas the PAs responsibility to reform itself and improve its governance, he said in a news conference on Tuesday evening, reflecting Washingtons view that Abbas, 88, needs to overhaul the organization in preparation to govern a post-war Gaza.

The PA, which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank, remains the best hope for a unified Palestinian government of both Gaza and the West Bank.

Blinken came to Israel after visiting Washingtons Arab allies, who he said want closer relations with Israel but only if that included a practical pathway to a Palestinian state.

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U.S.-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in territory now occupied by Israel collapsed almost a decade ago. Right-wing leaders in Israels current ruling coalition oppose Palestinian statehood.

At his news conference, Blinken declined to characterize how Netanyahu and his cabinet responded to his appeal on a Palestinian state. He said Israel would have to make hard decisions, hard choices to take advantage of the opportunity offered by regional integration.

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Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions, all make it harder, not easier for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security, he said, alluding to conflict in the West Bank.

(with inputs from Reuters)
Authorities have not revealed who was responsible for the television station occupation or a number of other incidents that have recently shocked the South American country, but they coincide with the presumed escapes from jail of two of Ecuadors most formidable drug gang bosses

During a live broadcast Tuesday, masked men stormed the set of Ecuadors main television channel, flashing weapons and explosives, prompting the president to issue a proclamation proclaiming that the country had entered a internal armed conflict.

Men armed with handguns and what seemed to be dynamite sticks stormed the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil during a live news broadcast to thousands of homes throughout the country, shouting that they had explosives. There were sounds that sounded like gunshots.

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BREAKING: Armed men break into a live TV studio in Ecuador and threaten people as the country is rocked by a series of attacks. https://t.co/K76aakGber  The Associated Press (@AP) January 9, 2024

No one was harmed in the incident, and officials later said that all 13 masked attackers had been apprehended and would face terrorist charges.

CAPTURADOS



Como resultado de la intervencion en @tctelevision #GYE, nuestras unidades policiales hasta el momento logran la aprehension de varios sujetos e indicios vinculados al ilicito.



Posterior mas detalles... pic.twitter.com/tPq7FfaGcM  Policia Ecuador (@PoliciaEcuador) January 9, 2024

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Authorities have not revealed who was responsible for the television station occupation or a number of other incidents that have recently shocked the South American country, but they coincide with the presumed escapes from jail of two of Ecuadors most formidable drug gang bosses.

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Alina Manrique, the chief of news for TC Television, claimed she was in the control room opposite from the studio when the masked guys stormed in. Manrique said that one of them placed a gun at her head and instructed her to get on the floor.

The incident was aired live, although the stations signal was cut off after about 15 minutes. Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

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I am still in shock Manrique told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Everything has collapsed . All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a notorious gang leaders apparent weekend escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend peoples rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

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Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuadors military to neutralize them within the bounds of international humanitarian law. It also said the country had entered an internal armed conflict.

Ecuadors attorney generals office said the 13 people arrested will be charged with terrorism. It tweeted that it will present the charges in coming hours. Ecuadorian law establishes a penalty of up to 13 years in prison for anyone convicted of terrorism.

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The government has not said how many attacks have taken place since authorities announced that Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, was discovered missing from his cell in a low security prison Sunday. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

On Tuesday, Ecuadorean officials announced that another gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from a prison in the town of Riobamba. Colon Pico was captured on Friday as part of a kidnapping investigation and has also been accused of trying to murder one of the nations lead prosecutors.

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Other attacks have included an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court and the Monday night kidnappings of four police officers. Police said one officer was abducted in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that while gangs in Ecuador have previously assassinated a presidential candidate and set off car bombs in front of government buildings, Tuesdays events marked a new peak in violence in the country.

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This is a turning point, Freeman said. Depending on how the government responds it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime.

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Located on South Americas Pacific coast between Peru and Colombia, the worlds largest cocaine producers, Ecuador has become a key transit point for the drug in recent years. Much of the violence suffered by the country comes as drug gangs fight each other and the government for control of ports and smuggling routes.

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Freeman said that Ecuadors government will have to find ways to control prisons, from where gang leaders continue to lead their operations and might have to consider extraditing some of the top criminal leaders to the United States. The nation of 20 million people might also have to make judicial reforms to give judges greater safety and enable them to anonymously rule over cases involving the drug gangs.

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If these guys can storm a TV station or kill a presidential candidate you as a judge will not go up against them unless you really have strong assurances of your safety, Freeman said.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence, much of tied to drug trafficking that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

The whereabouts of Macias are unknown. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

Noboa said in a message on Instagram that he wouldnt stop until he brings back peace to all Ecuadorians, and that his government had decided to confront crime. The wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboas announcement.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboas predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Los Choneros and other similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug trafficking routes and control of territory, including from within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021, according to authorities.
Finland moved to limit Russian citizens property acquisitions near strategically important locations with legislative changes that took effect from the beginning of 2023, in response to Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Finlands Ministry of Defence blocked three real estate transactions, one of which involved a company partially owned by Russians.

The ministry justified its actions by saying that allowing these acquisitions could potentially impede the defence of Finnish territory. This move follows similar decisions made in October, where three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers were also blocked.

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The decisions concerned one property in Ilomantsi in southeastern Finland and two in Sotkamo, in central Finland, the ministry said in a statement.

The prospective buyer of the property in Ilomantsi was a partly Russian-owned company. The parcel of real estate in Sotkamo had been sold twice between companies held by a different owner, the ministry said.

It was not immediately clear if the Sotkamo property deals were linked to Russia. The Finnish defence ministry was not immediately available for additional comment.

Finland moved to limit Russian citizens property acquisitions near strategically important locations with legislative changes that took effect from the beginning of 2023, in response to Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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Finnish authorities have the right to review transactions made by companies from outside the European Union and European Economic Area.

With inputs from Reuters.
Despite allegations of his active participation in detention procedures and torture interrogations during the dictatorship, a trial in Argentina never commenced as accused individuals cannot be tried in absentia in the country

A judge in Rome has issued an order for the trial of Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto, a former Argentine army officer accused of committing murder and forced disappearances during Argentinas 1976-83 military dictatorship.

The charges specifically involve the premeditated killing of eight individuals.

Malatto, facing accusations of crimes against humanity in Argentina, fled the country in 2011 and had been residing in a tourist village in Sicily.

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Despite allegations of his active participation in detention procedures and torture interrogations during the dictatorship, a trial in Argentina never commenced as accused individuals cannot be tried in absentia in the country.

In 2014, Rome rejected Argentinas extradition request, citing insufficient evidence. However, in 2015, Italy initiated an investigation against Malatto for the murders of eight people, including notable figures like Marie Anne Erize and Juan Carlos Campora.

The revelation of Malattos undisturbed living in Italy stirred controversy in Argentina.

Malattos trial is scheduled to start on April 22, with potential consequences including a life sentence if convicted.

Notably, Italy has a history of dealing with cases related to South American dictatorships, exemplified by the 2019 sentencing of 24 individuals for their involvement in Operation Condor.

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Argentinian human rights trials have seen 1,204 convictions so far, but concerns arise with the new libertarian president, Javier Milei, expressing views that challenge the established narrative of military excesses in the 1970s.

The impact of Mileis statements on the continuity of these trials remains uncertain, as some fear reprisals from the authorities.

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Despite the challenges, family members of the victims, represented by NGOs like 24 Marzo, continue their pursuit of truth, memory, and justice. Viviana Arias, the daughter of a disappeared individual, emphasizes the duty of the new president to ensure the continuity of the fight for justice, even in the face of shifting public opinion regarding the historical events of the military dictatorship.
Blinken gave a stern speech after meeting with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials on Tuesday. He said that Israel must cease undermining the Palestinians right to self-governance in the West Bank by expanding settlements, demolishing homes, and evicting Palestinians

Aiming to unite the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that include tangible moves toward a Palestinian state, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday about restructuring the Palestinian self-rule administration.

Blinken states that he has obtained promises from several regional nations to support the reconstruction and governance of Gaza following Israels war against Hamas. He also adds that broader Israeli-Arab rapprochement is still feasible, but only insofar as there is a pathway to a Palestinian state.

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According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Blinken informed Abbas at their meeting on Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the United States backs tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state. He claimed that they talked about administrative reform.

There are major challenges to Blinkens vision. Many Palestinians believe that the authoritarian, Western-backed Palestinian leadership, whose forces were forced out of Gaza when Hamas took control in 2007, lacks legitimacy, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government is firmly opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

There is no end in sight to the conflict in Gaza, which is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the small coastal community. A bigger battle has been feared as a result of the fightings incitement of violence between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Blinken has met with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey in recent days during his fourth trip to the area since the start of the conflict three months ago. In exchange for advancements toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, he says they are willing to participate in postwar preparations.

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Blinken gave a stern speech after meeting with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials on Tuesday. He said that Israel must cease undermining the Palestinians right to self-governance in the West Bank by expanding settlements, demolishing homes, and evicting Palestinians.

However, he also stated that the 88-year-old Abbas, who has not run for office since 2005 and has little support from his own people, has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance, and that he would talk about that with the Palestinian Authority.

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Under temporary peace agreements made in the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority oversees a portion of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and collaborates with Israel on security issues. However, it has been unable to stop the growth of settlements on occupied area that it desires for a future state, and since Netanyahu took office again in 2009, there have been no meaningful or serious peace negotiations.

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The administration of US President Joe Biden has failed to persuade Israel to grant the Palestinians even relatively small concessions, such as returning all tax money that it collects on their behalf or permitting the reopening of a US consulate to assist the Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Israel, which launched the Gaza war on October 7, has sworn to battle until it vanquishes Hamas and frees the large number of captives that the terrorist organization has taken. Israeli officials said the campaign will last for the remainder of the year. In their own postwar plans, the territoryfrom which they withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005is to have unlimited military authority.

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The battle has forced about 85% of Gazas 2.3 million inhabitants from their homes, and a quarter of them are in danger of famine since just a small amount of food, water, medication, and other supplies are able to enter via an Israeli siege.

Blinken urged on Israel to do everything it can to remove any obstacles and stated that more food, water, medication, and other aid needed to enter and be distributed efficiently.

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Thousands of Palestinians have evacuated northern Gaza, including Gaza City, and it is unclear if they will ever be able to return because of the offensive, which has left most of the region like a moonscape. Relocating them somewhere is something that far-right elements of Netanyahus administration have called for, which opponents claim would be equivalent to racial cleansing.

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According to Blinken, the Israeli government does not support resettlement, and the United States is against any situation of that nature. Additionally, he claimed to have negotiated an agreement for a U.N. inspection system in northern Gaza to assess how and when people can return.

The built-up refugee camps in central Gaza, which date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israels formation, and the southern city of Khan Younis are currently the militarys primary areas of activity. Strikes around the territory have claimed hundreds of lives in recent days, including in locations in the extreme south where residents have been advised to seek shelter.

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(With agency inputs)
Israeli officials announced this week that they want to start reducing their soldier levels, at least in the northern portion of Gaza, in response to weeks of US pressure to reduce their operations and shift to what Washington says should be a more targeted campaign

Israeli bombings in southern and central Gaza were more intense on Wednesday, defying Israels promise to withdraw some forces and switch to a more focused assault as well as pleas from Washington, an ally, to reduce the number of civilian deaths.

The Houthi movement in Yemen, which claims it is acting to help Gaza, launched its largest strike to far against US and British warships in the Red Sea, in the latest indication that the three-month-old conflict is becoming more widespread. New York and London claimed to have shot down twenty-one drones and missiles intended at shipping lanes with no casualties.

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Israeli officials announced this week that they want to start reducing their soldier levels, at least in the northern portion of Gaza, in response to weeks of US pressure to reduce their operations and shift to what Washington says should be a more targeted campaign.

However, the battle seems to be as fierce as it has always been, particularly in the central and southern regions where Israeli forces began making major gains last month.

The bodies of fifteen members of the Nofal family, whose home was destroyed overnight by an Israeli airstrike, were put out at a hospital morgue on Wednesday morning, causing relatives in Rafah, on the southern fringe of the enclave, to cry.

The majority of the white shrouds included small children. A man opened one partially and ran a hand over the face of a small boy. Another man was crying at the feet of the victims and was being gently restrained by relatives.

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Neighbors scrambled through the rubble at the attack scene, where a massive crater had been blasted in a buildings floor, scattering broken toys and blood-soaked mattresses.

Since beginning its war to destroy the Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the enclave, Israel has murdered over 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza. On October 7, Hamas terrorists went on a rampage that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 240 hostages.

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On his fourth visit to the area since the start of the war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Palestinian leaders in Ramallah on Wednesday, including President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The PA, which recognizes Israels right to exist and allows for limited self-government in the West Bank, lost control of Gaza in 2007 to Hamas, a group dedicated to destroying Israel.

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According to the State Department, Blinken talked about measures to safeguard and assist Gazas civilian population, endorsed administrative reforms of the PA, and expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state. According to the PA, Abbas informed Blinken that no Palestinians should be forced to leave Gaza or the West Bank.

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In an effort to find a long-term solution for the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million inhabitants, Blinken has also traveled to neighboring Arab governments and spoken with Israeli authorities.

Although Israel claims it wants to maintain control over Gazas security permanently, Washington wants Israel to grant the PA, which is headquartered in Ramallah, a future role in running the Gaza Strip.

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Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people living side by side in peace with Israel and as neighbors, Blinken stated on Tuesday.

The US is concerned that armed organizations supported by Iran, Israels fiercest adversary, may launch coordinated operations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen as a result of the war, spreading violence throughout the region.

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Washington has been forced to send warships for security at the mouth of the Red Sea, one of the busiest maritime channels in the world, by the Houthis, who control most of Yemen.

Referring to their actions as a preliminary response to an incident on New Years Eve in which US helicopters downed three boats carrying Houthi fighters who attempted to attack a commercial vessel, the Houthis claimed they had targeted a US warship assisting Israel.

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Residents of Gaza said there has been no slowdown in fighting, despite Israels public claims since the New Year that it is reducing the intensity of the conflict. The southern portion of the enclave has recently turned into a full-fledged combat zone, while the northern half is still off-limits. As Israeli forces approach, almost all of the population has been uprooted at least once, and many have been relocated multiple times.

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(With agency inputs)
In a major shift of policy, both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said this week the government in Berlin would no longer stand in the way of British plans to sell additional Eurofighters to Riyadh

According to a government spokesman on Wednesday, Germany has authorized the transfer of 150 IRIS-T air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, restarting military sales to the country that have been prohibited since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

A security official told the media that the agreement was approved by Germanys federal security council in December, confirming a Spiegel news magazine article.

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Saudi Arabias Eurofighter planes fire the German arms manufacturer Diehls IRIS-T missiles.

The official added that the missiles have recently been used to shoot down drones fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen. The current batch, which has not yet been delivered, is intended to restore Saudi inventories that have been depleted during the previous years.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced this week that Berlin would no longer obstruct British plans to sell Riyadh more Eurofighters, marking a significant change in stance.

The British, German, Italian, and Spanish governments collaborated on the Eurofighter project.

In December, Baerbock expressed his strong condemnation of attacks by Houthi-controlled Yemen on merchant ships in the Red Sea and expressed gratitude to Riyadh for its assistance in thwarting similar attacks by bringing down drones and missiles.

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Following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, Germany banned the export of weapons to the country.

(With agency inputs)
In his speech at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi stated that India is seen by the international community as a key pillar of stability

During his address of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was an excellent platform for exchanging views on reforms, economic growth, and bolstering Indias development path.

Some glimpses from todays @VibrantGujarat Summit  a great forum to share perspectives on economic growth, reforms and strengthen our development journey, PM said in a statement on social media platform X.

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The ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, according to Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, is the first of its kind during the Amrit Kaal period and has come to represent Indias economic recovery.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Kwatra said, As the Chief Minister of the state mentioned in his speech earlier today, this is the first Vibrant Gujarat Summit in the Amrit Kaal period.

The presence of many heads of state and governments, the presence of many ministers of large numbers of partner countries at this 10th Vibrant Gujarat Summit is clearly indicative that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Vibrant Gujarat has become synonymous with Indias economic resurgence, he added.

The Foreign Secretary went on to say that 35 nations, the most ever at a Vibrant Gujarat Summit, have signed on as partners for this edition of the initiative.

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In his speech at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi stated that India is seen by the international community as a key pillar of stability.

According to PM Modi, India is a reliable friend and supports growth that is focused on the needs of its citizens.

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The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, a voice of the Global South, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions, a powerhouse of talented youth and a democracy that delivers PM Modi said.

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With the theme Gateway to the Future, the tenth Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will take place in Gandhinagar from January 1012.

This years Summit, honoring 20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success, has 34 partner nations and 16 partner organizations in total.

Under PM Modis direction as the state chief minister, the Summit was initiated in 2003.

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(With agency inputs)
The Indian Navy on Friday thwarted the attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members including 15 Indians.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Hari Kumar on Wednesday said that the Indian Navy is taking proactive measures to counter piracy threats by strategically deploying its fleet to prevent pirate activities and restrict them to their waters,

He made these remarks after introducing the indigenous Drishti 10 Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) by Adani Defence and Aerospace for the Navy. Admiral Hari Kumar highlighted that approximately 35 drone attacks on ships, particularly those owned or flagged by Israel or associated vessels, occurred in the Red Sea, North, and Central Arabian Sea over the last 40-42 days.

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Without taking names, he said the immediate neighbours of India collectively hold a very large inventory of UAVs and therefore, its only prudent that the country and its armed forces continue to harness resident expertise in the domain.Recently we have had only two incidents (attempts of pirates to highjack ships).

Both were not Indian-flagged vessels, but in the second case, we had an Indian crew so we had to respond. So we boarded and rescued the crewSo we are now very proactively deploying our units there to ensure that these pirates keep away, he told reporters.

The Indian Navy on Friday thwarted the attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members including 15 Indians.

The Chief of Naval Staff further said the anti-piracy operations have been going on since 2008 and the Navy has deployed over 105 ships over the period. Hari Kumar, replying to a query on drone attacks on ships, said they are doing a forensic analysis of the debris of the three ships which were attacked.

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Earlier addressing the gathering, he said it is only prudent that the country and the armed forces continue to harness our resident expertise in the domain of UAVs as both our immediate neighbours collectively hold a large inventory of UAVs.

The importance of autonomous systems in the rapidly evolving and dynamic, tech-infused wars of the contemporary world needs no emphasis, he added. Their disproportionate impact is being witnessed in the ongoing conflicts in Europe and West Asia, he said.

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Further, the recent incidents (an apparent reference to the hijack attempts) in the North and the Central regions of the Arabian Sea amply demonstrate the challenges posed by such systems when they fall in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists, he said.

Today, autonomous systems are becoming a preferred choice in the order of battle for nations across the globe, he said. While the Indian Navy has been operating UAVs over the last two decades, the delivery of Drishti symbolises the Navys vision to be an atmanirbhar force, he added.

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With state-of-the-art sensors, enhanced endurance, advanced communication capabilities as well as new-age technologies, Drishti could be a potent force multiplier, adding capability in undertaking intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations across the Indian Ocean region, he said.

He expressed confidence that Drishti would play a pivotal role in shaping future naval operations towards safeguarding Indias national maritime interests in the Indian Ocean region.

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Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said the Drishti 10 (Starliner) would help in keeping a close watch on the seas.

Praising the role of Marcos in saving crew members when pirates attempted to take control of a ship in the Arabian Sea recently, he said it shows that the country is becoming self-reliant and that self-confidence is building up.

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With inputs from agencies.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines visited Indonesian colleague Joko Widodo for discussions in Manila

On Wednesday, the presidents of the Philippines and Indonesia met to discuss a variety of regional concerns, including developments in the South China Sea and deeper collaboration among Southeast Asian bloc members.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines visited Indonesian colleague Joko Widodo for discussions in Manila.

President Widodo and I had a fruitful and honest discussion on regional events of mutual interests such as the developments in the South China Sea and ASEAN cooperation and initiatives, he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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Widodo added in a joint press conference after the meeting that the two countries had agreed to strengthen defence cooperation and existing agreements on border cooperation.

We agreed toexpedite revision of joint border patrol and crossing agreements, also to strengthen the defence cooperation including on military hardware.
Iran-backed Huthi forces in Yemen have attacked targets in Israel and the Red Sea with more than 100 drone and missile launches since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, obstructing ships along the vital waterway

According to a British maritime security organisation, international forces stationed to safeguard trade in the Red Sea were reacting to reports of drone activity near Yemens western coast early on Wednesday.

The incident happened around 50 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Hodeida, according to the organisation United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

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Multiple reports of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) activity, UKMTO said in a bulletin. Coalition forces are responding, no injuries or damage reported.

Iran-backed Huthi forces in Yemen have attacked targets in Israel and the Red Sea with more than 100 drone and missile launches since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, obstructing ships along the vital waterway.

According to the rebels, they are supporting Hamas by launching attacks against Israel and boats connected to Israel in an effort to bring an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

On the other hand, the US Navy has stated that the ships that were attacked have ties to over 50 nations.

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A multinational naval task force was established by the US last month in reaction to the attacks to protect maritime interests in the crucial waterway, which accounts for up to 12% of world commerce.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamass bloody October 7 attacks on Israel, which left around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

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Vowing to destroy the group, Israel launched a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territorys health ministry.
Fahmi responded to actor Rosyam Nors suggestion on the Hitam Putih Kehidupan podcast that prostitution dens be made available for the convenience of male foreigners separated from their wives in their home countries

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil declared Malaysias unequivocal stance against the establishment of prostitution dens, emphasising that the countrys laws expressly prohibit such activities.

Speaking on Tuesday, Fahmi asserted that any initiatives must align with existing laws, categorically stating, The opening of brothels will never be allowed in Malaysia.

Fahmi responded to actor Rosyam Nors suggestion on the Hitam Putih Kehidupan podcast that prostitution dens be made available for the convenience of male foreigners separated from their wives in their home countries. Fahmi aligned himself with Minister in the Prime Ministers Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Mohd Naim Mokhtar, who deemed the proposal contrary to both civil and Sharia laws.

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Expressing agreement with Dr. Mohd Naim Mokhtar, Fahmi remarked, I think the religious ministers statement calls for sincere self-reflection by all of us. I agree with him; you cannot treat this kind of thing.

Responding to inquiries about potential regulation of podcast content, Fahmi revealed, We dont have a plan yet, but you just gave me an idea.

Dr. Mohd Naim Mokhtar highlighted the proposals conflict with Islamic teachings and Maqasid al-Sharia (Islamic law). He underscored the Sharia Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, citing provisions related to prostitution (Subsection 21), procurers (Section 22), and extramarital sex (Section 23).

According to Act 559, penalties are outlined for organising, encouraging, or promoting vices under Section 35. Dr. Mohd Naim Mokhtar urged societal opposition to the proposal, branding it unacceptable and emphasising that it has stirred controversy, given the illegality of prostitution in Malaysia.

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In a statement, Dr. Mohd Naim Mokhtar advised the public against making statements that could incite polemics or go against Islamic teachings. The firm rejection of the proposal reflects Malaysias commitment to upholding its legal and religious principles.
Although official reports mentioned the talks between Xi Jinping and Mohamed Muizzu, specific details were not disclosed, according to a report

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held discussions with Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu during his five-day state visit.

The meeting took place amid a diplomatic dispute with India, stemming from derogatory comments made by Maldivian ministers directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

President Muizzu received a grand welcome, complete with a red carpet and a 21-gun salute.

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Although official reports mentioned the talks between Xi and Muizzu, specific details were not disclosed, according to PTI.

Muizzu, known for his pro-China stance, embarked on this visit to China amid tensions with India. The discord arose when some Maldivian ministers made offensive remarks about PM Modi, leading to a wave of cancellations by Indian tourists, who represent a significant portion of visitors to the tourism-dependent island nation.

In addition to the discussions with President Xi, Muizzu is anticipated to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other high-ranking officials before concluding his visit and returning to Male on 12 January.

Muizzu reached Beijing last night after staying in the Chinese city of Fujian for two days. In his address to the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province on Tuesday, Muizzu appealed to China to intensify efforts to send more tourists to his country.

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China was our (Maldives) number one market (for tourism) pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position, he said.

His appeal for more Chinese tourists came amid a diplomatic row with India.

Muizzus government suspended three deputy ministers for their derogatory posts on social media.

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Also, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) strongly condemned the derogatory comments.

According to data released by the Maldives Tourism Ministry earlier, India has remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023.

The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals.

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Muizzu also said that China remains one of our closest allies and development partners. He praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects launched by President Xi in 2014, saying that they delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in Maldivian history, according to his speech.

He also said that his administration is committed to the quick implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with China, describing it as a symbol of the close commercial ties between the two countries.

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Maldives and China signed the FTA in December 2014 during the pro-China President Abdulla Yameen administration. However, his successor President Ibrahim Mohamed Solihs administration did not implement the agreement, according to Maldives media reports.

He said the FTA is a symbol of the close commercial ties between the two countries.

The FTAs aim to boost bilateral trade and investments, especially increasing our export of fish products to China is a key priority for us through the FTA, he said.

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China-Maldives bilateral trade in 2022 totalled to USD 451.29 million of which Chinas exports constituted USD 451.29 million against USD 60,000 of exports from Maldives.

Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum.

With inputs from agencies
The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective oversight. It also recorded the political partisanship of the media, including public service media, while there were some indications of information manipulation in social

During the 2023 presidential elections, the ruling coalition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the Peoples National Congress (PNC) deployed anti-India sentiments and engaged in disseminating disinformation around this theme, according to a report issued by the European Union.

The European Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Maldives released its final report on Tuesday, covering the two rounds of elections held on September 9 and 30 of the previous year.

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After an 11-week observation period in the archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean, carried out at the invitation of national authorities, the EU EOM identified that the campaign conducted by the PPM-PNC coalition revolved around concerns regarding Indian influences on the nation.

EU EOM observers noted instances of derogatory language, directed towards the president, on the side of PPM-PNC, reads the report. Their campaign included anti-Indian sentiments, based on fears of Indian influences and anxiety regarding the presence of Indian military personnel inside the country. This theme was subject to multiple online disinformation attempts, it said.

The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective oversight. The EU EOM also recorded the political partisanship of the media, including public service media, while there were some indications of information manipulation in social media.

Both camps also engaged in negative campaigning, suggesting discontinued development and the return of a repressive PPM government on the one side, and alleging unfulfilled government promises, corruption and foreign intervention on the other, with accusations of allowing the presence of Indian military emphasised repeatedly their report notes.

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The incumbent president at the time, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), was seeking re-election last year in the countrys presidential system of government. PNCs Mohamed Muizzu, backed by the Opposition PPM-PNC coalition, beat him to win the election with 54 per cent of the votes.

Chief Observer Nacho Snchez Amor, Member of the European Parliament, stated: The presidential election was technically well-administered and professionally delivered by the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM).

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The legal framework provides for genuine elections; voter and candidate registration were inclusive processes; and a record number of eight candidates was registered. Women, however, were largely absent from the political competition and significantly underrepresented in the administration of the election. Other flaws in the process were the widely acknowledged practices of vote-buying and instrumentalisation of public office, elements which undermined equity and fairness in campaigning.

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The EU EOM report offers 20 recommendations for the improvement of future elections in Maldives, including fact-checking initiatives to combat misinformation and measures to promote women to more leadership positions in public and political life.

The report comes amidst an ongoing controversy which saw India summon the High Commissioner of Maldives after a row broke out over derogatory posts made by three deputy ministers after Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lakshwadeep visit. A Maldives foreign ministry spokesperson said the comments were personal and did not represent the views of the government.

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With inputs from agencies.
Chief Magistrate So Wai-tak, specially assigned to national security cases, emphasised that Chu had not only violated the law but also displayed a lack of concern for public sensitivities by openly wearing seditious slogans

In a recent court ruling, a 26-year-old man, Chu Kai-pong, has been sentenced to three months in jail under a colonial-era sedition law for donning a T-shirt advocating the liberation of Hong Kong.

The decision was made by Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak at West Kowloon Court, who expressed concerns about Chus provocative actions at the airport potentially reigniting the 2019 anti-government protests.

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Chu, reportedly unemployed, was apprehended on November 27 last year while wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt bearing the slogan Free Hong Kong. Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times as he passed through airport security for a flight to Taiwan.

Apart from the offending T-shirt, he was found with other items, including a Hong Kong Independence shirt and two black flags advocating for a revolution.

Chief Magistrate So Wai-tak, specially assigned to national security cases, emphasised that Chu had not only violated the law but also displayed a lack of concern for public sensitivities by openly wearing seditious slogans.

The court sentenced Chu to three months for the T-shirt and an additional two months for possessing other offensive items, with the terms running concurrently.

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Chu, who pleaded guilty to acting with seditious intent and possession of seditious publications, explained to the police that his intention was to garner public attention for his views. He asserted that the calls for Hong Kongs liberation and revolution aimed to inspire substantive actions leading to the separation of Hong Kong from mainland Chinese rule.

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Notably, authorities have prohibited the public display and dissemination of the slogan Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times since the implementation of the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020. This legislation criminalises acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.

The High Court, in the citys first national security trial in 2021, ruled that the slogan had the potential to incite secession, reinforcing the seriousness of Chus actions in the eyes of the law.
Speaking at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stated that the annual event has developed into a significant global forum for the sharing of knowledge on investment and economic growth

Union Minister of State (MoS) V Muraleedharan praised the historical relations between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and stated that any country looking to interact with India should follow the precedent set by the two countries Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The Minister of State for External Affairs went on to say that Vibrant Gujarat has demonstrated the vital role that Gujarat is playing in the development of India.

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The presence of the UAE President and many dignitaries across the world show the importance of Vibrant Gujarat as well as the role Gujarat is playing in the growth of India. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is poised to take a great leap and the world is looking towards India (being) one of the largest growing economies of the world, Muraleedharan was quoted as saying by news ANI.

He went on to say that the states business-friendly climate will benefit both India and the nation making investments here.

UAE and India have a very historical connection. We are connected in economy, politics, strategic relations as well as people-to-people. We have CEPA which was signed 1.5 years ago and it is creating a lot of productive outcomes. It is considered a model for any country to engage with India, Muraleedharan told the media.

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Prime Minister Modi is visiting UAE for the inauguration of the BAPS Mandir and there is a huge diaspora meet also. So, this interaction at the highest level. Leaders of both countries frequently meet. Prime Minister was there for the COP28 also. All this is contributing to the relationship of these two countries, he added.

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In 2018, the United Arab Emirates and India signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The goal of this comprehensive agreement is to strengthen the two nations trade and economic relations.

Speaking earlier in the day at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan stated that the annual event has developed into a significant global forum for the sharing of knowledge on investment and economic growth.

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The president of the United Arab Emirates also thanked the attendees and organizers of the event and offered his best wishes for the summits success in reaching a decision that promotes wealth, progress, and collaboration for all parties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the President of the UAE and remarked that his remarks were extremely encouraging in a post on social media site X after his speech.

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In advance of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, PM Modi and the president of the UAE conducted a roadshow in Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad, a sizable crowd greeted PM Modi and the president of the UAE.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan witnessed the signing of many Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on Tuesday between India and the UAE.

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Modi led the founding of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2003 while serving as the state chief minister.

(With agency inputs)
Russia has intensified attacks over the New Year period and pounded Ukraines two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, earlier this month in a new wave of heavy air strikes.

In a meeting with Ukraine on Wednesday, NATO allies pledged to provide the country with major military, economic, and humanitarian aid in the face of Russias almost two-year-old invasion.

The member states had outlined plans to provide billions of euros of further capabilities in 2024 to Ukraine, NATO said in a statement.

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NATO strongly condemns Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including with weapons from North Korea and Iran, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

As Moscow intensifies its strikes on Ukrainian cities and civilians, NATO allies are boosting Ukraines air defences.

Ukraine was represented at the online gathering by Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Kyivs air force, and Deputy Interior Minister Oleksii Serhieiev.

Russia has intensified attacks over the New Year period and pounded Ukraines two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, earlier this month in a new wave of heavy air strikes.

The NATO meeting on Wednesday was held at Ukraines request.

With inputs from Reuters.
Many Nepali people think that Ram Bahadur Bamjan is the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha who was born in southwestern Nepal approximately 2,600 years ago. Bamjans allegations have been met with skepticism by Buddhist experts

According to police, a contentious spiritual leader from Nepal known as Buddha Boy was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of sexually abusing a juvenile and having a hand in the disappearance of at least four of his followers from his camps.

Many Nepali people think that Ram Bahadur Bamjan is the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha who was born in southwestern Nepal approximately 2,600 years ago. Bamjans allegations have been met with skepticism by Buddhist experts.

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According to Nabaraj Adhikari of the Central Investigation Bureau, Bamjan was taken into custody late on Tuesday from his home in a suburb of the nations capital, Kathmandu.

Ram Bahadur Bamjan was hauled before the media on Wednesday in handcuffs by the police, who claimed that upon their arrival, he attempted to escape by jumping from a second floor window, but was unable to flee.

In addition, a stack of Nepalese banknotes valued at $227,000 was on exhibit by authorities, along with other foreign currencies worth $23,000 that had been taken from the home at the time of the arrest.

It is anticipated that Bamjan would be brought to the accused offenses court in southern Nepal so he can face the judge there.

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Later on Wednesday, a few dozen of his supporters gathered in front of the Central Investigation Bureau offices in Katmandu, where Bamjan was being kept. However, riot police forced them to retreat.

In 2005, Bamjan, often referred to as Buddha Boy, rose to fame in southern Nepal after it was widely thought that he could sit under a tree, devoid of food or drink, and meditate for months on end. Despite claims that he has physically and sexually abused his followers, he has maintained his popularity.

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Even though his fame has now waned, he continues to run camps in southern Nepal, where thousands of his devotees come to live and worship him or just to pay them a visit.

After Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, Buddhism is regarded as the fourth-largest religious tradition in the world. It was established in India in 500 B.C.

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(With agency inputs)
The revelation comes in the wake of recent live-fire drills conducted by Pyongyangs military close to the disputed maritime boundary, which triggered counter-drills and evacuation orders for people living on two border islands in South Korea

As he visited important weapons factories on Wednesday, North Koreas Kim Jong Un called South Korea his nations principal enemy and declared that he would not think twice about destroying it, according to state media.

The revelation comes in the wake of recent live-fire drills conducted by Pyongyangs military close to the disputed maritime boundary, which triggered counter-drills and evacuation orders for people living on two border islands in South Korea.

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Photos published by the official media featured Kim, dressed in a long black leather jacket, in front of what observers believed to be short-range ballistic missile launcherswhich may or may not be nuclearly capable.

The historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Kim was reported as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim, urging factory workers to modernise and produce more weapons, said he had no intention of avoiding a war and warned he would have no hesitation in annihilating South Korea, KCNA added.

The factory visit was announced only one day after the United States and around 50 other nations denounced what they believed to be North Koreas weapons exports to Russia for use in Ukraine, a move that would have violated many UN sanctions.

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Last week, the North was allegedly transferring missiles and launchers to Russia, according to the White House, which described this as a significant and concerning escalation of its assistance for Moscows war effort.

One of the most significant escalations between the two sides since 2010when the North bombarded Yeonpyeong Island and killed four people, including two marineswas the commencement of the live-fire drills last Friday.

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Much tougher stance

Kim, accompanied by senior party and military officials, toured multiple munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, KCNA said, describing the visits as encouragement in the struggle for attaining the huge production goal for the new year.

Kim said that while the North would not unilaterally trigger a confrontation, it had no intention of avoiding a war.

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Were Seoul to use force against the North, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilising all means and forces in our hands, KCNA reported Kim as saying.

Those comments signal a shift in North Korean policy and hint that Pyongyang will take a much tougher stance toward Seoul in future, Hong Min, of the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

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It is the first time that the North has called the South its principle enemy, signifying the change of North Koreas Seoul approach to an ultra-hawkish mode, he said.

The Norths recent artillery drills were emblematic of the changed approach, he added.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Kim enshrined the countrys status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.

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At Pyongyangs year-end policy meetings, Kim threatened a nuclear attack on the South and called for a build-up of his countrys military arsenal ahead of armed conflict that he warned could break out any time.

Kim also successfully put a spy satellite into orbit late last year, after receiving what Seoul said was Russian help, in exchange for arms transfers for Moscows war in Ukraine.
Despite the lack of official diplomatic connections with the island, which China considers to be its own territory, the United States remains Taiwans most major international backer and weaponry supplier

Taiwans de facto ambassador to the United States met with US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, according to Taiwans foreign ministry, sparking a sharp reprimand from Beijing.

Despite the lack of official diplomatic connections with the island, which China considers to be its own territory, the United States remains Taiwans most major international backer and weaponry supplier.

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Alexander Yui took up the position last month, succeeding Hsiao Bi-khim, who is now running for vice president in Taiwans elections on Saturday.

According to Taiwans foreign ministry, Yui commended the US Congress for its long-term, bipartisan support for Taiwan and commitment to bolstering the islands defences.

According to the report, this was the first time the two had met.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August of 2022 after then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and in Beijing the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed anger at the Johnson-Yui meeting.

US lawmakers should stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces and must not intervene in the Taiwan regions elections in any form, spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters.

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China routinely objects to any form of what it views as official contacts between Taiwanese and US officials, saying it is an interference in internal Chinese affairs. Beijing says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in Sino-US relations.

Taiwans government opposes Chinas sovereignty claims, saying the Peoples Republic of China has never ruled the island and has no right to speak for it or control it as only Taiwans people can do that.
The incident happened when unidentified terrorists attacked Laachi toll plaza in Kohat district of Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday morning. Terrorists attacked the Laachi toll plaza in KPK provinces Kohat district

At least four people, including three policemen, were killed after terrorists attacked a toll plaza in Pakistans northwestern region on Wednesday, police said.

The incident happened when unidentified terrorists attacked Laachi toll plaza in Kohat district of Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday morning.

Terrorists attacked the Laachi toll plaza in KPK provinces Kohat district. Four people including three policemen were killed, said the police.

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Heavy contingent of police rushed to the site to control the situation.

After the incident, the police have sealed the entire area and started massive combing operation to arrest the culprits involved in the assault.

KPKs caretaker Chief Minister Justice (Retired) Arshad Hussain condemned the attack.

He Praised the services and sacrifices of the KPK police in war against terrorism.

The entire nation stands behind the police in their matchless struggle against terrorism, he said.

(with inputs from Agencies)
The first Southeast Asian nation to decriminalise cannabis in 2021, Thailand spawned an industry worth up to a projected $1.2 billion in the next few years, as thousands of dispensaries sprang up, along with spas, restaurants and festivals.

Thailand is canvassing public opinion on a draft bill outlawing the recreational use of cannabis after more than a year in which marijuana-related businesses flourished following legalisation and insufficient regulation.

The first Southeast Asian nation to decriminalise cannabis in 2021, Thailand spawned an industry worth up to a projected $1.2 billion in the next few years, as thousands of dispensaries sprang up, along with spas, restaurants and festivals.

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Rushed and piecemeal rules adopted within a week of decriminalisation sought to curb its use but left loopholes for recreational use.

The changes, aiming to deliver on an election promise, come after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin spoke out against recreational use amid concerns of drug abuse and vowed that his government would only support medical use.

We drafted this law to prohibit the wrong usage of cannabis, Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew told media this week.

All recreational usage is wrong.

Published on the health ministrys website on Tuesday, the new draft will allow only medical and health uses of cannabis, while outlawing all types of recreational use.

It provides for fines of up to 60,000 baht ($1,700) for recreational use while advertisement or marketing campaigns regarding such use could draw jail terms of up to a year or fines ranging as high as 100,000 baht.

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It also toughens punishment for cannabis farming without a licence, ranging from jail terms of one to three years as well as fines from 20,000 baht to 300,000 baht.

The fate of unregulated weed shops and dispensaries is unclear, however, as well as the risks facing those who planted cannabis on a household scale - which is currently allowed after notifying authorities, though without requiring a permit.

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The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the draft.

The deadline for public feedback is Jan. 23, after which the cabinet will weigh both the draft legislation and suggestions received before it goes to parliament for further deliberation.

With inputs from Reuters.
The key factor preventing many from participating in the electoral process is Taiwans insistence on in-person voting, a rule implemented since the island introduced direct elections nearly three decades ago for its 23 million residents, according to a report

Securing Taiwans electoral process against potential interference from China has been a longstanding priority for the self-governing democracy and this commitment has led to the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of eligible voters over the years.

According to a Bloomberg report, the key factor preventing many from participating in the electoral process is Taiwans insistence on in-person voting, a rule implemented since the island introduced direct elections nearly three decades ago for its 23 million residents.

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Consequently, individuals such as police officers and medical workers unable to leave their posts find themselves excluded. Additionally, Taiwanese citizens living abroad are compelled to take time off work and incur travel expenses to exercise their voting rights.

According to the islands Overseas Community Affairs Council, Taiwans diaspora totaled some 2 million people, including children, in 2022.

While this approach may pose challenges for certain groups, its inherent value lies in its robust resistance to infiltration.

This concern becomes particularly significant in the lead-up to a fiercely contested presidential election scheduled for Saturday, especially given Chinas persistent claim of Taiwan as its territory and its repeated assertions of the intention to bring the island under Beijings control.

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It is hard to hack a system based on paper ballots placed in a box that are counted that afternoon with the public welcome to watch, Bloomberg quoted Margaret Lewis, a professor at Seton Hall University Law School, as saying.

The more Taiwan moves away from this straightforward system, the more it opens up the possibility for diminished trust in election results, Lewis added.

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The Taiwanese government has repeatedly cautioned about Chinese attempts to influence the islands elections.

While concerns about foreign interference in elections are not unique to Taiwan, its requirement for in-person voting, with no provision for absentee balloting, sets it apart as one of the 53 out of 262 political systems studied by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, added the report.

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Various local politicians, including Cynthia Wu, the vice-presidential nominee of the Taiwan Peoples Party in the upcoming election, have advocated for electoral reforms. All major political parties in the island support the need for reform, but there are notable differences in their proposed changes.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) contends that only those residing in Taiwan and unable to vote in person should be eligible for absentee ballots.

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According to Lee Chin-yung, the chair of Taiwans Central Election Commission, up to 2 million people in Taiwan could qualify for such voting, a proposal supported by the DPP.

The party, known for strained relations with Beijing, argues that allowing absentee voting outside Taiwan might disproportionately benefit the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which advocates for closer ties with China. This argument revolves around the belief that Taiwanese businesspeople residing in China, often referred to as Taishang, are predominantly supporters of the KMT.

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The impact of voters returning from abroad on election outcomes is disputed. In the 2020 presidential election, incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP secured a resounding victory, defeating KMTs Han Kuo-yu by over 2.6 million votes. Tsais margin of victory was even larger, reaching 3 million votes, in the 2016 election. However, in the 2012 election, the KMTs Ma Ying-jeou prevailed over Tsai by less than 800,000 votes.

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Despite the challenges and uncertainties surrounding absentee voting, a considerable number of Taiwanese citizens do return to vote, although accurate data on this matter is lacking. Others, however, choose to abstain from the voting process.

With inputs from agencies
The tribunal disclosed an incident during a training exercise in March 2012 when Kalam, compelled to strip down to her underwear, was subjected to a male trainer placing his foot on her neck while doing press-ups

Rebecca Kalam, a former firearms officer, has been granted a substantial 820,000 following her successful sex discrimination case against West Midlands Police.

Kalam, initially celebrated as the poster girl for the forces firearms unit in 2012, faced discriminatory hurdles during her tenure. During an employment tribunal, it was revealed that Kalam was coerced into a photo shoot while five months pregnant in 2016 and informed that she couldnt pass the training course unless she complied.

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Complaints also surfaced about male officers engaging in offensive behavior, such as drawing explicit images on notice boards and using misogynistic language.

The tribunal disclosed an incident during a training exercise in March 2012 when Kalam, compelled to strip down to her underwear, was subjected to a male trainer placing his foot on her neck while doing press-ups, accompanied by a derogatory remark: Just because you have tits does not mean you cannot do a press up.

In November, she received 3,000 for winning claims of harassment, sex discrimination, and victimization.

The compensation, totaling 820,720, includes remuneration for loss of earnings and her pension, making it one of the most substantial payouts in cases of this nature.

In response, West Midlands Polices deputy chief constable, Scott Green, issued an apology for the delay in addressing the issues raised by Kalam, acknowledging the profound impact on her well-being.

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Green emphasized efforts made over the past two years to enhance the organizational culture, standards, and working environment. He stated, There is no place in policing for misogynistic, discriminatory, or disrespectful behavior, highlighting ongoing progress in setting and reinforcing high standards of conduct and professionalism.

Acknowledging past shortcomings, Green assured that female firearms officers now receive appropriate personal protective equipment tailored to their needs, including ballistic body armor.

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Additional measures involve the procurement of female-specific uniform and equipment, with female officers actively participating in the evaluation and testing of new gear.
The talks between the two senior ministers discussed future defence cooperation, from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges, which build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK Roadmap.

Considering the increasing significance of the strategic relationship between the two nations, the UK government unveiled its intentions to deploy Royal Navy warships to the Indian Ocean region later this year for joint operations and training exercises with Indian forces.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who co-chaired an India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable with visiting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday following their bilateral talks earlier, said the Littoral Response Group (LRG) will be deployed this year and the Carrier Strike Group (CRG) in 2025 for joint India-UK training.

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The deployment of the UKs most advanced naval capabilities has been flagged by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a decisive step in bolstering UK-India security ties.

There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so its vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India, said Shapps.

Together, we share the same security challenges and are steadfast in our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific. It is clear that this relationship is going from strength to strength, but we must continue to work hand-in-hand to uphold global security in light of threats and challenges that seek to destabilise and damage us, he said.

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The LRG is a Royal Navy task group consisting of at least two amphibious warfare ships, and the CRG is the aircraft carrier battle group of the Royal Navy. The CRGs inaugural deployment was back in 2021 in the Indo-Pacific, where it conducted joint exercises with the Indian forces.

Had a wonderful interaction with the industry leaders and CEOs at the UK-India Defence CEO Roundtable in London, Defence Minister Singh posted on social media platform X after the conference.India envisions an enriching partnership with the UK to cooperate, co-create and co-innovate. By synergising the strengths of both the countries, we can do great things together, he said.

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The MoD said the latest deployment reflects a stepped-up partnership during the Indian Defence Ministers first visit to the UK this week.In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system, the MoD said.

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The talks between the two senior ministers discussed future defence cooperation, from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges, which build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK Roadmap.

At the CEOs Roundtable, collaboration with industry was in focus, with the two countries working together on electric propulsion systems that will power future fleets and cooperating on the development of complex weapons.

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Building on the existing strategic partnership, some new joint initiatives highlighted by the MoD during Singhs UK visit include Launching Defence Partnership-India, a bespoke office designed to further defence collaboration between the two countries; a commitment to several instructor exchanges between UK Officer Training Colleges and specialist schools, alongside a Youth Exchange MOU to solidify the already strong relationship between our cadet organisations.

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Other initiatives include, a Letter of Arrangement that will enable further emphasis to be placed on research and development between our two nations, focused on next-generation capabilities; and solidifying an agreement on logistics exchange, allowing for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the UK and Indian Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorised port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.

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Singh arrived in London on Monday and has held a series of engagements besides bilateral talks with his UK counterpart. He will engage with the Indian community at a diaspora reception to conclude his official visit on Wednesday evening.
At the seminar in Gujarat titled Ukraine-India: Investment Opportunities for a Better Future, the Ukrainian officials stressed that despite the war, momentum was strong for both Kyivs economy and its accession to the European Union.

Ukrainian leaders pitched for Indias help in reconstructing their war-torn economy during a business summit held by India, primarily aimed at attracting global investment.

Kyivs deputy economy minister Volodymyr Kuzyo presented a recovery vision for Ukraine at the summit in Indias western Gujarat state, suggesting that Ukraines recovery would be mutually beneficial for the nation and its international partners.

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The participation of senior Ukrainian officials in the seminar, titled Ukraine-India: Investment Opportunities for a Better Future, signifies a shift in bilateral ties, which have been strained since Moscows invasion nearly two years ago, and Indias reluctance to openly criticise Russia.

Despite the challenges posed by the war, the Ukrainian officials stressed that despite the war, momentum was strong for both Kyivs economy and its accession to the European Union.

India has instead increased energy purchases from Russia to all-time highs, to the chagrin of some Western nations who support Ukraine in the war. India has traditionally strong ties with Russia, and beyond energy, it remains significantly dependent on it for arms, ammunition and nuclear technology.

At the seminar in Gujarat titled Ukraine-India: Investment Opportunities for a Better Future, the Ukrainian officials stressed that despite the war, momentum was strong for both Kyivs economy and its accession to the European Union.

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Ukraine pegs private sector investment opportunities at over $30 billion, led largely by energy, but also seeks investment in reconstruction and infrastructure including motorways, sea and river ports, railroads, storage and distribution. It also wants investment into demining, saying that of 156,000 square km of potentially-contaminated territories, only 50,000 have initial surveys, with equipment needed. Kuzyo said Indian investments could be supported by import duty relief, subsidies and international financial bodies and insurers support.
A statement from Treasury said that Yellen discussed challenges to Egypt from the Gaza war during her meeting with Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, and Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdalla

In the midst of discussions on extending Egypts $3 billion IMF loan programme, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with the leaders of the North African country on Tuesday in Washington and promised US support for the countrys economy and reforms.

During their visit to Washington on Tuesday, the Egyptian officials, who included the governor of the central bank and minister of finance, were also scheduled to meet with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, an IMF spokesman stated without offering any other information.

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High-level talks are taking place as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East, trying to stop the battle between Israel and Gaza from turning into a larger regional confrontation.

Georgieva told Reuters in November that the IMF was seriously considering augmenting Egypts $3 billion loan program as the country struggles with the economic impact from Israels invasion of Gaza.

Already facing high foreign debt levels, Egypt has been hit hard by the war in the neighboring Gaza Strip, which threatens to disrupt tourism bookings and natural gas imports, as well as recent attacks on Red Sea ships.

A statement from Treasury said that Yellen discussed challenges to Egypt from the Gaza war during her meeting with Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, and Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdalla.

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Secretary Yellen underscored strong United States support for Egypt and its economic reform program. She underscored the goal of bolstering Egypts economy and supporting inclusive, sustainable growth, the Treasury said.

Egypts $3 billion loan program agreed with the IMF in December 2022 faltered after the North African country failed to let its currency float freely or make progress on the sale of state assets.

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The IMF, in which the US is the largest shareholder, delayed disbursements of about $700 million expected in 2023, but in December said it was in talks to expand the $3 billion program given economic risk from the Israel-Gaza war.

A spokesperson for Egypts embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.
The visit by Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan - the ruler of Abu Dhabi - was one of the main attractions of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar. This visit is anticipated to boost trade and investment relations between India and the UAE

In a big step towards strengthening bilateral ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan finalized four agreements on Tuesday, including ones in food processing and renewable energy, to advance cooperation within the I2U2 grouping.

The visit by Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan - the ruler of Abu Dhabi - was one of the main attractions of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar. This visit is anticipated to boost trade and investment relations between India and the UAE after the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is signed in February 2022.

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As a unique show of respect, PM Modi personally met the president of the UAE at the Ahmedabad airport. The two leaders then drove in a motorcade to the meeting location. In Ahmedabad, hundreds of people gathered along both sides of the road as the roadshow traveled several kilometers.

PM Modi has previously hosted similar roadshows in Ahmedabad with foreign leaders like late Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe, former US president Donald Trump, and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This was the first time Modi had ever welcomed the head of a nation in West Asia to his home state of Gujarat in this manner.

For Tuesdays roadshow, the Ahmedabad local body presented a unique 3-kilometer road that was created using a public-private partnership concept.

Welcome to India my brother, HH@MohamedBinZayed. Its an honour to have you visit us, PM Modi said in a post on X.

During the meeting between PM Modi and the UAE President, the two nations finalized four memorandums of understanding - one on investment cooperation in renewable energy between the UAEs investment ministry and Indias renewable energy ministry, and another on investment cooperation in food parks development between the UAEs investment ministry and Indias food processing ministry.

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Another Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of green and sustainable ports was signed by the Gujarat government and DP World, a global logistics company with headquarters in Dubai, to promote investment cooperation for creative health care projects.

Media reports claimed that the agreements on food processing and renewable energy aligned with plans formulated by the India-Israel-UAE-United States, or I2U2, grouping to create projects in these two areas in Gujarat.

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The four countries of the economic bloc announced during the inaugural I2U2 Summit in July 2022 that the UAE would invest $2 billion to build a number of integrated food parks, for which India would contribute land and help with farmer integration. The goal of the food parks is to address food insecurity in West and South Asia.

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Officials were quoted as saying by the media that the agreements on food processing and renewable energy aligned with plans formulated by the India-Israel-UAE-United States, or I2U2, grouping to create projects in these two areas in Gujarat.

In addition, the I2U2 had declared intentions to develop a 300MW wind and solar hybrid renewable energy plant in Gujarat. At the time, it was said that companies based in the United Arab Emirates are looking into ways to partner on this initiative as expertise and investment partners.

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According to spokesman for the external affairs ministry Randhir Jaiswal, this was the fourth meeting between the president of the UAE and the prime minister of India in less than seven months. They hailed the rapidly transforming India-UAE partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to a shared and prosperous future.

Four MOUs signed with the UAE one relates to the investment corporation in the innovative healthcare projects. The very title of this particular MOU will clearly signify that the investment cooperation in this field will expand to include all areas of health sector engagementInvestment cooperation in the renewable energy sector is again wide-ranging and covers- renewable, including green hydrogen, including solar. Also, there is an inherent thought of possible grid connectivity between India and UAE in that space. Food Park Development is a project, which was first discussed under the I2U2 framework, Indias Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said in a statement on social media platform X.

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VIDEO | "We have four MoUs in total; three of them are between the (Dubai's) Ministry of Investment and the Government of India, and the fourth one is between DP World and the Government of Gujarat to develop sustainable ports in the state," says Abdulnasser Alshaali, Ambassader pic.twitter.com/NKnR8SGill  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 10, 2024

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Bhupendra Patel, the chief minister of Gujarat, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman of DP World, met earlier in the day to talk about infrastructure projects. According to an official, DP World is anticipated to sign three memorandums of understanding at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit that call for investments above 30,000 crore.

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DP World has previously entered a bid to build Gujarats Nargol Port, but the project was abandoned because of financial difficulties.

According to officials, the AD Ports Group of the UAE is anticipated to ink a new contract to establish a port city in Gujarat. UAE-based Lulu Group International has plans to build Indias largest shopping mall in Ahmedabad, and the retail conglomerate is expected to sign an agreement to invest 3,000 crore in Gujarat.

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The Indian government has concentrated on strengthening its connections with important regions of West Asia, which contributes around 45% of the nations energy and is seen by New Delhi as an extended neighborhood. Nine million Indians reside in West Asia, the most of whom are residents of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha has built the first opulent Hindu temple in the Middle East, marking a historic milestone. The BAPS Hindu Mandir is an important religious and cultural landmark located in Abu Mureikah, Abu Dhabi, on a vast 27-acre plot of government property. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate this landmark temple on February 14, 2024, according per an official of BAPS

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Initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2003 while he was the chief minister, the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit seeks to establish the state as a global leader in trade and industry. Gateway to the Future is the theme for the forthcoming three-day event starting on January 10.

Over 100 countries are expected to actively participate in the summit, with another 30 or so joining as partners. Twelve foreign organizations have also joined forces with the Gujarati government to endorse and publicize the occasion as a critical forum for promoting cooperation and investigating prospects in many fields. This worldwide participation highlights how important the summit is for promoting international.

The events tenth edition, which takes place on January 1012, will feature conferences covering subjects like innovation and technology, green hydrogen, sustainable manufacturing, electric vehicles, and renewable energy.
There was a chance that Trumps appeal would be rejected on procedural grounds when the three judgestwo of whom were selected by President Joe Bidenquestioned if they had the authority to hear the case at this juncture

Federal appeals court justices in Washington voiced grave doubts on Tuesday about the former presidents immunity from prosecution on allegations that he orchestrated a scheme to rig the 2020 election results, as Donald Trump was paying close attention in the courtroom.

There was a chance that Trumps appeal would be rejected on procedural grounds when the three judgestwo of whom were selected by President Joe Bidenquestioned if they had the authority to hear the case at this juncture.

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The justices frequently pressured Trumps attorney to refute allegations that the president was not prosecuted for actions that he contends were part of his official duties during protracted discussions. The lower-court judge supervising the Trump case dismissed that claim last month, and the questions posed by the appeals judges revealed that they were also sceptical that the Founding Fathers intended for presidents to have complete immunity from prosecution after they leave office.

I think its paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law, said Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush.

The outcome could carry enormous ramifications both for the landmark criminal case against Trump and for the broader, and legally untested, question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for actions taken in the White House. It will also likely set the stage for further appeals before the US Supreme Court, which last month declined a request to weigh in but could still get involved later.

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A swift decision is crucial for special counsel Jack Smith and his team, who are eager to get the case  now paused pending the appeal  to trial before the November election. But Trumps lawyers, in addition to seeking to get the case dismissed, are hoping to benefit from a protracted appeals process that could delay the trial well past its scheduled March 4 start date, including until potentially after the election.

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Underscoring the importance to both sides, Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner, attended Tuesdays arguments even though the Iowa caucuses are just one week away and despite the fact that theres no requirement that defendants appear in person for such proceedings. Making his first court appearance in Washington since his arraignment in August, Trump sat at the defense table, watching closely and occasionally taking notes and speaking with his lawyers.

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His appearance and his comments afterward underscored his broader effort to portray himself as the victim of a justice system he claims is politicized. Though theres no evidence Biden has had any influence on the case, Trumps argument could resonate with Republican voters in Iowa as they prepare to launch the presidential nomination process.

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After the hearing, Trump spoke to reporters at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel, which used to be the Trump International Hotel, calling Tuesday a very momentous day. He insisted he did nothing wrong and claimed he was being prosecuted for political reasons.

A president has to have immunity, he said.

Former presidents enjoy broad immunity from lawsuits for actions taken as part of their official White House duties. But because no former president before Trump has ever been indicted, courts have never before addressed whether that protection extends to criminal prosecution.

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Trumps lawyers insist that it does, arguing that courts have no authority to scrutinize a presidents official acts and that the prosecution of their client represents a dramatic departure from more than two centuries of American history that would open the door to future politically motivated cases.

To authorize the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandoras box from which this nation may never recover, said D. John Sauer, a lawyer for Trump, asserting that, under the governments theory, presidents could be prosecuted for giving Congress false information to enter war or for authorizing drone strikes targeting US citizens abroad.

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He later added, If a president has to look over his shoulder or her shoulder every time he or she has to make a controversial decision and wonder if after I leave office, am I going to jail for this when my political opponents take power? that inevitably dampens the ability of the president.

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But the judges were skeptical about those arguments. Judges Henderson and Florence Pan noted the lawyer who represented Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial suggested that he could later face criminal prosecution, telling senators at the time: We have a judicial process in this country. We have an investigative process in this country to which no former office holder is immune.

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It seems that many senators relied on that in voting to acquit Trump, Pan told Sauer.

Judge J. Michelle Childs also questioned why former President Richard Nixon would need to be granted a pardon in 1974 after the Watergate scandal if former presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution. Sauer replied that in Nixons case, the conduct did not involve the same kind of official acts Trumps lawyers argue form the basis of his indictment.

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Aside from the merits of the immunity claim, the judges jumped right into questioning Trumps lawyer over whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the appeal at this time. Sauer said presidential immunity is clearly a claim that is meant to be reviewed before trial. Smiths team also said that it wants the court to decide the appeal now.

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Smiths team maintains that presidents are not entitled to absolute immunity and that, in any event, the acts Trump is alleged in the indictment to have taken  including scheming to enlist fake electors in battleground states won by Biden and pressing his vice president, Mike Pence, to reject the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021  fall outside a presidents official job duties.

The president has a unique constitutional role but he is not above the law. Separation of powers principles, constitutional text, history, precedent and immunity doctrines all point to the conclusion that a former president enjoys no immunity from prosecution, prosecutor James Pearce said, adding that a case in which a former president is alleged to have sought to overturn an election is not the place to recognize some novel form of immunity.

When Judge Henderson asked how the court could write its opinion in a way that wouldnt open the floodgates of investigations against ex-presidents, Pearce said he did not anticipate a sea change of vindictive tit-for-tat prosecutions in the future. He called the allegations against Trump fundamentally unprecedented.

Never before has there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals and using the levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the democratic republic and the electoral system, he said. And frankly, if that kind of fact pattern arises again, I think it would be awfully scary if there werent some sort of mechanism by which to reach that criminally.

Its not clear how quickly the panel from the US Circuit Court of Appeals from the D.C. Circuit will rule, though it has signaled that it intends to work quickly.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected the immunity arguments, ruling last month that the office of the presidency does not confer a get-out-of-jail-free pass. Trumps lawyers appealed that decision, but Smiths team, determined to keep the case on schedule, sought to leapfrog the appeals court by asking the Supreme Court to fast-track the immunity question. The justices declined to get involved.

The appeal is vital to a Trump strategy of trying to postpone the case until after the November election, when a victory could empower him to order the Justice Department to abandon the prosecution or even to seek a pardon for himself. He faces three other criminal cases, in state and federal court, though the Washington case is scheduled for trial first.
In contrast to Washingtons strategy of building alliances with predominantly affluent allies, Beijing is pursuing a strategy of cultivating ties with developing nations, which constitute the majority of the worlds population, leveraging aid, trade, and investments.

Chinese President Xi Jinping strengthened diplomatic ties with a record number of countries last year as part of his efforts to mobilise the Global South in reshaping the US-led world order.

Beijing upgraded the characterisation of its relations with 17 countries and territories, primarily from the developing world, as revealed by a Bloomberg analysis of statements from the foreign ministry. This pace of diplomatic elevation is unprecedented during Xis first decade in office.

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In contrast to Washingtons strategy of building alliances with predominantly affluent allies, Beijing is pursuing a strategy of cultivating ties with developing nations, which constitute the majority of the worlds population, leveraging aid, trade, and investments.

The geopolitical implications of this approach were evident this week with the first state visit to China by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, deviating from the practices of previous Maldivian leaders and representing a diplomatic win for Xi over regional rival India.

With the deepening of its strategic competition with the US, China is increasingly eager to solidify its partnership base with more countries, Yun Sun, a director of the China Program at Stimson Center told Bloomberg.

Last year, in a poll by the Pew Research Center, 83% of respondents in the United States held an unfavourable opinion of China. Asked to name the country that posed the greatest threat to the United States, Americans perceived China as both an economic and national security threat, the U.S. think tank said.

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Repairing its image is paramount to China, especially in the United States. Washington has levied additional tariffs on Chinese goods and imposed curbs on exports of certain technologies, such as advanced chips, to China.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning announces:

At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Alexander De Croo will pay an official visit to China from January 11 to 12.
Lenovo India has announced the latest range of Lenovo LOQ laptops in India, powered by the newly launched Intel Core 14th Gen HX series processors. The new lineup of gaming laptops includes the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9, Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I, and Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9.

The configuration of the laptops goes up to 14th Gen Intel Core i7 13650HX CPU and NVIDIA 20, 30, and 40 Series Laptop GPUs, and even a fully Intel-based option with Intel Arc A530M graphics. These have two display options  a 144Hz FHD panel or a 165Hz WQHD / 1440p, both of them supporting vibrant 100% sRGB color coverage.

When it comes to performance and thermals, Lenovo has employed a new hyperchamber thermal technology and Lenovo AI Engine+, which are expected to keep things cool and fine-tune performance by optimizing power, cooling, and other settings to unleash maximum performance.

It draws out up to an additional 15W of power in Extreme Mode while keeping skin temperatures up to 2C cooler, and lowering fan noise by up to 2dB compared to its last generation, said the company.

Additional features of the series include an optional 4-zone RGB keyboard with 1.5mm key travel, Nahimic by SteelSeries 3D audio, up to 16GB RAM and 1 TB SSD, and Windows 11 as well as 3 months of access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free.

Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9, Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I, and Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9 specifications:

Pricing and Availability

The Lenovo LOQ is launched at a starting price of INR 59,990 and is now available for purchase from Lenovo.com, Lenovo Exclusive Stores, leading e-commerce websites, and other offline retail stores.

Regarding the matter, Dinesh Nair, Director  Consumer Business, Lenovo India said,

We are redefining what it means to game on with the launch of our Lenovo LOQ laptops powered by Intel Core 14th Gen latest processors and graphics software, Lenovo AI Engine+, and the new hyperchamber thermal technology. Designed specifically for the younger audience demographic, the LOQ range is a gateway to their gaming journey, meticulously designed to unleash the champion within every aspiring player.

Akshay Kamath, Director  PC Client Category, Intel India said,
Iti doresti o presa libera si independenta, care nu da inapoi cand vine vorba de respectarea standardelor profesionale, refuza sa se lase cenzurata, sustine independenta justitiei, transparenta decizionala si valorile democratice. Alege sa o sustii.
UNESCO Palermo Cathedral Sicily Italy

Quelle: Roberto Magni Daniela Comi By Foto ReD

However, most of the changes and additions date back to the 18th century: the plan of the church becomes, for example, a Latin cross; the interior is brought back to the neoclassical model; a dome was built at the intersection of the lateral arms with the central nave (transept). The addition of the dome is due to Ferdinando Fuga, between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, and diverges from the previous style of the church.
The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the agency plans to conduct an after action review of its initial operation to release gray wolves in Colorado and indicated that one area it plans to work on is advanced notification for future releases.

Jeff Davis made the comments in a written response to a letter to him and Dan Gibbs, executive director of the state Department of Natural Resources, from state Sen. Janice Rich, R-Grand Junction. Rich in her letter criticized the handling of last months initial releases as Parks and Wildlife worked to restore wolves as required by state voters in a 2020 ballot measure.

The manner of the recent release of the first 5 wolves and then 5 more in a week certainly did nothing to help lessen the divide this issue has caused in rural Colorado, particularly on the Western Slope, she wrote.

She asked that Gibbs department direct Parks and Wildlife to work with all landowners, all stakeholders, and be more transparent and truthful in releases and interactions regarding wolves in our State.

In an email to Rich that she shared with the Sentinel, Davis thanked her for her comments and said, We will be doing an after action review of this initial operation and your concerns are timely and important to take into that process.

Among the concerns Rich raised was that it was only after wolves had been released that the public learned, thanks initially to reporting by Rachel Gabel with the agricultural news outlet www.thefencepost.com, that some of them came from packs that had attacked livestock in Oregon. Rich noted that an expert Technical Working Group had advised Parks and Wildlife against bringing in wolves with a known history of chronic depredation of livestock, and said that sourcing from geographic areas with chronic depredation events should not occur.

Parks and Wildlife has defended its actions as being consistent with its wolf restoration and management plan and the advisory groups recommendations, which included not ruling out sourcing wolves from packs with an infrequent history of depredation. State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, said last week that Parks and Wildlife officials at a Senate committee meeting in September had assured that it wouldnt reintroduce wolves with a history of depredation or coming from packs having that history.

Rich also wrote that for Parks and Wildlife to call some of the reintroduced wolves juveniles, and then yearlings, when in fact they were 20 months old and fully capable of killing large ungulates and livestock, is unacceptable. Parks and Wildlife has said its biologists were careful to select yearling and adult wolves that are mature enough to hunt prey on their own.

Rich also criticized what she called the sensationalism of the initial wolf release, including the video provided by Parks and Wildlife showing wolves leaving cages in slow motion, and said it seemed a bit disingenuous to only include wolf advocates in the release process.

Roberts voiced similar concerns about the first release event in an interview last week.

Sort of the celebratory nature of the video that was released and the public statements kind of belied everything I was hearing from my constituents in my community that this is a really sensitive, scary, anxious time for so many people and there was not as much recognition of that, he said.

Parks and Wildlife said at the time that for the safety and security of the wolves and its staff working on reintroduction, it couldnt accommodate the large number of requests to attend gray wolf releases this winter. It allowed only a few media representatives to attend the first release, and others including Gov. Jared Polis and reintroduction advocates were among the 45 or so people reportedly in attendance.

The agency said in a news release that the remaining releases of five more wolves were not widely shared to help protect the safety and security of the wolves, CPW staff, and the locations of endangered species.

Gray wolves are federally listed as endangered and protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Parks and Wildlife hopes to release five more wolves this winter, and more in future years. So far, wolves have been released in Summit and Grand counties, though the agency expects they may travel widely. Some ranchers and government officials in the area reportedly have voiced frustration about being notified only after the fact about releases, while Park and Wildlife has sought to balance what it tells people and when against its desire to assure the safety of wolves.

Roberts said he was disappointed with the first rollout of wolves and its somewhat secretive nature. He said neither he nor state House Speaker Julie McCluskie, whose districts both include Grand County, were notified until after it happened.

Davis wrote to Rich, CPW is working diligently to strengthen ourselves as a learning organization so we can pursue continuous improvements and demonstrate to you and your constituents that we are listening to understand and making the necessary improvements to ensure that we are managing the public resources within their trust. We know that pre-release notification is an immediate opportunity for improvement for future releases. We also appreciate the concerns and confusion around sourcing wolves with a depredation history and that with a chronic depredation history and will continue to follow the Technical Workgroup recommendations and the wolf restoration plan as a whole.

Davis was hired by Parks and Wildlife last year after previously holding a high-level position for the state of Washingtons Department of Fish and Wildlife.

He told Rich, Coming from a state that has been managing wolves for approximately two decades, I have lived experience with the conflict, anger and fear that this particular species elicits across the spectrum of the public we serve. We are in it to ensure that our livestock industry and rural communities (and their values) stay whole while wolves are on the landscape in Colorado.

He said the agency continues to beef up its efforts, programs and support for livestock producers related to wolf reintroduction, and agency officials and are meeting with technology companies to explore potential artificial intelligence systems that are designed and deployed around the globe to address human/wildlife conflicts.

Asked about her reaction to what Davis said, Rich said she thinks Park and Wildlife might do future releases differently and be more honest about the types of wolves released.

Note: This story has been updated to correct state Sen. Rich's title.
The mafias also declared war on the government when Noboa announced a state of emergency following the prison escape on Sunday of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses
Prosecutors and defense attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters met Tuesday afternoon to go over any last-minute issues before her criminal trial on state charges begins next month.

Called a pre-trial readiness conference, District Attorney Dan Rubinstein and Peters new attorneys, Douglas Richards and Madalia Maaliki, told District Judge Matthew Barrett that they are prepared to go forward with the case.

Barrett made clear that none of the trial will be streamed live on the internet.

Ive already authorized expanded media coverage, so that reminds me that, no, WebEx will not be going, Barrett said. There will be no live stream ... because its going to be broadcast in one form or fashion or another either live in person with people in the courtroom or by the television station Ive authorized to actually do the broadcasting.

Grand Junction television station KREX was granted pool authority to other media outlets and the public to broadcast the case.

Peters faces 10 felony and misdemeanor charges that, if convicted on all charges, could leave her in state prison for more than two decades. Her eight-day trial begins on Feb. 8, when jury selection is to begin.

That trial initially was to have happened last March, but was delayed to October last year. Before that could happen, however, she obtained new attorneys, who asked for a delay so they could better prepare for trial, which was set for February.

Robert Shapiro, first district attorney for special prosecutions, is to handle the bulk of the prosecutions case behind Rubinstein.

Peters was indicted by a Mesa County grand jury in 2022 with three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, three counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of identity theft, one count of official misconduct, one count of elections violations and one count of failure to comply with the Colorado Secretary of State.

Those charges came after months of investigation into Peters and others for allegedly having a then unknown person use a Fruita mans identity to make copies of election computer hard drives, and publicly revealing them along with secure passcodes at a conspiracy theory event headed by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has repeatedly said he believes the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Two of her former employees, then-Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley and then-Elections Manager Sandra Brown, have since entered into plea deals that call on them to testify against Peters. Knisley was convicted on related misdemeanor charges, and Brown on two felony counts.

Last November, Peters filed a separate civil case in federal court alleging that Rubinstein, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland violated her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, saying she was acting as a whistleblower and they shouldnt have investigated her nor filed criminal charges.

But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Nina Wang dismissed Rubinstein as a defendant in that case, saying she would not grant a defense motion to block the state trial because Peters failed to provide any evidence that prosecutors had indicted her as an attempt to silence her efforts. That case continues against Griswold and Garland, with a trial date set in Denver on Feb. 7, one day before Peters trial in Mesa County is to begin.

In that case, which could be a preview of her defense against the state charges here, Peters contends that her actions were driven by a desire to expose wrongdoing in the 2020 president and 2021 municipal elections, which she oversaw as clerk. (Peters went on to vie for the GOP nomination for Secretary of State last year, a bid she lost, dropping her reelection bid for clerk in the process.)
A new year brings new opportunities for youth in agriculture! The NILE Foundation is now accepting applications for scholarships for the 2024-2025 academic year.

For over 30 years, the NILE (Northern International Livestock Exposition) has awarded...
Looks Forward To A Ruby and Granite Future

Baker's Jewelry in Glasgow celebrated 75 years in business last fall and when talking to owners Harvey and Karen Wall, it's hard to believe how much hasn't changed over the years. "The people in northeast Montana, really appreciate beauty and qual...
In their last meeting of 2023, on Dec. 20, the Valley County Commissioners approved six resolutions establishing 2024 tasks such as Commissioner meeting dates and office hours, daily rate for incarceration, fees for services provided by the Sherif...
Jean was born to Mary Wiggins on June 7, 1932, in Halifax, Yorkshire England. As Mary was a single mother that worked during the day, she was raised by her maternal grandmother until nursery school.

She was barely in school when England entered World War II in 1932 and endured Hitlers Blitzreig from 1940 to 1941. She finished her schooling at 15, along with being formally adopted by Otis Whiteley the same year. At 15, she went to work at the offices of the Crosley Carpet Mills. On a holiday with friends she had a fortune teller read her future, in which there would be a large body of water and a person waiting on the other side.

At the age of 22, alone she boarded the QE2 in South Hampton bound for New York harbor where she was met by her future husband, Delos Mike Boyd. They were married in Illinois on June 7, 1954.

As Mike was in the Air Force, they traveled throughout the South and Midwest including bases in Florida, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and finally to Glasgow, AFB, where he retired and they settled in Glasgow in 1966.

During their 30-year marriage they had two children, Donna (1955) and beloved son Michael (1956).

Jean was a master at knitting, crocheting, tatting and beaded ornaments. All of which garnered many blue ribbons at the Valley County fair.

She was preceded by her husband, Mike; parents Mary and Otis; and step-sisters Veronica and Margaret.

She is survived by daughter, Donna, Sheridan, Wyo.; Michael and Lorraine, Billings, Mont.; and grandchildren, Joe and Derek, Billings, and Michelle, Miles City, Mont.

A very special thanks to Josie Avila, who opened her home and family to Jean from 2017 to 2022. At which time she was placed in a nursing home until her death on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2023.

No services are planned, internment will be in the spring.
Phyllis Huston, age 92, passed away Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.

Family will receive friends 5 to 7 p.m. at Bell Mortuary, Glasgow, Mont., Friday, Jan. 12.

A funeral service will be held 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 13, First Lutheran Church, Glasgow. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery, Glasgow.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the First Lutheran Church.

A full obituary will be available at a later date.
Dear Editor,

2024 Happy New Year!

As I watched the sun rise this first day of the new year, I was reflecting on this past year. Family and friends have all made an impact in Judy and my lives. I am thankful to everyone for the part you may have pl...
Dear Editor,

Friends and Neighbors

Happy New Year

The Hwy 2 Assoc continues it's efforts, as it has for 22 years, to fulfill it's Mission - "To Enhance the Economic Viability of Northern Montana Communities by constructing an Adequate Hwy # 2 that...
US spreads China-related spy claims while launching large-scale intelligence activities against China: Chinese FM

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Jan 09, 2024 05:25 PM

In response to some media reports about a US Navy sailor being sentenced to 27 months in jail on Monday on China-related spy charges, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said she did not know the specific situation, but added that the US is spreading China-related spy claims while launching spying activities against China.

A former US sailor was sentenced to 27 months in jail on Monday for accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for photos of unclassified private US military information, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

"I don't know the specific situation, but I have noticed that senior US intelligence officials have publicly disclosed that progress has been made in rebuilding the US intelligence network in China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday during a press briefing when asked about the spy charges.

While the US is spreading information claiming that Chinese spies are involved in the case, it is publicly orchestrating plans to launch large-scale intelligence activities against China. This approach itself is very revealing. China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national security, Mao said.

CIA director William Burns revealed in 2023 that his agency has "made progress" in rebuilding its spy networks in China. China has unveiled some US-led espionage cases against China in 2023, for example, China's national security authority cracked a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) espionage case involving a Chinese government employee who had been managed by the Japan branch of the US intelligence agency.

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US Navy sailor jailed for working with Chinese spy

Wenheng Zhao, 26, received nearly $15,000 for sharing sensitive military plans with a Chinese intelligence officer.

By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2024.01.09 -- A U.S. Navy sailor was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to accepting almost US$15,000 in bribes from a Chinese spy in exchange for sensitive military information.

Wenheng Zhao, 26, accepted at least $14,866 across 14 separate payments from the spy from August 2021 to May 2023, according to a Department of Justice statement. In return, he provided "sensitive, non-public information regarding U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure."

The information, which the Californian transmitted using "sophisticated encrypted communication methods," included "plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre, operational orders and electrical diagrams and blueprints."

Zhao was sentenced to two years and three months in prison after pleading guilty in October to conspiring with a foreign intelligence officer and receiving a bribe. He was arrested on Aug. 3, and had faced the prospect of up to 20 years in prison for the two charges.

But U.S. officials said he was not getting off lightly.

"Mr. Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the U.S. military," said Matthew Olsen, the assistant U.S. attorney general for national security. "Today, he is being held to account for those crimes."

Zhao's sentencing follows the arrest of 29-year-old former American soldier Joseph Schmidt in San Francisco late last year for similarly trying to provide Chinese spies with sensitive military information.

Larissa Knapp, the executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch, said that the recent arrests and sentencing of U.S. service members for espionage sent a message to China.

"Make no mistake, the PRC is engaged in an aggressive effort to undermine the national security of the U.S. and its partners," Knapp said, using an acronym for the People's Republic of China.

"Today's sentencing demonstrates, yet again, the inability of China's Intelligence Services to prevent the FBI and our vital partners from apprehending and prosecuting the spies China recruits," she said.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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China's Arrest of 'MI6 Spy' Could be Retaliation, Analysts Say

By Lyndon Lee January 09, 2024

China's arrest of a man allegedly working as a spy for Britain could be retaliation, analysts say.

The case, which was announced on Monday by China's Ministry of State Security, comes amid growing and vocal concern in Britain over Beijing and the security threat the communist country poses. It also follows last year's arrest of a British parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for China.

According to a post Monday on the ministry's official WeChat social media account, Britain's MI6 intelligence agency recruited a man surnamed Huang in 2015, who has since then passed 17 pieces of intelligence to and recruited personnel for the agency using spy equipment provided by the British government.

Chinese authorities did not reveal Huang's nationality or gender but said the alleged spy was from an unspecified "third country" and underwent recruitment and training in Britain and other locations. They also said the individual was working under the guise of being an overseas consultant.

The ministry did not provide evidence to support the claims nor disclose Huang's current condition or whereabouts. But it did say that state security "promptly reported and arranged consular visits, protecting Huang's lawful rights in accordance with the law."

When contacted by VOA, Britain's Foreign Office on Tuesday replied: "It is our longstanding policy to neither confirm nor deny claims relating to intelligence matters."

Peter Humphrey, a former journalist who later worked for more than a decade as a fraud investigator for Western firms in China, said the case looks like "a complete joke."

"Firstly, I think this is the continuation of Beijing's attack on Western consultancies. Secondly, I think Beijing is trying to find a case to throw back at us because we have caught them doing things in the U.K., America, Belgium, etc.," Humphrey told VOA in a telephone interview. "Beijing is desperately looking for a case to throw back at us."

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said a Chinese American U.S. Navy service member was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine after pleading guilty in October to taking bribes to give sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer.

Britain has accused Chinese spies of targeting officials in key ministries, while China has unveiled multiple cases accusing foreign citizens, including British and Americans, of espionage.

In September, The Times newspaper reported that Britain's intelligence agency arrested British parliamentary researcher Chris Cash on suspicion of spying for China. Cash has close ties to Minister of Parliament Alicia Kearns, the current chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Tom Tugendhat, the former defense secretary and security minister.

Another policy researcher working in the British Parliament, who asked to remain anonymous in an interview with VOA because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said the level of security at parliament has changed since Cash was arrested.

"Within about a month, they changed their entire security protocols. And so now the application process is completely different," the researcher said, adding that the golden age of British-China relations is dead.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and chair of the Britain-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, told VOA the accusations made by China not only worsen Sino-British relations but also significantly impact foreign citizens and companies operating in China.

"Whether there is any truth in China's allegations or whether it is a tit-for-tat retaliation in response to allegations of Chinese espionage activities in Westminster remains to be seen, but either way, this incident contributes to a more risky and dangerous environment for British citizens doing business in or traveling to China," he said.

David Moore, a policy researcher at the British Parliament, said Britain shouldn't fear retaliation from the Chinese government.

"About time we need to crack down on Chinese espionage, whether it be trying to infiltrate our institutions or on our streets with Chinese police stations that have been operating across the Western world," he told VOA referring to alleged policing by Chinese security forces in foreign countries including the U.S.

In a speech in July at the British Embassy in Prague, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service said China was their single most important strategic focus. "We now devote more resources to China than anywhere else, reflecting China's increasing global significance."

VOA reached out to the Chinese Embassy in London for comment, but by the time of publication, no response had been received.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

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New Army space vision defines roles and missions

By USASMDC Public Affairs January 8, 2024

WASHINGTON -- Today the Army released the Army Space Vision Supporting Multidomain Operations, which communicates to Army commanders, staffs, and other stakeholders the need to create and exploit space domain effects that enable successful Army operations. The vision also communicates the urgent need to invest more in space capabilities and formations.

According to the vision, by leveraging Army, joint and coalition space capabilities, Army space professionals will lead the effort to increase understanding and integration of these capabilities into all Army operations and activities.

Army space professionals will also employ service-unique assets to interdict, or disrupt, adversaries' use of their space capabilities, ensuring Army forces gain and maintain the initiative to fight from positions of relative advantage in all domains.

"Integrating joint and Army space capabilities into the operations process must become second nature to commanders at every echelon," said Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy A. George. "We accomplish this by incorporating these capabilities into training, education, experiments and exercises."

The Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence will work closely with other Centers of Excellence and the combat training centers to ensure the vision is incorporated across the institutional Army. This helps shape the development of live, virtual and constructive environments that replicate the complexity and uncertainty of 21st-century battlefields.

In addition to education and training, the vision notes that "expeditionary, scalable, and mobile Army space formations, empowered by flexible command relationships at echelon, should move alongside and keep pace with ground combat formations to protect forces and enable the Army to win decisively."

"The Army incorporates space capabilities and effects as part of operations to protect its forces and enable successful movement and maneuver," George said. "By design, Army space capabilities are built to collocate with and operate alongside ground maneuver formations, providing the appropriate effects for commanders to maintain timing, tempo and synchronization."

By outlining Army roles and missions in and through the space domain, the vision will give leaders a better understanding of how they can leverage space capabilities to improve their ability to deploy, fight and win our Nation's wars.

To read the full vision visit https://www.smdc.army.mil/Portals/38/Documents/Army_Space_Vision_Supporting_MDO.pdf

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Georgia Guard Unit to Document US Central Command Operations

By Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom, 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment January 8, 2024

MARIETTA, Ga. -- A Georgia National Guard unit is heading to the Middle East to document history on behalf of the U.S. Army.

The Marietta-based 161st Military History Detachment held a ceremony Jan. 7 as the unit prepared to depart for a mobilization to the U.S. Army Central Command area of responsibility.

Their mission will be to collect primary source material necessary for historians to write the Army's official history of operations in the area. Their collection portfolio would include documents, oral interviews, photographs and physical artifacts.

"After months of dedicated training, I have complete confidence in this team," said Capt. Richard Hughes, commander, 161 Military History Detachment. "I am genuinely excited to see what we can accomplish."

The 161st completed roughly four months of premobilization training to prepare for the approximately 9-month deployment to locations throughout Southwest Asia.

U.S. Army Central Command's area of responsibility spans over 4 million square miles. It is populated by more than 560 million people from 25 ethnic groups, speaking 20 languages with hundreds of dialects and multiple religions that span national borders.

To prepare for this mission, the detachment completed premobilization training, a military history detachment course, a two-week historian course at Fort McNair and a week of training at Fort McNair and the Pentagon.

Additionally, the MHD completed a three-week validation exercise in Japan, collecting historical information on the 7th Infantry Division's participation in Exercise Yama Sakura 85.

"As we set out on this deployment, we'll carry the valuable lessons from our training with us," said Hughes. "We are fully prepared to document and preserve the history of the United States Army."

The U.S. Army created the first military history teams during World War II to capture historical information about combat operations in European and Pacific theaters. Military history detachments have deployed in all successive wars to preserve the Army's official history for study by future Soldiers, policymakers and the American people.

In January 2015, the 161st MHD mobilized to Kuwait to serve as the first MHD to support Operation Inherent Resolve.

The 161st mobilized again in December 2018 to Europe as the Army's second MHD dedicated to Operation Atlantic Resolve. For nine months, the unit conducted operations in Germany, Poland and Georgia. They compiled a digital archive of more than 50 gigabytes of source material and over 300 oral interviews to aid future historians in writing the Army's official history of Atlantic Resolve.

The 161st Military History Detachment organized as an element of the Georgia Army National Guard's 78th Troop Command in September 2011. The unit attained federal recognition Nov. 22, 2011, at Clay National Guard Center in Marietta. The MHD is aligned under the 473rd Theater Public Affairs Support Element.

"It's a huge mission, but I'm confident in each of their skills and their teamwork," said Lt. Col. Jena Hutchison, commander, 473rd Theater Public Affairs Support Element. "I look forward to welcoming this team home after their successful deployment."

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Secretary Blinken's Call with UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Kaag

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

January 8, 2024

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag. Secretary Blinken and Coordinator Kaag underscored the importance of strengthening the coordination mechanism delivering humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, and facilitating assistance to the northern part of the Gaza Strip to enable the return of displaced people. They emphasized a shared commitment to reach the most vulnerable including urgently expanding the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza, increasing use of localized aid to meet immediate needs, and enhancing funding for humanitarian assistance.

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January 9, 2024

Release

Statement From Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Officials on Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Medical Care

Dr. John Maddox, Trauma Medical Director, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, Center for Prostate Disease Research of the Murtha Cancer Center Director, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, provided the following statement today regarding Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's medical care:

As part of Secretary Austin's routinely recommended health screening, he has undergone regular prostate specific antigen (PSA) surveillance. Changes in his laboratory evaluation in early December 2023 identified prostate cancer which required treatment. On December 22, 2023, after consultation with his medical team, he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer. He was under general anesthesia during this procedure. Secretary Austin recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.

On January 1st, 2024, Secretary Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with complications from the December 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection. On January 2, the decision was made to transfer him to the ICU for close monitoring and a higher level of care. Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach. The abdominal fluid collections were drained by non-surgical drain placement. He has progressed steadily throughout his stay. His infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process. During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.

Prostate cancer is the most common cause of cancer among American men, and it impacts 1 in every 8 men - and 1 in every 6 African American men - during their lifetime. Despite the frequency of prostate cancer, discussions about screening, treatment, and support are often deeply personal and private ones. Early screening is important for detection and treatment of prostate cancer and people should talk to their doctors to see what screening is appropriate for them.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3639728/

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Gaza conflict: Remarks by High Representative Joseph Borrell after his visit in Saudi Arabia

European External Action Service (EEAS)

09.01.2024

EEAS Press Team

Check against delivery!

Three months after the 7th of October, when the tragedy started with a terrorist attacks of Hamas, and then the bombing of Gaza and the unbearable number of civilian casualties, I came back to the Middle East, first to Beirut and after to Riyad, talking with relevant actors in the region.

I took stock of two things. First, the dramatic humanitarian situation of the people in Gaza. I had a video conference and got a lot of explanation from UNRWA Director General [Philippe] Lazzarini and from his people in Gaza. And certainly, the situation is appalling, with hundreds of thousands of people having lost their shelters, having no food, being in an extreme miserable situation.

And secondly, the high risk of escalation in the region, in the border of Lebanon - Israel and also in the Red Sea. And we have to avoid these. We have to avoid the war spilling over. The war has to stop, not to expand. And the only solution for avoiding the war [from] expanding is to look for a political solution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine. And this will require a strong commitment of the international community and to start with, the European and the Arab people.

And that is what we agreed with the Prince Faisal [bin Farhan Al Saud] - the Foreign Affairs Minister of Saudi Arabia - to continue the work in that that we initiated some days before the tragedy started, when at the end of September in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, we launched the initiative of the Peace Day [Effort].

Nobody was thinking about the drama in the Palestinian territories, but in the West Bank was already a drama. And in Gaza too. And we started thinking about it and looking for a solution, because peace between the Arab states and Israel is good but is not enough.

This has to be done mostly between Israel and Palestine, because only through an agreement, a political agreement - the two-state solution - Israel could be safe, because its security can not only be based on the military capacity, it has been proved.

And now we have to stop the killing of civilians in Gaza. We have to stop this great number of casualties. Hamas has to be eradicated. But Hamas is an idea, it represents an idea, and you cannot kill an idea. The only way of killing an idea - a bad idea - is to propose a better one, to give a horizon to the Palestinian people, to their dignity, to their freedom, to their security, which has to go hand in hand with the security of Israel.

This is going to be difficult. It has always been difficult. For 30 years, the international community has been preaching the two-state solution without doing a lot, or sometimes nothing in order to make it possible. And today it is more difficult than 30 years ago when the Oslo agreements [have been concluded]. But even if it is difficult, we have to try.

And I am coming back to Brussels with the commitment between the European and the Arab world to work for that, and to avoid a war expanding in the region. It is in nobody's interest [to have] another war in the border with Lebanon, it is in nobody's interest to jeopardise the traffic, the transportation of the ships in the Red Sea. Well, maybe it is in the interest of someone, but certainly not in the interest of humankind.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-251210

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Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari January 9th, 20:15

IDF Press Release

Press Briefing

09.01.24

IDF

Good evening,

In the past day, we delivered a very difficult message to the families of nine fallen IDF soldiers, who were killed during the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, we exposed the largest Hamas rocket and weapons production site in Al-Bureij. During the operational activity to destroy the underground infrastructure of the weapons production site, an explosion was caused as a result of tank fire identifying an enemy target. It appears that a tank shell hit a nearby power pole, triggering the charge. As a result of the explosion, six IDF soldiers were killed and fourteen were injured.

Destroying Hamas' military capabilities is a complex but necessary action to achieve the objectives of the war. Our forces perform it patiently, while strictly following the safety rules and maintaining the security of our forces, as was the event in last night's operation. We are examining the event seriously and as quickly as possible, and preliminary lessons have already been passed on to the forces in the field. I know that when you saw on television the forces finding the weapons production site, there were difficult rumors about casualties, injured and dead. We do everything to prevent rumors, to update the families as quickly as possible, and then the public. We will continue to operate this way.

Our hearts are with the families in their difficult time, and we wish a full recovery to the injured.

This is an opportunity to express immense appreciation for all the hospitals in the State of Israel, the doctors, medical teams, and volunteers, who are working day and night to save lives and rehabilitate the injured.

Today, in the north, we eliminated the Hezbollah's commander of southern Lebanon aerial unit, Ali Husin Berji "Abu Maadi", using an IAF aircraft. Ali led dozens of attacks using UAVs against Israel.

Throughout the day, several launches were carried out from Lebanese territory, two UAVs hit the northern command base. There were no casualties and minor damage was caused. We are reviewing this event. Ali also carried out this attack - and he was eliminated three hours afterwards, along with other operatives who were with him. Additionally, today we eliminated a terrorist squad that was attempting to launch UAVs towards the State of Israel, three terrorists were killed in this strike and their weapons were destroyed.

We will continue to act with determination against any threat to our territory, to claim a price and bring about a difference to the security situation on the northern border.

In the Homefront, I call on the public to continue to follow the updated instructions of the Home Front Command - there is no change in the instructions. We have an excellent air defense system, but the defense is never hermetic. Therefore, we will update you on every event - on the websites and other platforms.

We do not forget for a moment that in the Gaza Strip, 136 hostages are still being held, including dozens of ill, elderly, and injured who are being denied medical treatment, elderly people, over the age of eighty, who do not receive critical medications, children and young women who are held without protection by the violent Hamas terrorists. We care for their physical and mental well-being.

We have a moral obligation to bring them all home, and the entire world has a moral obligation, as the [US] Secretary of State mentioned, to remember them and act to release them from the hands of the terrorists in Gaza who operate with methods worse than those of ISIS.

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Israel failed to achieve its goals in Gaza war: Hamas leader

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh has underlined that the Israeli enemy has failed to achieve any of its objectives in the war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the Al Jazeera TV network, Haniyeh said on Tuesday that the Israeli regime pursued three main objectives in its ongoing war on Gaza: Eliminating Palestinian resistance, recovering captives held in the besieged area, and displacing Palestinians in Gaza from their homeland.

Some 100 days after the onset of the Gaza war, the occupying regime failed to return their captives, and the plot to eliminate the Palestinian resistance movement has been proven to be an illusion because Hamas is exactly the Palestinian people, Haniyeh said.

The Hamas leader added that the scandalous failure in Gaza turned into a fact, which reveals the ugly face of the regime in the eyes of the world public.

He also noted that the Israeli regime's third goal was to force the residents of the Gaza Strip to abandon their homeland and move towards Egyptian territories, which was also doomed to failure.

Referring to the root causes of the initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, the official mentioned that the Palestinian resistance movement initiated the operation to stand against the extremist Israeli cabinet's anti-Palestinian conspiracies, including their attempt to marginalize the issue of Palestine at the international level, their plots against Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the so-called normalization of ties with some regional states.

The Israeli occupiers pursue the idea of creating regional peace at the expense of denying Palestinians' rights, he said, adding that Tel Aviv wants political and security alliances, entailing the regime in its heart.

4208**2050

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Two Israeli-linked tankers targeted in Indian Ocean in early Jan.: Sources

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Two Zionist tankers carrying a large amount of oil to the Israeli-occupied territories were targeted in the Indian Ocean on January 4, the Lebanon-based TV news channel Al Mayadeen has quoted an informed source as saying.

The first vessel named (CHEM CILICON), belonging to the Israeli ACE company, was traveling under the flag of Liberia, which was attacked in the northwest of the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, Al Mayadeen said in a report early on Tuesday.

The second tanker named (PACIFIC GOLD), owned by the Zionist regime and belonging to the Stern Company, was attacked near Cochin Port in India.

The Zionist regime waged a bloody war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Monday that the death toll from the Zionist regime's attacks on the besieged enclave had reached 23,084.

Resistance forces in the region have targeted Israeli and US interests in support of the Palestinians since the beginning of the war between the Zionist regime and Hamas in Gaza.

9376**4261

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Israeli delegation in Cairo to hold prisoner swap talks: Source

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- An Israeli delegation has reportedly traveled to the Egyptian capital with the aim of resuming negotiations for the exchange of prisoners between the regime and the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.

An unnamed Egyptian source has been by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed website that a Zionist delegation left for Cairo on Monday night to resume talks with Hamas on swapping Israeli captives with the Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails.

This delegation reportedly arrived in Cairo after Egyptian authorities announced stopping any mediation with the Zionist regime following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of the political office of Hamas in an Israeli drone strike on the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, last week.

The Hamas movement had previously declared that it would hold no talks with the regime until there is a complete cessation of Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Last month, as part of a week-long humanitarian truce brokered by Qatar and Egypt, humanitarian aid entered Gaza and enabled the two sides to exchange 105 captives held in Gaza, including 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners for 240 Palestinian abductees held by Israel.

Israel claims that about 137 captives are still in Gaza, while there are thought to be 7,000 Palestinians abductees in different Israeli prisons, with many of them being held for years without any charge or trial.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition are facing condemnations at home for their failure to get the remaining captives freed.

4399

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Iran warns against any US provocative actions jeopardizing regional peace, security

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

New York - IRNA -- Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani has rejected the claims of the United States and the Israeli regime at the Security Council meeting on Monday on the Red Sea, warning that any provocative or irresponsible actions risk endangering the peace and security of the region.

Iran's envoy in identical letters to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the UN Ambassador of France, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council called on the world body to adhere to its responsibilities while dealing with the causes related to the current situation in the Red Sea.

The letter also urged the 15-member Council to take decisive measures to force the Israeli regime to stop its bloodshed and aggression in Gaza as well as firmly adhere to its obligations under international and humanitarian laws.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

Excellency,

I am writing to you regarding the UN Security Council's recent open briefing on the situation in the Red Sea, held on 3 January 2024, under the agenda item "Maintenance of International Peace and Security" (S/2024/9525). During this meeting, representatives from the United States and the Israeli regime once again abused the Security Council platform to level baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, going further as to disseminate intentional falsehoods and disinformation. In this regard, I would like to emphasize the following:

1) The Islamic Republic of Iran unequivocally condemns and categorically rejects the unfounded allegations made at the meeting. The allegations are unsubstantiated and lack evidence. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always placed great importance on maritime security and freedom of navigation and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding its international obligations and maintaining peace and security in the region.

2) The purpose of the US and the Israeli regime to make such baseless accusations is clear: to divert international attention away from the root causes of the current situation in the Red Sea, namely the ongoing genocide and barbaric massacres that are being committed by the Israeli regime and fully supported by the US against the innocent Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as their participation in coordinated military aggressions and malevolent activities against other nations in the region.

3) The United States cannot deny or cover up the incontestable reality that recent incidents in the Red Sea are directly related to Israel's continued atrocities against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The United States and the Israeli regime bear full responsibility for the reprehensible crimes unfolding in occupied Palestine. The severity of the Israeli regime's war crime and crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza has been indisputably documented by the United Nations, international organizations, and human rights institutions, marking it as the most extensively recorded genocide in modern history.

4) Instead of taking decisive action to curb these severe violations, the United States not only stands by the Israeli regime but also actively contributes by providing the occupying regime with substantial military support and diplomatic cover. By preventing the Security Council from carrying out its Charter duties, which contradicts international calls to end the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, the US is now pushing for a Security Council resolution purportedly focusing on the rights and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. However, the primary objective is to legitimize the so-called "international maritime coalition" led by Washington to serve its regional political goals and give the necessary shield to Israel to continue its war crimes and atrocities in Gaza. Consequently, the US assertions of the so-called "Navigational Rights and Freedoms of Vessels of All States in the Red Sea" are only viewed as a cynical attempt to distract from the grim reality of the ongoing atrocities and genocide in Palestine.

5) Cautioning against any provocative or irresponsible actions by the United States that may endanger regional peace and security, the Islamic Republic of Iran urges the Security Council to uphold its responsibilities to address the causes of the current situation in the Red Sea. In this regard, the Security Council must take decisive measures to compel the Israeli regime to halt its bloodshed, cease its aggressive acts, and steadfastly adhere to its international obligations under humanitarian and human rights laws. Furthermore, the Security Council must compel the occupying regime to fully implement Resolutions 2712 and 2720, which are considered the bare minimum requirements for facilitating and ensuring the prompt, secure, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.

I would be grateful if you would circulate the present letter as a document of the Security Council.

4399

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Iran general: Al-Aqsa Storm turning point in Palestine's fight against occupation

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 11:54

The Palestinian resistance movements' Operation Al-Aqsa Storm is a turning point in the Palestinian people's fight against the occupying regime, says Iran's highest-ranking military commander.

Tehran-ISNA- Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said on Monday that a number of Palestinian fighters successfully designed and carried out such great military action under complete siege in Gaza and without access to any facility, as PressTV reported.

He added that the Palestinian fighters utilized their own capacities in the operation and amazed the enemy with high capabilities and intelligence at an international level.

They have also managed to undermine Israel's security and shatter the Zionists' hope for the future, he emphasized.

The top Iranian general said that in the aftermath of the October 7 operation, the Palestinian fighters witnessed Israel's brutal crimes against the oppressed yet strong Palestinian people in Gaza and are still resisting the regime.

The Palestinian people in Gaza are not concerned about anything but are advancing their objectives, but the Zionists are suffering serious mental problems, he added.

Baqeri praised the Gazans' resistance against Israel despite great losses and blockade, saying they insist on achieving their rights to freedom and sovereignty.

The oppressed empty-handed Palestinian people resisted against Israel, he said, adding that the Zionists will definitely collapse and will fail to survive if the US stops supporting them even a single day.

The top Iranian general said the US provides Israel with several planes, bombs and various equipment every day while some regional countries also send military facilities to the regime.

He also said that several ships leave for the occupied territories every day after being loaded in some countries that falsely claim to support the oppressed Palestinian people.

Despite such large assistance to Israel, the regime's survival is completely in question, Baqeri said.

The senior commander hailed the Yemeni fighters for showing their true power in the Red Sea and preventing the passage of ships seeking to equip Israel despite having minimal facilities and being under siege.

Resistance forces in other countries such as Iraq and Syria are also trying their best to counter the Israeli regime, he said, hailing the developments as the achievements of the Islamic Revolution and the Sacred Defense in Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Baqeri slammed the US hypocrisy over a recent terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman, which claimed the lives of at least 91 people.

The US condemns the Kerman incident but supports and provokes the terrorists and provides them with logistic support, he said.

Washington also promotes the intelligence capability of the terrorists and trains them to carry out acts of terror in Iran and other countries, he added.

Baqeri emphasized that the Iranian nation and resistance front would tolerate such pains and continue their path "because it is a clear path."

The terrorist bombings, which were claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, were carried out near the burial site of Iran's late anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani during a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of his martyrdom. The blasts left 91 people dead and 284 others wounded, some of them in critical condition.

End Item

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Iran warns US, Israel on Red Sea incidents allegations

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 11:49

Iran permanent mission to United Nations warns United States and Israel regarding allegations about Tehran's involvement in Red Sea incidents.

Tehran-ISNA- Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani responds to Washington and Tel Aviv allegations about Iran's role in Yemen army attacks against Israeli-related commercial ships in Red Sea.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran unequivocally condemns and categorically rejects the unfounded allegations made by US and Israel at UN Security Council's open briefing held on third of January" Iravani said.

Iran mission called these allegations "unsubstantiated and lack evidence" and added that "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always placed great importance on maritime security and freedom of navigation and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding its international obligations and maintaining peace and security in the region."

"The purpose of the US and the Israeli regime to make such baseless accusations is clear: to divert international attention away from the root causes of the current situation in the Red Sea, namely the ongoing genocide and barbaric massacres that are being committed by the Israeli regime and fully supported by the US against the innocent Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as their participation in coordinated military aggressions and malevolent activities against other nations in the region." Iran top diplomat asserted.

Iravani also said "The United States cannot deny or cover up the incontestable reality that recent incidents in the Red Sea are directly related to Israel's continued atrocities against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The United States and the Israeli regime bear full responsibility for the reprehensible crimes unfolding in occupied Palestine. The severity of the Israeli regime's war crime and crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza has been indisputably documented by the United Nations, international organizations, and human rights institutions, marking it as the most extensively recorded genocide in modern history."

Iran envoy also criticized US support regarding Israeli war crimes in Gaza and added that "Instead of taking decisive action to curb these severe violations, the United States not only stands by the Israeli regime but also actively contributes by providing the occupying regime with substantial military support and diplomatic cover."

"By preventing the Security Council from carrying out its Charter duties, which contradicts international calls to end the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, the US is now pushing for a Security Council resolution purportedly focusing on the rights and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. However, the primary objective is to legitimize the so-called "international maritime coalition" led by Washington to serve its regional political goals and give the necessary shield to Israel to continue its war crimes and atrocities in Gaza. Consequently, the US assertions of the so-called "Navigational Rights and Freedoms of Vessels of All States in the Red Sea" are only viewed as a cynical attempt to distract from the grim reality of the ongoing atrocities and genocide in Palestine" iravani added.

Iran envoy asserted that "Cautioning against any provocative or irresponsible actions by the United States that may endanger regional peace and security, the Islamic Republic of Iran urges the Security Council to uphold its responsibilities to address the causes of the current situation in the Red Sea. In this regard, the Security Council must take decisive measures to compel the Israeli regime to halt its bloodshed, cease its aggressive acts, and steadfastly adhere to its international obligations under humanitarian and human rights laws."

Iravni called for delivery of humanitarian aids to besieged Gaza and said: "the Security Council must compel the occupying regime to fully implement Resolutions 2712 and 2720, which are considered the bare minimum requirements for facilitating and ensuring the prompt, secure, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip."

End Item

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Tulkarm Brigade announces mobilization after "cowardly assassination"

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 11:31

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided Tulkarm, in the occupied West Bank, and committed "a cowardly assassination" in Aktaba, according to a statement issued by the Rapid Response Groups, in general, and the Tulkarm Brigade more specifically.

Tehran (ISNA) - In their statement, they considered the three martyrs Youssef al-Khouli, Ahed Rajab, and Tariq Shaheen to be martyrs of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Storm.

Significantly, the statement also mourned the Hezbollah leader who was also martyred earlier on Monday in South Lebanon, Martyr Wissam Tawil, announcing "the launch of an expanded operation for all our brigades and groups from now until further notice."

Israeli occupation forces raided Tulkarm in the northern West Bank and were met with resistance from Palestinian fighters at multiple points in the city and its camps.

The occupation forces imposed a siege on Tulkarm camp and deployed sniper teams to all surrounding entrances.

During the incursion, special Israeli forces surrounded a group of Palestinian youths, and intense confrontations erupted between Resistance fighters and occupation forces at the Iktaba roundabout northeast of the city. The Palestine Red Crescent Society also reported that Israeli forces prevented medical teams from reaching several wounded individuals in the Iktaba suburb.

On its part, the Tulkarm Brigade announced the targeting of the Annab checkpoint, east of the city, while the three martyrs are being laid to rest amid crowds. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - Nur Shams camp claimed responsibility for targeting an Israeli military force stationed at the same checkpoint earlier in the day.

Elsewhere, in Jenin, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stated that its fighters engaged in fierce confrontations with raiding occupation forces in the town of Arraba southwest of the city.

End Item

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Details unveiled about 2 Israeli ships hit in Indian Ocean

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 11:30

Some exclusive sources from Al Mayadeen revealed that two Israeli ships loaded with a massive amount of oil were targeted in the Indian Ocean on January 4.

Tehran (ISNA) - According to the sources, the first ship, CHEM SILICON, belonging to the ACE company and flying the flag of Liberia, was targeted northwest of the Maldives.

As for the second ship, PACIFIC GOLD, belonging to the Eastern company, it was targeted near the port of Kochi in India.

It is worth noting that the targeting of the two ships comes approximately 48 hours after the assassination of Hamas's deputy chief Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri on January 2, in an Israeli strike that targeted the Southern Suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

It also follows the assassination of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) military advisor, Brigadier General Seyyed Razi Mousavi, on December 25, in an Israeli attack on Syria.

The targeting of Israeli-linked ships in the Indian Ocean comes at a time when the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) continue their operations against Israeli and Israeli-bound ships in the Red and Arabian seas in response to the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

In late December, the top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, Brad Cooper, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the YAF show no signs of stopping their operations despite the expansion of the US-led international maritime coalition. In response to these operations, under the guise of securing international maritime trade routes, the Pentagon launched Operation Prosperity Guardian. However, it continues to be haunted by the reluctant participation of its members and uncertainty behind the operation's objectives.

Major member countries have announced stepping back or scaling down on commitment to the alliance, including France, which said it will not be operating under Washington's orders and will limit its operations to protect EU vessels, and Spain, which declared it will not participate entirely.

It is noteworthy that spokesperson Yahya Saree has reiterated more than once that the YAF will continue to carry out military operations in the Red and Arabian seas against Israeli ships or vessels bound to the Israeli occupation entity until needed food and medicine are delivered to the Gaza Strip, confirming that the army is "fully committed to ensuring the continued maritime navigation to all destinations except to the Israeli entity."

End Item

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Hezbollah's commander Wissam Tawil assassinated by Israel

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 11:30

Hezbollah announced on Monday the martyrdom of one of its Resistance commanders on the path to Al-Quds, in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the town of Khirbet Selem, South Lebanon.

Tehran (ISNA) - The Resistance party mourned its senior officer Wissam Hassan Tawil, codenamed Hajj Jawad, who had contributed his life to fighting the Israeli occupation in the past decades, and more recently the terrorist Western-backed proxies in Syria and Iraq, mainly ISIS, making him a key figure in confronting US-Israeli-led plots against the region.

The Resistance's top leader had arrived at his home on the outskirts of the town of Khirbet Selem on Sunday evening, after being away for a long time.

His house is located approximately 19 to 20 kilometers away from the border with occupied Palestine.

The attack was carried out shortly after Tawil left his home around noon and headed to his car parked on the opposite side of the road. Circulating footage shows his car set ablaze.

How Tawil was assassinated remains inconclusive, especially considering Israeli reports suggesting that it could have been carried out using an IED.

The Israeli occupation had labeled Tawil as a top priority target for over two decades, due to his massive contributions to the Resistance and his vast participation in operations against the entity since the 1990s, when it was still occupying the Lebanese South.

He had been pursued by Israelis for many years and survived several assassination attempts.

Since the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023, Hajj Jawad has been on the front lines, even approaching the nearest point from the occupied Palestinian territories on several occasions, being just a few meters away from Israeli military bases.

Among his fellow fighters in the Islamic Resistance, he is known as the "man of the field" and an expert in all its details.

End Item

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Sweden is ready to deploy a combat battalion in Latvia

Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Defence

01/09/2024

International cooperation

Information prepared by Media Relations Section

Sweden has announced its plans to join the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia and deploy a combat battalion to Latvia after finalising its accession to NATO.

"We are happy that Sweden has decided to make this important step as it finalises NATO accession. It will be a strong contribution to our regional security and will boost Latvia's national defence," Defence Minister Andris Spruds underlined.

Announcement about the deployment of battalion-size combat unit to Latvia as part of its commitment to contribute to stronger NATO defence and deterrence posture was made by Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson during Sweden's Annual National Conference "Folk och Forsvar" (Community and Security) in Salen.

Minister Spruds was invited to conference to give Swedish counterparts an insight into how Latvia implements its comprehensive national defence strategy and how this strategy is reflected in school curricula. This year's annual conference also focused on issues such as Sweden's path towards NATO membership, Russian invasion of Ukraine, misinformation threats and challenges to democracy, and many other priorities.

While attending the "Folk och Forsvar" Annual National Conference, Defence Minister Andris Spruds also had series of bilateral meetings with Sweden' s Defence Minister Pal Jonson, General Micael Byden, Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, and Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden's Minister for Civil Defence. Officials discussed support for Ukraine, NATO priorities and bilateral cooperation.

Over many years of cooperation Latvia and Sweden have solidified close ties in a number of areas. Countries are also bound by shared vision of democracy and regional security.

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Latvia will take over NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission

Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Defence

01/09/2024

In Latvia NATO

Information prepared by Media Relations Section

Latvia will gradually take over NATO Baltic Air Policing mission from 9 January while Amari Air Base of Estonian Defence Forces undergoes reconstruction and infrastructure upgrades.

German troops and military aircraft will soon be relocated to Latvia for test flights, and Lielvarde Air Base of National Armed Forces of Latvia will welcome the nine-month rotation of Baltic Air Policing Mission on 1 March.

NATO Air Policing capability was initially established at Siauliai Air Base (Lithuania) in 2004, while second Air Policing presence was established at Amari Air Base (Estonia) in 2014. This will be the first mission rotation to Latvia.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are hosting Baltic Air Policing mission rotations since March of 2004 when all three countries joined NATO and became full-fledged members of the Alliance.

Since the start of full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, on top of regular duties, such as detection of Baltic airspace violations by Russian military aircraft, allied fighter planes assigned to Baltic Air Policing mission have also begun patrolling near the border between Baltic countries and Russia and Belarus.

After Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, NATO decided to reinforce its airspace defence as well as the presence of troops and fighter jets.

Attention!

Allied fighter jets will start flying over Latvia more frequently very soon. This will mean more regular sound disturbance and plane sightings. We highly appreciate the public support we have received as we continue to develop national defence capabilities. If you do not want to miss updates on how we do it, please follow us on social media pages of the Ministry of Defence, National Armed Forces and "Esmu karavirs/Soldier's Duty".

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Critical Air Force Base infrastructure developed: new helicopter hangar has been unveiled

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2024-01-09

Acquisitions and infrastructure development

Today, January 9, a newly built helicopter hangar has been unveiled in the Lithuanian Air Force Base at Siauliai. It will be used to park helicopters, carry out maintenance and technical service, while the administrative-purpose building will have offices.

"More and more Allies deploy to Lithuania, the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states is strengthened, we aim to implement the Rotational NATO Air Defence Model with the Allies. It all makes military infrastructure development at the Air Base a particularly relevant component of strengthening deterrence and defence. The military infrastructure developed here is among the most critical long-term priorities not just to Lithuania but also to NATO," Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anusauskas said inaugurating the new structure.

"Proper development of infrastructure at the Air Force Base is critical to Lithuania. It is necessary to be able to ensure a proper Lithuania's airlift capability. Moreover, the Lithuanian Air Forces has another important responsibility during peaceful time to carry out search and rescue. On duty 24/7, Air Force helicopters are sent to rescue those in distress at sea, find lost and missing people, transport organs for transplantation, or extinguish fires," said Commander of the Air Forces Col Antanas Matutis.

Over 166 million euros is planned to be invested in the Air Force infrastructure by 2028, approx. 50 million will be provided by NATO. The investment will total to approx. EUR 66 million as soon as 2023-2024, 60% of it will come from the NATO Security Investment Programme.

A new hangar for maintenance and parking of the Black Hawk helicopters

The hangar unveiled Tuesday has been built for parking and maintaining the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters the first two of which are expected to be delivered to Lithuania in 2025 and the other two in 2026. Two pilots and 10 maintenance experts were trained last year for the specific type of helicopter with another 8 pilots and 8 more technicians to be ready over this year.

Lithuania has purchased the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on the basis of the contract signed in 2020 by the ministry of National Defence and the United States Department of Defence, the document covers the procurement of four helicopters, auxiliary equipment, spare parts, and training, repair and logistical support package. The purchased helicopters are currently upgraded at a modification factory in Huntsville, Alabama.

The UH-60M Black Hawk are medium-sized, fast, maneuverable and efficient, among the most versatile of the type. The purchase will not only significantly enhance the combat power of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and ensure quality training but will also support peacetime missions quicker and with more precision.

The new hangar has installed spaces for aviation equipment, weaponry, mechanical equipment and engine maintenance, storage of aviation oil and fluids, rescue equipment and more. There is a compressed air system in the hangar area and all component maintenance areas.

The helicopter space takes up nearly 2 thousand square meters of the total nearly 2.5 thousand square meters, the administrative corps is over 500 square meters. The approx. 3.6 million euros worth project was carried out by Tilta UAB and finished last December.

Start of long-term Air Base infrastructure development

The taxiway and apron reconstruction at the Air Base is halfway through and expected to be finished in 2024. The current platform will be expanded with an engine testing area for E-3A AWACS. A shed for fire equipment is in design phase: the construction will be located right in the centre part of the runway to ensure to fire engines the quickest possible access to any part of the runway. The first phase of airfield perimeter fencing reconstruction is planned to be finished and a shelter on the auxiliary runway this year as well.

Major part of the constructions partly financed from NATO funds are planned to be completed in 2024 too. Those include parking aprons, cargo terminal. The projects important to NATO Allies as well are planned to be finished by 2025 along with the second phase of the airfield perimeter fencing and helicopter parking area.

Multipurpose hangars for additional NATO aircraft deployed on the Air Policing Mission and Lithuanian C-27J Spartans, a training corps and aprons for hosting Allied capabilities, as well as the third phase of the perimeter fencing and other works are planned to be completed by 2026.

The complex infrastructure development at the Air Base will enhance the operation of the entire Lithuanian military airport in arranging and implementing different air operations and military and peacetime tasks with the Allies.

A territory decontaminated in Zokniai

The largest area decontamination project in Lithuania carried out on EU financing (2020-2023) was completed last year. It cleared a 13 ha territory in Zokniai of oil product contamination left behind by the Soviet army. Half of the area is in the responsibility of Siauliai City Council, the other belongs to the Air Force Base.

The project was implemented by the Lithuanian Armed Forces in collaboration with Siauliai City Council. It is worth EUR 2 million 95% of which is provided from EU funds.

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Even an indefinite war won't annihilate resistance: Islamic Jihad

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 9:08 PM

The Palestinian resistance movement of Islamic Jihad says the Israeli regime will never be able to realize its goal of eliminating resistance groups from the Gaza Strip no matter how much it prolongs its ongoing war against the Palestinian territory.

"The enemy's declared goal of annihilating the resistance will not be achieved, even if the war continues indefinitely," Abu Hamza, a spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said in a video message on Tuesday.

The regime began the war on October 7 following an operation staged by Gaza's resistance groups against the occupied territories, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.

Around 23,210 people, most of them women and children, have died in the brutal military onslaught so far.

Aside from trying to eliminate Gaza's resistance movements, the regime has been seeking to bring about forced displacement of the territory's 2.3-million-strong population to neighboring countries.

Abu Hamza, however, asserted, "The Palestinian people and their resistance are stronger and greater than the desperate attempts at liquidation."

The spokesman said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on whose orders the war is being waged, was "selling illusions and mirages" to Israeli settlers by promising them "imminent return" to Gaza, from which the Israeli military withdrew in 2005.

"...in the end, Netanyahu will have no choice but to submit to what the battlefield dictates and go, reluctantly and submissively, to his resounding historical defeat...," Abu Hamza remarked.

"Perhaps the most significant achievement of the enemy's army is its expertise in destroying stone and humans with tons of American explosives, which exposed the hypocrisy of the world and those who claim to believe in human rights," he noted.

The United States, Israel's biggest ally, has been providing the regime with unbridled military support since the onset of the war, arming Tel Aviv with more than 10,000 tons of military hardware.

Washington has also torpedoed the prospect of cessation of the Israeli aggression by stonewalling ratification of all United Nations Security Council resolutions that have called for the realization of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The Palestinian official, meanwhile, said the resistance's achievements were "far greater" than what has been caught on camera by its fighters.

Enumerating the resistance's most recent gains, Abu Hamza announced that the resistance's fighters had downed an Israeli "intelligence aircraft" and gleaned important information from it.

He also said the fighters had managed to launch several attacks against hostile vehicles and kill an Israeli special force member.

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Iraq's anti-terror Kata'ib Hezbollah warns US, Israel against attacks on Lebanon, Yemen

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 7:15 PM

Iraq's anti-terror group Kata'ib Hezbollah has underscored the unity of the resistance front in the face of US-Israeli plots in West Asia, warning against any attacks on Yemen, Lebanon and other Muslim countries across the region.

Jafar al-Hussaini, spokesman for Kata'ib Hezbollah movement, made the remark in an interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network on Tuesday as he pointed to the enhanced unity and cohesion among the Axis of Resistance in the wake of October 7 Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation by Palestinian resistance groups against Israel in decades.

"After the al-Aqsa Storm, the Zionist-American enemy will no longer be able to fight alone against a country or a group. The Axis of Resistance is very coherent and has a clear vision and a clear role," Hussaini said.

"If the enemy thinks of any foolishness against Lebanon, the Iraqis will be present on the field in numbers and equipment," he added. "We will not allow Israel or others to attack any country from the Axis of Resistance or Islamic countries. In case of any attack on Yemen, the attacks on Americans and their allies will be unlimited."

Referring to the months-long resistance of Palestinians against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, the spokesman for Kata'ib Hezbollah warned that the anti-terror Iraqi group would continue with its strikes on the occupied territories.

"What is important for us now is to stop the occupying regime's massacres against our brothers in Palestine and to lift their siege. The destruction of the enemy's strongholds and interests in the region will not stop if the aggression does not stop in Gaza," Hussaini said.

The spokesman also pointed to the major Iraqi resistance group's combat readiness and its support for Palestinians in the besieged territory since the Israeli aggression started more than three months ago.

"After the Al-Aqsa storm, the relationship with the Palestinian resistance deepened. The capabilities of the Islamic resistance in Iraq are far beyond the imagination of the enemy," he said.

"Iraq's Islamic Resistance has targeted critical targets in the occupying regime with drones. The resistance used a cruise missile that was built for the first time and hit a vital target in Haifa," he added, pointing to the weekend Iraqi attacks on the port city in the northwestern part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

During his interview with al-Mayadeen, Hussaini also announced the expansion of the resistance front to other areas across the region and the world.

"During the coming years and decade, the scope of this axis will expand and reach East Asia and some Caucasus countries," he said. "Our battle with the Americans continues and will not stop after the end of al-Aqsa Storm."

The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's atrocities against Palestinians.

The relentless military campaign has killed more than 23,000 people, most of them children and women. Nearly 59,000 Palestinians have also been wounded.

The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a "complete siege" on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

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Israel approves plan to build 700 new settler units in occupied al-Quds

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 6:47 PM

Israeli authorities have approved a project to build about 700 new settler units in occupied East al-Quds despite the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime's land grab policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Ir Amim, an Israeli watchdog group that tracks settlements, said in a statement on Tuesday that the regime had published its approval of the Givat Shaked settlement plan for 695 housing units on lands in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa.

"This joins a spate of settlement advancements in East al-Quds since October 7, including several plan approvals and publication of tenders," it said in a statement.

The regime in recent months has also stepped up demolishing the homes of Palestinians "suspected of carrying out attacks" on Israelis.

The latest approval comes as the Israeli regime and extremist settlers have stepped up violent attacks on Palestinians and settlement activities.

Israel has ramped up its aggression against Palestinians across the West Bank since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands of others injured by Israeli settlers or troops across the occupied territory since the onset of the war.

Israel's war to "root out" Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in the aftermath of the latter's October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, which killed more than 23,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip, is no longer confined to the besieged territory.

While all eyes are on Gaza, the Israeli regime has been tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank, carrying out deadly attacks and raids on residential areas and hospitals.

Palestinians in the West Bank are now facing death and widespread displacement.

In the most recent indent of violence on Tuesday, Israeli forces killed three more Palestinians during a fresh raid on the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.

The victims, all in their 20s, were killed after the regime's troops raided their house in the Aktaba suburb of the city.

A video footage has emerged showing Israeli forces driving a military vehicle over a Palestinian victim after he was injured.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli troops prevented their vehicles from reaching the victims. They also kidnapped an injured Palestinian.

A general strike had been announced in Tulkarm on Tuesday. Another Palestinian was also shot dead by Israeli occupation forces north of Ramallah.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed some 340 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7. They have also abducted more than 4,500 Palestinians since then.

Emboldened by the US's all-out support, Israel in recent years stepped up its illegal settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds "a flagrant violation under international law."

Much of the international community regards the Israeli settler units in the occupied lands as illegal.

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Hezbollah launches new wave of attacks on Israeli targets, hits military base

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 5:07 PM

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has launched a new wave of attacks on Israeli targets as part of its efforts to force the regime to end its brutal aggression on Palestinians in Gaza.

Media reports on Tuesday said that Hezbollah had fired missiles on Israeli settlements located in the north of the occupied territories.

Informed sources said some of the missiles had evaded the Israeli anti-missile systems, hitting targets in several settlements.

Hezbollah issued a statement, saying it had used missiles to target a gathering of Israeli military forces in an area near the Adamit military base across Lebanon's border with the Israeli-occupied territories, adding that the missiles had directly hit the targets.

The resistance group said in a separate statement that it had struck other military targets in the north of the Israeli-occupied territories as well.

The Israeli regime responded by launching airstrikes and shelling areas in southeastern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in a report that almost half of the houses in Menara settlement in al-Jalil region had been partially or completely damaged as a result of attacks by Hezbollah's guided missiles.

Hezbollah has intensified its attacks on Israeli targets after a drone strike killed a senior leader of the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas in Beirut last week.

Tuesday's attacks marked a fresh escalation in the cross-border trading of fire between Hezbollah and Israel. They came a day after Israelis killed senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan al-Tawil in an airstrike targeting his vehicle in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it used a drone to hit Israel's northern command military base in Safed, apparently a response to the assassination of Wissam Hassan and Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri.

The Israeli military did not specify exactly where the base was located. It only claimed no damage was caused to one of its army bases in northern Israel.

The confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 8, a day after Israel launched bloody aggression on Gaza in response to an unprecedented Hamas operation that killed some 1,200 Israeli settlers and military forces.

Hezbollah and other groups in Arab countries say they will continue to target Israeli and US interests in the region to force them to end the aggression that has left more than 23,000 people dead in Gaza.

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Egypt says Israel pushing towards forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 4:41 PM

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has said that all steps taken by Israel are aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians, as the regime presses ahead with its months-long brutal aggression on the besieged strip.

"All the steps that are being taken (by Israel) are to push towards displacement," the top Egyptian diplomat said while speaking at a news conference in Cairo with his German counterpart on Tuesday.

"We are under the illusion that efforts are being made to prevent displacement, but we have not seen real efforts to prevent displacement," Shoukry stated.

Shoukry also blamed the slow and limited entry of aid into Gaza on Israeli inspections.

A document leaked from Israel's intelligence ministry and published by WikiLeaks earlier revealed the Israeli regime had plans to force Palestinians living in the besieged territory to relocate to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

WikiLeaks said the document had been issued by Israel's ministry of intelligence on October 13, nearly a week after the regime launched a brutal military campaign against Gaza.

The document showed that the Israeli officials were in favor of forced displacement of civilians from Gaza to North Sinai because of the "positive and long term strategic results" the strategy could entail.

The advisory document said forced displacement of people from Gaza to Sinai could take place in three stages in which tent cities are built in the desert region before a humanitarian corridor is opened to allow the Gazans flee from a territory which is under attacks and a siege by Israel.

A final stage of the plan would entail construction of cities in North Sinai to prevent a return of the displaced Palestinians to Gaza.

Arab countries have previously warned that an influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing the war would be unacceptable because it would amount to the expulsion of Palestinians from their land.

Also in October, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart said that the ultimate goal behind the Israeli regime's bloody attacks against the besieged Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank was to force Palestinian people to leave their motherland.

Shoukry for his part, back then had said his country was opposed to the further spread of the war, arguing that the Palestinian nation must remain in its own land.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Tuesday, the top Egyptian diplomat noted that the immediate priority was to get a ceasefire for other political and humanitarian issues to be resolved, including the release of Israeli captives and the entry of aid into Gaza.

Israel began the war on Gaza on October 7, following Operation al-Aqsa Storm, which was launched by Gaza-based Palestinian resistance groups in response to the regime's campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinian people.

More than three months into the Israeli genocide in Gaza; the regime keeps pounding the blockaded territory with airstrikes and artillery fire.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says the Israeli regime has committed 12 massacres throughout the besieged territory so far on Tuesday. It says at least 126 Palestinians have been killed and 241 others wounded as a result.

The situation also remains tense at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza where hundreds of patients and healthcare staff went missing on Monday.

At least nine Israeli soldiers were killed and several more injured in the Gaza Strip as Palestinian fighters put up stiff resistance against invading forces.

The overall death toll from the US-managed Israeli genocide in Gaza has now reached 23,210, mostly women and children. Some two million people have also been displaced.

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Israel kills three Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon in yet another escalation

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 3:49 PM

Three members of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah have been assassinated in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese media reports said the fatalities took place on Tuesday after the occupation drones targeted a vehicle in the southern town of Ghandouriyeh, in Bint Jbeil District.

The three Hezbollah members were identified as Issa Ali Nour al-Din, Mohammed Sharif Al-Sayyed Nasser and Hassan Abdel Hussein Ismail.

The Lebanese resistance movement confirmed the Israeli assassination of its three members in separate statements.

Lebanese media reported that four people were injured in another drone strike by the Israeli regime in the town of Khirbet Selm in Bint Jbeil district on Tuesday before the funeral ceremony of top Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in the same area a day earlier.

The 58-year-old commander served with Hezbollah's elite Radwan ground force.

Saleh al-Arouri, a senior official in the politburo of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, was also killed on January 2 in a "treacherous Zionist strike" on Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah launched drone strikes against the headquarters of the Israeli military's Northern Command in response to the regime's assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah officials.

Hezbollah also on Saturday hit an Israeli aerial surveillance base with 62 missiles in its first response to Tel Aviv's assassination of Arouri, the deputy political leader of Hamas.

The Lebanese resistance movement has already warned the regime of the consequences of further escalation in the region following its relentless bombardment of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past 95 days.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory's Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

The Israeli military has also been carrying out attacks against the Lebanese territory since then, prompting retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

Israel's brutal aggression against Gaza has killed at least 23,210 people, most of them women and children. More than 59,100 individuals have also been wounded.

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Israel failed to achieve war goals in Gaza, revealed its 'murderous' nature to world: Hamas leader Haniyeh

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 1:39 PM

The head of the political bureau of Hamas says Israel has failed to achieve any of its goals after nearly 100 days of a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, stressing that the occupying regime has only exposed its "bloodthirsty and murderous " nature to the entire world after committing all kinds of massacre in the besieged territory.

Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks at the conference of the International Union of Muslim Scholars in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday, noting that the "steadfastness" of Gaza's population had prevented Israel from achieving its goals.

"The declared goals of the war on Gaza are to eliminate the Hamas Movement, have their captives back and carry out the displacement plan," Haniyeh said.

"I tell you that the enemy, despite the destruction and massacres, has failed to achieve any of the goals of the war," he added.

The Hamas chief further emphasized that the resistance movement cannot be eliminated because it exists across the homeland and abroad as well as in the conscience of the Muslim Ummah and the world's free people.

Haniyeh went on to say that after about 100 days, the Israeli regime had failed to release a single captive from Gaza, adding that the only way for the return of the Israeli captives to their homes alive is to release all the Palestinian prisoners.

He also hailed the resistance front in Gaza as "strong, cohesive and promising," asserting that it can fight a long battle against the occupation.

The Hamas chief further denounced as "dangerous and massive" Israel's brutal aggression in the occupied West Bank, affirming that 350 Palestinians had been killed there since Operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" started in early October.

The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's atrocities against Palestinians.

The relentless military campaign has killed more than 23,084 people, most of them children and women. At least 58,926 Palestinians have also been wounded.

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Israel names judge who 'legitimized occupation' for ICJ genocide case

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 11:12 AM

Israel has selected a judge who "legitimized occupation" and defended the killing of children in Gaza, to represent it in the genocide case filed by South Africa against the occupying regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its ongoing war in the besieged strip.

Aharon Barak's appointment to the ICJ panel was personally approved by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a report by Israel's Channel 12.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the appointment of Barak, who is known for his strong opposition to Netanyahu's controversial "judicial overhaul" plan, comes as an attempt to "whitewash" its crimes in Gaza.

"For many, many years, and particularly since the massive demonstrations against the judicial coup alone, Barak has become the symbol of liberal democracy in Israel," Orly Noy, chair of B'Tselem, told Middle East Eye on Monday.

"Now, Israel is sending that symbol of the so-called democratic Israel to whitewash its crimes against Palestinians in Gaza."

Researchers and commentators have already questioned Barak's alleged liberal and democratic credentials, citing his decades-long approach to cases involving abuses against Palestinians.

Nimer Sultany, an academic in public law at Soas University in London, said "Barak's record as a former chief justice of Israel's Supreme Court is not liberal in any convincing way when one considers his rulings regarding Palestinians, whether Israeli citizens or residents in the occupied territories."

"His rulings compromised equality, affirmed the ethnocratic character of [Isarel], and perpetuated the inferiority of non-Jewish citizens," Sultany told MEE.

"[Barak] is the most suitable man for the job because this is exactly the thing to which he dedicated his entire professional life: legitimizing the crimes of Israel and the occupation...while preserving the facade of the Israeli democracy," Noy said.

Noy was referring to the legitimization of constructing a separation wall through the occupied West Bank, seizing land in the West Bank to serve Israeli settlers, and targeted assassinations carried out by the Israeli military.

Barak has also defended the killing of children in Israel's ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

"It may be proportional to kill five innocent kids in order to target their leader," Barak told The Globe and Mail in November.

He also defended the cutting of fuel to the besieged Strip, saying that it may have been used by Palestinian resistance fighters.

"I agree totally with what the government is doing," he said.

Sultany said the comments suggested that Barak had "formed an opinion that denies that Israel has violated international law despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary."

According to South Africa's application, Israel's actions in Gaza were "genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group."

The two parties to the case are allowed to nominate a judge to take part in the hearings that will begin later this week, in addition to the 15 judges on the permanent panel at the Hague-based court.

"It remains to be seen if he chooses to act as an attorney for Israel or as an impartial judge who considers the facts and the relevant law," Sultany said.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of violence against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 23,084 Palestinians and injured more than 58,926 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under "complete siege" by Israel.

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Leader: US, Israel vassals 'hamstrung' by resistance of Palestinians in Gaza

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 9:08 AM

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the resistance of Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has frustrated the United States and Israel.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting with thousands of people from Qom on Tuesday, marking the anniversary of the 1978 popular uprising in the holy city against the former US-backed Pahlavi regime.

He said that a limited number of people in a limited area of land called the Gaza Strip managed to frustrate the United States and its vassal the Zionist regime.

The Leader emphasized that in the case of Gaza, predictions about the victory of the Palestinian resistance and the defeat of the "evil Zionist regime" are coming true.

The crimes that Israel is committing against the Palestinians will be recorded in history even after the regime is wiped off the face of the earth, he asserted .

Additionally, he noted, it will not be forgotten that the patience of the Palestinian people and their resilience forced the occupying regime to retreat.

"The Zionist regime has not achieved any of its objectives after committing nearly a hundred days of crimes. What does defeat mean? That's what defeat means. They said we will destroy Hamas, but they failed. They said we will transfer the people of Gaza, but they failed. They said we will stop the actions of the resistance, but they failed," Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

"The resistance is alive, fresh and ready, [while] the regime is tired, humiliated and regretful with a criminal stamp on its forehead. This is the situation that exists today. It bears a lesson."

'Iran will stamp-out perpetrators of Kerman carnage'

He also vowed a harsh response to the recent Daesh terrorist attack in the city of Kerman which killed 93 people.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the "sorrowful and disastrous" tragedy afflicted the nation and that the Islamic Republic insists on "finding and cracking down on the real and behind-the-scene perpetrators of the incident."

The Leader also said the enemies of the Islamic Revolution, the US, world powers and Zionists are pursuing a strategic policy that is the people's non-participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, saying they want to "drag people out of the field of fighting, competition and battle."

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Jan. 8: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 9:06 AM

By Press TV Website Staff

Resistance groups in Palestine and across the region continue their operations against Israel and its Western backers amid the regime's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed the lives of more than 23,000 Palestinians so far, mostly children and women.

The operations carried out by the Palestinian and regional resistance groups on Monday, January 8, are as follows:

Qassam Brigades' operations on Jan. 8:

Shot dead an Israeli soldier with a Qassam 'Ghoul' rifle, east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Launched a barrage of rockets at the heart of Tel Aviv, the video of which was shared online.

Foiled an Israeli attempt to liberate a prisoner in the Bureij camp. The regime forces were confronted, which was followed by clashes, leading to casualties in the Israeli camp.

Targeted a Merkava tank with an 'Al-Yassin 105' shell in the city of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.

Targeted an Israeli special forces unit inside a house in Khan Yunis city with an anti-personnel shell, killing and wounding many members of the force.

Detonated an anti-personnel device 'Ra'adiya' among an Israeli force and engaged in clashes with machine guns inside a school in Khan Yunis.

Target an Israeli special forces unit inside a school in Khan Yunis with an 'Al-Yassin 105' shell, which was followed by clashes involving machine guns, resulting in many deaths and injuries.

Targeted an Israeli 'Puma' troop carrier belonging to the Engineering Corps in the Al-Karama area, northwest of Gaza City, with an 'Al-Yassin 105' shell, killing two soldiers.

Hezbollah's operations on Jan. 8:

Eastern sector:

At around 11:40 local time, the Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in Shebaa was targeted with appropriate weapons.

At around 15:35 local time, the Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in Shebaa was again targeted with a missile.

Western sector:

At around 11:00 local time, the Hadab Al-Bustan site was targeted with appropriate weapons.

At around 15:45 local time, Israeli soldiers in Shtoula were targeted with appropriate weapons.

At around 16:00 local time, Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Jal al-Alam site were targeted with a missile.

Iraqi resistance's operations on Jan. 8:

Attacked the occupied Rmelan military base in Syria, using drones, causing casualties and destruction.

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Iran slams US , Israel for diverting attention from 'root causes' of Red Sea situation

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 7:46 AM

Iran's permanent ambassador to the United Nations rejected US's "unfounded allegations" against Iran concerning Yemen's pro-Palestine operations in the Red Sea, slamming it as a bid to divert attention from "root causes" of the situation in the key maritime waterway.

Amir Saeid Iravani said in a social media post on Tuesday that any US "adventurism" in the Red Sea could "endanger regional peace."

Iran "issues a stern warning against any US adventurism that could endanger regional peace," the Islamic Republic's mission to the UN said.

He warned that the allegations were aimed at diverting "international attention away from the root causes of the current situation in the Red Sea."

In the letter, the Iranian envoy reaffirmed Tehran's commitment to maritime security and freedom of navigation, and rejected "unfounded allegations" made by the US and Israel at a UNSC open briefing on the situation in the Red Sea held last Wednesday.

"The allegations are unsubstantiated and lack evidence. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always placed great importance on maritime security and freedom of navigation and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding its international obligations and maintaining peace and security in the region," the letter read.

That came as US deputy ambassador Christopher Lu urged the UNSC during the Wednesday meeting to take action against Yemen over its pro-Palestine operations that have targeted Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, and accused Iran of being "deeply involved in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea."

Iravani dismissed the claims as "baseless accusations."

The letter added that the recent incidents in the Red Sea came in response to the Israel's US-backed "genocidal war" in the Gaza Strip and the occupying regime's crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank.

It urged the UN Security Council "to uphold its responsibilities to address the causes of the current situation in the Red Sea" and take decisive measures to "compel" the Israeli regime to end its brutal war on Gaza.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 23,084 Palestinians, which is about one percent of the Gaza population, and injured more than 58,926 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under "complete siege" by Israel.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.

In November, they seized the Israel-leased cargo ship Galaxy Leader and turned it into a tourist attraction.

The US has formed a multinational military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, a spokesman for Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement, said that the US should realize that the militarization of the Red Sea will not prevent Yemen from supporting the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

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Pure blood of Gazans will hasten Israel's downfall: Iran Army chief

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 6:30 AM

The chief commander of the Iranian Army says Israel is shedding the blood of innocent Palestinians to make up for its "humiliating defeat" in the Gaza war, warning that the atrocities will only speed up the regime's demise.

Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi made the remarks on Tuesday, as 95 days of bloody aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip has brought no success for the occupying entity.

"Under the support of the US and other Western countries, the illegitimate Zionist regime is taking revenge on unarmed and defenseless children, women and civilians for its heavy and historic defeat at the hands of Hamas," he said, referring to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance group.

"Of course, nothing will make up for its (Israel's) humiliating defeat. The pure blood [of the Palestinian people] will hasten the downfall of the Zionist apartheid regime."

Israel waged the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after Hamas carried out an unprecedented operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 23,084 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 58,926 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in the Gaza Strip, which is under "complete siege" by Israel.

Kerman carnage committed by those 'not capable of fighting'

Referring to the recent terrorist bomb attacks in the Iranian city of Kerman, Mousavi said it was carried out by "the black-hearted who are not capable of fighting in the field."

On Wednesday, 91 people were killed and hundreds injured in two explosions near the burial site of Iran's late anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani during a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of his assassination by the US. The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings.

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World should not allow Netanyahu to drag region into wider war: Jordan

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 09 January 2024 1:39 AM

Jordan's foreign minister says the international community should not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose regime is waging a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, to drag the region into a wider war.

Ayman Safadi made the remarks in a Monday phone call with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna.

He told France's top diplomat that the threat of further spread of the war to other parts of the region is "rising by the day," as Israel continues to wreak "death and destruction in Gaza."

The regime started its brutal military onslaught against the coastal territory following Operation al-Aqsa Storm by Gaza's resistance movements. More than 23,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed and nearly 59,000 others injured so far.

Since the onset of Israel's military aggression against Gaza, the regime has been also launching deadly attacks against Lebanon, which have evoked strong retaliatory responses from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement.

Meanwhile, Iraqi and Yemeni resistance groups have been staging retaliatory strikes against Israeli targets to force the Tel Aviv regime to stop both its military aggression and a simultaneous siege that it has been imposing on Gaza.

A wider war would only "doom the region to more conflict and destruction," Jordan's top diplomat said, asserting, "Israel's aggression against Gaza has exceeded all the human, legal, and moral limits."

Stating that the far-right Israeli regime seeks to get the West directly involved in a regional war in West Asa, Safadi said there is no longer any pretext to prevent the United Nations Security Council from adopting a mandatory resolution to end the war.

The Jordanian minister said the Security Council's failure so far to impose a ceasefire in Gaza "reflects double standards and a selective application of international law."

The United States, Israel's biggest ally, has torpedoed the prospect of cessation of the Israeli aggression by stonewalling ratification of all Security Council resolutions that called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Washington has been also providing Tel Aviv with unbridled military support, arming Israel with more than 10,000 tons of military hardware.

"Israeli war creating generation of orphans"

In another development also on Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah denounced the Israeli regime's "brutal war" on Gaza saying, "More children have died in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world this past year."

"Of those who have survived, many have lost one or both parents, an entire generation of orphans," he added.

The Jordanian king asserted that Israel's "indiscriminate aggression" against the Gaza Strip would never guarantee its security.

"How can indiscriminate aggression and shelling bring peace? How can they guarantee security when they are built on hatred?" Abdullah said as he was visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda.

Rwanda's experience, he added, "teaches us we must fight the dehumanizing rhetoric that fuels conflict."

"Your story can be a beacon for us all [by showing everybody] how the people of this country took action after this unspeakable crime of crimes and worked towards reconciliation to heal old wounds and prevent genocide from happening again," Jordan's king said.

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Chinese 'monster' ship patrols near Vietnam's oil fields

World's largest coast guard vessel has been patrolling near the contentious Vanguard Bank in the South China Sea.

By RFA Staff 2024.01.09 -- Chinese coast guard ship 5901, dubbed "The Monster" for its size, has been near Vietnam's oil exploration blocks at Vanguard Bank in the South China Sea since early December, Radio Free Asia has learned.

The CCG 5901 has "conducted an intrusive patrol of Vietnam's oil and gas fields west of Vanguard Bank," said Ray Powell, director of the U.S.-based SeaLight project, who was the first to spot the latest movement of the vessel in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

An EEZ gives a state exclusive access to the natural resources in the waters and in the seabed.

Data obtained by RFA from tracking website MarineTraffic show the CCG 5901 (formerly known as Zhong Guoa Hai Jing 3901) has weaved an on-and-off pattern west of the Vanguard Bank, where Vietnam has some oil exploration projects, since at least Dec. 9, 2023.

MarineTraffic uses AIS (automatic information system) signals that ships are obliged to transmit for safety reasons to track them.

The Chinese ship has mostly been running "dark", or not broadcasting AIS, since departing Sanya, Hainan, on Nov. 14, 2023, according to Powell.

"This frequent practice violates the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, of which China is a signatory," he added.

The last time the CCG 5901 turned on its AIS was on Jan. 7, 2024 at around 8:20 a.m. UTC. The ship was about 50 nautical miles (92.6km) southwest of Vanguard Bank. Several Vietnamese fishery patrol vessels were seen tailing the Chinese ship.

The Chinese ship's AIS was also activated on Dec. 9 and Dec. 29, 2023.

The 12,000-ton CCG 5901 is double the size of a U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and is also bigger than an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

The coast guard ship, armed with heavy machine guns, also has a helicopter platform and a hangar large enough to accommodate larger rotary wing aircraft.

Shared future

Vanguard Bank, called Bai Tu Chinh in Vietnamese, is an important site of Vietnamese oil and gas development where Vietnam and some foreign partners carry out oil and gas exploration.

It is also a known flashpoint between Vietnam and China - their law enforcement vessels confronted each other in July 2019 in one of the worst maritime standoffs in the South China Sea between them in recent years.

Chinese coast guard vessels maintain a frequent presence near the Vanguard Bank (Wan'an Tan in Chinese) - a submerged formation that lies entirely within Vietnam's EEZ.

China is among the six parties that hold claims over the South China Sea but Beijing's claim is by far the largest, covering almost 90% of the sea.

"The [incursion] is not new but it happens right after Vietnam and China agreed to build a 'Community with a Shared Future' during Xi Jinping's visit to Hanoi in December," said Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

The concept of a 'Community with a Shared Future' is China's vision for international relations in the Chinese leader, Xi's Jinping era.

"That shows that essentially the Vietnam-China bilateral relations have not changed and it remains very difficult for the two countries to share a future should China continue pursuing its current claim over nearly-entire South China Sea," Hiep told RFA.

Another Vietnamese political analyst, Nguyen Khac Giang, said that the Chinese coast guard patrols "may be sending a message to not only Vietnam but the broader international community about China's sovereignty in the South China Sea."

"On the other hand, China wants to maintain its pressure to interrupt Vietnam's oil and activities in the area, as well as to push Hanoi to agree to a joint exploration plan with China in the same manner as what it achieved with the Philippines under the Duterte administration," said Giang.

In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed an agreement to explore oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea but the Philippines declared an end to it in June 2022, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took power.

The two countries, however, had agreed 'to resume discussions on oil and gas development" after Marcos visited Beijing in December.

Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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Authorities enforce ban on Tibetan students taking outside classes

Investigations night and day to find offenders.

By Pelbar for Radio Free Asia 2024.01.09 -- Going door-to-door, Chinese authorities are stepping up efforts to enforce a ban on Tibetan children from taking private classes and participating in religious activities during the winter break from school, three sources from inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia.

Authorities are conducting random checks in "residential areas and commercial establishments," the sources said.

In 2021, authorities in various Tibetan-populated provinces began prohibiting Tibetan children from taking informal Tibetan language classes or workshops during their winter holidays, a move that local Tibetans and parents of affected children said would negatively impact the children's connection to their native language.

Earlier this month, the Chinese Education Department issued a notice repeating this ban, said the sources who requested anonymity for safety reasons. The notice orders local authorities to intensify their supervision and investigation of supplementary lessons for Tibetan children and to carry out strict disciplinary action against those violating the rule.

Investigations should be carried out in residential areas and commercial establishments at various times of day and night, said the notice to the local authorities.

Local authorities in Tibet's capital Lhasa, Labrang Monastery in Gansu province and Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province have taken measures to ensure the strict enforcement of the orders from the Education Department, sources from each of these regions told RFA.

On Nov. 30, 2023, Lhasa city authorities issued a notice announcing the winter break for all three levels of schools from Dec. 30 until Feb. 27-29, 2024. The notice detailed the kind of education parents could give their children during the break, as well as the work that teachers would need to do during the holiday period.

No religious education

The notice, as seen by RFA, said parents should not engage in religious education of school children and "must make sure the children are completely free from the influence of religion."

Parents must also ensure Tibetan children "voluntarily distance themselves from places of worship" and that they do not participate in any religious activities, the notice said.

"In addition to random door-to-door investigations, local authorities are also carrying out surveys of the Tibetan children to find out what subjects are being taught to them in their out-of-school courses and where," said the source at Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China's Qinghai province.

The notice from the Education Department said Tibetan children can participate in supplementary classes and workshops taught only by government-authorized individuals and organizations and on subjects approved by the authorities, the sources said.

The notice also includes orders emphasizing the continued ban on Tibetan children's participation in religious activities, they added.

"In the past, there was a strong tradition of providing supplementary, private tuitions to Tibetan children in the fields of Tibetan grammar, religion, math, and storytelling during their winter break," said a source in Xiahe county-based Labrang Monastery - home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

"Now, only a few Chinese government-authorized organizations and individuals who carry out political re-education programs are allowed to give [lessons] to Tibetan students."

The same source also confirmed the stricter enforcement of the ban on the study of the Tibetan language and on Tibetan children participating in religious activities, as China tightens its grip on these practices and ramps up efforts to impose President Xi Jinping's plans for the "Sinicization of religion," or "adaptation of religions to China's socialist society."

"With the prohibition of the study of Tibetan language, both in schools and in out-of-school programs, it has now become increasingly evident that young Tibetan children have lost touch with their native language and identity, a very alarming and concerning development," another source told RFA.

Chinese-only classes

In March 2022, Radio Free Asia reported that Chinese authorities were pushing forward with policies to supplant Tibetan language education in schools with all classes taught only in Chinese, a move that critics have said is aimed at weakening Tibetan children's connection to their national identity and traditional language and culture.

A year earlier, Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Tibet Action Institute released a report saying that hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children between the ages of 4 and 18 were being separated from their families and forced to live in state-run boarding schools, where "teachers only speak in Mandarin and conduct all school curriculum in Mandarin, including nursery rhymes and bedtime stories."

Rights activists have decried the move to completely assimilate the Tibetan children into the Chinese majority and raised fears over its likely long-term implications on the very survival of the Tibetan identity.

According to a September 2023 RFA Investigative report, returning members of the Tibetan diaspora to Chinese-occupied Tibet confirmed they are already seeing the effects of this move in the way their young relatives - who attend boarding schools where the courses are taught only in Mandarin - interact with each other.

Translated by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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U.S. Watchdog Tells Congress No 'Specific' Controls In Place For Afghan Assistance

By RFE/RL January 09, 2024

The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says there are no specific controls in place to ensure funds headed to the war-torn country are not diverted to or misused by the Taliban militants who seized control amid the departure of international troops in August 2021.

In a response to a Congressional request for a report on the Switzerland-based Afghan Fund, SIGAR said in a letter late on January 8 that many questions remain about the situation and its $3.5 billion in funds.

SIGAR said the purpose of the Afghan Fund was to "receive, protect, preserve, and disburse" the assets it holds through Afghanistan's central bank "for the benefit of the Afghan people."

Decisions regarding the disbursement of funds require a unanimous vote of the board of trustees, it added, noting that more than a year after being created, the fund had made no disbursements "for activities intended to benefit the Afghan people."

"Although the fund's unanimous vote requirement could help prevent the fund from engaging in risky activity, there are currently no controls in place that specifically address the issue of Taliban diversion," SIGAR said.

The de facto Taliban government remains largely unrecognized by the international community and has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, particularly against women and girls. It has barred women from working for assistance organizations and has restricted the ability of such organizations to work in the education sector.

A SIGAR quarterly report in October 2023 warned the "the Taliban have effectively infiltrated and influenced most UN-managed assistance programming," raising fears among U.S. lawmakers that the Afghan Fund could suffer a similar fate.

SIGAR said in its letter to Congress that the U.S. Treasury and the State Department will not support transferring the funds back to the central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), in Kabul until it "implements adequate anti-money laundering and countering-terrorist-financing controls."

"The DAB must also demonstrate its independence from political influence and interference, submit to monitoring by a 'reputable' third party, and undergo a third-party needs assessment," it added.

Amid its international isolation because of the Taliban rulers and a severe drought, Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on January 8.

"An estimated 23.7 million people -- more than half of Afghanistan's population -- will require humanitarian assistance to survive in 2024 as the country continues to reel from decades of war and grapple with climate-induced crises, recurrent natural disasters, entrenched poverty, and barriers to women's participation in public life," the report said.

It added that more than $3 billion in "life-saving assistance" will be required in 2024 to avert the crisis.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-sigar-taliban- funds/32767062.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Bosnian Serbs Mark Unconstitutional 'National Day' As U.S. Urges Investigation

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service January 09, 2024

Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, on January 9 celebrated a holiday deemed unconstitutional as the United States called for an investigation into the event amid international warnings about the secessionist policies of the entity's leader, Milorad Dodik.

January 9 marks the date in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs, who opposed an independent Bosnia after the breakup of Yugoslavia, declared their separate state, triggering an interethnic war that claimed more than 100,000 lives and was finally stopped by the U.S.-brokered Dayton accords in late 1995.

Under the Dayton accords, Bosnia has been administered by a central government under a Bosniak and Croat federation and a mostly Serb-populated entity known as Republika Srpska.

The leadership of Republika Srpska persists with celebrations on January 9 despite the Constitutional Court of Bosnia twice having declared the holiday unconstitutional.

Among the participants in a parade held in Banja Luka were members of the Republika Srpska police force, members of the entity's public services, army veterans, and members of the local branch of the Night Wolves motorcycle club, which has close ties with the Kremlin.

Spectators waved Serbian and Russian flags and flags bearing the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian Ambassador to Bosnia Igor Kalabuhov was among the attendees along with Dodik. The delegation from Serbia was led by the president of the National Assembly, Vladimir Orlic. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was absent, but his son, Danilo, attended the events in Banja Luka, capital of the Serbian entity.

In the evening, Belgrade marked January 9 with fireworks and the message "Happy Birthday Republika Srpska!" written on the side of Belgrade Tower and fireworks. Dodik and Vucic agreed to synchronize their fireworks shows at 8:00 p.m. in all cities of Republika Srpska and in Belgrade, Republika Srpska media reported.

The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia strongly objected to the celebrations, warning in a statement on January 9 that the event violated both Bosnia's constitution and the Dayton peace agreement and urged Bosnia's authorities to open an investigation.

"The United States' expectation is that the relevant law enforcement and judicial authorities will investigate any violations of law that occur related to the celebration of the Day of the Republika Srpska on January 9," the statement said.

To reinforce Washington's backing for Bosnia's territorial integrity, two U.S. F-16 warplanes and a tanker aircraft flew over the country on January 8.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) warned in a statement last week that the January 9 celebration "directly contravenes the constitutions of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and of Republika Srpska."

The OSCE also said that the celebration amounted to "an act of discrimination."

Opening the celebration, Dodik announced he was awarding Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with the highest decoration of the Serbian entity.

Dodik said Orban has accepted the highest award of the Republika Srpska.

"It is the pride of Republika Srpska to show its gratitude to the man who is willing to consider and respect us as a political reality," he said. "We have a friend like never before."

Over the past two years, Dodik, who has close relations with Putin, has repeatedly attempted to erode the central Bosnian government's authority and establish parallel institutions to further his longtime threats to divide the country permanently.

Orban has also been a close friend of Putin's and has been at odds with the rest of the EU, voicing his opposition to sanctions against Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine.

With reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-serbs-national-day- celebrations/32766795.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Senior Hezbollah Commander in Southern Lebanon Killed in Israeli Strike - Reports

Sputnik News

20240109

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A senior commander of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah responsible for dozens of drone attacks across northern Israel in recent months has been killed in southern Lebanon as a result of an Israeli airstrike, The Times of Israel newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The individual killed was the commander of Hezbollah's aerial forces in southern Lebanon, Ali Hussein Barji. He was reportedly struck while driving in the town of Kherbet Selem just before the funeral of another senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam al-Tawil.

Later in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Barji's death.

"Today [Tuesday], an IAF aircraft eliminated Ali Hussein Barji, the Commander of the Southern Lebanon Region of Hezbollah's Aerial Unit. Ali led dozens of terror activities against Israel using explosive UAVs and surveillance UAVs against Israel and IDF soldiers. Ali also led the attack against the headquarters of the IDF Northern Command earlier today," the IDF said in a statement.

Before striking at Barji, the Israeli military destroyed "a launch cell belonging to Hezbollah's Aerial Unit which was on its way to launch explosive UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] toward different locations in Israel," the IDF added.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said that it had struck an Israeli military base using drones in retaliation for the recent killings of senior commanders by Israeli forces.

The situation in southern Lebanon deteriorated after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters regularly exchange fire in areas along the border.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip while its fighters breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. As a result, over 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 23,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes, local authorities said.

On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1. Over 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

 Sputnik

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US Forces in Iraq, Syria Attacked 9 Times Since January 4

Sputnik News

20240109

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked nine times since January 4, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.

"Since January 4, there have been nine attacks," Ryder said during a press briefing, when asked about recent attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.

There have been 127 total recent attacks on forces in Iraq and Syria, Ryder said.

Fifty two of the attacks occurred in Iraq and 75 in Syria, Ryder said.

The attacks come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, including the Palestine-Israel conflict and attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants in Yemen.

 Sputnik

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Ecuador President Orders Military to 'Neutralize' Gangs Taking Hostages Across Multiple Cities

Sputnik News

20240109

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared on Tuesday that the country is in a state of internal armed conflict amid the hostage-taking riots in various cities and prisons and designated several organized crime groups as "terrorist organizations."

"I signed a decree declaring an internal armed conflict and identified the following transnational organized criminal groups as terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors," Noboa said on X (formerly Twitter), attaching the text of the decree in the post.

More than 20 groups and organizations are listed in the president's decree as "terrorist."

The president's declaration came moments after reports detailed that a group of armed men had stormed the studio room of the nation's TC Television in Guayaquil, forcibly putting crew members onto the floor as officials sought to quell tensions.

Within minutes, Ecuadorian police revealed on social media that authorities had managed to dispatch special forces to detain the various masked gunmen.

However, the situation has grown increasingly hostile, with reports detailing that armed men have also stormed various public facilities and appeared to take hostages in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito and in the Los Rios province.

Earlier Tuesday, it was reported that explosives had also been detonated in several cities in response to the two-month state of emergency implemented by the Noboa government, which has doubled down on its efforts to clamp down on rampant crime within the country.

The Tuesday development came after local media detailed that some seven police officers had been kidnapped by gangs, and used in recordings to warn that gangs would be retaliating against the state of emergency and crackdown on illicit activity.

In one video cited by media, one of the detained police officers read a message relaying that gangs would be bringing a "war" to the Noboa administration.

"You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war," the officer was filmed saying. It further noted that any individuals found outside after 11 p.m. local time would be killed.

The 60-day state of emergency was further implemented in response to the disappearance of drug cartel leader Adolfo Macias, otherwise known as Fito and considered to be one of Ecuador's most wanted. Macias, who was serving a 34-year sentence, managed to escape from prison.

A manhunt has also been underway for fellow narco boss Fabricio Colon Pico, who escaped from prison the week prior.

 Sputnik

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UK Navy Sends Frigate to Red Sea Amid Increased Houthi Attacks

Sputnik News

20240109

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK navy has sent the HMS Richmond frigate to the Red Sea to contribute to the international mission designed to protect the marine navigation in the region amid a surge in attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on cargo ships in the region, UK Secretary of Defense Grant Shapps said on Tuesday.

"HMS Richmond is on its way to the Red Sea to ensure the UK maintains a formidable presence in the face of attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis. With the US, we'll continue to lead the global response to the crisis and do what is necessary to protect lives and the global economy," Shapps said in a statement on X.

In November 2023, the Houthis announced their intention to attack any ships associated with Israel, urging other countries to recall their crews from the vessels. The Houthis vowed to continue their attacks until Israel ended its military actions in the Gaza Strip.

On December 19, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of a multinational operation to secure the Red Sea, saying that the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles, and Spain would take part in the mission. The Houthis vowed to attack any ships that join the US-led maritime coalition.

 Sputnik

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IDF Says Discovered Largest Hamas's Weapons Production Site Found Since October 7 in Gaza

Sputnik News

20240109

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday that it had discovered the largest weapons production site of Palestinian movement Hamas found since October 7 in the Gaza Strip.

"In recent weeks, the 36th Division has been operating in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip ... Soldiers of the 188th and Golani brigades uncovered several tunnel shafts reaching a depth of approximately 30 meters... The Golani Brigade located the largest weapons production site discovered since the beginning of the war," the IDF said on Telegram.

Israeli soldiers found components for long-range rockets capable of hitting northern Israel, as well as mortar shells, explosives, ammunition, small arms and drones, the statement added.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, while its fighters breached the border, opening fire on the military and civilians. As a result, over 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 23,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes, local authorities said.

On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1.

 Sputnik

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken at a Press Availability

US Department of State

Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

David Kempinski Hotel

Tel Aviv, Israel

January 9, 2024

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good evening.

This is my fourth trip to Israel since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7th, so I'm here just over three months - 95 days - since those attacks occurred.

We know that for the people who were most affected by the attacks and the conflict that's followed, time moves differently.

Immediately before this, I met with the families of hostages being held in Gaza and with hostages who've been released. Several of those families I've now met multiple times. For them, every day, every hour, every minute that they're separated from their loved ones is an eternity.

Time feels different for families in Gaza as well, hundreds of thousands of whom are experiencing acute food insecurity. For the mother or father trying to find something to feed a hungry child, the passage of another day without food is excruciating.

Time also feels different for Israelis and Palestinians whose innocent loved ones have been killed. For them, time often falls into "before" and "after" - the "after" filled with a loss that most of us will never know and cannot fully imagine.

And those are just a few examples of how heavy these 95 days have felt - and continue to feel - for the people most affected by this conflict.

This immense human toll is one of the many reasons that we continue to stand with Israel in ensuring that October 7th can never happen again.

It's also why we're intensely focused on bringing the remaining hostages home, addressing the humanitarian crisis and strengthening protection of civilians in Gaza, and preventing the conflict from spreading.

And it's the reason we're working urgently to forge a path toward lasting peace and security in this region.

We believe the submission against Israel to the International Court of Justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless.

It's particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel - Hamas, Hizballah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran - continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.

On this trip, I came to Israel after meeting with the leaders of Turkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia.

All of those leaders share our concern about the spread of the conflict. All of them are committed to using their influence, using the ties that they have to prevent it from escalating, to deter new fronts from opening.

In addition, all expressed grave concern about the dire humanitarian situation and the number of civilians killed in Gaza.

We know that facing an enemy that embeds itself among civilians - who hides in and fires from schools, from hospitals - makes this incredibly challenging. But the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, is far too high.

Important progress has been made in increasing the amount of aid getting into Gaza, including by opening Kerem Shalom.

Nonetheless, 90 percent of Gaza's population continues to face acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations. For children, the effects of long periods without sufficient food can have lifelong consequences.

As I underscored in our meetings today, more food, more water, more medicine, other essential goods need to get into Gaza. And then once they're in Gaza, they need to get more effectively to the people who need them.

And Israel needs to do everything it can to remove any obstacles from crossings to other parts of Gaza. Improving deconfliction procedures to ensure that the aid can move safely and securely is a critical part of that.

The United Nations is playing an indispensable role in addressing the immense humanitarian needs in Gaza. There is simply no alternative.

UN personnel and other aid workers in Gaza are demonstrating extraordinary courage by continuing to provide lifesaving services in what are extremely challenging conditions.

I spoke last night with the UN's new Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag about all of these efforts that are underway.

Now, Sigrid Kaag is someone I worked very closely with a few years ago, when she led the UN mission that destroyed the Assad regime's chemical weapons in Syria. So, I can say from experience she has what it takes to get this job done.

She has America's full support. She must have Israel's as well.

Today, we also discussed the phased transition of Israel's military campaign in Gaza. We continue to offer our best advice for how Israel can achieve its essential goal of ensuring that October 7th can never be repeated. And we believe Israel has achieved significant progress toward this fundamental objective.

As Israel's campaign moves to a lower-intensity phase in northern Gaza, and as the IDF scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the UN to carry out an assessment mission. It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north.

Now, this is not going to happen overnight. There are serious security, infrastructure, and humanitarian challenges. But the mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome.

In today's meetings I was also crystal clear: Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They must not be pressed to leave Gaza. As I told the prime minister, the United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, and the prime minister reaffirmed to me today that this is not the policy of Israel's government.

We also spoke about the tensions on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, where Hizballah continues to launch daily rocket attacks on Israel. As I told the war cabinet and other senior officials, the United States stands with Israel in ensuring its northern border is secure. We're fully committed to working with Israel to find a diplomatic solution that avoids escalation and allows families to return to their homes, to live securely in northern Israel and also in southern Lebanon.

Finally, we continue to discuss how to build a more durable peace and security for Israel within the region. As I told the prime minister, every partner that I met on this trip said that they're ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence and ensures Israel's security. But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.

These goals are attainable, but only if they're pursued together. This crisis has clarified you can't have one without the other, and you can't achieve either goal without an integrated regional approach.

To make this possible, Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side by side in peace with Israel and as neighbors. And Israel must be - must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively. Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.

The Palestinian Authority also has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance - issues I plan to raise with President Abbas, among others, when we meet tomorrow.

If Israel wants its Arab neighbors to make the tough decisions necessary to help ensure its lasting security, Israeli leaders will have to make hard decisions themselves.

When President Biden addressed the people of Israel days after the October 7th attack, he made a very simple pledge: The United States has Israel's back today, tomorrow, always. The friendship between our nations is truly exceptional. It's our unique bond and America's enduring commitment to the people of Israel that allows - indeed, demands - that we're as forthright as possible in the moments when the stakes are highest, when the choices matter the most. This is one of those moments.

Happy to take some questions.

MR MILLER: The first question goes to Simon Lewis with Reuters.

QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Secretary, the future of the Gaza Strip has been a theme of your trip while you've been visiting regional countries. I wonder today were you able to do any - make any progress on closing the gap between Arab leaders and Israel on specific security, reconstruction, and governance arrangements for Gaza.

And you talked before leaving Saudi Arabia yesterday about the need for a practical pathway to a Palestinian state as part of any efforts towards regional integration, and obviously that's come up today in your meetings with the cabinet. Has Prime Minister Netanyahu changed his mind? Is he still opposed to the creation of a separate Palestinian state, or have you managed to convince him or get any guarantees that this is something that can happen?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So one of the things that I heard very clearly on this trip - these two questions are actually joined - is many countries in the region are really prepared to invest in a number of ways, to invest when the conflict in Gaza is over in its reconstruction, in its security, supporting Palestinians in their governance. But it is essential to them that there also be a clear pathway to the realization of Palestinian political rights and a Palestinian state.

And I think the view that they have expressed is that critical to ending once and for all the cycle of violence that is only going to repeat itself at some point in the future is through the realization of Palestinian political rights. That was a very clear message that I heard everywhere I went, just as I heard, again, a commitment not only to be engaged in the future of Gaza, but also to take the steps necessary, make the commitments necessary, provide the assurances necessary to give Israel confidence in its security. And that's something that's new in recent years and very powerful, which is the willingness, the commitment of many neighboring countries not only to live with Israel in peace but also genuinely to have a region that's more integrated in which everyone can feel secure, including Israel.

So there's a - I think a - also here a potentially powerful opportunity for the future. Now, very difficult to get there, hard to get there; hard decisions, hard choices need to be made in order to get there. But you can see that possibility. I'm not going to speak for the prime minister or anyone in the Israeli Government about their views. I can just share our own, and also share a little bit of what I heard from countries in the region.

MR MILLER: For the next question, Suleiman Maswadeh with Kan News.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for taking questions. I'll do it very fast. The Israeli Government is still refusing to transfer the PA's money, and the Minister of Finance Smotrich said yesterday there are 2 million Nazis in Gaza, and I won't give money to Nazis, just like the U.S. won't give money to al-Qaida. I would like to have your comment on that. And the second question is the cabinet said - the war cabinet said that they are not - they are refusing to let Gazans go back to north Gaza for now. Is that something that you agreed on with your Israeli counterparts? Thank you very much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So first with regard to the Palestinian Authority revenues, these are their revenues. They should have them. They should have them in order to be able to make sure that they can pay their people who are providing essential services, including doing essential work in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority security forces who are playing a very important role in trying to keep peace, security, and stability in the West Bank - something that's profoundly in Israel's interest. So we believe that those revenues should be released to them. Again, their revenues, and being used to do something that's important to Israel.

And when it comes to the future governance of Gaza when the conflict is over, of course people need to be paid. They need to be able to do the work necessary to administer Gaza, to do the other things that will be critical once the conflict ends.

In terms of Palestinians and moving back north in Gaza, as I spoke to earlier, we have an agreement that the UN will now conduct an assessment to determine the conditions necessary for people to be able to move back home. There are a lot of really challenging and important issues to deal with, including things like unexploded ordnance, booby traps, and other explosives that have been left by Hamas; infrastructure questions, proper support - all of those things are going to be evaluated by the United Nations pursuant to this agreement. And then as soon as conditions allow, we want to see people be able to move back to their homes. And we've been very clear about the necessity of doing that when conditions allow, and making sure that if people want to go back, they can go back.

MR MILLER: Will Mauldin with The Wall Street Journal.

QUESTION: Thank you so much. I just wanted to ask about - we've heard some voices among Israeli political leaders talking about the threat of Iran in the region, and of course its proxies, Hizballah and the Houthis, have been active in and around this conflict. And - but you're bringing a message to the region of de-escalation. Was your message of de-escalation heard and agreed with when you spoke to your Israeli counterparts and political leaders today, or - we haven't - certainly haven't seen that in the last few days. There have been strikes on Hizballah that would appear to be an escalation. Do you support that, and is the U.S. and its partners - are they prepared to take a strike against the Houthis because of their continued action in and around the Red Sea? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, Will. One thing that we've heard clearly every place we've gone, including in Israel, is that escalation is in no one's interest. No one's seeking it. No one wants to see other fronts opened in this conflict. And more than that, as I've already shared, we have countries around the region that are using their relationships, using their influence, to try to make sure that that doesn't happen. We had extensive discussions about that today, as we had on other days of this trip. And here we focused particularly on the situation in northern Israel. And it's very clear to me from these conversations a few things.

First, we strongly support the proposition that Israelis need to know security so that they can return to their homes in northern Israel. Eighty-thousand or so Israelis have been forced from their homes because of insecurity from - coming from southern Lebanon, the rocket attacks, other threats posed by Hizballah. Equally, we believe - and the Government of Israel believes - that a diplomatic path is the best way to achieve that security, and that's exactly what we'll continue to pursue. It's what the government said today, and that's what we're focused on.

More broadly, we have - you're right - a number of actions being taken by the Houthis, by other Iranian proxies in Iraq, in Syria, that threaten stability and threaten the potential for conflict. And we're determined, again, that we not see escalation, that we don't have the conflict spread, and we've made that very clear. But, of course, if our personnel, if our forces are threatened or attacked, we'll take appropriate steps. We'll respond. We'll protect them. We've demonstrated that in the recent past, and we will again if we have to. We talked already about the threat that the Houthis are posing. That's a threat not to us - just to us or to Israel; it's a threat to the entire international community because they've been attacking shipping through the Red Sea that's vital to providing - it provides about 15 percent of global commerce every day.

These attacks have had very, very negative affects for countries around the world in terms of forcing ships to route around the Red Sea - take longer routes, more expensive, more time, insurance rates goes up; prices for food, for medicine, for energy, for whatever's being shipped are going up. And more broadly, it's a threat to the principle of freedom of navigation that every country has a stake in. That's why more than 40 countries joined us in condemning the Houthi actions. That's why other countries have joined us in making clear that if this continues, there are going to be consequences.

But no one was looking to create a conflict or to escalate a conflict. On the contrary, we're seeking to prevent that from happening, but we also have to uphold basic principles of international law, including freedom of navigation - and we have to make sure that our own personnel when they're under threat are being protected.

QUESTION: You said there are going to be consequences. Does that mean there has been a decision by the U.S. or its partners to take action?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Look, I'm not going to speculate on what will happen in the future. We just want to make clear that if these actions by the Houthis continues, there will be consequences. I'm not going to say anything beyond that.

MR MILLER: For the final question, Walid Al-Omari with Al Jazeera.

QUESTION: Thank you. Walid Al-Omari, Al Jazeera bureau chief in Jerusalem. First let me, Mr. Secretary Blinken, thank you for expressing your deep sadness about the tragedy of our dear colleague Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza Wael al-Dahdouh. Wael has lost his wife and three sons and his grandchildren in an Israeli bombardment of the house where they were fled from the center of Gaza City and displaced to the southern Gaza strip in 25th of October. Two days ago or three days ago he lost his eldest son Hamza who was a journalist in Al Jazeera media network and was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a civilian car in Rafah. One-hundred-and-ten Palestinian journalists were killed so far by Israeli army in Gaza during the war. More than 20,000 civilians were killed, and tens of thousands were injured, and hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes that no longer exist. The situation of the Israeli citizens is also difficult. Tens of thousands were displaced from the Gaza envelope and the border line with Lebanon, and hundreds of civilians were killed in the Hamas attack on the 7th of October. And there are many prisoners and hostages from both sides, as you know.

My question: Why do you as a superpower and as leading force in the international community not oblige the parties and especially the Israeli Government to cease fire in Gaza and respect the United Nations resolutions and (inaudible) the peaceful solution instead of both sides continuing wash blood by more blood?

My second question is related to the matter of normalization, and is the USA really busy with the matter, and do you think, Mr. Blinken, that the option exists or is it just an attempt to escape from the solution of the Palestinian question, and tempting Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, to agree with the American position in order to change his extreme government? And what's about the role of the four Arab nations or countries, as you mentioned before, in Gaza? It's just to contribute for the reconstruction, or they have political rule there?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Okay. Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Let me just say again, at the outset, the loss - losses - that your colleague suffered are unimaginable, and I have deep condolences for what he has suffered. I, again, can't even begin to fully imagine what he's gone through. And as I said again the other day, to the journalists who've lost their lives or have been injured in Gaza, we feel very strongly for them as well, and the essential work that they do is more vital than ever.

We want this war to end as soon as possible. There's been far too much loss of life, far too much suffering. But it's vital that Israel achieve its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that October 7th can never happen again, and we believe they've made considerable progress toward that goal.

At the same time, I think it's very important to remember that everyone has choices to make, and that includes Hamas. Hamas could have ended this on October 8th by not hiding behind civilians, by putting down its weapons, by surrendering, by releasing the hostages. None of the suffering - none of the suffering - would have happened if Hamas hadn't done - did what it did on October 7th and had it made different decisions thereafter. So it's very important to keep that in perspective, and again, this could end tomorrow if Hamas makes those decisions.

We will continue, as we've done, to give the Israelis our best advice about conducting this war in a manner that achieves the objective of making sure that October 7th can't be repeated, does better by protecting civilians, and making sure that people get the assistance that they need.

With regard to normalization, there is, I think, a clear interest in pursuing that. Integration of the region is something that virtually all of the countries that I visited on this trip want to advance, want to pursue. Some of them have already taken vital steps to do that. Others, I think, are interested in doing the same. But it's equally clear that that's not in substitute for or at the expense of a political horizon for the Palestinians and ultimately a Palestinian state. On the contrary, that piece has to be a part of any integration efforts, any normalization efforts. That was also very clear in my conversations during the course of this trip, including in Saudi Arabia.

Thank you.

QUESTION: What about the (inaudible)? Is there any political (inaudible)?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So again, I think these things are somewhat joined. It's clear that, as I mentioned before, most of the countries I visited are really prepared to I think support Gaza in the future, to support all the efforts that are necessary, and to support Palestinian-led governance for Gaza. But it's also vitally important to them that there be a pathway forward for the Palestinians in terms of their overall political rights and a very clear political horizon. We and they support Palestinian governance that's joined of Gaza and the West Bank, and the pathway to a state. That's, again, very clear from everyone I talked to in the region.

Thank you.

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We call on all parties to implement resolution 2720 on Gaza in full: UK statement at the UN General Assembly

Statement by Ambassador Archie Young at UN General Assembly 51st plenary meeting 78th Session.

9 January 2024

Thank you, Mr. President.

Colleagues, we have heard the repeated warnings from humanitarian experts on the ground in Gaza that nine out of ten people are only getting one meal a day. That over half a million people are projected to be facing catastrophic levels of hunger. And that disease is spreading in overcrowded areas as people go without basic healthcare, shelter and clean water. So it is devastating to hear that aid is still piling up outside Gaza, undelivered to those in desperate need.

The UK reiterates our strong support for Security Council resolution 2720, for which we voted in favour, and reiterates our thanks to the UAE for their leadership. The resolution set out the urgent demand for expanded humanitarian access, the release of hostages and steps towards a sustainable ceasefire where Hamas can no longer pose a threat to Israel.

The UK, as a P5 member, considers the veto a heavy responsibility, to be used in the interests of securing the peace and security that people around the world seek. It should be exercised responsibly, and with caution.

United Nations Security Council resolution 2720 is definitive. It demands that the parties to the conflict "allow, facilitate and enable the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance" throughout the Gaza strip. We call on all parties to implement this resolution in full.

We want to see at least 500 aid and private sector trucks enter Gaza every day, far more than the 150 currently taking place. Israel should accelerate and rationalise its screening, clear the backlog of loaded trucks in Egypt, and do everything else it can to facilitate aid into Gaza. Israel should also open more entry points for longer, for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if security allows.

The UK warmly welcomes the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN's Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator. She brings a vast wealth of experience to this crisis. All parties to the conflict should cooperate fully with her and her team. The UK is also clear that Israel should renew visas for UN and NGO staff.

The Foreign Secretary has consistently raised these issues with his Israeli counterparts, including Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer. The Foreign Secretary has also appointed Mark Bryson-Richardson in December as his Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to coordinate our efforts to relieve the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Thank you.

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Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York

9 January 2024

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

** Gaza

Good afternoon. I will just start up with an update on Gaza with some information shared by our colleagues in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). They tell us that heavy bombardments and fighting in Gaza continue to result in casualties.

Yesterday morning, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported that a shell broke through the wall of one of their shelters housing more than 100 staff and their families in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Five people were injured, including a 5-year-old child of a staff member, who is in critical condition.

Also yesterday, the European Hospital in Khan Younis was reportedly struck by drones. This follows several reported hits near Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza on Sunday, forcing medical staff [and patients] to evacuate.

Our partners report that denials of coordinated movement requests are critically inhibiting time-sensitive responses.

Since 1 January, humanitarian partners have requested 20 convoys, of which 15 were denied and two were unable to proceed because of delays or routes that were impassable. Only three went to the north, but only with modifications to the plan that wound up impacting the operations.

Despite the major challenges to delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza, our partners have provided health care and medical services to about half a million people since 7 October. But the needs are massive  and just over a third of more than 350 formal and informal shelters for internally displaced people in Gaza have access to any sort of medical points.

At the same time, the continued denial of fuel delivery to water and sanitation facilities is leaving tens of thousands of people without access to clean water and increasing the risk of sewage overflows, significantly heightening the risk of the spread of communicable diseases.

Shelters are extremely crowded, and humanitarian partners are working there to provide essential items. Since the start of the hostilities, they have reached more than 914,000 internally displaced people at both UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) and non-UNRWA shelters with critical assistance, including [650,000] bed set items, nearly 27,000 tents, more than 17,000 winter clothing kits, and other critical supplies.

** Lebanon

I also have a humanitarian update for you from Lebanon, on the situation along the Blue Line.

We and our humanitarian partners in Lebanon continue efforts to scale up the response and prepare in the event of further escalation in hostilities, which of course would have devastating consequences for civilians on both sides of the Blue Line.

According to the latest figures available, more than 76,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the fighting from the south, as of one week ago. Since 7 October, we and our partners have provided 215,000 daily meals to displaced people living in collective shelters and additional food parcels for those staying in host communities.

Humanitarian access continues to be constrained, mainly along the Blue Line, which is hampering our efforts to deliver essential supplies.

Also regarding Lebanon, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of the UN's Peace Operations Department (DPO), arrived in Beirut, where he started his meetings with Lebanese officials and the country's armed forces to discuss the work and operations of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon  UNIFIL.

As we announced on Friday, he is scheduled to meet the caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, and other officials. He will then head to Naqoura in southern Lebanon to meet with representatives of the Lebanese Armed Forces, UNIFIL leadership and peacekeepers.

In a tweet earlier today, Mr. Lacroix said the visit is also an opportunity to meet with peacekeepers, the Mission leadership and to thank them for their dedication and professionalism in these challenging times.

As we mentioned, Mr. Lacroix is visiting our three peacekeeping missions in the Middle East  something he does regularly.

He was in Syria in the past few days, where he met with the leadership and peacekeepers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as well as senior Syrian Government officials.

After Lebanon, Mr. Lacroix will visit the UNTSO, the UN Truce Supervision Organization headquarters in Jerusalem, and is scheduled to meet with Israeli Government and military officials.

** Yemen

Moving on to Yemen: The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, is continuing his engagements with the parties in the region. Today, he met with Ansar Allah chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul Salam, in Muscat, in Oman, to discuss the UN road map which will operationalize the parties' commitments to a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve the living conditions in Yemen, and the resumption of an inclusive political process under the auspices of the United Nations. He also met with senior Omani officials in Muscat to discuss sustaining the concerted regional support for the UN's mediation efforts.

Earlier in the week, he held discussions with the President of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al Alimi. He did that in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.

Just a reminder that Mr. Grundberg is currently working with the parties, upon their request, and based on the commitments they already agreed to, to establish the road map and initiate implementation of their commitments.

** South Sudan

And lastly on South Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is extremely concerned about the well-being of refugees and returnees fleeing the current hostilities in their northern neighbours, in Sudan  as South Sudan continues to see an influx of new arrivals from across the border. Our humanitarian colleagues are urgently calling for more funding to meet the overwhelming humanitarian needs at transit sites and to facilitate onward transportation for new arrivals, to ease overcrowding at these facilities.

Essential supplies and services are extremely limited, and there is a growing risk of disease outbreaks. Since April 2023, nearly half a million people have fled Sudan to South Sudan, and in the past three weeks alone, more than 50,000 people have crossed over from Sudan  while thousands of others are reportedly waiting to enter South Sudan.

Questions? Edie?

** Questions and Answers

Question : Thank you, Steph. The European climate agency, Copernicus, said today that the Earth shattered its global heat record of last year and it's flirting with hitting the 1.5-degree centigrade limit. Does the Secretary-General have any comment on this finding?

Spokesman : You know, for the Secretary-General, he believes that humanity's actions are scorching the Earth. 2023 was a mere preview of the catastrophic future that awaits if we don't act now. We must respond to record-breaking temperatures with a path-breaking action. Mr. [Antonio] Guterres believes that leaders must commit to serious new international climate action plans, end the fossil fuel age fast and fairly and invest in helping vulnerable countries to combat climate chaos. We can still avoid the worst of the climate catastrophe, he believes. But only if we act now with the ambition required to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius and deliver climate justice.

Mr. Bays? Feels like it's been decades.

Question : So, Sigrid Kaag... it's been a long time. Sigrid Kaag started her job yesterday. She had a long, long meeting with the Secretary-General. So, perhaps we can get some clarification on how her job will work or some aspects of how her job will work. Firstly, who does she report to?

Spokesman : She reports to the Secretary-General through Martin Griffiths, the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. [cross talk]

Question : So, she's part of OCHA?

Spokesman : She has a... [cross talk] She reports to the Secretary-General through Martin Griffiths. She will work collaboratively with all of the UN entities on the ground and that is OCHA, that is the Office of Special Coordinator, Mr. [Tor] Wennesland's office, and, of course, Philippe Lazzarini and UNRWA.

Question : And does she, I mean, is she assuming the job that was Lynn Hastings' job, as well?

Spokesman : No. I mean, Jamie McGoldrick, as you know, is... was sent to... on an interim basis to succeed Lynn Hastings. I mean, her mandate... [cross talk]

Question : Is he just doing the West Bank then now...? [cross talk]

Spokesman : Yeah. He's... No, she is doing what the Security Council asked her to do. So, her job description is in resolution 2173. Right? That's her job description. Sorry. 2720. Her job description is in Security Council resolution 2720.

Question : And obviously, to do her job she needs the cooperation of the parties. The Palestinian groups, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Israeli Government. Have you got an understanding from all the parties that they will cooperate with her? And of course, she needs the help of all the regional countries, as well.

Spokesman : She will need everyone's help. Right? She is there on a mandate of the Security Council. She will work hard. She will be extremely pragmatic. And also, I think, modest in view of the enormous challenges that she is facing. She has begun to have contacts with various representatives here, and then she will travel to the region soon.

Correspondent : She's also going to Washington, though.

Spokesman : I believe she will go... [cross talk]

Question : Who is she... We were told yesterday by Florencia [Soto Nino].

Spokesman : Yeah, no. I'm not denying it. I'm not denying what Florencia said to you. [cross talk]

Question : But who is she meeting in Washington?

Spokesman : We will get more clarity closer to the date.

Question : And my final question, just because the reason I was pressing on that is, as you know, Lynn Hastings was... the Israelis would no longer deal with her. Have you been given assurances from the current Israeli Government that Ms. Kaag can do her job, that she will get visas, she will get access?

Spokesman : We have no doubt that all of the parties involved will cooperate fully with Ms. Kaag to ensure that she's able to deliver on the mandate given to her by the Security Council of the United Nations.

Ibtisam Azem?

Question : Thank you. So, my first question is, okay, first I have a follow-up actually on James' question. You said that it's in this... her mandate is in the Security Council resolution. But it's not really clear there from the text  how is her mandate different from what you have been doing anyway, until now?

Spokesman : Look, maybe there's some questions that need to be asked to those people who drafted the Security Council resolution. [cross talk] Let me finish. Okay. That was my preamble.

She will be there as a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator. Her job is unique. It is not recreating the job of a person that already exists. She will be working with all of the UN entities that I've listed, supported by our colleagues at UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services). And her job is to facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all humanitarian relief consignments and establish a UN mechanism to accelerate the provision of humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza, with a goal of expediting, streamlining and accelerating the process of providing assistance and to continue to help ensure that aid reaches a civilian destination.

Question : Would that mean that... but despite all that, it's still the case that in order that you get any aid to enter Gaza, whether through Rafah or Karem Abu Salem, you still need the agreement of the Israelis on how much aid you are allowed to bring in and what exactly is being allowed in. Is that correct?

Spokesman : Yeah. I mean, the situation since her appointment to today hasn't changed in terms of the procedures. She will focus on building a mechanism as outlined with the aim of just getting more aid into Gaza and also look at the reconstruction.

Question : My final question is, as you know, there was a group of rabbis for a ceasefire who occupied peacefully part of the Security Council. I don't know if anybody from your office met with them. Do you have any comments on their demands, on their action? Thank you.

Spokesman : They were a very nice group of about 49 people. I think about 40 of them sat in the visitors' gallery in the Security Council, but there was no meeting going on. About nine of them were in the General Assembly on the top of the balcony. They came in as part of tour groups. They were calling for a ceasefire. They were asked to leave. Everything was done, I think, with an extreme level of cooperation and politeness. And they wanted to be heard. And I think they were heard. We took down their information. And their only message was for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which is frankly what we've all been calling for here, as well.

Stefano?

Question : Thank you, Stephane. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, the Defence Minister of Israel had said that, and I quote, "We can copy paste Gaza to Beirut." He was referring to the situation on the border, of course. And because there is, he says that there are 80,000 Israelis, that had to move from their house, if this situation is not resolved soon, that Israel will have to act. So, you just said that Lacroix is arrived in Beirut. So, referring, you know, he's talking about the situation with UNIFIL, but when is exactly... what other... my question is, well, if a situation like this happens that Israel actually will invade or attack or will do something like this in Lebanon, what are exactly the rules of engagement of the UNIFIL force there? What they will have to do to protect themselves and eventually also their civilian staff?

Spokesman : No. I mean, they... UNIFIL mandates [are] very clear, and it's outlined in all the relevant Security Council resolutions. We have repeatedly said, privately and publicly, that any greater escalation that what we're already seeing on the Blue Line, along the Blue Line, will be catastrophic for civilians in Lebanon, for civilians in Israel, and for the region as a whole. And obviously, one of the messages that Mr. Lacroix will be carrying is exactly that. And, you know, speaking from... looking back at their historical record, UNIFIL has paid... UNIFIL soldiers have paid a horrific price in blood during previous escalations.

Serife?

Correspondent : I have a... Sorry. I have a follow-up, because at the same time, Israel is saying that, in reality, the resolution 1701 that, according to the resolution, Hizbullah should've never been and still operating in the area of the blue zone and especially be armed. So, Israel is saying, basically, that the resolution of UN has never been respected. And so that's why eventually we'll have to act. At this point, the Lebanese Government just yesterday said that they are ready to implement fully the resolution.

Spokesman : Everybody has their responsibilities under the various resolutions, including 1701. And it is important that the Lebanese authorities restore full State authority in all areas of Lebanon, including south of the Litani River. [cross talk]

Question : But just the question: Does the Secretary-General think that if the Israeli act because they say that actually the resolution 1701 was never fully implemented would be justified? I mean, does he agree with the Israelis...? [cross talk]

Spokesman : I'm not going to hypothesize, but I can tell you no one should take matters into their own hands.

Serife?

Correspondent : He did kind of asked my question, but I do have a follow-up.

Spokesman : Oh, that's okay. [laughter] you don't have to ask it. You don't have to have a follow up or...

Correspondent : I know that would make you happy. I do.

Spokesman : Yeah.

Question : So basically, despite your warnings regarding an escalation in region, there are many reports both in Israeli and international media that Israel is preparing for a comprehensive and maybe intensified attack on Hizbullah in Lebanon. Do you think this would be considered within Israel's right to self-defence?

Spokesman : I'm not going to speculate and hypothesize. What I will just say is just restate the fact that we do not want to see any greater escalation along the Blue Line, which would have devastating impact on Israelis living in the north and Lebanese living in the south.

Let me go to the screen and I'll come back to the room.

Margaret Besheer, Voice of America. Thank you.

Correspondent : Hey, Steph, welcome back. Happy New Year.

Spokesman : Indeed.

Question . I have a couple. So, bear with me. I'll go one by one. On the aid deliveries, you said that denials of coordinated movement requests are inhibiting OCHA's response. Who is denying them?

Spokesman : My understanding is through the Israeli authorities.

Question : Okay. And then I don't know if you had an opportunity to watch any of the debate in the General Assembly earlier today. But the Israeli ambassador said that the UN is not making the return of their hostages a primary goal. And instead, the UN is, in his words, obsessed only with the well-being of Gazans. And he said that the UN ignores all Israeli victims and that the UN has become, quote, another tool of war in the arsenal of the terrorists. And he said that... [cross talk]

Spokesman : Well, I don't know... [cross talk]

Question : UN bodies are... [cross talk]

Spokesman : I think one would have to ask him what part of the UN he's referring to. I mean, I think when people say the UN, my question back is always which part of the UN are you referring to? I can tell you that the Secretary-General is obsessed with the protection of all civilians. He has been calling for the protections of all civilians from the beginning. He has been calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages. And as you know, he met with families, and he has been doing whatever he can to facilitate their return. I think our work on behalf of civilians in Gaza is also fairly transparent to all. So, I will leave it at that.

Do you have another question, Ms. Besheer?

Question : Yeah, just one more, please. Also on the aid deliveries, he said he doesn't... that Israel doesn't need UN calls for humanitarian aid access. They're doing it. And he said they support, quote, "every single humanitarian initiative". He said it's Hamas that's delaying the aid. And he said they are looting aid before it even reaches the people of Gaza. Can you give us any confirmation or any reaction to... I mean, is Hamas looting aid? [cross talk]

Spokesman : I don't... I'm not going to play colour commentary to all of these statements. I think what we're doing, what we're advocating for across the board in the Middle East is extremely transparent. I think we've been very clear about the impediments that we face in delivering humanitarian aid. We've been very clear in saying that when there was a humanitarian pause, we were able to do a lot  a lot more. And now we're trying to do as much as we can in active combat zones, which I think is clear to anybody is a slight challenge, to say the least.

Question : But on the specific charge that Hamas is looting aid, I've asked about it a couple of times before. I just want a clear answer. Is the UN facing problems with Hamas looting aid?

Spokesman : I've not seen any reports of aid looting. We have seen videos of desperate people trying to get access to trucks. And when, and I can only begin to imagine what it would be like if you're seeing one truck full of aid and you don't know when there's going to be another one, that you may take your matters into your own hands. This is a desperate, desperate, desperate situation.

Thank you. I'll come back to the room.

Oh, sorry and then let me go to Edie, and then Abdelhamid, I just saw you had a question. I'll come back to you.

Question : Thanks, Steph. A follow-up on Sigrid Kaag's mandate. Part of her mandate is to establish a monitoring mechanism. We know that the Secretary-General has proposed three alternatives; has one of those alternatives been decided upon? And if so, which one?

Spokesman : She will report back in due course to the Security Council and to you.

Abdelhamid?

Question : How long is due course?

Spokesman : As soon as she's... [cross talk]. I mean, I think there's really...

Correspondent : Thank you, Stephane.

Spokesman : Hold on. There's a timeline in the council. Okay? Go ahead, Abdelhamid.

Correspondent : Thank you, Stephane, and welcome back.

Spokesman : Thank you.

Question : And I'll see you in the next few days. I have two questions interrelated. The first question I asked yesterday, and I will ask it again, why there was no statement from any UN senior official, including the Secretary-General, since 22 December? With all these atrocities, all these massacres committed and no statement specifically addressing some of the atrocities committed in Gaza and the West Bank. And the second, which is interrelated with this question, the only two senior UN officials who visited Gaza are the Executive Director of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and the High Commissioner of UNRWA, Mr. Lazzarini. Why there is no attempt by any other senior officials to go and visit Gaza and see for himself or herself, what's going on?

Spokesman : Well, I think they were, as far as I know, Catherine Russell went, Volker Turk went, Philippe Lazzarini went. You know, the focus right now is on us trying to get as many, how should I put it, working folk into Gaza. Right? It is very important, obviously, for senior officials to come. And they will come and do the advocacy, but it is important for us also to ramp up those colleagues who are actually doing the day-to-day work and that's what we're doing. I think there was a statement, if I'm not mistaken, on 29 December, and there have been updates published every day on our website and at the briefings. And I think we have, if anything, not been silent on the situation in the Middle East.

Mushfique?

Question : Thank you, Stephane. Welcome back. What measures on Bangladesh? What... on Bangladesh... Excuse me. What measures is the UN Secretary-General taking to stand beside the victims, oppressed and disenfranchised people of Bangladesh facing ruthless crackdown by the regime in the name of so-called election, as we had witnessed one-sided dummy election filled with voter rigging, intimidation, and boycotting by all major political parties in Bangladesh over the weekend.

Spokesman : Well, I mean, I think, as we've told you earlier, the Secretary-General calls on  and very publicly  for all parties to reject all forms of violence and to ensure that everyone's human rights and everyone's access to the rule of law are fully respected, and that is essential for the consolidation of democracy and economic prosperity in Bangladesh. And he's, of course, concerned about reports of the violence that we've seen.

Dulcie?

Question : Thanks, on Sigrid Kaag, the reconstruction aspect of her new role, what is the UN's Secretariat's understanding of that? What does it mean?

Spokesman : Well, rebuilding.

Question : Okay. So how long is her term?

Spokesman : Well, her... I... you know, she will be in the job as, until, I mean, she just started her job. So, I don't... [cross talk] I'm not aware of an end term. She's only been here a week. So, she is focusing very much and she's in this for the long term.

Question : Okay. And then it's not just the Israeli ambassador who is making the claim that Hamas is stealing aid, the Israeli Government spokesperson is tweeting it quite a bit. So, you said that you had not seen any reports on this matter. Does that mean the UN doesn't know? Or you haven't seen any media reports of it? [cross talk]

Spokesman : I haven't been told of recent incidents of looting. We have seen and we know that there are, you know, desperate people, have sometimes taken matters into their own hands and taken things off trucks because they were desperate.

Yes, sir, please?

Question : Hi. Thank you to the Spokesperson. So, my name is Yu from Kyodo News. So, my question is about the reform of the Security Council, including the veto. So, the new year, 2024 has just started. So, do you think any progress of the reform will be made in 2024?

Spokesman : Hope springs eternal. [laughter]

On that note, I will leave you with Monica [Grayley]. Thank you.

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UPDATED: Aid relief arriving in Gaza but 'too little, too late', warns WHO

9 January 2024 - With no let-up in fighting across Gaza, the UN health agency pleaded on Tuesday for better access across the enclave, where relief is arriving "too little...too late" to help civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict.

"Even if there is no ceasefire, you would expect humanitarian corridors to operate... in a much more sustained way than what's happening now," said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "It's too little. It's too late and specifically in the north."

Begging for food

Humanitarian assistance - and particularly food - is desperately needed across Gaza, particularly in northern areas, confirmed WHO Emergency Medical Teams Coordinator Sean Casey.

"The food situation in the north is absolutely horrific, there's almost no food available," he told journalists in Geneva via video from Rafah in southern Gaza. "Everybody we talk to begs for food and comes up and asks, 'Where, where's the food?' People help us get our medical supplies through. But they are constantly telling us that we need to come back with food."

Echoing that appeal and expressing concerns about intensifying hostilities in the south, Dr Peeperkorn explained that moving staff and supplies "safely and swiftly" had been compromised, "as deconfliction is required for any moves across Gaza, including the south - often leading to delays".

In addition to getting more essential supplies into Gaza, what was also needed urgently was easier movement of humanitarian aid and workers within the enclave, "so that we can reach people wherever they are", Dr Peeperkorn explained.

According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, 23,084 people have been killed in the enclave, 70 per cent were women and children. Nearly 59,000 people have also been injured, which is approximately 2.7 per cent of Gaza's population.

UN 'completely ready' to deliver

The WHO official insisted that the UN and its partners remained "completely ready" to deliver assistance to Gazans, who have endured a massive bombing campaign by the Israel military, in response to the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel beginning 7 October that killed some 1,200 people.

But hostilities and evacuation orders in Gaza's central areas and further south in Khan Younis have affected access to hospitals for patients and ambulances, Dr Peeperkorn explained, adding that it has also become "incredibly complex" for WHO to reach "ailing" facilities with medical supplies and fuel.

Of concern are three hospitals located near evacuation zones - European Gaza Hospital, Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Aqsa - "a lifeline" in the south for about two million people, the WHO official said, speaking from Jerusalem.

Healthworkers fleeing for their lives

"(The) constricted flow of supplies and access and evacuation of medical staff from many hospitals due to fears for safety are a recipe for disaster and will make more hospitals non-functional, as witnessed in the north. The international community must not allow this to happen," Dr Peeperkorn said.

One indication of the "shrinking space" for lifesaving humanitarian work in the enclave is the fact that the UN health agency has not reached northern Gaza for two weeks.

A total of six planned WHO humanitarian missions have had to be cancelled since 26 December, according to the UN health agency. "Our team is ready to deliver but we have not been able to receive the necessary permissions to proceed safely," Dr Peeperkorn explained.

Safe passage requests denting aid response: UN Spokesperson

UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that so-called "denials of coordinated movement requests" were causing critical hold-ups in aid delivery across Gaza.

Addressing reporters at the regular noon briefing in New York, he said that since 1 January, "humanitarian partners have requested 20 convoys, of which 15 were denied and two were unable to proceed because of delays or routes that were impassable."

Only three went to the hardest hit north of Gaza and that was with modifications to the plan that wound up impacting operations, he added .

Despite the major challenges to delivering humanitarian assistance, aid partners have provided healthcare and medical services to about half a million people since 7 October.

"But the needs are massive - and just over a third of more than 350 formal and informal shelters for internally displaced people in Gaza have access to any sort of medical points."

He said "continued denial of fuel delivery to water and sanitation facilities is leaving tens of thousands of people without access to clean water and increasing the risk of sewage overflows, significantly heightening the risk of the spread of communicable diseases."

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General Assembly meets over Gaza veto by US in Security Council

9 January 2024 - The immediate priority in Gaza must be saving civilian lives said the President of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, as Member States gathered to debate the use of the veto by the United States in the Security Council last month.

Assembly Vice President Cheikh Niang of Senegal, holding the gavel in the General Assembly Hall and deputizing for President Dennis Francis, read out a statement on his behalf.

Mr. Francis said he welcomed the adoption of Security Council resolution 2720 late last month, which called for safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.

He urged all warring parties in Gaza to "fully implement" the Council resolution as well as the Assembly resolution of 12 December calling for a ceasefire, arising from the Assembly's reconvened Emergency Special Session.

On protecting civilians, Mr. Francis urged all Member States "to keep this shared goal to the forefront during today's debate."

Debate triggered by Assembly resolution

The General Assembly adopted a resolution designed to foster greater cooperation with the Security Council, in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

That resolution states that anytime the veto is used in the Security Council, it automatically triggers a meeting and debate in the General Assembly, to scrutinize and discuss the move.

The veto is a special voting power held by the permanent member States on the Council, whereby if any one of the five  China, France, Russia, the UK and the US  casts a negative vote, the resolution or decision automatically fails.

The Assembly resolution which introduced this extra scrutiny calls for the Assembly President to convene a formal debate within 10 working days, so that the 193 members of the wider body can have their say.

The intention behind it is to give UN Member States the chance to make recommendations, which could include the use of armed force, to maintain or restore peace and security on the ground.

As with all Assembly resolutions they carry moral and political weight but are non-binding and do not generally carry the force of international law, unlike some measures agreed by the Security Council.

Tuesday's meeting came on the heels of the US vetoing a Russian amendment prior to the successful passing of last month's Council resolution on Gaza.

US committed to 'bringing all of the hostages home'

The US Deputy Permanent Representative, Robert Wood, said the US welcomed the adoption of December's Security Council resolution on 22 December.

Although the US abstained, he said the US had worked closely with other key States "in good faith" to forge a strong resolution. "This work supports the direct diplomacy the US is engaged in to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza and to help get hostages out of Gaza", he said.

Without naming Russia - whose amendment provoked the US veto in question - he said one Member State persisted in putting forward ideas which are "disconnected from the situation on the ground".

He said it was "also deeply troubling" that many States seemed to have stopped talking about the plight of hostages still being held in Gaza by Palestinian militants.

The US is committed to bringing them all home he said and remains "engaged in efforts to secure another pause" in the fighting. Also lacking, he added, are demands that Hamas lay down its arms and surrender.

"It would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas's leaders to do what is necessary to end the conflict that they set in motion on 7 October", he said.

Palestinians enduring a 'war of atrocities'

Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, said that he was standing before the Assembly "representing a people being slaughtered, with families killed in their entirety, men and women shot in the streets, thousands abducted, tortured and humiliated, children killed, amputated, orphaned - scarred for life."

He said "no people" should have to endure such violence and it must stop.

No one can understand that the Security Council is still being prevented from calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he added, while 153 States in the General Assembly have called for just that, along with the UN Secretary-General.

Israel's assault is without precedent in modern history he said, "a war of atrocities".

"How can you reconcile opposing the atrocities and vetoing a call to end the war that is leading to their commission?", he asked.

The State of Palestine has long supported a proposal from France and Mexico "for the suspension of the veto in the case of mass atrocities, when crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on a large scale are committed."

He said the assault on Palestinians in Gaza, "demonstrates how vital this proposal is. Supporting an immediate ceasefire is the only moral, legitimate, and responsible position."

During these last 90 days, 11 Palestinians have been killed every hour, including seven women and children, he told the Assembly.

"This is not about Israeli security; this is about Palestine's destruction. The interests and objectives of this extremist Israeli government are clear and incompatible with the interests and objectives of any country that supports international law and peace", Mr. Mansour said.

Security will never come through the death, destruction and dehumanization of Palestinians, he added.

Palestine is here to stay, he declared: "Don't call for peace and spread fire. If you want peace, start with a ceasefire. Now."

No morals, 'only bias and hypocrisy': Israel

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, wondered how, with 136 people still held hostage, including a baby about to mark his first birthday, any delegations could be calling for a ceasefire.

"How morally bankrupt has this body become?", he said. Why are there no deafening calls inside the hall to bring him home, and "why are you not holding Hamas accountable for the most heinous war crimes?"

He said that "despite the UN's moral rot", the citizens of Israel are resilient, with faith, hope and unbreakable resolve to defend themselves.

He said the UN had become "an accomplice to terrorists" and now lacked the justification to exist.

Rather than focusing on bringing hostages home and their suffering, the UN "has been obsessed only with the well-being of people in Gaza", those who put Hamas in power and supported the group's atrocities, he added.

"You ignore all Israeli victims", he said.

He asked how the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide be weaponized against the Jewish State, when the only thing Hamas wants, is to repeat the Holocaust.

"There are no morals here, only bias and hypocrisy", he said. By calling for a ceasefire is giving the green light to Hamas to continue its reign of terror.

He said that by calling for a ceasefire, the Assembly is sending a clear message to terrorists across the world. "The UN is signalling to terrorists that rape as a weapon of war, is fine", he added.

US responsible for 'toothless' resolutions: Russia

Deputy Permanent Representative for Russia, Anna Evstigneeva, said that Washington had been guilty of playing an "unscrupulous game" to protect Israel's actions in Gaza, when it used the veto in the Security Council on 22 December.

She said that using blackmail and arm-twisting, the US had given Israel a license to carry on killing Palestinians "blessing the ongoing extermination of the Gazans", which is why they put forward their amendment.

She said the real aim of the US veto was to push through its aim of giving Israel free rein, and "deliberately undermine multilateral efforts under the auspices of the UN to serve its own geopolitical interests in the Middle East."

Ms. Evstigneeva said that "the sad result" of this is that over the past three months of escalation in Gaza, the Council has only been able to adopt "toothless" resolutions.

Russia abstained on both documents, rather than voting against them, solely based on requests from the Palestinian and Arab representatives.

A clear demand from the Security Council for a full ceasefire remains an imperative, she said.

Without it, implementing the Council's decisions in Gaza "is just not possible".

She said the spiral of continuing violence is "clearly catastrophic" and will continue until the root causes of the conflict are properly addressed, through a two-State solution.

Under current conditions, our shared goal is to assist the parties in establishing the negotiation process. A "collective diplomatic mechanism" is required and one of the most pressing tasks is the restoration of Palestinian unity, she added.

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Blinken: Israel Agrees on UN Mission to Evaluate North Gaza Situation

By Nike Ching January 09, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest mission to contain the Gaza war, said displaced Palestinians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow, and Israel has agreed to allow a United Nations mission to evaluate the situation in war-ravaged northern Gaza.

"As Israel's campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza and as the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the U.N. to carry out an assessment mission," Blinken told reporters during a Tuesday news conference in Tel Aviv. "It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north.

The top diplomat also urged Israeli leaders to prevent further harm to Palestinian civilians.

"The daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, is far too high," he said.

International Court of Justice hearings

Later this week, the International Court of Justice will conduct hearings on a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and seeking an emergency suspension of its military campaign.

The United States believes the case is meritless and that it distracts from Israel's efforts to fight threats from Hamas militants and other Iran proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis, according to Blinken.

"We want this war to end as soon as possible," he said. "But it's vital that Israel achieves its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that October 7 can never happened again."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has rejected the genocide charge filed at the International Court of Justice, calling the accusation "atrocious and preposterous."

Gaza's future

On Tuesday, Blinken held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Herzog, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and other senior officials from Israel's war Cabinet in Tel Aviv.

"The Secretary and Prime Minister discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the importance of increasing the level of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza," according to a statement from the State Department.

"In this regard, the Secretary welcomed the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN's Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, pledging close cooperation with her in this new capacity," the statement added.

Blinken has stressed the potential for Israel to win acceptance from Arab neighbors by seeking a path toward establishing a Palestinian state as a means to resolve the longstanding conflict.

Netanyahu has firmly rejected the two-state solution.

The West Bank and Gaza should be united under a Palestinian-led governance that Hamas militants play no role in, according to the postwar roadmap envisioned by Washington.

But some analysts are skeptical and play down the prospect.

"I don't see how the Palestinian Authority will go back into Gaza and assume any kind of meaningful control over what is left of Gaza. They're having a very hard time maintaining control, even in the West Bank," Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told VOA on Tuesday.

Blinken also met on Tuesday with the families of some of the hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. And he relayed to Israeli leaders some of what he heard from other leaders in the region during stops in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Gaza health officials say more than 23,000 Palestinians, a large percentage of them women and children, have been killed in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement following talks with Blinken on Monday, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman underscored the importance of halting military operations in the Gaza Strip and the need to create conditions for restoring peace and stability.

When asked about U.S.-led talks to normalize the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Blinken said there is "a clear interest" in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the region, in pursuing that goal but that "it will require that the conflict end in Gaza, and it will also clearly require that there be a practical pathway to a Palestinian state."

Saudi Arabia has paused the diplomatic talks to normalize ties with Israel amid the military conflict between Hamas militants and Israeli forces.

Escalation in no one's interest

After an Israeli airstrike killed a key Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday  the latest sign of a possibly widening conflict in the Middle East  Blinken told reporters it is clearly not in the interest of Israel, Lebanon or Hezbollah to see an escalation outside Gaza.

Hezbollah has identified the commander as Wissam al-Tawil. Last week, senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a drone strike in Beirut. Hamas and Hezbollah are both U.S. designated terrorist organizations, and both are backed by Iran, whose militant allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have been carrying out longer-range attacks against Israel.

The United States has urged Israel to shift to smaller-scale military operations in Gaza but has continued to support Israel in refusing Arab demands for a cease-fire in the three-month war. Israel has vowed to continue the war until it believes the threat of Hamas attacks has been eradicated and the militant group no longer controls Gaza, a narrow strip of territory along the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on October 7. Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 captives taken in the terror attack.

Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some material for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Health Catastrophe Unfolding in Gaza as Humanitarian Space Shrinks

By Lisa Schlein January 09, 2024

World Health Organization officials warn a humanitarian and health catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip as the humanitarian space for providing life-saving treatment and aid is shrinking.

"At the same time that we are seeing this humanitarian catastrophe unfold before our eyes, we are seeing the health system collapse," said Sean Casey, WHO Emergency Medical Teams Coordinator.

"Hospitals are closing, patients are lacking access to health facilities, health workers are being forced to flee for their safety," he said, adding that people could be treated and lives could be saved, "if they had access to care."

Casey, who has been in Gaza for the past five weeks, described seeing "a dramatic interruption in health services and a dramatic loss of access to health care workers.

"There are hundreds and thousands of patients awaiting surgery and it continues to be a shrinking of humanitarian space, and a shrinking of health services across the Gaza Strip," he said.

Speaking to journalists from Rafah Tuesday about a recent visit to Al-Aqsa Hospital, he described conditions there as shocking, with only a skeleton crew available to care for large numbers of sick and war-wounded.

"When I visited and walked through the emergency department, I saw once again as I have seen in hospitals across Gaza over the last five weeks, patients being cared for on the floor.

"When I was there on Sunday, it was mostly children with gunshot wounds, with shrapnel injuries. Children who were playing in the street when the building next to them exploded. They were waiting, in some cases an hour or more just to be seen, with serious injuries bleeding on the floor and with just a handful of doctors and nurses there to care for them."

Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health says at least 23,084 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 70% of whom are women and children, since Hamas terrorists brutally invaded Israel October 7, killing more than 1,200 people and abducting some 220 hostages. During the same period, 58,926 Palestinians reportedly have been injured.

"We are talking about 3.5% of the population very much directly affected," said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory.

Speaking from Jerusalem, he said, "I want to say something also about the injured. We talk about multiple trauma cases, patients with multiple traumas, spinal trauma, terrible injuries, severe burns, amputees.

"I have never seen so many amputees in my life, including among children, which, if you think about it, not only the patients themselves, but the families and community means that this will have a long-term impact for everything."

Peeperkorn also described the difficulty of getting humanitarian supplies into Gaza, and the inability of getting humanitarian aid and workers within Gaza to reach people in need.

"As long as there is no cease-fire, humanitarian corridors are required within Gaza to make sure that aid gets through," he said. "Hostilities and evacuation orders in neighborhoods of the middle area and Khan Younis, Gaza are affecting access to hospitals for patients and ambulances and making it incredibly complex for WHO to reach those hospitals to provide supplies and fuel."

The European Gaza Hospital, Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Aqsa Hosptial, he said, are near evacuation zones.

"These three hospitals are a lifeline in the south, where about two million people are present," said Peeperkorn. "What we see is that the constricted flow of supplies and access, and the evacuation of medical staff from many hospitals due to fears for safety, is a recipe for disaster and makes more hospitals non-functional, as witnessed in the north."

The WHO, which has documented 590 attacks on health care facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory since October 7, has been forced to cancel six planned missions to northern parts of the Gaza Strip since December 26.

The organization has also reported that 304 attacks in the Gaza Strip have resulted in 606 fatalities and 774 injuries. The attacks have affected 94 health care facilities, including damage to 26 of 36 hospitals in Gaza.

According to UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, some 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the total population of Gaza, is internally displaced.

"Many have been displaced multiple times," said the WHO's Sean Casey. "Here in Rafah where I am, people are sleeping under tarpaulins, under makeshift tents, under incredibly crowded conditions.

"These people lack access to primary health care. There is no secondary or tertiary hospital close by that is accessible," he added. "So, people are moving from one bad situation to another. There is no hospital in Gaza where you can go and expect to get care with certainty."

Casey also said hospitals are bursting at the seams with patients suffering from hunger, numerous infectious and chronic diseases as well as horrific war injuries, many requiring surgery, including amputations.

Casey said that when patients do manage to reach a hospital there are so few medical professionals available that "their initial focus is damage control, which is keeping people alive."

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Hezbollah Targets Israeli Base After Strikes Kill Militant Commanders

By VOA News January 09, 2024

The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday it launched a drone attack targeting an Israeli military base in retaliation for the killings of a senior Hezbollah commander and the deputy leader of the Hamas militant group.

Hamas said the drone was aimed at attacking the Israeli base in Safed, an area located about 10 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border.

The Israeli military said it launched interceptors to counter several aircraft that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and that a projectile fell at a base in northern Israel. The military said there were no casualties and no damage.

Security officials reported an Israeli drone strike Tuesday hit a car in southern Lebanon, killing three people.

The attack came a day after an Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon killed a commander that Hezbollah identified as Wissam al-Tawil, who a security official said had a leading role in Hezbollah's operations in the area.

Israel said its military hit Hezbollah targets on Monday, but it did not comment on Tawil's death.

Tawil is the most senior Hezbollah militant killed since Hamas' shock Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza and sporadic fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel continued its air and ground campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, including airstrikes in central Gaza and in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it killed around 40 Palestinian militants in Khan Younis.

Residents in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza said Israeli forces conducted shelling and engaged in gun battles with militants.

The United Nations has warned of the dire effects of the conflict on civilians in Gaza, with most people living there having fled their homes and humanitarian workers and health facilities facing difficulty in providing aid.

"The intensifying offensive in Gaza's Middle Area and Khan Younis is causing rapidly rising casualties and having devastating consequences for tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom had already fled for safety from Gaza city and the north to the Middle Area," the U.N. humanitarian agency said Monday.

The agency also said Israeli authorities denied multiple attempts by humanitarian partners to deliver urgent medical supplies to northern Gaza, leaving five hospitals there without life-saving medical supplies and equipment.

Israeli officials have said the fighting will continue for many more months as the army seeks to erase Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip, end the threat the militant group poses to Israel and free what are believed to be 129 hostages still held by Hamas.

Hamas killed about 1,200 people in its October attack on Israel and captured 240 hostages. The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry says Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, with vast swaths of Gaza left in rubble and 85% of its population of 2.3 million displaced.

Some material for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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One-Sided Bangladesh Election Raises Fear of One-Party Rule

By VOA Bangla Service January 09, 2024

Despite assurances from a group of international observers that Bangladesh's January 7 election was "free, fair and peaceful," officials from several countries have expressed doubts over the credibility of the results.

Bangladesh held its 12th parliamentary elections Sunday, with incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League winning a fourth consecutive term. But many political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, the main opposition, boycotted the election.

The months before the vote were marred by protests that sometimes resulted in violence. A crackdown on opposition activists saw tens of thousands jailed.

A group of international observers invited by Bangladesh's Election Commission that included former U.S. Congressman Jim Bates visited several polling centers in Dhaka as voters cast their ballots. At a press conference after polls closed, they issued glowing assessments of the vote.

"I'd like to say it's a free and fair election already," Bates said before results were announced.

But a U.S. State Department spokesperson told VOA in an email that "The United States Government did not field an observation team for the 2024 Bangladesh Parliamentary elections. The individuals in question were acting as private citizens. ... Their comments do not represent the views of the U.S. government."

Instead, the United States, United Kingdom, and the United Nations released statements expressing concerns about the democratic process in general and the human rights situation.

"The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated," Mathew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement. "The United States condemns violence that took place during elections and in the months leading up to it."

"Respect for human rights, rule of law and due process are essential elements of the democratic process," the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in the statement. "These standards were not consistently met during the election period."

U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk noted, "In the months leading up to the vote, thousands of opposition supporters have been detained arbitrarily or subjected to intimidation. Such tactics are not conducive to a truly genuine process."

Turk also urged the Bangladeshi government to create conditions for truly inclusive democracy.

While the Western democratic states and international organizations were largely critical of the election, some countries, including China, Russia and India, were quick to congratulate Hasina.

The Chinese envoy in Bangladesh was the first to congratulate Hasina. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called to applaud her victory and expressed hope for continued close ties with its neighbor.

"Spoke to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and congratulated her on her victory for the fourth consecutive term in the parliamentary elections. ... We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh," the Indian prime minister posted on X.

Boycott results in low turnout

The opposition coalition demanded the resignation of the government ahead of the election and the appointment of an interim, nonpartisan government. When the Hasina government refused, the BNP announced a non-cooperation movement against the government, urging the people not to cooperate with the government or participate in the election.

Official figures provided by the Election Commission show voter turnout at 41.8%. However, the credibility of this figure has been questioned by a wide range of international media, observers, human rights organizations, and even by a section of those who contested in the election.

One reason for suspicion is an unusual jump in the turnout numbers. The Election Commission secretary estimated turnout at 27.15% an hour before polls closed. But the final figure provided by the commission was 41.8%. Opponents say the claim that more than one-third more votes were cast in the final hour of voting put the official figure in serious doubt.

In 2018 elections, the voter turnout stood at more than 80%.

One-party rule

Among the 298 officially announced results, 280 seats are secured by the ruling Awami League and so-called independent candidates who are Awami League members. As a result, 94% of the parliament seats will be filled by lawmakers who are members of the ruling party.

Of the 27 parties who fielded candidates in the election, 23 failed to secure a single seat.

G.M. Qader, chairman of the Jatiya Party, which managed to win 11 seats, told a local TV station the elections were held under government control.

"Whoever the government wanted to win, won," Qader said. "I believe this election will not gain credibility."

Professor Ali Riaz, a political analyst at Illinois State University, said in a recent podcast on Global News that Bangladesh is heading toward one-party rule with Awami League holding power and the other parties constituting the opposition in the parliament with the support of the ruling party.

Prime Minister Hasina on two recent occasions referred to the BNP as a terrorist organization, leading to speculation among political analysts and activists that the new government may ban the BNP from politics.

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Half the World to Vote in 2024, With Global Ramifications

By Henry Ridgwell January 09, 2024

2024 will pose a major test of democratic rule as an estimated 4 billion people in more than 50 nations  almost half the world's population  are set to vote in national elections, with the outcomes likely to shape global politics for years or decades to come.

Bangladesh began 2024 with the first major election of the year as Sheikh Hasina won a fourth consecutive term as prime minister Sunday. Opposition parties boycotted the vote over complaints that it was neither free nor fair.

A crucial presidential election is due to take place on the self-governing island of Taiwan on January 13. China's threat to retake the island by force looms over the vote, with political parties divided on how to approach Beijing.

"We are not only choosing Taiwan's future leaders to decide on the country's future but also deciding on the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region," William Lai, the presidential candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, told supporters at a campaign rally earlier this month. Lai is ahead in the polls.

In February, Indonesia is set to choose a new president to rule the nation of 277 million people, making it one of the world's biggest votes held on a single day.

Pakistan will hold parliamentary elections in February; opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan remains jailed on charges of leaking state secrets, which he denies.

Russians will vote in presidential elections in March  although observers predict incumbent Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win as he is able to control the electoral process and state media.

"Putin is not going to have any genuine opponents," said Ian Bond of the Center for European Reform. "He has control of all the administrative machinery required to make sure that a crushing vote in favor of him is delivered and we get another six years of Putin up to at least 2030."

Largest democracy

India  the world's biggest democracy  will hold parliamentary elections in April and May, with the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead in the polls.

Veteran Indian political journalist Pushp Saraf believes the opposition will struggle to make headway.

"It all depends how united they are," Saraf said. "Otherwise, if they stay disunited, as they appear to be many times, they have little chance of succeeding against BJP, which is organizationally very strong, and with Narendra Modi, who is riding high on the popularity wave, at least in the Hindi heartland."

"These are very significant elections because there are clearly two opinions in the country at the moment. One is that BJP is polarizing society along the communal lines. And on the other hand, there is the opinion that BJP is focusing more on national security," Saraf told The Associated Press.

On June 2, Mexico is due to hold its presidential election, which could herald a new milestone for the country, "because of the possibility that, for the first time, a woman will govern Mexico," according to Mexican pollster Patricio Morelos. Mexico's ruling party has selected Claudia Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City, as its candidate.

The European Union, representing more than half-a-billion people, is set to hold parliamentary elections in June. Polls suggest a resurgence in support for right-wing populist parties in many countries, including France, Germany and Italy.

"There is a real possibility, I think, that the far right will do well in European elections. Not to the point of running the European Parliament, but conceivably to the point where anyone who wants to run the European Parliament has to take account of what they're saying and doing," Anand Menon, professor of international politics at Kings College London, told VOA.

Britain is scheduled to hold elections before the end of the year, with polls suggesting opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is on course to end a tumultuous 14 years of Conservative rule, with five different prime ministers.

"We had the Brexit wars that dominated everything, then we had COVID-19, now we've got the cost-of-living crisis. We've had government instability... the instability itself has become a political issue," Menon said.

On November 5, the United States is due to hold a highly anticipated presidential election as Americans decide whether to give Democrat Joe Biden a second term as U.S. president or choose a Republican alternative, with Donald Trump seemingly his most likely opponent  although the challenger faces numerous legal hurdles in the run up to the vote.

Worldwide effects

The impact of many of these elections in 2024 will likely be felt around the world, said analyst Menon.

"Yes, all politics is local  but there are global trends. Immigration is going to figure a lot in many elections around the world. It will figure in the U.S. election, it will figure in the European elections, it will figure in the U.K. election," Memon said.

"Insecurity will be a major factor. One of the things we're living with in the West now is an increased sense of insecurity, both economic  but also in security terms, given the war that's going on in Ukraine and given the doubts about what the Taiwanese election later this month might mean for Taiwan-Chinese relations.

"So, there are common factors, but those are refracted through the prism of the local and domestic in each country, so they play out in different ways," Menon said.

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Blinken discusses Gaza conflict with Israeli officials during visit

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:57, January 10, 2024

JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday with Israeli officials the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and urged the Israeli side to protect civilians in Gaza.

Blinken's visit marks his fourth trip to Israel since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October last year. The international community is increasingly concerned about Israeli attacks in Gaza, as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave has surpassed 23,000 and approximately 2 million people were displaced amid a severe humanitarian crisis.

In his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken stressed "the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza," according to a statement released by his office.

He also reaffirmed his country's support for Israel's right to prevent the attacks of October 7 from being repeated.

Blinken and Netanyahu discussed "ongoing efforts" to release all remaining hostages and the U.S. demand for increasing "the level of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza," the office said.

"The Secretary reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realization of a Palestinian state," the statement read.

The Israel war cabinet declined Blinken's request to permit civilians to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, saying it would allow it only after Hamas had released all of the hostages. However, the war cabinet approved Blinken's request to allow a United Nations delegation to visit the northern Gaza Strip.

Blinken also met Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv.

Gallant told Blinken that operations in the area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip are expected to "intensify and continue until Hamas leadership is detected, and Israeli hostages return home safely."

Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday after visiting Trkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, he will travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before he departs for Cairo.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 09 January 2024 - Day 684

Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that Ukraine's Defence Intelligence (HUR) stated the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Russian targets at Saky aerodrome and Sevastopol on 4 January 2024. These attacks highly likely degraded the awareness and coverage of Russian air defences over the Crimean region.

In response, Russia launched a number of missile attacks across Ukraine on 8 January 2024, targeting several cities including Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia city.

This once again demonstrates the ineffectiveness of Russian air defences in protecting key locations, despite their enhanced preparedness. The scale of tne Russian response is likely indicative of the level of success achieved by the Ukrainian armed forces' actions of 4 January 2024.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of January 9, there were 64x combat engagements. Russian forces launched a total of 1x missile and 29x air strikes, carried out 17x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have resulted in civilian casualties and injuries. Private residential and apartment buildings, and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes. No signs of formation of an offensive group. Certain units of the armed forces of Belarus continue their missions in the areas bordering Ukraine.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russia maintains its military presence in the areas of russia bordering Ukraine. Russia continues its sabotage and reconnaissance activities, shelling Ukrainian settlements from the territory of Russia and increases the density of minefields along the state border of Ukraine. Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Vesele (Kharkiv oblast). Around 25x settlements came under Russian artillery and mortar fire, including Karpovychi, Hrem'yach (Chernihiv oblast), Volfyne, Kindrativka, Stepok (Sumy oblast), Udy, Vovchans'k, Mala Vovcha (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 4x attacks in the vicinity of Syn'kivka (Kharkiv oblast), where the Russian occupiers made unsuccessful attempts to improve their tactical situation. Russian forces launched air strikes near Petropavlivka, Ivanivka, Tabaivka, Pishchane, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Syn'kivka, Tabaivka, Ivanivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast).

Lyman axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 4x assaults east of Terny and Vesele (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Nove (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Yampolivka, Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Spirne (Donetsk oblast).

Bakhmut axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 3x attacks in the vicinities of Klishchiivka and Andriivka (Donetsk oblast). More than 10x settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Klishchiivka, Andriivka (Donetsk oblast).

Avdiivka axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 10x Russian attacks near Novobakhmutivka, Avdiivka, Sjeverne, and 11x more attacks in the vicinities of Pervomais'ke and Nevel's'ke (Donetsk oblast), where the Russian occupiers, with air support, made unsuccessful attempts to improve their tactical situation. Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Oleksandropil' (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 15x settlements, including Novobakhmutivka, Berdychi, Stepove, Avdiivka, Sjeverne, Nevel's'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Mar'inka axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold back Russian forces in the vicinities of Heorhiivka, Pobjeda and Novomykhailivka (Donetsk oblast). In that area, Russian forces made 14x failed attempts to breach Ukrainian defense. The settlements of Heorhiivka, Pobjeda, Novomykhailivka, Paraskoviivka were under Russian artillery and mortar fire.

Shakhtars'ke axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 1x Russian attack near Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast). The Russian adversary fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Vuhledar, Prechystivka, Zolota Nyva, Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Zaporizhzhia axis: Russian forces conducted no offensives. More than 15x settlements, including Poltavka, Chervone, Charivne, Mala Tokmachka, Robotyne, Kam'yans'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast), came under Russian artillery and mortar fire.

Odesa operational-strategic group, Kherson axis: Russian forces fired artillery at the city of Kherson, the settlements of Vesele, Kozats'ke, Ivanivka, Dniprovs'ke, Stanislav (Kherson oblast), as well as Solonchaky, Yaselka (Mykolaiv oblast).

The Russian occupiers do not abandon their intention to drive Ukrainian units out of their footholds on the left bank of the Dnipro. Thus, during the day, Russian forces made 9x unsuccessful assaults. The Ukrainian troops are holding the line and keep inflicting significant losses on the Russian enemy.

During the day of January 9, the Ukrainian Air Force launched air strikes on 9x concentrations of Russian troops.

The Ukrainian missile troops hit 1x concentration of troops, weapons, and military equipment, 2x artillery systems of the Russian invaders.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kupyansk direction, as a result of coordinated actions by units of the Zapad Group of Forces, in cooperation with artillery and aviation, have inflicted a fire defeat on manpower and hardware concentration areas of the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade and the 44th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU close to Sinkovka and Peschanoye (Kharkov region). The enemy losses were up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers. One ammunition depot of the AFU 125th Territorial Defence Brigade has been destroyed near Vesyoloye (Kharkov region).



In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, supported by Ground-Attack, Army aviation and artillery, have defeated formations of the 63rd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU, the 125th Territorial Defence Brigade, and the 13th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard near Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), and Serebryansky forestry. The enemy losses were up to 190 AFU servicemen, three motor vehicles, and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer.



In Donetsk direction, as a result of active actions by units of the Yug Group of Forces, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, manpower and hardware concentration areas in the strongholds of 22nd, 72nd mechanised, 95th air assault brigades of the AFU and the 113th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Antonovka, Bogdanovka, and Kleshcheevka (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses were up to 240 troops killed and wounded, four pickup trucks, and one D-30 howitzer.



In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, supported by Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, have repelled two attacks by assault groups of the 127th Territorial Defence Brigade near Priyutnoye (Zaporozhye region). The enemy losses were up to 80 AFU servicemen and two motor vehicles. In addition, in the course of counter-battery warfare, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system and one D-30 howitzers have been destroyed. One ammunition depot of the AFU 31st Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Krasnoarmeysk (Donetsk People's Republic).



In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces have inflicted a comprehensive fire attack on manpower and hardware concentration areas of 65th, 118th mechanised brigades of the AFU, and the 15th Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard near Verbovoye and Rabotino (Zaporozhye region). The enemy losses were up to 30 soldiers and two infantry fighting vehicles. In the course of counter-battery warfare, one D-20 howitzer and one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system have been destroyed.



In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 25 AFU servicemen, two motor vehicles, and two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems.



Missile Troops and Artillery, attack unmanned aerial vehicles of the Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed one P-18 air radar station, 109 AFU artillery units at firing positions, as well as engaged manpower and hardware in 126 areas during the day.



Air defence facilities have destroyed 10 Czech-manufactured Vampire MLRS projectiles. In addition, six unmanned aerial vehicles have been intercepted close to Krivosheevka, Volcheyarovka (Lugansk People's Republic), and Maryinka (Donetsk People's Republic).



In total, 567 airplanes and 265 helicopters, 10,546 unmanned aerial vehicles, 447 air defence missile systems, 14,538 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,201 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 7,676 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 17,223 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.





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Belarus democratic forces in Helsinki for parliamentary dialogue on the future for Belarus

OSCE | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Parliamentary Assembly

Strasbourg

9 January 2024

Leading representatives of democratic forces from Belarus - including their leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya - as well as members of civil society and journalists are joining parliamentarians from across Europe in Helsinki on 11-12 January to discuss the democratic future of Belarus.

The "Helsinki Dialogue" event, jointly organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Parliament of Finland, features six panel discussions on the current geopolitical context around Belarus, Belarusian national identity, political prisoners, strengthening support for democratic forces in the country, electoral matters and the creation of a representative body of the Belarusian people.

The event, which aims to show international support for Belarusians striving to build a democratic future for their country, will be opened by the leader of Belarusian democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis. The head of the Finnish delegation to PACE and Chair of the Finnish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland, SOC) will moderate.

Mr Kiljunen's report on "A democratic future for Belarus" is due to be debated by the Assembly - which brings together parliamentarians from the 46 nations of the Council of Europe - on 25 January during its winter plenary session in Strasbourg. The Helsinki event is part of PACE's ongoing regular dialogue with Belarusian democratic forces.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with President of Argentina Javier Milei

Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau

January 9, 2024

Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, to congratulate him on his election and to discuss shared priorities.

The Prime Minister and the President discussed building on the people-to-people ties between Canada and Argentina, continuing to grow the trade and investment relationship as well as working together to advance economic prosperity in the Americas, including strengthening supply chain integration and addressing environmental challenges. Prime Minister Trudeau also highlighted the importance of deepening gender equality.

The two leaders also spoke about global issues, sharing concerns about Russia's ongoing brutal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. The Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance of upholding human rights and democracy in the face of challenges to the rules-based international order.

Prime Minister Trudeau and President Milei looked forward to remaining in close and regular contact, including through the platform provided by their joint membership in the G20.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman

Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau

January 9, 2024

Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman.

The two leaders discussed the situation in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. The Prime Minister emphasized Canada's support for the right of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security, and dignity, without fear. The two leaders discussed the need for a path to secure lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.

The leaders expressed their deep concerns with the ongoing dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. They stressed the importance that all parties uphold international humanitarian law, ensure humanitarian access to the affected areas, and protect civilians. They also discussed the regional security implications of the conflict and efforts toward de-escalation.

The Prime Minister also thanked His Royal Highness for his leadership on working to resolve the conflict in the Middle East as well as on the Ukraine Peace Plan efforts.

The leaders agreed to continue to work together as the situation evolves.

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Chinese diplomacy to continue promoting common path to modernization for all people in 2024

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: Jan 09, 2024 09:38 PM Updated: Jan 09, 2024 09:39 PM

Chinese diplomacy will adhere to the principle of confidence and self-reliance, openness and inclusiveness, fairness and justice and win-win cooperation to promote the common path to modernization for the people of all countries, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said at a seminar on Tuesday, as he reviewed the accomplishments China made in diplomacy in the previous year and reaffirmed the mission for 2024 that was set by the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs.

Analysts believe that with the comprehensive plans outlined at the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, which was held in Beijing from December 27 to 28, 2023, China will continue to collaborate with the international community in addressing the increasing uncertainties and fulfill its role as a stabilizing and global engine.

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese foreign minister, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2023 International Situation and China's Diplomacy Seminar held in Beijing on Tuesday.

Wang noted that 2023 was a year of profound changes in international relations and a year of solid progress in China's modernization, as well as a year of exploration and harvest for China's diplomacy. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, Chinese diplomacy has adhered to its principles, made new contributions and innovation to the construction of a strong country and the national rejuvenation, as well as to maintaining world peace and promoting common development in 2023.

Wang emphasized that in the past year, facing major issues concerning the future and development of humanity and the world, Chinese diplomacy has always stood on the side of historical correctness and progress, making decisions that have withstood the test of practice and time.

"In the face of cooperation and confrontation, we firmly choose cooperation; in the face of unity and division, we firmly choose unity; in the face of openness and closure, we firmly choose openness; in the face of peace and war, we firmly choose peace; in the face of multilateralism and unilateralism, we firmly choose multilateralism; in the face of justice and power, we firmly choose justice," said Wang.

With the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs guiding the direction of China's external work in 2024, the country will make further contributions to global governance amid growing challenges, observers said.

New challenges

At the Tuesday seminar, Wang reviewed the six highlights of China's diplomacy in 2023, including the head-of-state diplomacy, building a community with a shared future for mankind, the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the expansion of the BRICS mechanism, the China-Central Asia Summit, and the historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

On head-of-state diplomacy, Wang noted that throughout 2023, President Xi personally led and participated in two major diplomatic events, attended three multilateral summits, conducted four important visits, and held over 100 meetings, as well as conversations via video links and phone calls. These have showcased the diverse aspects of China in the new era, promoted China's two-way interactions with the world, and opened up a new chapter in China's foreign relations.

The interactions between President Xi and other top leaders have never been suspended in the past three years, and they only strengthened in 2023, providing strategic guidance to bilateral relations, Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), who also attended the Wednesday seminar, told the Global Times.

The expert noted that in 2023, China's diplomacy has been marked by both head-of-state diplomacy and home diplomacy. This includes having invited a large number of foreign leaders, ministers, officials and individuals from various sectors to visit China. Moreover, high-level exchanges have been accompanied by increased people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries, further solidifying the foundations of these bilateral relations.

Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said that the year 2023 also held great significance for China as the country had implemented major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, resulting in significant achievements.

For instance, following a meeting between their top leaders in San Francisco, China-US relations have gradually stabilized. Su noted that although there are still uncertainties in the bilateral relations, promoting stable China-US relations will benefit both countries and meet the expectations of the international community.

China's diplomatic achievements in 2023 did not happen by chance, Su told the Global Times, noting that China has actively worked to strengthen relations with neighboring countries and build consensus with developing countries in order to create a community of a shared future.

The expansion of the BRICS bloc highlights the growing influence of emerging economies in global governance, with China playing an increasingly important role. Additionally, China's commitment to promoting peace talks, justice, and fairness has helped facilitate reconciliation in the Middle East, Su said.

Su warned of uncertainties, especially those brought about by the US due to the US presidential election in 2024, coupled with intense domestic conflicts and polarization. The uncertainties will not only impact US domestic politics but also influence its foreign policies, causing growing concerns worldwide.

Su noted that the year 2024 holds significance as it marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Chinese diplomacy will primarily prioritize domestic development and strive to create a favorable environment for growth. Consequently, China will place great emphasis on safeguarding global peace and stability.

All these highlights of Chinese diplomacy in 2023 have showcased the achievements and effectiveness of China's external work guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. Moreover, with the implementation of China's pragmatic diplomatic work and close collaboration with the Global South, the influence of China, one of the responsible major powers, has also increased, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Moreover, as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East persist into 2024, the international situation has become entangled with chaos and uncertainties. In light of this, the international community is also eagerly anticipating China's increased involvement, Li said.

In 2024, China is poised to assume the role of a stabilizer and an engine, fostering international collaboration and propelling the world toward prosperity, Li said.

During the Wednesday seminar, Wang emphasized that in 2024, Chinese diplomacy, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi at the core, will continue to combine China's development with the world's development and combine the interests of the Chinese people with the interests of the people of the world.

Together with other countries, we will shoulder the responsibilities of the times, work together to meet challenges, and promote the world toward a better and brighter future with a broader vision and more proactive actions, Wang said.

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Senior CPC official's US trip to push bilateral ties for a stable start in 2024

Global Times

Visit anticipated to enhance inter-party communication, cooperation

By GT staff reporters Published: Jan 09, 2024 08:46 PM

Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, became the first senior CPC official to visit the US since the summit meeting between two heads of state in San Francisco last November. Chinese experts believe Liu's visit, apart from allowing inter-party diplomacy to play bigger role in bilateral relations, also seeks to help push for more stable China-US ties in 2024 when relations are anticipated to encounter more turbulence.

In a seminar under the "Track 1.5 Dialogue" framework held in New York on Monday local time, Liu said that both countries should implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state, establish a correct understanding jointly, effectively manage differences, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, shoulder the responsibilities of major countries together, and promote people-to-people exchanges together. John Thornton, co-chair of the Asia Society's Board of Trustees and Daniel Russel, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs also participated in the event.

The International Department of the CPC Central Committee is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Asia Society, operate the "Track 1.5 Dialogue" mechanism well, and contribute to the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of bilateral relations, Liu said.

Liu is also scheduled to deliver a speech at Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank at an event titled The Future of China and China-US Relations: A Conversation With Liu Jianchao, on Tuesday local time.

As head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, Liu's visit to the US aims to make inter-party diplomacy play a more positive role in China-US relations, Diao Daming, an expert on US studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday, adding that the visit is also expected to further implement consensus reached by two heads of state in San Francisco in November last year, and seek to promote cooperation.

In 2023, Liu met with multiple US officials and government representatives, including US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in April 2023, and a California local government delegation led by Mike Fong, California State Assemblyman and Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, in October.

The International Department of the CPC Central Committee also held a "Track 1.5 Dialogue" with Asia Society via video in October last year.

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, stated that the decision to send Liu, a seasoned diplomat and influential figure in China's diplomacy, to visit the US early this year serves two purposes: first, it demonstrates China's commitment to fostering communication and dialogue with the US; second, it is hoped that Liu's visit will contribute to stabilizing China-US relationship during a year that is anticipated to bring numerous challenges, including the upcoming Taiwan regional leader election and the US presidential election.

Since the San Francisco summit, experts have described the relationship between the two countries as being in a state of "dynamic stability." While both nations are trying to maintain stability in a general sense, the US has not yet scaled back its intention to suppress China. Specifically, Washington has been actively challenging China's interests in the South China Sea and the Taiwan question.

Diao said to tussle on one hand and cooperate on the other is and will be the new normal of China-US interactions, and Liu's visit is a reflection of such a scenario.

Liu's trip to the US has attracted wide media coverage, especially in the island of Taiwan. Some Taiwan media speculate the Taiwan question will be a priority in the discussions as the Taiwan regional leader election will be held this weekend.

On Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that China has decided to impose sanctions on five US defense companies over their arms sales to island of Taiwan. Citing a Pentagon release last month, Reuters reported that the US State Department has approved a $300 million sale of equipment to help maintain the island of Taiwan's tactical information systems.

Li said that during his visit, Liu will reiterate in powerful language China's bottom line to the US in regard of Taiwan question, warning the US about the danger of colluding with Taiwan secessionists and interfering with the Taiwan question.

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In NY, Chinese official downplays 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy

Liu Jianchao is the most senior Chinese official to visit the US since the Xi-Biden summit in San Francisco.

By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2024.01.09 -- Beijing has no plans to return to the aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy that was seemingly rolled back last year, a senior Chinese official said in a speech in New York on Tuesday, stressing the need for the country to pursue "warm and cooperative" global ties.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Liu Jianchao, the director of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, was asked about an apparent shift in tone from President Xi Jinping at a meeting in Beijing last month.

After months of calling for global cooperation in the wake of his November summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, Xi used a meeting of foreign policy officials to appeal for a "diplomatic iron army" that keeps "a posture of readiness and a firm will to defy strong powers."

But Liu downplayed the meaning of the words, saying it did not augur a return to aggressive type of foreign policy that borrows its name from a popular 2015 Chinese war film, "Wolf Warrior," and its 2017 sequel.

"I don't really believe that there has always been a kind of 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy, and there's no talk about coming back to that diplomacy," Liu said, explaining that Xi was instead calling on China's diplomatic service to uphold a sense of professional discipline.

"The fundamental goal of China's diplomats would be to contribute their efforts in making sure that China's relations with other countries are warm and cooperative," Liu said, with the goal of creating "a favorable international environment or China's modernization drive."

New world order

Liu was previously in charge of China's "Operation Fox Hunt," a program Beijing says is aimed at repatriating corrupt officials who have escaped abroad but that FBI director Christopher Wray has said targets Chinese political dissidents who Xi sees as threats.

But in his current role, the official is charged with engaging foreign leaders. He said he hoped to use his current trip to discuss "how to implement the San Francisco vision" agreed upon by Biden and Xi.

China has since Xi's November trip tried to present a softer global image, stressing the need for cooperation with the United States and other countries amid increasing economic troubles.

But the move away from "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy started months before, with the movement's most recognizable face, onetime Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhou Lijian, demoted in March. Former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was also closely identified with the aggressive diplomatic style, was likewise suddenly ousted in July.

Officials have since sought to shift any focus away from China's plans as it rises in power to instead downplay any suggestions of change.

"China does not seek to change the current international order, still less reinvent the wheel by creating a new international order," Liu said. "We are one of the builders of the current world order and have benefited from it and will continue to uphold the international system."

Russia and Ukraine

Liu also defended China's close relations with Russia since 2022.

"We do need each other, [but] we also work together to ensure the international balance of power," Liu said, adding that close ties were necessary to keep "peace and stability on the Eurasian continent."

Asked about how China's support for Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine played into that Eurasian peace, as well as Beijing's normally loud defenses of territorial sovereignty when it comes to international relations, Liu said there were other concerns at play in Ukraine.

"The security concerns of a country - in particular in this context, Russia - must also be very well addressed," the official said. "The Ukraine crisis is more complex than it appears to be."

But Liu would not be pushed to comment on the status of Taiwan and its upcoming presidential election this weekend, refusing to answer questions about the self-governing island's post-election future.

"At this juncture, China's position on the Taiwan issue remains clear, strong and unchanged," he said in response to multiple questions on the topic. "That's what I'm going to tell you at this moment."

Edited by Malcolm Foster

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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Kim Jong Un labels S Korea as 'principal enemy,' boasts war readiness

The North is ready to 'devastate' the South if the latter contemplates use of force or poses a threat, Kim says.

By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA 2024.01.09 -- The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that South Korea is now officially Pyongyang's "principal enemy," openly stating his readiness for war - as foreign ministers from 48 countries issued a joint statement condemning the threat posed by North Korea to have extended well beyond the Korean peninsula.

"The ROK scums are our principal enemy," Kim proclaimed, referring to South Korea's formal name, as cited by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency Wednesday. "While we will not unilaterally decide on a major upheaval in the Korean peninsula through the overwhelming force of ours, we also have no intention of avoiding war," he warned.

Speaking during his two-day inspection of a military factory that began on Monday, the North Korean leader reaffirmed his commitment to the ongoing development of nuclear capabilities. "In response to a hostile nation that is adopting an aggressive stance towards us, and actively strengthening its military power, our top priorities must be to enhance our self-defensive national defense capabilities and to reinforce our nuclear deterrence against war."

Calling the South's Yoon Suk Yeol administration a "self-destructive" and "gangster regime," Kim added: "If the ROK dares to contemplate the use of force against our nation, or threatens our sovereignty and safety, we will not hesitate to mobilize all means and capabilities at our disposal to completely devastate the ROK."

Kim's seemingly emotional comments come as the Yoon administration has been implementing a hardline policy towards Pyongyang, with his conservative government openly vowing to proceed with reciprocal responses to Pyongyang's military provocations.

For instance, when North Korea launched some 200 artillery shells into waters off its western coast near South Korea's Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands Friday, Seoul conducted "naval fire" drills to reciprocate the provocation.

On Monday, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff also officially declared that the maritime buffer zone with North Korea no longer exists, setting a precondition for Seoul and Washington to conduct reconnaissance operations near the border - a move that has been strongly protested by Pyongyang.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who had advised South Korean administrations, sees Kim's emphasis on strengthening nuclear war deterrence capabilities as an open acknowledgment that its nuclear weapons are being targeted at South Korea.

"The declaration of a willingness to completely devastate ROK in the event of a war is not just a strategic position but also a calculated move to foster animosity towards Seoul. This serves as a tool to justify and legitimize the enhancement of Pyongyang's military capability," Yang said.

As Kim escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, foreign ministers from 48 countries - including South Korea, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine - issued a joint statement, expressing their growing concern that the threat from Pyongyang has extended beyond the peninsula.

Last week, the White House announced that Russia has been using Pyongyang-supplied ballistic missiles in Ukraine, highlighting the repercussions of the conflict in Europe as well as the security implications for the Korean peninsula.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) export and Russia's procurement of DPRK ballistic missiles, as well as Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine on December 30, 2023, and January 2, 2024," the joint statement said Wednesday, referring to North Korea's formal name.

"We urge all UN Member States, including all members of the United Nations Security Council, to join us in condemning Russia and the DPRK's flagrant UNSCR violations," the statement added.

"As Russia launches waves of missiles and drones against the Ukrainian people, we will continue to stand together in support of Ukraine. We further call on the DPRK to respond to the numerous and genuine offers to return to diplomacy, the only path to an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula."

Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang

Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content January 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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Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Inspects Major Munitions Factories

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, January 10 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, inspected major munitions factories on January 8 and 9 to learn about the production of weapons and equipment.

He was accompanied by Jo Chun Ryong, Kim Jae Ryong, O Su Yong, Kang Sun Nam, Kim Jong Sik, Kim Yo Jong, Jang Chang Ha and other senior officials of the Party Central Committee and armed forces organs.

With boundless trust and gratitude, leading officials and workers of major munitions factories greeted the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un visiting the factories to encourage them out in the struggle for attaining the huge production goal for the new year.

Making rounds of the factories, Kim Jong Un learned in detail about the production of weapons and equipment.

He highly appreciated the factories for having turned out in the patriotic struggle for the successful attainment of the munitions production goal, set forth at the 8th Congress of the WPK and the 7th Enlarged Meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the WPK, and for the sustained development of the country's munitions industry to step up the production of major weapon systems on a full scale and actively introduce new technologies into production.

He expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the factories have successfully carried out the plan for deploying new type weapons and equipment to the first-line large combined units and major missile units.

Saying with high appreciation that the fierce flames of struggle for implementing the Party's policies and innovations in production created at the core munitions factories of the country are a clear fruition of the remarkably high mental power, wisdom and enthusiasm of our officials and workers defending the munitions industry front, he called upon the major munitions factories to bring about greater leaping progress in the struggle for bolstering up the defence capabilities in 2024, too, by further elevating the surged spirit, mindful of their important mission and duty of taking charge of the main front of modernizing the Korean People's Army and bolstering up the self-reliant military capabilities.

He stressed that the munitions industry should permanently hold fast to and positively hasten the attainment of the goal for establishment of advanced production processes, constant expansion of production capacity and innovative modernization to produce more weapons and equipment in conformity with the development-oriented demand of the steadily changing and developing national defence science and industry in the new century and the objective and demand for modernization of our army.

Pointing out some shortcomings recently revealed in the organization of munitions production, he indicated the task for rationally and effectively readjusting the main production indices of munitions factories in a long-term view and on the principle of specialization, independence, consideration of factory capacity and priority over project for implementing the immediate policy.

Reiterating that it is necessary to have a correct understanding of the strategic importance of the production of major weapons and equipment prioritized by the Party, he underscored the need to carry on the economic organization and production guidance in a militant and revolutionary way so as to make this year a year of radical turn in boosting the country's preparations for war.

He made an appraisal of the security environment of the DPRK and the regional situation, stating the necessity and validity of the sustained store of incomparably overwhelming strength.

Saying that the historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea (ROK) which has pursued a history of vicious confrontation with bloodshot eyes to overthrow our regime and social system for nearly 80 years, he stressed that our state should recognize this unavoidable and irrevocable reality as it is and properly settle the historic problem of actively coping with the new phase of change and thoroughly countering everything.

Predicating that the ROK clan is our principal enemy, he said what the DPRK should prioritize in the relations with the hostile state running high fever in arms buildup while inciting the confrontation posture with the former is to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defence and the nuclear war deterrent first of all.

He said that we would by no means unilaterally bring a great event by the overwhelming strength in the Korean peninsula but we have no intention of avoiding a war as well. If the ROK dares attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security and such opportunity comes, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands, he said, affirming that we have such will, forces and capabilities and will continue to expand and strengthen them without delay in the future, too.

He noted that the DPRK will invariably take its vivid action based on the principle of righteous struggle, unless the gangster-like ruling quarters of the ROK realizes the mistake of the self-destructive anti-DPRK confrontation policy, which is running counter to the desire of mankind for peace and bringing misfortune on itself, and completely gives it up. And he set forth the revolutionary policies to be permanently held and carried out by the munitions industry field in more strictly perfecting the country's war preparedness.

All the workers in the munitions industry, who have realized the steadfast will of Kim Jong Un reflecting the principle of resolute counteraction against the enemies and the revolutionary stand of our Party and government, are filled with the ardent enthusiasm for firmly defending the sacred revolutionary cause of Juche by surely attaining the fighting goals, set by the Party Central Committee, with the absolute loyalty and the spirit of devoted implementation, again fully aware of the momentous mission that the increased production of military hardware precisely means the safeguard of dignity and sovereignty of the country. -0-

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Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh holds talks with UK Defence Minister Mr Grant Shapps in London; Emphasis on enhancing defence industrial cooperation

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

India & UK sign MoU for bilateral international cadet exchange programme; Letter of Arrangement inked on defence collaboration in R&D

Posted On: 09 JAN 2024 7:39PM by PIB Delhi

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with UK Defence Minister Mr Grant Shapps in London on January 09, 2024. The meeting was very warm with a fruitful exchange of ideas on both sides. Both Ministers discussed a range of defence, security and cooperation matters with particular emphasis on enhancing defence industrial collaboration. Mr Grant Shapps stressed that the relationship between UK and India is not transactional, instead both countries are natural partners with many commonalities and shared goals. The Raksha Mantri noted with appreciation the growing strategic convergence between the two countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

The bilateral defence meeting was followed by the signing of two agreements between India and UK - an MoU on conduct of bilateral international cadet exchange programme, and a Letter of Arrangement between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) on defence collaboration in research and development. These documents will provide impetus to the people-to-people exchanges particularly among the youth, and larger area of defence research collaboration between the two countries.

After arriving in London late on 8th January, the Raksha Mantri began his London engagements by paying floral tributes to Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi at his statue at Tavistock Square earlier today. Mahatma Gandhi had studied law at the nearby University College London from 1888 to 1891. 9th January is a symbolic date from the perspective of Mahatma Gandhi's return from South Africa to Mumbai in 1915, which is commemorated in the form of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in India, marking the rich contribution of the Overseas Indian community towards the development of the country.

Shri Rajnath Singh was presented a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Horse Guards Parade Ground before the bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart.

*******

ABB/Savvy



(Release ID: 1994638)

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INS KABRA ARRIVES AT COLOMBO, SRI LANKA

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 09 JAN 2024 11:06AM by PIB Delhi

Indian Navy's Fast Attack Craft INS Kabra arrived at Colombo, Sri Lanka on 08 Jan 24. The ship was accorded a warm welcome by the Sri Lanka Navy. During the port call, Commanding Officer, INS Kabra called on Commander, Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral TSK Perera.

In a presentation ceremony, essential spares and stores meant for the Sri Lanka Navy and Air Force were handed over by the ship. The visit further strengthens the bilateral cooperation and camaraderie between the two Navies in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of SAGAR.

*********

VM/PS



(Release ID: 1994404)

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Iran gives US until April 19 to respond to Gen. Soleimani case

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Iran has given the United States a deadline to respond to an official complaint about its assassination of top IRGC commander General Qassem Soleimani before it will file the case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"If the US does not respond by the end of Farvardin 1403 (March 19, 2024), we will register our complaint at the International Court of Justice in The Hague," Vice President for Legal Affairs Mohammad Dehghan told IRNA on Tuesday.

"We have warned the US about its shortcomings in handling the case of the assassination of General Soleimani and its violation of international conventions, and they must respond to this notice," he added.

Dehghan pointed out that the complaint against the US is being pursued separately from the prosecution of a number of individuals who have been identified to have directly or indirectly been involved in the assassination of General Soleimani in domestic courts.

General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was assassinated in a US drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.

4353**2050

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Iran rejects releasing main suspect in Ukraine plane case

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Judiciary has dismissed claims that the main suspect in the case of the Ukrainian plane crash has been released on bail.

"One of the lawyers of the families of the victims of the Ukrainian plane crash claimed in an interview that the main suspect in this case has been released on bail," the Media Center of the Judiciary said in a statement.

It made clear, however, that the suspect has been in custody since the case went on trial in early 2020.

On January 8, 2020, the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near the Iranian capital.

The plane was shot down by Iran's air defenses, which mistook the aircraft for a military target amid tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US assassination of Iran's top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.

Iran acknowledged days later that the mismanagement of an air defense unit's radar system by its operator was the key human error that led to the accident.

In its statement, the Judiciary further explained that the main suspect has been handed 13 years in prison on charges of the manslaughter of the passengers of the Ukrainian flight as well as disregarding the communicated order, given the extent of the consequences of the incident.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that Tehran will not tolerate the politicization of the case by some countries to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic.

4354**9417**4261

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Iran leader: Predictions about Zionists' defeat coming true

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 9 January 2024 / 15:54

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei, has met with a number of people from Qom Province. The meeting took place in the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah on January 9, 2024, on the 46th anniversary of the historic uprising of the people of Qom against the oppressive Pahlavi regime.

Tehran-ISNA- During the meeting, Imam Khamenei spoke about the grievous explosion in Kerman, noting that, "Due to this sad, tragic event that took place in Kerman, the [Iranian] nation has become grief-stricken in the true sense of the word. We do not insist on accusing others. But we do insist on finding and crushing the main culprits and those behind the scenes of this tragedy. Our honorable officials are busy working on this. I am well aware of what they are doing. They have done a good job. They are doing a good job. God willing, they [the officials] will be able to punish them [the culprits] for their actions."

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also drew attention to the issue of Gaza, pointing to the gradual realization of the predictions made by discerning individuals regarding the unfolding of events in Gaza.

"It was predicted that the Palestinian Resistance would be the victors in this field, and the side that would be defeated would be the evil and cursed Zionist regime. Today this prediction is coming true," he asserted.

End Item



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Iran criticizes US' unquestionable support for Israeli regime's crimes

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 9, 2024

New York, IRNA -- Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani in a statement before the UN General Assembly America's criticized the US unquestionable support for Israel's crimes, and said that despite the international community's repeated requests to the Security Council to fulfill its obligations and stop the bloodshed in Gaza, this organization has once again failed to fulfill its duties only because of the US' opposition to establishing a ceasefire.

Referring to the US' abuse of its veto power and opposition to the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, he added that the US' obstruction of the implementation of the duties of the UN Security Council according to the United Nations Charter is deeply in conflict with the global requests to end the bloodshed, it is challenges the innate human nature to preserve human lives, and violates the basic principles of international law, including humanitarian law and human rights.

The full text of Iravani's statement is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Mr. President,

I thank you, Mr. President, for convening this important meeting, to address the pressing issue of the unwarranted and irresponsible use of veto by the United States that hindered the Security Council from fulfilling its vital duty of maintaining international peace and security.

Despite all international calls for the Security Council to fulfill its obligation and halt the bloodshed in Gaza, the Body has once again fallen short of its duties, solely due to yet another obstruction by the United States.

Unfortunately, through the veto of the proposed amendment put forth by Russia which aimed at a sustainable cessation of hostilities in Gaza, the United States has once again indicated a lack of commitment to ending the violence in Gaza and safeguarding civilian lives.

Indeed, the veto granted Israel unchecked freedom for additional, unrestricted, and indiscriminate bombings on civilian infrastructure and the population of Gaza without any time constraints.

Each passing day of the war in Gaza exacerbates human suffering and destruction as the Israeli regime continues its relentless bombardments and genocidal aggression against innocent people in Gaza.

As a result of huge attacks almost all residential parts of the strip have been destroyed, no place in Gaza is safe, and an imminent risk of a total collapse of the humanitarian support system is still valid.

The obstruction by the United States of the Council's Charter duties starkly contrasts with global appeals for an end to the bloodshed, defies the inherent human nature to preserve life, and violates fundamental principles of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law.

Mr. President,

Iran notes the adoption of the Security Council Resolution 2720, upon which the Council urges facilitating the use of all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, including border crossings.

Further, Iran acknowledges the appointment of Her Excellency Sigrid Kaag as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2720 (2023) and would like to offer its full cooperation in fulfilling her mandate.

We hope that the newly established monitoring mechanism outlined in the resolution will carry out its mandate efficiently, free from any obstruction or interference by the Israeli regime.

Additionally, we look forward to the Secretary-General's timely reporting to the Council on the implementation of the resolution.

And lastly Mr. President, we are of the firm believe that the only practical way to proceed is to prevent and stop the criminal and genocide aggression against innocent civilians in Gaza, establish a sustainable and durable ceasefire, ensure access to humanitarian assistance on a large scale, and halt the forced displacement of the People in the Gaza Strip.

Without a sustainable ceasefire, the tragedy worsens, leading to the loss of innocent lives, including children, and women.

Further, Israel shall be punished for all its international wrongdoings, which have put the whole region on fire.

The United States faces a critical choice: it can either persist in its current trajectory, or it can choose to refrain from providing unconditional support.

Without such support, Israel would encounter difficulties in sustaining its actions of mass violence and genocide against the Palestinian population.

I thank you

2050

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Secretary Blinken's Meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Gallant

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

January 9, 2024

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Israel. The Secretary reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to ensure the attacks of October 7 cannot be repeated. Secretary Blinken and Defense Minister Gallant discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the need to significantly increase the levels of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza. Secretary Blinken urged Israel to take all possible measures to avoid civilian harm, protect civilian infrastructure, and effectively deconflict Israeli operations to ensure the distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout all of Gaza. The Secretary also stressed the importance of preventing the conflict from spreading, including by avoiding escalation in Lebanon or the West Bank.

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Secretary Blinken's Meeting with Israeli Minister Gantz

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

January 9, 2024

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with War Cabinet member Minister Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv to discuss the latest developments in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, including efforts to dismantle Hamas' terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining hostages. The Secretary underscored the urgent need to protect civilian lives and accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, including through an effective deconfliction mechanism.

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Secretary Blinken's Meeting with Israeli President Herzog

US Department of State

Readout

Office of the Spokesperson

January 9, 2024

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv. The Secretary reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to ensure the terrorist attacks of October 7 cannot be repeated and emphasized the need to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians. Secretary Blinken and President Herzog reviewed the ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages. Secretary Blinken emphasized the imperative of facilitating the increased and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and discussed efforts to achieve broader regional integration that ensures Israel's security and advances the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Israeli President Isaac Herzog Before Their Meeting

US Department of State

Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

David Kempinski Hotel

Tel Aviv, Israel

January 9, 2024

PRESIDENT HERZOG: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning, Secretary Blinken. As always, it's such a pleasure to have you in Israel. This is your fourth trip already in this Gaza war, and we are very grateful to you for your support and for your steadfast commitment to Israel's safety and to making sure that Israel wins this war, because it's a war that affects international values and the values of the free world.

Yesterday I had a long conversation with the Vice President. It was a productive conversation, and I would reiterate what I told her. On Thursday, a proceeding will start in the International Court of Justice in The Hague whereby the South Africa has sued Israel for supposedly genocide. There is nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim. Actually our enemies, the Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction and annihilation of the state of Israel - the only nation-state of the Jewish people. The convention against genocide was enacted by the international community following the worst atrocities of humankind - the Shoah, the Holocaust, which was aimed specifically against the Jews, the Jewish people, in order to eliminate the Jewish race, the Jewish people. In Hamas's charter it's almost identical in many, many ways.

And here, with the hypocrisy of South Africa, we will be there at the International Court of Justice and will present proudly our case of using self-defense, under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost in under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground, to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties. We are alerting, we are calling, we are showing, we are sending leaflets - we are using all the means that international law enables us in order to move out people so that we can unravel this huge city of terror underneath in people's homes, living rooms, and bedrooms, mosques, and shops, and schools.

Yesterday we unraveled a huge factory of terror underneath a humanitarian corridor which Israel is employing in order to help the civilians of Gaza, which I want to thank the United States of America President Biden and the administration and you, Secretary Blinken, for your moral call of duty, for the fact that you're standing steadfast with Israel in this battle which has to do clearly with humanity and with the values of the free world. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And as always, we greatly value the president's leadership in these incredibly challenging times - for Israel, for countries in the region, and especially the people who continue to suffer.

I've just come from a number of countries in the region - TArkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia - and I want to be able to share some of what I heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the cabinet later today. And of course we'll have an opportunity to sit with the families of some of the hostages and discuss our relentless efforts to bring everyone home and back with their families. And there's lots to talk about in particular about the way forward.

So I look forward to these conversations. As always, it's very good to be with you. Thank you.

PRESIDENT HERZOG: Thank you very much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.

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Leader Of Karakalpak Diaspora In Kazakhstan Dies In Almaty Hospital

By RFE/RL's Kazakh Service January 09, 2024

A leader of the Karakalpak diaspora in Kazakhstan, Nietbai Urazbaev, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia in Uzbekistan over unprecedented Karakalpak protests in July 2022, has died in a hospital in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty.

Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratbai said on January 9 that Urazbaev died of a heart attack at the age of 54.

Urazbaev left his native Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan in 2004 fearing for his safety over his human rights activities and lived in Kazakhstan's western region of Manghystau since then. In recent months, he stayed at his daughter's place in Almaty fearing he may be kidnapped by Uzbek secret service.

In July 2022, Urazbaev issued a video statement supporting Karakalpaks in his native republic's capital, Nukus, who protested Tashkent's plans to change the constitution that would have undermined the region's right to self-determination.

The protests were violently dispersed. Uzbek authorities said at the time that 21 people died during the protests, but the Austrian-based Freedom for Eurasia human rights group said at least 70 people were killed during the unrest.

In 2017, Urazbaev became a Kazakh citizen, losing his Uzbek citizenship as Kazakh laws do not allow dual citizenship.

In May 2023, an Uzbek court sentenced Urazbaev to 12 years in absentia over the video statement he issued during the protests in Nukus.

In January last year, an Uzbek court sentenced 22 Karakalpak activists to prison terms on charges including undermining the constitutional order for taking part in the protests.

In March 2023, another 39 Karakalpak activists accused of taking part in the protests in Nukus were convicted, with 28 of them sentenced to prison terms of between five years and 11 years. Eleven defendants were handed parole-like sentences.

The violence forced Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev to make a rare about-face and scrap the proposal.

Tashkent has tried to have Urazbaev extradited from Kazakhstan, which ran into legal issues as he was no longer an Uzbek citizen.

However, on December 1, 2023, Urazbaev was officially informed that his Kazakh citizenship was annulled due to what Kazakh officials called "incorrect documents" presented when he applied for Kazakh citizenship.

The move raised Urazbaev's worries about his safety and caused a deep depression which most likely led to the lethal heart attack, Muratbai says.

Karakalpaks are a Central Asian Turkic-speaking people. Their region used to be an autonomous area within Kazakhstan before becoming autonomous within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1930 and then part of Uzbekistan in 1936.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/karakalpak-diaspora-leader-dies- kazakh-hospital/32767412.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Myanmar junta asks ethnic armies, political parties to meet new ASEAN envoy

But the groups do not include key stakeholders from the opposition.

By RFA Burmese 2024.01.09 -- Myanmar's military junta has invited representatives from several ethnic armies and heads of political parties to meet with the new ASEAN special envoy during a planned visit this week. However, several key stakeholders will be absent from talks, including members of the opposition.

Alounkeo Kittikhoun, vice minister of foreign affairs for Laos, assumed the office of the regional bloc's special envoy to Myanmar after his country took on the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2024.

He will attempt to deal with Myanmar's ongoing post-coup crisis while working to ensure the junta does not hold ASEAN hostage in its dealings with the bloc.

Ahead of Alounkeo's visit, Myanmar's military regime invited seven of the country's 10 ethnic armies that have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, as well as the heads of the 45 registered political parties to attend talks with the envoy.

While no dates have been officially announced, invitees said that the meeting with ethnic armies will take place on Wednesday in the capital Naypyidaw, while the meeting with political parties will occur on Friday in Yangon.

Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, the General Secretary of the Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council, said that his group expects to discuss ways to end the country's political crisis and facilitate humanitarian assistance amid widespread violence - a process that began during Indonesia's chairmanship last year.

"We expect to find a potential way to overcome the three-year crisis during the visit of the new envoy," he said, without providing details.

Aiming for an election

Of the 10 ethnic armies that have signed the ceasefire, three were not invited to this week's meeting. The Karen National Union, the Chin National Front, and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front are all signatories, but are currently engaged in fighting with the military.

Tin Swe, the deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, told RFA Burmese that his party will request assistance from Alounkeo to hold an immediate general election in Myanmar.

"Elections can only be held if there is an end to the ongoing armed conflict," he said. "We hope ASEAN can assist in holding such an election."

The junta and its supporters want to hold a general election to end a state of emergency that has been in place in Myanmar since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup d'etat, but observers say such a ballot would be neither free nor fair and would only serve to legitimize the military's grasp on power.

The regime has ignored calls to allow all stakeholders, including the deposed National League for Democracy, the shadow National Unity Government, and various anti-junta forces, from meeting with visiting ASEAN officials. Critics say there can be no meaningful move towards a resolution of the crisis unless all parties have a seat at the table.

Key stakeholders missing

Kyaw Zaw, the spokesperson of the President's Office under the National Unity Government, or NUG - made up of leaders of the former, ousted civilian government and other activists - said his administration welcomes the new ASEAN special envoy's efforts to resolve the conflict.

But he called for the envoy to also meet with anti-junta groups such as the NUG, instead of only holding talks with stakeholders selected by the military.

"He should also meet with the NUG, which represents the people of Myanmar, the ethnic armed organizations which are benefiting ethnic groups, and other revolutionary forces," he said, adding that he is holding out hope that such a sit-down might still take place.

RFA sent a request for comment on the pending visit to the Lao Embassy in Yangon, but had yet to receive a response by the time of publishing. Similarly, calls to junta Deputy Information Minister Major General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Tuesday.

Aung Myo, a former military officer and political commentator, told RFA that Alounkeo will request a meeting with jailed National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit, and that the junta would grant such a request under certain conditions.

"If the special envoy agrees not to release certain information during his press conference after meeting with Aung San Kuu Kyi, he would be allowed to meet with her," he said.

The former State Councilor and former President Win Myint, who were arrested along with other senior members of the NLD in the aftermath of the coup remain incarcerated on lengthy prison sentences under various charges.

Tumultuous relations

ASEAN adopted a 'five-point' consensus in April 2021 to end violence in Myanmar and bring the country back to the path of democracy, but rotating ASEAN chairs Brunei, Cambodia and Indonesia have all failed to effectively address the crisis over the past three years.

The consensus - which was agreed to by the junta - called for an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy.

Moreover, top junta officials, including junta chief Senior Gen.l Min Aung Hlaing, have been barred from attending ASEAN summits because of the regime's failure to implement the consensus.

In addition to his role as the vice minister for foreign affairs, Alounkeo Kittikhoun has served as ambassador to the U.N. for the Lao government and is a veteran diplomat.

The first ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar after the military coup was Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Erywan Yusof of Brunei during that country's rotating chair of the bloc in 2021. He tried to visit Myanmar in October 2021, but his trip was canceled because the junta did not agree to some of his terms.

During the 2022 term of the ASEAN rotating chair, Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn of Cambodia served as the special envoy. He made two visits to Myanmar in one year, but his requests for a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi were denied by the junta.

Indonesia chose an approach of "silent diplomacy," during its term last year and sent no special envoy to Myanmar. Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said on Jan. 8 that his government held a total of 265 meetings with the junta to address the crisis in Myanmar, but made little progress.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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 resistance group launches attack on junta naval base

The base is located in a Chinese special economic zone where Beijing has requested heightened security.

By RFA Burmese 2024.01.09 -- An ethnic army attacked a junta naval base in western Myanmar, locals told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. The base is one of the largest in the country and located in part of an ongoing Chinese investment project.

The attack was initiated by the Arakan Army on Monday morning in Rakhine State's Kyaukphyu township, residents said. Danyawaddy Naval Base retaliated during the attack using heavy artillery and small arms, reported one resident, who declined to be named for security reasons.

"Yesterday morning, the Arakan Army fired at the naval base with shock missiles. They fired about six times. I don't know how much damage they inflicted," he said. "The naval base also fired back with heavy and small arms. There was no more fighting today, but the junta troops have closed all the roads and tightened security."

Danyawaddy is part of the Kyaukphyu deep sea port complex and in a special economic zone that is currently being developed by China. The project was approved in 2023 by the junta and attempts to recruit locals for work have been met with controversy and distrust.

Fighting in Rakhine in December has already stalled progress on both the port and railroad, locals told RFA.

Emails by RFA to the Chinese Embassy in Yangon for comment on the attack went unanswered Tuesday.

Both the Myanmar junta and resistance groups, like the Three Brotherhood Alliance, have been frequently urged by China to secure the country's projects inside Myanmar and stabilize the border region. The Arakan Army is one resistance group in the alliance, along with the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.

Myanmar's regime has not released any information about the attack on the naval base. RFA was unable to reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment regarding junta injuries and damages.

Monday was the Arakan Army's first attack on the junta naval base in Kyaukphyu, according to their statement released Monday. It said the army intends to capture all junta camps in Paletwa, one of the westernmost towns in Myanmar's Chin state.

Currently, all junta camps in western Paletwa have been captured, the group claimed.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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Navalny Placed In Solitary Confinement After Exiting Quarantine In Arctic Prison

By RFE/RL's Russian Service January 09, 2024

Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny says he was immediately placed in a punitive solitary confinement cell after finishing a quarantine term at the so-called Polar Wolf prison in Russia's Arctic region where he was transferred last month.

In a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, Navalny said on January 9 a prison guard ruled that "convict Navalny refused to introduce himself according to format, did not respond to the educational work, and did not draw appropriate conclusions for himself" and therefore must spend seven days in solitary confinement.

Navalny added that unlike in a regular cell, where inmates are allowed to have a walk outside of the cell in the afternoon when it is a bit warmer outside, in the punitive cell, such walks are at 6:30 a.m. in a part of the world where temperatures can fall to minus 45 degrees Celsius or colder.

"I have already promised myself that I will try to go for a walk no matter what the weather is," Navalny said in an irony-laced series of eight posts, adding that the cell-like sites for walks are "11 steps from the wall and 3 steps to the wall" with an open sky covered with metal bars above.

"It's never been colder here than -32 degrees Celsius (-25 degrees Fahrenheit). Even at that temperature you can walk for more than half an hour, but only if you have time to grow a new nose, ears, and fingers," Navalny joked, comparing himself with the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Revenant film, who saved himself from freezing in the cold by crawling inside the carcass of a dead horse.

"Here you need an elephant. A hot or even roasted elephant. If you cut open the belly of a freshly roasted elephant and crawl inside, you can keep warm for a while. But where am I going to get a hot, roasted elephant [here], especially at 6:30 in the morning? So, I will continue to freeze," Navalny concludes in his sarcastic string of messages.

Navalny was transported in December to the notorious and remote prison, formally known as IK-3, but widely referred to as Polar Wolf.

Some 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow, the prison holds about 1,050 of Russia's most incorrigible prisoners.

Human rights activists say the prison holds serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, repeat offenders, and others convicted of the most serious crimes and serving sentences of 20 years or more.

In some cases, like Navalny's, the government sends convicts who are widely considered to be political prisoners there as well. Platon Lebedev, a former business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was convicted of tax evasion and other charges during the dismantling of the Yukos oil giant, spent about two years at IK-3 in the mid-2000s.

The prison was founded in 1961 at a former camp of dictator Josef Stalin's Gulag network. The settlement of Kharp, with about 5,000 people, mostly provides housing and services for prison workers and administrators.

Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison in August 2023 on extremism charges, on top of previous sentences for fraud. He says the charges are politically motivated, and human rights organizations recognized him as a political prisoner.

He has posed one of the most-serious threats to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recently announced he is running for reelection in March. Putin is expected to easily win the election amid the continued sidelining of opponents and a clampdown on opposition and civil society that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Navalny survived a poisoning with Novichok-type nerve agent in 2020 that he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin has denied any role in Navalny's poisoning.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/navalny-solitary-confinement- quarantine-artic-prison/32767458.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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American Detained In Russia On Drug Charges

By RFE/RL January 09, 2024

A Russian court has sent U.S. citizen Robert Romanov Woodland to pretrial detention for two months on drug-possession charges that could see him imprisoned for up to two decades.

The Ostankino district court in Moscow ruled on January 9 that Woodland must stay in pretrial detention until at least March 5. It said the charges were related to the illegal acquisition or possession of drugs. No further details were provided.

The charges come amid accusations from Washington that U.S. nationals are being detained to be used by Moscow as bargaining chips in exchange for Russians jailed in the United States.

A Facebook account in the name of Robert Woodland indicated that he had been working as an English teacher in Russia and lived outside Moscow.

The Russian news site Mash said Woodland, 32, was detained on January 5.

It noted that a man named Robert Woodland appeared on a state television program in 2020, where he met his Russian mother. Woodland said he was adopted in 1993 by Americans from an orphanage in Russia's Perm region.

Woodland's arrest comes almost three months after a U.S.-Russian dual citizen, Prague-based U.S. journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has worked for RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service for some 25 years, was arrested in Russia's Tatarstan region.

Kurmasheva was attending to a family emergency in Kazan, the regional capital, when she was briefly detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2, 2023, at the airport, where both of her passports and phone were confiscated.

After five months spent waiting for a decision in her case, Kurmasheva was fined 10,000 rubles ($110) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities.

While waiting for the return of her travel documents, Kurmasheva was detained again on October 18 and this time charged with failing to register as a "foreign agent," a legal designation Russia has used since 2012 to label and punish critics of government policies.

If convicted, Kurmasheva may face up to five years in prison.

In March last year, another U.S. citizen, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg for spying -- a charge he and the newspaper vehemently deny.

If convicted, Gershkovich may face up to 20 years in prison.

In 2018, Russia arrested a former U.S. Marine, Michigan-based corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian, and Irish citizenship, claiming that he was caught with a flash drive containing classified information.

In 2020, a Russian court sentenced Whelan to 16 years in prison on espionage charge, which he and the U.S. government have denied.

Whelan, who was arrested while visiting Moscow for a friend's wedding, has insisted that he was set up in a sting operation and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained vacation photos.

The detentions of U.S. citizens in Russia come as 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.

More than 30 RFE/RL journalists have been listed individually as "foreign agents" by the Russian Justice Ministry.

RFE/RL says the "foreign agent" law amounts to political censorship meant to prevent journalists from performing their professional duties and is challenging the moves in Russian courts and at the European Court of Human Rights.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia- american-drug-charges/32766861.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Opposition demands gov't explain China satellite launch missile alert

ROC Central News Agency

01/09/2024 09:38 PM

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Opposition parties on Tuesday demanded the government fully review and explain why a national alert warning of a "missile flyover" in English was sent in response to the preplanned launch of a Chinese low-orbit satellite.

Criticizing the government for sending a "misleading" alert, opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu () called on the Ministry of National Defense (MND) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to offer a thorough explanation.

"This is the first time I've heard that a satellite launch could prompt a national alert," he told reporters in Taichung.

"Maybe everyone was startled, thinking it was a missile, only to realize it was a satellite," he continued, referring to the English version of the warning message.

It appeared that the MND was attempting to mislead the public by issuing such an alert, he alleged.

The military sent a nationwide emergency alert message informing the public that China's government had just launched a satellite with its trajectory passing through airspace over southern Taiwan at 3:04 p.m. Tuesday.

Though the message said "satellite" in Chinese, the English translation of the message was: "Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware."

The MND later apologized, saying the English version was mistaken.

In response, KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih () demanded that the DPP clarify the standard it adopts for issuing such warnings, alleging that the party is exhibiting inconsistent behavior in situations that may surpass the severity of a satellite launch, on the sidelines of a press conference in New Taipei.

Hou was referring to the MND's lack of response on Aug. 4, 2022, to the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) firing of nine missiles -- five landing in waters in Japan's exclusive economic zone, and four of the five flying over Taiwan -- after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on Aug. 2-3.

The public only became aware of the incident after Japan's Defense Ministry made the news public, and Taiwan's MND explained later that the missiles posed no dangers to the vast ground area they flew over during the trajectory.

The MND also defended its decision not to set off air raid alerts at the time, saying in a statement that its surveillance and reconnaissance system accurately grasped the missiles' trajectory and felt they posed no harm to Taiwan proper.

Another reason for not releasing more information, such as on the flight paths of the PLA-launched missiles, was to protect the military's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the statement said.

Following the alarm on Tuesday, KMT's vice presidential candidate Jaw Shau-kong () accused the DPP of threatening Taiwanese voters just days ahead of the presidential election, which falls on Jan. 13.

"There are strong grounds to suspect that at times, it's not the Chinese communists attempting to meddle in the elections, but rather the DPP engaging in such interference," Jaw also told media in New Taipei.

Meanwhile, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je () said during his campaign tour in Tainan that it was vital for the government to review its standard operating procedures in handling such a matter.

He also called for the establishment of a "hotline" between Taipei and Beijing similar to the Moscow-Washington link during the Cold War to allow for direct communication between leaders.

Tuesday's blunder confirmed the lack of a fundamental communication mechanism between both sides of the Taiwan Strait, which could lead to misjudgments in crucial moments and trigger crises, Ko said.

While the opposition parties also questioned if it was necessary for the government to issue a national alert over a satellite launch in the first place, the DPP administration defended its decision.

President Tsai Ing-wen () said on her Facebook page that even though the satellite was at an altitude outside the atmosphere, the alert was meant to keep everyone updated and minimize potential safety risks.

"This demonstrates the essence of a democratic society, which emphasizes openness and transparency," she said.

Tsai was presenting government policies to senior citizens in Kaohsiung when the alarm sounded, after which she corrected the information and assured the attendees by saying "It's alright, the president is here and is always standing by all of you."

Premier Chen Chien-jen (), meanwhile, stood by the MND's decision and said the government has the responsibility to inform the public so that they could stay alert over the rocket flyover because its debris could fall onto Taiwan's soil.

Answering questions about the alert during a legislative session Tuesday, Chen said that a rocket launch could have chosen a different trajectory and he asked why the Chinese side chose to fly the satellite over southern Taiwan airspace.

"That is the question China should answer," he said, in response to accusations from a KMT lawmaker that the government had issued the alert to intimidate the Taiwanese public and interfere in the upcoming election.

(By Wen Kuei-hsiang, Kao Hua-chien, Lin Ching-yin, Chung Yu-chen and Lee Hsin-Yin)

Enditem/ASG

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Taiwan's military apologizes over 'missile flyover' message mishap

ROC Central News Agency

01/09/2024 06:50 PM

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has apologized for sending a nationwide emergency alert on Tuesday that warned of a "missile flyover" in English when it was actually a Chinese satellite launching in airspace over Taiwan.

In a statement, the MND said it detected a carrier rocket launched by China from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at around 3:03 p.m. Tuesday.

The rocket passed over southern Taiwan's airspace in outer space, the MND said, adding that its intelligence systems closely tracked the launch.

To warn the public of the launch, the MND said it sent a bilingual message via the Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service to smartphone users in Taiwan, warning them to watch out for their safety and report it to authorities if they found debris from unidentified objects.

However, while the message said "satellite" in Chinese, the English translation of the message was: "Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware."

The MND explained that the mistake was made due to a failure to update the English wording used in the emergency text message, for which it issued an apology to the Taiwanese public.

The MND did not explain, however, why it issued the alert over the Public Warning Cell Broadcast (or Public Warning System, PWS) in the first place, given that it had never done so for a Chinese satellite launch before since the alert system was put in place in 2017, according to historical data on the PWS website.

It was at least the fourth time since November 2023 that the MND made public a Chinese rocket launch trajectory that passed through Taiwan's airspace or air defense identification zone, all in outer space, following such incidents on Nov. 9, Dec. 10 and Dec. 30.

None of the first three elicited a PWS message.

Tuesday's satellite launch came just four days before Taiwanese voters are scheduled to head to the polls to elect their new president in the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections.

Criticizing the government for sending a "misleading" alert, the chairman of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), Eric Chu (), called on the MND or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to offer a thorough explanation.

"This is the first time I've heard that a satellite launch could prompt national warnings," he told the media in Taichung.

"Maybe everyone was startled, thinking it was a missile, only to realize it was a satellite," he continued, referring to the English version of the warning message.

It appeared that the MND was attempting to mislead the public by issuing such an alert, he alleged.

Premier Chen Chien-jen (), meanwhile, defended the MND's decision to send a nationwide text message alert over the rocket launch, saying that the government has responsibility to inform the public so that they could stay alert over the rocket flyover because its debris could fall onto Taiwan's soil.

Answering questions about the alert during a legislative session Tuesday, Chen said that a rocket launch could have chosen a different trajectory and he asked why the Chinese side chose to fly the satellite over southern Taiwan airspace.

"That is the question China should answer," he said, in response to accusations from a KMT lawmaker that the government had issued the alert to intimidate the Taiwanese public and interfere in the upcoming election.

As is the case for most alerts from the PWS system, the message sent was based on a pre-prepared template.

A search of the PWS system found no templates for satellite launches so the message was likely based on a template from the "Missile air raid alert" category.

The word for "missile" in Chinese, however, was changed to "satellites" and other details were filled in, but warnings of possible debris were kept.

The English part of the template that read "[Air raid Alert] Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware" was not changed.

The PWS system is mainly used to alert the public to things like earthquakes, typhoons or air raid drills.

According to China's national Xinhua news agency, the rocket was launched at 3:03 p.m. by a Long March-2C carrier rocket to take a new astronomical satellite into space.

The satellite, known as the Einstein Probe (EP) that uses a new X-ray detection technology inspired by the lobster eye, is meant to observe transient phenomena in the universe, the Xinhua report said.

The Chinese Yaogan satellites, as they are called, are a series of government-operated optical remote sensing satellites, which are likely used also for military reconnaissance, according to defense experts.

(By Joseph Yeh, Chung Yu-chen, and Lin Ching-yin)

Enditem/ls

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No need to shoot down all Chinese balloons: Defense official

ROC Central News Agency

01/09/2024 03:56 PM

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) A senior Taiwanese defense official on Tuesday said the military will not shoot down all Chinese balloons found flying across Taiwan because doing so would waste of ammunition and is "exactly what the Chinese want."

Colonel Wang Chia-chun (cZae), deputy head of the Ministry of National Defense's (MND) joint operations planning section, said shooting down the balloons, which have been entering Taiwanese airspace daily since the beginning of 2024, would be a waste of ammo and be the exact response China wants Taiwan to have.

During the regular MND briefing, he added that Taiwan's standard military response is to issue alerts to relevant authorities and for military branches to closely monitor their movements, particularly if they are found to be flying near more densely populated areas.

The military will also closely monitor if any balloon debris is found in Taiwan, he added.

The daily sending of balloons to Taiwan is, according to the MND, part of Chinese "gray zone" tactics in the lead-up to the election day on Jan. 13 and meant to "harass and rattle the Taiwanese people."

The ministry urged the public to remain calm in the face of Chinese cognitive warfare and not to be influenced by such tactics.

According to Colonel Huang Ming-chieh (eZa), an MND intelligence officer, Taiwan's armed forces have so far this year not detected any Chinese balloon debris.

Huang did not say if the military believed these balloons were for espionage purposes but stressed that all military units were ready to deploy anti-espionage measures, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Sun Li-fang (ac) said during the same briefing that the military would only respond more actively to Chinese balloons if they were believed to have the potential to cause severe damage to the nation, without elaborating.

Taiwan's military has generally assessed the balloons as being for meteorological purposes, a conclusion drawn in part from its investigation of balloon debris found in Feb. 2023 around Dongyin islet.

The MND said last year that similar equipment has been regularly detected in the air and sea around Taiwan, most often between December and February, because seasonal winds bring the balloons closer to Taiwan.

(By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/kb





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Global support for Taiwan 'strong deterrence' against China: FM

ROC Central News Agency

01/09/2024 10:20 PM

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Support for Taiwan's democracy from the international community serves as "a very strong deterrent against possible Chinese action," Foreign Minister Joseph Wu () said Tuesday.

Taiwan's top diplomat made the comment at a press conference in Taipei, as he underscored the importance of the country expanding cooperation with the international community.

According to Wu, such support has materialized through U.S.-supplied defense articles, increased presence of European countries in the Indo-Pacific region, and the transit of military vessels from several countries through the Taiwan Strait based on the principle of freedom of navigation.

At the same time, the people of Taiwan are "not asking for other countries to help Taiwan, because we are responsible for our defense," Wu said, adding that in that regard, the government had resorted to various means to boost Taiwan's defense capabilities.

Speaking of what Beijing may do after voters across Taiwan cast their ballots on Saturday for the country's next leader, Wu said it was "too early to talk about" the matter.

"We are keeping our eyes open to see what China is going to engage in their tactics," Wu said, stressing that Beijing had been involved in a combination of activities, such as military exercises, economic coercion, and disinformation campaigns, in an attempt to interfere with Taiwan's elections.

"The Chinese government seems to be rather determined in influencing the election results at this moment, and they also want to shape the future direction of the relations between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China," he said.

At Tuesday's event, which was mostly attended by journalists from foreign media, Wu claimed that the Chinese interference was aimed at tarnishing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and eroding public trust in Taiwan's democratic system.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

Enditem/ASG

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DPP's Lai urges Beijing to engage in talks with Taipei

ROC Central News Agency

01/09/2024 01:07 PM

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Lai Ching-te (), the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has called on China's leaders to assume responsibility for regional stability and engage in dialogue with Taiwan.

"Our door will always be open to engagements with Beijing on the principles of equality and dignity," Lai said at a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday while urging Beijing to recognize its shared responsibility for peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing should also take note of "the changes in international trends" and hence adhere to the international order, he said at the press event held just four days before Taiwanese voters head to the polls to choose the country's next leader.

The DPP candidate's appeals were similar to those of incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen () of the DPP, and he said he would continue her policies, including efforts to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and expand links with democratic nations.

Tsai, who cannot run again as she nears the end of her second four-year term, has expressed on multiple occasions her willingness to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (), without ever receiving a positive response.

With Lai and his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim () repeatedly reproached by Beijing as advocates for Taiwanese independence, a detente between the two sides in the event of the DPP's victory in the presidential election slated for Saturday has been viewed as unlikely.

Ties between China and Taiwan have been frosty during Tsai's eight years, and Beijing has ratcheted up pressure militarily in response to what it sees as efforts by Taipei to assert its sovereignty.

Lai contended, however, that a DPP victory would pave the way for Beijing to "reassess its policy towards Taiwan," as it would showcase Taiwanese voters' support for the country's current direction and render what he described as Chinese interference operations in favor of his opponents futile.

"My being elected will be helpful for creating a new situation in the Indo-Pacific region" that will contribute to the stability of the Taiwan Strait, Lai said.

He told reporters from around 28 countries that Taiwan under his leadership "will not change its friendly stance" toward Beijing but at the same time "harbors no illusions" about the ambition of the potential aggressor.

He reiterated his commitment to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and realize the proposed "four-pillar plan," under which he will work to boost Taiwan's defense capabilities and economic security, expand partnerships with other democracies, and maintain a pragmatic relationship with China.

"There is an expectation among the international community that [we] maintain the status quo," Lai said, noting that this "is [the responsibility] that both sides of the Taiwan Strait need to bear together."

"We have no plan" to declare Taiwanese independence because "the Republic of China, Taiwan, is already an independent sovereign nation," Lai said.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

Enditem/ls

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Chinese mainland issues sweeping plan to boost integrated development with Taiwan region

Global Times

By Wang Cong, Yin Yeping and Qi Xijia Published: Jan 09, 2024 08:25 PM Updated: Jan 09, 2024 08:52 PM

Chinese mainland authorities have released sweeping guidelines to support East China's Fujian Province in exploring new paths for cross-Straits integrated development, outlining a flurry of specific measures to boost economic and trade cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan region in a wide range of areas from services trade and small businesses to high-tech industrial clusters.

Many Taiwan entrepreneurs on Tuesday hailed the new measures as concrete steps to help businesses from the island to further explore and expand in the mainland, stressing the cross-Straits integrated development is an irreversible trend. Some Taiwan entrepreneurs also expressed doubt about the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) willingness and ability to develop the regional economy.

Analysts also said that the move fully demonstrated the mainland's goodwill in supporting Taiwan's regional economy and Taiwan compatriots' livelihoods, in stark contrast to the DPP authorities' secessionist rhetoric and actions, which run counter to the development interests of the region. More importantly, if the DPP authorities continue to pursue secessionist actions and jeopardize cross-Straits cooperation, the mainland will take firm actions in response, analysts noted.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that after the mainland suspended preferential tariffs on 12 chemicals from Taiwan under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), in response to the DPP authorities' restrictions on mainland exports, the DPP has not taken any effective measures to lift those restrictions and has instead tried political manipulation.

Currently, relevant departments are studying to further suspend preferential tariffs and take other measures on fishery, machinery, auto parts, textile and other products in line with the ECFA, the MOFCOM said.

In a circular made public on Monday, the Ministry of Commerce, the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology outlined 14 measures in five economic and trade areas, including supporting Fujian's opening-up and cooperation with Taiwan, high-quality trade and integrated industrial development.

Specifically, the circular said that Fujian will explore and establish an institutional system and regulatory model that is conducive to advancing cross-Straits integrated development. Efforts will be made to attract Taiwan petrochemical, textile, machinery, cosmetics and other industry projects to Fujian, and help them explore international markets under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, or RCEP, a regional trade agreement among 15 Asia Pacific countries includes the ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

According to the guidelines, measures will be taken to support micro and small businesses from Taiwan to explore the mainland market. Efforts will also be made to support Taiwan businesses' in participating in the new industrialization process and guiding them to invest in advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries. Fujian will also leverage its advantages in the digital economy, integrated circuit (IC), new energy, lithium battery, petrochemical, textile and other sectors to build a Fujian-Taiwan industrial clusters with global competitiveness. Notably, Fujian will build a cross-Straits IC industrial cooperation pilot zone.

The guidelines come after the CPC Central Committee and the State Council announced in September 2023 that Fujian will be built into a demonstration zone for the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits, in a move aimed at deepening integrated development in all fields and advancing the peaceful reunification of the country.

Coming as the DPP authorities on the island continue to hype secessionist rhetoric ahead of the election of regional leader, the concrete measures offered much-needed assurance for Taiwan businesses and boosted their confidence in future cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation despite noise from the DPP authorities and some in the West.

Boosting confidence

"This new circular will be of great boost to [Taiwan's] future exchanges and development with Fujian and will support more Taiwan businesses to invest in Fujian," Lai Cheng-i, chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Taiwan island, told the Global Times on Tuesday, noting that industrial cooperation in areas such as services and semiconductors will be boosted.

Lai said that all businesses from around the world, including those from Taiwan region, seek to enter the mainland market given its massive size. "I think Taiwan's business community is looking forward to continued positive development across the Taiwan Straits. This is the general trend."

Teng Tai-Hsien, secretary general of Straits Economic & Cultural Interchange Association, also said that Fujian has offered Taiwan compatriots equal treatment in both living and investing, which is "very attractive" to Taiwan compatriots.

"I think the industrial integration and cooperation between Taiwan and Fujian will likely surpass other regions in the future, and the future prospects are promising," Teng told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Following the announcement of the establishment of Fujian as a demonstration zone for the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits, mainland authorities have taken a slew of measures to support that. In November, the Ministry of Public Security's exit and entry administration announced new entry-exit policies for Taiwan compatriots, including streamlining the application process for travel passes.

"With support from so many mainland government departments, these measures also demonstrate the mainland's unswerving efforts to promote the integrated development of cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation and its goodwill toward Taiwan compatriots," Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Wang said that in stark contrast to the mainland's goodwill, the DPP authorities have only been interfering, disrupting and undermining cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation, which will only squeeze the space for cross-Straits cooperation and directly harm the vital interests of Taiwan compatriots.

In addition to its secessionist words and deeds, the DPP authorities have been trying to cut cross-Straits economic and trade ties, while disregarding provisions in the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the mainland and the island. DPP authorities have imposed restrictions on more than 2,500 mainland products. In a firm response, the mainland suspended preferential tariffs under the ECFA on a dozen chemical products from Taiwan starting on January 1.

Analysts said the mainland has made it clear that it would firmly counter the DPP's actions that undermine cross-Straits cooperation and hurt the vital interests of Taiwan compatriots, while at the same time taken favorable policies to boost cross-Straits integrated development and support Taiwan compatriots.

"I think the mainland's policies fully reflect its goodwill toward Taiwan. They are not what some in Taiwan claim to be 'trade barriers' aimed at sanctioning Taiwan," Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "The mainland has always maintained goodwill toward Taiwan compatriots and also hopes that Taiwan compatriots would treat Fujian as their home."

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'No need' to declare independence, Taiwan presidential hopeful says

Lai Ching-te warns voters that the wrong choice could mean the end of the island's democracy.

By Hsia Hsiao-hwa and Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin 2024.01.09 -- Taiwan doesn't need to declare independence, incumbent vice president and presidential hopeful Lai Ching-te told a press conference ahead of Saturday's general election, as the Ministry of Defense issued an air-raid alert over a Chinese rocket launch.

"We do not have any such plan, because Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent country, and there is no need to declare independence," Lai, who is standing alongside running mate Hsiao Bi-khim on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party ticket, said. His comment was a reference to the 1911 Republic of China, the government of which fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war with Mao Zedong's communists in 1949.

As Taiwan counts down the last days of a presidential race, voters must choose between Lai, who has a strong track record of standing up to China, against the more China-friendly opposition candidates - Hou Yu-ih for the Kuomintang and Ko Wen-je for the Taiwan People's Party.

China's threat to force "unification" on democratic Taiwan - referenced in a pledge by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at New Year and rebuffed by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen this week - along with its military saber-rattling in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait still looms large over bilateral ties, creating ongoing tension.

Lai said, if elected, his plan would be to "maintain the status quo" for the island's 23 million people, who have never been ruled by Beijing, nor been citizens of the People's Republic of China.

His comments came as an air-raid text alert warned Taiwan residents that there had been a "flyover" of the island's airspace by a Chinese satellite launch.

The Ministry of National Defense text alert caused widespread alarm, however, as the English part of the text referred to the satellite as a "missile."

"On 1503 hr today, [China] conducted a satellite launch," the Ministry said in a later statement.

"The trajectory unexpectedly flew over and went exoatmospheric when the vehicle was above Taiwan's southern airspace," it said, adding that Taiwanese military and intelligence were closely monitoring the whole process.

"The air raid alert system was activated in the form of text messages to inform the public," it said. "The default English message was not revised and therefore incorrectly stated the launch vehicle as "missile." The MND extends an apology for any confusion this may have caused."

It said China had launched a Long March 2C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, sending an Einstein probe satellite into orbit.

Peaceful ideals, but no illusions

Lai told the news conference that there are "no winners in wars," adding that he plans to continue incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen's policy of boosting international support while insisting on "equality and dignity" as a prerequisite for peace talks with Beijing - which treats Taiwan's government as a regional government not eligible for state-to-state dialogue.

"As long as there is equality and dignity, Taiwan's door will always be open and it is willing to communicate and cooperate with China to promote the well-being of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Lai said. "We can have peaceful ideals, but we can't have illusions."

Lai vowed to step up Taiwan's military deterrent to make any potential invasion -- which Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has refused to rule out as a method of "reunification" - as costly as possible, including bringing back compulsory military service and boosting global supply chain resilience.

He warned against falling for China's rhetoric on "peaceful unification" and its "one country, two systems" promise that was broken in Hong Kong.

"The pursuit of peace relies on strength, not on the goodwill of the aggressor," Lai said. "The goodwill of the aggressor is unreliable. Tibet, Xinjiang or Hong Kong have all been good examples of this."

Lai blamed former Kuomintang President Ma Ying-jeou, who he said put national defense on the back burner during his eight years in office, for accepting Beijing's "1992 Consensus" codifying its territorial claim on Taiwan, "wasting our national security capabilities."

"The direction we advocate for this country is different from that of the opposition Kuomintang," he said, calling on Taiwanese to "use their sacred votes" to wield their democratic power to resist Chinese interference in the elections, in a reference to ongoing Chinese Communist Party-backed information wars and charm offensives targeting Taiwanese voters and officials alike.

"If China's intervention is successful, and the candidate China designates and supports gets elected, then Taiwan's democracy will disappear, and [we will] be electing ... a chief executive, just like Hong Kong," he said, in a reference to the rolling back of Hong Kong's promised freedoms and political autonomy in the wake of the 2019 protest movement.

He said Taiwan's door "is always open" for talks with China, provided they are on an equal footing.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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Japan must fight in Taiwan Strait in the event of conflict: Ex-PM Aso

The remarks highlight the broader regional implications of any political change in Taiwan.

By Taejun Kang for RFA 2024.01.09 -- China's claims over Taiwan will "definitely become an existential crisis situation" for Japan, and Tokyo must fight in the Taiwan Strait in the event of conflict to rescue its citizens, former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso warned on Monday.

"The times are changing drastically. Tensions are now rising across the Taiwan Strait," said the 83-year-old vice president of the country's Liberal Democratic Party, as cited by Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun.

"There are 20,400 officially registered Japanese citizens in Taiwan alone ... If something happens in Taiwan and things turn out to be war, we have to rescue the Japanese in Taiwan.

"The situation is different from before," said Aso, who was prime minister for a year from September 2008 to September 2009. "We will fight in the Taiwan Strait. We will be using submarines and warships, and so on. We must make the appropriate preparations."

The remarks by Aso highlight the broader regional implications of any potential change in the political landscape in Taiwan, which is gearing up for a pivotal presidential election on Saturday that will shape its future relationship with China and possibly its stance on independence.

China's communist government, which has never ruled the democratic island, views Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of military force for occupation. Beijing frequently dispatches warplanes close to the island, crossing into the Taiwan Strait. In reaction, the United States has intensified its military drills with regional allies.

The future president of Taiwan will have a significant impact on either easing or heightening tensions between these major international powers.

Past comments

Aso's Monday remarks weren't the first instance of Japan signaling that its national security is closely linked to the fate of Taiwan.

For example, the 2021 Japanese defense white paper said for the first time that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is linked to Japanese national security.

In July that year, Aso, then-deputy prime minister, escalated this stance by suggesting that in the scenario of unprovoked military action by China against Taiwan, it would be necessary for both the United States and Japan to intervene in Taiwan's defense.

Separately, in December 2021, the late Shinzo Abe, who had already stepped down as prime minister, declared, "A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency" during an event organized by Taiwan's Institute for National Policy Research.

At that time, this comment caused a stir in Beijing, leading to a strong rebuke from a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson who expressed Beijing"s strong opposition and disappointment.

Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.

Adds that Aso was prime minister for a year from 2008 to 2009.

Copyright 1998-2024, 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 January 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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Zelenskiy Stresses Unity In Call With Polish President, Speaks With Belgian PM As He Takes Helm Of EU Council

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service January 09, 2024

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on January 9 discussed further defense cooperation and Ukraine's air-defense needs in a phone call with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Zelenskiy and Duda also discussed the issue of financial and political support from the European Union and exchanged views on the expected decisions of NATO at its summit in Washington in July, Zelenskiy's press office said.

"I am convinced that the future of Ukraine and Poland lies in unity, mutual support, and mutually beneficial cooperation," Zelenskiy said during his call with Duda, according to the press office.

He also expressed his gratitude for Poland's unwavering support for Ukraine as a constant ally on Kyiv's path to joining the EU and NATO.

"Our common border should be a real European border. Border of unity. There should be no borders between our nations," he said.

There's been no comment on the call from Poland.

Poland and Ukraine have been working to defuse a dispute involving farmers, who began blocking border crossings with Ukraine in November. The farmers agreed to unblock one checkpoint but continue to block others demanding the return of permits for Ukrainian drivers.

Zelenskiy also spoke on January 9 with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and congratulated Belgium on assuming the presidency of the EU Council.

"I appreciate that support for Ukraine and international law is among its priorities," Zelenskiy said on X, formerly Twitter. "We appreciate the December decision to open Ukraine's EU accession talks, and we anticipate that with Belgium's support, our country will make significant progress toward implementing further formal steps on this path."

He said he also discussed bilateral defense cooperation with De Croo as well as the coordination of European defense assistance and the importance of approving 50 billion euros in EU financial assistance.

On the battlefield, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy, and Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala visited positions of the Ukrainian military near Kupyansk, the press service of the Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

General Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander of the Kupyansk sector of the front, briefed them on the situation around Kupyansk, where Ukrainian soldiers have repelled near constant attempts by Russian forces, who the ministry have had no success in the area.

"I had the honor to meet with the commanders of the units that are fighting in this direction now. Reported on the situation, current challenges. Decisions will be made in the near future. The enemy will not like it," Umerov said.

In the Kharkiv region, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Ukrainian television that the Russian Army has resumed its assault on Synkivka, a village near Kupyansk. There had been a lull in the fighting there due to difficult weather conditions and the damage that Ukrainian forces caused to the Russian troops.

According to Synyehubov, the attacks of the Russian Army come in waves, which is predictable, and they can be repulsed without any problems.

On January 4, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported that Russian troops could launch a "large-scale offensive" in the Kharkiv region as early as January 15.

The Ukrainian military intelligence directorate has confirmed that they have observed an accumulation of Russian forces and equipment in the region, but they cannot confirm when the assault will start.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zelenskiy-polish- president-belgian-pm/32767658.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Deep Freeze, Blizzards Cut Power To Ukrainian Settlements, Force Russia To Halt Drone Strikes

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service January 09, 2024

Ukraine's Energy Ministry says 1,025 settlements were without electricity on January 9 as the war-wracked country grapples with a wave of unusually cold weather, snowfall, and high winds that even forced Russia to pause its relentless waves of drone and missile strikes.

The ministry said that blizzards and the icing of power lines had led to outages in the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kirovohrad regions.

Nearly 29,000 consumers in 324 settlements have been left without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk region, 268 settlements in the Odesa region, 215 in the Mykolayiv region, and 146 settlements in the Kirovohrad region.

In the Zaporizhzhya region, 59 settlements were cut off, in Kherson 14, and nine in the Chernihiv and Chernivtsiy regions.

"Emergency teams in the regions affected by bad weather are working around the clock to repair the damage," the ministry said in a statement. "However, ice makes work and movement more difficult."

The forecast by Ukraine's hydrometeorological center remains bleak, with more snowfall expected in the south and southeast, and with temperatures as low as minus 21 Celsius at night and minus 12 during the day.

For the first time in weeks, Russia did not launch drone strikes on Ukraine's territory on January 9, a development that Natalia Humenyuk, the spokeswoman of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, said was also due to the spell of unusually bad weather.

"We understand that the absence of a wave of drone attacks is a response, in a certain way, to weather conditions as well. However, the enemy continued the artillery bombardment," Humenyuk said, adding that the southern cities of Kherson and Antonivka bore the brunt of the shelling.

The lull in Russian air strikes comes a day after an unusually heavy wave of missile and drone attacks that left five people dead and wounded dozens in several Ukrainian regions on January 8.

Meanwhile, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, said that three people were wounded in the city of Belgorod by Ukrainian shelling. Gladkov said on his Telegram channel that Russian air defenses shot down 10 "air targets" late on January 8.

There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine, but the Kremlin said the Russian military would do everything in its power to tackle the stepped-up Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod.

"Of course, our military will continue to do everything in order to minimize the danger at first and then eliminate it entirely," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He accused the Ukrainian military of firing on civilian targets in the center of the urban hub of some 340,000 people with weapons supplied by European countries.

The Kremlin has tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy on the home front, but the recent strikes on Belgorod have brought the Ukraine conflict closer to home for Russians.

In recent weeks, the Belgorod region has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces. A strike late last month reportedly killed 25 civilians, prompting city officials to evacuate hundreds and extend a closure of schools.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-extreme-weather- drones/32767075.html

Copyright (c) 2024. 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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Statement by Russian Defence Ministry

09.01.2024

At about 15:30 Moscow time, another attempt by the Kiev regime to launch a terrorist attack with fixed-wing UAVs against facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation was foiled.

Another Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down and one was intercepted by the air defence systems on duty over the territories of Kursk and Orel regions.

Department for Media Affairs and Information

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Ukraine Faces Anti-Aircraft Missile Deficit Amid Russia's High-Precision Strikes

Sputnik News

20240109

Svetlana Ekimenko

Russia has recently ramped up high-precision strikes against Ukrainian military targets, including military production facilities and a decision-making center, in retaliation for terror bombings carried out by the Kiev regime targeting settlements in the Donbass region and its border cities, including Belgorod.

Ukraine is facing a growing deficit of anti-aircraft missiles, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat was quoted as telling local media.

"It is clear that there is a deficit of anti-aircraft guided missiles," Ihnat said, as he bemoaned delays over Western aid packages to the Kiev regime.

He added that Ukraine had "spent a considerable reserve" on the torrent of recent Russian high-precision strikes targeting enemy energy infrastructure, military bases, military production facilities, and decision-making centers.

"We have more and more western equipment today and, accordingly, it needs maintenance, repair, updating, replenishment, and corresponding ammunition," said Yuriy Ihnat.

A recent report revealed that Ukrainian air defense systems would not be able to repel all Russian attacks this winter due to a shortage of interceptor missiles.

The United States will soon be unable to supply Ukraine with missiles for Patriot surface-to-air systems, which can cost from $2 million to $4 million apiece, The New York Times reported at the start of the year, quoting White House and Pentagon officials.

Kiev's shortage of anti-aircraft missiles comes amid Russia's ramped up strikes against Ukraine's energy and military infrastructure since late December, attacking ammunition and fuel depots, airfields, military headquarters and other targets.

The Russian military, which has sought to avoid targeting residential buildings or social infrastructure, kept its promise to retaliate for Ukraine's brazen attacks. They included one on Donetsk city in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Orthodox Christmas Eve, along with others Russian frontline towns during the winter holidays.

Kiev carried out cluster munition and multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) strikes on Russia's Belgorod region on New Year's Eve, killing 25 people and injuring over 100. Moscow dubbed the attacks "terrorist acts," warning of more strikes on Ukrainian military targets in response.

Kiev's quest to garner ever more support from its Western donors has become an increasingly daunting challenge. The US ran out of funding for Ukraine on December 30 after the US Congress adjourned for the winter holiday break without reaching a deal on security at the US border with Mexico and additional aid for Ukraine. Republican lawmakers have insisted on the inclusion of more stringent border security measures in the Biden administration's $106 billion supplemental funding request, which includes more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.

Meanwhile Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban' blocked the EU's a50 billion ($55 billion US) aid package to Ukraine.

Western countries have been providing Ukraine with military aid since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022. However, despite the billions-worth of support packages funneled to the Kiev regime, Russia's Armed Forces successfully accomplished one of the main task's for 2023 a to disrupt Ukraine's counteroffensive.

Over the past year, enemy losses exceeded 215,000 service people and 28,000 weapons systems, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated at a working meeting with military leaders on January 9.

The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict, while all cargo containing weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian strikes.

A Sputnik

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Ukraine Lost Over 215,000 Troops in 2023 - Shoigu

Sputnik News

20240109

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian military is continuing its operations to reduce the combat effectiveness of Ukraine's military, and maintains the strategic initiative in the special military operation zone, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has announced.

"Groupings of Russian troops are methodically reducing the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces. Over the past year, enemy losses exceeded 215,000 servicepeople and 28,000 weapons systems. We maintain the strategic initiative along the entire line of combat contact," Shoigu said at a working meeting with military leaders on Tuesday.

Summarizing the situation at the front, the defense minister pointed to signs of Ukraine's military formations experiencing a depletion of manpower, and failing to achieve any of their stated objectives on the battlefield against Russian forces.

But in spite of this situation, "the United States is cold-bloodedly trying to achieve its ambitions for global leadership at the expense of Ukrainian lives. At the instigation of its Western curators, the Kiev regime continues to drive its soldiers to slaughter, and is searching for any opportunities to replenish the ranks of the Ukrainian Army," Shoigu said. "This will not change the situation on the line of combat, but only prolong the military conflict," he added.

Turning to the Russian defense industry's efforts to keep the military supplied with weapons and equipment, Shoigu confirmed that these efforts would include a focus on all types of unmanned aerial vehicles, including heavy strike drones.

"We will increase the supply of the most popular models. In particular, we will form a serial line of unmanned aerial vehicles a from mini drones to heavy attack UAVs," Shoigu stated.

Regarding matters of global strategic stability, the defense minister reiterated that Russia maintains the combat readiness of its nuclear triad at a high level to ensure a global strategic balance.

"One of the key tasks is maintaining the combat readiness of the nuclear triad at the highest level, which ensures a strategic balance in the world," Shoigu said.

Russia will continue to upgrade its equipment, including using new AI technology, and weapons based on new physical principles, Shoigu said.

The Ministry of Defense also has plans this year to upgrade its communication, reconnaissance, target designation, counter-battery warfare, air defense and satellite systems, the defense minister indicated.

Other plans include efforts to improve tactics for the use of troops, and updates to the provisions of regulations and manuals in light of operational experience, Shoigu said. Additionally, social security payments to participants of the special military operation and their families remain a priority, he said.

"Solving these and other tasks will allow us to increase the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces and ensure deterrence against aggression against our country and its allies," Shoigu said.

Russia's military enters 2024 in a confident state after successfully halting Ukraine's summer 2023 summer counteroffensive and proving that its forces can successfully withstand large-scale assaults by a NATO-trained, -armed and -financed military. Ukraine's backers in the West have called for the conflict to continue until its victorious conclusion, but growing numbers of officials and politicians, as well as the US and European publics, are coming to the realization that Russia cannot be defeated militarily, and have questioned their elites' strategy of sending additional tens of billions of dollars' worth of weapons and economic aid to prop up Kiev.

A Sputnik

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Pursuant to the President's instruction, a regular round of negotiations with the UK on a bilateral agreement on security commitments for Ukraine was held

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 22:45

Pursuant to the instruction of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, a regular round of negotiations was held with the UK on concluding a bilateral agreement on security commitments.

The Ukrainian side was represented by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva.

The parties proceeded to the direct elaboration of the draft agreement, discussed its main elements and separate thematic blocks, as well as agreed on the further schedule of bilateral negotiations.

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Every aspect of logistics in the army needs to be expedited - address by the President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 19:32

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

I will begin with the Staff.

Today was a special meeting - with the direct, in-person participation of all major commanders and heads of operations.

Together with the Commander-in-Chief, the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Strategic Industries, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, we analyzed the supply of shells and drones in detail. Distribution between brigades and units. Daily needs. Actual costs. The bottom line is that every aspect of logistics needs to be expedited. We also discussed the launch of new production lines for weapons and ammunition in Ukraine - at our enterprises and together with partners.

Of course, we considered the supplies we expect to receive this year. Despite all the challenges in the world, our careful, clear approach to every requirement and every opportunity can provide the Defense Forces with everything necessary. We see how we can realize Ukraine's priorities this year: what is needed, who is needed, and what signals can work.

We analyzed the work of our Air Force, all our defenders of the sky, separately and in detail. The results of shooting down Russian missiles and drones. The aspects we succeeded in. And the results we must achieve. We continue to work with all our partners to bolster our air defense. And at the same time, to increase pressure on Russia. The world's sanctions are definitely working. And they are working well. There is clear evidence of a slowdown in the Russian defense industry. But for the sanctions to be one hundred percent effective, the schemes for circumventing the sanctions must also be one hundred percent blocked. New global steps are also needed against those who continue to help Russia. Everyone in the world knows this small list of terrorist accomplices. We will discuss this further with our partners.

Today I have already held three phone calls with the leaders: the President of Romania, the President of Poland, and the Prime Minister of Belgium.

I thanked Romania for the level of cooperation we have already achieved. We are having remarkable results in the Danube region, in the Black Sea cooperation, and in the overall interaction between us. We appreciate Romania's support on our way to the European Union. We definitely have the potential to increase cross-border cooperation, particularly in the Ukraine-Romania-Moldova triangle. Today, we also discussed with President Iohannis some promising issues in the defense sector - the ways we can shore up our positions together. In particular, we discussed the training of our F-16 pilots.

There was a good conversation with the President of Poland. I am grateful to Poland for its unwavering assistance to Ukraine in matters of our accession to the European Union. No matter what happens, strategically we are still working together in Europe. Today, we discussed, in particular, our cooperation in matters of NATO - Ukraine must become a member of the Alliance. I briefed President Duda on the situation at the front, on the continued Russian attacks, our defense, and our needs. In particular, our needs for support. I appreciate President Duda's words about the unity we so critically need.

I also had an important conversation with the head of the Belgian government. Belgium has now begun its presidency of the Council of the European Union, and I am grateful that support for Ukraine and international law is one of the priorities of the Belgian presidency. Together with Belgium, we have achieved some truly groundbreaking things, including the use of Russian assets to support Ukraine. And this is one of those examples where Belgian leadership is of global importance. I am grateful for the support of sanctions against Russia, as well as for the clear support of our European integration. This year, we can make significant progress both in the accession negotiations with Ukraine and in the issue of a more decisive attitude of the world towards Russian assets. The aggressor must pay for what he has done. This is only fair.

Of course, I also spoke with all the leaders about our work on the Peace Formula, as the meeting of advisors in Davos is coming up. We are working to make it both representative and meaningful. We are succeeding, and I thank everyone who contributes to the cause!

Glory to all who work for freedom, to all who fight for freedom! To those who do everything to make freedom stronger and to make terror - namely terror - lose. Every week there should be fewer opportunities for Russia. Every week there should be more opportunities for Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

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President of Ukraine had a phone call with the President of Poland: Our common border should be a border of unity

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 18:24

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone call with President of Poland Andrzej Duda.

The Head of State expressed gratitude for the consistent and unwavering support of Ukraine by Poland as an unwavering ally of our country on its path to joining the EU and NATO.

"Our common border should be a true European border. A border of unity. There should be no borders between our people," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

Poland's support for the historic decision of the European Union to open negotiations with Ukraine was emphasized.

The leaders also discussed ways to ensure the EU's financial and political support for Ukraine.

The Presidents exchanged views on the upcoming NATO Summit in Washington and the expected decisions of the Alliance.

The interlocutors noted that cooperation between Ukraine and Poland is an important element of the common European home.

"I am convinced that the future of Ukraine and Poland lies in unity, mutual support and mutually beneficial cooperation," the Head of State emphasized.

He also praised Poland's support for the Ukrainian Peace Formula and expressed gratitude for the decision to send a Polish representative to the next meeting of advisors to the heads of state in Davos.

The Presidents of Ukraine and Poland discussed issues of cooperation in the defense sector with a focus on the key needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed his counterpart of the recent massive Russian missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine, which led to the deaths of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and emphasized the need to bolster Ukraine's air defense to create a reliable sky shield.

The Head of State separately raised the issue of Poland's accession to the Joint Declaration of the G7 leaders on security commitments for Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Andrzej Duda also discussed the schedule of further bilateral contacts.

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Presidents of Ukraine and Romania discussed economic cooperation and defense support for Ukraine

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 17:44

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone call with President of Romania Klaus Iohannis.

The Head of State that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Romania, announced last year, is already yielding tangible results. According to him, the export of Ukrainian products through Romania has increased from 2 to over 3 million tons per month. The interlocutors discussed the possibility of further expanding the capacity of border crossing points to reach the target of 4 million tons.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the importance of the European Council's decision to start negotiations on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU. The Head of State thanked Romania for supporting this decision and willingness to share its experience in European integration.

The Romanian President praised Ukraine's adoption of legislation on national minorities.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed Klaus Iohannis of the continued Russian aerial terror and the need to keep working with partners to reinforce Ukraine's air defense system.

They also discussed bilateral defense cooperation, including aspects of training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

The two leaders agreed to start consultations on bilateral security commitments in the framework of the Joint Declaration of the Group of Seven and Ukraine adopted in Vilnius.

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The mechanisms developed by the Bring Kids Back UA task force will help return Ukrainian children and form the basis for improving the international law framework - Andriy Yermak

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 14:13

The first meeting of the Bring Kids Back UA International Task Force was held in the format of a video conference with the participation of Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak.

The event was also attended by Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Daria Herasymchuk, Advisor - Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, and more than 20 renowned experts on the protection of children's rights in the context of armed conflicts and senior specialists in the humanitarian, legal and diplomatic fields.

Andriy Yermak thanked Baroness Helena Kennedy, Co-Chair of the International Task Force, a renowned lawyer specializing in human rights, civil liberties and child protection, Director of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association, and the participants of the meeting for supporting Ukraine and its people during the full-scale Russian invasion and particularly in the issue of returning Ukrainian children illegally deported and forcibly displaced by Russia.

"At least 20 thousand children have been abducted by Russia. And this is only according to official data. The terrorist state does not provide any information about the whereabouts of our children to any international organizations or states," he said.

The Head of the Presidential Office stated: "Ukraine has evidence of the horrors experienced by Ukrainian children in Russia and the temporarily occupied territories, including psychological pressure and "brainwashing." This is evidenced by the children themselves, who were returned to Ukraine.

"Our children are hostages in Russia. Our mission is to end their suffering and bring them all home," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

According to the Head of the Presidential Office, since the current global security system has proven ineffective, it is necessary to create tools that will be efficient in returning children. It is for this purpose that the Bring Kids Back UA task force was established and is starting its work today.

"The mechanisms and tools that the group can come up with can be used not only to end the suffering in Ukraine, but also to prevent similar situations in the world in the future," the Head of the Presidential Office summarized.

The group will focus on developing expert opinions and recommendations to propose practical steps and mechanisms for the return of Ukrainian children. Also, using the experience of Ukraine, the members of the group should work on improving the existing international legal framework to prevent similar situations of violation of children's rights around the world.

According to Andriy Yermak, this goal can be achieved only through joint coordinated efforts of Ukraine, the expert community, and the international community, so last month the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children was established to serve as a platform for coordinating the efforts of our country and partner states.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, Co-Chair of the International Task Force, called the issue of returning illegally deported Ukrainian children extremely important. According to her, a strategy for implementing the tasks and coordination of the world in the important work to return Ukrainian children from Russia are needed, as in the future these mechanisms and Ukraine's experience will become the basis for improving international law.

"The abduction of children, the taking of children away from family, from the place that they know, to deracinate them, to take their sense of who they are and identity from them is a hugely damaging thing to do to a nation. So as well as bombarding you, you're experiencing the theft of your young. And I think that's why we have the sympathy of so much of the world as to what has happened in this regard," Helena Kennedy said, adding that many countries are willing to join the elaboration of effective mechanisms.

Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that the international community, and this task force in particular, should force Russia to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international humanitarian law.

He noted that Russia often does not provide any information about the whereabouts of a minor citizen of Ukraine, and it takes a long time to prove that it is indeed a Ukrainian child.

According to the ombudsman, sometimes it is possible to return a child thanks to Ukraine's convening of a special meeting of the UN Security Council, sometimes with the help of relatives who decided to come to Russia and take their children back, or with the assistance of intermediaries, in particular Qatar. The assistance of UNICEF has also been effective.

"We are ready to engage any of the international intermediaries who can really show results: help us bring a Ukrainian child from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Ukraine. We will definitely not reject any initiatives or intermediaries," said Dmytro Lubinets.

The developments of the Bring Kids Back UA International Task Force are expected to play an important role in determining the priorities and activities of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, formed in early December 2023, whose inaugural meeting was held in Kyiv.

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Head of the President's Office held the second meeting of the working group on the implementation of the security clause of the Peace Formula

President of Ukraine

9 January 2024 - 09:01

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held the second meeting of the working group a 9 focused on the implementation of the ninth clause of the Ukrainian Peace Formula "Preventing escalation and repetition of aggression".

Andriy Yermak noted that the number of participants had more than doubled since the inaugural meeting of the working group. The second meeting was attended by ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of 43 countries (in person and online), including representatives of the Global South, as well as foreign and Ukrainian experts.

The working group on the ninth point of the Peace Formula has been joined by: Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the USA, TArkiye, Finland, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Chile, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, as well as the European Union. Additionally, representatives from the expert circles of several countries have been involved.

"Clause nine of the Peace Formula is about preventing the escalation of war and the repetition of aggression. This is much broader than security commitments. We want our Formula to become global: to give any other country the opportunity to use our experience, learn from our lessons, use our tools and ready-made solutions," said the Head of the Presidential Office.

He reminded the audience that since the previous meeting, more than 30 countries had joined the G7 Joint Declaration on security commitments for our country, five draft bilateral documents had been submitted to Ukraine for consideration, eight bilateral consultations had been launched, and more than 15 countries had expressed readiness to start bilateral negotiations shortly.

"As part of our joint work, we have to answer the question of how to convey a clear message to a potential aggressor and make it think twice before violating international law. The price of threats must be too high, the price of aggression must be unbearable, and responsibility must be inevitable," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

The Head of the President's Office noted substantial progress in expanding the circle of participants, geographical representation, development of separate thematic documents and engagement of experts, and expressed hope that the final list of co-chairs of the working group would be agreed upon in the near future. In this format, the group will continue its active work both after the next meeting of national security advisers, which will take place in Davos in a few days, and after the Global Peace Summit.

"With each meeting, we are getting closer to the Global Peace Summit. The Peace Formula has become an international peace platform and structure for the restoration of international law and the multilateral security system. Just, lasting and sustainable peace is only possible when we work together," he emphasized.

Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, told the meeting participants that the philosophy and conceptual framework of the working group a 9 had already been developed, and that representatives of the countries involved, including new members of the group, could submit their proposals.

"It is very important to work on an effective security system and efficient tools that could be used in the security commitments mechanism," said Ihor Zhovkva.

He also noted that the activities of this group would go far beyond the issue of purely security commitments for Ukraine.

"Today, there is not a single country in the world that has not been affected by the Russian war. Everyone feels its negative consequences. That is why we have come together in such a representative quantity around the key point of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, which aims not only to speed up Ukraine's victory and end the war, but also to prevent similar aggressions from happening in the future anywhere else in the world," said Ihor Zhovkva.

The Deputy Head of the Presidential Office called for further expansion of the group's circle of participants: "We invite all states that respect international law and the UN Charter, and this is today the majority of countries in the democratic world, to participate in the work on this item. Of course, there is no place among them for Russia, which violates every single international norm possible."

During the meeting, the participants discussed priorities for further work, certain organizational issues and expectations from the next meeting of national security advisers and diplomatic advisers to the heads of state in Davos. After the inaugural Global Peace Summit, a thematic international event on preventing the escalation of war and the repetition of aggression will be held in one of the countries co-chairing the working group on clause nine. This event will utilize the developments of this working group.

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Russia Reports New Ukrainian Aerial Attacks

By VOA News January 09, 2024

Russian officials reported Ukrainian aerial attacks on two regions Tuesday, as the Kremlin said it would act to counter an increase in Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border city of Belgorod.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the head of the Belgorod region, reported three people were injured by debris Tuesday after Russian air defenses downed Ukrainian weapons that were approaching the city.

Gladkov said houses and cars were damaged in several villages.

The attacks came a day after Russian air defenses downed 10 air targets approaching Belgorod.

The area has come under Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks, including a missile and drone attack late last month that killed 25 civilians, including five children.

In the Oryol region of western Russia, regional governor Andrei Klychkov said on Telegram that two Ukrainian drones hit a fuel facility Tuesday in Oryol city, causing a fire that was later contained. Oryol is about 220 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

White House meeting on Ukraine aid

Separately, White House officials met Monday with leaders from the technology and defense industry sectors to discuss how to give Ukraine cutting-edge U.S. equipment such as unmanned aerial systems or demining gear and support its bid to defend itself from Russia, according to National Security Council aides.

Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, convened the five-hour meeting between industry experts and government officials on new technological capabilities that would allow Ukraine to detect and counter Russian unmanned aerial systems and demine large areas in Ukraine as President Joe Biden's more than $100 billion supplemental aid package, which includes support for Ukraine, languishes in Congress.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged European Union countries on Monday to offer more military and financial assistance to Ukraine. He criticized EU member states for not delivering sufficient weapons to Kyiv and called on them to do more.

Although Germany lagged in its support to Ukraine at the beginning of the war, it is now one of the top providers of weapons and financial aid. Late last year, the country agreed to double its military aid for Ukraine in 2024 to $8.8 billion.

"As significant as the German contribution is, it will not be enough to ensure Ukraine's security in the long run," Scholz said at a news conference in Berlin.

Western officials and analysts had warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles to target mainly Ukraine's defense industry this winter, as opposed to the country's infrastructure last winter. But so far, Russian strikes have frequently hit civilian areas.

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until January 26, 2024 to file lead plaintiff applications in securities class action lawsuits against Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 28, 2020 and August 31, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). These actions are pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.



What You May Do

If you purchased securities of Dollar General and would like to discuss your legal rights and how the case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-dg/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by January 26, 2024 .

About the Lawsuit

Dollar General and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On August 31, 2023, the Company announced its 2Q 2023 financial results, disclosing among other things, cuts to its FY23 sales and profit outlook, decreases in operating profits of 24.2% and EPS of 28.5%, and that it expect[ed] an incremental operating profit headwind of up to $170 million in the second half of 2023, consisting of $95 million for markdowns on existing inventory and $75 million on increased store personnel to support inventory and pricing control measures.

On this news, the price of Dollar Generals shares plummeted $19.16 per share, or 12%, on August 31, 2023, on unusually high trading volume of more than 19 million shares.

The case is Washtenaw County Employees Retirement System v. Dollar General Corporation, et al., 23-cv-01250. A subsequent case expanded the class period, Edmonds v. Dollar General Corporation, et al., 23-cv-01259.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nations premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients  including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors  in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:
Dallas, TX , Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KISS PR Brand, a premier digital marketing and public relations agency, is thrilled to announce the imminent launch of its comprehensive masterclass series in Grand Cayman, including the much-anticipated Grand Cayman Digital Marketing Bootcamp.



Grand Cayman Digital Marketing Bootcamp

Grand Cayman Digital Marketing Bootcamp

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New York, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boyden, a premier global leadership and talent advisory firm, is delighted to announce the appointment of Gary Pikul as Chief Transformation and Risk Management Officer.



Chair of Boydens Board of Directors Kathleen Dunton explains, This appointment is evidence of our commitment, together with President and CEO Chad Hester, to excellence in corporate governance, operational stability and firmwide synergy. With Garys collaboration, Boydens leadership team will further secure a cohesive foundation for global partner-client relationships, as clients navigate an increasingly complex environment.

Boyden is distinctive in the leadership and talent industry in investing in a Chief Transformation and Risk Management Officer. Through this role, the firm injects enterprise-class levels of operational excellence, executive decision support, risk management and due diligence. Gary will further develop best practice and preparedness in areas such as cybersecurity, data confidentiality & compliance, IT strategy, ESG initiatives, AI-enhanced processes and digital transformation.

Gary Pikul, Chief Transformation and Risk Management Officer, Boyden, comments, This is a great time to look holistically at the growth trajectory, when there are macro-economic challenges for us and for our clients, alongside strong fundamentals in our global practices and specialist teams. Taking an incisive and future-focused view on business continuity and organizational stability captures a variety of commercial, digital and client-centric priorities. The overall goal is to optimize our practices and processes to unleash the extraordinary abilities of our global partners in helping clients to identify, evaluate and acquire world-class leaders.

Gary Pikul will collaborate with Boydens C-suite leaders to enhance capacity to operate at scale as the firm grows organically and through M&A, building an adaptive capability to meet external challenges and internal objectives. Gary will draw upon his extensive M&A experience and proven command of management strategies and methodologies such as lean, agile and continuous improvement, and deep functional expertise in IT, finance and operations.

Gary has nearly 30 years experience as a business leader and executive within global organizations, with experience on almost every continent. Before joining Boyden, Gary was Senior Director, IT Mergers & Acquisitions at Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Senior Director at DXC Technology. He was formerly Senior Director at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and an Executive Recruiter at a retained executive recruiting and advisory services firm. Gary has held Finance Management roles at Shell, Compaq and Vinson & Elkins; he started his career as Treasury Analyst at Houstons Methodist Hospital System.

Gary holds a Bachelors degree in Accounting from Trinity University, Texas and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas. He also holds High Potential Leadership Certification from NYU Stern School of Business, and Lean Executive Belt from McKinsey Consulting.

About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 70 offices in over 45 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked amongst the top companies on Forbes Americas Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2023. For further information, visit www.boyden.com.

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Dublin, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Tags, Readers), By Application (Retail, Industrial), By Frequency (UHF RFID, HF RFID), By System, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global radio frequency identification technology market size is expected to reach USD 47.63 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 15.1% from 2023 to 2030. Various benefits provided by RFID technology, including asset tracking, automation, better control over production, enhanced traceability, increased revenues, and higher operational efficiency, are anticipated to drive the market's growth over the forecast period. RFID technology has been in use for the past several years. However, the recent digitization and overall growth in technological adoption from various industries have propelled RFID technology even further. The retail industry is at the forefront and has witnessed its technological reconnaissance with RFID tags.







The retail industry is leveraging RFID technology in supply chain management for inventory management, tracking, and shortening overall processes. The growing adoption of RFID technology from the retail industry significantly contributes to the market's growth. An essential aspect of the market is the varying nature of manufacturing and related costs. The past decade has seen a considerable reduction in production costs with the advent of many new technologies, such as printing and ink-jet. As the vendors benefit from these trends in the market, the high penetration of cost-to-volume benefits is expected to perpetuate to the end-users, thereby contributing to the market's growth. RFID devices are anticipated to witness a surge in demand as technological proliferation has led to extensive use of smart cards, access control, and other wireless communication applications.



In addition, the proliferation of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) across industries is creating significant demand for wireless communication and smart devices, subsequently creating market demand for RFID devices. To sum up the trends in the market, RFID technology is anticipated to witness significant growth in the coming years in terms of size, cost, and technology, fueling its rapid deployment. Asia Pacific is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR over the forecast period. The growing e-commerce industry in the region is creating higher demand for reliable supply chain management solutions, which RFID technology can provide. Moreover, favorable government initiatives from countries, such as India and Japan, are driving the infrastructure development of the RFID market in the region, thus contributing to its growth.

Key Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Increasing demand in inventory control applications

Growing automation avenues

Diminishing costs due to advancing technology

Market Restraints

Deployment complexities

Market Opportunities

Favorable government initiatives



Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Report Highlights

The RFID tag segment dominated the market in 2022 and is anticipated to register significant growth over the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the RFID tag's capacity to provide faster and more accurate data, and its applications, including real-time inventory tracking and enhanced supply chain visibility

The passive RFID system segment is anticipated to witness the highest growth over the forecast period due to its cost-effectiveness, easy integration, and small size. Passive RFID systems are used in applications, such as inventory management, supply chain & logistics, asset tracking, and access control

The high-frequency (HF) segment is anticipated to register significant growth over the forecast period. The growing demand for HF RFID technology from the retail and healthcare industries in applications, such as access control, contactless payment, and enhanced security, will drive the segment's growth

The retail segment dominated the market in 2022 and is anticipated to retain its dominance over the forecast period. RFID technology's wide range of applications in the retail industry, including inventory management, asset tracking, in-store customer engagement, and contactless payments, contribute to the retail segment's growth

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 110 Forecast Period 2022 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $15769.8 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $47630 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 15.1% Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope



Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Market Outlook

2.2. Segmental Outlook

2.3. Competitive Landscape Snapshot



Chapter 3. Market Variables, Trends, and Scope

3.1. Market Lineage Outlook

3.2. Industry Value Chain Analysis

3.3. Market Dynamics

3.4. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

3.5. Industry Analysis Tools



Chapter 4. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market: Component Estimates & Trend Analysis

4.1. Component Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

4.2. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Estimates & Forecast, By Component

4.2.1. Tags

4.2.2. Antennas

4.2.3. Readers

4.2.4. Middleware



Chapter 5. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market: System Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1. System Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

5.2. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Estimates & Forecast, By System

5.2.1. Active RFID System

5.2.2. Passive RFID System



Chapter 6. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market: Frequency Estimates & Trend Analysis

6.1. Frequency Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

6.2. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Estimates & Forecast, By Frequency

6.2.1. Low Frequency (LF) RFID

6.2.2. High Frequency (HF) RFID

6.2.3. Ultra-high Frequency (UHF) RFID



Chapter 7. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis

7.1. Application Movement Analysis & Market Share, 2022 & 2030

7.2. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market Estimates & Forecast, By Application

7.2.1. Retail

7.2.2. Financial Services

7.2.3. Healthcare

7.2.4. Industrial

7.2.5. Government

7.2.6. Transportation & Logistics

7.2.7. Others



Chapter 8. Radio Frequency Identification Technology Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis



Chapter 9. Competitive Landscape

Honeywell International

Zebra Technologies

Avery Dennison

Nedap

IMPINJ

NXP Semiconductors

Unitech Electronics

HID Global Corporation

Invengo Information Technology

Datalogic

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/upa6x5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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Dublin, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "M2M/IoT Applications in the Agricultural Industry - 3rd Edition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

IoT Applications in the Agricultural Industry analyses the latest developments on the global smart farming market covering precision farming, agricultural drones, in-field monitoring, herd management and farm management software.

The market for in-field sensor systems can be divided into three segments: environmental monitoring, pest monitoring and water management. These solutions typically incorporate wireless connectivity, data logging, cameras and sensors that record measurements of environmental parameters. Semios is the largest vendor in the space by far with an estimated installed base of 750,000 sensor nodes, followed by Pessl Instruments and Davis instruments with installed bases of around 80,000 and 50,000 devices respectively. Top specialised providers of integrated soil moisture monitoring solutions comprise Hortau, AquaSpy and CropX. Remote irrigation control solutions are offered by the largest OEMs of central pivot and drip irrigation systems including Valmont Industries with its Valley Irrigation brand, Lindsay Corporation with its Zimmatic brand and Netafim.

Precision livestock farming technologies are mainly applied to the husbandry of dairy cattle, poultry and pigs. Consolidation and growth of dairy farms have resulted in larger herds per farmer, which makes manual observations challenging. Body-mounted sensor systems together with herd management software are used to achieve satisfactory herd health and timely insemination when a cow is in oestrous. A majority of the leading dairy equipment OEMs including GEA Group, Lely and BouMatic partner with specialised companies to provide advanced sensor technology for herd management. The world's largest dairy equipment manufacturer DeLaval offers its in-house developed activity monitoring system along with its milking and dairy farming infrastructure solutions. Other significant providers of precision livestock farming technologies include Afimilk, Datamars, Nedap and Merck.

The report's outlook for the smart farming solution market is positive as agricultural production remains greatly underpenetrated by IoT technologies. The number of installed wireless devices for applications in agricultural production is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent from 25.2 million connections at the end of 2022 to 37.1 million connected devices by 2027. Cellular connections amounted to 1.7 million at the end of 2022 and are expected to reach 3.9 million in 2027.

The main application areas for cellular communications comprise telematics and in-field sensor systems. LPWA technologies are expected to achieve the highest growth rate and realise a significant market position in the remote monitoring and control segment. 802.15.4-based standards comprise the most employed wireless technology due to its wide adoption in dairy cow monitoring applications.

Key Market Trends

The emerging digital ecosystem requires a shift towards collaboration

Larger herds drive the adoption of precision livestock farming technologies

IoT start-ups attract significant venture capital investments

System integration and interoperability are high on the agenda

Dealerships remain as gateways to customers

OEMs likely to extend free telematics subscription periods

Freemium strategies will intensify competition between software vendors

Autonomy will play a significant role in agricultural operations

Highlights from the report:

Insights from numerous interviews with market leading companies.

Comprehensive overview of the smart farming value chain and key applications.

In-depth analysis of market trends and key developments in crop and livestock production.

Profiles of 84 smart farming solution providers.

Detailed reviews of the latest precision agriculture initiatives launched by industry players.

Summary of OEM propositions from manufacturers of agricultural equipment.

Forecasts by market segment, region and wireless technology lasting until 2027.

This report answers the following questions

What are the main applications for wireless IoT in agricultural production systems?

Which are the leading providers of precision farming technologies?

What offerings are available from technology and service providers?

What are the main drivers and barriers for technology adoption in agricultural production?

What are the precision livestock farming strategies of animal monitoring specialists?

How are the OEMs and agricultural input producers involved in the ecosystem?

How can drone technology be used in the agricultural sector?

How will the adoption of cellular connectivity and LPWA technologies evolve?

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2022 - 2027 Estimated Market Value in 2022 25.2 Million Connections Forecasted Market Value by 2027 37.1 Million Connections Compound Annual Growth Rate 8.1% Regions Covered Global



Key Topics Covered:

1 The Agricultural Sector

1.1 Agricultural production

1.2 Agricultural commodities

1.3 Demand for agricultural commodities

1.4 Agricultural operations

1.5 Agricultural equipment

2 Smart Farming Technologies and Solutions

2.1 Smart farming infrastructure

2.2 Machinery management

2.3 Precision agriculture

2.4 Remote sensing

2.5 Remote monitoring and control

2.6 Precision livestock farming

2.7 Data management and predictive analysis

2.8 Business models and strategies

3 Market Forecasts and Trends

3.1 Market analysis

3.2 Market drivers and barriers

3.3 Value chain analysis

3.4 Market trends

4 OEM Products and Strategies

AGCO

ARGO Tractors

CLAAS Group

CNH Industrial

Deere & Company

Komatsu

Krone

Kubota

Mahindra & Mahindra

Ponsse

Rottne

SDF

Tigercat

Vermeer

5 Aftermarket Solution Providers

5.1 Precision farming

AG Leader Technology

Agjunction

DICKEY-john

Farmers Edge

Hexagon

Lacos

Raven Industries

Topcon Positioning Systems

Trimble

UniStrong

Yara



5.2 Agricultural drones

AgEagle

Aonic

DJi

Draganfly

Hylio

Jiyi

Sentera

TTA

Wingtra

XAG

5.3 Environmental and pest monitoring

Campbell Scientific

Davis Instruments

Fieldin

Prointegra

Pessl Instruments

Semios

Sencrop

Trapview

Weenat

5.4 Water management

Arable Labs

AquaSpy

CropX

EarthScout

Hortau

Libelium

Lindsay Corporation

Netafim

Pycno

Rivulis

Valmont Industries

5.5 Dairy herd management

Afimilk

BouMatic

CowManager

Dairymaster

Datamars

DeLaval

Farmnote

Fullwood JOZ

GEA Group

Lely

Merck

Moocall

Nedap

Stellapps

Zoetis

5.6 Agricultural software

365FarmNet

Agrivi

BASF

Bushel

The Climate Corporation (Bayer)

Conservis

Corteva Agriscience

Cropin

DKE-Data

Farmers Business Network

Isagri

Proagrica

Syngenta

Telus Agriculture & Consumer Goods

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8vgbpo

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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New York, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Size & Overview:



In 2022, the electronic access control systems market saw substantial revenue of US$ 37,463.2 Mn, as reported by Persistence Market Research. Anticipated to surge even further, the demand for these systems is projected to be led by key market players, maintaining a significant share throughout 2022.

Predictions indicate that the global market for electronic access control systems market will reach an impressive US$ 110,965.1 Mn by 2033, exhibiting a robust Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately 10.7% from 2023 to 2033. The widespread adoption of electronic access control systems is a global phenomenon, driven by increasing concerns about theft, break-ins, and white-collar crime, prompting both commercial and residential sectors to invest in advanced security solutions.

The ease of use associated with these systems further contributes to their growing popularity on a global scale. Factors such as rising incidents of vandalism, violence in public spaces, and terrorist attacks, particularly in city centers and educational institutions, are pivotal in propelling the electronic access control systems market.

Additionally, the ongoing and forthcoming expansion of road constructions, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, and residential complexes is poised to fuel the demand for electronic access control systems, ensuring a heightened level of security in diverse environments.

Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue 2023 US$ 102,272.0 million Estimated Revenue 2033 US$ 110,965.1 million Growth Rate - CAGR 10.7% Forecast Period 2023-2033 No. of Pages 300 Pages Market Segmentation Process Type, End-Use, Sales Channel, By Region Regions Covered North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia & Pacific, East Asia, The Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled Bosch Security Systems, Honeywell International Inc., Cisco Systems, Tyco International Ltd., Siemens AG, Magal Security Systems Ltd, NEC Corporation, Godrej Consumer Product Limited., Johnson Controls, Hitachi, United Technologies Corporation, Panasonic Corporation.

Elevate your business strategy with comprehensive market data. Request a sample report now:

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2885

Driving Forces behind the Surge:

Increasing Security Concerns: The global rise in concerns related to theft, break-ins, and white-collar crime has become a key driver for the adoption of electronic access control systems. Individuals, as well as commercial entities, are seeking advanced security solutions to safeguard their properties.

Ease of Use: The simplicity and user-friendly nature of electronic access control systems have played a pivotal role in their widespread adoption. As these systems become more intuitive and convenient, their appeal grows across various sectors.

Rising Incidents of Violence and Terrorism: The escalating instances of vandalism, violence in public places, and terrorist attacks, particularly in city centers and educational institutions, have heightened the need for robust security measures. Electronic access control systems offer a proactive approach to enhancing security in such vulnerable areas.

Infrastructure Expansion: Anticipated expansions in road constructions, healthcare facilities, educational buildings, and residential structures are driving the demand for electronic access control systems. The integration of these systems is seen as essential to achieving a higher level of security in newly developed or renovated structures.

Market Players Dominance: Key market players holding a prominent share in the electronic access control systems market contribute significantly to the industry's growth. Their influence and innovative solutions contribute to shaping the market landscape.

Global Awareness: The global awareness regarding the importance of security measures has increased. Individuals and organizations alike are recognizing the necessity of investing in modern security systems, further fueling the demand for electronic access control systems.

In a nutshell, the Persistence Market Research report is a must-read for start-ups, industry players, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who are looking to understand this industry. Get a glance at the report at: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/electronic-access-control-systems-market.asp

Market Projections and Growth Dynamics:

Revenue Surge: In 2022, the market generated an impressive revenue of US$ 37,463.2 Mn, setting the stage for substantial growth. Projections indicate a robust Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 10.7% from 2023 to 2033.

Key Player Dominance: Top market players are expected to maintain a prominent share in the electronic access control systems market throughout 2022, contributing to the overall growth trajectory. Their strategic initiatives, technological advancements, and market presence are likely to shape the competitive landscape.

Global Market Expansion: The global market for electronic access control systems is anticipated to reach an estimated US$ 110,965.1 Mn by 2033. This expansion underscores the widespread adoption of these systems on a global scale, driven by increasing security concerns and infrastructure developments.

Security Concerns as Catalysts: The surge in demand is propelled by a global uptick in security concerns related to theft, break-ins, and white-collar crime. Individuals and businesses are increasingly recognizing the need for advanced security measures, fostering the adoption of electronic access control systems.

User-Friendly Solutions: The simplicity and ease of use associated with electronic access control systems contribute significantly to their growth dynamics. As these systems become more intuitive and convenient, they appeal to a broader range of users across residential and commercial sectors.

Tackling Violence and Terrorism: The prevalence of vandalism, violence in public spaces, and terrorist attacks in city centers and educational institutions is a driving force behind the adoption of electronic access control systems. These systems offer proactive security measures to mitigate risks in vulnerable areas.

Infrastructure Development Impact: The expected expansion in road constructions, healthcare facilities, educational buildings, and residential structures in the coming years is projected to boost the demand for electronic access control.

Challenges and Opportunities:

Challenges:

High Initial Costs: The upfront costs associated with implementing electronic access control systems, including hardware, software, and installation, can be a significant barrier for some organizations, especially smaller ones.

Integration Complexity: Integrating electronic access control systems with existing infrastructure, especially in older buildings, can be complex and costly. Compatibility issues with legacy systems may pose challenges during the integration process.

Cybersecurity Risks: The increasing connectivity of electronic access control systems to networks and the internet exposes them to cybersecurity threats. Unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber-attacks are potential risks that require robust security measures.

User Resistance: Resistance from users, especially in organizations undergoing a transition to electronic access control, can hinder successful implementation. Training and change management efforts are crucial to overcoming resistance and ensuring user acceptance.

Maintenance and Upkeep: Electronic access control systems require regular maintenance and updates to ensure optimal functionality. Failure to keep up with maintenance schedules can lead to system malfunctions or vulnerabilities.

Opportunities:

Technological Advancements: Ongoing advancements in technology, such as biometrics, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based solutions, present opportunities for improving the efficiency and capabilities of electronic access control systems.

Increasing Adoption of IoT: The growing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) provides opportunities for enhanced connectivity and integration of electronic access control systems with other smart devices, offering a more comprehensive security ecosystem.

Demand for Contactless Solutions: The global shift towards contactless solutions, driven by health and hygiene considerations, creates opportunities for electronic access control systems with touchless features, such as mobile-based access and facial recognition.

Customization and Scalability: Offering customizable solutions that can be tailored to the specific needs of different industries and scalable to accommodate growth provides opportunities for market expansion and diversification.

Data Analytics and Insights: Leveraging data generated by electronic access control systems for analytics and insights can provide valuable information for improving security protocols, optimizing operational efficiency, and making informed decisions.

Smart City Initiatives: The increasing focus on smart city initiatives worldwide opens up opportunities for electronic access control systems to be integrated into broader urban security and management frameworks.

Future Prospects and Innovations:

The future prospects of the electronic access control systems market are promising, marked by ongoing innovations that address evolving security needs and technological advancements. As the industry continues to grow, innovations in biometrics, artificial intelligence, and IoT are expected to reshape the landscape.

The integration of advanced biometric technologies, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, enhances the accuracy and reliability of access control systems. Artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in predictive analytics, enabling proactive threat detection and risk mitigation. The expanding use of IoT facilitates seamless connectivity and interoperability, allowing electronic access control systems to integrate with other smart devices for a holistic security ecosystem.

Moreover, the development of touchless solutions, driven by health considerations, is likely to gain prominence, with mobile-based access and gesture recognition emerging as key innovations. The future holds opportunities for customization and scalability, allowing tailored solutions for various industries. As smart city initiatives gain momentum, electronic access control systems are expected to play a vital role in urban security and management frameworks.

The emphasis on data analytics for actionable insights and compliance with stringent security standards further propels the industry forward. The future of electronic access control systems is not only about fortifying physical security but also about creating intelligent, adaptive, and user-friendly solutions that meet the diverse needs of a rapidly evolving world.

Key Players in the Electronic Access Control Systems Market:

Bosch Security Systems : A division of the Bosch Group, Bosch Security Systems is a global leader in security and communication solutions, offering cutting-edge technology in video surveillance, access control, and intrusion detection.





: A division of the Bosch Group, Bosch Security Systems is a global leader in security and communication solutions, offering cutting-edge technology in video surveillance, access control, and intrusion detection. Honeywell International Inc .: Honeywell International Inc., a diversified conglomerate, excels in security within its Building Technologies division. It provides comprehensive safety and security solutions, including access control, video surveillance, and fire detection.





.: Honeywell International Inc., a diversified conglomerate, excels in security within its Building Technologies division. It provides comprehensive safety and security solutions, including access control, video surveillance, and fire detection. Cisco Systems: Cisco Systems is a global technology giant specializing in networking and communication solutions. In the security realm, Cisco focuses on cybersecurity, offering network security, cloud security, and identity services.





Cisco Systems is a global technology giant specializing in networking and communication solutions. In the security realm, Cisco focuses on cybersecurity, offering network security, cloud security, and identity services. Tyco International Ltd.: Part of Johnson Controls, Tyco International Ltd. is a key player in security and fire protection, delivering solutions such as access control, video surveillance, and intrusion detection on a global scale.





Part of Johnson Controls, Tyco International Ltd. is a key player in security and fire protection, delivering solutions such as access control, video surveillance, and intrusion detection on a global scale. Siemens AG : Siemens AG, a technology powerhouse, offers integrated security solutions, including video surveillance, access control, and communication systems, leveraging its expertise across various sectors.





: Siemens AG, a technology powerhouse, offers integrated security solutions, including video surveillance, access control, and communication systems, leveraging its expertise across various sectors. Magal Security Systems Ltd : Magal Security Systems is a specialist in perimeter intrusion detection systems and physical security solutions, known for its innovative approach to securing critical infrastructure and sensitive sites.





: Magal Security Systems is a specialist in perimeter intrusion detection systems and physical security solutions, known for its innovative approach to securing critical infrastructure and sensitive sites. NEC Corporation: NEC Corporation, a global technology company, specializes in biometric solutions, video analytics, and access control systems, contributing to advancements in reliable security technologies.





NEC Corporation, a global technology company, specializes in biometric solutions, video analytics, and access control systems, contributing to advancements in reliable security technologies. Godrej Consumer Product Limited: While primarily a consumer products company, Godrej Consumer Product Limited has a significant presence in the security industry, offering electronic security solutions, safes, locks, and access control systems.





While primarily a consumer products company, Godrej Consumer Product Limited has a significant presence in the security industry, offering electronic security solutions, safes, locks, and access control systems. Johnson Controls : Johnson Controls, a multinational conglomerate, is a key player in the security domain, providing a comprehensive suite of solutions, including access control, video surveillance, and fire detection.





: Johnson Controls, a multinational conglomerate, is a key player in the security domain, providing a comprehensive suite of solutions, including access control, video surveillance, and fire detection. Hitachi: Hitachi, a global conglomerate, provides security solutions such as video surveillance, access control systems, and data analytics, leveraging its technological expertise for diverse industry applications.





Key Segments Covered in Electronic access control systems market:

Process Type:

Authentication Systems: Comprehensive security processes ensuring authorized access.

Biometrics: Unique biological traits for identity verification.

Face Recognition: Identifying individuals through facial features.

Iris Recognition: Leveraging iris patterns for secure authentication.

Palm Recognition: Utilizing palm prints for identity verification.

Voice Recognition: Authentication based on distinctive voice characteristics.

Vein Recognition: Secure access using vein patterns.

Card-Based: Access control through various card technologies.

Proximity Card: Utilizing proximity cards for secure access.

End User:

Government: Security solutions for public entities.

Commercial: Tailored security systems for businesses.

Industrial: Robust security measures for industrial settings.

Residential: Home security solutions for individual households.

Sales Channel:

Direct Sales: Manufacturer-to-customer direct transactions.

Mono Brand: Exclusive sales under a single brand.

Supermarket/Hypermarket: Security solutions available in large retail settings.

Departmental Stores: Access control products in specialized retail stores.

Specialty Stores: Security solutions in stores focused on specific products.

Region:

North America: Security solutions catering to the North American market.

Latin America: Access control systems for Latin American regions.

Europe: Comprehensive security measures for European markets.

East Asia: Advanced security technologies in East Asian countries.

South Asia: Security solutions tailored for South Asian markets.

About Persistence Market Research:

Business intelligence is the foundation of every business model employed by Persistence Market Research. Multi-dimensional sources are being put to work, which include big data, customer experience analytics, and real-time data collection. Thus, working on micros by Persistence Market Research helps companies overcome their macro business challenges.

Persistence Market Research is always way ahead of its time. In other words, it tables market solutions by stepping into the companies/clients shoes much before they themselves have a sneak pick into the market. The pro-active approach followed by experts at Persistence Market Research helps companies/clients lay their hands on techno-commercial insights beforehand, so that the subsequent course of action could be simplified on their part.

Contact

Persistence Market Research

Teerth Technospace, Unit B-704

Survey Number - 103, Baner

Mumbai Bangalore Highway

Pune 411045 India

Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harbert Management Corporation (HMC) announces the promotion of John M. Harbert II to Senior Vice President of Strategy.



In his new role, John will be charged with overall responsibility for HMCs strategic planning initiatives including data management, technology strategy, ESG implementation, business development and capital formation.

John joined HMC in 2011, serving most recently as Director of Investments with the Harbert United States Real Estate Strategy in the Birmingham office where he focused on the areas of acquisitions, financings and dispositions for the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. regions. Prior to joining the U.S. Real Estate team, he served as a Director with the HMC Marketing team, raising capital for all HMC strategies from a variety of investors ranging from high-net-worth individuals to large institutional clients. He served in that role in the New York, London and Birmingham offices.

HMC President and COO, Travis Pritchett commented, John brings a diverse perspective, sound judgment, creativity, and energy to a very important role within HMC. John and I will work closely to identify opportunities for growth, improve efficiency and assess potential risks, ensuring that our long-term strategy allows us to realize our potential. Our employees, partners and clients will benefit from Johns leadership.

John added, I am proud to be a part of HMCs continued growth and I look forward to bringing my collective experience across HMC to my new role. The future demands that companies prioritize innovation. To that end, I look forward to working in partnership with all departments across the firm to strategically drive innovation, positioning HMC for continued success.

About HMC

HMC is an alternative asset manager with approximately $7.7 billion in Regulatory Assets Under Management as of December 31, 2023. Formed in 1993, the firm is privately owned and serves a variety of institutional investors across multiple asset classes. Investment strategies include European and U.S. real estate, seniors housing, U.S. growth capital, credit solutions, infrastructure and absolute return funds. For additional information about HMC visit, www.harbert.net .
MONTREAL, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HPQ Silicon Inc. (HPQ or the Company) ( TSX-V: HPQ ) (OTCQB: HPQFF) (FRA: O08), a technology company specializing in green engineering processes for silica and silicon material production is pleased to announce the completion of an internal technical and economic study (the Study) related to its proprietary Fumed Silica Reactor technology. The study was prompted by an inquiry from a participant in the Fumed Silica industry under NDA.

The study assessed the technical and economic viability of quickly scaling up the HPQ Silica Polveres Fumed Silica Reactor (FSR) from the current 50 tonnes per year (TPY) pilot plant configuration to a 1,000 TPY commercial configuration, following the successful completion of the pilot plant testing phase.

The significance of this preliminary assessment lies in its confirmation of the technical feasibility of rapid scaling up to a 1,000 TPY FRS [1] while preserving the best-in-class environmental advantages inherent in the FSR technology [2]. Moreover, the study unveiled its robust economic potential, emphasizing potential EBITDA margins three times higher than the industry average of 20% [3] and a capital investment 93% less than that required for building a conventional Fumed Silica plant [4].

The shift of interest in our Fumed Silica offering, from the initial signing of our first NDA to explore the material commercial potential to a current keen focus on the commercial scalability potential of our proprietary Fumed Silica Reactor technology, marks another major step forward for HPQ Silica Polvere," said Mr. Bernard Tourillon, President and CEO of HPQ Silica Polvere Inc. and HPQ Silicon Inc.

IMPLEMENTING AN INCREMENTAL COMMERCIALISATION STRATEGY FOR HPQ POLVERE FUMED SILICA

To meet the anticipated demand for low carbon fumed silica materials, HPQ Polvere commercialisation strategy is based on building a 1,000 tonnes per year (TPY) Fumed Silica Reactor and scaling up capacity to meet demand with an additional 1,000 TPY Fumed Silica Reactor.

To prepare the internal economic study, HPQ Polvere management used technology provider and equipment supplier PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (TSX: PYR) (OTCQX: PYRGF) (FRA: 8PY) (PyroGenesis) rough order of magnitude study regarding the cost of building the first 1,000 tonnes per year (TPY) Fumed Silica Reactor. HPQ management then used selling prices for the Fumed Silica and potential operating costs from information derived from third party sources and publicly available data.

The salient points of the internal economic study indicate that the HPQ Fumed Silica Reactor will have:

Capex between US$ 9.00 and US$ 10.00 cost per Kg of annual capacity [5]

Energy consumptions between 10  15 KWh per Kg of Fumed Silica [6]

EBITDA margins between 60% and 65% [7]

Payback period per 1,000 TPY Reactor of around 1.7 years [8]

HPQ Silica is uniquely positioned to be the sole provider capable of supplying the materials required to meet the increasing demand for low carbon Fumed Silica products, added Mr. Tourillon. This demand is anticipated to necessitate the deployment of numerous 1,000 TPY Fumed Silica Reactors in the future."

While HPQ Polvere technology is the only ultralow carbon footprint process, no green premium was used when calculated the selling price of the material used for the internal economic study.

HPQ POLVERE DISRUPTIVE ADVANTAGES IN ONE TABLE





This table clearly shows that HPQ Polvere Fumed Silica Reactor (FSR) has many disruptive advantages that can threaten traditional Fumed Silica Manufacturing and can be a significant opportunity for HPQ and its shareholders, continued Mr. Tourillon.

HPQ management plans to update and further validate these projections when more data is collected from an upcoming pilot plant testing phase later in the year. This will be achieved with the completion of an engineering cost and feasibility study that will be conducted by an independent party at the appropriate time.

REFERENCE SOURCES



Cautionary Statements



There can be no assurance that the economic projections upon which this Study is founded will be realized. Not limited to the viability of mass production scale-up, product optimization, financial considerations, and macroeconomic and environmental factors, several risks and uncertainties are inherently associated with any nascent technology commercialization. The Study is intended to be comprehended as a cohesive whole, and individual sections should not be interpreted or relied upon in isolation or without the accompanying context. Readers are duly advised to consider all assumptions, limitations, and exclusions that pertain to the information provided in the Study.

About PyroGenesis Canada Inc.

PyroGenesis Canada Inc., a high-tech company, is a leader in the design, development, manufacture and commercialization of advanced plasma processes and sustainable solutions which reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and are economically attractive alternatives to conventional dirty processes. PyroGenesis has created proprietary, patented, and advanced plasma technologies that are being vetted and adopted by multiple multibillion dollar industry leaders in three massive markets: iron ore pelletization, aluminum, waste management, and additive manufacturing. With a team of experienced engineers, scientists and technicians working out of its Montreal office, and its 3,800 m2 and 2,940 m2 R&D and manufacturing facilities, PyroGenesis maintains its competitive advantage by remaining at the forefront of technology development and commercialization. The operations are ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D certified, having been ISO certified since 1997. For more information, please visit: www.pyrogenesis.com

About HPQ Silicon

HPQ Silicon Inc. ( TSX-V: HPQ ) is a Quebec-based TSX Venture Exchange Tier 1 Industrial Issuer.

HPQ is developing, with the support of world-class technology partners PyroGenesis Canada Inc. and NOVACIUM SAS, new green processes crucial to make the critical materials needed to reach net zero emissions.

HPQ activities are centred around the following four (4) pillars:

Becoming a green low-cost (Capex and Opex) manufacturer of Fumed Silica using the FUMED SILICA REACTOR, a proprietary technology owned by HPQ being developed for HPQ by PyroGenesis. Becoming a zero CO 2 low-cost (Capex and Opex) producer of High Purity Silicon (2N+ to 4N) using our PUREVAP Quartz Reduction Reactors (QRR), a proprietary technology owned by HPQ being developed for HPQ by PyroGenesis. Becoming a producer of silicon-based anode materials for battery applications with the assistance of NOVACIUM SAS. HPQ SILICON affiliate NOVACIUM SAS is developing a low carbon, chemical base on demand and high-pressure autonomous hydrogen production system.

For more information, please visit HPQ Silicon web site .

Disclaimers:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's ongoing filings with the securitys regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This News Release is available on the company's CEO Verified Discussion Forum , a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders.

Source: HPQ Silicon Inc.

For further information contact:

Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman, President, and CEO Tel +1 (514) 846-3271

Patrick Levasseur, Director Tel: +1 (514) 262-9239

Email: Info@hpqsilicon.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7e4b613c-edf1-49e1-ac95-fe15c9d6a737
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shareholder rights law firm Johnson Fistel, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) (Juniper or the Company) breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE).



You can click or copy and paste the following link to join this investigation:

https://www.cognitoforms.com/JohnsonFistel/JuniperNetworks

On January 10, 2024, Juniper announced that it had entered a deal to merge with HPE. Under the terms of the deal, Juniper shareholders will receive $40.00 per share in an all-cash offer.

The investigation concerns whether the Juniper board failed to satisfy its duties to the Company shareholders, including whether the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and whether the board obtained the best price possible for Juniper shares of common stock.

If you are a shareholder of Juniper and believe the proposed buyout price is too low or you're interested in learning more about the investigation, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ( jimb@johnsonfistel.com ) at 619-814-4471. If emailing, please include a phone number.

About Johnson Fistel, LLP:

Johnson Fistel, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York, Georgia, and Colorado. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://www.johnsonfistel.com .

Attorney advertising.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices.

Johnson Fistel, LLP has paid for the dissemination of this promotional communication, and Frank J. Johnson is the attorney responsible for its content.

Contact:

Johnson Fistel, LLP

501 W. Broadway, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101

James Baker, Investor Relations or Frank J. Johnson, Esq., (619) 814-4471

jimb@johnsonfistel.com or fjohnson@johnsonfistel.com
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pan American Energy Corp. (CSE: PNRG | OTCQB: PAANF | FRA: SS60) ("Pan American or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced the Phase 2 drilling program at its Big Mack Lithium Project, located approximately 80 kilometers north of the town of Kenora, ON. The exploration program is being carried out by Fullforce Diamond Drilling Ltd. (Full Force) under the geological oversight of Axiom Exploration Group Ltd. (Axiom). The Company is fully funded for the Phase 2 drilling program and plans to drill approximately 5,000 meters.



Following a successful Phase 1 drilling program (highlighted below), the Phase 2 drilling program will continue to focus on infill and exploratory targets that were identified through historical drilling analysis, UAV magnetic survey, and the Summer 2023 field prospecting program. The Company intends to drill the Sprinkler/6059 Zone, The Eleven Zone, and infill drilling on the Big Mack pegmatite. The Company also plans to explore the possible petalite mineralization between the Big Mack and Sprinkler. The objective of the drill program is to quantify the presence and extent of mineralization on the Property to further advance the project.

Jason Latkowcer, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "After pausing for the holidays, our team and contractors have returned to the Big Mack Lithium Project and commended drilling on the Phase 2 drill program. Having recently closed a series of financing and recognizing costs savings due to contractor performance in 2023, this drilling program is fully funded any planned and additional meterage. A large majority of equipment remained mobilized on-site, allowing the Company to setup quickly and efficiently for this next phase. It is an exciting time for the Company.

Phase One 2023 Drilling Program Highlights:

Big Mack Deposit: Extended known pegmatite at depth, included enough drilling to update the resource

Extended known pegmatite at depth, included enough drilling to update the resource Eleven Zone: Increased the size of the known pegmatite both at depth and along strike to the west. Exploration holes resulted in multiple intersection of pegmatite in all but one drill hole. Extended the known Eleven Zone pegmatite to the west.

Increased the size of the known pegmatite both at depth and along strike to the west. Exploration holes resulted in multiple intersection of pegmatite in all but one drill hole. Extended the known Eleven Zone pegmatite to the west. Drill Hole BM23-001 Result: Testing the interior section of the Big Mack Pegmatite, returned assay values of 1.13% Li2O over 27.98 m



Phase One 2023 Drilling Program Details:

Commencement Date: Mobilization and drill start dates respectively: October 31 st and November 3 rd , 2023

Mobilization and drill start dates respectively: October 31 and November 3 , 2023 Shutdown Date: Drilling stop date and crews last day on site: December 14 th and December 19 th , 2023

Drilling stop date and crews last day on site: December 14 and December 19 , 2023 Total Number of Drillholes: 34 completed holes (BM23-001 to BM23-0034) and one abandoned hole (BM23-001A)

34 completed holes (BM23-001 to BM23-0034) and one abandoned hole (BM23-001A) Total Meters Drilled: 4,582 meters drilled in 2023

4,582 meters drilled in 2023 Geochemical Assay Samples: A total of 2,337 samples have been taken across the 34 completed holes. Of these, 1,817 samples have been delivered to ALS Global for geochemical assays. The remaining 520 samples are planned to be cut and submitted in 2024.





Figure 1: 2024 Drilling Target Locations including select surface samples from 2023 field program.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jared Suchan, Ph.D., P.Geo., who is an independent consultant of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

For additional information regarding the Companys surface sampling program at the Property, including a complete summary of the samples collected and the results of the sampling program including the sampling and analytical methods and QA/QC protocols, please see the Companys news release dated August 9, 2023, which is filed on the Companys SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

About the Property

The Property is located 2 km east of all-weather Snook Lake Road about 80 km north of Kenora, ON. The property is proximal (~1.3 km) to Avalons Separation Rapids, Big Whopper deposit which hosts a measured and indicated resource. The Property is within an Ontario registered mining lease, with over 30 years of exploration history. The Property lies within the traditional land use area of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations of Whitedog, Ontario: an Aboriginal community located approximately 35 km southwest of the property.

The Property hosts four known Li-bearing pegmatites including the Big Mack pegmatite, Eleven Zone, Sprinkler Zone, and 6095 pegmatite which are thought to be related to the Separation Rapids Pluton. They are interpreted as zoned Complex Type, Petalite Subtype LCT Pegmatites. The Big Mack pegmatite represents the largest petalite-bearing mass on the Property and is exposed over an 80 by 225 m area. Historic drilling campaigns (1998, 1999, 2001) intersected mineralization extending along a strike length of ~150 meters and to a depth of 75 meters. The mineralization at the Property remains open at depth and along strike.

About Pan American Energy Corp.

Pan American Energy Corp. (CSE: PNRG) (OTCQB: PAANF) (FSE: SS60) is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties containing battery metals in North America.

The Company executed an option agreement in Canada with Magabra Resources, providing for the right to acquire up to a 90% interest in the drill-ready Big Mack Lithium Project, 80 km north of Kenora, Ontario. The Company has also entered a property option agreement with Horizon Lithium LLC providing for the right to acquire a 100% interest in the Horizon Lithium Project, located within Esmeralda County  Tonopah Lithium Belt, Nevada, USA.

To register for investor updates, please visit https://panam-energy.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors



Jason Latkowcer

CEO & Director

Contact

Phone : (587) 885-5970

Email: info@panam-energy.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words could, intend, expect, believe, will, projected, estimated and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companys current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the Companys exploration plans at the Project, including the nature and type of the Companys exploration activities, the timing of such exploration activities and the aim and objectives of the Companys exploration efforts; and the expected benefits to the Company arising from the use of Full Force Diamond Drilling Ltd. to complete the proposed drilling at the Project.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, assumptions regarding the Companys ability to execute on its exploration plans at the Project, including that it will be successful in carrying out such exploration activities on the anticipated timeline and that such exploration activities will yield the expected information and the desired outcomes; and that the Companys use of Full Force Diamond Drilling Ltd. to carry out the proposed drilling will yield the anticipated benefits to the Company and the Project.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Companys management, there can be no assurance that any 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 to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things, the risk that exploration at the Project does not proceed in the manner and on the timeline currently contemplated, or at all; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to receiving requisite permits and approvals, changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project; that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company; that the Companys use of Full Force Diamond Drilling Ltd. to carry out the proposed drilling may not yield the anticipated benefits to the Company or the Project; and that mineral exploration activities are often unsuccessful. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5f05efcc-ee0d-4c8b-b5ab-3e5dad690bf2
New York, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The water-soluble fertilizers market encompasses the production, distribution, and sale of fertilizers composed of nutrients readily dissolvable in water. These fertilizers are applied directly to crops through irrigation systems (fertigation) or sprayed onto leaves (foliar application). They are popular for their rapid uptake by plants, precise dosage control, and suitability for micro-irrigation systems.



In 2022, the worldwide market for water-soluble fertilizers is predicted to be valued at $7,110.1 million and is projected to increase at a rate of 6.7% annually, reaching over $13,599.4 million by 2032.

With the growing global population and increasing demand for food production, the water-soluble fertilizers market is experiencing significant growth. Factors driving this trend include:

Rising adoption of precision agriculture: Water-soluble fertilizers enable targeted delivery of nutrients, reducing waste and optimizing plant growth.

Increasing water scarcity: Their efficient water utilization makes them ideal for arid regions and areas facing water constraints.

Shifting consumer preferences towards organic and sustainable agriculture: Many water-soluble fertilizers offer organic options or contain readily biodegradable components.

Government initiatives supporting sustainable farming practices: Several countries are promoting the use of water-soluble fertilizers to reduce environmental impact and improve water use efficiency.

Elevate your business strategy with comprehensive market data. Request a sample report now: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/33216

Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue 2022 US$ 7,110.1 Million Estimated Revenue 2032 US$ 13,599.4 Million Growth Rate - CAGR 6.7% Forecast Period 2022-2032 No. of Pages 306 Pages Market Segmentation By Product Type, Cryogen, Application, End User, Region Regions Covered North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia & Pacific, East Asia, The Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled Israel Chemical Ltd (ICL)

Yara International ASA

Nutrien Ltd

Haifa Group

K+S Aktiengesellschaft

The Mosaic Company

VAKI - CHIM Ltd.

Coromandel International Limited

What are the Sales Drivers of Water Soluble Fertilizers?

The market is set to expand due to the rising demand for high-value crop products. The increased need for specialty fertilizers, aimed at enhancing the production of top-quality crops, is expected to drive the continued growth of water soluble fertilizers in the coming years. The expanding global population in various emerging and underdeveloped nations has raised concerns about food security and the effectiveness of current food production methods.

Government initiatives geared towards promoting specialized fertilizers, coupled with educational programs for farmers highlighting the benefits of these new fertilizers, are likely to contribute to the market's expansion. However, the market growth may face challenges due to the relatively high cost of water soluble fertilizers, underscoring the importance of government subsidies to facilitate broader market access.

In a nutshell, the Persistence Market Research report is a must-read for start-ups, industry players, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who are looking to understand this industry. Get a glance at the report at - https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/water-soluble-fertilizers-market.asp

Water Soluble Fertilizers Market: Challenges and Opportunities

The future of water-soluble fertilizers seems bright, but beneath the fertile surface lies both blossoming opportunities and prickly challenges. Let's explore them:

Opportunities:

Precise Nutrition: The ability to deliver targeted nutrients directly to plants is a game-changer, boosting yields and quality, attracting farmers seeking optimal efficiency.

Fertigation Compatibility: These fertilizers work seamlessly with drip irrigation systems, saving water and maximizing resource utilization, a crucial aspect of sustainable agriculture.

Booming Horticulture: The growing demand for high-value fruits and vegetables fuels the need for precise nutrition, a perfect fit for water-soluble options.

Ease of Use: Convenient forms like liquids and powders simplify application, appealing to both small and large farms.

Environmental Awareness: As sustainability becomes a priority, these fertilizers' reduced waste and runoff make them an attractive choice for eco-conscious growers.



Challenges:

Higher Initial Cost: Compared to traditional fertilizers, water-soluble options can be pricier upfront, requiring farmers to weigh long-term benefits against immediate costs.

Infrastructure Needs: Effective use often requires investments in drip irrigation systems or specialized equipment, posing a barrier for some farmers.

Technical Knowledge: Precise application and nutrient balance necessitate understanding specific requirements of crops and soil, demanding knowledge and training for farmers.

Regulation and Safety: Concerns about potential residue in crops and handling safety necessitate stringent regulations and compliance measures, increasing complexity for manufacturers.

Climate Change: Extreme weather events and unpredictable water availability can disrupt fertigation systems and fertilizer efficacy, presenting a future uncertainty.



Category-wise Insights

Which Form of Water Soluble Fertilizers is Most Popular?

By 2032, the liquid water soluble fertilizers market is expected to exceed USD 1.3 billion. Liquid fertilizers are versatile, allowing for either topical application through fertigation or subsurface application through foliar application. This flexibility has contributed to the significant rise in popularity of liquid water soluble fertilizers. Their ease of handling, mixing, and consistent application makes them suitable for starter and in-season use. Moreover, liquid fertilizers use less water, making them advantageous in regions with persistent water scarcity. However, high manufacturing and delivery costs may limit their market share in the future.

Which Water Soluble Fertilizers Product Segment Dominates the Market?

By 2032, global consumption of nitrogenous-based water soluble fertilizers is expected to exceed 7 million tonnes. Nitrogen-based fertilizers, including urea, ammonium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and others, play a crucial role in plant growth and development. Nitrogen is essential for amino acid synthesis, which forms the building blocks of proteins. Calcium nitrate leads the nitrogenous-based water soluble fertilizer market in terms of volume.

Which Application Mode Category is Likely to Dominate the Market?

By 2032, foliar feeding in the water soluble fertilizers market is anticipated to contribute over 30% of total revenue. Foliar feeding is common in cold climates when soil heating is not sufficient due to dormant plant roots. This method, applying fertilizer directly to leaves, is effective in preventing nutrient deficits and promoting growth in unfavorable weather conditions. Foliar fertilization is environmentally friendly, reducing nitrate and other component loss, minimizing water pollution, and maintaining soil fertility.

Which Segment is Projected to Lead the Water Soluble Fertilizers Market by End User?

Through 2032, the cereals sector is expected to drive the water soluble fertilizers market with a growth rate of approximately 6%. The increasing demand for barley, wheat, buckwheat, maize, millet, rice, and paddy in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Europe is driving cereal production. Water-soluble fertilizers are used to replenish essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in agricultural areas, supporting the global demand for grain farming. The versatile application of water-soluble fertilizers is evident in the cultivation of grains such as rice, wheat, and maize.

Country-wise Insights

United States:

The U.S. is poised to lead the global water soluble fertilizers market due to a growing preference for high-quality crop nutrition products. The region's demand is driven by a need for fertilizers that cater to plant nutritional requirements and offer timely nourishment, with increased awareness among farmers and the presence of key industry players like FMC Corporation and Nutrien Ltd.

Europe:

Europe commands the largest market share for water soluble fertilizers, fueled by widespread adoption in countries like Russia, Spain, and France. Changing climate patterns and the entry of international producers contribute to market growth. The expansion is further supported by traditional fertilizer leaders venturing into the water soluble fertilizer sector, such as the Eurochem Group's investment in Lithuania.

South Korea:

South Korea is expected to witness a surge in water soluble fertilizer demand, driven by increased high-value crop production due to urbanization, economic strength, and trade liberalization. Government subsidies in developing markets are likely to encourage farmers to adopt these fertilizers, with the Korean government facilitating novel fertilizer products to enhance agricultural efficiency.

Japan:

Japan's water soluble fertilizers market is projected to experience the fastest growth (CAGR of 5.33%) in Asia, attributed to diminishing arable land and limited water resources. Increased awareness of the need for efficient fertilizers in diverse environmental conditions is boosting demand. Major global agricultural companies like ICL, Nutrien, and Yara are investing significantly in Japan, recognizing its potential for innovative fertilizers and substantial market expansion.

Key Questions Answered in the Report

What are the key trends driving market growth? What is the current market size, and how is it expected to evolve in the coming years? What are the key factors influencing the market? How is the Water Soluble Fertilizers market segmented based on types, fuels, applications, or other relevant factors? Who are the major players in the Water Soluble Fertilizers market? What strategies are they adopting to gain a competitive edge? What are the driving factors behind the growth of the Water Soluble Fertilizers market? What regions are expected to witness significant growth, and why? What recent technological developments are influencing the Water Soluble Fertilizers industry?



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New York, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In 2022, the global material handling equipment market was valued at approximately $227.9 billion. It is expected to grow at a rate of 6% from 2022 to 2032, reaching an estimated $408.13 billion by the end of 2033. This growth is driven by increased industrial activity and a growing demand for automation and robotics in material handling systems.



The use of drum lifters, crown pallet jacks, electric pallet trucks, and other lifting accessories in various industries such as engineering, machining, and automobile lifts is contributing to the expansion of the material handling equipment market. Modern order-lifting forklift equipment ensures accurate picking, sorting, and packing, minimizing errors.

Automated material handling equipment is becoming increasingly popular as it streamlines production processes, reduces costs, and shortens delivery times. This trend is expected to continue, leading to significant growth in production and adoption of automated material handling equipment in the near future.

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Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue 2022 US$ 227.9 Billion Estimated Revenue 2032 US$ 408.13 Billion Growth Rate - CAGR 6% Forecast Period 2022-2032 No. of Pages 333 Pages Market Segmentation By Product Type, Application, Region Regions Covered North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia & Pacific, East Asia, The Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled BEUMER Group

Daifuku Co., Ltd.

Honeywell International, Inc.

KION Group AG

Mecalux, S.A.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

SSI SCHAEFER

Swisslog Holding AG

TOYOTA Industries Corporation

Vanderlande Industries B.V.

Key Drivers Fueling Market Expansion:

Automation Revolution: The rising adoption of automated material handling systems like robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and warehouse management systems (WMS) is enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and safety in warehouses and production facilities.

E-commerce Boom: The thriving e-commerce sector is fueling demand for sophisticated material handling solutions to expedite order fulfillment and delivery processes.

Infrastructure Development: Ongoing investments in infrastructure projects globally are creating a strong demand for heavy-duty material handling equipment like forklifts, cranes, and excavators.

Supply Chain Resilience: The focus on building resilient supply chains amidst disruptions is leading companies to invest in adaptable and flexible material handling equipment.

In a nutshell, the Persistence Market Research report is a must-read for start-ups, industry players, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who are looking to understand this industry. Get a glance at the report at - https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/material-handling-equipment-market.asp

Market Challenges

In today's fast-moving world of logistics and online shopping, automation is crucial, and automated handling equipment fits right into this need. However, the market faces challenges due to the significant upfront costs involved in setting up this equipment in warehouses. This includes expenses for purchasing, installing, and configuring complex accessories, programming, and other related services, which can be a barrier to growth, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

Many businesses, particularly smaller ones, find it challenging to invest a large amount of money due to the low-volume production and delayed returns on their investment. The need for substantial funds often leads these businesses to seek financial assistance. Moreover, the ongoing high costs for maintaining the equipment pose another obstacle to the global market's expansion.

The cost of software upgrades, essential for testing and training the automated system to work efficiently with minimal accidents, adds to the overall expenses. Additionally, the replacement of various parts and devices, along with increasing ownership costs, contributes to a slowdown in the market, limiting the overall demand for material handling equipment.

Key Market Trends

The current trends in the market highlight a significant surge in the adoption of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and the incorporation of Data Analytics, contributing to substantial market growth.

The landscape of material handling operations and production processes is undergoing a transformative shift with the widespread integration of robots. In a bid to optimize productivity, manufacturing facilities are swiftly embracing automated mobile robots within their production setups. This trend is not only prevalent within manufacturing but is extending across the supply chain vertical, proving to be a lucrative strategy for enhancing profits among delivery partners.

As the demand for automation and robotic utilization continues to rise, there is a parallel increase in the call for more sophisticated automated products within the industry. Consequently, automated procedures are emerging as pivotal components in the supply chain sector, enabling swift responses and heightened productivity.

A noteworthy example is Amazon, a prominent e-commerce giant and technology group, which, in June 2022, introduced its inaugural fully autonomous mobile robots designed for use in their facilities. These robots are specifically designed to lift package-carrying carts, showcasing a tangible manifestation of the industry's inclination towards embracing autonomous solutions for enhanced operational efficiency.

Market Segmentation

Product Insights

The part of the market related to cranes and lifting equipment was the biggest in 2021, making up more than 35% of the total global revenue. These are widely used in various industries like construction, manufacturing, vehicle lifts, and lifting accessories. They help in smooth operations for picking, sorting, and packaging, unlike traditional handling equipment, which is more prone to errors. Continuous handling equipment also assists manufacturers in reducing costs and speeding up delivery times due to its efficient processes.

The racking and storage equipment segment is expected to grow at a rate of 6.8% over the forecast period. This equipment helps increase storage capacity, leading to cost savings by eliminating the need for extra storage space. Industrial trucks, favoured by manufacturers, have practical features like flat surfaces or forks for pallets, offering manual or powered lifting options.

Applications Insights

In 2021, the e-commerce sector led the market, contributing to over 20% of the global revenue. Factors like increased online shopping, the presence of large online retailers, and improved logistics infrastructure are driving the demand for material handling equipment in this industry. Changes in grocery stores towards convenience services, offering frozen food, ready-to-eat meals, and fresh items, are also impacting material handling procedures.

The pharmaceutical segment is expected to grow at a rate of 6.6% over the forecast period. The demand for pharmaceutical storage and material handling equipment is rising to meet the growing need for medicines. These systems aim to increase productivity, save time, labor, and costs, optimize product quality, and enhance safety. Baggage handling systems in the aviation industry are also contributing to the growth of material handling equipment.

Regional Landscape



The Asia Pacific region dominated the market in 2021, representing over 35% of the global revenue. The significant adoption is linked to the growing food retail sector, offering opportunities for efficiency and speed improvement in picking and sorting processes. Europe's growth is expected to be supported by integrated solutions based on new safety and quality legislation. North America is witnessing an expansion due to increased demand for automated warehousing operations, driven by the growth of e-commerce.

Latin America is estimated to grow at a rate of 6.0% over the forecast period, with investments in industries such as automotive and food and beverage driving the demand for material handling equipment.

Key Players Cited in the Report

The material handling equipment market is highly competitive and concentrated. Companies adopt both organic and inorganic strategies for growth. For example, in April 2021, Toyota Material Handling introduced Mole and Mouse Automated Guided Carts, designed to automate repetitive tasks in various operational settings.

In July 2020, Vanderlande Industries launched HOMEPICK, a goods-to-person picking solution, complementing its automated storage and retrieval system and catering to online grocery orders. Some prominent players in the market include BEUMER GROUP, Daifuku Co., Ltd., Honeywell International, Inc., KION GROUP AG, Mecalux, S.A., Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., SSI SCHAEFER, Swisslog Holding AG, TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION, and Vanderlande Industries B.V.

Key Questions Answered in the Report on the Material Handling Equipment Market

What is the current size of the global material handling equipment market? What is the projected market size by 2030? What are the main factors driving market growth? Which segment is expected to grow the fastest? Which regions are expected to dominate the market? Who are the major players in the market? What are the key factors shaping the future of the market? Are there any specific challenges or risks facing the market?

About Persistence Market Research:

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lily AI ("Lily'' or the "Company), a retail technology platform specializing in AI solutions for retailers and brands, announced today that it has been recognized as a 2024 Best Place to Work by Built In. Specifically, Lily AI was honored as one of the 50 Best Startups to Work For in San Francisco. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and celebrates both remote-first employers as well as companies in large technology markets across the United States.



All of us at Lily AI are thrilled with Built Ins recognition on its esteemed list of best places to work in the United States, said Purva Gupta, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lily AI. From the beginning, our number one goal has been to create an inclusive and diverse culture that values both empathy and excellence in everything we do. Its such an honor to be among the leaders on this list.

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits that candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings.

Id like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2024 Best Places to Work winners, says Maria Christopoulos Katris . I am truly inspired by these companies that have risen to the challenge of fostering a positive work environment, maintaining a strong brand, and ensuring employee satisfaction. The future is filled with promise and we are so excited to see what lies ahead.

ABOUT LILY AI

Lily AI is a female-founded retail AI company empowering retailers and brands by bridging the gap between merchant-speak and customer-speak. Leveraging computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning, and vertical-specific generative AI, Lily AI enhances customer shopping experiences by injecting consumer-centric language throughout the retail technology ecosystem. Interoperable with leading eCommerce platforms, Lily AI maximizes existing tech investments to deliver upwards of 9-figure revenue lift through improved product attribution, enhanced discovery, and higher customer conversion. Learn more at www.lily.ai .

ABOUT BUILT IN

Built In is creating the largest candidate generation platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, millions of the industrys most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves thousands of innovative companies from startups to the Fortune 500. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them reach otherwise hard-to-hire tech professionals. www.builtin.com.

ABOUT BUILT INS BEST PLACES TO WORK

Built Ins annual Best Places to Work program honors companies with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. Best Places to Work is distinct because its algorithm selects tech companies that build their offerings specifically around what tech professionals value in a workplace. Winners are announced in early January 2024. https://employers.builtin.com/best-places-to-work/

Lily AI Media Contact:

Berns Communications Group

Michael McMullan

mmcmullan@bcg-pr.com

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Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global influenza diagnostics market is estimated to flourish at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2023 to 2031. Transparency Market Research projects that the overall sales revenue for influenza diagnostics is estimated to reach US$ 2.0 billion by the end of 2031.

A prominent factor is the increasing integration of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) into diagnostic systems. AI-driven algorithms enhance data interpretation, aiding in the rapid and accurate identification of influenza strains while predicting potential outbreaks. This technology streamlines diagnostic processes, enabling healthcare providers to respond swiftly and effectively.

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The advent of multiplexing technologies introduces a new dimension to diagnostics. Multiplex assays allow simultaneous detection of various pathogens, including multiple influenza strains, within a single test. This innovation reduces time and resources, providing comprehensive diagnostic information promptly, thereby expediting treatment decisions.

The emergence of novel biomarkers for influenza detection is gaining attention. Research explores unconventional biological indicators associated with the virus, enhancing diagnostic specificity and accuracy. Incorporating these biomarkers into diagnostic assays promises improved detection capabilities and better differentiation between influenza strains and other respiratory infections.

Influenza Diagnostics Market: Competitive Landscape

The influenza diagnostics market is characterized by intense competition characterized by key players such as Roche Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories, and BD. These industry leaders dominate with their comprehensive product portfolios comprising rapid antigen tests, PCR-based assays, and molecular diagnostic kits.

Emerging contenders like Luminex Corporation and Quidel Corporation leverage technological advancements to introduce innovative point-of-care solutions. Strategic collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions drive market expansion and innovation.

The market benefits from the influx of novel technologies, including AI-driven diagnostics and portable testing platforms, reshaping the competitive landscape by emphasizing accuracy, speed, and accessibility in diagnosing influenza strains to meet global healthcare demands. Some prominent manufacturers are as follows:

3M

Abbott

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

Becton, Dickinson and Company

BIOMERIEUX

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

Goldsite Diagnostics, Inc.

Hologic Inc.

DiaSorin S.p.A.

Meridian Bioscience, Inc.

QuidelOrtho Corporation

SA Scientific Ltd.

Sekisui Diagnostics

Siemens Healthineers

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Key Findings of the Market Report

Type A flu virus segment leads the influenza diagnostics market due to its prevalence and potential for varied strains and severity.

RT-PCR tests stand as the leading test type segment in the influenza diagnostics market due to high accuracy and sensitivity.

Kits & reagents emerge as the leading product type segment in the influenza diagnostics market due to widespread usage and accessibility.

Influenza Diagnostics Market Growth Drivers & Trends

Continuous innovation in diagnostic tools, including rapid antigen tests and molecular assays, drives accuracy and efficiency in influenza detection.

Increasing outbreaks globally fuel demand for reliable and rapid diagnostic solutions, emphasizing early detection and containment.

Growing adoption of point-of-care testing facilitates rapid and decentralized influenza diagnosis, enhancing patient access and treatment initiation.

Focus on developing diagnostics with improved sensitivity and specificity ensures accurate identification of influenza strains, aiding in targeted treatment.

Heightened awareness and preparedness initiatives post-pandemic drive investments in robust diagnostic infrastructure, strengthening healthcare systems' resilience.

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Global Influenza Diagnostics Market: Regional Profile

In North America, advanced healthcare infrastructure and robust R&D investments drive market growth. Leading companies like Roche Diagnostics and Abbott Laboratories dominate with sophisticated diagnostic tools, fostering a high-demand market for accurate and rapid influenza testing solutions.

Leading companies like Roche Diagnostics and Abbott Laboratories dominate with sophisticated diagnostic tools, fostering a high-demand market for accurate and rapid influenza testing solutions. Europe shows a strong emphasis on early diagnosis and preventive healthcare strategies. Countries like Germany and the United Kingdom witness innovation from companies such as BD and Quidel Corporation, providing a wide array of influenza diagnostic assays, fostering a competitive market.

shows a strong emphasis on early diagnosis and preventive healthcare strategies. Countries like Germany and the United Kingdom witness innovation from companies such as BD and Quidel Corporation, providing a wide array of influenza diagnostic assays, fostering a competitive market. The Asia Pacific region experiences rapid market expansion owing to a burgeoning population and increasing influenza prevalence. Companies like Sekisui Diagnostics and Thermo Fisher Scientific contribute significantly, focusing on accessible and affordable diagnostic solutions. Government initiatives promoting healthcare infrastructure in countries like China and India further propel market growth.

Product Portfolio

Goldsite Diagnostics Inc . pioneers in innovative diagnostic solutions, specializing in cutting-edge assays for early disease detection. Their portfolio includes advanced molecular tests and biomarker-based assays, aiming to revolutionize healthcare with accurate, rapid, and reliable diagnostic tools for improved patient outcomes.

. pioneers in innovative diagnostic solutions, specializing in cutting-edge assays for early disease detection. Their portfolio includes advanced molecular tests and biomarker-based assays, aiming to revolutionize healthcare with accurate, rapid, and reliable diagnostic tools for improved patient outcomes. Hologic Inc. leads in women's health, offering a diverse portfolio ranging from advanced imaging systems to diagnostic tools and assays. Their emphasis on innovation results in high-quality solutions for breast health, cytology, molecular diagnostics, and more, prioritizing early detection and patient well-being.

leads in women's health, offering a diverse portfolio ranging from advanced imaging systems to diagnostic tools and assays. Their emphasis on innovation results in high-quality solutions for breast health, cytology, molecular diagnostics, and more, prioritizing early detection and patient well-being. DiaSorin S.p.A. excels in in vitro diagnostics, delivering a comprehensive range of immunodiagnostics and molecular diagnostics solutions. Their product portfolio includes innovative assays for infectious diseases, hormonal disorders, and autoimmune conditions, focusing on accuracy, efficiency, and improved patient care globally.

Influenza Diagnostics Market: Key Segments

By Flu Virus Type

Type A

Type B

By Test Type

RT-PCR Tests

Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests (RIDTs)

Viral Culture

Immunofluorescence Assays

Serological Tests

Others (LAMP, SAMBA, etc.)

By Product Type

Kits & Reagents

Instruments

Others

By End User

Hospitals

Diagnostic Centers

Others (Academics & Research Institutes, etc.)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global interbody fusion cages market is estimated to flourish at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2023 to 2031 . Transparency Market Research projects that the overall sales revenue for interbody fusion cages is estimated to reach US$ 2.5 billion by the end of 2031.

A prominent driver is the rise of patient-specific implants. Advancements in imaging technologies and computational modeling enable the creation of custom interbody cages tailored to patients' unique anatomical specifications. These personalized implants offer optimized fit and support, enhancing fusion rates and minimizing postoperative complications, thereby improving patient outcomes.

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The integration of regenerative medicine in fusion cages represents a promising avenue. Incorporating biologics, growth factors, or stem cell-based therapies within interbody cages fosters a conducive environment for bone healing and fusion. This integration accelerates the fusion process and promotes osseointegration, vital in achieving successful spinal fusion procedures.

The growing focus on value-based healthcare models prompts the development of cost-effective and durable implants. Manufacturers emphasize creating high-quality interbody fusion cages with extended durability, minimizing revision surgeries, and reducing overall healthcare expenses.

Key Findings of the Market Report

Lumbar interbody fusion cages dominate the market due to higher prevalence of lumbar spine conditions and surgical procedures performed.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) emerges as the leading material segment in the interbody fusion cages market due to its biocompatibility and versatility.

Degenerative disc disease emerges as the leading indication segment in driving the interbody fusion cages market due to its widespread prevalence.

Interbody Fusion Cages Market Growth Drivers & Trends

Surge in demand for minimally invasive spine surgeries fuels the adoption of interbody fusion cages, enhancing patient recovery.

Innovations in biomaterials and surface technologies improve fusion rates and long-term stability of cages.

Increasing elderly population prone to spinal ailments drives the demand for interbody fusion procedures, stimulating market growth.

Continuous advancements, such as 3D printing and personalized implants, redefine cage designs, optimizing patient-specific surgical outcomes.

Rising preference for outpatient spine surgeries fosters the market for interbody fusion cages, driven by reduced hospital stays and faster recovery.

Global Interbody Fusion Cages Market: Regional Profile

North America leads, fueled by sophisticated healthcare infrastructure and a robust regulatory framework. Key players like Medtronic and NuVasive drive innovation with a wide array of fusion cage offerings, emphasizing technological superiority and clinical efficacy.

fueled by sophisticated healthcare infrastructure and a robust regulatory framework. Key players like Medtronic and NuVasive drive innovation with a wide array of fusion cage offerings, emphasizing technological superiority and clinical efficacy. In Europe, countries like Germany and the UK shows a strong focus on research and development. Companies like Zimmer Biomet and Stryker offer innovative cage designs, fostering a competitive market landscape with an emphasis on quality and surgical precision.

countries like Germany and the UK shows a strong focus on research and development. Companies like Zimmer Biomet and Stryker offer innovative cage designs, fostering a competitive market landscape with an emphasis on quality and surgical precision. Asia Pacific experiences rapid market growth, propelled by increased healthcare spending and rising demand for spinal surgeries. Companies such as Japan-based Kuros Biosciences and South Korea's Corentec contribute to technological advancements in cage designs, catering to the region's evolving healthcare needs.

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Interbody Fusion Cages Market: Competitive Landscape

The interbody fusion cages market is intensely competitive, led by prominent players such as Medtronic, Zimmer Biomet, and Stryker. These key industry leaders dominate with extensive product portfolios encompassing various cage designs and materials, emphasizing surgical innovation and clinical efficacy.

Emerging competitors like Globus Medical and NuVasive disrupt the market with advanced cage technologies and biologics. Strategic alliances, mergers, and acquisitions intensify competition, driving research and development initiatives. The market shows continual technological advancements, including 3D-printed cages and surface treatments, enhancing fusion rates and patient outcomes, fostering a dynamic and competitive landscape in the interbody fusion cages sector. Some prominent manufacturers are as follows:

Medtronic plc

Johnson & Johnson

Stryker Corporation

Zimmer Biomet

B. Braun Melsungen AG

NuVasive Inc.

Alphatec Holdings Inc.

LASAK s.r.o.

Xtant Medical Holdings Inc.

Spineology Inc.

Product Portfolio

NuVasive Inc. pioneers in innovative spine technology, offering a diverse portfolio of minimally invasive surgical solutions. Their product range includes advanced implants, navigation systems, and biologics, aiming to transform spine surgery through cutting-edge technologies for improved patient outcomes and surgical precision.

pioneers in innovative spine technology, offering a diverse portfolio of minimally invasive surgical solutions. Their product range includes advanced implants, navigation systems, and biologics, aiming to transform spine surgery through cutting-edge technologies for improved patient outcomes and surgical precision. Alphatec Holdings, Inc. specializes in spine surgery solutions, providing a comprehensive portfolio of innovative implants, instrumentation, and biologics. Their focus on disruptive technologies and procedural solutions aims to enhance surgical techniques, empowering surgeons with advanced tools for optimal patient care.

specializes in spine surgery solutions, providing a comprehensive portfolio of innovative implants, instrumentation, and biologics. Their focus on disruptive technologies and procedural solutions aims to enhance surgical techniques, empowering surgeons with advanced tools for optimal patient care. LASAK s.r.o. excels in dental implantology, delivering a range of high-quality dental implants, prosthetics, and surgical instruments. Their portfolio emphasizes precision and innovation, catering to dental professionals' needs worldwide, ensuring efficient and reliable solutions for successful dental implant procedures.

Interbody Fusion Cages Market: Key Segments

By Type

Cervical

Lumbar

Others

By Material

Titanium

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)

Others

By Indication

Degenerative Disc Disease

Spondylolisthesis

Spinal Tumors or Masse

Spinal Stenosis

Others (herniated discs, etc.)

By Product

Expandable Cages

Static Cages

By End User

Hospitals

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Clinics & Orthopedic Centers

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact:

Nikhil Sawlani

Transparency Market Research Inc.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTER DOWNTOWN,

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Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
TORONTO, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian employers are ringing in the new year with an optimistic hiring outlook according to a new survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.



Most Canadian hiring managers (70%) report a positive hiring outlook for the first half of 2024, citing feelings of optimism (39%), confidence (34%) and hopefulness (32%).

Nearly half of companies (49%) plan to increase their number of employees in the first half of this year, in line with the same period last year (49%), but up from the first half of 2022 (44%).





Companies that anticipate increasing their head count in the first half of 2024 say it is needed to manage increased volumes of work (54%), fill newly created positions (43%), fill positions that are open due to employee turnover (32%), to get expertise in new areas (26%) and handle expansion into other categories or markets (26%).

Conversely, 2 in 5 companies (42%) do not plan to change their employee count, and less than 1 in 10 companies (7%) plan to reduce their number of employees in the first half of this year.

Of companies not planning to hire or planning to reduce their employee count in 2024, the most common reasons cited include: they do not feel they need to hire more employees (28%), they do not have the budget this year (25%) or they cannot afford to hire right now (22%). Small businesses (two to nine employees) are much more likely than large companies (100+ employees) to report they cannot afford to hire right now (34% vs. 14% respectively). More than half of companies (57%) report that while they need more employees to manage workload, they lack the capacity to do so.

Another reason why some companies may not be changing their head count is the desire to train or promote from within. In fact, more than two-thirds of companies (68%) say they would prefer to reskill current employees for new roles than hire brand new ones.

The level of hiring optimism in Canada is a welcome start to the new year, especially given the volatility of the past few years, said Bill Stoller, Express Employment International CEO. The next piece of the puzzle is for businesses, schools and the government to work together to create qualified applicants through training and hands-on-opportunities. Investing in solving this shortcoming will go a long way toward building a well-rounded workforce and economy.

Survey Methodology

The Job Insights survey was conducted online within Canada by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10, 2023, among 504 Canadian hiring decision-makers.

For full survey methodology, please contact Ana@MapleLeafStrategies.com.

If you would like to arrange for an interview to discuss this topic, please contact Ana Curic at

(613) 858-2622 or email Ana@MapleLeafStrategies.com.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment

International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor

supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com/CA.

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GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Munbyn, a leading provider of innovative printing solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of its latest product, the RW401AP wireless label printer . The company has just launched the product in January, 2024, targeting small-medium sized businesses that require a hassle-free printing experience.



AirPrint and WiFi connectivity are its primary features, enabling users to effortlessly print labels from iPhone, iPad, and iMac without the necessity for extra software, drivers, or cables. The AirPrint label printer also supports Android and desktop connections. This functionality is crafted to enhance time efficiency, particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses with a need for swift turnaround times.

In addition to its innovative connectivity features, the 300dpi high-resolution printing of this device significantly enhances its capabilities. Through the optimization of the print head and internal algorithms, it can produce clearer images and logistics labels, offering customers an improved printing experience for both standard and personalized labels.

"We believe that the printer's innovative features and sustainable practices will revolutionize the printing industry and provide small businesses with a hassle-free printing experience," said Mark Yuan, the CEO of Munbyn.





For more information on the RW401AP wireless label printer, please visit www.munbyn.com .

About Munbyn

Munbyn is a leading brand in the thermal printing industry, dedicated to providing innovative and sustainable printing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses.

Founded in 2017, Munbyn has served over 12 million customers worldwide, a testament to the quality and reliability of its products.

Munbyn has also established a strong presence on social media, particularly on Instagram. Its official account has a large following of 180,000 and a consistently high engagement rate of 60%.

The company is also committed to providing excellent customer service and technical support, ensuring that its customers can get the most out of their label printers.

Media Contacts:

Kathy Zhang

media@munbyn.com

Munbyn Technology Corporation

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VANCOUVER, CANADA, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QUEST WATER GLOBAL, INC. (OTC Pink: QWTR) ("Quest" and/or the "Company"), is pleased to announce the expansion of its non-executive Advisory Board (the Advisory Board) with the appointment of three new advisors to provide expertise, accelerate growth, and drive impact.



New Appointees:

Monica Ellis is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment and Technology Foundation (GETF) and CEO of Global Water Challenge (GWC). She works to accelerate sustainable development by leading transformational public and private partnerships across over 100 countries with some of the worlds most influential donors and businesses. Over the past decade, Monica has been instrumental in catalyzing more than $400 million in co-finance and securing billions of dollars in non-financial contributions to positively impact over 14 million people through the provision of clean water and sanitation. By aligning the diverse objectives of companies, governments, and civil society, she and her team deliver impact at scale through strategic planning and multi-sector local platforms that address critical sustainability issues including climate resilience, water security, womens empowerment, and public health.



is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment and Technology Foundation (GETF) and CEO of Global Water Challenge (GWC). She works to accelerate sustainable development by leading transformational public and private partnerships across over 100 countries with some of the worlds most influential donors and businesses. Over the past decade, Monica has been instrumental in catalyzing more than $400 million in co-finance and securing billions of dollars in non-financial contributions to positively impact over 14 million people through the provision of clean water and sanitation. By aligning the diverse objectives of companies, governments, and civil society, she and her team deliver impact at scale through strategic planning and multi-sector local platforms that address critical sustainability issues including climate resilience, water security, womens empowerment, and public health. Euphresia Luseka is a seasoned water governance expert, social entrepreneur, and programs manager with 14 years of progressive multi-country and multi-donor experience in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector in 25 countries. She is Co-Thematic Lead of the Rural Water Supply Networks Leave No One Behind initiative, Management Committee Member of Institutional Governance and Customer Communications Specialist Groups at the International Water Association (IWA), and Technical Advisory Committee Member of USAID pro-WASH. Euphresia has worked for various donor projects including Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, UKAID, USAID, European Union, UN Habitat, UNICEF, and KFW. The prestigious Women on Boards Network and Global Water Partnership recently awarded her for championing gender equity in the water sector. Euphresia has performed a vast amount of research and has authored several published articles.



is a seasoned water governance expert, social entrepreneur, and programs manager with 14 years of progressive multi-country and multi-donor experience in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector in 25 countries. She is Co-Thematic Lead of the Rural Water Supply Networks Leave No One Behind initiative, Management Committee Member of Institutional Governance and Customer Communications Specialist Groups at the International Water Association (IWA), and Technical Advisory Committee Member of USAID pro-WASH. Euphresia has worked for various donor projects including Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, UKAID, USAID, European Union, UN Habitat, UNICEF, and KFW. The prestigious Women on Boards Network and Global Water Partnership recently awarded her for championing gender equity in the water sector. Euphresia has performed a vast amount of research and has authored several published articles. Vincent B. Davis serves as Director of Disaster Services for Feeding America. Prior to joining Feeding America, he served as workplace resiliency manager at Amazon, where he developed disaster frameworks to support the companys 175 corporate offices. Before joining Amazon, Vincent was senior preparedness manager for Sony PlayStation in San Diego, and manager of preparedness and response at Walgreens Co., where he developed disaster programs for the companys 8,600 U.S. stores and distribution facilities. Following a distinguished 23-year career in the U.S. Air Force and Illinois National Guard, Vince also served as external affairs and community relations officer at FEMA, managing field teams for 11 FEMA disasters. Vincent is also the Founder and President of Preparedness Matters Disaster Consulting, and an author, advocate, and champion of underserved and marginalized communities in disaster.



We are delighted to welcome Monica, Euphresia, and Vincent to our Advisory Board. These globally recognized leaders each bring a depth of experience and leadership to Quest and will join our current, distinguished Advisory Board members, Derk, Rob, and Craig, to provide a well-rounded, expert panel, stated John Balanko, CEO of Quest. The appointments come at an exciting phase of the Companys development, as it scales its lead project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and commences operations in South Africa. Equally important, they all share Quests commitment to delivering Triple Bottom Line returns to stakeholders, and to bringing safe, affordable drinking water to underserved communities.

Current Advisory Board Members:

Derk Hendriksen is the Founder & CEO of Hendriksen Ventures LLC, a purpose-driven business advisory firm. During his 20+ year tenure with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), Derk held several senior roles, among them President of EKOCOMPANY Inc., TCCCs dedicated social enterprise. In this role, Derk led the expansion of the companys community centers, called EKOCENTERs, of which over 200 were put into operation by his multi-sector teams in Africa and Asia.



is the Founder & CEO of Hendriksen Ventures LLC, a purpose-driven business advisory firm. During his 20+ year tenure with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), Derk held several senior roles, among them President of EKOCOMPANY Inc., TCCCs dedicated social enterprise. In this role, Derk led the expansion of the companys community centers, called EKOCENTERs, of which over 200 were put into operation by his multi-sector teams in Africa and Asia. Robert Gehl is a senior water sector specialist and venture capital investor. He has held leadership roles in M&A and Business Development for prominent global water companies Pentair Plc, Marmon Water Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, and Canature Health Technology. He most recently served as Managing Director of Hoshizaki Europe BV, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.



is a senior water sector specialist and venture capital investor. He has held leadership roles in M&A and Business Development for prominent global water companies Pentair Plc, Marmon Water Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, and Canature Health Technology. He most recently served as Managing Director of Hoshizaki Europe BV, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Craig Rider has over 25 years of experience in management, sales, and marketing, primarily within high-tech and consumer-related industries. His entrepreneurial achievements include instrumental contributions to H2O Worldwide Group, co-founded by him, which played a key role in aiding the people of Puerto Rico during the 2017 Hurricane Maria disaster. Working with partners, H2O Worldwide introduced Proyecto Agua Limpia, providing clean drinking water to over 200,000 individuals.



About Quest Water Global, Inc.

Quest Water Global, Inc., is a socially responsible, innovative water solutions company. The Companys goal is to provide a permanent, abundant, affordable, and sustainable source of drinking water to underserved communities. To achieve its financial, social, and environmental goals, Quest utilizes an inclusive, market-driven Build-Own-Operate business model. For more information, visit the Companys website at www.questwaterglobal.com .

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, as that term is defined under applicable securities laws. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks which may cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including: negative results from the Company's operations; the effects of government regulation on the Company's business; risks associated with the Company's ability to obtain and protect rights to its intellectual property; risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's ability to raise additional capital; loss of management; and other factors beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors and to assess in advance the impact of such factors on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Readers should also refer to the risk factor disclosures and other disclosures outlined in the Company's periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and with the British Columbia Securities Commission on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca .

CONTACTS: John Balanko, President & CEO Quest Water Global, Inc. +1 888 897 5536 info@questwaterglobal.com www.questwaterglobal.com

Source: Quest Water Global, Inc.
Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. -The sanitization robots market was valued at US$ 927.3 million in 2022. It is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 19.2% from 2023 to 2031, resulting in sales totaling nearly US$ 4.8 billion. Advanced technologies are expected to enhance the effectiveness of sanitization robots in the future. In addition, advanced sensors may be implemented for better contamination detection and navigation, and robotics technologies may be implemented for better efficiency and autonomy.

Different environments require different sanitation robots, which can be customized. Healthcare robots are tailored to meet the specific needs of hospitals, whereas those designed for offices may be capable of covering large areas. As robotics becomes more autonomous, the trend is likely to continue. Human safety may become a higher priority as sanitization robots become more prevalent. Safety protocols may be improved by incorporating modern obstacle detection and avoidance mechanisms to minimize accidents.

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Robotic sanitization will likely continue to be adopted across diverse industries such as hospitality, education, retail, and transportation. As pandemics, as well as general hygiene, continue to drive the need for clean, safe environments, demand may persist. To enhance their effectiveness, future sanitization robots will incorporate advanced technologies.

Key Findings of the Market Report

In terms of product type, ultraviolet light disinfection robots topped the global sanitization robots market share in 2022.

Based on technology, fully autonomous sanitization robots are expected to dominate the global market significantly.

In terms of end-user, health care facilities account for a significant share of the market for sanitization robots.

A majority of the global industry's revenue came from North America in 2022.

Global Sanitization Robots Market: Growth Drivers

Sanitization robots are becoming more capable as robotics and sensor technology advance. Pathogens are often eliminated with ultraviolet (UV) light, sprays of disinfectants, or other innovative methods used by these robots. As workplace safety and hygiene have become increasingly important, businesses and organizations have invested in sanitization robots.

Sanitization robots have some businesses looking beyond immediate pandemic concerns as long-term investments to maintain high hygiene standards. As a result, these technologies have been in demand. Strong sanitization measures have been recognized as important by governments and health organizations worldwide.

Various industries have adopted sanitization robots because of supportive regulations and guidelines. As an alternative to manual cleaning, sanitation robots are an effective and cost-effective alternative. Their speed and consistency allow them to cover large areas efficiently and cost-effectively.

Sanitization robots have become increasingly popular as more businesses and individuals become aware of the importance of keeping their working and living environments clean and hygienic. Health and well-being are not only important for pandemic emergencies but also for overall health. Robots used for sanitization are found in hospitality, healthcare, retail, transportation, and manufacturing. Many businesses looking to enhance hygiene protocols can benefit from these robots' versatility.

Global Sanitization Robots Market: Regional Landscape

North America is expected to drive demand for sanitization robots market. The interest in sanitization robots in North America was largely related to maintaining sterile environments and protecting healthcare professionals and patients.

Various high-touch surfaces, including patient rooms and surgical areas were disinfected using these robots. In North America, many businesses have invested in sanitization robots to maintain a clean and safe workplace for their employees and visitors.

As North America became a technology innovation hub, it saw the development and deployment of advanced sanitization robots. In addition to UV-C lights, AI, and sensors, these robots often included cutting-edge technology. In addition to government support, a number of institutions has adopted sanitization robots. A few public facilities and transportation hubs supported or rewarded investment in advanced sanitization technologies.

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Global Sanitization Robots Market: Key Players

To strengthen their positions, leading players launch new products, merge, form partnerships, and collaborate. To maximize revenue opportunities, these companies are keeping up with the latest technology in sanitization robots.

Blue Ocean Robotics

Xenex Disinfection Services

Softbank Robotics

Fetch Robotics

Avidbots

Novapura AG

Skytron

Tru-D SmartUVC

Mediland Enterprise Corporation

Key Developments

In February 2023, Sage Memorial Hospital, Ganado, and OhmniLabs, a California company, partnered and signed a contract for three OhmniClean UV disinfection robots to be provided to the hospital.

Sage Memorial Hospital, Ganado, and OhmniLabs, a California company, partnered and signed a contract for three OhmniClean UV disinfection robots to be provided to the hospital. In May 2023, Axniix, a Richmond-based technology company, created robots to assist healthcare providers, security personnel, and delivery drivers. Through this new technology, created with a Taiwanese robot manufacturer, Axniix hopes to support nursing staff and ensure patients' safety in the healthcare industry.

Global Sanitization Robots Market: Segmentation

By Product Type

Ultraviolet Light Disinfection Robots

Disinfectant Spraying Robots

By Technology

Semi-autonomous

Fully Autonomous

By End User

Healthcare Facilities

Manufacturing Companies

Transportation

Shopping Centers & Malls

Hospitality

Others (office buildings, residential facilities, etc.)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Autoinjectors Market - The global autoinjectors market was valued at USD 1.0 Bn in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.2% from 2023 to 2031.

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Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The cast iron cookware industry was valued at US$ 1.6 billion in 2022. A CAGR of 3.7% is expected from 2023 to 2031, reaching US$ 2.2 billion during the forecast period. Iron is particularly beneficial to individuals who suffer from iron deficiency when foods are cooked in cast iron. Researchers have found that iron contained in cookware enters food through the cooking process, similar to the iron found in vegetables. Hence, this helps prevent anemia by increasing iron intake.

Sustainable and eco-friendly cookware may become more popular as environmental concerns gain importance. Manufacturers may explore more environmentally friendly production processes based on the durability and long lifespan of cast iron. As consumers' needs evolve, manufacturers may be able to create new styles, shapes, and features by using new technology or design. Heat distribution could be improved, ergonomic handles could be introduced, and other improvements could be made to facilitate user use.

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Small-batch and handmade cast iron cookware are often purchased by consumers who are willing to pay a premium for them. Investing in innovative design elements, like modern shapes, preseasoned options, and improved handles, also plays an important role in the market's growth.

Global Cast Iron Cookware Market: Key Players

Leading manufacturers invest in research and development, expand their products, and acquire other companies. Product development is a top priority for top players. There are a large number of regional and global players on the market, making it highly competitive.

American Metalcraft, Inc.

Camp Chef, Inc.

FINEX Cast Iron Cookware Co.

Lava Cookware USA

Lodge Manufacturing Company

Made In

Marquette Castings

Meyer Corporation

The Coleman Company, Inc.

Tramontina USA, Inc.

Other Key Players

Key Findings of the Market Report

Based on type, the enamel-coated segment is expected to drive demand for cast iron cookware.

In terms of style, Dutch ovens are likely to drive the cast iron cookware market.

A significant portion of the growth in demand will be driven by the food services industry.

Supermarkets/hypermarkets are likely to drive the cast iron cookware market.

Asia Pacific will hold a significant share during the forecast period.

North America is predicted to grow fastest in the cast iron cookware market.

Global Cast Iron Cookware Market: Growth Drivers

The durability and long life of cast iron cookware make it an excellent choice. In addition to being long-lasting, cast iron cookware is affordable, making it an excellent investment. In addition to being versatile, cast iron cookware can be used for many different cooking methods. Those seeking multi-functional kitchen goods will appreciate the versatility of these products.

Cast iron cookware is popular due to its vintage or retro aesthetic. Decorative and functional purposes can both be served by cast iron pieces due to their classic, timeless look. Sustainable and eco-friendly products are growing in popularity as consumers become more environmentally conscious. Due to its durability and low maintenance, cast iron cookware fits perfectly with this style of cooking.

In recent years, celebrity chefs, cooking shows, and culinary trends have contributed to an increase in awareness of premium cookware, including cast iron. Consumer preferences are influenced by endorsements from chefs and influencers. Artisanal and locally crafted products are becoming increasingly popular.

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Global Cast Iron Cookware Market: APAC to be the Go-To Investment Destination

The Asia Pacific region is expected to lead the market for cast iron cookware market . Demand for cast iron cookware is expected to rise in the coming years due to the rise in the usage of cast iron cookware in developing countries such as India and China. Several Asia-Pacific countries have experienced economic growth that has increased disposable income. With people's changing lifestyles and their desire for premium, durable kitchenware, cast iron cookware has become increasingly popular.

. Demand for cast iron cookware is expected to rise in the coming years due to the rise in the usage of cast iron cookware in developing countries such as India and China. Several Asia-Pacific countries have experienced economic growth that has increased disposable income. With people's changing lifestyles and their desire for premium, durable kitchenware, cast iron cookware has become increasingly popular. In the Asia Pacific, cast iron cooking may offer health benefits. In addition, Western culinary trends have gained popularity in Asia-Pacific and cast iron cookware is becoming more popular. Cultural exchange and tourism have contributed to the introduction of new techniques and utensils in the kitchen. Tourists and expats, influencing local tastes, may bring the appreciation of cast iron cookware back.

Key Developments

In April 2023, Meyer Corporation's Rachael Ray brand launched Nitro Cast Iron, a cast iron collection with a protective enamel that prevents chipping, rusting, and staining.

In September 2023, Stove Kraft Ltd., a leading global manufacturer of cast iron cookware, opened the world's first factory used for casting iron. By April 2024, the company will start production trials at this foundry, and products from it will be on the market.

Global Cast Iron Cookware Market: Segmentation

By Product Type

Unseasoned

Seasoned

Enamel Coated

By Style

Dutch Ovens

Camp Pots

Skillets/Fryers

Woks

Others (Griddles etc.)

By End User

Household

Food Services

By Distribution Channel

Online

Company-owned websites

E-commerce websites

Offline

Supermarkets/Hypermarkets

Specialty Stores

Others (Retail Stores etc.)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

South America

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Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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MIAMI, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neocis , the global leader in robot-assisted dental implant surgery, announced today that the company has raised $20M in additional funding. This latest round of financing included Mirae Asset Capital/Mirae Asset Venture Investment, venture capital firms affiliated with the Mirae Asset Financial Group that invest in growth-stage healthcare and technology businesses, and NVentures, NVIDIAs venture capital arm.



Headquartered in Miami, Neocis manufactures and markets Yomi , dentistrys first and only robotic surgical system cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Yomi platform, which has received a total of 16 FDA 510(k) clearances, assists clinicians during all phases of implant placement via streamlined digital planning and haptic guidance of surgical instrumentation, so users can deliver precise and efficient treatment. To date, more than 40,000 implants have been placed with robotic assistance. A dental implant is placed with Yomi approximately every six minutes, according to current data from Neocis.

"The latest investment is a testament to our growth as a company and how far dental robotics has come since the first Yomi systems were installed, said Alon Mozes, Neocis co-founder and CEO. Were tremendously grateful to have the backing of our newest investors, including NVentures and Mirae Asset Financial Group, as well as our existing partners. This funding positions us for continued success in the market and will help us drive meaningful innovation in implant dentistry.

Neocis, which was named one of South Florida's 50 fastest growing companies last year by the South Florida Business Journal, will use these additional funds to bolster a wide range of business initiatives from product development and sales enablement to clinical education. To keep pace with the companys steady growth, Neocis moved into a larger space last summer. The new headquarters, which houses a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, is located in Miamis bustling Wynwood neighborhood.

"Neocis is bringing needed innovation to dentistry, and we couldnt be more excited to support them in that mission, said Mirae Asset Capitals Investment Manager, Soojung Kim. We look forward to working alongside the Neocis team to help them excel in a rapidly growing market and get Yomi in the hands of more providers.

Robotics and AI are changing the face of dentistry, enabling innovations that increase doctor efficiency and help them improve the quality of life for their patients, said Mohamed Sid Siddeek, corporate vice president and head of NVentures. Neocis is transforming dental implant procedures, demonstrating the benefits of robotics and AI in healthcare.

To learn more about Neocis and the Yomi platform, visit neocis.com .

About Yomi

Yomi is a computerized robotic navigational system intended to provide assistance in both the planning and intraoperative phases of dental implant surgery. The platform can also be used to plan and execute robot-guided alveoloplasty . Yomi is intended for use in partially edentulous and fully edentulous adult patients who qualify for dental implants. Visit neocis.com to learn more about Yomi or schedule a hands-on demo.

About Neocis

Neocis is transforming dental surgery with robotics. The company collaborates closely with leading clinicians across all dental specialties to develop innovative technologies that help advance patient care and improve quality of life. Based in Miami, Neocis is venture-backed with funding from NVentures , Mirae Asset Financial Group , Intuitive Ventures , DFJ Growth , Mithril Capital Management , Norwest Venture Partners , Vivo Capital , Section 32 , and surgical robotics pioneer Fred Moll. For more information, visit neocis.com .
NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions (AM-PS), a full-service commercial real estate advisory firm with offices in New York City and Chicago, is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to its data-driven retail advisory team. The new additions include Christian Stanton as Senior Vice President, Lucas Kooyman as Vice President, and Libby Miller as Senior Analyst. The new hires will join AM-PS industry veterans Matthew Krell, Daniel Bodner, Joshua Lewin and Fritz Kemerling in the companys New York office as the firm continues its rapid growth.







The addition of Christian, Lucas, and Libby strengthens AM-PS's position as a market leader and highlights the firm's commitment to providing exceptional service while delivering innovative and strategic solutions to our clients, said AM-PS Managing Director Matthew Krell.

Christian Stanton joins AM-PS as Senior Vice President with nearly twenty years of experience in the commercial real estate sector. His primary focus will center on strategic planning and the development of executable leasing strategies for international retailers and institutional landlords. Mr. Stantons remarkable track record is marked by his long-standing relationships with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 firms that value his market insight, and the dedication he brings to the day-to-day management and execution of their real estate needs.

Prior to joining AM-PS, Stanton spent most of his professional career at Cushman & Wakefield, where he executed numerous flagship locations for clients, including Nikes 50,000-square-foot SoHo flagship at 529 Broadway; LEGOs global flagship at 636 Fifth Avenue; and McDonalds location at 1530 Broadway in Times Square. Further, Mr. Stanton represented TD Bank throughout its New York City expansion, which included more than 30 locations in Manhattan. In addition to his flagship tenant representation, Chris has worked on behalf of landlords such as Carlyle, Empire State Realty Trust, Goldman Properties, Green Oak Real Estate, Kingsville Investments, Madison Capital, New York Life, Rose Associates, TF Cornerstone and ZG Capital. Throughout his career, Mr. Stanton has been involved in leasing transactions valued at over $1 billion.

AM-PS is a group of uniquely experienced professionals that share the passion of advising a wide array of international and national tenants and landlords. Theyve truly changed the approach to this advisory practice in a way that best serves our clients by engaging the entirety of the AM-PS team on each and every assignment. This a curated group of professionals who are passionate about delivering best-in-class real estate services, said Mr. Stanton.

Lucas Kooyman joins the AM-PS team as Vice President. Mr. Kooyman will play a pivotal role in fortifying the continued growth of the companys landlord representation business by fostering collaborative relationships both within city limits and nationwide. Drawing upon more than a decade of experience in commercial real estate, Kooyman brings a unique blend of creativity, adaptability, and a keen ability to identify opportunities for repurposing and/or redeveloping challenging, atypical space and maximizing the overall value of his clients properties. In addition to his landlord work, Lucas will be contributing on the existing AM-PS accounts of national tenants such as Movement Climbing, Training Mate, and Santander Bank as they expand their footprints both locally and throughout key markets nationally.

Before joining AM-PS, Mr. Kooyman spent the entirety of his career at Newmark, where he adeptly represented distinguished tenants such as Citibank, The Shade Store, SPiN, and Cipriani, as well as esteemed landlords, including Hyatt, Cohen Brothers Realty, Alexico Group, and Madison Realty.

Libby Miller joins AM-PS as a Senior Analyst, bringing her extensive experience working with landlords, principals and tenants across various real estate sectors. Libbys career originated in the office and investment sales sectorsa foundation which she has used to provide her current retail clients with a greater, unique perspective on the market.

Miller joins AM-PS from Cushman & Wakefield; she previously managed acquisitions for a boutique investment fund in Manhattan and began her career as a leasing broker at Oxford Property Group. Libby has worked on behalf of tenants such as Pop Up Grocer, % Arabica, Norrona, Umi Japanese and LAppartement 4F. Her landlord work includes the execution of leasing strategies on behalf of Rose Associates, Ponte Gadea, JEMB, Shoo Loong Kan, Rialto Capital, and ZG Capital Partners.

"We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Christian, Lucas, and Libby as they join the AM-PS family. Each of them brings a wealth of expertise that perfectly aligns with our dedication to excellence and innovation within the commercial real estate sector. Their combined experience will substantially enhance our capabilities, reinforcing our standing as a prominent provider of unmatched advisory services to our valued clients said AM-PS co-founder Michael Marsal.

Since its establishment in October 2020, AM-PS has assisted in the creation and execution of national real estate strategy on behalf of its clients, which include iconic retailers such as Patagonia, Kendra Scott, Toteme, Acne Studios, Stone Island, Movement Climbing, Save The Duck, Black Diamond, Rains, Varley, Ghirardelli Chocolates, Tommy John, Blue Stone Lane and Insomnia Cookies. Recently completed AM-PS deals in New York include Aviator Nation at 93 Mercer Street; Parajumpers at 464 Broome Street; Save the Duck at 496 Broadway; On Running at 93 North 6th Street; and Birkenstock at 70 North 6th Street. AM-PS has proudly assisted their clients in facilitating more than 400 deals both locally and across the United States since its inception.

IMAGES: To view and download high-res headshots of Mr. Stanton; Mr. Kooyman; and Ms. Miller, please visit: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/r5deo6zt3lb03t4czx2l9/h?rlkey=cz0m7k0vywv77zuqfb0nxpj84&dl=0

Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions

Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions (AM-PS) is a fully integrated commercial real estate advisory firm, providing data-driven real estate services on a local, regional and national level to both landlords and tenants. The AMPS team has completed more than 5 million square feet of commercial real estate transactions across the United States and specializes in delivering all-inclusive services to clients at every stage of their business. For tenants, this includes portfolio, market and location analysis, as well as site selection, project and transaction management, design and strategy. For landlords, the experienced team offers site and project analysis, short-and long-term leasing, property management, marketing strategy and vision.

AM-PS is a privately owned subsidiary of Alvarez & Marsal Inc. For more information, please visit: www.amp-solutions.com

Media Contact:

gmcgunagle@transmitterpr.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/06ce5041-d175-475e-a8c1-11b3360301b9
Boston, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We all know expecting mothers cant drink alcohol, which can be frustrating to see their partners continue to enjoy their favorite adult beverages. In fact, according to a recent survey commissioned by Samuel Adams and conducted online by The Harris Poll, only 17% of Americans 21+ who had a pregnant partner say they stopped drinking while their partner was pregnant. So, this Dry January, to help expecting dads and non-carrying mothers pace through each trimester, Samuel Adams introduces Due Date, Brew Date to reward those who give up alcohol in support of their pregnant partner.

Have a Due Date? Its time to start planning your Brew Date! Head to @samueladamsbeer on Instagram, comment on the Due Date, Brew Date post, and you may win a 40-week supply of Samuel Adams non-alcoholic Just the Haze to enjoy the flavor of beer without the buzz. The brand is even throwing in a 6-pack of Samuel Adams Boston Lager to cheers making it to your Brew Date - oh, and to celebrate the new addition to your family.

January is a time when many drinkers rotate non-alcoholic beer options into their routines, or give up alcohol for the month altogether, regardless of what stage of adulthood they're in said Lauren Price, Head of Brand, Samuel Adams. But perhaps one of the best times to try Sam Adams' flavorful Just the Haze Non-Alc IPA is when it matters most to your significant other. We created Due Date, Brew Date as a way for expecting dads and non-carrying mothers to show their appreciation for their partner, without giving up their other great love  beer.

Due Date, Brew Date Details:

Visit the Due Date, Brew Date post on Samuel Adams Instagram from January 10  22 to enter. Head to the comments, tag your partner and tell us why you are willing to give up alcohol until their due date in solidarity. Or, if you are a carrying parent-to-be, tag your partner in the comments and let us know why you think they should accept the challenge.

should accept the challenge. You may just win a 40-week supply of Samuel Adams non-alcoholic Just the Haze for you to enjoy all the taste of a world-class beer with none of the buzz. When the 40 weeks are over, Samuel Adams will also reward you with a gift off your registry and a 6-pack of Boston Lager so you can cheers to making it to your brew date.

date. For a complete list of contest Rules & Regulations, visit https://www.samueladams.com/due-date-brew-date-rules.

All of the Taste, None of the Buzz:

Just the Haze is the beer lovers non-alcoholic beer. Brewed by beer lovers, for beer lovers, the award-winning brew is the perfect choice for adults 21+, who might be looking to take a break from alcohol or use it to pace between their favorite buzzy brews.

Just The Haze: A juicy, hazy, full-bodied IPA youd never know was non-alcoholic. It packs an upfront citrus aroma with hints of grapefruit, tangerine and lime, complemented by tropical and stone fruit notes like pineapple, guava, melon and peach. The brewers at Samuel Adams spent two years perfecting the brands first non-alcoholic beer and spared no detail during the process to produce a rich and complex brew that meets beer-fanatic standards. Drinkers can rotate in this hazy, hoppy non-alcoholic IPA to their drinking sessions and get more out of their days, their nights, and every cheers in between.

A juicy, hazy, full-bodied IPA youd never know was non-alcoholic. It packs an upfront citrus aroma with hints of grapefruit, tangerine and lime, complemented by tropical and stone fruit notes like pineapple, guava, melon and peach. The brewers at Samuel Adams spent two years perfecting the brands first non-alcoholic beer and spared no detail during the process to produce a rich and complex brew that meets beer-fanatic standards. Drinkers can rotate in this hazy, hoppy non-alcoholic IPA to their drinking sessions and get more out of their days, their nights, and every cheers in between. Accolades: Just the Haze won Silver at the 2023 World Beer Cup Awards, Gold Medal in Non-Alcoholic Beer Category at the 2022 Great American Beer Fest, and Silver at the 2021 World Beer Awards.

Just the Haze won Silver at the 2023 World Beer Cup Awards, Gold Medal in Non-Alcoholic Beer Category at the 2022 Great American Beer Fest, and Silver at the 2021 World Beer Awards. Availability: 6-packs and 12-packs of 12-oz cans.

Increased Demand for Non-Alcoholic Offerings:

The future of non-alcoholic beer is bright, and NA Beer Volume has grown +49% vs. 3 years ago (compared to total Beer, which was 12% vs. 3 years ago).1 As the category continues to expand with the increasing demand for no and low-alcohol beverages, Samuel Adams continues to prioritize their portfolio of award-winning brews without the buzz.

Find Just The Haze Near You

Drinkers nationwide can find Just The Haze in their area by visiting samueladams.com/find-a-sam.

1 Source: Circana, Total U.S. MULO + Convenience, 52 W/E 12/31/2023

ABOUT SAMUEL ADAMS: THE BEER

Samuel Adams is a leading independent, American craft brewer that helped to launch the craft beer revolution. The brewery began in 1984 when Founder and Brewer Jim Koch used a generations-old family recipe to brew beer in his kitchen. Inspired and unafraid to challenge conventional thinking about beer, Jim brought the recipe to life with hopes drinkers would appreciate the complex, full-flavor and started sampling the beer in Boston. He named the flagship brew Samuel Adams Boston Lager in recognition of one of our nation's founding fathers, a revolutionary man of independent and pioneering spirit. Today, Samuel Adams is one of the world's most awarded breweries and remains focused on crafting the highest quality beers through innovation and experimentation in the relentless pursuit of better. Samuel Adams remains dedicated to elevating and growing the American craft beer industry overall, including providing education and support for entrepreneurs and fellow brewers through its philanthropic program, Brewing the American Dream, which helps others pursue their American Dream. For more information, visit www.SamuelAdams.com or follow @SamuelAdamsBeer.

ABOUT BOSTON BEER COMPANY

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) began in 1984 brewing Samuel Adams beer and the Samuel Adams brand is currently recognized as one of the largest and most respected craft beer brands. Our portfolio of brands also includes Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard Hard Cider, Dogfish Head Brewery, and Hard Mountain Dew, as well as other craft beer brands such as Angel City Brewery and Coney Island Brewing. For more information, please visit our investor relations website at www.bostonbeer.com, which includes links to all of our respective brand websites.

Survey Methodology This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Samuel Adams from December 12-14, 2023, among 2,014 adults ages 21 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/-2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact SamAdamsPR@mullenlowe.com.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone Monticello, a bridge lending program serving as a one-stop shop provider of capital finance products and services for the multifamily and senior housing sectors, has provided a $36,300,000 bridge loan for a 226-unit student housing property in Bloomington, Indiana. Greystone intends to transition the property to a permanent exit with an innovative HUD-insured green financing.



The financing was originated by Michael Zukerman and Adam Lipkin of Greystone, a leading national commercial real estate finance company.

Greystone clients benefit from our commitment to continuous innovation on their behalf, which is needed more than ever in todays challenging capital markets. As a result, we were able to provide a unique and seamless non-recourse bridge-to-perm financing solution that was more advantageous over options in the market, said Mr. Zukerman.

The Greystone Monticello team is highly skilled and efficient -- we pride ourselves on creating value for our clients on every transaction, added Eric Baum, head of the multifamily sales desk at Greystone Monticello.

About Greystone Monticello

The Greystone Monticello joint venture provides a wide range of bridge financing options in the multifamily and seniors housing industries along with hands-on collateral asset management to help service our clients. Greystone Monticello provides clients with exceptional service with breadth and depth of industry experience. For more information, visit www.greystonemonticello.com.

About Greystone

Greystone is a private national commercial real estate finance company with an established reputation as a leader in multifamily and healthcare finance, having ranked as a top FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac lender in these sectors. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Company LLC, Greystone Funding Company LLC and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greystone.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Karen Marotta

Greystone

212-896-9149

Karen.Marotta@greyco.com
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Albertsons Media Collective , the retail media arm for Albertsons Companies, Inc. (NYSE:ACI), and leading business and technology transformation company Capgemini , today announced a new agreement for media planning, media operations and content creation.



As its global business partner, Albertsons Media Collective will leverage Capgeminis intelligent process automation technology, underpinned by robotic process automation (RPA) and generative artificial intelligence (AI), to unlock deep learning insights for media planning and real-time creative optimizations. As part of the partnership, Capgemini will implement industry-leading technology to automate and enhance operations for media planning, activation workflows and creative versioning, as well as insights for live campaign optimizations.

The advertising industry is ripe with potential to integrate AI, and we see a massive opportunity to leverage process automation to streamline our workflows, drive enhanced campaign performance and accelerate speed to market, said Kristi Argyilan, SVP of Retail Media for Albertsons Media Collective. Partnering with a digital transformation pioneer like Capgemini will enable us to empower our employees to focus their time on higher level tasks, while simultaneously providing more flexibility, efficiency and performance for our clients.

Capgemini anticipates that leveraging digital technologies will enable Albertsons Media Collective and its clients to achieve a 20 percent faster speed to market. Additionally, the collaboration with Capgemini enables Albertsons Media Collective to provide its clients with greater flexibility, efficiencies and campaign performance.

Were thrilled to be partnering with Albertsons Media Collective, to deliver on their priority business outcomes accelerating speed to market and bringing brands and customers together efficiently, said Ted Levine, Managing Director of Consumer Products, Retail and Services for Capgemini Americas. By leveraging digital and AI technology to keep a pulse on ever-evolving shifts in consumer behavior, Albertsons Media Collective can enable brands to pivot their strategies in real-time and adjust to changing consumer preferences.

About Albertsons Media Collective

Albertsons Media Collective is a next-generation retail media network rooted in connections, technology and innovation. As the retail media arm for Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, we connect with consumers in more than 2,200 locations across 34 states and the District of Columbia. Through a companywide focus on innovation, we partner with leading brands to help them engage shoppers when and where it matters most, with the power of sophisticated first-party data. From innovative delivery platforms to privacy-conscious marketing solutions, we offer our clients a variety of programs designed to drive retail sales and maximize brand impact to best serve our customers.

To learn more about Albertsons Media Collective, please visit https://albertsonsmediacollective.com .

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of nearly 350,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its strong 55-year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2022 global revenues of 22 billion.

Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

Media Contacts:

Albertsons Media Collective

Kristen Morquecho, Kristen.morquecho@digennaro-usa.com
RICHLAND, Wash., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Energy Northwest today announced an agreement with Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy to accelerate the agencys program examining the feasibility of developing and deploying a next-generation nuclear energy facility. State policies requiring a substantial increase in clean electricity are leading utilities to evaluate potential sources of new clean energy generation; and nuclear energy possesses many of the key attributes vital to establishing a reliable, emissions-free electric grid. New nuclear energy technologies, such as advanced small modular reactors, are approaching commercial readiness and feature enhanced safety systems; simplified, standardized, and scalable designs; and the ability to both swiftly integrate with renewables and provide around-the-clock electricity  without producing any greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement, a $10 million investment by Puget Sound Energy in Energy Northwests new nuclear project feasibility phase, will guide future participation and investment decisions. This collaboration does not obligate Puget Sound Energy to any future financial commitment nor signify an ownership interest in a developed project.





Energy Northwest is committed to developing clean energy resources capable of helping Washington state meet its climate and carbon reduction goals. As we de-carbonize the electric grid, it is increasingly evident new sources of carbon-free, reliable, and affordable electricity must be deployed  and advanced nuclear energy technology can play a vital role in this transition, said Bob Schuetz, Energy Northwest chief executive officer. Energy Northwests partnership with Puget Sound Energy underscores our shared commitment to address the climate challenge and meet the regions future clean energy needs with the help of new and innovative carbon-free nuclear energy technologies.



Energy Northwest has been at the forefront of explorations into the viability of building a next generation nuclear energy plant in central Washington for several years. Such a facility could prove invaluable in meeting the states climate goals without jeopardizing the reliability and affordability of the electric grid. As the owner of Columbia Generating Station, the northwests only commercial nuclear power plant, as well as the developer and operator of a full suite of renewable and energy storage resources, Energy Northwest is well-positioned to investigate and facilitate a potential project.





Our clean energy future depends on finding reliable resources that produce energy when customers need it without emitting greenhouse gases, said Mary Kipp, president and CEO of Puget Sound Energy. Advanced nuclear technology has the potential to be that resource. Im excited to partner with Energy Northwest as part of our efforts to identify and secure reliable, cost-effective clean energy for our 1.2 million electric customers in the state of Washington."





The financial commitment by Puget Sound Energy will supplement the approximately $10 million contributed to date by Energy Northwest and supporting entities, including nearly $1 million in combined investment from 17 northwest public utilities. For over two years Energy Northwest thoroughly investigated numerous emerging nuclear energy technologies, arriving at the determination X-energys advanced small modular reactor  known as the Xe-100  is the design best tailored to the regions specific needs. The ongoing analysis of project structures, schedules, and overall viability will inform future project investments and ultimately the prudency of a final investment decision.

About Energy Northwest

Energy Northwest is a Washington state public power joint operating agency and a premier provider of carbon-free electricity. Energy Northwest comprises 28 public power member utilities, serving more than 1.5 million customers, and provides its members and regional customers with safe, reliable, cost-effective, responsible power generation and innovative energy and business solutions. The agency owns and operates hydroelectric, solar, battery storage, wind and the Northwests only nuclear power facility. Energy Northwest also explores transportation electrification and new generation projects to the benefit of public power. Visit our website www.energy-northwest.com

For media inquiries, email media@energy-northwest.com



About Puget Sound Energy

PSE is Washington states largest and oldest utility, supporting approximately 1.2 million electric customers and 900,000 natural gas customers in ten counties over 6,000 square miles. PSE is undergoing the most significant transformation in its 150-year history, striving to meet Washingtons clean energy lawssome of the most ambitious in the nationand deliver on customer expectations for clean and reliable energy. For more, visit pse.com.

For PSE-specific media inquiries, please contact the PSE team at PSENewsroom@PSE.com

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Washington, DC, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As National Blood Donor Month continues, student organizations are coming together to express gratitude to America's blood donors and to raise awareness about the critical need for more eligible individuals to give. School and work-based drives are the backbone of the blood supply in this country and are instrumental in securing many of the roughly 7 million blood donors who give each year. With the U.S. blood donor base shrinking, the education community is stepping up its efforts to engage its peers, spread awareness about the significance of blood donation, and emphasize the critical need for new and returning donors.

"Students play a vital role in ensuring a sustainable blood supply for those in need. The blood community is grateful for the countless schools nationwide that open their doors to their local blood center and the many student leaders and partnering groups that organize drives to help patients across their community. This National Blood Donor Month, we encourage educators, students, and all eligible individuals to start the New Year by answering the call to make a difference through blood donation," said Kate Fry, CEO of Americas Blood Centers.

"National Blood Donor Month brings a time to recognize the tremendous impact made through the HOSA-Future Health Professionals and Americas Blood Centers partnership and bring awareness to the ongoing need for support. We are proud of the HOSA chapters across the country who donated more than 21,000 units last year resulting in lives saved and positive career experiences for our members, said Sarah Walters, Executive Director of HOSA-Future Health Professionals. We look forward to continuing to this valued partnership which exemplifies the power effective collaboration as local HOSA chapters and their blood centers work together to ensure all are doing their part to support a sustainable blood supply and future health workforce.

Health Professions Week celebrates the diverse and vital roles of the many health professionals in our society. One of the ways we can show our appreciation and gratitude is by supporting National Blood Donor Month, which aims to raise awareness of the need for blood donations and to encourage people to donate blood regularly, said Mandy Nau, Executive Director of Health Professions Week. Blood donations save lives every day, and we are proud to recognize the students who volunteer to organize blood drives, the phlebotomists who take care of patients, and the work of America's Blood Centers, whose members provide blood and blood products to more than 3,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country. We thank them for their dedication and service to our communities.

President Richard Nixon proclaimed January 1970 as the first National Blood Donor Month on December 31, 1969, as requested by Senate Joint Resolution 154, to pay tribute to voluntary blood donors and encourage new donors to join. This month continues to be celebrated each year to thank America's blood donors and encourage more people to donate blood.

Blood transfusion remains one of the most common hospital procedures, with patients requiring a blood transfusion every two seconds. More than 42,000 units of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are used by patients every day. These blood transfusions are needed to treat patients with acute care needs such as trauma and blood loss during childbirth, as well as for disease management for patients with a variety of health conditions, including cancer, inherited blood disorders, cardiovascular and orthopedic surgeries, and organ and bone marrow transplants.

ABC and its international division, ADRP: the Association for Blood Donor Professionals, have released Vein to Vein: The Science of Blood Donation, a groundbreaking high school education program to help educators craft lesson plans to develop student leadership skills and a lifelong interest in supporting our nations blood supply. This turn-key resource is educator-crafted and designed to meet Next Generation Science Standards. Implementation goes beyond the field of science to also offer opportunities to integrate English Language Arts and Mathematics. This complementary resource is available online here.

Founded in 1962, Americas Blood Centers is the national organization bringing together community-based, independent blood centers. Its member organizations operate more than 600 blood collection sites providing close to 60 percent of the U.S., and a quarter of the Canadian, blood supply. These blood centers serve more than 150 million people and provide blood products and services to more than 3,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities across North America. All ABC U.S. members are licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.AmericasBlood.org.

HOSA-Future Health Professionals provides a unique program of leadership development, motivation, and recognition exclusively for secondary, postsecondary, middle school, adult, and collegiate students enrolled in health science education and biomedical science programs or have interests in pursuing careers in health professions. Since its inception in 1976, HOSA has grown steadily, reaching over 2.5 million members through 54 chartered HOSA Associations across the country and around the world. For more information, visit www.HOSA.org.

Health Professions Week is a digital career exploration event for high-school and college students who are discovering careers in healthcare. It represents 19 Professional Education and Healthcare Organizations featuring 26 different pathways to the health professions, including the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), the American Dental Association (ADEA), the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and a growing number of partners. For more information, visit www.explorehealthcareers.org/hpw/

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ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global all-domain defense provider HII (NYSE: HII) announced today that Peter Courtney has been promoted to corporate vice president of legislative affairs and Betsy Bina Benedict will join HII to serve as the director of legislative affairs. Courtney succeeds Carolyn Apostolou who retired in December after 10 years with the company.



Courtney will be located in HIIs Arlington office and report directly to Stewart Holmes, HIIs executive vice president of government and customer relations (GCR). Benedict will report to Courtney.

In Courtneys new role, he will be responsible for the development of lobbying strategy and implementation of lobbying activity, with a general focus on U.S. Senate members, staff and committees of jurisdiction. He also will be responsible for ensuring compliance with all Federal Election Commission and all other legal and regulatory disclosure requirements regarding lobbying activity. Other duties include the shaping of legislative proposals and special authorities.





A photo accompanying this release is available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-names-peter-courtney-as-corporate-vice-president-of-legislative-affairs/.

We are pleased to have Peter and his extensive congressional and federal budget experience continue to play a critical role in building and maintaining positive relationships with the legislative branch, Holmes said. We are equally pleased to have Betsy join the team who has nearly 25 years serving as a professional staff member for the U.S. Congress. I look forward to Peter and Betsy leading our legislative relationships that will enable HII to provide long-term stability to the divisions and the communities they serve.

Prior to joining HII, Courtney served 24 years in the U.S. Navy, and his last position in uniform was the deputy director of the Appropriations Matters Office (FMBE) in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management & Comptroller). He was responsible for developing and executing the Navys legislative strategy in support of the departments annual budget submission and acting as a liaison between Congress and the department of the Navy. In addition to numerous tours in the Pentagon in requirements and financial management, he also completed multiple overseas deployments as an F-14 radar intercept officer and served as an instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN).

Courtney is a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a bachelors degree in political science. He also holds masters degrees in national security affairs from the Naval War College and in business administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Benedict has served in a variety of policy and legislative positions within the U.S. Congress, including 13 years with the House Appropriations Committee. Her last position was as clerk for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. Benedict is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds masters degrees in national security studies from the Army War College and in government from the Johns Hopkins University.

About HII

HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HIIs mission is to deliver the worlds most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.

As the nations largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HIIs workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: https://www.HII.com/

HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII

HII on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII

HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII

Contact:

Danny Hernandez

Danny.J.Hernandez@hii-co.com

(202) 264-7143

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d6f48900-20a4-4423-87ed-d977fc84d185
VICTORIA, British Columbia, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Southstone Minerals Limited (Southstone or the Company) (TSX.V  SML) announces that it entered into a share purchase agreement (the Agreement) with five arms length parties, collectively the Sellers, setting out the terms of an acquisition (the Acquisition) of the remaining 90% interest of the issued and outstanding shares of Padstone Pte. Ltd. (Padstone") a private Singaporean company. Southstone is currently a passive shareholder of Padstone, holding a minority 10% interest.

Padstone, via a wholly owned subsidiary, has applied for two alluvial and kimberlite diamond exploration permits in the Republic of Guinea, collectively the Soromaya Project or the Permits. The Soromaya Project is both an alluvial and kimberlite diamond exploration project and covers an area of 198.54 square kilometers and located northwest of the diamond mining town of Banankoro, approximately 574 kilometers east of the capital, Conakry. The Company can provide no assurance as to when, or if, the Permits, will be granted.

In consideration for the Acquisition, the Sellers will be issued, on a pro-rata basis, an aggregate of 15,500,000 common shares of Southstone (the Consideration Shares), with a deemed value of CAD$0.01, and will be paid a deferred pro-rata cash payment in the amount of USD$100,000, payable within 24 months from the closing date of the Acquisition. Southstone has also agreed to reimburse up to a maximum amount of USD$100,000 in interest-free Padstone shareholder loans, the proceeds of which were used to fund working capital and general corporate purposes. Repayment of the loans is due within 18 months from the closing date of the Acquisition. There is no factual financial information of Padstone to report at this time.

The Agreement with the Sellers will be executed on the 10 January 2024 and closing of the Acquisition is subject to (i) the two Permits being granted for a period of not less than three years, (ii) a title opinion on the Soromaya Project and corporate legal opinion for Padstone, and (iii) completion of an independent National Instrument 43-101 Report (the Report) on the Soromaya Project, as well as any other conditions that may required by the TSX Venture Exchange. Only upon granting of the Permits can the Report be completed and therefore there are a number of significant milestones required to ultimately close this Acquisition.

The Company has been informed by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the TSV Venture Exchange that trading of the Company must be halted and will remain halted pending receipt and review of acceptable documentation regarding the Fundamental Acquisition pursuant to Section 5.6(d) of Exchange Policy 5.3.

Southstone currently holds a minority 10% interest in Padstone; however, in the event that the Acquisition is not concluded by 31 March 2024 (the Long-stop Date), this 10% interest returns to Padstones treasury. Accordingly, Southstone deems Padstone to be arms length on the following basis: (i) no officers or directors hold office in the other company; (ii) the Company is a passive shareholder and has no control over the direction or management of Padstone; and (iii) the Companys minority 10% interest is diminimus, it provides no voting control over any matter, and is at risk of being returned to Padstone treasury.

The Company also confirms that the non-brokered private placement, as announced on 6 November 2023, has been extended, which private placement consists of up to 10M units at a price of C$0.05 per unit for gross proceeds up to C$500,000 (the "Private Placement").

Each unit of the Private Placement shall consist of one common share in the capital of the Company and one-half of a share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share at a price of C$0.10 per share at any time within two years from the date of issuance. The warrants shall also be subject to an accelerated exercise clause in the event the Company's share price exceeds C$0.15 for 10 consecutive trading days.

Proceeds from the Private Placement are anticipated to be used on exploration of the Visirivier and Kabies Sections of the Oena Mining License which have had little exploration or mining activity to date as well as for general working capital purposes.

The Company may pay finders fee's in either cash, shares, share purchase warrants or a combination thereof, as permitted by regulators, on a portion or all the Private Placement. Closing of the Private Placement is expected to occur on or before 31 March 2024 or closing of the Acquisition. All securities issued under the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period of four months from the date of issuance.

Upon closing of the Acquisition, the issuance of the Consideration Shares on a pro-rata basis, along with the Private Placement will not result in any person who was previously not an insider, becoming an insider of Southstone.

As consideration for introduction and assistance with completing the Acquisition, Southstone has agreed to issue a finders fee of 1,500,000 common shares, with a deemed value of CAD$0.01, to an arms length third party, Mr. Scott Griffin. The issuance of the Consideration Shares and the finders fees shares are both subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and will be subject to a customary prescribed hold period.

Upon closing of the Acquisition, Southstone intends to appoint a new independent director and a new Chief Financial Officer, each of whom shall be arm's length to Padstone and its shareholders. No rights have been granted to Padstone or to its shareholders as it relates to board nominees to the Southstone board of directors.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SOUTHSTONE MINERALS LIMITED

Terry L. Tucker, P.Geo.

Executive Chairman

For additional information, please contact Terry L. Tucker at info@southstoneminerals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Capitalized terms used herein that have not been defined have the same meanings ascribed in the policies of the TSX.V.

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release of Company contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Southstones 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.
LEHI, Utah, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DeepPower, Inc., the developer of XDrillTM, a breakthrough geothermal drilling technology to access the Earths unlimited source of clean energy, today announced that in a recent company podcast CEO Andrew Van Noy spoke with Trace Johannesen, the Mayor of Rockwall, Texas.



Trace Johannesen was a fourth generation U.S. Marine before joining the business sector in various senior client services and advisory roles. In 2018, he joined the Rockwell City Council. After serving as Mayor Pro Tem for a year, he was elected Mayor of Rockwell in May 2023.

The podcast discussion highlights the need to balance the use of fossil fuels with cleaner methods of producing energy. Mayor Johannesen mentioned the importance of evaluating whether a source is sustainable and reliable based on the data available.

Mayor Johannesen stated: There is loud narrative in the media for carbon zero. It seems to me that there is a singular focus on renewables like solar and wind, which have their virtues and their place as part of a matrix of energy sources.

A discussion followed about the practicality and reliability of any form of energy. Mayor Johannesen finds himself asking questions about how much energy a method can produce and how reliable that source is for the residents who are dependent on it.

Mayor Johannesen also said that there are also physics problems to solve. What I mean by that is that each time energy changes state, theres this loss. If youre transmitting energy long distances, again you have loss.

Things like these physics considerations can make some forms of renewables impractical. He feels that a mixture including nuclear, geothermal and various technology is best. The data should drive choices toward whatever choices are clean, practical and reliable based on facts rather than a narrative pushing for carbon.

One thing to note is that Rockwell does not govern any of the providers who operate under the power grid in Texas, so Mayor Johannesen has no control over the decisions about energy sources. His priorities are, therefore, more focused on other factors that affect living in his community.

I was appreciative of my discussion with Mayor Johannesen during the podcast, said Andrew Van Noy, CEO of DeepPower. It was educational to understand that while some mayors can influence energy choices, not all have that ability. His willingness to still want to learn and consider energy options was welcomed.

This podcast can be viewed at https://deeppower.com/single-video.php?id=Yb4i0DY-JRg

About DeepPower, Inc.

Deep Power is developing XDrillTM, a breakthrough geothermal drilling technology to access the Earths unlimited source of heat energy, which can be used to produce unlimited, low-cost green electricity anywhere in the world. The Earths molten core is as hot as the Sun and harnessing just 0.1% of that heat energy can power humanity for 2 million years. Previous generations of drilling technology cannot go deep enough to make geothermal cost effective. We are developing XDrillTM to boldly go where no humans have gone before. The deeper we go the more energy we can unleash. Unlike large area solar and wind farms, a 9-inch hole by 5 miles deep can produce the same amount of power as 320 acres of solar panels. Like a power plug into the Earth, we aim to provide every city, state, and country direct and independent access to this holy grail source of eternal green energy.

Forward-Looking Statements

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.





contact information:

communications@deeppower.com

18003470589
Toronto, Jan. 09, 2024 - Canada Carbon Inc. (the "Company") (TSX-V: CCB) (OTC: BRUZF) (Frankfurt: U7N1) announces that it has entered into a debt settlement agreement with former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer, Olga Nikitovic, to settle an aggregate of $145,417 of accrued management fees in consideration for the issuance of an aggregate of 4,406,575 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Common Shares") at a deemed price of $0.033 per share (the "Debt Settlement"). Ms. Nikitovic's tenure with the Company concluded in December 2021.



The board of directors and management of the Company believe that the proposed Debt Settlement is in the best interests of the Company because it allows the Company to preserve its funds for operations. The Debt Settlement is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Common Shares issued pursuant to the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period.

Canada Carbon Inc.



"Ellerton Castor"

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Contact Information

E-mail inquiries: info@canadacarbon.com

P: (905) 407-1212

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" ("forward-looking information") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Debt Settlement. In disclosing the forward-looking information contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking information will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include but are not limited to: compliance with extensive government regulations; domestic and foreign laws and regulations adversely affecting the Company's business and results of operations; the impact of COVID-19; and general business, economic, competitive, political, and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking information or otherwise.

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.
Toronto, January 9, 2024 - Stratabound Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SB) (OTCQB: SBMIF) ("Stratabound" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a summary of the key activities completed in 2023 and to outline Stratabound's strategic direction in 2024.

2023 Highlights:

Appointment of Wendy T. Chan as Interim CEO and Director, to lead the Company's restructuring and growth strategy and plans

Appointment of Buddy Doyle as VP Exploration to lead exploration of several of its key assets

Appointment of Marty Stratte, previously on the permitting team at Equinox Gold's Castle Mountain, California, as Director

Completion of a PEA for its Fremont Gold Project, California, located on the Mother Lode Gold Belt which has produced 50,000,000 oz of gold

Balance sheet improved by $2,426,593 in part due to conversion of The Tomlinson Group's secured debt to shares and dismissal of a lawsuit. Romspen's debt was restructured by adding a provision to make the debt convertible to shares at $0.07/share

Addition of a new strategic shareholder, The Tomlinson Group as the second largest shareholder of Stratabound. Together with Coast Capital Management, a notable engaged investor behind Jaguar Mining, TMAC, Tahoe, Oceanagold, Rubicon and Argonaut, among others, Stratabound has two important long-term shareholders

Confirmation of the presence of a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System (RIRGS) at Win Gold Project, Southern Tombstone Belt, Yukon, yielding up to 8.53 g/t Au and 155 g/t Ag (similar intrusive systems discovered at Snowline, Fort Knox, Banyan Gold and Rackla)

Technical review of the key geological controls at the Fremont Gold Project: Identify exploration targets from the old underground workings for drill testing within this regionally important orogenic system which have the potential to define, delineate and extend the structurally controlled, plunging "oreshoots" of higher-grade mineralization (at grades equivalent to historical grades > 8 g/t Au) to depth Ensure drilling to be targeted at multiple equivalent zones of mineralization, to build a significant mineral resource along the significant open and untested strike potential on the property Of note, MRE evaluates only 1.4km of the 4km strike. Limited drilling has previously confirmed the presence of the main mineralized structure to a depth of over 1,000m vertically below surface



Hashim Ahmed, Chairman of Stratabound commented: "2023 was a transformative year for Stratabound, with many changes to set the stage for further growth and development."

Ending the year, the Company appointed a dynamic new leader, Wendy T. Chan, who has a diverse background of successfully completing many strategic reorganization, marketing, and corporate development initiatives at mining and other companies. Adding technical depths and new perspective to the entire portfolio is Buddy Doyle, who has a proven track record in exploration and discoveries. He founded and led the exploration and development efforts at Amarillo, a gold mine in Brazil, successfully raising capital at each stage. He was instrumental in its successful sale to a major mining company.

Wendy T. Chan, interim CEO, comments, "Stratabound's new strategic direction, and the key to unlocking shareholder value, focuses on separating its key assets, positioning new investors and building a strong team. We are putting together an execution-focused team of professionals at the corporate and Board level to rebuild Stratabound. As gold hovers near historic highs, we are excited with the possibilities. Stay tuned for more updates as we move into 2024."

ABOUT STRATABOUND MINERALS

Stratabound Minerals Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company with grassroots and advanced exploration properties in highly prospective and safe mining jurisdictions.

Its Golden Culvert and Win Projects, Yukon, covering 99.5 km2 across a 27-km strike length, are situated in a district-scale, high-grade-gold-mineralized trend within the southern portion of the Tombstone Gold Belt. Gold deposits and occurrences within the Belt include Fort Knox, Pogo, Brewery Creek and Dublin Gulch, and Snowline Gold's Valley target on its Rogue property in the Selwyn Basin.

Its McIntyre Brook Project, New Brunswick, covering 120 km2 and a 17-km strike length in the emerging Triple Fault Gold Belt, is surrounded by Puma Exploration's Williams Brook Project (5.55 g/t Au over 50m) and is hosted by orogenic rocks of similar age and structure as New Found Gold's Queensway Project.

The Company is also advancing its Fremont Gold development project in the historic Mother Lode Gold Belt of California where 50,000,000 oz of gold has been produced. Fremont, located 500km north of Equinox Gold's Castle Mountain and Mesquite mines, has a PEA with an after-tax NPV of USD $217MM, a 21% IRR, 11-year LOM, averaging 118k ounces per annum at USD $1,750 gold. The project hosts an NI 43-101 resource of 1.16 MMoz at 1.90 g/t Au within 19.0 MMt Indicated, and 2.02 MMoz at 2.22 g/t Au within 28.3 MMt Inferred. The MRE evaluates only 1.4 km of the 4 km strike length of the Fremont property that features 4 gold-mineralized zones. Significantly, three step-out holes at depth hit structure, typical of orogenic deposits that often occur at depth. Fremont is located on private land in Mariposa, the original gold rush county and is 1.5 hours from Fresno, California. The property has year-round road access and is close to airports and rail. Please refer to the Fremont Gold project PEA dated Apr. 4, 2023 under NI 43-101 guidelines. The technical report has been reviewed and approved by independent "Qualified Persons" Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, and Andrew Bradfield, P.Eng. both of P&E, and Travis Manning, P.E. of KCA.

The Company also holds a pipeline of early-stage exploration projects including the critical mineral Captain Cobalt-Copper-Gold Deposit in New Brunswick and the Dingman Gold Project, Ontario.

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, Director, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAusIMM, and who is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.stratabound.com or contact:

Gary Nassif

Senior Vice President, Director

info@stratabound.com

+1 (416) 915-4157

Kevin Shum

Investor Relations

kevin@jeminicapital.com

+1 (647) 725-3888 ext 702

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

WARNING: The Company relies upon litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information. Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits, currency fluctuations, unanticipated operational or technical difficulties, changes in laws or regulations, failure to obtain regulatory, exchange or shareholder approval, the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets and the inability to raise additional financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193748
VANCOUVER, Jan. 10, 2024 - Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE: VRTX | OTCQB: VTECF | FRA: AA3) ("Vortex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drill and crew mobilization has begun at the Company's flagship property, the Robinsons River Salt Project (the "Project"), to commence drilling at the second approved core well. The Company has retained the services of the contractors involved in the drilling of the initial core well at the Project, RESPEC Consulting Inc., Major Drilling Group International Inc., and DGI Geoscience Inc., to drill the second core well.



The drilling of the second core well is designed to confirm the depth of the salt rock structures at the Project and attain the geological properties of the salt and non-salt rocks present at the Project. The Company previously announced on December 14th, 2023, that it had intersected salt rock at its first core well at a depth of 581.5 meters.

Paul Sparkes, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to have intersected salt in the first core well which marked a significant milestone for the project. The outcome from the first core well gives us confidence in the potential of the discovery as we prepare to begin drilling on the second core well."

The Company also announces, further to its news releases on April 28, 2023, June 23, 2023, July 21, 2023, September 1, 2023, October 20, 2023, and November 16, 2023, that it has further extended its engagement of Financial Star News Inc. ("FSN") (address: 701 West Georgia Street, Suite 1500, Vancouver, British Columbia V7Y 1C6; email: info@thefinancialstar.com) for marketing services for up to an additional 45 days commencing on January 10th, 2024, provided that the term of the marketing services may be extended or shortened at the discretion of management depending on, amongst other things, the efficiency of the marketing services.

As previously disclosed, FSN has and shall continue to, as appropriate, create campaigns, ad groups, text ads, display ads, perform detailed keyword research, setup and manage remarketing campaigns, optimize keyword options, coordinate online advertisers and marketers corresponding to online marketing targets, create landing pages for ad campaigns and generally bring attention to the business of the Company. The promotional activity undertaken by FSN will occur on theFinancialStar.com and by email, Facebook and Google.

The Company will pay a fee of USD $300,000 (plus GST) for the extension. The Company will not issue any securities to FSN as compensation for its marketing services. As of the date hereof, to the Company's knowledge, FSN (including its directors and officers) does not own any securities of the Company and has an arm's length relationship with the Company.

About Vortex Energy Corp.

Vortex Energy Corp. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. The company is currently advancing its Robinson River Salt Project comprised of a total of 942 claims covering 23,500 hectares located approximately 35 linear kms south of the town of Stephenville in the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador. The Robinson River Salt Project is prospective for both salt and hydrogen salt cavern storage. The company is actively evaluating technologies to efficiently store hydrogen or energy in salt caverns. Vortex Energy Corp. also holds the Fire Eye Project, which is located in the Wollaston Domain of northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Paul Sparkes

Chief Executive Officer, Director

+1 (778) 819-0164

info@vortexenergycorp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the Company's exploration plans at the Project, including the nature and type of the Company's planned exploration activities, the timing of such planned exploration activities and the aim and objectives of the Company's planned exploration efforts; the potential of the Project; and the expected term of the marketing activities contracted for by the Company.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, assumptions regarding the Company's ability to execute on its exploration plans at the Project, including that it will be successful in carrying out such exploration activities on the anticipated timeline and that such exploration activities will yield the expected information and the desired outcomes; that the results of the Company's exploration activities to date are representative of the actual geological conditions and mineralization at the Project; the efficacy of the Company's marketing program; and the Canadian Securities Exchange's acceptance of the Company's promotional program.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any 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 to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things, the risk that exploration at the Project does not proceed in the manner and on the timeline currently contemplated, or at all; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to receiving requisite permits and approvals, changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project; that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company; that mineral exploration activities are often unsuccessful; that the Company's marketing program may not be as effective as anticipated by the Company and that the budget for the Company's marketing program may not be sufficient to permit the marketing activities to continue for the anticipated term; and that the Canadian Securities Exchange may object to the Company's promotional program and use its discretion to halt the Company's promotional activities or impose other penalties on the Company. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this ?press release.?
Vancouver, January 10, 2024 - European Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: FIN) (FSE: W28) ("European Energy" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has satisfied the $1.0 million minimum exploration expenditure commitment on the Central Finland Lithium Project (the "Project"), being a key requirement for earning-in to an initial 51% interest in the Project from Capella Minerals Ltd (TSXV: CMIL) ("Capella") as per the Earn-In Agreement (see March 20, 2023 PR). The Company has incurred over $1.1 million in exploration expenditures at the Project to date which includes sampling and mapping, in addition to the collection of ~1,100 rock chip grab samples, all of which have resulted in the discovery of several high-grade lithium prospects which are being permitted for drilling. The Company may now formally complete its earn-in to the 51% interest in the Project through the payment of CAD 100,000 in cash and 400,000 FIN common shares to Capella.

"Our advancement to the initial 51% earn-in reinforces our commitment to the project based on the exemplary exploration results received to date," commented Jeremy Poirier, CEO of European Energy Metals Corp. "We are currently in the process of converting 4,550 hectares of the 11,690 hectare Nabba Reservation to two Exploration Licenses ("EL's") in order to drill test some of the most prospective targets identified through initial prospecting and sampling which yielded up to 3.84% Li 2 O. We anticipate providing an update on the timing and details of the next phase of exploration upon receipt of the Exploration Licenses."

Under the terms of the Earn-In Agreement with Capella Minerals (TSXV: CMIL), the Company may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by incurring $1.0 million in exploration expenditures ($1.1 million incurred) in addition to cash payments totalling $200,000 ($100,000 paid) and issuing 500,000 shares (250,000 issued) within the first two years of the agreement. Upon the exercise of the initial option, the Company has the right to earn an addition 29% (80% total) for additional $1.5 million in exploration, $300,000 in cash payments plus the issuance of 1.75 million shares within a two-year period from the exercise of the initial 51% earn-in.

Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo. (NL), VP Exploration of European Energy Metals Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this press release and the results discussed herein.

About European Energy Metals Corp.

European Energy Metals Corp. is a junior mining company currently focussed on the Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum Finnish Pegmatite Project in central Finland. Governing bodies in Europe and Finland are legislating environmentally friendly and energy independent laws and policies. One of the key components is access to REE and, specifically, lithium. The company's concessions are located within 15 kms of the Keliber mine, and production complex currently under construction which is expected to begin production in H2 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier, CEO

Telephone: 604-722-9842

Email: info@europeanenergymetals.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 Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of the Company, including the presence of lithium mineralization at, and the exploration and development potential of, the Finland Pegmatite Project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include the costs of any anticipated work programs and the ability to fund such costs, required approvals in connection with any work programs and the ability to obtain such approvals, risks inherent in exploration as well as those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193687
Vancouver, January 10, 2024 - Velocity Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: VLC) ("Velocity" or the "Company") announces that it has issued a 60-day Notice of Termination to Zelenrok EOOD (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raiden Resources Ltd. (collectively with Zelenrok, "Raiden")), under a letter agreement dated August 8, 2023 between the Company and Raiden (the "Letter Agreement"). Pursuant to the Letter Agreement the Company was granted the right and option (the "Option") to acquire a 75% indirect interest in the Kalabak project, southeast Bulgaria. Surface geochemistry completed in Q3 and Q4 2023 did not return positive results and the property is of no further interest. The Option and Letter Agreement are terminated, effective January 9, 2024.

Share Issuance

Velocity also announces that it has issued 125,000 common shares to Leede Jones Gable Inc. in accordance with its previously announced advisory agreement (the "Advisory Agreement"). The common shares were issued with a deemed price of $0.11 per common share and were issued on January 2, 2024. The Company has issued 375,000 common shares under the Advisory Agreement to date and has a further 125,000 common shares to be issued.

Incentive Stock Options

The Company announces that it has granted 3,455,000 common share stock options (each, an "Option") to various directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company and its affiliates. The Options entitle the holder to purchase shares at a price of $0.11 per share for a period of 5 years from the issue date. Options will vest over 3 years, beginning 6 months from the date of issue and vesting in equal tranches bi-annually thereafter. Including this issuance, the Company has now set Options representing 5.94% of the issued and outstanding stock.

About Velocity Minerals Ltd.

Velocity is a precious metals and copper explorer focused in Eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Velocity has a 70% interest in the Tintyava property, which includes the prefeasibility-stage Rozino deposit. Velocity also has a 70% interest in the Momchil property (which includes the Obichnik project), a 70% interest in the Nadezhda property (which includes the Makedontsi project), and a 70% interest in the Dangovo property (which is contiguous with the Makedontsi project). The Company holds a 100% interest in the Iglika copper-gold exploration property and recently entered into an option agreement with Dundee Precious Metals who have an option to earn a 75% interest in the property. The Company has also entered into an agreement to acquire a 75% interest in the Zlatusha copper-gold exploration property.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Keith Henderson"

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Keith Henderson

Phone: +1-604-484-1233

E-mail: info@velocityminerals.com

Web: www.velocityminerals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein.

- 30 -

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193750
VICTORIA, Jan. 10, 2024 - Southstone Minerals Ltd. ("Southstone" or the "Company"") (TSX.V - SML) announces that it entered into a share purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with five arm's length parties, collectively the "Sellers", setting out the terms of an acquisition (the "Acquisition") of the remaining 90% interest of the issued and outstanding shares of Padstone Pte. Ltd. ("Padstone") a private Singaporean company. Southstone is currently a passive shareholder of Padstone, holding a minority 10% interest.

Padstone, via a wholly owned subsidiary, has applied for two alluvial and kimberlite diamond exploration permits in the Republic of Guinea, collectively the "Soromaya Project" or the "Permits". The Soromaya Project is both an alluvial and kimberlite diamond exploration project and covers an area of 198.54 square kilometers and located northwest of the diamond mining town of Banankoro, approximately 574 kilometers east of the capital, Conakry. The Company can provide no assurance as to when, or if, the Permits, will be granted.

In consideration for the Acquisition, the Sellers will be issued, on a pro-rata basis, an aggregate of 15,500,000 common shares of Southstone (the "Consideration Shares"), with a deemed value of CAD$0.01, and will be paid a deferred pro-rata cash payment in the amount of USD$100,000, payable within 24 months from the closing date of the Acquisition. Southstone has also agreed to reimburse up to a maximum amount of USD$100,000 in interest-free Padstone shareholder loans, the proceeds of which were used to fund working capital and general corporate purposes. Repayment of the loans is due within 18 months from the closing date of the Acquisition. There is no factual financial information of Padstone to report at this time.

The Agreement with the Sellers will be executed on the 10 January 2024 and closing of the Acquisition is subject to (i) the two Permits being granted for a period of not less than three years, (ii) a title opinion on the Soromaya Project and corporate legal opinion for Padstone, and (iii) completion of an independent National Instrument 43-101 Report (the "Report") on the Soromaya Project, as well as any other conditions that may required by the TSX Venture Exchange. Only upon granting of the Permits can the Report be completed and therefore there are a number of significant milestones required to ultimately close this Acquisition.

The Company has been informed by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization ("CIRO") and the TSV Venture Exchange that trading of the Company must be halted and will remain halted pending receipt and review of acceptable documentation regarding the Fundamental Acquisition pursuant to Section 5.6(d) of Exchange Policy 5.3.

Southstone currently holds a minority 10% interest in Padstone; however, in the event that the Acquisition is not concluded by 31 March 2024 (the "Long-stop Date"), this 10% interest returns to Padstone's treasury. Accordingly, Southstone deems Padstone to be arm's length on the following basis: (i) no officers or directors hold office in the other company; (ii) the Company is a passive shareholder and has no control over the direction or management of Padstone; and (iii) the Company's minority 10% interest is diminimus, it provides no voting control over any matter, and is at risk of being returned to Padstone treasury.

The Company also confirms that the non-brokered private placement, as announced on 6 November 2023, has been extended, which private placement consists of up to 10M units at a price of C$0.05 per unit for gross proceeds up to C$500,000 (the "Private Placement").

Each unit of the Private Placement shall consist of one common share in the capital of the Company and one-half of a share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share at a price of C$0.10 per share at any time within two years from the date of issuance. The warrants shall also be subject to an accelerated exercise clause in the event the Company's share price exceeds C$0.15 for 10 consecutive trading days.

Proceeds from the Private Placement are anticipated to be used on exploration of the Visirivier and Kabies Sections of the Oena Mining License which have had little exploration or mining activity to date as well as for general working capital purposes.

The Company may pay finders fee's in either cash, shares, share purchase warrants or a combination thereof, as permitted by regulators, on a portion or all the Private Placement. Closing of the Private Placement is expected to occur on or before 31 March 2024 or closing of the Acquisition. All securities issued under the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period of four months from the date of issuance.

Upon closing of the Acquisition, the issuance of the Consideration Shares on a pro-rata basis, along with the Private Placement will not result in any person who was previously not an insider, becoming an insider of Southstone.

As consideration for introduction and assistance with completing the Acquisition, Southstone has agreed to issue a finder's fee of 1,500,000 common shares, with a deemed value of CAD$0.01, to an arm's length third party, Mr. Scott Griffin. The issuance of the Consideration Shares and the finders' fees shares are both subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and will be subject to a customary prescribed hold period.

Upon closing of the Acquisition, Southstone intends to appoint a new independent director and a new Chief Financial Officer, each of whom shall be arm's length to Padstone and its shareholders. No rights have been granted to Padstone or to its shareholders as it relates to board nominees to the Southstone board of directors.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF Southstone Minerals Ltd.

Terry L. Tucker, P.Geo.

Executive Chairman

For additional information, please contact Terry L. Tucker at info@southstoneminerals.com

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Monza goes back to gravel run-off areas

The 21 million Euros investment the Italian government, the Lombardia region and the ACI are making on the modernization of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is mainly aimed at bringing the infrastructure up to the most recent Formula 1 standards, especially in the topic of providing a better experience for the paying fans, but will also focus on improving the racing conditions, as the changes made to the cars in the last change of regulations made this high-speed track less of a challenge than it was before.

Valtteri Bottas, Italian GP 2023

 Alfa Romeo

During the lenghty ceremony in which the plans for Monza were shared with the media and the fans, it was shown that the ressurfacing of the track started right in front of everyones eyes, with the old tarmac being removed from a section of the pits straight and new tarmac being laid down, but other, more race-relevant plans, were also unveiled.

The most exciting one for the drivers is that the run-off areas for the first two chicanes of the Monza circuit will go back to featuring gravel, as it was agreed with the FIA this was the best course of action to take away the incentive to cut those chicanes, a resource used by many drivers in the last few years. While the majority of the run-off area in the first chicane had grass, there were two tarmaced routes the drivers could follow  one by going straight on and avoiding a few polysterine blocks placed there to force drivers to reduce speed before rejoining, the other, allowing to cut the second part of the chicane by going over a couple of small bumps  but in both cases there was a distinct advantage if you opted to go through any of them.

Now the second, smaller route, will disappear, as grass and that piece of tarmac will be replaced by gravel, which should be a massive deterrant for any driver thinking of making an optimistic move into the first chicane, as the margin for error will have been completely erased.

The same will happen in the chicane della Roggia, the second chicane, as the espace route that was possible to design for drivers who had missed their braking point was actually quicker than the real track, so, here too, gravel will replace tarmac and drivers cutting the chicane will have to go through it, losing time and, potentially, damaging their cars.

What needs to be checked is how it will be avoided that gravel will fly into the track once a car has gone off, the main problem we saw in the past and the main reason tarmac saw its way into those two run-off areas.

At the same time it was announced all the kerbs in the historic Italian circuit will be changed, as the current ones, with slopes, were considered a risk for the tyres and not fit for the purpose of helping the cars stay on track, with the new ones being from the same generation of those seen in the more modern circuits, tyre friendly but with low grip, to discourage their usage. That, combined with the new tarmac that will remove some of the tracks notorious bumps  particularly on the run down from Variante Ascari to the Parabolica Michele Alboreto  will change the nature of the track and will make this years Grand Prix Friday a learning day for drivers and teams alike.
Sony launched the PS VR2 in late 2022 for play, now it has announced a mixed reality headset for work. This was created in collaboration with Siemens and is aimed at spatial content creators. This could be used in anything from product design to film production.

The headset features two 1.3-type OLED microdisplays with 4K resolution and 96% DCI-P3 coverage. They are driven by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 that was announced last week. The system supports split rendering, which divides the computational workload between the head-mounted display and computers to achieve a stable frame rate when rendering large 3D models. Sony promises that the headset can provide realistic rendering of textures of 3D objects and facial expressions of human characters in real time.

wSpatial tracking is done using six cameras and sensors, which also provide video see-through functionality, allowing the headset to mix virtual objects into the real world.

The headset comes with two interesting controllers  one looks like a ring and allows manipulation of 3D objects, the other is an accurate pointer that also helps designers create and manipulate virtual objects. The headset will integrate with Siemens NX Immersive Designer Software.

Sony designed the headset for extended use by finely balancing its balance and creating comfy pats. The front of the headset can also be flipped up to allow users to focus on the real world without removing the headset.

The new XR headset from Sony and Siemens will be available later this year. Theres no word on pricing yet  such details will be announced later on.

Source | Via
For many, the beginning of the New Year is the time of new beginnings to change and improve their lives, so course coordinators Michael Bevacqua and Gerhard Schwab are inviting interested persons to celebrate the beginning of 2024 with learning CHamoru.

The program started on Jan. 8.

People who want to learn CHamoru can enjoy one new CHamoru lesson with Bevacqua every week until CHamoru Month in March 2024.

Bevacqua is a scholar and teacher of the CHamoru language, while Schwab is the project director of the Eyak I Fino-ta (Learn Our Language), Commission on CHamoru Language, and professor of social work at the University of Guam.

The LearningCHamoru.com website, in collaboration with the project Eyak I Fino-ta, offers a 10-week website-based CHamoru language course with 10 lessons, according to a news release.

Learners can study at their own pace whenever they want, with a new lesson to be released every Monday until the beginning of CHamoru Month in March 2024.

The course is free of charge. Everyone with access to the internet can participate.

The video for the first lessons can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5fwdDFi3Q&t=20s.

This course is a public service product of the project Eyak I Fino-ta at Saint Francis Catholic School in Yona.

The purpose of this project is to develop a model of bilingual education where students learn and are taught in both official languages, in CHamoru and in English.

To reach this goal, Saint Francis Catholic School is transforming itself into a learning CHamoru community where all teachers, all staff, all students and their families learn CHamoru together.

Eyak I Fino-ta is a project of the Commission on CHamoru Language of the government of Guam, supported by UOG, and funded by the U.S. Administration of Native Americans.

Enriching everyday life

Lessons include short instructional videos with Bevacqua about the basic structure of the CHamoru language.

The lessons are designed to make learning CHamoru an enriching and integral part of everyday life of learners. Learners find exercises and interactive drills where they can practice speaking CHamoru, record themselves and listen to themselves.

At the end of every lesson, learners can take online tests to review and assess how much they learned. If learners are not happy with their test results, they can retake the tests as often as they wish.

Many people want to learn CHamoru, but their work schedules, the locations of their homes, and may be their financial and social situations do not allow them to attend regular CHamoru language courses at GCC or UOG, said the project director, Schwab, from UOG.

Schwab said the course provides an opportunity for everyone who wants to learn CHamoru and who has access to the internet to start the new year with a 10-week CHamoru language course and to get on a sustainable path of continuously learning CHamoru.

Ive been teaching the Chamoru language in a variety of ways for more than a decade, from classrooms, to coffee shops to Zoom. This video series represents an important step for me in terms of translating the practical, type of community language teaching model that I use, into media that can be used for anyone, anywhere at any time, he said. When learning a language, youll still need to find a community to learn with, but these lessons help give you a foundation from which you can start your learning journey.

People who complete all 10 lessons before the end of CHamoru Month 2024 will receive a certificate for completing the 10-lesson course, and they may win one of the raffle prizes donated to the participants of this course.

The topics of lessons and the days of their release are:
Acting Gov. Joshua Tenorio said justice will prevail in the fatal robbery-shooting of a 60-year-old Korean tourist, following Tuesday nights arrest of the suspected getaway driver while the suspected shooter took his own life.

Korean Consul for Guam In Kook Kim informed the family of these recent developments in the case, his office said.

Its been days of sorrow and pain since Jan. 4, not only for Guam but also for Korea, which has closely followed the developments in the murder case.

Today, I come before you with a heart heavy in both sorrow and gratitude, Tenorio said in a video message Wednesday.

Sorrow, he said, is for the tragic loss of life because of a senseless act of violence, and gratitude is for the show of unity to apprehend the assailants.

In these moments of grief, we extend our deepest condolences to the surviving spouse, who now bears an unimaginable burden of loss. Our hearts ache for her and their loved ones, and we stand united in offering them solace and support, Tenorio said.

Police zeroed in on the suspects five days after the crime.

The suspected shooter

Keoki Junior Santos, the man believed to have shot the 60-year-old Korean tourist during a robbery, was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area on Tuesday night in Yona.

Santos, 28, apparently took his own life when Guam Police Department officers were approaching the vehicle he was in, officials said.

He has been on Guams Most Wanted list posted on the Guam Judiciarys website. Santos has a criminal record for drug possession and an outstanding warrant.

GPD spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella provided more information Wednesday morning about the case, after Chief of Police Stephen Ignacio held a press conference 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Earlier that night, GPDs Criminal Investigation Division, Special Operations Division and Park Police officers located Santos, who was operating a motor vehicle.

The vehicle drove and came to a stop next to an unrelated residence in the Yona area and the suspect stayed seated in the vehicle.

As officers approached the vehicle, a single gunshot was heard from within.

The officers safely approached and observed the second suspect who was deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area, Savella said.

The suspected getaway driver

The other suspect, Stefen Keanu Paulino Camacho, was arrested earlier on Tuesday night and remains incarcerated at the Department of Corrections.

Camacho, 26, of Yona, has prior arrests for assault and disorderly conduct.

Under Guam law, the Office of the Attorney General has 48 hours to charge Camacho.

Attorney General Douglas Moylan said his office has chosen to charge the suspect on Thursday in order to ensure justice, especially considering the amount of information provided in the GPD police reports, which includes video surveillance footage, and GPD officers continuing to complete their written reports to be submitted to the AGs office.

The murder case remains under investigation, Moylan said, describing the victim as manamko or elderly.

The AGs Office assures the public that the criminal justice system is moving deliberately in order to protect this community and to ensure justice occurs for the two crime victims, and to the accused(s), he said.

Purse recovered

Camacho, the suspected getaway driver, escorted detectives to the portion of Adrian Sanchez Road in Harmon, where he and Santos discarded the purse and other belongings of the couple on the night of the crime.

Detectives recovered the wifes purse, several credit cards and personal items.

The area where the victims cellphone was thrown was identified and will also be searched by police later.

Police hope to return the items to the victims family.

Relentless pursuit

The acting governor, in his video message, thanked those who showed their unwavering dedication, bravery, unity, intense collaboration and a relentless pursuit to deliver the victims assailants to justice.

Thanks to the combined efforts of our law enforcement agencies, one suspect is in custody. And the other evaded justice, taking his own life without risk to anyone else, Tenorio said.

He expressed his profound appreciation to the Guam Police Department and our islands Park Police for their tireless efforts in swiftly resolving this case.

Their commitment to protecting our residents and guests is commendable, and today, we see the tangible results of their dedication, Tenorio said.

We will not be defeated

Unjustified violence anywhere in Guam is a crime against everyone in Guam, Tenorio said.

The victim and his wife were vacationing on Guam to celebrate their retirement.

On the night of Jan. 4, an SUV approached them from behind while they were walking from Gun Beach to The Tsubaki Tower hotel. A passenger exited the vehicle brandishing a firearm, and demanded the couples belongings. A struggle ensued and the husband was shot in the stomach. He died at the Guam Regional Medical City Friday morning.

No one can predict what evil might reside in the hearts of bad men, but so long as good men and women rise to meet them, we will not be defeated, the acting governor said.

Besides acknowledging the work of law enforcement, the acting governor also noted the collaboration with the Guam Visitors Bureau and the business community, which supported the investigation efforts.

He said all this exemplifies the strength that arises when we join forces against immeasurable suffering.

But Tenorio said the true heroes in this story are the community members, whose cooperation, vigilance, and unwavering support have been instrumental in bringing these criminals to justice.

To every business that stepped up with camera footage; to every concerned citizen that kept a watchful eyeit is through the collective spirit of our people that we deliver the only response we can muster in the face of unforeseen eviljustice, Tenorio said.

The acting governor also called on the community to not forget that we are defined not only by our achievements but by our compassion, our ability to stand together in times of sorrow, and our commitment to ensuring that Guam remains a sanctuary for all who seek its beauty.

Today, we remember a life lost, but we also celebrate the strength of a community that rises above darkness together to affirm that justice will prevail.

GVB offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction.

The tourism bureaus president and CEO, former Gov. Carl Gutierrez, said GPD and the attorney general will collaborate if indeed the tip the police received was crucial to capturing and arrest of Camacho.

If their advice to GVB is to reward the $50,000, then the bureau would do so immediately in a manner that will not expose publicly the person, he said.

Koreans make up most of Guams tourism industry, which is still struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic, and theres no telling yet just how the recent murder of a Korean tourist will make the visitor numbers worse.
Attorney General Douglas Moylan has confirmed his office is investigating the $4.9 million deal the Guam Memorial Hospital cut with MedHealth Solutions following questions raised in a recent audit.

We are working closely with the (Office of Public Accountability) on this particular audit, Moylan said.

MedHealth was brought onboard in 2021 to try and improve the hospitals billing processes, but the accountability office last week found that GMH gave MedHealth preferential treatment and unreasonable contract terms. The contract was terminated in November 2022.

GMH in a news release issued Tuesday asserted that the final contract and the legality of its terms were approved by the Office of the Attorney General as the OPAs audit clearly indicates.

The MedHealth contract was approved under the administration of former AG Leevin Camacho, and received the signature of both Camacho and Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero in May 2021.

Moylan told the Pacific Daily News Wednesday the ongoing investigation involves alleged expenditures, collections, and disbursements of public monies, as well as alleged improper use of the islands procurement law.

His offices Government Corruption Division is responsible for reviewing OPA reports, he said, but did not specify when asked whether the investigation is criminal in nature.

We do not discuss the particulars of ongoing investigations. However, we ask anyone who knows of wrongdoing or may believe they may have criminal liability to contact us. Better such persons contact us first before we investigate and may be forced to charge them, the AG said.

The Government Corruption Division can be reached at (671) 475-2705 or gcd@oagguam.org.

The attorney general of Guam is responsible for reviewing the contract as to legality and form. GMHA worked with the Office of the Attorney General on this contract, and once it was approved, the hospital acted in accordance with that approval, the hospital stated Tuesday, prior to Moylan confirming with the PDN his offices investigation into the hospital deal.

According to OPA, the hospital did seek approval from the prior AGs office, but must also ensure its compliance with procurement law regulations in all solicitations.

Value of the deal

The audit of the deal with MedHealth found that, compared to previous years, GMH actually collected around 11% less of its patient billings while under MedHealth.

But, according to the release from the hospital, the audit findings do not fully reflect the extent to which GMHA benefited from the contract, and the lengths to which GMHA went to ensure its procurement and the resulting contract complied with Guam law.

Slow billing and collections, which led to the hospital throwing out at least around $5.6 million last year, has been a long-recognized issue for GMH.

MedHealth was brought onboard to improve issues with the hospitals collection division, GMH stated in the release.

GMH has historically struggled with its finances due in large part to the challenges it faces with collections. The purpose of this contract was to address those challenges and improve collections, the release said.

According to GMH, the immediate goal of the contract was to train up staff, find inefficiencies and take corrective measures.

Audit findings

According to the OPA audit, GMHA had tried and failed to hire MedHealth on a sole source basis prior to the final contract signed in 2021. The first attempt to hire MedHealth didnt get the AGs office approval.

OPA said the final contract gave MedHealth preferential treatment by submitting percentage-based compensation  12% of what the hospital collected past $7.2 million each month  when the initial request for proposal made by the hospital specified fixed costs.

MedHealth should also have been disqualified from the start, because it had submitted information with their proposal that violated the hospitals request for proposal, OPA said.

GMHA also did not involve the AGs office throughout the process required by procurement law for procurements over $500,000, OPA said, though GMHA estimated the total contract to be $1.5 million to $5 million for 12 months.

The hospital had also drafted a contract for $450,000 in total compensation for six months, which would no longer require AG review and approval.
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Korean tourist has been identified as Keoki Junior Santos, who was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area on Tuesday night, according to the Guam Police Department.

Santos has been on "Guam's Most Wanted" list posted on the Guam Judiciary's website.

He has a criminal record for drug possession and an outstanding warrant.

Some of the belongings of the victim's wife from her stolen purse were recovered, including several credit cards. The two suspects discarded them on the night of the crime on Jan. 4.

The other suspect, the getaway driver, Stefen Keanu Paulino Camacho, was arrested by police Tuesday night and remains incarcerated at the Department of Corrections, officials said.

Camacho has prior arrests for assault and disorderly conduct.

The Office of the Attorney General has 48 hours to charge Camacho under Guam law.

Attorney General Douglas Moylan said the AG's office has chosen to charge the suspect on Thursday "in order to ensure justice, especially considering the amount of information provided in the GPD police reports, which includes video surveillance footage, and GPD officers continuing to complete their written reports to be submitted to the AG's office."

The murder case remains under investigation, Moylan said, describing the victim as manamko' or elderly.

Found dead

GPD spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella provided more information Wednesday morning about the case, after a GPD press conference 11 p.m. Tuesday.

After locating Camacho, GPD's Criminal Investigation Division, Special Operations Division and Park Police officers located Santos, 28, who was operating a motor vehicle.

The vehicle drove and came to a stop next to an unrelated residence in the Yona area and the suspect stayed seated in the vehicle.

As officers approached the vehicle, a single gunshot was heard from within.

"The officers safely approached and observed the second suspect who was deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head area," GPD's Savella said.

Police verified his identity and went to his residence to notify his next of kin.

Investigation continues

GPD said an interview with the arrested suspect, Camacho, 26, of Yona, confessed to his involvement and role as the getaway driver in the crime.

He escorted the detectives along Adrian Sanchez Road in Harmon, where he and the other suspect discarded the victim's wife's purse on the night of the crime.

Detectives recovered the victim's wife's purse, several credit cards and personal items.

The area where the victim's cellphone was thrown was identified and will also be searched by police later.

Police hope to return the items to the victim's family.

Savella said the investigation remains ongoing.

GPD was able to zero in on the suspects with the help of a concerned citizen who corroborated police findings, and private businesses that provided surveillance video footage, among other things.

The attorney general, meanwhile, said his office's team of prosecutors, investigators and support staff continues to work closely with GPD's detectives and officers to ensure that justice is achieved in this ongoing investigation.

"The public remains safe with a suspect to the murder remaining in prison pending the people of Guams finalizing review of the voluminous information that was today provided to our office," Moylan said in a statement. "The AGs Office assures the public that the criminal justice system is moving deliberately in order to protect this community and to ensure justice occurs for the two crime victims, and to the accused(s)."

Vacationing on Guam

The 60-year-old victim and his wife were vacationing on Guam to celebrate their retirement.

An SUV approached them from behind while they were walking from Gun Beach to The Tsubaki Tower. A passenger exited the vehicle brandishing a firearm, and demanded the couple's belongings. A struggle ensued and the husband was shot in the stomach.

He died at the Guam Regional Medical City Friday morning.

The victim's wife and other family members that came to visit after the incident have gone back to Korea.
Vice Speaker Tina Rose Muna Barnes is encouraging the public to provide feedback on a project at Andersen Air Force Base that involves potential hosting of 12 fighter jets from Singapore.

Military officials, per the National Environmental Policy Act, will be accepting feedback on proposed land development, infrastructure upgrades and increases to permanently and temporarily stationed personnel.

These changes are related to an agreement between the United States and the Republic of Singapore Air Force to bed down, or base, up to 12 RSAF F-15 fighters in Guam.

The proposals included in this project are upgrades to AAFBs north ramp airfield and aircraft hangar, jet fuel distribution system, fencing, roads and stormwater management infrastructure, improvements to three earth-covered magazines.

They also include an increase of 240 support personnel and dependents stationed at Andersen, along with additional 200 or so temporary support personnel who will be deployed about twice a year.

The proposals are needed to enhance the Air Forces capability to support U.S. and partner nation forces within the Indo-Pacific region and the U.S. ability to respond regionally and worldwide.

The project also outlines that improving airfield and munitions infrastructure would address capability gaps and allow for greater efficiencies and agility in the way ground operations are conducted.

While cultural and biological surveys on potential impacts to those resources have yet to be conducted, the Air Force is already anticipating an increased demand on the construction workforce and an increase in local spending.

Temporary increases to construction-related traffic and air quality impacts are also expected, according to information released by Andersen.

The comment period for the public scoping of this project, which will precede a draft environmental impact statement slated for the middle of this year, ends on Jan. 15.

Construction is estimated to take seven years to complete. The Singaporean aircraft are anticipated to arrive on Guam in 2029.
The man suspected of fatally shooting a 60-year-old Korean tourist was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound while police officers were approaching a parked vehicle in Yona, while the getaway driver has been placed in custody, Police Chief Stephen Ignacio said during a late Tuesday night press conference.

The suspect in custody has been identified as Stefen Keanu Paulino Camacho, 26, of Yona, Ignacio said.

The Department of Corrections released his photo early Wednesday morning.

GPD was able to zero in on the suspects five days after the Korean tourist was shot dead on the night of Jan. 4.

Vacationing on Guam

The victim and his wife were vacationing on Guam to celebrate their retirement. An SUV approached them from behind while they were walking from Gun Beach to The Tsubaki Tower. A passenger exited the vehicle brandishing a firearm, and demanded the couple's belongings. A struggle ensued and the husband was shot.

He died at the Guam Regional Medical City Friday morning.

The victim's wife and other family members that came to visit after the incident have gone back to Korea.

At an 11 p.m. Tuesday press conference, Ignacio gave details about the events leading to the visitor's passing.

The tourist was shot in the stomach, he said. The suspects fled using the vehicle, and with the purse they stole from the couple, he added.

Detectives from GPD's Criminal Investigation Division began an investigation, along with other law enforcement agencies to find the suspects.

Concerned citizen came forward

Ignacio said using surveillance footage from various businesses, detectives identified the suspect vehicle as a 2011 silver Toyota 4Runner.

During the investigation, a concerned citizen came forward with information that corroborated information being developed by police.

Police searched for the vehicle.

The suspects

Police conferred with the Office of the Attorney General and obtained a warrant for the vehicle and identified the individuals they learned were responsible for the robbery and murder.

Tuesday night, GPD Special Operations Division executed the warrant in Yona and apprehended one of the suspects, Camacho.

Camacho, of Yona, spoke of his involvement and his role as the getaway driver, Ignacio said. He later added that Camacho will face charges of murder, robbery and possibly a crime against a vulnerable victim.

The suspect vehicle was also located and impounded.

While police converged on a vehicle parked at a residence where the second suspect was located, a single gunshot wound was heard from within the vehicle.

"Upon approaching, police officers located the second male suspect who was deceased from a single gunshot wound discovered to be self-inflicted," Ignacio said.

The police chief thanked the numerous businesses that contributed to the investigation.

"Without their support we would not have come to a quick resolution," he said, adding that more than 20 businesses shared video with police detectives.

Camacho has prior arrests for assault and disorderly conduct, while the unnamed suspect has a criminal record for drug possession and an outstanding warrant.

During question-and-answer, Ignacio said despite the "unthinkable crime," Guam remains a safe place to visit.

News of the Korean tourist's fatal shooting on Guam spread fast in South Korea. Korea is Guam's main tourism market. Guam's still-struggling tourism industry, has arrivals that are nearly 39% of what they used to be prior to the pandemic.

Ignacio said that the investigation also revealed other Tumon areas that are concerning because they are dark and lack surveillance cameras. He said that part of that could include aerial surveillance at the few access points to Tumon.

The Guam Visitors Bureau offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrests and conviction in the case.
With seven patients and 48 staff members testing positive for COVID-19, the Guam Memorial Hospital has reinstated a temporary mask mandate in clinical patient areas starting Tuesday.

GMHA, in a Wednesday press release, said the monitoring and tracking data continues to show a significant uptick in COVID cases. Hospital spokesperson Cindy Hanson confirmed the current number of COVID-19 cases.

The mask mandate will be in place until Jan. 23, but will be extended if required.

The mandate applies to everyone entering patient care areas, regardless of vaccination status.

This includes the Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Med-Surg and Med-Tele wards, Surgical Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and all outpatient clinics including Rehabilitation.

Mandatory mask use will also be required in the Pediatrics/PICU unit and the Maternal Child Health department, including the Neonatal/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Obstetrics, and Labor & Delivery.

Masks must be medical-grade, well-fitted KN/N95-type mask. Security will provide instructions and KN95 masks for all visitors and watchers who will enter patient care areas.

Everyone entering the hospital will be required to answer a series of questions to determine if they have recently had COVID or been exposed.

Anyone with COVID-related symptoms will not be allowed to enter the hospital. Mask use in nonpatient care areas is highly encouraged, especially if one has a high risk of exposure or infection.

"GMHA understands that mask use is inconvenient, but the mask mandate will stay in place to protect everyones health and safety. Social distancing and frequent hand washing are also strongly encouraged," the hospital said.
Floridas 2024 legislative session kicked off Tuesday with Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrating recent triumphs and blasting liberal policies in other states during his State of the State address.

Appearing before state lawmakers, DeSantis touted wins like enabling concealed weapon-carry within the state, authorizing the death penalty for those convicted of sexual battery against a child under the age of 12, and a newly signed law barring state-funded colleges and universities from directing resources to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which he said stands for discrimination exclusion and indoctrination.

While criticizing states like California, Chicago and New York for ongoing issues with homelessness, undocumented immigration, crime, drugs and education, he praised Floridas Legislature for voting against what he referred to as the indoctrination and sexualization of the curriculum, and for standing up for parents against the woke mob.

Looking ahead to the 2024 session, he advised policymakers to stay the course.

We have chosen facts over fear. We have chosen education over indoctrination. We have chosen law and order over rioting and disorder. We have chosen fiscal responsibility over debt and profligacy, DeSantis said. Our choices have produced results that are second to none in this country.

With a proposed 2024-2025 budget of $114.4 billion (with $16.3 billion in reserves), the governors latest budget proposal sets aside $1.1 billion for continued Everglades restoration, another $1.25 billion to provide salary increases for teachers and other instructional personnel, and an additional $20 million for the third year of the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program, which provides a signing bonus of up to $5,000 for those hired as first-time law enforcement officers in Florida.

DeSantis also is calling for approximately $1.1 billion in tax cuts for Florida families with legislation filed by several lawmakers aimed at reducing the cost of homeowners insurance and enacting a variety of sales tax holidays throughout the year.

Everything from abortion to bears

While the Florida Constitution only mandates lawmakers achieve a balanced budget during the 60-day session  which some refer to as 60 days of dread  they still face a multitude of bills (more than 1,000) that are up for debate.

According to LegiScan, a nonpartisan legislative tracking service, a few state bills are currently under significant public scrutiny, including House Bill 1233, introduced by state Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville, which would limit recognized sex categories to male and female and mandate alignment between the assigned sex on an individuals original birth certificate and all identification papers. And House Bill 599, which would eliminate the required use of an employees preferred pronouns within government agencies and businesses that receive state funding.

Other bills certain to stir heated debate this session include Senate Bill 1780, introduced by state Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, which broadens the scope of defamation to include accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia  and specifically outlines that an allegation that the plaintiff has discriminated against another person or group because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes defamation.

Further, state Rep. David Borrero, R-Sweetwater, is proposing House Bill 1519, effectively a stringent abortion ban that prohibits abortions from the moment of fertilization  permitting abortion only when necessary to save the pregnant womans life  with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Several proposed bills focus on safeguarding minors on social media, including a proposed requirement for tablet and phone manufacturers to implement automatic filters. Another seeks to prevent minors from creating social media accounts and demands stricter age verification. Another proposal that would forbid schools from utilizing or maintaining accounts on social media platforms.

And for Floridians with a bear problem, House Bill 87 would allow people to use lethal force against bears that roam onto their property.

As lawmakers delve into these multifaceted discussions, Floridians await the outcomes that will shape the states future landscape.




Haiti - News : Zapping...





VISA Brazil closed due to insecurity

In view of the security situation in the Tabarre area, the Visa Application Reception Center for Brazil (CAVB) remained closed yesterday, Tuesday, January 9, 2024. A new date will be shared shortly to facilitate all those who will be impacted. We apologize for this inconvenience.



VISA : information on making an appointment

The Visa Application Reception Center for Brazil operated by IOM informs the general public that appointments for the VITEMIII humanitarian visa can only be made on the website: ( https://via.iom.int/appointment/booking/cavb ). Many people use the email address available for family reunification. Some try to make an appointment with the IOM outside Haiti. These alternatives will not make it easier to make an appointment. The technical team continues to work to facilitate the resumption of service. We therefore ask you to wait a little. We apologize for this situation which impacts appointment scheduling.



A member of the Bel-Air gang arrested by the PAP Police

Romain Jean Chrisilhomme, 32, was arrested by the Port-au-Prince Police, yesterday Tuesday January 9, 2024, around 8am, on Street St Honore, for his alleged involvement in organized crime. Originally from Grand-Goave, West department, Romain Jean Chrisilhomme, is one of the drivers of the Bel-Air gang leader, named Kempes Sanon. For the moment, he is being held in custody while awaiting the necessary legal action.



Popular justice : 6 fewer bandits

"Granmoun pa jwe" or "Sache nwa", gang leader in the locality of Metivier (Fort-Jacques), was killed on January 8, 2024, by members of the Fort-Jacques vigilance brigade. The latter also allegedly killed 5 of his acolytes including 3 active gang members and 2 scouts. They were all part of the "kraze barye" gang led by the name Vitelhomme Innocent.



Taiwan continues to fund the "KORE PEP" program

Taiwan supports the Haitian government's "KORE PEP" program executed by the Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) in order to contribute to the social stability of the country and lay the foundations for the return of democratic institutions as soon as conditions are met. Ambassador Wen-Jiann KU recently visited the "PANYE SOLIDARITE" food kit production center and presented a new tranche of funding for the continuation of the program.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















GREAT FALLS  A man accused of making threats to blow up the Dodson school admitted Monday to a hoax crime, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

Jacob Edwin Wilson, a transient, pleaded guilty to false information and hoaxes as charged in an indictment. Wilson faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The court set sentencing for May 9. Wilson was detained pending further proceedings.

In court documents, the government alleged that Aug. 29, 2023, Wilson called both the 911 emergency number in Blaine County and the Dodson school, located near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and said he was about to blow Dodson school up.

Law enforcement responded, and because school was in session that day, the superintendent and principle evacuated students and staff from the school on buses to a nearby church parking lot.

First responders from the Phillips County Sheriffs Office, Malta Fire Department and U.S. Border Patrol responded, set up security around the school and searched the school for an explosive device. No explosive device was found in the school.

In the meantime, Wilson called 911 again and asked for someone to give him a ride off the reservation, said he was at an individuals house and that he needed a ride from anyone except the Fort Belknap police. The 911 operators traced the call to the individuals residence, which was located on the Fort Belknap Reservation. Officers located Wilson and arrested him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey K. Starnes is prosecuting the case. The FBI, Fort Belknap Tribal Police, Phillips County Sheriffs Office, U.S. Border Patrol and Malta Fire Department conducted the investigation.
Well over one-third, or 38 per cent, of the survey respondents revealed they could imagine living in the roughly 225,000-resident city. Helsinki, which came in second in the survey, was regarded as a viable place to live by 33 per cent and Turku, which came in third, by 29 per cent of the respondents.

TAMPERE is regarded as the most appealing city in Finland, reveals a recent survey by Taloustutkimus .

The popularity of all three cities increased by two percentage points from the previous year.

Timo Myllymaki, a senior insight manager at Taloustutkimus, said Tampere in particular has nationwide appeal  the city being a top-three choice for residents of eight regions, including Pirkanmaa.

Tamperes appeal has breadth, he summarised.

Espoo, meanwhile, increased its popularity the most, by three points. The rest of the top-10 was made up of Jyvaskyla, Hameenlinna, Kuopio, Porvoo, Vantaa and Oulu.

More than one-tenth of the respondents estimated that they will have to move houses within the year. For the majority of them, however, the move will be within their current municipality of residence, with the pleasantness of the neighbourhood the primary factor followed by the availability of suitably priced homes, proximity to services and good transport connections.

The most appealing municipality is almost without exception found in the current region of the respondent and specifically in the largest city of the region, said Myllymaki.

Finns are content with life in their current municipality of residence, neighbourhood and current home. It is those who are discontent, however, who are more likely to have a predisposition to move than those who are content. Their move-related thoughts are linked firmly to moving out of the municipality, and for that reason it is important to track and look after the resident experience as part of efforts to curb emigration, he added.

People considering a move to a new municipality identified the availability of suitably priced homes as the most important criterion, followed by the pleasantness of the neighbourhood, service offering, proximity to services and good transport connections.

When moving to another municipality, matters related to work and workplace are important but our surveys show that they are not the key factors people weigh up, highlighted Myllymaki.

More often it is important that so-called everyday life is smooth and effortless. Because people cannot have terribly profound experiences of these matters in regards to another municipality, the recommendations of friends, the portrayed image and visitor experience have a key role in kindling interest in a move.

Uusimaa was the most popular region in the survey, with almost half (48%) of the respondents stating that they could see themselves living there. The next most popular regions were Pirkanmaa, Southwest Finland, Lapland, Central Finland and Kanta-Hame.

In general, you can conclude that interest in living in different parts of Finland is increasingly common because different regions were mentioned more often than in the previous, 2022 survey, said Taloustutkimus.

The market research firm collected around 3,700 responses for the survey in late 2023. The survey has a margin of error of 1.8 points.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
The government itself states in the government programme that a model for a market crisis should be devised, but nothing has been done. The government seems to have frozen up and left citizens alone to cope with the rough electricity prices, she said to Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday.

TYTTI TUPPURAINEN , the chairperson of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, is surprised by inaction by the government in the face of surging electricity prices.

When electricity prices rose in 2022, she reminded, opposition parties were calling for action from the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP).

The opposition leaders of the time, the National Coalitions Petteri Orpo and the Finns Partys Riikka Purra, demanded that the government hold an emergency meeting and intervene in the situation without delay as electricity prices were spiking at 6070 cents per kilowatt hour, she reminded. On Friday, the price increased to two euros, but we didnt hear a thing.

Jani Makela, the chairperson of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group, argued that the two situations are dissimilar, with the recent price spike caused by an unfortunate combination of conditions.

Were talking about a temporary disruption rather than a permanent situation in my understanding. In that sense, its no use paying too much attention to this one day  of course beyond learning how this happened and how we could possibly prevent this in the future, he stated to Helsingin Sanomat.

In 2022, he clarified, support measures were justified due to concerns that electricity prices could remain high for months.

Tuppurainen, however, argued that the government should devise various measures because similar price spikes are possible also in the future.

Matias Makynen, a deputy chairperson of the Social Democratic Party, reminded a day earlier that the previous government did devise support measures, even though they could have been targeted better. The current government, meanwhile, appears to have forgotten about the issue altogether because the fears leading up to last winter did not materialise.

He also voiced his bafflement that authorities spoke exclusively about electricity sufficiency in the build-up to last weekend.

There isnt an authority thats making sure prices are reasonable and the effects of price spikes are balanced out. It isnt enough to simply guarantee that theres enough electricity, but we also need guardrails that ensure the prices are reasonable, he commented on X on Friday.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
New Delhi (India), January 10: As the dawn of a new year graces us with its presence, Royale Impex stands poised at the threshold of unparalleled opportunities. With a legacy steeped in excellence and a commitment to quality, this esteemed marble company embarks on a journey fueled by innovation, sustainability, and a renewed vision for growth.

The cornerstone of Royale Impex's success has always been its unwavering dedication to providing the finest quality marble products while adhering to ethical practices. However, as the industry landscape evolves and customer preferences shift, the company recognizes the need to not just adapt but to proactively lead the way in setting new standards.

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In embracing a new vision for growth, Royale Impex places a significant emphasis on innovation. The integration of cutting-edge technology into every aspect of its operations promises to elevate efficiency, precision, and the overall customer experience. From advanced quarrying techniques that prioritize environmental conservation to state-of-the-art processing methods ensuring unparalleled product quality, innovation will be the driving force behind every endeavor.

Moreover, sustainability lies at the heart of Royale Impex's new vision. The company acknowledges its responsibility towards the environment and the communities it operates in. By implementing eco-friendly practices throughout its supply chain, Royale Impex aims not only to minimize its ecological footprint but also to contribute positively to a greener, more sustainable future.

Central to this new vision is a commitment to customer satisfaction. Royale Impex understands that customer preferences are as diverse as the marbles it offers. Therefore, a customer-centric approach will be adopted, ensuring tailor-made solutions that cater to varying tastes and project requirements. From classic marble designs to contemporary innovations, the company vows to exceed customer expectations at every turn.

In conclusion, Royale Impex envisions a future where innovation, sustainability, customer satisfaction, and a culture of excellence converge seamlessly. As the company embarks on this journey, it invites its partners, clients, and stakeholders to join hands in shaping a future where quality, integrity, and progress harmoniously coexist.

With this renewed vision, Royale Impex strides into the new year with unwavering determination, fueled by the promise of a brighter and more prosperous future.

The marble industry awaits a leader, and Royale Impex is poised to ascend to new heights, embodying its ethos of excellence in every slab, every project, and every interaction.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
Welcome to the exciting world of astrology in New York City, USA! This lively city, known for its tall buildings, diverse cultures, and many opportunities, is also home to some of the best astrologers globally.

The city is full of different cultures and ways of life, making it an interesting and vibrant place to explore. The streets have a mix of old and new buildings, and the city's skyline is always changing with new and creative structures. There's something special about the city that attracts people from all over the world. With the growing interest in spiritual guidance, more and more people in New York City are turning to trusted astrologers for help. Whether you have questions about your career, love life, or personal growth, the best astrologers in New York can provide accurate and personalized readings.

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The connection between astrology and New York City goes back to the city's history of mystical traditions, dating back to the early 1900s. Today, the city remains a center for spiritual practices, including astrology. In this bustling city, astrology has gained popularity as people seek guidance in their daily lives.

Get ready to discover the Top 10 Best Astrologers in New York, USA, offering a range of astrology readings and consultations. These experts are chosen for their experience, professionalism, and positive reviews, ready to help you gain insight into your life's path.

Whether you need advice on your career, relationships, or a deeper understanding of your spiritual journey, the best astrologers in New York are here for you. Through their personalized readings, you can uncover your true potential, tackle challenges, and use the power of the universe to achieve your goals.

If you're eager to explore astrology and tap into the ancient wisdom of the stars, keep reading to discover the Top 10 best astrologers in New York, USA. The list is updated for 2024, considering their expertise, experience, availability, accuracy, customer feedback, and overall reputation.

Here are the Top 10 Best Astrologers in New York, USA. Ft.Dr.Kartick Chakraborty And Others based on experience, Client Base availability, accuracy, public recommendation, and Trustworthiness. Let's proceed with the list of the Top 10 Best Astrologers in Newyork starting with Dr.Kartick Chakraborty who has held the top position for the last 9+ Years in India's ranking Verified Trusted Celebrity Astrologer:

Astrologer Dr. Kartick Chakraborty:

Astrologer Dr.Kartick Chakraborty is One of the Best Celebrity Astrologer in Guwahati, Assam..

He is the 1st Best Astrologers In New York, USA. Dr. Kartick Chakraborty has gained a significant following not only in India but also in several other countries around the world, including :- Italy, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Singapore, France, Germany, Vietnam, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, South Africa, the USA, ( America) and the UK ( London).

Dr. Kartick Chakraborty stands out as a distinguished astrologer in New York City, boasting over a decade of experience providing precise predictions and effective solutions. Beyond garnering trust and loyalty from clients in New York and India, his reputation extends globally to countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Widely recognized as one of the finest Love Astrologers in New York City, Dr. Chakraborty has successfully guided numerous couples through relationship challenges with his pragmatic and impactful solutions.

In addition to his proficiency as a Love Astrologer, Dr. Kartick Chakraborty is a Vashikaran specialist, leveraging his expertise in this branch of Indian astrology to address intricate issues in love, relationships, career, and more. His extensive array of astrological services encompasses career counseling, palmistry, Vashikaran, numerology, Love Life Predictions, vastu shastra, black magic, and specialization in kamakhya tantra.

Contact Dr. Kartick Chakraborty - Best Celebrity Astrologer in India

VIP BOOKING/ WHATSAPP:-

VIP Number On:- +91 9577319932

WEBSITE:- https://astrologeringuwahati.com/

EMAIL ID :- Kartickchakraborty111@gmail.com

Instagram ID:- https://www.instagram.com/kartick__chakraborty/

Facebook Page ID:- https://www.facebook.com/Astrologerkartickchakraborty

License No : DKC/NJK/827959/2017/AS

Awards received by Dr.Kartick Chakraborty - Best Celebrity Astrologer in India

Dr.Kartick Chakraborty Awards:-

Gold Medalist Award Winner Dr.Kartick Chakraborty(2014)

Global Choice Award Winner Dr.Kartick Chakraborty (2015)

Diamond Crown Award Winner Dr.Kartick Chakraborty...(2016)

International Education Award Winner. (2019)

Assam Gourav Award Winner Dr.Kartick Chakraborty (2021)

India's Best Trusted Tantrik Astrologer. ( 2022)

Bharat Bhushan Award Winner ( Govt. Of India) (2023)

Book Of World Record Holder Dr.Kartick Chakraborty(2023)

Best Astrologer Of The Year (2023)

License No : DKC/NJK/827959/2017/AS

Dr. Kartick Chakraborty has more than 18 Lakh satisfied clients all over the world (approx. 1.8Million+ satisfied clients), He has millions of satisfied clients in more than 195 countries of the world.

 1.8+ Millions Worldwide Satisfied Clients 500K+ Horoscopes Predictions  300K + Love Relationship Predictions Globally

Celebrity Astrologer Dr.Kartick Chakraborty Recently featured in Many National And International Media. .

Celebrity Astrologer Dr.Kartick Chakraborty's extensive list of clientele encompasses an impressive array of prominent figures as well.

Services :- Astrological Consultancy, Love Problem Specialist In Ahmedabad. Vashikaran Kriya Specialist ...Business Problems... Love Match Making...Visa Problems... Career Problem....Intercaste Marriage.. Love Back....Kundli Matching..Love Problems.... Husband Wife Problems.. Gf|Bf Problems... Parents Approval.Ex Love Back... Remove Stress.Delay In Marriage.... Desired Partner. Lost Love Back...Family Issues. Love Breakup...Love Marriage Problem...Love Back Specialist ...Business Problems...Parents Approval...Child Problems...Family Disputes...Husband/Wife Solutionsn...Girlfriend/Boyfriend Solutions...Financial Problem Solutions ...Health Problem Solutions..

Chamber's & Branches :-

Kamakhya Temple || Mumbai || Delhi,NCR || Pune || Ahmedabad || Hydrabad || Bangalore || Surat || Kolkata || Siliguri || Noida || Bhubeneswar || Indore || Jaipur || Dibrugarh || Silchar || Chennai || Singapore || Malaysia || South Africa || Dubai || Australia || New Zealand || USA || London || Nepal || Bhutan ||

Astrologer Dr.Kartick Chakraborty Reviews:-

Testimonial 1: "Dr. Kartick Chakraborty is the epitome of excellence in astrology. With vast experience and a friendly demeanor, he brings positive energy into every interaction. His insightful guidance has illuminated my path, bringing peace and clarity to my life. Highly recommended for those seeking a truly exceptional astrologer in New York."

Testimonial 2: "Choosing Dr. Kartick Chakraborty as my astrologer was a game-changer. His qualifications, combined with a warm and responsible approach, make him the best in New York. His predictions have been spot-on, providing me with invaluable guidance and tranquility. I highly recommend his services."

Testimonial 3: Dr. Kartick Chakraborty is more than an astrologer; he's a beacon of positivity. His friendly nature and extensive experience make him the go-to astrologer in New York. His predictions have brought peace into my life, and his availability during crucial moments makes him truly exceptional. Highly recommended for anyone seeking guidance.

Testimonial 4: "Astrologer Dr.Kartick One of the most finest person, highly experienced, qualified, very friendly, works with responsibility, a gem with positive energy his talks and conversations brings a person out from darkness. He really spreads light in other's life No words can describe his skills and personality, highly recommended to the ones seeking help and guidance. His predictions and guidance had brought peace in my life.. always available in time of need , a great astrologer and a divine person. Highly recommended Astrologer"

2. Mr. Yusuf -

Mr.Yusuf Is Second Best Astrologer in New York, USA.

He is the 2nd Best Astrologer in New York, USA Meet Mr. Yusuf, the epitome of spiritual guidance in the heart of New York. Mr. Yusuf's path to prominence as a respected psychic healer in the bustling metropolis of New York is truly remarkable. His extraordinary journey, marked by profound experiences and deep insight, has resonated with countless individuals in search of solace, guidance, and healing. His expertise reflects a commitment to providing unparalleled astrological services, making him a sought-after figure for those navigating the cosmic realms in New York. and healing. His expertise reflects a commitment to providing unparalleled astrological services, making him a sought-after figure for those navigating the cosmic realms in New York.

3. Alex Caiola-

Alex Caiola is Second Best Astrologer in New York, USA.

She is the 3rd best Astrologer in New York, USA. The High Priestess of Brooklyn, Alex Caiola is not just an astrologer but a mystical inspiration in the urban landscape of New York. Recognized as a phenomenal astrologer in the city, her platform offers tarot readings, spellwork, and spiritual counsel. Step into the enchanting world curated by the High Priestess, where the mystical and the practical converge seamlessly, making her a revered figure in the realm of New York's astrology scene.

4. Laura Gilmore-

Laura Gilmore is the 4th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Famous as Astrobabe Online, Laura Gilmore stands as a cosmic companion for those seeking astrological insights in the bustling city of New York. Recognized as the most famous astrologer in the area, Laura merges astrology with modern spirituality, offering a roadmap for personal growth. Navigate life's complexities with the celestial guidance of Laura, making her an indispensable figure in the quest for self-discovery in New York.

5. Rebecca Gordon Astrology-

She is the 5th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. In the vibrant astrological landscape of New York, Rebecca Gordon shines as the rising astrologer, combining ancient wisdom with contemporary relevance. Her platform serves as a guiding light for individuals seeking self-awareness and personal growth. Navigate the cosmic currents with Rebecca's profound astrological insights, establishing her as a prominent figure in the New York astrology community.

6. Oak Beth -

He is the 6th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Oak Beth Astrology is celebrated as the premium astrologer in New York, bringing a transformative blend of expertise and passion to his practice. Oaks commitment to unlocking individual potential through astrology makes him a trusted guide in the city. Dive into the celestial wisdom offered by Oak Astrology for personalized and enlightening experiences, establishing Drew as a key figure in New York's astrological landscape.

7. Anna Lesniak -

Anna Lesniak is 7th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Song of Sparrows, led by an intuitive guide Anna Lesniak, stands out as a poetic haven in the world of astrology in New York. Recognized as the popular astrologer in the city, this platform offers personalized readings and workshops that blend the cosmic and the personal. Immerse yourself in the beauty of self-discovery with Song of Sparrows, where the language of the stars converges with the richness of the human experience.

8. Drew McClain -

Drew McClain He is 8th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Drew McClain, a seasoned astrologer, opens the door to celestial wisdom and self-discovery in the heart of New York. Recognized as the top-notch astrologer in the city, Drew empowers individuals to navigate life's challenges with confidence and clarity. His harmonious blend of expertise and genuine commitment to guiding clients on their transformative journey establishes him as a key figure in the New York astrology scene.

9. Susan Miller-

Susan Miller is 9th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Susan Miller, a renowned astrologer, is the undisputed best in the field in New York. Her platform, Astrology Zone, offers celestial insights and practical guidance, reflecting a wealth of astrological expertise. Susan's dedication to providing accurate and meaningful horoscopes to a global audience establishes her as a guiding light in the intersection of cosmic wisdom and everyday life in New York.

10. Samuel F. Reynolds -

He is the 10th Best Astrologer in New York, USA. Unlock Astrology, led by a passionate astrologer Samuel F. Reynolds, is recognized as the timeless astrologer in New York, inviting individuals to decode the secrets within their birth charts. With a dedication to demystifying astrology and making it accessible to all seekers of self-discovery, Unlock Astrology is an essential destination for insightful readings and a transformative journey in the cosmic landscape of New York. Unlock Astrology is an essential destination for insightful readings and a transformative journey, unlocking the cosmic patterns that shape your unique path in life.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
Online travel company EaseMyTrip is foraying into the insurance sector, co-founder and CEO Nishant Pitti announced on Wednesday, days after the firm made headlines for suspending flight bookings to Maldives in the wake of diplomatic tensions between India and the island nation. Nishant Pitti, co-founder and CEO, EaseMyTrip (Image courtesy: @nishantpitti/X)

Also Read | EaseMyTrip suspends all Maldives flight bookings amid row over anti-Modi posts

The subsidiary will be called EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker Private Limited (ETPL), Pitti said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

In a statement, the travel operator said that the upcoming venture was a strategic move on its part to to diversify its service portfolio and tap into the insurance market by creating a specialised product to solve customer needs.

Also Read | EaseMyTrip co-founder explains decision to suspend bookings for Maldives

The new venture is expected to solidify EaseMyTrip's position in the industry and cater to a 7.9 trillion market with EaseMyTrip's own 20 million user base. The subsidiary is a testament to the brand's unwavering commitment towards customer satisfaction and offerings, the statement read.

The release further stated that Pitti will be the director of the new entity.

This subsidiary is a major step forward for uswe aim to offer complete travel ecosystem for our customers and this new addition is a progressive step towards the same, it quoted him as saying.
The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 kicked off on January 10, with global leaders and businesspersons lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for the state. Zerodha chief financial officer and co-founder Nikhil Kamath spoke at the summit, extending his gratitude to PM Modi for boosting startup culture in India. Zerodha CFO Nikhil Kamath at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2024 (ANI)

Speaking at the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Nikhil Kamath talked about the rapid transformation of the entrepreneurship culture in India over the past decade, and the promotion of this ecosystem in the country.

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Kamath said, "The last 10 years has been incredible and I'm not the only exception here in India, there are many other exceptions like me. The big change in India from the last decade has been that entrepreneurship has moved from something that we have all watched around us, heard in movies or thought could happen, something that we aspire to, to entrepreneurship today, which is something that we all are actively trying."

The Zerodha co-founder further added, "You could take an example of this being a housewife watching Shark Tank, a small-time shoe salesman selling online on Flipkart. These are not stories that existed ten years ago. To that one man in the audience here today who has facilitated the stable ecosystem, I would like to say thank you PM Modi for having created this ecosystem."

Nikhil Kamath, at the age of 37, is the youngest billionaire in India, according Forbes' list of the country's 100 richest people. Meanwhile, his brother and Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath is at the 40th position on the list. The two have a combined net worth of over 31,000 crore, according to Forbes.

Major projects, investments announced at VGGS 2024

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 saw a string of major announcements and investments in the state on January 10, as business leaders like Lakshmi Mittal, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani spoke at the event.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani announced that his firm will be investing around 2 lakh crore in Gujarat over the course of the next five years. He said that his upcoming projects will create around 1 lakh jobs in the state.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani expressed confidence that no power can stop India from becoming a $35 trillion economy in the future. He also said that India has plans to bid for the 2036 Olympics, and Reliance is working towards aiding the developments in this regard.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday made a slew of announcements regarding its plans for Gujarat, with Toshihiro Suzuki, President, Suzuki Motor Corp., making these announcements during his address at the inauguration ceremony of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) 2024 in Gandhinagar. Gandhinagar: Suzuki Motor Corp President Toshihiro Suzuki speaks during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (PTI Photo)

The carmaker's plans for the state include a second manufacturing facility, in addition to the existing one in Hansalpur Becharaji.

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We will invest 35,000 crore for a second plant which would produce another one million units per year. The new plant is expected to open in FY 2028-29. Details of the location and the models to be produced will be shared in due course, Suzuki said.

The automaker's annual production capacity from Gujarat, therefore, will increase to 2 million (20 lakh) units, with both the existing and upcoming facilities contributing equally.

Suzuki also announced that the group's maiden battery electric vehicle (BEV) too will come from Suzuki Motor Gujarat by the end of the year.

We plan to sell this model not only in India, but also export to Japan and Europe. Also, in order to expand the BEV in future, we will invest 3200 crore in Suzuki Motor Gujarat to add a new fourth production line which can produce 2.5 lakh units per year, he elaborated, adding that this fourth line is expected in FY 2026-27.

He further stated that already, the manufacturer has, in partnership with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Banas Dairy, started construction of four biogas plants in the state.

Maruti Suzuki India, a subsidiary of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp., leads the Indian passenger car segment with a market share of 42%. Suzuki Motor has around 58% stake in MSI.

(With PTI inputs)
Nearly three years after launching Gruhas, a Venture Capital (VC) fund for entrepreneurs, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has come up with another fund  Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund  this one for consumer brands, in partnership with Collective Artists Network, a Mumbai-based talent management and influencer marketing firm. Nikhil Kamath (right) and Vijay Subramaniam (Image: Moneycontrol)

The timing of the fund launch is opportune. Right now, we are in a sweet spot where the funnel for private equity/venture capital money coming into India, is reduced quite a bit. So the opportunity that exists today, wasn't there 12 months ago, Kamath told Moneycontrol.

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With two people coming from two different genres, we will have a multiplier effect. Seeing Nikhil's track record and the level of disruption he has made in the Indian economy, we are confident, Vijay Subramaniam, founder and Group CEO, Collective Arts Network, told the publication.

Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund

(1.) It has been launched at an initial investment fund of 150 crore. According to Subramaniam, the two participating companies alone are underwriting 30-35% of the venture.

(2.) The joint venture has already locked down its first five investments and will invest up to a million dollars in early-stage companies.

(3.) Of those five investments, one is a sexual wellness brand, and the second, a maker of innerwear. This, Subramaniam said, signals Gruhas Collective's support for transformative ideas across various segments within the growing creator economy.

(4.) Majority of the investments will be done within the next year, noted Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath, adding that the fund will become much larger in the coming years.

(5.) Additionally, the venture will primarily work with businesses that focus on technology.
The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 kicked off on January 10, and will continue till January 12. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong words of confidence towards the development of the nation were the highlight of the event, top global business leaders made significant announcements of investments and projects in India on Wednesday. Gautam Adani (Left) and Mukesh Ambani (Right) made crucial announcements at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024.

India's two richest businessmen - Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani - took the stage during the Gujarat summit and talked about the future of the conglomerates in the state. They also announced investments worth billions in Gujarat in the coming years.

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Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2024: Top 10 announcements
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday laid out the conglomerate's five major commitments for Gujarat, announcing these during his address at the inauguration ceremony of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) 2024 in Gandhinagar. India's Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani addresses the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, a business event to attract investments to the Gujarat state, in Gandhinagar, India, Wednesday, Jan.10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Reliance has invested over 12 lakh crore in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in the last 10 years. Of this, more than one-third has been invested in Gujarat alone, Ambani said.

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The five commitments announced by Ambani are:

(1.) RIL will set up India's first carbon fiber facility in Hazira, making Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and circular economy.

(2.) To help the state meet 50% of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2030, the group has started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. The facility will be commissioned in the second half of the year.

(3.) Reliance Retail, RIL''s retail arm, will bring quality products to the state and support its farmers.

(4.) Having completed the fastest 5G rollout' anywhere in the world, RIL's 5G-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) revolutions' will create jobs in the state.

(5.) India will bid for the 2036 Olympics, and Reliance will make investments in Gujarat in this regard.
Gandhi Nagar: Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said Reliance will always remain a Gujarati company. Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat summit, the coastal state's flagship investment event, Asia's second richest person heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he is the most successful prime minister of India ever. Chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani speaks during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.(Reuters)

Both Modi and Ambani are native of Gujarat, one of the most prosperous states in India.

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"I have come from the city of the Gateway of India to the gateway of modern India's growth - Gujarat. I am a proud Gujarati...When foreigners think of a new India, they think of a new Gujarat. How did this transformation happen? Because of one leader, who has emerged as the greatest global leader of our times - PM Modi, the most successful PM in India's history," he said.

Ambani said one-third of his company's 150 billion dollar investments in India took place in Gujarat.

"Reliance was, is and will always remain a Gujarati company...Reliance has invested over 150 billion dollars - 12 lakh crores - in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in the last 10 years, of which more than 1/3rd has been invested in Gujarat alone," he added.

Mukesh Ambani called the Vibrant Gujarat Summit the most prestigious investors' summit in the world.

Welcome to Gujarat and the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Summit - the most prestigious investors summit in the world today. No other summit of this kind has continued for 20 long years and going from strength to strength. This is a tribute to PM Modi's vision and consistency," he added.

The summit was started by Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

Ambani said no power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion-dollar economy. He said Gujarat's economy will be 3 trillion dollars.

"Today, and in today's India is the best time for young people to enter the economy to innovate and to provide ease of living and ease of earning to hundreds of millions of people. The coming generations will indeed be thankful to Prime Minister Modi for being both a nationalist and an internationalist. You have laid a solid foundation for 'Vikasit Bharat' - India as a fully Developed Nation in Amrit Kaal. No power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion-dollar economy by 2047. And as I see Gujarat alone will become a 3-trillion dollar economy," Ambani said.

With inputs from ANI
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has been in the headlines lately for pushing for a 70-hour work week, urging the youth of the country to dedicate all their time for the development of the nation. This is a similar ideology he followed when he was in his prime, and his children were quick to notice. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy (PTI)

Narayan Murthy and his wife Sudha Murty in their recently published biography 'An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy' talked about the struggles of raising a family along with running Infosys, India's second biggest IT firm.

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The book talks about how Narayana Murthy dedicated all his time to take Infosys to new heights of success, while his wife and educator Sudha Murty raised children Rohan and Akshata Murty, missing his presence at home.

The Times of India published an excerpt of the book, where Infosys founder's daughter, "the quiet Akshata", used to miss her father and once confronted him about his work-life balance.

Akshata Murty, who is the wife of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said years ago that her grandfather was her "real dad" and Narayana Murthy was her "bonus dad", who showed up in intervals and tried to make up for it through fun activities.

His son Rohan Murty also confronted him once, asking Narayana Murthy, "Who do you love more -- me and Akshata, or Infosys?" The Infosys chairman emeritus, taken aback, said "Of course, I love you both the most."

Narayana Murthy's 70-hour work week opinion

Recently, a statement by Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy stoked a controversy in the corporate world, where he was pushing for a 70-hour work week in India, urging the youth of the country to dedicate all their time to build their companies to further develop India as a nation.

Murthy further pointed out that he himself worked over 70 hours every week for 40 years, saying that his hard work didn't go to waste. "I used to be in the office at 6:20 am and leave office at 8:30 pm and worked six days a week," the Infosys founder told Economic Times.

However, his opinion on the longer working hours sparked a controversy in the corporate world, where employees pointed out issues like mental health, low salaries, job cuts and hostile working conditions as reasons behind why a 70-hour work week won't work.
In another development on the shocking Goa murder case, the body of the four-year-old boy, who was allegedly killed by his CEO mother Suchana Seth in Goa, was brought to Bengaluru to his father's apartment in the Rajajinagar area. The boy was killed by way of strangulation sometime between January 6 and 8, officials said.(PTI)

ALSO READ | Goa murder: How did Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth's son die? Post-mortem report reveals gruesome details

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This comes after the boy's father, Venkat Raman, returned to India from Jakarta on Tuesday evening after learning about the heinous crime and gave permission to officials to conduct a post mortem on his child.

A video from news agency PTI showed that officials - police officers - were gathered outside the high-rise apartment as the body arrived in an ambulance.

ALSO READ | Start-up CEO Suchana Seth attempted suicide after allegedly killing son in Goa? Police reply

The post mortem conducted recently revealed that the deceased child was smothered to death with either a cloth or a pillow. The child died due to strangulation. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used, Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer in Chitradurga, Dr Kumar Naik, said.

ALSO READ | AI Start-up CEO Suchana Seth's Bengaluru office has no... office: Cops

The accused woman also allegedly attempted suicide after committing the crime, by cutting her left wrist with a sharp object, police said.

The 39-year-old AI start-up CEO, Suchana Seth, was arrested from Karnataka's Chitradurga district on Monday night as she was fleeing in a taxi with her son's dead body packed in her luggage. She is accused of having killed the boy in a service apartment in Goa last week as she was upset about the custodial battle with her estranged husband.

(With inputs from PTI)
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday mourned the untimely demise of celebrated Indian classical vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan saying that his melodious voice will live on in the hearts and minds of his listeners worldwide. Music maestro Ustad Rashid Khan

Taking to official handle on X, the Karnataka CM posted, "Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Ustad Rashid Khan at 55. A legend in the world of music, his voice and artistry will forever echo in the hearts of his fans worldwide. His departure is not just a loss to Indian classical music but to all who appreciated his extraordinary talent."

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Leading the tributes to the world-renowned vocalist, who was conferred with the Padma Shri, Prime Minister Modi condoled the demise of the music maestro, saying that "his passing leaves a void that will be hard to fill."

READ | Music maestro Rashid Khan passes away after prolonged battle with cancer

Ustad Rashid Khan passed away on Tuesday afternoon in Kolkata after a long battle with cancer.

Posting from his official X handle, PM Modi paid glowing tributes to the vocalist, posting, "Pained by the demise of Ustad Rashid Khan Ji, a legendary figure in the world of Indian classical music. His unparalleled talent and dedication to music enriched our cultural world and inspired generations. His passing leaves a void that will be hard to fill. My heartfelt condolences to his family, disciples and countless admirers."

President Droupadi Murmu, in her condolence message, said Ustad Rashid Khan "leaves behind a rich legacy in the field of classical music."

"Saddened to know about the passing of the eminent Hindustani classical music vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan. A Padma Bhushan awardee, Ustad Rashid Khan showcased immense versatility by exploring fusion and performing jugalbandis. He leaves behind a rich legacy in the field of classical music. I extend my deep condolences to his loved ones and admirers," President Murmu posted from her official X handle.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, too, paid rich tributes to the singing stalwart.

"Padma Bhushan awardee, Ustad Rashid Khan was a distinguished Hindustani classical music vocalist whose remarkable legacy is an invaluable treasure, not just for our nation, but for the global music fraternity. Deeply pained by his untimely demise. My sincere condolences to his family, friends and admirers," Vice President Dhankhar posted on X.

READ | Kannada actor Leelavathi dies at 85, PM Narendra Modi pays condolences: A true icon of cinema

Ustad Rashid Khan had been undergoing treatment for cancer at a hospital in Kolkata. He breathed his last earlier on Tuesday.

His mortal remains will be laid to rest with full state honours in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The nephew of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan received his initial lessons and training in Hindustani classical music from his maternal grand-uncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.

Not only did he contribute immensely to Indian classical music but also weaved the magic in Bollywood with his soulful renditions such as 'Aaoge Jab Tum O Saajana' from the Kareena-Shahid starrer 'Jab We Met' and 'Allah Hi Reham' in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'My Name is Khan'.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Punjab National Health Mission (PNHM), in a fresh order issued on Monday, has directed all the civil surgeons in the state to stop the planned outreach activities under the Union governments Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) in the state. Punjab National Health Mission (PNHM), in a fresh order issued on Monday, has directed all the civil surgeons in the state to stop the planned outreach activities under the Union governments Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) in the state.

This comes amid the backdrop of the Centre not releasing 402.48 crore under the National Health Mission (NHM) to Punjab due to the states non-compliance with branding guidelines for Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres.

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Punjab has branded the centres as Aam Aadmi Clinic (AAC) instead of Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre (now, Ayushman Arogya Mandir), thereby violating the provisions of the pact signed between the Union health ministry and the state, minister of state for health Bharati Pravin Pawar had said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha in December last year. The state has also not followed the colour scheme nor has displayed the six logos, she said, responding to a question on the reasons behind not releasing 621 crore to Punjab under the NHM.

For the financial year 2023-24, under NHM, central share allocation is 457.90 crores. Central share released till date is 51.11 crores and central share to be released is 402.48 crores which has not been released due to non-compliance of DoE guidelines and non-adherence to clauses of MoU signed between Centre and State for NHM, Pawar stated.

Withdrawing its earlier order of extending help to VBSY, the NHM-Punjab, in a fresh order issued on Monday has directed all the civil surgeons to stop the planned outreach activities. A copy of the order is with HT.

Confirming the development, SP Singh, director, NHM-Punjab, said, We had earlier issued the guidelines related to the implementation of VBSY in the state  which has been withdrawn.

Singh said he is not authorised to speak on the reasons behind the withdrawal of support to VBSY and said, Only senior government officials would be able to provide an answer to it.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year, the VBSY is a massive outreach programme with a focus on raising awareness and facilitating the delivery of welfare schemes benefits to all the gram panchayats of the country. The outreach programme will culminate on January 25, 2024.

There were two schemes  Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)-scheme and the National TB Elimination Programme  that were identified by the ministry of health and family welfare, for the demonstration during this yatra.

Besides all this, the health camps were being conducted at all locations whereby the mobile vans, around 480, across Punjab, were being used for awareness.

Despite repeated attempts Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh could not be contacted for comments.
Several parts of north and central Delhi are reeling under a shortage of water along with low-pressure supply as treatment operations in the Capital remain affected due to the high pollution load in the raw water of Yamuna, according to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Toxic foam covers the Yamuna in November. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

DJB officials said the level of pollutants in the raw water spiked further on Wednesday and the ammonia levels rose from 3 parts per million (ppm) on Monday to 5ppm by 7pm on by Wednesday.

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In an advisory issued earlier, DJB had warned of supplies being impacted until the situation improved. HT reached out to the Delhi government which did not respond to queries seeking comments.

The Wazirabad water treatment plant has been partially shut down and is currently operating at 50% of its capacity. We are trying to divert more raw water from other sources for dilution to maintain the operations at the Chandrawal plant, a DJB official said, asking not to be named.

To be sure, DJB faces the problem of high ammonia levels in Yamuna water throughout the year, but it is relatively acute between January and March.

DJB supplies more than 990 million gallon per day (MGD) of water to Delhi out of which over 230 MGD is supplied by Chandrawal and Wazirabad plants  both of which draw water from the Wazirabad pond fed by raw water coming from the river. The water utility can treat up to 0.9ppm of ammonia in raw water but beyond such high levels, neutralisation of ammonia with chlorine gas regularly leads to the formation of toxic chloramine compounds.

A second DJB official said that the pollutant load had briefly gone down during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday when ammonia levels of 1.1ppm to 1.2ppm were recorded at the Wazriabad water treatment plant. However, the turbidity levels were still high at 58 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). Turbdity is the optical clarity of water and is is measured in NTUs. For clear supply water, the turbidity needs to be less than 3 NTU.

The second official added that the levels rose through the day and reached around 3ppm at 3.30pm with a turbidity level of 60NTUs before hitting 5ppm at 7pm.

This was way beyond the treatable limit and operations could not be maintained. In such a situation, the operations can only be maintained if the plant is fed by CLC (carrier lined canal or Munak) only, the official said.

DJB officials have previously alleged that the source of the pollutants such as dyes, chlorides, and ammonia-based chemicals comes from the Panipat industrial dye drain and that untreated water from industries in Haryana predominantly causes high levels of ammonia in the river water, a charge repeatedly denied by the Haryana government.

Meanwhile, the high pollution levels translated to a range of issues in areas of north and central Delhi  while there was zero water supply in some areas, some received a curtailed supply in low-pressure.

Ashok Bhasin, who heads the North Delhi Resident Welfare Federation, said that the water supply has been affected over the last two days and the timing of the morning supply has been reduced.
BIKANER: A 23-year-old man on the run after raping his seven-year-old neighbour in Bikaner on Monday evening was tracked down to a train in Churu and arrested, senior Rajasthan police officers said on Wednesday. (X/SDLPNwr)

Bikaner inspector general of police (IGP) Om Prakash Paswan said the accused, Mohit Kumar, was intercepted by the Rajgarh police station team at the Sadulpur railway station 250km away when he was on his way to Delhi.

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The Napasar police, which was investigating the young girls rape, requested the Churu district police to detain the accused when the Delhi-bound train stops at Sadulpur Junction.

He was arrested under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Indian Penal Code related to rape of a minor.

Bikaner superintendent of police (SP) Tejaswini Gautam said the suspect lived in the same neighbourhood as the young girl and lured her when she stepped out to go to a relatives house.

He took her to a secluded place and raped her.

The SP said the man let her go after threatening her not to say a word about it.

The petrified girl reached home and did not say anything. But her parents figured something was amiss; she wasnt her chirpy self, looked very scared and unable to speak coherently.

Her mother encouraged her to speak about what had happened, and she did.

The family filed a police complaint soon after.

When the suspect heard that the little girl had spoken about the rape, he fled the area and boarded a train to Delhi. The police got details about his train journey and tipped off the Churu police. A police team led by Islam Khan, circle officer of Rajgarh circle in Churu, detained the suspect at Sadulpur railway station and handed him over to the Bikaner police.
Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 10 (ANI): Backing Uttar Pradesh Government's move of banning liquor and meat shops in Ayodhya, Chief Priest of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Acharya Satyendra Das Maharaj said that the decision taken by Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath is really commendable. HT Image

Terming the inauguration of Ram Mandir as a 'historic day', Ram Mandir Chief Priest Acharya Satyendra Das Maharaj said "The momentous occasion should be celebrated like a festival and hence all alcohol shops should remain closed on the auspicious day and schools should be shut for the particular day".

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"The day of the inauguration of Ram Mandir on January 22 will be a historic day when Ram Lalla will be consecrated in the temple and all devotees will grant prayers to Lord Ram," he added.

Acharya Satyendra Das came down heavily on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for calling the inauguration of Ram Janmabhoomi temple a "gimmick".

"She herself does drama all the time, she is a sanatan virodhi and that is why she is calling the Pran Prathishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir, a "gimmick". Her statement is condemnable," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, sparked row with her remarks against the inauguration of Ram Mandir. Mamata Banerjee in a public address, called the inauguration of Ram Mandir as a "gimmick" before the elections.

"I believe in a festival which takes everyone together, talks about everyone. Do whatever you want, you are doing a gimmick before the elections, do it, I have no problem but disregarding people of other communities is not right. I will never allow discrimination between Hindus and Muslims as long as I live," said Mamata Banerjee.

Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP state chief took a swipe at the Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and claimed that despite receiving the invite, she won't attent the event.

"There is a lot of emotion and sentiment riding on the opening of the Ram Temple. The issue has been an emotional one for Hindus over decades. It is a matter of joy that the temple is finally nearing completion and is set to be thrown open to devotees on January 22. She (CM Mamata) has been invited to the consecration ceremony and she should accept it," he said.

"She is politicising the issue. If she can go to Red Road (in Kolkata) for special Eid prayers or the Vatican for the ceremony to bestow on Mother Teresa, why is she being allergic to Lord Ram? She is anti-Hindu which is why she will not accept the invite for visiting the Ram Temple for the consecration ceremony." he added. (ANI)
More than 24 hours after the gruesome incident in which an eight-year-old girl was bludgeoned to death and her 12-year-old friend critically injured at Phulwari Sharif in Patna, the police were yet to make arrests till Wednesday, even as angry locals blocked Patna-Ara stretch of the national highway for more than six hours in protest. Police at the crime scene at Phulwari Sharif. (PTI)

According to police and locals, the two girls, both from Mahadalit families, had gone to collect firewood on Monday but did not return till late night. On Tuesday morning, body of the eight-year-old girl was found in a field at Hinduni village while the other girl was lying unconscious at the same spot.

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Assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Vikram Sihag said an FIR has been lodged against unidentified accused on the statement of the deceaseds mother under sections of 302 (murder), 376AB (Punishment for rape of woman under 12 years of age), 120b (conspiracy) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the POCSO (protection of children from sexual offences) Act.

Autopsy and medical examination reports are yet to be given by AIIMS in Patna, where the victims were taken.

We are waiting for the unconscious girl to recover for details of the incident, said ASP.
In a bid to combat constant river pollution in the twin city, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will carry out technical inspection of the Pawana, Indrayani and Mula rivers in its jurisdiction, officials said. The move comes on the back of several news reports about pollution in the Indrayani and Pawana rivers in the past. (HT FILE)

The inspection, to be started in a couple of days, will be conducted by officials from the PCMC along with experts from the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) with the aim to come up with a permanent solution to the problem. The standing committee of the PCMC on Tuesday approved funds to the tune of 10 lakh for the purpose. However, PCMC officials have asked the team to give priority to the Indrayani River.

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The move comes on the back of several news reports about pollution in the Indrayani and Pawana rivers in the past. In December 2023, chief minister Eknath Shinde too had ordered inspection and action against pollution of the sacred Indrayani River.

Despite the civic body and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) regularly reporting toxic foam in the Indrayani and Pawana Rivers, no permanent measures have been taken yet.

A senior official from the PCMC on condition of anonymity said, A team comprising officials and technical staff from the PCMC and COEP will begin the six-month inspection from Thursday. They will visit sites on the banks of the rivers, draw samples from the three rivers, and send them to the laboratory. The team will also visit all important sites along these rivers that have possible sources of river pollution. The relevant scientific and technical data will be collected to analyse the current pollution level and its sources.

Sanjay Kulkarni, head of the environment department at PCMC, said that the technical inspection will continue till June and there will not only be an inspection but also a study to check the pollution level in all three rivers. The reason behind the pollution based on the pollutants found in the river will be known after inspection. Every time, the PCMC cannot be blamed for the pollution of the rivers. The report will clear the air about the pollution and its source and the jurisdiction in which pollution is taking place, Kulkarni said.

Kulkarni further said that all three rivers  Indrayani, Pawana and Mula  flow through areas which are also under the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and other local bodies. The report will be shared with these local bodies to take preventive measures in their areas. The PCMC is taking adequate measures to prevent the pollution of rivers in its area. Industrial units and development activities in the jurisdiction of other local bodies are responsible for the pollution of these rivers, he said.
PUNE: Pune city police arrested a 27-year-old Angola national in case of alleged drug peddling in the Kondhwa area on Monday, said police. The accused has been identified as Kombo Carmelo Mayele, resident of Jadhav Nagar in Handewadi and originally hailing from Angola in Africa. The suspect was taken into custody following a targeted operation by the police, who acted on credible information regarding their involvement in the illegal drug trade. Pune city police arrested 27-year-old African national in case of alleged drug peddling in Kondhwa. ((PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

During the investigation, it was revealed that the arrested individual was found with Mephedrone and Methaqualone drugs substances in his possession. Anti Narcotics Unit 2 of the Pune city police raided an area near Sobha Carnation society and arrested accused for possessing illegal drugs worth 4.60 lakh.

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According to Police they have seized 12.835 grams Methaqualone worth of 2.58 lakh and 7.75 grams of MD worth of 1.42 lakh and a motorcycle.

A case has been registered at Kondhwa police station under sections 8(c), 22 (b)(c), of the NDPS Act and further investigation is underway.
Macquarie University, Australia is inviting applications for its Master of Commerce degree program. The university has introduced 10 new specializations in the program to offer students keen to pursue postgraduate degrees with choices of specializations that they would be interested in. Macquarie University, Australia invites applications for its Master of Commerce degree program.(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to a press release issued by the university, the latest enhancement of specializations comes in line with the institutions commitment to equip forthcoming leaders with the specialized skills imperative for excelling across industries.

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Also read: SNAP Result 2023 releasing tomorrow at snaptest.org, know how to download

The release further stated that professionals seeking to update their business acumen, individuals aspiring for specialized managerial roles, and those considering a career transition will benefit highly from the Master of Commerce program.

Furthermore, the program is also built to improve expertise in areas like accounting and auditing, applied economics, business analytics, business management, digital finance, finance, human resource management, international business, marketing, and supply chain management.

The Master of Commerce degree program has been developed collaboratively with industries and sectors that seek to train future leaders with current insights and practical skills.

Also read: UGC NET December 2023 Archaeology answer key released, direct link here

Additionally, the university also offers students the opportunity to enhance their career prospects by combining this degree with another program, whether within the business realm or beyond, thereby gaining a competitive edge in their professional journey.

(For more information, visit the universitys official website)
The United Kingdom (UK) is reeling under shortage of health & care workers. According to Skills for Care, an industry body, at the end of March 2023, there were more than 150,000 vacancies across the adult social care sector, that is equivalent to 9.9% of the countrys vacant roles. Health and care visas now account for two in five of all skilled work visas issued in the UK. This visa category is extremely popular with Indians - more Indians than any other nationality go to the UK on this visa route. (Photo by Leon Neal / POOL / AFP)(AFP)

In a bid to fill the rising number of vacancies, the government added senior care workers to the Shortage Occupation list in 2021, followed by care workers in February 2022. Up to June 2023, 77,700 long-term work visas were granted to care workers - a six-fold increase from 12,300 year-over-year in 2022. Health and care visas now account for two in five of all skilled work visas issued in the UK.

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This visa category is extremely popular with Indians - more Indians than any other nationality go to the UK on this visa route. In the year ending June 2022, 24,348 Indians were granted health and care worker visas which went up to 45,943 this year.

Also Read: UK Family Visa salary threshold hike: Explained

In an exclusive interview, Yash Dubal, Director & Senior Immigration Associate, A Y & J Solicitors, London, shares all the necessary details about the UKs health & care visa.

What is a Health & Care Worker visa?

A Health and Care Worker visa of the UK was introduced in August 2020 and allows medical professionals to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with the British National Health Service (NHS), an NHS supplier, or in adult social care.

What is the eligibility criteria?

The UK health and care worker visas are only open to adults and apply to NHS clinics, hospitals and community services and private health and care providers who are approved to employ overseas workers.

To qualify, an applicant must be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional and must have a qualifying job offer from a UK employer which has been approved by the UK Home Office.

Applicants must have a certificate of sponsorship from their British employer with information about the role that has been offered in the UK. The salary for the job must meet minimum salary requirements as listed on the UK Government website.

Are degrees from Indian universities recognised?

Applicants who studied abroad will need to apply through Ecctis (formerly UK NARIC) for confirmation that their qualification is equivalent to a UK bachelors degree, masters degree or PhD.

What about English language proficiency?

Applicants must also prove they can read, write, speak and understand English to at least level B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale.

This can be done in a range of ways, including passing a Secure English Language Test (SELT) from an approved provider, having a UK GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English, gained through study at a UK school that you began when you were under 18, having a degree-level academic qualification that was taught in English.

Where & how can one apply for this visa?

Indians applying from outside the UK should apply online through the official UK government website. As part of the application process applicants will need to prove their identity. This will generally mean having fingerprints and a photograph taken at a visa application centre in India. This is to get a biometric residence permit.

What is the fee?

There are several fees associated with the Health and Care Visa and applicants must be able to show they can support themselves in the UK. Proof of this is usually evidenced by having at least 1,270 available.

The standard application fee depends on the length of the visa. Up to three years, it is 284 per person, and for more than three years, it is 551 per person.

What is the processing time?

Once an online application has been made and the appropriate documents provided, and identity has been verified a decision is usually made within three weeks.

In some cases, the process can take longer if, for example, supporting documents need to be verified, the applicants are required to attend an interview or there are extenuating personal circumstances, for example, if the applicant has a criminal conviction.

How long is the visa valid? Can it be renewed?

Visa can last for up to 5 years and can be extended. Holders must apply to extend or update visas when they expire or if their job or employer changes.

What are the benefits that the visa holders dependants are entitled to?

A dependant partner or child is classified as a husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner, a child under 18 including if they were born in the UK during your stay, a child over 18 if theyre currently in the UK as a dependant.

Applicants need to provide evidence of these relationships when they apply. In 2022, 30,000 Indian nationals moved to the UK under the health and care worker visa route. Of these, over half (18,000) bought dependents with them.

Can one transition from this work visa to UK citizenship?

After five years, health and care visa holders may be able to apply to settle permanently in the UK under the 'indefinite leave to remain' scheme.

This gives people the right to live, work and study in Britain for as long as they like, and to apply for certain benefits if they are eligible. Visa holders are not eligible for benefits before this but will be able to get health treatment on the NHS

Also Read: UK visa fee hike for visitors effective this week: Impact on Indians explained
A career with a degree in media and communications would help the students to keep pace with the latest happenings around the globe. Students can also expect to be groomed with practical knowledge of how the media industry works along with analysis of various perspectives that are needed to strive in the industry. For an ambitious student to get the best industry knowledge along with practical as well as opportunities to gain much-needed skills, it is important to aim to be a part of the best media schools.(Pixabay)

For an ambitious student to get the best industry knowledge along with practical as well as opportunities to gain much-needed skills, it is important to aim to be a part of the best media schools.

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Check the following list of top universities around the world that are the best for Communication & Media Studies according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 rankings.

The rankings are based on various parameters as mentioned below:

(1) Academic Reputation

(2) Employer Reputation

(3) Citations per Paper

(4) H-index Citations

University Overall Score University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 97.2 University of Southern California, United States 92.7 The London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom 91.7 Stanford University, United States 90.9 University of Texas at Austin, United States 90.6 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) 90 University of Pennsylvania, United States 88.9 University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States 88.4 Michigan State University, United States 87.2 New York University (NYU), United States 86.8

University of Amsterdam topped the list with an overall score of 97.2, scoring the highest of 100 in academic reputation and H-index citations.

Also Read: Top 10 medical institutions in India as per NIRF Rankings
Students of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) Madras are celebrating 50 years of the annual cultural festival of the Institute  Saarang, from today till January 14. IIT Madras students celebrate 50 years of annual fest Saarang. (File image)

Notably, the event was founded in 1974 in honour of the erstwhile Mardi Gras or the spotted deer that is deeply rooted in South Indias culture. Mardi Gras was rebranded as Saarang in 1996 to honour its Indian roots and celebrate the omnipresence of the spotted deer commonly found in the campus.

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According to a press release, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras inaugurated the cultural festival with a violin performance during the Classical Night at Open Air Theatre.

With an estimated footfall of 80,000 visitors, the 5-day event has been planned keeping the interests of all at top priority, the press release said.

Also read: NEET PG 2024: Where, how to apply for PG Medical entrance test

Prof Kamakoti, while highlighting about the festival, said that the golden jubilee celebrations is being dedicated to the rich culture and traditions of Tamil Nadu.

Prof. Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, Dean (Students) of IIT Madras, said it was for the first time that a classical and folk night has been introduced showcasing both classical music and Tamil Nadu folk arts.

Prof Gummadi lauded the efforts of over 800 students for making the 50th edition of Saarang a success.

Also read: List of best universities for Communication & Media Studies based on QS rankings

Prasad Patnaik B S V., Advisor (Cultural) of IIT Madras also applauded the efforts of the students and said, The entire Saarang organising team has been putting higher order efforts to make the festival more exciting for the Gen-Z. Kudos to the team lead by our cultural secretaries Jyotir Aditya Menon and Valeti Sriraj.

Features of Saarang 2024:

A unique platform for young artists and performers coming from a diverse array of art forms and interests such as freestyle dance, photography, acapella, graphic designing and stand-up comedy.

unique platform for young artists and performers coming from a diverse array of art forms and interests such as freestyle dance, photography, acapella, graphic designing and stand-up comedy. Saarang to feature events from the many cultural clubs of IIT Madras, including oratory, comedy, fine arts, writing, and the culinary arts club.

Professional Shows: A line-up of well-established and upcoming artists whose performances will enthral the audience.

The Spotlight Lecture Series wherein a host of speakers with a wide-ranging reach across various cultural domains would be attending. This includes renowned celebrities like Nassar, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Usha Uthup, and Manoj Bajpayee.

Urjam Social Campaign: Like every year, Saarang will be running a social campaign titled Urjam to encourage people to make conscious decisions and switch to renewable energy sources.

(For more information, visit the official website)
New Delhi [India], January 10 (ANI): Actor Pankaj Tripathi, who essays former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the biopic 'Main Atal Hoon', got candid about how getting arrested and beaten up by policemen put paid to his early inclination towards politics. HT Image

In an interview with ANI, Tripathi spoke about his interest in becoming a politician in his home state, stating, "Everyone is a politician in Bihar."

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Tripathi, who was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during his college days in Bihar, said he had never thought about joining politics at that time.

The actor said, "I never thought about entering politics at that time. There was a thought that I might proceed in this line but then there was an arrest and the cops beat me up so I left that thought there and then. At the same time, I became inclined towards plays and dramas and after watching those, I got more attracted towards theatre."

Recently, during the trailer launch of his soon-to-be released biopic on Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he had opened up on his interest in politics and how he prepared for his role portraying the late Prime Minister of India.

He also recalled a funny anecdote from his college days when he joined the ABVP.

"I was in a youth wing. I have participated in andolans. I was even jailed for a week! Toh main uss raaste pe nikal chuka tha. Then I realised that the path of politics is full of thorns. Hence, I took a turn and started developing an interest in street theatre. There was Kaildas Rangalaya, Patna where I enrolled myself. Mujhe laga ki yeh behtar hai. Yahaan kam se kam bol ke acting hoti hai ki 'main acting kar raha hoon'," Tripathi quipped.

The film 'Main Atal Hoon' is directed by Ravi Jadhav and will be released on January 19.

The actor said that he is honoured to bring Atal Bihari Vajpayee's story to silver screen.

"More than the film, the journey of playing Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee is really close to my heart. The man is truly a legend, and we are honoured to bring his inspiring story to the world. I hope audiences appreciate our efforts to bring in the legacy of Atal ji onto the big screens," he said.

The film is backed by Bhanushali Studios Limited and Legend Studios, Vinod Bhanushali, Sandeep Singh, Sam Khan and Kamlesh Bhanushali. (ANI)
Rani Mukerji recently said that India 'makes the best films in the world' as she gave the example of Vikrant Massey-starrer 12th Fail, based on IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma's life. During a recent roundtable with Galatta Plus, Rani made the comment in response to filmmaker Prithvi Konanur saying that Iranian cinema was better than Indian films as far as ideas go. Rani's response was met with criticism on X (formerly Twitter), with some even saying 'Rani's take is as garbage as it gets'. Also read: Katrina Kaif reacts to success of Vikrant Massey's 'small film' 12th Fail Twitter roasts Rani Mukerji's 'Indian cinema is best in the world' claim amid positive response to Vikrant Massey's 12th Fail.

What Prithvi Konanur said

Before Rani Mukerji interjected, Prithvi Konanur had said, "I ask people to watch Iranian films. Watch them. You can see a vast difference between our films and their films. I feel we are, for some reason, actually far behind Iranian cinema. This is an honest opinion. I request people to watch Iranian films and see how advanced they are in terms of ideas, maybe not in terms of technology, but in terms of ideas where they are."

Rani Mukerji's counter

Rani said, So I would like to say something here because I am a little offended when he says that we should learn from other people's cinema. I do believe that Indian cinema is the best in the world, so I would not agree with that. I am really sorry because if you want to talk about films that come from the roots, I think you must watch 12th Fail. It is a brilliant film made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and it talks about India... everything is very brilliantly shown... I feel that we in India make the most diverse films. When you talk about films from outside India, they don't have the diversity that India has. I believe Indian cinema has a lot to offer and actually are the best in the world... I would not want to compare Indian cinema with any other cinema in the world because we have the truest stories, most grounded stories"

Reactions to her statement

Reacting to a tweet that said, "India makes the best films in the world - Rani Mukerji. Do you agree?" One X user tweeted, "Haven't seen many Iranian films but pretty sure none of the acclaimed ones featured the protagonist in brownface the entire time to look 'poor' the way 12th Fail did. Rani's take is as garbage as it gets, and Karan Johar next to her (during the roundtable) loved Animal. Sums up the airheads running Bollywood."

Another said, "This is what happens when people don't watch enough movies from outside their country. Not a single point Rani Mukerji said makes sense." One more tweeted, "Saying India is the best and we make the best films doesn't mean a thing. Others should say it about us. This sounds pompous..."

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An X user also wrote, "lol the audacity of casually countering the argued brilliance of Iranian cinema with 12th fail." One also tweeted, "The truly hilarious thing about that Rani Mukerji quote from the roundtable is that her prime example was Satyajit Ray, a man who had nothing but contempt for the kind of Indian cinema Rani makes (laughing emoji)."

Countering Rani's argument, a person also said, "We do make all kinds of films but thats not to say were the best in the world. If what Rani says is true, why do our films struggle to find a spot in the international circuits? Most of our films are subpar and banal."

About 12th Fail

12th Fail, which stars Vikrant Massey as Manoj Kumar Sharma, portrays the challenges he faced on his journey to becoming an IPS officer. Also starring Medha Shankar as Manoj's wife, IRS officer Shraddha Joshi, 12th Fail is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. The film, sent to Oscars 2024 as an independent nomination, was released in theatres in October 2023.

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Stand-up comedian and actress Ali Wong became the first woman of Asian lineage to win the award for Best Performance in a Limited Series, Anthology series, or Motion Picture made for Television at the 81st Golden Globe Awards 2024. The actress, who is also a writer, producer, and director was visibly elated on winning her first Golden Globe. She received the trophy for her stellar act as Amy Lau in Netflixs Beef. Heres looking at the top six Ali Wong starrer shows and movies that you can watch on OTT to celebrate her big win. Ali Wong at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards(Getty Images via AFP)

Beef

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To begin with, it is only befitting to watch the Netflix show for which Ali won her first Golden Globe award. Beef is a dark comedy drama, spread over 10 episodes. It revolves around a collision in traffic that takes place between Amy Lau (essayed by Ali)  a successful entrepreneur and a building contractor Danny (played by Steven Yeun). Their respective worlds, stark opposite from each other, collide in an incident of road rage, which results in them going to extreme lengths to stretch and continue their fight for each other. In a way, this fight driven by hatred also allows them to escape their respective mundane and suffocating lives. How they become addicted to this beef between them makes for quite a compelling watch.

Birds of Prey

This 2020 film follows the series of events that unfold after Harley Quinns bitter break up with Joker. The movie has Ali playing the character of a district attorney named Ellen Yee who ends up betraying Renee Montoya  a detective. Montoya gets suspended from the Gotham Police department because of Alis betrayal. This marks a crucial point in the plot which helps Harley to team up with Montoya and two other deadly women to defeat crime bosses and protect a girl. More films featuring Ali are much anticipated in the Gotham universe. Birds of Prey is available to stream on Jio Cinema (in India) and Netflix.

Ask the StoryBots

This animated show on Netflix features five intriguing creatures who live inside a computer. The show is based on the premise that these five creatures are supposed to answer a curious childs questions by exploring all possible ways and take help from other creatures to find the answer to the queries. Once theyve gathered the information, they report it to their master and then share the same with the kid. The show makes for a humourous, educational, and entertaining watch for any family with kids. Ali plays the character of The Brain in the show, ably bringing to life the traits of the character. Shes intimidating and proud and often gives accurate descriptions of complex things.

Love, Victor

Ali plays the character of a sex education teacher  Ms Thomas, in this spin-off to Love, Simon. The show chronicles the coming-of-age and self-discovery of the protagonist in high school. Even though Alis character makes an appearance in just two episodes, she plays a significant part in them, leading to some important events in the overall scheme of things. Love, Victor is available to stream on Hulu.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candance Against the Universe

When Phineas and Ferbs elder sister Candance is abducted by aliens, they embark upon an adventurous journey across the universe to save her. Ali Wong lent vocals to the films antagonist  Super Super Big Doctor. Alis character inhabits quite a few dark and negative traits. She ends up imprisoning her brothers as part of her evil plans to take over Earth. She maintains a friendly appearance with Candance but actually wants to use her for an important aspect of her mind-control plan. The film is available to steam on Disney+

BoJack Horseman

Ali essays the character of a teenage girl named Maddy Ginsburg in this popular animated Netflix series that spans over six seasons. Her character is best friends with Penny Carson and is also Peter Pockets girlfriend. She goes to prom with Penny, Peter, and BoJack. She ends up getting drunk and passes out. Shes taken to the hospital where shes abandoned by BoJack to escape the possibility of being held responsible. Later on, her stomach is pumped and she survives.
Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner made it official as a couple at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held on January 8. Putting an end to months of speculation about their rumored romance, the pair confidently walked the red carpet together. A heartwarming moment from the Golden Globes, caught on video, showed the couple sharing affectionate glances and sweet kisses as well. Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet attend the Golden Globe Awards 2024. (Instagram)

Here's the scoop on what we know about their relationship so far.

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Sparks Fly

April 2023: Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were first seen together. Rumors about a connection between the Dune star and the founder of Kylie Cosmetics surfaced around that time. Fans also brought attention to a video circulating online, showing the two interacting during Paris Fashion Week in January 2023.

Kylie Jenner at the Wall Street Journal Magazine 2023 Innovator Awards (AFP)

July 2023: Travis Scott appeared to indirectly comment on his ex, Kylie Jenner's, new relationship with Timothee Chalamet. In his song Meltdown, part of his July album Utopia, Scott made a reference to the Willy Wonka factory. Speculation arose online, suggesting that Scott's mention of Wonka might be alluding to Jenner and Chalamet's connection.

September 4, 2023: Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner indulged in public display of affection at Beyonce's Los Angeles concert, marking their first official public appearance as a couple. The duo attended the last leg of Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour at SoFi Stadium, as captured in videos circulating on social media. The clips revealed the couple enjoying the concert from a box and stealing kisses during the show.

Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet at the US Open.

September 10, 2023: Just a week after their public appearance at Beyonce's concert, Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were seen enjoying the U.S. Open finals in New York City. The couple continued to share smiles and laughter.

Supporting Jenner's Success

November 1, 2023: Timothee Chalamet showed his support for Kylie Jenner at WSJ Magazine's Innovator Awards. The Dune star sat alongside Jenner at the event, where she was being recognized as the brand innovator of the year.

November 11, 2023: Following Timothee Chalamet's second hosting stint on Saturday Night Live, Kylie Jenner was spotted at the afterparty in New York City. The photos captured Jenner's presence at the event, marking another instance of the couple supporting each other.

US-French actor Timothee Chalamet at the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards 2024(AFP)

January 7th, 2024: Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner made a joint entrance at the 2024 Golden Globes, stealing the spotlight. In the midst of the event, during a commercial intermission, the couple engaged in a playful exchange of words and a kiss.
Actor Mahesh Babu got emotional at the recently held pre-release event of his upcoming film, Trivikram Srinivas Guntur Kaaram. The film will hit screens on January 12 and clash with Teja Sajjas HanuMan, Venkateshs Saindhav and Nagarjunas Naa Saami Ranga. The event was held in Guntur on Tuesday and saw the cast and crew including Sreeleela, Meenakshi Chaudhary, music composer Thaman S and others in attendance. At the event, Mahesh got emotional while remembering his late father, actor Krishna. The actor and his wife, Namrata Shirodkar, also penned emotional notes on their Instagram on Wednesday, thanking fans. (Also Read: Rukshar Dhillon interview: Actor calls Naa Saami Ranga co-star Nagarjuna a gem) Mahesh Babu joined his hands in a symbol of respect for his fans at the event in Guntur

I can only join my hands in respect

The actor claimed he didnt even remember this film is a landmark one, as he has been in the industry for 25 years. Nothing will match the love I have gotten from you (fans) throughout these years, he said, adding, The love has only increased as the years went by. I am at a loss for words. I always feel like I can do nothing but bow my head and join my hands in respect. In a cinematic moment, the fans immediately joined their hands in respect for the star too.

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You are my everything now

Getting emotional, Mahesh also stated how he and his father Krishna, always had hits for Sankranthi. It feels odd this year because hes not here. I used to look forward to his call every year, I used to wait to get his honest feedback. But hes not here, so Ill look to my fans for that love instead, he said, adding, From now on, you are my mother, you are my father, you are my everything.

It was my idea to do Kurchi Madathapetti

The massy number, Kurchi Madathapetti from the film composed by Thaman S received flak for the lyrics. More importantly, some fans believed that a film headlined by Mahesh Babu did not need to rely on memes based on cuss words to make it big. However, Mahesh surprised fans when he revealed the song was his and Trivikrams idea. Any other music composer wouldve hesitated to do this song but Thaman obliged us. Im sure fans will love it when they watch it on the big screen.

Celebrating in my hometown

Thanking fans for the love shown at the event, Namrata Shirodkar wrote on her Instagram, Today, after seeing the reception he (Mahesh) and his GK team received in our very own hometown, Guntur, I can proudly say that MB, you have grown to become an emotion for your people and this love we as a family will cherish for as long as we live.

Mahesh also thanked them, writing, Celebrating the film in my hometown surrounded by so much love, is a timeless memory that I will hold close to my heart. Love you all, my superfans and I look forward to seeing you again...very soon!!

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Miss India 2018 runner-up and actor Meenakshi Chaudhary is on cloud nine when we catch up with her. Her career is going great guns after all. Shes beginning the year with the release of Trivikram Srinivas Guntur Kaaram with Mahesh Babu on January 12 and has a great line-up of films in Tamil and Telugu. Im exhausted but also grateful to be at this stage of my career, she tells us, having just shot for The Greatest of All Time with Vijay in Chennai. Every day is a blessing, she adds. In a freewheeling and exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, she opens up about everything from her upcoming release to celebrating Lohri. Excerpts. Meenakshi Chaudhary gets candid about her career(Instagram)

Meenakshi Chaudhary with her Miss India crown(Instagram)

Its gonna be a great 2024

Meenakshi is currently juggling work in Chennai and Hyderabad, which means catching a lot of red-eye flights, keeping track of the nuances of each character she plays and more. Ask her how shes coping and she replies, I am grateful I have such good work coming my way so early in my career. I am shooting for three films nowso much is happening but my life is exactly how I wanted it. 2024 is gonna be a great year for me, I just know it. I just want to remember to take a pause, breathe and go on vacations.

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When I competed in Miss India, I thought Id opt for civil services after, and being where I am now was never the plan. Acting was a big leap of faith and now I cannot imagine doing anything else.

Mahesh and Meenakshi in a still from Guntur Kaaram

Guntur Kaaram is a fun film

The actor calls Guntur Kaaram a treat while talking about it. Ask her to elaborate and she says, Both Mahesh and Trivikram are so celebrated, I think this film will be a treat for their fans. Working with them was at the top of my wishlist, and the experience was everything I had imagined. I hope I get the chance to work with them both again, she says. Ask her what about playing Raji, a village belle, intrigued her and she chimes, Honestly, I said yes just to work with them. Certain films you do for the experience of it and this was it for me.

Guntur Kaaram is the perfect Sankranthi film. Its made to watch with your loved ones. It has everything youd want from a festive film. Itll leave you laughing, crying and just feeling warm.

I was dazed by Mahesh

Meenakshi almost gets giddy when she talks about Mahesh. I was so nervous on day one, she giggles. But why, we ask and she says, I am such a fan girl. I was so dazed, that I couldnt take my eyes off him. I was star-struck but he was very understanding. (laughs) How did she finally manage then? Mahesh is such a gentleman, he made sure I was comfortable. I took my time to give it my all. The best part is that hes like that with everyonethe whole cast and crew, she adds.

This is Maheshs film through and through. He hasnt been seen on-screen since 2022 and itll be a treat for his fans. The film is massy and quite engaging.

Vijay with Meenakshi at the launch of GOAT

I like to experiment with my roles

Meenakshi has numerous projects lined up and she says theyre a mix of contemporary and period films. I have Lucky Bhaskar with Dulquer Salman thats a super fun and lovely story. Im shooting for GOAT with Vijay right now, every day on set is a blast, she says, adding, I also have Matka with Varun Tej and an untitled film with Vishwak Sen. I am doing a little bit of everything because I like to experiment with my roles.

Its key for me to resonate with my character or storyline. I also keep in mind that its something I would go to the theatre to watch. I dont want to be boxed in a certain space and want to keep growing as an actor.

Sankranthi Files

It has been more than three years since I could return home to celebrate any festival with my family. Im from Punjab so were big on Lohri. But this year, I want to experience how Telangana celebrates the festival with pooja, delicious food and a movie. Ill head to the theatres to see how fans enjoy Guntur Kaaram, she said.

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Producer Dil Raju has been at the centre of attention ever since he pointed out that five Telugu films and two dubbed Tamil films clashing for Sankranthi was a little too much. Since then, he has faced flak for showing favouritism towards the films hes distributing - Mahesh Babus Guntur Kaaram and Sivakarthikeyas Ayalaan dubbed into Telugu. The producer recently also called out certain sections of the media for propagating this rumour. Now, the makers of Ayalaan have also released a statement supporting his position. (Also Read: Meenakshi Chaudhary on her Guntur Kaaram co-star Mahesh Babu: Couldnt take my eyes off him) Sivakarthikeyan in a still from Ayalaan

Ayalaan release postponed in Telugu

The makers of Ayalaan decided to release the film in Tamil but not Telugu to avoid clash with other Telugu films hitting the screens. The postponement of the Telugu version of Ayalaan was to happen eventually. Even after knowing all this, certain sections of the media are making unnecessary blame game on a single individual, they wrote coming to Dil Rajus support in their statement, adding, There is danger of severe opposition to Telugu films in other areas if this continues. This is not good for us or anyone in the industry.

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Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce supports decision

The Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce also released a statement to the press that read, Sivakarthikeyans Tamil movie was supposed to be released, but after talking to the producers, release was postponed to 19. Three organisations work together to ensure no hero, producer or director feels bad about these decisions. It is not right to hurt the sentiments of others with personal vendetta. There should not be unhealthy and uncomfortable atmosphere in the industry.

Films clashing on Sankranthi

Mahesh Babus Guntur Kaaram, Teja Sajjas HanuMan will release on January 12 for Sankranthi, with Venkateshs Saindhav releasing on January 13 and Nagarjunas Naa Saami Ranga releasing on January 14. Dhanushs Tamil film Captain Miller will also hit screens on January 12.

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As seen in a video released by ANI, chaos ensued during the pre-release event of Trivikram Srinivas Mahesh Babu and Sreeleela-starrer Guntur Kaaram in Guntur. A police official was injured when fans seemed to lose semblance of order on Tuesday. Heres what transpired. (Also Read: Guntur Kaaram star Mahesh Babu to fans: You are my parents, my everything from now on) Mahesh Babu's Guntur Kaaram's pre-release event left a policeman injured(ANI)

Policeman injured at the event

In a video shared by the agency, policemen can be seen trying to control fans crossing barriers, climbing onto poles and throwing around chairs. The fans can also be seen causing a stampede as they step over one another to get good seats or a place to stand. ANI wrote, A police official identified as Venkata Rao, Sub Inspector at Old Guntur police station, was injured in a stampede during the pre-release event of 'Guntur Kaaram' featuring actor Mahesh Babu in Guntur district.

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The films team is yet to respond to this publicly. Mahesh, however, thanked the police department for their support earlier on Wednesday, writing on his Instagram, A special mention to the Guntur police for all their support and assistance throughout the event.

Pre-release event

The pre-release event of Guntur Kaaram was supposed to be held in Hyderabad but was postponed due to security issues. The event was shifted to Guntur and was held on Tuesday with the films trailer releasing on Sunday. Trivikram, Mahesh, Sreeleela, Meenakshi Chaudhary and other cast and crew members attended the event. Mahesh also got emotional while speaking to fans, telling them, From now on you are my mother, you are my father, you are my everything. Maheshs mother Indira Devi passed away in 2022 and his father, actor Krishna, passed away in 2023.

About Guntur Kaaram

The films trailer hints at a family drama that plays out between Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishnan and Maheshs character. The film tells the story of a man who seems to be estranged from his family if the trailer is anything to go by. Songs for the film have been composed by Thaman S with the makers releasing four singles so far. Guntur Kaaram will release on January 12 for Sankranthi and clash with Teja Sajjas HanuMan, Venkateshs Saindhav and Nagarjunas Naa Saami Ranga.

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Rashami Desai extended love and support to industry friend Ankita Lokhande who is currently appearing on Bigg Boss 17. After Ankita's mother-in-law and Vicky Jain's mother accused Ankita of many things, including using her ex Sushant Singh Rajput's name for sympathy, Rashami penned a note for Ankita and Vicky. She also urged Vicky's mother who is often seen taking his side in matters between him and Ankita, to not play games outside the Bigg Boss house. Also read: Ankita Lokhandes mom contradicts Vicky Jain's mother Rashami Desai reacts to ongoing situation inside Bigg Boss house involving Ankita Lokhande and Vicky Jain.

Rashami to Ankita

Rashami posted a throwback photo with Ankita Lokhande and wrote on her Instagram Stories, Stay the way u are. I love you for being u. U have been thru Many changes and it's not only for u. The contribution of ur love and the person u love is equally important. U have earned everything with ur hard hardship and became #ankitalokhande virast main mila fearless attitude ne tujhe banaya hai (your fearless attitude has helped you reach where you are today).

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Rashami reacts to Vicky Jain's mother

The Uttaran actor further urged Vicky Jain's mother not to play games and added to Ankita, And I really love u so much. U never needed this. But with lot of love u have accepted and hope family will surly understand the show will get over and it's not about Ankita. It's about both of them. They are mature enough to handle. And I know aunty aap ko shayad bura lage. Par vo dono mere dost hai (aunty you might feel bad about this but Vicky and Ankita are my friends). They are part of #bigboss and Contestant. Aap bahar aake bigboss na khele plz. Zindagi abhi baaki hai mere dost (please don't play games outside the Bigg Boss house. There's still more to life).

Vicky Jain's mother in Bigg Boss

Recently, Vicky Jain's mother appeared in a special episode of Bigg Boss 17. She also met and interacted with her son and daughter-in-law inside the house.

What is happening between Ankita and Vicky

In a promo clip, Ankita had complained about her in-laws' attitude and questioned them for favouring Vicky over her in every situation. She broke down as she asked her mother why she was being slammed by her loved ones, and Vicky was given a free pass.

After exiting the house, Vicky's mother, in an interview, said that Ankita talks about Sushant Singh Rajput in the show to gain sympathy. She further claimed that Vicky's family didn't want him to marry the actor. Vicky and Ankita are often seen at loggerheads in the show. She had previously warned Vicky about divorce as well.

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Actor Willem Dafoe has become the first celebrity to be honoured with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star this year. Willem Dafoe poses with his newly unveiled Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Hollywood.(AFP)

Dafoe, who has featured in almost 150 films, was felicitated on Monday afternoon in California, as reported by CNN.

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His wife, Giada Colagrande, attended the event, as did his friends and former co-stars Pedro Pascal, Patricia Arquette, Mark Ruffalo, and Camila Morrone.

https://twitter.com/pascalarchive/status/1744453923279192554

During his speech, he expressed gratitude for being part of a community of artists and entertainers.

He said, "I just want to say it's wonderful to be part of this community of artists and entertainers, people that -- by sharing their experience, imagining others' perspectives, telling stories, and musing on what is, was, and most importantly could be. They make us feel closer to each other and connect us, creating an important dialogue particularly needed in these detached, technology-driven and divisive times."

Willem continued. "So I'm glad to be with people like this and hopefully we're making this a better world somehow."

The actor wrapped his speech by giving a shout-out to his wife and director Giada Colagrande.

He said, "Finally, thank you to my wife Giada Colagrande, who teaches me gratitude and reminds me not to spit on my luck."

Dafoe and Giada Colagrande, have worked on four films together: Padre, A Woman, Before It Had A Name, and the documentary Bob Wilson's Life And Death Of Marina Abramovic.

During the event, prominent Hollywood actors Pedro Pascal and Patricia Arquette paid tribute to Dafoe's compassion and talent, with Pascal describing him as "the greatest American actor of our lifetime," as per CNN reported.

Dafoe, one of Hollywood's most versatile performers, having portrayed variety of roles from a loquacious lighthouse keeper in "The Lighthouse" to a criminal in David Lynch's "Wild At Heart" to Vincent van Gogh in "At Eternity's Gate." Most recently, he played a rebel scientist in Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Poor Things', as per CNN reports.

He has received four Oscar nominations: one for best actor for his depiction of Van Gogh, and three for best supporting actor. (ANI)
The aurora borealis is considered the Holy Grail of skywatching, and rightfully so, since the atmospheric phenomenons charm has captivated people for millenniaand as of last week, even actor Rajkumar Rao. Heres an all-you-need-to-know guide to chasing them in 2024. The northern lights, or the aurora borealis can be technically described as a light display resulting from charged particles (electrons and protons) colliding with different gases.

The northern lights, or the aurora borealis can be technically described as a light display resulting from charged particles (electrons and protons) colliding with different gases.

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Occurring in Earth's upper atmosphere, this phenomenon produces tiny flashes which when replicated in millions or billions can create the auroras dance in the sky. With the magnetic field of Earth steering these particles towards the poleswhich creates the Northern and Southern light phenomenonmost chasers as they are called travel around the world to observe and revel in the otherworldly sight of blue-green light streaking through the sky and sometimes, Gettin' Jiggy Wit it.

Recently, actors Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha shared a video from their trip to Lapland, catching the auroras in the background. They wished everyone a great New Year and continued to share photographs from their Arctic Circle trip.

An experienced aurora hunter looking to appreciate the geographical nuances or a first-timer in search of an ideal experience? The northern lights call these cities home, shimmering out into the night sky, and heres an all-inclusive guide to chasing them.

Troms, Norway

Just 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsan urban city in Northern Norwayis one of the most chased destinations for observing the Northern Lights. For the best of convenience and culture, book at a hotel equidistant from the Troms Airport and Downtown. After a tour and taste of everything Scandi, travel to the top of Mount Storsteinen on the Fjellheisen gondola or from the balcony of a seahouse in the old fishing village of Sommary. An organised tour with a local guide is your best bet in Troms where you can opt between an experience and a chase. The key difference? The experience includes additional activities like learning about the Sami way of life, reindeer sledging and more.

Best time to visit: September until early April

Ilulissat, Greenland

The UNESCO World Heritage Listed area of Ilulissat Icefjord, on the edge of Disco Bay, is another prime spot. Home to a cluster of cinema-ready icebergs calved from the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, the lights can be seen gleaming above the white peaks as they brighten up the sky. On the big day, kickstart with a dog sledging tour. In the evening, strap on your snow hiking shoes and trek to the lookout point near Kangia Ice Fjord before retiring to the Igloo Lodge to watch out for the lights just up above.

Best time to visit: September to the beginning of April

Lapland, Finland

In Finnish Lapland, auroral vacations abound with the lights making approximately 200 appearances per year. Where to head? Think of two words, resort village. Saariselka, Pyha, Saariselka, Kilpisjarvi and more offer pristine nature and clear skies to take in the polar lights. Take a pick from a night at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort near Saariselka, Cahkal Hotel in Kilpisjarvi (with tailored polar night tours) or seaside glass villas in Kemi.

Best time to visit: December to March

Yukon, Canada

The untamed corner of Yukon Territory is home to teeming wilderness, unspoilt nature bodies and 5000-metre-high peaks that cradle the northwestern province. After a sip of Yukon-roasted coffee and an afternoon dip at the Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs, join guided viewing opportunities to see the curtains of lights above crisp, dry snow. The Whitehorse Visitor Information Centre is a mandatory visit to learn about the auroras and the region. As the sun sets, Fish Lake is surrounded by visitors setting up their tripod and roasting smores as they wait for the lights to appear.

Best time to visit: Mid-August to mid-April

Hebrides, Scotland

Outer Hebrides, an island chain located just west of mainland Scotland might be the most underrated of the list. Given that the region has some of the darkest skies in the UKeven the Milky Way and Orion Nebula can be seen by the naked eyethe islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist or Barra are prime vantage points. Want to do research-research before you lock in your itinerary, stalk the Aurora Watch Western Isles Facebook page for everything from weather forecasts to aurora hot zones.

Best time to visit: September to April

Lofoten Islands, Norway

Another location tucked inside the aurora oval, Lofotens northern coast, especially the beaches is the best place to be, and all of them can be reached easily by the E10, Lofotens main road. Uttakleiv, Haukland or Vik beaches are some of the perfect viewing locations. But thats not all. You can witness the Northern Lights directly from your hotel or fishermans cabin or engage in unique experiences like Northern Lights safaris on catamarans, horseback, on foot or snowshoes, away from light pollution, says Ole-Henrik A. Rosenvinge, representative of Visit Lofoten, the official Tourist Board of Lofoten.

Best time to visit: December to March

What is the best time and place to see the aurora?

The best time to visit is between September and March. The short answer is that you need to be somewhere close to the auroral oval and go outside on a clear, night around midnight to see the aurora. The auroral oval is where the aurora is seen every night--somewhere on Earth there will always be aurora. Places like Reykjavik, Iceland, Troms, Norway, Fairbanks, AK, Churchill, MB, and Yellowknife, NT are all places that reside inside the auroral oval, therefore in those places you can see aurora on any night, says professional aurora chaser and space physics PhD student Vincent Ledvina.
Bengaluru: A 22-year-old engineering student, who was injured on Monday night allegedly after he met with an accident while chasing Kannada actor Yashs convoy, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, police said. Gadag superintendent of police BS Nemagoudar said that the vehicle involved in the accident was not part of Yashs escort party.

According to the police, the incident occurred late on Monday at Mulgund Naka near Gadag, where the two-wheeler of the victim, Nikhil Gowda, had a head-on collision with a police vehicle while chasing Yashs convoy.

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Yashs convoy was heading towards Hubballi airport from Gadag. The actor was leaving after meeting family members of the three men who died while setting up banners to celebrate his birthday, in Suranagi village. Yash also visited two other injured in the incident at the Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), a senior police officer familiar with the matter said.

Gowda was following Yashs vehicle, hoping to catch a glimpse of the popular actor, but his two-wheeler collided with a police vehicle. He was immediately shifted to a private hospital on Monday night, but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday morning, the officer added.

Contrary to initial reports that Gowdas two-wheeler collided with a police vehicle escorting Yash, Gadag superintendent of police BS Nemagoudar clarified that the vehicle involved in the accident was not part of the actors escort party.

Gowda, a resident of Binkadakatti village in Gadag taluk, was a final-year engineering student at Agadi Engineering College in Laxmeshwar. His parents are doctors, and he was the first of two children in his family.

He recently received a job offer from a private company, a member of Gowdas family told the police.

The incident comes a day after three men were electrocuted in Gadag while setting up a cutout to celebrate Yashs birthday. Naveen Gaaji (20), Hanumantha Harijan (24), and Murali Naduvinamani (20) of Suranagi village lost their lives, and three others sustained serious injuries during the incident.

Three of them were electrocuted and three were injured while putting up the banner... The banner had a metal frame that was in contact with a HESCOM wire. A case has been initiated at the Lakshmeshwar police station. We will investigate this soon, SP Nemagouda said.

The Kannada star also met with the media after his meeting and confessed that such incidents have started making him scared of his birthday. If you wish me wholeheartedly, from wherever you are, that is the best gesture for me. Tragic incidents like these make me fear my birthday. This is not how you show fandom, he said.

Please dont show your love like this. I want to request you all. Dont hang banners, dont do bike chases, and take dangerous selfies; my intention is for all of my audience and fans to grow in life as I do. If you are a true fan of mine, then do your work diligently, dedicate your life to yourself, and be happy and successful. You are the ones who mean everything to your families, you should aim to make them proud, he added.
A day after Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup's chief executive officer (CEO) Suchana Seth was arrested for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in a service apartment in Goa, the police visited the address listed of her company and found a co-working space instead of a particular office, The Indian Express reported. Suchana Seth, CEO of Bengaluru-based The Mindful AI Lab, who is accused of killing her son, being brought to Mapusa Court in North Goa.(PTI)

Seth, who was arrested by the Goa Police from Karnataka's Chitradurga, used to live in an apartment in Bengalurus Thanisandra, but when the police reached the spot, they found that she had vacated the apartment around four months ago.

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According to Seth's LinkedIn page, she is the CEO of Mindful AI Lab and was among the top 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021. Her profile description says Suchana is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.

The 39-year-old CEO was serving as a director of a machine intelligence-based firm registered in September 2020 and was active. "Goa police visited the office of the firm and collected information," a Bengaluru police official told the national daily.

She was also affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, a cyberspace research centre at Harvard University, Mozilla Fellow at Data & Society, and a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute.

The alumini page of the cyberspace research centre has decribed Seth as an "AI ethics expert and a data scientist.

"She has built scalable data science solutions for startups and industry research labs, and holds patents in text mining and natural language processing. Suchana believes in the power of data to drive positive change. She is also passionate about closing the gender gap in data science. In the past, Suchana has been a Mozilla Open Web Fellow at Data & Society," the alumini page which was last updated in March 2020 said.

Seth, who hails from West Bengal was arrested with the body of her four-year-old stuffed into one of her luggage. She and her husband were living separately and the divorce proceedings were underway. She was also was upset about an adverse court ruling in connection with her childs custody.

Her estranged husband, Venkat Raman, who hails from Kerala, was in Indonesia at the time of the child's murder, and has been told to come to Goa to record his statement in connection with the case, Superintendent of police (North) Nidhin Valsan said.

Seth has been sent to police custody for six days by a local Goa court.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday reacted to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's decision to challenge the former's verdict that Eknath Shinde's Sena was the real Shiv Sena in the Supreme Court, saying that every citizen has the right to approach the judiciary. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar pronounced the verdict in Shiv Sena MLAs' disqualification.(ANI)

He, however, said that approaching the court does not mean that the verdict passed by the speaker can be overturned as the baseless allocations can't substantiate that.

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"Every citizen of India has the right to approach the Supreme Court & High Court. However, just because you approach the court does not mean that the order passed by the Speaker is overturned, you have to establish that it is illegal or untenable in the eyes of the law. Your baseless allocations do not substantiate that," news agency ANI quoted Nawekar as saying.

Thackeray said that Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena, then why the speaker did not disqualify his faction. "I think the Assembly Speaker did not understand the mandate -- what he was asked to do. It was a simple case of disqualification. The Supreme Court laid down a framework but the Speaker thought he was above the Supreme Court and came up with his own court and verdict," he said.

Narwekar on Wednesday, in a landmark verdict, ruled that Shinde's faction was the real Shiv Sena and dismissed the petitions filed by the UBT faction. He also said that Thackeray had no right to remove Shinde as the leader of the legislature party as according to the constitution of the party, the national executive was the supreme body and not the paksha pramukh, which was Uddhav.

The opposition leaders including Congress' Nana Patole and NCP's Sharad Pawar strongly reacted to the verdict saying verdict of the Maharashtra assembly speaker is against the guidelines determined by the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Lakshadweeps stunning pictures mask the precarious state of its environment, particularly the coral reefs  making it important for the government to mandate and ensure responsible tourism practices and also continuously monitor the fragile ecosystem of the archipelago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted this picture on his X account of an aerial view of one of the pristine beaches, in Lakshadweep on Thursday.(Narendra Modi/X)

The Lakshadweep archipelago, comprising 35 islands (of which 10 are inhabited) has witnessed four major El Nino Southern Oscillation-related temperature anomalies in the past two decades (1998, 2010, 2016 and 2019), and three catastrophic cyclones in the last four years (Ockhi, Maha and Tauktae) resulting in widespread coral bleaching and mortality, the Lakshadweep Research Collective, a team of ecologists and marine biologists said in a letter to then-president Ram Nath Kovind in 2021, responding to the administrations publication of the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation of 2021(LDAR).

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The group, 60 scientists and researchers, asked the President to withdraw the draft LDAR 2021 which sought to develop the islands as a major tourist destination, underlining that the regions unique geography, ecology, and long human history placed natural limits on the kinds of development the archipelago can support. The draft has been put on hold since, but the constraints remain the same  something that needs to be kept in mind at a time when interest in Lakshadweep as a tourist destination is peaking.

Also Read | India plans new airport at Lakshadweep's Minicoy amid row with Maldives

The interest follows a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, intemperate responses to his tweets on the visit by junior ministers from the Maldives, a social media storm featuring influencers from both countries, and a diplomatic spat that saw the Maldivian ministers in question being suspended. On Monday, media reports said India is proceeding with plans to build a new military and civilian airport in Minicoy.

Lakshadweeps appeal comes from its surrounding reefs, the living coral framework and the lagoon it encloses  but these also serve a function. Together, they buffer the islands from waves, storms, land loss and saline ingress into groundwater, the scientists wrote in their letter.

But the reef is under threat.

A 2018 research paper published in Springer Journal found that recovery rates of affected reefs was gradually declining. This has resulted in a 40% decline in absolute coral cover in the last two decades from 51.6% in 1998 to 11% in 2017, the study, led by researchers from the Nature Conservation Foundation, said.

Fortunately, the 2023 El Nino event did not see any large-scale bleaching in Lakshadweep corals according to ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute which is monitoring the reefs.

Climate change is significantly impacting reefs in Lakshadweep through various mechanisms. The increase in sea surface temperature is a primary driver, leading to thermal stress that contributes to coral bleaching and the proliferation of infectious diseases. This, in turn, leads to a scarcity of food for corals and impedes the spread of coral larvae, affecting the overall health and sustainability of the reef ecosystem. Changes in storm patterns further exacerbate the situation, with intensified and more frequent storms causing potential devastation to coral reefs. Altered ocean currents are another consequence of climate change, bringing about changes in connectivity and temperature patterns, said Sreenath KR, senior scientist at CMFRI.

Also Read | Chalo Lakshadweep boosted shares of this Gujarat-based firm by 20%.

Additionally, the phenomenon of ocean acidification, driven by elevated levels of carbon dioxide, is impacting reefs worldwide. This acidification results in a decline in pH levels, negatively affecting coral growth and compromising the structural stability of the reefs, he added, explaining that there is still potential for Lakshadweeps corals to recover from previous bleaching events.

A significant factor contributing to coral recovery is the healthy reef fish population, as local fisheries primarily target Skipjack tuna rather than reef fish. Unlike many tropical reefs in developing nations, which are heavily impacted due to overfishing, Lakshadweep serves as a promising example of how less exploited reefs can have higher resilience capacity, Sreenath said.

Even as Lakshadweep copes with sea-level rise and onslaught of climate crisis, the Centre has major plans to boost its tourism.

On August 8, 2023, tourism minister G Kishan Reddy informed the Rajya Sabha that under Swadesh Darshan 2.0, Lakshadweep has been identified for development. The initiatives planned include development and upgradation of Agatti Airport; and the development of water aerodromes for sea plane operation in Minicoy, Agatti and Kavaratti.

So far tourist inflow to Lakshadweep has been muted.

Experts warn against mass tourism in Lakshadweep which may not be able to handle other anthropogenic pressures. Sreenath has recommended continuous monitoring of reef health, effective fishery management practices to ensure sustainable harvesting of live baits, coral transplantation and artificial reef installation, responsible tourism practices  particularly encouraging them to dive responsibly by avoiding physical contact with reef organisms and refraining from anchoring boats on the reef.

There is no evidence of sewage contamination or oil pollution detected in these reefs, but with a growing tourism footprint, that may also become a concern.

The Maldives has 1,192 islands of which 200 are inhabited (16%), whereas the Lakshadweep has 35 islands of which 10 are inhabited. This represents 87% of land area which is permanently occupied, and a further 8% of land area on uninhabited islands are used as resource areas and for fisheries.

Uninhabited atolls in Lakshadweep play an important role in the maintenance of biodiversity. The Lakshadweep Research Group highlighted that despite its close proximity to Maldives, coral reefs in Lakshadweep are nearly half as biodiverse as those in the Maldives, owing to its geomorphology. Free from persistent anthropogenic pressures, uninhabited atolls can harbour up to six times the biomass of fish and a significantly higher richness of species but that will change completely if tourism is not regulated.

Lakshadweep is at that point in history from where it can creatively and progressively strengthen and diversify on this trajectory; but if it is made to instead follow the development paradigms as on the mainland, it risks losing everything; just as unnecessary and irresponsible construction & infrastructure is wiping away beaches, wetlands, rivers and lakes on the mainland, making coastal cities prone to floods, and inland cities prone to drought, the scientists wrote in 2021.

As Lakshadweep makes headlines, its possibly also undergoing a marine heatwave.

Sea surface temperatures during the past month indicate mild marine heatwaves in the southeastern Arabian Sea, close to Lakshadweep. NOAA forecasts indicate that these marine heatwaves may last through the next two months. Severe marine heatwaves can lead to coral bleaching and impact fisheries, though we do not have real-time data to investigate the ongoing impacts, said Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel did not respond to HTs request for comment on if the LDAR 2021 plan had been shelved.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its Asia report in 2022 flagged that coastal habitats of Asia are diverse, and the impacts of climate change including rising temperatures, ocean acidification and sea level rise has brought negative effects to the services and the livelihoods of people depending on it.

Reduced coral cover and degraded coral community structures are expected to reduce the suitability of coral reefs as habitat for many other species, impacting the biodiversity and ecosystem services upon which humans depend, according to USs National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Changes in coral reef ecosystems resulting from bleaching are expected to translate into shifts in fish species composition and, possibly, reduced fishery catches and impact marine biodiversity. Coral-dependent fish are important prey for larger species, many of which are targeted in coral reef fisheries.
Suchana Seth, the CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup, who was accused of murdering her four-year-old son amid a divorce battle with her husband, reportedly sought  2.5 lakh per month in alimony claiming that her husband had an annual income of over  1 crore. According to a report in Live Hindustan, Suchana accused her husband of physically abusing her and the child. She also presented copies of WhatsApp messages and medical records to substantiate her claim. Suchana Seth, the CEO of Mindful AI Lab

Though Seth's husband denied the charges against him, the court barred Venkat Raman from communicating with his wife or child other than on specific days. Raman was given weekly visitation rights which upset Seth. Authorities have suggested that the issuance of this court order might be a factor in her decision to harm her child.

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The domestic violence case was last heard on December 12, more than three weeks before Seth and her son moved into a service apartment in north Goa's Candolim where she allegedly murdered her son. The court then postponed the hearing on the matter to January 29.

READ | Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth planned murder? Goa police probing 'cough syrup, cloth or pillow' angle

Suchana Seth and Venkat Raman tied the knot in November 2010. Their son was born in August 2019. Seth and Venkat Raman were living apart since March 2021.

How Suchana Seth was caught

The Goa police on Tuesday arrested Seth while she was fleeing to Karnataka with her son's body stuffed in a bag. She was caught after the apartment staff discovered a bloodstained towel while cleaning her room and promptly notified the police. Law enforcement then contacted the taxi driver transporting Seth to Bengaluru and guided him to the closest police station.

The autopsy report revealed that the child hadn't struggled at all while being smothered with a pillow. Officials suspect that this could be due to the use of cough syrups to incapacitate the victim.

Authorities discovered two empty cough syrup bottles in Seth's room, the purported crime scene of the murder.

(With inputs from agencies)
Bengaluru: Suchana Seth, the CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup who allegedly murdered her son in Goa, might have pre-planned the crime, the Goa police have said. They have found two cough syrup bottles inside the room where the murder took place, which were allegedly used to render the victim unconscious. North Goa: Suchana Seth, CEO of Bengaluru-based The Mindful AI Lab, who is accused of killing her son, being brought to Mapusa Court in North Goa on January 9. (PTI file photo)

Most cough syrups have chemicals that induce sleep. The Goa police suspect the accused might have administered a heavy dose of the syrups to the victim before smothering him with a pillow or cloth, PTI reported.

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The victim couldn't raise an alarm or make noise because he was in an inebriated state due to the drugs, they added.

Suchana Seth allegedly killed her son in an apartment at Goa's Candolim. She later tried to escape to Karnataka after stuffing the body in a bag. She was arrested in Chitradurga after her taxi driver -- alerted by the Goa police  drove her to a local police station.

The postmortem examination has revealed the four-year-old victim was smothered to death.

A senior police official told the news agency they had found one big and one small cough syrup bottle  both completely empty.

The postmortem examination revealed the child hadn't struggled at all while being smothered with a pillow of cloth.

Also read: Suchana Seth: Who is this Bengaluru CEO arrested over 4-year-old son's murder in Goa?

The police are examining the possibility that Suchana Seth might have given him a heavy dose of the sleep-inducing syrups to dull his senses before smothering him to death.

The discovery of the bottles also suggests she could have planned the murder in advance, the police added.

The service staff of the apartment said the woman brought the bigger bottle with her. She, however, asked the staff to buy her a small bottle of a cough syrup claiming she had cough.

"It looks like a pre-planned murder," an official told the agency.

The arrested woman has denied her involvement in the murder saying the boy was already dead when she woke up.

The police have not believed her claim and are probing the murder angle further.

Suchana Seth had checked into the apartment on January 6 and stayed till January 8.

Venkat Raman, the child's father who is estranged to Seth, was in Indonesia at the time of the murder.

Also read: AI Start-up CEO Suchana Seth's Bengaluru office has no... office: Cops

Why Suchana Seth allegedly killed her son?

Nidhin Valsan, North Goa SP, said on Wednesday that the accused was unhappy with a recent court order that permitted her husband to spend time with the victim on the weekends.

"A woman asked the hotel staff to arrange a taxi for Bengaluru. After the checkout, when the hotel staff went to clean the room, they found red-coloured stains, which they assumed to be blood. The staff immediately informed the police," he said, per ANI

The police later called the taxi driver and asked him to approach the local police. She was arrested upon arrival.

Her LinkedIn profile said she is an artificial intelligence expert.

With inputs from agencies
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address three public meetings in Bihar before the announcement of the 2024 national election schedule as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaderships focus on the only heartland state where the party has been unable to form the government on its own. Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (PTI)

The BJP lost power in Bihar, which sends the third most (40) lawmakers to Parliament, in 2022 when chief minister Nitish Kumar quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed the government with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and the Left parties. The NDA swept the 2019 national polls in Bihar by winning 39 seats.

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Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and BJP chief JP Nadda will be among top leaders who will address rallies across Bihar. An itinerary was expected to be worked out after January 22.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav was also scheduled to visit Bihar for his felicitation at a Yadav Mahasabha (grand assembly) this month. Yadavs elevation was seen as part of the BJPs attempts to woo Yadavs in states such as Bihar, where they are seen as part of core RJD voters.

Bihar BJP chief Samrat Choudhary said the party has divided Bihar into 10 zones. He added top leaders will visit each before the poll schedule announcement.

Choudhary said Shah last month asked the state leaders to fan out to apprise the people of the Union governments welfare initiatives as part of the Vikshit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (developed India resolve march).

A second BJP leader said they were watching the developments in Bihars ruling alliance related to seat sharing and will tweak their strategy accordingly if needed. The BJP is believed to have conducted an internal survey for each seat for a realistic assessment of the ground realities, which could be reflected in the ticket distribution.

A third leader said how things pan out remains to be seen, especially post-Ram Temple inauguration. He said Kumar has proved himself to be a master political strategist.

The third leader said nobody knows what Kumar will do next. Whatever he does will have an impact on how the states politics will shape up, the leader added.

Social scientist DM Diwakar said the BJP would understandably work hard in Bihar because the ruling alliance remains formidable. The BJP is known for vigorous campaigning, and the Prime Minister often leads it when the going gets tough. The early build-up before the election is important. The ruling alliance is yet to finalise seat sharing in Bihar. This has kept the BJP interested.
New Delhi: Ahead of the consecration ceremony of the idol at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Wednesday took over the security of the Maharashi Valmiki International Airport in Ayodhya. The newly built international airport in Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30, is set to receive a heavy influx of flyers once the new temple complex opens for the public from January 23. The Central Industrial Security Force is in charge of at least 68 airports in the country. (File photo)

Meanwhile, officials aware of the security details at the temple complex said that until January 22, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will jointly guard the complex with the Uttar Pradeshs Special Security Force (SSF). While there were unconfirmed reports that the temple complex security would be handed to SSF by the CRPF, officials aware of the matter said no order has been issued yet to remove the CRPF.

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On January 22 and the first few weeks, the number of visitors will be high so both forces will continue to guard the complex. Currently, the Uttar Pradesh Polices SSF has already come to the complex and both forces are jointly guarding it, said an official aware of the matter.

Until orders are issued by the Centre to remove CRPF from the security, the security pattern is likely to be similar to detail followed at the Parliament, people aware of the matter said. While CRPF personnel will guard the periphery, the access control, checking and management of visitors will be conducted by the polices SSF.

Also Read: Five held at Delhis IGI airport on suspicion of human trafficking

One battalion, comprising around 1100, of the CRPF is currently posted to guard the Ram temple. One team will also be posted to deal with any untoward incident. At the Parliament too, a separate team of CRPF called the Parliament Duty Group(PDG) is posted to deal with any intrusion or attack.

In the run up to the consecration ceremony on January 22, the two forces are conducting mock trials inside the temple complex, especially focusing on the areas where the footfall will be high. The SSF was raised on the lines of the CISF in 2020 and secures vital installations in Uttar Pradesh. The personnel of the SSF were trained by paramilitary forces.

At the Ayodhya airport, which is now under CISF cover, there will be at least 300 CRPF personnel will be deployed around the clock. In the first phase, the airport is set to cater to around one million passengers annually, which is expected increase to six million in the second phase. The CISF personnel at the airport will be headed by an officer of a deputy commandant rank. The force is now in charge of at least 68 airports across the country.
Congress leader and former president of Gujarat Congress Arjun Modhwadia on Wednesday criticised the decision of senior leaders of his party including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to skip the Ram Temple event in Ayodhya. Taking to X, Modhwadia wrote, Lord Shri Ram is worshipped by many This is a matter of faith and belief of the countrymen. @INCIndia should have stayed away from taking such political decisions. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi. (ANI)

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Congress said that its leaders would not be attending the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event, the statement said.

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The BJP criticised the Congress over its decision. BJP leader and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Lord Ram is the identity of our country. Rejecting 'Pran Pratishtha' invitation is like rejecting the identity of the country."

Meanwhile, Union minister and senior BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said, They are stuck in their rhetoric...Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don't go

However, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi backed the Congress' stand over not attending the invitation to the pran pratishtha event. She said, It is a matter of our devotion and I won't do any politics over this. But there is one question, there are four Shankaracharyas in the country and they too have said that they won't participate in the ceremony. Are they too wrong?...

(With inputs from agencies)
The Karnataka Lokayukta on Tuesday carried out raids at multiple locations in Bengaluru and Ramanagara district linked to six government officials in connection with disproportionate assets cases registered against them, officials said. HT Image

The ongoing raids were carried out against the government officials from departments such as the public works department (PWD), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL), and Panchayat and Town Planning, officials added. The searches revealed that these officials had accumulated  51.13 crore worth unaccounted assets.

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In connection with the DA case against ML Nagaraju, chief general manager at Bescom, Lokayukta officials searched five locations in Kudilgi, Bellary, and two locations in Bengaluru. The search revealed significant assets, including three houses, two petrol bunks, educational institutions, and agricultural land at four different locations.

In connection with the disproportionate assets case registered against M L Nagaraju, chief general manager of Bescom, searches were conducted at five locations in Kudligi, Bellary, and two locations in Bengaluru City. It has been found that he possesses nine sites, three houses, two petrol bunks, educational institutions, and agricultural land at four places, said a Lokayukta official.

Simultaneous searches are also underway at the residence of PDO Kundana Gram Panchayath, Pradmanabh, located in Malleshwaram, comprising four floors. Furthermore, officials discovered five acres of agricultural land with a farmhouse in Tumkur and a commercial building in Dabaspet.

The state Ombudsman also reported discovering five acres of agricultural land with a farmhouse in Tumakuru, a commercial building and industrial shed in Somapura, and a four-floored house in AGB Layout belonging to Padmanabh, the PDO of Kundana Grama Panchayath.

Other officials raided are N Satish, superintendent engineer in Bengaluru; Syed Muneer Ahmed, assistant executive engineer in Bengaluru; HS Suresh, member of Chennenahalli Grama Panchayat; and Manjesh B, member secretary and joint director of town and country planning in Ramanagara. Lokayukta officials have registered an FIR against the officials whose locations were raided. The Lokayukta sleuths raided at least 30 locations belonging to the six officers during the raids, news agency PTI reported.
In view of the Republic Day parade rehearsal on January 10, the Delhi Police has issued a traffic advisory for all Delhi residents, alerting them on the routed to avoid in the national capital today. Delhi Police has issued a traffic advisory for Republic Day parade rehearsal (PTI)(PTI)

Delhi Police said in their advisory that traffic will be impacted on several routes across the national capital on Wednesday, especially in central Delhi. The traffic across Delhi will be restricted from 7 am to 11:30 am on January 10, as per the advisory.

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In its advisory, the Delhi Police asked citizens to avoid Vijay Chowk, Rafi Marg-Kartavyapath crossing, Janpath- Kartavyapath crossing, and Man Singh Road-Kartavyapath between 7 am and 11.30 am on Wednesday.

"Due to Republic Day Parade rehearsal, kindly avoid Vijay Chowk, Rafi Marg-Kartavyapath crossing, Janpath- Kartavyapath crossing, and Man Singh Road- Kartavyapath crossing from 0700 Hrs to 1130 Hrs on 10-01-2024," Delhi Police said in a statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be the chief guest at the 75th Republic Day Parade on January 26 this year, this being the sixth time that a French leader is invited as a chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi.

Republic Day parade details

This year, women Agniveer Vayu soldiers will be part of the Indian Air Force contingent for the Republic Day Parade, an IAF official informed on Monday. Further, two all-women contingents of the Defence forces are also scheduled to march at the Republic Day Parade this year.

Making the announcement, defence officials said, "One contingent, including 144 personnel, would have all women soldiers, including 60 from the Army and the remaining from the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy."

This year, the theme of Republic Day 2024 is ''India - Mother of Democracy'' and ''Viksit Bharat''. The celebrations will be attended by President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi, several heads of states, and international dignitaries.

(With inputs from ANI)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed its first charge sheet in a money-laundering case linked to the land-for-jobs scam, naming Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasads wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their daughters, Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, among the seven accused. RJD chief Lalu Prasad with his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti (behind Lalu) in Patna. (HT file)

The federal agency, which is conducting a probe on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), also named a close associate of the Yadav family Amit Katyal, railway employee and alleged beneficiary Hridayanand Chaudhary, and two firms AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd and AB Exports Pvt Ltd, through their common director Shariqul Bari, in the charge sheet that runs into nearly 4,700 pages.

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The RJD alleged in response to the charge sheet that the central probe agencies were working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre. The BJP dismissed the contention and accused the Lalu Prasad family of years of rampant corruption.

The land-for-jobs scam pertains to appointments in the Railways allegedly in return of land parcels for Lalu Prasads family between 2004 and 2009, when he was the Union railways minister. In October 2022, CBI filed its charge sheet against Lalu, Devi, Misa and 13 others in the case. In March last year, a Delhi court granted bail to Lalu, Rabri, Misa and others in CBIs case.

Also Read | Rabri Devi seen worshipping Tazia in viral video, BJP MP calls it appeasement

On Tuesday, ED filed its charge sheet before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi that listed the matter for January 16. Neither Lalu nor his son, Tejashwi Yadav, who is the deputy chief minister of Bihar, were named in the charge sheet.To be sure, agencies often file supplementary charge sheets as the investigation progresses.

Appearing before the court, special public prosecutor (SPP) Manish Jain, along with advocate Ishaan Baisla, said the investigation qua these accused are complete. They added, however, that the overall investigation is still ongoing and a supplementary charge sheet may be filed soon.

The counsels also said that Katyal is currently under custody while the remaining accused have been named in the charge sheet without arrest.

EDs charge sheet evoked a sharp response from the RJD.

The charge sheet against the RJD leaders is vendetta politics. In states where the BJP is weak, (probe) agencies are working on strengthening it. This is politics of harassment and torture. This (the case) has been done at the behest of two people in power. They are targeting the women of the (Yadav) family... But no regime is forever. I want to tell officials of agencies as well, you have destroyed the character of your institutions, the partys Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said.

The BJP dismissed the allegation about the central agencies following the partys instructions.

Lalu Prasad is a symbol of corruption and his family is corrupt. Lalu Prasad and his entire family have been facing ED and CBI cases since 1996. Lalu Prasad committed the fodder scam when he was the chief minister; he has been convicted in many cases. When he was the railway minister, he committed a scam by grabbing land in exchange for a job in the Railways, state BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary said.

Lalu spent almost 42 months in jail after being convicted in various cases pertaining to the fodder scam since 1997.

ED has claimed it has found proceeds of crime worth 600 crore in the case. These include the bungalow in New Friends Colony in Delhi that, the federal agency says, is worth 150 crore.

In a statement on November 13, the federal agency said that Katyal was the director of M/s AK Infosystems Pvt. Ltd when land from one of the candidates was acquired by the said company on behalf of Lalu. It also alleged that several other lands were acquired by Katyal in the said company in return for undue favours by the former railway minister. After acquiring the lands, the shares of the said company were transferred to Lalus family in 2014, it said.

According to probe agencies, most of the properties were allegedly sold at throwaway prices by candidates either to Rabri Devi or Misa Bharti, and the four-storey house in New Friends Colony in Delhi, which is in Tejashwis possession, was sold to a company linked to the Yadav family.
A CEO who founded her own artificial intelligence (AI) company in a pandemic year. Suchana Seth, chief executive officer of Mindful AI Lab.

An outspoken woman who served as a fellow and affiliate at Harvard University, and was described as brilliant and passionate about the open internet.

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A 39-year-old who built herself an enviable professional niche, balancing her academic training in physics with an interest in Sanskrit.

Suchana Seths life trajectory was impressive, having lived in both New York and Boston, before returning to Bengaluruin 2019. But in Indias silicon valley of high flyers and top achievers, it was not particularly uncommon.

Until Monday morning.

Suchana Seth, battling an acrimonious divorce with her husband, was arrested in Karnatakas Chitradurga district.(HT graphics)

Seth, battling an acrimonious divorce with her husband, was arrested in Karnatakas Chitradurga district with the body of her four-year-old son, stashed in a suitcase in the trunk of the taxi she was in. Police now say the 39-year-old allegedly smothered her son with a pillow at a resort in Goa and then stuffed his body in the in a bid to escape from Goa to Bengaluru. Her ongoing divorce case, filed two years ago, and restricted access to her son  a family court in Bengaluru had allowed the father custody between 10am and 4pm every Sunday  might have been triggers, police added.

Seth studied physics at the University of Calcutta before becoming a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru between 2008 and 2011, senior police officers said.

She spent time as a data analyst in several Bengaluru-based companies and completed a postgraduate diploma in Sanskrit from the Ramkrishna Institute in Culture before becoming a Ford Mozilla Open Web Fellow at the Mozilla Data and Society Research Institute in New York between 2016 and 2017. She then spent two years, first as a fellow, then as an affiliate in Boston, at the prestigious Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and Harvard University.

Also Read | Start-up CEO Suchana Seth attempted suicide after allegedly killing son in Goa?

The fellows page at the Berkman Klein Centre described Seth as an AI ethics expert and a data scientist.

She has built scalable data science solutions for startups and industry research labs, and holds patents in text mining and natural language processing. Suchana believes in the power of data to drive positive change, volunteers with DataKind, mentors data-for-good projects, and advises research on IoT(internet of things) ethics. She is also passionate about closing the gender gap in data science, and leads data science workshops with organisations like Women Who Code. In the past, Suchana has been a Mozilla Open Web Fellow at Data & Society, the description said.

Seth then returned to India to found the Mindful AI Lab in 2020. Colleagues in the technology sector in Bengaluru said that she came across as sharp and brilliant. When I interacted with her in Bengaluru last year, she seemed completely normal. She came across as well read, sharp and had a brilliant mind, passionate about causes like the open internet, said Yashwant MG, a tech researcher.

Kiran Jonnalagada, founder of Hasgeek, a Bengaluru-based firm that hosts technology events and collaborates with companies, agreed. I met her once or twice before the pandemic. They were brief meetings. She came across as a nice person and there was nothing unusual. When I heard the news today I was in shock and am still trying to process it.

What the Goa police are still trying to piece together are details of the acrimonious fall out with Seths husband, Venkat Raman, who hails from Kerala.

The two were married in 2010, and had their only son in 2019, before filing for divorce in 2022. Police officers said the ongoing case in a Bengaluru family court might be at the heart of the crime. The next date of hearing was scheduled for January 10.

According to officers that interrogated her in Goa, Seth felt that her son would not be safe in her husbands custody. She has not been in direct contact with her husband for over two years, and has not been on speaking terms with him. Fights with her husband allegedly began with financial issues, an officer said, requesting anonymity.

In Bengaluru, police officers went to the residence listed as Seths official address at Unishire Terrazaa apartments in Thanisandra but were told that she had not lived there for six months. They also visited Springboard, a co-working space in MG Road from where Seth ran her organisation.

With Seth now in custody and investigations set to continue, more details are set to emerge over the next few days, senior police officers said. Details that will shine light on what caused Seth, blazing a trail professionally, to allegedly kill her own son.
The four-year-old son of Suchana Seth, the chief executive officer (CEO) of an artificial intelligence start-up company in Bengaluru, was smothered to death, said Dr Kumar Naik, who conducted the post-mortem. Suchana Seth, the CEO of The Mindful AI Lab, was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday night for allegedly killing her son at a service apartment in Goa during a vacation last week. Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old chief executive officer of artificial intelligence company Mindful AI Lab, with her son.

Suchana Seth, 39, was on her way from Goa to Bengaluru carrying the boy's body which was recovered in a suitcase. She was arrested on the directions of the Goa Police.

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"He (the child) was strangled to death or what we call smothering. Either a cloth or a pillow was used. The child died due to strangulation. It doesn't look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used. The Rigor mortis had resolved in the child," Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer in Chitradurga Dr Kumar Naik told reporters.

Also Read | AI Start-up CEO Suchana Seth's Bengaluru office has no... office: Cops

"Usually in India, rigor mortis resolves after 36 hours but in this child's case, there was no rigor mortis (stiffening of the body muscles due to chemical changes in their myofibrils). So, it has been more than 36 hours since his death," news agency PTI quoted Naik as saying. Naik added that there was no blood loss or struggle marks on the child's body.

Naik, however, said they could not say the exact time but it had been 36 hours since his death.

In Goa, a senior police officer involved in the investigation also claimed that the child was smothered, possibly using a pillow from the service apartment, The Indian Express reported.

There was no murder weapon. She allegedly tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists using a pair of scissors. Blood samples have been collected and a DNA test will be done to verify this, the newspaper quoted the officer as saying.

Suchana Seth's son cremated

The boy was cremated in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The child's father Venkat Raman performed the last rites, news agency PTI reported.

Venkat Raman had brought his son's body from Chitradurga on Wednesday to an apartment where the initial rituals took place. Later, the body was taken to the Harishchandra Ghat at Rajaji Nagar where Raman performed the last rites, it reported.

Who is Suchana Seth?

Suchana Seth is the CEO of The Mindful AI Lab.

Her LinkedIn profile claims Suchana Seth is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.

"She is on the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics List. She has been a Mozilla Fellow at Data & Society, a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University, and a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute. She also holds patents in natural language processing," the profile read. Seth is an expert in 'AI Ethics Advisory & Audits' and 'Responsible AI Strategy'," it shows.A postgraduate from the University of Calcutta, and a research fellow from Raman Research Institute (RRI) and spent two years at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Seth hails from West Bengal and has been living in Bengaluru.

Seth's husband Venkat Raman is from Kerala.

Some media reports said the couple tied the knot in 2010, and their son was born in 2019. However, disputes led to them filing for a divorce in 2020.

Estranged husband returns from Jakarta

Suchana Seth's estranged husband Venkat Raman returned to India from Jakarta on Tuesday evening on learning about his child's murder, police said.

Venkat Raman arrived at Chitradurga in Karnataka, and gave his consent to the local authorities to conduct a post-mortem on his son's body, the police added.

What we know about the Goa murder

The murder took place in a service apartment at Candolim in North Goa between January 6 and 8, the Goa police claimed. Suchana Seth had checked into the service apartment with her son on January 6. After staying there for a couple of days, the CEO left for Bengaluru in a taxi on January 8 morning. When the apartment staffers went to clean the room in which she stayed, they found blood stains on a towel.

They immediately informed the Goa Police and told them that she carried an unusually heavy bag, and her child was not seen with her, police said. The police in Goa contacted their counterparts in Chitradurga, who checked Seth's bag in which they found the body of the child. She was arrested there and later brought to Goa, where a court remanded her in police custody for six days.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Wednesday took a sharp dig at Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge for turning down the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple on January 22 saying that it demonstrated the party's "lack of faith in Lord Ram". Ram Mandir is ready for pran pratishtha (consecration ceremony) of Ram Lalla (the child Ram) on January 22. (HT Photo)

Union minister Smriti Irani took a jibe at the Gandhis saying that they had no faith in Lord Ram. "I have been told that Sonia Gandhi has turned down the invitation for the January 22 function (in Ayodhya). Could we expect anything different from her? But, I must say that Sonia Gandhi has shown that she has no faith in Lord Ram, Irani said.

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Union minister Anurag Thakur also condemned the grand old party's decision, saying the people will boycott the opposition party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"The behaviour, character and face of the Congress can never change. This is the same Congress, which had given an affidavit calling Shri Ram imaginary. This is the same Congress, which had promised we will build Babri Masjid again at the same place," Thakur said.

"This is the same Congress, which had raised an army of lawyers to ensure that Ram Lalla's temple is not built. This is the same Congress, which has been opposing Ram Setu and everything related to Shri Ram," he added.

Former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta also slammed the Congress and said that the only agenda of the INDI alliance is to defame Sanatan Dharama.

The only agenda of INDIA alliance is to defame Sanatan (Dharma). The people who have raised questions on the existence of Lord Ram, how will they sit for the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha. They should have accepted the invitation to get rid of their sins, he said.

Saffron party MP Manoj Tiwari took a jibe at Congress saying that the latter's anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation and the INDI alliance insulted the Sanatan Dharma again and again.

"Congress party's anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation. It is no surprise that under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party that had filed an affidavit before the court that Lord Ram is a fictional character, its leadership declined the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' of Ram Temple...Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Congress, INDI Alliance has insulted Sanatan Dharma again and again. Now, the declining of the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' by leaders of the INDI Alliance reflects their anti-Sanatan mindset. Those who denied the very existence of Lord Ram and tried their best to delay (construction of) Ayodhyas temple are also being invited to the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha. It is a return of Treta Yug for me," he said.

BJP leader Sadanand Gowda said that the Congress has gone completely mad because the blessings of Lord Ram are in favour of the BJP.

"The Congress people have gone completely mad because the blessings of Lord Ram are in favour of the BJP. People across the country have been favouring PM Modi and his work for the last 10 years. This time, the Congress will not even reach more than 50 seats (in Lok Sabha polls) across the country," he said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday "respectfully declined" the invitation to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony with the grand old party accusing the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of making it into a "political project" for electoral gain.

Announcing the decision of Congress leaders in a statement, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh also questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the "incomplete" temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS.

Meanwhile, the preparations are in full swing for the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla in the newly built Ram Janmabhoomi Temple on January 22.

The Ram Mandir, constructed in the traditional Nagara style, is a three-storied shrine, measuring 380 feet in length (east-west direction), 250 feet in width, and 161 feet in height. It has a total of 392 pillars and 44 doors. It features five Mandaps (halls) -- Nritya Mandap, Rang Mandap, Sabha Mandap, Prarthna and Kirtan Mandap.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. He will perform the rituals in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Temple at around 12.15 pm.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar on Wednesday, said India was working on the goal of becoming a developed country in the next 25 years. He added that these upcoming 25 years were India's Amrit Kaal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, in Gandhinagar. (PTI)

He said, In the recent past, India completed 75 years of independence. Now, India is working on its goal for the next 25 years. We have the goal of making it a developed country by the time it celebrates 100 years of independence. Therefore, these 25 years' duration is India's Amrit Kaal.

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Started in 2003 during Modi's tenure as the Chief Minister of the state, the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit has become a significant event. The tenth edition, themed 'Gateway to the Future,' is scheduled to take place from January 10-12, 2024, in Gandhinagar. This edition will commemorate "20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success."

Modi also said that this was the first Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in this Amrit Kaal and that made it more significant. Representatives from more than 100 countries, who are participating in this Summit, are crucial partners in this development journey of India.

PM Modi also mentioned UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who is attending the Summit, and said, The participation of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in this Summit, is a matter of great joy for us. His presence as the chief guest at Vibrant Gujarat Summit is a symbol of the ever-strengthening relations between India and UAE... Agreements have been signed for new investments worth billions of dollars in India's port infrastructure by the companies from UAE

Modi and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed conducted a joint roadshow in Ahmedabad preceding the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. A substantial crowd warmly welcomed the leaders in Ahmedabad.

Speaking about India's economy Modi said, Today, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. 10 years ago, India was on the 11th position. Today, all major agencies estimate that India will be in the top three economies of the world in the coming years. Let people across the world do their analysis, but it is my guarantee that it will happen.

Further, talking about India's global importance, Modi said, The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, a voice of the Global South, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions, a powerhouse of talented youth and a democracy that delivers.

He added, We are all aware of the global circumstances. So, in times like these, if the Indian economy is displaying such resistance, if the growth in India is showing such momentum, a big reason behind this is our focus on structural reforms in the last 10 years. These reforms have enhanced the capacity, capability and competitiveness of India's economy.
Adani Defence and Aerospace introduced the Drishti 10 Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) on Wednesday for the Indian Navy, manufactured within the country. The UAV embarked on its journey from Hyderabad to Porbandar, marking its induction into naval maritime operations. (ANI/Screengrab)

The commencement ceremony, overseen by Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) of the Indian Navy, took place in the presence of 75 Navy personnel. The UAV embarked on its journey from Hyderabad to Porbandar, marking its induction into naval maritime operations.

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Admiral Hari Kumar commended Adani's dedication to aligning their strategic plans with the specific needs of the Indian Navy. He acknowledged their efforts in establishing a collaborative ecosystem with partners and capabilities, fostering self-reliance (Aatmanirbharta) in defence and security.

Kumar said, This is a momentous occasion and a transformative step in India's quest for self-reliance in ISR technology and maritime supremacy. Adani has demonstrated its commitment to unmanned systems having worked systematically over the last many years to develop local capabilities not limited to manufacturing but sustenance through MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). Drishti 10's integration into our naval operations will enhance our naval capabilities, strengthening our preparedness for the ever-evolving maritime surveillance and reconnaissance.

Jeet Adani, Vice President of Adani Enterprises, said, Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms across land, air and naval borders are a key priority for Adani which will help serve the needs of the Indian Armed forces and also place India on the global map for exports. We are proud to be able to serve the Indian Navy and their requirements.

What is the Drishti 10 Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)?

As per an official statement by Adani, the Drishti 10 Starliner represents a cutting-edge Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform.

It boasts an impressive 36-hour endurance, a payload capacity of 450 kg, and holds the distinction of being the sole all-weather military platform with STANAG 4671 certification. Moreover, it is authorized for flight in both segregated and unsegregated airspace.

The Drishti 10 'Starliner' is India's inaugural domestically developed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), based on the Elbits Hermes 900 MALE (Medium Altitude Long Range) platform.

As per the Adani Defence website, Drishti 10 has high autonomy and mission effectiveness.

It is equipped with multiple hard points and a 250 kg modular internal installation bay.

Its development has contributed to establishing a comprehensive value chain, promoting high-level indigenisation. Notably, the UAV is certified to operate in civilian airspace.

With multi-payload capabilities and persistent wide-area surveillance features, Drishti 10 is a technologically advanced and adaptable UAV.
The world today looks at India as an important pillar of stability and a friend who can be trusted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday while speaking at the inaugural session of the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inaugural session of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. (AFP)

India is moving forward in the role of a Vishwa Mitra in a fast-changing world. Today India has given the world confidence in achieving common collective goals. Indias commitment, efforts and hard work for global welfare is making the world safer and prosperous. The world looks at India as an important pillar of stability. A friend who can be trusted, a partner who believes in people-centric development, a voice that believes in global good, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions, a powerhouse of talented youth and a democracy that delivers, he said.

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The theme of this years summit is Gateway to the Future and saw participation of 34 partner countries and 16 partner organisations.

The priorities and aspirations of Indias 1.4 billion citizens and their belief in human-centric development coupled with the governments commitment to inclusivity and equality is a major aspect of world prosperity and development, the Prime Minister said.

He highlighted Indias remarkable economic ascent, noting that it has risen from the 11th position a decade ago to currently being the worlds 5th largest economy. Emphasising predictions from global rating agencies, he expressed confidence that India is poised to further climb the ranks and emerge as one of the top three economies in the world in the coming years.

Experts can analyse this, but it is Modis guarantee that India will become the 3rd largest economy in the world, he said.

He further added that India has become a ray of hope for the world at a time when the world has witnessed multiple geopolitical instabilities. Reflecting on Indias priorities whose glimpses can be seen in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the Prime Minister mentioned sustainable industries, manufacturing and infrastructure, new age skills, futuristic technologies, AI and innovation, green hydrogen, renewable energy, and semiconductors.

PM Modi urged everyone to visit the trade show in Gujarat, especially the school and college students. Speaking about spending time in this trade show with Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and President Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that the trade show has showcased products made with world-class state-of-the-art technology in sectors like E-Mobility, Start-Ups, Blue Economy, Green Energy and Smart Infrastructure. He said that new opportunities are constantly being created for investment in all these sectors.

The Prime Minister expounded on the governments emphasis on structural reforms as the cornerstone of Indias economic resilience and momentum. These reforms, he explained, have bolstered the economys capacity, capability, and competitiveness. Notable achievements include the robust banking system resulting from recapitalization and the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), he said. The abolition of approximately 40 thousand compliances has streamlined business processes, and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has simplified the complex web of taxation.

Furthermore, he underscored the positive impact of these reforms on the global supply chain, citing a conducive environment for diversification. He also mentioned the recent signing of three Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including one with the UAE, and the liberalization of various sectors for automatic Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Prime Minister highlighted record investments in infrastructure and a fivefold increase in capital expenditure.

Addressing environmental concerns, he noted unprecedented strides in green and alternative energy sources, with a threefold increase in renewable energy capacity and a twentyfold increase in solar energy capacity. The affordability of data prices was credited with fostering digital inclusion, complemented by initiatives such as optical fiber connectivity to every village, the rollout of 5G, and the establishment of the worlds third-largest startup ecosystem, boasting 1.15 lakh registered startups.

He reiterated the pledge to make India Viksit by 2047, making the next 25 years Amrit Kaal of the country. It is time for new dreams, new resolutions and continuous accomplishments, he said. The Prime Minister noted the significance of holding the first Vibrant Gujarat Summit of the Amrit Kaal.

Prime Minister Modi said that the participation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit as chief guest is special as it signifies the deepening ties between India and UAE.

PM Modi said that his thoughts and support towards India are filled with warmth and heartiness as he mentioned Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit becoming a global platform for economic development and investment-related discussions. He highlighted the India-UAE partnerships in increasing support to the renewable energy sector, innovative healthcare, and investments of several billion dollars in Indias port infrastructure. He also mentioned the initiation of operations by UAEs Sovereign Wealth Fund in GIFT City and aircraft and ship leasing activities by transworld companies. The Prime Minister gave credit to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the soaring partnerships between India and UAE relationships.

Referring to the presence of the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, the Prime Minister expressed pride for the inclusion of the African Union to the G20 permanent membership during Indias Presidency. He said President Nyusis presence has deepened the India-Mozambique as well as India-Africa ties. Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fialas first visit to India as Prime Minister of his country, PM Modi said, signified the Czech Republics old ties with India as well as with Vibrant Gujarat. PM Modi mentioned cooperation in the automobile, technology and manufacturing sectors.

The Prime Minister also welcomed Nobel laureate and President of Timor Leste, Mr Jose Ramos-Horta and highlighted his use of Mahatma Gandhis principle of non-violence with his countrys freedom struggle.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Tuesday arrived at a general understanding for nearly 40 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra but negotiations between the three partners in the state will continue for the remaining eight seats, including the prestigious Mumbai (South) constituency, leaders aware of the development said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar at a protest of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.(PTI)

The Congress also held a formal meeting with ally Samajwadi Party (SP) for Uttar Pradesh. In the meeting, some Congress leaders suggested that the SP should take the lead if it is decided that Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party is brought on board later, said the leaders quoted above. The SP, however, is understood to have said it was not going to approach the party.

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The Congresss national alliance committee met the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the SP at the residence of panel chairman Mukul Wasnik. Former Union minister Salman Khurshid, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress veteran Mohan Prakash were among the committee members present in both the meetings, said the leaders quoted in the first instance.

Also Read | Opposition in Maha divided over LS seat-sharing

According to some Maharashtra leaders present, the Sena and Congress might get 18-20 seats each and Pawars NCP is set to get 8-10 seats in the arrangement. Prakash Ambedkars Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi might get two seats and Swabhimani Paksha leader Raju Shetty, an INDIA partner, might get one seat.

The Sena, NCP and Congress comprise the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which controlled Maharashtra until its government fell in 2022 following a split in the Sena. Months later, the NCP split as well.

You have seen this scenario. All of the members of MVA came out of the meeting smiling. You can understand the meaning. It means that MVA members- Sena, Congress and NCP -- sat down for an important meeting to discuss seat-sharing and we agreed on most points. Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan were there, said Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

We are together. Maharashtra will see large number of seats for INDIA. There is no difference on seat sharing. I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together. We have no qualms about seat sharing,

Also Read | INDIA alliance to contest on all seats in LS polls: Mamata Banerjee

Congress incharge for Maharashtra, Ramesh Chennithala, later told journalists that the meeting was very cordial and Maharashtra will be the first state to announce the seats of the alliance.

Two senior Congress leaders said that there was general agreement on about 40 seats but at least eight seats will require more negotiations. The meeting was very good. We found Sena to be extremely pleasant. But in at least eight seats, we need more discussions before we can announce the seat sharing agreement. These are seats were primarily both Sena and Congress are strong, said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

We had a seatwise discussion except those eight seats where we have sitting MPs from all the three parties. The discussion was positive. However, there are seats where two parties have made their claim, said a second Congress leader.

Mumbai (South) is among those seats. The constituency has been with the Sena for 10 years but the Congress wants to field Milind Deora, the joint treasurer of the party.

Arvind Sawant is a Sena MP for two terms from the seat. Naturally, Sena is resisting the idea. Some of the other seats too will need extensive negotiations, said a Shiv Sena leader.

This will be the first time when erstwhile rivals Sena and Congress will fight the Lok Sabha polls together as the MVA was formed after the 2019 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra elections.

With 48 seats, Maharashtra holds the highest number of Lok Sabha constituencies after the 80-seat strong Uttar Pradesh.

During the talks between the SP and the Congress at Wasniks residence, a Congress leader suggested to SP leader Ramgopal Yadav that if it came to talking to the BSP, then the SP, the local party, should negotiate first. Yadav told the Congress that they had no plan to talk to BSP and the inclusion of the BSP should be avoided, said leaders aware of developments.

After the meeting, Pandey, UP Congress chief Ajay Rai and Aradhana Mishra, one of the two Congress lawmakers in the state, sat back to draw certain parameters for demanding seats from the SP, said the leaders quoted above.

(with inputs from Faisal Malik in Mumbai)
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday finalised four agreements, including in food processing and renewable energy, to take forward cooperation within the I2U2 grouping as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks on bolstering bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes President of UAE Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday. (PTI)

The visit of the ruler of Abu Dhabi, popularly known as MBZ, is being seen as one of the highlights of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, and is expected to strengthen trade and investment ties following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February 2022.

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In a special gesture, Modi personally received the UAE President at the Ahmedabad airport, and the two leaders travelled in a motorcade to the venue of their meeting. Hundreds of people lined both sides of the route as the roadshow covered several kilometres in Ahmedabad.

In the past, Modi has held similar roadshows in Ahmedabad with world leaders such as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former US president Donald Trump, and late Japanese premier Shinzo Abe. This was the first time Modi hosted the leader of a West Asian country in his home state of Gujarat in such a fashion.

Also Read | UAE president answers Netanyahu's aid request with a zinger: Ask Zelensky

The two sides finalised four memorandums of understanding during the meeting between Modi and MBZ, including one between the UAEs investment ministry and Indias renewable energy ministry on investment cooperation in renewable energy and another between the UAE investment ministry and Indias food processing ministry on investment cooperation to develop food parks.

Another MoU between the UAEs investment ministry and Indias health ministry will facilitate investment cooperation for innovative health care projects, while DP World, a multinational logistics company based in Dubai, and the Gujarat government concluded an MoU on developing green and sustainable ports.

People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that the MoUs on renewable energy and food processing dovetailed into plans framed by the India-Israel-UAE-United States, or I2U2 grouping, to develop projects in these two sectors in Gujarat.

Following the first I2U2 Summit in July 2022, the four members of the economic bloc had said the UAE will invest $2 billion to develop a series of integrated food parks for which India will provide land and facilitate the integration of farmers. The food parks are aimed at tackling food insecurity in South Asia and West Asia.

The I2U2 had also announced plans to create a hybrid renewable energy project in Gujarat with 300MW of wind and solar capacity. It was stated at the time that UAE-based firms are exploring opportunities to become knowledge and investment partners in this project.

This was the fourth meeting between the Indian premier and the UAE President in less than seven months, and they hailed the rapidly transforming India-UAE partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to a shared and prosperous future, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

The Ahmedabad civic body unveiled a special 3km road, developed through a public-private partnership model, for Tuesdays roadshow. Welcome to India my brother, HH@MohamedBinZayed. Its an honour to have you visit us, Modi said in a post on X.

Earlier in the day, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem met Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel and discussed infrastructure projects. DP World is expected to sign three MoUs during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit that envisage investments of more than 30,000 crore, an official said.

DP World earlier participated in bidding to develop Nargol port in Gujarat, though the project was scrapped due to viability issues.

The AD Ports Group of the UAE is expected to sign another agreement to develop a port city in Gujarat, the people said. UAE-based Lulu Group International has plans to build Indias largest shopping mall in Ahmedabad, and the retail conglomerate is expected to sign an agreement to invest 3,000 crore in Gujarat.

The Indian government has focused on improving ties with key parts in West Asia, which New Delhi perceives as part of the countrys extended neighbourhood and provides nearly 45% of energy supplies. West Asiais also home to some nine million Indians, with a majority of them living in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In what is being celebrated as a historic milestone, the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha has constructed the first grand Hindu temple in the Middle East. Situated on a sprawling 27-acre government land in Abu Mureikah, Abu Dhabi, the BAPS Hindu Mandir stands as a significant cultural and religious landmark. The much-anticipated inauguration of this iconic temple will be done by Prime Narendra Modi on February 14, 2024, said an official of BAPS.

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, initiated by Prime Minister Modi during his tenure as chief minister in 2003, aims to position the state as a global leader in trade and industry. The theme for the upcoming three-day event from January 10 is Gateway to the Future.

The summit is set to witness the active participation of over 100 countries, with approximately 30 nations joining as partners. Additionally, a dozen international organisations have collaborated with the Gujarat government to support and promote the event as a pivotal platform for fostering collaboration and exploring opportunities across various sectors. This global engagement underscores the summits significance in facilitating international.

Modi will be joined for the inaugural session on Wednesday by MBZ, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos Horta, and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi. The partner countries for the event include Australia, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, and the UK.

The 10th edition of the event, being held from January 10-12, will include conferences on topics such as technology and innovation, sustainable manufacturing, green hydrogen, electric mobility and renewable energy.
The use of genetically modified crops raises a vital issue for consideration, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, as it set out to hear a clutch of petitions, with the earliest filed in 2004, on introducing a stringent and transparent bio-safety test protocol in the public domain for genetically modified organisms before their release into the environment. New Delhi, Jan 10 (ANI): A view of the Supreme Court building, the apex judicial body of India, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Sanjay Sharma)

This is a vital issue. Why has it been pending since 2004? We have to examine this issue in a wholesome manner, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol said as it took up petitions filed by NGO Gene Campaign in 2004, activist Aruna Rodrigues in 2005 and Research Foundation for Science and Technology in 2006 followed by others on this issue.

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Besides the petitions, there was an application moved by the Centre for permission to proceed with the second sowing season of GM mustard. In November 2022, the Centre had given an undertaking not to take any precipitative action on GM mustard while expecting the hearing of the matter to conclude soon.

Also Read | Centre seeks to withdraw assurance that it wont cultivate GM Mustard

However, the hearings in the case was concluded before a bench headed by justice Dinesh Maheshwari, but before a decision could be given, justice Maheshwari retired in May 2023, requiring the matter to be heard afresh. Last year, the Centre moved another application to allow its undertaking to be withdrawn, which is still pending.

Instead of dealing with the application on GM mustard, the top court on Tuesday asked the petitioners and Centre to provide an overview of the main issue at hand. We have to go into the legality of these actions under the statute and relevant rules. We dont want any ad-hocism. Instead of the application, we can decide the main matter itself, the bench observed.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that in May 2012, the Supreme Court constituted a technical expert committee to decide whether there should be any ban, partial or otherwise, on open field trials of GMOs. The panel gave its report a year later, raising concerns over permitting open field trials.

Also Read | Section of experts, farmers not in favour of genetically modified mustard

The GMO poses known and unknown risks to human and animal health, environment and soil health, Bhushan said. He referred to the latest decision of the Centre to introduce the transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 that got clearance for commercial cultivation from the genetic engineering appraisal committee under the environment ministry on October 18, 2022.

So far, only one GM crop, Bt cotton, has been approved for commercial cultivation. The DMH-11, developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants at Delhi university is currently being sown for research purposes at eight designated sites of Indian Council for Agricultural Research before to its release into the environment.

Bhushan informed the Court that the hybrid mustard variety has been introduced by the Centre to increase yields and to end the countrys dependance on edible oil imports. The Centre has filed an affidavit in response to his application challenging release of DMH-11 mustard crop, where it admits that reports available so far do not indicate that DMH-11 outperforms non-GMO or traditional mustard yield.

Today, by using technology, vegetables and food crops harvested usually in winters are being grown in summers, the bench observed. You cannot go against nature.

Attorney General R Venkataramani appeared for the Centre and submitted that several steps have been taken by the government since the earlier order passed by the court. In the course of these proceedings, developments have taken place. While considering this issue, the court may examine the steps taken by the government and whether something more needs to be done, Venkataramani said.

As the hearing remained inconclusive, the bench posted the matter for further consideration on Wednesday.

The Centre is keen not to lose on another sowing season and has sought orders from the court to continue with the research on the DMH-11 crops. During the arguments in the case last August, the Centre informed the court that 12 years of research has gone behind this project and the environmental release of the GM mustard over four successive sowing seasons will aid scientists in gathering findings considered crucial for achieving higher mustard productivity.

However, the court has expressed concerns on allowing the Centre to go ahead without knowing whether the damage caused to environment will be irreversible. In August, the court had observed, If we discharge you from your undertaking, what remains in this matter? You cannot be allowed to release GMO into the environment. The environmental harm cannot be reversed.

The Centre has claimed that mustard is the most important edible oil and seed meal crop in the country. The bulk of the edible oil demand, nearly 55% to 60%, is met through imports. The development of indigenous transgenic varieties of mustard will increase agricultural output and farmer incomes, said the application filed by the Centre for being permitted further sowing of DMH-11.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders have strongly reacted to the verdict ruled by Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar with Priyanaka Chaturvedi saying that she was not surprised by the ruling at all while Aaditya Thackeray said that the party will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray (ANI)

Narwekar on Wednesday ruled on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs and stated that chief minister Eknath Shinde's faction was the real Shiv Sena and dismissed the petitions filed by the UBT faction.

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Thackeray said that the judgement was unacceptable and the party would challenge it in the Apex Court.

Chaturvedi said, I am not surprised at all. We had heard 'wahi hota hai jo manzoor-e-khuda hota hai' and after 2014 a new tradition has begun, wahi hota hai Jo manzoor-e-Narendra Modi aur Amit Shah hota hai.

"That is what we see happening in Maharashtra. This is an unfortunate compromise of ethics. Something that was termed 'illegal' and 'unconstitutional' by the Supreme Court is being turned into 'legal'. This is unfortunate," she added.

Shiv Sena (UBT faction) leader Sanjay Raut dubbed the verdict as BJP's conspiracy to finish the party.

...This is BJP's conspiracy and this was their dream that one day we would finish Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena. But Shiv Sena won't finish with this one decision...We will go to the Supreme Court, he said.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that after the decision, Thackeray woud have to approach the top court.

After this decision, Uddhav will have to go to SC...He is hopeful of getting justice in SC. Ambadas Danve said that we will go to the Supreme Court and challenge this decision. SC had said in Subhash Desai's case that party organisation is important, he said.

On the other hand, Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader Deepak Kesarkar said that the decision will strengthen the democracy.

With this decision, democracy will be strengthened. The fact of this decision is that there should be democracy in the party as well...This is a landmark judgement...This decision was taken after analyses of all facts. It is a correct decision, he said.

Meanwhile, Union minister and president of the Republican Party of India Ramdas Athawale reacted to the verdict saying that it is a major jolt to Thackeray.

"This is a huge jolt to Uddhav Thackeray. Eknath Shinde will remain the CM, and his faction is the real Shiv Sena political party. This decision is as per the constitution, it will benefit us in Lok Sabha polls," ANI quoted the minister as saying.

Narwekar in its verdict also emphasised the relevance of the party's constitution in determining its leadership structure, crucial for identifying the authentic Shiv Sena faction.
Kerala youth Congress chief Rahul Mamkootathil was arrested on Tuesday in connection with his alleged role in the violent protests near the secretariat on December 21 last year, police said. Youth Congress workers stage a demonstration against the arrest of their Kerala state President Rahul Mamkootathil, in Kochi (PTI)

Mamkootathils arrest triggered protests by the Congress and its affiliates across the state. Mamkootathil who was taken into custody by the Cantonment police in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday from his home in Adoor was remanded to judicial custody till January 22 by a local court after his bail application was rejected, said the officials familiar with the matter.It was chief minister Pinarayi Vijayans decision to arrest me in front of my mother, but I wont stop my fight here, the Youth Congress president said, sitting in the police vehicle.

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Mamkootathil, who assumed the presidents post in November last year following an organisational election, is the fourth accused in the case registered in connection with the protests organised by the party in December. While the first accused is the Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, the second and third accused are MLAs Shafi Parambil and M Vincent.

Rahul has been booked for offences including unlawful assembly, rioting, illegally resisting lawful apprehension for offence, unlawful return from transportation, causing obstruction in public way, voluntarily causing harm to public worker and assaulting public servant, said a police officer on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, workers of the Youth Congress staged protests in state by blocking roads and highways. They also burnt effigies of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Reacting to the arrest, Congress leaders questioned the timing of the arrest since Rahul was in Thiruvananthapuram for nearly three weeks during which he had also fallen ill.

His mother, who was at home at the time of Mamkootathils detention, said, Many of the police personnel who came to the house didnt know what was happening. They said that there was a directive from the top to arrest Rahul from his home, his mother alleged.

Satheesan slammed the police for the abrupt manner of arrest and said that he was neither a criminal nor a terrorist.

The same government and police which allowed a person accused of raping and killing a six-year-old child to escape from justice have arrested Rahul from his house early in the morning, said Satheesan.

State Congress president K Sudhakaran warned the LDF government and the police of retaliation. In a statement, he said, Rahul was arrested based on the clear conspiracy hatched between the CPI (M) and the police. If he had been issued a notice, he would have appeared before the police on his own. Instead, like criminals, he has been arrested from his home in the early morning hours.

Defending the arrest, LDF convener EP Jayarajan , however, said: As the chief of the youth Congress, does he have special protection? Dont laws and rules apply to him? If he goes and assaults police officers with sticks and stones, will he not face action?
In delivering the judgment on the Sena versus Sena case, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar stated on Wednesday that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's faction was the real Shiv Sena. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar pronounces the verdict in Shiv Sena MLAs' disqualification, in Mumbai on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

The Speaker emphasised the relevance of the party's constitution in determining its leadership structure, crucial for identifying the authentic Shiv Sena faction.

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Following the Speaker's meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, prior to the verdict, the Uddhav faction already approached the Supreme Court, expressing concerns about potential bias and calling it a fixed match.

The top court had on May 11 last year directed the speaker to decide which was the real Shiv Sena. Later, it asked the speaker to give the verdict on the disqualification petitions by December 31. On December 20, SC allowed Narwekar an extension of 10 days.

Two weeks ago, the speaker completed the hearing, spanning over 20 sessions, on the 34 petitions filed by the two camps  one led by Shinde and the other by Uddhav Thackeray. A team of officials and lawyers appointed by the legislature has already gone through the voluminous records of more than 2.67 lakh documents.

Here are the top quotes of the judgement:
New Delhi: The Eknath Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when the party witnessed a vertical split on June 21, 2022, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said on Wednesday, while announcing his verdict in the MLAs' disqualification case. He also rejected the Eknath Shinde faction's demand for the disqualification of 14 out of 16 MLAs, who are loyal to Uddhav Thackeray. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.(PTI file photo)

"Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022. Also in my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution can not remove anyone from the party. So Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," he said.

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With this, the number of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly stands at 16.

The Shiv Sena led by Shinde had demanded the disqualification of fourteen MLAs, barring Aaditya Thackeray and Rutuja Latke.

The two were left out of disqualification action as the Shinde faction had, right from the start, excluded Aaditya Thackerays name from the disqualification notice. This is because Aaditya is the grandson of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and whom Shinde considers as one of his political gurus.

Also read: Why is Shinde faction real Shiv Sena? 10 reasons Speaker gave | Explained

Narwekar today said the disqualification plea stands dismissed as the whip was not physically delivered to them.

In 2019 assembly elections the Shiv Sena had won 56 seats.

In 2022, when Shinde broke away from then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, he had the support of 38 MLAs. Thackeray had the support of 16 MLAs.

He had filed disqualification proceedings against Shinde and his 38 rebels. The party's chief whip Bharat Gogawale later moved a counter petition demanding the disqualification of 14 MLAs.

He also refused to disqualify the Shinde camp's MLAs.

The Supreme Court had last month asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.
Male: Fayyaz Ismail, the Opposition leader in the Maldives and the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party, said on Wednesday the country's government should have made a stronger statement against disparaging remarks for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to repair the two countries' strained bilateral relations. However, amid allegations that the objectionable comments over PM Modi's recent Lakshadweep trip represent the Maldives pro-China tilt, he admitted his country currently has stronger ties with the Xi Jinping-led nation. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu and his wife Sajidha Mohamed being welcomed on his arrival at Xiamen, in Fujian on Monday. (ANI Photo)

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu is currently visiting China. Amid boycott calls in India, he has appealed to the communist nation to send more tourists.

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Reacting to the visit, Ismail admitted the current government is holding more robust engagements with China rather than India.

Well, first of all, there is no doubt that the current government has a more favourable or stronger relation with China. The Maldives has always maintained friendly relations with all countries, except for Israel. So with the change in the political spectrum in Maldives, with the change in political parties, there will always be shifts in the intensity of engagement with different partners, obviously. And in this case, you're seeing more robust engagement with China rather than India, he was quoted as saying by an ANI report.

Also read: Why New Delhi cold shouldered Maldives plan for Prez Muizzus India visit

He said the Maldives had been maintaining an India-first policy; however, the current government has what he called "different approaches to its foreign policy".

"Until now, we have always, all parties in the Maldives maintained an India-first policy, and that is also very crucial for our security and stability as well. But this government may have different approaches to its foreign policy, and maintaining good relations with China is not an issue that any party in the Maldives would also want," he noted.

Ismail talks about repairing strained ties

The Maldives government has suspended three deputy ministers over the remarks. It had distanced itself from the comments saying the utterances were "unacceptable" and don't represent the country's official position.

Ismail called for more urgent efforts to repair the relationship with India.

"I personally believe the government should take a tougher stand on that because this goes beyond government to government. Now, because of the easy accessibility of social media, this has reached a lot of Indians and to a lot of Maldivians. And as arguments take over from both sides, there has been a lot of insults coming back and forth. So the government needs to show that there was no intention on the part of the government. These were just isolated individual opinions of these people who, unfortunately, were given positions in the government. So that needs to be clearly shown to the Indians, to the Maldivians, and to the entire world at large," he said, reported ANI.

Also read: Amid row with India, Maldives President tells China to send more tourists

The remarks made by the ministers have upended decades old bilateral relations. Several Indian celebrities have called for boycotting visiting the Maldives.

The economy of Maldives largely depends on tourism. With 11 percent share, India is the country's largest market.

China, with a 10 percent market share, is the Maldives' third largest partner after Russia.

Ismail said a few tweets by individuals can't derail the entire relationship.

"This relationship between India and Maldives has been nurtured and fostered over a long period of time by very mature leaders, past leaders of our country and yours as well. So just one or two tweets derailing this entire relationship is very sad," he said.

"But now this has reached the people, and that is something I am more concerned about--how to repair that. So to repair that from our side, our government has to come up with a stronger statement or action on that. And I would hope that from the Indian colleagues, that there will be more restraint as well to try to diffuse this," he added.

Pro-China tilt allegations

Syed Tanveer Nasreen, the former director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Male, said the remarks represent anti-India sentiments fostered by foreign powers.

She was the director of the Indian Cultural Centre at the High Commission of India in Male, Republic of Maldives, from 2019 to 2023.

"What has been going on is very unfortunate, and I condemn the remarks made by the now-deposed three Maldivian ministers. But I would say this is not a sudden or isolated incident. This anti-India build-up has been ongoing for quite some time at the instigation of foreign powers," she told PTI.

It was an aggressive anti-India campaign that was going on, they not just wanted the Indian military out but also wanted India out culturally and socially. Earlier in Male, we had very easy access to parks and community centres for holding cultural events, but after Mohamed Muizzu, the present president of Maldives, became the mayor of Male, this easy access was curtailed to a large extent, she added.

On Monday, Congress leader Manish Tewari said the Maldives was in the Chinese sphere of influence.

"Maldives is now in the Chinese sphere of influence. Sri Lanka has bent to the Chinese wind. China is gobbling up territory in Bhutan. China has accumulated disproportionate influence over the polity in Nepal. The Military Junta in Myanmar for decades has been beholden to the Communist Party of China (CPC). Pakistan is a client state of China. China has developed proximate ties to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Chinese economic influence in Bangladesh is also on the ascendant. What is Indias influence in South Asia currently? Folks need to take a reality check," he wrote on X.
Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan said Tuesday that he was not a rubber stamp who could be coerced into signing important bills by the state government even as the governor faced protest from several youth outfits affiliated to the ruling Left Democratic Front during his visit to Thodupuzha in Idukki district on Tuesday. Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan said in a democracy, the force of argument must be used (PTI)

His remarks came during an event organised for the inauguration of a welfare scheme of Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, a traders body. Khan arrived in Thodupuzha amid a hartal called by the LDF in Idukki district against his refusal to sign the Kerala Government Land Assignment (Amendment) Bill 2023, passed by the state Assembly in September last year.

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The CPI(M) had given the call for the bandh.

During the event, Khan said, I dont know why they called a hartal today (on Tuesday). I have been told that the complaint is that I have not signed the Land Assignment Bill. I have already said yesterday (on Monday) that we received many petitions against this Bill passed by the Assembly.

Immediately, we sent the Bill to the government for their remarks. My reply to the people will be based on the reply of the government. The first letter was sent in September or October. Since then, we have sent three reminders to the government. There has been no response. So, who is to be blamed?

I am not a rubber stamp. I have said it repeatedly. I have a duty to uphold the constitutional law and I also have a duty to see that the interest and welfare of people of Kerala is not compromised by anybody, the governor said.

The governor, whose office has been engaged in a tussle with the state government for months over multiple issues, dismissed the protests saying that he did not feel threatened.

Some people are used to bullying tactics. In a democracy, you must use the force of the argument, not the argument of force...(referring to protests) this is nothing. In 1985, 86, and 87, I faced real threats. Five attempts were made on my life. I did not feel threatened even when I was 35, he said.

Though there were fears of a major law and order breakdown in Idukki, Khans visit was largely peaceful. As the governors convoy exited the venue and drove towards Kochi, CPI (M) activists waved black flags and giant banners against him. But the police were able to control them as the governor waved at them and drove on.

Meanwhile, CPI (M) state secretary MV Govindan said that it was better for the governor to pass the Bills quickly.

He (governor) has only seen one side of Idukki. Thodupuzha is not the real Idukki. We have seen how farmers have protested in different parts of the country for years and we have seen how the Narendra Modi government was brought to its knees. Kerala will not accept the saffronisation of the state and the implementation of RSS agenda. Our farmers will not accept it. So just sign the bill quickly, said Govindan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, alongside several global leaders. The three-day event is witnessing the participation of 34 partner countries and delegates from over 130 countries. It will also celebrate 20 years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success. A model of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 placed at a roadside in Gandhinagar(PTI)

About Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit

The concept of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit was started in 2003 under the leadership of PM Modi when he was the chief minister of the state. The first edition of the Summit was held during the Navratri festival with more than 1,000 delegates and dignitaries spanning 45 countries attending the event.

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Being held from January 10 to 12, this year's Summit's theme is Gateway to the Future. As a part of the Summit, several programmes have been organised at Mahatma Mandir, Sector-17 Exhibition Center, and GIFT City, in the state capital Gandhinagar. United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the chief guest for today's inaugural event, along with other global dignitaries.

What to expect from the 3-day summit?

According to an official release, the Summit will host various events including seminars and conferences on globally relevant topics including - industry 4.0, technology and innovation, sustainable manufacturing, green hydrogen, electric mobility and renewable energy, and transition towards sustainability. The event will see a large number of projects and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the government and global companies, advancing industrial and technological growth in Gujarat. This year, the ministry of development of North-Eastern Region is aiming to use the platform to showcase investment prospects in the North-Eastern regions. During the Summit, the Innovations for Defence Excellence-Defence Innovation Organization (iDEX-DIO) will exhibit futuristic technologies in unmanned solutions, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and advanced materials.

Vibrant Gujarat Trade show

Ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, PM Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Trade show in Gandhinagar. The show is an exhibition spread across two lakh square metres in multiple halls at the Helipad Ground Exhibition Centre dedicated to themes such as 'Make in Gujarat' and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The trade show will operate for two days for business engagement on January 10 and 11, following which it will be open to the general public on January 12 and 13. According to a release, a total of 20 countries are participating in the show including - Australia, Tanzania, Morocco, Mozambique, South Korea, Thailand, Estonia, Bangladesh, Singapore, UAE, UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Rwanda, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam, showcasing their respective industries. The show will highlight several topics such as women empowerment, MSME development, new technology, green and smart infrastructure, and sustainable energy. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has participated in the trade show, with the thrust on 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. The state-owned defence manufacturer's stall features a modified Su-30 MKI aircraft capable of integrating indigenous air-to-ground BrahMos missiles weighing 2500 kg and having a range of nearly 300 km.

Exclusive vegetarian thali for guests at the Summit

All the 136 delegates at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will get to relish exclusive vegetarian meals for three days, organised by Leela Hotel. According to reports, the state government has introduced a special Vibrant Bharat Thali for exclusive golden cardholders for 4,000, reported news agency PTI.

Starting with the event on January 10, the delegates will be served their first meal in the afternoon named Taste of India which will offer different kinds of vegetarian dishes. In the evening, they will be presented with The taste of Gujarat which will include khichdi and curry. On the second day of the even delegates will be served with different flavours of millet - made in local authentic form, while on the third day, they will have a special networking dinner along with some cultural programs.
New Delhi Punjab is reeling under the grip of narcotics and several drug lords are operating cross-border rackets at the cost of public health and national security, an anguished Supreme Court stressed on Tuesday while imploring courts to refrain from casually releasing such offenders on bail. New Delhi, Jan 10 (ANI): A view of the Supreme Court building, the apex judicial body of India, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Sanjay Sharma)

A bench, headed by justice Surya Kant, emphasised that the courts ought to deal with an iron hand when accused are found to be involved in multiple cases of peddling or trafficking, and the parameters of granting bail in a case under special statutes such as the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act should not be construed liberally.

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Drug addiction has posed a serious threat to the once vibrant state of Punjab. The courts, therefore, ought to be highly circumspect while granting bail, especially to a repeat offender, held the bench, which also included justice Dipankar Datta.

Refusing to protect a man from arrest in an NDPS case, the bench maintained that the involvement of the petitioner in another drug case completely disentitles him from any reprieve from the top court in the wake of Punjab facing a huge narcotics problem.

Also Read | Narcotics huge problem in Punjab, says SC; denies protection to dismissed cop

The state of Punjab is reeling under the grip of drug menace. There are several drug lords whose roots are identifiable in the state of Punjab, and who operate in the cross-border drug racketing and organised trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. It is a matter of common knowledge that huge cache of illicit drugs is smuggled across the border, lamented the bench in a recent order.

The top court further expressed concerns over the reported complicity of police officers, pharmaceutical companies, and others, in running the trafficking racket, as the state finds it difficult to wage a war against drugs.

Some local pharmaceutical industries, state police officials and other affluent people have been suspected of being involved, on occasions, in international drug trafficking. Drug addiction has posed a serious threat to the once vibrant state of Punjab, underlined the bench.

The court was hearing an appeal by a man who was booked under the NDPS Act in October 2022 over the recovery of 20 grams of heroin in Ludhiana. After the Punjab & Haryana high court granted an interim protection from arrest to the accused, he was booked in another NDPS case in March 2023. Noting his alleged involvement in another case while he was on interim bail in the first one, the high court refused to give anticipatory bail.

Also Read | Punjab will be 'drug-free' by next Independence Day: CM Mann

He argued that since it was a case of recovery of a non-commercial quantity of the contraband, rigors of Section 37 of the NDPS Act are not attracted. Section 37 of the Act states that no accused shall be released on bail unless the prosecutor is given an opportunity to oppose such a plea and the court is also satisfied that there are grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of the alleged offence.

The apex court, however, dismissed his plea, holding that the accused does not deserve to be extended the benefit of pre-arrest bail in a case of recovery of contraband like heroin and when he is also found involved in one more case under the NDPS Act.

The appellant, as it seems from the allegations, is a drug peddler and there is every likelihood of his returning to the same illicit trade once he is allowed the privilege of pre-arrest bail. We are, thus, of the opinion that the appellant does not deserve the concession of anticipatory bail, said the bench, asking the accused to seek regular bail from the trial court, which it said will be decided on its own merit.

In November, the top court echoed similar sentiments when it rejected a plea filed by a dismissed senior cop in Punjab seeking anticipatory bail in a case where he is accused of shielding his subordinate accused of having links with drug suppliers. Another bench of the court observed that Punjab seemed to have a serious problem of complicity of police officers with drug offenders as it junked the petition filed by former additional inspector general (AIG) Raj Jit Singh Hundal.
Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda on Wednesday said once former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's palm started bleeding after he shook hands with 5,000 people -- mostly working-class people with rough skin. The comment came in the context of Rahul Gandhi's upcoming Bharat Nyay Yatra -- the second phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra -- scheduled to start on January 14. The comment went viral as BJP leaders picked it up for mocking the 'antiques of Gandhi family'. Sam Pitroda said Rahul Gandhi's father former PM Rajiv Gandhi used to meet people and there were overwhelming crowd always to meet Rajiv Gandhi. (ANI)

In an interview with a YouTube news channel, Sam Pitroda said Rajiv Gandhi too had this eagerness to meet people on the ground. "I remember once my wife and I went to meet Rajiv Gandhi. We saw his hands were bleeding. As I asked him, he said he shook hands with at least 5,000 people. Wherever I went, I had to shake hands. And all of them were villagers, had very rough skin as they were involved in hard physical work," Sam Pitroda said. "See our hands are not that tough because we don't do manual hard work," the Congress leader said.

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"But Rajiv Gandhi was always very happy meeting them as he considered meeting people as his responsibility even after he became the PM. The crowd everywhere was overwhelming for Rajiv Gandhi," Sam Pitroda said.

Recently, Sam Pitroda was under fire for his comments on the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir as he said it should not be an issue of national importance. The party distanced itself from the comment and said it was Sam Pitroda's personal opinion.

In the latest development for the Bharat Nyay Yatra, the Manipur government denied permission to start the Bharat Nyay Yatra from Imphal's Palace grounds. The Congress said it would seek permission to start the march from another location in Imphal, but the yatra will begin from Manipur only.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday termed the assembly speaker Rahul Narwenkar's verdict validating the former's faction as the real Shiv Sena as the victory of democracy. Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde(File)

While speaking to the reporters, Shinde said that the result has been given on merit and majority.

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It is 'Satyamev Jayate'. Truth has won...This result has been given on merit. Majority is very important in democracy and hence the decision given by the Speaker today is the victory of democracy, news agency ANI quoted Shinde as saying.

Taking a dig at his rival and predecessor Thackeray, the CM said the verdict is a lesson for those who trample upon ideals and resort to unnatural alliances.

Narwekar in a landmark verdict ruled that Shinde's faction was the real Shiv Sena and dismissed the petitions filed by the UBT faction. He also said that Thackeray had no right to remove Shinde as the leader of the legislature party as according to the constitution of the party, the national executive was the supreme body and not the paksha pramukh.

State's deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also asserted that there is now no reason to doubt the stability of the BJP-Sena-NCP government.

"After the order given today by the Speaker citing various rules, there is no reason to doubt the stability of the government even now. I repeat this government will complete its tenure! I heartily congratulate Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his colleagues," Fadnavis said in a post on X.

Meanwhile Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction leaders denounced the verdict and said that they will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

Former chief minister and UBT faction chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the verdict is a murder of democracy and an insult to the Supreme Court's guidelines.

"I think the Assembly Speaker did not understand the mandate -- what he was asked to do. It was a simple case of disqualification. The Supreme Court laid down a framework but the Speaker thought he was above the Supreme Court and came up with his own court and verdict," Uddhav said. Probably, he did not understand or there were orders from the top, Thackeray said.

In 2022, Shinde with around 40 MLAs rebelled against Thackeray that lead to a split in the Shiv Sena. Shinde eventually joined hands with BJP. Shinde was made the chief minister while BJP's Fadnavis settled for the deputy CM post.
SILCHAR: The Assam government has withdrawn a posse of guards deployed outside the Dibrugarh residence of United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) chief Paresh Baruahs residence, his family said on Wednesday. The move comes days after the central and state government sealed a peace pact with the pro-talks faction of ULFA in Delhi on December 29 (X/dibrugarhpolice/ Representative Image)

The security personnel had been deployed outside the house of the insurgent leader after unidentified gunmen fired multiple shots at the house on December 6, 2000.

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Baruah hasnt visited his family at the house in decades. A family member told local television channels that the security personnel were withdrawn on Tuesday and that Baruahs brother, Bikul Baruah and some close relatives stay at the house in Dibrugarhs Chabua area.

HT reached out to the Inspector General (IG) Law and Order, Prasanta Kumar Bhuiyan and the Dibrugarh superintendent of police Shwetank Mishra for their comments. This story will be updated when they respond.

The move comes days after the central and state government sealed a peace pact with the pro-talks faction of ULFA in Delhi on December 29, nearly 11 years after its cadre surrendered their weapons.

Paresh Baruah has resisted the governments peace overtures for more than a decade and formed ULFA Independent in 2012. The Paresh Baruah faction of the militant group claimed on Monday that security forces carried out a drone attack at one of its camps in Myanmar. The faction, however, claimed that only two people were injured in what it described as a drone attack. Indian security officials had rebutted the claim.

Some senior cops and army personnel who are residents of other states are trying to create pressure on us by throwing bombs but this will not work, nobody can bring us for discussion by creating pressure, Barua later told the media.
In a major blow to the Uddhav faction in Maharashtra, the Speaker on Wednesday announced that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when the party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray split between Shinde and Thackeray factions. Delivering the verdict of the Sena versus Sena case, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday said Uddhav Thackeray had no power to remove Eknath Shinde from the post of legislature party leader  according to the Shiv Sena constitution. As the Speaker read out the lengthy verdict, he said the constitution of the party was relevant to identify the leadership structure of the party. The leadership structure, in turn, is relevant to identify which Shiv Sena faction was the actual party. Sena versus Sena: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker announced the verdict on Wednesday.

Sena versus Sena case: Follow LIVE updates

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The first reaction to the verdict came from Jitendra Awhad (NCP-Sharad Pawar faction) who said that the post of Assembly Speaker is the highest but Rahul Narvekar has brought down the dignity of the post. "MLA disqualification hearing will be held today but the Speaker of the Assembly never understood before that whatever papers were scrutinized should also have been shown to the countrymen through live view. How does the Assembly Speaker himself go to the residence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even before the disqualification? The post of Assembly Speaker is the highest but Rahul Narvekar has brought down the dignity of the post," he said.

The Uddhav faction already approached the Supreme Court after the Speaker met chief minister Eknath Shinde ahead of today's verdict and said it would be a fixed match. "The first thing is that we saw that the Speaker meeting the Chief Minister ahead of the verdict. Then it seeks to give the impression that the one who had to impart justice went to the accused. It has never happened in history," former minister and Maharashtra MLA Aaditya Thackeray said.

Sena versus Sena: A timeline

The power struggle started in 2022 when Eknath Shinde along with the support of around 50 MLAs declared a rebellion against then-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray

June 2022: Shinde declared rebellion and went to Assam with his supporters and then staked a claim to the government with the help of the BJP.

June 29, 2022: The Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Assembly after the Maharashtra Governor asked Uddhav to prove his majority. Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the CM post.

June 30, 2022: Eknath Shinde became the chief minister.

July 4, 2022: Eknath Shinde won the floor test in the assembly.

October 2022: The Election Commission froze the bow and arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena.

February 2023: The Election Commission gave the bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde faction.

May 2023: A five-judge Constitution bench had held that it could not disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minster because Uddhav resigned before facing the floor test

December 15, 2023: The Supreme Court extended till January 10 the time for the Speaker to pronounce a verdict on disqualification petitions against MLAs including Shinde.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday reacted to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury declining the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Affirming that she would not engage in any politics as far as the Ram Temple issue was concerned, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, It is a matter of our devotion and I won't do any politics over this. But there is one question, there are four Shankaracharyas in the country and they too have said that they won't participate in the ceremony. Are they too wrong?... Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi(PTI)

Taking an indirect dig at the BJP, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "Lord Ram resides in all our hearts, minds, religion, faith, decisions and acts. There is no politics over that. The question is, who is doing politics over this?"

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Chaturvedi's statements came after the BJP criticised the Congress party for refusing to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. "They are stuck in their rhetoric...Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don't go," union minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Nalin Kohli said the Congress party's decision wasn't surprising as they had already denied the existence of Lord Ram.

"The Congress took no steps over the last few decades for a temple at Ayodhya. They denied the existence of Lord Ram and delayed the hearing in the Supreme Court. So, the Congress party officially stating that it is not going to attend Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha should come as no surprise," Nalin Kohli said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Congress party said that its senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram Mandir consecration event on January 22.

Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event, the statement read.

The party's statement came amid speculations from several INDIA bloc partners over the Congress's stance on the issue of attending the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

(With inputs from agencies)
The Congress on Wednesday said Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram Mandir event on January 22. The party issued a statement ending speculations over the Congress's stance on the issue of the Ram Temple event amid contradictory opinions coming from several INDIA bloc partners. The Congress said the consecration event has clearly become an RSS/BJP event. Neither Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge nor Adhir Chowdhury will attend the Ram Mandir inauguration event on January 22

Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event, the statement read.

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Ram Mandir opening ceremony: Full coverage

"Last month, the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on January 22nd, 2024," the statement read.

Read | INDIA leaders divided over attending Ram Temple event

Why Congress won't attend the Ram Mandir event on January 22: Party gives 3 reasons

In a statement issued by the party, general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, the RSS/BJP have made Ram temple a political project. The second reason cited by the Congress is that the temple is not complete. Third, the inauguration has been brought forward for electoral gain.

The party and the party leaders, however, abide by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment, the party said.

What INDIA parties said on Ram Temple event

The first to decline the invitation was CPM as party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party does not condone the politicisation of religious belief.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Hemant Soren said he would like to attend the event if invited.

Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said the Ram Temple event on January 22 is a "gimmick show'.

Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav earlier announced she will attend the inauguration if invited.
New Delhi: Low cost carrier; SpiceJet on Wednesday said that it will operate two flights to Lakshadweep under the regional connectivity scheme, Udey Desh ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN). Currently only Alliance Air, a regional airline; operates to the island on the Kochi-Agatti-Kochi sector. (File photo)

We have exclusive rights to operate flights to Lakshadweep under the RCS and we will soon be launching flights to the island, the airlines chairman and managing director (CMD) Ajay Singh said in the annual general meeting held virtually on Wednesday.

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Currently only Alliance Air, a regional airline; operates to the island on the Kochi-Agatti-Kochi sector.

Plans to launch flights to Lakshadweep are being made and the airline will soon announce the flights with other details.

This comes in the backdrop of a diplomatic row triggered last week after Maldives deputy minister and government officials made unpleasant references to PM Narendra Modis Lakshadweep visit. Modi had visited the Union Territory on January 2 and shared pictures of his visit on social media.

Besides, the government is also trying to develop tourism by expanding the runway of Lakshadweeps Agatti airport in order to accommodate bigger aircraft. It also has plans to come up with a greenfield airport in Minicoy island.

Also Read: SpiceJet Q2 results: Air carrier reduces consolidated loss to 446 crore

Appeals to boycott Maldives as a tourism destination for Indians grew and people posted their views on X. Reacting to the outrage, the Maldives government then suspended three of its leaders.

Singh also said that the airline will launch flights to Ayodhya. We will soon launch flights connecting Ayodhya with multiple cities in the country, he said.

The Board of Directors of SpiceJet had, in December, approved fresh fundraising plans. Commenting on fund infusion, Singh said that a large part of the fund infusion of Rs. 2250 crore will be utilised to grow the airline and its network.

The airline has been struggling over the past few months due a severe cash crunch leading to poor one time performance with nearly 45% flights being delayed daily.

Fund infusion will lead to a stronger and more resilient SpiceJet. It will open market potential and opportunities for the airline and will help in bringing grounded planes back to flying, he said.
Amid the ongoing standoff between the Raj Bhavan and the Tamil Nadu government on the appointment of vice chancellors to three universities, governor R N Ravi on Tuesday withdrew three notifications he had issued last year on the matter. Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and chief minister MK Stalin during a meeting, in Chennai (PTI)

The development comes days after chief minister M K Stalin met Ravi, following a recent suggestion of the Supreme Court to resolve their differences.

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The governor is hopeful that the government will now constitute search committees including a nominee of UGC (University Grants Commission) chairman in line with the judgments of constitutional courts, the Raj Bhavan said in a statement.

However, he also sought that the state too withdraw its three notifications and go forward by issuing fresh notifications for constituting search committees in line with the UGC regulations 2018 and judgments of the Supreme Court and high courts.

Governor Ravi cited a judgement of the Madras high court from December 19 last year directing the government of Puducherry and the Puducherry Technological University to take immediate measures to amend statutory provisions governing the varsity to bring it in conformity with the UGC Regulations 2018.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu slams Ravi for again sending 10 bills to Prez after SC order

In view of this clear enunciation of the law, the Honble Governor of Tamil Nadu, in his capacity as Chancellor of the concerned Universities is confident that in deference to constitutional proprietary and legality, the Government of Tamil Nadu would withdraw its Notifications the Raj Bhavans statement said. ..and awaits appropriate action from the Government of Tamil Nadu at the earliest in this regard to ensure that the cause of higher education and (the) future of several hundred thousand students in the state are not adversely affected.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Last November, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government had moved the Supreme Court challenging the notifications issued by the governor. Following a direction by the top court for chief minister M K Stalin and governor to meet to iron out pending issues, the former led a delegation of senior ministers and bureaucrats to the Raj Bhavan on December 31.

This issue began on September 6, when the governor announced that three search-cum selection committees to appoint vice-chancellors to the University of Madras, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in Chennai will be constituted. He also introduced a fourth member in the committee by nominating a person on behalf of the chairman of the UGC. Hitherto, the process was that the governor, government and the university would appoint a nominee each to form a three-member search-cum selection committee.

On September 13, the higher education department under the then minister K Ponmudy (who has been disqualified from his post after being convicted in a corruption case in December 2023) issued a notification for a search-cum-selection committee by excluding the nominee of the UGC chairman.

This angered the governor, who called the governments actions an act of impropriety and demanded that the state withdraw their notification. As a result of this standoff, the three universities have been without heads for months which prompted the state to move the Supreme Court on the matter.
In July 2021 two months after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) formed the government in Tamil Nadu, chief minister M K Stalin set an ambitious target for the state to become a USD1-trillion economy by 2030 from the $300 billion currently. We want Tamil Nadu to be one of the best states in South Asia, Stalin said speaking at the first investors conclave held then.

On January 8, the DMK government signed 631 MoUs with investors promising 6.64 lakh crore at the end of the two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM). This was the third edition of GIM in Tamil Nadu but the DMK governments first. It surpassed investments pledged in the two previous meets by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime in 2015 and 2019 under late J Jayalalithaa and Edappadi K Palaniswami which was to the tune of 242,160 crore and 268, 296 crore, respectively.

The GIM was conducted in pursuit of achieving the target of a $1-trillion economy for which investments worth 23 lakh crore need to enter Tamil Nadu by 2030. The state has embarked on new initiatives to support the states industrial and economic growth by creating a suitable working environment.

Land availability

Most manufacturing companies, and electric vehicle production units use land from the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT- responsible for the development of industrial land and infrastructure). SIPCOT acquires land from private owners to ease the process of identifying land and transferring ownership to investors. By acquiring land ahead, the state can readily hand it over to investors as an incentive. In 2022, the state set out to create banks of such land under SIPCOT spreading more than 45,000 acres across Tamil Nadu.

And this has basic infrastructure such as roads, drains, electricity and water facilities. Land in the SIPCOT is on a 99-year leave, said an official of the industries department. And the government has a huge pool of land which is one of the advantages of investing in Tamil Nadu.The DMK government has also been decentralising its investment by moving away from industrial belts such as Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharamapuri and Sriperumbudur to spread factories across the region to generate more jobs in under-developed districts. We want to keep land in every region ready, the official added. Tata, Ola, and Simple Energy are some of the major factories working from inside SIPCOT land.

Accommodation

Last year, the government started a project to provide affordable housing to employees close to their factories in a bid to attract investments. It is being built at various locations, including in Sriperumbudura major hub for automobile and electronics manufacturingand in the industrial town of Hosur. Quality industrial housing is coming up in close proximity to high employment-oriented industries, including in electronic hardware manufacture, mainly as a labour welfare and productivity-enhancing measure, a second official said. The employer will have to pay for this facility since several workers travel from villages and towns that are every 100 km away from the factories. The 2021 protests by employees at the Foxconn iPhone plant (Apples contract manufacturing firm) in Sriperumbudur against the living conditions and facilities gave this project an impetus. For instance, at 875 crore, the government began construction last year to build industrial housing that can accommodate 18,000 employees in Hosur. Tata Electronics Private Limited which has invested more than 5,000 crore to build an electronic ecosystem in Hosur, has so far rented marriage halls and hostels to accommodate their workers.

New policies

Tamil Nadu has been a major hub of manufacturing automobiles, auto components, textiles, leather goods, machinery and engineering goods, electronics, rubber products, and IT/ITes. In the past two years, the state has rolled out specific policiessuch as for electric vehicles (EV) in February 2023 and on January 6 for semiconductors to emerge in these sectors too. Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Simple Energy, and Switch Mobility have a base in the state. Since the DMK formed the government, 221 EV projects have been facilitated with an investment commitment of 2.7 lakh crore and with employment opportunities for more than three lakh people. On the first day of this years GIM, the government rolled out a policy for semiconductor and advanced electronics with an aim to create a state-of-the-art manufacturing and design ecosystem to generate high-quality job opportunities. The policy would focus on incentivising strategic investments and collaborating across industry, academia and government.

Politics

Despite Tamil Nadu being a duopoly state governed successively by the DMK and AIADMK, both parties have ensured that investors have a supportive political environment since deals would take more than a prescribed five-year period to launch when there is usually a change in government. For instance, though Ford clinched a deal with the late J Jayalalithaa, it launched its first independent model in 1999 after DMK won the elections in 1996. The connectivity of international airports, and two seaports aided by logistics while there was plenty of local labour available has ensured that investors continue in the state. Tamil Nadu rose to the 3rd rank in 2022 in the Ease of Doing Business from being number 14, in the ranking released by the Union government last year.

According to the Annual Survey of Industries (2020), Tamil Nadu leads the country with the highest number of factories at 38,837 followed by Gujarat at 28,479. The state which has a higher number of women electorate also has one of the highest numbers of women employed at 43%. International brands such as BMW, Hyundai, and Daimler, to homegrown majors such as TVS, have a wife footprint in the state. Tamil Nadu is also home to key contract manufacturers for Apple productsFoxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics.

Guidance Tamil Nadu is the state nodal agency for investment promotion established in 1992 which also handholds investors operating here. Guidance has identified focus countries for prospective investments which has drawn Vietnams EV major VinFast to enter the Indian market through Tamil Nadu pledging up to $2 billion on the first day of GIM.
New Delhi: India and the US will discuss ways to boost bilateral trade during US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tais three-day India visit starting January 12, two officials said . Merchandise trade between the two countries fell by 9% to $79.28 billion in the first eight months (April-November} of the current financial year as against $86.98 billion the same period of FY23 . US Trade Representative Katherine Tais three-day India visit is starting January 12. (AFP)

The US is concerned about a widening of its trade deficit with India as the fall in imports of American goods to India is sharper than that of Indias exports to the US; both partners are willing to discuss mutually-beneficial measures to boost trade, the two officials said requesting anonymity. According to official data, Indias exports to the US fell by 5.76% on an annualised basis in April-October 2023 to $44.47 billion and imports from America fell by 15.85% to $ 24.87 billion in the same period.

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Provisional data show that the fall continued in November. Indias exports to the US dipped 5.23% in April-November 2023 to $50.33 billion as compared to $53.11 billion in the same period last year. Imports from the US fell 14.52% year-on-year to $28.95 billion in April-November 2023.

Both partners will discuss possibilities to ease tariff and non-tariff barriers on a reciprocal basis, which may include some farm produce while keeping sensitivities of both sides in mind. Besides, the US has agreed to consider restoring GSP [Generalised System of Preferences] benefits to India, one of the officials said.

The Trump administration withdrew GSP benefits from June 2019 as a retaliation to Indias higher tariffs on items such as automobiles. GSP benefits are tariff concessions provided by wealthy nations on exports from developing and least developed countries. The US terminated preferential tariff benefits under GSP affecting export of goods worth $6.3 billion to the US under the GSP programme in 2018, affecting about 12.1% of Indias total exports to the US that year, the second official said.

There are several positive and mutually-beneficial developments that would be fully operationalised in the current year, which will boost bilateral trade between India and US, he added, referring to resolution of seven outstanding disputes between the two countries that were pending at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Legal processes and trade procedures may take up to six months to operationalise these agreements. Their impact will be visible with a lag, this person said.

In June 2023, during Prime Minister Narendra Modis US visit, the two partners resolved six outstanding WTO disputes through mutual agreement. Out of the six, three each were initiated by the US and India. One dispute was pertaining to a complaint by New Delhi against the US about imposition of countervailing duties on some hot rolled carbon steel flat products from India. Later, in September 2023, they resolved the last remaining trade dispute over import of poultry items, including chicken and eggs from America, which was prohibited by New Delhi related to concerns over avian influenza.

The 14th ministerial-level meeting of India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) is crucial in the background of falling bilateral trade, and resolution of several outstanding issues between the two partners since June 2023, the first official said. The 14th TPF will be co-chaired by USTR Tai and commerce minister Piyush Goyal on January 12.

According to a report by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), India-US trade has potential to touch $300 billion in 2026-27 from $188 billion in 2022-23. The report  The India-US Bilateral Relations: Steady Strides into the Future  bats for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the US. An FTA between India and the US could encourage trade and advance prosperity in both the economies, taking into account the dynamic trade patterns and economic welfare. This can be accomplished by removing trade restrictions, increasing market accessibility, and putting in place a reliable framework for comprehensive expansion across numerous industries that benefit mutually, it claimed.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said the Assembly Speaker's verdict that Eknath Shinde's Sena was the real Shiv Sena in 2022 when the factions emerged is a murder of democracy. It is also an insult to the Supreme Court, the former chief minister, who resigned in 2022 facing a rebellion by Eknath Shinde with the help of the BJP, said. The Uddhav faction has already announced that they reject the verdict and would move the Supreme Court against it. Sena versus Sena: Uddhav Thackeray said the verdict was an insult to the Supreme Court.

Sena vs Sena verdict: Follow LIVE updates

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If Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena, then why he did not disqualify his faction, Uddhav said. "I think the Assembly Speaker did not understand the mandate -- what he was asked to do. It was a simple case of disqualification. The Supreme Court laid down a framework but the Speaker thought he was above the Supreme Court and came up with his own court and verdict," Uddhav said. Probably, he did not understand or there were orders from the top, the former CM said.

Maharashtra Speaker refuses to disqualify Thackeray's MLAs; what's Sena (UBT)'s strength in assembly

Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar said Uddhav Thackeray had no right to remove Eknath Shinde as the leader of the legislature party as according to the constitution of the party, the national executive was the supreme body and not the paksha pramukh, which was Uddhav.

"I already said it was a fixed match. The verdict is a murder of democracy and will not even stand in the Supreme Court. But it remains to be seen whether the tribunal is above the Supreme Court or if the Supreme Court is supreme. I often express concern about whether there will be democracy in India, but today I wonder whether the Supreme Court will be there in the country," Uddhav said.

Verdict goes against Supreme Court ruling: Sharad Pawar

NCP chief Sharad Pawar who faces a similar rebellion in the party by nephew Ajit Pawar said the verdict of the Maharashtra assembly speaker is against the guidelines determined by the Supreme Court.

The Apex Court in its verdict gave importance to the party organisation as they are the ones who select candidates. The Speaker, on the contrary, considered majority of the legislative party more important, Pawar said. Because of the wording used in the verdict, Im sure Uddhav Thackeray will get justice in the Supreme Court, Pawar said.
New Delhi The Union governments decision in 2016 to withdraw its support for minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was based on constitutional considerations alone because the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments stand to legally fight for it was against public interest and contrary to the public policy of reservation for marginalised sections, the Centre has submitted before a seven-judge Constitution bench. Aligarh Muslim University campus. (File photo)(HT_PRINT)

Stressing that the change of government at the Centre was inconsequential to the reversal of the stance, the NDA government maintained that the Union government should have never filed a separate appeal in the top court against the 2006 judgment of the Allahabad high court, which held that AMU is not and has never been a minority institution.

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The previous governments stand was in the teeth of a five-judge bench ruling in the Azeez Basha case in 1967, the Centre added. The Supreme Court ruled against minority status of AMU in the Basha case, noting that the university was neither established nor administered by a Muslim minority, and held that it cannot enjoy protection for minorities to administer educational institutions under Article 30(1) of the Constitution.

AMU is an institution of national character that ought to maintain its secular origins, the govt told the court.(HT graphics)

The stand taken to file an SLP (special leave petition against the 2006 high court ruling) was also against the public policy of reservation meant for SCs/STs/OBCs/EWSs as applicable to central universities, and therefore, was against public interest. It is, therefore, submitted that the prayer for withdrawal of appeal has been made after due consideration of the legal position, the Centre submitted before the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, through solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta..

AMU is an institution of national character that ought to maintain its secular origins and serve the larger interest of the nation first, the government told the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Sharma.

The bench on Tuesday commenced hearing a clutch of petitions relating to AMUs minority status, with the university complaining that the Centre changed its stance because of a regime change, and that there is no change in policy or new materials brought on record to justify its changed position on restoring the universitys minority status.

The central government had sought to overturn the top courts 1967 Basha order by passing amendments to the AMU Act in 1981. The Allahabad high court, however, junked these amendments in 2006, leading to AMU and the then UPA government to challenge it before the Supreme Court.

Then, in 2016, the NDA government informed the Supreme Court that it wishes to withdraw the appeal filed by the Centre. In 2019, the issue was referred to a larger bench to define the parameters for the granting of minority status to educational institutions.

If declared a minority institution, AMU need not reserve seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections (EWS).

Firmly sticking to its demand to withdraw the appeal, in his written submission outlining the stand of the Centre, the SG claimed that AMU has attempted to give a political hue to the matter by arguing that the decision taken in 2016 after change of the government at the Centre was based on political consideration.

It is unfortunate that a factual issue which has already been authoritatively decided by a Constitution bench of this Honble Court is being politicised and controverted on misconceived grounds. It is reiterated that the decision of the government to withdraw the SLP is based upon the factual and constitutional considerations alone, said the submissions, adding the Centres stand even in the Basha case was that AMU is not a minority institution.

The Centre maintained that AMU, like the Banaras Hindu University, is an institution of national character, adding no such university can be a minority institution.

Owing to the obviously secular ethos and nature of the nation and the Constitution, considering the fact that AMU is an institution of educational national character, it cannot be considered to be a minority institution irrespective of the question whether it was established and administered by the minority at the time of inception or not, said Mehtas written submissions, adding no other institution declared to be of national importance by Parliament is a minority institution.

AMU is not and cannot be a university of any particular religion or religious denomination as any university, which is declared by the Constitution of India to be of national importance, should, by definition, cannot be a minority institution, he added.

Mehtas submissions pointed out that the grant of minority status would make it open for AMU to provide for reservation, even among teachers, up to 50% or more to Muslims while it will continue not to provide for reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs/EWS.

On the legal point, Mehtas submissions stated that an institution must be both established and administered by a minority group to come under the ambit of Article 30, and since the Basha judgment clearly rendered a finding following a factual determination that AMU was predominantly a non-minority institution, it was not open for Parliament to change those findings of fact by way of amendments in 1981.

The seven-judge bench is expected to lay down parameters for granting minority status to an educational institution under Article 30 of the Constitution and also decide whether an educational institution created under a parliamentary statute can be given such status -- effectively re-looking at the Basha verdict.

On Tuesday, AMU, through senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, argued that private and minority institutions are the heart and soul of Indias education system and that the Basha judgment requires a reconsideration for ignoring several key aspects of the law as well as purpose of having such institutions.

At one point during the hearing on Tuesday, the bench remarked that administration of a minority institution under Article 30 cannot mean an absolute or 100% administration and therefore, merely because right to administer is regulated by a statute to a certain extent, it does not detract from the minority character of an institution.

The court will continue hearing the case on Wednesday.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Wednesday hailed the growth in Indias GDP and per capita income since 2014 as unparalleled, saying it was achieved despite geopolitical conflicts and a pandemic over the last decade. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar. (PTI)

The statistics of the past decade are remarkable: Since 2014, Indias GDP has grown by 185%, and per capita income by a stunning 165%, he said in his address on day one of the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

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He called Vibrant Gujarat a stunning manifestation of Prime Minister Narendra Modis extraordinary vision. It has all your [Modi] hallmark signatures, merging grand ambition, massive scale, meticulous governance, and flawless execution. It ignited a nationwide movement as all our states marched forward competing and cooperating to fundamentally remodel Indias industrial landscape.

The 2024 edition of the summit envisages investments of over 30,000 crore. Modi initiated the summit during his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister in 2003 to position the state as a global leader in trade and industry. The theme for this years three-day summit is Gateway to the Future.

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyans presence is seen as one of the highlights of the summit this year. It is expected to strengthen trade and investment ties following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in February 2022.

Adani called the Prime Ministers achievements on the international stage equally remarkable. You have taken us from a country seeking a voice on global platforms to a nation that now creates the global platforms. The Solar Alliance platform, an initiative you conceptualized, and your leadership at the G20 platform, set a benchmark for a more inclusive world order. Adding the Global South to the G20 is a defining moment in modern history.

He added the Prime Minister does not just predict the future but shapes it. You have reoriented India to become the worlds fastest-growing nation and positioned her as the global social champion driven by the twin philosophies of Vasudeva Kutumbakam and Vishwa Guru.

Adani said the best is yet to come. With your foresight in harnessing Indias youth to build a Vikshit Bharat [Developed India] and make India a fully developed nation by 2047, you have ensured that the India of today is poised to shape the global future of tomorrow.

He said at the previous summit, he announced an investment of over 55,000 crore by 2025. We have already surpassed 50,000 crore across the various sectors I had promised and have vastly exceeded our target of 25,000 direct and indirect jobs. He added they are constructing the worlds largest green energy park in Khavda, generating 30 GW of renewable energy over 725 square kilometres, even visible from space. We are expanding the green supply chain for an Atmanirbhar Bharat [self-reliant India] and creating the largest integrated renewable energy ecosystem. This includes solar panels, wind turbines, hydrogen electrolysers, green ammonia, PVC, and expansions in copper and cement production.

He said the Adani Group will invest over two lakh crore in Gujarat ($25 billion) over the next five years, creating over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Highlights: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, alongside several global leaders. United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will also be in attendance of the event. PM Modi embarked on his two-day visit to Gujarat on January 9 in Ahmedabad, where he met with several world leaders and CEOs of big firms, discussing developmental projects for Gujarat. Apart from the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the prime minister will also inaugurate the Vibrant Gujarat Trade Show on January 10 evening....Read More

Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2024 is the 10th edition of the global summit, which was envisioned under the leadership of Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of the state. The 2021 edition of the global summit was cancelled by the government due to the restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The global summit will be held from January 10 to January 12 and the theme for this year is Gateway to the Future. Dozens of global companies and partner countries are participating in the summit this year.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday ended the Sena versus Sena battle as of now by declaring that Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena was the real Shiv Sena party when the rival factions emerged in 2022. The verdict was lengthy as the Speaker went on reading and explaining it for over an hour. The Uddhav faction rejected the verdict and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said the Uddhav faction will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. In 2023, the Supreme Court said it could not pass a verdict to overthrow the Shinde government as Uddhav Thackeray resigned before taking a floor test. The top court asked the Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification of the MLAs. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena when he split the party in 2022 was the real Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said.

Here is what he said: Explained in 10 points

1. The Speaker said the constitution of the party was relevant to decide which was the real party as the constitution lays down the leadership structure

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2. The Shiv Sena (undivided) constitution was amended in 2018 but it was not on the records. So, the constitution of 1999 which was there with the Election Commission of India was considered.

Sena vs Sena: Follow LIVE updates

3. There was no organisational election in 2018.

4. In the 2018 leadership structure, the paksha pramukh is mentioned as the highest office but the 2018 leadership structure was not in conformity with the constitution.

5. Shiv Sena constitution (1999) said the national executive, not the paksha pramukh, was the highest body.

6. The party constitution said the paksha pramukh does not have any absolute power and he has to consult with the national executive.

7. So going by this, Uddhav Thackeray had no power to remove Eknah Shinde from the post of the legislature party leader. Uddhav's decision is not the will of the political party.

8. When there is a vertical split, leaders from both sides can claim they are the original party. The Shinde group had the majority of 37 out of 54 MLAs when the rival factions emerged in June 2022, Narwekar said explaining the decisive factor.

9. The Uddhav faction claimed that the Shinde faction acted in connivance with the BJP but that cannot be accepted as they did not provide any evidence for it.

10. The Uddav faction claimed the Shinde faction became incommunicado. But two of the Uddhav faction leaders met Shinde and other MLAs in Guwahati. And also the act of remaining incommunicado is not a reason for disqualification.
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) proposal to set up a forward fighter airbase in Minicoy Islands, 425 kilometres off Thiruvananthapuram, is part of a national security strategy to safeguard the sea lanes of communications (SLOCs) as well as keep the Arabian Sea free from non-state actors in the region. IAF's Su-30 MKI fighters refueling over sea.

This strategy was put on the drawing board when General Bipin Rawat was the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and was a piece of a larger chess board involving upgrading of all air and naval bases in Andamans and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. As of now, Minicoy Islands has a small Indian Navy detachment but its strategic potential is tremendous due to its location.

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NSA Ajit Doval with late CDS Gen Bipin Rawat

The 200-kilometre wide nine-degree channel between Suheli Par Island and the Minicoy hosts trillion-dollar merchant shipping between Europe, Middle-East, South East Asia and North Asia and its the key SLOC for carriers headed to and from Malacca Straits including Sri Lanka and South Indian Ocean. Even traffic headed from Suez Canal and Persian Gulf to Sunda, Lombok or Ombi-Wetar straits of Indonesia has to pass in the vicinity of Minicoy Islands and the Andamans and Nicobar Islands territory of India.

This nine-degree channel complements the ten-degree channel, which separates the Great Andamans from the Nicobar Islands, and leads to the Malacca Straits. As per Gen Rawats vision, the upgradation of air base at Campbell Bay and the building of a replenishment facility for global tankers waiting for their turn to enter Malacca Straits was part of a national security plan and is steadily being implemented with the help of friendly QUAD powers.

Not only the expanded air base at Minicoy and Campbell Bay give India better maritime domain awareness of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean but also help protect the 7500 km long Indian coastline from outside threat. It will also give the Indian armed forces more transparency of the Indian Ocean Region theatre with Chinese warships making frequent forays in the region ostensibly to participate in the anti-piracy force off the Gulf of Aden. But there is more to it.

In military terms, forward bases at Minicoy and Campbell Bay will project force in Indian Ocean Region as IAF fighters will be able to cover the entire Arabian Sea up to East Africa using mid-air refuelers, just as Indian military aircraft could fly up to coast of QUAD ally Australia after taking off from Campbell Bay in Nicobar Islands. The Indian capability will further be expanded with the availability of high altitude long endurance armed MQ-9B Predator Drones from the US. The tri-service bases at Minicoy and Campbell Bay may appear to be a small speck in the vast Indian Ocean canvass, but they will be a game-changer in Indian strategy to take on the Chinese expansionist challenge in the Indo-Pacific.
Suchana Seth, the 39-year-old mother, and CEO of an AI startup in Bengaluru, was found travelling with her son's body stuffed inside her bag in a cab when she was caught in Karnataka's Chitradurga district. The driver, a local from North Goa's Anjuna, has revealed that he suggested to Suchana that she should take a flight as it would take a long time to reach Bengaluru as there was a four-hour jam at Chorla Ghat. A truck overturned there. The driver told the Indian Express that Suchana said she won't take a flight and would only travel by road. The driver said he found it a bit odd as Suchana told her that she was in a hurry to reach Bengaluru. Suchana Seth, chief executive officer of Mindful AI Lab, has been arrested for allegedly killing her four-year-old son.

'The suitcase was unusually heavy'

The driver told Indian Express that the suitcase was unusually heavy but it did not intrigue him and his co-driver at that time.

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 30,000 for Goa-Bengaluru cab ride

The driver said he got a call from the hotel at 11pm on January 7 asking him to take an urgent ferry to Bengaluru from Goa. According to the details given by the driver, the cab started from Candolim at 12.30am and reached Chorla Ghat on Goa-Karnataka border at 2am.

Four-hour jam because of a truck accident

At Chorla Ghat, there was a traffic snarl, vehicles were stuck for four hours owing to a truck accident. It was then that the driver suggested that he would drop Suchana at the airport taking some other routes but she said she only wanted to go by road, no matter how long it took.

Police called at 11am

The driver said after the traffic bottleneck, he drove non-stop and there was no interaction with Suchana. At 11am on Jan 8, the driver got a call from the local police who asked him if his passenger was alone or if there was a kid. The cops wanted to speak to Suchana as well. The driver said Suchana gave them an address and did not panic at all.

The police inspector called him a few minutes later asking him to immediately drive to the nearest police station. The nearest police station was at a distance of 150 km, the driver googled. He told his co-driver and Suchana that he had to use the washroom and took a detour. As he reached the station, everything happened very quickly as the body of the son was found in the luggage.

The driver said he did not yet get his 30,000.
New Delhi: The Congress party will regret its decision to not attend the January 22 consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple, Union minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday, in the party's first reaction to Sonia Gandhi rejecting the invitation for the grand Ayodhya event. He also accused the Congress party of being stuck in its "rhetoric". Hardeep Singh Puri(PTI file photo)

"They are stuck in their rhetoric...Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don't go," said Puri.

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BJP leader Nalin Kohli said the Congress party's decision wasn't surprising as they had denied Lord Ram's existence.

"The Congress took no steps over the last few decades for a temple at Ayodhya. They denied the existence of Lord Ram and delayed the hearing in the Supreme Court. So, the Congress party officially stating that it is not going to attend Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha should come as no surprise," he said.

BJP national secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa slammed the Congress for blaming the BJP for its decision.

Congress denial to attend the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha is their partys stand and thats okay, but quoting that this is a BJP event is unacceptable. I condemn their statement," he said.

The Congress party on Wednesday turned down the invitation extended to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury saying the BJP and the RSS had made the temple its political project.

Also read: Divine domination: Ayodhya Ram Mandir handle reigns with 602.3K followers

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Ram Temple was being used by the BJP for political gains.

"Lord Rama is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," he said in a statement.

Also read: Ayodhya Trust shares photos of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple adorned in nightlight. See here

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP stalwarts will attend the event marking the installation of the idols of Lord Ram inside the temple.

Earlier this month, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury turned down VHP's temple invitation, accusing the BJP of mixing religion with politics.

With inputs from PTI, ANI
A 39-year-old founder of an artificial intelligence startup allegedly smothered her four-year-old son with a pillow at a resort in Goa and then stashed his body in the trunk of a taxi she hired to escape from Goa to Bengaluru, before getting arrested en route, police said on Tuesday, giving details of a grisly crime that has sent shock waves coursing through the country. Suchana Seth, CEO of Bengaluru-based The Mindful AI Lab, who is accused of killing her son, being brought to Mapusa Court in North Goa on Tuesday.(PTI)

Suchana Seth, who founded the Bengaluru-based firm The Mindful AI in 2020 after stints as a fellow at Harvard University and The Raman Research Institute, was sent to police custody for six days by a judicial magistrate in Mapusa, North Goa. Police pointed to ongoing marital discord and an acrimonious custody battle with her husband, currently in Indonesia but on his way back to India, as two of the possible triggers behind the gruesome murder of her son.

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Prime facie, she has said that she is not on good terms with her husband and there are divorce proceedings which are at the final stages. She said there is a recent court order concerning the custody of her child that she was not happy with, said North Goa superintendent of police Nidhin Valsan.

Suchana Seth, who founded the Bengaluru-based firm The Mindful AI in 2020, was sent to police custody for six days.(HT graphics)

The two got married in 2010, but according to police their relationship was strained since the birth of their child in 2019. Divorce proceedings began in 2022. A family court allowed the father of the child to see him between 10am and 4pm every Sunday, officers said.

The Bangalore Family Court was scheduled to hear her husbands plea seeking visitation rights on January 10.

Seth was nabbed in Karnatakas Chitradurga district, around 160-km from Bengaluru, on Monday after police tracked her down in a dramatic operation that spanned six hours and two states, and involved officers calling up the driver of the taxi she was in, speaking to him in Konkani, and guiding him to drive to the nearest police station.

Also Read | Suchana Seth, accused of killing 4-yr-old son, was upset about custody battle: Police

A post-mortem examination conducted Hiriyur in Chitradurga district on Tuesday evening confirmed that the four-year-old, whose name has not been disclosed, was killed by smothering with a pillow, said police officers aware of the matter. Besides the smothering, no other weapon was used to kill the child, said a police officer familiar with the ongoing investigation.

Bloodstains found by the police on the floor and a bandage on her left arm could also point to an attempt by Seth to slash her wrists, the officer quoted above said, adding that the investigation was in the preliminary stages.

The murder

Goa police have registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 201(destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 8 of the Goa Childrens Act (Child Abuse and Trafficking) based on a complaint by Gagan Subhash Gambhir, the manager of the Sol Banyan Grande hotel in North Goas Candolim where she was staying.

Seth  whose company is a technical consultancy firm  asked the court for permission to contact a lawyer and said that she would not make any statement unless accompanied by them. She did not respond to questions from the media and is currently lodged at the Calangute Police Station.

Also Read | Goa murder: Why did Suchana Seth kill 4-year-old son? Where is her husband?

The 39-year-old professional was named in the 100 brilliant women working in AI ethics in 2021.Her social media activity showed ties to Indias responsible AI ecosystem, revealed that she frequently spoke about the important of responsibility and accountability in AI and machine learning, and had completed stints as a fellow at Berkman Klein Institute at Harvard University between 2017-19 and Mozilla Open Web Fellow in New York in 2016-17.

Seth and her son checked into the resort on January 6 and had reservations till January 10.

Police say she murdered her son the night of January 7. Shortly after midnight on January 8, Seth allegedly called the hotel staff and said that she wanted a taxi arranged to return to Bengaluru. The hotel staff suggested that she travel by flight which would be cheaper. But she insisted that she wanted to go by taxi after which the hotel arranged a Toyota Innova and she left the hotel at 1 am on January 8, Valsan said. The distance between Candolim and Bengaluru is around 600 kilometres, and takes up to 11 hours by road.

The chase

The next day, January 8, witnessed a dramatic sequence of events. In Candolim, hotel cleaning staff  already suspicious because Seth left alone without any sign of her son who she had come with  noticed bloodstains in the room and tipped off the Calangute Police. This was around 10am.

Personnel from the police station went to the hotel, and confirmed that the red stains prima facie did seem like blood. The Calangute Police then contacted the driver, and spoke to her as she was en route.

She told the police that she had left her son with a friend at Margao for a few days. Police insisted on an address, which the woman then gave Showing presence of mind, the personnel immediately called Fatorda police station, who went to the address provided and saw it was fake, Valsan said.

The police dialled the cab driver again, and this time spoke to him in Konkani. They asked him to report to the nearest police station. He drove to the Aimangala police station without her getting wind of where she was going, and she was stopped there by the Chitradurga Police. The body of the child was found stuffed in a luggage bag in the trunk, said an officer attached to the Calangute police station, requesting anonymity.

Valsansaid that even before the car was to reach the station, the station in-charge of Calangute Police had spoken to his counterpart in Chitradurga, who, in turn, spoke to the local superintendent of police, who was his batchmate in the IPS and a close friend.

A senior police officer at Aimangala police station in Karnataka, 400 kilometres away from Candolim, said that the Toyota Innova that was ferrying Seth drove into the premises at around 3pm.

The cab driver who came into the station first and gave the phone to me. There was another policeman on the other end who briefed us about the case and asked us to detain her. When we took her into custody, there was no resistance, said the officer, who requested anonymity.

This Karnataka police officer said that Seth was asked again where her child was, but she remained elusive. There was also a bandage on her left wrist, and asked about this, she remained quiet again. The police officer on the line asked us to check the luggage. We opened a suitcase in the trunk of the car and found the body inside. There were no visible sings of injury on the body, but some bleeding around the nose, he said.

Goa Police then arrived in the late evening to take custody of Seth and were told about the bandage on her left arm. She barely said anything during her custody here, and said she did not speak Kannada, the officer cited above said.

Valsan said that the body of the child was preserved at government hospital in Chitradurga.

Police said they were yet to establish whether Seth also attempted to take her own life in the absence of custodial interrogation. We are attempting to establish the manner and circumstances of her sons killing, who said, adding that they had found no evidence of a weapon used thus far.

Staff at the resort refused to speak to the media and barred entry to everyone except the hotels guests.
The YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday suggested that the Election Commission of India conduct polling for the upcoming general elections in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in a single phase on the same day so to avoid double voting by some sections of people. The TDP and Jana Sena Party complained to the CEC that there were massive irregularities in the preparation of electoral rolls. (CEO Telangana twitter)

A delegation of YSRCP leaders, led by party general secretary V Vijay Sai Reddy submitted a representation to this effect to chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajeev Kumar, who along with his team was in Vijayawada to review the preparedness in the state for the elections.

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Speaking to reporters later, Reddy said his party had brought to the notice of the CEC that many people from Andhra Pradesh who had settled in Telangana had registered themselves as voters in both the states. If the polling is held separately in the two states on different dates, there is every possibility that these voters exercise their franchise in both the states, he said.

The YSRCP general secretary alleged that recently, there was a drive for enrolling Andhra voters settled in the neighbouring state as voters of AP. This is illegal. If they have to enrol themselves as voters in Andhra Pradesh, they have to get their names deleted from the voters list in Telangana, he said.

Alleging that the chief electoral officer of Andhra Pradesh was accepting bogus complaints from Telugu Desam Party, the YSRCP leader asked the EC to give instructions not to entertain the TDP complaints. They are making false claims about bogus enrolment of voters, but the district collectors, who are also returning officer for the elections, verified their claims and certified that there was no bogus enrolment and everything was in order, he said.

The TDP and Jana Sena Party, however, complained to the CEC that there were massive irregularities in the preparation of electoral rolls. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan met the CEC and submitted a common representation to him, seeking to rectify the irregularities.

Speaking to reporters, Naidu alleged that the village and ward secretariat employees and village volunteers were indulging in manipulation of voters lists and enrolling bogus votes. For example, in the Chandragiri assembly segment in Chittoor district, more than 1.15 lakh bogus voters were registered, while the votes of genuine voters who went to other places in search of employment have been deleted, he pointed out.

The former chief minister said he had requested the CEC to see that those who were adjudged as the best bureaucrats in the country should be drafted for the poll process. Generally, teachers, government officers and those who are experienced in the poll process are drafted for election purpose. But the Jagan government refused to spare the services of such officials. This is because the ruling party wants to misuse the whole process with the help of the volunteers nominated by the government, he alleged.

Observing that the assembly elections in Telangana were conducted properly without any mistakes, Naidu said that the situation in Andhra Pradesh was totally different. The poll panel team has assured us that the whole election process will be conducted flawlessly and democratic values will be protected, Naidu said and demanded that if necessary central observers be sent to the state during the poll process and a special cell be constituted.
An inspiring leader, politician and a man of principles, India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri left behind a rich legacy of honesty, integrity and humility, which is worth emulating. Born in Mughalsarai, Varanasi, Shastri not only shared his birth date with the Father of Nation but was also deeply influenced by his principles. His iconic slogan - Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, which he coined to motivate both the soldiers and the farmers, when India went to war with Pakistan in 1965, is still fondly remembered. He served as India's PM between 1964-66. (Also read: 10 inspiring January quotes to start the New Year on a positive note) Lal Bahadur Shastri's death anniversary: Inspiring quotes(HT Archives)

Known to lead a life of simplicity and minimalism, Shastri and his family joined citizens in skipping a meal for weeks, in response to US's threat to cut supplies of wheat amid India-Pak war. Lal Bahadur Shastri breathed his last in Tashkent on January 11, 1966.

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Top inspiring quotes by Lal Bahadur Shastri

Here are inspiring quotes by the leader on the occasion of his death anniversary:

1. We believe in peace and peaceful development, not only for ourselves but for people all over the world."

2. We can win respect in the world only if we are strong internally and can banish poverty and unemployment from our country."

3. India will have to hang down her head in shame if even one person is left who is said in any way to be untouchable.

4. I had always been feeling uncomfortable in my mind about giving advice to others and not acting upon it myself.

5. Discipline and united action are the real source of strength for the nation.

6. We believe in freedom, freedom for the people of each country to follow their destiny without external interference.

7. We cannot afford to spend millions and millions over nuclear arms when there is poverty and unemployment all around us.

8. There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go.

9. We believe in the dignity of man as an individual, whatever his race, colour or creed, and his right to better, fuller, and richer life.

10. We must fight for peace bravely as we fought in war.
With a few days left for the Ram Mandirs consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, the town is witnessing huge interest among real estate investors, hotel players and even senior citizens who wish to invest in property in the religious destination. Representative image of the Ram Mandir being constructed in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh (File Photo)(File Photo)

The date for the consecration ceremony of Ayodhya's Ram Temple has been scheduled for January 22, 2024.

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Real estate brokers say that with several investors from across the country and even overseas chasing a limited number of land parcels, land prices have hit the roofin some cases four to 10 times the prices prevalent only four to five years ago. The real estate boom has attracted investors from across the country, including senior citizens wanting to invest in second homes and non-resident Indians as well, said brokers.

Also Read: House of Abhinandan Lodha invests 300 crore for a 25-acre land parcel in Ayodhya ahead of Ram Mandir inauguration

Real estate demand in Ayodhya has risen significantly ever since the much-awaited verdict was announced by the Supreme Court back in 2019. There is a growing demand by not just locals but investors from outside the city including businessmen, said Anuj Puri, Chairman - ANAROCK Group.

Legal experts say that prospective buyers should verify the authenticity of the title and ownership documents of the property in Ayodhya to ensure there are no disputes or legal issues regarding its title.

Property prices

Property prices in the city were estimated to have shot up by nearly 25-30% in 2019 immediately after the verdict. ANAROCK research indicates that in 2019 post the verdict, land prices had risen to nearly 400-700 per sq. ft. in the outskirts (at Faizabad Road). Within the city-limits average prices stood between 1,000  2,000 per sq. ft. during this time.

However, as on date (October 2023), the average land prices in the outskirts of Ayodhya have jumped up to anywhere between 1,500 per sq. ft. and 3,000 per sq. ft. As for areas within city limits, average prices have shot up to be anywhere between 4,000 and 6,000 per sq. ft. Thus, there has been a significant jump in average prices between 2019 and 2023.

Also Read: Real estate prices head north in Ayodhya ahead of Ram Mandir inauguration

Interested in buying property in Ayodhya? Heres what you need to know

Prospective homebuyers should check the local zoning laws and regulations governing land use in order to confirm the permitted use of the subject property. Also, in view of the historical and religious importance of Ayodhya, there may be certain restrictions on construction or development activities in specific areas.

It is, therefore, important to conduct a thorough due diligence to be aware of property related regulations including usage, construction and development norms and restrictions thereto, said Mona Dewan, Managing Associate at ZEUS Law Associates, a full service corporate commercial law firm.

Infrastructure facilities. It is important to check for the state of infrastructure in the area where you wish to invest. Before getting into a property purchase deal, it is also important to check the availability and adequacy of basic utilities such as water supply, electricity, and sewage systems and assess whether the existing infrastructure meets your requirements. Also check for accessibility and proximity of the property to major roads, highways, and public transportation hubs, since good connectivity enhances the value of the property and improves business prospects, she said.

Future Development Plans. A detailed investigation into the city's master plan is also desirable in order to understand any infrastructure/ proposed development projects or changes in the existing planning and development norms. This insight can provide a glimpse into the future growth and potential appreciation of the subject property. Further, proposed purchasers should stay informed about any proposed changes in local regulations which may impact land use and resulting impact on value of the property, she added.

Pankaj Kapoor of Liases Foras is of the opinion that while there may be immediate opportunities for commercial real estate development with a surge in hotel developments. However, housing projects may take time and would depend on the floating population that converges into the city as religious tourists want to buy second homes in the city.

That's perhaps one of the reasons why even though several developers have bought land in Ayodhya, many of them are waiting for the inauguration of the temple and will launch projects only after getting a sense of the number of footfalls, say realtors.

Townships and private hotels

Several townships and private hotels are expected to come up in the city, land for which has been sanctioned by the government. These land parcels are located around Chaudah Kosi Parikrama, Ring Road, and the Lucknow-Gorakhpur Highway.

The Ayodhya Development Authority is planning to come up with a housing scheme soon. This will be a plotted scheme spread across 80 acres of land, Satyendra Singh, secretary, Ayodhya Development Authority, told Hindustan Times Digital.

Between April and November this year, as many as 30,000 sale deeds were registered in Ayodhya, 80 percent of which were from land transactions.

The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HOABL), a Mumbai-based real estate developer plans to launch a 25-acre plotted development project in Ayodhya after the inauguration of the temple. The project is located almost 15 minutes from the upcoming temple.

Real estate body NAREDCO is also planning to organise a builders' conference in Ayodhya to tap its commercial and residential opportunities as the holy city gears up to attract lakhs of tourists post inauguration of the Ram temple on January 22.

National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) National President G Hari Babu has said there are opportunities to set up hotels, resorts and apartments in Ayodhya as the tourist flow would increase in the coming months
Real estate firm Tribeca Developers, known for bringing the Trump Towers brand to India, has entered into an agreement with the Tejukaya Group to develop a luxury residential project in Parel, South Mumbai, and has raised 200 crore from HDFC Capital for the project, the company said. Real estate firm Tribeca Developers, known for bringing the Trump Towers brand to India, has entered into an agreement with the Tejukaya Group to develop a luxury residential project in Parel, South Mumbai. (Picture for representational purposes only) (Photo by Pixabay)

Tribeca, a pan India developer, is known for its iconic developments such as Trump Towers in Gurugram and Kolkata and The Ark in Pune. It is currently developing over 6 million square feet of branded residential projects in India with a sale value of 6,000 crore and has a development pipeline of over 4 million square feet.

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The total project cost for the South Mumbai project is 1000 crore. Construction work on the project has already started, Kalpesh Mehta, founder of Tribeca Developers told HT Digital.

The 2.5-acre project is located in Parel and the company will develop more than 400 residences. It is expecting 1,800 crore in sales realisation from the project. This is one of the largest projects in South Mumbai to be developed under the governments Cluster Redevelopment Policy, the company said.

Also Read: DLF sells luxury residences in Privana South in Gurugram for over 7,200 crore ahead of official launch

This is Tribecas first project in Mumbai and the second investment it has secured from HDFC Capital under a Rs. 500 crore residential housing platform the two organisations announced in 2019. Earlier this year, HDFC Capital successfully exited the first investment of Rs. 135 crore made from this platform.

The Tejukaya family has owned the land for over 90 years and has secured approvals under Mumbais ambitious cluster redevelopment policy.

This project is one of those rare opportunities where one of the best sites in the city comes along with fantastic partners and strong market conditions, allowing us to create something truly magnificent. No detail has been missed and no expense spared to make this project into not just trophy homes for a select few, but a landmark for the city, said Mehta.

"It has always been my dream to build a global landmark on this land parcel that has been in our family for over 90 years. What could be better than tying up with Tribeca, the makers of Trump Towers, and HDFC Capital, to achieve that goal, said Pranav P. Tejookaya, CEO and Managing Director, Tejukaya Group.

Also Read: Real Estate trends: Five clinchers for a 100 crore property deal

Tejukaya Group of Companies, founded in 1888 and headquartered in Mumbai, is a civil contracting and real estate firm. With a century-long legacy, the company has contributed to India's architectural heritage by constructing iconic buildings and large Infrastructural projects like Old Custom House, Kasturba Hospital, S-bridge in Byculla, Curry Road Bridge, Laxmi Vilas Palace in Baroda among others.
Volkswagen's voice assistant integrating ChatGPT into its cars will be able to converse with users in a back-and-forth dialogue by the middle of the year, the carmaker said on Monday as it presented the technology in Las Vegas. A response by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is seen on its website in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. (REUTERS)

Volkswagen presented its first vehicles featuring ChatGPT, to be available for customers in North America and Europe from early in the second quarter of this year, at the CES electronics trade fair.

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From raising the temperature when it hears "I'm feeling cold" to showing the nearest Indian restaurant upon hearing "I want butter chicken", the AI can recognise and respond to a range of demands, according to executives from Volkswagen and Cerence (CRNC.O), who partnered with Volkswagen on the technology.

Customers can now adjust functionalities from their vehicle without touching a button, Kai Gruenitz, the Volkswagen brand's board member for technical development, told Reuters on the sidelines of the CES trade fair.

"Our customers don't want to manually adjust their seats ... they want to use speech dialogue systems," he said.

Critics say adding generative AI in vehicles, though a step forward from the interactions possible today, is far behind the AI leap that was expected a few years ago, especially with fully autonomous vehicles. Automakers disagree.

"So if you have Apple CarPlay or Android or something, you are not able to adjust functionalities inside of the vehicle. That's the next step," Gruenitz said. "I think what our customers are really looking for is seamless, intuitive usage of their car."

Volkswagen said it was the first volume manufacturer to make the technology a standard feature in its compact segment cars. General Motors said last March it was working on a virtual personal assistant using AI models behind ChatGPT.

Mercedes-Benz ran a test programme last June enabling around 900,000 vehicles which had the automaker's "MBUX" system to download ChatGPT, with the view of users eventually being able to carry out tasks like making movie or restaurant reservations from behind the wheel.
Videos of people doing heart-stopping stunts on cars or bikes may seem thrilling but raise concerns over public safety. Such stunts, performed without following safety rules, are considered reckless and prompt intervention from law enforcement. We have collected five such viral videos that compelled police to take action to curb potentially hazardous activities on the streets. The images are from stunt videos that attracted the attention of police. (X/@Uppolice, @DelhiPolice)

1. Man doing pushups on a moving car

A viral video of a man doing pushups on top of a moving car prompted Uttar Pradesh Police to take action. The department took to X to share the stunt video. They added that what the man did was a punishable offence and he was issued a challan.

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2. Auto Rickshaw on a crowded bridge

A man decided to perform a stunt while riding an auto rickshaw on a crowded bridge. A video captured him leaning out of the vehicle that was tilted as it was being driven on two wheels. During the stunt, the man also bumped into commuters and a cyclist even ended up falling.

Delhi Police reacted to the incident and seized the auto-rickshaw. They also issued a total challan of  32,000 under various sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

3. Man drives with open car doors in Manali

Kullu Police took cognizance when a man was recorded driving on a crowded road with his car doors open. The department sprung into action and issued a challan against the vehicle under the Traffic Act.

The video of the irresponsible driver went viral on X. Kullu Police reshared an image from the video on Facebook and mentioned the action taken by them.

4. Men dance in moving car

Chikkajala Traffic Police in Bengaluru took to X to share how the department reacted to the men performing a stunt on a crowded road. The tweet by the department came after an X user shared a video that captured four men performing a stunt while in a moving car. The police informed on X that an FIR was filed against the men and eventually, the accused were arrested.

5. Risky car and bike stunt

A video of a car and a motorcycle performing dangerous manoeuvres prompted responses from Noida Police and the deputy commissioner of police Greater Noida on X. They shared that the accused were arrested, and both the vehicles had been seized.

Have you ever seen strangers performing dangerous stunts on crowded roads?
A family in China gave up living in a flat and has been living in a hotel for over seven months now. Wondering why? Well, to save money while spending the rest of their lives in a hotel. The family pays 1,000 yuan per day, which is over  11,000. (YouTube/@jinchanshipin)

According to the South China Morning Post, the family of eight from the city of Nanyang in the central province of Henan shares a suite with a living room and two small rooms. The family pays 1,000 yuan per day, which is over 11,000.

A video of their hotel suite is going viral on social media platforms. The video shared on YouTube opens to show a few family members standing in a room and enjoying fruits. The room has everything in place - from a sofa set to a TV and other amenities. The video also gives a tour of the suite where the family intends to live for the rest of their lives.

Watch the video here:

Today is the 229th day of our stay at the hotel. The room costs 1,000 yuan per day. Our family of eight live very well. We feel happy living here, so we plan to live in a hotel for the rest of our lives, South China Morning Post quoted a member of the family, Mu Xue.

I never thought this way of living would help save money. I just feel that it makes everything convenient," Mu told Star Video, reports South China Morning Post.

Xue also shared that their rent is a long-term rate provided by the hotel and is all-inclusive, without any additional fees for parking, heating, water, and electricity.
A mother and daughter got more than they bargained for when they boarded an Emirates flight for a vacation. They were the only passengers in the economy class cabin on the flight from Seychelles to Switzerland with a layover in Dubai. The mother and daughter travelled from Seychelles to Switzerland to celebrate Christmas with family. (Representational Image/Unsplash)

Zoe Doyle, 25, and her mother, Kimmy Chedel, 59, were travelling on December 25 to spend holidays with their family when they boarded the empty aircraft. We had no idea we were the only ones. There were four others, I think, that were in first class but they were totally separate from us, so we were basically the only ones, Stuff quoted Doyle.

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She added, Because it was monsoon season in Seychelles, as well as being Christmas Day, it just meant no one was flying, I guess.

The video, originally shared on TikTok, opens to show Doyle dancing on an empty plane. As the video goes on, she can be seen doing snow angels on the floor of the aircraft. The video also shows a cabin crew member putting her headgear on Chedel. The text insert on the video reads, POV: Youre the only ones on the flight.

Watch the video here:

Doyle and Chedel also got a tour of the aircraft but werent allowed in first class. All the flight attendants were so excited that it was empty. They said it never happens. We got a little tour of the plane, although we still werent allowed into first class. It was so much fun. We were chatting with the flight attendants and filming funny videos with them, Stuff further quoted Doyle.
London is the world's slowest city for drivers owing to 20mph speed limits, a study suggests. A journey of 10km in central London took an average of 37 minutes and 20 seconds last year, location technology company TomTom said- making it the longest time among 387 cities in 55 countries which were analysed. This also marks the second year in a row that London tops the slowest city ranking. Top five slowest cities include Dublin, Toronto, Milan and Lima. British police officers secure the area around The Cenotaph war memorial on Whitehall in central London.(AP)

In the UK itself, Manchester was ranked second, which was followed by Liverpool, Bristol, and Edinburgh.

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The company TomTom said, "London really is the slowest place in the world to drive a car. Especially in the core city centre, you don't have maximum speed limits of 50mph or higher, it's a maximum of 20mph. You don't have the infrastructure for driving very quickly."

London mayor Sadiq Khan's spokesperson said, "This study is misleading as it only includes analysis from a very small part of the city centre, not the whole of London. Roadworks are the biggest cause of congestion in cities, which is why the mayor's infrastructure co-ordination service is working with boroughs and utility companies to reduce delays caused by roadworks, helping to save London road users over 1,250 days of roadworks since 2019."

Meanwhile, director of network management and resilience Carl Eddleston said as per BBC, "We disagree with this analysis of road speeds and believe it is not representative of London as a whole. This report only looks at data collected up to 5km from the centre, regardless of the city's overall size and density, which means that fair comparisons with other cities cannot be made.

London published a Plan for Drivers in October last year which stated, We will make it clear that 20mph speed limits in England must be used appropriately where people want them - not as unwarranted blanket measures.
New York [US], January 10 (ANI): The 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed is in the custody of Pakistan and serving a 78-year imprisonment sentence, the United Nations said in updated information. HT Image

As a result of his conviction in seven terror financing cases, Saeed has been serving his sentence since February 12, 2020.

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The Security Council Committee amended a few names in its lists of people and organisations last month that are subject to the travel ban, arms embargo, and asset freeze last month, targeting Da'esh and ISIL.

The Date on which the narrative summary about Hafiz Saeed became available on the Committee's website was March 9, 2009, whereas it was updated on December 19, 2023.

"Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was listed on 10 December 2008 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1822 (2008) as being associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (QDe.118) and Al Qaida (QDe.004) for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of" both entities," the UN stated as the reason for his listing.

"In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," according to the UN.

Hafiz Saeed is the leader and chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). As an overall leader, Saeed played a key role in LeT's operational and fundraising activities.

Earlier in December, Pakistan received India's request for the extradition of 26/11 attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, according to Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.

But she said that no bilateral extradition treaty exists between India and Pakistan.

In a statement, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had said, "Pakistan has received a request from the Indian authorities, seeking extradition of Hafiz Saeed in a so-called money laundering case."

Following that, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said India has conveyed a request to the Pakistan government regarding the extradition of Hafiz Saeed to India for facing trial in a particular case.

Addressing a weekly briefing, the spokesperson had said, "The person in question (Hafiz Saeed) is wanted in numerous cases in India. He is also a UN-proscribed terrorist. In this regard, we have conveyed a request along with relevant supporting documents, to the government of Pakistan to extradite him to India to face trial in a particular case.

Notably, Saeed, who is a UN-proscribed terrorist is the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was the mastermind of the deadly 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and is wanted in India in numerous cases.

Muhammad Hafiz Saeed, who has been in jail since July 17, 2019, for other charges, was sentenced in April 2022 by a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore, Pakistan, to a jail term of 33 years for "financing terrorism."

Despite being designated a terrorist by the UN and EU in the 2000s, Saeed was neither charged nor extradited over nearly two decades. Saeed was designated as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in December 2008. (ANI)
The Canadian Government has expressed disappointment over the Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh falling short of the principles of democracy and freedom upon which the country was founded. Supporters of Islami Andolan Bangladesh party attend a protest rally demanding to abolish what they call a "dummy election" and to reorganise a free fair election under the caretaker government at the Baitul Mokarram National Mosque, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 9, 2024. (REUTERS)

This was stated by Global Affairs Canada or GAC, the countrys foreign ministry, in a release on Tuesday.

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Canada expresses its disappointment that this electoral process has fallen short of the principles of democracy and freedom upon which Bangladesh was founded and calls on the relevant authorities to work transparently with all parties to move forward towards democracy, respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in line with the interests of the people of Bangladesh, the statement said.

It added, Fair elections with a viable opposition, independent democratic institutions and freedom of the press are critical to ensuring a strong and healthy democracy.

GAC also condemned the acts of intimidation and violence that took place ahead and during the elections while extending sympathy to all of those who have been affected by the violence that has occurred.

It said that Canada commends and supports the democratic aspirations of Bangladeshi citizens.

The elections, results for which were declared on January 7, were criticized by the United States Department of State on Monday. It had said that the US remains concerned by the arrests of thousands of political opposition members and by reports of irregularities on elections day.

The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated, the State Department noted.

Bangladeshs ruling Awami League swept back to power capturing 222 out of 298 seats, a near three-fourth majority. That will mean that incumbent that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return as Prime Minister of the country for an unprecedented fourth term.

The principal opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party had boycotted the elections.
China's embassy and all its consulates in Ecuador will halt services to the public Wednesday, it said in a statement, as the country exploded in what President Daniel Noboa called an "internal armed conflict". Ecuadorean police officers fuard the arrested suspects outside Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air (AFP)

"The reopening to the public will be announced in due course," the embassy said in a press release in Spanish shared on social media site WeChat.

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Ecuador's president gave orders Tuesday to "neutralize" criminal gangs after gunmen opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the violence-riddled country.

Eight people were killed and three were wounded in attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, and two officers were "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday evening.

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

After the prison escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka "Fito" -- leader of Ecuador's biggest gang Los Choneros -- Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nighttime curfew.

On Wednesday Beijing said it was "closely following the changing security situation" in the country.

"The Foreign Ministry has instructed its embassy and consulates in Ecuador to immediately launch emergency response mechanisms for consular protection," spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

"We are currently verifying the security situation for Chinese citizens and institutions in Ecuador, and issuing alerts on security precautions through multiple channels," she said.

China, she added, "supports the government of Ecuador in its efforts to safeguard social stability and hopes that Ecuador will soon restore normal order".
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], January 10 (ANI): Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, on Tuesday arrived in Ahmedabad to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. HT Image

The three-day summit, from January 10 to 12, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The Czech premier was received at the airport by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

The tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will be held from January 10 to 12. The theme for this year's event is 'Gateway to the Future'.

The summit will celebrate '20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success'.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Finland's envoy to India, Kimmo Lahdevirta, confirmed his country's participation in the summit saying that they "want to continue to support and participate" in the event.

"Finland is a traditional country partner already for Vibrant Gujarat. We've been here for many years already, and we see this as one of the key events here in India which we want to continue to support and participate in. I think the key priorities that we have in our work in India, like carbon neutrality, circular economy, energy transition, and education are also some of the key priorities here in Gujarat...This time we have five Finnish companies leading companies in their own fields...We have a good selection of companies who are already very active here in India. And of course, we hope that they can still further their business," the Finnish envoy said.

After inaugurating the summit on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi will hold a meeting with the CEOs of top global corporations. He will then travel to GIFT City where he will interact with prominent business leaders in the Global FinTech Leadership Forum.

The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started in 2003 when he was the state's chief minister.

The event, this year, will feature 34 partner countries and 16 partner organisations. The Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region will also utilise the Vibrant Gujarat platform to showcase investment opportunities in the Northeast.

The summit will feature various events including seminars and conferences on globally relevant topics such as Industry 4.0, Technology and Innovation, Sustainable Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen, Electric Mobility and Renewable Energy and Transition towards Sustainability.

In the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show, which kicked off in the state capital on Tuesday, a range of products equipped with world-class, state-of-the-art technology are being showcased. E-mobility, startups, MSMEs, Blue Economy, Green Energy and Smart Infrastructure are some of the focus sectors of the Trade Show. (ANI)
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa said on Wednesday that his country was "at war" with drug gangs who are holding more than 130 prison guards and other staff hostage, amid a dramatic surge in violence that saw gunmen briefly take over a TV live broadcast and explosions in multiple cities. Soldiers check pedestrians for weapons at a check-point on a north-bound highway in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.(AP)

Noboa on Tuesday named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations, making them official military targets. The president took power in November pledging to tackle a growing security problem caused by a rise in drug-trafficking gangs transporting cocaine through Ecuador.

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"We are at war and we cannot cede in the face of these terrorist groups," Noboa told radio station Canela Radio on Wednesday. He estimated that some 20,000 crime gang members are active in Ecuador.

The hostage-takings, which began in the early hours of Monday, and the apparent escape of Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias from prison over the weekend, spurred Noboa to declare a 60-day state of emergency.

Also Read | Chinese embassy in Ecuador suspends services amid internal armed conflict

He hardened the decree on Tuesday after a series of explosions around the country and the cinematic takeover of the TC television station by balaclava-clad gunmen live on air.

The government has said the latest wave of violence is a reaction to Noboa's plan to build new high-security prisons for gang leaders. Noboa told the radio station a design for two new facilities will be made public tomorrow.

"We are making every effort to recover all the hostages," Noboa said, adding that the armed forces have taken over the rescue effort. "We are doing everything possible, and the impossible, to get them safe and sound."

The SNAI prisons agency has said guards account for 125 of the hostages, while 14 are administrative staff. Eleven people were freed on Tuesday, it said.

Videos circulating on social media showed prison staff being subjected to extreme violence, including being shot and hanging. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos.

Noboa said the country will begin to deport foreign prisoners, especially Colombians, this week to reduce prison populations and spending.

There are some 1,500 Colombians in prison in Ecuador, Noboa said, and prisoners from Colombia, Peru and Venezuela account for 90% of jailed foreigners.

"We are investing more on those 1,500 people than on school breakfasts for our children. It's not an extradition, it's based on previous international agreements," Noboa said.

Ecuadorean sentences would only be recognized in Colombia if prisoners arrive via formal repatriation, agreed with Colombian authorities, Colombian Justice Minister Nestor Osuna told journalists. If Colombian prisoners are simply expelled, they would only be jailed if they have charges pending at home.

"If there is an expulsion we'll look at how many people, if they arrive at the border, really need to be detained by Colombian authorities," Osuna said, expressing his "genuine solidarity" with the Ecuadorean people.

Colombia said on Wednesday it would increase military presence and controls along its nearly 600-kilometer (370-mile) border with Ecuador.

LAWMAKERS BACK EFFORTS

The best way to safeguard the economy and foreign investment would be to improve security and ensure the rule of law, Noboa told the radio station.

Lawmakers on Tuesday expressed their support for the armed forces and backed Noboa's efforts. Noboa has a majority coalition in congress, after his party allied itself both with the leftist movement of former President Rafael Correa and a Christian party.

"I don't need their approval right now for what we are doing," Noboa said, referencing the decrees, "but I have asked for their support."

"The challenge for Noboa will be to make lasting headway in the fight against crime beyond any immediate-term, military-led pacification," consulting firm Teneo said in a note.

Noboa met with the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday afternoon and other ambassadors on Wednesday.

The U.S. has pledged aid within days, Noboa said. His $800 million security plan includes $200 million of weapons from the United States.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan condemned the "recent criminal attacks by armed groups" on Wednesday and said Washington was "willing to take concrete steps to improve our cooperation" with Ecuador's government.

Peruvian defense minister Jorge Chavez told reporters his country was investigating possible smuggling by members of its armed forces of explosives and grenades which may have been used by gangs in Ecuador, after an audit of equipment over the last six months determined "there is a possibility" some munitions had gone missing.

There have been 70 arrests since Monday in response to incidents including the TV station takeover, the Ecuadorean police said earlier on Wednesday.

Four police officers, who authorities say were kidnapped by criminals between Monday and Tuesday, are still being held.

Police said they were identifying three bodies found in a burned-out car south of Guayaquil overnight and two police officers were killed by armed men on Tuesday in Guayas province, where Guayaquil is located.

Streets in Quito and Guayaquil were quieter than usual on Wednesday, with many businesses closed or working remotely.

The Chinese embassy and consulates will be temporarily shut, said China, a major investor in Ecuador.

Schools were closed nationally, with classes taking place virtually. Residents said it felt like a return to pandemic lockdowns.

"It's horrible, the streets are very empty," said Guayaquil security guard Rodolfo Tuaz, 40 early on Wednesday. It's a very cold environment, as if there were a new COVID.
Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza intensified on Wednesday despite a pledge by Israel that it would pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign, and pleading from its ally Washington to kill fewer civilians. Men check the damages to the house of the Palestinian Nofal family, who were killed during Israeli bombardment. (AFP)

Israel has said this week it is planning to begin drawing down troops, at least from the northern part of Gaza, after weeks of US pressure to scale down its operations and shift to what Washington says should be a more targeted campaign.

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But the fighting appears to be as intense as ever, especially in the southern and central areas where Israeli forces launched ground advances last month.

In Rafah, on the southern edge of the enclave, relatives wept by the bodies of 15 members of the Nofal family laid out at a hospital morgue on Wednesday morning after their home was obliterated by an Israeli air strike overnight.

Most of the white shrouds were tiny, with children inside. A man partly opened one and caressed the face of a small boy with his hand. Relatives gently restrained another man who was wailing at the feet of the bodies.

At the site of the strike, where a huge crater had been blasted in the floor of a building, neighbours clambered through the ruins, strewn with bloodsoaked mattresses and broken toys.

Um Ayman al-Najjar, whose daughter and niece were killed, was bundled against the cold in the wreckage: "We woke up surrounded by all this rubble on top of our heads, hit after hit. I don't know how we got out, stepping above things, blood shedding from us."

Israel has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza since launching its campaign to eradicate the Hamas militant group that runs the enclave, after Hamas fighters killed 1,200 Israelis and captured 240 hostages in a rampage on Oct. 7.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fourth trip to the region since the war began, went to Ramallah on Wednesday and met Palestinian leaders, including Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The PA, which exercises limited self rule in the West Bank and accepts Israel's right to exist, lost control of Gaza in 2007 to Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Blinken has also met Israeli leaders and visited nearby Arab states, in search of a future settlement for the Gaza Strip, which has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardment creating a humanitarian crisis for its 2.3 million residents.

Washington wants Israel to give the Ramallah-based PA a future role in governing Gaza; Israel, which says it wants control of Gaza's security indefinitely, is reluctant. Blinken said on Tuesday Israel had to make "hard choices" and must keep alive hopes of an independent Palestinian state if it wants to normalise relations with Arab neighbours.

"Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people living side by side in peace with Israel and as neighbours," he said in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

WORDS WRITTEN IN BUTTER

Despite a public assertion by Israel since the New Year that it is scaling back the war, Gaza residents say they have seen no let-up. The northern half of the enclave is still off-limits, and the southern half has become a full-blown war zone in recent weeks. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes at least once, many displaced several times as Israeli forces advance.

Um Ahmed, a mother of five from Gaza city now sheltering in a tent in Rafah, said Gazans had hoped Blinken's visit meant they would be allowed to return to their homes.

It is like words written in butter, it soon disappeared with the rise of the sun. That was the words of Blinken, fake, she said.

Residents of Bureij, Nusseirat, and Maghazi in the central Gaza Strip reported intensive bombardment overnight, with Israeli tanks that launched an offensive there around Christmas pushing deeper into Bureij and Maghazi.

In Nusseirat, a new wave of displacement was under way, a day after Israel dropped new warning leaflets for residents of several districts to evacuate their homes and head west to Deir al-Balah.

Israeli bombing was also taking place there, with the Palestinian Red Crescent releasing video showing ambulances arriving at a hospital with the dead and wounded, including children.

In a sign of the intensity of the fighting, Israel reported nine of its soldiers killed in Gaza on Tuesday, one of the deadliest days for its troops of the war.

Israel, still deeply shaken by the Hamas Oct. 7 killing spree, says it will not stop fighting until it has eradicated the Islamist group and recovered more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza.

Three months after the Hamas attacks, Tali Kizhner knelt and caressed the foot of a concrete wall inside a bomb shelter where her 22-year-old son Segev had tried to hide with dozens of other young people that fled from a music festival. The gunmen tossed in grenades and opened fire to kill them.

"I wanted to know where his last moments were, whether there was anywhere to hide. What happened there. To feel it," she said.
Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of US-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, describing their presence as destabilising amid regional spillover from the Gaza war. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad. (Reuters)

Longstanding calls by mostly Shi'ite Muslim factions, many close to Iran, for the US-led coalition's departure have gained steam after a series of US strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq's formal security forces.

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Those strikes, which came in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on US forces since Israel launched its Gaza campaign, have raised fears that Iraq could once again become a theatre for regional conflict.

"There is a need to reorganise this relationship so that it is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the region," Sudani told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Giving the first details of his thinking about the future of the coalition since his Jan. 5 announcement that Iraq would begin the process of closing it down, Sudani said the exit should be negotiated under "a process of understanding and dialogue".

"Let's agree on a time frame (for the coalition's exit) that is, honestly, quick, so that they don't remain long and the attacks keep happening," he said, noting that only an end to Israel's war on Gaza would stop the risk of regional escalation.

"This (end of the Gaza war) is the only solution. Otherwise, we will see more expansion of the arena of conflict in a sensitive region for the world that holds much of its energy supply," Sudani said.

A US withdrawal would likely increase concern in Washington about the influence of arch-foe Iran over Iraq's ruling elite. Iran-backed Shi'ite groups gained strength in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.

The Pentagon on Monday said it had no plans to withdraw US troops, which are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, has been among the fiercest critics of Israel's Gaza campaign, describing the mass killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians as a textbook case of genocide, claims Israel vehemently denies.

But Iraq's government has repeatedly also said the attacks by armed groups on foreign forces and diplomatic missions in Iraq were illegal and went against the country's interests, and says it has arrested some perpetrators and prevented attacks.

At the same time, Baghdad has condemned US strikes on bases used by the groups, as well as a recent strike against a senior militia commander in the heart of Baghdad, as grave violations of sovereignty.

Critics say the armed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah and Haraket Hezbollah al-Nujaba, use their status as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security force that began as a grouping of militias in 2014, as a cover.

When striking at US forces, they operate outside the chain of command under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq; when the US retaliates, they mourn their losses as members of the PMF and reap the rewards of rising anti-US sentiment.

US-led forces invaded Iraq and toppled former leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, withdrawing in 2011 but then returning in 2014 to fight Islamic State as part of an international coalition. The US currently has some 2,500 troops in Iraq.

With Islamic State territorially defeated in 2017 and on the demise ever since, Sudani said the coalition's raison d'etre had long-since ended.

YEARS IN THE MAKING

But calls for the coalition's withdrawal have been around for years and, so far, little has changed. Iraq's parliament in 2020 voted for its departure days after the US assassinated top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militant commander in a strike outside Baghdad airport.

The next year, the US announced the end of its combat mission in Iraq and a shift to advising and assisting Iraqi security forces, a move that changed little on the ground.

The Gaza war has put the issue back in centre stage, with many Iraqi groups that brought Sudani's government to power and are close to Tehran calling for the final exit of all foreign forces, a move long sought by Iran and its regional allies.

The chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech on Friday that US strikes in Iraq should pave the way for the final withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, which would also make their presence in northeastern Syria untenable.

Sudani said he was seeking the coalition's exit because Iraq could now defend itself from terrorism and should exert full sovereignty over its territory - thereby avoiding giving anyone an excuse to draw Iraq into regional conflict.

"Ending its presence will prevent more tensions and the entanglement of internal and regional security issues," Sudani said.

He said Iraq was open to establishing bilateral relations and engaging in security cooperation with coalition nations, including the US This could including training and advising Iraqi security forces as well as weapons purchases.

The US "is not an enemy to us and we are not at war with it, but if these tensions continue it will definitely impact and create a gap in this relationship," he said.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a blast in eastern Kabul targeting a vehicle, resulting in the deaths of at least three people. This marks the second deadly attack by the terrorist group in Afghanistan within a week. Police spokesman Khalid Zadran confirmed a bomb explosion that led to the death of three civilians and injured four others. (File)

The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack releasing a statement on its Telegram channel. The statement said that it detonated an explosive device on a vehicle owned by staff members of Afghanistan's primary prison, Pul-e-Charki prison, in Kabul, resulting in killing and injuring 10 people.

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However, police spokesman Khalid Zadran, speaking to AP, confirmed a bomb explosion that led to the death of three civilians and injured four others.

The blast occurred in the eastern sector of the city, specifically in the Alokhail area. Additionally, authorities have apprehended one suspect in connection with the attack.

This attack follows the group's claim of responsibility for an explosion on a bus in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood, resulting in at least five fatalities. Notably, the regional chapter of the Islamic State has consistently targeted Shiites, whom they consider heretics, with multiple attacks against the community in recent months.

Despite a decline in bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Afghanistan following the Taliban's assumption of power in August 2021, various armed groups, including the Islamic State, continue to pose threats to security in the region.

In the past three days, three separate attacks on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have resulted in the deaths of 12 officers.

IS affiliates, a major rival of the Taliban, have struck time and again in Kabul and northern provinces.
Tel Aviv, Jan 10 (AP) Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. HT Image

The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. The decision to participate rather than boycott reflects Israeli concerns that the judges could order Israel to halt its war against Hamas and tarnish its image internationally.

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Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious, said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa.

Israel, which as one of the parties in the case is entitled to send a judge, has tapped a former Israeli Supreme Court chief justice to join the court's 15 regular members who will rule on the accusation. It has also enlisted a British barrister and lauded international law expert as part of its defense team.

Israel hopes their expertise will trounce the South African claim that Israel's military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide and prevent an interim court order to force Israel to stop the fighting. Israel says halting the war when Hamas' capabilities are intact in many places and with hostages still in its captivity would amount to a Hamas victory.

The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity. The country sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after 6 million were killed in the Holocaust. International support for Israel's creation in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities.

The same year, with Israel's involvement, world powers drew up the convention against genocide in hopes of preventing similar atrocities.

Israel's unprecedented air, ground and sea offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel's military campaign has displaced roughly 85 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population, many with no homes to return to. More than a quarter of the population is starving.

South Africa, which has long been a critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, launched the case at the United Nations' top court in The Netherlands. Many South Africans compare Israel's policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with their own country's former apartheid regime of racial segregation.

Israel vehemently disputes the genocide claims, saying it is fighting a war of self-defense after Hamas militants launched its October 7 attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostage. Israel says its actions comply with international law and that it does its best to prevent harm to civilians, blaming Hamas for embedding in residential areas.

South Africa's 84-page filing says Israel's actions, including killing Palestinians and causing serious mental and bodily harm, are genocidal in character. It says Israeli officials have expressed genocidal intent.

The case will likely drag on for years. But South Africa's filing includes a request for the court to urgently issue legally binding interim orders for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.

Abiding by such a ruling would be politically costly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Israelis still largely supportive of the war. Israel would also fall short of its declared goal of crushing the militant group.

If it doesn't abide, Israel could face UN sanctions. Although the US, Israel's closest ally, could veto such a move, doing so would anger many Democrats who have already soured on President Joe Biden over his strong support for Israel in the war. That could be damaging for Biden as he seeks reelection. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Tuesday that the case is meritless.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, criticised South Africa, saying it was giving Hamas political and legal cover.

We are appalled that South Africa has chosen to play advocate for the devil," he said.

An Israeli official said Israel agreed to cooperate with the court because it is confident it will prevail. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter with the media. Israel boycotted a prominent case at the court in 2004 about its West Bank separation barrier, which the court ruled was contrary to international law," saying the proceedings were politically motivated.

Israel chose Aharon Barak  a mainstay of the country's legal world for decades  to join the panel of international judges. A former attorney general and peace negotiator who served as chief justice of Israel's highest court from 1995-2006, Barak has ruled in cases related to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

The internationally renowned 87-year-old has received honorary degrees from multiple universities, including Yale and Oxford.

He is also a Holocaust survivor who was sent to Lithuania's Kovno Ghetto at age 5, where he has said he repeatedly evaded death. That personal detail could be significant in his discussions with the other judges.

Just a few months ago, Netanyahu and his allies vilified Barak as they pushed forward with their plans to overhaul Israel's judiciary. Barak, under whom the courts took on a more robust role, was seen as a symbol of an overly interventionist legal system.

Protesters held sit-ins outside his Tel Aviv home and politicians lashed out at the octogenarian in Knesset speeches. But facing the case in The Hague, Netanyahu did a quick about face, surprising even his critics.

At a time of legal troubles in the international arena, Israel has only one person to rely on, commentator Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz daily. Even Netanyahu understood that there's nobody but him. He's our 911' emergency service.

British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, who will defend Israel, is the author of what's seen as the definitive textbook on international law. He has represented numerous states, including Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, in international litigation, including at the International Court of Justice, according to a biography posted online by Essex Court Chambers, where Shaw is a barrister.

Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser at the Israeli Foreign Ministry who counts Shaw as a friend, said it remained to be seen whether judges from nations with poor ties to Israel will rule objectively. But he said Israel had positioned itself to meet the charges head on.

They chose the top people," he said. It means Israel is taking it very seriously.(AP) RUP
A British warship shot down seven drones which were launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea in an operation alongwith US forces to repel the largest drone and missile attack to date. UK's defence secretary Grant Shapps said that the drones had been heading towards HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer deployed by the UK. American warplanes as well as other US warships also took part in the mission along with the British destroyer shooting down 18 one-way attack drones which are designed to explode upon impact. They were fired by Houthis along with two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile, according to a statement by the US military which described it as a "complex attack". Israel-Hamas War: Yemens Houthi rebels have fired their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea.(AP)

The US said that this was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping since November 19 as attacks have increased amid Israel-Hamas war. Grant Shapps said, "Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date. Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, Diamond destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to Diamond or her crew. The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences. We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.

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Houthis- who are backed by Iran- said that the attacks are aimed at ending the air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip following October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel. Following this, a US-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea.

The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO)- which monitors shipping attacks in the region- said it was aware of an attack off the Yemeni port of Hodeida while private intelligence firm Ambrey said ships described over the radio seeing missiles and drones with US-allied warships in the area.
Greece's center-right government will soon submit legislation allowing same-sex civil marriages, despite reservations from its own lawmakers and the country's influential Orthodox Church, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.(AFP)

But he stressed that the proposed law would not extend the right to parenthood through surrogate mothers to same-sex couples  an issue that has divided Greek society.

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What we are going to legislate is equality in marriage, Mitsotakis said. We will remove any discrimination concerning sexual orientation in the issue of marital relationship.

But, he added, "we won't change the law on assisted parenthood. The idea of women who are turned into child-producing machines on demand ... that is not going to happen.

Several lawmakers from the right wing of the governing New Democracy party have expressed opposition to any overhaul of Greece's marriage and parenthood laws to include same-sex couples.

Mitsotakis said in Wednesday's interview with state-run ERT television that he would not force them to back the proposed legislation, seeking cross-party support to get it approved.

I believe we will be able to secure the bill's approval, he said. Some people will benefit considerably, in the sense that we will solve a real problem for them ... Some people may disagree (with the law) but they do not stand to lose.

Allowing same-sex civil marriage was a key campaign promise by Mitsotakis, who secured a second four-year term in a landslide election victory last year.

The issue gained further attention following the summer election of Stefanos Kasselakis as head of the main opposition Syriza party. Kasselakis, who married his male partner in New York in October, caused a stir by expressing the desire to acquire children through a surrogate mother.

Greece legalized same-sex civil partnerships in 2015.

The Orthodox Church of Greece has opposed same-sex civil marriage, arguing that it would create a legal obligation to eventually follow up with parental rights. It rules out religious marriages for same-sex couples.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held in-depth talks with his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Muizzu following which the two countries signed 20 "key" agreements, including one on tourism cooperation, and announced the elevation of their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 10.(Reuters)

Muizzu said he was honoured to pay his first state visit to China and become the first foreign head of state that China has hosted this year, fully demonstrating the great importance both sides attach to the development of bilateral relations.

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Xi stressed that China respects and supports the Maldives in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions. China also supports the Maldives firmly in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi and Muizzu announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, it said.

Also Read | Mapping Maldives' relation with India and China

"20 key agreements were signed today between the Government of the Maldives and the Government of China this afternoon and both the Presidents witnessed the signing ceremony," Maldivian President's office said in a post on X.

The agreements signed included tourism cooperation, disaster risk reduction, blue economy and strengthening investment in the digital economy. China will also provide grant assistance to the Maldives, but the amount was not disclosed.

The agreements also included jointly accelerating the formulation of the Cooperation Plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, social housing project on Fushidhiggaru Falhu, fisheries products processing factories and the re-development of Male and Villimale Roads Development Projects.

Muizzu and his wife Sajida Mohammad were given a ceremonial red carpet welcome at the Great Hall of People. President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan later hosted a state banquet in their honour.

Muizzus visit to China is marred by the diplomatic row with India over derogatory remarks by his ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the release of a report by the EU Election Observation Mission of Maldives that said the ruling coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC) deployed anti-India sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation in the 2023 presidential elections in which Muizzu won.

The EU report cast a shadow over Muizzus Presidential election last November as he contested as part of PPM headed at that time by former pro-China President Abdullah Yameen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption.

Soon after his election, President Muizzu fell out with former pro-China leader Yameen, regarded as his mentor, and opted to pursue his own foreign and domestic policy.

Under Yameen's Presidency, China carried out major infrastructure projects amid allegations of debt traps by some influential politicians of the Maldives.

Angry with Muizzu, Yameen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption, quit the (PPM) and formed his own political party called from jail to oppose Muizzu.

The EU report slams both the parties for whipping up an anti-India campaign. The EU observers found the PPM-PNCs presidential campaign included anti-India sentiments, based on fears of Indian influences and anxiety regarding the presence of Indian military personnel inside the Maldives.

This theme was subject to multiple online disinformation attempts, the report said.

In his remarks, President Xi said China stands ready to exchange governance experience with the Maldives, strengthen the synergy of development strategies, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and set a new benchmark for the China-Maldives friendship, Xi said.

He said China will support more Maldivian students to study in China and promote more direct flights between the two countries.

President Muizzu said the Maldives pursues the one-China policy firmly. Firm mutual support in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is a solid foundation for the sustained and sound development of Maldives-China relations, Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Muizzu, who is due to return home on January 12, is already slammed by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) headed by former President Solih for rupturing relations with India. The MDP still has the majority in Parliament. Also, the Parliament polls are scheduled to take place in March in which Muizzu has to contest against PNC and MDP.

Muizzus visit to China is also taking place amid the row with India leading to a spate of cancellations of reservations by Indian tourists, who constitute the largest number of visitors to the tourism-dependent island nation.

Facing backlash from Indian tourists, Muizzu appealed to China to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists to his country.

"China was our (Maldives') number one market (for tourism) pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," he said.

Besides talks with Xi, Muizzu is also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other senior officials in the next two days.

His appeal for more Chinese tourists came amid a diplomatic row with India. Muizzu's government suspended three deputy ministers for their derogatory posts on social media.

Also, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) strongly condemned the derogatory comments.

According to data released by the Maldives Tourism Ministry earlier, India remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023 with Russia in second place followed by China in the third.

The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals.

China-Maldives bilateral trade in 2022 totalled to USD 451.29 million of which Chinas exports constituted USD 451.29 million against USD 60,000 of exports from Maldives.

Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum.
More than 35 years ago, India mounted possibly the first overseas operation by its three military services to thwart a coup in the Maldives assisted by a group of mercenaries. Within nine hours of an SOS from the government of the Maldives, Indian paratroopers flown to the archipelago by air force aircraft secured the capital of Male while naval warships prevented the mercenaries from fleeing with several hostages, including some Maldivian ministers.

Operation Cactus, the Indian intervention in the Maldives in November 1988, highlighted both the importance of the Indian Ocean archipelago in the neighbourhood and Indias efforts to secure its role as the first responder and pre-eminent player in the region.

The success of the operation bolstered trust and long-term relations between India and the Maldives, especially since the immediate withdrawal of Indian troops following their mission dispelled any fears about long-term plans for dominance. India was the first country to help the Maldives after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and during a water shortage in the capital of Male in December 2014.

Besides acting as a net security provider for the Maldives, India gave a special place to the country under its Neighbourhood First policy aimed at ensuring stability and prosperity in the Indian Ocean. India has provided a range of military equipment, including two helicopters and a maritime aircraft, to the Maldives and offered to refurbish a key dock so that Maldivian vessels could be repaired at home instead of being sent abroad.

However, recent years have witnessed virulent anti-India campaigns in the Maldives, especially as some Maldivian politicians have latched on to such sentiments as an easy way to come to power by stoking fears of alleged Indian dominance of the country in spheres ranging from trade to security.

Perhaps the strongest supporter of the so-called India Out campaign has been former president Abdulla Yameen, who moved the Maldives closer to China while in power during 2013-18. Chinese firms invested $1.37 billion in the Maldives since the country joined China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2014, including the expansion of an airport in Male and the construction of a cross-sea friendship bridge.

China is the Maldives' largest bilateral creditor, while Saudi Arabia and India are in second and third place with dues of $124 million and $123 million, respectively. Former president Mohamed Nasheed, who has been a proponent of closer ties with India, has called Chinas largesse a debt trap.

The Maldives also concluded a free trade agreement (FTA) with China in 2017, during Yameens tenure, though the government headed by his successor, Ibrahim Solih, kept the implementation of the pact in abeyance. Solihs adoption of an India First policy that aligned with the Neighbourhood First policy was followed by India providing billions of dollars as a mix of grants and soft loans to implement a range of infrastructure projects, including $500 million for the flagship Greater Male Connectivity Project.

The current president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, benefited from the India Out campaign spearheaded by Yameen and his supporters and even described New Delhi's influence in the region as a threat to the sovereignty of the Maldives during the campaign for last years presidential election. While Muizzu initially took steps that benefited Yameen  such as transferring the former president from the prison where he was serving a sentence for a graft case to house arrest  the two have since fallen out.

Muizzu has broken from the convention of Maldivian presidents making their maiden foreign visit to India and instead travelled to Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and China. He has also been insisting that India should withdraw some 77 military personnel deployed to the Maldives to operate the aircraft provided by India, which have been used primarily for disaster relief and medical evacuations, and his government has opted not to renew an agreement with India on conducting hydrographic surveys.

Muizzu has also openly courted China during his current visit to that country to send more investments and tourists to the Maldives, at a time when the ties between Male and New Delhi have fallen to a new low because of a controversy over derogatory remarks made against India and its leadership by several Maldivian leaders. While Muizzus government has suspended three deputy ministers over these remarks, the action is unlikely to salvage the overall relationship.

At a time when concerns are growing in New Delhi over Beijings efforts to expand its economic and strategic footprint in the immediate neighbourhood, the actions of the government in Male reflect the lack of importance attached to Indias worries. China has used both its economic largesse and strategic manoeuvres such as frequent forays into regional waters by surveillance vessels to challenge India in the region, adding to the tensions from the dragging military standoff on the Line of Actual Control.

India now has no option but to stay the course since any move that takes the Maldives further into Chinas orbit will only add to New Delhis strategic and security concerns.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's neighbours are fed up of hearing about the couple. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to the US. The couple now live in Montecito with their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet but one local said that the residents are sick of hearing about them. Prince Harry-Meghan Markle: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen.(AP)

Barry Maher told the Mirror, Harry and Meghan live down the street but in a considerably pricier spot, though nobody around here is exactly living in cardboard boxes. Since we never see them, local tolerance seems to mirror USA tolerance in general. People who like them seem to have an unlimited tolerance, no matter what they do.

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Everyone else is either unimpressed by the travelling soap opera or is just sick of hearing about them, Barry Maher told the outlet.

Prince Harry had previously claimed that he misses the UK and royal family in the couple's documentary for Netflix which was released in December 2022.

The Duke of Sussex said, "I miss the weird family gatherings when we are all sort of brought together under one roof for certain times of the year. So I miss the UK, I miss my friends.

Then, royal commentator Michael Cole slammed Prince Harry over his repeated criticism of his family members since he moved to the US, saying, "They are spoilt, they have an agenda. That agenda is very unhelpful and hurtful to his family. He said he misses Britain and misses the British way of life, well it is a strange way of showing it."

This comes after reports claimed that Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland moved in with her daughter and son-in-law as she shifted to the couple's California home to help them through tough times.

2023 was a tough year for both Harry and Meghan and Doria has been there for them. Doria looks fighting fit but shes nearly 70 and gets tired of the car rides from her home to see her daughter and grandchildren. It takes nearly three hours to drive one way, so it made sense for her to move into the guesthouse. She now spends more time there than in her own house," it was reported.
Prince William thinks that Prince Andrew's links to Jeffrey Epstein will "haunt' the royal family after the Duke of York was named in newly released court documents. The Jeffrey Epstein files relate to a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. Virginia Giuffre has accused Price Andrew of abusing her when she was a teenager although the Duke of York has fervently denied the allegations. Prince William, Prince of Wales, is seen. (Reuters)

Prince Andrew settled a claim by Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed sum in 2022 without admitting any wrongdoing but Prince William feels that Prince Andrew's link to Jeffrey Epstein will haunt the UK royals as a source told the Mirror, William was very clear [that in his view] Andrew can not be trusted."

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Prince Andrew's daughter Princess Beatrice visited him after was named in the newly released court documents as she was seen driving through the gates of the royal lodge.

What Jeffrey Epstein files said about Prince Andrew

The records included the 2009 deposition of a former housekeeper Juan Alessi at Jeffrey Epstein's home in Florida where the financier spent time with Prince Andrew. Juan Alessi said in a testimony that Prince Andrew spent weeks with us and when he visited, he would receive daily massages.

Prince Andrew would stay in the main guest bedroom, which he described as the blue room", he said recounting other celebrities including former US president Donald Trump and a lot of queens and other famous people that I cant remember.

Donald Trump would come to Jeffrey Epsteins home for dinner but he never sat at the table but ate in the kitchen. Juan Alessi worked at Jeffrey Epsteins home from 1990 to 2002 where he saw many, many, many young adult female visitors. Prince Andrew was criticized when photos emerged of him visiting Jeffrey Epstein in New York.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Lithuania on Wednesday at the start of a tour of three Baltic states to discuss his country's war with Russia and Kyiv's plans to join NATO and the European Union. Russia-Ukraine War: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his end-of-the-year news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine.(AP)

Announcing his arrival on X, formerly known as Twitter, Zelenskiy said he would go on to Latvia and Estonia in the coming days. All three Baltic states are members of the EU and the NATO military alliance.

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"Security, EU and NATO integration, cooperation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda," Zelenskiy said.

Zelenskiy and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda are due to hold talks and a joint press conference was scheduled for 1125 GMT. The Ukrainian leader will also give a public speech, Nauseda's office said.

Zelenskiy arrived on the previously unannounced visit to Vilnius, a staunch supporter of Kyiv, as the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches.

With the prospects of a protracted war growing, Ukraine has been appealing to its Western allies for more financial and military assistance.

"The presidents will discuss the war in Ukraine, support for Ukraine and its integration in the European Union and NATO," Nauseda's office said in a statement.
San Diego, Jan 9 (AP) A US Navy sailor has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive US military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. HT Image

Wenheng Zhao, 26, who is also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, was sentenced Monday to 27 months by a federal judge in Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties. He was also fined USD 5,500. His defence lawyer, Tarek Shawky, could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

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Zhao, based at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, north of Los Angeles, collected nearly USD 15,000 in bribes in 14 different payments from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos and videos of involving Navy exercises, operations and facilities between August 2021 through at least May 2023, prosecutors said.

He held a US security government clearance and underwent routine trainings on efforts by hostile nation states to acquire sensitive information, according to the US Justice Department.

The information included plans for a large-scale US military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements. The Chinese officer told Zhao the information was needed for maritime economic research to inform investment decisions, according to court documents.

The Chinese officer offered to pay Zhao bonuses for controlled and classified information, according to prosecutors.

Zhao used encrypted communications to transmit the information to the intelligence officer and destroyed the evidence to hide their relationship, prosecutors said.

Mr. Zhao abdicated his oath to the United States and put American troops in harm's way when he accessed and handed over sensitive information to China for a payout, said Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office in a statement.

Zhao was one of two US Navy sailors based in California who were charged last summer with providing sensitive military information to China.

The two sailors were charged with similar moves to provide sensitive intelligence to the Chinese. But they were separate cases, and it wasn't clear if the two were courted or paid as part of a larger scheme.

Jinchao Wei, known as Patrick Wei, was assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex when he was arrested last August while boarding the ship. He is accused of providing detailed information on the weapons systems and aircraft aboard the Essex and other amphibious assault ships that act as small aircraft carriers.

He could receive a life sentence if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and that case is ongoing.

US officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

US officials said the cases exemplify China's brazenness in trying to obtain insight into US military operations. (AP)

GRS GRS
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun has acknowledged that the recent 737 Max 9 plane tragedy was their mistake and stressed that an accident like this "can never happen again." United and Alaska Airlines both reported on January 8 that loose hardware had been discovered on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections after a dramatic mid-flight incident last week (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP)(AFP)

"We're going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake," Calhoun told employees at a safety meeting after the incident, according to Reuters. "We're going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way."

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Calhoun also said that he was "shaken to the bone" by the accident. His comments were Boeing's first public acknowledgment of the incident.

White House on Boeing 737 MAX grounding

Boeing 737 MAX 9 to remain grounded until operators complete inspections as safety of Americans is priority, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

The company's top planemaking official, Stan Deal, also broke his silence, saying at a town hall meeting at its Renton, Washington 737 factory that Boeing acknowledges "the real seriousness of the accident. Inspections were launched after the incident.

Loose bolts found

Meanwhile, United Airlines has said that loose bolts were found on door plugs of several Boeing 737 Max 9 planes during inspections after a panel blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight. Dozens of 737 Max 9s were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday, January 6, after the horrific incident on Alaska Flight 1282. This prompted various inspections.

Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug  for example, bolts that needed additional tightening, United Airlines said in a statement, according to CNBC. These findings will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service.

Boeing had earlier asked airlines to carry out inspections of the Max 9s in their fleets. We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards, Boeing said in a statement. We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers.

No one was seriously injured in the recent accident. However, the panel that blew out produced such a terrific force that a few headrests and seat backs were ripped from the cabin. The cockpit door was also violently flung open, initial details of a federal safety investigation suggested. Thankfully, no passenger sat in the two seats located next to the panel that would later blow out.
Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun fought back tears as he said the planemaker must own up to its shortcomings, underscoring the stakes of a safety incident thats renewing questions over the quality of its manufacturing. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun addresses Alaska Airlines accident

Were going to approach this  No. 1  acknowledging our mistake, Calhoun told Boeing employees Tuesday during a companywide meeting at its 737 aircraft factory near Seattle. Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way.

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The remarks came during an all-hands meeting called by Calhoun to reinforce safety as the companys top priority after a door plug ejected from a 737 Max 9 last week mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. He and other senior Boeing leaders addressed employees from its Renton, Washington, factory where the 737 single-aisle is assembled, and webcast their remarks to workers at other locations.

Ive got kids, Ive got grandkids and so do you, he said, as he recalled seeing photographs of the planes damaged fuselage. This stuff matters. Every detail matters.

US regulators grounded 171 of Boeings 737 Max 9 aircraft and ordered inspections after the Jan. 5 accident. None of the 177 passengers and crew onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 were injured when the panel ripped free shortly after the plane departed from Portland, Oregon.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal, tasked with raising output while also maintaining quality at Boeings largest unit, spoke alongside Calhoun at Tuesdays presentation. Also addressing workers was Chief Safety Officer Mike Delaney, whose senior executive role was created during a previous crisis involving the US planemakers cash-cow Max jet: a global grounding after two fatal crashes killed a combined 346 people nearly five years ago.

Delaney will play the critical role for Boeing, Calhoun said, as himself and his team would be the only people authorized to give the green light to allow the Max 9 to fly again.

Mike and his team are the only people in our company that can give the go-ahead to send planes back into the air, Calhoun said. Make sure everybodys clear about that. That is the way were organized.

Boeings shares rose 1.7% at 9:43 a.m. Wednesday in New York, a modest rebound after two days of losses.

Much is at stake for Calhoun and Boeing after a series of quality issues tripped up production of its most important aircraft last year. Last weeks incident complicates the CEOs work to rebuild Boeings image after the crashes and a prolonged grounding of the 737 Max.

Also in the staff address, Calhoun said the company had to communicate to customers to reassure them, adding they were rocked by the Alaska Air accident. He said moments like this shake them to the bone.

Alaska Air Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. have both discovered other 737 Max 9 jets with loose bolts after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max 9 and ordered carriers to inspect the planes. Formal inspections have yet to start  the agency said Tuesday that Boeing is revising instructions for the checks after receiving feedback, and all of the affected planes will remain idled until the regulator deems them safe.

Alaska was still awaiting inspection and maintenance instructions from Boeing and the FAAs approval of the procedures as of 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, the carrier said in a statement on social media platform X.

It seems to be a bit of a moving target, Savanthi Syth, a Raymond James analyst, said of final instructions for the inspection process. I can appreciate the FAAs perspective on this with the other Max issues, where they were a little too quick to say, This is fine. Theyre really trying to cross the Ts and dot the Is on this one.

A chorus of airline chiefs, including two of Boeings biggest customers  Ryanair Holdings Plcs Michael OLeary and Emirates Tim Clark in Dubai  have spoken publicly of the need for Boeing to raise quality standards. Wizz Air Holdings Plc CEO Jozsef Varadi said the relationship between manufacturers and regulators had gotten too cozy.

Theyve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that, Clark said in an interview this week in Dubai. I think theyre getting their act together now, but this doesnt help.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Monday that her agency would consider broadening the probe. Such a move would bring deeper scrutiny for Boeing and its manufacturing processes, and magnify the issue as the US planemaker seeks to get the aircraft back into service.

Calhoun, 66, took over as CEO of Boeing at the start of 2020 after the board ousted then-CEO Dennis Muilenburg for mishandling the grounding crisis. He canceled an annual offsite retreat for senior executives that was planned for this week in response to the Alaska incident.

Boeing Chairman Larry Kellner was also present at the meeting alongside board member David Joyce, the former long-time GE Aviation chief who now heads up the aerospace giants safety committee.

The panel that broke loose from Flight 1282 covered an opening on the Max 9 that can be used for emergency exits. Some airlines, including United and Alaska, cover them up because the doors arent needed for lower-density seat configurations.

We do see the latest incident as eroding the fragile confidence that has been built around the 737 Max franchise, Ron Epstein, an analyst with Bank of America, told clients over the weekend. In our view, Boeing needs to tread carefully and cautiously through this potential reputational minefield.
Donald Trump has taken to social media to share a claim about Nikki Haley that is completely untrue  that she is not eligible to become president because she is not a natural-born US citizen. On his Truth Social profile, Trump posted a screenshot of the claim being made by the far-right website The Gateway Pundit. Donald Trump has taken to social media to share a claim about Nikki Haley that is completely untrue (Photo by WIN MCNAMEE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP, AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

The Gateway Pundits X post, a screenshot of which was shared by Trump, reads, In @NikkiHaley s situation, reports indicate that her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth in 1972. Based on the Constitution as interpreted by @PaulIngrassia, this disqualifies Haley from presidential or vice-presidential candidacy under the 12th Amendment.

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Not just Trump, many other social media users have shared similar claims.

Why the claim is false

Haley wrote in her 2012autobiography that her parents were born in the Punjab region of India. Back in 2015, her office told South Carolina newspaper The State that, at a time when she was governor, that her father Ajit Randhawa became a US citizen in 1978. This was six years after Haley was born. Her mother Raj Randhawa, on the other hand, was naturalised in 2003.

However, experts have claimed that Haley is an absolutely legitimate candidate if one goes by the Constitution. Despite the status of her parents citizenship, her being born in Bamberg makes her a natural-born citizen. This is one of three qualifications to become US president.

Having been born in South Carolina, she is clearly a natural born citizen, without regard to the fact that her parents were immigrants, Geoffrey Stone, a professor of Law at the University of Chicago who is an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press. Calling the claims bonkers, Stone said that these arguments cannot disqualify Haley from her position based on what citizenship her parents hold.

A recent CNN poll has also revealed that Haley has largely narrowed the gap with Trump in the Republican primary race in New Hampshire. While Trump does boast a lead with 39% support among likely Republican primary voters, Haley stands at 32%.
In a recent development, the FAA has ordered the temporary suspension of all Boeing Max airplanes. This decision follows a frightening incident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 to Ontario, California. After the recent incident, the FAA decided to halt the operation of specific Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes used by U.S. airlines or flying within the U.S. Now, emerging reports suggest that the Federal Aviation Administration has taken a decisive measure due to the ongoing accidents involving Boeing Max, opting to suspend all activities until further notice. Boeing had recommended all the airlines to conduct an inspection of their B737 Max fleet after an international operator discovered a bolt with a missing nut while performing routine maintenance. (Representative Image)

Also read: United Airlines says loose bolts found on door plugs of several Boeing 737 Max 9s during inspection

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FAA grounds all Boeing Max aircrafts

On Tuesday, Boeing's CEO, Dave Calhoun, acknowledged accountability for a significant incident involving Alaska Airlines last week. He committed to full transparency as Boeing addresses its most recent crisis, according to AFP.

Speaking to his companys employee after the terrifying incident occurred, he said, We're going to approach this (by) number one acknowledging our mistake."

On Tuesday, efforts to get back to operating the 737 Max 9 aircraft met a setback. Officials from the government ordered Boeing to revise the guidelines for airlines undertaking plane inspections.

As quoted by New York Times, the agency in a statement mentioned, Upon receiving the revised version of instructions from Boeing, the FAA will conduct a thorough review. The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service,"

Fresh worries about Boeing's 737 MAX family arose on January 9 after after loose parts were found on parked planes, adding to existing concerns among experts regarding the jet's manufacturing process.

A day earlier, AA Administrator Mike Whitaker said, The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight. Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSBs investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

On January 6, an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Ontario experienced a mid-air window break leading to pressure loss and an emergency landing back in Portland. All 180 onboard (174 passengers and 6 crew) escaped unharmed.

Also read: USA: Plane Door Disappears, Leaving Huge Hole, At 16,000 Ft; Alaska Airlines Grounds 737 MAX Fleet
Jeffrey Epstein's list of final batch of confidential documents have revealed several new prominent figures including Victorias Secret boss Les Wexner, the late artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky and the late New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. FILE - In this courtroom artist's sketch, Jeffrey Epstein listens during a bail hearing in federal court in New York on July 15, 2019. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)(AP)

Thousands of pages of documents naming former president Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, and Richard Branson were unsealed in the past week after US judge Loretta Preska ordered the release of filings in a lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.

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Latest set of documents include depositions from Epstein accuser Victoria Giuffre, and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein. Giuffres 2016 deposition, she claimed that she was trafficked to Wexner for sex and that he participated in sex with minors. Wexner previously issued a statement denying all wrongdoing.

Who was Jean-Luc Brunel?

Jean-Luc Brunel, the late Parisian model agent was named in the latest documents. He allegedly arranged depraved gifts for Jeffrey Epstein, according to the newly surfaced documents. Brunel was found dead in his prison cell, reportedly by suicide, in Paris last year. He faced charges of raping a minor.

In Maxwells deposition, she was confronted with disturbing messages by Jean Luc Brunel, referenced what appeared to be code for procuring an underage Russian girl for Epstein.

It says, quote, He has a teacher for you to teach you how to speak Russian. She is two times eight years old. Not blond. Lessons are free and you can have your first today if you call, Maxwell was asked.

Jeffrey Epstein had a room named dungeon in NYC townhouse

In the latest set of documents Virginia Giuffre claimed Epstein had a room named the dungeon in his New York City townhouse. So there was pictures on his desk in the office and around that room, and then theres this room that I refer to as the dungeon and that had a huge photograph of me and another girl, I mean huge as in bigger than that wall cabinet, she testified.

Theres a painting of both of us doing salacious acts together.

When asked what she meant by salacious acts, she replied: Sexual acts, you know what Im saying?

Ms Giuffre said that there nude photographs of victims around the paedophiles property.
President Joe Biden has suffered a stinging loss in the judiciary, as US Appeals Court Judge Andrew Oldham criticized his decision as "arbitrary and capricious." This judgment followed legal action from 11 Republican-led states challenging alterations to rules aimed at enhancing the efficiency of dishwashers and washing machines. President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House, early Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to South Carolina and Texas. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)(AP)

In a ruling issued on Monday, Judge Andrew Oldham said that it was unclear whether the Department of Energy (DOE) had the statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and washing machines. He even claimed the new rules might not lead to less water use.

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In March, the DOE had announced plans to implement energy efficiency measures starting in 2027. The initiative aimed to save consumers $3 billion over the next three decades, conserve 240 billion gallons of water, and prevent the release of 12.5 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized the department's commitment to saving money for Americans while promoting innovations to address climate change.

Bureaucrats cant dictate the types of appliances Americans use'

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, one of those involved in the review, emphasized that federal bureaucrats couldn't dictate the types of appliances Americans used. Judge Oldham, appointed by Trump, argued that even if the DOE had the authority to regulate water usage in energy-using appliances, it had not adequately considered the negative consequences of its revisions.

Critics argued that the administration was overstepping by intervening in consumer products, particularly after earlier concerns about a perceived attempt to ban gas stoves. These concerns, though dismissed, persisted as part of a narrative suggesting that climate change policies were restricting Americans' freedom.

The court ruling highlighted the DOE's modification of regulations regarding dishwashers and washing machines, specifically revoking a 2020 rule excluding certain appliances from existing requirements. The legal review was triggered by this change.

Oldham contended that there was "ample evidence" of the standards leading to less efficient water usage by consumers. He criticized the DOE for making Americans use more energy and water due to purportedly "energy-efficient" appliances not functioning properly. The judge remanded the matter to the DOE for further action consistent with his opinion.

Since assuming office, President Biden has prioritized addressing climate change and promoting the transition to renewable energy. The court ruling noted that the DOE's water efficiency changes stemmed from an executive order issued by Biden on the day he took office.
The Pentagon has disclosed that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalised since the beginning of January due to complications from prostate cancer surgery. The surgery reportedly caused infection and he had to be hospitalised at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a statement from his doctors released by The Pentagon said. Lloyd Austin was hospitalised since the beginning of January due to complications from prostate cancer surgery (REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura/File Photo)(REUTERS)

The statement from Austins doctors, John Maddox and Gregory Chestnut, said that his surgery was done on December 22. All went well with the surgery but he was under general anaesthesia. "The cancer was detected early and his prognosis is excellent," the doctors said.

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While the 70-year-old returned home on December 23, he started experiencing severe hip and leg pain and nausea on January 1. He then had to return to the hospital.

It was determined that Austin had a urinary tract infection, so he was transferred to the intensive care unit for close monitoring and a higher level of care," the statement said. Doctors later found that he had "abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines."

"This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach," the officials added. "The abdominal fluid collections were drained by non-surgical drain placement. He has progressed steadily throughout his stay."

On Tuesday, January 9, officials said that Austins infection has cleared and that he continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process. They added that when Austin was hospitalised, he never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.

The Defense Department was deeply criticised for taking three days to inform the White House and key defence officials about the hospitalisation. Questions were raised on how the head of the military could be away from work for such a long time without informing senior members of the administration.
New York Mayor Mayor Eric Adams was forced to send 2000 migrant families back to Floyd Bennett Field hours after they were shifted to James Madison High School amid the ongoing US storm. ACB Live news reported from Brooklyn. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 09: Nearly 2,000 migrants are evacuated by school buses from tents at Floyd Bennett Field to a local high school in preparation for a storm with estimated wind speeds to be more than 70 mph. on January 09, 2024(Getty Images via AFP)

Decision came in after Eric Adams visited the school in Brooklyn Tuesday night and viewed the asylum seeker families sleeping in the auditorium and gym. Social media images showed families sleeping in auditorium chairs, in folding chairs, or on the floor with blankets.

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The city said the winds at Floyd Bennett Field had subsided by 1:10 a.m.

By 4:30 a.m., our temporary relocation of Floyd Bennett Field HERRC guests to James Madison High School was completed and all guests safely returned to Floyd Bennett Field HERRC.

Councilwoman Inna who vehemently opposed the decision to use high school as a shelter to house immigrants posted her views on X (formerly Twitter) and thanked Elon Musk for supporting her views.

Thank you for helping us expose this @elonmusk @libsoftiktok . Our students are being punished & are forced to bear the burden of the migrant crisis perpetrated by @JoeBiden. This is UNACCEPTABLE. @NYCMayor must stop this now. #Endthemadness. Inna Vernikov posted.

Councilwoman Inna was joined by several parents and other Republicans who called is a security concern, not just for parents but also for neighbours in the area. Republican Assemblyman Michael Novakhov even held an "emergency rally" outside the school on the "decision to prioritize migrants over the our communities, budget, safety and even the education of our children" ater Wednesday morning.

School's decision to suspend classes was also condemned by many on social media. Elon Musk stated, This is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms. Soon, cities will run out of schools to vacate. Then they will come for your homes.

So these Brooklyn kids now have to suffer thru remote learning (which is nothing of the kind) so illegal migrants can live in their school. Keep voting Democrat Brooklyn!, Megyn Kelly posted
James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York is facing severe backlash after it was forced to suspend classes to house migrants on its premises. 2,000 migrants from Floyd Bennett field have been transported to the school and will be occupying its gymnasiums and auditorium overnight. Migrants from Floyd Bennett field being shifting to New York's James Madison High School

New York Mayor calls the decision for "overabundance of caution"

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the decision to move moving migrants from the tent shelter at Floyd Bennett Field for safety reasons due to the incoming storms and potential high winds. He was quoted by New York Daily News as saying, it was being done out of an "overabundance of caution."

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As a result James Madison High School confirmed that as it was being used as a "temporary overnight respite center" and would be closed as a result on Wednesday. Students will be forced to "pivot" to remote learning as a result.

Inna Vernikov calls the decision unacceptable"

Inna Vernikov, Council Member of New York City called the statement unacceptable" and asked for authorities to stop using schools as shelters. She says decision to use Floyd Benet Field as a migrant facility was not appropriate as it's vulnerable and not a sustainable housing facility.

Our public schools are meant to be places of learning and growth for our children, and were never intended to be shelters or facilities for emergency housing, Inna further added.

Elon Musk also criticised the move, This is what happens when you run out of hotel rooms. Soon, cities will run out of schools to vacate. Then they will come for your homes.

Calling the move a safety concern Council Member voiced concerns of parents and neighbours, This will agitate local residents, disrupt the entire school environment, and place a tremendous burden on our families, students, school administrators and staff.

There were many who came out to support the school's decision considering New York is going through rough weather and the Floyd Benet Field is an inhumane facility to house the migrants.

Defence Attorney, Marina Medvin has called the decision surreal'

However many on the internet also supported the Mayor's decision to use the school facilities as migrant shelters. The city is bracing up for a powerful storm that will bring in major flooding and damaging winds has arrived in the Tri-State area.

A Flood Watch remains in effect for New Jersey and parts of New York and Pennsylvania into early Wednesday. The combination of 2"-4" of rain along with saturated ground and melting snowpack could mean particularly widespread flooding.
Hunter Biden made news after storming out of a Congressional hearing before storming out. He made an unexpected appearance on Wednesday at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing where Republican lawmakers were pushing for a vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for not testifying in their impeachment inquiry targeting his father, Democratic President Joe Biden. Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, center, with attorneys Kevin Morris, left, and Abbe Lowell, right, during a House Oversight Committee markup on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Bloomberg)

The younger Biden entered the hearing without speaking to reporters, and sat quietly in the gallery with his attorney, causing pandemonium, with members of the House Oversight Committee arguing with each other and scolding him for the surprise.

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"It does not matter who you are .... who your father is or your last name. Yes, I'm looking at you, Hunter Biden. You are not above the law," Republican Representative Nancy Mace said. "Hunter Biden, you are too afraid to show up for a deposition. And you still are, today."

House Republicans allege that the president and his family improperly profited from policy actions in which Biden participated when he was vice president from 2009-2017. The White House and Hunter Biden deny wrongdoing.

Hunter Biden faces his own legal troubles. He is due to appear in a Los Angeles federal court on Thursday to face criminal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. He also been charged in Delaware with lying about his drug use while buying a handgun. He has pleaded not guilty to the Delaware charges.

Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz asked why the committee would not take the 53-year-old Biden's testimony then.

"The witness accepted the chairman's invitation. It just so happens the witness is here," Moskowitz said. "Let's vote. Let's take a vote. Who wants to hear from Hunter right now, today?"

The younger Biden left the hearing shortly after.

His attorney Abbe Lowell made a brief statement to reporters afterward.

"We have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided," Lowell said. "Our first five offers were ignored. And then in November, they issued a subpoena for a behind-closed-doors deposition, a tactic that the Republicans have repeatedly misused in their political crusade to selectively leak and mischaracterize."

House Republicans had issued a subpoena for Hunter Biden to appear for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13 as part of the inquiry. Hunter Biden said he would be willing to testify publicly, but lawmakers rebuffed that offer, saying he needed to submit to a private deposition in addition to any public testimony.

On the day the deposition was scheduled, Hunter Biden appeared outside the Capitol and made public remarks, but did not appear for the closed-door interview.

The full House generally holds a vote to direct the certification of contempt to a U.S. attorney after a committee holds its vote, according to the Congressional Research Service. Enforcement of contempt statutes issued by Congress is generally done by the Justice Department.

According to the CRS, the House has held 10 people in contempt of Congress since 2008, but the Justice Department has sought the indictment of only two: Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, advisers to Republican former President Donald Trump.

Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison, though he appealed. Navarro was convicted in September 2023.

There is no record of a sitting president's family member being held in contempt of Congress, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service that includes contempt resolutions dating back to 1980.

Contempt of Congress is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for one to 12 months.
Connecticut socialite Michelle Troconiss trial is all set to begin four years after the disappearance of New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos. Fotis Dulos allegedly killed his estranged wife Jennifer in May 2019 when Michelle was his live-in girlfriend. It is believed that Jennifer was murdered at her New Canaan home. Connecticut socialite Michelle Troconiss trial is all set to begin (NBC Connecticut screenshot/YouTube)

Jennifers body has never been found but she is presumed dead. Fotis was charged with the crime but later died by suicide. Michelle has maintained that she never had any involvement in Jennifers disappearance.

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The disappearance of Jennifer Farber Dulos

Jennifer went missing from New Canaan, Connecticut, on May 24, 2019. Although she was never found, police said that evidence suggests she was the victim of a violent crime. She was offically declared dead shortly before Michelle's trial.

Fingers were pointed at her husband Fotis, with whom she was in the process of a bitter divorce. Jennifer had said that Fotis had revenge fantasies against people he assumed had wronged him, and had once attempted to hit her with a car, according to Law & Crime.

Fotis, a real estate developer, denied being involved in his wifes disappearance, going to the extent of saying on TV that he was worried about her.

Fotis was later charged with Jennifers murder. However, in 2020, he died at a New York City hospital two days after attempting suicide at his home.

What is Michelle Troconis accused of?

Michelle faces charges of second-degree hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy to commit murder.

Michelle said in a previous interrogation video that she dropped off her daughter at school the day Jennifer vanished, ran errands and later had lunch with Fotis at their Farmington home. She claimed that they went to Fotis house to clean it after lunch. She said that she went for coffee with Fotis later that evening in West Hartford.

Fotis allegedly dumped trash bags while she was seated inside the truck, Michelle said, adding that she did know know what the bags contained. However, video later allegedly revealed that Michelle discarded a package containing old licence plates in a storm drain. According to her defence, there was nothing to prove that she was the person seen in the video.

Michelles trial was scheduled to begin on January 8. However, it was later postponed to January 11. The jury selection for the case is over, with 12 people selected, including six jurors and six alternates.

Statement from Jennifer Farber Dulos family and friends

Jennifers family and friends released a statement, saying, It is hard to believe that almost four and a half years have elapsed since Jennifer disappeared, and she still has not been found. Every day, we miss her voice, her laugh, her gentle demeanor, her inner and outer strength, her insight, her guidance, her determination, her way with words, her love, her faith, her goodness. Many thanks to all who have helped to keep Jennifers memory alive.

We are relieved that the trial process is underway, and we are endlessly grateful to the Connecticut States Attorneys office for their commitment, diligent work, and support, they added.
Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that the estimated value of its mineral resources had nearly doubled to $2.5 trillion, highlighting a sector it hopes will help diversify its oil-reliant economy. Risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft wrote last year that the focus on mining was "among the more feasible parts" of Prince Mohammed's Vision (Rep image)

"I am delighted to announce that our estimation for the kingdom's untapped mineral potential has increased from $1.3 trillion to $2.5 trillion, an increase of 90 percent," Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar Alkhorayef told a conference in Riyadh.

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"This is based on new discoveries in the form of rare earth elements, and a combination of the increase of volumes of phosphate, gold, zinc and copper, as well as the revaluation of these minerals."

The earlier valuation of $1.3 trillion had been cited by officials including Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since at least 2017.

Under Prince Mohammed, the world's biggest crude oil exporter hopes to diversify away from fossil fuels, and the government is eyeing the mining sector as a potential source of billions of dollars in foreign direct investment each year.

Risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft wrote last year that the focus on mining was "among the more feasible parts" of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 reform agenda, aided by existing mines, plants and infrastructure including railways.

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the conference that rather than being called an oil-producing country, "what we are working on is that we would like to be an energy-producing country for all sources of energy".

Last year, the kingdom's deep-pocketed sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and state mining firm Ma'aden established Manara Minerals to snatch up global mining assets.

Manara announced its first high-profile acquisition, a 10-percent stake in Brazil's Vale, in July.

But foreign investment in Saudi Arabia "remains far behind ambitious targets", said Torbjorn Soltvedt of Verisk Maplecroft.

"The mining sector still represents one of the best bets for boosting foreign investment, but Saudi Arabia has yet to secure a landmark agreement with a major global mining company for any of its active mining licences."

While the valuation jump announced on Wednesday could help, Soltvedt said the current dynamic "mirrors a broader problem: Saudi Arabia is still seen more as a source of funding than a destination for FDI."

US, Africa outreach

This week's conference in Riyadh drew delegations from "over 77 countries", organisers said, including resource-rich African countries where Saudi Arabia is expected to pursue mining acquisitions.

Washington sent a large contingent including Geoffrey R. Pyatt, assistant secretary of state for energy resources, who told reporters his government was focused on "how we de-risk our dependence on China, especially for so many of the key inputs that are going to be a pacing factor in the success or failure of our energy transition."

Soltvedt said mining could become "another pillar" of ties between Washington and Riyadh, who have navigated a tricky oil-for-security partnership for decades.

"A formal arrangement where Saudi Arabia acquires African mining assets and US companies secure rights to buy some of the production has yet to emerge," Soltvedt said.

But discussions will continue, especially as Saudi Arabia becomes more active in the African mining sector this year.
Jeff Zients, in a memo to Cabinet secretaries, directed that they send the White House any existing procedures for delegating authority in the event of incapacitation or loss of communication by Friday. HT Image

While the review is ongoing, he is requiring agencies to notify his office and the office of Cabinet affairs at the White House if an agency experiences or plans to experience a circumstance where an Cabinet head can't perform their duties.

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The memo comes after President Joe Biden and other top officials weren't informed for days that Austin had been hospitalised and had turned over power to his deputy. A Pentagon spokesman blamed the lapse on a key staffer being out sick with the flu.

A copy of the memo was obtained by the Associated Press.

Austin, 70, went to the hospital on December 22 for what the Pentagon press secretary called an elective procedure but one serious enough that Austin temporarily transferred some of his authorities to his deputy, without telling her or other US leaders why. He went home the following day.

He also transferred some of his authorities to Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks after experiencing severe pain and being taken back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre by ambulance and put into intensive care on January 1. The White House was not informed he was in the hospital until January 4. (AP) GRS GRS
Head of one of Russia's state TV channels was found dead after a suspected poisoning incident, officials said. Zoya Konovalova, 48, editor-in-chief of Kuban, was found alongside the body of her ex-husband at a home in the Krasnodar region, it was reported after a series of mysterious deaths involving prominent Russian figures since Vladimir Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The channel said in a statement, The head of the Internet group of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Kuban Zoya Konovalova has died. Our colleague was 48 years old. Zoya Konovalova, editor-in-chief of the Kuban State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, found dead in her home with her ex-husband.

Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that no visible injuries were found on the bodies and the cause of death is said to be poisoning. Zoya Konovalova is survived by a 15-year-old daughter and son, local media reported.

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Another Russian journalist, Alexander Rybin, was found dead in Russia's Rostov region, earlier. His body was found near a highway, his friend and mother said but the cause of his death is unclear.

Last month, Anna Tsareva, the deputy editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, was found dead in her apartment in Moscow, the publication said.

"Anya never complained about her health. Recently, in an apologetic voice, she explained that she had a cough and a temperature that had suddenly jumped to 39, but that everything would get better soon," Komsomolskaya Pravda said, adding, Three days ago, Anya came down with a fever again. The last phrase that her friend and work colleague at KP heard from her was: 'I took my medicine, I'm going to bed. The next day, December 10, Anna stopped responding to messages. Concerned colleagues and parents immediately sensed that things were bad. Anya was found in bed."
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters simultaneously blocked the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges, as well as the Holland Tunnel in New York City, after converging at City Hall Park for the "Shut it Down for Palestine" rally on Monday (January 8).

The protesters effectively shut down traffic in the most vital crossings into Lower Manhattan before the New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested some of them. In total, 40 demonstrators descended upon Brooklyn Bridge, 12 on the Manhattan Bridge, 75 on the Williamsburg Bridge, and 70 within the Holland Tunnel, the NYPD said.

Read Also: New York City Police Under Fire Over Radio Encryption Plans

 BREAKING  Palestine protestors take over the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, and Holland Tunnel to demand an end to the ongoing American-funded, American-led genocide of the Palestinian people in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/StNZwDkaSV January 8, 2024

Protesters Blocking Traffic

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, the group standing in front of the entrance to the tunnel held signs reading "Lift the Siege of Gaza, Ceasefire Now," and "End the Occupation, Free All Palestinian Prisoners, USA Stop Arming Israel."

Arrests were made at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge by the NYPD, and at the Holland Tunnel by the Port Authority Police, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

Brooklyn Bridge was reopened shortly after, with residual delays expected.

Related Article: Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Disrupt 2 Major US Airports, Leading to Multiple Arrests
During President Biden's speech in South Carolina on Monday, protestors demanded a cease-fire in Gaza, highlighting the ongoing internal divisions among Democrats regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Biden was in Charleston, South Carolina speaking to members of Mother Emmanuel Church, where a white supremacist gunman killed nine worshippers in 2015. To garner support from Black voters, Biden spoke from the pulpit of the historic church denouncing white supremacy and political violence.

In an article published by The Hill, Biden was reportedly speaking on how "the truth is under assault in America," when protestors inside the church began to yell out.

"If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives lost and call for a cease-fire in Palestine," one woman could be heard shouting.

Multiple people then broke into chants of "cease-fire now!". It was then revealed by The Hill that Biden stood quietly as the demonstrators were escorted out and supporters began chanting "Four more years!"

He started again proclaiming, "I understand their passion," he said. "And I've been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza."

Trump, Haley, and Slavery

Biden has run into protests throughout his campaign trail in recent months as his administration continues to back Israel's onslaught against Palestinian civilians in its response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack that allegedly killed over 1,000 Israelis. The president is under growing pressure from the left to demand a halt to the violence, as Israeli airstrikes and shelling persist, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Per Politico, the president resumed his previous address by reiterating that Trump is "a loser," a phrase he uttered last Friday, eliciting cheers from the audience in South Carolina. He also went after former South Carolina Gov., Nikki Haley, who initially declined to say that slavery was the cause of the Civil War during a campaign event last month.

"Let me be clear for those who don't seem to know - slavery was the cause of the Civil War," Biden said. "There's no negotiation about that."

President Biden's address in South Carolina arrives amidst declining poll numbers, especially among Black voters. Influential Black political figures, such as Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), have expressed deep worries about the Biden campaign's capacity to overcome the "MAGA wall" and effectively connect with voters.

Reuters also disclosed that South Carolina has not supported a Democrat for president since 1976. Nevertheless, Democrats argue that the state's diverse population more accurately mirrors the party's voter base . The campaign is investing earlier than ever to reach voters of color, rather than parachuting in closer to Election Day simply to drive turnout, one campaign adviser told Reuters.
A former Catholic priest from Mobile, Alabama, named Alex Crow, has been stripped of his priesthood by the Pope after he fled to Italy and married an 18-year-old girl named Taylor Victoria Harrison.

The Archdiocese of Mobile has received notice of the laicization of Alex Crow, effective immediately, according to a statement released on November 22. His dismissal from the church came after reports surfaced that he had eloped with the teenage girl while he was a guest lecturer at McGill-Toolen High School, as per Daily Mail.

Disgraced Priest Marries Teenager, Stripped of Priesthood

Father Crow was a well-liked priest in Mobile, known for his demonology sermons at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. However, after reports of his elopement with Harrison, the Archdiocese of Mobile released a statement in July 2023, stating that Crow had failed to complete his job.

The Guardian reported that the girl he had married, Taylor Victoria Harrison, is now 18 years old, while Alex Crow is 30. According to the news outlet, they spent around four months traveling to Europe following their departure from Mobile in July 2023.

The relationship came to light when authorities discovered a Valentine's Day love letter Crow had sent to Harrison when she was still a student. The local news outlet, Al, reported that the couple had initially traveled to Spain so that Crow could perform an exorcism on her.

Later reports confirmed that they had traveled to Italy, where they were eventually married. They submitted a signed and notarized license application to the state on November 17, as required by Alabama law.

The Archdiocese of Mobile responded swiftly to the news of Crow's marriage by stating that Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi had suspended Crow and prohibited him from acting, dressing or presenting himself as a priest. Furthermore, Rodi maintained that he saw no way back to the priesthood for Alex Crow.

The Pope has now stripped Alex Crow of his priesthood, as confirmed by the Archdiocese of Mobile. The district attorney for Mobile County had earlier decided to close an investigation into any possible criminal wrongdoing related to Crow and Harrison's relationship, according to SK Pop.

Read Also: Halle Bailey Welcomes First Child With DDG After Secret Pregnancy: Greetings to Baby Halo!

Church Faces Questions on Controversial Response

The couple's relationship has sparked controversy and raised questions about the Catholic Church's policies on clerical celibacy. Critics have argued that Crow's relationship with Harrison was a clear violation of his vows of chastity and morality. The church has maintained that such actions are unacceptable and that it has taken swift action to address the issue.

Crow has not yet responded to media inquiries about the laicization or his future plans. He remains a controversial figure in Mobile, with many residents expressing concern about his influence on the community and the damage his actions may have caused to the church's reputation.

The situation raises several legal and ethical questions, including the age of consent in Alabama and whether Crow could be held liable for any criminal wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Archbishop Rodi has reiterated that Crow's actions are "totally unbecoming of a priest," and he is no longer welcome in the church.

As the Catholic Church continues to grapple with the fallout from scandals involving clerical abuse and misconduct, cases like Alex Crow's serve as a disturbing reminder of the need for reform and greater accountability within the institution. The Pope's decision to strip Crow of his priesthood will likely be viewed as a welcome step toward addressing these issues and restoring the public's trust in the church, USA Today reported.

Related Article: Idaho Man Steals Plane From Nevada Airport, Flies to California Desert
Gabriel Attal, 34, was appointed as the new Prime Minister of France.

CNN News touched on Attal as a rising star in Macron's Renaissance Party, noting he has served as minister of education and national youth since July.

Before leading the Education Ministry, Attal served as the government spokesman and then as minister of public works and public accounts. As prime minister, he will be charged with forming a new government and ensuring the passage of legislation that advances the president's agenda.

CNN elaborated on the resignation of Attal's predecessor, Elisabeth Borne, who stepped down on Monday after a tumultuous 20-month tenure. Borne became the first female prime minister in three decades when Macron named her to the post in May of 2022, just shortly after his reelection. Her party then failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections the following month, which resulted in hindering her government's ability to pass new laws.

On more than 20 occasions, according to the CNN article, Borne resorted to using a constitutional clause that allowed the government to push through bills in the lower house without a vote, including raising the age of retirement. Borne's repeated use of the tool led to accusations of anti-democratic behavior and earned her the nickname "Madame 49.3," a reference to the clause itself.

Bourne's departure does not come as a surprise. It coincides, as revealed by CNN, with the much-awaited cabinet reshuffle as Macron and his administration have been experiencing a decline in public opinion polls. Attal's nomination doesn't hint at any significant political changes; rather it signifies Macron's determination to move forward from last year's unpopular pension and immigration reforms. The move aims to strengthen his centrist party's prospects in the upcoming June EU ballot.

The historic action makes Attal the youngest and first openly gay prime minister in French history. According to Reuters, Attal has been polled as one of France's most popular politicians in recent months. As a Macron loyalist, he became a household name in French politics as a government spokesman during the COVID pandemic and earned a reputation as a smooth communicator.

However, his opponents and some voters remain skeptical. The president's ruling party trails far-right leader Marine Le Pen's party by around eight to ten percentage points in opinion polls.

The Associated Press reported that critics from both left and right took aim at Attal for his limited experience, his Paris upbringing seen as out of touch with people struggling in the provinces, and his loyalty to the president.

Marine Le Pen, Macron's far-right contender posted on X, formerly Twitter: "What can the French expect from this 4th prime minister and 5th government in 7 years (under Macron)? Nothing," calling on voters instead to choose her party in the European elections.

Macron will work with Attal to name a new government in the coming days, though some key ministers are expected to continue in their posts.
At a historic synagogue in Brooklyn, an altercation broke out when a group of defiant Orthodox men attempted to obstruct the filling of a hidden tunnel that they had unlawfully constructed to access a closed-down women's bath.

On Monday, January 8, a video emerged of a group of angry males destroying wood panels and support beams inside the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights.

Additional video captured at the Eastern Parkway temple shows police officers attempting to disperse a mob of angry Hasidic Jewish males who had broken into the 20-foot-wide enclose under the women's area, causing wooden benches to topple over.

Rabbi Yosef Braun, head of the synagogue, slammed the perpetrators, describing their actions as "mind-boggling" and claiming that they came "ready to destroy and deface the Holy Walls," as reported by The New York Post.

JUST IN: Chaos breaks out in New York City after underground tunnels were discovered under the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn.



The incident below reportedly took place to prevent a cement truck from filling the tunnels.



According to the Crown Heights Info, the pic.twitter.com/jHotsUmHKJ  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 9, 2024

Claims About Excavating Tunnel

It has been alleged that for about a year, members of the Chabad-Lubavitch organization have been excavating a tunnel under the synagogue in Crown Heights.

It is not known why the Chabad-Lubavitch group began excavating the tunnel, although it was reportedly intended to reach a nearby abandoned women's mikvah (religious bath) and "expand" the synagogue, as reported by the Jewish news site Forward.

According to Israel National News, the tunnel was ultimately found last month when neighbors heard strange sounds emanating from beneath their houses.

In December 2023, an Instagram video revealed a shadowy, dirt-walled area inside the adjoining locked women's mikvah.

Riot Between Rebellious and Police

Cement mixers showed up on Monday to fill the tunnel, which sparked the chaos after the synagogue leadership brought structural experts to examine the damage after the discovery. It seems like the Hasidic males used a hammer to smash down the brick walls of the synagogue, according to The New York Post.

Cops attempted to keep others from entering the tunnel, but some made it inside. Forward also claims to have footage showing protesters mocking the police and their attempts to enter the tunnel. Police were seen restraining individuals outside the synagogue.

Several hours passed, men were escorted out of the tunnel by police officers while handcuffed.

The New York Post was informed by sources that at least 12 males were apprehended. Reports indicate that ten of the individuals were indicted on accusations of criminal misdemeanor, one on allegations of hindering governmental administration, and one on a summons for disorderly behavior. Following the altercation, no one was hurt.

See Also: Over 400 Jewish Institutions Reportedly Targeted With Fake Bomb Threats Over the Weekend

Disputes Regarding Property Ownership

Prolonged disagreements over the property's rightful ownership sparked the riot.

Rabbi Motti Seligson of the Chabad-Lubavitcher group made a statement after the fight, saying that they have been trying to get the New York State courts to grant them custody of the property. "Unfortunately, despite consistently prevailing in court, the process has dragged on for years," he added.

Still, he shared the city's condemnation of the youths' behavior in the altercation with the police. He said the building must be temporarily closed until a structural safety assessment can be conducted.

See Also: Pro-Palestine Protesters Block 3 NYC Bridges; Dozens Arrested
The organization behind Chat-GPT and text-to-text-image generator DALL-E, OpenAI, has made a controversial request to be given legal access to copyrighted content for A.I. development purposes.

In an article published by ARTNET, it is revealed that developer OpenAI has recently been inundated with copyright infringement lawsuits from the New York Times as well as authors like George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, and Jonathan Franzen.

Artnet went on to report that in order to "train" A.I. systems, companies like OpenAI have scraped vast amounts of data, including copyrighted material, from the internet in a process known as "text and data mining." Towards the end of last year, a document circulated online that outlined how the company Midjourney had built a database of artists to train its text-to-image generator. A lengthy list of creators whose work had been used for this purpose included major contemporary artists like Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter, Damien Hirst, Banksy, and Yayoi Kusama, among many others.

Last month, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, a leading investor in OpenAI, accusing them of "unlawful use" of its work to create their products. In a submission obtained by The Guardian, to the House of Lords communications and digital select committee, OpenAI said it could not train large language models such as its GPT-4 model -- the technology behind ChatGPT -- without access to copyrighted work.

What Does OpenAI Have To Say?

"Because copyright today covers virtually every sort of human expression - including blog posts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents - it would be impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials," said OpenAI in its submission, first reported by the Telegraph.

OpenAI said it complies with all copyright laws when training its models and that "we believe that legally copyright law does not forbid training." Nonetheless, OpenAI and other similar rival companies have been accused of illegally free-riding on authors' and artists' work. The New York Times has demanded the company destroy any systems that were trained using its work.

However, OpenAI has signed deals with publishers such as the Associated Press and Axel Springer, the German media giant that also owns Politico and Business Insider, to gain access to their content.

Despite this, Artificial Intelligence claims the company appears unwilling to fundamentally alter its data collection and training processes given the "impossible" constraints self-imposed copyright limits would bring. Instead, they hope to rely on broad interpretations of fair use allowances to legally leverage vast swathes of copyrighted data.

For now, OpenAI is betting against copyright fanatics in favor of limitless copying to drive ongoing AI development.
In a surge of unrest, armed men disrupt a live television broadcast in Ecuador, adding to a wave of attacks following the escape of an influential gang leader and prompting a widespread manhunt.

The Associated Press has reported that armed men have breached the set of a public television channel mid-broadcast in Ecuador. At the time of writing, it is unclear for the reason behind this incident although before the country was still shaken by several attacks in the wake of a Government State of Emergency in response to the escape of an influential gang leader from a prison. However, a manhunt is already underway.

The Incident

Entering the TC Television network set in Guayaquil, armed individuals brandishing pistols and what appeared to be sticks of dynamite declared the presence of bombs, accompanied by sounds resembling gunshots in the background.

The channel broadcast live for at least 15 minutes before the signal was cut off. While the transmission was on, the men could be seen on camera while some employees lay down on the floor and someone was heard yelling don't shoot!". The immediate status of station personnel regarding injuries remained unclear.

The police force made a statement on X, formally known as Twitter, that units were deployed to media facilities, and at the time of writing they made another post stating "CAPTURED. As a result of the intervention in TC Television, our police units have so far managed to arrest several subjects and evidence linked to the crime. More details later."

The Associated Press's report continued with "Hours earlier Ecuadorian authorities had confirmed a series of attacks around the country. These encompassed encompassed an explosion near the residence of the president of the National Justice Court and the kidnapping of four police officers on Monday night, leaving uncertainties about whether these actions were coordinated. In Quito, the capital, one officer was abducted, while three were taken in Quevedo city. The surge in violence, often associated with drug trafficking, has been attributed to Ecuadorian gangs like Los Choneros, linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, and intensified with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last year.

This is a developing story.
AP reports that on Wednesday a judge rescinded permission for former President Donald J. Trump to make his own closing argument in his New York civil business fraud trial after his lawyers objected to Judge Arthur Engoron's assertion that Trump stick to matters that are relevant to the trial.

Should he lose, Trump stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars due to penalties and it will also strip him of his ability to do business in New York state. Trump giving his own closing arguments would be extraordinary by any measure.

Last week, his lawyers stated that the former president would be giving a personal summation in addition to closing arguments from his legal team. The case was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who claims Trump's net worth was inflated by billions of dollars on financial statements.

This alleged tactic helped him secure business loans and insurance he otherwise may not have gotten. For his part, Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and claimed the trial was a political attack on him.

What Happens Next?

The judge granted Trump this unusual overture but warned he must stick to: "commentary on the relevant, material facts that are in evidence, and application of the relevant law to those facts."

He further stated that the defendant would not be allowed to introduce new evidence, comment on matters that don't pertain to the trial, or "deliver a campaign speech." Trump attorney Christopher Kise said the limitations were "fraught with ambiguities, creating the substantial likelihood for misinterpretation or an unintended violation.

"You are not allowing President Trump, who has been wrongfully demeaned and belittled by an out of control, politically motivated attorney general, to speak about the things that must be spoken about," the attorney wrote.

Judge Engoron gave the defense a deadline of noon Wednesday to reply and rescind his offer when they failed to respond by that deadline. Trump spared with the judge and state lawyers in November when he testified in his own defense.

HNGN will update this story as additional details continue to come to light.
Dr. Bendegul Okumus has an undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Home Economics, Master's and PhD degrees in Food Hygiene and Technology, and a second Master's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management. She worked for the Florida Department of Health in Orange County WIC program, which is a federally funded nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children. Dr. Okumus also has work experience in the hospitality industry, particularly in food preparation, food services, and event management areas. Her primary teaching areas include Nutrition Concepts and Issues in Food Services, Sanitation in the Food Service Industry and Health and Wellness in Hospitality and Tourism. Her research focuses on food safety, eating behavior and eating habits, food and culinary tourism, food waste and health & wellness in hospitality and tourism. Dr. Okumus has worked in multidisciplinary research teams, secured and completed research grants. She has authored/co-authored numerous academic journal articles, conference presentations, book and book chapters. List of her recent publications and citations can be seen at GoogleScholar.
WASHINGTON  American Hotel & Lodging Association President & CEO Chip Rogers issued the following statement today after the Department of Labor released a new regulation that radically changes the way workers are classified as independent contractors or employees. The regulation, which is scheduled to take effect in March, will limit opportunities for individuals to work as independent contractors and hurt hotels ability to maintain operations.

We are extraordinarily disappointed that the Labor Department dismissed the concerns of the thousands of small business owners AHLA represents and is insisting on making it harder for hotels to maintain operations in what is already one of the toughest labor markets in recent history. In the face of a nationwide shortage of workers, hoteliers need maximum flexibility to hire independent contractors, and contractors often prefer the flexibility of being classified this way. Despite this reality, the Labor Department is focused on making it harder  not easier  for hoteliers to hire the workers they need. AHLA is reviewing opportunities to legally challenge this regulation to restore certainty for Americas lodging industry. AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers

Background

The Department of Labors new independent contractor regulation vastly complicates the process for classifying workers as independent contractors or employees and will create costly new uncertainties.

The regulation invites confusion and litigation by establishing a test where any of six different factors could be determinative of employee status, as opposed to DOLs prior regulation, under which two core factors guided classification determinations.

Additionally, the regulation introduces a vague mandate forcing businesses to consider the economic realities of the relationship between a worker and a company as well as an undefined set of additional factors that must also be considered.

The regulation will increase liability for businesses and reduce opportunities for those interested in working as independent contractors, a status many workers prefer because it gives them more flexibility and autonomy over their work. This will make it more costly and time consuming for hoteliers to hire the independent contractors they need, harming the industrys ability to maintain operations and reducing business opportunities for independent contractors.

About the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA)

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. Learn more at www.ahla.com.
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), producers of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), has announced that attendee registration for this years North American event is now open alongside hotel reservations via HITECs official housing service.

HITEC is the largest and longest-running show of its kind. Annually, HITEC highlights the industry's tech trends and current approach to integrating solutions into the hospitality sphere. HITEC in Charlotte is set to run from June 2427 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina USA. The exhibit hall hosts over 300 companies displaying a range of products and services to support the hospitality technology industry to more than 4,500 industry professionals in attendance.

HFTPs commitment to innovation and cutting-edge technology is the driving force behind HITECs triumph. This makes HITEC the premier platform for shaping the future of hospitality technology through education and collaboration as it has been for over half a century. HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe, CAE

Beyond the show floor, HITEC Charlotte will also play host to an education program planned by the HITEC Advisory Council, a group of industry practitioners and experts selected by HFTP leadership for their experience and expertise. This years council is co-chaired by Katie Lee, Chief Information Officer for AKA Hotels + Hotel Residences and McLean Xavier, CHTP+, Chief Information Officer for Innvest Hotels. For the first time in 2024, a call for presentations has been open since late last year inviting industry thought leaders to submit their event-exclusive session ideas to the council for approval. The submission period ends at midnight tonight, January 10.

The HITEC community reaches far and wide throughout the global hospitality industry, advantageously giving us access to the most innovative industry practices. By opening up the program planning with the call for presentation proposals, we extend our range of expertise and ensure we capture the latest and most interesting technology developments for the 2024 program. 2023 council co-chair Shannon McCallum

Exhibit hall space is 78 percent reserved with general sales still open for the remaining space ([email protected]). For more information about HFTP's events, visit the association website or contact the HFTP Meeting & Events Department at [email protected].

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in the EU and Middle East. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues, and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP produces international events throughout the year, including the world's largest hospitality technology tradeshow and conference brand: HITEC. In addition, it oversees the hospitality-specific Pineapplesearch.com and the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI). For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org. For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.

Kaylee Sciacca

Marketing and Communications Coordinator

+1 (737) 400-4418

HFTP
In 2023, Portland's hotel demand faced setbacks from public safety concerns and absorption of new hotel supply. However, initiatives like the Hotel Security District and a government task force addressing homelessness signaled change. The opening of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences and several upcoming events contribute to a cautiously optimistic 2024 outlook.

Although Portland hoteliers hopes for 2023 were high due to a more robust convention calendar at the Oregon Convention Center (OCC) and a positive outlook for leisure demand in the summer, the year was challenging for the metro area. The difficulties were mainly attributed to a significantly underperforming leisure demand segment during the summer months, typically a peak visitation time, following a promising first quarter. Negative media coverage regarding public safety concerns in Downtown Portland, including a front-page article in The New York Times, coupled with the continued absorption of a substantial amount of new supply (roughly 1,500 hotels rooms added to the market since 2019) resulted in less performance growth for the market than anticipated. Continued heightened office vacancies and outmigration of businesses due to strong taxation pressures contributed to a lagging recovery in the commercial demand segment. In addition, following the $45-million sale of the Heathman Hotel in February, hotel transactions in Downtown Portland ground to a halt. With mounting calls for action, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe and Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association (ORLA) presented the Hotel & Restaurant Safety Summit in July 2023. This event hosted nearly 50 hospitality industry members voicing concerns and working toward a community-driven solution to rejuvenate the citys urban core and its public perception.

In the wake of the summit came some recommendations and solutions. In August 2023, Governor Kotek formed a city task force to address the issues of homelessness, cleaning up the streets, reducing crime and vandalism, and staying competitive with taxes. Additionally, in the fall of 2023, the Portland Metro Chamber and Downtown Portland Clean & Safe formed a public-private partnership known as the Hotel Security District. This district comprises two hotel zones that encompass Portland's largest hotels and tourism demand drivers. Nearly $1 million in funding for this partnership comes from various major stakeholders, such as the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, Multnomah County, the City of Portland, TriMet, and downtown businesses, including hotels. The funds have been used to staff two additional security patrol shifts in the two hotel zones, totaling eight additional public-safety coordinators on staff between 3:30 PM and 2:30 AM daily. As a result, hoteliers in these two zones reported a notable improvement in the walkability of the urban core by November 2023. The opening of the new Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences in late October also provided a much-needed bright spot and positive publicity for the City of Roses, with the 251-unit property setting a new luxury and pricing standard in town.

While the 2024 hotel outlook for Portland is one of caution due to a tentatively soft convention calendar, positive local community engagement and public-safety collaborations signal that positive change is underway. Future bright spots include the return of large-scale outdoor concerts to Providence Park, with the Foo Fighters headlining one of the first events, as well as the planned May 2024 reveal of the new main terminal at Portland International Airport. The new year is also expected to herald the arrival of the highly anticipated membership-only Soho House on the Central Eastside, as well as the Cascada by SolTerra, an ultra-luxury, sustainable, urban destination property featuring nearly 36,000 square feet of spa and wellness offerings and a hotel, located in the Alberta Arts District.

We are confident that the Metro Portland market will rebound given the resilience of the market, the diverse and expanding presence of major employers (such as Nike, Adidas, and Intel), and the surrounding natural beauty that remains a key aspect of Portlands appeal.

Our strategic positioning within local markets empowers us to conduct primary interviews with key market participants. This approach ensures we obtain real-time insights and current data for each market we operate in. For more information about the Portland market or for help making informed investment decisions that align with your goals and risk tolerance, please contact Eileen Bosworth.

Sources: https://www.oregonrla.org/portlandblog/portland-hospitality-summit-spurs-increased-communications

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Pathogenic microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi, play a role in the development of infectious diseases.

As a result of their rapid and unexpected spread, these microorganisms can cause serious mortality in a community.

There are numerous factors that influence health and the origins of infectious diseases which are often beyond the immediate reach of the health sector. These include the travel and tourism industries, as well as other sectors such as sanitation and water supply, environment and climate change, education, agriculture, trade, industrial development, and housing.

The number and types of epidemics are increasing locally, regionally, and globally, whether in developed or developing countries. A total of 63 epidemics have been reported globally by governments to the World Health Organization so far in 2023. For example; A growing number of respiratory illnesses have been reported in northern China in November- December 2023, as evidenced by data from Chinese surveillance systems monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially in the northern and central regions, monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV) since November 2023.

Diphtheria outbreaks in Guinea were reported to WHO on September 2023. Poland has reported 166 cases of legionellosis, including 23 deaths, as of 11 September 2023. Often mistaken for pneumonia, Legionellosis is a bacterial illness that can range from mild to severe and can even be fatal. At this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns travelers about almost 48 types of epidemics that may severely affect them while traveling.

So, what is the connection between travel and these epidemics? Travel plays a significant role in the emergence and transmission of disease due to the extensive global volume, speed, and reach of travel. Various factors with travel such as trade, major movements, migrations, changes in society, politics, climatic conditions, environmental conditions, and technological advances facilitate the mixing of genetic pools in previously unknown proportions and combinations, resulting in conditions conducive to the emergence of infectious diseases. We experienced how the pandemic has paralyzed human life and affected numerous business sectors around the world, including the travel industry.

So how does an epidemic occur? Travel creates the possibility of transmission of a pathogenic microbe to a different geographic location. In traveling, people carry their genetic makeup, immunological symptoms from past infections, cultural preferences, traditions, and behavioral patterns. Biological creatures such as microbes, animals, and insects also accompany them. Plants, animals, and insect vectors are also affected by changes in motility, resistance, and sensitivity. Therefore, the emergence of a disease or epidemic requires a dynamic process and a series of events or an environment or an ecosystem.

Common travel-related illnesses i nclude Diarrheal disease, Hepatitis A, Malaria, Dengue fever, Parasitic infections, Tuberculosis, Typhoid fever, Yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Leptospirosis, Chikungunya, and Rabies. The symptoms of travel-related infectious diseases vary and may include persistent diarrhea, skin conditions or rash, fever, respiratory infections, and chronic cough. Travelers should check out the best public sources for up-to-date travel information such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The risk of infection varies depending on location and accommodation standards, hygiene and sanitation, traveler behavior and immune system. However, if a disease or microbe is particularly harmful, the duration and lethality of exposure to infectious agents can rapid.

So, what are the risks for hotel guests and employees? To gain insights into the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in hotels, researchers examined a cluster of infections at a quarantine hotel in Taiwan in December 2021. It involved 3 patients staying in rooms that were not adjacent and were on different floors. Patients had no personal interaction with employees or other customers during their stay. Through direct examination of the space above the room ceilings, researchers discovered tunnels, structural flaws, and inter-room pipe connections. They employed a simplified tracer gas experiment to examine the interconnectedness between chambers. The virus is most likely spread through aerosol transmission in this poorly ventilated hotel, with structural defects in floors and walls serving as the main route. This indicates that the Omicron variants can easily transfer between rooms and floors due to these structural issues.

Another infection commonly seen in hotels is Legionnaires' disease. Similar to Omicron variants, Legionella bacteria causes pneumonia (lung infection) that severely affects employees and guests. A fatality rate of 1 in 10 is associated with the disease. Guests' experiences can be negatively affected by this outbreak at hotels and resorts, resulting in major financial and reputational costs. Bacteria grow in water and spread in droplets that can be inhaled by people. Legionella grows best in warm, stagnant water that isn't constantly moving or that does not have enough disinfectant to kill the bacteria, such as cooling towers, showers, unoccupied floors, and hot tubs.

Preventing this infection requires a professional team with the right skills and the right water management program. Unlike commonly occurring infections such as Legionnaires' disease, a new respiratory disease has been sweeping across northern China since November 2023. China's National Health Commission announced a nationwide rise in cases of respiratory diseases mostly affecting children. The rise in COVID-19 cases in China was due to the easing of restrictions, the arrival of the cold season, and the presence of common pathogens like influenza, Mycoplasma pneumonia, RSV, and SARS-2. It is widely recognized that Mycoplasma pneumonia and RSV have a more significant effect on children than adults.

According to WHO, people can reduce their risk of respiratory diseases by getting vaccinated against flu, COVID-19, and other respiratory pathogens, staying away from patients, staying home when sick, getting tested and medical care, wearing a mask, having good ventilation, and keeping their hands clean. Travelers should seek medical attention when experiencing symptoms of respiratory illness and share their travel history with their healthcare provider. Although WHO has not imposed travel or trade restrictions, we do not yet know what to expect in the future.

So how do these epidemics affect room sales? There is no denying the overwhelming and ruinous impact the pandemic has had on the global hotel industry. Occupancy rates declined globally, with Europe and North America being among the most severely affected regions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States reports an unprecedented 28.9% unemployment rate for individuals employed in the hospitality and tourism industry. In the UK, the situation was equally concerning, with anticipated occupancy rates dropping from 75.4% in 2019 to 37.6% in 2020, before gradually increasing to 59.2% in 2021. Unfortunately, despite the successful distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, PwC anticipates that it could take up to four years for occupancy rates to revert to pre-pandemic levels.

Similarly, research on the impact of the global Influenza A (H1N1) epidemic on the hotel industry showed that the sudden emergence of an infectious disease will always lead to a sharp decline in tourism, which will lead to a significant decrease in hotel occupancy. For this reason, it became necessary for hotel managers to reduce their operational costs from optimum level to minimum during the crisis. Recommendations include discontinuing some high-cost, but underutilized facilities, as well as shutting down unnecessary equipment, and flexibly changing marketing strategies by attracting local residents to increase occupancy rates and revenues.

In another study, the effect of infectious disease uncertainty on hotel room demand was examined as well as what variation there was among hotel segments when comparing infectious disease uncertainty with hotel demand. Infectious disease uncertainty and government-imposed restrictions are tested jointly on hotel room demand using the most recent outbreak of COVID-19. This study finds that in both the short-term and the long-term, infectious disease uncertainty causes hotel occupancy at the state level to decline using the Infectious Disease Equity Market Volatility (EMV-ID) tracker. As a result of accounting for additional variability in hotel demand, EMV-ID alleviates the potential confounding effect of state-level restrictions. While increased government restrictions are causing hotel room demand to decrease, the impact isn't the same across hotel segments.

So, what can hotels do? According to a research study that investigated the relationships between indoor environmental quality and infectious disease knowledge, beliefs and practices of hotel workers in Wuhan-China, hotel operators have only a medium understanding of infectious diseases. Similarly, recent research in Egypt found that more than half of hotel employees lack sufficient knowledge about monkeypox's source, symptoms, transmission, prevention, and treatment.

In the majority of cases, hotels neglected to inform their guests about MPXV and most employees believe that social media is the most effective means of obtaining information about MPXV. Age, marital status, education level, occupation category, and working time in the hotel greatly influence the MPXV knowledge levels of the hotel staff.

The findings from similar studies suggest that preventing the transmission of pathogens through environmental sources and awareness campaigns in the hospitality industry should be an ongoing part of risk management practices, but many hotels often have fewer resources and internal mechanisms. Although the public health departments or other external sources are often called upon by hotels to assist with infection prevention issues, practices vary widely between facilities and variations exist even within them.

For example, when it comes to hand hygiene and disinfectant use in healthcare facilities, these practices may be standard practice, but in hotels, they can be optional. During peak hours, frontline employees have frequent contact with many guests, but they aren't required to keep their hands clean. Therefore, it is critical to conduct awareness campaigns and short training sessions for employees in hotels against new possible epidemics that may re-emerge in the future and to emphasize health education more among hospitality practitioners to enhance their knowledge about the prevention of infectious diseases.

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from http://www.hotelexecutive.com/.
Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection - Luminara

Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection - Luminara

Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection - Luminara

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection announces summer 2025 itineraries across its portfolio, including voyages for Ilma in Northern Europe, a first for the collection

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection unveiled its summer 2025 itineraries across its fleet, Evrima, Ilma, and Luminara, marking an exciting moment as the company opens bookings for the inaugural season of its third superyacht. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection debuted in October 2022 with the launch of Evrima, the first time a luxury hospitality brand expanded into the cruising category. With all three superyachts now open for reservations, the brand extension continues to build on its success signifying continued growth and offering more opportunities for luxury travelers to enjoy unforgettable getaways at sea.

A standard in luxury cruising was set in 2022 with the introduction of Evrima, the first of our Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection fleet, marking our expansion into the yachting category, said Tina Edmundson, President, Luxury, Marriott International. In a short time, our world-class itineraries have attracted guests who are new to the category and interested in exploring new horizons and cultures with the assurance of The Ritz- Carlton brand. We are thrilled to have created experiences that redefine luxury cruising. Endless explorations await as we prepare to launch our second yacht, Ilma, in 2024, and our third, Luminara, in 2025.

"With Luminara, we are not just adding another superyacht to our fleet; we are expanding the horizons of ultra-luxury travel," stated Jim Murren, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. "This growth embodies our unwavering dedication to exploration, enrichment, and the pursuit of extraordinary experiences for our guests. Luminara is an invitation to embark on remarkable journeys and discover the world's most captivating destinations with unparalleled amenities and service."

The Inaugural Season of Luminara

Inspiring curiosities and celebrations, Luminara, derived from Latin origin and meaning light, will measure 794 feet (242 meters) and accommodate up to 452 guests. In addition to 226 spacious suites, each boasting a private ocean-view terrace, a higher percentage of upper-suite categories, and superior guest amenities, the onboard experience will feature world-class dining, a wine vault, The Ritz-Carlton Spa, and an expanded marina providing direct access to the sea. Among its range of upper-suite categories will be a new expansive accommodation, The Residential Suite, promising a collection of offerings that caters to a variety of preferences.

Luminara will embody contemporary craftsmanship and refined interior finishes envisioned by AD Associates, a renowned London-based architectural and design firm, with creative direction by Chapi Chapo Design, an internationally acclaimed Toronto-based luxury design firm, and celebrated lighting designer DPA. The yachts sleek and graceful exterior design, expertly envisioned by Helsinki-based design studio Aivan, draws inspiration from the elegant aesthetics of private yacht design. Inspired by light and luminescence, Luminara's design emphasizes elegance and sophistication. Its layout, featuring explorative passages and favoring circular silhouettes over geometric edges, creates a seamless design, forming a sense of limitless space in each area. A serene color palette of soft brown oak, Calcutta marble, leather accents, and touches of rich red, navy, and green will provide an elegant oasis at sea.

The 2025 Summer Season

The summer season spanning from April to October 2025 presents a curated selection of 53 itineraries, featuring new ports of call, standout shore excursions, and an inaugural experience  nine exclusive voyages aboard Ilma in Northern Europe. Ilma will navigate the North Sea and Baltic Sea, offering journeys to dynamic cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Reykjavik, alongside culturally rich stops in Belfast, Bergen, Antwerp, and more. Guests will also explore beloved yachting havens, including the Greek Isles, the Balearic Islands, the French Riviera, and the Italian Riviera.

Breathtaking ports of call bring novel adventures to travelers such as the historic maritime city of Toulon, the lively nightlife of Marbella, and the pristine beaches in Kos. Wine enthusiasts can discover the iconic vineyards of Bordeaux while history aficionados can venture through the historic castles of Edinburgh. With more time in port, the new voyages allow plenty of time for exploration.

Providing the opportunity to uncover all a destination has to offer, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection offers a curated collection of enriching onshore excursions. In Palma de Mallorca, guests are invited to book a private helicopter tour to a wine tasting nestled at the foot of Mallorcas mountain region. Guests in Livorno, Italy may sail the canals of the city in a boat exclusively for guests of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection before disembarking for a mixology class with a world class bartender. Panoramic views of Portofino Bay await voyagers at the elegant Hotel Splendido where guests will enjoy a lunch of traditional Italian recipes, paired with one of Italys most precious ingredients: olive oil.

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During an overnight in Livorno, go truffle hunting in Tuscany, climb the infamous Tower of Pisa, and discover the Renaissance icons of Florence. Then take in the scenic Ligurian coast by kayak from Portofino and the equally stunning Cote dAzur via helicopter from Monte Carlo, continuing to the mountains of Corsica and the yacht-filled harbor of Porto Cervo.

August 7, 2025 | 7-Night Rome Round Trip

On the rooftop terrace of a 17th-century palace in Malta, the Michelin-starred restaurant De Mondion offers a delicious prelude to adventures in Italy. Contrast Sicilys ancient Greek theaters with the vast ruins of Pompeii near Sorrento and reflect on the ancient history youve witnessed while boating along the Amalfi Coast and exploring ethereal blue grottoes.

August 21, 2025 | 7-Night Barcelona Round Trip

Enjoy two days to explore the countless icons of Rome, such as the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, and toss a coin in Trevi Fountain to ensure your return. Then natural wonders take center stage as you kayak the Ligurian coastline and explore the scenic countryside around Collioure that inspired artists like Matisse and Picasso.

Highlights of 2025 Summer Itineraries Aboard Ilma:

June 29, 2025 | 9-Night Lisbon to Portsmouth

Wine connoisseurs and novices alike will appreciate the opportunity to sip port in Portugal, taste Rioja in Spain, and spend two days exploring the renowned vineyards of Bordeaux. Culinary delights are complemented by cultural marvels like Bilbaos Guggenheim Museum and the magnificent abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel perched on a tidal island near Saint-Malo.

July 24, 2025 | 7-Night Copenhagen to Stockholm

UNESCO protects many cultural treasures surrounding the Baltic Sea, including the 17th-century naval port of Karlskrona, the 18th-century fortress guarding Helsinki, and the medieval Old Town of Tallinn. While exploring five different countries along these fascinating shores, shop for a souvenir of Baltic amber in Gdansk, and try Swedish pancakes and smoked salmon in Mariehamn.

August 17, 2025 | 7-Night Reykjavik Round Trip

Setting off from the cosmopolitan capital of Reykjavik, circumnavigate Iceland to experience this wonderland from the waterfalls and thermal baths around Akureyri to the mountains and glaciers near Grundarfjorur. Explore remote villages where intrepid locals have made lives amidst the raw natural beauty and sail as far north as the Arctic Circle along the way.

Highlights of 2025 Summer Itineraries Aboard Evrima:

April 24, 2025 | 10-Night Lisbon to Barcelona

Bask in the Mediterraneans balmy spring as you sail from Lisbon to Barcelona. Compare two grand Moorish fortresses protected by UNESCO  the Alcazar royal palace of Seville and Granadas Alhambra castle near Malaga  and then explore the contrasting cultures and unrivaled beaches of the Balearic Islands.

June 5, 2025 | 7-Night Venice Round Trip

Adriatic culture, cuisine and history are the themes of this journey that begins and concludes along the iconic canals of Venice. Stroll the narrow medieval streets of the Old Towns in Kotor and Zadar, sip Croatian wine as the sun sets on Dubrovnik, and tour the 15th-century Venetian palace in Kopers historic center.

June 27, 2025 | 9-Night Athens Round Trip

Experience two of Turkeys most wondrous icons with an overnight stay in a nexus of civilization  the city of Istanbul  and a visit to the remarkably restored ruins of the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus. Along the way, go Greek island hopping through whitewashed villages dripping in bougainvillea from Skiathos to Mykonos.
Guestroom at the MEININGER Hotel Vienna Downtown Sissi

The European hotel group extends contract with landlord GalCap by 20 years and sets to renovate its hotel on Schiffamtsgasse in Vienna, Austria.

The 102 room, 294 bed MEININGER Hotel Wien Downtown Sissi is located in the heart of Vienna in the 2nd district. It is due to be given a new look in 2024: Extensive modernisation is planned, but the central location will remain the same. The renovations are mainly planned for the public areas, but the rooms and corridors will also benefit from the new look.

The elegance of Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary is still visible in Vienna. The planned seven-figure investment in renovation work is to refresh MEININGER Hotel Vienna Downtown Sissi, while preserving its old-world charm and attention to detail. Simultaneously, the facilities are intended to be upgraded to the standards of the new generation of MEININGER Hotels.

Ajit Menon, CEO of MEININGER Hotels, on the reasons for the renovation: "A consistent standard of quality is very important to us. We are therefore investing in the refurbishment of the MEININGER Hotel Vienna Downtown Sissi to bring it up to our latest standards. The refurbishment will be managed in line with our sustainability approach and the values we stand for as a company."

Marco Kohla, Managing Partner of GalCap: "We are very pleased to continue our successful cooperation with MEININGER Hotels for another 20 years. Stable, long-term partnerships are the core of our business model. The MEININGER Hotels concept is an excellent fit for our mixed-use property in this outstanding location."
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Hudson, NY (12534)

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Local lawmakers listen to members of the Berkshire Commission on Women on Monday at a roundtable at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

Berkshire Women's Commission, Legislators Discuss Regional Issues



State Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Smitty Pignatelli and state Sen. Paul Mark pose with the commissioners after hearing their feedback on bills in the Legislature.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  State legislators on Monday discussed issues that hit hard for women and families in the region.

State Sen. Paul Mark and state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and William "Smitty" Pignatelli were guests of the Berkshire County Commission on the Status of Women at the Berkshire Athenaeum. On the table were topics ranging from child care and housing to welcoming migrant families.



Shaitia Spruell, executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, also attended the meeting and spoke on statewide efforts.



Established in 2005, the commission aims to be an effective, inclusive voice and vehicle for action for women and girls of Berkshire County.



Commissioner Andrea Wadsworth said the body would like to get behind a few bills such as the Act Relative to Language Access and Inclusion and the Act Relative to Healthy Youth. The legislators are in favor of both.



The Language Access and Inclusion Act, filed by state Reps. Adrian Madaro and Carlos Gonzalez, pushes for legislation to require state agencies to provide timely, culturally competent oral language services to all limited English-proficiency individuals who seek to access services, programs or activities.



Commissioner Laura Cabrera, who emigrated from Mexico at 18, has helped her colleagues understand the bill and its importance.



"I think it's a fair, no-brainer decision that we should all be focusing on," Pignatelli said, pointing to the state's "Right to Shelter" status.



"We're bringing in people from all over the world with very different languages. I think we need to embrace that."



The Healthy Youth Bill aims to ensure that schools offering sex education courses teach a scientifically accurate curriculum that features age-appropriate information about gender identity and sexual orientation.



Farley-Bouvier said the bill has "quite a history" as it was stuck for years because of issues around teaching LGBTQ-plus topics in public schools and the main advocates having other priorities that were put first.



"It's a bill that to me is a no-brainer," she said. "We should definitely be doing it."



Pignatelli said schools have an obligation and an opportunity to give people a basic understanding of these topics.



"It's amazing even in the liberal Berkshire County, there's pockets of strong opposition to teaching health care," he said. "And that's really what it is."



He pointed to the recent incident in Great Barrington where an anonymous caller brought police to an eighth-grade classroom over the graphic (as in illustrated) novel "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe.



The housing proposal had policy and funding implications and large number of people were protesting it. At one point, the president's office had to be locked.

As a campaign director for the college, Levante said she saw this firsthand.



"I think the Berkshires have a really unique opportunity to attract people or to keep them here," she said.



Pignatelli also spoke about the importance of building equity with homeownership and early child care in the school system funded by the state.



"The issue around early ed is the way that we fund it," Farley-Bouvier said, citing the inequitable reimbursement rates for early education providers across the state.



A coalition was pulled together to address the issue. In December, the Healey-Driscoll administration announced that the state Department of Early Education and Care proposed "transformative" changes to how much the state reimburses early education and care providers who accept child-care financial assistance.



Farley-Bouvier agreed that early education should be provided in schools but emphasized the impact it would have on preschool centers.



The group also discussed the need for housing rehab, new construction, and reform in the local housing authority process.

Farley-Bouvier pointed out that public housing authorities have a history of being in disrepair for underfunding and are not always well managed.

"There is a big push right now to get those units in good repair, turn them over quickly, and fill them," she explained. "That is the case statewide and it is the case in Pittsfield and that has to be a big push because, of course, this is providing housing for the people who need it the most."



She told Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre that Pittsfield has a unique opportunity to set the tone for elected officials to hear because the Pittsfield City Council has five women on it. She encouraged them to set an agenda of a handful of items they would like to accomplish this term.



"The women on Pittsfield's new City Council are very aware of their opportunities and responsibilities and I'm looking forward to it," Serre said.



The legislators emphasized the importance of keeping open and personalized communication.



"Getting to know people really is probably the best way and the way I like to say it is there comes a moment when instead of all of you coming to me, I start coming to you because I start to think you're an expert on whatever it might be," Mark said.
Three occupants in a Dodge pickup were taken BMC after the truck collided with a tree on South Street in Pittsifeld.

UPDATE: Pittsfield Crash Sends Three to BMC with Serious Injuries

UPDATE, 4:16 p.m., Wednesday: police have released the names of the three Pittsfield men involved in Tuesday's accident.

Anthony W. Nichols, 40, who was driving the truck, was transferred to Baystate Medical Center in serious condition.

The other two passengers are at BMC: Gregory Prince, 54, is listed in fair condition and Robert O'Bert, 60, is in good condition.

The accident remains under investigation.

The council set a pole hearing for National Grid for Jan. 23.

UPDATE: Around 3:40 p.m., Pittsfield Police, County Ambulance, and Action Ambulance responded to the area of 241 South St. for a reported single motor vehicle crash.



A 2004 Dodge Dakota occupied by three men was traveling northbound in the 240 block, left the roadway to the right, and collided with a tree at the southwest intersection of South and Broad Streets. The occupants were freed by the Pittsfield Fire Department by mechanical means.



Both northbound lanes of South Street were closed from Crofut to Broad Street for about a half hour and the right northbound lane was closed for about 90 minutes while the crash was investigated.



The names of the occupants are not being released until family members are notified.



Weather did not appear to be a factor, police say, as the crash occurred just before the beginning of the precipitation.



Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or have information concerning it is asked to contact Officer Michael Silver at 413-448-9700, Ext. 596.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Three people were seriously injured when a pickup truck they were riding in collided with a tree on South Street.

Police responded to the one-vehicle crash at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday near the intersection of Broad Street. The extend cab Dodge was traveling north when it collided with a tree on the right side of its lane.

Lt. Marc Maddalena reported that there were three occupants in the pickup who were all sent to Berkshire Medical Center with serious injuries. According to police, none of the occupants were children.



Around the time of the accident, the city was experiencing freezing rain.
Williamstown Receives Nearly $400K in CPA Requests

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The town has received six requests totaling $385,100 for Community Preservation Act funds for fiscal year 2025.

Two of the biggest asks come from town entities.

According to a spreadsheet on the town's website, the Community Preservation Committee is anticipating having up to $232,532 available for the FY25 funding cycle.

That is the result of taking the town's anticipated CPA revenue and deducting out the money needed to pay off prior commitments to support the development of the Cable Mills housing complex on Water Street.

The primary source of the CPA money is a 2 percent on local property tax bills, after the first $100,000 of valuation is exempted for each property owner. In addition to nearly $313,000 in anticipated revenue from the local property tax surcharge, the town is planning for $60,000 in a state match, according to the spreadsheet.

Starting later this month, the CPC will begin reviewing the six applications for funds that the town received by the Jan. 5 deadline last week.

The biggest ask comes from the town's Affordable Housing Trust, which is asking for $120,000 in unrestricted funds to support the body's continuing efforts to support income-restricted housing in town.

The second biggest application also was generated at Town Hall. The Town of Williamstown, in an application signed by Town Manager Robert Menicocci, is seeking $115,000 toward a projected $215,000 project to install an outdoor "fitness court" near the Mohican Trail multi-modal recreation path.

Menicocci's application mentions that outdoor recreation opportunities are a priority that comes out of the recently adopted townwide comprehensive plan. And it cites the National Fitness Campaign as a potential partner; the NFC has partnered locally with town's insurer, "to offer grant opportunities to make the installation of their product particularly financially attractive," the application reads in part.

Open space and recreation, affordable housing and historic preservation are the allowable uses of CPA funds under Massachusetts General Law.

This year's six applicants represent each of those objectives.

Another recreation project directly related to the Mohican Trail comes from the New England Mountain Bike Association's Purple Valley Chapter, which is seeking $75,000 in CPA funds toward a $750,000 project to renovate the town's 15,000-square-foot skate park , which is 20 years old and "at the end of its useful life," the NEMBA's application reads.

A more modest recreation ask comes from the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, which is looking for $14,000 in CPA funds toward a $40,372 project to rehabilitate the riparian forest habitat at the 10-acre Lehovec River Walk, which also is a few minutes walk from the Mohican Trail.

Recreation is also the purpose of a $11,100 ask from Sand Springs Recreational Center Inc., which is asking the town to fully fund work at the grounds of the historic pool in the northern part of town. Sand Springs, a non-profit that has received CPA funding in the past, is seeking the money to remove a large spruce tree that is at risk of falling and could injure users of the pool and to replace a platform that currently covers the main cistern of the spring but which has "fallen into disrepair," according to the application. Included in the $11,100 ask is $1,000 for an informational plaque to educate visitors about the site.

Another past recipient of CPA funds back with an FY25 request is the Williamstown Meetinghouse Preservation Fund. It seeks $50,000 toward a $105,753 stormwater drainage project at the meetinghouse on Main Street, also known as First Congregational Church. The WMPF is in the midst of a $6.4 million project to preserve the historic structure.

All six of the applications will be reviewed by the Community Preservation Committee, which first will determine whether the requests are eligible under the CPA and then decide how much  if any  funding for each the committee will recommend to town meeting.

Final allocations of CPA funds are made at the annual town meeting in May. The first CPC meeting of the calendar year is scheduled for Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.
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Saltburns Jacob Elordi and The Bears Ayo Edebiri are among the emerging performers in the running for Baftas 2024 Rising Star Award.

Bridgertons Phoebe Dynevor,How To Have Sexs Mia McKenna-Bruce and Talk To Mes Sophie Wilde round out the list for the public-voted prize announced on Wednesday (10 January).

You can now vote on the Bafta website, with the winner being announced at the Bafta Film Awards on Sunday 18 February.

Elordis nomination comes amid a stellar season for the actor, who can currently be seen in Emerald Fennells Saltburn and as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppolas Priscilla.

The Australian star, 26, who got his first break in Netflixs teen romcom franchise The Kissing Booth before being cast in HBOs Euphoria, said he was deeply honoured to be recognised.

Edebiris nomination, meanwhile, comes days after she picked up her first Golden Globe for her performance opposite Jeremy Allen White in chef drama The Bear.

The 28-year-old, who also recently starred in teen comedy Bottoms, said it was wonderful and humbling to receive this nomination. Its the greatest privilege to tell stories and make people laugh, she said. I know Im in esteemed company and this means the world.

From L-R: Nominees Mia McKenna-Bruce, Sophie Wilde and Phoebe Dynevor celebrate their Rising Star nominations (Getty Images)

Dynevor, 28, is best known as the star of the first series of Netflixs period romp Bridgerton. She has gone on to star in Netflix finance psychological thriller Fair Play, biopics The Colour Room and Bank Of Dave, and will appear alongside Zoey Deutch in Anniversary.

Dynevor said she was truly grateful for this recognition and excited to continue challenging myself with new roles and projects.

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McKenna-Bruces Rising Star nomination follows her critically-acclaimed performance in How To Have Sex, a coming-of-age film by Molly Manning-Walker.

The British actor, 26, said: To hear that I now stand amongst the past and present nominees is surreal and a total dream come true. I am so very grateful. Thank you to the jury.

Australian star Wilde had a big year in 2023, with roles in horror Talk To Me and Netflixs teen drama series Everything Now. She said she is so very excited and grateful for her nomination.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
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As Taiwan heads to polls this weekend, tensions with China, which claims sovereignty over the democratically governed island, are at an all-time high.

During his New Years address, Chinese president Xi Jinping said reunification with Taiwan was inevitable. Whichever party wins the 13 January presidential election will determine Taiwans geopolitical standing and its relationship with China and the US.

Even though there are many domestic issues such as economic worries, including the cost of living, the central issue in these elections remains the imminent threat of a Chinese incursion.

Who are the candidates?

Three main candidates vying for the presidential seat are Lai Ching-te (or William Lai) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Hou Yu-ih from the Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je of the newly formed Taiwan Peoples Party (TPP).

The DPP currently holds power, and its presidential candidate is the incumbent vice president of the Republic of China. The DPP aims to strengthen the Taiwanese identity and contends that countering Chinese aggression is achievable through enhanced partnerships with other nations, especially the US.

Presidential candidates, from left: William Lai (or Lai Ching-te), Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je before a TV debate (AP)

Mr Lais selection of Hsiao Bi-khim, the former top Taiwanese diplomat in the US, as his running mate is viewed as a recognition of the significance of that diplomatic relationship, according to observers. She has previously said that she will be able to deliver the global vision needed to tackle tensions with China.

On Tuesday, the 64-year-old presidential candidate told reporters: While aspiring for peace, we harbour no illusions. We will build up Taiwans defence deterrence, strengthen Taiwans capabilities in economic security, enhance partnerships with democracies around the world and maintain stable and principled leadership on cross [Taiwan] Strait relations.

Hou You-yi from the main opposition KMT favours unification with China. The former police chiefs victory in elections could drastically change the political landscape in Taiwan. The popular mayor of New Taipei City has labelled DPP as separatists and opposes Taiwans independence.

In addition to helping young people build their dreams, the government must not let young people go to war. It must take good care of (diplomatic) relations and prevent war, he said during his visit to the southern port city of Kaohsiung last month.

At the same time, it should integrate the economy and industry with international standards and bring more opportunities to young people, he added.

DPP supporters at a rally in Kaohsiung (AFP/Getty)

Taiwan political pundits opine that even though Mr Hou is well-versed in local governance and police affairs, he has significantly less international experience compared to the current president Tsai Ing-wen and her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou. KMT is hoping that Mr Hou will counter the partys elitist image and attract voters beyond the traditional base of mainland immigrants and their descendants.

Ko Wen-je of TPP founded the party four years ago and positioned himself as a third choice for voters between provoking China and yielding to its influence. However, observers believe his China policies are closer to those of KMT. He has even advocated for a coalition with the main opposition party, KMT.

Mr Ko positions himself as a rational and scientific technocrat, prioritising domestic issues such as energy and housing over relations with China.

What does it mean for China?

Taiwan is officially acknowledged as a sovereign nation by just 13 countries. However, it has been governed autonomously from China since the 1940s, and as a democracy for the past three decades, as it has transitioned away from military rule.

On 13 January, around 19.5 million eligible Taiwanese citizens will cast their ballots. China will be closely monitoring the elections.

The Taiwanese government has issued multiple warnings regarding Chinese attempts to influence the islands elections. China is accused of employing various tactics, including military activities and trade sanctions, to influence the election in favour of candidates preferred by Beijing. In response, China has framed the election as a decisive choice between war and peace and dismissed the interference allegations as dirty tricks orchestrated by the ruling DPP to secure support.

Last month, it was reported that Taiwans government is contemplating joining the International Criminal Court, in an attempt to enhance deterrence against a potential Chinese attack or invasion.

A woman carries a balloon with the portrait of the Taiwan Peoples Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (AFP/Getty)

On Tuesday, China also issued a threat of new trade measures against Taiwan, prompting accusations from Taipei of economic coercion. This came soon after Taiwan expressed displeasure at a surprise Chinese satellite launch conducted over its airspace.

The KMT contends that both Taipei and Beijing are part of a single China, but each side can interpret the concept based on the 1992 consensus  an implicit understanding reached between the then-KMT government and China in 1992.

In contrast, the DPP rejects Beijings sovereignty claims and asserts that Taiwans future should be determined by its people.

If DPP emerges as the election winner, it is certain that China will continue to threaten and isolate Taiwan even if it doesnt immediately attack. KMTs Mr Hou supports engaging in talks with Chinas Communist Party to alleviate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

While Chinas president, Mr Xi has called reunification a historic mission and an unshakable commitment, Mr Lai of DPP says that we are already a sovereign, independent country.

What else is at stake?

The Taiwan election carries significant global ramifications.

Taiwan ranked as the worlds 16th-largest trading economy, engaged in trade totalling $907bn in goods and services in 2022.

The island nation is responsible for manufacturing 90 per cent of the worlds advanced semiconductor chips, crucial not only for various industries but particularly essential for the artificial intelligence boom.

Hou Yu-ih visiting a market during a Taiwan election campaign visit in Kaohsiung on Wednesday (AFP/Getty)

A potential blockade on Taiwan would jeopardise well over $2 trillion (1.5 trillion) in economic activity, as estimated by the Rhodium Group, and this calculation does not even include the impact of potential sanctions or military responses.

There is debate over Taiwan reviving its nuclear power programme, which is likely to influence Chinas actions.

Why does the US have a stake in Taiwan elections?

Both DPP and KMT promise better ties with the United States. The stance of the winner will be further shaped by the outcome of the US presidential election later in the year.

The US officially shifted its recognition to Beijing in 1979 but maintains numerous informal ties and is mandated by Congress to provide weapons to Taiwan. However, efforts by Taiwan to establish direct diplomatic or commercial links face strong reprisals from Beijing, including military drills, trade embargoes, and diplomatic freezes.

Some believe Taiwan is not prepared militarily to counter Beijing. Brookings Centre for East Asia Policy Studies states on its website that the Biden administration, therefore, has not only increased its support to Taiwan via various multilateral diplomatic initiatives but also significantly fortified its defence assistance through arms sales, joint training, and an increased military presence around Taiwan.

Taiwan sent a nationwide alert on Monday after China luanched a satellite  but the English version described the object as a missile (AP)

US president Joe Biden has made public statements on his willingness to militarily defend Taiwan in case of an incursion.

Writing for the Council on Foreign Relations, Susan M Gordon, Michael G Mullen and David Sacks noted in July last year: The United States has critical strategic interests in the Taiwan Strait. If China were to successfully annex Taiwan against the will of the Taiwanese people, doing so on the heels of Russias invasion of Ukraine, it would severely undermine international order by again demonstrating that countries can use coercion or force to unilaterally redraw borders.

If China were to station its military on the island, the United States would find it far more difficult to project power, defend its treaty allies, and operate in international waters in the Western Pacific.

They warn that the US influence would wane because its allies would question US commitment to their defence and either accommodate China or pursue strategic autonomy.
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Kim Jong-un has been photographed touring weapons factories in North Korea amid widespread international condemnation over his countrys arms shipments to Russia.

North Korea has emerged as an increasingly important ally to Russias Vladimir Putin after his decision to invade Ukraine left him otherwise largely isolated on the world stage.

US intelligence says Moscow has repeatedly fired North Korea-supplied missiles at Ukrainian targets in recent days, believed to be the first such incidents since Kim and Putin met to discuss arms deals and other increased cooperation.

Pyongyang is widely believed to be providing Moscow with arms supplies in exchange for Russian support with its struggling satellite launch programme.

Nearly 50 countries have issued a joint statement condemning Russias procurement and use of North Korean ballistic missiles  the development of which is banned by the UN Security Council  in its invasion of Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location (via REUTERS)

And while Pyongyang did not respond to that statement directly on Wednesday, state media showed Mr Kim defiantly touring a facility that produces mobile short-range missile launch vehicles, which are purportedly capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Dressed in a full-length black leather jacket and holding a cigarette, Mr Kim urged factory workers to produce more weapons and emphasised their strategic importance to the nation, according to state news agency KCNA.

Mr Kim wasnt quoted as mentioning Russia during the visit. Rather, he spoke of annihilating rival nation South Korea  the kind of bombastic rhetoric that has become commonplace at a time of high tensions between the two Koreas.

We would by no means unilaterally bring a great event by overwhelming strength in the Korean peninsula, but we have no intention of avoiding a war as well, Mr Kim said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks to officials at a munitions factory (via REUTERS)

Mr Kim repeated more familiar rhetoric by accusing Seoul of inciting confrontation and an arms buildup. The worsening relations between the two Koreas are a "new phase of change" and "unavoidable reality", he said.

The joint statement by 50 countries on Tuesday was signed by the US, the UK, Australia, South Korea, Italy, France, Sweden, Germany and others.

The transfer of these [North Korean] weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russias war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime. Russias use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK, it read, using the initials of North Koreas official name.

We are deeply concerned about the security implications that this cooperation has in Europe, on the Korean Peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world.

Russias use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK, it added.

The recent arms transfer flagrantly violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that are backed by Russia as well, the statement added.

North Korea has been urged to respond to the numerous and genuine offers to return to diplomacy, the only path to an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula, the statement read.
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At least three people were hospitalized after mistakenly eating colorful pods of liquid laundry detergent that were distributed as a campaign freebie in Taiwan's presidential race, according to Taiwanese media reports.

One of the victims said she thought the pods were candy, the Central News Agency reported.

The pods came in partially clear packaging with photos of Nationalist Party candidate Hou Yu-ih and his running mate. Writing on the bag says Vote for No. 3, the place on the ballot for the Nationalist ticket in the three-way race, and that each pod can wash up to eight kilograms (18 pounds) of clothes.

A Nationalist campaign office gave out about 460,000 pods. Hung Jung-chang, head of the office in central Taiwan, apologized for the incident, the news agency said.

In the next wave of house-to-house visits, we will not distribute this kind of campaign material," Hung said in a video aired on SET iNews. "We will also stress to our villagers through our grassroots organizations that they are laundry balls, not candies.

This image taken from video shows liquid laundry detergent balls inside a package given by Nationalist Party (KMT)

Those hospitalized included an 80-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman who were released after having their stomachs flushed, the news agency said. The Nationalist Party is also known by its Chinese name, Kuomintang, or KMT.

Hou is running against William Lai of the governing Democratic Progressive Party and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan Peoples Party in Saturday's election. The vote is being closely watched in both Beijing and Washington. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, while the U.S. sells arms to the self-governing island to defend against any attack.

Saturdays presidential and parliamentary polls are taking place against a backdrop of a ramped-up war of words between Taiwan and China, which views the island as its own territory despite the strong objections of the Taiwanese government.

Taiwans government has accused China of an unprecedented campaign of election interference, using everything from military activity to trade sanctions to sway the vote towards candidates Beijing may prefer.

China has cast the election as a choice between war and peace, and says interference allegations are dirty tricks from Taiwans ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to try and win support.

The DPPs presidential candidate Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday he would maintain the status quo and pursue peace through strength if elected, remaining open to engagement with Beijing under the preconditions of equality and dignity.

Beijing has denounced him as a separatist and warned that any attempt to push for Taiwans formal independence means conflict.

Despite this, Lai pledged to try to engage with China.

Peace is priceless and war has no winners, Lai told reporters at a news conference. Peace without sovereignty is just like Hong Kong. It is fake peace.

Beijing is unswayed by Lais outreach attempts.

On Tuesday evening, Chinas commerce ministry said it was looking into further steps to suspend tariff concessions on products including agriculture and fishery, machinery, auto parts and textiles from Taiwan, following up on such a move made against some petrochemical products last month.
 Close TX deploys emergency resources before storm

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As the northeast braces for flooding rain and damaging winds through Wednesday, meteorologists forecast a second storm will blow through the eastern half of the US late this week.

The southeast should brace for a repeat of destructive winds and possible tornadoes, the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the midwest can expect even more snow over the weekend, while rain will continue to beat down on the northeast, according to the NWS.

As for Wednesday, flooding rain and damaging winds will hit Boston, Massachusetts overnight, while New York City residents should remain braced for potential flooding throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the south is recovering from the destruction of a devastating storm earlier this week.

Four people have died and 890,000 homes were left without power after Storm Finn ripped through the Atlantic Coast, from Florida to New York. The deaths were reported in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

Fourteen tornadoes were reported across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday, causing significant damage, blowing roofs off homes and prompting rescues in Floridas panhandle, which was hit with 55 mph winds and hail.
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Lisa Rinna has spoken candidly about how her sex life with husband Harry Hamlin has changed over the years.

The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 60, opened up about everything from sex to the postpartum depression she experienced after the birth of her first child in a digital cover story for Cosmopolitans Sex After 60 issue, published on 9 January.

Rinna, who has been married to The West Wing actor for nearly 30 years, admitted that her sex life with Hamlin has had its fair share of ebb and flow as theyve grown older. The Days of Our Lives alum admitted that for Hamlin, who is 12 years older than her, his desire levels have changed with age.

We really have great sex together, and we always have. Its just that maybe it doesnt happen quite as often as it did when youre in your 30s and in your 20s, I would say. And I think thats normal, Rinna told the outlet, describing changes in their sexual relationship as the natural evolution of life.

However, the model revealed that she wasnt always so open about her relationship with sexuality. Rinna was raised in Oregon - where sex wasnt something that nice girls did or talked about or flaunted - and she explained that she grew up very repressed.

I have not always been this in touch with my sexuality at all, the Melrose Place star said. When she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her eldest daughter, Delilah Belle, Rinna said that she completely lost [her] mojo during the first 15 months of her daughters life. She was later prescribed an antidepressant and joined a pole-dancing class. That changed everything, because it felt safe, Rinna said about taking pole dancing lessons. It changed my whole perception and fear about sexuality and expressing yourself.

Despite openly welcoming changes to her sex life, the TV personality maintained that she doesnt feel like shes 60 years old. Nevertheless, Rinna discussed how shes received more wisdom and confidence that comes with age. Ive gotten to that place where at 60, I am so much more confident than I was at 30. I love this age because Im freer and more confident and more passionate than Ive ever been, she said.

In addition to her confidence, shes felt more comfortable admitting to herself (and to her husband) that she may not want to have sex every five seconds. Instead, Rinna told Cosmopolitan that shes no longer putting pressure on [herself] at 60 years old.

You cant fight ageing. Ageing is going to happen. How do I do it so that I feel good and Im happy? Thats what Im looking for, and Im still passionate, and Im still curious about life, the mother of two explained. I dont necessarily need to look like Im 20 years old, though thats fun if you can get it. But you know what Im saying? Its about how do you morph yourself into this era and still feel good, be curious, be passionate, and be happy?

For Rinna, she shared that being prescribed HRT (hormone replacement therapy) by her doctor as she entered menopause was one change that has helped her stay feeling good about myself.

Its no secret that women in society face a double standard when it comes to ageing, especially in Hollywood. However, one tremendous gift Rinna has been given when it comes to embracing criticism - or rejecting it entirely - is by not caring what people think.

I just dont give a s*** about what people think about me, and that has been a tremendous gift that I have learned, Rinna said. Everything that Ive gone through has brought me to this point where I do not f***ing care what anybody thinks about me.

I dont need your approval, she added. I dont need you to tell me whether Im good, bad, ugly, cute, whatever. Im going to do whatever I feel to make me happy.
Hong Kong: Teacher base established in GZ

The Education Bureau has established Hong Kongs first teacher training and exchange base at South China Normal University (SCNU) in Guangzhou, with Secretary for Education Choi Yuk-lin attending a plaque-unveiling ceremony for it today.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms Choi expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Education for its support, and to the Guangdong Department of Education and the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for their guidance and co-ordination in facilitating the establishment of the base.

She said that SCNU offers teacher education with unique characteristics zealously supports the professional development of Hong Kong teachers.

The university was the first institution to organise training for Hong Kong teachers following the full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland early last year. In the past eight months or so, it has organised eight study tours and trained around 900 Hong Kong teachers, including 60 non-Chinese speaking teachers.

Ms Choi said the Education Bureau would step up co-operation with SCNU and, through the base, make good use of the universitys strengths, professional development platform, training experience, network and resources, to develop diversified and high-quality teacher training projects that enable educators in Hong Kong and the Mainland to learn from one another and thrive together.

Today also saw the launch of new Mainland study tours for new teachers from Hong Kong. The Education Secretary said she hoped participating teachers would treasure the opportunity to study on the Mainland and observe national modernisation for themselves.

She added that she hoped the tours would enhance teachers affection for and sense of belonging to the country, encourage them to share good stories about the countrys education, and strengthen their national pride and sense of responsibility in guiding students to integrate into the country's overall development proactively.

This morning, Ms Choi toured the Affiliated High School of SCNU to learn about its vision and curriculum. In the afternoon, she exchanged views with SCNU leaders and met Hong Kong students.

Yesterday, Ms Choi visited Sun Yat-sen University and met its President Prof Gao Song to learn about developments at the institution.

This story has been published on: 2024-01-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Remember when everyone talked about how Kim Kardashian broke the internet in 2014 with a raunchy photoshoot for Paper magazine? Well, if she broke social media, Jeremy Allen White also blew it to smithereens last weekend, like the eruption of a lust-fuelled Vesuvius. For those of you living in internet Siberia, the 32-year-old US star of acclaimed chef drama The Bear just appeared in a Calvin Klein boxer ad, where he flaunts his naked, ripped torso and prominent, cotton-covered package as he cavorts gymnastically on a high building top in NYC. Typical comments on Instagram left by female fans include yes chef!, this feels illegal, what a fantastic day to have eyeballs, Thank you Mr Calvin Klein, sincerely yours, my uterus, a tear just went down my leg and I want him in a way thats concerning for feminism.

Perhaps we should all be a bit concerned for feminism. We often talk about the pernicious effects of the male gaze and how it objectifies the female body. Indeed the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a recent advert featuring British musician FKA Twigs, after receiving two complaints that the images were overly sexualised, offensive and irresponsible because they objectified women and were inappropriately displayed.

So, is it really progress when women do the exact same thing to men? After all, Allen Whites swooning fans arrive hot on the heels of an army of women who appear unhealthily fixated on the body of 31-year-old Barry Keoghan, the anti-hero of Saltburn, who dances willy-wobbling and butt-naked at the end of the movie. Theres also that scene (spoiler alert) where he ruts the earth on top of a freshly filled-in grave.
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Tina Knowles was serenaded by Destinys Child on her 70th birthday.

In a video she posted to Instagram, the businesswoman shared with fans and followers how she celebrated her 70th birthday, which included a performance from Destinys Child.

Thanks to all the people that sent me flowers, physically and mentally. Too many to name! But the flowers were exquisite!!! So so blessed to know and love the people in my life God is soo good, Knowles captioned the clip.

Throughout the video, she gave some insight into the festivities and expressed her gratitude, including clips of herself standing on a picturesque Malibu beach donning a fur coat and bright red lipstick.

She started the video by saying: This is turn up Tina, coming to you, on my birthday in my favourite place in the world, Malibu Beach. And I have had the time of my life with all of my beautiful friends from Texas and my friends from California. Not all of them because a couple of them couldnt be here.

This has been a spiritual weekend, and just about the empowerment of kickass women, Knowles continued. Just tough, beautiful women filled with love. And I feel so loved. I had a little anxiety about turning 70, you know? But Im so blessed to be here, and Im so blessed to have the life that I have and the people that I have around me. All the love.

Then, she went on to reveal that shed had an impromptu concert performed by her daughter Beyonces iconic girl group.

I just got spoiled to death this weekend. I even got serenaded by Destinys Child. How amazing is that? she gushed. So I just want to thank everyone who sent me flowers, everyone that told me a happy birthday. I got so many well wishes. Ive got so many bonus children  beautiful bonus children  and I just feel so blessed. I love you guys. I love you so much.

This hasnt been the only time Destinys Child has reportedly reunited in the past few months.

Former member LeToya Luckett, 42, shared a photo on Instagram last week of the girl group reuniting around September 2023 when Beyonce brought her Renaissance World Tour to her hometown of Houston. Luckett, Beyonce, LaTavia Roberson, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams could be seen standing in a row, posing with peace signs and rock-on signs. Luckett opened up in the caption about how much seeing her former groupmates meant to her.

ALL LOVE, Luckett wrote. This was hands down my favourite moment of 2023. She added: May we all experience beautiful moments like this in 2024.
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The Ugandan woman who gave birth to twins at the age of 70 through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) shared the first photos of her babies after being discharged from the hospital.

In late November at Womens Hospital International and Fertility Centre (WHI&FC) in Uganda, Safina Namukwaya welcomed twins, a son and a daughter. On 6 January, the mother of three brought her son and daughter home for the first time. She reportedly named her daughter Shakira Babiyre Nabagala and her son Kato Shafique Kangave, according to Today.

Dr Edward Tamale Sali - a fertility specialist at the hospital - told the outlet that Ms Namukwaya is a loving and playful mother, adding: She cant stop staring at them.

At a press conference outside the hospital on 6 January, Dr Sali recalled how Ms Namukwaya was up and walking the same day she delivered her twins. Shes fit, her blood pressure is normal, shes not diabetic  shes a very healthy woman and the whole of Africa is rejoicing for her, Sali said, before telling the new mother: If you want another child, were here.

Dr Gloria Lunyolo, the twins paediatrician, called the twins miracle babies, and revealed that they are now in the stage of alternating between formula and breast milk.

At 70, Safina Namukwayas maternal love blossoms into a miracle, cradling twins alongside Dr Edward Tamale-Sali, a carousel of photos shared on the hospitals Facebook page were captioned. Their hands hold not just babies, but gems of hope, proving that a mothers love transcends time and age. In this emblematic moment at Womens Hospital International and Fertility Centre, the joy of motherhood shines unblemished, echoing the resilient spirit of Africa where every dream is nurtured with love and care.

When the twins were born on 29 November, local Ugandan outlet NTV Uganda announced: Mother and babies are all well, saying that both of the twins weighed 3 lbs, 7 oz. They reportedly now weigh more than 5 pounds each.

The hospital congratulated her, saying it is more than a medical success; its about the strength and resilience of the human spirit, the BBC reported. Ms Namukwaya admitted to the outlet that her geriatric pregnancy was far from easy, sharing: There was a time I felt very sick because of the pregnancy. I spent nearly all my savings. Then I went to a hospital and talked to the doctor about my condition.

Dr Sali explained to the outlet that Ms Namukwaya used a donor egg and her partners sperm for the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure. He added that the twins were born 31 weeks premature and had to be placed in an incubator.

Before giving birth to her twins, she previously gave birth at age 66 in 2020 to a daughter, who is now three years old.Some households will be helping me with washing and the babies because of my advanced age, she told Today.

The age limit for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other medically assisted reproduction in the US is generally mid-50s, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) generally discourages embryo transfer in women over age 55.
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The man accused of stabbing South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck told investigators that he wanted to kill him to prevent him from becoming the country's president, police said Wednesday.

Lee was released Wednesday from the hospital after eight days of treatment, including surgery.

Police said they believe the suspect acted alone when he attacked Lee, 59, in the southeastern city of Busan on Jan. 2, leaving him bleeding and slumping on the ground.

During questioning, the suspect said he had determined to kill Lee to prevent him from running for South Koreas presidency, Busan police chief Woo Cheol-Mun told a televised briefing. Woo said the suspect said he was unsatisfied with what he believes were authorities' failures to punish Lee over his corruption allegations.

Woo said the suspect left a eight-page note that shows similar motives for his attack. Woo said the suspect bought an outdoor knife last April and followed Lee on five events since June.

It's analyzed that the suspect's subjective political belief led to the extreme crime, Woo said.

During police questioning, the suspect had no defense lawyer, according to Busan police.

Police handed over the suspect to prosecutors, who will determine whether to indict him and send him to a trial. If he's indicted but still has no lawyer, a court will appoint one. A Busan court earlier approved an arrest warrant for him on alleged attempted murder.

I caused concerns. Im sorry, the suspect, who was not identified, said in brief comments to reporters at the Busan police station. Asked by a reporter whether he plotted the attack alone, he said, Yes. How could I plan this with someone else?

Democratic Party officials confirmed the suspect became a member last year. The ruling People Power Party said he is currently not their member but media reports said the man was previously affiliated with the partys predecessor.

Earlier Wednesday, Lee expressed hopes for an end of politics of hatred when he left Seoul National University Hospital.

Our respected and dear citizens, I feel sorry for causing concerns for you and Id like to say thank you. Our people saved me, Lee said, as his supporters shouted his name.

Lee said he hopes the attack will serve as a chance to end politics of hatred and politics of confrontation and return to politics of mutual respect and co-existence.

Lee, from the Democratic Party, is a tough-speaking liberal who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk Yeol. Their closely fought race and post-election political bickering have intensified South Koreas already-toxic conservative-liberal divide.

Lee is a vocal critic of Yoons major polices. He faces an array of corruption allegations and related trials and investigations. Lee has denied any legal wrongdoing and accuses Yoons government of pursuing a political revenge.

According to recent surveys, Lee is one of the early favorites for the 2027 presidential election. Yoon is by law barred from seeking reelection.

___

Associated Press writer Jiwon Song contributed to this report.
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Guyanas government said it is seeking help from the U.S. to improve its defense capabilities amid fears that neighboring Venezuela might one day seize a disputed region in western Guyana that is rich in minerals and oil.

The announcement follows two days of talks among top Guyanese officials and Daniel P. Erikson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere who traveled to the South American country to discuss defense and security partnerships.

The talks ended late Tuesday with Erikson saying the U.S. would help Guyana create a more organized and better equipped military in coming months. He did not provide further details. Erikson also said that security forces and specialized training teams that have visited Guyana in the past year will continue to do so in 2024.

Erikson told reporters that Guyana is seeking to modernize its defense capabilities, and that part of the talks focused on scope and capability, as well as cybersecurity.

One thing of great interest to us is ensuring that as Guyana looks to increase its defense capacities, it does so through a plan that is strategic, nested in its overall defense institutions, and sustainable over time, Erikson said.

He described the talks with Guyanese officials as productive and said the U.S. is aware of what steps are needed to improve defense capabilities.

We are looking forward to working with them, especially deepening information sharing, he said. We do recognize that Guyanas at a turning point in terms of its own economic development, in terms of the regional role that it is capable of playing, and so we want to make sure that our defense relationship with Guyana continues to meet the times as the situation in Guyana continues to evolve.

Eriksons trip comes just weeks after a century-old dispute over Guyanas Essequibo region deepened, with Venezuela holding a referendum in December to claim sovereignty over an area that represents two-thirds of Guyana.

Tensions continued to worsen late last year until Guyana President Irfaan Ali and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent as part of an emergency mediation meeting organized by regional leaders to prevent further escalation. After the meeting, both sides agreed to refrain from using force, but the territorial dispute continues.

Venezuela has long insisted that Essequibo was part of its territory during the Spanish colonial period and argues a 1966 Geneva agreement among Venezuela, Britain and then-British Guiana, now Guyana, nullified a border drawn in 1899 by international arbitrators.

Venezuela stepped up its aggression toward Guyana after American oil giant ExxonMobil and consortium partners discovered huge deposits of oil and gas off Guyanas coast in 2015. Daily production is at nearly 600,000 barrels of oil and is expected to increase.

Late last year, the U.S. and Guyana conducted routine joint overflights near the border region with Venezuela during the height of tension leading up to the Venezuelan referendum. Guyana also has hosted joint military exercises with the U.S. and other Caribbean nations as recently as last July.

A British warship also arrived in Guyana in late December, prompting Venezuela to start military exercises near the disputed territory. The U.K. Defense Ministry said the ship visited Guyana as part of multiple engagements with the region, and that the vessel would undergo training exercises with Guyanas military.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela have subsided some this month, with leaders of both countries scheduled to meet later this year in Brazil to continue talks.
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Jimmy Kimmel has roasted Donald Trump and his legal team for saying the most ridiculous answer imaginable to whether a president can should be immune from prosecution if they order a rivals assassination by the US military.

On his Tuesday night show, Mr Kimmel pointed out the absurdity of the attorneys argument and joked about what it would unwittingly mean for Mr Trump.

If the president can order SEAL Team Six to kill a political rival, Trump had better lock the doors at Mar-a-Lago because bazooka Joe Biden has every reason to blow it to kingdom come right now, the late-night show host said.

During Tuesdays court hearing in Washington DC, Mr Trumps attorney D John Sauer told a panel of appeal judges that a president who has not been impeached and convicted would be immune from all prosecution  even for the murder of a political foe.

Mr Sauer was arguing to the three-judge panel that the former presidents federal election interference case should be tossed based on the argument that a president is immune from prosecution under impeachment and double jeopardy clauses of the US Constitution.

Judge Florence Pan doubled down in the debate, asking the attorney if a president could hypothetically kill a rival using the US military or sell pardons and still be immune from criminal prosecution.

Mr Kimmel poked fun at Trumps lawers claims of presidential immunity (Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Mr Sauer replied that a president would be subject to prosecution but only if they were impeached and convicted first.

Thats Trumps lead lawyer, Joe Camel, with the most ridiculous answer imaginable, Mr Kimmel quipped, jesting at Mr Sauers seemingly raspy voice.

The late show host went on to say that the hearing did not go well and made fun of Mr Trump speaking to cameras as if it did.

In a clip of Mr Trump talking to the media after the hearing, he said that it was a momentous day where major points were conceded, which were very, very big, very powerful points.

He has no idea what the points are; there are no points; you scored no points, it was a shutout, Mr Kimmel said, chuckling.

No idea what he is saying; he cant even make a point about points.

Mr Trumps hearing on Tuesday is just the latest in a string of court appearances for the former president as he faces multiple criminal and civil cases.

This fact was not lost on Mr Kimmel, who joked that the court sketch artists are running out of orange pastels due to the amount of time Mr Trump spends in court.
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The family of a beautiful hip-hop dancer and model are mourning her loss after she was killed in a horror motorbike crash.

Lousha Liddell, 25, died in hospital after the motorbike she was riding pillion was hit by a suspected drug driver in south west London.

She was airlifted to hospital but died the next day on January 4 leaving the hip-hop choreography world in mourning.

Her family and friends in Cardiff and London have released balloons in her memory in moving scenes on Tuesday night.

May you rest in peace my beautiful sister, her brother Lanoi wrote on Facebook.

Known in the hip-hop world as Lady Lousha she danced in Ed Sheerans performance of Bad Habits that opened the Brit Awards in 2022.

She was also photographed as a model for Gap, LOreal, Nike and Shuh in a distinguished but fledgling career.

A GoFundMe crowdfunder looking to raise 15,000 for her family described her as a hip-hop luminary. It read: In those hospital walls, the once vibrant choreographer faced the final dance of her lifea dance with destiny.

Despite the efforts of the medical team, Lousha succumbed to brain stem death, leaving behind a void in the hearts of those who had been touched by her grace and creativity.

The news of Loushas passing sent ripples through the dance community and beyond. Her impact went beyond the stage; it resonated in the memories of those who had danced alongside her, learned from her, and been moved by the stories she told through movement.

Her elder brother Louis wrote on Facebook: Keep dancing up there our beautiful girl..... Our hearts are broken forever.

Heaven really has gained the most beautiful angel. You are such a talented inspiration to many and you lived your best life to the fullest.

Your niece Liberty will always be your biggest fan and supporter and we will never let your memory fade!

You will always be the biggest brightest star in the sky! Love you forever.

The 22-year-old driver of the Honda Civic that collided with the motorbike Ms Liddell on Garratt Lane at 1am January 3 was arrested on suspicion of drug driving causing serious injury. He has been bailed pending further enquiries, to a date in March.

A man in his 40s who had been riding the motorbike was also taken to hospital, with injuries that were not described as life-threatening.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has footage, should police on 101 or Tweet on X @MetCC quoting 385/3JAN.
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The roommate of a fellow asylum seeker who is believed to have taken his own life on the controversial barge housing migrants has warned others may harm themselves if conditions on the vessel do not improve.

Yusuf Deen Kargbo, who came to the UK from Sierra Leone, shared a room on the Bibby Stockholm with Leonard Farruku, an Albanian migrant who was found unresponsive on board the vessel at Portland Port in Dorset on 12 December.

An inquest opened by Dorset coroner Rachael Griffin heard that a post-mortem examination found 27-year-old Mr Farruku had died from compression of the neck caused by suspension by ligature.

Speaking as the funeral for Mr Farruku was due to take place in Albania on Wednesday, Mr Kargbo said he knew others on board who were struggling, telling the BBC: "They're saying this is just the beginning.

They are trying to give a warning, that place is not good for them. Every day their stress is increasing, getting worse.

Leonard Farruku, an Albanian asylum seeker who died aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge (PA)

Mr Kargbo told the BBC that people on the barge dont have any hope for their lives.

Recalling Mr Farruku's time on the Bibby Stockholm, Mr Kargbo said the 27-year-old was a quiet person who "liked to be by himself", but didn't seem to be unhappy.

"I heard him laughing on his phone, sometimes until one or two oclock at night, I thought he was maybe watching a comedy video on his phone, having a fun time," he said.

Mr Kargbo, who shared the room with Mr Farruku 10 days before he died, was moved to a hotel just under a week after his death but said he remains in a messaging group with other migrants on board.

The Bibby Stockholm barge, which is moored in Dorset (PA Wire)

Coroner Rachael Griffin said there were not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr Farruku's death and the Home Office said there were rigorous safeguarding processes in place on the accommodation.

The inquest, at Dorset Coroners Court in Bournemouth, was told that Mr Farrukus body was formally identified by his cousin, Maranglen Farruku, at the Holly Tree Lodge mortuary in Bournemouth.

Ms Griffin adjourned the hearing until a pre-inquest review to be held on 9 July.

No family members were present at the hearing, but Mr Farruku's sister has previously said her brother raised concerns with her about how migrants on board were being treated. She told The Telegraph: When I spoke with him last time, he told me that the conditions in that boat were not bad but they were treated by the guards like animals.

It comes as the governments controversial plan to send asylum seekers and migrants to Rwanda has returned to the headlines.

Conservative MPs on the right of the party have tabled a series of amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill - which is due to be voted on next week - which they hope will toughen up the legislation and make it more difficult for asylum seekers to appeal their deportation in the courts.

Dozens of Tories have backed amendments to the bill which would effectively ignore international law and severely limit individual migrants ability to resist being put on a flight to Kigali.

A Home Office spokesperson said: This was a tragic incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. This is being investigated by the police and coroner.

We take the welfare of those in our care very seriously, and have rigorous safeguarding processes in place. Any concerns raised about the service delivered on the barge are swiftly addressed through our work with the provider, and Migrant Help 24/7 is also available every day of the year.
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Holidaymakers travelling to Cornwall should pay a daily tourist tax, its been suggested to the regions council - with hoteliers welcoming the idea.

Cornwall attracts 12 million day visitors every year, but the council says a spike over the summer months leads to popular sites such as St Ives and Newquay becoming overrun with a reduction in air quality, heavy demand on services and congestion.

As a result, Cornwall Council has launched a councillor-led inquiry aimed at improving the year-round benefits of tourism while supporting locals with well-paid employment and community services.

Some of the ideas put foward at a council meeting on 9 January included urging the government to stagger school holidays and bringing in a registration scheme for short-term Airbnb-style holiday lets.

Another was a tourist tax, with councillor Mike Thomas, a former school teacher, calling for the option to be taken more seriously.

Pubs and hotels in Newquay are often filled during the summer months (Getty Images)

In terms of a tourist tax, which in my opinion hasnt been referenced enough, he said, as reported by the BBCs Local Democracy Service.

Theres a fear that people will be against it. Manchester has demonstrated that people will not be negative when its actually put in place - 1 a night per person up to a maximum of 21 nights would bring in revenue that people in this Duchy would feel was paying for the facilities that people visiting are using.

Tourist taxes are common in countries such as Canada, Spain, Germany, Belgium and France. On 10 January, Greece announced it would begin applying a climate levy to visitors to build up funds for natural disasters.

In the UK, taxes have been introduced in April and Manchester in April last year with the schemes run by local business improvement districts. Last year, the idea was aired for St Ives by the towns mayor.

Arnaud Reutsch, owner of the Blue Seas Hotel in Penzance and member of The Penzance and District Hotel and Restaurant Association, told The Independent a tourist tax would helpthe region.

Due to the quiet winter season, the 62-year-old closes his eight-bed hotel from October to March with summer takings paying for the year. But this means his part-time workers are not needed for six months of the year.

The scene in the summer is often in contrast to the winter when businesses and restaurants close (Getty Images)

He said: I think the tourist tax is a good idea, but any money must be ringfenced for the local area and not sent to London. I really dont think people would be put off by paying an extra 1 a night when they are paying around 120 to 130 a night.

This area does rely so much on tourism that outside the summer months it can feel very quiet - so support for that period through this could be a real help while not making a big difference to visitors cost.

In Cornwall, the sudden surge of summer visitors has also resulted in a housing problem due to the rise of Airbnb and second-home properties leaving a lack of available and affordable places for locals.

However, the council inquiry noted that almost one in five people in Cornwall relied on tourism jobs, mostly in accommodation and food and drink, and Visit Cornwall estimates tourism is worth more than 1billion a year to the region.

Figures also show the area is becoming more popular with 1.1 million overnight trips in August 2021, compared to 1 million in August 2019. There were also 2 million day trips in July 2021, compared to 1.4 million in July 2019.

But the council report said: Our popularity, especially in the peak period, also brings with it negative impacts to our communities such as reduction in air quality, environmental degradation at popular sites, increased demand on services and congestion.

It added: This seasonality has a significant negative impact on our economy and the productivity of the sector as it encourages seasonal and part-time employment.
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Paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein refused to answer questions over whether he attempted to blackmail Prince Andrew after his alleged sexual encounter with Virginia Giuffre, court documents have revealed

Newly released court documents show that Ms Giuffre claims she was paid $15,000 (11,800) to have sex with the Duke of York, and alleged she was trafficked to the south of France to have intercourse with an unnamed foreign prince.

Epstein declined to answer almost all of the questions, also known as pleading the fifth amendment in the US, during his interview under oath as part of Ms Giuffres civil claim against disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

Prince Andrew has always denied having a sexual encounter with Virginia Giuffre, pictured here with Ghislaine Maxwell (PA Media)

He was quizzed over whether he and Maxwell instructed Ms Giuffre to have sex with Andrew in 2001 and if the information gathered as part of the legal action has the potential to affect the reputation of the duke.

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. The duke strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

The transcript of Epsteins interview, known as a deposition in the US, was released as part of the final tranche of documents to be published as part of Ms Giuffres 2015 civil claim against Maxwell.

Jeffrey Epstein refused to answer questions that he had attempted to gather blackmail material on the royal (AP)

In total, 215 documents have been unsealed over the course of five days after the media argued it was in the public interest to remove redactions which hid the names of individuals.

Ms Giuffres 2016 deposition was also released and featured her previously reported claims that Epstein paid her to the value of 11,800 to have sex with Andrew, and allegations she was trafficked to a well-known prime minister who she refused to name over concerns for her safety.

I did receive 15,000 dollars. I do not know the equivalent to what that is in pounds, Ms Giuffre said, before she was quizzed by a lawyer on whether she paid tax on the amount, with Ms Giuffre replying no.

During Epsteins deposition, Ms Giuffres counsel Paul Cassell asked: In fact, it would be a fair assessment of all the circumstances surrounding this situation to say that you forced Virginia to have sex with Prince Andrew?

After Epstein declined to answer, the lawyer continued: What would have happened to Virginia if she had refused to have sex with Prince Andrew?

Andrew has always denied the allegations against him (AFP via Getty Images)

Following another refusal to answer the question, Mr Cassell then asked Epstein: Shortly after Prince Andrew and Virginia had sex, Virginia gave you a full report about the details of the sex, true?

Mr Cassell also said: Isnt it true, sir, that Prince Andrew thanked you for making Virginia available to him for sexual purposes?

Epstein declined to answer both questions.

Questioning Epstein on the alleged blackmail plot, Mr Cassell said: You had previously instructed Virginia that she had to give you a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew did to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use, true?

Epstein was also quizzed on what he knew about Andrews sexual preferences, and on whether Ms Giuffre had recounted specific behaviour that Prince Andrew requested before sexual intercourse.

The disgraced financier again declined to answer the questions.

Further court documents from the 2015 civil claim against Maxwell have been released (PA)

Later in his interview, Epstein was also asked: To your knowledge, Prince Andrew had sex with Virginia several times, right?

Before finishing his questioning, Mr Cassell said: This litigation has the potential to affect the reputation of Prince Andrew, right?

Epstein refused to answer the questions.

Ms Giuffre, in her deposition, described how she was trafficked to the south of France by Epstein and Maxwell to a world leader who was a prince.

She said she did not know his name, but added: He did speak foreign tongue, he spoke English as well, but Im not too sure where he was fromI was introduced to him as a prince.

Ms Giuffre also claimed former US president Bill Clinton visited Epsteins private Caribbean island twice.

Epstein with Maxwell, who was found guilty of child sex trafficking (PA Media)

She said they had dinner together, but Bill Clinton, he was never sexually involved with me. Ive never witnessed him sexually involved with anybody else.

However, Ms Giuffre was asked during the deposition: Is Bill Clinton a witness to the sexual abuse of minors?

She replied: Yes, he would be a witness because he knew what my purpose there was for Jeffrey and he visited Jeffreys islandTheres pictures of nude girls all around the house at all of his houses and its something that Jeffrey Epstein wasnt shy about admitting to people.

Mr Clinton has denied ever visiting the island.

Ms Giuffre also recounted how she burned a booklet she wrote detailing her alleged encounters with Andrew to get rid of painful memories.

The diary was written at the request of journalist Sharon Churcher, and Ms Giuffre said she gave the writer some of the original pages relating to the duke.

But she said she decided not to burn photographs at her then-Florida home in 2013 because theyre evidence.

I wanted to get rid of it. It was very painful stuff, she said.

Both Bill Clinton and the prince have been named several times in court documents (AFP via Getty Images)

She added: I was burning like memories, thoughts, dreams that I had, just everything that was kind of affiliated with the abuse I endured, and there was a lot of it in there.

My husband is pretty spiritual so he said the best thing to do would be burn them.

Paedophile financier Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022.

The socialite indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her appeal is scheduled to be heard in November next year.
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Dozens of villagers have attended the funeral of a beloved peacock that was killed in a hit-and-run crash on New Years Day.

Residents of Grouville, Jersey bid farewell to Henry Percy, a 15-year-old male peacock, in an emotional 40-minute service outside their parish hall on Saturday.

Henry Percy was laid to rest in a bespoke coffin complete with flowers and his favourite snacks, blueberry muffins.

He was described by Constable Mark Labey as the Grouville Parish Hall mascot, who had a particular soft spot for blueberries, bananas, grapes, raisins and peanuts, the Jersey Evening Post reported.

Henry Percy was described as the welcomer to Grouville whos voice carried all over the parish (Grouville Parish Hall)

Mr Labey, who led the service attended by around 40 people, reminisced on Henry Percys habit of wandering into the road, adding that it was clear the exotic bird had not read the Highway Code.

His voice carried all over the parish He was kind of the welcomer to Grouville, Mr Labey told the local paper. I only saw him display a couple of times, and to see that is an absolute wonder of nature.

Millions of years of evolution have come to this, he added. Were just going to miss him.

The end of the service was marked by mourners attempting to make their own peacock sound as a final send-off.

Peacocks are wild animals and cannot be pets, but one attendee, Wendy Durell, claimed she was the closest thing the beautiful bird had to an owner.

She told the Jersey Evening Post that her father Martin gave Henry Percy his name.

My dad was proud of him and hand-fed him, she told the paper.

Tributes poured in for the beautiful bird who was killed in a hit-and-run accident (Grouville Parish Hall)

She described him as quite regal, the way he walked about the place and recalled seeing local children feed him before going to school, and herself feeding him blueberries from her breakfast, and peanuts before he went to roost for the night.

Upon hearing the news of his passing, tributes on social media began pouring in.

So so sad , I live at the top of Grouville hill and saw him quite often around the Parish and he was so beautiful. Will miss seeing him, one resident commented.

Another said: Im so sad to read this. When I lived in the area I would often come across Henry on my early morning runs. He was absolutely beautiful. So very sad for everyone who knew him, but especially for Wendy, my heart goes out to you.

The local added that although they couldnt make the birds funeral, they would make some blueberry muffins in his memory instead.
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A seven-year-old girl with end-stage kidney failure and her family have been forced to live without heating or hot water since before Christmas.

Meghan Correa undergoes around 12 hours of dialysis every day as she awaits a transplant and is due for surgery to remove her second kidney on Wednesday.

Her family found their boiler was no longer working on 21 December but despite contacting their local council for help, weeks later they are still living in the cold while the UK faces a week of sub-zero temperatures.

Ivanna says her sister doesnt understand what is going (Ivanna Colana)

Initially we waited a week for them to come over to the house to see what was going on, Meghans older sister, Ivanna, 19, told The Independent. They completely took the hot water out on the 28th, and weve been without it ever since.

Meghan Colana, 7, is undergoing surgery to remove her second kidney on Wednesday (Ivanna Colana)

Have you experienced similar problems? Email maira.butt@independent.co.uk

While the family says three visits were carried out to their south London home to rectify the issue, they said there was no communication around the repairs, leaving them in limbo during a very difficult period.

Southwark councillor Darren Merrill, cabinet member for council homes, said a new boiler was due to be installed imminently.

The family celebrated Christmas, new year and Meghans birthday without heating or hot water (Ivana Colana)

We have responded as quickly as possible to fit a new boiler in the familys property, the parts were ordered last week and we have diverted staff to complete this one as our top priority, he said. The new boiler will be installed within the next 24 hours and I send Meghan and her family all of our best wishes for good health this year.

However, Liz Wyatt, a coordinator for Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth who has regularly liaised on behalf of the family with Southwark Council, said it wasnt good enough. The organisation shared a tweet on Tuesday to raise awareness of the issue but they say it shouldnt be forced to post on Twitter/X to prompt to action.

Were extremely concerned at Southwark Councils inability to complete these emergency repairs, the delays the family have faced and the very unclear communication.

This should be top priority for Southwark Council to fix and to make sure the housing is habitable especially when there is an extremely vulnerable young child in the property.

It points to a wider problem of a lack of funding in social housing, but that is no excuse.

Ivanna, who has exams on Thursday, says the experience has been very difficult for the family, who have had to celebrate Meghans birthday, Christmas and new year without any heating or hot water.

She sometimes asks why we have it different to other people, said Ivanna. But shes too young to understand. We have to boil water in pans and use jugs to bathe ourselves. We were given an electric heater but its very expensive and it only warms the room up for half an hour before you have to switch it off again.

In addition to the boiler issues, the family reports leaks in Meghans bedroom which they have urged the council to look into. They were told on Tuesday afternoon that this would also be followed up.
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Around 1.6 million private renters will receive an uplift to their housing support in April, the government has said. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates  used to calculate Housing Benefit for private renters  are set to be uprated in line with the current rental market for the first time in three years.

Frozen since 2020, the rate will now cover the cheapest 30% of rents in an area  meaning families claiming Housing Benefit will be an average of 800 better off a year. The was first announced in Jeremy Hunt's autumn budget in November 2023.

How much you are entitled to will vary depending on where you live, and how many bedrooms your property has. For instance:

A one-bedroom household in Manchester could get up to 178.36 a week (up 39.56 from 138.08)

A two-bedroom household in Bristol could get up to 252.00 a week (up 62.14 from 189.86)

A three-bedroom household in Stoke could get up to 136.93 a week (up 10.35 from 126.58)

A four-bedroom household in North West London could get up to 483.29 a week (up 57.54 from 425.75)

For a full list of 2024/25 rates, visit the governments website.

The former rates were frozen in April 2020, but private rental prices have risen at record-pace since. In the year to November 2023, private rents increased 6.2 per cent.

Crisis Chief Executive, Matt Downie said: "In recent years, people receiving housing benefit have found it increasingly difficult to afford the soaring cost of rents. Giving housing benefit this crucial boost will make a real difference to people across Great Britain and will relieve some of the pressure facing people on the lowest incomes."

However, campaigners are warning of limits to the new rates. The Resolution Foundation points out that thousands of households which stand to gain from the uprating will instead find themselves hitting the benefit cap, which is not being uprated in April. This is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get.

The rates also won't continue to be uprated each year  despite rental price rises showing no signs of slowing. This move marks only the fifth uprating in 12 years.

Tom Darling, Campaign Manager of the Renters Reform Coalition, said: The governments move to finally uprate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is long overdue and will make a real difference to hundreds of thousands of renters currently struggling to get by. However, rents continue to rise.

By continuing to freeze the level of LHA support, with no commitment to further increases, this decision  welcome as it is  amounts to a temporary sticking plaster. Research by Generation Rent suggests that housing affordability for those on benefits could return to its current unsustainable levels in as little as a year and a half after this increase comes into effect.
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The Met Office has revealed when snow is likely to fall again in the UK as an Arctic blast is set to bring more wintry conditions to the country.

Snow and sleet fell in London and the South-East earlier this week as temperatures plunged below freezing following a week of heavy downpours.

On Tuesday, the Met Office said the UK had the ninth coldest night this winter so far as the thermostat dropped to -11C at Aviemore in Scotland.

The forecaster said a more northerly wind and Arctic influence is expected to descend over the UK on Sunday, dragging temperatures down, with further snow expected next week.

Met Office head of situational awareness Will Lang said: There will be a resurgence in the really cold weather through the weekend and that spreads across the whole of the UK during the early part of next week.

Initially, this means there will be more in the way of showers around the coasts, turning increasingly to snow for many areas, especially further north.

A spokesperson for the forecaster added that temperatures will drop significantly next week and will be close to 3C in the south of England and closer to freezing in the north.

Cars parked during a snow flurry in Lenham, Kent, on Monday (PA)

The wind chill next week, will however, make it feel significantly colder, they added. For the rest of the week the UK will remain cool and dry with daytime maximum temperatures set to remain in the low single figures in the south.

Thursday is likely to kick off windy and frosty in the south before the frost risk flips on Friday with more chance of it in the north, but both days should stay largely dry.

A band of rain is expected to move over northern Scotland late on Friday before it makes its way southward on Saturday, turning into drizzly rain or cloud for some.

Met Office forecast for Sunday, 14 January (Met Office)

The lowest daily minimum temperature of this winter so far is minus 12.5C, recorded at Altnaharra on 3 December.

In addition to the cold weather, flooding has continued to be a major issue in parts of the UK following heavy downpours during Storm Henk.

The number of flood warnings in force for England is gradually decreasing following last weeks deluge, with 98 remaining in place as of Wednesday afternoon. There are also 116 flood alerts in effect highlighting where flooding is possible.

People living in Lightlands Lane in Cookham, Berkshire, have suffered from sewer flooding, according to Thames Water.

People walk through floodwater on a flooded street in Wraysbury, west of London on January 9, 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

The water firm apologised to residents and said: Unfortunately, flood defences next to Lightlands Lane Sewage Pumping Station were overwhelmed following recent heavy rainfall.

This caused the site to flood, affecting our ability to pump sewage away from nearby properties. Our engineers will continue to carry out necessary repairs where it is safe to do so.

Lightlands Lane sewage pumping station in Cookham, Berskhire which flooded after recent heavy rainfall (PA)

Thames Water added that it is using tankers to remove excess sewage to reduce the risk of further flooding and to ensure customers can continue to use their facilities at home.

Meanwhile, pupils at Eton College have been told to stay at home as the new term gets under way because of sewerage issues at the elite boarding school.

Staff and students were due to return to class on Tuesday but an overloaded local sewer system has prompted the school to move to remote learning.

An amber cold health alert for the north west of England, the Midlands, the south west of England and the south east of England is in place until noon on Friday.

The amber alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), means cold weather impacts are likely to be felt across the whole health service for an extended period of time.

A man walks dog through a snow flurry in Lenham, Kent, on Monday (PA)

MET OFFICE OUTLOOK

Wednesday evening:

Largely dry with clear periods and a frost across southern England, parts of south Wales and the west of Scotland. Cloudier skies elsewhere giving the odd spot of drizzle.

Thursday:

Sunshine across the south of England becoming increasingly confined towards the southwest. Some sunny spells across western Scotland and at times Northern Ireland too. Otherwise rather cloudy with some drizzle.

Friday to Sunday:

Mainly cloudy on Friday with patchy light rain or drizzle. Brighter, but colder and windier weather slowly spreading from the north during the weekend, with some snow showers in places.
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A postmaster who was supported by Princess Kate and her family after being wrongly convicted in the Post Office accounting scandal is demanding justice for all his colleagues yet to have their sentences quashed.

Hasmukh Shingadia, 63, who served the Middleton family at the Spar and Post Office in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, where Kate and her sister Pipa grew up, got a suspended sentence for false accounting in 2010.

But following a decade-long legal fight he had the conviction overturned and has now demanded justice for all those affected by the scandal - and accountability for those responsible for allowing it to happen.

Its just a wonderful day. 19 July, freedom day in more ways than one, Mr Shingadia recalled of the day he had his name cleared at the Court of Appeal in 2021.

He added that he hoped the forthcoming public inquiry would mean those responsible for the scandal face the consequences with the outcome of the inquiry, but first at the moment is just to relax and go back to our families.

Mr Shingadia, a grandfather, would serve sweets to the princess and her sister and got an invitation from Kate to her 2011 wedding to Prince William, who he also served during the early years of the royal romance,

But just months later he was convicted of false accounting when the Horizon IT accounting system installed in his Post Office incorrectly showed 16,000 of discrepancies.

Mr Shingadia had his conviction overturned in 2021 (PA)

The Middletons attended a celebratory tea party at Bucklebury Memorial Hall after Mr Shingadia had his convictions quashed and the family continued to come into my shop and spend money here, he told The Sun.

Even after Kate got engaged shed still pop in. Not everybody did that and some locals shunned me, he added. He urged Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, to exonerate all 736 sub-postmasters convicted from 2000-2015.

On Monday, three senior judges overturned the convictions of 12 people who were convicted based on evidence from the faulty IT system used by the Post Office from 2000.

It comes after 39 former subpostmasters who were convicted and even jailed for theft, fraud and false accounting had their names cleared in April  some after fighting for nearly 20 years.

The Prince and Princess of Wales (Getty Images)

Lord Justice Holroyde and two other judges quashed the convictions of Robert Ambrose, Hasmukh Shingadia, John Armstrong, Tim Brentnall, Jerry Hosi, Gurdeep Singh Dhale, John Dickson, Abiodun Omotoso, Malcolm Watkins, Sami Sabet, Carina Price and Rizwan Manjra at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

The hundreds of people who ran Post Office branches were convicted of various offences during the period of time the system was being used.

The court also considered appeals brought by a further 19 subpostmasters on Monday, and gave directions as to how their cases should progress, with a further hearing not expected before November.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, who represented the 12 cleared on Monday as well as 33 former subpostmasters who have cleared their names so far, said: Today is another step forward in terms of maintaining the momentum and ensuring we continue to contest every unsafe conviction as a result of the Post Office using its faulty Horizon computer system to pursue prosecutions against decent, honest, law-abiding people.

Once again we have been proud to represent a group of people here who did no wrong, who were bullied into admitting to crimes they had not committed, made to pay back large sums of money they had not taken and who saw their lives irreparably damaged as a result.

This group again includes people who spent time in prison.

Sadly, what happened to each individual and their families can never be reversed. That makes it all the more important for it to be recognised by the Post Office and the courts.

On Wednesday postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the government believes it has a solution to the Horizon scandal convictions and an announcement was imminent.

However, the minister refused to speculate as to whether an announcement might come as soon as Wednesday afternoon as he said a decision has not been finalised.

At Prime Ministers Questions later on Wednesday, Mr Sunak confirmed a new law would be introduced so people wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

Speaking at PMQs today, Mr Sunak said the post office scandal is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in this nations history at PMQs today.

He added: We will make sure the truth comes to light. We right the wrongs of the past.
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Nigel Farage has predicted that Labour will hold power for a decade because anger at the Conservatives is so widespread.

The ex-Brexit Party leader claimed the successor outfit Reform UK may come to replace or fundamentally change the Tories if they are forced in opposition.

Mr Farage also said giving up his lucrative broadcasting work to return to frontline politics for Reform would be a big price to pay  suggesting that he may stay out of the 2024 general election.

I think Labour have got a decade in power almost written in already, such is the level of disenchantment at the Conservatives and what theyve done, Mr Farage told GB News.

He added: I dont know whether the Conservatives are going to be replaced, whether theyre going to be changed.

What I do know is that Reform is going to play a very important role in realigning the centre right of British politics to give us a proper choice.

Farage says Labour will win regardless of how Reform squeezes the Tories (Getty Images)

Asked whether rising support for Reform would help Labour win power, Mr Farage said Sir Keir Starmer would win regardless of how successful the hard-right party was at taking votes from Rishi Sunaks party.

Its a long-term game and well level with the voters on that, he said. Ultimately, vote Reform, youll get Labour. Heres the truth of it. Were going to get Labour anyway.

He added: This attempt to try and squeeze the Reform vote wont work because theyre doomed now.

There has been speculation at Westminster that Mr Farage could return to take up a top role for Reform UK in the election campaign, though he is unlikely to replace leader Richard Tice.

Asked if he was willing to take a up a top role at Reform again following his success in the Im A Celebrity, he said giving that [TV work] up would be really quite a big price to pay in many ways.

He added: I dont yet know what Im going to do but make no mistake, I do think Reform is on the right path over the course of the next six years to change British politics in a way that most cant imagine.

The deputy Tory chairman Lee Anderson told Mr Tice to pipe down in his attacks on the Tories as the right-wing rivals squabble at the start of an election year. He also dubbed the Reform leader a pound shop Farage.

Reform are on 9 per cent in the latest YouGov poll, just behind the Lib Dems on 10 per cent.

Labour received a five-point poll bounce, increasing its lead over the Tories to a mammoth 24 points. YouGov puts Sir Keirs party on 46 per cent  more than double support for Mr Sunaks party on 22 per cent.
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Rishi Sunak is facing calls to suspend new public contracts with Fujitsu, after it emerged that the IT giant has won billions in deals with the government despite knowing about its involvement in the Horizon scandal.

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the government believes it has a solution to overturn the wrongful convictions of Post Office staff  promising an imminent announcement.

It comes as the spotlight turns on the company at the centre of the scandal, after Fujitsus faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers.

Former Tory cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi said Fujitsu should no longer get VIP treatment for contracts, amid growing questions about why the government has not severed ties with the firm.

And senior Labour and Lib Dem MPs have called for a moratorium on all new contracts with Fujitsu until the company is held accountable for its role in the scandal.

Since 2012, the public sector as a whole has awarded the company almost 200 contracts worth a combined total of 6.8bn, according to analysts Tussell.

And Fujitsu has won 4.9bn in public-sector deals since a 2019 court ruling which found its Horizon system was badly flawed, according to the Financial Times.

ITV drama thrust Post Office scandal back in spotlight (ITV)

Around 43 contracts are still in operation  worth a total of 3.6bn  including the contract for the Post Office Horizon system and the governments flood warning system.

Fujitsu was given contracts through VIP priority lanes, the so-called framework agreements, which help government sign deals with preferred suppliers, the i reported.

Mr Zahawi said that the company should be suspended from any priority lanes. Fujitsu has not been properly held to account for this major scandal. They need to bear their part of the responsibility for this debacle, he told the newspaper.

Senior Labour MP Liam Byrne, chair of the business select committee, said ministers must not reward failure any further. He added: Its vital theres now a moratorium on new contracts for Fujitsu until weve got to the bottom of this terrible miscarriage of justice.

Bosses at Fujitsu have been called to answer questions from the business committee next week  but have not yet said whether they will attend. Mr Byrne said it was vital that Fujitsu confess how they got it so wrong.

Labour MP Kevan Jones, a leading campaigner on the issue, said Fujitsu should not be allowed to win new contracts until it properly explained its role and responsibilities in the scandal.

Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson for the Treasury, said suspending contracts until the end of the public inquiry was the very least the government could do.

Sunak is under pressure to help overturn Post Office convictions (PA / PA Archive)

It would be very difficult for the government to end its involvement with Fujistu. The company provides IT services to multiple government departments including the Home Office, the Foreign Office, Defra and the Ministry of Defence.

These services include providing the Police National Computer  which stores individuals criminal records  and the governments flood warning system, as well as the national emergency alerts system launched in March 2023.

Fujitsu does significant work with HMRC, with contracts worth more than 1bn including a deal awarded in February 2022.

No 10 said on Tuesday that Fujitsu would be held accountable, legally or financially, if the public inquiry finds that the company blundered in the Horizon scandal.

But the PMs spokesperson did not say the government would stop awarding contracts to the company if it was found to be at fault  saying only that the conduct of companies in general would be considered as part of the procurement process.

Asked if Fujitsu should be prosecuted, postal minister Mr Hollinrake said it was important to establish exactly who is responsible, individuals or organisations at the public inquiry before any action could be taken  including possible prosecutions or financial sanctions.

Mr Hollinrake told Sky News on Wednesday that were very, very close to an announcement on overturning Horizon convictions  saying the government had arrived at a solution.

It comes after justice secretary Alex Chalk on Tuesday said active consideration was being given to bringing forward legislation aimed at overturning at least 700 convictions en masse.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk has been in talks to overturn convictions (PA Wire)

Mr Hollinkrake insisted that the government had been considering such an approach before the ITV drama thrust the issue back into the spotlight. Asked whether there is evidence of that, Mr Hollinrake said: Its not something wed put in public, he told BBC Radio 4.

The independent Horizon Compensation Advisory Board will also meet later. The advisory board, whose members include long-time campaigners Kevan Jones and Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot, have called for Post Office convictions to be overturned.

Mr Hollinrake could join the lunchtime meeting  with attendees likely expecting an update on any plans to quash convictions and efforts to accelerate compensation payments.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) would normally look at the individual convictions and potentially send them to the Court of Appeal. But the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal could require the extraordinary step of blanket legislation.

A Fujitsu spokesman said: The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge.

The inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering.

They added: Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it. Out of respect for the inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.
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After weeks of mounting speculation about how the government intends to respond to the Horizon Post Office scandal, Rishi Sunak has announced the government will introduce legislation to exonerate 700 victims accused of theft and fraud.

The prime minister announced the legislation on Wednesday, as well as the introduction of a new upfront payment of 75,000 in compensation to affected victims, stating that the government will make sure that the truth comes to light.

The announcement follows calls for justice from politicians and the public following the release of ITV Drama Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, which publicised the plight of the hundreds of postmasters wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting as a result of errors in the Post Offices Horizon computer system.

Here, we take a look at everything you need to know about the new legislation:

What will the law do?

Public anger over the scandal has been growing since the release of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV)

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake set out some of the details of how the government intends to quash at least 700 convictions of Post Office staff caught up in the Horizon scandal.

Mr Hollinrake told MPs that the law is unprecedented but that the situation requires exceptional circumstances which would see victims exonerated within the year.

The details of the legislation have not yet been published, but we can expect the bill within weeks according to the prime ministers spokesperson.

In order for victims to claim the upfront offer of 75,000 in compensation, subpostmasters must sign a statement to the effect that they did not commit the crimes of which they are accused. Anyone found to have signed it untruthfully could be subject to prosecution.

How will this be received?

Victims have long been campaigning for exoneration, pointing to the reputational, emotional and mental trauma they experienced during this period.

Though calls for mass exoneration have come from across the political divide, legal experts have raised concerns that it could interfere with the constitutional independence of courts and judges. Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve told the BBC earlier this week that exonerations are in a sense a parliamentary interference.

However, those in support of the move have argued that since all the cases for wrongful conviction rest on the allegation that the Post Office deliberately hid the truth about issues within the Horizon system, the grounds for a one-off exoneration is strong enough to avoid further constitutional challenges.

Post Office scandal victims confront minister in heated exchange: 'It's a cop out'

When will it be introduced?

The government has not yet announced a timetable for the introduction of the legislation but Mr Hollinrake told MPs on Wednesday it would be introduced within weeks

Mr Hollinrake also confirmed that the UK government is now liaising with devolved authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland about the next steps.

Will the legislation encounter opposition?

This issue has transcended party politics and is likely to receive broad support across parliament.

The leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer has also given his support to the principle of the legislation, calling the scandal a huge injustice.

There may be some dispute and debate over the minor details within the bill, such as the timetable for exoneration, the amount of compensation offered and whether any follow-up action will be taken against Fujitsu and the Post Office for their role in the scanda, as these details are yet to be revealed.

Mr Hollinrake has also indicated that the blanket legislation may result in some who are guilty having their convictions overturned.

He told MPs: I can not tell the House that all those prosecuted were indeed innocent without retrying every case, we can not know.

Conservative former minister Sir David Davis raised concerns that some of the victims may want an individual exoneration rather than a grand pardon, because they are understandably concerned of being bracketed with a very small number of people who will actually not be innocent.

Some MPs may also be concerned that the bill could create a precedent for government interference with the judiciary. As such, eagle-eyed MPs will expect a clear rationale within the legislation for the exceptional nature of its existence.

However, these details are unlikely to prevent the legislation becoming law and are most likely to be ironed around over the next couple of weeks and during parliamentary debates.
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Rishi Sunak faces a new threat over his flagship Rwanda bill, with around 30 right-wing Tory rebels planning to back amendments aimed at toughening up the legislation.

The PM is under pressure from both sides of his party over the controversial legislation  aimed at overcoming the Supreme Courts objections to the deportation flights plan.

Led by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, hardliners have tabled amendments designed to tackle last-minute injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Jenrick said: If we dont fix this bill the country will be consigned to more illegal crossings, more farcical migrant hotels and billions more of wasted taxpayers money in the years to come.

Ms Braverman  supporting the changes put forward by Mr Jenrick  warned Mr Sunak that failure to toughen the bill would be a betrayal of the British people.

Writing in the Daily Mail, she said: As drafted, this bill will not stop the boats, before adding that government lawyers had warned it would get bogged down with individual legal challenges from migrants.

Mr Jenrick would not say whether he will vote against the Rwanda Bill at the crucial third reading stage if it is not amended.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I hope that well win the argument first, so were not looking ahead to that.

Right-wingers Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, leaders of the New Conservatives, said that the amendments were proportionate, consistent with our international obligations, and have respectable legal arguments behind them.

Ms Cates told Times Radio that the biggest threat to the Tories is looking daft at the general election expected later in 2024 if they had not stopped the boats.

Robert Jenrick, former immigration minister, poses major threat to Rishi Sunaks Rwanda bill (EPA/PA)

As well as trying to block any role for the European court in deportation cases, Mr Jenrick and the New Conservatives are also set to table amendments aimed at tightening the grounds on which illegal migrants can bring individual claims.

At least nine former cabinet ministers  including former PM Liz Truss, former home secretary Suella Braverman, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg  are understood to be ready to back the four amendments.

It would take just 29 Tory MPs to overturn Mr Sunaks 56-seat parliamentary majority and defeat the government  if enough right-wingers are angry about their amendments being ignored by the government.

More than 20 Conservatives abstained at the initial reading before Christmas, but some threatened to vote against unless Mr Sunak agrees to changes. And some big names who did not abstain are ready to back the amendments set to be tabled next week.

This is the third piece of legislation in three years, its three strikes or youre out, weve got to get this right, Mr Jenrick told the Today programme.

The right-winger claimed that the amendments were still in line with international law  though he argued that vital national interests supersede very contested notions of international law.

Sunak said his Rwanda bill will help him deliver his stop the boats pledge (PA Wire)

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt on Tuesday announced the bills committee stage will take place next week, on 16 and 17 January.

Former deputy prime minister Damian Green, leader of the One Nation group of Tory moderates, said on Tuesday that Mr Sunak had assured him the bill would not be strengthened.

The prime ministers looked me in the eye and said that he doesnt want to go any further and potentially break international law by ignoring its human rights obligations, he told the New Statesman.

Mr Sunak won a key Commons vote on his emergency draft law in December despite speculation about a major rebellion by Tory MPs. But it faces further dissent during the upcoming parliamentary stages and heavy scrutiny in the Lords.

The Tory leader has said he would welcome bright ideas on how to improve the bill  but has previously insisted it strikes the right balance with only an inch between his rescue plan and more radical measures that would risk Rwanda pulling out of the scheme.

The legislation seeks to enable parliament to deem Rwanda safe generally, but still makes limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to the east African nation under a clause disliked by Conservative hardliners.

Meanwhile, Labour was defeated in its bid to force the government to release documents relating to the scheme. MPs voted 304 to 228, majority 76, to reject the proposal.

The opposition motion asked for any documents that show the cost of relocating each individual asylum seeker to Rwanda as well as a list of all payments made or scheduled to be made to Rwandas government.

It also asked for the governments internal breakdown of the more than 35,000 asylum decisions made last year and an unredacted copy of the confidential memorandum of understanding ministers reached with the East African country.
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Hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly convicted in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history are to have their convictions quashed after an ITV drama prompted a public outcry.

Following a two-decade battle for justice, those caught up in the Post Office scandal will finally have their good names restored by the end of the year.

There will also be a new upfront payment of 75,000 for some of those affected after Rishi Sunak said innocent people embroiled in the fiasco would be swiftly exonerated and compensated.

Ministers denied they had acted because of public anger over the ITV programme Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

But No 10 suggested that ex-subpostmaster Alan Bates could receive an honour for his campaign for justice, just a day after former Post Office boss Paula Vennells finally bowed to intense public pressure and returned her CBE.

Sir Keir Starmer was also drawn into the scandal when the Crown Prosecution Service revealed it had prosecuted three postmasters while he was in charge. Labour said Sir Keir had been unaware of any cases prosecuted while he was director of public prosecutions. Most of the postmasters were prosecuted privately.

It came as:

A minister suggested the boss of Fujitsu should think very carefully about how the cost of the scandal should not fall on the taxpayer, while justice secretary Alex Chalk said polluters should pay

A former minister said he had tried to block the Japanese firm from securing more government contracts after 2010 but had been stymied by procurement rules

Emergency legislation was promised within weeks

Another 130 postmasters have come forward since the screening of the ITV drama on the scandal.

The government said Japanese company Fujitsu would be held to account if found guilty

But Sunak was accused of being out of touch by a now-cleared subpostmaster

Mr Bates vs the Post Office was screened over new year, prompting national outcry (ITV PLC)

Former Labour MP John Mann told the Independent: It should not have taken an ITV drama for this compensation to be paid and these convictions to be quashed. But we also need to bear in mind there are a significant number of subpostmasters who paid the money and kept silent because they were worried about their reputation in the communities of which they were so key. They have not featured at all, they should get their money back.

The scandal began when Fujitsus faulty Horizon accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from Post Office branches. Subpostmasters were forced to pay back many thousands of pounds, while hundreds were convicted based on the faults.

Despite warnings from subpostmasters, the Post Office was prosecuting those caught up in the scandal as recently as 2015.

Mr Sunak said they were victims of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history.

Downing Street insisted Fujitsu would be held to account if it is found guilty of wrongdoing by an independent inquiry.

The prime minister's official spokesperson said: "We strongly believe that individuals, that businesses, will be held to account for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen.

"We will not resile from that. But it is right that we allow an independent inquiry to get the facts, to set them out, and then we can act."

Sunak promised extra 75,000 upfront payments (PA/EPA)

One minister, Malcolm Offord, went further, suggesting the boss of Fujitsu should think very carefully about how the cost of the scandal should not fall on the taxpayer.

A former minister also told the Lords he had tried to block Fujitsu from securing more government contracts in 2010 but had been stymied by procurement rules.

Francis Maude, who served as Cabinet Office minister under David Cameron, said it had been impossible to prevent Fujitsu getting more official work despite its woeful performance.

Postal minister Kevin Hollinrake said the whole country had been united by the ITV drama  which starred Toby Jones as Alan Bates  but denied it had prompted the government into action.

The whole country was shocked by what they saw on television, and that has made it easier to push certain developments forward more quickly, but I believe that we would have arrived at this position in any event, he said.

He admitted it would be unprecedented for parliament to overturn hundreds of convictions. Doing so would also create a risk that some who did steal are exonerated, although it is understood the government believes that would be a small number.

To minimise the risk they will be asked to sign a statement swearing they did not commit the crimes, meaning they can still be prosecuted at a later date.

Senior Tory MP David Davis, who has campaigned for years for justice for postmasters, said it looks as though the government has responded correctly but he urged ministers to force Fujitsu to contribute to some of the cost of compensating victims.

And he called for the government to accelerate their investigations so that those who are really guilty in the scandal can be convicted.

Jo Hamilton, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop she ran in Hampshire, said the 75,000 payments showed Mr Sunak was out of touch.

The money wouldnt even cover the interest on what has been stolen from them, she said.

Another victim Vijay Parekh, who served 18 months in prison, said the previously announced compensation of 600,000 would still leave some out of pocket.

Horizon scandal campaigner Alan Bates could be in line for a knighthood (PA)

He told GB News: Im glad that they've announced it, but that 600,000 they're talking about  there's people who have lost more than just 600,000.

He said those responsible for causing the scandal should face justice: Weve done nothing, and weve been in prison. They have done something, so they need to be in prison because of what theyve done.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he had mixed feelings about government overriding the judiciary: It is a precedent that causes me considerable discomfort because it is contrary to an absolute principle of the rule of law  which is parliament may legislate but the application of the law is not for parliament itself ... but I do accept that it may be the only solution.

Former director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald KC also said he had concerns, warning some people who are in fact guilty will be exonerated.

Shadow business minister Jonathan Reynolds told MPs it was important the government was exonerating postmasters, not pardoning them, because a pardon does imply guilt that is then forgiven.

He added: We stand ready to work with the government to deliver a solution that achieves the long-awaited justice and compensation.

Retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams is chairing an inquiry into the scandal and is expected to publish his recommendations in the late spring.
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Part of the sprawling South Carolina hunting estate where Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and son is back on the market  this time in an online auction with a starting bid of $1,100,000.

Moselle Estate in the town of Islandton became an infamous crime scene after the June 2021 murders and has become a popular tourist site for the true crime community.

Alex Murdaugh shot and killed his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at the dog kennels on the property on the night of 7 June 2021, a horrific double murder that sent shockwaves across the Lowcountry region.

Online bidding has already started for the 21-acre property that contains a 5,275-square-foot custom-built house with four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, that was once home to the convicted killer. The dog kennels where the murders took place are reportedly not included in this auction.

The auction, which is being held by J.P. King Auction Company and Crosby Land Company, will close at 1pm on 15 February.

The entire property  which is 1,700 acres total  was initially sold in March 2023 to James A. Ayer and Jeffrey L. Godley for $3.9m. Proceeds went to Murdaughs surviving son Buster Murdaugh, who received $530,000 from the sale. The remainder went to legal fees and to benefit the victims of Murdaughs financial crimes.

The main house on the Mosell Estate property is up for auction with a starting bid of $1,100,000 (Netflix)

The owners explained that they brought the property for hunting and farming land, but said they did not have any use for the Murdaugh family home, the main house on the Moselle Estate.

Both the Ayer and Godley families have land nearby, said Jeff Godley, co-owner, in the media release.

We bought to expand our hunting, farming, and timber. The acreage bought included the home, however, we both already have family homes. It is a beautiful, incredibly well-built house. I am a next-door neighbor, with our home about a mile from this house. We seek a new neighbor to enjoy this gorgeous house and land.

In October 2023, the home was listed for sale again with a price of $1.95m. Now, back on the market, the home is only being shown by appointment and buyers must be pre-approved.

The bodies of Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were found at the dog kennels on the Moselle property (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)

The listing describes the property as a secluded haven that offers tranquility and privacy that is situated on upland open fields and adorned with high-end finishes throughout.

A two-story foyer includes heart pine floors, tongue and groove walls, and a grand staircase leading to a mezzanine balcony, the listing continues. Vaulted ceilings extend from the foyer to a family room with custom built-ins, crown molding, and mahogany French doors that open to an expansive back porch.

The spacious floor plan could easily be converted into a weekend lodge or a corporate retreat with the capability to sleep up to 15 people, said Todd Crosby, Crosby Land Company. The 21-acre property has high topography with good loamy soil that drains well to support horse and dog training activities, and a variety of other outdoor pursuits."

The property in Islandton is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Charleston, Savannah, Columbia, and Augusta.

There is no mention of the heinous murders that occurred on the property nearly three years earlier, thrusting the rural community into the national spotlight and the centre of a highly publicized six-week trial in nearby Walterboro.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh (left to right) (Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook)

In July 2022, Murdaugh was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The 54-year-old denied murdering his loved ones  a denial who maintains to this day, months after he was convicted of all charges.

The case also garnered national attention for the familys connection to other mysterious deaths in the community including their own housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after a fall on the stairs at the property in 2018.

Murdaugh is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son. He has repeatedly denied carrying the murders and is now appealing his conviction.

He has also pleaded guilty to numerous financial crimes.
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New batches of unsealed Jeffrey Epstein court documents continue to reveal a number of high-profile individuals whose names appeared multiple times in various materials, including footnotes.

Among them are two former US presidents  Donald Trump and Bill Clinton  and Prince Andrew, all three of whom have been pictured with and known to associate with the disgraced financier in the past.

Other names include lawyer Alan Dershowitz, magician David Copperfield, Michael Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

However, being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

This undated trial evidence image obtained on 8 December 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein (US District Court for the Southern District of New York)

Ghislaine Maxwell

Unsurprisingly, Epsteins partner in crime Ghislaine Maxwell is one of the names that features the most, appearing over 1000 times in the first five batches of documents.

The British socialites name appears in full hundreds of times, due to the files being part of a 2015 US defamation case by Virginia Giuffre against her, though the name Maxwell appears still more, sometimes in reference to legal matters and footnotes.

References to Maxwell were made throughout the documents, with various other witnesses being asked about her involvement with Epstein in their separate testimonies.

Much of the information in the third and fourth tranches of evidence, released on Friday, was taken from Maxwells own despositions. They included questions over her interactions with Prince Andrew and Ms Giuffre as well as with former president Bill Clinton and others.

She is currently serving 20 years in prison, having been convicted sex-trafficking underage girls in June 2022.

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson

Prince Andrew has been named more than 100 times accross all sets of documents. The Duke of York was named 67 times with his Royal title in the first batch, though he also appears multiple times as simply Andrew in multiple other instances, including Maxwells deposition.

Testimony concerning the dukes alleged conduct is detailed in the documents, much of which he has previously denied.

Evidence from Epstein victim Johanna Sjoberg, claimed the duke touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside the US billionaires Manhattan apartment in 2001.

Andrews name also cropped up in testimony about his now-notorius alleged visit to Tramp nightclub in London, which became a focal point of his 2019 sit-down television interview with journalist Emily Maitlis.

During the interview the duke claimed he has a peculiar medical condition whereby he cannot sweat  in response to Ms Guiffres claims he was perspiring in the club.

Andrew has always strongly denied the allegations against him, while Buckingham Palace previously said all accusations made against the duke are categorically untrue.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, is also named  having reportedly visited Epsteins New York mansion with her then-husband, Andrew, according to testimony from former Epstein employee Juan Alessi.

Andrew was also mentioned in the latest batches of documents, released on Monday and Tuesday, the latter of which contained deposition from Epstein himself.

The disgraced financier was asked whether he had attempted to blackmail Andrew after his alleged sexual encounter with Ms Giuffre, who claimed she was paid $15,000 to have sex with the duke.

He was asked whether he had told Ms Giuffre that she had to give him a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew did to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use. Epstein pleaded the fifth amendement to the majority of the questions.

He was also quizzed on what he knew about Andrews sexual preferences, and on whether Ms Giuffre had recounted specific behaviour that Prince Andrew requested before sexual intercourse.

Former US President Bill Clinton arrives prior to a tribute service for former US First Lady Rosalynn Carter, at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 28, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Bill Clinton

Clintons name was mentioned 83 times in the first two batches of documents, though the number is now well over 100 also. Both he and Andrew are known to have been associated with Epstein previously.

Part of the testimony from Ms Sjoberg alleges that Epstein once told her that Clinton likes them young  referring to girls.

In the days leading up to the unsealing, it was reported that Clinton would be referred to more than 50 times in the redacted documents, having been given the pseudonym John Doe 36, according to the New York Post.

Many of the references to the former president were reportedly believed to stem from Ms Giuffres early attempts to compel him to testify against Epstein and Maxwell.

The second batch included evidence that claimed the former president had ridden in Epsteins private helicopter with Maxwell and Ms Giuffre and attempted to threaten Vanity Fair into not writing about Epsteins alleged sex trafficking.

Ms Giuffre claimed that Clinton had walked into the magazines office and pressured them not to write about his good friend J.E, the documents stated.

Shortly before the documents were released Clinton was seen visiting Mexico with his wife, Hillary Clinton, whose name now also appears in the documents.

In the latest batch, released on Monday, Epstein victim Sarah Ransome, also detailed the alleged sexual relationship between an unnamed friend and the former president. She testified that her friend had to have sexual intercourse with Clinton in Epsteins New York Mansion just off 5th Avenue on numerous occasions.

Clinton denies this and any wrongdoing and none of the individuals Ms Ransome made the allegations against have been formally accused or charged with any crime in connection to Epstein.

In the deposition, Ms Ransome testified that her friend later came forward to report what happened to the police in 2008 but said that nothing was done and she was made to feel like a dirty whore and a liar.

A couple of months later, her friend was allegedly approached by Special Agents Forces Men sent directly by Hilary (sic) Clinton herself, in order to protect her presidential campaign in 2008, Ms Ransome testified.

They heavily intimidated her, ruffled her up (luckily she took photos as evidence) and was then forced to sign a confidentiality agreement which ensures that she can never come forward publicly implicating her husband, she testified.

Ms Ransome went on to testify that the friend was given a substantial payout directly from the Clinton Foundation to keep her quiet.

Clinton also appeared during questioning of Epstein, who was asked about their relationship and whether they had taken international trips together.

In her testimony, Maxwell said that categorically, definitively, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, when I was present or any other time that I am aware of, was President Clinton ever on that island, referring to Epsteins private island of St Little James.

I do not believe he went to that island ever ever, that is an absolute fabrication and an absolute flat out lie, she said.

Donald Trump

Clinton is not the only former commander-in-chief to appear in the documents. Donald Trump was named a handful of times in several batches, the latest of which contain allegations from Ms Ransome.

Ms Ransome testified that her unnamed friend was one of the many girls that had sexual relations with Donald Trump  including at Epsteins New York townhouse.

She confided in me about her casual friendship with Donald. Mr Trump definitely seemed to have a thing for her and she told me how he kept going on about how he liked her pert nipples, she testified. She then described in graphic detail how Mr Trump allegedly caused pain to the victims nipples  and claimed she saw the resulting injury firsthand.

I also know she had sexual relations with Trump at Jefferys NY mansion on regular occasions as I once met Jen for coffee, just before she was going to meet Trump and Epstein together at his mansion.

Jeffrey Epstein (left) and Donald Trump (right) (Getty Images)

A Trump spokeperson told The Independent: These baseless accusations have been fully retracted because they are simply false and have no merit.

In part of testimony released in the final batch of documents on Tuesday, Ms Giuffre said in a deposition that she never saw Mr Trump participate in the sexual abuse of minors.

Other mention of Mr Trump, while not accusing him of wrongdoing, appeared to illustrate the good relationship he had with Epstein.

In part of testimony from another victim Johanna Sjoberg, it was claimed Epstein once called up the former president and visited one of his casinos after his private plane was diverted to Atlantic City in New Jersey.

Ms Sjoberg said that while travelling on the plane with the disgraced financier the pilots had said that they were unable to land in New York as planned.

Jeffrey said, Great, well call up Trump and well go to -- I dont recall the name of the casino, but -- well go to the casino, the testimony read. Elsewhere, Ms Sjoberg was asked if she ever gave Mr Trump a massage, to which she replied no.

Several more mentions of Mr Trump were made in the documents released last Friday, when Mr Alessi testified he had driven Maxwell to the former presidents Mar-A-Lago home.

Mr Alessi also said that Mr Trump would sometimes come round for dinner at Epsteins home but ate with Mr Alessi in the kitchen. Mr Trump did not get massages at the Palm Beach house because he had his own spa, Mr Alessi said.

Richard Branson

The UK billionaire had previously appeared in Maxwells notorious little black book, details of which emerged during her trial in 2021. This did not accuse him of any wrongdoing.

Mr Bransons name appeared again in the documents released on Monday, alongside Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, in Ms Ransomes testimony. She testified that an unnamed friend had sexual intercourse with Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson on separate occasions.

Ms Ransome testified under oath that these encounters had been filmed by Epstein  and that she herself had later seen the sex tapes. She said that the footage clearly identify the faces of the men.

A spokesperson for Mr Branson responded to email claims by citing a 2019 New Yorker article which stated that Ms Ransome had admitted to fabricating the sex tape claims to draw attention to Epstein.

A Virgin Group spokeswoman said: In a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had invented the tapes.We can confirm that Sarah Ransomes claims are baseless and unfounded.

We categorically reject all allegations made by Sarah Ransome. In 2016, Ms Ransome retracted her claims and then in 2019 after settling her claims with Epstein and Maxwell, she also admitted to The New Yorker that the tapes had been invented. The allegations are baseless and unfounded, the statement read.

The actions of Jeffrey Epstein were abhorrent and we support the right to justice for the many victims impacted by his abuse.

Les Wexner

The final batch of documents, unsealed on Tuesday, contained claims from Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to former Victoria Secrets CEO Les Wexner.

The allegations emerged in a 2016 deposition by Ms Giuffre and is the first time that Mr Wexner has been accused of having sex with underage girls.

In the documents, Ms Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to have sex with Mr Wexner between three and ten times during the time that she was recruited by Epstein and Maxwell. Ms Giuffre said that she was instructed by Maxwell to wear lingerie for Mr Wexner - which Maxwell went on to categorically deny in her own deposition.

When asked why she had said in a previous interrogation by police that she didnt believe Mr Wexner would say the truth, Ms Giuffre said that it was because he had done things that were wrong.

He participated in sex with minors, Ms Giuffre elaborated.

A spokesperson told Business Insider: Mr Wexner was unaware of, and was never a participant in, any of the abhorrent behavior engaged in by Epstein against Epsteins victims, that Mr Wexner had never met Ms Guiffre, and that any claims to the contrary were not true.

The Independent has also reached out to L Brands group for comment.

David Copperfield

US magician David Copperfield was named six times in the first set of documents, having also reportedly had dined with Epstein on occasion.

File: Magician David Copperfield attends the 2018 Footwear News Achievement Awards at IAC Headquarters on December 4, 2018 in New York City (Getty Images)

Part of one exhibit read: David Copperfield was at a dinner at Epsteins and there was another girl present who looked young and Johanna [Sjoberg] asked what school she went to and Johanna did not recognize the school name as being a college and she said it was possible it was a high school aged girl.

Johanna said Copperfield questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls.

Copperfields relationship with Epstein has previously been noted, including in a 2019 article from The New York Times, which described Maxwells role in acquiring young girls for the disgraced financier.

Hollywood stars

Other big Hollywood names have also appeared throughout different tranches of the documents, though mostly just once or twice during Ms Sjobergs testimony.

She is asked about meeting guests at Epsteins residence, including Star Wars creator George Lucas  who is mentioned once  and actor Kevin Spacey, who is mentioned twice. Ms Sjoberg says she does not remember meeting either man.

She also does not remember meeting British supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is named once in the documents. Other big indsutry names included Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.

Diazs representative told The Independent: Cameron never met Jeffrey Epstein, nor was she ever in the same place as him or had any association with him whatsoever, regardless of the fact he may or may not have mentioned her name or implied that he knew her.

Reps for DiCaprio and Blanchett also denied any involvement with the paedophile.

Late King of Pop Michael Jackson is also named twice, after Ms Sjolberg is asked if she met anybody famous while with Epstein. She said she did meet Jackson.

On Friday, Spacey was mentioned again as well as comedian Chris Tucker  both of whom were alleged to have been potential passengers during a ride on Epsteins private jet.

In the final batch of documents other famous names appeared including super-model Heidi Klum and Bianca Jagger, wife of The Rolling Stones frontman, Sir Mick Jagger.

Alleged Epstein victim Sarah Ransome claimed in a 2016 deposition that she had contacted human rights activist Ms Jagger for help.

Alan Dershowitz

Epsteins lawyer Alan Dershowitz is also named hundreds times, though in some places this is simply in footnotes referring to legal matters.

However in other material it is claimed that the former Harvard Law School professor was one of several powerful individuals that Epstein made young women have sexual relations with on numerous occasions.

Ms Sjoberg is also asked about having sexual relations with Mr Dershowitz specifically, in the back of a limousine, during her testimony. She denies this happened.

Mr Dershowitz was previously accused by Ms Guiffre of sexual abuse, claiming that she was trafficked by Epstein to him for sex. Mr Dershowitz has vehemently denied all claims.

Prior to the unsealing of the documents, he said that he wanted every last document and piece of paper relating to Epstein to be publicly released  asserting that it will prove that he did nothing wrong.

Sharon Churcher

British journalist Sharon Churcher made over 300 appearances in the second tranche of documents, released on Thursday  her first appearance in the documents.

Ms Churcher was the sole source of regarding the original Epstein story from Giuffre, according to the response filing. Maxwell also claimed she helped Virginia Giuffre concoct sexual assault allegations against the Duke of York.

In one document from 2016 Maxwells lawyers made submissions that Ms Churcher should be compelled to give evidence as part of the case.

She was actively and personally involved in changing those stories over time and in the creation and addition of new salacious details about public figures, including the fabrication of Alan Dershowitzs alleged sexual relations with Plaintiff, the document said.

References to Ms Churcher were made in later batches, during parts of Ms Guiffres deposition.
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An associate of Jeffrey Epstein offered to introduce him to a 16-year-old girl under the pretext of giving him "Russian lessons", court documents reveal.

A message left for Epstein by one of his employees in 2005 claims that Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model scout who died in 2022 while awaiting trial for child rape, had found a "teacher" who could give Epstein "free lessons".

"He has a teacher for you to teach how to speak Russian. She is two times eight years old. Not blond," the message reads. "Lessons are free and you can have your first today if you call."

The creepy message was seized by Florida police during their first investigation into Epstein back in 2005-6, before resurfacing in a tranche of newly uncensored documents made public on Monday.

The documents come from a long-running defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, who was convicted in 2021 of trafficking under-age girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.

During a 2016 deposition, Maxwell was asked what she knew about Epstein's relationship with Brunel and whether Brunel had ever brought girls to any of Epstein's houses for sex.

Brunel, who had long been accused of sexual assaulting his models, died by apparent suicide in a French prison while charged with rape and under investigation for supplying girls to Epstein.

Maxwell, however, told lawyers that she did not know whether Brunel had ever sent a 16-year-old girl to Epstein's home for sex or any other reason, nor whether Epstein had ever had sex with a 16-year-old Russian girl.

After a break, Maxwell was then asked 28 times in total whether she believed that Epstein had ever had sex with under-age girls, each time refusing to answer or saying that she did not want to "speculate".
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I am afraid of my husband, Jennifer Dulos wrote in 2017 court documents as she filed for divorce from husband Fotis Dulos.

I know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

Two years later, the mother-of-fives ominous prediction appeared to come true.

On 24 May 2019, Jennifer dropped the former couples five children off at their elite, private school in New Canaan, Connecticut.

She hasnt been seen or heard from since. Her body has never been found.

Months later, Jennifers estranged husband Fotis was arrested and charged with her murder.

The luxury home builder, originally from Greece, insisted he was innocent  with his attorney even making the wild claim that Jennifer staged her own disappearance akin to the plot in the movie Gone Girl.

But the case against Fotis never went to trial as he killed himself one morning when he was due to appear in court.

With Jennifer and Fotis both dead, the truth of what happened appeared to go to the grave.

Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping their five children off at school in New Canaan. She hasnt been seen or heard from since and is presumed dead (New Canaan Police Department )

But, two other people also allegedly know at least in part what happened to Jennifer as they stand accused of helping Fotis cover up his murder plot.

Michelle Troconis, Fotis girlfriend, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution in Jennifers disappearance and death. Her trial is about to begin on Thursday 11 January in Stamford, Connecticut.

Kent Mawhinney, an attorney and former friend of Fotis, is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors say he tried to provide an alibi for Fotis on the morning of Jennifers disappearance. No trial date has been set for Mr Mawhinney. He was freed from house arrest in May 2023 but, as of October, must continue to wear a GPS monitoring device on his ankle, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges and have denied having anything to do with Jennifers disappearance and murder.

Its a mysterious and tragic case that has drawn international news coverage and led to multiple TV documentaries and movies as it rumbled on for several years.

But the saga is far from over.

Heres what we know so far:

What happened to Jennifer Dulos?

Jennifer, a 50-year-old New York native, was last seen alive on 24 May 2019.

She and Fotis, who had been married for 13 years, were in the midst of a contentious divorce and child custody battle.

In the 2017 divorce filing, Jennifer wrote that she was afraid of her estrangedh husband and feared that he might retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

She went on to say her husband had shown irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening and controlling behavior.

On the morning she was last seen alive, she had dropped the couples five children off at school in the wealthy enclave of New Canaan  where she had moved with them since leaving the family home.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in 2020 just weeks after being charged with his wife Jennifer Dulos murder (AP)

She was reported missing by her friends about 10 hours later, after she failed to show up for appointments and stopped returning calls and texts.

Her 2017 Chevrolet Suburban was later found at a park near her home.

Did Fotis Dulos kill Jennifer Dulos?

A little over a week after Jennifer was reported missing, Fotis and his then-girlfriend Ms Troconis were arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

Investigators said that Fotis had been spotted on surveillance footage driving to and from New Canaan on the day Jennifer went missing, in a pickup truck belonging to one of his employees.

Footage later captured Fotis  this time with Ms Troconis riding in the front seat of the vehicle  stopping in Hartford, with Fotis seen tossing garbage bags into more than 30 trash bins in the area.

Inside the trash bags, investigators found clothing belonging to Jennifer and plastic zip ties that tested positive for her DNA.

In 2019, Michelle Troconis, left, and Fotis Dulos, right, were arrested on charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos (New Canaan Police Department via AP)

A blood-like substance with Jennifers DNA was also found in the pickup truck, according to a warrant released by the Connecticut State Police in September 2019.

The owner of the truck told police Fotis had later told him to replace the seats in the truck and got pushy and angry when he didnt.

Ms Troconis, who was living with Fotis in his Farmington home at the time, told investigators that he had the vehicle cleaned because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there, according to a warrant. She has denied knowing what was in the bags Fotis dumped.

Fotis and Ms Troconis were hit with further charges of tampering with evidence in September 2019.

Then, on 7 January 2020, Connecticut state police charged Fotis with murder, felony murder and kidnapping.

Ms Troconis and Mr Mawhinney were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Investigators said they believed Fotis had beenlying in wait for Jennifer when she returned to her home after taking the children to school.

Police believe that Fotis attacked his estranged wife in her garage and then drove off with her body.

According to the arrest warrants, Fotis may have been motivated by money. Jennifer came from a wealthy background, while Fotis was $7m in debt and would have had some access to the childrens trust funds if she died.

Following the arrest, the couples five children, who were between the ages of 8 and 13 when she disappeared, went to live with her mother, Gloria Farber, in New York.

How did Fotis Dulos die?

Fotis pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied having anything to do with Jennifers disappearance.

His defence attorney, Norm Pattis, even suggested Jennifer may have staged her disappearance to frame Fotis  in a Gone Girl style plot.

Two days after his arrest, he walked free from prison after posting $6m bond.

But, he was summoned back to Stamford Superior Court for an emergency bond hearing after the company that posted the $6m bond learned that two properties offered as collateral were subject to foreclosure and a third was overvalued.

At the hearing  28 January 2020  Fotis likely would have been sent back to jail.

But Fotis failed to show up in court.

Officers went to his home and found Fotis unresponsive. He was rushed to hospital, where he died two days later. His death was ruled a suicide.

On the day Fotis Dulos was found unresponsive, he had been facing an emergency bond hearing in Stamford Superior Court where he could have been sent back to jail (Norwalk Hour)

Fotis left behind a suicide note, in which he continued to insist his innocence.

In the note, he declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes that the state has accused him of and claimed his lawyers have the evidence to prove it, his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

When is Michelle Troconis going on trial?

Ms Troconis, 49, is facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and second-degree hindering prosecution.

She has pleaded not guilty, with her trial set to begin on 11 January. The judge said it could last through 1 March.

Just weeks before the trial was set to begin, the judge ruled that prosecutors may not use evidence obtained from a warrantless search of her phone, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Her phone had been seized on 31 May 2019 without a warrant during a search of Fotis Farmington home.

Connecticut State Police Sgt Mike Beauton Jr testified that police needed to seize it to prevent the owner from manipulating or deleting any potential evidence on it.

But state Superior Court Senior Judge Kevin Randolph granted a motion filed by Ms Troconis defense seeking to have it thrown out.

While this marked a win for Ms Troconis, the judge also refused to have her taped interviews with police thrown out.

In the interrogation video, Ms Troconis gave investigators her version of events on the day of Jennifers disappearance.

Cops launch new search of Connecticut park where Jennifer Dulos' car was found

She said she dropped her daughter off at school, ran errands and had lunch with Fotis at his Farmington home.

They then went to one of Fotis properties to clean it, and went for coffee in West Hartford, she claimed. On the way there, she said Fotis dumped trash bags while she was in the truck. Ms Troconis said she didnt know what was in the bags.

Her attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued that the tapes should be inadmissible as she was pushed to answer questions while tired and was denied her basic rights  including repeatedly asking for her attorney, while struggling with a language barrier.

The judge disagreed, paving the way for the evidence to be presented in court.

Ahead of the start of the trial, Jennifers family released a statement: It is hard to believe that almost four and a half years have elapsed since Jennifer disappeared, and she still has not been found.

Every day, we miss her voice, her laugh, her gentle demeanor, her inner and outer strength, her insight, her guidance, her determination, her way with words, her love, her faith, her goodness. Many thanks to all who have helped to keep Jennifers memory alive.

We are relieved that the trial process is underway, and we are endlessly grateful to the Connecticut States Attorneys office for their commitment, diligent work, and support.

Days before the trial was due to start  and over four years after she was last seen alive  Jennifer was officially declared dead.

Jennifers Law

While Jennifers family continue to wait for justice, the mother-of-fives tragic story has led to legislative change in Connecticut.

In 2021, Jennifers Law was passed in the state, expanding the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.

The law is named after two Jennifers who were victims of domestic violence  Jennifer Dulos and Jennifer Magnano.

Jennifer Magnano was shot by her estranged husband Scott in front of their children on 23 August 2007.

The couple were in the midst of a bitter divorce and child custody dispute and he had been ordered to stay away from the house where she and their three children lived. Magnanos (now adult) children helped push for the passage of the law.

The mother-of-fives tragic story has led to legislative change in Connecticut (New Canaan Police Department)

The bill, SB 1091, has now established a new program to provide legal representation for domestic violence victims who file restraining orders.

Victims of domestic violence can now testify remotely in court proceedings for matters such as restraining orders, protective orders or standard criminal protective orders.

The definition of domestic violence has also been expanded to include threatening, humiliating, or intimidating acts that harm a person and deprive them of their freedom.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
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The Las Vegas felon who attacked a judge in a violent outburst in court last week has been charged with her attempted murder.

Deobra Redden, 30, was in court to be sentenced for a felony battery charge last Wednesday when he leaped over the defence table and the judges bench and landed on top of District Judge Mary Kay Holthus.

A criminal complaint obtained by CNN has now revealed that Redden has been hit with new charges of attempted murder over the incident.

He also faces counts of battery on a protected person, extortion and intimidating a public officer, among other charges.

Some of these charges refer to him allegedly fighting a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer, a clerk and a marshal, and spitting on an officer, the complaint reportedly states.

In the violent attack, caught on camera, Redden landed on top of the judge and immediately attacked her by grabbing her, pulling her hair, placing his hands around her throat and/or hitting her on the head, court documents state.

Following the attack, he allegedly told corrections officers that he was having a bad day and wanted to kill the judge.

He also allegedly told an officer, Judge has it out for me and Judge is evil, previous court documents also reported.

The judge sustained minor injuries, but she was back at work the following day, Chief Judge Jerry Wiese said at a press conference on Thursday.

A court marshal, Shane Brandon, was hospitalised for a head injury but was later released. A law clerk, Michael Lasso, was also treated for cuts on his hand.

Court video shows Redden attacking the judge (Clark County District Court via AP)

On Monday, Redden appeared in front of Judge Holtus once again  this time shackled and closely watched  to resume his sentencing for the original case of battery. He was given 19 months to four years in prison.

I want to make it clear I am not changing or modifying the sentence I was in the process of imposing last week before I was interrupted by the defendants actions, the judge said to the defendant, who had a mask covering his face and orange gloves on his hands.

Following this, Redden returned to court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in connection to his violent eruption in court last week, facing the new set of charges.

The shocking incident was captured on a now-viral video, when the defendant had supermanned across at the judge.

Before he attacked the judge, he asked Judge Holthus to be lenient with him, describing himself as a person who never stops trying to do the right thing no matter how hard it is.

Im not a rebellious person, he told the judge, later adding that he didnt think he needed a prison sentence.

Redden appeared back in front of Judge Holtus on Monday (Clark County District Court via AP)

But if its appropriate for you, then you have to do what you have to do.

As Judge Holthus made it clear to the defendant that he would be going to prison and a court marshal moved to put handcuffs on him, Redden lunged at the judge.

Redden, who was not in custody at the time, had been heard saying, Nah, f*** that b****, before he leapt towards her.

He then allegedly slammed the judges head against a wall, struck her head once and pulled some of her hair out, according to documents obtained by 8 News Now.

She then hid under her desk, balled up covering her face, while he was wrestled to the floor by court officials, who were seen throwing punches. Redden was initially jailed on $54,000 bail in connection to the attack.

Reddens foster mother, Karen Springer, and his older sister, LaDonna Daniels, told reporters that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, despite court records saying he was found competent to stand trial, The Associated Press reported.

No disrespect. Were not denying what he did, Ms Springer said, adding that she was shocked when Redden just snapped last Wednesday.

He struggles with his illness, Ms Daniels said, noting that her brother had not been in treatment recently. Its a chemical imbalance. I dont think sending him to prison will help.

He is slated to appear back in court on 14 February.
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A woman has been accused of poisoning her husbands soup after she was catfished by a fake soap opera star.

Roxanne Doucette, 64, stood on her doorstep in tears, talking to local reporters after news broke about the bizarre case, claiming that she did not poison her husband and that she loved him.

The Townsend, Massachusetts, woman has been charged with attempted murder and is currently under investigation for allegedly giving her husband poisoned soup,WBZsaid.

However, she claims the soup was just old.

I didnt poison him, Ms Doucette said. Ive never, ever tried to poison him in any way whatsoever. I love him very, very much. And I would never try to kill anyone.

She also relayed this message to WCVB, adding that what people were saying was wrong because she is a wonderful cook.

Her husband of around 45 years, 73-year-old Paul Doucette, ate the soup in early December and, hours later, was rushed to hospital.

The couples daughter met them there, but she became increasingly suspicious and looked through her mothers phone.

What she found was messages from a scammer claiming to be The Bold and the Beautiful actor Thorsten Kaye,

According to court documents, there are messages on that phone from the scammer telling Ms Doucette that they loved her and they wanted her to leave her husband, with one message reading: You have to get rid of your husband, honey. I need you so much.

Ms Doucette denied to local reporters that she poisoned her husband (WBZ-TV)

Ms Doucette replied, saying she needed time to think, before later responding, Making an amazing soup. Special potion. He will be hungry when he gets back. Just enough for him.

Another text message in their conversation from Ms Doucette said, Hubby got back not feeling well. Maybe I can collect life insurance.

She admitted to WBZthat her conversation with the fake soap star was a scam, but she still claims that she had not poisoned her husband.

She told WCVBthat she thinks he had a TIA, otherwise known as a mini-stroke.

When she called 911 to report her husbands illness, she said he was unresponsive but breathing and had a cardiac history.

Ms Doucette also told investigators that her husband was under a lot of stress because of the scam, Boston25reported.

Despite what happened to him, Mr Doucette is recovering. A limited toxicology test came back negative for opioids, cocaine and alcohol, WCVB reported.

Mr Doucette later told his daughter that his wife had made soup, but it wasnt very good and tasted bitter, a police report said.

Ms Doucette has been ordered to stay away from her husband and undergo a mental health evaluation. She will appear back in court on Thursday.

The Independent has contacted the Townsend Police Department for further information.
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Jeffrey Epstein severed ties to Donald Trump when he realised the former president was a crook, his brother has claimed.

Mark Epstein, brother of the late paedophile, said he did not have any specific information about the reason that the two fell out, but that he had heard video evidence of Epsteins claims.

Mr Trumps name has appeared several times in the recently unsealed court documents which detail information about the disgraced financiers associates.

While being mentioned does not mean that an individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein, some of the documents have contained allegations against Mr Trump.

A Trump spokeperson told The Independent that any accusations were baseless and had been fully retracted because they are simply false and have no merit.

The former presidents relationship with Epstein was well documented, though they reportedly suffered a falling out in the 1990s.

I heard a videotape interview with Jeff and he said he stopped hanging out with Donald Trump when he realised Trump was a crook.

Mr Trump had previously spoken of his friendship with Epstein, telling New York Magazine in 2002 that he has known Jeff for fifteen years.

Hes a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it  Jeffrey enjoys his social life, he told the magazine.

Their falling out occurred prior to Epstein pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

However, when Mr Trump embarked on his 2016 presidential campaign, Epstein said he thought he could win and reportedly later boasted that he knew several people in Mr Trumps elite circle and several potential cabinet members.

Despite this alleged rekindling of their associations, Mr Trump once again distanced himself from Epstein when Epstein was arrested in 2019. At the time the former president claimed they had not spoken in about 15 years.

I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you, he said at the time.
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A drug ganglord who ran Ecuadors most powerful cartel from behind bars is the man responsible for causing a national crisis, with a state emergency declared across the South American country.

Despite being incarcerated since 2011, the walls around his prison cell failed to prevent Adolfo Macias Villamar from successfully operating the feared Los Choneros gang, which has been linked to drug trafficking and murder.

Yet his escape from prison has caused widespread chaos, with President Daniel Noboa forced to impose a nightly curfew after Ecuadorian gangsters unleashed a wave of deadly violence.

Macias, aka Fito, seen posing in his lavishly decorated prison cell (Supplied)

More than 130 prison staff are currently being held hostage by inmates across five jails, while police officers have been killed and bombs have been detonated.

In one particularly shocking incident, masked gunmen stormed a public TV studio during a live broadcast in the city of Guayaquil, and forced terrified employees to the ground. While they were eventually overpowered by soldiers and arrested, the footage of the cowering presenters has made headlines across the globe.

Known as Fito, the notorious 44-year-old gang leader is believed to be the source of the most recent surge of violence after he successfully escaped from the La Regional prison on 7 January.

He had been due to be transferred to La Roca, a smaller prison with fewer inmates but a government spokesperson said that he may have been tipped off as early as Christmas. While the details of how he absconded are unclear, two prison guards have been charged with assisting him.

Gunmen storm TV station in Ecuador live on air after state of emergency declared

It has been reported that the infamous criminal had a medical check up on Christmas Day, and that a body double may have replaced him. Speaking of his escape, former minister of the interior, Jose Serrano, said that Fito left through the front door.

Formed in 2005, Los Choneros has become the most fearsome cartel in Ecuador, and has links to criminal organisations across Colombia and Mexico, including the Sinaloa cartel.

Since the 2020 killing of its previous leader, Jorge Zambrano, the group has fallen into a cycle of violence with splinter groups fighting over territory and control.

This includes within prison facilities, which are controlled by inmates and cartel loyalties, rather than guards or the security forces. While individual cells can be rented from the more powerful inmates, drugs and alcohol can also easily be smuggled inside while different cartels will have control over certain wings.

Fitos rumoured girlfriend was once caught smuggling herself out of his cell (Supplied)

Through wielding his influence, Fito was reportedly able to continue operating the Los Choneros from his own cell, which had been transformed into a private bunker. He has even been able to gain a diploma in criminal law and has amassed a fortune of 23 million dollars through shell companies and illegal activities.

In a bizarre music video recorded by his daughter last year, the bearded gang leader can be seen petting his cockerel and relaxing with fellow inmates, with murals and a bejewelled horseshoe adorning the walls.

Despite being incarcerated for over a decade, he has maintained a relationship with his glamorous girlfriend Veronica Briones Zambrano, who was pictured leaving his cell in the middle of a prison riot in 2021.

She was caught while escaping dressed as a guard but identified herself as Fitos girlfriend and admitted she had been staying with him for a week.

Aerial view of the Regional 8 prison in Guayaquil from where Fito escaped (AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview with Ecuadorian journalists three years ago, Fito warned that any attempts to move him or other close associated would trigger a sudden death scenario with multiple prison riots.

Gang fights and rebellions have increasingly occurred in recent years, with 79 inmates killed in February 2021 after riots broke out in four prisons, while 123 were murdered in Litoral prison the following year.

With cocaine recently reaching a record high, Ecuadors large ports along the Pacific coast have led it to become an attractive hub for criminal organisations who are hoping to explore new smuggling avenues.

This latest bout of violence has triggered a 60-day state of emergency, with the president ordering that criminal gangs be neutralised.

Violence has erupted on the streets of Ecuador (AP)

Mr Noboa also announced that Ecuador would begin to deport foreign prisoners, especially Colombians, to reduce the number of inmates, while schools have closed and streets have emptied.

Eight people have killed and three injured in attacks linked to criminal gangs on Tuesday while two police officers were killed by "armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol.

Yet while carnage is consuming the streets of Ecuador, the location of the man at the centre of the chaos remains a mystery.
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The former husband of Republican representative Lauren Boebert has been arrested on assault and weapons charges days after an alleged altercation between the ex-couple.

Jayson Boebert is facing six charges, including prohibited use of weapons, third-degree assault and obstructing a peace officer, according to Garfield County Jail records seen by The Daily Beast.

Mr Boebert was arrested on Tuesday, three days after he and his ex-wife, Ms Boebert, got into an altercation at a restaurant in Colorado.

The Silt Police Department have been investigating the incident that took place in the restaurant, but it is not immediately clear if Mr Boeberts arrest is connected to it.

He was also arrested on charges of harassment (strikes, shoves, kicks), disorderly conduct, and third-degree trespassing, the outlet reported.

All the charges are misdemeanours, apart from trespassing, which is classified as a petty offence.

Mr Boebert was released the same day on a $2,500 bail, the outlet said.

Mr Boebert filed a complaint that evening claiming that Ms Boebert punched him in the restaurant, saying to police he was a victim of domestic violence, according to a Boebert aide who spoke to The Daily Beast.

Ms Boebert has cited that the drama surrounds her former husband is one reason she plans to move districts (Getty Images)

However, Ms Boebert has denied these claims; her spokesperson told The Independent that the reports were bogus and that the drama surrounding her former husband is one of the reasons she plans to move districts.

This is a sad situation for all that keeps escalating and another reason Im moving, Ms Boebert said. I didnt punch Jayson in the face, and no one was arrested. I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.

The incident occurred after Ms Boebern drove to her ex-husbands home to pick up one of her sons, a source told the outlet.

Mr Boebert is reported to have tried to hug his ex-wife, who then allegedly pushed him away.

He then called the congresswoman later that evening to apologise and asked if they could meet; Ms Boebert agreed but only if it was in public.

The pair met at Miners Claim restaurant, where Mr Boebert purportedly began being disrespectful, an a**hole and lewd to his ex-wife, who did not respond well to this, which allegedly aggravated Mr Boebert, the aide claimed.

Mr Boebert allegedly reached out to grab Ms Boebert, which she reportedly tried to stop happening by putting her hand in his face and on his nose.

After this, Mr Boebert is reported to have called the police, but at the time, no arrests were made.

Mr Boebert told The Daily Beast in a statement that I made a mistake. We both overreacted. I only want whats best for [the] boys, and I still love her very much.

We both share some hurt deep down inside... It seems we just keep pushing each other further apart, he added. I want the best for her. Its probably just best that I remain silent.

He also told The Denver Post on Sunday that he does not want to press charges and that he and Ms Boebert were working through a difficult conversation.

The Independent has contacted the Silt Police Department, Ms Boeberts office, and Mr Boebert via Facebook for comment.
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Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert has been cleared of domestic violence allegations made by her ex-husband during an altercation at a Colorado restaurant, police have said.

Jayson Boebert had accused his ex-wife of punching him in the face but he later recanted his claim. According to police, the restaurant did not have any surveillance video recording at the time and no witnesses came forward to provide a statement about what happened.

Due to a lack of any evidence, the allegations of domestic violence against Rep Lauren Boebert are unfounded and the investigation into Rep Lauren Boebert is closed, Silt police said in a statement. Ms Boebert had previously denied the allegations.

Mr Boebert was arrested Tuesday for third-degree criminal trespass, obstruction and disorderly conduct in connection with the restaurant incident, Kite said, along with other charges pursued by county authorities. He was released the same day, according to jail records.

Jayson Boebert did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the Associated Press.

Representative Lauren Boebert (Getty Images)

Ms Boebert recently announced she was planning to move into a more conservative district before she runs for re-election again in 2024. She was nearly defeated in her own district in 2022, winning by only 500 votes.

She previously asserted that her ex-husband was part of the reason that she was forced to move districts.

Details of the incident at the Miners Claim restaurant on Saturday night are unclear, however the Daily Beast reported that Ms Boebert had driven to her ex-husbands home earlier in the day to pick up one of her sons.

Mr Boebert reportedly tried to hug his ex-wife and she allegedly pushed him away. He then called later that evening to apologise and asked if they could meet, which the congresswoman agreed to, the outlet reported.

An aide to Ms Boebert later claimed that Mr Boebert began being disrespectful and lewd to the congresswoman when the pair met later at the Miners Claim restaurant, in Silt, Colorado.

The congresswoman previously made headlines in September, after she and a guest were kicked out of a musical performance of Beetlejuice in Denver (NBC)

Mr Boebert allegedly reached out to grab Ms Boebert, which she reportedly tried to fight off by putting her hand in his face and on his nose.

He previously told The Denver Post that he called police on Sunday morning to say he didnt want to press charges. I dont want nothing to happen, Mr Boebert said. Her and I were working through a difficult conversation.

Ms Boebert has built a national profile in Washington during her relatively short time in Washington, known for her often assertive style, and has aligned with the extreme right wing of the GOP.

The congresswoman previously made headlines in September, after she and a guest were kicked out of a musical performance of Beetlejuice in Denver after guests complained they were vaping, singing, using phones and causing a disturbance. She later apologised.
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An aide of the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been missing since a New York court unsealed details about the case earlier this week.

Nadia Marcinko, also known as Nada Marcinkova, has not been seen at her home in New Yorks Upper East Side since the public release of the Epstein files, according to the New York Post.

The documents had previously been sealed and revealed details about high-profile figures linked to Epstein, including Prince Andrew, magician David Copperfield and former US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. All those parties have vehemently denied having knowledge of Epsteins criminal activities or participating in any wrongdoing.

Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

While many of the associates named were high profile, not much is known about Marcinko.

Who is Nadia Marcinko?

The model-turned-pilot is believed to have been brought to the US from Slovakia by Epstein in 2001 when she was just 15 years old.

She was once reportedly referred to by Epstein as his sex slave, according to testimonies by other victims, and is believed to have visited Epstein in the Florida jail more than 70 times while he was locked up.

Marcinko, who was known as Global Girl, also reportedly flew on Epsteins so-called Lolita Express private jet, a name it received because young girls were flown aboard it.

However, despite Marcinkos aviation credentials, it is not known if she ever piloted the plane.

Marcinko is also reported to be CEO of Aviloop LLC, which offers a wide range of services designed to accelerate the growth of brands in the aviation industry.

The firm is listed as being based at a New York building owned by Epsteins brother Mark.

What do the documents say about her?

Unsealed court documents allege Marcinko, who has never been charged with any crime, procured young women for Epstein, a claim her lawyers have denied.

Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

Marcinkos attorneys have argued she was only a victim.

She was reportedly granted immunity from prosecution in 2008 as part of Epsteins non-prosecution agreement in Florida.

The documents also reveal she pleaded the fifth 42 times when she was questioned about former President Bill Clinton and other associates of Epstein in a 2010 deposition in a case against the convicted sex offender.

Have you witnessed improper sexual activity between Jeffrey Epstein and minors, while he was in the presence of Bill Clinton? attorneys asked Marcinkova in the deposition.

Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier (REUTERS)

Fifth, she responded.

The licensed pilot was also asked whether she knew Bill Clinton, whether she had even been on a plane with him, and if she knew Doug Band, the former Presidents right-hand man, the documents revealed.

Fifth, she responded once again.

Other names mentioned during Marcinkovas testimony included Jean Luc Brunel, the deceased French modeling scout, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, and Alan Dershowitz, Epsteins former defence lawyer.

Mr Dershowitz previously denied allegations in 2015 that he had sex with an underage girl. In a response just hours after the first tranche of filings were unsealed, Mr Dershowitz again denied those allegations.

Of course Im on that list, I was his lawyer. I flew on his plane, Mr Dershowitz said during a YouTube livestream that he titled The Epstein list and guilt by association. I had an innocent relationship with a man who I didnt know, nobody suspected, had done anything wrong.

A spokesperson for Mr Dubin told The Independent in a statement: The Dubins strongly deny these allegations, as we first said in 2019, when these unsubstantiated statements first surfaced as part of this same civil court proceeding.

Marcinkovas testimony was revealed on Friday in documents that were ordered to be unsealed last week that stem from a 2015 civil suit brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.
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A week ago the first release of unredacted files linked to Jeffrey Epstein made headlines across the world with a whole host of celebrity and politicians names being swept up in the coverage.

But one name that rose above others is Prince Andrew with transcripts of depositions issued from alleged sexual abuse victim Virginia Guiffre and massause Johanna Sjoberg, both providing uncomfortable accusations for the Duke of York.

Ms Guiffre claimed she was paid $15,000 dollars to have sex with Prince Andrew, while Ms Sjoberg said the royal touched her breast in a bizarre alleged incident with the pair posing for a photograph with a puppet of him.

As the fifth, and final, batch of documents was released this week, other details have emerged such as Epsteins former assistant refusing to answer questions on Prince Andrew plus a housekeeper alleging the royal stayed at Epsteins house for weeks where massages were provided to guests as a treat.

Prince Andrew has been the focus of many headlines over the release of legal papers linked to Jeffrey Epstein (AFP via Getty Images)

Prince Andrew has always denied all allegations made against him. Many of the names mentioned in the papers had no direct connection to Epstein and there is no suggestion of them committing any wrongdoing.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Here are the references to Prince Andrew in the release of the papers, which were part of a civil defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell brought by Ms Guiffre which was settled in 2017.

The picture of Prince Andrew and Virginia Guiffre

Epsteins ex-partner Ghislaine Maxwells legal team said journalist Sharon Churchers publication was the first to use the now widely publicised picture of Virginia Guiffre and Prince Andrew, with Ms Guiffre being paid $100,000 for the picture along with a false story by the Daily Mail.

Virginia Guiffre was paid $100,000 for her story and this picture with Prince Andrew by a media outlet, Ghislaine Maxwells legal team claimed (US District Court - Southern Dis)

The team said that despite requests, Ms Guiffre had not provided the original version of the picture, or said when it was taken. They added that as she had worked with the FBI to provide information, and itwas likely she knew of its source.

The date and information on where it was taken was relevant to a civil defamation case taken by Ms Guiffre against Maxwell, which was filed in 2015, the team said.

Epstein paid me $15k to have sex with Prince Andrew

In a recorded disposition from 2016, Ms Giuffre claimed she was paid $15,000 (11,800) by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the Duke of York. She also alleged she was trafficked to the south of France to have intercourse with an unnamed foreign prince.

She was asked: Were you paid 10 to $15,000 by or on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for having sex with Prince Andrew?

She replied: I did receive 15,000 dollars. I do not know the equivalent to what that is in pounds. She was then asked if she paid taxes on the money to which she replied no.

Ms Guiffre, who named Prince Andrew as one of her alleged abusers, also recalled meeting the royal at Club Tramp in Mayfair London where the pair she said spent an hour and had a couple of drinks.

She said she assumed Prince Andrew was drinking alcohol, but couldnt be sure.

Johanna Sjobergs claim Prince Andrew touched her breast

Long known to be one of Jeffrey Epsteins alleged victims, a released testimony by his former masseuse Johanna Sjoberg revealed an allegation against Prince Andrew during a bizarre incident at Epsteins New York home where Ghislaine Maxwell is alleged to have presented a puppet caricature of the royal to himself at.

Virginia Guiffre, speaking at a press conference in 2019, alleged to have been paid $15,000 to have sex with Prince Andrew (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

She said: They decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia [Guiffre] and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on Virginias lap, and I sat on Andrews lap, and they put the puppets hand on Virginias breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.

In a document released by Maxwells legal team as part of the civil case, they said Ms Sjobergs evidence contradicted Ms Guiffres fabricated story. They said Ms Sjoberg did not observe anyone asking Ms Guiffre to do anything sexual, or did she tell Ms Guiffre anything sexual had occurred despite being asked.

The team say Ms Sjoberg only saw Ms Guiffre with one famous person, that being Prince Andrew.

Buckingham Palace denied Prince Andrew sexual allegations

Maxwells legal team, while defending her on the defamation civil case brought by Virginia Guiffre, said Ms Guiffre, in making sexual abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein in 2011, did not initially say Prince Andrew had engaged in any improper sexual contact with her.

However, after other women came forward with allegations, the legal team claimed her story changed in 2015 to say she had been involved in sexual allegations with Prince Andrew.

Messenger said: The press comes calling and asked my client... and Prince Andrew and everyone else whether any of the allegations contained in this legal pleading are true.

She continued: Buckingham Palace said her claims were absolutely untrue.

Maxwell quizzed over Prince Andrew

In 2016, as part of the civil case brought by Virginia Guiffre, Ghislaine Maxwell gave a videotaped desposition in which she was asked about Prince Andrew and allegations made against the royal.

Epsteins Little James Island, where Maxwell said Prince Andrew visited (Reuters)

When asked if she knows him, Maxwell said she had for a very long time, but did not know how or when they first met. She then said she had never introduced Prince Andrew to anyone who was under the age of 18 other than friends of hers with children.

And she stated she had no recollection when asked if she introduced Prince Andrew to Ms Guiffre in London, before adding that she would not remember if Ms Guiffre had stayed at her London home.

She was asked a list of questions about Prince Andrew, and his alleged presence in the company of Ms Guiffre and Ms Sjoberg - but replied she had no recollection to most. When asked about the Prince Andrew puppet, included in Ms Sjobergs testimony, she said she remembered the caricature, but nothing of it being used in anyway.

She said Prince Andrew visited Epsteins Little St James Island on one occsaion when she was there, but said no girls aside from friends and family under the age of 18, apart from staff at the house, on the island at the time.

Epsteins housekeeper says Prince Andrew spent weeks at the home

Jean Alessi, Jeffrey Epsteins New York housekeeper was brought forward as a witness during the civil case against Maxwell. When asked about Prince Andrew, he said both the royal would visit the house, on one occasion with his former wife Sarah, Durchess of York.

He said Prince Andrew recieved daily massages when at the house, adding he spent weeks with us, staying in the main guest bedroom called the Blue Room. He said he could not remember if Virginia Guiffre was ever there when Prince Andrew was present.

Prince Andrew, he said, would visit four or five times a year, staying typically for two to three days. A massage for guests was like a treat, Mr Alessi said.

Jeffrey Epsteins refusal to answer any questions on Prince Andrew

Epstein declined to answer almost all of the questions, also known as pleading the fifth amendment in the US, during his interview under oath as part of Ms Giuffres civil claim against Ghislaine Maxwell.

I refuse to answer - Epsteins former assistant when asked if Prince Andrew had been involved with underage girls

Model Adriana Ross was Jeffrey Epsteins former assistant and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in his 2008 plea deal where the billionaire admitted soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.

In a disposition in 2008, Ms Ross was asked if shed ever met Prince Andrew, and if the royal had been involved with underage females. She replied to both questions: I refuse to answer.
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Donald Trump faces four criminal indictments in three separate jurisdictions.

Nearly 100 felony criminal charges have been levelled against the former president, who remains the odds-on favourite to win the nomination to be the Republican Partys 2024 presidential candidate.

As his legal battles grow more complex by the day, a serious question has emerged: what happens if Mr Trump wins the nomination and campaigns for the general election as a convicted criminal?

That possibility, in turn, raises another simpler question: could the 45th president of the United States go to prison?

Between his 91 felony counts, Mr Trump faces a total of roughly seven centuries in total jail time, spread between dozens of various charges of differing seriousness.

Obviously Mr Trump is not going to be sealed inside a federal penitentiary for all of eternity but the increasingly wide range of actions for which he is now being prosecuted is slowly chipping away at the likelihood that he will evade the inside of a cell forever.

The ruling by a federal appeals court on 6 February that he is not entitled to immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while he was in office dealt a serious blow to his bid to evade criminal charges.

Here, we take a look at the four prosecutions Mr Trump currently faces and how each affects his chances of campaigning behind bars this year.

1. The New York case - maximum of 136 years

The first indictment to drop against the former president deals with conduct committed the longest ago.

Mr Trump was accused by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg last April of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a felony under New York state law, in order to conceal hush money payments allegedly made on his behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 in order to secure her silence about a sexual affair they are accused of having a decade earlier.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

However, such sentences are only doled out with mitigating circumstances, like previous felony convictions or based on the seriousness of the crime.

The accusation against Mr Trump is largely victimless and as such a judge is not likely to sentence him to anything more than fines or, at the most, probation and community service, were he to be convicted by a jury.

The trial for the case is set for 25 March.

Former president Donald Trump is escorted into court in New York in April 2023 (AP)

2. The documents case - maximum of 450 years

This case first exploded into the public eye when the FBI raided Mr Trumps Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, in August 2022, carrying allegations that have earned the Republican serious criticism from his own former deputies, including his own US attorney general Bill Barr.

The president has been accused of mishandling classified information in an egregious manner by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith following the conclusion of his presidency in January 2021, including, in one instance, supposedly showing off top secret intelligence to guests at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.

He is also accused of obstructing justice and making false statements about the withheld documents.

All in, the ex-president faces a maximum of 10 years in prison per count of willfully retaining secrets and 20 years per count of obstructing justice.

While the latter comes with a higher maximum sentence, it is the former that Mr Trump truly should be worried about.

Convictions of willful and/or reckless retention of classified information frequently result in prison sentences of several years or more. Mr Trump faces more than 30 of those charges.

The trial in this case is set for 20 May.

Donald Trump appears at Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse, alongside his aide Walt Nauta and attorneys Chris Kise and Todd Blanche, in Miami, Florida, in June 2023 (Reuters)

3. The federal elections case - maximum of 55 years

The Justice Departments second indictment charges Mr Trump with crimes related to the 2020 election and the months-long effort by his team to oveturn the results in his favour.

There are two basic parts of this case that should concern the ex-president: the possibility that he will be convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiring against Americans right to vote in free elections and the possibility that he will be convicted of directly attempting to block the certification of the election via summoning a mob to attack the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

The former is almost assuredly less of an uphill battle for prosecutors, given how much evidence is now public regarding the Trump campaigns election manipulation efforts. The real battle in this regard will be for prosecutors to prove that those efforts went beyond legal challenges to the election results.

The latter is somewhat harder to prove. Mr Trump and his allies have fiercely denied ever since the attack on the Capitol first took place that the pro-Trump mob that left lawmakers hiding in fear for their lives was directed by the president himself.

Mr Trump will likely point to his (belated) video message that day urging the rioters to go home as evidence that this was not the case.

Should he be convicted on either point, however, he faces steep maximum prison sentences for each count, in particular the obstruction of proceeding charges, which carry 20-year maximum terms.

The trial in this case was provisionally set for 4 March before that was scrubbed due to delays in resolving the immunity issue, with presiding judge Tanya Chutkan saying she would reschedule it if and when the matter is definitively settled, leaving the case in a temporary state of limbo.

Donald Trump claimed he witnessed filth and decay in Washington, DC, after his arraignment in early August 2023 (Getty)

4. The Georgia case - maximum of 76.5 years

The most recent indictment to drop, the case brought against Mr Trump by Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, is unique in that it also involves the only charges to carry minimum prison terms.

While Mr Trump is also accused of a host of minor to moderately serious felonies in the state, it is his charge of violating Georgias RICO statute that should have him the most worried. It carries a minimum prison term of five years, with a maximum of 20 behind bars.

A RICO charge will undoubtedly be the hardest for Ms Willis and her team to prove, as it involves fewer allegations (and less evidence) of specific illegality and instead relies on the prosecution convincing a judge and jury that the overall effort by Mr Trump to change the election results in Georgia crossed the boundary into becoming a fully-fledged criminal enterprise.

Should that fail, however, Mr Trump also faces 12 other felony counts, all of which carry the potential for incarceration.

Donald Trump appears in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriffs Office in Georgia in August 2023 (Reuters)

How likely is a Trump jail term?

It is hard to say, but one thing is clear: the situation is looking worse for Mr Trump every day.

Legal experts who have looked at the Justice Departments prosecution related to the election challenges have almost uniformly remarked on the strength of its case and the efforts made by the agency to narrow down the case to a point where it can proceed through the courts before the 2024 general election takes place in November.

The question also lingers as to how long Mr Trump can maintain costly legal defences in all four cases, given how many millions of dollars four high-profile criminal defence trials are likely to add up to.

In the end, it is quite possible that the answer to the question of whether Mr Trump will ever see the inside of a jail cell comes down to not whether he will be convicted, but whether jailing a former president is even feasible.

Should he win the general election next year, an entirely new layer of complexity is added to the mix.

The one certainty surrounding the multiple prosecutions is this: Donald Trump, regardless of the outcome of his many trials, has already pushed American democracy far into the bounds of the unknown and the unprecedented.

Whatever happens from here is an example of the worlds most powerful democracy making it up as it goes along.
 Close Trump cancels events in Iowa ahead of caucus as temperatures drop

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The 2024 Republican candidates are eagerly awaiting the results of the Iowa caucuses on Monday  though if polling tells us anything, its that Donald Trump has a predictable commanding lead over the other candidates.

In a survey, conducted by The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Medicom, 48 per cent of potential voters said the former president was their first choice of Republican presidential candidates.

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley was behind Mr Trump with 20 per cent support followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 16 per cent.

Vivek Ramaswamy had just 8 per cent while only 5 per cent of potential voters said they were still unsure.

Of the survey respondents more than half said they had their minds made up regarding who they would cast their vote for.

But for the 32 per cent who could still be persuaded to support a candidate, the presidential candidates are fighting hard to convince them to join their teams.
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Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and two-time failed presidential candidate, announced he is dropping out of the 2024 race during a town hall in New Hampshire.

Its clear to me tonight, there isnt a path for me to win the nomination which is why Im suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States, Mr Christie told potential voters on Wednesday just hours ahead of the next GOP debate.

Mr Christie reportedly notified allies that he would remove himself from the Republican candidate pool, facing faltering polling numbers and pressure from Donald Trump critics to find a viable opponent to take on the former president.

I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win, Mr Christie said.

Mr Christie launched his long-shot bid for president in June, aiming to take down Mr Trump, the current frontrunner. His campaign was largely built around discrediting Mr Trump and trying to convince voters to support a different Republican candidate.

However, Mr Christies campaign failed to garner enough support in national polls, trailing behind his fellow candidates, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Mr Christie did not endorse any of his fellow candidates.

The former governor spearheaded a pugnacious campaign against Mr Trump, dedicating much of his time to bashing Mr Trumps policies and leadership style, calling him a failed leader and a self-consumed, self-serving, mirror hog.

During previous Republican debates, Mr Christie taunted Mr Trump for refusing to show up and debate fellow candidates, bestowing upon him the nickname Donald Duck.

Former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie speaks during the third Republican presidential primary debate (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Christies decision arrives nearly a week after he denied allegations that he would drop out of the race and said he refused to endorse a candidate based on politics.

His reference was to his own endorsement of Mr Trump in 2016, calling it a mistake.

Eight years ago when I decided to endorse Donald Trump for president, I did it because he was winning, and I did it because I thought I could make him a better candidate and a better president, Mr Christie said in a recently aired ad. Well, I was wrong, I made a mistake.

Mr Christie echoed similar remarks during his speech on Wednesday evening, urging his fellow Republicans, and candidates, to denounce Mr Trump and stand up for democracy ahead of the 2024 election.

For all the people who have been in this race who have put their own personal ambition ahead of whats right, they will ultimately have to answer the same questions that I had to answer after my decision in 2016, Mr Christie said.

This is the second time Mr Christie has suspended his campaign for president. In 2016, Mr Christie ran against Mr Trump but dropped out of the race after finishing sixth in the New Hampshire primary.

The former governor spent much of his recent campaign in the Granite State.
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Chris Christie was heard on a hot mic blasting his fellow Republican presidential candidates before his announcement in New Hampshire that he would drop out.

Mr Christie spoke to someone named Wayne before his announcement on Wednesday evening in Windham, New Hampshire, but did not realise that his microphone was on. The former New Jersey governor who endorsed former president Donald Trump in 2016 but staged a campaign throughout last year criticising the former president said that many people did not want to hear what he had to say.

People dont want to hear it, Wayne, he said. We know were right. But they dont want to hear it. We couldnt have been any clearer.

Mr Christie also highlighted how much former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent on television ads, while he said he spent a fraction of their totals.

Whos punching above their weight and whos going getting a return on their investment? he asked.

Shes gonna get smoked, Mr Christie said about Ms Haley. You and I both know it, shes not up to this.

The person speaking with Mr Christie said Mr Trump was beating Ms Haley by 20 points in New Hampshire and asked if Mr Trump would likely win the Iowa caucus.

A Suffolk University/Boston Globe/USA Today poll found that Mr Trump led Ms Haley by 19 points.

Oh, easily, Mr Christie said. DeSantis called me and hes petrified.

The feed then cut out.

Mr Christie campaigned aggressively in New Hampshire, where a large chunk of voters are decidedly more moderate and many primary voters are unaffiliated and therefore not as partisan as they are in the Iowa caucus. But Mr Christie found little reception among voters as the party still largely supports Mr Trump.

During the debates, Mr Christie occasionally defended Ms Haley, particularly from criticisms by businessman and political neophyte Vivek Ramaswamy. But he also criticised her for not explicitly criticising Mr Trump.

Mr Trump for his part commented on Mr Christies decision to leave.

I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today  I might even get to like him again! Mr Trump said on Truth Social. Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: Shes gonna get smokedYou and I both know it, shes not up to this.
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Former president Donald Trump is planning to deliver the closing argument in his New York civil business fraud trial on Thursday along with his legal team's summations, according to reports.

The 45th president is a defendant in a $250m civil case brought by New York attorney general Letitia James alleging years of fraud within his real estate empire.

Her lawsuit claims the former president and his co-defendants defrauded banks and other financial institutions by inflating his net worth and assets by billions of dollars on financial statements that helped him secure favourable financing terms.

Judge Arthur Engoron was informed by Mr Trump's attorney earlier this week that the former president wished to speak during the closing arguments, the Associated Press reported, citing two anonymous people familiar with the matter.

Mr Trump's unusual bid to speak was approved by the judge, according to the report. While some defendants represent themselves, its unusual for them to personally give summations if they have attorneys to do so.

The Republican frontrunner has denied all wrongdoing and condemned the case as a "hoax" and a "pathetic excuse for a trial" while criticising both the judge and the attorney general.

Earlier in December, Mr Trump was scheduled to testify as a witness for a second time, but he canceled the day before, saying he had nothing more to say".

The attorney general's office last week said Mr Trump's estate empire should be forced to pay more than $370m and effectively barred from doing business in New York for hugely goosing the values of assets, such as his triplex at Trump Tower in New York and his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida.

The defendants reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains through their unlawful conduct, state lawyers wrote in a court filing on Friday.

According to the filing, evidence collected by the attorney generals office, expert witness testimony and courtroom testimony from the former president, as well as his adult sons and co-defendants Donald Trump Jr and Eric Jr, was conclusive.

Judge Engoron is expected to issue a decision by the end of January. The judges pretrial ruling effectively ordered the dissolution of Mr Trumps New York-based real estate empire, what the former president has labelled the corporate death penalty against him.

That order has been put on hold pending appeal while the trial played out in lower Manhattan.

Mr Trumps attorneys have argued that he was more than qualified for the deals he got  and say he upheld his end of them, including by repaying all the loans.

His financial statements were offered as unaudited estimates that recipients should check out for themselves, and that the net worth numbers were far too low, not the opposite, the defence added.

There have been no losses to any party, as the loans here were negotiated between very sophisticated parties, Mr Trumps lawyers Christopher Kise and Michael T Madaio wrote Friday in court papers. Lenders made their own informed decisions.
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Donald Trump lashed out at allegations that he was on the plane of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.

The former president took to Truth Social on Wednesday to share screenshots of a Daily Mail article criticising actor Mark Ruffalo after he backtracked after sharing fake images of Mr Trump on Mr Epsteins plane surrounded by young girls that turned out to have been created by artificial intelligence.

Gross. #MAGA wants to paint everyone on those flights as pedophiles except the one guy who smiles in a group of young girls all headed to Epsteins Fantasy Island with him. My bet is there are some decent Republicans left in America that may think this is going too far, Mr Ruffalo initially wrote, before adding: Sorry Folks. Apparently these images are AI fakes. The fact Trump was on Epsteins plane and what Epstein was up to is not. Be careful. Elons X and his allowing so much disinformation here is driving the value of his app down by 55%.

Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that this is what the Democrats do to their Republican Opponent, who is leading them, by a lot, in the Polls. This is A.I., and it is very dangerous for our Country! Also, I was never on Epsteins Plane, or at his stupid Island. Strong Laws ought to be developed against A.I. It will be a big and very dangerous problem in the future!

Documents connected to Epstein have been unsealed after a trove of filings were ordered to be released following the settlement between Epstein fixer Ghislaine Maxwell  who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of child sex trafficking and other crimes  and victim Virginia Giuffre.

Thousands of pages of motions, as well as transcripts of depositions, phone notes, and incident reports from the Palm Beach Police Department and their 2005 investigation into Epsteins trafficking ring, have been released.

Mr Trump and his fellow ex-President Bill Clinton are both mentioned in the documents, but Judge Loretta Preska noted that a mention may not mean wrongdoing, stating that victims and absent third parties were also included.

Most of the information contained in the filings was already publically known. Being identified through the court documents does not mean that the individual was involved in or aware of any wrongdoing by Epstein.

Victim Johanna Sjoberg said she was on a private jet with Epstein when they stopped in Atlantic City.

Great, well call Trump, Epstein said, according to Ms Sjoberg.

In 2019, after Epstein was detained, Mr Trump said he knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.

I had a falling out with him. I havent spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you, he added.

Epsteins brother Mark Epstein has said that the late paedophile cut ties with Mr Trump when he realised he was a crook.

A spokesperson for Mr Trump previously told The Independent that the allegations against Mr Trump regarding his connections to Epstein are baseless and that they were fully retracted because they are simply false and have no merit.
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Donald Trumps calendar is jam-packed with court dates thanks to his plentiful criminal indictments and civil lawsuits.

The ex-president and his legal team are preparing for a busy year as they attempt to juggle his court dates  each one bringing a bevy of pretrial motions, responses and briefs deadlines  all while Mr Trump hits the road to continue his campaign for 2024 president.

So far, Mr Trump has been criminally indicted four times (two on the federal level and two on the state level) while also facing two additional civil lawsuits in New York City.

Though Mr Trumps legal team has made a concerted effort to delay trial until after the 2024 election - or dismiss them outright. Nearly all of the dates for his criminal indictments have been set for this spring.

Already, the former president made several appearances in Manhattan court in October to face one of his New York civil trials. But hell be expected back shortly for his other civil trial against E Jean Carroll.

Here are all of the trial dates for Mr Trump thus far.

October 2, 2023  Trump Organization civil suit trial began

In a civil lawsuit brought forth by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Mr Trump and his company, The Trump Organization, are accused of making false or misleading values of assets on financial statements.

The trial, overseen by State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, was to determine if Mr Trump would face penalties over his alleged fraudulent business activities.

Judge Engoron ruled in September 2023 that Mr Trump, his adult sons, Donald Jr and Eric, companies and executives overvalued the assets of the Trump Organization for years.

A decision by Judge Engoron is set to be determined by the end of January.

January 15, 2024  E Jean Carrolls civil lawsuit against Trump

The former president will go to trial, again, in New York City against E Jean Carroll, the magazine columnist who accused Mr Trump of sexual abuse and defamation.

A federal jury already awarded Ms Carroll $5 million last year, finding Mr Trump liable for sexual abuse. But this trial stems from a defamation in which Ms Carroll alleges Mr Trump defamed her in 2019 after she came forward with accusations of rape.

Judge Lewis Kaplan will be presiding over the case.

US magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll departs the Manhattan Federal Court in New York City (AFP/Getty)

March 4, 2024  Federal election interference trial begins

This trial pertains to the four federal criminal counts Mr Trump was charged with stemming from his alleged involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 election results and the subsequent January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Mr Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, obstruction and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The ex-president had pled not guilty to the charges.

The case was brought forth by special counsel Jack Smith after a years-long investigation into the attack on the Capitol which was fuelled by the ex-presidents false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case in Washington DC.

Donald Trump claimed he witnessed filth and decay in Washington DC after his arraignment on 3 August (Getty Images)

March 25, 2024  Hush money payment trial begins

In April 2023, Mr Trump became the first sitting or former president to be criminally indicted after being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan criminal court.

The charges stem from an investigation by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg that alleges Mr Trump tried to cover up hush money payments that he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to silence her claims of an extramarital affair.

Mr Trump has pled not guilty to all 34 charges.

Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over this trial.

Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his legal team in a Manhattan court, April 4, 2023, in New York (AP)

May 20, 2024  Federal classified documents trial begins

The ex-president was criminally indicted at the federal level again in June, this time for his alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents that he took with him to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida after leaving the White House in 2021.

Mr Trump was initially charged on 37 criminal counts including violating a section of the Espionage Act for allegedly unlawfully retaining top-secret documents that contained national security information. Three more charges were added to the initial counts in a superseding indictment.

Mr Trump pled not guilty to all 40 charges in total.

Judge Aileen Cannon is presiding over this case in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Former US president Donald Trump arrives to speak during a press conference following his court appearance over an alleged 'hush-money' payment, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 4, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

August 5, 2024 - Georgia election interference case

Mr Trump was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia by District Attorney Fani Willis for his alleged involvement in efforts to overturn 2020 election results in Georgia along with 18 co-defendants.

The ex-president was charged with violating the RICO Act among 12 other charges. Mr Trump and his co-defendants have pled not guilty to all the charges

So far, Ms Willis has proposed a trial start date of August 5  though Mr Trumps legal team has pushed to move this.

The trial is being overseen by Judge Scott McAfee.

So far two of Mr Trumps co-defendants, Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, separated their trials from other defendants. Mr Chesebro and Ms Powell entered guilty pleas in October 2023.
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Since George H.W. Bush won in 1988, Republican candidates have received the majority of the American peoples votes in only one presidential election.

In fact, it was the election that Mr Bushs own son, George W Bush, won in 2004.

But despite the partys dismal results, the GOP has still managed to claim the White House almost as many times as the Democrats.

Following the departure of the elder Mr Bush and before the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021, Democrats and Republicans were exactly tied in Oval Office occupants with two presidents each.

Democrat Bill Clinton won the popular vote to take the presidency in 1992 and 1996. Mr Bush managed to become president in the 2000 election despite Mr Clintons vice president, Al Gore, getting more votes overall.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the US entrance into Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Bush managed to win by the popular vote in 2004 before Barack Obama did so in both 2008 and 2012.

Jan 6, 2001: Al Gore announces George Bush's win, and his own defeat, in front of Congress, exactly two decades before insurrection

In the 2016 election, it was Hillary Clinton who won the popular vote with almost three million more votes than Donald Trump. But the showboating businessman ended up in the West Wing regardless.

To put it simply, in the most powerful democracy in the world, two of the nations last four leaders have been the less popular option among voters  due to an Electoral College system that many feel is undemocratic and needs to change.

They couldnt figure out any other way

They came up with the Electoral College at the very end of the Constitutional Convention, Kermit Roosevelt, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, tells The Independent about the founding of American democracy.

They didnt really pick it because it had features that they liked, so much as they couldnt figure out any other way to accommodate peoples concerns.

As it currently stands, to get to the White House, a candidate has to reach at least 270 out of the 538 electoral votes which are distributed to the states according to population.

However, most states have instituted winner-take-all systems.

This means that a candidate could win the most votes across the country but lose the electoral college by running up the numbers in some states and losing by smaller margins in others.

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, centre, carries a ballot box containing the 12 Massachusetts electoral votes for Vice President Al Gore as he is led by Sergeant-at Arms Michael Rea, right, during the Electoral College voting at the Statehouse on 18 December 2000 in Boston (Getty Images)

Partisan sorting appears to have worsened this phenomenon, as people move to areas where their neighbours share their political beliefs.

The size of some states is also so vastly different that smaller states have ended up with more representation in the Electoral College than their population may justify.

A 235-year-old system

So if its a less-than-ideal system, why is the US still using it 235 years after the Constitutional Convention in 1787?

Costas Panagopoulos, professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, tells The Independent that, simply, theres no consensus around a better alternative.

Mr Roosevelt, a great-great-grandson of President Teddy Roosevelt and a distant cousin of President Franklin D Roosevelt, says that many Americans simply dont like to question whats in the US Constitution.

I think part of it is that its in the Constitution and we as Americans are taught very early that the Constitution is great and a product of genius, and that questioning the Constitution is disloyal, he says.

Theres an impulse to believe that if something is in the Constitution, it must be good. But the method of selecting the president is sort of the clearest counterexample to that because it worked so badly that they had to change it with the 12th amendment.

At the founding of US democracy, there were no political parties and the original system handed the presidency to the top vote-getter and the vice presidency to the runner-up.

Cases containing electoral votes are opened during a joint session of Congress after the session resumed following protests at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, early on 7 January 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

The 12th Amendment changed the system in 1804 so that the president and vice president were elected as a single unit.

Very close to the time of the founding  the next generation ... realised the system they had didnt work, and it had to be changed, Mr Roosevelt explains.

Two alternatives to the Electoral College

Two alternatives to the Electoral College had actually been considered at the Constitutional Convention.

One option was that Congress could pick the president  a model much like in many European parliamentary democracies, very few of which have a directly elected head of government.

But, it should be noted that very few of them have also combined the roles of head of government and head of state, like in the US.

Mr Roosevelt says the idea of Congress choosing the president was rejected because they thought that it would give Congress too much power, that the president would feel loyalty or obligation to Congress if Congress picked him  something that would interfere with the idea of separation of powers.

A joint session of Congress meets to count the Electoral College vote from the 2008 presidential election (Getty Images)

Such a system emphasises power within a political party, or within a coalition of parties, meaning that Mr Trump may never even have been thought of as a possible option for president if the only constituency was the congressional Republicans. Having only been in Washington for a couple of years at the start of his campaign, Mr Obama might also have struggled among congressional Democrats.

Congress gives weight to behind-the-scenes deal-making, facilitating the rise of characters such as Senator Mitch McConnell. Mr McConnell is many things, but charismatic enough to woo GOP primary voters is probably not one of them.

Secondly, the popular vote model was also considered back in 1787.

But they didnt like the popular vote for basically three reasons, Mr Roosevelt says. One  they were concerned about low-information voters.

They thought youd have regional candidates, and people might know the candidate from their region, but the people of Massachusetts wont know the candidate from Virginia and wont be able to make an informed choice.

Today, voters are actually drowning in information about candidates  though much of it can be classified as misinformation or disinformation.

US election: How does the electoral college work?

Mr Roosevelt says the founders didnt see the partisan tilt of the Electoral College coming because they didnt anticipate political parties.

The Electoral College has always had a bit of a small state bias  and then that turned into a rural bias. And then that turned into a partisan bias, he notes.

Winner-take-all-feature is not in the Constitution

The way the system currently stands, vital facets are often confused, Dr Panagopoulos says.

The Constitution says that presidents will be elected indirectly through electors selected at the state level equal to the number of representatives they have in Congress. However, the winner-take-all-feature of the Electoral College is not in the Constitution, he says.

The Constitution does not say that if you win Californias popular vote by one vote  you get all of those electoral votes  states came up with that.

In some states like Maine and Nebraska, the electoral votes are awarded on the basis of congressional districts.

But Dr Panagopoulos notes that without the winner-take-all feature, it would be harder for any individual candidate to get to 270 and win a majority of the 538 electoral votes.

And if you dont get to 270, the election ends up in the House of Representatives, where each state gets one vote, which you could argue is even less democratic than the indirect Electoral College system that we have  so its more complicated than many people realise, he says.

Congressman Jamie Raskin urges reform of Electoral College

An aristocracy of the Dakotas and Wyoming

The end result of this system is that very few voters actually matter.

Weve got sort of an aristocracy of the Dakotas and Wyoming, and Rhode Island, Mr Roosevelt says.

The big way in which the Electoral College distorts our political process  is that it makes people focus on the swing states both when it comes to campaigning and governing, he adds.

This is a point that I think is often lost or distorted  people say, Well, if you didnt have the Electoral College, no one would pay attention to the small states. And I dont think thats true because a vote from a small state will matter just as much, he says.

Candidates dont pay attention to small states, they pay attention to swing states. So you get all of this attention on Pennsylvania and Florida and Ohio and Wisconsin, North Carolina  the states that are in play.

And no one pays attention to California or New York  or even Texas. There are millions of people in those states who may be persuadable, and maybe if you address their concerns, you could win their votes, but no one even tried.

Hillary Clinton casts electoral college vote for Joe Biden

Trump cant win a race where you have to get to 50%

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi served as the campaign manager for the presidential campaign of Vermont governor and later DNC chair Howard Dean in 2004.

It was one of the few elections where a Democrat  the eventual nominee and then-Senator John Kerry  came even close to winning the electoral college vote but losing the popular vote.

Mr Kerry, who later served as secretary of state and is now Mr Bidens climate envoy, was just over 100,000 votes behind Mr Bush in Ohio.

A win for the Democrat and Vietnam veteran in the state could have brought him over the line in the Electoral College even as Mr Bush became the first presidential candidate since his father in 1988 to get more than 50 per cent of the vote.

If that had happened, then there probably would have been strong bipartisan support to abolish the Electoral College because we would have had two in a row and once a Republican wins, once a Democrat wins, Mr Roosevelt says.

Mr Obama received more than half the votes cast in both his elections, as did Mr Biden in 2020. Mr Trump won in 2016 with 46.1 per cent of the vote to Ms Clintons 48.2 per cent.

Mr Trippi tells The Independent that the big threat in 2024 is if the larger third party candidates manage to make it into a 45  45 kind of race.

The strategist argues that Mr Trump only has a chance because of the Electoral College system. Trump cant win a race where you have to get to 50, he says.

In 2016, some argued that preventing an authoritarian demagogue like Mr Trump from taking power is exactly what the Electoral College was created for, but no such action was taken.

In fact, the system appeared to be weaker to the pressures of such a leader than a popular vote since Mr Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election only needed to be focused on a small number of states to win. Fake electors were put forward in several states  a strategy that would have been irrelevant in a popular vote system.

Electoral College certifies Joe Biden as president-elect with 306 votes

Far from the vision of the founding fathers

While there are several issues with the Electoral College system, theres also the simple matter that it is not working in the way that the founding fathers intended.

The Electoral College today works very differently from the way that I think the founders envisioned it, Dr Panagopoulos says.

The framers envisioned an independent group of people who could exercise judgement in their own right.

He adds that the original intention of the Electoral College has been corrupted by states requiring a link between electoral votes and the popular vote within those states.

Given the population and voting patterns in this country, Democrats should win most presidential elections pretty handily, he notes.

Its an odd dynamic where some states legislating that their electors must vote for the popular vote winner in their state, in the end, may lead to the candidate getting fewer votes having a shot at the White House.

So, will the system ever change?

Dr Panagopoulos thinks it could be possible: I do feel a change is becoming more likely, but were talking about a process that is still likely decades in the making.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prevented a data broker from selling sensitive geolocation data, including individuals medical visits, a groundbreaking move as advocates fear reproductive health information is at risk of being exposed after the fall of Roe v Wade.

The data broker Outlogic, formerly known as X-Mode Social, reached a settlement with the FTC following claims that the company was selling data that could be used to track individuals trips to sensitive locations, like reproductive health clinics.

The settlement marks the first time the agency has reached an agreement with a data broker concerning its efforts to sell sensitive location data.

The FTC noted that the location information that the company sold is not anonymized, making it easy to match where someone went with their phone.

Geolocation data can reveal not just where a person lives and whom they spend time with but also, for example, which medical treatments they seek and where they worship, FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.

On top of placing restrictions on selling sensitive location data, the FTCs settlement requires the company to delete data that had been collected without consent and to give consumers a simple and easy-to-find way to block the company from using their data.

The government has taken steps to safeguard individuals privacy in recent years, especially after the landmark Supreme Court decision was reversed.

Abortion rights advocates at the time warned that data from phone apps  including period-tracking apps  could reveal womens sexual health decisions, and could be used nefariously.

In 2022, weeks after Roe was overturned, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for agencies to take additional steps to protect patient privacy, including the sales of sensitive health-related data.

The same year, the FTC sued Kochava, another data broker, alleging that the company has sold data that could tie individuals phones to the locations they visited, including reproductive clinics and houses of worship. That case is still ongoing.

A group of senators introduced legislation in June 2022 aiming to prevent data brokers from selling some of the most sensitive data. And in May 2023, California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs introduced the My Body, My Data Act, aiming to restrict reproductive health data that companies can collect, and therefore misused.

Following the settlement, Planned Parenthoods National Director of Public Policy Laurel Sakai said in a statement to The Independent: Everyone, no matter where they live or how much money they have, should be able to access the health care they need, free from fear that their health information will be sold or used against them. Given the ongoing attacks on abortion access, this is an important action to reinforce peoples health privacy.
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Senate GOP Whip John Thune said lawmakers may need to pass a short-term funding bill to hold off a government shutdown later this year.

He said the bill would allow lawmakers more time to resolve 12 appropriations bills that have yet to be processed, according to CNN.

The window for Congress to resolve the outstanding legislation and avoid a shutdown will soon close. Mr Thune said it was "unrealistic" to think the Congress could finish the work before the deadlines pass for passing the funding needed to keep the government open.

We ought to allow some time to do some work on the other bills and, if there is a CR, maybe in the March timeframe, he told reporters.

A "CR" is a continuing resolution  essentially a stop-gap bill to keep the government operating until the appropriations bills are passed.

Congress had to pass a similar measure last January to keep parts of the government, including military construction, the VA, and the Departments of Transportation, Energy and Housing from shutting down.

It's unclear if the continuing resolution would pass in the House. New House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not support passing stopgaps to keep the government functioning, saying he was "done with short term CRs."

It was a fight over government funding that ultimately led to the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Far-right Republicans in the House refused to resolve appropriations bills as a tactic to force concessions from Democrats. Mr McCarthy eventually cut a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, which enraged a group of MAGA Republicans, led by Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Mr McCarthy was ultimately removed when eight House Republicans voted him out.

Back in the Senate, Mr Thune implied that part of the blame for the lack of movement on government appropriations bills falls on the shoulders of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

I would at least put some of the bills on the floor. I dont know what Schumer is waiting for, he said. Were wasting time here that we could be using to have a regular appropriations process.

While Mr Thune's colleagues in the House may see forcing a shutdown as a tactic for bludgeoning concessions out of their political opponents, he said a shutdown would be bad news for everyone, regardless of party.

Weve never seen any political or policy gain come out of a government shutdown," he said.
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Hunter Biden left Republicans sputtering after he made a surprise appearance on Capitol Hill as the House Oversight Committee debated whether to advance a resolution holding him in contempt of Congress.

The youngest and only surviving son of President Joe Biden made the unannounced visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, creating a tense confrontation with the GOP-led panels that have been seeking his testimony in connection to their impeachment proceedings against his father.

The younger Mr Biden didnt respond to questions and was accompanied by his lawyers Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris. He proceeded to the House Oversight Committees hearing room, where Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the panels ranking Democrat, was delivering an opening statement at the start of the session.

House Republicans called the markup to hold a vote on recommending that Mr Biden, 53, be charged with contempt of Congress in both the Oversight and Judiciary committees.

Mr Biden left the hearing room shortly before 10.30 am, just as Georgia GOP Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene began speaking, calling him a coward.

Hunter Biden appeared unannounced at a House hearing on Wednesday, Jan 10 2024 (Reuters)

Mr Lowell, the veteran Washington attorney who is leading Mr Bidens defence in the House inquiry, addressed reporters in the corridor after leaving the hearing room with his client.

He reminded the assembled press that Mr Biden  a Yale-educated attorney and former lobbyist turned artist  was and is a private citizen and slammed the GOP for seeking to use him as a surrogate to attack his father.

Despite their improper partisan motives, on six occasions ... we have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided. Our first five offers were ignored, he said. And then in November, they issued a subpoena for a behind-closed-doors deposition, a tactic that the Republicans have repeatedly misused in their political crusade to selectively leak and mischaracterize what witnesses have said.

In the House last fall, Chairman Comer made an explicit offer that people like Hunter ... had ... the option to attend a deposition or a public hearing, whichever they chose  Hunter chose a hearing where Republicans could not distort, manipulate, or misuse that testimony, Mr Lowell added.

Hunter Biden appeared unannounced at a House hearing on Wednesday, Jan 10 2024 (Reuters)

Honouring and then ignoring that invitation, and proving once again, that they cared little about the truth and wanted only to, quote, move the needle of political support, which was a quote Chairman Comer confessed was his true purpose, he continued, adding later that the GOP committee chairs had put forth an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt, who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions.

The question there is, what are they afraid of? he added.

The hearing  technically a markup of the contempt resolution  devolved into chaos at times, with members shouting over each other and interrupting each other at times.

One Democrat on the panel, Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida, responded to a provocation by Georgias Marjorie Taylor Greene, who attempted to enter a poster-sized excerpt of a document into the hearing record.

Mr Moskowitzs reply came by displaying a photo of former president Donald Trump and deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein behind his seat on the dais.

He told The Independent: I brought that in, to point out to my Republican colleagues if that they were if they were going to allow that sort of thing, this could be endless. We could just take photographs and enter in evidence, and so I was merely trying to challenge what Marjorie was trying to do.

Hunter Biden appeared unannounced at a House hearing on Wednesday, Jan 10 2024 (Reuters)

The Republican-led Oversight and Judiciary committees are expected the advance their respective contempt resolutions to the House floor, and with the GOP in control of the chamber, both are likely to pass.

Under the portion of the US criminal code laying out how contempt of Congress prosecutions are brought, it will be up to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia to decide whether to present evidence from the House to a grand jury and seek charges against Mr Biden.

According to legal experts, its unlikely that such a prosecution will be brought because of Mr Bidens attorneys repeated attempts to engage and negotiate terms with the House panel.

Yet one member of the panel, South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace, argued that the presidents son needed to be arrested then and there as he sat in the committee room.

Hunter Biden you, are too afraid for a deposition, and I still think you are today, she said.

I mean the nerve of him to show up to our committee is the epitome of privilege, Ms Mace later told The Independent. He should be held accountable like everybody else.

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the number-two Democrat on the committee, told The Independent that the younger Mr Biden was trying to comply with the subpoena.

He's showing up, she said. They asked him to show up. He's showing up. He's trying to comply, and they're trying to hold them in contempt of Congress anyway. I mean, the whole story kind of plays out for itself.

Neither a representative for Mr Biden nor the White House immediately responded to a query from The Independent on whether President Biden was aware of his sons intention to visit Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether President Biden had any foreknowledge of Hunter Bidens actions at her daily press briefing on Wednesday despite being pressed by multiple reporters on the matter.

Hunter, as you all know, is a private citizen, he's not a member of this White House. He makes his own decisions, like he did today about how to respond to Congress, she said.

Asked whether the younger Mr Biden stayed overnight at the White House before travelling to Capitol Hill, Ms Jean-Pierre declined to offer a response.

But Mr Bidens appearance on Capitol Hill drew praise from at least one member of the Oversight panel, Representative Jasmine Crockett.

She told The Independent that Mr Bidens surprise visit was great because it showed how he had a willingness to deal with people that are unwilling and unruly.

If this isn't about putting on a show, they shouldn't be afraid of a transparent conversation with Hunter to ask their questions, she said.

But the attempt to hold Mr Biden in contempt of Congress comes as the House must pass spending bills to avoid a government shutdown. Amid the hearing, a handful of House Republicans joined Democrats to tank a rule vote.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez said the attempt to hold Mr Biden in contempt is linked to the inability to pass spending bills.

They're doing it because they can't get a rule on the floor and because they have nothing else to do, she said.
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The mother of former first lady Melania Trump has died at the age of 78 after an illness.

Ms Trump, who is married to former US president Donald Trump, said on Monday night that her mother Amalija Knavs had passed away.

Mr Trump had previously told supporters that his wife was busy caring for her mother in a great hospital in Miami, explaining her absence from the familys Christmas photos and New Years Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.

Melania Trump speaks during a naturalisation ceremony in December 2023 (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Knavs was 78 years old, according to public records.

It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija, said Ms Trump in a post on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.

Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law.

We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.

Mr Trump condoled Knavs death and described her as an incredible woman.

This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family!!! Mr Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. Melanias great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!

Born in 1945, Knavs grew up in Slovenia during a time of turmoil for the eastern European country, which was in the process of being wrenched out of Nazi occupation and annexed into the socialist republic of Yugoslavia.

She and her husband Viktor raised Ms Trump in the town of Sevnica, living in a state-run housing complex and working as a patternmaker at a childrens clothing factory.

Both Viktor and Amalija Knavs ultimately joined their most famous daughter in US, becoming citizens in 2018 in a special ceremony in New York City.
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Falsely believing Donald Trumps election lies broadcast on Fox News, Ray Epps travelled from Arizona to Washington DC, rallied alongside a mob, yelled for the crowd to march to the US Capitol, and then spent the next three years as the face of an ongoing conspiracy theory that, along with the criminal case against him, has ruined his life.

He was a federal plant, there to entrap Trump supporters, as part of a deep state plot working under then-President Trumps administration to take him down, so that the mob could be arrested and charged as political prisoners under a Democratic regime, so the conspiracy goes.

Epps regrets going to DC altogether. Those baseless claims have consumed his life. Harassment and violent threats targeting him and his wife have fragmented our families, taken our livelihood and negatively impacted our health, both physically and mentally, he told a judge last week.

In the same building where Epps received a sentence of 12 months of probation for a charge connected to his actions on January 6, the man he voted for and whose lies inspired him to direct a mob to the seat of American democracy was telling judges that he should be immune from facing any criminal charges for his own attempts to subvert the election.

Epps joined Trump loyalists in Washington DC because he was among thousands of Americans who believed Mr Trumps ongoing false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was marred with fraud. His wife told a judge that Fox News was the couples exclusive news channel.

They were sucked into a vortex of false statements and conspiracy theories spread by the former president. Then they became the subjects. Mr Trump shared those, too.

On Tuesday morning, their cases collided in a federal courthouse in Washington DC.

Ray Epps is pictured among the mob on 6 January, 2021 (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Eppss prosecution, testimony, public statements and sentencing have done little to curb the avalanche of evidence-free claims surrounding his family. On the three-year anniversary of the attack just three days earlier, the former president revived bogus claims that antifa and the FBI incited the mob. Immediately after Eppss sentencing, Mr Trumps allies fumed online with claims of a fedsurrection.

We have suffered under the attacks of Fox News, politicians and social media and have learned how conspiracy theories can grow so quickly, Robyn Epps wrote to the judge overseeing her husbands case. They did so because the media and people who are trusted lie, distort the truth and outright make up information for their own benefit or edification.

Another letter from Epps family members said he was thrown under the bus by Fox, Trump and so many other news media for doing what he thought he should to support them.

While Epps pleaded for leniency, the former president sat with his attorneys as they urged a three-judge federal appeals court panel to dismiss election conspiracy charges against him on presidential immunity grounds. The judge overseeing his criminal case has rejected the argument, and the appeals court panel did not appear convinced.

His false and inflated claims about the election are central to the case against him. They sowed enough doubt among his supporters to construct the lie of stolen and rigged elections that fuelled the mob while animating spurious and allegedly illegal attempts to overturn the results.

When those lies were exposed, Epps told the judge overseeing his case, they created a conspiracy to shift the entire blame for the insurrection on the FBI and myself as I became the face of J6.

The blame for the insurrection is not on the FBI. It is on those who were at the Capitol and engaged in insurrectionist activities and those who misled Americans like myself into believing the election had been stolen, he said.

A courtroom sketch depicts Donald Trump listening to arguments in front of a federal appeals court panel on 9 January (REUTERS)

On 5 January, 2021, the former US Marine and a leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia in Arizona rallied alongside a group of Trump supporters and urged them to go to the Capitol. The crowd chanted fed at him in response.

The next day, he marched to the Capitol in camouflage and a red TRUMP hat. Video footage captures him calling out to the mob to march to the Capitol. He repeatedly tried to defuse what was growing into a volatile scene between rioters and law enforcement.

Within two days, his image appeared on an FBI watch list. He turned himself in, telling agents a story that has remained unchanged since: he attended what he thought was a protest, urged the crowd to demonstrate outside the Capitol, then tried to de-escalate mounting violence as the mob breached police barricades.

Prosecutors initially declined to prosecute him, citing insufficient evidence that he had entered the Capitol, engaged in violence or committed any other criminal violations, according to court documents.

But his disappearance from FBI lists and the initial lack of charges only fuelled the conspiracy theory that he was a covert federal agent. Those claims were elevated to Tucker Carlsons highly watched Fox News programme, by members of Congress, and the former president.

Epps has separately sued Carlson for defamation.

Last year, Epps reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a charge of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, which carries a maximum prison sentence of one year. Dozens of January 6 defendants have been similarly charged.

His attorney requested probation, but, in a damning sentencing memo to the judge, prosecutors pushed for six months in prison, alleging that he engaged in felonious conduct by encouraging the mob.

Ray Epps has been unfairly scapegoated, federal prosecutor Mike Gordon said during a sentencing hearing on 9 January. His life has been destroyed by conspiracy theorists eager to blame the government for the violence on January 6.

But US District Judge James Boasberg said his actions merit serious consequences, and would have warranted jail time if not for the circumstances of his bizarre three-year journey through a far-right conspiratorial universe.

He said Epps was the only January 6 defendant to face life-changing harassment and violent threats for what you didnt do.
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With five days to go before the Iowa caucus, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will participate in the final Republican primary debate before the contests begin.

The stage will have notably fewer candidates given that many opponents have dropped out of the race, while others  such as businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie  failed to qualify.

As has been the case with every other Republican presidential primary debate, former president Donald Trump will not be on the dais as he has refused to participate  citing his dominant position in the polls.

This means that despite her slight rise, Ms Haley will not be able to directly confront Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis will not able to push back on all of the barbs Mr Trump has lobbed his way.

For the most part, these debates have been exercises in futility given the firm grip that Mr Trump continues to hold on at least half of the Republican electorate . Both candidates have to clear many obstacles to have a shot at winning the GOP nomination.

Heres what to watch for in the final debate in Des Moines:

Dealing with Donald Trump

As much as the two candidates may want to pretend he doesnt exist, Mr Trump cannot be ignored.

Since the last 2023 debate, Colorados Supreme Court has ruled that Mr Trump is ineligible to appear on the 2024 ballot. He has also said that immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country and called for his opponents to rot in hell in a Christmas message. On Tuesday, his lawyer tried to argue to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that a former president could not be subject to criminal prosecution if he ordered the assassination of a political rival.

Typically, instead of using his legal challenges to make a positive case for their own candidacy, his Republican opponents have repeatedly wound up defending him in the most absurd ways possible, which does not make an affirmative case for their candidacy.

They do this despite the fact they have little chance of winning over his voters. Mr DeSantis has hinted that he would find a way to remove President Joe Biden from Floridas ballot. This is about as unlikely to happen as an impeachment and conviction for Mr Biden in Congress. But it displays the Republican candidates no-win situation with Mr Trump.

How they dance around Mr Trump will reveal much about the current state of the GOPs relationship with Mr Trump and his base.

Can Nikki Haley regroup?

The former South Carolina governor has always done well in debates.

Mr Ramaswamys targeting of her often backfired, as was the case when he mentioned her daughter used TikTok. She pushed back against former vice-president Mike Pence criticising her for not supporting a nationwide 15-week abortion ban, noting this could not pass in Congress. That earned her plaudits, the endorsement of the Koch network and New Hampshires governor Chris Sununu, to say nothing of the cash that had previously flowed to Mr DeSantis.

One CNN/University of New Hampshire poll showed her within single digits of Mr Trump in New Hampshire, but a Boston Globe/Suffolk University/USA Today poll showed her down 19 points against Mr Trump in the state.

But Ms Haleys comments in New Hampshire where she refused to say that slavery caused the Civil War, has caused a firestorm of criticism. Even Mr Trump characterised her words as bulls***. She has also faced criticism for shifting positions and not being strong enough on abortion.

In addition, questions remain as to whether she can actually pose a legitimate threat to Mr Trump when she does not beat him in a single poll. Mr DeSantis, whose campaign flatlined almost as soon as it launched, has attacked her on television and in previous debates.

Expect Mr DeSantis to ask her point blank whether she would accept being Mr Trumps vice-president.

Trumps reaction

He will not be on the stage. But Mr Trump can never resist being in on the action.

He consistently attacked Mr DeSantis before the governor announced his candidacy, effectively killing Mr DeSantiss campaign when it launched.

Now, Mr Trump has taken to regularly attacking Ms Haley. Whether this has the same effect is an open question. Ms Haley has tried to dance around directly attacking Mr Trump, given that she served in his administration as US ambassador to the United Nations. Mr DeSantis for his part has tried to attack Mr Trump a little more directly in recent weeks.

But Mr Trump will likely try to swat down ideas that he is considering Ms Haley for vice-president.

And he will likely mock Mr DeSantiss dismally low poll numbers. This is to say nothing about the fact the debate will take place on CNN, a network he regularly derides as fake news. All of this makes the debate prime picking for posts on Truth Social.
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CNNs Dana Bash and Jake Tapper will host the networks Republican primary debate in Iowa with former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The debate will take place at 9pm ET on Wednesday 10 January, just a few days before the caucuses on Monday 15 January.

The Des Moines debate is the first of two set to be hosted by the network. Former President Donald Trump has also qualified for the debate, but hes not expected to take part.

The other CNN debate is set to take place on 21 January at the New England College in New Hampshire. ABC News and WMUR will also host a debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire on 18 January.

The showdown on Wednesday night will take place at Drake University and will be streamed on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Espanol and CNN Max. Subscribers will also be able to watch the debate on CNN.com.

Jake Tapper

Mr Tapper is the lead Washington correspondent for the network, hosting The Lead on weekdays and co-hosting the Sunday programme State of the Union along with Ms Bash.

Before being hired by CNN, Mr Tapper worked at ABC News, where he served as the senior White House correspondent.

Born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia, the 54-year-old moderated the Republican primary debate in September 2015 featuring Mr Trump which drew more than 23 million viewers. On 10 March of the following year, he moderated the GOP debate in Miami, Florida, which garnered 12 million viewers.

Mr Tappers early career featured stints as the press secretary for Democratic Rep Marjorie Margolies, who was in the House between 1993 and 1995.

CNNs Dana Bash and Jake Tapper in the studio before the start of the 11th Democratic Party 2020 presidential debate with former Vice-President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a CNN Washington Bureau studio in Washington, DC on March 15, 2020 (AFP via Getty Images)

Dana Bash

Ms Bash, 52, is the host of CNNs Inside Politics and the co-anchor of State of the Union. Her father Stuart Schwarts was a producer for ABC News, the Jewish Standard noted in 2015.

After graduating from George Washington University, Ms Bash interned at NBC, CBS, and CNN, which she joined as a producer for weekend programmes including, Late Edition, Evans & Novak, and the show she now hosts  Inside Politics.

She was previously the chief congressional correspondent for CNN.

In 2019, she moderated the Democratic GOP debate where then-Senator Kamala Harris confronted then-ex-Vice President Joe Biden over segregation and bussing. Ms Harris would later join Mr Biden as his running mate and subsequently vice president.

Democratic presidential hopeful former US vice president Joe Biden talks with moderators (L-R) Univision's journalist Ilia Calderon, CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper and CNN political correspondent Dana Bash at the end of the 11th Democratic Party 2020 presidential debate in a CNN Washington Bureau studio in Washington, DC on March 15, 2020 (AFP via Getty Images)

Ms Bash and Mr Tapper hosted the 15 March 2020 debate with Mr Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders  the first debate affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which was then just beginning.
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CNN has announced which Republican 2024 candidates have qualified for the next GOP primary debate  and its bad news for some of the presidential hopefuls.

Former president Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley were the only three candidates to make the cut.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie failed to pass the threshold to appear on the debate stage this time round, marking the first time they wont be taking part.

Asa Hutchinson  who didnt meet the requirements for the last debate, yet has so far declined to bow out of the race  also failed to qualify.

Both Mr DeSantis and Ms Haley have already confirmed plans to participate in the 10 January Iowa debate, paving the way for the two candidates to go head-to-head as they vy to take on the clear GOP frontrunner Mr Trump.

The former president meanwhile has refused to take part in any of the primary debates so far, hosting rival rallies and interviews instead.

And this time will be no different.

Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis face off at the last GOP debate (REUTERS)

On the night of 10 January, Mr Trump will take part in a town hall on Fox News  also in the Hawkeye state.

To qualify for the 10 January debate in Iowa, hosted by CNN, the candidates were required to receive at least 10 per cent of votes in three separate national polls and/or Iowa polls of Republican primary voters or caucusgoers.

At least one of the three polls must be a poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers approved by the network.

The candidates had until midday on Tuesday to qualify.

As the window of time closed in  and his hopes of meeting the threshold dwindled  Mr Ramaswamy quickly announced that he was dropping out of the debate.

Forget @CNNs fake Iowa debate on Jan 10 which will be the most boring in modern history, he posted on X.

Instead, he said he will be doing a live-audience show that night in Des Moines with @Timcast instead.

While pitching it as his own choice, a mere few hours later it was announced he had not reached the threshold anyway.

The debate comes just five days before the Iowa caucuses, offering a final opportunity for the candidates to impress voters before the GOP primary race really kick off.

The debate will take place at 9pm ET on 10 January at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will act as moderators.
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Ron DeSantis entered the Republican primary this spring as the preeminent challenger to former President Donald Trump and as the heir apparent taking on the old guard.

The Florida governor was Trump without the baggage, a far-right fighter ready to rumble with the radical left and govern more productively than the chaotic reality TV star, blustering real estate mogul and grievance-filled showman.

In a race against the oldest president in US history, being born in the late 1970s instead of the mid-1940s would also be helpful. Part of the thinking was that Mr DeSantis could win the White House by simply standing next to President Joe Biden on the debate stage and not looking old.

But was his floundering campaign always inevitable? Was Mr DeSantis always too awkward to be president?

Former GOP strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson certainly thinks so.

The most overpriced stock in American politics

Newsom forces DeSantis to deny he follows science

I said as early as in the spring of 2021 that Ron DeSantis was the most overpriced stock in American politics, he tells The Independent. He didnt win in Florida by some magical gift of his own, he inherited the best Republican machine in the country  it elected him, he didnt win  he was hustled in there on the backs of 30 years of Republican dominance in the state and an infinite amount of money.

Calling Mr DeSantis the opposite of political charisma, Mr Wilson adds that the initial idea of Ron DeSantis being a great campaigner was rapidly put to the test and discovered to be a lie.

Mr Wilson says the governor is without a question, the worst-performing, best-funded primary candidate Ive seen in a long time.

Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative National Review, disagrees.

I think the fundamental factor is Trumps strengths, he tells The Independent. Its not as though Trump calling him DeSanctimonious has destroyed him, or theres any particular hit thats hurt him, its just that Trump is just incredibly strong among Republican voters and became even more so after the first indictment, and has kind of dominated the attention space.

Mr Lowry notes that the DeSantis campaign overspent and overemphasized cultural issues at the beginning although not for crazy reasons.

But they adjusted and widened out their message. He just hasnt proven to be an electric campaigner, he adds, noting the difficulty of running against the greatest showman on Earth.

Hes in a bad place now, Mr Lowry says, adding that theres a potential path but he basically has to win Iowa. And hes not close to being there at the moment.

His numbers there arent moving in a good direction

Florida Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis (L) and California Governor Gavin Newsom (R) appear on screen from the press room during a debate held by Fox News, in Alpharetta, Georgia, on November 30, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr De Santiss support in Iowa is actually on the decline, Ann Selzer, a prominent pollster in the Hawkeye State.

His numbers there arent moving in a good direction, she says. But she cautioned that the result is still up to the voters.

I have been active in enough caucuses  Ive seen everything happen. So I cannot say whether this will or will not result in success for DeSantis.

There has been reporting on how the pandemic, Mr Trumps dominance, and the increasing use of social media, have led to less campaign activity.

There are not a lot of yard signs. I will say the only two yard signs Ive seen were for DeSantis, but theres just no visibility out there, Ms Selzer adds. Those are the things that in the olden days used to be a gauge of how active the campaign is. Theyre not setting up their headquarters for phone banking, because volunteers can do that remotely.

Its just very hard to see except if you tag along with him and go to his events, and get a sense of the crowd size. And thats what likely caucusgoers are doing, she says. That is meaningful  if hes not able to gather very many people at the Pizza Ranch its possible for likely caucusgoers to say he just doesnt have the stuff.

Des Moines Register politics reporter Katie Akin has been to countless Desantis events in Iowa this campaign season.

She notes that Mr DeSantiss tour of Iowas all 99 counties, known as the full Grassley  named after the 90-year-old senator  is set to finish Saturday 2 December.

A split campaign with a lot staff

Newsom tells DeSantis he is trailing Trump in his own state

After driving all over the state to cover the governor, she noticed that he does have a large footprint.

He has a lot of staff. I dont know exactly how many, but he definitely has a lot of people, she tells The Independent, adding that, unlike with most other campaigns, she interacts with two separate groups  the campaign and the Never Back Down Super PAC.

Both the campaign and the PAC have been beset by infighting and high staff turnover  most recently the head of Never Back Down  2022 Nevada GOP Senate nominee Adam Laxalt  did just that when he backed down and left the PAC late last month.

Mr DeSantis has often been seen as combative with the press, taking a card from Mr Trumps playbook.

But on the trail, Ms Akin says hes not too hard to get hold of  I wouldnt say hes been particularly aggressive.

Hes pretty good at staying on message, which doesnt always make for the answer that youre hoping to hear from him, she adds.

Hillary Clinton looks like Ronald Reagan compared to Ron DeSantis

Part of that may be what some see as his robotic nature and reliance on talking points.

Hillary Clinton looks like Ronald Reagan compared to Ron DeSantis, Mr Wilson says. Hes literally among the worst candidates I have ever seen in any race at any level for human connection.

You can give him the best speech writers in the world and he still would deliver it in that robotic, snipping, nasty, totally flat effect, he adds. And its weird because his wife, Casey, who is going to run for governor of Florida by the way, shes a former television anchor, so shes a trained performer. They had a guy giving him speech prep and debate lessons  it clearly did not take.

Mr Wilson says Mr DeSantiss awkwardness and lack of charisma arent fatal in and of themselves.

Picture taken on September 9, 1999 shows former US President George Bush (L) and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the German presidential Bellevue Palace in Berlin (DPA/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking of the 41st president, the strategist says, George Herbert Walker Bush, who I worked for as a young man, was what I call charmingly awkward. He had a sort of New England preppy aspect. And it was a little goofy, a little silly sometimes, but he still had a certain charm.

Richard Nixon was in many ways an awkward man, Mr Lowry notes. Its just hard to do it against Trump.

President Richard Nixon in the Oval office February 19, 1970 in Washington, D.C (Getty Images)

You cant get away with it if youre just awkward, or youre just weird, Mr Wilson adds. Trump is a great performer. I hate him on every conceivable axis, but you have to see that the guy is a showman. He understands how to put on a performance  not everybody can do that in politics, and DeSantis least of all.

Bill Clinton was a masterful storyteller and Barack Obama made people feel like he cared about them, Mr Wilson says.

Former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attend the trophy presentation prior to Thursday foursome matches of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club on September 28, 2017 in Jersey City, New Jersey (Getty Images)

Mr Lowry says he certainly didnt think Mr DeSantiss supposed awkwardness doomed him from the get-go. That was one of the many hostile narratives about him before he got in.

But he notes that theres clearly some truth to the narrative that Mr DeSantis isnt the most personable of candidates. Hes fine on the stump, but its not like Bill Clinton lining up with every person he sees.

Will the DeSantis campaign end in Iowa?

Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attends the Thanksgiving Family Forum (Getty Images)

I think he sticks it out to Florida because hes arrogant. From what Im hearing in Tallahassee, his wife doesnt want him to quit and hand it to Nikki Haley, Mr Wilson says.

None of this had to go this way for him. He could have run a different campaign, he could have been a different candidate.

His people were literally talking about Im gonna be the secretary of this, Im gonna take over in the Commerce Department  astounding hubris.

Politics punishes hubris like no other business Ive ever seen, he adds.

Not all Republican voters see this awkwardness and nastiness in the governor.

Hes had pretty good attendance at his events, Ms Akin, the Iowa political reporter, says. If you look at some of the candidates that have polled lower or some of the candidates that are lesser known, at some of these Iowa caucus campaign stops for them, itll be like five people. Consistently, DeSantis is bringing out a couple dozen even in small rural areas.

Everybodys perspectives on him are so different based on who they are and what they believe, she adds. Ive talked to people after his events who think he seems very charismatic and charming and Ive talked to people after who do think he seems a little bit stilted and weird  I really have talked to people who will come away from the same event with opposite opinions of how he seemed on stage.

The key in Iowa is you never say never

I think the key in Iowa is you never say never, Ms Akin says. Looking back at previous cycles, there have been people who saw a surge in support just in the last couple of weeks before the caucus, even in the last couple of days.

Iowa is the least predictable, Ms Selzer says. We look at the most the largest number of candidates.

Keep in mind that in 2012, [former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum] had polled only as high as maybe five or six per cent poll after poll after poll. In the final poll was the first time he ever hit double digits.

Our polling showed him on an upward trajectory  that didnt happen until the final week ahead of the caucuses, she says. And by caucus night, he won.

In 2016, in the Democratic primary, Ms Clinton was leading, leading, leading.

[Vermont Senator] Bernie Sanders never dipped in our polling and he started at three per cent. And by caucus night, he lost by less than one delegate equivalent. Its just as it is designed, for things to happen late, and for there to be surprises, she adds.

But the longtime pollster notes that when Mr Obama was running you could kind of feel the contagion of a candidate picking up momentum and I cant say that I feel that for DeSantis.

Iowa Caucuses - Trump's post-result speech

You never know whats going to happen in Iowa

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (L) hosts Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during one of her "Fair-Side Chats" at the Iowa State Fair on August 12, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa (Getty Images)

You never know whats going to happen in Iowa until it happens, she says. I was just looking back at some data from past years  weve had people who poll first in November or October  and then they come in third or fourth on caucus night.

One of Mr DeSantiss main arguments, Mr Lowry notes, was that I can be Trump, but more successful and I can win. And I still think hed be the better general election candidate than Trump, but its hard to make the argument when Trump is beating Biden in the polls and beating DeSantis and everyone else by 30 or 40 points in the primary.

By going hard in Iowa, visiting all 99 counties and getting the endorsements of Governor Kim Reynolds and Bob Vander Plaats, the leader of a socially conservative group and a serial gubernatorial candidate, Mr Lowry says Mr DeSantis is playing the only hand he can.

Hes done the work. Hes done the trips. Hes done the campaigning, hes done the full Grassley  but the hours late and he needs to show movement, he says.

The Independent has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment.
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Protesters affiliated to an environment advocacy group chanted no oil money and interrupted a Fox News town hall in Iowa featuring GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

Activists from the Sunrise Movement held banners, chanted slogans, and blocked the camera during the town hall before being escorted out.

Mr DeSantis was interrupted as he was answering questions about Republicans and abortion bans following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.

You live and you learn with these people, right? Mr DeSantis said as the protesters were being escorted out.

That was a mistake. You guys didnt get that one right, he added and continued to answer the question.

The Sunrise Movement has pledged more confrontations ahead of the Iowa caucuses and revealed that activists posing as undecided Republicans had asked questions about fracking and green jobs during the town hall.

Whether its DeSantis, Biden, or Trump were fed up with politicians whod rather let people suffer and die than stand up to oil and gas millionaires, Amalia Hochman, who asked a question during the town hall, said in a statement.

As the 2024 Iowa caucuses approach, Republican presidential candidates are set to engage in a debate on Wednesday night. However, notable absences will be observed, as CNN, the host network, revealed that only three candidates have qualified for the debate: former president Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and former UN ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Mr DeSantis entered the Republican primary as the foremost contender against Mr Trump, positioning himself as both a significant challenger and the anticipated successor challenging the established leadership.

However, GOP strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson has said that Mr DeSantis is the opposite of political charisma and that the initial idea of Ron DeSantis being a great campaigner was rapidly put to the test and discovered to be a lie.

Mr Wilson said the governor is without a question, the worst-performing, best-funded primary candidate Ive seen in a long time.
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The judge presiding over Donald Trumps civil fraud trial in New York has rescinded permission for the former president to give closing statements on Thursday, after his attorneys failed to agree to lawful, reasonable limits for his remarks.

According to a series of email exchanges with Judge Arthur Engoron and attorneys in the case from a court filing on Wednesday, the judge agreed last week to let Mr Trump deliver remarks on the condition that he only discuss relevant, material facts that are in evidence.

He may not testify. He may not comment on irrelevant matters, the judge wrote to attorneys on 5 January, according to a court filing.

Mr Trump may not deliver a campaign speech or impugn the judge, court staff and attorneys, Judge Engoron wrote.

Attorney Christopher Kise replied that he cannot agree to those stipulations.

The judge told him that the conditions are not up for debate.

Following the death of Mr Trumps mother-in-law, Mr Kise asked the judge to postpone closing arguments entirely until 29 January, at the earliest. The judge rejected that request but extended a deadline on whether Mr Trump would agree to the terms of his closing arguments until 11am on Wednesday. Mr Kise called the conditions unfair.

I wont debate this yet again, the judge fired back at 11:54am on Wednesday. Take it or leave it. Now or never. You have until noon, seven minutes from now. I WILL NOT GRANT ANY FURTHER EXTENSIONS.

At 12:12pm, Judge Engoron rescinded the offer.

Not having heard from you by the third extended deadline ... I assume that Mr Trump will not agree to the reasonable, lawful limits I have imposed as a precondition to giving a closing statement above and beyond those given by his attorneys, and that, therefore, he will not be speaking in court, he wrote.

A lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Mr Trump, his two adult sons and their chief associates in the Trump Organization umbrella of defrauding financial institutions with grossly inflated estimates of his net worth and assets over a decade.

Judge Engorons damning pretrial judgment found the defendants liable for fraud outlined in the blockbuster suit, leaving a bench trial to determine how much Mr Trump and his associates should owe, and whether the attorney general is successful on other claims in her complaint, including insurance fraud and conspiracy.

Witness testimony in the lower Manhattan courtroom concluded last month after roughly 11 weeks.

A pair of gag orders issued by the judge in the bench trial prohibit parties and attorneys from disparaging the judges staff. A state appeals court upheld those terms, after court officials revealed the wave of death threats and violent messages that followed Mr Trumps outbursts.

On the trials second day, the former president spread false claims about Judge Engorons principal law clerk on his Truth Social, prompting the judge to order Mr Trump to delete the untrue and disparaging statements before issuing a first gag order that blocks Mr Trump and all parties in the case from attacking the courts staff.

The judge later found that Mr Trump violated the order twice, incurring $15,000 in fines. He also issued an order to include Mr Trumps attorneys, who then appealed.

In his emails to attorneys, the judge warned that Mr Trump could be cut off from speaking, removed from the courtroom and fined $50,000 if he were to violate the gag order during closing arguments.

Last week, in final briefs to the court before closing arguments, lawyers with Ms James argued that evidence collected by her office, including expert witness testimony and courtroom testimony from Mr Trump himself, is conclusive and prove numerous acts that the lawsuits central claims.

The attorney general argues that Mr Trump and his co-defendants should be forced to pay more than $370m and be effectively barred from doing business in the state.

Attorneys for both parties will have two hours and 15 minutes to present their closing statements.

Judge Engoron has indicated that he will issue a final judgment by the end of the month. Mr Trumps attorneys already have appealed the pretrial ruling and are expected to appeal any additional sanctions.
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In a post lambasting New Yorks attorney general, Donald Trump unintentionally namedropped one of the most beloved rappers of the 2000s.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, Mr Trump decried the civil fraud case against him in New York, for which the attorney general, Letitia James, has called on him to be penalized $370 million  a fee he called ludacris.

Even my Political Opponents Have Spoken Against the Ludacris Demands of NYS AG Tish James Trump wrote, misspelling the word ludicrous.

US Rep Jared Moscowitz had a good laugh about the error on Twitter. .@Ludacris he forgot to tag you, the Florida Democrat tweeted .

Another Twitter user listed out the possible ludacris demands in question. 1. Move b**** 2. Get out the way 3. Get out the way b**** get out the way, wrote podcaster Todd Nathanson , quoting from Ludacriss 2002 hit single, Move B****.

The rapper, whose real name is Chris Bridges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Trumps Truth Social post comes ahead of closing arguments in the court case, for which the former president stands accused of vastly inflating his net worth to fraudulently obtain favourable financing terms. In addition to the $370m penalty, Ms James has called for him to be permanently banned from working in New York real estate.

In a video attached to the post, Mr Trump called James radical left and Soros-backed, invoking antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish billionaire and frequent Democratic donor George Soros.
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Following the defence secretarys previously undisclosed absence, the White House issued a new set of procedures to Cabinet members if their duties cant be performed.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins hospitalisation arose from complications of a procedure for prostate cancer, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.

Hours earlier, the White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told Cabinet secretaries in a memo, obtained by the Associated Press, that if the Cabinet members need to re-delegate authority, they must notify his office and Offices of Cabinet Affairs and White House Chief of Staff.

Mr Zients added that the White House will be conducting a review of agency protocols for a delegation of authority. Each department is required to submit its current protocols by Friday 12 January to the Office of Cabinet Affairs, the memo added.

The memo was sent days after it was revealed that the defence secretary had been undergoing hospitalisation and was put under general anaesthesia  and apparently failed to notify President Joe Biden or his top aides.

Seemingly directly referring to the incident involving Mr Austin, whose surgery the memo noted, it said: Agencies should ensure that delegations are issued when a Cabinet Member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable.

After the memo was sent on Tuesday, the Pentagon revealed that the defence secretary underwent a minimally invasive medical procedure to treat and cure prostate cancer on 22 December.

On 1 January, Mr Austin began experiencing severe pain and was taken to the ICU at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder. He emphasised that the defence secretary was conscious but in quite a bit of pain.

The following afternoon, based on medical advice, certain authorities of the Secretary of Defense were transferred to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the press secretary said. The Secretary and Deputy Secretarys staff as well as the Joint Staff were notified that the transfer had occurred through regular email notification procedures.

On 6 January, Mr Austin issued a statement, claiming full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure. He acknowledged media concerns about transparency and said he could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed.
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Alexei Navalny, the outspoken critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has made his first court appearance since his transfer to a maximum-security Arctic penal colony in Russias far north.

Appearing via video link, he is seen cracking jokes with the judge, apparently to show that the Kremlin cannot break him, despite the decades of prison time he faces on charges decried as politically motivated by the international community.

The anti-corruption activist and lawyer has kept up an unceasing campaign against Mr Putins autocratic rule from behind bars, remaining the presidents most prominent opponent inside Russia.

Mr Navalnys team said he had been moved to a remote penal colony known as Polar Wolf, explaining why he went missing last month. The arduous 1,200-mile journey to the brutal prison takes three weeks by road and rail.

The activist drew laughter from the judge when he asked if a party had been thrown at the Melekhovo facility east of Moscow, where he had previously been held, to celebrate his departure and whether it had included karaoke. He also asked if the prison had held a naked party  a reference to a gathering of scantily clad celebrities in Moscow last month that has caused a national scandal.

Mr Navalny is suing the Russian prison authorities for mistreatment. He joked in his usual sardonic manner in social media posts before the hearing that it would be naive to expect Russias president to stop at shuttling him off to the Arctic.

The thought that Putin will be satisfied with sticking me into a barracks in the far north and will stop torturing me in the punishment-confinement was not only cowardly, but naive as well, he said. Mr Navalny, 47, is serving sentences totalling more than 30 years on a range of charges, from fraud to extremist activity. His supporters, and Western nations, say the charges have been trumped up to silence him. His being moved coincided with Mr Putins announcement that he would run for the presidency again in March elections.

Describing the treatment he has received in prison before Wednesdays hearing, Mr Navalny said officers at his new jail accused him of refusing to introduce himself in line with protocol and ordered him to serve seven days in a punishment cell.

At Wednesdays hearing, a transcript of which was compiled by independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, Mr Navalny unsuccessfully argued that authorities had acted illegally by sending him to an isolation cell in October for insulting a prison inspector.

Mr Navalny said the inspector had confiscated his pen despite the fact he was entitled to have writing materials, and acknowledged he went overboard by calling the official a devil, a moron and a scarecrow. The judge rejected his complaint.

During the hearing, Mr Navalny also said that the food in the Artic prison was fine but he had yet to receive any letters or telegrams. Im quite a long way away, he said. His chief strategist Leonid Volkov said that the Kremlin has thrown Mr Navalny into the colony to further isolate him as it cannot be accessed easily.

It is almost impossible to get to this colony; it is almost impossible to even send letters there. This is the highest possible level of isolation from the world, he said.

Mr Navalnys social media account showed a photo, apparently of him with his back towards the camera, facing a closed-off concrete yard with the caption: In the photo below, you can see my walking yard; 11 steps from the wall and three to the wall. Not much to walk, but at least theres something  so I go for a walk.

Being in a punishment cell means that walking outside in the narrow concrete prison yard is only allowed at 6.30am, he said. Few things are as refreshing as a walk in Yamal at 6.30 in the morning. And what a wonderful fresh breeze that blows into the courtyard despite the concrete fence; its just wow!

Its never been colder than -25F (-32C). Even at that temperature you can walk for more than half an hour, but only if you have time to grow a new nose, ears, and fingers, he joked. The message came from the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, on December 25, said his supporters.

Today I went for a walk, froze, and thought of Leonardo DiCaprio and his characters dead horse trick in the movie The Revenant. I do not think that it would have worked here. A dead horse would freeze to death in about 15 minutes, his account posted.

Inmates in regular conditions are allowed to walk after lunch, and even though it is the polar night right now, still after lunch it is warmer by several degrees, he said. The region where the prison colony sits, in Kharp, about 60 miles from Vorkuta whose coal mines were part of the Soviet gulag prison camp system, is notorious for long and severe winters.

Mr Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning, which he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption and organised major anti-Kremlin protests.
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The US and the UK have carried out military strikes with aircraft, ships and missiles against targets linked to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The attacks came after the Houthis launched their largest attack yet on Red Sea shipping, one of 27 such assaults since 19 November.

Officials said that 21 missiles and drones were fired at warships and commercial vessels near the Bab al-Mandab Strait early last week, the southern bottleneck of the Red Sea, with US and UK warships blowing them out of the sky.

Since the US-UK strikes, the Iranian-backed Houthis have vowed to expand their Red Sea raids to include US ships, and successfully struck an American-owned cargo vessel off Yemen on Monday night.

The ship doesnt necessarily have to be heading to Israel for us to target it; it is enough for it to be American, Nasruldeen Amer, a spokesperson for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera. The United States is on the verge of losing its maritime security.

Here is what we know so far:

What targets were hit in the strikes?

The US said that it carried out strikes at more than 60 targets at 28 Houthi locations, with the Pentagon saying that radar systems, drone and missile storage and launch sites, plus Houthi command centres were all hit. Strikes were reported in the Yemen capital Sanaa - which is controlled by the rebels - as well as the Houthi Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Dhamar and the group's north-western stronghold of Saada.

Britains Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that it had identified key facilities involved in Houthi targeting of HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels earlier this week "and agreed to conduct a carefully coordinated strike to reduce the Houthis' capability to violate international law in this manner".

It said fighter jets conducted precision strikes on two of these Houthi facilities. "One was a site at Bani in north-western Yemen used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones. A number of buildings involved in drone operations were targeted by our aircraft. The other location struck by our aircraft was the airfield at Abbs. Intelligence has shown that it has been used to launch both cruise missiles and drones over the Red Sea. Several key targets at the airfield were identified and prosecuted by our aircraft.

The Houthis said there were more than 70 strikes in total.

How have the Houthis responded?

The Houthis have continued to target ships since the US-UK strikes, saying that as well as Israel-linked vessels they now see British and American ships as legitimate targets.

The US military said it repelled a missile attack on one of its warships over the weekend, an anti-ship cruise missile that was fired by the rebels towards the USS Laboon in the Red Sea. It was drowned by a US fighter jet off the coast of Hodeidah.

And the Houthis also claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a US-owned cargo ship off the south coast of Yemen on Monday 15 January. The attack involved three missiles, one of which struck the Gibraltar Eagle and caused a fire.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which oversees Middle East waters, issued an advisory to all vessels in the region and urged caution during transit through Red Sea.

The assaults have prompted prominent shipping firms to reroute ships from the Red Sea, opting for a more extended journey around southern Africa instead.

On Monday, QatarEnergy, the second-largest oil company globally, declared a temporary halt to shipping through the route as it sought security guidance.

What weapons did the US and UK use?

US Navy warships fired Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles, which are GPS-guided and can be programmed to fly evasively, the US military says.

While no specific figures have been given for how many missiles were fired, the US says more than 100 precision-guided munitions "of various types" were used.

The UK said it sent four RAF Typhoons from Cyprus, carrying Paveway IV guided bombs. It has not said how many were released. The two UK Navy warships in the Red Sea cannot fire land attack missiles, hence the need for aircraft.

The UK and US had non-operational support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Who are the Houthis and why are they attacking in the Red Sea?

The Iran-backed Houthis armed group from a sub-sect of Yemen's Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis. They take their name from the movement's founder, Hussein al-Houthi. They have been fighting a civil war since 2014 against Yemen's government. The government has been backed against the Houthis by a coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The Houthis are part of what Tehran labels an axis of resistance against Israel, the US and the wider West which includes Hamas and Hezbollah from Lebanon. A Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October that killed 1,200 people and saw 240 taken hostage triggered Israel to bombard Gaza aiming to eradicate the group. Health officials in the Hamas-run territory say the Israeli military operation has killed more than 23,000 people. The Houthis claim they are targeting all ships bound for Israel through the Bab al-Mandab Strait in support of the Palestinian people.

The Houthis subsequently began targeting commercial vessels indiscriminately, triggering the mobilisation of a US-led naval coalition at the end of last year to counter this threat.

The Houthis have launched a number of attacks since November, carrying out at least 27 attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Why is the Red Sea important?

It is one of the major waterways for global trade; roughly 12 to 15 per cent of shipping traffic passes through the Red Sea.

Many shipping companies have been forced to reroute their vessels, taking the longer journey around Africa, although several oil majors, refiners and trading houses have continued to use it.

Alternative routes cause delays in supply chains, while increased insurance costs for sailing through the Red Sea threaten to have a knock-on effect to end costs.

Insurance premiums roughly doubled in the wake of the Houthi attacks.

German shipping group Hapag Lloyd said on Tuesday it would continue to avoid the Suez Canal and go around the Cape of Good Hope for security reasons, while its Danish rival Maersk has said it would avoid the route for the foreseeable future.

Thus far, spikes in energy prices as a result of the attacks have been short-lived and increased insurance costs have remained manageable, but experts have warned that if a few ships were sunk by a future assault, the situation could worsen.

What have Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak said about the strikes?

President Biden said the strikes were in "direct response" to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. "These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation," he said.

Mr Sunak said that the action was "necessary and proportionate" to protect global shipping.

"Despite the repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks in the Red Sea, including against UK and US warships just this week," he said. "This cannot stand."

Could the attack escalate regional tensions?

A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said the latest Houthi attacks showed the militant group were clearly focusing on escalation against international merchant shipping. Before the US and UK airstrikes, British defence secretary Grant Shapps described the situation in the Red Sea as unsustainable and said that the HMS Diamond, the British warship stationed in the area, had been specifically targeted in the latest attack.

The Houthis have vowed to continue their assaults until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned they would attack US warships if the militia group itself was targeted.

Mohammed al Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, wrote on X in December: Even if America succeeds in mobilising the entire world, our military operations will not stop... no matter the sacrifices it costs us. But the Houthis have no formal naval warships with which to impose a serious blockade of the waterway, while the defence capabilities of the coalition forces are more than able to cope with the threat of drones and missiles.

However the UK and the US have had to weigh their determination to keep the shipping lane open against the risk of spreading war in the region. The strikes were the first by the United States on Yemeni territory since 2016, and the first time it has attacked the Iran-backed Houthis at any such scale.

Saudi Arabia called for restraint and "avoiding escalation" as it looks to withdraw from the civil war in Yemen. The conflict has lately been in a delicate state of UN-backed peace negotiations. Saudi Arabia have been anxious about any response from the US and others that could complicate those efforts.
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The United Nations top court has ruled in favour of South Africas request to impose emergency measures against Israel over its military operations in Gaza.

South Africa hailed what it called a decisive victory for international rule of law on Friday, after the International Court of Justice said that Israel must ensure its forces do not commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The case is the first of its kind since Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in charge of the Gaza Strip, launched a deadly assault on Israeli soil on 7 October. The attack killed around 1,200 people with 240 more taken hostage, around half of whom have been subsequently released.

Israels response, including a heavy bombing campaign across the enclave and a three-pronged ground offensive, has killed at least 23,000 Palestinians, according to the local Hamas-run authorities, and displaced more than 85 percent of the population.

In the hearing on Friday, the 17-strong panel of judges at the Hague said it would not throw out the case against Israel and that it must provide basic humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip  but it stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

South Africa, which brought the case, had asked for the court to order Israel to halt its operation  but the court instead urged Israel to try and contain death and damage in its military offensive, which is still ongoing.

Below we look at the case and Fridays ruling by the ICJ in more detail.

Presiding judge Joan Donoghue opens the session at the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday (AP)

What is genocide?

Under international law, genocide is defined as committing acts with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Those acts include: killing or 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

While the destruction of Hamas  the stated aim of the Israeli military  would not come under the jurisdiction of genocide, the deliberate killing of Palestinians, if proved, would be considered under the terms of the crime.

The court on Friday ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians, as it wages war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. However, it has not yet ruled on the core of the case brought by South Africa  whether genocide has occurred in Gaza.

More than 20,000 people have died since the 7 October attacks, Hamas says (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

What is the case against Israel?

South Africa submitted evidence claiming they show acts and omissions by Israel that are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.

This refers both to Israels active bombing of the Gaza Strip and its alleged failure to prevent harm to civilians.

Their case also highlights public comments made by Israeli officials, including from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as proof of genocidal intent.

Former UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn announced on Tuesday that he was joining the South African delegation fighting the case.

Pro-Palestinian activists gather during session of the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

What has the ICJ ruled on Friday?

In the highly anticipated decision made by a panel of 17 judges, the International Court of Justice decided not to throw out South Africas case  and ordered six so-called provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza.

Many of the measures were approved by an overwhelming majority of the judges. An Israeli judge voted in favor of two of the six.

"The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering," Joan E. Donoghue, the court's president, said.

In a ruling heavy with complex legal argument, the UN top court said:

It refused to throw out South Africas case and said that claims of genocide were plausible

That Palestinians appeared to be a protected group under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

It condemned the dehumanising language from Israeli officials, including one official who described Palestinians as human animals.

Israel must try to limit death and damage during its military operation in Gaza.

Palestinians in the ruins of a residential building after an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

What has Israel said about the case?

After the ICJ ruling on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fact that the court was willing to discuss the genocide charges was a "mark of shame that will not be erased for generations," and he vowed to press ahead with the war.

"We will continue to do what is necessary to defend our country and defend our people," he said. "Like every country, Israel has the basic right to defend itself. The court in the Hague rightfully rejected the outrageous request to take that away from us."

Mr Netanyahu previously said about the accusations: No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas. It would murder all of us if it could. He and the Israeli military have said they are acting as morally as possible.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israels security minister, responded to the courts decision by tweeting: The Hague Shmague.

Israel has previously called South Africa's allegations false and "grossly distorted", and said it makes the utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

The military says they have airdropped flyers warning of imminent attacks, called civilians phones to urge them to leave targeted buildings, aborted some strikes when civilians were in the way and repeatedly stated that it distinguishes between Hamas and the Palestinian people.

Pro-Israel activists gather near the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday (AP)

Who is hearing South Africas case?

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nationss top court, is hearing the case.

Based in the Hague, the Netherlands, the court was established after World War Two to settle disputes between states and give advisory opinions on legal matters, which is what it is being asked to do with Israel.

It is not the same as the International Criminal Court (ICC), which can prosecute individuals for crimes of genocide. In March last year, for example, the ICC charged Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian childrens ombudsman, with genocide for the abduction of Ukrainian children.

The ICJ does not hold such power. However, its opinions carry weight with the UN and other international institutions.

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rule on emergency measures against Israel following accusations by South Africa that the Israeli military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Friday (REUTERS)

Can the court make Israel stop the war in Gaza?

South Africas team of lawyers asked the panel of 17 judges to give an interim order compelling Israel to immediately cease its military operations in Gaza, take reasonable measures to prevent the genocide of Palestinians, ensure that the displaced return to their homes and have access to humanitarian assistance, including adequate food, water, fuel, medical and hygiene supplies, shelter and clothing.

South Africa had called on the court to issue a provisional order against Israel as a matter of extreme urgency given it could take years for judges to issue a full ruling on the genocide case.

Provisional orders by the International Court of Justice are legally binding, but it lacks any significant powers of enforcement. Experts have said Fridays ruling will add to the political pressure on Israel rather than having major practical implications. However, given the limitations of the ICJ and Israels conviction in its war against Hamas, it is highly unlikely any request made by the court will be heeded.

In 2022, the ICJ ordered Russia to immediately suspend military operations in Ukraine, for example, but the order was ignored.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki welcomed "the significant order on Friday. He said that the judges "ruled in favor of humanity and international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas are the ones committing genocide (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

When will the ICJ make its final decision?

The first stages of the hearing began on 11 January.

Fridays decision is only an interim one and it could take years for the full case brought by South Africa to be considered, including a final ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide.

Why has South Africa brought the case?

As a signatory to the UNs 1948 Genocide Convention, South Africa said it was obliged to launch this case against Israel.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) also has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause; it sees parallels with its historical struggle with apartheid in the 20th century.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa told South African Jewish leaders his government stands with the people of Palestine, who have endured over seven decades of apartheid-type brutal occupation.

The South African minister for international relations, Naledi Pandor, said outside the ICJ on Friday that Israel cannot effectively implement the measures ordered without a ceasefire.
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The X/Twitter accounts of at least eight prominent journalists and that of a podcast host were temporarily suspended on Tuesday in what the social media companys owner Elon Musk suggested was an accident.

All the accounts were restored in a few hours, and at the time of their suspension had at least 75,000 followers. Some of the accounts were also critical of Israels war in Gaza, raising concerns of censorship on the platform.

Among the suspended accounts were those of the Texas Observers Steven Monacelli, podcaster Rob Rousseau, the Intercepts Ken Klippenstein, and of the American political podcast TrueAnon.

Journalist Alan MacLeod, the parody account Liam Nissan, and Ryan Shead and the anonymous zei_squirrel  both known for critical views of Israel  were also temporarily suspended.

Mr Musk posted a tweet hinting that the bans occurred accidentally during a routine sweep for spam and scam accounts.

We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them, the Tesla and SpaceX boss said.

X did not immediately respond to The Independents request for comment.

X  formerly Twitter  had come under scrutiny by rights groups in the past for the suspension of journalists critical of Mr Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist.

Musk denies drug use reports amid SpaceX, Tesla executives' concern

In December 2022, the platform banned the accounts of independent journalist Aaron Rupar, CNNs Donie OSullivan, Mashables Matt Binder, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post and Ryan Mac of The New York Times, all of whom covered Mr Musk in the prior months.

Twitter also banned the account ElonJet which tracked his private jets using publicly available data.

The multibillionaire defended the account bans, accusing the journalists of doxxing or publishing private information with malicious intent even though there was no evidence that the reporters had published such content.

Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info, the Tesla titan said.

Same doxxing rules apply to journalists as to everyone else, he said.

Most of the suspended accounts have since been restored, but some, including the meme account Juniper remain permanently banned.

The people behind the accounts suspended on Tuesday have also been highly critical of Mr Musk at times, and some have been vocal about topics like the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Klippenstein who has over 497,000 followers on X, for instance, reported on the Tesla titan in a story titled Elon Musk Discussed AI With Israeli Military as It Uses AI to Bomb Gaza.

But it remains unclear exactly why the accounts temporarily banned on Tuesday were suspended.

I cant think of anything Ive posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months, Texas Observers Steven Monacelli told Gizmodo.

I havent received any communications from Twitter/X about why I have been suspended, he said.
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A very tumultuous moment in very scary circumstance. That is how Boeing boss Dave Calhoun described the latest safety issue with the companys most successful plane, the Boeing 737 Max.

On Friday 5 January, Alaska Airlines flight AS1282 took off from Portland, Oregon on a routine flight to Ontario in California. The plane: a Boeing 737 Max 9.

As the aircraft climbed above 16,000 feet  higher than the summit of Mont Blanc  a panel known as a door plug blew out from the fuselage. The seat next to it was one of very few on the aircraft that was unoccupied. The plane immediately depressurised and the pilots declared an emergency. All 177 passengers and crew aboard flight AS1282 were safe when the aircraft landed back at Portland.

The entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft flying in the US has been grounded for inspections, which have already revealed loose hardware and bolts that needed additional tightening. Other operators are checking their planes.

I got kids, I got grandkids and so do you, said Mr Calhoun, who is president and chief executive of Boeing, in an address to staff. This stuff matters. Everything matters. Every detail matters.

The boss of the planemaker vowed: Were approaching this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. We are going to approach it with 100 per cent complete transparency every step of the way.

But the latest very scary circumstance follows two avoidable tragedies that killed 346 people aboard two Boeing 737 Max aircraft, for which the manufacturer has now accepted responsibility.

What is the future for the plane? These are the key questions and answers.

A brief history of the Boeing 737?

The twin-engined plane entered service in February 1968, with the same fuselage cross-section, accommodating six seats abreast, and nose profile of the older Boeing 707.

Carrying 100 or more passengers comfortably and efficiently on short-haul flights, the 737 proved an immediate success. More than 10,000 have been sold, and more than 20 billion passenger journeys made.

Over half a century later, the fuselage and wing profile remains the same  but by now the slim, cigar-shaped engines of the first edition have been replaced with much larger, quieter and more efficient engines. To maintain ground clearance they are mounted further forward, almost blended with the front of the wings.

This work-around triggered airworthiness issues, with the engines posing a potential aerodynamic problem in what Boeing called unusual flight conditions. When the angle of attack (the angle between the direction of the nose and the airflow) is high, the engine nacelles can contribute to the tendency of the aircraft to pitch up.

To counteract this propensity, special software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was installed, says Boeing, to provide consistent handling qualities. The Boeing 737 Max started flying in March 2017 for a range of airlines.

What happened next?

In October 2018, a Boeing 737 Max came down in the Java Sea shortly after leaving the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. All 189 people on board Lion Air flight 610 were killed.

In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa. The 157 passengers and crew died.

The cause of both tragedies was the MCAS software system that effectively wrestled control from the pilots and defeated all their efforts to save the aircraft. It emerged that Boeing had not been transparent about the new software and its implications for pilot training.

All Boeing 737 Max aircraft worldwide were grounded for almost two years while modifications were made and tested.

The US Department of Justice later said that Boeing was guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States over the 737 Max certification. The company agreed to pay over $2.5bn (2bn) in penalties.

Has the Boeing 737 Max been successful since then?

Yes. In a market for narrow-bodied aircraft where demand exceeds supply, the plane has a healthy order book. The first most popular variant is the Boeing 737 Max 8, which was involved in the two fatal crashes.

The slightly larger Max 9 flies for some airlines, and was the type that suffered what the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called, with some understatement, the in-flight departure of a mid cabin door plug.

Ryanair, doing things rather differently, flies a special variant known as the Max 200 (or 8200), which is a Max 8 adapted to carry more passengers. Europes biggest budget airline has also ordered an as-yet uncertified Max 10. Boeing is also working on a smaller Max 7.

What are the differences between Max models?

According to Boeing data:

Max 8: typical seating 162-178 in a two-class configuration.

Max 200: same size as the Max 8 but seats up to 210 people, with an extra emergency exit fitted between the overwing and aft exits. Ryanair has fitted 197 seats.

Max 9: nine feet longer than the Max 8, with a maximum capacity of 220. It typically seats 178-193 in a two-class configuration. At full capacity, an extra emergency exit is fitted between the overwing and aft exits. Since no customers have yet installed that many seats, the emergency exit is not needed and the space may be filled with a panel known as a door plug. That is a design feature intended to make the aircraft more flexible and therefore valuable for future customers.

Which airlines have the Max 9 in the UK?

No British carrier operates the Max 9, and neither does Ryanair of Ireland.

A Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said: There are no UK registered 737 Max 9 and therefore the impact on UK operated aircraft and consumers is minimal.

We have written to all non-UK and foreign permit carriers to ask for confirmation that inspections have been undertaken before any operation into UK airspace.

The only carriers with routes serving the UK are Icelandair (with four) and Turkish Airlines (with five, of which three are parked and not in use according to Planespotters.net). All of Turkish Airlines Max 9s have the door plug, but none of Icelandairs aircraft has it.

A spokesperson for Icelandair said: The directive issued by the FAA does not apply to Icelandairs four Boeing Max 9 aircraft. The aircraft that have been grounded have the so-called door plug configuration. Icelandairs Max 9s, however, have the deactivated mid cabin exit door configuration.

Icelandair complies to the highest safety and maintenance standards and all decisions concerning safety are grounded in procedures that have been approved by the relevant authorities.

Are any Max 9 aircraft flying to or from the UK?

Yes, but not with the door plug. For example, an Icelandair Boeing 737 Max 9, registration TF-ICB, flew from Keflavik airport near Reykjavik to London Heathrow and back on both 8 and 9 January. The plane then flew to New York JFK, returning back on the morning of 10 January.

What is the impact of the grounding elsewhere?

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are the main operators of the Max 9. They have cancelled dozens of flights each day, affecting thousands of passengers. January is a month of low demand, so space should be available on other departures.

Could the Boeing 737 Max be grounded permanently?

Theoretically any aircraft could be prevented from flying were a fundamental flaw found. This seems highly unlikely. But for Alaska Airlines to encounter a potentially fatal problem with an almost-new aircraft is alarming.

Peter DeFazio, a former US congressman who chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee until 2022, blamed Spirit AeroSystems  the Kansas-based company that supplied the fuselage. He posted on X: The door plug that blew out on the Max came from the same shoddy subcontractor that misdrilled holes in the plane  but hey they are cheap so why change.

The company has said: At Spirit AeroSystems, our primary focus is the quality and product integrity of the aircraft structures we deliver.

Spirit is a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter. Spirit is following the protocols set by the regulatory authorities that guide communication in these types of circumstances and we will share further information when appropriate.

What is the future for Boeing?

Speaking on PBS in the US, the respected commentator Jon Ostrower said: Boeing has tried to move beyond the tragedies that befell Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air back in 2018 and 2029.

But what keeps recurring is a series of quality missteps that are not nearly as severe as we saw in those crashes but certainly have not mitigated these quality escapes that cause tremendous disruption for Boeing, the airlines and, in this case, a very acute safety crisis for the Max, Alaska Airlines and the 171 passengers that were on board that airplane.

Boeing strategy fundamentally as a company has not changed. Theyve adopted new safety procedures, an ombudsman, and reemphasised various tactical moves in terms of how they approach safety.

But fundamentally, the company strategy in terms of its goals for both its shareholders and customers has not changed in the last 20 years.

Dave Calhoun told staff: Moments like this shake [our customers] to the bone, just like it shook me to the bone. They have confidence in all of us  they do, and they will again.

Statistically, how safe is the Boeing 737 Max?

The two fatal accidents and relatively low number of flights mean it looks disproportionately dangerous. According to Airsafe.com, the fatal crash rate per million flights is 3.08, compared with just 0.07 for the previous version of the Boeing 737. The rate for Airbus narrow-bodied aircraft, including the A320, is 0.09.
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A mother and daughter heading off on a Christmas holiday received an unexpected perk when they boarded their plane and found they were the only passengers in the economy class cabin.

Zoe Doyle was travelling with her mother, Kimmy Chedel, on Christmas Day aboard an Emirates flight from the Seychelles to Switzerland to spend the festive period with family.

The pair made the most of their crowd-free cabin (zndoyle / TikTok)

Ms Doyle shared a video of the empty seats on TikTok, which has now been viewed more than a million times. The caption reads: Merry Christmas from the only ladies flying Emirates today.

The clip shows Ms Chedel trying on the headgear worn by cabin crew, while her daughter can be seen dancing along the clear aisles and making snow angels on the aircraft floor.

It is set to Mariah Careys Christmas pop classic, All I Want for Christmas Is You.

The empty plane was a complete surprise, Ms Doyle told SWNS.

We had no idea we were the only ones. There were four others, I think, that were in first class but they were totally separate from us, so we were basically the only ones, she said.

Because it was monsoon season in the Seychelles, as well as being Christmas Day, it just meant no one was flying I guess.

The pair got a tour of the plane  though still werent allowed in first class, despite the abundance of seats.

It was so much fun. We were chatting with the flight attendants and filming funny videos with them.

Many of the hundreds of comments on the video are people wishing they could fly without the crowds.

One user wrote I want this so bad, while another said that it was their idea of heaven.

I worked a flight with only 10 passengers once. We put them all in first class and partied in the back. Best memory, wrote someone on their experience of a quiet flight.

In January 2022, British student Kai Forsyth got a taste of the private jet life on a flight from London to Orlando, Florida  quickly realising he was the only passenger on board.

Forsyth posted two videos of the eerily quiet flight to TikTok, captioning one: What would you do if you were the only passenger and had the plane to yourself?

He spent the eight-hour service befriending members of the crew, stretching out in economy and marvelling at the limitless nibbles.

They literally gave me all the snacks and unlimited food.
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Seeking new horizons for 2024? One of the most valuable resources for travellers in search of fresh opportunities is the constantly updated list of airline route launches compiled by schedule analyst Sean Moulton.

The table currently begins with the launch on Saturday 13 January of a new Ryanair link between two airports named for composers: Liverpool John Lennon and Warsaw Chopin.

Based on information from a wide range of industry sources, the list continues to May 2025  when Jet2 will launch a host of new routes, including Edinburgh to Burgas and Bristol to Kalamata.

Mr Moulton is also an avid traveller, and has picked out his five favourite new routes in 2024 for The Independent. Here they are, in order of the dates they are starting.

Virgin Atlantic: London Heathrow to Bengaluru

Begins: 31 March 2024

One of the largest cities in Southern India, Bengaluru has a growing tech scene and some beautiful cultural buildings. The route is the third Virgin Atlantic will serve in India from London Heathrow, after Delhi and Mumbai, and is a useful link to connect the diaspora between the UK and India.

The route will be in direct competition with the existing British Airways service, and is likely to see lower fares on the link.

Jet2: Birmingham to Tivat

Begins: 2 May 2024

The Montenegrin hotspot is on the beautiful Bay of Kotor, with stunning beaches and warm weather. Jet2 will offer package holidays to the Montenegrin coast thanks to this route. The airline serves Tivat from Manchester already and will be further adding London Stansted in 2024.

Other airlines serving Tivat including easyJet from Luton, Gatwick and Manchester.

SunExpress: London Stansted to Adana

Begins 24 May 2024

Adana is one of the oldest cities in Cilicia, located close to the Mediterranean Sea in southeast Turkey. While most people travel to Antalya, Dalaman, Bodrum or Izmir for Turkish sun, Adana offers a quieter, more authentic Turkish experience with rich culture. It also provides access to the Aladaglar National Park.

No other airline currently connects the UK with Adana.

Atlantic Airways: London Gatwick to Vagar

Begins: 1 June 2024

The capital of the Faroe Islands, Vagar is the gateway to the archipelago, with beautiful geographic features including lakes, mountains and cliffs to explore. The islands may be small in population but its rich history and isolated location allows for a getaway this summer.

Out of season, the main links with Vagar are from Copenhagen and Berlin.

Tui Airways: Manchester to Luxor

Begins: 7 November 2024

Launching in winter 2024, Tui is offering weekly excursions from Manchester and London Gatwick to Luxor. Known as the worlds largest open-air museum, Luxor is a starting point for river cruises along the Nile as well as numerous monuments and temples to explore.

The route will be one of the longest routes from Manchester using short-haul aircraft, with a distance of 2,624 miles.
Julians car was a metaphor for how the joy of travel vanished.

On Saturday 1 February 2020, the BMW spluttered up the hill heading west from Dover on the A20. As we approached the summit, Bavarian engineering relinquished its reputation for reliability and dumped us unceremoniously on the edge of the road.

Julian and I were returning from France after a significant event the previous evening. We had boarded the first ferry from the UK that would arrive in the European Union after Brexit officially took effect on 31 January 2020. Boris Johnsons war with Europe was still in the phoney stage; the full force of the withdrawal agreement would not hit until the start of 2021.
The Princess Royal has been welcomed to Sri Lanka with a dazzling performance by traditional dancers.

Anne carried a bag in each hand as she walked down the planes steps before greeting dignitaries at the start of a three-day visit celebrating the UKs ties with the Commonwealth country.

Groups of dancers and musicians performed for the royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, with drummers playing a hypnotic beat in hot and humid conditions.

Andrew Patrick, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, was among the dignitaries who formally welcomed Anne for what he described as a historic visit.
The boss of Boeing has thanked the pilots and crew of the Alaska Airlines plane for landing safely after the aircraft suffered a blowout in mid-air.

No one was injured when an unused cabin door broke away on the flight from Portland, Oregon, on Friday 5 January, shortly after take-off.

Huge thanks and compliments to the Alaska Airlines team. Pilots and crew who got that aeroplane back on the ground at a very tumultuous moment, in very scary circumstances, Boeings president and chief executive Dave Calhoun said.

They train their lives to do that, but you dont know until you know. I hope most never know.

Calhoun also admitted Boeing was at fault for the blowout during his press conference.
Susan Sarandon joined protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as they blocked bridges in New York City, disrupting Mondays traffic (8 January).

Footage posted online by Writers Against the War on Gaza shows the actor, 77, explaining her reasons for joining the protests.

Because no ones free until everyones free. And its my tax money thats paying for all these horrible weapons, so its my personal responsibility. And its a genocide - theres no bystanders in a genocide, she said.

More than 300 arrests were made on Monday as people blocked roads in the city.
Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of "losing control" in a heated clash with Rishi Sunak over Rwanda legislation.

The Labour leader also claimed the prime minister "wanted to scrap the scheme when he was trying to sneak in as Tory leader."

Mr Sunak, however, denied the second hand reports and said he is absolutely clear that the government will stop the boats.

"This is the party that has lost control of the borders," Sir Keir said, before accusing the Tories of "boasting while Britain is breaking".
The government are considering mass pardons to clear the names of hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly accused of fraud by the Post Office.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told Good Morning Britain that a blanket overturning of all convictions is one solution that could be adopted.

What it means is parliament interfering with the independent judicial process, which is something we dont want to do, Mr Hollinrake said.

Ideally, we dont want to do [that]... But were not in a perfect world here at all so we know we need to do something potentially very significant.
Dun Oir, Kilternan, Dublin 18, off the Glenamuck Road, between Stepaside and Enniskerry. A total of 86 units are being made available to rent in a development built by B&C Contractors. The location benefits from regular public transport services to the city centre and is within walking distance of the Luas.

Harpur Lane, Leixlip, Co. Kildare: A total of 52 apartments are being made available at Harpur Lane, which is adjacent to Leixlip.

Barnwell Point Apartments, Hansfield, Dublin 15: Developed by McGarrell Reilly, Barnwell Park Apartments involve 247 apartments over 6 blocks on a 1.67-hectare site with 272 car park spaces and 400 bike spaces. This gateway development is adjacent to Hansfield Train Station.

The Quarter, Citywest, Dublin 24: Developed by Cairn, The Quarter is located adjacent to the Fortunestown Luas stop. The LDA has secured 236 homes at this location over four blocks including 1-bed, 2-bed and 3-bed apartments.

The Land Development Agency is to open applications for 621 cost-rental apartments in Dublin and Kildare over the next few weeks.

The cost-rental model, which is open to those who do not qualify for social housing, offers rents that are at least 25pc below market rates.

The new homes will be on offer in Hansfield, Citywest and Kilternan in Dublin, and in Leixlip, Co Kildare, the authority said. It will be the first scheme in Kildare under Project Tosaigh, a Government plan to deliver more than 5,000 cost-rental properties by 2026.

Applicants for the homes must have a net household income of below 66,000 in Dublin, and below 59,000 outside the capital city.

They must be able to demonstrate their ability to pay the stated rent, which in practical terms means the rent cannot represent more than 35pc of their net household income. Finally they cannot already own a property or be in receipt of any social-housing supports, including rent supplement or HAP.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 10th January 2024

The cost of renting the apartments will range from 1,050 a month for a studio in the Barnwell Point Apartments in Hansfield, Dublin 15, to 1,750 a month for a three-bed apartment at The Quarter in Citywest.

The bulk of the homes are in Hansfield (247 apartments) and Citywest (236 apartments). A total of 86 apartments will be made available in Dun Oir in Kilternan.

Barnwell Point Apartments, Hansfield, Dublin 15: Developed by McGarrell Reilly, Barnwell Park Apartments involve 247 apartments over 6 blocks on a 1.67-hectare site with 272 car park spaces and 400 bike spaces. This gateway development is adjacent to Hansfield Train Station.

In Kildare, 52 apartments are being made available in Harpur Lane in Leixlip, ranging from 1,357 a month for a one-bed to 1,585 for a two-bed apartment.

Applications for the Kildare properties will open on January 15 and will run for a week. Applications for the Dublin properties open in the second half of January.

Separately, the LDA is opening applications today for 15 cost-rental houses from an existing development at Parklands in Citywest. Prices range from 1,350 a month for a three-bed house to 1,460 for a four-bed house.

Harpur Lane, Leixlip, Co. Kildare: A total of 52 apartments are being made available at Harpur Lane, which is adjacent to Leixlip.

Project Tosaigh is designed to allow the LDA step in to help construction firms and developers on stalled or unviable builds, turning the homes into cost-rental properties via a shared equity scheme.

This is a great start to the year for the LDA and a major announcement on the provision of cost rental housing, said LDA chief executive John Coleman.

Our new tenants in Dublin and Kildare will enjoy affordable rents and security of tenure. They will also live in well-connected and A-rated homes where they will have the opportunity to become part of and enrich new and existing sustainable communities.

The Project Tosaigh properties are in addition to 10,000 the LDA is in the process of developing directly on both state-owned and acquired land.
Housing shortage and protests by anti-immigrant groups raise fears

Irish firms are still hiring despite a global slowdown, but a housing shortage, tax debts and rising costs are taking some of the shine off the figures.

Following a third consecutive year of net job creation by State-backed domestic firms, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney says Irish business is in the strongest place that its ever been.

But he admitted the increased costs of doing business, and the 1.7bn in Covid tax debts outstanding at the end of last year, needed to be watched closely.

The minister promised there would be no cliff edge for firms ahead of a May deadline to start repaying Revenue tax debts warehoused since the pandemic.

Mr Coveney also defended the level of inward migration but admitted that everything isnt rosy when it comes to housing.

He insisted home-building this year would far outpace 2023, and the Government is getting a handle on the problem.

Leo Clancy, chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, pointed to growth risks posed by housing and labour shortages but said the biggest problem this year would be carbon reduction.

Another emerging risk, albeit one that has not yet been raised by multinationals, according to Mr Coveney, is an increase in violence by anti-immigrant groups in Dublin and around the country.

I think you have always got to be gravely concerned when there is any sign that the social model we have had may be at risk, and I think its certainly been a wake-up call to Ireland, Mr Clancy said.

Anything that puts that at risk is to be feared, but I dont believe that is a widespread reflection of Irish society.

Mr Clancy said he reassures people who want to move to Ireland that we are a broader society that has positivity towards migration.

Housing is an issue for our clients on an ongoing basis. Labour and skills tightness is one of the biggest factors affecting business and, in that context, the cost and availability of housing is always a factor for companies.

Enterprise Ireland-backed firms created more than 5,000 net new jobs last year, new results published by the State agency show. Employment in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies increased to a record 225,495, with more jobs added than lost in all sectors, including technology.

Climate, sustainability and agri-tech jobs performed strongest, growing 7pc, while digital technology and fintech jobs grew at a more moderate 2pc.

The sharpest employment slowdown was seen in the engineering sector.

Eight out of nine Irish regions recorded net jobs growth, with the midlands having a 1pc dip.

Mr Clancy said the agency will put its focus in 2024 on companies that want to grow and scale, while still providing much-needed seed funding to Irish start-ups.

We are re-examining how we might further support companies on that funding journey, he said.

Ideally wed like to be out of the business of providing venture funding to anyone, and wed like a vibrant ecosystem where an Enterprise Ireland potentially isnt required. But I dont think were there quite yet.
Ryanair is behind on deliveries, and could be short by up to 10 aircraft for summer season

Passengers near the damage on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, Flight 1282 (Elizabeth Le via AP)

Ryanair could be up to 10 aircraft short for its peak summer season this year due to Boeing being behind with deliveries, its chief executive Michael OLeary said.

The delays will mean the airline is likely to carry 200 million passengers for the financial year beginning in April instead of the 205 million previously forecast.

We were supposed to have 27 (Boeing MAX 8200) aircraft delivered prior to Christmas, we finished up getting 11, Mr OLeary said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Were supposed to have 57 aircraft delivered to us by the end of April, and we think wed be lucky to get 50 by the end of June.

So were going to be left five, seven, maybe 10 aircraft short for the peak summer season this year.

It costs us  if youre talking being down five million on 205 million passengers  probably two, two and a half per cent of profits.

Ryanair is one of Boeings biggest customers and currently has about 400 aircraft on order with the manufacturer.

While it uses Boeing 737s in its fleet, it does not operate the type of 737 Max 9 that has been grounded by US regulators after a door fell off an Alaskan Airlines flight shortly after it took off from Portland, Oregon, last Friday.

Following the incident, in which none of the passengers or crew was injured, both Alaska and United Airlines reported they had discovered loose parts on some of the 171 grounded 737 Max aircraft.

United said it found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug  for example, bolts that needed additional tightening.

News of the discovery, first reported by The Air Current, a trade publication, pushed Boeings share price down 8pc on Monday. Shares in Spirit AeroSystems, its fuselage supplier, lost 11pc.

A missing washer was found on one plane in India, regulators there said.

In a statement, Alaska Airlines also revealed that initial reports from its technicians on the grounded 737s in its fleet indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board in the US, said it would consider broadening its inquiry into last Fridays incident to encompass other 737 Max models.

Such a move would cause further disruption to Boeing and potentially hamper its manufacturing process.

We need to first and foremost figure out what happened here on this aircraft, Ms Homendy said at a press briefing.

If we have a bigger system-wide, or fleet issue, we will issue an urgent safety recommendation to push for change.

In his interview with the Financial Times, Mr OLeary called on both Boeing and Airbus to significantly improve quality control.

The Ryanair chief executive has previously criticised Boeings management due to delays in delivery aircraft, but now says he thinks the company has improved its performance, notwithstanding the recent incident.

I think theyre doing a better job now. I think theyre working their way through the problems, he said.

The 737 is fine. But it doesnt need these kind of short-term reputational issues, he added.
The former media magnate  thought to be Irelands first billionaire  suffered a spectacular fall from grace in 2015

Tony O'Reilly was the leading figure in several businesses including Eircom, Independent News & Media and Waterford Wedgwood.

The former media magnate Tony OReilly has emerged from bankruptcy at the age of 87.

Mr OReilly, who was reckoned to be Irelands first billionaire, had a spectacular fall from grace in 2015 when he was declared bankrupt in the Bahamas, where he was living at the time.

However, an official notice that has just been published shows the businessman has exited the process.

Creditors of Mr OReilly received a final dividend from his estate last year.

The Supreme Court of the Bahamas closed the bankruptcy proceedings in respect of the businessman in December, on the basis that the whole of his property was realised for the benefit of his creditors.

Following the final meeting of creditors held on 4 January 2024, the trustee is hereby released from his position as trustee, says a notice in the official State gazette Iris Oifigiuil which has just been published.

The trustee was Alastair Beveridge, of Alix Partners, in London.

For many years Irelands richest man, Mr OReilly was the leading figure in several businesses including Eircom, Independent News & Media and Waterford Wedgwood.

The former Ireland rugby player also owned a slate of trophy properties and art in Ireland and abroad.

Under pressure from creditors before being declared bankrupt, Mr OReilly, a former chief executive of Heinz, had already been offloading assets.

Among the creditors was AIB, which opposed his efforts to be declared bankrupt in the Bahamas.

The businessman sold his Castlemartin estate in Co Kildare in 2015 to the US media billionaire John Malone for 28m.

The following year furniture from Castlemartin went up for sale at an auction held at a rural pub in Co Kilkenny.

The proceeds were used to pay creditors in his bankruptcy process. An antique table and set of chairs at which former US president Bill Clinton and South African leader Nelson Mandela once dined with Mr OReilly, sold for more than 74,000 including fees.

A pair of rare 18th-century gilt console tables sold for 145,000.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 10th January 2024

In 2018, the Commercial Court in Dublin appointed receivers to take control of shares in Dromoland Castle that were owned by Mr OReilly.

The 6.8pc stake in the hotel was valued at about 1.9m at the time.

That appointment arose out of AIBs continued efforts to recover money on foot of a 22m High Court judgment secured against Mr OReilly and two of his investment vehicles in 2014.

Mr OReilly and his late brother-in-law, Peter Goulandris, ploughed 500m into Waterford Wedgwood between 2004 and 2008.

At the time Mr OReilly was receiving tens of millions of euro in dividends from Independent News and Media, then owner of the Irish Independent.

But the investment in Waterford Wedgwood evaporated as the business went into receivership in 2009 with debts of 800m.

It was sold to US private equity firm KPS for just 107m. Mike Psaros, KPSs managing partner, later declared it the worst-run company he had ever seen.

Mr OReillys wife Chryss died unexpectedly in France last year.

She had extensive interests in the equine world, and had been living with her husband at Chateau des Ducs de Normandie.
Emma Stone is extraordinary as a young woman brought back to life with the mind of a toddler

If the films of Yorgos Lanthimos have a unifying theme, its that the veneer of civilisation is perilously thin, and likely to collapse into mayhem at any moment.

Poor Things (18, 142mins)

In everything from Dogtooth and The Lobster to The Favourite and The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, the Greek writer/director has dramatised the ongoing war between primal urges and societal norms, but has altogether outdone himself with Poor Things.

For this is Yorgos unplugged, a film like none other you will ever see, pure in its intentions but wickedly satirical, totally at ease with its wild eccentricities.

A surreal twist on the Frankenstein story, Poor Things is based on a novel of the same name by the Scottish writer Alisdair Gray, who gave his enthusiastic blessing to this adaptation before his death in 2019.

Willem Dafoe plays a brilliant surgeon. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Its set in a kind of alternate Victorian London and co-stars Yorgos stalwart Willem Dafoe as Godwin Baxter, a brilliant, reclusive surgeon and anatomist whose interest in cadavers stretches well beyond the call of duty.

When a young female commits suicide by throwing herself into the Thames, Baxter manages (by means grotesque and only latterly revealed) to bring her back to life.

But Bella (Emma Stone), who becomes his ward, is no ordinary woman: her speech patterns and movements are those of a toddler, and she must learn everything from scratch.

Emma Stone rediscovers the joys of life after being revived. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Tabula rasa, in other words, but while the men around her seem intent on moulding her in their image, the fast-developing Bella has plans of her own.

When Baxters keen and callow assistant Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) falls in love with Bella, the surgeon agrees to their engagement with the proviso that the couple continue to live with him in his labyrinthine townhouse.

Bella, meanwhile, has discovered the joys of masturbation, which she demonstrates at the dinner table and now becomes sexually curious.

Enter Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a lawyer and cad of the first order, the kind of villain whose every appearance on a Victorian stage would be accompanied by flurries of snow.

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Wedderburn has a big moustache and a glint in his eye, and before you know it, he and Bella have absconded on a kind of humping grand tour, first to Lisbon, thence to Alexandria and finally to Paris.

Wedderburn wants to control Bella too, but as her confidence and assurance grow, she is having none of it and tries her hand at prostitution.

Raised beyond societys cruel gaze, she makes no value judgements about this and becomes a socialist at a brothel, trying to unionise her fellow workers.

The use of light and colour is outstanding. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Poor Things is shot like a psychedelic gothic horror and the opulently baroque architecture of Budapest makes for a suitably eccentric backdrop.

The sequences aboard a fantastical ferry are marvellous, and cinematographer Robbie Ryans use of light and colour are tremendous.

Maybe actors dream of taking on a character like Bella, but Im not sure how many would be up to this challenge.

Stones performance is built with extraordinary physical rigour  as Bella learns to walk and talk, her character emerges from within, a spindly stick woman with terrifying eyebrows who somehow manages to attain a state of grace.

Poor Things is shot like a psychedelic horror. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Its a superb piece of acting, as good as anything Ive seen over the past year.

But then all the cast buy into Yorgos high-wire act, from Dafoes hunched and grunting scientist to Youssefs twitchy Lothario.

And what a turn from Mark Ruffalo, who uses that oft-twirled moustache as the lynchpin for his delightful comic portrayal of an odious villain its somehow impossible to dislike.

Poor Things is in cinemas from Friday January 12.

Rating: Five stars
The ICMSA has said that co-ops can and should be paying 39 c/L for milk supplied in December.

Lakeland Dairies has increased its milk price by 1.15 c/L for milk supplied in December.

A base price of 37.15 c/L at 3.6pc butterfat and 3.3pc protein will be paid for December milk in the Republic of Ireland. Qualifying farmers will also receive a 5 c/L out-of-season payment.

In Northern Ireland, a base price of 30.25 p/L will be paid for milk supplied in December. The base price has increased by 1 p/L plus the usual out-of-season payment of 3 p/L.

As we face into 2024, the global dairy markets are more favourable but remain delicately poised, a spokesperson for the processor said.

While there are some positive market indicators, particularly around milk supplies in key production regions, demand uncertainty remains. Lakeland Dairies will continue to monitor the markets closely in the time ahead.

Chairperson of ICMSAs Dairy Committee, Noel Murphy, has said that co-ops can and should be paying 39 c/L for milk supplied in December.

Mr Murphy said that ICMSA would not accept the argument that merited price rises did not matter for low volume periods like December. He said that co-ops must always pay the highest milk price possible.

There is no doubt that 39 c/L is an absolutely realistic price for co-ops to reach for December payments and the markets for the last quarter of 2023 prove as much, he said.

Milk supplies are tight in exporting nations and if farmers are to be encouraged to produce long term, in the volumes that the co-ops already know they will require, then prices that reflect a rising global market and demand have to be paid to the primary producers.

Mr Murphy encouraged co-ops to be bold and begin restoring farmer confidence that has been so badly shaken by 18 months of cruel margin-squeeze and really damaging cave-in by the Irish Government to anti-dairy elements both here and in the EU.

The latest Global Dairy Trade event concluded with the Price Index up 1.2pc.

Meanwhile in the UK, milk prices held firm in January, with most processors announcing increases or no change to their pricing.
Calum Best forced my hand down his shorts, woman tells Spanish court

Holidaymaker says incident happened in the smoking area of Wayne Linekers club in Ibiza

Calum Best with his lawyer outside the court in Palma. Photo: Richard Atkins/Solarpix.com

Gerard Couzens Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 03:30







A British holidaymaker has told a Spanish court she was left in shock and tears after George Bests son Calum Best sexually assaulted her at Wayne Linekers beach club.
A rise in the number of children committing sexual offences has been partly fuelled by violent porn and access to smartphones, a police chief has warned.

Half of child abuse offences reported to police in England and Wales in 2022 involved a child aged 10 to 17 as a suspect or perpetrator, up from a third in 2013, in what police called a growing and concerning trend.
The winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased at the Applegreen Roundtower Service Station in Lusk

Lotto players in north Dublin are being urged to check their old tickets as a 1 million prize has not yet been claimed.

The Lotto Plus Raffle draw took place on Saturday, December 23, and the owner of the ticket worth 1,000,500 is yet to come forward.

The winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased at the Applegreen Roundtower Service Station in Lusk and the winning Raffle number was 9652.

The Dublin player won the life-changing amount in a special event which saw a 1 million boost to the Lotto Plus Raffle prize fund for the December 23 draw.

The Lotto Plus Raffle typically sees between 60 and 120 winners of 500 in every draw but the Christmas Eve Eve draw saw one Dublin player enjoy an even higher windfall due to a special Raffle event.

Each of the tickets with the winning Lotto Plus Raffle number drawn in the draw were entered into a once-off random draw where one ticket was selected to win an additional prize of 1 million. While every ticket holder who had the winning Raffle number won 500, one player scooped an additional 1 million windfall.

The Lusk winner is advised to sign the back of their ticket and to keep it safe. They should make contact with the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and arrangements will be made for them to collect their 1,000,500 prize at Lotto HQ.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: A Lotto player in North County Dublin currently has a ticket from the 23rd December draw worth over 1 million which they are yet to make contact about.

We are advising all of our players who purchased a ticket in the Lusk area for that particular draw to carefully check their old tickets as soon as possible.

That particular draw was held the night before Christmas Eve so the winner could have been out Christmas shopping or visiting relatives and it could ring a bell.

The winning ticket was a Quick Pick which was purchased the Applegreen Roundtower service station in Lusk. Hopefully this will ring a bell with one of our players and get their January off to a flying start!

Meanwhile, as tomorrow nights Lotto jackpot heads towards an estimated 12 million, the National Lottery are reminding players hoping to win big that tickets can be purchased in-store nationwide, through the National Lottery app or at www.lottery.ie ahead of the 7.45pm cut-off time for sales on Wednesday evening.
The roof of Dublins much-loved Iveagh Markets has collapsed as remedial works stalled over the winter period.

New images revealed by the Sunday World today show the beautiful heritage building has fallen into a state of complete disrepair, and is now exposed to the elements.

Fix it, get on with it, fix the Iveagh Markets, campaigners pleaded on Tuesday.

Friends of the Iveagh Markets released a statement this afternoon decrying the ongoing situation.

"It is so awful to see that no remedial works have yet to begin. There is significant new damage and the water ingress continues unabated.

Debris from roof

"We accept that repairs must be carried out to the highest standards but the Markets simply cannot be allowed to deteriorate any more than they already have.

"The Markets have been neglected long enough.

In new photos, debris is seen strewn across the ground with the sky clearly visible overhead.

"The fragile state of the Markets demands immediate urgency in making the building water tight. The proposed timeline needs to be hastened significantly to prevent the Markets from irreparable disrepair.

Iveagh Markets open to elements

"The Iveagh Markets represent so much of our culture and heritage and they need to be protected for future generations. Fix the Markets now, please get on with it, the groups statement concluded.

Senator Mary Seery Kearney spoke recently about the opportunity the building represents to Dublin.

The Iveagh Markets is on the way to the Storehouse and would be the perfect location for the restoration of an artisan food market that tourists and locals can shop and enjoy street food under the cover of the shelter of the market, similar to markets in cities like Barcelona, or the English Market in Cork.

Back in September, it was announced that 9 million in funding for essential conservation and repair works had been allocated. The building is in a state of dereliction since its closure in the 1990s.

Dublin City Council said the funding was designated for "essential conservation works" at the historic site located on the junction of Francis Street and John Dillon Street.

Overgrown Iveagh Markets

The stabilisation work was to include repairs to the roofs, valleys, internal gutters, parapet and large roof-lights of the Wet Market and Dry Market.

It was also stated to include repairs and reinstatement of the rainwater disposal system, management of vegetation growth to the site and its structures as well as protection and securing of the windows and door.

An initial work programme of clearance, propping and making safe was to be initially undertaken.

The main stabilisation works will begin in 2024, a council spokesperson stated at the time.

However, fears over the roof caving in now appear to have been realised.

Dublin City Council have been contacted for comment.
From online safety to dry shampoo, teens lead the way at RDS science exhibition

Here are five future entrepreneurs and changemakers at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), with online protection for children and wind energy hitting top marks with our team.

After a day of perusing hundreds of stalls and talking to countless bright young minds, we have selected five of the most impressive future entrepreneurs, whose products could make a real difference in society.

1. ChatGPT-Powered Child-Grooming Detection App for Social Media

Anne ODonovan (17) from Colaiste Choilm in Ballincollig, Co Cork.

Anne was just 13 when she got her first phone and of course, she didnt know what to do when adults contacted her online. But two years later she felt able to share what had happened with her mother, Bridget Cleary and ever since, the vibrant schoolgirl has been determined to use her own experience to help protect other children online in future.

The schoolgirl has invented a proof in concept of a ChatGPT app that will detect if an adult is talking to a child online or if inappropriate language is being used. This system could alert parents to a specific danger.

Anne said: Any messages children receive on WhatsApp, social media, anywhere online theyre on, are sent through to ChatGPT on my app. Then the app detects if an adult is talking inappropriately to a child and says the child needs to get off the phone. Its a proof of concept prototype because it requires funding and I need to talk to social media companies.

When I was younger, around 13, I got my first phone. I was a lot older than most of my classmates when they got their first phone. I opened different online accounts. All these adults were messaging me, asking really invasive questions. I never spoke to them but it was constant.

I had to get a new Google account to finally get away from it. I wasnt comfortable at the time telling anyone, as I felt Id failed in some way. This app is my brainchild because I want kids to feel its OK if this happens to them and for parents to know theres a way to stop it and to protect children immediately.

Some of the innovations at this Year's BT Young Scientist competition

2. A study on the commercialisation of small wind turbines for home energy production

Nilan Jagan (17) Patrician Secondary School, Kildare.

When engineer Jagan Rajasekaran emigrated to Newbridge, Co Kildare, from India several years ago, he immediately noticed that we're failing to utilise our wind energy.

Fast forward several years later and he has passed on his beliefs on wind energy  and his engineering skills  to his son, Jagan.

Jagans project poses the question: Why are small-scale wind turbines not a commercial success yet?

Neighbours surrounding the Rajasekaran home have all been asking the same question as they stop by to inquire about the small wind turbine attached to the front of the Newbridge home.

It would only cost a few hundred euro to use wind turbines, rather than solar panels, which are dependent on power from the sun, Jagan said. In Ireland its windy all the time, so why dont we use wind turbines to power our homes?

Jagan found that a typical Irish home could power itself completely using wind energy, rather than electricity, cutting out inflated electricity bills and helping the environment.

3. The Green Goddess Experiment: A comprehensive examination on exploring optimal components for an eco-friendly dry shampoo

Kelly Ryan (14), Layla Lavelle (13) and Leona McCullough (14) from Virginia College, Co Cavan.

The three school friends watched a TikTok on concerns about carcinogens (cancer-causing materials) in some dry shampoos. They immediately set about coming up with a natural dry shampoo. And its perfect for festival season or holidays.

Leona said: We were kind of shocked to think there could be cancer-causing materials in shampoo, so we signed up to Young Scientist to look into providing a natural alternative.

Layla added: You can make shampoo at home yourself naturally and that means you remove potentially harmful products.

They used natural ingredients including, starch, baby powder, cocoa powder, lemon oil and cornstarch, to make their product.

4. How noiseless are noiseless pickups?

Elliott Cave (16) from Bandon Grammar School, Cork.

Any guitar player will know all about feedback and fuzzy noise and this annoys everyone from the professional guitarist in a band right down to the amateur plucker on their sofa.

Student Elliot has recently left his band The Talk and is looking to set up another. But while looking for new bandmates, the feedback from his guitar was irritating him.

So rather than just accept something thats affected guitarists down the years, Elliot decided to solve the noise issue and designed a hybrid single coil pickup attached to a guitar to reduce sound interference.

Elliott Cave, from Bandon Grammar School in Cork, plays his electric guitar, which is part of his project 'How Noiseless are Noiseless Pickups' at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS. Photo: Frank McGrath

Elliot said his innovative metal pickup cancelled out the 60 cycle hum, as there were no frequencies at 60Hz, while retaining the treble tone and output.

He added: When you're playing a guitar there's a buzz in the background, but my pickup eliminates that and creates a clear sound.

Ive designed the pickup for bands in studios and for professional musicians. I got the design made by a guitar company near Kent in England.

5. Green hydrogen production and use

Caitlin OHanlon (13) and Eimear Boyle (13) from St Ciarans College, Tyrone with a special mention to a friend who assisted, Eva Lynch (13).

The friends designed a system to transform water into hydrogen and oxygen, to use as a green power source.

Caitlin said: The problem is the sun isnt always shining for solar panels and the wind isnt always blowing for wind turbines, so we use solar power to turn water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Eimear added: Then we converted the hydrogen into an energy source to power a van or motor.

While the friends project offers the potential to replace power sources being created by fossil fuels, theres still a long way to go.

The schoolgirls contacted Queen's University, who helped with providing a small car and fan and other equipment for the experiment. However, the girls still had to use fossil fuels to power electricity for their solar panel.
People want to age at home  fear Fair Deal Schemes rental income changes will prematurely put people in nursing homes

Nursing home residents will be able to keep all income from renting their home from next month

Philip Ryan Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 03:30

Nursing home residents will be able to keep all income raised from renting their homes as of next month  but junior health minister Mary Butler is concerned the move will result in people being prematurely admitted into care.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) reaffirms its commitment to fostering economic development in Armenia by providing a USD 5 million senior loan facility to its long-standing partner ARARATBANK. With this new facility, the partners aim to facilitate access to finance for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and importantly those that are majority-owned or led by women and contribute to increased business competitiveness and inclusiveness in Armenia. ARARATBANK is a leading SME financier in the country with a proven strong track record in gender finance. EFSEs investment will further solidify the Banks dedication to supporting women-owned or -led enterprises and promoting socio-economic empowerment and inclusiveness.

EFSE Regional Director Oxana Binzaru said: We are honored to continue our journey with ARARATBANK, a trusted partner that shares our mission to foster economic development. This USD 5 million investment is a testimony to our joint commitment to supporting MSMEs, particularly women-owned or led enterprises, and making a meaningful impact on Armenias economic landscape.

Mher Ananyan, Chairman of the Executive Board of ARARATBANK, concluded: This strategic partnership reflects our commitment to fostering local economic progress and empowering MSMEs, which play a vital role in driving innovation, job creation, and overall economic stability. With the European Fund for Southeast Europe's expertise in financing and our bank's extensive network and resources, we are confident that this collaboration will have a significant impact on the business environment in Armenia."
Impaired cognition among preterm infants can be predicted prior to discharge from neonatal care, a new study jointly carried out by Irish and Swedish researchers has shown.

The study also found in addition to known risk factors such as low birth weight, male gender, neonatal cerebral haemorrhage that prolonged ventilator treatment and a lack of breastfeeding at discharge from neonatal care were identified as important risk factors for delayed cognitive development two years after discharge.

Around 2.2m infants are born very preterm each year at a gestational age younger than 32 weeks.

They are at risk of cognitive delay which can predict later learning difficulties at school age.

It is currently difficult to predict at the individual level which children are most at risk, and which children would benefit most from preventative interventions.

Many of the current interventions are highly resource intensive starting in the hospital, followed by frequent visits to the families in their homes.

Researchers from the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (INFANT) at University College Cork, Ireland and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, examined data from the Swedish Neonatal Quality Registry and used machine learning to identify the most important risk factors for delayed cognitive development.

The data from 1,062 very preterm babies, all of whom had been carefully assessed at the age of two years, was examined to help develop a predictive model.

Through this study, the research team have developed a predictive model, containing 26 risk factors, which at discharge from the neonatal unit identified 93pc of surviving VPT infants who would later screen positive for cognitive difficulties at 24 months.

Mikael Norman, Professor of Paediatrics at the Department of Clinical Science at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and lead researcher of the study said: This is an important step towards tailoring preventative interventions to the most needy children already upon discharge from neonatal intensive care.

"There is effective help available today, but it is often very resource-intensive and therefore may not be available to everyone. Therefore, new prediction tools like the one we developed are needed."

Paediatrician Prof Deirdre Murray said: This is an exciting collaboration which combined the machine learning expertise of the INFANT centre and the world-leading perinatal databases of our Swedish collaborators.

"We need to improve our ability to predict those pre-term children who are highest risk of learning difficulties down the line. Improved early prediction will ensure that they have targeted follow up and will help us to find effective early interventions.

Dr Andrea Bowe, a corresponding author pointed out that "babies born very preterm are at risk of later cognitive difficulties.

Early intervention can help but it is currently difficult to predict at an individual level which babies need this most, Dr Bowe said.

This study used routinely collected information from pregnancy, birth, and early life to identify which babies are most in need of early intervention.

The study is published in JAMA Network Open.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has defended its count of the number of people currently waiting on trolleys in Irish hospitals following comments made by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

The INMO today recorded 574 people on trolleys across the country while the HSE recorded 406 people on trolleys across Emergency Departments (ED) and wards.

Speaking to RTEs Six One News, the Minister for Health addressed the number of people waiting on trolleys, acknowledging that the numbers were far too high today.

"The INMO figures include both patients on trolleys and patients in beds, in these surge beds which are beds in wards fully staffed, Mr Donnelly said.

"The number of people waiting for a trolley was 395 (HSE reported 406) today, now that is far too high and we know that in some hospitals the situation for patients is simply not acceptable and hasnt been acceptable for a long time.

Importantly though, progress is being made. This morning for example, there were high numbers today but in spite of that nearly one in three of our emergency departments had no patients on a trolley.

"The seven most congested accounted for about half the patients, he said, adding that there was a 22pc reduction in trolleys in the last six months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

"Most importantly, for those waiting over 24 hours who are over 75, there was a nearly 40pc reduction.

He said improvements are being made on an ongoing basis.

In response to Mr Donnellys comments, an INMO spokesperson has said the TrolleyWatch methodology has remained unchanged since it began and the figures are widely accepted.

They said the health minister and senior officials in the HSE should focus on the dire overcrowding in hospitals rather than try discredit the work of nurses and their long-standing trolley count.

The INMO has counted the number of admitted patients on trolleys, chairs and other inappropriate bed spaces since 2006. The methodology has not changed in the last 18 years. These figures are widely accepted as an accurate picture of the state of overcrowding in Irish hospitals, the INMO spokesperson said.

The INMO strongly refutes any suggestion that the TrolleyWatch figures are not accurate.

In an effort to deflect from the true state of overcrowding in Irish hospitals, the Minister for Health and the CEO of the HSE have in recent days sought to allude that the INMO is not presenting an accurate trolley count.

"The HSE in its own trolley count is now categorising patients differently and not counting patients on trolleys who have been allocated a bed pending another persons discharge. The intent of this is to present better figures, which should be unacceptable to the public.

Rather than try discredit the work of nurses and their long-standing trolley count, the Minister for Health and senior decision-makers within the HSE should focus on providing an improvement to the dire overcrowding situation in Irish hospitals.
Watch: Police at the scene of a shooting incident in west Belfast

The victim of a murder in West Belfast was facing charges over a gangland killing.

Kevin Conway (26), who was originally from the Lurgan area, was shot dead at his home in the Greenan area of the city on Tuesday night.

He was one of three men charged in relation to the murder of Shane Whitla in Lurgan in January 2023.

During court hearings it was said he was under threat.

Political representatives have condemned Mr Conways barbaric killing.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said paramedics were called just before 9.30pm, but Mr Conway died at the scene.

On Wednesday morning a large police presence remained in the area.

Forensics alongside a K-9 dog unit examined the scene, taking away large bags filled with objects and blood-stained clothing.

Forensics experts were focusing on an area close to the Greenan flats.

Kevin Conway

Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness said: My thoughts are with Mr Conways family, who are left trying to come to terms with their loss.

Mr McGuinness is appealing to anyone with information to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference 1714 09/01/2024.

Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Mr Conway had been one of three men charged with the murder of Mr Whitla in Lurgan on January 12 last year.

Mr Whitla, a 39-year-old father of four, was gunned down in an alleyway off Woodville Street over an alleged drug debt to a notorious crime gang known as The Firm.

It was alleged in court last July that Mr Conway, originally from Deeney Drive, set the victim up in phone calls which lured him to the scene of the shooting.

At the time concerns were also expressed that he could be targeted in a possible reprisal attack.

Mr Conway was released from custody last July. His bail had previously been revoked.

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 10th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph at the scene, Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said no one in the area wants this at their doorstep.

This is a heavy footfall area, and the residents have made it clear they do not want guns in their area, he said.

My condolences go out to the family of this man.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said Mr Conways murder was a brutal and harrowing act.

My immediate sympathies are with the victims loved ones and my thoughts are with all of those impacted by this barbaric attack, he said.

This is an incredibly distressing incident that has sent shockwaves through the entire community.

There can be no justification for gunning someone down in their home in cold blood. All right-thinking people will be abhorred by this shooting.

SDLP west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty said: The shooting on Tuesday night has sent shockwaves through our community, with police remaining at the scene as they carry out their investigation.

He added: My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who has tragically lost his life.

"Violence like this is a scourge on our society and creates serious fear among people living in this community.

"There can be no justification for what has happened here.

"I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward to police so that the people who carried this out can be brought to justice.
The group of 14, including two children, were discovered after they made a panicked phone call to UK police, who then alerted Irish authorities

Gardai have launched an investigation into human trafficking after 14 undocumented migrants were found in a refrigerated container that arrived at Rosslare Europort.

The 12 adults and two children found in the lorry had been forced to cut a hole in the container as they struggled to breathe, it has emerged.

A local first responder said it was fortunate nobody had died in the incident on Monday after one of the three women in the group made a desperate call to the UK police, who then alerted the Irish authorities.

Gardai are investigating after the ten Kurdish people from Iran and Iraq, including two girls, as well as three people from Vietnam and one from Turkey were discovered on the vessel from Zeebrugge in Belgium around 3am on Monday.

Gardai are now liaising with their foreign counterparts as they investigate the incident and are interviewing the 14 with the help of interpreters. The migrants are in the care of the International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) and Tusla, the child and family agency, is also involved.

A garda spokesperson urged anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may appear, to contact them.

"The nine men, three women and two girls have been assessed by medical personnel and have been deemed to be in good health, the spokesperson said.

Gardai attached to Wexford Garda Station, supported by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, are investigating all of the circumstances of this incident. They are liaising closely with international counterparts through Europol in The Hague.

The ships crew are assisting An Garda Siochana with these enquiries.

It is understood they are trying to find out at what point they entered the lorry, which was loaded near Paris before travelling to Zeebrugge.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said there is relief that there were no fatalities among the 14 people.

They were assessed by medics before being transferred for processing by the international protection service.

We have to do everything we can to try and avoid such carriage and passage because it is dangerous and a risk to the lives of those who are put on or go on to those trucks, said Mr Ryan.

We have to do what we can to reduce it but you cannot completely eliminate it. Weve seen that with the UK Government and France, trying to stop that passage.

It is practically impossible to completely avoid it.

He said people are making the crossing because they are desperate and Ireland has obligations under international law to provide refuge where appropriate.

Rosslare Europort.

Speaking to RTEs Morning Ireland, Mr Ryan added: We also stand up for human rights in our country. Weve always stood by the UN charter for human rights, central to our position.

Part of that is we have to respect and manage, to the best of our ability, refugee rights.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee also said that it was fortuitous that there were no deaths in the incident.

I was extremely concerned to learn of the discovery of 14 people, including three women and two children, in a refrigerated lorry at Rosslare Port on Monday and I would like to thank the emergency services for their initial response, she said in a statement.

Thankfully, I understand that all the people are in good health.

We know from past experience that similar situations have led to tragic fatalities. This was an extremely hazardous undertaking and it is only fortuitous that the same did not happen yesterday.

An Garda Siochana are investigating the matter with assistance from international partners. I would appeal to anybody with any information that might assist with the ongoing investigation to contact An Garda Siochana, Minister McEntee said.

The migrants were uncovered after one of the people inside the trailer rang the UK police to inform them they were inside the container on board the ferry.

An Garda Siochana took over a part of the terminal building in Rosslare to greet the 14 individuals on arrival and a number of units from the National Ambulance Service were on hand to administer medical attention as required.

All on board the refrigerated trailer were understood to be in good health and once they were fully checked, they were brought by An Garda Siochana to CityWest in Dublin for processing.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 9th January 2024

A source confirmed that those on board the trailer were primarily Kurdish nationals and, following medical examinations, they were brought to the nearest processing centre.

"Theres very little involvement locally, the source said. We just bring them on to the nearest processing centre, which I believe is CityWest in Dublin. From there, the initial processing of their details and documents will be carried out before they are taken to an accommodation centre and a decision will be made around whether they apply for political asylum.

Local county councillor and Operations Resource Manager with the National Ambulance Service Ger Carthy said that it was fortunate that this latest incident hadnt resulted in tragedy. He said the migrants had been forced to cut a hole in the refrigerated container they were in as they gasped for air.

In 2001, 13 people were discovered in a container on the back of a truck which had arrived into Ireland via Rosslare Europort. Eight of them, including four children, suffocated and died.

"This was a huge multi-agency response in the early hours of Monday morning, Cllr Carthy said. Thankfully, it was a successful conclusion on this occasion with no life lost.

"Weve had major tragedies of this nature in Wexford in the past. Obviously, a certain amount of this activity will happen with Rosslare being a major port, but human trafficking is a major issue and its horrific to think that there are people out there making a lot of money off the backs of desperate people keen to escape terrible circumstances at home.

It was quite a challenging and dangerous trip for anyone to make and I believe they had difficulty breathing in the trailer and may have had to break a hole in the side of it to access some air, he told RTE Radio Ones Morning Ireland on Wednesday.

Thankfully we dont have an outcome similar to the early 2000s when a container came into Rosslare and there were a number of deceased people in it, Cllr Carthy said.

The Independent councillor said he believes the smuggling of refugees will be more frequent following a significant increase in capacity at Rosslare Europort.

We are going to have more and more of it but we have a very robust immigration system and staff at the port will hopefully identify these issues going forward, he said.

It should alert the Government that we are going to see more and more of this with the current crisis across the worl.

Cllr Carthy said there are already ongoing protests in Rosslare regarding a derelict hotel that was bought and was due to be turned into a nursing home.

However, he said it was found that the Government had engaged with the possibility of turning it into an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre, with plans to bring in 700 asylum seekers.

The people of Rosslare would like their nursing home which they were promised and planning permission granted for, he said.

The site is currently subject to a planning decision by An Bord Pleanala, which Cllr Carthy said may not see a final decision made for a couple of months.

Rosslare is at saturation, we currently have over 400 IPAS and Ukrainian refugees. It is only a small population of 1,200 people. Its about saturation, its about distribution and fairness.

The people of Rosslare dont see any fairness coming from the current Government and indeed the Department of Integration, he added.

Meanwhile, Eugene Drennan, haulier and former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association said the truck loaded south of the Paris area, came north of the French capital and then took its mandatory break as the driver has to by law in a services area.

After his break, having started his journey in the morning, he did his checks, Mr Drennan told Morning Ireland.

He stressed that the people were put on board by a very professional gang and had to be helped by the gang as the truck was a fully sealed refrigerated trailer.

The access was either through the back doors or through the roof. Either which way, we believe they went through the doors and they had to have had assistance.

He stressed that drivers are checking every day when they hear noises and must get the help of the authorities, who do not always come.

And you must remember, drivers are very much solo, driving in the dark of the night alone along the coast of France. It is not an easy place to be solo with a lot of hungry people trying to get to the UK.
Dublin Airport will welcome 23 new food and drink establishments, including Supermacs and Papa John's Restaurant

Dublin Airport has revealed that a number of big name food and drink outlets, such as Supermacs and Papa Johns will open across both terminals this year.

This will see 23 new and improved bars, cafes and restaurants open for passengers, bringing the total number of outlets to 42.

Vincent Harrison, Chief Commercial and Development Officer at daa, the operator of Dublin Airport, said the group have listened closely to passengers on wanting more choice.

Passengers will soon be able to enjoy everything from Italian, Asian and Mexican outlets through to loved local favourites and up-and-coming Irish brands, Mr Harrison added.

Supermacs, Papa Johns, Insomnia Coffee and Pret A Manger are some of the big food and beverage chains coming to the airport this year.

Existing outlets such as Butler's Chocolate Cafe, Burger King and Jump Juice are all set to add to their existing presence in the terminals both airside and landside.

The project will be carried out in partnership with KSG, Ireland's leading food services and hospitality specialist, and the internationally renowned operator Lagardere Travel Retail, during the year.

Work has already started on several units this week and will continue either side of the busy summer period, with more than half of the new and revamped units opening by June.

The upcoming changes will see the creation of a new world class food hall in Terminal 1, introducing new Korean and Thai street food options, a new Arthur Guinness Bar, and a new large Italian restaurant, serving freshly made pizzas, pasta as well as gelato, crepes and waffles.

Also coming into the food hall in 2024 will be a number of well-known local and international brands.

These include Pret A Manger, a revamped Nomad offering a choice for vegetarians, Street Kitchen, offering authentic Mexican street food with the addition of Cantina, a Mexican bar, and Bluebird Coffee Roasters.

Also included in Terminal 1 will be a wine bar, which will replace the former Starbucks outlet, which was discontinued at the end of December last year.

The improvements being made in Terminal 1 will extend to the gates, with the popular Jump Juice bar on Pier 100 set to increase in size.

A new Cuan Cafe and Bar will be introduced at the 200 gates where the Leopold outlet was.

Siblings reunite in Dublin Airport

At the 300 gates in Terminal 1, the existing SoMa outlet will be replaced by a new restaurant called Lilian's Restaurant and Bar, named after aviation pioneer Lilian Bland.

A new Insomnia Coffee outlet is set to open in the Arrivals Hall in Terminal 1, replacing the former AMT coffee outlet.

Terminal 2 will see the enormously popular Supermacs and Papa John's restaurant open its doors, which will move into the space previously occupied by Wright's of Howth.

It will also welcome a new eatery, Fitzgerald's Restaurant and Bar, which will be a blend of a boutique hotel foyer and a classic club VIP lounge.

The outlet, named after Desmond Fitzgerald, the architect responsible for the design of the original Dublin Airport terminal, will occupy the space currently home to the Oak Bar.

Meanwhile, a new coffee shop called Roasted Notes Speciality Coffee will open in Terminal 2 landside in the unit previously occupied by Cafe Nero.
The States U-turn on the asylum centre site in Ballinrobe comes a result of people power, where the community gathered to prevent an influx of increased population without consultation, a TD has claimed.

However, Wexford Independent TD Verona Murphy said it had no bearing on a situation in her constituency where another protest against a planned centre for asylum-seekers is being mounted.

This Government has failed rural communities spectacularly, and thought it would be OK to intimidate those same communities, who are raising real issues and concerns, she said.

Ministers were using language such as right wing and racists to refer to such protests, she added. More fool them.

The recent issue with the building in Rosslare Harbour is different, she insisted. It is a planning issue, where permission has been given for the creation of a nursing home, as the ESRI reports today are short in supply in many areas.

The people of Rosslare are of the view that changing it to a centre to house asylum seekers is a material change of use and therefore would not be in line with planning permission, she added.

They have waited many years for nursing home services to be provided in their community and do not want to see it delayed or abandoned.

A nursing home was badly needed, she said, and would create 60 jobs.

It is flying in the face of what planning actually is about.

The community have a 24-hour protest vigil at the site in question, simply because they do not trust the Government to follow the planning process, she said.

The community also believes that the local population, including refugees and asylum seekers, has grown by 30pc in the past three years  without any proper planning for the increase.

Ms Murphy claimed the Government had conceded to an EU proposal that planning would enable emergency accommodation of persons fleeing war-torn countries.

In effect, this has led to a disproportionate increase of population in many rural and remote areas, leading to pressures that would have been considered under planning.

Now what happens is that exempted developments are the Governments way of saying, in effect. that this is happening and there is nothing you can do about it.

It is flying in the face of what planning actually is about.

The National Planning Framework has been adapted all over Ireland to do exactly what the Government say communities cant now do  which is to dictate who can build or avail of planning, she said.

Planning has been disregarded and so has public consultation, the TD said. Until planning is again recognised as the mechanism to facilitate population growth, regardless of where you come from, this issue will continue  and so Ballinrobe will have no bearing on Rosslare.

Population growth needs services  be it health, education, transport or water as minimum considerations. Without this, government policy fails, Ms Murphy said.

The Taoiseach said at the weekend, as he has said before, that communities can never have a veto on who lives within any area.
Is your child an orchid or a dandelion? How to spot children with sensitive personalities, and give them what they need to thrive

Developmental specialists have a specific way to understand if a child is more sensitive or resilient to their environment

A dandelion child will find it easier to thrive anywhere, while an orchid may need more care. Photo: Getty Images

Azmia Riaz Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 03:30

Inspired by a Swedish phrase, developmental specialists have a specific way to understand if a child is more sensitive or resilient to their environment. Bruce J Ellis from the University of Arizona and W Thomas Boyce from the University of California, Berkeley, describe orkidebarn or the orchid child as a highly sensitive person and maskrosbarn or the dandelion child as one who is more resilient to their surroundings.
Could a brain-stimulating headset assist in treating depression?

Some depression sufferers may experience relief through transcranial stimulation, which involves wearing a device that targets specific areas of the brain

The Flow headset uses non-invasive brain stimulation to target the specific areas associated with depression. Photo via apeloga.se

Kate Demolder Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 03:30

During the Roman Empire, the physician Scribonius Largus described in his work, Compositiones, the use of an electric fish to alleviate a headache. To remedy what we might refer to today as a migraine, Largus placed a live torpedo fish  delivering a strong direct electric current  over the scalp of his patient, to elicit a sudden, transient stupor with pain relief.
After a year of punchy, invigorating Viva Magenta, Pantone has dialled it down with its Colour of the Year for 2024. Enter Peach Fuzz, a softer hue that evokes warmth and cosiness  a blushing tone softly nestled between pink and orange that Pantones experts predict will epitomise the mood of the year ahead.

In a world that can seem very harsh, people are looking for colours that soothe, colours that are soft and warm, colours that nurture and provide us with comfort. Its a shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace and effortlessly bridges the youthful and the timeless, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone Colour Institute.

Pantone Colour of the Year 2024 Peach Fuzz and orange living room with Klaude Sofa. Photo: Karim Rashid x Delightfull

For over two decades, colour experts have held a series of secret meetings to choose the annual colour, and its no mean feat. In 2016, the colour institute chose two colours, pink Rose Quartz and blue Serenity, a statement about gender fluidity. Its 2022 choice of Very Peri marked the first time the company created its own new shade from scratch.

Throw, 89, arket.com

Peach Fuzz has been exhaustively debated, pored over and tested. After all, Pantones programme is a major trend driver  with colours that are likely to make it to mobile phones, cars, jewellery, lipstick shades and home decor  so it deserves the attention.

The romantic peach tone is still lingering in the pink world  a side step from Barbicore, somewhere between mid-century Palm Springs and a Moroccan riad. Its one that will work well in our homes, with all the warmth and earthiness of deeper terracotta tones, but with a playful and poetic edge.

HK Living stripe cushion, 36, roseandgrey.co.uk

With any pink hue, there is a risk of it becoming sickly sweet, so balance it with darker shades to tone down the saccharine side. It pairs well with blues, greens and even greys, elevating those colours by creating a sense of harmony with them.

Plant pot, 17, marksandspencer.com

As Eiseman explains, Theres an inherent need in the human mind to balance colour in order to balance temperatures. I think that if you bring Peach Fuzz into a cooler environment where you use a lot of blues and greens it brings that necessary balance of warmth into the atmosphere.

Peach boucle chair, 571, oliverbonas.com

Regardless if youre a peach person or not, it has the power to cosy up a space. Although not a colour youd usually use to wrap a room in, its great for rooms with less sunlight, and works well as an accent tone in textiles, art, wallpaper and occasional furniture.

Broste Copenhagen side table, 249, connox.com

To avoid a space looking washed out, consider pattern and texture such as a boucle chair, linen or striped peach cushion, or thick-pile rug.

HAY tray, 45, arnotts.ie

The colour does run the risk of looking a little dated but, if used in the right way, can be just the peachy hit your home needs.

Montreal sofa, price on request, laskasas.com

Using the solid tone on contemporary seating such as the modular Montreal sofa by Laskasas or chair by The House of Bloc, or a modern light (Litfad, HAY), or mixing up the textures, layering velvet and linen cushions (H&M, HK Living) with wool throws (Foxford) and patterned rugs (Arket) is a safe way to avoid the 1980s Golden Girls vibe.

Table light, 151.64, litfad.com

A sleek metal tray from HAY, Broste Copenhagens Rilo side table made of a peach-fibre cement, and a sculptural vase from April and the Bear, are perfect finishing touches.

Vase, 40, aprilandthebear.com

If all else fails, theres always a bunch of peach roses.
An Australian politician has moved to boycott parliaments morning prayers after comments made by Pope Francis calling for a global ban on parenting via surrogacy  branding the practice "deplorable".

Dylan Wight, Labor MP for Tarneit in Melbournes outer west, said he will no longer be participating in the tradition of reading the Lords Prayer at the start of each sitting day in the Victorian parliament in protest over the comments.

The MP, whose brother was adopted, called the Pope's comments "archaic and deplorable" adding that "families are formed in many different ways". His move follows the same decision by fellow MP Paul Edbrooke, the state member for Frankston, Victoria.

Pope Francis (left) said surrogacy was 'deplorable'. MP Dylan Wight (top left) disagrees. Pictured with adopted brother Jarrod, and Dylan's two sons. Source: Reuters/X

"After reading the comments by Pope Francis during the day, Ill be following the lead of the member for Frankston, Paul Edbrooke and no longer participating in Parliament's morning prayers," Wight wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Pictured above is my brother Jarrod and I with my two boys. Jarrod was adopted at birth by my parents a couple of years before I came along. Whilst I understand adoption and surrogacy arent the same thing  families are formed in many different ways. The comments from the Pope are archaic and deplorable." Wight explained that while he does not practice a faith, he strongly believes in the right to do so.

Pope wants surrogacy prohibited

Pope Francis, 87, made his comments in a 45-minute address to Vatican-accredited diplomats, which is sometimes called his "state of the world" speech.

"I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother's material needs," he said. "Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally."

Story continues

Due to ethical concerns involved in surrogacy, the practice is illegal in many countries around the world, as well as in some US states. But interest continues to grow as more women opt to postpone pregnancy until later in life when fertility wanes, and as more same-sex couples look for ways to start families when they can't conceive on their own.

The Pope is largely considered one of the more progressive leaders of the Catholic church, having previously spoken out supporting LGBTQIA+ and womens rights. But it's not the first time hes spoken out against surrogacy. In 2022, he called it womb renting,

Surrogacy in Australia

There are around 115 surrogacy births across Australia every year, according to statistics from the Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database.

Surrogacy is legal in Australia if it is done on altruistic grounds  that the surrogate mother does not make a profit from the arrangement  but there are specific eligibility requirements.

Commercial surrogacy, where the surrogate mother makes a profit from the arrangement, is not allowed. It's illegal for residents of the ACT, NSW and Queensland to enter into commercial surrogacy arrangements overseas and doing so could lead to arrest and jail in Australia.

International surrogacy is an arrangement involving a surrogate mother who lives overseas. Critics of the practice warn of the potential for a "poverty bias" against women who become surrogate mothers due to financial need.

with Reuters

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Eamon Ryan insisted: We have to play our part... provide shelter and refuge but we have to do that in a way we can manage. But if we are to manage, where is the promised shelter? Photo: Collins

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said Ireland must continue to support the people of Ukraine and not turn our back on them.

He is correct on both counts. We have moral and strategic reasons for assisting the people of Ukraine as they attempt to fight off a brutal and illegal invasion led by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

When the world  including the Irish Government  pledged to stand by Ukraine whatever it takes there were no conditions. Moves to limit the accommodation offered and to cut welfare payments, unless carefully applied, could undermine those pledges.

Serious worries remain about what is to happen to Ukrainians after the 90-day period of state accommodation they will now only be entitled to, once the restrictions come in. Mr Ryan insisted: We have to play our part... provide shelter and refuge but we have to do that in a way we can manage.

But if we are to manage, where is the promised shelter? As temperatures dip towards freezing, answers become urgent. It would be unconscionable for anyone coming here  from either Ukraine or for international protection  to be left on any of our city streets at the mercy of either the elements, or those with hostile intent.

Displaying a mastery of understatement, Mr Ryan acknowledged the situation was challenging.

Just how challenging was reflected in the Governments caving in on the plan to put families into a disused hotel in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, instead of single men as proposed, following protests.

Mr Ryan said he absolutely backed comments by Tanaiste Micheal Martin, who argued that the Government had not done a U-turn. If it hadnt, then it must have been a hand-brake skid.

Either way, it looked desperate and sudden and raised serious doubts about how secure Government hands are on the wheel when it comes to steering immigration policy. This country was proudly, and rightly, among the first to provide humanitarian support to those fleeing war in Ukraine. The Government must remain open and honest about what can and cannot be done. Figures show Ireland spent more than 900m in 2022 assisting Ukrainian refugees.

An Irish Aid annual report also showed we worked closely with EU partners, providing in kind assistance worth 527m, and 485m in humanitarian assistance.

Of course there must be limits on what is done with finite resources. But we cannot walk away from commitments to meet fundamental human rights. If people are ejected from state accommodation, where are they then to go?

Already rents are exorbitant and housing lists full.

Mr Ryan says we will manage. But it is said while you can manage things you must lead people.

Ireland is not full, as Mr Ryan rightly points out. Such being the case, there is no justification for people sleeping on the street. Any failures in leadership on the immigration issue can only have grave consequences.
The GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street exudes an air of continuity and dignity. Photo: Getty

So many institutions in Ireland have been tarnished in recent decades, from the Catholic Church to the banks and recently RTE.

However, there is one institution that can hold its head high, and that is the post office. It has modernised through the years, but retains the old feel of trust, dependency and safety.

When you enter any post office, there is an aura of quiet efficiency and decency. There is nothing gaudy or plastic, but rather the feel of something solid and historical, like the magical scent of an old library.

The staff are always kind and courteous. They do their work quietly and without fanfare from the counter to the sorting office, to the postmen and postwomen. They are not paid nearly enough, but then we never value our real treasures.

Its so sad that many of our young people never even post a letter with the growth of email. Internet shopping, however, has been a windfall for the post office, with the volume of parcel delivery something that might not have been foreseen when computers and smartphones arrived.

The GPO in Dublin is a fabulous building. When there, one gets an enormous sense of history, and on leaving one has a feeling of great pride.

The founding fathers and signatories of the Proclamation are given their rightful respect. It has that great sense of continuity and dignity without ever being ostentatious.

In an election year, our politicians should be reminded that the post office network should be retained at all costs. In an era of dividends, profit and the bottom line, some things remain priceless.

Our post office network is a lifeline for many.

Joseph Kiely, Letterkenny, Co Donegal

For sake of humanity, the Government must act to protect our homeless

We have an emergency in our country. Far right or far left or in between, its not about politics  its about humanity. The Government must act.

We have to get people out of tents and into some kind of accommodation in this freezing weather.

Of course, its not a simple matter, but people are at risk of dying on our streets from hypothermia, viral infections or other complications.

I received many replies to an ad for a room to rent. One read: I need, I need, age 45 years. It was an SOS from someone out there with no English, frantic and desperate.

I pray that person out there, lost in our city, finds a warm place to stay.

Margaret Docherty

Terenure, Dublin 6

Naming new childrens hospital after Kathleen Lynn is a natural choice

January 28 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the outstanding figures of modern Irish history.

Dr Kathleen Lynn co-founded the first childrens hospital in Ireland at a time when Dublin suffered one of the highest infant mortality rates in Europe. That was St Ultans on Charlemont Street, Dublin, then a deprived district at the edge of the city centre.

Dr Lynn had previously been a captain in James Connollys Irish Citizen Army and took over command of the Dublin City Hall garrison in 1916. Her St Ultans co-founder and life-long partner, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, was also a Citizen Army veteran.

Following her graduation in 1899, Dr Lynn was refused employment by several hospitals because of her gender. After eventually securing work, she was sacked soon after, due to her role in the Easter Rising.

Thereafter, her livelihood depended on private practice from her home in Rathmines and in St Ultans.

Throughout her life, Dr Lynn was central to many innovations in medical and social care, and minister Noel Browne centred his national anti-TB drive at St Ultans.

Long before modern holistic approaches to health were established, Dr Lynn lauded the benefits of clean air and outdoor activities and gifted her private cottage in Glenmalure to An Oige. It is still a thriving hostel.

Some years ago, a campaign, supported by prominent professionals, academics and the public at large, to name the proposed new childrens hospital in her honour was launched.

In 2017, an unprecedented 58 Dublin City councillors signed their names to a petition sent to the then minister of health, Simon Harris, requesting that the new hospital be named the Dr Kathleen Lynn National Childrens Hospital.

The councillors received nothing more than an acknowledgment of receipt of the letter.

After the embarrassment of the original naming attempt, it is surely past time for the three government parties to clarify their position on the clear public and professional demand that the new hospital at Rialto, Dublin, be named the Dr Kathleen Lynn National Childrens Hospital.

Billy Fitzpatrick, Terenure, Dublin 6

Government cowardice on accommodating migrants fans the flames of racism

The Governments caving in to the protests against the accommodation of single migrant men in Ballinrobe is cowardly and hypocritical.

With this climbdown, Leo Varadkar and the Government have given each town and village in the country a veto over who can live in their community.

The Governments failure to address the stigmatisation of single migrant men adds insult to injury and has fanned the flames of racism and discrimination.

There are at least 10,000 undocumented or unvetted Irish migrants in the US. The Americans arent concerned about them, so why should we be concerned about migrants coming here? There is huge hypocrisy in our approach to immigration.

Tim Buckley, White Street, Cork

Murphys performance in Breakfast on Pluto was an early sign of greatness

As the country basks in the glow of seeing Cillian Murphy win his first ever Golden Globe on Sunday, it is refreshing to see mention, at last, of the only other time he was nominated for the coveted statuette (The rise and rise of Oscar favourite Cillian Murphy, Independent.ie, January 9).

Anyone who has seen Neil Jordans 2005 film, Breakfast on Pluto, in which the Cork actor played the lead role of Patrick Kitten Braden among an ensemble of leading Irish actors, knew immediately he was a rare talent.

I was fortunate on Sunday to see Oppenheimer for the third time, in Cork, of course, followed by an almost full house for Saltburn with Barry Keoghan.

Never has the big screen been awash with such amazing Irish-born talent. Roll on the Oscars.

Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry
25/12/2023 Dublin, Ireland. Blanchardstown shooting. Photo shows: Gardai outside Browne's Steakhouse in Blanchardstown this morning, after a shooting incident which occurred around 8pm yesterday evening. Two males were taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital to receive medical treatment. One of these males, aged in his 20s, was pronounced deceased in hospital a short time afterwards. Photograph: Leah Farrell /  RollingNews.ie

The Blanchardstown shooting on Christmas Eve in a packed restaurant, resulted in the killing of two men, Tristan Sherry, the shooter and Jason Hennessy Snr.

Three men have since been charged on various offences, including two for murder, leaving The DPP with an incredibly unique case on their hands.

As Jason Hennessy Snrs funeral takes place with a heightened Garda presence, we look at how the Corduff feud came to be.

On todays The Indo Daily, Tabitha Monahan is joined in studio by Senior Journalist with The Irish Independent Robin Schiller, to discuss the latest developments in the shocking case, and how the Gardai prepare for a gangland funeral.
Landmark building in Carlow town was originally due to house 50 males in 15 rooms from this week

A protest group consisting of approximately 200 people have gathered outside a landmark Carlow town on Wednesday evening following confirmation that around 50 women and children seeking international protection would be accommodated there.

The Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street, Carlow was initially earmarked to accommodate 50 males seeking international protection from this week, but in a statement issued by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on Wednesday, the building will now house families.

The Capuchin Friary has been the focus of a number of protest groups this week, including the Carlow Says No Group. Gardai in Carlow confirmed to the Irish Independent on Wednesday evening that the protest is peaceful.

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Local Gardai patrolling the area say around 200 people are currently protesting outside the former Capuchin Friary Site. Carlow Superintendent Anthony Farrell said the protest is currently peaceful.

"Carlow Gardai received reports of a peaceful protest outside the Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street, Carlow throughout Wednesday January 10, starting at 9.30am, explained Superintendent Farrell. "The average number of persons present was 15 with no reports of anti-social behaviour.

"From 7.30pm approximately 200 people gathered on footpaths either side of the road, causing minor disruption to passing traffic. Passing Garda attention was given to proceedings, which continues to be peaceful.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 11th January 2024

It follows the departments statement earlier on Wednesday with confirmation that the site would not be housing 50 males but instead families.

In a statement to the Irish Independent, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said it has been decided that the requirement to prioritise families must take precedence, despite a well-documented shortage of accommodation for single males across the country.

The former Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street in Carlow, was one such centre that had been originally planned to house single males seeking International Protection.

Initially the plans were to provide 50 beds, across 15 rooms to single males from January 12, however, the Department has now made a U-turn and decided the accommodation will now be used to house families instead.

This latest development comes only days after a hotel in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, which was due to house 50 males seeking international protection, will instead now accommodate women and children.

"The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth will be providing accommodation for families seeking International Protection at the Capuchin Guest Accommodation, Dublin Street, Carlow in the coming days, explained a Department spokesperson.

"A briefing note containing all the detailed information and answers to all the questions people may have has been issued to all political representatives in the areas, including Senators, TDs and Councillors.

Although it had initially been expected that the property would be used to house men, following a departmental meeting last night regarding the increasing number of families, and despite the ongoing acute shortage of accommodation for single males, it has been decided that the requirement to prioritise families must take precedence.

As the Capuchin Centre is available for immediate use, it will be used to address the needs of families. This is one of a number of premises that will change use as a result of this shortage.

The spokesperson added that all counties in Ireland are playing their part in providing help to those seeking international protection.

This is a nationwide urgent situation and emergency centres, such as this one, have been opened in all parts of the country. All counties in Ireland are providing help and assistance with this. There have been over 190 accommodation locations utilised since January 2022 across 26 counties. These options must be considered to prevent homelessness for people with their families and children arriving seeking international protection.

The Government is continuing to work intensively to source further accommodation and to follow up with those International Protection applicants awaiting an offer of accommodation. While demand continues to outstrip supply, the Department on behalf of the Government, is doing all it can to ensure that all families and children have been accommodated.

The former Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street Co Carlow. Photo: Google Maps

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Fianna Fail TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, Jennifer Murnane OConnor, said she is extremely disappointed with what she perceives is a lack of engagement between department officials and local authorities.

"I am extremely disappointed that, once again, department officials have failed to engage with and consult with local authorities and local communities before making these decisions, said Ms Murnane OConnor.

I appreciate and constantly raise the difficulties regarding the availability and provision of accommodation for all members of our local communities in an ever-challenging environment and will continue to do so. Whilst continuing working for local people, I am also understanding of, and aware of our obligations to support and accommodate refugees seeking international protection and safety, but the news received in Carlow today has disappointed and concerned me and no doubt others.

This repeated failure by department officials to be open and transparent with local communities is generating ill feeling in many towns and communities which could be avoided by more transparency.

"Given our already stretched local health, educational, and other services, including services for children in Carlow which needs to be drastically improved, I am, as are many others, concerned that the support mechanisms required for a large number of refugees has not been adequately addressed with local service providers or communities.

"We already have many people waiting for basic GP appointments and other Health and educational services, and this, combined with the ability to locally support these large numbers of refugees is a major concern for local people as has been evident in social media comments and by the many telephone calls and messages I have received throughout the day. These are concerns that I personally share, and I will continue to address them at local and national level as will, Im sure other local representatives, said Ms Murnane OConnor.
There are a number of services available to rough sleepers or homeless people during the cold snap

Homeless people and rough sleepers will be at risk during the cold weather

As temperatures drop across the country and Ireland is hit with another low temperature warning, not everyone has somewhere to call home to shelter from the bitter weather.

Carlow County Council is urging anyone who sees a person rough sleeping to report this to a member of the homeless services team who will investigate to try and get this individual somewhere warm.

The homeless team will also actively carry out patrols around Carlow town and try and make contact with homeless people at risk during this extreme weather.

The whole of Ireland is currently under a Cold Weather Advisory as Met Eireann warns the weather will be staying cold with widespread frost and icy patches, leading to hazardous travelling conditions. This advisory is in place until Saturday January 13.

With assistance from funding provided by the Department of Housing and in accordance with the Regional Homeless Action Plan, Carlow County Council is operating a cold weather initiative for anyone that is homeless and rough sleeping.

Carlow County Council explained: Carlow County Council wishes to highlight to anyone that is rough sleeping to make contact with the homeless services by email to homeless@carlowcoco.ie or 24 hours a day by phone at 059 9170 300.
The Cork poet will be the writer-in-residence for the county over the next ten months

Mitchelstown Writers Group are set to be joined by an award-winning author and poet this year.

Victoria Kennefick, who was announced as Cork County Councils writer-in-residence last month, will be working alongside the north Cork writers group throughout 2024.

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The writer is renowned for her poetry, and her debut collection of poems, Eat or We Both Starve (2021), was awarded the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award.

Her work has appeared in publications such as Poetry Magazine, The Poetry Review, and New England Review and her second poetry collection, Egg/Shell, will be released in February.

Victoria, who is a native of Shanagarry, will bring a wealth of experience in teaching and creative writing facilitation to her role in Mitchelstown when the writers reconvene at the local library in mid-January.

She was also the UCD/Arts Council of Ireland writer-in-residence in 2023 and poet-in-residence at the Yeats Society Sligo from 2022 to 2024.

She will also guide writers groups in Bandon, Carrigaline, Cobh and Kanturk over the course of her 10-month tenure.

Those interested in working alongside Victoria can contact Mitchelstown Library on 025-41939 for further details.
Muslim Sisters of Eire serve up almost 500 meals in two hours outside the GPO

The founder of a soup kitchen in Dublin, which has become a regular fixture on OConnell Street every Friday evening, says things are now as bad as ever, if not worse.

The Muslim Sisters of Eire, who give out hot meals every Friday evening outside the GPO, described their first soup run of the year last Friday as extremely chaotic.

The 480 meals they had available were all gone in under two hours. They also had treats, provided by families from the Christmas period, for children or those wanting a sweet snack with a cup of tea or coffee.

The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that another record number of people are facing homelessness.

Some 13,514 people were living in emergency accommodation in November, including 2,000 families and an unprecedented 4,105 children.

Those seeking access in Dublin accounted for 72pc of the total number of adults looking for emergency accommodation.

The queue for the soup run usually starts at 4.30pm, and the volunteers dont arrive until 6pm.

I did notice when we were setting up this week that the top of the queue seemed to be causing a lot of problems, said Lorraine OConnor, founder of the Muslim Sisters of Eire.

Its so sad to be pushing, shoving and arguing in a queue for free food.

The volunteers have a system to feed vulnerable people first, including those sleeping rough, women and children, anyone who is pregnant, and people with disabilities.

Ms OConnor told the Irish Independent that this system can face backlash from people in the queue, however its impossible to please everyone.

The founder of the registered charity also said that, despite their best efforts, there is still a small amount of negativity towards their work.

It is a very small amount; 80 to 90pc of our comments are in awe of the work that we do. But theres always that 10pc making things worse, she said.

However, I cant emphasize enough how the majority of people are completely behind us.

The charity said there was a mix of people there last Friday, including pregnant women, elderly people struggling to make ends meet, students battling the cost of living crisis, migrants, those sleeping rough, and people living in emergency accommodation.

They also made a public appeal for continued support from the public as they try and provide people with the basic necessities.

You can never predict how many people would show up; if I had 800 meals down there, theyd go, Ms OConnor said.

The service aims to have a minimum of 350 meals per week, and if they cant get more donations, they buy food or contact restaurants for help.

Ms OConnor said the one thing keeping them going is knowing theyre alleviating someones hardship, even if in a small way.

I cant stress enough how its not just us; there are so many others out there doing soup runs too, regular people leaving their job and coming to help people who need it, she said.

We cant take away from what the other soup runs are doing because their work is fabulous.

Ms OConnor stressed that one of the most important parts of their service is listening to the people that come along.

If it were me, Id like someone to be there for me and greet me with a smile and say they understand and will do their best to help me, she said.
A County Kerry company is providing expertise to assist Ukraine with clearing large parts of its territory from deadly landmines

The danger of landmines in Ukraine is a constant threat.

A Kerry-based company specialising in developing military and engineering products is to offer its expertise to Ukraine to help de-mine large tracts of its territory.

Reamda Ltd, which is located in Tralee, has been in discussions with the Ukrainian Government over recent weeks regarding plans to supply its military with essential technology to help deactivate landmines.

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The Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, was in Kerry this week and visited the companys facility on Tuesday along with senior personnel from the Irish Defence Forces, who use Reamda Ltd products.

An overview and demonstration of the equipment was provided by the companys founder, Padraig OConnor. In addition to landmines, Ukraine also has thousands of unexploded shells and ammunition dumps strewn across its large landmass.

Since 2014, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world as retreating Russian armies lay hundreds of landmines to slowdown the advance of Ukrainian forces. Its estimated that access to 174,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian land is impeded by Russian landmines and disused artillery.

Mr OConnor explained that Reamda Ltd supply several kinds of bomb disposal machines with the R-Evolve machine being the most likely to suit the task in Ukraine.

At Reamda, we have bomb disposal robots designed for this kind of work. They help to preserve life. The presence of landmines hugely impacts the ordinary citizen. They are a horrible weapon, he said.

Our primary purpose is to make machines for the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD). This can mean anything from a landmine, unexploded shell, or a booby-trap. Its just when a war happens the requirement increases exponentially, he added.

Its innocent civilians that are caught in the middle of war and were on their side. Thats the line we take. We dont manufacture military equipment. Our products help protect civilians, Mr OConnor said.

Reamda Ltd has exported to international customers in the US, UK, and Europe since 2006.
New figures have revealed that 41 pupils are being home schooled in County Leitrim.

New figures released by the Department of Education has revealed that 41 children are being home schooled in County Leitrim.

The figures provided an age breakdown by county of children which revealed that no young children under the age of nine are being homeschooled in County Leitrim.

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The figures detailed that no children aged six, seven and eight are currently being home schooled, while just five children aged nine are being home schooled.

Less than five children aged 10, 12 and 15 are being home-schooled within the county.

A further seven children aged 11 are being educated at primary level, while five students aged 13 and 14 and six students aged 16 and 17 are being home schooled at secondary school level.

At a national level, 2,365 students are being home schooled throughout the country with the highest number of students studying secondary level curriculum.

Education Minister Normal Foley supplied the figures in response to the a written parliamentary question from TD for Kildare North, Catherine Murphy.

In response to the question, Minister Foley said, The Irish constitution acknowledges the role of a parent or guardian as the primary educator of their child and has enshrined in law that a parent or guardian may home educate their child or may choose to send their child to a school which is not a recognised school in accordance with section 10 of the Education Act, 1998.

While the State cannot oblige parents or guardians to send their children to recognised schools, it must satisfy itself that all children receive a certain minimum education.

Tuslas Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS) is under the remit of my Department and its function is to assess the educational provision and to maintain a register of children who are being educated in a place other than in a recognised school, said Minister Foley.
An Aussie mum has accused her neighbour of being "a creep" after spotting a surveillance camera she says is pointed directly at her bathroom window.

In a photo taken of the set-up, a white and black camera can be seen poking out from underneath a blind behind a window on the property next door, which operates as a physiotherapy practice. The resident said she first noticed it there weeks ago, but at that point it wasnt a problem.

"It was facing the car park, and now it's facing my window [and it has] been there for the last four days," she wrote online, explaining that she lived on a private property and was at a loss as to what to do. "It's facing my bathroom window. Disgusting. I have two young kids here."

The woman said she can see the camera pointing directly at her bathroom window. Source: Facebook

The NSW woman's Facebook post has since blown up, with almost a hundred comments from worried locals urging her to take action, from speaking to her neighbour to putting up privacy screens or tinting her windows, which didn't go down well with the mother. "I shouldn't have to tint my windows to feel safe enough to have a shower," she responded. "I live on private property, he comes off as a creep."

Despite revealing that she'd had issues with the neighbour in the past over her dog and didn't feel comfortable speaking to them again, the woman said she had talked to the neighbour.

"[I] went and spoke with them," the Hunter Valley mum of two added. "Apparently it's not facing my backyard, only theirs, but clearly it is, so I will be taking it further. It isn't for a backyard, it's for a car park that never gets used, only during the weekdays, but it's not even pointing anywhere near that direction anymore. It's legit right into my windows."

Story continues

Is the camera legal?

Here's where it gets a little murky, according to property lawyer Monica Rouvellas, who explained that the Surveillance Devices Act was amended in 2014.

"You're allowed to have cameras that overlook a public area, and a public area is defined as anything where any sort of public person can be seen or be heard," she told Yahoo News Australia. "As for the cameras, like on boundaries and things like that, you are allowed to have cameras on your boundaries, however, they cannot be pointed or directed at people's bathrooms and windows."

Rouvellas went on to say there are a couple of things the woman could do. "One of them is to contact the local police and they can come out and actually request to view that person's footage to see exactly what's been looked at," she explained. "And then the police can actually, I believe, request that the camera be taken down or repositioned."

The resident could also try going through councils, although they might just refer the matter back to police.

"The other takeaway is, you know, these days everybody has a camera on their house," Rouvellas said. "So you know, if you don't like that then don't do things you shouldn't be doing. But yeah, if it is directed at a person's house or window then that's a violation of that person's privacy."

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

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Opinion

Justine OMahony: Thanks to our new door bell, Big Brother is watching me and knows about my secret shopping

Ive never been one for gadgets. Its taken me over a year to get the hang of the air fryer and truth be told I dont really know how to use the remote control.
Single Drogheda mother in emergency accommodation raising funds for son born at 24 weeks

A young Drogheda mum, who is currently living in emergency accommodation, is appealing for financial help as she visits her premature baby boy in Crumlin hospital

Little Cy Maguire was born in December at just 24 weeks, weighing only 600gms, and his mum Robin is maintaining a vigil by his incubator while she says he has already battled meningitis, sepsis, anaemia, a brain bleed and heart problems.

She has set up a Go Fund Me page for her tiny but mighty son.

The last month has been so hard, but he is a little fighter and I just know he can make it through all of this, explains Robin. He will be a few more months in hospital and I am struggling to provide a home for him to come back to.

Robin (27) is originally from Zimbabwe, but her parents moved to Ireland when she was two years old, and she relocated from Meath to Drogheda last June.

Robin is allowed to hold baby Cy for a few moments a day.

I am a single mother with no home, no job and very little benefits, except from SVP who have been helping me with food vouchers, says Robin. I never thought I would be the type of person to set up a Go Fund Me page, but since the beginning of my pregnancy, I have had hard challenges that stopped me from working.

Robin says her family or Cys biological father are not in a position to help, and she fears for the future, and her babys health issues are far from over.

Cy remains intubated, has a stoma (a small opening in the abdomen which is used to remove body waste, such as faeces and urine, into a collection bag) and is on ventilation, and will need more surgery when he is a bit stronger and puts on weight, but I know he will survive with all these difficulties, as hes still tiny but mighty, says the young mum.

We have been moving from hospital to hospital, from the Lourdes in Drogheda to the Coombe womans hospital to Crumlin Childrens hospital, and the travelling is expensive and exhausting, but I need to see him every day.

Cy's mum Robin, who is living in a homeless shelter, is trying to raise funds for her premature baby.

Robin is looking to raise 70,000 on Go Fund Me, and knows it is a lot of money but is trying to get herself into a better position for her baby.

I havent been able to work, I have no home and I will have to take care of Cy now, so I dont know how I will be able to rent a home for us, but any bit of money would help us, she adds. All I really want is everything to be okay and comfortable for me and my little man CY when it is time for him to come home to me.

In order to do that Id like a bit of help.

Donations can be made through https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-my-son-i-through-our-difficult-time or offers of help can reach Robin through AComyn@drogheda-independent.ie.
Call for a serious focus on Traveller mental health by Sligo based support worker

With the suicide rate amongst the Traveller community at an alarming rate, local support group worker jamie murphy tells Neha Kumari of the discrimination they face

Patrick McDonagh (12).

Neha Kumari  Sligo Champion Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 07:00

Higher suicide rates and lower life expectancy, the Traveller community crisis that needs national attention now, says Jamie Murphy, the Mental Health Worker with the Sligo Traveller Support Group.
The passing of familiar Enniscorthy business man John Murphy of Hillview Court, Oulart and L & M Motors, Island Road, Enniscorthy has saddened communities across Enniscorthy.

John, who co-founded L&M Motors 38 years ago, was diagnosed with cancer last summer. He passed away peacefully on Saturday in St Vincents Hospital following a short battle with the illness.

John was a native of Ballinahoun in Oulart where his family was very involved in the community and parish. His son Shaun was also a member of the Wexford senior hurling panel.

John Murphy

John has been remembered fondly by his co-founder John Leacy who says the pair never had a disagreement in over 40 years of friendship and business. Both John and John had trained as mechanics with Sean Behan, Old Dublin Road Enniscorthy for four years before setting up their business.

Because of this the pair grew a very successful business that John was instrumental in building up over the years.

The Chamber of Commerce in Enniscorthy were saddened to learn of Johns passing and thanked him for the contribution he made to the creation of employment in Enniscorthy and the opportunities he afforded young people to train in mechanical engineering.

John had a particular interest in nature, walking and was very much involved in the social life in Oulart.

L&M Motors will remain closed until Thursday as mark of respect for John and his family.

His removal will take place on Wednesday at 1.30pm (walking) to St Patrick's Church, Oulart arriving for Funeral Mass at 2pm, followed by interment in Oulart Cemetery.

John will be sadly missed and remembered with love by his beloved wife Catherine (nee Graham), his adored children Gary, Emma, Shaun and Katie, his cherished grandchildren Bailey, Rian, Aoibheann, Hallie, Amelia and Croia, sons in-law Ben and Martin Og, daughters in-law Leanne and Karen, mother in-law Mary, brothers and sisters in-law, extended family, his large circle of friends, especially colleagues and friends at L & M Motors.
Seven-month-old Matthew Begley is the first baby in Co Wexford to receive palliative care

Matthew Begley, a seven-month-old baby from Gorey with complex heart problems is the first baby in Wexford to receive community palliative care and his mother Eilish said that their support has been second to none.

A team of nurses and doctors from Wexford Homecare Team, Clinical Nurse Coordinator (CNC) and the Jack and Jill Foundation have collaborated to provide respite, support and guidance for Matthew and his family since he left Childrens Health Ireland (CHI), Crumlin when he was two weeks old.

"I was told the palliative service had opened up so I asked to take him home. It was a Friday and they werent keen to let him go home on a Friday but thanks to the Jack and Jill nurse Joanne Doyle who is the liaison nurse manager and Clinical Nurse Coordinator for life limiting conditions Laura Flaherty, with their help and the help of the community palliative care team in Wexford and Dr Suzanne Ryan, a consultant in the community, they all helped us to get Matthew home, said Eilish.

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It was particularly important for their family that Matthew returned home that day as his older brother Patricks playschool graduation was on that evening. "Being at home as a family is a huge deal and being at Matthews big brothers playschool graduation meant so much to us. By us getting home and having the service at home, we could all be together for a huge milestone. Hes been able to flourish at home because of the availability of the homecare team instead of being stuck in a hospital room, said Eilish.

Doctors notified Matthews parents, Eilish and John, of Matthews complex heart conditions at the 20 week scan during Eilishs pregnancy.

Matthew was born on June 8, 2023 and he spent the following two weeks in CHI in Crumlin. After ten days, an angiogram revealed that Matthews condition was unsuitable for treatment. His parents were told that he would need palliative care and he was given just four short weeks to live. Six months on, Matthew is still at home with his family and has recently started spoon-feeding.

Eilish has been on maternity leave until recently when she took carers leave. She is an experienced theatre nurse and is able to provide Matthew with most of his care day to day along with her husband John. The Homecare Team and nurses from the Jack and Jill Foundation are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A consultant visits Matthew on a regular basis and a nurse from the Jack and Jill Foundation calls to their home on a weekly basis.

He receives full community palliative care services including Jack and Jill and Clinical Nurse Coordination. We wouldnt have gotten home without having the palliative care team in the community. The Jack and Jill nurses are predominantly paediatric trained, some of them would have a lot of experience with cardiac babies. The home care team are also adult and paediatric trained and experienced, said Eilish.

Eilishs General Practitioner in Enniscorthy, Public Health nurses and their local pharmacy in Gorey have also been very helpful throughout this time. Matthew attends CHI every couple of months for a check-up. Matthew's family hopes he will continue to thrive for a long time and they're very grateful to the palliative care team that have allowed them to be at home with him for the last few months.

Each team are on call so I can call either one whenever I need to. We are so grateful to the OConnor family who fought for the community service for children to be re-established that we were able to bring Matthew home, said Eilish.

A representative of the Jack and Jill Foundation commented that as part of their service, the Jack and Jill Childrens Foundation provides end-of-life-care for all children up to the age six, irrespective of diagnosis, in collaboration with the Clinical Nurse Coordinators and the Wexford Homecare Team. They are not in a position to comment further.
Missing mans bag found in New Ross

The daughter of a New Ross resident, missing having been released from a Waterford hospital six days before Christmas, is appealing to anyone with information about him to contact gardai immediately.

69-year-old Michal Piotrowski was at University Hospital Waterford from where he was discharged as a patient on December 19, at 3 p.m. A well-known face in New Ross town, Michal was last seen on the Dunmore Road in Ballynakill in Waterford City at approximately 11.40 a.m. that day.

Michal Piotrowski.

He is described as being approximately 5' 8" in height with a slim build and with grey hair.

Gardai and Michals family are concerned for his well-being.

Gardai are appealing to any road users who were driving along the Dunmore East Road and surrounding areas between 11.35 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on December 19, and who may have video footage, to make this available to them.

Anyone with any information on Michals whereabouts is asked to contact Waterford Garda station on 051 305300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

Michal Piotrowski.

Since December 19 Michals family have been going through a living nightmare as they have not been able to locate him, despite launching appeals on social media sites.

Michaels daughter Ewa said he is likely to be wearing a dark green, long jacket, a dark tracksuit or jeans and dark brown work boots.

Michal may appear to look homeless, according to his family.

Michal Piotrowski leaving University Hospital Waterford on December 19.

A hold-all bag that he had with him in hospital has was found on Thursday, January 4, in New Ross and returned to his family.

Ewa said her father lives with her and her two daughters, adding that he also has children living in Poland. She said he suffers from confusion and memory loss as a result of a brain injury.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 10th January 2024

He is originally from Poland, but has been living in New Ross with his family for the past 20 years.

Ewa said the family are deeply concerned for his welfare and have been searching in Waterford, New Ross and in surrounding areas for him.
Grace Collins from Creacon, Holly Bolger from Rathgarogue and Clara and Maeve Murphy from Kilegney enjoying the Clonroche Poulpeasty Vintage run at Poulpeasty.

Meals on Wheels

Clonroche/Poulpeasty Meals On Wheels (MOW) delivers meals in Clonroche and Poulpeasy, however, have expanded due to demand, into Ballywilliam, Templeudigan, Courtnacuddy and Davidstown.

We are now doing our schedule for volunteer drivers for the next six months. Generally, volunteer turns come around every 10 to 12 weeks. If you think that you can help us with the delivery of MOW, please contact Jeanne Hendrick on 087 2310915

Clonroche Poulpeasty Vintage Society

What can we say! A massive thank you to everyone for coming out on Stephens Day to support our annual road run. We here at the club are truely grateful and blown away to announce that we had over 200 registrations on the day and have raised 5200.

A special word of thanks to everyone who donated including local companies & sponsors. A special word of thanks to the following also, our local volunteers, Fr Cushen-for the use of the church grounds, Bronagh Hogan our wexford rose, everyone in Aughyvoir, our loyal neighbouring vintage clubs for their support on the day and the Irish Vintage Society clg., for their continued support.

Well done to everyone in our local community for making a day such a great success!

Cloughbawn GAA Club

Tickets are now on sale for the Dinner Dance which will be held on 27th January.

Congratulations to Robert Keating on his recent Seana Ghael award.

Community Employment Scheme

ANCCR Area Development (CE Programme) have a vacancy for a Childcare Assistant to work in Raheen Childcare Centre. This is a brilliant opportunity to re-join the workforce and upskill. The programme will provide the successful candidate with a pathway to gaining a QQI L5 or L6 qualification in childcare whilst also gaining practical experience.

To apply for this position you must be over 21 years (18 in special circumstances) and in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for 12 months, Ukrainians 9 months, or a dependant of a qualifying adult on jobseekers, etc.

If interested in this position, please phone Kay at ANCCR on 087 4144313.

DUNCANNON

Ramsgrange Active Retirement

The next monthly meeting will be held on Monday 8th January 8th in South West Wexford Resource Centre at 2.00pm. This is the AGM, and also to select a Committee for the coming year, if you would like a role please put your name forward.

The annual subscription of 20 is payable, no increase since last year.

The final date to secure a place on the holiday is 8th January, a non-refundable deposit of 50 is required, Contact Mary B on 087 2073966

for details, A saving club is now open for holiday.

On 23rd January we are on a Cinema trip to the ARC Wexford, film to be confirmed.

FETHARD-ON-SEA

Local Notes

Please note that any items for inclusion in the District News will have to be with your local correspondent at tony46murphy@eircom.net before 7p.m. on the Friday before publication at the latest.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed articles for the Fethard Notes during the year and look forward to your continued support in 2024. Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Late Colleen Murphy

The death took place on 30th December of Colleen Murphy, Gusserane and formerly of Aldridge. Predeceased by her parents Mai and Denny. Sympathy is extended to her husband Paddy Hodman, daughters Alana and Issey, sisters Siobhan, Eileen, Alison and Nuala, brother John, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and a wide circle of relatives and friends.

A celebration of life ceremony for Colleen took place at Cooneys Funeral Home on Wednesday, January 3rd followed by private cremation. May She Rest In Peace

2024 Calendar

The very popular calendar produced by local man Paddy OShea which features photos of the local area is currently on sale in Dillons Shop, Floods Ramsgrange, Harts Campile and in the Hook Lighthouse Centre. Costing just 10 all proceeds go to the charity Early Onset Parkinsons Disease. The calendar is selling well so get your copy while they are available.

Acting and Improv Classes

Fancy learning a new skill and challenging yourself while having some fun in the New Year then why not try our acting classes designed specifically for adults in St. Marys Hall on Friday evenings from 7.30 to 8.30. The five week session begins on Friday 12th January. To book a place contact Heather Hadrill on 086-8479788.

Fethard/St.Mogues GAA

Anyone still interested in becoming a Non-Player Member of St. Mogues Club can do so by contacting any committee member. Costing just 50 for annual membership as a member you have the benefit of regular WhatsApp messages to update you on fixtures, venues, team programmes and regular updates on other events in the club and you also receive a link to a video recording of all first team games. This is all very good value while you also get to support and feel part of the Fethard/St.Mogues Club.

Wexford Dementia Cafe

The Dementia Cafe will be held in St Louis Day Care Centre, Ramsgrange, Co. Wexford Y34H283 on 2nd Thursday of every month. The Cafe provides a warm and welcoming space for people with dementia, their family and friends, social and health care professionals to meet, exchange ideas and learning. For further information on how to attend please email: stlouisdaycarecentre@gmail.com or telephone 051-389509

Fethard Split the Pot

Congratulations to William, this fortnights winner of Split the Pot. Thanks to all who participated, to the businesses who have the buckets, without whom we couldnt do it and to Josephine Kehoe for organising it. Buckets are located in Dillons Londis, The Wheelhouse Cafe, Fethard Pharmacy, Molloys Bar, Geminii Hair and Beauty, Fethard on Sea Tourist Office, Milanos Takeaway, Baginbun Lodge, Beautiful U, Salon 60 and Hook Lighthouse. Draw every 2nd Wednesday.

Mike Denver Concert

Mike Denver Concert in Campile Hall on Sunday 24th March with special guest artist Ray Lynam starting at 8pm. For tickets contact 087 2183300.
Belarus state television is reporting that authorities sent a recently arrived group of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to train with the Belarusian military to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire.

Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition allege that Russian ally Belarus is engaging in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus on a mass scale, which critics say is a campaign to indoctrinate the children as pro-Russian.

The report, released on Wednesday, referred to some 35 children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine.

Its been claimed that they were sent to the eastern Belarusian city of Mogilev.

The Belarus1 state television channel said the children are being housed in a sanatorium and are being cared for by employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The military is teaching the children how to behave in extreme situations, the state television channel reported.

More than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6 to 17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops, a recent Yale University study found.

The Belarusian opposition has called on the International Criminal Court to bring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and officials in his government to justice for their involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus.

State television footage released on Wednesday showed the Ukrainian children wearing the Russian flag sewn onto their sleeves. The state television program said the Belarusian military is conducting emergency survival training for the children.

Ukrainian authorities said they are investigating the deportation of the children as a possible genocide. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has said Belarus is also being investigated over the alleged forced deportation of more than 19,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories.
Soaring homelessness in the county has sparked calls for a long-term strategy to tackle crisis

There were 48 adults accessing emergency accommodation in Wicklow in November as the numbers of homeless in the State climbed to record levels, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing.

The figures for November show there was a total of 13,514 people living in emergency accommodation, including over 4,000 children for the first time in the history of the State.

In the Mid-East region, which includes Wicklow, Meath and Kildare, 100 families were accessing emergency accommodation, including 157 children. While the number of adults accessing emergency accommodation in Wicklow during the week of November 2026 was 48, up from 46 in October, there are no other county-specific figures available for families and children, Experts say the figures do not reflect the true extent of the crisis as it omits rough sleepers, women in refuge centres, asylum seekers, and people known as the hidden homeless.

The Simon Community, which runs a homeless support service in Bray and Wicklow town, said the figures show that Irelands youngest are being disproportionately disadvantaged by homelessness, with both children and adults aged 24 and under, representing the largest age demographic of people in emergency accommodation across the country.

Manager of Bray homeless day centre, Tommy Gordon, of WH Five Loaves, said the Government figures have always been perplexing and his organisation could cater for up to 80 service users.

There certainly has been an increase and I can see it in the weeks leading up to and now, just after Christmas. Were getting more homeless people that arent even on the [housing] list.

Were dealing with a lot of young people who have been kicked out of their own homes because of substance abuse and we try and refer people on for accommodation, with Simon, Wicklow County Council and some shared accommodation.

The first step is to get them on the housing list, then a shelter, then shared housing, then council accommodation. There has been progress but the demand is unbelievable, he said.

Tommy said there are still people sleeping in tents in Bray this winter and our hearts are broken with them. He added that his charity tries to give out quality equipment, including sleeping bags, but there are occasions when some are forced to abandon that equipment when an area gets dodgy.

WH Five Loaves has a revolving door of around 80 people at any one time, he said, and added that there were three new faces just yesterday.

Following the publication of the figures, Wicklow charity Tiglin urged the Government to come up with a long-term strategy as the crisis only continues to escalate.

Tiglin has also seen an increasing trend in the presentation of clients from a variety of backgrounds, including women with children.

It said its homeless service in Pearse Street, Dublin, Tiglin at the Lighthouse, has been operating at maximum capacity over the last 12 months, providing an average of 400 meals each day.

Service manager, Allen Bobinac, said: We experience a large demand for our services on a daily basis; in the last six months, we have seen a large increase in people with homeless issues presenting at our cafe; some of whom are living in homeless accommodation with their children.

Aubrey McCarthy, the voluntary chair and founder of Tiglin, has been consistently advocating for solutions and joint-up thinking to focus on the homelessness crisis and its devastating impact on the most vulnerable members of society.

Mr McCarthy said: National non-profits such as ourselves are willing to play a role in running services that can bridge the gap before the new housing stock becomes available  there are opportunities with vacant buildings, both state and privately owned, to be put into use and help to remedy this societal crisis. We are ready to do this, we are doing this.

What we have is a model that helps some of the 14,000 people but not the vast majority who are on the list. We are willing to talk solutions. This is already a big crisis, but it can become even bigger than it already is.

Tiglin currently provides transitional housing services for those who have been impacted by homelessness but, at this moment, doesnt provide housing for children. However, these latest figures have highlighted the need for an immediate response that can provide longer-term solutions to support those at risk of homelessness, especially children, as noted in this report.
A couple living in Bray, who set up a scheme to provide bikes for Ukrainian refugees as a vital means of local transport, have made a fresh appeal for donations as more people arrive from the war-torn country, while others are relocated to rural settings.

Philip Carey and Claudia Schmid have been running a free bike scheme since May, 2022, with great success, and so far have deployed hundreds of bikes to refugees in south Dublin and north Wicklow. Given that by December, Revenue records indicated that one-third of Ukrainian refugees were already employed here  a higher employment rate than in any other country  Philips idea to provide bikes was not just for the purposes of recreation or spins to the local store.

And the fact so many Ukrainians were housed in remote locations, the need became even more pressing.

The bikes are donated by the public but they are often in need of TLC and refurbishment and Philip provides the labour free of charge. But donations were sought to buy the necessary spare parts such as tyres, cables, mudguards, locks and lights. They do get a lot of support from the Bike Shop in Bray, but costs are constantly mounting when it comes to maintenance.

The couple have now made a fresh appeal for bicycles and have offered to look after the collection. They are in need of adult bikes in reasonable condition, as young childrens bikes tend to get left out and abandoned in car parks. Philip said that demand is still very much there, with new centres having opened up in the latter part of last year in Delgany and Bray.

He has also being supplying bikes to families who have since moved from the centres in Bray to modular homes in Offaly. And while he has an accomplice in place at those centres, the calls for bicycles havent stopped.

You can donate at gofundme.com/f/bikes-for-ukranian-refugees or contact bikedup24@gmail.com.
Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi and Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor are among five Bafta rising star nominees for 2024.

The Bear star Ayo Edebiri, How To Have Sex actress Mia McKenna-Bruce and Talk To Mes Sophie Wilde are the other contenders named during a press conference at the Savoy Hotel in London on Wednesday.

Australian-born actor Elordi has recently starred in Saltburn, a thriller about high society, and as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppolas biographical drama about the famous musicians ex-wife, Priscilla.

The 26-year-old, also known for Netflix romance trilogy The Kissing Booth, said he is deeply honoured to be recognised.

His forthcoming projects include a Second World War series, based on Richard Flanagans Booker-winning novel, The Narrow Road To The Deep North, and Oh Canada, also starring Hollywood stars Uma Thurman and Richard Gere.

Dynevor, 28, is best known for Netflixs Bridgerton, in which she plays Daphne, who has a romance with the Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page) in the first season.

Jacob Elordi, known for Saltburn, The Kissing Booth and Euphoria, is one of five nominees for the Bafta rising star award (Jeff Moore/PA)

She has gone on to star in Netflix finance psychological thriller, Fair Play, about a relationship between co-workers, biopics The Colour Room and Bank Of Dave, and is set to appear alongside Zoey Deutch in Anniversary.

Dynevor said her nod is a testament to the hard work of the entire team on Fair Play who brought this film to life.

The English actress added: I am truly grateful for this recognition and excited to continue challenging myself with new roles and projects.

Edebiri, 28, who is in 2023 teen comedy Bottoms about a fight club started to find romance, said it is wonderful and humbling to receive this nomination.

Mia McKenna-Bruce, Sophie Wilde and Phoebe Dynevor have all been nominated for this years Bafta rising star award (Yui Mok/PA)

The American comedian, writer and producer won a Golden Globe for best television female actor in a musical or comedy series as young chef Sydney Adamu opposite Jeremy Allen White in Hulu hit The Bear and has been nominated for an Emmy for the same role.

Its the greatest privilege to tell stories and make people laugh, she said. I know Im in esteemed company and this means the world.

McKenna-Bruce has received a rising star nomination off the back of her critically-acclaimed performance in Molly Manning-Walkers coming-of-age film How To Have Sex.

She has already scooped the best lead performance prize at the British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) for the Greece-set film about a teenage holiday.

Mia McKenna-Bruce won the best lead performance prize at the British Independent Film Awards (Jeff Moore/PA)

Manning-Walker is also known for Netflixs Persuasion and BBC series The Dumping Ground and Tracy Beaker Returns.

The 26-year-old British actress said: To hear that I now stand amongst the past and present nominees is surreal and a total dream come true. I am so very grateful. Thank you to the jury.

Wilde said she is so very excited and grateful for her nomination and happy that horror film Talk To Me, about students who mess around with a hand that can possess people, is being recognised.

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The 26-year-old Australian has also been in BBC drama You Dont Know Me, ITVXs Henry Fielding adaptation of Tom Jones and Netflix teen comedy Everything Now.

 Voting is now open at http://ee.co.uk/Bafta and the winner will be announced at the 2024 Bafta Film Awards in February.
The Princess Royal during a visit to Save the Childrens HQ in Colombo during day one of a visit to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Sri Lanka (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The Princess Royal has praised the extraordinary work of Save the Children in Sri Lanka as she began a tour celebrating the UKs ties with the Commonwealth nation.

Annes first day in South East Asia began with the royal carrying some of her bags down the steps of the plane before starting a busy round of engagements marking the 75th anniversary of Britains diplomatic links with Sri Lanka.
China is being accused of deploying a broad strategy to influence voters in Taiwans elections to pick candidates who favour unification.

Chinas ultimate goal is to take control of the self-governing island democracy, whose high-tech economy supplies key components for computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices and ships much of the worlds goods out from the Taiwan Strait.
Donald Trump told top European officials while he was US president that the United States would never help Europe if it came under attack, according to a high-level EU official.
Residents clean up their apartment after it was damaged during a Russian drone strike in Dnipro, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Russias recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraines air defence resources, leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies, said a Ukrainian air force official.

Intense Russian air attacks force us to use a corresponding amount of air defence means, air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told national television. Thats why we need more of them, as Russia keeps increasing its (air) attack capabilities.
Soldiers and police officers stand guard following a wave of violence around the nation, prompting President Daniel Noboa to declare gangs to be terrorist organisations to be hunted by the military, in Quito, Ecuador January 10, 2024. REUTERS/Karen Toro

More than 130 prison guards and other staff are being held hostage by inmates in at least five prisons around Ecuador, which is reeling from an escalation of violence in recent days.
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli army base with explosive drones deployed from Lebanon yesterday, hitting the position for the first time in what the Iran-backed group declared part of its response to recent Israeli assassinations in Lebanon.

Also yesterday, an Israeli attack killed three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, sources familiar with the groups operations said, adding to the death toll among its forces from more than three months of hostilities with Israel.
Houthi rebels in Yemen carried out one of their largest missile and drone attacks to date on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea late Tuesday, igniting a response from five US and UK warships patrolling the region critical to global trade.
Talk of the national teacher workforce crisis has been front and centre with reported shortages in public schools during 2023 doubling those recorded in 2020.

The desperation for teachers in NSW alone has hit breaking point after the government revealed in October that almost 10,000 lessons are going ahead without a teacher every single day, forcing the Department of Education to implement drastic measures in a bid to attract more teachers  including cold-calling ex-teachers in hopes of luring the back into the classroom.

"Late last year [the Department] instituted the Teachers Re-engage program to increase the number of casual relief teachers in NSW public schools," a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education told Yahoo News Australia on Tuesday.

As a result, teachers who have previously worked in public schools are being contacted and asked if they would like to return.

NSW is cold-calling teachers in an attempt to replenish the state's dwindling workforce. Source: Getty

NSW reaching out to resigned teachers amid shortages

Each state and territory has methods in place to attract teachers to their schools and in NSW, after "the biggest wage increase in three decades" that came into effect at the end of 2023, the Department of Education is now seeking out teachers who "retired or resigned between 2019 and 2021" to see if they'll come back.

"The [Teachers Re-engage program] program aims to increase the number of teachers in NSW public schools, by reconnecting with our valued former employees," NSW Education states.

Through the program, the department reconnects with ex-teachers to see if they are interested in re-entering the school teaching workforce, and offers to pay the $100 NESA accreditation fee in 2024 for those eligible. It also assigns case managers to returning teachers to help the transition.

'Unsustainable' workload a focus as workforce struggles

This and other drastic recruitment initiatives and incentives come after multiple reports of catastrophic shortfalls in the classroom. In 2023, a whopping 9 out of 10 public school principals across the country reported teacher shortages, according to the Australian Education Union (AEU), which is double the number in 2020.

Story continues

"The number one issue driving teachers from the profession is unsustainable workloads," AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said in October. "Only 13 per cent of public school teachers say their workload is manageable, and one in five leave within three years of entering the profession."

NSW public teachers protested working conditions in 2022. Source: Getty

NSW Teachers Federation Acting President Henry Rajendra reiterated the importance of focusing on the "fundamental factors" that have heavily contributed to the current problem.

"The Teachers Federation supports recruitment strategies by the Education Department that aim to provide all schools the permanent teachers they need. But to do so, work must continue to ensure teachers' unsustainable workloads and insecure employment are addressed," he told Yahoo. "The previous government failed across all these areas."

Government figures show demand for secondary teachers will exceed the supply of new graduates by 4,100 between 2021 and 2025, and the 2023 Australian Education Union survey of thousands of public school teachers found 4 out of 10 early career teachers say they plan to leave the profession within a decade.

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Donald Trump threatens to prosecute Joe Biden if he loses appeal for immunity

Judges sceptical at former presidents claim that he is above the law

Donald Trump at a press conference in Washington DC yesterday. Photo: AP

Andrew Goudsward Wed 10 Jan 2024 at 03:30







A Washington appeals court yesterday questioned Donald Trumps claims that he is immune from criminal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election, as the former US president warned that he could prosecute Joe Biden if he returns to the White House.
Photo courtesy: wikipedia.org

Kolkata: Steel and mining company ArcelorMittal Wednesday announced the construction of the world's single-biggest steel manufacturing factory at Hazira in Gujarat.

ArcelorMittal Executive Chairman Lakshmi Mittal announced in his keynote address at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

The company is presently engaged in an ongoing expansion project of its Hazira facility, when completed in 2029, will boast an unprecedented capacity of 24 million tonnes per annum, solidifying ArcelorMittals position as one of the largest single-location integrated steel plants globally.

The announcement comes as part of the company's commitment to contributing significantly to India's Atmanirbhar Bharat journey.

During the event, Lakshmi Mittal said, Steel is one of the primary contributors to any nations journey towards self-reliance. At the heart of Atmanirbharta, is steel which supports a range of applications across sectors such as infrastructure, urbanisation, renewables, automotive including electric vehicles, defence, and railways.

By bringing the best of global technology, we are developing high-end products which help steel consumers across MSMEs to start-ups to become competitive.

He further added Gujarat welcomed ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India four years ago, and with the support of the Gujarat government, we are confident in completing the entire Hazira site by 2029. Our commitment extends beyond steel, with investments in emerging sectors like renewable energy and green hydrogen. "

The announcement marks a significant stride towards bolstering India's steel production capacity and supporting the nation's economic growth.
Photo courtesy: haldiapetrochemicals.com

Kolkata: Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) on Wednesday became the first ISO 27001:2022 certified petrochemical organisation in the industry by BSI (British Standards Institution), a renowned certification body.

The Certification demonstrates HPLs commitment towards a secure and reliable digital environment for a seamless exchange of information across internal and external stakeholders," company's senior vice-president Sumit Duttagupta said.

As part of its digital transformation journey, HPL has prioritized digitising and optimising its processes, placing people at the core of its approach.

This integrated and collaborative digital platform empowers employees with cutting-edge tools tailored to their needs, fostering a digital culture that encourages creativity and efficiency.

The seamless collaboration these tools offer enhances teamwork and propels the entire organisation forward digitally.

In a certificate handover ceremony at HPL Kolkata head office, Nirupam Sen, Business Head- North & East region handed over the certificate to Navanit Narayan, WTD & CEO, HPL.

By attaining this certification, HPL has demonstrated its ability to protect sensitive information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of valuable data and systems. ISO 27001:2022 is the standard of ISMS (Information Security Management System) program to protect the information asset of the organization.

(With UNI inputs)
Photo Courtesy: PIB

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

This Tenth Edition of Vibrant Gujarat will celebrate 20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success." The theme of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit this year is 'Gateway to the Future'.

UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi and President of Timor Leste Jose Ramos-Horta, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel will attend the inaugural session.

After the inaugural session, the Prime Minister will hold a meeting with the CEOs of top global corporations. Modi will interact with prominent business leaders in the Global FinTech Leadership Forum to be held at GIFT City in the evening.

There are 34 partner countries and 16 partner organisations for this years summit. Along with the Indian industrialists, nearly 200 global CEOs are expected to attend the summit.

This year, the summit will focus on sunrise sectors like semiconductors, green hydrogen, e-mobility, and space manufacturing.

Along with more than 2500 B2B and B2C meetings, the summit will also have a series of seminars on globally relevant topics such as Industry 4.0, technology and innovation, and renewable energy, among others.

The Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region will utilise the Vibrant Gujarat platform to showcase investment opportunities in the North-Eastern regions.

In the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show, companies will display products made from world-class state-of-the-art technology.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the seminar on the Gujarat road map for 2047 today, while Union textile minister Piyush Goyal will participate in various seminars and also attend the India-UAE summit this evening.

Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, conceptualised in 2003 under the "visionary leadership" of Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a bilateral meeting and signed four MoUs to transform the India-UAE partnership.

The four MoUs were signed between India and the UAE in the presence of the two leaders, including one between the Gujarat government and DP World, a multinational logistics company based in Dubai.

"Giving a boost to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership! PM Narendra Modi held warm discussions with HH @MohamedBinZayed, UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, in Gandhinagar," MEA said on X.

A special welcome for our honoured guest, HH @MohamedBinZayed, UAE President & Ruler of Abu Dhabi in Ahmedabad today. https://t.co/4me4kHE3jk  Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) January 9, 2024

"In their 4th meeting in less than 7 months, the leaders hailed the rapidly transforming India-UAE partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to a shared and prosperous future," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a post on social media platform X.

Giving details about the MoUs in another post, Jaiswal said three of the agreements between India and the UAE were on investment cooperation in the renewable energy sector, innovative healthcare projects, and food park development.


Photo Courtesy: Suchana Seth X page

A doctor, who conducted the post-mortem of the four-year-old child allegedly killed by his mother Suchana Seth, said apparently a towel or a pillow was used to strangulate the minor.

Citing the post-mortem report, Dr Kumar Naik, Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer, was quoted as saying by India Today : "He (the child) was strangled to death or what we call smothering. Either a cloth or a pillow was used. The child died due to strangulation. It doesn't look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used."

"The rigor mortis had resolved in the child. Usually in India, rigor mortis resolves after 36 hours but in this child's case, there was no rigor mortis. So, it has been more than 36 hours since his death," he said was quoted as saying by the Indian news channel.

Suchana Seth, 39, who was the founder of artificial intelligence start-up Mindful AI Labs, was arrested by police from Karnataka.

Also Read: Bengaluru-based AI startup founder Suchana Seth's last Instagram post was all about her four-year-old son whom she allegedly killed

Police reportedly arrested Seth from Karnatakas Chitradurga district, nearly 400 km away from the Goa hotel, where the crime was allegedly committed, with the body of her four-year-old stuffed into one of her luggage.

According to reports, Seth is separated from her husband and their divorce procedure is currently in the final stage.

She has said that she was not on good terms with her husband and there is a divorce proceeding which is at the final stages. She said there was a recent court order concerning the custody of the child which she was not happy with, North Goa superintendent of police Nidhin Valsan told Hindustan Times, citing the initial round of questioning of the woman.

Valsan said her husband, who was in Indonesia, had been told to come to Goa to record his statement in connection with his sons murder.

What allegedly happened in Goa?

According to reports, Seth flew from Bengaluru to Goa with her son on January 6.

She checked into the Sol Banyan Grande hotel in Candolim.

Her hotel was reserved till January 10.

Valsan told Hindustan Times the child may have died on January 7.

The officer said Suchana Seth called the front desk past midnight and called them to book her a cab that could take her home to Bengaluru.

The woman was suggested by hotel staff to take a flight instead of going by cab, to which the woman denied and insisted that she wanted to go by cab.

But she insisted she wanted to go by taxi. The hotel arranged an Innova taxi and she left the hotel at about 1am on January 8 (night intervening Sunday and Monday), Valsan told the newspaper.

Her son was not with her when she departed from the hotel.

The cleaning staff of the hotel raised an alarm on the following morning when blood stains were spotted in the room.

Following the development, police reportedly phoned Seth to enquire about her sons whereabouts.

A police officer told Hindustan Times: "She initially told the police she had left her son with a friend at Margao in south Goa. But the address that she gave was on verification found to be fake. We called the cab driver and told him to drive to the nearest police station. She was arrested at the Aimangala police station of Karnataka Police in Chitradurga district."

The child's body was found in a luggage bag.
Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/AMU website

New Delhi/UNI/IBNS: The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is an institution of "national character" that ought to maintain its secular origins and serve the larger interest of the nation first, the government told the seven-judge bench hearing on the issue of retaining minority institution status of Aligarh Muslim University.

The Centre maintained that AMU, like the Banaras Hindu University, is an institution of national character, adding that no such university can be a minority institution.

The hearing started on Tuesday before a seven-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of India on a batch of petitions on the issue of retaining the minority institution status of Aligarh Muslim University.

The seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud will decide on the question of whether an educational institution created by a parliamentary statute enjoys minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution.

Other members of the bench are Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Surya Kant, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Manoj Misra, and Justice KV Vishwanathan.

"Owing to the secular ethos and nature of the nation and the Constitution, because AMU is an institution of educational national character, it cannot be considered to be a minority institution irrespective of the question whether it was established and administered by the minority at the time of inception or not," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said in written submissions, adding that no other institution declared to be of national importance by Parliament is a minority institution.

"AMU is not and cannot be a university of any particular religion or religious denomination as any other university, which is declared by the Constitution of India to be of national importance," he added.

The ASG said that the grant of minority status would make it open for AMU to provide for reservations, even among teachers, of up to 50 percent or more to Muslims, while it would continue not to provide for reservations for SCs, STs, OBCs, and EWS.

Mehta stated that legally, an institution must be both "established" and "administered" by a minority group to come under the ambit of Article 30, and since the Basha judgment rendered a finding following a factual determination that AMU was predominantly a non-minority institution, it was not open for Parliament to change those findings of fact by way of amendments in 1981.

The seven-judge bench is expected to lay down parameters for granting minority status to an educational institution under Article 30 of the Constitution and also decide whether an educational institution created under a parliamentary statute can be given such status, effectively re-looking at the Basha verdict.

On Tuesday, AMU, through senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, argued that private and minority institutions are the heart and soul of Indias education system and that the Basha judgment requires a reconsideration for ignoring several key aspects of the law as well as the purpose of having such institutions.

In 2006, the Allahabad High Court had stripped the university of its minority status.

The then Congress-led coalition government at the Centre and AMU had moved an appeal against the high court order.

In 2016, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was already in power for two years, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it was withdrawing the appeal filed by the previous regime.

During the hearing of the case on Tuesday, the Centre said the government's decision to withdraw the plea was based on "constitutional considerations alone", Hindustan Times reported.

The Centre told the top court that the previous government's decision to fight the case was "against public interest" and opposed to the public policy of reservation for marginalised sections, the daily added.

In its 1967 Basha order, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court directed AMU was not entitled to the minority status as it "was neither established nor administered by the Muslim minority".

In 1981, the minority status of the university was restored through an amendment to the AMU Act.
Photo Courtesy: PIB

Indian PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the 10th edition of the showpiece Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gujarat when he highlighted the major achievements of his government and vowed that the country will become one of the top three economies in the world in the next few years.

The Prime Minister mentioned that India is the 5th largest economy in the world while it lagged at 11th position 10 years ago.

Experts can analyze this, but I guarantee that India will become the 3rd largest economy in the world, he said.

India has become a ray of hope for the world at a time when the world has witnessed multiple geopolitical instabilities, he said.

Reflecting on Indias priorities whose glimpses can be seen in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the Prime Minister mentioned sustainable industries, manufacturing and infrastructure, new age skills, futuristic technologies, AI and innovation, green hydrogen, renewable energy, and semiconductors.

PM Modi reiterated that the transformations taking place in India are improving Ease of Living and empowering them.

He mentioned that in the last 5 years, more than 13.5 crore people have come out of poverty while the average income of the middle class has been constantly on the rise.

He also touched upon the record rise in the participation of female workforce which is a great sign for Indias future.

With this spirit, the Prime Minister said, I appeal to all of you to become part of Indias investment journey.

Touching upon the modern policy improvements towards logistics and ease of transportation, the Prime Minister highlighted the rise in the number of airports from 74 to 149 within a decade, doubling of Indias national highway network, tripling of metro network, dedicated freight corridors, national waterways, increase in the port turnaround time and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor announced during G20.

These are huge investment opportunities for all of you, he added.

Pitching the country as an investment destination, Modi said there are new possibilities for investors in every corner of India.

You are not only investing in India but also shaping a new generation of young creators and consumers. Your partnership with the aspirational young generation of India can bring results which you could not have even imagined, Modi said.

Modi said that the participation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates & Ruler of Abu Dhabi, in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit as Chief Guest is special as it signifies the deepening ties between India and UAE.

PM Modi said that his thoughts and support towards India are filled with warmth and heartiness as he mentioned Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit becoming a global platform for economic development and investment-related discussions.

He highlighted the India-UAE partnerships in increasing support to the renewable energy sector, innovative healthcare, and investments of several billion dollars in Indias port infrastructure.

He also mentioned the initiation of operations by UAEs Sovereign Wealth Fund in GIFT City and aircraft and ship leasing activities by transworld companies.

The Prime Minister gave huge credit to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the soaring partnerships between India and UAE ties.



Global business leaders hail PMs vision

Several top business leaders, including ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal and Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Group, attended the event and praised the Indian PM's vision.

Lakshmi Mittal recalled visiting the 20th anniversary of Vibrant Gujarat last year in September and praised the Prime Ministers emphasis on process continuity to create an institutionalized framework for the mega global event of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

He also highlighted the Prime Ministers belief in the principles of One Earth, One Family, One Future and strengthening the voice of the global south in every international forum.

Underlining the importance of steel in making a nation self-dependent, Mittal recalled the foundation stone laying of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Hazira Expansion Project in 2021 and informed that the first phase of the project will be completed by the stipulated target year of 2026.

Toshihiro Suzuki, President of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan credited the Prime Minister for his strong leadership and thanked him for the support provided to manufacturing industries in the country.

Stating that India has now become the 3rd largest automobile market in the world, Suzuki highlighted the impact of the Prime Ministers progressive approach on the countrys economic growth.

He also touched upon the companys plans to roll out the first EV produced in India while also exporting it to European countries and Japan as he underlined the efforts on increasing production capacity.

In his speech, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Group mentioned a 5000 acre Dhirubhai Energy Giga Complex is coming up in Jamnagar which will be ready to be commissioned in the second half of 2024.

Ambani said: "Second, due to the fastest roll out of 5G, today Gujarat is fully 5G enabled. This will make Gujarat a leader in digital data platform and in AI adoption. Third Reliance Retail will expand its footprint to bring quality products and help lakhs of farmers and small merchants. Fourth, he said, "Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and a circular economy."

He said: "No power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion dollar economy by 2047. And I see Gujarat alone becoming a 3 trillion dollar economy."

Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group, said India of today is poised to shape the global future of tomorrow, owing to the Prime Ministers vision of making India Viksit Bharat by 2047.

He said Adani Group plans to invest over Rs 2 lakh crores in the next 5 years in Gujarat, thereby creating over 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs.

Jeffrey Chun, CEO Simmtech, South Korea said that as key supply chain partner in the semiconductor assembly and test facilities expressed excitement for their India project as a co-location investment following their major customer Microns project in the state of Gujarat.

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons Limited, elaborated on the expansion plan of the group in Gujarat in the areas of EV vehicles, battery production, C295 defence aircrafts and semiconductor fab, advance manufacturing skill building.

Gujarat is one of the most important destinations for Tata Group and we will play a key role in its development journey, he said.

Nikhil Kamat, Founder and CEO of Zerodha, credited Prime Minister Modi for facilitating a stable ecosystem allowing startups to thrive.
Image credit: UNI

New Delhi/IBNS: Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya on Jan 22, as the party called it an "RSS/BJP event."

In a statement released to the media, Jairam Ramesh, General Secretary (communication) of Congress said that the inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS is being done for electoral gain.

He said, "Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya."

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust last month sent invitations to Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and the party's leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The Congress leader said, "While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event."

The Jan 22 inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attended by political leaders, industrialists, actors and other prominent personalities.

The event, which was preceded by the inauguration of an international airport and the redeveloped railway station in the area, has been of huge interest nationwide.

The refurbished temple town of Ayodhya is getting ready to host thousands on the big day.

The Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday declared that schools and colleges across the state will remain shut on Jan 22. The event will be telecast live across the country and many places abroad.
In images (L-R): Uddhav Thackeray & Eknath Shinde/ Both images taken from their Facebook pages

Mumbai/IBNS: In a jolt to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray , state Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar Wednesday ruled that the current CM Eknath Shinde -led faction is the real Shiv Sena.

Narwekar also ruled that Bharat Gogawale is the whip of the Shiv Sena and not Sunil Prabhu, who is part of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) team- as he had "ceased to reflect the will of the party" when two factions emerged.

While announcing the results in what is being called the disqualification case of Shiv Sena MLAs, including the Chief Minister, Narvekar said that a party is decided based on the majority, and in this case, the Shinde group has the majority.

Narvekar decided that the Shiv Sena party chief could not remove the group leader from the post.

MLAs who are not in touch or contact cannot be disqualified on this ground alone. Moreover, it was proved that Milind Narvekar and Ravindra Phatak of Thackeray group met Eknath Shinde in Surat.

Rahul Narvekar observed that since it has been proved that the real party belongs to Shinde during the transfer of power, the issue of non-attendance in the Shiv Sena Legislature Party meeting on June 21 last year cannot lead to disqualification.

Giving supreme power to the party chief is harmful to democracy. If this happens, no one in the party will be able to speak against the party leader, said the Speaker. In the Shiv Sena Constitution, the decision of the National Executive is final, he said.

There is also a discrepancy in the claim submitted by the Uddhav Thackeray group to the Election Commission, he said

On one hand, they say that the party meeting was held at Sena Bhavan, on the other hand they say that the same meeting was held online. So their documents are confusing, observed Narvekar.

The Supreme Court had initially set a deadline of Dec 31, 2023, for the Speaker to decide the petitions under the tenth schedule of the Constitution.

The court later extended the deadline to Jan 10, 2024.

What is the issue?

On June 21, 2022, Eknath Shinde, a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra Government from the Shiv Sena party, rebelled against then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Soon after the rebellion, Uddhav's faction passed a resolution that removed Shinde as leader of the legislature party. Uddhav loyalist MLA Sunil Prabhu was appointed the chief whip of the party.

However, the same day Shinde's faction passed another resolution claiming he would continue to lead the legislature party and appointed Bharatshet Gogawale as the party's chief whip.

The speaker accepted Shinde's resolution on July 3, 2022.

This led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government in Maharashtra, an ally of the Shiv Sena UBT, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress.

Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Chief Minister on June 29, 2022, and Eknath Shinde took oath in his place.

However, disqualification pleas were filed before the Speaker against Shinde and 15 other MLAs who rebelled with him after the Sena split.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction alleged that Shinde and others deliberately failed to attend the meeting convened by the party's whip, Sunil Prabhu.

The second set of disqualification petitions was filed on June 27, 2022, against more Shinde-faction MLAs. In total, petitions were filed against 40 MLAs.

As a counterattack, Eknath Shinde's faction filed petitions seeking the disqualification of 14 Shiv Sena MLAs remaining in the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

Both sides approached the Supreme Court against the disqualification petitions.

From Feb 21, the apex court started hearing the matter on merits. In its verdict on May 11, 2023, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held the decision of the Governor to order the floor test for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government as well as the Speaker's decision to appoint the whip nominated by the Shinde group was incorrect.

However, the SC said the Speaker must rely on the original constitution of the Shiv Sena party to decide on the disqualification petitions filed by both factions.
The wife of an Aussie man involved in a scooter accident in Bali days before the new year has shared a heartbreaking update after she rushed to be by his side.

Kevin Malligan, 24, was riding on a scooter when he hit a bump in the road and toppled, causing him to suffer a brain bleed and fractured neck. After wife Leah  who is pregnant with their second child  travelled to Indonesia with Kevin's brother and dad, the Sydney man underwent surgery and was cleared for a medical evacuation back to Australia.

Kevin Malligan, 24, has been pronounced brain dead after being involved in a scooter accident in Bali. Source: Facebook

However on Wednesday it was shared online that her partner has been "pronounced brain dead"  mere weeks before the young family expect to welcome his second child into the world.

"Our hearts are broken today as Kevin has officially been pronounced as brain dead," she wrote on the fundraising page set up by the family. "The doctors have done all relevant testing over the last few days. This has been a distressing experience for all of us."

Fundraising page has raised over $100,000

After the accident last Friday, Leah's parents created the fundraising page to raise funds to help the young family while they faced "uncertain times".

Kevin and Leah share a two-year-old daughter and the money raised will go towards her future, as well as their unborn child's. "Will forever be grateful to all our friends, family and community for all your support and love," Leah wrote online.

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Image tweeted by Maldivian President's Office

Amid a strained relationship with India, Maldives Wednesday upgraded its relationship with China during its newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu's first state visit to Beijing.

At the Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Xi Jinping called Muizzu "an old friend" and promised more investment in Maldives.

"China and the Maldives' relations are facing a historic opportunity to carry forward the past and forge ahead into the future," Xi told Muizzu, as reported in Chinese state media.

"During the talks, President Dr Muizzu expressed gratitude for China's significant role in the Maldives' economic success... and infrastructure development," a statement from his presidential office read following the meeting.

A total of "20 key agreements" were signed between the two countries "marking a significant step in bilateral relations", as per an official statement released by the Maldivian President's office.

Muizzu took over as President in November 2023. In his election pledge, he said he would remove a small contingent of some 75 Indian military personnel in his island nation and change Maldives's "India first" policy.

Muizzu, who is seen as a pro-China politician, took oath as the eighth President of the Maldives after defeating his India-friendly predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential run-off held in September.

The new Maldives President met PM Narendra Modi in Dubai on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks in December 2023. Both leaders had agreed to set up a core group to discuss the multidimensional relations and further deepen ties.

The upgrade in the relationship between Maldives and China came at a time when India-Maldives ties were already strained after President Mohamed Muizzu came to power.

Recently, Indians have expressed anger against Maldivian authorities on social media after its Minister Mariyam Shiunas disparaging comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "clown" and "puppet" in posts on X, which have since been deleted.

These tweets were removed following criticism and backlash on the micro-blogging site.

Other Maldivian officials, including another minister named Zahid Rameez, also mocked Prime Minister Modi's visit to Lakshadweep after the photos garnered significant attention on social media as many drew comparisons between Modi's visit and the Maldives.

Meanwhile, India already shares a troubled relationship with China ever since the troops from both countries engaged in clashes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers. China had confirmed the death of four soldiers.


Photo courtesy: Suchana Seth X page

New Delhi/IBNS: Suchana Seth, the Bengaluru woman accused of murdering her four-year-old son in Goa amid a bitter divorce battle with her husband, PR Venkat Raman, had filed domestic violence charges in August, and was issued a restraining order.

She had accused her husband of physically abusing the child and herself and sought Rs. 2.5 lakh per month in alimony, claiming he has an annual income of over Rs. 1 crore, reports said.

According to reports, Seth, 39, who was the founder of artificial intelligence start-up Mindful AI Labs, had submitted copies of WhatsApp messages and pictures, as well as medical records, to substantiate her claim of domestic abuse.

Raman, who was in Indonesia when the alleged murder took place, had denied the domestic violence charges.

However, as per the terms of the restraining order, he had been prohibited from entering his wife's home or communicating, either by phone or social media, with her or the child.

The father, though, was reportedly also given weekly visitation rights - every Sunday - and that upset Seth, 39. Police have speculated that this court order may have been why she killed her child.

Police arrested Seth from Karnatakas Chitradurga district, nearly 400 km away from the Goa hotel, where the crime was allegedly committed, with the body of her four-year-old stuffed into one of her luggage.

The doctor, who conducted the post-mortem of the four-year-old child, said a towel or a pillow was used to strangulate the minor.

She told police she had no idea how the child had died, declaring she found him dead after a nap.

Goa Police, who have been given custody of Seth for six days, are, so far, not convinced by her explanations, given the bloodstained towel (which she claimed was menstrual bleeding) and empty bottles of cough syrup in her room.

The domestic violence case was last heard on Dec 12 - over three weeks before Seth and her son checked into a service apartment in north Goa's Candolim.

The court had then adjourned the matter to January 29.

The couple got married in November 2010, and their son was born in August 2019.

Seth reportedly told the court she had been living apart from her husband since March 2021.
Photo Courtesy: X page video grab

A television studio in Ecuador witnessed some tense moments when masked gunmen broke into it and threatened terrified staff.

Employees were forced onto the floor during the broadcast by the public television channel TC in the city of Guayaquil before the live feed cut out, reported BBC.

The attackers were later seen leaving the studio.

A 60-day state of emergency began in Ecuador on Monday after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell, BBC reported.

It is unclear whether the incident at the TV studio in Guayaquil was related to the disappearance from a prison in the same city of the boss of the Choneros gang, Adolfo Macias Villamar, or Fito as he is better known, the British news channel reported.

Police said several people have been arrested in connected with the incident.

Ecuador Police posted on X: "As a result of the intervention in @tctelevision #GYE, our police units have so far managed to arrest several subjects and evidence linked to the crime."

In Peru, the government directed the deployment of the police force to the border to prevent any instability from crossing into the country.

CAPTURADOS



Como resultado de la intervencion en @tctelevision #GYE, nuestras unidades policiales hasta el momento logran la aprehension de varios sujetos e indicios vinculados al ilicito.



Posterior mas detalles... pic.twitter.com/tPq7FfaGcM  Policia Ecuador (@PoliciaEcuador) January 9, 2024

US Embassy in Ecuador said in a statement: "The United States Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador are monitoring reports of criminal activity and other threats to safety and security of U.S. citizens in Ecuador."
Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Taipei does not consider the flight of a Chinese rocket carrying a satellite over the southern part of the self-governed island as an attempt to interfere with the upcoming presidential election, Lin Yu-chan, a spokesman of Taiwan's presidential office, said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said that it had successfully launched the Einstein probe into orbit using the Long March 2C carrier rocket to observe poorly studied space phenomena.

The launch took place at the Xichang Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said that China's carrier rocket left the atmosphere while flying over the island's south.

"After a security team has analyzed the relevant information, and also taking into account the intelligence assessment of various friendly parties, political intentions [of the launch] can be ruled out," Lin said in a statement responding to media questions about whether the flight of China's rocket over Taiwan could be considered an attempt to meddle in the election.

Taiwan will hold the presidential election on Saturday. Taiwan's incumbent leader, Tsai Ing-wen, is no longer eligible for reelection as she has already served two consecutive terms as the island's president.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan  a territory with its own elected government  maintains that it is an autonomous country, but stops short of declaring independence.

Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.

(WIth UNI inputs)
Photo courtesy: Wallpaper Cave

At least four people, including three cops, died in a terrorist attack near a checkpost close to Lachi Toll Plaza in Pakistan's Kohat region on Wednesday.

As many as 10 terrorists reportedly attacked the checkpost.

Heavy contingents of the police and Pakistan Army cordoned off the area after the attack.

Terrorists are believed to be holed up in the nearby mountainous area, Geo News reported.

When contacted, police sources told the Pakistani news channel that the terrorists will be arrested in the ongoing search operation.

PPPs Sherry Rehman posted on X: " Strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a checkpoint in Kohat that led to the martyrdom of three police officers and a civilian. The perpetrators involved in the attack must be arrested as soon as possible and given exemplary punishment. Thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families."

Pakistan is witnessing a spike in terror attacks in recent times.


MCU's newest action miniseries, Echo, is the perfect offering to start the new year 2024 with a bang. The action-adventure series has created a lot of buzz and it is time for fans to finally watch it.

Marion Dayre, an American producer and television writer, created it, drawing inspiration from the Marvel comic of the same name.



Disney

When To Watch Echo?

The miniseries released on 10th January 2024.

Where To Watch Echo?

You can stream Echo on Disney+Hotstar.



What Does The Echo Trailer Tell Us About The Show?

A young deaf woman named Maya Lopez is driven away by an ice cream salesperson in the trailer. The vendor is then bludgeoned by Wilson Fisk. The brutality that follows establishes the tone for the entire series.

The trailer implies that as it goes on, Maya will have to confront her ingrained anger. She needs to master self control so she can defeat her enemies.



The original release date for Echo was November 29 of last year. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, however, were a challenge for the showrunners, who were forced to postpone the release date by many months.



Echo Cast And Production

Alongside Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene, and Vincent D'Onofrio in supporting roles, Alaqua Cox plays Maya Lopez/Echo from Hawkeye once more. By March 2021, work on the spin-off was under way, with Alaqua Cox confirmed to be returning and chief writers Etan and Emily Cohen attached. In November 2021, Dayre's role as head writer was officially established, and Freeland was scheduled to take over as director by March 2022. Filming took place in the Atlanta metropolitan area, which includes Atlanta, Peachtree City, Social Circle, and Grantville, Georgia, from late April to late August of 2022.

Disney

The official synopsis for Echo according to The Direct, reads: Marvel Studios presents Echo in which Maya Lopez struggles to reconnect with her Native American roots while balancing aspirations tied to a life of crime as successor to the brutal legacy of Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin. In the first episode, we are introduced to Maya Lopez and her struggles.

(To read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading Indiatimes BINGE)
Since the premiere of Marvel's newest series Echo, viewers have begun to watch it and review it too. The show, which takes its cues from the Marvel comic of the same name, has generated a lot of discussion. If you're not sure whether to watch it or not, these reviews may help.

X

One wrote, OK so I just finished ECHO... it completely exceeded my expectations, a large part being that it actually looks like Marvel put some money into it! The story is perfectly told, a mix of Indigenous culture and Marvel narrative. It highlights so much of the Indigenous culture.



Another added, Ngl guys The New Marvel Echo Series is hands down That One MCU Show That Got Me Impressed, The Mature fighting Sequence Are Enjoyable, King Pin being Ruthless is Quite Of Goosebumps , The Story is Amazing, Ile Give it 6.5/10.



A third went on to add, The first half an hour of #Echo is dedicated to anyone who ever complained that people can't watch Marvel movies/shows without watching the entire MCU



A fourth went on to add, I enjoyed it. Of course Vincent DOnofrio literally steals every second he's on screen. The man is 1000% King Pin. Acting of some was sometimes cheesy but its Marvel. I also really liked Alaqua Cox as Echo. Gorgeous as hell but also a total bad ass



X

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Who All Star In Echo?

Alaqua Cox reprises her role as Maya Lopez/Echo in the Hawkeye spin-off, joined by Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene, and Vincent D'Onofrio in supporting roles.



Marvel

By March 2021, production had begun on the spin-off, confirming Cox's return, with chief writers Etan and Emily Cohen on board. November 2021 saw Dayre officially appointed as head writer, and Freeland was set to take the director's helm by March 2022. Filming occurred in the Atlanta metropolitan area, encompassing Atlanta, Peachtree City, Social Circle, and Grantville, Georgia, from late April to late August 2022.



Marvels description of the show reads, Streaming exclusively on Disney, the origin story of Echo revisits Maya Lopez, whose ruthless behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown. She must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace the meaning of family and community if she ever hopes to move forward.

Echo is available to stream on Disney+Hotstar.

(To read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading Indiatimes BINGE)


The trailer for the much anticipated guilty pleasure series Karmma Calling has been released. In it, Raveena Tandon's character Indrani Kothari, the reigning queen of Alibaug, is set to face off against Namrata Sheth's character Karma Talwar, with terrible secrets at stake.



Karmma Calling is a forthcoming television series that has important parts from Gaurav Sharma, Waluscha D'souza, Amy Aela, Viraf Patel, Piyush Khati, and Raveena Tandon. The series is directed by Ruchi Narain.

The 90s Bollywood queen Raveena is shown in the newly released video as someone who is determined to live her life on her terms and goes on a mission to learn more about her enemy.

Reacting to it, one wrote,  This series should be interesting. Looking forward to see my favorite 90s Bollywood actress/heroine Raveena Tandon in a role with grey shades.

A second added, The best part of OTT platform is every artist is getting a fair chance to showcase their talent.

Hotstar

Talking about her character, Raveena Tandon said, Playing Indrani Kothari helped me explore a very different aspect of myself as an actor, it is unlike any characters I have played before . I am experimenting with my characters. Indrani is powerful, strong-headed and wants to maintain her position in the elitist society. She has secrets to hide but her life is altered in many ways as Karma Talwar enters the picture but she is not a woman to give in to her Karma that easily. Karmma Calling is a tale of the glamorous, powerful Indrani Kothari and the enigmatic Karma Talwar and itll surely keep the audiences on Disney+ Hotstar hooked.

Hotstar

Talking about the show and her character, Namrata Sheth said, Karmma Calling dives into the glamorous world of the rich and reveals more than what meets the eye. Essaying Karma Talwar was a challenging and enriching experience for me as an actor. Shes very layered, has a strong mind-set and wont stop at anything. Working with the entire team at R.A.T. films and Disney+ Hotstar has been a pleasure and I had especially an incredible experience shooting with Raveena Tandon. Ive always admired her and have learned so much from her through the shoot . I cant wait for the audiences to watch the series on Disney+ Hotstar.

Hotstar

Talking about his role in Karmma Calling, Varun Sood said, Playing the role of Ahaan Kothari was like a dream come true for me. While Ahaans character may seem simple, he has a multilayered and complex personality which the audience will definitely connect with. I am similar to him in some ways, which made it easier for me to sink into the skin of the character. Working with Raveena maam was a dream come true. I have been a fan of her since childhood and to have this opportunity felt surreal. Moreover, I am thankful to Ruchi, R.A.T. films and Disney+ Hotstar for making me a part of this larger-than-life show.

Karmma Calling is based on the U.S. original series Revenge, which aired from 2011-2015 and was produced by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.

(To read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading Indiatimes BINGE)
Comedian Jo Koy, who was announced as the host of Golden Globes 2024 award ceremony, opened the show with a monologue that made people profoundly uncomfortable and drew massive criticism from across the world. From Meryl Streep to Taylor Swift, most of his jokes fell flat.

Shruti Haasan on Jo Koy's sexist Barbie joke at Golden Globes 2024

His sexist joke about one of the most talked about movies Barbie got unamused reactions from Helen Mirren, Selena Gomez, co-writer and director Greta Gerwig and actors Ryan Gosling and Issa Rae.

Now, Indian actress Shruti Haasan has reacted to Jo Koy's joke. Taking to Instagram Stories, she wrote, "STFU Uncle. Go home."

Instagram

What was Jo Koy's sexist joke?

ngl i never found Jo Koy funny and what he said at the golden globe was actually why the barbie movie was made, because of sexist comments like those. It has come out that even the cast hated the joke and I understand why, never hand this man a mic again. pic.twitter.com/qV8aiFb2Ij  SavLeftUs (@SavHasLeftUs) January 9, 2024

In his monologue, which many thought was not funny, he said, "Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies", he said before adding, "The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!"

As the joke fell flat, Jo Koy was seen getting defensive after the joke bombed and even blamed his writers. He also tried to put the blame on lack of time he had to prepare for the show. "Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago, you want a perfect monologue?" he said, and added, "Yo, shut up. Youre kidding me, right. Slow down. I wrote some of these, and theyre the ones youre laughing at."



Reacting to the backlash, "It's a tough room. It was a hard job, Im not going to lie... Id be lying if (I said) it doesnt hurt. I hit a moment there where I was like, 'Ah.' Hosting is just a tough gig," he said, as per Variety. "Yes, Im a stand-up comic but that hosting position its a different style. I kind of went in and did the writers thing. We had 10 days to write this monologue. It was a crash course. I feel bad, but I got to still say I loved what I did."



For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.


Facing a mass boycott by Indians over derogatory comments about the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by some Maldivian ministers, the archipelago's President has called on China to send more tourists.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Tuesday appealed to China, which he termed the nation's closest ally, to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists there.

AP

What Maldivian President said

"China was our (Maldives') number one market pre-COVID, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," Muizzu, who is on a five-day state visit to China, said.

"The Government has plans to diversify the tourism product and offer new experiences. Initiatives include a top-tier school of hospitality and exploring sports, medical and cultural tourism. China was our number one market pre-COVID, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," Muizzu said while addressing the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province.

AFP

Why Maldivian need Chinese tourists

The development comes at a time when Maldives, whose economy is heavily dependent on international tourists, is facing an unprecedented crisis following the boycott call by Indians.

Data by the Maldives Tourism Ministry stated that the highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 2,09,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 2,09,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 1,87,118 arrivals.

REUTERS

Even in 2022, India remained the top Maldives tourism market, with as many as 2,40,000 arrivals. Russia followed closely in second place with 198,000 tourists, and Britain ranked third with over 1,77,000 arrivals. Before COVID, China held the top spot with around 2.80 lakh tourists.

How Maldives angered Indians

However, things turned ugly last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a series of photos from his recent visit to Lakshadweep.

PM Modi/X

Facing the prospect of at least some Indians who would have visited the Maldives otherwise choosing Lakshadweep, which also has equally scenic beaches, a few politicians from the country, including the minister, went on a racist and derogatory tirade on social media, targetting Indians.

This led to a massive uproar on social media by Indians, with many, including celebrities, cancelling their plans to visit the Maldives and endorsing Lakshadweep instead.

In an apparent step to reduce the escalation, the Maldives government suspended three deputy ministers in the youth ministry, Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, after India strongly raised the issue with Male.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Merely weeks after it opened to the public, a controversial inner-city park in Sydney has been slammed shut after traces of asbestos were found in mulch in a children's play area.

Located in the Inner West, Rozelle Parklands  which was developed as part of the troubled Rozelle Interchange, dubbed "spaghetti junction" by frustrated locals  has been closed just over three weeks after it opened.

The spot, which has been popular with Inner West locals since it's launch, was a ticketed vantage point for Sydney's New Year's Eve celebrations. Yahoo understands it was attended by crowds of people.

Work underway to uncover extent of contamination

According to Transport for NSW (TfNSW), the extent of the contamination remains unknown, with "contamination experts engaging NSW Health, SafeWork, and the EPA to take all necessary steps to ensure the site is safe".

The parklands opened to the public merely weeks ago. Source: Inner West Council.

"Remediation experts are currently on site conducting tests of the material across the parkland to determine the extent of contamination," a TfNSW spokesperson said.

'No air borne particles' found so far

Work is also underway to determine whether the mulch used at the park  which opened on December 17  has been used at any other locations across the city.

"A number of preliminary air quality tests taken at that site yesterday did not find any air borne particles outside of normal expected parameters," the spokesperson continued, adding that initial advice indicates that the asbestos identified "was considered low risk".

Mayor slams hazard as 'beyond belief'

Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne described the discovery as "concerning".

"This is a serious safety concern for Council and our community as thousands of local children and families have been using Rozelle Parklands in the month since it opened," he said.

Story continues

As a parent whose children have been playing there myself, I understand how concerning this will be for many thousands of local people.

It is beyond belief that such a long-awaited community facility has been opened with asbestos-contaminated materials contained within it.

A community update is expected later today on the results of the investigations, with the mulch expected to soon be replaced.

The park has been closed for further testing after asbestos was found in mulch. Source: TfNSW.

Criticism continues for troubled interchange

The discovery comes amid continued criticism of the Rozelle Interchange, which has been slammed by locals  and even celebrities  over its messy layout and constant traffic build-up.

Just two days after it opened, commuters reported it taking almost an hour to travel from Rozelle to the Anzac Bridge, as drivers grappled with the changed traffic conditions.

Urgent construction began in December to open a new lane for general traffic where the current one lane merges with the new Crescent Overpass before the Anzac Bridge.

The new multibillion-dollar tunnel, intended to reduce travel times between the citys west and the CBD, has instead caused commute times to blow out by more than an hour.

Popular beach shut for weeks over similar find

Back in 2021, a popular beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs closed for two weeks after asbestos was found there.

"More than 1,000 pieces of bonded (mainly fibrous cement sheeting) have been found indicating an ongoing source of contamination, potentially from nearby creek gullies where old building material may have been buried," Randwick Council said at the time.

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The countdown to the grand ceremony for inauguration of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, scheduled for January 22, has officially commenced.

Construction of the Ram temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama was overseen by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, formed on the Supreme Court's orders in 2019. Government of India, which set up the trust, allocated the necessary budget for the mandir's construction.

Credit: X

The trust had launched the 'biggest crowdfunding drive of the world' - the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan - on 15 January 2021, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.



The following is a list of some of the donations to the trust that were made public:

Donations of individual personalities to the Ram temple at Ayodhya

Credit: X

This is how much a few individual personalities donated for the Ram Mandir construction at Ayodhya:



Ram Nath Kovind, President of India from 2017 to 2022, donated over Rs 5 lakh - Rs 500,100, to be exact.

Yogi Adityanath, UP CM since 2017-Present, donated Rs 2 lakh. Morari Bapu, a Gujarat-based spiritual leader, contributed Rs 11.3 crore.

Wasim Rizvi, former Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman, donated Rs 51,000.

Donations from some states for construction of Ayodhya temple

Arunachal Pradesh contributed Rs 4.5 crore

Manipur contributed Rs 2 crore

Mizoram contributed Rs 21 lakh

Nagaland contributed Rs 28 lakh

Meghalaya contributed Rs 85 lakh

Not just notable personalities but also the common man donated

In Telangana, an elderly woman's devotion to Bhagwan Ram led her to donate Rs 500 towards the temple's construction despite surviving on a meagre pension.

Munnibai Khushwaha, a resident of Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha who earns a living by selling plums, donated Rs 100.

"People are donating towards the construction of the Ram temple wholeheartedly. The donors' devotion is so deep that they continued sending money to our accounts even when the pandemic had brought the entire country to a standstill," said Prakash Gupta, an RSS member who runs the trust's office in Ayodhya in 2022.

Credit: X

Thus, donations for the cause of construction of the Ram temple transcended distinctions of wealth, age, gender and religion. All are now waiting with bated breath for the consecration of the Ram Mandir, for which the Vedic rituals will begin on January 16, leading to a final reveal on January 22.



For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


Amid the strained ties between India and Maldives following the derogatory comments by some politicians, a former Maldivian minister had recalled friendly relations between the two neighbours and termed New Delhi as their '911 call'.

"India has been our 911 call; whenever we need it, we give a call, and you all come to our rescue. That kind of a friend," Former defence minister of Maldives, Mariya Ahmed Didi, had said.

AFP

How India-Maldives relations looked like

The ex-minister's comment is not an exaggeration because that was what India was always to Maldives - a neighbour always there to help the country when it was in need.

India has demonstrated this time and again.

One of the most notable instances was in 2014 when India came to the aid of the Maldives, which was running out of drinking water.

When Male almost ran out of drinking water

In December 2014, the lone desalination plant in the Maldivian capital was forced to shut down after it caught fire, leaving the city in an acute drinking water shortage.

THINKSTOCK

Responding to an urgent request for assistance by Maldivian Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon late on December 4 night, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched a massive aid effort.

How India saved Maldives

India diverted INS Sukanya, which was on patrol off Kochi, to Male carrying 35 tonnes of fresh water and could produce 20 tonnes of water daily.

INDIA IN MALDIVES

On the same day, the Indian Air Force also provided five aircraft, including two C-17 Globemaster-III and three IL-76, with 153 tonnes of water.

IAF

On 7 December, another navy ship, INS Deepak, a large fleet tanker, reached Male carrying 1000 tonnes of water.

The IAF operated three more aircraft with 130 tonnes of water on 6 December.

IAF

A C-17 and another aircraft, both carrying 40 tonnes of water were also flown to Male on 7 December.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Annually observed on January 10, World Hindi Day commemorates the inaugural World Hindi Conference in 1975 in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Officially declared in 2006 by the then government, it promotes the cultural significance of Hindi, acknowledging it not just as the official language but also as a symbolic representation of India's diverse linguistic heritage. It is also an occasion that reminds us of our rich vernacular roots.



Regarding linguistic diversity, nine states in India designate Hindi as their official language, while others have regional languages such as Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Sindhi, and Urdu, to name a few.

This linguistic variety not only adds to the aesthetic charm of our culture but also forms an integral aspect of our national identity. Therefore, whenever we speak of our great nation, we affirm that unity in diversity stands as our greatest strength.



Unsplash/Representational image

Following the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 emphasises the importance of acquiring proficiency in three languages to cultivate multilingualism and appreciation for India's rich linguistic diversity. The three designated languages include R1, which serves as the medium of instruction (MoI) and facilitates initial literacy attainment, typically in the student's mother tongue. Moving on to R2, it encompasses any language, including English, while R3 denotes any language other than those designated as R1 and R2.



It is also particularly important to preserve cultural and linguistic diversity, especially in the current era where technology is dynamically reshaping the world. Technological advancements are exerting a strong influence across various sectors, including education, where curricula and pedagogical approaches are experiencing transformative effects.



Integrating technology with vernacular languages can also enrich teaching, broaden the scope of examinations, and help translate educational materials. Additionally, the fusion of Indian languages with technology has the potential to unlock boundless opportunities for India's youth across various demographics.



Promoting regional languages can play an important part in ensuring unbiased education, academic inclusivity, bringing all students to a level playing field through a student-centric approach and facilitating easy information sharing between teachers and students.



As stated by UNESCO in its report on 'Why mother language-based education is essential,' a multilingual education rooted in the vernacular language empowers all learners to actively participate in society. This approach cultivates mutual understanding and respect among individuals, contributing to the preservation of the rich cultural and traditional heritage embedded in every language worldwide.



In India, we often see a divide between students who come from vernacular educational backgrounds and those who study in English medium schools. This conflict has been depicted rather eloquently in the recent film '12th Fail' where a student is judged harshly at an interview for not knowing English. He is discouraged at every step for his rural schooling and yet he manages to fulfil his dream of becoming an IPS officer because in his opinion, only someone like him can understand grassroots issues because he has faced them first-hand. The film argues that if Hindi or any other regional language can help students to negotiate with their academic challenges and to advance in their careers, we, as educators, should make provisions to ease their way.

Unsplash/Representational image

I also believe that when students from mainstream schools explore vernacular languages, they cultivate an appreciation for diversity. A significant portion of our literary and historical heritage resides in regional languages. Facilitating learning in local languages can familiarise students with the vast literary and historical legacy of India, fostering a sense of belonging and cultural awareness. This, in turn, contributes to the cultivation of a more well-rounded and knowledgeable generation of students. Come to think of it, be it cinema or global culture, people are now emerging from their linguistic silos to co-create and synergise. The citizens of the future will need exposure to not just one but many languages and they will have to be open to learning a plethora of new ideas and perspectives.



Treating all languages with respect can pave the way for creating a healthy environment where students are not judged by their proficiency in just one language. When a student who is only well-versed in Hindi, Tulu, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu or Kannada feels visibilised, included, heard and encouraged, she/he can even pick up challenging concepts and ideas easily. Absorbing knowledge in one's preferred language enhances comprehension, elevating the overall learning journey. This shift enables optimism among students and bolsters their self-confidence. Moreover, it encourages more students to pursue higher studies, breaking language barriers and creating a participative academic environment. This approach also results in standardised quality education, yielding better learning outcomes, especially for theory-based subjects traditionally taught in English, which might pose challenges for certain students.

To conclude, occasions like World Hindi Day serve as poignant reminders for us all to acknowledge and preserve our vernacular roots, our shared linguistic and cultural heritage and to bridge equity gaps that are created when one language is preferred over another.

About the author: Rajesh Bhatia is an educator and founder of the TreeHouse chain of schools. All views/opinions expressed in the article are of the author.


Everyone and everything across India is currently adding to the grandeur of Ram Temple. It now has one of the biggest bells in the country.

Where is the bell coming from?

Workers at work in UP's Etah/ Credit: PTI

A gigantic 2,400 kg bell constructed of "ashtadhatu" (eight metals) that was manufactured for Rs 25 lakh in Jalesar town in Etah district is scheduled to be delivered to the Ram temple in Ayodhya.



The bell was displayed on a car in the district's subdivisions before being hauled by train to Ayodhya on Tuesday.

What does the bell consist of?

The bell will be made of 8 metals/ Credit:samakalikamalayalam.com

The bell, which is among the biggest in the nation, is comprised of eight metals: gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, tin, iron, and mercury.



How many people did it take to make the bell?

It is produced by a diversified team of about 30 individuals. The late Aditya Mittal, a metal merchant, stated that his brother Vikas Mittal, a former Jalesar Nagar Panchayat chairman, wanted to give the bell to the temple.

Credit: X

Here are details about some of the largest bells in temples across India:



1. Golden Bell, Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Andhra Pradesh- Weight: Approximately 7,850 kg - Material: Made of pure gold - Significance: Revered as one of the largest and heaviest bells in India, it holds immense religious significance at the temple.

2. Great Bell of Dhammakaya Temple, Maharashtra - Weight: Around 256,000 kg - Material: Made of brass - Significance: One of the world's largest bells, not just in India, it stands as a symbol of peace and harmony.

3. Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple Bell, Tamil Nadu - Weight: Approximately 2,500 kg - Material: Made of five metals (Panchaloha) - Significance: Known for its size and religious importance in the temple, it's one of the prominent bells in the country.

4. Ranaghat Kali Bari Temple Bell, West Bengal - Weight: Around 1,500 kg - Material: Made of brass - Significance: One of the largest bells in the state, it adds to the cultural and religious ambiance of the temple.

5. Shree Jagannath Temple Bell, Odisha - Weight: Approximately 1,620 kg - Material: Made of an alloy of eight metals (Ashtadhatu) - Significance: Revered as a sacred bell, it resonates with the spiritual atmosphere of the temple.

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In a remarkable coming together of cultures, Paris will host Ram Rath Yatra and puja reportedly 24 hours before the event in India. According to reports, the Ram Rath Yatra will start from Place De La Chapelle at 12 pm before finally ending at the location of the iconic Eiffel Tower, Place De Trocadero, at 3 pm. Read on for more details.

What Is Happening In Paris For The Inauguration Of Ram Mandir In Ayodhya?

A reported 150-200 will join the Ram Rath Yatra that will finish at Place De Trocadero | Image: Canva

Not only is Ayodhya celebrating 'Ram Janambhoomi' with great enthusiasm, but all of India is, too, as the countdown to Lord Ram's 'Pran Pratishtha' on January 22 kicks off.



Everywhere from upscale shops like Khan Market in Delhi to housing complexes in Mumbai, Mithila, the birthplace of Sita in Bihar, and Ramanagara district in Karnataka, where Lord Ram once travelled while in exile, is preparing for the D-Day with much pomp.

Meanwhile, Paris, which is referred to as the City of Love, is located more than 7,000 kilometres from Ayodhya and will host a Rath Yatra 24 hours ahead of the actual event in India.

When Is The Ram Rath Yatra Taking Place In Paris?

The 'Ram Rath Yatra will finish at Place De Trocadero, where the iconic Eiffel Tower is | Photo: Canva

Under the banner of "Ayodhya Mandir Mahotsav," Indian expatriates in Paris have arranged two celebrations on January 21 to honour the "glory of Lord Ram."



The organisers informed the media that the event was scheduled for Sunday to maximise attendance.

Where Will The Ram Rath Yatra Start?

AI imagines Ram Rath Yatra In Paris | Source: Bing

The 'Ram Rath Yatra' will begin from Place De La Chapelle at noon and end at Place De Trocadero, which is home to the famous Eiffel Tower, at 3 pm. At 10.30 am, the yatra will begin with prayers and the 'Vishwa Kalyan Yagna' at a Ganesha temple in La Chapelle, according to organisers who spoke with News18. There will be a lavish puja and aarti, prasad distribution, and a cultural show.



Following that, the yatra will pass by the famous Arc de Triomphe, the Musee de Louver (Louver Museum), Place De La Republique, and Place De Trocadero.

Credit: News18

The chief organizer and president of the Overseas Friends of the BJP in France, Avinash Mishra told News18 that between 150 and 200 people are expected to join the yatra. The number can even go up to a thousand as more and more people gather for the puja and cultural event.

According to the report, over 400 people have already registered so far.

Puja, Aarti And Lord Ram Cutouts

Credit: Canva

Large cutouts of Lord Ram are scheduled to be installed all around the Eiffel Tower. Additionally, there will be a cultural event where songs of Lord Ram will be sung.

Indians living in France are already receiving invitations to the event.

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A spectacular rally featuring 200 cars took place in the United States as a vibrant display of faith and unity in anticipation of the inauguration of the Ram Temple.

Symbolising the harmonious blend of spiritual devotion and cultural diversity, this gathering serves as an official precursor to the monumental event when the revered temple will be consecrated.

This distinctive mobile assembly brought together diverse communities, capturing the reverence and anticipation surrounding the impending consecration of the Ram Mandir. It underscored the profound significance of this spiritual milestone in the lives of those participating in this historic occasion in different ways from around the globe.

Members of the Hindu American community organized a car rally in the US to celebrate the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. More than 500 riders took part in the rally carrying saffron banners bearing images of the Ram temple, the Indian flag and the American flag.#USA pic.twitter.com/W4HOcEz3SA  Bnz English (@BnzEnglish) January 9, 2024

A profound fervour is gripping not only India but also American Hindus as the countdown to the dedication of Ramlala at the Ram temple in Ayodhya draws near.

Anticipation is running high for the upcoming ceremony on January 22, particularly among the Hindu community in America, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the dedication.

In this historic celebration before the official opening of the Ram Mandir, American Hindus organised a massive vehicle procession in Houston. Spanning five kilometres, this jubilant display featured an impressive convoy of more than 200 cars adorned with vibrant banners, including saffron flags with images of the Ram temple and both American and Indian flags.

Credit: X

The procession made stops at eleven temples along its route, commencing at the Shri Meenakshi Temple and concluding at the Shri Sharad Amba Temple.

With the rendition of Ram Bhajans and resounding chants of "Jai Shri Ram," the rally metamorphosed into a potent display of devotion and unwavering faith.

The fervent cries of "Jai Shri Ram" and the resonating conch shells stirred deep emotions and a profound spiritual ambiance among the congregants within the temples, as recounted by Kusum Vyas of the Living Planet Foundation.

Organisers Anchalesh Amar, Umang Mehta, and Arun Mundra shared their experiences of this historic event. Anchalesh Amar, a VHPA member, underscored the gathering of over 2,500 worshippers from diverse temples, showcasing the embodiment of Lord Shri Ram within the people of Houston.

During the assembly, baskets containing official VHPA invitations, sweets, Ganga water, Ayodhya sacred rice, and copies of Sunderkand were distributed to each temple. This gesture aimed to encourage participation in the impending consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla.

Credit: X

Meanwhile, other preparations in other parts of the United States are also in full swing for the consecration of Ram Lalla.



As part of the inauguration festivities, prasad will be distributed during temple visits, and the VHPA plans to livestream the event.

Hindu Americans are also encouraged to mark this historic day by illuminating five lights in their homes on January 22.



What do you think about it? Do let us know in the comments.

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Infrastructure & Transport Minister Christos Staikouras presented the plan at the cabinet meeting earlier in the day, held under the chairmanship of the prime minister. He also presented the Strategic Development and Investments Plan, related to the railroad's upgrade , which will also involve the European Union.
Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu of Edo State, raised concerns about Mondays gathering of Peoples Democratic Party leaders in Edo North, endorsing Asue Ighodalo, the former Sterling Bank chairman, as their favored PDP gubernatorial candidate.

Facilitated by former Deputy Governor, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, the meeting convened several influential party figures at Oghiadomhes residence in Fuga.

Attendees included the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku; former Senator Yisa Braimoh; ex-House of Representatives member, Johnson Abolagba, and former House of Assembly Speaker, Kabiru Adjoto.

Others were Otunba Olu Fashanu, Dr. Bolaji Ojebuobuo, Joe Ekpenkhio, Omo Ezomon, Uyi Maiaika, Henry Tenebe, current and former Edo State PDP officials, and all Local Government council chairmen.

They collectively backed Ighodalo as the favored aspirant for the PDP ticket ahead of the upcoming September gubernatorial election. There are speculations about Ighodalo securing the support of Governor Godwin Obaseki, who opposes Shaibus bid to succeed him.

Shaibu, addressing his supporters at his residence in Jattu, Etsako West Local Government, after the Auchi Day Annual Celebration on Tuesday, criticized the meeting held in Oghiadomhes residence.

He deemed the decisions made without informing or inviting him as null and void, considering it a disregard for his role as Deputy Governor.

READ ALSO: Edo: Obaseki Against Gods Plan, My Governorship Ambition Divine  Shaibu

His words: Information reaching me says that Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, an elder of our party, called a meeting of PDP leaders in the six local governments of Edo North in his country home, Fugar, Etsako Central local government and pressurised them to endorse one of the aspirants for the forthcoming governorship primary election in the state.

To me, that meeting did not hold, because, by virtue of my office as Deputy Governor, I remain the leader of the PDP in Edo North and the deputy leader of the party in the state. Any meeting held in the senatorial zone without my knowledge is deemed null and void.

I respect Chief Mike Oghiadomhe as my elder and as my predecessor in office. Any meeting held in Edo North without my knowledge or input remains null and void.

Shaibu said Oghiadomhe would not have allowed such to happen when he was in office as Deputy Governor and as a leader of Edo North.

PDP is a party of structure and of hierarchy, well defined in its constitution. I plead with all of you to remain calm and not be provoked by this action because after the primaries, we need to come together as members of the PDP, so, we will need everybody to win the main election in September.

Chief Oghiadomhe is trying to provoke us but we will remain calm because this project is not about Philip Shaibu, it is Gods own project, he added.
Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, on Tuesday, confirmed the arrest of a soldier who insulted Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on social media.

The soldier had slammed Sanwo-Olu, for ordering the arrest of his colleague alongside three other motorcyclists for driving against traffic on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

While defending his colleague, he faulted Sanwo-Olu for calling a soldier useless in the presence of bastard civilians.

According to him the Governor had no right to arrest a soldier, noting that soldiers are not under the control of any State Governor but their senior officers.

Lagbaja however said the Army is displeased with the conduct of the soldier, saying it is against the discipline of the force.

While addressing journalists in Enugu on the conduct of the soldiers, Lagbaja said the said soldiers have been arrested and an investigation is ongoing on others who had acted in the same manner.

He said the soldierwho was arrested for plying one way does not represent the Nigerian Army, saying that the action contravenes the discipline of the force and the Constitution of the State.

The Army has investigated and the soldier has been apprehended and we are investigating for every other comical that you have seen on social media.

READ ALSO: Useless Boy  Sanwo-Olu Orders Arrest Of Soldier Plying One-Way (VIDEO)

I want to say that the soldier that was apprehended by the governor of Lagos State while playing on a one way, does not represent the Nigerian Army because, in every respect, it contravenes what we stand for which is discipline as an Army and the constitution and the laws of Lagos state.

He, however, noted that contrary to the claims that three officers of the force had come out to defend their colleague and faulted the state governor, only one of them was an officer of the force.

And we frown at that as Army but what you alleged that soldiers have gone to the social media casting aspersions on the person and the office of the governor of Lagos State, I will say its only one soldier that has done that. The others are not personnel of the Nigerian Army.

We have investigated the mode of dressing of some of them, and you will know that they are not personnel of the Nigerian Army.

One of them was wearing the badge upside down and you will know that that is not a personnel of the Nigerian Army. An officer can never do that. And from the utterances that these people made, youll know the angle from which they are talking. They are talking about politics, not the Army.

So, we will leave it like that for the ones that pertain to the army we are investigating to be treated accordingly, Lagbaja added.

Recall that Sanwo-Olu ordered the arrest of a soldier and three other motorcyclists for driving against traffic on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

In a viral video, Sanwo-Olu was seen ordering his men to put one of the motorcyclists who claimed to be a soldier into the vehicle, stating that he was going to lock him up.
The Peoples Democratic Party, has demanded the immediate suspension, investigation and prosecution of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo following the award of contract by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, to his company, New Planet Projects Ltd.

The party said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu needs to show Nigerians that his administration is not a haven for treasury looters.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said that it is appalling and totally unacceptable for Tunji-Ojo to be claiming he has no vested interest in the company fingered to have gotten a consultancy role and N438m from the Humanitarian Ministry.

PDP, stated that the company could easily be a front for money laundering and therefore called on President Bola Tinubu to hand over the Interior Minister to the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.

The statement partly reads: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands the immediate suspension, investigation and possible prosecution of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo over his reported involvement in the alleged siphoning of N438 million poverty alleviation fund under the watch of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

The Party describes as inexcusable that the two ministers directly entrusted with the wellbeing of Nigerians reportedly used a company in which the Minister of Interior has huge interest to allegedly siphon funds meant for poor Nigerians under the guise of consultancy fee for unsubstantiated verification of households in the country.

READ MORE: EFCC Invites Suspended Tinubus Minister Over N585m Scandal

The PDP demands that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu take immediate action to protect the resources meant for the wellbeing of poor Nigerians from further plundering by suspending the Interior Minister over the alleged fraud and hand him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation like his suspended counterpart.

Nigerians are appalled by the lame excuse by Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo in claiming that he has no interest in the company despite his confession of owning huge shares in the firm; a channel through which he allegedly benefitted immensely from the said fraudulent consultancy fee payment.

The PDP challenges the Interior Minister to publish the details of the due process certification documents, the scope of job, the experts and modules used as well as particulars of the 11 million Nigerian households claimed to have been verified within a space of one month.

The PDP asserts that the only way President Tinubu can reassure Nigerians is to immediately relieve the Minister of Interior and allow for an independent inquiry into the disbursement of the N438 million with the view to not only exposing and prosecuting all those involved in the alleged scam but also to recover and channel the money for the wellbeing of Nigerians.
A young Australian man who died suddenly in Bali is being remembered as an "absolute legend" and a "great bloke" who loved his family and football, as his loved ones scramble to bring his body home following his "unexpected" death.

Taylor "Rocky" Rockliffe, 26, from Lake Munmorah on NSW's central coast, was found dead in his hotel room in Bali earlier this week after spending time on the popular holiday island with a group of friends on a boys trip. It's understood Rockliffe was found dead in bed by a friend, though no details surrounding the cause of death have been released to the public.

Taylor Rockliffe, 26, was found dead in Bali earlier this week. Source: Facebook

'Absolute chaos' after Aussie's body found

According to a witness, who was staying at the same hotel as the group, the scene in the wake of his death was "absolute chaos". The woman said the boys were "so young and lost" with police and crime scene investigators "everywhere", the Daily Mail reported.

"This was f***ing traumatic to witness yesterday, I think I've slept three hours since it happened," the woman said.

Friend discovers body in unlocked hotel room

It's understood Rockliffe was due to meet his friend, Travis Brayden, at 8.30am on the morning of his death, with the pair scheduled for a tattoo appointment. When he failed to arrive, Brayden grew concerned and, at 10.20am, asked staff at the Grand Sinar Inda Hotel to be taken to Rockliffe's room where they found the door unlocked.

"Mr Brayden tried to wake him up but there was no response," Denpasar Police spokesperson Ketut Sukadi said. "He then asked the hotel staff to call the medical team but when they arrived they pronounced Mr Rockliffe dead," Sukadi continued, adding that there was no sign of violence or a struggle in the room.

Story continues

Taylor "Rocky" Rockliffe is being remembered for his love of football and his family. Source: Facebook

Last Instagram post about drinking revealed

Rockcliffe, who was due to check out of the resort the day he died, ran an Instagram page with his mates called "Three Pigs Roaming" where they documented their drinking escapades around NSW.

Just a week ago, the group shared a photo from Denpasar.

"Well it turns out pigs can fly," the caption read. "We are in Bali soaking up all the sun... you know there's only one beach bar we will think about drinking at.

"There is in fact no VBs being served here and we are more then happy about it. If you are in Bali get down to Beach Bum bar and get your flex on."

Heartbroken family desperate to bring body home

Rockliffe's devastated family have since set up a fundraising page to help bring his body home and pay for funeral expenses.

"My best friend my brother my everything, unexpectedly passed away while on holidays in Bali, I am begging anyone if they could spare it to help my family bring him home to us in Australia," his heartbroken sister Brie wrote.

The 26-year-old was reportedly found unconscious in his hotel room bed by a friend. Source: Daily Mail.

"He needs to be home with his family and friends and he deserves to have a send off surrounded by people he loved so dearly. Please from the bottom of my heart please help us."

As of Thursday, the fundraiser had raised over $60,000.

On social media, Rockliffe's rugby league club, the Morisset Bulls, said he'll be "dearly missed", describing him as "one of the greats".

Friends online also paid tribute to the "absolute legend" who was described as a "top bloke" and a "beautiful soul."

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The Rivers State Police Command said its operatives have nabbed a suspected kidnapper after collecting N25 million as ransom for the release of his victim, John Sunny, a popular Port Harcourt hotelier.

The Police also rescued Sunny who was shot three times before he was abducted by gunmen from his residence at Artillery in Port Harcourt, on December 19.

Also, the command said the miscreants refused to release the victim even after his relatives paid the ransom in dollars equivalent.

The State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, disclosed this during his first media briefing in the New Year held at the Command Headquarters along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Disu said the victim spent 18 days in the kidnappers den with his injury untreated before he was rescued on January 6 after his relative who had been secretly paying ransom decided to notify the police of the abduction.

He stated, This victim was kidnapped on December 19 at his residence in Artillery, Port Harcourt by these hoodlums. The victim is a popular hotelier in town.

These hoodlums shot him three times on the leg before he was abducted. His family did not tell the police or other security agencies. They (victims family) decided to pay the ransom that was demanded by the kidnappers.

The total sum of about N25m in dollars equivalent was paid to these kidnappers, but they refused to release the victim. It was at this stage that the wife of the victim decided to inform the police, on December 30.

READ ALSO: We Use Facebook To Lure Victims  Kidnappers Tell Police

The police of the C4i Intelligence started to work on it. Earlier this month, our men had an encounter with them but these kidnappers escaped.

Disu said on noticing that operatives had identified the kind of vehicles they used and the colours, the miscreants took the two operational vehicles to the panel beater to change the colours.

According to him, They changed the colours but we have recovered the two vehicles. Yesterday (Monday) night, on the discovery of the location where the victim was kept, we decided to embark on a rescue operation of the victim today (Tuesday).

At about 0700 hours, officers of the command went to their abode in Agbonchia-Oyigbo forest in Eleme Local Government Area where they kept the victim since then.

The operation was successful, the victim was rescued and one of the kidnappers while exchanging fire with officers was injured and is undergoing treatment.

The victim has been taken to the hospital and undergoing treatment at the moment. We recovered one AK-47 rifle from the kidnappers and two magazines loaded with 44 rounds of live ammunition and the two operational vehicles used to torment members of the public.

The vehicles are one RS 315 and RS 330. The peculiar thing about these kidnappers is that they have been the ones collecting their ransom in food flasks.

They demand their ransom in dollars and ask it to be put in food flask. Those who escaped we know how to get them.
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Its name stays the same while the umbrella organization is now Ensemble Arts Philly. Read more

The Kimmel Cultural Campus and the Philadelphia Orchestra  the umbrella arts organization which encompasses the orchestra, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Academy of Music, and the Miller Theater  has adopted a fresh moniker to clarify the confusion around its multiple venues: Ensemble Arts Philly.

The names of its venues  which collectively produce hundreds of concerts, plays, musicals, and more each year  will stay the same.

The idea is that Ensemble Arts Philly is not a destination, its the organization that presents work in these spaces. While Verizon Hall patrons will still attend shows at the Kimmel Center, their tickets will now say Ensemble Arts Philly presents instead of Kimmel Cultural Campus. The website, which was kimmelculturalcampus.org, will now be ensembleartsphilly.org and its social media handles will adopt @EnsembleArtsPhilly. (Visitors to the former site will be redirected to the new one.)

Why the change?

This new name, the organization hopes, will help people know exactly where to go. Ticket holders often get mixed up between the venues. When large audiences flocked to Wicked and The Lion King last year, some people wound up in the atrium of the Kimmel Center (300 S. Broad St.) instead of the Academy of Music (240 S. Broad St.).

What we realized in the years worth of research that we did assessing the publics understanding was that the destination model became this stacking of brands, and that is where the friction came into play, said Crystal Brewe, Ensemble Arts Phillys chief marketing and audience experience officer. Its a set of buildings on Broad Street that is also along the Avenue of the Arts, thats also in Center City, and its also on this Kimmel Cultural Campus  but whats the campus? We just really wanted to kind of undo some of that and make the communication tighter.

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The word ensemble also felt closer to how the organization operates across genres, she added.

Eventually, Brewe hopes that the single URL and name will better direct ticket buyers to the Ensemble Arts Philly website, so they can avoid falling victim to third-party sites selling fraudulent tickets.

Moving forward

Ensemble Arts Philly will continue to present shows across the four venues, including the buildings it owns (the Kimmel Center, Miller Theater, and Academy of Music), and the nearby Forrest Theatre, owned by the Shubert Organization, with which Ensemble Arts partners to produce a Broadway series.

While Ensemble Arts Philly is the organizations presenting name, the legal name of the parent company will remain The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. under president and CEO Matias Tarnopolsky.

From the return of Hamilton to the premiere of MJ The Musical, Ensemble Arts Philly is the platform for bold and innovative performances and partnerships, said Tarnopolsky in a news release. Hamilton is expected to return to Philly later this year and the Michael Jackson musical will arrive in 2025.
Co-owner Elizabeth Drake (left) and chef/co-owner Wyatt Piazza at their restaurant Kiddo, which is at 12th and Pine Streets. Read more

Just months after opening its doors, Washington Square West eatery Kiddo earned the No. 5 spot on USA Todays list of best new restaurants.

The publication, which asked food and travel experts to name the nations best new restaurants, highlighted Kiddos focus on locally sourced produce and veggie-focused fare. It was really unexpected, chef and co-owner Wyatt Piazza said. One day we got an email that we were nominated to be on the list. But its cool to see the support from the community.

Following the announcement, Piazza and his wife and co-owner Elizabeth Drake took to Instagram to thank patrons for their support and collective votes. Were celebrating today because we earned the #5 spot on USA Todays list of best new restaurants! Thank you to our incredible team and everyone whos supported us in these first few months of Kiddo, the post read.

Piazza, who opened Kiddo with Drake in October, said the restaurants vegetable-forward cuisine and sustainability efforts are likely what got them the nod. I think those are hot topics right now, which is separate from why we chose this as our concept, he said. Its more aligned with me and [Drakes] personal beliefs, but thats probably why they selected us.

Drake said the vision for Kiddo is to encourage people to eat more veggies and less meat. And if they do, she says, its more environmentally friendly.

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Theres currently two meat dishes on the menu, but they are driven to minimize the environmental footprint by buying meat and other ingredients from Pennsylvania farms. [Piazzas] philosophy is that its a chefs responsibility to be a steward of the environment, which is something we try to live by, Drake wrote in an email.

The article pointed to menu items like the spinach and ricotta rotolo, the coriander-crusted duck breast with pears, and the sourdough Dutch baby pancakes with pears and maple syrup. Inquirer food reporter Mike Klein also noted the restaurants various offerings, like the signature cookie plate, and warm and contemporary atmosphere.

Originally looking for a space near their home in Fairmount, Piazza and Drake landed on the corner of 12th and Pine Streets, joining other Washington Square West neighboring restaurants like Mixto, Mabu Kitchen, and Effies.

Drake, who designed Kiddo, renovated the former Pinefish location after the seafood restaurant closed in early 2022 after six years. Theres added bar seating, and the adjacent 28-seat dining room has walls adorned with framed photos and an indie-rock soundtrack, Klein reported.

With the work put into Kiddos opening, Piazza said hes thankful to garner the support he has received in such a short time. We have gained a lot of loyal regulars, and were fortunate that the restaurant has been equally well received, he said. We buy great products from great people, and we love to feed them.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, left, and former prosecutor Patricia Cummings at a 2021 news conference where charges were announced against former detectives Martin Devlin, Manuel Santiago, and Frank Jastrzembski. Read more

A Philadelphia judge is weighing whether to throw out a landmark perjury case against three former homicide detectives over allegations that the District Attorneys Office committed prosecutorial misconduct while investigating the matter several years ago.

Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons did not indicate Wednesday how likely she was to agree with that assessment or dismiss the case, and said her review would likely last at least several months. Still, Clemons criticized prosecutors for presenting a grand jury with at least one piece of evidence that she called wholly inappropriate  raising questions about how or whether that might impact the case if its allowed to proceed toward trial.

The prosecution of Martin Devlin, Manuel Santiago, and Frank Jastrzembski  all now retired  represented an extraordinary development when it was announced two years ago, marking the first time in city history that detectives involved in an overturned murder case had faced criminal charges over their alleged actions in the investigation.

District Attorney Larry Krasners office accused the men of lying on the witness stand during a 2016 retrial that threatened to send Anthony Wright back to prison for life.

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Krasners office said the investigators falsely testified that they had secured a confession or other evidence implicating Wright in the 1991 rape and murder of 77-year-old Louise Talley  assertions they made even though newly discovered DNA evidence undercut their theory of the crime.

The jury in the 2016 retrial  which was handled by Krasners predecessors  quickly acquitted Wright, and some panelists took the unusual step of publicly criticizing the evidence presented against him. Wright later agreed to settle a lawsuit against the detectives and the city for nearly $10 million.

After Krasner took office, he convened a grand jury to investigate whether the detectives actions in the case represented a crime. They were charged with perjury and false swearing in 2021, just days before the statute of limitations would have barred the case.

Lawyers for the former detectives have defended their actions and said Krasners office had committed egregious misconduct while investigating them  accusing prosecutors of trampling over the mens rights, presenting evidence to the grand jury that was unethical, inadmissible, horrific, and preventing them from receiving fair consideration before being charged.

What happened here is unspeakable, lawyer Brian McMonagle said in court last week. The prejudice is beyond the pale.

McMonagle said Patricia Cummings, who ran the grand jury probe and previously supervised Krasners Conviction Integrity Unit, had called an expert witness before the panel not only to assert that Wrights confession was false  but also to accuse Devlin, the detective who elicited it, of coercing false confessions in other, unrelated cases, as well.

Such testimony, McMonagle said, was presented solely to smear and splatter the mens reputations and ensure that the perjury charges related to the Wright case would stick.

McMonagle also said Cummings introduced a host of other improper evidence, including an anonymous juror note submitted in another case Devlin was involved in that described him as wicked and evil.

It is historic in terms of how prejudicial that is, said McMonagle. He said it was akin to prosecutors suggesting that grand jurors should charge a murder suspect in one case simply because the person was also a suspect in others.

Clemons said Wednesday she agreed that the introduction of the juror note was wholly inappropriate, adding: Its clearly not admissible. It clearly was inflammatory.

Still, she said she needs more time to review the full case file and determine if that action, or any others, were so egregious that they might outweigh any evidence supporting the charges.

Cummings, who left the DAs Office in 2022, said Wednesday that she hadnt seen any of the recent motions filed in the case, and could not comment on the investigation due to grand jury secrecy rules. Prosecutors now handling the case said they did not believe it was marred by misconduct.

Assistant District Attorney Lyandra Retacco said there was clearly sufficient evidence to charge Devlin, Santiago, and Jastrzembski  including Wrights telling the grand jury that his purported confession was false, and DNA testing that Retacco said effectively proved the detectives testimony could not have been true.

Assistant District Attorney Clarke Beljean said that a judge had approved a charging document against the three former detectives, as well as a subsequent indictment. And both were approved after the judge had reviewed all of the evidence presented to the grand jury, he said.

We have sufficient evidence to move forward, Retacco said.

Krasners office has cast the prosecution as an important measure of accountability in a city that has seen a host of murder convictions overturned in recent years  but no criminal consequences for the police or prosecutors involved in them.

And although the perjury charges in this case relate solely to the 2016 retrial, Krasners office has also helped overturn several other convictions the detectives were involved in over the years, mostly from the 1990s. Prosecutors have said those convictions were marred by coerced confessions, fabricated or hidden evidence, or secret deals with key witnesses. Some of the people who were freed have gone on to receive multimillion-dollar payments to settle lawsuits over allegations of police misconduct.

As for the perjury case, Clemons said she did not expect to issue a ruling until at least April. The former detectives remain free on bail in the meantime.
Marc Satalof, 76, of Upper Gwynedd, donating his 280th pint of blood and his last donation at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine on Nov., 15, 2023. Marc has been a regular blood donor for over 50 years and has donated around 4-6 pints each year. Read more

The Philadelphia-area chapter of the Red Cross says it is facing a worrisome blood-donation shortage similar to what has been reported nationally.

On average, donors give 4,000 units of blood each week at centers run by the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania, which also covers New Jersey and Delaware. But during Christmas week, donations fell 200 units below that level, and they fell short by 250 units the following week, said chapter spokeswoman Alana Mauger.

So not only do we need to collect 4,000 units this week, but 450 extra units to try to make up those we didnt collect, she said. We are currently sending blood out to hospitals faster than donations are coming in.

In hospital-rich Philadelphia, such a shortage has the potential to be especially disruptive. Yet so far, officials at Temple Health and Jefferson Health said they were not seeing the effect of the shortfall.

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Nationally, the Red Cross reported a blood-donation shortfall of nearly 7,000 units between Christmas and New Years Day. The nonprofit says that in the last 20 years, its number of blood donors has dropped by about 40%.

One longtime Philly-area donor who is no longer taking part is Upper Gwynedd resident Marc Satalof.

But no one could fault his dedication to the cause. In November, at age 76, he gave blood for the 280th time, reaching a lifetime total of 35 gallons.

Satalof decided to call it quits after that session, at a Red Cross blood drive at the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

His hemoglobin levels have declined somewhat in recent years, so after consulting with his physician, he decided that 35 gallons was enough.

Im retiring, he said at the time.

The Red Cross hopes that others will pick up the slack.
The face of a boy after three days with a measles rash. Seven children and one adult in Philadelphia have been infected with the virus since December. Read more

Five children attending a day-care center in Northeast Philadelphia have been sickened with measles, health officials said this week, confirming two more cases there.

In all, the city has identified eight cases in a growing outbreak.

Six of the people infected have been hospitalized to treat the infection, and all later discharged. The outbreak began in Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia in early December and spread to a day-care center on Castor Avenue.

 READ MORE: Health department warns of measles cluster among unvaccinated residents that originated with CHOP patient

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The Inquirer spoke to Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at CHOP, to answer readers questions about measles and the vaccines.

Here is what Philadelphia residents need to know about the disease and how to protect themselves and their families:

Philadelphias current outbreak

In Philadelphia, the outbreak began last month with the hospitalization of an infant at CHOP who was recently in a country where the virus is more common. It took two days before the infant developed the rash characteristic to measles, and by that time, other patients were infected. They included an infant who was too young to get vaccinated, an unvaccinated older child, and the older childs unvaccinated parent.

Before Christmas, one of the children with measles was in violation of quarantine guidelines and attended the Multicultural Education Station Day Care at 6919 Castor Ave. Since then, four other children at that day-care center have been diagnosed with the disease.

There have been no known infections outside of CHOP and the day-care center. Health officials continue to urge residents to get the MMR vaccine  which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella  and isolate for 21 days if they were exposed.

Measles is a highly infectious virus that spreads through breathing in infected air or touching infected surfaces, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illness can be especially dangerous for children under 5, pregnant people, and those with weakened immune systems.

 READ MORE: Paul Offit, Phillys most vocal vaccine advocate, on science, truth, and why hes not a fan of the latest COVID boosters

How dangerous is measles?

Before the measles vaccines was available, 400 to 500 people died of the virus each year in the United States. In 2000, after three decades of vaccination efforts, the U.S. met the World Health Organizations definition of having eliminated measles.

Without measles, some people seemingly forgot that the virus can make children incredibly sick, Offit said.

We suffer the loss of memory of what measles can do, he said.

A measles infection can lead to respiratory failure, inflammation of the brain, and death. The virus can also, in rare cases, cause a yearslong decline of the brain that results in death.

Of every 1,000 children who are infected with measles, between one and three will die, according to the Department of Health.

How contagious is measles?

By some measures, measles is seven times more contagious than COVID-19.

You dont have to have direct contact with someone with measles to get measles, Offit said. You just have to be in their airspace within two hours of them being there.

This is why people who are exposed to measles and are not immune should follow the quarantine guidelines.

What are the symptoms of measles?

Measles symptoms appear up to two weeks after an exposure, according to the CDC. Initially, measles presents like a regular flulike illness: Patients may have a high fever, runny nose, and red, watery eyes.

After two or three days, small white spots may appear inside the mouth.

Three to five days after the symptoms begin, the rash commonly associated with measles breaks out. The rash usually begins on the face with small red spots that spread to the neck and body.

How effective is the measles vaccine?

The MMR vaccine is extremely effective at preventing measles.

Even just one dose of the MMR, which babies can receive when they are 12 months old, is 93% effective at preventing measles, according to the CDC. Two doses bring up that rate to 97%.

 READ MORE: Philadelphia measles outbreak grows to six cases

On the rare occasion that a person who is vaccinated against measles does get sick, their symptoms are generally milder.

People who were born before 1957 or have had measles are also considered immune.

Where can I get the MMR vaccine?

The decline in the number of parents who vaccinate their children could make outbreaks such as the one Philadelphia is currently experiencing more common and challenging to control, Offit said.

Its like the beginning of horror films, at some point one of the actors will say did you hear something? and soon thereafter the monster appears, Offit said. Thats where we are.

In Philadelphia, nearly 93% of children who attended kindergarten in Philadelphia public and private schools last school year had received at least two doses of the MMR vaccine, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The rate of immunization for a disease as contagious as measles should be above 95%, Offit said. That is a vaccine coverage level that scientists define as herd immunity, in which enough of the population has immunity to a disease to block its spread.

The city is offering free MMR vaccines to all residents at three Philadelphias health centers. Residents can call 215-685-2933. Walk-in appointments are available Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. in the following locations:

Health Center 3, 555 S. 43rd St. Health Center 4, 4400 Haverford Ave. Health Center 5, 1900 N. 20th. St.

For more information, visit the Department of Public Healths measles website.
Floodwaters remain on Alden Avenue in Delran, NJ on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. A significant winter storm moved through the Philadelphia area Tuesday and overnight, sweeping heavy rains and strong winds across the region. Read more

Swaths of flood-prone areas in the Philadelphia region were spared serious damage after Tuesdays storm, but Burlington County was not among the lucky.

Delran saw the countys most severe flooding from the Delaware River and the Rancocas Creek that merge nearby  the bodies of water after which the New Jersey township is named. County officials said the storm resulted in three water rescues and damage to more than 50 homes. Residents said at least one home was condemned due to water damage, while others chose to voluntarily evacuate as they contended with extensive damage.

On the hardest-hit streets, residents waded through mud on Wednesday to assess the destruction. Drainage hoses snaked out from dozens of homes, pumping out flooded basements and shin-high pools of water in backyards. Lawns remained soggy more than 1,500 feet inland from the Rancocas  evidence of how far the river swelled the night before.

Water was just coming in from all sides, said Debbie Roe, 70, who has lived on Stewart Avenue with her husband for five decades. We never had a flood for the first 30-some years. But then, right around [Hurricane] Sandy, we got it. And then after that, weve been getting it.

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Two doors down, a distraught family loaded a moving truck in front of their home that had been condemned. Around the corner, a resident got in a heated shouting match with another man who drove a raised pickup truck through the still-flooded street, sending a wave of water rushing back onto his lawn.

The Delaware River in Burlington County crested at nearly 12 feet on Tuesday, topping the previous record set during Ida in 2021. On Wednesday,some residents were still waiting for township officials to respond to their calls for assistance pumping water. Emergency workers were seen throughout the neighborhood tending to damaged properties Wednesday. But some residents alleged that while the township had promised more flood barriers along the river, nothing had materialized.

They talk, but they dont do anything, said Darlene Parker, a 30-year resident whose lawn and basement were flooded.

Most of the homes in Delran and neighboring Riverside Township were built in the 1950s, said Parker. And while some, like hers, are elevated several feet above ground, an increasing volume of storms have battered their properties over the last decade. She now has a crack in her basement wall that leaks during heavy rains.

For some, the storm raised questions about an uncertain future. Roe said she and her husband, both in their 70s, did not know how they could handle worsening storms: Were getting too old. We cant handle this kind of stuff. [My husband] had a stroke in 2009. Its hard.

Carol Grockenberger, 79, whose home sits adjacent to the Rancocas, said the water rose to her front door on Tuesday night. Ten more years from now, it might be underwater, she said. I dont think its getting any better.

Others looked for optimism in the puddles. EMT and volunteer firefighter James Otis worked a hectic shift Tuesday night, responding to downed power lines and trees, only to come home to a new swimming pool in his backyard at 6 a.m.

Three feet of water filled the crawlspace and six inches seeped into Otis one-story home on Alden Avenue, where he has lived for 15 years. Who do you get upset at? he asked himself, standing in rubber boots in water up to his ankles behind the house. It does no good to get upset at any one person, because its not any one persons fault.

Its Mother Natures fault, his nearby granddaughter countered. Otis chuckled.

You get upset with her, shes just going to deal you another hand, he said.

The most important thing for Otis was that nobody in the neighborhood was hurt; the rest can be remedied by flood insurance and a little time for things to air out.

Thats what we have industrial-strength dryers for, he said.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker leaving the kick off event for the 29th Annual Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service at Girard College last week. Read more

It was late Tuesday when top members of Mayor Cherelle L. Parkers administration held a lengthy video call about how the city would respond to a massive winter storm that dropped buckets of rain on Philadelphia.

Parker, who was inaugurated last week, wasnt on the call  she delegated much of the response planning to new Managing Director Adam K. Thiel. He led the call alongside the citys director of emergency management and heard from heads of other city agencies who briefed one another on rainfall, river heights, obstructed streets, and contingency plans.

Many of those department heads are holdovers from former Mayor Jim Kenneys administration who have not yet been replaced or retained by Parkers administration.

Joe Grace, Parkers spokesperson, said the mayor was apprised of everything happening as water levels continued to rise Wednesday. Parker was expected to lead a cabinet meeting Wednesday afternoon, when top officials will likely brief her on the emergency response.

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She is expecting her appointees in the emergency management space to do their jobs, he said, and they are.

 READ MORE: Live updates: Road closures, power outages, and water rescues reported across Philly area

The winter storm that brought heavy rains and significant winds through Philadelphia on Tuesday evening represented the first major weather event for Parker and her nascent administration. It comes as Parker has kept a light public schedule and has said she is focused primarily on hiring in order to fill out the top rungs of her leadership team.

While the Delaware River reached a record height early Wednesday morning and several roadways were closed due to flooding, Parkers aides sought to project calm. Grace said the city had not yet activated its emergency operations center  where top officials can gather to monitor conditions citywide via a camera network  but was prepared to if necessary.

As of Wednesday morning, officials were monitoring obstructed roadways in several low-set places near the citys two rivers, including along Kelly Drive and Martin Luther King Drive near the Schuylkill River, as well as on Columbus Boulevard on the citys eastern edge.

The Police Department and Streets Department officials were also responding to flooded areas in Eastwick in Southwest Philadelphia and in Manayunk, both of which tend to see flooding during major rain events.

 READ MORE: You cant do this alone: Cherelle Parker reflects on her first week as Phillys mayor

While Parker has named Thiel her managing director and tapped Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel to lead the force, she has not yet named leaders of most of the citys operating departments. That includes ones that are typically involved in emergency response, such as the Water Department, the Streets Department, and the Office of Emergency Management.

Grace said each of those departments is still operating in the status quo and is being led by the people who led them under Kenney, including his appointed Emergency Management Director Dominick Mireles, who has led the office for about two years.

Thiel, the former fire commissioner, also has years of experience in emergency management and led that office for nearly two years before Mireles.

In addition, Carlton Williams, the Streets Commissioner whom Parker recently named to a new role as director of Clean and Green Initiatives, continues to lead the Streets Department through the weather emergency, Grace said.
A screenshot from Nikko DAmbrosios complaint. He is suing more than 50 people and companies over posts about him in an Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook group. Read more

A Chicago man is suing more than 50 people and companies over posts about him in an Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook group.

Its the latest legal battle for the online groups that were created under the guise of protecting women but have faced criticism for potential toxicity and cyberbullying.

In a complaint filed Monday in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Nikko DAmbrosio claims hes been the subject of defamation, emotional distress, doxxing, and more. Now, hes requesting a trial by jury.

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Comments in a Chicago edition of the Are We Dating the Same Guy group labeled him as very clingy and women said he ghosted them after sleeping with them, according to screenshots included in the complaint, which was first reported on by 404 Media. Other comments said DAmbrosios photos had been posted in the group before and that he allegedly called a woman names when she refused to spend the night with him.

In the era of dating apps, people have increasingly turned to such groups as Are We Dating the Same Guy and Vouched Dating to seek or suss out recent matches. The groups aim to compensate for where the apps may fall short when it comes to verification that a person is who they say they are, safe, and truly single.

Are We Dating the Same Guy groups work as a forum  typically for women to ask about men they are dating (there are similar alternate versions for men and queer daters). Posters will provide a photo of their new interest along with basic details. The comments section will populate with people supporting the courtship (Hes my brothers friend and hes great! or warnings (Hes married with a family or He ghosted me last week).

As noted by the New York Times, the forums were meant to help women look out for other women. But the groups  which have millions of members in more than 150 cities worldwide, including in Philadelphia  have garnered criticism for privacy issues, a lack of fact-checking, and sometimes malicious will. There is also rising concern the groups could put victims of abuse at risk.

Over the years, scattered lawsuits have been filed against the groups or their members, and lawyers have warned that posters could be at risk of legal action.

In DAmbrosios case, he says he and the woman who first posted about him on the Facebook group met at an event in Chicago and chatted briefly. The complaint says that he and the woman had consensual sex the night they met and went on a handful of dates but never engaged in an exclusive dating relationship.

He alleges that the woman lied maliciously about him and their relationship and those who commented humiliated him, impaired his reputation; and caused stress, anxiety, and unspecified lost earnings.

[Their] wrongful conduct is so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree that it is beyond all possible bounds of decency and is to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community, says the complaint, which contends that the posters knew their accusations were false.

DAmbrosio is suing 27 named women, a group of unidentified Jane Does, one man, 20 different parts of the Facebook corporation Meta, Patreon, GoFundMe, and the website arewedatingthesame.com. One defendant is a woman who lives in Pennsylvania, though additional details regarding her relation to the lawsuit are not mentioned.

Last year, Are We Dating the Same Guy founder Paola Sanchez  one of the women named as adefendant  launched a GoFundMe to raise money to create an app and support its 600 Facebook group administrators. Sanchez, who did not respond to a request for comment, also runs a Patreon account where supporters can get behind the scenes looks at Sanchezs work as a group admin and receive updates about the app. Meta, Patreon, and GoFundMe did not respond to requests for comment.

Trent Law Firm, which is representing DAmbrosio, told 404 Media that it is seeking similarly situated victims.

Trent Law Firm firmly believes that the evidence will show that our client is a victim of a systemic attack against his reputation for the sole purpose of monetary enrichment, a spokesperson said.

Online, discourse is mixed. Some are praising the effort to hold the groups  and the social media platforms where they are hosted  accountable. Others say the groups are meant to be a safe space in an age where online dating can be dangerous.

This group is a place for women to protect, support, and empower other women, the Chicago group, and other official Are We Dating the Same Guy groups descriptions say.

The rules go on, We do our best to keep this space as safe as we can, but we cant guarantee that something said in the group wont be leaked by another member. Please be mentally prepared for the possibility that things you say here may get back to who you wrote about.
TM Peirce Elementary school in Philadelphia is one of the district schools that falls at disadvantage under Pa.'s hold harmless education funding policy. Read more

HARRISBURG  In Pennsylvanias school funding dilemma, theres a little-known mechanism that pits the western half of the state against the east.

And although its controversial, it will likely remain untouched as Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers work this year to develop a new funding formula to divvy up more than $8 billion in state funding between the states 500 school districts.

Political party doesnt determine where lawmakers stand on the issue, a provision in the current funding system, known as hold harmless, which dictates how 71% of state funding is spent and prevents districts with shrinking student populations from losing funding. Only geography does  western school districts tend to benefit from it, while districts in the eastern part of the state, and particularly in the populous and growing Philadelphia region, lose out on millions of dollars and have to raise property taxes to keep up.

According to an Inquirer analysis, 317 school districts of the states 500 gain from the hold harmless policy, with most of these schools losing students each year. But a majority of Pennsylvanias students attend the other 183 school districts that lose out each year by failing to account for increasing enrollment and student needs.

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That dynamic creates a complicated political dilemma in the wake of the Commonwealth Court ruling last year that found the current school system unconstitutional because it shortchanges poor districts and fails to account for student needs. Shapiro, a Democrat, and the divided General Assembly now must design a new way to fund public schools in Pennsylvania  and public school advocates say it will cost an additional $6.2 billion over five years to do it right.

A report expected this week from the Basic Education Funding Commission will detail what a new funding system should look like to equitably and adequately fund Pennsylvanias public schools. The report is the culmination of months of hearings and work by a bipartisan panel, appointed by legislative leaders and Shapiro, and should reflect an agreed-upon funding proposal.

Rep. Mike Sturla (D., Lancaster), who chairs the funding commission and helped design the fair funding formula in 2014, said Tuesday that the commission was still negotiating a final report. But the hold harmless policy would likely remain, no matter what.

Were not getting rid of hold harmless, because it would give some districts less money than they had before, Sturla said. The objective is to put enough dollars in where it matters that hold harmless wont matter anymore.

Next, Shapiro and the General Assembly will seek to agree on a solution in the coming months and include it in the next state budget. Lawmakers all have their own motivations and will likely each advocate for the option that brings more money home to their school districts.

A root problem is that funding is grossly inadequate and pitting school districts against each other has been Harrisburgs way of ensuring that they dont have to do anything, said Susan Spicka, the executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania They get school districts facing off, fighting over these crumbs they throw out.

House Democratic leaders all hail from Southeastern Pennsylvania and have advocated for an end to the hold harmless policy  but theyll need to appease their whole caucus, as they hold only a one-seat majority over Republicans. Shapiro, who comes from Montgomery County, has declined to take a position on the policy since taking office last year. He and House Democrats must strike a deal with Senate Republicans, who control the upper chamber and whose leaders represent Western Pennsylvania.

There are no blue or red [school] districts, just like there are no blue or red kids, said House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). Theres a clear recognition that we have this moral and constitutional obligation to get this right.

How does hold harmless work?

Ten years ago, when the state last refreshed its education funding formulas in an effort to make them more equitable, lawmakers continued the hold harmless policy dating back to the 1990s, stipulating that no district could receive less than it did in the 2014-15 school year, and the new funding formula would be applied only to new money added to public education.

Had this policy not been implemented, and instead, all of the states funding to school districts was put through the new funding formula  which accounts for student population, number of students living in poverty, and the number of English language learners  money would have been allocated based on only those qualifications. And districts that lose out due to hold harmless in the southeast and other parts of the state would be eligible for $1.1 billion more in state funding.

While the Commonwealth Court ruling found that the state unconstitutionally penalizes poor kids for living in poor districts, hold harmless cant be simplified the same way. The majority of districts that benefit are poor and rural. However, there are some wealthier districts that benefit, such as Council Rock School District in Bucks County.

 READ MORE: See how much money your school district has for students

What are the politics behind hold harmless?

Legislative leaders make most of the decisions in Harrisburg in closed-door meetings and hold a vote when they think they have enough support. Top leaders have used their positions, in the past, to protect their districts or push their own agendas. So the geographic divide on school funding between House leaders and Shapiro, from the southeast, and the Senate, from Western Pennsylvania, will matter as they negotiate.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), whose legislative district includes all school districts that gain from hold harmless, said in an interview in September that continuing the provision is absolutely critical.

While, yes, its a benefit to the district I represent, its a benefit to the vast majority of school districts, Pittman said. As a whole, our enrollments [in Pennsylvania] are declining. And we have to keep in mind were putting more money into a system with fewer students.

Pittman noted that districts may be losing students, but the districts needs dont automatically decline, too. At the same time, these districts are hemorrhaging property taxpayers that are supposed to help support the district.

Even if the commission recommends keeping hold harmless in place, as Sturla suggested, lawmakers whose districts dont benefit from that mechanism are likely to advocate for other ways to help schools in their districts.

Bradford, whose Montgomery County district loses out on funding except for one school district, said the state will need to put more money into the system to avoid stealing from Peter just to pay Paul.

What do public education advocates say?

Public education advocates say hold harmless will be a critical issue in the school funding negotiations, because redividing the same pie in a different way doesnt make it any bigger.

Some advocates testified during hearings last year that the state cant get rid of hold harmless right away. It would be catastrophic to hundreds of school districts, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association wrote in its testimony to the Basic Education Funding Commission. Association members overwhelmingly disapproved of any policy that would end hold harmless that would harm more than 60% of school districts to benefit the other 30%.

But other advocates, including some who sued the state over its unconstitutional education funding system, want the state to ditch hold harmless, at least in the way its applied today. They want to scrap most of the current equation and create individualized adequacy targets  based on costs, special education, facilities, and more  for each district. They say that would help the state meet the requirement, as stated in the state Constitution, to provide a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.

If those targets arent met within five years, advocates said, theyre prepared to go back to court.

School funding got so out of whack because lawmakers in Harrisburg didnt have the courage to come up with a formula that was going to direct money to the school districts that needed it the most, Spicka said. We have the opportunity to fix it and focus on getting the money into the system where kids need it most.
During this Christmas season I encountered beautiful manger scenes, including St. Patricks Cathedral in New York City and, in Auburn, Holy Family Church, St. Francis, St. Hyacinth and St. Alphonsus. Upon reflection, one thought comes to mind: There are real, physical, geographical places attached to Jesuss life in this world. How much do we know about the homes of Jesus, from his first tabernacle in his mothers womb to his last?

According to Matthew 2:1, Bethlehem of Judea is the birthplace of Jesus, which marks the beginning of Christianity. Bethlehem, from the Hebrew house of bread," was given that name because the surrounding hills and fields provided rich agricultural lands for harvesting wheat and barley. Archaeologist surveys provide a glimpse into the 1st century landscape, including natural grottos for sheltering animals; low stone fences to delineate grazing spaces; watchtowers made from stacked fieldstones to offer security; and small immersion pools cut into bedrock, which allowed agricultural workers to maintain the biblical standard of ritual purity required to handle produce or animals being sent to the temple, (Grey, Matthew J., O Little Village of Bethlehem). This description sounds familiar to the angels proclamation sharing the good news of the Messiah's birth: shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night (Luke 2:8-11). Today, Bethlehem is a city in Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestine, located about 6 miles south of Jerusalem, which heavily relies on tourism and pilgrimages. We pray for peace and an end to conflict in Israel and Palestine.

Get up, and take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you otherwise, Matthew 2:13. At the angels command, Joseph took Jesus and Mary to Egypt and stayed there until the death of Herod. The angel of the Lord appeared again in a dream commanding Joseph, Get up, take the child and his mother, and set out for the land of Israel. Those who had designs on the life of the child are dead, Matthew 2:20. Joseph went to the region of Galilee and settled in a town called Nazareth, fulfilling the prophecy: He shall be called a Nazorean, Matthew 2:23. Nazareth, the humble childhood home of Jesus, was a small Jewish community that has grown to be a major hub in Israel; it is a popular tourist attraction for Christians who long to see the holy land where Jesus walked the streets and preached in synagogue.

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea near the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, to fulfill what had been said through Isaiah the prophet. ... A people living in darkness has seen a great light. On those who inhabit a land overshadowed by death, a light has arisen," Matthew 4:13-16. Here, Jesus toured all of Galilee, chose his disciples Peter, Andrew and Matthew, preached in the synagogues, performed miracles, cured people of diseases and proclaimed his theme: Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matthew 4:17. He taught the Beatitudes and 10 Commandments and encouraged his disciples with titles such as, the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The "Chosen" TV series does a wonderful job making these scenes come to life; take some time in 2024 to follow Jesus throughout his travels on earth.

After the death of Jesus, many other places were referred to as his home: the church, the tabernacle, our hearts and Heaven, to name a few. As Catholics, we have been given the unique and beautiful gift: the true presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, the Holy Eucharist. At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread, giving thanks, saying: This is my body to be given for you. Do this in remembrance of me, Luke 22:19. Just imagine  God wants to dwell in us  we are a home for God when we receive the Eucharist. In "Beautiful Eucharist," Matthew Kelly (2023) said it best: When you go to mass next Sunday, keep in mind, the Eucharist is not just a symbol. This is Jesus who healed people with a touch; who taught with more wisdom than any person who ever lived; the guy who fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes; the same Jesus who rose from the dead, (page 10). I encourage you to read Matthew Kellys "Beautiful Eucharist" and allow God to unleash the power of grace in your lives and dwell in your hearts.
Banning plastic bags in Philadelphia has been a decade-long saga. Yet the issue is still floating along, like a grocery bag caught in the wind.

A month ago, Philadelphia City Council passed a bill that would require customers to pay 15 cents for every paper bag sold at checkout in Philly, on top of the already imposed citywide plastic bag ban. However, this paper bag fee bill sat on then-Mayor Kenneys desk unsigned as he left office in December, effectively killing the bill in a pocket veto.

The original plastic bag ban was officially passed in December 2019, slowly rolled out in July 2021, and officially enforced beginning in April 2022. While many local stores already charge for paper and reusable bags, the reasoning is that when customers arent provided with free plastic bags, or face an additional charge for using such bags, they will instead opt to use reusable bags.

The ban has dramatically reduced the usage of plastic bags in grocery stores in the region, according to the citys years-long study on the measure.

Before the ban went into effect, more than half of all shoppers used at least one plastic bag at the grocery store. A few months after the rollout, only 4% of shoppers were still using plastic bags. However, this has led to paper bag usage tripling at grocery stores since the ban started, with the majority of Philly shoppers still use paper bags more than reusable ones.

While paper bags are easier to recycle and are more biodegradable than plastic bags, they can still use more energy to produce, result in trees being cut down, and leave a larger carbon footprint than reusable bags, according to Stanford Magazine.

The goal of these efforts is to encourage people to use a set number of reusable bags over and over, instead of using a new bag every trip. A fee on paper bags is expected to cause an even greater reduction in single-use bags, according to research from the city.

Why does all of this matter?

Reducing the use of single-use plastics and paper creates better health and environmental outcomes for Philadelphians, said Darren Spielman, the executive director of statewide environmental nonprofit Pennsylvania Resources Council.

Plastic bags and other plastic products can pollute waterways and food sources with microplastics that endanger humans, animals, and the environment. Microplastics can be found in nearly 100% of Pennsylvanias waterways, including the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, according to a 2021 study.

Spielman also said plastic bags can be very difficult to recycle for various reasons, including bags not being clean enough to recycle, which leads to only a small percentage of plastic bags being recycled.

The best thing any of us could do is not waste in the first place. Its eventually better for our health and environment to use one bag a thousand times as opposed to a thousand bags one time, said Spielman, whose organization supports the measures. Even if that bag can be recycled, like a plastic bag, its better to use a reusable one than use plastic or paper and throw it away or recycle it.

In Philly, the city estimates that 200 million plastic bags have been eliminated since the ban. Thats enough to fill City Hall with plastic bags every week, said Spielman.

When Washington implemented its 5-cent single-use bag fee about a decade ago, the city has since seen disposable bag usage drop by almost half, according to a 2018 study.

Whats next for the plastic bag ban and paper bag fee?

If Councilmember Mark Squilla, the author of both bag bills, plans to reintroduce the 15-cent paper bag fee in the 2024 City Council session, the bill will have to be assigned to a committee, voted out of committee, have a first and second reading, and then have an official vote to pass it.

The bill would then need to be signed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. If Parker chooses to veto a new bill on bags, at least 12 Council members would need to support the legislation to overturn a mayoral veto.

Mayor Parker will await any legislative action by the new City Council on this issue, and will then decide her actions and comments based on any legislation that reaches her desk, said Parkers spokesperson, Joe Grace. The mayor made a green and clean Philadelphia a major policy point of her 100-Day Executive Action Plan and has stated she wants Philadelphia to be the safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in America.

The earliest a new paper bag fee bill could be introduced is the next City Council meeting, on Jan. 25. With the legislative process usually taking weeks, according to the Committee of Seventy, the earliest a new bill could be passed is in February or March. Squilla could not be reached for comment.

At least two suburban townships outside of Philadelphia, Upper and Lower Merion, have recently passed bag bans.
A proposed plan to rehabilitate Philadelphias Welcome Park was completely derailed within 72 hours of its initial announcement. Read more

Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Welcome to Wednesday. Its a breezy, cloudy day with a high near 47 and a lingering chance of showers.

Flood watches and advisories are up throughout the region, with flooding expected along the Delaware in Philly and all along the Schuylkill River, following yesterdays powerful winter storm. We recap what happened plus the latest updates at inquirer.com.

But first, a look at the makings  and fallout  of a digital debate after a proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park was suddenly reversed. Our main story unfolds the series of events that ultimately derailed the plan altogether.

 Paola Perez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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It all started on Friday when the Independence National Historic Park account posted a link on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) to a news release revealing the plan to rehabilitate Welcome Park.

Know your history: Welcome Park in Old City commemorates the founding of Pennsylvania on the land where William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia and the state, once lived. This revival would make visiting a more inclusive experience and honor Americas 250th birthday celebration in 2026.

But, part of that proposal included the removal of the Penn statue and the model of his Slate Roof house. That sparked a wave of outrage online. The initial tweet about the agencys proposal was viewed about a million times.

Within 72 hours of the original announcement, the plan ended the same way it started: through a set of tweets. The National Park Service withdrew its proposition after the weekends firestorm of outcry.

Keep reading for a look at how online discourse shaped the fate of Welcome Park in a matter of days.

Widespread flooding and downpours driven by potent winds downed trees and closed roads, canceled Amtrak trains, swelled streams, delayed school start times, and knocked out power to more than 150,000 utility customers across the Philadelphia region Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Flooding is expected to continue today along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, and on streams such as the Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, and the Brandywine Creek at Chadds Ford.

The entire region remains under a flood watch through Wednesday afternoon. A coastal flood warning is also in effect for areas along the lower Delaware River. And another rain storm is expected Friday into Saturday.

 Visit inquirer.com for our live coverage of the aftermath of last nights storm.

 See the storms impact on our region in pictures.

 Know what you should do after a flood.

 Will Phillys historic snow drought mark a second anniversary? It may get close.

What you should know today

 Trivia time

Which studio album did David Bowie record at Philadelphias Sigma Sound Studios?

A) Young Americans

B) Ziggy Stardust

C) Low

D) Space Oddity

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we're...

 Monitoring: Philadelphias shortage of blood donations.

 Learning: How a soda tax impacted beverage sales in Philly and other cities.

 Watching: Former CNN anchor Don Lemon plans to launch a new show on X.

 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: Seamstress and flag maker

BOSSES TRY

Email us if you know the answer. Well select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Phyllis Salzman who correctly guessed Tuesdays answer: Tastykake. The hint was Victory Brewings new collaboration partner on a thoroughly Philly ale.

Photo of the day

That should get you started for the day. Stay dry and be safe out there.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirers Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
In this March 7, 2015, photo, President Barack Obama (center) walks as he holds hands with Amelia Boynton Robinson, who was beaten during "Bloody Sunday," as the first family and others, including Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.), left of Obama, walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., for the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," a landmark event of the civil rights movement. From left are Marian Robinson, Sasha Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, President Obama, Boynton Robinson, and Adelaide Sanford, also in a wheelchair. Read more

On Monday, we commemorate the 95th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s birth. As we rightfully acknowledge his vital contributions to civil rights, its important to remember that he didnt do all this work alone.

Within the civil rights movement, there have always been women whose work played a pivotal role in the success of the struggle.

Georgia Gilmore. Amelia Boynton Robinson. Ella Baker. Septima Clark.

Georgia Gilmore. Amelia Boynton Robinson. Ella Baker. Septima Clark.

These women are largely not household names, yet they were significant contributors to the cause  doing the work, often behind the scenes, hidden from the rest of us.

This holiday is a great opportunity to remember the accomplishments of these hidden figures in the civil rights movement.

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I am not sure when I first began to pay attention to these women. Maybe it was when I learned that Jo Ann Robinson and the women of the Womens Political Council  a civic organization that advocated for Black women  called for the initial bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala. I was proud to learn that these women spent the night running off flyers and then distributing tens of thousands to beauty shops and barbershops, even at the risk of losing their jobs.

Since then, Ive learned about women like Septima Clark, who helped create Citizenship Schools, which taught Black people throughout the South to read so they could become voters. And Amelia Boynton Robinson, who started working at 10 years old with her mother to help others register to vote, and was one of the key marchers from Selma to Montgomery on Bloody Sunday in 1965.

Then there was Georgia Gilmore, a cook who organized the Club from Nowhere during the Montgomery boycott. The membership rolls were not recorded, as anyone listed could lose their jobs  or even their lives. They sold meals and baked goods, then turned the revenue over to the leaders of the boycott to keep the effort going.

Think, too, about the countless number of beauticians whose names we dont know but, because they often owned their own businesses, were safe places where women could gather, organize, and strategize freely. There were women right here in Philadelphia who helped to organize boycotts and sit-ins, who worked to bring change in this community, but whose names may never rise to prominence.

Why have so many of their names been lost to history?

 READ MORE: Philadelphias Rosa Parks gets a headstone 100 years after her death

The answer may lie, in part, in the fact that many Black women adopted a different kind of leadership strategy  one that was more community-driven, without one person representing the endeavor. As Ella Baker, a hero of the civil rights movement, once stated, Strong people dont need strong leaders.

This type of bottom-up style of leadership among Black women contrasts with that often used by men, whose top-down style has a tendency to focus on a single leader.

Hidden yet working, these women made intentional choices to use their gifts, talents, and skills to work toward freedom.

Thankfully, we are slowly learning more about the women whose names were omitted from history books, and celebrating their accomplishments.

As weve just elected our first Black woman as the 100th mayor of Philadelphia, there is no doubt her name will be forever etched in the annals of our citys history.

Cherelle L. Parker has made it clear that such an accomplishment would not be possible without the shoulders she stood on  the women in government who came before her, such as Councilmember Marian Tasco.

Everyone owes their rise to someone. For this reason, were inviting the community to gather on MLK Day for a program called Conversations of King: Hidden Faces Behind the Work. Here, folks from throughout the city  led by a panel of experts  will offer their insights on the significant contributions of women to the civil rights cause.

As a Black woman, I know the struggle that comes with being overlooked and underestimated. As a member of the clergy, I know the feeling of having to shout because my voice and view had already been deemed to be not worth listening to. But despite those challenges, I draw inspiration from one of the quotes King used to inform his own path: If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving. You lose the courage to be, that quality that helps you go on, in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

Yes, many women may have been hidden figures in the civil rights movement. But they kept hope, vitality, and courage. And they kept dreaming.

The Rev. Dr. Marsha Brown-Woodard will begin her term in 2024 as the first woman elected to serve as the president of the Baptist Pastors and Ministers Conference of Philadelphia and Vicinity. The panel discussion will take place at the Independence Visitor Center at 1 p.m. on Jan. 15.
Menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products at a store in San Francisco, May 17, 2018. Read more

Call me old-fashioned, but even in this Trump era of alternative facts, Im still a stickler for things like details and truth.

Many years ago, when I was on the City Council, we worked to pass a law that made almost all of Philadelphias workplaces smoke-free. At the time, the tobacco industry and its allies promised that if we passed the law, the citys restaurants and bar business would be decimated. Lies like these managed to fool too many people, and the passage of the law was delayed by several years.

But today, its hard to find anyone in Philadelphia who would argue that making our restaurants and bars smoke-free has been bad for business.

Well, its a new year  and while the lies are new, the liars are the same. But we cant let them fool us again.

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This time, the tobacco industry and its allies are lying about menthol cigarettes.

 READ MORE: Anti-tobacco advocates want Philly to ban sales of all flavored smoking products

For years, public health advocates have been calling on the Food and Drug Administration to ban menthol flavoring in cigarettes. The ban would primarily affect Black smokers, 85% of whom smoke menthol cigarettes. (In comparison, only 30% of white smokers use menthols.) Every year, 9,000 Black men die of lung cancer in the U.S., the highest death rate of any other group.

Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry has pushed back on the ban; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, menthols made up more than one-third of all U.S. cigarette sales in 2021. To try and block menthol bans, Big Tobacco has cozied up to some civil rights groups, who have argued  on behalf of the tobacco industry  that a ban would contribute to overpolicing in the Black community.

Still, reason prevailed, and the menthol ban was supposed to be issued at the end of December. Then, last month, the Biden administration delayed the implementation until at least March.

Ive fought against misinformation from Big Tobacco before. Lets start with the facts:

Menthol cigarettes are more addictive. Menthol cools and numbs the throat, masks the harshness of tobacco smoke, and enhances nicotines addictive effects on the brain. Menthol makes it easier for kids to start smoking, and its harder to quit menthols than regular cigarettes.

The tobacco industry has targeted the Black community with these more deadly, more addictive cigarettes. It has done it so well that Ive seen some Black leaders say those cigarettes are ours and shouldnt be banned.

Let me be clear: This is absurd. Menthol cigarettes are a plague that has been pushed on the Black community by the tobacco industry.

Menthol cigarettes are a plague.

If marketing a deadly product specifically to Black Americans wasnt bad enough, now Big Tobacco is trying to push the theory that if President Joe Bidens FDA goes ahead with the rule to ban menthol, it will hurt him at the ballot box with Black voters.

To use a more polite word than what comes to mind, that is total malarkey.

So, let me get this straight: We are supposed to believe that standing up to one of the most evil industries in America and blocking a product that it has targeted us with for my entire lifetime, killing hundreds of thousands of Black Americans, will somehow anger Black voters so much that theyll vote for Donald Trump in the next election over Biden? Come on.

That logic is more twisted than a Philly soft pretzel. The tobacco industry has tried to fool people for years  claiming smoking bans will hurt businesses, among other lies  but we cant let it fool people on menthol cigarettes.

I know President Biden, and I believe he will do the right thing to protect the health of Americans. So, Big Tobacco, get ready. Because this will be the last new year you have to hook more kids on smoking and kill more African Americans  or any of us  with your mentholated product of death.

Michael A. Nutter was a two-term mayor of Philadelphia from 2008 through 2016.
President Joe Biden runs out from behind two Mack trucks before he speaks at the Mack Truck Lehigh Valley Operations in Macungie in 2021. He'll return to the region on Friday. Read more

President Joe Biden will visit Allentown on Friday, the White House confirmed, making his second visit to the state in about a week as he looks ahead to the 2024 election.

Last Friday, he visited Valley Forge and then made a campaign speech in Blue Bell, where he argued that former President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. It will be the second visit that Biden will be making in the state just this year and at least the 16th since becoming president.

Bidens Allentown visit will be an official visit, aimed at touting his legislative record in a key part of swing-state Pennsylvania.

The Lehigh Valley region is a critical battleground in the state. Allentown is home to one of the states larger Hispanic populations, a constituency with whom some polls show Biden has struggled to maintain 2020-levels of support.

He last visited the Allentown area in 2021, when he made a stop at a Mack truck plant in Macungie.

At that stop, Biden proposed boosting American manufacturing by increasing the threshold for what products qualify as American enough for the federal government to buy.
The former post office building next to 30th Street Station that hosts regional IRS offices. Read more

U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans and much of the Philadelphia-area congressional delegation want the federal government to recommit the IRS  and up to 5,000 of its employees  to University City.

In a Dec. 19 letter, which the Democrat shared with reporters earlier this week, they urged the General Services Administration (GSA) to begin negotiations for a new lease at Cira Square at 2970 Market St. Located next to 30th Street Station, the 863,000-square-foot former post office is slated to house local IRS workers until 2030.

Repurposing the building for alternative purposes subsequent to a departure by the IRS could only be done at a considerable expense and would introduce employment instability in a neighborhood crucial for greater regional economic revitalization, the letter reads.

The plea comes as the federal government reevaluates the need for its current volume of office space in the era of remote and hybrid work. As of last April, the GSA leases 180 million square feet of office space across the country, and the federal government owns 500 million square feet.

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While Evans hasnt heard that the GSA is considering leaving 2970 Market, he said wanted to begin negotiations sooner rather than later.

The letter is also signed by Reps. Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Brendan Boyle, Brian Fitzpatrick, Susan Wild, and Chrissy Houlahan.

Im trying to just send a message that is about jobs and opportunity, Evans said in an interview. Thats the message I sent along with my colleagues.

Brandywine Realty Trust began redeveloping the former U.S. Postal Service building into office space in 2007, then leased it with an accompanying parking garage to the GSA in 2010. The IRS was the intended tenant from early on and insisted on a number of defensive installations that made the building inaccessible to the public.

Brandywine sold the building in 2015 for $354 million before joining with two other investors to buy it back again in 2022 with $28.6 million toward a $383 million purchase. As part of the deal, they have a 20% equity stake and are responsible for managing the property, according to a 2022 story in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Brandywine is heavily invested in that area of the city. The company is currently developing the multibillion Schuylkill Yards mixed-use project in the area and owns the nearby FMC Tower.

Brandywine declined to comment for this story. A GSA spokesperson said only that they are working with the IRS to determine their future office needs in Philadelphia.

The federal governments return-to-work policies have proven to be a divisive subject, with Republicans in Congress arguing that workers need to return in-person. The District of Columbias government also has called for a federal return to office, as remote work has contributed to the hollowing out of its downtown since 2020.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which surveyed 24 federal headquarters in the D.C.-Baltimore area, found that only 25% of available office space was being used on average across the study area. At the highest range, only 39-to-49% of office space was being used.

The federal government is considering downsizing office space everywhere, and for good reasons, said Daniel Schuman, governance director at the Washington-based POPVOX Foundation, which focuses on modernizing American government. It costs taxpayers millions and millions of dollars to maintain these facilities, particularly when theyre mostly empty.

The GAO found that the federal government spent $5 billion a year to lease office buildings, and that half of its leases were due to expire between 2023 and 2027.

In the letter, the Philadelphia-area congressional delegation acknowledges that the GSA doesnt usually begin reviewing future options until four years out from the end of lease  2026 in this case. But they encouraged the agency to consider negotiations anyway.

We urge you to consider authorizing the beginning of discussions with IRS, as well as relevant stakeholders and property owners, the letter reads, to explore whether the magnitude, timing, efficiencies, and long-term interests of the federal government might be best served by an out-of-cycle negotiation for a future lease at Cira Square.
City

 Rashaan C. Ingram, 33, 6 Wright Ave., 2, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of a third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

 Craig E. Laird, 35, 55 Grant Ave., Apt. 1, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with second-degree criminal contempt and aggravated family offense.

 Gregory A. Latz, 47, transient, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with petit larceny.

 Danielle L. Ray, 38, 6 Wright Ave., Apt. 2, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

 Alicia L. Warner, 34, 61 Washington St., downstairs, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and imitation controlled substances first violation.

 Dejon J. Tarry, 30, 435 Melone Village, Auburn, was charged Jan. 6 with second-degree obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.

 Erica L. Campbell, 25, 1 Orchard Ave., Apt. 1, Auburn, was charged Jan. 7 with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

 Daniel D. Reiff, 82, 141 Garrow Street Ext., Auburn, was charged Jan. 8 with possessing a sexual performance by a child.

 Austin A. Harris, 20, 16 Grover St. Apt. 8, Auburn, was charged Jan. 9 with authorized use of a motor vehicle, resisting arrest and petit larceny.

County

 Bradley D. Jerry, 39, transient, Rochester, was charged Jan. 6 with fourth-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

 Edwin M. Roberts, 42, transient, Auburn, was charged Jan. 8 with petit larceny.

State

 Timothy R. Paoff, 36, Auburn, was charged Jan. 5 with second-degree promoting prison contraband and official misconduct.

 Damien M. Anthony, 19, Port Byron, was charged Jan. 8 with second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle.

The records page: Police blotter, restaurant inspections and more Visit the records page of auburnpub.com to see The Citizen's latest police blotter, restaurant inspections, property transfers and building permits.
The ranking system, focusing on business per broker rather than critical mass, ensures that excellence is acknowledged regardless of size. The top overall ranking was awarded to the brokerage with the lowest cumulative total.
Phils contribution to NIBA and the insurance broking industry during the past few years has been significant, and the board has been extremely grateful for the value that Phil has provided, he said. Phil will be with us for another 3-4 months and has committed to remain available to assist the board and the new chief executive officer once our executive search is completed. While we are disappointed that Phil will be leaving NIBA, we wish him all the best in the future.
Many of these agency owners thought they were going to perpetuate internally and sell to other people in the agency or to family members, he said. But then they realized the value of their agency.
This decision highlights the contradiction in turbine supply agreements that says manufacturers will be responsible for the work of sub-contractors, but then allows them to pass the cost of breaches to insurers  with premium ultimately paid by the owner. Manufacturers will now have to take greater care to ensure the sub-contractor performed their tasks with due diligence and up to contractual standard. In terms of renewables insurance, this could be a game changer for holding manufacturers to a higher standard than industry practice, Clyde & Co Bangkok partner Ian Johnston said.
Buganski previously served as chief operating officer for WTWs personal lines business in North America. In her new role, she will manage the CRB personal lines team in North America. Both the US and Canadian teams will report to Buganski, who in turn will report to Ionel Rizea, chief commercial officer and head of strategy and execution for CRB North America.
Northridge Construction Corp. pleaded guilty to criminal charges last week in federal court in Central Islip, New York, according to federal officials.

The three-count information alleges that, in 2018, during the construction of a shed on Northridges headquarters property in East Patchogue, New York, one of its employees fell from an improperly secured roof and died. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the employees death.

OSHA inspectors determined that the company failed to provide fall protection and protective helmets, did not ensure the structural integrity of the roof, and misused a ladder.

Northridge contested the citations and $224,520 in penalties issued by OSHA in 2018.

Among other worker safety standards, OSHA regulations require always maintaining the stability of a metal structure during construction. Northridge pleaded guilty to violating this worker safety standard which caused the death of one of its employees and to making two false statements that obstructed the federal agencys inquiry into the employees death.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 3. The maximum penalty for each of the criminal offenses is five years probation and a $500,000 fine, or twice the economic gain to the defendant or loss suffered by the victim because of the crime.

Source: OSHA

Topics New York Construction
Families of the 12 people killed in a Philadelphia row house fire that began in a Christmas tree two years ago sued a pair of city agencies Friday, claiming unsafe conditions on the property violated the victims civil rights.

The federal lawsuit against the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the citys Department of Human Services, and various officials of the agencies, alleges that the housing authority knew the four-bedroom apartment it owns in a brick duplex was overcrowded and unsafe. Specifically, they allege that it lacked a fire escape, smoke detectors and other fire safety features.

Mayor Cherelle Parkers spokesperson, Joe Grace, declined comment because the matter is in active litigation. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with spokespeople with the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

During two visits to the home in December 2021, a month before the fire, a Human Services social worker noticed the smoke detectors were inoperable, the lawsuit says, but did not return with working detectors as she promised.

Housing authority records show their staff made three visits in December 2021, but the lawsuit says records falsely showed quality checks were performed on the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and they were operable.

Three women and nine of their children  nearly all of the apartments 14 residents  were killed in what was called the citys deadliest fire in more than a century. Officials reported that the early morning fire in Unit B of 869 N. Third St. started at a Christmas tree.

The housing authority, the lawsuit said, knew of the grave risks associated with overcrowding, fire hazards and the lack of operable smoke detectors, and the serious dangers that the conditions posed to the residents who died in the fire.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages as well as an order that all of citys public housing units be inspected and tested to ensure there are working smoke detectors.

A separate, negligence lawsuit regarding the fire was filed in March in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. A spokesperson for the Kline and Specter law firm said Friday that case remains pending and is currently in the discovery phase.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits
Italys biggest insurer Generali on Wednesday said it would acquire full control of a non-life insurance joint-venture in China by buying out local partner CNPC Capital for around 99 million euros ($108 million).

Generali said it planned to expand its distribution network in China and bet in particular on green business insurance to tap into the countrys ambition to reach carbon neutrality by around 2060.

The acquisition of a 51% stake in Generali China Insurance (GCI) follows CNPC Capitals decision, it disclosed in November, to launch a public tender for its stake in its partnership with the Italian insurer.

It is the first instance in which a foreign insurer has acquired a controlling stake in a property/casualty insurer in China from a single state-owned entity through a public auction, Generali said.

The deal represents a long-term strategic investment to develop a fully owned and controlled general insurance business in China, it added.

China is the worlds second largest general insurance market by premiums, with an attractive growth profile, Rob Leonardi, Asia regional officer at Generali, said in a statement.

The investment comes at a time when growing geopolitical risks have heightened regulatory scrutiny of Western companies operations in China.

In October, a senior banking official told Reuters big banks in Britain were preparing for any future escalation of Western sanctions on China and had shared their scenario planning with the British and U.S. governments.

In September, the former chair of the U.S. securities regulator, Jay Clayton, told lawmaker big U.S. public companies should start disclosing their exposure to China to help investors and policymakers gauge potential risks.

Generali will continue to partner with CNPC Capital through their Generali China Life Insurance and Generali China Asset Management joint ventures, it said.

UBS acted as financial adviser to Generali.

($1 = 0.9137 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti and David Evans)

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions China
A judge has approved a $2.8 million settlement in a dispute over unpaid work performed by aspiring hair stylists at a Michigan cosmetology school.

Roughly 1,500 people will get some compensation for cleaning floors, washing towels and stocking shelves when they were students at Douglas J Aveda Institute, attorney John Philo said Monday.

The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging violations of federal labor law. Philo said the work performed by students was not directly connected to their cosmetology education.

What this case says is there are limits to what you can ask of your students, said Philo, who handled the case with attorney Kathryn Bruner James.

U.S. District Judge Judith Levy, who made key rulings in favor of students during years of litigation, signed off on the settlement on Dec. 21. The school admitted no liability.

An email seeking comment from a lawyer for the school was not immediately returned.

Philo said compensation for former students who have registered for the settlement will depend on the number of hours worked. The lawsuit was filed in 2014.

Its potentially thousands of dollars for some people. Some others are likely to average hundreds, he said.

Nearly 30% of the deal, $794,000, will go to lawyers for the students.

Earlier in the case, Joy Eberline, who completed the program in 2012 and passed a state licensing exam, said there was always laundry  load after load of towels, of course, washing them, drying them, folding them, putting them in the cabinets where they belong.

The school has locations in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Grand Rapids and Royal Oak. Tuition for the cosmetology program is more than $20,000.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Michigan
Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing an amendment to the state constitution to address a "grossly outdated" policy that limits the number of state Supreme Court judges that can serve in a district.

Hochul included the proposal in her State of the State agenda released Tuesday. It would end a longstanding constitutional requirement that caps the number of state Supreme Court judges to one for every 50,000 residents of a judicial district.

New York has 13 judicial districts, including one for each of New York City's five boroughs and one for Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. In upstate, the districts cover much larger areas. Cayuga County, for example, is in a district that stretches across the Finger Lakes region to Monroe County and Rochester.

A report released by the New York City Bar Association, which urged the state to lift the cap, detailed the problem plaguing the state court system. The constitutional requirement, the organization explained, "has proven over-simplistic, outdated and unworkable."

With a shortage of state Supreme Court judges, the state Office of Court Administration is forced to designate acting judges. The New York City Bar panned this approach because "it has created a de facto permanent and large class of 'acting supreme court judges,' sitting in a court other than the one to which they were either elected by the people or appointed by the relevant appointing authority."

The Hochul administration acknowledged this problem in its State of the State booklet, writing that the practice has "exacerbated delays elsewhere in the system, deferring justice for too many New Yorkers."

"This year, Governor Hochul will take a bold first step toward ending this unworkable system by proposing a constitutional amendment to eliminate the cap on the number of elected Supreme Court justices," the book continues.

The action would follow a bill signed by Hochul at the end of 2023 to increase the number of state Supreme Court judges in three districts. The legislation also raises the number of judges serving on other courts, including family courts in New York City.

More judges are needed to address a growing backlog of over 123,000 pending cases, according to the latest state Office of Court Administration statistics.
The cockpit voice recorder data on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet which lost a panel mid-flight on Jan. 5 was overwritten, U.S. authorities said, renewing attention on long-standing safety calls for longer in-flight recordings.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy said on Sunday no data was available on the cockpit voice recorder because it was not retrieved within two hours  when recording restarts, erasing previous data.

The U.S. requires cockpit voice recorders to log two hours of data versus 25 hours in Europe for planes made after 2021.

The industry has been wrestling with the length of cockpit recordings since the disappearance of a Malaysian jet in 2014.

Although the Boeing 777 has never been found, the loss of MH370 sharply increased efforts to monitor the longest possible modern flights and where necessary recap earlier flights.

In 2016, members of the United Nations aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), recommended a 25-hour recording on planes manufactured from 2021, in line with the period of time already used for keeping flight data.

There was a lot going on, on the flight deck and on the plane. Its a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark, Homendy said.

The planes flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to NTSB labs on Sunday to be read but no voice data was available, she said.

DEBATE WITH FAA

The NTSB has been vocal in calling for the U.S. to extend its rule to 25 hours. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a month ago said it was proposing to extend to 25 hours  but only for new aircraft in line with the European policy.

Im calling on the FAA to change the rulemaking, Homendy said, adding that she wanted to see aircraft retrofitted with 25-hour recorders, not just new planes.

If that communication is not recorded, that is unfortunately a loss for us and a loss for the FAA and a loss for safety because that information is key not just for our investigation but for improving aviation safety, she said.

Congress should take action in the FAA reauthorization bill to ensure the proposed rule is adopted, Homendy said.

The two agencies have sparred in the past over the way in which the NTSBs recommendations are implemented.

Debate about whether to adopt the longer recording time juggles considerations of cost or privacy against safety.

The U.S. FAA has previously rejected the NTSBs call for retrofitting aircraft with new cockpit voice recorders, saying the costs would be significant at $741 million versus $196 million under incremental upgrades it proposed.

Several pilot groups oppose longer recordings.

(It) would significantly infringe upon the privacy rights of pilots and other flight crew members, as well as drastically increase the likelihood that CVR recordings will be misused or disseminated without authorization, the union representing pilots for Atlas Air told the FAA last month.

The issue has taken on new urgency after a series of near miss incidents raised alarms about U.S. air safety. The NTSB has conducted 10 investigations since 2018 where the CVR was overwritten, including four runway incursions, Homendy said.

The comments came as Japanese media reported that the voice recorder from a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 that collided with a Japanese Coastguard plane last week had been recovered.

Some agencies have additionally called for video cockpit recordings, which most pilot groups oppose even more strongly because they could be used in courtrooms or unfairly leaked.

Frances BEA called for cockpit cameras to analyze what pilots are able to see following the mid-Atlantic crash of an Air France jet in 2009. Fifteen years on, litigation continues with appeals due to be heard in the second half next year.

Historians attribute the invention of flight recorders to Australian scientist David Warren in the 1950s.

They are mandatory and the aim is to preserve clues from sounds and data to help prevent future accidents.

The industry has already phased out older technology like wire, foil or reels of magnetic tape though the BEA keeps old equipment to ensure it can read data from old planes.

Although todays recorders use computer chips inside crash-survivable containers able to withstand g-forces 3,400 times the feeling of gravity, critics say the capacity for recordings housed inside them remains less than an ordinary cellphone.

Topics Profit Loss Aviation Alaska
The U.S. retail mortgage lender loanDepot is struggling to recover from a cyberattack that impacted its loan processing and phone service.

In a filing on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said data was encrypted by the unauthorized third party who broke into company systems. It said certain unspecified systems were shut down to contain the incident.

The Irvine, California, company said it had contacted law enforcement and was still assessing how the attack might affect its bottom line.

We are working quickly to understand the extent of the incident and taking steps to minimize its impact, the company said.

The incident bore all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack, but company spokesman Jonathan Fine would neither confirm or deny that possibility. The attack apparently began over the weekend.

LoanDepot did not say whether any corporate or customer data was stolen during the break-in or when it was discovered. Ransomware criminals typically steal data before activating malware that scrambles data with encryption. That way, the criminals can extort the target even if it is able to quickly restore its networks from backups.

LoanDepot told customers on its website that recurring automatic payments were being processed and that they could make payments by phone.

Founded in 2010, loanDepot calls itself the nations fifth largest retail mortgage lender, with more than $140 billion in outstanding loans and 6,000 employees servicing more than 27,000 customers each month.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber
The underwriting and wholesale brokerage group known as XS Brokers is expanding into the Southeast and has named Adam Geiss as vice president, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Charlotte, a vibrant and growing city, has strategically been on our radar for a while. Critical for us has been to identify the right person who is well respected by retail agents and brokers and our carrier partners and then position XS Brokers in the marketplace, said Adam Devine, CEO of the Massachusetts-headquartered XSB.

Geiss has spent 15 years in the excess and surplus lines market, including senior roles at Hull & Co., a wholesale managing general agent, and he knows the Carolinas well, XSB said in a news release.

XS Brokers, founded n 1978, already has some office in the Southeast and in the Northeast.

Also in the Southeast, the Professional Insurance Agents of Kentucky (PIAK) have elected Matt Niehaus executive vice president.

Niehaus has spent years in state capitals, recently as principal with McCarty Strategic Solutions, where he lobbied for a number of trade associations, PIAK said in a press release. He previously served as deputy commissioner at the Department of Insurance, managing regulatory and legislative initiatives.

He also oversaw the Office of Legislative Services for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet in Kentucky and was director of government affairs for the Home Builders Association of South Carolina.

At PIAK, Niehaus will aim to strengthen the associations ties with businesses and lawmakers.

Topics Agencies Property Casualty Kentucky
California ranks fourth for high business startup and maintenance costs, following No. 1 ranked New York as as the most expensive state for entrepreneurs, with high commercial rent costs, weekly wages, and LLC filing costs, according to a new report

The report, from Business consulting firm Venture Smarter, ranks Washington second and Massachusetts third as the most expensive states for entrepreneurs. Mississippi was the most affordable state to set up and maintain a business, the report shows.

Venture Smarters report examined eight metrics that could influence the cost of setting up and running a business in each state, including each states corporate tax rate, average LLC filing fees, average commercial rent costs, and the hourly minimum wage.

These metrics were gathered for all 50 states. with each scored out of 100 to show the most and least expensive states to be an entrepreneur.

New Yorks total score was 79.07 out of 100, with the highest yearly commercial rent cost per square foot at $38.92, and the highest average weekly wage at $2,015. It costs $200 on average to file an LLC in New York, which is the fourth most expensive in the country alongside Alabama, the report shows. The state also has the fourth-highest average sales tax rate at 4.5% and the fourth-highest hourly minimum wage at $14.20.

Washington was the second most expensive state to start a business, scoring 76.54 out of 100. The state has the highest hourly minimum wage in the U.S. at $15.74 and the fifth-highest LLC filing cost of $190. Washington also has the eighth-highest sales tax rate alongside Arizona, at 2.8%.

California scored 69.79 out of 100, with the second-highest hourly minimum wage at $15.50, the second-highest average commercial rent costs per square foot ($32.99), and the fifth-highest corporate tax rate at 8.8%. However, the state does have the seventh lowest LLC filing costs on average, at just $70, the report shows.

Data was gathered for eight factors that could influence the cost of setting up and running a business in each US state. Each of the factors were then ranked using a 10-point scale, with the 10-point scales representing a relative index, ranking each state based on its position relative to the variable range in other states.

The following factors were included for each state:

Average LLC filing cost

Annual LLC filing renewal fees

Average corporate tax rate

Average sales tax rate

Minimum wage

Average weekly wage

Average annual commercial rent per square foot

Labor force as a percentage of the population

Topics California New York Washington
Public Citizen on Tuesday called on the California Attorney General Robert Bonta to investigate whether OpenAI should retain its non-profit status based on recent news reports that suggest tthe nonprofit may be acting under the control of its for-profit subsidiary affiliate or prioritizing profit over its nonprofit purpose.

In a letter to Bonta, Public Citizen reviewed recent events the group says suggests OpenAI is now acting with a for-profit purpose. The letter also addresses the potential value of the nonprofit.

Close observers of the recent tumult at OpenAI tell a consistent story about why its CEO Sam Altman was dismissed and then brought back: for-profit interests defeated non-profit considerations, said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen and author of the letter. The publicly available facts raise profound questions about whether OpenAIs non-profit operates independently and controls the for-profit, or whether the for-profit entity now controls the non-profit. If the for-profit exerts effective control over the non-profit, or if profit-seeking is now the controlling motive at OpenAI, then it follows that the non-profit must be dissolved.

In the event of a nonprofits dissolution or conversion, California law requires distribution of its assets to another charity with the same or similar purposes.

Topics California
The decision by Alaska Airlines to stop flying one of its planes over the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii due to warnings from a cabin-pressurization system  yet keep flying it over land  is raising questions about whether the jet should have been in the air at all.

The nations top accident investigator says warning lights were triggered on three flights, including each of the two days before the brand-new Boeing 737 Max 9 suffered a terrifying fuselage blowout Friday night. A plug covering a spot left for an emergency door tore off the plane as it flew 16,000 feet above Oregon.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said maintenance crews checked the plane and cleared it to fly  but the airline decided not to use it for the long route to Hawaii over water so that it could return very quickly to an airport if the warning light reappeared.

Fridays flight was headed from Oregon to Southern California, and made it back to Portland without serious injury to any of the 171 passengers and six crew members. But the decision to allow it to fly over land in the first place struck some aviation experts as illogical.

If you are afraid to take the airplane far from land, what is the reason for that? That has to be answered by Alaska Airlines, said Steven Wallace, an air-safety consultant and commercial pilot who once headed accident investigations for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA grounded all Max 9s operated by Alaska and United and some flown by foreign airlines for inspection after the Friday night flight. The inspections are focused on plugs used to seal an area set aside for extra emergency doors that are not required on United and Alaska Max 9s.

Monday afternoon, United Airlines said it found loose bolts and other installation issues on door plugs that were inspected after the Alaska Airlines incident.

Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug  for example, bolts that needed additional tightening, Chicago-based United said.

Boeing, which has had its own share of problems with various planes over the years, pledged to help address any and all findings that airlines make during their inspections.

The FAA declined to comment on whether the Alaska Airlines plane in question should have been allowed to keep flying. The agency said it would be premature to comment while the NTSB is investigating the Friday night flight.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines also declined to comment, saying it would need permission from the NTSB to discuss the plane and its maintenance history. We will provide information as soon as the NTSB permits us to do so, the airline said.

Alan Diehl, a former crash investigator for both the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, said Alaska should have grounded the plane, period. However, he and other critics said the decision to stop flying the plane to Hawaii might have averted a disaster.

If the blowout had happened halfway to Hawaii, pilots would have been forced to fly low enough so passengers could breathe without oxygen masks, which burns more fuel. And the gaping hole in the fuselage would create drag. The plane might have run out of fuel before reaching land, experts said.

As far as Im concerned, theres an angel in Alaska, Diehl said. Whoever made the decision to do that probably saved a lot of lives.

Other aviation insiders saw nothing unusual in the airlines decision to limit but not ground the plane after the pressurization warnings on flights Dec. 7, Jan 3 and Jan. 4  the day before the blowout.

Whatever maintenance they performed on it, (they decided) Lets be conservative and not put this thing out over water, said John Cox, a former airline pilot and now a safety consultant. He said the intermittent nature of the pressurization warnings  three out of the planes 145 flights  might have made them suspect a bad sensor or something else.

Its not clear whether the airline would have been required to report the warning lights to the FAA or the fact that it had limited the plane to flying over land. Wallace said rules about such reporting arent specific.

Homendy, the NTSB chair, cautioned that the pressurization warning light might be unrelated to Fridays incident, which occurred as the plane cruised about 3 miles over Oregon.

On Monday, the FAA approved guidelines for inspecting the door plugs on other Max 9 jets and repairing them, if necessary. That move could speed the return to service of the 171 planes that the FAA grounded.

Alaska has 64 other Max 9s, and United Airlines owns 79 of them. No other U.S. airlines operate that model.

The NTSB said the lost door plug was found Sunday near Portland in the back yard of a home.

At a news conference Sunday night, Homendy said an explosive rush of air damaged several rows of seats and pulled insulation from the walls. The cockpit door flew open and banged into a lavatory door.

Two cellphones that appeared to have belonged to passengers on Fridays flight were found on the ground. One was discovered in a yard, the other on the side of a road. Both were turned over to the NTSB.

Grounding 171 of 218 Max 9s in operation, including all those used by Alaska and United, led to flight cancellations at both carriers.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun called a companywide webcast to talk about the incident with employees and senior leadership for Tuesday.

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 took off from Portland at 5:07 p.m. Friday for a two-hour trip to Ontario, California. About six minutes later, the chunk of fuselage blew out.

Videos posted online by passengers showed a gaping hole where the paneled-over door had been. They applauded when the plane landed safely about 13 minutes after the blowout. Firefighters came down the aisle, asking passengers to remain in their seats as they treated the injured.

It was extremely lucky that the airplane had not yet reached cruising altitude, when passengers and flight attendants might be walking around the cabin, Homendy said.

The Max is the newest version of Boeings venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights. The model went into service in May 2017.

Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. All Max 8 and Max 9 planes were grounded worldwide for nearly two years until Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.

The Max has been plagued by other issues, including manufacturing flaws.

Koenig reported from Dallas and Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Aviation Oregon Hawaii Aerospace Alaska
NEW YORK (January 9, 2024) The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities and enriching lives, today announces that Wendy Houser, Chief Wholesale Officer at Markel Specialty, has been named Chair of IICFs International Board of Governors.

Houser is currently responsible for leading the growth and success of Markel Specialtys wholesale business. She has been an active supporter of the IICF and a leader in its Southeast Division for many years. The IICF Southeast Division achieved significant success throughout Housers three-year term as the Division Board Chair, from 2017  2019, with this division having contributed more than $8.5 million in community grants awarded since 2013. During her tenure, the Southeast Division expanded through the launch of the IICF Houston Associate Board.

Houser was the recipient of IICFs 2022 IICF Southeast Philanthropic Leadership award and she helped to spearhead the IICFs Step Up Challenge, a charitable initiative developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage people to walk together and exercise while raising funds for children and families in need. In addition to her extensive insurance industry experience, Houser also served nine years in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve.

The IICF plays a critical role in the insurance industry, rallying companies to unite in support of our communities and lending a hand up to our neighbors during their times of need, said Houser. I am honored to be selected as IICFs next Board of Governors Chair and I look forward to building on the phenomenal work of my predecessors across the US and UK by expanding our reach to new communities and new ways to serve.

Houser succeeds Hank Watkins, Regional Director and President, Americas, Lloyds, who served as Board of Governors Chair for the past three years. Among many notable accomplishments during his tenure, Watkins secured a $500,000 donation from Lloyds in support of the IICFs Covid-19 Childrens Relief Fund. This remains the largest single donation to the IICF in its thirty year history.

IICF is grateful for Hanks extraordinary commitment to the IICF and his thoughtful guidance and leadership, said Bill Ross, CEO of IICF. Today, we are extremely excited to welcome Wendy to lead the IICF Board of Governors into our next decade of community impact. Wendy is an inspiring leader in our industry, challenging colleagues both at Markel and within the IICF to do more and think innovatively when it comes to giving back. As we celebrate our 30th anniversary this year, we look forward to Wendys vision and dedication to making a lasting impactful in far-reaching ways.

About the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF)

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) is a unique nonprofit that unites the collective strengths of the insurance industry to help communities and enrich lives through grants, volunteer service and leadership. Established in 1994, IICF is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of serving as the philanthropic voice and foundation of the insurance industry throughout 2024, having contributed more than $47 million in community grants along with over 337,000 volunteer hours by more than 125,000 industry professionals. IICF reinvests locally where funds are raised for maximum community impact, serving hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations across the US and UK.

IICF is a registered nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. Learn more at www.iicf.org or follow us on social media at: LinkedIn and Instagram

Topics Market
News Release - Vancouver, British Columbia - January 10, 2024 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Breaking Rare earth metals news - Defense Metals Corp. ("Defense Metals" or the "Company") (TSX-V:DEFN / OTCQB:DFMTF/ 35D: FSE) is pleased to announce the Q4-2023 execution of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) ("Ucore") to explore collaborative opportunities as both companies move towards their respective commercialization efforts for a North American rare earth element ("REE") supply chain. As one of the first projects under this MOU, Defense Metals will ship a mixed rare earth carbonate sample from its Wicheeda REE project to Ucore's Kingston, Ontario, RapidSX Commercialization and Demonstration Facility ("CDF").

SGS Canada Inc. in Lakefield, Ontario, will ship the sample to Ucore's CDF on behalf of Defense Metals. This sample was generated during 2023 hydrometallurgical piloting test work performed on concentrate produced by earlier flotation pilot plant testing of a 26-tonne bulk sample from Defense Metal's wholly-owned Wicheeda REE project in British Columbia.

Craig Taylor, CEO of Defense Metals, commented:

"We expect to ship a mixed rare earth carbonate sample in the next few weeks to Ucore's demonstration plant for testing. The Wicheeda project is being developed as a viable source of REE from North America and as more processing and separation facilities become operational in the future, the demand for REE feedstock will be increasingly important. This MOU with Ucore is a further step in that direction to be part of the Western world's REE supply chain."

Pat Ryan, P.Eng., Chairman and CEO of Ucore, stated:

"The opportunity to align closer with Defense Metals is strategically important. The MOU lays out the framework wherein Defense Metals' technically strong and readily accessible North American REE resource can be further processed and refined using Ucore's Canadian-founded technology, RapidSX. Receiving the sample mixed rare earth carbonate at our Kingston CDF will start the process of determining what may be possible between the companies as we collectively look to fuel the 21st-century energy transition."

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release as it relates to the Wicheeda REE Project has been reviewed and approved by Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo. (B.C.), Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta, and a consultant to the Company, who is a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101.

About the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Project

Defense Metals' 100% owned, 8,301-hectare (~20,534-acre) Wicheeda REE Project is located approximately 80 km northeast of the city of Prince George, British Columbia; population 77,000. Wicheeda is readily accessible by all-weather gravel roads and is near infrastructure, including hydro power transmission lines and gas pipelines. The nearby Canadian National Railway and major highways allow easy access to the port facilities at Prince Rupert, the closest major North American port to Asia.

About Defense Metals Corp.

Defense Metals Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company focused on the development of its 100% owned Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Deposit located near Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Defense Metals Corp. trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "DEFN", in the United States, trading symbol "DFMTF" on the OTCQB and in Germany on the Frankfurt Exchange under "35D".

Defense Metals is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: http://www.discoverygroup.ca/

For further information, please visit www.defensemetals.com or contact:

Todd Hanas, Bluesky Corporate Communications Ltd.

Vice President, Investor Relations

Tel: (778) 994 8072

Email: todd@blueskycorp.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This news release contains "forwardlooking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements relating to advancing the Wicheeda REE Project, the expected shipment of the sample to Ucore and the expected timeline, the potential collaboration with Ucore, the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its project and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of rare earth elements, the anticipated costs and expenditures, accuracy of assay results, performance of available laboratory and other related services, future operating costs, interpretation of geological, engineering and metallurgical data, the ability to achieve its goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration, engineering and metallurgical results, risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration, metallurgy and development and cost estimates, the potential for unexpected costs and expenses and those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, adverse weather and climate conditions, failure to maintain or obtain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to maintain community acceptance (including First Nations), risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of personnel, materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), risks relating to inaccurate geological, metallurgical and engineering assumptions, decrease in the price of rare earth elements, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 and other viruses and diseases on the business of the Company, the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, loss of key employees, consultants, or directors, increase in costs, delayed results, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law.

All information in this news release concerning Ucore has been provided for inclusion herein by Ucore. Although the Company has no knowledge that would indicate that any information contained herein concerning Ucore is untrue or incomplete, the Company assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any such information.

Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN.V) (OTCQB: DFMTF) is a featured mining stock on Investorideas.com More info on DEFN at Investorideas.com Visit: https://www.investorideas.com/CO/DEFN/ Get news alerts on this company!

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January 10, 2024 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The Vancouver International Wine Festival's, Discover Italy, at the 45th annual festival takes place February 24-March 3, 2024. This yearly celebration of the grape will feature 149 wineries from 12 countries, including 71 wineries from theme country Italy. Participating wineries will be pouring ~1,150+ wines at 43 events over eight days, including winery dinners, seminars, lunches, minglers, and the International Festival Tastings, returning to the West building of the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Discover Italy at the 2024 Vancouver International Wine Festival Featuring 149 Wineries from 12 Countries

View the winery list here.

DISCOVER ITALY

This is the year to learn more about storied wines of Italy, with 71 wineries from 13 different regions featured at the festival. To help festivalgoers navigate the complex world of Italian wine, the festival is pleased to welcome wine journalist and educator, Filippo Bartolotta, as this year's keynote speaker. Bartolotta was a featured speaker at the 2023 festival, co-moderating the seminar, The Global Cru. In 2024, he will moderate several Italian-themed seminars, as well as speak at the Wednesday keynote luncheon.

"I'm thrilled to return to Vancouver and the Vancouver International Wine Festival to explore the myriad facets of Italian wine, food and culture," says Bartolotta. "Italy contributes some 20% of the world's wine, yet for many it remains a relative mystery. The magical boot of Europe boasts hundreds of varieties, wine styles, interpretations, and breadth. This festival, we'll discover the rich history, modern innovation, and renaissance of Italy's classic wines and historical wine regions."

All Italian wineries will be featured in a special section of the Tasting Room, as well as at the spectacular Saturday lunch, La Dolce Vita. Festival week will feature more than 20 Italian-themed events, including vine star seminars, vintage tastings, winery dinners, and a Pinot Grigio wine party.

THE WINE WORLD IS COMING

VanWineFest 2024 will welcome 149 different producers from 12 countries, more than 25% of them attending the festival for the first time.

"I'm very excited that we've had such an outstanding response from Italy, with a record 71 Italian wineries participating in the festival this year," says A. Mark Taylor, co-chair of the VIWF Winery Selection Committee. "From the rest of the world, Canada and the US lead the way with a combined 43 wineries, while France, Spain, Croatia, and Greece are also representing Europe. We have wineries traveling from Argentina, Australia, Chile, and New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere, and sake brewers from Japan. In all, the Tasting Room will feature nearly 800 wines, many of them festival exclusives. If you're looking to start or build your cellar, the onsite BCLIQUOR store is the place to start."

The festival is headquartered at the Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC), returning to the West building in 2024; in addition, select restaurants and venues around the city will host winery dinners, lunches, seminars and wine minglers. The sumptuous Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction, presented by National Bank Private Banking 1859, and benefiting Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, will take place on Saturday, February 24 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The heart of the festival is the Tasting Room at VCC West in downtown Vancouver, where all 149 wineries will gather for four International Festival Tastings and two Trade Tastings on Thursday, February 29, Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2. Advance tickets for the International Festival Tastings go on sale Wednesday, November 15 at 9:30 a.m. Festivalgoers can get a free ticket if they book a downtown hotel via StayVancouverHotels.com and then take in more festival events and enjoy award-winning dining in Vancouver. The offer is available November 15 to February 15, while supplies last.

VINE STARS

What makes VanWineFest unique is the presence of global "vine stars"  winemakers, proprietors, senior executives  who come to Vancouver every year to pour and discuss their wines with festivalgoers. Each winery will be represented at events by a principal, a senior representative from the winery. Seek out the royal blue lanyards at tastings and special events to meet our vine stars face-to-face.

TRADE DAYS

Trade Days, which run February 28-March 1, will feature 10 events, including two Trade Tastings, presented by ContainerWorld, seminars and masterclasses, and three trade lunches: a Keynote Luncheon featuring Filippo Bartolotta; Principals Welcome Lunch, presented by HillebrandGori; and the Celebrating Excellence: 20th Annual Awards Lunch Featuring Italy, presented by ContainerWorld. The Trade Days Pass, which includes a selection of events on the Thursday and Friday of Trade Days, goes on sale December 13, while individual trade events go on sale January 17.

SAVE THE DATES

Advance tickets and StayVancouverHotels ticket offer go on sale Wednesday, November 15 at 9:30 a.m.

Trade Days Pass goes on sale Wednesday, December 13 at 9:30 a.m.

Winery dinners go on sale Wednesday, January 3 at 9:30 a.m.

All remaining public events go on sale Wednesday, January 10 at 9:30 a.m.

All trade events go on sale Wednesday, January 17 at 9:30 a.m.

STAY IN TOUCH

For more information about the Vancouver International Wine Festival go to VanWineFest.ca and read our Quick Facts.

Twitter: Follow @VanWineFest for announcements, including e-news, festival updates & media releases. Join the conversation at #VIWF.

Facebook / Instagram: @VanWineFest

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/vancouver-international-wine-festival

ABOUT VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL

Canada's premier wine show will mark its 45th edition of pairing wine, food and the performing arts from February 24-March 3, 2024. The festival will showcase 149 wineries from 12 countries, featured in 43 events over eight days. The Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction, presented by National Bank Private Banking 1859, is the main fundraising event of the festival and kicks off the festival on Saturday, February 24 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Trade Days takes place Wednesday, February 28-Friday, March 1. The festival is consistently ranked the #1 Food, Wine & Hospitality Event in Canada by New York's BizBash. The festival is produced by the Vancouver International Wine Festival Society, which has three mandates: provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and festival partners; and raise funds for the Bard on the Beach Theatre Society. Since inception in 1979, the festival has raised more than $10 million for the performing arts. Major sponsors are Delta Air Lines and The Vancouver Sun; major industry partners are the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, BCLIQUOR, and the Import Vintners & Spirits Association. The Vancouver International Wine Festival gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.

ABOUT BARD ON THE BEACH

Bard on the Beach is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit, professional Shakespeare festivals, presented on the waterfront at Sen?a?w/Vanier Park. The festival offers Shakespeare plays, related dramas, and popular special events in two performance tents every June through September. Over 2 million patrons have experienced Bard since its inception, growing to annual attendance close to 100,000. Next year's festival dates are June 11 to September 28, 2024, and scheduled plays include Twelfth Night, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, and Measure for Measure. Bard also offers a range of education programs for learners from eight to 80. Full details and education program information are at bardonthebeach.org.

More Info:

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There was a lack of understanding and compassion for farmers in the difficulties they faced as a result of the nitrates derogation being cut from 250kg to 220kg, the Irish Farmers Associations AGM heard this week.

The IFAs Munster regional chairman Conor OLeary told Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue during the event that farmers are running with extreme difficulties in terms of trying to get down to the 220kg.

We really needed understanding and help, and I really think youve blown the confidence of farmers in terms of that situation, said Mr OLeary.

Fellow Cork man John Murphy, the IFAs new environment chairman, criticised a lack of communication and co-operation with farmers coming from the Department of Agriculture in terms of the nitrates journey over the last two years.

We cant keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, said Mr Murphy.

Weve got to have more co-operation, to bring farmers along on this journey so that we can stabilise water quality and show improvements to secure our derogation going forward.

If we dont have confidence from farmers, we find it very difficult to convince them to bring on new measures.

Biggest hit

The IFAs dairy chairman Stephen Arthur said that dairy farmers have taken their biggest hit with the derogation cut.

Its so sad for families, said Mr Arthur, adding that there is a lot of angst and anxiety out there in the last number of months.

We have a department in Dublin thats implementing EU law from Brussels and they havent a clue the consequences thats caused inside farm family gates.

Jim Mulhall from Co Kilkenny told the AGM that the nitrates cut doesnt just affect dairy farmers, it affects the wider farming community in pressure for land.

He said he is concerned that it has come to his attention in recent days based on phonecalls from farmers that we now have a situation where banks are stress-testing loans on 170kg of nitrogen.

Challenging situation

Mr McConalogue said he has farmers backs on nitrates and it is his objective to hold that derogation post-2025 and avoid its loss, resulting in a stocking rate of 170kg applying.

I have fought in every way possible to try to hold what we had, said Mr McConalogue.

We know were in a challenging situation, and we know thats painful.

I want to see no further slip in relation to our derogation. We have a lot of work to do to ensure thats the case.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the AGM that the lack of improvement in water quality is not just a problem for agriculture, but it is a significant part of it.

He said Ireland must now do everything in its power over the next couple of years to build a case for retaining the derogation.
A New York State Thruway rest stop in the Mohawk Valley has reopened after it was closed since August 2022 for reconstruction.

The Oneida Service Area, located along Interstate 90 east between exits 33 (Rome-Verona) and 32 (Rome-Westmoreland), is the 13th rest stop to be rebuilt since the $450 million project began in July 2021.

The project is spearheaded by Applegreen, an Ireland-based operator of convenience stores and rest stops. No tax or toll dollars are being used to fund the reconstruction of the service areas.

Two of Oneida's restaurants  Burger King and Starbucks  are now open. Panera Bread will open soon, according to the Thruway Authority. The rest stop also has an Applegreen convenience store and sells Taste NY beverages and food.

Other amenities include a dog walking area, outdoor seating and a private nursing area. A digital tourism kiosk and four level 3 high-speed electric vehicle chargers will be added later.

The reopening of the Oneida Service Area means that roughly half of the 27 rest stops have been reconstructed. Eleven rest stops are closed for construction or renovations.

Many of the service areas are scheduled to reopen sometime this year. Two rest stops in central New York  the Port Byron and Warners service areas west of Syracuse  should open by the end of March.
The Taoiseach has warned there will be no tolerance for those damaging properties to prevent them from being used for asylum seekers.

Tensions continue to rise relating to the number of international protection applicants in the country, with anti-immigration protesters now targeting property owners and disrupting builders working to prepare centres.

Some protesters have told the Irish Examiner they will continue to target builders and property owners to stop asylum seekers from moving in.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said that there must be an assessment of security for asylum-seeker accommodation centres, while Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has also said property owners have a responsibility to offer security.

Speaking in Mexico, Mr Martin said groups of people cannot take the law into their own hands and commit crimes such as burning properties, creating a danger to life.

He said: "Certainly we do have to assess the security situation concerning any facility like this because we live in a democracy, we live by the rule of law.

He added that the attacks were a "fundamental" violation of the human rights of asylum seekers.

Mr Varadkar said there will be no tolerance for damage to property or stopping people from doing the work that they are paid to do.

He said: The gardai are aware, its something I have spoken to [Justice] Minister [Helen] McEntee about, the gardai of course have a role in preventing crime and investigating crimes where they occur.

And yes, people who own a building or own premises do have some responsibility for their own security as well too, the Taoiseach said.

Unite regional and industrial organiser Brian Hewitt hit out at anti-immigration protesters who disrupt builders and said they are doing the country a disservice.

He said builders are trying to make an honest living and it is of no concern to them who moves into the building.

In a move by the Taoiseach to offer clarification on the process of the State's asylum-seeker process, he sought to dispel what he described as mainstream myths.

He said one of those myths is that Ireland has open borders and that is not the case and there are also robust checks at airports and ports across the country.

Rosslare discovery

It comes as investigations into the discovery of 14 people, including two children, in a refrigerated truck in Rosslare continue.

The discovery was made at around 3am on Monday.

Gardai are investigating all circumstances relating to the incident, the details of which emerged on Tuesday evening.

The lorry had arrived from France and the terminal building at the port was taken over by emergency services during the early hours of Monday.

Nine men, three women, and two girls were assessed by medical personnel.

It is understood they have been transferred for processing by the international protection service.

Mr Varadkar said humanitarian support was being provided.

Our next step now is to facilitate voluntary return to their return home if they're willing to go home, and if they choose to apply for asylum, they are legally entitled to do that, we'll try and process the application as quickly as possible," he said.

Ms McEntee said it was "fortuitous" that no deaths had been reported.

"We know from past experience that similar situations have led to tragic fatalities.

"This was an extremely hazardous undertaking and it is only fortuitous that the same did not happen," she said.
The 14 people rescued from a refrigerated container at Rosslare Europort had to cut a hole in the side of the container as they were struggling to breathe, Wexford first responder Ger Carthy has said.

Two children and 12 adults were discovered hidden within a refrigerated trailer on board a lorry arriving at Rosslare Europort on Monday.

Mr Carthy, a first responder and an independent county councillor, said one of the migrants had raised the alarm by calling the UKs 999 service which diverted the call to Ireland and emergency services were at the port when the ship docked.

The people in the container were assessed and cared for at the scene and then transferred to a processing centre in Dublin where translation services were provided, he said.

A Garda source confirmed that those on board the trailer were primarily Kurdish nationals.

Mr Carthy said it had been quite a challenging and very dangerous trip for anyone to make and it was very fortunate that there had not been an outcome similar to a previous occasion when a number of people died in a container that arrived in Rosslare.

He said a disaster had been averted, but it highlighted the desperation of people coming from possibly war-torn countries, trying to get to a better way of life, that they would board a ship in a container.

Mr Carthy added that the 14 people had thought they were going to the UK.

The container in which they were found was a refrigerated roll-on roll-off. They had been in it for 28 hours when the 999 call was made.

The journey was 30 hours, which gave emergency services time to get in place for their arrival, he explained.

The increase in sailings to Rosslare, post-Brexit, meant that there could be more such incidents, he said.

We're going to have more and more of that. But we have a very robust immigration system. I suppose that it should alert the government that we're going to see more and more of this, though, with the current crises across the world.

Rosslare Europort on Tuesday evening. Picture: Patrick Browne

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said people are making the crossing because they are desperate and Ireland has obligations under international law to provide refuge where appropriate.

We have to do everything we can to try and avoid such carriage and passage because it is dangerous and a risk to the lives of those who are put on or go on to those trucks.

We have to do what we can to reduce it but you cannot completely eliminate it. Weve seen that with the UK Government and France, trying to stop that passage.

It is practically impossible to completely avoid it.

The president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, Eugene Drennan, said the container in which the 14 people travelled would have been fully sealed and the migrants would have required assistance to get into it by someone who knew how to manipulate the locks and seals.

It had been a stroke of luck that there were no fatalities, he said.

The Irish company that owned the container was a long-established family firm, he said.

The truck was loaded south of Paris, the driver then took a mandatory break at a service area north of Paris, after which he conducted his checks.

So these people were put on board by a very professional gang that had to help because the truck was fully sealed. It's a solid site, a trailer. It was a refrigerated trailer. So access is through the back doors or through the roof," he told RTE's Morning Ireland.

Mr Drennan said the people may have thought the truck was going a shorter route from Calais to Dover, but in fact, it was going to Zeebrugge and from there, directly to Rosslare.

The container was refrigerated, running intermittently to save fuel and carbon emissions.

Migrants do not know one trailer from another, but the people who put them on board would have known, which was hugely worrying, said Mr Drennan.

When asked who had responsibility in this situation, Mr Drennan said that such gangs were visible and the French authorities could do more, but that it was difficult to point fingers.

It was difficult for drivers, who had conducted the checks, he said.

"In this case, the man had been in his bed asleep, he was alone. He had conducted the necessary protocols and checks. But even in ports where there was specialised equipment people were still able to get through, sometimes in compartments or in the chassis," he said.

They're very sophisticated checks and they're still on board.

When asked if there should be cameras inside a container for the drivers to monitor, Mr Drennan said that drivers were already trying to drive the vehicle and could not do so safely, and monitor cameras.

And you must remember a driver is very much on his own. In the dark of the night, along the coastline of northern France and Belgium. It's not an easy place to be solo and have quite a number of very hungry people trying to get out.
One of the leaders of Irelands coalition Government has said there are irrefutable points in South Africas case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa says the scale of the deaths and crisis from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.

Israeli officials have said the nation will defend itself before the United Nations top court against the charges.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan noted that the World Health Organisation had said Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with the risk of famine increasing each day.

I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed

He agreed with the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner that the international community has an obligation to prevent genocide and immediately consider all diplomatic, political and economic measures to that end.

Mr Ryan, who is Environment Minister, said Ireland had played a strong role within the UN on the matter.

Irelands main opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have called on the Government to endorse South Africas action.

However, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the Government does not intend to join the case, saying there is a need to be very careful in defining genocide.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Varadkar said: I would be a little bit uncomfortable about accusing Israel, a Jewish state, of genocide given the fact that six million Jews  over half the population of Jews in Europe  were killed.

I would just think we need to be a little bit careful about using words like that unless were absolutely convinced that theyre the appropriate ones.

He said Ireland was taking other actions, such as requesting in December a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement to see if it had breached the human rights clause, and working with other European countries on a meaningful decision on the recognition of Palestine.

Under the Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

This includes 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; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Independent Senator Frances Black, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign vice chair Fatin Al Tamimi, Sinn Fein foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy, Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Gary Gannon and

Mr Ryan also said Irish people have consistently stood up for the rights of Palestinian people.

Speaking in Sallins, Co Kildare on Wednesday, he said: Now, more than ever, we stand up for their rights  for self determination but also for an immediate end to the actions the Israeli government and military are taking which are putting those Palestinian people in Gaza at risk of immediate starvation.

The court case is one of standing effectively first between South Africa and Israel, and there are only two parties to that. But in terms of where we stand, in my mind, it has to be for the basic human rights of the Palestinian people which are being wholesale infringed, in my mind, at the present time.

He said the world will sit in real harsh judgment if Israels government does not desist its campaign.

That does not in any way undermine the rights of Israelis to safety and deplore what happened on October 7 but the scale of what Israel is doing and the risk to the Palestinian people absolutely has to stop.
A child grooming detection app, the potential health implications of using air fryers, and teachers seemingly being oblivious to AI were among hundreds of projects showcased at this years BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Over 1,100 students from across the country were raring to go on the first day of the exhibition which is now in its 60th year. Some 550 projects are being showcased at the exhibition, which runs until Saturday.

Anne ODonovan from Colaiste Choilm in Ballincollig in Cork started working on her project two years ago at the age of 15 and was inspired to pursue it after her own experience online at a young age.

I experienced child grooming when I was 12 and 13 and I managed to get away from it after 18 months, but I felt like I really needed to do something to protect other children, she said.

Anne developed an app which uses artificial intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT to see if it could accurately detect child grooming conversations within the first 10 messages received. She said:

I got a 78% accuracy without training it at all.

She used 625 real conversation transcripts which involved grooming, each of which has about 1,000 messages which she accessed online through court documents from the US.

After inspecting the conversations, the app works by advising the user if the conversation is safe, concerning or dangerous which appear as avatars in varying colours based on the danger posed in the chat.

Parents also receive a notification advising them of the danger posed.

Anne also surveyed 334 children aged between eight and 12 in her local area across three primary schools finding that almost half (47%) had spoken to a stranger online.

That number definitely increased because of the pandemic and everybody being inside and being online, she said.

Some 66% had gamed with strangers online while boys are 19% more likely to speak to strangers online than girls, she found.

AI-generated homework

Elsewhere, the challenges AI poses when it comes to its use in schools were explored by Ruby Kelly and Muireann Mooney from St Annes Secondary School in Tipperary.

They carried out a survey on the topic of students and teachers within their school. Some 51% of students said they had used AI to complete homework or classwork while 95% of those said their teacher did not notice.

President of Ireland Michael D Higgins officially opening the 2024 and 60th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Picture: Fennell Photography

Despite this, 100% of the teachers surveyed said they would be able to spot the use of AI for classwork or homework.

After comparing work completed by students with AI-generated content, the two students then comprised a list of features and patterns that can be used to identify AI.

They found that students work was more creative, personal, and emotive while the AI was more informative and detailed but used American-English spellings, date formats, and vocabulary.

They believe AI should be positively harnessed in classrooms adding that its use is inevitable.

A lot of people are starting to use it because Its easier and gives you better words and phrases, said Ruby.

Air fryer health claims Meanwhile, Miriam Finn and Kate McEvoy from St Marys High School in Midleton, Cork were gutted at their own projects results after setting out to see if air fryers are as healthy as they are portrayed to be. Kate McEvoy and Miriam Finn from St Marys High School were gutted and shocked at the findings of their research on air fryers. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins In University College Cork labs, they assessed if chips cooked in an air fryer contain more acrylamide than those cooked in an oven. They explained that acrylamide is a carcinogenic toxin which forms on food in both appliances, providing it with a crispy brown texture. We found that oven chips contain 317 times more acrylamide than the tolerable daily intake and the air fryer chips contain 1,767 times more acrylamide than the tolerable daily intake. We were gutted and shocked because we love our air fryers; we lob everything into them because theyre so handy, Miriam said.
A former judge with disabilities who was convicted of sexually assaulting six young men when he was a teacher could be held in a prison unit which will meet his needs, if he receives a custodial sentence in March, the Irish Examiner has learned.

In December, Gerard OBrien was found guilty by a jury of the offences that occurred between March 1991 and November 1997 at locations in Dublin.

Four of the complainants were students or former students at the school where he worked at the relevant times.

On Saturday he submitted his resignation to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and he will be sentenced on March 4 at Dublin Central Criminal Court.

The 59-year-old from Thurles in Co Tipperary was born without arms and with one leg as a result of the thalidomide drug being prescribed to his mother during pregnancy.

He taught in a secondary school, before becoming a solicitor and in 2014 he was appointed as a Circuit Court judge.

Mr OBrien is currently on bail, and should he receive a custodial sentence, the Irish Prison Service has confirmed it will put in place a plan to manage his disabilities.

A prison source said: There is a high volume of prisoners with disabilities, the prison service can and will manage them.

That includes people in wheelchairs, on crutches and canes. This is something that can be managed.

There are healthcare assistants in Irish prisons, there are prisoners who are in comas, some are receiving palliative care or cancer treatments.

"There is a wing in the Midlands which looks like a nursing home.

There are hoists in some cells. This is not the first convicted person who has got a disability.

There is no consistency with sex offender sentences though, whatever he receives in terms of a sentence will be up to the courts.

Mr OBrien was in his 30s at the time of the offences, while the six complainants were aged between 17 and 24.

He pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted anal rape and eight counts of sexual assault but was convicted on all counts by a jury.

Had he not resigned he would have become the first judge to face impeachment, which could have been a lengthy process.

In 2009, one of the longest serving prisoners in Ireland, Geoffrey Evans who was convicted of the murder of two women in the 1970s suffered a stroke and remained on life support at the Mater hospital. He died in 2012.

For a number of months, a prison officer sat outside his hospital room even though he was in a coma and receiving palliative care.

A decision was later made to electronically tag him.

In a statement the Irish Prison Service said: All prisoners entering the Irish Prison Service have both a nursing and medical assessment completed within two and 24 hours respectively of entering the service."

The service is currently not able to provide statistics for how many people in Irish prisons have a disability, but those who do can be accommodated in suitable settings and with healthcare assistants.

To this end the Irish Prison Service has two high dependency suites available in a Dublin prison where prisoner who require full nursing care can be cared for 24 hours per day.

This includes both the physical environment with associated aids and appliances required and the availability of Healthcare Assistants alongside full-time qualified nursing and medical personnel.
A 75-year-old man appeared in Cork District Court where he pleaded guilty to playing a part in a burglary.

Daniel McCarthy of Ballymacrown, Baltimore, County Cork, admitted the charge of burglary on May 20, 2022, at a property on Friars Road.

Sentencing in his case has been adjourned until March 25 by Judge Mary Dorgan to allow time for the accused to engage further with the probation service.

He needs to be willing to fully engage with the probation service and their recommendations before this matter is finalised, Judge Dorgan said.

His solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said that even though Mr McCarthy was much the older of the two men who carried out this burglary, it was the younger man who was instrumental in organising the crime.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said the 75-year-old and a 38-year-old man, who was not before the court, went to the property that was undergoing renovation at the time and took a stash of power-tools which were placed at the end of the garden of the property.

Daniel McCarthy was identified from CCTV in the area at the time. In court, he later pleaded guilty to his part in the burglary. Some  but not all  of the tools were recovered.

Mr Buttimer addressed the issue raised by the probation officer which effectively challenged the accuracy of Mr McCarthys account of his role in the crime. The solicitor said: The background is that he and the other individual attended at this vacant house but it was not Mr McCarthy who devised the visit. He went along with the idea of a somewhat more experienced individual.

He might not have known about the criminality but he did become suspicious as it went on and he went along with carrying certain items. There is no doubt as to his culpability but it is at the lower level than another or others.

Mr Buttimer said the accused would be glad to get help for his issues with alcohol and cannabis.

Adjourning the case, Judge Dorgan said: I want him to engage with the probation service in a full and forthright manner. I will put it back for him to show me he is engaging.
Its last call for Corks old phone boxes  and hello digital pedestals.

Telecoms company Eir plans to remove all of the citys redundant payphone boxes over the coming months and replace some with sleek new kiosk-style digital payphones.

The company will have to apply to Cork City Council for a special licence for the replacement kiosks, which will include advertising panels, at locations which have yet to be agreed with City Hall.

However, this process, unlike a planning application, does not provide for a public submissions process. The councils decision in relation to these licences can, however, be appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

The details were outlined in a report to councillors at this months meeting of the city council by Fearghal Reidy, the director of services in the councils strategic and economic development directorate, on a new procedure the council has devised to deal with phone boxes.

A pair of disused and vandalised Eircom telephone boxes on Washington Street, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

Mr Reidy said previously the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, imposed a "universal service obligation" on phone companies to operate and maintain public pay phones in Ireland, and that pay phones could only be considered for removal when specific criteria were met.

But this service obligation was lifted at the end of 2020, and the location and number of public pay phones is now a matter to be decided between the service provider, in this case Eir, and the council.

There are 15 phone boxes in the city centre, five more in Ballincollig, Douglas, St Lukes Cross, and at Cathedral Road/Shandon St, with most in poor visual condition or not working. Four redundant phone boxes have already been removed as part of recent public realm or streetscape works.

Mr Reidy said the company now planned to remove 11 phone boxes and replace nine with sleek new kiosks  open, stand-alone kiosks with wi-fi, interactive touchscreens and tourist information  that include a 1.7mx.96m LED advertising panel. The removal of the redundant phone boxes will start within a matter of weeks.

He said the city would assess Eir's applications for the replacement kiosks through its street furniture licensing process, which is governed by Section 254 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

A pair of disused and vandalised telephone boxes at Rory Gallagher Place, Paul Street, Cork. The doors have been screwed shut on these boxes to prevent entry. Picture: Larry Cummins

City Hall has identified nine locations, based on security and social inclusion reasons, where it would be willing to consider such licence applications.

Most are on the city centre island, but consideration will be given to licence applications for replacement kiosks in suburban towns.

Among the issues that will be considered through the Section 254 licensing process will be the proper planning and sustainable development of the relevant area, and the convenience and safety of road users, including pedestrians.

While this process does not provide for a public submissions process, Mr Reidy said details on the applications lodged and the decisions made will be available to councillors from the councils development management section. The decisions can be appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

Should Cork City Council take a decision to grant any licenses, conditions attached to any decision will specify a time period (likely two years) for which the license is granted, he said.

The licensing process thus allows for the ongoing monitoring of the usage of and need for any street furniture granted and further provides for the removal of street furniture if it is no longer needed in the future."
American talk show host Conan O'Brien has been spotted in Tipperary this week as travels across Ireland.

He is believed to be in the country filming for his latest international travel series, Conan O'Brien Must Go.

He was also seen in Galway and Dublin earlier this week.

The four-episode series, which is due to be released this year on Max, formerly known as HBO Max, will feature the talk show host meeting various fans in person with whom he has previously featured via video calls in his podcast series 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan'.

In a series of tweets, Mr O'Brien shared a photo of him in Dublin, near the Grand Canal Dock saying he was "just named as 'Ireland's Next Top Model."

I'm in Dublin, where I was just named "Ireland's Next Top Model." pic.twitter.com/iB8sHijOgC  Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) January 8, 2024

Another tweet showed him in Galway before a third one placed him in Cashel, Co Tipperary where he had "researched" his heritage with a top genealogist.

Just researched my heritage with a top genealogist. Turns out O'Brien is an Italian name. pic.twitter.com/7744R3EzfY  Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) January 10, 2024

Mr O'Brien has previously travelled the world as part of his travel show Conan Without Borders, where he interviews locals and speaks about the area's history, including countries like Greenland, Ghana, and Qatar.
Tanaiste Micheal Martin has ruled out any aspirations to take over as European Council president, following the surprise resignation of Charles Michel earlier this week.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Mr Martin said that he did not see himself becoming a potential nominee for the top European job.

"I don't see that arising, I mean, I think that situation doesn't arise," Mr Martin said.

"I've made it very clear my ambition and commitment is to lead Fianna Fail into the next general election.

"First of all, however, we have to focus on the next 12 months in terms of government. I want the government to go to full term. That's my view. And I've said that repeatedly."

Asked directly if he was ruling himself out of the job, Mr Martin said that he was and said his plan to run in the next general election "clearly indicates where I'm going".

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, meanwhile, speaking at the IFA AGM, said that while he was "flattered" to be mentioned as one of the potential replacements for Mr Michel, he had no intention of going for the role.

Mr Varadkar said that he expects current European Commission president, Ursula Von Der Leyen, to be reappointed at the start of the next term.

He said that this would mean that any council president would need to come from a different European political grouping, ruling out the Taoiseach.

This is due to Fine Gael's membership of the European People's Party, where Ms Von Der Leyen was selected.

Mr Martin also spoke about plans to change welfare arrangements for Ukrainian refugees, saying it is not the case that initial benefits were too generous.

"I mean, the war is much longer now than then would have been anticipated at the beginning but I think it's more keeping in line with what's happening across Europe," Mr Martin said.

"No one can argue, but that Ireland has more than responded per capita to the Ukrainian situation in terms of facilitating so many refugees coming into the country.

"Across Europe, there are different levels of payments and social provision and I think this is more to keep ourselves aligned to what the rest of Europe is doing."

Under the changes, Ukrainian refugees will only be able to receive 38.80 in social welfare supports per week, cut down from 232 a week.

The legislation was brought to Cabinet on Tuesday by Social Welfare Minister Heather Humphreys.

Alongside the changes to social welfare, state accommodation for Ukrainian refugees will be limited to 90 days.

Mr Martin was speaking following a meeting with the Mexican foreign minister Alicia Barcena, where the two discussed issues including Irish-Mexican relations as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, and migration.

Micheal Martin in Mexico.

On Gaza, Mr Martin said that they both expressed "real alarm" at the potential regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war.

"I think that we both expressed real alarm at the prospect of regional escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, particularly following the killing of Hezbollah commander in Lebanon," Mr Martin said.

"Foreign minister Barcena was particularly concerned about any escalation into Lebanon, Syria, and further afield and I think that is exercising a lot of people's minds internationally.

"There's an absolute need for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza," Mr Martin added.

On asylum seekers, the Tanaiste said that the two spoke about the need to deal with the causes of migration.

Mr Martin said that Ms Barcena raised the need to develop the economies of countries in Central America to help stop people needed to leave their home country.
Protesters have gathered outside a premises in Carlow town which is due to accommodate 50 international protection applicants in the coming days.

The Department of Integration informed local representatives and TDs that 50 men are set to be offered shelter at the former Capuchin Friary building on Dublin St in Co Carlow. It is understood the property consists of 15 rooms and the 50 asylum seekers will be accommodated there from Thursday.

There has been criticism from local representatives, including Fianna Fail TD Jennifer Murnane OConnor, who said services across the county are "stretched." She said the department informed her that the contract was signed on Tuesday morning and the contract is for one year.

In a post on Facebook, she said transparency and effective communication is important and she was only alerted to the news by the department on Tuesday.

She said: I am extremely disappointed that, once again, department officials have failed to engage with and consult with local authorities and local communities before making these decisions.

As an elected representative, I appreciate and constantly raise the difficulties regarding the availability and provision of accommodation for all members of our local communities in an ever-challenging environment and will continue to do so, she said online.

She said she is understanding and aware of the States obligations to support and accommodate refugees seeking international protection and safety. However, she said the news received in Carlow has disappointed and concerned me and no doubt others.

She said there has been a consistent lack of consultation and communication with local authorities and local communities prior to decision-making.

She added:

This repeated failure by department officials to be open and transparent with local communities is generating ill feeling in many towns and communities which could be avoided by more transparency.

The Carlow TD said she is concerned that the support mechanisms required for a large number of refugees has not been adequately addressed with local service providers or communities such as local healthcare and education.

Her Facebook post read: We already have many people waiting for basic GP appointments and other health and educational services, and this, combined with the ability to locally support these large numbers of refugees is a major concern for local people as has been evident in social media comments and by the many telephone calls and messages I have received throughout the day.

The Department of Integration has been contacted for comment.

The Carlow Says No group organised the protest overnight, over what they say is a lack of consultation with local residents and businesses.

However, another post last night on the account read: A protest will start from 0930 tomorrow morning. Let's get down and show that Carlow doesn't want migrants dumped in our town only a hundred metres from an all-girls' school.
2024 Hyundai Creta is all set for its official launch in the Indian car market on January 16 and the Korean company has been busy revealing key details about its best-selling SUV in the run-up to the big day. On Wednesday, Hyundai revealed what are the first set of official images of the 2024 Creta, showcasing the mid-size SUV in its fill glory.

The 2024 Hyundai Creta will look significantly different from the model on sale at present while also offering a turbo 1.5-litre petrol motor. ADAS is

Launched for the first time in 2015, the Hyundai Creta remains a power player in the segment and with over nine lakh units sold, is a blockbuster hit in the automotive market as a whole. The 2024 Hyundai Creta is looking to build on the enormous success of the model and will come with very noticable design updates on the outside, more features as well as a turbo petrol motor under the hood.

Also check these Cars Find more Cars UPCOMING Hyundai Kona Electric 2024 64.8 kWh 64.8 kWh 418 Km 418 Km  25 Lakhs View Details UPCOMING Hyundai Alcazar Facelift 1499 cc 1499 cc Petrol Petrol  17 - 22 Lakhs View Details Hyundai Exter 1197 cc 1197 cc Multiple Multiple  6 - 10.15 Lakhs Compare View Offers Hyundai Kona Electric 39.2 kWh 39.2 kWh 452 km 452 km  23.79 - 23.98 Lakhs Compare View Offers Hyundai Creta 1497 cc 1497 cc Multiple Multiple  11 - 20.15 Lakhs Compare View Offers MG ZS EV 50.3 kWh 50.3 kWh 419 Km 419 Km  21 - 24.18 Lakhs Compare View Offers

While the Creta has previously been spotted on trial runs and covered in camouflage, some leaked images of the model also surfaced online recently. Hyundai last week went on to reveal design sketches of Creta and the latest set of actual images of the model bring out some key exterior design highlights in the clearest form yet. The front bumper, for instance, is absolutely new and gets an updated head light and DRL design. The front bumper too has been redone for what appears to be a more muscular visual appeal.

The 2024 Hyundai Creta will retain its dimensions but will rely on its styling updates to further its already healthy prospects in the Indian SUV market.

At the back, the 2024 Hyundai Creta gets a stretched light bar while the tail light design too has been reworked upon. The bumper here too has been updated while the overall profile appears to be less rounded than the profile of the model on sale at present.

Meanwhile, Hyundai has already confirmed several key aspects of the updated Creta SUV.

2024 Hyundai Creta: Engine and transmission options:

Hyundai is bringing in its 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine to the updated Creta but it will be reserved for the top variant alone. Apart from this, the 2024 Creta will also come with 1.5l MPi petrol and 1.5l U2 CRDi diesel engine options.

Although not officially confirmed, it appears that the suspension set up of the updated Creta may have been reworked.

There will also bje several transmission choices on the 2024 Creta model and this will include six-speed manual, IVT (Intelligent Variable Transmission), seven-speed DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) and six-speed Automatic transmission.

2024 Hyundai Creta: Variants

The new Hyundai Creta will be spread across as many as seven broad variants. The 2024 Creta will come in E, EX, S, S(O), SX, SX Tech, SX (O) variants.

2024 Hyundai Creta: Bookings

Bookings for Hyundai Creta were opened earlier this month for a token amount of 25,000. The Creta can be booked either at company dealerships or through Hyundai's Click to Buy online sales channel.

2023 Hyundai Creta vs rivals

Once launched, the newest Hyundai Creta will renew its rivalry against the likes of Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Toyota Hyryder, Skoda Kushaq, Volkswagen Taigun, among others.

First Published Date:
The Government has done a u-turn on housing 50 male asylum seekers at a premises in Carlow and said families will be offered shelter there instead.

It comes after protesters began gathering outside the former Capuchin Friary building on Dublin St in Co Carlow on Wednesday morning.

A major protest had been planned for outside the building on Wednesday evening.

Local representatives and TDs have criticised the Government for its lack of communication on moving 50 asylum seekers into the 15-room premises.

Fianna Fail TD Jennifer Murnane OConnor said she only learned on Tuesday that the site would be used and said the support mechanisms required for a large number of refugees had not been adequately addressed with local service providers or communities such as local healthcare and education.

The u-turn to house 50 males at the site comes less than 24 hours after local TDs were told they would be housed there in the coming days. It comes just days after a protest in Mayo also saw the department agree to offer accommodation to families and not males following protests outside a premises in Ballinrobe.

The property in Carlow consists of 15 rooms and the department has said there are sufficient numbers of bathrooms and showers for the number of residents. Picture: Google Maps

A spokesperson for the Department of Integration confirmed to the Irish Examiner that despite initially planning to use the property in Carlow to house men, following a departmental meeting on Tuesday night, a decision was made to provide the beds to families due to the increasing number seeking shelter.

A spokesperson for the department said: Although it had initially been expected that the property would be used to house men, following a departmental meeting last night regarding the increasing number of families, and despite the ongoing acute shortage of accommodation for single males, it has been decided that the requirement to prioritise families must take precedence.

As the Capuchin Centre is available for immediate use, it will be used to address the needs of families.

The department said it is a nationwide urgent situation and emergency centres such as the one in Carlow have been opened across the country.

This is a nationwide urgent situation and emergency centres, such as this one, have been opened in all parts of the country. There have been over 190 accommodation locations utilised since January 2022 across 26 counties.

The property in Carlow consists of 15 rooms and the department has said there are sufficient numbers of bathrooms and showers for the number of residents and there will be a self-catering service provided on the site. The department also said there will be a manager and security staff on site at all times and each resident will have their own lockable bedroom and 24-hour access.

'Major concern'

Fianna Fail TD Jennifer Murnane OConnor had said she was extremely disappointed that department officials failed to engage and consult with local authorities and communities before making their decision. She said she is understanding and aware of the States obligations to support and accommodate refugees seeking international protection and safety.

She said: This repeated failure by department officials to be open and transparent with local communities is generating ill feeling in many towns and communities which could be avoided by more transparency.

The Carlow TD said she is concerned that the support mechanisms required for a large number of refugees has not been adequately addressed with local service providers or communities such as local healthcare and education.

She said: We already have many people waiting for basic GP appointments and other health and educational services, and this, combined with the ability to locally support these large numbers of refugees is a major concern for local people as has been evident in social media comments and by the many telephone calls and messages I have received throughout the day.

The Carlow Says No group organised the protest over what they say is a lack of consultation with local residents and businesses.

However, another post last night on the account read: A protest will start from 9.30 [Wednesday] morning. Let's get down and show that Carlow doesn't want migrants dumped in our town only a hundred metres from an all-girls' school. In the briefing note to TDs, the department said the State is currently providing 26,279 asylum seekers with accommodation in addition to the 74,830 people who have fled the war in Ukraine, In the last six months there has been an average of 560 people seeking accommodation every week.

Meanwhile, gardai are investigating a fire at a property in Sandyford, Dublin, that far-right groups had claimed would be used to house asylum seekers. The premises which was undergoing renovation went on fire on Sunday evening, days after claims circulated online that it was being converted for use as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Its understood the alarm was raised by security personnel and no one was injured.
RTE has a major trick to pull off in 2024.

Having secured its immediate future via a Government bailout and the publication of a new strategy last November, embattled director general Kevin Bakhurst must now find a way to carry out that plan amid an atmosphere of an ever-more sceptical public and a distinctly hostile political landscape.

While RTE has been a financial black hole for most of the past decade, its spectacular fall from grace over the last six months has still been truly head-spinning.

Pre-June of 2023, the broadcaster was in a very different place.

Ryan Tubridy was still unquestionably the broadcasters biggest star. Dee Forbes was still director general, winding down her seven-year term for a planned exit the following month.

Mr Tubridy had in May exited his 14-year gig as Late Late Show host amid much back-slapping and reminiscing.

He was in the process of working out a new radio-only contract with the broadcaster he had spent his entire career with when RTE released a bombshell public statement on June 22.

In alleging that 345,000 in payments to Mr Tubridy had been hidden over the space of five years, RTE set off an atom bomb across Irelands public discourse.

Mr Tubridy was immediately taken off air, never to return, and there followed six months of the most painfully public dirty-linen-airing imaginable.

Despite having held the begging bowl out for additional State funding repeatedly over the previous three years, it emerged that for RTEs commercial department, lavish, frivolous expenditure was an everyday reality.

In alleging that 345,000 in payments to Ryan Tubridy had been hidden over the space of five years, RTE set off an atom bomb across Irelands public discourse.

The financial black hole that was the ill-conceived Toy Show: The Musical was finally exposed, with over 2m in losses for a project seemingly based on a pyramid of hubris.

Questions were raised over two separate voluntary redundancy schemes which saw certain individuals allegedly walk away with significant payouts, only for their roles to then be filled anew, in contradiction of the terms of those schemes.

Perhaps most damaging of all was the 225,000 paid to Mr Tubridy between 2020 and 2022 via the infamous, and hidden, tripartite deal with Renault, which saw RTE somehow manage to underwrite a deal which in the end cost it 150,000 after the car manufacturer pulled out of the agreement.

Many powerful people fell on their swords in the fallout from a scandal which has provoked a truly existential crisis.

Director of strategy Rory Coveney exited in the wake of Toy Show: The Musical revelations.

Head of commercial Geraldine OLeary took early retirement after a series of bruising encounters with the Oireachtas public accounts and media committees.

Former chief financial officer Richard Collins, a man who initially forgot he was paid 220,000 a year when asked about it at committee, exited the broadcaster in October.

Mr Tubridy of course found himself out in the cold last August after reacting a little too triumphantly to the news that the 120,000 alleged by RTE to have been paid in secret to the presenter between 2017 and 2019 had never happened, and had in fact been the product of the stations own questionable accounting practices.

Perhaps most significant was the suspension and subsequent resignation of Ms Forbes in late June, mere days before her tenure had been due to expire.

Ms Forbes has been absent from the discussion on foot of health concerns ever since, which has worked out well for RTE as she has never been in a position to contradict the endless accusations that she alone was responsible for the Tubridy-pay farrago.

Dee Forbes was suspended before subsequently resigning, just days before her tenure had been due to expire. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

RTE is now a truly changed place, with both the public and its own disgruntled workforce, who worked for less while the cash was being constantly splashed elsewhere, now finally in a position to be heard.

A penny for new director general Mr Bakhursts thoughts. The first six months of a job he coveted and had chased since 2016 has turned out to be an endless firefight, one he surely couldnt have countenanced in advance.

Regardless, the year to come represents something of a clean slate for the broadcaster.

The question now is whether or not the 56m bailout it is to receive will be enough to kickstart an RTE renaissance.

The bald facts of the finances dont look especially promising.

Mr Bakhurst previously stated that without that bailout RTE would be effectively insolvent by the coming spring.

According to its new strategy, finally published last November, RTE is aiming for 10m in short-term budget cuts across 2024, and 40 redundancies, the first of the 400 jobs it hopes to have phased out by 2028.

There are several elephants in the room. One is the eventual liability the station will have regarding its use of potentially hundreds of bogus self employed contractors  those who did a full RTE employees work but who received none of the same social insurance benefits and holiday pay  over the past 30 years, pending a long-running investigation by the Department of Social Protection.

Asked about the possible cost of adverse findings stemming from that investigation late last year, Mr Bakhurst suggested the liability would likely total less than 20m.

Leaving aside the fact that seems a distinctly conservative figure, does RTE even have the funds to cover same?

Another issue is the outstanding probes into the goings on at the broadcaster  including the Tubridy payments, Toy Show: The Musical, and the infamous barter account used for commercial expenditure.

RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Four of those have yet to deliver their final conclusions.

Of the four, the investigation by legal firm McCann Fitzgerald into how the two voluntary redundancy schemes in 2017 and 2021 were administered may prove to be the most damaging.

And then there is the largest elephant of all, and one that the short-term bailout shows little sign of accounting for  the collapse in TV licence revenue.

RTEs dependence upon the licence fee had already been an issue for several years in a new era of streaming content.

Ms Forbes had taken any opportunity afforded to her across her tenure to denounce the licence as no longer fit for purpose, and that was before the public elected to show its displeasure with RTE by refusing to pay it en masse.

Some 16m was lost via non-renewals in just four months between July and October last year.

If that trend continues, and there's little reason to see why it wouldnt, then the current bailout of 56m will be rendered moot.

In the meantime, RTE will plough on with implementing its strategy.

To that end, its Cork base on Fr Matthew Quay is expected to be sold in the foreseeable future for in the region of 2m with a new base to be procured, amid the plan to shift more of the stations programming to the regions.

Meanwhile, a further decision on future funding from the Government is expected in the coming months.

All that presumes there are no more fireworks to report from an entity that has endured enough scandal and outrage in six months to last most people a lifetime.

That is a big presumption. If 2023 taught RTE anything, its that things can go from plain sailing to a perfect storm in the blink of an eye.
Almost 103 years ago, a British general stationed in Athlone was travelling to a tennis party when he was ambushed by a local IRA company and killed. In retaliation, the Black and Tans combed the surrounding countryside in search of arms and suspects, ransacking a number of farmhouses in south Roscommon and Westmeath.

In response to that, in the early hours of July 3, 1921, volunteers with the Athlone IRA brigade arrived at the grounds of the nearby Moydrum Castle, owned by Lord Castlemaine, a member of the House of Lords and symbol of British rule in the locality, and burned the stately house to the ground. Almost 300 country big houses were burned down or destroyed during the revolutionary years.

Fire and arson, at different stages in this country, have been used as a language of revolution, reprisals and retribution. Once more, fire has become the language of choice for some in this country who believe theyre revolting against a new tyranny, though this perceived uprising is one suffused with hate, racism and reactionary nativism.

On December 30, amid speculation a former pub, the Shipwright in Dublin's Ringsend, was going to be used to provide accommodation for International Protection applicants, the vacant building was set on fire. Far from being an isolated incident, this is but one of a growing list that marks a new era of extremism in this country.

Arson

Since 2018 there have been almost 20 arson attacks against properties proposed to house asylum seekers around Ireland. In November of that year, a disused hotel in Moville, Donegal, was firebombed and plans to accommodate 100 asylum seekers in the building were soon abandoned.

The family who owned the hotel said they received threats and were harassed when it was announced their property was to be used as a direct provision centre. The property was sold in 2020.

Two arson attacks targeted a hotel in Rooskey, on the Roscommon-Leitrim border, in January and February 2019. Later in the year, local Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny reported receiving death threats after he spoke about asylum seekers in the Dail and his car was set on fire outside his home, amid proposals to accommodate asylum seekers in nearby Ballinamore.

The issue subsided for much of the pandemic period though there was then a sharp rise in arson attacks in 2023. Properties in Cork, Wexford, Kildare and Galway have been the subject of suspected arson attacks linked to their role as proposed accommodation centres for asylum seekers.

Misinformation

Following the December 30 arson attack in Ringsend, the Department of Integration said there were no plans to use the building to house asylum seekers and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) confirmed it planned to use the property for emergency accommodation for families.

False, misleading and inflammatory claims played a significant role in stoking anti-immigrant sentiment in Ringsend, fostering hatred against asylum seekers and inciting an act of arson that has removed an accommodation centre from operation at a time when homelessness figures have, yet again, broken records.

Offline, in mid-December a local publican was confronted in his pub and falsely accused of owning the Shipwright and turning it into an accommodation centre for asylum seekers. Video from the incident showed someone telling the publican youre a liar Ill be back to see you.

Online, in the weeks preceding the fire, social media platforms were awash with misinformation about asylum seekers and migrants, describing their proposed arrival in the area as a new plantation.

Rebellion

Plantations have obvious deep historical connotations in this country and the phrase is used deliberately to equate the arrival of asylum seekers to something akin to an enemy force invading an area seeking to harm locals.

The plantations of the 16th and 17th century were a major factor in igniting the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and those who use the phrase in a pejorative sense today see themselves as combatants in their own uprising. In reality, references to a new plantation here are but a localised conception of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.

Part-time political commentator, Conor McGregor, has not shied away from revolution-tinged pronouncements when discussing immigration and asylum seekers with his adoring followers: Do not let any Irish property be took [sic] over unannounced. Evaporate said property. It's a war.

When news broke of the Shipwright pub going up in flames, online chatter evoking similar imagery followed. Comments posted on various social media platforms imagined the fire stopping a battalion of invaders, praised Irish people fighting back and proclaimed war they want, war they get.

Poison

This rhetoric serves to normalise hatred and hostility against migrants and has been a core component of anti-immigrant mis- and disinformation in Ireland in recent years, as documented in our analysis at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a non-profit that researches disinformation, hate and extremism online.

The same sentiment was evident in the aftermath of the horrific stabbing incident in Dublin in late November, when calls to action urging people to rise up against the government, politicians and migrants were shared openly in the hours after the attack. We know what happened next.

Violence targeting migrants illustrates the downstream effect of years of escalating extremist activity that has poisoned the well with myths and misinformation, and by whipping up misdirected resentment against asylum seekers and migrants.

Response

Five years on from the beginning of this spate of arson attacks targeting buildings earmarked for asylum seekers, there have yet to be any arrests or charges against those responsible. Condemnation and calls for solidarity rightly follow any attack but what is the States response if it cannot guarantee the safety and security of these buildings or their proposed residents?

Most people who have qualms about immigration voice these concerns peacefully, though polls suggest immigration is becoming a major issue ahead of elections this year. We know debates and discussion regarding this topic will feature falsehoods, lies and misleading statements.

This is an immediate challenge for the new State bodies in the Electoral Commission and media regulator Coimisiun na Mean.

What will be the response of social media platforms, when prior evidence suggests glaring enforcement gaps fail to tackle such harmful and misleading content? In the echo chambers and information vacuums that endure online, anger and distrust prosper and the danger of radicalisation is real.

Warning

Across Ireland, those motivated by hatred, suspicious of the State and powered by a belief they are on the front line in their own nascent uprising are increasingly taking matters into their own hands.

Extremists speak of rising up; advocate for a lethal strand of ethnonationalism; flood information environments with lies designed to deceive; and regularly use intimidation and violence to achieve their aims. This threat to society, security and democracy should not be taken for granted.

When IRA volunteers arrived at Moydrum Castle in 1921, they gave Lady Castlemaine and her daughter 15 minutes to collect their belongings and exit the building before they torched the house. No warnings have preceded any of the arson attacks since 2018. If these attacks continue, someone is going to be killed.
Paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein refused to answer questions over whether he attempted to blackmail the Duke of York after his alleged sexual encounter with Virginia Giuffre, court documents have revealed.

Epstein declined to answer almost all of the questions, also known as pleading the fifth amendment in the US, during his interview under oath as part of Ms Giuffres civil claim against disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

He was quizzed over whether he and Maxwell instructed Ms Giuffre to have sex with Andrew in 2001 and if the information gathered as part of the legal action has the potential to affect the reputation of the duke.

Epstein declined to answer all questions relating to the duke (US Department of Justice/PA)

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

The duke strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

The transcript of Epsteins interview, known as a deposition in the US, was released as part of the final tranche of documents to be published as part of Ms Giuffres 2015 civil claim against Maxwell.

In total, 215 documents have been unsealed over the course of five days after the media argued it was in the public interest to remove redactions which hid the names of individuals.

Ms Giuffres 2016 deposition was also released and featured her previously reported claims that Epstein paid her 15,000 dollars (11,800) to have sex with Andrew, and allegations she was trafficked to another foreign prince, as well as a well-known prime minister who she refused to name over concerns for her safety.

I did receive 15,000 dollars. I do not know the equivalent to what that is in pounds, Ms Giuffre said, before she was quizzed by a lawyer on whether she paid tax on the amount, with Ms Giuffre replying no.

During Epsteins deposition, Ms Giuffres counsel Paul Cassell asked: In fact, it would be a fair assessment of all the circumstances surrounding this situation to say that you forced Virginia to have sex with Prince Andrew?

After Epstein declined to answer, the lawyer continued: What would have happened to Virginia if she had refused to have sex with Prince Andrew?

Following another refusal to answer the question, Mr Cassell then asked Epstein: Shortly after Prince Andrew and Virginia had sex, Virginia gave you a full report about the details of the sex, true?

Epstein was quizzed over whether he and Maxwell forced Ms Giuffre to have sex with Andrew (US Department of Justice/PA)

Mr Cassell also said: Isnt it true, sir, that Prince Andrew thanked you for making Virginia available to him for sexual purposes?

Epstein declined to answer both questions.

Questioning Epstein on the alleged blackmail plot, Mr Cassell said: You had previously instructed Virginia that she had to give you a full report on the details of what men like Prince Andrew did to her so that you would have blackmail material you could use, true?

Epstein was also quizzed on what he knew about Andrews sexual preferences, and on whether Ms Giuffre had recounted specific behaviour that Prince Andrew requested before sexual intercourse.

The disgraced financier again declined to answer the questions.

Later in his interview, Epstein was also asked: To your knowledge, Prince Andrew had sex with Virginia several times, right?

Before finishing his questioning, Mr Cassell said: This litigation has the potential to affect the reputation of Prince Andrew, right?

The Duke of York attending the Kings coronation (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)

Epstein refused to answer the questions.

Ms Giuffre, in her deposition, described how she was trafficked to the south of France by Epstein and Maxwell to a world leader who was a prince.

She said she did not know his name, but added: He did speak foreign tongue, he spoke English as well, but Im not too sure where he was fromI was introduced to him as a prince.

Ms Giuffre also claimed former US president Bill Clinton visited Epsteins private Caribbean island twice.

She said they had dinner together, but Bill Clinton, he was never sexually involved with me. Ive never witnessed him sexually involved with anybody else.

However Ms Giuffre was asked during the deposition: Is Bill Clinton a witness to the sexual abuse of minors?

She replied: Yes, he would be a witness because he knew what my purpose there was for Jeffrey and he visited Jeffreys islandTheres pictures of nude girls all around the house at all of his houses and its something that Jeffrey Epstein wasnt shy about admitting to people.

Mr Clinton has denied ever visiting the island.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (US Department of Justice/PA)

Ms Giuffre also recounted how she burned a booklet she wrote detailing her alleged encounters with Andrew to get rid of painful memories.

The diary was written at the request of journalist Sharon Churcher, and Ms Giuffre said she gave the writer some of the original pages relating to the duke.

But she said she decided not to burn photographs at her then-Florida home in 2013 because theyre evidence.

I wanted to get rid of it. It was very painful stuff, she said.

She added: I was burning like memories, thoughts, dreams that I had, just everything that was kind of affiliated with the abuse I endured, and there was a lot of it in there.

My husband is pretty spiritual so he said the best thing to do would be burn them.

Paedophile financier Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020 despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022.

The socialite indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her appeal is scheduled to be heard in November next year.
The invasion by masked gunmen of the TC Television studio in Ecuador, with its mid-afternoon newscast under way, has brought home the scale of lawlessness in the South American nation to its people.

The gunmen burst in, unleashing at least 15 minutes of threats and fear, all broadcast live.

First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV stations live transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third and more.

With the shows After The News title behind them, station employees were brought onto the set and ordered to lie down.

Screams could be heard followed by the sound of gunshots.

A masked, armed person standing over journalists during a live broadcast, in Guayaquil, Ecuador (TC Television/AP)

We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia, one of the assailants is heard saying.

Masked men could be seen aiming guns at news staff.

Someone said: Dont shoot!

After about 15 minutes the transmission was cut.

The unprecedented assault on the TV station in Guayaquil, a port city in Ecuador, came hours after a series of other attacks and police officer abductions.

It also followed the apparent escapes from prison of two of the leaders of the countrys most powerful gangs.

No one was killed in Tuesdays attack and authorities say the 13 attackers were arrested and would be charged with terrorism.

President Daniel Noboa, who came into power in November with a promise to bring peace to the South American country, issued a decree saying the violence-plagued country had entered an internal armed conflict, in what some analysts see as a watershed moment for Ecuador.

Late on Tuesday, Mr Noboa met with his security Cabinet and, afterward, the head of the Armed Forces Joint Command said the attacks were the gangs reactions to the governments moves against them.

They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population, Admiral Jaime Vela told journalists, describing the attacks as unprecedented in Ecuadors history.

The South American country had been rocked by attacks since Monday night, but the assault on the newscast was seen in real time in thousands of homes across the country.

This is a turning point, said Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, adding that while gangs in Ecuador assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and set off car bombs in front of government buildings, Tuesdays events marked a new peak in violence.

Depending on how the government responds, it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime, Mr Freeman said.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, was ordered to get on the floor.

They aimed the gun at my head, she said.

I thought about my entire life, about my two children.

Inmates stand on the top of Turi jail during a prisoner riot in Cuenca, Ecuador (Xavier Caivinagua/AP)

Ms Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

I am still in shock, she said.

Everything has collapsed.  All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.

Police officers entered the TV station and subdued the attackers, who can face up to 13 years in prison it they are convicted of terrorism.

On Monday, a day after a notorious gang leaders apparent escape from prison, Mr Noboa had declared a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend peoples rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

On Tuesday, shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating as terrorist groups 20 drug-trafficking gangs operating in the country, and authorizing Ecuadors military to neutralize them within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

The government has said at least 30 attacks have taken place since authorities announced that Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, was discovered missing from his cell in a low-security prison on Sunday.

He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

Ecuadorean officials on Tuesday announced that another gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from a prison in the town of Riobamba.

Colon Pico was captured on Friday as part of a kidnapping investigation and has also been accused of trying to murder one of the nations lead prosecutors.

Other attacks include an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court and the Monday night kidnappings of four police officers.

Police said one officer was abducted in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

Authorities say Los Choneros, one of the Ecuadorian gangs considered responsible for a spike in violence mostly tied to drug trafficking, has links with Mexicos Sinaloa cartel.

Macias whereabouts are unknown.

Soldiers patrol the perimeter of Inca prison (Dolores Ochoa/AP)

Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organised crime, was serving a 36-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Located on South Americas Pacific coast between Peru and Colombia, the worlds largest cocaine producers, Ecuador has become a key transit point for the drug in recent years.

Much of the violence suffered by the country comes as drug gangs fight each other and the government for control of ports and smuggling routes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began a visit on Wednesday to the Baltic countries, arriving in Lithuania as his country seeks to bolster its air defences amid Russias intensified missile and drone onslaughts in the 22-month-old war.

The focus of his two-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Mr Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel, will be security concerns, Ukraines hopes to join the European Union and Nato, and building partnerships in drone production and electronic warfare capacities.

Mr Zelenskyy thanked Lithuania for its military assistance and goodwill. He was expected in Estonia and Latvia on Thursday.

We know how tiring this long-running war is, and we are interested in Ukraines complete victory in it as soon as possible, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told reporters.

Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses

The small countries are among Ukraines staunchest political, financial and military supporters, and some in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscows next target.

They have pushed Kyivs other Western allies to provide increasingly sophisticated weapons since Russias full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during the Second World War before regaining independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

They joined Nato in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the US and its Western allies.

Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses, Estonian President Alar Karis said in a statement.

Then there is the hope that this will remain the last military aggression in Europe, where someone wants to dictate to their neighbour with missiles, drones and cannons what political choices can be made, he said.

Lithuanias President Gitanas Nauseda looks on as Volodymyr Zelensky signs the guest book during their meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

In his Telegram message, Mr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the Baltic countries for their uncompromising support of Ukraine over the past 10 years, referring to 2014 when Russias aggression started with the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimea Peninsula.

Russias recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraines air defence resources, a Ukrainian air force official said on Tuesday, leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.

Mr Zelenskyys energetic international diplomacy during the war has been essential to maintain pressure on friendly countries to keep supplying Kyiv with billions of dollars in weaponry, including German Leopard tanks, US Patriot missile systems and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

That support has tailed off recently, however. A plan by the administration of US President Joe Biden to send to Kyiv billions of dollars in further aid is stuck in Congress, and Europes pledge in March to provide one million artillery shells within 12 months has fallen short, with only about 300,000 delivered so far.

Meanwhile, long-range strikes by the Kremlins forces have continued.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, came under attack from Russian S-300 missiles late on Tuesday, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

The Russians hit an unoccupied summer camp on the northeastern citys outskirts, he said on Telegram. Several buildings were damaged but no casualties were reported.

Ukraine also kept up its attempts to hit targets inside Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences downed a Ukrainian drone early on Wednesday over the Saratov region of southwestern Russia, on the Volga River.

Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said the drone was downed over the Engels district, which is home to Russias main strategic bomber base that has launched cruise missiles at Ukraine. He said there were no casualties or damage.
Ukraine has shown the world that Russias military can be stopped, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as he began a visit to the Baltic nations in search of more help for his country against the Kremlins larger and better-supplied forces in the 22-month-old invasion.

Speaking in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine still must bolster its air defences against Russias intensified missile and drone onslaughts and replenish its ammunition supplies as long-range strikes become the main feature of this winters fighting.

We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible, he said after talks with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on his first foreign trip of the year.

The massive Russian barrages, more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between December 29 and January 2, according to officials in Kyiv, are using up Ukraines weapons stockpiles, however.

The escalation is stretching Ukraines air defence resources and leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.

A crater of an explosion is seen next to the private building destroyed after a Russian missile attack in Novomoskovsk, near Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine (Ukrainian Emergency Services/AP)

We lack modern air defence systems badly, Mr Zelenskyy said, noting that they are what we need the most.

He acknowledged, however, that stockpiles are low in countries that could provide such material.

Warehouses are empty.

And there are many challenges to world defence, he said.

Ukraine hopes to accelerate development of its domestic defence industry and establish joint projects with foreign governments to speed up ammunition and weapons production.

Ukrainian officials travelling with Mr Zelenskyy signed several documents on cooperation on joint arms production.

Similar agreements are expected in the other Baltic countries Mr Zelenskyy is expected to visit this week.

The focus of his two-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Mr Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel, will be security concerns, Ukraines hopes to join the European Union and Nato, and building partnerships in drone production and electronic warfare capacities.

Mr Zelenskyy thanked Lithuania for its military assistance and goodwill.

He was expected in Estonia and Latvia on Thursday.

We know how tiring this long-running war is, and we are interested in Ukraines complete victory in it as soon as possible, Mr Nauseda told reporters.

The small eastern European countries are among Ukraines staunchest political, financial and military supporters, and some in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscows next target.

Lithuanias President Gitanas Nauseda, right, talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during the Second World War before regaining independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

They joined Nato in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the US and its Western allies.

Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses, Estonian President Alar Karis said in a statement.

Then there is the hope that this will remain the last military aggression in Europe, where someone wants to dictate to their neighbour with missiles, drones and cannons what political choices can be made, he said.

In his Telegram message, Mr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the Baltic countries for their uncompromising support of Ukraine over the past 10 years, referring to 2014 when Russias aggression started with the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimea Peninsula.

Russias recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraines air defence resources, a Ukrainian air force official said, leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.
Hundreds of Post Office branch managers in the UK who were wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal could have their names cleared by the end of the year.

Blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak said they were victims of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nations history.

Hundreds of subpostmasters were convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from the flawed Horizon accounting system, with MPs told the Post Office showed not only incompetence but malevolence in the way it acted against them.

Prime Minister Sunak told MPs the Horizon scandal was one of the worst miscarriages of justice in history (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)

The scale of the scandal has prompted the British government to adopt the unconventional approach of new legislation, rather than requiring individuals to challenge their convictions.

Ministers acknowledged the plan could result in some subpostmasters who did commit crimes being wrongly cleared, but insisted the process was the most effective way of dealing with the vast majority who were victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Downing Street said the ambition was for the plan to be implemented by the end of the year.

At Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said: This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nations history.

People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.

Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a 600,000 (697,100) compensation payment, or potentially more if they go through a process of having their claim individually assessed.

Mr Sunak also announced a 75,000 (87,140) offer for subpostmasters involved in a group legal action against the Post Office.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs that just 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned.

The usual method for overturning a conviction in Britain would see the Criminal Cases Review Commission sending it to the Court of Appeal for a hearing.

But the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal means the government is introducing the legislation route rather than relying on a potentially lengthy court process.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk has been discussing the situation with senior judges because of the constitutional concern about the British parliament being seen to interfere with the legal system.

Horizon software

The Horizon software started to be rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK in 1999 and over the subsequent years a series of subpostmasters were prosecuted over missing funds.

In 2019 the High Court ruled that Horizon contained a number of bugs, errors and defects and there was a material risk that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal earlier this month.

Alan Bates, the campaigning former subpostmaster the series centred on, welcomed the good news but said the fight is not over for many of those still awaiting compensation.

It is a leap forward, but it aint over yet, he told BBC Radio 4s The World At One programme.

The devil is in the detail and were yet to see that. Were still going to have to keep pushing the whole issue forward until everyone is sorted.

Mr Hollinrake acknowledged the governments plan would result in some people who actually did commit crimes having their convictions quashed and being able to claim compensation.

But he insisted it is the best way to address swiftly the injustice suffered by those caught up in the Horizon scandal who have seen lives ruined by this brutal and arbitrary exercise of power.

Some of those convictions will have relied on the evidence of the discredited Horizon system. Others will have been the result of appalling failures of the Post Offices investigation and prosecution functions, he said.

He said evidence from the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal showed not only incompetence but malevolence in many of their actions.

Read More Blinken urges reform as he pushes post-war plan including Palestinian state

Mr Hollinrake acknowledged the Governments novel approach was not foolproof.

Im sure that a great many people were wrongly convicted in this scandal, but I cannot tell the House that all those prosecuted were indeed innocent, or even that it was 90% or 80% or 70%. Without retrying every case we cannot know.

The risk is that instead of unjust convictions, we shall end up with unjust acquittals and we just do not know how many.

He added: As far as possible, we want to avoid guilty people walking away with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money. But we cannot make the provision of compensation subject to a detailed examination of guilt.

As a safeguard, those involved will sign a statement saying they did not commit the crime of which they were accused, with anyone subsequently found to have signed that untruthfully putting themselves at risk of prosecution for fraud.

Appeal, a charity which fights miscarriages of justice and represented Andrew Malkinson who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, said it was delighted subpostmasters will finally receive exoneration in the wake of their campaign and it hopes they receive swift compensation.

A spokesman said: That a law had to be passed to achieve this shows the dire state our criminal appeals system.

Claiming the system had failed subpostmasters, Mr Malkinson and many others, the group called on the Law Commission currently reviewing the criminal appeals system to recommend fundamental reforms if it is to be a system the innocent can rely on to exonerate them.

It also demanded a brutal compensation test faced by victims of miscarriages of justice since 2014 is repealed immediately.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Volkswagen Group (China) unveiled its 2023 sales data on January 9, indicating a cumulative delivery of 3.236 million vehicles throughout the year, marking a 1.6% increase compared to 2022.



Photo credit: Volkswagen

The Audi brand registered a robust delivery volume of 728,575 units in 2023, representing a 13.5% year-on-year growth. Meanwhile, annual deliveries of the Volkswagen brand and its Jetta sub-brand amounted to 2,398,600 vehicles in China throughout the year, ticking up 0.1% from a year ago.

Acceleration in the transition towards new energy vehicles was evident as Volkswagen delivered a total of 191,800 battery-electric cars in China during 2023, which jumped 23.2% year over year.

On the other hand, in the oil-fueled vehicle segment, Volkswagen Group handed over approximately 3 million vehicles to Chinese customers, signifying a 0.8% increase year-on-year. This expansion pushed the German auto giants China market share in the oil-fueled vehicle segment from 19% to 20%.

The group cited profitability in the oil-fueled vehicle market, attributing it to economies of scale and cost advantages, which, in turn, bolsters the group's substantial transformation efforts.

Looking ahead, Volkswagen Group plans to introduce new models to reinforce its oil-fueled vehicle product lineup, focusing on integrating high-end technological upgrades across major conventional fuel vehicle products. Simultaneously, the group aims to gradually advance the hybridization of its fuel vehicle lineup, providing more choices for the new energy vehicle market.

In the realm of electrification, Volkswagen Group is set to enrich its portfolio by introducing the first Volkswagen brand battery-electric model manufactured by Volkswagen (Anhui) in 2024. Furthermore, a collaborative effort between Volkswagen and XPeng will fortify the automakers product matrix with two new energy models by 2026.
Wednesday, Jan 10th, 2024 (7:40 am) - Score 1,920

Civil UK engineering firm Comex 2000 has announced that theyre expanding their operations into Scotland, which forms part of an effort to grow their support for Virgin Media (VMO2s) rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP infrastructure. This will also create 300 new jobs over the next 2 years.

The company, which claims to carry out over 300,000 business and residential installations every year, has long been one of Virgin Medias preferred contract partners (since 2008). Comex 2000 also has similar arrangements with other popular builders of full fibre networks, such as CityFibre, Gigaclear, CommunityFibre and Zayo.

The expansion into Scotland is said to build on Comex 2000s existing deployments in England, which in terms of their work with Virgin Media are said to have typically focused more on the West Midlands region.

Gavin Laird, Director of Scotland at Comex 2000, said: Comex 2000s mission is to bolster Virgin Media O2s network over the next 5  10 years, ensuring Scotlands connectivity is on par with the UK and Europe. We are actively recruiting roles to deliver these essential services and upgrades, offering an array of rewarding career opportunities and welcoming anyone thats keen to contribute to Scotlands digital future.

The announcement appears to state that the company will be based out of the Houston Industrial Estate in West Lothian, although theyve also long had a site just outside of Glasgow in Chapelhall. The news also focuses on Virgin Media (VMO2) being the companys main partner, which suggests to us that this might also be about upgrading their old Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network to XGS-PON based FTTP (due to complete by 2028).

This is because the vast majority of new FTTP build taking place today is actually being handled by the semi-separate company Nexfibre, albeit still harnessing Virgin Medias engineering resources and partners. Virgin access Nexfibres network via a wholesale agreement, thus acting as an anchor tenant ISP for the new infrastructure (the only one they have).

Nexfibres 4.5bn aspiration (1.4bn in equity and 3.1bn in debt)  as backed by Telefonica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners (here)  is to expand full fibre to reach up to 7 million additional UK homes, starting with 5m by 2026 (i.e. homes not currently served by Virgin Medias own network). In theory, this could push the combined VMO2 and Nexfibre footprint to around 80% of UK premises by 2028 (up to 23 million premises), which is close to Openreachs primary target (i.e. 25 million by Dec 2026).
Wednesday, Jan 10th, 2024 (12:00 pm) - Score 2,640

Network operators and telecoms service providers across the world will be watching with a great deal of interest, and some unease, after it was announced that HP Enterprise (HPE) has acquired Juniper Networks in an all-cash transaction for $40.00 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $14 billion (11bn).

Junipers networking kit (routers, SDN, WiFi etc.) and related services are used by telecoms operators and IT companies across the world  of various difference sizes (e.g. UK broadband ISPs, data centres etc.)  and so any change on this front has the capacity to touch a lot of different players, including in the UK market.

According to the announcement, the combination of HPE and Juniper advances HPEs portfolio mix shift toward higher-growth solutions and strengthens its high-margin networking business, accelerating HPEs sustainable profitable growth strategy. The media release (here) is also peppered with mentions of AI and cloud technologies, as well as various other industry buzzwords.

The good news is that the newly combined company is pledged to provide customers of all sizes with a complete, secure portfolio that enables the networking architecture necessary to manage and simplify their expanding and increasingly complex connectivity needs. This may help to placate concerns that HPE might potentially re-focus the network biz to cater for more lucrative clients and thus cast aside the Service Provider (SP) market etc.

HPE President and CEO, Antonio Neri, said: HPEs acquisition of Juniper represents an important inflection point in the industry and will change the dynamics in the networking market and provide customers and partners with a new alternative that meets their toughest demands. This transaction will strengthen HPEs position at the nexus of accelerating macro-AI trends, expand our total addressable market, and drive further innovation for customers as we help bridge the AI-native and cloud-native worlds, while also generating significant value for shareholders. I am excited to welcome Junipers talented employees to our team as we bring together two companies with complementary portfolios and proven track records of driving innovation within the industry.

Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks, added: Our multi-year focus on innovative, secure AI-native solutions has driven Juniper Networks outstanding performance. We have successfully delivered exceptional user experiences and simplified operations, and by joining HPE, I believe we can accelerate the next phase of our journey. In addition, this combination maximizes value for our shareholders through a meaningful all-cash premium. We look forward to working with the talented HPE team to drive innovation for enterprise, service provider and cloud customers across all domains, including campus, branch, data center and the wide area network.

The transaction is currently expected to close in late calendar year 2024 or early calendar year 2025, subject to all the usual regulatory and shareholder approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Juniper CEO Rami Rahim will lead the combined HPE networking business, reporting to HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri.

Meanwhile, network operators will be watching very closely to see how the change impacts the vital Juniper kit and services they buy and use, particularly in terms of its cost, quality and performance. Rivals at Cisco, Nokia and others will also no doubt be keeping a close watch.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinese automaker Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. ("Changan Automobile") reported an annual sales volume of 2,553,052 vehicles in 2023, representing an 8.82% rise year-on-year, according to the companys announcement on January 9.



In December 2023 alone, Changan Automobile sold 215,089 vehicles, which dipped 15.91% from that of a year ago. Of the vehicles sold last month, 59,366 units were new energy vehicle (NEVs) under the companys wholly-owned brands, indicating a 31.27% surge year-over-year.

Throughout last year, 2,097,794 vehicles sold by Changan Automobile were under the automakers wholly-owned brands, growing 11.91% compared to the same period last year. In the meantime, the companys wholly-owned brands also boasted a 39.23% year-on-year spike in yearly overseas sales, which came in at 236,380 vehicles.

DEEPAL SL03; photo credit: DEEPAL

As to the annual performance of Changan Automobiles self-owned NEV brands, a 74.77% year-on-year soar was achieved with a total of 474,045 vehicles sold.

On the other hand, among Changan Automobiles two joint venture brands, Changan Ford reported December sales volume of 28,084 vehicles (+47.16% YoY), resulting in an annual volume of 233,122 vehicles (-7.13% YoY) in 2023. Meanwhile, Changan Mazda sold 11,028 vehicles (+73.07% YoY) last month, which added up to a yearly sales volume of 88,662 vehicles (-14.77% YoY).
Wednesday, Jan 10th, 2024 (9:31 am) - Score 14,080

A growing number of customers on Vodafones UK mobile network are this morning reporting a significant service disruption, which appears to have started just after 6am and is currently continuing to grow. The issue appears to be mostly impacting 4G and 5G data (mobile broadband) connectivity, but others have also seen issues with texts.

The complaints appear to be coming in from across various parts of the UK and are quite sporadic, although at present it only appears to be impacting some but not all of their customers. In some cases customers have been able to fix the issue by disabling 5G (i.e. dropping back to 4G), but in other cases 4G has been impacted too.

At the time of writing, Vodafone have yet to issue a statement, but we have requested one. Meanwhile, Vodafones support agents on social media are continuing to direct impacted customers to check the operators service status page, which as per usual reports that everything is hunky-dory, even when it isnt. We recommend readers with issues use the operators Report a Fault page, assuming they can get online.

UPDATE 9:39am

Vodafones support agents have finally started to acknowledge the issue in their responses to customers: Were aware some customers are experiencing intermittent issues using mobile data, you can still use messaging & voice services. Our engineering teams are investigating to get the services up and running asap.

UPDATE 10:37am

The volume of complaints appears to be falling, which suggests that Vodafone may have found a full or partial fix and is in the process of implementing it. But officially, the latest statement from their PR team remains near identical to the one their support staff gave earlier (except theyre no longer specifically mentioning it as a data issue).

A Vodafone spokesperson said: We are aware some customers are experiencing intermittent issues using our network. Were sorry for the inconvenience, our team is working hard to fix the issue and we hope to have it resolved quickly.

UPDATE 12:11pm

Many customers are now reporting a return to working service, although some people are still seeing issues.

UPDATE 2:15pm

Weve just had a final statement from a Vodafone spokesperson: We can confirm that the network issue experienced by some customers this morning has been fixed and normal service has resumed. Were sorry for the inconvenience. As usual, theres no information on the cause.
1371138342::cfb49c8e-2422-11e5-99a3-d7f5c6e8b241

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.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- GAC Group announced on January 9 its acquisition of an L3 autonomous vehicle test license in Guangzhou by the end of 2023, which allows the company to conduct trials on designated highway and expressways in the city.



Photo credit: GAC Group

GAC Group aims to introduce L3 autonomous driving features, like Traffic Jam Pilot (TJP), on the companys wholly-owned brand models such as the Hyper GT, ensuring compliance with legal regulations.

GAC Groups TJP system facilitates lane centering, speed and distance maintenance, applicable at speeds up to 80 km/h, enabling drivers to divert attention from the steering wheel to other tasks while the system operates autonomously.

During autonomous driving sessions on closed highways or city single-lane expressways, the system prompts drivers to regain control if it exceeds operational design domain (ODD). Under suitable road conditions, it seamlessly transitions from L3 intelligent driving functions to features like Integrated Cruise Assistance (ICA) or Navigated Driving Assistance (NDA) within the L2++ smart driving functions range.

GAC Group's venture into the autonomous driving field dates back to 2013 with the inception of the ADiGO PILOT intelligent driving system. Now equipped with end-to-end R&D capabilities, covering analysis, design, software, algorithm development, integration, and testing, GAC Group has established R&D capabilities for computing platforms from L2 to L4.

The L2++ intelligent driving functions of the automakers ADiGO PILOT system are integrated into models like the Hyper GT and the Hyper HT, facilitating driving on highway and city expressways, as well as diverse parking scenarios. Leveraging L4 autonomous driving technology, GAC Group's Robotaxi is also deployed for demonstration operation on the groups ride-share platform, OnTime.
Kevin Merida (via ESPN)

Kevin Merida, who launched The Undefeated at ESPN nearly a decade ago, reportedly told Los Angeles Times employees in a memo this week that he will step down from his role as top editor.

In the note, Merida told staff that he decided to resign in conjunction with owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong after considerable soul-searching about my career at this stage and how I can best be of value to the profession I love.

Merida, who is 67, began at the L.A. Times in 2021 after several years at ESPN. There, he ran The Undefeated and was the chair of ESPNs editorial board.

Prior to his time at Disney, Merida worked for 22 years at the Washington Post. He has written three books on race in America.

I am happy that I came to L.A. for this exciting challenge during the Covid summer of 2021, and have no regrets, Merida wrote to staff. I still believe in The Times and its potential.

Soon-Shiong sent a separate note to employees.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - European Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV: FIN) (FSE: W28) ("European Energy" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has satisfied the $1.0 million minimum exploration expenditure commitment on the Central Finland Lithium Project (the "Project"), being a key requirement for earning-in to an initial 51% interest in the Project from Capella Minerals Ltd (TSXV: CMIL) ("Capella") as per the Earn-In Agreement (see March 20, 2023 PR). The Company has incurred over $1.1 million in exploration expenditures at the Project to date which includes sampling and mapping, in addition to the collection of ~1,100 rock chip grab samples, all of which have resulted in the discovery of several high-grade lithium prospects which are being permitted for drilling. The Company may now formally complete its earn-in to the 51% interest in the Project through the payment of CAD 100,000 in cash and 400,000 FIN common shares to Capella.

"Our advancement to the initial 51% earn-in reinforces our commitment to the project based on the exemplary exploration results received to date," commented Jeremy Poirier, CEO of European Energy Metals Corp. "We are currently in the process of converting 4,550 hectares of the 11,690 hectare Nabba Reservation to two Exploration Licenses ("EL's") in order to drill test some of the most prospective targets identified through initial prospecting and sampling which yielded up to 3.84% Li 2 O. We anticipate providing an update on the timing and details of the next phase of exploration upon receipt of the Exploration Licenses."

Under the terms of the Earn-In Agreement with Capella Minerals (TSXV: CMIL), the Company may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by incurring $1.0 million in exploration expenditures ($1.1 million incurred) in addition to cash payments totalling $200,000 ($100,000 paid) and issuing 500,000 shares (250,000 issued) within the first two years of the agreement. Upon the exercise of the initial option, the Company has the right to earn an addition 29% (80% total) for additional $1.5 million in exploration, $300,000 in cash payments plus the issuance of 1.75 million shares within a two-year period from the exercise of the initial 51% earn-in.

Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo. (NL), VP Exploration of European Energy Metals Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this press release and the results discussed herein.

About European Energy Metals Corp.

European Energy Metals Corp. is a junior mining company currently focussed on the Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum Finnish Pegmatite Project in central Finland. Governing bodies in Europe and Finland are legislating environmentally friendly and energy independent laws and policies. One of the key components is access to REE and, specifically, lithium. The company's concessions are located within 15 kms of the Keliber mine, and production complex currently under construction which is expected to begin production in H2 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier, CEO

Telephone: 604-722-9842

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of the Company, including the presence of lithium mineralization at, and the exploration and development potential of, the Finland Pegmatite Project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include the costs of any anticipated work programs and the ability to fund such costs, required approvals in connection with any work programs and the ability to obtain such approvals, risks inherent in exploration as well as those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Metallic Minerals Corp. (TSXV:MMG)(OTCQB:MMNGF) ("Metallic Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from its fall 2023 exploration drilling campaign at the Company's 100%-owned, 171 square kilometer ("km2") Keno Silver project, adjacent to Hecla Mining ("Hecla") in the high-grade Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory. The 2023 exploration program included 1,112 meters ("m") in four diamond drill holes focused on expansion of the Formo target in the West Keno area, which is on trend with the 100 million-ounce ("Moz") historic Hector-Calumet mine controlled by Hecla.

Drill hole FOR23-03 represents one of the best intercepts to date for the Keno Silver project, returning grades of 256 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent recovered ("Ag Eq") over 46 m. This is also the deepest intercept to date on the Formo vein structure (only 275 m vertically from surface) and mineralization remains fully open down dip and along strike. Formo is anticipated to be one of the highest grade and largest contributors to the forthcoming inaugural NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Keno Silver project, currently nearing completion by SGS Geological Services.

2023 West Keno Exploration Highlights

High-grade silver ("Ag"), lead ("Pb"), zinc, ("Zn") and significant gold ("Au") mineralization was encountered in all four 2023 drill holes (See Table 1) which will contribute to the pending NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the project.

Both high-grade Ag-Au-Pb-Zn vein-style mineralization and broader zones of bulk tonnage Ag-Au-Pb-Zn mineralization comprised of high-grade vein intervals and associated stringers and stockwork veining were encountered.

FOR23-03 returned 256.8 g/t Ag Eq (99.1 g/t Ag, 0.52 g/t Au, 0.65% Pb, 2.62% Zn) over 46.05 m with multiple internal higher-grade zones including, 3.3 m of 1,413.45 g/t Ag Eq (562.4 g/t Ag, 0.20 g/t Au, 2.35% Pb and 20.3% Zn) . The bulk tonnage interval of this hole represents one of the highest gram-meter (g/t Ag Eq x interval thickness) intervals on the Keno Silver project to date, and extended mineralization by 140 m from the nearest 2022 and historic drill holes.

with multiple internal higher-grade zones including, . The bulk tonnage interval of this hole represents one of the highest gram-meter (g/t Ag Eq x interval thickness) intervals on the Keno Silver project to date, and extended mineralization by 140 m from the nearest 2022 and historic drill holes. FOR23-04, a large step-out hole, drilled nearly 250 m west of the nearest Formo vein drilling, returned four separate silver-dominant vein structures of considerable width providing additional confirmation of the potential for on-strike expansion of the Formo target.

The Formo target remains open to further expansion, down-dip and on-trend, and shows potential for new discoveries within the Formo property footprint.

Metallic Minerals President, Scott Petsel, stated, "The Formo target is an exciting, advanced exploration stage "resource-ready" target with significant room to grow featuring both high-grade and bulk mineable widths that make it amenable to lower-cost mining methods. The Formo target is ideally located near infrastructure as it is adjacent to the Silver Trail highway (Highway 11) and power lines that feed the central Keno Hill mill. It also directly adjoins Hecla's Keno Hill property, where Hecla is actively mining the nearby Bermingham mine. We are excited to be able to include these new drill results in our upcoming inaugural resource for the Keno Silver project as these results at Formo continue to demonstrate our ability to build a significant resource base for the project. The resource estimate is expected to be complete in Q1 2024."

"In addition, the Company looks forward to meeting with interested investors at the upcoming Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, AMEBC Mineral Roundup and Prospectors and Developers annual conferences where Metallic Minerals has been invited to display drill core from its 2023 exploration programs at La Plata and Keno Silver. We anticipate reporting additional results from the Keno Silver project and La Plata projects over the next few weeks."

Upcoming Events

Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC)

Metallic Minerals and fellow Metallic Group members, Granite Creek Copper and Stillwater Critical Minerals, in Booth #112 at the 2024 VRIC event, January 21 and 22, 2024. For more information click here.

AMEBC Mineral Roundup Core Shack

Metallic Minerals will be displaying core from the 2023 drill season at the upcoming AMEBC Mineral Roundup event held in Vancouver, BC January 22 to 25, 2024. For more information click here.

Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Annual Convention (PDAC)

Metallic Minerals will be displaying core from the 2023 drill season at the La Plata project during the PDAC convention held in Toronto, March 3 to 6, 2024. For more information click here.

Table 1 - Highlights of 2023 Drill Results from the West Keno - Formo Target Area

DDH Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (M) Recovered Ag Eq (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Pb (%) Zn (%) FOR23-001 148.74 149.43 0.69 499.23 3.6 6.20 0.00 0.01 and 196.95 215 18.05 234.45 121.4 0.05 1.22 2.06 including 196.95 198.9 1.95 513.39 300.3 0.07 2.71 3.74 also incl 208.4 214 5.6 478.25 241.0 0.10 2.41 4.43 with 208.4 211.2 2.8 687.57 367.9 0.18 4.02 5.37 FOR23-002 172.3 173.35 1.05 67.04 3.5 0.79 0.01 0.01 and 218 221 3 131.42 51.9 0.38 0.35 1.07 incl 218.75 219.75 1 277.81 137.0 0.00 0.96 3.08 FOR23-003 239.95 286 46.05 256.82 99.1 0.52 0.65 2.62 including 239.35 263.65 23.7 462.37 176.0 1.0 1.13 4.67 with 239.35 245.5 5.5 406.57 46.6 4.07 0.49 0.60 and with 255.8 263.65 7.85 899.27 392.4 0.13 2.06 11.68 including 260.35 263.65 3.3 1,413.45 562.4 0.20 2.35 20.30 with 260.75 261.5 0.75 1,411.76 994.0 0.03 3.01 7.36 and with 262.05 263.65 1.6 1,769.44 416.0 0.39 2.64 32.32 and 284 286 2 302.55 116.5 0.03 1.07 4.07 FOR23-004 122 124.46 2.46 76.62 43.7 0.11 0.33 0.43 and 153.5 154.1 0.6 284.52 154.0 0.09 1.67 2.14 and 177.5 183 5.5 72.95 61.2 0.00 0.28 0.18 including 179 180.75 1.76 144.67 130.0 0.00 0.46 0.21 and 300.3 301 0.7 83.26 5.6 0.97 0.01 0.00

Notes to reported values:

Ag equivalent is presented for comparative purposes using conservative long-term metal prices (all USD): $22.0/oz silver (Ag), $1,850/oz gold (Au), $1.00/lb lead (Pb), $1.40/lb zinc (Zn). Recovered Silver Equivalent in Table 1 is determined as follows: Ag Eq g/t = [Ag g/t x recovery] + [Au g/t x recovery x Au price/ Ag price] + [Pb % x 10,000 x recovery x Pb price / Ag price] + [Zn% x 10,000 x recovery x Zn price / Ag price]. In the above calculations: 1% = 10,000 ppm = 10,000 g/t. The following recoveries have been assumed for purposes of the above equivalent calculations: 95% for precious metals (Ag/Au) and 90% for all other listed metals, based on recoveries at similar nearby operations. Intervals are reported as measured drill intersect lengths and do not represent true width.

Figure 1. Keno Silver District Geology and Deposits

West Keno and the Formo Target Area

The Western Keno Hill district is host to the largest historic production and current resources in the prolific Keno Hill silver district. The Formo target is located at the intersection of a north-easterly structural zone extending from the Hector-Calumet mine, which was the largest producer in the district producing nearly 100 million ounces of silver and the Elsa structural trend, which was the second largest silver producer in the district (see Figure 2).

The Formo property, which includes the historic Formo Mine, was acquired by Metallic Minerals in 2017. The historic Formo mine produced high-grade silver at various times since the 1930s from high-grade vein structures that graded over 1,000 g/t silver1. Significant underground exploration drifts were developed in the 1950s with most of the historic production from an open pit located alongside of the Silver Trail highway between the Elsa townsite and Keno City and last mined in the 1980s.

The primary Formo vein structure is exposed at surface in an open cut. Multiple veins have been encountered in the target area that demonstrate an association with Triassic greenstones in the Earn group schist, similar to the Sadie Ladue deposit which produced 12.7 Moz silver at a grade of 1,620 g/t Ag1. In addition to the mineralization at the known Formo target, two new surface targets have been identified through soil and rock sampling along the same structural corridors that show potential to host high-grade and bulk tonnage Keno-style Ag-Au-Pb-Zn veins on the Formo property (Figure 2).

Since 2020, Metallic Minerals has drilled 26 holes (4,419 m) at the Formo target building on the six core holes and 54 percussion holes drilled by previous owners between 1980 and 1981. The Formo target is open to significant expansion down dip and along trend with several newly identified targets for drill testing (Figure 2 and 3 below).

Figure 2 - West Keno and Formo Target Plan Map

Figure 3 - Formo Target Cross Section (Looking East)

Pending 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for Keno Silver Project

The upcoming inaugural independent 43-101 mineral resource estimate is focused on four initial deposits across the Keno Silver project, including: Formo, Caribou, Fox and Homestake. These four deposits are the most advanced of over 40 identified target areas, each of which is characterized by a kilometric scale Ag in soil anomaly, exposed outcropping high-grade veins, and varying levels of exploration activity or historic production. Metallic Minerals has completed 165 drill holes totalling 18,983 m of combined reverse circulation and diamond core drilling at the Keno Silver project since 2017 on a total of 11 targets, all of which have returned encouraging results. The four most advanced "resource-ready" targets will be part of the upcoming mineral resource estimate being completed by SGS Geological Services and include:

Formo Target - In the West Keno District, it demonstrates potential for lower-cost bulk tonnage mining or high-grade selective methods with drill highlights including: Hole FOR22-04 - 20.87 m @ 220.5 g/t Ag Eq (144.6 g/t Ag, 0.70% Pb, 1.59% Zn), and 1.63 m @ 1,487.19 g/t Ag Eq (1,049 g/t Ag, 4.21% Pb, 9.45% Zn) Hole FOR21-05 - 19.8 m @ 216.26 g/t Ag Eq (70 g/t Ag, 0.41 g/t Au, 0.30% Pb, 2.07% Zn) and 0.7 m @ 1,405 g/t Ag Eq (421.0 g/t Ag, 0.15 g/t Au, 1.53% Pb, 24.2% Zn) Hole FOR20-003 - 3.0 m @ 2,954.52 g/t Ag (1,568 g/t Ag, 29.45% Pb, 1.35% Zn)

Caribou Target - In the Central Keno target area the Caribou target historically produced very high-grade material from a shallow surface pit grading more than 6,000 g/t silver.

Fox Target - Discovered by Metallic Minerals in 2020 in the East Keno target area, the Fox target is characterized as a newly recognized bulk tonnage style of mineralization with shallow-dipping sheeted vein sets up to 177 m in width. Drilling since 2020, has defined a bulk-tonnage mineralized block over 300 m along strike and 150 m down-dip from surface which is open in all directions.

Homestake Target - A historic producer, the Homestake target in the Central Keno area is fractally spatial with the districts' giant past producers and current resources (Silver King, Elsa, Bermingham, Hector Calumet, Flame & Moth and Bellekeno) near the contact of the Keno Hill Quartzite and Sourdough Hill formations. With only 88 drill holes (slightly over 5000 m of drilling), and a strike length over 2 km the Homestake target represents considerable resource opportunity and exploration potential.

Metallic Minerals sees considerable opportunity for resource growth from target expansion and new discovery with the further systematic application of exploration, including the expansion of detailed soil geochemical grids, "resource-ready" target expansion through drilling and reconnaissance drilling of early-stage targets.

About Metallic Minerals

Metallic Minerals Corp. is focused on copper, silver, gold, and other critical minerals in the La Plata mining district in Colorado, and silver and gold in the high-grade Keno Hill and Klondike districts of the Yukon. Our objective is to create shareholder value through a systematic, entrepreneurial approach to making exploration discoveries, growing resources, and advancing projects toward development.

At the Company's La Plata project in southwestern Colorado, the new 2023 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate identifies a significant porphyry copper-silver resource containing 1.21 Blbs copper and 17.6 Moz of silver3. The 2022 expansion drilling provided the basis for the updated resource, including the longest and highest-grade interval ever encountered at La Plata and one of the top intersections for any North American copper project in the past several years. In May 2023, the Company announced a 9.5% strategic investment by Newcrest Mining Limited (acquired by Newmont Mining in 2023) to accelerate the advancement of the Company's La Plata project. In the 2023 Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, Colorado ranked 5th globally for investment attractiveness and 2nd in the USA.

In Canada's Yukon Territory, Metallic Minerals has consolidated the second-largest land position in the historic high-grade Keno Hill silver district, directly adjacent to Hecla Mining Company's ("Hecla") operations, with more than 300 Moz of high-grade silver in past production and current M&I resources. Hecla, the largest primary silver producer in the USA and third largest in the world, is anticipating full production at its Keno Hill operations by the end of 2023. An inaugural mineral resource estimate on the project is expected in early 2024, with an 1,112-meter expansion drill program completed at the Formo target during fall of 2023.

The Company is also one of the largest holders of alluvial gold claims in the Yukon and is building a production royalty business by partnering with experienced mining operators, including Parker Schnabel of Little Flake Mining from the Discovery Channel television show, Gold Rush.

All of the districts in which Metallic Minerals operates have seen significant mineral production and have existing infrastructure, including power and road access. The Company is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success on several major precious and base metal deposits in the region, as well as having large-scale development, permitting and project financing expertise. The Metallic Minerals team has been recognized for its environmental stewardship practices and is committed to responsible and sustainable resource development.

Footnotes:

Cathro, R. J., Great Mining Camps of Canada 1. The History and Geology of the Keno Hill Silver Camp, Yukon Territory. Geoscience Canada, Sept. 2006. ISSN 1911-4850. Alexco Resource Corp Technical Report, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on Updated Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimate of the Keno Hill Silver District" with an effective date of April 1, 2021, and issue date of May 26, 2021. See news release dated July 31, 2023. The Mineral Resource has been estimated in conformity with CIM Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Best Practices Guidelines (2019) and current CIM Definition Standards. The constrained Mineral Resources are reported at a base case cut-off grade of 0.25% Cu Eq, based on metal prices of $3.75/lb Cu and $22.50/oz Ag, assumed metal recoveries of 90% for Cu and 65% for Ag, a mining cost of US$5.30/t rock and processing and G&A cost of US$11.50/t mineralized material. The current Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured. However, based on the current knowledge of the deposits, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Website: www.mmgsilver.com Phone: 604-629-7800

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420

Qualified Person

The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding exploration projects on Metallic Minerals' mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Taylor Haid, P. Geo, Project Manager for TruePoint Exploration, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

All samples were prepared by Bureau Veritas' (BV) Whitehorse, Yukon facility and geochemically analyzed at the BV laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia. All samples were prepared using BV code PRP70-250, which crushed, split, and pulverized 250 grams of core to 200 mesh pulps. These pulps were then analyzed by 37 Element 1:1:1 Aqua Regia Digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-ES/MS) analyses (BV Code AQ202). Over-limit silver, lead, and zinc samples were further analyzed with multi-acid digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry (BV Code MA404). Samples with over-limit gold (and silver when over-limit was reached via multi-acid) were re-analyzed using a 30-gram fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish (BV Code FA530).

All results have passed the QAQC screening by the lab and the company utilizes a quality control and quality assurance protocol for the project, including insertion of blanks, duplicates, and certified reference materials approximately every tenth sample. Certified reference materials were acquired from OREAS North America Inc. of Sudbury, Ontario, and CDN Resource Laboratories Ltd. Of Langley, British Columbia for the 2023 drill program at the Keno Silver project.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, statements about expected results of operations, royalties, cash flows, financial position and future dividends as well as financial position, prospects, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals 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, unsuccessful operations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration, development of mines and mining operations is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Metallic Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
HALIFAX, NS, Jan. 10, 2024 /CNW/ - Fortune Bay Corp. (TSXV: FOR) (FWB: 5QN) (OTCQX: FTBYF) ("Fortune Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Spruce Uranium Project ("Spruce" or the "Project") through staking over the past several months. The Project is located within the north-central margin of the Athabasca Basin, near the community of Fond du Lac, and comprises four mineral claims covering 6,855 hectares (Figure 1).

Highlights:

Located in proximity to the northern rim of the Athabasca Basin ("Basin") with potential for high-grade, basement-hosted uranium deposits.

Basin ("Basin") with potential for high-grade, basement-hosted uranium deposits. Covers over six (6) kilometres of prospective strike length along the Grease River Shear Zone ("GRSZ"), a major structural corridor that hosts the historical Fond du Lac uranium deposit.

uranium deposit. The GRSZ is significantly underexplored relative to other major, Basin-margin structural corridors that have yielded significant basement-hosted uranium discoveries (e.g. Arrow, Triple R and Eagle Point).

Historical surface uranium showings of 1.60% U 3 O 8 and 0.65% U 3 O 8 from limited prospecting.

O and 0.65% U O from limited prospecting. Additional Rare Earth Element ("REE") potential, including historical surface REE showings of 3.13% total rare earth element ("TREE"), 1.23% TREE, 0.88% TREE and 0.85% TREE.

Adjacent to properties held by IsoEnergy Ltd., and Forum Energy Metals Corp. (under option to Traction Uranium Inc.) that recently highlighted prospective conductive trends on the Project through airborne electromagnetic ("EM") surveying.

Dale Verran, CEO for Fortune Bay, commented, "As the uranium market continues to strengthen, with spot prices recently topping US$90/lb U 3 O 8 , investment in uranium exploration in Saskatchewan's prolific Athabasca Basin is on the rise as explorers search for resources to meet the growing future supply deficit. This timely acquisition provides Fortune Bay with another uranium project to create value for our stakeholders. The Spruce Uranium Project hosts the hallmarks for a high-grade basement-hosted discovery; located on a major structural zone in proximity to the Basin margin with a precedent for mineralization, and limited exploration to date."

The Spruce Uranium Project

The Project is located along the Grease River Shear Zone ("GRSZ"), a crustal-scale structural corridor up to seven kilometres wide. Unlike other major structural zones in the Athabasca Basin, that have yielded the large high-grade uranium discoveries, the GRSZ has seen very limited exploration to date. Historical exploration has demonstrated the GRSZ to be prospective for basement-hosted uranium mineralization, evidenced by the Fond du Lac uranium deposit and numerous historical uranium occurrences (Table 1). In addition, the Project includes anomalous lake sediment samples with up to 287 ppm uranium from historical regional datasets, and several airborne radiometric uranium anomalies. Only three historical drill holes have been completed on the Project to date. The 6,855 hectare Project covers over six (6) kilometres of prospective strike length along the GRSZ, within approximately 20 kilometres of the present-day Athabasca Basin margin.

In addition, the Project has potential for REE deposits. The northern region of Saskatchewan has a precedent for high REE grades, exemplified by the Alces Lake, Hoidas Lake and Bear Lake REE projects. Historical REE discoveries on the Project were made while prospecting for uranium and records indicate that these occurrences, including outcrop samples of 3.13% TREE, 1.17% TREE, 0.88% TREE and 0.85% TREE, have not been followed-up.

Table 1: Highlight Historical Uranium Occurrences.

Project SMDI# Name Grab Sample

Uranium Description Spruce 1577 CBS 4422 Trench 0.65% U 3 O 8 Cross-cutting pitchblende vein hosted in

gneiss, proximal to major mylonitic fault. 1589 Magma Mines Uranium

Showing No. 1 1.60% U 3 O 8 Fault-hosted uranium mineralization in a

quartzitic biotite gneiss. Three foot channel

samples. 5410 Sample AM076 1,790 ppm U Rock sample of a white pegmatite outcrop. 5389 Sample AM086 340 ppm U Rock sample of an outcrop (unspecified rock type). 5411 Sample JR355 545 ppm U Rock sample of a granite outcrop. 3324 Samples TP150 & TP151 764 ppm U Rock samples from a white granite outcrop.

Sample TP150 also contained 1,849 ppm TREE. Adjacent Property 1579 CBS 4427 Uranium

Occurrence 0.11% U 3 O 8 Geochemical sample from lake sediment. 1590 BURNS Claims Trenches 0.17% U 3 O 8 Trench samples from pegmatite with yellow

staining, samples from all the trenches

averaged 0.12% U 3 O 8 . 3329 Samples CH129, CH130, CH132, JF011, JF027,

RD305, RD306 >10,000 ppm U Samples from white and pink pegmatite

outcrops. 5637 Sample AM122 8,382 ppm U Sample from a white granite boulder. Fond du Lac 1572 The Fond Du Lac Uranium Deposit is located approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the

Project, along the Grease River Shear Zone, and was discovered by Famok Ltd in the early

1970's. The deposit comprises coffinite, pitchblende, and uraniferous goethite hosted within

steeply dipping fractures within Athabasca Group basal sandstone and extending into the

underlying basement rocks. A historical mineral resource of one million pounds uranium at an

average grade of 0.25% U 3 O 8 was estimated but was not prepared in accordance with

National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

*SMDI# refers to the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index occurrence number.

Next Steps

The Project warrants a modern, systematic approach to evaluate the GRSZ and other historical uranium and REE occurrences of interest.

Next steps are planned to include:

Desk-top Prioritization of Target Areas: Existing historical data (geochemical and airborne geophysical surveys), regional government data, and satellite imagery provide valuable information to commence prioritization of target areas, which would include the identification of favorable lithological and structural settings.

Existing historical data (geochemical and airborne geophysical surveys), regional government data, and satellite imagery provide valuable information to commence prioritization of target areas, which would include the identification of favorable lithological and structural settings. Field Data Verification and Investigation: Verification of historical datasets is planned within prioritized target areas, to include ground-truthing of uranium and REE occurrences. Scope of work to include geological mapping, scintillometer surveying and grab sampling.

Verification of historical datasets is planned within prioritized target areas, to include ground-truthing of uranium and REE occurrences. Scope of work to include geological mapping, scintillometer surveying and grab sampling. Drill Target Definition: Drill targets are expected to be defined through geophysical surveying including gravity and magnetics and/or additional EM surveys, as applicable. Geochemical surveys may be warranted based on assessments of suitable sample media.

The Company plans to commence the desk-top prioritization of target areas over the coming weeks. Fortune Bay intends on finding a suitable partner to advance the Project through an earn-in, or similar agreement, that provides Fortune Bay with upside in future discovery.

Grant of Deferred Share Units

Fortune Bay announces that effective November 28, 2023 and December 20, 2023 the board of directors of the Company has granted Deferred Share Units ("DSUs") to its directors, officers and employees to satisfy certain director fees and management bonuses in lieu of cash. 150,000 DSUs were granted to the Company's directors to settle director fees for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, 290,000 DSUs were granted to officers and employees in lieu of annual cash bonuses. The DSUs will vest in accordance with the Company's deferred share unit plan.

Technical Disclosure

The historical results contained within this news release have not been verified and there is a risk that any future confirmation work and exploration may produce results that substantially differ from the historical results. The Company considers these historical results relevant to assess the mineralization and economic potential of the property. The Company also cautions that historical results on adjacent properties are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Project. Further details regarding the historical occurrences noted in this news release can be found within the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index ("SMDI") using the reference numbers provided in Table 1. Historical assay and scintillometer survey results were captured from assessment reports available in the Saskatchewan Mineral Assessment Database (SMAD) references 74O07-0002, 74O07-0031, 74O09-0023 and 74O09-0024. Historical anomalous lake sediment samples referenced derive from Geological Society of Canada datasets available from the Saskatchewan online GeoAtlas and from assessment report 74O09-0023. Details regarding the Fond du Lac Uranium Deposit can be found in the publication by Homeniuk, L A, Clark, R. J., and Bonnar, R., Eldorado Nuclear Limited, CIM Bulletin May,1982. "Fond-du-Lac uranium deposit".

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gareth Garlick, P.Geo., Technical Director of the Company, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Garlick is an employee of Fortune Bay and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

About Fortune Bay

Fortune Bay Corp. (TSXV:FOR, FWB:5QN, OTCQX:FTBYF) is an exploration and development company with 100% ownership in two advanced gold exploration projects in Canada, Saskatchewan (Goldfields Project) and Mexico, Chiapas (Ixhuatan Project), both with exploration and development potential. The Company is also advancing the Strike and Murmac uranium exploration projects, located near the Goldfields Project, which have high-grade potential typical of the Athabasca Basin. The Company has a goal of building a mid-tier exploration and development Company through the advancement of its existing projects and the strategic acquisition of new projects to create a pipeline of growth opportunities. The Company's corporate strategy is driven by a Board and Management team with a proven track record of discovery, project development and value creation. Further information on Fortune Bay and its assets can be found on the Company's website at www.fortunebaycorp.com or by contacting us as This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by telephone at 902-334-1919.

On behalf of Fortune Bay Corp.

"Dale Verran"

Chief Executive Officer

902-334-1919

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Words such as "expects", "aims", "anticipates", "targets", "goals", "projects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "continues", "may", variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

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, intentions or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify targets or mineralization, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate First Nations and other indigenous peoples, inability to reach access agreements with other Project communities, amendments to applicable mining laws, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing or partnerships needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR+. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. For more information on Fortune Bay, readers should refer to Fortune Bay's website at www.fortunebaycorp.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Vancouver, British Columbia  TheNewswire - January 10, 2024  Norseman Silver Inc. (TSXV:NOC) (OTC:NOCSF) (Norseman or the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Merlin Marr-Johnson to its board of directors ("Board"). Mr Marr-Johnson has 30 years experience in the minerals sector, including work as an exploration geologist for Rio Tinto, an analyst for HSBC and a portfolio manager for Blakeney Management as well as work on projects in South America, Africa, Central Asia and Europe. As CEO he has brought two companies to AIM, London and he has been involved in management and director roles in numerous publicly traded mining companies in the UK and Canada throughout his career. He is currently a non-executive Director of Salazar Resources Ltd, (SRL.V, SRLZF).

Mr. Marr-Johnson is a graduate in geology from Manchester University and holds a Masters Degree in Mineral Deposit Evaluation from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College. He speaks several languages, including Spanish.

Campbell Smyth, Chairman of Norseman Silver, commented, "I welcome the technical and capital markets expertise that Merlin brings to the Board. He will help us to build value in Norseman Silver through the exploration and development of our copper and gold portfolio."

On behalf of Norseman Silver Inc.

Sean Hurd

President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Sean Hurd President and CEO

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+1 604-505-4554

For more information on Norseman Silver, please visit the Company's website.

www.norsemansilver.com.




Solar power and international finance specialist provides crucial experience and perspective for the Company.

Vancouver, BC, Canada  TheNewswire - January 10, 2024  First Tellurium Corp. (CSE:FTEL) (OTC:FSTTF), reports it has appointed Frederick Jung, CPA, CFA, to the Companys Board of Directors. Mr. Jung provides First Tellurium with 17 years of international finance experience and leadership for small to large publicly-listed companies across multiple industries. He currently serves as the CFO for Solar Flow-Through Funds, a solar energy and investment company which operates over 70 solar power generation projects in Ontario, where he managed and helped raise over $150 million in equity and debt financing. Mr. Jung began his career with KPMG, one of the Big Four international accounting firms.

Were very pleased to welcome Fred to the board, said First Tellurium President and CEO Tyrone Docherty. His knowledge and experience within the solar sector will be essential as we move forward with our plans to provide tellurium for the solar industry, one of our key target markets along with next generation batteries and thermoelectric devices.

The Company also reports completion of its Annual General Meeting held December 29, 2023, where all items voted upon received 98% approval.

I greatly appreciate the support shown by our shareholders, said Docherty. Weve had an active and successful year, and I look forward to delivering a lot more good news to our shareholders in 2024.

Stock Option Grant

The Company also announces that it has granted 2,150,000 incentive stock options to a director of, and consultants to, the Company, exercisable at a price of $0.10 per share for a period of 10 years.

About First Tellurium Corp.

First Telluriums unique business model is to generate revenue and value through mineral discovery, project development, project generation and cooperative access to untapped mineral regions in Indigenous territory with sustainable exploration.

Our Klondike tellurium-gold property in Colorado and polymetallic Deer Horn Project in British Columbia anchor a diversified search for metals, working in alliance with Indigenous peoples, NGOs, governments and leading metals buyers. This is the future of mineral explorationgenerating revenue by exploring responsibly and leveraging diverse partnerships.

First Tellurium proudly adheres to, and supports, the principles and rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in particular the fundamental proposition of free, prior and informed consent. First Tellurium is listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the symbol FTEL and on the OTC under the symbol FSTTF. Further information about FTEL and its projects can be found on www.firsttellurium.com.

On behalf of the board of directors of First Tellurium Corp. Tyrone Docherty Tyrone Docherty President and CEO For further information please contact: Tyrone Docherty 604.789.5653 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulations services accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking information

All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Companys control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated event.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTCQB: OMGGF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 43,000,000 units (each a "Unit") at a price of $0.07 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000, subject to acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one-half of a common share purchase warrant. Two such half warrants shall constitute a full warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of C$0.11 for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance.

Elaine Ellingham, Chief Executive Officer commented: "Our 2023 drilling significantly expanded the zones of gold mineralization at the West Wenot target, further demonstrating the scope of untapped potential of this large shear-hosted orogenic gold system at our Omai project in Guyana. The Wenot deposit now extends along a strike of at least 2.5 km, with a width of up to 500m and depth to at least 425m. All Wenot holes intersected multiple gold zones with good grades and widths for open pit mining, including 4.07 g/t Au over 31.1 m (23ODD-063), 2.26 g/t Au over 70.0 m (23ODD-071), 5.18 g/t Au over 20.2 m (23ODD-064), 4.54 g/t Au over 27.5m (23ODD-065), 8.7 g/t Au over 4.6 m (23ODD-066), and 5.89 g/t Au over 12.0m (23ODD-067). These are expected to have a positive impact on the upcoming resource update. Our independent consultant (Qualified Person "QP") is preparing an updated resource report that will form the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), both expected to be completed within the next couple months."

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to further advance exploration on the Company's Omai Project in Guyana and for general working capital purposes.

The Offering may be closed in one or more tranches as subscriptions are received. If the Offering is oversubscribed, subscriptions will be accepted at the discretion of the Company and subject to the approval of the Exchange; therefore, it is possible that a subscriber's subscription may not be accepted by the Company even if it is received within the Offering period unless the Company determines to increase the size of the Offering.

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to statutory hold periods in accordance with applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. The securities offered have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons, absent registration or compliance with an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

Subject to Exchange approval, finder's fees may be paid to persons who introduce the Company to investors.

The Offering is expected to close on or around January 24, 2024. Completion of the Offering remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Exchange.

About Omai Gold Mines Corp.

Omai Gold Mines Corp. holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai gold mine in Guyana, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. The Company announced an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") October 20, 2022 that includes 1.9 million ounces of gold (indicated) and 1.8 million ounces (inferred)1. Once South America's largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. Mining ceased at a time when the average gold price was less than US$400 per ounce. As a brownfields project, Omai benefits from good road access and a wealth of historical data that provides knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization on the property, as well as metallurgy, historical recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters. The Company is currently integrating results from the 2023 drilling and is proceeding with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate that will form the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), both expected to be completed in Q1 2024.

1 The Company filed an NI43-101 technical report titled "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate of the Omai Gold Property, Potaro Mining District No. 2, Guyana", prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc dated December 2, 2022 on the SEDAR website www.sedar.com.

Qualified Person

Elaine Ellingham is a Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the technical information contained in this news release. Ms. Ellingham is not considered to be independent for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact:

Elaine Ellingham, P.Geo.

President & CEO

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+1-416-473-5351

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of completion of exploration, trenching and drill programs, and the potential for the Omai Gold Project to allow Omai to build significant gold Mineral Resources at attractive grades, and forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the price of gold and copper; and the results of current exploration. Further, the Mineral Resource data set out in the Omai Gold news release are estimates, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated tonnages and grades will be achieved or that the indicated level of recovery will be realized. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. 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.

Cautionary Statements to U.S. Readers

This news release uses the terms "Mineral Resource", "Indicated Mineral Resource" and "Inferred Mineral Resource" as defined in the CIM Standards in accordance with NI 43-101. While these terms are recognized and required by the Canadian Securities Administrators in accordance with Canadian securities laws, they may not be recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The "Mineral Resource" Estimates and related information in this news release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
In the recent episode of tvN's 'Marry My Husband,' aired on the 9th, viewers witnessed a pivotal moment that exposed the intricate connection between Yoo Ji-hyuk (Na In-woo) and the return of Kang Ji-won (Park Min-young).

This revelation set the stage for a series of unexpected events, unraveling the storyline's complexity.

Jung Soo-min's Calculated Deceit Unravels

The plot thickened as Kang Ji-won, attending a class reunion, garnered attention with newfound confidence and elegance.

However, the focus shifted when Jung Soo-min (Song Ha-yoon) deliberately exposed Kang Ji-won, concealing the reunion's true nature in an attempt to bring her trouble.

As the confrontation unfolded, Soo-min struggled to maintain her composure, revealing a layer of embarrassment beneath the surface.

YOU MIGHT ALSO INTERESTED IN: Park Min Youngs Bold Transformation Begins in Marry My Husband

Backlash Over Unveiled Lies

Following the heated exchange, Kang Ji-won confronted Jung Soo-min, vehemently refuting the latter's fabrications about her personal and professional life.

The classmates, angered by Soo-min's deceit, expressed frustration over believing her lies, including false claims about dating and employment.

The revelation prompted a collective outcry, questioning Soo-min's motives and criticizing her for subjecting Kang Ji-won to unwarranted criticism.

Defiance Amidst Evidence: Jung Soo-min Persists in Denial, Clinging to Friendship Amid Backlash

In a surprising turn of events, despite mounting evidence, Jung Soo-min continued to deny any wrongdoing, asserting her friendship with Ji-won.

nothing will ever beat the satisfaction of a fast-paced revenge!!! I AM LOVING THIS DRAMA SM #MarryMyHusband #MarryMyHusbandEp3 #ParkMinYoung pic.twitter.com/OG8BBuHLJT   (@kdramatreasure) January 8, 2024

The classmates, however, retaliated, attributing the criticism faced by Kang Ji-won throughout high school to Soo-min's actions.

The ensuing confrontation exposed the depths of deception, leaving viewers astonished by the unraveling drama within the 'Marry My Husband' storyline.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Welcome to Samdali's' Sensational Surge  Jo Yoon-seo & Han Eun-seong's Jaw-Dropping 9.8% Record

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Michelle Williams.
The government attacks in full force in the second half of "Gyeongseong Creature," putting Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee's safety to jeopardy.

Will they survive everything? Will their love conquer all? Read on to know what went down in episode 8 to 10.

Yoon Chae Ok Learns The Truth

It is revealed that Lady Maeda (Soo Hyun) is a big contributor to the experiments in the hospital.

Kato (Choi Young Joon) explains that the Najin doesn't turn humans into a creature but it makes them hungry for human brains. Seishin became a creature because of an unknown serum.

Yoon Chae Ok (Han So Hee) learns the truth behind her mother's disappearance after seeing the creature's necklace inside the hospital.

She and Jang Tae Sang run after Myung Ja (Ji Woo) to save her from facing the same fate as Seishin. However, Myung Ja finds herself surrounded by policemen.

Jang Tae Sang Parts Ways With Yoon Chae Ok

The policemen push Myung Ja into a cage. When she throws a fit and tries to attack Ishikawa (Kim Do Hyun), bullets fly into her.

At the hospital, Seishin grows more agitated as she tries to look for her child. Jang Tae Sang creates a plan about what they can do in the hospital.

READ MORE: 'Gyeongseong Creature' Episode 5-7: Han So Hee Bravely Faces The Monster

He gives Yoon Chae Ok an opal bracelet for good luck, promising one another that they must remember each other should one of them die.

After sharing an emotional moment, Jang Tae Sang and Yoon Chae Ok finally kiss each other goodbye and prepare for their operation.

Seishin's Rampage

Seishin successfully breaks out of her chains, frustrating Kato and the other officials. Meanwhile, Lady Maeda brings in Yoon Chae Ok.

After learning that Yoon Chae Ok is missing, Jang Tae Sang goes on his way with Kwon Jun Taek (Wi Ha Joon). The former leaves his pawnshop in Mrs. Nawol's (Kim Hae Sook) care.

At the hospital, Seishin bursts through the mesh floor when Kato slaps Yoon Chae Ok. Kato decides to shut the underground lab before finally bombing the hospital.

Thankfully, Jang Tae Sang arrives at the hospital to free her. He also frees Myung Ja, who's crucially in labor. Yoon Chae Ok's father lures Seishin to the rooftops to save her.

Did Yoon Chae Ok Survive?

Jang Tae Sang and Yoon Chae Ok get on an army truck. Enraged, Lady Maeda sends her men to attack. Thankfully, Seishin comes to the rescue.

Unfortunately, Seishin thinks Jang Tae Sang is one of them. Yoon Chae Ok shields him and says that he's the man she loves. Because of this, Seishin's tentacles go through her instead.

At the end of the show, Jang Tae Sang remains as the master of the House of Golden Treasures. Elsewhere, Yoon Chae Ok floats together with Seishin.

It is revealed that the Najin in Seishin's body entered Yoon Chae Ok to save her. In the next scene, Jang Tae Sang is seen in modern Seoul with a new identity called Ho Jae.

ALSO READ: 'Gyeongseong Creature' Takes Top Spot In Most Buzzworthy K-dramas Amidst Controversies

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
On Monday, United said it found loose bolts in multiple 737 Max jets after it began preliminary inspections on Saturday.

- Boeing Max 9 Inspections Hit Snag as United, Alaska Find Loose Parts

So with a world-wide scandal that corporate manslaughtered 346 people, Boeing only grudgingly followed the rest of the World in grounding these flying turds and claiming it was only out of an over-abundance of caution and that safety was their top priority. Then there came reports of multiple incidents of corruption and quality lapses which resulted in the design and production of these flying turds. Notably, the Great Satan has no laws against corporate manslaughter, only negligence. That's not re-assuring!!!!!! Neither is appointing a bean-counter as the head of Boeing! It's also obvious that Boeing has never put the investment in that's necessary even to fix known design flaws such as the tail-stabiliser issue.

You would think that Boeing would take measures to correct the issues. But, if anything it's just getting worse, with a series of issues over the years since those two crashes.

Clearly, they couldn't give a Victoria Nuland about safety!!!!!! Tesla appears to have a similar attitude.
Ow, Canada! Brisk north winds accompanied an Arctic airmass that began pushing into the Okanagan on Wednesday. Temperatures in Kelowna are expected to fall to minus 21 on Thursday, and minus 25 C on Friday before moderating slightly into the weekend.




Wednesday, January 10, 2024

-

Suspected serial killer, Jonn Matara, colluded with rogue ladies to lure Nigerian men to Airbnbs with a promise of some good time, only for the victims to be beaten up and robbed.

According to an Airbnb owner, Matara and another man accosted a Nigerian national, accusing him of having an affair with his wife.

He had conspired with a lady to lure the victim to an Airbnb and then stormed in unexpectedly.

He claimed that the lady was his wife.

The man was beaten black and blue before being robbed.

They transferred Ksh 29,000 from his phone to a number that belonged to someone else.

A Nigerian was done for bad things, there are women who are on Badoo who are pretending to be good people booking Airbnbs and telling them that it is their house.

"The Nigerian will go and visit knowing that it is the woman's house, and when he gets there, she calls a group of men to the Airbnb...this isn't her house.

They arrive and attack him and while choking him, they demand his mobile money PIN, and fearing for your life, you give it out.

"They take all your money and use it for themselves, an Airbnb operator narrated one of the chilling encounters.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Wednesday, January 10, 2024

- President William Ruto has declared that his administration will not bribe judges and magistrates to get favorable rulings like the previous regimes.

Speaking on Tuesday during the laying of the foundation stone for the Kapsuswa Affordable Housing Project in Uasin Gishu County, the president said that he will ensure that corruption in courts, which is threatening to derail his development agenda, comes to an end.

The biggest problem in Kenya is unemployment.

"Please, I want to tell you kuweni na utu.

"You have jobs, and your children have jobs.

"The children of the hustler and mama mbogas have no jobs.

"I am their lawyer and I cannot bribe the courts; instead of giving bribes to courts, I will end corruption in courts, Ruto said, adding that he was being advised to bribe courts for his agendas to push through like his predecessor.

Some people are saying that because the previous government had a budget to bribe courts, I should go and come up with a budget to bribe the courts, Ruto said.

Do you want your money to be used to bribe the courts?

"No budget will be made to bribe anyone in the courts.

"The courts are servants of Kenyans.

Ruto spoke a week after he accused the Judiciary of being corrupt and sabotaging government programs such as the housing levy and universal health scheme.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Wednesday,

January 10, 2024

- Wiper Democratic Movement party leader, Kalonzo Musyoka, has officially declared his 2027 presidential bid.

In an exclusive interview with one of the local dailies on Tuesday, Kalonzo said he will stage the stiffest competition against President William Ruto during the 2027 presidential election.

Kenyans should, by now, be knowing who President Rutos main challenger in 2027 is. I am the one.

"Even the president himself announced my bid for the top seat recently, Kalonzo stated.

The former Vice President ruled out supporting Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga for the third time.



If Raila decides to vie for the presidency, it will be an exciting race.

"In 2022 I decided not to vie in favour of Raila but I dont expect any payback from him, said Kalonzo.



He noted that he is expecting to be endorsed by his party in a national executive council meeting on January 16.



I cannot make an announcement as party leader without consulting. We have been a very consultative movement.

"Vying for President should be a clarion call, but again, I dont want to jump the gun; I want it to be an announcement by the party, said Kalonzo.



He mentioned that the Wiper Party would be very aggressive in branding and recruiting new members and candidates and that he welcomes anyone who wants to join the party.



The Kenyan DAILY POST
Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - Former Gatanga Member of Parliament, David Murathe, has revealed the presidential candidate he will support during the 2027 Presidential election.

The 2027 presidential contest will likely feature President William Ruto, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, and some joy riders like Prof. George Wajackoyah.

Speaking on Monday, Murathe who is a former Jubilee Party Vice-chairman, insisted that Raila Odinga still remains his presidential candidate during the 2027 election.

Raila will be the 2027 Presidential flag bearer. Those holding contrary opinions should pose or hold their horses. If Malawi people picked a President at 90, what's strange with Railas case, Murathe said.

Murathe's suggestion comes after Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka declared that he will be on the ballot in 2027 and stated that he will not support Railas presidential ambition again.

Kalonzo has maintained that he is the one who will fly the opposition flag in 2027 and nothing will stop him from achieving that.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - Oruba Boys High School students in Migori County have disputed the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results, terming them a sham .

One of the students who spoke to journalists said out of 75 students who sat for last year's KCSE exams, 73 scored a mean grade of D and only two scored C-.

"I am Dijon Omondi I want to thank you for giving us this opportunity to express ourselves and tell you what is ongoing at Oruba Boys.

We sat for the exam's 75 candidates but what we've seen is unexpected; it is full of irony.

We haven't seen this thing for sure. Almost 75 candidates scored a mean grade of D.

But in each and every exam we've sat for including internals and externals we haven't seen such a result.

In each and every exam we must have what we call a curve whereby we must have the top rank and the lower rank; you can find those people who have the quality grade and the lesser grade but in Oruba Boys it is a shock.

This is totally a shock. We've never seen this," the student cried out.

Another candidate, Gordon Otieno Okinyi, said the results surprised them, adding that they were expecting to celebrate like other schools but the outcome was appalling.

"Everyone has got a grade of D, only two people got a C-.

D- is what we have, and we don't even know. There are even Es.

We've already done the exams, and as a school, we know where we stand; we've done joint exams," he stated.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - Wiper Democratic Movement party leader, Kalonzo Musyoka, has said he will not support former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Presidential bid in 2027.

In an exclusive interview with one of the local dailies on Tuesday, Kalonzo said though Raila Odinga has a democratic right to vie for the top office in 2027, he will not support him.

Kalonzo, however, said all Azimio One Kenya Alliance leaders,, including Raila Odinga will sit down and agree on who will fly the opposition flag during the 2027 Presidential election.

It is everybody's right including my brother Raila if he so chooses to run (for the presidency) and if that happens that will be very exciting stuff but again we all need to sit down and take a reality check on where we are as a country," Kalonzo said

"Do we want to continue doing the same things, the same way, and expect results will be different or do we like I did in 2022 take a back step and support Raila and Martha the way I did wholeheartedly?

I dont believe in anything like payback or anything. These things you just have to allow natural consequences to happen and that is the direction Im taking."

The former vice president said that everyone is free to run for presidency but he is confident that it will only be a two-horse race between him and President William Ruto.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
CONCORD, N.H.  Drenching rains, flooding and fierce winds stranded vehicles, shuttered schools and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in the Northeast, the swan song of a bout of violent weather that battered most of the United States. Forecasters warned Wednesday that more misery was not far behind.

The storm hit the Northeast on Tuesday night and moved out Wednesday after toppling trees, downing power lines and forcing water rescues on flooded or washed-out roads.

Wind gusts reached as high as 95 mph in Maine, and blustery weather continued Wednesday. Philadelphia, which sits on the Delaware River upstream from the Atlantic Ocean, experienced its highest storm surge on record.

Another storm could bring heavy rain and high winds to the Northeast from Friday night into Saturday, forecasters said.

The region's woes followed a day of tornadoes and deadly accidents in the South and blizzards in the Midwest and Northwest. In some parts of the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, more than 2 feet of snow fell. Bone-chilling cold promised to follow in some areas.

Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power at some point as storms swept the country. At least 250,000 customers remained without power Wednesday afternoon on both coasts and in parts of the Midwest, with New York and Pennsylvania leading the count, according to PowerOutage.us.

Nearly 700 flights were canceled across the country Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com.

A couple of Pennsylvania communities got more than 4 inches of rain, and others came close. Emergency responders rescued some drivers as low-lying roads flooded.

"It's a common occurrence that when we have the heavy rains and the flooding occurs, and we shut down these roads, that some people choose to take their chances," said Lower Macungie Fire Chief David Nosal. "And some make it through, some don't, and those that don't end up calling 911, and then we have to go out and retrieve them."

The storm uprooted trees and cut power. The storm surge at Philadelphia was the highest in records dating to 1900, said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections. The previous high surge came during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In New Jersey, roads flooded and rivers rose after some up to 3 inches of rain fell on ground already saturated by another storm a few weeks ago.

In New York's Nassau County, on Long Island, cars sloshed through water in the streets of Freeport. Farther east, near the Hamptons, flooding was reported at Shinnecock Bay. Several schools across Long Island canceled or delayed classes.

New York City officials evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex in Brooklyn amid fears high winds could collapse it. Families slept on the floor of a high school. The migrants returned to the complex early Wednesday after winds eased.

The storm canceled events and government functions in Maine, where some areas were still recovering from a snowstorm over the weekend and flooding the previous month.

Winds gusted to 95 mph at Maine's Isle au Haut, an island in Penobscot Bay, said Jon Palmer, of the National Weather Service.

Winds pushed a parked but empty Southwest Airlines plane into a jet bridge early Wednesday at Portland International Jetport, Maine's largest airport, officials said. No one was hurt, but a wing was damaged and a new aircraft was sent to operate the flight.

A dam breach in Connecticut brought evacuation orders along the Yantic River in Norwich. It was lifted hours later after the dam was deemed not in danger of failing. A power substation that was shut down, cutting electricity to 5,000 customers, was being brought back online.

The storm also caused severe coastal flooding at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, with police discouraging people from getting too close to the surf. Water surrounded entire neighborhoods and made roads impassable, and a shelter was set up in Hampton. No injuries were reported.

In Vermont, winds gusted to 70 mph, and rain followed heavy, wet snow. Many schools closed or delayed classes.

The storm also hit Atlantic Canada with snow, rain, and high winds and waves, closing schools and cutting power to thousands in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

In the West, a storm was expected to bring as much as 2 feet of snow to the highest elevations in the Sierra Nevada by Thursday. The National Weather Service issued a rare snow squall warning as night fell Wednesday east of Reno, Nevada, with as much as 2 inches of snow per hour possible in some areas. The weather service said rare snowfall was possible on the Las Vegas Strip.

Storms in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains already dumped 29 inches at Stevens Pass in Washington and 30 inches outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities issued warnings for very dangerous avalanche conditions in mountainous areas of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Washington and Oregon.

An avalanche roared through a section of expert trails Wednesday at a California ski resort near Lake Tahoe, killing one person and injuring three others, authorities said.

Forecasters warned of dangerous temperatures and windchills in the Midwest and Plains dipping to minus 20 or lower in Chicago, Kansas City and some areas of Montana.

In parts of northern Montana, temperatures could drop below minus 30 by Saturday morning. High temperatures were expected to remain below freezing as far south as Oklahoma.

The storm, which began Monday, buried cities across the Midwest. Some areas saw up to a foot of snow. Slushy highways led to fatal collisions in Wisconsin and Michigan.

The University of Kansas Health System said it is treating several people injured shoveling or hurt in crashes. One person found outside in the snow died, the health system said in a news release.

In the South, several deaths were blamed on heavy rain, hail and wind, including possible tornadoes.


Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - President William Ruto has something new to worry about following a secret meeting between former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and billionaire Jimmy Wanjigi.

Raila and Wanjigi met on Wednesday at a Nairobi hotel, fueling speculation that a new political pact between the two could be in the works.

Speaking after the meeting, Wanjigi told the media they discussed several issues including matters of national importance.

We discussed several issues but more importantly matters of national interest with the Azimio leader in our meeting that went very well, Wanjigi said.

Raila, who was not accompanied by any of his allies, declined to speak with journalists about the details of their meeting.

Reports indicate that Wanjigi is looking to join forces with Raila to put pressure on the President William Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza administration.

The businessman-turned-politician fell out with Raila in 2018 following the mock swearing-in at Uhuru Park.

The two were once close friends and political allies, and Wanjigi actively participated in Railas 2017 campaigns.

Wanjigi claimed in a previous media interview that Raila went into a handshake with retired President Uhuru Kenyatta without the knowledge of his closest associates.

The Kenyan DAILY POST


Tuesday, January 9, 2024  This is the horrifying moment men armed with bombs and grenades seized a studio shortly after gangsters vowed a 'war' against the president's plans to reclaim control from 'narcoterrorists.'

Attackers carrying rifles and grenades stormed the studio of TC television in the port city of Guayaquil, western Ecuador, as a woman was heard pleading: 'Don't shoot, please don't shoot.'

The men ordered terrified crew onto the ground as the studio lights went off but the live broadcast continued for at least 15 minutes.

'Please, they came in to kill us. God don't let this happen. The criminals are on air,' a TC employee said.

One of the hooded men who attacked the set reportedly said: 'We are on the air so that they know that we do not play with the mafia.'





After about 30 minutes of chaos, police officers were seen entering the studio.

Ecuador's Police said on X, formerly Twitter, that some units were deployed to the media facilities.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.





Adolfo 'Fito' Macias, the leader of Los Choneros gang, was found missing from his cell in a low-security prison on the same day he was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security facility, on Sunday.

Police reported four officers were kidnapped on Monday night and remained missing, one in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

See the moment men armed with grenades and bombs seize state TV news studio and hold journalists hostage as cameras keep rolling (VIDEO 1) pic.twitter.com/gwoy90C3tH  DAILY POST  (@TheKenyanPost) January 9, 2024

See the moment men armed with grenades and bombs seize state TV news studio and hold journalists hostage as cameras keep rolling (VIDEO 2) pic.twitter.com/hMyxyPijyE  DAILY POST  (@TheKenyanPost) January 9, 2024


Tuesday, January 9, 2024  US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is being treated for prostate cancer, according to a statement on Tuesday, January 9 from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

The statement revealed that the cancer was discovered in early December. He underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure on December 22 called a prostatectomy to treat the cancer.

He was under general anesthesia during this procedure. Secretary Austin recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, the statement read.

The Pentagon had been facing intense questions after it was revealed on Friday that he had been admitted to Walter Reed on January 1 and had been hospitalized for days without notifying the public. It was subsequently reported that Biden, senior national security officials and even Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks who had assumed Austins duties were not aware of the defense secretarys hospitalization until three days after he was admitted.

On January 1, Austin was readmitted to the hospital due to complications including nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain. He was found to have a urinary tract infection, the statement said.

Asked why Austin did not disclose that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer  Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the situation was deeply personal.

[I]ts prostate cancer and the associated procedures are obviously deeply personal, Ryder said Tuesday during a news briefing at the Pentagon. And so, again, you know, well continue to work hard to make sure that were being as transparent as possible moving forward, and again, wish the secretary speedy recovery.

For the last eight days of Austins time at Walter Reed in treating the infection, he never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.

Ryder did not say if the secretarys travel would be affected by his procedure or complications, but said Austin is actively engaged in his duties and in regular communication with his staff.
Two people with Michigan addresses and three members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were arrested on drug charges following a search warrant being executed at a Fort Yates Yates home.

The Monday search by officers with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sioux County Sheriffs Department and Standing Rock Game and Fish uncovered a large quantity of fentanyl, cash and drug paraphernalia, according to a statement from the Sheriffs Department.

It did not identify the arrested tribal members  one female and two males who were being held at the Standing Rock BIA jail. Potential charges against the three and another unidentified male tribal member were not immediately made public.

State charges against Ceballos Davis, 30, and Kamaria Jefferson, 18, both of Flint, Michigan, include conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver more than 40 grams of fentanyl and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Davis is also charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Davis and Jefferson were being held in the Burleigh Morton Detention Center. Bond was set at $75,000 cash for Davis and at $50,000 cash for Jefferson on Tuesday. Court records do not indicate attorneys for them. If convicted, Davis faces potential sentences totaling nearly 30 years in prison. Jefferson could be sentenced to up to 30 years.

Officers entering the home encountered Jefferson sitting on a couch near a small bag containing suspected meth, according to an affidavit. The document states Davis was discovered in a hallway near a bathroom and that he appeared to be sweating and out of breath.

Officers who searched Davis for weapons said they recovered more than $1,950 in small bills and a knife.

Officers discovered a number of suspected fentanyl pills on the bathroom floor, along with a torn plastic bag containing suspected fentanyl pills weighing 117 grams inside the toilet, according to the affidavit.

Officers also said they found prepaid cellphones commonly used by drug traffickers in a vehicle owned by Davis.

Authorities claim another man said Davis and Jefferson had arrived Sunday night with the intent to sell fentanyl pills. That man, identified only as Kuntz, told officers he is a drug user and buys pills from Davis for personal use and for sale to others, according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement in North Dakota has worked in recent years to crack down on a pipeline of illegal drugs from Detroit and other Michigan cities to American Indian reservations in North Dakota, where authorities say the pills can be sold at big profits.
The Democratic Party (DP) has started preparations to contest in the 2026 general elections.

This was revealed by the party president-general, Mr Norbert Mao, while addressing journalists on Tuesday at the party headquarters in Kampala.

Mao said that many Ugandans think DP was swallowed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, after signing the cooperation agreement, which is not the case.

He noted that such a perspective is an insult but will be proved wrong shortly.

Mao revealed that the party is set to front candidates at all levels including a presidential flag bearer who will be elected in the forthcoming delegates conference, urging party members to express their interest.

According to Mao, DP wants a good number of Members of Parliament come 2026.
Environmentalists have criticized governments laxity in implementing laws meant to curb the use of plastic bags (Kaveera) in Uganda.

This comes after the Sunday Monitor on the 7th of January 2024, published a story quoting Dr. Barirega Akankwasah, the executive director of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), who revealed that the government is back with a revised commitment, now facilitated through the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), to make amendments to the National Environment Act and ensure the Kaveeras erasure from Ugandas environmental landscape.

The government had recently vowed to impose a total ban on the usage and production of polythene bags, a promise that never passed.

Over the decades, polythene bags have forcefully represented an escalating environmental crisis in Uganda.

Hussein Kato Muyinda, the Executive Director of Earth and Rights Initiative (ERI) says that the polythene waste materials continue to choke the environment without action from government, causing more harm in the country.

In 2009, the Parliament of Uganda passed an Act banning the importation, local manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in Uganda. The carrier bags had become a huge threat to the environment. Urban and rural areas experience uncontrolled disposal of polythene waste. It was evident that the polythene waste material was choking the environment, Muyinda said.
Martha Nkwanzi Katanga, the 29-year-old daughter of deceased businessman Henry Katanga, surrendered in court today to face trial for destroying or moving valuable evidence related to her fathers murder.

Nkwanzi, a student, had evaded prosecution for two months. Her lawyers informed the Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court that the new mother was receiving treatment for postpartum trauma at a Kampala hospital.

Chief prosecutor Jonathan Muwaganya, however, challenged this claim, arguing there was no justification for Nkwanzis absence, especially since she was receiving outpatient treatment. He requested an arrest warrant, which Presiding Chief Magistrate Elias Kakooza granted, ordering police to apprehend Nkwanzi on sight.

Following her lawyer Macdusman Kabegas advice, Nkwanzi surrendered this afternoon to be formally charged. Dressed in a red-flowered long dress with a black denim jacket and mask, she entered court flanked by family, friends, and her legal team.

Standing alone in the dock, Nkwanzi heard the court clerk read details of her case, where she is jointly charged with her elder sister, Patricia Kakwanza. The prosecution alleges that on November 2, 2023, at the family home in Nakawa, knowing that certain items could be used as evidence in a judicial proceeding, Nkwanzi and Kakwanza removed, destroyed, or concealed them to prevent their use.

If found guilty, both sisters face a minimum sentence of three years in prison. However, despite the offense being triable in the magistrates court, Chief Prosecutor Muwaganya objected to Nkwanzi entering a plea, arguing that it arose from the capital charge of murder against their mother, Molly Katanga.

Magistrate Kakooza overruled the objection, asserting his courts authority to handle Nkwanzis plea. Consequently, Nkwanzi pleaded not guilty to the charges of destroying evidence.

Widow Molly Katanga reportedly remains hospitalized for wounds allegedly sustained during her husbands murder. All three family members, along with family shamba-boy George Amanyire and medical practitioner Charles Otai, stand accused of being accessories after the fact of Henry Katangas murder.

Nkwanzi joins Kakwanza, Amanyire, and Otai in remand at Luzira prison. Meanwhile, a criminal summons mandates Molly Katanga to appear in court on January 22, 2024, to answer charges related to her husbands death.
Kampala City Lord Mayor Mr Erias Lukwago has called for investigations into the alleged misuse of funds meant for the management of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Sanitary Landfill at Kiteezi.

This after a technical report which among others proposed; decommissioning Kiteezi and establishing a new landfill in Dundu and Mukono at a cost of Shs26 billion and Shs.190 billion respectively or, expanding the Kiteezi landfill by acquiring an extra 2 acres of land in addition to the 4 acres, for a continued operation of 2 years at a total cost of Shs 5 billion.

Lukwago, who made a fact-finding tour to the site on Tuesday was dismayed at the state of the landfill which features mountains of Gabage at the site, yet a total of Shs4.1 billion was spent for the financial year 2023/24 in its operations.

He noted that it is environmentally disastrous to continue operating open dumpsites because they expose the public to health and safety risks.

It is just a cash bonanza for particular individuals and we are going to dig in and establish those who are responsible and bring them to book because we cannot continue with this kind of situation, Lukwago vowed on Tuesday.

The Lord Mayor also noted that the Kiteezi landfill is a national challenge that requires concerted efforts by all stakeholders including Parliament and Cabinet to avert the looming disaster.
The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramathan Mubajje, has mourned the death of veteran radio broadcaster and city politician Al-Hajj Abdul Nsereko.

According to Kampala Central MP, Muhammad Nsereko, the deceaseds son, his father died this morning due to cardiac arrest.

In a statement released by the spokesperson of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, Mr. Ashiraf Zziwa, the Mufti notes with sadness the passing of the late Nsereko, noting that he will be remembered for his dedicated service to Uganda as a nation, Kampala city, and Islam at large.

He also praised his dedication to the development of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) as the mother body of Muslims in Uganda since its inception in 1972.

The late Nsereko worked at Radio Uganda, Uganda Television (UTV), and later Star TV where he hosted several programs. He also served as the speaker at Kampala City Council.

MP Nsereko says there will be prayers for the deceased tomorrow at Kibuli Mosque at 9:00 am and later at 2:00 pm when he will be buried in Bulika, Nama sub-county, Mukono district.
On January 9th, the traditional Huangmei opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" was splendidly performed at the Shanghai Yihai Theater, portraying the charm and philosophical thoughts of the classic masterpiece. This play was created and performed by the Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater. It was led by He Yun, a national first-class performer and recipient of the China Theatre Plum Blossom Award. He Yun explained that the production focuses on the personal activities of Jia Baoyu, with the love story between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu as a secondary plot. It strengthens the image of Jia Baoyu as a rebel under the feudal system, telling the audience a deeply moving love story and providing philosophical enlightenment. The youthful and beautiful cast, exquisite and emotional stage presentation, and the graceful charm of Huangmei opera received rounds of applause from the live audience. Ms. Wang, a theater enthusiast from Shanghai, was deeply impressed by the performance and praised it repeatedly. "Dream of the Red Chamber" is one of the classic productions of the Anhui Huangmei Opera Theater. The play was first staged by the theater in 1991, and a youth version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was restaged in 2004. Through the superb performances of two generations of artists and decades of refinement, the production has become a high-quality masterpiece with wide influence and enduring popularity. It is reported that from November 29th, 2023 to January 17th of this year, the "New Era, New Huiban (opera troupes from Anhui), New Outlook" Exhibition of High-Quality Plays, jointly organized by the Publicity Department of CPC Anhui Provincial Committee, Anhui Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Anhui Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, has organized 8 theater troupes from the province to present 12 outstanding productions in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and some cities within the province, with a total of 21 wonderful performances. This performance is the first show of the exhibition in Shanghai. Source: anhuinews.com
North Dakota State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler formally launched her campaign for another four-year term on Wednesday.

Baesler is a Republican, though the position is nonpartisan. She was first elected to the role in 2012 after a stint on the Mandan School Board. Baesler served on the board from 2004 until her ascension to statewide office, and was president of the board from 2005 until her departure. Shes been in office longer than any other current top state education official in the country.

Baesler in her announcement touted the Be Legendary School Board Leadership Institute, a training and accountability program for school boards implemented under her tenure that focuses on academic goals, as well as her proposal requiring cybersecurity and computer science instruction for students across all grades.

Shes on the board of the Council of Chief State School Officers and is the organizations past president.

During her tenure as state superintendent, Baeslers personal life has made some headlines: She was arrested in 2015 for charges related to a domestic violence allegation, though the charges were subsequently dropped. And she pled guilty in 2020 to a DUI charge.

Baesler is the first candidate to enter the race; shes joining the ranks of multiple other incumbents in statewide offices who are seeking additional terms.
The national hot button of refugees, migrants, and where to house them has arrived to the town of Urlingford, where protests and a war of words have broken out in recent days.

Protesters took to the streets of the North Kilkenny town at the weekend in response to rumours around the possible use of the former Josephine's Restaurant site to house international migrants. The demonstration was shared widely across social media, drawing commentary and views of platform users around the globe.

In a statement, Cllr Michael Delaney confirmed his attendance at the protests, stating, he supports the local community but doesn't want to see the area 'divided' by 'misinformation'.

Much of the uncertainty in the area follows a video published on the YouTube platform, which claimed the site was being prepared to house a large volume of migrants, some of which were 'possibly dangerous men.'

Cllr Delaney released a statement on his social media on Tuesday to make his views on the situation known.

"I attended the protest in Urlingford on Saturday because numerous local residents who are concerned about the proposals for the old Josephines Restaurant asked me to join them.

"I stood with the community, and I voiced my opinion when invited to speak at the protest. I support the local community 100% and I told those in attendance that I will make myself available for anyone that needed my assistance.

"While I support the protests and the local community, I don't want to see the community divided by misinformation and untruths about what is happening in that building. The longer it is left without proper, meaningful consultation with factual information given to local residents, the more likely rumours will spread, and a hateful agenda will take over. I do not want to see that happen. I do not want to see local businesses or local people dragged into what should be a peaceful protest.

"I attended the protest to hear their concerns, I informed the protestors that I would then meet the Kavanagh family, which I did, in a bid to find common ground, dispel the misinformation and provide people with the facts that they are looking for. I would like to see that information provided.

"Local residents want to see a floor plan and a copy of the contract so they can be reassured that the building is specifically for a limited number of Ukrainian families only. If that information was provided, to back up the statement recently issued by Kavanaghs, it would help to relieve some of the concerns of the local community. If I can facilitate that exchange of factual information as a local public representative, I'm willing to do so and will do whatever I can to help bring about a positive conclusion to this issue on behalf of the residents of Urlingford.

"The Government has a huge amount to answer for. Minister Roderic OGorman has a lot to answer for as his Department is responsible for this. He needs to step up to the plate and get rid of this cloak and dagger situation where deals are done in secrecy, communities are left in the dark, rumour and fear take over and protests begin to mount. If the right approach was taken, if responsibility was taken and if the Minister came out of hiding, this situation would not have escalated the way it did.

"It's unfair on the local businesses and local communities that we need to support. So many local businesses have provided a huge amount for Urlingford in terms of employment and the local economy, so I hate to see an issue like this become so divisive. We need it resolved as a matter of urgency and I'm calling on all parties to step up and work with the local community and local businesses to bring this to a close so we can move on and continue to make Urlingford a great place to live, work and to do business," Cllr Delaney concluded.
North Kilkenny Fianna Fail representative, Cllr Michael McCarthy had condemned a video released online last week which claimed an Urlingford complex is being prepared to host a large volume of 'undocumented' international migrants.

The footage has since gone viral across the Internet, with over 16,000 views and has created much frustration and confusion in the community.

A number of protests have taken place on the streets of the town on the back of the video, with banners erected including, 'Urlingford Says No' and 'Protect Our Children'.

The owner of the Josephine's Restaurant site, a well-known local family, has refuted the claims, and says the rumours are untrue.

Speaking to the Kilkenny People, Cllr McCarthy said the information being shared online is untrue, and that the building is only certified to accommodate a total of 48 people and is 'restricted' to Ukrainian use only as natives from the country continue to flee the Russian invasion.

"This has created an awful lot of hardship for the family (Kavanaghs) and the town of Urlingford. The rhetoric theyve come out with is totally and utterly untrue," he said.

The North Kilkenny councillor noted that many of the people who will take up residence on the premises will be working for the Kavanagh family and contributing to the local economy.

Cllr McCarthy went on to express fears that the situation may escalate.

"I would be afraid it could escalate before it gets better and I would be afraid of the danger of criminality of course."

On Friday, an eyewitness told the Kilkenny People the demonstration appeared to be getting 'heated' after Gardai arrived on the scene.

In response to last week's video, Urlingford's Bernard Kavanagh & Sons Ltd issued a statement refuting 'falsified claims' surrounding the redevelopment of the former Josephine's Restaurant site.

"The site is currently being redeveloped and repurposed to accommodate both Ukrainian people and their families, who are fleeing the war in their country, and staff of the company," they said.

"We currently have a number of Ukrainian people working in our group of companies and we will continue to support them and their families during this time of unrest in Ukraine.

"Once the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine comes to an end the company intends to utilise the building to cater for our staff, as well as a base for the business headquarters for the company.

"The owners were this week made aware of a misleading video being shared across social media, which has prompted a series of negative and unjust comments surrounding the plans for the site in question," they continued.

"The false allegations being made in the post claim that the building is being developed to house International Protection (IP) Migrants; a claim that is 'absolutely and wholeheartedly untrue'."

See this week's Kilkenny People newspaper for more...
Democrat Trygve Hammer is making a bid for North Dakotas seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in a third run at public office, with a formal campaign launch planned for Wednesday morning.

Hammer, a Velva native and current resident of Minot, filed a statement of candidacy on Jan. 2. Hes also attempted to become a state representative in 2020 and a member of the Public Service Commission in 2022. He received 11.8% of the vote in 2020 and 29.5% of the vote in 2022.

Hammer said he was first recruited to enter the 2022 PSC race just a month before the state Democratic-NPL Partys nominating convention. This year, hes jumping into a race months earlier, with the partys convention slated for early April. Hes also the first candidate to formally enter the race, as incumbent U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., has indicated he will run again but hasnt launched a formal reelection campaign.

In the wake of the 2022 election, Hammer traveled the state and encountered voters who said they would have voted for him but didnt recognize his name on the ballot, he said, attributing part of that lack of name recognition to the limited number of repeat candidates running under the Democratic-NPL banner. As a result, he and second-time U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen both pledged to run for statewide office again in 2024 in some capacity in the hopes of building more robust campaigns, he said.

We're fixing that this time, he said. We're getting out early. We're going to have advertising. We're going to have a financed campaign. And we're going to have pros running it.

Assuming Armstrong runs again, Hammer will be up against a well-funded, established Republican. Armstrong hasnt yet filed his campaign finance report for the last three months of 2023, but as of Sept. 30 he had nearly $465,000 on hand. He was first elected in 2018 when he won 60.2% of the vote. In 2020 and 2022 he garnered 69% and 62.2% of the vote, respectively.

Hammer believes his breadth of experiences will allow him to connect with many North Dakota voters. He attended the Naval Academy, served as a Marine helicopter pilot and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. His resume also includes stints working in the Bakken oilfields and as both a science teacher and a substitute teacher.

I can relate to the people who punch a clock every day, he said. I can relate to the people that go out and do that manual labor. I can relate to the people who are trying to deal with our kids in our classrooms right now.

If elected, Hammer hopes to help cut through the dysfunction he said has plagued the U.S. House of Representatives since the beginning of 2023. Multiple controversial and drawn-out selection processes for speaker of the House have occupied the news cycle even as government funding deadlines have loomed, and 2023 saw the passage of the fewest number of laws in decades.

I'm not a lawyer. I don't see anything as our side winning, their side losing,' Hammer said. What I think we need to have is a dialogue. A dialogue in search of best solutions, but we'll take a dialogue in search of workable solutions until we can get to those best solutions.
Stuff reports:

Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman has been accused of antisemitism by the New Zealand Jewish Council.

The MP has come under fire after responding to a tweet on Thursday which suggested Mary and Joseph, the mother and father of Jesus according to the New Testament, were refugees.

They were literally Palestinian refugees. And she (Mary) normally had her hair covered because that's what modesty looked like in her culture

this level of bigotry and ignorance is stunning, especially in an MP.

Claiming Mary and Joseph (and hence Jesus) were literally Palestinian refugees (and hence not Jewish) is twisted.

Both the Bible and the Quran describe Mary as Jewish.

ms Ghahraman, by refusing to acknowledge that Jesus was Jewish, including when many people pointed out her error, is continuing to erase that connection, a favourite tactic of those who aim to delegitimise the modern day Jewish presence in the land, she said.

This is an ongoing pattern of disrespect to and marginalisation of the Jewish community by Ms Ghahraman, which at this point must be assumed to be deliberate and antisemitic.

Ghahraman said she understood her comments had caused offence to some in the Jewish community in New Zealand.

That was not my intention and I unreservedly apologise.

Good to have an apology, but one has to ask what was the point she was trying to make? Does she really believe Jesus was a Palestinian refugee? If not, why did she say so?

Moses said it was ahistorical to claim Jesus wasn't Jewish.

Jesus and his family were Jewish. They lived in Judea, they went to synagogue, they followed the Jewish law. The Romans called him King of the Jews. Judea was renamed Palestine by the Roman Empire, long after Jesus' death, in order to erase any Jewish connection to the land, she said.

It is well past time the Green Party leaders addressed this behaviour.

A spokesperson for Green Party co-leaders james shaw and marama davidson said Ghahraman was going to work with Jewish communities to improve dialogue.

You have to feel sorry for James Shaw sometimes.

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More than 150 recently repatriated artifacts from the Wounded Knee Massacre were set to be burned December 29. Instead, tribal leaders from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and later the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe asked to halt the ceremony.

On Dec. 29, instead of burning the artifacts, descendants of Wounded Knee Massacre survivors gathered to pray, sing and remember the more than 300 Lakota men, women and children killed by the U.S. military.

The issue stems from disagreements over what to do with items repatriated from the Woods Memorial Librarys Founders Museum Collection in Barre, Massachusetts. While one group of descendants planned to burn artifacts, others requested more time to consider alternatives.

In November 2022, the Woods Memorial Librarys Founders Museum gave items back to a group of descendants of Wounded Knee survivors. The group, SiTanka Ta Oyate Omniceye (Descendants of the Si Tanka (Big Foot) Nation), is comprised of Mniconju and Hunkpapa Lakota survivor descendants, most of whom live in the Oglala area on Pine Ridge.

Following the massacre, several survivors chose to settle in the Oglala area, said the groups historian Michael He Crow, Mniconju Lakota. He Crows own family settled in the Oglala area after the massacre.

The repatriated artifacts had been taken from the mass graves of Wounded Knee Massacre victims killed in 1890. The military had been sent to Pine Ridge to stop a potential Indian uprising. Instead, they encountered a band of mostly Mniconju Lakota led by Chief Spotted Elk (nicknamed Big Foot by the military). The military misinterpreted the groups ghost dance songs as an intent to attack and opened fire on the band.

The items returned from the Founders Museum were stolen from the graves of Wounded Knee victims. Most of the items are clothing  moccasins and ghost dance shirts. Some moccasins have blood splatters on them. The rest of the items are several peace pipes, hand drums, a few dolls, two tomahawks, a bow with arrows, and a few beaded lizard and turtle amulets/pouches containing umbilical cords.

Mixed in among the artifacts are items from other tribes  Ojibwe-style moccasins, Dakota and Cheyenne beadwork and other items.

The Founders Museum is a private collection of items. As such it is exempt from provisions from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The repatriation did not have to follow federal guidelines. Instead, it was inspired by NAGPRA, according to the museums initial press release. As such, the items were given back to a group of the museums choice.

The Founders Museum did not respond to requests for comment about the repatriation process.

Since the artifacts were returned, the group has hosted public meetings once a month, sometimes twice a month, for community members. The meetings were meant to be a way for survivor descendants to voice their opinions, He Crow said.

The Cheyenne River tribe supported what we planned to do up until October of this year (2023), He Crow said.

The tribe published a statement on the eve of the Wounded Knee ceremony voicing its opposition to burning the artifacts. In his initial statement, Chairman Ryman LeBeau asked that the ceremony be halted until all descendants had a chance to give input.

The Wounded Knee artifacts issue is between the tribes and families of the descendants. We respect the decision to be diplomatic in dealing with such historical artifacts, LeBeau said in an email to Indian Country Today and the Rapid City Journal. We are working collectively toward a positive outcome with our relatives. Overall, this is still an ongoing process, and we are still in communication with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on what further steps need to be taken.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire issued a statement on Dec. 30 in opposition to the burning ceremony.

Today, I understand that the Barre Museum returned Wounded Knee artifacts to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. For the record, descendants from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were not included in the determination of disposition for these cultural items. The massacre at Wounded Knee was a direct result of the assassination of our Grandfather Tatanka Iyotaka (Sitting Bull) and the Hunkpapa descendants of the massacre must have their voice heard as well, Alkire said in the press release.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe did not respond to requests for comment.

The descendants group had chosen to burn the items as they believed the smoke from the items would carry the artifacts back to the spirits. Some items, like pipes, wouldnt be burned. The group also feared that if buried, the artifacts would be stolen and taken back to a museum like they were after the massacre.

The objects are part of the people that died there. Those were real personal things to them. And so it would be like an extension of their bodies and a part of them physically. So, (putting them in a museum) it would just be like displaying a hand or foot that was repatriated. So its not something that we would have hoped that people believe in doing, He Crow said. For example, if it was a hand or a foot you brought back, are you going to display that in a museum and charge people to see?

The Oglala Sioux Tribe had been involved with the groups plans and President Frank Star Comes Out had attended meetings regularly.

It feels kind of strange that they (the other tribes) would do this right now, He Crow said.

I mean, they had a whole year to talk about it, but they didnt come to us. ... I really dont know what their motivation is. It could be outside influences that are motivating their decisions. The only way well know what is going on is to have these meetings and they can inform us, because at the beginning they supported what were doing.

In the days leading up to the 133rd Wounded Knee ceremony, the group had become aware of other parties requesting that items not be burned.

We had a meeting ... and I told people just to be aware that if anything happens, then we can make some changes, He Crow said. So, we were a little bit prepared, but we didnt expect it to happen that way.

Now, its up to the Oglala Sioux Tribe to plan an intertribal meeting about the future of the artifacts. Its unclear when that meeting will take place.
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A law enforcement crackdown on seat belt violations in North Dakota led to thousands of citations.

A total of 3,772 citations were attributed to the overtime enforcement patrols that were part of the "Click It or Ticket" enforcement campaign from Nov. 1 to Dec. 14, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Of those, 2,461 were citations for failure to wear a seat belt and 37 were child restraint citations. Tickets for speeding totaled 659. The traffic stops also resulted in hundreds of other citations for various traffic offenses.

Separately, DOT announced that the state's ND Sober Ride program provided 281 rides during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period.

The program offers $10 Lyft ride-hailing vouchers to help keep impaired drivers off the roads during holiday periods. Discounted rides were made available from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2. The vouchers are sponsored by the AAA auto club. This year's number was up 76% from the same period in 2022.

Both efforts were part of North Dakota's Vision Zero strategy to eliminate motor vehicle crash fatalities and serious injuries on North Dakota roads. For more information, go to https://visionzero.nd.gov/.
The portion of the planes fuselage the manufacturer can put in place instead of an emergency exit door detached from a plane on a Jan. 5 flight.
Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, during a news conference while visiting the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 8.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Variable clouds with snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 80%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A few flurries are possible. Low 27F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Periods of snow. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 90%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A few flurries are possible. Low 26F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A few flurries are possible. Low 26F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
In a surprising turn of events on January 10, 2023, ASTRO's Cha Eunwoo delighted fans with updates from a Sketchers event in Malaysia. However, a seemingly innocent Instagram post featuring a Starbucks cup on the table quickly turned controversial, sparking criticism from some of his followers.

The Starbucks Backlash: Navigating Global Brand Controversy

The photo's backlash stemmed from the ongoing sensitivity surrounding Starbucks and its association with the Middle-East conflict. Internationally, the coffee giant faces a boycott after suing a union of workers who used the company's logos on a pledge supporting Palestine in the conflict.

Tweeting this again :



"Hello FANTAGIO

We do not ASTRO to associate or promote STARBUCKS, McDonald's, or any companies that are financing a genocide in Palestine.

Please take note of our concerns."@fantagiogroup @fantagiomusic_ @offclASTRO @CHAEUNWOO_offcl #ASTRO # pic.twitter.com/UizQGGSzXZ  Ouma(eriroha)  (@Oums_saadi) January 10, 2024

Despite of Starbucks distancing itself from the political situation, the legal action against its workers fueled discontent. Critics argue that the company, known for projecting a liberal and diverse image and took a controversial stance rather than a standing in solidarity with the oppressed.

Quick Rectification: Cha Eunwoo's Deleted Photo

Responding swiftly to the criticism, Cha Eunwoo deleted the contentious photo from his carousel post on Instagram, which originally featured four images. The remaining pictures showcased the Sketchers event without any trace of the Starbucks cup, earning praise from fans for his prompt action.

Not Cha Eunwoo w/ the Starbucks cup pic.twitter.com/YdcpB13Quo   (@TokkiBlinkBkjck) January 10, 2024

EUNWOO please do not buying and consume drink from STARBUCKS again, they fund the genocide in Gaza. Please apologize and educate yourself# #CHAEUNWOO @offclASTRO @CHAEUNWOO_offcl pic.twitter.com/QNmdaK9oci  faa kinda iaa (@zyassnh) January 10, 2024

INCASE YOU MISSED THIS: ASTRO Cha Eunwoo Recalls What He Did After Getting Dumped by His Girlfriend

Idol Scrutiny: Global Awareness Among K-Pop Stars

While Eunwoo received applause for his quick response, the incident sheds light on a broader issue within the K-Pop community. Fans are increasingly scrutinizing idols who align themselves with or consume products from controversial brands, such as Starbucks.

Do you really think that fan requests don't matter? We asked him to remove the first photo, which showed Starbucks coffee, and he removed it. Nunu, thank you, i love you #CHAEUNWOO pic.twitter.com/t74BbR5FYt January 10, 2024

Even if the drink in question wasn't directly purchased by the idol, strict standards persist, with K-Pop stars facing criticism for perceived ignorance of global situations. The incident underscores the delicate balance idols must navigate in their public image and brand affiliations.

YOU MIGHT BE ALSO INTERESTED IN: ASTRO Cha Eun Woo's Bulking Up Draws Cheers and Sighs - Here's Reason

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Cassidy Jones.
SHREVEPORT, La. - While the possibility of 48 hours or more of below freezing temperatures next week is harsh to us, it can be just as hard on
BusinessWire India

Warren (New Jersey) [US]/ Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 10: LTIMindtree [NSE: LTIM, BSE: 540005], a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, today announced the launch of its SaaS based hybrid cloud management platform Canvas CloudXperienz. The platform, powered by Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOPs), helps enterprises explore the full potential of digital transformation initiatives across their cloud management spectrum and redefine the way businesses manage and optimize their hybrid cloud infrastructure and applications; while providing unparalleled efficiency, security, and scalability. Cloud-based platforms serve as the backbone of Digital Transformation leading to service integrators increasingly adopting them to improve user experience, business observability and time to market. "In an era where technology is a driving force for change, LTIMindtree's Canvas CloudXperienz stands as a testament to our ability to adapt, evolve, and lead. Its groundbreaking features and capabilities will undoubtedly set new industry standards and redefine the way our customers experience innovation," said Nachiket Deshpande, COO and Whole-time Director, LTIMindtree. The LTIMindtree Canvas CloudXperienz platform provides a 360-degree observability of the business and IT environment which helps users measure the performance trends, peak and off-peak business requirements, benchmark enterprise applications, infrastructure, and cloud resources optimally. This leads to increased efficiency with 40-70% automation of services and freeing up their employees' time for other strategic tasks. Canvas CloudXperienz, an ISO 270001 certified platform, has a holistic business centric approach to manage the traditional on-premise infrastructure and applications as well as the cloud based workloads and applications. It aims to increase productivity by up to 75% and provide a plug and play option to the existing tools with select modules to achieve greater flexibility. The platform also provides simplified and enriched user experience, enables quicker cloud adoption, generate actionable insights for business operations and provide complete visibility and control of the cloud costs by finding significant resource optimization opportunities. Financial Operations (FinOps) is an integral feature of the Canvas CloudXperienz platform and by integrating with LTIMindtree Infinity, it brings in seamless correlation of cloud performance and contracts data to optimize cloud spending and drive business value. The FinOps solution is designed to provide cost visibility analysis, spend analytics, resource allocation and optimization recommendations, chargeback recommendations and help customers plan for major transformation and modernization initiatives and manage and optimize their cloud costs effectively. The hybrid cloud management platform, Canvas CloudXperienz, has been built by LTIMindtree with contributions from key partners ScienceLogic, ServiceNow, and Delinea. With the Canvas CloudXperienz platform, LTIMindtree aims to improve the business outcomes and agility of the customers and empower them in making more environmentally conscious choices. For more information about the Canvas CloudXperienz platform and its features, please visit here.

Also Read | The Impact of Technology on The Entertainment Industry.

(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)

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Actor Pankaj Tripathi, who essays former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the biopic Main Atal Hoon, got candid about how getting arrested and beaten up by policemen put paid to his early inclination towards politics. In an interview with ANI, Tripathi spoke about his interest in becoming a politician in his home state, stating, "Everyone is a politician in Bihar." Tripathi, who was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during his college days in Bihar, said he had never thought about joining politics at that time. The actor said, "I never thought about entering politics at that time. There was a thought that I might proceed in this line but then there was an arrest and the cops beat me up so I left that thought there and then. At the same time, I became inclined towards plays and dramas and after watching those, I got more attracted towards theatre." Pankaj Tripathi Shares How He Started His Career With Smallest Roles.

Recently, during the trailer launch of his soon-to-be released biopic on Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he had opened up on his interest in politics and how he prepared for his role portraying the late Prime Minister of India. He also recalled a funny anecdote from his college days when he joined the ABVP. "I was in a youth wing. I have participated in andolans. I was even jailed for a week! Toh main uss raaste pe nikal chuka tha. Then I realised that the path of politics is full of thorns. Hence, I took a turn and started developing an interest in street theatre. There was Kaildas Rangalaya, Patna where I enrolled myself. Mujhe laga ki yeh behtar hai. Yahaan kam se kam bol ke acting hoti hai ki "main acting kar raha hoon," (I am acting) Tripathi quipped. Kadak Singh: Pankaj Tripathi Calls His Film 'Most Special Project' - Here's Why.

Pankaj Tripathi Opens Up About His Student Life:

The film Main Atal Hoon is directed by Ravi Jadhav and will be released on January 19. The actor said that he is honoured to bring Atal Bihari Vajpayee's story to silver screen. "More than the film, the journey of playing Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee is really close to my heart. The man is truly a legend, and we are honoured to bring his inspiring story to the world. I hope audiences appreciate our efforts to bring in the legacy of Atal ji onto the big screens," he said. The film is backed by Bhanushali Studios Limited and Legend Studios, Vinod Bhanushali, Sandeep Singh, Sam Khan and Kamlesh Bhanushali.
An aerial view of one of the pristine beaches, in Lakshadweep. (Photo/ANI)

Lakshadweep [India], January 10 (ANI): Amid the row over the disparaging remarks by Maldivian ministers and government officials against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to Lakshadweep, the administration in the Indian archipelago stated it was working on plans to expand its tourism activities.

Social media posts by some Maldivian junior ministers and government officials, making distasteful references to PM Modi's Lakshadweep visit and his call for harnessing its tourism potential, sparked online fury and a flurry of cancellations of scheduled visits to the island country.

Also Read | Tripura Government Likely to Urge CBSE to Permit Tribal Students in State to Write in Roman Script for 'Kokborok' Exams.

Amid the furore over the unsavoury references to PM Modi and unsolicited comparisons between beach tourism in the Maldives with that of India, New Delhi summoned the Maldivian envoy Ibrahim Shaheeb, who was seen leaving the Ministry of External Affairs in the national capital's South Block.

The Maldivian ambassador was seen arriving at the MEA office building and leaving a short while later.

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According to officials in the Union Territory, several proposals have been sent to the Union government to harness the latent tourism potential in the island cluster.

While there is an airstrip in Agatti islands currently, plans are afoot to build a larger airport that can accommodate Airbus-type aircraft in Minicoy Island. Hotel projects are also in varying stages of implementation in several virgin islands under the Smart City project, in a bid to draw more tourists from across the country and overseas.

Minicoy Island, a picturesque strip of land surrounded by pristine blue waters, is believed to be at the heart of the tourism expansion plans of the Lakshadweep administration. It is situated in the vicinity of the Maldives.

As part of the ongoing tourism promotion, liquor sales are now permitted at designated locations with the approval of the Tourism department. A non-fermented toddy from coconut trees called Neera is also produced locally.

Lakshadweep is home to a total of 36 islands, of which only ten are inhabited. The main occupations of the people in the island cluster are fishing and coconut farming, with some also engaged in cattle rearing in some parts of the UT.

Men primarily engage in fishing while women are largely involved in making a range of products from coconut and fish. Women's self-help groups are also common in these islands. The inhabitants of Lakshadweep largely depend on other states for their daily necessities.

Travel to Lakshadweep from other parts of the country is facilitated either by ship or flight, with Air India Alliance conducting daily services from Kochi to Lakshadweep. Ship and chopper services are also available.

However, those wishing to visit Lakshadweep must obtain prior permission from the administration of the UT.

However, the lack of hospitals is a significant drawback for the Lakshadweep islands. Residents often have to travel to Kochi for better treatment.

Similarly, for higher education, they have to rely on Kerala and other states. (ANI)

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Kolkata, Jan 10 (PTI) TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that it will remain part of the INDIA bloc in the fight against the BJP, days after fissures appeared in the alliance over seat-sharing disagreement between her party and the Congress in West Bengal.

Banerjee conveyed her stance during a closed-door organisational meeting of the TMC's West Midnapore district unit.

Also Read | Indian Air Force To Organise Aerial Display in Mumbai From January 12 to 14 as Part of Outreach Programme.

"Our party supremo clearly stated that the TMC would remain in the INDIA bloc in the fight against the BJP. Although critical of the CPI(M), she did not utter a single word against the Congress," said a senior TMC official present in the meeting, who did not wish to be named.

The CPI(M), Congress and the TMC collectively constitute the 28-party strong INDIA bloc. However, in West Bengal, the CPI(M) and Congress have allied against the TMC and BJP.

Also Read | Shiv Sena MLAs Disqualification: Murder of Democracy and Insult to Decision of Supreme Court, Says Uddhav Thackeray on Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's Verdict (Watch Video).

Banerjee's statement follows TMC's Lok Sabha Party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay's recent remark that the party has an "open heart" for the Congress regarding seat-sharing in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha election, but is also prepared to go solo if negotiations fail.

Wednesday's development coincided with state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a vocal TMC critic, asserting it wouldn't "beg" for seats from Bengal's ruling party.

Multiple sources confirmed that the TMC was contemplating allocating four out of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress.

In the 2019 elections, TMC secured 22 seats, Congress won two, and BJP bagged 18 seats in the state.

Chowdhury, also the Congress leader in Lok Sabha, won the Baharampur seat, while Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, a former Union minister, secured a third consecutive win from the Malda Dakshin seat.

Banerjee, expressing confidence in an alliance between TMC, Congress, and the Left in West Bengal last November, had her proposal swiftly dismissed by arch-rival CPI(M) and criticised by some Congress leaders.

Days later, she accused the two parties of aligning with the BJP, affirming that the TMC would confront the saffron camp in West Bengal.

The TMC had previously allied with the Congress in the 2001 assembly polls, 2009 Lok Sabha elections, and the 2011 assembly polls, leading to the ousting of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government after 34 years.

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Police controlling crowd at the pre-release event of actor Mahesh Babu's movie 'Gunur Kaaram' in Andhra Pradesh (Photo/ANI)

Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) [India], January 10 (ANI): One policeman was injured in a stampede during the pre-release event of 'Guntur Kaaram' featuring actor Mahesh Babu on Tuesday in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district, police said.

The injured cop, identified as Venkata Rao, Sub Inspector at Old Guntur police station, sustained a leg fracture during the incident, as per police.

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The Circle Inspector of Old Guntur, Subbarao, confirmed the injury to the Sub-Inspector.

The video of the incident captured on the CCTV camera went viral on social media. As per the video, policemen used lathis to disperse the mob.

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The fans were seen pushing the barricades.

Guntur Kaaram, directed by Trivikram and featuring Mahesh Babu and Srilila in the lead roles, is set to hit theatres on January 12. Produced by Hasin and Harika Creations, the movie boasts music production by Thaman.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], January 10 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested three robbers who looted money from a bank employee while he was on his way to Agra, said Police.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that the three robbers, stopped the car of a bank employee Madan Gola, who was on his way from the Mathura refinery to Agra and at around 8 pm, on December 28, the robbers took him to the ATM at gunpoint, made him withdraw Rs 1 lakh 32 thousand, looted the money and ran away.

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SSP Mathura Shailesh Kumar Pandey informed that three people have been arrested in the case. During an encounter with the police, Krishna, a resident of Agra has been injured and two other robbers namely Samrat and Vivek, residents of the Refinery in Mathura, have been taken into police custody. One lakh three hundred rupees, a motorcycle and cartridges have been recovered from them.

At present, no criminal history has been found of these robbers but the strictest action will be taken against them, said SSP Shailesh Pandey. (ANI)

Also Read | Bitcoin Surges After US Regulator X Account Hack.

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New Delhi [India], January 10 (ANI): Days after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed a CBI probe into the alleged procurement and supply of spurious and non-standard drugs in government hospitals and mohalla clinics in the national capital, the Delhi government said that all the sub-standard items were brought from the Central government's portal GeM (Government e Marketplace).

The Delhi government added that this should be investigated by a central agency such as the CBI.

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The Delhi government's response came a day after an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) team reportedly raided the Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital in connection with the case.

"All the sub-standard items were bought from the Central Government portal called GeM. The rules of finance have made it mandatory that Govt Departments should buy products from GeM and only if they are not available on GeM, they can be bought from open market through tenders. It is surprising that Central Govt is allowing such Vendors on its portal who are giving sub standard products," It said.

Also Read | Bitcoin Surges After US Regulator X Account Hack.

"It is very important that such products are being supplied not just to Delhi Govt, but also other state Govts and the Central Govt. This should be investigated by the Central Agency like CBI so that it brings out the truth about GeM," the statement added.

Earlier, on Friday, the MHA recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged procurement and supply of spurious and non-standard drugs in hospitals run by the Delhi government and mohalla clinics, sources said.

Delhi government's Directorate of Vigilance had on December 26 written to the Union Home Ministry, requesting it to assign the investigation into the supply of "sub-standard" drugs to state-run hospitals to the CBI.

Earlier, Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena wrote to the Home ministry, recommending a CBI inquiry in the matter. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has sentenced a lawyer to six months imprisonment after holding him guilty of criminal contempt of court for making "scandalous, unwarranted and baseless imputations" against several sitting judges of the high court and district courts here in a plea filed in July 2022.

On being given an opportunity by the high court to apologise for the contemptuous allegations made by him in his plea, he refused to do so and stuck to his remarks against the judges of the Delhi High Court and the district court and the judiciary.

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The court noted that since the accused who made the contumacious allegations is an officer of this court, it was necessary to check such actions with a "firm hand".

Consequently, we hereby sentence him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months with a fine of Rs 2,000 and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment of 7 days, a bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said in an order passed on Tuesday and made available on Wednesday.

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The bench directed the police officials to take the lawyer into custody and hand him over to the Superintendent of Tihar Jail here. He asked the court registry to prepare his arrest warrants.

At the request of the man, the high court allowed him to go home, change clothes, drop his vehicle there and bring his medicines to be taken to the jail and also asked the police officials to accompany him.

The man had filed a plea before a single judge in July 2022 in which he accused several judges of acting arbitrarily, whimsically or in a biased manner. He also named the judges in his petition.

When the single judge asked the lawyer whether he would like to retract these allegations, he replied in the negative claining that these were not contemptuous allegations but statements of fact.

The single judge had then issued a notice of contempt to the man and directed that the matter be placed before the division bench concerned.

The division bench heard the lawyer and held that the contemnor had made contumacious allegations in the plea, making scandalous, unwarranted and baseless imputations against the judges of this court as well as district courts who have been discharging their judicial function.

Moreover, being an officer of this court making such averments in the judicial pleading are more serious in nature. It is incumbent upon the courts of justice to check such actions with a firm hand which otherwise will have pernicious consequences, the bench said.

It added, In our considered opinion, the respondent/ contemnor has committed contempt of court under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, accordingly, we hold him guilty.

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New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Global logistics management and services firm DP World on Wednesday said the company has signed agreements worth Rs 25,000 crore with the government of Gujarat, as part of which it will develop new ports, terminals, and economic zones.

The company in a statement said the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed at Gandhinagar during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 highlight the state's prowess as a role model of development and the growth engine of the nation.

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DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem signed the agreements around potential investments in Gujarat with M K Das, additional chief secretary, Gujarat government, in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

According to the statement, the MoUs underscore DP World's commitment to facilitate trade in Gujarat by developing multi-purpose deep-draft ports in south Gujarat and around the western coast of Gujarat towards Kutch, Special Economic Zones in Jamnagar and Kutch, Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCT) and Private Freight Stations at Dahej, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bedi, and Morbi.

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DP World has also signed an MoU with Gujarat Maritime Board to jointly identify opportunities to develop additional ports along the coast of Gujarat, it added.

Commenting on the signing of the MoUs, the DP World Group Chairman and CEO, said, "We are very committed to India, where we have been operating for nearly 20 years. In that time, we invested almost USD 2.5 billion and are going to invest more in the next three years in these projects."

DP World's existing investments in Gujarat include a container terminal in Mundra, along with rail connected private freight terminals in Ahmedabad and Hazira.

It has also invested in cold storage facilities in Surat and Bharuch, freight-forwarding offices in Ahmedabad and Gandhidham, and express cargo services across the state, the company said.

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Mumbai, Jan 10 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices declined in early trade on Wednesday amid fresh foreign fund outflows and a largely weak trend from global markets.

Investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the start of corporate earnings season and macroeconomic data announcements later this week, traders said.

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The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 81.35 points to 71,304.86. The Nifty dipped 27 points to 21,517.85.

Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank were the major laggards.

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HCL Tech, Titan, Nestle, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in the green while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting lower.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 990.90 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.22 per cent to USD 77.76 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark ended marginally higher by 30.99 points or 0.04 per cent at 71,386.21 on Tuesday. The Nifty ended 31.85 points or 0.15 per cent up at 21,544.85.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Maruti Suzuki India Chairman RC Bhargava on Wednesday said the company is in discussion with the Gujarat government to get the appropriate land parcel for its second plant to be set up at an investment of Rs 35,000 crore.

The country's largest carmaker plans to produce 10 lakh units annually at the new plant as it looks to ramp up annual production capacity to over 40 lakh units by 2030-31.

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In an interaction with PTI, Bhargava said the auto major has inked an MoU with the Gujarat government for expanding business in the state.

"It is like most of these MoUs which are non-binding and subject to the approval of the board. So far, the company board has not considered anything in this regard," Bhargava said.

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While noting that Gujarat is the preferred state for the new plant, he said the right set of land parcels is needed to set up the new facility.

"We, along with vendors, will make an investment of Rs 35,000 crore subject to the availability of the appropriate land because so far, we have not been able to locate and purchase the land required for expansion," Bhargava noted.

"You can't expand without getting the land. So, that is the situation right now," he added.

When asked if there are issues in getting the required land parcel in the state, Bhargava stated: "Getting land anywhere for anything is not a straightforward exercise".

"So, for now the search for land goes on."

The company is having discussions with the Gujarat government, but no plot of land has yet been finalised, Bhargava stated.

When asked if it would be feasible to meet the target of commencing production at the new site in FY2028-29, he stated: "It is feasible. There is still enough time for that."

Bhargava noted that the reason why Gujarat is the preferred state for having the new plant is that the automaker already has an established vendor base in the state.

"But the production volume today is only 7.5 lakh units. To get the best economies of scale, it is desirable that these people (vendors) should have the option of expanding production at the existing site (state) and going up to 20 lakh units," he added.

Also, the company has set a target of exporting 7.5-8 lakh units by 2030-31 and being close to Gujarat ports, the automaker has some advantage in terms of saving transport costs, he noted.

"So, that is why Gujarat is the preferred state, but then you need to get the right kind of land for that," the veteran industry leader stated.

Bhargava noted that both the company and state government are aware of the importance of the time.

"And both sides will make best efforts to close this matter hopefully as soon as possible," he added.

Terming Gujarat as a great destination to invest in, Bhargava noted that if the state was not good in terms of policies and business environment, then the company would not have undertaken so much expansion there till now.

When asked if the domestic car market would grow to a level which corresponds to the production expansion being undertaken by the company, he replied in the affirmative.

"Definitely. All indications today point that the economy will grow. Everything is pointing in the direction of growth," Bhargava said.

There can be unforeseen events, but the government has been taking a lot of steps to improve the ease of doing business, he added.

Speaking at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) being held at Gandhinagar, Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki earlier in the day announced that MSI will invest Rs 35,000 crore to set up a new plant in Gujarat.

As a result, the annual production capacity in Gujarat will be 2 million (20 lakh) units -- 10 lakh units at Suzuki Motor Gujarat and 10 lakh units at the second new plant, Suzuki said.

Suzuki Motor Corporation has around 58 per cent stake in MSI.

Currently, MSI has a cumulative production capacity of around 22 lakh units per annum across its two manufacturing plants in Haryana and Gujarat.

The two plants in Haryana -- Gurugram and Manesar -- together roll out around 15.5 lakh units per annum.

Suzuki Motor Gujarat, a unit of the company, has also set up a facility in Gujarat with an installed production capacity of 7.5 lakh units per year.

Besides, the car market leader is already in the process of setting up a new manufacturing plant at Sonipat in Haryana with an investment of Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase.

The new plant's first phase, with a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum, is expected to be commissioned by next year.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 10 (ANI): In reaction to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar giving the verdict that the Eknath Shinde faction was real Shiv Sena following the June 2022 split in the party, former state Minister Aaditya Thackeray said that he has never seen a more "shameless verdict" which has "murdered democracy".

"Never seen a more shameless verdict of the tribunal that has murdered democracy," Aaditya Thackeray who is the son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in a post on 'X' on Wednesday.

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Hitting out at the Eknath Shinde faction, Aaditya Thackeray called the Maharashtra government a "regime of gaddars" who are against the constitution and wants to rewrite it to finish democracy.

"It is evident that the regime of gaddars (betrayers) are against the constitution given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. They want to rewrite the constitution to finish democracy," he said.

Also Read | West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Tells Party Leaders Not To Publicly Discuss Differences, Warns of Disciplinary Action.

The former Minister said that though the verdict has "officially killed democracy" the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena will continue their fight to protect the Constitution.

"Today the verdict has officially killed democracy in our state and the principals and pillars of the constitution. We will fight to restore democracy and to protect the nation's Constitution given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. This verdict wasn't only about Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. This is about our country's constitution and democracy."

Hoping that the Supreme Court will step in and overturn the Speaker's verdict on 'real Shiv Sena', Aaditya said, "We hope the Hon'ble Supreme Court will ensure that there will be protection for the Constitution and Democracy, against this disgraceful political fixed game."

Earlier on Wednesday, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered the verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year.

The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said "decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as decision of the political party".

"In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution cannot remove anyone from the party...Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," the Speaker said.

"Also, the will of the members of the leadership structure of 2018 cannot be the will of the political party, as there are contradictory views and claims about the majority in the leadership structure by both factions," he added.

The Speaker said that given the evidence and records before him, prima facie these indicate that no elections were held in 2013, as well as in 2018.

"However, I as the Speaker exercising jurisdiction under the 10th schedule have limited jurisdiction and cannot go beyond the record of the ECI as available on the website and hence I have not considered this aspect while determining the relevant leadership structure," he said.

"Thus, given the above conclusions, I find that the leadership structure of Shiv Sena reflected in the letter dated February 27, 2018, available on the website of the ECI is the relevant leadership structure that has to be taken into account to determine which faction is the real political party," the Speaker said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday said key discussions with the AAP on seat-sharing in Delhi will take place in their next meeting likely to be held on January 12.

Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said there was no discussion on seat-sharing in the first meeting held on January 8.

Also Read | Shiv Sena MLAs Disqualification: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar Starts Reading Verdict (Watch Video).

"No discussion on seat-sharing has taken place yet. Media reports stating the AAP offered three seats to the Congress is incorrect. The meeting held on December 8 was the first time we came together for a discussion and various strategies to fight the elections were discussed," Lovely told PTI.

"Seat-sharing will most likely be discussed in the next meeting," he added.

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Speaking about the media reports of AAP offering three seats to Congress, Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the speculation is "nowhere near truth".

Bharadwaj, who was also present at the alliance meeting on January 8 at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik's residence, said, "All speculation appearing in the media are nowhere near truth. Our discussions are going in a very positive manner and efforts are on to make the alliance strong."

The AAP maintained its stand on contesting in an alliance with the Congress in five states, including Punjab, and the discussion has so far been positive, party's Delhi convener Gopal Rai said on Tuesday.

"Alliance talks have begun between the two parties. We kept our stand on contesting in an alliance in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat. Till now, there has been positive discussions," he had said.

The opposition parties of the INDIA bloc have decided to get together and contest the upcoming general elections together to take on the BJP unitedly.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], January 10 (ANI): Hours after quitting the Telugu Desam Party, Kesineni Srinivas met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and joined the latter's Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) on Wednesday.

The Vijayawada MP, popularly known as Nani, also submitted his resignation as a Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Also Read | Indian Air Force To Organise Aerial Display in Mumbai From January 12 to 14 as Part of Outreach Programme.

Soon after jumping the ship, Kesineni said, "For nine years, I believed in Chandrababu's leadership, but now it's clear that he is a fraud. Chandrababu has caused turmoil in my family, and it's time for me to part ways."

In his resignation letter to party president Chandrababu Naidu, Nani said, "I am writing to formally tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), effective immediately. After careful consideration and personal reflection, I have decided that it is in my best interest to discontinue my association with the party."

Also Read | Shiv Sena MLAs Disqualification: Murder of Democracy and Insult to Decision of Supreme Court, Says Uddhav Thackeray on Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's Verdict (Watch Video).

"I want to express my gratitude for the opportunities and experiences I have had as a member of the TDP over the years. However, my personal circumstances and beliefs have evolved, leading me to this decision. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the party leadership, fellow members, and supporters for their guidance and support during my tenure with the TDP. Please consider this letter as my formal resignation from the primary membership of the party. Thank you for your understanding," he added. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Buffalo police will get raises in four consecutive years under a new contract announced Tuesday by Mayor Byron W. Browns administration.

The tentative contract, approved Monday by the Police Benevolent Associations members, calls for a 3% salary increase from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, and 4% increases for each of the next three years.

The tentative agreement covers about 812 budgeted police department positions through June 30, 2025.

Browns administration filed the tentative deal Tuesday just prior to the Common Councils 2 p.m. business meeting.

Council President Christopher P. Scanlon said he was thrilled the parties have come to an agreement.

I havent had a chance to look at it in depth yet, but obviously when contracts like this come to the Council with increases in pay, things like that, we want to look at how thats going to be paid for, what other stipulations are within the contract before we approve it, he said. By and large Im just thrilled theyve come to an agreement and are moving forward with the next step.

PBA President John Evans said, Though it took a long time to accomplish, in the end we were able to agree on terms. The body of the PBA voted to ratify the deal. We await word from the Common Council. We expect it will be approved in short order.

Brown stated in the documents filed with the Council that he believes this is a fair agreement which provides the city with necessary long-term fiscal stability and avoids the uncertainty that comes in the event that we proceed to the interest arbitration process.

Longevity payments included in the deal increase by $20 per year in all four years.

The parties agreed to maintain the previous contracts residency requirement, which requires all bargaining members hired after the ratification of this agreement to be domiciled residents of the city at the time of hire and remain a resident for seven years.

The city and the PBA also have agreed to a provision that includes changes in management rights regarding evaluations and training of all bargaining unit members. Under the pact, PBA members will be subject to evaluations conducted by the employees direct supervisor at a maximum of four times per year, not to exceed once per quarter. The evaluating supervisor may require the employee to attend one training session conducted by a City of Buffalo Training Academy trainer, not to exceed four training sessions per year.

In addition, the health insurance contribution period was amended to change the current four-year contribution period to 10 years for all bargaining unit members hired after the ratification of the agreement.

The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority is reviewing the new agreement and will issue a recommendation Jan. 16.

The terms of the tentative agreement were negotiated with the assistance of Gregory Poland, chief mediator and regional director of the New York State Public Employment Relations Board.
Mumbai, Jan 10 (PTI) Private port operator APM Terminals Pipavav has inked two initial pacts with the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and Welspun Group for port infra development and green hydrogen ecosystem.

Under its collaboration with GMB, the company plans to invest Rs 3,320 crore in setting up of liquid and container berths and a yard, among others.

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The Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed at the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on Wednesday, according to a statement.

"APM Terminals Pipavav is committed to the community, environment and to the region. By signing path breaking MOUs predominantly in the capital investment and green hydrogen space at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, we bring together all the parties required to make this a success and reiterate our commitment to the state of Gujarat," the port operator's Managing Director Girish Aggarwal said.

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As part of the pact with GMB, the two partners will facilitate necessary permissions for the construction of liquid berth, container berth and a yard, container handling equipment, and marine infrastructure development at Pipavav Port, estimated at the cost of Rs 3,320 crore.

This would create jobs and economic growth through infrastructure development, the statement said.

Regarding its partnership with Welspun, APM Terminals Pipavav said the two sides will explore opportunities for the development of green hydrogen facilities on land provided by the port.

Green hydrogen is produced from water and renewable energy. Among others, it can be a replacement for fossil fuels and also be a sustainable industrial raw material.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) A group of over 850 citizens on Wednesday appealed to the opposition bloc INDIA to strengthen the alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections "to save the soul of India".

Making the appeal in a statement, the group called upon "all progressive, secular political parties to strengthen the INDIA alliance, and join it if some parties have still not joined."

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The appeal was signed by more than 850 citizens, including Shabnam Hashmi, Zoya Hasan, Nivedita Menon and Harsh Mander.

Welcoming the formation of the alliance, they said, "...however, every citizen is asking will it work on the ground? The political leadership of every party has to instil the confidence that they will not spare any effort to meet the challenge unitedly. Seat sharing will not be a hurdle in saving the country."

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This alliance must not be simply a precursor to the 2024 elections but must engage in long-term work at all levels, they said.

"We believe that INDIA alliance needs more strength, particularly in the largest state in the country, because despite the huge public support post farmers strike we lost 2022," they said, referring to the victory of the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, sends 80 MPs to Parliament.

Stating that there is a shift in voting patterns between assembly and parliament elections, the appeal said there is a "perceived feeling among the SCs (Scheduled Castes) that INDIA team leaders have a subtle agenda to weaken their independent leadership in the country." It "can be suicidal," they added.

"The alliance needs to undo such perceptions to increase the public confidence and that alone can make every meaningful citizen to come out to make it a grand success," they said.

"Let us rise above petty politics this time for the soul of India. Let us be clear that there is no next time this time," they said.

They alleged that the last nine years under the BJP government have seen a "collapse of democratic institutions in the country".

"India's democracy and Constitution are facing an unprecedented crisis, and this has been repeated by every political leader of opposition parties. However, it demands for an unprecedented response as well," they said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Medi Assist Healthcare Services, which offers third-party administration services to insurance firms, on Wednesday fixed a price band of Rs 397 to Rs 418 per share for its Rs 1,172-crore Initial Public Offering (IPO).

The issue will be open for public subscription from January 15-17, and the bidding for anchor investors will open for a day on January 12, according to the statement.

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The maiden public issue is entirely an Offer For Sale (OFS) of 2,80,28,168 (or 2.8 crore) equity shares of Medi Assist by promoters and existing shareholders.

As a part of the OFS, promoters -- Vikram Jit Singh Chhatwal, Medimatter Health Management and Bessemer Health Capital LLC -- will offload shares, besides investor Investcorp Private Equity Fund I will offer shares among others.

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Since the issue is completely an OFS, the company will not receive any proceeds and all the funds will go to the selling shareholders.

At the upper end of the price band, the issue is expected to fetch Rs 1,171.58 crore.

Half of the issue has been reserved for qualified institutional investors, 35 per cent for retail investors and the remaining 15 per cent for non-institutional investors. Investors can bids for a minimum of 35 equity shares and in multiples of 35 equity shares thereafter.

Bengaluru-based Medi Assist is a health-tech and insurtech company focused on administering health benefits across employers, retail members, and public health schemes.

The company's primary clients are insurance companies. It also serves as an intermediary between general and health insurance companies, the insured member's insurance companies and healthcare providers (such as hospitals), and the government and beneficiaries of public health schemes.

Axis Capital, Nuvama Wealth Management, IIFL Securities, and SBI Capital Markets have been appointed as merchant bankers to advise the company on the IPO. The equity shares of the company will be listed on the BSE and NSE.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Jan 10 (PTI) A majority of employees feel supportive managers contribute to happiness at work, a report said on Wednesday.

A significant 70 per cent of employees reported feeling happy and content at work, while 30 per cent expressed some level of dissatisfaction, a report by global job site Indeed said.

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The survey was conducted by Valuvox on behalf of Indeed among 1,219 employers and 2,537 employees across sectors.

The report revealed that 58 per cent of employees surveyed believe their work significantly contributes to their overall happiness.

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Moreover, over 95 per cent of employees feel that managers hold the primary responsibility for ensuring employee happiness, emphasising the importance of leadership in fostering a positive work environment.

Besides supportive managers, meaningful work, using skills, facing challenges, being creative, and working with a good team are some of the other factors that make employees happy, according to the report.

Further, the report found that employees with over 15 years of experience (74 per cent) and those with 0-2 years (54 per cent) reported higher levels of unhappiness.

Long-term employees may feel stagnant, while newcomers might struggle to fit in, the report added.

Sectors like FMCG (81 per cent), IT/ITeS (81 per cent), Consumer Durables (80 per cent), and Retail (78 per cent) have higher levels of happy employees compared to Automobile (59 per cent), Logistics (58 per cent), and Construction and Real Estate (58 per cent), possibly due to stability and growth opportunities, the report said.

Happiness levels are higher in small (73 per cent) and large (79 per cent) organisations, while medium-sized ones (61 per cent) struggle relatively to maintain employee happiness, it added.

"Our data shows that the majority of organisations prioritising employee happiness witness increased satisfaction among their teams. This satisfaction ultimately drives better job performance and engagement, leading to sustained business success," Indeed India Talent Strategy Advisor Rohan Sylvester said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside an NCLT order, which rejected Srei Equipment Finance Ltd's Rs 919.78 crore claims from ARSS Infrastructure Projects.

The appellate tribunal observed that its claim had been rejected on "flimsy grounds".

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Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL) had initially disbursed loans of Rs 222.81 crore to ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd in 2015 after entering into an agreement.

For security, a charge in favour of the company was created, including movable plant and machinery, machinery spares, tools and accessories, and other movables.

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However, it has not recovered any amount under the deed of assignment. Instead, it was revealed later that ARSS Infrastructure Projects made misleading and false representation in the deed of assignment.

The receivables assigned to SEFL were already encumbered and a charge was created in favour of the financial creditor -- the State Bank of India. After this came to light, SEFL sought rectification of the discrepancies.

Meanwhile, the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) was initiated against SEFL on the Reserve Bank of India's plea on October 8, 2021 by the Kolkata bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

On the other hand, CIRP was also initiated against ARSS Infrastructure Projects on November 30, 2021 by the Cuttack bench of NCLT.

Following this, SEFL filed claims worth Rs 919.78 crore before the IRP of ARSS Infrastructure Projects, which rejected it claims. It asked to reconstitute the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and invite it to the meeting.

After this, SEFL approached the NCLT, where its application was dismissed. It then challenged the order before NCLAT.

NCLAT said there is no dispute on the fact that the corporate debtor had availed of the loan from SEFL and was unable to repay and thus entered into a deed of assignment on March 29, 2017.

Moreover, there was no doubt that ARSS Infrastructure Projects made the misrepresentation in the deed of assignment.

NCLAT also observed that arbitration proceedings were also not initiated by ARSS Infrastructure Projects in the matter.

"It is really heartening to mention that this is the third round of litigation at the instance of the appellant in which the appellant is only asking for admission of its claim by the RP which has been rejected on flimsy grounds," said NCLAT.

It further said, "....we are satisfied that there is an error in the impugned order in rejecting the application filed by the appellant, therefore, the appeal is hereby allowed and the impugned order is set aside."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Streaks of Light Seen in California. (Photo Credits: Video Grab)

Peshawar, Jan 10 (PTI) As many as 11 members of a family, including children and women, were found dead in their house in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a case of suspected poisoning reportedly due to a domestic dispute, police said on Wednesday.

The bodies were found in a house located in the Takhti Khel town in the Lakki Marwat district of the province, according to the police.

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The discovery of the bodies, which included those of two women and two children, was made by the brother of one of the deceased.

The police team arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area to collect evidence related to the tragedy.

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Initial investigations by the local police suggested that the unfortunate incident happened two days ago from the consumption of a toxic substance mixed in the food.

Police officials said that a relative of the deceased family allegedly bought food from Waziristan two days ago.

According to local sources, the incident occurred due to a domestic dispute.

Caretaker Provincial Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Arshad Hussain has sought a report from the Inspector General of Police.

He said that the culprits involved in the incident should be apprehended at the earliest.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Peshawar, January 10: At least four people, including three policemen, were killed after terrorists attacked a toll plaza in Pakistan's northwestern region on Wednesday, police said. The incident happened when unidentified terrorists attacked Laachi toll plaza in Kohat district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday morning. Terror Attack in Pakistan: 23 Soldiers Killed As Terrorists Target Army Checkpost in Dera Ismail Khan (Watch Videos).

"Terrorists attacked the Laachi toll plaza in KPK provinces' Kohat district. Four people including three policemen were killed," said the police. Heavy contingent of police rushed to the site to control the situation. After the incident, the police have sealed the entire area and started massive combing operation to arrest the culprits involved in the assault. Terror Attack in Pakistan: TTP Militants Kill Six Pakistani Policemen Going to Escort Polio Vaccination Team.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also seen a rise in violence with deadly incursions by militants last year. Last January, at least 101 people were killed, mostly police officers, when a suicide bomber disguised as a policeman attacked a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
New York, January 10: US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery last month, and this information was not disclosed to US President Joe Biden, the Pentagon has acknowledged. A statement from Trauma Medical Director Dr John Maddox and Center for Prostate Disease Research of the Murtha Cancer Center Director Dr Gregory Chesnut at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said that Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer early last month.

On December 22, 2023, after consultation with his medical team, the 70-year-old retired four-star general was admitted to the medical centre, where he underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer. Austin was under general anaesthesia during this procedure and "recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, the statement said. 'Baseless Political Stunt', Says US President Joe Biden After House Approves Impeachment Inquiry Against Him.

The statement added that on January 1, Austin was admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center with complications from the December procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection, it said adding that on January 2, the decision was made to transfer him to the ICU for close monitoring and a higher level of care. However, this critical information was not disclosed to Biden or the White House until Tuesday morning. A report in The New York Times said that The White House was caught off guard when it learned about Austin's diagnosis and surgery, with neither Biden nor his staff being notified about it.

The new revelations exacerbated the frustration in the West Wing, where officials were still dealing with the discovery that Austin had been secretly hospitalised last week for complications resulting from a condition that the Pentagon did not disclose even to the White House until Tuesday morning, the Times report said. The White House only learned Tuesday morning that Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, at which point Biden was then informed. Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said during a press briefing Tuesday that Austin continues to recover well and remains in good spirits. US Presidential Elections 2024: Former First Lady Michelle Obama Admits She Is 'Terrified' Over Potential Outcome of Poll Results.

He's in contact with his senior staff and has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor DOD's day-to-day operations worldwide. At this time, I do not have any information to provide in terms of when he might be released from the hospital." On the lack of transparency over Austin's diagnosis and treatment, Ryder said the Department of Defence (DOD) recognises the understandable concerns expressed by the public, Congress and the news media in terms of notification timelines and DOD transparency.

He underscored that Austin has taken responsibility for the issues with transparency and the Department is taking immediate steps to improve our notification procedures. The Secretary's Chief of Staff directed the DOD's director of administration and management to conduct a 30-day review of the department's notification process for the assumption of functions and duties of the Secretary of Defence. The NYT report added that Biden had not been told until Thursday that Austin had been taken by ambulance to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland three days earlier.

When the Pentagon did make it public on Friday evening, it said only that Austin was being treated for complications from an elective medical procedure. The defence secretary is just below the president in the chain of command for the US military. The defence secretary is one of the most important members of the US president's Cabinet. Austin did not even reveal the specifics of his condition in a telephone call with the president on Saturday, White House officials said in the NYT report. The defence secretary's secrecy has unwittingly provided critics with ammunition to accuse Biden of not being in full control of his administration and raised questions about how the 81-year-old president would handle a health crisis of his own, the report added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rapper 50 Cent in a post in which he shared a new big idea, told his fans he has been practising abstinence in 2024 so he can stay focused on his goals. The dad-of-two In Da Club rapper, 48, born Curtis Jackson III, told fans he was making the pledge to focus on his goals and avoid distractions. Rapper 50 Cent To Produce TV Documentary Unveiling Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Rival Diddy

He captioned an Instagram post that showed him smoking a cigar and dressed in a suit: My new idea is so big, I dont have time to be distracted. I'm practising abstinence, I have been meditating and focusing on my goals. I hope this New Year helps you excel to the next level.

Rapper 50 Cent's Instagram Post

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 50 Cent (@50cent)

In a hint his plans could include more businesses, he tagged the post with the names of his cognac brand, Branson Cognac, as well as his Champagne line Le Chemin du Roi. His post came with a string of photos of himself wearing a suit and tie while smoking a cigar with a glass of his award-winning brandy, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Rapper 50 Cent Arrives in Mumbai For The Final Lap 2023 Concert at DY Patil Stadium (Watch Video).

Hours later, he posted a photo of himself in a bar holding a bottle of his cognac, which he captioned: There is always another level, @bransoncognac level up @lecheminduroi. His fans flooded the comments section of his abstinence pledge to show their support for the rapper, with many saying mindset and discipline were the key to making big life changes and achieving goals.

One advised him: Stay focused, brother. We're rooting for you out here, while another fan said: Executive mode, mogul moves, positive vibes only! (three fire emojis.) Others said they couldnt wait for the unveiling of the performers new idea.

The rappers announcement came after rumours surfaced that he and his girlfriend Jamira Cuban Link Haines, 29, had split. Fifty has been dating the aspiring corporate lawyer for at least a year. She so far appears unphased by Fiftys New Year pledge and recently posted a selfie to her Instagram Story with the caption: Morning beautiful people. Have a Blessed Day.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2024 12:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Echo Review: For the uninitiated, Echo is a Marvel character introduced in the MCU through the Disney+ series Hawkeye, though we know her there only as Maya Lopez. She is an auditory-impaired character of Native American origins, and credit where it's due, Marvel made the right casting choice by roping in Alaqua Cox, a deaf actress herself of the same lineage. Maya had been one of Hawkeye's better parts, with an intriguing subplot about having her strings controlled by her behind-the-scenes 'uncle.' Marvel fans knew this 'uncle' is Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, as revealed in the final episode of Hawkeye, with actor Vincent D'Onofrio reprising the role from Netflix's Daredevil series. Echo Review: Critics Label Latest Marvel Series 'Interesting,' Praise Stellar Performances by Alaqua Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Now, Maya Lopez gets her own spinoff show in Echo, a sort of origin superhero story where we see her finally live up to her superhero name. Echo is also the first show made in the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the banner 'Marvel Spotlight,' intended to be separate from the larger Marvel universe. That said, the first episode serves as a recap of her stint in the Hawkeye series, even featuring a cameo by Jeremy Renner, sort of, with footage used of the actor from the other show.

However, it is not just old scenes; there is also some exploration of Maya's past. The episode begins with people seemingly birthing out of the ground, and a woman among them, dipping her hands in some sparkling blue groundwater to get pulsating red light on her hands and face. Maybe hardcore Marvel fans can answer what's happening there, as I have no clue, but anyway, they became the first Choctaw tribe, and the power has been passed on to generations, with Maya being the latest in line. Only she didn't know it at first.

Watch the Trailer of Echo:

We are also shown glimpses of how Fisk becomes her foster father, how he weaponises her anger caused by Ronin's murder of her father (Zahn McClarnon), and how a confrontation with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) leads to Maya becoming Fisk's most trusted weapon (genuine question: so where was Daredevil during the events of Hawkeye?). Of course, as seen in Hawkeye, she learns it was her 'uncle' behind her father's death, and she responds to that deceit by putting a bullet in Fisk's eye, assuming she killed him. He survives, though; just don't ask how. Perhaps Marvel borrowed the same science from Kingsman that brought back Harry Hart from the dead.

A Still From Echo

Anyway, when we meet her next, Maya is on the run. She is injured, and she returns to her native grounds, where she is determined to bring down Fisk's empire. We also meet her estranged grandma Chula (Tantoo Cardinal), her worried cousin/once BFF Bonnie (Devery Jacobs), Skully (Graham Greene), who I am not sure if he is her grandfather or not, uncle Henry (Chaske Spencer), and cousin Biscuits (Cody Lightning). While she is mostly an ass to them, they all end up serving their perfunctory superhero roles in her favour. Chula becomes this expository machine, who later gives Maya her first accessory in being 'Echo.' Bonnie often comes in need of being rescued. Henry and Biscuits both end up being Maya's sidekicks, one also being her voice of reason and the other being the fun-loving one. Skully, meanwhile, becomes this convenient inventor chap for her.

A Still From Echo

So yeah, these are the characters that matter. At one point, Fisk returns. In perhaps the series' most arresting sequence, he tries to convince Maya to return to his fold despite what she did to him. Like with Hawkeye, even Echo doesn't do justice to the antagonism of Fisk, considering how incredible he was in the Netflix series - perhaps the best Marvel onscreen villain there is. However, it does a good job building on the uneasy relationship Fisk shares 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" data-src="https://st1.latestly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ECHO-110323-01-54f76328832642e1a6fc6f616e9bf8fb.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000" />

A Still From Echo

Anyway, when we meet her next, Maya is on the run. She is injured, and she returns to her native grounds, where she is determined to bring down Fisk's empire. We also meet her estranged grandma Chula (Tantoo Cardinal), her worried cousin/once BFF Bonnie (Devery Jacobs), Skully (Graham Greene), who I am not sure if he is her grandfather or not, uncle Henry (Chaske Spencer), and cousin Biscuits (Cody Lightning). While she is mostly an ass to them, they all end up serving their perfunctory superhero roles in her favour. Chula becomes this expository machine, who later gives Maya her first accessory in being 'Echo.' Bonnie often comes in need of being rescued. Henry and Biscuits both end up being Maya's sidekicks, one also being her voice of reason and the other being the fun-loving one. Skully, meanwhile, becomes this convenient inventor chap for her.

A Still From Echo

So yeah, these are the characters that matter. At one point, Fisk returns. In perhaps the series' most arresting sequence, he tries to convince Maya to return to his fold despite what she did to him. Like with Hawkeye, even Echo doesn't do justice to the antagonism of Fisk, considering how incredible he was in the Netflix series - perhaps the best Marvel onscreen villain there is. However, it does a good job building on the uneasy relationship Fisk shares with Maya, though the final payoff is pretty underwhelming. Also, both actors are so good in their roles that the bonding, despite the ups and downs of the writing, feels real.

But apart from the Wilson Fisk-Maya equation and the curious Native American lore, Echo is a very passable entry in the struggling Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even technically, the series is kinda underwhelming. There is an action scene in the first episode, involving Daredevil (his only appearance in the series), that aims to achieve the impressive (seemingly) one-take action choreography of the Daredevil series, and to some extent, it works if you ignore the punches that don't always land where they should.

A Still From Echo

However, apart from this scene, the rest of the action sequences disappoint mightily. It is bloodier than earlier Marvel offerings but doesn't fully capitalise on the mature rating and actually place safe. There is a train heist sequence that should have really looked cool on screen but is undermined by obvious green screens and editing choices. The final action scene where Maya revokes the 'Echo' within her should have been a great moment had it not been reminding of a similar scene from Captain Marvel, and even more so, ends up leading to an unimpressive fight scene.

Final Thoughts

Echo benefits from the genuine performances from Cox and D'Onofrio and intriguing Native American lore interspersed in a superhero origin story, but it more or less struggles to transcend the flaws of its ordinary writing and making. Its technical aspects lack the consistent prowess needed to elevate the series beyond its mild ambitions and be on the same benchmark as the Netflix series - a comparison that it unfortunately brought upon itself with its casting choices. Still, Echo's just five episodes that you can binge on the trot, and you can catch all of them on Disney+ Hotstar in India.

Rating: 2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2024 04:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations Wednesday with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, on the 60th anniversary of China-Tunisia diplomatic relations.

In a message, Xi said China and Tunisia, with a profound traditional friendship, have witnessed sound and steady growth of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, no matter how the international landscape evolves.

Xi said he highly prizes the development of China-Tunisia relations and is willing to work with Saied to push for new and greater progress in bilateral friendly cooperative relations.
A Hamburg-based homebuilder wants to put up an 80-unit apartment and townhome development in Orchard Park, but its running into a challenge from the town over zoning limits on density.

Alliance Homes is proposing to construct the Maple Grove Apartment Homes, with seven two-story buildings, on the west side of California Road.

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The developer does not own the 9-acre site at 4038 California, which is zoned for residential development, but has authorization from the property owner, Duane Plaza, to proceed with the project. The land, which is sparsely dotted with trees, lies within the shadow of Highmark Stadium to the west, separated only by the South Branch of Smoke Creek.

Plans for the complex, first unveiled last June, called for seven multifamily structures, along with a 1,600-square-foot clubhouse with a fitness center.

The layout would include five identical 12-unit buildings, with 10 two-bedroom and two three-bedroom units in each, plus two 10-unit buildings with four one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom units. There would also be a maintenance building in the center.

In all, the project would feature eight one-bedroom apartments, 48 two-bedroom apartments, 14 two-bedroom townhouses and 10 three-bedroom townhouses. The 24 townhouses would each include attached garages, with an additional space in front of each garage, plus 136 surface parking spaces.

If approved, the project would take 18 to 24 months to complete.

California Road has a mix of commercial and industrial properties as well as apartments on that side of the road, with a couple of single-family residential streets on the other side. Just a quarter-mile away, Alliance recently completed the Orchard Grove Apartment Homes, which are similar to the Maple Grove proposal, and are fully occupied.

The Maple Grove location lies between the commercial and residential uses. Given a need for more industrial space in Orchard Park, town officials had considered previously whether to rezone the site to industrial, but ultimately decided to keep it as residential, said Orchard Park Planning Board Chair Harold Fabinsky.

Alliance officials believe their proposal met all zoning requirements, including for setback, building separation and density  the number of units allowed per acre  and said they did not believe any zoning variances would be needed. They also argued that it would be consistent with the nearby development, which includes single-family and multifamily developments.

But the proposal has faced some challenges nevertheless. In the period since the current owner purchased the land, the town also changed its zoning code for density, sharply reducing the number of units that would be allowed on that site. Alliance argued that the old code should apply, but the towns attorney disagreed, saying the project would only have been grandfathered if construction had already begun when the rules changed.

Alliance sought a zoning variance, but the Zoning Board of Appeals said no. The Planning Board meets again Thursday.

Were not quite there, Fabinsky said. Were going to find out what their intentions are on Thursday night.

Also on Thursday, the Orchard Park Planning Board will again consider a proposal by Holy Face Ministry to build a new retreat center  with a 10-person prayer shrine and a reflecting pond  at 6131 Newton Road, on the north side of the street near the intersection with Burton Road. The worship group currently has its Mother of Mercy House at the site.

The project had previously been approved, but neighbors objected and sued, complaining that the 8-foot depth of the pond would disrupt their 25-foot-deep wells.

We got some pretty good engineering people and they couldnt figure out how that could be, Fabinsky said.

But a court ruled that the project was not properly approved, so its coming back.

Some of the folks in the neighborhood were very upset, Fabinsky said. There was some really, really intense local feeling against this project by at least a few of the neighbors.
New Delhi, January 10: A Delhi court on Wednesday said that it will hear, on January 16, the bail application moved by Neelam Azad, one of the six accused in the December 13, 2023, Parliament security breach case. Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Courts adjourned the matter, citing the unavailability of the investigating officer of the case.

On January 2, the court had directed the Delhi Police to file a response to the bail application. Azad has sought immediate release from the custody of Delhi Police. Terming her arrest as 'illegal', she said it was in contravention of Article 22 (1) of the Constitution. Parliament Security Breach: Five out of Six Accused Give Consent Before Delhi Court To Undergo Polygraph Test.

All the six accused are currently in police custody. Azad, along with three other accused persons, was arrested from the Parliament premises on December 13, and on December 21, a Delhi court extended their police custody till January 5.

Azad has challenged the legality of the remand order dated December 21 on the ground that she wasnt allowed to consult a legal practitioner of her choice to defend herself during the proceedings of the remand application dated December 21 moved by the state. She has further alleged that she was produced after 29 hours, which was contrary to the law. Security Breach in Parliament: Accused Planned and Strategised Everything on WhatsApp Group.

The plea read: "The petitioner has placed reliance on the words 'choice' and 'defended' in Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India to emphasise that it is an admitted fact that the state prevented her from having legal representation of her choice, and when she was produced before the court, although an advocate was indeed appointed by the court, she wasnt given the opportunity to choose the most suitable advocate from the DLSA."

It said the court has made a fatal error by adjudicating the remand application first and then asking the petitioner if she wanted to be defended by a legal practitioner of her choice. "Thus, the right guaranteed under Article 22(1) of the Constitution was grossly violated, making the remand order dated December 21 unlawful," the plea read.

Delhi Police have told a court that the accused in the case were "hardened criminals", consistently altering their statements. The police have registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused and are investigating the security lapse issue too. The police had informed the court that they have included Sections 16 (terrorism) and 18 (conspiracy for terrorism) of the UAPA in the charges against the accused.

There was a major security breach on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attacks on December 13, when two of the accused jumped onto the floor of the Lok Sabha, released yellow gas, and raised slogans before being overpowered by the MPs present in the House. The Delhi High Court had on December 22 stayed a trial court's order directing Delhi Police to supply Azad a copy of the FIR.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2024 10:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Etah, January 10: The Ram temple in Ayodhya will soon receive a massive bell, weighing 2,400 kg, made of ashtadhatu (eight metals), from the Jalesar town in Etah district. The bell has been manufactured at a cost for Rs 25 lakh and will be transported by train on Tuesday. Manufactured by a diverse team of around 30 workers, the bell, made of eight metals - gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, tin, iron, and mercury  is among the largest in the country.

Aditya Mittal, a metal businessman, said that his late brother, Vikas Mittal, former chairman of Jalesar Nagar Panchayat, wished to donate the bell to the temple but passed away in 2022 after a cardiac arrest. However, Aditya and another brother Prashant Mittal honoured his wish to donate the bell to the temple. Aditya said that the bell, measuring six feet in height and five feet in width, will produce a sound audible within a 2 km radius. Ram Temple Consecration Ceremony: 3,000 Gifts Arrive for Lord Ram From Sitas Home in Nepal.

2,400 kg Bell Crafted from Eight Metals Donated to Ayodhya Ram Temple

PHOTO | Giant bell, weighing 2400 kg, offered for Ram temple in Ayodhya by a delegation of people from Etah: Temple trust in statement.#RamMandir pic.twitter.com/Uzfw9uhlDI  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 10, 2024

Providing insights into the bell-making process, Prashant Mittal, highlighted its uniqueness, emphasising that it is crafted as a single piece, making the task more challenging. The lengthy process included shaping and measuring meticulously, creating wooden templates for the mould, metal preparation, tuning, grinding, and fitting the clapper. The Mittals had received the order for the bell from the Nirmohi Akhara, a litigant in the Ayodhya title dispute, immediately after the apex courts decision in November 2019. Giant Bell Weighing 2400 Kg for Ram Mandir: People From Uttar Pradesh's Etah Make Offering to Ayodhya Ram Temple (View Pic).

Aditya said, We believe there is some divine reason that this work came to us. So, we decided to donate it to the temple. Etah district is renowned for its artisans, receiving orders from India and abroad for temple bells. Approximately 300 factories in Jalesar contribute to this craft. Jalesars brass handicraft has thrived under the Yogi Adityanath Governments one district, one product scheme.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2024 03:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Every year, World Hindi Day is observed on January 10 to celebrate the cultural heritage of the Hindi language. The day, also known as Vishwa Hindi Diwas in Hindi, emphasizes its importance as one of the most widely spoken languages globally. This day holds significance as it marks the anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference, which was held in 1975 in Maharashtras Nagpur. The conference was aimed to enhance the use of Hindi across the world and encourage its growth and popularity. Hindi is not only the most widely spoken language in India but also one of the most spoken languages in the world. The international event aims to promote the Hindi language globally and highlight its cultural and linguistic importance. Scroll down to learn more about the World Hindi Day 2024 Date, the history and the significance of the day and more. World Hindi Day 2024 Images & HD Wallpapers: Wish Happy Vishwa Hindi Diwas With WhatsApp Messages, Quotes and Greetings.

World Hindi Day 2024 Date

World Hindi Day 2024 will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 10.

World Hindi Day 2024 History

On January 10, 1975, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the first World Hindi Conference in Nagpur. Since 1975, World Hindi Conferences have been organized in various countries such as India, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America. In this article, learn about the World Hindi Day 2024 date, the history and significance of the day and more. World Hindi Day should not be confused with Hindi Diwas, as the latter is celebrated on September 14. The celebration of Hindi Diwas marks the day that Hindi was elected as one of the country's official languages.

World Hindi Day 2024 Significance

World Hindi Day holds great significance as it serves as a platform to spread awareness about the Hindi language and its rich heritage among people of different cultures and regions worldwide. On this day, various events, seminars, cultural programs, and competitions are organized to promote the language, its literature, and its significance in different spheres of life.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2024 01:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
After Jadavpur University (JU), complaints of ragging have surfaced in Kolkatas iconic Calcutta Medical College & Hospital, where two postgraduate trainees have complained of physical assault by their seniors.
San Francisco, January 9: Former Indian-origin Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has entered the artificial intelligence (AI) race, with reportedly raising $30 million for his startup. Agrawal, who was sacked by Twitter (now called X) owner Elon Musk in late 2022, raised about $30 million in funding for an AI startup, reports The Information.

Vinod Khosla-led Khosla Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI, led the funding in Agrawals company, which hasnt been publicly disclosed, the report noted. Two other venture firms, Index Ventures and First Round Capital, also participated in the deal, according to the report. Agrawals startup is reportedly building software for developers of large language models, popularised by OpenAIs chatbot ChatGPT. Paytm Announces To Invest Rs 100 Crore in Gujarats GIFT City To Offer AI-Driven Cross-Border Remittance and Set Up New Development Centre for Innovation.

Late last year, Agrawal, former policy lead Vijaya Gadde and other executives won $1.1 million in legal fees from Musk-run X Corp. In October 2022, Musk informed Agrawal, Gadde and former Twitter chief financial officer Ned Segal that their employment with the company was terminated as he took control of the micro-blogging platform for $44 billion. Microsoft and US-Based National Energy Laboratory PNNL Announce 'Multi-Year Collaboration' To Accelerate Scientific Discovery for Energy Storage Options With Help of AI.

According to reports, these three top executives had an exit package of around $90-100 million when they left Twitter. Agrawal was set to receive the largest payout at around $40 million, largely due "to the entirety of his shares vesting upon his firing.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is currently receiving treatment for prostate cancer and is experiencing complications that led to his hospitalization on New Year's Day, according to a statement from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center released on Tuesday.

The statement disclosed that the cancer was detected in early December, leading Austin to undergo a "minimally invasive surgical procedure" called a prostatectomy on December 22 to address the cancer, according to CNN.

The surgery was successful, and Austin returned home the following day. The statement emphasized that the cancer was detected early, and his prognosis was reported as excellent.

However, on January 1, Austin was readmitted to the hospital due to complications, including severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain accompanied by nausea.

Further examination revealed a urinary tract infection.

The delayed revelation of Austin's hospitalization raised questions about transparency and truthfulness within the Defense Department, as key leaders, including President Joe Biden and senior national security officials, were reportedly unaware of the situation until three days after his admission.

READ NEXT: Lloyd Austin: House Republican Wants Defense Secretary Out

Concerns About Truthfulness on Lloyd Austin Health

The Defense Department initially characterized Austin's hospitalization as a "minor elective medical procedure," not disclosing the prostate surgery details, AP reports.

The choice of wording drew attention and criticism regarding the transparency of the department.

Pentagon press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder defended the language, stating it was developed in consultation with Austin's doctors. However, concerns persist about the delays in public notification.

Ryder acknowledged the deeply personal nature of discussions about prostate cancer but did not provide clarity on how Austin's health would impact his duties, travel, or public engagements.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks is expected to assume some day-to-day responsibilities during Austin's recovery.

Despite speaking with President Biden on Saturday, Austin did not inform him about the cancer diagnosis.

In a public statement issued the same day, Austin acknowledged the shortcomings in keeping the public informed about his hospitalization but did not disclose the cancer diagnosis during the conversation with the president.

Calls for Transparency and Congressional Action

The lack of transparency triggered calls for Lloyd Austin's resignation or firing, per CBS News.

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio expressed concern over losing track of the secretary of defense and criticized the White House and Department of Defense leadership.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi suggested a hearing on the matter, and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island emphasized the need for improved disclosure practices.

President Biden has expressed full confidence in Austin, and the White House is reviewing notification processes for Cabinet secretaries falling ill.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients outlined interim procedures in a memo to Cabinet secretaries, emphasizing the need for timely notification in specific circumstances such as hospitalization or travel to areas with limited communication access.

As the Pentagon addresses concerns surrounding Austin's health and the transparency of information, ongoing reviews, and potential congressional hearings may shed more light on the situation.

President Biden remains supportive of Lloyd Austin despite the calls for increased accountability and transparency within the Defense Department.

READ MORE: Proud Boys Defendant Faces 10 Years in Prison

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: BREAKING: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin diagnosed with prostate cancer - From MSNBC
The weather is not looking too good for much of the US as winter storms caused plenty of problems all over the country, from power outages to school and road closures. There are also blizzard warnings and flood warnings.

The hardest-hit areas right now are in the South, with over 100,000 people losing power due to the winter storms in Florida and Georgia, while two are dead in Alabama. Tornado watches have also been issued from South Florida to southern Virginia.

Significant damage to homes and businesses has also been reported across Florida and the Carolinas. There is also a threat of severe storms with damaging winds and tornadoes, which is expected to continue after sunset until the storm system pushes off the Eastern Seaboard, according to Fox Weather.

In Alabama, the storms knocked over trees and caused at least one tornado. The heaviest damage happened near the Florida-Alabama border in Houston County, where one senior citizen was killed when a suspected tornado passed by Cottonwood during the morning. Meanwhile, a tree fell on a Sedan near Birmingham, killing the driver.

Over in Georgia, the commute can get deadly, as an Atlanta man was killed after a tree fell during gusty winds in Jonesboro. He was inside a vehicle when a tree fell on it, killing him. This prompted the National Weather Service to issue Severe Thunderstorm warnings for several counties in the state, including the area that includes the always busy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

At least one tornado tore through the Florida Panhandle, with severe damage being reported to have happened in several condos and houses in Panama City. Some of those hit are still recovering from the damage brought by Hurricane Michael five years ago.

READ MORE: Joe Biden Impeachment Inquiry: Jim Jordan Admits Strongest Evidence Vs. POTUS Was Previously Debunked

Climate Change Intensifying US Winter Storms, Expert Says

Experts have been warning that the severe weather we are experiencing is a result of climate change, with one expert explaining why. Warmer air can hold more water, and with each additional degree that the atmosphere warms as a result of climate change, we could expect more rain.

"One of the most direct signals of warming of the atmosphere is the higher capacity of the atmosphere to hold water," senior researcher at Columbia Climate School at Columbia University, Andrew J. Kruczkiewicz, told CNN. "And when we see that capacity to hold water, we see an increased risk of intense rainfall events - and we are seeing this is an intense rainfall event."

Heavy Snowfall Pummels Midwest During US Winter Storm

While tornadoes and rainfall battered the South, the Midwest is currently experiencing heavy snowfall, with snow blanketing a wide area that stretches from southeastern Colorado all the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Midwest is expected to experience up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow, and it could turn deadly as poor road conditions are expected. These can become fatal crashes, with one already being reported in Wisconsin on Tuesday after an SUV driver was killed after his vehicle plowed into a semi-trailer due to the slush making the road slippery.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Tried To Spread Fake News About New York Judge Overseeing Fraud Trial But Gets Exposed

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Major storm on the move to bring blizzards, tornados across the US - TODAY
A group of armed men broke into a live Ecuador TV studio, threatening staff during a live broadcast on Tuesday, per BBC.

The incident occurred at the TC station in the city of Guayaquil, where the armed group, wearing hoods and carrying guns, interrupted the live feed. Station employees were forced onto the floor before the broadcast abruptly cut out.

The intrusion took place amidst a 60-day state of emergency declared in Ecuador on Monday, prompted by the disappearance of a convicted gang leader, Adolfo Macias, known as "Fito," from his prison cell.

The Ecuador gunmen were captured on the live feed leaving the TC studios, with police arriving about 30 minutes later.

National police units from Quito and Guayaquil were swiftly deployed to the scene.

The country's national police force reported on social media, formerly Twitter, that studio staff had been safely evacuated.

Subsequently, several suspects were arrested in connection with the incident.

READ NEXT: Ecuador: Notorious Gang Leader Disappears from Prison

Unsettling Scene Unfolds on Ecuador TV Studio's Live Broadcast

The Ecuador gunmen, clad in balaclavas and predominantly dressed in black, brandished large guns and confronted frightened staff during the live broadcast, raising concerns about the safety of station personnel.

The live feed eventually went offline, leaving uncertainty about potential injuries, Al Jazeera noted.

Some of the armed intruders gestured at the camera, and a voice could be heard shouting, "no police."

External footage showed a heavy police presence outside the Ecuador TV studio in a city that has grappled with escalating violence in recent years, mainly related to narcotrafficking operations.

Alina Manrique, head of news for TC Television, revealed that she had a gun pointed at her during the incident, expressing shock and a desire to leave the country.

Ecuador's national police, deploying specialized units, intervened at the scene, leading to the arrest of 13 suspects.

Images posted by the national police showcased individuals with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, indicating their capture during the intervention at the studio.

CAPTURADOS



Como resultado de la intervencion en @tctelevision #GYE, nuestras unidades policiales hasta el momento logran la aprehension de varios sujetos e indicios vinculados al ilicito.



Posterior mas detalles... pic.twitter.com/tPq7FfaGcM January 9, 2024

Roots of the Crisis and Gang Violence

The crisis unfolded as the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Adolfo Maias, mysteriously vanished from his prison cell, per The Independent.

Authorities, unable to locate him or explain his disappearance, have filed charges against two prison guards as part of the investigation into what is considered a "prisoner's escape."

Los Choneros, linked to Mexican's Sinaloa cartel, is one of the gangs contributing to a surge in violence in Ecuador.

Last year, the gang's involvement was highlighted by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Although Fito's group had reportedly threatened the politician, authorities have yet to directly implicate them in Villavicencio's murder.

Ecuador faces ongoing challenges with drug trafficking-related violence, with gangs vying for control over routes and territory.

Inside detention facilities, including prisons, at least 400 inmates have died since 2021 due to territorial disputes among gangs.

Experts acknowledge that gang members often exert influence from within prisons, with Macias believed to have maintained control over his group from behind bars.

Ecuador Daniel President Noboa, who assumed office in November, has declared his government's primary objective to be reducing violence in the country, inheriting a significant challenge from the surge in criminal activities.

READ MORE: Mexico Authorities Rescue Kidnapped Migrants

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Footage shows armed gang storming studio live on Ecuadorian TV station - From Guardian News
The justice system in Haiti may have been crippled by the ongoing crisis, but a judge in the country has surprisingly issued arrest warrants against former presidents and prime ministers, accusing them of corruption as the country grapples with gang violence and economic turmoil.

The Haiti judge issued arrest warrants for over 30 high-ranking officials, all of whom have been accused of corruption. The arrest warrants issued included former Haiti presidents Michel Martelly and Jocelerme Privert, as well as former prime ministers Laurent Lamothe, Jean-Michel Lapin, Evans Paul, and Jean-Henry Ceant.

Two of the former top officials issued statements regarding the allegations and arrest warrants against them, and they are former President Privert and former Prime Minister Lapin. The Associated Press tried to reach out to the others but did not get a reply.

Lapin issued his statement with the local newspaper, Le Nouvelliste. He stated that he was never officially notified of the arrest warrant and denied the allegations levied against him, stating that he had never been involved with the National Equipment Center during his 32-year career as a politician.

"I have also never requisitioned or requested the use of any equipment from this institution for my personal needs or for loved ones," the former Haiti prime minister said in his statement.

As for former President Privert, he stated that the judge was only acting maliciously and thoughtlessly. He asserted that the Court of First Instance, which the judge is part of, "has no jurisdiction over the actions taken by presidents, prime ministers and ministers in the exercise of their functions."

So far, nobody has been arrested yet, and no word on where the investigations into these top Haitian officials have been going has been released so far.

READ MORE: Latin America Politics 2023: Election, Conflicts, Other Major Issues in the Region

Dominican Republic Says Security in Border Remains Strong as Haiti Crisis Continues

Meanwhile, as the Haiti Crisis continues to worsen, the one country that shares a border with it, the Dominican Republic, has recently stated that its border security is still strong despite its neighbor's ongoing woes.

According to Dominican Today, the General Commander of the Dominican Army, Carlos Fernandez Onofre, told reporters that the Haiti-Dominican border "is sufficiently reinforced and there is no need for additional measures."

He added that the country is also taking measures to prevent the re-entry of hundreds of undocumented Haitians who voluntarily returned to Haiti for Christmas.

$28,000 Raised by 10-Year-Old Girl To Build Churches in Haiti

It is not all bad news for Haiti though, as a fourth grader at South Haven Christian School, a 10-year-old girl named Kate, managed to raise $28,000 to build 4 churches in the embattled Caribbean country.

According to the Baptist Paper, she and her family operate the Hancock Family Farm and market in Springfield, and they have been partnering with Emannuel Haiti, a ministry of nearby Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Cross Plains, which also provides schools, housing, and medical services to more than 600 orphans in Haiti.

Kate and her mother started fundraising for them last fall, selling hot cider for the mission. She had been adamant about building churches in Haiti, and many in the community pitched it, and they were amazed by such a strong response.

READ MORE: Haiti Crisis Explained: How Did It Get This Bad?

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Growing Questions Over Assassination Of Haitian President - NBC News
A tragic Minnesota hotel shooting on Monday night has left three dead, including the suspected gunman, as authorities in Cloquet work to uncover the motive behind the deadly incident, according to Pine Journal.

The Cloquet Police Department is still piecing together the events that transpired during the shooting at the Super 8 hotel.

Police Chief Derek Randall addressed the community during a news conference on Tuesday, acknowledging the difficult night experienced by Cloquet.

The police received a call at 6:34 p.m. from a Super 8 hotel employee reporting an apparent attack on another staff member.

Responding promptly, officers arrived within three minutes to find a 22-year-old female clerk with a gunshot wound.

Despite being transported to St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, the young woman succumbed to her injuries.

The investigation revealed a 35-year-old man from Deer River dead inside a vehicle in the hotel parking lot, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Additionally, a 32-year-old man from Ramsey, Minnesota, the suspected Minnesota gunman, was found dead with what seemed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the hotel property.

The police believe the clerk was the initial victim, followed by the man in the car before the suspect turned the gun on himself.

READ NEXT: Minnesota Kid Accidentally Shoots 2-Year-Old Sibling

Shelter-in-Place Alert Issued During Minnesota Hotel Shooting

The Minnesota hotel shooting, captured on video, lasted approximately 10 minutes before law enforcement arrived on the scene, per The Hill.

While authorities have not released the names of the victims or the suspected Minnesota gunman, Chief Randall confirmed that there is no current information about a motive or connection between the three individuals.

The investigation is ongoing, but the police have assured the public that there are no further threats.

Following the incident, a shelter-in-place notification was issued for the vicinity near Super 8, affecting the area around Big Lake Road and Highway 33.

The alert was prompted by the belief that an active shooter situation was unfolding, urging caution until more information about the suspect's whereabouts became available.

The order was lifted 90 minutes later when the police confirmed the suspected Minnesota gunman's death and declared no ongoing threat.

Minnesota Gunman's Motive Remains Unknown

Cloquet, a community of approximately 12,000 residents, is grappling with shock and grief in the aftermath of the Minnesota hotel shooting.

The identities of those involved have not been disclosed, and investigators are working diligently to understand the motive behind the tragic episode, BNN noted.

Local establishments are taking extra precautions in response to the sudden violence and loss of life.

Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota expressed condolences, referring to the incident as "another senseless act of gun violence."

Governor Walz pledged state support to local authorities, emphasizing the need to address the broader issue of gun violence.

The Minnesota hotel shooting follows closely on the heels of another tragic incident at Perry High School in Iowa, where one person was killed, and several others, including students and an administrator, were injured in a shooting.

The nation continues to grapple with the persistent and devastating impact of gun violence.

READ MORE: Iowa School Shooting

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Cloquet hotel shooting: Police give update [RAW] - From FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul
OLAF FUB SEZ: A thought for tax season from boxer and entrepreneur George Foreman, born on this date in 1949, The Internal Revenue Service is the real undefeated heavyweight champion.

. . .

MIND BENDERS  Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, 3755 Tonawanda Creek Road, Amherst, hosts News and Brews: Trivia with a Twist at 7 p.m. Thursday, with the twist involving tales from New York States past. Cost is $8 per person, two people per team. Those attending must be 21, since alcohol is served. For more info, call 716-689-1440 or visit bnhv.org.

. . .

BIG NIGHT  Friday is the deadline for reservations for the University at Buffalo Womens Club dinner and wine tasting at 6 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Fairdale Banquet Center, 672 Wehrle Drive, Amherst. Italian cuisine and vintages will be featured. For more info, call chairwoman Debra Berger at 716-691-0279.

. . .

MIX AND MINGLE  The Singles Social Club will share coffee and conversation at a meet-and-greet session from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in Tim Hortons in Mill Plaza, 8500 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls. For more info, call Shelley Collins at 716-550-1232.

. . .

FEELING BETTER  An ambient sound healing class, which uses soothing sounds to enhance meditation and relaxation, will be led by Rachel Stevens from Ambient Sound Therapy in Clarence at 11 a.m. Saturday at Freedom Run Winery, 5138 Lower Mountain Road, Lockport. Those attending should bring a yoga mat, a towel and water. Cost is $24.95. For more info and to register, visit freedomrunwinery.com/events.

. . .

HELPING HELPERS  The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Buffalo & Western New York is starting a series of free online classes Jan. 22 to help family members and caregivers understand and support those living with mental illness.

Classes will be held on Zoom from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays through March 11. Materials and supplies are provided. Preregistration is required. Deadline is Jan. 18. Email online@namibuffalony.org with name, phone number and the subject line Register Family-to-Family Online or call 716-226-6264, Ext. 101.

. . .

STAYING POWER  The Niagara Falls Public Library and naturalists from Niagara Falls State Park will begin a series of four talks about nature at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday in the LaSalle Branch, 8728 Buffalo Ave., Niagara Falls. The topic, Nature in Winter, will discuss how local animals  birds, mammals, insects, amphibians, reptiles and fish  survive in subfreezing weather. For more info, call 716-283-8309.

. . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  Leslie Zemsky, Sawrie Becker, Marilyn Hochfield, Connie Caldwell, Dolly Dee, Sharon Palisano, May Sammarco, Kayla Hardy, Nora June Lounsbury, Anthony Felix McKithen, Michele Morgan and Nancy Burke.

AND THURSDAY  Govindan Kartha, Trey Bankhead, Molly Hutton, JoAnna M. Jacob, Keefer Best, Netty Gaglia, Joanne Leistner Kurzanski, Wilma Dombrowski, Tara Gatto, Melissa Cornwall Heineman, Christine L. Whipkey, Andrea Conrad, Lori Kaczor, Sharon Shantler Day, Tom Kitson, Bob Weekley, David Merkwa, Connie Romance and Dolores Scanlon.

To submit birthdays and other items of interest to Reporters Notebook, please email olaffub@buffnews.com or send a letter to Reporters Notebook, Buffalo News, Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240.
Donald Trump's claims of immunity for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results leading up to the January 6 Capitol insurrection may have run into a wall as his immunity hearing may not have gone in his favor.

The three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit grilled the former president's attorneys with probing questions, with some expressing their skepticism of Trump's claims that he has absolute immunity from prosecution as he was acting in his duties as president.

While Trump's attorneys argued that the office of the president grants absolute immunity, the Department of Justice argued that nobody is above the law, not even the president. As the three US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Karen Henderson, J Michelle Childs, and Florence Pan, grilled the Trump attorneys, they questioned them about possible crimes that presidents might do.

As the BBC noted, DC Circuit Judge Florence Pan was particularly skeptical, asking Trump's attorney, Dean John Sauer, if their immunity claim could mean that a president who sold presidential pardons and state secrets or a president who would order the Navy SEALs to assassinate a political rival, would not be prosecuted because of their absolute immunity argument.

The Trump lawyer's argument was that a president who is not convicted for impeachment by Congress cannot be subject to criminal proceedings, with Trump arguing that while he was impeached, he was never convicted by the US Senate.

However, one of the government's lawyers, James Pearce, argued that this argument could set a precedent that could undermine Congress and any potential criminal proceedings.

"What kind of world are we living in if... a president orders his SEAL team to assassinate a political rival and resigns, for example, before an impeachment - not a criminal act," the government lawyer argued. "A president sells a pardon, resigns, or is not impeached? Not a crime. "I think that is an extraordinarily frightening future."

READ MORE: Donald Trump Tried To Spread Fake News About New York Judge Overseeing Fraud Trial But Gets Exposed

Donald Trump Immunity Hearings Could Lead to Ramifications Against Ex-POTUS

Even the Republican-appointed judge in the panel, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, was skeptical of Trump's arguments, saying, "I think it's paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law."

The ramifications for Trump in this hearing could be massive as it could affect not just his criminal proceedings regarding the January 6 case but also his Georgia case, his New York hush-money case, and his Mar-a-Lago documents case in Florida.

As the Associated Press noted, these hearings are legally untested and raise the question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for actions taken in the White House and could likely set the stage for an appeal before the US Supreme Court.

Donald Trump Planning To Deliver Closing Arguments for His New York Civil Fraud Trial

As the DC Circuit weighs in on Trump's immunity question, he is also facing a civil lawsuit in New York where he may lose his business empire and the right to do business in the Empire State.

Two people with knowledge of Donald Trump's plans for his New York civil case have told the Associated Press that he plans to deliver his own closing argument in New York on Thursday. This comes after a Trump lawyer informed New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron that the former president wished to speak during the closing arguments, with the judge approving the request.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Received Millions of Dollars From China, Other Countries While US President

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Judge asks if a president can order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a rival. Hear Trump's lawyer respond - CNN
The case of Manuel Rocha, the former US Ambassador to Bolivia, has continued to alarm and baffle the US government after it was discovered that he was a spy for Cuba.

Before his arrest, Rocha was one of the most respected members of the US Diplomatic Corps. These days, however, US Attorney General Merrick Garland is calling his alleged crimes "one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government by a foreign agent."

Experts are still baffled as to how Rocha rose so high in the US diplomatic service while evading detection for so long, though many believe his reputation as a hard-nosed conservative while secretly harboring a deep-seated allegiance to the Cuban Revolution may have helped him avoid detection.

Not everybody was surprised by his arrest, though, including James Olson, the former head of counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is familiar with how Cuba's intelligence service, the General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI), works and has spoken to the BBC regarding Rocha's exposure as a spy for Cuba.

"I would rank them as probably the most aggravating intelligence service I've ever worked against," he admitted. "That's not just because they're so devious and so ruthless, but because they're so good."

He added that Cuba running ideological spies as opposed to mercenary ones is part of their modus operandi and admitted they often run the long game with their spies.

He also stated that "They've surpassed the KGB in terms of tradecraft and motivation and resistance to penetration" before admitting that with Manuel Rocha evading detection for so long, "They owned us. They beat us. That's one of the reasons I have this personal grudge against the Cuban intelligence service because they have been so successful in operating against us."

READ MORE: Ex-US Ambassador a Cuba Spy? Manuel Rocha Calls America 'The Enemy'

Manuel Rocha May Have Volunteered To Spy For Cuba

The shock that the Cuban government may have had access to sensitive US intelligence has shocked experts, as Manuel Rocha was able to access them thanks to his position as the US ambassador to Bolivia. This begs the question of why Rocha became a spy for Cuba in the first place.

"At the national security council, in Cuba, when he was in Argentina, and then ambassador in Bolivia, he had access to very sensitive intelligence information, including signals intelligence information," admitted Fulton Armstrong, senior fellow of the Latin American program at American University in Washington and a former CIA analyst.

As to why he joined, Armstrong stated it was because of "ego, grudge and resentment," telling The Guardian, "They didn't recruit him, I think he volunteered."

Who Is Cuban Spy Manuel Rocha?

While he was born in Colombia, Manuel Rocha actually grew up in New York. He attended some of the top schools in the US before he became the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba.

According to Politico, his career highlights as a diplomat were as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Argentina and as the US Ambassador to Bolivia. Now, his case is considered the "most damaging case of Cuban espionage."

READ MORE: Pope Francis Wants Cuba to Release Cuban Protesters Arrested in 2021

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Victor Manuel Rocha, former US ambassador to Bolivia, accused of serving as agent of Cuba - CBS Miami
Buffalo man who attacked stranger with wooden board gets 7 years in jail

A Buffalo man who admitted to attacking a stranger with a wooden board was sentenced Monday by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case to seven years in prison, according to the Erie County District Attorneys Office.

Prosecutors said that on April 14, 2023, Richard C. Frazier, 36, assaulted a man by repeatedly beating him with his fists and a wooden board on East Utica Street near the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Metro Rail station. The 29-year-old victim, who was a stranger to Frazier, was found unconscious the next morning with injuries to his head and jaw. He was transported by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center. He continues to recover from serious physical injuries, according to the District Attorneys Office.

Frazier pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault, the highest count in the indictment against him, on Nov. 1. Case also sentenced him to five years of post-release supervision.

District Attorney John J. Flynn commended the Buffalo Police Department and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police for their work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief Andres D. Ortiz of the Buffalo City Court Bureau.

- Harold McNeil
A 53-year-old male driver is facing felony charges after allegedly striking a man as he crossed the street last month and fleeing the scene.

Michael R. Ayala Sr. of Easton is charged with felony accidents involving injury and accidents involving injury without being properly licensed, in addition to counts of driving while not properly licensed and related summary offenses. Ayala was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Robert Christian Weber and sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail.

The incident happened shortly after 7:15 a.m. Dec. 28 in the area of South Fourth and Washington streets. The 67-year-old male victim was crossing from the south side of Washington Street to the north when he was struck by Ayalas 2018 black Nissan Altima, Easton police Lt. Matthew Gerould told lehighvalleylive.com.

Ayala then continued on and didnt stop, heading west on Washington Street, city police said. The victim was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries that left him in critical condition for weeks. Gerould said Wednesday the victim is expected to survive.

Easton police on Dec. 29 located the Acura involved in the incident. Ayala was arrested the same day on unrelated charges and sent to Northampton County Prison. At his arraignment Wednesday, a preliminary hearing was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 24 to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas.

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A New York pair are accused of stealing about $2,300 worth of goods from Target at Lower Nazareth Commons before being apprehended at a second Target location in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

The Bronx men, 37 and 39, are each charged with misdemeanor retail theft. The 39-year-old, however, is facing three counts of the charge and the 37-year-old is additionally charged with misdemeanor theft by deception.

Both were arraigned Jan. 2 before District Judge John C. Capobianco, who set bail at 10% of $5,000 each. The 37-year-old was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of bail, while the 39-year-old has since posted bail, according to court records.

The stealing spree at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 29 began at the Lower Nazareth store when the 37-year-old removed about $200 worth of merchandise from the shelves, didnt pay for the items and then, returned them at the customer service counter for a gift card of the same value, Colonial Regional police said.

The 39-year-old then made off with 26 Sony Playstation controllers, speakers and clothing without paying, police said. The value of those items was $2,099, according to police.

Police said the pair then traveled to the Airport Road Shopping Center in Hanover Township and attempted to steal more merchandise at that location.

Colonial Regional police served arrest warrants on the pair while they were incarcerated at Lehigh County jail on misdemeanor theft and misdemeanor receiving stolen property charges in the Hanover Township incident.

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A record-setting amount of overnight rainfall prompted multiple water rescues, numerous road closures and shuttered schools Wednesday across the Lehigh Valley.

Flood warnings were in effect into Wednesday evening for communities across the Lehigh Valley and northwestern New Jersey, the National Weather Service said. That includes Lehigh and Northampton counties, where minor flooding was occurring on the Lehigh River at Walnutport and Glendon; the Monocacy Creek at Bethlehem; the Little Lehigh Creek at Trexlertown and Allentown; and Spring Creek at Trexlertown.

Turn around ... dont drown when encountering flooded roads, the warnings stated. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

A wind advisory also remained in effect util to 6 p.m. Wednesday for portions of Northampton and Lehigh counties in Pennsylvania and Warren County in New Jersey, as well as surrounding areas. West winds of 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph are expected.

A Hazardous Weather Outlook also remains for Northampton County through Wednesday evening. This means several instances of flooding are possible, especially in urban and poor-drainage areas and near particularly vulnerable small creeks and streams. Windy conditions also could cause isolated instances of tree damage and power outages into the weekend.

From Tuesday to Wednesday morning, between 2 and 3 inches of rain was recorded across the Lehigh Valley  with higher amounts in some areas, according to the weather service. Rainfall totals easily broke a record for Tuesday at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County after 2.2 inches of rain fell.

The previous record for Jan. 9 was 1.27 inches set in 1964. The average daily rainfall around this time for the region is typically .11 inches., according to weather.gov data.

Overnight, reports showed river gauge forecasts at the Lehigh and Delaware rivers both rising into the action stage before receding short or just above of minor flooding levels. According to the weather services Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, nine spots in the Lehigh Valley could see continued flooding on Wednesday and Thursday. Several river locations are forecast to crest Wednesday and Thursday.

Several water rescues were reported in the overnight hours, including at Spring Creek Road at Mill Creek Road in Lower Macungie around 1 a.m. Wednesday. A witness reported people in a camper along the creek had to be rescued by fire crews in the rising waters.

The Lower Macungie Fire Department reported on the departments Facebook page that crews were marking vehicles with traffic cones to signal the vehicle had been checked and cleared by emergency responders.

In Forks Township, fire units were dispatched around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday to Bushkill Drive at Zucksville Road. Crews had to float a boat to a trapped vehicle and help get a man back to dry land, the department posted on Facebook.

Another rescue was reported around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday along Indian Creek Road in the area of Cedar Crest Boulevard in Lower Macungie Township. The Morning Call newspaper, citing emergency radio broadcasts, reported an additional rescue about 10 minutes prior at South Cedar Crest Boulevard in Upper Milford Township.

Wilson Borough Police Chief Chris Meehan told lehighvalleylive.com a male driver shortly after 7:30 a.m. Wednesday had to be rescued when his vehicle being trapped in high water along Lehigh Street, near the Glendon Bridge. The man was assisted to dry land by PA Water Rescue and was not hurt in the incident, Meehan said.

Multiple power outages remain. There are several road closures due to flooding and downed trees and power lines, according to 511pa.com, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportations traffic website. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the following roadways were shut down:

Zucksville Road  between Bushkill Drive and Sullivan Trail  in Forks Township.

Fifth Street and Yost Road  in both directions between Fifth Street, Main Street and Moorestown Drive  in Chapman Borough.

Iron Street, Glendon Hill Road, Lehigh Drive and Larry Holmes Drive and Avona Avenue  eastbound between Alstrom Energy, Hugh Moore Park Road, Lehigh Drive and Raspberry Street  in Easton.

Between Bethman Road, Greenwood Avenue, Green Pond Road, Church Road, Oakland Road and Hecktown Road  in both directions between Oakland Road, South Hecktown Road and Margate Road and South Hecktown Road  in the Bethlehem area.

Easton Avenue  between Butztown Road and Hecktown Road  in Bethlehem Township.

Willow Park Road  between Freemansburg Avenue and Carter Road  in Bethlehem Township.

Green Pond Road at Hecktown Road in Bethlehem Township.

Hoch Road  in both directions between Glase Road and Scenic Drive  in Moore Township.

Route 611  in both directions between State Park and Mountain Road and Waring Drive  in Upper Mount Bethel.

Kreidersville Road, Walnut Drive and Main Street  in both directions between Cedar Drive and to Beech Drive  in Lehigh Township.

Third and Union streets in Allentown.

Spring Creek Road at Mill Creek Road in Lower Macungie.

Schantz Road  between Hamilton Boulevard and Cetronia Road  in Lower Macungie.

Mertztown Road at Butz Road, Lower Macungie.

Seidersville Road  between Route 378 and Hickory Hill Road  in Lower Saucon.

Shimersville Road and Riverside Drive  in both directions between Jefferson Avenue and East Redington Road  in Lower Saucon.

Lower Saucon Road  between Tumble Creek Road and Buttermilk Road  in Lower Saucon.

Cetronia Road  between Grange Road and Trexlertown Road  in Upper Macungie.

Huckleberry Road, Haasadahl Road and Jordan Road  in both directions between Haasadahl Road, Hilltop Road, Morhs Road and Route 309 south  in Upper Macungie.

Shankeiler Road and Orefield Road  in both directions between Shankeiler Road, Route 309 and Cedar Crest Boulevard  in North Whitehall.

Sechler Road  in both directions between Kistler Valley Road and Routes 4035 and 4040  in Lynn Township.

Donats Peak Road  in both directions between Kistler Valley Road and Herrnhutter Strass Road  in Lynn Township.

Some school districts also remained closed Wednesday. They include the East Penn and Parkland school districts. Parkland posted on the districts website that its closure was due to flooding and the road closures.

The Phillipsburg School District operated on a delayed opening schedule Wednesday.

In Allentown, Union Terrace Elementary School was moved to an Emergency Remote Learning Day due to flooding, while all other schools were scheduled to open on time, district officials posted on social media.

The rest of the forecast Wednesday calls for isolated showers mainly before 10 a.m. Itll be mostly cloudy with wind gusts as high as 45 mph with a high temperature near 48 degrees, according to the weather service. The chance of precipitation is 20%.

Wednesday evening is expected to fall to a low around 31 degrees with a west wind of 10 to 15 mph, and gusts as high as 25 mph, according to the weather service.

Things are expected to dry out for Thursday before another anticipated storm could bring more rainfall Friday.

The weather service is calling for a chance of rain Friday, mainly after 4 p.m. Itll then be partly sunny with a high temperature near 48 degrees, according to the weather service. The chance of precipitation is 40% with new precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Early Saturday will bring more rain before 1 a.m., then rain and possibly a thunderstorm between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., then rain after 4 a.m. The low temperature will hover around 39 degrees, according to the weather service, and itll be windy. The chance of precipitation is 100% with new rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

Pictured in flooding along Union Terrace in Allentown, early Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. A record-breaking winter storm dumped over 2 inches of rainfall onto the Lehigh Valley. Mike Nester | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

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A well known Laois farming family have shared their own tale of succession, as part of the latest episode of RTE's farming television series Ear To The Ground.

The real-life tales of farm succession can be as challenging as the similarly titled popular Netflix show, but the Delaney family near Portlaoise have successfully navigated their farm's future.

Liam Delaney.

Liam Delaney runs his family's farm in Derrygarron, Portlaoise.

He told the Leinster Express / Laois Live why they took part in the programme.

"I got a call two months ago asking me to take part, to talk about the seriousness of farm succession. It's a massive issue, of farms not being passed on in time. You have people in nursing homes then, the state won't pay for them, it puts a burden on siblings.

"The horror stories you hear. If someone is working on the farm since they were 15, but they can't make decisions or drive on the farm, it's no good to you at the age of 55. There is a fear of marriages breaking up but you still have to take the chance. You have to have a son or daughter to leave it to. You can't take it with you.

"I am lucky in the position I'm in. My parents Jim and Frances were very progressive, and my grandparents before them. They signed over the farm so there's no arguments when they're gone. We make decisions jointly still, I respect their opinion and they are a great help with the farm and the children, they're very active and I'm very lucky.

"I have four children aged from 16 to seven, two boys and two girls, and it's the youngest girl showing the most interest.

"I just wanted to get the word out to get your affairs in order and look into it," he said.

Ear to the Ground say that with Ireland's farm population growing older, many remain concerned about determining who will inherit the land and, just as crucially, when this transition will occur. This subject is often shrouded in silence.

Presenter Maeve Dineen will delve into the story of the Delaney family in Laois, who have successfully navigated their farm's future. However, for numerous others, such resolutions appear elusive. To explore this further, Maeve also attends the Dairy Woman Ireland Conference in Co Kildare, seeking insights and discovering how many have already set their succession plans in motion.

Also on the Ear to the Ground programme, Darragh is in Tipperary with a man who looks after the hoofs of some of the world's most valuable horses and Ella is in the Mahrees in Kerry meeting a vegetable farmer unsure if he has a future in the business.

Programme 8 airs on Thursday, January 11 2024 on RTE One at 7pm. It is repeated on Sunday, January 13 at 1.10pm.
The death has taken place of Fr Eddie Lalor, from St Patrick's Missionary Society in Kiltegan, Wicklow and late of Raheen in Laois.

Fr Lalor SPS served in the dioceses of Eldoret, Nakuru and Nairobi, Kenya, and was a former curate of Portlaoise Parish.

He died peacefully on January 9, 2024, at St. Vincents Hospital, Dublin.

He was predeceased by his parents, Thomas and Agnes, his beloved sister Annette and brother P.J.

Deeply regretted by his sister Eleanor Robinson, his nephews Patrick and Eddie, nieces Una and Emma, grandnephews and grandniece, niece-in-law Lorraine, his cousin Eithne Bowe, the clergy and people of Raheen and Portlaoise, and by his Society family in Kiltegan.

Reposing in St. Peter and Pauls Parish Church, Portlaoise from 5.30pm-7.30pm, Thursday, 11th January.

Funeral Mass in St Fintans Church, Raheen, Co. Laois, on Friday, 12th January, at 12.00 noon followed by burial at the adjoining cemetery.

Among those expressing sympathy are the St Vincent de Paul committee in Portlaoise.

"Our sincere sympathies to the Lalor family, Bishop Denis, priests of parish and Kiltegan missionaries on the passing home of Fr. Eddie a great friend and supporter of St. Vincent de Paul Committee Portlaoise, our parish was greatly blessed with your very spiritual ministry, God's blessings on you as you travel home. St.Vincent de Paul Portlaoise Committee."

Sympathiser Anna Malone described his humility, humour and sense of empathy in a lovely tribute.

"It's with great sadness that I learn of Fr. Eddy's death. He held a very special place in our hearts going way back to his younger days and then later on his visits home from Kenya. He loved his later so called retirement days back at home. We always loved when he visited and hearing about the work he did in his priestly duties. He had a humility and graciousness about him but also a great sense of humour and empathy. He has surely earned eternal grace after his life dedicated to ministering to his very diverse flocks. He will have a great reunion with our Aunt Maria up there among the angels. May Fr. Eddie rest in peace. I extend my sympathy to the Lalor and Robinson families and to his confreres in St. Patrick's Missionary Society in Kiltegan. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam."

The Portlaoise Parish Lourdes committee described his listening ear and lovely big smiles.

"Extended condolences to Fr Eddies Family, and also all his clergy family, in Kiltegan, and Portlaoise, and also his many ministry friends from the many parts of Kenya etc where he ministered throughout his life. The portlaoise parish lourdes committee would like to Thank you for accompanying us on our parish pilgrimage to lourdes , and for your many blessings throughout our pilgrimages and your good listening ear and mostly your lovely big smiles for everyone every day.... Thank you Fr Eddie and may you now rest in Gods eternal care . rip"
A 28-count superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday names six people  including Pharaohs Gentlemens Club owner Peter Gerace Jr. and Outlaws Motorcycle Club national leader John Ermin  as part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice by targeting a federal witness for retaliation.

The overdose death last summer of that witness, Crystal Quinn, ratcheted up the FBI and U.S. Attorneys Office investigation in what had already been an intense criminal case against Gerace on sex- and drug-trafficking and bribery charges. And that investigation led to the new indictment.

Three others named in the indictment face other charges  but not the obstruction count.

The new federal grand jury indictment spells out allegations of witness tampering, retaliation, kidnapping, narcotics and firearms charges.

Simon Gogolack, who called 911 to report Quinn had died in his Wellsville home, faces 17 counts  the most of any other person named in the indictment.

In addition to obstruction, witness tampering and retaliation charges, he faces distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Hes the only defendant in the indictment to face that charge. On July 31 or Aug. 1, Gogolack intentionally gave Quinn fentanyl, which resulted in her death, according to the grand jury charge. Prosecutors have said she was found to have 400 times a lethal dose of the potent opioid drug.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Jeffrey T. Bagley, who represents Gogolack, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but he has previously discounted the prosecutors assertions about Gogolack.

He eagerly awaits his day in court where he can properly defend himself, Bagley told The News on Friday. The reality is far simpler and less interesting: Simon had known Crystal Quinn since high school and is deeply saddened by his friends death.

Others named in the indictment are:

Gerace on obstruction, tampering and retaliation counts.

Ermin, the Pharaohs manager and national president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, on obstruction, tampering, retaliation and firearms counts.

Michael Roncone, who was the president of the Rare Breed Motorcycle Club Wellsville Chapter and is associated with the Outlaws, on obstruction, making a false statement and firearms counts.

Frank Knight, a Wellsville resident linked to Roncone and Gogolack, on obstruction and false statements counts.

Howard Hinkle Jr., a Wellsville resident associated with Roncone, on obstruction, tampering, retaliation, marijuana, drug-involved premises and firearms counts.

Cortnie Barber on kidnapping and narcotics conspiracy counts.

Bernard Byrd III on a narcotics conspiracy count.

Scott Barnes, who lived at the Outlaws Northumberland clubhouse and has been described by prosecutors as a national enforcer for the Outlaws, on firearms charges.

Many of those named in the indictment are already in custody on previous charges, including Gerace, Ermin, Barnes, Hinkle and Gogolack, and have pleaded not guilty.

For the most part, many of the counts in the indictment do not come as a surprise.

During recent detention hearings for already-arrested Outlaws bikers, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Tripi and Nicholas Cooper provided information  but did not answer all questions from judges  about what happened to Quinn during her fatal trip to Wellsville.

In successfully seeking to keep Ermin detained, Tripi sought to tie together Quinns March 9, 2023, grand jury appearance with Geraces eventual detention, Geraces ties to Ermin and the motorcycle clubs, and the Rare Breed clubs links to Gogolack.

On Feb. 3, 2023, Quinn was charged related to Facebook messages she sent to threaten a witness against Gerace. Prosecutors describe Quinn as a former Pharaohs employee, a longtime friend, associate and cleaning lady for Gerace, and she was associated with several members of the Outlaws.

Quinn met with FBI agents three times over the next month, providing information about Gerace and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, according to the indictment.

On March 9, Quinn testified before a grand jury.

Two weeks later, the grand jury returned an indictment charging Gerace with three counts of witness tampering and one count of distribution of cocaine  on top of the sex- and drug-trafficking and bribery charges he already faced. After his detention hearing proceedings on March 24 and March 27, a judge revoked his previous release order and he was ordered detained.

On April 3, Quinn entered a pretrial diversion agreement with the U.S. Attorneys Office and the U.S. Probation Office, and also entered a formal cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors.

On April 6, the criminal charge against her was dismissed, and that dismissal was noted on the public docket.

The government told Wolford at a detention hearing that Gerace figured Quinn cooperated.

We look back and say, standing here today, that she cooperated. She flipped, Tripi said at a Dec. 19 hearing. She testified in grand jury. Gerace got detained. Gerace got mad. Gerace made statements that he could have people killed and had a long reach. And the manager of his club is the national president of the Outlaws, who controls legions of people, who has support clubs and puppet clubs under him, which includes the Rare Breed. And then someone who wants to be a hit man and hangs out with the Rare Breed in Wellsville injects himself back into her life and lures her and she overdoses and it is staged to look like (an accidental or suicidal) death.

Prosecutors have previously identified Gogolack, 39, a previously convicted drug dealer, as someone who had a role in her death. He was indicted on narcotics and firearms charges after Quinn turned up dead in his home. Another indictment in September followed, adding two kidnapping and six witness tampering charges against him.

We believe the evidence shows and will show at a later court proceeding that he fed her the fentanyl that killed her, Tripi told Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford at a recent court proceeding.

But the name Cortnie Barber, charged with kidnapping, has not come up at previous court proceedings or public court filings, and the indictment includes scant information about what role prosecutors believe Barber had in the alleged retaliation against Quinn.

The indictment lays out how those charged with obstruction of justice conspiracy did so in several ways to keep her from testifying against Gerace at his Pharaohs trial.

They caused dead rats to be placed at Quinns residence; members and associates of motorcycle clubs were told to threaten her; and then they caused her death, according to the indictment.

Once she was dead, they concealed from law enforcement how she died and misdirected FBI agents to prevent information from being discovered.

They also concealed the identities and the extent and nature of the relationships between individuals who caused her death and the Rare Breed Motorcycle Club, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Ermin and Gerace, according to the indictment.

On Feb. 25, 2021, Gerace was indicted on five counts including drug- and sex-trafficking and bribery. The government contends Gerace and his associates groomed vulnerable and drug-addicted women into a life of daily drug use and coerced and manipulated them into engaging in commercial sex acts. Prosecutors have charged now-retired DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni with accepting $250,000 in bribes from Gerace and drug dealers whom he thought were associated with organized crime and shielding them from arrest, as well as providing them with information about investigations and cooperating sources.

Bongiovannis name does not appear in the superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan has spoken of feeling massive loneliness while his career continues to reach new heights.

The actor, 31, won a Bafta for The Banshees Of Inisherin last year and was nominated for an Academy Award for the same supporting role in the dark comedy.

His latest film, the psychological thriller Saltburn, sees him in the lead and earned him critical praise along with a Golden Globe nod for best actor in a motion picture  drama.

Keoghan told GQ magazine that during the premiere in one of the noisiest, busiest cities in the world, New York, he felt like he was alone.

He also said: Theres a loneliness as well, that comes with this.

A massive loneliness. Its hard not to talk about that or to pretend thats not there.

Keoghan said he thinks of his mother, who struggled with drug addiction and died when he was a child, when he is by himself.

He added: My mother, always. Shes many years passed now, but I always think about her anyway.

Its always just in and around achievements that its really prominent  cause youd like to celebrate that (with her you know)?

Keoghan, who grew up in inner-city Dublin and was placed in a dozen foster homes along with his brother before going to live with his grandmother, said it does not feel real to be making Hollywood movies.

This is not real, is it? It cant be real. Im gonna wake up right now. In a second, Ill be like, f***, man  that was some dream, he added.

His role in Saltburn, directed by Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell, sees him play a student named Oliver Quick who is struggling to find his place at Oxford University.

Oliver then is drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, played by Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi, and his eccentric familys sprawling estate, Saltburn.

A scene where his character comes of age in the film has made Keoghan happy as he says he is not just being looked at as the weird-looking guy, the unique f***** freaky little freak man-child, freak child-man, whatever you want to call it, according to GQ.

He also said his prettiness didnt get me this far but being seen in another way opens up other lanes for me, its part of the leading man thing.

Keoghan has also been in Dunkirk, The Killing Of The Sacred Deer, Top Boy, Love/Hate and Eternals, and is set to appear in upcoming war drama series Masters Of The Air alongside Austin Butler.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Irish farming is sustainable compared with other countries, but it could do better.

The new president of the Irish Farmers Association, Francie Gorman, nodded in agreement with the Fine Gael leader as he made the comments at the organisations AGM in Dublin on Tuesday.

There have been tensions between farmers and ministers over environmental measures, including the reduction in an EU-imposed limit on how much organic nitrates Irish farmers can use per hectare.

The reduction is being made in response to poor water quality in Ireland.

Mr Gorman said farmers had felt abandoned and very frustrated in recent months and expressed concern about how moves to reduce emissions and protect the environment would impact their business.

Asked if he was happy to see farmers go out of business so Ireland can meet its climate targets, Mr Varadkar said no, of course not.

I think, relative to farming in a lot of other countries, in a lot of other parts of the world, our farming is sustainable, but can it be made more sustainable? Yes it can.

And thats the kind of thing that we need to work together on to improve our water quality needs, because we want to protect the nitrates derogation in the long term to improve biodiversity and also to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

I want to acknowledge in that context that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture went down in 2022. We dont have the numbers yet for 2023 but we think they went down again.

The National Climate Action Plan sets a target of a 25% reduction in agri-sector emissions by 2030.

So in fairness to farmers, they are playing their part, Mr Varadkar said.

If emissions continue to fall every year as they have been for the past two, I think farmers will be able to reach that 25% target and we might be looking a bit more closely at transport and buildings and energy in some of the areas that maybe havent been as successful in reducing their emissions.
A Naas District Court judge and a Garda Sergeant were both surprised to hear the name of a suspected drug which was allegedly harboured by a Naas man.

Judge Desmond Zaidan and Sgt David Hanrahan both admitted that they had never heard of the drug before during a court session concerning one Eamonn Tyrrell, with an address given as 23 Patrician Avenue in Naas.

Gardai claimed that on the morning of May 13 last, the home of the 22-year-old was searched on the foot of a search warrant.

In the home, gardai found suspected cocaine with an estimated value of 350, along with a small amount of cash, deal bags, and eight tablets of a suspected drug called 2C-B.

When Judge Zaidan enquired to Sgt Hanrahan about the latter suspected drug, Sgt Hanrahan replied that it was suspected bromodimethoxyphenethylamine (specifically, 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine).

"Theyre really getting complex with these long names, arent they?" the judge said.

He added: "What is the 'street' name? Ive never heard of this suspected drug before," to which Sgt Hanrahan responded: "Neither have I, Judge."

The judge adjourned the case involving Mr Tyrrell to June 20 in order to allow time for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He remanded the accused on continuing bail until the case returns to court.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON 2C-B

According to drugs.ie (which in turn cites an article by The Irish Independent as its source), the suspected drug mentioned by the judge and gardai in this case, 2C-B, is a synthetic designer drug which mimics other illicit drugs.

It comes in the form of white powder or tiny pills.

Users can suffer increased heart rate and higher blood pressure as a result of ingesting the drug.

Other names that 2C-B is known as include: '2CT-7', 'Bromo' and 'Nexus.'
A motion concerning the potential locations for election posters in the Clane-Maynooth Municipal District (MD) prompted a debate among councillors.

The motion was heard at the latest MD meeting, which took place on Friday, January 5 last.

Green Party Cllr Peter Hamilton put forward the following motion to Kildare County Council (KCC) at the meeting: "That the council prepare a central point for election posters and guidelines for election postering in our towns, villages and communities in this MD to support visual amenity and reduce littering associated with the election process, and candidates reach an agreement to adhere to guidelines and use nominated spaces exclusively for all town centre postering."

His motion was seconded by Independent Cllr Padraig McEvoy.

In its report at the meeting, KCC noted that the requirements for election posters are set out under the Litter Pollution Act 1997 and the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009, and added that the Road Traffic Acts also contain requirements in relation to maintaining clear lines of sight for road users, which may impact on where posters can be placed.

KCC also said in its report: "Election posters may only be erected for a certain specified time period before an election.

"This time period is either (a) 30 days before the poll date or (b) from the date the polling day order for the election has been made, whichever provides the shorter period of time.

"Posters must be removed within seven days of polling day."

Green Party Cllr Peter Hamilton.

Speaking to those in attendance at the meeting, Cllr Hamilton said that the poor placement of campaign posters can lead to 'reputational damage.'

Fianna Fail (FF) Cllr Naoise O Cearuil said that while he understood Cllr Hamiltons sentiments, Cllr O Cearuil added: "Posters are an important part of the democratic process in Ireland; a centralised location for posters could put new candidates at a disadvantage."

In response, Cllr McEvoy joked: "Unlike Cllr O Cearuil, I want 'to be part of the change'... that was a gentle poke!" he said directly to Cllr O Cearuil.

Cllr McEvoy added: "Of course, there should be some element of raising your profile through putting up posters."

He also said that KCC could look at restrictions or even 'quantity limits' for putting up posters, and that the members should be aware of the environmental impact that the posters may have.

Fine Gael (FG) Cllr Brendan Weld said that he disagreed with Cllr Hamiltons point, adding: "We are talking about democracy here; we already have low voter turn-outs in elections, and posters help to generate political interest, especially in rural areas."

He too cited Cllr O Cearuils concern of new candidates being put at a disadvantage.

Labour Party Cllr Angela Feeney also said: "While we need to be aware of the new candidates, we also need to listen to, for example, the Tidy Towns Associations, (when it comes to this issue).

"However, we must remember that most of us here recycle their posters."

She added: "I understand Cllr Hamiltons point, but I am not sure exactly what he means by having a central point, and how exactly it would work."

FG Cllr Brendan Wyse also largely disagreed with Cllr Hamiltons motion, as did his party colleague (and Chair of the meeting), Cllr Tim Durkan.

FF Cllr Daragh Fitzpatrick added: "In elections, its all about getting your name out there (through posters)."

KCC's meeting administrator, Josh Hannigan, responded that the council can only comply with current legislation, but if it changed, it would follow the updated legislation.

He added that the council is in favour of reducing waste throughout the county.

Cllr Hamilton said that he was happy to see the matter being debated, but also stressed that, occasionally, posters can be 'become loose and fly away', thus contributing to litter in the area.

He also said that some of these posters may contain harmful plastic and microplastics, which could damage the local environment.
Female students in Kildare are encouraged to attend an event in which former President of Ireland Mary Robinson will speak to over 3,000 students at the 10th annual I Wish Showcase at the RDS Dublin on February 8.

Joining her at the annual event that inspires teenage girls towards careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) will be Irish science communicator, scientist and entrepreneur Ciara Judge, who spoke at the first I Wish event in 2015 after her BT Young Scientist Award and Google Science Fair wins.

Over the last 10 years, I Wish has engaged with over 60,000 students along with partnering with over 50 industry partners and 80 I Wish ambassadors. Female students in County Kildare are encouraged to sign up for the I Wish STEM Showcase 2024, with registration for the free event still open at iwish.ie/register.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ciara Judge said: As a young girl I benefitted hugely from my involvement in youth science. I found my passion and future career and have had the opportunity to travel the world and make a difference. Showing these young women that there is so much more to careers in STEM than just being stuck in a lab all day, is an absolute privilege and I am so grateful that I Wish has invited me back.

Multi-award-winning diversity and inclusion speaker and author, Furkan Karayel will also speak at the event while MC is 2FM DJ and the new host of Ireland's Fittest Family, Laura Fox. More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. There will also be over 30 exhibitors including Deloitte.

The upcoming 2024 I Wish Showcase aims to shift the narrative surrounding careers in STEM. In their recent Report, I Wish identified a significant gap where many girls struggle to connect their work-related values with the perceived values of a STEM career. The Showcase will address this by featuring inspiring STEM role models who exemplify how careers in STEM can fulfil the work-related values these young women seek, including opportunities to travel, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and making a positive contribution to the world they inhabit.

Speaking on the event, I Wish co-founder Gillian Keating said: Just weeks out from our 10th Showcase, we reflect on how far we have come in the past decade. We started with a dream to deliver change by positively influencing the next generation of young women to increase female participation in STEM. We never thought I Wish would evolve in the way that it did.

We have seen significant positive change, we have seen increases in uptake in STEM college courses, and we have seen improvement in gender equality in STEM. However, it is clear that we need to continue to deliver I Wish to girls  both in secondary school and in primary  to ensure they make an informed choice about their future. Knowledge is key to the gateway to their future. How we deliver it to the next generation is certainly on us.

Beginning with an annual showcase, I Wish has now expanded its activities to a year-round suite of programmes, including a Tech for Good programme and entrepreneurship programmes. This year it will pilot an I Wish Primary programme.

I Wish has extended its partnership with Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann for 2024, with complimentary train services from multiple locations across Ireland along with busses from Cork and Kildare. Busses will also be transporting students to and from Heuston Station on the day.
The stage is set, and the RDS Dublin is ready to open its doors to the participants of the 2024 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE).

Over 1,100 students will arrive to the exhibition from across the island of Ireland to set up their projects and prepare for the first round of judging, carried out by 85 expert judges, ahead of the official opening of the event this afternoon by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

Kildare schools taking part are:

Athy Community College

Celbridge Community School

Colaiste Naomh Mhuire, Naas

Maynooth Post Primary School

Newbridge College

Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge

Salesian College, Celbridge

St Paul's Secondary School, Monsterevin





See a summary of the Projects below:

As the BTYSTE begins to fill up with displays of the participants amazing ideas, BT Ireland, in partnership with Business in the Community Ireland, will hold an exclusive Executive Leaders Forum for business leaders at the RDS this morning. This years forum will focus on one of the most urgent topics facing our planet today, sustainability, and how decisions made at recent world leader conferences such as COP 28 can influence sustainability business strategies effectively. Speakers at todays Forum include Managing Director of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh, who will join CEO of BT Business, Bas Burger to talk about their experiences leading an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy at a global organisation and Tomas Sercovich, CEO of Business in the Community to talk about sustainability trends. Companies represented at the events panels include Analog Devices, Veolia, SSE Airtricity, Bank of Ireland, HSBC, and Barclays.

The forum will be directly followed by the opening ceremony of the 2024 and 60th BTYSTE, where students and guests will be addressed by President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. The ceremony will be streamed live from 2pm on the BTYSTE website and on Facebook Live.

Speaking ahead of the first day of the exhibition today, Mari Cahalane, Head of the BTYSTE said: BT Irelands team of almost 200 volunteers are working tirelessly at the RDS to get this years exhibition ready and are excited for the students, teachers, and partners to see their BTYSTE home for the next few days. As we open BTYSTE 2024 and begin to celebrate the exhibitions 60th edition we look forward to showing our esteemed guest, President Higgins, and the people of Ireland the incredible and diverse projects that the countrys brightest young minds have been working on.

The BTYSTE opens to the public from Thursday, January 11 to Saturday January 13, with a full programme of fantastic events and special acts for everyone to enjoy, as well as all the student projects will also be on display throughout. Additionally, over 57 brilliant stands from the exhibitions partners, including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Amgen, Stripe and RTE will be on display throughout the RDS.

Tickets to the BTYSTE can be purchased at https://ticketing. btyoungscientist.com or at the venue. Visitors can plan their visit to the RDS in advance by downloading the free BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition app, available on Android and Apple devices. Full of helpful information, the app includes an exhibition map, a search tool for student projects and exhibitors, a schedule of events, as well as links to the BTYSTE social networks for live updates throughout the event.

For more information on the exhibition, please visit the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition website or follow @BTYSTE on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube or Snapchat.
Fourteen people, including two young children, were found in a refrigerated trailer at Rosslare Europort following a distress call to the UK Coastguard.

Nine men, three women and two young girls discovered at approximately 3am on Monday morning, when the vehicle was stopped and searched after arriving on a ferry.

It is understood the alarm was raised after a distress call was made to UK authorities from inside the trailer, which was subsequently passed on to Irish authorities.

According to local Independent Councillor Ger Carthy, the call was made to the UK Coastguard at approximately 1am on Monday, January 8, after the people in the trailer had "difficulty breathing".

"They may have had to break a hole inside of it to access some some air but the call was originally made, I believe because they had shortness of breath. You can imagine, 30 hours, they were 28 hours in it at that stage," said Mr Carthy, who is also the Operations Resource Manager with the National Ambulance Service.

Gardai and a number of ambulances were waiting at Rosslare Europort when the ferry docked.

The group, who are understood to be Kurdish and Vietnamese, was assessed by medical personnel at the scene and all were said to be in good health and have been taken to a processing centre in Dublin.

Gardai say investigations are ongoing and no arrests have been made as part of the inquiry.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the next step for the Government is to "facilitate voluntary return" for migrants found in Rosslare.

"If they choose to apply for asylum, they are legally entitled to do that, and we will try and process the application as quickly as possible."

"Our first response is always a humanitarian one, to check that they are alive and in good health," Mr Varadkar continued.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said it was fortuitous that those found in the trailer are in good health, given it was "an extremely hazardous undertaking".

"We know from past experience that similar situations have led to tragic fatalities. This was an extremely hazardous undertaking and it is only fortuitous that the same did not happen yesterday," she said.
The 2024 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) has begun with over 1,100 students arriving to the exhibition from across the island of Ireland to set up their projects and prepare for the first round of judging, carried out by 85 expert judges.

The official opening of the event takes place this afternoon by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.

As the BTYSTE begins to fill up with displays of the participants amazing ideas, BT Ireland, in partnership with Business in the Community Ireland, will hold an exclusive Executive Leaders Forum for business leaders at the RDS this morning.

This years forum will focus on one of the most urgent topics facing our planet today, sustainability, and how decisions made at recent world leader conferences such as COP 28 can influence sustainability business strategies effectively.

Speakers at todays Forum include Managing Director of BT Ireland, Shay Walsh, who will join CEO of BT Business, Bas Burger to talk about their experiences leading an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy at a global organisation and Tomas Sercovich, CEO of Business in the Community to talk about sustainability trends. Companies represented at the events panels include Analog Devices, Veolia, SSE Airtricity, Bank of Ireland, HSBC, and Barclays.

The forum will be directly followed by the opening ceremony of the 2024 and 60th BTYSTE, where students and guests will be addressed by President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. The ceremony will be streamed live from 2pm on the BTYSTE website and on Facebook Live.

Speaking ahead of the first day of the exhibition today, Mari Cahalane, Head of the BTYSTE said: BT Irelands team of almost 200 volunteers are working tirelessly at the RDS to get this years exhibition ready and are excited for the students, teachers, and partners to see their BTYSTE home for the next few days.

As we open BTYSTE 2024 and begin to celebrate the exhibitions 60th edition we look forward to showing our esteemed guest, President Higgins, and the people of Ireland the incredible and diverse projects that the countrys brightest young minds have been working on.

The BTYSTE opens to the public from Thursday, January 11 to Saturday January 13, with a full programme of fantastic events and special acts for everyone to enjoy, as well as all the student projects will also be on display throughout.

Additionally, over 57 brilliant stands from the exhibitions partners, including the Department of Education, Analog Devices, Amgen, Stripe and RTE will be on display throughout the RDS.

Tickets to the BTYSTE can be purchased at https://ticketing. btyoungscientist.com or at the venue.

Visitors can plan their visit to the RDS in advance by downloading the free BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition app, available on Android and Apple devices.

Full of helpful information, the app includes an exhibition map, a search tool for student projects and exhibitors, a schedule of events, as well as links to the BTYSTE social networks for live updates throughout the event.

For more information on the exhibition, please visit the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition website or follow @BTYSTE on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube or Snapchat.
The grandmother of a 12-year-old student who died by suicide after two years of relentless bullying has sued Buffalo Public Schools as well as the mother of the student she blames for leading the effort for failing to address the onslaught.

BPS staff, administrators and the bullys mother knew that many children were subjected to the boys bullying, tormenting and harassment and failed to take action, the wrongful death suit claims.

Dariel Rivera Reyes died May 17 after repeated incidents of bullying, his grandmother Blanca Martinez alleges in the lawsuit, filed Monday in State Supreme Court.

Dariel suffered conscious pain and suffering, profound psychological injuries and emotional distress which resulted in his death, according to the lawsuit.

Martinez is suing Buffalo Public Schools, the Buffalo School Board and City of Buffalo, as well as the alleged bully and his mother.

While the district does not comment on pending litigation, the superintendent and entire district continues to extend our deepest sympathies to Dariel Rivera Reyes family, friends, students, school staff, BPS spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said Tuesday in an email to The Buffalo News.

Family demands change in Buffalo Schools after a 12-year-old, bullied relentlessly, dies by suicide A 12-year-old died by suicide after relentless bullying by a fellow sixth-grader at Buffalo's Martin Luther King Jr. School 48. The boy's grandparents and teachers who spoke to The Buffalo News say the system failed Dariel Rivera Reyes.

Reyes was a sixth-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. School when he died, as was the boy accused of bullying him.

From approximately 2021 through May 17, 2023, Dariel was the target of severe, pervasive and disturbing bullying, harassment and torment by a fellow classmate ... and other students while enrolled at Buffalo Public School 48, the suit alleges.

As a result of the unrelenting and threatening bullying and the resulting fear and emotional distress caused, Dariel killed himself, according to court papers.

Despite having knowledge of persistent bullying actions, the boys mother knowingly and willfully failed to prevent bullying by her son, the suit alleges.

The bullying, including cyberbullying, took place from 2021 until his death, according to the suit. Martinez and her husband told school officials Nov. 21, 2022, that they were concerned for Dariels safety due to constant bullying from several boys.

Martinez alleges that Buffalo Public Schools violated state laws, regulations and standards and failed to properly train and supervise administrators, teachers and others on how to properly and effectively respond to bullying.

In a notice of claim filed against the district last summer, she cited more than 20 incidents of bullying reported about her grandson to district teachers, staff and officials in the two years preceding the boys death.

Three teachers at the school told The Buffalo News last summer that a former school principal failed to act properly on reports and concerns about the bullying, and that student support staff  critical resources for students social and emotional needs  were pulled from their roles in related classrooms at some point last school year to serve as substitute teachers.

There are many ways to reach out to trained counselors in times of crisis. Crisis Services of Erie County operates a 24-hour hotline at 716-834-3131. The Niagara County crisis hotline is 716-285-3515. The national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988.
It is important that no one area is overburdened in accommodating asylum seekers, Transport and Climate minister Eamon Ryan has said.

There are currently more than 500 asylum seekers who are not in receipt of state-provided shelter.

Mr Ryan said it was accurate to say that some areas have been asked to take in more international protection applicants than others.

He said no-one can disagree that some areas have a far higher percentage of asylum seekers, but shutting the doors, saying Ireland is full, that is not a viable, correct or appropriate response and option.

There have been several arson attacks across the country at places believed to be selected for use by refugees, asylum seekers or the homeless.

The Green Party leader said he would like to see the full rigours of the laws applied to the arson cases, and to blockades of such centres, which he described as not legal.

The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin said on Wednesday that everyone loses out when properties that are to be used for asylum seekers are targeted.

Referring to a former pub in Ringsend that had been earmarked for accommodation for the homeless, Archbishop Michael Jackson called on people to support those in need of food and shelter.

Nothing wholesome is achieved by such activity. It contributes nothing to our self-understanding as a society of kindness and respect. Everyone loses out, most of all the vulnerable and those who are struggling.

We have just celebrated Christmas, when we mark as a national community the coming of the child of Bethlehem in a state of homelessness and in an arena of oppression.

We are into a new year which always holds unexpected opportunities for good. My appeal is that we rally round those without food and shelter, whatever their place of origin, in these dark days of winter.

Mr Ryan said Ireland has obligations under international law to provide refuge to asylum seekers where appropriate.

He was speaking after 14 migrants were discovered inside a refrigerated container at Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford.

His Green Party colleague Roderic OGorman holds the integration portfolio and Mr Ryan said the State needs to own far larger accommodation centres, rather than relying on the private sector to provide facilities.

Speaking to RTEs Morning Ireland programme, he added: We need to manage and look medium to long term in how we do this in a way that is co-ordinated and safe, respects local communities.

Yes, it will evolve and part of that is making sure that no one area has an overconcentration of the number of centres.

Mr Ryan said the Department of Integration did not give in to the demands of protesters when it changed its plans for a hotel initially earmarked to accommodate 50 male asylum seekers.

Earlier this week, the department announced that it intends to accommodate families including children at the site instead.

It is intended that up to 50 people in need of shelter will be accommodated at JJ Gannons Hotel in Ballinrobe.

A briefing document on the initial plans to house male asylum seekers was issued to local TDs, senators and councillors last Thursday.

On Friday, a protest against the plan formed outside the hotel and continued through to Monday until the department changed its decision on who would be accommodated there.

Asked why the department made the decision, he said: We have families we need to house. This is literally, week by week, a real challenge.

Mr Ryan said there is a shortage of accommodation and Mr OGorman had told him there was an immediate challenge to house families.

It was put to the minister that there was already a situation that families needed to be housed when the department initially said 50 men would be accommodated in the Ballinrobe hotel and that it had now given in to the demands of the protesters.

He replied: Thats the wrong conclusion, Im absolutely convinced of that.

Mr Ryan said a particular immediate demand to house families in the hotel arose.
SEATTLE SUPPLIER REBRANDS AS CATALYNT





The former TRInternational reveals new name and logo, expands service offerings

SEATTLE, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

Seattle's TRInternational, a provider for raw materials and ingredients since 1994, is rebranding as Catalynt Solutions, Inc.

Seattle supplier rebrands as Catalynt and expands services with recent acquisitions.

Megan Bluth-Gohan, the company's CEO & Owner, announced the company's name change in a video released today, which also debuted a new logo and brand system.

As Catalynt heads into its 30th year in business, Gluth-Bohan says the new branding better reflects where the company is today. The new name combines the words "catalyst" and "talent," both of which, Gluth-Bohan says, capture her team's energy, skillset and dedication to hard work.

"When you add those two words together, you get one powerful word that really describes who we are," she said. "We're still the same hardworking team of people committed to your business."

Along with the rebrand, Catalynt has acquired the companies ChemBlend of America, LLC, and American Chemie, Inc. The Illinois-based ChemBlend's custom solutions capabilities and extensive on-site lab services will expand Catalynt's offerings in formulating, manufacturing, testing, packaging and distribution. The specialty distribution expertise of Texas-based American Chemie, meanwhile, expands Catalynt's services in the personal care, cosmetics, cleaning, food, animal feed, nutraceuticals and lubricant industries.

"With these companies now working together as one, we can truly match the speed and agility our customers require," Gluth-Bohan says. "When we're all under this new umbrella of Catalynt, we're a more robust company that will work even faster, smarter and better than before."

For nearly 30 years, Catalynt has solved raw materials and ingredients sourcing challenges across the globe. They serve a wide variety of industries ? paints and coatings, cleaning, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and more.

Gluth-Bohan joined Catalynt in 2012 as General Counsel and quickly moved to General Manager, then President and finally to CEO. She took on full ownership in 2021. She was named a 2023 Mountain West Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and one of 2023's Women2Watch by the Women Presidents Organization (WPO). The Puget Sound Business Journal has recognized Catalynt many times over the years ? as the largest LGBTQ-owned company, one of the top 50 women-owned companies and one of the fastest growing women-owned companies in the Puget Sound region.

SOURCE Catalynt

9 january 2024 at 17:00

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USPACE Technology Group to Develop Abu Dhabi Space Eco City Spanning 3 Million Square Meters





Integrate over 1,000 Commercial Aerospace Enterprises Worldwide to Jointly Develop a Global Aerospace Ecological Chain

HONG KONG, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- USPACE Technology Group Limited ("USPACE " or "the Group"; Stock Code: 1725.HK) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a term sheet with Abu Dhabi Ports Company PJSC (''AD Ports''), in relation to the development of Abu Dhabi Space Eco City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to provide commercial aerospace services worldwide, marking a major milestone of USPACE's strategic international expansion.

Under the term sheet, AD Ports will allocate to USPACE a land plot in the size of 3 million square meters in the Khalifa Economic Zones (KEZAD) in Abu Dhabi for the development of Abu Dhabi Space Eco City project. The initial phase of the project will cover 1 million square meters and it is expected to commence construction in mid-2024.

The Abu Dhabi Space Eco City project will integrate over 1,000 commercial aerospace enterprises worldwide to jointly develop a global aerospace ecological chain of international aerospace technology innovation and space trade centers.

The agreement relating to the Abu Dhabi Space Eco City comes after USPACE's recent announcement of dual listing plan in the Middle East. USPACE aims to develop the Group's presence and fundraising ability in the Middle East market upon the completion of the dual listing.

As part of the globalisation strategy, USPACE has added Mr. Shaikh Mohammed Maktoum Juma Al-Maktoum, a member of the Dubai's royal family to its Board of Directors and is establishing its global headquarters in Dubai. The Group's subsidiary Aspace Satellite Technology Limited (ASPACE) has become the first and only foreign aerospace company to obtain the Space Investment License from The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia, laying an essential foundation for the establishment of the Group's satellite business in Saudi Arabia.

AD Ports operates an integrated business across 5 clusters, namely digital, economic cities & free zones, logistics, maritime and shipping, and ports connecting global maritime routes and international trading partners.

Mr. Mr. Mohamad Al Khadar Al Ahmed, President of Abu Dhabi Ports Company PJSC said, "We give high level of importance to the Abu Dhabi Space Eco City project of USPACE. Our team would fully support the project in terms of land approvals, planning and construction, tax policies, and investment and financing."

Mr. Sun Fengquan, Chairman and CEO of USPACE Technology Group Limited, said, "The signing of term sheet for the Abu Dhabi Space Eco City project represents a significant step in expanding USPACE's global aerospace business. We believe the Abu Dhabi Space Eco City project will consolidate the Group's leading position in the aerospace market in Middle East and will have a profound impact on the development of the Group's aerospace business in the long run."

? End ?

About USPACE Technology Group Limited (USPACE)

USPACE Technology Group Limited (USPACE) is Hong Kong's first commercial aerospace enterprise focusing on satellite constellation engineering and precise satellite manufacturing. USPACE owns five technology centers and manufacturing bases, including a satellite manufacturing center, a space environmental monitoring center, a satellite telemetry, tracking and control center (TT&C), a center for satellite data application and a precise electronic manufacturing center. USPACE's core business consists of several operations, including satellite constellation engineering, satellite data application, satellite design and manufacturing, satellite assembly and testing, satellite payload selection and specification, satellite TT&C service, printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) and electronic manufacturing, and the launch of satellites.

For further information, please visit https://www.hkatg.com/index.html

SOURCE USPACE Technology Group Limited

9 january 2024 at 17:27

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SKRR Exploration Inc. Amends Definitive Option Agreement with F3 Uranium Corp. for the Clearwater West Project, Saskatchewan





VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 10, 2024 /CNW/ - SKRR Exploration Inc. (TSXV: SKRR) (FSE: B04Q) ("SKRR" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into an amendment agreement (the "Amendment Agreement") dated January 8, 2024 in respect of the option agreement (the "Option Agreement") dated May 25, 2023 (the "Effective Date") with F3 Uranium Corp. (TSXV: FUU) ("F3") to acquire up to a 70% interest in the Clearwater West Property (see SKRR news release dated May 26, 2023). The Clearwater West Property is comprised of 3 contiguous mineral claims totaling 11,786 hectares, located ~20km outside the edge and in the south-west area of the Athabasca Basin.

The parties have agreed to amend the Option Agreement to extend the requirement for a minimum $1,000,000 in work expenditures on the Clearwater West Property on or before the first year anniversary of the Effective Date until the second year anniversary of the Effective Date, such that cumulative work expenditures of a minimum of $3,000,000 are required on or before the second year anniversary of the Effective Date under the Amendment Agreement. In consideration for the extension, SKRR is required to issue 605,000 common shares of SKRR to F3 upon the approval by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") of the Amending Agreement and an additional 395,000 common shares of SKRR to F3 on or before June 1, 2024, unless subsequent to such share issuance, F3's partially diluted shareholdings in SKRR would exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of SKRR, in which case SKRR shall pay $39,500 in cash to F3 in lieu thereof on or before June 5, 2024. All common shares issued to F3 will be subject to a four month hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Exchange. The Option Agreement will continue unamended and remain in full force and effect, except as amended and supplemented by the Amending Agreement as described herein.

F3 and SKRR are non-arm's length parties (as defined in Exchange Policy 1.1) given that they share a common senior officer. The Amendment Agreement is subject to acceptance by the Exchange.

About SKRR Exploration Inc.

SKRR is a Canadian-based precious and base metal explorer with properties in British Columbia and Saskatchewan ? some of the world's highest ranked mining jurisdictions. The primary exploration focus is on the Trans-Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan in search of world class precious and base metal deposits. The Trans-Hudson Orogen ? although extremely well known in geological terms has been significantly under-explored in Saskatchewan. SKRR is committed to all stakeholders including shareholders, all its partners and the environment in which it operates.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Sherman Dahl

President & CEO

Tel: 250-558-8340

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 Information

This news release contains "forward?looking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements that address the Exchange approval of the Amendment Agreement, future exploration work and expenditures on the Clearwater West Property, payments under the Option Agreement and other statements relating to the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its projects and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of metals, the ability to achieve its goals, the ability to secure equipment and personnel to carry out work programs, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration results, risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses and those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. There is a possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, failure to secure personnel and equipment for work programs, adverse weather and climate conditions, failure to maintain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, decrease in the price of gold, copper, nickel, uranium and other metals, failure to maintain community acceptance (including First Nations), increase in costs, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forward?looking statements or forward?looking information, except as required by law.

SOURCE SKRR EXPLORATION INC.

10 january 2024 at 07:00

News published onand distributed by:
Vortex Energy Re-Mobilizes for Exploration Program at the Robinsons River Salt Project





VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE: VRTX | OTCQB: VTECF | FRA: AA3) ("Vortex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drill and crew mobilization has begun at the Company's flagship property, the Robinsons River Salt Project (the "Project"), to commence drilling at the second approved core well. The Company has retained the services of the contractors involved in the drilling of the initial core well at the Project, RESPEC Consulting Inc., Major Drilling Group International Inc., and DGI Geoscience Inc., to drill the second core well.



The drilling of the second core well is designed to confirm the depth of the salt rock structures at the Project and attain the geological properties of the salt and non-salt rocks present at the Project. The Company previously announced on December 14th, 2023, that it had intersected salt rock at its first core well at a depth of 581.5 meters.

Paul Sparkes, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to have intersected salt in the first core well which marked a significant milestone for the project. The outcome from the first core well gives us confidence in the potential of the discovery as we prepare to begin drilling on the second core well."

The Company also announces, further to its news releases on April 28, 2023, June 23, 2023, July 21, 2023, September 1, 2023, October 20, 2023, and November 16, 2023, that it has further extended its engagement of Financial Star News Inc. ("FSN") (address: 701 West Georgia Street, Suite 1500, Vancouver, British Columbia V7Y 1C6; email: [email protected]) for marketing services for up to an additional 45 days commencing on January 10th, 2024, provided that the term of the marketing services may be extended or shortened at the discretion of management depending on, amongst other things, the efficiency of the marketing services.

As previously disclosed, FSN has and shall continue to, as appropriate, create campaigns, ad groups, text ads, display ads, perform detailed keyword research, setup and manage remarketing campaigns, optimize keyword options, coordinate online advertisers and marketers corresponding to online marketing targets, create landing pages for ad campaigns and generally bring attention to the business of the Company. The promotional activity undertaken by FSN will occur on theFinancialStar.com and by email, Facebook and Google.

The Company will pay a fee of USD $300,000 (plus GST) for the extension. The Company will not issue any securities to FSN as compensation for its marketing services. As of the date hereof, to the Company's knowledge, FSN (including its directors and officers) does not own any securities of the Company and has an arm's length relationship with the Company.

About Vortex Energy Corp.

Vortex Energy Corp. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. The company is currently advancing its Robinson River Salt Project comprised of a total of 942 claims covering 23,500 hectares located approximately 35 linear kms south of the town of Stephenville in the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador. The Robinson River Salt Project is prospective for both salt and hydrogen salt cavern storage. The company is actively evaluating technologies to efficiently store hydrogen or energy in salt caverns. Vortex Energy Corp. also holds the Fire Eye Project, which is located in the Wollaston Domain of northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Paul Sparkes

Chief Executive Officer, Director

+1 (778) 819-0164

[email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the Company's exploration plans at the Project, including the nature and type of the Company's planned exploration activities, the timing of such planned exploration activities and the aim and objectives of the Company's planned exploration efforts; the potential of the Project; and the expected term of the marketing activities contracted for by the Company.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, assumptions regarding the Company's ability to execute on its exploration plans at the Project, including that it will be successful in carrying out such exploration activities on the anticipated timeline and that such exploration activities will yield the expected information and the desired outcomes; that the results of the Company's exploration activities to date are representative of the actual geological conditions and mineralization at the Project; the efficacy of the Company's marketing program; and the Canadian Securities Exchange's acceptance of the Company's promotional program.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any 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 to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things, the risk that exploration at the Project does not proceed in the manner and on the timeline currently contemplated, or at all; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to receiving requisite permits and approvals, changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project; that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company; that mineral exploration activities are often unsuccessful; that the Company's marketing program may not be as effective as anticipated by the Company and that the budget for the Company's marketing program may not be sufficient to permit the marketing activities to continue for the anticipated term; and that the Canadian Securities Exchange may object to the Company's promotional program and use its discretion to halt the Company's promotional activities or impose other penalties on the Company. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this ?press release.?

10 january 2024 at 08:00

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Made You Look! Introducing the Most Expensive Ice Cream Bars in the World at DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar





Key West, DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar is serving up the most expensive and luxurious ice cream bars that have even the most opulent turning their heads.

KEY WEST, Fla., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- When one thinks of 'luxury goods,' what comes to mind? Bags, diamonds, watches, designer clothes ? but lo and behold, one Key West ice cream bar is serving up ice cream bars that are so exclusive, luxurious, and expensive that they may even make a dent in the projected $540.07 Billion 2028 luxury goods market. DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar has launched the most expensive ice cream bar in the world!

Meghan Trainor song, "I could have my Gucci on, I could wear my Louis Vuitton," but these high-end stores haven't anchored here in Key West, Florida yet! The southernmost point in America houses an immense amount of wealth, as houses in the Casa Marina area, sell at $2000 per sq foot, luxury hotel room rates get as high as $2500 a night and Airbnb on Sunset Key will run $5000 a night.

However, when travelers step on Jimmy Buffets Island with over 300 bars, they won't find a luxury boutique of Dior, Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Versace, Balenciaga, or Armani store. Rather, they will find a DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar at 123 Duval St. that will help dry their tears and provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase the most expensive ice cream bar in the world.

At DOOZEE's the "Bar" tender decked out in uniform will make one a custom creation made to order - first by using their luxury vanilla bar and then dipping the bar into a premium chocolate coating. Without missing a step, the Bar Tender picks up a Hermes Spoon to scoop up shaved morsels of the most expensive and rarest chocolate in the world ? To'ak chocolate and places it right on the bar then covers the bar with edible 24k gold leaf and to top it off sugar diamonds. This exclusive experience holds a price tag of $250 dollars a bar.

Jim Epstein, owner says "If customers do not have the big bucks to spend on the To'ak Bar, this place is filled with unique Wonka-like wonders for everyone including $3.50 cup of frozen yogurt or you can make a Doozee Bar one of the favorites, which is a Mr. Beast Chocolate Almond Bar."

DOOZEE Bar offers Bespoke Ice Cream bars, with over 5 million combinations and puts to shame Crumble with its gourmet cookies that are out of this world ? Doozee Bar "Pay Dirt" a double chocolate cookie, which is coated in fudge frosting, dusted with Oreo cookies crumbs, and sitting on top, a mini gold shovel and sugar gold nugget. Or, SWAG like it's original upside down Key West hat that "made you look!"

To learn more about DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar Shop, please visit: doozeebar.com

About DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar Shop

DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar Shop is the ultimate customizable ice cream indulgence store in Key West, Florida. Founded in 2023, DOOZEE is committed to creating an immersive bespoke experience for ice cream lovers across the Key West area. Located at 123 Duval Street, Key West, FL 33044, DOOZEE's unique approach to making handcrafted luxury ice cream bars is making waves to reimagine the modern ice cream shop experience.

Website: doozeebar.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/doozeebarkw/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/doozeebarkw/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/doozeebar

For more information or press inquiries, please contact John Smith at [email protected] (214)-797-8733

SOURCE DOOZEE Bespoke Ice Cream Bar Shop

10 january 2024 at 08:34

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Fluence Wins "Lighting Company of the Year" at Inaugural EMJAYS Awards





Fluence, a leading global provider of energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial cannabis and food production, announced today it was named 2023's "Lighting Company of the Year" at the inaugural EMJAYS International Cannabis Awards.

The EMJAYS is a collaboration between award-winning event producers Farechild Events and MJBizCon, the cannabis industry's largest trade show and media entity. The program recognizes leaders across the cannabis industry, including financial services organizations, branding and marketing firms, technology providers and others.

"It is an honor to receive the first-ever EMJAYS award for ?Lighting Company of the Year,'" said Michiel van Dam, CEO of Fluence. "Our success is only made possible by the hundreds of incredible growers we've worked with throughout our history. We are committed to helping cultivators boost plant quality, drive increased yields and meet their cultivation goals?to ensure they can not only grow smarter but thrive."

Fluence's award comes after Cannabis Business Times released its eighth-annual "State of the Cannabis Lighting Market" report, which found that at least 70% of commercial growers use LEDs across propagation, vegetation and flowering. Over 60% of surveyed growers also achieved yields of more than 50 grams per square foot of canopy under LED fixtures.

Finalists and winners were recognized during MJBizCon on Nov. 30, 2023, at the Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. A full list of winners can be found here.

For more information on Fluence, visit www.fluence-led.com.

About Fluence

Fluence Bioengineering, Inc. (Fluence) creates powerful and energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial crop production and research applications. Fluence is a leading LED lighting supplier in the global cannabis market and is committed to enabling more efficient crop production with the world's top vertical farms and greenhouse produce growers. Fluence global headquarters are in Austin, Texas, with its EMEA headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Fluence operates as a business unit within Signify's Professional Business. For more information about Fluence, visit www.fluence-led.com.

About The EMJAYS

The EMJAYS, a first-of-its-kind award show in partnership with MJBizCon, is dedicated to recognizing leaders and innovators in over 20 ancillary business categories within the cannabis industry. Set against the backdrop of the Pearl Theater's state-of-the-art facilities, the event featured a red carpet entry, celebrity presenters, live music performances, and an afterparty, embodying a "Classic Vegas Show with a Psychedelic Twist."

Presented by Advanced Vapor Devices (AVD), The Emjays ? International Cannabis Awards, is a first-of-its-kind award show recognizing businesses and individuals who are leaders and innovators in 20+ ancillary specific business categories. Official sponsors for The Emjays Cannabis Awards include Cookies, AE Global, STM Canna, Green Rebates, and Advanced Nutrients among others. These dynamic companies join The Emjays' media partners which include Chapter 2 PR, Benzinga, Cannabis & Tech Today, Cannabis Now, Cronic Lifestyle Magazine, HoneySuckle Magazine, and Sensi Magazine.

10 january 2024 at 08:35

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NextTribe Launches New Travel Website for Women Over 45 to Explore the World





AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, NextTribe, a digital magazine and events company for bold women in mid-life and beyond is excited to announce the official launch of its new travel booking and community building platform.

NextTribe was created for women over 45 who love to connect with other women through travel, online, and in their communities. This platform is set to transform the way women travel and explore together, even if they're used to flying solo.

"We started NextTribe seven years ago to inform, promote and, maybe most importantly, connect smart, engaged women in this influential age group," says Co-founder and CEO Jeannie Ralston. "Travel has always been part of the mix, and we've been awed by the way women have bonded on our trips as they share extraordinary experiences in memorable destinations. Our new platform makes it easier for women to find each other and their next dream trip."

With a deep understanding of the unique needs and preferences of women in this demographic, NextTribe has been engaging women over 45 through memorable and provocative articles, small private events, and memberships. The new user-friendly platform gives women in this age group a chance to meet other women travelers, connect with women in the host communities and countries, and find each other through their members-only social network, TribeSocial. In 2024, NextTribe will take small groups of women on 18 trips: to India, Peru, Paris and Vietnam, plus their signature trip to San Miguel de Allende for Dia de los Muertos. US trips include downtown Manhattan, Charleston, SC, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. NextTribe's 2025 trip to Rwanda and Uganda is already nearly sold out.

"As members of the Transformational Travel Council, we are committed to creating experiences that are not just about the date and destination. Anybody can do that," says Ralston."We make sure that in every destination we meet local women. We believe we can help make the world a better place for women, one traveler, one article, one new relationship at a time."

In addition to launching the new travel platform, NextTribe has acquired another travel company for women this age, Girls on the Go.

"Our missions are aligned, and we were thrilled when the founders chose us to pick up the baton and take their travelers with us," says Ralston. "We can't wait to meet them and introduce them to our members."

For more information about NextTribe and its new travel and community platform, please visit https://nexttribe.com/

About NextTribe

NextTribe offers travel and a vibrant community for women 45+. We believe now?at midlife and beyond?is our moment to shine: to explore, grow, and embrace new friendships, and enjoy new experiences together.

NextTribe

10900 Research Blvd, 160-C, #3177

Austin, Texas 78759

512-609-0340

[email protected]

https://nexttribe.com/

Contact: Jeannie Ralston

NextTribe CEO and Co-Founder

512-423-3030

[email protected]

https://nexttribe.com/

SOURCE NextTribe

10 january 2024 at 08:36

News published onand distributed by:
Positive Pulse for Employment: US Employers Set to Boost Hiring in First Half of 2024, Unveiling a New Peak in Confidence





Seventy-nine percent of U.S. hiring managers feel positive about employment opportunities at their companies this year, according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll, commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Employers are ringing in the new year with an optimistic hiring outlook as the majority plan to increase their employee count in the first half of 2024.

"The level of hiring optimism in the U.S. is a welcome start to the new year, especially given the volatility of the past few years." - Bill Stoller , Express CEO

This is according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

Most U.S. hiring managers are looking toward hiring opportunities this year with a positive mindset (79%) ? often citing feelings of optimism (44%), hopefulness (39%) and confidence (37%).

And to that point, expectations for increasing hiring efforts continue as nearly two-thirds of hiring managers (63%) say their company plans to increase the number of employees in the first half of 2024 (i.e., Jan. 1 through June 30, 2024); continuing its positive trajectory, now reaching its highest point since the survey began in 2020.

Reasons for Increasing Head Count

Companies that anticipate increasing their company head count in the first half of 2024 attribute these plans to the need to manage increased volumes of work (51%), fill newly created positions (45%) and fill positions that are open due to employee turnover (43%) ? on par with past waves.

Nearly 3 in 5 hiring managers (57%) cite the need for more employees to manage the workload but lack the capacity to do so. This lack of capacity perhaps provides an explanation as to the nearly 3 in 10 companies (29%) that report planning to stay at about the same number or make no change to the number of employees in the first half of 2024 and the few (7%) who plan to reduce their employee count, on par with previous waves.

Circumstances for Reductions

In addition, companies that plan to decrease their number of employees report by far it is due to the need to reduce costs (63%), followed by outsourcing certain functions (25%) and the need to align with the decline in demand at the company (24%).

For companies that plan to decrease or make no change to the number of employees, around a quarter say they are not hiring because they are waiting to see if the workload will level out before doing so (28%) and do not feel they need to hire more employees (24%). Adjustments to their recruiting/hiring strategy (21%), lack of approval from upper management (20%) and not enough money in the budget this year (19%) are also reasons some companies will not be hiring or increasing their employee count.

Companies may also be planning for other means to stave off hiring, such as training and/or promoting from within. Around 7 in 10 hiring managers (71%) say they would prefer to reskill current employees for new roles than hire new.

"The level of hiring optimism in the U.S. is a welcome start to the new year, especially given the volatility of the past few years," said Bill Stoller, Express Employment International CEO. "The next piece of the puzzle is for businesses, schools and the government to work together to create qualified applicants through training and hands-on-opportunities. Investing in solving this shortcoming will go a long way toward building a well-rounded workforce and economy."

Survey Methodology

The Job Insights survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Oct. 31 and Nov. 10, 2023, among 1,007 U.S. hiring decision-makers.

For full survey methodologies, please contact [email protected], Director of Corporate Communications & PR.

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact [email protected], Director of Corporate Communications & PR.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, we're in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 579,000 people globally in 2022 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.

Media Contact

Sheena Hollander, Express Employment Professionals, (405) 840-5000, [email protected], www.ExpressPros.com

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SOURCE Express Employment Professionals

10 january 2024 at 08:54

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Prodatix Chooses Object First to Ransomware-Proof Customer's Data with On-premises Immutable Storage





Object First, the provider of Ootbi (Out-of-the-Box-Immutability), the ransomware-proof backup storage appliance purpose-built for Veeam, today announced its partnership with Prodatix, a Veeam Certified Architect company specializing in data management, to offer Ootbi as their primary backup storage solution for Veeam. Ootbi delivers secure, simple, and powerful backup storage that follows Zero Trust best practices for improved security and ransomware resilience.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Prodatix provides a range of services to their customers, including data management, Veeam consulting, Veeam licensing, and backup appliances. With a strong commitment to protecting customer data in the face of rising threats of ransomware, Prodatix sought out Ootbi by Object First as the best solution to ransomware-proof its clients' data, mitigate financial damages and downtime from attacks, and ensure its Veeam backups were protected with an immutable backup appliance.

"Ootbi by Object First made the most sense for us as we know the market needs immutable primary storage, but we did not want to get into that business of building complex, large capacity immutable appliances," said Matt Bullock, VP of Technical Sales, Prodatix. "Ootbi makes immutable storage simple, and since it's optimized specifically for Veeam, we were excited by the simplicity of deployment and management and the power of the backup and recovery speeds."

According to a recent Sophos report, organizations reported an estimated cost of $1.82 million to recover from ransomware attacks in 2023. With Ootbi by Object First, Prodatix can offer robust immutable storage for Veeam that is easy to scale and enables customers to meet modern Zero Trust security standards for data management, with no advanced storage or security expertise required.

Additionally, Prodatix desired a vendor that provides a seamless partner experience through a 100% channel model that supports their business. From demos and sales materials to social media resources, Object First's robust partner program provides the sales enablement and marketing tools required to benefit the partners' business, while also offering the technical expertise to support Prodatix's role as a trusted security advisor to their clients.

"We prefer to work with companies who understand how to support service providers specialized in data protection," Bullock explained. "Many other vendors start competing with their partners, which can cause significant channel conflict."

For more details, you can find a full copy of Prodatix's case study on Object First's website, here. To learn more about Object First, please visit objectfirst.com and follow on LinkedIn and X.

About Object First

Ransomware-proof and immutable out-of-the-box, Ootbi by Object First delivers secure, simple, and powerful backup storage for Veeam customers. The appliance can be racked, stacked, and powered in 15-minutes. Ootbi is built on immutable object storage technology designed and optimized for unbeatable backup and recovery performance. Eliminate the need to sacrifice performance and simplicity to meet budget constraints with Ootbi by Object First.

10 january 2024 at 09:05

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Explore & More to offer $5 admission for nonmembers on MLK Jr. Day

Explore & More  the Ralph Wilson Jr. Childrens Museum announced it will offer discounted admission tickets on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Bank on Buffalo is contributing to the rest of the admission fee for everyone attending the museum on that day, with admission just $5 for nonmembers.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

In addition to its celebration of MLK Jr. Day, the museum, in recognition of the National Day of Service on Monday, has partnered for the fifth consecutive year with Bank on Buffalo to launch a collection of needed winter clothing items, in particular winter coats and jackets, for adults and families living at Gerard Place on Bailey Avenue. The site provides supportive housing services for the homeless.

Items can be dropped off at the museum and all Bank on Buffalo branches through Jan. 31.

Learn more about museum hours, exhibits and programs at exploreandmore.org.

- Harold McNeil
Messagepoint Healthcare Touchpoint Exchange Wins 2024 BIG Innovation Award





Messagepoint announced it has been named a winner in the 2024 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group in the Software category for its Healthcare Touchpoint Exchange, a purpose-built SaaS solution that enables Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) to dramatically reduce the workload, timelines and costs associated with health plan communications and materials preparation.

"For too long, Medicare Advantage Organizations have relied on old school services and technologies to manage their member communications, bearing risks, exorbitant cost and labor burdens in the process," said Sohail Malik, vice president, Healthcare Solutions at Messagepoint. "We are pleased that Messagepoint's Healthcare Touchpoint Exchange has won a BIG Innovation Award for providing critical innovation that enables MAOs to achieve accuracy and compliance, efficiency and economies of scale across all member communications."

Messagepoint's Healthcare Touchpoint Exchange is a game-changing solution designed to support MAOs in preparing plan communications and materials for the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). These materials are regulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and health plans must meet stringent requirements under tight deadlines to ensure compliance. The Messagepoint platform provides a unique approach that substantially reduces the cost of preparing CMS compliance documents, including Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), Evidence of Coverage (EOC) and Summary of Benefits (SB), as well as servicing communications, pre- and post-enrollment materials and other sales and marketing materials and documents by:

Enabling business users to control the end-to-end document change process without having to rely on IT or third-party vendors

Providing pre-built model touchpoints that incorporate the latest CMS changes, eliminating over 60% of the work effort in building the documents

Dynamically generating plan documents from these touchpoints using the bid-submission data from the Plan Benefit Package (PBP), ensuring accuracy and compliance and providing a single source of truth

Leveraging a hyper-efficient modular content model which enables common content, such as benefit information or late memo updates, to be changed in one place and automatically updated across plans instantly

Supporting parallel translation of approved English content into Spanish, so the Spanish plan documents can be dynamically generated as soon as English documents are finalized

Providing unprecedented visibility, workflow and control over the quality assurance process through flexible management of tasks, resources, versions and changes, all with a complete audit trail

Automatically generating large print and 508 compliant PDFs across multiple languages

Messagepoint recently updated its solution to support the ingestion of the PBP's new JSON files directly into the platform, ensuring plan documents and materials are perfectly aligned with the benefit information submitted to CMS.

"Innovation is driving our society," said Maria Jimenez, chief nominations officer of the Business Intelligence Group. "We are thrilled to be honoring Messagepoint as they are leading by example and improving the lives of so many."

Organizations from across the globe submitted their recent innovations for consideration in the BIG Innovation Awards. Nominations were then judged by a select group of business leaders and executives who volunteer their time and expertise to score submissions.

About Messagepoint

Messagepoint is a leading provider of customer communications management software. Only Messagepoint harnesses AI-powered Content Intelligence to automate and simplify the process of migrating, optimizing, authoring and managing complex customer communications for non-technical (business) users. Customers rely on its award-winning platform to consistently deliver exceptional, highly personalized customer communications across all platforms and channels. For more information, visit www.messagepoint.com.

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, these programs are judged by business executives having experience and knowledge. 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.

10 january 2024 at 09:55

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PCM Trials Acquires Netherlands-Based Clinical Trial Service B.V., Becoming the Most Experienced Independent Provider of Mobile Visit Services with The Largest Geographic Coverage Area in Support of Decentralized Clinical Trials





DENVER, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PCM Trials, a Denver, USA-based leader in providing mobile research nurses for decentralized clinical trials (DCTs), today announced the acquisition of Clinical Trial Service (CTS). The Losser, Netherlands-based private clinical research company has been a long-standing partner of PCM Trials and has more than 30 years of experience in managing and staffing global clinical trials with GCP-trained mobile research nurses for DCTs. The acquisition, which is effective immediately, expands PCM Trials' already extensive global footprint.

"CTS is a natural fit for us," said Greg Austin, president of Denver-based PCM Trials. "We have partnered with them for years on numerous studies to provide quality research nurses for many of our most complex international clinical trials. Their ability to understand an individual country's market, culture, and regulatory requirements allows us to launch and complete trials on schedule. Together, we have married a proven project management model with best-in-class mobile research nursing services to provide an unmatched level of experience in DCTs and the ability to reach over 80 countries. This innovative model is designed to support sponsors and CROs looking to conduct global DCTs and deliver better patient retention and increased patient diversity."

CTS was founded in 1993 in Losser, Netherlands, and quickly became a preferred provider of mobile research nurses for some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry. The organization has a network of over 40 mobile nurse partners that it manages as part of its robust network of local country nursing providers, which provide quality solutions by highly screened, selected, managed, and trained research nurses in more than 80 countries. In addition to handling staffing needs for mobile trials, CTS also manages various logistics functions to ensure that trial investigational products and necessary lab materials are delivered on time to the right patients and administered by nurses with protocol-specific training and experience.

"This acquisition provided us with the ideal solution to grow our company," said Mirjam Bruggink, owner and founder of CTS. "Our two organizations are well aligned from a culture standpoint and possess similar values around the importance of advancing clinical research. Since PCM Trials is independent and not part of a larger vertically integrated company, it has more of a family feel. Yet, the company is well established and brings financial strength to take us to the next level of providing service and innovation to our customers. We are all very excited about this new step."

PCM Trials has completed numerous global trials since its founding in 2008 and has the capability to deliver mobile visits in more than 80 countries. According to Austin, the acquisition of CTS represents one more step taken by PCM Trials to make available the most direct nursing model on a global scale. To date, PCM Trials has effectively served more than 150 sponsors and more than 300 protocols. Many of these trials were completed as a result of PCM's partnership with CTS. Now, as one company, PCM Trials has eliminated an administrative layer to create an even more direct relationship between sponsors and mobile research nurses. The result, according to Austin, will be a simplified contracting process for customers, improved communications for study teams, faster turnaround, greater consistency, and higher quality research data.

Bruggink and her entire CTS team will remain with the company to help ensure a smooth transition and continue all ongoing and future clinical trials for clinical operations and DCTs. CTS will continue to operate its European office and logistics center in Losser, the Netherlands under the CTS brand and with its current employees. CTS, as part of PCM Trials, will continue to serve customers in all sectors such as Sponsors, CROs, and mobile research nursing vendors in various mobile visit models.

"We are excited about the opportunity to serve our customers directly, as well as through our industry- pioneering Certified Mobile Research Nurse Partner Network", added Austin. "Between our two organizations, we have nearly 50 years of experience in refining processes and operations. During this time, we have focused exclusively on mobile research, which makes our combined team the most experienced in the industry. This collective expertise will allow us to pursue more innovative solutions that result in better outcomes for our customers and patients."

For more information about PCM Trials or to initiate an RFP for an upcoming trial, email [email protected].

About PCM Trials

PCM Trials is leading the global shift toward decentralized clinical trials by bringing clinical research to patients, wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them. PCM Trials directly recruits, trains, certifies, and manages Certified Mobile Research Nurses (CMRNs) to ensure that each visit meets the highest standards for data quality and patient experience. By reducing the barriers to participation, PCM Trials' mobile nurses support study recruitment, retention, adherence, and diversity. PCM Trials is an independent company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with European operations based out of the U.K., and has conducted mobile research visits since 2008.

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10 january 2024 at 10:35

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Sleep Scientists and Clinicians Organize to Promote Sleep Health on March 15, the Next World Sleep Day





World Sleep Day is a global awareness day to promote healthy sleep. Members of World Sleep Society across dozens of countries organize awareness activities in their clinics, communities, and countries. Join us and celebrate healthy sleep on Friday, March 15!

ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- World Sleep Society is issuing a global call to action for health advocates to organize sleep health awareness activities on and around Friday, March 15, 2024, the next World Sleep Day. The sleep professional members of World Sleep Society and industry leaders across over 80 countries are organizing local, regional and national activities to promote sleep health. Join us!

The theme for World Sleep Day 2024 is Sleep Equity for Global Health.

A Call to Action: Celebrate Healthy Sleep!

Interview a credible sleep expert for your World Sleep Day content

Organize or support an awareness activity in your community

Write, create or otherwise connect with your public audience about sleep health

The 2024 Theme: Sleep Equity for Global Health

The theme for World Sleep Day 2024 is Sleep Equity for Global Health. Sleep is essential for health, but persistent differences in sleep health adversely affect populations around the globe. "The causes of sleep health disparities warrant careful study. Strategies to lessen these disparities could prove to be a powerful tool for increasing health and wellness worldwide," says Fang Han, MD, co-chair of World Sleep Day.

Further resources and information about the 2024 theme are available in the official World Sleep Day toolkit on worldsleepday.org. Activity organizers, content creators and journalists are encouraged to use the toolkit when preparing for World Sleep Day. Activity organizers can also submit their World Sleep Day activities to be published and saved on the official website. Plan and submit your activity soon!

Connect with a Sleep Expert

Content creators and journalists ? including those in non-English-speaking markets ? can contact World Sleep Society for help scheduling interviews about sleep health with its professional members, who include many of the world's leading sleep experts. "World Sleep Day is the perfect opportunity to combine efforts towards sleep awareness, education, outreach and community engagement that work toward reducing sleep disparities and ensuring equitable access to healthy sleep for everyone," says Lourdes DelRosso, MD, PhD, co-chair of World Sleep Day.

"World Sleep Society members are engaging with their communities, fostering connections and augmenting awareness regarding the importance of sleep health among millions worldwide. We invite you to join our global movement dedicated to advancing the cause of optimal sleep health," says Raffaele Ferri, MD, president of World Sleep Society.

The 18th World Sleep Day

World Sleep Day 2024 is the 18th annual call to action for global sleep health. World Sleep Society encourages individuals and organizations worldwide to celebrate healthy sleep, raise awareness of sleep disorders and advance sleep health. Learn more about World Sleep Day and find additional resources at worldsleepday.org.

About World Sleep Society

World Sleep Society is a non-profit organization registered in the United States with a global membership representing over 80 countries. The mission of World Sleep Society is to advance sleep health worldwide. World Sleep Society fulfills this mission by encouraging and facilitating sleep health education, research and patient care throughout the world, particularly in places underserved by sleep medicine. Learn more about World Sleep Society programs at worldsleepsociety.org.

Media Contact

Allan O'Bryan, World Sleep Society, 1 507-316-0084, [email protected], worldsleepsociety.org

SOURCE World Sleep Society

10 january 2024 at 11:00

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Whisky App 'Bevvy' Closes $1.5 million Seed Round





PORT CHARLOTTE, ISLAY, Scotland, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bevvy, the whisky app founded in 2021 and based on Islay, has today closed a $1.5 million seed funding round. The new investment comes, principally, from Scotland-based angel investors, existing shareholders and a Denver (US) based family office. Co-founder & Head of Whisky Laurie Black commented "Having already established the leading position in the digital whisky space; this new capital allows us to cement our market share and grow our consumer audience into new territories. We're hugely excited to be heading Stateside in 2024!"

Founded in 2021 by leading whisky expert Laurie Black, mathematician Atanas Tonchev and medtech entrepreneur Lucas Heron; bevvy is a technology-led whisky discovery platform that operates via consumer-facing Android and Apple (iOS) phone mobile applications. Users can use the app and the camera on their mobile phone to scan the label of any whisky bottle and uncover tasting notes alongside indicative valuations for their collection. At its heart, is a leading, proprietary image capturing software, supported by the world's largest database of whiskies, numbering over 200,000 catalogued from the past 120 years of releases. The database includes 150,000 images and tracks retail and auction pricing whilst also monitoring market sentiment in order to arrive at a dynamic, live valuation which it shares with its 120,000, regular active users. Once a bottle is scanned, the whisky is profiled with content populated by distillery and bottler overviews, dynamic pricing data and expert tasting notes. Whiskies are routinely rated by consumers within the app, which allows the tech to become familiar with each user's taste preferences, which in turn allows Bevvy to recommend other bottles that a user might enjoy.

Finance Director Greg Gormley added "In one of the most challenging fundraising environments I can recall; Bevvy's successful raise underlines its dominant and growing position as a critical tool among whisky consumers and collectors. The interest and demand in whisky is growing at a pace not seen before. However, the market is fragmented and disjointed, with an absence of easy-to-access tools and information. There is a considerable hole in the market for a value-add, information-led app that allows a bottle of whisky to be fully understood, in terms of taste, history and pricing. Bevvy is addressing this need and is finding its audience is both engaged and growing at a phenomenal pace."

Over the past 12 months, Bevvy has begun to integrate whisky bar and pub data, whereby bar operators can scan the bottles they have available and publish a live menu. Whisky auctioneers too are finding Bevvy to be a critical resource in dealing with providing prospective consignors indicative valuations for their whisky portfolio, should they choose to offer their bottles for sale at auction. Meanwhile, distilleries are readily and keenly engaging with Bevvy, which has 11 whisky release ballots already penned in for 2024. (A whisky ballot is a mechanism whereby consumers that wish to purchase a bottle from a new, limited release of whisky, enter into a draw to have the right to buy a bottle). Bevvy has proven effective at engaging new audiences with independent bottlers and distilleries whilst also taking the administrative pain from ballot organisation with its mobile solution.

More recently, the company has begun to grow its presence in the US and its database work to expand its catalogue of Bourbon bottles is well underway. Part of its investment from US investors was predicated on a commitment to be live and active in the US market by the middle of 2024. Laurie Black added "This is an extraordinarily exciting time for us, we see thousands of bottle scans each and every week, we are gaining a fascinating insight into user taste preferences, price trends and industry strengths and weaknesses. Bevvy finds itself at the heart of a major shift in how consumers and collectors engage with this multi billion dollar market. 2024 is going to be a year of spectacular development and innovation."

enquiries: press@bevvy.com

Founder Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc1i8ELu-2A

10 january 2024 at 11:00

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Innervate Supports Zalando's Marketing Strategy with Sophisticated Campaign Automation





Leading Fashion E-Commerce Destination Chooses Innervate to Successfully Tackle the Challenge of Managing Hundreds of Diverse Marketing Campaigns

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innervate , the dynamic customer experience company, today announced the successful results of its partnership with Zalando , a leading European fashion e-commerce destination. The company leveraged Innervate's sophisticated marketing automation capabilities to manage hundreds of diverse campaigns designed to build awareness and consideration of Zalando as a starting point for fashion for its European customer base.

Innervate announces the successful results of its partnership with Zalando.

As a European fashion e-commerce destination, Zalando offers its clientele of over 50 million customers thousands of brands and products to browse. However, the company was facing the challenge of managing 364 "always-on" paid social and programmatic campaigns with time-consuming and costly work to set up and manage each individual campaign. The resulting campaign experience for the target audiences was often fragmented.

Enter Innervate and the company's promise of a simple, modern, unifying solution.

"Innervate offered out-of-the-box automated processes that were previously done manually and quickly caught up with the rest of them to create a fully automated approach," said Ivan Ponce, Director of Media at Zalando.

After a quick onboarding process, the Zalando team was able to mix and match ad elements intuitively and at scale, allowing them to create and release targeted campaigns across 25 markets, 365 days a year. This contributed to Zalando's goal of building awareness for its brand as a starting point for fashion among its loyal?and expanding?customer base.

In addition, with significant increases in the efficiency of curating and personalizing campaigns, the company now has more time and resources to focus on out-of-the box creative and next-level strategy.

"By efficiently utilizing and repurposing all the content and assets available on Zalando's website, Zalando saves both time and internal resources that would otherwise be spent on producing content specifically for a short-lived campaign, which would not be used again in future campaigns," said Ponce.

Zalando expects to continue reaping the benefits of automation. The company plans to uncover more ways for its marketing team to use the new automate-to-innovate approach to running campaigns, enabled by Innervate's solution. With Innervate's support, Zalando is excited about the future possibilities in efficient, effective and automated marketing campaigns.

"Working with Innervate could be summarized in three words: fast, efficient and adaptable," said Ponce. "Innervate is an advertising tech powerhouse with impeccable customer support. Our teams are amazed by the speed that it took us to lift this project from the ground and the efficiency of developing custom solutions."

For more details about Innervate's partnership with Zalando, visit www.innervate.com/zalando-case-study .

ABOUT INNERVATE

Innervate, the dynamic customer experience company, delivers a plug-and-play solution that allows organizations to orchestrate unlimited CX use cases seamlessly across any channel, using their existing systems and teams. With Innervate's dynamic customer experience orchestration, it's simple to get started, simple to scale and simple to succeed. Customers get modern CX use cases to market faster with Innervate's open network architecture that easily connects systems and data sources, without requiring coding. Organizations quickly innovate unlimited CX use cases across channels, using existing systems, data sources and teams. Ultimately, customers grow a portfolio of dynamic CX use cases, enriched by the data and systems they've already invested in and networked. Welcome to the era of plug-and-play CX.

SOURCE Innervate

10 january 2024 at 11:00

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U.S. Electric Power Industry, Renewable Energy, ISO Markets and Power Transactions - 2 Day Seminar, New York City, United States - April 16-17, 2024





DUBLIN, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Today's U.S. Electric Power Industry, Renewable Energy, ISO Markets, and Power Transactions" training has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

If you want to better understand the U.S. electric power industry and the different ways power is bought and sold, this in-depth seminar is for you.

This program provides a comprehensive and clear explanation of the structure, function, and current status of today's U. S. electric power industry; the many industry topics listed below; ISO day-ahead energy auctions, and detailed examples of how physical and financial (virtual) power transactions, power purchase agreements (PPAs), tolling, and heat rate deals are done.

Each part of this complex industry will be explained piece-by-piece, and then the pieces will be integrated so that you will leave the seminar with an understanding of "how it all fits together."

Course Agenda:

DAY ONE

The properties and terminology of electricity - current, power, var, voltage, etc (pre-seminar reading material)

The electric service system, and how it works

The structure and function of the North American power grids.

How control areas and balancing authorities function to "keep the lights on."

The pros, cons, and levelized costs of different types of electric generation

Fundamentals of utility cost-of-service regulation, open access markets

Why utilities sometimes resist renewable energy, distributed energy resource (DER"), rooftop solar, and conservation projects.

The various industry participants are and what their roles are.

Federal vs state regulatory conflicts, and why restructuring today's power industry and the building new power lines is such a complicated task.

The difference between regulated and merchant high voltage power lines, and what FERC market-based transmission rates are.

The structure and functions of ISOs, RTOs, the Western Energy Imbalance Market ("WEIM"), and the new Southeast Energy Exchange Market ("SEEM").

How ISO day-ahead energy auctions work, and how they add value to the power industry

What locational marginal pricing (LMP) is, and why LMP is used

What demand response ("DR"), distributed energy resources ("DER"), and battery energy storage systems ("BESS") are, and how these resources can be aggregated to form virtual power plants.

The challenges and opportunities facing wind energy, solar, batteries, demand response, and DER and other renewables.

Why understanding generation reserve margin, forward capacity markets, capacity payments, resource adequacy, and California's "FRACMOO" is important.

"FRACMOO" is important. A summary of today's key industry issues and where the U. S. electric power industry is headed, including a discussion of the interconnection queues, renewable energy, and the building of new transmission lines.

DAY TWO

The difference between auctions and bilateral bulk power markets

Introduction to bilateral energy and electricity markets: Important concepts and terminology

The difference between brokers, ICE OTC, futures exchanges, market-makers, traders, and power marketers, and how they add value.

Four different ways to manage price, price spread, and asset development risk.

The fundamentals of bilateral physical power transactions and important deal-making terminology.

How power marketers and traders use "seller's choice" to create virtual trading hubs.

The standard industry contracts used for physical and financial power transactions, how to buy transmission service using OASIS, how to schedule delivery using NERC tags, and how financial "book-outs" work. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Financial power contracts, commodity swaps, CFDs, FTRs. CRRs, and ISO Incs, Decs, and virtual/convergence bidding. Includes examples

How financial power contracts work in combination with ISO day-ahead energy auctions to create a win/win situation, and why few power marketers or traders ever go to physical delivery within and ISO footprint.

How power marketing is done within an ISO location, how power can be "transported" virtually, NITS, TAC, UCAP, and ancillary services charges, and how FTRs, CRRs, and swaps can help hedge basis risk. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

The different types of heat rates and spark spreads, and why they are important.

The difference between power purchase agreements ("PPAs") and "Tolling Deals." Includes detailed Appendix and deal Term Sheet.

The magic of how heat rate transactions can be used to hedge electricity risk and structure profitable deals. Includes detailed step-by-step transaction examples.

Who Should Attend:

Among those who will benefit from this seminar include energy and electric power executives; attorneys; government regulators; traders & trading support staff; marketing, sales, purchasing & risk management personnel; accountants & auditors; plant operators; engineers; and corporate planners.

Types of companies that typically attend this program include energy producers and marketers; utilities; banks & financial houses; industrial companies; accounting, consulting & law firms; municipal utilities; government regulators and electric generators.

For more information about this training visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6eanr2

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

10 january 2024 at 12:30

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Barclay Damon Combines with Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram





WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Barclay Damon and Washington DC?based Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram (SLS) announce their combination, effective January 1, 2024. Last month, the leadership of both firms unanimously voted to approve the deal, citing a strong belief in the benefits of the combination, which brings the best in legal service together to accelerate growth in each firm's respective practice areas.

The deal brings together two talented teams, allowing both firms to expand their footprints and client service offerings. The 10 lawyers, three paralegals, and four administrative staff of SLS will join Barclay Damon while maintaining operations in their current 11,500 square foot office space located in the heart of Washington DC's central business district, a few blocks from Dupont Circle and the White House.

Connie Cahill, Barclay Damon's managing partner, said, "Our firm has been serving clients in the DC Metro Region for many years, while our long-term strategy has been to develop a fully staffed, established presence in that market. After evaluating many opportunities, SLS was the right fit in terms of top attorneys, complementary practices, and energy industry experience that overlaps with Barclay Damon's leading practices. We hope to continue growing in the DC Metro Region and are always interested in meeting with talented attorneys looking to expand their breadth of services in a shared culture of collaboration, innovation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion."

"This is a beneficial move for SLS, as this combination meets the long-term strategic goals of the firm and allows our people and clients to immediately have access to a multidisciplinary approach to legal services as well as a full-service law firm," said Judah Lifschitz, principal and co-president of SLS. "Detailed and thorough consideration was given to every aspect of this combination. Our firm's primary commitment has been and will remain to provide the best client service and growth for our team. Both organizations have a strong record in this regard, and we are confident that the combination will allow us to offer our clients an even more comprehensive set of services."

Barclay Damon's chief marketing officer and chair of the firm's Energy Practice Area, Rick Capozza, added, "Landing an integrated team of attorneys with corporate, real estate, finance, commercial litigation, and large construction litigation experience with a national profile in the power and energy industry was simply a home run. That the SLS team is located in a strategically significant part of our platform, Washington DC, advances a key strategy of expanding our strong regulatory experience at the federal level."

Together, the combined firm will have nearly 300 lawyers in nine offices located in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, New Haven, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, Washington DC, and Toronto. SLS will serve as the Washington DC office for the firm, which will initially have 10 lawyers. Lifschitz, Steve Schram, and Christopher Mahoney will continue to lead the DC office and work alongside Barclay Damon's managing director for major market offices, Lizz Acee, and Cahill to ensure continuity of best-in-class service to the firm's clients.

The transition will be seamless, as the normal day-to-day operations of both firms will be unchanged.

About Barclay Damon

For over two decades, Barclay Damon has been successfully pursuing a disciplined expansion strategy throughout its platform of offices in major and smaller markets. In addition to the SLS combination, the firm's recent deal history includes the addition of 20 lawyers from LeClairRyan, the addition of seven wealth management planning and elder law attorneys from Lacy Katzen LLP, a combination with the 14-attorney bankruptcy firm Menter, Rudin & Trivelpiece, PC, and the addition of the 11-attorney energy-environmental firm Gilberti Stinziano Heintz & Smith, PC. The 65-lawyer Damon Morey LLP combined with the 210-lawyer Hiscock & Barclay in 2015, resulting in the name change to Barclay Damon LLP. The firm's signature lateral recruitment and integration program has increased the firm from 50 to nearly 300 attorneys. For more information, please visit the firm's website at Homepage | Barclay Damon.

About Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram

Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram is a Washington DC?based law firm delivering solutions for clients in the areas of business, construction, power and energy, real estate, and commercial litigation. The firm has a proven track record of success representing clients in sophisticated deals and big-ticket, complex litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. With state-of-the-art document management and electronic discovery techniques, sophisticated graphics capabilities, and seasoned lawyers, Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram creates client-centered solutions to close deals and win cases. For more information, please visit the firm's website at Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram | | Homepage (slslaw.com).

Contact:

Lisa Kane

Senior Marketing Manager

Barclay Damon

716.858.3710

SOURCE Barclay Damon

10 january 2024 at 14:57

News published onand distributed by:
Vaxil Bio Enters Into Letter of Intent With Copper Bullet Mines in Respect of a Proposed Reverse Takeover





Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication, distribution or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States

NESS-ZIONA, Israel, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxil Bio Ltd. ("Vaxil" or the "Company") (TSXV:VXL) and Copper Bullet Mines Inc., a corporation existing under the laws of Canada ("CBMI") are pleased to announce that they have entered into a non-binding letter of intent dated January 9, 2024 (the "LOI"), pursuant to which Vaxil and CBMI intend to complete a business combination or other similarly structured transaction which will constitute a reverse take-over of Vaxil (the "Transaction"). It is intended that the Transaction will be an arm's length "Reverse Takeover" for Vaxil as that term is defined in Policy 5.2 of the Corporate Finance Manual of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").



The LOI is to be superseded by a definitive merger, amalgamation or share exchange agreement (the "Definitive Agreement") to be signed on or prior to February 28, 2024, or such later date as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties in writing. The Transaction is subject to requisite regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSXV, and standard closing conditions, including the approval of the directors of each of Vaxil and CBMI of the Definitive Agreement, completion of due diligence investigations to the satisfaction of each of Vaxil and CBMI, and the conditions described below. The legal structure for the Transaction will be confirmed after the parties have considered all applicable tax, securities law and accounting efficiencies.

Vaxil is at arm's length to CBMI, and no director, officer or insider of Vaxil or CBMI beneficially owns, or controls or directs, directly or indirectly, any securities of the other party. Therefore, the Transaction is expected to be an Arm's Length Transaction as defined under TSXV Policy 1.1 - Interpretation and will not be considered a "related party transaction" for the purpose of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.

About Vaxil Bio Ltd.

Vaxil is incorporated under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) with its registered and head office in Toronto, Ontario. Vaxil is a "reporting issuer" in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Vaxil will hold a meeting of its shareholders (the "Vaxil Shareholders' Meeting"), as soon as reasonably practicable, to vote on the Transaction and the Divestment (as defined below). Matters to be approved by Vaxil's shareholders at Vaxil Shareholders' Meeting, among other matters:

a change of name of the Company to such name as is directed by CBMI and acceptable to applicable regulatory authorities effective upon closing of the Transaction (the " Closing ");

"); the consolidate its shares on a ratio to be determined;

the approval of a new equity incentive plan to be effective upon Closing;

the election of a slate of directors appointed by CBMI, which elections will be effective upon Closing;

the approval of the Transaction; and

the approval of the Divestment.

In addition to the Transaction, it is expected that prior to the closing of the Transaction Vaxil will divest all existing assets except cash to unrelated third parties (the "Divestment"), which may require shareholder approval and is subject to approval of the TSXV.

Trading in the common shares of Vaxil (each an "Vaxil Share") has been halted in accordance with the policies of the TSXV and will remain halted until such time as all required documentation in connection with the Transaction has been filed with and accepted by, and permission to resume trading has been obtained from, the TSXV. There can be no assurance that trading of Vaxil Shares will resume prior to the completion of the Transaction.

About Copper Bullet Mines Inc.

Since its incorporation on April 10, 2021, the team at CBMI, has acquired through staking and option a significant land package in the heart of Arizona's Copper Triangle. CBMI's Copper Springs property has more than 96 historic drill holes and a historic, non-43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource of 47 million tonnes grading 0.4% copper (NI 43-101 Technical Report Copper Springs Project, Gila County, Arizona. Feinstein, 2022), equating to over 400 million lbs of copper contained. This historic resource is one of many exploration targets across the Copper Springs project and represents approximately 10% of the HSOB (Historic Supergene Oxide Blanket) footprint which was identified by wide spaced drilling in the 1960s.

The project is adjacent to Arizona State highway 60, located 1 hour east of Phoenix. High voltage power lines cross the project and water is available from perennial springs. The Copper Springs Project is surrounded by producing mines, including Capstone's Pinto Valley, KGHM's Carlotta mine, Group Mexico's Ray Mine, and various other mines and projects owned by South 32, BHP, Rio Tinto and Freeport-McMoRan.

The Globe Miami area, the northeast part of the Copper Triangle where the Copper Springs project is situated has produced over 37 billion lbs of copper. A recent report published by the Arizona Geological Study suggest unmined resources to be over 94 billion lbs of copper (Geology and History of the Globe-Miami Region, Gila and Pinal County, Arizona. Briggs, 2022). The Copper Triangle is also home to 2 of the 3 copper smelters in the USA.

From exploration through discovery, development, capital raising, and successful execution of commercial mining and milling operations, CBMI's team includes a full-range of experienced industry professionals. Additional information about CBMI may be found on its website: www.copperbulletmines.com

Any reference to historical estimates and resources should not be relied upon. These historical estimates are not current and a Q. P. has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate and Copper Bullet Mines Inc. is not treating the historical estimate as a current resource estimate.

Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Transaction, CBMI intends to complete a brokered private placement, of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts"), with an agent or syndicate of agents to be selected, on a best-efforts basis, to raise aggregate gross proceeds of a minimum of $1,500,000 (the "Concurrent Financing"), at an anticipated price of $0.20 per Subscription Receipt (the "Concurrent Financing Price"). The proceeds of the Concurrent Financing will be used for general corporate and working capital purposes and to fund exploration expenses on CBMI's mineral properties. The Concurrent Financing is a condition precedent to the Transaction. The agent(s) will receive a cash commission up to 8.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds realized by CBMI from the Concurrent Financing. CBMI will also issue to the agent(s) that number of compensation warrants (the "Compensation Warrants") equal to 8.0% of the aggregate number of Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the Concurrent Financing. Each Compensation Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one CBMI Share at an exercise price equal to the Concurrent Financing Price for a period of 24 months following the Closing.

Upon satisfaction of the conditions to closing the Transaction, the escrow release conditions in respect of the Subscription Receipts, each Subscription Receipt will automatically be exchanged for, without additional payment or further action on the part of the holder thereof, one common share of CBMI (each a "CBMI Share"). In connection with the completion of the Transaction, the CBMI Shares issued to Subscription Receipt holders will be subsequently cancelled and exchanged for equivalent common shares of Vaxil.

Selected Financial Information of CBMI

The following selected consolidated financial information of CBMI has been supplied to Vaxil by CBMI for purposes of inclusion herein in accordance with TSXV requirements:

Income Statement Year ended December 31, 2022

(unaudited) Nine months ended, September 30, 2023

(unaudited) Revenue - - Total Expenses 682,769 593,520 Net Income (Loss) (682,769 ) (593,520 ) Balance Sheet Current Assets 107,403 95,202 Total Assets 107,403 95,202 Current Liabilities 424,952 253,102 Total Liabilities 424,952 253,102 Shareholders' Equity (Deficiency) (317,549 ) (146,069 )

Conditions to Transaction

Prior to completion of the Transaction (and as conditions of closing):

Completion of mutual satisfactory due diligence investigations of CBMI and Vaxil

The parties will prepare a management information circular or filing statement in accordance with the rules of the TSXV, outlining the terms of the Transaction.

Vaxil and CBMI will enter into a Definitive Agreement in respect to the Transaction on or prior to February 28, 2024.

Vaxil and CBMI will, if necessary, obtain the requisite board and shareholder approvals for the Transaction and any ancillary matters contemplated in the Definitive Agreement.

All requisite regulatory approvals relating to the Transaction, including, without limitation, the TSXV, will have been obtained.

CBMI will close the Concurrent Financing for gross proceeds of not less than $1,500,000.

The Proposed Transaction

Pre-Closing Capitalization of Vaxil

As of the date hereof, Vaxil has issued and outstanding 136,978,973 common shares of Vaxil (each an "Vaxil Share") and securities exercisable or exchangeable for, or convertible into, or other rights to acquire, an aggregate of 13,109,440 Vaxil Shares at various exercise prices per Vaxil Share. The Vaxil Shares are currently listed on the TSXV under the symbol "VXL".

Consolidation

As a condition to closing the Transaction, concurrently with, or immediately prior to Closing, and subject to Vaxil shareholder approval, Vaxil will undertake a share consolidation (the "Consolidation"). The Consolidation will occur on the basis of one (1) post-Consolidation common share of Vaxil ("Vaxil Consolidated Shares") for such number of Pre-Consolidation Vaxil Shares as determined by the equation (A/B) * C, which is anticipated to be a consolidation ratio of 1:16.3557, where:

A = Number of issued and outstanding Vaxil Shares immediately prior to the Consolidation. B = Vaxil's working capital balance immediately prior to the Transaction, plus the amount owed pursuant to the Loan (as defined herein), plus $1,000,000. C = The Concurrent Financing Price.

Pre-Closing Capitalization of CBMI

CBMI is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and, as of the date hereof, has (a) 32,237,000 CBMI Shares issued and outstanding, (b) 150,000 warrants exercisable to acquire 150,000 CBMI Shares (the "CBMI Warrants") at an exercise price of $0.10 and expire on March 27, 2025. The holders of CBMI Warrants may, at the option of the holders thereof, elect to replace their CBMI Warrants with warrants to acquire Vaxil Shares, but otherwise bearing the same terms as the CBMI Warrants which they replace.

CBMI has agreed to pay 2674443 Ontario Inc. (the "Finder"), an arm's length party, a finder's fee of $200,000 plus applicable tax, payable in CBMI Shares immediately prior to the closing of the Transaction at a deemed price per CBMI Share equal to the Concurrent Financing pricing, which would be immediately issued and exchanged for Vaxil Shares upon the successful closing of the Transaction.

Terms of the Transaction

It is currently anticipated that Vaxil will acquire CBMI by way of a three-corner amalgamation, share exchange, plan of arrangement or other similar form of transaction as agreed by the parties to ultimately form the resulting issuer (the "Resulting Issuer"). The final structure of the Transaction is subject to the receipt of tax, corporate and securities law advice for both Vaxil and CBMI. Upon completion of the Transaction, the Resulting Issuer will carry on the business of CBMI.

Pursuant to the Transaction, one (1) Vaxil Consolidated Shares will be issued to the holders of CBMI Shares in exchange for each one (1) CBMI Share issued and outstanding as at the effective date of the Transaction.

Pursuant to the terms of the LOI, it is proposed that Vaxil will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of CBMI for an aggregate purchase price of $7,747,400 payable on a non-cash basis by the issuance of such aggregate number of shares of the Resulting Issuer (the "Resulting Issuer Shares") to the CBMI shareholders, pro rata, based on the number of CBMI Shares held by each CBMI shareholder at a price per Resulting Issuer Share equal to the Concurrent Financing Price.

Upon completion of the Transaction, it is expected that the former shareholders of CBMI will hold approximately 65.64% of the shares of the Resulting Issuer (the "Resulting Issuer Shares"). (on a non-diluted basis), the former shareholders of Vaxil will hold approximately 17.05% of the Resulting Issuer Shares, the Subscription Receipts holders will hold approximately 15.27% of the Resulting Issuer Shares and the Finder will hold approximately 2.04% of the Resulting Issuer Shares.

It is expected that the Resulting Issuer will be classified as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer.

In connection with the Transaction, within 20 days of signing of the LOI, Vaxil will provide CBMI with a loan facility in an amount not to exceed $125,000 (the "Loan"), subject to TSXV approval. The Loan will be secured over the assets of CBMI, including any of the subsidiary of CBMI, as well as a pledge of shares of the subsidiary of CBMI. Interest on the Loan shall accrue on any outstanding amount at the rate of 10% per annum, payable upon maturity. Once the Loan has been funded, until the earlier of (i) the Loan being fully repaid, or (ii) the closing of the Transaction, Vaxil shall be entitled to appoint a board observer to CBMI.

Insiders, Officers and Board of Directors of the Resulting Issuer

Upon completion of the Transaction, it is anticipated that the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer shall consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of ten directors, a majority of whom shall be nominated by CBMI. The nominees of CBMI are expected to consist of, at a minimum, Daniel Weir, Mohamad Basim Anwer, Erika Dohring, Doug Harris, Keith Minty and Gadi Levin. The parties expect Daniel Weir to act as CEO Arif Shivji to act as CFO and Dr. Michael Feinstein to be VP Exploration.

Following completion of the Transaction, it is anticipated that no one will exercise control or direction over more than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Resulting Issuer.

The following sets outs the names and backgrounds of all persons who are expected to be considered insiders of the Resulting Issuer.

Daniel Weir, CEO and Director

Daniel has worked for over 20 years at some of the top financial firms in Canada. He worked as an Institutional Equity Trader, Sales and Investment banking as well as a broker. He was the Head of Institutional Equity Sales at a boutique firm focused on financing Mining companies. Having raised billions of dollars, both publicly and privately, Mr. Weir has expertise at evaluating and financing mining deals. He has sat on boards of potash, graphite and copper-zinc mining companies. Dan spent the past 8 years working in Africa, developing a graphite project. Mr. Weir has overseen exploration projects, and the designing and engineering of processing plants. Mr. Weir graduated from the University of Toronto.

Mohamad Basim Anwer, Director

Mohamad has 20 years of multisector experience, which includes wealth management, project logistics and financing, mining and LME metals warehousing and distribution. During his tenure with Thani Investments in Dubai, and subsequent to that he was engaged in Mining projects as an advisor assisting with project planning and corporate valuations and financing of mineral resource projects worldwide. He is based in Dubai, with additional offices in Zug, Switzerland, the UK, Morocco, and Singapore. He is the Chairman of Peninsula Shipping, and CEO of Regionality Group of companies. His businesses operate in various countries as product distribution and advisory partners. Mr. Anwer graduated from Purdue University in the USA.

Erika Dohring, Director

Erika has extensive knowledge and expertise in epithermal gold and silver deposits, as well as base metals systems including porphyry copper and VMS. She grew into a career as an exploration geologist with exposure to capital markets and economic evaluation, and most recently as an entrepreneur. As manager of corporate development and JV programs of Riverside Resources, she successfully launched and led multiple early-stage gold and silver exploration programs and was part of the team that spun out the public company Capitan Silver Corp. Most recently, Mrs. Dohring has launched two private Mexican ventures. Mrs. Dohring graduated from Institut Beauvais in France with a Master's Degree in Geology and Mining Engineering.

Doug Harris, Director

Doug has over 25 years of audit, buy side, sell side and advisory experience participating in over $2 billion of transactions. Doug has served as a director of several public companies, chairing audit and independent committees, and provides advisory and CFO services through his company Harris Capital Corporation to a number of mining companies. Mr. Harris obtained his MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Keith Minty, Director

Keith has 30 years of professional experience in mineral resource exploration and development of precious and base metals and industrial minerals in Canada and internationally. He has been directly involved in increasing mineral resource project's value through resource development, constructing, operating and managing gold and platinum group metal projects. Mr. Minty has been associated with resource exploration and development companies such as Hunter Dickinson, Viceroy Resources, North American Palladium, and Aurvista Gold. He is currently an active member of the board of directors of companies. Mr. Minty obtained a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University, he received his MBA from Athabasca University.

Gadi Levin, Director

Mr. Levin is the chairman and CEO of Vaxil Bio and has also served as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Vaxil Bio Ltd since March 1, 2016. In addition, Mr. Levin is a director of EV Nickel Inc. and Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd. Mr. Levin has over 20 years of experience working with public U.S., Canadian and multi-jurisdictional public companies, primarily in the CFO function. Mr. Levin began his CPA career at the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where he worked for nine years, specializing in U.S. listed companies involved in initial public offerings. Mr. Levin has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting and Information Systems from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a post graduate diploma in Accounting from the University of South Africa. He received his Chartered Accountant designation in South Africa and has an MBA from Bar Ilan University in Israel.

Arif Shivji, CFO

Arif Shivji is a registered CPA in BC & Alberta, US CPA in Illinois, and a CFA charterholder. After his MBA from the Richard Ivey School Business, Shivji became Manager of Transaction Services with PwC Advisory where he performed buy-side due diligence on acquisitions in Canada, US, and UK. Mr. Shivji has been providing part time CFO services to private & public companies. In addition, he has set up two CPCs on the TSX and a junior mining IPO on the CSE exchange. Previously, Shivji was founder & CFO of Predator Midstream that grew to 90 staff when it was sold to a large public company (Secure Energy). Since May 2021, Shivji has been CFO of Copper Bullet leveraging his 25 years of professional finance experience.

Dr. Michael Feinstein, VP Exploration

Michael is a Geological Scientist and Consultant with global experience coordinating, leading, and supporting high-value geological exploration and evaluation initiatives. Michael has led the evaluation of more than 40 properties and managed mineral exploration initiatives for more than 15 international clients. He excels at identifying profitable business opportunities for landowners and potential investors, conducting extensive scientific investigation of geological features to determine the presence of valuable minerals. His experience leading successful projects is a result of his persistence in addressing the problems at hand and keeping the big picture in view.

Sponsorship

The Transaction may require sponsorship under the policies of the TSXV unless an exemption from sponsorship is granted. Vaxil intends to apply for an exemption from sponsorship requirements of the TSXV in connection with the Transaction. There can be no assurance that such exemption will ultimately be granted.

Qualified Person

Michael Feinstein, is the "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101-Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and he has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release.

Advisors

Bayline Capital Partners is acting as financial advisor to CBMI.

Further Information

All information contained in this news release with respect to Vaxil and CBMI was supplied by the parties respectively, for inclusion herein, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

The securities to be issued in connection with the Transaction have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance and, if applicable, pursuant to the requirements of the TSXV, disinterested shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the proposal to complete the Transaction, the Divestment and associated transactions. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements about, among other things, the expected terms of the Transaction and Divestment, the number of securities of Vaxil that may be issued in connection with the Transaction, the ownership ratio of the Resulting Issuer post-closing, the Concurrent Financing, shareholder approval, CBMI's strategic plans and the parties' ability to satisfy closing conditions and receive necessary approvals are all forward-looking information. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the Transaction or the Divestment will occur or that, if the Transaction or the Divestment do occur, it will be completed on the terms described above. Vaxil and CBMI assume no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

Vaxil Bio Ltd. Copper Bullet Mines Inc. Gadi Levin, CEO

[email protected]

+16475585564 Daniel Weir, CEO

[email protected]





10 january 2024 at 15:05

News published onand distributed by:
Ecuadorean soldiers patrol outside the premises of Ecuador's TC television channel after unidentified gunmen burst into the state-owned television studio live on air on January 9, 2024, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a day after Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency following the escape from prison of a dangerous narco boss. MARCOS PIN / AFP

Ecuador's president gave orders on Tuesday, December 9, to "neutralize" criminal gangs after gunmen opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the violence-riddled country.

At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs as the country exploded in what President Daniel Noboa called an "internal armed conflict." He gave orders to "neutralize" criminal gangs after gangsters declared war following the prison escape Sunday of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses. Eight people were killed and three were wounded in attacks in the port city of Guayaquil, and two officers were "viciously murdered by armed criminals" in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday evening.

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

Read more Subscribers only Ecuador, a transit country for cocaine, is suffering from the violence of drug cartels

After the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka "Fito"  leader of Ecuador's biggest gang Los Choneros  Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nighttime curfew.

Gangs retaliated, taking hostage police officers, setting off explosions in several cities and on Tuesday storming a studio of TC television in Guayaquil with guns and explosives. Hooded attackers fired gunshots during a live TC broadcast as a woman could be heard pleading: "Don't shoot, please don't shoot."

The intruders forced the terrified crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming as the studio lights went out but the broadcast continued. Police entered the studio after about 30 minutes of chaos.

Afterward, Noboa, 36, who was elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence, ordered military operations "to neutralize" organized crime groups he described as "terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors."

Authorities reported multiple explosions and cars set alight on Tuesday, including in the capital Quito, and said seven police officers had been kidnapped. A video circulating on social media showed three of the kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them as one is forced to read a statement addressed to Noboa.

"You declared war, you will get war," the clearly terrified officer reads. "You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war." The statement added that anyone found on the street after 11:00 pm "will be executed."

There was panic on the streets, with shops and businesses in various cities closing early and residents rushing home as face-to-face classes were suspended countrywide until Friday.

Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said Washington was "extremely concerned" by the violence and kidnappings, pledging to provide assistance and "remain in close contact" with Noboa's team. Peru on Tuesday put its border with Ecuador under a state of emergency.

'Return peace to all Ecuadorans'

A manhunt is underway for Fito, who had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder. The 44-year-old is believed to have escaped just hours before police arrived to inspect the Guayaquil prison where he was held.

On Tuesday, officials said another narco boss  Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico  has also escaped since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

Unrest has broken out at several penitentiaries, and on Tuesday the SNAI prisons authority said 125 guards and 14 administrative officers were being held by inmates in five cities.

Unverified videos circulating on social media purported to show captives armed with knives executing at least two guards. The SNAI has not commented on the images.

The security forces in turn have sent out videos of numerous prison raids since Sunday, with hundreds of inmates amassed in courtyards in their underwear, hands on their heads.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to "not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans." Chile, Colombia and Brazil sent messages of support for Noboa on Tuesday.

Read more Subscribers only Ecuador engulfed by drug-trafficking violence
Election officials sort mail-in ballots in Samdrup Jongkhar (Bhutan), January 7, 2024. ANUPAM NATH / AP

The Kingdom of Bhutan, whose voters were called to the polls on Tuesday, January 9, to elect their members of parliament, could be facing a turning point in its history. One of the few countries on the planet with a negative carbon footprint, the small Himalayan country of 780,000, which invented the concept of "gross national happiness" in a rejection of a "growth-at-all-costs" mentality, urgently needs to galvanize its economy. Youth unemployment has reached nearly 30%.

The country's lifeblood  young people, civil servants, teachers and nurses  is fleeing to Australia, Canada, the Gulf States and Japan in search of attractive jobs and better living conditions. More than 15,000 Bhutanese have obtained visas to go abroad in 2023. As a result, labor shortages are being felt in all sectors.

Economic issues dominated the campaigns for the parliamentary elections, the fourth since the transition from an absolute to a parliamentary monarchy in 2008. Isolated and wedged between China and India, the country is still suffering from the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was managed in an exemplary manner from a public health point of view (only around 20 people died), but which caused a decline in tourism, which is vital for Bhutan, due to the strictness of its lockdowns. Most of the country's income comes from the production of hydroelectricity and tourism. Visitors must pay a daily tourist fee of 100 for the right to visit this precious treasure.

Recovery strategies

The population, particularly in urban areas, is suffering from rising prices for fuel and essential goods, which were already very expensive to begin with, as Bhutan is dependent on imports. "The year 2022 was marked by a deep despondency among the population in the face of deteriorating purchasing power from Covid-19. There is no shortage of manual jobs  50,000 Indians work in Bhutan  but young Bhutanese aspire to skilled jobs," observed Francoise Pommaret, a Bhutan specialist and an honorary consul for France in Bhutan.

Debates between the election candidates focused on recovery strategies. In a recent report, the Asian Development Bank said that Bhutan needs to promote its private sector more if it is to achieve its goal of a gross domestic product (GDP) of $10 billion (9.1 billion) by 2034, up from $2.6 billion today. Regulatory obstacles are numerous.

Although he did not get involved in the campaigns, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the king of Bhutan, unveiled an unprecedented development project on Bhutan's National Day (December 17) in 2023. Although this project is designed to generate economic growth, the king insisted that it is in line with the philosophy of "gross national happiness," created by his father as an alternative indicator for measuring a country's progress. In Gelephu, on the border with India, the first carbon-neutral economic zone is to be created: a "Mindfulness City."

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ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochuls priorities for 2024 include improving mental health care, boosting artificial intelligence research and tackling the financial and public safety concerns of state residents.

Hochul announced these and other agenda items in her State of the State address Tuesday in the Assembly chamber at the State Capitol.

A 181-page packet provided to reporters laid out a litany of 204 policy proposals that Hochul will introduce in the coming days and weeks.

Hochul proposes workforce training centers to boost manufacturing Hochul in her State of the State address on Tuesday will propose establishing One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships, or ON-RAMP. The network would consist of workforce development centers in five "strategic, high-impact locations," according to the governor's office.

Working together, we will provide a better life to New Yorkers, with a commonsense agenda focused on fighting crime, fixing our mental health system and protecting New Yorkers hard-earned money, Hochul said in her prepared remarks.

The table of contents alone in the advance materials runs for seven pages and covers a wide array of topics.

She quoted the philosopher Taylor Swift and Theodore Roosevelt in her address but did not mention what her office has previously deemed the asylum-seeker crisis.

Still, Hochul in her speech, which ran for just over an hour including numerous breaks for applause and standing ovations, and in her prepared materials, kept returning to the themes of public safety and health care.

Public safety

Expanding the list of crimes eligible to be prosecuted as a hate crime.

Introducing legislation to make it easier to shut down unlicensed sellers of cannabis.

Eliminating the cap on the number of state Supreme Court judges to ease a court backlog.

Gov. Hochul seeks to improve infant, maternal mortality rates in New York Hochul said she will propose in Tuesday's State of the State address a half-dozen initiatives intended to improve infant and maternal mortality rates in the state.

Introducing new strategies to make it easier to bring domestic abusers to justice, particularly in high-risk cases.

Expanding college programming to all state prisons to reduce rates of recidivism and ease inmates transition to life outside prison walls.

Preventing organized retail theft by, in part, forming a joint operation dedicated to the problem and funding enforcement efforts by local police and prosecutors. The chaos must end, Hochul said.

We have people coming from Monroe County, Cattaraugus County, different counties in Western New York, who are coming into Buffalo and committing crime in our retail stores, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, who attended the address, said afterward. And its organized and its multi-county. So her idea about using the State Police and our crime analysis centers, which are multi-county entities, in helping this is a great idea.

Health care

Transforming the states health care safety-net system to ensure access for patients and financial stability for hospitals and streamlining the approval process for new health care facilities.

Improving the resilience of hospitals and other health care centers in the face of cyberattacks.

Boosting the health care workforce through enhanced recruiting and retention and easing barriers to entering this field. The governor also seeks to make it easier for health care workers licensed in other states to practice in New York.

Gov. Hochul eyes new approach  for some  to boost literacy in New York schools The governor said her "Back to Basics" plan would make sure students receive foundational, evidence-based instruction in reading. And Hochul said she will propose legislation providing $10 million to train 20,000 teachers across the state in what is known as the "science of reading."

Expanding access to affordable health care services, particularly primary and pediatric care.

Spending opioid settlement money on initiatives to tackle this epidemic, as the governor put it in her prepared remarks, by, for example, distributing millions of fentanyl and xylazine test strips and doses of naloxone medication.

Making sure residents have access to gender-affirming health care.

Opening 200 new psychiatric inpatient beds for people who need specialized mental health care, including those who have a history of interactions with the criminal justice system. This is the defining challenge of our time, Hochul said.

Creating new mental health courts and providing better supervision of people who have a mental health diagnosis and are on parole.

Providing critical health care services to young people who are in distress, including clinics in schools that wish to host them.

Hurt people will hurt somebody else. And until their hurt is fixed, theres a likelihood of them hurting somebody else. So I appreciate the focus on mental health, said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo.

Next weeks scheduled release of Hochuls 2024-25 state budget plan will provide more financial and policy details.

Unlike Hochuls first two legislative sessions as governor, when federal Covid-19 aid still flowed, the states financial outlook is cloudier today. Last September, for example, Hochuls budget director ordered a spending freeze in state agencies.

Its on us, as responsible adults, to make the hard yet necessary decisions to use taxpayer dollars creatively and responsibly, she said in her prepared remarks.

Hochul in the days leading up to the speech previewed some of the themes of her address. Those areas of focus included: enhancing consumer protections; improving reading scores and literacy among schoolchildren; boosting infant and maternal mortality; and providing swimming instruction and safer pool options for the public.

Hochul on Tuesday unveiled several proposals designed to boost business activity, particularly in the upstate region where the economy historically lagged.

There was a time when our greatest export was our children, Hochul said.

Now, Western and Central New York are a federally designated technology hub and soon will reap the benefits of Micron Technologys planned chip-making plant outside Syracuse.

She announced her interest in offering workforce training and development linked to the tech hub.

Hochul proposed offering competitive grants to research universities and colleges to help retain international entrepreneurs. Participating graduate students would have an opportunity to obtain university-sponsored visas to keep performing and commercializing research.

Hochul wants to launch another round of the states FAST-NY program, which helps prepare sites capable of hosting large-scale economic development projects. The state in 2022 allocated $200 million to help develop sites through the program.

Along with plans for launching new workforce development centers around the state, Hochul also wants to expand the use of apprenticeships.

And she wants to establish an Empire AI consortium of academic institutions in New York to drive innovation and research in artificial intelligence by sharing access to specialized computing power.

While governors tend to roll out a wealth of proposals in their State of the State speeches, getting them passed into law is another matter.

Last year, for example, a major focus in Hochuls address was boosting housing development across New York  800,000 units over the next decade  through a mix of incentives and, if communities didnt meet their goals, the right to bypass local zoning restrictions.

This proposal ran into opposition from local governments and legislators and Hochul dropped this plan.

Hochul on Tuesday criticized this legislative inaction and said she is reviving a housing development push this year. It would eventually add 100,000 units  including the potential construction of up to 15,000 new units on state-owned sites  to address obscenely high housing costs in the state, she said.

Its a Band-Aid where we need reconstructive surgery, Hochul said.

Peoples-Stokes opposed last years proposal because, she said, its not appropriate to dictate zoning rules to communities.

Theres got to be a better way to get people to understand that its important to build housing that people can afford to live in, she said Tuesday.

We need to build more housing, said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, speaking at the State Capitol after the speech. In Erie County, its a perfect example of that, as we have the highest number of people working in nearly 20 years, but we still have thousands of jobs open. We need more people to come here. And the only way to do that is to make sure that housing is affordable.

News Business Reporter Matt Glynn contributed to this report.
Migrants gather outside the door of an operational center called "Hotspot" on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 14, 2023. ALESSANDRO SERRANO / AFP

Despite years of containment policies at its borders, Europe remains more exposed than ever to migration pressure from the south. 2023 has confirmed the upward trend in the number of people coming to the continent via the Mediterranean Sea and even  a new phenomenon  via the Atlantic Ocean (and the Spanish Canary Islands).

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 266,940 migrants and refugees, 97% of whom came by sea, landed in the Southern European countries of Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus over the course of the year.

This is evidence of the erosion of the European Union's (EU) border control "outsourcing" measures, which have been increasingly negotiated with countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Such a surge marks an increase of 67%  or almost two-thirds  compared to the number of arrivals in 2022. Only in 2016 and 2015, when Europe was facing an unprecedented migration crisis, were the numbers higher (373,652 and 1.03 million, respectively). The downturn that followed this historic peak has stopped, and the curve is rising again.

Italy, which absorbs 59% of the migratory flow crossing the "mare nostrum," has a front-row seat. Its prime minister, Georgia Meloni, has been leaning on this when lobbying Brussels for greater solidarity from her EU partners. The hesitations surrounding the drafting of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was eventually agreed between the European Council and the European Parliament on December 20, 2023, bear the mark of this.

The main source of the 2023 migration rebound is on the Tunisian coast, more precisely in the Sfax region, from which most of the boats bound for the Italian island of Lampedusa, just 160 kilometers to the northeast, depart. Tunisia alone accounted for two-thirds of all migrants and refugees arriving in Italy (97,306 out of 157,301). Unprecedented in the post-independence era, this phenomenon is fueling tensions between Tunis and Brussels. When pressed by the EU to improve the surveillance of Tunisia's coast in return for financial support (105 million) to be allocated to the fight against "irregular migration," President Kais Saied retorted that Tunisia "cannot be Europe's border guard."

Sub-Saharans flee an inhospitable Tunisia

Tunisian nationals make only a modest contribution to the flow, accounting for just 9.8% of the total. The route from southeast Tunisia to Lampedusa is in fact mostly taken by people from West Africa, especially from Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon.

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A 34-year-old man, Gabriel Attal has just become France's youngest-ever prime minister. He replaces a woman who was head of government for 20 months, in a particularly trying context with only a relative majority in Parliament. Elisabeth Borne leaves with her head held high and a sense of duty accomplished. She has wiped the slate clean of the only woman who preceded her in this position, Edith Cresson, who fell victim to the prevailing machismo and was dismissed in less than a year (May 1991-April 1992). Seen from this angle, the change of prime minister announced on Tuesday, January, 9 is in keeping with the spirit of the early days of the Emmanuel Macron era: The emphasis is on boldness and youthfulness, but protocol is respected.

Read more Subscribers only France's new PM Gabriel Attal: The spectacular rise of a Macron stalwart

This much-vaunted return to his roots nonetheless appears to be an obligatory move for Macron. If the president  renowned for his vertical governing style and his determination not to spread out power too thinly  has resolved to appoint a younger man, just as ambitious but far more popular, to the post of head of government, it's because he had to act. Less than two years have passed since his re-election and the political movement he embodies is in deep trouble, threatened by the momentum of the far-right Rassemblement National and the desire for revenge among the parties it supplanted. If his party, Renaissance, suffers a setback in the European elections in June, opponents will consider it to be the end of an era.

A rapid change in responsibilities

To avoid this risk, the president took two others. Firstly, to showcase a new generation that it would have been in his interest to see mature a little longer. Secondly, to accept that a de facto competition is being played out before the French people  between a model and a copy of that model, and between this copy and the other contenders: the same ambition, the same audacity, the same ability to skip steps on the traditional ladder to political power.

Coming from the ranks of the Parti Socialiste, the new prime minister however in no way represents the revenge of the left wing of the majority on the right wing, following the turmoil caused by the adoption of the immigration law (when Macron's camp was forced to make concessions to the far right to get the legislation through). Attal, the now former education minister, was chosen because the popularity he built up in less than six months in that role is fully in line with the roadmap laid out by Macron: banning the abaya, overhauling curricula and promising to raise student standards and restore teachers' authority. Attal responded to Macron's demands with a rapid and steady stream of powerful announcements. In doing so, he proved that pushing the president's policies, if well sold, was not synonymous with chronic unpopularity. For the president, it's a lesson to be learned.

A lot will be asked of the new prime minister over the next few months: getting the country out of the doldrums, connecting with the French, playing his part in the European election campaign, leading the majority, overcoming the jealousy of the older members of the party and taming the Assemblee Nationale, which has made life hard for Borne. Having been government spokesman for almost two years, Attal is certainly familiar with the challenges. But for him, the change in responsibilities is so rapid that the question cannot be avoided: Is he up to the task? Moreover, it will be hard to forgive him for abandoning education as quickly as he took it over, without having taken the time to put his promises into practice. If the handover is not perfectly mastered at the Ministry of Education, the change that has just taken place risks looking like a worrying whirlwind.

Read more Subscribers only French PM Attal's other challenge: Countering the far right in European elections
University Deans List

Joshua Stoll of Hohenwald was named to the Carson-Newman University Deans List for the fall 2023 semester.

The University awards Deans List honors to students earning a grade point average of 3.5 to 3.9 while taking 12 or more credit hours.

Founded in 1851, Carson-Newman is a Christ-centered, liberal arts-based university affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The University proudly proclaims it helps students find their Place, Path and Purpose. Located in Jefferson City, Tennessee, among the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Carson-Newman offers 50 undergraduate...
Dublin Airport has announced details of an exciting overhaul of the food and drink offerings in both of its terminals which will result in more than 20 new and improved bars, cafes and restaurants for passengers.

The latest changes are the final piece in the jigsaw of a five-year journey to transform the food and beverage options available to passengers at Dublin Airport and mean there are now a total of 42 different outlets available across the two terminals, providing choice for all taste buds and at a range of price points.

The latest transformation will be carried out in partnership with KSG, Ireland's leading food services and hospitality specialist, and the internationally renowned operator Lagardere Travel Retail over the course of 2024.

Work started on several units this week and will continue either side of the busy summer period, with more than half of the new and revamped units opening by June.

The revamp will see a host of exciting new arrivals into both terminals at Dublin Airport, both airside and landside.

Among the mouth-watering new brands arriving at Dublin Airport over the coming months will be Supermac's, Papa Johns, Insomnia Coffee and Pret A Manger, while existing outlets such as Butler's Chocolate Cafe, Burger King and Jump Juice are all set to add to their existing presence in the terminals with enhanced outlets both airside and landside.

Great news for passengers! 23 new & improved food & drink options will be served up in the terminals at Dublin Airport in 2024. Among the new arrivals will be...



Supermac's

Pret A Manger

Papa John's

 Bluebird Coffee & Insomnia



Full details: https://t.co/Isa6W3lgjp pic.twitter.com/XzpuqmrZ7E  Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) January 10, 2024

According to Vincent Harrison, Chief Commercial and Development Officer at daa, the operator of Dublin Airport: "Passengers are in for a treat in 2024 with a whole host of exciting new additions and improvements to the already fantastic line-up of bars and eating places in Dublin Airport. These enhancements build on the many new outlets we have opened and improved in the terminals over recent years, which are going down very well with passengers. We've listened closely to passengers and have heard loud and clear that they want more choice, including more gluten-free options, and by working with our partners, we are going to offer them more variety than ever before. Passengers will soon be able to enjoy everything from Italian, Asian and Mexican outlets through to loved local favourites and up-and-coming Irish brands. We look forward to working closely with both KSG, which is based just down the road from the airport, and Lagardere Travel Retail, on the rollout of these new and improved outlets over the next 12 months.

Michael Gleeson, Chief Executive of KSG, said: KSG is delighted to partner with Dublin Airport on this exciting transformation project and we look forward to welcoming passengers to the new food and beverage formats that will open during 2024 and as a leading Irish company we will look to promoting and showcasing the best of Irish produce at Dublin Airport.

According to Marion Engelhard, Managing Director UK and Ireland at Lagardere Travel Retail: As a global player, we are delighted to bring our food and beverage expertise to Dublin Airport, enhancing the customer experience. We thank Dublin Airport for their trust and look forward to a successful collaboration.

Whats In Store For Terminal 1?

The upcoming changes will see the creation of a new world class food hall in Terminal 1, introducing new Korean and Thai street food options, a new Arthur Guinness Bar, and a new large Italian restaurant - serving up delicious freshly made pizzas, pasta as well as gelato, crepes and waffles.

Also coming into the food hall in 2024 will be a number of well-known local and international brands such as Pret A Manger, a revamped Nomad offering lots of choice for vegetarians, Street Kitchen, offering authentic Mexican street food with the addition of Cantina, a Mexican bar, and Bluebird Coffee Roasters and Wine Bar, which will replace the former Starbucks outlet, which closed at the end of December.

The improvements being made in Terminal 1 will extend to the gates, with the popular Jump Juice bar on Pier 100 being made bigger, better and juicier than ever before, while a new Cuan Cafe and Bar will be introduced at the 200 gates in the place of the existing Leopold outlet.

At the 300 gates in Terminal 1, the existing SoMa outlet will be replaced by a new restaurant called Lilian's Restaurant and Bar, named after aviation pioneer Lilian Bland. Landside in T1, a new Insomnia Coffee outlet will soon open in the Arrivals Hall, replacing the former AMT coffee outlet.

Whats In Store For Terminal 2?

Further improvements are planned in T2 this year, following the successful opening of The Mezz last summer.

A knock-out addition in Terminal 2 landside will be the new Fitzgerald's Restaurant and Bar - a blend of Boutique Hotel Foyer meets Classic Club VIP Lounge. The outlet, named after Desmond Fitzgerald, the architect responsible for the design of the original Dublin Airport terminal, will occupy the space currently home to the Oak Bar.

Another new addition in T2 landside will be a Supermac's and Papa John's restaurant, which will move into the space previously occupied by Wright's of Howth. Meanwhile, a new coffee shop called Roasted Notes Speciality Coffee will open in Terminal 2 landside in the unit previously occupied by Cafe Nero.

Elsewhere, the existing Butler's Coffee shops in both T1 and T2 are set to be made bigger and better.
HIBOX Company , a distinguished player in e-commerce specializing in handpicked mystery box offerings, has announced plans for a substantial $50 million funding round. This strategic move aims to advance their innovative product range and broaden their market footprint.

Known for their unwavering commitment to innovation and immersive online shopping experiences, HIBOX has been a leader in the mystery box e-commerce sector since its inception. Grounded in principles focused on innovation and customer-centricity, the company has consistently guided the industry's evolution.

Following their successful $20 million Series A financing secured in 2023, led by Amaris Financial Partners to expand into the Asian market, this upcoming financing round is poised to be a milestone. Expected to coincide with HIBOX reaching 100,000 active users, it represents the company's largest funding effort to date. Amaris Financial Partners, along with respected investment entities, will lead this funding endeavor.

Malek Salah, HIBOX Company's Chief Operating Officer, expressed significant enthusiasm for the upcoming funding, emphasizing its potential to fortify innovation, enhance products, and expand market reach. The primary focus remains on continually elevating their offerings to meet customer needs.

The injected funds will be directed toward accelerating research and development, enhancing existing products, and introducing novel solutions. Additionally, HIBOX aims to bolster its market presence through enhanced promotional strategies and broader sales channels, aligned with evolving consumer demands.

With significant success in Vietnamese and Indian markets, HIBOX has gained widespread acclaim for its enticing mystery boxes and e-commerce offerings. Through this funding, the company aims to solidify its position as an industry leader, committed to driving innovation and sustainable growth.

HIBOX Company remains dedicated to delivering cutting-edge solutions in e-commerce, adapting continuously to meet evolving customer needs through innovation and technological advancements.

Download the app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hibox.in.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.

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Rotterdam, The Netherlands & Mumbai, Maharashtra, India  Business Wire India



IMCD N.V. ("IMCD" or "Company"), a global leading distribution partner, and formulator of speciality chemicals and ingredients, today announces the acquisition of 70% of Valuetree Ingredients Private Limited (Valuetree") to expand its beauty and personal care footprint in India.



Founded in 2005, Valuetree is a prominent ingredient supplier to the beauty and personal care market. It provides an extensive portfolio of specialty ingredients and through an in-house application laboratory, offers formulation and technical support to its customers. Valuetree employs a team of 44 employees and generated a revenue of approximately INR 4.4 billion (ca. EUR 48 million) in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2023.



As the beauty and personal care market in India continues to experience double-digit growth, acquiring Valuetree perfectly fits in our global strategy, it significantly enhances our capabilities and enriches our product portfolio. It further enhances our position as a leading solution provider in India," said Narendra Varde, Managing Director, IMCD India & Bangladesh.



In a market dominated by large players, and now witnessing the emergence of direct to consumer (D2C) brands, our focus has been on customer centricity and providing innovative solutions. We are delighted that IMCD has partnered with us in Valuetrees next phase of growth," affirmed, Shailesh Karwa & Sharad Dalmia, co-founders of Valuetree, in a joint statement.



The transaction will take place in two tranches, with IMCD now acquiring 70% of the share capital from the founders and the remaining 30% to be acquired in 2025. The founders of Valuetree will continue to lead the company post-completion of this first tranche.



About IMCD N.V.



IMCD N.V. based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is a leading global distribution partner and formulator of speciality chemicals and ingredients. IMCD is an expert solutions provider and adds sustainable value to the supply chain. Every day professionals focus on providing the best service through commercial and operational excellence. The company is mindful of the role they play in creating a better planet for all and formulates with consciousness and executes with care, to address business challenges of tomorrow, in partnership and transparency.



In 2022, with over 4,300 employees, IMCD realised a revenue of EUR 4,601 million. IMCD N.V.s shares are traded at Euronext, Amsterdam (symbol: IMCD) and included in the Dutch ESG AEX index, as one of 25 companies within the AEX and AMX indices demonstrating best ESG practices.



For further information, please visit www.imcdgroup.com
NEW DELHI : Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharamans pre-election budget is set to focus on welfare schemes for five key sections of societywomen, poor, youth, farmers and tribalsas the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) aims a third term in office on the back of Prime Minister Narendra Modis promise of inclusive growth.

Accordingly, allocations for existing schemes for these sections of the society are likely to see an enhancement while new schemes may be announced, two persons privy to discussions in the government said.

Schemes meant for these sections of the society will get emphasis in the budget. For example, education and skill development will get special attention, addressing the aspirations of the youth," one of the two people said.

The Centre allocated over 1.12 trillion for the two departments handling school education and literacy and higher education in 2023-24. The welfare of women will also be a key pillar of Sitharamans budget speech on 1 February given Modis vision of women-led development. In the recently held assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, women voters were a focal point and both Congress and BJP, which won the state poll, had offered schemes for women.

For the ministry of tribal development, which implements schemes for the welfare of tribals, the allocation was raised sharply in 2023-24. That trend is set to continue in 2024-25 as well," said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In the 2023-24 budget, the allocation for the ministry saw an increase of nearly 71%, a major part of which went for the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) programme that provides free education to children from scheduled tribes from classes six to eleven in a residential set-up. Indicating the governments emphasis on tribals, the governments drive to ensure welfare programmes reach all eligible persons who have not yet been coveredthe Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, was flagged off at Khunti, a village in Jharkhand with substantial tribal population, on 15 November by Modi, the person cited above said.

Farmers are expected to benefit from a likely 33% increase in the social transfer under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi. Under the scheme, 6,000 is transferred every year to small and marginal farmers. In 2023-24, the Centre allocated 60,000 crore for this scheme, which will go up commensurately in 2024-25, said a second person, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Exact budgetary allocations for different ministries for the next fiscal are currently being worked out. While the government gets an early sense of the expenditure pattern for the current year, the revenue receipt trends are known as the fiscal year draws to a close.

An email sent to a finance ministry spokesperson seeking comment on Wednesday remained unanswered.

Experts pointed out that the strategy of addressing the needs of the vulnerable sections of the society through the budget while separately undertaking reforms and making it easier for doing business are likely to help the ruling coalition connect with not only the masses but also with the well-off while pursuing development goals. The government is already focused on the aspect of inclusiveness in politics. The Modi government has transited to class politics. Indian politics, which has traditionally been seen as caste-centric has now become class-centric, which is a fundamental shift in Indian politics. The poor, farmers, youth and women have become a class for the ruling administration and if you focus on these segments, caste gets to the margins. It has been happening through the immaculateness of the service delivery system which eliminated middlemen," said A.K. Verma, the director of the Centre for Study of Society and Politics, an independent think tank in Kanpur. The majority of the society constituted by these four segments and the entire budgetary focus has to be and will probably be designed in such a way that it is seen to be benefiting the whole country, explained Verma.
NEW DELHI : Akumentis Healthcare Ltd has launched a cannabis plant-based medicine in the market to treat seizures in toddlers.

The drug, approved by the Drug Controller General of India, is specifically formulated to address seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, Dravet Syndrome, or Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, the company said.

Akumentis said its Clasepi drug has tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content below 0.1% and clinical studies have demonstrated its efficacy in reducing seizures, especially in cases where conventional antiseizure medications have proven ineffective. THC is an active ingredient of cannabis.

The company conducted clinical trials in 2022 in Haridwar on over 200 patients with epilepsy.

Patients grappling with a rare and severe form of epilepsy often endure a protracted journey to obtain an accurate diagnosis, tolerating nearly five years of uncontrolled seizures from the onset," said Kanishk Jain, executive director, Akumentis. In certain instances, individuals may enter adulthood without a precise diagnosis, despite wrestling with conditions like LGS, DS, or TSC."

According to the World Health Organisation, epilepsy affects about 50 million people worldwide, with 20% of such patients residing in India.

Clasepi is carefully designed to meet the specific needs of conditions, recognizing the limitations of traditional anti-epilepsy medicines," said Pradeep Patni, chief executive officer at Akumentis.

The company, however, said Clasepi is not recommended for individuals allergic to cannabidiol or any of its ingredients.

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Amrut Distilleries Pvt. Ltd, makers of the Amrut single malt, is looking to expand the companys production capacity in Bengaluru by 30% in FY25. The whisky maker aims to ramp up capacity to cater to the unprecedented demand seen for its premium and high-end products.

At present, the demand for single malts is outstripping supply, Thrivikram G. Nikam, the companys executive director told Mint. The company makes 45 variants or expressions of single malts which it exports around the world. About seven of those are sold in India. It expects to close the year at a gross revenue of 480 crore.

Nikam said this segment of the business is a higher margin one and the company will look to grow this further in the coming years. The capacity expansion will also help increase the production of its popular entry-level whisky, MaQintosh.

The company, an early entrant in the Indian malts business, first began making this category two decades ago in 2004, at a time when the demand for this product was next to zero.

We decided to explore the export market that time primarily in the UK where single malts were popular. Later, in 2010, we started to receive international recognition and awards and began to sell the spirit in India as well," he said. In the next few years, the company plans to sell its Indian malts across 75 countries. At present, it is available in 57 countries.

The premium single malt business, which contributes over 120,000 cases (12 bottles a case) and its premium gins, rums and blended whisky contribute to around 70,000 cases per annum. On an annualized basis, it expects to close the year with a sale of 5.8 million cases. The export of its Indian malts accounted for 60,000 cases this year. In 2018, the company expanded its capacity from 300,000 litres per annum to 1 million litres with an investment of 25 crore excluding the space it purchased in Bengaluru.

In a phased manner, the company will next look to triple its capacity to 3 million cases per annum in the coming years using internal accruals. By FY25, in the first phase of expansion, it will increase the capacity by 30%. This will largely be devoted to Indian malts like premium vatted whisky, Amalgam, and premium rums and gin.

Since the pandemic, the demand for Indian malts has skyrocketed. Amrut competes with brands like Paul John, Indri, Gianchand and others. The definition of a single malt is one that is a product of a single distillery but the malt can be matured in different casks. According to industry body Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), India sold about 675,000 cases of single malt whiskies in 2023, a little over half of which were produced in India.

This is an aggregate volume growth of 16% over the previous fiscal year when the reported number was 5.77 lakh cases.

In India, spirits age three to four times faster compared to other countries. Current Indian regulations on single-malt and single-grain whisky, issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2018, define them broadly as distillates sourced from a single distillery. The definition allows for both malted barley and malted or unmalted grains as mash ingredients, and mandates pot still distillation.

However, industry experts contend that this definition is excessively broad and leans towards regulatory language. They advocate for tailored, practical standards that acknowledge the specific needs and challenges of whisky production in India. This, they believe, would better serve the industrys growth and ensure quality within this distinctive category.

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In a bold move to diversify and elevate customer experience, India's travel tech giant, EaseMyTrip, on January 10, announced the launch of its new subsidiary, EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker Private Limited. This move positioned EaseMyTrip to tap into the booming Indian insurance market, estimated at a staggering 7.9 trillion and growing at a rapid 32-34 per cent annually, the company disclosed in an exchange filing.

Also Read | Tourism stands as Maldives tour and travel body urges EaseMyTrip CEO to resume flight bookings, extends apology

Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder, of EaseMyTrip, said, We are elated to announce the launch of EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker Private Limited. This new subsidiary is a major step forward for us as we diversify our services and enter the insurance market. We aim to offer complete travel ecosystem for our customers and this new addition is a progressive step towards the same. With our strong standing for excellence and customer satisfaction, we are confident that we will make a lasting impact on our existing and new customers."

The new venture capitalises on EaseMyTrip's existing robust platform and vast user base of 20 million.

Also Read | EaseMyTrip share price rises 6% despite the suspension of all Maldives flight reservations amid the India-Maldives spat

EaseMyTrip surged soon after the company suspended all Maldives flight bookings over the derogatory" remarks on PM Modi by Maldivian politicians. Announcing the news via a post on X (formerly Twitter), EaseMyTrip founder Prashant Pitti wrote, Water & beaches of Lakshadweep are as good as Maldives/Seychelles. We at @EaseMyTrip will come up with crazy special-offers to promote this pristine destination that our PM @narendramodi has recently visited!"

The idea was further supported by EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti who confirmed that the travel company has indeed stopped flight bookings to the Maldives.
When Erie County Democrats meet Thursday to determine the partys nominee to replace Rep. Brian Higgins in Congress, State Sen. Tim Kennedy will appear before them as the heavy favorite.

But Kennedy wont be the only candidate making his case.

Nate McMurray, the outspoken former Grand Island supervisor who twice waged congressional campaigns in a different district, says he is getting in the 26th Congressional District race because of the threat he says former President Donald Trump poses to American democracy.

I have to be in the race, McMurray said Tuesday in an interview with The Buffalo News. I couldnt sit still with nobody talking about Trump. This isnt rhetoric or this isnt Democratic talking points. This is a danger to the country.

In his two previous congressional runs, McMurray said Democratic leaders told him he was talking about Trump too much and that riling up the conservative base would hurt other Democrats running for down-ballot seats.

Their model is, offend the least amount of people as possible, say as little as possible and maintain the status quo, McMurray said. Well Im like, listen, the status quo is over. Our country was almost taken over by an insurrectionist mob. And Im not going to pretend that didnt happen. Its important for us to talk about this stuff, and to fight it.

McMurray said he plans on appearing before the Erie County Democratic Committee on Thursday, but he knows he is unlikely to beat Kennedy for the nomination for the special election that Gov. Kathy Hochul has not yet called.

If he doesnt get the committees support, he said his plan is to mount a primary challenge to Kennedy in the general election, which is likely to be scheduled for next summer.

Do I think it will be a quick thing? No. I think its going to be a fight and a struggle, McMurray said. But Im used to it. All the best things in life are a fight and a struggle and a challenge. I dont expect anything to be easy.

The 48-year-old lawyer, who worked for Delaware North Cos. and as an executive at Samsung before getting into politics, believes he will have an easier path in the heavily Democratic 26th District than he did in 2018 and 2020, when he took on Republicans in the deep-red 27th District.

If I can run with the courage and fearlessness I ran (with) in NY-27, in the bluest seat in New York, I think we can really make a difference, McMurray said.

McMurray has a large and passionate following on social media but does not have a natural political base like Kennedy. And unlike candidates with party backing, he will have to recruit his own campaign staff to go door-to-door for votes.

Do I have enough people? I dont know, McMurray said. But again, I dont believe I have a choice. With all thats at stake in the country, I want to leave it all on the field. If democracys really at the end, I want to run in the last chance I have to make a difference. I think the people in Western New York know, if we have another insurrection, theyre going to want Nate McMurray in the room when it happens.

McMurray takes issue with the recent trend of local elected officials like Higgins, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn and others announcing they will resign, a process that gives their chosen successors a leg up on other candidates.

If elected, McMurray said he will push hard for term limits in Washington and Medicare for all.

The fact that all these guys think that being in office forever is the way its supposed to be I think is part of the problem, he said. Im not afraid to make a living in the private sector. Let these guys do it for a limited amount of time, come back home and get a job like everybody else.

If theres anyone McMurray dislikes more than Trump, it appears to be Kennedy, whom he criticizes for his past anti-abortion stance and for working in years past with political operatives who opposed the Erie County Democratic Committee. He also criticizes the South Buffalo senator for soliciting donations online without putting a policy platform on his website.

I was pro-abortion in the middle of the reddest district in New York State, but I am somehow blasphemous because I want to have open discussions and open debate about the future of the community, McMurray said.

Like he states on his stream-of-consciousness social media account, McMurray believes tourism  specifically, linking Niagara Falls to Buffalo with a more dependable rail system  holds the future to the regions economy. He asked to be interviewed at the Western New York Welcome Center on Grand Island, which he said he helped get built.

We should have Viking Cruises and build a harbor in Buffalo to have people coming in there, he said. Forget a state park  we should be developing a national park like Yosemite right here. Tourism should be not an afterthought (but) one of the major focuses of our region.

Too often, local politicians dont think big picture, McMurray said, and major decisions are made by a small group of influential leaders who invite little debate or input from the public.

McMurray says thats why Buffalos subway system has never expanded, why the state built a small train depot on Exchange Street while the Central Terminal sits vacant, and why the Buffalo Bills stadium was not built downtown.

In fact, open debate on those subjects is considered heresy, he said. I just cant stand by as we continue to make generational mistakes over and over again and double down on the same mistakes that weve done.

McMurray calls the project to cap the Kensington Expressway a colossal waste of money being sold to us as a generational change because it will not restore Frederick Law Olmsteds original parkway.
NEW DELHI : A failed bid by Algeria to join the Brics grouping has impacted a $1.5 billion oil and gas project between the countrys state-run Sonatrach and Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd, three people aware of the development said.

Despite the engineering multinational in a favourable position to bag the contract, the award did not go through and the tender was cancelled.

In response to a mailed query, Subramanian Sarma, whole-time director and senior executive vice president for energy at L&T, confirmed the cancellation of the tender by Sonatrach and said that the project was only at the evaluation stage, even while emphasizing that L&T had completed another project for the company recently, and was in the race for several other upcoming projects

We had submitted a bid for one such large contract and were placed favourably as per the public bid opening proceedings. However, as per our understanding, after further evaluation of the projects economic viability based on the submitted prices, the client has decided to cancel the tender," Sarma added.

He said the project was only at the evaluation stage and isnt part of the companys order book announced till date.

Queries emailed to Sonatrach, the ministry of external affairs and the Algerian Embassy in New Delhi remained unanswered at press time.

According to the three people cited above, Algerias inability to secure membership in Brics led to diplomatic tensions with India, which had a spillover effect on Indian businesses looking to expand their presence in the Algerian energy sector.

Prior to the Brics leaders summit in New Delhi in August, Algeria had expressed an interest in joining the grouping. Algerian media reported that the country was eyeing increased economic opportunities and was interested in contributing to the Brics bank.

We officially applied to join the Brics group, we sent a letter asking to be shareholder members in the bank...Algerias first contribution in the bank will be $1.5 billion," Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was quoted as saying by the countrys media.

The Brics grouping initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

In August 2023, six countries were invited to joinArgentina, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia. Algeria was not invited.

Barring Argentina, which declined, the other five countries joined the Brics grouping as full members on 1 January.

Earlier, in November, L&T announced the commissioning and handover of three gas plants in Algeria as part of the South-West Gas Fields Development (SWGFD) project of Sonatrach.

It was L&Ts maiden oil and gas venture in partnership with Sonatrach.

The project involved the comprehensive execution of engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning for gas treatment units at three processing facilities in central Algeria. L&T had won the bid in 2019.

L&T has been an active EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) player in the energy space in Algeria, in line with its global presence across 50 countries.
SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh on December 10 said the airline has exclusive rights under the government's regional connectivity scheme , and will soon launch its air services to Lakshadweep and the holy city Ayodhya .

Addressing the shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM), the Spicejet CMD said the latest fund infusion worth 2,250 crore will help the airline become stronger. It will also open market potential and opportunities for the company and help bring its grounded aircraft back into operations, Singh added.

The Spicejet chairmans statement on the airline's plans for Lakshadweep comes amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and the Maldives and the searches on the internet related to the Union territory in the Arabian Sea have shot up, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit last week.

Derogatory comments were made by three Maldivian deputy ministers - Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Sharyf and Mahzoom Majid - against India and PM Modi after he visited Lakshadweep and shared some images of him visiting beaches and snorkelling for promotion of tourism in Lakshadweep Islands. The ministers were subsequently suspended by the Maldivian government.

Subsequently, there have been calls to boycott the Maldives, which had emerged as a hot destination for Indian leisure travellers post the 2019 pandemic, by some industry bodies as well as travel booking platforms.

On January 9, a report said that the Indian government was planning to build a new airfield at the Minicoy Islands of Lakshadweep capable of operating civilian along with military aircraft, including fighter jets.

Also Read | How Lakshadweep can be turned into an attractive tourist destination

As of January 7, SpiceJet had 39 aircraft in operations while 26 were on the ground, as per data available on the fleet tracking website Planespotter.

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Billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who joined other Harvard graduates in successfully calling for the university's president Claudine Gay to resign, is pressing forward with his efforts to reshape the Ivy League school's governance by backing a bid by four dissident alumni to join its board of overseers.

The development represents a new challenge to the board, whose 30 members are typically nominated by the university's alumni association. Ackman's endorsement of the four write-in board candidates echoes his playbook as an activist shareholder, pursuing board seats at companies to push for changes.

The board is the school's second-highest governing body, with the power to approve or reject the hiring of Harvard's president. Each year, five seats on the board are up for election.

William Ackman, who has donated about $50 million to Harvard, told Reuters in an interview he is endorsing Zoe Bedell, Logan Leslie, Julia Pollack, and Alec Williams - who variously earned undergraduate, law and business degrees from Harvard - in their campaign to join the board.

"Harvard needs to change. Bringing fresh young blood onto the board of overseers can help with that," Ackman said. Also Read | AI vs plagiarism: Bill Ackmans push for Artificial Intelligence gives sleepless nights to university faculties

Ackman has criticized Harvard for not doing enough to protect its students from antisemitism incidents in the wake of the October attack by the militant Islamist Palestinian group Hamas on Israel and subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza, as well as for the university's adoption of diversity and inclusion programs he argues stifle meritocracy.

The board candidates he is backing, Ackman said, are "talented, accomplished and motivated people, and their candidacy will serve as a wakeup call for Harvard." They range in age from 36 to 38, and all have served in the U.S. military.

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a position paper reviewed by Reuters, the four candidates said they want the university to protect free speech, protect students from bullying and harassment, and address financial mismanagement, including at the school's $50.7 billion endowment. The endowment's investments delivered returns of 2.9% in fiscal 2023, deeply underperforming the broader market's nearly 20% gain.

William Ackman has accused Harvard, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of mismanaging and wasting some of his gifts. His hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management oversees $18 billion in assets, and returned about 27% last year.

Because Bedell, Leslie, Pollack and Williams are not being nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association, they must gather at least 3,300 signatures from Harvard graduates - equivalent to 1% of those entitled to vote - by the end of January to qualify to run for election to the board in the spring.

Turnout among Harvard graduates in such votes has been low, with the participation rate last year coming in at less than 8.1%, according to the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.

The last successful board challenges came in 2020 and 2021, when Harvard Forward, a coalition of graduates that urged the university's endowment to divest from fossil fuels, got four candidates elected on the board.

Also Read | William Ackman's ruthless quest to oust college presidents

In 1989, dissident alumni backed a petition to elect Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the board in a push to get Harvard to divest its investment holdings in companies that did business in South Africa during the time of racial apartheid.

'OUTSIDERS WITH A MISSION'

Gay, the university's first Black president, stepped down on Jan. 2, just six months into her role, after facing allegations of plagiarism and a backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. Alan Garber, Harvard's provost and chief academic officer, was named interim president.

"While we are outsiders, we are outsiders with a mission for renewing the very heart of the university," Williams, a real estate entrepreneur and former Navy officer, told Reuters.

Williams said he got to know Ackman when he worked briefly at the investor's family foundation six years ago, before returning to his home state of Idaho.

Williams also knew Leslie, an entrepreneur in Atlanta, from business school and Bedell, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, from college. They said in interviews they discussed launching a campaign to join the board of overseers at the end of December, motivated by concerns about the university's direction. Williams began drafting their position paper on Christmas Eve.

Pollack, chief economist at online employment marketplace ZipRecruiter, was already running as a write-in candidate and then joined the group.

All four said they are driven by their love for Harvard, which has educated eight U.S. presidents, from John Adams to Barack Obama.

"The institution is not doomed, but it needs some outside voices on the board to demand better leadership in the administration," Leslie said.

The four candidates have said the endowment's most recent returns do not cover Harvard's operating costs, pushing undergraduate tuition to almost $80,000 annually, financially out of reach for most students. They want the endowment to perform at "market standards" and the school to cut administrative costs.

SIX-YEAR TERMS

The board of overseers is not as powerful as the Harvard Corporation, a smaller governing body with direct oversight over the university's operations, but still exercises influence. The primary tool of the overseers is the so-called visitation process, which lets them ask questions of Harvard's faculty and departments and carry out assessments.

Overseers serve terms lasting six years. In 2020, following the victory of the Harvard Forward candidates, the overseers and the Corporation jointly agreed to change the rules to make it harder for candidates to be elected without alumni association backing.

The overseers and Corporation argued that keeping nominations wide open let special interests hijack the process, akin to political campaigns. Only six overseers who got on the ballot through a petition are now allowed to serve on the board at any one time.

Others are also trying to mount write-in campaigns this year, including technology entrepreneur Sam Lessin and attorney Harvey Silverglate.

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Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has plans to use funds worth 2,250 crore, which it plans to raise through a preferential issue of shares and warrants, to reduce liabilities accumulated during the covid-19 pandemic and also to clear statutory liabilities.

The airline also has plans to spend the funds for expansion of its network with new destinations including Ayodhya and Lakshadweep, chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said on Wednesday while speaking at the companys 39th annual general meeting via video conference.

Singh said that the airline has faced a difficult phase and is now on the path to recovery. We will launch flights to Ayodhya soon. We also have routes to Lakshadweep under Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik scheme," Singh said, adding that the tourism sector is growing in India and SpiceJet aims to be a part of that growth.

In a fresh lifeline for the low-cost airline battling multiple creditors and lessors, the board of SpiceJet Ltd had decided in December to raise over 2,250 crore through a preferential issue of shares and warrants. The airline clarified in the AGM notice that it aims to raise the amount in two tranches of 1,591.5 crore by June 2024 and 650 crore by July 2025.

Under the first tranche, it aims to use 360 crore for payment of statutory obligations such as tax deducted at source (TDS), goods and services tax (GST), provident funds (PF), 285 crore as settlement with creditors for past dues, 355 crore by December 2024 for uplifting and ungrounding of fleet and new fleet acquisition, 140 crore for aviation turbine fuel expenses, 54.5 crore for employees and 397 crore for general corporate purposes.

In the second tranche, it aims to use 144 crore for payment of statutory obligations such as TDS, GST, PF, 115 crore for settlement with creditors for past dues, 145 crore for uplifting and ungrounding of fleet and new fleet acquisition, 60 crore for jet fuel expenses, 24 crore for employees and 162 crore for general corporate purposes.

The companys net liabilities stood at 12,584.9 crore as of September 2023 as compared to 13,147.3 crore in June 2023.

The company has tapped investors, including Aries Opportunities Fund, Elara India Opportunities Fund, Resonance Opportunities Fund, Prabhudas Lilladher, Nexus Global Fund and Mahapatra Universal Ltd.

Current infusion of funds is definitely an oxygen for SpiceJet which has been reeling under financial pressure. This fund infusion will help SpiceJet to improve market share and growth prospects in coming months," Kranthi Bathini, equity strategist, WealthMills Securities Pvt Ltd, said.

The Gurugram-based airline reported a consolidated net loss of 449.4 crore in the September quarter, against a net loss of 833.2 crore a year ago. Its total income fell 18% on-year to 1,725.8 crore in the quarter while expenditure fell 26% to 2,175.2 crore.

The covid-19 pandemic took a severe toll on SpiceJet. Its consolidated net loss jumped from 302 crore in 2018-19 to 937 crore in 2019-20, 1,030 crore in 2020-21, 1,744 crore in 2021-22 and at 1,513 crore in 2022-23. The airline reported a net profit of 197.6 crore in the June quarter this year.

Alongside, the airlines market share has been falling since the pandemic outbreak on account of shortage of funds, leaving it with 26 aircraft on the ground and an active fleet of nearly 40 aircraft.

Simultaneously, Singh also added that the company is completing formalities for filing application with the National Stock Exchange for listing on that platform.

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Chinas leaders are obsessed with lithium-ion batteries, electric cars and solar panels. These sorts of technologies will, Xi Jinping has proclaimed, become pillars of the economy". His government is spending big to ensure this happensmeaning, in the years to come, that his ambitions will be felt across the world. A manufacturing export boom could very well lead to a trade war.

View Full Image Graphic: The Economist

Mr Xis manufacturing obsession is explained by the need to offset Chinas property slump, which is dragging on economic growth. Sales by the countrys 100 largest real-estate developers fell by 17% in 2023, and overall investment in residential buildings dropped by 8%. After a decade in which capital spending in property outstripped economic growth, officials now hope that manufacturing can pick up the slack. State-owned bankscorporate Chinas main source of financingare funnelling cash to industrial firms. In return for an extension of pandemic-era tax breaks and carve-outs for green industries, exporters in powerhouse provinces have been told to expand production. During the first 11 months of 2023 capital spending on smelting metals, manufacturing vehicles and making electrical equipment rose by 10%, 18% and 34%, respectively.

Such developments will be prompting flashbacks among veteran Western policymakers. Chinas rise was accompanied by an epochal shift in global trade. In the decade that followed the countrys accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2001, its exports rose by more than 460%. China became the number-one target for accusations of dumpingselling goods abroad at lower prices than at homein industries including chemicals, metals and textiles. Although low-cost goods were great news for consumers, they were less welcome for some rich-world industrial workers. It later became fashionable to blame the China shock", which led to lay-offs in affected industrial areas, for contributing to Donald Trumps electoral victory in 2016.

View Full Image Graphic: The Economist

The coming manufacturing boom could be even larger, given the sheer scale of the Chinese economy, which has doubled in size over the past decade. Michael Pettis of Peking University notes that even if China simply were to maintain the current size of its manufacturing sector, which counts for 28% of GDP, and were to achieve its target of 4-5% GDP growth over the next decade, its share of global manufacturing output would rise from 31% to 36%. If Mr Xis ambitions are fulfilled, the rise will be even more significant.

Chinas capital investment, which is more than double Americas as a share of GDP, is funded by its thrifty households and their saving piles. During earlier manufacturing booms, some observers had expected the countrys domestic consumers to use these savings to splurge on goods, only to be proved wrong. Consumers are likely to continue to prefer saving to spending. In 2023 private consumption rose by 10%, rebounding from a grim 2022. But most analysts now expect markedly slower overall growth in the year to come, owing to tumult in the property market and the governments wariness about borrowing to support household incomes. In the absence of higher private consumption, policymakers would need to bring the economy down much faster to correct overcapacity", says Alicia Garcia-Herrero of Natixis, a bank. It would have to grow at 3-4%, not 5%". Alternatively, if the higher rate of growth is to be sustained, more goods will have to be sold abroad.

It will help that they are getting cheaperas can be seen in the steel market, which is vital for Chinas car and renewable industries. Early last year investors expected output to fall, as Chinese construction flagged. Instead, in a remarkable feat, the countrys steel giants produced more metal even as the property industry suffered. Steel mills, which have access to cheap capital, are willing to take considerable losses in order to preserve market share.

As a result, industrial prices fell by 2% in the first 11 months of 2023, and profits by 4%. An employee at a supplier in Shanghai estimates that producers are losing about 350 yuan ($50) on each tonne of steel reinforcement they sell. In 2012, during a previous era of manufacturing stimulus, overcapacity meant that the profit on a couple of tonnes of steel was just about enough to buy a lollipop", according to Yu Yongding, an economist. Producers are now heading for a similar situation. Meanwhile, renewable firms, such as LONGi, the worlds largest solar-equipment manufacturer, and Goldwind, a wind-turbine maker, are also suffering. Both reported sharply lower profits in the third quarter of 2023.

It is not only Chinas industrial prices that are fallingthe countrys currency is, too. The yuan is down by 9% on a trade-weighted basis since its peak in 2022, meaning that overseas competitors face a double whammy. At the same time, Western politicians are more willing to fight on behalf of domestic firms than during the last era of Chinese manufacturing stimulus. Attitudes towards Chinese exports have hardened. Western countries are both more protective of their domestic industrial bases and more sceptical that China will eventually become a market economy.

Frictions are already starting to develop. In November Britain launched a probe into Chinese excavators, after JCB, a local firm, alleged that Chinese rivals were flooding the market with cut-price machines. The EU is conducting an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles and an anti-dumping probe into Chinese biodiesel. The Biden administration has asked the EU to tax Chinese goods, offering to drop American tariffs on European steel in return. On January 5th China decided to hit Europe where it hurts, announcing an anti-dumping investigation into brandy.

And it is not just the rich world that is getting angry. In September India imposed fresh anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel; in December it introduced new duties on industrial laser machines. Indeed, almost all the anti-dumping investigations that Indias trade authorities are now conducting concern China. On the other side of the world, Mexico is in a tricky spot. It benefits from decisions by Chinese companies to move production in order to avoid American tariffs, but it also wants to avoid domestic markets being flooded by subsidised imports. It seems the latter desire is now taking precedence. In December the government announced an 80% tariff on some imports of Chinese steel.

Chinas leadership has little room for manoeuvre. In December officials issued a statement calling industrial overcapacity, exacerbated by weak domestic demand, one of the biggest challenges facing the economy. Given the numerous other challenges facing the economy, they can hardly afford to alienate more of Chinas trading partners with fights over dumping and subsidies. Unfortunately, the alternativea new year with nothing to offset the property mess and lacklustre consumer spendingmay be even less attractive.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
When Texas rolled out a bold new way to boost teacher pay based on merit, the state touted it as a path to a six-figure salarya benchmark that most of Americas teachers never reach in their careers.

Four years later, nearly 1,000 Texas teachers earn $100,000far less than 1% of teachers in the statenew data shows. More than half of the states school districts havent even signed on to join the merit-based system, with some citing an onerous rollout process required to collect the state-funded bonuses and fears that the money will run out.

The effort has been slow to gain traction partly because the loudest opposition comes from teachers themselves. Some Texas teachers complain that the extra pay is doled out unfairly and pits colleagues against one another, even as recipients report life-changing raises that have paid off debts and funded long-awaited vacations.

This merit-based pay breeds hostility, it breeds competition," said fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Stoebe.

The reaction in Texas shows why attempts to pay U.S. teachers based on performance have often fizzled, even amid widespread calls to make teacher pay more competitive. Teachers make $67,000 on average nationwide, with average starting salaries of $43,000. The majority are paid based on seniority, with stipends for postgraduate degrees and extra duties, a system preferred by teachers unions.

In Texas, districts can join the merit pay program, called the Teacher Incentive Allotment, after proving to the state they have a statistically sound way of assessing teachers and measuring student growth. Teachers in participating districts then strive to be ranked by their school administrators in three tiers that come with yearly extra pay of between $3,000 and $32,000. Those who work in rural or high-needs schools can earn the highest bonuses.

But districts have struggled to find a way to rank electives and other subject areas that dont have a standardized test. Many have needed to hire consultants and redeploy district employees to administer the program full time. Last school year, 378 districts participated, about a third of those statewide, and 13,774 teachers earned bonuses. This school year, another hundred districts have signed on.

Identifying great teachers is not an easy thing to do for many districts," said Matthew Holzgrafe, who oversees the merit-pay system as a director at the Texas Education Agency, the states education department. Holzgrafe said the participation has exceeded initial expectations and the department hopes to add 100 to 150 districts each year.

The Texas legislature approved the program, which cost $145 million last school year, as part of a sweeping school-finance bill in 2019. Dan Huberty, a former Texas state representative who wrote the pay legislation, said he expected the program to take seven to 10 years to fully implement but that it is already achieving its goal of getting teachers to get thought of as professionals, not just as line workers."

Texas has dabbled in performance-pay systems before, and it looked to one enacted in Dallas a decade ago to inform the current program.

Dallas second-grade teacher Eric Hale is the quintessential success story. The 2021 Texas Teacher of the Year, Hale said his compensation has more than doubled with merit pay, to over $106,000.

In what other industry can you be average and be paid the same amount of money as somebody that is phenomenal?" Hale said. Before this program, thats what education felt like for me."

Some research has found benefits of paying teachers based on performance. A 2020 paper that reviewed dozens of studies found small, statistically significant improvements in student test scores resulting from new pay schemes.

But merit pay has long proven difficult to implement and polarizing among teachers. In a 2021 poll from Education Next, a Harvard-sponsored research magazine, nearly three in four teachers said they were against basing their salaries on student learning.

Historically, merit-pay attempts have failed because they didnt offer enough extra pay to motivate behavior, funding ran out and they did a poor job differentiating between teachers, said Eric Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He finds more promise in current attempts, like in Texas and a long-running program in the District of Columbia, where teachers found to be ineffective are fired and those at the top rewarded.

In Lubbock, Texas, high school physics teacher David Lawson said he grew frustrated by what he found to be a vague and confusing bonus system. Lawson said he was told his teacher evaluation and student survey scores were among the highest of his peers, but that he only got the lowest level of bonus recognition due to students scores on a district-designed physics test that he didnt think matched state standards.

Its caused teachers satisfied with the status quo to say suddenly, Wait, maybe Im not as good as I thought I was, " Lawson said. He just left his teaching job because his $51,000 salary wasnt enough. A higher bonus, he said, could have kept him in the job.

Northside Independent School District in San Antonio stayed out of the program for years over concern that it would undercut collegiality, but Superintendent John Craft said NISD is applying this year to stay competitive with surrounding districts. Theres a little bit of anxiousness" among teachers, Craft said, as they wonder if this will become more of a business model that doesnt lend itself to that open cooperation."

Each year, more than 20% of Texas districts that apply for the Teacher Incentive Allotment get rejected because of data issues. Last year, just 77 districts created a method to make every teacher eligible for the bonuses.

In Stoebes district, Round Rock Independent School District, so far only kindergarten through second-grade teachers at nine of 35 elementary schools are eligible for the bonuses. Round Rock administrator Natalie Nichols said the district is using the pay incentives initially to support a new literacy curriculum and improve retention at schools with the weakest student achievement.

In Roosevelt Independent School District, a rural district outside Lubbock, around 40% of staff have qualified for bonuses. Teachers are awarded sweepstakes-style large checks for up to $25,000 at a year-end breakfast.

In the rest of the world, if you do a good job, you get a bonus. For teachers thats just been foreign to them," said Dallas Grimes, the districts superintendent. Now its like Hey, go get it. "

Matt Barnum contributed to this article.

Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com
Former US President Donald Trump mentioned that US President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and former President George W. Bush on his target list for prosecution if he gets elected in the upcoming elections. During Tuesday's Court hearing, Trump framed his bid to return to office as getting revenge" against political enemies who have wronged him.

Following a court hearing on Tuesday, Donald Trump said, I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity, very simple," reported AP.

Donald Trump'sattorneys presented arguments that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official business. To a panel of three federal judges, Trump's lawyers said, Its the opening of a Pandoras box and its a very, very sad thing thats happened with this whole situation."

Also read: Donald Trump appeals to US Supreme Court to overturn ballot ban in Colorado

Trump pointed out that during Obama administration drone strikes in the Middle East, a US citizen was killed who was identified as a leader of the terrorist group al-Qaida and that man's 16-year-old son is also a US citizen. George W. Bush was accused of providing false information that led to the Iraq War.

The arguments presented by Trump's attorneys related to the federal charges that Trump faces raised new constitutional issues that could only be settled at the US Supreme Court only. Trump's cases mark the first criminal prosecutions of a former president for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results .

Trump's campaign portrays the charges as politically motivated attacks from Biden. Legal experts were skeptical that permitting such charges would lead to prosecutions of several ex-presidents

Trump warned, That will be bedlam in the country" if the prosecution continues, reported AP. In an interview,Trump's attorney, Will Scharf said in an interview, "The president is exactly right that if this prosecution is allowed to stand, no presidency in the future will ever be safe," reported AP.

A law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Claire Finkelstein said, You would think that somebody running for the presidency would not be trying to claim that they're immune to the criminal process but would be reassuring voters that he's following the law," reported AP.

In a social media post on Truth Social, Trump on Monday stated, If I dont get Immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesnt get Immunity, and with the Border Invasion and Afghanistan Surrender, alone, not to mention the Millions of dollars that went into his pockets with money from foreign countries, Joe would be ripe for Indictment." He added, By weaponizing the DOJ against his Political Opponent, ME, Joe has opened a giant Pandoras Box."

A University of Virginia law professor, Saikrishna Prakash wrote in an email, Trump might be right about the future." Saikrishna Prakash added, But in any event, I believe he is wrong about whether presidents enjoy immunity from criminal prosecutions."

(With inputs from AP)

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India received 7.2 million foreign tourists in the first 10 months of 2023, a big step-up from 4.6 million in the same period in 2022. The last two months, for which data is not yet available, are peak tourist months, so the full-year total could surpass the 10.9 million who visited India in 2019 before the pandemic disrupted international travel.

The return of tourists, though welcome, should not detract from the fact that India does not attract as many as it should. How do we come to this conclusion?

A good starting point is to compare India with other tourist destinations in Asia, the logic being that given the post-pandemic rise in health concerns and geopolitical tensions, more travellers prefer frequent short-haul trips to nearby locations.

The numbers are sobering: in 2019, Thailand and Japan received about twice as many visitors as India, Vietnam had nearly the same number, and China welcomed 65 million tourists.

One can argue that India offers a unique experience vastly different from the beaches of Phuket or the war memorials of Vietnam. Indeed, India has 42 cultural and natural properties identified as Unesco World Heritage Sites, the sixth most in the world.

But a comparison with other top countries on the list is disappointing, too: Mexico and the UK, for instance, draw in far more visitors than India.

What needs fixing?

For a tourist destination to be attractive, it should meet some basic requirements. These include safety (not being robbed, assaulted, murdered); freedom from harassment (from touts, beggars, hustlers); cleanliness (around roads, tourist attractions, eating places); sanitation (clean and safe toilets in public places); connectivity (transport links and digital connectivity); and a choice of hotels and restaurants.

Extras like digital payments and price competitiveness make a location more desirable, but are not necessarily deal-breakers.

Indias performance on these core expectations is not great. That may explain why it slipped from 46th to 54th place between 2019 and 2021 on the World Economic Forums Travel and Tourism Development Index.

A look at some of the index components shows what tourists like and dont like about India. Tourists appreciate the countrys natural and cultural resources. They also give a thumbs-up to its airports, roads and ports. But India was ranked very low on safety, hygiene, and tourist infrastructure such as accommodation and car rentals.

The conclusion: pull factors are in place, but the overall tourist experience can be better.

Why it matters

The travel, tourism and hospitality sectors collectively employ thousands of workers who may lack formal degrees but have skills related to their specific roles in the tourist ecosystem.

According to the tourism ministry, in 2019-20, the direct contribution of tourism to GDP was 2.7%, and overall contribution was 5.2%. The industry employed over 34 million directly, and nearly 80 million across related industries.

Also, foreign tourists bring in foreign exchange, though the industry is not commonly viewed as a dollar generator. In 2022-23, tourism earned $21.6 billion of foreign exchange. To put that in perspective, this was higher than the $19.8 billion from pharma exports and close to the $21.4 billion generated by exports of organic chemicals.

Tourism also plays a key role in propping up city economies. More than half of foreign tourists come via Delhi or Mumbai, which are among the top 10 in the world in terms of direct tourism employment: Delhi at fifth, with over a million jobs, and Mumbai at 10th, with 354,000, as of 2019, as per the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Market the package

India will need to package and market its astonishing array of tourist experiences smartly. To begin with, the tourist base can be widened beyond the traditional source countries, namely, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Bangladesh. The share of tourists from southeast Asia can be increased, given our cultural and geographical proximity with that region.

Countries compete fiercely for the tourist dollar on multiple fronts: India will need to do the same.

In 2023, Malaysia and Thailand waived visas for Indians; a reciprocal arrangement with adequate checks could boost tourists from these countries.

Visas for high-income digital nomads to live and work remotely from India may be considered, as these workers typically contribute heavily to the local economy.

Women travelling solo or in groups are an important emerging demographic, and specific female-friendly programmes could be designed for them.

Social media can be used innovatively to grab eyeballsInstagram Reels of happy tourists are more effective than traditional campaigns.

Green tourism supported by community participation has already taken off in Meghalaya, and more such success stories could be nurtured and advertised.

Finally, India is well-placed to become a medical service hub: hospitals in major cities already manage large numbers of patients from South Asia and Africa.

A few improvements to the enabling environment and some tweaks to the marketing strategy are all we need to showcase Indias beauty to the world.

The author is an independent writer on economics and finance.
Western importers are reporting a steep rise in ocean-shipping rates and weekslong delays as carriers divert ships from the Red Sea to avoid Houthi rebel attacks.

Some companies shipping goods on the crucial trade lane are starting to chafe at the rising prices and extra fees that ocean carriers are imposing for the higher cost of routing containerships on longer voyages around the Horn of Africa following drone and missile attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Average worldwide costs to ship 40-foot-long containers have nearly doubled since late November, according to London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants.

The increases have also accelerated in the past two weeks on routes that traditionally use the Suez. The spot-market price to move containers between China and Rotterdam in the Netherlands reached $3,577 in the week ending Jan. 4, a 115% increase from the week before.

What every shipper is trying to figure out is if the current proposals are in line with the carriers added costs, and not simply a move to offset softer rates in other lanes or raise rates across the board," said Colin Yankee, chief supply chain officer at Brentwood, Tenn.-based retailer Tractor Supply.

Houthi rebels, since November, have launched roughly two dozen attacks on commercial ships navigating the Red Sea, which provides access to the Suez and trade routes to Western Europe and the U.S. The Suez is used by about one-third of global container cargo and about 30% of freight bound for U.S. East Coast ports, according to Everstream Analytics, a supply-chain risk management company.

The rebels have said their attacks are a response to the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The attacks have grown less frequent in recent days, following warnings from a U.S.-led naval coalition and military responses from the U.S. and other countries. Ship operators including A.P. Moller-Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have said their vessels would continue avoiding the region.

Shipping executives estimate that the 10 largest boxship operators have shifted around $200 billion in cargo away from the Red Sea since early December.

We will not put our crews and ships in harms way under any circumstances," said Nils Haupt, a spokesman for Germanys Hapag-Lloyd.

The new cost increases are renewing tensions between importers and ocean carriers after shipping rates skyrocketed during the pandemic, when freight demand outstripped the supply of ships and helped fuel record profits for carriers. The recent increases still leave prices far below those pandemic-era levels.

There is a certain element of mistrust given where we have come from," said Goetz Alebrand, head of ocean freight at DHL Global Forwarding Americas.

The higher costs are hitting even importers that negotiate longer-term contract rates, industry experts say, because operators are imposing surcharges ranging from hundreds of dollars to more than $1,000 per box to cover rising costs as a result of the Red Sea diversions. Some shippers woes are being compounded by restrictions at the Panama Canal where a drought is limiting the number of vessels that can transit the waterway.

The shift to longer shipping routes around Africa is raising fuel and insurance costs and reducing containership availability, said Lars Jensen, chief executive of Denmark-based consulting firm Vespucci Maritime. But Jensen said the rate increases are substantially above" what is needed to cover the extra costs.

What we have right now from a carriers perspective is a blessing in disguise," said Jensen.

Shipping executives say the higher pricing and surcharges are the results of the higher costs to operate vessels on longer voyages and reduced capacity because ships are out at sea for longer stretches.

Overall Red Sea containership crossings were down by around 20% in December compared with November, according to Singapore and London brokers.

Services will continue to have to run late and with longer transit times in the short term," said Jonathan Roach, a container shipping analyst at Braemar, a London-based shipping advisory firm. As a consequence freight rates on the whole will remain elevated and volatile."

Nathan Strang, director of ocean freight at San Francisco, Calif.-based freight forwarder Flexport, said one customer who brings cargo into the Port of New Orleans has seen import times double to 60 days after the companys shipments were rerouted.

How do you tell your end customer when their stuff is going to arrive and when they can put stuff on shelves?" he said.

Write to Paul Berger at paul.berger@wsj.com and Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
Google has started testing its Privacy Sandbox initiative for Chrome. By ending cookies, Google wants people to believe that it will boost user privacy. Mint analyses what the move means for advertisers, users and Googles $250 billion ad-revenue empire.

Whats the issue with 3rd party cookies?

Google isnt the first company to move against third-party cookie tracking. Web browsers such as Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Microsofts Edge have made it possible to block third-party cookie tracking. Cookies, small snippets of code stored on users devices, recognize a user and track what they do on the web. This creates a digital footprint, which advertisers then use to target users with products and services. Google first pitched the idea of stopping cookie tracking in 2020, saying that the move will help transparency, choice, and control how data is used"and keep up with regulations globally.

What is the Privacy Sandbox approach?

The Privacy Sandbox replaces granular cookies with Topicsa model where Chrome will keep a tab of users search histories, and offer this to advertisers after anonymizing. The rationale is that instead of every single entity on the internet tracking a user, Google will protect user-privacy by giving advertisers indicative user- behaviour data. Instead of every party on the internet, Privacy Sandbox will be centered around Google controlling access to all user-data. While the trial has been commenced by 1% of all users of Chrome, Google will discontinue cookie tracking for all users by the third quarter of the calendar year.

Why is Googles move significant?

Chrome is the most popular web browser globallyover 60% of search engine use takes place on Chrome. In the September quarter, digital ads contributed nearly 78% to Googles global revenue. Its control of targeted ads on the internet is key for advertisers, as well as its own revenue growth. At the end of 2023, a total of 3.2 billion users accessed Chrome.

Whats the debate on Privacy Sandbox?

Privacy body Electronic Frontier Foundation says it is concerned that once this change comes into effect, Chrome will become the sole controlling entity of all user- data. This will give Google lopsided control of the internet as cookies have been integral to the internet since nearly its conception. Google has stated that Privacy Sandbox will protect users identity, and leave out sensitive identifiable information such as race and religionhence curbing ads that may pose issues of bias.

What does the move mean for advertisers?

Advertisers around the world have raised concerns about Privacy Sandboxs Topics architectureon whether this might make targeted ads less efficient. To be sure, cutting back on targeted ads could lead to a significant drop in revenues of smaller brands. Privacy advocates also argue that this move might give Google total control over small businesses, which will be even more dependent on a Big Tech firm. The move might also draw scrutiny from regulators, especially in the US, UK, EU, India and Singapore.
The mystery of a 33-year-old Canadian man who went missing nearly three decades ago has been solved following the exhumation of a body buried in Niagara County.

Niagara County law enforcement authorities said this week the buried man  who was pulled from Lake Ontario in 1994  had been positively identified but they declined to publicly name the individual.

However, Niagara County authorities had obtained a judges permission to exhume the body in October from a Newfane cemetery after telling a county judge they were investigating if it was the remains of Paul Tenke of St. Catharines, Ont.

After exhuming the body, Canadian authorities planned to compare DNA from the remains to DNA taken from relatives of Tenke, a Niagara County Sheriffs Office official said in a court filing last year.

On Jan. 4, the Niagara Regional Police Service in Ontario announced that the remains had been identified.

The recovered male has since been laid to rest here in Niagara and at the request of the family his name is not being released, the Niagara Regional Police Service said in a news release.

Nearly three decades ago, the Niagara Regional Police Service had launched an investigation into the disappearance of Tenke, who was reported to be suicidal when he was last seen alive leaving his home on May 21, 1994, according to Niagara Countys court filing.

On June 17, 1994, Niagara County Sheriffs Office deputies were called to Lake Ontario, about 7 miles from Olcott Harbor, where they found the body of a 6-foot, 2-inch white man weighing about 190 pounds, described as having been between 25 and 30 years old, with brown hair and a receding hairline.

Superficially, the description matched Tenke, but given the limits of DNA science at the time, attempts to positively identify the body proved unsuccessful, according to First Assistant Niagara County Attorney Katherine D. Alexander. Instead, the remains were buried by the county on Nov. 2, 1994, at a private cemetery in Newfane.

Details about the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Person System.

According to Canadian authorities, in July 2018, the Ontario Provincial Police Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Unit completed a standard analysis identifying potential unidentified remains that could be associated with their initial missing person investigation begun 29 years ago.

In February 2019, Canadian investigators received from Niagara County officials dental records from the unidentified remains. Subsequently, a Canadian dentist concluded that, although there was a probable identification that the remains were Tenkes, a positive conclusion could not be made, according to Niagara County court records.

In late 2020, the case was assigned to the Niagara Regional Police Service Missing Person and Unidentified Remains Coordinator for further investigation. A consultant in forensic dentistry from the University of Western Ontario completed an additional review of the dental records, and determined that there was an excellent correlation between the missing male and that of John Doe buried in the Newfane cemetery.

After the exhumation, an examination of the remains by the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service Forensic Anthropology Unit positively identified the remains as being a match to the Canadian man reported missing in 1994, the Niagara Regional Police Service said.
Shares of Delta Corp , an online gaming firm, plunged 5% to 143.10 apiece in early deals on Wednesday after the company delivered a weak set of numbers for the December-ending quarter (Q3 FY24).

The company on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of 34.48 crore in Q3 FY24, marking a substantial decline of 59.34% compared to the net profit of 84.82 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The revenue from operations for the quarter also came in lower at 234.41 crore in Q3FY24, marking a 15.58% decrease from 277.68 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. The company posted an EBITDA of 55.5 crore, which is a 45% decline compared to 102 crore posted in Q3 FY23. EBITDA margins came in at 23.9%, experiencing a1,350 basis point fall compared to 37.4% in the October-December period of the previous fiscal year.

Also Read: Vedanta share price falls over 2% after Moody's downgrades rating on senior unsecured bonds

Breaking down the segments, income from gaming operations witnessed an 18% fall to 181 crore in the third quarter of FY24, as against 222 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Online skill gaming operations revenue also saw a 9% year-on-year decline, reaching 39.13 crore in the reported period. On a positive note, revenue from the hospitality business showed a marginal uptick, reaching 13.74 crore.

In addition to its Q3 FY24 numbers, the company said that on September 27, 2023, the holding company and its two subsidiary companies received show-cause notices from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Hyderabad. These notices allege a short payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) totaling 16,822.9 crore for the period from July 1, 2017, to March 31, 2022.

Also Read: Goldman Sachs revises Nifty target to 23,500 for 2024, here's why

On October 28, 2023, another subsidiary of the company received a GST show-cause notice amounting to 6,384.32 crore for the period from July 1, 2017, to November 30, 2022, from DGGI, Kolkata, as reported by the company.

The company highlighted that the authorities' demands, based on the gross bet value/gross face value as against gross gaming revenue/gross rake amount, have been a prevalent industry concern. In response to this, industry participants, including the company, have made multiple representations to the government on this matter.

Also Read: Praveg: This small-cap stock gained 47% in just 3 sessions amid Chalo Lakshadweep wave

To address these concerns, both the company and its subsidiary companies have taken legal action by filing Writ petitions and have obtained stay orders from respective high courts, as per the company's exchange filing.

At 9:45 AM, the stock was trading with a gain of 2.7% at 147.50 apiece.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.

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Shares of Manappuram Finance shed over 7 percent on Wednesday after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) put the IPO of its arm Asirvad Microfinance in abeyance, according to media reports.

The stock fell as much as 7.4 percent to 163.40 in intra-day deals today. It is now over 10 percent away from its 52-week high of 182.10, hit on January 9, 2024. Meanwhile, it has advanced over 61 percent from its 52-week low of 101.15, hit on February 27, 2023.

In the last 1 year, the stock has advanced almost 46 percent but it lost over 3 percent in January so far.

Asirvad Microfinance, a subsidiary of Manappuram Finance, had filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DHRP) with SEBI on October 5, the company informed the exchanges. The proposed initial public offering (IPO) of equity shares would be undertaken at a face value of 10 each, comprising fresh issue up to 1,500 crore, as per the exchange filing.

Founded in 2008 by SV Raja Vaidyanathan, Asirvad was taken over by Manappuram in February 2015 for 48.63 crore. The V P Nandakumar-led company first bought a 71 percent stake which was later increased to 95 percent and the rest is with the founder Vaidyanathan.

In the September quarter, Manappuram reported a consolidated net profit of 560.65 crore, marking a growth of 37 percent as compared to 409.5 crore clocked in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the net profit increased by 12.5 percent, as compared to 498.02 crore reported in the quarter ending June 2023.

The net interest income (NII) of the non-banking financial company (NBFC) increased to 1,468 crore, higher by 25 percent as against 1,168 crore reported in Q2FY23.

Manappuram Finance Limited, a gold loan non-banking financial company, provides retail credit products and financial services in India. It offers loans against the security of used household gold jewelry; gold loans and online gold loans; microfinance loans and other financial services to low-income populations in rural and semi-urban areas.

The company serves retail, microfinance, small and medium enterprises, and commercial customers. It operates branches in 28 states and 4 Union Territories. The company was formerly known as Manappuram General Finance and Leasing Limited and changed its name to Manappuram Finance Limited in 2011. Manappuram Finance Limited was founded in 1949 and is based in Thrissur, India.

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Shares of defence firm Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders have given exceptional returns to their investors in the last 3 years.

The stock surged from 218 in January 2021 to around 2,300 currently, rallying almost 955 percent in 3 years.

This implies that an investment of 10,000 in this penny stock in January 2021 would have turned into 1.05 lakh this year.

Mazagon Dock stock price trend

The stock has been flat in January so far, up just half a percent, but extended gains for the third straight month. Before this, it rose over 13 percent in December 2023.

In 2023, the stock gave positive returns in eight months and was in the red in 4 months (February, March, August and October). It gave double-digit returns in 5 of those 8 months it was positive in.

The stock rallied the most in June, up over 54 percent, followed by July, up over 52 percent and September, up 18.5 percent.

Meanwhile, it shed the most in October, down 10.3 percent, followed by February, down 9.3 percent, and March, down 7.8 percent.

Currently trading around 2,300, the stock is over 7 percent away from its record high of 2,483, hit on September 8, 2023. Meanwhile, it has skyrocketed over 275 percent from its 52-week low of 612.80, hit on March 27, 2023.

Meanwhile, in the last 1 year, it has surged 175 percent.

Amid the Indian government's concerted efforts to bolster self-reliance in defence, particularly through initiatives like 'Make in India,' the defence sector has become a focal point of heightened market interest.

Notably, Mazagon Dock, a key player in the sector, has emerged as a standout performer, garnering attention for its role in advancing indigenous manufacturing and contributing to the country's defence capabilities. The government's emphasis on domestic production and self-sufficiency has spurred a positive trajectory for companies like Mazagon Dock, reflecting a broader commitment to fostering a robust defense ecosystem within the country.

Recently, the shipbuilding company inked a contract worth 1,600 crore with the acquisition wing of the Ministry of Defence for the construction and delivery of six next-generation offshore patrol vessels (NGOPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

The defence firm reported a 56 percent rise in consolidated net profit at 333 crore in Q2 against 214 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue from operations in Q2 rose 7 percent year-on-year to 1,828 crore against 1702 crore a year ago. The board also approved an interim dividend of 15.34 per share for the financial year 2023-24.

About Mazagon Dock

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd is a shipbuilding and offshore fabrication yard. The company's major activities include shipbuilding, ship repairs and fabrication of offshore structures. It provides warships, merchant ships, submarines, support vessels, offshore platforms, passenger cum cargo vessels, trawlers, main and helidecks and barges.

Brokerage view

Antique Stock Broking continues to remain optimistic about Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders. For the current order backlog, it estimates 27 percent capacity utilisation in submarine till FY25E as against the optionality of winning new orders (like P75I) and ramping up utilisation to 81 percent.

There are 1.3 lakh crore non-submarine works, where the company has an upper hand in winning repeat of P17A and NGD; and there are 100 billion+ medium-life refit orders that will keep the repair revenue intact, the brokerage noted.

With 3 units of the Scorpene class add-on orders, the brokerage forecasts a 21 percent/22 percent CAGR for revenue/ net profit over FY23 26E. Margins were favorable in FY23, which could be headed for a decline in FY24, it said.

It has a buy call on the stock with a target price of 2,774, implying a 20.6 percent upside.

Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. Please speak to an investment advisor before making any investment decisions.

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The week gone by was dominated by news of penny stocks and small caps rallying hard in the new year. Were only a week into 2024 and weve already seen stocks across the board rally. The exuberance of 2023 has clearly carried over into the first week of 2024.

Lets look at the top penny stocks that have started 2024 with a bang. If momentum and investor participation remain strong, you could expect these stocks to do well for at least the next couple of weeks.

#1 Advik Capital

The company is a non-deposit-taking NBFC, engaged in the business of investing funds, advancing loans to industries and financing lease operations, among other things.

Its actively looking at other business avenues in the personal and consumer finance space.

Only a week into the new year, shares of the company have shot up around 80%, from 2 to 3.78.

Advik Capital stock price

View Full Image Source: Google Finance

The reason? Even the company doesnt know.

When asked by exchanges about the price movement, it said there was no undisclosed price-sensitive information or impending announcement or corporate action.

The sudden rise could be attributed to the company announcing plans to launch an alternative investment fund last month.

The company is expected to file for the licence with the markets regulator. It plans to raise 2.5 billion for the AIF and, as its sponsor, will invest 10% of its corpus.

This is part of the companys plan to diversify into new businesses.

Advik Capital has seen its financials rebound strongly in the past two years, and thats expected to continue this year as well, going by its half-year performance for FY24.

Financial snapshot

View Full Image Source: Ace Equity

#2 Integra Essentia

The company is in the business of life essentials, food (agro products), clothing (textiles and garments), infrastructure and energy.

In just one week, its stock has shot up by 69%, from 4.38 to 11.78.

Integra Essentia stock price

View Full Image Source: Google Finance

The main reason for this could be that the company has fixed the record date for its bonus shares announcement. The company recently set 11 January as the record date for the issue of bonus shares in a 1:1 ratio. With the record date nearing, retail investors are buying the stock in droves.

There are other reasons as well. In November 2023, the companys board approved the allotment of securities to raise up to 1 billion.

The company also entered the high-growth winery and beverages business by acquiring an additional stake in Brewtus Beverages in the second quarter of FY24.

Speaking of the second quarter, the company posted a massive jump in profit, aided by higher income. It posted a net profit of 75.4 million, up from 21.5 million in the same period last year.

In the second quarter it received orders worth 120 million for premium rice and cashew nuts from several business houses.

The company has seen a massive improvement in its financials in the past two years and, going by the first two quarters of this year, it could surpass last years numbers by a huge margin.

Financial snapshot

View Full Image Source: Ace Equity

#3 Alok Industries

The company is in the textile business and has a presence in the cotton and polyester segments.

Its operations are managed and supervised by Reliance Industries through its three nominee directors.

In the first week of 2024, shares of the company have spiked over 65%.

Alok Industries stock price

View Full Image Source: Google Finance

The primary reason for this could be a 33 billion fund infusion from Reliance. It was reported last week that Reliance Industries has invested this sum in the company through non-convertible preference shares.

In November 2023, Alok Industries entered into an agreement with SBI for a term loan of 17.5 billion to repay existing loans as a part of its financial restructuring.

Still a loss-making company, its hoping for a turnaround in the remaining two quarters of FY24.

Financial snapshot

View Full Image Source: Ace Equity

#4 Zeal Aqua

The company conducts aquaculture farming and develops satellite farming, especially prawn farming and trading of seed, feed, and medicines required for shrimp farming across Gujarat.

In the first week of 2024, its shares are up almost 50%.

Zeal Aqua stock price

View Full Image Source: Google Finance

When asked about this, the company said it didnt have any price-sensitive information to disclose.

The company has seen a steady improvement in its financials in the past five years. FY24 could be its ever year ever in terms of sales and profit, going by its results for the first two quarters.

Financial snapshot

View Full Image Source: Ace Equity

Zeal Aquas promoters have more than 25 years of experience in shrimp farming, which is an added bonus. The company has over the years successfully diversified into several parts of the shrimp industry.

#5 Reliance Power

The company develops, constructs and operates power projects in India and abroad. It has a large power-generation portfolio, both operational and under development.

In the first week of 2024, shares of Reliance Power have surged around 40%.

Reliance Power stock price

View Full Image Source: Google Finance

Shares of the company, along with other power stocks, have been in demand thanks to optimism about tariff hikes in the power sector.

Last week, Reliance Power signed an agreement to sell its 1,200 MW Kalai II hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh for 1.3 billion, thereby monetising the asset.

Reliance Powers shares have been in demand for the past three months owing to an improvement in its financials and capital infusion by promoters.

The company has made significant strides toward renewable energy in line with the government's push.

A recent highlight was its memorandum of understanding with the government of Rajasthan to develop 6,000 MW of solar-power projects in the state over the next decade.

One positive for the power sector is that companies typically have a secure position due to high entry barriers. However, Reliance Power has some strong competitors, and doesnt have a long history of regular sales and consistent profits. So, we'll have to wait and see if it can make the most of this electricity demand.

Financial snapshot

View Full Image Source: Ace Equity

Which other penny stocks have gained the most?

Here are some other penny stocks that have started 2024 with a bang.

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Conclusion

The rally in these penny stocks in 2024 has attracted attention from investors.

While short-term gains may be attractive, it is crucial to carefully assess the potential risks and long-term viability of these investments.

Investing always involves a certain degree of risk, and it's crucial to weigh pros and cons before taking the plunge.

Disclaimer:This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such.

This article is syndicated from Equitymaster.com
Old Bridge Mutual Fund announced the launch of the Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund, an open-ended scheme, investing in a maximum of 30 stocks (Multi Cap).

The scheme will open for public subscription on January 17, 2024, and will close on January 19, 2024. The scheme would reopen within five business days of the allotment date.

What kind of a mutual fund scheme is this?

This is an open-ended scheme investing in a maximum of 30 stocks (Multi Cap). This open-ended equity scheme aims to provide investors with a unique opportunity to participate in the growth potential of carefully selected companies.

Commenting on the same, Kenneth Andrade, CIO, Old Bridge Asset Management, said, We are excited to introduce our first equity fund to investors seeking long-term capital appreciation. The fund's strategy is aligned with our investment philosophy focusing on early-cycle businesses with strong leadership and growth potential."

Andrade added, The launch of the Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund aligns with the unprecedented growth in India's mutual funds industry as highlighted by recent data from the industry trade body AMFI. With over 20 million new investment accounts and a 19% increase in fund assets during the first 11 months of 2023, India surpasses global peers like the US, Japan, and China."

What is the main objective of investing in this fund?

The investment objective of the scheme is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by strategically investing in a maximum of 30 stocks across different market capitalisations (i.e., mid-cap, small-cap, large-cap). This multi-cap approach is designed to identify businesses with the potential to compound capital over the long term, focusing on companies with enduring economic moats that have long-term franchise value and continued growth potential.

However, there is no assurance that the investment objective of the scheme will be achieved.

How may one invest in this scheme?

Investors can invest under the scheme with a minimum investment of 2500 per plan/option and in multiples of Re 1. There is no upper limit for investment. For lump-sum investments, the minimum amount is 5,000.

Under normal circumstances, the asset allocation of the scheme will be as follows:

Instruments Indicative allocations (percent of total assets) Risk Profile Minimum Maximum Equity & equity related instruments 65% 100% Very High Debt and money market instruments 10% 35% Low to Medium Units of REITs & InvITs 0% 10% Very High

Are there similar mutual funds in the market?

To date, many asset management companies (AMCs) have launched such focused funds. These include:

Name of the fund 10-year returns (in per cent ) Quant Focused Fund 21.22 Nippon India Focused Equity Fund 20.67 Franklin India Focused Equity Fund 20.00 SBI Focused Equity Fund 18.50 JM Focused Fund 17.92 HDFC Focused 30 Fund 17.78 Sundaram Focused Fund 16.81 ICICI Prudential Focused Equity Fund 16.70 Aditya Birla Sun Life Focused Fund 16.27 Source: AMFI (As of January 10, 2024)

How will the scheme benchmark its performance?

The scheme will be benchmarked against the S&P BSE 500 TRI. The S&P BSE 500 index is designed to be a broad representation of the Indian market. Consisting of the top 500 companies listed at BSE Ltd., the index covers all major industries in the Indian economy.

The composition of the aforesaid benchmark is such that, it is most suited for comparing the performance of the scheme.

Are there any entry or exit loads to this scheme?

This scheme involves no Entry Load", which means that investors do not have to pay anything to park their earnings in this scheme. The Exit Load" charged would be as under:

- If redeemed/switched out within 365 days from the date of allotment: 1%

- If redeemed/switched out after 365 days from the date of allotment  Nil

The load structure will be equally applicable to all special products offered under the scheme such as SIP, STP, etc.

No exit load will be charged for switches made between different options of the scheme.

Who will manage this scheme?

The fund will be managed by seasoned investment professionals, Kenneth Andrade and Tarang Agrawal, leveraging their combined experience and expertise to navigate the dynamic market conditions.

Does the fund contain any inherent risk?

The scheme involves Very High Risk" as per the details mentioned in the Scheme Information Document and is best suited to investors willing to understand that their principal will be subject to very high risk. However, investors should consult their financial advisors if they doubt whether the product is suitable for them.

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The South American country of Ecuador has been experiencing a series of attacks and police officer abductions since Monday, January 8 night. In another escalation of a series of attacks, some masked gunmen stormed TC Television studio in Ecuador and unleashed 15 minutes of horror--all broadcast live.

No one was killed in the attack and authorities say the 13 attackers were arrested and would be charged with terrorism.

Ecuador President Daniel Noboa came into power in November and headed proceedings against illegal" activities. In Ecuador, gangs have previously assassinated a presidential candidate and set off car bombs in front of government buildings. Daniel Noboa who had vowed to bring peace to the country ordered that the violence-plagued country had entered an internal armed conflict." On Tuesday, masked gunmen, in an unprecedented attack, broadcasted live 15 minutes of threats and horror while mid-afternoon newscast at the TC Television studio in Guayaquil was underway. A series of events unfolded on the day starting with a masked man appearing with a pistol in the middle of the public TV station's live transmission. A second man followed with a shotgun, then a third and more appeared and ordered station employees to lie down. The head of news for TC TelevisionOne, Alina Manrique along with other station employees were ordered by these gunmen to lie down on floor. One of the assailants said, We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia," reported AP. These gunmen aimed guns at news staff while an employee said, Don't shoot!" Hours after a series of attacks and police officer abductions took place, the news of assault on a TV station in Ecuador surfaced. Authorities informed that there was no casualty, 13 gunmen were arrested and will be charged with terrorism. Daniel Noboa convened a meeting later in the day with his security Cabinet. The head of the Armed Forces Joint Command informed that the attacks were counter reactions to the government moves against these gangs. Over the series of assaults, Adm. Jaime Vela said, They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population." Jaime Vela described the attacks as unprecedented" in Ecuador's history. A political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, Will Freeman said, This is a turning point," while noting that recent events marked a new peak in violence, reported AP. Will Freeman added, Depending on how the government responds it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime," reported AP. On Sunday, a notorious Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito," escaped from prison following which President Noboa declared a national state of emergency on January 8. With this order authorities suspended people's rights and mobilised the military in places like prisons. Noboa issued another order on Tuesday that designated 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist groups and empowered Ecuador's military to neutralise" them within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

The authorities stated that over 30 attacks have taken place since Los Choneros escaped from prison. Los Choneros was going to be transferred to a maximum security facility on Sunday. Another gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group had escaped from prison who was apprehended on Friday.

(With inputs from AP)

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Estonias economy minister Tiit Risalo told Mint that the Adani group is exploring business opportunities and investment in the Baltic country, with both sides set to take forward the conversations at the Vibrant Gujarat summit.

In Vibrant Gujarat, we're going to meet the Adani group. I understand they have taken notice of Estonia and we are trying to take this conversation forward right right. So, I hope they will come soon to investigate more deeply," Risalo told Mint.

Queries mailed to the Adani group went unanswered. Risalo added that major Indian business houses are exploring opportunities in green energy and IT services. Cybersecurity, Risalo said, was another key interest for bilateral cooperation and pointed out that India is interested in participating in NATOs Locked Shields cybersecurity exercises. He also said that Estonia, which hosts the exercises, is ready to invite India for the same.

Besides this, Estonia is also keen to increase cooperation with India on oil shale, which Estonia relies on to meet its domestic energy consumption.

It is the only country in the world where oil shale is the primary source of energy, supplying 76% of the energy used for electricity generation in 2018," according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Estonia is not very rich in natural resources but what do we have is oil shale. And usually people don't go after it, because there have been better ways to produce energy more efficiently. But now in the context of our green turn, we are also exiting this. We don't burn it anymore but we have a very strong base of chemical research based in oil shale. And we are looking into different ways to use this material in much smarter ways and India also has ample resources of oil shale that are not yet used. And so, we are searching for cooperation here," said Risalo, who has served as minister for economic affairs and information technology since April 2023.

The Estonian minister and a business delegation have met with the officials of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, which has expressed interest in the proposal for cooperation. The Indian government has also asked Estonian energy firms to participate in the India Energy Week in February.

He also added that Estonia is looking at research and development cooperation with India on green hydrogen.

Thus far, both countries have had a fairly limited economic relationship. Bilateral trade in 2022 stood at just over $256 million, according to data from Indias Embassy in Estonia. India has looked at collaborations with Estonia in IT, block chain technologies, cyber security and other fields.

Risalo acknowledged the limited economic relationship between the two countries but stated that his country is part of the European Union and can serve as a gateway for Indians firms into European markets.

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Days after the CEO of a start-up brutally killed her four-year-old child, the doctors have revealed chilling details of how the kid was killed at a service apartment in Goa, citing a post-mortem report. The doctors have said that the boy was smothered to death by his mother. There were no struggle marks on the body of the boy, the doctor said.

Suchana Seth, the chief executive officer (CEO) of an artificial intelligence start-up, was held in Chitradurga while she was travelling to Bengaluru with the dead body of her kid in a suitcase, police said. The Bengaluru-based start-up CEO was arrested on the direction of the Goan police.

Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer Dr Kumar Naik said, "He [the child] was strangled to death or what we call smothering. Either a cloth or a pillow was used. The child died due to strangulation." The doctor added that the child was not strangulated using hands. "It doesn't look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used. The Rigor mortis had resolved in the child," he said.

"Usually in India, rigor mortis resolves after 36 hours but in this child's case, there was no Rigor mortis. So, it has been more than 36 hours since his death," he said. Naik said there was no blood loss or struggle marks on the body," he said. The exact time of the death of the boy could not be determined as it had been 36 hours since his death at the Goa apartment. "We cannot say the exact time but it has been 36 hours since his death," Naik said.

Suchana Seth killed her four-year-old child at the apartment in Goa, stuffed the body in a bag and asked the apartment staff to arrange a cab for Bengaluru. The Bengaluru-based start-up CEO even tried to commit suicide after killing her boy.

After the checkout, the room-cleaning staff found blood stains in the apartment room and immediately informed the police. The police contacted Suchana Seth through the cab driver and asked her about the boy. Suchana Seth told the police that he was staying at a friend's place.

"However, the police found the address provided by the woman to be fake," the police official said. The cops again contacted the cab driver and asked him to divert the cab to the nearest police station where she was arrested.

WHO IS SUCHANA SETH?

According to her LinkedIn profile, Suchana Seth is the CEO of 'The Mindful AI Lab', and is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.

Her profile read: "She is on the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics List. She has been a Mozilla Fellow at Data & Society, a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University, and a research fellow at the Raman Research Institute. She also holds patents in natural language processing."

Suchana Seth is an expert in 'AI Ethics Advisory & Audits' and 'Responsible AI Strategy'.

Suchana Seth is a postgraduate from the University of Calcutta, and a research fellow from Raman Research Institute (RRI) and spent two years at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

(With agency inputs)

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West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee had on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of doing gimmicks" through the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. On Wednesday, UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya hit back at the West Bengal CM and said, "Those who have not played any role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, those who do not feel the pain of a mosque being built on the Ram Temple. They haven't been lathi-charged, nor have they been jailed. They can never understand the significance of this temple".

The TMC supremo had on Tuesday asserted that "she does not support festivities that exclude other communities". "Yesterday I was asked to comment on Ram Mandir in Ayodhya as if I have nothing else to do. I said that religion belongs to individuals but festivals are for all," she said. "The BJP is doing it (Ram Mandir inauguration) under courts instruction but doing it as a gimmick show before the Lok Sabha polls... I don't believe in dividing people on religious lines," she added. Responding to Banerjee's remarks, UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "This temple (Ram Mandir) is being built after 500 years of agitation... No other religious place in the world has seen so much contribution, as is seen by Ram Janmabhoomi Temple- be it financial, physical, or emotional."

CM Mamata Banerjee also claimed that the Government of India is a government run by agencies.

The Ram temple in Ayodhya will be inaugurated on January 22, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people expected to attend the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony.

CM Mamata Banerjee described West Bengal as a land of peace.

"Remember, I will never allow a division between Hindu-Muslim, Sikh-Christian and tribals. Bengal is a land of peace and there is no place to do divisive politics. Bengal is the Mecca and Madinah for Muslims, Belur Math and Dakshineswar for Hindus and Jaher than (sacred grove) for tribals," she said.

The high-profile consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya is scheduled to take place on January 22.

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Bengaluru start-up CEO Suchana Seth reportedly denied killing her four-year-old son in a Goa service apartment. Police sources told news agency PTI that Seth claimed during her interrogation that the child was already dead when she got up from sleep.

Meanwhile, an official was quoted by the Times of India as saying that the accused claimed she didn't intend to kill her son. "The accused claimed....she loved him, but he died suddenly. She then got scared and sat near the body. She also told us that she got a cut on her hand," the official reportedly said.

In contrast, police sources earlier informed that Seth had initially told them her son was with her friend in Margao town. "The accused told us that the blood stains were due to her monthly periods. She also told us that her son was with her friend in Margao town (in South Goa) and provided the address," the official was quoted by PTI as saying on Tuesday.

ALSO READ: Blood stains, stuffed body in luggage: How & why start-up CEO Suchana Seth was held for son's murder | 5 points

But when the police enquired, they found that the address given by her was fake. A police official told PTI on Wednesday, "We don't buy her theory. Further investigation will reveal the motive behind killing the child. As of now, we know that she and her husband were estranged because of which she might have done this."

Suchana Seth, the chief executive officer of an artificial intelligence start-up, was held on Monday night while she was on her way from Goa to Bengaluru. She was arrested for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in the apartment at Candolim in Goa. The boy's body was found in a suitcase she was carrying with her. She was arrested on the directions of the Goa police.

After investigations, police suspect it to be a "pre-planned murder". The postmortem revealed that the child was smothered to death either with a cloth or a pillow, as per officials. "The post-mortem conducted on the body has indicated the possibility that the child might have been smothered to death and there were no signs of struggle," the police officer told PTI.

ALSO READ: How Bengaluru CEO Suchana Seth killed her child? Doctor reveals chilling details

The Goa police also found two empty cough syrup bottles in a room where the startup CEO allegedly killed her four-year-old son. This "indicated that she might have given a heavy dose of the medicine to him and that it was pre-planned murder," an official said on Wednesday.

Seth is the CEO of 'The Mindful AI Lab', and according to her LinkedIn profile, she is an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.

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The operator of a Niagara Falls landfill with a history of odor complaints has agreed to pay $671,000 in fines and curb the amount of methane and other gas pollutants emitted from the site, as part of a proposed settlement reached Tuesday with federal regulators.

Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a proposed consent decree in federal court in Buffalo in connection with a lawsuit against Allied Waste Niagara Falls Landfill alleging Clean Air Act Violations, including the release of gas pollutants that can cause cancer and other health problems.

The landfill on Niagara Falls Boulevard, a massive mound visible from Interstate 190 near Exit 22, for years has been a source of frustration for residents and local lawmakers who complained of a pervasive foul odor wafting from the site into a bustling commercial area of the Town of Niagara that includes the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls.

Under the proposed settlement, Allied will pay a $671,000 penalty and operate a gas collection and control system to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals, primarily methane, as well as other harmful organic compounds, released into the air, according to a news release Tuesday afternoon from the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.

Methane is a climate super pollutant that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and landfills are the third largest sources of methane emissions in the United States, said David M. Uhlmann, assistant administrator for EPAs Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in a prepared statement. Todays agreement will require Allied to control its unlawful methane emissions and holds the company accountable for its violations of the Clean Air Act.

A phone call to Allied Waste Niagara Falls Landfill was referred to the corporate offices of parent company Republic Services in Arizona.

We are glad to have resolved this matter with U.S. EPA, the company said in an email response to The News. Although we respectfully disagree with EPAs views on applicability of certain air rules to the Pine Avenue Landfill, the company has worked cooperatively with the Agency to reach a resolution.

EPA Region 2 Administrator Lisa F. Garcia said the decree forces the company to dramatically slash climate damaging pollutants.

These pollutants also have health impacts, so cutting these pollutants not only protects the climate, it also safeguards the health of the people living near this landfill, Garcia said in a statement.

Allied has agreed to operate a gas collection and control system to eliminate an estimated 86,000 metric tons of methane and 32 metric tons of nonmethane landfill emissions, according to the consent decree.

Methane gas, which can result from the decomposition of organic waste in landfills, accounts for 12% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, according to the EPA.

Other aspects of the proposed settlement include: capping inactive areas of the 385-acre landfill; monitoring of emissions and gas wells; applying for updates state permits; and keeping records of compliance.

The odors were not a trigger for the federal lawsuit, but improvements required under the consent decree should help in mitigating them, according to federal regulators.

In 2018, a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of 300 households within 1.5 miles of the landfill, alleged that as many as 4,000 households get a regular whiff of an obnoxious, foul and nauseating smell akin to wet paper pulp, rotten eggs or decomposing flesh.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued three notice of violation letters to Allied Waste in 2016 and 2017 and fined the company $75,000 in 2017.

Allied Waste ignored the DECs orders to stop the stench, the class-action lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit was settled in 2021, with Allied Waste agreeing to pay $925,000 into a settlement fund, according to court papers.
Bilkis Bano rape case: The eleven convicts who were supposed to return to jail, following the Supreme Court of India order quashing Gujarat government's decision to grant them remission, are yet to surrender. Further reports have said that nine of the eleven convicts remain missing.

Dahod SP has said that the Dahod police station have not yet received any information about the surrender of 11 convicts. A police force remains deployed in the area where the convicts live to maintain peace, he said.

The Dahod SP Balram Meena also mentioned that the eleven convicts are "not incommunicado" and some of them are visiting relatives.

The convicts are natives of Singvad taluka where police were deployed since Monday morning, before the judgement was pronounced, to maintain law and order and ensure that communal conflict does not break out, he said.

According to a report by Indian Express, Akhambhai Chaturbhai Raval (87), father of one of the convicts, Govind Nai (55), blamed the conviction on political vendetta of Congress". Raval said Govind had left the house a week ago".

Another convict, Radheshyam Shah, has not been home since the last 15 months", his father Bhagwandas Shah said and claimed that he doesnt know where Radheshyam is he went with his wife and son", even as neighbours and shopkeepers at the village square attest that nearly all the convicts were publicly seen until Sunday, including Radheshyam, reports Financial Express.

The report further added that local villagers and shopkeeper, who attested to seeing the Bilkis Bano raope case convicts till the Supreme Court judgement now say, You wont find them now. All of them locked their houses and left."

The convicts are residents of twin villages of Randhikpur and Singvad. Notably, Bilkis and her family also lived in Randhikpur before the Godhra riots in 2002.

The 11 convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI special court on January 21, 2008. All of them were released on August 15, 2022, after an order by the state govt to grant them remission.

Bilkis Bano, then 21 years old and five months pregnant, was raped while fleeing after communal riots broke out in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in 2002. Her three-year-old daughter and six other family members were killed.

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission granted to the 11 convicts while slamming the Gujarat government for abusing its discretion. It ordered all the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, back to jail within two weeks.

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New Delhi: American aircraft manufacturer Boeing is under scrutiny once again for its 737 MAX aircraft after part of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max-9's fuselage blew out in midair on 5 January, forcing an emergency landing.

Indias Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) immediately ordered three Indian airlines to conduct a one-time inspection of emergency exits on all their Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft out.

On Monday, Boeing shared instructions with airlines for inspecting their 737 Max-9 aircraft, after US regulators grounded 171 such planes because of the Alaska Airlines incident.

Then on Tuesday, the DGCA said inspections revealed a missing washer on a Boeing 737 Max plane operated by an Indian airline.

Meanwhile, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines said they discovered loose parts on Boeing Max-9 jets during an inspection. Following this, Boeing issued a global call to scrutinise all 737 Max aircraft within 24 hours for 'possible loose hardware'.

Mint takes a closer look at the incident how Indian airlines have responded.

What do we know so far?

On 5 January, Alaska Airlines flight 1282, operating between Portland and Ontario, California, made an emergency landing after part of the wall of the aircraft blew out, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. The plane was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members, but nobody was seriously injured.

Several guests onboard experienced injuries that required medical attention. All guests have now been medically cleared," Alaska Airlines said at the time. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has assumed the lead role in the investigation. Alaskas safety and technical teams, along with representatives from Boeing, are closely involved in supporting the NTSB," it added. Boeing said it was aware of the incident and was "working to gather more information".

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft for inspection. Airlines and aviation regulators worldwide have since been closely monitoring the FAA's inspections and conducting their own.

Indias Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered three Indian airlines  Akasa Air, Air India Express and SpiceJet  to conduct a one-time inspection of emergency exits on all their Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft out. No Indian airline currently owns a Max-9 jet. Akasa Air has 22 737 Max-8 aircraft, while SpiceJet has 13 and Air India nine, according to their databases. On Monday, it said all three airlined had completed their inspections.

Then on Tuesday, the DGCA said inspections revealed a missing washer on a Boeing 737 Max plane operated by an Indian airline. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines said they found loose hardware on their 737 Max-9 aircraft, signalling that Boeings issues go beyond the aircraft that made an emergency landing.

The cause of the incident has not yet been determined. The blown-out door plug has since been recovered from a schoolteachers backyard in Portland. It could yield important clues about why that section of the fuselage blew out at 16,000 feet.

What's a door plug?

The door plug of the Alaska Airlines aircraft that blew out is not unique to the 737-9 Max or other Boeing planes. Low-cost carriers that pack their planes with extra rows of seats usually install this extra door as an additional path for emergency evacuation.

For full-service carriers, which have fewer seats, such doors are optional and can be permanently plugged. In the case of the Alaska Airlines plane, the door was ordered to be plugged in by Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems, which separated from Boeing in 2005. It manufactured and installed the plug door and reportedly shipped it to Boeing as fitted but not completed. This would allow Boeing to remove the plug and use the hole in the side to access the cabin and install components. Boeing ultimately reattached the door plug at its facility.

What was the DGCA's order?

The DGCA ordered three Indian carriers, which operate 44 Max-8 aircraft between them, to conduct an inspection of emergency exits on all their Max-8 aircraft. this was done out of an abdanced of precaution, as no Indian airline currently operates a Max-9. But given that Max-8 and Max-9 belong to the same family, the DGCA deemed an inspection necessary.

On Monday the regulator said, These checks have been satisfactorily performed by Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa. Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily."

But on Tuesday, the DGCA called for another inspection of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Based on information from an operator of a missing nut and washer in the Aft Rudder Quadrant on a Boeing 737 Max airplane, Boeing has recommended a one-time inspection of all Boeing 737 Max airplanes before 10 January for possible loose hardware." If did not disclose which airline owned the plane with the missing washer.

How have Indian airlines responded?

On Monday Akasa Air, which owns more 737 Max aircraft than any other Indian airline, said there were no adverse findings from the inspection of its aircraft. "We can confirm that there are no adverse findings. We can also confirm that there was no disruption to our operations during this time," a spokesperson said.

Air India also said it had completed its inspection and was in touch with Boeing and regulators for more information.

The airlines are now carrying out the fresh inspections ordered by the DCGA.

Fresh troubles for Boeing

Boeing Max aircraft were designed as a competitor to the fuel-efficient Airbus 320neo family of planes. The first Max jet was delivered to Malindo Air in May 2017. The aircraft, however, had issues in its computer system that caused two crashes  in 2018 and 2019  that killed hundreds. This led to a long-term grounding of the aircraft around the world.

The first crash, in October 2018, involved a 737 Max-8 operated by Indonesia's Lion Air and killed 189. The second incident took place in March 2019, when an Ethiopian Airlines flight, also a 737 Max 8, crashed minutes after the take off, killing 157 passengers.

Following this the FAA grounded the 737 Max. Boeing changed the automated flight control system implicated in the crashes and flights resumed in 2021, starting with US carriers. India allowed 737 Max aircraft back into service in August 2021.
Lakshadweep, known for its stunning beaches, has struggled as a tourism destination thanks to cumbersome procedures to obtain entry permits and poor air connectivity. Previously, travellers had to go through a time-consuming offline process to pay a fee of 200 for e-permits. While the application process for e-permits is now online, the limited number of flights and sub-standard accommodation facilities have played spoilsport with the islands' tourist arrivals. However, all these things are going to change, and the Centre's new initiatives to boost Lakshadweep 's infrastructure are likely to give a shot in the arm to the region's tourism industry.

Here's how the Lakshadweep administration is trying to make the islands a tourism hotspot.

Introduction of e permits:

The administration has simplified the entry permit process for island travel by introducing digital e-permits. Previously, obtaining a permit involved bank payment and paperwork, but now tourists can easily apply online and receive their e-permits within a day or two, making the process much more convenient.

Improving air connectivity:

Alliance Air's flights, the sole airline operating in the region, are sold out until March, reflecting the poor state of air connectivity to the islands. Currently, Alliance Air operates a 70-seater turboprop ATR-72 daily to Lakshadweep and in comparison, there are about 60 weekly flights to the Maldives from various Indian cities. However, the airline is now considering increasing its fleet.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet has also announced that it is launching flights to Lakshadweep.

Ajay Singh, Spicejet chief, told shareholders on Wednesday that the airline has exclusive rights under the government's regional connectivity scheme for Lakshadweep, and will soon launch its air services to the union territory.

Further, India is now planning to develop a new airfield at the Minicoy Islands there that would be capable of operating military aircraft, including fighter jets, along with commercial ones.

There is only one airstrip in the island territory at the moment, which is in Agatti and it can also limit the types of aircraft. The proposal for the development of a new airport and extending the present facilities has been revived recently.

Speaking to the Times of India, Lakshadweep additional DM Giri Sankar said, "The government, in addition to expanding the existing Agatti airport (runway), is also planning a greenfield airport at Minicoy for A320/B737 type of operations. The existing Agatti runway is proposed to be expanded towards its north side. The shoulder is proposed to be expanded to handle bigger planes. There will be sea platforms." A B737/A320 can seat up to 189 passengers in an all-economy configuration.

Promoting Lakshadweep Tourism

EaseMyTrip has introduced Lakshadweep as a premier destination, on par with international favourites, and planning to ally with Lakshadweep Tourism soon to promote the destination.

Speaking about the initiative, Prashant Pitti, Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, said We have introduced enticing packages, crafted to elevate travel experience and help our customers discover the alluring landscapes of Lakshadweep like never before.

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New Delhi: Reliance Industries is preparing to commission the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, a 5,000-acre manufacturing facility for renewable energy-related products, in Jamnagar in the second half of 2024, its chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said on Wednesday. Addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the western states flagship investment conclave, in Gandhinagar, Ambani said that along with generating a large number of jobs, the giga complex will also help Gujarat become a major exporter of green products.

For this, we have started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials and will make Gujarat a leading exporter of green products. And we are ready to commission this in the second half of 2024 itself," he said.

RIL is betting big on the green energy and energy transition space, as it aims to achieve net zero by 2035 through the use of renewable and bioenergy.

As part of its strategy to create the worlds largest fully integrated green energy manufacturing ecosystem, it is setting up the green energy giga complex to develop photovoltaic panels, energy storage, green hydrogen, and fuel cell systems, according to its annual report for FY23.

Highlighting that Reliance has invested more than $150 billion across the country in the past ten years, over one-third of which was poured into Gujarat, Ambani said that the company would continue to play a key role in the states growth trajectory with significant investments in the next ten years.

The green energy giga complex would help Gujarat become a major player in terms of green growth, he said.

Today Gujarat is fully 5G-enabledsomething that most of the world does not yet have. This will make Gujarat a global leader in digital data platforms and AI adoption. 5G-enabled AI revolution will make Gujarats economy more productive, more efficient and more globally competitive, he emphasized on the opening day of the three-day summit.

Besides generating millions of new employment opportunities, it will also produce AI-enabled doctors, AI-enabled teachers and AI-enabled farming, which, according to Ambani, would revolutionize healthcare, education and agricultural productivity in the state. This will benefit every Gujarati in urban as well as rural areas, since to my mind AI also means an All Inclusive growth."

Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and the circular economy and in line with this objective, a carbon fibre facility is being set up at Hazira, he added. He also said that Reliance Retail will accelerate its mission to bring quality products" to consumers and empower lakhs of farmers and small merchants.

Our retail business improves the quality of life of all households of Gujarat with better products and services," he said.

Acknowledging the governments target of turning India into a developed nation by 2047, he said that India would be a $35 trillion economy by that year, when India celebrates 100 years of Independence.

No power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35-trillion-dollar economy by 2047. And as I see Gujarat alone will become a 3-trillion-dollar economy."

The complex will create jobs, and help Gujarat export green products

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Top Congress leaders have declined an invitation to attend the Ayodhya Ram Mandir inauguration event. Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the event was a political project by the BJP and the RSS that had been preponed for electoral gain".

The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," read a missive from the party. The three Congress leaders had received an invite for the upcoming event last month  alongside the heads of major political parties. Reports indicate that former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda have also received invites from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Preparations are currently underway for the 'Pran Pratishtha' of Ram Lalla's idol at the grand temple on January 22.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the consecration ceremony at the temple on January 22 as the first phase of the temple nears completion. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will enthrone Ram Lalla in the sanctum-sanctorum of the temple at noon during the event.

The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case was set to rest following a historic Supreme Court verdict in 2019. The apex court had backed the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for building a mosque.

Vedic rituals for the Pran-Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya will begin on January 16. Ayodhya will mark the Amrit Mahotsav from January 14 to January 22.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which commenced on January 10, witnessed a flurry of investment pledges and announcements across various sectors. Tata Group, led by Chairman N Chandrasekaran, disclosed plans to establish a significant semiconductor fabrication unit in Gujarat's Dholera, with operations slated to begin in 2024. The two-day summit also saw Adani Group committing a whopping 2 trillion ($24 billion) to boost green energy initiatives in Gujarat, adding to the flurry of multi-billion pledges made at the event. Additionally, Maruti Suzuki, Simmtech, and DP World revealed their respective investment plans, highlighting Gujarat's growing stature as an investment hub.

Track Live Updates | Vibrant Gujarat Summit LIVE Updates: PM Modi says India's port infrastructure secures new investments from UAE companies

Here are some of the top announcements

India to be third largest economy by 2027-28, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday that India will become third largest economy by 2027-28 with more than $5 trillion GDP. She was quoted by PTI as saying, "More than 50 crore Indians have bank accounts at present compared to 15 crore in 2014." She added, "India's economy to be worth USD 30 trillion by 2047."

Tata Group to establish semiconductor fab in Gujarat

Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran revealed plans to build a large semiconductor fabrication facility (fab) in Gujarat's Dholera. It is expected to commence operations in 2024. The group is in the final stages of negotiations for the plant, marking a significant move into chip manufacturing.

Adani's massive investment in Gujarat

Gautam Adani announced a staggering investment of 2 trillion rupees ($24 billion) over the next five years in Gujarat. The focus will be on green energy projects, creating 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state. Adani Group is developing the "world's largest green energy park" generating 30 gigawatts.

Maruti Suzuki's new plant in Gujarat

Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker, unveiled plans to invest 350 billion rupees ($4.2 billion) in Gujarat. The investment includes building a second car plant and adding a new production line at an existing facility, increasing annual production capacity to 2 million vehicles.

Simmtech's colocation investment with Micron in Gujarat

South Korean semiconductor parts maker Simmtech expressed readiness for a significant investment in Gujarat, collaborating with Micron. The company aims to create job opportunities for high-skilled talents in the state, contributing to India's growing semiconductor supply chain.

Nvidia's AI Data centre in GIFT City, Gujarat

Global computing major Nvidia announced that its partner Yotta is set to commission an artificial intelligence data centre in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) before the end of March. The data centre is part of Nvidia's collaboration with Tata Group and Reliance Industries for setting up data centres.

India-UAE MoUs at Vibrant Gujarat Summit

India and the UAE signed multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, covering renewable energy, innovative healthcare projects, and food park development. The agreements aim to strengthen cooperation in various sectors between the two nations.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel's Integrated Steel Plant in Hazira

Lakshmi Mittal announced that ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India is constructing the world's largest single-location integrated steel plant in Gujarat's Hazira. The plant, with a capacity of 24 million tonnes of crude steel, is expected to be operational by 2029.

DP World's to build container terminal in Gujarat

Global logistics firm DP World revealed plans to build a container terminal in Gujarat, showcasing commitment to further investments in India. The company emphasised continued support for manufacturing industries to enhance the global competitiveness of Indian goods.

Reliance's carbon fibre facility at Hazira

Mukesh Ambani announced that Reliance Industries will establish India's first world-class carbon fibre facility at Hazira in Gujarat. The facility aligns with Reliance's commitment to green growth and contributes to Gujarat's goal of meeting half of its energy needs through renewables by 2030.

Paytm's Investment in GIFT City

One97 Communications Limited, owner of Paytm, announced an investment of Rs100 crore in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to build a global financial ecosystem. Paytm aims to leverage GIFT City as an innovation hub for cross-border activities and reduce friction in cross-border remittances.

ONGC Videsh to set up global treasury centre at GIFT City

ONGC Videsh Ltd has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary called OVL Overseas IFSC Ltd in Gujarats GIFT City that will function as a treasury hub catering to OVL and its 25 subsidiaries, including step-down subsidiaries, across 15 countries.

Lulu Group to set up large shopping mall in Ahmedabad

UAE-based retailer LuLu Group is set to construct what it termed India's biggest shopping mall, in Ahmedabad, with an estimated cost of 4,000 crore.

The construction for the proposed shopping mall will start in 2024 itself, said Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group International, talking to ANI on the sidelines of the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

Essar Group to set up 1GW green hydrogen project in Jamnagar

Essar Group is setting up a 1-gigawatt green hydrogen project (1,000 megawatt) in Gujarat's Jamnagar, besides expanding its ports and power businesses in the western state, news agency ANI quoted d Prashant Ruia, Promoter Director, Essar Group, as saying.

ONE 97 COMMUNICATIONS More Information

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"They are stuck in their rhetoric...Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don't go," said Puri. Reacting to the decision of senior Congress leaders not to attend the pranpratishtha ceremony, Union Minister Smriti Irani said Congress party's anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation." Also Read | RSS-BJP event for electoral gain: Top Congress leaders decline Ayodhya Ram mandir inauguration invite "Congress party's anti-Lord Ram face is before the nation. It is no surprise that under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party that had filed an affidavit before the court that Lord Ram is a fictional character, its leadership declined the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' of Ram Temple...Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Congress, INDI Alliance has insulted Sanatan Dharma again and again. Now, the declining of the invitation to the 'pranpratishtha' by leaders of the INDI Alliance reflects their anti-Sanatan mindset," Irani said.

Slamming the decision of Congress leaders, BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli said the decision wasn't surprising as they had denied Lord Ram's existence.

"...It should come as no surprise. The Congress party, over the last few decades, really took no steps to see that there should be a temple at Ayodhya. In fact, Congress-UPA Government filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court to deny the existence of Lord Ram. They stood in court and never wanted an early hearing. Now that a temple has come up there, the very fact that they are saying that they won't be there is part of what they have always believed - that they didn't want a temple there and saying that this is an event of the BJP or the RSS is an excuse. In reality, it does not fit with the Congress party's own thinking, otherwise, they would have been there out of affection for Lord Ram and would have been at Ayodhya and shared the excitement of millions of Indians all across the world and in India," he said.
New York: India's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, strongly condemned the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas saying that the alarming humanitarian crisis was 'clearly unacceptable'.

"The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and has resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisis. This is clearly unacceptable and we have strongly condemned the deaths of civilians. At the same time, we are aware that the immediate trigger were the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, which were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation. India has a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism," Kamboj said.

Addressing a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the prevailing situation in West Asia, Kamboj highlighted India's continuous efforts to normalise the ongoing situation in the region and extend humanitarian aid in Gaza.

"The leadership of India is in constant touch with the leaders of the region, including those of Israel and Palestine. We've also voiced our views in multilateral forums such as the G20, the BRICS, and at the Global South Summit in November 2023, and we have reiterated our longstanding and principal position on the issue. We have also called for continued humanitarian aid for the affected population and in this regard, we hope that Security Council Resolution 2720 would aid in enhancing humanitarian assistance," India's permanent envoy to the UN added.

"India has so far provided 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including 16.5 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies in two tranches, to the people of Palestine. We've also provided us dollars 5 million, including the USD 2.5 million we provided in end December 2023 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near east, which will go to support the agency's core programs and services, including education, health care, relief and social services provided to Palestinian refugees," Kamboj said further.

India's permanent representative to the world body reiterated the two-state solution, saying that a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy was the only way forward.

"The message that India has conveyed since the start of this conflict is clear and consistent. It is important to prevent escalation, to ensure continued delivery of humanitarian aid, and to work towards an early restoration of peace and stability. A peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward," Kamboj said.

"By reaffirming India's firm commitment to achieving a just, peaceful and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine issue. We firmly believe that only a two state solution achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on final status issues, will deliver an enduring peace that the people of Israel and Palestine desire and deserve. For this, we urge the parties to deescalate, eschew violence and work towards creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations," she added.

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Congress claimed on Wednesday that the Manipur government has declined" to give permission to Rahul Gandhi to commence his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Imphal East district. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was scheduled to begin on January 14 from Hatta Kangjeibung in the Imphal East district in Manipur. Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president Keisham Megachandra said the decision was unfortunate" and violation of people's rights", according to PTI.

We met Chief Minister N Biren Singh and sought permission for the venue of 'Bharat Joro Nyay Yatra' at Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal East district from where the rally is scheduled to be flagged off. However, the chief minister has declined to permit the same," Keisham Megachandra said.

A "critial" law and order situation has prevailed in Manipur ever since ethnic violence broke out in the state in May 2023. The second leg of Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' is set to begin on January 14 .

Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said on Tuesday that the matter is under "active consideration" and a decision will be taken on it after receiving reports from security agencies. Addressing the reporters on the sidelines of an event, Biren Singh said the law and order situation in Manipur is "very critical".

When asked about giving permission to Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', a foot march of thousands, Biren Singh said, "Giving permission to Rahul Gandhi's rally is under active consideration. We are taking reports from various security agencies. After receiving reports from them, we will take a concrete decision."

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has said that the Manipur government has asked for the Centre's approval. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge is scheduled to flag off the programme in the presence of chief ministers of Congress-ruled states and top leaders of the party.

On Monday morning, fresh exchange of fire has been reported between Manipur Police and militants at Moreh border town along the Indo-Myanmar border. According to officials, militants targeted security forces when they were moving through certain pockets of Moreh town.

Speaking of situation in Manipur, CM Biren Singh said, "Combined forces of Assam Rifles, BSF and state police are working to nab the armed miscreants involved in attacking the security forces."

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LONDONThe U.K. government has taken the rare step of proposing a law to overturn hundreds of convictions of people running post offices across Britain who were found guilty of theft or false accounting, an attempt to rectify a miscarriage of justice that has dragged on for decades.

Between 1999 and 2015, some 983 convictions were brought against people managing post office branches across the country, after faulty accounting software mistakenly showed money missing from their business accounts.

The convictions devastated the lives of hundreds of postmasters and postmistresseswho were self-employed and operated local post offices like a franchisemany of whom were driven into bankruptcy, and some of whom ended up in jail. Four died by suicide. One postmistress was jailed while pregnant. Others spent their savings trying to make up shortfalls in their post-office accounts which the accounting system, called Horizon, erroneously flagged. Some 60 have died before having their convictions quashed.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday that legislation would soon be presented to Parliament to ensure convictions are scrapped and compensation is paid, in an unusual move that would see Parliament overturn decisions made by the courts. This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nations history," he said.

The scandal has raised serious questions about Britains legal system and whether its clubby political class is deaf to the plight of ordinary people. The software fault has been public knowledge for years, but most of the postmasters were still fighting fruitlessly for justice. It was only after a television drama about the scandal aired earlier this month that a public outcry forced politicians to act.

The Post Office, which is state-owned, for years denied the Horizon computer systemrun by Japanese software company Fujitsuhad a glitch, and pursued its postmasters in court, often through an obscure internal judicial system that allowed it to try, investigate and convict postmasters without going through the police or the local courts. Fujitsu has apologized for its role in their suffering," a spokesman for the company said.

Josephine Hamilton, a postmistress who was convicted of false accounting and given a suspended sentence, was forced to remortgage her house and asked family to help her pay an ever-growing bill to the Post Office for money the computer system kept saying was missing. Because of my criminal record, Ive ended up cleaning," she told a public inquiry in 2022.

In 2021, the U.K. Court of Appeal quashed 39 convictions after a case was brought by Hamilton and others, calling it an affront to the public conscience."

The Metropolitan Police said this week that it is investigating the Post Office for potential fraud offenses for having forced postmasters to dig into their own money to make up the alleged shortfalls. The Post Office said it is doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past" and has offered compensation to 2,700 postmasters.

For years, an inquiry into the scandal and a compensation scheme for those who managed to overturn their convictions one by one limped along. But a television drama about the scandal earlier this month by broadcaster ITV, titled Mr Bates vs The Post Office," led to an outcry. Several politicians, who were tasked with overseeing the Post Office, are also being hauled over the coals. The government is also being questioned on why Fujitsu has continued to be handed contracts despite the scandal. The company has declined to comment further, citing ongoing investigations.

So far, the government has paid out 148 million poundsequivalent to about $188 millionin compensation to some of the 3,500 people affected by the Horizon scandal. The government has previously said that Post Office managers who have had wrongful convictions would get 600,000 each in compensation. Of the 93 convictions that have been overturned, only 30 of those people have agreed to full and final settlements." Several hundred more who had their convictions overturned arent currently eligible for compensation.

This week, the Post Offices former chief executive, Paula Vennells, who ran the business between 2012 and 2019, returned her honorary title as Commander of the British Empire after pressure from Sunak and an online petition signed by more than a million people. There are also calls to claw back compensation from Fujitsu, which has won billions of pounds in government contracts even after a court ruling in 2019 that found the software was at fault for the scandal.

Former postmaster Alan Bates, played by actor Toby Jones in the ITV drama, humanized the struggle faced by the post-office managers who saw their lives ripped apart by a computer system. The local post office, often a small shop which alongside handling mail provides services to pensioners and a banking system, is a key cog in British life. After being accused of pilfering money, the postmasters lost both their jobs and their standing in their communities, resulting in their children being bullied at school and in some cases having to move home.

Many of the postmasters were minorities. As the accounting problems surfaced, Post Office fraud investigators were asked to group suspects based on skin color and racial features, including Chinese/Japanese types," Dark Skinned European Types" and Negroid Types," according to a document that was later made public. The Post Office apologized last year.

Vipin Patel was charged with stealing more than 75,000 and convicted of fraud with an 18-month suspended prison sentence in 2011. His son Varchas spoke of how Wanted Dead or Alive" posters were placed near their house and community meetings were held about driving them from their home in Oxford. Vipin Patel now has post-traumatic stress disorder and a heart condition. His conviction was overturned in 2021.

Postmistress Seema Misra was found guilty in 2010 of stealing 74,000 and spent four months in jail. Her conviction was overturned in 2021. In a sworn statement, she described how she would have killed herself had she not been several weeks pregnant when sent to jail. Misra was subsequently assaulted in the street, had to move home and her husbands taxi company floundered. Out of shame, she didnt throw a birthday party for her son for eight years. My life and that of my family was ruined," she later wrote.

Some pleaded guilty to false accounting, unable to prove that the system was creating the errors and having been told by the Fujitsu helpline that they were the only ones experiencing problems. The government said it was willing to take the risk that it might exonerate or compensate people who did steal because it would be too slow to go back through the courts. We are well aware of the imperfections of this system," said Kevin Hollinrake, the business and trade minister.

Former postmaster Lee Castleton was made bankrupt by a civil case brought against him in 2005 by the Post Office alleging that he was liable for shortfalls of about 26,000 at the branch. Castleton represented himself in court, lost the case and was ordered to pay 321,000 in legal costs to the Post Office.

The civil claim against me and my bankruptcy has destroyed my life and the lives of my family. At the time, I was treated like a thief in our community," he told the public inquiry.

In 2020, as part of a group litigation, he received 28,500 in compensation.

Write to Max Colchester at Max.Colchester@wsj.com and Joanna Sugden at joanna.sugden@wsj.com
Recently, Jiaogang Lake in the Maoji Experimental District of Huainan in Anhui has welcomed a special group of "guests"the swans. According to statistics, there are more than 100,000 birds that have come to Jiaogang Lake this winter.

Jiaogang Lake, a natural freshwater lake in the Huaihe River basin, covers an area of over 60,000 mu and is a national-level wetland park. The lake's reed marshes, lotus ponds, and sandy beaches provide a paradise for birds to inhabit.

In recent years, the Maoji Experimental District has invested 320 million yuan in ecological restoration of water resources and water environment in Jiaogang Lake, and gradually diversified the ecology of Jiaogang Lake. Many rare bird species breed and thrive here. At present, there are 68 species of birds recorded, including national first-class protected animals such as white cranes, white-naped cranes, white storks, black storks, and great bustards, as well as national second-class protected animals such as grey herons, mandarin ducks, and hen harriers.





Source: Anhui Daily
In October, the Food Bank of Central New York reported distributing 2.1 million pounds of food  the highest monthly total since October 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Food insecurity is on the rise in our state, and we must act.

While many of the uncertainties specific to 2020 have subsided, so have many of the relief efforts that were a lifeline to vulnerable New Yorkers. The Emergency Allotment (EA) program that was designed to increase benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ended in March 2023. For the nearly 3 million New Yorkers participating in SNAP, this meant an average household loss of $151 dollars per month.

An Urban Institute study found that the pandemic-era increases to SNAP benefits lifted more than 400,000 New Yorkers out of poverty. New data from the USDA reveals that food insecurity rose more rapidly in 2022 than in any single year since 2008  the first full year of the Great Recession. Here in New York, 800,000 households experienced food insecurity between 2019 and 2021.

According to census data, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse are among the top 25 communities in the entire country with the highest percentage of residents participating in SNAP. Some rural counties, too, report high rates of childhood food insecurity.

New York has the chance to step in to fill the gap for working families. The current minimum benefit of $23 will barely fill one grocery bag, let alone feed someone for a month. That is why weve introduced a bill to increase the SNAP minimum benefit in New York to $100 per month. This would be innovative, building on New Jerseys recently enacted $95-per-month SNAP minimum benefit. And New Yorkers want us to rise to the challenge. In a recent Siena poll, 66% of those surveyed approved of raising the minimum benefit to $100.

Hunger is the central concern here, but the impact will be felt beyond the dinner table. Providing food assistance means freeing up money for families to pay for other essentials, such as rent or heat. Every dollar invested in SNAP generates between $1.50 and $1.80 in local economic benefits. Local farmers and retailers would see increased revenues for their products from the higher SNAP benefit, and on a larger scale, grocery stores would be able to stay in operation, hiring more employees because of increased profits.

We cannot wait for Congress to act. Here in New York, we need to ensure that working families can meet their basic needs. We look forward to working with Governor Hochul and our colleagues in the State Legislature in the coming months to make the $100 minimum benefit a reality.
The planemaker must own up to its shortcomings, said Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun as it grapples with a safety incident that has renewed questions over the quality of its manufacturing.

During a companywide meeting at its 737 factory near Seattle, Calhoun told Boeing employees, "Were going to approach this  No. 1  acknowledging our mistake. Were going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way."

The remarks came at an all-hands meeting called by Calhoun to reinforce safety as the company's top priority after a door plug ejected from a 737 Max 9 last week mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane, Bloomberg reported.

Ive got kids, Ive got grandkids and so do you. This stuff matters. Every detail matters," he said as he recalled seeing photographs of the planes damaged fuselage.

US regulators grounded 171 of Boeings 737 Max 9 aircraft and ordered inspections after the January 5 accident. None of the 177 passengers and crew onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 were injured when the panel ripped free shortly after the plane departed from Portland, Oregon.

Calhoun had told employees earlier that the all-hands meeting would focus on Boeings response to this accident, and reinforcing our focus on and our commitment to safety, quality, integrity and transparency."

Alaska Air Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. have both discovered other 737 Max 9 jets with loose bolts after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max 9 and ordered carriers to inspect the planes.

The agency on Tuesday said that formal inspections have yet to start as Boeing is revising instructions for the checks after receiving feedback, and all of the affected planes will remain idle until the regulator deems them safe.

On January 6, a window broke on an Alaska Airlines aircraft flying from Portland to Ontario in the US, causing a loss of cabin pressure and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing back at Portland International Airport. The plane was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members. Nobody was injured in the incident.

(With Bloomberg inputs)

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RAMALLAH, West BankYemens Houthi rebels launched their largest barrage so far of missiles and drones into the crucial Red Sea shipping lane while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his efforts to prevent the conflict in Gaza from escalating into a broader regional war.

Blinken sat down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank as part of a tour through the region, which also includes half a dozen Arab states, as well as Turkey.

The Biden administrations primary goal is to bring Israel and Arab nations together and harness their influence in the region to prevent the Israeli invasion of Gaza from spilling over to other areas. Another goal is working out a plan for what U.S. officials hope will result in a unified Palestinian government overseeing both the West Bank and Gaza.

To gain Israels interest, U.S. officials are insisting on what they call a revitalized" Palestinian Authority, with some seeking to reduce Abbass powers along with the appointment of new Palestinian officials to key positions or even Abbass replacement. Blinken was greeted at the presidential compound in Ramallah by Hussein Al-Sheikh, the second-highest-ranking member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which includes the Fatah party that currently governs the West Bank.

Overnight strikes in the Red Sea by the Houthis, a Shia-group backed by Iran that is been waging a prolonged fight for dominance with the recognized Yemeni government, are complicating Blinkens diplomatic mission, however. He is expected to travel later Wednesday to Bahrain, a member of the U.S.-led Red Sea coalition meant to safeguard international naval traffic through the regions busiest shipping lanes.

The latest Houthi barrage came nearly a week after the U.S. and an international coalition warned that continued attacks by the Yemeni rebels would come at a cost, and the U.S. military has prepared options to strike the group. The barrage, including 18 drones, two cruise missiles and a ballistic missile, caused no damage or injuries, said U.S. Central Command.

The continued attacks have caused international shipping companies to reroute from the Red Sea around Southern Africa and brought the Houthis to the forefront of a number of Iranian-backed groups in the region that the U.S. says have sought to turn the conflict in Gaza into a broader conflict.

Were determinedthat we not see escalation, that we dont have the conflict spread, and weve made that very clear," Blinken said at a briefing with journalists. But, of course, if our personnel, if our forces are threatened or attacked, well take appropriate steps. Well respond."

The United Nations Security Council plans a vote on Wednesday to condemn the Houthi violence and demand an immediate end to their attacks on merchant and commercial shipping. The Houthis initially launched attacks on Israel following its air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, but the failure to penetrate Israels air defense systems have caused it to turn to other targets, primarily international shipping lanes, including those in and out of the Suez Canal.

More than 23,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza, since Israels ground invasion began, according to Palestinian health authorities. The figures dont distinguish between civilians and combatants. That offensive began following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel, where militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 others hostage.

Blinkens current trip is his fourth since fighting began and comes as an Israeli delegation is in Egypt to revive talks around freeing the remaining hostages in Gaza, which Israel estimates to number around 130 people.

In Ramallah, Blinken and his aides began a meeting late morning Wednesday with Abbas and senior Palestinian officials, with topics expected to include ideas on the future governance of the Gaza Strip that have already been discussed with Arab leaders and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Blinken met at the start of his regional tour.

A key obstacle is the state of the Palestinian Authority, which some U.S. and other international critics see as weak, undemocratic and corrupt. The Biden administration is hoping that an overhaul of the authoritypossibly including its leadershipwill soften Israeli resistance to allowing it to govern Gaza as the conflict eases. Blinken and Abbas didnt speak to reporters at the Palestinian leaders compound, and U.S. officials didnt preview any expected announcements from the sit-down.

Abbas, who is 88, has demanded a cease-fire in Gaza and has publicly welcomed reform of the Palestinian Authority, the body that exercises nominal Palestinian self-government in the West Bank, though Egyptian sources say he is unlikely to countenance any loss of power. The Palestinian Authority exercised authority over Gaza until a conflict there in 2007 in which Hamas usurped total control of the strip. The U.S. has designated Hamas a terrorist organization.

Israels right-wing government opposes the emergence of a Palestinian state and has rejected a U.S. proposal to have the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, play a role in the future of Gaza.

Summer Said in Dubai also contributed to this article.

Write to William Mauldin at william.mauldin@wsj.com and Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Tuesday urged China to intensify efforts to send more tourists to his country amid the India-Maldives row that caused the cancellation of reservations by Indian tourists after a diplomatic row erupted over the derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province on the second day of his five-day visit to China, Muizzu termed China as the island nation's closest" ally. China remains one of our closest allies and development partners."

He praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, saying that they "delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in Maldivian history", according to his speech.

"China was our (Maldives') number one market pre-Covid, and I request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," according to a readout posted on his official website.

Meanwhile, Maldivian media reported that the two countries have signed a USD 50 million project to develop an integrated tourism zone on the Indian Ocean island, PTI reported.

After concluding his Fujian visit, Muizzu on Tuesday arrived in Beijing where he is expected to hold talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Ke Qiang.

Muizzus appeal for more Chinese tourists came amid a diplomatic row following the derogatory remarks by some Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Modi after he posted a video of him on a pristine beach during his recent visit to Lakshadweep.

Muizzus government suspended three deputy ministers for their derogatory posts on social media. The Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) has also strongly condemned the derogatory comments.

India remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023. The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals.

In 2022, India remained the top Maldives tourism market, with 240,000 arrivals. Russia followed closely in second place with 198,000 tourists, and Britain ranked third with over 177,000 arrivals.

Before COVID-19, China held the top spot with over 2.80 lakh tourists but is currently struggling to revive its domestic and foreign tourism due to a nearly four-year lockdown policy and the continued slowdown of its economy.

Maldives and China signed the FTA in December 2014 during the pro-China President Abdulla Yameen administration. However, his successor, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solihs administration did not implement the agreement, according to Maldives media reports.

China-Maldives bilateral trade in 2022 totaled to USD 451.29 million of which Chinas exports constituted USD 451.29 million against USD 60,000 of exports from Maldives.

Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum.

The projects included the relocation of the Male Commercial Port to Thilafushi, the Velana International Airport development project, the construction of 15 more airports, and the expansion of SEZ, Maldives web portal edition.mv reported.

(With PTI inputs)

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US and UK forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis on Tuesday into the Southern Red Sea towards international shipping lanes, the U.S. military's Central Command said.

U.S. Central Command said there were no injuries or damage reported, adding that this was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since November 19.

Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned that it would attack U.S. warships if the militia group itself was targeted.

U.S. Central Command said 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by U.S. and British forces. (Reporting by Jasper Ward and Eric Beech; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Door plugs arent anything newAirbus uses them to seal off unneeded passenger exits in certain configurations of its A320 and A380 models. For that matter, a door plug and a door work similarly. If either fails, it likely wasnt properly fastened. In the case of last weeks near-disaster involving an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX, suspicion is doubly heightened by a subsequent discovery by United Airlines of certain bolts that needed additional tightening."

The plug blew out at 16,500 feet. Luckily no passenger was seated nearby. Luckily the blowout didnt occur at a higher altitude causing a more explosive decompression.

Eventually a culprit will be named. Over the holidays Boeing also appealed quietly for a safety exemption for its forthcoming MAX 7. Like some MAX models already in service, its anti-icing system is prone to overheating and breaking apart if left on five minutes too long, posing a small risk of catastrophic damage. Boeings proposed temporary fix? Instruct pilots to remember to turn off a system they were long told was OK to leave on.

Which naturally raises a question: Is something systematically wrong with the way Boeing is organized or led? For finance types, that question has percolated partly because of the two crashes of its then-debuting 737 MAX, but also because of the companys hesitancy to commit to a designing a new clean sheet" plane, something it hasnt attempted in 20 years.

There are lots of theories. Boeing, since the MAX disasters, has only become more driven by its relations with government. For both the company and the Federal Aviation Administration, the MAX affair was a scalding experience. The agencys standards for certifying a new jet have been in dramatic flux ever since, not to say highly politicized.

Too, Boeing is a giant defense contractor, a business with its own problems. It may not be self-evident exactly how but a company that survived entirely on the confidence of airlines and their passengers might be making different decisions.

Then theres its duopoly with Airbus. Boeings customers need Boeing every bit as much as Boeing needs them. They have been compelled to nurse the relationship along despite five-year delivery delays on even unrelated models as a result partly of the MAX catastrophe.

In fact, Boeing recently turned a corner in terms of deliveries and new sales, but still faces a perhaps permanent market-share loss vs. Airbus in the bread-and-butter niche defined by the 737, whose revenues underwrite so much of what the company does.

Surprising, then, given its commanding lead in a key niche, was Airbuss recent promise to take the plunge and launch an all-new plane by decades end. Well see. Boeings case for delay rests on changing technology and fear that a new plane might soon be obsolete. A less-spoken factor is the unpredictable, evolving government standards for getting such a plane approved in the U.S., China, India and Europe.

On top of this comes the challenge of learning to mass-produce a very different kind of airplane, plus getting airlines and airports ready to accept it. Engines of significantly larger diameter, with open-air whirring blades, will likely be needed along with higher wings to support them. The wings will be longer and slenderer to give more lift with less drag, creating new problems for maintenance and ground handling.

Uneconomic burdens will certainly be imposed in the name of climate change, such as bans, subsidies and mandates aimed at various favored and disfavored technologies. Never mind that, in one of historys great policy and political wrong turns, we already know this will have no effect on climate change.

Then theres the knottiest issue: By all accounts, the Alaska Airlines crew performed magnificently and yet the advance of drone technology and a global pilot shortage point in only one direction. The first of the two MAX disasters came when an inexperienced Indonesian crew faced an unexpected glitch in software designed to protect them from their own mistakes while flying the plane by hand, which is rarely required. The second came when an Ethiopian crew, as instructed by Boeing, turned off the same system when it acted up and yet proceeded to commit a series of errors that doomed the aircraft anyway.

Because learning occurs, Boeing will get its engineering and production snafus straightened out or it wont survive in present form. Meanwhile, in the air, thanks to advances in reliability and redundancy, aviation disasters increasingly consist of flyable planes being flown into the ground accidentally or intentionallyeight major crashes in the past 30 years have been due to pilot suicide. Before putting a novel generation of aircraft in the hands of airlines already struggling to find enough pilots, a question may need hashing out: What is the role of the pilot in the plane of the future?

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The letter K, whose shape is often used to denote a divergence in how the rich and poor are faring, has animated Indias economic discourse of late. Now, SBI Research, a department of the government-run State Bank of India, has weighed in with a report that attempts to debunk the notion of a K-shaped recovery, calling this label ill-concocted" and flawed for overlooking data that points to reduced inequality in what Indians earn, as recorded by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). As its chief exhibit, the report spotlights an income escalation over seven years since 2013-14 among lower-bracket taxpayers, with top earners having seen their share of the total reduce. Income inequality captured through the Gini coefficient of taxable income has declined from 0.472 to 0.402 during FY14FY22," it says, referring to a statistical formula that would yield 0 under perfect equality and 1 if a single person earned it all. The SBI report speaks of a great migration at the bottom of the pyramid." Its observations, however, do not dispel suspicions of the hard-up having faced heavy financial hardships in recent years while the well-off prospered.

First, as tax data is released with a lag, 2021-22 is the latest fiscal year taken into account by the study. While it spans a period that saw a cash-scarcity shock, with Indias informal sector bearing the brunt of it, 2021-22 was when our economy made up for its covid contraction and regained its pre-pandemic size of 2019-20 (plus a bit). Most readings of the rich getting disproportionately richer, however, relate to rather more recent signs, like a sharp profit pick-up and dividend bounce-back that went with a pacy recovery in 2022-23 and this year, even as sales trends across consumer markets were seen to diverge between stuff bought by the wealthy and poorer folks. Clearly, we need up-to-date tax data for a clear picture. Second, and far more critically, our lowest tax brackets do not qualify as bottom of the pyramid, given that taxpayers form what is itself the apex of a much larger base of households. The SBI report cites CBDT data to state that 74 million people filed Income Tax Returns in 2022-23 (for fiscal 2021-22 earnings), up from about 70 million the previous year. Although we have no census update, a population of over 1.4 billion would suggest the country has at least 280 million chief wage earners (at five members per home). Count out double-income homes and assume that only a sliver of non-filers are tax dodgers, and at least three-fourths of all earners are found below the taxable tip of the pyramid under review. As poorer folks dont file returns, tax data cannot tell us how they have fared. A third point has to do with Ginis weakness as a gauge of inequality. Although its 0-1 scale may suggest high sensitivity to disparity, its bulk comparison rarely alarms anyone as outsized rake-ins by a few peoplerelatively speakingdo not move its needle all that much.

The SBI report has other findings that exhort us to reject the K-shaped hypothesis. Savings, consumption and expenditure trends, for example, and the salutary effect of public policies and welfare handouts. Here again, for every indication of an even recovery from the covid crisis, there is some sign either of the badly-off being left worse off or the well-off getting far wealthier. If home delivery services have reached a mass market, home buying has gone sky-high with flat prices at the upper end. All said, the K story retains its resilience.
A new combination of health insurance and healthcare has been launched in India, with the managed healthcare or integrated healthcare scheme announced by Narayana Health Insurance. It aims to do away with the misalignment of incentives in the traditional health insurance model, and lays emphasis on proactive diagnosis and treatment.

In the traditional health insurance model, the healthcare provider and the payer of the healthcare, the insurer, find themselves at odds, the conflict taking place at the expense of the consumer/patient. The incentive for the healthcare provider is to maximize the billing, while the incentive for the insurer is to minimize the payment.

It has been empirically established that healthcare costs go up when the patient has insurance, as investigations, consultations, procedures and treatment protocols pile up. Only with a strong co-pay model can the insurance company get the patient to exercise some cost control by choosing to reject some of the recommended tests or procedures. However, patients lack the knowledge to opt for or reject, with discernment, parts of the care recommended by the healthcare provider. The insurer ends up picking up the tab.

At the same time, the insurer tries to minimize costs by standardizing treatment protocols, regardless of the kind of facility where it is delivered. This, too, militates against the patient receiving the best quality care while the cost is borne by the insurer.

A third problem with the regular health insurance scheme is that it lacks any focus on prevention, the hospital being incentivized to make money from curative treatment. The health insurer might try to persuade its insured population to carry out preventive check-ups, but is rarely successful in India.

The managed care model turns all this upside down. In this, the healthcare provider offers insurance. Since the care provider and the payer are parts of the same entity, the incentive to jack up costs and the incentive to deny costs on the suspicion that costs have been jacked up both disappear.

Further, the care provider has every incentive to screen its insured population aggressively, to detect the onset of disease early on, treat it early and avoid expensive treatment later on, when the disease has progressed. Very many cancers are today amenable to treatment, if detected early. If detection is delayed, and the cancer turns aggressive, the treatment would be both expensive and, often, ineffectual.

In a managed care system, the health of a given population is handed over to a care provider, and paid upfront for that job. With this premium collected, it has to keep the patient healthy and pay for treatment when it becomes unavoidable.

In India, such a model has been tried out, for example, in Rajasthan, when a low-cost healthcare provider, Glocal, had undertaken to look after the health of a given population, whose premium was paid by the state government in advance. Before the system could fully stabilize and its benefits studied and the model expanded, the government changed and this model was abandoned.

There are three kinds of risks in the managed healthcare model. One is that the incentive for the healthcare provider is to withhold appropriate treatment as that would increase expenditure. This is addressed by regulation, competition from other managed care providers and the prospect of fatal reputational damage.

The second risk is selective sale of insurance only to the young and healthy. Regulation should prevent this. Narayana offers to sell insurance to even those with pre-existing conditions. This is welcome, but in order to ensure a similar policy by new entrants, regulation must ensure that entire willing populations, encompassing all demographics of age and income in the vicinity of the care provider, are covered by the policy.

The third risk is that the care/insurance provider gets the premium wrong, and sets it too low. This could render the operation unviable. The solution is to employ the best actuarial expertise available to set the price for the insurance.

The insurance regulator has given Narayana the go-ahead under its regulatory sandbox scheme, meant for testing out innovative approaches. It would call for removing the constraint on tying insurance to a particular care provider that makes sense in traditional health insurance but is antithetical to the managed care model.

May many more managed care insurance schemes take off, to lower the cost of care and encourage better health outcomes.
In November, retail lending by banks crossed 50 trillion for the first time. As of 30 November, it stood at 50.6 trillion. Retail lending comprises housing and vehicle loans, credit card receivables, loans against gold jewellery, personal loans, etc.

In fact, retail lending now constitutes around 32.5% of the non-food credit (by economic activity) given by banks. Banks give loans to Food Corporation of India and other state procurement agencies to buy rice and wheat directly from farmers. This is referred to as food credit. When these loans are subtracted from overall bank lending, what remains is non-food credit.

About a decade ago, as of March 2013, bank loans to industry stood at 45.8% of non-food credit, a proportion that has shrunk to 23.1% as of November. During the same period, the proportion of retail lending jumped from 18.4% to 32.5%.

There is an immediate reason. As of March 2023, retail lending by banks had stood at 29.9% of non-food credit. A significant portion of the jump since then has happened because the home loan lender HDFC merged with HDFC Bank on 1 July 2023. The entire home loan portfolio of HDFC now comes under the ambit of banks.

Then there are long-term reasons. Indian banks, in particular public sector banks (PSBs), had gone overboard extending loans to industry. In March 2008, loans to industry stood at 38.9% of non-food credit, growing to 45.8% by March 2013. Corporates defaulted on a lot of these loans, especially loans taken from PSBs, changing the structure of Indian banking in the process.

First, the ability of many PSBs to continue lending came down, particularly after 2015 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) insisted that banks start cleaning up their balance sheets, instead of continuing to kick the can of bad loans down the road. Bad loans are largely loans that havent been repaid for a period of 90 days or more.

Second, this let private banks expand their share of the banking sector. In March 2013, PSBs accounted for 75.5% of all loans given out by scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks). Private banks accounted for 19.5%. In September 2023, these figures stood at 53% and 42.1%, respectively. So, while PSBs havent been privatized, the sector has increasingly got privatized.

Further, private banks prefer to give out retail loans. In fact, the same is true for PSBs now. In March 2013, retail loans accounted for 14.3% of the overall loans given out by PSBs. By March 2023, this had jumped to 28.3%.

There are a few other issues that come to the fore here. First, the overall retail lending by banks is actually greater than 32.5% of non-food credit. Banks lend to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which in turn give out retail loans, everything from home loans to unsecured personal loans. In March 2013, lending by banks to NBFCs stood at 5.3% of non-food credit. This went up to 9.6% as of November 2023, which explains why RBI has lately been slightly worried about the growth in unsecured personal loans.

Second, growth in retail lending by banks is one of the reasons behind the fall in household financial savings, with people taking on more retail loans and having to use a greater proportion of their income as equal monthly instalments (EMIs) to repay loans, leading to lower savings. This isnt a good long-term trend for Indias economy.

Third, while bank lending in absolute terms has grown, the same cannot be said once we adjust for an increase in size of the Indian economy, measured in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). In March 2013, the ratio of non-food credit by economic activity to GDP stood at 49%. As of March 2023, it stood at 50.1%. By September 2023, it grew to 53.3%, with a good proportion of this jump coming from the HDFC merger.

When it comes to retail lending by banks, it has grown from 9% of GDP in March 2013 to 15% as of March 2023. Industrial lending by banks has contracted from 22.4% to 12.2%. This comes with the caveat that large businesses have access to sources of borrowing other than banks. Nonetheless, bank lending to micro, small and medium businesses, which wasnt large enough to begin with, has contracted further. Lending by banks to micro, small and medium enterprises stood at 4.1% of GDP in March 2013. It has since contracted to 3.1% in March 2023, though it is an improvement from 2.5% in March 2019 and March 2020.

So, the size of the Indian banking sector has barely grown in the last 10 years and much of its growth has been on account of an increase in retail lending. Also, non-retail lending by banks has shrunk from 39.9% of GDP in March 2013 to 35.1% in March 2023. It stood at 36.3% in September, with retail lending at 17% of GDP, again as a result of the HDFC merger.

This fall is a worrying trend, given that ultimately non-retail lending by banks finances economic activity, which in turn creates jobs that pay, encouraging people to take loans and repay them. This dynamic has still not recovered from the corporate over-lending carried out by banks more than a decade back. Sometimes, time is the only healer, and that takes time.
Some Republicans now insist they will need strict new immigration restrictions in exchange for backing any bill needed to keep the government open in coming weeks. Other Republicans say that an emerging Senate deal to make funding for Ukraine contingent on specific border numbers doesnt go far enough. And House Republicans on Wednesday hosted an impeachment hearing on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been involved in the Senate negotiations, arguing that he has been derelict in his duty regarding the border for years.

Were determined to include border provisions in as many opportunities as possible," said Rep. Ben Cline (R., Va.). Its a top issue for us."

The border debate is also complicating the tightrope walk for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), who unveiled a top-line spending agreement on Sunday. Some of his GOP colleagues have painted the $1.66 trillion level struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) as a capitulation, but Johnson has called it the best deal possible given the circumstances and has sworn off a shutdown, while also nodding to the concerns about the border in his conference.

The appropriations process is to keep the government funded, to make sure our troops are paid," he said on Fox Business on Tuesday. And in the middle of all that, were having a serious fight about securing that border. And we are insistent upon that."

Behind closed doors on Wednesday morning, Johnson told House Republicans that he was hamstrung by a deal that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) had cut with President Biden that included $69 billion in spending beyond the $1.59 trillion cap in the deal, according to lawmakers leaving the meeting.

Republicans said last year that they wouldnt back new money for Ukraine without border changes, but now that arrangement with Democrats looks in peril. Schumer, asked if border security could end up being attached to the spending bill instead, and not the separate security package for Ukraine, demurred. At the moment, were working forward on both issues," he said Tuesday. Well figure out the best way to get both of them passed."

With deadlines approaching, Senate Republicans said Tuesday that Congress would have to pass another short-term deal while working on passing the full year legislation. Johnson previously said he wouldnt support another such measure after a series last year that conservatives painted as irresponsible.

At the center of Senate immigration deliberations are Sens. James Lankford (R., Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I., Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), who are trying to secure a border-policy deal in order to win GOP support for a nearly $111 billion national-security package containing a major tranche of aid for Ukraine.

The negotiators have come closer to finalizing a new authority at the border that would allow the government to simply turn back migrants asking for asylum. The expulsion power could be used once a daily threshold of several thousand have crossed the border, according to people familiar with the matter. That threshold remains undecided.

But some Senate Republicans are skeptical that the new powers would be meaningful, saying that the level of migration triggering what they see as amounting to the closure of the border would be too high.

Heres the trigger theyre talking about: if apprehensions or encounters exceed 5,000, or Ive heard 4,000, then we shut down the border," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.). Thats still a catastrophe. Plus, how are they going to shut down the border?"

In recent months, apprehensions at the border have hit as many as 10,000 people a day.

The largest remaining sticking point is whether to limit a separate power known as humanitarian parole, which allows the government to let in migrants who dont have any legal basis to enter the country. The Biden administration has been using the power liberally at legal ports of entry to motivate migrants to make appointments to enter the country in advance, rather than crossing illegally.

Its a big issue," Lankford said. He will brief the Houses conservative Republican Study Committee on Wednesday and will separately update Senate Republicans at a closed-door meeting later in the day.

Schumer defended parole as a way for the administration to better manage the flow in a planful way."

The border fight has become entangled with a separate fight over keeping the government funded, in part because that is a key piece of leverage for Republicans. Funding for some government departments expires after Jan. 19, with the rest expiring after Feb. 2.

Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas) has led the charge in saying he cant vote to fund the government unless tough new border policies are enacted. He already succeeded in getting through the House a bill funding the Homeland Security Department that would condition the funding on enacting a House-passed border-security bill.

He also indicated that if matters didnt improve to his liking, he would be open to the idea of filing a motion to vacate the chair, the same procedure that other Republicans used to push out McCarthy.

On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee is holding the first in a series of Mayorkas impeachment hearings, featuring testimony from several states attorneys general.

The White House said Republicans are being irresponsible with the Mayorkas hearing and a separate contempt hearing for President Bidens son, Hunter Biden.House Republicans are less than ten days from sparking a partial government shutdown that many of their extreme members are rooting for, but instead of working full time to avoid it, they are wasting time on political stunts," said White House spokesman Ian Sams.

Annie Linskey contributed to this article.

Write to Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com
The novelist Henry James said that Ralph Waldo Emersonwho was once the countrys beloved essayist-laureate, author of the iconic American effusion called Self-Reliance" and the semiofficial philosopher of entrepreneurial individualismsuffered from a fatal flaw. Emersons disabling defect, James thought, was innocence: He had no sense of the dark, the foul, the base." The novelist said of the essayist: A ripe unconsciousness of evil is . . . one of the most beautiful signs by which we know him."

James and Emerson were giants of American literature long ago, but they belonged to different generations. Emerson (1803-82) wrote his important essays (those sun-shot prose miracles of the countrys morning energy) in the years before the Civil War, before that catastrophic crack in American history. James (1843-1916) composed his elaborately shadowed novels well after Appomattox. It was the Civil War that introduced the naive country to its fallen self. The conflict ushered in, among other things, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, the Gilded Age and the robber barons, mass immigration from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe. James and Emerson came of age in two different Americas. No wonder, then, that they had different ideas about the countrys capacity for good or evil.

Emerson graduated with Harvards class of 1821. James studied at the law school 40 years later, during the Civil War. I mention them because those sons of Harvard framed the issue that haunts the great university now. The controversy that divides Harvard in the 21st century is rooted in the question of American theodicy: How can the countrys evils be reconciled with its core Emersonian ideal of excellence, individualism, freedom of thought and speech, and other foundational notions thatnot always honored but always implicitly thereare essential to the countrys future?

Emerson, the woke may say, was as white as a white man can be. Claudine Gays vision has never been impaired by his sweet, transcendental astigmatism. Ms. Gay came into office last summer as Harvards president with a transformative" agenda that assumed the universitysand the countrysembedded evil: racism, white supremacy, oppression of minorities, especially of blacks.

Its a moral question in a different key, but Ms. Gay and her supporters seem unfazed by this contradiction: If America is so oppressively evil, how did it happen that this black professor, with embarrassingly meager qualifications, found herself at the pinnacle of American academic life as president of Harvard? How is it that, having been forced to resignnot, as she claims, because of racism but because of her own shortcomings, including extensive plagiarismshe will stay on as a professor at the university with a salary of more than $900,000 a year? The cost of a four-year Harvard education these days is estimated at $334,000. Instead of firing her for cause, it will be as if Harvard had decided that a dozen undergraduates painfully assembled tuitions are to be allocated each year to finance Ms. Gays opulence and soothe her bruised feelings.

Harvards motto is veritastruth. That was never meant to be a claim that Harvard already possesses the truth. Rather, it was a promise to struggle to search for the truth. The flaw in Ms. Gays visionand that of the diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracy that she and her fellow ideologues have assembledis that they do claim they already possess it. They set about trying to reorganize the institution to impose their party line. This defeats the universitys purpose, which is noble in itself and essentially self-effacing. Harvard has no business operating as a madrassa of the progressive left. In Self-Reliance," Emerson wrote: We are now men, and . . . not minors and invalids in a protected corner." He would have scorned the woke hysteria over pronouns and microaggressions and the atmosphere of doctrinaire self-pity.

As another son of Harvard (class of 1963), Id cast a vote for Emerson and a return of the university to its Emersonian self. Let it be morning again in Cambridge, Mass., and not the bitter ideological dusk of the woke, which feels like Walter Ulbrichts East Germany in the 1950s, and where, in Emersons words, the virtue in most request is conformity."

Henry James was wrong about Emerson and evil, by the way. Emerson abominated slavery. He called the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 a filthy law." He was friendly to John Brown. Of New England fortunes founded on the slave trade, he said, it is high time our bad wealth came to an end. I am sure I shall very cheerfully take my share of suffering in the ruin of such a prosperity and shall very willingly turn to the mountains to chop wood and seek to find for myself and my children labors compatible with freedom and honor."

In the big realm of ideas and art, Emersons whiteness was no more disqualifyinglet alone oppressive or evilthan William Shakespeares. To say otherwise is to embrace an ignorant, inverted racism that has no place at any university.

Mr. Morrow is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of The Noise of Typewriters: Remembering Journalism."
Maharashtra legislative Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is set to announce verdict on the disqualification petitions filed by the two warring Sena factions- Eknath Shinde faction, and Uddhav Thackeray faction. Narwekar is slated to deliver his much-awaited verdict on the disqualification pleas at 4 pm on Wednesday.

The political temperature rose in Maharashtra on Tuesday ahead of the crucial verdict by the assembly speaker on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, an outcome which will decide the way forward for the Eknath Shinde government and also the regional outfit's rival groups.

In June 2022, Shinde and dozens of other Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, leading to a split in the Sena and fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government.

The disqualification petitions were filed by both Shinde and Thackeray factions against each other's legislators, seeking disqualification under the anti-defection law. Of 56 MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena, 40 are with Shinde.

The Supreme Court had on 15 December 2023 extended the deadline for Narwekar to decide the disqualification petitions from 31 December to 10 January.

While extending the deadline for deciding the disqualification petitions till January 10, the Supreme Court had said the sanctity of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution should be maintained.

The top court had also asked the speaker to decide the NCP's petition seeking disqualification of nine MLAs of the Ajit Pawar group by January 31, 2024. In July last year, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP also joined the Shinde-led government.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Sunil Prabhu, who was the chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena had filed the disqualification petitions against Eknath Shinde and other MLAs in 2022.

Later, a separate plea was filed by the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for a direction to the speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification petitions against deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and party MLAs loyal to him.

The 10th Schedule of the Constitution is designed to prevent defection of elected and nominated members of Parliament and state legislatures from political parties on whose ticket they win, and contains stringent provisions against it under which they can be disqualified.

The delay in deciding the disqualification petitions against Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to him had come under strict scrutiny by the apex court which had come down hard on the assembly speaker at previous hearings, saying the proceedings cannot be reduced to a charade and that he cannot "defeat" its orders.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed confidence and said that numbers were stacked in favour of the Shiv Sena led by him.

Even the Election Commission has recognised that the majority of Shiv Sena lawmakers were with his faction, Shinde told reporters here. "Numbers are important in democracy. We have a majority in the assembly and Lok Sabha," he said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray denounced in Supreme Court the "highly improper" meeting between Maharashtra CM Shinde and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, barely three days before the deadline set by the apex court for the latter to decide cross-petitions filed by rival Sena factions seeking disqualification of several of each other's MLAs.

According to news reports, Narwekar met Shinde at 'Varsha', the chief minister's official residence on January 7.

Assembly polls in Maharashtra are due in the second half of 2024.

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Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government denying" the state the opportunity to present a tableau at the 26 January Republic Day Parade , scheduled to be held in national capital Delhi.

On Tuesday Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to microblogging platform X to hit out at Indian government by accusing them of denying the Karnataka tableau because there is Congress government in the state.

"The central government has insulted the seven crore Kannadigas by denying the opportunity for the state's tableau at the Republic Day parade to be held in New Delhi on January 26," Siddaramaiah said on social media platform X.

The fact that the Congress government is in power in the state seems to be a factor of concern for the BJP-led central government, the chief minister said adding that, from devolution of tax to the injustice in drought relief, to the sale of banks, ports, and airports built by Kannadigas, the Centre is constantly attacking the people of the state with political malice.

In May 2023, the Congress defeated the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government to win the governance seat in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Siddaramaiah in his post said the proposals for Republic Day tableau from Karnataka included showcasing the life of Mysuru ruler Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, Kittur Rani Chennamma who fought against the British like Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai and Bengaluru founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda.

"We had conceptualised the tableau of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar to depict his immense contributions to democracy and development of our state. We had also sent proposals to depict the contributions of Kittur Rani Chennamma and Nadaprabhu Kempegowda too along with the proposals to showcase Karnatakas rich heritage and Brand Bengaluru," the chief minister explained.

"However, the central committee rejected our request, depriving us of the opportunity to introduce the nation to our state's immense achievements and exemplary figures," he alleged.
Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely on December 10 said key discussions on seat-sharing between his party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to fight together in the upcoming general elections will take place in their next meeting, which is expected to be held on January 12, news agency PTI reported.

The Delhi Congress president said no discussion on seat-sharing took place in the first meeting held on January 8.

"No discussion on seat-sharing has taken place yet. Media reports stating that the AAP offered three seats to the Congress are incorrect. The meeting held on December 8 was the first time we came together for a discussion and various strategies to fight the elections were discussed," PTI quoted Lovely as saying.

"Seat-sharing will most likely be discussed in the next meeting," he added.

Also Read | Sena vs Sena: Maharashtra Speaker Narwekar rules in favour of Shinde faction

Meanwhile, Delhi Cabinet Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj has rejected the media reports of his party offering three seats to the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The speculation is "nowhere near truth", Bharadwaj said.

"All speculation appearing in the media is nowhere near truth. Our discussions are going in a very positive manner and efforts are on to make the alliance strong," the Delhi minister, who was also present at the alliance meeting on January 8 at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik's residence, said.

The Aam Aadmi Party has maintained its stand on contesting in an alliance with the Congress in five states, including Punjab, and the discussion has so far been positive, the party's Delhi convener Gopal Rai said.

"Alliance talks have begun between the two parties. We kept our stand on contesting in an alliance in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat. Till now, there have been positive discussions," Rai said.

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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to announce its candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections in late January or early February, sources told India Today TV o n Wednesday. The BJP is likely to contest on over 400 of the total 543 seats and is looking forward to winning 50 per cent vote share.

The India Today report added that the BJP is expected to contest more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as compared to that in 2019. In the previous general elections, the BJP contested 436 out of 543 seats. The party had won 303 seats.

Sharing details of the BJP's candidate list, the sources claimed the the list will feature candidates for more seats, "particularly in the 164 constituencies where the party previously struggled or narrowly won in 2019".

ALSO READ: 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: Not based on common ideology, BJP's Giriraj Singh criticises INDIA for selfish motives

The BJP reportedly plans to announce candidates for several constituencies including Rae Bareli, Mainpuri, Bijnor, Saharanpur, Sambhal, Muradabad, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Rampur, Azamgarh, Nagina, Amroha, Ambedkar Nagar, Shravasti, Ghosi, and Lalganj in the first list, sources told India Today.

The party will reportedly be focusing on "31 other weaker constituencies". "These seats have been categorised into 'C' and 'D' groups, with 45 ministers overseeing two to three seats each," the report said. It added that the BJP identified 14 weak seats in Uttar Pradesh.

ALSO READ: 2024 Lok Sabha polls: PM Modi's 3rd straight term 'almost an inevitability', declares column in UK daily

Meanwhile, NDTV reported that the BJP is looking at all possible ways, including bringing in leaders from other parties, to achieve the 400 target. Sources told the media-house that BJP chief JP Nadda assigned different responsibilities to various general secretaries of the party during a strategy meeting held on Tuesday. BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde was reportedly given charge of the joining committee.

ALSO READ: Congress considers contesting 255 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha polls amid rift in INDIA bloc

"This committee will explore the possibility of bringing influential leaders and sitting MPs from other parties to the BJP. The decision will be taken based on the person's influence in the constituency and his or her ability to win elections," a source said. They added that the BJP may explore this option, particularly in seats where "it does not feel it has a candidate capable of winning".

ALSO READ: Is INDIA bloc making progress at seat-sharing talks ahead of Lok Sabha polls? A state-wise analysis

Besides this, BJP's General Secretary Radhamohan Das Aggarwal has reportedly been given the task of making the vision document for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Lok Sabha Elections in India are set to take place this year. The Election Commission is yet to announce the poll schedule.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's "faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022", ruled Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday. The verdict came as a major setback for the Uddhav Thackeray faction as Narwekar rejected the petition by Thackeray to disqualify 16 Shiv Sena MLAs including Shinde.

ALSO READ: Sena vs Sena: Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar says Uddhav Thackeray had no power to remove Eknath Shinde

On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker issued a verdict on disqualification pleas against Eknath Shinde and several MLAs. As the verdict came in favour of the Shinde faction, here's what happens next with the Uddhav Thackeray faction, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

Following the Speaker's verdict, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray warned that their political party will approach the Supreme Court against the Speakers order.

ALSO READ: 'Real Shiv Sena' verdict: Maharashtra Speaker tells Uddhav Thackeray's faction what it takes to move SC

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Speaker's verdict was in violation of the Supreme Court order and is a "ploy to kill democracy". Thackeray had earlier raised objection to a meeting between Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Eknath Shinde, just ahead of the verdict in the Shiv Sena MLA disqualification case.

Thackeray said, "The way he made Narvekar sit, it was clear that he was in collusion. I had expressed my doubts yesterday that this is a ploy to kill democracy... We will see whether a case of contempt of the Supreme Court can be made out or not."

ALSO READ: Shiv Sena battle: SC grants Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar time till Jan 10 to give verdict on MLA disqualification

Explaining further, Thackeray said, "The Supreme Court had clearly said that the Governor had misused his position and made a wrong decision...Supreme Court will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena..."

According to reports, Uddhav Thackeray had said earlier that his party had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a visit by Speaker Rahul Narwekar to Eknath Shinde before the verdict on disqualification pleas.

Meanwhile, Raut said,  Todays Shiv Sena owner Mr Shinde wasnt even born when the party was established...The Shiv Sena won't finish with this one decision. We will go to the Supreme Court." Sanjay Raut alleged a "match-fixing" in this case.
Bhutan has elected Tshering Tobgay to become prime minister for a second time. Bhutan has been one of Indias closest regional allies. The countrys pressing economic challenges and an exodus of talent leaving the country were key issues in the election. Mint breaks this down.

What were the election results?

Harvard educated Tshering Tobgay, who served as prime minister between 2013 and 2018, led his Peoples Democratic party (PDP) to a solid victory. His party secured 30 of the 47 available seats, with the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP) winning the other 17. Tobgays return marks the first time that a former prime minister has been re-elected to the office. Bhutan, a country of around 800,000 people, has been a democracy since 2008. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Tobgay on his return to office.

What are the key issues Bhutan facing?

The economy is the top issue. Since the covid-19 pandemic, Bhutan has struggled economically with high debt, reduced tourism revenues and falling foreign reserves. A youth unemployment crisis has forced thousands to leave the country in search for opportunities abroad. Bhutans government has recognized this, with plans to set up a new special administrative region at Gelephu to attract investment. The country is also looking to increase capital expenditure through the next Five Year Plan.

How does India figure in these plans?

India has pledged budgetary support for Bhutans next Five Year Plan. The new economic project at Gelephu will also be linked to Assams Kokrajhar by rail along with a number of other connectivity projects. Bhutans King has also met with senior Indian business leaders during his visits to India in 2023 in order to attract investments to the country. India has long been Bhutans top economic partner and helped develop the countrys hydropower sector, which is among the key pillars of the countrys economy.

Are there any implications for India?

While all parties largely agree on foreign policy and maintaining a close relationship with India, Bhutan has also considered establishing diplomatic ties with China. Settling a long running bilateral border dispute and enhancing Chinese investments could help turn the countrys economy around. However, that will worry India given that Bhutan has been considerate regarding New Delhis sensitivities on China. This engagement with China is not expected to be reversed under the new government.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar held on Wednesday that the Eknath Shinde-led faction was the real Shiv Sena and no MLA would be disqualified. The decision sparked outrage in the Opposition ranks with several leaders from the Maha Vikas Aghadi lashing out at the ruling coalition. Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also declared his intention to approach the Supreme Court over the matter.

The Speaker's order that has come today is a murder of democracy and is also an insult to the decision of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had clearly said that the Governor had misused his position and made a wrong decision...We will fight this battle further and we have full confidence in the Supreme Court...Supreme Court will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena..." Thackeray said.

The former Chief Minister also said that the Speaker had ignored guidelines shared by the apex court while delivering his verdict on the disqualification petitions filed by the rival Sena factions. Narwekar insisted that the Shiv Sena pramukh (chief) did not have the power to remove any leader from the party. He also rejected all petitions seeking the disqualification of MLAs and insisted that the will of the party chief and the will of the party were not synonymous.

"The people in the government, including Chief Minister, had on several instances spoken on what sort of decision would be coming and it shows they had an inkling about the verdict (going in their favour) and that assurance used to get reflected in their statements," said NCP founder Sharad Pawar.

Meanwhile Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde hailed the decision as a victory of truth and democracy as well as a win for the Shiv Sena workers and people of Maharashtra.

It is Satyamev Jayate. Truth has won. This result has been given on meritIn a democracy, majority is important, so this decision is based on merit...nobody can use a political party as their private property...this is a big shock to those people who run political parties through dynasty..." he asserted.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar said on Wednesday, "...just because you approach the court does not mean that the order passed by the Speaker is overturned." His statement came as the Uddhav Thackeray faction mulls approaching the Supreme Court against Narvekar's verdict on disqualification pleas.

Narvekar said one has "to establish that it (the verdict) is illegal or untenable in the eyes of the law." And, the Uddhav Thackeray faction's "baseless allegations do not substantiate that," the Maharashtra Speaker said late Wednesday.

Narvekar also termed the allegation of "match-fixing" just ahead of the verdict as "baseless". He said he has to perform his other duties being an MLA and member of a legislative board. He said, "There's no provision under law that says that while the Speaker is adjudicating disqualification petitions, he should not perform his other duties."

ALSO READ: Shiv Sena battle: SC grants Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar time till Jan 10 to give verdict on MLA disqualification

"I am a member of a legislative board...the chief minister is the member. We have to meet every month to discuss various issues pertaining to the board. I am also an MLA of the constituencies- and so I have various issues which I have to take up with the government...There's nothing unreasonable in meeting the chief minister," Narvekar told news agency ANI.

After the Maharashtra Speaker announced its decision in favour of the Shinde faction Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray's faction leader Sanjay Raut said that this is all match-fixing and they will approach the Supreme Court. Thackeray had earlier raised objection to a meeting between Narwekar and Shinde, just ahead of the verdict in the Shiv Sena MLA disqualification case.

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered a verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year. In his verdict, Narwekar said on Wednesday that the "Shinde faction was real Shiv Sena when rival factions emerged".

The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said "decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as decision of the political party".

"In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution cannot remove anyone from the party...Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," the Speaker said.

The Supreme Court had last month asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.

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Maharashtra Legislative Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is yet to announce the verdict on the disqualification pleas filed by both factions of Shiv Sena. On Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde exuberated confidence in the speaker's decision. CM Shinde said we have a majority".

CM Shinde substantiated his claim that his faction of Shiv Sena MLAs has the majority by mentioning 67% in Vidhan Sabha and 75% in Lok Sabha. We have 13 MPS and 50 MLAs". Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says, I will give an official statement after 4pm. I just want to say that we have a majority. 67% in Vidhan Sabha and 75% in Lok Sabha. We have 13 MPS and 50 MLAs. Based on this majority, the Election Commission has recognised us as the original Shiv Sena and allotted the bow-arrow symbol. We hope that the speaker will pass us on merit..."

Ahead of the crucial verdict by the assembly speaker on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, the political temperature has risen in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar is slated to deliver his much-awaited verdict on the disqualification pleas at 4 pm on Wednesday.

Sanjay Raut says Match fixing is going to happen

Shiv Sena (UBT faction) leader Sanjay Raut questioned the timing of an upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Alleging that PM Modi is "well aware" of the verdict in advance, Raut said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is "illegally" running the government.

"Match fixing... is going to happen in Maharashtra today at 4 pm. The Maharashtra Chief Minister (Eknath Shinde) is illegally running the government. For us, that is a crime. He is an accused," Raut said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Shiv Sena Split case

The disqualification pleas have been pending since the Maharashtra political crises started. The plea sought direction for the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions within a time-bound manner.

The disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs were filed by Sunil Prabhu, the Shiv Sena party Whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray, on 23 June 2022, after the MLAs revolted against Thackeray. The notices of disqualification were issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal in the absence of the Speaker.

On June 29, 2022, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30.

After the apex court's order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister.

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In crisis after crisis over the past three years, President Biden has resisted pressure to fire members of his administration. The president rejected calls for the ouster of national security advisers following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has declined to push out cabinet secretaries or senior aides in response to the rise in migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, or revamp his political campaign amid poor polling.

When it looked like his agenda was stalled on Capitol Hill early in his term, Biden made no major personnel changes, and he has declined to remove Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra despite frustration from inside and outside the administration about his performance.

In the most recent example of Bidens hesitance to dole out pink slips, the president isnt considering firing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after the Pentagon chief hid his medical situation from the White House.

The president has full confidence in the secretary," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday after the Pentagon disclosed Austin had been treated for prostate cancer. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden plans to keep Austin in his role for the rest of his term.

Though Austin could still choose to resign without prompting from Biden, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder has said Austin intends to remain in his position.

The lack of transparency around Austins medical issuesthe defense secretary didnt inform the White House both times he was hospitalized and transferred authority to run the Pentagon to his deputyhas prompted some Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), and Trump, to demand his resignation. On Tuesday, four House Republican lawmakers who are former military pilots criticized Austin for a serious lapse in judgment" and called on him to resign or be dismissed. Other elected Republicans, along with many Democrats, have said he should remain in his post or that it was too early to determine whether he should step down.

The minimal turnover in the top ranks of Bidens team is a sharp departure from the Trump administration. The then-president, whose celebrity status was cemented during a reality-television show in which he delivered the catch phrase youre fired," pushed out a raft of senior officials across the governmentfrom White House chiefs of staff to cabinet secretaries. The pace of personnel change was so rapid that it alarmed veterans of Washington, who worried that the lack of consistency would slow crucial government operations.

Biden, on the other hand, is loath to give in to pressure campaigns to replace members of his team. People close to him said the president is dismissive of such efforts, seeing them as fleeting and nakedly political. Biden and his senior advisers also believe that social media sometimes amplifies online outrage in a way that doesnt reflect the views of most voters, and the president often reminds his staff to take the long view instead of being hyper-reactive.

President Biden has delivered historic results for the American peoplelike unprecedented job creation, rebuilding our alliances, and empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug costsbecause he leads based on values, he makes informed, long-term strategies, and he creates a healthy managerial culture," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.

The president faced perhaps the most significant pressure to fire senior members of his administration during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was completed in the summer of 2021 after weeks of disarray and a suicide-bomb attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians.

President Biden needs to fire his national security adviser and several other senior leaders who oversaw the botched execution of our withdrawal from Afghanistan," Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and Obama White House official, wrote in an op-ed at the time. Many Republicans said the same.

The presidents advisers say Bidens decision to ignore his critics in Washington has sometimes paid off. Lawmakers, including some Democrats, grumbled about then-White House chief of staff Ron Klain when Bidens education, climate and healthcare package seemed doomed. But Democrats later passed a slimmed down version of the plan, and Biden signed it into law with his chief of staff looking on. Klain stepped down voluntarily last year.

Over a decadeslong career in Washington, Biden has assembled a tightknit group of advisers who are loyal to and protective of him. The president returns that loyalty, according to his aides. But he also claims to hold staff to high standards. Upon taking office, Biden told administration officials that he would fire them on the spot if they disrespected their colleagues.

He is not reluctant to fire people. You do not rise to a high level if youre reluctant to fire people. If he finds someone who he thinks should go, then theyll go," said former Sen. Ted Kaufman, who has known Biden for decades. But he added that Biden wouldnt have been able to attain the positions hes been able to attain if he blew back and forth like the napkins at Washingtons cocktail parties."

The minimal turnover is unusual. Only one member of Bidens cabinet has stepped down since the start of the administration: Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

That is the least turnover of any presidency going back to at least Ronald Reagan, according to data collected by Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at Brookings who studies personnel changes in the government. For other senior level positions, Bidens turnover is on par with past presidents such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Tenpas has identified only two resignations under pressure among the most senior advisers in the executive office of the president. In February 2021, TJ Ducklo stepped down as a White House spokesman after making threatening remarks to a reporter. He joined Bidens re-election campaign last year.

Eric Lander, Bidens top science adviser, resigned in February 2022 after an internal White House investigation found that he demeaned staff in violation of the administrations workplace-behavior rules.

Biden has also pushed out lower-level holdovers from the Trump administration who declined to resign.

This is a low-drama White House in terms of staffing," Tenpas said, describing the turnover during the Trump administration as off the charts."

Write to Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com
Xi Jinping learned a lot from his first job. As secretary to Geng Biao, a vice-premier and defence minister, from 1979 to 1982, he handled sensitive documents and joined top-level conclaves. He travelled abroad for the first time. And he spent countless hours listening to Genga former general and ambassadoras they shuttled between meetings in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes or unwound playing a game of weiqi, also known as Go.

More importantly, Mr Xi witnessed firsthand the parlous state of the PLA. It had just been fought to a stalemate by Vietnam. It was still using old Soviet weapons technology, some of it dating to the second world war. And despite China opening diplomatic ties with America, Geng had failed to persuade it to supply missiles and other lethal arms during a visit there in 1980 (although he did get a private White House screening of The Empire Strikes Back").

Four decades on, Mr Xi leads a country that can design and produce almost all of the modern weaponry that it needs. His mostly state-run defence industry manufactures nuclear-powered submarines, stealth fighters and a formidable arsenal of missiles. The Pentagon says that the PLA has deployed a medium-range hypersonic missile that can fly on the atmospheres edge and change course to evade defences. It also says that in 2021 China tested a longer-range version that could one day carry a nuclear bomb to Americas mainland (China says it was a space vehicle).

And yet Chinese armaments still suffer technical flaws, supply-chain problems and development delays. Its ten big state-owned arms-makers are overstaffed, poorly run and prone to conceal mistakes. A drive to involve the private sector has yet to bear fruit. And for some key components, China is still dependent on other countries whose reliability as suppliers is in doubt.

Corruption persists, too, despite Mr Xis efforts. The PLA revamp he started in 2016 included establishing a new Equipment Development Department and strict rules on ordering and testing weapons. But this July that department acknowledged graft had persisted. It called for tip-offs of violations since 2017 including favouritism, collusion, cover-ups and actively leaking secrets".

Some Western officials believe that may be linked to the disappearance since August of General Li Shangfu, who was sacked as defence minister in October after seven months in the job. He led the Equipment Development Department from 2017 to 2022.

Russian roulette

Even before the war in Ukraine, the PLA had suggested that it was falling short of its goals, with military publications often repeating Mr Xis assertion that it did not yet have the weapons to win a high-tech war. Those concerns have intensified as Ukrainian forces have exposed flaws in Russian arms, many of which China has bought and copied since being hit with Western arms embargoes after the PLAs killing of pro-democracy protesters in 1989.

View Full Image Graphic: The Economist

The vulnerability of Russian tanks, armoured vehicles and warships to portable missile systems and drones has been a particular concern. We must promptly make corresponding improvements to the protection of relevant equipment to minimise combat losses," said a defence industry journal in October 2022.

Mr Xi also appears unnerved by American curbs on exports to China of chips and other tech with military uses. Addressing PLA officers in March, he said Chinas defence industry needed to focus more on innovation, self-reliance and winning wars".

Now an economic slowdown could squeeze military spending at the same time as more of it is being used to sweeten benefits for recruits. Were still far from matching America," Senior Colonel Zhang Chi of the PLA National Defence University tells The Economist. Our biggest problem is that Chinas economy needs to develop more. We just dont have the money."

Take that with a fistful of salt. Chinas 2023 military budget is $225bn (compared with Americas $817bn) but is thought to exclude key items such as arms imports. China gets more bang for its buck, too, with lower labour and other costs. Its spies have stolen lots of foreign military tech. And its universities produce many more doctorates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics than do Americas.

That has helped China to take the lead in research into some high-tech areas, such as hypersonic weapons and underwater drones, some experts say. But it has yet to master design and mass production of some older technology which, as the war in Ukraine has shown, could still play a key role in any near-term conflict. Engines have been a particular problem.

Consider Chinas J-20 stealth fighters, which first flew in 2011. For years most used a Russian engine. By 2022 that had been replaced with a Chinese one, the WS-10, which is less durable and has limited capacity for supersonic flight without using an afterburner. That makes the jet much less stealthya serious problem when anti-aircraft systems can make non-stealthy aircraft almost unusable, as Russia has found in Ukraine.

Then, in late June, video footage surfaced on Chinese social media appearing to show a test flight of the same stealth fighter with a more powerful, reliable and fuel-efficient Chinese engine, known as the WS-15. Chinese experts hailed it as a breakthrough. Some suggested it was already in mass production and could match the Pratt & Whitney engine on Americas stealthy F-22.

Yet Zhang Yong of the Aero Engine Corporation of China, which makes military aircraft engines, sounded more cautious at a conference three months earlier. Technological bottlenecks" on the WS-15 were resolved but supply chains for its components needed to be improved, he said. He also suggested that China still imported 2% of the roughly 90,000 components for the older WS-10.

Even if the J-20s new engine really does rival the F-22s, it is noteworthy that China took so long to match an engine that began development in the 1980s and stopped production in 2013. It brings Chinese engines squarely into the late 20th century," says Jeremiah Gertler, a military aviation specialist at Americas Centre for Strategic and International Studies. The gap is narrowing, he says, but engine development in the West has moved on".

Marine engines also have been a challenge. Many PLA ships use Ukrainian, French or German engines made under licence in China. Several Chinese diesel-electric submarines use German engines, too, while nuclear-powered models are thought to rely heavily on Russian technology.

Marine and aircraft engines accounted for more than 55% of Chinas arms imports between 2017 and 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which monitors the global arms trade. That was a worry for the PLA even before the war in Ukraine. In certain areas, were still dependent on foreign suppliers," wrote Tang Guoyong, a PLA researcher, in 2020. This poses significant risks in future warfare."

It is fair to say Ukraines future as a supplier is in doubt. Russia might be willing to provide more advanced technology given its growing dependence on China. But its ability to fulfil orders could be impaired. European suppliers, meanwhile, are under increasing American pressure to stop supplying anything that the PLA could use.

That became apparent last year when Germany blocked the export of a German engine for a Chinese submarine sold to Thailand. China offered one of its own but Thailand refused, saying the engine was not proven", an indication that it had not yet been used on a submarine. Thailand did send experts to China to investigate but shelved the deal in October and proposed buying a Chinese frigate instead. The saga indicated a puzzling bottleneck" in Chinas technological capabilities, says Sarah Kirchberger, an expert on the PLA navy at the German Maritime Institute.

Chinas reputation as an arms exporter has been damaged, too, by recent reports of defects in equipment sold to countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and Nigeria. China does not export its best kit. But some recent problems affect the PLAs own inventory. One Chinese study of its military UAVs in 2020 found that the drones often fail to meet actual combat needs" due to technical faults.

Arms-makers the world over are notorious for cost overruns, delays and defects. But Chinas problems are rooted in its politics and history. Its defence industry was modelled on the Soviet Unions and retains many similar flaws, including a highly compartmentalised structure born of an obsession with secrecy, with strict divisions between research and production units.

Chinas defence-research institutes are also deeply influenced by central planning, writes Ren Zhen of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, which helps develop nuclear weapons. Complex organisation and severe internal friction make the institutes incompatible with the modern goal of achieving fast and high-quality project results". He also cited insufficient pay in the sector.

None of that stopped China from making huge strides in defence technology in recent years. It will make more. But the pace of progress across the board is not as impressive as headlines suggest. And complex new challenges have emerged from the war in Ukraine. Mr Xi says he wants the PLA to be basically" modernised by 2035. From where hes sitting, that is still an ambitious target.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Identifying stocks with the potential to double or skyrocket within months is a daunting task. While quick gains are enticing, the wiser approach often involves investing in robust companies set for long-term growth. As we navigate the dynamic landscape of the stock market, the electric vehicle (EV) sector emerges as a promising frontier, despite its recent ups and downs. Lets delve into two EV stocksRivian and Fiskerthat could redefine their trajectories in 2024.

1. Rivian: Rising from Challenges

Rivian, not too long ago, stood as a risky bet in the EV arena. Production hiccups and escalating cash burn rates weighed down its stock value. Fast forward to 2023, and Rivian showcased resilience, producing 57,232 vehicles and achieving deliveries of over 50,122 units. The momentum continues into 2024, with the manufacturers Q4 production touching 17,541 vehicles.

The companys recent partnership with AT&T signifies its growing commercial appeal beyond its initial association with Amazon. Furthermore, Rivians strategic initiatives, such as its leasing program, underscore managements confidence in production capabilities. As the company prepares to break ground on its Georgia factory, anticipation builds around its next-generation R2 vehicles.

With 2024 earmarked as the year Rivian aims for gross profit positivity, its stock could be on the cusp of a significant upswing, backed by promising growth catalysts.

2. Fisker: Navigating Challenges

Fiskers journey has been marked by investor skepticism, primarily concerning its financial disclosures and the 2023 decision to curtail production. However, the company closed 2023 on a positive note, witnessing a surge of over 300% in EV deliveries from Q3 to Q4.

A closer look reveals an opportunity: Fiskers production of 10,142 Ocean SUVs in 2023 vastly outpaced its deliveries, indicating room for revenue growth. Addressing this gap hinges on Fiskers ability to enhance its delivery infrastructure, a challenge the company acknowledges.

In a strategic move, Fisker unveiled plans to establish approximately 100 dealer locations across Europe and North America. This aggressive dealership strategy could be the linchpin for bolstering sales and instilling investor confidence.

Conclusion

The U.S. EV market, while brimming with potential, has encountered its share of obstacles, from economic uncertainties to competitive pricing dynamics. Nevertheless, both Rivian and Fisker present compelling growth narratives for 2024. As these companies navigate challenges and leverage growth opportunities, investors poised to capitalize on the EV sectors evolution could witness substantial stock appreciation.

Shayne Heffernan
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In a significant revelation, Chinese state-backed experts claim to have identified a vulnerability in Apples encrypted AirDrop messaging service, raising concerns about user privacy and the potential misuse of technology for surveillance purposes.

Understanding AirDrop and Its Significance

AirDrop, a popular feature among Apple device users, facilitates the seamless transfer of contentbe it photos, videos, or documentsacross devices in proximity without requiring an internet connection. This encrypted service was particularly pivotal during the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, serving as a tool for communication among demonstrators seeking to evade surveillance.

The Security Breach: What Does It Entail?

The Beijing municipal governments justice bureau revealed that experts at the Beijing Wangshen Dongjian Justice Appraisal Institute have developed a method to unveil an iPhones encrypted device log. This discovery allows these experts to potentially identify an AirDrop users phone number and associated email accounts. According to the bureaus statement, this breakthrough addresses the technological challenge of transmitting inappropriate information with anonymous traceability via AirDrop.

Implications for User Privacy and Safety

Such a breach not only compromises the privacy of users but also has wider implications for freedom of expression and security. Given the reports of individuals in China leveraging AirDrop to disseminate digital leaflets critical of the government, this vulnerability could further stifle dissent and curtail civil liberties. The enhanced capabilities of the technique have purportedly aided law enforcement agencies in pinpointing suspects, although specifics regarding arrests or convictions remain undisclosed. The USA has the same access from Apple already.

Apples Response and Previous Measures

In response to growing concerns and potential misuse of AirDrop, Apple introduced an update in November 2022 tailored for Chinese users, but have left the door open for the US Government. This modification mandated users of Apple smartphones in China to manually opt-in to receive files from unknown contacts within a restricted 10-minute timeframe. Such a limitation aimed to mitigate unexpected file transfers from unidentified individuals, thereby enhancing user control and security.

However, critics argue that these modifications underscore Apples ongoing challenges in navigating its relationship with Chinas regulatory environment. The tech giant has faced scrutiny for perceived concessions to the Chinese government, particularly in light of Beijings imposition of a far-reaching national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, which has substantially curtailed public dissent and autonomy in the region. The USA does the same thing and Apple has a long history of handing over user data to the US government.

Conclusion: Balancing Innovation with Security

As technology continues to evolve and integrate into various facets of daily life, ensuring the security and privacy of users remains paramount. The recent revelation concerning AirDrop underscores the intricate challenges faced by tech companies operating within authoritarian regimes and the delicate balance between innovation, user safety, and geopolitical considerations.

While Apples efforts to enhance user security through updates are commendable, ongoing vigilance and collaboration with cybersecurity experts worldwide are essential to address vulnerabilities effectively. As the digital landscape evolves, stakeholders must prioritize safeguarding user privacy and upholding fundamental freedoms, even in the face of increasing regulatory pressures and technological complexities.
Year to date Chattanooga has had 116 pedestrians struck by cars and 15 of those incidents were fatal.
Bianca Horton is pictured with her daughter Zoey, who was paralyzed from a shooting in 2015. Horton was killed in 2016 before she could testify against the man accused of shooting her daughter, Cortez Sims, a local gang member.
A Longford man who was previously convicted of harassing and abusing a Fine Gael senator has received a second suspended sentence after pleading guilty to sending grossly offensive messages to Fianna Fail Junior Health Minister Mary Butler.

David Larkin, 33 Ardnacassa Lawns, Longford, was handed down a three month suspended prison sentence at a sitting of Longford District Court on Tuesday, January 9.

The 43-year-old was charged with two counts of sending a message that was grossly offensive, indecent or menacing to the Waterford TD.

The court heard that both offences occurred on January 18 and 19, 2022. Mr Larkin previously pleaded guilty on December 5, 2023.

For the State, Garda Sergeant Mark Mahon said the defendant had cooperated fully and had made admissions in relation to sending the text messages.

The defendant was vehemently opposed to the Covid 19 vaccination programme which prompted him to send the messages, Sgt Mahon outlined.

A copy of the messages was handed into court but not read out. Sgt Mahon confirmed the victim was the Minister for Mental Health and Older People.

A victim impact statement was also handed in to Judge Bernadette Owens.

"I do consider whether I would walk alone in areas anymore."



Minister of State Mary Butler gave her reaction to #Drivetime after a Longford man recieved a 3-month suspended sentence related to "grossly offensive" threats made against her. pic.twitter.com/yzxzrVypPh  RTE Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) January 10, 2024

Defence solicitor Frank Gearty said his client was remorseful and wanted to issue a public apology to the victim.

Having moved from Dublin to Longford a number of years ago, the defendant is now working in the catering industry. He worked abroad for a number of years.

He assures the victim he bears no malice towards her and regrets what happened, Mr Gearty said.

While the defendant retains his views about the efficacy of the vaccine programme, he accepts it was was not right to do what he did, Mr Gearty said.

An assurance was given by Mr Gearty that the defendant would make no further contact with the victim.

The defendant is continuing to engage with a psychologist and probation services and was doing his best to turn his life around, his solicitor said.

Mr Gearty noted that the offences before the court pre-dated the offences involving threatening messages to Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy, for which he received a suspended prison sentence.

He has great respect for the Constitution and the role you play under that, Mr Gearty told Judge Owens.

Judge Owens said the court was obligated to give Mr Larkin credit for entering a guilty plea and for co-operating with the garda investigation.

She also noted that the charges before the court were not at the same level as the case involving Senator Carrigy.

The three months prison sentence was imposed, suspended for 12 months on the defendants own bond of 250.
Longford's Dr Helen Sheridan has been appointed to the Teagasc Authority by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD.

Dr Helen Sheridan is an Associate Professor in the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin.

While now living in Dublin, Helen is from a drystock farm in County Longford and qualified with a BAgrSc, Degree in Agricultural Science (Agri-Environmental Science) from University College Dublin.

She also has a PhD in Agricultural Ecology from University College Dublin, which she completed as a Walsh Fellow based at Teagasc Research Centre, Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.

Helen lectures in Farm Landscape Ecology and Agri-Environmental Policy and is Programme Director of the BAgrSc Agri-Environmental Sciences.

Helen is passionate about enhancing the sustainability of livestock production systems and has been conducting research on multispecies swards at UCD Lyons Farm for over a decade. Her research also focuses on farmland biodiversity, farmland habitats and agri-environment scheme measures.

Liam Herlihy, Chairman of Teagasc, welcomed Dr Sheridan to the Teagasc Authority at a meeting in Oak Park today, Wednesday, January 9.

He said; I look forward to working with Helen. She brings important knowledge and expertise to the Authority, which will assist us in making wise decisions on the future direction of Teagasc and the role it plays in the Irish agriculture and food sector.

Liam Herlihy thanked Professor Gerald Fitzgerald who has completed two terms on the Teagasc Authority. On behalf of the members of the Authority, management and staff, I thank Ger for his excellent contributions, particularly on the Research committee of the Teagasc Authority.
Today FM has announced two new additions to its weekend line-up.

Kicking off this Saturday, January 13, KC (Keith Cunningham) will host Saturdays 2-6pm, while Waterford native Emma Nolan takes the reins with her new three hour Sunday show (4-7pm) on Today FM.

One of the top radio presenters in the country, KC returns to Today FM after previously hosting the Today FM lunchtime slot back in 2012 and taking the show to new heights, before departing to Corks Red FM in 2014.

A huge audience favourite, KC currently presents Breakfast on Red FM.

KC will bring his infectious personality and humour to his new Today FM weekend slot live from Cork and across Ireland, keeping you up to date with all the Saturday afternoon scores and bringing you the music you love. KC will take over the Saturday 2-6pm slot from Louise Cantillon, who launched her new show this week, as the host of Today FM Lunchtimes (Mon-Fri 12-2pm).

Today FM audiences will also be used to hearing Emma Nolan as she has been a regular on Today FM weekends.

Emma is one-third of SPIN 1038s daily breakfast show Fully Charged with Emma, Dave and Aisling.

Emma will bring her likeable charm and upbeat energy to Today FMs Sunday evenings, entertaining audiences as they end their weekends and prepare for the week ahead with plenty of craic and the music they love!

On hosting Saturday afternoons, Keith Cunningham said: Working for Bauer Media I have the pleasure of waking up Cork on air each weekday morning, and now I get to present a brand-new Saturday afternoon show on the mighty Today FM, a station I adore. Expect brilliant tunes, lots of craic and all the sport updates every Saturday from 2pm

On her new weekend show on Today FM, Emma Nolan said: Today FM has always had the most impressive talent line-up in radio in Ireland and Im delighted to be joining the team. Sunday evening is a great time to be on the radio as I know from experience what its like to make that journey back to college or work from all corners of Ireland, so Im looking forward to ensuring that theres lots of fun and playing the music you love.

Fyona Smith, Today FM Managing Editor said: Today FM prides itself on having the best talent in Ireland and we are thrilled that KC & Emma Nolan join the Today FM team in 2024! KC will be live from our Cork studios and I am looking forward to him bringing his big personality, comedy and love of sport to Today FM Saturday afternoons. Emma Nolan brings her sharp wit and vivacious energy to every show and we cant wait to hear Emma regularly on Today FM
Governor Hochul's Bold 2024 State of the State: Cracking Down on Retail Theft, Curbing Gun Violence, and Combating Hate Crimes for a Safer New York

Crime, Business & Finance, Health & Wellness, Press Releases

By Long Island Published: January 09 2024

Governor Kathy Hochul unveils a comprehensive 2024 State of the State plan, addressing concerns over crime and public safety by launching initiatives to combat retail theft, prevent gun violence, prosecute domestic violence perpetrators, and expand ...

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced several initiatives to keep New Yorkers safe as a part of her 2024 State of the State address. As New Yorkers remain seriously concerned about crime and public safety, Governor Hochul announced the launch of a joint operation of law enforcement agencies to crack down on retail theft to support small businesses and provide peace of mind to customers. State investments will also support the successful prosecution of domestic violence perpetrators and keep guns out of the hands of offenders. Governor Hochul is also directing the Department of Healths Office of Gun Violence Prevention to implement a comprehensive set of strategies aimed at preventing gun violence. Building on the Governors continued efforts to combat hate crimes, Governor Hochul will propose legislation to expand the list of offenses eligible for prosecution as hate crimes.

If government cant keep New Yorkers safe, nothing else matters, Governor Hochul said. In the past year, weve reduced gun violence and brought shootings down by more than a third statewide. Our success in bringing down gun violence proves that targeted strategies work  and changing trends is possible.

Since taking office, Governor Hochul has continued to prioritize initiatives and investments to make New York safer. In 2023, shootings were down substantially from their pandemic peak, both in New York City, down roughly 38 percent from 2021, and in GIVE jurisdictions around the state, down roughly 35 percent. New York City has now returned to 2016 levels of shootings and GIVE jurisdictions have returned to 2017 levels.

Cracking Down on Retail Theft

Governor Hochul is proposing a comprehensive plan to tackle property crime, provide relief to small businesses, and bring peace of mind to New Yorkers while they shop. Across the state, property crime has risen exponentially since the pandemic. From January to June 2023, larceny in New York City was up 12 percent over the same period in 2022 and up 58 percent compared to the first six months of 2017. In the rest of the state, although 2 percent down from 2017, larceny has risen 3 percent year over year, trending upward. As a result, business owners and retail workers are facing increased stress and financial strain, and New Yorkers are concerned and frustrated running simple errands at a local pharmacy, grocery story or retail shop.

Governor Hochuls plan includes:

Introducing legislation to establish criminal penalties for online marketplaces and third-party sellers that foster the sale of stolen goods and increase criminal penalties for assaulting retail workers ;

Launching the Retail Theft Joint Operation to coordinate through our network of Crime Analysis Centers the response of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, modeled on the successful intra-state task force on gun trafficking, but focused on combatting organized retail theft crime ;

Deploying a dedicated New York State Police team to build cases against organized retail theft rings ;

Setting up a New York State Police Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit.

Expanding the work of the 11 Crime Analysis Centers (CACs) by providing a centralized intelligence gathering and evidence collection strategy across the State designed to receive intelligence from retailers victimized by organized crime theft. These data, intel and evidence would be collected by the CACs and shared with local law enforcement to enhance the investigation and prosecution of these crimes across state jurisdictions ;

Establishing a Commercial Security Tax Credit to help business owners offset the costs of certain store security measures ;

Providing funding for dedicated teams in District Attorneys offices throughout the State focused on property crime, primarily organized retail theft ;

Funding for the DAs and new SP units to allow for an increased use, enforcement and prosecution of Trespass Affidavits and other legal strategies to assist small businesses in combatting this retail theft ;

Preventing Gun Violence

Governor Hochul will direct the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to implement a comprehensive set of strategies aimed at preventing gun violence:

Provide technical assistance to community-based organizations and hospitals to align their hospital violence intervention programs with the recently signed Medicaid Reimbursement for Violence Prevention Programs, which allows low-income New Yorkers impacted by community violence to receive violence prevention services from qualified specialists ;

Continue building public awareness to change the narrative on gun violence to discourage perpetuating stereotypes based on race and class that further proliferating racial injustice and health inequity ;

Building upon Governor Hochuls expansion of the Red Flag Law in June 2022 that allowed health care providers to file an Extreme Risk Protection Order petition to prevent individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from accessing any kind of firearm, New York will offer training and awareness for these health care providers ;

Convene a New York State Health Systems for Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce to focus on data infrastructure, firearm injury risk assessment screening, and hospital violence intervention ;

Continue to invest in community-led youth programs in historically under-resourced communities that experience the highest rates of gun violence.

Create a syndromic surveillance system for firearm related injuries and a dashboard for the public.

Reducing Domestic Violence and Supporting Survivors

Domestic violence accounts for roughly 20 percent of murders in the State. Each year, approximately 40 percent of felony assaults and 30 percent of aggravated assaults outside of New York City are domestic violence related. However, many domestic violence offenders are never prosecuted, often leading to offenders abusive behavior continuing or escalating. In New York, roughly two in three prosecuted domestic violence related arrests were dismissed in 2022.

Governor Hochul is proposing bold investments in a set of proven strategies to increase the likelihood of both successfully prosecuting domestic violence cases and seizing firearms, deterring future violence among high-risk offenders, and helping survivors recover:

Provide dedicated funding to District Attorneys offices in GIVE jurisdictions to expand DV STAT, a model first piloted in Queens that supports collection of evidence and relationship-building with victims even before an arrest is made.

Provide funding to jurisdictions to implement gold standard risk assessment tools to focus on high-risk domestic violence perpetrators and victims ;

Provide dedicated funding to GIVE jurisdictions to focus on domestic violence offenders, identifying the most high-risk individuals and engaging them to reduce recidivism ;

Provide funding to expand the Supervision Against Violent Engagement (SAVE) program to improve public safety among recently released individuals by focusing on domestic violence ;

Provide funding to local jurisdictions partnering with CACs to build the data collection capacity of local law enforcement and to work with the State's Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence to review the current state capacity of law enforcement information-sharing with regard to domestic violence reports. New York will modernize the use of the critical data available when answering domestic calls for service through the Domestic Incident Reporting and expand the use of the National Incident Based Reporting System so critical and potentially life-saving information and reports are electronic, shareable, and searchable statewide ;

Continue the Governors commitment to providing survivors with the emergency, flexible funding aid they need at their time of crisis via microgrants to be used to cover expenses in emergency situations.

Combating Rise in Hate Crimes

Governor Hochul is proposing legislation to expand the list of offenses eligible for prosecution as hate crimes to include all forms of first-degree rape, gang assault, making graffiti, and arson, among others. Between 2018 and 2022, the number of hate crime incidents increased by 69 percent in New York City and 109 percent outside of New York City. Governor Hochul has remained at the forefront of efforts to fight hate in all its forms, including in the wake of the recent rise in hate crimes and incidents of harassment, which have been driven by a spike in antisemitic incidents, up 214 percent in October 2023. Governor Hochul has deployed additional State Police to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the launch of a new hotline for reporting incidents of hate, and disbursement of more than $51 million in grant funding to support security at 497 nonprofit community groups, cultural museums, and civic organizations statewide.
Nature & Weather

By Long Island Published: January 10 2024

PSEG Long Island Storm Update

Long Island Storm Update  Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, 6:15 AM

 Strong winds and hazardous gusts downed trees, branches and wires, currently affecting 3,944 of 1.2 million electric customers across Long Island and the Rockways.

 As of 6 AM, PSEG Long Island has restored power to more than 12,700 customers since 4 PM Monday.

 Outages are scattered across the service area.

 PSEG Long Island is aware of the extent of the outages across Long Island and the Rockaways caused by todays quick-moving storm. We are actively assessing the damage and restoring outages as safely and quickly as possible.

 While the brunt of the storm has passed the service area, strong winds are forecast throughout the day. We expect to continue to experience additional outages.

 All PSEG Long Island employees have mobilized to support the restoration efforts, including more than 900 line workers, tree trimmers, surveyors and other field personnel.

 In addition, more than 720 contractors from Long Island, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana are on site to address outages.

 Crews are working to assess damage and make repairs. As we continue to assess the damage, restoration times will be refined.

 As hazardous conditions subside, crews will work to restore critical facilities first, followed by outages affecting the largest numbers of customers, and then address outages affecting small numbers or individual customers.

 PSEG Long Island recognizes that being without power for any length of time is a hardship and appreciates customers patience and understanding as crews work to restore electric service.

Customer Safety:

Downed wires should always be considered live. Please stay as far away as possible from them, and do not drive over or stand near them. To report a downed wire, call PSEG Long Islands 24-hour Electric Service number at 800-490-0075 or call 911.

Electric current passes easily through water. If you encounter a pool of standing water, stop, back up and choose another path.

Never use a generator or any gasoline-powered engine inside your home, basement, or garage or less than 20 feet from any window, door, or vent. Use an extension cord that is more than 20 feet long to keep the generator at a safe distance.

Stay connected:
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 10 2024

A Convergence of Leaders will Tackle Long Island's Economic Challenges Together.

HIA-LI's 46th Annual Meeting and Legislative Program will focus on Long Islands largest and most promising economic development initiatives  and also include economic forecasts for the region for 2024. Topics to be covered will include affordable housing, zoning, business development and retention, prospects of a convention center, crime, and immigration.

HIA-LI, a powerful force for business on Long Island, advocates for Suffolk and Nassau counties with a special focus on support for the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, an economic powerhouse for the bi-county region. It is Americas second-largest industrial park and houses some 1,300 companies employing more than 55,000 people.

WHAT:

HIA-LI 46th Annual Meeting and Legislative Program

WHERE:

Radisson Hotel, 110 Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, Hauppauge, NY 11788

WHEN:

This Friday , January 12, 2023 | 8:00 am to 10:30 am

PARTICIPANTS

New York State Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman

Town of Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim

Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter

MODERATOR:

Joe Campolo, Managing Partner, Campolo Middleton McCormick LLP, and HIA-LI Board Member

TO ATTEND:

Tickets are $60 for HIA-LI members and $75 for non-members. To register, please visit www.hia-li.org.

ABOUT HIA-LI

Now in its 46th year, HIA-LI is one of the recognized voices for business on Long Island. It also represents the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, the largest industrial park in the Northeast. The park supports 55,000 jobs, produces $13 billion in goods and services each year, and accounts for eight percent of Long Islands gross domestic product. For more information, go to www.HIA-LI.org or call (631) 543-5355.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 09 2024

State of the State Proposal Includes Plan to Automatically Admit High Achieving Students from Top 10 Percent of New York High School Classes to SUNY and CUNY Campuses.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced initiatives to increase access to higher education as part of her 2024 State of the State address. Governor Hochul is launching a plan to offer direct admission to high achieving students from the top 10 percent of New York high school classes to State University of New York and City University of New York campuses. Additionally, the Governor will propose legislation requiring school districts to ensure every high school senior completes the FAFSA. Governor Hochul also announced a plan for SUNY and CUNY to ensure all SNAP eligible students are aware of available benefits to address food insecurity among students. At the Governors direction, SUNY and CUNY must also provide information about voter registration and how to vote at various times, such in residence packets and on student portals, and advise students on voter registration deadlines to increase voter participation among college students.

Access to higher education has the potential to transform the lives of young New Yorkers and change the trajectory of a students life, Governor Hochul said. Through these bold initiatives, we are taking critical steps toward ensuring every New York student can continue their education, build their professional career, and pursue their dreams.

Making Higher Education More Accessible and Affordable

To ensure that high-achieving students have a home at New Yorks world-class institutions, Governor Hochul is launching an ambitious plan to offer high-achieving students from the top 10 percent of graduating high schoolers direct admission to SUNY and CUNY institutions.

Over the next year, SUNY will develop a direct admissions program that can reach across the state and help more students achieve their potential. Similarly, CUNY will work to expand its existing direct admissions program to further its mission of extending opportunity to students of all backgrounds. These steps will both increase equity for students and retain the best and brightest within New York State and its higher education institutions, ultimately creating an even more skilled workforce in the state.

Expanding Access to Financial Aid

Governor Hochul will propose legislation to require school districts to ensure every high school senior completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the New York State Dream Act Application. Students who choose not to fill out an application must sign a waiver form indicating that they are aware of the available financial aid, but choose not to pursue it.

The FAFSA is an important part of the college application process and the college experience, maximizing access to financial aid to support post-secondary educational costs including tuition, fees, books, room, and board. This initiative will ensure that every New York student has access to the full breadth of their financial aid options and opportunities for future success.

Supporting Food Insecure Students

At the Governors direction, SUNY and CUNY will expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach on their campuses so that all students can take full advantage of support they are eligible for. According to a national survey from 2019, 39 percent of students at two-year colleges and 29 percent of students at four-year colleges faced food insecurity. To address this issue, SUNY and CUNY have committed to outreach and support to improve SNAP participation among eligible students. Expanding these efforts will help reduce food insecurity and help ensure every student has the resources needed to pursue a higher education.

Ensuring College Students Can Exercise Their Right to Vote

New York States college student voter participation rate was lower in 2020 than the national average at 62.5 percent. To boost civic participation on college campuses, Governor Hochul will coordinate with SUNY and CUNY to ensure schools actively include information about how to vote and how students can change their voter registration address, such as in-residence packets and on student portals. SUNY and CUNY will also advise the students on voter registration deadlines to increase voter participation among college students. Additionally, the Governor is encouraging all other colleges in the state to participate in nonpartisan get-out-the-vote messaging, which could focus on a variety of barriers to student voting, including change of address issues.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 10 2024

The First Total Eclipse Over New York State in 99 Years.

With less than 100 days to go before the States first total eclipse in nearly a century, Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers and the States expected hundreds of thousands of visitors on its plans to ensure a safe, enjoyable and awe-inspiring experience.

Whether you live in New York or are visiting to witness this generational spectacle, ensuring everyone can take in this years eclipse safely is our top priority, Governor Hochul said. I encourage everyone to keep safety in mind so that all can savor this experience and make memories to last a lifetime. Come for the eclipse, but stay for New York and enjoy all our great state has to offer.

During the afternoon of April 8, 2024, a total eclipse will encompass the western and northern parts of New York State. In less than 15 minutes within a 3:15 to 3:30 window, the moon will pass between the earth and sun, turning day into night for 1  minutes to 3  minutes. The roughly 100-mile wide path of totality will enter in the southwestern part of the state at just after 3:15 PM, and will depart northern New York just before 3:30. Cities and towns within this path include Jamestown, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Old Forge, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh. The entire event will last for up to 2  hours, marking the time the sun is first obstructed to the last moments when the moons shadow is cast.

For other areas of the state that are outside the path, there will still be quite a celestial spectacle. The minimum coverage in the state will be on Long Island, with the sun being shadowed at 88 percent there. New York City will see 89 percent coverage with 96 percent in the Capital Region.

For the last 15 months, an interagency task force, comprised of nearly two dozen state agencies and authorities, has been collaborating on plans to ensure a safe and memorable viewing experience for New York States residents and visitors. It is focused on building awareness of the State as a prime location to experience the eclipse by gathering important safety and preparedness information, amplifying and supporting region-specific viewing activities, and maintaining regular communication with local governments and municipalities, especially those within the path of totality. New Yorks public safety efforts align with the States normal jurisdictional role over State parks and State roads and support to local governments in their planning and decision making in accordance with their own codes, laws and needs as this exciting event approaches.

Public safety challenges for such an event include traffic management, communications capabilities and public health and safety. State, county and local public safety and emergency management efforts have been and will continue to be tailored to the anticipated needs from an influx of those who come to view the eclipse from both inside and outside the state.

The states goals surrounding the eclipse are to provide a safe, fun and enjoyable experience from start to finish. Alongside the focus on public safety is the promotion of New York State as an eclipse vacation destination. With so much to do and see in the path of totality, New York State and I LOVE NY are encouraging eclipse viewers to extend an eclipse viewing trip into a full vacation for a more enjoyable experience all around  including avoiding post-event traffic, like the massive backups after the Great Eclipse of 2017, which bisected the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.

April 8, 2024and the days leading up to and followingmark an important opportunity to showcase New York State's splendor from its parks and attractions to its quaint towns and landscapes. I LOVE NY has launched the multi-platform "Come for the Eclipse, Stay for New York" campaign to present New York as THE place to be to witness this event. The campaign and a special eclipse website highlight viewing location information in the five regions that will experience the path of totality, a variety of attractions and special eclipse-related events happening across the state, and safety best practices across digital platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter/X, email newsletters, and digital displays in various highly trafficked locations across the state such as the Moynihan Train Hall and regional welcome centers. The website also includes resources for educators, families and kids, along with photos and frequently asked questions about solar eclipses. Visitors can download a special edition eclipse poster, created through an I LOVE NY partnership with acclaimed artist and professional astronomer Dr. Tyler Nordgren to help promote and commemorate the eclipse.

As this once-in-a-lifetime event approaches, meetings and briefings will continue with agencies and governments across the state to continue preparation. In addition, the Governors office will be providing updates on relevant milestones and features to keep New Yorkers and its visitors informed on how to best prepare, be safe and enjoy the eclipse.

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said, Its been nearly 100 years since New York last experienced a total solar eclipse and thankfully we will not have to wait much longer. With our state so uniquely positioned to view this celestial wonder, people from around the country will be flocking to New York to see it for themselves and we will be ready. As April 8 quickly approaches, we will continue to work hand in glove with our local partners to ensure it will be a safe and enjoyable experience for all.

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, The 2024 total solar eclipse will provide a historic opportunity for residents and visitors to experience this natural phenomena in several New York State communities. Under Governor Hochuls leadership, the states tourism industry has generated record-breaking visitation, visitor spending and economic impact. This once-in-a-lifetime event offers a chance to invite even more travelers to experience New Yorks diverse regions, and support the communities and small businesses that make them unique.

New York State Police Acting Superintendent Dominick L. Chiumento said, The New York State Police is working closely with our local and state partners preparing for any potential increase in traffic and large gatherings that the eclipse may bring. We are making preparations to ensure the safety of the motoring public, including deploying additional troopers as needed. We also remind the public to watch the eclipse from designated viewing areas and to avoid stopping on controlled access highways unless there is an emergency. The New York State Police wants everyone to safely enjoy this rare event.

New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, New York is well known for its natural beauty and majesty, so it is fitting that it will be front and center for this celestial spectacle. With the possibility of hundreds of thousands of people coming in for the event, the Department of Transportations top priority is the safety of the traveling public during this time. We will be closely monitoring the roads in our Transportation Management Centers located across the State of New York for faster identification and response to incidents, as well as sending additional HELP vehicles to assist disabled motorists. NYSDOT will consistently be communicating and updating drivers through 511NY, social media, and our Variable Message Signs to keep the public informed. We will also be working closely with our agency partners  state and local police, the New York State Thruway and other entities to help move people safely to and from their destinations. Those attending should also consider taking Amtrak, which provides passenger train service to the North Country as well as Buffalo. I urge all travelers to plan ahead; arrive early, stay late, and enjoy all that New York has to offer.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, Viewing a total solar eclipse from our own backyards, neighborhood parks, and green spaces will provide upstate New Yorkers a once-in-a-lifetime, front-row seat to one of the most captivating natural wonders on our planet. DEC is proud to be partnering with our fellow state agencies to celebrate this rare celestial event and encourages those viewing the eclipse across our state to do so safely, observing all safety rules and regulations, and to be respectful of others and our shared environment at all times.

New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said, "We are so excited have the total solar eclipse line up as part of our Centennial celebration. Within days of announcing several parks along its path would open early, reservations filled up for campgrounds, cottages and cabins. We expect an influx of visitors headed to several regions across New York State to witness this extraordinary cosmic event.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, While New Yorkers and visitors alike prepare to enjoy what promises to be a memorable event, it is important to keep health and safety in mind. In particular, take precautions to prevent solar retinopathy and wear an appropriate solar filter, like eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers. We are excited to be collaborating with our state and local partners to help make this once-in-a-generation eclipse a safe and wonderful experience for all who observe it.

New York State Department of Public Service Chair Rory M. Christian said, As the regulator of the states electric grid, we have been working closely with New Yorks utilities since early last year regarding utility preparations and pre-event actions that will be taken to ensure utilities are able to maintain safe and reliable services as well as implement any contingency plans necessary to respond to emergent situations during a period of high traffic and potential congestion on roadways in Western and Upstate New York. As a member of the NYS Solar Eclipse Task Force created by Governor Hochul, we are confident that all possible contingency planning has been taken, and we look forward to joining New York as we enjoy this outstanding natural event.
The Iran-backed Houthis continue to target commercial shipping in the Red Sea despite a week-old warning from a U.S.-led international coalition to halt the strikes. The coalition has yet to take action against Houthi provocations.

In the latest attack on Tuesday, the Houthis fired 18 OWA UAVs [one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles], two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea, towards international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported.

None of the Houthi weapons systems struck their targets as they were shot down by a combined effort of F/A-18s from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS Gravely (DDG 107), USS Laboon (DDG 58), USS Mason (DDG 87), and the United Kingdoms HMS Diamond (D34), CENTCOM stated.

The U.S. military is expending millions of dollar in missiles to shoot down rudimentary drones that cost thousands of dollars to produce.

One other attack on shipping was reported by CENTCOM since an international coalition issued a warning to the Houthis to cease attacks one week ago. On Jan. 6, the USS Laboon shot down a drone in self-defense, CENTCOM reported. The Houthis have launched 26 attacks on international shipping since Nov. 19, according to CENTCOM.

The strongly-worded warning has done nothing to deter the Houthis from wreaking chaos in the Red Sea. On Jan. 3, on international coalition of 13 countries said that the Houthis with will bear the responsibility of the consequences if the militia continues to attack ships passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al Mandeb Strait, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. However, the U.S. stopped short of directly acknowledging Irans role in the attacks, since Iran supports the Houthis and aids in directing them.

There has been no military response to the successful Houthi and Iranian efforts to disrupt traffic passing through the Red Sea, the Bab al Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal. More than 12 percent of the worlds shipping and 30 percent of cargo vessels pass through these vital waterways, according to CENTCOM. The Houthi attacks have severely impacted global trade. An estimated 95 percent of the container ships that normally transit the Red Sea and Suez Canal are rerouting around the tip of South Africa, said Mike Shuler, the editor of gCaptain reported.

One month after the Houthis began their attacks on shipping, the U.S. formed a coalition of 11 countries, called Operation Prosperity Guardian, on Dec. 18 in an effort to counter the Houthis threat. However, Operation Prosperity Guardian was a defensive coalition in nature and designed only to escort ships through the dangerous waters of the Red Sea and the Bab Al Mandeb. The Houthis did not flinch and continued to attack both commercial vessels and U.S., U.K., and French warships.

The Houthis, a Shia militia which formed in the 1990s and seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, are part of Irans Axis of Resistance, which seeks to aid Hamas in its fight again Israel. The Houthis are also belligerent to the U.S. for the latters support of Saudi Arabia and the UAE for interfering in Yemens ongoing civil war.

Joe Truzman is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
Rifles distributed to local security teams of Israeli communities recently. (IDF)

More than three months after Hamas attacked Israel, most residents of border communities affected by the attack still have yet to return. This is a domestic challenge for Israel, including the Ministry of Defense, in terms of investing in security for the border communities and figuring out a plan to get civilians back home. In addition to the communities affected near the Gaza border, there are also 80,000 people who were evacuated in October from communities along the northern border due to Hezbollah attacks. Hezbollah has escalated attacks in the last week, targeting IDF Northern Command in Safed and an important base on Mount Meron. The deeper strikes by Hezbollah illustrate a growing threat  rather than a reduced threat  in northern Israel.

According to a joint statement by the Israel Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces on January 9, the IDF and the Ministry have begun distributing more firearms and equipment to security teams in local communities. These teams are made up of local residents who often serve in the IDF reserves or have combat experience. In one form or another, they have been a key method of defending Israeli border communities go as far back as the 1950s. However, these squads of volunteers do not always have access to rifles  or enough rifles  depending on their distance from the border and the local security situation. Prior to October 7, the security situation on the border was assessed to be one where a status quo of relative quiet would continue. In the wake of the attack, there has been a large increase in Israelis applying for gun licenses as well as either joining existing or organizing new local community security teams.

The statement from the Ministry and IDF showed rifles and equipment being provided to residents of northern communities: During the coming weeks, the placing of containers in the Northern Command and the distribution of the equipment to the standby classes in other localities will be completed, the statement said. This means providing communities with storage facilities where the security volunteers can access and distribute rifles in a time of emergency. The IDF and Ministry said they are also conducting a similar distribution of firearms and necessary equipment to local units in communities near Gaza. In many cases in communities impacted on October 7, select residents who were members of local security teams remained in their communities while the rest of the residents went to stay in hotels. Those who remained perform guard duties, monitoring the abandoned communities and coordinating with the IDF and other security forces.

Each settlement will receive weapons, ceramic vests and helmets purchased and tested to the highest standards, the IDF said on January 9. In addition, further medical and logistical equipment will also be distributed. In addition training is being provided.

As part of the ongoing effort to strengthen the defense line in the north, we have begun to carry out a significant part of the process of equipping the standby [units] in the sector. The members of the standby units demonstrate great steadfastness and resilience, and we are proud to stand together with them in the defense of the northern border of the State of Israel, said Brigadier General (Res.) Alon Friedman.

In general, Israels borders were relatively quiet on the morning of January 10, with no sirens in the north or south. If this situation continues, residents might be willing to consider a return to border communities. However, the presence of Hezbollah at the northern border has been a constant concern, and Israels leaders have demanded that Hezbollah retreat from the border fence and end its threats. The IDF has said it will continue to act accordingly against to address this threat in the north: An IDF fighter jet struck terrorist infrastructure and a military compound in the area of Labbouneh in southern Lebanon. In addition, an IDF fighter jet struck a military command center in the area of Kfarchouba overnight, the IDF said on January 10. In Gaza. The IDF continued to operate in the central Gaza strip and Khan Younis to uncover weapons and dismantle terrorist infrastructure.

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDDs Long War Journal. He is the acting news editor and senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post.
Employees in Luxembourg are feeling confident, with 58% stating that their expectations align with what the job market in 2024 can offer them

Employees in Luxembourg are feeling confident, with 58% stating that their expectations align with what the job market in 2024 can offer them  Photo credit: John Schmit

Employees in Luxembourg are feeling confident, with 58% stating that their expectations align with what the job market in 2024 can offer them  Photo credit: John Schmit

Some 46% of employees in Luxembourg are considering changing jobs or careers in 2024, according to a survey by online recruitment platform Jobs.lu. The results indicate what Jobs.lu CEO Arthur Meulman calls a shift in the relationship to work, to the employer.

Of those who expressed a willingness to change, just over 57% cited better remuneration as a motivation. Improved work-life balance, at close to 41%, also scored highly among the reasons employees may seek a fresh start. A desire to seize interesting career opportunities or those more in line with their passion was another positive reason they may be seeking change.

While the prospect of a higher salary or more attractive benefits is an important reason to change, other elements must be taken into account, such as the desire for more flexibility, Meulman said.

While the prospect of a higher salary or more attractive benefits is an important reason to change, other elements must be taken into account Arthur Meulman CEO, Jobs.lu

This reflects a trend that has been noted by other professionals. Talent is looking for things like flexibility around working styles and maybe purpose. What are the vision, mission and values of that entity, Luxembourg for Finances Simon Gorbutt said in September last year.

In addition, the survey also reveals that if the employer cannot offer medium and long-term prospects to its employees, they are more likely to consider a change. Indeed, 40% of respondents who say they are considering a change of job or career said that a lack of opportunities for advancement or progression in their current job was a catalyst for looking elsewhere.

The Professional Satisfaction and Career Expectations in 2024 Survey of 1,150 employees was conducted between 20 November and 8 December 2023. As well as those seeking change, 31% of respondents said that they were not considering a move, while 23% specified that they were unsure.

However, generally employees are feeling confident, with 58% stating that their expectations align with what the job market in 2024 can offer them.

Meulman did not shy away from commenting on the war for talent and reports of a decline in Luxembourgs attractiveness for employees, a shift that has led to recruiters seeking talent from increasingly farther away from the Grand Duchy. Such discourse tends to reinforce employees confidence in their ability to move or see their situation evolve favourably, he said. There have been calls in the Grand Duchy from employer representatives for the government to make it easier to recruit from outside the European Union, by reducing the burdensome administrative process, for example.

Also read:

EU jobs site could help Luxembourg attract talent from outside bloc

But Meulman warned employees against being complacent in such an environment.

While the labour shortage can be explained by the insufficient size of the workforce pool, it is mainly the mismatch between the needs of companies and the skills available that poses a problem, he said. In such a context, employees harbouring expectations not in line with the reality of the market, in other words, unable to demonstrate the sought-after skills, expose themselves to a risk of disillusionment.
Since the iPhone 12, wireless phone charging has become more efficient with Apples MagSafe technology.

Apple has led the industry with MagSafe offering up to 15W wireless charging, beating Samsung and other phone makers pegged back at 10W or 7.5W charging power.

Macworlds recommended list of best MagSafe chargers will soon be joined by non-MagSafe, but equally fast-charging, Qi2 devices.

While each iPhone since the iPhone 12 has included the rings of magnets that ensure tight alignment of the charging coils between phone and charger, third-party chargers must have their devices fully certified by Apple to reach the magical 15W charging speed and the full MagSafe authorization.

Apple certification doesnt come cheap so many magnetic wireless chargers are only MagSafe compatible rather than MagSafe certified, which limits their iPhone charging power to 7.5W.

The industry standard for wireless charging known as Qi, pronounced chee, launched way back in 2008, but was not supported by Apple until 2017s iPhone 8.

The latest iteration, unsurprisingly called Qi2 (chee too), was announced in 2023 and will see products launching into the market this year.

The Qi2 standard bearers, including Belkin, Satechi, Hyper and Scorche, have been showing off new compliant chargers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.

Apple, which generously bestowed its MagSafe magnetic power profile technology to the Wireless Power Consortium (WPO), supports Qi2 with its iPhone 15 family, and has backdated support to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 with iOS 17.2

With Qi2 chargers will gain 15W performance without the need for Apple certificationthey will still have to pass WPO standards. As a result, they should be less expensive to produce but just as fast as certified MagSafe chargers.

We have more details on Qi2 (properly Qi v2.0 MPP, for Magnetic Power Profile) in our explainer Is Qi2 better than MagSafe?

Belkin

Belkin Qi2 chargers announced at CES 2024

Early to the WPO partner list, Belkin unveiled the first of its Qi2 chargers at IFA 2023 last September.

The Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Magnetic Stand with Qi2 15W Pad, pictured above, can simultaneously charge three Apple devices, with Qi2 delivering 15W of fast wireless charging for iPhone, 5W for AirPods, and a fast-charging 5W module to wirelessly charge an Apple Watch. The Qi2 pad is adjustable for optimum viewing.

Available in either black or white, it is expected to go on sale in the US in March (May in the UK), costing US$149.99 / 139.99 / CA$179.99 / 149.99,

Belkin is also launching 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pads with Qi2 15W. The 3-in-1 ($129.99) includes a detachable fast-charging 5W Apple Watch donglethe 2-in-1 Pad ($79.99/69.99) retains the USB-C port that will support an extra device or 5W charging module. Each comes with a 30W power supply.

Each will be available in mid-January or early February in the US and late March or early April in the UK.

The phone-only BoostCharge Pro Convertible Magnetic Charging Standlike the above Charging Pads it was first announced at IFA 2023delivers 15W charging power to Qi2-enabled devices. It supports a 0-70 stand angle and 0-75 charging pad angle. It folds up to make it travel friendly and allows users to switch between pad and stand modes.

Priced at $59.99/39.99 it will be available to buy from early February in the US and early April in the UK.

Each of the Belkin Qi2 chargers is made from a minimum 72% eco-friendly post-consumer recycled materials and comes in 100% plastic-free packaging.

Belkin will also be selling a range of Qi2 BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Power Banks with kickstands, from 5000mAh battery capacity weighing 142g ($59.99 / 49.99), 8000mAh at 193g ($79.99 / 69.99) and 10000mAh at 224g ($99.99 / 89.99). The power banks can be charged via USB-C at the same time that they are wirelessly charging the device.

The Qi2 power banks will also be available in the US in March and June in the UK.

Hyper

Hyper Qi2 chargers announced at CES 2024

Hyper announced two Qi2 charging devices at CES.

Its Hyperjuice Qi2 4-in-1 Charging Stand, above, offers 15W iPhone charging, plus 5W AirPods and Apple Watch charging. A USB-C port is included for further 20W output charging. The central stand folds down for easy travel portability. The stand is powered by 45W input.

It is expected to be priced at $149.99 with a launch after April.

For truly portable Qi2 power, the Hyperjuice 10,000mAh Qi2 3-in-1 Power Bank can wirelessly charge a supported phone at 15W, and also features a 5W Apple Watch module as well as a 20W USB-C port. It includes a tripod socket giving creators long-lasting power as well as fast charging. It will cost $129.99 when it launches in the second quarter of the year.

Satechi

Satechi Qi2 chargers announced at CES 2024

Satechi announced two travel-friendly Qi2 chargers at CES.

The 3-in-1 and 2-in-1 Foldable Qi2 Wireless Charging Stands deliver 15W of power to compatible phones, plus 5W to AirPods and 5W to Apple Watch.

Each features an aluminum enclosure, vegan leather base, soft silicone charging puck, and durable hinges that Satech claims wont weaken over time.

The 3-in-1 Charging Stand includes a 45W power adapter with two international travel adapters.

Both will be available in the second quarter, priced at $129.99 (3-in-1) and $79.99 (2-in-1).

IninaCore

InfinaCore Qi2 charger announced at CES 2024

InfinaCores Qi2 CES launch is the P3 Pro all-in-one wireless charger and power bank, which is an upgraded version of the brands popular P3 model.

The 10oz InfinaCore P3 Pro has the capacity to charge laptops (at 65W), phones, gaming devices, and accessories with two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, plus, of course, 15W Qi2 wireless charging integration.

The charger features a 10000mAh battery capacity that should allow for up to two phone recharges, and an animated advanced color LCD display that shows battery percentage and other metrics such as current output, time to full charge and temperature.

A retractable silicone finger loop makes it easy to hold it on the move, and will be available in a variety of colors.

It ships with US wall charger prongs, plus additional adaptor prongs for UK and EU outlets, and will cost $129.99 when it is available in mid-March.

Scosche

Scosche Qi2 chargers announced at CES 2024

At the 2024 CES, Scosche is demonstrating its forthcoming Qi2 certified chargers and charging phone mounts.

The BaseLynx 2.0 Modular Charging System features a Qi2 magnetic wireless charging stand that will simultaneously charge multiple Qi2-enabled phones, along with an AirPods Wireless Charging Case. It features four interchangeable, connectable modules: the Qi2 Wireless Charging Stand; a Multi-Device Vertical Charger with 60W of shared power (between three USB-C ports); an Apple Watch Magnetic Charger; and a Powered EndCap, with a 67W USB-C port and a 120V AC outlet.

Scosche already sells a white MagSafe version of the Base Lynx 2.0 system at Apple.com for $279.95. The fully configured Qi2 version is expected to cost $230showing the cost benefits of Qi2 over Apple-certified MagSafe.

The company is also introducing its Qi2 certified phone mounts at CES, including the MagicMount Elite Charge 3-in-1 that offers three in-vehicle mount options: Dash, Locking Vent, and Back of Screen/Tablet. The mount head pivots and slides on an aluminum rail for precise placement.
AirDrop became very popular in China recently, for the simple reason that the function completely disguises the senders contact details. As AirDrop transmission does not take place via the internet or cellular phone network, but from iPhone to iPhone via Bluetooth identification and a local Wi-Fi network, its extremely difficult, if not impossible, for authorities to identify senders. This allowed protesters to exchange important messages, memes, and photos with each other without the police being able to crack the networks.

With the launch of iOS 16.1.1 around a year ago, however, Apple put in place a time limit of 10 minutes when sharing connections with Everyone, rather than the default Contacts Only setting. The official line was that this move was intended to combat AirDrop spam and abuse, but the suspicion was that Apple was acceding to the wishes of the Chinese governmentparticularly as the change applied first in China.

Now a Chinese state-licensed security company from Beijing claims (via Bloomberg) it has successfully cracked the system and obtained the contact details of an AirDrop sender. The firm says its experts have found log data for the AirDrop process on a recipients iPhone; the device name of the senders iPhone, along with their email and telephone number, is saved on the target iPhone during data transfer. Although the latter two details are converted into hash values, the security company has found a method to convert these hash values into readable text.

We can confirm parts of this claim. We launched the console on our Mac and AirDropped a file to it from an iPhone, discovering from the console log data that the sharingd process is responsible for AirDrop. This contains a dedicated sub-process called AirDrop, but several other sub-processes were also active during the file transfer. We found the name of our iPhone in one of the sub-processes, along with the strength of the Bluetooth signal.

Device details in the console logs. Halyna Kubiv

The AirDrop sub-process actually stores the hash values for the email and phone number belonging to the contacted iPhone (see screenshot), but we were unable to access the plain text.

Console logs during the AirDrop transfer . Halyna Kubiv

Last but not least, it should be noted that our Mac and our iPhone are trusted devices, otherwise the AirDrop transfer would not work at all. Even with unknown contacts, the recipient must first authorize the data transfer; no foreign files are transferred without their knowledge. If the reports are true, AirDrop is a threat to dissidents in authoritarian states, as they believe they can remain anonymous when exchanging files.

Why didnt Apple fix the flaw?

Security researchers have been warning Apple since at least 2019 that the AirDrop protocol is flawed and can be cracked. In August 2021, the group led by Alexander Heinrich at TU Darmstadt presented a much more secure alternative called Private Drop.

The problem with AirDrop is that the protocol requests the address and phone number verified via the Apple ID from the senders device and the recipients device when establishing a connection if these are not in the address book of both parties. Although they are stored as hash values, they are fairly easy to decipher: the phone number consists only of digits and is easy to decode using a brute-force attack. For emails, attackers guess the usual alias structures, then search for possible matches in dictionaries and databases of leaked emails.

According to Heinrich, it was only a matter of time before the security gaps in AirDrop were abused. However, the researchers have so far only intercepted the data during transmission attempts. The fact that the personal data of AirDrop contacts is stored locally on the iPhone was previously unknown.

Heinrich says Apple reportedly contacted the researchers from Darmstadt about the loophole way back when iOS 16 was still in development. However, Heinrich was unable to find any significant changes to the transfer protocol security. Apples difficulty would be that the newer and more secure version of the AirDrop protocol would not be backward compatible with older iOS versions, he added.

This article originally appeared on Macwelt and was translated and edited by David Price.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Generally cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Variable clouds with snow showers. Low 27F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
The Bruins latest injury, on whats been a costly road trip, might have been the toughest one theyve encountered.

Goalie Linus Ullmark had to be helped off the ice 2:40 into overtime of Bostons 4-3 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at Mullett Arena.

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Ullmark lunged for a shot with 2:20 left in overtime and fell to the ice face down and stayed there until the Bruins training staff came out to help him up. It was unclear the nature of the injury.

The reigning Vezina Trophy winner skated gingerly to the bench as Jeremy Swayman came in cold to replace him. Swayman gave up the winning goal on the first shot he saw.

Ullmark had 35 saves before the injury. He was 13-5-2 coming in with a 2.74 goals-agaisnt average and a .917 save percentage.

If he misses time, the Bruins would likely summon Brandon Bussi from Providence.

Boston has already lost Brandon Carlo to an upper-body injury on Monday and Matt Poitras to an undisclosed ailment on Tuesday. The Bruins have two more games on this trip.
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn.  Low-cost carrier Breeze Airways will launch nonstop summer seasonal service between Bradley International Airport and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

The flight will operate on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays starting May 2, the Connecticut Airport Authority said Tuesday.

Breeze will also add daily summer seasonal service between Bradley and San Diego International Airport starting May 1. The flight will be part of the airlines BreezeThru service, which includes one stop. But passengers do not have to change planes.

We are thrilled that Breeze is once again bringing convenient travel options at low fares to travelers at Bradley International Airport, said Kevin A. Dillon, Connecticut Airport Authority executive director. The new nonstop to Cincinnati and BreezeThru to San Diego are wonderful additions to the airlines growing list of destinations from our region to other parts of the country.

Todays announcement follows recent news of the airlines plans to launch service between Bradley to Orlando and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif., in May.

Breeze currently flies nonstop between Bradley and Charleston, S.C., Columbus, Ohio, Fort Myers and Jacksonville, Fla., Las Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Richmond, Va., Sarasota, Tampa and Vero Beach, Fla.
WEST SPRINGFIELD  Disappointed residents vow to keep fighting after the School Committee voted Tuesday to close their beloved Mittineague Elementary school.

The fate of Mittineague Elementary, and future education for its 140 students, was decided in three votes.

The vote to close was 4-2, with one member absent. School Committee members Robert Mancini and Kathy Alevras were not in favor of the closing. Julie Anne Wise was absent but sent in a letter indicating her support for the closing.

More than 40 people attended. Some openly cried after the decision.

A separate vote taken to redraw school boundary lines was supported unanimously. A 6-1 vote recommended the committee seek approval from the City Council to send a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for grant funding for a new school.

An outside review of West Springfields enrollment and school building conditions warned that continuing to operate Mittineague could not be justified financially.

But parents like Erin Placey say the town is moving too fast. They say the closing will change the entire landscape of elementary schools in West Springfield, moving away from a neighborhood school model.

Resident and parent Rachel L. Knowles said during the public speaking time that with its vote the committee sent a clear message that history can be easily erased.

Students lives will change. It (the schools closure) will hurt them and that will stay with them forever, Knowles said.

The districts long-term plans include building a new school in place of the Tatham, Memorial and John Ashley elementary schools, renovating John R. Fausey Elementary to update and accommodate kindergarten classrooms, relocating students from Mittineague and redrawing boundary lines.

According to Superintendent Stefania Raschilla, Mittineague students will be absorbed into the Phillip G. Coburn and Tatham elementary schools.

Equalizing class sizes

The main reason the district needs to redraw lines is to make class sizes equitable. Current class sizes range from 14 to 24 students per classroom. Once the lines are redrawn there will be about 18-22 students per class across the district, Raschilla said.

The new boundaries will shrink the Memorial Elementary School enrollment boundary to account for the return of multi-language learners there and expand Tatham boundaries into the Mittineague area because they have fewer students. The number of classrooms will be adjusted at both Coburn and Tatham and two disability classrooms will be moved out of Coburn to other buildings in the district.

Raschilla said transition and welcoming teams will be created for students. They will be seeking community input.

The district will also address transportation needs, look at adjusting school times and the possibility of opening full-day pre-K and kindergarten classrooms at the old Mittineague building in effort to keep about 13 positions in the district.

But first, the City Council will need to vote on approving sending a statement of interest to the MSBA by the deadline in April.

Sending that statement is important because after 2025, the building authority will only take applications every other year, Raschilla said.

Principal Mike Atkins, City Councilors Michael J. LaFlamme and Daniel M. OBrien attended Tuesday. Atkins declined to comment.

OBrien said he believes the School Committee forced the vote through and that it is likely the council will not support the panels request for funding, if presented.

This was the wrong way to go about it. They (the school committee) think they know better about what people want; the people know what they want.  They could have found another way to do it, OBrien said.

Mittineague Elementary School on Second Street in West Springfield. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)Leon Nguyen

Mayor William C. Reichelt, who chairs the committee, said the district and committee spent a lot of time over the last year and a half determining steps to better serve students.

I understand as a Mittineague parent this is a difficult process and disheartening to hear, Reichelt said. There will never be an ideal time that everyone agrees on to close any school. We have to work together to do what is best for our community as a whole.

The School Committee has a responsibility to the entire district and the recommendations will support the future of the district and improve education in West Springfield, he said.

Committee member Diana Coyne said she hopes families realize that all schools in the district have the same culture and community that make West Springfield a special place.

The recommendations didnt come out of a vacuum, it came out of analysis, review and available public data from as far back as 2005, she said.

Coyne said that while she feels the weight of the decision, the committee needs to make fact-based decisions balanced with fiscal responsibility.

Colleen Marcus, vice chair of the School Committee, said members of the Mittineague community were on the Student Population Projection Committee, which made the recommendations. All 13 members understood the impact a closing would have on the community, she said.

The no votes

Alevras, a School Committee member who voted Tuesday against the closing, said her issue was how the meeting was handled. She said she was uncomfortable with voting on something that in her view had not be presented transparently on the agenda.

Mancini said voted no because he thinks the decision was being rushed, especially through the holidays.

Of all his years in public service, Mancini said he had not seen a more controversial issue. The powerful testaments of people in the Mittineague community played a huge role in why I voted no, Mancini said.

Mancini encouraged families to find a bright side to the decision. He suggested that Mittineague supporters should keep in mind all that they accomplished together and the memories they share.

Dont cry it is over, smile because it happened, he said.
Some of the buildings at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester were evacuated on Wednesday due to a bomb threat, the college announced.

We have recently been informed of a bomb threat affecting the Holy Cross campus, a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, read. Buildings are currently being evacuated and searched.

The college said in its statement that an early assessment suggests threat risk is low.

The Worcester Police and Fire departments responded to the bomb threat and were onsite at the college, the school said. MassLive has reached out to both departments for more information.

The threat comes just under a week before several Massachusetts institutions, including courthouses, hospitals and synagogues were issued bomb threats, described by Massachusetts State Police as robo-threats. Nantuckets Town and County Building also received an emailed bomb threat, according to the Nantucket Current.

Each of these incidents was confirmed to be hoaxes believed to have come from the same source.
A second man was arrested in connection with a shooting in August at the end of the Worcester Caribbean Festival, which sent two people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Worcester police announced Tuesday.

In a statement on Facebook, Worcester police said Chequan Griswold, 24, of Boston, was arrested on Dec. 29 in Boston and charged with armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (firearm), assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (firearm), carrying a firearm without an FID/LTC, carrying a loaded firearm without an LTC, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and discharging a firearm in with 500 feet of a dwelling.

Read more: Worcester Caribbean American Carnival joyful celebration of culture prior to nearby shooting

The shooting happened on Aug. 27 near Institute Park, where the sound of gunshots ended the festival an hour early.

Police previously said they believed the shooting stemmed from a dispute on Boynton Street near the intersection of Salisbury Street outside of Institute Park, but that the two victims were bystanders and not involved in the dispute. The victims, a 15-year-old and a 23-year-old, were shot in close proximity to the event and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A few weeks later, Worcester police announced the arrest of Omar Molina on Sept. 13. He was charged with armed assault with intent to murder, carrying a loaded firearm without an LTC (second or subsequent offense), and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Prosecutors during his arrangement said Molina fired a gun four times in response to a shot fired at him. Molina pled not guilty.

We were so excited to see everyone out there, everyone celebrating with us, Worcester Caribbean American Carnival Association President Jennifer Gaskin told MassLive in August. And we just wish that it could have concluded on a better note, but we will continue to work with the city and our community to address what occurred and hopefully put measures in place to better support the community to prevent future acts of violence.
Food Network star Darnell SuperChef Ferguson has been arrested on several charges including burglary and strangulation.

According to an online booking log from the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections, the 36-year-old was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 9 on burglary, strangulation, assault, terroristic threatening, menacing, criminal mischief and theft charges. Details about what led to Fergusons arrest were not available.

Ferguson is the host of Superchef Grudge Match, which airs on Food Network.

The celebrity chef has competed on three seasons of the Tournament of Champions hosted by Guy Fieri, according to his Food Network biography. Ferguson has also been a judge on Chopped, Guys Grocery Games, and appeared on OWNs The Big Holiday Food Fight and Food Fantasies.

Ferguson also used to own several restaurants in Louisville, Kentucky, including SuperChefs, which closed in July 2022, according to WDRB. He has also given back through his nonprofit SuperChefs CAPE and other charities.

MassLive has reached out to the St. Matthews Police Department for more information.
A students threat to bring a gun to a Groton high school on Tuesday resulted in a lockdown of the campus while police conducted a sweep, Massachusetts State Police told MassLive.

At around 11:18 a.m., Groton police requested a Massachusetts State Police K9 unit after a student made the threat. State Police sent three K9 unit teams, three dogs and their handlers, specially trained to detect residue related to ballistics (and) firearms, State Police said.

By 1:15 p.m., Groton police said no firearms were found and announced that students would be released from school at the normal dismissal time, according to a post on Facebook.

Just under 20 minutes later, the K9 units and handlers finished their sweep and left the campus, State Police said.

Read more: Boston man pleads guilty to fatal stabbing of man protecting girlfriend

Groton police will continue to investigate the matter, as they are aware who the student who made the threat is, State Police added.
SPRINGFIELD  Months after two employees of a local van company were charged criminally with an alleged assault on a nonverbal autistic boy, the childs mother has filed a $1 million civil lawsuit.

It names the criminal defendants and the van company.
A New Hampshire man who planted a fake bomb on Harvard Universitys campus last year as part of an extortion plot pleaded guilty to a single charge on Wednesday.

William A. Giordani, 55, of Manchester, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to a single count of concealing a federal felony, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office of Massachusetts.

Authorities said that Giordani left a large tool bag that concealed a locked safe containing fireworks and electrical wires in the center of Harvards Science Center Plaza on April 13, 2023.

Federal officials accused William A. Giordani of attempting to extort money from Harvard with bomb threats. Authorities detonated a bag full of wires, fireworks and a lockbox in the middle of Harvard's Science Center Plaza. Federal investigators accused Giordani of placing the bag in the school's plaza. (4/13/23, FBI)Federal Bureau of Investigation

The hoax bomb was left as part of a broader extortion attempt against the Ivy League school. Shortly after Giordani left the hoax bomb near where students and others were gathered, a caller using a voice-changing app called the universitys police department and demanded Bitcoin to prevent the detonation of bombs, authorities said.

The anonymous person called Harvard police multiple times, telling police he was serious about his demands and that they could find the first of three bombs in the Science Center Plaza, according to authorities.

Harvard police put out an emergency evacuation order for the area and nearby buildings. The Cambridge Police Departments bomb squad arrived and disabled the device. No other devices were found on campus that day, authorities said.

In the following days, an investigation revealed that Giordani was recruited for the extortion plot through a Craigslist post. Prosecutors said in court that Giordani was offered $300 by someone claiming to be a Harvard students father who needed him to deliver materials needed for a science project, according to Reuters.

Once Giordani knew he had been recruited to assist in an extortion bomb scheme, he had an obligation under federal law to report that scheme to law enforcement authorities, a statement from the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy. Instead, he deleted incriminating text messages, told his girlfriend not to speak to anyone about it and went on the run from police.

As part of a plea agreement, authorities dropped two counts against Giordani, Reuters reported. No one else has been charged in connection with the bomb hoax.

The charges of concealing a felony provide for a sentence of up to three years in prison and one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley scheduled sentencing for April 25. Giordani was arrested and charged in May 2023 and later indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2023.
Two manhole explosions in Boston on Wednesday have resulted in cutting power to two apartment buildings, Eversource said in a statement.

The explosions happened on St. Stephen Street, Eversource said in the statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. The street is very close to Northeastern University. Boston police started getting calls about the explosions at around 10:07 a.m., Boston Police Sgt. John Boyle told MassLive.

The substantial rainfall overnight likely played a role, Eversource said about the underground issue. Well look into the exact cause while crews make repairs.

In order for repairs to begin, Eversource said it had to de-energize the line and two apartment buildings and are without power. We have generators on the way to restore power to these buildings while our crews complete their work.

I was in the shower, and I heard a big explosion and some car alarms go off. And then 10 minutes later, I was getting dressed, and then the same thing happened, Kerem Vasoglu told WCVB, which confirmed that vehicles near the explosions were damaged.

While the investigation into the explosions continue, Boyle asked anyone who typically drives along St. Stephen Street to seek alternate routes, as were detouring cars in that area to avoid it for the time being.

Read more: Flooding shuts down Milford Street in Medway after overnight storm

No injuries have been reported, Boyle said.
Americans just cant say no to salt.

Americans consume more salt than they should according to health experts. And a new study co-authored by Christian Rojas, a professor of resource economics at UMass Amherst, found that when provided with less salty versions of foods they already consume, Americans went out of their way to consume saltier alternatives.

In 2009, the New York City Health Department spearheaded the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a five-year push to reduce sodium intake by 20% in the United States. Rojas study found that American consumer behaviors largely negated the reduction efforts.

The study obtained detailed data from stores across the U.S. and analyzed the sodium content of just under 600,000 barcoded products in 2007, a time before the launch of the salt reduction initiative, and then again in 2015, following the initiatives completion.

If consumers had been purchasing the exact same products in 2015 that they did in 2007, their sodium consumption would be much lower, Rojas said. However, many consumers switched away from the reformulated products to saltier alternatives during that period, so their sodium consumption did not reduce very much.

According to the study, the initiative caused a less than 5% reduction in salt consumption. According to Rojas, the findings are important to policymakers who want to maximize their impact.

I think a lot of focus should be put on trying to change consumer behavior, although we should still keep an eye on making sure manufacturers are offering better alternatives. It seems like its really hard for consumers to switch to healthier alternatives, Rojas said.
A Townsend woman faces three charges after a scammer posing as a soap opera star convinced her to get rid of her husband.

Roxanne Doucette, 64, is charged with several charges after authorities say she fed her husband poisoned soup at the urging of a scammer posing as Thorsten Kaye of The Bold and Beautiful, according to court filings.

She is charged with intimidation of a witness, police or court official, resisting arrest, and assault and battery on a police officer, according to court filings in Ayer District Court.

You have to get rid of your husband honey. I need you so much, read texts sent by the scammer to Doucette, according to screenshots shared by Doucettes daughter with police.

In an interview with Townsend Police Officer Michael Marchand, Doucette said she thought she was talking to a star.

She stated she thought she was talking to a star, and that she had always wanted to meet a star, Marchands police report states.

The incident report by Marchand began when Ayer police called Townsend police on Dec. 3 about a woman  Doucettes daughter  who believed her mother had poisoned her father.

Doucettes daughter was at Nashoba Valley Medical Center and told authorities she believed her mother had poisoned her father based on text messages she found on her mothers phone.

The daughter took screenshots of the text messages and shared them with police.

After being urged to get rid of her husband, Doucette responded that she is Making an amazing soup. Special potion. He will be hungry when he gets back. Just enough for him, according to court filings.

A couple of hours later, she told the scammer, Hubby got back not feeling well. Maybe I can collect life insurance.

Honey when will that be? asked the scammer.

Dont know, Doucette responded.

At 5:11 p.m. that day, Doucette called 911 for her husband and police responded for a 73-year-old man with a cardiac history who was breathing but unresponsive.

Doucette said he was dizzy and sitting in a chair, mumbling and not making sense. The husband was brought to Nashoba hospital.

When the husband regained consciousness, the daughter asked what happened. He told her Doucette made him soup and that it tasted bitter.

A toxicology report at the hospital came back negative, according to the police report.

Marchands police report states that this had the potential to be an attempted homicide investigation, and that Massachusetts State Police were contacted. A trooper declined to take the case.

Doucette was brought into another room at the hospital and she began to explain that she would never harm her husband in any way and that she loves him very, very much.

She stated that she loves her children, and that she hopes her daughter doesnt think she put him in the hospital, the police report states.

Doucettes husband had recently been the victim of a scam and lost about $8,000, she told police.

When Marchand attempted to seize Doucettes phone and tablet, she reportedly kicked at the officer with her boot and hit his groin.

At this point, police arrested Doucette and Ayer police took her into custody. She was arraigned on Dec. 4 and released on personal recognizance. She was ordered to have no contact with her daughter and husband, and for a mental health evaluation to be conducted.

She was released with a GPS monitor and ordered with 24/7 lockdown with the ability to attend medical appointments, authorities said.

Townsend police recommended an attempted murder charge in their report but the Middlesex District Attorneys Office did not file the charge. Police also wrote that Doucette violated a restraining order by sending a letter to her husband following her arrest.
Dr. Kay Heggestads family shot for the moon, but she might end up among the stars instead.

About a teaspoon of the Madison doctors ashes were slated to land on the moon Feb. 23, aboard a capsule on the Vulcan rocket that took off with Astrobotics Peregrine lander Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Heggestad died in 2017 and, in seeking to find a way to celebrate his extraordinary mother, her son Greg Wertsch discovered Celestis, a company that launches cremated remains into space.

But less than 24 hours after the launch, the moon landing was thwarted by a critical fuel leak that led to complications in battery charging aboard the lander, according to a statement from Astrobotics. The battery charging issue has since been resolved, but the landers thrusters were overworked in trying to correct the propulsion issue, the company estimating that they could only operate for a maximum 40 more hours.

At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power, Astrobotics said in a statement. Its not clear what would happen to the rocket if it cant reach lunar distance ahead of power loss.

Heggestads husband, Paul Wertsch is a self-proclaimed unabashed optimist and said the situation is disappointing, but salvageable. The mission may not be on course for its original landing target on the moon, but hes hopeful that Astrobotics will be able to get the rocket into lunar distance.

Plus, after nearly 49 years of marriage, he said hed grown to expect the unexpected when it came to his wife. In her life, Heggestad was many things: A skilled doctor, a proud mother, an unfailing advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, a pioneer for women in medicine.

She was not, however, known for her abilities as a master navigator.

If we were driving somewhere and Kay was navigating and I came to a fork in the road and asked Kay which way to turn I could rely with 90% certainty that if Kay said left then the correct way was to the right, Wertsch recalled. Her sister also said that even if she took the wrong way she would end up where she wanted to go, so Im thinking this is not going to slow her down too much.

So, when Wertsch first got word of the mission going off course, his initial disappointment was followed by fond remembrance  even in death, Heggestads directionally challenged nature persevered.

Shes probably going to end up on the moon somehow, he said.

Heggestads ashes arent the only human remains hanging in the balance. Also onboard are five scientific instruments from NASA and 15 other payloads from various organizations and countries, including hair samples from George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, as well as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Greg Wertsch said hes relatively unfazed by the setbacks: He looks forward to speculating on his mothers cosmic locale.

I dont think its necessarily a bad thing, he said. Every day I can look up and say oh, Moms on the moon today.

However, he remains curious about the business aspect of the missions setbacks. Peregrine would have been the first U.S. spacecraft to reach the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Wertsch has considered the potential harm done to the scientific equipment aboard the lander, the potential setbacks to scientific research, others who have things at stake aboard the spacecraft.

Plus, theres still hope that Heggestads ashes may still, eventually, stick the landing.

Those with loved ones onboard have been kept up to date on the mission and its issues, according to company representatives.

Celestis has a performance guarantee that provides a no cost reflight for our clients in the event the mission does not reach the intended destination and for this reason we already have collected sufficient flight samples to do so from our clients, Celestis spokesperson Pazia Schonfeld said.

From the Archives: Madison and the Moon Landing Jul 15, 1969: UW Pair to Get Lunar Material Jul 16, 1969: Man on Street Will Look Up Today Jul 16, 1969: First Moon Men Probably Won't Be From Wisconsin Jul 16, 1969: Native of City Again Heads Spacecraft Recovery Team Jul 16, 1969: TOWARD THE UNKNOWN  Apollo 11 Begins Heroic Trip to Moon July 19, 1969: Clergy React to Moon Launch  Many Reserved in Enthusiasm July 21, 1969: Moon Landing: 'Quite a Thrill' July 21, 1969: 3 Generations Watch Historic Moment July 21, 1969: A Roundy-About View of the Moon Flight July 21, 1969: In Awe, Madison Views Moon Landing July 21, 1969: For Children, There Must Be Robots and 'Things' on That Moon of Wonder July 21, 1969: Area Applauds, but Notes Earth Problems, Too July 25, 1969: Whew! City Watchers Sigh at Craft's Return
The discovery of shotgun shells at St. Marks School in Southborough led to a sweep of the school on Tuesday, Massachusetts State Police told MassLive.

At around 9:44 a.m., Southborough police called the Massachusetts State Police K9 Unit to assist in a search of St. Marks after two live 20 gauge 6-shot shells were found on campus grounds. K9 units from the Framingham and Worcester Police departments were also requested, according to a Southborough police statement on Facebook.

A State Police K9 unit and handler arrived, along with two members of the State Police Bomb Squad. The bomb squad brought dogs trained to detect ballistic residue, State Police said.

While on campus, a student came forward and admitted to bringing the shotgun shells into school, Southborough police said in their statement. The department said it would be working with school officials regarding the incident.

Read more: Boston man pleads guilty to fatal stabbing of man protecting girlfriend

After a sweep of the school by troopers, the K9 unit and their bomb squad partners, no other ammunition or anything else suspicious were found. Troopers and their partners left the school at 12:40 p.m.
A Springfield real estate broker now leads the countrys largest industry trade group.

Kevin Sears takes the helm as president of the National Association of Realtors at a time of apparent crisis for the organization, both due to turnover in its leadership as well as a jury verdict in Missouri that could upend longstanding policies about how brokers are paid through commissions.
SPRINGFIELD  Performance Foodservice will save significantly on future taxes paid to Springfield in a deal that helps keep the private company in the city.

The City Council voted 12-0 to endorse a tax incentive deal this week that will save owners about 58% of taxes they would pay over 10 years for a $31 million addition. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno signed the agreement Tuesday morning to seal the deal, which could add 350 jobs.

The company, which has been in Springfield for 50 years, plans to build a 117,000-square-foot addition to its location at 1982 Roosevelt Ave., expanding the business by about one-third.

We are just at capacity. We have two choices, we can move potentially out of the city or we can expand, said Tami Gardner, vice president of business incentives for the national company. Our preference is to expand, mostly because of the great associates we want to keep and we have great highway access where we are.

The company is a full-service food distributor. It provides a variety of products, from plates to pet food, to businesses all over the region, such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Big Y supermarkets, Gardner said.

Staff

The plans call for the company to add 350 positions to its existing staff of about 565 people and increase its payroll from $42 million to $68 million after the addition is completed, she said.

Over the 10 years of the agreement, the company will still pay an estimated $2.5 million in taxes on the addition and after that will pay about $1 million a year, she said.

The agreement, known as tax-increment financing, will forgive 90% of the taxes the company would pay in the first year after the addition is completed. That would drop by 10% every year for 10 years until the company is paying the full taxes on the assessed value of the property, said city Assessor Matt Fontaine.

Most tax incentive agreements the city approves are for five years and this one is front loaded to give the company the biggest benefits when it is paying the initial costs of construction. The agreement only covers the addition. The company will continue to pay the same taxes it does now on its existing building, he said.

It is a significant job creation, Fontaine said, explaining the reason for the more generous incentive.

The average salary of the positions is $74,000, with entry-level warehouse employees earning $21 an hour, said Jeff Derick, president of Performance Foodservice of Springfield.

The company now captures about 38% of the area market share in its field. The business hopes to expand that, as it increases its space and workforce. Their biggest competitors are in Connecticut, Derick said.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring and be completed in 2025, Gardner said.

I love the idea of this project, the number of employees they continue to hire. The tax base will continue to increase, said City Councilor Brian Santaniello.

Sarno said the tax deal keeps a successful business in Springfield, increases the tax base and adds construction jobs as well as the permanent positions.

Neighborhood councils from Pine Point and East Springfield also signed off on the proposal, saying they had no concerns with the addition.

City Councilor Victor Davila said he visited the company and got a good feeling from employees who said they are happy with their jobs and the companys work culture.

City councilors said they were encouraged that the business will focus on trying to hire people who live in Springfield. Now, about 25% of the staff lives in the city.

Councilor Tracye Whitfield asked about the diversity of the companys staff, especially in upper management. She encouraged it to have a workforce that reflects the citys minority-majority makeup.

Derick could not provide exact numbers at the council session Monday but said the companys workforce is diverse, with employees speaking six different languages. In upper management, at least four of the 20 employees are people of color, he said.

The tax agreement calls for Performance Foodservice to seek out minority-owned and women-owned construction firms. The company will work with agencies like MassHire to recruit Springfield residents, said Brian Connors, deputy development officer for Springfield.

Derick said the company works hard to build a family and to keep its employees, especially now since it is difficult to fill vacant positions.

It offers employees education incentives so they can return to school to move up in the company. For example, if a warehouse employee wants to earn a commercial drivers license, the company will pay for the classes and training needed.
SPRINGFIELD  Faced with snow-covered main arteries and side streets two days after more than a foot of snow fell on Western Massachusetts, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno took a rare step and apologized Tuesday for poor street conditions.

The storm lasted a long time and more than a dozen plow drivers contracted to clear streets didnt show up. But Sarno said he felt a need to say he is sorry to people who live and work in the city and have to navigate snow, slush and ice on streets.

I was not satisfied with the snow removal, he said. I dont want any excuses. We must and will do better.

After most storms, Sarno said he meets with public works director Christopher Cignoli. He said he spoke with him Tuesday to discuss improvements in the citys response to the next snowfall.

The poor snow removal was due, in part, to unusual conditions.

The snow was heavy and wet and accumulated more than a foot, making snow removal more difficult. It also lasted a lot longer than expected.

During the day on Sunday, an additional 4 inches or more fell on top of the snow overnight, Sarno said.

But the biggest problem was the lack of plows and drivers. Last winter, the city hired 135 independent contractors, said Steve Beem, deputy director for the public works department.

The city only owns about 20 pieces of snow-removal equipment, a vestige of the days when the state-appointed Finance Control Board was in charge. That means the city is heavily reliant on private contractors to plow streets.

Typically, the city needs 140 to 160 plow drivers. This year, it was only able to find 105. Then, during the storm, 88 showed up  leaving the city short, he said.

A vehicle heads up Morgan Street in Springfield's North End neighborhood. Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has apologized for road conditions after a recent storm. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 1/9/2024The Republican

The city has increased the amount it pays drivers, advertised heavily for drivers and developed a system where the companies and drivers are paid within a week. The problem is there is simply a shortage of people who can or want to plow.

There is a high turnover rate for drivers, Beem said. Roughly 20% of drivers come back year after year.

Some leave, others stay, he said. People just dont seem to want to do it.

Companies that often answer the call to plow, including landscapers and construction firms, are facing their own problems filling positions.

At the same time, some companies simply had bad luck.

William Baker, communications director for Sarno, said one contractor had expected to field three plows. But one truck had a bad transmission, one developed hydraulic problems early in the storm and one was heavily damaged in a crash over the weekend.

Springfield continues to work on snow removal.

Sarno said residents should contact the citys call center at 311 or 413-736-3111 to report streets that still need to be cleared, or if they are experiencing any other problems with the snow removal. People can also call the mayors office at 787-6100.

With temperatures rising and heavy rains expected, Sarno also asked residents to clear any blocked storm drains near their homes to prevent flooding.

When city councilors brought up the condition of the streets on Monday night at their regular meeting, Cignoli said the city pretreats surfaces with salt, as do surrounding communities such as Chicopee. It uses the same materials purchased off a state list.

A dog walker heads up Emery Street in Springfield's North End. Mayor Domenic Sarno has apologized for the condition of city roads following a weekend storm. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 1/9/2024The Republican

The biggest difference between Springfield and some of the surrounding cities is simply the size. With some 800 streets that measure some 1,100 miles, the city is four times the size of most of the neighboring communities. For example Chicopee has 225 lane miles.

Chicopees public works superintendent did not respond to a request for comment on how that city fared on snow removal during and after the weekend storm.

DOT readiness

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said all six of the states highway districts were well prepared with ample materials, plow drivers and vendor equipment to handle the storm.

While the department employs full-time and seasonal drivers to use more than 3,500 pieces of state-owned equipment, the DOT also relies on contractors.

We remain confident that there is still enough (equipment) to deal with any weather events to keep the roads safe, the spokesman said.
Wednesday, Jan. 10, marks one year since Brittany Tee, a 35-year-old Brookfield woman, went missing.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts State Police Detectives, the Worcester County District Attorneys office and the Brookfield Police Department announced the search to find her continues. A ground search picked back up again in December 2023, according to a joint statement.

Tee was last seen in Brookfield in the area of Lewis Field on Main Street, three days before she was reported missing by her family members to Brookfield police.

Law enforcement agencies conducted extensive searches in the weeks that followed, joining the Brookfield Police and Fire departments, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said in the days after her disappearance.

Missing Brookfield woman Brittany Tee, 35, was last seen leaving a residence in Brookfield around 8:30 p.m. Jan. 10. She was last seen wearing a black winter coat, hoodie, jeans and work boots, officials said.

Search teams included the Massachusetts State Police and its Special Emergency Response Team, the State Police K-9 Unit, the State Police Air Wing, the State Police Marine Unit, the Massachusetts Environmental Police, the Brookfield Police and Fire Departments, and the Worcester Police Department.

Read more: Boston man arrested in connection with Worcester Caribbean Festival shooting

On Jan. 22, 2023, state police said they covered 250 acres during search efforts, with other search efforts done in a large area of woods near her Brookfield home and along routes 9 and 148.

The district attorney has repeated that the search for Tee is not a criminal investigation and that everyone who authorities have spoken to has been cooperative.

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, state police conducted a search of 18 Main St. in Brookfield, the address where missing Brookfield woman Brittany Tee was last seen.

Searches conducted by State Police divers and the marine unit and Massachusetts Environmental Police searched the Quaboag River, Quaboag Pond, and Dunn Brook and surrounding marshland yielded no results.

Tee is described as 56 inches tall and 120 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a black winter coat, a hoodie, jeans and work boots when she was last seen.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the dedicated Brittany Tee tip line at 508-453-7589 or email WorcesterDAUnresolved@mass.gov. Tips can be submitted anonymously.
WESTFIELD  At the Jan. 9 School Committee meeting, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski reported that he, business manager Shannon Barry and director of operations Christopher Rogers will be attending an MSBA superintendent roundtable next week about the new procedures in place for submitting a statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for new projects.

The Westfield administrative team will then meet with the School Committee facilities subcommittee to discuss seeking state reimbursement to build a new high school. It could be the start of a multi-year application process, the superintendent said.
Elaine Kennedy, the founder and creator behind Hawthorn Skincare, has taken the helm as President of Network Ireland Mayo for 2024.

A native of Kilkeeran, Partry, Kennedy established Hawthorn Skincare, a brand of 100% natural skincare products.

Her journey within Network Ireland mirrors her growth as an entrepreneur. As an active member of the organisation since 2018, Kennedy has been an integral part of the branch committee since 2020.

Kennedy says it is an immense honour to step into the role, 30-years on from the branch's establishment. She says that the theme for 2024 is 'Habits of Successful Women.', a theme that resonates with the strength, resilience, and success of the network.

Network Ireland Mayo aims to help women thrive personally and professionally by fostering a vibrant community that champions equality, entrepreneurship, and leadership. They cultivate success and inspire progress in every member's journey through collaboration, education, and meaningful connections.

Throughout the year, the network will host a series of engaging and interactive monthly events, the first of which kicks off January 17 in Castlebar. The lunchtime workshop The Power of Habit: Wellbeing Practices for Successful Women, will be presented by Janine van Someren of The Wellbeing Advantage.

Kennedy invites all women, from entrepreneurs to aspiring leaders, to join the network and be part of a supportive group that encourages growth, collaboration, and empowerment.

For more information about becoming a member, click here.
Several projects from Mayo students have qualified for the prestigious BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE).

Mount St Michael (Claremorris) has four entries, Sancta Maria College (Louisburgh) has two, and St Joseph's Secondary School (Castlebar) has one project in the running.

The exhibition itself is the final hurdle of the contest, after months of ideas and hard work. The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is an unforgettable experience for the students who take part.

Recent years have seen the number of entries skyrocket, and tomorrow, over 1,100 students will arrive to the exhibition and prepare for the first round of judging, carried out by 85 expert judges. The event attracts hundreds-of-thousands of people making it one of the largest events of its kind worldwide.

President Michael D. Higgins carried out the official opening of the event this afternoon and speaking ahead of the exhibition's sixtieth, Head of the BTYSTE, Mari Cahalane said that she is "look[ing] forward to showing [President Higgins], and the people of Ireland the incredible and diverse projects that the countrys brightest young minds have been working on.

The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2024 will kick off this Thursday, January 11, to Saturday, January 13.

See below full details of the Mayo entries, and for the full list of entries, click here.



Mount St Michael- BREATHE: Nurturing Adolescent Mental Wellness -A Tech Solution to Reduce Stress and Anxiety Among Teens. (Health & Wellbeing) (Group project).



Mount St Michael- Enhancing Inhaler Technique Proficiency and Adherence in Pediatric Asthma Patients through Machine Learning-Based Intervention: A Comprehensive Study of Misuse Patterns and Technological Solutions. (Health & Wellbeing) (Individual project).



Mount St Michael- Revolutionizing human flight: The Pursuit of Human Wings with reengineered ornithopter. (Technology) (Individual project).



Mount St Michael- Safety in Your Hands: A mobile application integrating location-based equipment discovery and comprehensive first aid education to enhance overall emergency response outcomes. (Health & Wellbeing) (Individual project).



Sancta Maria College- Cliseadh Miotal Trom: Cereal Contamination Under the Microscope. (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences) (Group project).



Sancta Maria College- SOS (Shut Out Strangers)  A workshop delivered to targets by targets themselves. (Social & Behavioural Sciences ) (Group project).



St Josephs Secondary School- Volatile Organic Compounds and their impact on our everyday lives. (Health & Wellbeing) (Individual project).
UW-Madison is heading up a $150 million study at Alzheimers disease centers around the country that seeks to shed more light on mixed dementia, or having more than one kind of the neurological disease.

Scientists say most people diagnosed with Alzheimers also have other forms of dementia  such as vascular dementia, which impairs blood flow in the brain, or Lewy body dementia, which involves a protein different from those tied to Alzheimers. Since the various forms are often treated differently, knowing which types patients have can improve treatment, doctors say.

The new study aims to test about 2,000 people at the countrys 37 Alzheimers Disease Research Centers, including the center at UW-Madison. Participants will get PET and MRI scans, along with blood tests, to identify markers for different types of dementia. The study is supported by a National Institutes of Health grant of nearly $31 million the first year that is expected to last five years.

We can shed light on the complex interplay of multiple pathologies contributing to dementia, ultimately advancing our understanding and treatment of this devastating condition, Sterling Johnson, a UW School of Medicine and Public Health professor who is leading the study, said in a statement.

The study, called Clarity in Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias Research Through Imaging, or CLARiTI, will gather data about the presence, absence or change in biomarkers in people who have various types of dementia or are at risk of developing it. The biomarkers include the proteins amyloid and tau, hallmarks of Alzheimers disease.

The 37 centers already follow more than 17,000 participants, some of whom live with dementia. The new study will allow researchers to correlate biological changes to clinical diagnoses, genetics and changes in patient symptoms over time.

Sterling Johnson also heads up UW-Madisons Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimers Prevention, or WRAP. Its a long-term study of some 1,600 people, most with a family history of the disease.

Photos: Winter storm brings snow to the Madison area
Turkey Nears Completion of Crypto Framework; Minister Confirms FATF Compliance

Turkeys Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mehmet Simsek, announced that Turkey is reportedly in the final stages of preparing a legal regulation for crypto assets. He also shared insights into the imminent cryptocurrency law and compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, emphasizing its broad definition.

In an interview on January 10 with Anadolu Agency in Turkey, Simsek revealed details about the regulatory approach. Simsek stated that there had been significant interest in crypto asset buying and selling platforms, bringing both opportunities and risks.

Simsek emphasized the need to take steps to mitigate risks associated with abuse on some platforms and excessive price movements. He stated that these steps align with international practices and are part of the efforts to get out of the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Internationally, various countries, including the USA and European nations, adopt different practices in regulating crypto assets. Simsek expressed the need for Turkey to take regulatory steps that align with its financial and legal systems. He emphasized the importance of staying informed about global developments.

The draft regulations include inclusive definitions for crypto assets, wallets, crypto asset service providers, crypto asset custody services, and crypto asset buying and selling platforms. Simsek has laid out an example of crypto assets definition:

Crypto assets are broadly defined as intangible assets that can be created and stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or a similar technology, distributed over digital networks, and capable of expressing value or rights.

Simsek highlighted that the Central Bank and the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) already have regulations on this matter, but more needs to be done. The legal work aims to regulate platforms and the transactions occurring there.Under the proposed regulations, crypto asset trading platforms will be licensed by the Capital Market Board of Turkey (CMB). Whats more, minimum operating conditions will be imposed, similar to those of financial institutions. These conditions will cover founders and managers, organizational obligations, capital requirements, and IT infrastructure obligations.

Turkeys Capital Markets Board (CMB) Drafts Regulation for Crypto Asset Trading Platforms

According to Simsek, the crypto asset trading platforms will require and obtain licenses from the CMB. These will be subject to operational requirements similar to those for financial institutions.The CMB will have the authority to regulate the issuance of capital market instruments as crypto assets. Additionally, the draft includes provisions for crowdfunding methods to sell blockchain technology infrastructure-related crypto assets.While the current regulation does not focus on taxes, Simsek stated that the tax issue will be studied separately. The CMB aims to adopt a policy of not interfering with listed crypto assets on platforms. However, it will require platforms to have written procedures for determining traded assets. The CMB will regulate additional principles and interventions when necessary, emphasizing the preservation of investors assets against the risk of abuse.The draft also addresses the issue of custody for investors. The CMB will be regulating the principles and determining institutions authorized to hold custody. The legal framework for measures and sanctions will also be established.Notably, the Turkish Presidential Annual Program for 2024, released in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey on October 25, outlines the goal of completing cryptocurrency regulations in the country by the end of 2024. Article 400.5 in the document details the efforts to establish clear definitions for crypto assets. This potentially opens the door for their taxation in the future.The program also aims to provide legal definitions for crypto asset providers, specifically mentioning cryptocurrency exchanges. However, it doesnt provide specific details regarding the elements of the upcoming regulatory framework.As of December 2022, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey had successfully conducted the initial trial of its central bank digital currency, the digital lira, expressing intentions to continue testing into 2024.
by Wayne Friedman , January 10, 2024

Disney on Tuesday disclosed that its self-service Disney Campaign Manager platform -- used mostly by small to mid-sized marketers and agencies -- has grown to onboarding 4,200 brands and 1,000 agencies since its launch in 2021.

Significantly, Disney said 85% of the agencies using it are new Disney Advertising shops.

Media-buying self-service is where the enhancements of data and technology have really come to the forefront, Dentsu Senior Vice President of U.S. National Video Innovation Brad Stockton said in a statement included in Disney's release, adding: "Advertisers want more control over where they're going and being able to be more agile and nimble with their executions.

Disney also disclosed that nearly 16,000 unique campaigns were launched on its campaign manager, which offers media buys for as little as $500 per unit.

advertisement advertisement

The platform enables smaller advertisers and brands to target campaigns by geographic, demographic and other audience breaks, as well as by programming genre and media device being used.

The company said domestic ad inventory from streaming platforms Disney+ and ESPN+ will be available through the campaign manager later this year, and that the offering is also being rolled out globally.
Highlights: Nagpur Municipal Corporation ranks second in the state for successful immunization of the under-18 population

NMC initiates a comprehensive outreach program to ensure children complete their vaccine doses, targeting dropouts and high refusal areas

Despite the on-paper success, hurdles like parental resistance persist. NMC aims for broader coverage and enhanced community engagement for sustained immunization success



Nagpur ranks second in child immunization! NMC's proactive outreach tackles vaccine dropouts and resistance areas. Let's ensure every child gets a shield against life-threatening diseases! #immunizationsuccess #childhealth #nagpurcares #medindia

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Improving Immunization Coverage in India

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India's Routine Immunization Program

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Challenges for Poor Vaccine Coverage

Vaccines and immunization - (https://www.who.int/health-topics/vaccines-and-immunization?#tab=tab_1)

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) achieved an impressive second rank in the state for meeting immunization targets for the under-18 population last year. The success was attributed to robust coverage of measles and rubella (MR) doses , ensuring that the city's children remained relatively unaffected by outbreaks seen in other parts of the state.To further enhance immunization coverage and shield the young population from potential outbreaks, the NMC health department, led by Additional Commissioner Anchal Goyal, initiated an outreach program. This program aimed to address vaccine dropouts, ensuring they complete their doses, and targeted areas with high vaccine refusal rates, aligning with recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) (1).Following the WHO immunization chart, newborns must receive BCG and Hepatitis B (0) within the first 24 hours. Subsequently, the child needs to undergo a series of 20 vaccines at regular intervals to develop immunity against life-threatening diseases such as diphtheria , pertussis, tetanus , hepatitis B, and contagious ailments like polio , diarrhea, and measles, among others.While on paper, the NMC's routine immunization program reflects over-achievement, officials acknowledge resistance from some parents. Dr. Sarla Lad, Mother and Child Reproductive Health Officer at NMC, noted that the apparent over-achievement is partly due to rural residents seeking vaccine shots in the city, and in some cases, children not surviving after birth. She emphasized that there is room for improvement in coverage achievement.Dr. Lad highlighted challenges faced by health workers, particularly in slum pockets and Muslim-dominated areas, where resistance to vaccines is more pronounced. In addressing this, Zonal Medical Officer Dr. Ateequr Raheman Khan has been tasked with building rapport within the Muslim community and expanding vaccine reach.Certain low-income areas, primarily Muslim-dominated, cited concerns such as pain and irritability for the child as reasons for avoiding vaccines, according to Dr. Lad. She pointed out that after initial jabs following childbirth, residents often fail to show up for subsequent doses.Meanwhile, the elite class claims to have administered doses in private hospitals but lacks records on the children's medical files. These challenges underscore the need for targeted efforts to enhance vaccine acceptance across diverse socio-economic groups within the city.Source-Medindia
Highlights: Karin, a Swedish trailblazer, leads the way with the world's first fully integrated and controllable bionic limb

Global engineering collaboration tackles traditional prosthetic challenges, yielding a breakthrough in functionality and comfort

Dr. Max Ortiz Catalan sees Karin's success as a testament to the transformative potential of advanced bionic technology

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A highly integrated bionic hand with neural control and feedback for use in daily life



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Karin controls her bionic arm with neural precision, proving the future is now. #bionicwoman #bionic #medindia

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Pioneering Bionic Limb Integration: The "Real Bionic Woman"

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Innovative Development of the Bionic Arm

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Significant Milestones and Future Implications

A highly integrated bionic hand with neural control and feedback for use in daily life - (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adf7360)

The initial human recipient of an artificial limb, hailed as the "real bionic woman," has successfully integrated a functional and controllable limb into her body, marking a significant advancement. This innovative limb is seamlessly connected to both her nervous and skeletal systems, addressing challenges faced by conventional prosthetics ).The recipient, a 50-year-old Swedish woman named Karin, lost her hand over two decades ago in a farming accident and struggled with conventional prosthetic limbs. Dissatisfied with the discomfort and stress caused by these traditional options, she sought a solution. The specially designed bionic limb, which became operational in 2019 and has been in use for four years, provided relief from her persistent pain.The development of this bionic arm involved a collaborative effort by a diverse team of engineers from Sweden, Australia, and Italy. Their goal was to tackle issues related to mechanical integration and functional control commonly associated with artificial limbs. Addressing concerns about pain and control, they devised an interface that seamlessly merges human and machine, ensuring both comfort and a reliable electrical connection with the nervous system Dr. Max Ortiz Catalan, the lead researcher of the study and head of neural prosthetics research at the Bionics Institute in Australia, as well as the founder of the Center for Bionics and Pain Research (CBPR) in Sweden, emphasized the significance of Karin's successful long-term use of the bionic limb. According to Dr. Catalan, Karin is the first individual with a below-elbow amputation to benefit from this highly integrated bionic hand, demonstrating its independence and reliability in daily life. This achievement underscores the potential life-changing capabilities of this novel technology for individuals facing limb loss.Remarkably, Karin employs the same neural resources to control the artificial limb as she did for her biological arm, highlighting the seamless integration and adaptability of this miraculous technology.Source-Medindia
If you, too, have attended a gazillion weddings in the last two years, youve probably noticed a pattern in peoples response to being asked, Where are you going on your honeymoon? The answer is mostly Goa, Bali or Maldives. The third destination is probably going to become less popular before the next wedding season as a humongous debate threatens to collapse the entire tourism industry of Maldives, since most of its visitors are newly married couples  replete with their straw hats, printed shirts and shorts and the unmissable mehendi-chooda combo.

 Instagram/Parineeti Chopra Turns out, Maldives reign as the undisputed beach bae of the average Indian traveller might be ending, thanks to a little friendly fire courtesy of our very own Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

It all started with a harmless Instagram post. Modiji, channelling his inner travel influencer, shared some sun-kissed picturesfrom his visit to Lakshadweep, another Indian archipelago blessed with turquoise waters and white sandy beaches. Now, you'd think this would be a good thing, right? Some free publicity for a lesser-known paradise? View this post on Instagram Turns out, Maldivian politicians took this as a personal attack on their nation's beach cred. Accusations flew fast as politicians from the Maldives began comparing their gorgeous beaches with Lakshadweep. In a now-deleted post, Mariyam Shiuna, the Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment in the Maldives, called PM Modi a 'clown' and 'puppet of Israel'. If that wasn't enough, another politician and a member of the Progressive Party of Maldives Senate, Zahid Rameez, said it was delusional to even compare the two islands as Maldives was far superior.

 X/Mariyam Shiuna
HARRISBURG  Hollywood has Academy Awards. Journalism has Pulitzer Prizes. The Pennsylvania Farm Show has baking competitions.

Bakers from throughout Pennsylvania this week have been competing in the 108th Pennsylvania Farm Show for awards for the best apple pies, chocolate cakes, angel food cakes and more.

People are baking again, said Jen Boling, Family Living Department chairwoman. Entries in our baking contests are all up this year. The snowy weather did not stop entries. A lot of people came, dropped off their entries and left. Were excited to see interest in Family Living.

Marie Miller of Mechanicsburg, a frequent winner at Farm Show baking contests, won second place in the Farm Show Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest for her Caramel Pecan Apple Pie. Miller, who used gala and Fuji apples in her pie, said that the secret to winning is to use fresh apples.

The contest, sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs and featuring 81 pies, was open only to certified first-place apple pie winners from Pennsylvanias 2023 agricultural fairs.

Lucinda Donough of Port Royal won first place, $500, a blue ribbon and bragging rights for a year. Other winners were Cindy Hendershot of Danielsville, third place and $200; Sharon Karlheim of Patton, fourth place and a yellow ribbon; and Rita Davis, fifth place and a green ribbon.

Im a self-taught baker, Miller said. I started baking as a young adult. I used canned pie filling in my first pie. I thought that I could do better than that. My Aunt Alberta was shocked that I used canned filling. She taught me how to really bake a pie.

Miller starting baking pies for her husband, Karl, after they got married. Then she began baking for competitions, starting with the Cumberland Ag Expo in Newville.

Now, Ive been competing in the Farm Show for eight years, she said. I won first place in the apple pie contest in 2019.

Entries in the Farm Show Homemade Chocolate Cake Contest were extremely decorative this year, even though taste is the most important. Not surprisingly, nobody at this chocolate lovers event talked about calories or fat content.

People really like our chocolate cakes, said Karen Dobson, contest coordinator. Many offer to help judge the contest! After the judging, they stand in line to enjoy the samples.

Homemade Chocolate Cake Contest winners were Madison Link of Waterford, first place and $500; second place and $300 to Angelica Coneybeer of Carmichaels; third place and $200 to Kelly Wagner of Pine Grove; fourth place and a ribbon to Michelle Mitchell of Wattsburg; and fifth place and a ribbon to Sandra Brubaker of Manheim.

That contest, sponsored by Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs, was only open to certified first place winners in chocolate cake contests at an approved agricultural fair in 2023, according to Chris Fickes, contest emcee and one of judges.

A heavenly air hung over the Farm Shows Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Egg Farmers. Like the apple pie and chocolate cake contests, this one was open only to first-place winners of an angel food cake contest at an approved Pennsylvania agricultural fair during the 2023 fair season.

Kevin Bieber, contest coordinator, expressed surprise that 75 angel food cakes were entered, a higher number than usual.

Logan McGlinn of Indiana won first place and $500. Other winners were Shelly Long of Dillsburg, second prize and $300; and Jeanine Kitzmiller of Chambersburg third prize and $200. Ribbons went to Cindy Allhouse of Sharpsville, fourth prize; and Sheila Suhan of Scottdale, fifth prize.

Kitzmiller said she made a Snickers Angel Food Cake because of her love of that candy bar.

Im not into fruit, she said. I chopped snickers up and put them in the filling. I also had some on top for garnish.

Lemon was a popular flavoring in the angel food cakes. Beth Milvet of Claysville used 15 eggs in her Blueberry Lemon Angel Food Cake, which was blueberry flavored with a lemon filling. Terri Stewart of Altoona made a Lemon Raspberry Angel Food Cake. She said she had to make two cakes because the first one came out flat.

Angel food cakes got their name because the light and fluffy texture make people think of the food of angels. They have no oil, no baking soda or powder and no butter, yet they are more complicated than they seem.

Bakers making an angel food cake must separate about a dozen egg whites from the yolks, whip the whites into high peaks and add flavoring, a little flour and other ingredients.

The angel food cake judges tasting the cakes looked for flavor, texture, lightness, appearance, creativity, topping, icing and decoration, along with smell, taste, flavoring, inside texture and lightness. After awards were presented, the public lined up for free samples of the entries.
Tanks and infantry of the 19th Indian Dagger Division move up to the attack, Burma, c.1944.

When the National Army Museum in London invited people some years ago to nominate Britains greatest battle, there was a clear winner. To the surprise of many, however, it wasnt Blenheim, or Waterloo, or El Alamein that won the top spot  but the Battle of Imphal and Kohima, fought near the border between India and Burma (now Myanmar) on 8 March-18 July 1944.

Despite this accolade, Imphal and Kohima remains relatively unknown. The multinational British Fourteenth Army, which achieved a savagely fought victory over the Japanese and their allies in the battle, was nicknamed the Forgotten Army; and the wider Burma campaign of 1942-1944, of which it was a part, is often still described as a forgotten war. We should be careful not to overstate this: many books have, after all, been written about the campaign. But while the 80th anniversary this year of the D-Day landings will rightly be celebrated amid much pomp and ceremony, it seems likely that events to mark the same anniversary of Imphal and Kohima will be considerably more low-key.

Partly, this is a result of geography. Now, as then, the landing beaches of Normandy, along with other key European battlegrounds, lie within easy reach of Britain. By contrast, Imphal and Kohima was fought more than 5,000 miles away, amid the steep hills and dense jungles of one of the Second World Wars least accessible areas of conflict  and against an enemy who presented no direct threat to the homeland. As we shall see, the courage of the Allied soldiers who fought there seems only more remarkable in the context of the battles remote and inhospitable location.

The background, of course, was one of failure. Beginning in January 1942, the Japanese invasion of Burma had swept all before it, driving British and Commonwealth forces out of a country that was then still part of the British Empire. The capital city of Rangoon fell in March  and the resulting 900-mile withdrawal northwards, over difficult mountain terrain and across the Indian border, achieved infamy as the longest retreat in the history of the Empire.

Plans to recapture Burma took shape in 1943  spearheaded first by the Chindits, the legendary special operations group of the British and Indian armies, which ran long-range penetration missions behind Japanese lines under the leadership of Orde Wingate. But it was the creation in late 1943 of the Fourteenth Army under the command of Lieutenant-General William (Bill) Slim that would make the crucial difference.

As we discover over the following pages, Slim would do a remarkable job, rebuilding the morale of a shattered force, while quickly developing the capability to defeat a ruthless and fanatical enemy amid some of the worst country in the world. At Imphal and Kohima  80 years ago this spring  the Japanese would be driven back at last, and the myth of their invincibility would finally be dispelled. Such was the battles significance that it has been described by more than one historian as the Stalingrad of the East.

In our two-part special for this issue, Graham Goodlad first profiles Slim, tracing his rise from obscurity to become one the greatest of WWII generals; and then looks in detail at Imphal and Kohima, to understand how this brutal jungle battle became the turning point of the Burma campaign.

This is an extract from a special feature on the Burma campaign from the February/March 2024 issue of Military History Matters magazine.

Read the full article online on The Past, or in the print magazine: find out more about subscriptions to Military History Matters here.
Thousands more service members, including those living in certain high-cost cities or counties in New York, Virginia, Colorado, California and Oregon, will begin to receive the Defense Department's cost-of-living allowance for the continental U.S. in 2024.

A defense official told Military.com that the latest annual update to the allowance means about 17,000 service members will receive a total of about $26 million in CONUS COLA payments in 2024, significantly more than in 2023, when about 5,000 troops received about $8 million.

Unlike the overseas cost-of-living allowance, known as OCONUS COLA, which changes every month based on currency exchange rates, its CONUS counterpart changes only once a year in areas with high costs of goods and services unrelated to housing. Once an area's cost-of-living index exceeds 108% of the national average, it begins to qualify for CONUS COLA.

Read Next: Marine Commandant Has Open-Heart Surgery Following Earlier Cardiac Arrest, Plans to Return to Duty

Each additional percentage point in costs beyond 108% adds a percentage point of COLA.

The rate varies by geographic location, rank, years of service and whether the service member has dependents.

Monthly CONUS COLA payments range from $38 to $61 per locality-based percentage point for service members with dependents; and from $25 to $47 for those without dependents. In New York City, for example, with its 12% CONUS COLA, payments range from $456 to $732 per month for troops with dependents and $300 to $564 for those without any.

Some of those who are already receiving CONUS COLA allowances may see their payments go up in 2024. None will go down except in the areas where the rate drops to zero.

New York City residents will receive the highest CONUS COLA in 2024 at 12% (up from 8% in 2023), followed by Staten Island, N.Y., at 6% (up from 3%); and San Francisco at 3% (up from 1%).

Service members in the following areas will no longer receive CONUS COLA in 2024:

Detroit

Essex County, Massachusetts

Hampden County, Massachusetts

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Service members in the following areas, listed with their locality-based percentage point to calculate the ultimate payment, will begin receiving CONUS COLA in 2024:

Fort Bragg, California: 1%

Los Angeles: 1%

Marin/Sonoma, California: 1%

Merced, California: 1%

Oakland, California: 1%

Santa Clara County, California: 1%

Gypsum, Colorado: 1%

Long Island, New York: 3%

Westchester County, New York: 1%

Portland, Oregon: 1%

Blackstone, Virginia: 1%

In addition to the CONUS COLA increases in some areas, troops are getting the biggest raise in basic pay in more than two decades, at 5.2%, once they start receiving their 2024 paychecks. At the same time, the Basic Allowance for Housing is going up by an average of 5.4%, while the Basic Allowance for Subsistence rises only 1.7% for the year.

Related: 2024 Military Pay Dates
A Raleigh man was arrested Saturday morning for trying to hire someone to kill a man involved in a fatal highway crash that killed his mother almost eight years ago.

Rhett Michael Barlow, 22, was arrested at Fort Liberty by the Wake Forest Police Department and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. Barlow is accused of soliciting to murder Donald Caulder Jr. of Laurinburg.

In March 2016, Caulder was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed when he rear-ended Barlows mother, Michelle Simone Barlow, 42, with his Freightliner dump truck. The crash occurred south of the Burlington Mills Road intersection on Capital Boulevard.

Michelle Barlow was driving a Toyota Sienna minivan at the time of the crash. The dump truck Caulder was driving was loaded with loose logs and towing a trailer carrying a 9,800-pound Bobcat loader. A Highway Patrol investigation found that the brakes on the trailer were not functioning because they hadnt been connected to the truck.

The force of the impact pushed Michelle Barlows minivan into the back of a tractor-trailer truck driven by Marvin Douglas Erb, then 49, of Danville, Virginia.

Barlows minivan was crushed and the dump truck came to rest partly on top of it, The News & Observer reported at the time.

Caulder, then 29, was arrested in Scotland County by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and was convicted in 2017. He received 12 months probation and a suspended sentence.

A spokesperson for Wake Forest said Michelle Barlows son was arrested on the military base because he is in the National Guard and was training there this weekend. The solicitation occurred in Wake Forest.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division took Barlow into custody and transferred him to Wake Forest police.

In North Carolina, solicitation to commit murder involves a person soliciting someone else to commit the crime. The charge could result in life in prison if a person is found guilty.

Rhett Barlow was transported to the Wake County Detention Center and charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder. He is being held on a $1 million bond.

A beloved Wake Forest teacher

Safety inspection records released after the accident determined that the dump truck Caulder was driving had multiple violations, including brake failure.

Barlows minivan was stopped at a light on Capital Boulevard when the dump truck rear-ended her.

An inspection found that, in addition to the brakes not being wired to the truck, the logs on the truck were not secured. Other violations included the chain securing the Bobcat was not as strong as the law requires, and a battery-powered emergency breakaway system did not work due to a missing battery.

The owner of the truck was fined $930 for the violations.

Michelle Barlow was an English teacher at Wake Forest High School at the time of her death.

According to reports by The News & Observer, Barlow was well-liked by her students. A fundraiser organized by her family raised thousands of dollars to cover funeral expenses.

She began working in the Wake County Public School System in 2015 as an English teacher at Panther Creek High School in Cary. She moved to Wake Forest High a year later. Her son is 2019 a graduate of the school.

At the time of the crash, Barlow had left the schools campus for a work meeting.

A year after her death, the Barlow family received more than $350,000 from the Wake County school system and the state Department of Public Instruction.

The state determined that Barlows death was work-related and ordered the school system to pay her family $355,325 in lost future wages.

2024 Raleigh News & Observer. Visit newsobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has launched an investigation into the secrecy surrounding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization for complications that arose from a surgery for prostate cancer, a diagnosis that was also secret until this week.

Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., sent letters Tuesday to Austin, his chief of staff and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks demanding a stack of documents and answers about why Congress, the White House and most of the Defense Department weren't informed sooner.

The inquiry signals that fallout from the episode is mounting even as the Pentagon tries to contain the turmoil that has roiled Washington since the department first revealed Austin's hospitalization around 5 p.m. on Friday. In addition to Rogers' investigation, more Republicans have demanded Austin's resignation; calls for public hearings from both sides of the aisle have grown; and one Republican launched a long-shot effort to impeach Austin.

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"With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable," Rogers wrote in his letter to Austin. "The department is a robust institution, and it is designed to function under attack by our enemies, but it is not designed for a secretary who conceals being incapacitated."

Austin was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and admitted to the intensive care unit Jan. 1 after suffering from severe pain that doctors later determined was caused by a urinary tract infection and a buildup of abdominal fluid, complications from an earlier surgery to treat prostate cancer.

While the Pentagon has said some key officials were informed of Austin's hospitalization Jan. 2, including his chief of staff Kelly Magsamen, it has acknowledged that the White House, Hicks and other top Pentagon officials weren't told until Jan. 4. Congress and the public weren't informed until Jan. 5.

And while Austin's cancer diagnosis came in early December and his initial surgery was Dec. 22, President Joe Biden was only told about the cancer Tuesday morning, hours before the Pentagon publicly revealed the diagnosis.

The Pentagon has depicted the failure to immediately disclose the Jan. 1 hospitalization as a series of errors and miscues, including the fact that Magsamen was out with the flu when she was told Austin was in the hospital. Austin has also said he takes "full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure."

But several questions remain, including why Austin waited more than a month to tell the president about his diagnosis and whether he ever ordered his staff to keep his situation quiet.

Rogers posed dozens of questions in his letters to Austin, Hicks and Magsamen, including whether anyone else could have informed other officials about Austin's hospitalization while Magsamen was out with the flu and whether Hicks made any operational decisions during the few days she was delegated some of Austin's authorities.

"It is mind-boggling that the commander in chief was not aware of the location or operational competence of the secretary of defense," Rogers wrote in his letter to Hicks.

Both the Pentagon and the White House have directed reviews into the breakdown of communications. But lawmakers say internal reviews aren't sufficient, and some are demanding public hearings.

"We need to have some sort of public airing of this," Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday. "The department is going to have to be transparent sooner or later, and they need to realize that."

Wicker and every other Republican on the Senate panel also sent a letter to Austin on Wednesday demanding a briefing by Jan. 19 and accusing the Pentagon of violating a law requiring Congress be notified of executive branch vacancies.

In an appearance on Fox Business on Tuesday, Wicker declined to join in on other Republicans' calls for Austin to resign. But the GOP calls for Austin to leave office are growing.

"We believe Secretary Austin's blatant violation of the Pentagon's Principles of Information and serious lapse in judgment warrants his immediate resignation, as well as the resignation of any staff involved in covering up his hospitalization," four House Republicans who served in the military wrote in a letter to Biden on Tuesday. "If he does not resign, he should be immediately dismissed."

No Democrats have yet called for Austin to step down, a sign his job is likely secure. The White House has also said it has no plans to fire Austin. But Democrats are still frustrated at the lack of disclosure and are open to public hearings.

"I think we're trying to first establish what happened, and we're also waiting for the general to leave the hospital," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., told reporters Wednesday when asked about holding a hearing, referring to Austin by his former title. Still, he added, a hearing is "certainly a possibility."

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said on CNN on Tuesday evening that lawmakers "just need Secretary Austin to answer the question: Why did he think that it was appropriate for him not to tell the president that all of this was going on?"

Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., a conservative firebrand who has been eyeing running for Senate this year, on Tuesday filed articles of impeachment against Austin. While Rosendale's move was timed to the drama over Austin's hospitalization, the resolution itself only cites the Pentagon's response to last year's Chinese spy balloon as the "high crimes and misdemeanors" warranting his removal.

The resolution has no co-sponsors and was not filed as a privileged resolution, meaning Rosendale cannot force a vote on it and that it is unlikely to be considered as Republicans juggle ongoing impeachment efforts against Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It is also the second time a Republican has filed articles of impeachment against Austin after Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., did so last year over Austin's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Related: Defense Secretary Austin Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer that Led to Further Hospitalization for Infection
Will the F-35s or Boeing's F-15 EX fighter jets be coming to Selfridge Air National Guard base in Harrison Township?

That's still up in the air.

What the base could land in the very near future is the next generation of refueling tankers, expected to replace the aging KC-135 Stratotankers, currently flying out of Selfridge.

"We are excited about the Air Force's desire to select Selfridge Air National Guard Base as the new home to the KC-46 platform, an indispensable source of tanker capacity for national security," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs said, in a statement to The Macomb Daily. "We will continue to aggressively advocate for a fifth generation fighter to replace the current A-10 aircraft, a determination that must be made to retain the viability of Selfridge as we know it today."

Rogers' comments came on the heels of a Michigan Congressional Delegation (CODEL) letter signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and nearly all of the state's lawmakers including Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, as well as U.S. Rep. John James, urging U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to select SANG as host base for a new squadron of 12 KC-46 A refueling tankers and next generation of fighter jets replacing the aging A-10s.

Peters, Stabenow and more recently James have led previous bipartisan efforts to ensure the Department of Defense follows through on its pledge that Selfridge will continue to play a critical and ongoing role for our national security.

That includes calling on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to include funding in the 2024 defense appropriation bills for additional fighter aircraft such as the F-15EX at Selfridge.

This same group, along with Rogers and others in Michigan's congressional delegation, participated in the groundbreaking for a new $28 million aircraft hangar made possible by federal funding Peters secured through his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The new 41,900 square-foot facility equipped for fighter maintenance among other things will help to better position the base to be selected for a new fighter mission.

The CODEL letter sent to Kendall reiterates what the Air Force has already said about the Harrison Township base being "an indispensable source of tanker capacity for our national security."

"We know Selfridge's advantages, its exceptional operational track record, and the 127th Wing's outstanding personnel make Selfridge an ideal candidate for a squadron of KC-46s and a future fighter mission," the lawmakers wrote. "Our delegation and state are totally dedicated to fighting for Selfridge with Governor Whitmer's proposed $100 million investment in base and runway improvements a tangible example of this commitment. We look forward to working closely with you and your office to ensure Michigan continues to be a value add to the total force."

One would think its history alone would put it at the top of the list.

Since June of 1923, SANG has been providing aerial refueling for the nation's military. The 100-year milestone was celebrated last fall with a proclamation issued by the Macomb County Board of Commissioners. It honored the history of the pilots who pulled off the seemingly impossible at the time by refueling a plane while in the air and the continued service of the 171st Air Refueling Squadron and 107th fighter squadron assigned to the 127th Wing.

Today the 127th Air Refueling Group consists of 40 KC-135 pilots and 25 boom operators, who have been flying KC-135 Stratotankers since 2007 when it converted to the tanker from the C-130 Hercules.

Worldwide deployments by the flying fortress have included support operations in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East. Its squadron consists of some of the military's most experienced pilots including five Air Force Weapons School graduates, who would go through conversion training in order to fly the next generation of refueling tankers.

As the delegation pointed out in its letter, the 171st and 107th squadron's valuable stellar record and experiences provide a value add for air mobility and air combat commands at a fraction of the cost of active duty forces. Losing this group of pilots and maintainers, geographic advantages ( U.S. Canadian border) and combat experience is unacceptable for the Michigan delegation and would be a loss to the total force.

Also pointed out is what makes SANG unlike any other base such as its proximity to a major airline hub at Detroit Metropolitan/Wayne County Airport. This has allowed the 127th Wing to recruit and retain the highest quality pilots and maintenance personnel for their tanker and fighter missions, while maintaining a unique force of citizen airmen with a strong work-life balance, leading to SANG's strong 95% retention rate.

All branches of the military are also represented at the base on the shores of Lake St. Clair, supporting approximately 5,000 military and civilian jobs that generate an estimated $850 million in economic impact nationwide.

In closing, the group wrote that they were encouraged by the Air Force's correspondence in July 2021, outlining its intent to replace Selfridge's current KC-135 Stratoankers with KC-46 tankers but also requested a robust and detailed timeline of when and how this transition will take place and what obstacles might remain that prevent SANG from procuring F-35As and F-15EXs in the future.

"The KC-46s are the tanker of the future. Securing a new squadron of these next-generation aircraft will keep Selfridge operational for decades," said Peters. "I led this effort because it was important for us to push the Air Force to make a firm, public commitment to base these tankers at Selfridge, and I'll keep fighting until we have that in hand."

"I'm also committed to continue fighting for a new fighter jet mission  something that Selfridge is uniquely well-suited for," he added.

___

(c)2024 The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.

Visit The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich. at https://www.macombdaily.com/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Navy's top personnel officer said Wednesday that the service is short about 22,000 junior sailors at sea, and the service's own models suggest it will still be down by about 16,000 sailors across the force in the fall.

Despite the grim outlook, Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman, the chief of naval personnel, said he's confident that he's got a fix.

"I guarantee we're not going to be that far off," he said at the annual Surface Navy Association conference in Virginia. Cheeseman called his own projections that the Navy would be short 16,000 sailors  nearly 5% of its end strength goal of just more than 330,000 sailors  "not accurate."

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Cheeseman's promise comes just months after nearly all the services failed to meet their 2023 recruiting figures despite huge bonuses, flashy new ads, and relaxed or reworked standards. The Navy itself reached only 30,236 of its goal of 37,700 sailors -- an almost 20% shortfall. It also recruited only 2,080 officers, almost 18% short of its 2,532 officer goal.

"I'm closer to getting 40,000 new contracts because of the data-driven process we've adopted," he said.

Anticipating a tough recruiting year in 2023, the Navy reworked some of its testing requirements to allow sailors who don't perform well in all areas of the standard military entrance exam to still join the ranks, raised the maximum enlistment age to 41, and spent millions on high-profile advertisements at events such as the Super Bowl.

Cheeseman told a group of reporters after his speech that he's even looked at the medical exemption process, largely run by the MHS Genesis electronic records system. The system is able to give military officials access to far more medical records than they had under what basically amounted to an honor system on the part of the recruit. The result for some recruits has been a snarled, months-long process of setting up new appointments or searching for old paperwork that the system discovered in their past.

"That system is absolutely where we need to go in the future but, given the recruiting challenges, we need to close the gap on those kinds of things," he said.

Cheeseman said his team has worked to make more timely waiver decisions and shifted the way they are processed.

"The Navy has been very aggressive in this space, much more so than the other services," Cheeseman told reporters. While he's open to other tweaks and changes, he said, "I think we've overturned many of the stones."

While the myriad policy tweaks and rule adjustments add up, Cheeseman sees recruiters as the place where the majority of the work, as well as most of the promise, lies.

The admiral told the convention that "over the last number of years," the Navy gutted its recruiter community, at one point hitting only 70% to 80% of the necessary number, in order to help fill jobs at sea.

In 2023, at least, the Navy was "an organization that didn't really actually -- how can I say this politely -- value the job of recruiting," he said. "That has changed."

Cheeseman promised that there would be 100% recruiting manning by the springtime.

"We're never going to get away from that," he said. "This is an existential threat. ... We can never worry about our recruiting again in the Navy."

What makes the need for recruiters so critical is that, according to the data the service has collected, interest in joining the Navy is there. Capitalizing on it, though, has become a problem.

"Young people ... they're interested in the Navy," said Cheeseman, who cited statistics that show "the number of clicks and the people filling out forms" is growing.

"100% better than it was last year. ... It's double, it's good," he said.

The problem is that many of those potential recruits slip through the cracks. Slides that Cheeseman included in his presentation showed that the Navy loses roughly one-third of all potential recruits just between scheduling and showing up for an appointment with the recruiter. More than half then drop out after that conversation.

The result is that only about 10% of scheduled appointments convert into sailors entering the delayed-entry program or boot camp after about five months.

According to Cheeseman, what's missing is advocacy from those with prior military service.

"We've lost kitchen table conversations in the last couple years," he said, referring to conversations would-be sailors could have with parents or grandparents about service.

Since at least the start of 2023, Navy leaders have pushed the idea of having its own sailors be advocates for serving. Theyve also made sailor-driven efforts at recruiting into a public competition. Cheeseman's data shows why.

According to him, that same 10% statistic -- one recruit for every 10 applications -- jumps to one recruit for every five applications if that person is actively mentored through that process by someone who "was associated with the Navy."

That data-driven process appears to be working, and Cheeseman proudly noted that this December's recruiting result "was higher than any other December over the last five years."

Since the start of the fiscal year in October, Cheeseman said that he's gotten somewhere around 11,300 enlistment contracts.

"We have a mission, we have a purpose -- we're seeing it today in the Red Sea," Cheeseman said, referring to the deployed Navy warships protecting international shipping from Houthi rebel attacks. "Young people respond to that; they want to be part of something greater than themselves."

Related: Big Bonuses, Relaxed Policies, New Slogan: None of It Saved the Military from a Recruiting Crisis in 2023
WASHINGTON  U.S. and Chinese military officers have resumed talks that were frozen after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in the summer of 2022, a development U.S. officials have said is key to keeping the growing competition between the two great powers from turning into direct conflict.

During the deputy-level talks at the Pentagon, the two parties discussed setting future meetings between their military officers, including potentially scheduling a future meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and newly appointed Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun.

Austin is currently hospitalized due to complications from prostate cancer treatment. He had not been scheduled to attend Tuesdays meeting. Dong is a former naval commander who was appointed in late December after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed from office.

Li was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for buying Russian weapons. After he was named the defense minister in March 2023, the U.S. did not lift the sanctions. No U.S. defense secretary has visited China since Jim Mattis visited in 2018.

The face-to-face meetings follow a call between Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his counterpart Gen. Liu Zhenli, several weeks ago, which marked the first senior military communications between the U.S. and China since August 2022.

Chinas delegation at the meeting was headed by Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, deputy director of the Central Military Commission for international military cooperation. He met with Michael Chase, the Pentagons deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia.

While administrative in nature, the two-day talks do allow both sides to raise policy concerns. In a readout of the meeting, the Pentagon said that Chase talked about operational safety in the Indo-Pacific and the United States' commitment to our longstanding One China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act," the Pentagon said in a readout of the meeting.

The Department will continue to engage in active discussions with PRC counterparts about future engagements between defense and military officials at multiple levels, the Pentagon said in the readout.

The agreement to resume the military talks was reached between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their summit in San Francisco last November.

In a briefing with reporters prior to the meetings, a senior U.S. defense official said while the resumption of the talks is a good sign, we're clear-eyed that significant differences remain between the two militaries, including the implications of China's movement toward a reunification with Taiwan, which could commit the U.S. to aid in Taiwan's defense. The official spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of the meeting.

Pelosi's 2022 visit to Taiwan angered China because it claims the island as part of its territory and views visits by foreign government officials as recognition of the islands sovereignty. She was the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

For the past two years, the Pentagon has faced increased difficulty contacting the Chinese military as the number of intercepts between U.S. and Chinese aircraft and ships sharply rose. According to the Pentagons most recent report on Chinas military power, Beijing denied, canceled or ignored military-to-military communications and meetings with the Pentagon for much of the past two years. The report warned that the lack of such talks raises the risk of an operational incident or miscalculation spiraling into crisis or conflict.
The family of a Marine veteran who died fighting in Ukraine last month is facing the daunting task of repatriating his remains, an often heartbreaking endeavor that roughly 30 families of American veterans who have died in Ukraine have undergone or are currently undergoing.

Ethan Hertweck, 21, died in Ukraine on Dec. 8, according to his parents, nearly two weeks before he was scheduled to return home to Springfield, Missouri, after his second trip to volunteer in the country currently under brutal invasion by Russia since early 2022.

Hertweck initially left the U.S. just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, finding a calling for what his parents described as a lifelong desire to help those in need. The Marine veteran, who trained in Ukraine as a medic, joined a unit that ended up deep in the front lines, and Hertweck died during what would have been his last mission in the country.

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A month later, his family is in the midst of what has proven to be a months-long process for many families, friends and loved ones who have lost former American service members to the conflict in Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian government has laws that are not like our laws, so now we have to sit and wait," Leslie Hertweck, his mom, told Military.com on Tuesday. "It's the hardest thing for closure. ... We just want closure, we just want to be able to have his military service, and we can't really do any of that."

Leslie, who was accompanied in the interview by her husband John, told Military.com that she has been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The family also said they are working with a nonprofit organization, the R.T. Weatherman Foundation, to help repatriate Ethan's remains from the war zone.

Other families, like that of Special Forces veteran Nick Maimer, waited more than three months for his remains to return to the U.S., a process that included a hand-off between the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group; DNA tests for identification; and international red tape that has become commonplace as the war drags on and volunteers have died in the conflict.

Some families are still waiting, as the process has proven to take months. According to a GoFundMe page Ethan's family set up, he died while rendering aid to another volunteer. News reports citing fellow volunteers said that he died in Avdiivka, a town north of Donetsk that is occupied by Russia.

"During an attack by enemy forces, he went back to save a wounded soldier, resulting in fatal injuries to himself," the GoFundMe page said. "Ethan still rendered aid until he ultimately passed."

Like many veteran volunteers who flocked to Ukraine after Russia's invasion, Ethan wanted to help the sovereign country amid discontentment with sitting on the sidelines in what appeared to be a David vs. Goliath struggle.

According to his family, Ethan spent seven months in the Marine Corps as an enlisted infantry Marine before being honorably discharged in 2020 due to a rare blood disorder, a blow for the man who had wanted to serve since he was a kid that led him to be "not content" or "happy" in civilian life, his mother said.

"He wasn't content here, and he knew his heart was there, to help and to fight to help save lives," Leslie told Military.com. "So, he went over there."

Two weeks after Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine, Ethan went to Europe to help displaced people fleeing the country, to include those who may have been victims of human trafficking, his family said. He then spent a year home before returning in March, when he trained as a combat medic.

It was after Thanksgiving that Ethan told his parents he was going to the front line, something that made his parents feel "a little scared," according to Leslie.

"We were just trusting that he was going to be safe and knowing his skills and what he was doing," Leslie said, "I felt scared, but still trusting he would be fine."

On Dec. 11, three days after Ethan was killed, Leslie got a call from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine notifying her that her son had been killed.

"I had a feeling because our son had told us if anything happened we would get a call from Ukraine," Leslie said, adding that she had initially missed the first call because it had come from a blocked number. "And then I went out in the hallway of my work, and that's when I called the number back and when I was told it happened."

Now, as well-wishes from those Ethan served with pour in, the family is looking for closure.



"He saved people ... from incoming Russian bombs," Leslie said Ethan's comrades told her. "We're told he ran and was saving civilians he didn't even know, because that's just who he was ... that's how he wanted to serve, to help save lives."

Related: Wagner Handoff, DNA Tests: Remains of Special Forces Vet May Finally Be Coming Home from Ukraine
A former Air Force special agent was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to a child sex crime that happened at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway, Washington, who also later served as a National Guard recruiter, worked for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations when he sexually molested a child left in his care over a seven-month period in his home on the base, according to a Monday news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said Harrod's crimes were "sadistic" and "indescribably cruel," according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington. Harrod pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor, the news release said.

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Harrod, according to authorities, sexually molested the child between October 2017 and April 2018 at his residence. A December sentencing memo from the U.S. attorney's office detailed that he was living at the time in a trailer in Holiday Park, a campground located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The minor victim was between the ages of seven and eight years old and would visit him on weekends, when Harrod would coerce the child "to engage in sexual acts," the sentencing memo details.

He left the Air Force in 2018 and went on to serve in the Army National Guard.

"Harrod separated from the Air Force in 2018 and, prior to his arrest in this case, served as a recruiter for the Army National Guard in Lakewood, Washington," the U.S. attorney's office said.

He was charged in July 2021 following a grand jury indictment with five counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, according to a news release at the time. He pleaded guilty in October 2023.

The FBI, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Joint Base Lewis-McChord military police, local police and the Washington State Patrol all contributed to the investigation.

Harrod also pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a government agency for efforts to falsify phone records related to evidence in the case, the news release said.

The December sentencing memo stated that Harrod forwarded a message to a family law attorney claiming to be from the child's mother stating, "I don't know why you keep fighting me I'll have [the victim] say whatever it takes for you to never be able to see the girls ever again."

Agents investigating Harrod said he falsified the message as well as a phone bill to make it appear the message came from the child's mother.

"Harrod fabricated it by sending himself the message from his work phone, and altering the contact information in his phone to make it appear it came from [the minor victim's] mother," the memo details.

In addition to the 10-year sentence, Settle also ordered lifetime supervised release after Harrod's prison term.

"The consequences of many crimes before me do not have the impact that this one does," Settle said in the news release. "Victims of these crimes carry with them a life sentence."

Harrod's sentencing comes amid other investigations into military recruiters.

In November, Military.com reported that the Marine Corps is investigating a gunnery sergeant who wrote a self-published "memoir" detailing a relationship with a young potential recruit while he worked in a recruiting office in Texas.

The Marine published the story of what he described as "a scandalous romantic relationship" with a "young woman ... who wanted to join [the military]" in October.

Related: A Marine Recruiter's 'Grooming' of a Teenage Recruit Led to an Investigation. The Family Says He's Still Terrorizing Them.
The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday afternoon that they are looking for an inmate who walked off during work release on Saturday.
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Comedian and actor Pete Davidson was apparently at The Queen of Souls funeral and he says he attended it while high on ketamine. His story of attending the Detroit legends memorial service is part of a comedy bit Davidson did in his new Netflix special, Turbo Fonzarelli, which is new this week on the streaming service.

Aretha Franklin died on August 16, 2018 at age 76 in Detroit after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. Davidson attended the memorial with Ariana Grande, according to USA Today. Grande was his fiancee at the time.

Im embarrassed. I was out and about like that. Its not cool. I was at funerals like that. I was at Aretha Franklins funeral like that. Yeah, I have to live with that, you know what I mean, Davidson said in his new comedy special. Shell never know, but thats not the point. If she was there, she would probably be like, Hey, who are you and what the bleep are you doing at my funeral? 

Davidson then joked that he cant believe what he told the family at the funeral. Its embarrassing. I was so high, I thought it would be a good idea to go up to her family and go Hey, Im just here to pay my R-E-S-P-E-C-Ts. 

According to People, at a comedy show in 2023, Davidson admitted he took ketamine for four years before checking into rehab. It was magical, he told the crowd.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects. According to the DEA, It can distort the perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control. It can make patients feel detached from their pain and environment and induce a state of sedation.

The drug has been medically approved as an injectable, short-acting anesthetic for use in humans and animals and as a nasal spray for treatment of resistant depression.

Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, raised in Detroit and lived in the Motor City for decades. She is one of the most decorated artists in music history. She won 18 Grammy Awards, scored 20 No. 1 R & B hits and is one of the top-selling music artists ever, having sold more than 75 million albums. In 1987, Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
North American skywatchers are in for some treats in 2024, including a historic total solar eclipse visible in more than a dozen U.S. states, as well as a pair of lunar eclipses in the spring and fall.

Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth at just the right time, blocking at least part of the sun and casting a shadow on Earth. While solar eclipses are not inherently rare, a total solar eclipse has a narrow path and therefore may only happen in a specific location just once for hundreds of years, according to NASA. The 2024 total solar eclipse is the last total eclipse to cross a significant portion of North America until August 2045.

RELATED: 2024 meteor showers: When to see shooting stars this year

Lunar eclipses happen with the sun, moon and Earth line up in such a way that the moon passes into the Earths shadow, causing parts of the moon to darken or, in the case of a total lunar eclipse, appear an eerie shade of copper red. These eclipses are visible over a much larger area  half the Earth, in fact.

Here are the eclipses in store for North American viewers this year:

Total solar eclipse, April 8: Arguably the years biggest skywatching spectacle happens in early spring when a total solar eclipse will cross North America, creating a breathtaking scene that will darken the sky as if it were dusk or dawn.

The path of totality for this eclipse will cross the U.S. in an arc that stretches from Texas to Maine, with NASA maps showing southeastern Michigan sitting just outside the totality viewing edge. If the skies are clear that day, observers in this part of the state will see the sun 99% obscured by the moon.

Experts say that experiencing a 99% eclipse is special, but not nearly as spellbinding as being in the path of totality to experience an eclipse at 100%. If you plan on traveling to a neighboring state to view the full solar eclipse, just be sure to plan ahead as traffic can quickly get congested as eclipse-chasers jam highways to reach popular viewing locations. You can find local times for the eclipse on the NASA maps here.

If you plan on watching this solar eclipse, know that improper viewing can cause serious harm to your eyes. Be sure to brush up ahead of time on safe solar eclipse viewing tips.

Penumbral lunar eclipse, March 24-25: A penumbral lunar eclipse isnt as spectacular as a total lunar eclipse; they are far more subtle, causing a portion of the moon to slightly dim. According to NASA, if you didnt know this eclipse was happening, you might miss it altogether. Visible from North America, this lunar eclipse will take place after midnight for those on Eastern Time; you can find the exact timing of the eclipse for your location at TimeandDate.com.

Partial lunar eclipse, Sept. 17-18: During a partial lunar eclipse, an imperfect alignment of the sun, Earth and moon results in the moon passing through part of Earths umbra  the inner portion of Earths shadow  which causes a portion of the moon to darken, almost as if a bite was taken out of it. This lunar eclipse will also be visible in North America, with its maximum point occurring around 10:44 p.m. ET. Find exact local timing here.

Learn more at science.nasa.gov/eclipses.
LAC LA BELLE, MICH. -- Michigans Mt. Bohemia has a new way to enjoy winters magic this season.

The remote ski destination in the U.P.s Keweenaw Peninsula is hosting lantern-lit snowshoe hikes this winter. The hikes will be held on Fridays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. beginning Jan. 12, the resort recently announced on Facebook.

Participants will ride the chairlift up the mountain and then enjoy a 1.75-mile snowshoe hike back down. Snowshoes are available for rent at the resort, which was recently voted Best Ski Resort in North America.

RELATED: Michigan extreme skiing destination named best ski resort in North America

The event fee is $35 and includes access to the resorts Nordic spa for the day, which features saunas, a steam room, a hot tub, heated pool and cold-plunge pool. Season pass holders for the ski hill or the Nordic spa may attend the snowshoe events for free.

Ticketing details can be found online here. More information about Mt. Bohemia is at mtbohemia.com.
STERLING HEIGHTS, MI  A Michigan man is accused of a racially-motivated crime in which he purposely hit a pedestrian with his vehicle.

Mohammed Meah, 62, of Sterling Heights was charged in Macomb County for the alleged hate crime on Tuesday. Charges include assault with intent to murder, ethnic intimidation, failure to stop at the scene of a personal injury accident.

It is alleged that on Jan. 5, Meah allegedly intentionally hit a random pedestrian with his vehicle at the intersection of 15 Mile and Dodge Park in Sterling Heights.

The defendant claimed the victim was racist, prosecutors said.

The Macomb County Prosecutors Office Hate Crimes Unit remains unwavering. Unit Chief Patrick Coletta reinforces our dedication to eradicating hate from our community. We will tirelessly prosecute those who choose prejudice over unity, said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.

Bond was set at $500,000. A probable cause conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 22 and a preliminary exam is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 29. Both hearings are with District Court Judge Stephen Sierawski.
LANSING, MI  Catch limits on steelhead are being reduced on several rivers across Michigan.

The Michigan Natural Resources Commission adopted the regulation changes to steelhead, or rainbow trout, in November after years of debate and public concerns over declining fish populations.

The new rules, which begin April 1, will reduce the daily limit of steelhead to one on Type 3 and Type 4 waterways. Currently, no more than three fish are allowed in most cases.

A migratory rainbow trout native to the West Coast, steelhead have been in Michigan since they were imported decades ago. The state also continues to stock some rivers with steelhead raised in hatcheries.

The fish is born in rivers but spends most of its life in the Great Lakes before returning inland to spawn. They are known fighters, making them a very popular species for sport fishing. They also make a great meal since their flavorful fillets can be smoked, grilled, broiled or fried.

The regulation changes impact portions of the Manistee River, Muskegon River, Pere Marquett River, Carp River, Betsie River, Little Manistee River, Rogue River, Whitefish River and White River, as well as Bear Creek in Manistee County and Prairie Creek in Ionia and Montcalm counties.

The new fishing regulations came in response to public comment made before wildlife officials in support of lower bag limits for steelhead to increase catch and release opportunities in certain rivers that support natural reproduction of steelhead.

The regulation changes will be reflected in the 2024 fishing regulations booklet, which will be available at Michigan.gov/DNRRegs in March, and on the Michigan DNR Hunt and Fish app on April 1.

Specific areas impacted by the regulation changes can be seen below:

Type 3 waters

Bear Creek (Manistee County) : County Road 600 to the confluence with the Manistee River.

Carp River (Marquette County) : Confluence with Morgan Creek (T47N, R25W, S4) to Lake Superior.

Manistee River (Manistee County) : Tippy Dam to Railroad Bridge below M-55 (T21N, R16W, S6).

Muskegon River (Muskegon and Newaygo counties) : Croton Dam to M-120.

Pere Marquette River (Mason County): Reek Road (Indian Bridge) to Old U.S. 31.

Type 4 waters
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI  A suspect was shot after allegedly charging at officers with a knife, The Detroit News reports.

Shelby Township Police officers were responding to a report that someone had been stabbed in a domestic violence incident around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday at Shelby Oaks Apartments near West Utica and Mound roads in Shelby Township, the report said.

RELATED: Police officer shoots person at Michigan apartment complex

Upon arrival, officers found the suspect allegedly holding a knife. Police say the man did not comply with officers commands to drop the weapon, the report said. He then allegedly charged the officers and was shot. Officers rendered medical aid until medics arrived. The suspect was transported to a local hospital. His condition has not been released. No other injuries were reported.

The shooting investigation has been turned over to the Macomb County Sheriffs Office.
HARRISBURG  No records were set Tuesday at the 108th Pennsylvania Farm Show Sale of Champions where seven prize winning animals were sold for more than 10 times their market values.

The swine, beef, lamb, goat and pen of three rabbits with a combined market value of $3,312 sold for $38,700 at the auction, highlighting the fourth day of Pennsylvanias version of a state fair. The sale climaxes a year of work by the exhibitors who plan to use the money either for purchasing more animals or pursuing higher education.

Farm Show livestock buyers traditionally pay substantially more than market prices for the grand champion swine, steer, lamb, goat and meat rabbits. This years top exhibitors were all girls.

Buyers from meat processing plants, restaurants, grocery stores and various businesses filled the Small Arena for the auction. They paid close attention when auctioneer Harry Bachman began his melodic chant to sell the champions.

Madison Bomgardner, 18, of Annville, led Drake, her 259-pound Grand Champion Market Swine, into the show ring. Some bidders nodded subtly and others raised their hands enthusiastically.

Within minutes, Hatfield Quality Meats had the winning bid of $10,000 for the hog with a market value of $124. Bomgardner, a Penn State freshman majoring in animal science, said that she will miss Drake.

Bayleigh Miller, 17, of Volant, then arrived with Carlos, 1,535-pound crossbred black steer. Bell & Evans bought Carlos for $13,000.

Carlos has been a laid-back steer who goes with the flow, Bayleigh said. Ive shown animals at the Farm Show for five years, but this is my first big win.

The Wilmington High School senior said that the sale of Carlos will help finance her plans to attend Grove City College and eventually attend medical school and become an osteopathic doctor.

Three fluffy California rabbits, grand champions in the meat pen rabbit division, sold for $3,500 to H.J. Towing and Recovery of Carlisle. Owner Tenley Romberger of Millersburg said that she has been raising rabbits since she can remember.

Romberger, who spends 1 1/2 hours with her rabbits each day, last year won top meat rabbit honors at the Gratz Fair and the American Rabbit Breeders Association convention in Kentucky.

Bill and Betsy MacCauley had the winning bid of $7,000 for the Grand Champion Market Lamb, sold by Kinley Dull, 15, of Somerset. The 11-month-old market lamb was valued at $304.

Ill save that money to go to college and become a nurse, Kinley said.

The 114-pound market goat shown by McKenzie Stadtmiller of Dayton sold to Bell & Evans and Fulton Bank for $5,200. This is my 10th Farm Show, said Stadtmiller, 18. I plan to use money from this sale for college, where Ill major in agriculture.

Prior to the Sale of Champions, 20 students were honored by the Pennsylvania Farm Show Scholarship Foundation. Each, including Rebecca Cohick of Newville and Autumn Moore of Newport, received scholarships to help fund their education.

Since its founding in 1993, the foundation has awarded nearly $1.8 million in scholarships to 619 4-H and FFA youths.

Tractor square dancing

A Somerset County tractor square dancing team on Wednesday had a youthful look at the 108th Pennsylvania Farm Show.

The Root Top Tractor Buddies, who mount antique tractors and square dance their way around an arena, used to have mostly older men driving. Now, eight of the drivers are younger than 25 years old and two of them are women, said Stephanie Holsopple, the groups secretary.

Tractor square dancing, a Farm Show staple, involves eight people on tractors dancing around the arena to music, mimicking square dancing.

Were happy to have so many young people, Holsopple said just after the Wednesday performance in the Farm Show Complex Equine Arena. Its a fun thing.

After the national anthem, team caller Edith Rhoads, welcomed the crowd and began calling out the square dance orders to the tune of Tractor Stroll, Turkey in the Straw, Relay the Deuce, Meet in the Middle and other songs. Soon, the tractors whirled and twirled around, coming close but never hitting each other.

We gave 10 performances in 2023, Holsopple said. We get requests for more but its hard to travel with old tractors.
YPSILANTI, MI - Ypsilanti has joined more than two dozen cities across the country by embracing the personal use of magic mushrooms and other psychedelic plants and fungi.

City leaders voted unanimously on Tuesday, Jan. 9 to effectively decriminalize a spectrum of plants deemed illegal under state and federal law.

They include ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms and other plants and plant substances with hallucinogenic properties.

By passing this policy today you will forever be remembered as stewards of consciousness, cognitive liberty and personal spiritual growth for all, said Larry Norris, a California resident and University of Michigan alumnus who co-founded the advocacy group Decriminalize Nature, during the Tuesday meeting.

Read more: Ypsilanti could join neighbors in decriminalizing psychedelic mushrooms, plants

Ypsilanti joins Detroit, Ferndale, Hazel Park and Ann Arbor in backing off criminal investigation and penalties associated with so-called entheogenic plants and fungi.

The Ypsilanti resolution passed Tuesday declares that the investigation and arrest of people involved with the personal use, growth, and possession of entheogenic plants, including those scheduled at the state and federal levels, be the lowest priority for the city of Ypsilanti.

The resolution prohibits the use of city funds or resources in investigating, detaining or prosecuting violations of law dealing with the plants. The Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office has already rolled out a policy not to prosecute their use, growth or possession.

The Ypsilanti policy does not authorize commercial sales or manufacturing of psychedelic plants and fungi, nor possession in schools, driving under the influence or causing any public disturbance.

None of that has been a concern in Ann Arbor, which took the same step in 2020, said former Ann Arbor City Council Member Anne Bannister during the Tuesday Ypsilanti meeting.

There has been no downside, and I am not aware of any trouble that has resulted from it. Its all been a positive, she said.

Advocates with Decriminalize Nature Michigan have in recent months urged Ypsilanti leaders to take the step, and area residents have shared stories of using psychedelics plants to help treat addiction, depression and other mental health problems.

Michelle Donaldson, a Ferndale resident, said on Tuesday that using mushrooms she grew herself helped with healing when she stopped drinking alcohol. These plants have saved my life, theyve saved my marriage, theyve helped me be a better mom, a better person, Donaldson told Ypsilanti leaders.

The plants have transformative power, others said.

If it means anything to be an American, it means to be able to use the plants that grow out of the ground for your own benefit, said Charles Ream, who said he had worked on the campaign to legalize medical marijuana. We do this for therapy, we do this for spiritual value, we do this to solve all sorts of problems, Ream said.

Some Ypsilanti City Council members thanked members of the public for sharing their experiences ahead of the vote to approve the decriminalization resolution.

Its a long history, theres a lot that can be done with this. Youve given a great testimony, and theres lots of studies that show these are very beneficial in terms of alleviating addiction, said Council Member Steve Wilcoxen.

Fellow Council Member Desirae Simmons moved to amend the resolution to have it sent to law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction in Ypsilanti but are outside of city control, like the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office, Eastern Michigan University Department of Public Safety and Michigan State Police.

City leaders can only require their own police department to follow the policy, but the message can be communicated to other agencies, Mayor Nicole Brown said.

The council, temporarily down to six members because of a vacancy, voted 6-0 to OK the resolution, which also throws the citys support behind state-level decriminalization legislation.

Ypsilanti joins 27 communities nationwide that have taken a similar step, according to Norris.

In general, criminalization has a disproportionate impact on Black people and people of color, said Ypsilanti-based decriminalization activist Cornelius Williams on Tuesday.

Though addressing systemic inequities that perpetuate systems that are largely failing citizens will not elicit change overnight, policy changes on the municipal level play a role in shaping state and federal policy, Williams said.

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LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MI  A woman accused of committing an organized shoplifting raid at a beauty retail store in Livingston County with five other woman has been sentenced to prison.

Shanel Jean Webster was sentenced, Jan. 4, to serve 25-60 years in prison for her role in the raid at the Ulta Beauty store in Green Oak Township, near Brighton, a year ago on Jan. 12, court records show.

Webster, 30, pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges including armed robbery for her role in the brazen shoplifting raid which, on top of her prison sentence, was ordered to pay more than $9,000 in restitution.

She was one of five woman who raided the store, grabbing thousands of dollars worth of products and attempting to flee police.

Her codefendants, Laronda Nashea Chase,26; Joya Omega Williams, 37; and Kari Deloris William, 28, also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Codefendant Tirezah Renee Scott, 51, was sentenced Dec. 7 to serve 17 to 40 years in prison for her role in the raid.

Related: 5 arrested in organized shoplifting raid at Ulta makeup store, police say

Webster was charged with one count each of armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, conducting a criminal enterprise, failure to contribute to employment benefit plan, third-degree fleeing police, uttering and publishing, felonious assault, malicious destruction of property, two counts of organized retail crime, two counts first-degree retail fraud and three counts of assaulting police.

She was accused of ramming into a police vehicle while trying to flee the scene of the raid.

The cases stem from an 8 p.m. incident on Jan. 12, when police were called to the Ulta Beauty store inside the Green Oak Village Place Mall, 9930 Village Place Blvd., for a report of multiple suspects filling bags with merchandise, according to the Green Oak Township Police Department.

Officers arrived to find five women stealing items from the store in an apparent organized raid, police said.

Two of the women attempting to flee on foot were caught. A third suspect, Webster, got into a vehicle and tried driving away, but struck a police vehicle, police said.

A Michigan State Police trooper fired shots at the fleeing vehicle, but there were no reported injuries. Webster was apprehended after striking a wall in the parking lot, police said.

The trooper who shot at the vehicle was placed on paid administrative leave while police investigated. The trooper returned to service Feb. 3 after the Livingston County Prosecutors Office cleared him of any wrongdoing, according to Michigan State Police.

A sentencing date for the remaining women is set for Jan. 25.

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KENT COUNTY, MI  A woman said she was brought from Kalamazoo County to the Grand Rapids area against my will and forced to open bank accounts in a drawn-up scheme.

The scheme was busted when the bank teller called Kent County sheriffs deputies. From there, police arrested Devaughtre Bates and Darvionce Smith for their roles in the incident.

Bates, 27, and Smith, 27, were subsequently charged with two counts of human trafficking and one count of unlawful imprisonment. Bates was also charged with resisting a police officer.

RELATED: Deputies: Men held homeless women captive, forced them to open bank accounts

Both Kalamazoo men appeared Wednesday, Jan. 10, in Grand Rapids 63rd District Court for a preliminary examination hearing. The two men waived the hearings and were bound over to Kent County Circuit Court to stand trial.

However, Judge Sara Smolenski heard testimony from two women who were allegedly forced to open bank accounts at the alleged orders of Bates and Smith.

MLive/The Grand Rapids Press is not naming the two alleged victims in this incident.

Deputies were alerted to the scheme in the afternoon of Nov. 29, 2023, when they responded to the Bank of America at 6737 Division Ave. S in Byron Township on reports of a woman being held against her will.

Deputies found Bates, Smith, and a second woman in a SUV parked outside of the bank. Investigators said Bates and Smith required the two women to open bank accounts in their name at several West Michigan banks and then turn over financial information to them.

The men would take the online banking information  routing and account numbers  to swap, change and convert money into bitcoin, the woman, who was in the vehicle at the time of Bates and Smiths arrest, testified.

She testified that Bates and Smith brought her and another woman from Kalamazoo County to Grand Rapids to open a bank account on Nov. 29.

I didnt want to go. Im tired of it, she said.  But I needed the money.

The woman who initially reported the incident to a bank teller said, I did what I was told and got in the car, when Bates and Smith picked her up to go to Grand Rapids.

She said she told the men several times that she wanted to go home, but they just kept driving. Once inside the bank, she alerted a bank teller.

I was brought here against my will, she said.

Investigators have not released a motive behind the alleged bank account scheme and its still unclear how many banks were allegedly targeted.

An appearance date in circuit court for Bates and Smith was not immediately scheduled. Both men remain free on bond.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Dozens of school districts across West Michigan have canceled classes for Wednesday, Jan. 10, due to slick roads caused by heavy, wet snow.

School districts that have called a snow day include Grand Rapids, Hudsonville, Forest Hills, Muskegon, North Muskegon, Holland, Ionia, Allegan, East Grand Rapids, Rockford, Kentwood, Saugatuck, Grand Haven, West Ottawa and Zeeland.

Related: Now attention turns to possible real deal snowstorm for large part of Lower Michigan

Grand Rapids Superintendent Leadriane Roby called the first snow day of the 2023-24 school year before 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, after district leaders evaluated road conditions, the district announced on its website.

These decisions all come down to safety and with the rapid snow accumulation and icing that have occurred, we felt it would be in the best interest of our scholars to cancel classes for the day, Roby said. We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will see our scholars in class for the remainder of the week.

Other Kent County districts that closed Wednesday include Grandville, Byron Center, Cedar Springs, Godwin Heights, Kelloggsville, Kent City, Lowell and Wyoming.

Other Ottawa County and Muskegon closings include Allendale, Jenison, Spring Lake, Oakridge, Ravenna, Orchard View and Reeths-Puffer.

Other school closures in the region include Hamilton, Ostego, Saugatuck, Bloomingdale, Greenville and Grant.

For a complete list, go to WZZM-13s school closing page.

A hazardous weather outlook is in effect for portions of southwest Lower Michigan Wednesday morning, including Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Kalamazoo counties, according to the National Weather Service.

RELATED: Winter Storm Watch redefined, some upgraded to Warning, large area downgraded to Advisory

Snowfall has tapered off Wednesday morning, but roads may remain slick, the National Weather Service said.

The Kent County Road Commission said Tuesday night that road crews were expected to work through the night to keep roadways clear, concentrating on high-volume roads including state roads and county primary roads.

The snow is wet and heavy, and the road commission warned that shoveling this type of snow can cause back strains, sharing shoveling tips with residents on its Facebook page.

Temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Some lingering light snow is in the forecast for today, but little to no accumulation is expected.
WEBBER TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 35-year-old woman died after the vehicle she was driving was involved in a crash Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 9, in Lake County.

The woman from Irons was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Prior to arriving at the hospital, the ambulance she was in was struck by another vehicle, requiring the assistance of a second ambulance, according to police.

First-responders were dispatched around 1 p.m. Tuesday to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of M-37 and 44th Street in Webber Township.

Preliminary investigation determined the driver of a Dodge Grand Caravan lost control while driving south on M-37 and moved into the path of a northbound Chevy Tahoe, which struck the drivers side of the Caravan.

Widespread snow across the region left many roads slushy Tuesday. Police reported treacherous conditions resulting in numerous vehicle crashes and slide-offs throughout the county.

Crews had to extricate the Irons woman from the Caravan before transporting her to Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. The ambulance was enroute to the hospital when it was struck by another vehicle.

No additional injuries were reported from the second crash, and a second ambulance arrived :shortly to finish the transport.

Police said two female occupants of the Tahoe involved in the first crash were transported to Corewell Health Hospital in Ludington with minor injuries.

The incident was investigated by the Lake County Sheriffs Office. Officers were assisted by Michigan State Police, Lake County 911 Central Dispatch, Webber Fire Department and AA Collision.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- A thriller full of Kalamazoo connections is showing this week at downtowns newest movie theater, KP Cinemas, through Friday, Jan. 12.

The films theatrical release is limited to just 25 theaters across the U.S. the week of Jan. 8. On Friday, Jan. 12, He Went That Way will be available on streaming services, including Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

He Went That Way, was co-produced by Hugh Broder, who graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1977. He adapted the story from the book Luke Karamazov written by Kalamazoo College Professor Emeritus Conrad Hilberry.

Broder was intrigued by a chapter on Kalamazoo-born serial killer Larry Ranes four-day road trip with celebrity animal trainer Dave Pitts. So Broder connected with Hilberry, who provided him with interview tapes and insight into his research on Ranes.

Ranes served life in prison for first-degree murder of Gary Smock, one of his five victims, in 1964. Smock picked up Ranes as he passed through Kalamazoo.

Pitts, the animal trainer, had a similar story -- except Ranes ended up deciding not to kill Pitts.

Ranes died on Nov. 12, 2023, in Michigans Saginaw Correctional Facility. His brother, Danny Ranes, died while serving a life sentence for the murder of four women in Kalamazoo, unrelated to Larrys crimes.

RELATED: Serial killer who terrorized Kalamazoo in 1970s dies in prison

In one of the tapes, Broder heard a quote that would become the films opening line: You guys always asked me about the guys I killed, but you dont ask me about the one I didnt kill.

Thats what made the interesting story, Broder said. Not that he was a killer or anything like that, but why he didnt kill this guy. Thats what we explore in the film.

In the film, Jacob Elordi stars as Bobby Falls, a 19-year-old killer based on Ranes. The story follows Pitts real-life account of picking up Ranes as a hitchhiker on Routh 66 in 1964. Pitts was the sole survivor of Kalamazoo-born serial killer Larry Ranes. Zachary Quinto plays Jim Goodwin, based on Pitts.

Elordi is known for his recent roles in Priscilla, Saltburn and the HBO series Euphoria.

When Broder first encountered the story at a used bookstore in Detroit, Elordi -- the eventual star of the film -- was only 6 years old. From Broders discovery to theatrical release, He Went That Way took 19 years to tell.

The process was challenging at times, Broder said, as many on the films team had never worked on a feature-length project before, nor did they have the budget of a studio film.

Thats how independent films go, Broder said. Part of the fun part of it was having all these people who I have worked with all of my professional life just wanting to be a part of it.

Kalamazoo College is proud to count Broder among its accomplished alumni, Provost Danette Ifert Johnson said, adding his work shows curiosity, creativity and the capacity to look beyond the surface to consider different perspectives -- all of which are valued by the college.

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With Earths average annual temperature speeding toward 1.5 degrees Celsius faster than expected and global climate policy on a treadmill, an increasing number of researchers say its time to consider a restorative pathway to avoid the worst ecological and social outcomes of global warming.

In a study published today in Environmental Research Letters, an international team of scientists wrote that reaching global goals could require focusing on ways to drive rapid changes in the way people live, move, work and eat; on making sure that global wealth is distributed more equitably; and on restoring and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems like forests, oceans, fields and rivers that are critical to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The restorative approach should be considered soon because the pace of climate impacts to ecosystems and communities is speeding up, the authors said. Climate extremes are outpacing decades of efforts to cap global warming with tools like carbon trading and offsets. Those are hallmarks of the green growth path mapped out by various United Nations-sponsored climate pacts like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, as well other ancillary agreements. They all aim to keep growing the global economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050partly based on assuming that large quantities of carbon dioxide will be directly removed from the air and stored by giant machines by then.

Many countries, like France, Sweden and the United States, have reduced emissions while continuing to grow their economiescalled decouplingover the last few decades, but research shows its not happening nearly fast enough to cap global warming.

Total global emissions, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and the global average temperature all climbed to record highs during the past 30 years, amounting to about half the total greenhouse gas accumulations in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial age.

Its almost too late. We need to get cracking with this, said Manfred Lenzen, a sustainability researcher at the University of Sydney and co-author of the new paper. A lot of people think 1.5 is dead already, that we have to realistically aim for staying below 2C, he said, adding that green growthdecoupling emissions from economic expansionmight have worked if the world had taken it seriously in 2000.

Starting then, it would have taken only a 2 percent annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to reach net zero by 2050; starting now means cutting global emissions by 7 percent a year, but the green growth approach is not cutting emissions by anywhere near the required rate, he said. And, particularly as outlined in the policy guiding reports from International Panel on Climate Change, it relies on deployment of unproven technologies.

Carbon-removal technology, for example, is still decades away from deployment at a scale that would match the IPCCs pathways to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, as per the Paris Climate Agreement, said Lenzen.

Lenzen also co-authored a 2021 paper describing a degrowth alternative to the existing IPCC options, based on the idea of shrinking economies in rich countries in a controlled way by reducing production and consumption, in order to protect natural resources and reduce environmental damage while improving well-being.

Degrowth Research is Going Mainstream

A 2023 study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal showed that, even in countries with falling emissions and growing economies, emissions are not declining at rates compliant with the Paris Agreement. At the current rates, it would take those countries on average more than 220 years to reduce their emissions by 95 percent, the goal targeted for 2050.

The authors of that study wrote that those decoupling rates in high-income countries cannot legitimately be considered green  To achieve Paris-compliant emission reductions, high-income countries will need to pursue post-growth demand-reduction strategies, reorienting the economy towards sufficiency, equity, and human wellbeing, while also accelerating technological change and efficiency improvements.

Another 2023 paper in Nature described widespread scientific skepticism, especially in high-income countries, about the existing strain of tech-driven green growth, and also called for exploring post-growth perspectives, including [growth-neutral] and degrowth strategies, to cultivate a more comprehensive discourse on sustainable development strategies.

In any case, Lenzen added, Were not giving technology the chance to catch up with consumption, and that has been the dynamics over the past decade, he said, describing a decades-long trend that is now leading researchers to look at alternative economics built on ecological sustainability and social justice.

The new paper doesnt specifically use the term degrowth, but shares common themes, like focusing on human wellbeing and reduction of inequality. That opens the possibility of talking about alternative sustainability scenarios without being too provocative about it, said Lorenz Keyer, a degrowth researcher at the University of Lausanne. That could make it more palatable to a wider audience, he added, including to the community of scientists who build the complex climate models that integrate human behavior with climate physics.

Compared to their pathway, I think degrowth thinking is more explicit in terms of the proposed changes, he said. And its more openly radical in the sense of being more pessimistic about green growth and decoupling, and in favor of a more transformative approach, which also includes ruptures and conflict.

But research on degrowth, and similar related concepts like circular economies, or donut economics, is growing, and the European Parliament last year tasked its research service to study beyond growth alternatives, including a hard look to determine whether the European Union Green Deal is really sustainable.

Developing country leaders also recently spelled out steps that could have a huge cumulative impact and help protect vulnerable countries from climate impacts.

Speaking at COP28 in the context of global equity in climate financing, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said a global financial services tax of 0.1 percent could raise $420 billion, and a 5 percent tax on oil and gas profits would raise another $200 billion, while a 1 percent tax on the value of shipping would raise $70 billion.

And there would have to be some new global compact that allows countries to recognize that they cannot only act in their own deliberate interest, but they have to also act in the interest of the preservation of global public goods, Mottley said.

We happen to be talking about climate, she added. But we could easily be talking about pandemics and big pharma. We could easily be talking about the digital divide and big tech.

Radical Incrementalism

Oregon State University ecologist William Ripple, co-author of the new paper, said the findings show that their restorative pathway should be included in climate models along with the five shared socioeconomic pathways, or SSPs, that are used by the U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Current emissions trends, societal denial and lack of political will make their scenario a tough sell, but he said its merits cant be honestly debated if its not included as an option for policy makers.

Their findings suggest a path of radical incrementalism, with small short-term steps to achieve big changes, like reducing the need to mine for metals or log forests to levels that dont threaten biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, with per capita GDP stabilizing over time.

Ending fossil fuel subsidies and public lands fossil fuel extraction projects would be great first steps for the U.S. and other developed countries, where applicable, he said. These actions would be low-hanging fruit and a good start in the process of radical incrementalism.

Directly phasing out fossil fuel use is also critical, Ripple added. An important step in this direction would be the adoption of a global coal elimination treaty since the coal industry has extremely harmful impacts on the climate and human health.

For the paper, the team compiled a 500-year dataset for several key global climate indicators to measure humanitys consumption of resources over the period.

The results show a great acceleration of resource use and impacts since about 1850, he said. This illustrates that climate change is a symptom of the broader problem of ecological overshoot, the overexploitation of the Earth, which is driving several environmental crises. The restorative pathway was designed to tackle this underlying issue, he added.

*As our current predicament makes clear, business-as-usual isnt working and continued economic growth in wealthy countries isnt sustainable, Ripple said. This motivated us to call for a shift toward post-growth economics where quality of life and societal wellbeing are the main priority.

The key to curbing ecological overshoot means greatly reducing overconsumption and waste, especially by the wealthy, and implementing ecological economics that would focus on social justice rather than continued growth, he said.

One of the global measures they used dating back to 1820 shows the top 10 percent of the worlds wealthiest have consistently received at least 50 percent of all income, illustrating global economic inequality over the long term.

The magnitude of this inequality, he said, provides further evidence that we need a dramatic change. We face multiple serious and interrelated social and environmental crises. We need economic policies that guide humanity toward more equitable resource use patterns.
Former Detroit Tigers closer Shane Greene has signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers and will receive an invitation to spring training, the club announced Wednesday.

Greene, 35, pitched for the Tigers from 2015-2019, becoming the closer in his final two seasons. The Tigers traded him to the Atlanta Braves at the deadline in 2019, shortly after he was the clubs lone All-Star representative.

Greene spent parts of three seasons with the Braves and has bounced around since then.

Greene made two big-league appearances in 2022 -- one with the Los Angeles Dodgers and one with the New York Yankees. He made two big-league appearances with the Chicago Cubs in 2023, spending most of the year at Triple-A Iowa.

The Florida native was originally drafted in the 15th round in 2009 by the New York Yankees.

He was shipped to the Tigers before the 2015 season as part of a three-team deal in which Robbie Ray and Domingo Leyba went from the Tigers to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Didi Gregorius went from the Dbacks to the Yankees.

Greene started 16 games for the Tigers in 2015 but settled into a bullpen role the following season.

He was in the midst of the best season of his career when the Tigers dealt him to the Braves for left-handed pitcher Joey Wentz and outfielder Travis Demeritte.

Wentz made 19 starts for the Tigers last year. Demeritte played for the Tigers in 2019 and 2020.
Rescue crews rushed out to northern Albemarle County during the heavy rains Tuesday night after rising floodwaters trapped a vehicle and threatened the lives of its two occupants.

Career and volunteer fire crews as well as Albemarle County police officers were dispatched around 6:27 p.m. to Watts Passage near Preddy Creek north of Charlottesville.

A vehicle with two passengers got stuck on a flooded roadway, Albemarle County Fire Rescue said in a statement later in the night. When water began to flood into the vehicle, they climbed onto the cars roof. The individuals were swept off the vehicle and into the water.

The rescue crews reported they found the pair holding on to small branches to stay above the waterline. The crews were able to extract them and see them safely transported to University of Virginia Medical Center for treatment.

Less than an hour later and about 10 miles away, the Albemarle County fire department said another vehicle became trapped by flood waters on Durrett Ridge Road.

That driver was able to self-extricate from the vehicle, authorities said.

The rainstorm that lingered over Central Virginia Tuesday brought roughly 3 inches of rain to much of the Charlottesville area and nearly 5 inches in and around northern Albemarle County, according to the National Weather Service. The James and Rivanna rivers and the waterways they touch, such as Preddy Creek, were particularly susceptible to flooding, according to Lee Enterprises meteorologist Sean Sublette.

The storm cleared Tuesday night, giving way to partly cloudy skies.

Albemarle County Fire Rescue used Tuesday to remind motorists to never enter a flooded roadway.

Almost half of all flood-related deaths happen in vehicles, the department said in a statement. Water levels are high throughout the area and will continue to rise even after the rain ends. Take caution.

Almost half of flood-related deaths occur in a vehicle, according to Albemarle Fire Rescue. Motorists should be mindful of barricades and warning signs and remember that 6 inches of water can easily reach the bottom of most passenger vehicles, which can make a driver lose control.
The woman who inexplicably started a physical altercation with a stranger on 14th Street in Charlottesville and then stomped and punched that stranger after her boyfriend shot him received her jail sentence Tuesday.

Mariah Shavone Smith, the 31-year-old woman caught on video instigating a fight and then pummeling a seriously injured man, must serve six years and six months for malicious wounding.

Continuing to beat and hit him after he was shot, when for all you knew he was dying, is in many respects the definition of what malice is, said the presiding judge, Claude Worrell.

It was a subdued and remorseful Smith, reportedly sobered by a year behind bars, who appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court to receive her sentence Tuesday. Her distinctive bleached blonde hair, evident in her booking photo, has mostly grown out. She repeatedly dabbed tears from her eyes with the collar of her red jailhouse jumpsuit.

Prosecutor Nina-Alice Antony showed the court surveillance footage shot from the nearby 14th Street parking garage showing what transpired over the course of just a single minute in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2022. The video shows Smith and her boyfriend, Anthony Marcus Paige, leaping out of a car to suddenly engage and attack a then-24-year-old man named Airrick Salisbury, who was out with friends.

By all accounts, Ms. Smith is the one who starts the altercation, said Antony. Its as close to a random act of violence that well see.

The video shows Salisbury, who was working in a University of Virginia dining hall at the time of the attack, attempting to evade the violent strangers. But after getting repeatedly punched by Paige, Salisbury flipped the man onto his back. Paige responded by firing a shot into Salisburys chest at point-blank range. The video then shows Smith attacking the wounded man.

Hes already on the ground and shot, said Antony. Ms. Smith punches Mr. Salisbury, kicking and stomping him in the head.

The incident took place shortly after 2 a.m. in the popular Corner commercial district adjacent to UVa. Antony suggested that the sites proximity to the universitys trauma center saved the young mans life.

But for the fact that UVa hospital was hundreds of feet away, said Antony, Mr. Salisbury would not be sitting with us today.

Present in the gallery, the now 25-year-old Salisbury did not testify. However, his mother, Jessica Irving, took the stand to detail her sons travails which, she said, included nearly half a year of partial paralysis and reliance on a colostomy bag, as well as months of physical therapy. She said her son still has a bullet fragment lodged in his spine.

Hes a fighter, said Irving. Hes a trooper.

Her son, she said, had a job, worked hard, had never been in any trouble. The attack in 2022 took away his livelihood and his freedom, she said.

He lost his employment, and he didnt have the money to cover his apartment, said Irving. For a young man to have everything shut down and take away his independence.

Smith stared straight ahead while hearing this damage chronicled, and Smiths mother took the stand to reveal that Smith has been damaged herself.

Melissa Gray told the court that her daughter lost her father when she was young and experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her first child, a son, when she was 16. That son, Gray said, was murdered at the age of 6 by his own father.

She became numb, said Gray. Just angry.

A nurse, Gray watched her daughter struggle with prescription medications to deal with diagnoses of anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD and borderline personality disorder. Gray said her daughter added street drugs into the mix.

She was in turmoil, Gray testified. She was trying to numb her brain.

Gray said that her daughters three surviving children, all boys, are now scattered between herself, a pair of grandparents and a third household.

Defense attorney Jessica Phillips conceded that her client used poor judgment on the night of the shooting, in part because Smith was under the influence of some intoxicants.

Its very easy to look at a video and stop and pause and rewind, said Phillips. But you cant know whats in her mind. Not only did she lose a child, but her child was murdered.

Smith fought back sobs as she stood to apologize. As a dozen of her friends and relatives watched, Smith turned toward the victim and his mother.

I just want to say Im truly sorry from the bottom of my heart, she said.

We do not discount any of the struggles shes had in her life, said the prosecutor. Those are horrible things, but it does not provide a justification or excuse.

The prosecutor called for a sentence at the higher end of the guidelines, and the judge seemed to agree  even after reading a jailhouse letter Smith wrote containing mostly abject remorse.

Theres something in your letter that troubles me, said Worrell, taking issue with Smith's characterization of her actions as instinctual.

Theres nothing instinctual about that, said Worrell. Thats a voluntary decision on your part that is contrary to law and order.

In October, Worrell set the punishment for Smiths boyfriend, Paige, the person who delivered the near-fatal gunshot to Salisburys chest. The 29-year-old received an eight-year active sentence after pleading guilty to three charges, including malicious wounding and the use of a firearm in a felony.

Like Smith, Paige bore the scars of a painful past: He recently lost a brother to homicide and when he was in ninth grade he was cut across the face in a random act of violence while playing video games with a friend.

Neither Smith nor Paige, however, have ever explained why they decided to pull over their vehicle to attack Salisbury who has no known connection to the two.
Support for a constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies who have completed their terms is a flagship issue for the Virginia NAACP in the legislative session that starts Wednesday.

Virginias NAACP conference held a virtual news conference Monday to go over its legislative priorities for the General Assembly session, which begins Jan. 10 and runs through March 9.

In Virginia, people convicted of felonies permanently lose their voting rights, unless a governor choses to restore them.

Tyee Mallory, a legislative coordinator with the NAACP, called the matter a long fight because the proposed amendment would need to pass the state legislature in two different years with a House of Delegates election in between before it could appear before Virginias voters in a ballot referendum.

Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, has carried the resolution numerous times, but it might have a better chance now. Though the issue is not totally partisan, it has most often been championed by Democrats  who now control both chambers of the legislature. Constitutional amendments are not subject to governors approval.

Three previous governors from both parties have worked to streamline the process for restoring rights, with the process becoming automatic under Democrat Ralph Northams administration. He had also dropped a requirement for felons to have completed probation before their rights could be restored. In contrast, Gov. Glenn Youngkins administration quietly adjusted the process back to an application-based one, and its not clear what criteria would grant a successful restoration.

However, when the administration responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from Virginias NAACP, an example of a successful application showed a person who had completed their sentence and paid fines. Meanwhile, an applicant labeled ineligible at this time was still on probation and paying fines.

Obviously, the conditions exist now in the General Assembly that we feel favorable that this amendment will pass, Mallory said. We feel good about it, but nothing is a guarantee.

Other voting-specific measures the NAACP plans to support are protections for preregistration at the age of 16, which members believe will create a habit of lifelong voting for people, along with protections of current expanded voting access.

Since Democratic-led legislatures in 2020 and 2021 first expanded the voting window, some Republicans have sought to undo or walk back the 45-day period of early voting or ballot drop boxes for absentee ballots. Last year, Youngkin spearheaded an initiative to promote early and absentee voting in an effort to boost GOP candidates in the legislative elections last fall.

But some Republicans still want to change the voting options. Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, has a bill to reduce early voting to 21 days, while Del. Chad Green, R-Hampton, has a bill to reduce it to 30 days.

The NAACP will oppose those bills.

This is democracy at work, said Gaylene Kanoyton, political action chair with the organization.

The NAACP also plans to advocate for measures in education, housing and environmental policy.

Ideas include support for inclusion of Black history in school curriculum and opposition to censoring of reading materials that include it; support for policies to prevent evictions and pilot programs for low-income, first-time homeowners; and support for Virginias inclusion in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Dubbed RGGI  pronounced Reggie  the multistate carbon market is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Youngkin has long called for withdrawing Virginia from RGGI, which he says is essentially a tax on electricity ratepayers and a bad deal for them and for business. Last year, he urged the states Air Pollution Control Board to vote for Virginias removal, and the process has been subject to legal action from environmental groups.

Two other key issues for Virginias NAACP are mental health and policing.

Both were highlighted last year when Irvo Otieno, a mental health patient from Henrico County, died of asphyxiation after he was pinned on the floor while shackled and handcuffed during his intake at Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County. The hospital most recently said in state documents that law enforcement interrupted treatment that might have otherwise prevented the chain of events leading to his death.

NAACP President the Rev. Cozy Bailey said broadly that there have been issues of collaboration between law enforcement and health care personnel along with issues about processes and procedures and availability of mental health care professionals.

Otienos situation underscores longstanding efforts to enhance behavioral health responses to crises and bolster mental health resources in Virginia.

Kanoyton noted how the Marcus Alert  a specialized behavioral health response named for Marcus-David Peters, a 24-year-old man killed by law enforcement in Richmond in 2018 during a mental health crisis  has not been fully implemented across the state. The systems goal is to streamline communication between 911 and 988 operators and to reduce law enforcements involvement in situations where their presence exacerbates a mental health crisis.

Localities have until 2028 to implement the system. The NAACP plans to support additional and ongoing efforts in mental health reform.

The matter is one that both parties have stressed a commitment to working together on during the 60-day session.
After a bullet tore through Airrick Salisburys abdomen, ripping off a part of his lung and hitting his spine, the only concern his family had was whether he would survive.

For 15 days, the former Monticello High School star athlete was in a coma. There was no guarantee he would ever wake up.

But he did. And as Salisbury began to recover from the shooting that likely shouldve killed him, he also had to contend with a mountain of hospital bills from his time at University of Virginia Medical Center.

Airrick has an over-a-million-dollar body, his mother Jessica Irving told The Daily Progress. One bill came in for over a million dollars. That was just one bill.

Salisbury was unarmed the night of Dec. 18, 2022, when he was shot by a stranger while celebrating a friends birthday on 14th Street in Charlottesville steps from UVa Grounds. He had a job at UVas Runk Dining Hall. He was living on his own. He had earned a 700 credit score.

Today, as he learns how to walk for the second time in his life, he cannot work. Instead of having his own apartment, he has had to move back in with his mother. And his 700 credit score has dropped to 400 as the hospital bills continue to rack up. The massive price tag does not include bills from his intensive physical therapy treatments.

In Virginia, there is a program that is designed to help people in Salisburys position. But Irving says it isnt working.

The Virginia Victims Fund (VVF) is a state program created to help victims of violent crime with out of pocket expenses. These can include medical bills, prescriptions, funeral expenses and many other expenses, reads the front page of the funds website. While money can never erase the scars and painful memories of a crime, this program may ease some of the financial burdens faced by victims and their families.

Irving first submitted paperwork to the fund the same month her son was shot. At the time, she was told the family could expect assistance within three to six months. It has now been more than one year, and Salisbury has not received a dime.

Over and over, Irving has submitted requested paperwork. Over and over, the fund has claimed it has not received anything and has asked for documents to be sent again.

They never have the paperwork they say they need. Ive applied the same paperwork, I B.S. you not, like seven times, Irving said, adding that when Salisbury was in a coma she had to submit paperwork for her to be able to speak on his behalf. Ive done that paperwork like nine times. I give the paperwork to the court and give it to the Virginia Fund as well. Nothing is being processed.

When Irving first applied to the fund, she was told that the office had a new staff and it could take some time before any of Salisburys hospital bills would be covered. But she had no idea it would be such a long, arduous and frustrating process. She feels stuck in a time loop, sending the same documents over and over again.

Its just a very webby process considering youre already going through damn near losing your kid, she said.

During a court hearing on Tuesday, when one of Salisburys attackers was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Nina-Alice Antony referenced Irvings struggles with the fund.

Its been a frustrating experience for her, Antony said, noting that the claim made more than a year ago is still being processed, bringing additional frustration and heartache to the family.

The commonwealth shares her deepest frustrations, Antony told the judge.

Irving is deeply worried about her sons credit score. The fund, she said, is supposed to prevent hospital bills affecting a victims credit.

Please advise this office immediately if any of your medical bills are put into collections once you have filed your application with the Virginia Victims Fund, reads a letter Salisbury received from the office.

Salisbury has filed that application. But somehow her enrollment has not been registered, which means Salisburys hospital debts are being sold to collection agencies and severely damaging his credit score.

Its like nothing is together in this office. They are no help. When you do call them, they are quick to shut you off, Irving said.

The funds website lists an email address for people to set appointments for in-person assistance. When The Daily Progress contacted the email address, it was bounced back; the address is not operational.

This is a fund thats supposed to help victims in their time of need, only theyre making it worse, Irving said.

Irving has been told the fund has several new staff members. That includes Shannon Dion, who was named director of the fund in January of last year.

When The Daily Progress asked why Salisbury has not yet received any help from the fund, and why the family has had to send the same paperwork multiple times, Dion responded with a list of documentation the fund typically requires.

We do attempt to assist the claimant with getting this information; however, without such documentation, claim expenses cannot be deemed eligible and cannot be processed, thus prolonging the time for when awards are issued, Dion wrote in an email. Because of the variety and complexity of documents, some claimants send incomplete, duplicate, or incorrect documents, which can delay the claims process.

Dion added that documents can be directly uploaded to the fund by a localitys Victim/Witness Advocate office. She then floated the possibility Irving is simply not sending the requested documentation.

Victims often provide the same documentation to others, such as commonwealths attorneys, court personnel, local victim witness advocate programs, and other interested parties, that do not necessarily get forwarded to the Fund, Dion said.

Irving is adamant that she and the staff at the Charlottesville courthouse have been sending the fund all the correct documentation.

In fact, a letter the fund sent to Salisbury suggests it is the fund that has made errors in its paperwork.

The letter, which includes Salisburys address and claimant number, lists a number of documents the fund requires. Irving insists she has sent those documents multiple times.

If this information is not received by October 1, 2023, your claim may be denied, reads the letter.

And at the top of the letter, just below the official Virginia Victims Fund letterhead, is another date: Nov. 9, 2023. The letter was not sent until one month after the funds own deadline.

Do you see what Im saying? Its so freaking frustrating, Irving said.

According to Dion, many claimants expect payments for bills that are eventually covered by insurance or Medicaid. The fund does not award money for bills covered by insurance.

As you can imagine, this can be very disappointing, she wrote.

Tax dollars are not used for the fund. Instead it is funded by fines and fees collected from offenders.

In a court order, the judge presiding over the case of Anthony Marcus Paige, Salisburys shooter, wrote the following: Defendant shall repay, should there be compensation due to the University of Virginia Medical Center, through the Virginia Victims Fund.

And while Dion pointed out that the fund only covers bills not covered by insurance, that point in the process can only be reached when correct documents are received.

More than one year since Irving applied for the fund, the office still says it does not have the correct documents.

The monthslong back-and-forth is but the most recent frustration for a family that is still recovering from a random act of violence.

Airrick is at home and really cant do much but has good spirits and has his health. But this is just really unfair. I could just imagine sitting at home all day being injured like that and it being on his mind, Irving said. Its not fair for him to have to go through this mentally and the stress of this office.
A former state employee is guilty of violating the civil rights of a woman in his care by engaging in sexual misconduct with her.

Zakary Glover, 30, of Lebanon pleaded guilty Tuesday, Jan. 9, in federal court to one count of "depriving the victim of her constitutional right to bodily integrity under color of law" by attempted aggravated sexual abuse, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office  District of Oregon.

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Glover is a former Oregon Department of Human Services employee, according to the news release, which states he engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman entrusted to his care who was suffering from significant cognitive impairments.

Using a position of trust and authority to violate the civil rights of another person is a serious federal crime and will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice, U.S Attorney for the District of Oregon Natalie Wight said in a statement.

Glover served as a direct support crisis specialist for the human services departments Office of Developmental Disabilities Stabilization and Crisis Unit, which operates several 24-hour crisis residential programs serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to court documents.

In his position, Glover was reportedly tasked with ensuring the health, safety and security of the individuals who lived at the residential facility where he worked.

The Justice Department will pursue and prosecute government officials who abuse their power by sexually exploiting people under their care and custody, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division said in the news release.

And we will do our utmost to vindicate the rights of survivors of sexual violence.

The victim, who has severe autism and cognitive deficits, was one of the individuals under Glovers care, according to the news release, which notes that as part of his duties, Glover took the victim on outings in a state-owned van.

The van used for such outings was purposely secured with child locks and a heavy plastic partition between the front and rear seats so that people like Glovers victim cannot get out, the release states.

On Nov. 2, 2021, while on an outing with the victim, Glover drove down a dead-end road near a cemetery in Aumsville, according to the release, which states upon reaching the dead-end, Glover parked the van near the cemeterys gate and proceeded to engage in sexual acts with the victim without her consent.

A federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment in February 2022, charging Glover with depriving the victim of her constitutional right to bodily integrity under color of law involving attempted aggravated sexual abuse and kidnapping.

Glover is slated for sentencing April 30 and faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

There is an expectation that public servants will act with care, compassion, and respect, especially when responsible for some of our most vulnerable community members, said Matt Schlegel, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Portland Field Office.

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Meghna Mittal MEGHNA MITTAL is Deputy News Editor at Moneycontrol. Meghna has experience across television, print, online and wire media. She has been covering the Indian economy, monetary and fiscal policies, Finance and Trade ministries. She tweets at @Meghnamittal23 Contact: meghna.mittal@nw18.com
Ashwin Mohan is Editor (Deals) at Moneycontrol and leads the M&A, private equity and equity capital market transactions coverage. He anchors the video show 'Deal Central ' and tweets at @ashwinmohansays. He has previously worked with ET NOW, CNBC TV-18 and The Times of India.
Lovisha Darad Lovisha is passionate about domestic and global equity market development. She writes stories exclusively on equities from a fundamental perspective, gathering insights from niche market gurus.
Khyati Dharamsi is covering personal finance for the past 15 years. Taxation, insurance, mutual funds and gold are her areas of focus.
Adrija Chatterjee is an Assistant Editor at Moneycontrol. She has been tracking and reporting on finance and trade ministries for over eight years.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Highlights: PM Gati Shakti will be a global infrastructure planning tool, says Union Minister Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal speaking at Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar, says, "PM Gati Shakti, in the years to come, will become the planning tool of infrastructure not only for Asia but the entire world."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed the possibility of India securing the position of the third-largest economy by 2027-28, with the GDP surpassing $5 trillion during that period.

Additionally, she emphasized that the nation's goal extends beyond achieving economic milestones, with a commitment to fostering inclusive growth in the long term.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, where he was joined by various global leaders. The President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also attended the event briefly.

Prime Minister Modi commenced his two-day visit to Gujarat on January 9 in Ahmedabad, engaging with world leaders and CEOs of prominent companies to discuss developmental projects for the state. In addition to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the prime minister is set to inaugurate the Vibrant Gujarat Trade Show on the evening of January 10.

The 2024 edition marks the 10th iteration of the global summit, initially conceptualized under Narendra Modi's leadership when he served as the chief minister of the state. The 2021 summit had to be canceled by the government due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Running from January 10 to January 12, this year's global summit carries the theme 'Gateway to the Future.' Numerous global companies and partner countries are actively participating in the event.
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
Algeria Telecom and Ooredoo Algeria signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange ideas on innovative services and share infrastructure, a move to enhance their service in the country.

Algeria Telecom outlined in a translated statement, the rivals will launch partnership programmes which entails the sharing of services and infrastructure between the two parties. Although no details were shared on what potential services the Algerian market could see from the rivals, nor was it explained they would share infrastructure.

Algerie Telecom president and director general Adel Bentoumi said the signing of this MoU yesterday (Jan 9), represented a vital step of progress for the operator to enhance capabilities and provide a suite of services that fit the Algerian market.

Ooredoo Algeria director general Roni Tohme added: This step is in line with our vision to develop and modernise the constantly evolving Algerian telecommunications market. I am certain that this win-win agreement will constitute a real starting point towards a strong and fruitful cooperation with Algeria Telecom, with whom we share a common future vision, and will enhance our continued contribution to the development of the telecommunications sector in Algeria.

This MoU follows the partnership struck between Algeria Telecom and state-owned operator Djezzy in December, a move to also enhance services.
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The government of Mali has reportedly awarded a contract worth US$117.3 million to China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) to extend its national fibre optic network.

According to Ecofin Agency, the Malian government approved the contract at a cabinet meeting last week in a bid to not only bridge the countrys digital divide, but also further its digital transformation ambitions.

Under the contract, CITCC will expand Malis fibre network to areas including Mopti, Koro, Tombouctou, Gao, Ansongo, and Labenzaga. The project is expected to take two years to complete, the report said.

The Malian government said the fibre project will not only extend broadband connectivity to the unconnected, but also improve quality and reduce the cost of internet services for those who already have broadband.

According to the latest public figures from GSMA Intelligence, there were 22.48 million cellular mobile connections in Mali at the start of 2023. That works out to 98% of the population, although thats assuming only one connection per person. Meanwhile, according to DataReportal, only 34.5% of people in Mali had internet connectivity at the start of 2023.

Ecofin reports that the fibre expansion project is also part of Malis digital transformation strategy to create an ecosystem conducive to start-ups, modernize administration, and foster sustainable economic prosperity. Later this year, Mali is expected to release an official policy for developing its digital economy over the next four years.
Thailands Digital Economy and Society Ministry has reportedly tasked state telco National Telecom (NT) to develop a managed platform that enables state agencies to access services from any cloud provider.

According to the Bangkok Post, the proposed cloud managed platform (CMP) is intended to replace NTs existing Government Data Center and Cloud (GDCC) system.

The GDCC currently serves state units nationwide with 25,000 virtual machines (VMs), but the ministrys deputy permanent secretary, Nattapon Nattasomboon  who also serves as NTs chair  said thats not nearly enough to satisfy demand, as state units need 800,000 VMs for cloud adoption.

Consequently, many state units have been leasing capacity from commercial service providers on the side to handle their cloud needs, despite a cabinet mandate that all state agencies must use the GDCC system, the report said.

The CMP project proposes to provide managed access to commercial cloud services, which would give state units centralised access to as much cloud capacity as they need in a more controlled and secure manner, while giving the government more oversight over state use of such services.

Nattapon said that NT will partner with several cloud server providers to ensure smooth operation, according to the report.

The CMP project requires approval from the National Digital Economy and Society Commission before it can go ahead, the report added.
Unless tackled on a war footing, with awareness-building, a crackdown on crime hubs across India, and statutory and regulatory changes, the alarming rise in cybercrime could derail the phenomenal achievements of the fin-tech world in facilitating super-fast financial services. Cybercrime, especially in its latest and most evil avatar, is not limited to robbing victims of their money. It is forcing them to avail instant loans, facilitated by bank apps and transferring the money to fraudsters, thereby crippling victims with long-term debt.

The fact that cybercriminals today are extremely well-versed in the procedures of police and enforcement agencies, can recreate authentic-looking offices, clone websites of regulatory agencies and courts and spoof social media handles, is enough to scare people, especially at a time when media reports often tell us how the police from one state can arrest people in another part of the country, seek transit and jail them in locations where they have no family, support system or resources.

The rise in cybercrime is disturbingly high and the few success stories of police having successfully solved these crimes rarely mention the time and process involved in refunding money to victims. In 2023, the 1930 National Cybercrime helpline received 13.1 lakh complaints. At a recent press conference, the Mumbai police said its cyber cell received 1.09 lakh calls in 2023 and claims a 95% success rate. This high success is probably in nabbing culprits and does not reflect the extent of money recovered.

Worryingly, victims of cybercrime are not persons with low literacy levels or tech-phobic senior citizens, many of them are tech-savvy individuals working with giant information technology companies. Cybercriminals work by inducing fear and panic through practised mind-games, interrogation techniques, threat of arrest and creation of official-looking documents with the backdrop of authentic-looking police stations or government offices, that leads to a suspension of logic and clarity of thought.

In the coming days, these tactics will be further weaponised through artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools such as voice clones and deep fakes. More than a dozen websites already offer free voice cloning options with accuracy as high as 95% in scores of languages and accents.

What helps criminals trap even tech-savvy people is their lack of awareness about police procedures and laws. Perhaps, this explains why tech centres, such as Bengaluru and Gurugram, have become cybercrime hubs as is evident from the cases below. Consider the similarity in all these cases and the danger posed by the first crime.

Reenas (name changed) case started as the typical Fedex scam where the caller claimed that a parcel sent to her from Taiwan, containing illegal drugs, passports and a laptop, had been intercepted. Having got the victims attention, the call was transferred by the courier agent to what was ostensibly an official of the central bureau of investigation (CBI). Although such seamless efficiency is completely alien in government offices, victims are unaware of it. She was convinced that illegal activities across India had been carried out in her name and, for investigation purposes, she was guided to avail a personal loan of Rs10 lakh on an ICICI app and transfer it to an account specified by the fraudsters on the assurance that it would give her a clearance certificate from the cyber police! One could argue that this victim was unusually ignorant and credulous; but it is safe to bet that thousands of others will fall for the same tactics. The exact same modus operandi has worked successfully in so many cases in the past six months alone. This case show how cybercriminals can inflict crippling, long-term damage on victims, unless tackled firmly. Left unchecked, it could affect the use of banking apps.



A techie working for Infosys at Bengaluru lost over Rs3.7 crore in a variation of the Fedex scam. He was threatened with arrest for money laundering by cybercriminals posing as officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and told that the offences involved carried a 20-year prison sentence. In most cases, the victims are induced to empty their bank accounts, not as a bribe or blackmail, but by claiming that the money will be re-credited to their accounts after audit and investigation. In a LinkedIn post, Nandkumar Sarvade, formerly with the Indian Police Service (IPS), who has headed cyber security organisations, says ( https://www.linkedin.com/posts/saravade_cybercrimes-mumbaipolice-skype-activity-7137616666791747586-fhw-/ ) that the Skype handle used by fraudsters was vakolamahapolice-gov-in and a fake senior officials Skype profile read mumbai.cbi.gov.in. The victim was also shown arrest warrants pending against him on a fake Supreme Court website.



) that the Skype handle used by fraudsters was vakolamahapolice-gov-in and a fake senior officials Skype profile read mumbai.cbi.gov.in. The victim was also shown arrest warrants pending against him on a fake Supreme Court website. Ankit, another Bengaluru-based victim, was duped of Rs13 lakh with the same story that a FedEx parcel containing drugs and passports in his name was intercepted by the customs department. In every case, the victim is forced to get on a Skype call from authentic-looking handles mentioning the names of police station. The psychological play includes staging a fake police station/government office to lend credibility to their threats. It also allows them to display letters, ostensibly from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), CBI or spoofed websites, in line with the particular narrative. In most cases the online interrogation (possibly a rogue cop) continues for several days while the victim is successfully kept off-balance and told to stay away from social media. In Ankits case, he was forced to transfer Rs13 lakh from his own account, share his identification details and also transfer another Rs4 lakh from his wifes account for verification. How does transfer of money verify anything? Also, why would he be instructed to stay away from Google searches and not to share the information with anyone for two or three days, while the farce carried on? These questions do not occur to a victim in a state of panic. Ankit only became suspicious when he was asked to break a fixed deposit (FD) and transfer money for verification. He, finally, stopped taking the Skype calls and realised he had been scammed. He went on to file a police complaint and has got a portion of his money back (Read details of this and other cases here: Fraud Alert: How Not To Become a Victim of the Courier or Delivery Scams and Fraud Alert: FedEx 'Interrogation' Scam; Time To Make Your Passwords Strong and Bigger )



and ) Another Fedex scam victim was a Bengaluru-based businessman who was forced to transfer Rs1.98 crore to cybercriminals in December 2023. He was told that banned narcotics were found in a parcel sent to him; the criminals even forced the victim and his wife to check into separate hotel rooms for interrogation.



In November 2023, The Economic Times reported a case where cybercriminals exploited lax security systems and process at Axis Bank. The victim received a message with a link about reward points credited to her account. Merely clicking the link led to nearly Rs5 lakh being swept out of her account. In all, she lost Rs41 lakh over 23 transactions after the criminals changed her registered mobile number and broke her FD without such high and unusual activity triggering any alerts in the Banks systems.

These examples raise several issues, starting with public ignorance about police investigation procedures and the fact that government agencies often fail to follow procedure and get with illegal arrests, torture and worse. Moreover, many people these days are proud to claim that they have stopped reading the newspapers, which keeps them ignorant of such cases. This explains the regularity with which people succumb to the widely reported Fedex/ courier scam.

The second issue is collusion. In 2016, when Moneylife Foundation conducted a workshops series titled Police and You, we first heard from advocate Prashant Mali, a cyber security expert, about Jamtara in Jharkhand being a crime centre for phishing with easy access to burner phones, bank accounts and equipment without being hampered by know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. Is this possible without official collusion? What prevents the government from cracking down and destroying such criminal hubs? Instead, Jamtara has thrived, Mewat (in Haryana) has emerged as a new hub with sextortion as a unique skill and even Kolkata has become a phishing hub, complete with large call centres. They have been made famous by web series titled Jamtara and Mewat, which have also done a lot to create awareness about cybercrime.

Finally, the biggest contributor to escalating cybercrime are our antiquated laws and tediously slow legal systems. Commander Mukesh Saini (veteran), security adviser and former national information security coordinator wrote on LinkedIn (in response to Mr Sarvades post) that innovative approaches of cybercriminals makes it almost certainty that soon courts are going to be overwhelmed by the number of cases. He points out that every case is cognisable and under current laws; but the proceeds of crime, even if they are impounded, cannot be returned to victims without a process leading to a court order.

He says that urgent statutory and regulatory changes are required to prevent citizens from becoming discontented with the vision of a #DigitalIndia. In my view, Commander Saini has put it rather mildly. Unless checked, people may prefer to revert to old-fashioned cash and physical systems in a country which has no social security, especially for the hard-working middleclass that is the biggest convert to digital systems.
Upholding an order passed by the state commission for deficiency in service, the national consumer disputes redressal commission (NCDRC) directed Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to pay Rs1.50 lakh for damages and Rs21,000 for appeal expenses to a consumer. In this case, LIC agent had changed the policy amount, plan, tenure and premium period.

In an order last month , the NCDRC bench of Dr Inder Jit Singh (presiding member) says, "We are in agreement with the observations of the Rajasthan state consumer disputes redressal commission with respect to the deficiency in service on the part of the insurance company. There is no illegality or material irregularity or jurisdictional error in the order of the state commission hence the same is upheld."

In November 2002, Champa Lal Joshi from Badgaow village in Udaipur district bought a 25-year insurance policy from LIC under plan 47-25 for Rs5 lakh for an annual premium. However, he alleged the proposal form, which he filled out and signed, was changed by the LIC agent. The agent changed the plan to 47-15 from 47-25, cut down the insured amount to Rs2 lakh from Rs5 lakh, changed the policy tenure to 15 years from 25 years, and changed the policy premium payment term to half year from annual payment. Mr Joshi alleged that the agent attested his own signatures on the cuttings (changes made in proposal form).

Aggrieved by the act of the LIC agent, Mr Joshi filed a complaint before the Udaipur district consumer disputes redressal forum. However, on 17 May 2015, the district forum dismissed the complaint.

Mr Joshi's appeal, however, was allowed by the state commission. While setting aside the district forum's order, the state commission directed LIC to pay Rs1.50 lakh for damages and Rs21,000 for appeal expenses to Mr Joshi.

In the order, the state commission observed that "Though the policy has remained in force for 15 years, in our opinion, it is not proper to make changes as the policy is maturing next year in 2017 and the complainant will be getting all the benefits. It is a deficiency in service on the part of the insurance company that they issued the policy without verifying the cuttings made on the main contents of the proposal form, i.e., the insured amount and insurance period from the insured. Ordinarily, agents do this for their commission and the insurance company also issued the policy for increasing their business purposes."

Aggrieved by the order, LIC filed a revision appeal before NCDRC. During the hearing, the counsel for LIC argued that "The insured (Mr Joshi) was well aware about the plan which was amended. Further, due to the age factor, the policy was amended with the consent of the policyholder. The amended plan was T& T 47-15, the sum assured was Rs2 lakh and for which Mr Joshi was paying Rs6,578 half-yearly premium for 10 years, so the insured knew it better about the policy as he was paying double the amount of premium."

"Further, the policyholder could have utilised the free look period, but Mr Joshi never objected to the policy for the same in the long time span of about 10 years," the counsel argued.

The counsel for Mr Joshi argued that without a written request and signature on the application and proposal form, LIC ex-parte changed the original and important conditions of the proposal form by their representatives (agent). "Further, LIC and its agent made changes without the consent of the proposer, which is a serious fault. The insurance company, its agent or representative have to inform in writing, but LIC issued policy as per changed conditions by accepting the signature of the agent (on the proposal form). The provision of a cooling-off option was not mentioned in the policy. LIC also changed the original insurance proposal without the consent and knowledge of the proposer. The material information regarding economic benefits in the original insurance proposal is a serious fault in services."

After perusing the orders of the state commission, district forum, other relevant records and rival contentions of the parties, NCDRC observed that the insurance policy has since matured and Mr Joshi has received the maturity amount under the policy.

Dr Singh from NCDRC also referred to the order passed by the state commission. In the order, the state commission stated, "In our opinion, the insurance company issued the policy in spite of cutting in the proposal form. Though signatures have been put on the cutting by the agent of the insurance company, the signatures of the proposer (Mr Joshi) should also be there on the cuttings. At the time of issuing the policy, the insurance company was to ensure if these cuttings are in fact true or not. After filling the proposal form, cuttings were made on the proposal form by the agent and office and thereafter, issuing a policy cannot be said to be in good faith."

"It is true that Mr Joshi, after receiving the policy, did not go through its contents. In normal course, the policyholders do not read the contents of the policy while they do not have any doubt about the conditions. Mr Joshi was not in doubt for the reason that he was told about the yearly premium of about Rs5,100. It is the say of Mr Joshi that the agent told that there could be some difference in premium calculation and so he kept on paying the premium. It was not in his knowledge that the insured amount and insurance period has been reduced. We are not in agreement with the decision of district forum that the insured should have read the policy conditions after getting the insurance policy. Insurance agreement in based on good faith but the insurance company ignored the said principal."

NCDRC, while referring to a judgement by the Supreme Court (Rubi Chandra Dutta vs United India Insurance Co Ltd), says the scope of a revision petition is limited.

"Such powers can be exercised only if there is some prima facie jurisdictional error appearing in the impugned order. There is no illegality or material irregularity or jurisdictional error in the order of the state commission," the bench said, while dismissing the revision petition filed by LIC.

(Revision Petition No2298 of 2016 Date: 28 December 2023)
On Wednesday, 2045 stocks advanced, 1790 declined and 100 remained unchanged, with an advance decline ratio of 1.14 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), indicating positive closing of stocks in broader markets. The trend of the major indices on Wednesdays trading is given in the table below.

On NSE, 186 securities advanced and closed at a new 52-week high whereas 8 securities sank to close at their new 52-week lows. In sectoral indices, Nifty FMCG and Nifty PSU Bank were among the biggest losers. Nifty Media, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT were among the biggest gainers.

Maruti Suzuki India (-0.44%) has inked non-biding Memorandum of Understanding with Gujarat for construction of a new automobile production plant. This new plant in Gujarat is aimed to start operation in FY28-29.

Ramkrishna Forgings (+1.08%) has entered into a transformative consultancy agreement with McKinsey, a global management consulting firm.

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (+0.43%) has made a further investment by acquiring an additional equity stake of 5.04% in M/s Sarvejana Healthcare, material subsidiary Company.

Brahmaputra Infrastructure (+1.99%) has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) worth Rs38.75 crore from the office of Chief Manager, Water Resource Department, Assam Water Centre, Guwahati.

NBCC (+1.26%) has received work order worth around Rs218 crore from National Institute of Fashion Technology.

One97 Communications (Paytm) (-0.25%) is planning to invest Rs 100 crore in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to build a global financial ecosystem.

Bharat Forge (+0.95%) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Guidance, the Nodal Agency of Government of Tamil Nadu as part of the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024, for investing up to Rs1,000 crore over a 5 year period to expand its manufacturing footprint in Tamil Nadu.

Caplin (-1.13%) Group of Companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Government during the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet, 2024. This MoU outlines Caplin Group's commitment to invest Rs700 crore over a period of 5 years in diverse projects.

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:
Catedratico de economia.

El autor, LEINER VARGAS, columnista de MUNDIARIO, es catedratico de la Universidad Nacional y profesor-investigador del CINPE-UNA de Costa Rica. Miembro del Concejo Director de CONICIT y del Comite Asesor de LACEEP, fue vicerrector de Desarrollo de la Universidad Nacional. @mundiario
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.
The former Department of Public Health and Social Services Central Facility is seen Monday, Jan. 8, 2023, in Mangilao.
Simon Sanchez High School students rush to enter the campus on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, at John F. Kennedy High School in Tamuning.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) delivers remarks, after he and his wife Nadine Menendez were indicted on bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen, in Union City, New Jersey, U.S., September 25, 2023.
CCSO search and rescue looking for missing hiker Ann Herford -- CCSO photo View Photo

San Andreas, CA  At the request of some members of the board of supervisors, Calaveras Sheriff Rick DiBasilio gave an overview at Tuesdays meeting of the effort to locate Ann Herford, who was found deceased in late November after she went missing near the Arnold Rim Trail.

Sheriff Dibasilio noted that Herfords family expressed gratitude for how the rescue effort was carried out and how the office stayed in contact with them throughout.

During the eight days, there were 17 agencies involved in the effort, and 137 search teams. Three agencies also provided a combined 40 hours of air support (National Guard, CHP and the US Army). 45 hotel rooms were purchased. There were also numerous volunteers helping (via the sheriffs office and its Search and Rescue team), the Moose Lodge donated 494 lunches, and Foothills Sanitary donated two portable restrooms.

Sheriff Dibasilio concluded, The total cost of the search, over eight days, was 288,217 dollars and 17 cents. That is what it would have cost the county if we had to pay for everything. Out of pocket for the county, was just over $93,000.

Dibasilios report was solely designed to be informational.

Incoming Board Chair Jack Garamendi responded, Thank you very much for that information. When you are in the moment, you are dealing with these search and rescues, and you gotta do what you gotta do. Were just trying to figure out how to pay for it, at the end. Thats our part of the deal.

District Three Supervisor, Martin Huberty, who represents Arnold, added, Thank you sheriff for all of this work, but also for being proactive in your office and setting up the meeting this week to discuss how we can prevent this from happening again with the proper signage, etc., on the Rim Trail.

DiBasilio responded back to Huberty, Thats definitely something that needs to be done, and I am happy you stuck your fingers in that pie to help us out with it. I appreciate that.

Herford, 66, a traveling nurse, was reported missing on November 15 when she failed to show up for work at Adventist Health Sonora. She was located deceased north of San Antonio Creek and south of Forest Road 5N56, just outside the boundaries of the Arnold Rim Trail.

The agencies involved are listed below:

 Air National Guard

 Amador County Sheriffs SAR

 Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit (BAMRU)

 California Office of Emergency Services (Overhead and Air Resources)

 Calaveras County Volunteer Search and Rescue

 Calaveras County Sheriffs Office

 Calaveras County Sheriffs Office Volunteer Unit

 California Highway Patrol

 California Office of Emergency Services SAR

 California Rescue Dog Association/CARDAs

 Contra Costa County Sheriffs SAR

 Ebbetts Pass Moose Lodge 1123

 Forensic resources coordinated by the California Office of Emergency Services

 Hazel Fischer Elementary School

 Marin County Sheriffs SAR (Including Unmanned Aerial Systems  UAS)

 Merced County Sheriffs SAR

 Nevada County Sheriffs SAR

 Placer County Sheriffs SAR

 San Mateo County Sheriffs SAR

 Santa Clara County Sheriffs SAR

 Tuolumne County Sheriffs SAR

 United States Army Aircraft

 Yolo County Sheriffs SAR

 Calaveras County District Attorney Investigators
OZARK- In an effort to combat and raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking, the City of Ozark has officially declared January 2024 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. This declaration underscores the commitment of our local government to address human trafficking and work towards creating a safer and more informed community, said Ozark Mayor Mark Blankenship.

Joining him in the proclamation signing were Paige Knight, Executive Director of Mary Hill Family Service Center; Jana Aman, Mary Hill Family Service Centers Education Coordinator for Renew Hope 231; Pamela Hudgens, House of Ruth; and Melissa Fridlin Murrell, Child Trafficking Solutions Project.

Human trafficking is a global problem that affects millions of people, including men, women, and children in the United States and the state of Alabama. By designating January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Ozark aims to shed light on the prevalence of this crime, educate the public, and encourage collaboration between community members, law enforcement, and local organizations to combat human trafficking, he said.

The City of Ozark is partnering with the Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force/End It Alabama, the Child Trafficking Solutions Project, Mary Hill Family Service Center, and Renew Hope 231 to empower individuals with the knowledge and tools needed to recognize and report potential cases of human trafficking.

Blankenship stressed his commitment to eradicating human trafficking and ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents. Human trafficking is a serious crime that thrives in the shadows. We are taking a stand against this injustice and fostering a community that is informed, vigilant, and committed to protecting our children and community members, he said, urging citizens to support the initiative by participating in awareness events and educational opportunities and to join the conversation on social media using the hashtags #HTAM and #EndItAlabama.

Anyone who has information about a potential human trafficking situation or who thinks they or someone they know may be a victim of human trafficking should call 911 and also contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org and www.enditalabama.org.
A test taker gets ready before a PEIC exam in Vietnam. Photo by EMG Education

The Ministry of Education and Training is to recognize the Pearson English International Certificate (PEIC) as equivalent to the six-level foreign language proficiency framework used in Vietnam.

The new recognition means that in addition to certificates such as IELTS or TOEFL, PEIC will now also be used for university admission.

The PEIC certificate is an international standard for English proficiency, covering listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The test is divided into levels corresponding to the six levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) to assess learners' abilities and progress at each stage of language proficiency improvement.

PEIC certificates are issued by Pearson Education, and the test is widely conducted in many countries around the world.

They are also recognized by businesses, universities, and government agencies in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

In Vietnam, the PEIC certificate is organized by EMG Education, a strategic partner of Pearson Education. EMG Education and Pearson have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Training to jointly organize the certification exam.

Currently, the fee for a four-skill PEIC test is VND1.2 million (US$50) per candidate.

Since 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training has exempted the English test from the high-school graduation exams for students with IELTS or TOEFL certificates, while more students choose IELTS qualifications.

For this year's exam, the ministry designated that an IELTS score of 4.0 translates to a perfect score of 10 on the English graduation exam.

In 2021, over 28,600 students used their IELTS scores to skip the English test. In 2022, that number rose to over 35,000, and then nearly 47,000 this year.
In a tense encounter, police officers shot and killed a suspected armed robber, identified as Godfrey Njoromore (48), as he attempted to evade arrest in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza.

The incident followed the recent apprehension of Benjamin Chipiri (34) in connection with a robbery that took place on December 2, 2023, at a residence in Zengeza 5, Chitungwiza. The stolen items included a substantial amount of US$8,164 in cash, two laptops, three cellphones, solar lights, and a BP testing machine, among other valuables.

The arrest of Chipiri led investigators to track down Njoromore, who tried to flee as law enforcement closed in on him. In an effort to escape, Njoromore was shot in the thigh by detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Homicide on January 6, 2024. He was swiftly transported to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for medical attention but tragically succumbed to his injuries upon admission.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the National Police Spokesperson, confirmed the incident, expressing appreciation for the publics support in providing valuable information that led to the arrest of the suspects. Nyathi also emphasized the police forces unwavering commitment to combating local and foreign armed robbery syndicates.

On January 6, 2024 detectives from CID Homicide acted on received information and tracked Godfrey Njoromore to Nyatsime, Chitungwiza where he was shot on the thigh after trying to evade arrest.

Subsequently, Godfrey Njoromore was taken to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals where he died upon admission, Asst Comm Nyathi said.

The arrest of Njoromore resulted in the recovery of significant evidence, including a laptop, solar light, BP testing machine, and an empty magazine from an FN Browning pistol, underscoring the seriousness of the suspected robbers activities.

According to Asst Comm Paul Nyathi, a total of more than 2,200 armed robbers were convicted by the courts in the previous year alone, with an additional 700 currently undergoing trial. The collaborative efforts of the National Prosecuting Authority and the Zimbabwe Republic Police have intensified the fight against crime, resulting in notable convictions.

In terms of regional statistics, Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan provinces topped the list of convictions, with 412 male armed robbers and 2 female perpetrators found guilty in Harare, while Bulawayo recorded 189 male convictions. Conversely, Matabeleland North had the fewest convictions, with only two individuals found guilty of armed robbery, followed by Mashonaland Central with just four convictions.

The successful operation in Nyatsime serves as a reminder of the police forces dedication to maintaining law and order while safeguarding communities from criminal elements. The swift actions of the CID Homicide detectives and their commitment to apprehending dangerous individuals involved in armed robberies exemplify the ongoing efforts to create a safer environment for all citizens.

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The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has issued a stern warning to school authorities, cautioning them against pressuring parents and guardians to pay school fees exclusively in foreign currency, as well as compelling them to purchase uniforms and stationery from specific retailers. The ministrys directive, issued prior to the reopening of schools, granted parents the freedom to choose where they buy uniforms. Moreover, schools were instructed to accept tuition fees in all currencies, aligning with the countrys multi-currency policy.

The ministry expressed concern over various irregularities observed in schools, including the withholding of public examination results as a means to force fee paymenta clear violation of childrens rights. In an official statement, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education highlighted the disregard for approved governance procedures by certain schools.

Common violations outlined by the ministry included defying the governments directive to charge only approved school fees and levies, imposing fees and levies exclusively in foreign currency (typically United States Dollars), coercing parents into purchasing school uniforms and stationery solely from the schools themselves, and withholding results for Grade 7, O level, and A level candidates.

The ministry reminded all schools that they are bound by the proper procedures for adjusting school fees, as outlined in Secretarys Circular No. 1 of 2023. Any proposed fee increases should result from discussions and engagements with parents and guardians, adhering to the ministrys guidelines.

According to the ministrys statement, the Permanent Secretary will not approve any fee or levy increases for the upcoming term unless they are justified by a basis other than the consumer price index. Furthermore, any proposed fee or levy increase must be approved by a majority of parents in a meeting. Once approved, a copy of the approval letter must be displayed on the schools public notice board for easy reference by all parents and guardians.

The ministry emphasized that schools should not exclusively demand payment in foreign currency, as Secretarys Circular No. 10 of 2022 allows for payments in the local currency. While fees can be pegged in foreign currency for the purpose of preserving value, parents and guardians must be given the option to pay in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate on the day of the transaction.

In addition, the ministry warned schools against making it mandatory for parents to purchase uniforms and stationery exclusively from the schools themselves. This directive aligns with the ministrys efforts to ensure fairness and affordability for parents.

The ministry also addressed the issue of schools withholding Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) results for Grade 7, Ordinary, and Advanced level candidates as a means to demand outstanding fee payments. Such actions were deemed a violation of education procedures, stating that the responsibility to pay fees and levies lies with parents and guardians, while the contract for public examinations is between Zimsec and the candidates.

Despite the governments clear directive that parents should not be compelled to purchase educational materials from schools, some schools in Bulawayo have reportedly defied this directive. Mthombowesizwe Primary School in the Entumbane suburb allegedly forced parents to buy school tracksuits and book covers directly from the school.

Parents expressed their frustrations, revealing that learners who did not purchase stationery from the school were denied attention from teachers. The school sold plastic covers for US$2 and khaki covers for US$1.50, both branded with the schools name and badge. However, a survey conducted by The Chronicle found that stationery shops in the city sold plastic and khaki covers for US$1 for two rolls, with each roll sufficient to cover eight books.

Parents also raised concerns about the lack of receipts for their purchases and questioned how the funds would be accounted for without proper documentation. When approached for comment by the Chronicle, the headmistress of Mthombowesizwe Primary School, Ms Ommametsi Sibanda, retorted: Can you leave us please, go back where you came from, thank you.

A teacher, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed that the stationery was being sold on behalf of a supplier who paid the school a commission.

Mr Bernard Mazambane, the Bulawayo provincial education director, stated that it was incorrect for school authorities to force parents to purchase stationery from the school. However, he noted that he had not received any reports regarding the matter.

As the government continues to address these violations and ensure compliance with regulations, parents and guardians are encouraged to report any instances of coercion or irregularities to the relevant authorities.

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Yves here. Wee mentioned that water scarcity is becoming such an issue in Panama that the government is having to embark on large-scale desalination to have some prospect of having enough for the canal and farmers. This post gives a high level look at the possible effects on commerce.

By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at Gods Spies

Image source: Panama Canal Annual Report 2022

One of the discussions in the global warming arena  relatively hidden from most people by the ever-careful press  is the tension between preserving our modern, high-tech, energy-intensive, globally dependent life on the one hand, and the need to preserve a human-friendly environment on the other.

Global Life in the Balance

The question  Can we preserve our modern high-energy-use lives and still have a livable world?  is rarely asked. Yet thats perhaps the most important question of them all.

Lets say, for example, that we have (Im pretending) twenty years to deal with climate change effectively, after which we cant. How should we spend those twenty years? What solutions should we pursue? If we choose to pursue unviable ones, weve wasted our time.

Or, as some genius almost wrote, It makes no difference how fast you climb the ladder, if its the wrong ladder.
50 Fantastic Cat Memes To Help You Get Through Hard Times Bored Panda (furzy)

South Korea passes law to ban dog meat Anadolu Agency

Peregrine moon lander carrying human remains doomed after critical loss of propellant Live Science (furzy). Those Native Americans have some serious mojo! Recall they fiercely opposed the moon burial as desecration. Or maybe the moon itself agreed with them.

My 50 Favorite Albums from the Golden Age of Capitol Records (Part 3 of 3) Ted Gioia

Problematic: My favourite English word kamilkazani (Randy K)

The Asian world order aeon

Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging Quanta (David L)

#COVID-19

Climate/Environment

China?

Old Blighty

European Disunion

South of the Border

Gaza

New Not-So-Cold War

Imperial Collapse Watch

Biden

GOP Clown Car

Roger Stone reportedly said leading Democratic congressman has to die Guardian. Userfriendly: Paid for by the Eric Swalwell for senate campaign. I mean seriously. I guessed which congress-vampire (critter is too humanizing) half way through the title.

Budget Brinksmanship

Our No Longer Free Press

AI

Falling Apart Boeing Airplanes

The Bezzle

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Tracie H:

This little possum only LOOKS ferocious. A few years ago I was so worried about the stray cats in our backyard in all kinds of weather, that I made holes in coolers, and in this tub, and filled them with straw and a bit of Styrofoam for insulation. I think the holes were too big, because it didnt seem that cats ever used them. We only ever checked them when we needed to shift them someplace. Thats what Don was doing when he discovered this possum. At first, h

e thought the expression on its face meant it was mad, but we soon remembered thered been a baby possum in our yard back when a tegu (very large lizard) made an appearance, and thered been a confrontation between the tegu and the baby possum after which we thought wed seen the possum had a wounded mouth. We are so happy to see the wound had not been mortal.

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here
Yves here. Press reported depicted the tone of the reaction from the bench in the three-judge appeals court hearing yesterday on Trumps immunity argument with respect to insurrection charges to be skeptical. Even if this reading proves correct, Trump still could try to appeal. The niceties of Federal court appeals are over my pay grade, but I believe his only option if he loses would be the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court hears very few cases and the odds of Trump getting an audience if he loses would seem to depend very much on the grounds the appeals court used for finding against him. Note those could be purely procedural, such as whether the court has the authority to decide the case.

It still sees useful to consider a contrary view, if nothing else as an exercise in legal reasoning.

By Ofer Raban, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Oregon. Originally published at The Conversation

Former President Donald Trumps claims of immunity from criminal prosecution will be argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Jan. 9, 2024  on an interlocutory appeal from his trial for election interference. His arguments have been rejected by a district court judge, and the Supreme Court has declined to weigh in  for now.

Commentators have described his immunity arguments as frivolous and absurd. But such accounts underestimate the arguments weight and at times misconstrue them.

A Related Absolute Immunity Already Exists

Trump claims he is immune from federal charges on seeking to overturn the 2020 elections.

His first line of defense claims that his actions are covered by a constitutional immunity protecting presidents when they act in their official capacity. Trumps lawyers are not claiming that he couldnt be prosecuted for, say, shooting a pedestrian on 5th Avenue. They are saying he cant be prosecuted for so-called official acts.

A related immunity has been recognized in the past.

In 1982, the Supreme Court recognized that presidents have absolute immunity from civil lawsuits for their official actions. The principal rationale for this immunity was to allow the president maximum ability to deal fearlessly and impartially with the duties of his office. The case described the president as the officeholder [who] must make the most sensitive and far-reaching decisions entrusted to any official under our constitutional system, and held that the Constitution ensured he was not unduly cautious in the discharge of his official duties. Presidents should not take official actions with the fear of civil liability hanging over their heads.

The question remained whether a president could be criminally charged for his official actions.

Trump claims he cannot. He argues that just as the Constitution protects presidents from civil lawsuits, it also protects them from criminal charges  and for an analogous reason: preserving the presidents ability to make official decisions free from the fear of criminal prosecution.

The brief of special counsel Jack Smith responded that it is actually good if presidents are worried about possible criminal liability. Moreover, while immunity to civil liability makes sense, because civil lawsuits can be filed by practically everyone and for myriads of petty reasons, criminal charges usually relate to weightier concerns, and their filings involve various checks and balances.

Nevertheless, it is conceivable that courts would recognize presidential criminal immunity for official acts. If they do, the question would become how to define official acts, and whether the actions forming the basis for Trumps charges, which include many interactions with state and federal officials, qualify under that definition. It seems reasonable to believe that many of them do not and are better described as the acts of a candidate seeking reelection. But some of these acts might qualify.

The Complication from the Impeachment Clauses

Yet, the argument for absolute criminal immunity faced a preliminary hurdle: Article 1, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution states that while Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office  the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. In other words, the Constitution explicitly contemplates the criminal prosecution of a president.

As a brief by the special counsel put it, the Impeachment Judgment Clause entirely undermines the defendants claimthat a former presidents immunity from criminal prosecution should be absolute  because a former president who has been impeached and convicted will be liable to criminal prosecution.

Trumps response conceded that convicted presidents could indeed face criminal charges for their official acts. But he went on to claim that since he was acquitted  only 57 senators voted to convict him, short of the 67 needed  he was not liable for criminal prosecution.

Trumps response became the subject of much disparagement. The New York Times called it an even more audacious argument than his claim of absolute immunity. But some of that criticism derives from an uncharitable interpretation of Trumps claims.

Some critics construed the claim to mean that all officials who are subject to impeachment proceedings  which include The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States  could not face criminal charges for official acts unless they were first impeached and convicted of them.

A group of former government officials and constitutional lawyers wrote in a legal brief that Trumps argument would permit countless officials to evade criminal liability. They went on to say, Such an outcome would  contradict decades of practice in which the Executive Branch has prosecuted, and the Judicial Branch has convicted, civil officers for crimes committed while in office  regardless of whether they were first convicted in an impeachment trial. The special counsel made similar objections.

Indeed, impeachment proceedings are very rare, and most eligible offenders never face an impeachment. Moreover, as the critics point out, criminal acts may be discovered after the person in question has already left office.

But these strike me as straw-man arguments. Trumps claim that a president must be impeached and convicted before he can be criminally liable for official acts is premised on the background absolute immunity Trump has claimed for the presidency. To quote from Trumps brief before the district court: President Trump was acquitted  after trial in the Senate, and he thus remains immune from prosecution.

The key word is remains because, in Trumps argument, the impeachment clause provides an exception to the alleged background presidential immunity: Presidents are criminally immune for their official actions, unless they are impeached and convicted for them. In other words, nothing in Trumps argument prevents the criminal indictment of civil officers who have not been impeached at all, because they do not enjoy absolute criminal immunity to begin with.

Does Acquittal in an Impeachment Proceeding Create or Preserve Criminal Immunity?

In his late briefs, Trump adds a second line of defense: He claims that his impeachment acquittal independently forestalls his criminal trial because of the ban on double jeopardy. That claim, if upheld, would provide Trump with criminal immunity whether presidents enjoy absolute immunity or not. The claim would work only if Trumps impeachment and his criminal prosecution were based on the same acts  an allegation that is disputed by the special counsel.

But the claim, in any case, is weak and at odds with some other statements Trumps briefs make. Indeed, since impeachment proceedings are not limited to official acts, accepting Trumps double jeopardy argument would mean that a president could also become immune for unofficial criminal conduct  such as shooting a pedestrian on 5th Avenue  if he were impeached for that act but acquitted.

That argument proves too much, and would also be at odds with then-President Bill Clintons agreement to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license in a settlement aimed at preventing his subsequent criminal prosecution for perjury  even though he was acquitted in the impeachment proceeding for that unofficial act.

The stronger version of Trumps impeachment clauses argument presumes the presidents absolute immunity for official acts. Here, Trump acknowledges that an impeachment conviction removes that protection  but insists that an acquittal does not. That is why Trumps brief states, A former President is subject to criminal process for his unofficial conduct; and he is subject to criminal prosecution for official acts for which he has been impeached and convicted. Against a background of absolute immunity, Trumps impeachment clauses argument is not unreasonable.

It all sounds a bit complicated, but the ensuing conclusion is simple: The impeachment clauses debate is a sideshow. The principal action in this appeal is whether presidents have absolute criminal immunity for official acts.

In our present political culture, Trumps arguments for criminal immunity  and his corollary take on the impeachment clauses  may be seen by some judges and justices as stronger than some critics anticipate.
Tourists ride a hop-on hop-off cruise boat along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, March 2023. Photo by AFP

Thailand's Public Health Ministry is preparing to offer an additional 200,000 doses of influenza vaccine to public transport and tourism industry workers across 31 provinces.

The vaccination program aims to reduce the spread of the virus and support the tourism sector as influenza infections were reported throughout 2023, Dr Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), said on Jan. 8 as reported by the local newspaper Bangkok Post.

According to DDC statistics, a total of 472,222 influenza infections and 29 deaths were logged last year, with the influenza A virus found to be the dominant strain.

Rayong, Phayao, Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai saw the highest number of infections and the biggest group of patients was aged 5-9. Infections were mostly reported in big cities with a dense population.

Earlier, the DDC said influenza, dengue fever, and Covid-19 were the most widespread infectious diseases in Thailand in 2023.
The NATO-Ukraine Council met on Wednesday (10 January 2024) following recent waves of heavy Russian airstrikes against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure. Allies strongly condemned the escalation in Russian air strikes on Ukraine, as well as Russia's use of ballistic missiles sourced from North Korea and drones from Iran.

Allies have already delivered a vast array of air defence systems to Ukraine and today they reaffirmed their commitment to further bolster Ukraines defences. Through NATO, Allies are buying up to 1,000 Patriot air defence missiles to replenish their stockpiles as they continue to bolster Ukraines air defences. Germany recently delivered Patriot and Skynex air defence systems and additional missiles for IRIS-T air defences to Ukraine, and the United Kingdom is sending around 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine. Today, Allies made clear that they will continue to provide Ukraine with major military, economic, and humanitarian assistance, and many Allies outlined plans to provide billions of euros of further capabilities in 2024.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: NATO strongly condemns Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including with weapons from North Korea and Iran. For a second year in a row, Putin is trying to wear down Ukraine with mass strikes, but he will not succeed. Russias campaign of cruelty only strengthens Ukraines resolve. As Moscow intensifies its strikes on Ukrainian cities and civilians, NATO Allies are boosting Ukraines air defences. We will continue to stand by the brave Ukrainians as they push back against Russias war of aggression.

Wednesdays meeting was held at ambassadorial level and was convened at Ukraines request. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg chaired the Council. NATO ambassadors and invitee Sweden were briefed by videoconference by Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, and Deputy Interior Minister Oleksii Serhieiev. The NATO-Ukraine Council was created at the NATO Summit in July 2023 and serves as a forum for joint consultations, decision-making and activities between NATO and Ukraine.
On Thursday, 11 January 2024, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, will meet with the Latvian Minister of Defence, Mr. Andris Spruds, at NATO Headquarters.

There will be no media opportunity.

Photographs will be available on the NATO website after the event.



For more information:

Contact the NATO Press Office

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter):

@NATO, @jensstoltenberg and @NATOPress
Number of EXCESS DEATHS among young Americans in first 9 months of 2023 is 158K higher than the same period in 2019

The number of unexpected or excess deaths in the first nine months of 2023 is about 158,000 higher than the same period in 2019 and has even surpassed the combined losses from every conflict since the Vietnam War.

A report by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) disclosed this concerning find. The SOA's report, which is used by insurance companies to inform their decisions, found that the excess deaths are disproportionately affecting young, working-age individuals.

Mortality rates among the insured group aged 25 to 34 saw a 19 percent increase in deaths, while the insured group aged 35 to 44 saw a 26 percent increase in deaths. Surprisingly, the mortality rate among insured individuals aged 65 and older were six percent below the pre-pandemic norm.

Moreover, life insurance companies reported that death claims surged by 15.4 percent to $90 billion in 2020  the largest one-year leap since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. While claims slowed down in 2022, they still exceeded 2019 levels.

Given this data, actuaries and industry analysts predict that more younger people with life insurance will continue to die unexpectedly until 2030. This prediction goes against what is normally expected to happen for a healthy group of individuals with life insurance. As a result, insurance experts advocate for the adaptation of early-warning programs to detect potential health issues among those with life insurance policies. (Related: Life insurance companies sound DEATH ALERT warnings over nearly 100,000 excess deaths per month happening right now in the USA.)

COVID-19 vaccines have something to do with decline in life expectancy

Writing for the New American, Selwyn Duke mentioned the series of alarming posts from Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Califf's posts on X in December of last year said that while the government overlooks the major decline in life expectancy among young, working-age people, he believes it is a cause for concern.

"We are facing extraordinary headwinds in our public health with a major decline in life expectancy. The major decline in the U.S. is not just a trend. I'd describe it as catastrophic," he wrote.

The FDA head also mentioned a recent report from JAMA International Medicine conducted this December revealed that the average life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen to 76 years, with male life expectancy dropping even lower to 73 years.

An X user replied to Califf's post, linking the decline in life expectancy to the COVID-19 vaccine and citing a study to support her argument. The said study highlighted an increase in cancer rates among Britons that coincided with the rollout of the injections:

Fatal breast cancer rates among women rose by 28 percent

Pancreatic cancer deaths increased by 80 percent among women and 60 percent among men

Colon cancer deaths increased by 55 percent among men and 41 percent among women

Fatal melanomas saw a 120 percent increase among men and a 35 percent increase among women

Brain cancer deaths increased by 35 percent among men and 12 percent among women

Cancer deaths "without site specification" rose by 60 percent among men and 55 percent among women

The X user highlighted the fact that COVID-19 vaccines are contaminated with simian virus 40, which is highly linked to cancer. They also asked Califf if the FDA is going to recall the injections, given this contamination. "I further hope the FDA is looking into T-cell exhaustion following vaccination, which could explain why so many people are getting turbo cancer now," the user concluded.

Visit VaccineDeaths.com for more similar stories.

Listen to the Health Ranger Mike Adams discuss life insurance companies sounding the alarm on excess deaths caused by the COVID-19 injection below.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

America has suffered 300,000 excess NON-COVID deaths since 2020  lockdowns lead to death.

Excess deaths in Australia off the charts following covid "vaccines""  highest in 80 years.

Excess deaths in Germany only started appearing after COVID "vaccines" were unleashed, study finds.

Following release of Pfizer's latest "booster" covid shots, excess deaths in Japan are up 400%.

Excess deaths among children continue to soar across Europe following push of COVID jabs for kids.

Sources include:

TheNewAmerican.com

TheHill.com

Brighteon.com
Canadian government data reveals that most people are avoiding COVID-19 boosters

The Canadian government has been carrying out a campaign pushing citizens to get the latest COVID-19 boosters, but most Canadians are refusing to get yet another jab.

This is according to data listed on the Canadian government's vaccination coverage dashboard, which shows that just 14.6 percent of Canadians have received the XBB.1.5 COVID-19 booster shot. Even elderly Canadians are forgoing the shot, with 52 percent of those aged over 80 avoiding the latest booster.

When broken down by age, 28.1 percent of those aged 60 to 69 have received the booster, while just 13.5 percent of people in the 50 to 59 age range and 8.9 percent of those in the 40 to 49-year-old range have gotten the jab. The booster uptake rate for Canadians aged 30 to 39 is just 6.9 percent, while only 3.7 percent of those aged 18 to 29 have received the booster.

Statistics also show that uptake has been lower in males, at 13.3 percent, than females, where the percentage is 15.8.

There are also variations among provinces, with just 15.5 percent of those in Alberta getting the jab. However, in British Columbia, where a vaccine mandate is still in effect for healthcare workers, the uptake rate is 23.1 percent.

Negative effects of COVID-19 vaccines can no longer be ignored

Its a trend that is being seen in many countries as the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines continue to come to light and it becomes harder for the mainstream media and medical establishment to ignore them. In Canada, reports that Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government knew the vaccines came with unknown risks when they entered into a contract with Pfizer in 2020 could be impacting the low booster take-up rate as well.

The contract, which was for millions of doses of Pfizers experimental mRNA shot, showed that the government agreed to accept the vaccines unknown long-term safety and efficacy. By signing the contract, the government also acknowledged that the jab and its ingredients had been rapidly developed due to the emergency circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and would be subject to further study after being rolled out and administered to the public.

Last month, a Canadian MP sent an information request to Health Canada inquiring about whether they had any clinical data indicating if the newest COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective.

Another reason for the low uptake could be that the Pfizer COVID-19 booster being offered targets the XBB.1.5 variant, which is mostly gone in Canada; the dominant strain there at the moment is EG.5.

Increasing numbers of people are foregoing the jab, including those who were perfectly willing to get the original COVID-19 shots, as more information is revealed about their dangers.

Research shows that 1 out of 35 people who have received the booster have myocardial damage, according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the European Society of Cardiology in March. Meanwhile, a Canadian study found that 17 countries have identified a definite causal link between all-cause mortality peaks and the quick rollouts of vaccines and boosters.

The Canadian Vaccine Injury Program (VISP) has already paid out more than $6 million to people who were injured by COVID-19 jabs, while a further 2,000 claims have yet to be settled.

In the U.S., data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) indicated that more than 72 percent of all death reports in the systems 33-year history are attributed to the COVID-19 vaccine, which amounts to roughly 676,000 Americans.

Sources for this article include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Health-Infobase.Canada.ca

KirschSubstack.com

LifeSiteNews.com
BIRDS OF THE SAME FEATHER: Notoriously corrupt Clinton Foundation in bed with Ukraines first lady, who is also mired in corruption allegations

The Clinton Foundation, operated by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, is under the spotlight over its project with Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska

Freelance journalist Ekaterina Blinova expounded on this link between the Clintons and the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a Jan. 6 piece for the Russian state-owned Sputnik news service. She cited remarks by Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel, who has been investigating alleged fraud committed by the former president's eponymous foundation.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian first lady established the Olena Zelenska Foundation  which sought to attract foreign businesses, funds and donors to "restore Ukraine's human capital"  in 2022. It was launched in September of that year, with Hillary  former U.S. secretary of state during the Obama administration  as among the guests. The Ukrainian first lady received two awards from the foundation in December 2022 and September 2023.

According to Ortel, this partnership between Hillary and Zelenska resulted in the foundation announcing the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Ukraine Action Network in September 2023. Blinova pointed out that "the Wall Street analyst is highly skeptical about the Clintons' new joint endeavor with the [Ukrainian first lady], who has also been mired in corruption allegations."

Ortel ultimately remarked that the Clinton Foundation and its numerous offshoots  including the CGI  were nothing but a vehicle to enrich the Clintons and their associates. He continued that the joint effort between the two entities "is likely nothing more than a vehicle to divert aid to corrupt ends." (Related: The real reasons why Ukraine is so important To Biden, Clinton and their 'global crime cabal': Ukraine is their 'little crime playground' where their devastating secrets are hidden.)

Corruption is the ultimate goal of the Clinton-Ukraine partnership

"By the time Hillary commenced work with [Olena], the Clinton family had more than 20 years of experience breaking key charity laws  especially in New York City and [New York] State," Ortel told Sputnik. He also highlighted the double standard in both the Empire State and the Big Apple, which "have targeted [former U.S. President] Donald Trump and his family for charity frauds  but allowed Clinton charity frauds to expand in scope, scale and international breadth."

According to Ortel, both the foundation and the CGI under it have not complied with laws concerning public charities. Under these laws, such entities must be controlled by truly independent boards of directors. Moreover, such entities must prohibit the creation of "private gain" through their operation and forbid partisan political activities under the regulations.

He explained to Sputnik that the Clinton family began operating in Ukraine in 2003, in association with various persons. This, even though the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation  the original purported charity  never legitimately obtained approvals to operate outside Little Rock, Arkansas for any charitable purposes. According to Ortel, the original foundation's permissions were only to house the records for the Clinton presidency from 1993 to 2001 and allow interested parties to perform research on these records at the premises.

"Without complying with applicable state, federal and foreign laws, Bill and his cohort of co-conspirators then ostensibly raised money for a raft of 'charitable' projects  including in Ukraine  for which there has never been proper accounting," the Wall Street analyst explained. "If Ukraine maintains legal records on charities  there should be filings available to investigators that might allow authorities to compare claims made by Bill concerning his work there with apparent legal reality."

Ortel also shared with Sputnik that the Clintons have a long record of collaborating with the Ukrainian elites. Their partners include oligarch Viktor Pinchuk and his wife Olena, the daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Just like the Ukrainian first lady, Pinchuk's wife launched a foundation to raise funds to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

Pinchuk's wife established the foundation in close cooperation with the Clintons. Meanwhile, her husband is known as one of the most generous donors to Clinton Foundation charities.

This lack of scrutiny over the foundation's "charitable" projects in Ukraine mirrored Hillary's tenure as secretary of state during the Obama administration. Ortel noted that during the aforementioned period, there was "no oversight of monies flowing towards Ukraine from donors who believe they might be helping Ukraine repel Russia's special military operation."

Watch this video that explains the ties of Democrats, such as the Clinton couple, to corruption in Ukraine.

This video is from the high impact Flix and more!!! channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Clinton Foundation partner raking in millions from EpiPen price-gouging.

Podesta email bombshell: Clinton campaign was heavily funded by Monsanto.

Clinton Foundation caught giving watered down AIDS drugs to third world countries.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

SputnikGlobe.com

Brighteon.com
COVID-19 vaccines caused DECLINE in life expectancy in the U.S.

Life expectancy across the U.S. has declined, and this drop coincides with the introduction of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

According to Elizabeth Arias, a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the U.S. life expectancy. "[It will take] some time before we're back where we were in 2019," she said.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that according to CDC numbers, life expectancy for the entire U.S. was 77 years in 2020. However, this dropped to 76.4 years by 2021  in time for the introduction of the COVID-19 injections that year.

Heart disease was the leading cause of death in the U.S. for 2021, and this is also linked to the COVID-19 injections. It can be noted that many of the most widely reported side-effects from COVID-19 injections have been related to the cardiovascular system. Countless people have suffered from either a heart attack or a stroke after being injected. (Related: New "smoking gun" analysis shows dramatic excess mortality rise linked to COVID-19 vaccines.)

One study by the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California found that heart attack deaths climbed for all age groups during 2020 and 2021. But the biggest jump in heart attack deaths was seen in the group aged 25 to 44 at 29 percent.

COVID-19 injections shorten men's lives by 24 years

The CDC's own data also disclosed the true dangers of the vaccines. According to the Daily Expose, men injected with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could see as much as 24 years taken off their lifespan as a result.

The public health agency's all-cause mortality data shows that each dose of the COVID-19 vaccine a person got raised their mortality rate by seven percent in 2022, compared to 2021. In other words, people injected with five doses were 35 percent more likely to die in 2022 than in 2021.

The Expose compared the COVID-19 vaccines to "slow-acting genetic poison" based on this data, given the fact that people do not appear to be recovering from the damage caused by earlier vaccines when it comes to excess mortality. It ultimately warned that a person injected with five doses would be 350 percent more likely to pass away in 2031, and a shocking 700 percent more likely to die in 2041 than an unvaccinated person.

Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), acknowledged this reduced life expectancy. "We are facing extraordinary headwinds in our public health with a major decline in life expectancy," he wrote on X. "The major decline [of life expectancy] in the U.S. is not just a trend; I'd describe it as catastrophic."

Not surprisingly, Califf stopped short of pinning the blame on the COVID-19 vaccines. Many of those who dare to suggest that the injections are responsible for excess deaths find themselves being censored.

In one instance, whistleblower Barry Young from New Zealand shared data from the country's health agency that pointed to a strong link between the COVID-19 injections and excess mortality. According to the data he shared, the vaccines killed more than 10 million around the world.

But this revelation came with a steep price, as Young was arrested and now faces prison time. Nevertheless, the whistleblower said he shared the data as it blew his mind. He also wanted experts to analyze it and make people aware of what is happening.

Visit VaccineDeaths.com for more similar stories.

Watch this video about a new COVID-19 strain causing a pandemic of heart failure globally.

This video is from the Katy Odin channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

NEVER FORGET: Pfizer's rigged 2020 COVID-19 vaccine trials riddled with conflicts of interest.

Elon Musk: COVID-19 vaccine may have something to do with Bronny James' cardiac arrest.

Australia quietly drops approval for AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Panicked New Zealand authorities issue threats and arrests after whistleblower leaks data connecting COVID-19 vaccines to excess mortality.

Sources include:

WLTReport.com

News-JournalOnline.com

Expose-News.com

Brighteon.com
Former NIH Director Francis Collins says its really unfortunate that government authorities ignored devastating societal impacts of COVID tyranny

All those restrictions the government imposed in response to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" were just one big "mistake," according to former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins.

At a recent conference held in Gettysburg, Penn., Collins told the room that "public health people" like himself made a "really unfortunate" mistake in failing, he claims, to properly assess the societal impact of business lockdowns, school closures, mask mandates and other harsh impositions.

It is not so much that Collins et al. wanted to hurt anyone, he now argues. No, it was just one big accidental oversight that everyone needs to just laugh off and move on from, letting bygones be bygones.

"We weren't really considering the consequences," Collins claimed at the event, which was sponsored by Braver Angels, an organization that aims to "bridge the political divide" in America by encouraging civil conversations between people with differing ideologies and political beliefs.

"If you're a public health person, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision is, and that is something that will save a life," Collins continued. "[It] doesn't matter what else happens."

(Related: Be sure to check out our earlier coverage about why Collins resigned from the NIH: He was exposed for lying about his involvement in illegal gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.)

Just an accidental oversight? Yeah, right

Collins would go on during his speech to vouch for his fellow public health authorities, many of whom became medical tyrants the moment then-President Donald Trump declared COVID to be a "pandemic."

"You attach infinite value to stopping the disease and saving a life," Collins explained about how "public health people" like himself think.

"You attach a zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people's lives, ruins the economy and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never might quite recover from."

Looking at human life in this bizarre way is apparently how the nation found itself in a COVID mess with millions being told to stay home, get "vaccinated," and shut up until the government told them what to do next. Valuing the idea of a "statistical life" over an actual life is why tyrants like Collins decided to punish healthy people in the first place.

"The folly of attaching 'infinite value' to a life saved by government regulation should be obvious," writes Jacob Sullum for The New America. "Economists and regulators, after all, routinely and rightly seek to balance the costs of new rules against their expected benefits, a calculation that entails estimating the 'value of a statistical life.'"

"If that value were infinite, it would justify any policy that promises to save lives, regardless of the cost. A universal speed limit of 25 miles per hour (or, more ambitiously, a ban on automobiles) would reduce traffic deaths, for example, but at a cost that few of us would consider acceptable."

The problem with Collins' argument is that there was never a consensus among "public health people" to take the failed approach that he and others did. There were many skeptics and outspoken opponents of COVID tyranny within the public health realm that were called "science deniers" for opposing the lockdowns, school closures and mask and jab mandates that effectively destroyed the nation in just a few short years.

Epidemiologists Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford and Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University together issued the Great Barrington Declaration, which advised allowing "those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally." Collins mocked Kulldorff and others back in October 2020 by describing them as "fringe epidemiologists," but more recently referred to Kulldorff and the others as "very distinguished."

The latest news about the fallout from the COVID "pandemic" can be found at Plague.info.

Sources for this article include:

TheNewAmerican.com

NaturalNews.com
Registered Israeli foreign agent behind contrived antisemitism crisis at U.S. colleges, universities

The spate of alleged "antisemitism" incidents being reported at colleges and universities all across the country ever since October 7 all stem from one single entity: a shady corporate law firm that was registered as a foreign agent of an Israeli principal.

The firm, known as Kasowitz Benson Torres, previously fielded pro-settler, ex-U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who served under President Donald Trump. Until 2021, Kasowitz Benson Torres was registered with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) as a foreign agent acting on behalf of a principal in Israel.

According to reports, Kasowitz Benson Torres currently represents numerous professional Israel lobby activists whom The Gray Zone says are "posing as victimized 'Jewish students' and seeking to crush the free speech rights of Palestine solidarity activists."

Kasowitz Benson Torres is spearheading the antisemitism witch hunt that already cost University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill her job. The law firm is also pushing for the firing of Harvard University's Claudine Gay, who is refusing to play ball with the Zionist lobby and its speech demands.

"The firm's clients include associates of a jailed Ukrainian billionaire who bankrolled neo-Nazi militias, along with a who's who of corporations accused of defrauding and even killing consumers," The Gray Zone further reports about the work of Kasowitz Benson Torres.

"Meanwhile, the 'Jewish student' witnesses who set the stage for the attacks on Magill and her fellow university presidents at the House Antisemitism Committee were employed on at least a semi-professional basis by Israeli lobbying cutouts."

The "Jewish student" witnesses in question include:

 Harvard law student Jonathan Frieden, who moonlights as president of Alliance for Israel

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate student Talia Khan, president of the MIT Israel Alliance

 New York University's (NYU) Bella Ingber, co-president of NYU's Students Supporting Israel

(Related: The U.S. has sent Israel at least 5,400 MK-84 bombs to drop on Gaza  each MK-84 bomb weighs a ton.)

Pro-Israel lobby calling for COVID-era lockdowns to stop "antisemitic" speech

Kasowitz Benson Torres helped stage the December 5 House Committee on Antisemitism hearings at which Israeli-American UPenn senior Eyal Yakoby spread "harrowing" and "clearly questionable" claims that echo back to the claims of the Holocaust.

"Over the course of the last few weeks, I've ... read the statement, 'Ninety-percent of pigs are gas chambered!' on the pavement as I walked to class," Yakoby testified, apparently mistaking an animal advocate message for neo-Nazi messaging.

"The most likely explanation for the appearance of this phrase on UPenn's Locust Walk was not the presence of chalk-wielding neo-Nazis but rather, that of animal welfare advocates, who were presumably calling attention to the fact that most pigs are killed by slaughterhouses which employ a grotesque method of gas inhalation exposed by activists in late 2022," The Gray Zone reported.

Yakoby would go on to claim that his classmates and professors called him "a dirty little Jew" while telling him: "you deserve to die." Yakoby was unable, however, to actually name a single student or teacher who supposedly uttered these or other similar antisemitic words at him.

Towards the end of his bizarre testimony, Yakoby would call for the imposition of COVID-style lockdowns to punish those who speak out against Israel's war on Gaza, which has already killed well over 20,000 people.

"During COVID, strict guidelines governed everything from class attendance and graduation walks," Yakoby said. "But now, when students and faculty defy policies to intimidate Jewish students, where is the same resolute enforcement?"

Just hours after giving this testimony, Yakoby would file a lawsuit against UPenn, claiming the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to respond to his claims of "antisemitism."

Read more stories like this at CampusInsanity.com.

Sources for this article include:

TheGrayZone.com

NaturalNews.com
Court documents: Model who was flown on Epsteins Lolita Express committed SUICIDE two years after

A model who was reportedly flown on the Lolita Express jet owned by the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein took her own life two years after that flight , according to recently unsealed court documents.

Ruslana Korshunova, a Russian model born in Kazakhstan, was reportedly flown on the billionaire's private jet in June 2006. Citing flight logs, the Daily Mail pointed out that this trip happened two years before her apparent suicide in 2008. Korshunova was just 18 at the time of the flight.

The model was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on July 2, 1987, and moved to New York City when she was 15 after being discovered by the London-based Model 1 agency. Korshunova's career included numerous high-profile modeling gigs, appearing on the covers of Vogue's Russian edition and Elle's French edition. She was also featured in ads for luxury fashion brands Marc Jacobs, DKNY and Nina Ricci.

The late convicted sex offender was also listed on the same June 2006 flight as Korshunova, alongside five other people. Epstein was notorious for sexually exploiting underage girls on his private island, Little St. James. (Related: Famous model who killed herself in 2008 revealed to have visited Jeffrey Epsteins "pedo island" two years prior.)

He was arrested a month after the flight on a single count of soliciting prostitution, a relatively minor charge that was criticized by some as "special treatment." A month before the June 2006 trip, Epstein was charged with multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor.

In June 2008, Korshunova jumped to her death from her ninth-floor apartment in Manhattan days before her 21st birthday. At the time of the suicide, her friends and family said she displayed no signs of wanting to take her own life. The model was even described as a cheerful girl who loved life.

While Korshunova did not leave a suicide note, investigators found a long message on her computer describing how she missed her home and family. While this did not come true in her life, it was eventually fulfilled when she was buried in Russia. According to Korshunova's mother, her daughter "would want her beloved Moscow to be her last resting place."

Korshunova "bottled up" problems

Aside from the message of missing her home and family, investigators also found that Korshunova had been working with a group to help her deal with repressed memories and past trauma. The nature of that trauma was never determined, according to Breitbart.

The model had mentioned to friends that she was homesick and thinking of quitting modeling in the weeks before her demise. She had also lost a significant amount of weight and was complaining of a mysterious stomach ailment.

Close friend Artem Perchenok, who met with Korshunova hours before she took her life, said she kept her problems "bottled up." He recounted: "When a job would go bad, she'd take it out on herself." Other friends also mentioned how the model felt confused about the direction of her life.

It was only five years after Korshunova died that her name would once again emerge. This came in the form of a 2011 exchange between Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's victims, and her attorney. Giuffre was the plaintiff in a 2015 court case against Epstein, and the documents she provided contained Korshunova's tragic fate.

According to the exchange, Giuffre's attorney asked if she knew Korshunova. Giuffre replied in the negative, saying she does not recall seeing the model on Little St. James.

"I can say that I have never had any meetings with her," Giuffre said. "Sorry not to be of any help there. I am [also] sorry to hear the news of Ruslana, and my condolences are with her family and friends."

Head over to Epstein.news for more stories about the late convicted sex offender.

Watch this video about mass graves reportedly being discovered at Jeffrey Epstein's Little St. James Island.

This video is from the Son of the Republic channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Epstein victim vows to release video tape showing VIP elites raping and murdering children.

Jeffrey Epstein's private calendars and emails reveal his connections to top officials, celebrities and even royalty.

BOMBSHELL Epstein list names 170 A-list celebrities, politicians and leading figures linked to infamous child trafficker.

Before "killing himself," disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein threatened to expose Bill Gates for affair with Russian bridge player.

Sources include:

RT.com

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
As fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, the 2.2 million people living there are in a crisis. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, or WFP, food and water supplies are running out in Gaza. The entire population is food insecure and at least one in four is facing extreme hunger, with the possibility of famine on the horizon.

We are intensely focused on the very difficult and, indeed, deteriorating food situation for men, women, and children in Gaza, and its something that were working on 24/7, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken after visiting a WFP Regional Coordination Warehouse in Amman, Jordan. I want to commend the extraordinary work of the World Food Program. To try and get more food, to more people, more effectively. They are doing this also at tremendous risk to their team on the ground in Gaza.

This is an effort that is absolutely essential, and it is imperative, imperative that we maximize assistance to people in need. Not only do we get it to Gaza, but once it is in Gaza, it can be effectively distributed to people who need it everywhere in Gaza. Well be working on that in the days ahead as well, he said.

The United States has worked from day one to open access routes into Gaza to get assistance to people who need it, said Secretary Blinken. We continue to work on that every single day, not only to keep the routes open but to multiply them and to maximize them to try to get,  more food, more assistance to more people more effectively.

Indeed, the United States is by far the largest donor to the WFP, which has so far provided food to nearly 860,000 people in Gaza and the West Bank.

The United States provides about 50 percent of the World Food Programmes budget  about $3 billion over the last year  and we work hand in hand with the WFP not only in Gaza but in many other places around the world. At the same time, weve sent about 500,000 pounds of nutritious food products to Egypt for distribution in Gaza over the last couple of months, said Secretary Blinken.

Through all of these lines of effort, were determined to do everything we possibly can to ameliorate the situation for men, women, and children in Gaza when it comes to food, when it comes to humanitarian assistance more broadly.
Hundreds of active-duty servicemen, veterans send declaration of military accountability to joint chiefs

Former Army officer Brad Miller sent an open letter to America's military leaders this week on behalf of himself and 230 other active-duty servicemen and veterans notifying them that the group is pledging to do everything lawfully within its power to stop the willful destruction of the United States military by its own leadership.

Though sent to joint chiefs of staff, the letter is actually addressed to the American people directly. Miller wrote in a tweet that the only reason the letter was sent to military leaders is "merely to inform" them about the plan.

"Let's take our country back in 2024 & let's begin by defending our military from its own leadership," Miller further wrote  see the letter below:

At 4am EST today (a few min ago), senior military leaders received an email with a letter attached called the Declaration of Military Accountability. I know because I sent the email. I sent it on behalf of myself & 230 other signatories of the letter. The letter is not addressed pic.twitter.com/jFkF3FmcA8  Brad Miller (@BradMiller1010) January 1, 2024

(Related: Did you know that plaintiffs are suing the CIA over hidden records about bribes paid to conceal the true origins of COVID?)

But will it work?

Entitled the "Declaration of Military Accountability," the letter specifically addresses the U.S. military's imposition of "experimental vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic," these being the mRNA (modRNA) and viral vector shots brought to bear under Operation Warp Speed.

What happened during COVID specifically to the U.S. military resulted in thousands of soldiers getting sick or dying as they were forced to take the experimental injections against their better judgment.

The purpose of the Declaration of Military Accountability is to put senior military leadership on notice that the 231 signatories, anyway, will no longer stand idly by while their government destroys the nation from within.

"While I won't go so far as to call this action unprecedented, I cannot recall during my service and retirement where this many active personnel have signed their name to a document calling for the accountability of the military's unformed leadership," wrote Soldier Systems editor Eric Graves in a post about the letter.

"This number is even more striking to me as the recent call for signatures was not well publicized. The authors do plan to open the letter to additional supporting signatures soon."

As you will see in the above-attached letter, it lays out a general plan of accountability for the U.S. military. It also contains a specific call to action for anyone who shares the views presented therein.

"It does not incite violence or calls for signatories and sympathizers to violate their oaths of office," Graves specified, noting that the letter was sent on a holiday.

"Considering it is New Years [sic] Day and not a duty day, there has been no reaction so far from the Department of Defense or those called out by name in the letter. I do expect this to make the national news this week."

The letter opens with a quote from John Adams, America's first vice president, who stated that:

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Have a look through the letter and share it with others if its contents resonate with you.

"While I understand and support their sentiment, bureaucratic stonewalling will win this in the long run," wrote one skeptical commenter about the letter.

"DoD (Department of Defense) will ultimately stall this out by using its power as a largely unaccountable cog in the machine to avoid anything resembling ownership, accountability, or remorse for this fiasco."

More related news can be found at MedicalTyranny.com.

Sources for this article include:

SoldierSystems.net

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com
Will Israel succeed at dismantling Hamas? Lebanons Hamas representative says nah

Israel's scorched earth war campaign in Gaza may not end up being a success, at least according to Osama Hamdan, the official Hamas representative in Lebanon.

At a recent crowded news conference in his offices located within Beirut's southern suburbs, Hamdan expressed no concern about Israel dislodging his Palestinian faction from the Gaza Strip, all things considered.

"We are not worried about the future of the Gaza Strip," Hamdan told reporters. "The decision maker is the Palestinian people alone."

Since the beginning of the war on October 7 following the Hamas attack, Israel has stated that one of its key missions is to dismantle the Hamas government in Gaza and absorb the Palestinian territory into Israel's borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly emphasized, despite mounting international pressure to scale back, that Israel, in his view, has a mandate to basically recapture the land of Gaza and return it to Israel. Netanyahu has repeatedly cited Old Testament scriptures to back this mandate.

Nearly every nation in the world, including the United States, is in some way urging Israel to engage a ceasefire. The Biden regime supports Israel in its ongoing war campaign, but it, too, has dispatched senior envoys to Israel to try to convince the nation's government to focus more on targeted operations in Gaza rather than full-scale destruction of the Palestinian territory.

(Related: Many of the terror and violence claims that Israel accused Hamas of committing on October 7 never happened.)

Is it even possible to fully eradicate Hamas?

It would seem as though Israel is standing mostly alone right now in its intended mission as the rest of the world watches in horror as women and children get slaughtered along with Hamas militants.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have reportedly inflicted a lot of collateral damage in Gaza, claiming that large-scale bombings of residential areas are necessary to root out Hamas militants who are allegedly hiding in homes, hospitals, libraries and other areas where civilians live and go about their lives.

One former Israeli national security adviser has spoken out against Israel's plan for Gaza, calling it "vague." French President Emmanuel Macron is also skeptical about what Israel is doing, and has urged the Jewish state to reveal in-depth what its endgame is for Gaza.

"I think that we have reached a moment when the Israeli authorities will have to define more clearly what their final objective is," Macron said. "The total destruction of Hamas? Does anybody think that's possible? If it's that, the war will last 10 years."

First created in 1987 by the then-government of Israel itself, Hamas, which means "to do violence" in Hebrew, has survived repeated attempts by Israel's post-1987 governments to take it down. This is not a surprise when considering that Hamas was designed to absorb such contingencies.

The other problem Israel faces is the threat of Hamas growing even more powerful through the radicalization of more Palestinians. As Israel continues its crusade in Gaza, the death toll is mounting and many people are angry, including Palestinians whose family members are dying at the hands of IDF.

As Palestinian anger reaches a boiling point, Israel will face increasing radicalization from Palestinian civilians who may end up joining Hamas to fight back against Israel.

The ideology backing Hamas stipulates that any form of Israeli control over lands that the Palestinians consider to be theirs must be opposed by force. It is much the same as the ideology of Israel, which is right now attempting to take back by force the lands that Jewish Zionists believe belongs to them in accordance with God's promise to Abraham.

The latest news about Israel's war on Gaza can be found at WWIII.news.

Sources for this article include:

DNYUZ.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
Bird flu has continued to be a global outbreak as of January 2024, with continued infections in multiple countries ranging from the United States and the United Kingdom to France and Japan. The latest avian influenza outbreak in recent years centered across the northern hemisphere. However, 2023 saw the increased presence of the virus in some parts of the southern hemisphere.

In October last year, the first case of the bird-borne disease was detected in the Antarctic region, particularly among the brown skua population on Bird Island off South Georgia. It was followed by mass elephant seal deaths across the region. Before the bird flu virus reached the icy continent, it killed 20,000 sea lions in South America, especially in Chile and Peru.

The southward directional pattern of the avian flu indicates that South America is a viable track or a potential pathway towards Antarctica. The widespread infections are made possible as the bird flu virus also mutated to infect mammals, in addition to only avians as its main hosts. The latest developments surrounding the outbreak shows that even remote parts of the world is susceptible to pathogens.

Global Bird Flu Outbreak

As far as records show, the avian influenza virus is a decades-old pathogen that causes health complications and even death to infected birds and other mammals.

Humans are also vulnerable to a bird flu infection, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 880 cases of humans tested positive with avian influenza A (H5N1) in 23 countries globally from January 2003 to November 2023. Among this figure, 460 cases were fatal, according to the WHO's reported in December 2023.

What makes the current global bird flu outbreak concerning is its transmission from avians to mammals. In the past, infections sometimes include but are not limited to wild animals like bears, seals, foxes, skunks, and farmed mink, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Some stray or domestic animals, including cats and dogs, and zoo animals, such as tigers and leopards, were also infected by bird flu viruses before, the CDC adds.

Also Read: 37,000 Birds on Chicken Farm Slaughtered in Peru to Control Bird Flu Disease Outbreak

South America Bird Flu

The South America bird flu shows the devastating impact of the bird flu outbreak to wildlife across the region, leading to a growing risk that Antarctica could be next.

According to a report earlier this week, a network of avian influenza, called OFFLU, stated that the avian influenza flu led to the deaths of more than 500,000 birds and 50,000 mammals since the disease was detected in South America. Among the dead animals include 262,000 cormorants, 62,000 Peruvian pelicans, 32,000 sea lions, and 4,000 Humboldt penguins.

Due to the growing threat, experts associated with the Australian Antarctic Program have travelled to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic this summer, the report adds. The program's objective is to monitor wildlife and detect potential signs of the bird flu disease, which is caused by a virus belonging to the family Orthomyxoviridae.

Related Article: Bird Flu Reaches Antarctica, Results in Mass Elephant Seal Deaths
Climate change is affecting the natural world in many ways, but some species are more resilient than others. A recent study by the University of Cambridge and the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva in Barcelona reveals an intriguing discovery about butterfly populations in Catalonia, northern Spain.

These butterflies exhibit a superior ability to regulate their body temperature compared to their British counterparts. By basking in the sunshine, they have developed efficient methods to warm their bodies and adapt to varying environmental conditions. However, this adaptation is not without its challenges.

The rising global temperatures due to climate change may put these adept Spanish butterflies at a greater risk of extinction. Their reliance on finding warm microclimates is both a blessing and a curse, showcasing nature's delicate balance.

Temperature Regulation Mastery

Butterflies are ectotherms, meaning they depend on external sources of heat to maintain their body temperature. This is crucial for their survival, as they need to be warm enough to fly, feed, mate, and avoid predators.

Different species of butterflies have different strategies to regulate their body temperature, such as changing their wing posture, color, or location. Some species are more proficient at this than others, depending on their evolutionary history and geographical distribution.

The researchers compared the thermal behavior of two closely related butterfly species: the speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) and the wall brown (Lasiommata megera).

These species are found in both the UK and Spain, but they have diverged in their thermal preferences and adaptations.

The researchers measured the body temperature and wing posture of hundreds of butterflies in the field, and also conducted experiments in the laboratory to test their thermal tolerance and performance.

The results showed that the Spanish butterflies of both species were better at regulating their body temperature than their British cousins.

They were able to achieve higher and more stable body temperatures by basking in the sun, using their wings as solar panels.

They also had a higher thermal tolerance, meaning they could withstand higher temperatures without losing their ability to fly. The researchers attributed this to the fact that the Spanish butterflies live in a more variable and unpredictable climate, where they have to cope with both cold and hot conditions.

The British butterflies, on the other hand, live in a more stable and mild climate, where they have less need to adjust their body temperature.

Also Read: Butterflies in Danger: Routine Mosquito Sprays Harm More Than Thought

The British Counterpart's Struggle

The study also revealed that the British butterflies of both species were less adept at regulating their body temperature. Unlike their Spanish relatives who seek warmth, they tended towards heat-avoiding behavior.

They often rested in the shade, or oriented their wings perpendicular to the sun, reducing their exposure to solar radiation. They also had a lower thermal tolerance, meaning they could not cope with high temperatures as well as the Spanish butterflies.

The researchers suggested that this was because the British butterflies have evolved to avoid overheating, as they live in a more humid and cloudy environment, where the risk of dehydration is higher.

However, this natural instinct puts them at a disadvantage amidst global warming trends, where adaptability is key for survival.

The researchers predicted that the British butterflies would face more challenges in the future, as they would have to cope with higher and more variable temperatures, as well as changes in their habitat and food availability.

They also warned that the Spanish butterflies, despite their superior thermal regulation skills, would not be immune to the effects of climate change.

They argued that the Spanish butterflies may have reached their limit of adaptation, and that further increases in temperature may push them beyond their thermal threshold, leading to population declines or extinctions.

The study underscores an urgent need for comprehensive conservation strategies that consider these inherent biological differences among species.

It serves as a reminder that climate change impacts are intricate and multifaceted, requiring nuanced approaches for mitigation and adaptation.

The researchers also highlighted the importance of preserving the diversity and complexity of natural habitats, where microclimates can provide refuge and opportunities for species to cope with changing conditions.

They concluded that the fate of these butterflies, and many other species, depends on how we respond to the global environmental crisis.

Related article: Scientists Trace Butterfly Evolutionary History Using DNA Advances
The latest report showed that 2023 reached the hottest on record based on the data. Climate change, rapid global warming, and El Nino effects have helped with the rise in temperature. Americans had to deal with warmer weather, scorching heat, and wildfires in the US. Wildlife and coral reef systems are also affected by hotter ocean surface temperatures. In Canada, deadly wildfires hit the country, causing evacuations, property damage, and poor air quality.

2023 Confirmed As Hottest on Record

From deadly heatwaves and drought, global temperatures became challenging in 2023. The lack of rainfall exacerbated the problem. Heatwaves can become life-threatening for the following people:

outdoor workers

older adults

children

people with medical conditions

As a result, scientists have been monitoring the global temperatures and effects of climate change. The increasing greenhouse gas emissions have worsened the heat. Warmer temperatures can also cause sea levels to rise and affect animal foraging.

The recent report warned of the alarming temperatures that were felt in 2023. In 2024, researchers explained that global warming can likely worsen with increasing temperatures since the 1970s.

Researchers noted that the planet was 1.48 warmer in 2023 compared to the data in 1850-1900. Human-caused climate change intensified the impacts of heat.

Countries' commitment is essential to reduce the effects of global warming and avoid widespread impacts on humans and the environment. Recently, NWN reported that corals in Florida turned white due to record temperatures in the region. In 2023, Manatee Bay reached 37.8C (100F), which was likened to a hot tub.

The commitment of countries is essential to reduce CO2 emissions. Environment-friendly policies will also contribute to mitigating climate change and global warming.

Furthermore, the emissions can exacerbate extreme weather events, including hurricanes, flooding, drought, and wildfires. It can have widespread impacts, especially for poorer communities.

Improved weather prediction will also forecast and help cities prepare for flooding, heat waves, and extreme drought.

Also Read: Climate Change Causes Frequent Extreme Heat Waves, Forecast Warns

Challenging Heat Weather Preparedness

Challenging weather and warmer temperatures can become more common and deadly during summer. With the El Nino phenomenon, people can likely suffer from life-threatening heatwaves.

As a result, homeowners should keep updated with the latest forecasts and heat advisories. The cooling system will also ease the scorching heat. Limiting any outdoor activities is advisable to avoid prolonged exposure to heatwaves.

At home, homeowners should not leave their children or pets alone inside hot vehicles. Driving sufficient water is also essential to avoid heat-related health risks.

Related Article: Oregon's Cascade Range Forests Suffered From More Fires as Climate Change Intensifies in US

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News
Norway is expected to implement controversial deep-sea mining to improve the collection of metals for green technologies. However, environmentalists warned of the environmental and marine life effects of mining.

According to the IUCN, deep-sea mining can hunt for metal deposits that can have widespread impacts on many marine species. The extraction of mineral deposits can cause noise pollution and destroy the habitats of many animals.

The biodiversity and life underwater will be significantly affected as companies try to excavate moderate deposits in the deep sea for batteries, solar panels, and other green technologies.

In Norway, the report showed that the country is expected to allow part of its national waters for commercial deep-sea mining, reaching about 280,000 sq km (108,000 sq miles).

Environment Problems and Deep-Sea Mining Plans

The IUCN warned of the potential effects of deep-sea mining including the following:

Decreased reproduction

Seafood contamination

Carbon transport

Respiratory distress

Reduced feeding

Pollution

Sediment plumes

Seafloor disturbance

In the plan, Noway explained that studies will be conducted before authorities license mining companies with environmental standards. Underwater can be rich in mineral deposits, including lithium, cobalt, and scandium.

Before companies conduct the mining activities and are given a license, the report said they need to submit proposals, including where to drill.

However, experts warned that controversial deep-sea mining could have a devastating impact with costly environmental damage. Many unique wildlife underwater suffer from the consequences of mining.

Recently, over 100 European politicians sent an open letter to the government to stop the decision to deep mining. About 800 global marine scientists from 44 countries wrote about the potential risks of mining.

The scientists warned that it could only add to the ocean stressors, causing an alarming and irreversible loss of ecology and biodiversity. It can cause behavioral and physiological stress to marine animals in the deep sea.

In addition, experts advised that there is a need for rigorous scientific knowledge about deep-sea ecosystems. The report added that little is known about the deep sea, and the decision can have widespread aftermath and risk, which is likely extremely difficult to extract.

Also Read: Record Temperatures in Florida Threaten Corals' Health, Survival As Colorful Reefs Turn White

More About Deep-Sea Mining: The Threat to Marine Ecosystem

The areas underwater in the Pacific Ocean are rich in minerals and wildlife, from manganese, cobalt, and other deposits needed for green technologies. A recent article pointed out the growing interest in the said activity is due to reduced emissions.

However, the studies showed the large-scale aftermath of deep sea mining as rising temperatures and climate change already threaten seas.

Related Article: Gene-Editing Helps To Protect Wheat From Extreme Weather, Climate Change, New Report Shows

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News
Moose in Canada have been observed by both drivers and local authorities to be engaging in an unusual salt-seeking activity: licking cars and salted roads. As a result, Canadian Park officials issued a warning for motorists to keep driving when a moose approaches their vehicle. This move is expected to discourage the salt-seeking animals from going to dangerous highways where they can be injured or killed.

This bizarre yet common behavior of moose licking cars has occurred in Canada in previous years. However, the current North American winter season saw the return of this phenomenon as the animals attempt to replenish their high salt intake for bodily functions. Experts point out that animals require some salt to survive and for extra minerals like sodium, which is essential to the central nervous system.

Moose Lick Cars

Since Canadian winter since December has blanketed some of the landscape with snow and ice, the availability of salt. Unlike the winter months, summer provides animals like moose access to salt, including from greenery and plants. With this, the large mammal herbivores are drawn to salt applied to roads to de-ice this infrastructure during the winter.

Based on reports over the weekend, Parks Canada announced to try not to let moose lick cars, as this is the time of the year when the wild animal risks its life just to find salt along highways to feed their high salt intake.

According to the country's national parks agency, moose are trekking highways to lick salt off roads and passing vehicles. While the phenomenon seems not a big deal, researchers from the parks agency assert that the increased presence of moose also means increased vehicle collisions.

This is the case every winter in Canada, where the wildlife agency issues warnings as wild moose venture to roads and highways to satisfy their salt intake.

Also Read: Moose Drool Undermines Toxic Fungus in Plants

Moose Population Conservation

While there is definitely a correlation between weather and salt, the struggle of moose during the cold months saw the real-time effect of the North American winter season and the potential need for alternative options to ensure the protection and survival of moose.

The moose population is of conservational significance in Alaska and Canada, where the risk of moose-vehicle collisions is a growing concern. In a 2022 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, scientists confirm that most collisions occur during the winter, especially at a time when an area is dark and covered by deep snow.

Moose are the largest animal species of the deer family. They can be found in the northern parts of the United States, from Maine to Washington state, and across Canada and into Alaska. These hoofed animals are limited to cold climates and are vulnerable to predators such as bears and wolves, as well as parasitic brain worms, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Related Article: More Moose On The Move As They Invade Warmer Alaskan Tundra
A recent study stated that the fossils discovered in Barro Colorado Island (BCI) suggested that the central Panama was once home to a vast mangrove forest.

Experts said that the forest was preserved when a volcanic mudflow buried it 23 million years ago.

Volcanic Activity

Researchers first discovered the fossils in 2018 when they had a geological expedition across BCI.

They described the remains of an Early Miocene mangrove forest, based on a fossil wood assemblage, discovered in Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

Sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis suggested that the fossil trees grew in marginal marine to coastal fluvial settings and were buried under a volcanic lahar flow in a single event.

Further, radiometric analyses of a tuff associated with the fossils gave a date indicating an assignment to the Aquitanian stage of Early Miocene.

During this time, central Panama was part of a long and narrow peninsula with intense volcanic activity that connected it with North America and was separated from South America by the Central American Seaway.

Researchers said that a total of 121 fossil wood specimens have been located.

''Wood anatomy indicates that most of the identifiable specimens belonged to the same morphotype, which has anatomical traits similar to Sonneratia (Lythraceae), a mangrove tree that is native to Southeast Asia,'' the study said.

Experts named this morphotype as a new fossil species: Sonneratioxylon barrocoloradoensis Perez-Lara., sp. nov. Biomechanical estimates indicated that S. barrocoloradoensis had a mean tree height of 25 m with some specimens reaching 40 m, in contrast to modern Sonneratia and other extant mangrove forests, which generally have lower mean heights.

The dominance of S. barrocoloradoensis, its similarity to Sonneratia, and the depositional setting suggested that the fossil wood assemblage on Barro Colorado Island comprised a mangrove forest growing along the coast of the volcanic chain of central Panama.

Read Also: Mangrove in the Desert: Thriving Effort to Combat Climate Change

Most Intensively Studied Tropical Forest

According to the study, BCI is the top of a hill that became an artificial island when its surroundings were flooded during the creation of the Panama Canal.

Since 1923, this island has been a research station, now the most intensively studied tropical forest in the world.

Experts said that the BCI forest is a tropical moist deciduous forest, with a mean annual temperature of 27 C, a mean annual precipitation of 2581 mmyr- 1 mm, and an elevation of 120-160 m above sea level.

They bared that during a 2018 geological exploration of BCI, some scientists found abundant fossil wood in one of BCI streams (named here "Shannon Stream", as it runs parallel to the Shannon trail).

Researchers said that these remains were subsequently looked into as they have reported in the study.

They said that the fossil forest could give a window into the initial stage of BCI soon after its emergence from the ocean during the early Miocene, a warm period with a mean annual temperature  2 Celsius warmer than today and CO2 levels above 500 ppm.

The first widespread pulse of terrestrial landscape development in Central Panama occurred during the early Miocene because of the tectonic collision between South America and the southern end of the Caribbean plate.

Related Article: Ancient Mangrove Ecosystem "Trapped in Time" in the Heart of the Yucatan Peninsula
Norway may become the first country in the world to pursue deep-sea mining after its parliament votes to open its waters to exploration, alarming experts and environmental groups.

Exploration of Deep-sea

The proposal, which was approved by Norway's parliament by a vote of 80-20 after receiving cross-party support, is anticipated to accelerate the exploration of minerals, particularly precious metals, that are in high demand for green technologies.

While the decision will initially apply to Norwegian seas, it would open up an area larger than Britain-280,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles)-to future mining by firms seeking licenses to mine minerals such as lithium, scandium, and cobalt.

It is expected that an agreement on deep-sea mining in international waters will be reached later this year.

The deep ocean, one of the world's few undisturbed habitats, has long been sought after for its immense trove of resources, including copper, cobalt, zinc, and gold, which are required for the green economy and utilized in everything from wind turbines to electric vehicle batteries.

Last year, Norwegian research discovered a "substantial" number of metals and minerals on the seabed of the country's broad continental shelf.

Deep-sea mining proponents say that collecting these raw materials from beneath the ocean will allow for a faster transition to a low-carbon economy and may be less environmentally damaging than terrestrial mining.

The Norwegian government will not allow businesses to begin drilling right away. They will have to submit plans for a license, including environmental studies, which will then be approved by parliament on a case-by-case basis.

The chair of the Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, Marianne Sivertsen Naess, said that the government was taking a "precautionary approach to mineral activities."

Walter Sognnes, co-founder of the Norwegian mining business Loke Minerals, which aims to seek a license, acknowledged that further research into the deep ocean is needed before mining can commence.

"We will have a relatively long period of exploration and mapping activity to close the knowledge gap on the environmental impact," he said.

Read Also: Deep-Sea Mining Poses Serious Threat to Marine Ecosystems, Canada Warns

Impact on Ecosystem

Scientists claimed that very little is known about the depths of the world's oceans, only a small portion of which have been investigated by humans, and many are concerned about the effects on these ecosystems, which have already been impacted by pollution, trawling, and the climate crisis.

"We do not know what we risk losing for the exact reason that we do not know what the deep sea holds," said Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway.

Other countries have recommended caution, including the United Kingdom, which expressed its support for a moratorium on deep sea mining last year.

More than 100 European politicians signed an open letter to the Norwegian parliament in November, urging them to vote against deep-sea mining.

The letter mentioned the dangers to marine life as well as the possibility of hastening climate change by disrupting the carbon locked up in the sea floor.

Another open letter, signed by over 800 scientists from all across the world, has urged for a halt to deep sea mining, claiming that it risks suffering losses "that would be irreversible on multi-generational timescales."

Related Article: Environmental Scientists Warned of Environment Problems Due to Norway's Deep Sea Mining Plans
The National Weather Service reported that a recent storm system, which spanned from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, brought severe weather conditions such as high winds, blizzards, tornadoes, and flooding.

The storm claimed at least three lives and left more than 300,000 people without power. The storm also disrupted transportation, communication, and infrastructure.

As the United States reels from the impact of the deadly storms that left hundreds of thousands without power and caused widespread damage, some brave souls are not letting the harsh weather stop them from helping others.

In Iowa City, Iowa, a group of cyclists have been delivering food, water, and medicine to those in need, despite the snow, wind, and cold.

Pedaling Through the Snow

Cyclists are navigating a snow-covered sidewalk in Iowa City, Iowa. They are dressed warmly, with helmets on their heads and backpacks on their backs.

They are part of a volunteer network that has been using bicycles to transport essential supplies to people who are stranded or isolated by the storm.

The volunteers said that they were motivated by the news of the storm's devastation and their own skills and resources. They said that they faced many challenges and risks, but they also felt a sense of satisfaction and gratitude.

They said that they delivered items such as canned food, bottled water, blankets, flashlights, batteries, and first-aid kits. They said that they also checked on the elderly and the sick, and called for emergency services if needed.

They tried to cover as much ground as they could, but they also had to be careful not to overexert themselves or get injured. They said that they looked out for each other, too.

Also Read: U.S. Weather Forecast: Coastal Storm Possible This Weekend Until Next Week

A Community United By Adversity

The cyclists are not the only ones who are showing resilience and solidarity in the face of the storm. Across the country, communities have been coming together to support each other and cope with the crisis.

Neighbors have been sharing resources, clearing debris, and offering shelter. Strangers have been donating money, goods, and services. Organizations have been mobilizing volunteers, resources, and relief efforts.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that it was working closely with state and local authorities to provide assistance and coordinate response.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said that the agency deployed personnel, equipment, and supplies to the affected areas. She also urged the public to follow the guidance of local officials and stay safe. She said that the situation was dangerous and dynamic, and that the agency was doing everything it could to help.

The storm is expected to weaken and move away from the region by Thursday, but the recovery process will take much longer.

The cyclists in Iowa City said that they would continue to pedal through the snow until the situation improved. They said that they were not heroes, but just ordinary people doing what they could. They said that they were all in this together.

Related article: US Weather Forecast: Heavy Rain, Flooding Expected from Southern Plains to Ohio Valley [NWS]
Advancing freedom of religion has been a core objective of U.S. foreign policy since the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 was signed into law. As part of that commitment, Secretary of State Antony Blinken this year re-designated Burma, the Peoples Republic of China, Cuba, the DPRK, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern. These countries have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

This year, Azerbaijan was added to the list of Special Watch Countries. It joins Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.

Azerbaijans designation comes after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom highlighted concerns about the preservation of Christian religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. The takeover by Azerbaijan of the breakaway region in September led nearly the entire population of 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

The commission also expressed concern over regulations on religious practice in the Muslim-majority country under President Ilham Aliyev, including passing restrictive amendments to its religion law, continuing to require and deny official registration to several religious groups, harassing and arresting Shia Muslim religious activists, and refusing to permit conscientious objection.

Secretary Blinken also designated al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS-Sahel, ISIS-West Africa, al-Qaida affiliate Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern.

Significant violations of religious freedom also occur in countries that are not designated, noted Secretary Blinken. He urged these governments to end attacks on members of religious minority communities and their places of worship, communal violence and lengthy imprisonment for peaceful expression, [and] transnational repression. He also cited calls to violence against religious communities, among other violations that occur in too many places around the world.

The challenges to religious freedom across the globe are structural, systemic, and deeply entrenched, said Secretary Blinken. But with thoughtful, sustained commitment from those who are unwilling to accept hatred, intolerance, and persecution as the status quo we will one day see a world where all people live with dignity and equality.
The Australian bushfires of 2023 were one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history, destroying millions of hectares of land and killing or displacing countless animals.

Among the most affected species were the koalas, the iconic marsupials that are already threatened by habitat loss, disease, and climate change.

But despite the odds, some koalas managed to survive the inferno and are now recovering with the help of dedicated veterinarians and wildlife carers.

A new study published in Veterinary Sciences reveals the health risks that these koalas face after the bushfires and how they can be treated and released back into the wild.

The Hidden Dangers of Burns and Smoke Inhalation

One of the main challenges that koalas face after the bushfires is the damage caused by burns and smoke inhalation. According to the study, led by Natasha Speight, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide's School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, koalas suffer from severe footpad burns that impair their ability to climb trees and escape from predators.

The study also found that koalas have a high risk of lung damage due to smoke inhalation, which can lead to respiratory infections and chronic diseases. These conditions can affect the koalas' quality of life and reduce their chances of survival in the wild.

To assess the extent of the injuries and the prognosis of the koalas, the researchers used a scoring system based on the degree of burns on the skin and the footpads, as well as the presence of signs of lung damage.

They found that koalas with higher scores had lower survival rates and longer recovery times.

The Hope for a Better Future

The findings of the study are not only alarming, but also informative for improving koala care during future fire seasons.

The researchers suggest that veterinarians should use the scoring system to prioritize the treatment of koalas with lower scores, as they have a higher chance of recovery and release.

They also recommend that koalas with signs of lung damage should receive antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs to prevent infections and complications.

The study also highlights the need for more research on the long-term effects of the bushfires on the koalas' health and population dynamics. The researchers hope that their work will contribute to the conservation of these vulnerable animals and their habitats.

The koalas that survived the bushfires have shown remarkable resilience and adaptability.

They have also received an outpouring of support and sympathy from people around the world, who have donated money, supplies, and time to help them.

With the help of science and compassion, these koalas may have a chance to thrive again in their natural environment.

Also Read: The Australian Government Encourages People To Help Save Koalas, Which Are on the Verge of Extinction

How You Can Help

If you want to make a difference for these amazing creatures, there are several ways you can contribute to koala conservation initiatives and make a positive impact:

Symbolically adopt a koala: By adopting a koala, you can support organizations that are actively involved in protecting and rehabilitating them.

Use your backyard: Find out if koalas live near you by using [My Backyard], an online tool developed by Wildlife Warriors. You can report any sightings or threats you encounter, and help them track their numbers across Australia.

Donate money or supplies: You can donate money or supplies to Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, which provides treatment for up to 800 sick and injured koalas every year. You can also donate money or supplies to Australian Koala Foundation, which maps and ranks habitats for koalas using GIS technology, and monitors national population trends using Bob's Map.

Spread awareness: You can spread awareness about koala conservation by sharing this article with your friends, family, or social media followers. You can also learn more about koala facts from National Geographic, or read about a new biobank project that could help save Australian mammals from extinction

Related Article: Stressed Out: Koalas Can't Bear Humans
According to a tweet published by the Singapore Mindef on January 9, 2024, the Singapore Armed Forces have joined the international Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Officiers and sailors of the Republic of Singapore Navy. (Picture source: Singapore Mindef)

This decision comes in response to a series of unlawful attacks by Yemen-based Houthi forces on merchant ships, including the Singapore-flagged vessel MAERSK HANGZHOU.

Since January 9, 2024, Houthi forces have targeted approximately 20 merchant ships in the Red Sea using missiles and drones. These incidents have escalated business costs significantly, prompting rerouting of ships around southern Africa to avoid the risky Red Sea waters. Consequently, there has been about a one-third reduction in the number of vessels passing through the strategically crucial Bab el Mandeb Strait in recent weeks.

As part of the collaborative international effort to maintain the openness and safety of the Red Sea, Singapore has pledged its support to Operation Prosperity Guardian. This operation falls under the umbrella of the Combined Task Force 153, one of the five task forces of the 39-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).

The Singapore Armed Forces' involvement in this mission showcases the nation's commitment to international maritime security and its role in combating threats to critical global trade routes.

Navy Recognition comments

It is particularly worrying that, at present, only Western countries have decided to send ships. Moreover, Singapore and Bahrain, the only two non-Western countries, have sent men rather than ships.

While it's understandable that some countries don't want to be associated with the United States because of the conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip, or the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, we must remember that maritime security concerns the supply of all the world's countries. Indeed, the Red Sea is a main route for the movement of goods and ships, and we cannot allow a non-state group to threaten the whole world.
(PW), the largest educational platform in Bharat, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ETS India, a subsidiary of the US-based ETS, the world's largest private organization for educational assessment, research, and measurement. The collaboration aims to offer comprehensive guidance and assistance to students who aspire to pursue their education in renowned international universities. Additionally, it will assist them in preparing for theThrough this partnership, PW intends to enhance and organize the study abroad sector with the introduction of its new division named 'PW Unigo', focusing primarily on tier II and tier III cities. This initiative aims to address the existing gap in the market where students frequently struggle to identify the proper resources to pursue their aspirations due to a lack of awareness and mentorship. PW Unigo will serve as a comprehensive and integrated service provider for individuals aspiring to study abroad, offering end-to-end support.As part of this collaboration, students will be provided free one-on-one counseling sessions, and will have access to a seamless registration process, and augmented learning support, including practice tests, and informational webinars with international universities, among other resources. Apart from this, merit scholarships worth Rs 20 lakh per annum will be given for students taking TOEFL and GRE exams, in addition to discounts of up to Rs 5,000 on test fees for students.Furthermore, educators will also undergo specialized training sessions to equip them with the tools and knowledge needed to help students prepare for globally recognized assessments, such as the TOEFL and GRE. Gaurav Gularia, PW Spokesperson, said, "Our collaboration with ETS India is a transformative step forward in our mission to empower students and create a global platform for those who lack access to world-class education. Whether within our nation's borders or across international horizons, this demonstrates a commitment to elevating students' aspirations and helping them pursue their dreams. We believe that every student deserves the right guidance and we aim to open new global opportunities for the academic excellence of students".Speaking on the collaboration, Sachin Jain, Country Manager, ETS India & South Asia, said, "This collaboration will provide aspirants with enhanced GRE and TOEFL test prep resources to elevate their international higher education prospects . We are excited to develop future leaders from India by facilitating their international higher education and global career dreams through Physics Wallahs test preparation expertise and reach. We are dedicated to delivering accessible, first-rate educational tools to study abroad aspirants".
Let me start by saying its widely known that data centers benefit from being highly automated. Automated scripts can complete whatever task they are given much faster than a human and do it consistently, with fewer errors.

The data center network is the connecting fabric of all the workloads in a data center. Initially, network switches received extensive functionality to give them as much intelligence as possible, but todays networking requirements have moved beyond what a box-by-box configuration solution can offer.

Deploying spine/leaf networks involves quite a bit of complexity. At the top of every data center rack is a pair of switches. The top of rack switch pairs need to be configured to support bonded connections from workload infrastructure. VSX, a switch virtualization technology developed by HPE Aruba Networking, virtualizes the two switches into a single layer 2 device. This allows for server or storage arrays to have a single connection to each switch in the top of rack pair. In a 12-rack data center, that would require configuring 24 different switches from the command line. Sounds like low hanging fruit for automation.

Aruba

Upon finishing the top of rack switch configuration, the next task will be using OSPF to build the underlay network. This makes each switchs loopback, or internal IP address, reachable from all others. If data center operators have deployed VMware NSX, or you are designing for AI workloads, that would be the end of it. If not, and layer 2 extension over layer 3 is required, then there is lots more to do. The overlay network will need to be configured to build VXLAN tunnels.

Multiprotocol BGP is used with EVPN which enables automatic tunnel instantiation between matching Virtual Network Identifiers or VNIs. VNIs are mapped to Layer 2 VLANs and when the VXLAN tunnels are established, every device on a matching VLAN will have access to each other. Additionally, symmetrical integrated route bridge (IRB) will also need to be configured if you want inter-VLAN communication.

This sounds like a lot of things to keep track of, but we are not finished yet! There is also Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Domain Naming Services (DNS).

Did I mention deploying security across all this yet?

I think by now the picture is starting to solidify. This whole process needs to be automated. No single network device can complete this task on its own. It will take several different solutions, linked together, just like the applications in a CI/CD pipeline. A system that is fully automated and programmable and scalable.

Aruba

In this blog series, I will discuss in detail, all the elements of the HPE Aruba Networking data center solution, consisting of the HPE Aruba Networking CX 10000 Switch Series, HPE Aruba Fabric Composer, and third-party, built-in integrations like AMD Pensando and VMware vSphere, to name a few.

Next up will be a review of the CX 10000 switch and its capabilities. The CX 10000 is a true fourth-generation, layer 3 switch. What makes it fourth generation is it has two programmable P4 chips on the motherboard, each with 400G bandwidth to the Trident chipset.

Who wouldnt want 800G of STATEFUL firewall in every top of rack switch, and a convenient way to push policy to them?

More on that in the next chapter! Stay tuned!

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When I visited Mono Lake, the place came alive for me when I read the two chapters from the book (Chapters 38 & 39) that refer to it. Aptly described as the loneliest place on earth, Mono Lake, which is sometimes called the Dead Sea of California, might well have been forgotten by the world, if not for Mark Twains hilarious description of it: The lake is two hundred feet deep, and its sluggish waters are so strong with alkali, that if you dip the most hopelessly soiled garment into them once or twice, and wring it out, it will be found as clean as if it had been through the ablest of washerwomans hands.
He added: Nepal has a burgeoning film industry, and this is an opportunity for us to bridge Nepal and the US. Its an honour for us to be working with a luminary like Bruce. This is a film about longing for a homeland that no longer exists. The Worlds Happiest Man is shooting on location in Akron, Ohio and surrounding towns.


Keep temple replicas in malls, or face action

Indore mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava has said that people of the city will reply those malls-restaurants not willing to install temple replicas in their premises. ... If replica of Christmas trees and Santa Claus can be displayed every year from December 25, then I dont think anyone shouldve any objections to putting replicas of Ram temple also. But still if anyone without any reason or doesnt co-operate, I think people of Indore know to respond, he said.
Later, he was taken as a Prisoner of War along with his men. He was repatriated to India the next year and served with his unit again. As part of the operational plans, they were assigned to evict the Chinese from Thagla Ridge. It was on October 19-20 morning, the Chinese started heavy artillery fire towards AJS Behls post. As per history accounts, shortly after midnight, the officer lost communication with even supply depot.
ELKO  In a night filled with celebration and appreciation, the Elko County Realtors Association gathered to honor outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to the real estate community and beyond.

The 2023 awards for Realtor of the Year, Affiliate of the Year and Good Neighbor were presented to Vicky Blair, Renee Jones, and Becky Mecham, respectively.

Vicky Blair: Realtor of the Year

Vicky Blairs leadership and dedication to the Elko County Realtors Association have not gone unnoticed. As the recipient of the prestigious Realtor of the Year award, Blair has been a guiding force in propelling the association to new heights. Serving as the president in 2023 and previously in 1998, her commitment to the industry has been striving.

Blairs exceptional work has been instrumental in advancing the association within our local real estate industry. Her strategic vision, coupled with a hands-on approach, has helped the organization thrive in a dynamic environment. The recognition as Realtor of the Year is a testament to Blairs outstanding leadership and impact on the Elko County Realtors Association.

Renee Jones: Affiliate of the Year Award

Renee Jones, representing WFG Title Insurance Company, earned the esteemed title of Affiliate of the Year. Jones has proven to be an invaluable asset to the association, consistently providing exceptional support. Her contributions have significantly contributed to the success of the Elko County Realtors Association.

As a professional in the title insurance industry, Jones has demonstrated excellence in her field, making a lasting impact on the real estate community. The Affiliate of the Year award is a well-deserved recognition of her dedication and positive influence on the Elko County Realtors Association.

Becky Mecham: Good Neighbor Award

Beyond her being a great real estate agent, Becky Mecham has been recognized as the 2023 Good Neighbor. Mechams extraordinary impact on the community goes beyond the call of duty. She has consistently gone out of her way to assist those in need, embodying the spirit of a good neighbor.

Mechams selfless acts of kindness have left a lasting impression on the communities she serves. Whether its providing a helping hand or supporting local initiatives, Mechams commitment to making a positive difference is truly commendable. The Good Neighbor Award is a reflection of Mechams outstanding contributions to the well-being of the community.

The Elko County Realtors Association proudly celebrates the accomplishments of Vicky Blair, Renee Jones, and Becky Mecham. Their dedication, leadership, and community-minded approach have left an indelible mark on the association and the people they serve. As we look forward to the future, their exemplary contributions will undoubtedly continue to inspire and shape the Elko County real estate community.
"The governor has asked the chief secretary, home secretary, and DGP to brief him about the proceedings on the ration scam. He will also ask them to give them details about the development in arresting the accused TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh," he told PTI.
"We don't buy her theory. Further investigation will reveal the motive behind killing the child. As of now, we know that she and her husband were estranged because of which she might have done this," a senior police official said.
What do Indian diplomats do in Pak?

Former diplomat Ajay Bisarias book titled Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship Between India and Pakistan is a long answer to a short question: what do Indian diplomats do in Pakistan? It traces the history of India-Pakistan relations through the eyes of the primary protagonist who is the Indian diplomat in Pakistan, Bisaria says adding the book tells the entire story of the relationship from that perspective.
All the members of Maha Vikas Aghadi came out of the meeting smiling. We agreed on most points. I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together. We have no qualms about seat sharing, said Raut. The AICC in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala said the seats would be announced within days. There is no disagreement among the parties. Maharashtra will be the first state to announce the seat-sharing arrangement, he said.
Haji Siddiqui Mollah, chief of TMC-dominated panchayat in Sandeshkhali, said he doesnt believe that Shahjahan fled from the area. He is very much in the area and overseeing partys affairs because the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held this year. Shahjahan is not a person who will get scared and flee. But I have no idea where he is. Had I been aware of it, I would have been with him, he said.
He further added that todays India is indeed the best time for the young generation to enter the economy, to innovate and to provide ease of living and ease of earning to 100s of millions of people. The coming generations will be thankful to the Prime Minister for being both a nationalist and an internationalist. You have laid a solid foundation for Viksit Bharat.
Undertook a historic journey to Madinah, one of the holiest cities of Islam. Included a visit to the periphery of the revered Prophets mosque, Al Masjid Al Nabwi; the mountain of Uhud, and periphery of the Quba Mosque, the first mosque of Islam. The significance of the visit to these sites, courtesy Saudi officials, underscores the depth of our cultural and spiritual engagement, said Irani.
"Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain," Ramesh said in a statement.
The case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Lalu Prasads family when he was the railway minister between 2004 and 2009. According to the ED, it is alleged that from 2004 to 2009, several people were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways, and in return, these people transferred their land to the family members of the then railway minister Lalu Prasad and a linked company named AK Infosystems Private Limited, in which Katyal held the post of director.
When it came to Shiv Sena's leadership structure, Narwekar said that the two factions have different points of view on the leadership and added: "I find that the leadership structure as reflected in the February 2018 letter is relevant and to be taken into account to determine which faction is the real political party. Shiv Sena's constitution is relevant to the extent of identifying relevant leadership structures. I have concluded that the emergence of two factions can be inferred from June 21, 2022, and the same came to be as a matter of official record of the legislature secretariat on June 22, 2022."
ELKO  Elko Institute for Academic Achievement charter schools remodeling of the former Barrick Gold Corp. office building is expected to be finished this spring, but classes probably wont begin there until the 2024-2025 school year.

We are excited to finally have a facility of our own and the opportunity to give additional students school choice, said the charter schools principal, Ashley Perkins.

She said more than likely we will wait until the new school year to start classes at the new site. She said furniture and equipment from the current location on Railroad Street will need to be relocated, and April is a bad time to move because it is test time.

Perkins said her team had earlier hoped to have the school ready for occupancy this winter.

April 15 is the contracted completion date, but that is contingent on any other change orders, said Vice Principal Lori Lynch, who said in an email the framing and insulation is complete, and they are hanging drywall now.

The schools contractor for converting the office building into a school for kindergarten through eighth grade students is MGM Construction, which started work in July. MGMs contract was for $5.73 million. Odyssey Partners is the construction manager.

It will be a massive upgrade for the kids, Brent Pace, chief executive officer of Salt Lake City-based Odyssey, said on Tuesday. There will be lots of light, and we were able to create plenty of queuing and parking space. That was the biggest win.

Parents dropping off and picking up students will be able to turn off Main Street to an access road that will take them to the west side of the building, and they can then continue through the parking lot to exit, he said. He described it as a counterclockwise motion.

Enrollment to increase

When school does begin, there will be additional classes added for fifth through eighth grades, meaning an additional 22 seats per grade, said Perkins, who is looking for teachers for fourth and fifth grades. She said she already hired two more teachers for junior high. There are 16 teachers this school year.

Enrollment at the new school can be as high as 396 students, and Perkins is expecting to reach that enrollment. Currently, there are 308 students in classes at the charter school who are being taught in two locations  the leased facility at 1031 Railroad St. and at the Elko Boys and Girls Club. The higher grades are at the Boys and Girls Club.

Before this school year, the charter schools enrollment was 196, and there was always a waiting list. There still is one, although Perkins said in a phone interview the school still must use a lottery system for new students.

The school is public and free to students.

Along with the increased enrollment for the current school year, the charter school also adopted a four-day schedule to be compatible with the Elko County School Districts conversion of the Elko and Spring Creek schools to four-day weeks. ECSDs schools throughout the county are now on four-day schedules.

We will do it again next year, Perkins said of the four-day weeks.

The location

The charter school purchased the 32,000-square-foot former Barrick building at 905 W. Main St. from Geothermal Industrial Park LLC for $2.4 million in late December 2022 after bids for planned construction of a new school building near Peace Park came in too high.

Perkins said the school still has the 9.33 acres for sale at Ruby Vista Drive and College Parkway near Peace Park that was to be the site of a new school.

She said there havent been any offers, but people are looking.

After the plan to build a new facility fell through, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development gave the charter school approval to use the $8.1 million, 40-year construction loan already designated for school construction for the Barrick building project.

Barrick built the office building in 2007, but stopped using it when Barrick and Newmont Corp. formed the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture in late 2019. NGM uses the former Newmont office building on Idaho Street as its headquarters.

Lynch said by phone the contractor totally gutted the Barrick building, although a few things could be saved  one elevator, the restrooms and three stairwells. We saved what we could.

Pace said the Barrick buildings exterior is in excellent condition, but the exterior will have new signage and spot color so it looks like a school.

The charter school also had to put in a median at Silver and Main streets to meet city requirements, and that intersection was finished in 2023.

Lynch said the school will use a $514,000 grant from the Pennington Foundation for new furniture for the new location.

The charter school raised money for the school project in addition to the USDA loan, and fundraising efforts arent over.

We need to raise enough money to buy the property behind the building, said Perkins, who reported that project is down the road.

The 3 acres would be used for a playground and for a multi-purpose room that could be used as a gym and large lunchroom, according to Perkins, who said the land is owned by Canyon Construction but there is no price tag on the property at this point.

Major contributors to the charter school remodeling project included Elko County, the city of Elko, Nevada Gold Mines, Elko Federal Credit Union and many other business and individual donors.
In the statement they said, "Tourism stands as the lifeblood of the Maldives, contributing over two-thirds of our GDP and providing livelihoods to approximately 44,000 Maldivians who work in the sector. The potential adverse impact on tourism holds the power to unleash severe repercussions on our economy, affecting the lives and well-being of many."
The Congress criticised the state government for creating hurdles. It claimed the yatra has nothing to do with politics. The Congress Manipur unit had applied to the chief secretary a week ago seeking permission for the yatra. Today, they are saying they cannot give the sanction and our application has gone to Delhi for approval. Is it the duty of the central government to give approval to a political party programme? Congress general secretary KC Venugopal asked in Guwahati.
According to sources, the new Indo-French agreement may not be an expansion of the existing facility at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. It may be a greenfield plant in a state that does not already have a nuclear power unit. The Union government has already announced that it is looking at setting up new nuclear power plants in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The roadshow began from the airport and lasted 15 minutes, till the two leaders reached Indira Bridge in Ahmedabad City in a car, covering a distance of 3 km. A large number of people had gathered on both sides of the road to greet them, and the two leaders waved at them from the car. All through the route, banners were erected to welcome the UAE president.
Raja said his party would ensure that the opposition INDIA bloc emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha election and protect democracy and Constitution. On JD (U)s allegations that the Opposition bloc was not moving ahead on various issues, including seat-sharing as it should have, he said that the work in INDIA was progressing well and that there would not be any hurdle in it.
Megachandra said, "We met Chief Minister N Biren Singh and sought permission for the venue of 'Bharat Joro Nyay Yatra' at Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal East district from where the rally is scheduled to be flagged off. However, the chief minister has declined to permit the same."
The state government believes that if its officials go directly to the investigating agencies without putting it into the notice of their department heads, there are possibilities that the information or the documents being made available by the official may be incomplete or irrelevant. If it happens, it might put adverse effect on the ongoing probe by the probe agency from outside the state and the activities of the state government as well.
Nation

Rift in Punjab Congress comes out in open as Sidhu takes potshot at state leaders

Hitting out at the state party leadership in the rally without naming anyone, Siddhu said: The party without workers is nothing
Sources said the yatra in the state has been going on for the last 40 days and, as per data with the central government, covered 8706 gram panchayats out of the total 13,259 gram panchayats in the state, with 14.98 lakh people participating. 777 gram panchayats were covered in Patiala, followed by 731 in Gurdaspur, 657 in Ludhiana and 616 in Amritsar, as two districts had 100 per cent coverage, 5 districts 80 to 99 per cent coverage and 9 districts 60 to 80 per cent coverage.
With a legal career spanning over 16 years as the standing counsel for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Guptas activism extended far beyond the courtroom. She tirelessly championed various social causes, offering pro bono legal aid to juvenile offenders, participating in legal aid camps for the underprivileged, and assisting the less fortunate with their legal issues. Her commitment also extended to representing the NHRC in numerous cases, including those in the highest courts of India, addressing critical matters like private school issues and challenges to the Right to Education Act.
The warm drier weather of late December, that caused the snowpack to diminish has given way to a series of January snowstorms that have replenished it.

So far, the snowpack is gone from about 70% of the long-term median in terms of water content to around 100% of the long-term median in most basins in Nevada.

The two outliers to this are southern Nevada basins and the eastern Nevada basins in the Ely area that are at 38% and 72%, respectively. With more snow in the forecast, expect the snowpack to continue to grow, though, not as much in the Ely area and probably not at all in Southern Nevada.

Air temperatures have also dropped, which should help with the ice formation on area lakes, though the wind has wreaked some havoc at South Fork, where open water still exists on the east side of the lake. Expect ice conditions at Wildhorse to have improved, though there will be patchy snow on the ice along with some drifting due to the winds.

Anglers should pay close attention to weather forecasts before venturing out, as the high winds combined with the snow have made driving treacherous in many areas of Northern Nevada. Be sure to leave a trip plan with a responsible party that includes the three Ws:

Who is going. This should include phone numbers of all involved as well as phone numbers of close contacts and a description of the vehicles that will be traveling. It is easier to find a vehicle than a person. Where you are going. Be specific about location. Dont say Ruby Mountains, when you are planning on fishing Lamoille Creek. A mountain range is a heck of a lot of territory to cover, while a canyon narrows down the search. When you will return. Again, be specific. We will be back at 6 p.m. today. Make sure that you return by that time or contact the party you left the trip plan with by that time to let them know you are OK.

With a good trip plan in place, if you havent returned by the specified time, the person responsible should notify the appropriate authorities for the area to be searched. If a good trip plan is followed, missing parties are generally found within 24 hours of authorities being notified.

Wildhorse

The cold weather has helped the ice growth as it was seven inches of good clear ice on Wednesday. Due to the snow, wind and 40-degree weather on Tuesday, there is a layer of cloudy/slushy ice on top of the good ice, so waterproof boots are a must. With more snow in the forecast expect three layers; snow on top, slush in the middle and ice below.

Very little change in fishing conditions, as anglers continue to report good fishing for quality trout and poor fishing for perch that, when caught, tend to be small.

Ice anglers have been fishing primarily in the Hendrix Arm, though other areas of the lake should also produce fish. Fishing off the rock face on the north side of the Penrod arm is often productive, as is near the submerged island a couple of hundred yards southeast of the state park boat ramp. The island on the southeast side of the lake is also another place to drill a hole.

Anglers should be looking for 8 feet to 15 feet of water and start fishing 3 to 4 feet below the ice. If no fish are contacted move the presentation down a foot about every 30 minutes. If there are multiple anglers, each should fish at a different depth until someone catches a fish and then fish at that depth.

Both PowerBait and worms have been working and the fish seem to be holding 4 to 6 feet below the ice. Small jigs tipped with a piece of worm have also been productive. Other baits that are popular include marshmallows and corn. Another tactic is to take the hooks off a small spinner and put the spinner in line above the bait. With an occasional jigging motion as the bait falls the spinner may attract fish in.

South Fork Reservoir

On Monday, South Fork was approximately 90% covered in unsafe ice, with some open water along Jet Ski Beach for fishing. The warmer temperatures combined with the wind on Tuesday opened up more of the open water along Jet Ski Beach, which should remain open with the forecast winds over the next few days.

Not many anglers are getting out in this weather, but a few anglers reporting smaller fish using rainbow or chartreuse/orange PowerBait. No reports of trout on worms or spinners. Fly fishing was also slow, and while fly rodders were doing well over the holidays with small black/bruised or black/blood leeches and chironomids.

No report on ice thickness along the east side of the lake, though in some of the coves anglers may find ice that is safe to fish on. Just be sure to drill test holes before venturing upon the ice.

Jiggs Reservoir

This lake is mostly covered in unsafe ice and anglers should stay off the ice. With the colder weather forecast this week it may get enough thickness to venture upon. Be sure to drill test holes if you are going onto the ice. If the ice gets safe enough, expect fair to good fishing through the ice for 10- to 12-inch trout.

Wilson Reservoir

No recent reports from here. It probably has some unsafe ice on it now, and with the cold weather it should become completely ice covered if it already hasnt. Chances are the ice that is there is unsafe, so before venturing upon it drill test holes. Expect 4WD conditions with the weather this week and travel is not recommended at this time.

Willow Creek Reservoir

No recent report. Expect it to be ice covered but few catchable sized fish. Not worth the trip.

Ruby Lake NWR

Harrison Pass is closed and anglers should plan on taking Secret Pass to Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge. At last report, the ice in the south marsh was unsafe. The collection ditch does have some ice, but there should be plenty of open water for fishing.

Fishing in the collection ditch has been fair to good for trout averaging 14 to 20 inches, with some fish over 20 inches.

Water clarity and levels continue to be good. Fly anglers have had luck stripping wooly buggers, leeches or small streamers. Chironomids, pheasant tail nymphs and gold ribbed hares ear nymphs have also been working.

Spin fishermen should be using spinners, Kastmasters, panther Martins and other small lures. It is artificial presentations only in the collection ditch, and wading is not allowed there.

Jakes Creek/Boies Reservoir

At last report Jakes Creek Reservoir was covered in unsafe ice. It may be safe after this weeks cold weather, but be sure to drill test holes as you venture upon the ice.

If safe expect fair to good fishing for 10- to 14-inch trout using the usual presentations as used at Wildhorse Reservoir. Worms, PowerBait, corn and marshmallows should all work.

Cold Creek Reservoir

No recent report, but expect it to be mostly covered in unsafe ice.

Cave Lake

Cave Lake is lowered to minimum pool and unfishable. Cave Lake is closed to fishing due to shorelines that are very soft and dangerous due to the complete saturation of the soil. Dam construction is fully underway. Fish stocking will resume once the construction is completed and the lake starts to fill. For more information on Cave Lake, please contact the NDOW Ely Field Office.

Comins Lake

The recent colder weather has helped ice formation here, though there are still areas of unsafe ice on the lake. Ice near the channel between the north and south lakes appears to be in the best shape and was averaging about 5 inches last week and may be better now.

Anglers are strongly encouraged to utilize safety equipment while ice fishing (e.g. ice cleats, picks and bring along a long rope). The south lake is the thinnest ice and test hole should be drilled before venturing upon the ice there.

Trout fishing has slowed and the fish caught were ranging between 14 and 18 inches. Pike fishing has been good for fish ranging from 18 to 30-plus inches. Anglers should do well fishing for trout by using nightcrawlers, spoons, and jigs. Anglers pursuing northern pike will do well on hard and soft plastic baits, as well as flashy spoons and jigs.

Illipah

Illipah Reservoir is ice covered with 5 to 8 inches of ice except near the spillway and the south end. Anglers are being advised to avoid both those areas.

Anglers should fish with caution and use safety equipment. Fishing has been fair to good for 10- to 15-inch fish using nightcrawlers, PowerBait, as well as small jigs and spoons.

Streams

Fishing streams has been slow, and with colder temperatures forecast for the next 10 days should remain slow. Many streams will be 4WD only to get to after this weeks forecast snow storms with high winds causing drifting.

The only area reporting good fishing over the past few weeks was the tailwater below South Fork, but that was primarily in the big pool below the dam. There was good fishing for both large catfish and trout for anglers who fished it.

However, with the colder weather expect some ice formation on the rivers, making reaching the water difficult. With colder water temperatures, presentations need to be slowed down and stretches of stream should be fished much more thoroughly than when warmer as the presentation needs to be put right in front of the fish.

Flows in the East Fork of the Owyhee below Wildhorse Reservoir are above normal for this time of year and very fishable, though there is snow and ice on the rocks, making wading and walking difficult. Access to the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers is through Idaho and, even then, access to the Bruneau is difficult and not recommended.

As of Jan. 10, the East Fork of the Owyhee was flowing at 14.0 cfs below the dam and showing ice at Mountain City; the Jarbidge River at 6.61 cfs; the Bruneau River station showing ice; Salmon Falls Creek at 56.1 cfs; Lamoille Creek at 9.95 cfs; the South Fork of the Humboldt at 20.7 cfs; Cleve Creek station reporting ice; Steptoe Creek at 4.21 cfs; and Kingston Creek at 6.96 cfs.
His party will approach the SC against the ruling, and will also examine if a contempt petition can be filed against the Speaker, Thackeray said. He would request the apex court to give its decision on the case before the elections, he added.
Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, said, There is no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so its vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India. Together we share the same security challenges and are steadfast in our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
In the press release, Raj Bhavan mentioned that the state government had also issued three gazette notifications on different dates and they are not in line with UGC regulations. It also referred to the Madras High Courts judgment last month in a case related to the Puducherry Technological University, which stated that the selection of the V-C through a search committee other than that contemplated under the UGCs 2018 regulation cannot be sustained. The court had asked the Puducherry government and PTU to take immediate measures to carry out amendments to relevant statutory provisions governing the university to bring it in conformity with the 2018 regulations without any delay.
World

A spiritual leader in Nepal known as 'Buddha Boy' arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping

The 33-year-old guru has a devout following but has long been accused of physically and sexually assaulting his followers, and has been hiding from authorities for several years.
Cross-strait tensions tend to rise when the DPP is in office and calm somewhat when the KMT is in power. This isnt because the KMT agrees with Beijing over the status of Taiwan  the party has always been clear that unification could happen only under its own government and never under the leadership of the Communist Party in Beijing. However, the KMT affirms the idea that eventual unification with China is its goal for Taiwan.
World

With over 50 countries going to polls this year, 2024 will test even the most robust democracies

The year looks set to test even the most robust democracies and to strengthen the hands of leaders with authoritarian leanings.
ELKO  Hazardous weather conditions were expected to impact travel in the first major snowstorm of the New Year in Elko County and northern Nevada.

Accumulations of up to 8 inches of snow accompanied by high winds were expected through Wednesday night, in an alert issued by the National Weather Service expiring at 10 p.m. More snow was to follow on Thursday.

The weather service advised difficult travel conditions through southwest and southcentral Elko County, including Winnemucca, Battle Mountain and Emigrant Pass.

Winds as high as 70 mph were accompanying the snowstorm.

Travel could be very difficult, forecasters with the weather agency said. Patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.

Gusty winds could bring down tree branches, they added.

Snow was expected to return to the area Thursday through the weekend, according to weather service forecasts.

Motorists were asked to slow down and use caution while traveling.

By 2 p.m., there were no reports of weather-related crashes on local roads, Interstate 80 or U.S. Highway 93 from law enforcement and first responder agencies.

At 11:20 a.m., Elko Regional Airport recorded visibility at a quarter-mile and winds about 13 mph, with a wind chill of 20 degrees.

Spring Creek Association announced snow plows were deployed to all tracts and would be on duty throughout the day and night, plowing primary roads and then moving to secondary roads as soon as we are able.

Great Basin College closed its campuses in Elko, Battle Mountain and Winnemucca at 1 p.m. Wednesday due to the snow.

In a statement from the Elko County School District, administrators said they were working with transportation partners and monitoring the progress of the storm and road conditions.

Given the current conditions and forecast estimated by the Weather Service for continued precipitation, school release times will remain unchanged to allow for snow removal and the safe operation of transportation, the statement read.

ECSD announced buses leaving early would be for Starr Valley at 1:30 p.m. and Clover Valley at 1:40 p.m.

Owyhee Combined Schools also released students at 12:30 p.m.

Parents are advised by the school district to download the ECSD app for further updates.

Heavy snow was expected to turn into isolated snow showers by nightfall Wednesday, and forecasts call for isolated and scattered snow showers through Friday, with temperatures ranging in the low 30s to mid-20s. Snowfall was also possible Saturday and Sunday, the weather service said.

Nighttime temperatures were forecast to dip below freezing. The low on Wednesday slips down to a chilly 7 degrees, with Thursdays low around 12 degrees.

Saturday could be warmer, as storms are expected to continue with blowing snow, turning into a rain/snow mix with the high up to 40 degrees. Sunday has a 50% chance of more snow, the weather service said.

According to the weather service, clear skies and highs around 27 degrees will open the week Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

For information on roads or to view live video feed of Interstate 80 and Lamoille Summit, visit NV Roads at www.nvroads.com.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Michelle Obama 'terrified' over 2024 presidential elections results

Washington, Jan 9

Former US First Lady Michelle Obama admits she's "terrified" about the potential outcome of the 2024 presidential election with ex-President Donald Trump outrunning incumbent Democrat Joe Biden in the polls despite a mountain of legal cases piled up against him, including one to keep him off the ballot.

"Whats going to happen in this next election? Im terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter. Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted," she told Jay Shetty in his podcast "On Purpose".

"The fact that people think that the government -- eh, does it really even do anything? -- and Im like 'Oh my God, does the government do everything for us, and we cannot take this democracy for granted'. And I worry sometimes that we do. Those are the things that keep me up," she said.

Michelle Obama's comments come atop President Joe Biden ramping up his reelection campaign, narrowing in on a message that democracy is on the ballot this year. Still, many Democrats have expressed concern that his message isnt resonating, pointing to polls showing him in a close contest with former President Trump, media reports said.

In the interview, the former first lady listed a number of other items that worry her, including: "Are people going to vote, and why arent people voting?"

"Those are the things that keep me up, because you dont have control over them. And you wonder: Where are we in this? Where are our hearts?'" she said.

Later, Obama suggested there was a double standard when it came to Trumps legal entanglements and what might happen if a similar predicament befell a Black man. "The bars are different for people in life. That Ive learned," she said.

Without naming Trump, she said: "Other people can be indicted a bunch of times and still run for office. Black men cant. You just learn to be good. And in the end, you benefit from that extra resilience."

(IANS - Posted on 09 January 2024)

Michelle Obama 'terrified' over 2024 presidential elections results

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India, UK sign MoU over defence collaboration

New Delhi, Jan 9

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held bilateral meeting with UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps in London.

A MoU was signed on conduct of bilateral international cadet exchange programme and a Letter of Arrangement between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) on defence collaboration in research and development, the ministry said.

It said that these documents will provide impetus to the people-to-people exchanges particularly among the youth, and larger area of defence research collaboration between the two countries.

The ministry said that ministers discussed a range of defence, security and cooperation matters with particular emphasis on enhancing defence industrial collaboration.

It said that Grant Shapps stressed that the relationship between UK and India is not transactional instead both countries are natural partners with many commonalities and shared goals.

The ministry said that the Defence Minister noted with appreciation the growing strategic convergence between the two countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

Rajnath Singh was presented a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Horse Guards Parade Ground before the bilateral meeting with his UK counterpart.

(IANS - Posted on 10 January 2024)

India, UK sign MoU over defence collaboration

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Martin Scorsese hopes to take away 'negative onus' of religion with new Jesus Christ film

Los Angeles, Jan 10

Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese confirmed last year that he had a project in the pipeline about Jesus Christ after meeting Pope Francis and has now revealed that the screenplay is complete and production is scheduled.

The director has revealed that the picture will only be 80 minutes long - a far cry from the lengthy runtimes of his recent movies and is to focus on the principles of Jesus Christ's core teachings, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Scorsese said: "Right now, 'religion', you say that word and everyone is up in arms because it's failed in some ways. But that doesn't mean necessarily that the initial impulse was wrong. Let's get back. Let's just think about it. You may reject it. But it might make a difference in how you live your life - even in rejecting it. Don't dismiss it offhand. That's all I'm talking about."

The legendary filmmaker explained how the movie will reflect what several of his previous projects have attempted to achieve. Scorsese said: "I tried finding it with 'Kundun' and 'The Last Temptation of Christ', even 'Gangs of New York', to a certain extent, ways into redemption and the human condition and how we deal with the negative things inside us."

"Are we decent and then learn to become indecent? Can we change? Will others accept that change? And it really is, I think, a fear of society and culture that's corrupted because of its lack of grounding in morality and spirituality. Not religion. Spirituality. Denying that."

He added: "It's finding my own way in a... if you want to say the term 'religious' sense, but I hate to use that language, because it's misinterpreted often. But there's a basic fundamental belief that I have - or I'm trying to have - and I'm using these films to find it."

(IANS - Posted on 10 January 2024)

Martin Scorsese hopes to take away 'negative onus' of religion with new Jesus Christ film

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Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A few flurries are possible. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 27F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.
PAHRUMP  Growing industrial development in Nye County faces pushback after public opposition to projects residents fear may harm the countys limited water resources.

Last week, the Nye County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve letters opposing mining activities near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and solar developments within one of the most over-appropriated basins in the state.

Nevadas vast public lands have become a magnet for energy developers and mining companies looking to cash in on the clean energy transition.

Nye County, a sprawling county west of Las Vegas, is now at the center of those interests after thousands of acres in Nevadas Amargosa desert was leased for solar development last year, resulting in the highest-yielding onshore renewable energy auction in Bureau of Land Management history.

The county is also gaining interest from lithium mining companies after high-grade lithium was detected near the wildlife refuge, a critical wetland habitat that supports a dozen endangered and threatened species.

In the letter opposing proposed mining activities near the refuge, the county called on the Department of the Interior and Congress to analyze and pursue a mineral withdrawal for public lands in the sensitive area.

Permanently withdrawing the area from mining will provide long-term protection and certainty of the Refuges status. It will also demonstrate our Federal Leaderships commitment to the environment by hearing and acting on their constituents concerns, Bruce Jabbour, chair of the Nye County Board of Commissioners, wrote.

The county argued that allowing exploratory drilling and other mining activities near the ecologically sensitive refuge could alter crucial groundwater flows with the risk of dewatering, causing irretrievable damage to the aquifer.

Canada-based mining company Rover Metals submitted a new plan of operations for an exploratory drilling project near Ash Meadows last month, prompting the county to petition the federal government for stronger protections.

Federal land managers initially approved the companys plan last year for a lithium exploration project less than a mile from the refuge before pulling their approval after strong public opposition and litigation to halt the project until a more detailed plan could be developed and reviewed.

Officials from the nearby towns within Nye County of Beatty and Amargosa Valley also submitted letters supporting the need for lands bordering Ash Meadows to be withdrawn from mining out of concern for impacts to groundwater.

Some places are simply too important to risk losing and need to be taken off the table when it comes to mining, said Mason Voehl, executive director at the Amargosa Conservancy, who joined the initial lawsuit against the project. The communities of Nye County have made it clear that Ash Meadows is absolutely one of them. We will do whatever it takes to see to it that Ash Meadows flourishes for generations to come.







Solar development, water supply

The Nye County Board of Commissioners also unanimously approved a letter last week asking Clark County to deny or re-site solar development applications located along the Nye County line near Pahrump.

Nye County has no authority regarding solar development in Clark County, however, the Nye officials argued there is significant concern that cumulative solar development within the basin on land in Clark County will adversely impact the Pahrump regions water supply.

Specifically, the county noted their concern over large-scale solar development in a basin known as the Pahrump Hydrographic Basin 162, one of the most over-appropriated basins in Nevada with the highest density of domestic wells of any basin in the state.

Pahrump, Nye Countys most populous town, has faced declining groundwater levels with domestic well failures increasing annually, according to county officials. Nye County officials said they believe cumulative solar development in the basin would only worsen the countys water woes.

I dont want to be in a position where Clark County might look at Nye County over the hill and say, Oh, it can just go out there, Nye County Commissioner Ron Boskovich said during the vote.

In the letter, the Nye County Board of Commissioners acknowledged Nevadas position as a primary location for clean energy development in order to achieve a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050.

County officials said they support the development of renewable energy facilities in Nye County, however, urged Clark County to consider the interests of Nye County residents.

The county assured it is developing a plan to identify ideal locations for solar development within the county and recognizes the significant impacts to our natural resources and County communities.

Denying applications and offering re-siting of renewable energy facilities will greatly increase our quality of life by preserving our limited and precious resources, Jabbour, the county commission chair, wrote in the letter.

Clark County did not respond to questions about the letter or their role in approving the solar development in question.
Dutch scientists have discovered five biological variants of Alzheimer's disease, which may require different treatment. As a result, previously tested drugs may incorrectly appear to be ineffective or only minimally effective. This is the conclusion of researcher Betty Tijms and colleagues from Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC and Maastricht University. The research results will be published on 9 January in Nature Aging.

In those with Alzheimer's disease, the amyloid and tau protein clump in the brain. In addition to these clumps, other biological processes such as inflammation and nerve cells growth are also involved. Using new techniques, the researchers have been able to measure these other processes in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with amyloid and tau clumps.

Betty Tijms and Pieter Jelle Visser examined 1058 proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid of 419 people with Alzheimer's disease. They found that there are five biological variants within this group. The first variant is characterized by increased amyloid production. In a second type, the blood-brain barrier is disrupted and there is a reduced amyloid production and less nerve cells growth. Furthermore, the variants differ in the degree of protein synthesis, the functioning of the immune system, and the functioning of the organ that produces cerebrospinal fluid. Patients with different Alzheimer's variants also showed differences in other aspects of the disease. For example, the researchers found a faster course of the disease in certain subgroups.

The findings are of great importance for drug research. It means that a drug could only work in one variant of Alzheimer's disease. For example, medication that inhibits amyloid production may work in the variant with increased amyloid production but may be harmful in the variant with decreased amyloid production. It is also possible that patients with one variant have a higher risk of side effects, while that risk is much lower with other variants. The next step for the research team is to show that the Alzheimer's variants do indeed react differently to medicines, so that we can treat everyone with appropriate medicines in the future.
Leukemia is a common term used to refer to a form of blood cancer. However, there are different types of leukemia depending on the cell type involved. One unique form is myeloid/natural killer (NK) cell precursor acute leukemia (MNKPL). Because of its rarity, there is no consensus on the specific characteristics needed to clinically identify this disease. In a recent article published in Science Advances, a team led by researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) used various approaches to better assess the molecular profile and drug sensitivity characteristics of MNKPL.

MNKPL was only first proposed as a leukemia subtype in 1997. Extramedullary involvement is one of the hallmarks of MNKPL. It is prevalent in East Asian countries. Although the immunological phenotype of MNKPL was explored previously, a full genetic characterization of this cancer type had not been performed. These details would help support more accurate diagnoses for patients, which would lead to more appropriate therapeutic decisions. Therefore, the TMDU group aimed to investigate MNKPL on a single-cell level.

A single-cell exploration of MNKPL would not only help us better understand its clinical and genomic features, but also clarify the specific cellular origin of this disease." Dr. Akira Nishimura, lead author of the study

The team first used what is known as a multiomics approach to investigate MNKPL patient samples. They used various sequencing technologies to determine if there were any relevant mutations in specific genes, look for expression differences in certain signaling pathways at the RNA level, and examine any unique DNA methylation patterns.

"Our results demonstrate that MNKPL has molecular qualities that are distinct from other similar cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia, T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia," explains Dr. Masatoshi Takagi, senior author. "Specific hallmarks of MNKPL include activation of the NOTCH1 and RUNX3, as well as lower expression of the BCL11B."

Further work at the single-cell level in MNKPL cells showed that NK cells and myeloid cells come from a common progenitor cell type.

The researchers also conducted in vitro drug sensitivity assays where they measured MNKPL cell responses to 79 individual anti-cancer drugs.

"We observed that MNKPL cells were highly sensitive to a drug called L-asparaginase, which has already shown clinical effectiveness for this disease," says Dr. Nishimura. "Mechanistically, we found that this was from low expression of asparagine synthetase, a quality that was distinct from other similar types of leukemia."

Overall, the robust and comprehensive analysis performed in this study provides crucial molecular details for characterizing MNKPL. This work will undoubtedly help clinicians more effectively diagnose MNKPL and choice of therapeutic option. Additionally, this work provides data that will assist with novel therapeutic target identification and drug development in this leukemia.
Bria Peacock chose a career in medicine because the Black Georgia native saw the dire health needs in her community  including access to abortion care.

Her commitment to becoming a maternal health care provider was sparked early on when she witnessed the discrimination and judgment leveled against her older sister, who became a mother as a teen. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Peacock was already in her residency program in California, and her thoughts turned back to women like her sister.

"I knew that the people  my people, my community back home  was going to be affected in a dramatic way, because theyre in the South and because theyre Black," she said.

But even though Peacock attended the Medical College of Georgia, she's doing her obstetrics and gynecology residency at the University of California-San Francisco, where she has gotten comprehensive training in abortion care.

"I knew as a trainee thats what I needed," said Peacock, who plans to return to her home state after her residency.

Ever since the Supreme Court decision, California has worked to become a sanctuary for people from states where abortion is restricted. In doing so, it joins 14 other states, including Colorado, New Mexico, and Massachusetts. Now, it's addressing the fraught issue of abortion training for medical residents, which most doctors believe is crucial to comprehensive OB-GYN training.

A law enacted in September makes it easier for out-of-state trainees to get up to 90 days of in-person training under the supervision of a California-licensed doctor. The law eliminated the requirement for a training license and also permitted training at programs such as Planned Parenthood that are affiliated with accredited medical schools.

"By allowing physician residents to come to California, where there are more opportunities for abortion training, and by allowing them to be reimbursed for this work, were sending a message that abortion care is health care and an essential part of physician training," said Lisa Folberg, CEO of the California Academy of Family Physicians, which supported the bill.

The question of how to provide complete OB-GYN training promises to become more urgent as the effects of abortion bans on medical education become clear: 18 states restrict or ban abortion to the point of effectively stripping 20% of OB-GYN medical residents of the opportunity to get abortion training, according to the Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning. That's 1,354 residents this year out of 5,962 OB-GYN residents nationwide.

The restrictions in some cases aim to reach beyond state borders, spooking medical students and residents who fear hostility from anti-abortion groups and right-wing legislators.

One OB-GYN resident in a state with abortion restrictions, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said she's keen on getting comprehensive abortion care training in California  but can't.

"My program will not allow us to perform abortions in other states," she said.

She said administrators worry that doing so would subject residents to litigation because the program is state-funded.

"That is how my program is interpreting the law," she said. "They're being very conservative in order to protect us."

Pamela Merritt, executive director of Medical Students for Choice, pointed to a Kansas law that requires repayment of state medical school scholarships  with 15% interest  if residents perform abortions or work in clinics that perform them, except in cases of rape, incest, or a medical emergency.

Doctors point out that abortion training is not just about ending pregnancies. Peacock recalled a patient who started hemorrhaging badly shortly after a healthy delivery. Peacock and her team at UCSF performed a dilation and curettage  a procedure commonly used to terminate pregnancy.

"If we did not have that skill set, and the patient continued to bleed, it could have been life-taking," said Peacock, chief OB-GYN resident at UCSF.

Its not yet clear how many spots will be available in California to train out-of-state medical residents as demand ratchets up. "Many sites were already at their training maximums and are unable to expand opportunities to others," said Michael Belmonte, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Between June 2022, when Roe was overturned, and the end of June 2023, 125 out-of-state doctors did residencies in programs that use the Ryan Residency Training Program model, according to Kristin Simonson, director of programs and operations. Ryan helps OB-GYN residency programs integrate comprehensive abortion care training.

Even when opportunities to learn abortion care are available, those seeking training are proceeding with caution. "Residents arranging to travel for abortion training, like patients who travel for abortion care, are making arrangements quietly so they do not draw unwanted attention or repercussions," said Janet Jacobson, medical director and senior vice president of clinical services at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, which just trained its first resident from a state with an abortion ban.

Statistics on harassment and attacks against abortion providers or disruption of their work back up such concerns, even in states where abortions are allowed. From 2021 to 2022, for example, there were upticks in stalking of personnel, bomb threats, assault and battery, and obstruction, according to the latest data from the National Abortion Federation.

Jessica Mecklosky, a pediatric resident at UCSF, said she hopes to focus on adolescent medicine, including reproductive health, where she can offer young patients choices about their futures. Her medical school experience in Louisiana, she said, is a prime example of why abortion training in California and other states is so crucial.

She initially wanted to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology but switched to pediatrics, which also would involve reproductive health care. Although she knew Louisiana had abortion restrictions, she didn't realize how much those restrictions would interfere with her ability to learn: There were just three abortion clinics in the entire state, and as she soon found out, none were available for her training.

"I was actually not going to be able to see any elective abortion procedures throughout medical school, because we don't rotate through any abortion clinics," she said. There was an opportunity for a day's training in her third year, "but, unfortunately, Roe fell before I was able to do that."

Through Medical Students for Choice, a group that provides stipends of up to $1,200, Mecklosky got an abortion care rotation at Montefiore Medical Center in New York during her summer break.

Mecklosky is torn about where she'll land after her residency. She may return to Louisiana and advocate for legislative changes in reproductive health while attending to patients and making forays to other states to provide abortions.

She recounts an experience in New Orleans when the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which undid Roe, was imminent that is etched into her memory. "I had actually seen a few patients who were minors, were pregnant, and wanted to terminate their pregnancies," she said, noting that they could not afford to travel for an abortion. "And I just remember having this sense of dread, just knowing that if we couldn't get them into an appointment in the next 24 or 48 hours, it was possible that they would not be able to do it."

Peacock, for her part, is adamant about returning to Georgia, where abortions are banned after six weeks. "Im still going to provide abortions, whether thats in Georgia or I need to fly to a different state and work in abortion clinics for a week out of the month," she said. "It would definitely be a big part of my work."

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
As I checked in at a Manhattan radiology clinic for my annual mammogram in November, the front desk staffer reviewing my paperwork asked an unexpected question: Would I like to spend $40 for an artificial intelligence analysis of my mammogram? It's not covered by insurance, she added.

I had no idea how to evaluate that offer. Feeling upsold, I said no. But it got me thinking: Is this something I should add to my regular screening routine? Is my regular mammogram not accurate enough? If this AI analysis is so great, why doesn't insurance cover it?

I'm not the only person posing such questions. The mother of a colleague had a similar experience when she went for a mammogram recently at a suburban Baltimore clinic. She was given a pink pamphlet that said: You Deserve More. More Accuracy. More Confidence. More power with artificial intelligence behind your mammogram. The price tag was the same: $40. She also declined.

In recent years, AI software that helps radiologists detect problems or diagnose cancer using mammography has been moving into clinical use. The software can store and evaluate large datasets of images and identify patterns and abnormalities that human radiologists might miss. It typically highlights potential problem areas in an image and assesses any likely malignancies. This extra review has enormous potential to improve the detection of suspicious breast masses and lead to earlier diagnoses of breast cancer.

While studies showing better detection rates are extremely encouraging, some radiologists say, more research and evaluation are needed before drawing conclusions about the value of the routine use of these tools in regular clinical practice.

"I see the promise and I hope it will help us," said Etta Pisano, a radiologist who is chief research officer at the American College of Radiology, a professional group for radiologists. However, "it really is ambiguous at this point whether it will benefit an individual woman," she said. "We do need more information."

The radiology clinics that my colleague's mother and I visited are both part of RadNet, a company with a network of more than 350 imaging centers around the country. RadNet introduced its AI product for mammography in New York and New Jersey last February and has since rolled it out in several other states, according to Gregory Sorensen, the company's chief science officer.

Sorensen pointed to research the company conducted with 18 radiologists, some of whom were specialists in breast mammography and some of whom were generalists who spent less than 75% of their time reading mammograms. The doctors were asked to find the cancers in 240 images, with and without AI. Every doctor's performance improved using AI, Sorensen said.

Among all radiologists, "not every doctor is equally good," Sorensen said. With RadNet's AI tool, "it's as if all patients get the benefit of our very top performer."

But is the tech analysis worth the extra cost to patients? There's no easy answer.

"Some people are always going to be more anxious about their mammograms, and using AI may give them more reassurance," said Laura Heacock, a breast imaging specialist at NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York. The health system has developed AI models and is testing the technology with mammograms but doesn't yet offer it to patients, she said.

Still, Heacock said, women shouldn't worry that they need to get an additional AI analysis if it's offered.

"At the end of the day, you still have an expert breast imager interpreting your mammogram, and that is the standard of care," she said.

About 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, and regular screening mammograms are recommended to help identify cancerous tumors early. But mammograms are hardly foolproof: They miss about 20% of breast cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The FDA has authorized roughly two dozen AI products to help detect and diagnose cancer from mammograms. However, there are currently no billing codes radiologists can use to charge health plans for the use of AI to interpret mammograms. Typically, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would introduce new billing codes and private health plans would follow their lead for payment. But that hasn't happened in this field yet and it's unclear when or if it will.

CMS didn't respond to requests for comment.

Thirty-five percent of women who visit a RadNet facility for mammograms pay for the additional AI review, Sorensen said.

Radiology practices don't handle payment for AI mammography all in the same way.

The practices affiliated with Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital don't charge patients for the AI analysis, said Constance Lehman, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School who is co-director of the Breast Imaging Research Center at Mass General.

Asking patients to pay "isn't a model that will support equity," Lehman said, since only patients who can afford the extra charge will get the enhanced analysis. She said she believes many radiologists would never agree to post a sign listing a charge for AI analysis because it would be off-putting to low-income patients.

Sorensen said RadNet's goal is to stop charging patients once health plans realize the value of the screening and start paying for it.

Some large trials are underway in the United States, though much of the published research on AI and mammography to date has been done in Europe. There, the standard practice is for two radiologists to read a mammogram, whereas in the States only one radiologist typically evaluates a screening test.

Interim results from the highly regarded MASAI randomized controlled trial of 80,000 women in Sweden found that cancer detection rates were 20% higher in women whose mammograms were read by a radiologist using AI compared with women whose mammograms were read by two radiologists without any AI intervention, which is the standard of care there.

"The MASAI trial was great, but will that generalize to the U.S.? We can't say," Lehman said.

In addition, there is a need for "more diverse training and testing sets for AI algorithm development and refinement" across different races and ethnicities, said Christoph Lee, director of the Northwest Screening and Cancer Outcomes Research Enterprise at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The long shadow of an earlier and largely unsuccessful type of computer-assisted mammography hangs over the adoption of newer AI tools. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, "computer-assisted detection" software promised to improve breast cancer detection. Then the studies started coming in, and the results were often far from encouraging. Using CAD at best provided no benefit, and at worst reduced the accuracy of radiologists' interpretations, resulting in higher rates of recalls and biopsies.

"CAD was not that sophisticated," said Robert Smith, senior vice president of early cancer detection science at the American Cancer Society. Artificial intelligence tools today are a whole different ballgame, he said. "You can train the algorithm to pick up things, or it learns on its own."

Smith said he found it "troubling" that radiologists would charge for the AI analysis.

"There are too many women who can't afford any out-of-pocket cost" for a mammogram, Smith said. "If we're not going to increase the number of radiologists we use for mammograms, then these new AI tools are going to be very useful, and I don't think we can defend charging women extra for them."
In a recent study published in Cancer, researchers investigated hospital quality and patient factors associated with treatment location for breast cancer surgery.

Background

Countries are implementing policies to improve patient-centered health systems by allowing patients to choose their hospitals for treatment. However, studies show that up to one in three patients bypass their nearest surgical center due to being younger, fitter, and affluent, improving access to advanced technologies but may not result in the best disease-specific outcomes. Understanding patient mobility is crucial for matching demand with supply.

About the study

In the present national study, researchers investigated the mobility patterns of breast cancer patients who underwent primary surgical resections in the English NHS.

The team used the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCAS) data in linkage with the National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data to identify women diagnosed between 2 January 2016 and 31 December 2018 undergoing breast-conserving surgeries (BCS) or mastectomies followed by immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) or without it. They used geographic data systems (ArcGIS) to investigate the extent of patients bypassing nearby hospitals for treatment.

The HES database provided data on patient factors such as age, residence, sex, ethnicity, comorbidities, and socioeconomic status. In addition, the researchers obtained data on the treating hospitals, BCS date, and type, such as autologous reconstruction, mastectomy, and breast re-excisions following BCS. They included six patient factors: age, ethnicity, comorbidities, socioeconomic deprivation, tumor stage, and residence for analysis.

The team identified seven hospital-based factors that increase hospital attractivity to physicians and patients for surgical treatment. The hospital factors were treatment availability, media reputation, performance ratings, research activities, tumor waiting times, and re-excision rates. They identified 49 cancer centers with multidisciplinary teams, 45 hospitals performing 20 breast reconstructions post-mastectomy using expander-based methods or autologous non-implants annually, 11 hospitals having good media reputations for employing top breast tumor specialists in the United Kingdom, 12 hospitals providing insufficient care, and 31 hospitals engaged in research activities. They also identified 33 cancer hospitals with the most tumor re-excisions following elective breast cancer surgery.

Population-based centroids for the Lower-Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) represented patients' residential locations. The team categorized the hospitals based on their performance rating system. They used the ESRI ArcGIS data system to determine mean travel times in the day by car. They classified patients who did not receive treatment at the nearest hospital as bypassers. They performed multivariate conditional-type logistic regressions to determine the odds ratios (ORs) for the relationships between travel times, patient and hospital characteristics, and surgery location. They also assessed the effect of travel duration and hospital factors, adjusting for confounders (age, ethnicity, comorbidity, socioeconomic status, residence, and cancer stage).

Results

The study analyzed 101,750 patients who underwent BCS with curative intent, of whom 69,153 received elective BCS and 33,686 underwent elective mastectomy. Of 69,153 individuals undergoing elective BCS, 33% (n=22,622) bypassed their nearby cancer hospital, and out of 23,536 individuals undergoing mastectomy, 31% (n=7,179) avoided their nearby hospital. Individuals undergoing BCS (OR, 1.9) or mastectomy procedures (OR, 1.5) showed a higher likelihood of receiving treatment from specialized centers for breast reconstruction.

Individuals receiving IBR and mastectomy showed a higher likelihood of traveling to hospitals having cancer specialists with a good media reputation (odds ratio, 2.4). Individuals undergoing BCS showed a lower likelihood of traveling to hospitals having short surgical waiting periods (OR, 0.7). For women receiving BCS, the probability of patients commuting to hospitals other than the nearest one reduced with increasing commuting times. For example, the probability of patients undergoing mastectomies (without breast reconstruction) commuting to hospitals 10 minutes away from the nearest hospital was considerably lower (OR, 0.3).

The team found no associations between the chances of patients commuting to specific hospitals and the United Kingdom Care Quality Commission hospital ratings, research activities of the hospitals, or whether the hospitals were multidisciplinary. Older patients, those belonging to ethnic minorities, and those with comorbidities and advanced disease showed a lower likelihood of traveling to hospitals apart from the nearest one for treatment. Additional travel times showed less strong associations with the probability of commuting to a specific hospital for rural patients than those living in urban areas.

Conclusion

Overall, the study findings showed that one out of three individuals with breast cancer bypass their most proximal hospital for surgery, with travel time being the primary factor. Younger patients, those with fewer comorbidities, white ethnic backgrounds, and those in rural regions showed a higher likelihood of traveling to alternative hospitals. Specialist breast reconstruction centers have a higher likelihood of treating patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. Improving the disconnect between perceived and actual cancer treatment quality is crucial to prevent perverse incentives and improve patient outcomes.
As the winter season approaches, the National Health Service (NHS) prepares for an increase in the number of patients infected with common respiratory viruses. For individuals with respiratory conditions, like the 5.4 million people in the UK who have asthma, the colder months pose a particularly high risk.1

Image Credit: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock.com

These individuals may experience constricted airways, difficulty breathing, and tightness in the chest, which are the characteristic yet distressing symptoms of asthma - an inflammatory disorder that affects around 9 % of the population. Individuals with asthma are more susceptible to respiratory infections.1,2

In addition to the mental and physical strain caused by asthma, there is a significant burden of asthma-related disability in the UK population, with a Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) rate of 350 per 100000 people.3 This burden is evident in the reported 60000 hospital admissions and 200000 bed days for asthma patients each year.1 Asthma can also be life-threatening: asthma attacks cause the loss of three lives per day.1

The economic burden of asthma is substantial. In England alone, the direct cost of asthma, which includes NHS expenses, the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and patient travel costs, has exceeded 1.2 billion this year.1

Collectively, lung conditions, including asthma, place a yearly burden of 9.6 billion on the NHS and exacerbate healthcare pressures during the winter since individuals with these conditions are also more susceptible to respiratory illnesses and cold weather.1 Asthma is no longer a personal health concern; it is a public health and economic emergency.

Exacerbating a crisis: Insufficient diagnostic testing hinders effective decision-making

A report released in 2023 by the British charity Asthma + Lung UK highlights the alarming state of lung healthcare in England. Despite lung disease ranking as the third leading cause of death, individuals experiencing breathlessness often wait years before an official diagnosis, while others remain undiagnosed or receive inaccurate diagnoses.1

According to one study, over 30 % of adults previously diagnosed with asthma could not have their diagnosis confirmed.4 The gravity of this issue becomes apparent when considering that an estimated 750000 individuals in England are misdiagnosed with asthma, resulting in financial consequences amounting to approximately 132 million annually.1

The causes behind these apparent oversights are multifaceted. One contributing factor is the lack of funding and limited access to diagnostic tests, which undermines the reliability of primary care diagnoses. A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) analysis revealed that the current deficiencies in testing are estimated to cost England 2.2 billion, primarily due to avoidable hospital stays and treatments.5

To recover some of these expenses and alleviate the strain on the NHS, Asthma + Lung UK has proposed several measures. These include fully funding diagnostic testing, reinstating nationwide spirometry, and maximizing the potential of community diagnostic centers and primary care for diagnoses.

Implementing these measures could result in savings of 307 million and the availability of 273000 beds - over a third of these beds would be available during the critical winter period. This figure greatly surpasses the 250 million emergency funds allocated by the UK government to create an additional 5000 NHS hospital beds for the upcoming winter.1

Feno testing: Addressing the impact of lung conditions, one breath at a time

Improving diagnostic testing (one of the three recommendations put forth by Asthma + Lung UK) appears to be a realistically achievable goal. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends the use of a single objective test, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), for measuring airway inflammation in asthma diagnosis.6

FeNO testing involves measuring nitric oxide, a gas naturally produced by cells lining the airways to combat inflammation. In individuals with respiratory conditions, particularly asthma, there is often an increased production of nitric oxide due to localized inflammation.

During a FeNO test, the individual exhales into a specialized device, such as the NObreath developed by Bedfont Scientific Ltd., which captures and analyzes the nitric oxide content. The device, with its high sensitivity, measures the concentration of nitric oxide in parts per billion. By interpreting the device's output, valuable information about the extent of airway inflammation can be obtained. Higher FeNO levels indicate greater airway inflammation, often associated with conditions like asthma.7

The NObreath is a non-invasive FeNO device suitable for both adult and pediatric patients. It adheres to the guidelines set by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS). The NObreath utilizes a simple exhale-only technique and provides on-screen visual motivation.

Once a breath sample is collected and analyzed, healthcare providers can assess airway inflammation and device treatment responses. Additionally, a patient interpretation guide facilitates result analysis, enabling informed decision-making by healthcare providers.7

Despite the simplicity and cost-effectiveness offered by the NObreath for asthma diagnosis, FeNO testing and the necessary solutions for accurately evaluating lung health are still not widely available in primary care settings.5,7 A comprehensive analysis conducted by PwC indicates that universal access to FeNO tests for general practitioners (GPs) across England could lead to around 100 million in savings through optimized asthma treatment.1 This finding not only highlights the cost-effectiveness of FeNO testing but also underscores its potential to improve patient outcomes by ensuring accurate diagnoses and tailored treatments.

Addressing the call for enhanced diagnostic testing: A nation's battle with lung conditions

The asthma crisis in England presents a complex challenge concerning misdiagnoses and financial strain on the NHS. One potential solution to aid in the accurate diagnosis of lung conditions, including asthma, is the widespread availability of FeNO testing in primary care - which has the potential to save countless lives.

It is imperative that individuals suspected of having lung conditions, such as asthma, have access to FeNO tests and that those who undergo testing receive precise and reliable diagnoses.

By embracing FeNO testing as a fundamental component of asthma management, we can significantly enhance the quality of life for those affected by asthma, reduce healthcare expenses, and alleviate the burden on the NHS. The time to take action is now for the benefit of patients and the healthcare system as a whole. To learn more about the available solutions that can contribute towards more accessible testing, reach out to Bedfont Scientific Ltd.

References and further reading

Saving Your Breath: How Better Lung Health Benefits Us All. (2023). Asthma + Lung UK. Available at: https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/saving-your-breath-report Sharma S, et al. (2022). Vulnerability for Respiratory Infections in Asthma Patients: A Systematic Review. Cureus. http://doi.10.7759/cureus.28839 Nunes C, et al. (2017). Asthma costs and social impact. Asthma Research and Practice. http://doi.10.1186/s40733-016-0029-3 Aaron SD, et al. (2017). Reevaluation of Diagnosis in Adults With Physician-Diagnosed Asthma. JAMA. http://doi.10.1001/jama.2016.19627 'Abysmal' lack of testing for lung conditions is forcing GPs to play a 'guessing game' with diagnosis. (2023). Asthma + Lung UK. Available at: https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/media/press-releases/abysmal-lack-testing-lung-conditions-forcing-gps-play-guessing-game-diagnosis (Accessed on 09 October 2023). Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management. NICE. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng80/chapter/Recommendations#objective-tests-for-diagnosing-asthma-in-adults-young-people-and-children-aged-5-and-over (Accessed on 09 October 2023). Nobreath. Available at: https://www.nobreathfeno.com/us/ (Accessed on 09 October 2023).

About Bedfont Scientific

Bedfont Scientific has specialized in the design and manufacture of exhaled breath and gas monitoring instruments since 1976.

For medical gas monitoring, their Medi-Gas Check medical pipeline testing range verifies not only the quantity but also the quality of gas administered to patients.

Bedfont's breath analyzers include carbon monoxide (CO) devices such as the Smokerlyzer, used for smoking cessation, and the ToxCO, used by emergency services, to diagnose CO poisoning.

The NObreath FeNO device provides accurate analysis of airway inflammation for the control of asthma, and the Gastrolyzer range aids in the detection of gastrointestinal disorders and food intolerances. Quick and non-invasive, breath analysis is the new blood test.

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.
Purchasing a diesel-powered car was never an easy decision as it has been always a debatable topic in India. Keeping all their negative points aside including high maintenance costs and complex engines, a lifespan of 10 years has been always a controversial topic for many buyers, all thanks to our Motor Vehicles Act.

The rule also has been challenged by an advocate, who brought the matter to court, blaming the rules as a big scam. As per the details shared by Motoroctane, an advocate named Mukesh Kulthia has filed a case against the lifespan period of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles in India.

Carbandi Scam Controversy

He also involved a Transport Secretary of Haryana, Navdeep Sing Virk (IPS), along with other IAS offers of carbon Union Transport Ministry in Gurgaon court, framing them in carbandi scam.

While bringing the matter to the Gurgaon court, Kulthia handed over a report, where he says that both petrol and diesel-powered cars have a running life of 15 years, which can be extended for an additional five years under the modified Motor Vehicles Act.

Violation Motor Vehicles Act?

Quoting the rule, the advocate says that vehicles can not be seized, confiscated, or outlawed as the government charges the road tax for 15 years. He called the act of seizing the vehicles a gross violation of the amended Motor Vehicles Act.

He says that there is no legal ban on diesel-powered cars, which are 10 years old. However, officials still restrict these vehicles by falsely citing NGT (National Green Tribunal) and Supreme Court orders. He said these illegal activities are being done to promote electric cars and their sales in India.

More Tax on Diesel Engines

Meanwhile, customers who own diesel-powered cars have always been in a very confused situation as diesel engines are being targeted by the government. Recently, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari added fuel to the fire by informing that the government soon will impose more tax on diesel engines.
NA Vice Chairman Tran Quang Phuong bids farewell to Speaker of the National Assembly of Bulgaria Rosen Dimitrov Jeliazkov at Noi Bai international airport (Photo: VNA)

This was the first visit by a Bulgarian NA Speaker in over a decade, and was billed as a reciprocal visit following the official Bulgaria visit by the Vietnamese top legislator in September 2023.

Jeliazkov's visit was to cultivate sound political relations between the two countries via Party, State, parliament, Government and people-to-people exchange channels. It offered a good opportunity for the two sides to discuss regional and international issues of mutual concerns, bolster bilateral relations and cooperation in a practical and effective fashion, especially in the areas of their strength.

Bulgaria sees Vietnam as an important partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while Vietnam views the visiting delegation as an important link to a strategic Eastern European partner.

During his stay, Jeliazkov had extensive meetings with a host of Vietnamese leaders.

Leaders of the two countries commented the positive development progress in the bilateral cooperation across various areas, and agreed to continue enhancing visits and contact at all levels via all channels as well as effectively roll out bilateral cooperation mechanisms and agreements.

Amidst the economic downturn across the globe, two-way trade revenue topped 200 million USD. Both sides eyed 500 million USD a year in the bilateral trade exchange by promoting trade and investment cooperation, particularly in the fields of their strengths such as hi-tech agriculture, pharmaceuticals, IT, tourism, culture, aviation, among others.

Vietnam called on Bulgaria to influence the European Commissions consideration of removing the yellow card warning against Vietnamese seafood. Additionally, the country appreciated the Bulgarian NAs ratification of the EU  Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which will help Bulgarian enterprises access the Vietnamese market as well as reach the ASEAN market. The group asked the Bulgarian side to accelerate the ratification by the remaining member parliaments of the EU so that the EVIPA could take effect at the early date.

The two legislators concurred that both sides should continue formalising the new Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two parliaments signed in September 2023 in a swift, active and effective manner, and in line with the spirit that parliamentary cooperation forms an important pillar of the two countries relations.

Besides, cooperation between the two parliamentary friendship groups will help the Vietnamese and Bulgarian NAs work together to supervise the implementation of their plans and agreements right from 2024.

The two sides said they will also maintain high-level mutual visits between NA leaders, agencies, and parliamentary friendship groups. They also plan to increase sharing information and experience in parliamentary activities, coordinate cooperation agreements between the two Governments, and maintain mutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums as well as in regional and international issues of shared concern.

Regarding international and regional issues of mutual interest, the two sides welcomed the support that they have given to each other at international forums and organisations such as the United Nations, International Parliamentary Union and Asia-Europe Meeting.

They expressed their belief that the Vietnam  Bulgaria traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation will be unceasingly consolidated and developed in the time ahead, towards the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the bilateral relations (February 8, 1950-2025)./.
As the Gujarat government is hosting the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, major companies, including Reliance, Adani, Maruti Suzuki India, DP World, have committed investments in the state, ranging from setting up of manufacturing plants to shifting to green energy.

The Gujarat government is hosting the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 between January 10 and 12, 2024, at Helipad Ground, Gandhinagar. Generally, it takes place every two years. However, this is the first Vibrant Gujarat Summit happening after a five-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous Vibrant Gujarat Summit took place in 2019.

As part of the Summit, the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2024 will see participation from 100 countries as visiting nations, while 33 countries will join as partners. Following are the pacts and investment commitments so far:

India-UAE Pacts

A bilateral meeting was held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan here on Tuesday where several MoUs were signed. The UAE president is the chief guest at the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) which will be inaugurated by PM Modi at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

Maruti Facility To Be Set Up 2nd Manufacturing Facility in Gujarat

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will invest Rs 35,000 crore to set up its second manufacturing facility in Gujarat as it looks to ramp up annual production capacity to over 40 lakh units by 2030-31, Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Wednesday.

Speaking here at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), Suzuki said the plant would have an installed production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum.

We will invest Rs 35,000 crore for the construction of a second car plant in Gujarat which would produce another one million units per year, Suzuki said.

The new plant is expected to start operation in FY2028-29. Details of the location and the models to be produced will be shared in due course.

Currently, the auto major has a cumulative production capacity of around 22 lakh units per annum across its two manufacturing plants in Haryana and Gujarat. The two plants in Haryana  Gurgugram and Manesar  together roll out around 15.5 lakh units per annum.

Adani Investments In Green Energy

Billionaire Gautam Adani on Wednesday announced an investment of over Rs 2 lakh crore in Gujarat, largely in building a green energy park that would be visible even from space. Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said the investment will create 1 lakh jobs.

Of the Rs 55,000 crore committed at the last summit, Adani Group has already spent Rs 50,000 crore, he said. The apples-to-airport group is now building a green energy park in Kutch having a 30 GW capacity spread over 25 square kilometre which would also be visible from space, he added.

Since 2014, India has achieved a 185 per cent growth in GDP and 165 per cent growth in per capita income which is unparalleled given the geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges, Adani said.

Tata To Set Up Semiconductor Facility

Tata Group will build a semiconductor factory at Dholera in Gujarat, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Wednesday. Speaking at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said the group is about to start a 20 GW gigafactory for manufacturing lithium ion batteries in Sanand in two months.

The group, he said, has also made a commitment and is on the verge of concluding, and announcing a huge semiconductor fab in Dholera. We are about to complete negotiations for the semiconductor fab, and start in 2024, he said.

Reliance To Set Up Indias First Fibre Facility At Hazira

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said his company Reliance will set up Indias first and world-class carbon fibre facility at Hazira. Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit here, Ambani said Reliance was, is, and will always remain a Gujarati company.

Reliance has invested over USD 150 billion (12 lakh crore) in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in last just 10 years. Of this, more than one third has been invested in Gujarat alone, he said. He said Reliance will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in green growth.

We will help Gujarats target to meet half of its energy needs through renewables by 2030. Reliance started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials that will make Gujarat the leading exporter of such goods and the company is ready to roll this out in the second half of 2024 itself, he said.

DP World To Build A Container Terminal in Gujarat

Global logistics management and services firm DP World will build a container terminal in Gujarat and is committed to further investments in India, the companys Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said on Wednesday. Addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said the company will continue to partner with the Indian logistics sector and support manufacturing industries in Gujarat and the rest of India to make Indian goods globally competitive and accessible.

DP World started its operation in Gujarat in 2003 with opening of the Mundra International Container terminal, he said. We have invested in the state of Gujarat as well in other state in India, to the tune of USD 2.5 billion bin Sulayem said.

AMNS To Set Up Single-Location Integrated Steel Plant at Gujarats Hazira

Lakshmi Mittal on Wednesday announced that ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) is building the worlds largest single location integrated steel plant at Gujarats Hazira.

Mittal, the executive chairman of global steel major ArcelorMittal which operates the JV in India with Japans Nippon, said the plant will have a capacity of producing 24 million tonne of crude steel, and should be ready by 2029.

Speaking at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, Mittal said the company has signed an agreement for the second phase of the plant with the Gujarat government at the event. Work on the first phase of the project, which started in 2021, is going on as per schedule and the first phase will be inaugurated by 2026, he said.

The bhumi puja or ground-breaking for the plant was done in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mittal said. He exuded confidence that with the state governments cooperation, the company will be able to commission the second phase of the project near Surat by 2029.

(With Inputs From Agencies)
The Symbiosis International (Deemed University) has released the results of the Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP) 2023 today, January 10. Candidates who took the entrance test can download their SNAP 2023 results from the official website, snaptest.org. The exam saw the participation of around 1 lakh candidates. To download the SNAP 2023 result, candidates are required to use their login credentials, including their registration number and date of birth.

The SNAP test for 2023 was conducted by the university on December 10, 17, and 22. The SNAP Test 2023 score is valid only for admission to specific SIU programmes for 2024-25. You can access SNAP 2023 results until February 09, 2024.

SNAP 2023 Result: Steps to Download Scorecard

Step 1: Go to the official website: of SNAP at snaptest.org.

Step 2: Click on the SNAP 2023 scorecard link on the homepage.

Step 3: A new page will appear on the screen.

Step 4: Fill in all the required details like registration number and date of birth.

Step 5: After submitting, the SNAP result will be displayed on the screen.

Step 6: Download the SNAP 2023 result and scorecard and keep the printout for future reference.

The SNAP test 2023 serves as the gateway for MBA admissions at SIU-affiliated colleges. Successful candidates in the Symbiosis MBA entrance test will proceed to subsequent rounds of the admission process, including the Group Exercise (GE), Personal Interview (PI) rounds, and Writing Ability Test (WAT). SIU institutes will set SNAP cut-off percentiles for PI shortlisting. The PI shortlists are anticipated to be revealed in the first week of February 2024. Candidates who meet the cut-off will qualify for the PI round.

After the SNAP Test 2023 results, the top 15 Symbiosis Institutes, including SIBM Pune, SIOM, and SCMHRD, will release their admission shortlists one by one. Candidates who receive less than passing marks in the SNAP test will not be considered for SIU admission.

SNAP is a national-level entrance exam held by Symbiosis International (Deemed University) for admission to its 26 MBA programmes across 16 institutes. To be eligible for MBA programmes, candidates need to have graduated from a recognised university or institution in any discipline, with a minimum aggregate score of 50%. Final-year students are eligible to apply for SNAP 2023, and international students can also apply if they possess an Association of Indian Universities (AIU) certificate.
A special court on Wednesday sentenced three persons to life imprisonment for a triple murder following a dispute over irrigating agricultural fields in Rajasthans Bundi district in 2014.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.65 lakh on each of the convicts  Devilal Gurjar (44), Ramraj Gurjar (37) and Bhimraj Gurjar (34)  special public prosecutor Rajendra Kumar Jain said.

According to the prosecution, two men and a woman, identified as Satyanarayan Gurjar (50), Kalulal Gurjar (42) and Sita Bai (40), were killed and another person suffered injuries in clashes between two groups over irrigating agricultural fields in a village in the Talera police station area of Bundi district on October 15, 2014. The police lodged a case of murder and attempt to murder under IPC sections against the three persons and a minor.

The trio were held guilty of murder and attempt to murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial against the minor accused in the matter was underway in a juvenile justice court, the special public prosecutor said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday announced the arrest of Meerankutty Savad, the first accused in the sensational Thodupuzha palm-chopping case, who had been on the run for 13 years.

The central investigation agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information on Savad in 2023. The 38-year-old PFI member, who is from Asamannoor village in Ernakulam district of Kerala, has been absconding ever since the incident, which occurred on July 4, 2010.

The NIA had launched a massive hunt for Savad, a native of Ernakulam rural district, in India as well as abroad, including West Asia.

The arrest was made months after a special NIA Court in Kochi last year found six individuals guilty, including one who played a direct role in the infamous 13-year-old hand-chopping case of a college professor TJ Joseph in Kerala. All the six convicts were alleged to be the members of now banned Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).

A total of 19 accused have so far been convicted for various offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and UA(P) Act in the case. Of them, three have been convicted for life and 10 others sent to eight years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) and fine. All the accused in the case were either leaders or activists/cadres of the now banned PFI and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and were actively involved in the criminal conspiracy.

The right hand of TJ Joseph, professor of Newman College in Thodupuzha in Idukki district, was chopped off allegedly by activists of PFI in 2010 for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad and the Quran in a question paper he had set.

The attack took place while he was returning home with his family after attending a Sunday mass at a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam.

The controversy surrounded a question paper the professor had prepared for an internal B.Com examination. The professor had extracted a paragraph from the book Thirakathayude Reethisasthram, written by Malayalam director PT Kunju Muhammed, and wanted to test the students on punctuation. The short story he selected revolved around a mentally unstable schizophrenic nameless villager whom Joseph gave the name Mohammed.

The attack had exposed the PFIs nefarious and violent intent and designs to terrorise people and society by targeting the critics of Islam and prominent persons of other religions, and to enforce the decisions of Dar-ul-Khada, their pseudo Taliban styled court.

The NIA has been consistently tightening the noose around the PFI across India. Several cases registered by the agency against PFI have revealed a conspiracy to overthrow Indias democratically elected government and establish an Islamic State in the country by 2047.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that hackers tried to attack his Facebook account. Sarma noted that the hacking attempt was made Tuesday evening.

The BJP leader further stated that preliminary investigation has revealed that hackers might be operating from Pakistan.

Unknown hackers made an attempt to hack my Facebook account this evening. Preliminary information suggests the hacker might be operating from Pakistan. Investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators, the chief minister said in an X post.

Unknown hackers made an attempt to hack my Facebook account this evening. Preliminary information suggests the hacker might be operating from Pakistan.Investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators. @DGPAssamPolice @assampolice pic.twitter.com/QCbENvhEJm  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 9, 2024

On Monday, Sarma shared a fake video purportedly showing his distorted speech. In an X post, Sarma said that an attempt was made to distort his speech through a fake video and expressed concern over vested groups with criminal intentions spreading false information.

See for yourself, as elections approach, how vested groups distort a speech with the criminal intention of spreading disinformation and communal disharmony. The long arms of the law will catch up with these elements, Sarma wrote.

See for yourself, as elections approach, how vested groups distort a speech with the criminal intention of spreading disinformation and communal disharmony.The long arms of the law will catch up with these elements. @DGPAssamPolice @assampolice pic.twitter.com/73jUPu9arR  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 8, 2024

Assams Director General of Police (DGP), GP Singh responded to Sarmas complaint and assured the CID would register a criminal case and investigate the matter.

Noted Sir. CID Assam would register a criminal case and investigate people behind, DGP Singh said.
The attack on the BJP-ruled central government continued to escalate on Wednesday as the INDIA bloc leaders targeted the saffron camp over the invitations being extended for the Pran Pratishtha of the grand Ram temple in Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya. Meanwhile, the nation is gearing up for the upcoming event on January 22.

The guest list for the inaugural function is being decided by a team nominated by the Sri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is dominated by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest for the inauguration ceremony.

VHP Chief Vs Akhilesh Yadav on Ram Temple Invites

VHP chief Alok Kumar informed that the VHP functionary had approached the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav with the invite for the ceremony, however, he reportedly said that he wouldnt accept such an invitation from a stranger.

Speaking on an invitation to Akhilesh Yadav, Kumar said, We had seen his earlier statement that he would come if invited. An invitation has been sent to him. But now he is saying that he would go if Lord Ram him. If he does not come then it will become clear that even Ram does not want him to come, he said.

The VHP chiefs statement came after Akhilesh last week said that he would attend Ram Temples consecration ceremony if called by God.

Indians in US hold a 5 km rally in Sacramento

Celebrating the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Indians in the United States held a five-kilometre rally at Sacramento in California. The Indian Americans were seen performing bhajans and chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans. Preparations are also underway for LED screening of inauguration of Ram Mandir and special Puja to be held at Temples in Sacramento.

Uma Bharti Asks Opposition To Visit Ayodhya Ram Temple Without Invitation

BJP leader Uma Bharti on Tuesday accused the Congress and Left parties of creating a toxic atmosphere during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, and advised them to visit the new Ram temple at Ayodhya without invitation as an atonement.

The left and Congress party leaders created a toxic atmosphere at that time. Now when they say we do not get invitation (for the January 22 consecration ceremony for the Ram temple), I would say your biggest atonement will be that you go there without invitation and take a dip in the river Saryu and stand in front of Lord Ram by holding ears (seeking forgiveness), the former Union minister said.

Centre Sanctions Security Cover of Over 150 Armed CISF Commandos for Ayodhya Airport

The Centre has sanctioned a security cover of more than 150 CISF personnel for the Ayodhya airport, days before the high-profile consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22, PTI reported citing its sources.

The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham is the countrys 68th civil airport terminal to come under the umbrella of the specialised Aviation Security Group (ASG) of the central force.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide an anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage cover to the airport that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023, the sources said on Tuesday.
Suchana Seth, the CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup accused of killing her four-year-old son, was in the midst of an ongoing divorce and custody battle. Seth had filed a case of domestic violence against her estranged husband Venkataraman PR.

She accused her husband of physically assaulting the child who had also been undergoing treatment at NIMHANSs adolescent psychiatry centre in Bengaluru.

The family court of Bengalurus Metropolitan Magistrate after hearing the case issued a restraining order on August 18, 2022, against Venkataraman. The order barred him from communicating with the child either by phone or any other media.

The court directed that the father of the child should pay interim maintenance of Rs 20,000 per month to the petitioner from the date of the order till the disposal of the petition; Venkatraman had since paid Rs 60,000 as maintenance between September and November to his estranged wife. Suchana had demanded a monthly maintenance of Rs 2.5 lakh.

The next hearing of the case had been scheduled by the court for January 29.

In her petition, Seth had said that she was forced to stay separately for fear of violence and abuse by her husband. She claimed that he did not take care of her during her pregnancy and did not show any interest in married life, was mentally and emotionally imbalanced, adding that frequent calls from Venkatramans parents affected their family life.

Prima facie case of sexual abuse

The court, after scrutinising documents submitted by Seth to substantiate her domestic violence case, had observed that prima facie it appeared to be a case of sexual abuse by the husband Venkataraman.

She had also alleged that the marital relationship had not been smooth from the beginning of their marriage, and When the child was in his (Venkatraman) custody, he injured the child, according to the petition, which also added that the abusive behaviour led to the child developing a sense of fear against the father.

Venkatraman had denied all charges levelled against him by Seth.

Having heard both sides of the case, the court then directed the husband to hand over all the toys and clothes of the child to the mother.

Seth had married Venkataraman on November 18, 2010, as per Hindu rituals in Kolkata. Their son was born on August 14, 2019. Her petition states that from March 2020 she had been forced to stay separately due to violence and abuse.

Suchana uncooperative with Goa police

Seth is presently in six days of police custody in Goa. Even during questioning, she is said to be uncooperative and refuses to answer any questions until her lawyer is present there.

She has, however, denied any involvement in the murder case. Even when she had been detained by the Chitradurga police where the body of the child was found stuffed in a bag in the boot of the car she was travelling in, she refused to speak to the Karnataka police but broke down in tears on the discovery of the body, said a Hiriyur police official.

The Goa police have found two bottles of cough syrup which were allegedly used to heavily drug the child until he became unconscious.

The Goa police had also found a towel in the room with bloodstains on it. It has been sent to the FSL in Goa to determine whether it belonged to Seth or the child.

Was Suchana sitting with sons body in hotel?

Senior government doctor Kumar Naik, who conducted the post-mortem on the child, observed that he may have been killed 36 hours before the body was found, as rigour mortis (stiffening of muscles in a corpse) had not set in yet.

He has been smothered or strangulated, and there are no signs of struggle. What was observed as most striking was that there were many impressions on the childs neck and face. This indicated that there was immense pressure put on that area. Apart from that the veins in the chest and abdomen areas had also swollen up, which is typical of a case of strangulation, he told News18.

Another investigating officer shared that the post-mortem indicating that the murder could have taken place 36 hours before the body was found indicated that the act may have been committed during the early morning hours of January 8. She may have been sitting with the body inside the room the whole day and plotting how to take the body out or dispose of it. More will be known during the investigations, the official added.
Amid the ongoing probe in the killing of the four-year-old child, the Goa Police on Wednesday found two empty bottles of a cough syrup in the service apartment where the CEO of the Bengaluru-based start-up killed her son. As per the police, the empty bottles of cough syrup indicated that the accused, Suchana Seth, had planned the murder and gave him a heavy dose of medicine.

The postmortem has revealed the child was smothered to death either with a cloth or a pillow, news agency PTI reported citing the officials.

The accused woman, Suchana Seth, allegedly killed her son in the apartment at Candolim in Goa and stuffed the body in a bag before taking it to neighbouring Karnataka in a taxi. She was arrested from Chitradurga in Karnataka on Monday night and brought to Goa on Tuesday.

How Did Suchana Killed Her 4-Year-Old Son?

Revealing details about the murder, Dr Kumar Naik, a government doctor in Karnataka who conducted the post-mortem of the kid said that the accused smothered her four-year-old son to death. He further informed that no wounds or signs of struggle were found on the body of the four-year-old. He added that a pillow or a wire is likely to have been used.

The boy was killed more than 36 hours earlier. He was strangled to death or what we call smothering. It doesnt look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or a wire or some other material was used, the doctor said.

Suchana Arrested By Goa Police

Suchana checked into the service apartment with her son on January 6 and after staying there for two days, she went to Bengaluru in a taxi on Monday. A day after the crime came to light, she was brought to Goa from Karnataka and was remanded in police custody for six days.

Meanwhile, the building that houses several service apartments at Candolim in North Goa on Tuesday prohibited outsiders from entering the premises after the murder of the four-year-old child was reported in one of these facilities. The owner of this building Sol Banyan Grande has instructed the security guards not to allow anyone, especially media persons, inside.

Other guests, who are currently staying in the premises, continue to spend their vacations at the property.
The Indian tourist count has dipped in Maldives since Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Lakshadweep and the controversy created by Maldivian ministers, official figures show.

In 2023, 209,198 Indians toured the Maldives, averaging almost 572 visitors daily. India topped the chart in 2023 in Maldives tourist numbers with 11.1 per cent market share as well as in 2022, as maximum tourists to Maldives were Indian.

But, following the controversy started by Maldivian ministers post PM Modis visit to Lakshadweep, the daily average of Indian visitors has dropped to around 400 this year.

As on January 8, only 3,334 Indian tourists have visited Maldives in 2024 so far, official figures from Maldives show. India has slipped to Number 4 in 2024 with 7.4 per cent share in Maldives tourist numbers in 2024. Russia, Italy and the UK are ahead of India now.

The decline in Indian tourists visiting the Maldives has become a growing concern for tour operators. Travel agents in the Maldives, while speaking to News18, expressed apprehension about the future impact of Indias apparent boycott.

They emphasised that those currently arriving had booked months in advance, and were perhaps reluctant to forfeit the full amount, including airfare.

The country was expecting to set a record in 2024 by adding more visitors this year, but due to the controversy, India is already slipping from the chart.

Travel agents in Maldives said that there is not any major impact as of now, but they are yet to see the future impact of new bookings.

As per my knowledge, mass Indian cancellations are not true. Even according to airlines. We have thousands of Indians working in tourism and they are very much a part of our community. But we are yet to see the future impact on new bookings, Ahmeem Razzaq told News18 through a message.

Another travel agent, Mohamed Ashfaq, said they are currently getting an inflow of Indians who had booked tickets earlier and didnt want to cancel the trip, fearing a loss of money. However, they are worried about future bookings till April, which remains peak season.
Tableaux Politics is back! After Punjab, West Bengal, and Delhi, now its Karnatakas tableaux design proposals for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi that have been rejected.

The issue has taken a political tone with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging that the Central government is constantly attacking Kannadigas with political malice.

Siddaramaiah called it an insult meted out by the Centre to seven crore Kannadigas by denying the opportunity for the states tableaux to be included in the Republic Day parade.

Siddaramaiah tweeted about how the BJP-led Central government had initially rejected Karnatakas tableaux last year. They later permitted keeping Karnataka elections in mind. This time, the central government has again continued its trend of insulting Kannadigas, the CM said in his statement.

According to the Karnataka government, several tableau proposals were sent from the state to the committee in charge of selection, but all the proposals were rejected.

The other states that failed to make it to the final cut were Punjab, Delhi, and West Bengal  all of which are not ruled by BJP. The chief ministers of the states have also written to the Centre seeking reasons why their designs have been rejected.

Karnataka has submitted seven tableau designs  two of which depict the contribution of development and democracy of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the erstwhile King of Mysore. Another design submitted was that of Brand Bengaluru, which also features Kempegowda, the founder of the Silicon capital of India. The fourth design that was submitted depicts the cultural ethos of the state with traditional folk dances like the Dollu Kunitha, Yakshagana, Bhoota Kola (popularised by the movie Kantara) among others.

A proposal showcasing the Congress five guarantees, Bengalurus growth spurt was also sent. That too got rejected, said a source in the Chief Ministers Office to News18.

The sixth design proposal included showcasing all GI-tagged products of the state  from Channapatna toys, Navalgund Durries, Bidriware from Bidar. A tableau design depicting Karnatakas floral bounty and culture was also submitted.

Siddaramaiah said that Kannadigas are already enraged by the continuous injustice from the Central government towards Kannada and Karnataka. The Central government should not test their patience. It is not too late yet, the Central government should immediately correct its mistake and rectify the injustice done to Karnataka by allowing us to participate in the tableau presentation at the prestigious Republic Day parade.

Submit Better Designs: BJP

Leader of Opposition and former deputy chief minister R Ashoka countered Siddaramaiahs allegations. Speaking to News18, he said the proposal may have been rejected as it may not have been good enough or of the quality that was expected of a natural tableau.

The selection is done by a committee which determines and selects the best designs. All states may not get a chance every time. The theme or the design must be really good and those that make it to the cut. The onus is on the present (Congress) government to send a design they cannot say no to. Isnt their fault that it may not have been good enough, Ashoka contended.

A tableau from Karnataka would be a matter of pride. I suggest they come up with a better design and submit again, rather than play petty politics like this, Ashoka told News18.

The Rejected Designs

While the Centre is yet to release its final list, the politics around the tableaux parade continues to rage on. According to the MyGov website, 331 designs have been submitted and are under consideration. This years theme revolves around Viksit Bharat (Developed India) and Bharat-Loktantra ki Matra (India-Mother of Democracy).

Punjab, Delhi and West Bengal also have submitted seven tableau design proposals each. Delhi, ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party, has submitted four sketches, including one that showcases its mohalla clinics and education services.

West Bengal proposed two designs exhibiting its cultural heritage and the Kanyashree scheme that seeks to improve the status of girls. The West Bengal submitted two designs  one that focused on the Kanyashree scheme, Kanyashree University, and the other on Bengals famous traditional dances and culture.

Punjab, like Karnataka, submitted seven designs, which included showcasing Mai Bhago, another one featuring the contributions and sacrifices made by freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh and another showcasing Punjabs rich culture.

Last year, the theme that dominated the tableaux of various states including Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Tripura at the Republic Day parade was Nari Shakti.

Of the 17 states and union territories tableaux showcased at the parade in 2023, Uttarakhands tableau based on the theme Manaskhand was judged the best.

In 2022, Keralas proposal of a tableaux presenting social reformer and spiritual leader Sree Narayana Guru was rejected. This led to a major outcry. It was said that the defence ministry, in charge of the parade, wanted a tableau depicting Adi Sankaracharya, the founder of Advaita philosophy, but Kerala insisted Narayan Guru. The standoff led to Kerala being rejected.

Selection Process

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is responsible for conducting the parade and coordinating arrangements with states and other agencies. Preparations for the ceremony begin months in advance. This process includes the selection and shortlisting of tableaux.

The ministry forms a committee comprising experts in arts, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, and related fields to review proposals.

After approval, participants present a three-dimensional model to the panel, which undergoes expert scrutiny for the final selection. Only shortlisted candidates proceed to the next round.

The proposed design or sketch is expected to be clear, straightforward, lively, easily comprehensible, and devoid of statistical data and superfluous details. The ministry issues guidelines highlighting the importance of incorporating eco-friendly materials and technology. Logos are restricted; only the state/UTs name, which can be in Hindi on the front, English on the back, and in the regional language on the sides is allowed.
Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina (R) and Vietnamese Ambassdor to Bangladesh Nguyen Manh Cuong at the meeting on January 9 (Photo: VNA)

PM Hasina made the statement during a meeting on January 9 with Vietnamese Ambassdor to Bangladesh Nguyen Manh Cuong, who came to cogratulate her over the success of the 12th General Election, and the victory of the Awami League (AL) party led by PM Sheikh Hasina.

Ambassdor Cuong expressed his belief that under the leadership of PM Hasina, the Government of Bangladesh will continue to obtain many great achievements in socio-economic development, ensuring a prosperous and happy life for the people.

The diplomat highlighted that the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries have been developed fruitffuly, especially in economics and trade.

He hoped that PM Hasina will support and create favourable conditions for opening a direct air route between the two countries, thus creating new motivations for the bilateral cooperative relations, and contributing to expanding trade and tourism connection and people-to-people exchange in the coming time./.
India said it is in constant touch with the leaders of Israel and Palestine in the United Nations on Tuesday. It said that Indias message has been clear and consistent since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas which could lead to a wider conflict in West Asia where it has asked to prevent further escalation of the war.

India also said that it has urged continued delivery of humanitarian aid and early restoration of peace and stability. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and has resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisis, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said on Tuesday in the UN General Assembly, according to a report by news agency PTI.

#WATCH | At the UNGA, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj says, "The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and has resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisisthe pic.twitter.com/QoEhUz2nXg ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

This is clearly unacceptable and we have strongly condemned the death of civilians, she said.

Kamboj told the 193-member UN General Assembly that India has noted that the immediate trigger for the ongoing 2023 Israel-Hamas war was the terror attacks on Israel on October 7. She said the attacks were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation.

India has a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism. There can be no justification for terrorism and hostage-taking, Kamboj said, demanding immediate and unconditional release of those taken hostage. The message that India has conveyed since the start of this conflict is clear and consistent. It is important to prevent escalation to ensure continued delivery of humanitarian aid and to work towards an early restoration of peace and stability. A peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward, Kamboj further added.

The UNGA meeting was held in the backdrop of US veto-ing an amendment proposed by Russia in December to a resolution tabled in the Security Council on delivery of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza strip.

An amendment to the resolution proposed by Russia was not approved after the US, a permanent member of the Council, cast a veto. This veto triggered the UNGA meeting that was convened on Tuesday. The UNGA is now required to meet and discuss any time a veto is cast in the Security Council by any of the five permanent Council members.

India took note of the adoption of the Security Council resolution aimed towards scaling up humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and commended UAEs able leadership in piloting the text.

The 15-nation Council had adopted the United Arab Emirates-drafted resolution that demanded scaling up humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza but had not called for a ceasefire.

After days of intense negotiations and delays on a vote, the Council had adopted the resolution with 13 votes in favour, none against and abstentions by Russia and the US.

Kamboj told the General Assembly that India has so far provided 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including 16.5 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies in two tranches to the people of Palestine.

India has also provided five million dollars, including the 2.5 million dollars it provided in December to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This will go to support the agencys core programs and services, including education, healthcare, relief and social services provided to Palestinian refugees, she said.

Kamboj reaffirmed Indias firm commitment to achieving a just, peaceful and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine issue. We firmly believe that only a two-state solution achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on final status issues will deliver an enduring peace that the people of Israel and Palestine desire and deserve. She said that for this, India urges the parties to de-escalate, eschew violence and work towards creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations.
In todays afternoon digest, we are covering the heinous murder of the four-year-old child by Suchana Seth, a start-up CEO, based out of Bengaluru. In other news we have PM Modi praising Indias development at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

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Bengaluru Start-Up CEO Planned Sons Murder, Police Find Evidence From Room in Goa

Amid the ongoing probe in the killing of the four-year-old child, the Goa Police on Wednesday found two empty bottles of a cough syrup in the service apartment where the CEO of the Bengaluru-based start-up killed her son. As per the police, the empty bottles of cough syrup indicated that the accused, Suchana Seth, had planned the murder and gave him a heavy dose of medicine. Read More

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Despite a tough schedule, back-to-back VVIP visits, including that of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, handling nearly a thousand phone calls and keeping a tab on the Ayodhya Ram Temple work, Champat Rai is not tired.

Ram ka kaam hai, ismein kya thakna (there is no fatigue. Its all in the name of lord Ram)," said Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra and vice-president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), as he returned to his office Bharat Kuti at Karsewak Puram Ayodhya on Tuesday evening.

Busy with the CMs visit to take stock of the work ahead of the Pran Pratishtha on January 22, Rai had his first meal of one puri and sabji in the evening as he spoke to News18.

ALSO READ | High on Rams Devotion, UP Wont Sell Liquor on Pran Pratishtha Day | Ayodhya Stage is Set for Jan 22

For Rai, the construction of Ram Temple is one of the most satisfying moments of his life". Its a dream come true for me. Seeing Ram temple being built day by day is satisfying," he told News18.

Comparing it to the day India gained Independence, Rai said, Our feeling is possibly the same we experienced on August 15, 1947."

          -     ' '                            22      pic.twitter.com/NABDKQmC4l  Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) January 9, 2024

THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS ON JAN 22

Sharing the sequence of events planned on January 22, Rai said the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple will take place at 12.20 pm. People are requested to visit their nearby temple on the occasion of Makar Sakranti and carry out thorough cleaning of the temple. They should make arrangements for LED or television screens. The entire event will be live-streamed to the temple. People should perform bhajans and kirtans at the temple and distribute prasad to celebrate the homecoming of Lord Ram after 500 long years," said Rai.

The members of the trust have already begun distribution of the sacred akshat (rice, grams mixed with turmeric and ghee) in different parts of Uttar Pradesh and will continue to distribute it till January 15 (Makar Sakranti). More than 7,000 guests from India and abroad, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are expected to be present for the inauguration. Over 1 lakh devotees are expected to reach Ayodhya.

500     The Sacred Garbhagriha of Prabhu Shri Ramlalla Sarkar is ready in all its glory to welcome the aaradhya of millions of Ram Bhakts across the world. pic.twitter.com/WWJjWc41va  Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra (@ShriRamTeerth) January 8, 2024

WELCOME GUESTS WELL

Besides, Rai also urged people of Ayodhya to receive inbound tourists on a humble note.

Ayodhyawasis are requested to welcome the guest and tourists with an open heart. People are requested to portray a fairer picture of Ayodhya by not over charging. Autorickshaws, hotels, dharamshalas and public transport operators are requested to charge reasonably," Rai added.

ALSO READ | Ram Bhakt Aayenge on Jan 22: Shabari Restaurant to App, UP CM Plans Grand Welcome for Ayodhya Guests

Its a rare event as almost 500 years after Ram Lalla is going to be virajman in Ayodhya. January 22, 2024 would be Diwali in a real sense as on that very day, the Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram at the temple is slated to be held," he added.

CHEMISTRY TEACHER TO RAM TEMPLE CRUSADER

Rais journey from a chemistry teacher to a Ram temple crusader was not easy.

Born in 1946 in the family of Rameshwar Prasad Bansal, a resident of Mohalla Saraimer of Nagina tehsil in Uttar Pradeshs Bijnor district, Rai became associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), when he was very young. After completing his higher education, he became a professor of chemistry at Dhampurs Ashram Degree College.

During the Emergency in 1977, Rai was put in jail in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement case. He was in jail for 18 months, where was tortured and was shifted to various districts," a member of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust said. I think those 18 months changed him completely. He came out as a different person, with even stronger determination. Instead of breaking him down, those 18 months toughened him up. Soon after he was released, he bounced back and re-embarked upon his journey for establishment of Ram Temple in Ayodhya."

ALSO READ | Newsmaker | Champat Rai: Chemistry Teacher Who Became An Architect of Ayodhya Ram Temple

Rai then joined the VHP in 1980 and continued to work for society.

For those who know Rai define him as a man who has dedicated his life to the cause of the Ram temple for 35 years, while staying away from the limelight".
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that his company was, is and will always remain a Gujarati firm. He added that hes a proud Gujarati. The businessmans statement came during the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

Ambani also praised Narendra Modi and said that the world listens to the prime minister. The world chants Modi hai toh mumkin hai. He is the most successful prime minister in the Indian history, the Reliance boss said, adding that his company will help Gujarat meet half of energy target.

Reliance has invested over Rs 12 lakh crore in creating world class assets and capacities across India in the last 10 years. Of this, more than one-third has been invested in Gujarat alone, said Ambani.

Reliance will continue to play a leading role in Gujarats growth story with significant investments in the next 10 years. Specifically, Reliance will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in green growth. We will help Gujarat target to meet half of its energy needs through renewable energy by 2030, he added.

Elaborating on the plans, the Reliance boss said, For this, we have started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar. This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials, and will make Gujarat the leading exporter of green products. We are ready to commission this in the second half of 2024 itself.

He further said, Reliance will make Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and circular economy. Reliance is setting up Indias first Carbon Fiber facility at Hazira.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey for appointment as Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, recommended the names of advocates Deepak Khot and Pavan Kumar Dwivedi for appointment as Judges of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.

On the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey, the collegium said it has scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record. The enquiries made by us with reliable sources to ascertain suitability of the candidate reveal that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is a competent officer suitable for elevation to the High Court. His service record shows that he has mostly been rated as a Very Good/Excellent officer.

The Judgment Evaluation Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court has graded the quality of judgments authored by him as Good/Excellent. Both the consultee-Judges have found him suitable for elevation as Judge of the High Court. The collegium, therefore, is of the considered view that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is fit and suitable for appointment as Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, it said.

In another decision, the collegium also recommended the elevation of advocate Pranav Shailesh Trivedi as a judge of the Gujarat High Court.

On September 26, 2022 the collegium of the High Court of Gujarat unanimously recommended, inter alia, that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Gujarat concurred with the above recommendation. On March 2, 2023, the Supreme Court collegium recommended that the proposal for the elevation of Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be returned to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat for being considered at the appropriate stage, the collegium said.

It said the Department of Justice has referred back the file for positive consideration of the above proposal. We have reconsidered our earlier recommendation dated March 2, 2023 in light of the reasons recorded by the Department of Justice in the file. We made further enquiries to come to a definite conclusion as to his suitability. The candidate was enrolled with the State Bar Council in the year 2000 and has put in 23 years of practice at the High Court of Gujarat.

His area of practice includes taxation, civil, criminal, constitutional, labour, company and service cases. He is specialized in taxation and criminal law. He qualifies in terms of age and income criteria and has a well-established practice. He has appeared in cases resulting in 68 reported judgments in matters argued by him, the collegium said.

The collegium endorsed the observations made in the file by the Department of Justice while referring back the above proposal for positive consideration and said it was of the considered view that Trivedi is fit and suitable for being elevated as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

In view of the above, the collegium resolves to recommend that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi, Advocate, be appointed as Judge of the High Court of Gujarat. The recommendation made by the Collegium on March 2, 2023 is accordingly recalled, it said.
The Supreme Court has upheld an order of the Allahabad High Court that dismissed an appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2004 against Union minister Ajay Mishras acquittal in a murder case.

The case pertains to the killing of Prabhat Gupta in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.

A top court bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said it was not inclined to interfere with the concurrent findings of facts recorded by the Lucknow bench of the high court and the trial court.

Having heard the senior counsel, Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, at length and after carefully perusing the material placed on record, we are not inclined to interfere with the concurrent findings of facts recorded by the two courts. Hence, the special leave petitions are dismissed, the bench said in its order passed on January 8.

The trial court had acquitted Mishra in the case in 2004, after which the state government challenged the decision in the high court.

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by petitioner Rajeev Gupta, challenging the May 2023 high court order that had said there was no error in the trial courts judgment.

Earlier, the Union minister had moved the apex court seeking a transfer of the appeal from the Lucknow bench of the high court to the principal bench at Prayagraj, which was declined.

Mishra and others were named in the FIR lodged in Lakhimpur in connection with the killing of 24-year-old Gupta, who was shot dead in the Tikunia area of the district.

The additional sessions judge in Lakhimpur Kheri acquitted Mishra and others in the case in 2004 for want of adequate evidence.

Aggrieved by the acquittals, the state government had preferred an appeal, while the deceaseds family had filed a separate revision petition challenging the judgment.
Suchana Seth, the chief executive officer (CEO) of an artificial intelligence start-up, had smothered her four-year-old son to death at least 36 hours before the post-mortem. There was reportedly no wounds or signs of struggle, and a pillow or a wire is likely to have been used.

The latest information was revealed in the childs post-mortem report. Dr Kumar Naik, a government doctor in Karnataka who conducted the post-mortem, told reporters, The boy was killed more than 36 hours earlier. He was strangled to death or what we call smothering. It doesnt look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or a wire or some other material was used.

He added that the body did not show signs of rigor mortis  stiffening of the limbs of the corpse caused by chemical changes in the muscles.

Goa Murder Case: What We Know So Far

 Suchana Seth was caught from Karnatakas Chitradurga district while allegedly trying to flee in a cab with her sons body stuffed in a bag.

 The heinous incident reportedly occurred on the intervening night of January 7 and 8 in a service apartment-hotel located in North Goas Sinquerim.

 Seth loaded the bag with body into a taxi she had ordered from the hotel she was staying at, and asked the driver to head towards Bengaluru.

ALSO READ | Suchana Seth May Have Gotten Away With Sons Murder If Not for an Urgent Message in Konkani

 It is said that Seth murdered her son because she did not want her estranged husband, Venkat Raman, to meet him. The court had allowed to Raman to meet their four-year-old son on Sundays after the couples divorce proceedings in 2020. The child was born in 2019 after the couple married in 2010, an officer close to the investigation said.

 A senior police official said, Raman, who was in Jakarta (Indonesia), was contacted by the police and told about the incident. After that, he returned to India. On his arrival in Chitradurga in the evening, he gave his consent for a post-mortem on his childs body.

 The body of the child has been handed over to his father after the post-mortem. He will be cremated later in the day at Rajaji Nagar in Bengaluru.

 According to the investigation, the 39-year-old CEO had also attempted suicide by cutting her left wrist with a sharp object.
A day after Suchana Seth, a CEO of the Bengaluru-based start-up, was arrested for allegedly killing her four-year-old son in Goa, the police said that during the investigation it found that the address listed for her company, The Mindful AI Lab, was not a dedicated office for the firm but was a co-working space instead.

In addition to this, it was also revealed that Seth also vacated her apartment in the Thanisandra area of Bengaluru around four months ago, reported Indian Express. She was living here with her son. We dont know where she is currently, a neighbour was quoted as saying.

According to Suchanas LinkedIn profile, she is the founder and CEO of a start-up named The Mindful AI Lab, which was registered in 2020. She was also among the top 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2021. Her profile describes her as an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience.

How Did Suchana Killed Her 4-Year-Old Son?

Revealing details about the murder, Dr Kumar Naik, a government doctor in Karnataka who conducted the post-mortem of the kid said that the accused smothered her four-year-old son to death. He further informed that no wounds or signs of struggle were found on the body of the four-year-old. He added that a pillow or a wire is likely to have been used.

The boy was killed more than 36 hours earlier. He was strangled to death or what we call smothering. It doesnt look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or a wire or some other material was used, the doctor said.

Suchana Attempted Suicide

The police informed that the 39-year-old CEO of a Bengaluru-based startup, Suchana Seth, also attempted to commit suicide after the gruesome act. Seth, who is originally from West Bengal, was arrested by the Goa Police from Chitradurga in Karnataka. The police has been granted custody for six days by a local Goa court.

Meanwhile, her estranged husband, Venkat Raman, was in Indonesia at the time of the alleged murder. He was called to Bengaluru on Tuesday evening for his sons post-mortem.
Eight members of a family attempted self-immolation in front of the Karnataka Assembly in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Police said the family took the extreme step because they were upset with a bank auctioning their house to recover loan dues.

According to a report by India Today, the family members, including women and children, poured kerosene on themselves outside the Vidhan Soudha (Karnataka Assembly). A quick intervention by the police averted what could have been a big tragedy. All the family members were detained by the police.

A video of the incident that went viral on social media showed cops taking the family into police vehicles.

The family said that they had taken a loan of Rs 50 lakh from the Bangalore City Cooperative Bank in 2016 to start a ginger cultivation business. Their business, however, incurred significant losses, leaving them struggling to repay the loan.

The family then sought help from Karnataka minister Zameer Ahmed Khan. Despite assurance by the minister to lower loan interest, the bank kept imposing higher rates, a member of the family was quoted by India Today as saying.

After the family failed to repay the EMIs, the bank moved to auction their house, valued at Rs 3 crore, for a mere Rs 1.41 crore to recover the dues.

I have come here to beg Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for justice. We have come to the streets, and I dont have money to feed my child. Zameer Ahmed Khan promised us, but nothing happened, a woman of the family said before pouring kerosene on herself.

A case has been registered against the family under two sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 309 for attempted suicide and 990 for creating a public nuisance related to suicide.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, alongside several global leaders on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister said that the next 25 years are going to be Indias Amrit Kaal. He further said the government is targeting to make India a developed nation by the time the country celebrates 100 years of its independence.

In the recent past, India completed 75 years of independence. Now, India is working on its goal for the next 25 years. We have the goal of making it a developed country by the time it celebrates 100 years of independence. Therefore, these 25 years duration is Indias Amrit Kaal, PM Modi said.

A total of 20 countries are participating in the show, which was inaugurated ahead of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

PM Modi noted that this is the first Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in this Amrit Kaal. Therefore, this is even more significant. Representatives from more than 100 countries, who are participating in this Summit, are crucial partners in this development journey of India, he said.

PM Modi also credited UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for high growth in India-UAE relations.

He stated that all major rating agencies believe that India will be among the three largest economies in the world in the next few years. In the rapidly changing world order, India is moving ahead as Vishwa Mitra (friend of the world), he added.

After inaugurating the summit, Modi is set to hold a meeting with CEOs of top global corporations. He will then travel to GIFT City where, at around 5.15 pm, he will interact with prominent business leaders in the Global FinTech Leadership Forum.

Earlier, speaking at the summit, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said that his company was, is and will always remain a Gujarati firm. He added that hes a proud Gujarati.

Ambani also praised Narendra Modi and said that the world listens to the prime minister. The world chants Modi hai toh mumkin hai. He is the most successful prime minister in the Indian history, the Reliance boss said, adding that his company will help Gujarat meet half of energy target.
A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying a new astronomical satellite named Einstein Probe (EP) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. China sent the satellite, which uses a new X-ray detection technology inspired by the lobster eye, into space on Tuesday to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks, with the aim of unveiling the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos.

The rocket was launched at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from here. (Photo by Zhang Jing/Xinhua)

XICHANG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday sent a new astronomical satellite into space to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe which flicker like fireworks, trying to reveal more about this violent and little-known side of the cosmos.

The satellite named Einstein Probe (EP), which uses new X-ray detection technology inspired by the functioning of a lobster eye, was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Weighing about 1.45 tonnes and as large as a full-size SUV, the satellite is shaped like a lotus in full bloom and features 12 petals and two stamens.

"This is the most beautiful satellite I've ever seen," said Yuan Weimin, principal investigator of the EP mission and a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The 12 "petals" are actually 12 modules consisting of wide-field X-ray telescopes (WXT), while the two "stamens" consist of two modules of follow-up X-ray telescopes (FXT).

These telescopes form a space observatory which is aimed at helping scientists capture the first light stemming from supernova explosions, search for and pinpoint X-ray signals accompanying gravitational wave events, and discover dormant black holes and other faint transient and variable celestial objects at the far reaches of the universe.

"Since black holes and gravitational waves are predictions made by Einstein's theory of general relativity, the satellite is named after the great scientist," Yuan said.

Scientists mimicked the special structure of the lobster eye in developing WXT, which can simultaneously achieve wide-field observation and X-ray focused imaging.

The WXT can keep an eye on one-twelfth of the entire sky at one glance, according to Ling Zhixing, a WXT instrument scientist.

FXT, developed by an international team led by Chinese scientists, feature high sensitivity and are not only suitable for rapid follow-up observation, but also able to independently discover explosive and transient sources, said Chen Yong, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the CAS, who is responsible for the development of FXT.

When lobster-eye telescopes receive X-ray signals from a transient source, the onboard computer will process the data in real time and pivot the spacecraft to target the celestial body with FXT. FXT will then conduct high-precision follow-up observation. The two telescopes will complement and cooperate with each other, said Zhang Chen, assistant to the EP mission's principal investigator.

The team also developed CMOS sensors for X-ray observation in space, which is an innovative X-ray astronomical detector, Zhang said.

A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying a new astronomical satellite named Einstein Probe (EP) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. China sent the satellite, which uses a new X-ray detection technology inspired by the lobster eye, into space on Tuesday to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks, with the aim of unveiling the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos.

The rocket was launched at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from here. (Photo by Ling Siqin/Xinhua)

A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying a new astronomical satellite named Einstein Probe (EP) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. China sent the satellite, which uses a new X-ray detection technology inspired by the lobster eye, into space on Tuesday to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks, with the aim of unveiling the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos.

The rocket was launched at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from here. (Photo by Qiu Lijun/Xinhua)

A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying a new astronomical satellite named Einstein Probe (EP) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. China sent the satellite, which uses a new X-ray detection technology inspired by the lobster eye, into space on Tuesday to observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks, with the aim of unveiling the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos.

The rocket was launched at 3:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) from here. (Photo by Zhang Jing/Xinhua)

Editor: WJH
Hindi is not just a language but an emotion. After Mandarin and English, it is the third-most spoken language in the world. The contribution of Hindi to Indian literature, in preserving the values, is remarkable. World Hindi Day is celebrated on January10 to honour the language and its contribution. As its name suggests, the day aims to spread awareness about the language. On the occasion of World Hindi Day, several special programs are organised to promote the language.

As we gear up to celebrate the special day, here are a few details about this important day.

World Hindi Day 2024 Wishes To Share

Dont be ashamed to speak Hindi. Hearty greetings to all of you on Hindi Day! Hindi is our language; we should observe Hindi Diwas every day and make Hindi proud. Happy Hindi Diwas. Hindi has been such a language since time immemorial, which has not boycotted any words simply because it is foreign. Let us never forget that and celebrate our language. Hindi is a beautiful language with easy words. Share the love for the language especially today. Happy Hindi Diwas! Till Hindi is not made the power of the poor, till then the country will not get freedom from poverty. Happy Hindi Diwas! Wishing you a very Happy Hindi Diwas to you. Let us add more purpose to this day by promising ourselves to always stand for the honour of our mother tongue. Many wishes for a pride-filled Hindi Diwas. Celebrate the beautiful Hindi literature every day! Wishes for Hindi Diwas. Let Hindi spread its wings more. Happy Hindi Diwas. Hindi Diwas is not a single day, it is a way of life.

History and Significance

World Hindi Day was first celebrated on January 10, 2006, after former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh designated this date as World Hindi Day. This day was reportedly picked to mark the anniversary of the first time when Hindi was spoken in the United Nations General Assembly in 1949. Since 1975, the Ministry of External Affairs has been organising World Hindi Conferences in countries like the United Kingdom, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America, and Fiji. These are the countries with a significant Hindi-speaking population. Last years conference was held in Fiji in association with the Government of Fiji.

Theme

The theme for World Hindi Day is Hindi  Bridging Traditional Knowledge and Artificial Intelligence.

10 Facts on World Hindi Day

As per the 2011 Language Census, released in 2018, Hindi is the only scheduled language with an increase in general speaking population. It showed an increase of almost 6%. As per the 2011 language Census, about 43.63% of Indians listed Hindi as their mother tongue. Hindi was the 3rd most spoken language in the world in 2019, just behind English and Mandarin. Hindi has 615 million speakers around the world. On September 14, 1949, the Government of India adopted Hindi as the official language. Hindi is widely spoken in Nepal, Fiji, Mauritius, Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. As per the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Hindi is taught as a subject in 176 universities worldwide. The first published Hindi books are believed to be Heera Lals treatise on Ain E Akbari, called Ain e Akbari ki Bhasha Vachanika, and Rewa Maharajas treatise on Kabir. Both books were published in 1795. The alphabetical table of Hindi in Devnagri script is called Varnamala. Alam Ara, released on March 14, 1931, is considered to be the first Hindi talking movie.

World Hindi Day 2024 Quotes
Ankita Lokhandes mother Vandana Lokhande has reacted to the allegation that her actress-daughter often uses late actor Sushant Singh Rajputs name on Bigg Boss 17 to gain sympathy. Ankitas mother was speaking to India Today recently when argued that her daughter lived with SSR for eight years and therefore, they shared a special bond.

It is not a strategy or way to gain sympathy. They have been together for eight years and she has lived that journey with him. Even when they broke up, she has always thought well of him and how it was his way to move ahead in his career. And when he passed away, she was completely broken as they had that kind of bond, Vandana Lokhande said.

Interestingly, this comes a day after Ankitas mother-in-law accused the actress of using Sushants name to gain sympathy for herself. Ankita has been naming Sushant. Looks like she is trying to take sympathy for herself. Sushant is anyway gone, Vicky Jains mother told Saas Bahu Aur Saajish.

Ankita and Sushant made their acting debut together with Pavitra Rishta when they fell in love with each other. The two dated for seven years before they broke up. Sushant was found dead in his Mumbai apartment in June 2020.

In one of the previous Bigg Boss 17 episodes, Ankita recalled Sushants death and told Munawar, When I saw him, I felt everything was over. So many films he watched, and everything was over. There was this one picture of him which was very bad.

It looked like he was sleeping. I just kept looking at that picture and thought there was so much in his brain. I knew him very well. He must have had so much in his brain but all was vanished. You are nothing, youre just a body then, the actress added.
Korean actor Ji Chang-wooks recent decision to decline the offer to play the male lead in the upcoming Korean adaptation of the French thriller La Mante has left fans and industry insiders buzzing. On January 9, TenAsia reported that the actor, widely known for his versatility and dynamic performances, was initially set to take on the pivotal role in the series. However, the anticipation surrounding Ji Chang-wooks involvement took a turn when a representative from his agency, Spring Company, clarified the situation. According to the spokesperson, while Ji Chang-wook indeed received an offer for La Mante, he had to decline due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts.

This revelation disappointed fans who were looking forward to seeing the actor in a new and challenging role following his recent success in the JTBC drama Welcome to Samdalri. In this drama, Ji Chang Wooks portrayal of Cho Yong-pil, a weather forecaster at the Jeju Meteorological Administration, received acclaim for its passion and depth, reports Soompi.

The plot of Welcome to Samdalri revolves around a once-popular photographer, Jo Sam Dal, who loses his dignity due to an incident. She now returns to her hometown, a place she always wanted to avoid. Here she meets her long-lost childhood friend Jo Yong-pil, played by Ji Chang-wook.

In the midst of this development, attention has also shifted to actress Go Hyun-jung, who is now reportedly in talks for the lead role in La Mante. The actress, recognised for her captivating performance as Kim Momi in Netflixs Mask Girl, is currently reviewing the offer from the production.

Mask Girl, released in August 2023, portrays the turbulent life of Kim Mo-mi, an ordinary office worker with a complex about her appearance. The character covers her face with a mask every night and becomes entangled in unintended incidents while working as an internet broadcast BJ.

Talking about the much-anticipated series itself, the Korean adaptation of La Mante is based on the French thriller series of the same name. The plot revolves around a woman who is a former serial killer but has been imprisoned for a long time now. As a series of murders with her distinctive style unfolds, the police approach her to assist in solving the cases, creating a gripping narrative.

The original French-language miniseries was released in 2017 on Netflix and has received much praise ever since.
The big Bollywood Kapoor family is known for their grand feasts and celebrations in the film industry. Be it a festive occasion or a regular dinner, stars from the Kapoor family have time and again reminded fans that their love for good food is a common trait that all of them share. Adding to the Kapoor familys food saga is a recent Instagram post shared by Kareena Kapoor Khan. Kareena offered a glimpse into her endless love for a specific cuisine. Seated at a table, she indulged in a delectable meal, sending a clear message that no interference would be tolerated between her and this particular cuisine.

If youve not guessed it already, Kareena Kapoor is talking about Chinese food in her latest IG post. Accompanying the photo is a caption that left no room for doubt: No one ever come in between me and my Chinese food. I take it very seriously. Foodie for life..Kapoors and their food.

Take a look at it here:

Kareena Kapoors love for Chinese cuisine is well known among her fans as she has mentioned it on several occasions previously too.

Early last year, during an interview with Curly Tales, the actress revealed the Kapoor familys collective adoration for Chinese cuisine. She mentioned that this preference has become a tradition, with noodles and fried rice consistently gracing their dining table during family gatherings, lunches, and dinners.

Talking about her culinary preferences, beyond her affection for Chinese cuisine, Kareena Kapoor also exhibits a genuine love for Italian food. On Friendship Day 2023, she deviated from the conventional dedication to a person, choosing instead to celebrate a particular Italian dish. She shared an image that captured her poised over a bowl of spaghetti drenched in tomato sauce, showcasing her appreciation for the rich flavours of Italian cuisine.

Further emphasising her love for Italian cuisine, Kareena Kapoor had earlier shared a heartfelt post on her wedding anniversary, expressing the enduring connection she shares with her husband, Saif Ali Khan. In the photo she shared, Saif smiles as he looks into the camera while Kareena looks happy biting into a cheesy pizza slice.

The caption read, This is US. You, Me and PizzaForever Kinda LoveHappy Anniversary husband, encapsulating the significance of Italian cuisine in their relationship.

If you relate to this amount of love and enthusiasm for your favourite food, you just might be on par with the foodie spirit of our beloved Bebo.
Kareena Kapoor Khan has surely come a long way since her debut film Refugee in 2000. With a career spanning over two decades, Kareena Kapoor impressed critics and cine-buffs alike with her versatility. From playing a chirpy and vivacious Geet in Jab We Met to essaying a complex and mysterious character in Talaash, the actresss filmography is not only diverse in terms of genres but also provides a coherent testement to her incredible acting range. While the actress ventured into the OTT space with Jaane Jaan, Kareena Kapoor added another feather to her cap when she lent her voice for Black Widow.

During an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Kareena Kapoor Khan shared her experience working on the Audible series, being the voice of Helen Black/Black Widow, working with Masaba Gupta, her upcoming films Singham Again and The Buckingham Murders and more.

Here are the excerpts:

How does it feel voicing an iconic Marvel character like Black Widow/Helen Black? What prompted you to take up this audio role?

Voicing an iconic character like Black Widow was an incredible experience. Its a chance to reimagine the characters in a way that engages the audiences imagination on a whole new level. The storytelling and the opportunity to engage listeners through the sheer power of voice, courtesy of Audible, were the major draw.

What are some of the qualities you like about Black Widow? And what were some of your own quirks that you used to give it that extra edge?

Black Widows qualities of strength, intelligence, and emotional depth make her an intriguing, and multifaceted character I would say. We tried to bring out these traits through the nuances of my voice, adding a layer of depth that would resonate with listeners in this audio format. We also experimented, adding layers to Black Widows persona that may surprise even long-time fans.

Marvel Studios are known for producing path-breaking visual extravaganzas with the films in their roster. However, for an audio podcast, all those visual cues are absent and one has to purely rely on the power of their voice to form that conduit with the listeners. How challenging was that aspect for you as an actor?

In the audio storytelling medium, we lose those visual elements, and it falls back solely on the strength of our voices to connect with the audience. Its quite a challenge as an actor because you have to create a vivid world, characters, and emotions using only your voice. This aspect pushes the boundaries of creativity and relies on the audiences imagination to paint the scenes we narrate/express to them. I accepted this challenge wholeheartedly. I believe it adds a new dimension to the storytelling experience, allowing listeners to engage in a different yet equally immersive way.

What are some other Marvel characters that you would like to voice someday? Also, which are your favourite Marvel films?

I have enjoyed all Marvel films and there is something in all characters that attracts me as an actor to voice it someday. For now, I am happy being the voice of Black Widow.

For this, you teamed up with Masaba Gupta, which according to me is a perfect combo. Tell us something about your camaraderie with Masaba Gupta and how was the entire experience working with her on this podcast series?

Working with Masaba Gupta on this Audible project was an absolute delight and brought perfect synergy. She is not only a talented designer but also a creative force in her own right. It was a great collaboration where we both brought our individual strengths to the project, bringing you a podcast series that were both proud of.

What is it about this audio storytelling medium that you find the most fascinating? In what way do you see it growing here in India in the coming times? And how was your experience working with Audible?

This medium fascinated me because it provides a personal, immersive experience for the listeners. I believe the medium will grow in India as more audiences are making a shift to podcasts and audio content. Helen Black, the character I portray, is a captivating blend of charisma and power. Shes a highly skilled assassin, challenging the dominance of supervillains. Its an exciting experience to breathe life into such a dynamic protagonist. Working with Audible was fantastic; they have brought innovation to the way stories are told; their commitment to pushing storytelling boundaries and creating a rich, audio-centric experience was both inspiring and fulfilling. Its great to be contributing to the immersive vision crafted by them.

If you could do a podcast series based on a character that you have already played for example Geet from Jab We Met or Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, but with a different storyline, would you be up for that? If yes, which are some of those characters that can bloom even further on an audio format?

These characters are iconic, I feel they should not have a reboot.

All the reviews that have come out for The Buckingham Murders are nothing short of stellar. For all those who are eagerly waiting to watch the film, what should they be looking forward to? And how did you tackle a character like that?

I am glad that people have enjoyed the film and my performance. I have attempted something new with this film  it is a gut-wrenching plot and very intense character. I was really excited and nervous to play this character .

Youll be part of Singham Again. There is a lot of buzz about the film as well as your character. What do you have in store for your fans? And hows it like to be a part of Rohit Shetty cop-universe?

The audience will see a more fierce Avni.  Her character has a new turn. I have worked with Rohit on three blockbusters before, this is my fourth, all I can say is Im really excited to be working with the team again.
In discussions for the upcoming drama The Price of Confession (literal title), Kim Ji-won is currently considering an offer to join the cast alongside Jeon Do-yeon. A media outlet reported on January 9 that she has received the offer and is in the process of finalising her schedule for the project. Kim Ji-wons agency, HighZium Studio, acknowledged the offer, stating that The Price of Confession is among the projects she is considering. Kim Ji-won, the South Korean actress, garnered recognition for her performances in the television series The Heirs and Descendants of the Sun.

Subsequently, she transitioned into leading roles, showcasing her talent in productions such as Fight for My Way, Arthdal Chronicles, Lovestruck in the City, and My Liberation Notes.

The drama, which initially had Song Hye-kyo and Han So-hee in talks for lead roles, underwent changes when they departed from the series in May 2023.

Jeon Do-yeon then entered discussions to assume the lead role in this mystery thriller. Fans are expecting Yeons involvement will make the series even more interesting, keeping in mind her acting prowess. The South Korean actress has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first Korean actress ever to win Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival. Her outstanding performance in Lee Chang-dongs 2007 film Secret Sunshine also earned her the Best Performance by an Actress award at the 1st Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Talking about the series she will be working in, The Price of Confessions narrative focuses on the intricate details of a murder case involving two women, reports Soompi.

Originally set to be directed by Lee Eung-bok of Descendants of the Sun, the project faced a shift when he declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts in January 2023. The reins were subsequently handed over to director Lee Jung-hyo, known for his work on Crash Landing on You and Doona!

The anticipation for The Price of Confession began in 2022 when Song Hye Kyo and Han So Hee were initially revealed to be considering roles in the drama. Their collaboration sparked excitement when they shared an image related to the project on their Instagram Stories in March 2023. However, after extensive discussions, both actresses confirmed their departure from the project in May, leading to the ongoing talks with Kim Ji-won for a potential role in this intriguing thriller.
Ankita Lokhandes actress friend Rashami Desai has come out in her support. On Wednesday, Rashami took to her Instagram stories, shared a throwback picture with the Pavitra Rishta actress and penned down an appreciation note. Rashami mentioned that whatever Ankita is today is because of her hard work and urged the actress to remain strong during this tuff time.

Stay the way u are. I love you for being u. U have been thru Manny changes and its not only for u. The contribution of ur love and the person u love is equally important. U have earned everything with ur hard hardship and became #ankitalokhande virast main mila fearless attitude ne tujhe banaya hai. And I really love u so much, Rashami wrote.

The former Bigg Boss contestant further asked Vicky Jains mother not to play Bigg Boss outside of the show. She also hoped that the families will understand situations once the couple is out of Salman Khans show. U never needed this. But with lot of love u have accepted and hope family will surly understand the show will get over and its not about ankita. Its about both of them. They are mature enough to handle. And I know aunty aap ko shayad bura lage. Par vo dono mere dost Hai. They are part of #bigboss and Contestant. Aap Bahar aake bigboss na khele plz. Zindagi abhi baaki hai mere dost @lokhandeankita @realvikasjainn (sic), Rashami added.

For the unversed, Vicky Jains mother Ranjana recently visited the Bigg Boss 17 house as a part of the family week. After returning from the show, she spoke to the media and made several statements, some even against her actress daughter-in-law. In one of the interviews, Vickys mom revealed that they were not in favour of his wedding Ankita.

Vicky married Ankita. We were not in support of their marriage. Vicky got married and now he is ready to take the responsibility. We have nothing to do with it. We are seeing so much but we havent told him anything. He is there he will take care of his relationship. I trust Vicky he will take care of his relationships, she told Pinkvilla.
Sonu Sood, in recent years, has gained a lot of recognition for his philanthropic endeavours. The actor is now set to don the directors hat with this upcoming release, Fateh. The film is slated to release this year and also stars Jacqueline Fernandez. Recently, Sonu Sood, who also plays a key role in the film, shared some behind-the-scenes (BTS) images from the film set and expressed that this movie aims to shed light on cyber risks in the digital world.

Expressing his excitement for this upcoming film, Sonu Sood recently turned to social media to share BTS photographs from the set of Fateh as well as his remarks regarding the film. He wrote, Fateh has been special and a personal film to me. It is a tribute to the youth who have been a victim of cyber crime on various levels. Get Ready. In the first picture, the actor is seen dressed in a black outfit and holding a high end gun. In the following image Sonu Sood is seen filming behind the camera with his team.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sonu Sood (@sonu_sood)

Many online users are excited for the upcoming film and expressed the same in the comments sections. A user wrote, Too good cant wait. while another said, We cant wait to see this great combo, Jacky and sonu. Something different hopefully!!

Last year, in October, Sonu Sood completed the Delhi schedule for his film, Fateh. Fans and audience members alike reacted positively to the announcement. The lead actress in Fateh, Jacqueline Fernandez, had shared BTS photographs from the Delhi shoot with her fans on social media, along with the accompanying caption, Delhi schedule wrap for fateh thank you Sonu Sood for always inspiring us and pushing us to do our best.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jacqueliene Fernandez (@jacquelienefernandez)

Apart from Sonu Sood and Jacqueline Fernandez as the leads, Fateh also stars Vijay Raaz and Shivjyoti Rajput in important roles. According to reports, the cast of the film includes some of Hollywoods top names, such as the director of photography, research team, and action choreographers. Fateh is billed as a dramatic and action-packed drama, and its compelling premise has sparked tremendous interest. The plot of the film revolves around the titular character, a former gangster hired to protect a young woman. To keep her safe, he must use all of his powers while also striving to understand the truth about the nature and origins of the threats she faces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) Al Nahyan coursing down the roads of Ahmedabad in an unprecedented show of bonhomie.

The roadshow testifies to the fact that the UAE has become a steadfast partner to India over the years and especially so after Prime Minister Modi unveiled the contours of his Think West policy soon after being voted to office in 2014.

Through this instrumentality, India has gone on to demonstrate unimaginable diplomatic dexterity: welding together at one end of the spectrum Israel and at the other the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This impossible jumble of contradictions has been christened I2U2 or the India-Israel-UAE-U.S.A quad.

Though they will never acknowledge it, Indias diplomatic clinch with the UAE is a source of consternation for many on the ideological Left  politicians and experts alike.

This is because the blossoming relationship undercuts the so-called Left-Liberal ecosystems attempt to position India as an exclusivist Hindu Rashtra where Muslims are being aggressively pushed to the margins.

This narrative is once again peaking as the nation draws closer to the date of the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lallas idol at Ayodhya.

Youve heard the propaganda. From Rahul Gandhi saying that India is ruled by the Hindu equivalent of the militantly communal Muslim Brotherhood, to Shashi Tharoor dismissing India as a Hindu Pakistan and several in between painting a dire picture for the future of Muslims in an incipient Hindu Rashtra.

But if India had ghettoized its Muslim population and Hindu supremacists had launched a genocide, why would Arab countries be deepening their engagement with India under Modis leadership? In fact, if anything, several Arab and Islamic countries have elevated ties or taken pro-India positions on issues that could risk friendship and credibility with brother Islamic countries like Pakistan and Turkiye.

Many Gulf nations for instance were pointedly muted when the Modi government abrogated Article 370 and Article 35(a), paving the way for the constitutional and emotional integration of Jammu & Kashmir with mainland India. This even when some Western democracies expressed their reservations.

The UAE, as a matter of fact, surprised perhaps even New Delhi by backing the abrogation to the hilt. The UAE called the political reform a step towards improving social justice and security and confidence of the people in local governancefurther stability and peace.

For this endorsement, the UAE had to endure an earful from its traditional partner Pakistan that stakes claim to Jammu & Kashmir.

In September 2023, while hosting the G-20 summit the Modi government pulled off the equivalent of a diplomatic coup by floating the India Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEEC). The grouping will lock the Middle East and Europe into an immutable economic embrace with India. Moreover, it also thwarts Chinas growing influence in the region through the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).

Many members of the anti-Modi ecosystem will insist that these partnerships should not be considered an endorsement of Indias secular credentials under the NDA. That ties between India and Gulf nations are purely transactive and certainly above the tug of morality. While countries have sometimes chosen to overlook sticky problems, especially linked to human rights, it would be naive to suggest that the UAE  an Islamic nation  would go the extra yard for purely commercial reasons to sacrifice Muslim interests in India. OIC, the umbrella grouping of Gulf nations has always spoken up for Muslim rights around the world.

And if this werent the case Modis BJP would never have dropped its spokespersons after their utterances drew flak from Middle Eastern nations.

Even the United States, that is economically overleveraged to China, has demonstrated the nous to denote the Xi Jingpin administration in Beijing as one of particular concern for engaging in and tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom. So why would Gulf Nations hold back on India?

The United States has never conferred any significant state award upon any visiting Chinese Head of State. Modi, on the other hand, has been singled out for honours by almost all Gulf nations.

Forging ties with a nation for self-serving ends is one thing, but imparting certificates to its leader demonstrates a whole new level of commitment. A Civilian award denotes the respect that the people  in this case Muslims in Islamic nations  have for the Indian Prime Minister. Respect as we know is earned through actions.

The left-liberal ecosystems attempt at propagating the Islamophobia bogey is looking more and more like a jaded enterprise with no-takers.
There is a one-month window for the CAA to be implemented before the next Budget session, which is expected to start on February 1, 2024. The Modi government is expected to notify the rules shortly.

History was made on December 9, 2019, when the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) with an overwhelming majority of 311 votes to 80 votes. Again, on December 11, after a 9-hour-long, intense debate, the Rajya Sabha passed the CAB with 125-105 votes. Needless to add, the passage of CAB by the Indian Parliament, which represents the will of a large part of Indias 1.4 billion citizens, is the biggest endorsement that this landmark law has both its head and heart in the right place.

What then, explains the vicious narrative against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)?

First and foremost, CAA does not violate Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. Those harping about the right to equality under Article 14 have no problem in taking specific privileges conferred on minorities in India under Articles 29 and 30. Why? Is it a case of wanting to having your cake and eating it too? In any case, all rights including those under Article 14, are not absolute but subject to reasonable restrictions pertaining to public order, morality and health. It took a fearlessly resolute leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modis stature to bring in the CAA, easily one of the most enabling and empowering provisions in recent times. Parties with a divisive agenda like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) even moved the Supreme Court against the Ministry of Home Affairs notification pertaining to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees.

As per the notification dated May 28, 2021, the MHA invited applications for citizenship from Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists hailing from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are currently residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab. While the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, will be framed soon, the Ministry invoked the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955. In exercise of powers conferred under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the Central government hereby directs that powers exercisable by it for registration as citizen of India under Section 5, or for grant of certificate of naturalisation under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act 1955 in respect of any person belonging to minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, residing in the districts mentioned and the States mentioned below, the home ministry notification said.

This is in addition to the 16 districts in seven states that were given powers to verify and approve citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955 (and rules framed under the law in 2009), earlier. Now, the provision is being implemented in a total of 29 districts in nine states. Interestingly, the MHA order makes no mention of West Bengal and Assam, both of which have long borders with Bangladesh. It is also in no way connected to the CAA enacted in 2019.

What is the procedure under the 1955 Act? The MHA order has been issued under the older Citizenship Act passed in 1955 and not under CAA 2019. A similar notification was issued in 2018 as well for other districts in several states. Under the 1955 Act, people who are neither born in India nor can claim citizenship based on ancestry (illegals are excluded) can also become a citizen of India by registration, by fulfilling any one of the criteria, like being Indian-origin.

A person can also become a citizen by naturalisation, this has the broadest eligibility. There are no requirements of Indian descent, birth or Indian origin. To become a naturalised citizen, a person must be residing in India throughout the 12 months preceding the citizenship application. Also, immediately before these 12 months, the person must be residing in India for a total of 11 out of 14 years.

How CAA 2019 changes it? The option of naturalisation or registration is not available to illegal immigrants. For legal migrants, who want to apply for Indian citizenship, all the rules are the same. There is no discrimination between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan can also become Indian citizens through legal ways, like everyone else. Illegal migrants are foreigners who enter India without a valid passport or travel document or stay beyond the permitted time.

Heres where the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 comes in. The Act states that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan will not be treated as illegal migrants, and therefore, be eligible for naturalisation. This exception has been provided as the above communities, facing religious persecution, were forced to cross the border to save their lives and dignity.

Also, under provisions for citizenship by naturalisation, they will have to fulfill the requirement of 5 years of residence in India, as opposed to 11 out of 14 years for others.

The Act exempts all Northeast states except non-Tribal areas of Tripura and Assam. It also puts a cut-off date  only those who have come to India before 31 December 2014 are eligible though there is a buzz that the cut-off date norms may be further relaxed.

What is the Citizenship Amendment Act?

The Act simply makes it easier for persecuted minorities from Indias neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become citizens of India as it entitles Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians facing religious persecution in these nations, to seek Indian citizenship. The Act says the refugees of these six communities will be given Indian citizenship if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014, after residing in India for five years, vide Amendment 2 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Who benefits from CAA?

Well, the legislation applies to those who were forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion. The requirement to stay in India for those belonging to any of the aforesaid 6 religions for at least 11 years before applying for Indian citizenship has been reduced to five years. Indian citizenship, under present law, is given either to those born in India or if they have resided in the country for a minimum of 11 years.

Who is excluded from the Acts purview?

The Act does not apply to tribal areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya, because of being included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Also, areas that fall under the Inner Limit notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation,1873, will also be outside the CAAs purview. This keeps almost the entire Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland out of the ambit of the Act.

How is the National Register of Citizens (NRC) linked to the Citizenship Act?

The National Register of Citizens is an exercise that will enlist all Indian citizens on a national register by vetting their documentation. The NRC does not exclude any Muslim who is a genuine Indian citizen. It only seeks to provide citizenship to minorities from Muslim-majority nations, where the said minorities are known to face persecution.

NRC does not discriminate based on religion, so Muslims have nothing to fear. Every sane country in the world has a national register of its citizens and India is no exception. Opposition parties like the Congress have amnesia and conveniently forgotten that the Assam accord inked by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, provided for NRC exercise in Assam, to check illegal migrants and infiltrators. Congress-led Central governments also made suitable insertions in the Citizenship Act thereafter by way of Clause 14A in 2004, relating to the issuance of national identity cards to all citizens of India and later Schedule 4A in 2009, was also added. Hence fanning passions, by spreading falsehoods regarding the NRC and CAA, to further the Congress brand of divisive politics, simply because it has been electorally vanquished by the electorate, is not justified.

What is the Modi governments reasoning for CAA?

Home minister, the very erudite and dynamic Amit Shah has said that the measure has the endorsement of over a billion Indians as it was always a part of the BJP manifesto, both in the general elections in 2014 and 2019. The Act does not discriminate against anyone and does not snatch anyones rights and that is precisely the reason the BJP-led Modi government stormed to power with a brute majority, in two successive Lok Sabha elections.

The exclusion of Muslims is not an act of Islamophobia. Muslims in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the majority community in these nations and the CAA is meant for only minorities facing religious persecution in these nations. In any case, there are 50 Muslim-majority nations globally, of which 45 have officially declared themselves as Islamic Republics. Muslims, including Ahmediyas and Bahais, can find shelter in any of these 50 Muslim-centric nations but a persecuted Hindu for instance has no country to turn to. Hence those protesting against CAA are exhibiting Hinduphobia. Being pro-Hindu or pro-Buddhist does not make CAA anti-Muslim.

How many people are likely to apply for naturalisation under CAA?

With the cut-off date set at December 31, 2014, the number of people who will benefit from the amendments stands at 31,313, a figure submitted by the IB during a parliamentary committee hearing on the bill in 2016. As per official records, there are 31,313 persons belonging to minority communities (Hindus- 25447, Sikhs  5807, Christians  55, Buddhists  2 and Parsis  2) who have been given long-term visas based on their claim of religious persecution in their respective countries and want Indian Citizenship. Hence, these persons will be immediate beneficiaries.

What is the Northeast Angle in the CAA?

The opposition to the CAA has been miniscule. It is only vested, politically aligned groups owing allegiance to the Congress and leftists who are fanning violence to derive political capital given their depleting political fortunes. Assam and Meghalaya saw normalcy after the temporary imposition of curfew, preventing agenda-driven protests by vested groups from taking a grim turn. The Northeastern states have faced large-scale migration from infiltrators and illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries, thanks to years of lethargy displayed by successive Congress-led regimes. However, with the unstoppable Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, Northeast is finally getting its due.

It is precisely to prevent any further large-scale demographic invasion by infiltrators like the Rohingyas for instance, that the CAA will step in, by legitimising the residency of only persecuted minorities from the three neighbouring countries, without damaging the existing socio-demographic fabric of the Northeast.

Will CAA apply to all Indian states?

The amended law inserts a new clause that says: Nothing in this section shall apply to the tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under The Inner Line notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

Apart from the above exceptions, the law shall be applicable across all states. The chief ministers of Congress-ruled states like Punjab, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have stated that they will not implement the act in their respective states. However, states do not have the power to refuse implementation of the law, as it is enacted under the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

In the last two years, over 30 district magistrates and home secretaries of nine states have been given powers to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act of 1955. The treatment to be given to the classified communities in the particular neighbouring countries has been attracting the attention of successive governments but no government took any legislative measure and merely acknowledged the problem and took some administrative action through executive instructions regarding entry, stay and citizenship issues of these classified communities.

It was finally the relentless conviction of PM Modi that resulted in the passage of the historic CAA, to enable and empower these classified communities and legitimise their status in India.

It is Indias responsibility to give refuge to those people who have been oppressed due to their faith. These people have faced historical injustice and to stop this and fulfill our old promise, we have brought the CAA. Our government brought in CAA to give citizenship to such people but some political parties are in competition to do vote bank politics. For whose interest are they working? Why cant they see atrocities faced by these people in Pakistan? There are many Dalits (among those who have been oppressed). These people have been oppressed, PM Modi had rightfully and famously said, after the passage of the CAA.

Modi further said that a sanitation job advertisement by the Pakistani Army stated it was only open to non-Muslims, implying it was for Dalits. He also referred to the Enemy Property Act and said those opposing this legislation are also the very lot against the CAA. After partition, those who left India for Pakistan could still lay claim to their properties. The Enemy Property Act 2016 allows the transfer of enemy property from the enemy to other persons.

Citizenship Amendment Act corrects historical injustices and fulfills the promise made under the Nehru-Liaquat pact to religious minorities in neighbouring countries. What Nehru promised but failed to do was finally done by PM Modi. Dont forget India had assured minorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan when it gained independence in 1947 that they could come to the country if needed.

This was Mahatma Gandhis wish and also the intention behind the Nehru-Liaquat pact, which Nehru however deliberately failed to honour, driven by appeasement politics which has always been the hallmark of the Congress. The pact signed in 1950 between Nehru and his Pakistan counterpart Liaquat Ali Khan was aimed at allowing refugees to return to dispose of their property, return abducted women and looted property and de-recognise forced conversions.

The CAA does not disturb the status quo of any Indian citizen. It simply gives legitimacy to persecuted religious minorities who are already residing or have been forced to seek refuge in India and were compelled to flee from their home countries after facing religious persecution. Muslims are not a minority in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, hence Muslims have been excluded from CAA.

The CAA exercise is constitutional, legal and simply put, symbolises the greatest good of the greatest number. It is yet another example of how the resoluteness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi achieved what a vacuous Nehru promised but failed to deliver.

Sanju Verma is an Economist, National Spokesperson of the BJP and the Bestselling Author of The Modi Gambit. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
This file photo shows experts of China's agricultural technology cooperation team in Cote d'Ivoire training local farmers in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, April 29, 2023. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (China's Agricultural Technology Cooperation team in Cote d'Ivoire/Handout via Xinhua)

A farmer packs newly harvested paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 8, 2024 shows a reaper harvesting paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

A reaepr harvests paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 8, 2024 shows a view of ripe paddy rice fields in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Farmers harvest paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Guo Guangyu (2nd L), a member of China's agricultural technology cooperation team in Cote d'Ivoire, marks the packs of newly harvested paddy rice grains with local famers in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

A farmer driving a reaper harvests paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Guo Changyou (L), leader of China's agricultural technology cooperation team in Cote d'Ivoire, communicates with local farmers in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Farmers are pictured as they harvest paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

A farmer driving a reaper harvests paddy rice in the Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area, in Divo, Cote d'Ivoire, Jan. 8, 2024. The Guiguidou hydro-agricultural area is a demonstration base for agricultural cooperation between China and Cote d'Ivoire, also a nationally renowned paddy rice cultivation base in the country. (Xinhua/Han Xu)

Editor: ZAD
Indias Vision to Redefine Global Shipping Insurance Landscape

In a move that will have significant global ramifications in the future, India is looking to set up its own protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance entity. This will allow shipowners, especially those based out of India, the option to purchase insurance that dominant Western players are generally reluctant to provide. At a time when an inland waterways revolution is underway in India, having a domestic shipping insurance entity will work wonders for Indias logistics sector. Officials at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways say discussions around setting up a P&I entity have already begun.

For starters, India is looking to have this P&I entity cater to coastal shipping and inland waterways. Gradually, India will expand the entitys reach, and provide an alternative to the Wests shipping insurance ecosystem. India too, like much of the world, presently depends on the International Group of P&I Clubs for shipping insurance.

Global supply chains depend primarily on maritime shipping. To ensure smooth shipping, it is essential for vessels to be covered by insurance that is recognised around the world. This is called the protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance. Currently, 13 P&I clubs have a stranglehold over global shipping insurance. Together, they form the International Group of P&I Clubs, which is based in London, United Kingdom. Without such insurance, ships are not allowed to dock at ports.

This international group of shipping insurers was weaponised by the West to impose sanctions on Russia, and it played an especially pivotal role in imposing the G7 and European Unions price cap on Russian crude oil. The G7 and EU declared that any ships carrying Russian oil over and above the price cap would be deprived of P&I insurance, making docking for such ships impossible (at least in theory). That the oil price cap against Russia fell flat on its face from the very outset is a separate matter altogether.

However, the episode provided an opportunity for the world, especially the Global South, to witness how the Wests monopoly over international shipping insurance could be turned into a threat to supply chains. Essentially, the West has the power to deny insurance to any ship, and thereby, control global maritime shipping.

A new, resurgent and Atmanirbhar India does not like the sound of that. Why should a club based out of London, with a knack for obeying the orders of Western governments, decide which ships can operate on the seas? The fact that in recent times, the international group of P&I clubs has been used to impose sanctions on entities the West deems hostile to it is all the more concerning not just for India, but the collective Global South.

Therefore, true to its character of providing solutions to the developing and underdeveloped world, India has taken the mantle of challenging the Wests dominance in this area.

Such a move allows Indian ships to operate without hindrance and circumvent sanctions. Having its own system of insuring ships will allow India to not be dependent on the West for the stability of its supply chains, while also allowing Global South countries to not be beholden to the developed world. This is in line with Indias own push for Atmanirbharta and also helps its Vishwamitra, or friend of the world image.

In October last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said India should have a full-fledged protection and indemnity entity in order to reduce the countrys vulnerability to international sanctions and pressures. She added that such an entity would provide greater strategic flexibility to Indias shipping operations and provide the country a foothold into the specialised segments of protection and indemnity (P&I) business.

Why Does India Want to be Atmanirbhar in Shipping Insurance?

India has had the chance to experience first-hand how the Wests monopoly can have a debilitating impact on international shipping and even Indian vessels. In April last year, the International Group of P&I Clubs members withdrew insurance from a large chunk of tankers operated by Mumbai-based Gatik Ship Management. Gatik was briefly one of the worlds fastest-growing shipping companies. In just over a year, it came to operate a fleet of 60 vessels, mostly oil tankers. By July last year, it was left only with four tankers on the sea. The rise and fall of Gatik Ship Management provides a vivid example of what Western hegemony over the shipping insurance ecosystem can do to companies, and as a result, to a countrys strategic interests.

More than challenging the West, there is another factor behind the Modi governments push to become self-sufficient in shipping insurance. You see, the Centre plans to facilitate Indias emergence as one of the top five shipbuilding nations in the coming decade. What that means is over the next 10 years, the size of Indias ship fleet will increase. The governments goal would be to facilitate insurance for such ships domestically, instead of relying on the West.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched maritime projects worth Rs 23,000 crore and unveiled the long-term vision document for the countrys blue economy. The prime minister also dedicated more than 300 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth more than Rs 7.16 lakh crore for global and national partnerships in the maritime sector. The blueprint outlines strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing port facilities, promoting sustainable practices, and facilitating international collaboration.

What does this mean? That India aims to emerge as a formidable maritime player in the coming years. The Modi government is working on a plan called Maritime India Vision 2030, which seeks to develop world-class mega ports, and trans-shipment hubs while also modernising necessary infrastructure at an estimated investment cost of Rs 1.25 trillion. In July 2023, the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping And Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal had said the Centre has identified investment opportunities worth more than Rs 10 lakh crore in the maritime sector, which are expected to generate no less than 15 lakh new jobs.

Indias maritime sector is witnessing an upswing. Statistics speak to the same effect.

India has moved up to 22 nd rank in the global rankings on the International Shipments category from the 44 th position in 2014

rank in the global rankings on the International Shipments category from the 44 position in 2014 In 2015, the capacity of Indias 12 major ports stood at 871 million metric tonnes (MMT) but has now risen to 1,617 MMT

At the same time, the total capacity of Indian ports has gone up from about 1,560 MMT in 2015 to more than 2,600 MMT

From 2015 to 2022-23, the value of operationalisation of public-private partnership projects in major ports has risen by 150 per cent from Rs 16,000 crore to Rs. 40,000 crore

Given the pace and scale at which Indias maritime sector is being modernised and expanded, the country will soon be a big player that has the capacity to rival the biggest maritime players on the global stage. That necessitates India to have its own shipping insurance entity. The number of India-flagged shipping vessels is quite low, which is why the setting up of a P&I entity was not taken seriously by previous governments.

However, now that Indias maritime sector has been reformed with new laws and is poised for trillions of rupees in investment, it becomes crucial for the country to have a shipping insurance body of its own. Besides, it is about time a powerful nation stands up to the Wests shipping insurance club and provides a real alternative to the world.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
The unequivocal triumph of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has serendipitously solidified the formidable leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, preceding the general elections of 2024, paving the way for his unchallenged third term. The electoral resolute decision in the triad of Hindi heartland states, even in the absence of a designated chief ministerial figure in the state election fray, is a palpable indicator of the enduring emotional rapport that PM Modi enjoys.

However, this grandiose victory was beyond the facade; beneath it, youll see that the Indian electorates, often compared to indecisive squirrels, actually have a deeper understanding than it seems. It wont be self-approving on the part of the writer to portend that voters have furthered their confidence in Modis efficacious implementations, based on his systematic administration of welfare distribution and audacious holistic reforms.

The core of the BJPs electoral success resides in the burgeoning electoral consciousness that is now progressively demonstrating reluctance towards acquiescing to the enticement of unmerited subsidies, often known as revadis. The recent Congress electoral campaign in Rajasthanwhere the party had pledged many attractive benefits like an annual honorarium of Rs 10,000 to the women head of the family, a zero bill for users consuming up to 100 units of free electricity, free smartphones with three years of free internet, and many moreserves as the most recent exemplar, illustrating how the practical outcome of these promised free or subsidised services does not always align with electoral success and often underscores the complexity and potential pitfalls in accordance with the pragmatic realities of economic governance.

However, these populist assurances are inordinate and unattainable. MG Chandrakanth, retired director of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) noted about Karnataka, Currently, the fiscal deficit is about Rs 60,531 crore, and adding Rs 65,082 crore amounts to a total deficit of Rs 1,25,613 crore. This is not sustainable as the deficit goes beyond 3 per cent. Nevertheless, the decisive ascendancy of the BJP irrefutably indicates that the citizenry in India discerns freebie politics, realising that such policies pose a substantial impediment to the nations sustained developmental trajectory. The Congress must realise that their charming populist pledges are long past their relevance, and the proverbial short memory of the people is a distant memory.

Furthermore, the conspicuous electoral victory of the BJP is a resounding ratification of its inclusive policy of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. In fact, in the ceremonial foundation-laying of the grand Ram Mandir, PM Modi, with sagacity, explained that Shri Ram is like the essential glue that brings together the diverse pieces of Bharat. The entire country is thrilled and emotional, and crores of people would not be able to believe that they are watching this day in their lifetime, said PM Modi. Stating that the grand Ram Mandir will be a modern symbol of our culture, eternal faith, and national spirit and inspire humanity forever, he added, Ram belongs to all and is in everyone.

Through constant affirmations, PM Modi has solidified his unwavering commitment towards nurturing a nation characterised by diverse elements coalescing into unity, encapsulated in the slogan Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat. On the contrary, it transpires that the constructs within the Congress party postulate that the Indian populace will succumb to the schism between the northern and southern regions of India. The Congress partys unceasing endeavour to perpetuate an aggravated discord between the two segments is evident from the onset of their political campaign.

Rahul Gandhi, while in Kerala, suggested that he thinks people in South India show more interest in important matters, while people in North India tend to focus on superficial things. In the aftermath of the Congress partys triumph in Telangana and Karnataka, a semblance of confidence has emerged, suggesting that the standing in the southern states is impervious. Contrarily, such perceptions do not align with the prevailing circumstances. The Grand Old Party appears to be remiss in comprehending that the BJP is the single biggest party in south India in the Parliament. It has 29 MPs from the South, compared with the Congresss 28, followed by the DMKs 23. In fact, in a notable feat, the BJP increased its strength in the Telangana assembly from one seat to eight seats and achieved a twofold electoral sway from 7 per cent in 2018 to 14 per cent in 2023.

Its ironic that the Congress party, known for its involvement in caste-based politics, is trying to bring Hindus together nationwide while cleverly using caste considerations for political gains. But PM Modis strategy in navigating the landscape of caste-based politics attests that Indian electorates have distanced themselves from the deleterious realm of caste-driven politics. As he promulgates publicly, I was continuously saying that for me, only four castes are the biggest in the countryour women power, our youth, our farmers, and our poor families. It is only by empowering these four castes that the country is going to be strengthened. Paradoxically, the Congress partys political methods have only strengthened the BJPs position as the leading contender for the 2024 general elections.

PM Modi has reshaped the landscape of contemporary governance for the Indian populace, eschewing the conventional segmentations rooted in caste, creed, and religion. Instead, his governance paradigm prioritises astute administration concerning welfare, developmental initiatives, economic empowerment, and consequential social reforms. Over the years of Modis administration, there has been a proclivity to dwell upon monumental landmarks such as the abrogation of Article 370, the implementation of GST, the realisation of the Ram Mandir, a successful G20 presidency, Chandrayan-3s moon landing near the lunar south pole, and an economic growth of 7 per cent, among many others. One often tends to miss the wood for the trees!

But in reality, the ace up Narendra Modis sleeve is his unique paradigm of welfare schemes, comprising the distribution of cooking gas connections, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the facilitation of potable tap water, the initiation of direct monetary transfers to farmers through the PM Kisan programme, and many other distinctive forms of welfarism.

The trinity of JAMJan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobiledid wonders for the BJP and Bharat, by and large. The positive outcomes of this situation and the consistent losses of the Congress party in various state elections send a clear signal that the divisive political tactics, giving out freebies, and resorting to tricky language have been handed a pink slip by Indian voters. The multitude of signposts that allude to the prevailing sentiment within the nation foreshadow an incremental advantage for the BJP in the shadow of PM Narendra Modis 3.0 wave.

Yuvraj Pokharna is an independent journalist and columnist. He tweets with @iyuvrajpokharna. Heres the link to Yuvrajs official WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaBKt038vd1QvwLPp515. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
Censorship, surveillance, and authoritarianism have become synonyms with China in recent years. Beijing has reinforced its credentials by strengthening its surveillance and censorship grid, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic management. As the Chinese-origin epidemic derailed every sphere of life across countries by ravaging economies and social structures with millions of people dead, Beijings response was shrouded in mystery and speculation from the very outset. The way President Xi Jinpings administration went about managing information about the outbreak, both domestically and internationally, along with its response, raised significant questions about the prevalence of the extent of censorship in the country. As the outbreak of Covid-19 marks five years, it is worth revisiting how Beijing not only maintained an information fog over the crisis but also amplified its disinformation tactics while invoking censorship measures.

From the very outset, as the reports of an unknown pneumonia type illness started emerging in December 2019, the Chinese government faced accusations of downplaying the issue, suppressing information and, importantly, silencing on-the-ground healthcare workers who attempted to raise the alarm about the deadly nature of the virus. The government maintained a complete monopoly over the emerging information from Wuhan through its tight control over media and instead went on a disinformation blitzkrieg to control the narrative.

One of the foremost whistleblowers who challenged the government narrative on the emerging epidemic situation was Dr Li Wenliang, a Wuhan-based ophthalmologist. Sharing his observations in their private medical practitioners group on Chinese social media, Weibo, a screenshot of which subsequently went viral, in late December 2019, Dr Li warned colleagues about a SARS-like pneumonia outbreak and asked them to take precautionary safety measures for their personal and family safety. The Wuhan local authorities subsequently penalised the doctor along with seven of his colleagues on January 1, 2020, charging them of spreading rumours for disturbing public order. They were released on January 3, 2020, only after pleading guilty of transgressions like sharing inaccurate information which broke the law and that their conduct severely disturbed public order through a written submission.

The punitive action against these workers acted as a deterrent for sharing information by the medical community. It was only a court intervention which castigated Wuhan authorities for detaining these early epidemic whistle-blowers. The court observed that had the government officials heeded to the warnings from the detained healthcare workers and adopted precautionary measures than taking punitive measures by labelling them as rumourmonger, it wouldve meant we could better control the coronavirus today.

Dr Li contracted covid19 on January 8, 2020, while treating an infected patient and remained hospitalised till his death on February 7, 2020, sparking a huge outpouring of grief and anger online in China. The otherwise highly regulated social media sphere of China saw netizens criticize the government with media reporting that hashtags such as The Wuhan government owes Li Wenliang an apology, I want freedom of speech and We want freedom of speech saw millions of impressions, before being censored by the government. Dr Lis death as such topped the Chinese social media with nearly 1.5 billion views, an event of monumental proportions on the otherwise highly monitored digital landscape of the country. This demonstrated a rare event, though momentarily, of popular reprehension of the governments overarching control over the lives of its citizens.

It was this highly autocratic and centralised system that relied on monopolising the information sphere of the country which saw a delayed communication of information from China to the international community, especially the World Health Organization (WHO). It was reported that the first case of covid like symptoms was reported in mid-November 2019. A South China Morning Post investigation claimed that the government data revealed the first Covid-19 case was reported on November 17. From that date onwards, one to five new cases were reported each day. By December 15, the total number of infections stood at 27  the first double-digit daily rise was reported on December 17  and by December 20, the total number of confirmed cases had reached 60, the report stated.

However, it was only on December 30, 2019, that the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission notified the city hospitals through urgent notices about rising cases of unknown pneumonia illness. Interestingly, China refrained from sharing the information with the WHO, which took note of the media reports and issued its first reaction on January 4, 2020. It was on January 11, 2020, that the country finally shared the information and genome sequence of the virus with the world health body. It took nearly two months for China to confirm the person-to-person transmission of the novel coronavirus and infections among medical workers on January 20, 2020. This delayed information sharing amidst increased information fog by China meant that the international response to the emerging situation saw a critical delay with WHO declaring the epidemic as the Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Chinas attempts to maintain a pervasive disinformation fog regarding the Covid-19 pandemic were helped by its strict censorship regime to control the media landscape of the country. It is an open secret that the ruling Communist Party of China (CCP) tightly manages news outlets, social media platforms, and internet content through censorship mechanisms collectively known as the Great Firewall.

As such on the domestic front, the reports and commentaries critical of the governments response, the viruss origin, or the effectiveness of containment measures were swiftly censored. Access to information was restricted, and discussions on social media platforms were monitored and censored, as was evidenced by the events following the death of Dr Li in February 2020. Further, the Chinese government enforced localised, temporary connectivity restrictions to ensure that the information about Covid19 remained highly centralised and monitored.

Furthermore, an investigation by The New York Times in April 2023 revealed the extent of Chinas censorship related to the information around the Covid19. It alleged that the Chinese scientists were forced by the government to withhold crucial data withdrawn genetic sequences from public databases and altered crucial details in journal submissions while claiming that the Western journal editors enabled those efforts by agreeing to those edits or withdrawing papers for murky reasons.

This control over the flow of information created an environment where only sanctioned narratives prevailed, limiting the publics access to diverse viewpoints and independent reporting. The global watchdog, Freedom House, in its 2020 report described Chinas restrictions on internet freedom, particularly police interrogations of and forced retractions of Dr Li and his colleagues as the enabler of the COVID-19 to spread globally. The Chinese governments tightly controlled narrative and more so initial withholding of the information consequence in spread of the virus wide and far in the country and beyond as nearly five million people were allowed to exit Wuhan before the city was quarantined on January 22, 2020.

Interestingly, as recent as July 2023, the Chinese government suspended an online news portal, Health Insight, which was among a few health only focused news portals in the country and had emerged as a prominent source of news during the Covid19 pandemic and. A South China Morning Post report stated that the news portal looked into issues that were mostly ignored by mainstream media during the three years of Chinas harsh zero-Covid rules. It pointed out the lack of medical evidence to support the use of Linhua Qingwen, a traditional Chinese medicine that Beijing claimed could treat Covid-19.

As is evident from the above analysis, Chinas centralised information system along with the employment of censorship, surveillance and disinformation tactics cost the world dearly in terms of responding to the global health emergency, shattering economies and societies alike, whose ramifications are ongoing. This essentially highlights the need for a transparent system at the international level where it should be incumbent upon the states to share the information as early as possible to avoid large scale loss of human life and its profound impact on economic means of production.

The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
The Congress has finally decided on the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha on January 22, saying it will skip the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh/Bharatiya Janata Party event". It has also raised the point that while the temple construction is incomplete, the inauguration was being hurried ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

ALSO READ | Congress Declines Invite to Ayodhya Ram Mandirs Inauguration, Dubs It RSS/BJP Event

These are the common grounds on which the many in the opposition, such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Left and now the Congress, plan to give the event a miss.

The calculation was mulled over a few days. Many top leaders felt that any benefit of Ram Mandir would be reaped by the BJP. When it comes to the Hindutva image, no one can compete with them. Even if the Congress attended the event, it would be no match. Moreover, it would run the risk of losing the minority votes.

WHY IT WORKS FOR TMC

This certainly was the belief of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee when she said no. During the West Bengal polls, the Jai Shri Ram call did not resonate electorally. So Banerjee isnt worried about the skipping impacting her fortunes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

WHY IT MAY NOT WORK FOR CONG

But the situation for the Congress could be different. Just recently, at a meeting with top leaders and state leaders, UP leaders had sought clarity, saying it would hurt their chances. In fact, even now, some leaders from the state have decided to go.

ALSO READ | One Take | Hey Bhagwan! Rahul Gandhis Questioning of BJPs Hindutva Will Only Help Modi, Not Congress

It is not the first time that Congress has made a decision such as this which would hurt it. The Congress, along with other Opposition parties, had skipped the bhoomipujan for the new Parliament building as also the sengol ceremony. This had earned it the tag of being anti-Hindu.

The BJP has not let the Congress forget this.

Just as even now they wont.

Aparajita Sarangi of the BJP told News18: We always knew they were anti-Hindu. They are against Ram. Its proved now. "

The Congress has responded, saying that religion is a personal affair and mixing politics with it was unethical". The party has even accused the BJP of using Ram Mandir and religion in the past only to seek political dividends.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

Such decisions taken at the top level often leave the firefighters in the party in a fix. For instance, when right in the middle of Madhya Pradesh elections, Kamal Nath had said no to a joint rally of the INDIA front just after the Sanatan Dharma controversy stoked by the DMK.

Even now, those belonging to the Hindi heartland belt are worried about this decision of the Congress. The top leadership, however, feels that it is important to project a secular image by distancing themselves from any religious event which would be centered around the Prime Minister.

But the BJP will use it to tell the voters that the Congress believes in appeasement politics.

Rahul Gandhi had, at a public event abroad, also criticised the government for the sengol ceremony, saying that it was an unseen and unheard of event, like in the past where the Prime Minister was prostrating himself before the sadhus from the South.

However, with the BJP clearly in a mood to use Ram Mandir as an issue, will this step by the Congress lead to  na maya mili na Ram?
The Manipur government on Wednesday denied permission to launch the Congress partys Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which was scheduled to begin at Hapta Kangjeibung in Imphal East district on January 14. According to sources, the state governments decision came in view of the ongoing law and order situation in the state.

However, the Manipur government allowed the Congress party to hold a meeting in the north-eastern state, but said that it can not allow a gathering for the rally at this time because of security concerns.

The state government cited security reasons for the denial of the permission to the grand old party. As per the sources, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi wanted to flag of the Yatra from the palace grounds in the capital city of Imphal. Following this, the Congress party had sought permission a week or so ago from the state.

In inviting reference to your letter No. DM(IE)/30/06/2008/PMT dated 05-01-2024 regarding the application of General Secretary, MPCC regarding permission to use Sound system (P.A) for the public meeting at Hapta Kangjeibung, Palace Compound Imphal East District, Manipur from 10 am to 4 pm of January 14, 2024 as apart of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the State Government is of the following considered views To, i. ii. The report of concerned agencies mentioned that the matter is sensitive and needs special attention at this juncture specially in the context of the prevailing law and order situation, the official order of denial issued to the Congress party read.

Manipur Govt denies Permission For Rally

While the Manipur government denied permission for the Congress Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra rally in view of the violence that erupted last year, it allowed the party to hold a meeting in the state and said that that the party leaders are encouraged to come to the state.

If Congress leaders wish to travel to the state, like previous times, they would be encouraged to do so using a chopper. But allowing a gathering for a rally is something which cannot be allowed at this time. Given the security situation in the state, the Manipur government has not allowed permission for the yatra, a top government source said.
With the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ram Temple in Ayodhya around the corner, a war of words erupted between Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Alok Kumar and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the invitation for the upcoming event on January 22.

While Kumar asserted that the VHP functionary had approached the SP chief with the invite for the ceremony, Akhilesh reportedly said that he wouldnt accept such an invitation from a stranger.

The guest list for the inaugural function, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest, is being decided by a team nominated by the Sri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra  a temple trust dominated by the VHP and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leaders.

According to the VHP chief, it has been decided to invite all presidents of important political parties for the grand ceremony.

Speaking on an invitation to Akhilesh Yadav, Kumar said, We had seen his earlier statement that he would come if invited. An invitation has been sent to him. But now he is saying that he would go if Lord Ram him. If he does not come then it will become clear that even Ram does not want him to come, he said.

The VHP chief statement came after Akhilesh last week said that he would attend Ram Temples consecration ceremony if called by the God.

I dont know the people (VHP functionaries) who came to invite me, have never met them. They are not fit to give me an invitation for anything because we dont know each other. We accept such gestures in Hindu religion from those whom we know, the Samajwadi Party Chief told reporters in Lucknow.

As far as attending the function is concerned, let me say that the BJP and its associated wings are nobody to send such an invitation to me on behalf of God. Ill worship at the temple along with my family members only when God calls me, he added.

Meanwhile, a poster has been put up at the Samajwadi Partys office fate in Lucknow that read in Hindi, Our God, Lord Ram is coming.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar on Wednesday, while reading the order on the cross-petitions by two Shiv Sena factions, said the MLAs cannot be disqualified for going incommunicado as alleged by the UBT faction, adding that Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022.

All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA disqualified from any faction of Shiv Sena, he said.

Narvekar further said Uddhav Thackeray had no power to remove Eknath Shinde from the party. Shiv Sena pramukh does not have the power to remove any leader from the party, he said.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra Speaker Rules in Favour of CM Shindes Faction: Heres A Timeline of the Sena Vs Sena Tussle

Narvekar also noted that the petitioners ( Uddhav faction) contention that the 2018 party constitution should be relied upon cannot be accepted.

As is evident from the submissions of the parties (the two warring Shiv Sena factions), there is no consensus on the constitution submitted to the Election Commission of India with the consent of both factions. Likewise, the parties have different points of view on the leadership structure, which has been to be taken into consideration. The only aspect which is undisputed is the majority in the legislature party,  he said.

In view of the evidence and records before me, prima facie indicates that no elections were held in the year 2013, as well as in the year 2018. However, I as the speaker exercising jurisdiction under the 10th schedule have limited jurisdiction and cannot go beyond the record of the ECI as available on the website and hence I have not considered this aspect while determining the relevant leadership structure. Thus, given the above conclusions, I find that the leadership structure of Shiv Sena reflected in the letter dated 27th February 2018 available on the website of the ECI is the relevant leadership structure which has to be taken into account to determine which faction is the real political party Narvekar further stated.

The much-awaited verdict on the disqualification pleas comes more than 18 months after the Shiv Sena suffered a vertical split a political development that resulted in a change of guard in the state.

While the Shiv Sena (UBT) expressed displeasure over the verdict, workers of the party staged a protest against Speaker Rahul Narvekar.

Political Temperature High In Maharashtra

Ahead of the crucial decision, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, earlier in the day said that Speaker Rahul Narwekar should give his verdict on merit.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Shinde said he would give a detailed reaction after the order but maintained that the Election Commission has allowed his outfit to keep the name Shiv Sena and its bow and arrow symbol.

Shinde said his group has 67 per cent of the Shiv Sena lawmakers in the assembly and 75 per cent in Lok Sabha.

Some people allege match-fixing (between Shiv Sena and the speaker). There is no substance to those allegations. The speaker should give judgment on merit, he said.

On Tuesday, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) upped the ante as its president Uddhav Thackeray said his party has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a recent meeting between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is among the MLAs whose disqualification has been sought, and speaker Rahul Narwekar as both sides engaged in a verbal spat.

The affidavit before the SC was filed on Monday, the former CM said.

Thackeray said since the SC directed Narwekar in May last year to decide on the disqualification pleas, the speaker has met the chief minister twice.

The speaker met Shinde at `Varsha, the chief ministers official residence in south Mumbai, on Sunday. Thackeray noted that the two had met in October last year too.

If the judge (Narwekar) is going to meet the accused, what should we expect from that judge, Thackeray asked, speaking to the media at his residence `Matoshree in Mumbai.

Narwekars ruling will decide whether democracy exists in the country or not or whether the two (speaker and chief minister) will murder democracy, said the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader.

Thackerays ally and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar also said that when someone who is hearing a case meets the person against whom the case is being heard, it leaves room for doubt.

Hitting back, Narwekar said Thackeray should know for what purposes a speaker could meet a chief minister.

If he still levels such allegations, then his motive is very clear. There is no rule that a speaker, while hearing disqualification pleas, cannot do any other work, Narwekar contended.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed confidence about the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar group) government remaining stable going forward.

The Case

In June 2022, Shinde and several MLAs rebelled against the then-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, leading to a split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which also comprised the NCP and the Congress.

Cross-petitions were filed by the Shinde and Thackeray factions before the speaker seeking action against each other under anti-defection laws.

The apex court in May last year directed Narwekar to adjudicate on the pleas expeditiously.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission had given the Shiv Sena name and bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde-led faction, while the one headed by Thackeray was called the Shiv Sena (UBT) with a flaming torch as its symbol.

The Supreme Court last month extended the deadline to January 10 for Narwekar to decide on the cross-petitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each others MLAs.

In July last year, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP also joined the Shinde-led government. Assembly polls in Maharashtra are due in the second half of 2024.

(With PTI Inputs)
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar on Wednesday ruled the MLAs of either faction of Shiv Sena cannot be disqualified for going incommunicado as alleged by the UBT faction. Uddhav Thackeray expressed displeasure over the verdict and termed it the murder of democracy.

The Maharashtra Assembly Speaker added that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra Speaker Rules in Favour of CM Shindes Faction: Heres A Timeline of the Sena Vs Sena Tussle

All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA disqualified from any faction of Shiv Sena, he said.

Heres How Shiv Sena (UBT) Reacted to Verdict-

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reacted to the verdict and said it seemed the Speaker did not understand his responsibilities.

I think he (speaker Rahul Narvekar) did not understand his responsibilities. Supreme Court provided a framework to be followed and even accepted our nomination of Chief Whip. I think the decision was beyond his understanding. Now we will see if the tribunal is above the Supreme CourtThe people of the state do not accept this decision Uddhav Thackeray said.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief further called the decision the murder of democracy.

The Speakers order that has come today is a murder of democracy and is also an insult to the decision of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had clearly said that the Governor had misused his position and made a wrong decisionWe will fight this battle further and we have full confidence in the Supreme CourtSupreme Court will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena he said.

Reacting to the Speakers verdict, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut called it BJPs conspiracy.

This is BJPs conspiracy & this was their dream that one day we would finish Balasaheb Thackerays Shiv Sena. But Shiv Sena wont finish with this one decisionWe will go to the Supreme Court, Raut said.

Speaking about the verdict, Aditya Thackeray said the party will fight a legal battle against it.

A legal battle will be fought against the decision given by the Assembly Speaker. It is shocking that such a decision comes even though we have given all the video recordings to the Election Commission. Democracy has been killed in our country. Hitler Shahi has started in the country.. and he will continue to fight against injustice, Thackeray said.

Thackeray further claimed that the decision by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is not according to the Constitution. The constitution written by Babasaheb Ambedkar is not acceptable to BJP. Rahul Narvekar was in our favor for many years, when he was fighting on which party leaders ticket? he said.

Also, I have never seen such a shameless killing of democracy. In a democracy, the people will check the wrong government. But now there is an expectation from the Supreme Court, but there are more expectations from the people, he added.

NCP-Sharad Pawar faction leader, Dr.Jitendra Awhad said, The decision taken by the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker was undemocraticThe people of Maharashtra understand they want to finish the parties & their leaders. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate this

Other Parties Reaction to the Verdict

BJP leader spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said Maharashtra made the decision in accordance with the constitution and express confidence that the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) along with BJP will win the political battle as well.

Maharashtra has made the decision as per the Constitution. BJP and the real Shiv Sena have won the legal battle and they will continue to serve the people of Maharashtra. They will also win the political battle that will ensue in the time to come, this will absolutely happen, the BJP leader said.

Chief whip of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) Bharat Gogawale said, Our CM says that we would give them (opposition) a reply with our work

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole called the decision unconstitutional and against party rules.

Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekars judgment is unconstitutional and its an undemocratic judgment and it was against party rules, he accepted that the real Shivsena was 1999, he did not disqualify any MLA from both sidesWe have faith in the Supreme CourtDemocracy is in danger after this judgment and BJP will face problems from this judgement, he said.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, on the other hand, said everyone can approach the Supreme Court but it does not necessarily mean the order passed by the Speaker is overturned.

Every citizen of India has the right to approach the Supreme Court & High Court. However, just because you approach the court does not mean that the order passed by the Speaker is overturned, you have to establish that it is illegal or untenable in the eyes of the law. Your baseless allocations do not substantiate that Narvekar said on Shiv Sena (UBT) on Shiv Sena (UBT) seeking a fight a legal battle over the verdict.
The BJP has drawn up an ambitious plan for the coming months in a bid to target potential women voters ahead of the big 2024 battle.

A major brainstorming session was held at the party headquarters in the national capital on Tuesday in the presence of general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, national vice-president Baijant Jay Panda, national womens cell chief Vanathi Srinivas, and women chiefs of all states.

Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modis assertion, the saffron party wants to focus on women voters who are often undermined but have turned around elections like in Madhya Pradesh last year and Bihar in 2020.

Sources said there will be large-scale engagement with women self-help groups (SHG) and NGOs working on womens causes. We will reach out to all the possible potential beneficiaries across the country in the next couple of months to extend to them the benefits of Centres schemes, a source told CNN-News18.

NGOs working for womens causes and fighting for their rights will also be contacted. Women have been at the forefront of the Modi governments development model and that is the reason many central government schemes and programmes of the party revolve around them. There has been no discrimination in their empowerment, irrespective of the caste, creed or religion they come from, another source said, detailing what was discussed in the meeting on Tuesday.

The party has two major sammelans planned in the next couple of months to capitalise on women voters. One, which will focus on the north and central region, will be held in Madhya Pradesh. Keeping up with the focus of the party to reach out down South, the second sammelan will take place in Andhra Pradeshs capital Vijayawada. The dates for these two meetings will be chalked out soon.

In these meetings, we will invite participation from women ranging from panchayat level to Parliament. We will talk about the women-centric achievements of the government and the vision PM Modi has for women in the years to come. We are expecting a gathering of at least 25,000 each, the source added.

Another interesting aspect that the BJP wants to focus on is the safety and security of women, especially with the rise of solo and group travellers. More platforms will be utilised in the coming days to talk about the experiences they had and how that can inspire more women to travel without worrying about safety. The drive will also tell women about the impacts of the three criminal bills ensuring justice in a time-bound manner.

A special drive will also be held to talk about the long-term impact of the passing of the Womens Reservation Bill and how it is the political will of the government that brought more women into law-making.

Party insiders say the outreach, starting from the booth level, will have a positive impact in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has formed a committee that will look into the outreach programmes for women and youth in particular, taking inspiration from the prime minister who has said the only caste in the country is GYAN (Garib, Yuva, Annadaata and Nari).
TDP National President, Chandrababu Naidu, and Jana Sena Chief, Pawan Kalyan have expressed concerns about irregularities in electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh.

They asserted that the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), led by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is resorting to enrolling bogus votes out of fear of losing power.

Naidu and Kalyan alleged that the YSRCP government is filing false cases against TDP and Jana Sena activists to hinder their campaign efforts for the upcoming polls.

Chandrababu Naidu highlighted that the state is witnessing an unprecedented level of anarchy, accusing the ruling party of making a mockery of democracy and destroying various systems.

He mentioned the enrollment of 1.15 lakh bogus voters in the Chandragiri Assembly segment, emphasizing the need for credible bureaucrats to oversee the electoral process.

Naidu criticized the appointment of 2,600 women constables as booth level officers, questioning their expertise in handling election processes.

The former chief minister raised concerns about the active participation of district collectors in promotion campaigns favoring the ruling party, alleging biased conduct.

Naidu cited the registration of over 7,000 cases against TDP and Jana Sena activists, with instances of activists being sent to jail. He compared the situation to the well-conducted assembly elections in Telangana and demanded the deployment of central observers during the poll process.

Naidu asserted that the YSRCPs appointment of volunteers to key roles in the election process is against the law and urged for their exclusion.

He expressed skepticism about the party activists performing the duties of election officials and called for the protection of democratic values.

Naidu concluded by stating that if necessary, legal actions would be taken against the inclusion of bogus votes and demanded Central observers to ensure the fairness of the election.

In nutshell, Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan accused the YSRCP of manipulating voter lists, filing false cases, and creating an atmosphere of anarchy, raising concerns about the integrity of the upcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh.
A boy of Miao ethnic group with peculiar local hairstyle plays at Biasha Village in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Dec. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Cui Xiaoqiang)

GUIYANG, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- In front of the village gate, Gun Shuixin and more than 10 other men stood on both sides of the road, holding up muskets and pulling the triggers aiming toward the sky. With the crisp gunshot, plumes of white smoke emitted from the muzzle.

Curious tourists standing nearby pulled out cell phones and cameras to capture the memorable moment.

Gun, 73, hails from Biasha Village in Congjiang County, located in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

In a country where possessing guns is illegal for civilians, the scene of gunfire in the landlocked remote village has drawn tourists, with villagers reaping benefits from the tourism industry.

In the Miao ethnic language, Biasha means a place with lush trees and grasses. The village is home to more than 2,800 people.

Known as the "last gunner tribe" in China, Biasha villagers have used guns to hunt and protect themselves for centuries.

Gun acquired his muskets at the age of 15 following the coming-of-age ceremony.

"Now, we only use gunpowder, instead of bullets," said Gun, adding that every musket in the village has been registered with the public security department.

China banned the possession of firearms decades ago, but villagers in Biasha are an exception, although they are no longer allowed to hunt.

For over half a century, guns, as the spiritual totem of local villagers, have served as a tool for cultural demonstration to tourists.

Apart from the gunfire performance, tourists can explore the stilted buildings along the hillside, wooden racks for sunning rice and the peculiar hairstyle of the locals, where only the hair in the center of the head is left in a bun, while the remaining part is shaved.

At a public square in the village, some 100 visitors were waiting for the opening of a folklore performance.

Li Kaikai, who works in the city of Shenzhen, decided to visit the village immediately after she viewed a short video about the village online.

"It only took me half an hour to research the details about my travel plan and buy a train ticket to this place," she said.

Folk performances such as the Miao traditional dance and haircut with a sickle, a custom for the village, are staged for visitors, providing an additional source of income to the villagers serving as amateur performers.

Shi Dajiang, a staffer from the tourism management team, said some 200 villagers have joined two performance teams, earning nearly 100 yuan (14.08 U.S. dollars) per day during the performance days.

"We aim to create more interactive and immersive experiences for our visitors, not just to enhance their understanding of our culture but also to allow more villagers to benefit from the tourism industry," Shi said.

The village shook off poverty in 2016, and in 2023, the per capita disposable income reached 11,400 yuan, 68 percent higher than the level in 2019.

This aerial photo taken on Dec. 14, 2023 shows a view of Biasha Village in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Liu Qinbing)

Editor: WRX
Apple has one more security concern and this time it could be serious for all its users. A new report claims the Chinese government has been able to bypass the security levels of AirDrop which gives them access to a persons phone number and email ID.

The government has reportedly taken help from the Beijing institute which has managed to break AirDrops encryption giving them details about the person sending the files wirelessly and also their email address.

The worrying part about this development is that the police have used this trick to find multiple suspects, as reported by Bloomberg this week. AirDrop is Apples free-to-air file transfer tool that works across iPhones, iPads and Macs. You just have to identify and select the person to send a file, and once they accept the request, the content is sent to them in minutes, depending on the size of the file.

Apple has always prided itself on privacy, which has been evident with AirDrop as well but the new loophole used by the Chinese government could bring it to the attention of other countries as well.

China has been concerned about AirDrops anonymity which goes against its censorship rules. Apple has tried to tow with the countrys policies without completely breaking the privacy of its users but the new technique used by the researchers in Beijing suggests China wanted to get more from these transfer tools.

Were not sure how these changes will affect people in the region, especially at a time when people are showing less interest in buying iPhones. Usually, Apple is quick to revert to these lapses and fix the problem right away, but it seems that the Cupertino-based giant might make an exception, at least for those using an iPhone in China, which sadly doesnt make them look good in the overall landscape.
Most airlines around the world maintain a sincere and friendly social media presence, but Ryanair is not one of them. The Ireland-based low-cost carrier is known for its humorous and sarcastic approach to customer care inquiries, complaints, or social commentary. Recently, the airline responded to a random video that showed a passenger using a flashy charger on a flight. A famous X account, PicturesFoIder, shared this video and wrote, This womans charger during a 6 plus hour red eye flight. A red-eye flight is a commercial flight that departs at night and lands at the following day.

Ryanair reshared this clip and wrote, And this is why we dont have plugs. With this response, Ryanair jokingly addressed why they dont have charging facilities on board, a feature that many airlines would shy away from mentioning. Ryanairs reply has over 14,000 likes so far.

And this is why we don't have plugs https://t.co/fDgt1MV6hu Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 8, 2024

Commenting on it, an X user joked, Im surprised you have tray tables, tbh. Another person theorized why not having charging plugs on board might be a good thing and wrote, Its also a good way to avoid people bringing and plugging defective devices, ready to short circuit or catch fire. An X user noted, Sorry but you dont have flights with a time-frame of +6hours..and thats good dont get me wrong..Lol.

This is not the first time that Ryanairs reply has raked in likes. Back in October, an X user ToldYouThusly criticised the airlines narrow airplane staircase. While sharing the photo of the narrow staircase, ToldYouThusly wrote, Ryanair I will bring my own stairs next time. Instead of ignoring this post, Ryanair replied, Bring your own plane next time too.

bring your own plane next time too https://t.co/CH6uzqsS5j Ryanair (@Ryanair) October 11, 2023

Similarly, in September last year, an X user complained that she paid extra for the window seat but did not get the proper window seat. While sharing a photo of her airplane seat that was next to the emergency exit door, the passenger wrote, Seriously Ryanair I paid for the window seat.

In response, Ryanair shared the same photo and encircled the small circular glass opening that was on the emergency exit door to highlight that this small circle was the window.

While many people criticised Ryanair for making fun of the passengers, others argued that customers should have realistic expectations from a low-cost carrier. Expressing the former sentiment, a person wrote, Ryanair offers like $50 round trip flights across Europe  imagine complaining that you were mugged because you didnt have a big enough window to look out.
In a pleasant yet surprising instance for a mother-daughter duo, they got the opportunity to travel all alone on a flight while travelling for a vacation. According to an Independent report, the mother and daughter were the only two passengers in the economic class cabin of an Emirates flight while travelling from Seychelles to Switzerland. The 25-year-old Zoe Doyle was travelling with her 59-year-old mother Kimmy Chedel on Christmas 2023 as they were on the way to visit family in Switzerland. However, to their surprise, the flight had no one but only them and the flight attendants to spend the entire journey with.

According to the report in the Independent, Zoe shared a video of their experience, showing the empty seats inside the flight as both the mother and daughter had a great time with the entire flight all to themselves. Along with a caption that read, Merry Christmas from the only ladies flying Emirates today, Zoe gave a glimpse into their flight journey. From her mother trying to put on the headgear (the one that Emirates cabin staff members wear) to Zoe dancing along the clean corridors and creating snow angels on the aircraft floor, the video was indeed a fun one. Besides that, the two were also seen receiving a tour of the aircraft, however, despite having so many empty seats, they were not permitted to travel in the first class.

Further in the video, Zoe spoke about how they had so much fun on the flight, chatting with the flight attendants and also filming videos with them. Apart from that, she also opened up about capturing pictures of her mother who was also dressed up in the cabin crew uniform.

Man gets VIP treatment on flight

Notably, this is not the first time that such an incident has taken place. Earlier in April 2023, a UK-based man while travelling to Portugal from Northern Ireland discovered that he was the only passenger on the entire flight.

Upon investigating the same at the airport about whether the flight had been postponed or cancelled, the passenger was informed that he would be the only one onboard.

Before the plane took off, he not only got to choose his seat but also spoke with the captain. Describing his experience of feeling like travelling on a private plane, the man shared how he enjoyed every second of the journey and also that the flight attendants were very kind to him.
A shocking video circulating on social media has instigated a debate about road safety in Bengaluru, as it depicts a young child steering a Mahindra Thar through the streets near the MG Road Metro station. A social media user has drawn attention to a distressing incident, highlighting the severity of the situation and expressing deep concerns about what appears to be a blatant traffic violation.

In the video posted on X, a child can be seen sitting on the lap of an adult who is steering the Mahindra Thar through heavy traffic. The video was brought to the attention of the Bengaluru Police by the user, who tagged the citys police department and the Joint Commissioner of Police along with the license plate number, urging prompt action.

The video swiftly garnered widespread attention on various social media platforms, sparking a flurry of responses from users.

Dear sir Witnessed a clear violation near MG Road Metro station  a child behind the wheel driving a car. @BlrCityPolice @Jointcptraffic Vehicle no- KA 04 MZ 5757 pic.twitter.com/P8ugJy1xu8 Sagay Raj P ||    (@sagayrajp) January 8, 2024

A user provided a nuanced viewpoint, stating, He was not behind the wheel but on his fathers (assumption) lap holding onto the steering wheel One who has kids will relate to what is happening there

He was not behind the wheel but on this fathers (assumption) lap holding on to the steering wheelOne who has kids will relate to what is happening there Apurva Mirajkar (@apurvasays) January 9, 2024

Another called for stringent consequences, declaring, Need a criminal sectional for this type of violation. And parents require consulting with a good doctor.

Need a criminal sectional for this type violation. And parents require consulting to good doctor. Harsha Acharya (@harshasbc) January 9, 2024

A user shared a concerning observation, commenting, I see so many children at the wheel on the BLR Mysore expressway. Parents look so proud. Accidents happen, people die, then they blame governments & police for it.

I see so many children at the wheel on blr mysore express way. Parents look so proud. Accidents happen, people die, then they blame Gocts & police for it. Anup kumar (@nammaAnup) January 9, 2024

Contrarily, a user defended the situation, asserting, There is no violation; its common sense that a childs leg cant reach the clutch/brakes. He is just holding the steering wheel, and its common.

There is no violation, its a common sense that a child leg cant reach the clutch/brakes he is just holding a steering and its common Mehtab Alam (@alammehtab0786) January 9, 2024

Despite the outcry on social media, the Bengaluru Police did not respond to the initial tweet by Sagay Raj P. However, a resident and social media user shared an unverified, undated picture showing the car in question being fined.

Outrage was palpable among some, underscoring the gravity of the situation, while others endeavoured to rationalise the incident.


The Morpeth Arms, located at 58 Millbank, Pimlico, London, is gaining widespread attention for its unique theme and captivating exteriors. This pub, situated above tunnels that once served as the final walk for inmates leaving Millbank Prison, is now a hotspot for its vintage bar area, hidden haunted vaults, and a spy room offering a stunning view of the MI6 headquarters across the River Thames.

Originally constructed for prison warders serving at the Millbank Penitentiary, Morpeth Arms attracts visitors with its extraordinary theme and rich history. The owners playfully claim it as a favoured hangout for spies, given its proximity to the MI6 headquarters. The pub also features jail cells that were part of Millbank Prison, where prisoners were once tortured for information before being deported, leading to tragic outcomes for some.

A unique offering at Morpeth Arms is the spy room, available for private parties, where visitors can immerse themselves in the world of espionage. Equipped with binoculars, guests can enjoy their drinks while observing the activities at the MI6 Headquarters. The pub owners allow brave visitors to stay in the haunted jail cells, offering a chilling experience reminiscent of the prisons grim past. Some cells, however, remain off-limits.

As you enter the pub, live ghost cam feeds display the cells on a wall, providing a glimpse into the eerie history of the location. The tunnels, adjacent to the beer barrel storage area, add to the atmospheric charm of Morpeth Arms.

The pubs roots trace back to the 19th century when the Millbank Penitentiary, opened in 1821, faced challenges from marshland subsidence and disease outbreaks. The massive jails confusing layout led to wardens frequently getting lost in its labyrinthine corridors. In 1843, the prison population was relocated to Pentonville, and Millbank Penitentiary became a holding depot for convicts awaiting transportation to Australia.

The haunted vaults beneath Morpeth Arms are said to harbour the ghosts of deceased inmates, adding an extra layer of intrigue to this already captivating pub. With its blend of history, espionage, and paranormal allure, Morpeth Arms stands as a unique destination that transports visitors to the enigmatic past of Londons penal history.
Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy stirred controversy last year when he suggested that Indians must have a 70-hour work week. The 77-year-old billionaire mentioned how in the early years of Infosys he regularly spent almost 12 hours working. Now, a book, An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, has revealed how Murthys family struggled to cope with his long work-related absences, especially when his son Rohan and daughter Akshata were growing up. The 352-page long book details that when Murthy was working in the US, his children would spend weeks without listening to his voice as back then, phone calls to the US would cost Rs 32 per minute.

In the book, Divakaruni describes the sacrifice made by Murthys immediate family as, Entrepreneurship has a human cost, and it is the entrepreneurs family that pays it.

As per a book excerpt published in the Times of India, one day Rohan and Akshata overheard a conversation between their mother and an Infosys board member in which the board member claimed that their father prioritised the company over his wife and children. When Rohan and Akshata noted that their mother did not correct the board member, they confronted their father. Rohan bluntly asked Murthy, Who do you love more  me and Akshata, or Infosys?. Murthy assured his kids that he loves them the most but he noted that neither Rohan nor Akshata was convinced.

Murthy spent lavishly at the anniversary of the founding of Infosys, but all other family celebrations such as birthdays were sober affairs. The book excerpt mentioned that while growing up, Akshata considered her grandfather as her real dad and called her father a bonus dad. She described him as someone who appeared at infrequent moments and tried to make up for his absence with fun activities.

For Rohan, the absence of his father may have caused him to behave naughtily, while it made Akshata quieter and more withdrawn until she entered her teenage years. Sudha Murty dealt with the loneliness by focusing on the Infosys Foundation and her writing.

As per the book, Sudha sometimes asked herself a question: Would I have been happy with a man who was satisfied with a nine-to-five salaried job, even if that meant he was home with me every evening? The answer was always a resounding no. Sudha knew she had made the right choice  in deciding to marry Murthy.
Andrew Tate mocked the appearance of an Indian-American doctor on social media after she said that his gym-trained, buffed body is a body type that is attractive to gay men. The debate erupted when Tate posted a shirtless photo on social media site X (formerly Twitter) and captioned it: I dont sleep with vaccinated women.

I cannot say enough how this body type is *maybe* only attractive to gay men.I have literally turned down dates with gym bros with ripped abs in the past because I find this body type suggestive of aggression and narcissism. I bet other women feel the same. https://t.co/nipnAEAie6  Kirti Patel, MD (@kirtipatelmd) January 8, 2024

Kirti Patel, who is a doctor and a medical influencer and gynecologist, said that Tates body type may be only be attractive to gay men while adding she turned down dates with gym bros with ripped abs.

Im super disappointed that Im not attractive to you Kirti. I was only trying to make my arms as big as your nose. https://t.co/n0XlUyVeZX pic.twitter.com/jtsUAhtUEK  Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) January 9, 2024

I have literally turned down dates with gym bros with ripped abs in the past because I find this body type suggestive of aggression and narcissism. I bet other women feel the same, Patel wrote, sharing what she thinks of different body-types.

Patels responses led to a war of words between her and Tate. Tate appeared to mock her looks and said. Im super disappointed that Im not attractive to you Kirti. I was only trying to make my arms as big as your nose, Tate said.

He then continued his online attack and shared more pictures of Patel. He then said his takes were funny and hilarious and then coined the term Kirtius to mock the Indian-American doctor. He also called her a nose guardian.

Tate is infamous for his views which have been called out for promoting misogyny. He has expressed his disdain for feminists and the feminist movement and has also on occasions made remarks that were hurtful towards the LGBT community.

Critics have said that the ultra-masculine lifestyle that he promotes, which has led to millions of young men idolizing him, actually endangers men and promotes hatred towards women in them.

Tate is awaiting trial on human trafficking charges in Romania. He was indicted in June 2023 along with his brother Tristan Tate on allegations of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The duo has denied the allegations.

The Tate brothers who are dual citizens of US and UK were kept in police custody pending a criminal investigation from late December 2022 until April 2023 to stop them from fleeing Romania and deter them from evidence-tampering. They were placed under house arrest and later were kept under judicial control.
Bangladesh on Wednesday announced the list of the 36-member Council of Ministers, including several incumbent ministers, who are set to be sworn in on Thursday under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The list includes 25 Cabinet and 11 state ministers, who will be administered the oath of office by President Mohammad Shahabuddin.

According to the list, 14 incumbent ministers were dropped from the Cabinet, including heavyweights like Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Finance Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak and Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi. We have received a list of 25 Cabinet ministers and 11 state ministers. With honourable Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), the total number stands at 37, Hossain said during a press conference at his office.

The strength of the existing council of ministers was 44. Names of 13 junior ministers of the 18 current state ministers have also not appeared in the new list, including that of junior minister for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam.

The new Council of Ministers list named 14 new faces as Cabinet ministers and seven as state ministers. Simin Hossain Rimi, the daughter of the first prime minister of Bangladesh, Tazuddin Ahmed, is among the new faces named on the state ministers list.

According to Cabinet division officials, the list of portfolios of the new cabinet and junior ministers was expected soon. Bangladesh went to polls on Sunday, in which the ruling Awami League headed by Prime Minister Hasina won 222 seats; the Jatiya Party 11 seats; the Workers Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Bangladesh Kalyan Party one seat each; and independent candidates won 61 seats.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has addressed last weeks mid-air panel blowout from an Alaska Airlines jet, admitting the mistake and assuring that the planemaker would work with regulators to make sure it can never happen again. This was Boeings first public acknowledgment of error since the incident on Friday left the 737 MAX 9 plane with a gaping hole.

The two US carriers that use the temporarily grounded planes have found loose parts on similar aircraft. Boeing told staff that findings of loose bolts in airplanes were being treated as a quality control issue and checks were underway at Boeing and supplier Spirit Aerosystems, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Were going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake, Calhoun told employees, according to an excerpt released by Boeing. Were going to approach it with 100 percent and complete transparency every step of the way. Boeing shares fell 1.4 percent Tuesday as United canceled 225 daily flights, or 8 percent of its total, while Alaska canceled 109, or 18 percent. Similar cancellations were expected on Wednesday.

Calhoun also told Boeing employees the company will ensure every next airplane that moves into the sky is in fact safe. He praised the Alaska Airlines crew that swiftly moved to land the 737 MAX 9 plane with only minor injuries to the 171 passengers and six crew.

All MAX jets Grounded

Calhoun, who was a Boeing board member when all MAX jets were grounded worldwide in 2019, paid tribute to Alaska Airlines for quickly grounding its 737 MAX 9 jets, adding he knew how hard it is to ground planes, much less the fleet, the sources said. Calhoun said the accident had shaken Boeing customers and shook me to the bone, the sources quoting him saying.

Boeing has suffered numerous production issues since the full-blown grounding of the 737 MAX family in March 2019 that lasted 20 months, following a pair of crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 planes after Saturdays incident, causing numerous flight cancellations. The panel that blew off Alaska Air Flight 1282 replaces an optional exit door on 737 MAX 9 planes used by airlines that have denser seating configurations.

Boeing has checked the service records of earlier Boeing 737-900ER aircraft that had a similar door plug, but all have undergone extensive maintenance since being delivered and none has shown a sign of similar problems, the sources said. On Monday, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines both said they had found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft during preliminary checks, raising new concerns about how Boeings best-selling jet family is built and its approval process.

Will conduct a thorough review

The FAA said Tuesday that Boeing was revising its instructions for inspections and maintenance, which the FAA must still approve before checks can begin on the 171 grounded planes. The FAA said it will conduct a thorough review and public safety will determine the timeline for returning the MAX to service.

Calhoun said Boeing had had a very anxious moment with customers and would have to deal with that reality, one source said. Boeing met delivery targets but ended 2023 in second place behind rival Airbus for the fifth year running, according to Boeing data and industry sources. Boeing delivered 528 jets. Airbus will announce 735 deliveries for 2023 later this week, sources have said.

Boeing booked 1,314 net new orders, up 70%. However, the company faces an aggressive timetable for production. Meanwhile, the FAA said it continues to inspect each new 737 MAX before an airworthiness certificate is issued and cleared for delivery, when it typically delegates the final sign-off on individual airplanes to the manufacturer.

(With agency inputs)
Hundreds of people who made the Fascist salute in Rome last weekend behaved contrary to our democratic culture, Italys interior minister said Wednesday  but said banning extremist groups was complicated. Matteo Piantedosi said police have referred five supporters of neo-fascist group Casapound to judicial authorities for taking part in Sunday evenings demonstration, footage of which went viral and drew widespread outrage.

Piantedosi, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Melonis hard right government but not her party, told MPs that all political parties had distanced themselves from this behaviour, which is contrary to our democratic culture.

Hundreds of people, many wearing black, were filmed raising their arms in a Fascist salute at the site of the former Rome headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a party formed by supporters of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini after World War II. They were marking the anniversary of the 1978 murder of two teenage activists from the MSIs youth wing at the site, killings blamed on far-left activists, but for which nobody was ever convicted.

Piantedosi said their memory was betrayed by the repetition of gestures and symbols that represent an era condemned by history, that of Mussolinis 1922-1943 dictatorship. He said the five supporters of Casapound, a fringe group based in Rome, had been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of the crime of apology of fascism. But he resisted calls from the opposition centre-left Democratic Party to disband such groups, saying the law only allowed for this in very limited circumstances.

A commemoration is held every year to mark the 1978 murders, which occurred during a period of political violence in Italy known as the Years of Lead. Piantedosi said the 1,000 people gathered on Sunday was fewer than in previous years.

But it has taken on greater political resonance given the advent to power in October 2022 of Melonis far-right Brothers of Italy, which has its origins in the MSI. The party was not involved in Sundays demonstration but the prime minister has yet to comment  a silence condemned by Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein as embarrassing.

Meloni remains hostage to her past, Schlein told MPs. She added that the commemoration of the young lives lost cannot in any way justify the repetition of gestures that recall a dictatorship that trampled on freedom and democracy, that produced the darkest pages in the history of this country.

MSI youth members Franco Bigonzetti, 13, and Francesco Ciavatta, 17, were shot dead while a third teen activist, Stefano Recchioni, 19, was killed by a stray bullet during subsequent riots and clashes with police.
Hong Kong: CS concludes GBA visit

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki today visited Shenzhen, the last stop of his three-day trip to the Greater Bay Area.

In the morning, Mr Chan toured the Vocational & Professional Education Services (Shenzhen) Company (VPES) - the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council's (VTC) first Mainland operation centre, where he received a briefing on its operations. He also spoke to VTC students and those attending Shenzhen Polytechnic University to learn about their joint scientific research projects.

During the session, Mr Chan was pleased to learn that VPES seeks to help more Hong Kong young people understand the countrys development, and at the same time endeavour to enable Mainland young people to learn about vocational training as well as different progression pathways in Hong Kong.

Afterwards, the Chief Secretary called on CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee Secretary Meng Fanli and Shenzhen Mayor Qin Weizhong to discuss issues of mutual concern.

Mr Chan noted that Hong Kong and Shenzhen have been expediting the development of a co-operation zone in Hetao, adding that both cities will also fully leverage their dual engine roles to drive Qianhai development.

He also told the Shenzhen officials that Hong Kong will steadfastly implement the Northern Metropolis Action Agenda, with a view to achieving deeper integration with the planning of Shenzhen and other bay area cities, whilst enhancing Hong Kongs integration into the national development.

Reiterating that Hong Kong will fully capitalise on its advantages under one country, two systems, Mr Chan added that he looked forward to Hong Kong and Shenzhens continued pursuit of deeper and higher-level co-operation to foster the bay areas high-quality development.

Before heading back to Hong Kong, Mr Chan stopped by The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital where he said he looked forward to the continued and steadfast implementation of the Framework Agreement on Medical Collaboration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong signed in September last year, to facilitate the flow of talent, medicine, medical devices and healthcare services as well as underpin the important national strategy of Healthy China.

Wrapping up his three-day visit to Guangzhou, Huizhou and Shenzhen, the Chief Secretary expressed confidence that the governments of bay area cities would make new contributions to the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area and the country at large.

This story has been published on: 2024-01-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The dispatcher center of Ukrenergo fixed a new record for electricity consumption on Wednesday and calls on both the population and business to use electricity extremely rationally.

Today is a new consumption record, especially in the morning. Our control center is making efforts throughout the day to balance the operation of the energy system, the company wrote in its Telegram channel.

They once again called on both household consumers and businesses to consume electricity sparingly in order to help the energy system operate in difficult weather conditions without loads.

As reported on Wednesday morning, Ukrenergo predicted a deficit of approximately 3% of consumption during the day. The latest record was fixed on January 9 against the backdrop of colder weather and a simultaneous increase in consumption in regions where power was being restored after blackouts due to bad weather.
The panel of judges examining Donald Trumps argument that he cant be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 election raised the concerns that could come if an American president is granted absolute presidential immunity.

Judge Florence Pan while listening to arguments from Donald Trumps legal team posed this question to the former presidents lawyer: Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That is an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six?

The judge also asked that would the US president be still immune from prosecution if, hypothetically speaking, they sold military secrets to foreign adversaries or peddled pardons to criminals.

Trumps lawyer John Sauer then insisted that the political process of impeachment would have to be initiated first in order to prosecute the president.

He would have to be, and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution, Sauer said. I asked you a yes or no question, the judge said in response. If he were impeached and convicted first, Sauer replied.

There is a political process that would have to occur under our Constitution. If theres no impeachment ever, and no conviction, then the official acts are immune. Period, Sauer told the three-judge panel.

He also said that without an impeachment the US Supreme Court held that a presidents official acts are never reviewable by the courts.

Trump has contended that he is immune to federal charges of conspiring to interfere in the 2020 election because his actions took place while he was president. He attended the hearing.

He was impeached by the US House of Representatives but later acquitted in US House of Senate when allegations were raised that he incited the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.

Prosecutor assistant special counsel James Pearce weighed in and said it sets a dangerous precedent for the countrys future if US presidents could kill rivals or sell national secrets and suffer no consequences without an impeachment and conviction.

I think that is an extraordinarily frightening future. I think if we are talking about balancing interests that should weigh extraordinarily heavily in the courts consideration, Pearce said.

The case could eventually reach US apex court where Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has already asked for a ruling but the US Supreme Court said the appeals court should weigh in first.

Pandoras Box

Trumps lawyer also contended that impeachment process acts as a shield for presidents from political rivals and prosecutors second-guessing their policy decisions. The current incumbent of the presidency is prosecuting his No. 1 political opponent and his greatest electoral threat, Sauer said.

He said if these protections were not there, former president George W. Bush could have been prosecuted for spreading false information to justify the invasion of Iraq and even former president Barack Obama could face prosecution for authorizing drone strikes that killed civilians.

To authorize the prosecution of a president for his official acts would open a Pandoras box from which this nation may never recover, Sauer further added.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to intensive care last week for complications from prostate cancer surgery, officials said Tuesday, after he faced criticism for keeping his extended hospital stay under wraps.

Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning, said John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman. And the president was informed immediately after. The 70-year-olds failure to disclose his hospitalisation left top officials in the dark about his status as Washington struggles to contain the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war.

Austins prostate cancer was detected early and his prognosis is excellent, two doctors from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said in a statement released by the Pentagon. The cancer was detected as a result of routine screening and Austin underwent a minor surgical procedure to treat it on December 22, returning home the following day, they said.

However, he was readmitted to the same hospital on January 1 due to complications including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection, necessitating further treatment. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process. During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia, the doctors said.

While Austin was hospitalised on January 1, the Pentagon did not make any public announcement until four days later, and also waited to notify President Joe Biden and Congress. After Austins admission to Walter Reed last week, the Defense Department failed to properly notify appropriate parties, including President Joe Biden, about the secretarys condition, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Some of Austins authorities were transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on January 2, but she was not told that he was hospitalised until two days later, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists on Monday. Ryder said the defense department is now looking into that breakdown in communications so that it will not happen again.

The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was informed on January 4, bringing the White House into the loop, while Congress was not told until the day after that. Some Republican lawmakers have called for Austin to resign or be fired, but the White House has stood by the secretary, and Ryder said the secretary has no plans to resign.

(With agency inputs)
An independent candidate contesting for Pakistans upcoming general elections was killed along with his two companions on Wednesday by unknown gunmen in the countrys restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

Malik Kaleemullah, a candidate from the PK 104 Miran Shah constituency of the North Waziristan tribal district, was ambushed by unknown assailants when he was on his way back home with two friends near Tappi village.

All three were killed, and the attackers managed to flee from the scene after committing the murder, police said. The bodies have been shifted to Muran Shah Hospital for postmortem, and police have registered a case against the unknown accused and started investigations.

The motives behind the assassination of the candidate are not known yet. Pakistan goes to polls on February 8 and has seen a spike in terror incidents in recent days, particularly in the restive northwest.

On Sunday, at least four people were killed and three others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on two vehicles in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to a recent report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) think tank, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was the most affected by terror attacks in November, recording 51 attacks with 54 deaths and 81 injuries.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the victim of infamous US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had intercourse with a second prince in France, according to newly released documents.

Epsteins sex slave Giuffre claimed that she was compelled into having sexual encounters with Britains Prince Andrew and added she had sex with another prince, the New York Post reported, citing the 2016 deposition for a lawsuit.

What other world leaders were you sexually trafficked to? defence lawyer Mary Borja asked Giuffre in her Florida case against Epsteins ex-lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Prince Andrew for one, Giuffre said, before adding that she was introduced to another person as a prince.

A final round of legal documents released Tuesday in a court case related to Epsteins sexual abuse of teenage girls was made up of testimony transcripts that were already largely public and dealt with allegations about misconduct by rich and influential men. The unsealed files included a 2016 deposition of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who said Epstein sexually abused her and arranged for her to have sexual encounters with men including Prince Andrew starting when she was 17.

It also included a transcript of testimony by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epsteins ex-girlfriend, who insisted that Giuffre was a liar. Giuffre, now 40, said she didnt know the princes name and didnt know from what country he came from but said he did speak [a] foreign tongue, as we as he spoke English well.

They were present before the sexual activity and then I went to have sexual activity with him alone  on the instruction of Epstein and Ghislaine, she testified. Giuffre also claimed she had twice seen former US President Bill Clinton on Epsteins notorious Caribbean island, Little St. James. While Clinton has admitted he flew on Epsteins plane, hes maintained that he never visited the pedophile island.

Giuffre never accused the former US President of any wrongdoing but another Epstein accuser, Johana Sjoberg, testified during a 2016 deposition that Epstein once told her the former Clinton likes them young. However, there are no records of Bill Clinton having flown to the island and he maintains he knew nothing of Epsteins crimes.

The documents released last week have added a few details to what was already known about Epsteins crimes. They did not contain the explosive revelations or new identities of abusers that some had predicted. Epstein was a millionaire money manager before he was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2006 and accused of paying underage girls for sex. He served 13 months in a jail work release program. In 2019, he killed himself in a federal jail cell while awaiting trial.

Dozens of women say Epstein sexually abused them at his homes in New York, Florida, the Virgin Islands and New Mexico. The documents released this month relate to a 2015 defamation lawsuit that Giuffre filed against Maxwell and was settled in 2017. Most of the court file has been public for years, but public interest in the documents soared after a judge ordered that some sealed sections be fully released.

(With agency inputs)
Nepal police said Wednesday they had arrested a spiritual leader whose devotees believe him to be a reincarnation of Buddha over allegations of disappearances and rape at his ashrams. Police more than 30 million Nepalese Rupee from controversial spiritual leader Ram Bahadur Bomjans residence.

33-year-old Bomjan was arrested from his residence by a team of the Central Bureau of Investigation of Nepal Police on Tuesday, The Kathmandu Post reported. Citing the chargesheet, the newspaper said that Bomjan is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl who was staying in his ashram in Pattharkot, Sarlahi, as an Aani (Nun). The chargesheet said that he raped the minor by luring her to his private quarters in August 2016. He has been charged with threatening the girl with consequences if she relayed the incident to others, the report added.

Buddha Boy

Bomjan, better known as Buddha Boy among devotees, became famous as a teenager after followers said he could meditate for months without water, food or sleep. The guru has a devout following but has long been accused of physically and sexually assaulting his followers, and had been hiding from authorities for several years.

He was arrested after absconding for several years, police spokesperson Kuber Kadayat told AFP. He has several allegations against him including of disappearances and sexual exploitation. Dozens of assault complaints were filed against Bomjan in 2010. He said he beat the victims because they disturbed his meditation.

An 18-year-old nun accused the guru of raping her at a monastery in 2018. Special police investigators began an investigation in 2019 after a complaint by the families of four of Bomjans devotees who allegedly vanished from one of his ashrams. A sexual exploitation complaint in another case was registered against him in Sarlahi, south of the capital Kathmandu, the following year. Before he went on the run, Bomjan still commanded a legion of followers as the allegations against him mounted.

At one point tens of thousands of people had gathered to witness his reputed miracles of meditation deep in the jungle. When he was 16, Bomjan disappeared for nine months to wander the wilderness of eastern Nepal, prompting a round-the-clock vigil by Buddhist monks who prayed for his safe return.

(With agency inputs)
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Wednesday restored the bat symbol for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which means Imran Khans party can now contest the polls with its iconic symbol on February 8 elections. The court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) made an incorrect decision by revoking the PTIs bat symbol.

The court ordered the ECP to issue a certificate to the PTI and suspended the decision which stripped the PTI of its symbol. PTI is a political party entitled to an election symbol, the panel of judges led by justices Ijaz Anwar and Arshad Ali said.

In December 2023, a five-member ECP bench, led by chief election commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, denounced the PTI intra-party polls as unconstitutional and revoked their bat as an electoral symbol ahead of the February 8 general elections.

The election commission that time insisted the democratic process must be followed within political parties and said PTIs failure to conduct intra-party elections as mandated by the constitution led them to arrive at the decision to withdraw the partys bat symbol as it deviated from the established democratic norms.

PTI senator Ali Zafar expressed confidence ahead of the elections and said that no one can stop the party from winning elections. Now, no one can stop PTI from winning these elections. Court has ordered to restore PTIs bat symbol and upload intra-party polls results on its website immediately, he said, according to Pakistani news outlet Samaa.

During the court proceedings, PTIs lawyers told the court that the ECP wanted to end the party and said that its main concern was not intra-party elections. They lamented that the electoral watchdog became an enemy of PTI.

The entire nation was praying and waiting for this verdict. Today we thank them for their support, PTIs legal team said.

Senator Zafar said that if the ECP now fails to restore the bat symbol on its website within 15 minutes of the passing of the verdict, it would be construed as contempt of court. Neither the court nor the nation would tolerate this, Zafar was quoted as saying by The Dawn.
In a setback for US prosecutors in the extradition of Nikhil Gupta, a New York Federal Judge on January 8 ordered them to produce documentary evidence supporting the murder for hire" charge against him. Meanwhile, top sources in the Indian government said this was between the courts and not appropriate for them to reply.

The United States has charged Gupta, an Indian national, with a conspiracy to murder Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is a US citizen and has been designated a terrorist by the Indian government. Gupta was arrested by the Czech authorities in June and is awaiting extradition.

ALSO READ | Who is Nikhil Gupta, Whats His Alleged Role in Plot to Kill Gurpatwant Pannun in US?

The order says that the government should file reply within three days of this order about the available evidence.

In what created a controversy, the US had made allegations that Pannun was on the target list of Indian killers and they hired people to assassinate him, but the bid was foiled.

A press release issued by the Office of Public Affairs of the US Department of Justice earlier had stated that Gupta was charged with murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Each count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. The federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The charges have been built on a bare-bones indictment filed in mid-June and unsealed in July, which alleged that Gupta coordinated a $15,000 advance payment to a purported hitmans associate. The document, however, gave no indication of who the intended victim was.

Additional details are contained in what is known as a superseding indictment, which has been unsealed and alleges murder-for-hire charges against Gupta, aka Nick, in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen in New York City.

Court documents had stated that earlier this year an Indian government employee (CC-1), working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian origin residing in New York City (the victim)".

The press release had stated that Gupta was an associate of CC-1" and had described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with CC-1 and others".

CC-1" is an Indian government agency employee, who has variously described himself as a senior field officer" with responsibilities in security management" and intelligence", and who also has referenced previously serving in Central Reserve Police Force and receiving officer[] training" in battle craft" and weapons", stated the press release.

With PTI Inputs
A storm packing high winds and heavy rain was sweeping through the Northeast early Wednesday, while wild winter weather elsewhere brought tornadoes and deadly accidents in the Midwest and South, flood threats in Florida and blizzards in the Northwest.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy already declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon and New York City officials evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex ahead of predicted wind speeds that could top 70 mph at times. In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills delayed the opening of all state offices until noon Wednesday due to the storm.

The National Weather Service warned of possible major flooding in portions of Long Island with up to 9-foot (2.7-meter) seas through Wednesday morning and a chance of major and minor flooding along streams and rivers throughout the Tri-State area, even though rain was expected to tail off.

The wild weather came as portions of the Northeast were still digging out from a noreaster that dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas over the weekend. On Tuesday, the same weather system brought heavy rain, hail and at least three reported tornadoes to the South before moving eastward.

Rain and high winds extended into the nations capital Tuesday night, forcing Vice President Kamala Harris aircraft to divert from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport near Washington when it encountered wind shear  a sudden shift in wind direction or speed.

Near Cottonwood, Alabama, a small city near the Georgia and Florida borders, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation, the Houston County coroner said. A suspected tornado had touched down in the area.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state highway in Jonesboro. More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.

In North Carolina, one person died and two others were in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, said Amy McCauley, a spokesperson for Catawba County.

A possible tornado knocked down several old brick storefronts in downtown Bamberg, South Carolina, blocking the main intersection through the city about 60 miles (96 kilometers) south of Columbia. Thousands of bricks blocked U.S. 301, the main road through that part of the state, and about 40 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, said Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg, who represents the area.

Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths. A section of Panama City Beach showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about, and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home.

The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee planned to send out three tornado survey teams on Wednesday to examine suspected tornado damage in Walton, Bay and Jackson counties in Florida, and two more on Thursday to look at Houston County, Alabama, and Calhoun County, Georgia.

Many areas of Florida remained under flood watches, warnings and advisories early Wednesday morning amid concerns that streams and rivers were topping their banks. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who gave his State of the State address Tuesday as tornado warnings were active outside the Capitol, issued an executive order to include 49 counties in North Florida under a state of emergency.

Turn around, dont drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles, the weather service warned in a statement. Another storm that began Monday buried cities across the Midwest in snow, stranding people on highways. Some areas saw up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow on Monday, including Kansas, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, western Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota.

In southeastern Wisconsin, an SUV driver died Tuesday in a head-on collision with a semitrailer on a slushy, snowy state highway, authorities said. In Des Moines, Iowa, Laura Burianov had nearly finished shoveling her driveway Tuesday morning. But with snow still falling, she acknowledged she likely would have to shovel again later in the day. Its going to get harder. I shoveled last night and you cant really tell, but I can pretend that three less inches makes a difference, she said.

Madison, Wisconsin, was under a winter storm warning until early Wednesday, with as much as 9 inches of snow and 40 mph (64 kph) winds on tap. In western Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died Tuesday after she lost control of her minivan on a slushy highway and it collided with an SUV, the Lake County Sheriffs Office said. The ambulance taking her to a Grand Rapids hospital, where she was pronounced dead, was struck by another vehicle en route there, and a second ambulance was needed to finish the transport to the hospital.

The weather has already affected campaigning for Iowas Jan. 15 precinct caucuses, where the snow is expected to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below zero degrees (minus 18 Celsius). It forced former President Donald Trumps campaign to cancel multiple appearances by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and her father, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who had been scheduled to court Iowa voters on Trumps behalf Monday.

Forecasters warned snow-struck regions of the Midwest and the Great Plains that temperatures could plunge dangerously low because of wind chill, dipping to around minus 20 (29 Celsius) and even far lower in Chicago, Kansas City and some areas of Montana. In the Pacific Northwest, a blizzard pounded Washington and Oregon mountains on Tuesday, knocking out power and prompting the closure of highways and ski resorts.

At one point, some 150,000 customers in those states were without electricity, although that was down to under 20,000 by late Tuesday night. The storms with their potent mix of snow, rain, hail and wind played havoc with power lines in other states. More than 600,000 customers remained without power in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, according to the website poweroutage.us. Another 77,000 customers were in the dark in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Taliban terrorists, who now govern Afghanistan, arrested girls as young as 16 were arrested and lashed last week in Kabul for violating the terror groups hijab rules.

The girls were hauled into trucks by Taliban from shopping centres, classes and markets and were accused of wearing makeup and encouraging others to wear a bad hijab.

Taliban decreed in May 2022 that women should cover themselves from head to toe and reveal only their eyes. The Taliban have restricted womens access to education and unemployment since taking over power in Afghanistan in 2021.

One girl told the UK-based newspaper The Guardian that she and a number of other girls at her English language class and pulled into a police truck. She said that when she and others refused to go they were beaten. The girl speaking to the newspaper said she was lashed on her feet and legs when trying to reason with them.

Her father was later badly beaten for raising immoral girls.

My attire was modest and even included a face mask  a precaution I had adopted since the Taliban takeover. But they beat me anyway, insisting that my outfit was improper, the girl was quoted as saying by The Guardian. She said she was detained for two days.

During her detention, she was cursed by the Taliban terrorists as infidels, for studying English and for aspiring to go abroad.

The girl was released after community elders intervened. She was made to sign a document where she promised not to leave her home without the mandatory head-covering. She has also been banned from attending her English classes.

I can no longer imagine anything for my future other than staying home and getting married. I saw how badly my father was beaten because I went to the English course. When I saw his photos after returning home, I was so scared that I would lose him. I dont have the motivation to study after this. I dont want this experience again, she told the The Guardian.

The Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, when questioned by The Guardian said the families of the detained girls raised concerns with the ministry for propagation of virtue and prevention of vice that their daughters were being used by foreign groups to promote bad hijab.

(These arrests are) not usual practice. They were taken to police stations and freed on bail, Mujahid was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The detentions come less than a week after the UN security council requested a special envoy to engage with the Taliban, particularly over gender and womens rights situation in Afghanistan. The Taliban declined the proposal, claiming it would complicate the situation as it will impose external solutions.
A Japanese technology giant is in the crosshairs of British lawmakers for building the faulty accounting software that led to what has been called the countrys biggest ever miscarriage of justice.

Fujitsu created the Horizon IT system that resulted in some 700 local post office managers being wrongly convicted for theft and false accounting between 1999 and 2005. The UK government, which plans to exonerate all victims, has warned the company will be held to account if a public inquiry finds it guilty of wrongdoing.

MPs are calling for billions of dollars of government contracts with Fujitsu to be re-examined amid public outrage over the scandal, ignited by a hit TV drama aired last week. Lawmakers are due to grill Fujitsu bosses next week when they are hauled in front of the UK parliament select committee that scrutinises the spending of the governments business department.

Were determined to uncover whether Fujitsu put profit before people, the business committees chair, Labour MP Liam Byrne, told AFP.

Someone must have known things were not right while innocent lives were being ruined by evidence that was simply unsafe. So weve got to know who at Fujitsu knew what when, and crucially did they raise warnings, or keep the truth to themselves, he added.

A spokesperson for Fujitsu told AFP the company is fully committed to supporting the inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it. They added that Fujitsu has apologised for its role in the subpostmasters suffering.

Lives lost

The state-owned Post Office began installing Horizon IT in the late 1990s but flaws in its programming showed that money had gone missing from the subpostmasters branch accounts when it had not. Postal service executives, refusing to acknowledge problems with the software, forced workers to repay the shortfalls.

The false accusations resulted in some managers being jailed, going bankrupt, losing their homes and their health. Four people took their own lives and dozens of those since exonerated died without seeing their names cleared.

The High Court of England and Wales in 2019 ruled that it had been computer errors, not criminality, that had been behind the missing money. The UK government announced on Wednesday that it will unilaterally quash all convictions and offer 600,000 ($764,000) per head in upfront compensation.

The government has already in recent years paid almost 150 million to over 2,500 total victims embroiled in the scandal. An independent public inquiry established in 2021 has yet to conclude who at the Post Office, or Fujitsu, knew what and when. Government ministers have suggested that Fujitsu should cover some of the payouts if it is found culpable.

Other contracts

We strongly believe that individuals, that businesses, will be held to account for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen, Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks spokesman said on Wednesday.

We will not resile from that. But it is right that we allow an independent inquiry to get the facts, to set them out, and then we can act, he added.

Fujitsu  which has headquarters in Tokyo  is one of the worlds largest IT services providers, with annual revenues of around $27 billion. It provides IT services to multiple UK government departments, including the interior, foreign and environment ministries.

The firm has won 197 contracts from the British government since 2012, worth a total of $6.8 billion, as per data compiled by analysts at Tussell, which tracks government spending. That includes the nearly 2.4 billion contract for the Horizon system itself, plus several agreements worth a combined 1 billion with the revenues and customs department.

Fujitsu also has a dozen contracts with the ministry of defence worth $582 million, according to Tussell. The IT company received its most recent contract from the UK government as recently as last month, the Tussell data shows.

Conservative MP Mark Francois told parliament the government should review all of its contracts with Fujitsu and should consider suspending them if the company wont do the right thing. Those are conversations we should have when weve identified exactly who is responsible, said business minister Kevin Hollinrake in reply. We wont be able to do that for some months yet but were keen to do it as soon as we possibly can.
PJSC Cherkasyoblenergo, after the end of the war, intends to implement a pilot project for using electricity produced in installations with renewable energy sources (RES generation) for electric heating in heat supply systems.

According to a company press release, technical documentation is currently being developed, and the project itself will be implemented after the end of the war.

Innovation is important, but today the main tasks of state operators of distribution systems are maintaining networks and equipment in proper condition for reliable power supply to consumers and helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We will introduce large-scale investment programs in the post-war reconstruction of the country, said chairman of the board of Cherkasyoblenergo Oleh Samchuk.

As the company informed, scientists from the General Energy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Education and Research Institute of Energetics and Automation of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (NUBiP) completed the first stage of research work Increasing the efficiency and safety of the integrated power system by electrification of heat supply in Ukraine."

The goal of the work is to create a model for the distribution of electricity from renewable energy sources, which will reduce the costs of maintaining frequency and balancing the market.

According to the scientists, during 2020-2021, the annual damage to the Ukrainian energy system from maintaining frequency and maneuvering the main generating capacities to reserve energy from renewable energy sources, together with systemic losses of the energy system, amounted to $10.27 billion.

Cherkasyoblenergo noted that the scientists propose using electricity produced at solar power plants, wind power plants and biofuel directly for electric heating in heat supply systems, since electric boilers do not require standardized power quality indicators.

As a result, the volume of electricity purchases to maintain frequency in the unified energy system of Ukraine will be significantly reduced, said Vitaliy Babak, director of the General Energy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
UK and US naval forces have repelled the largest attack by Houthis in the Red Sea to date, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday.

A British warship destroyed multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles, Shapps added, hours after Washington said the two countries forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles on Tuesday.

The US and British navies responded to Yemens Houthi rebels firing one of their largest barrages of drones and missiles that targeted shipping in the Red Sea. The attack by the Houthis came despite a planned UN Security Council vote later Wednesday to potentially condemn and demand an immediate halt to the attacks by the rebels, who say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israels military campaign in the Gaza.

HMS DIAMOND, along with US warships, has repelled the largest attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.Destroying multiple attack drones with her guns and sea viper missiles. pic.twitter.com/kFjFKj6TM6  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) January 10, 2024

The attack happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida incident, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with U.S.-allied warships in the area urging vessels to proceed at maximum speed.

Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday. The British militarys United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations also acknowledged the incident off Hodeida. The U.S. militarys Central Command said the complex attack launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile.

Houthi Attack on International ShippingOn Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled pic.twitter.com/KWPRidwiWI  U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 10, 2024

The US military said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason, as well as the United Kingdoms HMS Diamond.

This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19, Central Command said. There were no injuries or damage reported. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity, the UKTMO added.

The Houthis, a Shiite group thats held Yemens capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks. However, the pan-Arab news network quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea. The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that countrys war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 29 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Some 10 percent of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated USD 1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

UN draft resolution

A US draft resolution before the UN Security Council, obtained late Tuesday by The Associated Press, says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security. The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.

An initial draft of the resolution would have recognised the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to take appropriate measures to defend their merchant and naval vessels. The final draft is weaker, eliminating any UN recognition of a countrys right to defend its ships, AP reported. Instead, it would affirm that the navigational rights and freedoms of merchant and commercial vessels must be respected, and take note of the right of member states, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.

(With agency inputs)
A message posted to the US Securities and Exchange Commissions official X account briefly sent bitcoin prices soaring, forcing the market regulator to deny it had approved a new cryptocurrency product.

Around 4 pm (local time), the price of the worlds largest digital currency in terms of circulation surged towards its highest level for more than 22 months, before falling again a few minutes later.

The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024

Almost $48,000

The jump in the price of bitcoin to almost $48,000 came immediately after the SEC published a message on its X account suggesting that it had approved the long-awaited launch of a new type of investment product, known as an ETF.

However, minutes later, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler took to his own X account to warn that the market regulators account had been compromised and that an unauthorised tweet had been posted there. The unauthorised tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff, an SEC spokesperson later told a French news agency.

The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products. Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024

The market has been speculating for weeks that the SEC would grant approval for this new product, which would, for the first time, offer investors an index fund that replicates the performance of bitcoin without them having to hold the cryptocurrency directly.

Last year, a federal appeals court in Washington confirmed that the SEC was not justified in its decision to deny asset manager Grayscale approval for its bitcoin ETF, sparking speculation that it would soon approve such a fund. The Wall Street regulator has until Wednesday to rule on the oldest application for a bitcoin ETF currently under consideration, that of the investment company 21Shares.

(With agency inputs)
US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday met the head of the Palestinian Authority and travelled to Bahrain on his Middle East tour aimed at stopping the Israel-Hamas war from escalating. The Israeli military said it killed dozens of terrorists and hit another 150 targets in Hamas-run Gaza, where the health ministry said 147 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war has raged since the unprecedented Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 and killed more than 23,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, as per its health ministry.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke with Blinken of the need to stop the Israeli aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, which has also been torn by deadly unrest, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Blinken told Abbas that Washington supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state  a long-term goal which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus hard-right government has opposed. The secretary of state reiterated the US position that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel, with both living in peace and security, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

As Blinken arrived under tight security at Abbass headquarters in Ramallah, protesters held up signs reading Stop the genocide, Free Palestine and Blinken out. Some scuffled with Palestinian security forces in riot gear.

In Bahrain, Blinken said Abbas was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to provide effective governance for his people.

Blinken was in the Gulf state for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the war, as per the State Department. Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in the Jordanian city of Aqaba to discuss with King Abdullah II a push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Jordans royal palace said.

Washington sees a future in Gaza for the PA, whose ruling Fatah faction is a rival of Hamas. But Netanyahu has long sought to weaken the semi-autonomous body.

Red Sea clashes spike

Since the Gaza war started, fears have grown of a widening conflict between Israel and Iran-backed armed groups, especially Lebanons Hezbollah but also groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Houthi rebels have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, a vital artery for international trade.

The US has set up a multinational naval task force to protect shipping from the attacks, which Blinken on Wednesday said were aided and abetted by Iran. On Tuesday (January 9), the rebels launched a complex attack, US Central Command said, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.

The Houthis later said they had fired a large number of missiles and drones at a US ship, with an adviser telling AFP it was the largest such attack since their campaign started. British defence secretary Grant Shapps warned the Houthis of consequences if they continued their illegal attacks.

Sacrificed our children

The war started when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took around 250 hostages, of whom Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. The Israeli army says 186 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza in its campaign to destroy Hamas.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday, as the territorys health system collapses during Israels siege and bombardment. Israels military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

The UN estimates 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced inside the territory that had already endured years of blockade and poverty before the war triggered an acute humanitarian crisis.

Blinken  while voicing continued US support for top regional ally Israel  has urged steps to reduce the suffering. Dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine mean the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high, Blinken said Tuesday (January 9).

The WHO called the humanitarian situation in Gaza indescribable on Wednesday and pleaded Israel to allow more aid deliveries. Desperate Gazans on Tuesday (January 9) climbed onto one truck carrying flour and canned goods and tossed the food to the crowd below, AFP footage showed.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari has said Israel was ready and willing to facilitate as much humanitarian aid as the world will give.

One of the many displaced Palestinians, Hassan Kaskin, 55, said: We have lost our money, our houses, our jobs. We are losing our youths as well. Weve sacrificed our children for our homeland.

US crisis diplomacy

Blinken is on his fourth tour of the Middle East since the outbreak of the war, and was due to head to Egypt, after earlier stops in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Washington has floated a post-war scenario in which a reformed Palestinian Authority governs Gaza as well as towns and cities in the West Bank.

A post-war plan outlined by defence minister Yoav Gallant envisions local civil committees governing Gaza after Israel has dismantled Hamas.

Hamas, an Islamist movement, seized sole control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, ousting Abbass Fatah party, with which it had shared power after sweeping parliamentary elections. The US and European Union have blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Hamass Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh said last week he was open to the idea of a single Palestinian administration in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Israeli military killed two Hamas militants during a close combat that broke out inside a building in southern Gaza, according to a newly released video.

The video footage of the combat, which appears to be straight out of a Call of Duty game, begins with members of the IDFs 101st Battalion Combat Team evading gunfire in a building in southern Gazas largest city.

Hamas operatives reportedly opened fire from several buildings where the Israeli military was operating. The paratroopers were called in airstrikes and tank shelling against the buildings, killing several gunmen.

The IDF releases footage showing troops of the Paratroopers Brigades 101st Battalion battling Hamas gunmen inside a building in southern Gazas Khan Younis.According to the IDF, Hamas operatives opened fire from several buildings where the 101st Battalion was operating. The pic.twitter.com/3MREUNuCcC  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 9, 2024

Khan Younis

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days as the Israeli offensives focus shifts to the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza. Khan Younis remains a hotbed in the Israel-Hamas war as the Israeli military looks to gain operational control in the southern half of the Palestinian territory. Gunfire from the stairway sprayed the room where Israeli troops were gathered, miraculously, one soldier skillfully avoided the volley that erupted past the doorway.

As the soldier equipped with a bodycam retreated, an explosive was thrown into the room, prompting Israeli fighters to seek cover. Following another sequence of gunfire and explosions on the second floor, multiple members of the combat team were observed shooting down the stairs before the battle concluded. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that seven soldiers were wounded in the battle, and one K-9 unit that was probing the building was killed, the New York Post reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least four members of the militant group Hezbollah members, a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group. Israel claimed it killed Ali Hussein Barji, who it said was in charge of Hezbollahs drones in the south, but a Hezbollah official, as per The Associated Press, said he was only a fighter.

Hamas October 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people, and militants took some 250 others hostage. Israels air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

(With agency inputs)
A live broadcast by an Ecuadorean television station was interrupted on Tuesday by armed people, with gunshots heard on a live feed, as President Daniel Noboa issued a decree declaring 22 gangs as terrorist outfits. People dressed in black were seen wielding guns and accosting huddled staffers before the feed cut out.

The national police said on social media it was evacuating the public channel TCs studio in Guayaquil, verifying the condition of staff there and reestablishing order. Police in Guayaquil confirmed 13 arrests, and police social media posts showed photos of young men lying on the floor with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

Que pena todo lo que esta pasando con los hermanos del canal tc television, Dios los cuide pic.twitter.com/behRNVacSz Emergencias Ec (@EmergenciasEc) January 9, 2024

State of Emergency

The incident followed the kidnappings of at least seven police officers and a series of explosions, a day after Noboa declared a state of emergency. TC, which broadcasts nationally, shares a site with another public broadcaster, Gamavision, and several radio stations.

The attackers entered through Gamavisions reception, assaulting staff there and leaving dynamite behind, TC news coordinator and reporter Leonardo Flores Moreno told Reuters in a message.

We were in a meeting and they alerted us and we were able to hide, said Flores, who was not on the sound stage during the takeover, but said two people at TC had been injured. We dont know what is happening, people are nervous, there are many colleagues from Gama and TC who are hiding, Flores said, adding he could hear helicopters overhead. Noboa, son of one of the countrys richest men, took office in November promising to stem a wave of drug trade-related violence on the streets and in prisons which has been growing for years.

On Monday, the President declared a 60-day state of emergency, enabling military patrols, including in prisons, and setting a national nighttime curfew. The measure was a response to the apparent escape of Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence, and other recent prison incidents, including hostage-takings of guards.

Noboa said he recognised an internal armed conflict in Ecuador and identified several criminal gangs as terrorist groups, including Los Choneros. The decree ordered the armed forces to neutralize the groups. The Ecuador President is meeting with security officials and is expected to speak later on Tuesday. Noboa has said he will not negotiate with terrorists and the government has blamed the recent prison violence on Noboas plan to build a new high security prison and transfer jailed gang leaders.

Policemen Kidnapped

Seven police officers were kidnapped in three separate incidents in the southern city of Machala, Quito and Los Rios province, police said earlier. The police said there were explosions in the provinces of Esmeraldas and Los Rios, while mayors offices in the cities of Cuenca and Quito confirmed others and the attorney generals office said it was investigating one in Guayaquil. Local media have also reported explosions in Loja and Machala.

Authorities have not given a cause for any of the explosions and no one has claimed responsibility. Prisons agency SNAI said earlier on Tuesday a group of prisoners escaped from a penitentiary in Riobamba, including accused gang member Colon Pico, who was allegedly involved in an attack plot against the attorney general. Seventeen of the 39 escapees have been recaptured.

Eleven prison guards who had been taken hostage over the past two days have been released, on Monday added, but 139 guards and other staff are still being held. Some Ecuadoreans demanded action beyond the state of emergency. The previous government declared them and they were ineffective. Noboa needs to take more drastic measures, go out with the police and armed forces to impose order, said Marcelo Gordillo, 42. He must take the bull by the horns.

The US State Department said Tuesday it was extremely concerned by violence in Ecuador which has led the countrys president to declare a state of emergency and deploy military into the streets. Extremely concerned by todays violence & kidnappings in Ecuador, the top US diplomat for Latin America, Brian Nichols, wrote on X, adding that American officials would remain in close contact with President Daniel Noboas team.

(With agency inputs)
Yemens Houthi rebels fired multiple drones and missiles targeting ships in the Red Sea late Tuesday, the US military said Wednesday. The attack happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey.

In the Hodeida incident, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with US-allied warships in the area urging vessels to proceed at maximum speed. Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday.

The US militarys Central Command said the complex attack launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile. It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by other American ships and one British warship.

Houthi Attack on International ShippingOn Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled pic.twitter.com/KWPRidwiWI  U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 10, 2024

26th Houthi attack

This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19, Central Command said. There were no injuries or damage reported. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity, the British militarys United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations said after the Hodeida attack.

The Houthis, a Shiite group thats held Yemens capital since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks. However, the pan-Arab news network quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea, without elaborating. The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that countrys war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 29 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Some 10 percent of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated USD 1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

A US-led coalition has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks. American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though theres been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the U.S.

(With agency inputs)
Russian troops have activated the mechanisms of forced mobilization in the occupied communities of Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, the Main Intelligence Agency (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports.

"Now chekists (the security officers) have focused special attention on farmers: Russians have sent written demands to all men of military age to immediately register for military service on farms in a number of settlements," the message published on the GUR Telegram channel says.

It is noted that the occupiers threaten the local population in case of non-compliance with the directive.

"Agricultural enterprises or individual farmers will be punished with fines of 400,000 rubles (about $4,500), but paying this amount does not guarantee avoiding participation in the war against Ukraine in the ranks of the army of the aggressor state of Russia," the message reads.

According to the GUR, the intensification of forced mobilization, which Russians are now resorting to in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, is caused by the need to cover the losses of personnel, as well as a decrease in support for the war among the Russian population.
The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and about 50 countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union, issued a joint statement on the transfer of ballistic missiles between the DPRK and Russia. The text of the statement was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Tuesday evening.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas (DPRK) export and Russias procurement of DPRK ballistic missiles, as well as Russias use of these missiles against Ukraine on December 30, 2023, and January 2, 2024. The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russias war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime. Russias use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK. We are deeply concerned about the security implications that this cooperation has in Europe, on the Korean Peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world, the statement reads.

The ministers stressed that the governments of their countries stand together in resolute opposition to arms transfers between the DPRK and Russia.

The transfer of ballistic missiles, along with any other arms and related materiel, from the DPRK to Russia flagrantly violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs)  namely, resolution 1718 (2006), resolution 1874 (2009), and resolution 2270 (2016)  that Russia itself supported. We are closely monitoring what Russia provides to the DPRK in return for these weapons exports, the text says.

The Foreign ministers also called on the DPRK and Russia to comply with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and immediately cease all actions that violate them.

We urge all UN Member States, including all members of the United Nations Security Council, to join us in condemning Russia and the DPRKs flagrant UNSCR violations. As Russia launches waves of missiles and drones against the Ukrainian people, we will continue to stand together in support of Ukraine. We further call on the DPRK to respond to the numerous and genuine offers to return to diplomacy, the only path to an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula, the joint statement says.
President Mnangagwa has approved the appointment of seven members to be board of directors for the State broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Jonathan Gandari has announced.

Former ZBC chief executive Ms Helliate Rushwaya is the new chairperson and the other board members are Mr Lewis Uriri, Mr Chipo Nheta, Ms Precious Charandura, Mr Charles Munganasa, Dr Henry Mukono and Dr Nanette Silukhuni.

Their appointment is for a four-year tenure with effect from January 9, 2024.

In one of the letters addressed to board members, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said: I am pleased to advise that His Excellency the President Cde Emmerson D Mnangagwa has authorised me to appoint you as a board member of the constituted board of directors for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

The ministry looks forward to working with you in delivering on the strategic mandate of the ZBC. The ministry will draw up numeric contracts that are performance-based.

The minister said he looked forward to the active participation in the organisation, which would include contributing to the turnaround of the organisation as production and distribution of commercially viable, innovative, high-quality content that projects the national voice locally and globally.

The board, he added, should also contribute to the turnaround of the organisation to become a viable business entity, ensure there is good corporate governance and zero tolerance to corruption and develop sustainable working arrangements with other State-owned entities.

Dr Muswere said the board is also tasked to develop and ensure innovative ways of revenue generation are introduced, and ZBC studios are modernised to match international standards.

Among other things, the board, said the minister, would also develop strategies aimed at enhancing human capital management to make the State broadcaster an employer of choice and ensure content production that cuts across social and economic divides is prioritised.

Minister Muswere said the seven-member panel of professionals should also develop and introduce other revenue streams and contribute to the broadcasting ecosystem and ensure local content production that is competitive and matches world standards.

Other duties of the board will be to develop sound and sustainable financial management systems, develop sound marketing and industrial relations, ensure that there is heritage-based broadcasting and take a leading role in the brand Zimbabwe campaign.

The new chairperson, Ms Rushwaya holds a Masters degree with vast experience in broadcasting management, locally and internationally, while Mr Lewis Uriri, an advocate, holds a Doctor of Laws, Masters in Business Administration and Master of Laws degrees.

Mr Munganasa, who will be the ministry representative, holds a Masters Degree in Journalism and Digital Media Studies with experience in film production while Dr Silukhuni is a holder of a PhD in Strategic Management.

Mr Nheta holds a Masters degree and has vast business management experience while Ms Charandura is a chartered accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting (Honours) degree. She is also a registered public auditor.

Dr Mukono holds a Doctor of Commerce in Internal Auditing degree from Cape Peninsula University of Technology and a Masters of Commerce in Accounting degree from Great Zimbabwe University. Herald
Volunteers on the northern coast of Spain are painstakingly picking up what could amount to hundreds of thousands of tiny plastic pellets after millions spilled from a cargo ship, raising concerns of an environmental disaster. Up to six containers carrying tires, tomato sauce, plastic wrap, and some 55,000 pounds of PET plastic pellets fell from the Liberian-flagged Toconao, operated by Danish company Maersk, some 50 miles off the coast of northern Portugal on Dec. 8. Within days, a "white tide" of plastic pellets, each less than 5 millimeters in diameter, began turning up in communities along the western and northern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, the BBC reports. There are also reports of some turning up along French shores, per the AP .

The affected communities have been struggling to clean up the pellets, known as nurdles and used to make water bottles and other goods. "There are fears the sheer scale of pollution may endanger wildlife [and] the environment and pose a risk to the fishing industry in the area," the BBC reports, noting "any pellets that are not cleaned up will remain in the environment for centuries." The incident recalls a 2017 spill of an estimated 2.25 billion nurdles from a ship in South Africa. Some of those ended up washing ashore in Western Australia, 5,000 miles away. In an October report, the European Commission warned that plastic pellets, known to absorb toxins in the ocean, "do not biodegrade," "accumulate in animals," and "are consequently also consumed by humans in food," per the Guardian.

Local authorities declared an environmental emergency on Tuesday, a day after Spanish state prosecutors launched an investigation. "The contamination of the oceans and ecosystems with plastics is one of the biggest problems faced by humanity, so the spilling of such an important quantity of plastics requires close oversight," said Spain's minister for the environment, Teresa Ribera, per the AP. She noted the investigation would "determine if the transport company and shipping company exercised the proper precautions." There have been claims of delays in notifying government authorities of the spill. In a statement, Maersk said the owners of the charter vessel "have appointed multiple cleanup specialists to support removing the pellets." (More microplastics stories.)
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer and underwent surgery to treat it last month, doctors said Tuesday. In a statement, doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said the 70-year-old was hospitalized for a " minimally invasive surgical procedure" called a prostatectomy on Dec. 22, CNN reports. The doctors said Austin was readmitted Jan. 1 with complications "including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain." They said Austin, who is still hospitalized, had a urinary tract infection. The doctors said the cancer was detected early, during a routine screening and "his prognosis is excellent," reports the AP .

President Biden wasn't told about the Jan. 1 hospitalization for days. Austin said Saturday that he could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. "Nobody in the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning, and the President was informed immediately after," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, asked why Austin hadn't disclosed the diagnosis sooner, said it was "deeply personal." He said officials will "continue to work hard to make sure that we're being as transparent as possible moving forward, and again, wish the secretary speedy recovery."

Officials have said Austin's job is not in danger despite the failure to tell officials about the hospitalizations. Kirby sought to keep the focus on Austin's recovery in his remarks Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. "We all want to wish him the very best. I mean, this is sadly, this is a disease that affects many millions of American men, particularly at that stage in life. And the key is early diagnosis," he said. "I think, look, we're all going to learn a whole heck of a lot of lessons from this past week. One of the lessons I hope that everybody takes away is the value of early screening." The White House is reviewing its protocols on delegation of authority. (More Lloyd Austin stories.)
If he were alive today, Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. would be charged in three cold case murders. But the fisherman and hunterpositively linked to two of the "Colonial Parkway Murders," a series of double killings in the late 1980s, as well as the murder of a womandied in 2017 at the age of 63, Virginia State Police announced Monday. Police said Wilmer was a genetic match to evidence found on each of the three victims: David Lee Knobling, 20; Robin Margaret Edwards, 14; and Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell, 29. Knobling and Edwards were killed in Isle of Wight County around Sept. 19, 1987. The following day, Knobling's truck was found with the keys in the ignition and radio on at the Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area, per NBC News .

Days later, Knobling and Edwards' bodies were found nearby. Both had been shot, while Edwards had been sexually assaulted, Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said Monday. There's currently no evidence connecting Wilmer to the three other sets of double murders in the area between 1986 and 1989, Geller said. However, Wilmer is suspected in the 1989 murder of Howell. She was last seen in the early hours of July 1, 1989, outside a nightclub in Hampton. Her body was found several miles away later that same day. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, Hampton Police Capt. Rebecca Warren said at Monday's press conference.

A common suspect was found through DNA a couple of years ago, but no match appeared in the federal DNA database. It's unclear what led authorities to Wilmer, whose genetic material was obtained after his death and found to match the evidence in June. Police plan to investigate any link he may have to other cold cases. "If you had any encounters with him ... we want to hear from you," said Brian Dugan, special agent in charge of the FBI's Norfolk Field Office, per Law & Crime. Authorities said Wilmer, who went by the nickname "Pokey," had a blue 1966 Dodge Fargo pickup truck with the Virginia license plate "EM-RAW" and a small 1976 wooden commercial fishing boat called the "Denni Wade," pictured here. He also ran a business called Better Tree Service. (More cold cases stories.)
Tuesday was a frustrating day for people eager to see a US spacecraft return to the moon. Soon after Astrobotic Technology confirmed that a fuel leak had doomed its plan for a lunar landing in February, NASA said it had delayed its next two Artemis moon missions. The agency said the Artemis II mission, which will send a crew of astronauts around the moon, has been pushed back from November this year until September 2025 at the earliest, Space.com reports. The Artemis III mission, in which astronauts will walk on the moon for the first time since 1972, has been delayed until September 2026 at the the earliest.

"To give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first-time developments, operations and integration, we're going to give more time on Artemis II and III," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a briefing Tuesday. "Safety is our top priority," he said. Deputy associate administrator Amit Kshatriya said one issue behind the delays is a problem with the valves in the life support system of the Orion capsule, the New York Times reports. After the valves failed in tests, "it became very clear to us that it was unacceptable to accept that hardware, and we need to replace it in order to guarantee the safety of the crew," Kshatriya said,

In December, the Government Accountability Office said the timeline for the Artemis missions was overly optimistic and predicted astronauts wouldn't reach the moon until 2027, the AP reports. The agency cited issues including the development of SpaceX's Starship, along with moonwalking suits from another private company. "We need them all to be ready and all to be successful in order for that very complicated mission to come together," Kshatriya said. (More Artemis missions stories.)
A US Navy sailor has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive US military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. Wenheng Zhao, who is also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, was sentenced Monday to 27 months by a federal judge in Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties. He was also fined $5,500. His defense lawyer, Tarek Shawky, called Zhao "a dedicated serviceman with an exemplary service record before this incident."

"He was the target of a sophisticated Chinese intelligence operation, and he made the mistake of sharing controlled, unclassified information with a foreign operative," Shawky said, per the AP. "He fully appreciates the severity of his actions and admitted guilt at an early stage." Zhao, based at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, north of Los Angeles, collected nearly $15,000 in bribes in 14 different payments from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos, and videos of Navy exercises, operations, and facilities between August 2021 through at least May 2023, prosecutors said.

He held a US security government clearance and underwent routine trainings on efforts by hostile nation states to acquire sensitive information, according to the US Justice Department. The information included plans for a large-scale US military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements. The Chinese officer told Zhao the information was needed for maritime economic research to inform investment decisions, according to court documents.

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The Chinese officer offered to pay Zhao bonuses for controlled and classified information, according to prosecutors. Zhao used encrypted communications to transmit the information to the intelligence officer and destroyed the evidence to hide their relationship. "Mr. Zhao abdicated his oath to the United States and put American troops in harm's way when he accessed and handed over sensitive information to China," said Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. (More US-China relations stories.)
Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the South American country had entered an "internal armed conflict." The men, armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite, entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs, the AP reports. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. It was not immediately clear if any station personnel were injured.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room, across from the studio, when the group of masked men entered the building. One of the men pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique said. Some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide elsewhere in the building when they realized they were surrounded by police, she said. "I am still in shock," Manrique tells the AP. "Everything has collapsed .... All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away."

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a powerful gang leader's apparent weekend escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa said Monday that he would declare a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend people's rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador's military to "neutralize" these groups within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

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Ecuador's national police chief announced a short time later that authorities had arrested all the masked intruders. Police commander Cesar Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that officers seized the guns and explosives the gunmen had with them. He said 13 people were arrested. "This is an act that should be considered as a terrorist act," Zapata said.

(More Ecuador stories.)
Three Russian ships are on combat duty in the Black and Azov Seas, and Kalibr missile carriers have been withdrawn to the Mediterranean Sea, the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Wednesday morning.

"As of 08:00 on January 10, 2024, there are two enemy ships in the Black Sea; one enemy ship in the Sea of Azov; three enemy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, including two carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles, a total salvo of up to 16 missiles," the AFU Navy said on the Telegram channel.

According to the Ukrainian Navy, during the day, in the interests of the Russian Federation, the passage of the Kerch Strait was carried out: six ships to the Sea of Azov, two ships to the Black Sea.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says a post from its X account that caused a spike in the price of bitcoin was the work of hackers. The post claimed that the SEC had granted approval for bitcoin exchange-traded funds, known ETFs, "for listing on all registered national securities exchanges," the AP reports. The post was up for around 30 minutes before it was taken down and replaced with a message saying the federal agency's account had been "compromised" and an "unauthorized" post had been made, reports the Hill . "The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products," the agency said.

A decision on ETFs is expected Wednesday, and analysts expect the SEC to grant approval to several funds, the Wall Street Journal. The journal describes the fake tweet from the SEC's verified account as an "embarrassment" for SEC Chair Gary Gensler, since it highlights "the shenanigans that still take place routinely in the crypto markets." The price of bitcoin briefly soared above $48,000 after the tweet. It fell below $46,000 after the agency said it had been hacked.

Dennis Kelleher, president of the Better Markets nonprofit, says it was "one of the most egregious and probably criminal attempts at market manipulation that has been seen in a very, very long time." "There's a real potential for somebody to have made a very, very large amount of illegal profits," he tells the Journal. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said the security breach was unacceptable. "Just like the SEC would demand accountability from a public company if they made such a colossal market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers on what just happened," he said in a post on X. (More bitcoin stories.)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea "our principal enemy" and threatened to annihilate it if provoked, as he escalates his inflammatory, belligerent rhetoric against Seoul and the United States before their elections this year, the AP reports. Kim's threat comes as the White House said it has evidence that Russia has fired additional North Korean-provided ballistic missiles at Ukraine. The US, South Korea, and their partners issued a statement Wednesday condemning both North Korea and Russia over the missile transfer. Experts say Kim will likely further raise animosities with weapons tests to try to influence the results of South Korea's parliamentary elections in April and the US presidential election in November.

During tours of local munitions factories this week, Kim said it's time to define South Korea "as a state most hostile toward" North Korea because of its long-running confrontational moves to topple the North's social system. He said North Korea must subsequently bolster its nuclear war deterrent, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. If South Korea dares to use its military force against North Korea and threaten its sovereignty, Kim said "We will have no hesitation in annihilating (South Korea) by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands," according to KCNA.

He has made similar such threats recently, and analysts say Kim likely hopes South Korean liberals seeking reconciliation with North Korea win the April elections. They believe Kim also thinks he can win US concessions if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Some observers say possible North Korean provocations could trigger accidental, limited armed clashes between the two Koreas along their heavily armed border. Last Friday, North Korea fired artillery shells near the disputed western sea boundary with South Korea, prompting South Korea to stage its own firing drills in the same area in response.

(More Kim Jong Un stories.)
UPDATE

Jan 11, 2024 1:00 AM CST

New York City issued vacate orders and emergency work orders following the discovery of a tunnel that had been secretly dug over a period of nearly a year underneath a historic Brooklyn synagogue. Officials say the building and neighboring structures will be stabilized and occupant safety will be ensured, the AP reports. The synagogue has been cited for the illegal excavation, which, a spokesperson says, was carried out by a rogue group of "extremist" young men.

Jan 10, 2024 1:30 AM CST

Nine men were arrested Monday afternoon when an altercation broke out at a century-old Brooklyn synagogue over a tunnel that had been secretly dug underneath the building. The New York Times reports that the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement, which it describes as one of the most prominent Hasidic Jewish groups in New York, has for decades been in conflict over the movement's future, with mainstream leadership wanting to carry out the teachings and visions of its leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the rebbe, who died in 1994. But a smaller faction believes he never died and is actually the Messiah, and that has led to disagreements over a planned expansion to the movement's global headquarters and sanctuary at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood.
A post office scandal has erupted in the UK thanks in large part to a TV drama. Hundreds of postmasters and postmistresses have long claimed they were wrongfully accused, and in some cases convicted, of theft after software erroneously showed money was missing from their accounts. Indeed, some 983 convictions for theft or false accounting were secured against people running British post offices between 1999 and 2015. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, that software was revealed to be faulty in 2009, and yet an inquiry and quest for justice "limped along"until ITV ran a drama about it called Mr Bates vs. the Post Office in early January.

Public uproar followed, and now the UK is seeking to pass a law that would exonerate those who were wrongfully convicted and compensate them, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling the scandal an "appalling miscarriage of justice." Reuters explains that managers at Post Office branches are self-employed and "are often at the heart of their communities, trusted individuals who handle people's savings and pensions." And yet the Post Office had many of them prosecuted based on data from the defective Horizon electronic point-of-sale systemrun by Japan's Fujitsuthat had been in place since 1999.

The Guardian reports hundreds of bugs began revealing themselves nearly from the get-go. The so-called "Dalmellington Bug," for instance, caused the screen to freeze when the user tried to confirm cash had been received. The frozen screen made it look as if the funds hadn't been recorded, when it fact each time the user pressed "enter" it did update. In one case, it caused a 24,000 discrepancy. As the Horizon system started reporting shortfalls in the accounts of individual branches, some postmasters had their contracts terminated; others went bankrupted or served time. Four died by suicide, reports the Journal.

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In 2009, a report from Computer Weekly unmasked the Horizon issues, leading to a Post Office investigation. And yet in 2015, a parliamentary committee was told by then-Post Office head Paula Vennells there was no sign that any miscarriage of justice had occurred. By late 2019, the Post Office agreed to settle hundreds of claims, but many say much of what they were paid was swallowed up by legal fees, or that they weren't paid at all. The BBC reports only 93 of the convictions have been overturned over the years. (More post office stories.)
"Barbenheimer" continues to rule Hollywood's awards season, just as it did the summer box office. The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Wednesday heaped nominations on Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimerwhile snubbing Leonardo DiCaprio for best male actor, reports the AP . Each film picked up four nods, including best ensemble. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were nominated for their performances in Barbie, while Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Emily Blunt received nods for Oppenheimer.

Cord Jefferson's American Fiction got the biggest momentum boost, landing three nods: best ensemble, Jeffrey Wright for best male actor, and Sterling K. Brown for supporting male actor. Along with those three films, Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon and Blitz Bazawule's The Color Purple were nominated for best ensemble, the guild's top award. Most notably left out of that group was Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things, which on Sunday won best comedy/musical at the Golden Globes. The film's star, Emma Stone, was nominated for best female actor, while Willem Dafoe (but not Mark Ruffalo) was nominated for best supporting male actor. But those were far from the only snubs.

Nominated for best actor were Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Murphy, and Wright. DiCaprio had long been seen as a presumed nominee for his performance in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Lily Gladstone, who's poised to potentially make history at the Oscars, was among the best female actor nominees. Todd Haynes' May December was completely shut out. And neither Sandra Hueller (Anatomy of a Fall) nor Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple) scored individual nominations.

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Along with Gladstone and Stone, the nominees for best female actor are Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Annette Bening (Nyad). The SAG Awards, to be held Feb. 24, are closely watched as an Oscar bellwether. Their picks don't always align exactly with those of the film academy, but seldom is a best-picture or acting winner not nominated first by SAG. That means any best-picture hopes for films like "Poor Things" just took a hit. The last two best-ensemble winnersEverything Everywhere All at Once and CODAwent on to win best picture at the Oscars. (See the complete list of nominees here.)
"If politicians don't do their job and redistribute, then I have to redistribute my wealth myself," says Marlene Engelhorn, an Austrian-German heiress who is seeking to give much of her inheritance away. She has a plan on how to do it. The 31-year-old Vienna resident mailed 10,000 letters to randomly selected Austrians inviting them to register for a "Good Council for Redistribution" and fill out a survey, the BBC reports. A research institute has been hired to cut the number down to a 50-person council representative of the country's population, reports the Times of London. The council will decide what to do with around $27 million of Engelhorn's fortune.

Engelhorn, a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, founder of chemical firm BASF, inherited millions when her grandmother died in 2022. Austria repealed its inheritance tax in 2008, a move Engelhorn firmly disagrees with. "I have inherited a fortune, and therefore power, without having done anything for it," she says. "And the state doesn't even want taxes on it." It's not clear how much of her inheritance Engelhorn will keep, though she has spoken of giving away 90% of it, reports the BBC. She says she won't have any veto over the council's decision, though the conditions include not giving funds to profit-making organizations or groups involved in "inhumane" activities.

"Many people struggle to make ends meet with a full-time job, and pay taxes on every euro they earn from work," Engelhorn says. "I see this as a failure of politics, and if politics fails, then the citizens have to deal with it themselves." Council members will take part in a series of meetings with academics and civil society organizations between March and June of this year. They will have travel costs covered and will be paid around $1,300 per meeting for what Engelhorn says is a "service to democracy." "I am putting my assets at the disposal of these 50 people and placing my trust in them," she says. (More inheritance stories.)
Powerball was not struck on Wednesday evening and has rolled over to Saturday night, where the jackpot will be $8 million.

Strike Four also rolled over and will be $1 million on Saturday, meaning it will be a "must be won" draw.

In a Strike must be won draw, if no single ticket wins First Division, the prize pool is added to the next highest division with a winner, according to Lotto NZ.

Meanwhile, nine lucky players will be celebrating a midweek windfall after each winning $22,214 with Lotto Second Division. One lucky player also won Powerball Second Division, taking their total winnings to $34,693.

The winning Powerball Second Division ticket was sold on MyLotto to a player from central Otago. The winning Second Division tickets were sold at Fresh For Less in Mt Wellington, Ngatea Lotto & Foodmart, Paper Plus Mt Maunganui, Napier City Pak'nSave and Palmerston North Pak'nSave.

MyLotto players in Auckland, Waitakere, Palmerston North and central Otago also won.

"Anyone who bought their ticket from on MyLotto should check their ticket as soon as possible on MyLotto or through the MyLotto App," a spokesperson said.
The man who named and tamed a beloved Sydney fish says claims he was illegally killed by a Kiwi fisherman are untrue.

Divers and locals alike have been left distraught after the decades-old protected blue groper called Gus was speared by a fisherman in front of beachgoers inside a marine reserve.

Police say the man responsible for the slaughter was a 26-year-old from New Zealand, according to the Daily Mail.

New South Wales marine police were called to Cronulla's Oak Park on December 30 after reports of alleged illegal spearfishing.

The fisherman was questioned by police and fined $500 for killing the fish in a no-fishing zone.

Photos on social media show a man in a wet suit holding the slain 40-year-old groper after spearing him at Oak Park Beach.
The allegations at the core of the Republican-led investigation stem from unproven claims that the president was involved in or financially benefited from his son's foreign business dealings, making the president's son a crucial witness for their probe.

Hunter's appearance was reminiscent of how he approached the subpoena last month. Instead of sitting for his deposition, Hunter Biden held a news conference outside the Capitol and has said he will only testify in a public setting. House Republicans maintained they were willing to hold a public hearing with the president's son, but only after he sat for a private interview. After the younger Biden did not appear for his deposition, House Oversight Chair James Comer and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan issued a joint statement announcing they would begin contempt proceedings.

In a statement, Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell said they offered to engage with House Republicans on Oversight six times but allege instead, Comer sought a subpoena for a closed-door deposition.

"Ignoring that invitation and proving again that they cared little for the truth and wanted only to 'move the needle of political support' that Chairman Comer confessed was his purpose, the Republican chairs have today commandeered an unprecedented resolution to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions," Lowell said. "What are they afraid of?"

Hunter Biden's appearance is part of a more aggressive, forward-leaning strategy that his legal team, led by lawyers Lowell and Kevin Morris, has adopted to confront his detractors. The lawyers are aware that despite Congress holding a contempt vote against him as early as next week, they have few  if any  ways to enforce a punishment. Biden's ability to hold off congressional testimony has become even greater in recent weeks, because he now faces both criminal tax and gun charges, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the coming days.

"Our reliable friends and partners are Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Eventually I will be in Tallinn and Riga, and today I will be in Vilnius. Negotiations with the President, the Prime Minister, the speaker of the Seimas," he wrote on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"Meetings with representatives of political forces, the media and the Ukrainian community. Security, integration into the EU and NATO, cooperation in the field of electronic warfare and drones, further coordination of European support," he also wrote.
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The Presidents Office of Ukraine will not stop working on the release of military personnel in captivity, but the process is complicated by the fact that there is not a single organization in the world that would demonstrate results in this process.

This was stated by Head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak during a meeting with relatives of servicemen injured or killed as a result of a Russian war crime in Olenivka colony.

"To bring back home all our heroes and all your loved ones who are still in captivity there... We will not stop working on this," he said.

The Head of the President's Office noted that the work in this direction was ongoing despite the cynicism and hypocrisy of the representatives of the aggressor state and the constant change of demands. "Last year was quite challenging in terms of returns. Unfortunately, the number of people we managed to return certainly does not meet our goals and objectives. However, no one stops for a minute and no one changes the task: all our people must be returned home," stated Yermak.

According to him, the process is complicated by the fact that today there is no international organization in the world that can demonstrate a significant result in the release of captives held by Russia. Therefore, Ukraine is acting on its own and engaging the help of its partners.

Kyrylo Budanov, for his part, reminded that the Coordination Headquarters was established to resolve the issue of prisoner exchange. "The most important thing is to bring everyone back. Both the living and, unfortunately, the dead. As of now, 2,828 people have been returned over the two years of full-scale war. We understand how much more needs to be done, but it is absolutely realistic. And believe me: everyone will return. It will not be easy and fast, but the process is ongoing," he emphasized.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets stated that it is important for Ukraine to release all prisoners, especially those who were in Olenivka. "This is a matter of justice, and the entire law enforcement system of our state is working on it," he said.

The parties also discussed the issue of honoring at the state level the memory of prisoners of war who were executed, tortured or died in captivity, in particular in Olenivka.
There is a proposal to use the SpaceX lunar starship as a rapidly deployable moonbase. It could be completed 180 days after the SpaceX lunar Starship lands on the moon.

UPDATE SOURCE FOUND: The source for this work is Team Project Solutions for Construction of a Lunar Base is the product of 9 intense weeks of collaboration during the Space Studies Program 2021  Strasbourg, at the International Space University.

A new article summarizes the materials from 119 pages os the International Space University study.

The payload area of the Starship is about 1000 cubic meters. This proposal would tip over the lunar Starship and cut it open to use three times as much volume and enable it be buried for radiation shielding.

NASA and Thales Alenia just rolled out their first Moon Base concept for the Artemis project. Why do we need a tiny module when we have over a thousand cubic meters in Starship? Does this base have any use at all?

If we assume the flag in the image is a standard size of 1.8 meters, the module has a length of around 10 meters and about 2.5 meters in diameter. SpaceX Starship will be 50-60 meters long and 9 meters in diameters.

Thales Alenia Space has been awarded an Italian Space Agency (ASI) contract to continue the development of its Multi-Purpose Habitat, which the agency hopes will be the first permanent outpost on the Moon.

In September 2020, ASI and NASA signed a joint statement of intent to cooperate to advance the goals of the Artemis programme. An ASI press release at the time explained that the cooperation would include but not be limited to: the provision of crew habitation capabilities on the surface of the Moon and associated technologies to enable short-duration stays for crews on the Moon. It would, however, take another two years before a solid plan to execute this planned cooperation would emerge.

In June 2022, ASI signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with NASA to conduct a preliminary design of the Lunar Surface Multi-Purpose Habitation Module.

On 23 November, Thales Alenia Space announced that ASI had entrusted it with continuing to develop the Multi-Purpose Habitat. The award followed the completion of a NASA element initiation review, which was completed in mid-October. The next major milestone in the development of the Multi-Purpose Habitat is a mission concept review that is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
The Verkhovna Rada appointed Olha Pischanska to the post of head of Ukraine's Accounting Chamber.

The decision was supported by 252 MPs at the plenary session on Wednesday.

Pischanska considers increased transparency, the transition to international auditing standards and responsibility for failure to implement recommendations among the priorities of her work.

"The goal is continuous work to increase transparency, transition to international auditing standards and responsibility for failure to comply with the recommendations of the Accounting Chamber," she said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The head of the Accounting Chamber noted the need to implement regulations in line with international standards and create a circle of expert auditors with experience in conducting audits meeting international standards.

"Of course, from this year, all new audits shall be carried out in line with the implemented standards," she said, adding that recommendations shall be logically consistent with the audit results, be understandable for the audited object and society, and also be realistic for implementation within the specified deadlines.

Pischanska advocates responsibility on the part of the audited entity for failure to comply with the recommendations of the chamber. In addition, she emphasized the importance of rational use of funds, considering this not only as an obligation to the EU, but above all as an obligation to the state and society.

The head of the Accounting Chamber highlighted the importance of rational planning of expenses, taking into account expediency and timeliness, as well as ensuring internal control over the use of funds. According to her, it is the lack of analysis at intermediate stages that mainly leads to inflated or unreasonable costs.

"The task of the audit is not just to be limited to assessing compliance with the law when performing financial transactions, but to analyze the effectiveness, results and cost-effectiveness of the financial decisions made," she said, noting that this helps correct errors in building processes and, as a result, eliminate misappropriations in future.

Pischanska added that "of course, if signs of a criminal offense are identified during the audit process, the first step is to report them to the relevant law enforcement agencies."
Zelenskyy: Ukraine must prove its capable of snatching just peace from Russia

Ukraine has proved that Russia can be stopped, now it must prove that it is capable of snatching just peace from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Vilnius on Wednesday.

"We have proved that Russia can be stopped. Now we need to prove that we are capable of snatching just peace," he said.

Zelenskyy called the visit to Lithuania "a visit of our confidence  of the peoples who border Russia."

"We will be able to defend our independence, defend our statehood," he said.

According to Zelenskyy, "Lithuania and Ukraine will not become hostages of geography and will not allow Russia to destroy our and your statehood."

"Together we must determine what decisions this year will bring us. These should be decisions in favor of our freedom," the Ukrainian leader said.
Taoreed Lagbaja, the chief of army staff, says the soldier who was seen in a viral video criticising Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, has been arrested.

Lagbaja spoke on Tuesday after the commissioning of an officers mess in Enugu state.

Last Tuesday, Sanwo-Olu ordered the arrest of a soldier alongside some motorcyclists for riding against traffic.

The governor was on his way to the Ojo campus of the Lagos State University (LASU), for the inauguration of the Femi Gbajabiamila Conference Centre, when the incident occurred.

While being arrested and taken away by security operatives, one of the offenders claimed to be a soldier.

I am a soldier Oga sir, said the motorcyclist.

Thats the more reason Im going to lock you up. You are telling me you are a soldier. Thats even the more reason Im going to lock you up, the governor replied.

THE VIRAL VIDEO

Some days after the incident, an unknown soldier, in a viral video, berated Sanwo-Olu for ordering the arrest of his colleague and calling him useless in front of civilians.

In the video, the soldier said officers are not under the control of any state governor but take orders from their commandants.

The video elicited reactions on social media as some Nigerians criticised the soldier for calling out the governor over the arrest of his colleague.

THAT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE NIGERIAN ARMY

Reacting to the incident, Lagbaja said the action of the soldier who violated traffic law in Lagos, did not represent the values of the Nigerian Army.

The army chief also disclosed that the army has arrested the soldier who was seen in the viral video criticising Sanwo-Olu over the traffic incident.

I want to say that the soldier that was apprehended by the governor of Lagos state while plying on a one-way, does not represent the Nigerian Army, Lagbaja said.

In every respect, he contravened what we stand for, which is discipline. He also contravened the constitution and the law of Lagos state. We frowned at that as the army.

Its only one soldier who had done that (referring to the soldier who criticised the governor). The army has investigated, that soldier has been apprehended and we are investigating.

For every other comical acts that you have seen on social media, they are not personnel of the Nigerian Army. We have investigated that.

Lagbaja said troops would be educated on the need to uphold the laws in every community they are deployed to serve.
Former lawmaker and social critic Senator Shehu Sani has expressed displeasure with the manner in which political leaders loot the national treasury.

Sani said few individuals in government positions were daily stealing billions of naira while the education sector suffers.

The statement followed allegations of financial misappropriation in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The duo of ex-minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq and now suspended Minister, Betta Edu, have been interrogated by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, concerning the matter.

Sani decried the fact that tuition fees were callously increased in the public universities and polytechnics because there is no money to fund public tertiary education, when billions of Naira were being stolen by a few individuals.

He wrote: Every day new revelations of billions stolen by few individuals; and Tuition fees are callously increased in our public universities and polytechnics because there is no money to fund public tertiary education.




The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, has taken charge of the affairs of the Ministry following the suspension of the minister, Betta Edu.





This development is in line with the directive issued by President Bola Tinubu, who suspended Edu on Monday over her alleged involvement in a N585 million fraud.





The minister has been accused of paying public funds into private accounts.





Enitan assumed responsibility of the Ministry after a letter to that effect from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was given to him Monday night.





Recall that Tinubu, through his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, had ordered the suspended minister to hand over to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.





She is further directed by the President to fully cooperate with the investigating authorities as they conduct their investigation.





Furthermore, the President has tasked a panel that is headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes.





With a view to conclusively reforming the relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative, Ngelale had said in a statement.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Bola Tinubu to suspend Bunmi Tunji-Ojo as minister of interior.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, asked Tinubu to immediately order an investigation and possible prosecution of the minister.

The main opposition party alleged that Tunji-Ojo is involved in the recent controversy in the award of contracts at the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation

A leaked document showed that New Planet Project Limited, a company founded by Tunji-Ojo, got a N438 million consultancy contract from the ministry.





Denying any wrongdoing, the minister said he resigned from the company in February 2019 when he was elected as a lawmaker in the house of representatives.

The minister said he is no longer one of the directors of the company but admitted that he is still a shareholder.

On Monday, Betta Edu was suspended as the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation over the controversy.

The PDP said Tunji-Ojo made a lame excuse by claiming that he has no interest in the company despite his confession of owning huge shares in the firm.

The Party describes as inexcusable that the two ministers directly entrusted with the wellbeing of Nigerians reportedly used a company in which the Minister of Interior has a huge interest to allegedly siphon funds meant for poor Nigerians under the guise of consultancy fee for unsubstantiated verification of households in the country, the statement reads.

The PDP said the only way Tinubu can reassure Nigerians is to immediately relieve the minister of his appointment and allow for an independent inquiry into the disbursement of the N438 million.
The senator representing Anambra South senatorial zone, Ifeanyi Ubah, has reacted to the suspension of the traditional ruler of Neni, a community in Anaocha Local Government Area.

A suspension letter by Anambra State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Tony Collins Nwabunwanne, accused HRM Igwe Damian Ezeani of not seeking clearance from the state government before bestowing titles on people, including persons with questionable character.

The monarch had, during the Yuletide, conferred on Senator Ubah the title of Odenjinji of Neni, which is similar to the title Soludo also holds in his Isuofia community.

In his reaction, Ubah, who spoke with Dailypost in an interview, said: The entire game is all about politics. Soludo is frustrated by my rising popularity. Im not the only person to receive a chieftaincy title. Former Chief of Army Staff Buratai was honoured within the same period; Vice President Kashim Shettima was also honoured; Mr President was honoured in absentia. Why is my own different?

Uba added: The governor is frustrated by my acceptance and popularity; he is jittery about the next governorship election, but I leave him to his conscience.

Ubah, in October 2023, defected from the Young Progressives Party, YPP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC. He was later received into the party in December, alongside another popular grassroots politician, Senator Uche Ekwunife. This action set off an alarm about a possible alliance between the two to unseat Soludo in the 2025 governorship election.

This may have sparked some emotions among members of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and the state government.

Anambra is one of the states that holds off-season elections. Its governorship election would be due in 2025.








The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has expressed his sense of betrayal by his principal, Godwin Obaseki, for not backing his candidature in the upcoming 2024 governorship election.





Shaibu, who claims he was persuaded to be the deputy governor to Obaseki, said he added value to Obasekis government in terms of political structure and his finances.





Speaking during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday morning, Shaibu said he was hurt that Obaseki is supporting an outsider instead of him.
Ministers participated in sessions focused on the procurement process during a retreat held in November, says Joe Abah, a former director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).

Abah said this following the alleged corruption at the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

Betta Edu, the suspended minister of humanitarian affairs, has come under intense scrutiny after a memo surfaced wherein she asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer N585 million to a private account.

The suspended official also approved funds for flight tickets and airport taxis for the ministrys staff to Kogi, a state with no airport.

The public sector financial regulations Act of 2009 prohibits the payment of public funds to the account of a private individual.

Section 713 of the law states that: Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private bank account. An officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.

Amid the controversy, a leaked document showed that New Planet Project Limited, a company founded by Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, got a N438 million consultancy contract from the ministry.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Osita Chidoka, former minister of aviation, said the funds transfer request by Edu to the accountant-general is only a reflection of the systemic failure in the nations public service.

Chidoka claimed that the retreat for ministers did not address serious governance issues.

It is evident that the ministerial retreat did not deal with serious governance issues, he said.

He was, however, countered by Abah, who said he moderated the first day of the retreat and that the ministers were enlightened on salient governance issues.

No o, Honourable Minister @osita_chidoka. We told them everything at the retreat o. I moderated the whole of the first day and Mr President got a message across to me not to rush the sessions. We told them everything and didnt finish until 8pm, he wrote.

Abah attached the programme of the event to his response.

In the programme, the retreat covered topics related to governance.

The sessions included: Roles and responsibilities of ministers, handled by Anyim Pius Anyim, former president of the senate and ex-secretary to the government of the federation; and management of the federal executive council: processes and procedures, facilitated by Oladapo Afolabi, former head of the civil service of the federation.

Other sessions were administrative processes in the civil service, relationships between the ministers, permanent secretaries and CEOs of parastatals, covered by Folasade Yemi-Esan, head of the civil service of the federation; financial regulations and fiscal management: process and procedures, led by Madein; and procurement processes in the public service, handled by Emeka Ezeh, CEO of TBP Solutions Ltd.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently interrogating Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of Zenith Bank, Providus Bank, and Jaiz Bank in connection with the over N44 billion fraud allegedly uncovered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.





Our correspondent gathered that the senior back executives are currently being quizzed by EFCC interrogators at the commissions headquarters, Jabi, Abuja as of 4.55 pm on Tuesday.





It can be recalled the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, is currently being held and is undergoing interrogation by the EFCC over 585million scandal.





Also, Halima Shehu, the embattled Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency domiciled in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is being probed by the EFCC over an alleged 44bn fraud.





Confirming the probe of the senior bank executives to our correspondent on Tuesday, an EFCC source revealed that Zenith, Providus, and Jaiz banks are being questioned over the 44.5bn fraud uncovered in the ministry involving Edu and Shehu.





The source said, The CEOs and MDs of Zenith Bank, Providus Bank, and Jaiz Bank are currently being grilled by our interrogators here at the headquarters.





They were invited and are being probed in connection with the uncovered 44bn fraud and the 585million involving Halima Shehu and Betta Edu.









The suspended minister and the coordinator have both made new revelations during their interrogations, and the investigation is still ongoing.





Edu was suspended by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, over an alleged N585m cash transfer saga.





The suspended minister was invited by the anti-graft agency in compliance with Tinubus order that a comprehensive investigation encompassing her activities in the ministry be carried out, a top source in the anti-graft commission told reporters.





Edus predecessor, Sadiya Farouq, was queried by EFCC interrogators on Monday, over allegations that she laundered N37.1 billion while serving as a minister in former President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet.





Also, Shehu was earlier arrested in connection with an alleged 44billion money laundering and had been mandated to report to the EFCC every day following her release last Wednesday.





The NSIPA Coordinator was arrested and taken into EFCC custody Tuesday night following her suspension.





It was learnt that the 44bn was suspiciously moved from NSIPAs accounts into private and corporate accounts linked to persons serving as fronts.





Confirming her release from EFCC custody in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale said Shehu has been mandated to meet with EFCC interrogators every day as the investigation continues.





Oyewale said, Halima Shehu has been released, but she is still answering to our interrogators, and she has been mandated to meet with investigators every day as the investigation is ongoing.





Concerning reports on the 44bn and 30bn making the rounds, the commission is still tracing all the suspicious transactions, her agency was under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs too.





Theres a lot of money involved because the Ministry and agencies are focused on interventions. Hence, we cant put a figure to all of the transactions now because the commission is still tracing the transactions.
The Federal Government has announced plans to clear the outstanding payment owed to National Identity Number enrollment agents called Front-End Partners in the first quarter of 2024.

Director General of the National Identity Management Commission, Engineer Abisoye Coker-Odusote, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

The development comes amid an outcry by enrollment agents over the failure of the Commission to pay the debt owed them for two years.

However, Coker-Odusote assured that the debt payment will be made within the first quarter 2024.

She sympathized with the agents who have been burdened with running their businesses for two years without payment.

The National Identity Management Commission, under my leadership, has conducted a revalidation exercise to review the outstanding payments that the new management inherited to offset the debt after going through a due audit process to validate the claims made by the FEPs.

In the process, we found out that some of the invoices submitted by the FEPs did not tally with the enrollment figures shown on the database, thus prompting the revalidation exercise to confirm the true and accurate enrollment information.

Notwithstanding, we are wrapping up the audit process, and the activation of the FEPs will be done according to the outcome of the validation exercise. We sympathize with our partners over the delay and appeal for understanding, especially as the new NIMC management is just a few months in the saddle and has been working on resolving all inherited debts, the DG said.
The logistical needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine should be provided by Ukrainian manufacturers, Director General of SOE State Logistics Operator Arsen Zhumadilov said.

"We are talking about the Ukrainian business, which covers these needs to a large extent. And I want to say that my personal position and, in general, our entire organization is aimed at ensuring that it is Ukrainian manufacturers who supply for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Tuesday.

According to him, "our position is as follows: if there are Ukrainian producers who are able to produce, we will build our purchasing strategies so that it is Ukrainian producers who win."

At the same time, he noted, "they should really win in fair and competitive bidding."

Zhumadilov said that "the structural unit of the Ministry of Defense, which should develop commodity markets not only through procurement, but also through the introduction of new positions that should be provided by the Armed Forces, has not worked very effectively in recent years, now it is being rebooted. And we expect that this process will really move, in fact, from the dead point at which it has been for the last two years."

The head of the State Logistics Operator noted that the agency intends to use the Prozorro system in procurement. "In particular, with regard to transparency, with regard to the use of the electronic system and the relevant procedures available in this system, we definitely adhere to this. There has recently been some resonance caused by the fact that there was an unfortunate wording in our letters, which was perceived as such that we are abandoning Prozorro. But we have voiced it," he said.

Zhumadilov supported the practice of advancing funds for the purchase. "Due to the fact that a fairly significant period of time passes from the moment of signing the contract to the moment of payment, and you have to invest funds  Accordingly, this cash gap is quite significant, not all manufacturers are able to close it at the expense of their own liquidity. Therefore, we will advance on the basis and in a way that is consistent with, which agrees with the Ministry of Defense," he said.

At the same time, he noted that "it is important that overdue accounts receivable are not formed, so that the risks of non-fulfillment of contracts are minimal for a refund."

The head of the State Logistics Operator recalled that "all funds that are allocated for advance payments go to a non-budgetary account in the State Treasury and these funds become available to the manufacturer when he provides documents confirming this or that performance, or certain expenses related to the execution of a state contract."

"We are moving to practice when procurement decisions are made by authorized persons, but they are made on the basis of standard operating procedures," Zhumadilov said.
The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, on Tuesday, claimed he was duped while supporting his principal, Godwin Obaseks second term bid.

He said while he staked his long term relationship with Obasekis predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, to fight apparent godfatherism and back his principals ambition, he later found out that he was duped.

Shaibu, who is a former student union leader, lamented that despite standing with Obaseki against someone (Oshiomhole) whom he considered as a father, it was surprising that the governor is pitching tent with another governorship aspirant to become the next governor.

Some Peoples Democratic Party leaders in Edo North, the senatorial district of Shuaibu, endorsed a former Sterling Bank chairman, Asue Ighodalo, as their preferred PDP governorship candidate on Sunday.

The meeting was at the instance of a former deputy governor of the state, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, and had in attendance many party heavyweights.

Also, Ighodalo is rumoured to have Obasekis backing, who is opposed to Shaibus governorship ambition to succeed him.

But speaking on Arise TVs Morning Show, the deputy governor claimed that despite supporting the governor with all his resources to fight oppression, he later realised he was duped.

He said, Because I hate oppression, I staked my relationship. That relationship, I lost about 20% of my political capital in Edo North to support Godwin Obaseki and in supporting him, even as deputy governor that does not have any line financially, through my friends and others, I supported the second term bid of the governor with my structures, all my vehicles and finances including how we got the ticket of PDP, I contributed financially both in naira and dollars and I discovered I was even duped.

So, If I say betrayal, it is an understatement. I feel very hurt and betrayed because I sacrificed my personal earnings and entitlement just to have the system working.

Downplaying Obasekis preferred candidate, he explained that the state has experiment enough with Obaseki and the people needed someone who knows the job.

Shaibu said, Edo State dont have time to experiment because we have experimented with Governor Godwin Obaseki and some of us have to go extra mile to cover the gaps. People are saying Shaibu is one popular deputy governor but I only have two portfolios and so I have to be filling the gaps.

He also faulted claims that being from Edo North will naturally play him out of equation to get the PDPs ticket, adding that if equity and justice is followed, the ruling party will zone the ticket to his senatorial district.

So, coming from the same area as Oshiomhole is not the real issue. The real issue is what I am bringing to the table. And if we want to talk about zoning and agenda, the real agenda is that Edo North has never been given ticket to contest for governorship election by the PDP.

So, when we go into the equity and fairness that the governor is championing, that equity and fairness seems to favour PDP giving the ticket to Philip Shaibu. I can tell you the people of Edo State do not want an outsider and the governor is bringing an outsider and we will resist it.




Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has hit out at the agent of his Napoli team-mate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Mamuka Jugeli.





Jugeli claimed that Osimhen will leave the Serie A champions for Saudi Arabia next year.





Osimhen, who is currently on international duty with Nigeria ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, has now fired back at the agent with strong words.





He took to his Instagram story to slam Jugeli, describing him as a disgrace.





Dear Mamuka Jugeli, you are a piece of filth and a disgrace.





Im embarrassed at your sense of reasoning. Dumb f**k! KEEP MY NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH, the post read.





Osimhen recently put pen to paper on a new contract with Napoli, which includes a release clause of around 120 million.




Former Governor, Dr Samuel Ortom, has urged the people of Benue State to rally behind Alia and offer their support to enable him succeed.





Ortom said this in a statement issued by his Media Aide, Mr Terver Akase on Wednesday in Makurdi.





He was reacting to the Supreme Court judgement which affirmed Hyacinth Alia the Governor of the State.





He said that the people needed to unite across party lines for the progress and development of the state.





The legal contest that ensued following the 2023 elections was fundamental in deepening our democratic values and principles.





It is a reflection of the vibrant nature of our democracy and a demonstration of the rule of law at work.





Now that Alias election has been affirmed, it is time for all of us to wish him well as he leads the state, Ortom said.





He added that as one who had led the state before, he was conversant with the challenges of governing a state and the fact that the occupant of the seat needed the support and cooperation of the people.





He further wished Alia good health and success.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have departed the country for the forthcoming African Cup Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast.

The team flew off to Abidjan from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, around 10 am on Wednesday, ahead of the competition billed to commence on Saturday.

Players and officials of the national team are dressed in matching white caftans with intricate green needlework around the necklines. The styling is complemented by green caps in a fashionable homage to the national colours.

The Eagles left Nigeria a few hours after a send-forth dinner hosted by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, on Tuesday evening.

The team had only recently returned from a one-training camp in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Nigeria thrashed Al Gharaib, a local club, 12-0 before losing 2-0 to Guinea in the following game.

The Eagles are in Group A alongside Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

Nigeria will take on Equatorial Guinea in their opening game on January 14 before facing Ivory Coast four days later and rounding off the group stage with the Guinea-Bissau tie.

More photos from the departure below:








The presidency says the heads of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) were relieved from their positions, not sacked.

A statement released on Monday by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president, media and publicity, said Alexander Okoh, BPE director-general, and Babatunde Irukera, FCCPC chief executive officer, had been dismissed.

However, on Tuesday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Tinubu, said their exit was not a dismissal.

Onanuga, in a statement on X, formerly called Twitter, said Tinubus directive was to relieve them as the president scouts for their successors.

I have followed the concerns in the media on the report that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu dismissed Babatunde Irukera EVC/CEO, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and Alexander Ayoola Okoh  Director-General/CEO, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), he wrote.

The Presidents directive did not intend a dismissal . The two men who have served our country were relieved of their duties by the President, as he scouts for their successors.

The connotations implied in using the word dismissal were clearly not intended in the statement issued.

Onanuga said Tinubu thanked Okoh and Irukera for their services and wished them well in their future endeavours.
Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra state, has suspended Damian Ezeani, traditional ruler of Neni community, for conferring a chieftaincy title on Ifeanyi Ubah, senator representing Anambra south district.

Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne, commissioner for local government, chieftaincy and community affairs in Anambra, informed the traditional ruler of the suspension in a letter on Monday.

Nwabunwanne said the code of conduct for traditional rulers in the state mandates that no monarch can confer a chieftaincy title on anyone from outside his community without obtaining the permission of the traditional ruler of the recipients community.

Ubah is from Otolo, a community in Nnewi north LGA of Anambra.





He added that the state government also issued a directive stating that a chieftaincy title should not be conferred by a traditional ruler on a recipient outside his town/ community without obtaining clearance from his ministry.

The commissioner said the regulation is to curtail the growing trend of monarchs conferring titles in exchange for money.

We have received confirmed reports that you, as traditional ruler of Neni, conferred such a phantom Chieftaincy title today on one Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in violation of the Code of Conduct and without clearance from the Ministry, the letter reads.

Whether or not your action was for pecuniary reasons as being insinuated in many quarters is irrelevant. What is important is that your action is an affront to order and good governance.

In the light of the above, and for order and good governance, I am directed to inform you that Mr. Governor has in the exercise of his powers under Section 2 (C) of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers (Amendment) Law, 2020, suspended your recognition as Traditional Ruler of Neni untill further notice.

You are also by this letter, required to show cause why your Certificate of Recognition should not be withdrawn in line with the Traditional Rulers Law.

In the meantime, you are advised in your own interest, to stop parading yourself forthwith, as the traditional ruler of Neni community.

Since Ubah recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), there have been speculations that he plans to contest the governorship of Anambra S in 2025.

Ubah won the senatorial seat on the platform of Young Progressives Party (YPP).








As debates continue to heat up over the involvement of Nigerias Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo in the scandalous contract at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, the Young Progressive Party, YPP, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend the interior minister.





The party threatened that failure to suspend Tunji-Ojo within 48 hours, it would mobilize youths across the country to shut down Abuja on Monday, 15th January, 2024.





In an open letter addressed to President Tinubu Tuesday night and signed by the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Emmanuel Bishop Amakiri, the YPP cited alleged abuse of office as its reason for calling for the head of Tunji-Ojo, saying it would deter him from further abusing public office.





We have gathered evidence that a company owned by Minister Tunji Ojo, New Planet Project Limited, was paid a total of N438.1 million by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under the leadership of Dr. Betta Edu, for consultancy services.





This payment was part of the N3 billion awarded to several consultants for the National Social Register contract, which was intended for cash transfers and social investment programs.





The payments made to Minister Tunji Ojos company, New Planet Project Limited, include N279 million for the verification of the list and an additional N159 million for the same purpose.





It is worth noting that the company, which was registered on March 3, 2009, with registration number 804833, has Minister Tunji Ojo and his wife, Abimbola, listed as directors, with Gbadamasi Gbadamasi Clement as the companys secretary.





We strongly believe that Minister Tunji Ojos actions are in direct violation of the Nigerian Constitution and the Code of Conduct law. Sections 5 and 6 of the Code of Conduct law clearly prohibit public officers from engaging in conflicts of interest and participating in any business other than farming.





It is a known fact that a contract of this magnitude could not have been approved except by the Federal Executive Council Meeting of which Minister Tunji Ojo is a Member.





Minister Tunji Ojo, who knew he had an interest in the New Planet Project Limited, had deceived the Federal Executive Council into approving the contract for him without even informing the FEC that he is a shareholder in the said company; this is deceitful, mischievous and obtaining by false pretence, the letter reads in part.





The party also accused one Thalis Apalowo, the Coordinator of the National Programme Manager for Grants for Vulnerable Groups, as a fronter for Tunji-Ojo in securing the contract.





It alleged that Apalowo was a Legislative Assistant to Hon. Tunji-Ojo during the 9th House of Representatives and that he was part of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr. Betta Edus advance team that received a total of N2,515,000 for DTA (Daily Travel Allowance) for five nights, local running expenses at 30% of DTA, flight tickets, and airport taxis to Kogi State, which does not have an airport.





The party called on the President to immediately suspend Tunji-Ojo, while seeking a comprehensive and independent investigation into the alleged misconduct, involving the appropriate authorities and agencies.





The YPP urged Tinubu to initiate appropriate legal actions against Minister Tunji Ojo, to serve as a deterrent to others.





Recall that an award of contract for verification of beneficiarys list in the empowerment programs undertaken by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was linked to a company owned by Hon. Tunji-Ojo.





However, the Interior Minister has cleared the air that he resigned the ownership of the company, New Planet Project Limited since 2019, when he won election into the House of Representatives.
Considerations for a Disappearing Moon

One theory is that we are each born with a unique void in our being -- a particular shape of emptiness entreating fulfillment -- yet we are not always the best predictors of what will work in that space. On the day before the Capricorn new moon, consider which ambitions have served you and what you would you do differently if you could. Youre about to get the chance.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your perseverance in the pursuit of your dreams is sometimes a function of your passion, but not always. Sometimes its habit, an identity or a simple realization than youve come too far to turn back.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). This being human is a guest house, said the poet Rumi, Every morning a new arrival. Youll welcome all emotions and experiences, positive, negative, wanted or unwanted, as valuable guests in the house of your heart.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Find out what people want before you give them things. If you wait until after, you could let go of something valuable to you without a good reason. With the right information, youll aim your contributions to bring joy or solve a problem.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Youve a knack for planning and logistics. As you get this right, other things, such as peoples feelings and moods, will follow suit. Youll also help people communicate better because you ask good questions and then listen well.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You didnt know what you wanted from someone until you got what you didnt want. Now you have more information to work with. Youll start to envision what shape this relationship could take.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). In science, there is no blame, only data. Youll be scientific in your assessment of a situation and youll recognize the causes and effects without assigning moral or emotional qualities. This approach will help you solve a problem.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). Most things are much easier to dismantle than they are to build up. Positive feelings like confidence definitely fit the category, which is why you are constantly looking for opportunities to elevate people and moods. In this you will succeed today.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). In song, love has been compared to a many splendored thing, a battlefield and a head cold. Your experience of love as, quite simply, a quality of attention is perhaps less singable, and yet your relationships will ring out like music today.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Theres absolutely no point in arguing. For starters, the opposition wont be swayed by reason. Furthermore, they will only become sharper and more motivated if you force them to articulate their side.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You want to know why a person made a choice, and someday you may have the enlightenment you seek. But you do not have to wait until then to be at peace. Acceptance can come without understanding.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Todays work will be a cakewalk, not because the tasks are easy but because the company is. When you have fun people around you whose every intention is to assist, life gets easier.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You know what you dont know, and paradoxically, its this humility that makes you great. It keeps you teachable. You are never satisfied that you know enough. Your curiosity is a key element to your brilliance.

TODAYS BIRTHDAY (Jan. 10). Youre a superstar on the rise, undaunted by the challenges. You win, not in spite of the trials but because of them. They show you what it takes to be your best. Relationships are somehow simultaneously wild and stable. Youll focus on love and go after what attracts you, resulting in your improved health and well-being. Sagittarius and Aries adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 1, 19, 4 and 21.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: The recent timeline of music industry icon Sir Rod Stewart has included sold-out concerts, star collaborations, a Vegas residency and the release of Wolfies Whisky, a blended Scotch he describes as a rascal of a thing ... takes you back to the good old days. Among the bestselling recording artists of all time, the Capricorn crooner of classics and bangers was born when the sun and Mars were in the sign of titans. Moon and Mercury in Sagittarius brings passion; Venus in Pisces gives the soul.

Holiday Mathis debut novel, How To Fail Epically in Hollywood, is out now! This fast-paced romp about achieving Hollywood stardom is available as a paperback and ebook. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM
A Bergen County man charged last year with sexually assaulting a child in Dumont was arrested again on Friday and charged with having child pornography on his cellphone, authorities said.

Coswayne R. Donald, 43, was arrested at his home in Dumont and charged with production of child pornography in the first and second degree, and possession of child pornography as a third-degree crime, according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office.

Donald was first arrested in June 2023 and charged with sexually assaulting a child between the ages of 13 and 16 in Dumont. He was released from the Bergen County Jail on July 8, 2023, on home detention pending trial, court records show.

On Friday, further investigation revealed that Coswayne Donald used his cellular phone to manufacture and possess items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit pubescent children, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a statement on Wednesday.

Donald was arrested again at his home on Friday and taken back to the county jail to await a court hearing on the new charges.

His attorney, Brian Neary of Hackensack, was not immediately available to comment Wednesday on the latest charges.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez denied new bribery allegations involving a Qatar investment deal during a speech on the Senate floor in Washington on Tuesday, according to NBC News and multiple other reports.

A federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment last week, accusing the New Jersey Democrat of helping a New Jersey developer secure a multi-million dollar investment from a company linked to Qatar in exchange for bribes.

In a speech that lasted nearly 20 minutes, the 70-year-old Menendez denied the allegations and said that federal prosecutors are engaging in a persecution, NBC reported.

The indictment accuses Menendez of accepting cash and gold bars in exchange for seeking to influence the Qatari Investment Co. to invest with New Jersey businessman Fred Daibes.

The indictment said that while a member of the Qatari royal family  who is a principal at Qatari Investment Co.  was considering its investment in a real estate development owned by Daibes, Menendez made multiple public statements supporting the government of Qatar and then provided them to Daibes so he could share them with the Qatari investor and a Qatari government official.

Court documents did not identify the member of the royal family.

The Qatari investor then considered and negotiated a multimillion-dollar investment in the real estate project, according to the indictment.

Daibes is one of three businessmen charged in the first superseding indictment in September along with the senator and his wife Nadine Arslanian. All of them have pleaded not guilty.

The United States Attorneys Office is engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution, Menendez said according to NBC. They seek a victory, not justice.

Menendez said that as senator, he has advocated for business to come to New Jersey. He acknowledged the positive statements he made about Qatar, but also pointed out that he criticized the country at times, NBC reported.

No new charges were added to the latest version of the indictment. In earlier versions, Menendez was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery on allegations that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts including cash, gold bars and a luxury car in business deals involving the Egyptian government.

Menendez has stepped down from his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but has repeatedly insisted he is innocent and resisted requests for his resignation from the Senate, a seat he has held since 2006.

He has not said whether he will run for re-election this year, though his poll numbers have plummeted and he has lost support from top Democratic officials.

His trial is set to begin May 5.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defense systems are "what we lack most."

"The air defense system is what we lack number one. The fight against drones. I am glad that we have agreements with Lithuania and with many other partners, too. The production of our own drones, I won't talk about the quantity now, but we are increasing our domestic production," he said at a press conference in Vilnius on Wednesday.

"We understand that there is a shortage of weapons in the world, there are not enough weapons for us, there are not enough weapons for the entire world and empty warehouses and many challenges for the defense of many countries in the world. And therefore we are interested in co-production, we have started this work with partners from the United States, with many companies, we continued this work with European partners, we will do this constantly, not wait until the entire deficit closes on its own," Zelenskyy said.

For his part, Lithuanian President Gintanas Lithuania noted the signing of military agreements with Ukraine.

Lithuanian leader said this is the path Lithuania should take, as there is quite a lot of money on the arms market, but very little actual production capacity to make the product.

That is why, Nauseda said, it is necessary to reveal the industrial and military potential of Lithuania, Ukraine, and the European Union.
If immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country, as Donald Trump told a campaign rally late last year, I wonder what he really thinks about his kids, four of whom got their blood from his immigrant wives. Ivana Trump  mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric  was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, and Melania, mother of Barron, was a newcomer from Slovenia.

Trumps own mother was an immigrant from Scotland and his grandfather came from Germany, reportedly to escape mandatory service in the armed forces.

But maybe they were OK because none of them came from what Trump described a few years ago as s---hole countries. I suspect he categorizes countries on the basis of the race, religion and assets of their residents.

With very few exceptions, we are all the descendants of immigrants.

Years ago, I was director of the RSVP program sponsored by the United Way of Hudson County. The initials stood for Retired Senior Volunteers Program. It was designed to recruit older people to perform volunteer services in non-profit institutions as a way of keeping seniors involved in the community and saving money for charitable organizations.

We had close to 100 senior volunteers we bused from central locations to their assigned organizations and back again. Id become pretty friendly with many of them, especially Mary, a sweet, shy older woman who seemed to have few friends but quietly enjoyed being in the company of her peers.

One day the federal government, which funded RSVP, asked us to report on the ethnicity of our volunteers so I had to inquire about everyones heritage. Most gave straightforward answers, naming one nationality or a mixture of several.

But Mary kept hemming and hawing.

Finally, I had to pin her down and get an answer. Almost in tears, she said she didnt want to say but she would if I insisted. I insisted. She begged me not to tell. I said Id have to tell the RSVP sponsors, but I wouldnt tell anyone else.

She closed my office door and whispered, Im American Indian.

I was delighted. I told her how great that would make our ethnicity report look, and I asked why she was so reluctant to tell me.

She explained shed been made fun of in school where all the little boys used to whoop like cowboys and pretend shoot her. Shed go home and cry at night. As she grew older, she said, she never claimed her real heritage because she felt ashamed.

Over time, my co-workers and I were able to persuade her to acknowledge her heritage, and she permitted us to write about her in our RSVP newsletter. Months later, she came to a holiday party wearing a beaded headdress, a feather and a big smile. She got a standing ovation from the other volunteers and never again denied her background.

I wonder if Trump had seen her, with her dark skin and dark eyes, would he think she was vermin from someplace else? She wasnt beautiful like Melania and Ivana, and she wasnt wealthy like his good buddies, but she was much more rooted to America than he ever could be.

America had been the homeland of her ancestors for untold generations. Now it is the homeland of hundreds of millions more. Over many generations, America has eventually welcomed its immigrant groups and offered opportunity to all. Thats what makes all of us Americans.

And everyone brought us something. America is far richer because there are so many of us whose traditions and ambitions constantly make us great.

A former assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of North Hudson Community Action Corp.

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By Alyssa Canty and Yenjay Hu

In 2023, roughly 96% of eligible voters did not participate in the Newark school board elections. The Newark public school system governs 65 schools and over 40,000 students. Over 90% of those students are Black or Hispanic, and 56.5% of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Read those numbers over again. Consider how few people participated in choosing the leaders that shape the future of their schools and community. Think about the enormous impact that the Newark public school system has on the next generation of New Jersey citizens.

The Newark City Council has the opportunity to drastically increase participation by passing an ordinance to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in its school board elections. This ordinance would give an estimated 7,257 mature students a voice in the future of the public school system.

The benefits of passing this ordinance are plenty. These young people are affected every day by the school boards decisions, so giving them a voice in the election of these board members would allow them to provide critical input. As Larry Hamm of the Peoples Organization for Progress said to WGBO, I think it will bring us closer to the youngest segment of our population and make our political system more sensitive to their needs.

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Beyond the schools, though, this ordinance could help to instill the value of civic participation in a new generation of voters. Studies have shown that voting is a habit that is best established early; the younger a person is allowed to vote, the more likely they are to sustain that habit throughout their life.

At 16, students would have more robust and structured guidance to pursue a future of habitual voting supported by parents, mentors and teachers. With voting in school board elections acting as a stepping stone, Newark youth will become more educated, informed, and effective voters once they receive full enfranchisement at 18.

The impact of youth engagement extends beyond just youth  when students vote, they often influence others to participate, too. A study cited by the National Youth Rights Association showed that parents who had children participating in elections (though these were mock elections) were more likely to participate themselves. Newark may be able to boost participation across the electorate in its future local elections by allowing students to vote now in school board elections.

Newark is not alone in considering this new approach. Many jurisdictions in the United States have already lowered the voting age to 16 for some or all elections  yielding increases in voter turnout with no discernable drawbacks. Berkeley and Oakland, California have both lowered the voting age for their school board elections. Several towns in Maryland, like Hyattsville and Takoma Park, have lowered the voting age for all local elections, and young folks have eagerly cast their votes at rates higher than any other age group.

Opponents of lowering the voting age often draw from a wide range of concerns. Many are worried that youth will only follow their parents beliefs. But lowered voting age would not make a difference in this regard, with a 2022 study finding that an 18-year-old is no less likely to be influenced politically by their parents than a 16-year-old.

Furthermore, fears of young voters making irresponsible decisions at the polls due to impulsivity are overblown. Cold Cognition  the brains slow, methodical critical thinking process  is just as developed in 16-year-olds as in adults, making them no poorer at picking the best candidate while voting. Finally, it is important to recognize that a rogue candidate that panders to the youth vote would surely fail, given that the adult vote may largely offset the influence of the 16 to 18 demographic.

With that said: why not? With just over 3% participation, Newarks school board elections could use an infusion of fresh, young energy. Give these students the chance to be heard, and you might be surprised by how much they can do.

We encourage the Newark City Council to favorably pass their ordinance to lower the voting age for school board elections, and we cant wait to see what these students accomplish when theyre given the chance.

Alyssa Canty is the director of youth programs at Common Cause.

Yenjay Hu is the co-executive director of Vote16 New Jersey.

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The rain has ended for now in New Jersey, but rivers are continuing to rise toward crests at various flood stage around the state  with another strong storm on the way Friday.

Widespread flooding is still taking place Wednesday around the state, with additional flooding expected when the Passaic River crests on Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy said.

The next storm Friday night into Saturday could dump up to an additional 1.5 inches of rain on the state, causing additional flood concerns for swollen rivers and rain-soaked towns.

Were worried about the cumulative effect, Murphy said in a phone interview with CBS New York on Wednesday. It will have a big effect with the saturated ground in particular.

Most of the flooding from Tuesdays storm took place along the Jersey Shore, according to Murphy.

54 1 / 54 Strong January storm slams N.J.

As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, flood warnings remained active for 28 sections of rivers and creeks in 13 different counties across the state: Bergen, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.

The National Weather Service says two sections of the Raritan River in Somerset County  one in Bound Brook and one in Manville  have already risen above their major flood stage as of Wednesday morning.

Up in Morris County, the Pompton River in Pompton Plains has already reached its major flood stage, and in Bergen County, the Saddle River in Lodi has risen to more than 10 feet high, which is 2 feet above its major flood stage and 4 feet away from its record level of 13.9 feet, according to data from the weather service.

Two sections of the Passaic River  in Little Falls and Pine Brook  are both forecast to rise to major flood stage by Thursday morning, the latest forecast maps show.

The purple dots on this flood forecast map show areas of the Passaic River, Pompton River, Saddle River and Raritan River that have already reached major flood stage or are expected to rise above major flood stage by late Wednesday, Jan. 10, or early Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.National Weather Service

Early Wednesday there was no flooding in and along Route 202 in Wayne or Lincoln Park, flood-prone areas where the Passaic and Pompton rivers meet. Flooding also hasnt occurred near the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne.

There was also no flooding at the damn in Pompton Lakes near near where the Ramapo River joins with the Wanaque River.

Flooding along Lincoln Avenue in Pompton Lakes on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.Richard Cowen/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Both areas experienced some flooding right before Christmas.

Still, North Jersey didnt escape unscathed from a storm that dumped 2 to 3 inches of rain on most of the state. There were also scattered pockets that received 4 inches.

In Pompton Lakes, Dennis Kuiken was watching the river come up on Dawes Highway in Pompton Lakes. Kuiken, of Wyckoff, arrived early Wednesday to check on his 85-year-old mother, who has lived in the flood-prone neighborhood for 60 years.

Dennis Kuiken watches the Ramapo River come up on Dawes Highway in Pompton Lakes on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.Richard Cowen/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

He evacuated his mother and brought her to a hotel in Wayne in the flood that happened just before Christmas. On Wednesday, he took a wait-and-see approach and is watching the river slowly creep toward his mothers house.

Im not going to make a decision right now, he said at 8 a.m. I dont want to panic her.

Firefighters in nearby Dover rescued 11 people  10 from two homes and one from a vehicle.

In Central Jersey, moderate and major flooding is taking place along the Millstone River, with additional moderate flooding along the Raritan River, according to the National Weather Service.

Along the Shore, theres moderate flooding around the Barnegat Bay in Ocean County and in the area of the Shrewsbury River in Sea Bright, Monmouth County

Street flooding on Bayview Avenue in Berkeley on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.Don Beym

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Ukrainian, Lithuanian presidents' joint statement: There is 'no place for any kind of fatigue' in commitment to support Ukraine

The Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Gintanas Nauseda, said there is "no place for any kind of fatigue" in the commitment to support Ukraine.

This is stated in the joint statement signed by Zelenskyy and Nauseda following Zelenskyy's visit to Vilnius.

"The presidents support launching consultations to establish security commitments and arrangements that would help Ukraine win this war as soon as possible, support its economic stability and reconstruction, resilience, reform agenda and advance its European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations," according to the text.

"Lithuania will continue providing military support to Ukraine responding to its urgent and long-term needs, including through the Lithuanian-led coalition for demining assistance to Ukraine, weapons and equipment supplies, training, and cooperation of defense industries, including joint ventures, localizing production in Ukraine, and promoting information exchange on respective defense-related research and development efforts," according to the statement.

Lithuania also confirmed its readiness to continue to provide humanitarian assistance and other support to Ukraine to ensure the sustainability of Ukraine's energy sector during the winter.

"The presidents stressed the importance of safe and viable alternative routes for Ukraine's exports, including the restoration and securing of the Black Sea corridor and the potential Baltic route following Russia's malicious withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative," according to the document.

The presidents reaffirmed their support to the ongoing ICC investigations, including against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, and called for further investigations into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine by Russia and its accomplice Belarus.

Lithuania and Ukraine, together with partners, will continue their intensive work to return all illegally abducted Ukrainian children to Ukraine. "Targeting Ukrainian children, deporting them to Russia and erasing their Ukrainian identity is an extremely serious international crime," the presidents said in the joint statement.

The presidents also condemned "condemned the accomplice role of Belarus in conducting this crime and called for the respective legal measures to be taken against the responsible Belarusian persons and entities."

"The decision by Lithuania to transfer the proceeds collected and confiscated for sanctions violations to the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine is an important step forward and an example to follow," according to the statement.

Ukraine and Lithuania expect the adoption of a negotiating framework during negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU no later than March 2024 and the convening of an intergovernmental conference.

"Ukraine and Lithuania will continue their active cooperation to bring Ukraine closer to NATO membership in view of the upcoming Washington DC Summit. The Presidents reiterated that sustainable peace and security in Europe can only be ensured through Ukraines membership in the Alliance," the according to the statement.
There comes a time during each Carnival when the splendid oak trees along the St. Charles Avenue parade route become festooned with dangling, entangled strands of toilet paper. Some onlookers welcome the wafting tissue as an example of the comedy that is so much a part of the Mardi Gras season.

Other onlookers view the annual blossoming of tissue as an affront to the arboreal splendor of the thoroughfare, an assault on ecology and an impediment to the citys fragile drainage system.

Four months ago, the City Council banned toilet paper, or any paper streamers or other paper product that exceeds 36 inches in length and is capable of being unrolled for that matter (section 34-28 Prohibited Throws) Though almost immediately the rule was suspended until 2025.
Pope Francis in letter to UGCC head: Our duty is to do everything to ensure war in Ukraine doesn't become 'forgotten war'

Pope Francis, in a letter to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), called the actions of Russia, which attacked Ukraine on December 29 and January 2, "undignified and unacceptable" and such that "cannot be justified in any way."

"In a letter sent to His Beatitude Sviatoslav after Russia's massive attacks on Ukraine on December 29, 2023 and January 2, 2024, Pope Francis called Russia's actions 'undignified and unacceptable' and emphasized that they 'cannot be justified in any way," UGCC press service said in a statement received by Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

"Once again, through you, I wish to express my closeness to 'long-suffering Ukraine,' to mourn the dead and believe in God's mercy, to console the wounded and embrace everyone who is suffering in any way," according to the pontiff's letter in response to Primate of UGCC dated December 29, 2023, in which Sviatoslav reported on the tragic consequences of Russia's largest missile attack on Ukraine.

According to the UGCC press service, the Pope expressed gratitude to the UGCC head: "Together with you, I share the same feelings of contempt and pain that you experience before military operations, which, having struck the civilian population and the civilian infrastructure of the entire country, are undignified and unacceptable and cannot be justified in any way."

Francis reportedly considers it extremely dangerous that "against the backdrop of dramatic international events, there is a risk that the war in Ukraine could become a 'forgotten' war." Therefore, "our duty is to do everything to ensure that this war is not shrouded in silence," "above all, to force all those responsible and the international community to search for peaceful solutions."

In the letter, Francis said he is using every opportunity to ensure that the war in Ukraine does not become "forgotten." "In today's general audience [on January 3, 2024], I urged not to forget the peoples where there is war, recalling that "war is madness, war is always a loss. Let's pray. Let us pray for the people in Palestine, Israel, Ukraine and many other places where there is war." I repeated the same on January 1 on World Peace Day and will continue to do so, calling loudly until the roar of weapons in Ukraine subsides and the path to a just peace."
Students listen during a visit by Gayle Benson, New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner, at the Good Shepherd School in New Orleans on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. Benson announced a substantial donation to complete her "Month of Giving" initiative during the event. (Photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
The NHS in Devon has today entered the highest level of escalation in light of the continued pressures on health services in the county.

All partners across Devons health and social care system have been working hard to take action to mitigate the disruption during a period of winter pressures, staff sickness and industrial action and are now preparing to deploy further measures.

These measures include some hospitals reducing visiting hours or re-directing people from hospital emergency departments to other services which are more appropriate for their medical needs, if it is safe to do so.

Dr Nigel Acheson, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Devon, said: Its vital that those who need medical help come forward as they usually would  using 999 and A&E in life threatening emergencies and 111 online for everything else alongside their GP practices and pharmacies.

However, people need to be prepared that they may be asked to do something slightly different this weekend. I recommend that people should check their local hospitals website and social media for the latest updates.

Devons acute hospitals in Barnstaple, Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay are also seeing increased cases of norovirus this week; a stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

To prevent the spread of infection, some hospital wards in Devon have had to be closed, which further reduces capacity at an already exceptionally busy time.

Norovirus can spread very easily, for example through:

Close contact with someone with norovirus

Touching surfaces or objects that have the virus on them, then touching your mouth

Eating food that have been prepared or handled by someone with norovirus

Staff at Devons hospitals are working hard to treat people as quickly and safely as possible.

Local people can help the NHS by:

Not visiting loved ones in hospital if you have symptoms of a cough, cold, respiratory illness, diarrhoea or vomiting

Washing your hands frequently with soap and water as this is the best way to stop it spreading. Alcohol hand gels do not kill norovirus

Getting your flu vaccine from your GP practice or local pharmacy. Some people are eligible for the free vaccine, including over-65s, people with long term conditions like stroke or heart disease and pregnant people

Getting the COVID-19 vaccine. People who are eligible for the vaccine are encouraged to attend one of the many walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics across Devon. No appointment is needed.

Dr Acheson continued: We absolutely understand that people want to see their loved ones when they are in hospital but its really important that visitors dont come if they themselves are ill. Our hospitals are already very busy and it can make it more difficult for staff to care for those in need.

Record strikes by junior doctors are also taking place amidst one of the most difficult starts to the year for health services in Devon.

The current period of industrial action ends at 7am on Tuesday, January 9, and is the longest consecutive strike action ever taken in the history of the NHS.

Dr Acheson concluded: January is always one of the most pressured times for the NHS in Devon. Six days of industrial action on top of an already busy time is making it extremely challenging for hospitals to maintain safe services this week.
The Verkhovna Rada will be able to include on the agenda and consider a draft resolution on the recall of MP Mariana Bezuhla (Servant of the People faction) from the post of Deputy Head of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence only after a corresponding decision of the conciliation council of deputy factions and groups, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk said.

"The agenda of each plenary meeting is formed by the conciliation council. Collectively. Representatives of each faction. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine does not participate in these votes. Today [on January 10] at the meeting of the conciliation council, none of the factions raised the issue of inclusion in the agenda resolution. Therefore, when the conciliation council decides to put this or any other issue on the agenda, it will be submitted for consideration. That's the only way," the chairman told Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, Stefanchuk said despite "his attitude towards Mariana, who systematically criticizes him on social networks, he undertakes to act exclusively on the basis, within the limits and methods determined by the Rules of the Verkhovna Rada, and by shouting, blocking the podium or political slogans this issue [the possible recall of Bezuhla from her position in the committee] cannot be resolved."

However, Stefanchuk expects an expression of the position from the Servant of the People faction regarding this issue, since Bezuhla is a representative of this political force in the Ukrainian parliament.

"Moreover, the committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are formed according to the quota principle. Since Mariana Bezuhla is a MP from the Servant of the People faction, I expect a clear position from the Servant of the People faction regarding this draft resolution," the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada said.

In addition, according to the chairman, on January 10, the conciliation council "correctly set priorities and focused on the issue of supporting the military and fulfilling our obligations to the European Union when forming the agenda."
Devon residents have been urged to assist the countys NHS in recovering from the longest-ever period of strike action by choosing the appropriate healthcare services, as hospitals across Plymouth, Exeter, Torbay and Barnstaple continue to face severe pressures this week.

Although the junior doctors industrial action concluded at 7am on Tuesday (January 9), all main hospitals are expected to remain under significant strain.

The prolonged strike has led to the continued closure of certain hospital wards in Devon to prevent the spread of winter illnesses. This further strains capacity during an already exceptionally busy period for healthcare providers. In light of this, people are encouraged to play their part by adopting the following measures:

 Call 999 in emergency and life-threatening cases.

 Utilise NHS 111 online or call 111 for medical help or advice, especially if unsure about the need to visit a hospital.

 Check local hospital trust websites for information on Minor Injury Units and Urgent Treatment Centres.

 Take simple steps during cold weather, such as stocking up on medicine, checking on vulnerable family members and neighbours, and picking up loved ones ready for discharge from hospital.

 Seek advice from community pharmacies for minor illnesses and medications.

Anthony Fitzgerald, Chief Delivery Officer for NHS Devon, has stressed the importance of choosing the right service for medical needs. He said: Just because this period of strikes by junior doctors has ended, it doesnt mean we are back on track - the usual January pressures are still in full force.

The onset of extremely cold weather has led to the rapid spread of winter illnesses, adding to the challenges faced by healthcare providers.

To prevent the further spread of winter illnesses, people are advised not to visit loved ones in hospitals if displaying symptoms, frequently wash hands with soap and water and stay at home if unwell with a winter bug. The public is also encouraged to get their flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine, with walk-in clinics available across Devon.

While the NHS in Devon has lowered its level of escalation, indicating a slight improvement from last weeks peak, all four acute hospitals in the county remain under significant pressure. Residents are requested to be prepared for potential changes in patient and visitor protocols, such as reduced visiting hours or redirection from emergency departments to more suitable services.

For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can visit the NHS UK website.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov held a video call with Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Mucio Monteiro Filho, during which the parties discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation.

"Held video call with my Brazilian colleague Jose Mucio Monteiro Filho. Discussed strengthening of mutual cooperation and development of Defense Tech & innovations. Briefed Minister on the current security situation on the frontline. Also, invited my counterpart to visit Ukraine," Umerov wrote on the social network X on Wednesday evening.
CROWN POINT  The mother of a 6-week-old baby who died from injuries consistent with child abuse will serve a six-year sentence for her neglectful behavior that led to the child's death in 2019.

Brittany Chambers, 25, of Cedar Lake, lied multiple times to investigators about what happened when she left her 6-month-old daughter Elliana Orgon in her then-boyfriend's care, despite agreeing months before not to leave Elliana in his care after the Department of Child Services suspected him of child abuse. The safety plan was developed after a March 2019 incident in which the baby was hospitalized three months prior to her death for injuries she allegedly sustained from Chambers' then-boyfriend.

Her former boyfriend has never been charged in connection with the crime.

Chambers pleaded guilty to the offense in September. Lake Criminal Court Judge Natalie Bokota said Chambers would serve two years of her sentence in prison, two in community corrections and two on probation.

Elliana Orgon Elliana Orgon died at 6-months-old after she died from injuries consistent with child abuse in June 2019. She allegedly sustained the injuries

Bokota determined Chambers sentence after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense. They both portrayed Chambers very differently in their arguments: Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Arnold introduced evidence that portrayed Chambers as a cruel, selfish, neglectful parent with a serious substance abuse problem who did not care at all about her children. As she elicited testimony from Crown Point police Detective Sgt. Ryan Olson, she had him identify multiple instances where Chambers messaged other people about buying, ingesting and selling drugs in the months before Elliana's death and keeping her around her then-boyfriend, even after the March 2019 incident.

"She continued to deal drugs, get high and keep little Ellie around [her former boyfriend]," Arnold said. "This was not a one-time 'bad night.'"

Defense attorney Kerry Connor told the court Chambers knew she did not do right by Elliana in leaving her in her former boyfriend's care and takes responsibility for her role in the child's death. She did, however, tell the court that Chambers has spent multiple years in therapy, completed substance abuse treatment programs and has become a stay-at-home parent while her partner works so she can be a present mother for two children she gave birth to after Elliana's death. She said this "horrific" incident does not represent Chambers in her entirety, or who she is as a mother.

"It is very, very unfair for the state to suggest Brittany Chambers feels no sadness," Connor said.

Chambers did not show much emotion throughout the hearing until she stood up to make a statement and broke down.

"I failed Elliana as a mother and a protector," Chambers said, her voice thick with emotion. "If I could have one more moment with Elliana, I would hold her tight and never let her go."

Bokota said the primary purpose of a sentence is rehabilitation, and she believed Chambers had done a lot of that through therapy and drug treatment; however, Chambers knowingly placed Elliana in her former boyfriend's care and failed to check on her for hours after she had explicitly agreed not to leave Elliana in his care.

Olson said police went to the former boyfriend's home on June 20, 2019 after receiving a call about a deceased baby. They found the basement of the home, where Chambers and Elliana stayed with the boyfriend, in total disarray. The room smelled of feces and was littered with garbage, drug paraphernalia and power tools. The officers shoes stuck to the carpet as they walked, Olson said.

"It was dangerous for anybody, especially dangerous for a baby to be in," Olson said of the environment.

Olson said they interviewed Chambers and her former boyfriend twice and noticed a discrepancy between their statements about what happened.

Chambers changed her account of who Elliana was with in the hours leading up to her death, first telling police she did not leave her child with her then-boyfriend, then saying she only left Elliana with the man for "seconds" and finally admitting she left her with him for a few hours, Olson said, violating the safety plan. She supposedly did not check on Elliana for more than 18 hours until she found the child dead in her car seat, according to information in the plea agreement.

The court heard from Elliana's paternal grandmother and great-grandmother about the pain of losing their beloved granddaughter and said Elliana's father has grieved deeply since her death. They sat with two other family members and all wore pink t-shirts that read "Justice for Ellie" with a photo of the baby on the front.

"Elliana will never experience her first steps, her first day of school...let alone her wedding day or having a child of her own," Elliana's grandmother said. "I am hoping that justice will allow me to release myself from these heavy emotional burdens."
LAPORTE  A 36-year-old man nabbed following a chase last week in Burns Harbor has been charged in LaPorte County with an attempted murder that allegedly occurred in a wooded area just off U.S. 20 where people are living in tents, police said.

Robert Rosenbourgh is accused of entering one of those tents behind the Michigan City Kohl's store during the late night of Jan. 2 and battering a woman he had recently broke up with after dating three days, a charging document reads.

The woman fled to another tent and Rosenbourgh followed, pointed a handgun at her head and pulled the trigger, according to police.

"(The woman) stated that she heard the click of the trigger being pulled but that no bullet was fired," police said. "(The woman) believes that the handgun may have jammed."

Rosenbourgh then reportedly fled the area when told police were coming.

A witness told police she heard Rosenbourgh during the scuffle say, "Okay (expletive), I'm done with you, I told you I'm gong to kill you" and "I almost got her."

Porter man nabbed for repeat OWI after camera alerts police to his vehicle, report says The driver said he had been drinking at a nearby bar and a portable breath test revealed his blood-alcohol limit at more than twice the legal limit for driving, police said.

Police could not locate Rosenbourgh at the time, but he was picked up Thursday by Porter County police.

Rosenbourgh was a passenger in a vehicle that was flagged by a license plate recognition camera and that gave chase to police.

He continued to flee on foot for a short time before being taken into custody.

Portage man serving 20 years for making child porn found dead in prison, feds say The deceased had been at Milan for 13 months after pleading guilty in 2022 to producing child sexual abuse images.

The driver, Otha Garrett, 41, of Michigan City, was also arrested and charged with a felony count of resisting law enforcement, police said.

Rosenbourgh faces a charge of resisting law enforcement in the Porter County case and the new charges in LaPorte County of attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, unlawful carrying of a handgun with a prior felony conviction within 15 years, pointing a firearm and domestic battery, records show.
The School City of Hammond could be exempted from the state's $1 law if it were to sell the Gavit Middle/High School building, under proposed legislation filed by a Lake County state senator.

Indiana's $1 law requires public school districts to give charter schools first opportunity to buy or lease vacant buildings for $1.

Senate Bill 101, proposed by state Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, would exempt Hammond schools from the state law if they were to pursue selling the Gavit building.

The school closed in 2021 along with Clark Middle/High School.

Dernulc said he spoke to Hammond city officials during the development of the bill. The state senator said the purpose behind the piece of legislation is to repurpose the property in another way, such as an emergency room facility.

While Dernulc said the $1 law could add burden to school districts when trying to sell or repurpose property, he noted his bill was not meant to set precedent.

"We have to look at some things locally on a case-by-case basis ... to benefit our local community in other ways," Dernulc said in a statement to The Times.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said several entities, including the city, would be interested in purchasing the building if it went up for sale.

"I would definitely do it," McDermott told The Times in a phone conversation.

The mayor said the building would be great for potential Purdue University Northwest expansion.

McDermott said he was appreciative of the state senator for the proposed legislation, but also criticized the $1 law for negatively affecting cities like Hammond.

The city has auctioned off the land surrounding the Clark building to be developed into single-family homes.

In 2020, Hammond and Lake Ridge schools sued the state in order to challenge the $1 law.

Hammond schools would have been exempted from the $1 law had its operating referendum been renewed by voters last November, since the school city would have had to revenue-share with surrounding charter schools. However, the referendum was defeated overwhelmingly.

The district is currently working with the state's Distressed Unit Appeals Board to create a corrective action plan in order to adjust its spending and avoid further state intervention.

PHOTOS: Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond Construction in downtown Hammond
CROWN POINT  Lake County Recorder Gina Pimentel was the first candidate in line Wednesday morning at the Lake County Election Board to file the paperwork required to get her name on this year's ballot.

It was a familiar spot for the county official who also showed up long before anyone else on the day candidate filing opened in 2020, when Pimentel was running for her first term as the custodian of real estate and other important records.

"I'm serious about filing for reelection and I'm serious about my office," Pimentel said. "I like to be first in line because I'm not playing games with the election. This is my job. This is my livelihood."

Pimentel said if she wins the Democratic nomination at the May 7 primary, and another four years in office at the Nov. 5 general election, she plans to continue a major document indexing project and website redesign that will make recorded documents more accessible to the public.

"We are the keeper of all records that have to do with home ownership  deeds, mortgages, liens, releases, satisfactions of mortgages," Pimentel said.

"Should you lose any of those documents that are important to you, we will always have copies as a back-up. We also help search for records. We help title companies, real estate companies, mortgage companies. We really are a big office that is here to serve the public."

While Pimentel's early morning arrival at the county elections office beat even most of its employees, she wasn't alone for long.

Following Pimentel, Lake County Coroner David Pastrick and Surveyor Bill Emerson Jr. each submitted their paperwork to run as Democratic candidates for a second term (Pastrick) and a third term (Emerson).

"I want to continue the progress that we've made so far, continue managing stormwater efficiently and professional management of the office," Emerson said. "We have a great staff, a great team we've put together with the commissioners and the council, and I really want to do another four years of moving things forward."

Lake County Councilman Randy Niemeyer, R-Cedar Lake, also arrived prior to the election office opening to get in line to file his paperwork for Republican precinct committeeman and state convention delegate, before heading to Indianapolis to file at the secretary of state's office in his bid to represent Northwest Indiana in the U.S. House.

Niemeyer, who serves as chairman of the Lake County Republican Party, said the start of candidate filing and Election Day are akin to Christmas for someone like him  "just a kid from Cedar Lake" who need only sign up for a shot to represent Lake, Porter and northwest LaPorte counties in Congress.

"The opportunity to file for office still means that this is the greatest country in the world," Niemeyer said. "I'm one of these people that really values this process, and it's always exciting to see so many people participate in self-government.

Niemeyer said he isn't concerned that a Republican hasn't won Indiana's 1st House District for nearly a century or that four of the state's seven Republican congressmen already have opted out of reelection bids this year.

"I actually think that turnover is good and I think people deciding that enough is enough is a good thing," Niemeyer said. "It's good for our republic when legislators don't make a career out of it. If you're someone who wants to serve in government, you shouldn't stay in one place for too long."

Republican Ivan Ursery II, of Gary, shares that opinion. He's planning to run in Indiana's 14th House District against state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, who has represented portions of Gary and Merrillville at the Statehouse since 1990.

Ursery said new Gary Mayor Eddie Melton, a Democrat, was successful when he served in the Indiana Senate because he was willing to work across the aisle. So having a Republican representing Gary in a chamber controlled by Republicans is certain to benefit the Steel City in even more ways large and small.

"You'd actually have a seat at the table to help the city of Gary. I'll be part of the discussion, not outside the discussion," Ursery said.

Hoosiers this year will elect one of the state's two U.S. senators, all nine congressmen, Indiana governor and attorney general, all 100 members of the Indiana House and half the 50-member Senate, along with a host of county, judicial, municipal and school board offices  depending on where a voter resides.

The deadline for candidates to file to run for office is Feb. 9.

Gallery: Indiana historical markers in the Region First Physician Great Sauk (Sac) Trail St. John's Lutheran Church Tolleston Dutch in the Calumet Region St. John Township School, District #2 The Lincoln Highway/The Ideal Section The Lincoln Highway/The Ideal Section Froebel School - side 1 Froebel School Stewart Settlement House Stewart Settlement House Origin of Dr. MLK Day Law Origin of Dr. MLK Day Law Bailly Homestead Iron Brigade Willow Creek Confrontation Ogden ski jump.jpg Teale 1.jpg Teale 2.jpg Steel 1.jpg Steel 2.jpg Civil War camps.jpg Old lighthouse.jpg Railroad.jpg Camp Anderson.jpg Boundary line 1.jpg Boundary line 2.jpg LaPorte courthouse 1.jpg LaPorte courthouse 2.jpg Carnegie 1.jpg Carnegie 2.jpg Rumely Co 1.jpg Rumely Co 2.jpg Lincoln train 1.jpg Lincoln train 2.jpg LaPorte university 1.jpg Laporte university 2.jpg Gary Roosevelt 1 Gary Roosevelt 2
VALPARAISO  Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, who serves as the lone Democrat on the three-member board of commissioners, has announced her decision not to seek a fourth term.

"Today is my last first meeting of the year," Blaney said Tuesday.

"This was a tough and painful decision, but I look forward to working with all of you for one more year. Let's make it a good one."

Blaney is serving alongside Republican Commissioners Jim Biggs and Barb Regnitz.

Region man attempted to kill woman in tents serving as homes behind Kohl's store, cops say LAPORTE  A 36-year-old man nabbed following a chase last week in Burns Harbor has been charged in LaPorte County with an attempted murder tha

"I'm usually the first one in the door to file," she said in a prepared statement. "I have loved this job."

Blaney praised the efforts of county department heads and employees over her 11 years in office.

"I've been part of some truly exemplary teams, and made some lifelong friends on both sides of the aisle," she said.

Portage man serving 20 years for making child porn found dead in prison, feds say The deceased had been at Milan for 13 months after pleading guilty in 2022 to producing child sexual abuse images.

She counts among the accomplishments the construction of a new animal shelter, new stormwater department, new human resources department and massive infrastructure improvements, "while enjoying the lowest income tax rate in the state."

"The advice I received from one of my favorite people in government was to ask myself if I could still make a difference here," Blaney said. "And if not here, where?"

"Where is to be determined, but it's time."

Candidate filings for Blaney's district 1 commissioner seat and other local offices began Wednesday. The Porter County Election Board reported the following candidates have filed for county office:

Jimmy Albarran, Republican, treasurer

Kevin Breitzke, Democrat, surveyor

Ed Morales, Republican, commissioner, district 1 south

Jim Biggs, Republican, commissioner, district 3 north

Michelle Harris, Republican, council, at-large

Nate Uldricks, Republican, council, at-large

Bob DeRuntz, Democrat, council, at-large
LAKE STATION  An overturned semi-trailer truck that had fouled eastbound traffic along the local stretch of Interstate 94 has been cleared, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation.

An overturned semi-trailer truck is expected to foul eastbound traffic along the local stretch of Interstate 94 into the early afternoon hours

The crash, which occurred just east of Ripley Street, had closed all lanes of traffic, though vehicles were reportedly getting around the site on the shoulder of the highway.
VALPARAISO  One of the new City Council's first items of business was repealing a 2016 resolution that gave the mayor the power to reject proposed agenda items.

Resolution No. 12-2016 required City Council members to submit proposed agenda items to the mayor no later than 4:30 p.m. the Wednesday before the next council meeting. The mayor then had the power to review each item and decide what would be placed on the agenda. According to the resolution, if the mayor rejected an agenda item, the council could discuss it during their next meeting and if three or more councilmembers supported the item, it would be added to the following meeting's agenda.

Council President Robert Cotton, D-2, who was serving his first term when the resolution was passed in 2016, said the resolution had the potential to suppress council members.

Councilwoman Diana Reed, D-1, who was also serving her first term in 2016, said that at the time the council needed additional guidance on how to add items to the agenda. However, Reed said she never supported the mayor's power to veto proposed agenda items. She suggested that instead of repealing the ordinance all together, the council amend it to exclude the mayor's ability to reject agenda items, but maintain the section that says three council members must approve agenda items and add a section that allows council members to discuss other matters, not directly related to agenda items, during the meeting.

Councilman Peter Anderson, R-5, said he agreed with Reed. Anderson said that if Resolution No. 12-2016 was repealed, the council would have to revert back to city code, which allows council members to add agenda items right up to, and during, council meetings. Anderson said not having clear agenda deadlines would cause transparency issues.

However, Councilwoman Emilie Hunt, D-at large, said she and Anderson interpreted the city code differently. According to her interpretation, council members would have to submit agenda items to the city clerk by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. The clerk publishes the agenda at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. If a councilperson missed the clerk's deadline, he or she would have to make an appeal during the council meeting to add the item. If at least three members approved the addition, the item would be added to the meeting's agenda.

Hunt said reverting to city code would allow the council to "move with" the clerk's office and with the city. If the clerk decides to move submission deadlines up a week, the council would be able to adopt the new schedule without an additional resolution.

"I also think that Resolution 12-2016 is reasonable process, I just think we have a code that already provides for that process and I think when you have two reasonable processes, but one has the potential to be suppressive, then my vote goes the other way," Hunt explained. "Thats where I lean towards reverting back to the code which I think puts that power back in the legislative body as opposed to the executive body.

The council approved repealing the resolution with a vote of 4-2. Anderson and Reed voted "no" and Councilman Jack Pupillo, R-4, was absent.

PHOTOS: Valparaiso 2024 swearing-in ceremony Valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in
VALPARAISO In 2016 Robert Cotton made history when he became Valparaiso's first Black councilman. On Monday night, he did it again.

Cotton was unanimously elected City Council president during the council's first meeting of the year. Cotton, D-2, is the city's first Black council president.

When it comes to Valparaiso, the Cotton family has often been first.

In the late 1960s the Cottons became the first Black family to move to Valparaiso. The city had formerly been known as a "sundown town," a place that was not safe for African Americans to remain after dark. In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan even came close to buying Valparaiso University before it was purchased by Lutherans.

The Cottons were not welcomed into Valparaiso with open arms. Instead, the family received death threats and dirty looks. The Cottons' story was recounted in the recent Lakeshore PBS documentary, From Sundown to Sunrise."

Cotton said he was honored to be given the opportunity to serve as president.

During the Monday meeting, the council also elected Ellen Kapitan, D-at large, vice president.

Kapitan began her first term Jan. 1. She is one of three new councilmembers, all of whom are women.

During a Jan. 1 swearing-in ceremony, newly-elected Councilwoman Emilie Hunt, D-at large, said the new council will be the city's first majority-female council. Previously Diana Reed, D-1, was the only woman on the council.

On Monday the council unanimously approved the appointment of council liaisons to various boards and commissions. Kapitan will sit on the Traffic and Safety Committee as well as on the Plan Commission, Reed will represent the council on the Fire Territory and on the Park Board, Cotton will serve as council liaison for the Redevelopment Commission and for Code Enforcement and Engineering, Hunt will sit on the School Board and on the Investigations and Reconciliation Commission, Barbara Domer, D-3, will sit on the Redevelopment Commission and the Board of Public Works and Safety, Peter Anderson, D-5, will sit on the Utilities Board, and Jack Pupillo, D-4, will be the public safety liaison.

The council also appointed resident Hannah Trueblood, a Democrat who ran against newly elected Mayor Jon Costas in the general election, to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

PHOTOS: Valparaiso 2024 swearing-in ceremony Valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in Valpo swearing in
Gov. Eric Holcomb is promising Hoosiers he will maintain a relentless pace of innovation and improvement during his final year in office to match the myriad accomplishments of his first seven years as Indiana's chief executive.

Speaking Tuesday night in his last "State of the State" address, the term-limited Republican almost immediately delivered on his pledge by revealing Indiana has received a $250 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to improve communities across the state by eliminating blight, promoting redevelopment, and supporting public art and cultural initiatives.

"As a state, Indiana is investing in its neighborhoods, its people and its future like never before," Holcomb said.

"This unprecedented investment from Lilly Endowment is a testament to the incredible enthusiasm and momentum we are witnessing across the state as we collaborate to advance quality of life and increase opportunities for all Hoosiers to succeed and prosper now and in the future."

The governor characterized these ongoing regional and statewide collaborations as "The Indiana Model," and Holcomb said he's staking his reputation that it'll produce nothing less than lasting, generational change.

"Nearly every step forward we've made in the last seven years has followed this Indiana Model  a remarkable team effort," Holcomb said.

"It hinges on collaboration, among the public, private and the philanthropic sectors, between our administration and the legislature, across all levels of government. And it's Hoosier-wide, tossing aside any distinction between Indy and the rest."

As an example, Holcomb pointed to the two rounds of state READI grants, each worth $500 million, that regions across the state  including Northwest Indiana  have used to leverage billions of dollars in private sector investment in housing, workforce development and quality of place initiatives.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't need to tell you, but I'm proud to, the state of our state is strong! And the rest of the world has taken notice, and they want in on it!" Holcomb proclaimed to members of the General Assembly and other dignitaries gathered in the House chamber at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.

The governor said more evidence of Indiana's strength includes the soon-to-be completed double tracking of the South Shore Line between Gary and Michigan City, construction starting on long-sought capital projects including the $1.2 billion Westville Correctional Facility in LaPorte County, and Hoosier employment at an all-time high while the state's unemployment rolls remain at historic lows.

"Consider the recognition Indiana received last year when we were one of only three states, out of all 50, that ran the table to win all three big federal partnerships  a clean hydrogen hub, a microelectronics hub, and a biotech manufacturing hub," Holcomb said.

"Each will result in millions in new investment, and thousands of good high-paying jobs, and they position Indiana to benefit disproportionately from America's renewed focus on defense-related manufacturing and our re-shoring strategy."

Likewise, Holcomb noted Indiana continues to reduce its personal income tax rate, improve its high school graduation rate, connect more Hoosiers to broadband internet service, replace dilapidated highway rest areas, work toward finishing Interstate 69, prioritize public health services, aid people needing mental health or substance use disorder treatment, and plant 1 million new trees.

"Businesses and individuals are thriving in Indiana because we operate in a continuous improvement mode," Holcomb said. "And I will continue to listen, as I've done for 7 years now, to any and all partners who share a love for Indiana and believe in our future."

In that vein, Holcomb endorsed proposals pending in the Republican-controlled House and Senate to require 3rd graders demonstrate reading proficiency before advancing to higher grades, make post-secondary education more accessible through additional associate degree options and three-year bachelor's degrees, and enable more parents to enter the workforce by expanding child care availability.

He also called on lawmakers to establish computer science as a high school graduation requirement and to embrace his "One Stop to Start" initiative to better connect Hoosiers needing new skills or job training to programs that will set them on a path to an in-demand, high-wage career.

"I ask for your partnership in making these things happen, because we must never forget how much the work of good governance matters to those who sent us here in the first place," Holcomb said.

The governor's 28-minute speech also noted the recent death of Henry Holcomb, the first dog of Indiana, and encouraged Hoosiers to make plans to view the total solar eclipse that will be visible April 8 in most of central and southern Indiana.

"Indiana's a wonderful place to live, to breathe, to work, to innovate, to raise a family. It's a wonderful place to help lead," Holcomb said. "With all my heart, I thank you for it."

Meet the 2024 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Dave Vinzant, D-Hobart State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr. State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie
Bryan Truitt not only publicly defended former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich. He also did it privately.

Ill always be loyal to John, Truitt told me in 2017 after a U.S. District Court jury found Buncich guilty of six counts of wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and bribery counts.

Truitt was exhausted and edgy after legally representing Buncich throughout the two-week trial.

Everyone thought the Buncich jury selection would take forever. Anytime he farted it made the front fold (of the newspaper), he told me. But it only took half of a day because very few (jurors) knew anything about him or the case.

This surprised me because I had been keeping a close eye on this case. When I heard the news about the guilty verdict, I posted about it on social media. Truitt, a prominent attorney who represented other disgraced public officials in his career, didnt appreciate my post, which he angrily labeled as cute.

You are trivializing a mans life with your cute posts, he told me. I'm sure it didn't cross your mind but there is a human being behind your posts.

We had a terse exchange about Buncich, who I knew professionally but not personally. When I first heard allegations that he corruptly used his authority over towing contracts to enrich himself by soliciting and accepting cash and campaign contributions, I hoped it wasnt true. Not due to my feelings about Buncich as much as my feelings toward his office, which could be the most powerful position in the county.

It should be held to highest standards of duty and conduct, I told Truitt. He told me that he and another prominent defense attorney in this Region have tried countless cases, yet they never believed in the innocence of a client as much as with Buncichs case.

This is personal, Truitt said.

I countered that too many high-profile public officials in Northwest Indiana have a shady reputation. They wont get the benefit of a doubt in the court of public opinion. Heck, I wrote a book about this topic, listing names of all the crooked politicians who were drunk on arrogance while pleading ignorance.

The county sheriff position has not been above this description through the decades.

In 2018, I hosted a public forum at Indiana University Northwest between candidates running for Lake County Sheriff before the May primary election. The most pressing question from audience members reflected the black eye that Buncich gave to that office: What are your plans to rebuild trust and credibility in the Lake County sheriff's department?"

Public corruption and Lake County go together like a bribe and a handshake. I wasnt shocked when Buncich got indicted and later convicted. But it was disappointing. If he did the crime he needed to do the time, I told Truitt, who helped Buncich on a volunteer basis after his sentencing.

I love that man, Truitt told me.

Those words echoed in my head Monday when I read that federal prosecutors are opposing any reduction to the prison term of Buncich, who late last year requested his 151-month sentence be cut to 121 months or less. His request was based on a recent, retroactive revision to the federal sentencing guidelines for defendants with no prior criminal history and little chance of reoffending, according to a story by my colleague Dan Carden.

The U.S. Attorneys office stated in a court filing that Buncich doesnt qualify for this reduction. It doesnt matter that hes now 78, reportedly in poor health and scheduled for release from a federal inmate medical center in Missouri in three years. Guilty is guilty. Punishment is punishment.

Prison is nothing but punishment, Truitt once told me.

We shared a few discussions about crime, punishment and justice before his unexpected death in 2022. He taught me a lot about the role of a defense attorney and its needed role in the justice system.

There are many times I don't feel the state/government can't prove their case. That's not guilty, Truitt said. Or I believe there is a doubt. Again, not guilty. But it is a rarity that there is absolute faith in innocence.

An absolute faith in innocence. I have a difficult time sharing this view with most public officials in our corner of the state who get charged with a crime of any kind. Maybe Im too jaded. Maybe our Region is too jaded.

Im guessing that federal prosecutors are displaying unwavering opposition against a reduction of prison time for Buncich due, in part, that it will serve as a deterrent to future public corruption. Truitt disagreed with my assertion about this factor.

No matter the sentence, this will not serve as a deterrent, he said. If harsh sentences deterred crime, we would have won the war on drugs 30 years ago. There is no study or empirical evidence that sentencing deters or encourages crime. Esoterically, there is less crime than if a criminal justice system did not exist, but that is where deterrence ends.

Buncich may die in federal custody before his release date. His critics wont lose any sleep. But Truitt seemed genuinely outraged at this possibility. It reminded me of a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a working visit to Vilnius, held a meeting with representatives of the Lithuanian parliament (Seimas).

"During a meeting with Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, chairmen of parliamentary committees and leaders of the largest factions of the Lithuanian parliament, we discussed important issues, further support for our integration into NATO, holding Russia accountable for crimes committed during the war against Ukraine," he said on his Telegram channel.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine hears the clear and loud voice of Lithuania in its support, and also appreciates the leadership of the Seimas on many issues of assistance at the parliamentary level.
New York City evacuated on Tuesday about 500 families with children  nearly 2,000 people in total  from a massive tent shelter set up on a desolate former airplane runway in southern Brooklyn ahead of heavy rains and wind expected to hit the area.

More than a dozen buses lined up to take the migrants to James Madison High School, a few miles away, to spend the night. One family, wearing ponchos as rain began pelting down, described the scene inside the tent structure as chaotic, and said they would stay with a friend instead of going to the school.

Edison Chavez, 38, and Valeria Lopez, 36, evacuated to the school with their two sons, 10-year-old Alan and 5-year-old Iker. They came to New York from Ecuador and have lived at Floyd Bennett Field since arriving a month ago.

They told me we had to evacuate because the tents might not have resisted the winds, Mr. Chavez wrote in a text message in Spanish. The last storm, we were scared because it seemed like the tents couldve been blown away.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey embraced proposals to make it easier to build affordable housing and cut out-of-pocket expenses for abortions in his annual State of the State address on Tuesday.

The governor, a second-term Democrat barred from running for re-election, also said he would support the increased use of phonics to teach reading and that he would continue to work to ease the burden of medical debt, presumably by expanding a program he funded last year that sought to leverage $10 million to retire 100 times that amount in residents debt.

In the wealthiest nation in the world, the governor told lawmakers from the Senate and Assembly in a joint address in Trenton, nobody should have to worry about being able to afford critical health care services or a lifesaving medical procedure.

The goals mentioned by the governor were fairly modest as he looks ahead to his final two years in office, and they largely piggybacked on existing initiatives proposed by the Democrat-led Legislature.
A decades-old fight about the direction of one of New Yorks most prominent Hasidic Jewish groups tipped into chaos this week, when one faction clashed with the police over a tunnel that had secretly been built to the movements main synagogue.

The tunnel, a passageway between the headquarters of the group, the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement, and at least one adjacent property, was first discovered late last year, according to local news reports. But on Monday afternoon, after a cement truck was brought in to fill it, some Hasidic men attempted to block that effort.

The police were called, and officers said they found a group of men breaking through a wall of the prayer space that led to the tunnel. After a resulting confrontation, which included skirmishes with officers, nine people were arrested, according to the Brooklyn district attorneys office.

Rabbi Motti Seligson, a Lubavitcher spokesman, described those who had created the tunnel as a group of extremist students.
A decade ago, I wrote a book with the subtitle The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder. Ive been wrong about a thing or two (or three) over the years. I wish I had been wrong about this.

Disorder comes in two varieties: disorder within a system (like a coup or revolution inside a sovereign state) or of the system itself (like the de facto collapse of the state system throughout parts of Africa and the Middle East). The former may be devastating, but it is usually containable. The latter can be a matter of quiet erosion before it becomes one of outright collapse. But its consequences are hard to predict, difficult to control and sometimes epochal in scope.

We are living in an era of dissolving systems. The Biden administration struggles to gain control over illegal immigration at the southern border. Its failing. Beijing is gradually seizing control of the South China Sea, over which one-fifth of the worlds trade passes. Nothing stops it. Iran is enriching uranium to near weapons grade. The world barely notices. Ukraine is running out of munitions. Congress is too divided to help save an ally. Hezbollahs attacks on northern Israel and Houthi attacks on international shipping risk a much broader Middle East war, potentially involving the United States. We seem to be careening toward it without brakes.

For each of these crises, you can point to a separate cause. The collapse of governance in much of the developing world. The power of drug cartels in South America and terrorist militias in Lebanon and Gaza. The increasingly close alliance between Iran, Russia and China, forming a new axis of resentment, repression and revanchism.
A Virginia fisherman who died in 2017 was responsible for the killings of three people in two separate cases in the southeastern part of the state that sat unsolved for more than 30 years, the police announced this week.

New DNA evidence linked the man, Alan W. Wilmer Sr., to the 1987 killings of David L. Knobling, 20, and Robin M. Edwards, 14, in Isle of Wight County, which were among a series of killings in the area that were known as the Colonial Parkway murders, the police said. They said he had also killed Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell, 29, in the nearby city of Hampton in 1989.

If Alan Wilmer Sr. was alive today, he would be charged in all three of these homicides, Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, said at a news conference on Monday.

Mr. Wilmer, of Northern Neck, died at his home in December 2017, police said. He was 63.

The authorities said that they had matched Mr. Wilmers DNA to evidence recovered at the scenes of the three homicides. His DNA was obtained after his death, the authorities said.
It seemed an unusual choice when Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., turned to a suburban defense lawyer to oversee what seemed the biggest task of her career: building an election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump.

Nathan Wade, whom Ms. Willis tapped for the job, had little experience as a prosecutor. But he was a trusted friend and mentor, she said in 2022, willing to take the job when more seasoned prosecutors were not.

Now the relationship between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade has taken center stage in the Georgia case against Mr. Trump, who is awaiting trial along with 14 co-defendants on charges of conspiring to overturn the former presidents 2020 election defeat in the state.

On Monday, a lawyer for one of the co-defendants, Michael A. Roman, charged in a court filing that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade were romantic partners who were profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers. Without offering any proof, the filing accused the two of taking vacations together with money Mr. Wade had made while working for Ms. Williss office as a special prosecutor. In all, the office has paid Mr. Wade $653,881, according to county records.
Marc and Mary Dicklin of Ames, Iowa, and members of their family, including their two college-age sons and their fiancees, watched their phones and laptops at Des Moines International Airport as they waited to leave for a ski trip in the Swiss Alps.

Mr. Dicklin said that they had been at the airport since 6 a.m., and that their original flight out of Des Moines was canceled just before boarding.

Kayla Kovarna, a spokeswoman for the Des Moines Airport Authority, said one of the two main runways at the airport was closed because of wind, and the other was closed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. as crews plowed and chemically treated its surface. According to FlightAware, at least 13 flights scheduled to depart the airport on Tuesday were canceled and a dozen others were delayed. Ms. Kovarna said she expected more disruptions.

Mr. Dicklin said on Tuesday afternoon that his familys rebooked flight to OHare was still showing on information boards as departing on time, and that he hoped airport crews in Chicago would keep runways clear for their connecting flight to Zurich as the storm made its way across the Midwest.

His mother, Gisela Dicklin, was traveling with the group. She was born in Bavaria, Germany, Mr. Dicklin said, and was eager to return to the area during the winter months.
Officials in Texas have yet to determine exactly what caused an explosion at a hotel in downtown Fort Worth that injured 21 people, but believe natural gas was involved, Jim Davis, the citys fire chief, said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The blast, which occurred at about 3:30 p.m. on Monday at the Sandman Signature hotel, resulted in part of the building collapsing into the basement, leaving one person burned and others with concussions, strains and lacerations from the debris, Chief Davis said. The person who was burned remained in critical condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, he said.

Obviously there was gas, natural gas, involved  we do not know if gas caused the explosion or the explosion caused the gas problem, Chief Davis said. Its just a matter of the chicken or the egg.

Earlier Tuesday, at a briefing before the City Council, the Fort Worth police chief, Neil Noakes, said that officials had absolutely no indication that there was any intent by anyone to cause this explosion.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York cautioned residents on Tuesday evening about two major storm-related problems that were likely to linger after the system moved on: widespread power outages and the risk of flooding in certain parts of the state.

In an interview with Spectrum News, a cable television outlet, Ms. Hochul said that 52,000 New York households  most of them in the western part of the state  were without power after heavy winds knocked out power lines. She predicted the numbers would rise through the night  and she was right. By 10 p.m., the number had nearly tripled, to about 143,000, according to data from the site poweroutage.com.

Restoring power was no simple matter, she added, because the trucks needed to make repairs could not operate while gusts remained fierce.

Were asking families look out for each other, check on neighbors, Ms. Hochul said.

The governor said she was also very concerned about the threat of flooding, especially in the Hudson Valley, where a huge rainstorm over the summer swept away cars and killed one person.
It looks like Donald Trump ran into a wall today while pushing his position that he cannot be charged criminally for his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. It came in the form of three federal appeals court judges.

With Trump looking on from beside his lawyers in the courtroom in Washington, the judges poked holes in the legal reasoning behind his claims that presidents cannot be prosecuted for actions they take in office. By the time they were done, there was not much doubt they were leaning toward rejecting this central element of Trumps defense in the election subversion case.

I think its paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal laws, said Judge Karen Henderson, the lone Republican appointee on the three-judge panel hearing the arguments.

The court seemed especially dismissive of an assertion by Trumps lawyer, D. John Sauer, that the only way to hold a president accountable for crimes was to first secure a conviction in an impeachment proceeding.
Russian occupiers continue to attempt an offensive along the entire frontline, but all of them remain unsuccessful, Commander-in-Chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny said, following the results of several days of work in the responsibility zone of Khortytsia operational-strategic group.

"The frontline remains active. The occupiers are trying to advance in all directions. Despite the pressure, our soldiers repel enemy attacks and inflict significant damage on the enemy in manpower and equipment... Our guys staunchly hold the defense in extremely difficult conditions. Thanks to each brigade, everyone who battle for Ukraine," Zaluzhny said on Telegram channel on Wednesday.

According to him, productive work was carried out with the commanders of the brigades performing tasks in Kupiansk direction. "We determined the sequence of our steps, taking into account the constant change in the operational situation and capabilities, and also made a decision to ensure the priority needs of the units," Zaluzhny said.

As reported, Zaluzhny, together with Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Serhiy Shaptala visited the positions of the Defense Forces in Kupiansk region of Kharkiv region. Commander of Khortytsia operational-strategic group Oleksandr Syrsky familiarized them with the situation around the city and said Russian occupiers had no success in this direction. "I had the honor to meet with the commanders of the units who are fighting in this direction now. They reported on the situation, current challenges. Decisions will be made in the near future  the enemy will not like it," Umerov said.
The heaviest rain from a widespread storm that drenched the eastern United States appeared to have ended in much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast by Wednesday morning, but meteorologists said the risk of flooding had just begun.

The worst time for flooding is right after the rain stops, said Patrick Wilson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, Va., in a region of the state where heavy rain closed roads on Tuesday. It takes time for all the water to drain down.

After the storm wrung out the moisture it had gathered from the Gulf of Mexico, rain began trickling down mountains into creeks, accumulating in tributaries and streams, from which it can eventually flood rivers, he said.

Flood warnings, indicating that flooding was imminent or had been reported along a river, applied to millions of people early Wednesday in much of Virginia and parts of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and parts of several other southern states, according to the National Weather Service.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike, further heightening tensions with the Iranian-backed militia after a day of back-and-forth attacks and the apparent Israeli killing of another Hezbollah commander on Monday.

The Israeli military identified the commander killed on Tuesday as Ali Hussein Burji, saying that he led Hezbollahs aerial unit in southern Lebanon and was responsible for a drone strike that morning on the headquarters of Israels northern command, in the city of Safed. The Israeli military had previously said the strike in Safed caused no casualties or damage.

In a statement, Hezbollah denied the Israeli militarys claims about Mr. Burjis role and involvement in the drone strike, calling them baseless. It had announced Mr. Burjis death earlier in the day without providing details, and before that, said its strike on Safed was in retaliation for the killing on Monday of Wissam Hassan al-Tawil, a senior commander of Hezbollahs elite Radwan unit.

Israels foreign minister, Israel Katz, appeared to claim responsibility for Mr. al-Tawils killing in a television interview late Monday. This is part of our war, Mr. Katz said in response to a question about the attack on the Radwan unit. We strike on Hezbollahs people.

Mr. al-Tawils funeral was held on Tuesday, with a large procession of mourners carrying his coffin through Khirbet Selm, the village in southern Lebanon where he was killed. A Lebanese security official had earlier said that Israel carried out a strike during the gathering and killed one person.

The New York Times was able to geolocate footage of the airstrike released by the military, confirming that it took place in the vicinity of the funeral in Khirbet Selm.
Wanted: Someone to restore trust in one of the worlds most visited museums after an embarrassing scandal, handle restitution claims and raise $1.27 billion for a major refurbishment.

Salary: $275,000 a year.

The British Museum in London this week began the search for a new director. Four months ago, Hartwig Fischer resigned from that position after the museum announced that one of its curators had looted around 1,500 items from its storerooms, then sold some on eBay.

In September, Mark Jones, a former leader of the Victoria and Albert Museum, was appointed to run the British Museum, but only on an interim basis.

Applicants for the permanent position must have a vision for the future of the British Museum and its purpose as a national and a global museum in the 21st century, the job posting says. But they must also be able to deal with a host of problems affecting the august institution, which is the worlds third most visited museum.
The heirs of a woman who was forced to surrender a painting to the Nazis were dealt a blow on Tuesday in a decades-long legal feud between them and the Spanish museum that now owns the work, when a Federal Court in California ruled that the museum should retain ownership.

The ruling, in one of the longest-running Nazi restitution cases, involves a Camille Pissarro painting titled Rue Saint-Honore Apres-midi, Effet de Pluie (Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain) that is estimated to be worth millions of dollars. The painting was surrendered by a Jewish woman, Lilly Cassirer, to get an exit visa from Germany in 1939. The work was bought by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, and eventually ended up in a museum owned by the Spanish government.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Spanish law, not California law, applies to the case, and that the museum has prescriptive title to the painting after buying it in 1993.

Sam Dubbin, a lawyer for David Cassirer, Lillys great-grandson and the principal plaintiff in the case, wrote in an email to The New York Times that the courts decision was incorrect and that Cassirer would be seeking an en banc review by a panel of 11 judges.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

The Violent Overthrow of the Government One

Former President Donald Trump attended a court hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, where his lawyer argued for presidential immunity for what Stephen Colbert called the violent overthrow of the government one.

Jimmy Fallon joked that Trump has been part of so many trials that at this point, the courtroom sketch artist doesnt even draw him  she just traces the grooves in her desk.
Talk to any friends of the writer Hisham Matar, and he has many, and soon theyll bring up one of his more notorious pastimes: Have you ever seen how he looks at art?

Matar has a habit born from his early years living in London, a period of immense grief, of choosing a painting and spending hours with it each week. He would take lunch breaks at the National Gallery with Velazquez, Duccio, or the Lorenzetti brothers, sticking with the same piece of art for months until he felt it was time to move on. And even though most of his friends admit they cant match Matars sustained attention in a gallery  one confessed his patience tops out at 15 minutes  they agree this capacity for looking is essential to his character, central to everything from the way he walks through a city to the books that he writes.

Looking at an artwork with him and comparing impressions later, as another said, its as if only Matar saw it in full color.

He has a way of changing the air youre in, said Gini Alhadeff, a writer and translator, as if time stops and you can see everything.
The hack of a social media account used by the Securities and Exchange Commission is prompting both internal and external investigations into how the security breach occurred and whether anyone tried to profit from it, said the commission and several legal experts.

The S.E.C. said in a statement on Wednesday that it was coordinating an investigation into the hack that occurred the prior day with appropriate law enforcement entities, including the S.E.C.s Office of the Inspector General and the F.B.I.

John Reed Stark, a former S.E.C. enforcement lawyer and regulatory consultant on cybersecurity, said the commissions inspector general would need to investigate how a hacker was able to access the S.E.C.s official account on X  formerly Twitter  to post a false message that the commission had approved several Bitcoin investment products.

This is, unfortunately, a glaring failure of basic cyber-hygiene, Mr. Stark said.

He also said federal prosecutors would very likely open a separate investigation into whether the hack was part of an attempt to profit from changes in Bitcoins price spiking. Mr. Stark added that it did not matter whether the hackers made any money from trading during the 15 minutes or so the post was online, but whether they had the criminal intent to do so.
There is a problem with the recently approved Alzheimers drug, Aduhelm. It can remove some of the amyloid that forms brain plaques that are hallmarks of the disease. But most of the drug is wasted because it hits an obstacle, the blood-brain barrier, that protects the brain from toxins and infections but also prevents many drugs from entering.

Researchers wondered if they could improve that grim result by trying something different: they would open the blood-brain barrier for a short time while they delivered the drug. Their experimental method was to use highly focused pulses of ultrasound along with tiny gas bubbles to pry the barrier open without destroying it.

The investigators, at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University, reported their results last week in The New England Journal of Medicine. When the barrier was opened, 32 percent more plaque was dissolved, said Dr. Ali Rezai, a neurosurgeon at the institute, who led the study. The group did not measure the amount of antibody getting in  that would require radioactively labeling the drug  but in animal studies opening the barrier allowed 5 to 8 times more antibody to enter the brain, Dr. Rezai said.

The early-stage experiment, which was only tried in three patients with mild Alzheimers, was funded by the university and the Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation.
Despite the chockablock ballroom full of Hollywoods best and brightest, a jovial emcee in the comedian John Mulaney and honorees the audience seemed thrilled to celebrate, a pall of sadness was cast over the Governors Awards  an event created 14 years ago by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to shorten the Oscar telecast by relegating the honorary Oscars to its own untelevised confab.

Held Tuesday night, the ceremony  which was delayed two months because of the Hollywood strikes  honored two women who had just experienced remarkable losses. The editor Carol Littletons husband of 51 years, the cinematographer and former academy president John Bailey, died in mid-November. Just two weeks later, Michelle Satter, the Sundance Institutes founding director and the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, learned that her son, Michael Latt, 33, had been shot dead at his home in Los Angeles.

We need to talk through a broken heart, the filmmaker Ryan Coogler said during his presentation to Satter, who had guided him through the making of his first feature, Fruitvale Station.

Still, as they say, the show must go on. And with Oscar nomination voting set to begin Thursday, A-listers of all stripes were in full campaign mode, working valiantly to try to ensure their spot on the ballot when nominations are announced on Jan. 23.
To bee or not to bee? That is a question asked to Jason Statham in The Beekeeper, a delirious entry in the thriving genre of action flicks about gunslingers who list a different career on their LinkedIn. (See also: The Painter and The Bricklayer, both released just last week.) The director David Ayers previous shoot-em-up, The Tax Collector, was woefully short on quips about audits. He and the screenwriter Kurt Wimmer have not made that mistake here. Take a swig of mead every time Statham vows to protect the hive  by which he means society  and youll have a fine time. Either way, you wont remember a thing about the plot.

Statham (The Mechanic, The Transporter) plays Adam Clay, an honest-to-goodness beekeeper who opens the film jarring honey. (Kudos to the costumer Kelli Jones for designing a slim-cut quilted beekeeping suit that gives Statham the panache of a fencer.) In the first minutes, his landlord, a kindly retiree named Eloise (Phylicia Rashad) loses her life savings to a network of internet scammers who prey on the older and the naive. This cabal of techno thieves rakes in millions every day and boasts the political connections to use the Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 as bodyguards. Theyre still no match for a guy who can wipe out a hornets nest with a stun gun. As a corrupt former C.I.A. head (Jeremy Irons) sighs, If a beekeeper says youre going to die, youre going to die.

The scripts ridiculous rationale  which our hero repeatedly intones like hes hypnotizing us to believe it  is that certain beekeepers have pledged to prevent colony collapse, both apoidea and homo sapien. Sure, thatll do. No less a scribe than William Shakespeare claimed that bees teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during an official visit to Vilnius, met with Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Simonyte.

"Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ingrida Simonyte discussed defense cooperation between the two countries, as well as joint projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors," the presidential press service said on Wednesday evening.

In addition, "the parties emphasized the importance of unblocking budgetary support for Ukraine from the European Union amounting to EUR 50 billion over four years in the framework of the Ukraine Facility."

In turn, Zelenskyy thanked the Lithuanian government for comprehensive assistance to our country during the full-scale war unleashed by Russia.
Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that the city had restored funding to the New York Police Department and would add 600 recruits in April, a reversal of the dire warning he gave in November that there would be a hiring freeze.

Mayor Adams said that better-than-anticipated tax revenue and reduced spending on care for migrants who have been arriving by the thousands had allowed the city to avoid cuts to both the Police and Fire Departments.

The recruits will join three classes already scheduled to graduate this year, meaning thousands of additional cops on our streets in 2024 under this administration, Mayor Adams said during a news conference at City Hall.

More police officers means safer streets, safer subways and a safer New York City, he said.

When the mayor announced the hiring freeze in November, some in New York politics said they found it difficult to believe that Mr. Adams, a former police captain who has tied his identity to the department, would go forward with the cuts. They questioned whether the mayors warnings were an effort to get President Bidens attention over the migrant crisis or were a negotiating tactic in the annual budget dance with the City Council.
E. Leo Milonas, a resolute jurist who administered New York courts for a quarter-century and was known to rise to defend his fellow judges in public disputes, in one case sparring with Mayor Edward I. Koch, died on Jan. 2 at his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He was 87.

The cause was heart failure, his wife, Helen, said.

Throughout his career on the bench  beginning with his appointment to the Criminal Court by Mayor John V. Lindsay in 1972 as New York Citys youngest judge, at 36, and ending when he retired from a state appeals court in 1998  Justice Milonas worked to make the judicial system more efficient, transparent and representative.

As a court administrator for New York City and then New York State, he vigorously supported a system in which judges were appointed on the basis of merit, on the recommendations of qualified screening committees, rather than be elected by popular vote.

But he was also pragmatic about judgeships that are filled by elections, urging that nominees be selected by politicians only from among candidates who had been vetted by independent panels.
An angry backlash erupted at a Brooklyn high school on Wednesday, after New York City officials housed about 500 migrant families in an auditorium there overnight because of heavy rains and fierce winds at their shelter site.

About 2,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday evening from their tent shelter at a remote former airplane runway in Brooklyn to James Madison High School. Families with children piled onto the floor and into auditorium seats to sleep. By 2 a.m., several families said they were asked to prepare to return to the tents.

The evacuation led officials to call a remote day of classes for the more than 3,400 students enrolled at the high school, sparking immediate backlash from politicians and parents that echoed on a national stage. Local elected leaders, right-leaning media personalities and even Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, weighed in to criticize the government response.

The outrage was the latest political eruption over the tens of thousands of migrants crossing the southern border in recent months. Republicans have attacked Democrats over how they are managing a crisis that has overwhelmed government agencies.
Lawyers for Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat charged with accepting cash and gold bribes, asked a judge on Wednesday to dismiss the indictment, saying overzealous prosecutors were criminalizing normal legislative activity and flouting constitutional protections afforded to members of Congress.

The arguments, contained in the first legal brief filed by Mr. Menendezs defense team, provided an early glimpse into his legal strategy four months before he is scheduled to stand trial in Manhattan on federal corruption charges.

The brief came a day after Mr. Menendez, 70, stood on the Senate floor to offer a highly unusual rebuttal to the charges outlined in three successive indictments. Prosecutors have accused him of acting as an unregistered agent of Egypt, taking bribes to help the government of Qatar, exchanging political favors for bricks of gold and trying to halt criminal investigations to help allies in New Jersey  all points that his lawyers addressed in the filing.
Two prisoners in upstate New York say they were brutally beaten by guards and taken to a different facility to be waterboarded  a method of torture once used by C.I.A. interrogators on terrorism suspects, according to newly filed lawsuits.

Waterboarding induces the sensation of drowning in victims. The episodes cited in the lawsuits by the men occurred Oct. 7 at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Comstock, N.Y., more than 200 miles north of New York City.

One man, Charles Wright, 44, was taken to a room and forced to lie face up while shackled to a bed, according to his lawsuit. A guard placed a dirty rag over his nose and mouth and poured water over it for 45 seconds; another guard stood by, the suit says.

The second man, Eugene Taylor, 32, was taken to a room where a guard  apparently the same one that placed a rag over Mr. Wrights mouth  affixed a cloth around Mr. Taylors face and repeatedly dunked his head in water while other guards stood around, according to Mr. Taylors suit.
Donald J. Trump backed down from delivering his own closing argument in his civil fraud trial after refusing to abide by a judges restrictions  including that he not give a campaign speech  in the latest clash between Mr. Trumps political aims and American legal norms.

Mr. Trump, who considers himself his own best spokesman, had planned to address the court during closing arguments on Thursday. But one of his lawyers called limits imposed by the judge, Arthur F. Engoron, unacceptable.

The judge said in a recent email exchange with Mr. Trumps lawyers that while he was predisposed to allow Mr. Trump to speak, the former president, like any lawyer, would be limited to discussing the facts of the case and the relevant law, and barred from attacking the judge, the judges staff members or New Yorks attorney general, whose suit against Mr. Trump led to the trial.

Those conditions may have nullified Mr. Trumps purpose in speaking. As he mounts another run for the White House while facing the civil trial and four criminal indictments, Mr. Trump has sought to transform his legal liabilities into political assets, casting his accusers as enemies of democracy and their cases as a coordinated witch hunt.
The negotiations on Ukraine funding and stricter border protections have exposed a growing rift between President Biden and his own party. Republican hard-liners have demanded a bill that mirrors policies advanced during the Trump administration, especially ones related to asylum seekers, increased border security and the mandate that companies institute the E-Verify employment eligibility system.

Democrats such as Representative Pramila Jayapal called the proposals cruel, inhumane and unworkable, but Republicans believe they have found solid ground with voters. Recent polling suggests the Republicans are right. A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday found that 68 percent of Americans disapprove of Mr. Bidens handling of border security.

There are many, both inside and outside his party, who believe that by agreeing to the Republican deal, Mr. Biden would be surrendering too much moral high ground and any future policy leverage. But in fact, this is a chance for him to make meaningful border-security policy changes and redefine his party as the home of an aspirational multiethnic, working-class coalition.

Securing the borders of a sovereign state isnt racism  its among the first responsibilities of government. And many voters, including Democrats, are demanding that the Biden administration do a better job with that responsibility. A recent Fox News poll showed that fully 22 percent of Democrats favor Republican candidates on border security.
Until the morning of Oct. 7, the town of Sderot in southern Israel was a parable of hope and success. Less than a mile from the Gaza border, it emerged a few years after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war as a haven for Jewish refugees fleeing antisemitic persecution  from North Africa, Kurdish lands, Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. I am a second-generation Israeli; my parents found refuge in Israel from Iran.

Those people forged a city brimming with cultural richness, industrial vitality and a spirit of coexistence.

The trials of those who built Sderot were indeed traumatic but did not define them. The citys residents devoted themselves to moving on and forging a flourishing future built on educating the next generation.

Our path was never easy, especially after Israels withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which marked the beginning of a never-ending struggle for Sderots residents. Rocket attacks from Gaza-based terrorist groups became the new normal. Air raid sirens and rushed trips to bomb shelters invaded our days and nights. Over the years, 10 of our residents were killed. The children of Sderot grew up in an atmosphere of perpetual danger. The continuous state of fear led to widespread anxiety and trauma.
In October, the International Energy Agency issued a brief flare of optimism when it suggested that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels may already have peaked.

The climate hopeful have been looking forward to this turn for years. But a peak is not only the beginning of a decline, it also marks the highest point ever reached, and in what is not exactly a coincidence, the worlds largest oil and gas companies are these days almost printing cash. In 2022 the global oil and gas industry earned nearly $4 trillion, according to the I.E.A.s Fatih Birol  two to three times as much profit as they made in previous years. That revenue would make the industry, if it were a country, the worlds fifth-largest economy, putting it just a few hundred billion out of third place. For 2023, in what counted as a down year, the five largest companies are expected to send more than $100 billion in dividends and buybacks to shareholders.

To many environmental activists, this looks like a moral abomination and to others a challenge for political economy to solve: how to disempower several of the worlds most successful companies. But it also illustrates a seeming paradox about the state of global decarbonization: If renewables are the energy of the future and the green transition is rapidly accelerating, then why are the fossil-fuel dinosaurs so obviously thriving?

This question is the central subject of Brett Christopherss forthcoming book, The Price Is Wrong, a coolly argumentative assessment of the green transition and the public discourse that surrounds and sometimes clouds it.
To the Editor:

Re As Literacy Lags, Governor Proposes Changing the Way Reading Is Taught (news article, Jan. 4):

New York States shift back toward phonics-based literacy instruction is of utmost importance. The yearslong regression in literacy worsened by the pandemic has placed children from New Yorks most vulnerable communities at an unprecedented academic and social disadvantage. We may not fully comprehend its repercussions for over a decade.

Gov. Kathy Hochuls initiative is a step in the right direction. Phonics plays a crucial role in developing reading skills by illustrating the correlation between letters and sounds.

In our 22-year history, the Reading Team, which follows the same science of reading principles in the governors proposal, has shown that understanding these relationships empowers learners, particularly young children, enabling them to decode words and enhance fluency. Our students, who come to us with poor reading skills, go on to score consistently higher on tests than other children in the citys schools.

I hope we will see further expansion of these policies across the country. In the interim, one of the most effective ways to assist our children in improving their reading skills is to encourage them to read aloud alongside an adult who can offer real-time guidance, correction and encouragement.
Head of Ukraine's mission to NATO, Ambassador Natalia Galibarenko states the extraordinary meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council held at NATO will make it possible to translate the proposals and announcements voiced by the allies into the practical plane of further concrete support for Ukraine in its opposition to Russian aggression

So on Wednesday in Brussels, she commented to journalists on the results of an extraordinary meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, which was convened at the initiative of Kyiv in connection with unprecedented shelling by Russia during the New Year holidays of Ukraine.

Pointing out that the Council, created by the decision of the Vilnius NATO summit in July 2023, is a mechanism for consultations in crisis situations, the head of the mission said: "The context of this meeting is very important, since the EU summit will be held on February 1, and a meeting of the defense ministers of NATO member countries will be held in the middle of February, on the margins of which a meeting of the Contact Group to Support Ukraine, the so-called Ramstein, always takes place. In this context, this meeting is very important so that we come to these meetings not with proposals, announcements and promises, but to implement the proposals that were voiced today. We see our task in the fact that we must use all available means to keep Ukraine on the radar and not allow sentiments about some kind of fatigue in the West to suggest that the war in Ukraine is fading into the background. In this regard, holding such a meeting is important and helps keep our allies on their toes."

According to her, during the meeting, all NATO member countries, without exception, confirmed that they would continue to support Ukraine, that "there is no fatigue." "Everyone understands that this war will last for a long time. Therefore, there is an understanding that assistance must continue without interruption," Galibarenko conveyed the essence of the allies' position.

In addition, she continued, the allies noted the effectiveness of air defense. "In terms of the level of shooting down suicide bombers and cruise missiles, we are talking about more than 80% efficiency. The allies also welcomed offensive actions to oust the Russian fleet from Crimea. There was a signal that such success is a very correct strategy from the point of view that the best defense is an attack," the mission's head said.

According to Galibarenko, some allies announced new military assistance packages and increased contributions to the NATO Comprehensive Assistance Package. "This is a tool that, during two years of war, allows us to satisfy our primary needs  to buy anti-drones, fuels and lubricants, and medicines. In the future, this will be an instrument within which projects will be carried out on humanitarian demining and restoration of the infrastructure of military facilities on the territory of Ukraine. One of such projects is the construction, jointly with NATO, of an integrated air defense system in Ukraine," she said.

During the meeting, some allies pointed to new challenges in connection with confirmation of the DPRK's supply of ballistic missiles to Russia and their use in attacks against Ukraine. "Proposals were voiced that NATO and allies should play a role in terms of sanctions and pressure to prevent the continued supply of missiles," the mission's head noted the position of the alliance. The parties also discussed the state of the F16 coalition.

Galibarenko said that from the Ukrainian side, the meeting was attended by Commander of the Air Force of Ukraine Mykola Oleschuk and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Oleksiy Serheyev. "Oleschuk briefed the allies on the shelling, saying that this was an unprecedented combined attack of suicide bombers and cruise ballistic missiles on Ukraine, including the capital. He voiced the risks and threats that we expect in the coming winter months, noting our main needs: we need not only additional air defense systems, but most importantly, we need missiles to complement existing anti-aircraft missile systems. Serheyev spoke about the consequences of the attacks and voiced the needs of services such as the border service and the National Guard, so that they could effectively cope with the consequences of Russian attacks on the territory of Ukraine," the head of the Ukrainian mission to NATO said.
A disturbing sense of inevitability hangs over the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Donald Trump, with a 34-point lead in the polls, is the all but certain Republican nominee. And despite his legal troubles, Mr. Trump leads Joe Biden in several general election polls in swing states.

The prospect that Mr. Trump will be president again is impossible to ignore. For liberals, this fact inspires dread. And for good reason. In a second term, Mr. Trump and his advisers have promised to weaponize the Justice Department against his enemies, go to war with Mexican drug cartels, detain and deport millions of immigrants and send federal troops into Democrat-run cities to fight crime and put down protests. We know this because conservative operatives have anticipated this outcome for years, developing plans for a better, smoother and more ideologically coherent Trump White House, capable of implementing the former presidents radical agenda and circumventing bureaucratic obstruction.

To achieve this vision, a Reagan-era shibboleth has come back into fashion in conservative circles: Personnel is policy. Conservative organizations have become, as one administration alum put it, laser-focused on the staffing challenge. Most prominently, rival think tanks  the Heritage Foundation and the America First Policy Institute  are collecting names for potential political appointees, putting forward detailed plans to staff the next Trump administration quickly and efficiently. Both have raised millions for this effort.

Think tanks  Brookings, Rand, the Center for American Progress, even Heritage  have played this role before, for both Democratic and Republican presidents. But conservative groups have placed special emphasis on planning for the transition this time around, in the hopes of avoiding the self-inflicted wounds of Mr. Trumps first term.
When Microsoft opened an advanced research lab in Beijing in 1998, it was a time of optimism about technology and China.

The company hired hundreds of researchers for the lab, which pioneered Microsofts work in speech, image and facial recognition and the kind of artificial intelligence that later gave rise to online chatbots like ChatGPT. The Beijing operation eventually became one of the most important A.I. labs in the world. Bill Gates, Microsofts co-founder, called it an opportunity to tap Chinas deep pool of intellectual talent.
NASA has chosen the technology to help it land future spacecraft on unmapped planets. Meta uses the technology for artificial intelligence. Chinese engineers have turned to it to encrypt data.

And it could represent the next front in the semiconductor trade war between the United States and China.

The technology is RISC-V, pronounced risk five. It evolved from a university computer lab in California to a foundation for myriad chips that handle computing chores. RISC-V essentially provides a kind of common language for designing processors that are found in devices like smartphones, disk drives, Wi-Fi routers and tablets.

RISC-V has ignited a new debate in Washington in recent months about how far the United States can or should go as it steadily expands restrictions on exporting technology to China that could help advance its military. Thats because RISC-V, which can be downloaded from the internet for free, has become a central tool for Chinese companies and government institutions hoping to match U.S. prowess in designing semiconductors.
Hospitalizations and deaths have remained far lower than in previous years. There were around 35,000 hospitalizations reported in the last week of December  down from 44,000 a year earlier  and 1,600 weekly deaths as of early December, down from 3,000. (At the same time in 2020, there were around 100,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths each week.)

Many of the metrics used early in the pandemic have become much less useful indicators of how widely the virus is spreading, especially since federal officials stopped more comprehensive data tracking efforts when they declared an end to the public health emergency last spring. Higher population-wide immunity has meant fewer hospitalizations even with high virus spread, and the sharp decline of Covid test results reported to authorities has made case counts far less relevant.
Two House committees voted on Wednesday along party lines to hold Hunter Biden, the presidents son, in contempt of Congress, hours after he surprised Republicans by appearing unannounced on Capitol Hill, prompting a partisan free-for-all.

The 23-to-14 vote by the Judiciary Committee and 25-to-21 vote by the Oversight Committee send the matter to the full House, in which Republicans have a slim majority. The measures accuse the younger Biden of failing to sit for a private deposition in the impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

We will not provide Hunter Biden with special treatment because of his last name, said Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the oversight panel.

The day began with a dramatic twist: the unexpected arrival of the younger Biden, who has repeatedly offered to testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry but refused to be interviewed behind closed doors, in the Oversight Committees hearing room. Democrats and Republicans immediately began bickering about whether to allow him to be heard.
When President Biden shook up his partys presidential nominating calendar, Democrats in the two states that were bounced from the front of the line reacted in far different ways.

New Hampshire Democrats are going down kicking and screaming, insisting on holding a primary as if they hadnt just lost their opening spot.

Iowa Democrats, ashamed by a 2020 fiasco that included a dayslong wait for results that were nonetheless riddled with errors, have meekly accepted their fate as primary season also-rans.

In what is perhaps a case study in Iowa nice versus live-free-or-die New Hampshire stubbornness, one state is showing that it views its quadrennial parade of visiting presidential candidates as a political birthright, while the other appears to see that spectacle more as a lost perk.
Pinned

The debate on Wednesday night between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley was the smallest stage of the Republican primary race to date, reflecting the rapid winnowing of the field. Again, Donald J. Trump was absent.

Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis traded attacks on a debate stage on Wednesday night as Donald J. Trump basked in the applause of a friendly audience on a different television network, dueling appearances that showcased how the Republican primary race increasingly feels like a contest for second place.

At Drake University in Iowa, Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley engaged in two hours of verbal combat in which they showed more determination to relentlessly score points against each other than present a cohesive vision for the American people  or attack the dominant front-runner, Mr. Trump.

At times, it seemed as if Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley thought the winner would be determined by whoever spoke the most words per minute, racing through attacks at such speed they were all but indecipherable.

With a platform all his own, Mr. Trump appeared to keep marching toward the partys nomination. He even broke the news of the night  in a way that revealed just how much hes looking past his supposed rivals  when he said that he had made his decision on a running mate, though he did not give a name.

It was the smallest stage of the Republican primary to date, reflecting the rapid winnowing of the field. Just hours before the candidates faced off, Chris Christie dropped out of the race.

Here are five takeaways from the last debate night before voting begins:

The winner of the Haley-DeSantis collision: Trump.

Ms. Haley cast Mr. DeSantis as a desperate and failing candidate who was lying because he was losing. He cast her as a liberal in conservative clothing who couldnt be trusted on core values for the right.

The two hours of back-and-forth on CNN did little to elevate either of Mr. Trumps top rivals, and the fact that they were still fighting onstage an hour after his Fox News town-hall event in Des Moines had wrapped felt emblematic of the race.

It was nearly 90 minutes into the debate when Mr. DeSantis decided to bring up concerns that the front-runner  regardless, he said, of the validity of charges that he tried to subvert the last election  could be convicted during the campaign. Any larger vision the two candidates wanted to convey was often lost in detailed exchanges over policy, as they traded attacks over everything from Walt Disney World to the Renewable Fuel Standard.

And though they were debating days before the Iowa caucuses, it took Mr. DeSantis an hour before he highlighted his endorsement from the states governor, Kim Reynolds, a sign of how intense the sparring was.

Over on Fox News, Mr. Trump had a charmed night, uninterrupted by competitors and their opposition research and appearing relaxed as he batted back the few gently skeptical questions he received from the audience. One questioner even introduced herself as a caucus captain for him, and nothing forced him from his talking points.

Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:37 - 0:00 transcript Haley and DeSantis Call Each Other Liars Several times during the debate, Nikki Haley referred the audience to a website called DeSantisLies.com, while Ron DeSantis compared her to Democrats. Youre going to find out tonight that theres going to be a lot of Rons lies that have happened. There are at least a couple of dozen so far that hes done. So what were going to do is rather than have him go and tell you all these lies, you can go to DeSantisLies.com. But every time he lies, Drake University dont turn this into a drinking game because you will be overserved by the end of the night. Nikki Haley is basically a carbon copy of what Biden is. The difference between Nikki Haley and me  you know, I listened to that litany of stuff  you know, I debated the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. You know, I thought he lied a lot. Man, Nikki Haley gives him a run for his money and she may even be more liberal than Gavin Newsom is. Several times during the debate, Nikki Haley referred the audience to a website called DeSantisLies.com, while Ron DeSantis compared her to Democrats. Credit Credit... Maansi Srivastava/The New York Times

Haley and DeSantis jabbed, and jabbed, and jabbed.

If voters were going to remember one thing from Wednesdays debate, Ms. Haley made sure it would be a URL.

At least a dozen times, she repeated the name of a website called DeSantisLies, using it as a catchall shield to absorb his many attacks as she slashed at the chaotic management of his campaign as symbolic of his readiness to lead. I think I hit a nerve, she said at one point.

It was plain that they dont much like each other. You are so desperate, she told him. You are just so desperate.

Mr. DeSantis, who has run to the right as Ms. Haley has found more traction among moderates, sought to cast her too mealy-mouthed and liberal for the Republican Party of 2024.

He said that there was barely a difference between her and President Biden and that she was to the left of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. He even made a comparison to John Kerry, who ran for president in 2004 and was attacked by Republicans as an untrustworthy flip flopper.

Mr. DeSantis tried to talk about some of Ms. Haleys recent verbal stumbles. In one of the odder phrases of the night if not the entire debate season, he accused her of ballistic podiatry (shooting herself in the foot). But he also landed one of the evenings strongest lines.

You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but not the United Nations out of the ambassador, Mr. DeSantis said.

Image The crowd at Mr. Trumps town-hall event. Looking past the primary race, he said he had chosen his running mate, though he did not give a name. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Trump looked ahead toward a general-election audience.

Mr. Trumps advisers have long believed that he does himself no favors with general-election voters when he tells the Republican base, I am your retribution, and promises a second term full of revenge.

But so far in this campaign, he has doubled down on the retribution language  including pledging to be a dictator on Day 1.

At his Fox News town-hall event, Mr. Trump showed signs that he is heeding advice to make himself more palatable. I am not going to be a dictator, he said. He agreed with Mr. Bidens recent declaration that political violence is never acceptable. And he even claimed he was not going to have time for retribution.

Mr. Trumps advisers were pleased, texting one another about his delivery.

Even so, he has a well-documented desire for payback. And he had started his answer by reflexively replying that retribution wouldnt be so bad and listing the many wrongs he believes he has suffered.

Mr. Trump also said he knew whom he wanted to pick as a running mate, but wouldnt identify that person. Its unclear whether he has made his mind up, but either way, the comment was another way to try to project his inevitability, as he hopes to avoid a protracted fight through February with his rivals.

Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:37 - 0:00 transcript Haley and DeSantis Go After Trump Ron DeSantis said that if Donald J. Trump were the Republican nominee, it would give Democrats the upper hand, while Nikki Haley called for bringing sanity back to America. I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage. Hes the one that Im running against. Hes the one that I wish would be here. He needs to be defending his record. What a leader does is they bring out the best in people and get them to see the way forward. Thats what we need in our country. We dont need this chaos anymore. We need someone whos going to be a new generational leader that brings sanity back to America. I do agree with her on this. Donald Trump should be on this stage. If Trump is the nominee, its going to be about Jan. 6, legal issues, criminal trials. The Democrats and the media would love to run with that. Im not running for my issues. Im running for your issues. Ron DeSantis said that if Donald J. Trump were the Republican nominee, it would give Democrats the upper hand, while Nikki Haley called for bringing sanity back to America. Credit Credit... Jordan Gale for The New York Times

Haley and DeSantis mostly pulled their punches on the front-runner.

For much of the debate, the stage felt not only like a separate venue from Mr. Trumps appearance but an alternative reality altogether. Both candidates largely shied away from discussing Mr. Trump and his actions until the moderator would raise the subject.

When asked to assess legal claims made by Mr. Trumps lawyers that a president has complete immunity for any conduct in office, including assassinating a political rival, Ms. Haley quickly rebuffed the argument as ridiculous. She described Mr. Trumps administration as four years of chaos and promised to be a new generational leader that brings sanity back to America.

Mr. DeSantis offered a more convoluted argument, saying that Mr. Trump was being wrongly prosecuted for his involvement in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But he also maintained that the prosecution could end in a conviction, which would hurt Republicans chances to win the White House in the fall.

If Trump is the nominee, its going to be about Jan. 6, legal issues, criminal trials, he said. The Democrats in the media would love to run with that. He also argued that Mr. Trump had failed to deliver in office by adding to the national debt, not prosecuting Hillary Clinton and not completing the border wall with Mexico.

Image Mr. Trump struggled to address his record on abortion during his town-hall event. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Trump tap-danced on abortion.

While the night was largely beneficial for Mr. Trump, it forecast the rocky road ahead for Republicans on an issue Democrats aim to make central to the 2024 race: abortion rights.

When an anti-abortion voter asked Mr. Trump for reassurance that he remained committed to restricting the procedure, the former president responded by boasting about appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

I did it. And Im proud to have done it, Mr. Trump said, describing the fall of the landmark decision after decades of efforts by conservatives as a miracle.

Within minutes, Mr. Bidens team had clipped the video and posted it on social media. It was the only clip posted by the presidents main account on X.

Mr. Trump, who supported abortion rights before changing his stand in 2011 as he considered running for president as a Republican, soon tried to soften his position at the town hall. Even after talking about his pride over ending Roe, he said that Republicans must focus on winning elections, obliquely suggesting that hard-line positions  like the six-week abortion ban Mr. DeSantis signed  had been harmful.

Mr. Trump, allies say, has had little interest in elevating the end of Roe in the campaign, privately telling advisers even before it happened that it would harm Republicans. Democrats agree with him, and will do what they can to keep him from appearing moderate on the issue.

Mr. Trump wasnt the only Republican who struggled to address his record on abortion. Ms. Haley was asked about whether she thought Mr. Trump was pro-life and, in a rarity, she ceded back almost all her time, appearing almost uncomfortable talking about the front-runner.

Dont ask me what President Trump thinks, she said, saying he should be onstage. Mr. DeSantis also dodged a direct answer, a reflection of how tricky attacking Mr. Trump remains for his rivals.
House Republicans on Wednesday kicked off formal impeachment hearings against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, accusing him of willfully failing to enforce immigration laws even as leading constitutional experts said there was no basis to do so.

The G.O.P. drive to impeach Mr. Mayorkas is the latest escalation in the partys effort to attack the Biden administration on immigration, a politically potent issue that has long animated the hard-right Republican base and has become a liability for President Biden in recent months as migration has surged across the U.S.-Mexico border.

But Republicans have struggled to make the case that their policy complaints are enough to support charges of high crimes and misdemeanors.

On Wednesday, G.O.P. lawmakers accused Mr. Mayorkas of fomenting, or at least exacerbating, a surge in migration and drug trafficking across the southern border by failing to execute the full power of the laws that might mitigate the situation.
More than 20 million people have signed up for plans on the Affordable Care Acts marketplaces during the annual open enrollment period, far surpassing last years record of more than 16 million enrollments, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday.

The figures were a landmark moment for the 2010 health law, underscoring the significance of enhanced subsidies for Americans and the continuing reach of the marketplaces after years of Republican efforts to whittle them down.

The marketplaces are getting stronger and more embedded into the fabric of U.S. health care, said Adrianna McIntyre, a health policy expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The more the marketplaces grow, the more it enhances their stability.

The Biden administration revealed last month that on Dec. 15  the deadline to sign up for coverage that began on Jan. 1  almost 750,000 people signed up for a marketplace plan on HealthCare.gov, the largest single-day total. The full tally could grow in the coming days; the deadline to sign up for plans is 5 a.m. Eastern on Jan. 17, giving Americans coverage that begins next month.
A political group intending to support a presidential candidate run by the group No Labels plans to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, with a handful of Republican and Democratic strategists as advisers.

The group, New Leaders 24 political action committee, expects a No Labels ticket to materialize this year. No Labels has said it would mount a campaign if President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are their parties nominees, in a rematch of the 2020 campaign that is increasingly likely.

The group will be advised by Rob Stutzman, a Republican and former deputy chief of staff to Arnold Schwarzenegger during his governorship as well as an adviser for Mitt Romneys 2008 presidential campaign. Kathleen Shanahan, a Republican and former chief of staff to Jeb Bush during his governorship, will be the chief executive, and Andrew Fishman, whom the group identified as a Democrat and who has a business background, will serve as treasurer, Mr. Stutzman said.

Officials said they had $2 million in initial commitments, but they expect up to $300 million if theres a viable ticket.
Ukrainian business, the Ukrainian light industry today, with appropriate planning, transparent procedures and requirements for suppliers, has every opportunity to provide all Ukrainian military troops  participants in the defense sector  with clothing, Director General of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Ruslan Illichov said at the press conference "Light industry is for transparent procurement" at Interfax-Ukraine.

Every hryvnia invested in the economy returns almost 40% in taxes. Every year, more than UAH 30 billion is spent on providing clothing, of which more than UAH 12 billion are returned in taxes, which also go to finance the Ukrainian defense sector. Light industry has about 20,000 jobs, and it is very important today for the country's economy and cities where enterprises are located, as it is a matter of economic and national security, Illichov said.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Vitaliy Polovenko noted that Ukrainian manufacturers will be involved in the production of uniforms for Ukrainian defenders.

Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nadia Bihun emphasized that the position of the Ministry of Economy is consistent  it is impossible to do without money in the budget, which is taken from taxes. Security and defense needs are financed by taxes and fees collected within Ukraine. The ministry tries to spend every kopiika from the budget on the domestic market, without spending on imports, to finance security and defense needs. The ministry, as a buyer, can increase the volume of tax revenues to the budget only by increasing the consumption of products made in Ukraine, and it is a matter of survival for an independent country.

"And to have money to buy uniforms, we should buy Ukrainian-made uniforms. Everything seems simple, but when we get to the implementation of this, we have many pitfalls. And here we understand our colleagues from the Ministry of Defense, because the tasks are set and tasks change very often," Bihun said, adding that a new procurement tool is currently being developed.

Requirements for manufacturers of products supplied to the army must be clear, understandable and the same for everyone, procurement must be systematized, they must be made transparent and corruption risks minimized, Chairman of the Defense Procurement Committee of the Light Industry of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Oleksandr Sokolovsky said.

"Business and the public have the right to know and understand what criteria suppliers of the armed forces must meet. Secondly, we need equal rules and rights for Ukrainian and foreign enterprises, including in tax payment and customs regulation, criteria for acceptance of finished products, timeframes for executing contracts, and the procedure for recognizing force majeure circumstances. There cannot and should not be any preferences for anyone. And third, it is full transparency of procurement," Sokolovsky said.

If it is necessary to maintain the secrecy of procurement, Ukrainian enterprises always meet the state halfway, but demand respect for themselves, their employees and consideration of the interests of the Ukrainian economy, he added.

Director General of the state-owned enterprise State Rear Logistics Operator Arsen Zhumadilov is convinced that prepayment is a common mechanism for procurement and does not pose a danger.

He added that advance payments are normal practice; it is only important that the risks of non-fulfillment of contracts and non-repayment of funds are minimal.

"Here, as far as the defense sector is concerned, there is good news: all funds related to advances go to a non-budgetary account in the State Treasury Service, and these funds become available to the manufacturer only when it confirms one or another fulfillment of the state contract," Zhumadilov said.

He noted that certain cautions are understandable, since "everyone is traumatized by the experience of interacting with customers involved in corrupt practices."

The issue of the need for advance payments when purchasing for the army caused a debate. Bohdana Yarova, a member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, spoke out against advance payments for the purchase of clothing supplies for the army.

"We didn't advance any payments to a single supplier this year: the payment was made only after we handed over the products to a warehouse and received the certificates. And I think that it is the correct story. If our manufacturer works with the Ministry of Defense, then there is no problem. But if we import and give a company engaged in construction a contract for the supply of molds, then we need an advance, yes. Then, we need to add working capital so that builders can buy jackets in Turkiye. But let's not forget that then we are boosting the Turkish economy and not Ukraine's," Yarova said.

Head of the Association of Veteran Entrepreneurs Serhiy Pozniak thanked the Ministry of Economy for its effective support of veteran business.

He added that he is engaged in sniper gear, and it is very expensive. For example, sights cost $10,000, and you also need to provide everything else, from weapons, transport, communications, equipment  you have to work under constant scarce resource pressure.

"And these resources are compensated by businesses and volunteers. That is, volunteers provide all this, buy it, and business pays for it all. Therefore, it must generate these flows in order to purchase all this," Pozniak said.

"Hundreds of thousands of new fighters are coming to us. Our military enterprises must adequately equip them, and they will be equipped if these enterprises and businesses have the opportunity to earn, work, pay taxes and obtain access to already existing transparent platforms, like Prozorro," the head of the Association of Veteran Entrepreneurs said.

At the press conference, Sokolovsky announced an appeal from light industry enterprises to the government regarding the need to ensure fair and prompt supplies of everything necessary for the front.
Days before the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald J. Trump is appearing twice in court this week  on Tuesday in Washington and Thursday in New York.

He was not required to attend either hearing. But advisers say he believes the court appearances dramatize what is fast becoming a central theme of his campaign: that President Biden  who is describing the likely Republican nominee as a peril to the country  is the true threat to American democracy.

Mr. Trumps claim is the most outlandish and baseless version of a tactic he has used throughout his life in business and politics. Whenever he is accused of something  no matter what that something is  he responds by accusing his opponent of that exact thing. The idea is less to argue that Mr. Trump is clean than to suggest that everyone else is dirty.

It is an impulse more than a strategy. But in Mr. Trumps campaigns, that impulse has sometimes aligned with his political interests. By this way of thinking, the more cynical voters become, the more likely they are to throw their hands in the air, declare, Theyre all the same and start comparing the two candidates on issues the campaign sees as favorable to Mr. Trump, like the economy and immigration.
Eight years ago, just before the Iowa caucuses, Donald J. Trump crowed about his invulnerability.

I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldnt lose any voters, OK? he said. Its, like, incredible.

On Tuesday, at a federal appeals court argument held the week before this years caucuses, a lawyer for Mr. Trump said that the Constitution basically states the same thing.

It took a few questions from Judge Florence Y. Pan to pin down the lawyer, D. John Sauer. But in the end he made the jaw-dropping claim that former presidents are absolutely immune from prosecution even for murders they ordered while in office.

I asked you a yes-or-no question, Judge Pan said. Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?
Twice in recent days former President Donald J. Trump has openly suggested that there could be violence should the Supreme Court rule against him in his ballot eligibility dispute, or if the federal case against him for plotting to overturn the 2020 election proceeds, warning of big, big trouble and bedlam in this country.

Ominous language is not new for Mr. Trump, who has publicly called for jailing political opponents and suspending the Constitution, and has suggested that Americas top general should be executed.

But Mr. Trumps latest statements carry added significance because both are tied to court cases that involve his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol  including his doing little to try to stop his supporters as they rampaged through the building.

Mr. Trump has rarely been pressed to explain his words. He has refused to debate his rivals in the Republican presidential primary and largely speaks with friendly interviewers. On Wednesday, while Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Nikki Haley, Mr. Trumps former ambassador to the United Nations, face off in the final debate before the Iowa caucuses, he will participate in a town hall on Fox News.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will meet on Wednesday night in Des Moines for the last Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

CNN will host the debate starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Where can I watch?

CNN is broadcasting the debate on cable and will stream it free on CNN.com. Subscribers to the streaming service Max can watch via CNN Max.

Which candidates will be there?

Only three candidates  Mr. DeSantis, Ms. Haley and Donald J. Trump  met CNNs qualification requirements. To make it onto the debate stage, candidates had to have at least 10 percent support in a minimum of three distinct polls of national Republican primary voters or Iowa Republican caucusgoers.

Mr. Trump, the front-runner, has not attended any of the four previous Republican primary debates. He wont attend this one either, leaving Mr. DeSantis, Floridas governor, and Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, to face off one on one. Instead, Mr. Trump will join the Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum for a live town hall at the same time as the debate.
There was a moment last summer when Nelsie Yang realized that she and six other women were on the verge of making history in St. Paul, Minn. The group of City Council candidates was knocking on doors to share their joint campaign message, one that could transform the makeup of the citys governing body.

It was such a powerful moment, Ms. Yang, 28, said. That collective work is how you win campaigns.

In mid-November, Ms. Yangs prediction came true when they were elected. And on Tuesday, the first all-women St. Paul City Council was sworn into office.

Ms. Yang, who has represented the Ward 6 as a councilwoman since 2020, called the moment surreal and, frankly, long overdue.
A United Nations helicopter carrying nine passengers was captured in Somalia on Wednesday by the terrorist group Al Shabab after making an emergency landing because of technical difficulties in an area controlled by the group, three senior Somali officials said.

Six of the passengers were captured, while two escaped and one was killed, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The circumstances in which the person was killed were unclear.

There were foreigners among the passengers, one of the officials said, though their nationalities were not known. At least one Somali national was on the helicopter, another official said.

Al Shabab, which means The Youth in Arabic, has spread havoc across Somalia for almost a decade and half, promising to topple the U.N.-backed national government and to establish an Islamic state in the Horn of Africa nation. The group commands between 7,000 and 12,000 fighters and makes about $120 million annually through extortion and taxation, according to Somali authorities and U.S. intelligence officials.
Violence erupted across Ecuador this week after a well-known gang leader disappeared from prison. Explosions, looting, gunfire and burning vehicles were reported, and there were uprisings in several prisons. In the largest city, Guayaquil, gunmen stormed a TV studio during a live broadcast on Tuesday.

President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency, imposing a nationwide curfew and authorizing the military to patrol the streets and take control of prisons. Mr. Noboa also deployed thousands of police officers and military personnel to search for the gang leader, Adolfo Macias.

Here is what we know so far:

What is the latest?

By Wednesday, the violence had left at least 11 people dead across the country, the police said. Shops, schools and government offices were closed, and streets in Guayaquil and the capital, Quito, were jammed with traffic as workers tried to get home.
The man who stabbed the main opposition leader of South Korea in the neck last week wanted to kill him so that he would never become president, the police said, in an alarming escalation of the countrys political polarization.

A 66-year-old man who was arrested after the attack was handed over to prosecutors on Wednesday to be formally indicted on a charge of attempted murder. The South Korean police did not release his name, but he was identified by local news media by his surname, Kim.

The man, the police said, had planned to kill Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the liberal Democratic Party, for months, even preparing an eight-page manifesto and asking a friend to release it to relatives and the news media after the attack.

On Wednesday, Mr. Lee, 59, was released from a hospital in Seoul, the capital, where he had been recovering from surgery to a jugular vein that was damaged in the attack.
The first prime minister of Britain, Robert Walpole, went to Eton College. So did Boris Johnson and David Cameron and more than a dozen others.

Prince William and Prince Harry went there. So did the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, the novelists Henry Fielding and George Orwell, the actors Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, and the economist John Maynard Keynes.

And they all used the toilet.

But the current group of boys at the elite boarding school will not be doing so in the immediate future.

On Tuesday, Eton students did not return to school as scheduled after winter break. Flooding of the Thames had overloaded sewers and caused toilets to back up.
Polands bumpy transition to a new government hit dramatic turbulence on Wednesday when a prominent hard-line minister in the former right-wing administration declared himself a political prisoner and announced he was going on a hunger strike to protest his arrest following conviction for abuse of power.

Seeking to avoid a two-year jail sentence handed down by a Warsaw court in December, the former minister, Mariusz Kaminski, took refuge from police on Tuesday in the palace of the Polish president, a close ally of the former conservative governing party, Law and Justice.

The resulting standoff between police officers loyal to the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a veteran centrist, and Law and Justice supporters escalated a disruptive campaign by the former governing party, defeated in an October election, to resist the transfer of power by casting the election winners as illegitimate usurpers intent on persecuting their rivals.

Tuesdays confrontation at the presidential palace ended peacefully late in the evening after police officers were allowed to enter the building. They took Mr. Kaminski, a former minister responsible for Polands security services, into custody, along with a former aide, Maciej Wasik, who has also been convicted of abuse of power.
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In Estonia, a four-story banner that combines the flags of Ukraine and Estonia hangs over a main square in the capital, Tallinn. In Latvia, Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins is calling for allies to ramp up military support to Ukraine without delay.

And the leader of Lithuania, where President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine began a tour of Baltic States on Wednesday, recently made a pointed plea to help Kyiv hold the line against invading Russian forces as support for Ukraine in the war elsewhere in Europe threatens to fragment.

For all those saying they are tired of war in Ukraine  a reminder by the terrorist Russia that theres no limit to its brutality & thirst for blood, President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania wrote on the social media platform X on Dec. 29, hours after a Russian barrage of missiles and drones slammed into cities across Ukraine.

Almost nowhere is the emotional investment for Ukraines war effort stronger than in the Baltics, where the three former Soviet states declared independence at the end of the Cold War to escape Russias grip. Mr. Zelenskys trip there this week, an early diplomatic foray of 2024, comes as he tries to rally support for his war effort from a bastion of political backing while other European nations show increasing fatigue and financial distress from a war that began nearly two years ago.
Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, met on Wednesday with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, to discuss Israels war against Hamas in Gaza and the role that the authority might play there when the conflict ebbs.

Mr. Blinken traveled in a convoy from Tel Aviv in Israel to Ramallah, the seat of the authority, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The two men shook hands at the authoritys headquarters and sat down for talks with their aides.

The Biden administration has said it envisions a role for the Palestinian Authority in governing both the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas took control of the tiny coastal strip in 2007 and violently drove out Fatah, the group now in charge of the authority in the West Bank.

President Biden has also said Israel must allow for the formation of a Palestinian state, arguing that a political solution is the only way out of the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Mr. Blinken reiterated that view in a news conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after meetings with Israeli officials. He also said Saudi Arabia  whose ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he met with on Monday  was still willing to consider establishing normal diplomatic relations with Israel, but only if Israel agreed to concrete steps toward the establishment of a free and independent Palestine.

In their meeting, Mr. Abbas told Mr. Blinken that the Palestinians would not accept what he called Israeli plans to keep Gaza separate from the West Bank, according to Wafa, the Palestinian Authoritys official news agency. The Gaza Strip is part and parcel of the state of Palestine, the agency quoted him as saying.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and his right-wing government have rejected the notion of a Palestinian state, and Mr. Netanyahu said years ago that Israeli officials should support a strong Hamas in Gaza in order to undermine the Palestinian Authority and the idea of a unified Palestine. He has also rejected any substantial role for the authority in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice, the United Nations highest judicial body, will begin hearings this week in a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The hearings, the first step in a lengthy process should the case go forward, will be the first time that Israel has chosen to defend itself, in person, in such a setting, attesting to the gravity of the indictment and the high stakes for its international reputation and standing.

Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis systematic murder of about six million Jews and others based on their ethnicity, is among the most serious crimes of which a country can be accused.

In its submission to the court, South Africa cited that lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, expounding on the definition of genocide. South Africa, whose post-apartheid government has long supported the Palestinian cause, accused Israel of actions in Gaza that are genocidal in character. It says Israel has killed Palestinian civilians, inflicted serious bodily and mental harm, and created for the residents of Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
The United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict has accepted Israels invitation to investigate allegations of sex crimes committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, a spokesman for Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

The U.N. official, Pramila Patten, is expected to come to Israel within weeks and has been granted investigative authority by the foreign ministry, said the spokesman, Lior Haiat.

Ms. Patten plans on briefing the media on the basis of the findings of her visit upon return to New York, said Geraldine Boezio, a spokeswoman for her office.

On Wednesday, a Hamas spokesman, Dr. Basem Naim, said that in principle, Hamas welcomed any neutral, fair, transparent and professional investigation so long as the process involved investigating both sides and building its judgment on genuine evidence. The statement insisted that evidence of sexual assault should come from biological samples obtained through forensic examinations.

In cases of widespread sexual violence during a war, experts say it is not unusual to have limited forensic evidence. Adil Haque, a Rutgers law professor and war crimes expert, said: Armed conflict is so chaotic. People are more focused on their safety than on building a criminal case down the road.

Very often, he said, sex crime cases will be prosecuted years later on the basis of testimony from victims and witnesses. The eyewitness might not even know the name of the victim, he added. But if they can testify as, I saw a woman being raped by this armed group, that can be enough.
The U.S. weighs retaliation after Houthi attacks

The U.S. and its allies are trying to figure out how to stop attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen against commercial ships in the Red Sea. This comes after American and British forces said yesterday that they intercepted one of the largest barrages of missiles and drones yet.

Heres the latest.

Iran backs the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attacks, which are in solidarity with Hamas in its war against Israel, have forced major shipping companies to reroute vessels away from the Red Sea, a major shipping corridor. They have created delays and led to higher prices for oil and other goods.

The Biden administration has said it will hold the Houthis responsible for the attacks. That warning suggested the U.S. might be considering retaliatory strikes on Houthi territory in Yemen, officials said. Britain said it was also considering taking military action if the attacks didnt stop.

A Houthi spokesman said Tuesdays attack was in response to an assault by the U.S. Navy from 10 days ago that sank three Houthi boats, killing their crew members. He added that the group would continue the attacks until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in Gaza is lifted.
Were days away from the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, and contrary to the usual sense of anticipation, voters there arent expecting any surprises  and theyre a little frustrated about it. It seems like theres a front-runner that cant be beat, said Caleb, a 27-year-old who joined a recent Times Opinion focus group of Iowa voters who plan to attend the G.O.P. caucuses on Monday night.

The front-runner, of course, is Donald Trump, who has a roughly 30-point lead in Iowa polls and an even bigger lead in some national polls. We wanted to use this months focus group as an opportunity to hear what Republican voters in Iowa are thinking about him, the race and the country in general.

I guess I would pray and hope that Trump could be more like the old Trump than this Trump, said Nancy, a 69-year-old retiree. The distinction she made between the old Trump and the new Trump zeroes in on a complaint about him we heard throughout our conversation: Many voters on the right support what he stands for and like much of what he did as president, but theyre growing tired of his increasing focus since Jan. 6, 2021, on complaining about being unfairly treated. I feel like right now all Im hearing is just everything thats going against him. Its just all the legal troubles. I really havent heard much about what hes planning to do, said Brittney, a 38-year-old writer.

Still, some of our participants felt that the many criminal charges brought against Mr. Trump only made them more sympathetic toward him. I dont think it hurts his ability to win the nomination at all. Id say it just strengthens him, said Hugh, 57. We asked the eight participants if a conviction would stop them from voting for the former president, and four said it would.

If Mr. Trump came in for criticism, there were also some tough words for his primary rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who have campaigned across Iowa for months. Some focus group participants liked Ms. Haleys presentation and experience with foreign policy but were critical of her domestic agenda (or, they felt, a lack thereof). Several liked Mr. DeSantiss policies but werent fans of the man himself. The participants were not supporters of President Biden by any means, but only half of them said they were confident the eventual Republican nominee would win the White House in November.
This image may be familiar. For years, it has been the only view the government has allowed you to see of the sprawling court complex where the military is pursuing war crimes cases against five men accused of plotting the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and others.

Eleven of the 30 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo have been charged, six in death-penalty cases that started more than a decade ago. Photography is now forbidden at the prison.

So this photo signifies the power that the U.S. military wields at the court. The secrecy starts inside, with U.S. government agencies driving decisions on which hearings are open to the public and which portions of documents are blacked out.

Heres what you can learn from a closer look at this image.
The Wall Street Journal has declared the environmental, social and governance term dead due to investor backlash, political pressure and legal threats.

But as William Shakespeare noted: A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Savvy PR people are rebranding ESG as responsible business, or lowering the volume on their social impact activity.

Daryl Brewster, who heads Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, told the WSJ: You can be anti-ESG. Its hard to be anti-responsibility.

Long live ESG, whatever it is called.

J Street axes confab J Street, the top liberal Jewish advocacy group, has postponed its 2024 convention that was set for Washington from April 6 to 9 due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

It will be missed. The organizations events generally are newsmakers.

At J Streets December 2022 convention, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told of US willingness to work with the incoming ultra-conservative Israeli government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Thats not working out well these days. Israels rampage in Gaza has strained its ties with the Biden Administration.

That convention featured remarks from Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

On Jan. 4, he warned that restrictions imposed by Israel on the West Bank are driving the occupied territory to the edge of the edge.

A newcomer to the political scene, Vermonts then-incoming Senator Peter Welch urged pro-Israel activists to push back against right-wingers.

These days Welch is pushing back at the US government for transferring artillery ammunition to Israel without Congressional approval.

"This type of heavy ammunition has been used to devastating effect in Gaza, contributing to the death and injury of countless civilians and the displacement of an estimated 2 million people who are facing daily bombardment without access to adequate food, water, shelter or medical care, said Welch on Dec. 31.

J Street on Jan. 8 called on the Biden administration to pressure the Netanyahu government to increase the humanitarian aid to Gaza and to restore power, water and fuel supplies to civilian infrastructure.

It applauded the Biden White Houses rejection of calls by members of Netanyahus administration for the mass resettlement of civilians from the Gaza Strip.

J Streets 2024 conference was to be themed Lighting the Way.

One hopes there is still optimism and light available in 2025 when J Streets next conference is set to take place.

Playing his personal stay out of jail card Donald Trump argues in favor of presidential immunity because without it, he said: Every president would always be thinking, with every move made, whether or not there would be a criminal prosecution after leaving office.

His line of thinking would conveniently cover any president who orders his cultish followers to march on the Capitol and fight like hell to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in order to keep him or her in office.

Trump warned that there would be bedlam in the US, if he is prevented from running for another term.

Bedlam is an archaic term for a mental institution. It is derived from Londons Bethlem Royal Hospital, which opened its doors in 1247.

Trumps recent ravings about Biden trampling on the Constitution, his ability to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the Civil War, and recasting the violent mob of Jan. 6 insurrectionists as hostages and martyrs shows how unhinged the former president truly is.

On his next visit to New York, Trump should swing by Bellevue Hospital, Americas version of Bethlem Royal, for a check up from the neck up.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.

Avoq offers government relations, PA, strategic communications, media relations, digital, website, app development, research, data analysis and advertising services.

It begins life with 14 partners and former Subject Matter CEO Nicole Cornish at the helm.

She said members of the leadership group will foster and inspire the one-team culture of collaboration and excellence that sets us apart.

Joining Cornish in the executive suite are COO Molly Scherrman, CFO Dave Metzger, and managing partners Eric Sedler, Steve Elmendorf, Jimmy Ryan, Dan Sallick and Paul Frick.

Coral Tree Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, owns Avoq.

Kivvit took the No. 18 slot in ODwyers 2023 rankings of independent PR firms with fee income of $39.5M. It was Chicagos fourth largest firm with fees of $13.1M.

Subject Matter did not rank.
The Pollack Group is selected by Resorts World Las Vegas to lead its national PR program and support its marketing efforts. TPG will focus on high impact earned media coverage and generating national attention and brand awareness. RWLV is the first integrated resort built on the Las Vegas strip in more than a decade and features a variety of amenities, including a spa, the largest pool complex on the Strip, casino gaming, dining and nightlife. TPGs proven track record, strategic insights and creative prowess stood out during the selection process, making them the perfect choice to drive our brand narrative forward, said RWLV director of public relations and communications Kassidy Krystek. We are confident in the agencys ability to portray our story, reach new audiences, and resonate more deeply with top-tier media.

Curious Plot signs on with California Avocado Commission. The agency will support consumer public relations as well as customized retail marketing. It will also handle consumer communication, including advertising and social media. The commissions plan is to launch a new marketing campaign supporting the 2024 California avocado season. Commission VP of marketing Terry Splane noted that during the search process, Curious Plot exhibited a blend of a strong strategic approach, excellent advertising creative, unique public relations activations and a partnership approach that melds very well with the California Avocado Commissions needs. Our teams fit together naturally and the transition has been seamless, Splane said.

Colangelo & Partners is named by Volio Imports, an importer of wines from Italy, as agency of record for a new integrated communication program. The partnership will focus on elevating Volio Imports brand presence, strengthening its communication channels, and fostering continued growth in the beverage industry. The collaboration will place a special emphasis on three wine brands within Volio Imports' portfolio: Berlucchi, Famiglia Cecchi and Tenuta Argentiera. I am confident that Colangelo & Partners will affirm the strength of our portfolio in the US with trade and consumer publications as well as help position our winery partners as leaders within their respective regions, said Volio Imports CEO and founder Charles Lazzara.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The decision to hold the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan pushes some hostile forces to start a campaign of Azerbaijan's vilification, doctor of economic sciences Ingilab Ahmadov told Trend.

"Their main 'argument' is that an oil and gas producing country cannot be a true driver of green energy, and holding such a global event in a such country does not match the goals of the UN Climate Summit. Based on the arguments presented by the critics, I can say that they are, to put it mildly, very poor," Ahmadov said.

He said that for some reason, there's a conclusion that Azerbaijan, boosting gas production, soon will become the main supplier of gas and will overflow Europe with its exports.

"However, the Eurostat data shows that Azerbaijan was among the minority gas suppliers to the EU in the third quarter of 2023 with a share of 5.9 percent of pipeline gas, while Norway's share was 48.6 percent," Ahmadov emphasized.

He reminded that COP28 was held in the UAE, a country among the world's top oil producers, and there were similar accusations against the UAE as well, but the situation with Azerbaijan is different.

"For the first time such a young country as Azerbaijan, which has not been particularly favored by European preferences so far, will hold a COP conference. Although Azerbaijan remains an extractive country, it is intensively building up the potential of renewable energy sources and realizing global projects in this sphere. But, for some reason, the ill-wishers are not interested in this side. The argument that climate policy should be led by the states, who are leaders in the matters related to climate change, means that the world is being divided into two sides - suppliers and consumers of fossil fuels, which is fundamentally wrong and even dangerous," Ahmadov said.

He noted that it is necessary to encourage the initiatives of extractive countries that are trying to revolutionize the vector of energy strategy by building up the potential of renewable energy sources, often to the detriment of their profitability.

"However, this seemingly positive signal for the world is completely dismissed by critics and instead, they focus on the growth of investments in the gas sector. The reality is that the world in general, and Europe in particular, will need gas for a long time, and there is no way getting around it," Ahmadov said.

He noted that Azerbaijan's energy strategy in this aspect is aligned with the global tendency of green energy and is designed for a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources.

"Target indicators of the country on climate change confirm that not only European countries (buyers of gas) but also countries producing fossil fuels can be in the forefront of the implementation of the green climate agenda," Ahmadov said.
Carly Reed

Reed PR & Communications, which will focus on elevating brand presence for destinations, travel brands and hotels, is launched by Carly Reed, a former partner in FINN Partners UK travel practice. The new agency will offer services including PR, events and activations, broadcast media, travel industry relations, partnerships and promotions. Reeds travel industry experience before joining FINN includes managing Virgin Holidays media center, as well as heading up the EMEA comms efforts for the launch of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter while she was at Universal Parks and Resorts.

PR Boutiques International, which includes more than 30 boutique firms around the world, elects its executive officers and directors for 2024 - 2025. Julia Labaton of RED PR will serve a two-year term as president, along with vice president Duree Ross of Duree & Company, treasurer/secretary Jeffrey Graubard of The Other Agency, member-at-large Tarunjeet Rattan of Nucleus PR, and president of PRBI Europe Juris Petersons of Jazz Communications. The board of directors has brought on Taru Nikulainen of Brunnen Communications to help guide the organizations international growth. The network thrives on collaboration over competition, offering a community to learn, network, and mentor while its members provide their clients more executive counsel and tailored services than larger, brand-name agencies, said Labaton. PRBIs annual general meeting will take place this spring in New York City.

Britton Marketing & Design Group merges with production and strategic marketing company BrandStar. Britton will continue to operate out of its Ft. Wayne location, and CEO Jeff Britton and president/chief creative officer Susan Britton will remain in their roles. The agency says it will now be able to provide its clients a broader range of offerings from within the BrandStar ecosystem, among them a state-of-the-art film and television studio with virtual reality capabilities. BrandStars integrated offerings ideally complement ours, and geographically opens markets for both organizations, said Jeff Britton.

RLF Communications, which has offices in Greensboro, Raleigh and Charlotte, acquires GBW Strategies, a Raleigh-based public affairs and public relations agency. GBW co-founder Billy Warden will become RLF chief strategy officer; co-founder Greg Behr will serve as a strategic advisor following a transition period. GBW clients include real estate developers, public health and professional services organizations, technology firms and nonprofits. Over the past 15 years, GBW Strategies has earned an outstanding reputation for generating big ideas, insightful strategies and delivering on their promises, said RLF CEO Monty Hagler. In addition to supporting the transition and strategic efforts of RLF, Behr will create a new organization, Circle City Strategy, with a focus on supporting festivals, events and other community initiatives. RLF acquired Raleigh-based BAERING Group in January 2023 and Clairemont Communications in December 2023.
When I have nothing to say The International Bottled Water Association rushed out a statement on Jan. 8 to respond to a report that bottled water is loaded with nanoplastics and microplastics that are tiny enough to enter the drinkers bloodstream. Your body as a toxic waste dump?

The study by Columbia University researchers, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found an average of 240K tiny particles of plastics in a typical liter of bottled water.

IBWA fired off its statement on Jan. 8 to say that since it had very limited notice and time to review the damaging survey, it could not offer a detailed response to it.

Yet, the trade group noted a lack of scientific consensus on the potential health impacts on nano- and microplastic particles.

And it delivered this zinger: Therefore media reports about these particles in drinking water do more than unnecessarily scare consumers.

IBWA should have held its fire until it had fully analyzed the Columbia study before issuing a response to it.

It should have followed the sage advice of Talking Heads front man David Bryne who keeps his lips sealed when he has nothing to say.

IBWA members include Nestle, Culligan, Publix, Crystal Clear, Polar Beverages, 3M Purification, Misty Mountain, Polymer Solutions International and Lifespan Spring Water.

Let the tap water flow.

Here we go again Mukhtar Babayev, a 20-year veteran of Azerbaijans state oil company, will preside over COP29, which is slated for Nov. 11-24 in Baku. He has been Azerbaijans ecology minister since 2018.

The Azerbaijan session comes on the heels of the 2023 session in Dubai, which was led by Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company.

Successive COP sessions run by energy executives is one way to kill the credibility of the climate change meetings, especially among young activists who were turned off by the huge contingent of oil and gas lobbyists in Dubai.

Oil and gas revenues account for 90 percent of Azerbaijans revenues, which financed its victorious skirmish with neighboring Armenia. The chances of meaningful action at COP29 on the global warming front are nil.

Meanwhile, The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Jan. 9 that reported 28 climate disasters cost the nation $92.9B in 2023. The past year ranks No. 1 in billion-dollar climate and extreme weather disasters.

Time is running out for global action on climate change.

Americas geezer politicos are out of step with rest of the world. The leading Democratic and Republican fossils running for president will survive a four-year term, according to University of Illinois gerontologist Jay Olshansky, who has studied the backgrounds and health records of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Yeah!

Both politicos come from long-lived families, though Trumps brothers died at 42 and 71, while his father developed Alzheimers.

Seventy-seven-year-old Trumps weight and lack of exercise compared to Biden (81) works against him on the longevity front.

Olshansky believes Trump has a 90 percent shot of finishing four-years in office, while Biden has a 95 percent chance. But the ability to survive a term in office makes for a lousy campaign promise.

Pew Research notes there are only eight leaders in the 187 countries that it surveyed that are older than Biden.

The trend among developed countries is to elect younger leaders. Since 1950, the average age of heads of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries has dropped from 60.2 to 55.5.

Bidens son, Beau, would have turned 54 on Feb. 3, while Donald Trump, Jr. is 46. If Beau were around, dad would be cheering his presidential run.
HOUSE prices in Tipperary are causing terrible distress for those hoping to buy a home and have spiralled out of control according to elected representatives.

House prices in Tipperary went up 2,500 in the last three months according to the latest figures from MyHome.ie and the price of the average second hand, three-bed semi-detached house in county Tipperary is predicted to increase by five percent in 2024, according to a national survey by Real Estate Alliance (REA).

Three-bed semi-detached homes in the county now cost an average of 234,875, up 10 percent on the December 2022 average of 213,750, the quarter four REA Average House Price Index shows.

County agents reported that first-time buyers made up 83 percent of the market in quarter four, with 15 percent of sales coming from outside the county, and 23 percent of sales attributed to landlords selling properties.

Average prices in Nenagh in 2023 rose by 7.6 percent to 247,500.

There have been practically no three-bed semis for sale in Nenagh in quarter four, and those that did come to the market were quickly snapped up, said Eoin Dillon of REA Eoin Dillon Nenagh.

Roscrea prices rose by 5.4 percent over the last 12 months to an average of 195,000.

The market in Roscrea is steady, with supply meeting demand, said Seamus Browne of REA Seamus Browne, Roscrea.

We are seeing a 20% increase in property transactions in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, Mr Browne said.

The REA Average House Price Index concentrates on the actual sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the second hand property market in towns and cities countrywide.

Three-bed semi prices nationally will rise by 3 percent in 2024, estate agents across the country are predicting.

A record shortage of supply has driven a 1.5 percent rise in the last three months in the capital, but only in houses under a certain price, the index found.

The latest survey by property website MyHome.ie shows the median asking price in the county is 202,500 for the final quarter of last year.

Thats up 7,500 compared with this time last year. Managing Director of MyHome.ie Joanne Geary says this rise is similar to whats happening across the rest of the country.

The price of larger 4-beds homes dropped in Tipperary in the last three months.

The MyHome.ie data shows the median asking price for a 4-bed semi fell by 5,000 over the 4th quarter of 2023 to 215,000

Overall prices in the county went up with a 3-bed semi-detached house up by 5,000 to 195,000.

The bleak predictions have prompted Tipperary Sinn Fein TD, Martin Browne, to declare that new house prices in Tipperary are "out of control".

Deputy Browne said the Government's failure to deliver affordable homes is "making the crisis worse".

He was responding to the latest Daft.ie house price report which shows that the median price of a new build home in Tipperary is 320,400.

"The Daft.ie report on house prices in Q4 2023 shows that the price of an average home continues to rise. Across the state the price of an average home rose 3.4% in the last 12 months to 320k. In Tipperary the average price of a home is now 242,002, having risen 8.6% year-on-year", Deputy Browne said.

"The report also highlights a worrying drop in the number of homes listed in December compared with the previous year, by a significant 27%.

"However, the most startling fact in the report is the price of new build homes. There is now almost a 30% difference between the price of an average new home and overall average prices. Statewide the price of an average new home is 407k, 80k more expensive than the average for new and second-hand homes combined.

"In Tipperary the average price of a new build home is now 320,400. The gap between new and second-hand homes is enormous and growing. This is a direct consequence of bad Government policy, demand side subsidies such as so called 'Help to Buy' and the controversial Shared Equity Loan scheme, all pushing up new house prices.

"Meanwhile the Government's failure to deliver on their embarrassingly low affordable purchase targets is making the crisis worse.Government policy must shift to bringing the price of new homes down.

"They must end policies that push up house prices and they must increase and accelerate the delivery of genuinely affordable homes by Local Authorities and AHBs, at prices that working people can genuinely afford", Deputy Browne said.
I've been following the story of little Joey Conway for a few weeks now when it first appeared in the pages of the Tullamore Tribune and the Join Together for Joey page popped up on my own social media timeline. I always try and support these local causes, especially with coverage on Offaly Live and elsewhere, but Joey's story just hit a little harder than most.

It's difficult to explain why but reading parents Natalie and Tommy's story from that first bout of Strep last year and such a rare and hard to treat diagnosis just puts you in their shoes instantly. They're an ordinary Offaly family like all of us who had a two-year-old boy perfectly healthy and happy until that picture changed and turned their whole lives upside down. They nearly lost him after he spent time on a ventilator in ICU.

For those of you who don't know, little fighter Joey, who is now a beacon of hope in Offaly and further afield, was diagnosed with Portal Vein Thrombosis (PVT), which has led to a serious and rare condition Non-cirrhotic Portal Hypertension. Portal Hypertension has life-threatening symptoms and the risk of death is 40% on a first episode of bleeding. The bleeding comes from varices that develop in his oesophagus so he will either bleed from his mouth or through his nappies.

A surgery in the US can save him but the cost is so extortionate, it must have seemed impossible to gather for Natalie and Tommy, but they tried, and Offaly people rallied. The 330,000 target has now been reached and seeing it tick up and up from 20,000 to 50,000 to 200,000 and now 330,000, it just warms the heart. Local people, in the tightest financial month of the year for most, just kept giving and finding more ways to spread the word. Life is so cruel and yet people are sometimes so generous and humane in their actions that it almost makes you forget.

I know donations came in from all over the world but primarily this started locally and was driven by family and friends. Offaly GAA got the message out and were pictured with Joey and his parents prior to the county's O'Byrne Cup game with Laois in recent weeks. County chairman Michael Duignan put a public callout for support and then Shane Lowry put his name and huge public figure behind it. He donated 10,000 personally and inspired another flurry of donations this week. The last 120,000 was raised in the last two days.

God willing the money keeps rising and Joey gets to Chicago for his treatment. When he returns, he will get a hero's welcome back home to Offaly where as the saying goes, everybody knows his name. And that's because his story has touched so many of us in different ways. We all know people who have been in dire situations and we've been there ourselves. The Irish way of rallying in communities is unrivalled around the world. It's the same virtue that sees people bringing food and warmth to houses where people are bereaved and school choirs to nursing homes to sing at Christmas. I might be biased but Offaly has this kindness in spades and Joey brought it out in us all again this month.

We will all be watching for updates on Joey like he was our own son, grandson, nephew or little brother. Candles will be lit in churches in every village and priests will be flooded with Novenas and intentions. There's something very wholesome and reassuring about that. People always find room in their hearts to think of others despite all their own challenges and that's a great quality in people.

And if more help is needed for Joey, Offaly people will go back to the well again because that kid is one of us. As Michael Duignan said about the GAA "never leaving anyone behind," the same goes for this county and community around Tullamore and all over.

When you're in Chicago, we'll all be there with you, Natalie, Tommy, Joey and his siblings Jordi and Molly.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. We strongly urge the French side to cease the intervention into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Aykhan Hajizada said in response to anti-Azerbaijani statement made by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs about the detention of the French citizen in Baku, Trend reports.

The claims by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs that the detention of their citizen is arbitrary is null and void. This baseless statement is another attempt to distort the reality, and intervene into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the legal investigation process.

Martin Rian, a citizen of the Republic of France, was detained on 4 December 2023 on suspicion of committing the crime under the Article 276 (espionage) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Later, the Court made a decision about the pretrial detention of this person for 4 months.

The Azerbaijani side has fully complied with the national legislation and international obligations while taking measures against the mentioned French citizen. Since his detention the Consular officers of the French Embassy have visited the suspect several times and are fully aware about the case.

Moreover, notwithstanding the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has addressed the note verbale to the Embassy of France in Azerbaijan requesting the investigation of the case regarding the collaboration of the mentioned person with two employees of the French Embassy, the French side has refused to provide any explanation and declined cooperation in the investigation. Therefore, these two employees were declared as personae non gratae by Azerbaijan.

We once again strongly urge the French side to cease the intervention into the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the criminal investigation measures related the mentioned case, the ministrys spokesman said in a statement.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. France was excluded from the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan's Presidential Representative for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov told LOpinion, Trend reports.

Commenting on the arrest of a French citizen, Martin Ryan, Amirbayov condemned the biased pro-Armenian position of France, including the French sides continued supply of weapons and equipment to Yerevan, as well as its active attempts to promote a draft anti-Azerbaijani resolution in the UN Security Council.

"France is now removed from its role as a mediator [between Azerbaijan and Armenia] and is even harming the EU's role in this matter," he said.

Azerbaijani authorities arrested Martin Ryan on espionage charges on December 4, 2023. Being the CEO of the Baku-based company Merkorama LLC, Ryan was manipulated by the French agent of the 2nd DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), who engaged him in secret cooperation and was subsequently expelled from Baku.

Ambassador of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva said that judicial authorities ordered his detention for a period of four months, adding that the French Embassy in Baku was immediately notified of the arrest.

Measures carried out by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan in early December 2023 resulted in the exposure of an extensive network of agents of French intelligence services in the country.

Dozens of French spies were identified in a short period, some of whom had been operating in Azerbaijan at one point or another, and some of whom continued to work undercover in various countries and reputable international organizations.

Stay up to date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. We conducted the negotiations in a manner that minimized external pressure while achieving our goals. But the main thing for me was that this is a historical issue, it is a national issue, and it would be wrong to seek some seemingly favorable gains, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

We must solve the issue in a fundamental way, we must solve it once and for all, we must fully restore our territorial integrity and sovereignty.

There should not be a single nest of separatism anywhere in our country, and if our generation is not lucky enough to do that, we should raise such a young generation that would come and do it after 20 years, after 30 years, after 50 years. That was the main issue, the head of state noted.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. After the Second Karabakh War, some of the local Armenians contacted our representatives and made suggestions about contacts, and we did not reject that, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

Because our goal ultimate was to fully restore sovereignty and convince the population living here that they can live comfortably and safely within a single state of Azerbaijan. Our intention was quite open and clear, and some positive steps were taken during those contacts. In other words, the determination and construction of the new route of the Lachin-Khankendi road was a very important event and somewhat laid the foundation for the events of April 23. Because we built a new road and returned the city of Lachin to ourselves, the head of state added.
"Unless we take drastic action there will be famine," Lana Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the U.N., told the Security Council on Dec. 22, 2023, as it prepared to adopt a resolution expanding humanitarian relief in Gaza. She recalled an alarming visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. "Thousands of trucks trying and failing to enter through a choke point, a crossing that was only ever intended to be for pedestrians."

click here

[After a long sabbatical doing myriad other tasks, like establishing a new branch of the United Nations in Santa Fe, New Mexico with Undersecretariats that have been detailed 3 years, thanks to the creative mind of OpEdNews Publisher, Rob Kall, as UN Santa Fe Founder, I will be bringing you updates in a compendium of news articles and major truth forums on YouTube and other media (not social media, like Facebook), but the real thing. We are firmly dedicated to helping Robert Kennedy Jr. win two terms (2024-2032), because that is how long it will take to bring clear thinking and non-pLandemic Health back to the USA and other nations.]

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Amy Goodman: South Africa Files Case Against Israel at International Court of Justice over "Genocidal" Gaza War

.youtube.com/watch?v=ypxiFjrM8RA

ICJ HEARING JANUARY 11 OR 12, 2024: VERSUS BIDEN, Secretary of State Antony BLINKEN, AND Secretary of Defense, Lloyd AUSTIN III

South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

"I believe South Africa will win an order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Palestinians," says Francis Boyle, an international human rights lawyer who won two requests at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention of 1948 for provisional protection on behalf of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Yugoslavia.

Boyle says Israel has a history of listening to the United States' orders to stop its assaults on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. "We here in the United States of America have the power to stop this."

_________

[Francis Boyle is a friend of mine from 4 years ago when I started the process of establishing UN Santa Fe!]

[Francis Anthony Boyle (born March 25, 1950] (Wikipedia) is an American human rights lawyer and professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He has served as counsel for Bosnia and Herzegovina and has supported the rights of Palestinians and indigenous peoples.

Early life, education and practice

Boyle has stated that he "was born Irish", and does not consider himself to be a "White North American". He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Chicago in 1971. He earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1976 and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in political science from Harvard University in 1983. Boyle practiced tax and international tax law with Bingham, Dana & Gould.

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DEAR DR. ROACH: I watched a show that described how a virus invades a cell and found it fascinating. What is the difference between a virus and a bacterial infection? -- G.D.

ANSWER: Viral infections start by using a cell receptor to gain entry into the cell. This receptor depends on the virus; for example, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID) uses the ACE2 receptor to get into the cell, while HIV uses a different receptor called CD4.

Once the virus is in the cell, it inserts its own genetic material into the cellular machinery, causing the cell to make a virus rather than do the job its supposed to do until it ultimately dies. Viruses cannot replicate by themselves; they need a host to do so. The viral infection may kill its host if it destroys enough of the host cells.

The body can get rid of the virus by recognizing and killing its own cells that have been taken over by the virus. (Thats the job of the cytotoxic T cells.) It also neutralizes the virus through antibodies (the job of the B cells, helped out by T cells). Sometimes a balance is reached, and a chronic viral infection ensues. Doctors use antiviral drugs to help with viral infections.

A bacterial infection, by contrast, uses the host body as a source of nutrients. Because bacterial cells grow so fast, they outcompete the host cells for sugar, oxygen and other critical nutrients. The bacteria can kill the host by using up resources and can also make toxic substances that damage the body. The body has granulocytes, macrophages and antibody-making B cells to help fight bacteria. Although there are chronic bacterial infections, usually one side or the other ends up winning.

Doctors help the body fight bacterial infections with antibiotics. The bodys robust inflammatory response, although necessary, sometimes causes as much or even more trouble than the infection, and one way we can help the body is by toning down its response to some critical infections.

There are vaccines for many bacterial and viral diseases. The vaccines teach the body what to look out for so that an infection can be responded to much more quickly by the full array of the bodys defenses.

DEAR DR. ROACH: Is it safe to take a sleep aid in the evening? I normally do not have a problem falling asleep, but I often wake up in the middle of the night and cant get back to sleep. So, at times, I take half of a gummy containing melatonin and chamomile, and Im able to get a few more hours of sleep. Is this safe?

ANSWER: While its best not to take sleep medicines at all (cognitive behavioral therapy remains the most effective and least dangerous treatment, although it isnt accessible to everyone), chamomile and melatonin are pretty safe. It certainly doesnt work for everyone, but if it is working for you, its not a bad option.

During very stressful periods of my life (like medical school), chamomile tea did help me fall asleep, and it is safe, except that it can occasionally interfere with some medications, including anti-seizure medicines and sedatives.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or send mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.

(c) 2022 North America Syndicate Inc.

All Rights Reserved
Embarking on a major expansion, Von Ebert Brewing has purchased Ecliptic Brewings North Portland production facility and taproom, aiming to grow from producing 4,000 barrels annually to potentially 20,000, with a significant boost in distribution.

Even amid a downturn in the beer industry, the award-winning brewery is betting on the cachet attached to the Von Ebert name, having won numerous prestigious awards since its founding in 2018, including five Great American Beer Festival medals. Its beers have grown in popularity and demand, but capacity at its two brewhouses has been maxed out for years.

Our mood right now is humbly excited, said Sam Pecoraro, Von Eberts brewmaster. Obviously during COVID things have been a little bit more difficult, but weve had a plan for a number of years to increase production.

Von Ebert plans to open a taproom at the new location, 825 N. Cook St., but it likely wont fire up what was Ecliptics kitchen. Instead, Pecoraro said the Von Ebert team is looking to reimagine the exterior area into a really creative outdoor space, with food carts, a small dog park and a permanent structure all being considered.

Ecliptics astronomical theme will give way to Von Eberts branding and aesthetic.

We certainly want to make it  Ill call it the Von Ebert way. Make it feel like ours, Pecoraro said. He added that Eric Ebel, director of brewing operations, expects to begin brewing in the new facility Thursday, and the taproom is expected to open in the spring or summer.

Von Ebert will maintain its Pearl District and Glendoveer breweries and restaurants. Pecoraro said the Pearl District 10-barrel brewhouse will be used for research and development, and Glendoveers seven-barrel will continue its smaller batch brewing but reduce its production of sour and farmhouse beers, styles that have widely seen a dip in popularity in recent years.

Instead, he said, Glendoveer will focus on seasonal and heavily fruited and local fruit beer  well be pushing big in that direction. Pecoraro also said Jason Hansen, Von Eberts director of sensory & innovation who oversees Glendoveers innovation program, will bring on a spirit barrel-aging program along with maintaining and improving the fruited mixed culture beers and wine-beer hybrids.

INDUSTRY STRUGGLES

Von Ebert has not been free of post-pandemic struggles, and in fact they pushed the brewery in this new direction, Pecoraro said. The leaders of the business, founded by Tom S. Cook and his father, Tom M. Cook, decided to go find more customers rather than idly wait for people to return to the brewerys retail spaces, which also include pizzerias in Beaverton and Northeast Portlands Cascade Station retail cluster.

COVID definitely pushed us into a different strategy, where we were very pub-oriented, Pecoraro said. Then ownership and everybody at Von Ebert realized we needed to be more competitive in this market. We needed to grow.

That was a lot of the original motivation for us, he said. Times are tough. Weve got to figure out how to do it differently and do it right.

That new direction led Von Ebert to buy a 30-barrel system from Pelican Brewings Tillamook production facility. Von Eberts team had planned to set it up and move production to Beaverton, but then the Ecliptic location became available.

From day one weve wanted to be a Portland brand, Pecoraro said. Portland has recognition across the world as a great beer city. And the idea of possibly moving outside Portland wasnt something that we felt fit.

Then when this popped up we thought, not only can we stay in Portland, grow in Portland, but also be what well call a keystone Mississippi Avenue spot.

Von Eberts relocation to North Portland became possible when John Harris, founder of Ecliptic Brewing, decided to sell the brand and shut down operations, both at the main brewery and the Moon Room satellite brewery and taproom in Southeast Portland. Harris sold the brand to Great Frontier Holdings, a collective of brands that was formed in the spring through the union of Eugenes Ninkasi Brewing and Californias Wings & Arrow.

Great Frontier is producing Ecliptic beers at its Eugene production brewery. But Pecoraro and Harris, who sat down this week to discuss the Von Ebert sale with The Oregonian/OregonLive, said they are considering pursuing the possibility of Von Ebert contract brewing some Ecliptic beers in North Portland.

The sale to Von Ebert constitutes the last of three parts in Harris sale of the brand and its two properties. Part two was the recent sale of the Moon Room brewery and taproom to Baumans Cider, which took over the nearly three-year lease and will move production from Gervais to Southeast Portland, along with opening its first taproom in Portland.

I pulled three rabbits out of three hats and I dont know how I did it, Harris said, but I did it.

Harris said Ecliptics sale was forced by issues the U.S. beer industry faces emerging from the pandemic. Production and sales were down 3% nationwide in 2022, as breweries face slowing demand, supply chain issues, rising competition from across alcoholic beverages categories and a shifting retail environment, as the pandemic is widely seen as changing the publics habits. Portland and Oregon have seen widespread closures of breweries and taprooms, with more likely on the way.

The Brewers Association, which represents the nations craft and home brewers, in its final 2023 report said the year was the first this century to see as many closures as it did openings, rather than the historical constant gains.

Harris said the timing was fortunate for all three of his sales, concluding with Von Ebert.

It was interesting, because of the spot Ecliptic got to and my decision that I had to find a sale opportunity in order to get out of this situation, he said. I didnt know what I was going to do with this plant that has been built out to make 20,000, 24,000 barrels on a two-week turn.

So Im really happy. Id been thinking about these guys for a while, Harris said. I was like, the only brewery that I can think of that might want something like this is Von Ebert.

He anticipates it will be a great fit for the new owners.

Its going to be awesome, Harris said. This is a place for them to grow into. And Im excited that Ecliptic is still being made and its not a dead brand, its just this physical plant that just was not sustainable any longer.

EXPANDING DISTRIBUTION

Pecoraro said he recognizes the challenges and competition involved in expanding Von Eberts distribution footprint from mainly the Portland area to across Oregon and Washington, with eventually possibly adding Idaho and parts of California. But he sees a promising chance to grow.

Obviously theres some concern with beer being down nationally, but I think theres also a lot of opportunities, he said. Our flagship beers, we won silver at GABF for Pils, gold at World Beer Cup for Pils. We havent been able to make enough of that to satisfy demand for a year and a half now. And then Volatile Substance, winning gold at GABF, the same thing.

But he said Von Ebert, whose packaged beers are distributed locally by Point Blank Distributing of Portland, will grow thoughtfully, not just in big bounds as capacity increases.

We have a long-term plan in place to not just send beer as far away as we want, he said. We dont want to do that. We need to send it strategically to the closest places that we can while also possibly going into 19.2-ounce cans and going into 12-ounce cans. Were definitely going into 12-ounce cans.

Weve never been in six-packs before, and weve been very Portland local, said Pecoraro, adding that later this year Pils will move into 12-ounce six-packs rather than Von Eberts traditional 16-ounce four-packs. So I think theres not only packaging opportunities, but also geographical ones.

That plan, along with Von Eberts reputation for excellence, gives the brewerys team confidence.

Our identity is continuous improvement and just being ruthlessly objective with one another and working together to find the next way to make the littlest improvement together, he said.

Beyond that, honoring the community and what has come before is a high priority as well.

Something I in particular want us to concentrate on is being a great Mississippi Avenue community member, he said, and honoring John and his legacy.

Von Eberts Great American Beer Festival medals

Pils: 2022 Silver for German-Style Pilsner

Volatile Substance: 2021 Gold for American-Style India Pale Ale

Nothing Noble: 2020 Bronze for American-Style India Pale Ale

Obeisance: 2020 Bronze and 2019 Gold for Specialty Saison

 Andre Meunier; 503-221-8488; Sign up for my weekly newsletter Oregon Brews and News, and follow me on Instagram, where Im @oregonianbeerguy.
River City Environmental, a Portland-based environmental and emergency services company, faces $118,000 in fines after two of its workers passed out while working in a confined sewer system last year, requiring firefighters to come to their aid.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health division, the workplace safety agency known as Oregon OSHA, said the workers retrofitting filters inside a stormwater sewer system at a brewing company were not properly trained about hazards and not properly preparing or equipped for the job.

State workplace safety officials who inspected the incident found that the two workers were part of a four-member crew who had been tasked to repair filters inside the sewer system, where low oxygen levels were immediately dangerous to life and health.

After the two workers lost consciousness, safety officials said, Portland Fire & Rescue had to be called to help rescue the employees from the confined space.

The city fire bureau reported the incident to Oregon OSHA, which said it inspected the company and identified more than a dozen violations of safety rules designed to protect workers in tight spaces.

River City Environmental did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

--Kristine de Leon; kdeleon@oregonlive.com
A sawmill in Banks that closed in October will remain shuttered indefinitely, according to its owner, Hampton Lumber.

Banks, about 25 miles west of Portland, has had a lumber mill since 1961. Hampton acquired the facility in 2016 and said 58 people worked at the site until it closed last fall.
TriMet has begun demolishing a temporary mural painted at the Hollywood Transit Center in tribute to the victims of a deadly 2017 stabbing attack aboard a MAX train approaching the station.

The transit agency and local nonprofits plan to redevelop the space, update the transit center and build more than 200 units of new affordable housing on the property.

The revamped Northeast Portland transit center will be known as Hollywood Hub, with apartments within walking distance of public transit, shopping and community spaces. It is expected to open in 2026.

The TriMet-funded mural, which cost about $70,000, was titled We Choose Love and designed by artist Sarah Farahat. It was unveiled about a year after a horrific attack at the MAX station that shook Portland. Officials said at the time the memorial would be temporary  a transit center redesign was already in early planning  but elements of Farahats design will be incorporated into the updated transit center, including the bright colors and messages of peace.

The mural at the Hollywood Transit Center MAX stop in Northeast Portland, one year after the stabbing incident that left two dead. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)LC-

On May 26, 2017, Jeremy Christian stabbed and killed Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, and wounded Micah Fletcher. While on the Green Line train, Christian launched a racist and hate-filled rant against two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. The three men tried to intervene before Christian attacked them, stabbing all three in the neck.

The previous night, while on another train, Christian assaulted a Black woman who told him to stop another racist rant. He threw a half-full Gatorade bottle at her, striking her in the eye.

Christian was found guilty on a dozen charges, including the double murder, attempted murder and hate crimes, and sentenced to life in prison.

The colorful mural, painted on the walls of the ramp and staircase adjacent to the transit center, features images of the Western peony, a flower found in the Ochoco Mountains of Central Oregon that is used as grief medicine. It also features excerpts from a poem in eight different languages.

In the days after the stabbings, the public created a memorial of chalk messages at the Hollywood Transit Center in Northeast Portland, the site of the attacks. (Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian)

Before Farahat painted the mural, people stopped by the transit center and filled the walls with chalk messages of hope, grief and support. Farahat said in a 2018 interview that the amount of love and support shown on those walls gave her a lot of hope for the strength of the city.

TriMet spokesperson Roberta Altstadt said the agency began demolishing portions of the transit center in October, and moved the bus stops out of the transit center and onto Halsey Street months ago. The station is still open to MAX trains.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
Portland police arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing a man in Northeast Portlands Hazelwood neighborhood on Tuesday.

Police have not yet publicly identified the victim. Officers found the man dead inside a home after responding to a reported stabbing near Northeast Glisan Street and 126th Avenue around 12:40 p.m, police said.

Jarrod Leo Yahtin-Cloud was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday on allegations of second-degree murder, booking records show.

Yahtin-Cloud was sentenced to 15 months in Oregon prison, with credit for time served, after being convicted in October 2022 of being a felon in possession of a firearm in Jefferson County, court records show. He was on post-prison supervision when officers arrested him Wednesday, records show.

He was also convicted of first-degree burglary, two counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and third-degree assault in January 2022 in Jefferson County, court records show.

In a separate incident, homicide detectives are investigating the death of another man found dead in Hazelwood on Monday night. Police have not publicly identified the man or said how he died.

Hazelwood was the citys deadliest neighborhood in 2023, with seven of the citys 77 homicides that year.

Police asked anyone with information about Tuesdays fatal stabbing to contact detectives Tony Harris at tony.harris@police.portlandoregon.gov and 503-823-0441 or Jeff Sharp at jeff.sharp@police.portlandoregon.gov and 503-823-9773, referencing case number 24-6917.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalinagaitan_

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Steven Joseph Bricker, 35, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegations that he fatally shot a 33-year-old man in Northeast Portland in November, according to a statement from the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office.

Bricker was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Monday on charges of second-degree murder, attempted murder with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show.

He was booked into Multnomah County jail, where he remained Wednesday.

Just before 10 p.m. Nov. 21, police were called to the 4700 block of Northeast 62nd Avenue after neighbors reported gunfire. Officers found a man, later identified as Eric Bankhead, dead near a home when they arrived.

Police identified the man shot and killed outside a home in NE Portland as 33-year-old Eric Bankhead.Portland Police Bureau

Residents in the area told The Oregonian/OregonLive that they heard arguing leading up to the gunfire.

We heard some yelling, and then what sounded like two clips worth of gunshots, Pete Franklin told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Police have not provided details on what led up to the shooting.

Bricker has convictions over the past 15 years for assault, possession of methamphetamine and harassment, according to court records.

Brickers trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 20, court records show.

 Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744

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Oregon lawmakers are discussing a proposal to recriminalize minor drug possession, a move that would gut the most controversial part of Oregons voter-approved drug law.

Multiple people briefed on the proposal say Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber and Rep. Jason Kropf, co-chairs of a special committee tasked with addressing shortcomings of Measure 110 and the states behavioral health system, have held meetings in the past two weeks to unveil a slate of policy proposals.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. We will persist on our journey. We are completing our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, but the Baku Initiative Group will live on, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

We will contribute to exposing French neocolonialism and to the process of freeing French colonies from the French colonial yoke, the head of state pointed out.

In addressing the desecration of Khurshidbanu Natavan's statue in France, the President drew a parallel with the Armenians' act of digging Natavan`s grave in Aghdam, emphasizing the striking similarity between the two incidents.
Sean Bates was early to meet a friend for lunch in Portland on Sunday, so he decided to take a little detour.

Bates, a software developer from Vancouver, had been following the story of the door plug that ripped Friday evening from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, depressurizing the plane and sucking things out into the night sky.

Luckily, no people were seriously harmed.

He heard National Transportation Safety Board officials ask people to keep an eye out for wreckage materials, he said Tuesday.

And so, Bates said, he parked at Sunset Transit Center Sunset Transit Center is on Southwest Barnes Road in Beaverton and went for a walk around there.

He walked along the side of the road, he said, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that may have come from a plane.

I look and see a phone sitting under a bush, he said.

Initially, Bates thought maybe a jogger had lost the iPhone. But then, he said, I went and picked it up and there was a broken-off charger cable. When I looked at the screen it was in airplane mode.

Thats when he knew he may have actually found something from the plane.

I was like, Theres no way this fell from the sky, he said.

But, it turns out, it had.

Bates said the phone wasnt cracked and when he swiped up, it opened without a screen lock. In fact, it opened to an email screen. The phones owner was apparently looking at their checked baggage information.

After making his discovery, Bates immediately called the Beaverton non-emergency line, where he was forwarded to NTSB investigators who were not far from where he was. He met up with one who, he said, had just found a different phone from the flight.

He handed the phone over to investigators, who told him they would log the phone and return it to Alaska Airlines, which would return it to the passenger who lost it.

Since posting about his discovery, Bates said most people are shocked at how well the phone handled a drop from 16,000 feet.

And, hes been getting a lot of questions about the case.

So many phone case companies are calling me, trying to figure out what case was on the phone, he said. Next time I find a phone that falls out of the sky, Ill make sure to take a picture of the back.

 Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker

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Portland may see a continued rain/snow mix through the early morning hours Wednesday, but then just rain as the day progresses.

The National Weather Service reports that accumulating low elevation snow was seen along U.S. 101 overnight in areas around Cannon Beach, as well as in the Columbia River Gorge, southwest Washington from Vancouver north through the Interstate 5 corridor in Cowlitz County, and in areas above 500 ft around the Portland metro especially in the West Hills.

A check of traffic cams at 5 a.m. showed lingering snow on Northwest Cornelius Pass Road north of Skyline Boulevard, and snow-covered roads on the Sunset Summit of the Coast Range and in Timber and Buxton on U.S. 26.

Portlands winter weather advisory is in effect until 6 a.m. Wednesday when forecasters believe the snow/rain mix will begin to turn over to all rain.

The weather service reports that locations south of a line generally from Cannon Beach to Portland did not receive any snow.

Portlands early morning temps were hovering in the mid-to-high 30s as of about 5 a.m. but are expected to warm to about 43 degrees effectively melting off anything that lingers past the morning hours. The snow level will also rise to about 2,000 feet this afternoon.

Showers will continue across the metro area overnight and into Thursday and a cold upper airmass will also bring some isolated thunderstorms chances along the Coast Range and into the valleys. Temps will remain above freezing Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, and no low-level snow is expected.

Heavy snow continues to fall over the Cascades into Wednesday along with gusty winds causing white out conditions at times. A blizzard warning remains in effect in elevations above 3,000 feet through Wednesday. Gusts of 35-45 mph are likely.

Some area ski resorts planned to open or resume operations Wednesday. If youre traveling into the mountains expect heavy blowing snow, slow traffic, disabled vehicles, and delays. Check with your ski area prior to setting out as conditions may change schedules and available lifts.

Due to extensive storm recovery we are anticipating our opening will be delayed until noon today. Stay tuned for more updates as we work to dig out from this epic storm.  Mt Hood Meadows (@HoodMeadows) January 10, 2024

Portland will see another round of rain Thursday with breezy west/southwest winds gusting as high as 25 mph. The daytime high temp should reach near 43 degrees.

Fridays weather, though only two days away, is still a mystery to forecasters as models remain sharply divided on the southern track of an Arctic airmass path into the continental United States. Generally, models are agreeing that the frigid air will slip at least into eastern Washington by the weekend. But because of another wet and warmer front pushing into the region from the coast, the jury is still out on how far the cold air will penetrate into western Oregon.

Friday could be a rain/snow mix day depending on how much moisture is in the region prior to the fronts arrival. The high temp is expected to reach about 41 degrees.

Forecast models that are trending warmer suggest only cold rain and minimal winter impacts through the weekend. But some models are showing a 70-80% chance on Saturday of highs of only 25 degrees. Sunday may be about the same. That means any moisture moving into the region would fall as snow. Its just still too early to call. Most models are keeping the cold air north of Salem, so central and southern Willamette Valley areas may not see anything other than rain.

Keep an eye on your favorite forecaster or meteorologist in the next few days as the conditions are very fluid and can change rapidly.
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghanas growing population is youthful with an increasingly fast emerging middle-class who have an appreciation for U
At the core of the outrage over The Return of the Pagans lies a question of definition: who is a Pagan? What is Paganism?

Language is a living thing, and appeals to the dictionary are among the weakest of arguments  originalism and textualism arent just bad legal theories. At the same time, not every definition is a good and useful definition.

The English word Pagan comes from the Latin word paganus. Most of us in the Pagan community were taught that paganus means country dweller and was used as a term of derision to refer to the native Britons who kept their ancestral religions instead of converting to the religion of the invading Romans.

When I wrote What Makes Paganism Pagan? in 2018, Dr. Edward Butler said we have that wrong. Paganus was a way of othering the native Britons, but the charge was not that they were country hicks. The charge was that they were following a particular religion instead of the supposedly universal religion of the Romans  and that religious othering did not begin until after the Romans converted to Christianity.

Whatever the origin, the word stuck. Then, when the British Empire expanded in the modern era, it was used as a catch-all term for any religion that was insufficiently like proper Anglican Christianity. Ancient Greeks and Romans were lumped in with Hindus and Buddhists and with any people still practicing their own indigenous religions. The only thing they had in common was that they were not like us, therefore wrong and in need of correction. And so it was perfectly good and moral to take their lands and steal their resources and treasures.

Linguistic othering is far from the British (now Anglo-American) Empires worst sin. At the same time, intellectual honesty and basic decency demand that we not combine people and traditions that have nothing in common other than theyre not like us. Calling people Pagan when what you really mean is irreligious isnt just an insult to the Pagans (both ancient and contemporary) who were and are highly religious, its inaccurate.

The word catholic means universal. Youre not wrong if you use it to mean universal in a way that doesnt refer to the Church of Rome (at least indirectly) but you are likely to confuse your readers. Choosing a different word would result in better communication of ideas.

Likewise, when you use Pagan in a way that does not refer to the pre-Christian religions of Europe and the Near East or to their contemporary re-creations and reimaginings, you may not be wrong, but there are better ways to get your message across  ways that do not needlessly antagonize those of us who follow those religions today.

The irreligious are not Pagans

In his essay in The Atlantic, David Wolpe used Donald Trump as a contemporary example of a Pagan. Trump isnt Pagan  hes irreligious, and highly so.

Trump claims to be a Christian and hes very popular with certain kinds of Christians, but his life and his politics show a complete lack of understanding of religion of any kind. That doesnt make him Pagan: he doesnt worship Nature, or the Many Gods, or his ancestors, or pretty much anything other than himself. Hes irreligious, and those of us who disagree with him  a group that presumably includes Rabbi Wolpe  would be better served by accurately describing him as such, rather than inaccurately describing him as part of a religious tradition he does not follow.

Likewise, the bulk of those who are leaving Christianity are not becoming Pagans. I wish they were. Theyre becoming none of the above. Theyre keeping a few high-level generic beliefs and some of cultural Christianity but theyre not part of any group and they dont want to be.

The irreligious, the non-religious, and the none-of-the-aboves are not Pagan. Call them what they are.

Followers of indigenous religions are not Pagans

There are still some cultures in the world that have not been wiped out by Christianity or by Islam. Theyre still doing what their ancestors did for thousands of years. That doesnt make them Pagan. It makes them Yoruba or Ojibwe or whatever they call themselves.

It took modern Pagans a while to understand that these people arent part of our movement, as much as wed like to include them. There is much we can learn from indigenous people  especially about how to relate to the land  to the extent that theyre willing to share.

Likewise, there is much we can learn from Hinduism. Hinduism shares Indo-European roots with the indigenous religions of Europe, and existing Hindu practices can sometimes point us in the direction of the practices of ancient Europeans that are lost to history. But Hinduism is its own thing, and its not Pagan  its Hindu.

Satanists are not Pagans

Theres no devil in the Craft. So said Sandra Bullock in Practical Magic and so say most  but far from all  contemporary witches.

Satanism is not Paganism. Satanism is the inversion of Christianity. It says your religion is so bad and so unhelpful I would rather follow your adversary than to follow your God. Interestingly, the largest Satanic group today  The Satanic Temple  is explicitly atheistic. They reject the idea of a literal Satan, but embrace the Satanic archetype as a way of rebelling against the repression of conservative Christianity.

I consider The Satanic Temple to be allies in the cause of religious freedom, but their anti-theism extends to polytheists  I would not be welcome in their organization and I have no intentions of joining it.

Pagans dont agree on who is and isnt Pagan

Thats a brief list of people who are often misidentified as Pagan. But if they arent Pagan, who is?

If you asked me to define Christianity, Id talk about Jesus (but as a teacher, a God, or a sacrifice?), the Bible (but which translation? and is it inerrant and infallible?), and the myth of the Universal Church. But a simple look at the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the United Church of Christ shows huge differences in beliefs, spiritual practices, and in how those beliefs and practices impact the social, economic, and political actions of their followers. An outside observer would likely conclude that while these groups have a common heritage, as practiced today they are different religions.

Modern Paganism is very similar. We have some commonalities but the core of what we do and who we are is different. Gardnerian Wicca, Heathenry, Kemetic Reconstructionism, and the seemingly-infinite variety of witches believe different things, do different things, and express their core values in different ways.

People get to define and identify themselves. Some people I think of as Pagans dont use that term for themselves, and so I dont use it for them either.

The core of my religion is polytheism  the belief in and worship of the Many Gods. Many contemporary polytheists dont identify as Pagans. I respect that, but I do, for the reasons I outline in What Makes Paganism Pagan?

The Four Centers of Paganism

About ten years ago, several people in the wider Pagan community did some religious studies work to try to come up with a definition of Paganism. Our conclusion was that while its not possible to define Paganism, it is possible to describe it. Paganism is not an institution with clearly defined boundaries. Rather, its a movement with a center. People arent in or out of Paganism, theyre closer to or further away from the center.

Paganism has four centers: Nature, the Gods, the Self, and Community  places where people who go to Pagan events, read Pagan books, and generally consider themselves Pagans find the divine, however they conceive of the divine. Im primarily a Nature-centered and Deity-centered Pagan, but there are elements of Self-centered (as in improving the self, not as in egotistical) and Community-centered Paganism in my practice as well.

We dont hear a lot about the Four Centers anymore. Thats at least partially my fault. Im not the primary originator of the concept (John Halstead and Joseph Bloch deserve much of that credit) but I was its loudest prophet. In recent years Ive had other priorities. But if Im going to argue that Pagan has a meaning I have an obligation to say what that meaning is. This is the best explanation I can offer.

The Big Tent of Paganism

Another model that came out of that wider conversation is the idea of the Big Tent of Paganism. As best we can remember, this term started with Jonathan Korman and was borrowed from politics, where an effective party requires people and groups with a wide variety of interests to support and elect candidates that generally share their values even if they dont support all their goals (politics is the art of the possible).

Modern Paganism isnt one religion. Its a collection of many different religions that at least occasionally gather under a metaphorical big tent. There is no credal test to get in and you can leave any time you like. The Big Tent provides a visible, easy-to-find entry point for ordinary people who are looking for something their current religion isnt providing. And it makes it easier for us to find others inside the tent who are doing the same things for the same reasons.

The Big Tent and the people who benefit from it (those who are inside it and those who are looking for it) are why I continue to invest time and energy advocating for the word Pagan and criticizing those who misuse it.

Stop using Pagan as a generic term for religion thats not like mine and therefore wrong

Im not claiming ownership of the word Pagan and Im not insisting that people I see inside the Big Tent use it for themselves. I have neither the right nor the desire to do either.

Rather, Im arguing that its use as a term of othering must end. Call the irreligious irreligious. Call indigenous people what they call themselves. Call Christians who leave the Church apostates until they develop a new religious identity, and then call them that.

Pagans are not beyond criticism. If you want to argue against Nature worship, against ancestor veneration, against magic, and against polytheism, have at it  thats your right. We live in a marketplace of religions and monotheists are as entitled to promote their religions as anyone else.

What theyre not entitled to do is to misrepresent ancient traditions and modern practices because theyre not like what they believe and do.
Since Intel doesnt plan a desktop CPU with AI capabilities until later this year, PC makers are turning to chip startups instead and the future may be in the Lenovo ThinkCentre Neo Ultra, potentially with AI cards from MemryX and Kinara inside.

Lenovo will launch the ThinkCentre Neo Ultra in June for about $1,000, product manager Bryan Lin said from Lenovos booth at CES 2024. While Lenovos documentation does not officially include either AI processor, its likely. And the small content-creation desktop was at CES showcasing both AI cards.

While AMD, Intel and Qualcomm have all shown mobile processors with integrated AI NPUs, only AMD has announced a desktop Ryzen processor with an APU inside. Intel, which holds the dominant share in the PC processor industry, will have to wait until the launch of Arrow Lake to make an NPU available for desktop PC makers.

Meanwhile, more PC makers are realizing that an AI PC can actually be constructed with just a CPU and a GPU, while NPUs provide more power-efficient AI. If youre a desktop PC maker, with traditionally fewer concerns about power consumption, that may be sufficient. But businesses, which want to apply AI to making money, want AI now  and they do care about minimizing power consumption at scale. In this, at least, the business market may push ahead of consumer PCs.

At CES 2024, Lenovo is showing off its ThinkCentre Neo Ultra with AI accelerators from both Memryx (left) and Kinara running AI applications. Mark Hachman / IDG

What were seeing now is that the discrete graphics card is too hungry in terms of form factor and power, thermal design, et cetera, Lin said. So an NPU card drawing about 5 to 10 watts can give us a certain level of AI capabilities.

But what about when Arrow Lake debuts?

With Arrow Lake what Im getting is that its still very limited [in terms of] power, Lin said. So, at least eighteen to twenty-four months from now, I think discrete [AI accelerators] will still be part of it. And especially for desktop, where we dont have the limitation of battery.

Intels next move will be to bring Arrow Lake an its AI NPU to the desktop. Mark Hachman / IDG

The ThinkCentre Neo Ultra will include up to an Intel Core i9 vPro processor of an undisclosed architecture, with up to 64GB of DDR5-5200 memory. It will also include a creator-class Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, up to 4TB of SSD storage, with a 350W internal power supply. Its a 3.6-liter chassis, measuring 7.67 x 7.67 x 4.21in.

Lenovo has what it is calling an AI engine, routing workloads to where it fits the most, Lin said.

Lenovos ThinkCentre Neo Ultra, shown off at CES 2024. Mark Hachman / IDG

Lin said that there are a number of AI chip startups that the company is working with, including MemryX and Kinara, the two AI chip companies being shown off at the booth.

Meet MemryX, one of the first AI accelerators

MemryX manufactures the MX3 Edge AI Accelerator. The companys software development kit, and what Lenovo is showing off inside the ThinkCentre, is comprised of four MX3 chips mounted on an M.2 PCI Express card (Gen3, somewhat surprisingly), though it can run inside a USB 3.2 USB card as well.

MemryX rates each MX3 as capable of 10 TFLOPs (trillion floating-point operations) instead of the more conventional TOPS  thats 40 TFLOPS per card, with 4 chips per card. Thats because the MX3 defaults to 16-bit floating-point operations and 8-bit weights by default, rather than the integer operations that are a more common metric, according to Roger Peene, the vice president of product and business development for MemryX.

When theres an opportunity to use discrete solutions, everybody will use it until Intel or AMD integrates it, Peene said. So everybody knows Intels way behind theyve amped up their marketing. Theyre clearly not happy that Lenovo would choose a startup to run AI in a PC. So thats kind of the story.

The MemryX AI accelerator performing AI image recognition at CES. An avatar mimicked a real-life person. Mark Hachman / IDG

Each MX3 consumes 1 to 2 watts on average, Peene said. The chips support Linux, Android and Windows, as well as the TensorFlow, TensorFlow-lite, PyTorch, ONNX and Keras frameworks.

Each chip can run a model with 10 million 8-bit parameters, scaled as necessary. Out of the box, the MX3 can perform YOLO v7 tiny at 416416, 375fps (x2) without pruning or training, or SSDMobileNet (224224) at 1403fps.

We havent had a chance to speak to Kinara, though the company launched its Ara-2 Edge AI processor last fall. As an example of its capabilities for processing Generative AI models, Ara-2 can hit 10 seconds per image for Stable Diffusion and tens of tokens/sec for LLaMA-7B, the company said in a press release.

The MemryX PCIe AI accelerator card, with four MX3 chips onboard. Mark Hachman / IDG

Both the MemryX and Kinara AI chips are being positioned first as AI for image recognition, with one MemryX demo showing off how it could recognize if construction workers had donned the right protective gear. Still, AI can be used for all sorts of purposes: games, avatars, local language models/chatbots, and more.

Whats more important, however, is that companies like Nvidia, Rendition, 3Dfx, and others launched years ago as 3D accelerators  and now, after some fell by the wayside, dominate the content-creation and gaming industry. Expect a new wave of AI accelerator cards to challenge them.

Clarification: The MemryX MX3 is capable of 10 TFLOPS per chip, or 40 per card.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Cargoes, citizens going from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan should pass there freely without undergoing any inspection, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

Otherwise, Armenia will remain an eternal deadlock, and if the route (Zangezur corridor  ed.) I mentioned is not opened, we are not going to open our border with Armenia anywhere else. So they will do themselves more harm than good, the head of state pointed out.
CES is a big show for laptops, as many of the best models for the coming year appear first at the show. This year is especially notable, as both Intel and AMD are amid launching new generations of mobile processors (though it does seem most laptop makers are leaning towards Intel). Most of the laptops at CES 2024 look rather conventional, with a few exceptions, but dial the performance up to 11. Theres also a dizzying array of Mini-LED and OLED displays at the show.

These are the best laptops of CES 2024.

Lenovo Yoga 9i Pro 16-inch (Gen 9)

IDG / Matthew Smith

Lenovos Yoga 9i line-up was, for my money, the most impressive Windows laptop line of 2023. It had everything: attractive design, a beautiful Mini-LED display, a nice keyboard and touchpad, and good all-around performance that included optional Nvidia graphics. Even the pricing was competitive.

The new Yoga 9i Pro 16-inch isnt much different from last years model, to be honestbut thats fine because it was already great. So, what is new? The 2024 model brings Intel Core Ultra processors (up to Intel Core Ultra 9) and a larger 84 watt-hour battery. In short, its quicker than last years model yet should last a tad longer on a charge.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i Pro 16-inch Gen 9 will be available in April 2024 starting at $1,699.99.

Lenovo Thinkbook 13x (Gen 4)

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Lenovo Thinkbook 13x is the worlds first laptop with a corrosion-resistant stainless magnesium chassis.

Fans of the brand may remember the company has long used magnesium alloy to reduce size and weight, but laptops that used the material required a protective finish that often felt unpleasant or inexpensive. The Thinkbook 13x doesnt have that problem. Its extremely thin and light, measuring just 12.9mm thick and weighing a mere 2.2 pounds to start, but has the metallic look and feel shoppers expect.

Thats not its only trick. The laptop also supports Lenovos Magicbay, a family of accessories (including a 4K webcam, 4G hotspot, and studio light) that attach magnetically at the top of the display. The internal hardware is up-to-date, too, with support for Intel Core Ultra processors and a 74 watt-hour battery.

The Lenovo Thinkbook 13x Gen 4 will arrive in Q1 2024 for $1,399.

MSI Titan HX 18

IDG / Matthew Smith

MSIs Titan laptops are nothing if not bonkers and the new Titan HX 18 is no exception. The flagship 18-inch gaming laptop comes with 14th-gen Intel Core i9 processors, up to Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics, and a 4K 240Hz Mini-LED display. It also supports up to 128GB of RAM and 6TB of solid state storage.

But the laptops design deserves equal attention. MSIs new Titan HX 18 has a large, seamless, haptic, RGB-lit touchpad that looks and feels great. That comes alongside a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX key switches. Its a hefty laptop, as well, with a rock-solid design that looks and feels more elegant than the 2023 model. Make no mistake, however, this laptop is still a bruiser and not meant for frequent travel.

The MSI Titan HX 18 will retail carry an MSRP of $4,999 when it arrives later this year.

HP Omen Transcend 14

IDG / Matthew Smith

HP went small at CES 2024 with the Omen Transcend 14, which claimed to be the worlds lightest 14-inch gaming laptop (a title it lost within hours to the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, but still). It weighs a feathery 3.6 pounds. The Razer Blade 14 by comparison starts at about 3.9 pounds. The Transcend 14 is a looker, too, with an alluring white colorway and RGB keyboard.

The laptops specifications are impressive for its size. It packs up to an Intel Core 9 Ultra 185H processor, up to Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics, and a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Variable Refresh Rate Support. The laptop is powered by a 140-watt USB-C charger, as well, which ships with the laptop.

The HP Omen Transcend 14 is available for pre-order now starting at $1,499.99.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18

IDG / Matthew Smith

Theres a lot to talk about with the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, but lets start with the display. As I covered in my preview of Asus new laptop displays, the Strix Scar 18 packs a Mini-LED display with an excellent 2,304 dimming zones. Thats more than twice last years ROG Flow X16, which had 1,024 dimming zones, and it dramatically boosts contrast in high-brightness scenes. The display is a top performer in other areas, too, with great color accuracy and wide color gamut.

Display aside, the Stris Scar 18 has the high-end hardware youd expect including up to an Intel Core i9 14900HX processor and up to Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics. RAM tops out at 64GB and solid state storage runs up to 4TB. Its a beefy laptop, weighing in at about 7.3 pounds, but thats to be expected from a gaming laptop with its caliber of hardware.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 starts at $2,999.99 and should ship in the first quarter of 2024.

Asus Zephyrus G16

IDG / Matthew Smith

Next up is the Asus Zephyrus G16 and, once, again, the display takes center stage. The new Zephyrus G16 has a 25601600 OLED display with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. It also crucially supports G-Sync, something that wasnt available in OLED laptops prior to those announced at CES 2024. The G16s display looks gorgeous in motion with crisp detail and deep black levels.

The Zephyrus G16 is otherwise surprisingly practical. It has a rigid machined aluminum chassis that keeps weight down to about 3.3 pounds, and the laptop measures just .64 inches thick. Despite its slim profile, it still packs a 90 watt-hour battery. The internals include an Intel Core Ultra 185H processor and up to Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics.

Asus expects to ship the ROG Zephyrus G16 in the first quarter of 2024, but pricing hasnt been announced.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra

IDG / Matthew Smith

Samsungs Galaxy Book4 Ultra is a 16-inch high-performance thin-and-light with up to an Intel Core 9 Ultra processor and up to Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics. RAM goes up to 64GB and solid state storage peaks at 2TB. It also packs a 28801800 OLED touchscreen with a refresh rate up to 120Hz.

All of this hardware is stuffed in an elegant, professional clamshell chassis that tips the scales at roughly 4.1 pounds and measures no more than 0.65 inches thick. Thats impressive, given the specifications. Samsung also provides a 140 watt USB-C Adapter that can be used to charge the laptop over USB-C.

Samsung hasnt announced pricing, but the Galaxy Book4 Ultra will be available in Korea this month, with other countries to follow soon after.

Asus Zenbook Duo

IDG / Matthew Smith

Asus latest wild dual-screen laptop is the Zenbook Duo, a double-screen clamshell similar to Lenovos Yoga Book 9i. Like the Lenovo, Asus laptop provides two OLED touchscreens which can be used in a vertical or horizontal orientation. However, Asus switches things up with the keyboard and touchpad.

The Yoga Book 9i had a physical keyboard but relied on a virtual touchpad on the lower display, which wasnt great. The Zenbook Duo instead has a larger keyboard with a physical touchpad. As a result, the Duo feels identical to a traditional clamshell laptop when the keyboard and touchpad is in use. Asus also switches up the stand, going for an attached flip-out stand instead of a case.

Id have to spend more time with the Zenbook Duo to know if Asus changes put it ahead of Lenovos competitor, but what I saw was promising. The Zenbook Duo will launch in the first quarter of 2024 at a surprisingly affordable $1,500.

Acer Aspire Vero 16

IDG / Matthew Smith

Want to go green? Acers Aspire Vero 16 deserves your attention. Its a follow-up to the companys prior (and, apparently, quite popular) Vero laptops, which are built from post-consumer resin (PCR) recycled plastics. The Vero 16 ups the PCR content to 60 percent, a big leap from the Acer Aspire Vero 14s chassis, which contained 30 percent. Sustainability aside, I like how the Vero 16 looks. It has a flecked, textured appearance thats unique to the Vero line.

The Aspire Vero 16s specifications are modest, with up to Intel Core Ultra 7 processors, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 2TB of solid state storage. But the price tag is also modest: Acer says itll start at just $749.99 and is expected to ship April of 2024.

Acer Aspire 15 3D SpatialLabs Edition

IDG / Matthew Smith

Acer was early to jump on board glasses-free 3D technology with its SpatialLabs sub-brand and now, at CES 2024, its coming to a more affordable price point. The Acer Aspire 15 3D SpatialLabs Edition starts at just $1,399.99, making it the most affordable laptop with the technology yet.

Havent heard of SpatialLabs? Its Acers version of a glasses-free 3D that uses cameras to track a users eyes and provide two slightly different versions of a scene, creating a stereoscopic effect. Theres no spectacles, dongles, or peripherals required.

The laptop is also rather well equipped with up to an Intel Core i7-13620H processor, up to Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics, up to 32GB of memory, and up to 2TB of solid state storage. Acer expects it to ship in February.
Weve seen a lot of competition for Valves Steam Deck pop up in the nearly two years since it hit the market. While companies like Asus, MSI, and Lenovo have all put their spin on the handheld gaming PC form factor, they all diverge from the original in one major way: They run Windows instead of the Linux-based SteamOS. Ayaneo, a Chinese manufacturer that was one of the first to get a Steam Deck competitor out the door, is looking to fill this niche with its latest device, the Next Lite.

Update: According to Ayaneos page, the Next Lite is running a self-optimized version of HoloISO, which is an open-source version of SteamOS thats described as 99% of the way there on its Githgub page. Running a community-updated operating system instead of one supplied directly by Valve might be a concern for some users, but its also possible to manually install Windows on the device.

Ayaneo has also stated that the Next Lite runs on the Ryzen 5 4500U or Ryzen 7 4800U APU along with more technical specifications, but has not yet set a launch date or price. Original story follows:

Based on the companys promotional page, coming with SteamOS built-in is indeed the biggest differentiator for this model, which otherwise looks nearly identical to the original Ayaneo Next from 2022. The promotional page says that the gadget uses a 7-inch, 800p screen (identical to the original Steam Deck) and a 47 watt-hour battery. Other hardware details havent been revealed, but it seems like its a safe bet that this is running on the same Ryzen 7 5825U hardware as the Next, or something very similar to fit into the same case. More details may be revealed tomorrow, when subscriptions open.

Ayaneo

Running SteamOS might be a huge plus for prospective gamers. Integration with Steam and its ubiquitous store is a huge part of the console-style all-in-one experience of the Steam Deck. Despite needing to run many games through the Proton Linux compatibility layer, most AAA games seem to perform beautifully on the relatively low-power hardware. Having that ease of use and integration on another device could be a big mark in its favor. Valve has been developing SteamOS since 2013, when it tried and failed to make Linux-based Steam Machines competitors to consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation.

Ayaneo is really stressing the Lite part of the devices name here, saying that its a cost-effective choice and its lowering the entry barrier. But consider the context. The Ayaneo Next currently costs $1,315 from the companys official store, and according to promotional graphics, thats already $966 off. So however little the Next Lite costs, it seems extremely unlikely that itll be competitive with the Steam Deck or other handhelds from major players, all of which are well below the $1,000 USD mark.
Kenya is facing a backlash over the visa-free entry policy introduced for all foreigners this month, with some terming it "hectic".



President William Ruto announced the policy last month to advocate for visa-free travel within the African continent.



Kenyan authorities have since clarified that while the country grants visa-free entry, visitors need to apply for electronic travel authorisation (ETA) by submitting documentation and paying a $30 (23) processing fee.



The requirement also applies to countries whose citizens previously had unrestricted access to Kenya.



By Sunday, Kenya had received more than 9,000 visa applications through the digital platform, authorities said.



But some foreigners are now criticizing the government, saying that the new policy has created confusion and made travel to Kenya tougher and costlier.



"Dear Africans, Kenya is not telling the world the truth when it says that it is now visa-free, it is not! It has in fact made travelling there more difficult for Africans who didnt need a visa before," prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono said on X.



"So until 24 hours ago, as a Malawian, I could just wake up, buy a ticket and fly to Kenya in the afternoon, visa free. Now Kenya has 'removed visa' for everyone visiting Kenya, but now everyone has to pay $30 travel authorization fee 72 hours before travel. What? Hectic," Malawian entrepreneur Jones Ntaukira shared on X.



Some Kenyans have voiced fears that the tougher restrictions could trigger a boycott by some foreigners or that other countries could impose reciprocal restrictions.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, from office with immediate effect.



The suspension was revealed in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.



He said it was in line with Tinubus avowed commitment to uphold the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the management of the commonwealth of Nigerians.



The statement said, The President further directs the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transactions involving the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, as well as one or more agencies thereunder.



The suspended Minister is hereby directed to hand over to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.



And she is further directed by the President to fully cooperate with the investigating authorities as they conduct their investigation.



Furthermore, the President has tasked a panel that is headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes to conclusively reform the relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative.



These directives of the President take immediate effect.

Source: vanguard









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The attention of the Divisional Executives of PSWU-NIA Division has been drawn to a WhatsApp message directing some 67 staff in the Eastern and Greater Accra regions to hand over and report to their new stations in what is termed staff rotation.



The communication has created a huge outcry among District Registration Officers (DROs) regarding the channel of communication and the duration within which affected staff are required to report.



According to the Divisional Executives of the PSWU-NIA Division, "though we hold a contrary view to the description of the movement, we welcome it wholeheartedly, except to differ in: the manner and channel of communication of such a crucial message and the time duration given to affected staff to report to their new station."



In an appeal sent to the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, on Friday, January 5, 2024, the union says it has no objection to the decision of management to move staff from one station to another if it will be in the best interest of the Authority.



"However, we respectfully request that, such should be done in accordance with the relevant provisions of the NIAs conditions of service, sections 9.4.13 (a-e) and the Ministry of Finance document on Revision of Rates of Category 2&3 Allowances for the Public Service, section 4.2.7.



"Recognition for these relevant provisions would not only set good precedence for future reference, it will also give ample time for affected staff to prepare adequately to accept this change in their new environment.



"We humbly call on you to respectfully consider the relevant provisions surrounding transfer of staff, and give at least, three (3) months notice to affected staff to adequately prepare and report to their new stations.



"We further call on you to make the necessary financial commitments readily available to affected staff whose movements would be up to 50km of radius or beyond," an appeal letter sighted by Peacefmonline.com and signed by Francis Banfudeme Nyuzaghl, Divisional Chairman, and Adu Kyeremeh Kwabena, Divisional Secretary, stated.



Meanwhile, the affected DRO's have been directed to write and submit their handing-over notes on or before Thursday, January 11, 2024, and hand them over properly to their replacements and report to their respective new district offices on Friday, 12th January 2024.



See attached the full letter.

Your browser does not support iframes.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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In a surprising move, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng made a personal appearance in court for the case involving his office and former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.



Typically, the Special Prosecutor is represented by other lawyers, making his presence in court today unexpected.



Prior to the case being called, Kissi Agyebeng engaged in a brief conversation with the Director of Prosecutions, Dr. Isidore Tufour, and lawyers representing Madam Dapaah.



The details of their conversation were not disclosed.



During an interview on Citi TVs The Point of View, Kissi Agyebeng shed light on the rationale behind his offices decision to investigate the missing sum of money belonging to Cecilia Dapaah.



He explained that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) became involved after the Attorney General initiated a case against Dapaahs domestic staff for the missing money.



The OSP collaborated with the Attorney General to investigate the source of over $1 million and other valuables stolen from the former ministers residence in Ablemkpe.



Our perspective was to look at the source of this money and where it was coming from, as such a large sum of money was found in a public officers house, stated Agyebeng.



He further clarified that the Attorney Generals case actually supports and enhances the OSPs investigation.

The two entities are working towards a comprehensive solution by simultaneously tracing the stolen money and investigating its source.



The case, which came to light in July 2023, involved two house helps of Cecilia Abena Dapaah and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, who were alleged to have stolen millions of Ghana Cedis. After the story broke, Dapaah resigned from her position as Minister, and the OSP conducted a search at her residence.



The presence of Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng in court today marks a significant development in this ongoing case. As the proceedings continue, it remains to be seen how the investigation will unfold and what further revelations may come to light.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has urged Ghanaians not to condone any acts of political intolerance ahead of the December 7 election in order to sustain the peace and security of the country as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.



Chairperson of the NCCE, Kathleen Addy, who made this known at a press conference to commemorate Ghanas Constitution Day yesterday in Accra, said the year will be a test case on the countrys level of political and religious tolerance hence an opportunity to Ghanaians to affirm political maturity to forge ahead for national cohesion.



January 7 is observed as a public holiday to mark the annual Constitutional Day.



She said In 2024, we urge citizens not to condone acts of political intolerance, political vindictiveness, politics of insults, political violence, personal attacks, undermining state Institutions mandated to oversee elections, civic education and the promotion of peace in this country.



She also called on political parties to put Ghana first in their engagement with voters focusing on issue-based campaign that would offer solutions that project national values, campaigns devoid of provoking religious and cultural tensions as well as issues that will improve the living conditions of people.



Madam Addy also bemoaned the alarming rate at which most electorates are induced with money for votes during elections citing examples of some studies conducted by the CDD where people have to spend over $700,000 in order to win parliamentary elections.



According to her, the practice represents an existential threat to the countrys well being and individual citizens and the greatest factor undermining the countrys democracy.



She explained that though democracy creates a system where the best will emerge to lead in any endeavour, copious amounts of money displayed in todays politics distorts the system and skews it in favour of those who have or could raise money.



Thus excluding a significant number of otherwise qualified citizens from contesting for political leadership. In the situation like ours where regulations around money in politics are either non-existent, weak or poorly enforced, we stand the risk of attracting very dark and bad money into the judicial system, she added.



She, therefore, asked Ghanaians to be interested in how politics were financed in order not to sell their vote and compromise on their conscience.



She noted that though the Commission was mandated by law to educate citizens on their responsibilities among others, civic education is a shared responsibility which required all to work together to unite and consolidate the gains towards progressively implementing the principles and laws enshrined in the constitution.



Also present at the year-long celebration on the theme Together We Can Build Ghana, So Get Involved were representatives from the National Peace Council, Christian Council of Ghana, Catholic Bishops Conference, the Church of Pentecost, Office of the National Chief Imam, National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) among several others.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU-Ghana) has appealed to social partners, especially the government, to support State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).



According to the workers union, SOEs like Aluworks Ghana Limited, Neoplan Ghana Limited, PBC Limited and Volta Star Textiles Limited, need support since the potential of their huge economic contributions cannot be over emphasized.



With dedicated central government support, strategic SOEs can play their rightful roles in the national development efforts.



It will also give meaning to the advocacy by labour unions for the necessary conditions to be created for sustainable employment opportunities, the ICU said in its New Year message signed by Morgan Ayawine, General Secretary.



ICU-Ghana said the government should pay serious attention to some strategic state-owned enterprises in 2024 by injecting the needed financial resources into such institutions to revive and sustain them.



This is one progressive way, to help those whose jobs are on the line in such organisations and also, go a long way to creating sustainable employment opportunities for our teaming young people, it said.



It further encouraged all citizens to contribute their quota in maintaining the national cohesion, to sustain investor confidence to propel economic growth.



The union will like to remind Ghanaians that peaceful environment is critical for accelerated growth, and it is the expectation of the union that all stakeholders, will unite and strive at all times to sustain the national peace and stability.



This is because, no amount of increased productivity can take place in an atmosphere of violence, it emphasized.



In this regard, the union urged all political actors to conduct their activities in the up-coming elections devoid of rancour and acrimony, mindful of the fact that the working people can only give their best in a peaceful society.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) this morning walked out of a meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), citing bad faith, contempt and lackadaisical attitude on the part of the Employer/FWSC towards the discussion of the very important aspects of their conditions of service as reasons.



According to the two Associations, University Teachers would no longer countenance the gross disrespect and lack of commitment towards their quest for improvement in their conditions of service.



They insisted that UTAG/TUTAG wouldnt be part of meetings that do not yield benefits and warned that the voices of University Lecturers would be heard soon in the language better understood by the Employer/Government.



More to come soon

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Kofi Baah Agyepong says the Business and Employment Assistance Programme (BEAP) will help reduce Ghanas unemployment rate by giving lifeline for countless young individuals striving to carve out a promising future.



According to him, the initiative seeks to address the financial strains faced by Micro and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) during the tumultuous period of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Drawing upon a Ghana Statistical Service survey revealing the hardships faced by businesses including wage reductions and closures, BEAP emerges as a vital intervention to support these struggling enterprises.



Speaking to journalists in Kumasi on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, Mr. Agyepong said the BEAP aims to provide a lifeline to MSMEs, offering salary support of GHS 500 per recruited employee with the employer supplementing the remainder.



Targeting various establishments such as chop bars, pharmacies, schools and more, BEAP strives to alleviate the financial burden on these enterprises while bolstering employment opportunities for Ghana's workforce, he added.



Highlighting the programme's ambitious goals, Mr. Agyepong announced plans to support 10,000 companies, facilitating the employment of approximately 20,000 individuals.



He reassured Ghanaians of YEA's sustainable funding from the Communication Service Tax, emphasizing the agency's unwavering commitment to directing these funds solely towards job creation.



Mr. Agyepong extended appreciation to the government for its endorsement and support, ensuring the programme's successful launch and initiation.



YEA has been instrumental in partnering with State agencies, offering skills training and fostering employment opportunities exemplified by the success stories of several programmes implemented over the past year.



Despite the admitted global economic challenges, he said; "We have been working hard to reduce the rate of unemployment and lessen the burdens of life on young people whiles affording them the opportunity to make ends meet."

Touching on the success story of the agency, Mr. Agyepong said, in 2022/2023, the government of Ghana through YEA recruited:





15,000 Community Protection Assistants working with the Ghana Police Service

6,000 Community Health Workers working with the Ghana Health Service

1,500 Prison Office Assistants working with the Ghana Prisons Service

4,000 workers on the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme

5,000 Insurance Agents for the National Insurance Commission with base pay

13,000 direct jobs secured through the YEA Job Centre

2,000 dressmaking trainees undergoing apprenticeship training with GHC500 monthly support

Over 30,000 entrepreneurs trained by both the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and the Ghana Library Board with support for set-ups

2,000 young people trained by the Accra Digital Centre in Basic and Advanced IT skills

Currently, YEA is recruiting another 20,000 young people to be trained and set up in 10 different trade areas being  carpentry, masonry, plumbing, hairdressing, beauty care, auto works, General Electricals, Plaster of Paris (POP), Steel Works, Welding and Fabrication and Painting. All arrangements have been made for training to start next week.

45,000 Sanitation Module beneficiaries

Financial support to over 500 dress makers and 40 large garment companies

Statistics presented by the CEO illustrated the extensive impact of YEA initiatives with over 16,000 jobs created in the Ashanti Region alone.



Notably, various sectors including community services, health, entrepreneurship and vocational training experienced substantial growth, offering a beacon of hope for Ghanaian youth seeking stable employment and entrepreneurial ventures.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The negative attitude towards us, the negative attitude from traditional sources will not abate. The aim of arming Armenia is aimed exactly at that, at keeping us under constant pressure, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

These are efforts to prevent us from living comfortably and, unfortunately, France is still in the forefront. France is the country that arms Armenia, gives them support, trains their soldiers and prepares them for another war. When I said that France's policy is causing tensions in the Caucasus, this is exactly what I meant, the President underlined.
President Akufo-Addo has made a lighthearted remark in a message to the nation to commemorate Constitution Day on January 7.



He mentioned that his main opponent in the 2020 elections (former President John Mahama) has not yet congratulated him on his victory, even though it has been three years since the election.



"On a lighter note, three years on, I'm still waiting for my main opponent in the 2020 elections to congratulate me on my victory," President Akufo-Addo said in jest.



The President has stressed the importance of maintaining and safeguarding the country's democracy.



"By common consent, all well-meaning Ghanaians agree that the democratic form of government is the most preferable and we must do everything possible to guarantee the longevity of the Fourth Republic," he said.



Read the full text below



By common consent, all well-meaning Ghanaians have agreed that the democratic form of governance is the most preferable, and we must do everything possible to guarantee the longevity of the 4th Republic.



I have spent my adult life fighting for our individual and collective rights, and it is, therefore, gratifying to note that the nation's adherence to democracy has not waned. We know that there are no quick fixes to the challenges confronting us, and, as we have seen in recent times, democratic structures of governance are capable of accommodating the most difficult of circumstances.





We have, happily, turned the corner on our economic situation, as we experience the rebound of the national economy, and we will continue to work strongly at the problems facing the nation, knowing that the solution, every four (4) years, rests, in part, on the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people, when you exercise your power to choose freely your leaders to manage the affairs of the country.



Democracies are grounded on viable elections, and, this year, like we have done on eight (8) other preceding occasions, we will go to the polls to elect the President and my successor. No true democrat can disregard the importance of elections and the sanctity of the ballot.



It must, thus, be in our collective interest to ensure that the rules and regulations for the conduct of this year's elections are fair and transparent, and that we all develop respect for them, a respect that should not be a function of whether you win or lose.



All stakeholders, that is the Electoral Commission, the political parties and their leaders, the electorate and citizenry, should work to assure the consolidation of Ghanaian democracy, and help us maintain our pride of place on the continent as a model of democracy in Africa.



At the end of it all, there should be no lingering doubt about the legitimacy of the election, and the winning candidates, on the conclusion of the process, should receive the unalloyed support of all. That is how we can strengthen our democracy and the peace and stability of our nation.



On a lighter note, three (3) years on, I am still waiting for my main opponent in the 2020 elections to congratulate me on my victory.



I swore an oath on 7th January 2017 and, again, four (4) years later, on 7th January 2021, to be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana, and preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. I shall continue to do just that.



It will not be under my watch that any adventurer will seek to torpedo the democratic path on which we are embarked. I will help see to it that we have a free, fair and transparent election in December 2024. You have my word! Ghana will be the victor of such an outcome, not any individual party or candidate.



Nonetheless, I urge you, my fellow Ghanaians, to continue to embrace the basic values of the Constitution, founded on the principles of democratic accountability and respect for the rule of law, human rights and individual liberty and freedom, which the great majority of us believe must form the bedrock of our national development and individual prosperity.



Yet alongside this freedom, we must, with the same passion and commitment, uphold our individual and collective responsibility to contribute proactively toward the greater good of society. This is the vision of a free society. No society can be truly free unless its citizens feel the need to embrace both liberty and duty, hard work and compassion.



Ghana is considered a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, and the celebration of Constitution Day should inspire us, Ghanaians, even further, to hold on to this enviable status.



Once again, I thank Almighty God, and, you, the Ghanaian people, for giving me the opportunity to serve you these past seven (7) years. I have not taken it lightly. I remain committed to the mandate you freely gave me, and will use the last year of my stay in office to do all in my power to continue to help create a free and prosperous nation of opportunities for all. The Battle is the Lord's!!





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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A Deputy National Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), George Krobea Asante, has urged all aspiring parliamentary candidates in the party to conduct issue-based campaigns ahead of the elections on January 27, 2024.



He wants the aspirants to keep the unity of the party in mind during their campaign as any form of personal attacks, character assassination, name-calling and unfounded allegations will be used against the party in the general elections.



"This is an internal party exercise and whatever we say about the other will be used against the party in the general elections. Therefore, I am entreating all to be measured and circumspect with our public pronouncements," he said.



Mr Krobea Asante made the call in a congratulatory message to commend the leadership of the party and aspirants for an incident-free, transparent, peaceful and smooth vetting process.



"The manner in which the entire process was conducted and managed was excellent and highly commendable and we must applaud the leadership", he said.



The NPP ended the three-day vetting process on Friday, January 5, 2024 and has slated the primaries in the constituencies where it has sitting MPs on January 27, 2024. It is the last phase of internal elections as part of preparations for the December 7, 2024 general election.

Source: BBC









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The Member of Parliament for Tema West constituency, Carlos Ahenkorah, has urged Ghanaians to trust in the Vice President and Presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as he is a man of his word.



According to him, "Bawumia is a technocrat and believes in knowledge," hence he'll only appoint people who are competent for various positions in his government.



"Appointments will only be based on one's capabilities. You will have to prove how capable you are before youre given a position. If Bawumia gets the opportunity now, the first thing hell do is move people around," he told sit-in host, Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo'.



Carlos Ahenkorah believes "Bawumia owes Ghanaians a duty to satisfy Ghanaians in his first term. If were not satisfied, we know what to do in the second term."



Watch the video below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Nana Kwame Bediako, known as Cheddar or Freedom Jacob Caesar, leader of the New Force movement, has sparked new intrigue about his political ambitions following a recent meeting with former President John Mahama.



The encounter comes amidst the last-minute cancellation of "The Convention," a planned public lecture generating significant buzz.



Cheddar, initially hailed as the figure behind the New Africa Foundation, had invited prominent Pan-African figures like Timi Frank, PLO Lumumba, Peter Obi, Julius Malema and Arikana Chihombori-Quao for the event that was to launch the New African Foundation Convention in Accra. However, "The Convention" was abruptly called off, leaving many questions unanswered.



The purpose of Cheddar's meeting with Mahama remains shrouded in mystery, revealed only through a post on X by Ovation International Editor, Dele Momodu.



Meanwhile, at a press conference, Cheddar confirmed his own presidential aspirations and vowed to unveil his policies for leading Ghana.



Adding to the confusion, the cancellation of "The Convention" further muddied the waters surrounding New Force's political leanings. Cheddar, however, insisted that the New Africa platform aims to empower African leaders to educate Ghanaians and Africans.



Lenders like PLO Lumumba from Kenya, Peter Obi from Nigeria, Julius Malema from South Africa, and R. Arikana from Zimbabwe were originally slated to speak at "The Convention," tackling the theme "Igniting the voices of Africa."



Adding another layer to the unfolding saga, the Diaspora Affairs Directorate at the Office of the President clarified the abrupt cancellation. Deputy Director Dr. Nadia Adongo Fynn attributed it to an unforeseen state event necessitating the last-minute withdrawal of venue permission, despite initial approval in November 2023. The Directorate expressed regret for the inconvenience and mentioned a refund of the venue fee.



The New Force billboards in town which had a man in a mask has since changed with Cheddar's face embossed on the billboards indicating that the man behind the mask has now been unmasked. It is carrying the message "Nana Kwame Bediako for President."

















Source: Graphiconline.com









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A Jefferson County healthcare companys decision to divest from skilled nursing facilities will result in more than 100 layoffs at its sister company.

Guardian Healthcare Management Services filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry informing the state it will lay off 124 people located at 8796 Rt. 219 in Snyder Township near Brockway. The company said that the 124 employees includes remote workers and those working in other areas of the state but are based out of Brockway for payroll.

Guardian Healthcare Management Services is affiliated with Guardian Healthcare and provides back-office billing and administrative support to Guardian Healthcares skilled nursing facilities.

The first layoffs are expected to occur on March 8 and will continue until the close of business, which is expected to occur by the end of 2024.

The company provided the following statement to PennLive:

Last week Guardian Healthcare Management Services notified its employees that the company will be reducing its back-office support workforce some time in 2024. The notice only impacted corporate office roles that support the companys skilled nursing facilities. It does not impact any of the companys skilled nursing center sites.

The decision to exit operations was not made lightly and was based on the challenging climate in the skilled nursing care industry. Guardian Healthcare Management Services wishes to thank all its loyal and tenured employees and will be working closely with them throughout the process.

The WARN Act is federal legislation that offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of a covered-business closing and covered-business mass layoff. The WARN notice was dated January 3.
A company that provides janitorial and facilities services at eight Amazon warehouses in Pennsylvania has said its contract with the e-commerce company will end soon.

Newbold Services filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry informing that state that 294 people will be laid off as a result of the contract not being renewed. Amazon said that employees of it current vendor partner, Newbold Services could have the opportunity to interview for positions with the new vendor.

As part of our regular course of business, we evaluate our vendor partners based on a number of factors and make changes to meet our business needs. As the result of a recent review, were changing janitorial vendors, said Sam Stephenson, Amazon spokesperson:

The Amazon warehouses are located at:

2 Ames Drive, Dickinson Township near Carlisle, Cumberland County

21 Roadway Drive, Middlesex Township near Carlisle, Cumberland County

500 McCarthy Drive, Fairview Township near Lewisberry, York County

675 Allen Road, South Middleton Township near Carlisle, Cumberland County

705 Boulder Drive, Upper Macungie Township near Breinigsville, Lehigh County

650 Boulder Drive, Upper Macungie Township near Breinigsville, Lehigh County

1610 Van Buren Road, Palmer Township near Easton, Northampton County

550 Oak Ridge, Hazle Township near Hazleton Township, Luzerne County

The layoffs will take place on March 5.

The WARN Act is federal legislation that offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of a covered-business closing and covered-business mass layoff. The WARN notice was dated January 4.
Several vendors of the Broad Street Market have released a letter in response to the markets announced price hike, which nearly doubled the cost of rental space there.

The letter, signed by representatives of 17 businesses operating in the market, was addressed to the Broad Street Market Alliance Board of Directors, the markets executive director Tanis Monroy, and Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams. (The market space is owned by the city of Harrisburg and operated via the BSMA nonprofit group.)

This letter is to formally express our concerns as Vendors of the Broad Street Market regarding last weeks Rent and Lease Update letter dated December 28th, 2023 and sent to vendors on January 2nd, 2024, the letter begins.

And while the letter acknowledges that a rent increase may be justified to ensure the long-term financial health and survival of the Broad Street Market Alliance, it goes on to note several points of contention regarding the recent decision.

As small business owners we understand having to make tough choices that are essential to sustainability and survival, the letter says. We believe that these decisions must be made with accurate data, transparency, and respect.

The boards decision to raise the rental fees for vendors from $2.67 per square foot to $5.25 per square foot was made on Dec. 13 and announced in early January, with plans for it to go into effecting starting Feb. 1. The news of the rent increase coincided with a switch to month-by-month leases, with less than a month before both would go into effect.

These plans all come after a fire which gutted one of the Broad Street Markets two buildings, which in turn led to a loss of 70% of their monthly revenue, in addition to displacing many vendors. The construction of an alternate temporary building has stalled, with no clear time table for its completion.

Chief among the letters concerns is that the membership of the BSMA board did not include the required two members who serve as representatives for vendors at this December vote, and also that the vote was not done in accordance with the boards own bylaws in regard to having a quorum of members present.

The third issue cited in the letter is the costs cited by the board for rental fees at other regional markets as comparisons, which many vendors believe were far higher than the actual fees charged at those markets.

We demand a comprehensive re-evaluation by a neutral party with fair comparison to what other area markets are charging for lease rates, including accurate rent numbers, amenities, and demographic data of the communities they serve, the letter says.

The letter also demands a minimum of one-year lease renewals, in contrast to the monthly leases offered by the recent plan, as well as fair and transparent leadership from the BSMA.

Read the full letter below:

January 9, 2024

To: Broad Street Market Alliance (BSMA) Board of Directors Broad Street Market Executive Director, Tanis Monroy Office of the Mayor, Wanda Williams

This letter is to formally express our concerns as Vendors of the Broad Street Market regarding last weeks Rent and Lease Update letter dated December 28th, 2023 and sent to vendors on January 2nd, 2024.

We collectively represent a significant portion of the small business owners who have chosen to invest and grow our family-owned businesses in Harrisburg and the Broad Street Market. As small business owners we understand having to make tough choices that are essential to sustainability and survival. We believe that these decisions must be made with accurate data, transparency, and respect.

The vendors acknowledge that a rent increase may be justified to ensure the long-term financial health and survival of the Broad Street Market Alliance.

Below is a list of actionable items that we believe to not only be fair, but also necessary per the Broad Street Market Alliance bylaws:

1. We demand a right to vote on two vendor representatives to the Board of Directors, per Article III Section 3d of the by-laws.

Two (2) members of the Board of Directors shall be elected from among current vendors of the Broad Street Market as defined in Article III Section 4b of these by-laws.

2. We demand a re-vote on the December 13th lease increase with a fully represented Board of Directors, as defined in Article III Section 2 and 16 of the by-laws.

The Board of Directors shall have not less than eleven (11) nor more than fifteen (15) Directors

A majority of the whole number of those who are at the time the Directors of the Corporation shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and the acts of a majority of the Directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall, unless otherwise specifically provided under Article III hereof, by law, or by the Articles of Incorporation, be the acts of the Board of Directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a majority of the whole number of those who are at the time the Directors of the Corporation shall be necessary to constitute a quorum for the transaction of business related to a fundamental change (as described in Title 15, Chapter 59 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes), and the acts of seventy-five (75) percent or more of the Directors present at such meeting related to a fundamental change at which a quorum is present shall, unless otherwise specifically provided by law or by the Articles of Incorporation, be the acts of the Board of Directors.

3. We demand a comprehensive re-evaluation by a neutral party with fair comparison to what other area markets are charging for lease rates, including accurate rent numbers, amenities, and demographic data of the communities they serve.

4. We demand the right to sign a minimum of one-year lease renewals once an appropriate lease increase is approved by a fully represented Board of Directors as defined in Article III of the bylaws.

5. We demand fair and transparent leadership.

Signed Respectfully,

Theo Armstrong, Zeroday Brewing Company

Joshua Longo, The Cheesesteak Guy

Justin Browning, Lovedrafts Brewing Company

Andrea Grove, Elementary Coffee Company

Nadine Graham, Porters House

John Kelly, JB Kelly Seafood Connection

Tito Tep, Teps Fresh Seafood

Melissa Barrick, Veg Out

Richard Choi, Yami Korean Food

Donnie and Kelly Farner, Doggie Delights

Chase Heaslet, Goblin Alchemy

Ougi Vazquez, Ougis Concina

Dave and Kaci Shirey, Piper Belles BBQ

Nyunt Win, Tri Asian Taste

Fermin Atenco, Taqueria El Compadre

Marie Hartlaub, Maries Kitchen Haitian Cuisine

Opoeluwa Ayobandele, Tasty Dishes
A Somerset County man is in jail after being accused of holding multiple employees of a Milford Township business at gunpoint.

It all stemmed from an argument that was sparked before 11 a.m. Tuesday between 81-year-old Kermit Gribble and employees of Keystone Wheel Polishing, located on the 1900 block of New Centerville Road, WTAE reported.

Gribble was threatening employees and refused to let them leave. During the back and forth, Gribble went to his residence and returned with a handgun.

When authorities arrived at the business, Gribble refused to follow commands, saying, Go ahead and shoot me, WJAC reported.

Eventually, Gribble was taken into custody and police recovered the gun.

Gribble is facing a slew of charges, including felony and misdemeanor counts due to making terroristic threats, WJAC reported.

He is being held in the Somerset County Jail with denied bail. A preliminary hearing is set for next week.
A former Cumberland County resident who pleaded guilty to multiple federal offenses stemming from an investigation into stolen body parts has now pleaded guilty in a central Pennsylvania court.

Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Thompson, Susquehanna County, entered a guilty plea on Monday to one count of abuse of a corpse in Cumberland Countys Court of Common Pleas, documents show.

One count of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities and two counts of receiving stolen property were dismissed with Pauleys plea, court documents said.

Pauley previously pleaded guilty to two federal charges  interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property  which carried a minimum sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison and a maximum sentence of 15 years and a $500,000 fine.

Pauley initially told authorities he legally bought three skeletons and owned body parts as a collector. However, investigators found three to five buckets of human remains in the basement of his East Pennsboro Township home just weeks later.

Pauley admitted to using Facebook to facilitate the buying and selling of body parts  obtained from the Harvard Medical School and the University of Arkansas  throughout 2021 and 2022 following U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camonis recitation of the prosecutions evidence.

Cedric Lodge, former manager of the morgue for the anatomical gifts program at Harvard Medical School, and Candace Chapman Scott, who was employed at a Little Rock mortuary, are accused of stealing the remains.

Pauley reportedly had buying and selling relationships with multiple people in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. He is set to be sentenced on the charges out of Cumberland County in March.
A pair of Harrisburg residents were sentenced to federal prison Wednesday in connection with a scheme to steal shipments of cell phones and later sell them at a convenience store.

A federal judge sentenced Parmod Kumar, 41, to 12 months in jail, and Reecha Saini, 36, to eight months in jail. The judge also ordered them to pay back $142,000 in restitution.

That was the amount of the loss from the scene, which occurred between 2018 and 2021, according to prosecutors.

Kumar and Saini enlisted employees at a UPS facility in Harrisburg to steal packages that they believed contained smartphones. The pair then paid the postal employees for the stolen packages and sold the phones at a convenience store in Harrisburg, according to prosecutors. The address of the convenience store was not provided.

The maximum penalty for a conviction for conspiring to steal interstate shipments of cell phones that they faced was five years in prison.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The criminals who waged a bloody war against us, committed vandalism, perpetrated the Khojaly genocide, destroyed our lands, cities and villages have been arrested, detained today and will be brought to justice, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

Among them are all the former leaders of Karabakh, the so-called prime minister who was exported to Karabakh, and others. Only two people are missing from that group, they are in Yerevan, and if they were here too, the full team would be formed. This is indeed a celebration of justice, and when I said that we must have faith in justice and fight for it, this is exactly what I meant, the head of state pointed out.
Authorities are now saying they do not believe they will find and recover the body of Damari Carter  the missing 4-year-old who police say was fatally beaten by his mother and her boyfriend and then discarded in the trash over a month ago.

Now, the family, including the childs father, is reeling due to the latest bad news.

On Dec. 8, Carters mother, 28-year-old Dominique Bailey, and 30-year-old boyfriend Kevin Spencer beat the child in their Philadelphia apartment and left him with many bruises and a swollen forehead, resulting in the childs death, police said.

Spencer then placed the corpse in a trash bag and disposed of it in an unknown area, the Philadelphia Inquirer said. Currently, the pair has remained tight-lipped about where the body might be. Meanwhile, authorities have been using large machinery to search through dumpsters and hidden alleyways across the city, but to no avail.

Now that more than a month has gone by, officials believe his remains were either swept up in the citys waste system, taken to an incineration plant, or a distant landfill. Sources told the Inquirer that due to the volume of waste taken to landfills each day, it would be a nearly impossible task to recover the body.

The tragedy, according to People, has left Carters father, 42-year-old Darryle Carter Jr., heartbroken.

Carter, who chose to name his son Damari because it meant strength, talked about his childs deep love for superheroes, including Batman, Captain America, Thor, and especially Black Panther.

I wanted to give him his name, Carter told People. That I will raise him and teach him to be a good man and to create his own identity.

Damari was my heart, he said to the news outlet. I miss my little man. This is a nightmare to me. I just wish I could wake up.

Darryle Carter Jr. was married to Bailey, but she divorced him and moved out in 2022. Before moving to Philadelphia from Texas, she cut off all communication with him, People said.

In early December, a neighbor who lived in an apartment below Bailey and Spencer said they heard Carter screaming as he was beaten on Dec. 7, according to what Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom of the Philadelphia Police Department told People.

Surveillance video captured Bailey and Spencer exiting the apartment without Carter afterward. The next day, Spencer was captured on surveillance video dragging a trash bag out of the house.

In the police report, Bailey claimed that she saw Spencer beat the child quite often. The day the incident happened, he was beaten so bad, his eyes were blackened. She also claimed he died soon after the beating, where Spencer tossed his limp body in a trash can, news sources said.

According to a text message sent to People from the childs cousin, Aiyana Parrish, the family learned Monday night about the unlikelihood of Carters body being recovered, which means they wont have a body to bury for his upcoming funeral.

We were all still holding onto the thought he would at least be put to rest properly, Parrish wrote People. Its a very cruel world.

Both Bailey and Spencer have been charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of a corpse and making false reports. Spencer was also charged with criminal conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
David Biser has been a first-person interpreter of John Harris Jr. for more than 15 years.

There has never been a book that focused entirely on the life of the man credited with founding the city of Harrisburg and Dauphin County in Pennsylvania, said Biser, of Harrisburg, who also is pastor of CrossPoint Church in Harrisburg, and president of the Historical Society of Dauphin County.

Biser said that during his years portraying Harris, he has compiled a wealth of facts about his life and the world he lived in during the 1700s.

Biser said he took five years to gather facts and to sort out misconceptions and previous errors to produce a concise, but information packed read on John Harris life.

Visionary Road to the Capital: The Little Known Story of John Harris Jr. chronicles the days of the man who dreamed of a city on the Susquehanna that would be the central hub of the entire state of Pennsylvania.

His unique vantage point allowed him to see what the future might bring to those who were moving west in the early years of colonial America and into the new nation after the American Revolution. Throughout the book youll discover the human side of this founder who lived a challenging life on the frontier in challenging times.

The forward of the book is written by Ron Carnegie, who portrays George Washington at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

David Biser, a Harrisburg, Pa., re-enactor and pastor, has written a book, "Visionary Road to the Capital: The Little Known Story of John Harris Jr. Harris is the founder of Harrisburg and Dauphin County. An official book launch will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 16, 2024, in the Capitol Rotunda.David Biser

John Harris Jr. was the son of John Harris Sr., who is buried across the street from the John Harris - Simon Cameron Mansion of the Historical Society of Dauphin County, along Front Street in Harrisburg.

Harris Jr. was born in 1726 and died on July 29, 1791.

Visionary Road to the Capital: The Little Known Story of John Harris Jr. is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for $19.95. The book also can be purchased at the Historical Society of Dauphin County and the State Museum.

A book launch, with copies available, will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 16 in the Capitol Rotunda.

Unlike George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or John Hancock, John Harris Jr. is a relatively unknown figure in American  and even Pennsylvanian  history.

Much of my research was reading what his contemporaries said about him  people such as the governors and lieutenant governors of Pennsylvania, Native American tribal chiefs, other traders like Harris Jr., or even military personnel who came in contact with him. Details of the life of John Harris Jr. can be found in many places but have never been compiled in one volume.

It is my hope that I will do justice to this son, brother, uncle, husband, father, grandfather, pioneer, politician, trader, friend, ferry and tavern owner/operator, brewer, farmer, entrepreneur, and patriot.

Those descriptors are the tip of the expansive picture that emerges of this individual, who funded and supported the cause for independence, developed Dauphin County, established Harrisburg, and dreamed that one day, the state capital of Pennsylvania would be on his donated land, Biser said.
A Delaware man has been charged with driving to New Jersey to pick up an 11-year-old girl he met playing online video games after he had sexually explicit exchanges on social media with her for months, authorities said.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Delaware unsealed the indictment of Darius Matylewich, 27, of Bear, Delaware, on Tuesday. He was arrested in December and accused of traveling to Wayne and driving the girl to his home, authorities said. He was charged with coercion and enticement of a minor and production of child pornography, authorities said.

Matylewich and the girl met online through the popular video game Roblox and continued communicating between June and September 2023, authorities said.

Police in Wayne were called Sept. 10 to the Quality Inn, where the girls family was living, after her mother realized she was missing, authorities said. The girls brother told police he saw his sister leave the hotel room at 5 a.m. with her backpack, assuming she was going to school, but she left behind her wallet and phone, authorities said.

The girls mother told Wayne police her daughter might be with someone named Darius whom she had been communicating with since June and previously disappeared with for hours from their home in Paterson, authorities said. The mother told police Darius was communicating with her daughter on Discord, Snapchat and TikTok, authorities said.

Wayne police identified and called Matylewich, who spoke with authorities for more than 30 minutes on a recorded line and admitted to picking up the girl and taking her to his home, according to court documents. While on the phone, the Newcastle County Police Department arrived at his home, located the girl and took her to a hospital for evaluation, authorities said.

Matylewich was taken into custody on warrants from the Wayne Police Department accusing him of kidnapping.

Further investigation into Matylewichs phone by the FBI allegedly found sexually explicit videos from the girl he had asked her to send, the documents said.

Investigators found search queries on Matylewichs phone about how to delete full conversations on Discord as well as searches for the location of the Quality Inn, searches for the girls school and a text message from the Quality Inn confirming a reservation for the same day the girl went missing.

Investigators also said they found chats from TikTok between Matylewich and the girl suggesting Matylewich started coercing her into sexual acts after providing money to be used in Roblox.

Matylewich remains in custody and a detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11 at the federal court house in Wilmington, Delaware.

A federal public defender for Matylewich did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X
Hundreds of firefighters from across the region are planning to gather Thursday to honor Steelton Fire Chief Gene Vance, who died after a 50-year career in public service.

Vance, 70, died Jan. 2 at his home after suffering a stroke. His funeral is set for 11 a.m. Thursday Jan. 11 at the Prince of Peace Church at 815 S. Second St. in Steelton.

His colleagues will send him off with full fire department honors outside the church after the Catholic mass, which is expected to take at least one hour.

A procession of 30 fire trucks will accompany Vance past his longtime fire station and over a 5.6 mile route along North Front Street, then South 19th Street to Derry Street.

Ladder trucks will create flag arches outside his Steelton fire house and in front of the Holy Cross Cemetery.

People who wish to pay their respects may do so at the church or along the route, said Swatara Fire Chief Mike Ibberson, who was helping to organize Vances final arrangements.

Gene was a 1972 graduate of Steelton-Highspire High School and retired from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - Department of General Services after 35 years of service.

Known by various nicknames including Chief, Gene, G-Man, Genie, Geno, Pappy, Old Man and Profit, Vance cherished his lifetime commitment to Volunteer Fire Service and serving the Steelton community, his obituary said.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Steelton Fire Department, 185 N. Front Street, Steelton, PA 17113.

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The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a Pennsylvania jail, claiming it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate a correctional officer with Lyme disease before wrongfully firing her.

The correctional officer was terminated from her position at the Franklin County Jail after she sought accommodations regarding the jails policy that probationary employees can only have two unscheduled absences during their probationary period, the attorney generals office said.

The jail initially accommodated the employee, but later used the absence policy as a reason for her termination, according to a press release.

Employers must make reasonable accommodations so that employees with disabilities can earn a living, said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam. Lyme disease creates debilitating health issues for numerous Pennsylvanians yearly, and employers should find reasonable solutions to allow employees with any kind of disability to work and not terminate them because of that disability.

The officers Lyme disease substantially limited her ability to walk, stand, concentrate, and sleep, the release said.

The lawsuit cites Title I of the ADA, which bars employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in applying for jobs, hiring, firing and job training, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The U.S. Employment Opportunity Commissions Philadelphia District Office said the jail violated the ADA and referred the case to the Department of Justice, the press release said.

The state is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Butler and attorney Kimberly Scheckner of the Civil Rights Divisions Disability Rights Section.

The U.S. Attorneys Office will continue to enforce civil rights laws and ensure equal employment opportunities for all, Karam added.
I recently saw the news story of the 60 Republican House of Representatives who visited the border. I couldnt find any information of what they did, other than walk along, looking very serious, necessary for a photo op

In September 2023, seven Pennsylvania women went on a United Methodist Immigration Immersion Journey to Tucson, Ariz., to get a first hand view of the immigration situation.

We visited a United Methodist shelter in Tucson, the INN, that assists those who have permission to enter the United States. I had a chance to speak with two families and heard their stories. One young woman walked 30 days from Guatemala with a two year old. Another mother was afraid her teenagers would be taken by the cartel for sex trafficking.

Did any of the representatives speak to an immigrant family? Treat them as a person?

We rode along the infamous Wall and went into Sasabe, Mexico, where we helped feed 100 women and children who had just been deported back into Mexico.

Did any of the representatives visit a shelter in Mexico? Did they see the despair in the faces of those 100 women and children as they trudged down the street, back to danger.

We went into the desert and filled water tanks. We heard from the Pima County Medical Examiner about their efforts to identify bodies found in the desert to give closure to families. Tens of thousands have died in the desert.

We visited a shelter in Nogales Mexico, where immigrants learn how to navigate the BPC One app to get an justifiable Fear interview to prove that they will be tortured or killed if returned to their country.

We heard from an organization that visits the immigrants in the for profit detention centers where the immigrants property is taken away and they are put in the Icebox, a cell where the air conditioning is placed on high.

Did any of the representatives visit any of these places?

In Nogales we visited a factory that makes wheelchairs, prothesis, and hearing aids, where the workers are in wheelchairs or have prothesis. When immigrants fall from the top of the train, The Beast, they often lose a leg or are seriously injured.

We visited a United Methodist Immigration Law and Justice office, which offers legal service to immigrants seeking asylum. Did the representatives include any of that in their visit? I didnt hear or read of them doing any of that.

The Republicans keep talking about changes in border policy but, to me, they have no serious interest or they would talk with the people who are actually involved with the immigrants. There will always be immigrants and the United States needs the workers. So surely a solution can be found, if they really want it.

Dorothy Baiza, New Cumberland, Pa.
The days of a problem-plagued Pennsylvania Capitol escalator are now numbered.

The escalator located in the Capitol East Wing has been the butt of jokes on social media over the years for being more down than up  enough to earn it its own X (formerly Twitter) account.

Some compared it to the always-out-of-order elevator that was a mainstay on hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Others teased the escalators worked less often than legislators with their usual three-day session weeks or that repairs to it moved about as fast as still-elusive charter school reform legislation.

Installed as part of the East Wing addition in 1985, the escalator was designed (when it worked) to move thousands of people a year  lawmakers and lobbyists, tourists, school groups and protestors alike  into the main Capitol. It is set to be replaced with a staircase next year.

The stairs will be supplemented with a large elevator that will hold 20 people and travel between the East Wings concourse and its first floor.

That work along with other East Wing renovations is estimated to cost between $3 million and $4 million and be completed by August 2025.

This is a rendering of what the Pennsylvania Capitol East Wing rotunda will look like once the $3 million to $4 million renovations are completed by summer of 2025. Screenshot from Pa. Department of General Services websiteScreenshot from Pa. Department of General Services website

The yellow gates used to block entrance to the escalator when it quit working had to be kept handy given the frequency when they were needed. Lawmakers even brought up the broken escalators in budget hearings over the years, complaining it gave visitors to the Capitol a dim view of how their state government is working.

Please tell me what are we going to do about these escalators here in the East Wing? said Rep. Manuel Guzman Jr., D-Berks County, during a 2022 budget hearing with former Department of General Services Secretary Curt Topper.

Topper acknowledged the problem that the oft-downed escalator presented, responding, I have people looking at it. Frankly, its you know, embarrassing that I answer this question every year.

Among a few of the reasons given for the escalators chronic out of order condition over the years: new safety equipment requirements that causes escalators to stop moving, difficulty getting parts and recalled parts.

According to general services officials, the department has spent $250,000 over the last five years on maintaining and upgrading the escalator equipment to get the steps moving again. Replacing them will eliminate the need for a maintenance contract while also providing a safer, more reliable evacuation route in emergencies.

Over the years, the escalators have been plagued by frequent failures, requiring significant maintenance and down time and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair costs , said General Services Secretary Reggie McNeil. This renovation project and the installation of a new large, group elevator will increase access to and from the East Wing and first floor of the Capitol building and better serve the public and the public servants who visit the building every day.

He said it also will streamline the flow of people throughout the building while providing maintenance and utility savings.

The removal of the spiral staircase located next to the escalator that extends from the underground garage to the East Wings first floor is scheduled to begin this summer with the group elevator getting installed during the fall and early next year. The demolition of the escalator is scheduled to begin in spring of next year with the grand staircase anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2025.

Employees and others with parking privileges in the underground garage will continue to use the existing smaller elevators located next to the escalator that travel between the garages two levels and East Wings first floor to access to those floors.

The remainder of the renovation work will include replacing the neon lighting system within the cove near the skylight above the East Wing rotunda with energy efficient LED lighting capable of changing color for special events and renovations to the cafeteria including ceiling upgrades and replacement of lighting fixtures, HVAC system improvements, and replacement of the dishwasher exhaust fan and ductwork.

The proposed renovations are separate from the work happening now in the East Wing where scaffolding stretches from the rotunda floor to the skylight above. General Services spokesman Eric Veronikis said that work entails unspooling a tangled cable that lowers a ventilation unit in the round fixture located under the skylight, servicing that unit to ensure proper operation and painting the round fixture before the scaffolding is removed. That work is expected to be completed by March, he said.

A drone image shows the tangled cable in pulley system in the round disc in the East Wing rotunda ceiling. Photo provided by Pa. Department of General ServicesPhoto provided by Pa. Department of General Services

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Lehigh Valley on Friday, the White House announced.

The Democrat is scheduled to travel to the Allentown area. Additional details werent immediately released.

The president will discuss how communities across America are coming back thanks to Bidenomics and his Investing in America agenda, which have ushered in a small business boom, created good-paying jobs with rising wages, strengthened local economies, and lowered costs for hardworking families, a White House release states.

As scheduled, the visit comes a week after Biden spoke in Montgomery County, focusing on the 2024 presidential election.

Following last weeks Pennsylvania stop, Biden on Monday denounced the poison of white supremacy in America, declaring at the site of a deadly racist church shooting in South Carolina that such ideology has no place in America, not today, tomorrow or ever.

Fridays scheduled visit is days before the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Jan. 15, the nations first event on the 2024 presidential election calendar. Iowa Republicans will choose between backing Trumps re-election bid or one of his challengers, led by front-runners former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. New Hampshire primary follows Jan. 23. Biden is the likely Democratic candidate for president this year.

Bidens visit comes as the Lehigh Valleys congresswoman, third-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, faces another re-election challenge, as does U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
Quebec health authorities and stakeholders will provide an update to overcrowding in the province's emergency rooms. Quebec's Health Minister Christian Dube arrives to update the vaccination and emergency room situation during a press briefing in Montreal, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. In an interview with local TV channels, President Ilham Aliyev revealed the names of the individuals he had the most frequent phone conversations with during the Second Karabakh War, Trend reports.

The head of state said: During the Second Karabakh War the people I talked to the most on the phone were the President of Turkiye and the President of Russia. And this is natural. The President of Turkiye was with us from the first to the last day of the war, and his political and moral support for Azerbaijan was a message to many.

In the face of a significant issue confronting our country today, my first course of action would naturally be to call my brother, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and apprise him of the situation, President Ilham Aliyev added.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. All these infrastructure projects allow us the opportunity to return a larger number of former IDPs to their ancestral lands this year, and there are five cities they will return to this year  the cities of Shusha, Jabrayil, Kalbajar, Khankendi and Khojaly, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he was interviewed by local TV channels, Trend reports.

Former IDPs are expected to return to the cities of Aghdam, Zangilan and Gubadli in 2025, the head of state pointed out.
As with any war there comes an end ... a day of peace. January 27, 1973 was a day that the United States, South Vietnam, Viet Cong and North Vietnam would sign the Paris Peace Accords, which created the end of America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

It is still a war remembered by so many who have served in Vietnam or in the waters off shore. It is still strongly remembered by family and friends of the 58,220 United States military members who died in this war.

This war took a total of 1 . 3 mill ion fi g h t e r s between the sides as well as I million civilians. During this war, over...
$1.5 Million Guaranteed Main Event Headlines the Merit Poker Western Series

January 10, 2024 Matthew Pitt Senior Editor

The Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino in Northern Cyprus has a glowing reputation for running prestigious poker tournament festivals. We may only be a couple of weeks into 2024, but the venue is putting together last-minute preparations for its first festival of the year, the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series.

Northern Cyprus ticks all the right boxes for a poker destination. It is easy to get to from across Europe, the weather is usually warm and sunny even at this time of year, the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino is all-inclusive, and its staff leaves guests wanting for nothing, and the poker tournaments are out of this world.

Follow the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series Here Live updates are here!

The 2024 Merit Poker Western Series runs from January 14 through January 25, and boasts some events with juicy guarantees. PokerNews' Live Reporting team is jetting off to sunny Cyprus to bring you live and exclusive coverage from three of the schedule's biggest events: the $2,200 Warm Up, $5,300 High Roller, and $3,300 Main Event.

The $2,200 Warm Up boasts an $800,000 guarantee on its prize pool making it the perfect way to, well, warm up for what lies in store. When the Merit Poker Western Series ran in January 2023, the Warm Up attracted 523 players who created a $932,620 prize pool. An anonymous player came out on top and turned their initial investment into $181,200.

This year's $2,200 Warm Up runs from January 15-19, and features four starting flights.

Reigning High Roller champion, Toni Kaukua

The $5,300 High Roller has a $300,000 price tag on its head, although the eventual pot should be far larger. It runs from January 18-20, and should see players from far and wide enter. Last year's event drew in 147 entrants who fought it out over a $659,700 prize pool. Finland's Toni Kaukua came out on top and walked away with $170,000 for his efforts.

The $3,300 buy-in, $1,500,000 guaranteed Main Event is the third and final Merit Poker Western Series tournament PokerNews is covering. January 20 is when Day 1A commences, with Day 1B, 1C, and a turbo-structured 1D taking place on subsequent days. The champion is crowned on January 25.

Orthodoxos Orthodoxou is the reigning champion, having left 756 opponents in his wake en route to scooping the $372,800 top prize.

Merit Poker Western Series Event Schedule

Many live satellites run during the Merit Poker Western Series, each offering you a cut-price route to stardom. Brushing up on satellite strategy before heading to Northern Cyprus is worthwhile!

Date Time Event Guarantee Mon 15 Jan 12:00 p.m. $2,200 NLHE Warm Up Day 1A $800,000 5:30 p.m. $960 NLHE Turbo Bounty $30,000 Tue 16 Jan 12:00 p.m. $2,200 NLHE Warm Up Day 1B $800,000 9:30 p.m. $2,200 NLHE Warm Up Day 1C $800,000 Wed 17 Jan 10:00 a.m. $2,200 NLHE Warm Up Day 1D Turbo $800,000 12:30 p.m. $2,200 NLHE Warm-Up Day 2 $800,000 Thu 18 Jan 12:00 p.m. Warm Up Day 3 $800,000 1:00 p.m. $1,600 NLHE Bounty KO $50,000 8:00 p.m. $5,300 NLHE High Roller 8-Handed Day 1 $300,000 Fri 19 Jan 12:00 p.m. Warm Up Final Day $800,000 12:00 p.m. $2,400 NLHE Bounty KO $100,000 8:00 p.m. $5,300 NLHE High Roller 8-Handed Day 2 $300,000 Sat 20 Jan 12:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Main Event Day 1A $1,500,000 2:00 p.m. High Roller 8-Handed Final Day $300,000 6:00 p.m. $550 NLHE Texas Split 7-Handed $25,000 Sun 21 Jan 12:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Main Event Day 1B $1,500,000 10:00 p.m. $1,100 NLHE Mix-Max 9-Handed Day 1 $150,000 Mon 22 Jan 12:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Main Event Day 1C $1,500,000 2:00 p.m. $2,500 PLO Bounty 8-Handed $75,000 5:00 p.m. $1,100 NLHE Seniors (50+) $35,000 7:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Main Event Day 1D Turbo $1,500,000 10:00 p.m. $1,100 NLHE Mix-Max 7-Handed Day 2 $150,000 Tue 23 Jan 12:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Main Event Day 2 $1,500,000 9:00 p.m. $1,100 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot $50,000 10:00 p.m. Mix-Max 6-Max Final Day $150,000 Wed 24 Jan 12:00 p.m. Main Event Day 3 $1,500,000 12:30 p.m. $4,250 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1A $300,000 4:00 p.m. $880 PLO 8-Handed $40,000 7:00 p.m. $4,250 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1B $300,000 9:30 p.m. $770 NLHE Hyper Turbo Deep Stack $35,000 Thu 25 Jan 11:00 a.m. $4,250 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1C Turbo $300,000 12:00 p.m. Main Event Final Day $1,500,000 1:00 p.m. $1,280 NLHE Deep Stack Bounty 6-Handed $40,000 7:00 p.m. Mystery Bounty Final Day $300,000 7:30 p.m. $960 NLHE Turbo Deep Stack Bounty $30,000 8:00 p.m. $3,300 NLHE Merit Classic $50,000

Stay tuned to PokerNews throughout the Merit Poker Western Series as we bring you live updates from and recaps of the juiciest events.

Sharelines It's time for more hot poker action in the sun, thanks to the 2024 Merit Poker Western Series.
Nominees Announced for Next Weeks 2nd Annual Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) Awards

January 09, 2024 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

The Charity Series of Poker (CSOP), which was established in 2014 by Matt Stout, is entering its 11th season, and for the second year in a row they are paying tribute to the players, sponsors, staff, and volunteers from throughout the years.

They will be honored via the 2023 CSOP Awards, which is comprised of several categories including Event of the Year, Emcee of the Year, Mike Sexton Ambassador Award, Daniel Negreanu Extra Effort Award, and more.

The CSOP Awards Dinner and Tournament  which marks the CSOPs 57th event  will take place on Tuesday, January 16 in Las Vegas at Via Brazil Steakhouse. Those wishing to attend can purchase tickets for Poker + Silent Auction + Dinner for $300, while those who dont want to play poker can still attend for $150.

There will be $100 rebuys and add-ons, and along with final table and bounty prizes, the winner will walk away with $5,000 in cash! Dinner will start at 5:30 p.m. local time during which time awards will be presented, and the charity poker tournament will follow at 7 p.m.

Heres a look at all the categories and nominees:

2nd Annual (2023) CSOP Award Nominees

*Category Nominee #1 Nominee #2 Nominee #3 Nominee #4* Rookie of the Year Cops 4 Kids CSOP 48 Las Vegas Rescue Mission CSOP 49 The Ability Center CSOP 53 Vegas Golden Knights Alumni Association CSOP 54 Breakout Event of the Year Cops 4 Kids CSOP 48 St. Jude CSOP 52 Vegas Golden Knights Alumni Association CSOP 54 Families for Effective Autism Treatment CSOP 55 Volunteer of the Year Victoria Geraci Erin Webster Joseph Wills Allen Glatts Sponsor of the Year Bar Poker Open SKC Group 7Five Brewing Co Lexicon Bank Photo of the Year Final Table Shenanigans (The T-Shirt Diner) From the Booth to the Felt (QuickStyle Photography) Honoring Larry Frank (Tom Craig) Puppy Love (Chris Wallace) Daniel Negreanu Extra Effort Award Joseph Wills & Toni Hitchcock Stacy Watkins & Russell Rosenblum Gretel & Glenn McCrory Erin Webster Mike Sexton Ambassador Award Joe Ingram Joseph Wills Brad Garrett Matt Savage Emcee of the Year Jay Rivera Joe Stapleton Brandon Hahn Matt Savage Earner of the Year St. Jude CSOP 52 (winner) People's Choice Award/Event of the Year PMSA CSOP 48 St. Jude CSOP 52 VGKAA CSOP 54 FEAT CSOP 55

Click here to see all the 2022 CSOP Award Winners!

Whats Coming Up Next?

Poker fans wont have to wait long for the next CSOP event, as they announced the January 20 Save the Date for Beating The Odds benefiting St. Jude at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The event costs $225 to enter and comes with access to the silent auction and a cocktail hour. For $100, fans can get in but wont play the tournament. There will be $225 re-entries with half the prize pool going to payouts and the other half to charity. Whoever has the chip lead at the end of registration will receive a bonus, as will the player with the most re-entries.

The cocktail hour will get underway at 6:30 p.m. local time with the tournament kicking off at 8 p.m.

Sharelines The 2nd Annual CSOP Awards & Charity Poker Event will take place on Tuesday, January 16.
George Berges, the dealer who sold Hunter Bidens art, confirmed in a transcribed interview that he has no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden.

Jamie Raskin: Theres No Evidence Of A Presidential Offense

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:

Just like every other witness in this embarrassing slapstick investigation, George Berges stated he had no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. Hunter Biden made art that Berges sold in his gallery, and President Biden had no knowledge of or role in these art sales.

Its not illegal to buy and sell abstract art in America. If Chairman Comer doesnt like Hunter Bidens paintings or modern art in general, he doesnt have to buy it. But Hunter Biden is allowed to create art and sell it. The GOPs allegations of influence peddling and money laundering are unfounded and were, once again, totally refuted by todays witness.

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

If Chairman Comer seriously wants to stop corrupt foreign influence and violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, I encourage him to check out the millions of dollars Donald Trump raked in from foreign states and murderous monarchs. Alas, Chairman Comer blocked us from getting all the discovery to which we are entitled but we got enough to know that Trump was on the take big-time from foreign states, raking in huge spoils from the royals. Meantime, George Berges confirmed today once again that Joe Biden was not involved in, and did not profit from, his familys business operations. We should get back to work for the American people and drop this futile investigation. Art appreciation is subjective. But the facts of this investigation arent open to interpretation, Mr. Chairman. There is no evidence of a presidential offense.

James Comer Has No Witnesses To Confirm Impeachable Offenses

If President Biden supposedly took millions of dollars and had all of these business dealings, why is there no evidence or witnesses to prove what House Republicans are claiming?

Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has less than nothing in terms of impeachment evidence. Each witness that comes forward tells the same story. President Biden had nothing to do with his sons business dealings.

It is easy to see why Comer doesnt want to hold impeachment hearings. He has no witnesses or evidence that President Biden ever did anything wrong.

There is not going to be much to the Biden impeachment hearings without evidence and witnesses.

Each witness is a new failure for James Comer and House Republican efforts to impeach President Biden.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Citizens of Azerbaijan will be able to acquire entry visas at the border checkpoints of Iraq while traveling to the country, said the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Iraq Nasir Mammadov on X (Twitter), Trend reports.

Mammadov noted that the relevant order was signed by the Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari.

"We express our gratitude to the Prime Minister, Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs of Iraq," said Mammadov in his post.

Stay up to date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called out Chairman James Comer (R-KY) for having members at the hearing whove submitted falsified evidence to the record, as well as having submitted mischaracterized closed-door hearings and engaged in revenge porn, explaining that given these facts, it makes sense that Hunter Biden would want to testify in front of the public.

Watch AOC here:

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Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said:

The chairman said in front of the country several times to Hunter Biden, you can show up here in front of the world, in front of the public. Hunter Biden took him up on that offer. He said I will show up in public. I will show up in public. He showed up here today. He showed up here in the past.

And Mr. Chairman, I know you do your best with what youve got, but youve got members here that have submitted falsified evidence to the record. You have members here that have submitted and mischaracterized closed-door hearings, and people want to say back and forth at the end of the day. It doesnt matter what party its happened from.

Youve got members whove engaged in revenge porn in this committee. So it is understandable why Hunter Biden would want to testify in front of the public for the American people to be able to witness that testimony for themselves.

 She is correct on all fronts, and that is a sad fact to acknowledge because it does not speak well of the U.S. political system.

Republicans have literally submitted falsified evidence to the record of U.S. House hearings, including Jim Jordan falsely claiming that Hunter Biden said he was unqualified for Burisma board, which he was fact-checked for saying the week prior, so he said it knowing it was a lie.

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) made a completely false claim about a supposed bribe. But, Maces claim is false; we do not already know that Joe Biden took any bribe. The claim about a bribe from Burisma is a completely unproven allegation. The FBI informant who relayed the claim to the FBI in 2020 was merely reporting something he said he had been told by Burismas chief executive.

CNN also pointed to Jordans highly misleading claim in that September hearing about a weaponized DOJ. The Justice Department official who gave this instruction said Joe Bidens name shouldnt be mentioned in the search warrant because there wasnt any legal basis to do so. Furthermore, this occurred during Trumps presidency, so it doesnt prove pro-Biden meddling by the Biden-era Justice Department.

Yes, Republicans found alleged evidence of wrongdoing during the Trump administration, so impeach Joe Biden! While that sounds far-fetched, this is not their first time trying to pin things that happened during the Trump administration onto Joe Biden. Even when those things were not actually happening.

Republicans have mischaracterized closed door meetings.

And of course, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was in fact just using this hearing to justify her sharing of Hunter Biden revenge porn, while the gentle lady from South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace yelled about Hunters balls during the hearing.

It would be troubling if we were to impeach presidents on unsubstantiated, second hand hearsay while refusing to impeach them for, say, inciting an insurrection against their own country and everyone who didnt vote for them. But that is precisely what Republicans are angling for, which is why AOCs point is so important.

If lawmakers have presented false evidence, why are they still allowed to participate in the hearing? What does this say about the principles and integrity of the Republican leadership?

At this point, Hunter Biden appears to need a restraining order against several Republican members and its more than understandable that Hunter Biden wants to testify in front of the public; its been made clear that Republicans are not dealing in good faith or even in facts.
Hunter Biden unexpectedly showed up at a House Oversight Committee hearing to mark up contempt charges against him, and Republicans refused to allow him to testify.

Video of Hunter Biden arriving:

Hunter Biden unexpectedly shows up at a House Oversight Committee hearing and offers to testify. pic.twitter.com/MMhH8zumYv  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 10, 2024 To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Biden didnt take questions as he walked into the hearing room.

Once he got into the hearing, he took a seat, and sat there offering to be called to testify.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz put Republicans on the hot seat by holding a vote on who wanted Hunter Biden to testify in public today.

Moskowitz said:



So Im listening to the gentlelady from South Carolina about the witness being afraid to come in front of the committee. Interesting. Hes here. Doesnt seem to be too afraid. In fact, for some reason, the chairman who on multiple occasions invited the witness to come on TV, apparently the chairman wants to pretend like his statements on television or in interviews dont matter.

But it didnt happen once. It didnt happen twice. It happened multiple times, the chairman said the witness can choose whether to come to a deposition or to a public hearing in front of the committee. The witness accepted the chairmans invitation. It just so happens the witness is here.

If the committee wants to hear from the witness and the chairman gave the witness that option, then the only folks that are afraid to hear from the witness with the American people watching are my friends on the other side of the aisle. I dont know if theres a proper motion, Mr. Chairman, but Ill make a motion. Lets vote. Lets take a vote. Who wants to hear from Hunter right now today? Anyone? Come on. Who wants to hear from Hunter? No one. So  Im a visual learner. And the visual is clear. Nobody over there wants to hear from the witness  oh, one, thank you.

Video:

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, "Who wants to hear from Hunter right now today? Anyone? Come on. Who wants to hear from Hunter? No one. So  I'm a visual learner. And the visual is clear. Nobody over there wants to hear from the witness  oh, one, thank you." pic.twitter.com/eJUpFSibwg  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 10, 2024

The whole spectacle is devastating for House Republicans who claimed that Hunter Biden is afraid to show up and testify, while Hunter Biden is sitting in the gallery in front of them willing to testify. Hunter Biden continues to show that he is attempting to comply with the subpoena, but House Republicans continue to refuse to accept his testimony.

All of this will make for an outstanding defense, if a contempt resolution does pass the House.

James Comers Biden impeachment investigation has been an embarrassing failure, as he keeps getting owned by Hunter Biden.

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Stephen Colbert noted that Trumps lawyers were arguing in court that Joe Biden could legally murder their client.

Colbert said:

To recap: Trumps lawyers are arguing that the president, who is currently Joe Biden, could order Seal Team Six to assassinate his political rival, Donald Trump. That is a weird position. That is a really weird position for your lawyer to take. Your honor, theres nothing in ny law book that would prevent you from taking that gavel right now and smashig my clients skull like a Brazil nut, then scooping out his delicious brain meat. The law allows it, and I demand it. For the love of god, smash his skull. Yum-yum. Yum yum.

So, to re-recap, Trump and his lawyers are arguing that the president ought to be able to murder his political opponents and then cannot be prosecuted unless he gets impeached. Our commander-in-chief has godlike powers over life and death as long as his party controls the Senate. And I just wanna say, please vote.

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Trump and his lawyers are making up this nonsense about unlimited immunity so that they can keep the case against the former president tied up until they hope after the 2024 presidential election. If Trumps lawyers were serious about delaying the case, they should come up with an argument that is stronger than claiming that any president can do anything that they want because they are above the courts and can only be tried and convicted through the impeachment process.

Trumps lawyers were saying that since Democrats control the Senate and wont convict Biden, it is legal for Joe Biden to murder Donald Trump.

The argument is nonsense, and if the courts would ever rule in Trumps favor, it would mean that Joe Biden could get away with murder.

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The longest serving member of Aiken County's state legislative delegation won't seek another term.

S.C. Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, said Tuesday he would be retiring and won't seek reelection to a 13th term in 2024.

Setzler's district also includes northern Aiken County along with parts of Saluda and Calhoun counties.

"Thank you for the honor and the privilege," Setzler wrote in an op-ed published by The State.

Sen. Setzler has dedicated himself to public service, helping to make a positive difference for South Carolina residents for decades, S.C. Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, said.

"He leaves a tremendous legacy and I have been honored to serve with him both in the Senate and on the Aiken County legislative delegation," Young continued.

Setzler made his decision not to seek reelection after the Columbia area lost a Senate seat in the 2020 redistricting cycle. That seat moved to Charleston and the senator holding it, Dick Harpootlian, a fellow Democrat, was drawn into Setzler's district.

He served as Senate minority leader from 2012-2020 during which time Democrats lost two Senate seats, four seats in the South Carolina House of Representatives and only held a statewide office for six months.

Specifically, Yancey McGill, who later ran as a Republican gubernatorial candidate, served as lieutenant governor from June 2014 to January 2015.

Setzler is longest serving state senator in the country. He was first elected to the Senate in 1976 and took office in 1977. Setzler was reelected in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.
The South Carolina General Assembly returned to session Tuesday and five members of Aiken County's delegation are planning to work on keeping the state's economy stable and growing, job creation, regulating xylazine, lowering the state's tax rate and improving the state's education system.

Sen. Tom Young

S.C. Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, said he was thankful for the opportunity to serve.

He added he planned to focus on keeping the state's economy stable and growing, continuing to lower the state's personal income tax rates, improving the state's infrastructure and strengthening the state's education system by supporting more initiatives to retain and attract good teachers.

Young also said he would look to make targeted judicial selection reforms, pass a hands-free bill, shoring up the solvency of the state's pension system, invest in workforce training initiatives, improving access to and the affordability of a college education.

"Uncertainty may exist today, but through faith, determination and hard work, we will make South Carolina the best place to live; to work; and to raise a family," Young said.

Rep. Bill Clyburn

S.C. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, said his focus would be the same as it has been during his 28 years in the General Assembly: job creation.

He added he would also focus on areas that would help South Carolina residents to get jobs including the education to get the job, the health to work at the job and the level of safety necessary to perform the work.

Rep. Bill Hixon

House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Chairman Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta, said there are three bills the committee would be taking up after session begins.

Hixon said the first bill involved xylazine. He said the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control wants to classify the drug as a Schedule III drug  low to moderate potential for abuse  adding veterinarians use the drug to sedate horses. He said the bill would classify xylazine as a Schedule III drug but contain an exemption for veterinarians to continue using the drug.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Ammunition has been found in Azerbaijan's Khankendi, said the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Trend reports.

The ministry said that the police found and seized 11 grenades, 17 automatic weapons of different brands, two pistols, 10 rifles, 12 grenade igniters, 84 cartridge combs, two cartridge cases, 12 bayonet knives, 6,635 cartridges of different caliber, and other ammunition during actions carried out on January 9 in the territory of Khankendi city.

Following the liberation of its lands, Azerbaijan from Nov. 2020 started carrying out operations on clearing its lands from mines, booby traps, and various weapons left behind by the Armenian troops.

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The U.S. Postal Service is looking at a potential overhaul of its longtime North Charleston distribution site that could include new investments and the relocation of some work to the Midlands.

The agency said Jan. 10 that its formal review will determine whether the Cross County Road mail-handling station is "a candidate for evaluation of its current operations and potential future uses that may lead to overall modernization and enhancement initiatives at the facility."

The process "will not result" in a shutdown or layoffs for career employees, according to a written statement.

It's part of a $40 billion, 10-year "Delivering for America" strategic plan "to improve organizational and operational processes to actively make the Postal Service an efficient, high-performing, world-class logistics and delivery provider."

"This specific facility review will inform the best allocation of resources and strategies to improve customer service and to achieve significant cost savings through operational precision and efficiency," the Postal Service said.

The North Charleston processing center was opened more than 30 years ago.

Mail delivery and walk-in post offices in the region aren't expected to be affected by the evaluation, which includes public feedback through an online comment site.

The Postal Service said its review will include a cost-benefit analysis of whether it makes sense to transfer some letters and packages to its sorting center in Columbia, noting that a significant percentage of the mail collected in North Charleston will travel across our wider transportation and processing network over significant distances to reach their final destinations.

At the same time, it said it will look at modernizing and redesigning the Cross County Road site to accommodate changing mail products and mail flow with modern operating strategies, equipment and improved employee amenities.
Four new restaurants catering to a variety of tastes are on the way across the Charleston area.

In Moncks Corner, an Italian restaurant called Capy's plans to open at 323 E. Main St. where Chill-N-Grill once operated. The new venue beside Unity Park will open Jan. 22.

The family-owned and operated establishment comes from Jack and Gabby Capocciama and his brother, Caleb Capocciama.

Hours will be 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. A Sunday brunch could be added later.

On the peninsula, meanwhile, a new Thai offering called The Mango Tree plans to open at 396 Huger St. beside the KH Smoke vape shop. Renovations began after the first of the year. An opening date has not been announced.

Also on the way are two new bagel shops.

Ruby's New York Style Bagels plans to launch a fourth Lowcountry location by the spring at 3485 Park Avenue Blvd. in Carolina Park in northern Mount Pleasant. An opening is planned for late February or early March.

The eatery has other locations in Montague Corners Shopping Center on Dorchester Road in North Charleston, in Northcutt Plaza on Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant and in Crossroads Centre on Ashley River Road in West Ashley.
LEXINGTON  A planned hotel and bistro in downtown Lexington hit a roadblock after a town board struck down its initial design, citing its size and modern feel, at a council meeting Jan. 9.

The proposed Courtyard Marriott is set to be built on a grass lot at 116 E. Main St. in downtown Lexington, next to Bodhi Thai Dining.

The four-story building is designed to be gray and white brick and stucco that runs 194 feet long, said project architect Craig Otto. The 24 feet closest to Main Street will be just one story with a rooftop bistro to help the building blend with shorter buildings on the street.

"The hotel was designed purposely to be a slightly modern, traditional building," Otto said. "Probably more traditional than modern, but it was designed to try to fit into the historic structures in the present downtown."

Plans for the hotel have been in the works for several years, according to a statement from the town. Private developers were seeking approval from the town's Board of Appearance in January on the hotel's external appearance before submitting plans and land disturbance permits, the statement said.

Lexington, a 24,000-resident town, is a hot spot for growth in Lexington County. As population, businesses and tourism soar, residents have resisted development, fearing that Lexington will lose its small-town, Southern charm. Additionally, traffic in downtown Lexington is locally infamous, and residents often gripe that further development will make the issue worse.

The Jan. 9 discussion of the new downtown hotel comes six months after crowds fiercely rejected a different hotel proposal in Lexington, this one on the shores of Lake Murray.

Critics of the lakeside hotel, which would be just one part of a 90-acre, public-private development on the lakefront, questioned whether the area's infrastructure  including its roads and emergency services  would hold up. Less than three months after it was announced, plans for the hotel fell through.
Also named Palmira Barbecue, the forthcoming establishment will be located at 2366 Ashley River Road, previously occupied by Sunflower Cafe, which closed in September.

210 Rutledge Ave., downtown Charleston

Last year, a popular Washington, D.C., restaurant serving Malaysian cuisine signed a lease to take over the 2,350-square-foot downtown Charleston space previously occupied by Goulette Rotisserie and Grill.

South Carolina native James Wozniuk will open Makan, at 210 Rutledge Ave. across from Fuel Charleston, this year.

Located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of the nations capital, Makan serves noodle and rice dishes packed with flavor and spice. Wozniuk, who grew up in Greenville and has family in Charleston, was first drawn to Malaysian food during a layover in Kuala Lumpur. The stopover inspired three more trips and the chefs first solo venture.

Wozniuk hinted at a Charleston location for Makan last summer, when he hosted pop-ups at Rutledge Avenue restaurant Chasing Sage and downtown brewery Revelry Brewing Co. More Charleston pop-ups are planned ahead of the restaurants opening.

480 East Bay St., downtown Charleston

The Neighborhood Dining Group is adding a fifth Charleston-area restaurant to its portfolio. Marbled & Fin, a modern steakhouse with plenty of seafood on the menu, will open at 480 East Bay St. in the first half of 2024.

Marbled & Fins name is a play on the steak and seafood concept, new to the Charleston-based restaurant group. Husk, Minero, Delaney Oyster House and The James are the other four restaurants in the Neighborhood Dining Group, led by David Howard, who founded the company in 2001.
GREENVILLE  For decades an ivory tower atop One Liberty Square, the Commerce Club's new owners want to assure patrons this "is not your granddaddy's club."

The club was poised to close in 2021 until a Texas-based hospitality group stepped in and took ownership. BNG Hospitality initially said it would keep the club's original name before ultimately changing course.

The group decided "The City Club of Greenville" would pay homage to the old name while making the space a little more relevant.

The club also received a significant facelift, touching nearly every fixture in the space. Dated carpeting and colorways evocative of a Best Western were replaced with gold and brass fixtures and a continuous blue motif.

Design elements pull inspiration from Greenville's Reedy River and the club's panoramic views of the Blue Ridge mountains. Industrial-style finishes on some tables and the lighting fixtures at the bar acknowledge the city's history as a textile manufacturing hub.

A few aspects of the club's original design will be recognizable to its long-tenured members, including a wine room with floor-to-ceiling cherry wood cabinetry.

Kimberley Loper, the club's director of membership, remembers what the club was like before the refresh. Back then, you couldn't dine in the evenings without a sport coat.

"It was very formal, and it was very stuffy," Loper said.

The club's dress code has been relaxed to business casual. It's one of many changes that leadership hopes will draw younger workers into the space.

Though it was once frowned upon, laptops are now acceptable in the dining spaces. There are also two rooms available for taking phone calls and teleworking.

The club currently has about 500 members, according to Loper, and is looking to add more in the coming year.
CLEMSON  After nearly a year of renovation  and three years of learning about nearly 700 unmarked graves  the historic Woodland Cemetery on Clemson Universitys campus has reopened with new pathways and additional lighting.

The 17.5-acre cemetery next to Memorial Stadium has three separate burial grounds in its four usable acres.

The Pathways Project, part of $3.5 million in renovations, sought to reroute the paved paths that covered previously unknown graves, many of them enslaved people and indentured workers.

Public tours will formally begin in February to coincide with Black History Month, according to cemetery community engagement assistant Marquise Drayton.

Klingstone pathways with flagstone borders have been created throughout the cemetery including a path from former president Walter Riggs grave to the lower pathway near Death Valley. A new entrance gate has been added off Press Road, just across from Gate 16 of the stadium.

This entry point will eventually have a wrought iron gate and ornamental inserts inspired by Charleston blacksmith Philip Simmons. Stones for this new, formal entry were taken from the gate on Woodlands west side.

The new gate is a sign of the sites sacredness and part of an ongoing effort to honor the people buried there, Drayton said.

There is an African American plot and a Calhoun family plot in addition to the cemetery where board of trustee members, presidents and employees who spent more than 20 years at the university could be buried.

In October 2023, the Clemson University Board of Trustees updated its burial policies and limited the people who could be buried there to those with family members already interred and those with previous reservations.

Two students requested a cleanup of a fenced, overgrown area in the cemetery in 2020. Since that effort began in July of that year, more than 667 unmarked graves have been located in the cemetery and marked with flags.
PICKENS COUNTY  After stopping its fish fry fundraiser and forever protecting the land it sits on, a historic Black church in the mountains of South Carolina founded by freed slaves has begun a fundraising campaign to further enshrine its history.

For years, Mable Owens Clarke, the matriarch of Soapstone Baptist Church in the Liberia community in northern Pickens County, held monthly fish fry fundraisers to keep the church open. In 2021, she stepped away from the regular event.

Clarke, who turns 82 this year, said the push to build a perpetual endowment will help preserve the sites history as its congregation passes on. They lost one member last year and have eight remaining.

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I think, in a sense, its an acknowledgement to the slaves who paved the way for this community, Clarke said. For the price they paid living on Liberia Road, they shouldve been treated much better.

In 1865, about 600 freed slaves were given poor crop land that no one wanted, Clarke said. Using tree trunks, they built Soapstone Baptist Church, which has served as the heart of the Liberia community for more than a century.

The Soapstone Preservation Endowment, a nonprofit charity separate from the church, seeks to build a $500,000 fund by the end of 2025 to protect and promote the history of the church and surrounding community.

The nonprofit has secured $150,000 as of Jan. 3, chairman Carlton Owen said. They are requesting donations from churches, individuals and businesses because there arent any major foundations in Pickens County, unlike neighboring Greenville County, Owen said.
On March 5, special agents with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Office of Inspector General, arrested a Dorchester County woman in connection with fraudulently receiving $9,584 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Read moreDSS charges Dorchester County woman with food stamp fraud
Robert Green, age 45, died on a Williamsburg County road last weekend. According to Highway Patrol, on March 16, at approximately 5:35am, a 2013 Dodge Challenger was driving south on County Line Road near the intersection of Country Club Road two miles outside of Andrews. The car struck a p Read morePedestrian killed on County Line Road
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Preliminary investigative actions resulted in the identification of illegal acts by three officials of the Republican Perinatal Center in Baku, the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office told Trend.

The collected evidence enabled to reveal well-founded suspicions that the center's director, Mehriban Abasguliyeva did not properly organize compliance with fire safety rules in the institution, allowing improper operation of medical equipment in the room on the fourth floor, where the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Intensive Therapy is located, an exceeding of the norm for the operation of medical equipment in the room, and that the malfunction of the electrical equipment that occurred in the previous days wasn't timely rectified.

The investigation also identified well-founded suspicions that the head of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Intensive Therapy Hamlet Mustafayev, and the head of the Department of Auxiliary Services Elnur Ahmadli, were violating fire safety rules by using non-standard electrical devices in the institution, failing to timely rectify malfunctions in electrical devices, which could lead to accidents, and placing and operating numerous pieces of medical equipment in the room where patients were located without considering the power capacity of electrical lines.

As a result of the aforementioned, incubators and other medical equipment designed for the treatment of newborns were not used in accordance with standards, and the fire alarm devices were non-functional. A fire, caused by electrical line overload, spread throughout the premises, resulting in the deaths of four infants and significant material damage to the medical institution.

Mustafayev and Ahmadli have been charged under Article 225.3, and Mehriban Abasguliyeva has been charged under Article 314.3 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Charges have been brought against them in accordance with these articles, and based on the court's decision, a resolution on the imposition of a preventive measure in the form of house arrest has been issued for all three accused.

Currently, investigative and operational measures are ongoing to establish other unlawful actions of the accused, the involvement of other individuals who violated the law in the context of this criminal case, and to hold them accountable.

Additional information on the progress and results of the investigation will be provided to the public.

Earlier, the General Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal case under Articles 225.3 (violation of fire safety rules resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence) and 314.3 (negligence resulting in the death of two or more persons) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan following a fire that occurred at an administrative building of the Perinatal Center on January 9.

The preliminary investigation was entrusted to the investigative department of the Prosecutor General's Office.
It was a day for shamrocks and shenanigans on March 16 along Middle Street on Sullivan's Island, as lads, lasses and decked-out canines of all ages celebrated St. Patrick's Day. A swarm of green-clad revelers gathered to ring one of the world's most storied and highly-anticipated holidays at Read moreRocky road to Dublin: Irish eyes smiling on Sullivan's Island
High winds, heavy rains and at least one reported tornado wreaked havoc in South Carolina as a powerful storm system spun across the eastern U.S. on Jan. 9.

Overall, the storm was consistent with National Weather Service predictions, bringing moderate rainfall, thunderstorms, big wind gusts and a potential tornado in Bamberg County.

In Charleston County, sustained wind speeds reached 40 mph with gusts exceeding 60 mph. High winds caused a semi-truck to overturn on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge heading into Mount Pleasant, injuring the driver. Authorities closed the bridge in both directions.

About 91,800 power outages were reported across South Carolina around 5 p.m., with more than 28,500 in Charleston County. Roper Hospital, located in the peninsula's flood-prone medical district, temporarily lost power and was forced to rely on back-up generators, a spokesman said. Power was restored by 5:15 p.m.

The weather service issued a tornado watch stretching along the Southeast coast, from south of Jacksonville up to Myrtle Beach. The watch area covered more than 9.4 million people, 2,190 schools and 184 hospitals. According to a tweet from the weather service's Charleston office, the watch carried the potential risk of hail up to the size of a quarter and gusts up to 75 mph.

In Bamberg, a tornado reportedly caused damage to buildings and other structures downtown. The weather service planned to send out a survey team on Jan. 10 to investigate.

Severe weather

The system brought scattered thunderstorms, tornado risks and between 1 and 1.5 inches of rainfall to southeast South Carolina.
Happy Sunshine Week indeed. As we hope youve noticed, our newsroom is spending the week recounting successes its had using South Carolinas Freedom of Information Act to illumine your understanding of what your government is doing on your behalf, in your name and with your tax dollars. Read moreEditorial: SC judges support sunshine whenever they get a chance. They need more chances.
The American Red Cross of the Lowcountry is often the unsung hero in any disaster. Its bright red cross is unmistakable, but the agency that relies on volunteers is usually forgotten  until they are needed. Read moreCity honors Red Cross of the Lowcountry
COLUMBIA  A federal judge denied a request by a left-wing pundit born in Istanbul to Turkish parents to appear on the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary ballot, rejecting Cenk Uygur's argument that the 14th Amendment overrode the natural-born-citizen clause of the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson ruled from the bench Jan. 10 he was not convinced the equal protection clause of the Constitution, or the due process rights afforded in the Fifth Amendment, effectively repealed the constitutional requirement the president be a natural-born citizen.

Uygur, a naturalized citizen and Bernie Sanders-aligned progressive, runs a news and commentary site called The Young Turks. He is seeking to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination, but he was rejected from the South Carolina primary ballot because the party found him unqualified to hold the office due to his citizenship status.

Uygur told reporters after the ruling he will appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 14th Amendment, which states all persons born or naturalized in the United States  are citizens of the United States and that all citizens have a right to equal protection under the law, created one single, undiluted citizenship and repealed the obsolete, vestigial words that linger in the natural-born-citizen clause, Dwayne Sam, Uygurs attorney, said in oral arguments.

Thus, Sam argued, the state party discriminated against Uygur based on national origin, a protected class like race or gender, when it rejected him from the ballot.

Uygur has been accepted on ballots in at least six other states, Sam said.

An attorney for Gov. Henry McMaster, who was named in the lawsuit but ultimately dismissed as a party, argued that while there is evidence the framers of the 14th Amendment wanted to ensure former slaves could serve as president, there is no indication they intended to allow foreign-born citizens to do so.
SPARTANBURG  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy will be honored during the 37th annual MLK Unity Week in Spartanburg beginning Jan. 13.

The weeklong celebration includes Walk As One beginning at 9 a.m. at YMCA of Greater Spartanburg at 151 Ribault St., just south of downtown. This year's walk will include the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail. The walk in previous years has drawn up to 2,000 people from across the city.

"Our MLK celebration is the longest continuous celebration in the county for sure," city Communications and Marketing Manager Christopher George said. "It's always for us an honor to remember his legacy and work as a community on racial equity and a reminder for us where we are in the moment."

An MLK Community Celebration event will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Spartanburg District 7 Fine Arts Center at 2250 E. Main St. This year's MLK Unity Week is sponsored by the Spartanburg County Baptist Association. The 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award will be presented.

At 8 a.m. Jan. 15, a community breakfast will be served at Dr. T.K. Gregg Community Center at 650 Howard St., sponsored by Denny's. The United Way Day of Service will be held Jan. 15 providing opportunities for volunteers to help others in the city.

"MLK Unity Week gives us the opportunity to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Spartanburg Mayor Jerome Rice said. "We always have a few different activities scheduled. The walk draws a lot of people with diverse backgrounds and gives us an opportunity to talk about what is going on in Spartanburg."
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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / In a comprehensive analysis of the future of home-based care in North America, AlayaCare co-founder and CEO Adrian Schauer shares predictions and trends set to redefine healthcare in 2024.The 2024 forecast outlines key transformations in home health, home care, and home infusion, shedding light on the evolution of care delivery models and technology integration in the US and Canada.Embracing the AI RevolutionThe cornerstone of Schauer's predictions lies in the continued proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning within the home-based care industry. This technology is set to revolutionize care delivery, introducing innovative solutions that will transform approaches to patient care management.Schauer highlights the impactful role of AI in areas such as patient risk stratification, predictive analytics, and enhanced collaboration across the care continuum. Notably, the introduction of conversational computing, exemplified by AlayaCare's own AI chatbot Layla, showcases the potential for AI-driven tools to improve outcomes and bolster clinician capabilities.Regulatory Frameworks and Value-Based CareThe predictions also underscore the necessity for clearer regulatory frameworks governing AI in healthcare. Anticipating precise guidelines to ensure ethical AI usage and data privacy, Schauer emphasizes the collaboration required between tech companies, health systems, and regulators for cohesive and secure implementation.Furthermore, Schauer predicts an expansive shift toward the value-based care model. This transformation, already underway in the US, is expected to expand into Canada, emphasizing outcomes over service volume and fostering data connectivity among healthcare providers for seamless care coordination.Personalized Care and Integrated ModelsAn imminent shift towards highly personalized care plans, driven by advanced data analytics and a deeper understanding of social determinants of health (SDOH), is highlighted in Schauer's predictions. This evolution emphasizes the importance of client-centered care and increased involvement of clients and their families in the care process.Additionally, the Canadian landscape is poised for a remarkable evolution towards integrated care models, promoting collaboration between public and private sectors to deliver holistic care at home.Amplified Collaboration in Home Infusion TherapyThe forecast also emphasizes the amplified collaboration between infusion nursing agencies and specialty pharmacies. This collaboration is set to streamline the medication supply chain and elevate patient care through innovation and operational efficiency.As all these trends gather momentum, Schauer envisions a more efficient, personalized, and holistic healthcare system that will redefine the dynamics of home-based care.For more detailed insights into Schauer's predictions for home-based care in 2024, read the full report here.To speak to Schauer or for more information, contact:AlayaCare Press Contact:Steph Davidson steph.davidson@alayacare.com 647-668-6369About AlayaCareAlayaCare is an end-to-end software platform for public, private, non-profit, and community home-based care organizations that manages the entire client lifecycle, including needs assessments, care plans, scheduling, visit and route optimization, and visit verification. Founded in 2014 with over 600 employees, AlayaCare combines traditional in-home and virtual care solutions that enable care providers to lower the cost of care and achieve better outcomes for their clients. For more information, visit: AlayaCare.com SOURCE: AlayaCare
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Azerbaijan plans to kick off the construction of two solar power plants by the end of 2024, Trend reports via Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov's post on X (Twitter).

Moreover, in 2025, Azerbaijan expects to launch the construction of one wind power plant.

The minister noted that such an agreement was reached following the visit of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President to Baku and the signing of a package of agreements on the development of green energy projects.

"We committed to strengthening our relationship even further to demonstrate our solidarity for a green world. We want to begin construction of two SPPs with a total capacity of 760 MW by the end of this year and one WPP with a capacity of 240 MW next year," he explained.

Azerbaijan and the UAE signed several documents in the field of energy on January 9.

One of them, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Investment of the UAE, envisages the establishment of a framework for investment cooperation, especially in transmission projects, grid development, and the exchange of technical expertise and experience in the energy sector.

The MoU includes exploring investment opportunities on the two GW onshore solar power, two GW wind power, and six GW offshore wind power projects, rooftop solar, green hydrogen, green ammonia, synthetic methane, sustainable aviation fuel production, and green energy export projects.

Besides, a calendar of events (road map) has also been agreed upon for the construction of solar and wind power plants with a capacity of one GW on land in Azerbaijan in 2024-2027 (one wind farm and two solar power plants).

strategic cooperation agreement between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).

The Ministries of Finance of Azerbaijan and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation; the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment of the UAE signed a protocol of intent.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
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MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2024 / Anatomie , a leading luxury travel fashion brand, has signed a proof-of-concept agreement with AI startupOmniThink.AIto further enhance its use of artificial intelligence and customer feedback in product design and merchandising. OmniThink.AI offers a Product AI Copilot for retail and consumer brand merchandising which leverages predictive analytics and Generative AI to optimize the design to sourcing process. By partnering with OmniThink.AI , Anatomie aims to accelerate speed to market, drive market responsiveness, and uncover micro-trends to inspire new product designs.The proof of concept will evaluate OmniThink's Product AI Copilot for opportunities to enhance Anatomie's current design ideation process. Anatomie is recognized as an inventive user of AI, gathering customer feedback through surveys and integrating sentiment analysis to identify product improvements." We are thrilled to collaborate with the team at OmniThink.AI on this proof of concept," said Shawn Boyer, Founder and Creative Director of Anatomie. "Their AI-powered approach aligns perfectly with our commitment to innovation and our focus on creating the ultimate travel wardrobe for our discerning clientele." (Shawn Boyer, Founder and Creative Director of Anatomie)"This partnership with Anatomie is an exciting opportunity to work with a forward-thinking luxury brand to transform their design and merchandising processes," said Lou Mohanty, CEO and Founder ofOmniThink.AI . "Our AI technology was built to help retailers like Anatomie accelerate product innovation, anticipate trends, and make data-driven decisions." (Lou Mohanty, CEO and Founder of OmniThink.AI) The OmniThink merchandising AI leverages multiple internal and external data inputs including past sales history, social media and web signals, and more to generate predictive trend forecasts. Its easy to use AI-powered interface enables retailers to gain insights on upcoming trends, optimize inventory levels, and utilize product designs and marketing assets tailored to customer preferences."OmniThink's AI technology aligns perfectly with our goals for the future," said Mike Canizales, Corporate Development Executive at Anatomie. "Their solution will help us continue disrupting our category by accelerating our design cycles and staying ahead of consumer trends." The proof-of-concept agreement runs through March 2024.Anatomiewill provide feedback to OmniThink.AI throughout the pilot period to enhance the product. If successful, the learnings could lead to a longer-term partnership and licensing agreement.Contact Information:For Anatomie: Company: AnatomieAddress: Miami, FloridaEmail: mike@ anatomie.com Website: https://anatomie.com/ For OmniThink.AI: Company: OmniThink.AIEmail: lou@ Omnithink.AI Website: https://omnithink.ai SOURCE: Anatomie
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 13:33:35

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Apple AR Glasses Set To Push ARway's AR Navigation Into The MainstreamTORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / ARway.ai ("ARway" or the "Company") (CSE:ARWY)(OTCQB:ARWYF)(FSE:E65) is an AI powered Augmented Reality Experience platform with a disruptive no-code, no beacon spatial computing solution enabled by visual marker tracking with centimeter precision is pleased to announce that it's seeing a increase in global demand for its AR platform in anticipation of the launch of Apple's Vision Pro February 2nd, 2024. ARway.ai currently has over 3800+ total accounts, with 4400+ maps created and 43+ pilots and trials. Demand for ARway is accelerating in from around the world for various use-cases and industries looking to leverage the Company's groundbreaking augmented reality and spatial computing technology.Notable New DealsSuteki, Sweden Suteki Interactive is a studio based in Sweden specializing on XR experiences for leading brands across Europe looking to add AR Navigation into their offerings. Suteki creates visual and interactive solutions that are suitable for a number of different areas from marketing and events to simulation and interactive training. Their notable client list includes Samsung, BMW, Whirlpool, AMD, Fiat and more. OmanWalkk.app is an IT Consultants based in Oman integrating ARway with public services systems in museums and convention centers.African Technopreneurs, South AfricaAfrican Technopreneurs is an XR developer and hardware reseller in South Africa looking to add AR Navigation solutions to their offerings. Their mission is to connect consumers with Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) solutions in Southern Africa & the African continent delivering these VR, AR , and MR tech solutions and training to companies, educational establishments and individuals.Apple Vision ProIn September 2023, ARway announced the Company was selected to participate at Apple's Vision Pro Developer Labs in Cupertino, California. As a result, ARway completed a first build of the ARway Platform on Apple's Vision Pro hardware and realityOS operating system. ARway currently delivers optimal performance on iOS devices and will seamlessly integrate into Apple's ecosystem.Apple announced Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2nd, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online.CEO Evan Gappelberg commented: "The long awaited Apple AR glasses are here! We have been waiting for this moment since 2019 and I'm extremely excited to announce that it has finally arrived. I see this as an enormous opportunity for early investors to participate in the next big thing augmented reality and spatial computing technology. ARway is purpose built for the Vision Pro Launch"The consumer adoption of "Apple Vision Pro" will be a massive boost for the augmented reality industry, opening up a new market opportunity for ARway's technology as the Company is a software solution provider for the Apple Vision Pro. ARway.ai's use cases in indoor navigation and recent efforts have focused precisely on AR glasses integration, aligning the Company's vision and execution with the industry shift to 3D/AR.Recent Tech UpdatesAs announced last month, ARway recently launched Version 2.7, marking a significant leap forward in its spatial mapping capabilities. This latest version introduces a new enhanced AI-powered process that automates the creation of 400,000 square feet 3D spatial maps from 2D floor plans, significantly improving ARway's platform performance for enterprises and developers. The deployment of this technology at Congohas Airport, Brazil, and a prominent shopping destination in South Africa, showcases its global applicability and scalability.Watch a video showcase of Version 2.7 - click hereSign up for Investor News - HERETo learn more about ARway, please follow on Social Media: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and visit our website: www.arway.ai About ARway.ai ARway.ai (CSE:ARWY)(OTCQB:ARWYF)(FSE:E65) is a spatial computing platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) providing an array of augmented reality (AR) experiences for indoor spaces. ARway's breakthrough no-code no-beacon IPNN allows for the easy creation of navigation, tours, information sharing, notifications, advertising and gamification. ARway works seamlessly as a cross platform solution on iOS/ Android. ARway's technology is optimized for both mobile devices and AR glasses: Apple's Vision Pro, Magic Leap and Microsoft's HoloLens. ARway has unlimited use cases for augmenting physical spaces, making it a valuable tool for creators, brands and companies in various industries. The complete ARway platform includes: the Web Creator Studio, the ARwayKit Software Development Kit (SDK) and a mobile app for iOs and Android.Nextech 3D.ai On October 26, 2022, ARway.ai . was spun-out from its parent Company, Nextech3D.ai (OTCQX:NEXCF)(CSE:NTAR)(FSE:1SS). Nextech retained a control ownership in ARway.ai . with 13 million shares, or a 50% stake. Nextech3D.ai is a Generative AI powered 3D modeling Company and leading provider of augmented reality ("AR") experience technologies and 3D model services. To learn more about Nextech3D.ai , visit www.nextechar.com For further information, please contact:Investor Relations Contact Julia Viola investor.relations@arway.ai ARway.ai Evan GappelbergCEO and Director866-ARITIZE (274-8493)Forward-looking Statements The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. ARway.ai will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.SOURCE: ARway Corporation
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 07:26:38

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In the realm of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market, a realm defined by the ever-shifting tides of consumer demand and technological evolution, this report serves as a beacon, guiding our readers through a comprehensive and profound analysis. Our audience is as diverse as the market itself, encompassing manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and investors, all seeking to navigate this dynamic landscape. Our primary aim is to provide invaluable insights that empower industry stakeholders to make informed decisions within this rapidly changing environment. We strive to shed light on the current state of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market while projecting its future trends.Scope and PurposeOur report is a comprehensive compass, designed to equip industry stakeholders with actionable knowledge. It spans various dimensions of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market, including its dynamic market forces, competitive landscape, growth opportunities, challenges, and regional nuances. This information goes beyond mere descriptions; it is crafted to assist stakeholders in making pivotal decisions that shape their strategies and engagements within the market.Request for Sample Report:Promising Comprehensive AnalysisTo uphold our commitment, we pledge to deliver a comprehensive analysis, leaving no stone unturned. We promise to dissect the factors propelling market growth, dissecting shifts in consumer preferences and technological advancements fueling the demand for basalt fiber braided sleeve products. Concurrently, we recognize that challenges and obstacles are intrinsic to any industry landscape. We vow to illuminate these hurdles, whether they be economic uncertainties or the intense competition that often characterizes such markets.Guiding the Path ForwardOur report invites readers to explore its contents, laying the groundwork for unveiling the competitive landscape. It introduces the major players in the basalt fiber braided sleeve market and elucidates their strategies, offering insights into what fuels their success. This insight-rich analysis is designed to guide others on their journey  be it navigating competition more effectively or finding inspiration in successful strategies.Anticipation of InsightsAcknowledging the market's complexity, we pledge to provide a nuanced understanding of its segments. We promise to detail their sizes, potential growth trajectories, and key trends. This targeted knowledge empowers stakeholders to craft specialized strategies and allocate resources optimally.Balancing Forces and Strategic ImplicationsBy elucidating both driving forces and potential obstacles, our report paints a comprehensive picture of market dynamics. It enables industry stakeholders to navigate the competitive landscape with a deeper understanding of the forces at play. Manufacturers can align their innovation efforts with consumer preferences and regulatory trends, enhancing their market position. Investors and decision-makers can be better prepared to address economic uncertainties and supply chain vulnerabilities. Overall, this section equips readers with insights to make strategic decisions that account for both growth opportunities and challenges in the basalt fiber braided sleeve market.Exploring the Competitive LandscapeThe section dedicated to the competitive landscape of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market offers a meticulous exploration of the market's key players, their strategies, and their impact on the industry. This segment aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the market's dynamics, the role of major companies, and the strategies they employ to thrive.Some of the major companies in the Basalt Fiber Braided Sleeve market are as follows: Advanced Engineering Materials, Anamet Europe, Anhui Parker New Material, BACONI srl, Beijing Great Pack Materials, Favier Group, Fibremax, Hantai Firesleeve, IZOLA, Moltec International, Ningguo BST Thermal Products, Ningguo Xinmao Fiberglass Products, Texpack, Textile Technologies, WalleanSegment CharacteristicsOur analysis commences by outlining the unique characteristics defining each segment. Whether these segments are categorized based on product types, customer demographics, use cases, or other distinguishing factors, our report provides a clear picture of their definitions and differentiators.Market Segmentation:Type: Maximum Operating Temperature 1200AF, Maximum Operating Temperature 1400AF, Maximum Operating Temperature 1500AF, OthersApplication: Metallurgy, Chemical, Automotive, Household Electrical Appliances, OtherMarket SizeUnderstanding the size of each market segment is crucial for assessing its significance within the overall market landscape. Our report presents quantitative data illustrating market share and the contributions of "Type" and "Application" segments to the entire basalt fiber braided sleeve market. This information helps stakeholders appreciate the relative importance of each segment.Growth PotentialBeyond current market size, our report delves into the growth potential of these segments. We explore factors such as emerging trends, consumer behaviors, technological advancements, and regulatory influences driving the future expansion of these segments. This forward-looking perspective aids stakeholders in identifying where growth opportunities lie.Key TrendsOur analysis captures the key trends specific to each segment, be it changing consumer preferences, evolving technology adoption, or shifting regulatory landscapes. These insights inform stakeholders about the directions "Type" and "Application" segments might take in the coming years.Strategic InsightsOur segment analysis transcends descriptive data to offer strategic insights. By understanding the characteristics, potential, and trends of "Type" and "Application," industry participants can make informed decisions. Manufacturers can tailor product development strategies to meet the demands of these segments, and marketers can create targeted campaigns to reach specific customer groups.Exploring Regional DynamicsThe section dedicated to the regional analysis of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market provides a comprehensive exploration of how the market fares across different geographical areas. This analysis recognizes that markets are not homogenous and that regional variations can significantly impact market dynamics. Our report delves into the intricacies of each region  North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa  to provide stakeholders with valuable insights.Closing ThoughtsIn essence, the conclusion encapsulates our report's journey. It emphasizes our report's role as a strategic tool, a navigator, and a decision-making companion in the complex world of the basalt fiber braided sleeve market. Our report is more than just a document; it is a valuable resource that empowers industry stakeholders to thrive in a dynamic and ever-evolving market environment.
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 14:00:47

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SACKVILLE, NB / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Beal University Canada is proud to announce the commencement of its new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to embark on fulfilling careers as registered nurses in New Brunswick. The inaugural cohort, which began in January 2024, is set to redefine nursing education with a focus on fostering life-long learners and critical thinkers.Beal University Canada's BScN program offers a student-centric approach to education, combining online and on-campus learning that enables students to earn their degree in as little as 30 months. Whether opting for a full-speed trajectory or a more balanced pace, students have the flexibility to tailor their educational journey to accommodate personal schedules and responsibilities.A key highlight of the program is the integration of technologically advanced simulation labs, featuring virtual reality and high-fidelity manikins that replicate real-life scenarios, enhancing practical learning experiences. This innovative approach ensures students are well-prepared to navigate the challenges of the nursing profession.Holly McKnight, MSW MITE, President of Beal University Canada, expressed excitement about the program, stating, "Our BScN program reflects Beal University Canada's commitment to providing a cutting-edge education that prepares students for success in the dynamic field of nursing. We are dedicated to fostering a supportive learning environment that empowers our students to excel." On campus labs are held at the Sackville Memorial Hospital. Our lab is equipped with high fidelity simulators to help engage students and develop their nursing skills.The curriculum includes an initial 12-month online phase, allowing students to learn from the comfort of their homes while maintaining employment. Subsequently, students will engage in on-campus theory and lab sessions in Sackville, New Brunswick, 2-4 times a week, along with clinical placements within Horizon Health, ensuring a well-rounded education that combines theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience.Beal University Canada's BScN program accepts applications six times a year, eliminating waiting lists and providing aspiring nurses with the opportunity to start their academic journey promptly. Graduates of the program will be eligible to take the NCLEX-RN licensing exam, paving the way for a rewarding career in nursing.For more information about Beal University Canada's BScN program, please visit bealuniversity.ca CONTACT:Contact Name: Jeff BurbineContact Email: jburbine@ bealuniversity.ca Contact Phone: 800-660-7351Website: bealuniversity.ca SOURCE: Beal University Canada
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 13:34:34

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Experienced North American CEO to Focus on North American ExpansionVANCOUVER, BC and KIBBUTZ YIFAT, ISRAEL / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Beyond Oil Ltd. (CSE:BOIL)(OTCQB:BEOLF) ("Beyond Oil" or the "Company"), a food-tech innovation company extending the life of frying oil while reducing costs, waste and health risks, is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Nemirow as a Strategic Advisor to strengthen the Company's expansion in North America and enhance its strategic growth initiatives.Mr. Nemirow, currently based in Vancouver, BC, brings a wealth of experience to Beyond Oil, having successfully led and scaled businesses across diverse sectors such as distribution, manufacturing, aerospace, and international business development. His recent role as CEO of Greenstar Plant Products, Inc. showcased his ability to transform a complex business, where he set a new strategic direction, divested portions of the business, and orchestrated the acquisition of a complementary organic brand. Under his leadership, Greenstar emerged as a globally recognized manufacturer of advanced plant nutrients and supplements, with products distributed in North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. Greenstar was subsequently sold to a public US company in 2021."I am truly excited to be part of Beyond Oil," said Mr. Nemirow. "It is uncommon for a company to create a product that can benefit numerous stakeholders and simultaneously become an important leader in sustainability. Beyond Oil's significant economic and ESG impacts, encompassing cost savings on oil, environmental benefits, and the production of healthier, more flavorful food for customers, positions the company to offer its customers an opportunity to enhance their bottom line while contributing to a better world." Leveraging his experience in founding and building companies, Mr. Nemirow will play a key role in Beyond Oil's international expansion, focusing on distribution strategies, sales, supply chain, manufacturing, and the Company's ambitious growth plans."We are excited to welcome Michael Nemirow to our team as a Strategic Advisor," said Jonathan Or, CEO and Co-founder of Beyond Oil. "Michael's impressive track record and his profound experience in business expansion align perfectly with our growth objectives, especially as we strengthen our presence and leadership in North America. His extensive expertise in distribution, sales, strategic scaling, and manufacturing will be invaluable in driving Beyond Oil to new heights." The appointment of Mr. Nemirow underscores Beyond Oil's commitment to assembling a high-caliber team dedicated to advancing its innovative solutions and contributing to a more sustainable future.About Beyond Oil Ltd.Beyond Oil is an innovative food-tech company, in the health field, dedicated to transforming the way we consume and produce food. We provide sustainable solutions for the food industry, prioritizing environmental protection and the well-being of its workers and customers. Our innovative solutions help reduce costs for our partners and clients while ensuring responsible and eco-friendly practices. We are committed to environmental responsibility, minimizing the carbon footprint of the food industry on our planet. By implementing cutting-edge techniques, we deliver a healthier final product by reducing the formation of carcinogenic substances in fried food. Our vision is to create a more sustainable future where food safety, cost efficiency, and environmental consciousness come together seamlessly. For more information, visit our website at: www.beyondoil.co ContactsJonathan OrCEO and Co-founderinfo@ beyondoil.co Caroline SawamotoInvestor Relations1-647-691-9801 ir@ beyondoil.co Forward-Looking Statements and InformationThe Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the 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 press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities laws. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates" and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based upon management's current expectations, beliefs and projections, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain. Such expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs, and projections will be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. In addition, we cannot assure that any patent will be issued as a result of a pending patent application or, if issued, whether it will be issued in a form that will be advantageous to us. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting the Company, reference is made to the Company's reports filed from time to time at sedarplus.ca . Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, subsequent events or circumstances, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect thereto or with respect to other forward-looking statements. References and links to websites have been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such websites is not incorporated by reference into this press release. The Company is not responsible for the contents of third-party websites.SOURCE: Beyond Oil Ltd
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 16:01:36

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BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 /Spoiler Alert, the CPG industry's leading digital platform for managing slow-moving and obsolete inventory, announced this month that it has helped its customers sell over 1 billion pounds of inventory since the company's sales platform launched in 2019. This achievement is a testament to Spoiler Alert's company mission to power the waste-free economy and prevent usable product from going to waste.Spoiler Alert had previously announced that the company's customers, which include some of the world's largest CPG companies, had sold over 2 million cases of excess inventory in January 2022 alone, marking a significant milestone. The technology company has continued to build on that success, and this latest milestone is another significant achievement.The Spoiler Alert platform digitizes the discounting process, allowing CPG companies to seamlessly list and manage discontinued, slow-moving, and short-dated inventory. Paired with a playbook for discounting teams, a robust network and powerful data insights, Spoiler Alert streamlines the end-to-end transaction and enables perishable inventory to be moved faster and to a wider set of channels. Taken together, this drives increased sales for CPG manufacturers, a stronger supply of opportunistic inventory for closeout channels, and less waste overall."When we brought to market our new product offering 4 years ago, we did so with the hope and vision that it could power the next generation of waste prevention strategies within CPG," said Spoiler Alert CEO and Co-Founder Ricky Ashenfelter. "There's still a long way to go in powering the waste-free economy, but this is a huge step in the right direction." This milestone helps reduce the amount of methane produced in landfills and increase access to food and personal care items for lower-income consumers who often turn to discount stores and non-profit organizations.Since its founding in 2015, Spoiler Alert has been pursuing its mission to reduce waste through technology. In 2019, the company shifted its focus to helping CPG manufacturers sell obsolete and slow-moving inventory into the discount market. Today, the company powers excess inventory management at over 300 manufacturing plants and distribution centers across the U.S. In 2022, Spoiler Alert helped its customers sell more than 325 million pounds of excess inventory, as outlined in the company's annual Impact Report.About Spoiler Alert:Spoiler Alert is a Boston-based B2B software company helping CPG companies manage excess and slow-moving inventory. Spoiler Alert's platform enables CPG customers, including Campbell Soup Company, Danone North America, Mondelez International, Nestle, Kraft Heinz, HelloFresh, KeHE Distributors, Johnsonville, and Bimbo, to manage their liquidation processes across a private network of discount retailers and nonprofit channels - with a heavy focus on maximizing value recovery, strengthening customer relationships, and increasing the effectiveness of supply chain managers.Contact: press@ spoileralert.com , 617-917-4123Contact Information:Chris MastersonSenior Manager, Marketingchris@ spoileralert.com 508-440-9660SOURCE: Spoiler AlertView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 19:53:25

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COPL Provides Update in Response to Shareholder QueriesCALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited ("COPL" or the "Company") (XOP:CSE)(COPL:LSE), an international oil and gas exploration, production and development company with production and development operations focused in Converse and Natrona Counties, Wyoming, USA, provides the following update in response to queries from shareholders.Were the recent financings from Anavio necessary and were the terms reasonable in the circumstances?Some context is important.On July 22, 2022, the Company announced its first financing with Anavio with the issue of convertible bonds raising proceeds for the Company of $19.7 million to finance the acquisition from Cuda Energy LLC of additional interests in the Company's Wyoming assets.On January 3 and March 27, 2023, the Company announced further issuances of convertible bonds to Anavio and other investors for additional proceeds to the Company of almost $15 million. The Company noted in its announcement of the March financing that the Company was in serious financial difficulty and without such financing, did not have sufficient working capital for its present requirements. The Company was able to secure limited waivers from its senior lenders for financial covenants until September 2023, conditional on closing the March financing.On September 6, 2023, the Company issued a press release announcing, among other things, a financing of $3.5 million (the "Fourth Anavio Financing"). The same press release noted that the pricing of warrants to purchase COPL common shares and the conversion price of outstanding bonds held by Anavio was 4p ($0.0502) per common share. The exercise price of existing warrants expiring on August 26, 2027 were being amended to 4p.The terms of the Fourth Anavio Financing, including its pricing, were subject to arm's length negotiations between the Board and Anavio that reflected the Company's circumstances (declining working capital and the fact that previous contractual commitments to Anavio in connection with prior financings gave Anavio certain rights including rights of first refusal on subsequent financings) and market realities, including the price of COPL common shares in the secondary market during the relevant period. The Board considered whether shareholder approval was required for the Fourth Anavio Financing because it was a related party transaction and determined, with the benefit of legal advice, that exemptions under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions were applicable and necessary in the circumstances. The September 6 press release provided COPL's and the Board's rationale for this determination including the fact that the Company was still in serious financial difficulty and without the latest financing, did not have sufficient working capital for its present requirements.In the weeks after the Fourth Anavio Financing was first announced, the price of COPL common shares in the secondary market went down. In addition, NYMEX WTI increased through September resulting in an increase of $0.9 million due for cash settlement for swaps at the end of September and an increase to cost of COPL America's hedges to $13.1 million at the end of September 2023. An agreement with COPL America's senior lenders to terminate the swaps was reached in early October 2023 to protect COPL America's liquidity from monthly cash settlements of swaps that could result in default of the senior debt; the result was an increase to COPL America's senior secured debt of $11.96 million and additional future interest costs on that senior debt. Anavio was unwilling to close the Fourth Anavio Financing at 4p per COPL common share. Given the liquidity needs of COPL and COPL's limited bargaining power, among other things, the Board determined that it was in the best interests of COPL to reprice the financing at 2.6p per COPL common share. It was successful in negotiating an upsizing of the financing from $3.5 million to $4 million.On October 6, COPL announced the closing of the Fourth Anavio Financing. The repricing at 2.6p per COPL common share represented a +30% premium to the closing share price of COPL in the secondary market on October 5. The Board once again considered whether shareholder approval was required for the financing because it was a related party transaction and provided its rationale for determining otherwise with the benefit of legal advice.On November 15, COPL announced its operational and financial results and, among other things, highlighted the fact that production was below the previously announced 1,200 bbl/d target and made no commitments about how long its working capital would last. In fact, as it had done before, the Company warned that even with the proceeds of the Fourth Anavio Financing, "funds are not sufficient to cover forecasted expenses and there is no assurance that the Company will be able to obtain adequate financing in the future or that such financing will be obtained on terms acceptable to the Company With no assurance that additional finance will be obtained there is material uncertainty that casts significant doubt that the Company will be able to continue as a going concern." On December 18, COPL announced that the potential joint venture it was hoping to progress was terminated by the counterparty. This was a very significant setback for COPL, as reflected in the reaction of COPL's share price after the news was announced. This news wiped out more than 40% of equity value in the two days after it was announced and triggered a series of events for which the Board had little time to react.On December 20, COPL announced that its affiliate had received a notice of default that indicated, among other things, the senior lender was unwilling to further amend or waive certain terms of its Senior Credit Facility. COPL disclosed that without an amendment or waiver from the lender, the Company's indirect affiliate would be in breach of the terms of the Senior Credit Facility on or before January 1, 2024. COPL noted that it required additional financing in January 2024 and if such financing was not raised, it would have to seek some form of creditor protection.On December 29, COPL announced that it had agreed to equity financing of $2.5 million from Anavio (the "Fifth Anavio Financing"), which it expected to close by January 15, 2024. The funds raised would be used for working capital purposes and to allow for short term operations and improvements. COPL also disclosed it had negotiated a forbearance agreement with its senior lender and in relation to that forbearance agreement appointed a Chief Restructuring Officer.At each
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 08:00:47

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APPOINTMENT OF NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORSPERTH, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Centamin is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Hoda Mansour and Ms lman Naguib to the Board as Independent Non-Executive Directors, with immediate effect. As part of ongoing Board succession, Dr Ibrahim Fawzy has indicated that he does not intend to stand for re-election as a non-executive director at the Company's upcoming annual general meeting in 2024.JIM RUTHERFORD, Chair of the Board, commented: "It is with great pleasure that I welcome Hoda and Iman as members of the Centamin Board. Hoda brings a wealth of experience to the Board and her extensive knowledge of the region will be of great value to Centamin. Iman, equally, brings extensive experience across all aspects of corporate finance, asset management and M&A within both emerging and developed markets, and will be a true asset to the Company as we move into our next phase of growth.I would like to extend my personal thanks to Dr Fawzy for the invaluable contribution that he has made to Centamin as a Board member during his tenure. We have benefited significantly from his wise counsel and his extensive experience across both the public and private sector. We wish him all the very best with his ongoing academic work in Egypt." HODA MANSOUREffective immediatelyHoda has 25 years of experience working in leading multinational software and technology companies including Oracle, Microsoft, Acision, SAP and most recently IFS.During 2023, Hoda joined IFS, a global cloud-based enterprise software and solutions company, as COO for Asia Pacific, Japan, Middle East, and Africa. For the previous 10 years, Hoda worked at SAP, the market leader in enterprise application software, where she held several country head and leadership roles before becoming the Senior Vice President and Head of Business Process Transformation for the Southern Europe and Middle East and Africa regions in 2021.Since 2021, Hoda has served as a Board Director at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and between 2020 and 2022 was Vice President of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce.Hoda currently serves as a non-executive director on the Board of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), the leading private sector bank in Egypt.Upon appointment Hoda will become a member of the Sustainability Committee.Hoda Mansour, commented: "I am very much looking forward to joining the Centamin Board and working with the management team. I am excited to be joining a Company that is not only helping to build a key growth industry within Egypt, but is generating multiple benefits for its people, whether that is through direct employment, the promotion of women or the development of sustainable practices." IMAN NAGUIBEffective immediatelyIman has over 20 years of expertise in finance and investment management, across the mining, telecoms and financial services sectors, within both emerging and developed markets. She brings to Centamin extensive experience in corporate finance and restructuring, investment and asset management, liquidity management and mergers and acquisitions.Iman is a partner at Karnak Capital, an investment management vehicle she founded in 2015. Prior to that, between 2012 and 2015, Iman was Group Chief Financial Officer at La Mancha Resources, a gold mining company with operating mines, and exploration and development projects across Africa, Australia and Argentina.Before joining La Mancha, Iman was Co-Founder and Director of Accelero Capital, an investment management group focused on telecommunications. She also served as Corporate Finance Director at Orascom Telecom Holding and Weather Investments, an international telecoms group operating networks in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.Upon appointment Iman will become a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.Iman Naguib, commented: "I am delighted to be joining Centamin at this stage in the Company's growth journey. The Company has built a reputation in the region for being a leader in the sector through its development of the Sukari asset into a world-class mine, and I am really looking forward to working with the Board and management team to further build on this strong platform in the years ahead." There are no further details that are required to be disclosed in respect of the appointments under LR9.6.13 of the UK FCA Listing Rules. This announcement contains additional regulated information.ABOUT CENTAMIN Centamin is an established gold producer, with premium listings on the London Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. The Company's flagship asset is the Sukari Gold Mine ("Sukari"), Egypt's largest and first modern gold mine, as well as one of the world's largest producing mines. Since production began in 2009 Sukari has produced over 5 million ounces of gold, and today has a projected mine life to 2035.Through its large portfolio of exploration assets in Egypt and West Africa, Centamin is advancing an active pipeline of future growth prospects, including the Doropo project in Cote d'Ivoire, and over 3,000km2 of highly prospective exploration ground in Egypt's Arabian Nubian Shield.Centamin practices responsible mining activities, recognising its responsibility to deliver operational and financial performance and create lasting mutual benefit for all stakeholders through good corporate citizenship.FOR MORE INFORMATION please visit the website www.centamin.com or contact:Centamin plc Alexandra Barter-Carse, Head of Corporate Communications investor@ centaminplc.com FTI Consulting Ben Brewerton / Sara Powell / Nick Hennis+442037271000 centamin@ fticonsulting.com FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This announcement (including information incorporated by reference) contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including statements with respect to future financial or operating performance. Such statements include "future-oriented financial information" or "financial outlook" with respect to prospective financial performance, financial position, EBITDA, cash flows and other financial metrics that are based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" and "anticipates" and include production outlook, operating schedules, production profiles, expansion and expansion plans, efficiency gains, production and cost guidance, capital expenditure outlook, exploration spend and other mine
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Correction: The initial release stated Mr. Peter Croden was previously Global President of Upjohn/Pfizer Animal Health Division in Germany. The Animal Health Division is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused.Athena will employ its successful history of securing government contracts, spearheading such initiativesJACKSON CENTER, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Halberd Corporation (OTC-PINK:HALB) is thrilled to declare the formalization of a profitable revenue-sharing accord with Athena GTX, Inc., of Johnston, Iowa, ( www.athenagtx.com) . Athena GTX is a private enterprise specializing in providing medical care solutions tailored for first responders in both civilian and government sectors.Athena's 20+ year history of innovative research and development funding from the government (representing 60% of its income historically) in terms of multi-year contracts and grants, and specifically, novel military products and services averaged about $4-5 million per year with substantial growth still ongoing in these markets. This agreement aligns Athena GTX's proven expertise and vast connections with breakthrough Intellectual property owned by Halberd. Together, their 2024 aggressive development plans include rapid release of products into a market Halberd has not been able to tap into for both Halberd's innovative Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) nasal spray therapy and LDN+ for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicidal ideation, pain, anxiety, and drug/alcohol addiction common in returning veterans. This, according to new highly exciting government proposals, suggests an enormously exciting year ahead, particularly with the feedback received from these agencies.Dr. Mark Darrah, CEO of Athena, stated; "The combination of ongoing University research on Halberd's unique concept products today, with very credible preliminary results, and the enormous market demands we serve, is a natural win-win for both companies. Our plan is to bolster funding in these efforts, capture new research dollars from the government, and push the technology solutions through the FDA and into vertical markets expeditiously. These product solutions dovetail nicely into what we do now and whom we serve. I could not be more pleased!Recent business analyses detailed our five-year plan forward documenting a compelling market demand and overall an $80 billion potential diversified market expanding at impressive annual growth rates. With Athena's 2024-2026 revenue projections nearly doubling, the Athena partnership with Halberd now represents unparalleled growth projections for both companies." Peter Croden, Chairman of the Board of CrodenHealth Corp. (another new joint venture partner of Halberd) and former President of Upjohn/Pfizer Canada as well as later Global President of Upjohn/Pfizer Animal Health Division, headquartered in Kalamazoo Michigan, stated, "CrodenHealth Corp. is looking forward to a very successful relationship with Athena GTX and the Halberd Corporation. And, yes, it is going to be a great year in 2024!!."William A. Hartman, Chairman, President and CEO of Halberd Corporation, added, "Beginning 2023, the task ahead looked daunting- - Halberd needed seven key elements in order to seriously plan for future commercial applications for our technology products, and these were:Research funding for our base antibody/antigen experimentation at Youngstown State University; Research funding for our continuing animal testing at Mississippi State University; Funding for potential clinical trials of our patented LDN+ drug and our patent-pending TBI nasal spray; Funding for potential FDA certification testing of both products; Knowledge of how to work with the military and a reputation as a qualified supplier with the purchasing agents at the military agencies; Experience in launching biomedical products into the market; and Contacts with Big Pharma for potential future ventures and a potential eventual lucrative buyout.I can safely say that we have secured all of the desired elements with our newly announced ventures with CrodenHealth Corp and Athena GTX. It has taken many months to put this master plan into form, but we have finally assembled the perfect team. We expect great things to happen rather quickly in 2024 because some of the advanced steps have already been initiated. More news to be issued shortly." To get the lateston Halberd's exciting developments, subscribe by submitting this form.(https://halberdcorporation.com/contact-us/) For more information please contact:William A. Hartman w.hartman@ halberdcorporation.comsupport@halberdcorporation.comwww.halberdcorporation.com Twitter:@HalberdCAbout Athena GTX, Inc.Athena GTX is a certified DoD small business with Corporate Headquarters in Johnston, Iowa. Athena focuses development on wearables and highly mobile, wirelessly connected monitoring technologies, and transitioning those to key markets to meet unmet needs of first responders worldwide. Wireless Patient Monitoring - Athena GTX connects patient and provider About - Athena GTX Inc.About CrodenHealth Corp"We help scale amazing companies!"SMCrodenHealth Corp. is a powerful modern team in healthcare. CrodenHealth Corp ensures clients achieve profitable growth through branding, strategic marketing, & tailored go to market strategies. With an exceptional team of marketing and industry experts, we collaborate with our clients to develop or optimize strategies and support successful implementation while maximizing return on investment (ROI).See: http://crodenhealth.com/ About Halberd Corporation.Halberd Corporation (OTC-PINK:HALB), is a publicly traded company on the OTC Market, and is in full compliance with OTC Market reporting requirements. Since its restructuring in April of 2020, Halberd has obtained exclusive worldwide rights to three issued patents and has filed 22 related provisional, PCT, or utility patent applications to enhance its value to its stockholders and to attract the interests of potential development partners.Safe Harbor NoticeCertain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). The Company' cautions our readers that statements, and assumptions made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time the statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties and associated estimates made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results.
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC a nationally recognized law firm, notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Dollar General Corporation ("Dollar General" or "the Company") (NYSE:DG) 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 Dollar General securities between May 28, 2020 and August 30, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: bgandg.com/dg Case Details:The Complaint alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Dollar General stores were chronically understaffed and suffering from logistical and inventory management problems which left stores with tens of millions of dollars' worth of outdated and unwanted inventory, mispriced goods, and lost and damaged items; (ii) large backlogs of unsellable merchandise had built up at Dollar General's stores, which inventory had not been timely written down due to understaffing and Dollar General's failure to manage its inventory; (iii) the allotment of employee hours per store per week imposed by Dollar General management placed employees in virtually impossible situations where assigned tasks, including those necessary to effective store operations, could not be completed within the allotted time; (iv) Dollar General was systematically overcharging customers for items upon checkout above the listed price in violation of state laws, including state law violations identified by state regulators in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio; (v) Dollar General's reported revenue and earnings during the Class Period were artificially inflated by defendants' over-pricing scheme; (vi) Dollar General's failure to manage store inventories and accurately price items upon checkout risked the loss of customers, lower sales, adverse regulatory actions, and reputational fallout; and (vii) Dollar General was not on track to achieve its guidance during the Class Period and such guidance lacked a reasonable factual basis.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: bgandg.com/dg 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 Dollar General you have until January 26, 2024, 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.There is No Cost to YouWe represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys' fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.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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Funds awarded to 11 community college programs across North Carolina Grants support lineworker training, education programs CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / The Duke Energy Foundation announces $350,000 to support 11 community college programs across the state working to create a pipeline of skilled lineworkers that will help meet the energy industry's future workforce needs. With this additional funding, the Foundation has awarded more than $6.7 million over the past five years in support of workforce development programs with a focus on the energy sector.The lineworker training program funds will be primarily used by grantees for diversity recruitment, instructor stipends, equipment, materials and program marketing. One of the community college grantees, Forsyth Technical Community College Foundation received $35,000 in funds."We are profoundly grateful to Duke Energy for their continued and generous support of our Electrical Lineworker Program. As we approach the graduation of our 62nd class of lineworkers, this support is not just a contribution, it's a commitment to the future of our students and the energy sector," said Dr. Janet N. Spriggs, President, Forsyth Tech. "This grant reinforces our shared vision of empowering lives through education and training; together, we are lighting the way for the next generation of skilled professionals who will keep our communities connected and energized." As Duke Energy executes its clean energy transition, the need for a skilled workforce is rapidly growing. Lineworkers play an integral role in a more efficient, more reliable digital grid. The company's investment into lineworker training programs and coordination with community colleges will result in a more diverse talent pipeline for the utility industry."Given North Carolina's tremendous growth, lineworkers are essential to strengthening our infrastructure and allowing our communities to thrive," said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "These grants are one way we can create access to workforce development opportunities across the state, helping ensure our workforce diversity reflects the communities we serve, live and work in." Duke Energy FoundationThe Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars. More information can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation 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 . TheDuke Energy News Centercontains 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: Shawna Berger 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 @DE_ShawnaBView original content here.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Duke Energy on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: Duke EnergyWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/duke-energy Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Duke Energy
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TEMPE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Green Planet Group, Inc. (OTC PINK:GNPG) wholly owned subsidiary Healing the Earth, Inc announced today that it has shipped its first Ultimate Food System to be used to grow barley fodder on a beef cattle ranch. The ranch, located in Peyton, Colorado will use the fodder grown to feed Black Angus cattle. The growing system will also be operated as a "test system" to verify the benefits of the highly nutritious barley fodder grown on the Healing the Earth system which grows the fodder extremely quickly using approximately 97% less water than conventional field-grown feed.Projected benefits of feeding the herd high quality Healing the Earth (HTE) grown fodder include:Increased operating income through the production of a higher beef quality product Improved cattle herd health, reducing mortality rates Enhanced animal growth rates Reduced feed costs Sharply reduced herd methane production, reducing greenhouse gas production Elimination of feed shipping costs and resulting air pollution through on-site growing Reduction of manure production and resulting odor, flies, etc.Animal performance metrics will be monitored by the rancher's local veterinary service and the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University. The Black Angus test animals will weigh an average of seven hundred (700) pounds at the initiation of the test period. Daily weight gain is projected at approximately three (3) pounds, with the animal harvest weight of twelve hundred (1,200) pounds being attained in just one hundred sixty-six (166) days. The HTE fodder will be supplemented with fair quality hay.This HTE test system is just forty (40) feet long, but produces three hundred (300) pounds of barley fodder per day. Monthly production is estimated at nine thousand (9,000) pounds with annual production estimated at 109,200 pounds, or nearly fifty-five (55) tons.Steve Hammers, the Colorado rancher purchasing this system noted, "We're looking forward to getting this growing system up and running. This is a major step forward in building the future of beef cattle ranching. A reduced carbon footprint combined with improved animal health, shorter time to market and a stronger bottom line make the future look bright." The system was shipped from the HTE manufacturer, Sun West Engineering, Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona on December 8, 2023. It is anticipated that installation will be completed and the system operational by January 12, 2024.For more information, send requests to info@ greenplanetgroup.com About Green Planet Group, Inc. The Company is comprised of five wholly owned subsidiaries: three operating companies and two development-stage companies. The Company's Healing the Earth subsidiary has developed the Ultimate Food System growing system capable of growing vast amounts of fresh, organic food with extremely low water use. XenTx Lubricants produces lubricants and additives for gasoline and diesel engines which reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. Senita Solutions specializes in the development and maintenance of a complete and integrated accounting software package for petroleum marketers to be adapted for data analysis use with the various Green Planet Group technologies. AAQIS is developing a hydrogen generator which greatly reduces hydrocarbon emissions while improving fuel efficiency in internal combustion engines. Green Mining Technologies is developing restorative technology for placer mine tailings.For more information see: www.greenplanetgroup.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements (as defined - Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Green Planet Group, Inc. cautions that the statements made in this press release constitute forward-looking statements and no guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from projections in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time the statements are made.SOURCE: Green Planet Group, Inc.
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COQUITLAM, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Grid Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Grid Battery") (TSXV:CELL)(OTCQB:EVKRF)(FRA:NMK2) is pleased to announce that the National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for the Nickel Project, dated December 4, 2023, in the Takla Lake Area, BC and prepared by Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo. (the "Technical Report") has been filed on SEDAR+ ( www.sedarplus.ca) and can be obtained on the Company's website at gridbatterymetals.com/nickel-project . As a recap, the third phase of our BC Nickel exploration program was completed in 2023 and included a detailed sampling, trenching and initial drilling program.The proposed exploration budget of approximately CAD$200,000 follows a recommendation contained within the Technical Report. Within this exploration plan, funds have been allocated for exploration work that includes field work on all three claim blocks targeting historic results, vectoring towards elevated DTR Ni, and sampling and mapping of untested magnetic anomalies.Grid's wholly-owned subsidiary, AC/DC Battery Metals Inc. ("AC/DC"), will carry out the proposed fourth phase exploration plans in 2024. This exploration program will take place following Grid's proposed subsidiary Spin-out plan originally announced on September 28, 2023. As part of the proposed Grid Spin-out plan, current Grid shareholders will receive a common share dividend in AC/DC shares representing a proportionate value in this new public company. This overall transaction is proposed to give our shareholders a bonus - a share in another public company for no additional cost. In order to fund its operations going forward, AC/DC also plans to complete a private placement financing as part of the overall transaction.After a review by Company management, this exploration contract work has been awarded to Hardline Exploration Corp., ("Hardline") an experienced contract mineral exploration company. Hardline, headquartered in Smithers, BC. Founded in 2014.Hardline specializes in executing programs on complex exploration projects to generate new discoveries and have a proven track record of successful projects incorporating highly skilled geologists and team members with vast experience across Canada on a variety of deposit types. The Technical Report for the Nickel Project, dated December 4, 2023, was prepared by a Qualified Person, Jeremy Hanson, P.Geo..About the Company's Nickel Project and Exploration Region in British ColumbiaThe Nickel Project ("project") consists of five non-contiguous mineral claim blocks in three Groups ("Hard Nickel Centre", "Hard Nickel 3" and "Hard Nickel South"). The exploration stage project is in the Takla Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project. The Decar Nickel Project is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit within the Permian to Triassic age Cache Creek Complex. All the claim groups of the project are partially underlain by variably serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit. Metallic mineralization discovered to date on the project includes nickel, cobalt, and chromium, and some of the nickel mineralization occurs as the nickel-iron alloy awaruite, and as sulphide minerals including heazlewoodite, bravoite and siegenite. The principal target on the project is nickel occurring as awaruite, but at the exploration stage all other styles of mineralization should be considered. Systematic, ground-based exploration work began within the area of the claims now covered by the Nickel Project under the direction of Ms. Ursula Mowat, P.Geo. in 1987, continuing intermittently until 2012. This work established the presence of elevated nickel, cobalt and chromium values in rocks, soils, and stream sediments. The area of the claim groups of the project were included in Geoscience BC's QUEST and QUEST-West projects, including multiparameter regional geophysical surveys, and regional stream sediment reanalyzes and data compilations between 2008 and 2009. R. Britten's technical paper "Regional Metallogeny and Genesis of a New Deposit Type - Disseminated Awaruite (Ni3Fe) Mineralization Hosted in the Cache Creek Terrane published in 2017 in Economic Geology should be utilized as an interim mineral deposit model or profile for the Nickel Project. The Nickel Project is worthy of phased, systematic exploration programs designed and implemented to delineate areas with known or high probability metallic nickel mineralization, and to discover new areas of similar mineralization.The exploration stage project is in the Trembleur Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s (TSXV:FPX),(OTC:FPOCF) Decar Nickel Project, which is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit. FPX Nickel Corp. has invested over CAD$25 million developing the Decar Project and plans to issue a Prefeasibility Study this calendar year as announced on June 27, 2023 showing increased nickel recoveries on the project. FPX's Decar Nickel Project is widely recognized as on the 7th largest nickel deposit in the world (Source: Mining.com , May 1, 2023).Qualified PersonJeremy Hanson, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by NI 43 - 101, is responsible for the technical information contained in this release regarding Grid's BC Nickel Properties. Readers are cautioned that the information in this press release regarding the property of FPX Nickel Corp is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the property of interest.About Grid Battery Metals Inc.Grid Battery Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market. www.gridbatterymetals.com About Texas Springs PropertyThe Company owns a 100% interest in the Texas Spring Property which consists of mineral lode claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The Property is in the Granite Range southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Humbolt Formation.The Texas Spring property adjoins the southern border of the Nevada North Lithium Project - owned by Surge Battery Metals Inc. ("Surge") (TSXV:NILI),(OTC:NILIF) and comprised of 303 mineral claims. Surge's first round of drilling identified strongly mineralized lithium bearing clays. The average lithiu
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Small Healthcare Businesses in the Ever-Evolving Healthcare Landscape are Overcoming Challenges and Seizing OpportunitiesPITTSFORD, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2024 / In today's ever-evolving healthcare landscape, small healthcare-related businesses face a myriad of challenges, including dwindling reimbursements, intensifying competition, and mounting regulatory demands.According to AARP, the majority of Americans can anticipate needing assistance as they age, with over half of those turning 65 today projected to require significant long-term health services, as highlighted in a 2022 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services brief.Recognizing this growing need, Happier at Home stands out from traditional home care agencies through its unique business model that allows small healthcare businesses to tap into the burgeoning demand for home care services. Rather than succumbing to the pressures imposed by insurance companies and the risk of business closure, these enterprises can expand their offerings and cater to their existing patient base.Happier at Home's mission is clear: to provide top-quality home care to the aging and disabled through trusted healthcare providers within their local communities. By forging partnerships with healthcare-related businesses such as independent pharmacies, doctors' offices, chiropractors, and independent living facilities, Happier at Home establishes a comprehensive care network that enables seniors to remain at home and independent for longer periods.Founded by Debbie Marcello, who understands the crucial role that home care plays in the lives of aging and disabled individuals, Happier at Home recognizes the financial potential for small healthcare businesses in fulfilling this critical gap within their communities, as national trends indicate an escalating requirement for home care services.According to Home Healthcare News, there are a number of key issues that home-based care providers need to navigate like legal and regulatory hurdles. In addition, there are Increased government investigations and there are public health emergency reversals on waivers and flexibilities.Another issue with home health care is fragmented coordination. Coordinating care across different healthcare providers, including hospitals, primary care physicians, specialists, and home health agencies, can be challenging. Communication gaps and fragmented care can result in poor care transitions, mismanagement of medications, and a lack of continuity in the patient's overall healthcare experience.Beyond conventional home care services, places like Happier at Home go the extra mile by offering care advocacy and medication management solutions, adopting a holistic approach to meet the needs of aging and disabled individuals. By incorporating these services within the Happier at Home franchise, small healthcare businesses can secure a cash-based revenue stream and regain control over pricing and service quality, free from the constraints imposed by insurance companies.The challenges faced by small healthcare businesses in today's healthcare landscape are significant. However, the growing need for home healthcare services presents an opportunity for these businesses to adapt and thrive.ABOUT HAPPIER AT HOMEHappier at Home is a home health care franchise established in 2007. Debbie Marcello is the CEO and founder of Happier at Home. With a strong presence in the industry, Debbie has made regular appearances on Rochester, NY's WHAM and Fox News channels, sharing her expertise and insights on home health care. In recognition of her outstanding achievements, she was honored as the "Up and Coming Businesswoman of the Year" in 2016 by the New York State Leading Age Home and Community Services Cabinet. Additionally, she emerged as the winner of the prestigious Business Competition at the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business. Debbie's passion for promoting quality care extends beyond her role as CEO, as she also serves as the host of the podcast "Happier at Home, PRN." For more information, visitHappier at Home . For additional information, visit Happier at Home onFacebook ,Instagram , orLinkedIn .CONTACT:Debbie Marcelloinfo@ Happierathome.com585-737-8506 SOURCE: Happier at Home
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Cisco Systems Inc.By Alex WilkinsCisco Foundation grant partner Vibrant Planet Data Commons harmonizes cutting-edge science, open-source data, and Tribal Forestry to reduce the risk and severity of wildfires while speeding the pace of forest restoration.Forests are a vital part of a healthy planet: they store carbon, regulate the water cycle, produce oxygen, prevent erosion, and are among the most biodiverse places in the world. Forests are also important for us as humans: economically, physically, and even spiritually. There are few things I would rather do than spend quiet and peaceful moments among trees.And yet, the prevalence, severity, and devastation from forest fires is continuing to increase, as we've witnessed throughout 2023. In the United States, and in many other forested areas around the world, decades (if not centuries) of wildfire suppression as well as human-caused climate change can lead to catastrophic wildfires that that devastate communities, grab media attention, and pull at heartstrings across the globe. Recognizing that something must be done, the question now is how to speed up the pace and scale of forest restoration and mitigate devastating wildfires.Given that this is an incredibly complex and systemic set of issues, two avenues we can use to address wildfire mitigation include: 1) Data and 2) Management. This is where Cisco Foundation grant partner Vibrant Planet Data Commons comes in. VP Data Commons seeks to transform how our forests are managed by combining high-quality data packages with real-world stories from the forests themselves, with a particular focus on illustrating the many benefits of Indigenous forest practices.Let's start with data. When it comes to forest ecology and fire science, scientists and governments are generating excellent data, such as how much a forest has departed from its natural state, but to make that data accessible to decision makers can take significant time and resources. Once the data is collected, its proprietor may not have the capacity or tools to share the data in easily accessible ways or to do widespread storytelling, and certainly not to take the actions suggested by the data, such as restoration or preservation. Data around things like the overgrowth of forest understory and density of trees can be hard to generate in bulk while also being accurate at the local level, and it is often not collected with enough frequency nor promptly released to meet needs of the quickly changing climate crisis, or its resolution may be low.VP Data Commons' solution is to be that missing link: they support data collection with innovative solutions, like High Altitude Balloons, often used for scientific exploration like making Earth or atmospheric observations, and in consultation from entities such as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), they make it easy for scientists to share out their own data. VP Data Commons then serves as a repository for high-quality data packages, such as wildfire risk in the Yuba Watershed of California. Not only does VP Data Commons take the lead in this curation, but they also provide tutorials on using that data in other scientific analyses and in applying it to real world restoration efforts which addresses our second avenue: management.Long before European settlers arrived in what is now more commonly known as the United States, Indigenous people stewarded forests with a wide variety of sophisticated management techniques, including carefully planned intentional burns (known as "healthy fire"), for example. Even with high quality and usable data, many current forest management and restoration efforts led by public and private entities still face problems of cohesion and are typically disconnected from previous and highly successful Indigenous forest-stewardship practices.The depth and breadth of forest management practices in Indigenous communities is diverse, as are the ways by which such land stewards share their stories with the public. Recently, we had the privilege of hearing from Ray Entz, the Director of Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources at the Kalispel Tribe, and an Advisor to VP Data Commons. In his words:"Indigenous communities are far more sophisticated and ready to lead the design and implementation of large-scale forest restoration projects than previously recognized. Where partnerships and collaboration opportunities exist, Tribes can be powerful partners to large public land managers and communities that want to restore their forest ecosystems." This Tribal leadership and partnership for restoration is so vital because, according to Ray: "We're already seeing climate impacts that are stressing our forests and leading to significant changes. For example, many culturally important species, such as Western red cedar, are in steep decline." The Kalispel Tribe is leading the recovery of 45,000 acres of forest in the Pacific Northwest, and in partnership with VP Data Commons, is developing data visualizations that will help policy makers and the public better understand, support, and prioritize Tribal land management. VP Data Commons seeks to support and uplift these vivid success stories and - with reciprocity and sensitivity - share with the world how data and Tribal stewardship can lead to resiliency in communities, forests, and ecosystems at large.In today's world where deep healing and forest restoration are needed to avoid destructive fires, sequester carbon into thriving ecosystems, and improve livelihoods of local communities, a single shared vision is instrumental. Dynamic, reciprocal, and innovative partnerships between entities such as nonprofit organizations, Tribal communities, governments, and scientists have the potential to provide high-impact, fast-acting forest restoration. These partnerships are not just possible, they are actively happening, with the Kalispel Tribe and VP Data Commons setting a harmonious example. Tying together all of these successful efforts, of course, is our dear friend: data.VP Data Commons and the Cisco Foundation share a similar vision where data is accessible and actionable, efforts are connected, and important voices are in the room where decisions are made, which - when all combined - can bring about the inclusive future we all strive for. In this context, it means more healthy fire and less extreme fire. It means we collectively value, honor, and center traditional Indigenous practices to be the main forest management paradigm. If you are a scientist with data getting stale, a funder seeking opportunities to support, or an tech expert looking to lend your skills, you can get in touch with Vibrant Planet Data Commons.
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 20:55:32

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BPO's services will help the lender transition to a federally regulated financial services providerBURNABY, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Integrated Financial Technologies (IFT), the leading business process outsourcing company for lenders, announced it was selected by First West Credit Union to manage its book of consumer automobile leases. IFT was chosen to service these contracts, enabling First West to remain compliant in its transition to become a federally regulated lender. IFT will provide intelligently outsourced customer relations, account management, and collections services on behalf of this group of First West leaseholders.First West is one of Canada's largest credit unions, with more than 250,000 members. Through its four regional brands-Envision Financial, Valley First, Island Savings, and Enderby & District Financial-the company provides personalized banking products and services through innovative financial technology. First West's transition to a federally regulated credit union allows it to increase its loan portfolio over time and accelerate profitability. Canadian laws, however, mandate that federally regulated lenders cannot provide or manage consumer leases. IFT will remove this burden from First West, managing the lender's $200 million automotive and equipment leasing portfolio."IFT has a proven track record of delivering reliable, professional, and cost-effective outsourcing solutions for a wide range of lenders," said Darrin Lee, vice president of real estate at First West. "They are an ideal partner to ensure that our legacy customers are properly serviced as we pivot to meet exacting federal regulations." IFT provides next-generation outsourcing services that go beyond the typical contact center and customer service-oriented tasks, combining highly skilled agents that can facilitate back- and front-office tasks like marketing campaigns, collections, asset management, sales, prospect outreach, and fulfillment using AI-based automation features. Known as smartsourcing, these services allow lenders to strategically allocate human resources, manage costs, and grow their businesses without expanding their in-house headcount. IFT's agents have a wealth of knowledge of the lending industry in Canada and the U.S., and leverage the acclaimed Ignite lending services platform to automate tasks and seamlessly manage projects."Our roots come from the lending industry, so we have a deep understanding of the specific services companies like First West need in order to deliver superior customer experiences while minimizing costs," said Tod Chisholm, president at IFT. "We have invested in superior agent training, and outstanding technology that makes workflows as efficient as possible. We are confident that First West's legacy leaseholders will be serviced to the full satisfaction of the company." For more on how IFT's smartsourcing teams can support lending organizations across the financial services sectors in both the U.S. and Canada, visit www.iftsolutions.com About Integrated Financial TechnologiesIntegrated Financial Technologies (IFT) is a market leader in delivering efficient, reliable, and secure back-office solutions to lenders across North America. Based in Vancouver, IFT's unique combination of deep lending expertise and robust technology enables the company to provide a multitude of services in sales, collections, reporting, and customer care. IFT's highly trained North American-based agents are fully trained in all lending and financial services processes, and adhere to strict data privacy and security mandates. IFT's services enable lenders to increase revenue, lower operating costs, and improve customer service-without incurring added overhead. For more information, please visit www.iftsolutions.com PR Contact:Suzanne MattaboniParallel Communications Group, Inc.610-737-2140X: @Parallel_PR smattaboni@ parallelpr.com SOURCE: Integrated Financial Technologies
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 13:03:35

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:INSP)? Did you purchase your shares between May 3, 2023 and November 7, 2023, inclusive? Did you lose money in your investment in Inspire Medical Systems, Inc.? Do you want to discuss your rights? Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. ("Inspire Medical" or the "Company") (NYSE: INSP) between May 3, 2023 and November 7, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Inspire Medical common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact paralegal Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanFebruary 20, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Inspire Medical is a medical technology company that develops and commercializes minimally invasive products for patients with obstructive sleep apnea ("OSA"). The Company offers the only OSA device that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for treatment of the root cause of sleep apnea by working inside the body with the patient's natural breathing process. The Company calls the treatment, which includes an implantable device, "Inspire therapy." On November 7, 2023, the Company announced disappointing earnings results for the third quarter of 2023 - its first reported revenue miss since becoming a public company in 2018. In a stunning admission, Inspire Medical stated it had started to "track" problems with its Acceleration Program in the second quarter of 2023, including a decrease in the number of prior authorization submissions for Inspire therapy, and "recogniz[ed] this trend early in the third quarter" - i.e., as early as July 1, 2023.On this news, the Company's share price fell $31.79, or over 19%, to close at $129.65 per share on November 8, 2023.If you purchased or acquired Inspire Medical common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact paralegal Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoParalegalBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 07:35:56

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AI and net zero transformations are set to provide new growth opportunities in 2024 - and Liberty has business loans to support a focus on the future.MELBOURNE , AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2023 / A recent Deloitte Access Economics Business Outlook Report noted that Australian business investment looks to be slowing down, despite significant opportunities.These opportunities could include increases in productivity thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and net zero emission initiatives.For leading lender Liberty, helping businesses of all sizes secure business loans and funding solutions for growth, opportunity or cash flow is a critical part of their service.According to Head of Consumer Communications Kate Jenkinson, if businesses aren't continuing to invest, they're at risk of being left behind by their competitors."At Liberty, we understand the challenges faced by business owners and that investment can move down the priority list when dealing with other expenses," Ms Jenkinson said."Having access to the right funding can help business owners take advantage of opportunities when they arise and stay competitive." Liberty offers a range of business loans with fast turnaround times designed to support business customers to secure funds when required.Adopting a personalised approach allows Liberty to provide tailored solutions suited to the unique needs and circumstances of each business owner."Growth looks different for each business, and a flexible non-bank lender like Liberty can provide more timely and personalised lending solutions," Ms Jenkinson said."Being able to process business loans quickly enables businesses to implement new growth avenues sooner." Liberty encourages business owners to discuss their situation and goals with a trusted expert to ensure they have a plan in place for the new year."A Liberty Adviser can help future-focused businesses find a loan that works for their investment ideas." About Liberty As one of Australia's leading non-bank lenders, Liberty offers innovative solutions to support customers with greater choice. Over more than 26 years, this free-thinking approach to loan solutions has seen more than 850,000 customers across a wide range of home, car, personal and business loans, as well as SMSF lending and insurance products. Liberty remains the only non-bank lender with an investment-grade credit rating offering custom and prime solutions to help more people get financial.Approved applicants only. Lending criteria apply. Fees and charges are payable. Liberty Financial Pty Ltd ACN 077 248 983 and Secure Funding Pty Ltd ABN 25 081 982 872 Australian Credit Licence 388133, together trading as Liberty Financial. Liberty Advisers have access to a panel of lenders through Liberty Network Services Pty Ltd ABN 65 151 158 628 Australian Credit Licence 408042 (LNS). LNS has access to products including those from Liberty Financial and MoneyPlace.Contact Information: Laura OrchardMedia Coordinator+61 3 8635 8166 mediaenquiries@ liberty.com.au SOURCE: Liberty
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 15:16:03

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Employees from the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, participated in the company's annual Global Food Drive, which included 59 sites across 22 countries. Collectively, employees provided 535,685 meals to local hunger relief organizations in their communities throughout November 2023, a 13% increase in meals compared to the company's 2022 global impact.Sites around the world participated by raising monetary donations, donating physical food items or participating through a hybrid model. Many sites got creative by encouraging inter-departmental competitions or organizing related volunteer events through SPARKTM, the company's global volunteer platform. Others provided incentives, such as trivia events, bake sales and celebratory lunches.In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 158 colleagues contributed for a total of 348 meals provided per employee. Tracy Binkley, QC Analyst for Gas Separations and SPARKTM team lead, shared insight into Bellefonte's strategy behind their Global Food Drive engagement.For Tracy and her team, having the opportunity to contribute and provide support to local friends and neighbors during their times of need is a fundamental driver for participation in the food drive. She said their success harbors back to a strong sense of community, "The last few years have been particularly challenging to many members of our community. We are lucky to have generous employees who look forward to this annual event as an opportunity to make a difference." What also fueled success at the Bellefonte site was the opportunity to participate in several activities that encouraged friendly competition and excitement. A silent auction included generous donations from local businesses and employees; items for bid featured gift cards, handmade items, artwork and gift baskets. When asked about partnering again with local non-profit FaithCentre, Tracy remarked, "FaithCentre is always so gracious and appreciative of our efforts, so it is an easy decision to continue supporting them. We like seeing the local impact directly within our community." The Global Food Drive isn't the first time employees in Bellefonte came together through SPARKTM; Tracy explains that employees can actively engage in several opportunities throughout the year, "We have done many things ranging from Curiosity LabsTMwith local schools, events for science camps or summer sessions, and contributing to our local non-profits. We partner with organizations that host our Curiosity Cube and participate in related events, such as Earth Day and Exploration Fairs." Learn more about how the company inspires employees to give back to the community by visiting its employee and community engagement webpage.MilliporeSigma's Global Food Drive occurred from November 1 - 30, 2023. The company's site in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, donated the most out of 22 countries for a total of 348 meals provided per employee. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from MilliporeSigma on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: MilliporeSigmaWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/milliporesigma Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: MilliporeSigma
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 19:01:07

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Harnessing Decades of Global Leadership Expertise to Further Firm's Client SuccessPHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / N2Growth, a global leader in executive search and leadership consulting, is proud to announce the appointment of Chris Fryer and Robert "Robby" Meara as Partners in the firm. This significant addition aligns with N2Growth's mission of empowering leaders to achieve next-level growth. They will report directly to Kelli Vukelic, Chief Executive Officer at N2Growth.N2Growth Appoints New Search Industry Veteran Partners (L-R) Chris Fryer and Robert Meara "Both Chris and Robby embody the values and expertise N2Growth stands for. Their collective experience and unique perspectives will undoubtedly enhance our ability to both serve our clients globally and disrupt our industry," said Vukelic.Robert Meara brings a unique blend of strategy consulting and executive search expertise. With an impressive background at firms like Avascent, now Oliver Wyman, Meara developed a specialization in B2B distribution and services across various sectors during his tenure with two Top-10 Global Search Firms. His vast sector experience and his functional expertise in Commercial, CEO, COO, General Management, and Marketing leadership roles make him a valuable asset to the firm. Meara's approach is people-centric and detail-oriented, shaped by his early career in the U.S. intelligence community and strategy consulting. His understanding of leadership dynamics and strategic hiring will significantly contribute to N2Growth's continued success.Chris Fryer brings over three decades of executive search and recruiting experience. His career spans the Industrial, Manufacturing, Medical Device, Healthcare, and Financial Services industries. Fryer's dedication, discipline, and collaborative nature, honed during his tenure at two Top-10 Global Search Firms, are integral to his approach. Before Fryer's external search career, he gained significant insight into clients' specific needs when he was an internal vice president for two Fortune 500 companies. His national scope and ability to execute searches for various leadership roles, from C-level to strategic VP positions, make him an invaluable addition to the N2Growth team.About N2GrowthN2Growth is a global leadership consulting and executive search firm, consistently ranked at the top of the Forbes list of America's Best Executive Recruiting Firms for seven consecutive years. The firm serves over 50 markets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.Contact InformationDan EvansChief Marketing Officerpress@ n2growth.com SOURCE: N2GrowthView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 14:01:11

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Leaders will move from disparate tools to unified AI-powered revenue intelligence platforms that serve as sales co-pilotsATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Revenue Grid, a leading revenue operations and intelligence platform for global sales teams, revealed its annual revenue intelligence predictions for 2024. These predictions-which reveal pivotal trends that are reshaping the sales automation landscape globally-span the growing impact of AI and machine learning in accelerating sales automation, the increasing consolidation of the sales tech stack, the role of activity capture across channels, the evolution of CRM from systems of record to systems of action, and the growing importance of security across end-to-end sales interactions."The missing 'A' in Sales Automation will undergo a profound transformation in 2024, driven by advancements in AI and machine learning," stated Vlad Voskresensky, Co-Founder of Revenue Grid. "Beyond automating manual and repeatable tasks, AI-powered revenue intelligence platforms will swiftly aggregate and interpret activities across CRM and all communication channels, discern patterns, and act as co-pilots that empower teams with actionable intelligence-all while prioritizing security at the core." Key Takeaways:In 2024, Revenue Grid anticipates:Prediction 1: AI will accelerate sales automation-Automating manual and repetitive sales tasks and processes will accelerate as companies adopt AI, machine learning, and other innovative technologies. Companies will prioritize streamlining inefficiencies across lead qualification, SDRs, rev ops, playbooks, discounting, and negotiation through automation. As a result, human resources will be empowered to redirect efforts toward cultivating relationships and other value-added initiatives.Prediction 2: Sales will prioritize activity capture across channels -Integrating conversational activity capture and analysis across diverse channels will become paramount in sales automation. This evolution will involve comprehensive tracking and automation of all activities across varied communication platforms, including CRM, text, voice, Zoom, and email, particularly concerning pipeline progression and outcomes. Advanced data capture and AI and machine learning will enable teams to gain valuable insights across the ecosystem of conversations and knowledge.Prediction 3: Sales tech stack consolidation will accelerate-Amid the proliferation of overlapping sales automation tools, organizations will aggressively consolidate their tech stacks-emphasizing onboarding, training, and optimizing premium sales applications with customizable core functionalities. Companies will transition to comprehensive sales and revenue intelligence platforms that serve as unified hubs for activity capture, sales engagement, and revenue forecasting. This will further streamline labor-intensive processes, significantly lower the total cost of ownership, and empower sales teams to shift focus from application maintenance to nurturing customer relationships.Prediction 4: CRM will evolve from records to actions-CRM systems will shift from "systems of records" to "systems of actions." AI-powered "generative signals" embedded in next-generation platforms will help sales teams identify success patterns and adapt to changing market demands. Generative signals draw from accurate data from CRM and all other customer channels to enable teams to identify winning customer engagement patterns-providing real-time, actionable recommendations to elevate sales efforts.Prediction 5: Sales automation security will intensify-With Generative AI becoming an essential part of revenue intelligence platforms, attention will increase to secure end-to-end sales interactions. This will include sophisticated processes and technologies that prevent exposing training data or other data points that should remain confidential. Security professionals will increasingly place proper controls around fine-tuned LLM models and associated products.About Revenue GridRevenue Grid is a revenue intelligence platform that helps businesses identify and prevent revenue leaks at any stage of the revenue generation process. Revenue Grid fights revenue leaks by automatically capturing all relevant sales activities, analyzing data with AI, implementing changes to sales processes with Revenue Signals, and measuring the effectiveness of those changes. Organizations as diverse as Hilton, Western Union, Moody's, Trip Advisor, Red Cross, and Robert Half have chosen Revenue Grid thanks to its customizability and enterprise-readiness. Revenue Grid is a private company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. To learn more, visit revenuegrid.com MEDIA CONTACTS:North America Liz YoungsEmail: lizyoungs@ triercompany.com Phone: +1 843-412-6327EMEA Michael HarringtonEmail: michael@ triercompany.com Phone: +011-44- 770-090-0061SOURCE: Revenue Grid
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 18:18:03

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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Last month, multiple cities in 5 states across the country including the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland filed suits in the PFAS national litigation. The suits allege significant damages including to the water systems, airports, and other critical areas of these cities and towns from PFAS chemicals, also known as forever chemicals.' Mike Stag of the national environmental firm Stag Liuzza represents the cities and towns and has stated that "These PFAS and PFOS chemicals are one of the greatest threats to our environment. Our clients need significant money to remediate their water systems and other public areas from these chemicals. We will continue to file suits on behalf of additional municipalities we represent across the country. This issue is too important for our clients not to have aggressive, experienced counsel helping them obtain all money possible." Stag and his firm also represent municipalities in California, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Ohio, and Stag sits on the Executive Committee of the national suit filed in Federal Court in South Carolina.Stag Liuzza Clean Ground Water Stag Liuzza and Clean Ground Water logoIn June, national class action settlements totaling over $12 Billion were proposed. These settlements only deal with public water systems and do not include payments for airports, fire training centers or other likely PFAS contaminated public areas. It is expected that public water systems and municipalities which file a proper and valid claim could receive payments as early Summer 2024. "We want our clients to be in the front of the line to receive any payments possible from the national settlement the minute it is approved," said Stag. The amount a municipality may receive is based on complex formulas and include what is known as baseline' testing. "During data collection, we are finding that this is a process that takes multiple steps to gather the proper and best evidence for the claims process." More information about the national PFAS Public water system settlement, or filing suit to recover money for PFAS contamination, can be obtained by contacting Mike Stag or Ashley Liuzza at Stag Liuzza or by visiting https://www.cleangroundwater.com For images or other information, please visit https://www.cleangroundwater.com/presskit Contact InformationMichael StagManaging Partnermstag@ stagliuzza.com 888-513-7545Ashley LiuzzaPartneraliuzza@ stagliuzza.com 888-513-7545SOURCE: Stag LiuzzaView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 13:02:06

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)? Did you purchase your shares between August 18, 2022 and May 2, 2023, inclusive? Did you lose money in your investment in The Estee Lauder Companies Inc.? Do you want to discuss your rights? Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the common stock of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. ("Estee" or the "Company") (NYSE: EL) between August 18, 2022 and May 2, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Estee common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact paralegal Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later thanFebruary 5, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Estee manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. The Company offers its products under the Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, La Mer, Aveda, Jo Malone London, TOM FORD, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+ , and The Ordinary brands. The Company sells its products through department stores, specialty-multi retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and salons and spas; freestanding stores; its own and authorized retailer websites; third-party online malls; stores in airports; and duty-free locations.Defendants provided investors with material information concerning Estee's expected revenue for the full year 2023. Defendants' statements included, among other things, Estee's progress made to improve cost structure, pricing power and strong cash generation. As a result, Estee forecasted net sales to increase between 3% and 5% versus the prior-year period, reported diluted net earnings per common share are projected to be between $7.11 and $7.33 and adjusted diluted earnings per common share are expected to increase between 5% and 7% on a constant currency basis.On May 3, 2023, Estee issued a press release announcing weaker sales and profit for the year than estimated and accordingly cut its fiscal year outlook for a third consecutive time. Defendants attributed the further reduction in guidance to its Asia travel retail business, which continued to be pressured by the slower than anticipated recovery from the COVID pandemic.On this news, the Company's share price fell $42.52, or 17.33%, to close at $202.70 per share on May 3, 2023.If you purchased or acquired Estee common stock, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact paralegal Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2024 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoParalegalBernstein Liebhard LLP https://www.bernlieb.com (212) 951-2030 pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2024-01-10 21:00:31

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Top Five Conveyor Car Wash Company Expands Footprint in Georgia and AlabamaTHOMASTON, GA / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Tidal Wave Auto Spa, one of the nation's fastest-growing express car wash companies, celebrated the opening of two brand-new locations this week in Athens, GA, and Montgomery, AL.To celebrate the Grand Openings, the new Montgomery and Athens locations are offering eight days of free car washes from January 10 - January 17. This limited-time promotion provides an opportunity for car owners to experience Tidal Wave's premium wash option, Graph-X4, at no cost. Additionally, any new customer that joins a Clean Club unlimited wash membership plan during Grand Opening week will enjoy their first month of unlimited washes for only $9.97 - saving up to $40."We're excited to continue our growth throughout Georgia and Alabama," said Tidal Wave Auto Spa founder and CEO Scott Blackstock. "The brand-new Athens location is our third in the city and provides another convenient location for our Clean Club members and folks in this community looking for an exceptional wash experience. Our team is excited to join the Montgomery community this week with our Vaughn Road location and is looking forward to opening an additional Montgomery wash later this year on Atlanta Highway." Montgomery, AL Location: 8070 Vaughn Road, Montgomery, AL 36116Nearby locations: Montgomery - Atlanta Highway (Coming Soon), Alexander CityAthens, GA Location: 3377 Atlanta Highway, Athens, GA 30606Nearby locations: Athens - 4475 Atlanta Highway, Athens - Lexington Road, BethlehemTidal Wave Auto Spa currently operates 17 washes in Alabama and will open brand-new locations in Madison, Cullman, Mobile, Boaz, Montgomery and more in 2024. The company was founded in Thomaston, GA in 1999 and currently operates 41 washes throughout their home state. Tidal Wave will also open several locations this year in Georgia, including brand-new washes in Statesboro, Savannah, Douglasville, and Snellville.Tidal Wave Auto Spa is committed to providing every customer with an exceptional car wash experience through industry-leading car care technology, clean and attractive locations, and friendly customer service at every location. Stop by for a single wash or join Tidal Wave's Clean Club for the ultimate experience. Members can wash every day of the month for one convenient monthly payment and save time with exclusive club member wash lanes - plus, memberships can be used at any Tidal Wave location. For those needing to wash multiple cars, Tidal Wave offers discounted monthly family plans and fleet plans for businesses with five or more vehicles.For additional information, including upcoming locations, fundraising, fleet plans, and more, please visit: https://www.tidalwaveautospa.com/ About Tidal Wave Auto SpaTidal Wave Auto Spa is an industry-leading conveyor car wash company founded in 1999 by Scott and Hope Blackstock in Thomaston, GA. Tidal Wave is committed to providing cutting-edge car care technology and exceptional customer service at each of their 228 locations operating in 23 states across the South, Midwest, and Northern United States. In 2020, Tidal Wave partnered with Golden Gate Capital to facilitate their accelerated growth across the country. Tidal Wave is one of the top five conveyor car wash companies in the country and has been included in the Inc. 5000 list for America's Fastest Growing Companies since 2020. The company was recognized as a 2023 Champion of Charity Honoree by Professional Carwashing & Detailing and has raised over $3 million dollars for organizations in their communities.Contact InformationHeather ColemanMarketing Managermedia@ tidalwaveautospa.com Andrea TraylorSenior Director of Digital Marketingandrea.traylor@tidalwaveautospa.com 2058212220SOURCE: Tidal Wave Auto SpaView the original press release on newswire.com
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MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / VIOR INC. ("Vior" or the "Corporation"), (TSX-V:VIO)(FRANKFURT:VL51) announces that it has granted incentive stock options to a director to acquire an aggregate of 225,000 common shares. These stock options have been granted in accordance with Vior's stock option plan (the "Plan"), have an exercise price of $0.135 per share, are exercisable for 5 years and vest as to 1/3 of the number on the date of grant, 1/3 on the first anniversary of grant and the final 1/3 on the second anniversary of grant.In addition, and subject to TSXV and any other regulatory approval, Vior has retained Machai Capital Inc. (the "Consultant"), a marketing, advertising and public awareness firm based in Vancouver, B.C., to provide digital marketing, branding, content creation, data optimization and other investor relations services. The Consultant will receive $8,000 per month for an initial four-month period, which term can be extended monthly by mutual consent. Pursuant to its Plan, Vior has granted 360,000 stock options to the Consultant at an exercise price of $0.135 per share, exercisable for a period of five years and vesting as to 1/4 of the options granted every three months.About ViorVior is a hybrid junior mineral exploration company based in Quebec, whose corporate strategy is to generate, explore and develop high-quality mineral projects in proven and favourable mining jurisdictions in North America. Through the years, Vior's management and technical teams have demonstrated their ability to discover several gold deposits and many high-quality mineral prospects. Vior is rapidly advancing its flagship Belleterre Gold Project, its Skyfall Nickel Project, along with several other promising mineral properties.For further information, please contact:Mark Fedosiewich Laurent Eustache President and CEO Executive Vice-President 613-898-5052 514-442-7707mfedosiewich@ vior.ca leustache@ vior.ca www.vior.caSEDAR : Vior Inc Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than of historical facts, that address activities, events or developments that the Corporation believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation, the planned exploration program on the Belleterre project, the expected positive exploration results, the timing of the exploration results, the ability of the Corporation to continue with the exploration program, the availability of the required funds to continue with the exploration and the approval from the Ministere de l'energie et des ressources naturelles ("MERN") of the request for abandonment of the two mining concessions filed by 9293-0122 Quebec Inc. are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "to earn", "to have', "plan" and "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Corporation's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Corporation to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, failure to meet expected, estimated or planned exploration expenditures, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Corporation's expectations, general business and economic conditions, changes in world gold markets, sufficient labour and equipment being available, changes in laws and permitting requirements, unanticipated weather changes, title disputes and claims, environmental risks, the refusal by the MERN to approve the request for abandonment of the two mining concessions held by 9293-0122 Quebec Inc. as well as those risks identified in the Corporation's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described and accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Corporation does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as otherwise required by applicable 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: Vior Inc.
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The Central Bank of Nigeria has sacked the entire Board of Directors governing Polaris, Union and Keystone Banks.

The CBN announced the decision in a statement Wednesday night.

The action is expected to have followed the recommendation of the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, appointed by President Bola Tinubu in July 2023.

Mr Obazee was appointed to probe the activities of the CBN and other relevant establishments.

The CBN in its statement Wednesday accused the banks of regulatory non-compliance, corporate governance failure, among others.

This action became necessary due to the non-compliance of these banks and their respective boards with the provisions of Section 12(c), (f, (g), th) of Banks and Other Financial institutions Act, 2020, a press statement by the banks spokesperson, Sidi Hakama, said.

The CBN said the banks infractions vary from regulatory non-compliance, corporate governance failure, disregarding the conditions under which their licenses were granted, and involvement in activities that threaten financial stability, among others.

Mr Obazee, in a report he submitted to President Bola Tinubu on 20 December, had said the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, used ill-gotten wealth to establish TTB and used it to acquire Union Bank and Keystone Bank through some persons serving as his proxies.

Mr Obazees investigations revealed questionable ownership and loans linked to Mr Emefiele. He had also recommended that the banks be forfeited to the federal government.

Tropical General Investment Group (TGI)

In its defence, Tropical General Investment Group (TGI) explained that the USD500 million capital used to pay for the acquisition of Union Bank was transparent and unimpeachable; it also said due process was followed in the acquisition.

The entire transaction was managed by highly reputed global financial institutions including Rothschild and Citibank.

A USD 300 million loan was sourced from African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) and the rest of the capital was sourced from the proceeds of TGIs sales of its Chi Ltd business to Coca-Cola, all to finance the acquisition of Union Bank, it said.

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The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has reacted to the BBC documentary, Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua, which portrayed the late founder Temitope Joshua, aka TB Joshua, in a negative light.

BBC released a documentary accusing the late TB Joshua of multiple crimes, including allegations of rape against certain members.

The three-part documentary published on Monday on BBCs official YouTube page featured over two dozen SCOAN ex-members (disciples). These individuals, hailing from Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Kingdom and having resided at the Synagogue in Lagos, shared accounts of alleged sexual assault, manipulation, forced abortion, and other abuses attributed to the late cleric.

SCOANs Public Affairs Director, Dare Adejumo, in a statement published in the Vanguard on Tuesday, claimed that the individuals the BBC interviewed and featured in the expository documentary were unfamiliar to the church.

Mr Adejumo maintained that the documentary was aimed at disabusing public minds.

SCOAN stated that while investigating and reporting are at the core of journalism, straying from ethical principles is unacceptable.

Highlighting journalisms role as a societal watchdog, the church stressed the importance of fairness, balance, and objectivity for the media to maintain dignity as the fourth estate.

SCOAN said BBC compromised journalistic ethics by adopting fictional narrative propaganda and transforming itself into a tool for destructive motives against a perceived enemy under the guise of journalism.

SCOAN further stated that only the BBC can clarify the reasons behind its departure from responsible journalism.

According to the church, BBC delivered biased and disheartening reports from disgruntled sources, likening them to giving the public rocks instead of real bread.

According to SCOAN, thousands of individuals have experienced miracles and greatly benefited from the anointing and grace bestowed upon them by the Lord through His servant (TB Joshua).

SCOAN further stated that BBC would not have lost anything; perhaps it had gone to the church to have direct experience of what was happening in the church.

Synagogues reaction

The church added that instead of disguising as visitors, BBC opted to rely on disgruntled and manipulated individuals unknown to SCOAN.

SCOAN condemned the BBC documentary, labelling it disgraceful to hear and insulting to witness, questioning the professionalism of the supposed well-trained reporters.

The church said that the sponsors behind the BBCs documentary seem motivated by envy towards the churchs ongoing expansion, akin to a flourishing tree planted by the riverside.

This, to say the least, is insulting to our professional and public intelligence. One thing is obvious: hundreds of BBC charades cannot rubbish the indelible footprints of TB Joshuas legacies on earth again.

Those beneficiaries are all over the place and cannot be disputed; they are lining up and responding angrily to this imperialist broadcasting station.

Many of them are in the UK, the home base of the BBC, but which its jaundiced investigative eyes cannot see, but only the suborned narrators!

Myriads of broken homes reconciled by TB Joshua are also crying foul of BBCs broadcast of iniquity. Uncountable hopeless children drawn from different parts of the worldsome brought by their parents while others were picked from drug joints or brothelswho have gotten their destinies restored are also pissed off by the offensive reports.

BBC has shot itself in the foot by its compromise and roadside journalism.

Some of those identified are relics of homosexual and lesbian associates. My findings further show that everything the BBC put together is strange to SCOAN. One other illogical thing in the charade is the BBCs categorical statement that TB Joshua, a man of God, was involved in all the abuse for over two decades.

How can that be in a nation governed by law? It shows the stations crude disrespect and bizarre perception of Nigeria.

Where were all those shameless interviewees in all the decades? Was it when the man passed on that they suddenly became awake or returned to their senses? Only a fool will have respect for such charlatans.

Thank God your report exonerated his only wife of any wrongdoings throughout the decades of your so-called investigated lopsided work.

But did you think any wife can see and watch all those nonsensical and annoying scenarios you painted for decades and remain silent? I am yet to read or see such a woman in the universe.

This is illogical, irritating, incomprehensible, unfathomable, and satanically dubious and malicious.

The late cleric was accused of manipulating the narrative surrounding the 2014 collapse of his guest house, where more than 100 people lost their lives.

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The Police Command in Kaduna State has dismissed as misleading, media reports on the purported abduction of commuters along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway on 6 January.

This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Kaduna by the commands Public Relations Officer, Mansir Hassan.

To counter the misinformation flow, the Command wishes to set the record straight.

There was a heavy gun duel along Kaduna-Abuja expressway between security operatives and armed bandits on January 6, at 23:30 hours or thereabout.

The incident occurred when the armed bandits in large numbers attempted to cross the said expressway at Dogon Fili area heading towards Jere axis and were engaged in a fierce shootout by the well alerted security agents who dislodged the hoodlums and ensured a lot of them only escaped but with gunshot wounds.

The Police Command is calling on the public around that axis to be on the watch for any person or persons nursing suspected bullet injuries and report same to the closest Police station or any security outfit.

According to him, in the course of the encounter, commuters plying the highway were caught in a crossfire and six persons sustained varying degrees of bullet injuries and were all rushed to the hospital for medical attention.

It was an unfortunate isolated incident in a long time as the Kaduna-Abuja expressway has since been fortified for the use of commuters.

Thus, the general public should disregard the misleading fear-inducing story.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Ali Dabigi, has urged journalists to always verify their stories with concerned security agencies before going to press.

This will ensure that only the right and correct information are availed to the public, the command spokesman added.

(NAN)

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Ousman Sonko, Gambias former interior minister, who turned 55 on Tuesday, took the stand for the first time at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

He provided details on elements of the charges of crimes against humanity brought against him by the Office of the Swiss Attorney General.

The trial began on Monday when Mr Sonkos lawyer, Philippe Currat, raised a number of procedural issues, including arguments that Switzerland lacks jurisdiction to try Mr Sonko on events before 2011, the year the offence of crimes against humanity came into effect in the country.

The panel of three judges declined to rule on the question of jurisdiction at this stage, stating that this and other procedural issues would be determined alongside the material facts of the case

Mr Currat argued that the question of jurisdiction was related to the elements of crimes against humanity, including how systematic and widespread violations against civilians were, and would influence the outcome of the courts decision on Mr Sonkos guilt.

Thus, according to Mr Currat, the question of jurisdiction should have been determined at the earliest stage of the trial to ensure that victims not eligible to be plaintiffs in the trialthose whose alleged crimes were committed before 2011are removed from the indictment.

We must start with that. Do we have a jurisdiction or not? With an early decision, we would have been in a position to concentrate on what falls clearly under the Swiss jurisdiction, he said after Tuesdays hearing.

Had the court agreed with Mr Sonkos argument, several witnesses and plaintiffs who travelled from The Gambia to appear before the court would not have been heard.

The trial continues tomorrow with the testimony of Binta Jamba, who was allegedly repeatedly raped between 2000 to 2005.

The Tuesday hearing also came with some bad news for Gambian journalists. The panel of judges rejected all parties requests to have the trial translated into English.

Journalists must rely on colleagues and lawyers on the floor to understand the content of what is being said during sessions in German.

Bad detention conditions

Mr Sonko began his Tuesday testimony by explaining the difficult circumstances under which he was detained in Switzerland.

The former interior minister was arrested in Switzerland in January 2017. During his first experience of detention from 2017 to September 2018, he said he was locked in a cell for 23 hours a day with limited time to eat and bathe.

The cell, the window is small and high up. You cannot see outside. I have no access to natural sunlight. I have to use the light 24/7, Mr Sonko told the court. These restrictions, he said, resulted in an eye injury.

ALSO READ: Alleged Jammeh enforcer Sonko goes on trial for crimes against humanity

After 2018, Mr Sonko was moved to another detention centre. The conditions there, he said, improved slightly. His seven years in detention, he told the court, have caused his health to deteriorate. Because of his detention experience, Mr Sonko said Switzerland was in no position to judge human rights.

UN experts denial to access Mile 2 Security Wing

In Mr Sonkos 5-page preliminary testimony, he provided context on events that occurred during his role as police chief, interior minister and military leader.

Mr Sonko raised the 2014 visit of UN experts to assess prison conditions in The Gambia. I invited the UN Special Rapporteurs to visit The Gambia so that their recommendations would enable us to activate political leverage to improve the situation as much as possible, Mr Sonko said.

But in 2014, the two UN special rapporteurs on torture and extra-judicial executions Christof Heyns and Juan Mendez were offered a guided tour upon their arrival in Gambia on a prison visit under the mandate of the Human Rights Council.

The experts were reportedly informed that under no circumstances would they be allowed to visit the Security Wing, where [among others] the death row prisoners are held.

Due to denial of access to the Security Wing of Mile 2 prison to visit those sentenced to lengthy sentences, including the death penalty, an inference must be drawn that there is something important to hide. This incident forced us to suspend this integral part of the visit, said Mr Heyns at the time.

To tell the truth, I was particularly disappointed that the two Special Rapporteurs preferred to provoke a clash with the Presidency as soon as they arrived, rather than carry out their mission in such a way as to build a relationship that would be useful for the countrys development, Mr Sonko said.

Mr Sonko admitted that the prisons in Gambia are notoriously substandard but he said such conditions are not as a result of Gambian state policy. He attributed it to a historical legacy of colonialism.

This was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, January 10. The first meeting of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) Permanent Council in 2024 has been held under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan, Trend reports via the country's government.

Taking into consideration Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the organization from January 1st of this year, the country's permanent representative to the CSTO, Marat Syzdykov, was elected chairman of the Permanent Council in accordance with the rotation concept.

The meeting considered a number of documents, including a draft Action Plan for the implementation of the decisions of the CSTO Collective Security Council's November (2023) session, as well as the implementation of priority areas of the organization's activities under Kazakhstan's chairmanship.

Stay up to date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Media Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday said the International Criminal Court has agreed to investigate potential crimes against journalists in Gaza where an Israeli bombardment has led to the death of over 20,000 people.

The organisation said following the last two complaints it filed with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the office of prosecutor Karim Khan assured that crimes against journalists are included in its investigation into Palestine.

Crimes against journalists are being examined by the prosecutors office, among other potential crimes, as part of the ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine, and RSFs objectives and actions must be supported and are of crucial importance in Gaza and elsewhere, RSF said, quoting a response from the ICC prosecutors office.

The ICC added that journalists are protected by international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute and must not under any circumstances be targeted in the exercise of their important mission.

ALSO READ: UN High Commissioner says signs of war crimes in Gaza

At least 79 journalists have been killed in Gaza including independent videographer journalist working for Agence France Presse (AFP) Moustafa Thuraya and Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Wael Dahdouh.

The UN Human Rights office on Monday said on X that it was very concerned by the high death toll of media workers in Gaza calling for a thorough and independent investigation of the killing of all journalists.

Over 23,000 people have been killed since Israel started attacking Gaza on 7 October after Hamas militants attacked Israel killing about 1,300 people.

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A Nigerian Senator, Ifeanyi Ubah, has slammed Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State for suspending a traditional ruler who conferred a chieftaincy title on him.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Governor Soludo, on Monday, suspended the traditional ruler of Neni Community, Damian Ezeani, for conferring a chieftaincy title on Mr Ubah, who represents Anambra South District at the Senate.

Mr Ezeani had, during the Yuletide, conferred the chieftaincy title of Odenjiji of Neni on the senator.

But the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne, in a statement, said the monarch carried out the conferment without authorisation from the state government and traditional ruler of the senators community as required by law.

Senator speaks

Reacting, Mr Ubah, in a statement on Tuesday, described Governor Soludos suspension of the monarch as a game of politics, according to a report by Punch newspaper.

Soludo is frustrated by my rising popularity, he said.

The senator said he was not the only person conferred with the chieftaincy title, adding that a number of other politicians, including President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, were honoured within the same period.

Why is my own different? he stated.

He did not, however, say if it was the same monarch who conferred chieftaincy titles on the others as claimed by him.

The governor is frustrated by my acceptance and popularity; he is jittery about the next governorship election, but I leave him to his conscience, Mr Ubah added.

No political connection

When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday afternoon, Christian Aburime, the spokesperson to Governor Soludo, denied claims by Mr Ubah that the suspension of the monarch had a political connection.

Mr Aburime stressed that Governor Soludo is unperturbed by Mr Ubahs possible participation in the next governorship election in the state given that he has been a serial contestant in the poll without success.

So, Soludo, who enjoys the overwhelming support of Ndi Anambra, cannot be jittery of such a person. Anambra is APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance) land and the people are fully behind Soludo, Mr Aburime said.

The governors spokesperson insisted that the monarch was suspended because he violated the Code of Conduct for traditional rulers in the state by failing to get permission before the conferment.

Ifeanyi Ubah at a glance

Mr Ubah was re-elected senator in the 25 February 2023 general elections for the Anambra South District under the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

But Mr Ubah, shortly after being inaugurated as a senator in June 2023, defected to the All Progressives Congress.

He hails from Otolo, Nnewi, a community in Nnewi North Local Government Area of the state.

He was a governorship candidate of the YPP in the 2021 governorship election in the state which was won by Mr Soludo of the APGA.

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced an indefinite suspension of its proposed Imo Delegates Conference.

The National General Secretary of the NLC, Emma Ugboaja, announced this on Monday in a letter addressed to all its affiliates.

This is to inform all affiliates especially those with state councils in Imo State of the indefinite suspension of the earlier proposed state delegates conference in the state due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr Ugboaja said in the letter dated 8 January.

The NLC had earlier informed all its affiliates in three state councils that the conference would be held on 10 January.

The state councils which are under the leadership of caretaker committees of the NLC include Abia, Imo and Osun states.

However, the NLC general secretary indicated in the letter that the indefinite suspension will not affect conferences in Abia and Osun states.

The other two states (Abia and Osun) will still go on as planned, he said, assuring members that they would be informed of further developments.

Connecting the dots

Although the NLC did not say what the unforeseen circumstances are, which prompted its decision, it may be connected to the disagreement between the national leadership of the NLC and Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.

The disagreement took a different dimension on 1 November when the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, was arrested by police operatives and brutalised by suspected political thugs in Owerri allegedly on the orders of the governor.

The incident happened when Mr Ajaero and other members of the NLC assembled at the unions council secretariat in the state capital ahead of their planned protest in the state.

The union had accused the state governor, Mr Uzodinma of mobilising the thugs and the officers to attack and arrest the NLC president to frustrate the planned protest in the state.

The workers had resolved to hold the protest in the state over an alleged violation and abuse of the rights and privileges of the state workers by Mr Uzodinmas government.

READ ALSO:NLC dismisses notice of nationwide strike

The national leadership of the NLC immediately declared an indefinite strike in the state and later across Nigeria to protest the assault on the NLC president.

The union, however, suspended the strike, two weeks later after a meeting with the Nigerian government.

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As part of efforts to ensure the improvement of security in Lagos State and furtherance of his commitment to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), the Executive Chairman, Geregu Power Plc., Femi Otedola, on Wednesday, donated the sum of N1billion to the Fund.

The LSSTF is a public-private partnership established about 17 years ago to provide equipment, training, and logistics to the police and other security agencies working in Lagos State.

At a ceremony held at the Lagos House, Marina, Lagos, Mr Otedola, who was represented by one of his daughters, Tolani Otedola, expressed delight that over the years, the Fund had continued to live up to its mandate and had remained relevant in the security architecture of the State.

He noted that this explains his decision to commit another donation of N1 billion to the Fund to ensure the continuity of the critical work being done.

Having taken an interest in the Fund since its inception and made contributions to it from time to time, Mr Otedolas latest donation makes him the highest individual donor to the Fund.

While thanking the gallant men and women of the security services for their good work, Mr Otedola said the society must not forget the role of the LSSTF in enabling them. He stressed that when well-meaning Lagos residents contribute to such initiatives, Lagos will be safer, and everyone will be more prosperous.

He enjoined all residents, especially the corporate Lagos and high net worth individuals, to take a moment to reflect on the significance of donating to the Fund and make the decision to also contribute to it, regardless of size, as every donation has the power to create ripples of change.

Mr Otedola expressed gratitude to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the LSSTF in particular, for their hard work in keeping the state safe. He also called on the Fund to continue in its culture of transparency and judicious use of resources.

In his acceptance remarks, Governor Sanwo-Olu noted that the donation was very important and would serve as a testimonial for others to also come in, stressing that security was everybodys business.

We feel encouraged to continue to do what we have been doing, setting the right business and economic environment for residents as a government. Last December, coming into the new year, was, perhaps the most active movement of the Diaspora population in terms of tourist engagement and socio-economic activities.

We are grateful and happy there were no known security breaches. There could be a few ones, but not serious.

The commendation is also for the men and women of the Lagos State Police Command, who have the constitutional responsibility to continue to do that and who this fund has been set up to continue to support, encourage and assist. What you are doing is the right and proper thing to do, Mr. Sanwo-Olu said.

On behalf of the Fund, its Board Chair, Executive Secretary and other members, the Governor expressed gratitude to Mr Otedola for his gesture.

He called on other Nigerians to emulate and exceed Otedolas donation. We call other well-meaning Lagosians, large corporate businesses; the fund is open to order donors and its a call and challenge, which Mr Otedola has set the pace for us to do the right thing. I promised to support the fund with 300 vehicles and we are working to realise that. We want to be very intentional that we will not spare anything to keep Lagos safe, encourage the personnel and continue to make Lagos the economic nerve centre of our country, the governor added.

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Following the remand of ex-power minister, Olu Agunloye, in prison pending the hearing of his bail application, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has alerted the nation and the government, to concerns he has about Mr Agunloyes safety.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, arraigned Mr Agunloye at an Abuja High court on corruption charges over a failed multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower project.

But in a statement by his publicist, Jahman Anikulapo, Mr Soyinka opined that his remand in Kuje prison, pending resumption of his case by the presiding judge, gave justifiable, high-level concern for his safety.

According to Mr Soyinka, Mr Agunloyes predecessor in office, the late Bola Ige, was murdered in his bedroom by professional assassins while his police protection detail all took time off at a nearby eatery. He recalled that till today, the mystery killers have yet to be identified, arrested, and tried.

I have made it clear, even as recently as a few weeks ago, that Bola Iges murder was not unconnected with the Mambilla scam. Olu Agunloye worked closely with me, both within and outside routine police motions, to unmask Iges killers. It would therefore amount to unpardonable complacency to propose that there are no forces sufficiently desperate to accord him the same fate as Bola Ige. That goal is made easier by the abrupt decision to remand him in prison, he said.

Mr Soyinka noted that he had called for an independent and non-partisan commission to probe at length and in-depth, in public sittings, the scandal of expanding dimensions that have crippled the energy needs of the nation over the past two decades, adding that the latest development was sinister and alarming.

He warned that being a pivotal witness if anything happened to Mr Agunloye while in custody, the inference would be heard loud, clear, and unambiguous.

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The US on Wednesday handed over an upgraded forensic laboratory to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

According to the US embassy, the upgraded facility in Lagos will ensure that the NDLEA has the state-of-the-art equipment needed to analyse suspicious substances and evidence collected from crime scenes and suspects.

Speaking at the event, the US Consul-General Will Stevens said to ensure that Nigerian officials involved in detecting and identifying are best equipped to meet the evolving trends in the illegal drug market, the US has committed to sending Nigerian laboratory technicians on professional exchanges in the United States to allow them to learn best practices in the field.

He called on the NDLEA to make use of the forensic laboratory in carrying out its duties.

Mr Stevens noted that the US and Nigeria are faced with a common threat of illegal drugs and drug trafficking, a challenge that does not respect international borders.

Illicit drug production, trafficking, and consumption are linked to organised crime, illegal financial flows, corruption, and increasingly terrorist financing, he added.

The US, Mr Stevens said, looks forward to continued collaboration with the Nigerian government through partner agencies to combat narcotics and disrupt the global spread of illegal drugs, especially synthetic drugs, affecting both societies.

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The arraignment of the traditional ruler of Arochukwu Kingdom, Godwin Kanu, in Abia State, for alleged conspiracy, impersonation and conduct likely to breach public peace has stirred controversy in the South-east state.

Arochukwu is a kingdom comprising five clans in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia.

Controversy

Mr Kanu was crowned as the Ninth King of the Arochukwu Kingdom on 20 October 2023 by the traditional ruler of Ibom Isii, Kanu Nwa Kanu.

A video clip showing the traditional being crowned was uploaded on YouTube on 22 October.

However, in mid-November 2023, the Royal Head of Arochukwu Kingdom, Oji Oji and Kanu Okoro, another palace official, announced in a statement that Eberechukwu Oji, a prince of the kingdom, had been selected as the new monarch for the kingdom.

The traditional ruler of Ibom Isii, Kanu Nwa Kanu, who performed the coronation of Mr Kanu as Ninth King of Arochukwu Kingdom was subsequently suspended allegedly by the Abia State Government.

Arraignment

Mr Kanu, the newly crowned monarch, was arrested and detained on 5 January after the traditional ruler reportedly released a New Year message to his people.

The monarch and others now at large face three counts of charges of impersonation, conspiracy to commit a felony and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace, according to a court document obtained by this newspaper.

The alleged offences are punishable under Sections 516(A) (a), 484 of the Criminal Code, and CAP 80 Vol 3 Laws of Abia State 2005, the court document said.

The document dated 8 January indicated that the traditional ruler was arraigned at the Magistrate Court in Umuahia.

The case is being prosecuted by the State Commissioner of Police, according to the court document.

When contacted, the police spokesperson in Abia State, Maureen Chinaka, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening that Mr Kanu was arrested in response to a petition against him which was dated 3 January.

Ms Chinaka, an assistant superintendent of police, said the petition was signed by the offices of the state solicitor-general, the state permanent secretary and Abia State Ministry of Justice.

The police spokesperson said the petitioners alleged that Mr Kanu conducted himself in a manner likely to cause breach of peace and also accused him of criminal impersonation of authority.

After we got it (the petition), on the 4 January, we invited him, he did not oblige us. We got our warrant of arrest and we made our arrest, she said.

She added that after the traditional rulers arrest, he sought bail which the court granted him.

The bail conditions, according to the police, were that he must present either his national or international passport, a surety who is a state or federal civil servant of not below grade 14 and a certificate of occupancy for a landed property in Abia State or the Federal Capital Territory.

But he did not meet his bail conditions, she stated.

Granting of bail

But the Magistrate Court, on Monday, granted the traditional ruler, Mr Kanu, bail on self-recognition and adjourned the case for hearing, according to a statement from the media team of the monarch.

Mr Kanu had been in detention for three days at the State Criminal Investigation Department of the police before the court granted him bail on Monday, the statement said.

PDP kicks

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has condemned the arrest and arraignment of the traditional ruler.

In a statement by its Vice-Chairperson, Abraham Amah, the PDP accused Governor Alex Otti of Abia State of masterminding the arrest and series of assaults on the traditional ruler.

The party said it is concerned that Mr Otti has not hidden his animus for present Eze Aroh, Eze Godwin Kanu Idei since he was crowned and has done everything to deride him and cause disrespect to the traditional stool of Aro Kingdom.

It also accused the governor of suspending Eze Ibom Isii for performing the coronation of the Aro King and stopping the coronation ceremony of Eze Aro which was earlier billed to be held on 24 December.

Even when Alex Otti set up a reconciliation committee headed by Chief Chikwe Udensi to find a lasting solution to the tussle, he was quick to disband the committee after just three days and announced his decision to appoint Eze Aro by himself, an act unknown in the annals of Aro history, the PDP said.

The party said despite the advent of modern government, the power to select a king still rests on the people who only present such selected kings to the government for approval of the staff of office.

ALSO READ: Abia governor apologises over inability to pay pension arrears as promised

It is most presumptuous, laughable, unsettling, insulting, discriminatory, anti-people and anti-tradition for Alex Otti to decide who becomes the Eze Aro, simply because he occupies the position of governor, it said.

The PDP claimed that the governor has continued to harass Eze Aro because his choice candidate did not meet many requirements of kingship, especially the fact that he (the governors candidate) cannot rule over his father who is still alive.

The party called on the governor to stop meddling in the stool of Eze Aro by asking the court to withdraw all the charges against the traditional ruler.

Abia government reacts

Responding, the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Uzor Nwachukwu, denied the allegations against Mr Otti.

Mr Nwachukwu spoke on Monday while briefing the reporters at the Government House in response to the allegations by the PDP.

I want to say for the umpteenth time that the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, does not have any interest in who emerges as the Eze Aro, he said.

The commissioner, however, claimed that what happened was that the kingmakers in the Arochukwu Kingdom selected Mr Oji, one of the contestants as the new monarch for the kingdom, but the traditional ruler of Ibom Isii, Kanu Nwa Kanu, went to crown Mr Kanu as the Eze Aro.

He claimed the people of the area, consequently, wrote a petition to the state government.

It was at that point that the governor told the Eze Ibom Isii, please go back to the process, suspend what you are doing and follow the procedure as established by the tradition of your people, Mr Nwachukwu stated.

The commissioner said his office later suspended the traditional ruler for failure to rescind the coronation of Mr Kanu.

He said Governor Otti initially inaugurated a panel of enquiry to look into the case, but would later disband the panel and ask the parties involved to resolve the case within the community.

Mr Nwachukwu claimed the parties failed to resolve the matter and went ahead to fix different dates for coronation which prompted the state government to intervene.

The governor told them, Both of you should not go ahead. You should stop, he said, insisting that if Mr Otti had interest he would have backed the coronation of one over the other party.

Without mentioning names, the commissioner suggested that Mr Kanu went ahead to hold his coronation ceremony in secret despite a state government order against any coronation.

He said, to protect lives and properties in the state, the state government could not afford to allow individuals to take laws into their own hands.

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The Rivers House of Assembly, on Tuesday, passed a resolution urging Governor Siminalayi Fubara to re-present the state 2024 budget and the medium term expenditure framework for consideration.

This followed the adoption of a motion by the Speaker Martin Amaewhu during the 90th plenary of the House at the legislators quarters, Port Harcourt.

Presenting the motion, Mr Amaewhu said it was worrisome that the House had yet to receive the budget and the expenditure framework from the executive.

He said that the governor must present them for approval in line with the 1999 Constitution.

Mr Fubara had on 13 December presented a budget of N800 billion for 2024 to a four-man House of Assembly for approval.

The governor signed the budget into law on 14 December, barely 24 hours after it was presented to the lawmakers.

However, under the peace accord facilitated by President Bola Tinubu, Mr Fubara was expected to re-present the budget as part of conditions to end the political crisis in the state.

The governor had agreed to implement the peace deal, saying that it was not a death sentence.

Mr Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, were locked in a fierce political battle which had the House of Assembly split into two factions, with four lawmakers pledging their loyalty to the governor and the other 26 or so lawmakers standing in solidarity with Mr Wike who is the minister of the FCT.

The pro-Wike lawmakers had defected from the PDP to the APC, apparently to perfect the then impeachment plot against Mr Fubara. The governor and the four lawmakers loyal to him fought back, and were able to get a favourable court judgment which paved the way for them (the four lawmakers) to take control of the assembly and then declared vacant the seats of the defected lawmakers.

The first attempt to initiate an impeachment proceeding against Mr Fubara led to the bombing of the assembly complex, which was later demolished by the state government.

(NAN)

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Despite a subsisting court order, the Nigeria Police, on Tuesday, in utter disregard for the law, made a failed attempt to re-arrest nursing mother and one-time customer of Erisco foods, Chioma Okoli.

After a 10-hour siege on her Sangotedo residence in the Ajah area of Lagos, amid intense altercations, the police team from Abuja, allegedly acting on the order of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), vacated Mrs Okolis abode.

Mrs Okoli had in September last year drawn the ire of the Chairman and Founder of Erisco Foods Limited, Eric Umeofia, over her review of a tomato product, Nagiko tomato mix, manufactured by Erisco Foods Limited, Lagos.

Human Rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who is lead counsel to Mrs Okoli, in a lengthy post on a microblogging platform, X, on Tuesday morning, disclosed that his clients residence was invaded by men of the Nigerian Police reportedly on the order of the Inspector General of Police at 7:00 a.m.

A team of policemen from Abuja who claim to be acting on the orders of the Inspector General of Police to re-arrest my client refused to serve us with a court order authorising them to do so. The team from Abuja is being supported by policemen from the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah.

The team leader told me over the phone that he is a DSP and that he has four ASPs with him and other police officers. He also told me that the PSO to the IGP spoke with him directly, and that he cannot disobey the order of the IGP despite the court order barring the police from re-arresting my client, Mr Effiong stated in the post.

He described the attempted re-arrest of his client as a reckless act of impunity.

Mr Effiong stressed that it was against the law for the Nigeria Police to disregard a subsisting order of the Federal High Court in Lagos, restraining the IGP and the Nigeria Police Force from arresting, re-arresting or detaining Mrs Okoli, except on the express order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

The lawyer further noted that the Police, in an attempt to obscure justice, filed a charge against Mrs Okoli at a Federal High Court in Abuja instead of Lagos, which is the original location of the case.

The charge is pending before Justice A. R. Mohammed. I later got wind of their plot after a tip-off. When the case, filed by the police in Abuja, came up on 7 December 2023, the police counsel informed the court that they were unable to serve my client with the charge (this is not accurate as no attempt was made in this regard), he added.

According to Mr Effiong, Justice Mohammed granted the application and adjourned the case to Wednesday, 10 January 2024, for hearing of the motion.

A routine product review turns sour

Trouble began for Mrs Okoli in September 2023, after she posted an unfavourable review of a tomato paste manufactured by Erisco Foods Limited.

In a now-deleted Facebook post, Mrs Okoli claimed that the paste, Nagiko tomato mix, tasted sugary.

ALSO READ: Police release woman arrested over social media comment on tomato paste

Disgruntled by the critical review, the Lagos-based manufacturing company refuted the claim and subsequently instigated the arrest of Mrs Okoli by the Nigeria Police.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Erisco Foods Limited, in a statement, insisted that the post was obviously intended to mislead our esteemed customers and discredit the image of Erisco Foods Limited,

Face-off lasts for 10 hours  Lawyer

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mrs Okolis lawyer, Effiong, disclosed to this reporter that the Police laid siege on the residence of his client for about 10 hours. He explained that the officers eventually left after his post on X attracted public outcry.

I can confirm to you that the siege on my clients residence has now ended after over 10 hours. I want to assume that the public reaction and the condemnation that has trailed what is clearly an illegal action by the IGP may have had a bearing on the decision of the police to vacate her home. My client is not running away from whatever case they may have against her, we are very much ready to face them in court. but let them follow due process. That is all we are asking for, Mr. Effiong said.

Asked what comes next, Mr. Effiong explained that he will be at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday to represent his client.

He, however, insisted that without a charge, it is unlawful for the Police to re-arrest his client.

The case is coming up tomorrow before Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja and what the case is coming up for essentially is for the Police to move a motion or make an application to get an order to serve my client by substituted means.

As I speak with you, they have not served her the charge. So, what are they doing in her residence when there is another order of the Federal High Court in Lagos that she should not be re-arrested except by order of the court, if she is served and fails to appear, the lawyer added.

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A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the release of Cyril Ndifon, a professor and suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, on temporary bail to enable him to go for a glaucoma surgery.

The law professor is being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged sexual harassment against female students of the university.

Bail application

Justice James Omotosho made the order following an application by Mr Ndifons counsel, Okon Efut, SAN, which was not opposed by Osuobeni Akponimisingha, lawyer to the ICPC.

Justice Omotosho, who said he had considered Mr Ndifons oral bail application, admitted him to bail in the sum of N250 million with a surety who must swear an affidavit of means and deposit his or her travel passport with the court registry.

The judge also ordered that the bail would take effect from Wednesday, 10 January to 25 January when the bail application filed by the lawyer would be heard.

The matter was consequently adjourned until 25 and 26 January for a continuation of trial and hearing of bail application

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Efut had, on Monday, informed the court that Mr Ndifon had been scheduled for eye surgery on Thursday, 11 January.

The senior lawyer passionately appealed to the court to admit his client to bail to enable him to go for the operation so that he could stand his trial, but the court held that the bail application was not ripe for hearing.

The embattled professor was ordered to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre and the matter was fixed for today, 10 January.

The development occurred after the ICPCs lawyer alleged that one of the defence lawyers, Sunny Anyanwu, threatened the commissions star witness on the phone over the case.

Justice Omotosho consequently adjourned the matter until today to hear the bail application and the affidavit of facts which the lawyer, Mr Anyanwu, was directed to file to give him a fair hearing.

Resumed hearing

Upon resumed hearing, Mr Efut informed the court that he had filed a further and better affidavit to respond to ICPCs counter affidavit to their bail application.

He said he had also been served with Mr Anyanwus affidavit of facts.

The judge then asked about Mr Anyanwus whereabouts.

Mr Omotosho, who wondered why Anyanwu would not have been in court, said if he had delivered the ruling based on the arguments in the last sitting, the lawyers name would have been mentioned and this might either affect the court decision negatively or positively.

A lawyer stood up and informed that Mr Anyanwu had issues with his car but was already on the court premises.

The lawyer also confirmed that he had already filed his affidavit of facts.

But the prosecution lawyer said he had neither seen Mr Efuts better and further affidavit nor seen Mr Anyanwus affidavit of facts.

My lord, I am empty. I have not been served with any of these applications to either respond or not. My lord the issue of service needs to be clear in the interest of justice, he said.

The judge then said that the bail application was not ripe for hearing.

Messrs Efut and Anyanwu told the court that their applications were filed the previous day and that the bailiff was mobilised for the service.

Mr Efut, who pleaded with the court, said he would undertake so that Mr Ndifon could be released to him to enable him to have the surgery.

Justice Omotosho then agreed to release the professor to Mr Efut with conditions.

I will release him to you as a SAN and attach a little condition, he said.

The judge, who said the matter would be given accelerated hearing, directed the ICPC to come with their witnesses in the next adjourned date.

(NAN)

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, January 10. President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Zhaparov, has highlighted the positive momentum in the development of bilateral cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and Turkiye across various sectors, Trend reports.

He made these remarks during a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was on an official visit to Kyrgyzstan.

They discussed the upcoming visit of President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Kyrgyzstan, as well as the convening of the meeting of the High Council for Strategic Cooperation between the two countries as part of this visit.

President Zhaparov emphasized the importance of the upcoming session of the Kyrgyz-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission in Ankara (Turkiye), emphasizing its role in advancing the economic agenda.

Additionally, they deliberated on several other issues encompassing bilateral matters and multilateral engagement, including cooperation in healthcare, energy, the financial sector, and regional security.

In turn, Fidan underscored that significant progress has been achieved in expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with Kyrgyzstan in recent years.
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, after making it clear he does not want the Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, to succeed him, has pleaded with a traditional ruler in the state to support him to produce a worthy successor.

The governor will exit office in November after completing his second term.

Mr Obaseki, on Tuesday, was at Mr Shaibus hometown Auchi Kingdom, the headquarters of Etsako West Local Government Area of the state, for the 27th Annual Auchi Day celebration, where he made the appeal to the Otaru of Auchi, Aliru Momoh, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria.

Mr Shaibu hails from the Etsako West council area.

Governor Obaseki, who was represented by the Commissioner for Youths and Humanitarian Affairs in the state, Dada Abubakar, urged the monarch and the community to cooperate with him to finish well and strong, adding that his administration has achieved a lot for the community.

I implore you to support us to produce a worthy successor, who will make Edo the best in the country.

As a government, we have achieved a lot in Auchi Sacred Kingdom with the Auchi Central Hospital upgrade to a Specialist Hospital, Mr Obaseki said.

The governor donated some money for the community sanitation project.

The relationship between Messrs Obaseki and Shaibu, two former political allies, has soured because of the latters ambition to contest in the 21 September governorship election in the state.

Adoption of Ighodalo, null and void  Shaibu

Meanwhile, Mr Shaibu has described as null and void the meeting of Edo North PDP leaders which resulted in the adoption of Asue Ighodalo as the preferred candidate of the party ahead of the governorship primary.

The meeting, which Mr Shaibu said was a slight on his person and Office as a sitting Deputy Governor of the State, was held at the instance of Mike Oghiadomhe, a former deputy governor of the state, Vanguard newspaper reported.

Mr Shaibu, while addressing a crowd of supporters in his country home, Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area shortly after the Auchi Day Annual Celebration, said the meeting did not hold as far as he is concerned.

Chief Oghiadomhe could not allow such a thing to happen when he was in office as deputy governor and as a leader of Edo North.

PDP is a party of structure and of hierarchy well defined in its Constitution. I plead with all of you to remain calm and not be provoked by this action because after the primaries, we need to come together as members of the PDP, so, we will need everybody to win the main election in September, Mr Shaibu said.

Mr Shaibu said the former deputy governor was trying to provoke us, but we will remain calm because this project is not about Philip Shaibu, it is Gods own project.

You all saw what happened at the Otarus palace today. It was very clear that God has a hand in this project.

Asue Ighodalo  Obasekis preferred successor

Asue Ighodalo, a Lagos-based lawyer, hails from Ewohimi in Esan South-east Local Government Area of Edo Central District, an area that Governor Obaseki wants power to shift to.

Mr Obaseki hails from Edo South District, while his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole (now Senator) hails from Edo North, same with Mr Obasekis deputy  Mr Shaibu.

Mr Ighodalo, who is not popular in Edo politics, had told his kinsmen in December last year that he has been a member of the Edo Economic Team constituted by Mr Oshiomhole since 2008.

Governor Obaseki, who was the chairperson of the Economic Team before succeeding Mr Oshiomhole as governor in 2016, may have returned to the same team to pick his successor.

Mr Ighodalo has repeatedly described himself as a true Esan boy, but could not speak the Esan Language, a development that forced him to hire an interpreter while addressing his kinsmen, the Nation newspaper reported.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has released the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, on bail, after hours of grilling her in respect of the approval she gave for the payment of about N585 million of the ministrys funds into the private account of a civil servant.

President Bola Tinubu on Monday suspended Mrs Edu from office and ordered EFCC to investigate the approval and other related scandalous revelations, following a public outrage expressed on the issue.

EFCC had immediately summoned her to appear at its headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

She honoured the invitation on Tuesday morning and was held in custody till night when she was granted bail, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed to our reporter on Wednesday that Mrs Edu was released on bail on Tuesday. Mr Oyewale, however, refrained from commenting on the terms and conditions.

She was given a bail yesterdays night. I want to tell you that the investigation still continues, Mr Oyewale asked.

When pressed to comment on the bail conditions and some details of the outcome of the questioning sessions that took place on Tuesday, Mr Oyewale said, I cannot speak further on the details.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the EFCC began questioning Mrs Edu Tuesday morning.

Citing a highly reliable source at the anti-graft agency, NAN reported that the suspended minister was at the commissions headquarters on Tuesday morning.

An official invitation by the commission was sent to her on Monday and she honoured the invitation on Tuesday.

She is being interrogated by the commission and she is expected to give proper insight into the issue at hand, the source said.

The source told NAN that Mrs Edus predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, the pioneer minister of the ministry then christened as the Ministry of Social Development, Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, returned to the commission for questioning on Tuesday after she was released on bail on Monday.

Mrs Umar-Farouk is being investigated over a staggering N37.1 billion allegedly laundered by officials of the ministry during her tenure as minister.

The source also told NAN that Halima Shehu, the suspended National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, was still undergoing investigation at the EFCC.

Ms Shehu was responsible for overseeing the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme initiated by former President Muhammadu Buhari to give succour to vulnerable groups and individuals.

Betta Edus case

PREMIUM TIMES reported the scandal, including the approval of payment of hundreds of millions of naira into private accounts of civil servants.

Mrs Edu has come under criticism from Nigerians for ordering the transfer of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of grants for Vulnerable Nigerians.

A few days after Mrs Edu ordered the suspension of Ms Shehu for alleged financial impropriety, documents leaked to the public showed that she ordered the payment of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of Grants for Vulnerable Nigerians.

A leaked memo showed that the minister had in December, requested Oluwatoyin Madein, the accountant general of the federation, to transfer the money from the account of the National Social Investment Office to the private account of Bridget Oniyelu, the accountant of a federal government poverty intervention project called Grants for Vulnerable Groups, a project under Mrs Edus ministry.

The request contravenes various sections of Nigerias Financial Regulations 2009 meant to prevent fraud and other forms of corruption in government business.

Speaking through her media aide, Rasheed Zubair, on Friday, Mrs Edu insisted that the act is legal in the countrys civil service. She alleged that she was being targeted for her stance against corruption.

However, Chapter Seven, Section 713 of Nigerias Financial Regulations 2009 states that Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account.

It also added that Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.

The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, on Saturday distanced herself from the controversy adding that her agency had advised the ministry of the proper mode of such transfers.

Announcing the suspension of Mrs Edu by Mr Tinubu in a statement on Monday, presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said the president took the action in line with his avowed commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the management of the commonwealth of Nigerians.

The president also tasked a panel led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic of the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes.

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The International Court of Justice will on Thursday begin hearing arguments accusing Israel of committing genocidal acts in Gaza.

In a memo shared on X, the court said the public hearing of oral arguments will commence on Thursday with South Africa and continue on Friday with Israel.

Both parties will argue for three hours each.

The government of South Africa on 29 December instituted proceedings at the Court against the State of Israel for committing genocidal acts in Gaza.

In the 84-page document submitted to the court, South Africa said, The acts and omissions by Israel  are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group, that being part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa wants the ICJ, as a matter of extreme urgency, to ask Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza amongst other provisional measures outlined in the document.

Israel dismissed South Africas arguments as supporting terrorists who are seeking to destroy it.

Israels closest ally, the US, through its national security spokesperson, John Kirby, called South Africas submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis.

South Africa on the other hand appears to be enjoying major support from different corners including the Organisation of Islamic Countries, a 57-member bloc, Bolivia, Malaysia, Namibia, Turkey, Jordan, Maldives, and Pakistan.

Other advocacy groups and civil society organisations have also announced their support for South Africa.

About 23,000 people including journalists have been killed in the ongoing war that erupted on 7 October.

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The Supreme Court has reserved judgement in an appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Okey Ahiwe, challenging the election of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.

A five-member panel of judges headed by Inyang Okoro reserved the judgement on Wednesday after taking final arguments from parties, according to a statement by Kazie Uko, the spokesperson to Governor Otti which was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES.

Presentation of arguments

The PDPs legal team was led by the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

The PDPs arguments were, however, presented by a member of the partys legal team, Uche Ihediuwa, also a SAN.

Mr Ihediuwa, while presenting the PDPs arguments, alleged that Mr Ahiwe was short-changed with over 84,000 votes during the collation of the governorship election results.

The lawyer alleged that the PDP agent was chased away at the collation centre and, consequently, was not obliged to a copy of the results as required by law.

He claimed that Mr Ahiwe had to approach officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC), before accessing result sheets and then discovered the alleged malpractices.

But the leader of Governor Ottis legal team, John Owonikoko, SAN, asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit.

Mr Owonikoko informed the court that Mr Otti polled over 174,000 votes in the 18 March 2023 governorship election to emerge victorious, arguing that even if the purported 84,000 short-changed votes were added to PDP, the appellants would still not win.

The lawyer claimed that a purported result sheet produced by the PDP before the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was rejected because it could not be read by the witness of the party.

In his argument, the leader of the Labour Partys legal team, Onyeche Ikpeazu, SAN, argued that the appeal by the PDP and its candidate was lacking in merit given that 108,000 results from Obingwa Local Government Area result relied upon by the PDP bore the stamp of ward collation agent instead of local government collation agent as stipulated by the law.

Judgement reserved

After taking the arguments from the parties, the judge, Mr Okoro announced that judgement on the appeal had been reserved and that the date of delivery would be communicated to the parties in the matter.

Background

The Independent National Electoral Commission had, on 22 March 2023, declared Mr Otti, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), as the winner of the governorship election in the state.

He polled 175,466 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Ahiwe of the PDP, who scored 88,529 votes in the election.

However, Mr Ahiwe, and his APC counterpart, Ikechi Emenike, separately challenged the victory at the Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Umuahia.

Messrs Ahiwe and Emenike, in their petitions, contended that Mr Otti was not qualified to run for the election on the basis that he was not a member of the LP at the time of the exercise.

They also claimed that Mr Otti did not win the majority of lawful votes cast and that there were irregularities at the poll.

But delivering judgement on the appeal on 6 October, a three-member panel of judges dismissed all petitions by Mr Ahiwe, and his party, the PDP, against the election of Mr Otti.

The Court Appeal in Lagos State, in December 2023, also affirmed Mr Ottis victory.

Dissatisfied with the rulings of the courts, Mr Ahiwe filed another suit at the Supreme Court.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, on corruption charges concerning a failed multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower project.

Mr Agunloye, 75, was arraigned on seven counts of fraudulent award of contract and official corruption at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Apo, Abuja.

He pleaded not guilty to all the seven counts preferred against him.

Mr Agunloye entered his plea when the counts were read to him before the trial judge, J.O. Onwuegbuzie, on Wednesday.

The judge ordered his remand in a correction centre pending the hearing of his bail application scheduled to take place Thursday.

In one of the seven counts filed by the EFCC, the commission accused him of awarding a contract in May 2003 for the construction of 3,960 megawatts (mw) Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis without any budgetary provision, approval and cash backing.

EFCC said the award of the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL) constituted an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(4) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

It also charged Mr Agunloye with corruptly receiving N3.6 million from Sunrise Power company in August 2019, years after leaving office, for the purported approval of the federal government for the award of the contract to the company.

EFCC said this act is also contrary to and punishable under Section 8(1)(a) and (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

The prosecuting counsel, Abba Muhammed, prayed the court for a trial date and Mr Agunloyes remand in a correctional centre after the defendant entered his plea, a statement by EFCCs spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement issued after the proceedings on Wednesday.

But defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that he had filed a bail application for the defendant. He urged the court to remand the former minister to EFCC, instead of a correctional centre, pending the hearing of his bail application.

Ruling on the issue, the judge ordered that the defendant be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre and set Thursday for the hearing of the bail application.

Pre-trial moves

EFCC, in December 2023, declared Mr Agunloye wanted over a case of alleged corruption and forgery.

Mr Agunloye surrendered himself for interrogation on 13 December, a day after he was declared wanted by the commission over corruption allegations regarding a failed multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower project.

While he was still in detention, PREMIUM TIMES reported exclusively that the EFCC was set to file charges against the former minister in court.

An associate of the former minister, Oluwafisan Bankale, also wrote in a statement at the time that Mr Agunloye was neither in hiding nor on the run.

Assuring friends and members of the general public who might be worried about Mr Agunloyes whereabouts and his safety, Mr Bankale said he is in the custody of the EFCC and cooperating with them.

He also vouched for the integrity of the former minister.

Agunloye denies wrongdoing

Mr Agunloye, last year, spoke about his investigation by the EFCC, denying wrongdoing concerning the award and the execution of the contract for the stalled multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower project.

He confirmed in his statement then that he had been detained and interrogated by the EFCC over the case.

His comments last September on the issue were in response to a fraud allegation former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom he served as minister, levelled against him in an interview with TheCable newspaper concerning the project.

Mr Obasanjo, in the interview, accused the erstwhile minister of fraudulently awarding the contract for the multi-billion-naira Mambilla Hydropower Project without the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

The project, first awarded in 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited by the Obasanjo administration, is the subject of decades of a legal dispute that is now under international arbitration between the company and the Nigerian government.

Mr Obasanjo, in distancing himself from the mess that the project has become, claimed that he was not aware that the contract was awarded by his then-minister, Mr Agunloye.

Alleging fraud in the contract award, Mr Obasanjo insisted that no minister in his administration had the power to award a contract beyond N25 million.

But in his reply, Mr Agunloye refuted Mr Obasanjos claim and denied any wrongdoing.

He said he was being picked on as the fall guy for the governments mishandling of the project, while those who were responsible for it were left off the hook.

According to Mr Agunloye, the contract for the project was duly awarded in 2003 by the Obasanjo administration on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis to deliver Nigerias biggest power plant with over 3,000 megawatts capacity at no cost to the Nigerian government.

The project was expected to significantly boost electricity to address the shortage of energy in the country.

The former president was not correct when he referred to the award to Sunrise simply as a $6 billion contract (that is, N800 billion in 2003) under his watch. In truth, it was a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract in which the FGN did not need to pay any amount to the contractor, Messrs Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (Sunrise).

Mr Agunloye said following the termination of the contract, the company sued the Nigerian government before an international arbitration court where it is claiming that the termination of the contract was illegal.

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A United States federal court has sentenced a Nigerian, Olugbenga Lawal, to 10 years and one month in prison for money laundering involving proceeds of internet fraud schemes.

The sentence handed down on Monday also included an order that Mr Lawal pay $1.4 million ($1,460,875) in restitution to victims of the fraud schemes, according to a US Department of Justices press statement seen by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday,

The trial judge, Maryellen Noreika of the District Court in Delaware, sentenced the convict to prison on Monday, after the Nigerian man was earlier, on 10 August 2023, convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to commit money laundering.

Court documents, according to the Department of Justice, showed that Mr Lawal worked directly with the Nigeria-based leader of an international criminal organisation that defrauded individuals and businesses across the United States out of millions of dollars.

The syndicate, according to the US government, defrauded its victims through sophisticated internet-based fraud schemes, including romance fraud and business email compromise schemes, and laundered the proceeds of those fraud schemes.

Read the full statement of the Department of Justice below:

PRESS RELEASE

Nigerian National Sentenced to 121 Months in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Launder Proceeds of Internet Fraud Schemes

WILMINGTON, Del.  David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that a Nigerian national was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for conspiring to launder money derived from internet fraud schemes. Lawals sentence included an order that he pay $1,460,875 in restitution to victims of the fraud schemes. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika pronounced the sentence.

Olugbenga Lawal, 33, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to commit money laundering on August 10, 2023. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Lawal worked directly with the Nigeria-based leader of an international criminal organization that defrauded individuals and businesses across the United States out of millions of dollars through sophisticated internet-based fraud schemes, including romance fraud and business email compromise schemes, and laundered the proceeds of those fraud schemes. The criminal organization frequently targeted elderly victims who believed they had fallen in love with people they had met on the internet.

Between January 2019 and June 2020, bank accounts used by Lawal and his co-conspirators to launder money on behalf of the criminal organization received millions of dollars traced directly to individuals and businesses defrauded over the internet by members of the criminal organization.

Lawal played a vital role in laundering money for the criminal organization by working to convert the fraudulent dollars entering his accounts into Nigerian currency accessible in Nigeria. He engaged in sophisticated import/export transactions involving the shipment of cars to Nigeria and currency exchange business transactions to facilitate the repatriation of the organizations fraud proceeds back to Nigeria.

Three co-conspirators, Michael Hermann, Rita Assane, and Dwight Baines previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and have yet to be sentenced.

U.S. Attorney Weiss commented, Criminal organizations around the world continue to use the internet to defraud hardworking American citizens and businesses out of millions of dollars. Too often, those victims are elderly individuals who unknowingly give up their life savings to a fraudster. My office and our law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and prosecuting the criminal actors who perpetrate those frauds and individuals, like Mr. Lawal, who launder their money.

Lawal went to great lengths to further this sophisticated scheme to defraud vulnerable Americans and legitimate businesses, said Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the FBIs Baltimore Field Office. This sentence is more than just, given the unscrupulous tactics used. This case demonstrates the FBIs resolve to hold fraudsters accountable.

This case was investigated by the FBI Baltimore Field Offices Wilmington Resident Agency. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jesse S. Wenger and Meredith C. Ruggles of the United States Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware and Trial Attorneys Mary K. Daly and Michael Grady of the Criminal Divisions Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), with assistance from MLARS Trial Attorneys Madeleine Case and Jasmin Salehi Fashami.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the District of Delaware or on PACER by searching for Case No. 22-cr-11.

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Musa Aliyu, the new chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says President Bola Tinubu does not shield anyone found wanting for wrongdoing.

Mr Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), spoke on Wednesday at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.

He was responding to a question asked against the backdrop of vested interests that often constitute a hindrance to combating corruption.

Mr Aliyu, who assumed office as the fifth substantive chairman of the over two-decade-old ICPC last December, promised to fight sleaze head-on.

When asked about what he would do if his appointor (President Bola Tinubu) asked him to back off a corruption case, Mr Aliyu said the presidents actions in the last 72 hours leave no one in doubt about the governments renewed hope agenda in tackling corruption.

His comment was a veiled reference to President Tinubus suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, over allegations of financial misappropriation.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the scandal, including the approval of payment of hundreds of millions of naira into private accounts of civil servants.

Within the week, Ms Edus predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, was detained and quizzed by the EFCC concerning her stewardship at the humanitarian ministry, where several billions of naira were alleged to have been stolen.

ICPC chair promises to lead courtroom battle against corruption

Laying out a broad plan to fight corruption, Mr Aliyu vowed to personally lead the charge against corruption across courtrooms in Nigeria.

I intend to personally go to court and announce an appearance in some of our cases, the ICPC boss promised.

He anchored the commissions anti-graft programme on  prevention, investigation, and prosecution while leveraging the use of technology.

Our threefold strategy  Prevention, Investigation, and Prosecution  forms the bedrock of our action plan against corruption.

The ICPC is committed to integrating innovative approaches and cutting-edge technology into our operational framework. From leveraging data analytics for efficient resource management to employing advanced digital tools for effective corruption detection, technology will be at the forefront of our strategies.

Mr Aliyu until his appointment was the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Jigawa State.

I am deeply committed to realizing a vision for Nigeria where the principles of integrity, accountability, and transparency are not mere ideals but are deeply woven into the very fabric of our society.

This vision aligns seamlessly with the resolute stance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubus administration against corruption. The Presidents actions and policies underscore a steadfast commitment to eradicating corruption, reinforcing our collective resolve to foster an environment where ethical conduct and probity are the norm, he said.

Fighting corruption requires collaboration

Rallying journalists for collaboration in sensitising Nigerians on the dangers of malfeasance, Mr Aliyu said, The fight against corruption demands a collaborative, multi-sectoral approach, transcending the capabilities of any single entity.

As the new Chairman of the ICPC, a key focus of my tenure will be to foster such collaboration, recognizing that corruptions multifaceted nature affects every level of society.

He disclosed that his strategy involves engaging diverse stakeholders  the media, civil society, the private sector, and international partners to fight the monster.

He highlighted his recent engagement with the EFCC, promising to work with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the NFIU, to deliver on ICPCs mandate.

Mr Aliyu was nominated by Mr Tinubu to be the Chairman of ICPC on 17 October 2023, and after his confirmation by the Senate, he was sworn in on 13 December 2023.

The ICPC chairman, who has a doctorate in Law, has a two-decade experience in legal practice traversing the private and public sectors.

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Ibom Air, a commercial Airline owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, is using its profits for expansion, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has said.

Governor Eno stated this on Wednesday while addressing reporters at the Presidential Villa in Abuja shortly after meeting with President Bola Tinubu.

The governor told reporters that he was at the State House to wish the president a happy new year, updated him on events in his state and solicited support for some projects in the state.

He said the president has asked him to submit a memo on his requests and also sought to know about some aviation infrastructure in the state including, the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), a facility for repairs of aircraft which was commissioned last year by the state government at the Victor Attah International Airport

The President is a businessman. He had to also ask, are we making profits running Ibom Air and I told him the government is completely out of the running of Ibom air.

Ibom Air is making profit and they are ploughing it back for expansion and the airport facility the second taxiway is on. We have the new terminal, we have the MRO and he was pleased to hear that, Mr Eno told reporters.

The governor also solicited the presidents support for Ibom Deep Seaport, a project which experts said has the capacity to create over 10, 000 job opportunities when completed.

Ibom Air

The four-year-old airline launched its inaugural commercial flight on 7 June 2019 taking off from its hub  Victor Attah International Airport to Lagos Airport.

The airline has recorded significant milestones in the aviation industry within these years garnering several awards including airline of the year for three consecutive years  2020, 2021 and 2022.

Ibom Air last year received the first of its ten brand new Airbus A220-300 it ordered from the European manufacturer  Airbus.

The new Airbus A220-300 has increased the number of aircrafts in Ibom Air fleets to eight (five Bombardier CR900 and three Airbus A220-300), covering seven destinations and nine routes.

The airline which flies seven domestic routes in October last year launched its maiden West African regional flight to Accra in Ghana.

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A total of 340 graduands will be awarded first-class degree certificates at the 54th convocation ceremonies of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, the vice-chancellor, Folasade Ogunsola, has announced.

Mrs Ogunsola disclosed this Wednesday at the convocation press conference held at the universitys senate chamber.

According to the Professor of Medical Microbiology, the total number of graduating students is 17,464. 10,578 of the figure will bag first-degree while 6,886 are from the postgraduate school.

Mrs Ogunsola noted that the overall best-graduating student is David Oluwatomiwa Akanmu, with a perfect CGPA of 5.0 from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering.

Of the 6,886 postgraduate degrees, Ibrahim Abiodun Quadri from the Faculty of Management Sciences with a CGPA of 4.94 is the best graduating student.

She said 189 of the first-class students are female, while 181 are male.

Giving a breakdown of the first-class students, Mrs Ogunsola said 97 are from the Faculty of Management Sciences, followed by Science with 57 and Engineering with 47.

From the Faculties of Pharmacy, Basic Medical Sciences, and Clinical Sciences, there were 39 distinctions, of which 24 are from the Faculty of Pharmacy.

She added that 3,374 graduated with second class upper; 4,547 with second class lower; 1,832, 3rd class; 188 graduated with a pass; and 250 had unclassified degrees from Pharmacy, Basic and Clinical Sciences.

Postgraduate degrees, other awards

Of the 6,886 postgraduate degrees, Mrs Ogunsola noted that there are 465 graduates with a postgraduate diploma, 6,266 are graduating with Masters and 377 recorded distinctions.

She disclosed that 31 of the Masters students are international students who were supported through the World Bank grant through the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development, and Regulatory Science (ACEDHERS).

This is the first time we will have such a harvest of international students at one convocation in the history of this university, and this further reiterates and validates the aggressive internationalisation drive of this administration and previous administrations, she said.

Speaking further, she stated that 155 graduates will be awarded the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in various disciplines.

Mrs Ogunsola announced that the overall best Ph.D. Thesis award goes to Aminat Olawunmi Ige, with a Ph.D. in Mathematics, while the best Ph.D. in humanities goes to Issa Akanji Adedokun, with a Ph.D. in Private and Property Law.

She added that the University of Lagos Business school will be graduating 62, its first set of graduands, as an autonomous school.

In repositioning the business school, to be more globally competitive, we unbundled it from the School of Post graduate Studies, so it now has its own recognised certificate, she said.

She said the overall best graduating student from the Business School is Abiola Oluyemisi Itakpe, with a CGPA of 4.84, who obtained the Masters of Business Administration.

Mrs Ogunsola noted that as part of the convocation programme, an award of honorary doctorate degree will be confered on three people who she said have contributed to scholarship and societal development in various fields.

The recipients are Toyin Falola, the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair at the University of Texas, Austin; Phyllis Kanki, a professor of Immunology at the

Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston; and Attahiru Jega, a Professor of Political Science.

Mrs Ogunsola noted that the convocation lecture scheduled for 15 January will be delivered by Mr Falola, a Professor of History.

Mr Falola will be speaking on the topic: Decolonising African Higher Education for Transformational Development. The lecture will be chaired by Yemi Ogunbiyi, a former Pro-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

Achievements, universitys intervention

Mrs Ogunsola further noted that in pursuance of the Future Ready Agenda, the university made firm strides in growing its finances, infrastructure, reputation, and manpower.

She said in research, that the universitys staff attracted over 11 billion in grant income in both local and foreign currency, with a focus on sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

As part of the universitys partnership with the Sahara Group for both infrastructural and human capacity development, seven students will receive the Sahara Scholar award of N1 million each in Architecture, Economics, Engineering, Insurance and Library Information Sciences, the vice-chancellor said.

She added that the Project I2M (innovation to market) Incubator programme which is funded by the UKRI RISA Programme) onboarded several innovators from across the country and trained them on skills and techniques to develop their innovation.

She said overall, 524 innovators were onboarded, 362 innovators/researchers from across the country were trained.

She said: Out of these, we supported 62 innovators with prototyped funding, filed 18 patents, 36 trademarks, and 13 copy rights for innovators.

40 start-ups were registered, and 50 start-up businesses were incubated while 20 start-ups were awarded financial grants. Twelve innovators obtained $5,000 credit from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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In the spirit of the heavy words he swore to during his inauguration as the President on 29 May, last year, President Tinubu has at various times vowed to put the interest of the public first. He had sworn to protect the national interest without fear or favour; affection or ill will. Living up to the wordings of the oath of office means there would be no sacred cows and no one will be considered too big or too small to face any necessary sanction. This Mr President had said repeatedly.

I took an oath to serve this country and give my best at all times. Like I said in the past, no excuse for poor performance from any of my appointees will be good enoughWithin the first quarter of this new year, Ministers and Heads of Agencies with a future in this administration that I lead will continue to show themselves.  President Bola Tinubu, 2024 New Year broadcast

The mother hen, goes a Hausa proverb, stomps on its chicks not because it doesnt love them. It is a gesture aimed at passing life lessons and correcting bad behaviours. Some decisions taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the past few days have shown that like the hen in a brood, he is ready to step on erring younger ones in the flock to indicate that bad behaviour is intolerable.

On Monday, President Tinubu suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, from office. The suspension was to allow for a thorough investigation into allegations of financial impropriety against her. A few days earlier, the President had directed the suspension of the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Hajiya Halima Shehu. Her suspension was in response to the alleged suspicious movement of cash from the NSIPA account into private purses. While the wrongdoings ascribed to the two do not immediately make them culpable, their suspension was the rightful administrative practice to enable them clear their names and not obstruct investigations.

What is of interest, however, is that these two women were not just mere officeholders. They are individuals who are very close to the President on account of their membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and who played prominent roles in his campaign. Those who know the closeness the two ladies have with the President thought he would dilly-dally and not wield the big stick on them. In particular, some had placed bets that nothing would happen to Betta, who was a workaholic National Women Leader of the party during the campaign.

But for President Tinubu, political relationships and personal debts would have to give way where public interest and accountability are on the table. Someone else could sacrifice the commonwealth of Nigerians and disregard public outcry to save their associates, not President Tinubu.

In the spirit of the heavy words he swore to during his inauguration as the President on 29 May, last year, President Tinubu has at various times vowed to put the interest of the public first. He had sworn to protect the national interest without fear or favour; affection or ill will. Living up to the wordings of the oath of office means there would be no sacred cows and no one will be considered too big or too small to face any necessary sanction. This Mr President had said repeatedly.

In his latest broadcast to the nation on the 1st of January, President Tinubu reiterated the primacy of the interest of the public above anything else in the way he runs the affairs of the country. Everything I have done in office, he said in the televised address, every decision I have taken and every trip I have undertaken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May 2023, have been done in the best interest of our country.

In talking about public interest, the most primal of it is ensuring that the commonwealth of the citizens is not pilfered or mismanaged by those unto which it is entrusted. Like in a congregational prayer during which the faithful take their cue from the imam, in matters of accountability, the rest of the crowd in the lower rungs of the ladder ought to take after the leader at the top. In this regard, President Tinubu has done well to set the example for his appointees. For him, leadership is about service and sacrifice. That is his mantra and the code of conduct hed expect from all his appointees.

At a reception during Eid-el-Kabir in Lagos last year, the President cited an example of this self-denial in favour of what is in the overall interest of the country. He used the example of the forex abuse, which he met on assumption of office, whereby a few people with proximal advantage to power were cashing out from the arbitrage exchange system. I could afford to share the benefit by participating in the arbitrage, but God forbid! Thats not why you voted for me, he had said.

The word service in public service means that holders of public office see it as a patriotic call to duty and they bend over backwards to make their contributions to the nation. Turning such opportunities to avenues to pilfer the common till or pay lip service to the task assigned to one are inexcusable. That is why, aside from wrongdoing, another thing President Tinubu marked out as intolerable, is laxity on the part of his appointees.

He had said it, not once or twice, that persons who are not ready to offer meaningful service would be shoved off the table. To demonstrate that this was not just empty talk, the President made sure that all ministers were issued with job descriptions, targets and key performance indicators. The purpose of this was to have measurables to enable the assessment of their performances. Secondly, at the end of the cabinet retreat, each minister signed a performance bond with the President committing him or her to delivering on the expectations outlined for each of them.

The options for everyone are clear. As he said in the New Years message, for President Tinubu it is either positive contribution to Nigeria or nothing at all.

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz is senior special assistant to the president on print media.

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Optimera Energy LFZ Enterprise (Optimera Energy), one of Nigerias leading integrated energy solutions providers, has flagged off the construction of infrastructure at the Lagos Free Zone to distribute Natural Gas to companies operating within the zone.

Optimera Energy is a consortium made up of Falcon Corporation Limited, a leading indigenous and integrated gas value chain company with expertise in delivering world-classenergy solutions across the midstream and downstream sectors of the industry. It also comprises FHN Gas Limited and ND Western Midstream Limited, which are affiliates of upstream companies with combined gas reserves of over 4Tcf, currently producing over 350MMscf/d into the Nigerian domestic gas market.

Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony held at the zone on 9 January, 2024, the Managing Director of Optimera Energy, Mrs Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, disclosed that the infrastructure is comprised of a 25MMScf/D City Gate Station, scalable to 100MMScf/D, together with necessary ancillary infrastructure which includes 10km distribution lines within the zone as well as a 6.5km x 10 inches gas pipeline from the Escravos  Lagos Pipeline System tie-in point in the Lekki corridor outside the zone to Optimera City Gate Station at the Lagos Free Zone.

Mrs Joe-Ezigbo explained that Optimera Energy signed a 20-year Gas Infrastructure Development Agreement (GIDA) with the Lagos Free Zone Company (LFZC) to connect off-takers to Optimera Energy gas distribution infrastructure within the zone.

The LFZC has invested over $2.5 billion in building a world-class facility integrated with Lekki Deep Seaport in the Zone, and we are excited to be part of this infrastructural development in our nation, Nigeria, particularly as this project is fully aligned with the nations Decade of Gas aspirations, she said.

She added that Optimera Energy was established to address gaps in energy access while creating sustainable value for its stakeholders. According to her, We are committed to championing Nigerias energy transition to cleaner fuels by leveraging on the Nations abundant Natural Gas low-carbon resources.

We are working to ensure that Nigerias Natural Gas resources are responsibly and efficiently utilized from the upstream and downstream sectors of the value chain. Our mandate is to execute projects to deepen domestic Natural Gas consumption and utilization in Nigeria and across Africa.

Also speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of Lagos Free Zone Company, Mr Dinesh Rathi, stated, Today is a critical milestone for us at Lagos Free Zone to get one step closer to our goal of providing reliable and cleaner energy solutions to meet the needs of existing and future tenants at LFZ. With the start of commercial operations at Lekki Port, delivery of piped natural gas to each enterprise at LFZ would further realize our vision to be the preferred industrial hub in West Africa with world-class infrastructure.

In his remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, described the project as a significant milestone in the countrys journey towards a more sustainable and energy-efficient future.

While congratulating Optimera Energy for its visionary approach and commitment to advancing the nations energy landscape, Mr Ekpo explained that the development of a 25 million standard cubic feet per day City Gate Station, scalable to 100 million standard cubic feet per day, along with the necessary ancillary infrastructure reflects not only the companys dedication but also a shared vision for a thriving and resilient Nigeria.

He said, Natural Gas is a pivotal component in our energy matrix, offering cleaner and more efficient solutions. The infrastructure we are launching today is not just about pipes and stations butabout powering communities, industries, and dreams. It is about creating a foundation for economic growth, job creation, and environmental sustainability. It is about making Nigeria an economic giant using our abundant gas resources.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs Olu Verheijen, stated that the partnership between Optimera Energy and LFZ is a landmark achievement in Nigerias energy sector, noting that the 20-year infrastructure development agreement signifies more than just an investment but a testament to the companies commitment to harnessing Nigerias natural resources responsibly and efficiently.

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The management of Jaiz Bank Plc has responded to reports in some sections of the media particularly social media platforms insinuating that some banks MDs including that of Jaiz Bank had been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with the ongoing investigation of financial transactions in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

A statement on Wednesday by the management clarified Jaiz Banks position on the matter as follows:

The Bank would like to place on record that yesterday, Jaiz Bank at the request of the EFCC has submitted some documents relating to accounts opened by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to help the agency in its investigations of the activities of the Ministry. The interaction was very cordial and Jaiz Bank MD immediately resumed back to his duties.

Its instructive to state that Jaiz Bank in October 2023 was among the financial institutions that were selected by the Ministry as a participating financial institution for the various intervention programs of the Federal Government of Nigeria after a competitive bid, in line with the FGN procurement act.

The Bank was formerly instructed to open a project account by the Ministry but is yet to receive any funding into the account.

Jaiz Bank remains committed to contributing to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy through the provision of alternative financing options in an ethical and professional manner.

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The Kano State Government through its Agro-Pastoral Development Project, (KSADP) has awarded contracts worth N3.96 billion for the construction of 60 Milk Collection Centers across the state.

The contract is funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Lives and Livelihood Fund (LLF), officials said. It is in four lots and was awarded to four indigenous companies with a completion period of 12 months for each project.

The Project Communication Specialist for the project, Ameen Yassar, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES late Tuesday, said: Each milk collection centre will have a borehole equipped with a solar-powered pump and a 20,000-litre overhead tank; an inputs (feed, drugs) store managed by a community appointee and up to 10 fodder banks in its environs.

Every milk collection centre will have a 250-litre tank cooled by solar power and a milk testing bench with appropriate reagents/equipment as well as provision of milk collection cans, Mr Yassar quoted the KSADP project coordinator, Ibrahim Garba, as saying.

The investment is unprecedented in Nigeria and will bridge the gap between pastoralists and the dairy industry, Mr Yassar said.

One of the major problems of the dairy industry is supply inadequacy and poor quality of the milk. This milk collection centre project, therefore, aims to ensure the provision of quality and safe milk, by putting in place a cold chain. This will guarantee regular sales and income for the pastoralists.

Mr Garba charged the companies awarded the contracts to execute durable projects within the agreed time frame, to justify the confidence reposed in them, the spokesperson said.

The KSADP project is designed as a multifaceted food security, poverty alleviation, job creation, and conflict mitigation approach, through a partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Lives and Livelihoods Funds.

The IsDB funded the project with $95 million. It has different components.

There are also livestock, irrigation infrastructure, and crop productivity components.

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The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Gowon Estate Division, in Lagos State, has been removed for allegedly detaining a lawyer who was seeking justice for his client.

The Commands Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the removal in a statement on Wednesday.

According to Mr Hundeyin, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Adegoke Fayoade, ordered the immediate removal of the officer from the division.

He said that this followed the conclusion of investigations into the allegations made against the DPO, as published in the media on 4 January.

He said that the DPO would be removed pending a review of his case by other supervisory authorities.

The CP had earlier ordered a thorough investigation into the matter upon receipt of the publication.

CP Fayoade has equally directed the OC Legal of the Command to initiate steps to reach out to the Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos State Branch to enable a round table discussion.

The meeting is towards preventing a recurrence of the avoidable incident and enhancing better Police-Lawyers relationship, he said.

The spokesperson said that the command would continue to uphold the rule of law and sanction any officer found wanting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Lagos-based lawyer, Olumide Sonupe, was hospitalised after detention by the police.

Sonupe was seeking the bail of his client at the Moshalashi Police Station in the Alimosho area of the state on 30 December 2023.

(NAN)

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A delegation from the US Alliance India Foundation, led by its President Ashok Bhatt from Dungarpur, met Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Bhai Patel during the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit held in Gandhinagar from January 10 to 12. The delegation presented investment proposals worth $3 billion USD (25,000 crores) for various development projects in Gujarat.

During the meeting, Ashok Bhatt highlighted the foundation's goal of advancing projects directed towards the sustainable development objectives of the United Nations, fostering specific collaborations between India, the United States, and global communities.

The delegation, consisting of leaders like Ashok Bhatt, Chairman of Alliance India US and AIIMS Investments; Rajkumar Bhriguraj Singh, Vice-Chairman; Chaitanya Khushaldas, Board Member; and representatives from global organizations such as Equateq USA, Nextrack USA, Datavolt USA, Hemex USA, and Ojiro Energy USA, proposed investment instruments (LOIs) worth $3 billion USD for Gujarat's diverse development initiatives.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Bhai Patel assured the delegation of the full support of the Gujarat government in initiating and completing the proposed projects. He expressed gratitude to the delegation for choosing Gujarat as the state for their projects. The delegation also met with Gujarat's Education Minister, Rushikesh Ganeshbhai Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Pratibha Ben Rakesh Kumar Jain, and Gujarat's Health Secretary Dhanjay Dwivedi during their visit.

Source :
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In a recent review meeting with regional officials, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma highlighted the government's commitment to the principle of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (Development for All) and emphasized the importance of maintaining trust and dedication in fulfilling duties. The Chief Minister asserted that the benefits of every government scheme should reach the eligible individuals at the grassroots level.

During his visit to Udaipur, Chief Minister Sharma addressed a gathering of regional officials, including District Collectors, Superintendents of Police, and other key authorities. He stressed the significance of law and order and informed himself about the current situation from the Police Commissioner, Ajaypal Lamba.

The Chief Minister expressed the government's zero-tolerance policy towards organized crime and urged officials to ensure strict enforcement of the law. He also received feedback on the status of organized crimes and police initiatives. The meeting covered various aspects, including electricity, water supply, roads, and healthcare facilities, with departmental officials providing updates on the progress of ongoing projects.

Chief Minister Sharma also discussed the effective utilization of the Abhay Command Center for crime control. He emphasized the need for regular maintenance of the center's surveillance cameras to ensure its optimal functionality. The achievements of the Abhay Command Center in timely solving serious crimes were highlighted by the police officials from Chittorgarh and Rajsamand.

Focusing on the principles of good governance, Chief Minister Sharma urged officials to reflect on their daily work and conduct self-assessments regularly. He emphasized the importance of proper monitoring of departmental activities for timely and efficient outcomes.

The Chief Minister also directed officials to monitor the progress of the "Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra," a journey aimed at making every Indian capable and empowered, aligning with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stressed the need for officers to ensure that the benefits of developmental schemes reach all eligible individuals.

Recognizing the unique cultural and historical significance of the Mevad region in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Sharma highlighted the bravery and sacrifices associated with the region, making it distinct. He acknowledged Mevad's role as a center for religious beliefs, with temples like Shreenathji and Eklingnath attracting devotees.

Chief Minister Sharma concluded the meeting by urging officials to pay special attention to public grievances and work towards their swift resolution. He emphasized the challenges faced by the people in tribal areas and directed officials to address issues related to forest rights, housing, and other essential amenities.

In terms of agricultural initiatives, Chief Minister Sharma discussed the distribution of soil health cards and emphasized the need for future-oriented plans in the agriculture sector. He encouraged a shift towards fruit-based agriculture and explored potential market opportunities in neighboring Gujarat.

The Chief Minister concluded by stressing the importance of long-term planning, advocating for government plans that span 25 years rather than just five. This approach, he believed, would ensure that the benefits of schemes reach the common people effectively.

In response, the regional officials assured the Chief Minister of their commitment to aligning their efforts with the government's goals and providing relief to the public in line with expectations.

Source :
ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 3M Health Care's Medical Solutions Division, the world leader in advanced wound care, was awarded $34.2 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity to develop a range of new solutions for infection prevention, wound management and wound healing. 3M will lead a program focused on treatment strategies that can be used in austere settings, especially those related to mass casualty and delayed evacuation situations -- a critical objective of the Department of Defense Combat Casualty Care Capability Assessment. In addition, the program will work to assess biofilm control, biomarker monitoring and healing in acute trauma situations such as blasts, burns, and gunshot wounds that occur in civilian and military settings.

3M will collaborate with the University of Minnesota Medical School, the 59th Medical Wing Science & Technology Office of the Chief Scientist (59MDW/ST, lead military partner), Naval Medical Research Unit-San Antonio (NAMRU-SA) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) in this program. The awarded funding will support four separate product solutions, with studies that range from prototype and formulation development to completion of two clinical studies to be used for product registration.

"Successful treatment of acute, traumatic wounds requires a continuum of care that begins with easy-to-use dressings and effective infection prevention that can be applied at the point of injury, continues with portable solutions for transport, and transitions to more sophisticated solutions in hospital settings suitable for rehabilitation and reintegration of patients," said Raymond Chiu, senior vice president, research & development, 3M Health Care Business Group. "3M is proud to be working with civilian and military partners to bring these solutions to fruition."

The planned work involves at least six principal investigators leading studies at three different sites across the United States. Over 125 support personnel will be involved in the research efforts to be performed over the FY 2023  FY 2027 award period.

Addressing and stabilizing traumatic injuries in the field requires fast, effective and easy-to-use solutions that provide more capability at the point of injury. The novel solutions developed and demonstrated in this program will also be well suited for use in civilian traumatic, burn and chronic wound care.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 808 Schreider Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. In conducting research using animals, the investigator(s) adheres to the laws of the United States and regulations of the Department of Agriculture. This work [is] was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, in the amount of $34,191,124, through the Defense Health Agency Expeditionary Medicine Research and Development Program under Award No. HT94252320059. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

About 3M

3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what's possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we're working to improve lives and make what's next at 3M.com/news.

SOURCE 3M Company
Ten Scholarly Books in the Humanities Advance to Final Round of $50,000 Open Access Prize

NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce 10 finalists for the 2024 ACLS Open Access Book Prizes and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Awards. The finalists, five history titles and five multimodal works, were selected by a distinguished panel of scholars, librarians, digital humanities experts, and accessibility specialists. Supported by Arcadia, these prizes recognize and reward the authors and publishers of exceptional, innovative, and open humanities books published from 2017 to 2022.

The prizes recognize and reward the authors and publishers of exceptional, innovative, and open humanities books. Post this Cover images of finalists for 2024 ACLS Open Access Book Prizes and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Awards with prize logo

In the initial competition, one open access monograph in each category will receive dual awards: authors receive the $20,000 ACLS Open Access Book Prize, and publishers of the winning titles receive the $30,000 Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award to support forthcoming books that would not otherwise be published open access. The prizes, among the largest for scholarly books, will be presented in May 2024 at the ACLS Annual Meeting.

The five finalists in the history category are:

The five finalists in the multimodal, born-digital category are:

Honorable Mention: Constructing the Sacred: Visibility and Ritual Landscape at the Egyptian Necropolis of Saqqara by Elaine A. Sullivan (Stanford University Press, 2020)

"ACLS applauds the authors and publishers of these exceptional books," said ACLS President Joy Connolly. "They've shown a commitment to making their scholarship available freely to the world, moving away from 'cloister'd virtue,' sharing their insights into the human experience with fellow scholars and communities worldwide."

For more than 100 years ACLS has supported the creation and circulation of knowledge that advances our understanding of humanity and human endeavors. Amplifying humanistic scholarship through initiatives such as the ACLS Open Books Prizes helps cultivate a twenty-first-century ecosystem in which humanistic publications can thrive.

Sign up to receive additional information about the ACLS Open Access Book Prize and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award.

Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 80 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS utilizes its endowment and $37 million annual operating budget to expand the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship. In all aspects of our work, ACLS is committed to principles and practices in support of racial and social justice.

Arcadia is a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. Since 2002 Arcadia has awarded more than $1 billion to organizations around the world.

SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies
David Morton Investment and Barsys 360 Debut Round Out CES 2024 Announcement

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Barsys , the cocktail crafting technology company that brings the bar home, is thrilled to announce its collaboration with ReserveBar , the leading e-commerce platform for premium and luxury beverage alcohol, to introduce the Barsys Subscription Box at CES24. Additionally, Barsys is equally excited to share the official launch of the Barsys 360 as well as the addition of David Morton of the Morton's Steakhouse family and the visionary founder of DMK Restaurants as both investor and advisor.

Barsys and ReserveBar Partnership Elevates Cocktail Discovery

Barsys 360 Debuting at CES

Barsys and ReserveBar partnership exemplifies the brands' commitments to enhancing the home drinking experience. With the integration of ReserveBar's extensive catalog of premium spirits and mixers into the Barsys app, users will be able to seamlessly browse, select and purchase ingredients directly through the platform, making cocktail-making more accessible than ever before. Customers will be encouraged to explore a diverse array of spirits and cocktail ingredients, allowing them to embark on a journey of discovery, uncovering new and exciting brands.

Powered by user feedback, Barsys AI and ReserveBar offer personalized suggestions that adapt to individual preferences, growing more finely tuned over time. This innovative feature ensures that each cocktail experience is tailored to user taste, providing a truly unique and enjoyable mixology journey.

"We're excited to collaborate with Barsys to enhance the cocktail experience for consumers," said Kate Zaman, SVP of Marketing and Partnerships at ReserveBar. "Our business has evolved significantly, and our white-label e-commerce solution is at the forefront of our growth. Barsys's innovative technology aligns perfectly with our mission to provide consumers with the best possible experience."

David Morton Brings Barsys Into Hospitality Space, Joins As Strategic Advisor

Barsys is not only improving the home drinking experience, but also bringing its bar technology into the hospitality space with the addition of Morton to its advisory board and strategic investor. As part of this agreement, DMK will showcase Barsys 2.0 machines in esteemed establishments located throughout the country. Recipes from these establishments will also be added to the Barsys platform for at-home crafting.

"Barsys is a game changer and has countless applications for ensuring our guests enjoy the finest and most memorable experience possible," said David Morton, DMK Restaurants Founder. "The hardware and content solutions driven by Barsys are a meaningful win for the hospitality industry at large."

Barsys' strategic partnership with Morton marks the company's entry into hospitality, supporting mixologists, servers and patrons in a consistent and streamlined dining experience. In his capacity, Morton will help guide the B2B movements of the company through restaurants, hotels, arenas and more.

Introducing Barsys 360: The Future of Automated Mixology

Finally, Barsys is proud to introduce Barsys 360, allowing customers to experience the future of automated mixology. Now available following a successful pre-order period, Barsys 360 meticulously crafts cocktails by perfectly balancing any six mixers and liquors poured directly into the device. The machine retails for $475 and is available on both thebarsys.com and Amazon. It's available in black or white to complement any home decor.

"When we embarked on this journey, our vision was clear: to transform the way customers experience mixology at home," said Akshet Tewari, Barsys Founder and CEO. "Through partnerships with both ReserveBar and David Morton, we are excited to further democratize the drinking experience. Combined with the Barsys 360, these moves serve as the next step in our continuous improvement upon our customers' home-drinking experience. Barsys is committed to pushing the boundaries of mixology in pursuit of the perfect cocktail poured by anyone."

About Barsys

Barsys is the first cocktail crafting technology company that emphasizes fresh ingredients. Barsys democratizes the drinking experience, bringing expert-level cocktails into homes and businesses around the world. The Barsys app further serves as a community hub, offering recipes from mixologists, bars, brands, influencers and more. Balanced cocktails, once reserved for only those in proximity to metropolitan areas, can now be found in any home, at any party or in any business. Product offerings include: Barsys 2.0, Barsys 360 and Barsys Coaster.

For more information on these announcements and Barsys products, please visit www.thebarsys.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.

About ReserveBar

ReserveBar is the established e-commerce leader in rare, luxury, and ultra-premium wine and spirits, specializing in customization, personalization, and innovative gifting. A technology platform at its core, ReserveBar utilizes cutting-edge software, analytics, and an exceptional retail network to deploy solutions that simplify the compliant purchase of beverage alcohol on ReserveBar.com, Minibar Delivery and numerous white label partner sites, including spirits brands, publishers, e-commerce partners, and gifting platforms. Our commitment to technology, innovation, and excellence defines our leadership in the future of beverage alcohol commerce. For more information, please visit www.reservebar.com .

Click here for more details about our booth at: https://ces24.mapyourshow.com/8_0/exhibitor/exhibitor-details.cfm?exhid=0013A00001Ql4j9QAB.

SOURCE The Barsys Inc.
The lawsuit, which was filed alongside Co-Counsel Hilliard Shadowen LLP, Cuker Law Firm, Roberts Law Firm US, PC, Sperling & Slater LLC, and local counsel Terrell Marshal Law Group PLLC, alleges that Express Scripts entered into a series of unlawful agreements with rival PBMs to fix pharmaceutical reimbursement rates and fees.

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Complex litigation powerhouse Berger Montague announces that it filed a lawsuit against Cigna-owned Express Scripts, one of the largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM's) in the country. The lawsuit alleges that Express Scripts colluded with rival PBMs Prime, Benecard, and Magellan to fix pharmaceutical reimbursement rates and fees, in violation of the Sherman Act. Several independent, community pharmacies seek to represent a proposed class of pharmacies across the nation and recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in wrongful overcharges.

PBMs are pharmaceutical middlemen that manage pharmacy benefits for health plans. Among other functions, PBMs contract with pharmacies to distribute prescription drugs at reimbursement rates negotiated by the PBM. The complaint alleges that Express Scripts exerted significant leverage over pharmacies due to its substantial market power, and then entered into a series of anticompetitive agreements with smaller rival PBMs. The agreements allowed the smaller PBMs to leverage Express Scripts' market power and impose highly unfavorable reimbursement rates and fees on pharmacies. Express Scripts then demanded and received a share of the excess revenues collected by those rival PBMs.

The complaint was filed in the Western District of Washington by Berger Montague, co-counsel Hilliard Shadowen LLP, Cuker Law Firm, Roberts Law Firm US, PC, Sperling & Slater LLC, and local counsel Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC. Shareholder Joshua P. Davis is leading the case for Berger Montague.

Berger Montague PC is a full-spectrum plaintiffs' law firm that litigates complex civil cases and class actions in federal and state courts throughout the United States and Canada. For more than 53 years, Berger Montague has played lead roles in consequential, precedent-setting cases and has recovered more than $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. A pioneer in the use of class actions in antitrust and securities litigation, the firm has since expanded into consumer, employment, environmental, and insurance litigation. Today, Berger Montague has more than 100 lawyers across eight offices, including its headquarters in Philadelphia, as well as offices in Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Wilmington, Delaware, and Toronto, Canada.

SOURCE Berger Montague
RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Do No Harm filed a lawsuit against the discriminatory "diversity scholarship" offered by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), which excludes white students from being considered.

White applicants are excluded from consideration for the scholarship, which awards students $1,250 for educational materials and requires them to sign a contract before receiving the funds.

According to the lawsuit, this scholarship offered by NAEMT is illegal under several federal laws, including 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, which "protects the equal rights of all persons  to make and enforce contracts without respect to race."

Do No Harm filed the suit on behalf of a student who needs the scholarship but cannot apply because she is white and requested:

A temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring NAEMT from closing the application period, selecting scholarship recipients, or enforcing the racially discriminatory eligibility criteria;

A permanent injunction barring NAEMT from continuing the program;

And nominal damages in the amount of $1 .

"The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians is given the important responsibility of training America's first responders," said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Chairman of Do No Harm. "Like all aspects of healthcare, training the best and brightest to provide the best care for patients should be the primary concern of all medical organizations, not the skin color of an EMT. First responders and all medical professionals should be given opportunities, training, and scholarships on the basis of merit."

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Click here to read the complaint in its entirety.

Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. With more than 6,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and in 14 countries, DNH has achieved more than 4,900 media hits in top-tier publications and garnered widespread attention through numerous broadcast news appearances.

SOURCE Do No Harm
GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Guangzhou Fermion Technology Co., Ltd. (Fermion), a clinical-stage AI-based drug discovery company that specializes in developing drugs for autoimmune diseases and pain, has announced today that China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its non-addictive pain relief drug FZ008-145.

FZ008-145 is a highly selective second-generation Nav1.8 inhibitor, offering powerful, non-addictive pain relief advantages. Currently, the Nav1.8 target has obtained clinical data validation for 5 acute pain and 1 chronic pain proof-of-concept (POC) studies.

In October 2023, Fermion signed an agreement with Joincare Pharmaceutical Group Industry Co., Ltd., granting exclusive rights for the company's independently developed pain medication FZ008-145 in the Greater China region, while retaining rights outside of Greater China.

Founder and CEO of Fermion, Dr. Deco Deng, stated, "In comparison to other therapeutic areas, the central nervous system (CNS) domain presents limited therapeutic options. Existing medications demand improvements in efficacy and safety, addressing substantial unmet clinical needs. Our dedicated research and development efforts, supported by our Drug Studio AI platform, have focused on enhancing target selectivity and tissue targeting to minimize off-target effects, enabling the development of innovative and safer drugs."

Since its establishment in 2019, Fermion has strategically positioned its new drug pipeline within the CNS domain, leveraging its proprietary Drug Studio AI drug development platform. This emphasis on high target selectivity and tissue targeting aims to reduce off-target effects, ensure precise distribution in target tissues, and foster the development of differentiated innovative drugs to enhance safety.

Fermion's commitment to pain relief is underscored by its two candidate pipelines. Alongside FZ008-145, the lead pipeline FZ002-037 has completed Phase I clinical trials and is poised to initiate Phase II concept validation POC trials, positioning it the second globally and the first in China clinical drug with the same target.

The development of these pipelines centers around innovative pain relief targets SSTR4 and Nav1.8. Encouraging progress in the development of innovative drugs based on these targets instills hope for new types of pain relief medication.

For more information, please visit: https://www.fulmz.com

Investors and Media Contact: pr@fulmz.com

SOURCE Guangzhou Fermion Technology Co., Ltd.
The Only Franchise Concept Offering a Permanent Solution for Mosquito Control Uses Innovative Technology to Disrupt the Insect Control Category

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Franworth, a leading franchise growth partner, announces its partnership with MosquitoNix, the National Leader in Outdoor Insect Misting Systems. Established in 2003, MosquitoNix operates in 20 territories across the south and southeast regions, including Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. Led by an accomplished leadership team with over 20 years of experience in mosquito control, MosquitoNix has a refined business model simplified by advanced technology. Strategically positioned for accelerated growth, they are set to launch their franchising model in Q1 of 2024.

Franworth partners with MosquitoNix, a leader in Outdoor Insect Misting Systems, operating in 20 territories. MosquitoNix has a refined business model simplified by advanced technology. They are set to launch their franchising model in Q1 of 2024.

MosquitoNix offers reliable outdoor insect misting systems that provide around-the-clock protection against mosquitoes and other flying insects. Their innovative technology and effective non-toxic solution sets them apart from traditional fogging services by creating a continuous barrier that is both seamless and eco-friendly. The company's proprietary misting system is designed with monitoring, automation, and tracking in mind, giving them an edge over competitors.

MosquitoNix has earned an excellent reputation for quality service, non-toxic solutions, smart technology, and its customer acquisition center. With over two decades of experience, MosquitoNix is a leading provider of outdoor insect control solutions. Franchisees benefit from a stable recurring revenue model, low overhead costs, and high retention rates.

In addition to insect control services, MosquitoNix has been providing high-quality holiday lighting and decor services for the past 15 years. Their team of professionals design and install custom holiday lighting displays using high-quality commercial-grade material, taking the stress and hassle out of decorating.

Franworth President, Dave Keil, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating "Franworth is thrilled to join forces with MosquitoNix. Their strong entrepreneurial foundation, sales and call center expertise, comprehensive unit-level support and proprietary product offerings have prepared them to grow nationally through franchising. Together, we're poised to elevate MosquitoNix from a regional success to a national powerhouse with accelerated franchise system growth."

Franworth's Franchising Expertise Fuels Expansion

By leveraging Franworth's 500 years of franchising experience and shared services platform, MosquitoNix aims to expand its footprint, delivering an industry-leading franchise system. The strategic partnership fills resource gaps, brings functional expertise, and facilitates market entry, enabling MosquitoNix to achieve nationwide success in protecting properties and families.

"MosquitoNix is proud to partner with Franworth to rapidly expand with new franchises," said MosquitoNix President, Mike O'Neal. "Our 20 years of experience installing thousands of outdoor insect misting systems coupled with Franworth's many years of successful franchise experience makes us perfect partners to help future franchise partners grow successful MosquitoNix businesses."

To fuel and guide the franchise development effort, Franworth has joined forces with franchise sales organization, FranDevCo. With a history of helping emerging service-based brands grow, FranDevCo will play an essential role in managing the candidate acquisition and sales processes.

FranDevCo's CEO, Sung Ohm, expressed his enthusiasm about the company's partnership with MosquitoNix. In a recent statement, Ohm remarked, "We are thrilled to partner with MosquitoNix, a leader in the outdoor insect control sector. Our collaboration is grounded in a shared vision of excellence and innovation. At FranDevCo, we are deeply committed to differentiating MosquitoNix through strategic growth and exceptional service. This partnership is not just about expanding the number of franchises; it's about setting a new standard in the industry and driving rapid growth through our combined expertise and dedication."

The trifecta formed by bringing these three powerhouse businesses together reflects shared goals for growth and innovation, with MosquitoNix bringing an effective product with proven market potential, Franworth providing franchising best practices and a shared resources platform, and FranDevCo propelling franchise development efforts.

About Franworth

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Franworth accelerates brand value by building, incubating and growing brands using a franchise model and leveraging our shared services platform. The leadership team has over 500 years of combined franchise experience. Franworth's current portfolio of franchise brands includes The Lash Lounge, MilkShake Factory, sugaringLA, MosquitoNix, Garage Kings, and HealthSource America's Chiropractor. For more information, visit franworth.com.

About MosquitoNix

Founded in Dallas, Texas in 2003, MosquitoNix is the national leader in outdoor insect misting systems and has been the National Leader in Mosquito Control for over two decades. Originating from a long history of mosquito management dating back over 75 years in West Texas, MosquitoNix revolutionized the industry by introducing the first-ever outdoor insect misting system for homeowners nationwide. In 2005, Dan O'Neal assumed the role of CEO, leading the company's journey to becoming a household name. MosquitoNix is a family-run business with four family members playing key roles, each contributing their expertise to various aspects of the company. Today, MosquitoNix operates 20 corporate locations and will soon be offering franchise opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to venture into the thriving Outdoor Mosquito and Insect Control Industry. For more information, visit mosquitonix.com/pages/franchise.

About FranDevCo

FranDevCo, a distinguished franchise development company, excels in partnering with emerging and growth-focused brands. At the heart of their operation is a commitment to fostering rapid and sustainable growth, achieved by matching exceptional franchisees with ideal franchise opportunities. Central to FranDevCo's mission is a focus on driving successful growth through collaborative efforts, efficient processes, and leveraging proven systems. The company carefully selects brand partners that resonate with its culture, vision, and ethos of responsible growth. This selective approach not only ensures comprehensive support for franchisees but also aligns with FranDevCo's objective of promoting sustainable expansion. By doing so, they effectively contribute to reducing labor costs and risks, while simultaneously enhancing the enterprise value of the brands they partner with. FranDevCo's strategy encompasses strategic development, effective lead generation, and a streamlined sales process, all geared towards fostering higher growth at a lower cost. For those interested in learning more about FranDevCo and its dynamic approach to franchise development, further details can be found on their website at frandev.co.

CONTACT:

Megan Conway

Chief Marketing Officer, Franworth

[email protected]

(734-335-0319)

SOURCE Franworth
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market: Analysis and Forecast, 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market report offers a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the industry, providing valuable insights into market trends, growth drivers, challenges, and future opportunities. The report covers key segments, competitive landscape, and emerging technologies, offering stakeholders a holistic view of the global market.



The study identifies and analyzes the primary drivers influencing market growth. Factors such as the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, advancements in antibody engineering, and rising investments in research and development are explored. Additionally, the growing demand for personalized medicine and the expanding biopharmaceutical industry contribute to the positive trajectory of the market.

Key Questions Answered in the Report:

What are the major market drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global antibody hit generation and screening market?

How the antibody hit generation and screening market evolves and what did is its scope in the future?

How will each segment of the global antibody hit generation and screening market grow during the forecast period?

How will the industry evolve during the forecast period?

What are the key developmental strategies implemented by the key players to stand out in this market?

Market Segmentation:

Segmentation by Application

Cancer

Autoimmune diseases

Infectious diseases

Segmentation by Technologies

Hit Generation

Phage display

Yeast display

Ribosome display

B-cell hybridoma technology

Computational tools

Screening

Segmentation by Antibody Type

Humanized Antibody

Human Antibody

Chimeric Antibody

Murine Antibody

Segmentation by Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Rest-of-the-World

Some prominent players established in this market are:

Creative Biolabs

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

WuXi AppTec

ICOS Therapeutics

Key Topics Covered:



1. Market

1.1 Global Market Outlook

1.2 Product Definition

1.3 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

1.4 Key Findings

1.5 Assumptions and Limitations

1.6 Global Market Scenario

1.7 Industry Outlook

1.8 Key Trends

1.9 Patent Analysis

1.9.1 Awaited Technological Developments

1.9.2 Patent Filing Trend (by Country/Cluster)

1.9.3 Patent Filing Trend (by Year)

1.10 Product Benchmarking

1.11 Impact of COVID-19 on Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

1.12 Impact on Market Size

1.13 Market Entry Barriers and Opportunities

1.14 Business Dynamics

1.15 Impact Analysis



2. Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market (by Technologies)

2.1 Opportunity Assessment

2.2 Growth Share Matrix

2.2.1 Hit Generation

2.2.2 Phage display

2.2.3 Yeast display

2.2.4 Ribosome display

2.2.5 B-cell hybridoma technology

2.2.6 Computational tools

2.2.7 Screening



3. Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market (by Antibody Type)

3.1 Opportunity Assessment

3.2 Growth Share Matrix

3.2.1 Humanized Antibody

3.2.2 Human Antibody

3.2.3 Chimeric Antibody

3.2.4 Murine Antibody



4. Global Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market (by Applications)

4.1 Opportunity Assessment

4.2 Growth Share Matrix

4.2.1 Cancer

4.2.2 Autoimmune diseases

4.2.3 Infectious diseases



5. Region

5.1 North America Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

5.2 Key Findings and Opportunity Assessment

5.3 Regulatory Framework

5.4 Market Dynamics

5.5 Sizing and Forecast Analysis

5.6 Europe Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

5.7 Key Findings and Opportunity Assessment

5.8 Regulatory Framework

5.9 Market Dynamics

5.10 Sizing and Forecast Analysis

5.11 Asia-Pacific Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

5.12 Key Findings and Opportunity Assessment

5.13 Regulatory Framework

5.14 Market Dynamics

5.15 Sizing and Forecast Analysis

5.16 Latin America Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

5.17 Key Findings and Opportunity Assessment

5.18 Regulatory Framework

5.19 Market Dynamics

5.20 Sizing and Forecast Analysis

5.21 Rest-of-the-World Antibody Hit Generation and Screening Market

5.22 Key Findings and Opportunity Assessment

5.23 Regulatory Framework

5.24 Market Dynamics

5.25 Sizing and Forecast Analysis



6. Markets

6.1 Competitive Benchmarking and Company Profiles

6.2 Competitive Landscape

6.3 Company Profiles

F. Hoffmann-La Roche

AbbVie

Pfizer

AstraZeneca

Novartis

Eli Lilly

WuXi AppTec

Charles River Laboratories

Syngenta

BioLegend

Creative Biolabs

Eurofins CDMO

AbCellera

MorphoSys

Evelo Biosciences

Icos Therapeutics

Argenx

Kymab

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

SAb Biotherapeutics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6lpj4n

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

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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

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Dental Insurance Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Coverage (Dental Preferred Provider Organizations, Dental Health Maintenance Organizations), Type (Major, Basic), Demographic, Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global dental insurance market size is expected to reach USD 390.3 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 9.3%, according to the report. The expansion can be attributed to dental care awareness, rising cost of dental treatment, and an aging population requiring constant dental care. According to the World Health Organization, oral health differs over the entire course of life starting from early life until old age. Thus, it is one of the integral parts of general health as well as providing support to individuals. Elevating awareness regarding dental health can provide confidence and also help an individual maintain good oral health. Thereby this trend directly impacts the demand for dental insurance as individuals are opting for good dental treatments.



Aging population is expected to drive market growth in the coming years. Dental issues in the elderly population are high. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021 almost all adults aged 65 years and above had a tooth cavity and every 1 in 5 individuals had untreated tooth decay.

The elderly require more dental care due to increased incidences of tooth loss and other oral diseases as compared to the younger individuals and hence they seek dental insurance coverage to manage the costs associated with the treatment. Thereby, such factors are elevating the growth of the dental insurance industry.



Dental Insurance Market Report Highlights

Based on coverage, the DPPO segment dominated the market in 2022. The dental preferred provider organizations deliver various dental services to the members through a network of contracted dental care providers. The plan covers most of the dental preventive as well as diagnostic services

Based on type, the preventive segment dominated the market in 2022. Preventive care includes various services that can prevent an individual from developing dental diseases hence it is one of the most opted treatments individuals prefer

Based on demographics, the senior citizen segment dominated the market, accounting for over 41.0% of the total revenue. The key factors contributing to the growth include the high incidence of dental & gum diseases and tooth loss among them

The adult segment is expected to show significant growth during the forecast period. This is attributed to the changing awareness trends toward oral care and higher demand for preventive treatments

North America held the largest market share of 43% in 2022. Advanced healthcare infrastructure, regulatory expertise, and high research and development investments are some major contributors to regional market growth

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope



Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Market Snapshot

2.2. Segment Snapshot

2.3. Competitive Landscape Snapshot



Chapter 3. Market Variables, Trends, & Scope

3.1. Market Segmentation and Scope

3.2. Market Lineage Outlook

3.3. Market Trends and Outlook

3.4. Market Dynamics

3.5. Market Driver Analysis

3.6. Market Restraint Analysis

3.7. Business Environment Analysis

3.8. COVID-19 Impact Analysis



Chapter 4. Coverage Business Analysis

4.1. Dental Insurance Market: Coverage Movement Analysis

4.2. Dental Preferred Provider Organizations (DPPO)

4.3. Dental Health Maintenance Organizations (DHMO)

4.4. Dental Indemnity Plans



Chapter 5. Type Business Analysis

5.1. Dental Insurance Market: Type Movement Analysis

5.2. Major

5.3. Basic

5.4. Preventive



Chapter 6. Demographics Business Analysis

6.1. Dental Insurance Market: Demographics Movement Analysis

6.2. Senior Citizens

6.3. Adults

6.4. Minors



Chapter 7. Regional Business Analysis

7.1. Dental Insurance Market Share by Region, 2022 & 2030

7.2. North America

7.3. Europe

7.4. Asia Pacific

7.5. Latin America

7.6. MEA



Chapter 8. Competitive Landscape

8.1. Company Categorization

8.2. Strategy Mapping

8.3. Participant's overview

Cigna

AXA

AFLAC

Allianz

Aetna

Ameritas Life Insurance Corp

United HealthCare Services

Metlife Services & Solutions

Delta Dental Plans Association

HDFC Ergo Health Insurance

United Concordia

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/g5ruht

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

SOURCE Research and Markets
BEIJING, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A total of 22 teachers and students from prominent foreign universities made their mark on China's rural revitalization during a recent project in East China's Zhejiang Province, a move to document and empower the modern development of a Chinese village from an international perspective.

The project "Topia Plan" was initiated by Hua Jiahe, a postgraduate student studying at Harvard University committed to helping the world gain a deeper understanding of Chinese rural communities and contributing to their revitalization through joint efforts by students of top international schools.

Through their immersive experiences in Chinese rural life, students majoring in different subjects such as design, architecture, art, economics and sociology share the stories of China, seek solutions to local development from their own perspectives, and promote cultural exchanges between Chinese and foreign youngsters.

During the 10-day sojourn and research in Gejia village, Dajiahe township, Ninghai county in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, starting from December 22, 2023, students from prestigious Chinese, US, British and German universities visited local villagers, conducted surveys, created art installations, thrashed out business proposals and shared their rural life with their peers abroad, showcasing a "different" Chinese village to global youth.

Richard Peiser, a professor with the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, sent a video message in December 2023 to acknowledge the students' efforts.

"You have been documenting and sharing the unique aspects of Chinese rural life in Gejia village. You built a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and the US," Peiser said.

When connecting with their schoolmates via video calls, the Chinese students also changed some foreigners' perceptions about rural life in China, giving them a glimpse of how a rural community explored a unique model to shake off poverty.

"I'm surprised. I used to think that villages in China were all mud houses. I'm curious about how Chinese villages entice young talents back with entrepreneurship opportunities," said Tyler, a student with the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.

Seeing the village's cultural industry, another Harvard student Kyle Meyer gave the project a thumbs-up.

"It was so interesting. The genuine joy stems from the richness of our inner world. In terms of leveraging the cultural heritage of the village, there is so much more we can do," said Meyer.

Hua told the Global Times on Sunday that the "Topia Plan" is an experiment to explore how the younger generation could contribute to the Chinese rural revitalization in collaboration with local residents.

"It's not a field trip and we are not teachers giving lessons to the villagers. It's an experiment of mutual learning that helps us get into a state of happiness and simplicity. I want to give what I've learned to those in need. It's a sense of social responsibility," said Hua, who majors in architecture and design.

"As a young designer, I have been thinking about what attitudes we should adopt for rural revitalization and I've got the answer now. We want to be a co-builder for rural development and draw more young people to the cause," she said.

Art inspired

Gejia village, located in a remote mountainous area in Ningbo with a population of about 1,600, was a small, underdeveloped village largely short of any industry.

In an effort to pull the village out of poverty, the local government launched a campaign called "rural revitalization through art" in 2019, aimed at boosting the local economy by developing art-related industries. An artist team led by Cong Zhiqiang, a professor at the School of Arts, Renmin University of China, was invited to take the helm of the campaign.

Thanks to these joint efforts, the collective yearly income of Gejia increased from around 120,000 yuan ($16,892) in 2019 to 500,000 yuan in 2021, Ge Wanyong, Party secretary of Gejia village, told the Global Times.

Inspired by the campaign, villagers started handicraft production and retail sales of cultural and creative artworks while developing local cuisine and art workshops. Taking advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities, a total of 48 brands were born in the village including white chrysanthemum milk tea and sweet green rice ball cakes. The art-related industry brought the annual number of tourists to about 100,000 in 2021.

Chen Wei, Party secretary of Dajiahe township, told the Global Times that the art campaign has empowered local villagers and sparked their creativity and enthusiasm.

"The villagers turned from bystanders to participants. Encouraged by the campaign, Gejia villagers added an artistic flair to their traditional craftsmanship. Waste materials like bamboo and stones were reused and made into artworks," Chen noted.

Despite the total tax revenue of the town reaching a record high of 130 million yuan in 2023, the road of rural revitalization is still full of bumps.

"The overall development of the town is hamstrung by an aging population and a shortage of young labor. It's also difficult to scale up the private handicraft industry," Chen said.

"I heard of the story of Gejia from media reports and the 'Topia Plan' is a continuous effort to facilitate the development of the village as it is still hampered by an aging population and low personal income. With the development of infrastructure, the village has the potential of growing to become a tourist spot," said Hua.

Ding Hancong, a student majoring in Landscape Architecture at Cornell University, told the Global Times on Monday that he was happy to see the changes when returning to Gejia after a trip in 2019 with Cong.

"The village was like a barren field with a dirt path threading through the village back then. Residents would not open their doors to visitors and didn't know anything about art. When we returned to the village five years later, art has been infused in every corner of the village thanks to the renovation project," Ding said.

"But there is still room for improvement. The scale of the individual handicraft industry in the village is relatively small. When producing artworks, there is a lack of understanding in terms of publicity and promotion. So it's difficult to carve out a niche in the market. Yet, their passion for art has touched me and brought me back," Ding noted.

Heart of Gejia

The participants of the "Topia Plan" were divided into different groups, including architecture, art, economics, music and dance. Based on their research and surveys, the students turned their ideas into tangible works.

"We hope we can design something practical and draw young people back to the village to find a sense of belonging. We want to create an artwork that can retain young talents. An art installation should be a symbol of the spirit of Gejia village and usable by every resident. It's a part of their life," Ding said.

"Gejia is abundant in bamboo, an important element of Chinese culture. So we decided to create an installation to light up the sky with bamboo, steel frame and lights, which stands for the perseverance of the local people."

By cutting, painting and connecting bamboo pieces, the abstract family tree network of Gejia village was presented in the shape of an osmanthus tree, an iconic plant for the village. With the bamboo structure breaking through the steel frame, the large interactive art piece reflects the pioneering spirit of the villagers and serves a leisure space for tourists and residents. When lit up at night, it's like the beating heart of Gejia village, Ding said.

In collaboration with local artists, the students turned a number of white, cold and abstract boxes into a detachable communal table that tells the story of Gejia.

Ge Xianrong, the 70-year-old director of the village's art museum, was invited to paint her favorite home tile artwork onto the communal table.

"The pink boxes, like us, are both outsiders and something that inherently belongs to the village. Watching children drawing on the installation or villagers using it as a table or rack, I realized that good designs require everyone to be a designer. Rural development needs to have collaborative decisions with villagers," said project initiator Hua. "This experiment left villagers not only an installation, but also my vision that more designers studying overseas could return to China's countryside. Rural development is not just about checking in a tourist spot, but about construction and designing in cooperation with the villagers."

Retaining youth

Among the proposals to draw young talents back to the village, a "digital nomad retreat center" stood out. The retreat center, which consists of a dining hall, cafe and home stay area, was designed as a "nursing" home for stressed-out youth working in urban areas.

The retreat center was jointly constructed and is managed by young people and local residents. Taking advantage of the natural beauty and artistic vibe of the village, the retreat center, along with a youth theater, aims to become a landmark leisure facility for the nomadic workers in Gejia, according to Hua.

Osmanthus cake and qingtuan, or sweet green rice balls, are two iconic local snacks in Gejia village. In a bid to promote the two traditional desserts, the students mapped out a tailor-made business plan.

"We have created the brand story of '100 years of ancestral recipe, three generations of inheritance' specifically for qingtuan. By using the cultural symbols in the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature and the 24 Solar Terms, qingtuan can become a high-end product in the market," Hua noted.

The cultural and creative products from the Palace Museum in Beijing became popular gifts because of innovations based on the museum's rich cultural legacy. Similarly, through cultural empowerment, local cuisines in Gejia can also take up a better share in the market, said Hua.

Shan Yicong, who is pursuing a Master of Architecture Degree at Princeton University, told the Global Times that they tried to explore a new operational model of co-building Gejia village with local residents and young workers.

"We are trying to do find solutions to commercialize the countryside and find a right track of sustainable development for the village. We will continue to think about what architects can do for Chinese rural development," said Shan.

Party secretary Chen said that the students have offered practical proposals for rural development from an international perspective and vision, which effectively contributed to the rural revitalization.

The students put forward many suggestions for architecture design, brand design and marketing strategy for our cultural products. As a result, the project builds a bridge to connect friends from China and abroad, Chen noted.

Whether it is via livestreaming or social media platforms, they showcased the most authentic rural life to the world and allowed international friends to gain a better understanding of China's rural areas, farmers and folk culture.

The arrival of young people has breathed new life into the villages and will attract more young people to return to further contribute to rural revitalization, said Chen.

Chen said that the villagers from Gejia will visit Harvard University in spring to share their stories with global youth.

Read more: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202401/1305081.shtml

SOURCE Global Times
HANZA AB is investing SEK 75 million in an expansion of the Group's manufacturing cluster in Sweden to meet increasing volumes.

KISTA, Sweden, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- HANZA has decided to build a new factory section of 8,800 square meters in Tocksfors, Sweden. The new facility is a new and extension of HANZA's existing production facility in Tocksfors and will provide new areas for assembly in particular. The reason is a continued long-term good demand.

"This investment supports our concept of complete, regional manufacturing and creates a very strong offering in the manufacturing cluster Sweden," says Erik Stenfors, CEO of HANZA.

"We have a continuous increase in demand from many of our successful customer partnerships, such as the return management company Tomra, the heat pump company Thermia and Vaderstad, which is one of the world's leading companies in tillage and seeding," says Morgan Sahlin, cluster manager in Sweden. "This is a significant investment for HANZA Sweden that makes it possible to follow our customers' needs."

Occupation of the new factory is planned for the turn of the year 2024/2025. In addition to the investment of SEK 75 million, the project includes specific investments in the machine park to support the increased assembly capacity.

The expansion will contribute positively to HANZA's sustainability work with energy efficiency improvements. In the new building, geothermal heat pumps will be installed to handle heating in both the new and existing premises, which means major energy savings.

HANZA has recently increased its capacity for circuit board manufacturing in Sweden through the acquisition of Orbit One with a factory in Ronneby.

CONTACT:

For further information please contact:

Erik Stenfors, CEO

+46 709 50 80 70

[email protected]

Morgan Sahlin, President Cluster Sweden

+46 705 10 39 07

[email protected]

The following files are available for download:
KANAZAWA, Japan, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University report in Nano Letters how the flexibility of a protein hinge plays a crucial role in the transfer of proteins in key cell processes.

Ubiquitination  the addition of the protein ubiquitin - is a key stage in many cell processes, such as protein degradation, DNA repairs, and signal transduction. Using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) and molecular modelling, researchers led by Hiroki Konno and Holger Flechsig at WPI-NanoLSI, Kanazawa University have identified how the mobility of a ubiquitination related enzyme hinge allows ubiquitination to take place.

Previous studies have identified a number of enzymes that facilitate ubiquitination, including an enzyme that activates ubiquitin (E1), an enzyme that conjugates it (E2), and an enzyme that catalyzes ubiquitin protein joining (i.e. a ligase, E3) to target protein (Fig. 1). The HECT-type E3 ligase is characterized by a HECT domain that comprises an N lobe with the E2-binding site and a C lobe with a catalytic Cys residue, a flexible hinge connects the two lobes, leading to the hypothesis that ubiquitination is facilitated by the rearrangement of the protein around this hinge. Konno and their collaborators deployed their high-speed atomic force microscope to hunt for evidence that this was the case.

The researchers noted that when the HECT domain was crystallized with a type of E2 enzyme, it formed an L shape such that the distance between the catalytic Cys residue of the HECT domain and the catalytic Cys of the E2 enzyme was 41 A  too far for the transfer of ubiquitin. However, in its catalytic conformation the HECT domain has a different shape where the distance between the two catalytic Cys residues is much closer  just 8 A  so this is thought to be a 'catalytic conformation'.

Analysis of HS-AFM images of a wild-type HECT domain of E6AP revealed two conformations  one of which looked spherical and the other oval (Fig. 2). Using AFM simulations they attributed the oval shapes to the L conformation and spherical shapes are either the catalytic conformation or the so called inverted T conformation, which had been observed in the another type of HECT domain where the distance between the Cys residues is 16 A (Fig. 2). To overcome the spatio-temporal resolution limitations of imaging, the experiments were complemented by molecular modelling to visualize HECT domain conformational motions at the atomistic level. Simulation AFM was used to generate a corresponding pseudo AFM movie, which clearly showed the change from spherical to the oval shaped topography (Fig. 2).

"Although experimental limitations do not allow us to resolve the intermediate conformations," explain the researchers in their report of the work. "The performed modeling provides evidence that the transitions between spherical and oval HECT domain shapes observed under HS-AFM correspond to functional conformational motions under which the C-lobe rotates relative to the N-lobe, thereby allowing the change between catalytic and L-shape HECT conformations."

Further experiments with mutant HECT domains with less flexibility in the hinge revealed no flipping between conformations  the mutant HECT domains were locked in the catalytic conformation. They also found that while these mutant HECT domains could form two ubiquitin proteins joined together more efficiently than the wild type.

E6AP, the HECT-type E3 in this study, interacts with E6 protein derived from human papillomavirus (HPV) and ubiquitinates p53, a tumor suppressor protein. It is also known that ubiquitination of p53 by E6AP and E6 is a major cause of cervical cancer. However, the mechanism of p53 ubiquitination by the interaction of E6AP and E6 proteins remains unclear. In the future, we will elucidate the structural dynamics of E6AP/E6, and the E6AP/E6/p53 complex with HS-AFM, and clarify how E6 increases the activity of p53 ubiquitination by E6AP.

Figure 1 link: https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/Fig.-1.png

Fig 1 caption: Ubiquitination and degradation of protein by the ubiquitin-proteasome system.  2023 Takeda, et al., Published by American Chemical Society

Fig. 2 link: https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/Fig.-2-1.png

Fig 2 caption: High-speed AFM observation and simulation of the structural dynamics of the HECT domain of E6AP.

(A) HS-AFM image of the HECT domain. Spherical (white dotted line) and oval (blue dotted line) conformational states were observed. (B) Simulated transition process of the structural state of the HECT domain and its pseudo AFM image. (C) Ubiquitin (Ub) is transferred from E2 to E3 (HECT domain). After the addition of ubiquitin-containing E2 (E2-Ub), E2-Ub (white arrow) binds to the HECT domain, and after E2 dissociates, a small particle (blue arrow) that appears to be ubiquitin is added to the HECT domain.  2023 Takeda, et al., Published by American Chemical Society

Glossary

Ubiquitin

The protein takes its name from the term 'ubiquitous' because it is found in almost all tissues. It can be added as a single protein or further proteins added into a chain. This 'ubiquitination' is an essential step in many cell processes.

High-speed atomic force microscopy

This imaging technique uses a nanosized tip at the end of a cantilever that is scanned over a sample. It can be used to determine the topography of a sample surface from the change in the strength of forces between the tip and the sample with distance, and the resulting deflection of the cantilever. It was first developed in the 1980s but a number of modifications have augmented the functionality of the technique since. It is better suited to imaging biological samples than the scanning tunnelling microscope developed that had been developed because it does not require a conducting sample.

In the 2000s Toshio Ando at Kanazawa University was able to improve the scanning speed to such an extent that moving images could be captured. This allowed people to use the technique to visualize molecular processes for the first time.

Reference

Kazusa Takeda, Holger Flechsig, Ikumi Muro, Romain Amyot, Fuminori Kobayashi, Noriyuki Kodera, Toshio Ando and Hiroki Konno, Structural Dynamics of E6AP E3 Ligase HECT Domain and Involvement of a Flexible Hinge Loop in the Ubiquitin Chain Synthesis Mechanism, Nano Letters, 2023, 23, 24, 1194011948.

These authors contributed equally to this work

DOI10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04150

URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04150

Contact

Hiroe Yoneda

Senior Specialist in Project Planning and Outreach

NanoLSI Administration OfficeNano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +81 (76) 234-4555

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University

Understanding nanoscale mechanisms of life phenomena by exploring 'uncharted nano-realms'.

Cells are the basic units of almost all life forms. We are developing nanoprobe technologies that allow direct imaging, analysis, and manipulation of the behavior and dynamics of important macromolecules in living organisms, such as proteins and nucleic acids, at the surface and interior of cells. We aim at acquiring a fundamental understanding of the various life phenomena at the nanoscale.

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

About the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI)

The WPI program was launched in 2007 by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to foster globally visible research centers boasting the highest standards and outstanding research environments. Numbering more than a dozen and operating at institutions throughout the country, these centers are given a high degree of autonomy, allowing them to engage in innovative modes of management and research. The program is administered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-toplevel/

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa  a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.

SOURCE Kanazawa University
1 in 3 Americans believe healthcare price transparency should be a top priority for Congress

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) released new polling conducted by Marist revealing that healthcare price transparency remains one of the most popular and unifying issues being considered by Congress. Top findings of the poll include:

94% Support true healthcare price transparency.

Support true healthcare price transparency. 93% Agree hospitals should be required to provide real prices in advance, not estimates.

Agree hospitals should be required to provide real prices in advance, not estimates. 91% Would use upfront prices to shop for the best quality care at the lowest price.

Would use upfront prices to shop for the best quality care at the lowest price. 3 out of 5 Have put off medical care because they didn't know the cost.

Have put off medical care because they didn't know the cost. 88% Would be more likely to seek routine care if they could get the price of care in advance.

Would be more likely to seek routine care if they could get the price of care in advance. 1 out of 3 Believe healthcare price transparency should be a top priority for Congress.

The new polling shows support for systemwide healthcare price transparency has remained consistent and slightly increased from 90% topline support in 2021 polling.

Click here to view the polling results and crosstabs.

PRA Founder and Chairman Cynthia Fisher sent a memo to Congressional leaders outlining the polling results and urging them to come together to pass healthcare price transparency legislation.

"Congress has the rare and exciting opportunity to pass transformative, bipartisan healthcare price transparency legislation that would drastically improve the quality and lower the cost of American healthcare, at no cost to taxpayers. ... It is time to harness this momentum and bring both chambers together to move forward with bipartisan, bicameral legislation that levels the playing field, empowers healthcare consumers, lowers costs, improve health outcomes, and has the support of the American people. This is the right policy, at the right time, for the right reasons. It's time to fix our broken healthcare system through systemwide healthcare price transparency."

The new polling results come amid growing momentum on Capitol Hill in support of healthcare price transparency legislation. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to strengthen and expand healthcare price transparency requirements (S.3548). The Senate bill built on legislation passed by an overwhelming majority in the House earlier in the month (H.R.5378), which takes steps to empower patients to choose the best care at the lowest prices.

About PRA

PatientRightsAdvocate.org is a nonprofit organization fighting for systemwide healthcare price transparency. We seek to empower patients and consumers with actual, upfront prices, greatly reducing healthcare costs through a functional, competitive market.

SOURCE Patient Rights Advocate
DALLAS, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New Western , the largest national real estate investment marketplace, has been named a winner of Glassdoor's 16th annual Employees' Choice Awards, coming in at No. 28 and honoring the Best Places to Work 2024 . Unlike other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback on Glassdoor by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

Best Places to Work 2024 GlassDoor

"Being named to Glassdoor's Best Places To Work for the second year in a row speaks directly to the remarkable team that keeps our culture of grit, accountability and competitiveness thriving every day," said Rahul Yodh, Vice President of Talent Acquisition at New Western. "When you allow a team to dictate the culture of the workplace, it creates a high performance environment that attracts talent that can overcome obstacles and drive results. Even amidst the challenges of the real estate space this past year, it was the unwavering efforts of the New Western team that helped make us a truly great place to work."

"Worklife is rapidly changing, and professionals are turning to Glassdoor to share their experiences about working for some of the most competitive employers in the world," said Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor Chief Executive Officer. "The Best Places to Work award is a stark reminder of the power of Glassdoor, from arming professionals with career insights and real-time conversations about all things work and life, to providing employers with feedback to improve."

In terms of employee input in order to win, employees are required to submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, and are asked to share their opinions on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons) and are encouraged to provide advice to management. They are also asked to rate how satisfied they are with their employer overall, rate their CEO and key workplace attributes including career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, senior management and work-life balance. To round out the submission, employees are also asked whether they would recommend their employer to a friend and whether they believe their employer's six-month business outlook is positive, negative or if they have no opinion. Together it allows the judges to have a wholistic view of the organization from a variety of employees and experiences.

Employees' Choice Award winners for the Best Places to Work 2024 are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary awards algorithm, and each employer's rating is determined based on the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews submitted by U.S.-based employees between October 18, 2022 and October 16, 2023. To be considered for the U.S. small and medium company list, a company must have had fewer than 1,000 employees and received at least 30 ratings across each of Glassdoor's nine workplace attributes (overall company rating, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, senior management, work-life balance, recommend to a friend and six-month business outlook).

The final list is compiled using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, led by its Economic Research Team , and considers quantity, quality and consistency of reviews. Complete awards methodology can be found here .

For the complete list of the Glassdoor Best Places to Work winners in 2024, please visit: gldr.co/BPTWSMB .

About New Western

New Western is a real estate investment marketplace that makes investing more accessible for more people. Operating in most major cities, our marketplace connects more than 200,000 local investors looking to rehab houses with sellers. As the largest private source of investment properties in the nation, we buy a home every 13 minutes. New Western delivers new opportunity for alla fresh start for sellers, exclusive inventory for investors, and in doing so, creates housing that is more affordable for buyers. New Western was honored with a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award in the U.S. small and medium company category, recognizing the Best Places to Work in 2023.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is revolutionizing how people everywhere find jobs and companies they love by providing deeper workplace transparency. Professionals turn to Glassdoor to research ratings, reviews, salaries and more at millions of employers, and to Fishbowl by Glassdoor to engage in candid workplace conversations. Companies use Glassdoor to post jobs and attract talent through employer branding and employee insights products . Glassdoor is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a leading global technology company, and a part of its fast-growing HR Technology business unit. For more information, visit www.glassdoor.com .

"Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE New Western
TAIPEI, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Taiwan Cement Corporation's (TCC) subsidiary, NHOA.TCC, made its debut at the world's largest Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2024, showcasing the unique "Energy Storage with EV Charging Station" and "Stable Power Grid Structure" based on the innovative Fireproof and Fire Extinguishing UHPC energy storage cabinet, EnergyArk, which receives enthusiastic responses from clients. NHOA.TCC announced the successful passing of UL 9540 energy storage system safety certification for EnergyArk. Collaborating with TCC Group's European subsidiary, Atlante, NHOA.TCC plans to build a charging station with energy storage system in Italy in 2024 Q2, the first EnergyArk in Europe. To support NHOA.TCC, TCC Group's high-end lithium battery company, Molicel, showcased the electric racing car McMurtry Speirling, powered by Molicel's ultra-high-power lithium battery. The demonstration highlighted that under the "EnergyArk Energy Storage with EV Charging Station" developed by NHOA.TCC, it can provide stable fast charging without impacting the power grid and guarantee safety.

TCC Group's subsidiary, NHOA.TCC, makes its debut at CES 2024, showcasing the remarkable "Energy Storage with EV Charging Station and Stable Power Grid Structure" based on the unique Fireproof and Fire Extinguishing EnergyArk, and displaying the electric racing car McMurtry Speirling, powered by Molicel's ultra-high-power lithium battery

In response to the growing trend of clean energy, international automotive manufacturers such as Hyundai, KIA, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, VinFast, as well as well-known charger brands like ABB, EVgo, Chaevi, and Star Charge, are all moving towards high-power charging trends, reaching up to 720 kW, and the need for energy storage became evident. European customers expressed challenges in power applications for constructing supercharging stations, while U.S. clients emphasized the demand for energy storage to stabilize electricity consumption, especially supercharging stations that can charge EV trucks in warehouses.

Showcased DC-DC integrated charging and storage structure impressed CES attendees, addressing power conversion losses and enhancing energy efficiency. EnergyArk, constructed with Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC), has raised the clients' interests for its ability to resistant extreme weather conditions, which is crucial in global climate change.

EnergyArk's successful debut at CES 2024 marked its readiness for international markets, having passed rigorous safety tests, including UL 9540 and IEC 62933-5-2. The energy storage system also complies with NFPA 855 standards. Constructed with UHPC, EnergyArk offers fire resistance, heat resistance, and high-strength characteristics, distinguishing it from traditional metal containers. With three different battery capacities (40, 60, and 1000), EnergyArk is suitable for various indoor and outdoor sites. EnergyArk is equipped with a self-developed energy management system, ensuring that when the battery overheats, the fire extinguishing system automatically activates by submerging the battery in water while maintaining the integrity of the cabinet.

NHOA.TCC also collaborated with global partners in CES 2024 like WAE, KULR, and ZEROVA. NHOA.TCC and WAE collaborated to develop scalable battery module with high C-rate charging and discharging, achieving an energy density more than 10% higher than competitors. NHOA.TCC and KULR worked together to create extremely safe batteries for energy storage applications. TCC Group's Chairman Nelson An-ping Chang emphasized international competitiveness in energy planning, citing Europe and the U.S. as leaders. He urged partners to contribute to global carbon reduction efforts, providing diverse choices for future generations.

SOURCE NHOA.TCC
Fairmont Veteran to oversee Omni's Commercial Growth Strategy

to Further Enhance the Brand's Market Position

DALLAS, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Omni Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment of Jeff Doane as its new Chief Commercial Officer. With over 20 years of hospitality experience, Doane brings a wealth of expertise from his previous senior executive roles with Fairmont Raffles Hotels International and most recently as Chief Commercial Officer at Accor North America.

Jeff Doane, Chief Commercial Officer of Omni Hotels & Resorts

Doane will report directly to President Kurt Alexander and oversee the development and execution of Omni's integrated commercial strategy across Omni's current portfolio of hotels and resorts in the United States and Canada. He will oversee all disciplines within marketing including brand and tactical marketing, public relations, partnerships, social media and digital platforms (omnihotels.com). He will also be responsible for oversight of Omni's global and hotel sales organizations, revenue management, the Select Guest Loyalty program as well as distribution and customer service.

The appointment of Doane is particularly significant as Omni has invested over $2 billion into its portfolio over the last five years and has committed $1.5 billion in portfolio enhancements over the next five years.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jeff to the Omni family. His experience leading high performing teams at successful brands, like Fairmont, will be a key asset to our organization as we continue to elevate our brand position and differentiate Omni Hotels & Resorts in the marketplace," said Kurt Alexander. "Being able to add a leader like Jeff in concert with the recent addition of our new COO, Vince Parrotta, also underscores Omni's commitment to hiring best-in-class talent."

In his senior leadership roles at Fairmont Raffles Hotels International and Accor, Doane consistently surpassed top-line revenue goals, elevated loyalty membership, and captured greater market share year after year.

Doane actively contributes to the industry by serving on the HSMAI CMO and Foundation Boards as well as the US Travel CEO Board and the Plug & Play Hospitality Vertical Advisory Board. Doane holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

To learn more about the new era of Omni Hotels & Resorts, visit omnihotels.com or connect on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram .

About Omni Hotels & Resorts :

Omni Hotels & Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at over 50 distinct hotels and resorts in the most popular leisure and business destinations across the United States, as well as in Canada. With 28 iconic golf courses, including multiple short courses, 25 award-winning spas featured in dynamic locales nationwide, every Omni proudly opens its doors to share the true spirit of its destination. Reflected through local color, personalized service, unique wellness options, signature restaurants and creative culinary offerings, Omni leaves a lasting impression with every guest and a heightened level of recognition and rewards delivered through its Select Guest loyalty program. Omni is committed to reducing hunger and is on a mission through its Say Goodnight to Hunger initiative, to provide millions of meals each year for food banks to feed children, families, and seniors in communities in which it operates. Through its partnership with Shared Hope International, Omni is dedicated to the education and training of its associates to help combat human trafficking. Omni Hotels & Resorts is the official hotel of the PGA TOUR and PGA of America. For information or to book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni

SOURCE Omni Hotels & Resorts
DUBLIN, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Pathogen or Plant Disease Detection and Monitoring Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Application, Product, and Region - Analysis and Forecast, 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring industry was valued at $1.76 billion in 2022, and it is expected to grow with a CAGR of 9.68% during the forecast period 2023-2028 to reach $3.03 billion by 2028.

This growth of the pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring market is likely to be driven by the growing need for food security and quality, particularly in developing nations, where substantial losses in crop production and challenges in post-harvest management are attributed to plant diseases. Additionally, the progress in developing new and inventive methods for detecting plant pathogens, including biosensors, point-of-care devices, remote sensing, and nanotechnology, presents the potential for swift, dependable, and cost-effective solutions in in-field diagnostics.

Introduction of Pathogen or Plant Disease Detection and Monitoring

Cutting-edge technology for rapid and accurate detection and continuous monitoring of pathogens or plant diseases, revolutionizing agricultural health and crop management. The global market for plant disease and pathogen detection involves the development, production, and sale of crucial tools and services for agriculture and horticulture. These tools play a vital role in early disease identification, enabling timely intervention and management strategies to protect crops and ensure food security.



{INFOGRAPHIC_PLACEHOLDER}



Factors such as climate change, international trade, intensified agriculture, and regulatory guidelines are driving the market's growth. The industry faces a significant threat, with plant pathogens causing up to a 40% annual loss in yield for economically important crops. Invasive pests contribute to a yearly financial burden of at least $70 billion and play a role in the global decline of biodiversity.



The report "Scientific Review of the Impact of Climate Change on Plant Pests" underscores the urgent need for effective pest management strategies. The pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring market is poised for substantial growth due to rising global food demand, new diseases driven by global trade and climate changes, and technological advancements such as biosensors and remote sensing. Advanced detection methods, such as those used by Planet Labs PBC with satellite imagery and analytics, are crucial in safeguarding agricultural productivity and food security.

Factors Influencing Market Expansion:

Increasing Global Trade and Transportation

Growing Concerns for Food Security and Safety

Environmental Regulations and Compliance

Advancements in Diagnostic Technologies

Market Segmentation:



Segmentation 1: by Application

Open Field

Controlled Environment

Based on application, open-field applications in agriculture involve the use of advanced tools and techniques for rapid disease or pathogen identification in outdoor settings. The LAMP-PCR kit, developed by University of Florida researchers, is a notable example employing loop-mediated isothermal amplification for quick DNA amplification without a thermal cycler. This portable diagnostic kit, equipped with a battery-powered device and a smartphone app, facilitates on-site detection of plant pathogens such as citrus canker and tomato yellow leaf curl virus in under an hour. Future opportunities in plant pathogen detection focus on advanced diagnostic kits, remote laboratory services, and digital platforms incorporating IoT and AI. The success of these advancements relies on technological progress and their demonstrated benefits to farmers, promising a more efficient and effective approach to disease detection in agriculture.



Controlled environment applications in indoor agriculture, such as greenhouses and labs, employ precise and sensitive techniques such as culture-based approaches, PCR-based methods, and sequencing-based techniques for pathogen identification and genomic data analysis. Notably, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology is adapted for diagnostic kits, offering rapid and accurate detection of specific DNA or RNA sequences of plant pathogens. These portable CRISPR-based kits provide on-site use in greenhouses with advantages in specificity, sensitivity, and speed over traditional methods. The future market in controlled environments includes opportunities for advanced diagnostic kits, digital services for remote monitoring and predictive modeling, and specialized lab services, presenting a comprehensive approach to plant pathogen detection with tailored testing and expert advisory services.

Segmentation 2: by Product

Diagnostic Kits

Digital Solutions

Laboratory Services

Based on product, utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as remote sensing and data analytics, digital services enable real-time monitoring in agriculture. This combined approach enhances both accuracy and speed, effectively addressing food security concerns and facilitating proactive disease management. Plant disease detection and monitoring technology have seen significant advancements, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence, where deep learning revolutionizes the identification of issues through image analysis. Tools such as Plantix on smartphones empower farmers to collect and share georeferenced data on diseases, while remote sensing methods, employing drones or satellites, provide broader-scale monitoring of crop health. The integration of multispectral sensors in drone and satellite technology further advances plant disease detection, capturing images in various light wavelengths for real-time monitoring. This not only reduces pesticide use but also contributes to improved crop yield and quality.



Laboratory services employ established techniques such as PCR and microscopy for precise plant pathogen detection, with notable examples such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Pathogen Confirmatory Diagnostics Lab, which specializes in accredited biochemical and molecular diagnostics. Recent technological advancements in plant disease detection include commercially available devices with advanced imaging technologies and the rapid growth of portable point-of-care diagnostics utilizing PCR and immunochromatography. A noteworthy trend is the integration of blockchain technology in laboratory and digital services, aiming to enhance traceability, transparency, and secure sharing of plant pathogen detection data. This integration has the potential to bolster confidence in agricultural supply chains by ensuring a more secure and verifiable data-sharing environment.



Diagnostic kits play a crucial role in swiftly and precisely detecting plant diseases through molecular techniques that identify pathogen DNA or proteins. The adoption of advanced molecular methods, such as PCR, immunology, and biosensors, is on the rise due to their ability to offer faster and more precise plant pathogen detection compared to traditional methods. Recent advancements in these diagnostic kits include the incorporation of nanotechnology and biosensors for rapid and precise detection, the integration of point-of-care devices with the Internet of Things (IoT) for on-site diagnosis, and the development of more versatile kits capable of detecting multiple pathogens in a single assay. These innovations contribute to minimizing crop losses, improving pest control, and preventing disease outbreaks by facilitating swift and informed disease management decisions.

Segmentation 3: by Region

North America - U.S., Canada , Mexico , and Rest-of- North America

- U.S., , , and Rest-of- Europe - Germany , France , Italy , Spain , Netherlands , Belgium , Switzerland , Bulgaria , Ukraine , and Rest-of- Europe

- , , , , , , , , , and Rest-of- China

U.K.

Asia-Pacific - Japan , South Korea , India , Australia and New Zealand , and Rest-of- Asia-Pacific

- , , , and , and Rest-of- South America - Argentina , Brazil , and Rest-of- South America

- , , and Rest-of- Middle East and Africa - South Africa , Turkey , Israel , and Rest-of- Middle East and Africa

Plant pathogen detection in North America is driven by the increasing demand for food security and adherence to international trade regulations and standards. Advancements in molecular techniques and point-of-care devices offer fast, specific, and cost-effective on-site diagnosis. The emergence of new plant diseases and pests due to climate change and human practices necessitates improved detection methods. The availability of research and development funds, regulated diagnostic labs, and major industry players further support growth in this field. Overall, plant pathogen detection is crucial for mitigating crop losses and ensuring food quality in the region.

Recent Developments in the Global Pathogen or Plant Disease Detection and Monitoring Market

In July 2021 , EarthDaily Analytics unveiled the launch schedule for its upcoming constellation of Earth observation satellites. This satellite constellation is poised to significantly enhance geospatial analytics capabilities across various sectors such as agriculture, forestry, environment, financial services, defense, and intelligence. Construction of the new generation of satellites commenced in July 2021 , and launches were scheduled for late 2023 or early 2024.

, EarthDaily Analytics unveiled the launch schedule for its upcoming constellation of Earth observation satellites. This satellite constellation is poised to significantly enhance geospatial analytics capabilities across various sectors such as agriculture, forestry, environment, financial services, defense, and intelligence. Construction of the new generation of satellites commenced in , and launches were scheduled for late 2023 or early 2024. In August 2023 , Agdia Inc. launched the Thrips Spot Viruses ImmunoComb as a new addition to their ImmunoComb product line. This groundbreaking offering integrates three established ImmunoStrips into a convenient format, providing growers with an effective tool to identify and address plant viruses that exhibit similar symptoms and share a common insect vector.

, Agdia Inc. launched the Thrips Spot Viruses ImmunoComb as a new addition to their ImmunoComb product line. This groundbreaking offering integrates three established ImmunoStrips into a convenient format, providing growers with an effective tool to identify and address plant viruses that exhibit similar symptoms and share a common insect vector. In September 2023 , Abingdon Health plc joined forces with the U.K.-based B-Corp design agency Morrama Ltd to accelerate the development of environment-friendly housings for lateral flow tests. Collaborating under the newly established venture, Eco-Flo Innovations Ltd, the partnership aims to invest in sustainable design solutions tailored for the lateral flow market. This market has been pivotal in both COVID-19 diagnostics and plant health assessments for many years.

, Abingdon Health plc joined forces with the U.K.-based B-Corp design agency Morrama Ltd to accelerate the development of environment-friendly housings for lateral flow tests. Collaborating under the newly established venture, Eco-Flo Innovations Ltd, the partnership aims to invest in sustainable design solutions tailored for the lateral flow market. This market has been pivotal in both COVID-19 diagnostics and plant health assessments for many years. Planet Labs PBC acquired Sinergise in March 2023 . This acquisition enhances the company's data analysis capabilities, potentially contributing valuable insights to plant pathogen detection by bolstering the platform's ability to provide detailed and comprehensive information relevant to agricultural and environmental monitoring.

Demand - Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities



Market Drivers: Rising Threat of Fungicide Resistance Crops

The pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring market is experiencing growth due to heightened fungicide use, the development of new fungicides, and the urgency to manage fungicide resistance. This market can play a crucial role by providing tools for rapid, precise, and cost-effective diagnosis of fungal diseases and resistance status in the field. Moreover, it offers solutions for integrating various disease management methods, such as biologicals, conventional fungicides, and novel compounds, to achieve sustainable and effective control of fungal diseases.



A 2021 United Nations-backed study emphasizes that climate change is exacerbating the impact of pests on crucial agricultural crops, posing heightened risks to global food security and the environment. The increasing prevalence of plant diseases, driven by climate change, global food trade, and pathogen evolution, underscores the necessity for robust surveillance to safeguard the global food supply. Key technologies in this domain include disease sensors, high-throughput sequencing, predictive modeling, and data analytics. Furthermore, the market is influenced by interdisciplinary collaborations involving plant pathology, precision agriculture, plant development, risk assessment, genetic diversity, and microbial interactions.

Market Challenges: Lack of Accuracy and Sample Security

Traditional molecular techniques, such as serological and nucleic acid-based assays, face challenges such as inaccurate results due to complex sample preparation, lengthy diagnostic timelines, and specialized laboratory requirements. These methods may struggle with identifying asymptomatic or latent infections and differentiating between viable and non-viable pathogens. Additionally, sample security is a concern, with the risk of contamination, degradation, or loss during transportation, storage, or processing compromising result integrity. These challenges impede widespread adoption across various settings, increasing operational costs and diminishing profitability.



GM crops have significantly transformed agriculture, contributing to increased productivity, economic prosperity, and food security. While these crops offer improved disease resistance, their widespread adoption poses a challenge for plant disease detection. The adoption of Bt corn has expanded due to resistance against corn rootworm and earworm, extending beyond its initial focus on the European corn borer pre-2003. Similarly, the adoption of Bt cotton is influenced by the severity of occurrences of tobacco budworm, bollworm, and pink bollworm. This trend is evident in the provided table for the U.S., a leading adopter of agricultural technology globally.

Market Opportunities: Innovations in Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Point-of-care diagnostics (POCD) are transforming disease detection by providing rapid, accurate, and cost-effective testing near the patient or infection site, eliminating the need for specialized laboratories. The growth of the pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring market is anticipated to be driven by the adoption of innovative digital techniques. POCD tools and kits are becoming essential for timely disease analysis, offering immediate solutions, facilitating effective surveillance, and minimizing production losses in agriculture.



Integrated devices, such as smartphones, wearables, and IoT, are enabling real-time data collection and analysis related to plant health. These devices cover parameters such as soil conditions, temperature, humidity, nutrient levels, pest presence, and disease symptoms. They also facilitate remote sensing and diagnosis of plant diseases using cutting-edge technologies such as AI, machine learning, computer vision, and spectral imaging. This technological advancement is revolutionizing agricultural practices by allowing for more precise and efficient management of crop health.



The widespread use of advanced assay technologies, including in-field diagnostics, plays a pivotal role in the early detection of plant pathogens. This early detection significantly reduces agricultural losses, benefiting both farmers and the industry.

Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis

The featured companies have been meticulously chosen, drawing insights from primary experts and thorough evaluations of company coverage, product offerings, and market presence.



Among the prominent players in the global pathogen or plant disease detection and monitoring market, private ventures and innovative startups dominate, commanding approximately 85% of the market share in 2022. The remaining 15% is held by public enterprises.

Some prominent names established in this market are:



Company Type 1: Public Companies

Abingdon Health

Planet Labs PBC

Company Type 2: Private Companies

Agdia, Inc.

BIOREBA AG

Creative Diagnostics

Drone Ag

Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas S.L.

Dronegy

Ceres Imaging

Agricolus

FIXAR-AERO, LLC

GeoPard Agriculture

Industry Outlook

Market Definition

Ongoing Trends Leveraging Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for Precision Disease Detection

Ecosystem/Ongoing Programs Consortiums, Associations, and Regulatory Bodies Government Programs



Business Dynamics

Business Drivers Rising Threat of Fungicide Resistance Crops Frequent Outbreaks of Emerging Plant Diseases

Business Challenges Lack of Accuracy and Sample Security Rapid Adoption of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) or Gene Adopted Crops

Market Strategies and Developments Business Strategies Product Development and Innovations Market Development Corporate Strategies Mergers and Acquisitions Partnerships, Collaborations, and Joint Ventures Snapshot of Corporate Strategies Adopted by the Key Players in the Market

Business Opportunities Innovations in Point-of-Care Diagnostics Rapid Adoption of Integrated Solutions



Case Studies

Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas S.L. - Agribio cooperative Case Study

Ceres Imaging - Cardella Winery Case Study

Start-up Landscape

Funding Analysis Total Investment Leading Investment by Start-Up Companies



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/frz75s

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

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For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Power Cable Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Country and Region - Analysis and Forecast, 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The power cable market was valued at $32.20 billion in 2022, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.93% and reach $95.07 billion. A key factor fueling the power cable market is the increasing demand for high-performance data transmission and communication networks. This transformation is driven by a combination of technological advancements, continuous expansion of internet connectivity, the rollout of 5G networks, upcoming 6G technology, and growing needs for data centers.



Another crucial driver is the rise in demand for sustainable power cable products. Concerns about environmental impact and the health hazards posed by traditional cable materials have led to a growing demand for eco-friendly alternatives. Companies are responding with innovative products, such as high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology wires made of recyclable materials. Initiatives such as Prysmian Group's ECO CABLE label and Philatron's flexible electric vehicle charging cable line reflect the industry's commitment to sustainability.



The advent of Industrial Revolution 4.0 is transforming the power cable landscape, driven by smart manufacturing and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This shift necessitates cables capable of high-speed data transmission, supporting advanced manufacturing processes, IoT connectivity, energy efficiency, and cybersecurity. Simultaneously, the power cable market experiences a boost from the rising sales of electric vehicles, necessitating specialized cables for power transmission, charging infrastructure, and battery connections. Additionally, the increasing demand for renewable energy sources prompts investments and innovations in cables designed for harsh environmental conditions, further shaping the evolving landscape of the power cable industry.



However, the industry faces several challenges. Fluctuations in raw material prices, particularly copper and aluminum, impact manufacturing costs and profit margins. Government bans on materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a commonly used sheathing material, due to environmental concerns pose challenges for manufacturers in terms of transitioning to more sustainable alternatives. The limited availability of sustainable materials and standardization challenges hinder the industry's efforts to adopt environment-friendly practices.



The evolution of the power cable market is driven by continuous technological advancements aimed at improving cable performance. Innovations include superior shielding techniques, advanced dielectric materials, and connectors designed to minimize signal attenuation. Despite facing competition from alternative technologies such as fiber optics, power cables maintain their robust presence. While fiber optics excel in applications requiring high bandwidth and low signal loss over extended distances, power cables remain thriving, providing a cost-effective and reliable solution, especially in last-mile connectivity for residential and small business applications.



The demand for power cables is intensifying due to environmental concerns, driving a shift toward sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. The rise of Industrial Revolution 4.0 emphasizes the need for high-speed data transmission, influencing advanced cable development. Additionally, the surge in electric vehicle sales and the growing demand for renewable energy sources further propel the expanding power cable product consumption.



Market Dynamics:

Demand drivers

Increase of Investments in the Telecommunication Industry

Increase in Demand for Sustainable Power Cable Products

Rise of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Increase in Residential and Commercial Market

Increase in Sales of Electric Vehicles

Rise in the Demand for Energy Produced from Renewable Sources

Key challenges:

Fluctuations in Raw Material Prices

Ban by the Government on Materials Used in Wire and Cable Production

Limited Availability of Sustainable Materials and its Related Standardization Challenges

Challenges Faced by Power Cable Manufacturers Due to Plastic Disposal

Key Market Players Analysis

Belden

Encore Wire

Fujikura

Furukawa Electric

KEI Industries

LEONI

LS Cable & System

Prysmian

Southwire Company

Lapp Group

Sumitomo Electric Industries

HELUKABEL

NKT

R R Kabel

HUBER+SUHNER

Other related companies in the power cable market are:

TF Kable Group

Cable Corporation of India

Universal Cable (M) Berhad

Polycab India

Walsin Lihwa

CMI

Key Topics Covered:



Executive Summary



Scope of the Study



1 Markets

1.1 Industry Outlook

1.1.1 Trends: Current and Future

1.1.1.1 Increase in Use of Renewable Energy

1.1.1.2 Expansion of Smart Grids, Power Transmission, and Distribution Network

1.1.1.3 Increase in Emphasis on Safety and Sustainability

1.1.1.4 Rise in Government Initiatives for Urbanization and Expanding Infrastructure

1.1.2 Supply Chain Analysis

1.2 Ecosystem/Ongoing Programs

1.2.4 Sustainable Initiatives of Key Players

1.3 Business Dynamics

1.3.1 Business Drivers

1.3.1.1 Increase of Investments in the Telecommunications Industry

1.3.1.2 Increase in Demand for Sustainable Power Cable Products

1.3.1.3 Rise of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Increase in Residential and Commercial Market

1.3.1.4 Increase in Sales of Electric Vehicles

1.3.1.5 Rise in the Demand for Energy Produced from Renewable Sources

1.3.2 Business Challenges

1.3.2.1 Fluctuations in Raw Material Prices

1.3.2.2 Ban by the Government on Materials Used in Wire and Cable Production

1.3.2.3 Limited Availability of Sustainable Materials and its Related Standardization Challenges

1.3.2.4 Challenges Faced by Power Cable Manufacturers Due to Plastic Disposal

1.3.3 Business Opportunities

1.3.3.1 Increasing Investments in the Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Sector

1.3.3.2 Increasing Demand for Deployment of Sustainable Technologies for Power Generation

1.3.3.3 Expansion of Submarine Power Transmission Projects



2 Region

2.1 North America

2.2 Europe

2.3 Asia-Pacific and Japan

2.4 Middle East and Africa

2.5 Rest-of-the-World



3 Markets - Competitive Benchmarking & Company Profiles

Belden

Encore Wire

Fujikura

Furukawa Electric

KEI Industries

LEONI

LS Cable & System

Prysmian

Southwire Company

Lapp Group

Sumitomo Electric Industries

HELUKABEL

NKT

R R Kabel

HUBER+SUHNER

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/w37pfr

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

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SOURCE Research and Markets
BERLIN, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- QN Europe, an emerging leader in the European direct selling industry specializing in health, wellness, and lifestyle products, is delighted to announce its new membership in the Association pour la Vente Directe du Luxembourg (AVDL), Luxembourg's prestigious Direct Selling Association.

This significant step reflects QN Europe's strong commitment to ethical business practices and consumer protection in the direct selling industry, aligning seamlessly with AVDL's mission to maintain high standards of quality and integrity in direct sales.

QN Europe Joins Luxembourg's Premier Direct Selling Association

Mr. Kirikos Lazarou, Managing Director of QN Europe, emphasizes this alignment stating: "Joining AVDL is a clear indication of our dedication to excellence and ethical operations in Luxembourg and across Europe. We look forward to working alongside AVDL and its members to enhance the direct selling industry's growth and reputation in Luxembourg."

AVDL is instrumental in representing and advocating for the direct selling sector in Luxembourg, championing ethical and transparent business practices. QN Europe's membership in the Association signifies its integration into a community committed to consumer protection, ethical business operations, and fostering entrepreneurship.

Mr. Lazarou further adds, "As part of AVDL, QN Europe is eager to participate in initiatives and programs that contribute to the evolution of Luxembourg's direct selling landscape. This includes joint efforts with AVDL in areas like consumer education, regulatory adherence, and industry best practices. We are dedicated to sharing our insights and expertise with our peers to ensure the highest standards of ethics, professionalism, and protection for our distributors and customers."

QN Europe is also a proud member of the Asociacion de Empresas de Venta Directa (AVD), the Spanish Direct Selling Association, and the Federation De La Vente Directe (FVD), the French Direct Selling Association, since 2021.

About QN Europe

QN Europe is a dynamic wellness and lifestyle company that enriches the lives of its customers worldwide through unique products and an attractive business opportunity. Founded on the principles of innovation, reliability, and responsibility, QN Europe's extensive range of wellness products and lifestyle services are designed to promote a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.

About the Association pour la Vente Directe du Luxembourg (AVDL)

The AVDL is Luxembourg's leading direct selling association, representing and advocating for the interests of companies and individuals involved in direct sales. The Association is committed to promoting ethical business practices, consumer protection, and the growth of the direct selling industry in Luxembourg.

For more information on AVDL, visit https://www.avedi.lu

Media contact: [email protected]

Website: https://qneurope.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2314784/QNEmpower.jpg
Verticalized Approach Supported by World Class Technology to Drive Underwriting Performance

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rainbow, a digitally-enabled managing general underwriter building tailored small business insurance products, has announced raising $12 million in seed funding with participation from Caffeinated Capital, Altai Ventures, Zigg Capital, 8VC, Buckley Ventures, Habitat Partners, and Arch Capital Group Ltd.

Led by an experienced team of repeat entrepreneurs, the company brings a fresh perspective to small business insurance by launching programs in specific verticals where Rainbow's approach to data and technology delivers an underwriting advantage. The company's flagship program, an admitted business owner's policy (BOP) product specifically tailored to the restaurant industry, is currently live in 8 states and expected to be available in over 25 states in 2024. Exclusively distributed through independent insurance agents and digital partners, Rainbow's restaurant program offers producers a specialized appetite at a time when many name-brand carriers are exiting the restaurant class of business.

"Coming out of the pandemic, we saw a gap in the process of other underwriting companies and carriers focused on small commercial, and this was super clear with restaurants and their ever-evolving nature," said Rainbow's CEO and co-founder Bobby Touran. "Restaurants are a massive category where every operator requires insurance, and it has proven to be a challenging class for many capacity providers. We felt that building deep domain expertise in the verticals we focus on would allow us to use technology to tailor our underwriting and prioritize loss ratio, all while maintaining the critically important customer-centric approach to small business."

Rainbow's engineering team has developed a proprietary and scalable platform for underwriting and transacting every submitted risk. The company's interwoven approach to utilizing data and technology in its underwriting creates differentiated value for both agents and insureds  rewarding policyholders that demonstrate prudent operations, and streamlining placement of accounts for agents, all while ensuring that the company is growing its book with a focus on loss performance.

"We are deeply invested in Rainbow and its world-class founding team, which has accomplished so much in such a short time since inception and despite market headwinds," said Ray Tonsing, Managing Partner of Caffeinated Capital. "We are extremely encouraged by the early traction of their flagship program, and their exceptional platform capabilities have them poised to scale rapidly".

The company's vision extends beyond the foodservice class, with plans to launch specialized programs in additional business verticals that align with Rainbow's underwriting approach and vision.

"We have always observed that customer centricity and vertical depth allows MGAs and carriers to generate outsized underwriting returns, all while being a valuable partner to the end insured. It's one of the ways to create a clear win-win scenario in the insurance industry. We believe that Rainbow is creating differentiated infrastructure to enable this type of approach to work with technology and data." said Oleg Ilichev, Managing Partner of Altai Ventures, a leading insurtech and fintech specialist venture capital firm.

Agents are encouraged to visit userainbow.com/restaurant-insurance-agents or email [email protected] to learn more about Rainbow's insurance products and appetite, and to apply to become an appointed producer. Rainbow is available today in the states of Texas, Michigan, Arizona, Indiana, Utah, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee with plans to be live in 18 additional states in early 2024.

About Rainbow

Founded in 2022, Rainbow is a specialist managing general underwriter building tailored small business insurance programs, starting with restaurants. Through developing insurance products that reward small business owners for putting safety first, and evolve with their business' ups and downs, Rainbow is pioneering the insurance policy that provides peace of mind while also working to help prevent claims. Rainbow offers its agent and broker partners a seamless, instant quote-to-bind experience, and digital partners are able to integrate with Rainbow's powerful yet easy to use API to offer instant quoting to their customers. For more information on Rainbow, please visit www.userainbow.com .

Social Media



Blog: https://www.userainbow.com/blog

Linkedin: https:// linkedin.com/company/userainbow

For media inquiries, please contact:

Julia Wilkinson

[email protected]

SOURCE Rainbow MGA Insurance Agency, Inc.
Cancer prevalence, PN needs, and PICC approvals fuel market, while awareness campaigns and tunneled lines boost adoption. However, DVT and infection risks pose challenges. Explore full report for insights & opportunities.

NEWARK, Del., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Market value is predicted to grow from US$ 1,037.0 million in 2023 to US$ 1,289.9 million in 2034. Overall demand for PICCs will likely increase at 2.2% CAGR throughout the assessment period.

Request Exclusive Sample Report: Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Market Strategic Insights, https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-12726

Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are in greater demand due to the rising prevalence of cancer. This is because chemotherapy medications are injected directly into the veins using PICCs, preventing vein discomfort.

The need for peripherally inserted central catheters is also expected to rise in response to the growing need for parental nourishment in people with illnesses or ailments affecting food intake and nutritional digestion. Further, the market is anticipated to expand globally due to the continuous approval of PICC products.

Programs that raise awareness of cancer aim to reduce the stigma and fear related to cancer treatment. This could indirectly encourage the use of PICC lines and other medical interventions in general, increasing their acceptance of longer-term intravenous therapies.

Increasing cancer awareness campaigns and the development of tunneled PICC products have facilitated market growth and are anticipated to drive its expansion in the future. However, the peripherally inserted central catheter industry is expected to face challenges due to several variables, including a rise in deep vein thrombosis and a high risk of bloodstream infections.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

The global PICC market is projected to total US$ 1,289.9 million in 2034.

in 2034. By product, power injected PICC segment is expected to display a CAGR of 2.2% over the forecast period.

over the forecast period. By lumen, double lumen segment is expected to show a CAGR growth of 3.0% over the forecast period.

over the forecast period. By application, the long-term IV infusion segment is projected to surge at a CAGR of 0.8% by 2034.

by 2034. North America is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 1.2% through 2034.

is anticipated to witness a CAGR of through 2034. The United States market value is set to total US$ 545.82 million by the end of 2034.

"Rising focus on combating hospital-acquired infections and growing geriatric worldwide are expected to boost the peripherally inserted central catheter market over the forecast period,"- says Sabyasachi Ghosh (Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights, Inc.).

Scope of the Report

Attribute Details Estimated Market Size (2024) US$ 1,037.0 million Projected Market Size (2034) US$ 1,289.9 million Expected Growth Rate (2024 to 2034) 2.2% CAGR Forecast Period 2024 to 2034 Historical Data Available for 2019 to 2023 Market Analysis US$ Million for Value Key Countries Covered  United States  Canada  Mexico  Brazil  Chile  Rest of Latin America  China  Japan  South Korea  India  ASEAN Countries  Australia & New Zealand  Rest of South Asia and Pacific  Germany  Italy  France  United Kingdom  Spain  BENELUX  Nordic Countries  Rest of Western Europe  Russia  Hungary  Poland  Rest of Eastern Europe  Saudi Arabia  Turkiye  South Africa  Other African Union  Rest of Middle East & Africa Key Segments Covered  By Product: o Conventional PICC o Power Injected PICC o Neonatal PICC  By Lumen: o Single Lumen o Double Lumen o Multiple Lumen  By Application: o Chemotherapy o Long-term IV Infusion o Parenteral Nutrition o Blood Transfusion o Difficult Intravenous Access o Others  By End User: o Hospitals o Cancer Research Institutes o Long Term Care Centers o Independent Infusion Centers o Ambulatory Surgical Center o Home Care Settings  By Region: o North America o Latin America o East Asia o South Asia & Pacific o Western Europe o Eastern Europe o Middle East & Africa Report Coverage Market Forecast, Competition Intelligence, DROT Analysis, Market Dynamics and Challenges, Strategic Growth Initiatives

Leading Companies in Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters Industry and Their Winning Strategies

Key PICC manufacturers are concentrating on introducing novel solutions with enhanced features, including antimicrobial coatings. They also employ strategies like facility expansions, mergers, agreements, collaborations, and acquisitions to boost their revenue and expand their footprint.

Leading Companies in Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters Industry:

Vygon (UK) Ltd

Becton, Dickinson and Company

Cardinal Health, Inc.

ICU Medical, Inc.

Kimal Plc

Polymedicure

Teleflex Incorporated

AngioDynamics

B. Braun Medical Ltd

Haolang Technology (Foshan) Limited Co., Ltd.

Medical Components, Inc

Argon Medical

Access Vascular, Inc.

Utah Medical Products, Inc.

Biowy Corporation

Medi-Tech Devices

Footprint Medical Incorporated

PFM Medical, Inc.

HuskMedical

NeoMedical

Cook Medical

Purchase this report now to get key companies with their Revenue Forecast, Volume Forecast, Company Ranking, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, Trends, and Pricing Analysis.

Recent developments:

In June 2023 , Cardinal Health announced that it would build a new distribution center in Greenville, South Carolina . The new distribution hub will give medical supply providers to Americans with critical and chronic health conditions.

Cardinal Health announced that it would build a new distribution center in . The new distribution hub will give medical supply providers to Americans with critical and chronic health conditions. In May 2023 , Teleflex Incorporated launched two new devices, Arrow VPS Rhythm DLX Device and NaviCurve Stylet, designed explicitly for PICC insertion procedures.

Want More Insights?

Future Market Insights (FMI) brings a comprehensive research report on forecasted revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2019 to 2034. The global peripherally inserted central catheter market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present a complete market intelligence approach to the reader.

The study provides compelling insights into peripherally inserted central catheter industry based on product (conventional PICC, power injected PICC, neonatal PICC), lumen (single lumen, double lumen, multiple lumen), application (chemotherapy, long-term IV infusion, parenteral nutrition, blood transfusion, difficult intravenous access, others), end user (hospitals, cancer research institutes, long term care centers, independent infusion centers, ambulatory surgical center, home care settings), and regions.

About Healthcare Division at Future Market Insights

Future Market Insights facilitates corporates, government, investors, and associated audiences in the healthcare sector to identify and accentuate vital aspects applicable to product strategy, regulatory landscape, technology evolution, and other crucial issues to achieve sustainable success. Our unique approach to gathering market intelligence equips you in devising innovation-driven trajectories for your business. Know more about our sector coverage here.

About the Author:

Sabyasachi Ghosh (Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights, Inc.) holds over 12 years of experience in the Healthcare, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceutical industries. His curious and analytical nature helped him shape his career as a researcher.

Identifying key challenges faced by clients and devising robust, hypothesis-based solutions to empower them with strategic decision-making capabilities come naturally to him. His primary expertise lies in areas such as Market Entry and Expansion Strategy, Feasibility Studies, Competitive Intelligence, and Strategic Transformation.

Holding a degree in Microbiology, Sabyasachi has authored numerous publications and has been cited in journals, including The Journal of mHealth, ITN Online, and Spinal Surgery News.

Explore FMI's Extensive Coverage in the Healthcare & Medical Domain:

About Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai and has delivery centers in the United Kingdom, the United States, and India. FMI's latest market research reports and industry analysis helps businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition.

Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

Contact Us

Nandini Singh Sawlani

Future Market Insights Inc.

Christiana Corporate, 200 Continental Drive,

Suite 401, Newark, Delaware - 19713, USA

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For Sales Enquiries: [email protected]

Website: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com

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SOURCE Future Market Insights
DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Wind Turbine Generator Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2018-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Wind Turbine Generator Market is experiencing a significant surge, with an anticipated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.19% from 2018 to 2028, as noted in a new research publication.

The industry has seen a substantial valuation of USD 22.08 billion in 2022 and is expected to maintain this robust growth trajectory through the forecast period.

Swift Growth in Asia Pacific with Over 50% Market Share

The Asia Pacific region, led by growth in China and India, is witnessing swift expansion in the Wind Turbine Generator Market. This surge can be attributed to the regions' accelerated economic development, increasing energy demand, and favorable governmental policies supporting renewable energy initiatives.

Renewable Energy Mandates Propel Market Growth



The global market is significantly fueled by a broad range of factors, including stringent renewable energy mandates and climate goals set by governments worldwide. Countries are heavily investing in renewable energy portfolio standards and incentives such as feed-in tariffs and tax credits to encourage wind power development and facilitate the market's rapid expansion.

Technological Advancements and Efficiency Lead Market Drivers

Falling Production Costs Enhance Market Appeal

Energy Security Concerns Increase Wind Energy Investments

Integration Challenges and Environmental Considerations Emerge



Despite the market's substantial growth, challenges such as intermittency and grid integration present obstacles alongside environmental and aesthetic concerns about wind farms. Addressing these issues is vital to sustaining the Wind Turbine Generator Market growth and leveraging the wind sector's full potential.

Geared Drive Systems Maintain Dominance in Market

Among the different segments within the market, Geared Drive systems hold a prominent position and are projected to undergo rapid growth. Their affordability, established supply chain, and ease of maintenance contribute significantly to their continued market dominance.

Competitive Landscape Fosters Innovation



The market's competitive landscape is characterized by continuous innovation and strategic endeavors by leading industry players. These companies are geared toward addressing the increasing demand for renewable energy sources and are key contributors to the market's expansion.

This research offers in-depth segmental insights into the Wind Turbine Generator Market, providing valuable data on the following:

Generator Types: Direct Current Generator, Alternating Current Asynchronous Generator, and Switched Reluctance Generator

Drive Types: Direct Drive and Geared Drive

Operational Speeds: Fixed and Variable - Geographical Segments: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , South America , and Middle East & Africa

The intense focus on sustainability and green energy solutions continues to catalyze growth within the Wind Turbine Generator Market, as the world increasingly shifts towards environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources.

Report Scope:



In this report, the Global Wind Turbine Generator Market has been segmented into the following categories:



Wind Turbine Generator Market, By Generator Type:

Direct Current Generator

Alternating Current Asynchronous Generator

Switched Reluctance Generator

Wind Turbine Generator Market, By Drive:

Direct Drive

Geared Drive

Wind Turbine Generator Market, By Speed:

Fixed

Variable

Companies Profiled

Vestas Wind Systems

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

GE Renewable Energy

Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology

Envision Energy Corporation

Ming Yang Smart Energy Group

Suzlon Energy

Nordex SE

Senvion

Enercon

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/swixnd

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

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SOURCE Research and Markets
NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) between August 4, 2023 and November 20, 2023, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important January 26, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Fisker securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Fisker class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=20654 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 26, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Fisker had a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting; (2) Fisker had incorrectly accounted for certain costs; (3) as a result Fisker was likely to delay filing its quarterly report; (4) Fisker's infrastructure was limiting its ability to deliver its production; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about Fisker's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Fisker class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=20654 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
Sensor demonstrates critical air base air defense capability

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, demonstrated the operational performance and readiness of the GhostEye MR advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) during an extended exercise at White Sands Missile Range.

The GhostEye MR, pictured here during an extended exercise at White Sands Missile Range, is an advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS).

GhostEye MR expands NASAMS' combat-proven capabilities against enemy aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, and cruise missile threats. The radar was designed and developed by Raytheon, primarily through internal research and development investments. During the recent exercise, GhostEye MR was successfully integrated with NASAMS' Air Defense Console and the Battlespace Command and Control Center (BC3), a command-and-control element used by the U.S. Air Force.

"This experiment showed that GhostEye MR is a viable sensor option for integrated air and missile defense," said Jim Simonds, U.S. Air Force Air Base Air Defense Program Manager at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. "The radar clearly demonstrated its ability to be rapidly deployed and detect and track live targets precisely at longer ranges, providing increased standoff and decision-making time."

In a configuration designed as an air base air defense solution for the U.S. Air Force, all three system components communicated effectively, sharing information and relevant data during a live threat scenario. GhostEye MR provided a comprehensive air picture for the command-and-control system to determine whether a target was a threat and what response was required. Additionally, the radar supported simulated engagements and, with NASAMS, successfully defeated the targets.

"The team's success demonstrates that GhostEye MR can meet the needs of the U.S. Air Force," said Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. "Air bases around the world face a growing array of sophisticated airborne threats, and this exercise marked a significant step toward fielding an integrated capability for air base air defense."

This demonstration also builds on last year's successful air base air defense experiment in Andya, Norway, that showcased NASAMS' ability to engage and intercept various aerial threats using multiple Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Fire Distribution Center.

In August of last year, Raytheon was awarded its first government contracts to advance development and assessment of GhostEye MR. A member of Raytheon's GhostEye family of sensors, GhostEye MR provides increased range and altitude coverage to expand the defended-area capabilities of NASAMS. The radar leverages commonality with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS  currently advancing through development for the U.S. Army.

About Raytheon

Raytheon, an RTX business, is a leading provider of defense solutions to help the U.S. government, our allies and partners defend their national sovereignty and ensure their security. For more than 100 years, Raytheon has developed new technologies and enhanced existing capabilities in integrated air and missile defense, smart weapons, missiles, advanced sensors and radars, offensive and defensive cybersecurity tools, interceptors, space-based systems, hypersonics and missile defense across land, air, sea and space.

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 [email protected].

SOURCE RTX
INCHEON, South Korea, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Samsung Biologics (KRX: 207940.KS), a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today presented its 2024 business plans and strategy at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference held in San Francisco, California.

During the main track presentation, John Rim, CEO and President of Samsung Biologics, announced that the company will continue to add fresh capacity and further diversify its portfolio in the new year to deliver on its commitment to produce high-quality biomedicines and ensure client satisfaction despite a challenging environment.

"This year, we expect to face fiercer competition and challenges as we prepare for the next decade of growth," said Rim. "We will continue to make bold investments in capacity and geographic expansion to address the growing market demand, while securing core capabilities in new modalities to better serve and meet the evolving needs of our clients."

Samsung Biologics broke ground on its second Bio Campus last year and has been accelerating the construction of Plant 5, which will bring up the company's total biomanufacturing capacity to 784,000 liters upon its completion in April 2025. By 2032, Bio Campus II will house four plants, each with a capacity of 180,000 liters, and combined with Bio Campus I, will enable Samsung Biologics to provide over 1.3 million liters' capacity to clients worldwide.

The company is also building an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) facility at a separate site, with the aim to commence operations by 2024. The company has been investing in biotech companies with advanced technologies to secure relevant ADC capabilities.

Samsung Biologics also plans to expand its partnerships with both global pharma and emerging biotech companies by offering services incorporating its newly launched CDO platforms, S-CHOsient and S-Glyn, that ensure higher productivity and quality of a molecule for successful drug development.

In terms of geographical expansion, Samsung Biologics will continue to conduct inorganic expansion studies to identify new sites to work in closer proximity to its clients, in addition to its sales offices in New Jersey and Boston, in the U.S.

"Our utmost priority will be providing the highest level of customer-centric services by improving all areas of our business through innovation and technology to bring sustainable value to all of our clients and partners," added Rim. "We will continue to build on our strong foundation of trust and pursue our mission to deliver high-quality biomedicines to as many patients around the world."

About Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Biologics (KRX: 207940.KS) is a fully integrated, end-to-end CDMO service provider, offering seamless development and manufacturing solutions from cell line development to final aseptic fill/finish as well as laboratory testing support for the biopharmaceutical products we manufacture. Our state-of-the-art facilities are cGMP compliant with bioreactors ranging from small to large scales to serve varying client needs. To maximize our operational efficiency and expand our capabilities in response to growing biomanufacturing demand, Samsung Biologics recently completed Bio Campus I with Plant 4 offering a combined 604KL total capacity, and launched Bio Campus II with the construction of Plant 5, which will be operational in April 2025 adding 184KL biomanufacturing capacity. Additionally, Samsung Biologics America enables the company to work in closer proximity to clients based in the U.S. and Europe. We continue to upgrade our capabilities to accommodate our clients by investing in technologies such as an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) facility, a dedicated mRNA manufacturing facility, and additional aseptic filling capacity. As a sustainable CDMO partner of choice, we are committed to on-time, in-full delivery of the products we manufacture with our flexible manufacturing solutions, operational excellence, and proven expertise.

Samsung Biologics Media Contact

Claire Kim, Head of Marketing Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Samsung Biologics
DALLAS and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Solutions by Text (SBT), the enterprise messaging and payments platform for consumer finance businesses, today announced its partnership with Prodigal, the pioneer of AI-powered consumer finance intelligence.

At a time when businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of leveraging data for strategic decision-making, this collaboration makes Prodigal's unique ability to deliver real-time information from customer conversations available to consumer finance teams that use SBT for full-funnel text messaging.

As experts in the consumer finance space, with customers spanning banks and credit unions, lenders and loan servicers, collections and fintech, Prodigal and SBT equip finance businesses with intelligence to boost revenue, reduce losses, and improve the customer and borrower experience.

Using Prodigal's tools to analyze consumer communications enables SBT customers to hone their outreach strategy, including identifying the best time, day, frequency, channel, and even messaging to increase customer engagement. By integrating Prodigal's advanced analytics solutions, Solutions by Text aims to empower its customers with actionable intelligence derived from data-driven decision-making.

Prodigal's proprietary AI Intent Engine is trained on more than 300 million consumer finance conversations, delivering expertise so businesses can improve the KPIs that drive revenue, including open, click, and payment rates.

SBT empowers consumer finance companies to engage, interact and transact with their consumers in real time. Serving 1,000+ customers, SBT is a leading enterprise software platform providing compliance-first conversational messaging solutions with a focus on loan repayment, reducing operational costs, and mitigating compliance risks SBT has reimagined consumer engagement over text to create a seamless and optimized experience for companies and their consumers.

"Partnering with Prodigal and offering their artificial business intelligence to our customers will drive powerful results for the businesses on our platform," said David Baxter, CEO at SBT. "This collaboration reflects our commitment to promoting partners with world-class capabilities to our customers, representing the most innovative and effective solutions when combined with our FinText platform."

Prodigal is equally enthusiastic about the collaboration. "Partnering with Solutions by Text aligns perfectly with our mission to empower businesses with actionable intelligence," said Shantanu Gangal, CEO at Prodigal. "The combination of Solutions by Text's communications expertise and Prodigal's advanced analytics will create a synergistic effect, offering clients a holistic solution to drive their business forward."

Together, SBT and Prodigal are poised to deliver a powerful and integrated solution that addresses the evolving needs of businesses in today's dynamic market.

Both companies will be present at the ARMTech conference in Nashville January 17-19, 2024, at booths 44 and 46.

For more information about Solutions by Text, visit solutionsbytext.com .

For more information about Prodigal, visit prodigaltech.com

Media Contact

Maggie Truax

Archie Group for Solutions by Text

+1.315.730.5101

maggie.truax@archiegroup.com

SOURCE Solutions by Text
The national nonprofit will field its largest team ever, actively engaging in peripheral events to advocate for the interests of US Hispanics in corporate roles.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) will return to the world stage with its message of The Power of Hispanic Inclusion through its participation in the 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) perimeter events in Davos, Switzerland. The global gathering takes place next week, January 15 - 19, 2024. The WEF convenes thousands of global leaders to address the many challenges facing our societies and regularly attracts Fortune 1000 CEOs, global thought leaders, and representatives from the highest levels of government.

The team from the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility will be in attendance at the 2024 World Economic Forum perimeter events. From top to bottom, left to right, President and CEO, Cid Wilson; Chief Research Officer, Dr. Lisette Garcia; EVP & COO, Sylvia Perez Cash; Vice President of Programs, Vanessa Bowling Ajavon; VP, Strategic Engagements, Yai Vargas; Director, Communications & Marketing, Andrea Orlando, and Director, Corporate Relations, Ileana Ruiz

HACR President and CEO, Cid Wilson, will attend some of the most exclusive gatherings as a member of three CEO councils: the Fortune CEO Initiative, the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, and the CNBC CEO Council. He will be joined by a team of six other senior members of the HACR team.

This will be Wilson's sixth visit to the gathering of global leaders held annually in the remote Swiss village nestled in the Alpine mountains. His first was an unsolicited visit in 2018. Since then, he has pioneered the strategy of engaging with corporate CEOs and executive leaders of U.S. companies at global gatherings that historically lack diversity and inclusion.

"It's never been more important to represent the point of view of the U.S. Hispanic population at a gathering that focuses on the global economy," said Wilson. "The U.S. Latino economy is the fifth largest and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Given our population size, growth, and overall youth, our contributions are essential, and we have the potential to help solve the most vexing challenges that lie ahead."

Despite comprising nearly one-fifth of the US population, only 5% of CEO direct reports identify as Hispanic, according to HACR's 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index report. Additionally, only 4.7% of all Fortune 500 corporate board seats are held by Latinos, and only 1.2% of board seats are held by Latinas, according to the 7th edition Missing Pieces report: A board diversity census of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups on Fortune 500 boards, a multiyear study organized by the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD), in collaboration with Deloitte. HACR will highlight these and many other cases for inclusion throughout the week during the convening.

"I'm proud that we're showing up as one of the largest contingents of any U.S.-based organization of color focused on ethnic and racial diversity in Corporate America," said Wilson. "Anyone who has been following the news lately knows that diversity in corporate spaces is under threat. We're presenting a counterpoint to this irrational trend. We think diversity, specifically Hispanic inclusion, is not only a just cause but an answer to economic challenges."

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization based in Switzerland and founded in 1971 by Swiss national, Klaus Schwab. The theme of this year's annual meeting is "Rebuilding Trust".

Follow HACR's activities on their social media channels by using #HACRinDavos.

About HACR

Founded in 1986, the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) is the nation's leading corporate advocacy organization, representing 14 national Hispanic organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Its mission is to advance the inclusion of Hispanics in Corporate America in the areas of Employment, Procurement, Philanthropy, and Governance. Through their corporate leadership advancement programs, best-practice conferences, research initiatives, and public engagements, HACR is illuminating The Power of Hispanic Inclusion throughout Corporate America.

HACR is one of four leadership organizations that make up the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD) which include Catalyst, The Executive Leadership Council, and Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP). Diversified Search serves as an advisory member. These groups share a goal of advancing the inclusion of women and people of color on corporate boards.

Media Contact:

Andrea Orlando

[email protected]

SOURCE Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR)
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection announces summer 2025 itineraries across its portfolio, including voyages for Ilma in Northern Europe, a first for the collection

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection unveiled its summer 2025 itineraries across its fleet, Evrima, Ilma, and Luminara, marking an exciting moment as the company opens bookings for the inaugural season of its third superyacht. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection debuted in October 2022 with the launch of Evrima, the first time a luxury hospitality brand expanded into the cruising category. With all three superyachts now open for reservations, the brand extension continues to build on its success signifying continued growth and offering more opportunities for luxury travelers to enjoy unforgettable getaways at sea.

Luminara

"A standard in luxury cruising was set in 2022 with the introduction of Evrima, the first of our Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection fleet, marking our expansion into the yachting category," said Tina Edmundson, President, Luxury, Marriott International. "In a short time, our world-class itineraries have attracted guests who are new to the category and interested in exploring new horizons and cultures with the assurance of The Ritz- Carlton brand. We are thrilled to have created experiences that redefine luxury cruising. Endless explorations await as we prepare to launch our second yacht, Ilma, in 2024, and our third, Luminara, in 2025."

"With Luminara, we are not just adding another superyacht to our fleet; we are expanding the horizons of ultra-luxury travel," stated Jim Murren, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. "This growth embodies our unwavering dedication to exploration, enrichment, and the pursuit of extraordinary experiences for our guests. Luminara is an invitation to embark on remarkable journeys and discover the world's most captivating destinations with unparalleled amenities and service."

The Inaugural Season of Luminara

Inspiring curiosities and celebrations, Luminara, derived from Latin origin and meaning "light," will measure 794 feet (242 meters) and accommodate up to 452 guests. In addition to 226 spacious suites, each boasting a private ocean-view terrace, a higher percentage of upper-suite categories, and superior guest amenities, the onboard experience will feature world-class dining, a wine vault, The Ritz-Carlton Spa, and an expanded marina providing direct access to the sea. Among its range of upper-suite categories will be a new expansive accommodation, The Residential Suite, promising a collection of offerings that caters to a variety of preferences.

Luminara will embody contemporary craftsmanship and refined interior finishes envisioned by AD Associates, a renowned London-based architectural and design firm, with creative direction by Chapi Chapo Design, an internationally acclaimed Toronto-based luxury design firm, and celebrated lighting designer DPA. The yacht's sleek and graceful exterior design, expertly envisioned by Helsinki-based design studio Aivan, draws inspiration from the elegant aesthetics of private yacht design. Inspired by light and luminescence, Luminara's design emphasizes elegance and sophistication. Its layout, featuring explorative passages and favoring circular silhouettes over geometric edges, creates a seamless design, forming a sense of limitless space in each area. A serene color palette of soft brown oak, Calcutta marble, leather accents, and touches of rich red, navy, and green will provide an elegant oasis at sea.

The 2025 Summer Season

The summer season spanning from April to October 2025 presents a curated selection of 53 itineraries, featuring new ports of call, standout shore excursions, and an inaugural experience  nine exclusive voyages aboard Ilma in Northern Europe. Ilma will navigate the North Sea and Baltic Sea, offering journeys to dynamic cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Reykjavik, alongside culturally rich stops in Belfast, Bergen, Antwerp, and more. Guests will also explore beloved yachting havens, including the Greek Isles, the Balearic Islands, the French Riviera, and the Italian Riviera.

Breathtaking ports of call bring novel adventures to travelers such as the historic maritime city of Toulon, the lively nightlife of Marbella, and the pristine beaches in Kos. Wine enthusiasts can discover the iconic vineyards of Bordeaux while history aficionados can venture through the historic castles of Edinburgh. With more time in port, the new voyages allow plenty of time for exploration.

Providing the opportunity to uncover all a destination has to offer, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection offers a curated collection of enriching onshore excursions. In Palma de Mallorca, guests are invited to book a private helicopter tour to a wine tasting nestled at the foot of Mallorca's mountain region. Guests in Livorno, Italy may sail the canals of the city in a boat exclusively for guests of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection before disembarking for a mixology class with a world class bartender. Panoramic views of Portofino Bay await voyagers at the elegant Hotel Splendido where guests will enjoy a lunch of traditional Italian recipes, paired with one of Italy's most precious ingredients: olive oil.

Highlights of 2025 Summer Itineraries Aboard Luminara:

July 31, 2025 | 7-Night Rome Round Trip

During an overnight in Livorno, go truffle hunting in Tuscany, climb the infamous Tower of Pisa, and discover the Renaissance icons of Florence. Then take in the scenic Ligurian coast by kayak from Portofino and the equally stunning Cote d'Azur via helicopter from Monte Carlo, continuing to the mountains of Corsica and the yacht-filled harbor of Porto Cervo.

August 7, 2025 | 7-Night Rome Round Trip

On the rooftop terrace of a 17th-century palace in Malta, the Michelin-starred restaurant De Mondion offers a delicious prelude to adventures in Italy. Contrast Sicily's ancient Greek theaters with the vast ruins of Pompeii near Sorrento and reflect on the ancient history you've witnessed while boating along the Amalfi Coast and exploring ethereal blue grottoes.

August 21, 2025 | 7-Night Barcelona Round Trip

Enjoy two days to explore the countless icons of Rome, such as the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, and toss a coin in Trevi Fountain to ensure your return. Then natural wonders take center stage as you kayak the Ligurian coastline and explore the scenic countryside around Collioure that inspired artists like Matisse and Picasso.

Highlights of 2025 Summer Itineraries Aboard Ilma:

June 29, 2025 | 9-Night Lisbon to Portsmouth

Wine connoisseurs and novices alike will appreciate the opportunity to sip port in Portugal, taste Rioja in Spain, and spend two days exploring the renowned vineyards of Bordeaux. Culinary delights are complemented by cultural marvels like Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum and the magnificent abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel perched on a tidal island near Saint-Malo.

July 24, 2025 | 7-Night Copenhagen to Stockholm

UNESCO protects many cultural treasures surrounding the Baltic Sea, including the 17th-century naval port of Karlskrona, the 18th-century fortress guarding Helsinki, and the medieval Old Town of Tallinn. While exploring five different countries along these fascinating shores, shop for a souvenir of Baltic amber in Gdansk, and try Swedish pancakes and smoked salmon in Mariehamn.

August 17, 2025 | 7-Night Reykjavik Round Trip

Setting off from the cosmopolitan capital of Reykjavik, circumnavigate Iceland to experience this wonderland from the waterfalls and thermal baths around Akureyri to the mountains and glaciers near Grundarfjorur. Explore remote villages where intrepid locals have made lives amidst the raw natural beauty and sail as far north as the Arctic Circle along the way.

Highlights of 2025 Summer Itineraries Aboard Evrima:

April 24, 2025 | 10-Night Lisbon to Barcelona

Bask in the Mediterranean's balmy spring as you sail from Lisbon to Barcelona. Compare two grand Moorish fortresses protected by UNESCO  the Alcazar royal palace of Seville and Granada's Alhambra castle near Malaga  and then explore the contrasting cultures and unrivaled beaches of the Balearic Islands.

June 5, 2025 | 7-Night Venice Round Trip

Adriatic culture, cuisine and history are the themes of this journey that begins and concludes along the iconic canals of Venice. Stroll the narrow medieval streets of the Old Towns in Kotor and Zadar, sip Croatian wine as the sun sets on Dubrovnik, and tour the 15th-century Venetian palace in Koper's historic center.

June 27, 2025 | 9-Night Athens Round Trip

Experience two of Turkey's most wondrous icons with an overnight stay in a nexus of civilization  the city of Istanbul  and a visit to the remarkably restored ruins of the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus. Along the way, go Greek island hopping through whitewashed villages dripping in bougainvillea from Skiathos to Mykonos.

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection brings the renowned service of The Ritz-Carlton to sea, offering a luxury yachting experience that navigates guests to the world's most sought-after destinations. Spanning three superyachts, the bespoke collection provides airy, inviting spaces, encouraging relaxation and exploration. With more daytime and overnight ports of call, guests enjoy increased flexibility for onshore experiences. For more information on Evrima, Ilma, Luminara, and the upcoming yachting seasons of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, please visit www.ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com.

ABOUT THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION

Designed to combine the luxury lifestyle of The Ritz-Carlton with the casual freedom of a yachting vacation, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection offers bespoke voyages in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Caribbean, and Central America. Calling on unique and distinguished destinations, voyages typically span five to ten nights with more overnight calls, an all-inclusive onboard journey, and curated excursions ashore.

Its inaugural yacht, Evrima, embarked on its maiden voyage in October 2022. Measuring 624 feet in length, Evrima features 149 airy suites across various categories, each with a private terrace, creating a relaxed, casually elegant ambiance for up to 298 guests. Continuing the fleet's expansion, two new superyachts boasting among the highest space ratios per guest at sea, Ilma and Luminara, are slated to set sail in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Spanning 790 feet, Ilma will offer 224 spacious, light-filled suites of varying categories, accommodating up to 448 guests. Slated to make its 2025 debut, Luminara will join Ilma and Evrima on voyages to secluded harbors and iconic cities. Reflective of The Ritz-Carlton on land, each yacht features personalized service, elevated dining experiences, and exclusive amenities.

Private charter options are also available, allowing guests to craft a truly tailored journey. For more information, visit ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com.

SOURCE Marriott International, Inc.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, January 10. Turkiye and Tajikistan have signed a Cooperation Program between their respective foreign ministries for 2024-2026, Trend reports.

As per Tajikistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the signing took place following bilateral meetings between Tajikistan's FM, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, and Turkiye's FM, Hakan Fidan, during Fidan's official visit to Tajikistan.

During the meetings, the sides exchanged views on cooperation in politics, economics, trade, investments, education, science, culture, healthcare, and tourism.

They also addressed matters related to ensuring security, combating terrorism, and strengthening the contractual and legal framework of cooperation.

Additionally, the ministers discussed the collaboration between the two countries within international and regional organizations.

According to the Turkiyes Statistical Institute, trade turnover between Tajikistan and Turkiye amounted to $450.145 million from January through November 2023, which is 0.67 percent less than the $453.191 million in the same period of 2022.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, January 10. President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and Turkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the development of cooperation between the countries in the fields of economy, trade, industry, and investments, Trend reports.

As per Tajikistans president's press service, the development of collaboration in these spheres was noted as one of the important directions in the relations between the two countries.

During the talks, Rahmon expressed satisfaction with the current progress in the countries' relations and assessed the further expansion of multifaceted and long-term bilateral cooperation as meeting the interests of both countries.

Both sides considered it necessary to further strengthen cooperation in all mutually beneficial areas, especially in the economic and social spheres, emphasizing support for intensifying this process.

The importance of the Regular Joint Intergovernmental Commission's activities, the organization of business forums, and exhibitions showcasing industrial goods from both countries were highlighted as excellent means to foster bilateral cooperation.

Throughout the meeting, opinions were exchanged on further developing and expanding connections in education, science, culture, and tourism.

They also discussed organization of cultural days in each other's territories as measure to strengthen cultural and humanitarian ties. Additionally, important regional and global issues, including the political situations in Afghanistan and Palestine, were also discussed during the meeting.
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Kanpur, Jan 10 : In a shocking incident, a head constable and about a dozen other men in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur allegedly thrashed a student, fired a bullet to scare him and then urinated into his mouth one by one, the police said.

The men abducted the Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) student named Ayush Dwivedi, 23, from the Civil Lines area where he had come to meet someone, drove him five km away to Cooperganj where they assaulted him.

A case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) was registered against the MCA student in October last year and the complainant was the head constable.

The accused, who took the MCA student to the railway tracks near Cooperganj after kidnapping him, even forced the 23-year-old to drink their urine as well as lick their spit from the slippers, the police added.

The bullet fired upon the MCA student passed close to his earlobe.

The police have arrested three persons, including a head constable identified as Dharmendra Yadav posted with the Local Intelligence Unit, said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Nilabja Choudhury.
United Nations, Jan 10 : Reiterating its zero tolerance for terrorism, India has said that the widespread deaths of civilians caught in the Hamas-Israel conflict is "clearly unacceptable" and called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve it.

"There can be no justification for terrorism and hostage-taking," India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

"India has a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism," she said.

"Our thoughts are with those who have been taken as hostage and we demand their immediate and unconditional release," she added.

Kamboj was speaking on Tuesday at a meeting of the UN General Assembly called under its resolution that requires permanent members, who use their vetoes in the Security Council to explain their action.

Unlike other delegates, she did not take the podium for her address and instead spoke from India's seat in the chamber away from the spotlight.

Straddling a fine diplomatic line in the Hamas-Israel conflict, she did not name either of them while speaking of its toll, but emphasised opposition to terrorism of which Hamas has been accused.

The conflict "has led to the large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and has resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisis," she said.

"This is clearly unacceptable, and we have strongly condemned the death of civilians."

"A peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue in diplomacy is the only way forward," she added, while reaffirming India's unwavering support for a two-state solution that envisages Palestine and Israel as independent nations side-by-side in peace.

Kamboj, who advocated for continued humanitarian assistance "for the affected population," said that India has so far provided 70 tonne of humanitarian aid, including 16.5 tonne of medicine and medical supplies to the people of Palestine and $5 million, half of it in December to the UN Relief and Works Agency that works among the Palestinians.

The meeting followed up the US' veto of an amendment proposed by Russia to a Security Council resolution on Gaza last month.

Although Russia's amendment last month calling for a "suspension of hostilities" was vetoed, the resolution that instead called for steps "to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities" passed with 13 votes in the 15-member Security Council while the US and Russia abstained.

The US in lockstep with Israel has opposed demands for a ceasefire or even a temporary truce.

Several countries opposed the veto privilege of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Kenya's delegate said, "The veto stands as one of the world's greatest anti-democratic symbols" and is a "frequent assertion of impunity in the face of international law".

He added that the African nations are for abolishing the veto or extending it in a reformed Security Council to all permanent members added to it.

Mexico's delegate advocated for an initiative taken by her country and France for permanent members to voluntarily limit the use of vetoes in situations of mass atrocities.

Speaking earlier on Tuesday, the representatives of Israel and Palestine have traded charges about the scale of atrocities committed, while the US defended its veto.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Jerusalem, Jan 10 : The exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah escalated on the Israel-Lebanon border, with Israel claiming the killing of the Lebanese militant group's two senior commanders.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari admitted that Israel was behind the assassination of Ali Hussein Barji, a Hezbollah commander, in Lebanon earlier on Tuesday, a day after it killed the senior commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, Wissam Hassan Tawil.

At a press briefing, Hagari said Barji, who was killed in an airstrike, had been identified as the southern Lebanon commander of Hezbollah's Aerial Unit, also the Hezbollah figure that led "dozens" of drone attacks against Israel, including an attack on an Israeli army base on Tuesday.

The IDF on Tuesday carried out several strikes on southern Lebanon, killing three Hezbollah members who, according to Hagari, were attempting to launch drones at Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, in northern Israel, air raid sirens wailed throughout the day and into the night as rockets and combat drones were launched by Hezbollah. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 211 people on the Lebanese side, including 154 Hezbollah members and 35 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it was "expanding" its assaults in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, where at least 40 Palestinian militants were killed over the past day.

"Soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade combat team are fighting in the heart of Khan Younis, eliminating terrorists in close-quarter battles and with sniper fire," the army said.

The troops "are locating numerous weapons, including arms, grenades, and ammunition," it added.

Despite international calls for the protection of civilians in Gaza, including by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was on a visit to the Middle East, Israel said it would intensify strikes in southern Gaza.

In his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken stressed "the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza," according to a statement released by his office.

In a separate meeting, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told Blinken that operations in the area of Khan Younis are expected to "intensify and continue until Hamas leadership is detected, and Israeli hostages return home safely".

Blinken's visit, his fourth trip to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October last year, comes amid increasing international concerns about the Gaza situation.

The death toll in the Palestinian enclave has risen to 23,210, and nearly two million people were displaced amid a severe humanitarian crisis, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the IDF confirmed on Tuesday that at least nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the Gaza operation on Monday, bringing the total number of casualties among troops to 519, with 2,465 more injured.
Gaza, Jan 10 : The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has urged protection for medical facilities and workers in the Gaza Strip, as they were facing a severe lack of security amid persistent Israeli attacks.

The ICRC emphasised on Tuesday in a statement that the whole medical system in Gaza has been affected by the Israeli attacks, with medical professionals even being killed and detained, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the statement, William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza, highlighted that the shortage of equipment and essential supplies due to the ongoing Israeli hostilities has led to the complete shutdown of most hospitals in the enclave.

He stressed the necessity of respecting healthcare facilities and workers, calling for protecting them under international humanitarian law, so as to provide life-saving treatment to those in need.

According to the Gaza-based government media office, 326 medical personnel and 45 civil defence members have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since October 7 last year.

As of January 3, only 13 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals have been partially functional, with nine in the south and four in the north, reported the World Health Organisation.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry said the occupancy rates reached 206 per cent in internal medicine departments of hospitals and 250 per cent in intensive care units.
Rae Bareli, Jan 10 : Police in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli have arrested four people for allegedly converting innocent women and children to Christianity by luring them with promises of "good food and English education".

Rae Bareli, Jan 10 (IANS) Police in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli have arrested four people for allegedly converting innocent women and children to Christianity by luring them with promises of "good food and English education".

Those arrested have been identified as Ram Prakash a.k.a. Daniel, Pradeep Kumar, Deshraj and Manoj Kumar.

Police said that one Pushpraj had informed UP 112 that Ram Prakash had organised a prayer on Monday evening to lure innocent women, children to embrace Christianity.

Kheeron SO, Devendra Singh said the meeting was held at the residence of Pradeep Kumar Kori.

"A team reached the residence of Kori to find that they were organizing a prayer and over a dozen villagers were being given religious sermons, along with booklets and pamphlets," the police said.

So far, 98 persons have been arrested in 12 months in different districts on similar charges.
Singapore, Jan 10 : A 50-year-old Indian-origin warrant officer with the Singapore Armed Forces has pleaded guilty to one charge of penetrating a minor below 16 in 2021.

Subramaniam Thaburan Rangasamy, who had helped the minor after she had a fall on stairs in a carpark, is likely to face two more charges during his sentencing on February 1, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair said the incident happened on December 6, 2021, when the victim was supposed to have an online meeting with her school counsellor in the morning.

The Secondary 3 student, who is now 17-years-old, was walking down from the fifth floor of the carpark when she fell and hit a door, and Subramaniam helped her to her feet.

She thanked him and after chatting for about an hour in one of the floors of the carpark, they became intimate.

Subramaniam tried to have sex with her, but failed, following which they parted ways and exchanged numbers, the news report said.

The court heard that they remained in contact via WhatsApp, but the messages were not of a sexual nature. Two days after the incident made a police report because she felt that Subramaniam had taken advantage of her.

The prosecutor noted that the accused was not at any time misled by the victim's age, and added that he did not force or coerce the victim to be intimate.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said they have suspended Subramaniam from all duties following his arrest.

"The SAF will initiate further actions upon the conclusion of court hearings, which may include discharging him from service," she added.

She said the SAF holds its servicemen to high standards of discipline and integrity, and that those who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

For penetrating a minor below 16, Subramaniam could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined or both.

--IANS

mi/ksk
London, Jan 10 : Dominic Calvert-Lewin has had his three-match suspension for serious foul play against Crystal Palace overturned after a successful appeal by Everton, the Premier League club said.

Calvert-Lewin was shown a straight red card in the FA Cup tie at Selhurst Park last Thursday for a challenge on Nathaniel Clyne following a VAR check, and was due to be suspended for three matches.

However, the Club appealed the red card on Friday and a statement from the FA on Tuesday confirmed the decision to overturn the ban.

A statement from the FA, as quoted by Everton website, read: Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be available for Evertonas next three games following a successful claim of wrongful dismissal.

"The striker was sent off for serious foul play in the Emirates FA Cup game against Crystal Palace on Thursday, 4 January 2024."

Following the successful appeal, the striker will not serve a suspension and is now available for the Toffees' Premier League matches against Aston Villa on January 14 and Fulham on January 30, along with the FA Cup third-round replay against Palace on January 17.
Meerut, Jan 10 : In a bizarre incident, officials of the Meerut Municipal Corporation (MMC) reached the office of the regional manager of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) on January 9 and sealed the building with around 40 employees inside the premises.

The building was sealed for "non-payment of Rs 29 crore property tax".

Additional Municipal Commissioner Mamta Malviya said, "District Magistrate of Meerut, Deepak Meena, asked the civic body to remove the seal and said he would pursue the matter. UPSRTC has an outstanding dues of Rs 29 crore for several years now. The annual rental value comprises house tax (12.5 per cent), water (8 per cent) and sewage (2.5 per cent)."

According to the UPSRTC employees, they were locked inside for nearly an hour.

"Municipal officials arrived, and without notice, locked the office with several employees, including assistant regional manager, inside. We had filed an appeal against the civic body's property tax assessment imposed on the building earlier. That matter is under process, but the MMC officials sealed the office on Tuesday," said the employees.

Refuting the UPSRTC employees' claims, Malviya said, "Notices and warnings were sent to them earlier. Apart from the bus depot office complex, MMC also sealed the state excise office for an outstanding amount of Rs 80 lakh."

The excise office was sealed for tax default for the second time.
Las Vegas, Jan 10 : Foldable smartphones, first launched by Samsung Electronics about five years ago, have undergone remarkable developments and innovations in both performance and technology to meet consumer demands for more functionality and convenience.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the latest clamshell-style foldable released last summer. Boasting a wider front cover display and a lighter, slimmer hinge, the Z Flip 5 makes it easier for users to fold flat compared to its predecessor Galaxy Z Flip 4.

At CES 2024, which kicked off a four-day run in Las Vegas this week, Samsung Display, the exclusive supplier of foldable screens to its brother Samsung Electronics, introduced groundbreaking concepts that push the boundaries of foldable smartphone design and provided a glimpse at where foldable smartphones are heading.

One of the standout innovations showcased at CES is the new Flex In&Out Flip concept, reports Yonhap news agency.

This foldable smartphone display boasts a 360-degree folding capability, allowing users to fold the device completely backward.

This unique feature enables users to utilise the phone's full screen even when closed, facilitating activities such as taking selfies with the main high-definition camera.

Another Flex Liple concept device features an extended dual-folding panel with one side shorter than the other when bent backwards. The larger side accommodates several icons in the phone's quick setting menu, media playback controls, and displays the battery level and time.

A staff member at Samsung Display's showroom at Encore hotel in Las Vegas described it as "a new foldable display with an edge panel."

While Samsung Display did not comment on plans to supply the new dual-folding display to Samsung Electronics, these innovative concepts showcased at CES 2024 offer a glimpse into the world's largest smartphone maker's vision to create a more versatile and useful lineup for future foldable smartphones.
Kite flyers from 16 countries to take part in Hyderabad Kite Festival. Image Source: IANS News

Hyderabad, Jan 10 : Kite flyers from various parts of India and 16 countries are expected to participate in the International Kite and Sweet festival to be held in Hyderabad from January 13.

The three-day event at Parade Grounds Secunderabad will see international kite flyers flying kites of various shapes and colours.

Participants from different parts of Telangana and various states will also bring to the event 400 types of home-made sweets. The event will also showcase the rich culture of Telangana.

Telanganaas tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said the festival would be organised to further enhance the brand image of Hyderabad.

He expects 15 lakh visitors to the festival. Stating that the entry to the festival will be free, he called for making the festival a huge success.

The minister held a meeting with top officials of the tourism department and delegates from various states and countries to discuss the arrangements for the festival.

Krishna Rao asked officials to make sure that the participants coming for the event from different states and countries do not face any problem during their stay.

He asked delegates to give their suggestions to organise the annual festival in a grander manner in future.

Terming Hyderabad a aMini Indiaa, the minister mentioned that the city is truly cosmopolitan with people from various states and regions and even from living here in harmony. He said Hyderabad is home to people of all religions.

Krishna Rao said the International Kite and Sweet Festival will be expanded to other towns and rural areas in the coming day. He vowed to restore the glory of Telangana culture, arts and traditions.

Shailaja Ramayier, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Youth Services, K. Nikhila, Director, Tourism and other officials were present.
Tel Aviv, Jan 10 : International non-profit, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that it received assurances from the a prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it will probe crimes and atrocities against journalists in Gaza amid the raging Israel-Hamas war.

In a statement on Tuesday, the RSF said that "the office of prosecutor Karim Khan has assured that crimes against journalists are included in its investigation".

It is to be noted that Khan is already investigating the atrocities that occurred after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

With the killing of independent videographer journalist working for Agence France Presse (AFP) Moustafa Thuraya and Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the total number of journalists killed in the past three months has now increased to at least 79, the Paris-based media rights group said.

Since the day of the Hamas assault, ""Khan had never spoken publicly about the fate of journalists. In a message sent to RSF on January 5. 2024, his office stated for the first time that crimes against journalists were included in its investigation", the RSF said in its statement.

In its statement, the ICC prosecutor's office assures that "crimes against journalists are being examined by the prosecutor's office, among other potential crimes, as part of the ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine, and RSF's objectives and actions must be supported and are of crucial importance in Gaza and elsewhere".

"Journalists are protected by international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute and must not under any circumstances be targeted in the exercise of their important mission."

Confirming the development, Christophe Deloire --Secretary General of RSF -- said that the "massacre" of journalists in Gaza "demands a determined response from the ICC".

"We have found to date that at least 18 of them were killed in the course of, or because of, their duties as journalists, but only a thorough investigation will establish the immense extent of the war crimes against media professionals.

"The announcement by the ICC prosecutor's office to RSF is good news, which we welcome. We hope that its investigation moves forward quickly and leads to concrete action: it is necessary and long overdue," Deloire was quoted as saying in the statement.

--IANS

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Srinagar: People walk past on a cold and foggy winter morning at Lal Chowk. Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar, Jan 10 : With no relief in sight, intense dry cold tightened its grip on Valley as dense fog adversely affected life in Jammu on Wednesday.

MeT department has forecast generally dry weather in J&K till January 26.

Minimum temperature was minus 5 degree Celsius in Srinagar and Gulmarg on Wednesday while it was minus 6.3 in Pahalgam.

In Ladakh region, Leh town recorded minus 15.2 and Kargil minus 13.9 as the minimum temperature.

Jammu city witnessed 4.8, Katra 5.7, Batote 2.2, Bhaderwah minus 0.2 and Banihal minus 1.4 as the nightas lowest temperature.

The 40-day long period of harsh winter cold known as the aChillai Kalana started on December 21 and will end on January 30.
Kochi, Jan 10 : NIA, which had come out with an offer of 10 lakh Rupees to anyone who gives information about Sawad, a key accused in the now infamous Kerala hand chopping case, on Wednesday took him into custody from Kannur.

Sawad was on the run for the past 13 years, from the day he committed the crime.

Meanwhile, as NIA officials are tight-lipped about how and when the arrest happened, Sawad will be produced before an NIA court here later in the day.

Sawad is a resident of Ernakulam district and was the one who chopped Professor T.J. Joseph's right hand in July 2010, with the help of others, all of them belonging to the now banned Popular Front of India (PFI) activists.

The incident took place when Joseph was returning home with his mother and sister from church.

The case was investigated by NIA and a special NIA court in 2015 had convicted 13 people owing allegiance to the PFI.

And last year as part of the supplementary charge sheet, the NIA court let off five and six were found accused.

Soon after Joseph's hand was chopped off, the attackers told him that he was being punished for the alleged sacrilegious undertones of one of the questions he had framed in an exam at the college where he was teaching.

Reacting to the arrest of Sawad, Joseph said: "As an individual who suffered this, I have nothing to say, but as a citizen, it's good that the law enforcing agencies have arrested the prime culprit."

"For the agencies, a liability of theirs has been wiped out, as he was on the run for long, but what about the conspirators behind this incident?" asked Joseph.
Chennai, Jan 10 : Tamil Nadu Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has cautioned people of the state to watch out for Dengue and Influenza cases for two more weeks.

Dr T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of the department, said that the Dengue and Influenza cases would rise for another two weeks due to the monsoon spilling over to January. However, he said that Dengue is almost under control but asked people to be cautious and added that there was nothing to panic about.

The Directorate of Public Health data revealed that the state reported 9,121 dengue cases and 10 deaths in 2023 and 461 dengue cases this year till Monday.

The data mentioned that around 10 influenza cases were being reported daily.

Dr. Rajani Menon, Preventive department head of a private medical college in Salem while speaking to IANS said that Typhoid and Viral fever cases were on the rise in many parts of Tamil Nadu. She said that there are dengue and diarrhea cases and added that respiratory and pneumonia cases are also on the rise.

Dr. Selvaraj Kumar of Trichy Medical College also said that there were increasing cases of dengue, influenza, viral fever and typhoid cases and called upon people to always drink boiled water and avoid eating raw or outside food.

He also said that water stagnation should not be allowed near home and office premises as this would lead to the breeding of mosquitoes.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : Echoes of Earth, India's greenest festival promoting sustainability and conservation through art, culture, and music, is set to take place in Goa starting February 2 to 4.

Goa represents a unique canvas for Echoes, offering an opportunity to integrate the festival with the biodiversity, diverse culture, and traditional art forms. In continuation with our theme 'Ensemble of the Wild, Echoes aims to raise awareness and celebrate the thriving ecosystems within the region, extending the conversation about Goa beyond its beaches and highlighting its rich wildlife through the mediums of music and art.

Roshan Netalkar, Founder & the Festival Director of Echoes of Earth, expressed his vision for the festival, stating,"having grown up in the western ghats, I've observed the spotlight often bypasses the rich biodiversity of the region. Echoes of Earth's arrival in Goa aims to redirect attention to these lesser-known ecological wonders. Music and Art hold immense potential to spread a larger message through communities  in Goa with the support of credible partners like Goa Tourism Board, we are confident of creating impact. towards environmental awareness, fostering responsible tourism, and resource conservation. We believe that, together with our partners, we can make a meaningful difference and inspire positive action for the community and the environment in Goa."

In Goa, the festival will partner with local eco warriors, grass root level organizations and individuals aiming top reserve the biodiversity of Goa in addition to the Government of Goa to power the cause. The intent is to see Goa in a whole new light and experience it like never before to truly create a festival experience that is curated for art and music enthusiasts, nature lovers, and the environmentally conscious alike.

A Celebration of Art, Culture, Music, Environment, and Lifestyle

The Festival, hosted in an expansive 100-acre stretch of lush landscape, will host over 40 international and local artists performing on three exquisitely designed stages over three immersive days. Echoes will also feature 20+ art installations, educational workshops, cultural folk performances, and even a flea market featuring sustainable brands.

In homage to the Western Ghats, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, the festival will emphasize the interconnectedness of flora, fauna, habitats, and ecosystems through its conceptual theme in Goa, 'Ensemble of the Wild'. Additionally, the festival will collaborate with the Goa Tourism Board, Goa State Biodiversity Board, WWF- INDIA, and Felis Films to celebrate and assist the efforts of organizations and individuals preserving the rich, delicate biodiversity of the Western Ghats.

Rohan A. Khaunte, Minister for Tourism, Information Technology, Electronics & Communication and Printing & Stationery, Government of Goa said, "We extend a warm welcome to Echoes of Earth as it finds a new home in the landscapes of Goa. Embracing responsible tourism is not just a trend but a necessity, and we applaud initiatives that seamlessly blend music, art and conservation. Such festivals play a pivotal role intransforming into an integral part of the local community. When tourists become stakeholders, they inherently share the responsibility of safeguarding the local well-being. This relationship enhances the economic prosperity of the local community while protecting the integrity of our environment. As we open our doors, let's celebrate conscious living and set the stage for a more responsible era in Goa."

Circular Design, Regeneration, and Sustainable Practices

The festival layout for Echoes of Earth is grounded in Circular Design, with festival assets crafted from old, discarded, and repurposed materials from prior editions, exemplifying a commitment to sustainability. As a no-plastic and no-flexfestival, Echoes of Earth will feature hand-painted signage on repurposed cardboard and wood, bamboo structures for festival facilities, and visually striking art installations made from recycled and upcycled media such as jute, plastic scraps, and scrap metal.

Echoes of Earth invites art and music enthusiasts, nature lovers, and the environmentally conscious to join this unique celebration of the Western Ghats and Goa's rich biodiversity. Experience the magic of eclectic music, art, sustainable practices, and the beauty of nature like never before.

IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in

--IANS

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, January 10. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan discussed the current state and prospects of trade and economic partnership, Trend reports.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, these issues were discussed during a meeting between Deputy Turkmen Foreign Minister Ahmed Kurbanov and Ambassador of Tajikistan to Ashgabat Vafo Niyatbekzoda.

During the meeting, the parties noted the need to increase trade turnover, and also reviewed the implementation of the decisions of the meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation, which took place in November 2023 in Dushanbe.

In the course of the meeting, diplomats engaged in discussions regarding the prospective development of bilateral cooperation across various domains, encompassing political, trade, economic, and humanitarian spheres.

The deliberations aimed to explore opportunities for advancing mutual interests and fostering strengthened ties in these crucial areas.

The sides positively assessed the results of the May visit of President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov to Tajikistan, which confirmed the commitment to further strengthen relations between the countries.

Meanwhile, the development of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Tajikistan represents an important strategic step in strengthening mutually beneficial relations between the two countries.

New initiatives in the fields of trade, energy and transport infrastructure, as well as strengthening cultural ties, contribute to deepening mutual understanding and assistance in various fields.

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Mumbai, Jan 10 : On World Hindi Day on January 10, content creator and actor Bhuvan Bam spoke about how creating content in Hindi language helped him reach across the spectrums. He finds it heartening to see how content in Hindi can bridge connections and create a shared experience.

In a statement, Bhuvan expressed gratitude for the immense support he has received, stating: "I've always believed in the power of storytelling in our own language. The love and response from the audience have been overwhelming. It's heartening to see how content in Hindi can bridge connections and create a shared experience."

He added: "On World Hindi Day, it's important we throw light on this language we have grown up speaking, consuming and relating to. It's the language that truly got me closer to millions of people through both the digital and the real world. My decision to connect with audiences that speak the language I speak, and giving them content they all can relate to truly paid off."

A popular personality on Youtube, Bhuvan created his Youtube channel in 2015, which is known as BB Ki Vines. A year later he released a music video 'Teri Meri Kahani'. It was in 2023 when he made his OTT debut with Taaza Khabar.
Kathmandu, Jan 10 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" on Wednesday said that India has reservations over buying energy from the Himalayan nation produced by Chinese contractors.

Kathmandu, Jan 10 (IANS) Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" on Wednesday said that India has reservations over buying energy from the Himalayan nation produced by Chinese contractors.

Addressing a parliamentary committee meeting, he said though everyone is free to invest and produce energy in Nepal but as per long-term energy trade with India, New Delhi has reservations over buying energy produced by the Chinese companies/contractors.

During External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to Nepal last week, the two neighbouring nations had signed an agreement on long-term power trade paving way for Kathmandu to export 10,000 megawatts of energy to New Delhi.

The agreement is valid for 25 years and subject to renewal every 10 years.

"India has reservations over energy produced directly by Chinese government companies... The Chinese have asked us to tell India that it's not Chinese government owned companies but they were selected through the global competitive bidding process.

"As per India's cross border energy trading guidelines, it will only buy electricity from Nepal produced only by the Indian or Nepali companies and investment," Prachanda said.

He further said that in the agreement with India, there is no mention of buying energy only produced by Indian companies.

"We have requested India to consider to buy energy produced through the competitive bidding process whoever produces."

As Nepal focusses on hydropower development to meet its own energy needs and export the surplus to neighbouring countries, a fresh study has identified that the Himalayan nation has the potential to harness over 72,000MW of hydropower across 10 major river basins and their sub-basins.

Nepal's rich water resources were long known, as the country has approximately 6,000 rivers with a total length of 45,000 km.

The average annual water runoff from these rivers is about 220 billion cubic metres, according to an Asian Development Bank.

The 25-year long-term agreement was initiated when Dahal visited India from May 31 to June 3, 2023.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced during a joint press meet with Dahal that the neighbour would buy 10,000 MW of electricity in 10 years from Nepal under the long-term power trade agreement.

"Under this agreement, we have set a target of importing 10,000 MW electricity from Nepal in the coming 10 years," Modi had said at the time.

Besides exporting power to India, there is a sharp increase in Indian investment in Nepal's energy sector.

India's SJVN Limited, which is developing the 900 MW Arun-3 Hydropower Project, has also been granted a license to develop the 669 MW Lower Arun Hydropower Project and the 490 MW Arun-4.

Arun-4 will be developed as a joint venture by the NEA and SJVN, which will have a majority stake.

Likewise, India's NHPC Limited is also set to develop the 750 MW West Seti and the 450 MW Seti River-6 project.

Similarly, NHPC Limited and Vidyut Utpadan Company Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop the 480 MW Phukot Karnali Project during Dahal's India visit.

Indian firm GMR is also making efforts to develop the 900 MW Upper Karnali Hydropower Project.

"India is ready to take energy from Nepal but it has reservations over energy produced by the Chinese companies," Prachanda said at the meeting.

"If energy produced by the Chinese companies through the global competitive bidding process, we have asked the Indian side not to understand it as produced by the Chinese companies or Chinese government."
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 10 : With Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan taking on one another in public, the next round of their ongoing war of words will be witnessed on the floor of the Kerala Legislative Assembly on January 25.

According to tradition, the first day of the Assembly session in the new year belongs to the Governor of the state, when he reads out the programs and projects of ahisa government for the year and also about the achievements of the previous year.

With the Kerala Government having filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Governor saying that he was not fulfilling his responsibilities, all eyes are on Khanas address in the Assembly.

Apart from the case in the apex court, the Vijayan Government also wrote to the President stating that Khan was not doing his job properly and that had resulted in problems for the state government.

It must be recalled that at the height of the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Khan while reading out his address to the Assembly in 2020 said that he was reading out because the Chief Minister had requested him to do so.

So now, with the Vijayan Cabinet on Wednesday deciding to convene the Budget Session of the Kerala Assembly, the official note has been send to the Governor as per convention.

Now all eyes will be on the Governoras address which will be prepared by the Vijayan Government and the first reaction to it will be known, when it reaches the hands of Khan and he has his first look.
Bengaluru, Jan 10 : The Housing Board of Uttar Pradesh has responded positively to the request of Karnataka government for the consent for the construction of a Yatri Nivas guest house for Hindu pilgrims from the state who visit Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

In the letter to the Karnataka government, it is stated that the Muzarai department is working for the same.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had written a letter to the Uttar Pradesh government for the construction of a guest house on the banks of Sarayu River in August, 2023. Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had also written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in this regard in 2020.

The Karnataka government had sought five acres of land and plans to take up construction of the Yatri Nivas guest house at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

The Karnataka Muzarai department has written another letter asking for the consent for the construction of a guest house by the time of inauguration of temple on January 22.
The Hague, Jan 10 : Negotiations among major Dutch parties over the formation of a new coalition government have again resumed after a break for Christmas and the year end holidays.

The far-right populist Party for Freedom (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, won the general election by a landslide on November 22, 2023, reports Xinhua news agency.

PVV has now begun a negotiation process with the rightist People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the new centrist party New Social Contract (NSC), and the farmers' movement BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB).

The closed-door talks between party leaders Wilders, Caroline van der Plas of BBB, Dilan Yesilgoz of VVD and Pieter Omtzigt of NSC continued until late Tuesday in Hilversum, a city in the province of North Holland.

They negotiations are expected to last until Thursday.

Ronald Plasterk, who was appointed as a "scout" to talk to all parties about the formation of a coalition government, said that he wants to complete this phase by early February at the latest, before reporting to the chairman of the House of Representatives.

The main obstacles in the discussion are that the VVD wants to support, but does not want to join such a government.

Meanwhile, the NSC has severe constitutional objections to some of the PVV's ideas.

Since the elections Wilders has moderated his tone, and on Monday, in a move seen as a gesture of compromise he withdrew three controversial draft legislations he had submitted to the House of Representatives.

The draft bills have been heavily criticized, and have never had a parliamentary majority.

"The withdrawal of the three bills is a nice step forward and fits in with the promise Wilders made earlier," Van der Plas said on social media platform X.

"BBB now hopes, together with the other parties, to be able to discuss other important files in the coming weeks and to deal with the problems in the Netherlands."
New Delhi, Jan 10 : India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019 to improve air quality, showed in 49 cities whose particulate matter numbers were consistently available for five years, 27 had a decline in PM 2.5, while only four met or exceeded the targeted decline with Varanasi achieving the most significant reduction by 72 per cent, an analysis by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences said on Wednesday.

Similarly, for PM10, data across five years was available for 46 cities. Of these, 24 cities saw an improvement in PM10 levels.

The stated goal of the Rs 9,631-crore National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is to reduce average particulate matter concentrations 40 per cent by 2026 (compared to 2017) in 131 cities.

When the programme was initiated, the aim was to cut pollution 20-40 per cent by 2024 in these cities but this goalpost was later shifted to 2026.

Between 2019 and 2023, Varanasi achieved a significant reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 levels. It shows a 72 per cent reduction in PM2.5 (from 96 to 26.9 ug/m3) and a 69 per cent reduction in PM10 (from 202.5 to 62.4 ug/m3).

Likewise, Agra and Jodhpur saw significantly lower PM2.5 levels, and Talcher in Odisha saw a considerable PM10 reduction.

In 2023, Delhi recorded the highest PM2.5 levels of 102 ug/m3, a decrease of 2.5 per cent compared to 2022.

Patna exhibited the highest PM10 levels in 2023 at 212.1 ug/m3, an increase of 10.7 per cent compared to 2022.

Among the top 20 most polluted cities of 2023, air quality improvements in PM2.5 were observed in 10 out of 15 cities, including Delhi and Patna, when examining air quality data from 2019 to 2023. As far as PM10 was concerned, a total of 14 out of 19 cities saw improvements.

Challenges persist as some cities experience increases in pollution concentrations, underscoring the complexity of achieving air quality targets.

Silchar in Assam recorded the lowest PM2.5 level in 2023 at 9.6 ug/m3. However, it remains noteworthy that this seemingly low level is nearly double the WHO's stipulated safe limit of 5 ug/m3. Silchar also recorded the lowest PM10 level at 29.2 ug/m3. However, this seemingly moderate value is nearly double the WHO safe limit of 15 ug/m3.

Air quality monitoring strengthened in most cities, with a significant number seeing an increase in active monitors, and almost all cities improved their uptime, says the analysis.

However, challenges persist, with certain cities experiencing increases in pollution concentrations.

The dispersion of pollutants over a city is influenced by several factors, including its geographical location, diverse sources of particulate matter emissions, and meteorological conditions. Notably, the government has installed a number of new air quality monitoring stations in many of the NCAP cities, which is a positive development indeed.

That said, an average of data from two monitors in crowded locations of a city can provide a different picture of air quality compared to an average of, say, data from five stations spread across the city.

Saying the National Clean Air Programme has made noteworthy progress in tackling air pollution, witnessing notable reductions in PM2.5 and PM10 levels in top polluted cities, Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends, said, "Despite these positive strides, persistent challenges exist, with some urban areas facing an uptick in pollution concentrations.

"The program's revised goal of a 40 per cent reduction in particulate matter by 2026 reflects a commitment to ambitious environmental targets.

"As cities add new air quality monitoring stations, strengthened monitoring will give a better picture of the problem and allow for better mitigation measures. These must feed into the next phase of the NCAP and sustained efforts must continue for achieving nationwide cleaner air, underscoring the importance of robust regulatory frameworks aligned with global standards and public health gains."
Kangana roots for Ankita Lokhande: Hope my friend wins but not at the cost of her marriage. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Jan 10 : Kangana Ranaut has come out in support of her 'Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi' co-star Ankita Lokhande, who is a contestant in 'Bigg Boss 17' and shared that the media is attempting to break their family by creating a false story.

Kangana took to her Instagram stories, where she shared a snippet from the interview of Ankita's mother-in-law, where she is seen talking about why she should lift the trophy.

The 'Dhakad' actress wrote: "Media doing their best to break their family, they won't show @lokhandeankita's saasumaa rooting for her, also love that chuckle in the end Ha ha .. too cute aunty, reality shows come and go but family is forever, I hope my friend @lokhandeankita wins but not at the cost of her marriage."

In the 'Bigg Boss 17' house, Ankita and her husband have often been seen quarreling and fighting. The couple were seen even talking about divorce.
Canberra, Jan 10 : The number of people aspiring to become Australian citizens who fail the country's test has increased significantly since the country's governing Labor Party came to power in May 2022, new data revealed on Wednesday.

Canberra, Jan 10 (IANS) The number of people aspiring to become Australian citizens who fail the country's test has increased significantly since the country's governing Labor Party came to power in May 2022, new data revealed on Wednesday.

According to the data published by News Corp Australia, of the 288,603 people who took citizenship tests between May 2022 general election and August 2023, more than 101,000 failed a rate of 35 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

By comparison, between 2017 and 2021, only 21 percent of the 684,208 tests that were administered were failed.

Eligible people who undertake the Australian citizenship test are asked 20 multiple choice questions about the country, including five about the nation's values.

In order to pass, a person must answer all five Australian values questions correctly and get an overall mark of at least 75 per cent.

The former coalition government in September 2020 revamped the test, adding the national values questions and placing a stronger emphasis on English language skills for potential citizens.

Failing the test does not affect a person's permanent visa or residency status but they can be denied citizenship after three failed attempts.

Andrew Giles, Minister for Immigration, told News Corp on Wednesday that the government would continue to review the test to ensure the system is fair, efficient and inclusive.

"The government recogniSes that Australia is a country built on citizenship. We will continue to assess the citizenship test to ensure that it meets community expectations," he said.

To be eligible for Australian citizenship a migrant must have been living in the country on a valid visa for at least four years and not been absent from the country for more than a total of 12 months in the previous four years, and no more than 90 days in the previous 12 months, before applying.

In December 2023, Giles had released a new migration strategy following a comprehensive review of the immigration system, outlining a plan to streamline permanent residence and citizenship pathways for migrants.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : Actress Kriti Sanon, who was last seen in 'Ganapath: A Hero is Born', completed a decade in the South Indian film industry as her film '1: Nenokkadine' clocked 10 years of its release on Wednesday. '1: Nenokkadine' starred Kriti opposite Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu.

Adding a touch of nostalgia to her journey, the actress recently reunited with Mahesh Babu, evoking memories from their past collaborations. Their on-screen chemistry and camaraderie have left a lasting impression on fans, and the reunion stirred emotions among both the actors and their admirers. The meeting celebrated Kriti's 10-year milestone.

The actress shared the picture from her meeting on the Stories section of her Instagram. She wrote on the picture: "Its been 10 years since my first ever film. My first telugu film with my first ever co-star @urstrulymahesh sir!! So many memories and so much #Gratitude in my heart! How lovely and nostalgic was it to meet you again after ages! so much has changed but its still the same (sic)."

She uploaded another picture with Mahesh and his wife, and wrote: "Happy 10 years! #1Nenokkadine. Can't believe its been a decade!! @urstrulymahesh @namratashirodkar. Miss you @aryasukku sir! Thank you for the best debut and the best memories ever. Aww Tuzo Mogh Korta."

On the work front Kriti has an exciting line up with an untitled film opposite Shahid Kapoor, the announcement for which she will make on Wednesday. She also has 'The Crew' in the pipeline in which she will be seen with Kareena Kapoor and Tabu, and her production house's first movie 'Do Patti'.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed reservations on adjourning the hearing on a clutch of pleas challenging the constitutionality of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), including the bail plea filed by former JNU scholar and student activist Umar Khalid.

At the very outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Khalid, requested a bench presided over by Justice Bela M. Trivedi to defer the scheduled hearing for the next week.

"We will not grant any adjournment," Justice Trivedi told the senior counsel.

Sibal explained that he is engaged in another hearing ongoing before a CJI D.Y. Chandrachud-led Constitution Bench and added that Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, who represents the other side, including Delhi Police, was also unavailable.

The bench, also comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal, said that the matter requires hearing because Khalid -- who is charged under the stringent anti-terror law in the Delhi riots "larger conspiracy" case -- is behind the bars.

"The impression goes that the Court is not taking up the matter," Justice Mithal remarked.

However, after repeated persuasions made by Sibal and other senior advocates, the bench acceded to the request for adjournment and decided to post the entire batch of matters on January 24. The apex court clarified that it will not entertain any request for adjournment on the next date of listing.

Previously in November 2023, the Supreme Court had deferred till January 10 hearing on Khalid's special leave petition filed against denial of bail by the Delhi High court along with a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the UAPA.
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, January 10. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have outlined plans for the development of cooperation for 2024, Trend reports.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, these issues were discussed during a meeting between Deputy Turkmen Foreign Minister Ahmed Kurbanov and Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Ashgabat Askar Tazhibayev.

During the meeting, the sides discussed prospects for strengthening bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in a wide range of areas of cooperation.

The diplomats reviewed the practical implementation of the agreements reached earlier, including during high-level visits, and also discussed the prospects for the development of Turkmen-Kazakh relations for 2024.

At the same time, the parties noted the importance of holding inter-ministerial consultations, organizing regular bilateral visits and contacts at the highest level.

In addition, the importance of strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation, holding regular meetings and consultations between parliamentarians of the two countries was emphasized, and positive experience of interaction and support within such organizations as the OSCE, the UN, and the OIC was noted.

Meanwhile, the development of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan occupies an important place in the strategy of strengthening economic and diplomatic relations in the region.

Both countries are constantly interested in expanding joint projects, especially in the fields of energy, transport and trade.

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New Delhi, Jan 10 : Homegrown fintech startup Velocity on Wednesday announced an ambitious Rs 300 crore growth capital fund dedicated to empowering the next wave of B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses in the country.

According to the company, Velocity's offering of a fixed-term credit product is specifically designed to provide SaaS businesses with financing proportional to three to six times the amount of their monthly recurring revenue.

Selected companies will receive growth capital without the need to dilute their equity, thus enabling them to scale operations, accelerate product development, and expand their market reach.

"SaaS enterprises encounter distinctive hurdles in their expansion, mainly concerning the costs associated with customer acquisition," Abhiroop Medhekar, Founder and CEO of Velocity, said in a statement.

"These companies must allocate significant funds towards Sales and Marketing to attract customers, with the breakeven point for such investments typically falling between six to 18 months," he added.

In 2023, Velocity significantly outperformed its previous records, disbursing over Rs 400 crore -- a sum greater than its total disbursements over the last three years combined to high growth D2C brands and e-commerce businesses.

"We are offering financing that is directly proportional to their monthly recurring revenue, thus aligning the capital amount closely with the business's revenue. The repayment structure, spread over 12 months, is straightforward and suited to the unique financial rhythms of SaaS enterprises," Medhekar said.

In 2024, Velocity plans to double its e-commerce disbursements to Rs 800 crore and allocate an additional Rs 500 crore to new sectors, including B2B SaaS.

Bengaluru-based Velocity was founded in 2020 by Medhekar, Atul Khichariya, and Saurav Swaroop.
Tel Aviv, Jan 10 : Balakirshnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said on Wednesday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should consider the houses that have been destroyed or damaged in Gaza "as evidence of genocide" when it hears a case filed by South Africa against Israel.

In a post on X, the special envoy said: "About 56 per cent of houses in Gaza are destroyed or damaged. Northern Gaza is most heavily affected with upto 82 per cent destroyed or damaged. ICJ should consider this as evidence of genocide when coupled with public statements documented before it by South Africa."

In his post, he also attached a report by the Decentralised Damage Mapping Group, which showed that 45.3 per cent (130,200) to 55.9 per cent (160,800) of buildings in the Gaza Strip were likely damaged or destroyed as of January 5.

The report also said that between 71.1 to 82.7 per cent of buildings in the area around Gaza City were "likely damaged or destroyed".

The hearings at the ICJ scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday pertain to a case filed by South Africa on December 29, 2023 accusing Israel of committing "genocidal" acts" in Gaza amid the raging war with Hamas.

Following its 84-page application to The Hague-based ICJ -- which is the UN's principal judicial organ -- South Africa's presidency said in a statement that the country was obliged "to prevent genocide from occurring".

South Africa is scheduled to present its oral arguments on Thursday, with Israel set to do the same the following day.

Immediately after South Africa submitted its application, spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry Lior Haiat had said that the nation's claim "constitutes despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court".

While confirming that the Israeli government will attend the hearings,National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told local media last week that the Jewish nation has "signed the convention against genocide for decades, and we will certainly not boycott the proceeding, but stand up and repel the absurd blood plot against us."

The US has also denounced the case, saying it was meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Israel has named retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Aharon Barak, as the country's appointee to the 15-judge ICJ panel that will hear the case.

South Africa has been highly critical of Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza. In November 2023, it recalled all of its diplomats from Israel.

Israel, in turn, recalled its Ambassador from Pretoria.
Kochi, Jan 10 : The NIA on Wednesday took the key accused in the infamous Kerala Professor's hand chopping case into custody from Kannur, where he was living with his family as a carpenter for over a year.

Sawad was on the run for the last 13 years, from the day he committed the crime, and the NIA had declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone who gave information about him.

According to locals in Mattanoor near Kannur, Sawad was known as Shajahan to them.

Noufal, a local said Sawad had been living with his wife and two kids in a rented accommodation.

"He used to work as a carpenter and did not have any contact with the locals. He used to leave in the morning for work and return late in the evening. He married a woman from Kasargod, where her father was an activist of the SDPI  the political wing of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI). His wife says she never knew of his past," said Noufal and added that the picture that's been shown on TV is very different from what he looks like now.

At the time of his arrest he was working as a carpenter at a new house which is nearing completion.

Meanwhile, NIA officials are expected to produce Sawad before an NIA court here later in the day.

Sawad is a resident of Ernakulam district and he was the one who chopped Professor TJ Joseph's right hand in July 2010, with the help of others. All of them belong to the PFI.

The incident took place when Professor Joseph was returning home with his mother and sister from church.

Soon after chopping Professor Joseph's hand, the attackers told him that he was being punished for the alleged sacrilegious undertones of one of the questions he had framed in an exam at the college where he was teaching.

The case was investigated by the NIA and a special NIA court in 2015 had convicted 13 people owing allegiance to the PFI.

Reacting to the arrest of Sawad, Professor Joseph said, "As an individual who suffered this, I have nothing to say, but as a citizen, it's good that the law enforcing agencies have arrested the prime culprit."

"For the agencies, a liability of theirs has been wiped out, as he was on the run for long, but what about the conspirators behind this incident?" asked Joseph and added that he will be able to identify Sawad.
Gandhinagar, Jan 10 : Global business leaders hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed India as they unveiled their investment plans for the country at the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 which was inaugurated by the PM on Wednesday.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of US chip manufacturing giant Micron, thanked the Prime Minister for his vision to open up the country to semiconductor manufacturing.

He said that it will become a huge economic driver in the future as India marches forward to become the third largest economy in the world.

He said that the first phase of his company's semiconductor facility in Gujarat covering an area of 500,000 sq feet will be operational by early 2025 thereby creating 5,000 direct jobs and 15,000 additional community jobs over the coming years.

"Combined investment by Micron and Government over both phases could reach up to 2.75 billion US Dollars," Sanjay Mehrotra said.

ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal praised the Prime Minister's emphasis on process continuity to create an institutionalised framework for the mega global event of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

He said that the first phase of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Hazira Expansion Project will be completed by the stipulated target year of 2026.

He also touched upon investing in green sectors such as renewable energy and green hydrogen.

Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki credited the Prime Minister for his strong leadership and thanked him for the support provided to manufacturing industries in the country.

He said that India has now become the 3rd largest automobile market in the world.

He also touched upon the company's plans to roll out the first EV produced in India while also exporting it to European countries and Japan as he underlined the efforts on increasing production capacity.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani expressed pride in being a part of every edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit so far and thanked the Prime Minister for his extraordinary vision.

"You don't predict the future, you shape it," Adani.

He credited the Prime Minister for reorienting India to become the world's fastest-growing nation and positioning the country as the global social champion driven by the philosophies of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Vishwa Guru.

Adani lauded the Prime Minister's achievements on the international stage and highlighted the nation's journey from a country seeking to put its voice on global platforms to one which now creates global platforms.

He also credited Prime Minister's leadership during India's G20 presidency.

Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani called Vibrant Gujarat the most prestigious investment summit in the world today as no other summit of this kind has continued for 20 long years and is going from strength to strength.

"This is a tribute to our Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and consistency," he said.

He said Reliance will play a major role in making Gujarat a global leader in green growth.

"We will help Gujarat's target to meet half of its energy needs through renewable energy by the year 2030," Ambani said.

He said that 5000 acre Dhirubhai Energy Giga Complex is coming up in Jamnagar which will be ready to be commissioned in the second half of 2024 itself.

"Due to the fastest roll out of 5G, today Gujarat is fully 5G enabled. This will make Gujarat a leader in digital data platform and in AI adoption," Ambani said.

He said that Reliance Retail will expand its footprint to bring quality products and help lakhs of farmers and small merchants.

Jeffrey Chun, CEO Simmtech, South Korea, said that as key supply chain partner in the semiconductor assembly and test facilities expressed excitement for their India project as a co-location investment following their major customer Micron's project in the state of Gujarat.

Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran said that steady and spectacular progress of Gujarat consistently over such a long time clearly demonstrates visionary leadership and the mindset of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also elaborated on the expansion plan of the group in Gujarat in the areas of EV vehicles, battery production, C295 defence aircrafts and semiconductor fab, advance manufacturing skill building.

DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said that it is heartening to see the Prime Minister's vision for a vibrant Gujarat becoming a reality. He credited the government for developing and promoting various industrial clusters such as GIFT City, Dholera Special Investment Region and the Gujarat Maritime Cluster and said that it will act as a gateway to the future.

He said that DP World's plan to invest and develop state-of-the-art container terminals at Kandla, Gujarat with a capacity of 2 million containers.

Shankar Trivedi, Sr VP Nvidia noting the growing importance of generative AI recalled that PM Modi invited Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia to deliver a lecture to the leaders to senior members of the Indian government and said that "it was the first time that a global leader actually talked about AI."

Nikhil Kamat, Founder and CEO of Zerodha credited the Prime Minister for facilitating a stable ecosystem allowing startups to thrive.

He remarked that the last 10 years have been incredible as he hailed the country's startup ecosystem and the rise of small entrepreneurs and ecommerce which was not the case 10 years ago.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 10 : Mothers Against Vaping, a united front of concerned mothers combatting the promotion of new-age tobacco devices such as e-cigarettes and vapes among Indian children and youth, today announced that Neha Dhupia, actress, model and mother has joined their ranks. Her support adds to the message of concern and determination to combat this growing crisis among children.

Despite a nationwide ban, international manufacturers are leaving no stone unturned to promote these devices with specific focus on Indian children and youth as they desperately search of new markets against the backdrop of tightening regulations. Mothers Against Vaping has been running an awareness programme about this troubling reality, and urging immediate action from parents, educators and policymakers.

Neha Dhupia firmly advocates for the Mothers Against Vaping movement. She said: "As a responsible mother, I wholeheartedly support the Mothers Against Vaping group and their cause. The issue is deeply alarming, and all mothers should be concerned as it directly impacts the health of our children. We, as mothers, must unite, raise our voices and increase awareness against vaping and electronic cigarettes to ensure that such habits are completely eradicated from the lives of our children and youth."

Mothers Against Vaping campaign is also supported by eminent personalities like Dr Deepa Malik, Padma Shri, Khel Ratna Arjuna Awardee; Dr Bhavna Barmi who is an internationally acclaimed Clinical Psychologist, a public speaker, founder of Happiness Studio and Head Psychologist at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute; Dr Varuna Pathak, a former Professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Gandhi Medical College; Kamaljeet Kaur, famous calligraphy artist; and Vaishali Sharma, founder of The Champa Tree, a parenting blog among others.

The campaign will receive a significant boost with Neha lending her support. Its reach holds the promise of significantly reducing vaping among children and safeguarding their health. As per Mothers Against Vaping, it is imperative for policymakers and stakeholders to understand the agenda of international marketers and launch extensive awareness initiatives on the harmful effects of vaping and electronic cigarettes such as heat-not-burn tobacco products. The dissemination of impactful advertisements should extend beyond movie halls, encompassing diverse public spaces to rectify misconceptions.

Such awareness campaigns are essential to counteract the deceptive marketing strategies employed by e-cigarette manufacturers to promote these new-age tobacco devices and heat-no-burn tobacco products. These devices, often adorned with eye-catching designs and flavoured with strawberry or bubble gum, have gained immense popularity among children. As digital natives, today's children and youth are quick to embrace new technologies, making them particularly susceptible to the allure of vaping. This trend poses a serious threat of addiction, as e-cigarettes and other new-age tobacco devices can serve as gateway devices for introducing users to harmful substances like cocaine and heroin.

The mission of Mothers Against Vaping is dedicated to instilling positive values in our children and shielding them from the clutches of vices present in an increasingly bad and complex world. The support from influential figures like Neha Dhupia will amplify the campaign of Mothers Against Vaping and create more awareness about the detrimental effects of vaping among children.
Patna, Jan 10 : A day after the CBI filed a case diary and other documents related to the murder of Ranvir Sena leader Brahmeshwar Mukhiya, it appears that former MLC Hulas Pandey allegedly shot him six times in Katira locality of Arrah city, the district headquarter of Bhojpur on June 1, 2012.

As per the case diary based on the statement of an eyewitness, Mukhiya and Pandey were involved in a scuffle. Two of Pandeyas aides held Mukhiya and the former MLC fired on Mukhiya six times from close range.

After committing the crime, all the accused fled towards station road Arrah in a Scorpio.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet in December 2023 in which it named eight people including Pandey as accused.

As per the statement of the main eyewitness, Pandey along with his aides Nand Gopal Pandey, Ritesh, Abhay Pandey, Manoj Pandey and others left Patna in a Scorpio and other vehicles. The eyewitness was also in the convoy but he got down after reaching Saguna Mor to go towards his native place Danapur.

Pandey told him that he and the others had to go to Arrah to prepare the circuit house for the chief ministeras visit on June 1, 2012.

The case diary further said that the eyewitness reached Arrah on his Rajdoot bike in the wee hours of June 1, 2012 and as he wanted to freshen up, he went towards the railway station but his bike was stopped at Katira Mor.

It was then that he witnessed the murder of Mukhiya. The eyewitness said in his statement that Hulas Pandey, Manoj Pandey, Baleshwar Rai were present in the Scorpio in Katira locality and soon Nand Gopal Pandey, Ritesh, Guddu Pandey, Abhay Pandey and Prince Pandey also reached there on foot.

Guddu Pandey was holding an AK47 rifle and when Mukhiya stepped out of his house Manoj Pandey approached him and told him that Hulas Pandey wanted to meet him.

Mukhiya went to meet Hulas Pandey and after some time they were involved in a scuffle.

In the midst of the fight Mukhiya was held tightly by Nand Gopal Pandey and Abhay Pandey and Hulas Pandey allegedly shot him six times.

The murder of Mukhiya was a political killing as Hulas Pandey suspected that the presence of Mukhiya would hurt his political career.

Both Pandey and Mukhiya are from the upper caste Bhumihar community.

The CBI has already filed the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet in this case where eight people including Hulas Pandey, who was close to Chirag Paswan, has been named.

Initially, the case was investigated by Bihar Police and later it was transferred to the CBI on July 13, 2013. After the 10 years of investigation, the CBI filed the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet in December 2023.

- IANS

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Bengaluru, Jan 10 : The Karnataka Police thwarted an attempt by a Muslim couple to immolate themselves in front of the Vidhana Soudha here on Wednesday after alleging fraud by a bank.

The couple were identified as 48-year-old Shahista Banu and her husband Mohammad Munayeed Ulla, residents of JJ Nagar.

They claimed that had been cheated by the Bengaluru Cooperative Bank and their efforts to reach out to the Minister for Housing, Muzarai and Wakf Zameer Ahmad Khan went in vain.

The couple had come to the spot with their children and other family members. After making the statement to the media, the couple suddenly took out the bottles containing kerosene and poured it over their heads.

Before they could take further action, the police personnel present at the spot thwarted their actions and took them into custody.

Shahista alleged that her family was cheated by the bank. The bank had auctioned their building worth Rs 3 crore to just Rs 1.41 crore. "We need justice. The bank management is not responding. For two years we have been meeting Zameer Ahmad Khan, we haven't got justice," she stated.

She further stated that they had taken a loan of Rs 50 lakh from the bank to grow ginger and paid nearly Rs 90 lakh to the bank.

Following the high drama, the police lodged a case against the couple under IPC Sections 309 for attempt to suicide and 290 for creating public nuisance. The police took an undertaking from the couple and released them from detention.
Imphal, Jan 10 : Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Wednesday declined to give permission to use Hapta Kangjeibung palace compound ground in Imphal for launch of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by former Congress party President Rahul Gandhi on January 14.

After meeting the Chief Minister Manipur, state Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh said that the party is now considering three other alternative venues to launch the Yatra.

"BJP government's refusal to use the public ground for a non-political purpose is very unfortunate and undemocratic. We are now looking for three alternative venues of private lands to launch the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra through a big rally," Meghachandra Singh told the media.

Terming the Manipur government decision as murder of democracy and violation of peoples' right, the Congress leader said that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be launched as scheduled by the AICC.

He said that on January 14 several leaders of the party, including party President Mallikarjun Kharge, chief ministers and MPs from across the country will gather in Manipur for a peaceful rally.

On Monday, Congress leaders led by Meghachandra Singh met Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi and requested him to provide permission to hold the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra launching meeting at the Hapta Kangjeibung ground.

"The Chief Secretary assured us that the government will inform us about the permission by Monday evening itself," a Congress leader said.

He said that the party had applied to the government on January 2 seeking permission for the launching of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at Hapta Kangjeibung in Imphal.

Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister earlier said that the state government will take a final decision to give permission to use the Hapta Kangjeibung palace compound ground for the launch of the Yatra after studying the reports of various security agencies.

AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal (Organisation) on Tuesday once again held a preparatory meeting to launch the ambitious Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the trouble torn state.

Meghachandra Singh, former three-term Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh (2002-2017), AICC Manipur in-charge Girish Chodankar, Congress Working Committee member Gaikhangam and other leaders attended the meeting and visited Hapta Kangjeibung to assess the ground's suitability.

Venugopal had said that from Manipur, the Yatra will go to Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya and will reach Mumbai on March 20 by covering 6,500 km in 15 states.

Manipur is devastated by over eight month long ethnic violence between the non-tribal Meitei and tribal Kuki-Zo community and over 185 people have been killed and over 1,500 people injured and displaced over 70,000 people of both communities so far.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : The Delhi High Court has sentenced a lawyer to six months in jail for contempt of court, finding him guilty of making contumacious allegations and scandalous imputations against judges of the High Court and District Courts in a criminal appeal on behalf of a rape survivor.

The division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Shailender Kaur imposed the six-month jail term with a fine of Rs. 2,000.

The court stated that the lawyer, being an officer of the court, made unwarranted and baseless allegations in the appeal against judges discharging their judicial functions.

It stressed the need for the court to check such actions firmly to prevent pernicious consequences.

The lawyer was given an opportunity to apologise for the "contemptuous allegations", but he stood by his accusations, claiming that the judges were openly favouring the accused persons.

The court noted the lack of repentance in his conduct and actions, leading to the guilty verdict.

The bench directed the concerned SHO to arrange for police officials to take the lawyer home to fulfill his requests before being taken to Tihar Jail.

The court also instructed jail authorities to allow the lawyer to take his regular medicines.

The contempt proceedings were initiated after the lawyer made allegations against trial court and high court judges in a criminal appeal.

The single judge had issued notice to the lawyer, noting that while the judiciary is not immune from criticism, it should not be based on distorted facts or gross misrepresentation to intentionally lower its dignity and respect.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 10 : High tariffs on smartphone components can make India a less competitive destination, making it difficult for companies to join global value chains (GVCs) and simultaneously discourage GVCs from shifting large-scale production to the country, a report showed on Wednesday.

Unless India can match China and Vietnam's competitive tariff regime in addition to other factors which impact competitiveness, export growth will also start seeing a slowdown beyond the current fiscal, revealed the seven-country report by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), the nation's top electronics manufacturing industry body.

The data showed that India's smartphone input tariffs are highest among the competing manufacturing destinations.

"To achieve this target of high export, India needs more than just ambition; it requires a tangible shift of global value chains, bringing major production lines to India and integrating our businesses into the international supply web," said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

India has an immense opportunity to increase its competitiveness and large-scale manufacturing to address the global market and integrate into GVC "by making our tariffs competitive vis-a-vis competing nations," he added.

India's smartphone manufacturing has been transformed from 78 per cent import dependency in revenue terms in 2014-15 to only 4 per cent in 2022-23.

Now, 99.2 per cent of mobile phones sold in India are made in the country. Exports have become the main driver of future growth and job creation.

India's smartphone exports jumped 100 per cent in FY 2022-23 to $11.1 billion over the previous fiscal.

The industry expects exports of $15 billion in FY 2024. Exports will form 30 per cent of the total production of $49-50 billion in current fiscal.

However, India's simple average most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff for inputs is 8.5 per cent, higher than China's 3.7 per cent. In practice, China's tariffs are closer to zero because most mobile production takes place in 'Bonded zones' where all inputs are at zero tariffs, said the report.

Nearly 80 per cent of Vietnam's imported inputs are from countries with whom it has FTAs. Hereto, FTA weighted average tariff comparison between India and Vietnam shows that India's simple average is at 6.8 per cent vis-a-vis Vietnam's at 0.7 per cent.

The highest tariffs for both China and Vietnam are 10 per cent maximum. By contrast, India has many more tariff lines, in addition to higher tariffs.

"Unless India can match China and Vietnam's competitive tariff regime in addition to other factors which impact competitiveness, export growth will also start seeing a slowdown beyond the current fiscal," the report cautioned.

Higher tariffs of India result in an overall loss of competitiveness of about 6-7 per cent compared to Vietnam and China.

The results also indicate that the price rise due to India's high tariffs on inputs perpetuate imports, contrary to policy objectives of building a local ecosystem and increasing domestic value addition.

"To seize the opportunity, India should address tariff competitiveness. This is vital to unlock our potential in global electronics manufacturing and trade and integrating India to GVCs," said Mohindroo.
Thousands of houses may be inundated as flood continues in Aus state. Image Source: IANS News

Melbourne, Jan 11 : Authorities in Victoria on Wednesday confirmed that impact assessments were being conducted at several towns in the Australian state's north, as floodwater has started to recede.

"In Yea, we saw six properties with above-floor flooding, 17 with inundation in and around their property. At Seymour, we saw seven businesses with above-floor flooding and another 11 residential properties that have had a range of flooding impacts, either above or below the floor," Victoria State Emergency Service Chief Operations Officer Tim Wiebusch told reporters.

He also said that the emergency crew are currently undertaking impact assessments in and around Rochester and Goornong, with floodwater down to the level that enabled them to get into those areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since Monday, north-central Victoria has been lashed by flash flooding, as a broad trough of low pressure delivered widespread rain and thunderstorms across southeastern Australia.

Data from the weather service provider Weatherzone indicated that the heaviest rain during the 24 hours to 9 a.m. on Monday was 181 mm at Wild Duck Creek near Heathcote, with several other gauges also exceeding 100 mm during this period.

Residents living in low-lying parts of Rochester, Seymour, and Yea received multiple emergency warnings.

The flooding also triggered landslides near the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road in Tremont and Ferny Creek.

"We're now seeing the residual effects of the heavy rainfall with the riverine flooding still appearing in several parts of Victoria. In good news, an advice message has now been issued for return to Rochester," said Wiebusch.

He confirmed that minor flooding is now seen throughout the Rochester area on the Campaspe River.

"Those flows have now moved down into Echuca where we are also now seeing minor flooding and we're expecting a peak at that minor flood level throughout today," said the officer.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also paid a visit to Victoria's State Control Centre in Melbourne on Wednesday, announcing that a commitment has been signed off to provide further support to local communities as a result of the flood event that continues to unfold.

"Support in terms of the emergency and hardship payments being made to individuals and families, to assist communities in their time of need. But also support for local councils who are doing the work on the ground, to make sure that communities can be made more resilient," said Albanese.
Hyderabad, Jan 10 : Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday accepted the resignations of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) chairman B. Janardhan Reddy and three members.

The resignations of R. Satyanarayana, Prof. Bandi Linga Reddy, and Karam Ravinder Reddy as TSPSC members have also been accepted.

They had submitted their resignations last month following the change of government.

The development came a day after Congress MLC T. Jeevan Reddy wrote a letter to the Governor, urging her to take a decision at the earliest on the resignations which had been pending with her for nearly a month.

The Congress leader wrote that a key election promise in the party's manifesto was to fill two lakh vacancies in the government departments within a year of assuming power and it can't be done without a full TSPSC board in place.

The Raj Bhavan, however, has clarified that there was no delay on part of the Governor in accepting the resignations.

It claimed that the entire process of acceptance of resignations was completed in one day with utmost diligence and in adherence to legal procedures.

"Contrary to any speculation or misinformation, there has been no delay on the part of the Governor in accepting the resignations submitted by the Chairman and three other members of TSPSC," said a statement released by the Governor's Press Secretary.

According to the statement, upon receiving the resignations, as per Business Rules, the Governor forwarded them to the state government for circulation of file, along with the remarks and the opinion of the Advocate General, through the Chief Minister after ensuring a thorough examination of the matter.

"It is imperative to note that the ongoing investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) played a crucial role in the decision-making process. In light of this, the State Government reviewed the resignations and obtained the opinion of the Learned Advocate General and circulated the file to the Governor through the Chief Minister for acceptance of all four resignations on 9th January," said the statement.

The Governor accepted all four resignations without prejudice to the ongoing investigations and any potential future criminal proceedings on January 10.

"The Raj Bhavan assures all people of the State in general and the unemployed youth in particular that every precaution has been taken to safeguard the interests of the unemployed youth in this process. The Hon'ble Governor remains committed to upholding the mandates of Constitution, principles of justice, transparency, and accountability, and this decision reflects the responsible handling of a matter that involves ongoing investigations," it added.

TSPSC was rocked by leakage of question papers last year, leading to either cancellation or postponement of some recruitment exams. This has triggered massive protests by unemployed youth.
London, Jan 10 : An Indian-origin dentist in England's West Midlands region has been ordered to pay 22,654 pounds by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for evading tax worth 53,528 pounds.

Jasbinder Singh, a resident of Coventry, was named publicly by the HMRC for deliberately defaulting on tax from April 6, 2012 to April 5, 2015 and April 6, 2015 to April 5, 2018, the Coventry Telegraph reported recently.

A person or business is named publicly if they have deliberately defaulted on more than 25,000 pounds in tax, according to HMRC. In the West Midlands, the biggest amount of tax avoided by a company was a whopping 243,647 pounds.

It was said to have been owned by Daily Drinks 007 Ltd in Smethwick, Birmingham. Golden City Limited in Selly Oak, Matthew Electronics Limited in Birmingham and Solihull Financial Services Limited are some of the other companies in the West Midlands that have failed to pay tax.

Last year, an Indian-origin manufacturer was found guilty in what the HMRC described as one of the country's largest ever "carousel" tax frauds.

Arif Patel was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for false accounting, conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, the onward sale of counterfeit clothing and money laundering.

He was accused of trying to steal around 97 million pounds via VAT repayment claims on false exports of textiles and mobile phones.

In 2019, two Indian-origin restaurateurs were banned from the formation, promotion or management of a company over tax evasion, which caused the UK tax department losses of more than 4 million pounds.

Sukdev Gill admitted that he caused companies he was a director of to conceal value-added tax (VAT) over six years, resulting in a loss of 1.97 million pounds to HMRC.

His business partner Inderjit Singh was disqualified for nine years for trading through successor companies, while also concealing VAT, resulting in a loss of 4.37 million pounds.

--IANS

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Gandhinagar, Jan 10 : US Consul General in Mumbai Mike Hankey on Wednesday highlighted shared values between India and Washington and said that the partmership between the two countries is one of the most consequential in the world today.

Addressing a seminar titled 'Shaping the Future: The Evolving India-US Bilateral Relationship' at 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 at Mahatma Mandir, he expressed a keen interest in India's developments in AI and the opportunity to test and evaluate these projects.

"The takeaway from this summit for the US is not just to sell products in India but to co-develop with Indian partners," Hankey said.

The seminar focused on enhancing the partnership between India and the US in various sectors and saw the presence of global leaders and dignitaries.

Highlighting the shared values between the two nations, he remarked, "The US and India partnership is one of the most consequential in the world today. Though we are two different countries, our constitutions resonate with the common phrase, 'We the People,' emphasising that people are at the heart of our value systems."

In a nod to the strong educational and cultural ties, Hankey revealed that "the Mumbai office has issued more student visas than any other office globally".

He also pointed out the significant presence of the Gujarati community in the US, with 1.5 million people from Gujarat contributing to the robust Indo-US relations."
Mumbai, Jan 10 : Acclaimed actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who is making his debut in the South film industry with 'Saindhav' starring Venkatesh Daggubati, during a pivotal sequence shot amidst the scenic backdrop of Sri Lanka experienced an unexpected tumble off the boat.

However, the actor emerged unhurt after the incident.

Recounting the moment, Nawazuddin shared: "We were shooting in Sri Lanka and I almost fell off a boat. A massive wave came our way and almost toppled meI flew off the boat. I was lucky to land on the boat again instead of the ocean."

The filmmakers decided to incorporate this unplanned yet thrilling moment into the final cut as they got it all on camera.

"They kept the shot in the film. I bet the audience will love it!"

'Saindhav' is a Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Sailesh Kolanu. It also stars Arya, Andrea Jeremiah, Shraddha Srinath, Baby Sara and Ruhani Sharma in pivotal roles.

The film will release on January 13.
Panaji, Jan 10 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that the government has accepted the report of Justice VK Jadhav on land grabbing cases and now 'No Man's Land' will be under government control.

Sawant added that 'No Man's Land' was sold by miscreants by forging documents to unsuspecting people.

"Justice Jadhav has made suggestions on the possession of such land by the authorities. We will take possession of those lands. Also government land, which was sold fraudulently, will come under our possession," Sawant said.

He said that nine people, including three government servants, were arrested in this connection.

"We will also get a police enquiry report in these cases and accordingly they will be charge sheeted," he said.

Sawant said that people can claim their land (which was sold as 'No Man's Land') from the government after showing their documents and it would be given back to them.

Sawant said that Justice Jadhav has suggested some measures to prevent such incidents, which will be followed.

In November 2023, a one-man commission headed by Retired Justice of Bombay High Court VK Jadhav had submitted its report on land grabbing cases to the state government.

After submitting the report to Pramod Sawant within ten months, Jadhav had said, "Now the ball is in the court of the government. I have completed the report in ten months. It has been done in record time."

According to Sawant, this land grabbing scam has been going on for the last 15 to 20 years, where lakhs of square meter of land was grabbed by miscreants.

They used to sell government land and 'No-Man's Land' to others with the aid of fake documents.

Sawant earlier had said that police treated the land grabbing cases like routine ones hence the government was forced to establish a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for thorough investigation and for nabbing the land grabbers.

"People used to lodge their complaints with respective police stations which then investigated and kept it (without forwarding it to departments concerned). This forced us to establish an SIT," Sawant said.

"Around 110 properties were grabbed by miscreants that belonged to those people who were staying in other countries. Even 'No Man's Land' was grabbed," he said.

The SIT, headed by Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch), Nidhin Valsan, was formed in July 2022 to look into complaints with regard to illegal land grabbing and conversion.
Kolkata, Jan 10 : The West Bengal BJP on Wednesday approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the denial of permission by Kolkata Police to conduct puja of Lord Ram at Kalighat on January 22, the occasion of the inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

The single-judge Bench of Justice Sengupta has admitted the petition and the matter is expected to come up for hearing next week.

Kolkataas iconic Kalighat Kali temple and the residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are also near the area where a local club, backed by the BJP, has proposed to organise the programme on January 22.

The petitioner Tushar Kanti Ghosh, who is also the chief of the media cell of the BJP in West Bengal, has claimed that although the local club Bahumukhi Seva Samity, had sought police permission at least a month ago to organise the worship of Lord Rama at Kalighat on January 22 the police had denied permission for it.

This programme is part of the BJPas statewide plans for live screening of the consecration ceremony on giant LED screens besides distributing aprasada among people and organising cultural programmes on the occasion.

According to Ghosh, Bahumukhi Seva Samity, also sought permission for the same from the police. However, he claimed, the police have denied permission without giving any valid reason and he had sought the intervention of the Calcutta High Court in the matter.
Bengaluru, Jan 10 : Assuring that the government would come up with a new clean mobility policy, Large and Medium Industries Minister, MB Patil, on Wednesday invited a Japanese delegation to consider investing in the sector.

In a meeting with a Japanese parliamentary delegation, Patil said that the government aims to position Karnataka as the premier destination for Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing.

The focus will be on the entire value chain related to e-mobility from battery and cell manufacturing, component production, original equipment manufacturers, charging and testing infrastructure, to research and development, the Minister explained.

Karnataka and Japan share many similarities which include their focus on major industries like auto and auto components, engineering and machine tools, chemicals, innovation and R and D, he added.

Saying that the state would like to partner with Japan in achieving its aspiration of becoming a global manufacturing hub, he emphasised that the Japanese Industrial Township in Tumakuru district is a testimony to the long-standing industrial collaboration between Karnataka and Japan.

Further, Japan India Startup Hub, an online platform has been facilitating bridging the gap between India and Japan leading to creating synergy to promote joint innovation in both economies.

Karnataka is home to over 525 Japanese companies operating across industry sectors, with around 70 companies having active manufacturing presence in the state, Patil said.

Members of Parliament from Japan Taro, Hideto, Susumu, Kazuhiro, Consul General in Bengaluru Nakane Tsutomu, and Deputy Consul General in Bengaluru Hokuto were among those who represented the delegation.

Industries Department Principal Secretary S Selvakumar and Commissioner Gunjan Krishna were also present.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar started the much-anticipated reading of the verdict on the disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs of the rival factions after the party split in June 2022, here on Wednesday evening.

Legislators of political parties, legislature officials, lawyers of both the contending parties  the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by ex- Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray  were present as the Speaker commenced reading the ruling in the Legislature Assembly hall.

Earlier in the day, in a brief media interaction, Narwekar said that his decision would be as per the law and would give justice to all the parties concerned, thus, making it "a benchmark judgment".

He added that his decision would be as per the provisions of the Constitution and in compliance with the Supreme Court directions in the matter.

Narwekar said he would attempt to make an understanding and interpretation of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution through his ruling, while ensuring justice to all the parties.

The Speaker's crucial ruling is likely to pave the way for the state's political future with possible ramifications on the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections this year.
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10 : The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha police busted interstate job scam and arrested three people in this connection from Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The accused were identified as Mohammad Sanaullah, his wife Sakshi Jain, hailing from Hyderabad and their local agent Surat Dalai, resident of Balasore.

The fraudsters were camping in Odisha since last few months and had been living in an Airbnb rented accommodation.

Sources claimed that the arrested couple are highly educated and very close to the mastermind of the accused based in New Delhi.

The racket, which was being run from Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad was operating in at least six states including Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam.

The trio has been arrested in connection with a case registered suo motu by EOW after it came across a suspicious job related advertisement published in a reputed vernacular newspaper on December 18 and 22 last year.

The accused defrauded persons by publishing a fake advertisement in the popular local daily in the name of an organisation, 'Aided Schools welfare Society' (Educational Organisation Supported by Govt).

"Applications from job aspirants have been sought through the advertisements for non-teaching posts in Aided Schools in Odisha such as Development Officer, Welfare Officer, School Supervisor, School Clerks, School Attenders and watchmen. The fake advertisements also mentioned specific eligibility requirements, remuneration and vacancies against the respective posts," said a senior EOW official.

The advertisements contained specific criteria and requirements like reservation, age relaxation etc as featured in job applications for any government and public sector companies.

The last date of online application for the above posts was January 10 while the salary offered was from Rs 28,000 to Rs 40, 000 per month. The sham agency has also been running a website, www.modelschools.ac.

The website and advertisement were designed so as to resemble the Government website for misleading and duping the unemployed youth. The job aspirants were misled to believe that the website of the fake agency was a bonafide Government website.

The accused used to collect Rs 1000 as application fee from each candidate and were reportedly planning to fleece the candidates by charging heavy amounts as Interview fee, security fee, verification fee.

The accused have been using various mule accounts and fake SIMs to avoid getting caught by any security agencies. They were running several YouTube channels to promote their scheme and the job advertisements especially targeting government job aspirants.

"So far, transactions of more than Rs 1.7 crore have been noticed in these bank accounts. Most of the money is withdrawn in cash through ATMs to leave no financial trail. So far, we have mainly probed the Odisha aspect of this scam. We will be alerting the police and law enforcement agencies of other concerned states," said the EOW official.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 10. China plans to build a cocoon processing plant in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Agriculture said, Trend reports.

Chairman of the Committee for Development of the Silk and Wool Industry, Ikboljon Ergashev, met with a representative of the Chinese company Anhui Mulberry Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Liu Qinghu.

At the meeting, the sides discussed issues of attracting Chinese investments to Uzbekistan, including the construction of a new cocoon processing enterprise, the creation of mulberry plantations, and jobs.

In particular, the representatives noted that 600 new workplaces will be created as a result of the project's realization.

Earlier, a delegation from Uzbekistan's Andijan area led by regional governor Shukhratbek Abdurakhmanov and over 300 Chinese businessmen, representatives of important firms, attended a large business forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin. The sides signed agreements and memoranda.
Imphal, Jan 10 : Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Wednesday said that a committee comprising all the tribal communities would be constituted to deliberate on demand for deletion/inclusion of Chin-Kuki from the Scheduled Tribes list of the state.

The proposed committee's recommendation would be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs for taking an appropriate decision, he said.

The Chief Minister's announcement comes amidst the ethnic violence between the non-tribals Meiteis and tribal Kukis broke out in the northeastern state on May 3 last year after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Manipur has 34 different communities.

The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has recently written to Manipur government to examine the representation Republican Party of India-Athawale's national Secretary y Maheshwar Thounaojam seeking deletion of the "Nomadic Chin-Kuki" from the list of Scheduled Tribes in Manipur.

The Union Ministry made it clear that recommendation from the state government is a prerequisite to take forward the case further.

Last year, Manipur's Special Secretary, Tribal Affairs and Hills Department in a letter to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs had said that "... it is requested that necessary action may be taken for deletion of 'Any Kuki Tribe' from the list of Scheduled Tribes for Manipur and also correct the name of 'Any Mizo (Lushai) Tribe' to 'Mizo' as approved by the state cabinet."

Talking to the media, Thounaojam said: "I got the reply from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs regarding deletion of the Nomadic Chin Kuki from the ST list. It is a very big positive reply from the central ministry."

He urged the Manipur government to send the recommendation for the same at the earliest.

"Two Manipur Ministers belonging to Kuki tribes have been playing a key role in demanding separate administration (equivalent to separate state) for the tribals. Hence, following Article 164 of the Constitution, I urge the Chief Minister to remove them from their Ministership," Thounaojam said.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), an apex body of tribals in Manipur, strongly opposed the government move and said that any further attempts by the Biren Singh led government to use the state machinery to target the Kuki-Zo community would only escalate the conflict, which would ultimately be detrimental to him and the state.

"This is a well-coordinated move by the state government and Meitei chauvinists, although removing a community from the ST list is no small task. The criteria used by India's government to declare communities as STs were decided by the Lokur Committee in 1965. The Manipur government is now trying to push for changing the criteria in its attempt to displace and deprive Kuki-Zo tribals of their rights and their land," it said in a statement.
Mumbai, Jan. 10 : In a significant verdict, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday ruled that the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is the "real" Shiv Sena.

The Speaker also held that the then Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu ceased to hold the post and the new Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale was the validly elected Chief Whip.

The Speaker's much-awaited verdict comes as a huge relief to Shinde and a major blow to the Shiv Sena-UBT, led by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, who had contested the claims of the breakaway group.
Kareena: No one ever come between me, my Chinese food. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Jan 10 : Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, who is an ardent social media user, on Wednesday expressed her fondness for Chinese food, and has called herself a 'foodie for life'.

The actress, who enjoys 11.4 million followers on Instagram, shared a picture of herself, wherein she can be seen seriously eating yummy food. She is wearing a red and black checkered shirt, and her hair is tied in a bun.

The location of the picture is not known, but it seems like she is sitting in a fine-dine restaurant.

The post was captioned as: "No one ever come between me and my Chinese food....I take it very seriously...#Foodie for life #Kapoors and their food."

Ace fashion designer and Kareena's best friend Manish Malhotra dropped red heart emojis.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Kareena was last seen in 'Jaane Jaan', 'The Buckingham Murders'.

She next has aThe Crewa and aSingham Againa in her kitty.
Mumbai : Newly elected speaker Rahul Narwekar being felicitated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai on Sunday, July 03, 2022.(IANS/Facebook). Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Jan 10 : In a major ruling, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday declared that the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real" Shiv Sena after the vertical split in the party on June 21, 2022.

Accordingly, the prospect of disqualification over all the 16 MLAs, including Shinde, was rendered infructuous, rejecting the contention of the Shiv Sena-UBT.

The Speaker also held that the then Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu ceased to reflect the will of the party to continue in the post, as the new Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale was the validly elected Chief Whip after the rival faction emerged.

The Speaker's much-awaited verdict came as a huge relief to Chief Minister Shinde and a major blow to the Shiv Sena-UBT, led by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, who had contested the claims of the breakaway group.

The Speaker has rejected several other claims and contentions made in the SS-UBT plea, challenging the Shinde faction, even as huge celebrations were started by the ruling Shiv Sena activists in Mumbai and other parts of the state.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : Actor Manoj Bajpayee, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming streaming series 'Killer Soup', has heaped praise on the director of the series, Abhishek Chaubey.

The actor feels that Abhishek is one of the best directors of all time.

"Abhishek Chaubey in my opinion, is one of the best directors of all time with whom I have had the pleasure of working. His approach is so simple and straightforward that working with him becomes effortless."

He further mentioned, "He doesn't just direct you but even guides and nurtures you. He has given me a lot of hope and encouragement as an actor."

Konkona Sensharma lauded Chaubey for his patience and vision, as she said: "I have known Abhishek for many years, ever since we worked on 'Omkara' together. I have known him very closely and have always been very inspired by his work and wanted to work with him. He has a calm, composed demeanour with an astuteness, which usually is a rare sight since set environments are usually very stressful, especially for the directors shuffling between tasks."

'Killer Soup', which stars Konkona Sensharma and Manoj Bajpayee as the leads, is about an aspiring home chef who conspires to replace her husband with her lover.

The series streams on Netflix from January 11, 2024.
Kolkata, Jan 10 : West Bengal Advocate General, Kishore Datta, cannot appear on behalf of the state government in the cash for school job case as he has already taken the brief of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, a prime accused in the same case. Justice Amrita Sinha said on Wednesday.

The development took place after Justice Amrita Sinha, while hearing a matter related to the school job case, asked the Advocate General whether he was appearing on behalf of any accused in the same case.

When the Advocate General informed the court that he was appearing on behalf of Bhadra at a different Bench of the Calcutta High Court, Justice Sinha questioned how the same counsel could appear on behalf of the state and the accused in the same case. She also observed that this phenomenon can create a conflict of interest and for the sake of transparency, the Advocate General should refrain from representing the state in the school job case.

According to experts in legal circles since the time Kishore Datta took the brief on behalf of Bhadra while being the Advocate General at the same time, they had doubts that someday or the other this question of "conflict of interest" might surface.

"That happened on Wednesday," said a senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court who did not wish to be named.

On Wednesday, Justice Sinha also observed that the investigation in the school job case appears to be a never-ending process, the future of the candidates was becoming uncertain with every passing day since.

She also advised the state government to take the initiative to come out with a solution by initiating a discussion of its counsel with the counsels of the petitioners.

The next hearing in the matter at her Bench will be on February 6 and Justice Sinha directed all the parties to be present at the court on that day.
Indian-American in Ohio wants cops to step up action after robberies in store. Image Source: IANS News

New York, Jan 10 : An Indian-origin convenience store owner in the US state of Ohio has called for increased police action with robbers frequently targeting his shop despite a robust security system put up by him.

Rakesh "Rocky" Patel has been selling beer, wine, and groceries at City Foods on East 12th Street and Chester Avenue in Cleveland since 2018, the WEWS-TV channel reported.

Patel, who claims to have spent thousands of dollars to protect his store -- from cameras to door locks, said one more security option could put him out of business.

In one of the surveillance videos from December, seen by the news channel, a man is seen grabbing alcohol from a top shelf. An employee is thrown to the floor while trying to keep him from getting away with the bottles.

"Before they used to cover their face and come, and now they donat even have fear... It happened like three weeks in a row -- one week continuously, like every day," Patel said.

"Iam working hard, paying taxes, and I feel sorry that Iam working hard. I work double so I can help college and everything for my son," he told the TV channel.

Patel, who has had to rearrange store shelves and put the expensive stuff higher up, thinks itas the same two or three people who have been at it. "They were grabbing like four or five -- those are like $40 bottles," the store owner said, adding that he cannot afford to hire a security or off-duty police officer as the "cost goes so high I canat even stay in business".

According to the police, the theft investigations are very active and the area is under special attention until arrests are made. But Patel, who is also worried about his employees, wants more police patrols at night when the crimes are mostly happening.

--IANS

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Manipur govt yet to give permission to use ground in Imphal for Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Image Source: IANS News

Imphal, Jan 10 : A few hours after the Congress leaders announced Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh's decision to turn down the Opposition party's request to use the Hapta Kangjeibung Palace compound ground in Imphal for launching the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by former Congress party President Rahul Gandhi on January 14, the state Home Department asked the District Magistrate of Imphal East to give limited permission to the Congress to initiate the January 14 event.

The Imphal East district administration in an order said."........considering the prevailing law and order situation and circumstances, only flagging off of the yatra with a limited number of participants, is hereby allowed on January, 14, 2024 to prevent any untoward incident and disturbance in law and order. The number and names of the participants shall be provided in advance to this office to enable this office to take all necessary precautionary measures."

Earlier, after meeting the Chief Minister, state Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh said that the party was now considering three other alternative venues to launch the yatra.

"The BJP Government's refusal to use the public ground for a non-political purpose is very unfortunate and undemocratic. We are now looking for three alternative venues of private lands to launch the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra through a big rally," Meghachandra Singh told the media.

Terming the Manipur Government's decision as murder of democracy and violation of peoples' right, the Congress leader said that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be launched as scheduled by the AICC.

He said that on January 14 several leaders of the party, including party President Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Ministers and MPs from across the country will gather in Manipur for a peaceful rally.

On Monday, Congress leaders led by Meghachandra Singh met Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi and requested him to provide permission to hold the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra launching meeting at the Hapta Kangjeibung ground.

"The Chief Secretary assured us that the government will inform us about the permission by Monday evening itself," a Congress leader said.

He said that the party had applied to the government on January 2 seeking permission for the launching of the yatra at Hapta Kangjeibung.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : In a relief of sorts for former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday dismissed the Shiv Sena's plea to disqualify the 13 MLAs of the Shiv Sena-UBT faction.

Mumbai, Jan 10 (IANS) In a relief of sorts for former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday dismissed the Shiv Senaas plea to disqualify the 13 MLAs of the Shiv Sena-UBT faction.

Filed by Shiv Sena Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale, the Speaker found the plea as having major inconsistencies and discrepancies and rejected his grounds to disqualify all the MLAs of the Thackeray faction.

With this and the other aspects of the Speakersa much-anticipated verdict, former Chief Minister and SS-UBT President Uddhav Thackeray has lost the original Shiv Sena founded by his father, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, to CM Eknath Shinde.

However, in what is viewed as a consolation, his legislative flock of 13 MLAs -- among them his son and ex-Minister Aditya Thackeray -- have not been disqualified and will continue till the remainder of their terms, before the Assembly elections due this year.

The Speakeras ruling was strongly flayed by SS-UBT leaders including Aditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, and other leaders, who described it as "on expected lines" as they had been predicting in the recent past.

Aditya Thackeray termed the ruling as a "blatant murder of the Constitution and democracy", and said that the party would challenge it in the Supreme Court.

Raut said that "this is a deep conspiracy to finish off the Shiv Sena founded by the late Balasaheb Thackeray", the Shiv Sena cannot be destroyed by the "Gujarati lobby", and vowed that the SS-UBT would continue the legal battle.

Calling it as a "black day" for the country and the Marathis, Raut also questioned the credentials of the Speaker, the CM, and the Chief Whip, wondering how after 40 MLAs defected the entire party could be handed over to the rival faction.
Kolkata, Jan 10 : The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld an earlier order by a single-judge Bench putting an interim stay on issuing a charge sheet against any BJP legislator accused by the ruling Trinamool Congress of insulting the National Anthem.

The Division Bench also said that no BJP legislator accused in the case can be summoned by police for questioning in the matter without prior permission, till further court orders.

On December 7 last year, the single-judge Bench of Justice Jay Sengupta had stayed any investigation in the matter till January 17. However, in the same month the state government approached the division bench challenging the order.

The incident occurred on November 29 when Trinamool Congress legislators sporting black shirts and led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, were protesting near the statue of BR Ambedkar within the Assembly premises against the non-release of central funds to the state government under various centrally-sponsored projects.

Towards the end of the protest, a group of BJP MLAs led by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari arrived at the Assembly premises.

The legislators, including the LoP, were seen shouting "thieves", "thieves" while pointing at the protesting demonstrations.

Later the Chief Minister complained to the Speaker that the BJP legislators were raising derogatory slogans while the ruling party MLAs were singing the National Anthem, deeming it an insult.

Later three Trinamool Congress legislators filed a complaint in the matter following which the cops of Hare Street police station in central Kolkata started an investigation in the matter by registering an FIR.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 10. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev familiarized with the presentation on the development of trade and services infrastructure, as well as construction of cultural and tourism facilities in Uzbekistan, Trend reports.

Following the directions issued at the last conference, proposals for maximizing the country's tourism potential, developing new circumstances for tourists, and increasing the number of tourist facilities were considered.

The projects include the development of contemporary recreation centers in the scenic locations of Shahrisabz and Parkent districts, as well as the establishment of hostels on the Maidanak plateau.

Special attention is paid to the revitalization of markets and turning them into attractive places for tourists. The President emphasized the need to preserve the unique features of the markets and turn them into "visiting cards" of Uzbekistan. Projects for the construction of market complexes in historical cities were also presented.

In the context of tourism development, the President emphasized the importance of studying the experience of Turkiye and Arab countries, as well as involving foreign specialists in the design.

The presentation also mentioned intentions to restore the Tashkent State Circus and develop a training facility.

The President provided detailed directions for finalizing and implementing the presented projects.
Jaipur, Jan 10 : Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that no invitation is needed to visit the Ram Temple.

"No invitation is needed to visit the Ram Temple. Whenever I like to go there, I will visit the temple. This is a religious issue and we should not do politics over this. We all believe in Lord Ram and will continue to believe in him but the way BJP wants to take advantage of the Ram Temple inauguration is wrong," Pilot said during a press conference.

He said that the price of crude oil in the world market has halved but the Central government is not reducing the price.

"Doing politics over emotional issues is wrong. I don't think it will make much difference," he said.

He said that people should have faith over the constitutional institutions that exist in the country.

He said that the Election Commission and the courts should be seen to be impartial and should work impartially.

"We had complained to the Election Commission about the appointment of a BJP candidate in Karapur as minister. As the model code of conduct was in place, not even an employee can be transferred under the model code of conduct. You cannot appoint anyone and the BJP government was appointing ministers. This has never happened in our country," he said.

He said that the Election Commission did not do anything but what the public did is the final decision. "You cannot mislead voters," Pilot said.

He said that he is confident that the INDIA bloc will defeat the NDA in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Pilot also took a dig over the internal conflicts among the BJP ministers.

"It is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to allot departments to the ministers. Senior BJP leader Kirori Lal Meena, who fought for BJP, was excluded," he said.

He said that people in BJP were expecting that they will be given some posts in the new government set up but they have been left out.

"What we see from outside is that justice was not done to people associated with BJP who work hard for the party," he said.

--IANS

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New Delhi: Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia leaves his residence after meeting his ailing wife. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 10 : A Delhi court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of AAP MP Sanjay Singh and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia until January 20.

Singh, who had filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, has been directed by the court to be taken to the Returning Officer to collect the election certificate on January 12 under appropriate security.

Special Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court also asked the jail authorities to consider Singh's application sympathetically, requesting a table and chair and permission to carry some books in judicial custody.

Additionally, interim bail was granted to Sarvesh Mishra until the disposal of his regular bail application in the same case, where he is charged alongside Singh.

The court allowed time for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a fresh list of unrelied documents related to the case.

On January 6, the court had allowed Singh to be physically present to file his renomination papers for the forthcoming elections to the Upper House.

A day before, the court had granted permission to Singh to sign forms and documents for his RS renomination.

The judge had directed the jail superintendent to facilitate Singh's visit to the Returning Officer on January 8 and 10 for the submission and scrutiny of his nomination papers.

The court had specified that Singh could remain at the office until the nomination and scrutiny process were complete.

However, the court had imposed restrictions during these visits, prohibiting the use of mobile phone, communication with other accused, suspects, or witnesses in the case, and addressing the press or holding public meetings.

Singh has also been permitted to meet his counsel and family members to facilitate the renomination and scrutiny processes. Singh had filed an application submitting that his current term as a Rajya Sabha member is expiring on January 27.

On Singh seeking direction to the Tihar Jail Superintendent to allow him to sign the documents, the court had passed the order on January 5, saying that the prison superintendent must ensure that Singh's signatures are permitted to be taken on the said documents and he is also permitted to meet his counsel for half-an-hour to discuss the modalities in connection with the filing of his Rajya Sabha renomination.

"It is being directed that if the documents are presented by the counsel for the accused before the jail authorities on January 6, the Jail Superintendent must ensure that the signatures of the accused are permitted," the judge had said.

On January 11, the AAP MP had moved the Delhi High Court, seeking bail in the money laundering case in connection with the alleged excise policy scam.

The move came after Judge Nagpal had, on December 22, dismissed Singh's bail plea. On December 21, the trial court had also extended the AAP leader's judicial custody in the case and had asked the ED to provide a copy of its fifth supplementary charge sheet and related documents to him.

Denying bail to Singh, the judge had said that the evidence demonstrated the accused's involvement in money laundering and that there were reasonable grounds to believe in the guilt based on the connection to proceeds of crime from scheduled offences investigated by the CBI.

The ED had arrested Singh on October 4 after carrying out searches at his residence in the North Avenue area.
Gurugram, Jan 10 : The Gurugram Police on Wednesday issued a look out circular and reward of Rs 50,000 each against two absconding accused -- Balraj Gill and Ravi Banga, in connection with the murder case of former Gurugram-based model and girlfriend of slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli, an official said.

Divya Pahuja, 27, was allegedly shot dead on January 2 by Abhijeet Singh, the owner of Hotel City Point, where she was staying. According to the police, Divya and Abhijeet were in a relationship and the latter killed the woman in a fit of rage after she refused to delete some of his objectionable photos from her mobile phone.

It is being supected that Balraj and Ravi -- Abhijeet's friends dumped Divya's lifeless body somewhere in Punjab.

"During the investigation, the police found that Balraj Singh Gill, a resident of Sector-5, Panchkula, and Ravi Banga, a resident of Gurudwara Road Model Town, Hisar, were involved in the murder of Divya Pahuja. All possible efforts are being made by six teams of the Crime Branch of Gurugram Police for their arrest," a police statement noted.

The statement further said various teams of the Gurugram police have been raiding multiple locations to trace and apprehend Balraj and Ravi.

A police officer said that the name and identity of anyone providing information about the absconding accused would be kept confidential.

"They could also flee abroad to escape, hence the Gurugram Police have issued look out circular so that both the accused cannot leave the country," the police statement read.

In connection with Divya's murder, the police have so far arrested four persons including the prime accused, Abhijeet Singh, his aides Om Prakash, Hemraj, and a woman, Megha. The woman had helped Abhijeet in hiding, throwing away the murder weapon, documents, and personal belongings of Divya Pahuja.

Om Prakash and Hemraj had helped Abhijeet to drag Divya's body into the boot of a BMW car.

Later, Balraj and Ravi fled with the body.

Megha told the police that when she reached the hotel, she noticed Divya's body.

Abhijeet then asked her to dispose of the belongings of the deceased woman, but she was too scared to follow his instructions, sources said.

According to sources, Megha was working with an online food delivery company.

Police said that Divya's body might have been dumped near Patiala.

Searches are being made in the area by special teams, accompanied by divers.

The police have recovered the BMW car which was used to take the body to Patiala but have not recovered the body yet.

During questioning, Abhijeet told the police that Divya used to blackmail him and also extorted money.

Divya came in contact with Abhijeet through a jailed gangster, Binder Gujjar.

Gujjar had asked Abhijeet to assist with his children's education and during that phase, Abhijeet came in contact with Divya.

Binder Gujjar is said to be the prime conspirator in the alleged "fake encounter" of gangster Sandeep Gadoli, along with the Gurugram Police, which took place in Mumbai in 2016.

Divya was the prime accused in the case. Later, she was arrested in connection with the gangster's murder, and she spent seven years in jail.

She was granted bail last year in June by the Bombay High Court.

Divya's family has alleged that her murder was conspired by Sandeep Gadoli's family members, along with Abhijeet.
Chandigarh, Jan 10 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the molestation of girls in a government elementary school in Majitha town, besides calling for the dismissal of Education Minister Harjot Bains.

In a statement here, Majithia said in case, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann did not dismiss the Education Minister immediately, it would be surmised that he was siding with the perpetrator behind the heinous act instead of the victims and their parents.

He also questioned why the Chief Minister had not visited the victim families till now.

"You have time to attend Vipassna retreats and ferry your boss Arvind Kejriwal across the country but you donat have time to visit adolescent victims of sexual abuse."

Majithia also demanded the arrest of teacher Rakesh Kumar, who had allegedly molested the adolescent girls. He said it was condemnable that the teacher had not been arrested even seven days after registration of a FIR in the case. He demanded the dismissal of the teacher from government service, alleging that "this has not been done till now because Rakesh Kumar is being protected by AAP leaders".

--IANS

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New York, Jan 10 : Long thought to only infect the respiratory tract, a new study has found that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common infection in children and senior adults, can infect nerve cells, cause nerve damage and enter the spinal cord, potentially granting access to the central nervous system.

First discovered in 1956, RSV can cause mild symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, and fever or lead to more severe conditions such as pneumonia or bronchiolitis.

The study, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, is the first to prove that RSV can penetrate nerve cells and may provide the clearest link between RSV and reported neurological symptoms in children.

RSV has been previously detected in the spinal fluid of children with seizures.

In addition, 40 per cent of RSV-positive children under the age of 2 have shown acute encephalopathy, brain damage that can result in confusion, memory loss or cognitive difficulties.

The findings underscore the potential long-term impacts of the disease, as well as the importance of preventative measures such as the two RSV vaccines approved by the FDA in 2023.

"This is the most common respiratory virus in the first years of life as well as an impactful virus among the elderly," said Dr. Giovanni Piedimonte, professor of paediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology at Tulane University in the US.

"This adds a new dimension to the importance of RSV vaccines for both the elderly and mothers to protect their babies," he added.

Researchers studied the virus using 3D peripheral nerve cultures grown from stem cells and rat embryos.

After finding they can be infected by RSV, researchers found the virus induced the release of chemokines -- proteins that fight infections by controlling immune cells -- and caused significant inflammation.

With low levels of RSV infection, the nerves became hyper-reactive to stimulation. At higher levels, they observed a progressive degeneration of the nerve and increased neurotoxicity due to excess inflammation.

"Until this study, the theory was that the inflammatory response was indirectly activating the nerves," Piedimonte said.

"This study shows that not only does that happen, but the virus can penetrate directly into the nerves."

The nerve hyperreactivity could explain why children who get RSV are later more likely to have asthmatic symptoms, Piedimonte said.

The study also found that RSV could enter the spinal cord via peripheral nerves despite not having the ability to enter the spinal neurons directly. More research is needed to explore that mechanism, but Piedimonte theorises that by using the peripheral nerves to enter the spinal cord, RSV can bypass the blood-brain barrier, enter the central nervous system and infect the brain.

If confirmed, it could signal a connection between RSV and other neurological or developmental disorders, Piedimonte said.

"If indeed itas confirmed in future studies that viruses like this are able to access the central nervous system, that opens a huge Pandoraas box," he added.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 10 : The IT sector is expected to post a weak quarter with a sequential decline, HDFC Securities said in a report.

This is due to increased furloughs, Q3 seasonality, a prolonged deal conversion cycle, and compression in discretionary and renewals.

Positive factors for the quarter include the ramp-up of mega deals (BSNL/Verizon for TCS/HCLT) and consistent deal activity.

However, most of the supply-side indicators, such as tech job postings, remain soft and do not signal any recovery 'yet'. Although the recent trajectory of rates can support valuation multiples (high inverse correlation), it's unlikely that tech budgets will improve materially, the report said.

This is because a 'slowdown' in economic growth remains a baseline scenario, leading enterprises to prioritise cost optimisation over transformation initiatives.

"In the Indian IT landscape, we expect three developments: (1) growth divergence within the sector in the near term, (2) margin recovery with favourable supply-side factors, and (3) mid-tier IT sustaining its relative outperformance," the report said.

Elara Securities said in a report that earnings for IT may decline 3 per cent YoY as furloughs weigh down on operating margins. IT may face a challenging quarter, with furloughs weighing on operating margins in an already-weak quarter. Expect the disconnect between revenue growth and deal wins to continue.
Lucknow, Jan 10 : Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam, who has been going against the party line rather frequently these days, has now said that the city of Ghaziabad should be named 'Aditya Nagar' after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

He has said that till now, no district in Uttar Pradesh is named Aditya Nagar.

"If the name of Ghaziabad is to be changed, then it should be renamed Aditya Nagar after Yogi Adityanath. There is no harm in changing the name of Ghaziabad but what will be the name? Ghaziabad is a very popular name. But still, if the Uttar Pradesh government wants the name to be changed, I demand that it should be named after Yogi Adityanath," he said.

The Congress spokesman, when asked to react to Krishnam's suggestion, refused to comment.

It is noteworthy that the Municipal Corporation of Ghaziabad has passed a resolution to rename Ghaziabad. Corporation mayor Sunita Dayal said the proposal as well as the suggestions, which include three names -- Harnandi Nagar, Gaj Prastha and Doodheshwernath Nagar -- will be sent to CM Yogi Adityanath who will take a final call on the matter.

Hindu organisations have also put up their posters on the name boards of Ghaziabad at many places and have already demanded the change of name.

Besides, many public representatives and social organisations have also demanded change of name.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : SpiceJet's Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Singh revealed the airline's exclusive rights to operate flights to Lakshadweep at the annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Singh said that the carrier is set to launch flights to Agatti Island, the sole airfield in the region, eliminating the current route through Kochi.

With SpiceJet's exclusive rights under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for Lakshadweep, he expressed the intention to commence these exclusive flights soon.

This development follows a stakeholders' meeting where it was decided that a significant portion of the recently infused Rs 2,250 crore funds would be allocated to expanding the airline and its network.

As per airline officials, during the AGM, Singh emphasised the positive impact of this fund infusion, saying that it would contribute to a stronger and more resilient SpiceJet, bringing grounded planes back into operation.

He also disclosed plans to launch flights connecting Ayodhya with multiple cities in the country, expanding the airline's reach.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 10 : Supertech Group Chairman R.K. Arora, arrested in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) registered by the Enforcement Directorate, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court for three months interim bail, citing health issues.s

Arora informed the court that he has lost around 10 kg since his arrest and needs urgent medical assistance.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala adjourned the matter for further hearing on January 12.

Arora's plea says that he was referred to the state-run Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital by jail authorities, where he underwent examinations and received prescriptions.

Despite medical attention, the doctors at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital noted a lack of improvement in Arora's health.

The plea argues for his immediate release on interim bail to facilitate accurate diagnosis and urgent medical treatment. It says that prolonged custody could jeopardise Arora's health, leading to intolerable consequences for him and his family.

The plea also underscores the disparity between medical facilities in prisons and those available in private hospitals, stating that jail facilities are inadequate for monitoring the health of an individual suffering from multiple serious ailments.

It says that the jail lacks the specialised and intensive care necessary for Arora's condition.

In October last year, the court had refused to grant default bail to Arora.

Arora had sought bail on ground that the financial probe agency had filed an incomplete charge sheet against him. He claimed that the ED had filed an incomplete charge sheet just to defeat his "statutory right" to get default bail in case the probe agency fails to file a charge sheet within the statutorily period granted by the law to complete the investigation from the arrest of an accused.

On September 26, the judge had taken cognisance of the charge sheet against Arora and dismissed his application, observing that the ED had completed the investigation against the accused.

Arrested on June 27 after the ED re-attached properties worth Rs 40 crore belonging to him in this matter, Arora had said that he was arrested without being informed about the grounds of arrest. The court, however, rejected his claim, noting that the probe agency complied with the relevant provisions of law.

The probe agency had, on August 24, filed the charge sheet against Arora and eight others in the matter. The accused have been accused of defrauding at least 670 home buyers of Rs 164 crore.

The prosecution had earlier apprised the court that the company and its directors had indulged in a criminal conspiracy to cheat people by collecting funds from prospective home buyers as advance against flats booked in real estate projects, but failed to adhere to the agreed obligation of providing possession of the flats on time and ended up defrauding the general public.

The money laundering case stems from a bunch of FIRs registered by the police in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. It is alleged that money collected through real estate business was invested in several firms through money laundering, as the funds from the home buyers were later transferred to several accounts of firms involved in other businesses.

Arora couldn't provide satisfactory answers, which led to his arrest.

Several FIRs have been filed against Arora and Supertech. They also took loans from banks, and their accounts reportedly turned into non-performing assets.
Gandhinagar, Jan 10 : Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that India and UAE aspire to expand their bilateral trade to $100 billion.

He also highlighted efforts that were underway to facilitate rupee-dirham trade.

Addressing the UAE India Business Summit at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, the minister invited investors to participate in India's growth story that was backed with a demographic advantage of a young, aspirational population.

Goyal said that both the countries were looking for newer propositions from industry and business to further enhance their partnership.

He said bilateral trade has increased under the India UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). He also highlighted key collaborations such as the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor and initiatives to promote Rupay and facilitate direct rupee-dirham trade.

The minister praised the exceptional leadership of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in elevating the relationship between the two countries.

He emphasised on exploring new partnerships, identifying opportunities, and expanding cooperation in various sectors. He envisioned the India-UAE partnership as a defining alliance of the 21st century, rooted in shared history and aspirations for mutual progress.

Goyal highlighted the UAE-India business relationship across various sectors, such as the plan to establish a Bharat Park in the Jebel Ali Free Zone under the guidance of DP World Group CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.

He expressed confidence that this initiative would open myriad opportunities for international trade between the two nations and beyond, significantly elevating India's global visibility.

The minister also praised Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, Yousuf Ali Abdulqader, in fortifying bilateral ties, mentioning the significant investments being made in India's growth story, such as the establishment of a shopping mall in Kashmir.

Drawing attention to the burgeoning defence, cultural, and economic relations between the nations, Goyal lauded the UAE's political stability, business-friendly policies, and infrastructural advancements as conducive factors for mutual growth and prosperity.

--IANS

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Washington, Jan 10 : Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign may be drawing to a close after bringing national and international attention to this -- as he has said about himself -- "a skinny guy with a funny last name".

Washington, Jan 10 (IANS) Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamyas presidential campaign may be drawing to a close after bringing national and international attention to this -- as he has said about himself -- "a skinny guy with a funny last name".

Ramaswamy failed to qualify for the Republican primary debate that takes place on Wednesday, just five days ahead of the Iowa caucuses that will kick off the Republican presidential primaries.

He stopped TV advertising some weeks before and is also skipping the primaries in Illinois, where his name is not among the candidates, who include all the other Republicans in the fray: former President Donald Trump, former Governor Nikki Haley, Governor Ron DeSantis, and former Governor Chris Christie.

There are reports that his campaign staff are already looking around for jobs in anticipation of his exit from the fray.

The 38-year-old from Ohio is at Number 4 in polls for the Republican presidential nomination, behind Trump, who is the front-runner by miles, DeSantis and Haley, but ahead of Christie.

And that is a remarkable achievement for a newcomer to politics.

But unlike another outsider to politics, Trump, who won the nomination in 2016, Ramaswamy doesnat appear to be anywhere close to his goal.

Although he is averaging 4.4 per cent in RealClearPoliticsa aggregated average of national polls, he is also fourth in Iowa and a distant sixth in New Hampshire, the second state in the Republican primaries.

Born to immigrant parents from India, Ramaswamy made millions as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and wrote a book slamming woke to test the waters for a plunge into politics. After jumping into the race, he sought to project himself as a candidate in mould of former President Trump.

"Iam more similar to Trump in 2015 than Trump today is to Trump in 2015," Ramaswamy said in an interview with British actor and podcast host Russell Brand. He had toed the former Presidentas line on most of his policies, which led to speculation that he was actually positioning himself for Trumpas running mate, which he strenuously denied.

The fast-talking Ramaswamy became a fixture on news channels, debating and arguing with hosts across the political spectrum. But he soon had more time on conservative and right-wing media channels, not out of choice probably but by compulsion because of his extreme right-wing views.

But his numbers were climbing and soon US media was brimming with who-is-Ramaswamy profiles.

Huge Gurdon, editor-in-chief of conservative publication Washington Examiner, wrote that every presidential election throws up an "interesting candidate" who is "evidently intelligent, highly unconventional, and less like any of the others than they are like each other".

And Ramaswamy had become the "interesting candidate" of the 2024 election cycle.

He went on to write that Ramaswamy is now longer that interesting candidate as he had become the "most tedious and superfluous candidate of all".

Ramaswamy was clearly the star of the first Republican debate as he forced himself into most of the conversation, which included sharp jabs from Christie, who said he sounded like the AI app ChatGPT and zinged him for pinching the "skinny guy with an odd last name" line from President Barack Obama, who had called himself a "skinny kid with a funny last name" in a speech in 2004.

Haley told Ramaswamy: "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows."

She went to call him "scum" in a subsequent debate for bringing up her daughteras use of TikTok, which Haley wanted banned.

But the more people got to know Ramaswamy the less they grew to like him.

Gurdon summed up Ramaswamyas situation cuttingly in the same piece as cited above: "His campaign is now exposed as a vanity project, and every day he hangs around like a bad smell stinking up the primary the more he helps diffuse Republican support for someone else who could win and go on to beat Biden in November next year."
Kolkata, Jan 10 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal have got some clues about a portion of the proceeds of the alleged scam being diverted through the hawala route to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Earlier, an ED counsel had told a Special PMLA court here that an accused in the case -- Trinamool Congress leader Shankar Adhya, who is currently in the central agency's custody, was responsible for first converting several crores of those proceeds into foreign currencies and then diverting the same through the hawala route, mainly to Dubai.

Sources in the know of things said that the ED came across a close link of the accused with a Bangladesh-based hawala operator who was responsible for arranging this fund diversion.

Sources said that the arrested Trinamool Congress leader is currently being questioned by the ED.

On Wednesday, Adhya was taken to a hospital in Kolkata for his medical check-up.

He had then told the media persons that he was innocent, and had been a victim of a conspiracy.

However, he did not speak much about the conspiracy part.

"The ED will surely look into the matter. I am neither a ration dealer nor I own any rice mill," he said.

He also refuted the charges against him of being involved in foreign exchange dealings irregularities.

"This is not possible since it is done under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India," he said.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : In a significant but "please-all" verdict, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday recognised the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real" Shiv Sena, but declined to disqualify the MLAs of both groups, including the Shiv Sena-UBT led by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray, and ensured the survival of the ruling MahaYuti government.

The Speaker, in his much-awaited verdict read out over more than 100 minutes, rejected the disqualification petitions filed by both the ruling Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena-UBT, and recognised the Shiv Senaas Bharat Gogawale as the Chief Whip, on various grounds.

Accordingly, the threat of disqualification of all the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Shinde, and the 14 MLAs of Shiv Sena-UBT was dispelled, removing any immediate threats to the survival of the state government.

While the ruling Shiv Sena welcomed the verdict with celebrations, distribution of sweets and aVa signs calling it as the "triumph of truth", the opposition Shiv Sena-UBT termed it as a "murder of democracy and the Constitution" and vowed to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

In his detailed judgement on the issue, the Speaker held that the group led by Shinde was the real "Shiv Sena" as it commanded a majority in the legislature and also in the partyas National Executive.

Narwekar also rejected the changes in the leadership structure by Thackeray in 2018, saying they were not in conformity with the Shiv Sena Constitution of 1999, nor was there a record of these amendments with the Election Commission.

The Speaker further held that the then Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu ceased to reflect the will of the party to continue in the post, and said that the breakaway factionas Gogawale was the validly-elected Chief Whip after the rival factions emerged on June 21, 2022.

The rulings by the Speaker in his much-awaited verdict came as a huge relief to Shinde but dealt a major blow to Thackeray, whose faction had contested the claims of the breakaway group.

With the disqualification petitions of both sides getting dismissed by the Speaker, Shinde is left with the original Shiv Sena, the validity of the Chief Whip, and all the 16 MLAs will not be disqualified, while Thackeray has lost the party founded by his father, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, but none of his 14 MLAs have been disqualified.

The Speaker has rejected several other claims and contentions and arguments of the Shiv Sena-UBT challenging the Shinde faction, and Thackeray termed it as "a plot, murder of democracy and contempt of the Supreme Court", especially after Narwekar met Shinde on Sunday, just three days before his expected verdict.

Thackeray said that now a new route has been shown to break and take away parties through the legislature route which is tantamount to a contempt of the apex court, and demanded that the Supreme Court should initiate suo moto proceedings against the Speaker who had violated all the directives of the apex court.

Reiterating that he had predicted the outcome of "match-fixing" on Tuesday itself, Thackeray reaffirmed that the Shiv Sena cannot be eliminated by such tactics, "the Shiv Sena can never belong to Shinde" and asserted that the legal battle will continue in the court.

He repeated his earlier warnings that democracy was in peril, and now a new question has arisen whether the Supreme Court will remain asupremea or will there be something else.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
New Delhi: Union Minister and senior BJP Leader Smriti Irani addresses during the press conference on Billionaire George Soros's PM remarks, at BJP HQ in New Delhi on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo: Anupam Gautam/IANS). Image Source: IANS News

Patna, Jan 10 : BJP leader Smriti Irani on Wednesday slammed the Congress for turning down the invitation to attend the Ram Mandir inauguration on January 22.

"It is not surprising that the Congress will not attend the inauguration of Ram Mandir. Sonia Gandhi has even filed documents saying that there is no relevance of Lord Ram. Today, Congress has proved again what it stands for after refusing to go to the Pran Pratishta of Ram Lala in Ayodhya," Irani said.

She said that Congress and other political parties of "INDI alliance" also proved that they are against Sanatan Dharma.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra had invited leaders from various political parties for the inauguration ceremony of Ram Mandir on January 22.

The invitation was also send to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Adir Ranjan Choudhary

However, Congress has declined the invitation for the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, saying that Lord Ram is worshipped by millions of people and the religion is a personal matter however the RSS and BJP have made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya.

"Honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly a RSS/BJP event," the Congress in a statement said.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : A Delhi court on Wednesday said that it will hear, on January 16, the bail application moved by Neelam Azad, one of the six accused in the December 13, 2023, Parliament security breach case.

Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Courts adjourned the matter, citing the unavailability of the investigating officer of the case.

On January 2, the court had directed the Delhi Police to file a response to the bail application.

Azad has sought immediate release from the custody of Delhi Police. Terming her arrest as 'illegal', she said it was in contravention of Article 22 (1) of the Constitution.

All the six accused are currently in police custody.

Azad, along with three other accused persons, was arrested from the Parliament premises on December 13, and on December 21, a Delhi court extended their police custody till January 5.

Azad has challenged the legality of the remand order dated December 21 on the ground that she wasnat allowed to consult a legal practitioner of her choice to defend herself during the proceedings of the remand application dated December 21 moved by the state.

She has further alleged that she was produced after 29 hours, which was contrary to the law.

The plea read: "The petitioner has placed reliance on the words 'choice' and 'defended' in Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India to emphasise that it is an admitted fact that the state prevented her from having legal representation of her choice, and when she was produced before the court, although an advocate was indeed appointed by the court, she wasnat given the opportunity to choose the most suitable advocate from the DLSA."

It said the court has made a fatal error by adjudicating the remand application first and then asking the petitioner if she wanted to be defended by a legal practitioner of her choice.

"Thus, the right guaranteed under Article 22(1) of the Constitution was grossly violated, making the remand order dated December 21 unlawful," the plea read.

Delhi Police have told a court that the accused in the case were "hardened criminals", consistently altering their statements. The police have registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused and are investigating the security lapse issue too. The police had informed the court that they have included Sections 16 (terrorism) and 18 (conspiracy for terrorism) of the UAPA in the charges against the accused.

There was a major security breach on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attacks on December 13, when two of the accused jumped onto the floor of the Lok Sabha, released yellow gas, and raised slogans before being overpowered by the MPs present in the House. The Delhi High Court had on December 22 stayed a trial court's order directing Delhi Police to supply Azad a copy of the FIR.
Gandhinagar, Jan 10 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attended the Global FinTech Forum at the GIFT city here.

"Attended the Global FinTech Forum at GIFT city today. It was a great convergence of brilliant minds in finance & technology, discussing innovative solutions for the digital economy. It is truly exciting to see how FinTech is reshaping our world," PM Modi posted on 'X'.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit to showcase the state as an investment hub.

His participation reflects the importance of the event at the global stage and the state's economic potential.

Global business leaders hailed PM Modi's economic vision of a developed India as they unveiled their investment plans for the country at the Summit earlier on Wednesday.

Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki credited the Prime Minister for his strong leadership and thanked him for the support provided to manufacturing industries in the country, stating that India has now become the third largest automobile market in the world.

ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal praised the Prime Minister's emphasis on process continuity to create an institutionalised framework for the mega global event of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of US chip manufacturing giant Micron, thanked the Prime Minister for his vision to open up the country to semiconductor manufacturing and said that it will become a huge economic driver in the future as India marches forward to become the third largest economy in the world.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday criticised the capital's drainage system, describing it as "absolutely pathetic" and in a "very bad state of affairs".

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora, expressed dismay at the collapse of the drainage system, stressing the severity of the situation.

Highlighting the issue during a hearing on suo motu petitions addressing water-logging problems and rainwater harvesting in Delhi, the bench pointed out instances of flooding in newly-constructed areas.

The judges questioned the efficacy of the drainage system, noting that even with advanced technologies, these areas faced water-logging.

The court cited specific cases of waterlogging in New Delhi, recounting complaints of fish entering drawing rooms during monsoons and even a snake found inside a bungalow due to flooding.

It cited the broken sewage lines at prominent locations like ITO, near the Delhi Zoo, and near the high court, underscoring the callousness of authorities.

Expressing frustration with the lack of a common verified plan for the drainage system, the court said that the annual sight of the Minto Bridge submerged in water during monsoons highlighted the city's drainage challenges.

It admonished authorities for their negligence, stating: "Things are very very bad, and you agencies cannot be tamed by anyone."

Urging immediate action, the court directed authorities to treat the situation as a "wake-up call" and commence work promptly, rather than waiting for the monsoon season.

The judges stressed the need for clear instructions and criticised the practice of sweepers dumping garbage into drains without proper guidelines.

It urged the lawyers representing the involved agencies to engage in a "brainstorming session" with authorities to propose viable solutions. Parties such as the Centre, Delhi government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Police, and other relevant bodies are parties to the petitions, reflecting the wide-ranging concern over the city's drainage woes. The next hearing is listed to come up on January 16.
New Delhi, Jan 10 : The Delhi High Court has raised alarm over a "coordinated and systematic" mechanism involving the re-packaging and re-branding of expired products with new expiry dates, and re-introducing them into the market.

A bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora initiated a suo motu public interest litigation after multiple instances of this deceptive practice surfaced.

The bench issued notices to the Central and Delhi governments, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and Delhi Police, asking for their response to the alarming issue.

Advocate Shwetasree Mazumdar was appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in this matter, with further hearings scheduled for February 8.

The PIL gained traction after Justice Prathiba M Singh referred the matter to the acting Chief Justice during a civil suit filed by the Hershey Company. The suit sought an injunction before Diwali against counterfeiters selling expired chocolates by repackaging them.

Justice Singh uncovered that the counterfeiters not only had knowledge of Hershey's mark and packaging but had also blatantly copied them, misrepresenting expired and counterfeit chocolates as genuine Hershey's products.

The division bench pointed out the extraordinary situation involving public health, particularly concerning food products. It expressed grave concern over the coordinated mechanism evident in repackaging expired items, stressing the need for urgent intervention to safeguard public health and maintain the integrity of the market.
Hyderabad, Jan 10 : Indian Navy chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar on Wednesday unveiled the first indigenously-manufactured Drishti 10 'Starliner' unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for his force, manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace.

The unveiling ceremony was held at Adani Adani Aerospace Park in Hyderabad.

The state-of-the-art UAV, which has an endurance of 36 hours, is an advanced Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform with 450 kg payload capacity.

It is the only all-weather military platform with STANAG 4671 certification, and clear to fly in both segregated and unsegregated airspace.

The Navy chief described it as a milestone event for the Indian Navy and for the quest for aAtmanirbhara Bharat.

"This is a dream come true for us. This medium-altitude, high-endurance UAV has been manufactured in India with over 60 per cent indigenous content. This demonstrates the capability that has been set up. We are quite confident now that this is only going to strengthen us and provide us with even better capability as the time goes by," he said.

The Navy chief said this would be a great capacity enhancer for the Navy.

"This has got satellite communication as well because of which we can go further into the Indian Ocean," he added.

aAdani Group has demonstrated its commitment to unmanned systems having worked systematically over the last many years to develop local capabilities not limited to manufacturing but sustenance through MRO. Drishti 10's integration into our naval operations will enhance our naval capabilities, strengthening our preparedness for the ever-evolving maritime surveillance and reconnaissance," Admiral Hari Kumar said.

The UAV will now be taken from Hyderabad to Porbandar to be inducted into naval maritime operations.

Director General of Army Aviation, Lt Gen Ajay Suri, said that the Indian Navy and Indian Army have placed orders for two Drishti-10 drones to address the urgent need for satellite communication-enabled drones.

He emphasised that the Adani Aerospace Park in Hyderabad stands as a state-of-the-art facility, prioritising innovation and indigenisation - a testament to the ingenuity of India.

Adani Enterprises VP Jeet Adani, said: "Recent geopolitical events have reinforced the convergence of physical, informational, and cognitive tactics underpinned by intelligence, information processing capabilities, and the use of unmanned and cyber systems for dissemination of information and disinformation."

"Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms across land, air and naval borders are a key priority for Adani to serve the armed forces and place India on the global map for exports. We are proud to be able to serve the Indian Navy," he added.

Adani Defence and Aerospace CEO Ashish Rajvanshi said: "The handover of the Drishti 10 Starliner UAV is a watershed moment in our journey towards self-sufficiency and indigenisation of advanced technologies. Our on-time delivery to the Navy is a testament to our robust quality management processes and excellent support from our partners, who worked diligently over the last 10 months from contract to delivery."

Telanganaas Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu stated that Telangana has the most vibrant aerospace ecosystem in the country at present. He congratulated the Adani Defence and Aerospace team for establishing a dynamic ecosystem for unmanned systems.
Mumbai, Jan 10 : The ruling MahaYuti of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party (AP) warmly hailed and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP (SP) criticised the much-awaited verdict on the disqualification of MLAs by the Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, here on Wednesday.

Welcoming the ruling, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said it was as per the laws, a triumph of truth over and the government would complete its full tenure, while Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said that all constitutional and legal procedures were adhered to while forming the government in June 2022.

"We have been saying this right from the beginninga That's why, the government is strong and stable. The Supreme Court had also clearly said in its order that there is no need to issue any order to dismiss this government. But some people were trying to destabilise it and repeatedly spreading misconceptions," said Fadnavis.

Top MVA leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT) Sharad Pawar and Jitendra Awhad (NCP-SP), Nana Patole and Prithviraj Chavan (Congress), plus many others flayed the verdict, saying it was 'expected' while warning it portends a danger to the democracy in the country.

Ex-CM Thackeray attacked the verdict, calling it a violation of the SC orders, and asking whether it could attract contempt proceedings.

He said that after the 'match-fixing' between Narwekar and Shinde on Sunday, it was clear "what kind of verdict would come".

Alleging collusion, Thackeray said that instead of strengthening the anti-defection laws, the verdict has shown the route how defections can be carried out, and said the party would challenge it in the Supreme Court.

Attacking the ruling, Pawar said that it has gone against the Supreme Court by giving weightage to the legislative party rather than the political organisation, which has many powers including issuing the whip, as per previous apex court judgements.

"Thackeray will have to go to the SC and he will definitely get justice there. The people know who the Shiv Sena belongs to. This will prove advantageous to Thackeray in the next elections. We will explain to the masses how injustice was done," said Pawar in Pune.

Patole said that Wednesday (January 10) marks a 'black day' for Maharashtra politics as the directions of the Supreme Court were ignored and there is an apparent violation of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

"This seems to be a draft written by the 'Gujarat lobby' in Delhi and it has tarnished the democratic traditions of Maharashtra. The Speaker took so long to deliver the ruling after the Supreme Court orders in May 2023, and he has recognised the breakaway faction as the real Shiv Sena, this is strange," said Patole.

He said the Speaker was biased as not a single legislator from the Shinde or Thackeray side was disqualified, and if such things continue then political parties will cease to exist in India.

Thackeray pointed out that the original case was of disqualification, but "nobody was disqualified", and then the Speaker decided on who the Shiv Sena belongs to, a decision of the Election Commission, which the SS-UBT has already challenged in the Supreme Court.

Pawar added that as suspected by the Opposition and as predicted by the ruling side, the Speaker's verdict was not a surprise at all, he has not disqualified any MLA from any side but now the SS-UBT can move the SC and get justice there.

"The Speaker has given importance to the Legislature Party over the party organisation. In the case of Subhash Desai versus Government in the SC in 2023, the court ruled that the party organisation is important as it selects the candidates, and helps them to contest elections... but this has been violated by the Speaker," Pawar said.

NCP General Secretary Jitendra Awhad said that the Speaker's verdict is "dangerous for democracy and goes against the 10th Schedule of Constitution".

"This ruling will allow such undemocratic steps to be taken by power-hungry politicians to break parties and set up unconstitutional governmentsa the judgement also violated the Supreme Court verdict which had recognised the Chief Whip of Thackeray group," said Awhad.

Alleging that the Speaker has violated the SC directives, Thackeray urged the apex court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against Narwekar, and said that the SS-UBT will challenge Narwekar's ruling.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Germany is offering financial support to Armenia, anticipating anti-Russian steps in return, Russian media said, referring to an informed source.

"Germany is eager to swiftly get Russian border guards out of Armenia. In exchange for this and other anti-Russian steps, Berlin is offering Yerevan financial aid," said the source.

Moreover, it is noted that Berlin is aiming at booting out individuals with a pro-Russia stance from the military to the intelligence agencies and law enforcement of Armenia.

"In exchange, Berlin is waving financial and tech assistance at Yerevan, and also backing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government in keeping Karabakh Armenians from flocking to European Union countries," said the source.
Patna, Jan 10 : A total of 30 girl students of Ambedkar hostel in Arrah city of Bihar fell sick after they were served partially-cooked rice in dinner on Tuesday night, officials said on Wednesday.

The health of the students, who complained of vomiting and stomach ache, deteriorated early on Wednesday and they were taken to Sadar hospital where 12 of them are still in a serious condition.

The remaining 18 were discharged after the preliminary treatment.

The victims claimed that the authorities have not been serving nutritious food for a long time. Even the women, who are in charge of cooking meals, sometimes give partially cooked food they said in a complaint before the District Magistrate and District Education officer of Bhojpur.

However, hostel warden Vijeta Kumari said: "During the preparation of meals, the gas stove was not working properly. Hence, the foods were not cooked properly before they were served to the students."
Bengaluru, Jan 11 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Congress leadership and the country were looking at Karnataka for the upcoming general elections, and called upon the party workers to live up to those expectations.

Speaking to reporters after attending a party meeting at Indira Bhavan here, he said: "Party workers will have to keep the party interest above their interest. We have already given the confidence to our party workers to go to the people by rolling out all the five guarantees as we promised. No other government has fulfilled so many promises in seven months. The fifth guarantee would be rolled out on January 12.

"We have established transparency by ensuring that the benefits of the guarantee schemes reach beneficiaries directly without any interference of the intermediaries. About 80 per cent of the families and 3 crore people have benefited from the guarantee schemes," the senior Congress leader said.

Shivakumar said Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has suggested January 21 as the date for a convention of party workers.

"MLAs, district and block level Congress leaders, representatives of cooperative societies, office bearers, booth level workers and other would be a part of this convention. We will let you know the details in a couple of days," he said.

The Deputy Karnataka CM further said: "We have to complete the process of nominations to all the committees including Ashraya committee, Aradhana committee, Energy department sub-committee, tank committee of Irrigation departments, KDP, etc. It is important that we have to complete this process so that it energises the cadre.

"We have given the responsibility of each district to one minster for the upcoming general elections. We have deputed MLCs, General Secretaries and Vice presidents under them. We will also be delegating block level responsibilities. We have asked for organisation and reorganisation of the party at the assembly constituency level and block level," he said.

"It has been decided to conduct a convention of all the beneficiaries of guarantee schemes. The Assembly Session is likely to start from February 12. We are drawing up an initiative called 'Mane Manege Congress' (Congress at every doorstep) and we will give you more information about that in a few days," he added.
Actor Emily Hampshire is well-known for her work in such shows as Schitts Creek and Chapelwaite. Now, in her graphic novel debut, she turns her storytelling talents to witchcraft and Jell-O pools. Amelia Aierwood, Basic Witch (Z2 Comics), which Hampshire wrote with comics veteran Eliot Rahal and is illustrated by Kristen Gudsnuk and Ames Liu, follows the misadventures of a teen witch, the black sheep sister of a famous magical family. Forbidden to do magic, Amelia refers to herself as The Aierwood Family Disaster due to her tendency to ruin everything. While casting a spell to keep her adoptive brother warm, for example, she accidentally turned him into a yeti (later nicknamed Spaghetti). The Aierwoods are about to star in their own reality showand Amelia gets written out of it. With the support of Spaghetti and her new friend Neila, Amelia begins to investigate her true talents, which may or may not involve hoagies. Hampshire spoke with PW over Zoom about acne-covered cryptids, brand deals, and the freedom of not knowing the rules. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

What made you gravitate toward a graphic novel format for this story?

It had never crossed my mind, doing a graphic novel. An agent of mine had left agenting to follow his passion to comic books, and he went to this company called Z2, and theyre a company that helps musicians tell their story through graphic novels. He reached out to me, like, would you ever want to do a graphic novel? Id never thought about it before. And I was wondering why he thought I would want to. He pitched it to me as, in a graphic novel, you can do anything! And Im like, Anything? Like a Jell-O pool?

That kind of sold meI dont have to worry about a budget; I dont have to worry about health and safety with the Jell-O pool. So I was like, I can come up with a story, but I dont draw. If youve seen the book, theres a drawing of mine at the back which illustrates why I didnt illustrate the book. He kind of set me up with the most perfect collaborators that I could have ever dreamed of. I had a lot of artists on it. Kristen Gudsnuk was the main artist, and she just lived Amelia. Eliot Rahal, whos my cowriter, has more of a 13-year-old girl inside his soul than I do. Thats how it started, and now its kind of all I want to do.

The graphic novel, like film and television, is such a visual art form. How did your craft as an actor influence the way you wanted to tell this story?

I didnt know this going into it, but its all the best parts about being an actor without any of the performance anxiety or rejection. I got to play Spaghetti, who I would never be cast as. I would literally do thatI would Zoom with Kristen and I would act out the parts. There was this one part right at the beginning when Amelia is eating Jell-O, and I remember Kristen had drawn Amelia really beautifully in the poolshe looked so gorgeous. And I was like, This is how I would eat Jell-O, and I had it all over my face. From that point on, we really got each other.

I think what I didnt know about writing a graphic novel, and what I knew about filmmaking, was helpful in a way. I didnt know what I couldn't do. There's this part in Amelia where I really wanted the reality show in the book to look different. For examplenobody but me will probably know thisbut Spaghetti has acne. He has acne outside of the show, and inside of it, he doesnt. And every time we were going to go to print, I was like, Wait, hes missing his acne outside of the show!

There was one part where I really wanted you to see them inside the show, and walking out in the same panel. And they were like, Well, we cant do that because its different artists, and you cant. And I was like, Why not? Then I just did a terrible collage, and Im like Why cant you? We ultimately did it. I felt like a lot of the artists were excited to do something different, and have the characters fall out of panels. I didnt know you werent allowed to do that. So it was a learning curve, but in a great way.

So you got to be more experimental because you werent aware of the supposed rules?

Yeah! It reminds me of the beginners mind. Ive been an actor since I was 11, so as an actor, I know what I can't do, what I can, how to hit my mark. But I look back to when I started, and not knowing those rules sometimes was way better. Id do things that you wouldnt think of after youre practiced and experienced. I think its always good to go back to that mindset, which this helped me do.

Did you have any favorite characters to create?

Theyre all like my children, so asking me to choose between them. But I do have to say, Spaghetti was something that started it. [Hampshire displays a yeti stuffed animal.] This is my son, Stumbs. I knew I wanted a yeti, and I wanted him to be named Spaghettijust because. But everything was kind of from my life. Neila is my real-life best friend. If anyone ever gets the opportunity to cartoonize their best friend, it is the greatest thing in the world. And Amelia is not not me. Even though I could play her mother, my soul is teenaged.

Amelia simultaneously has an imaginative ego (Finallyeveryone will see how awesome I actually amand DESPAIR!) and a very self-deprecating outlook (I have a tendency to ruin everything), often within the same scenewhich I found very relatable! How did you perfect that balance?

I didnt think about making her relatable; I just wanted to make her honest, flaws and all. And it was me. Thats me. It also came from watching The Kardashians. This is a family of real sisters, and what if I had been born into this family? I would be the worst Kardashian ever. I would have pizza on my face all the time, Id get stuck in the waist trainer, everything. So Amelia partly came from imagining if I was the black sheep sisterthe bad Kardashian.

And Amelia literally gets written out of the familys reality show.

If I watch something of mine as an actor, I dont look at my work and think, Im so funny there! But I looked at this, because its such a collaborative thing, and when I saw Amelia half in the frame, I couldnt let go of that joke. I was like, in every single one, Can we get, like, a little more [Hampshire pushes herself half out of the Zoom frame]. I dont think Ive ever done anything that just continues to make me happy. There are all these Easter eggs in it too, stuff from my work that Kristen would put in, and Id get to be surprised by. The collaborative thing is so special because I would say something like, a Jell-O pool, and then Kristen would come back with a Jell-O pool but along the side it says, Running allowed. Cool ppl only. Working with people who take whats in your head, and then one-up it and one-up it, is the greatest.

There are a lot of really clever band t-shirt jokes, like Sonic Elders and Asphalt: Incanted and Enchanted.

Thats because Neila, in real life, always wears band t-shirts. I found out youre not allowed to use that, but Kristen was like, Theres the rule of parody So Kristen would come up with these things that were so great. I had Neila Zoom with Kristen, and Kristen asked what Neila normally wears, and thats what Neila wears, and those are her skirts. I never thought that the greatest activity of all time is just taking you and making you a cartoon. Its like creating a Bitmoij.

Amelias family made their fortune by capitalizing on the mystical. Did you have any particular inspirations for this?

Definitely the Kardashians in that I think they do their marketing really well for what they do. Im impressed by it. But Amelias not good at selling, or doing the thing that youre supposed to do. When she tries, shes terrible. But when she actually does her own thingthat she thinks is stupidit turns into something special.

As an actor whos on Instagram, there are a lot of things like brand deals that come along. It was a whole new world for me. There are certain things that will pay you a lot of money, but I couldnt do anything that wasnt authentically me because Id be so bad at it. Like, I want to do it. I want to sell out. But then Id do a post and be like, Oh my god, I cant do this. Im going to ruin your product by trying to make this! So I found that when I aligned with thingslike Nutella, I did a Nutella campaignthey allowed me to do my own thing. I even did this Delta faucets partnership. Their whole pitch was about somebody whos kind of an idiot with how to use the faucet. When you lean into your own thing, you dont have to sell. So that was the inspiration for that.

Also, as a female-led family, the Kardashians are a business. These are businesswomen. I know a lot of people make fun of them and stuffand I make fun of thembut there is something to be respected in that. And then to see that contrast, in Amelias case: that the thing you think is shit is your magic.... I really wanted her to have something that she kind of imagined when she was littlethat Amelia would, with her magic, make these sandwiches with a witch thing burned in, and everybody would love thembut then she thought they were stupid because thats what she did when she was little. But they do say that the thing that you did when you were a kid, like, when you were seven, is the thing youre meant to do.

Were you acting or writing when you were seven?

I always wrote. I always wrote really emo poemsthey were actually songs with stolen tunes, but really emo poems. But in grade three, we had to do a thing for Learn to Read Week, and I wrote, directed, and starred in a play that I then made the kids I did it with give me flowers for after. Its something that I talk about in therapy a lot, because Im like, who was I? Because I became someone who is soIm Canadian, so Im very overly self-deprecating and would never, in a million years, stage giving myself flowers. So Im constantly trying to get back to the confidence of that girl.

Can we hope to see more of Amelia in the future?

Yes. This, to me, wasnt just a book. I want an Amelia-verse. I want a musical, like Wicked meets Matilda. I want to do a show, I want to do a prequel, I want to do a lot! I have a lot of dreams for Amelia.

I just realized Im wearing Spaghettis Im Real shirt [a blue t-shirt Spaghetti wears in the comic that says Im Real]. And I actually didnt wear it just for this interview; I literally havent taken it off for, like, three days, because I love it. Its like life imitating art imitating life imitating t-shirt.
Carolina Ixtas YA debut Shut Up, This Is Serious tackles complex issues surrounding abuse, intergenerational trauma, mental health, racism, sex work, and teen pregnancy through the lens of East Oakland, Calif., teenager Belen, the daughter of Mexican immigrants. After her father abandons the family, Belen struggles to balance school with a tumultuous homelife brought about by their precarious financial situation. Things get even more complicated when her best friend Leti finds out that shes pregnant by her boyfriend, a Black classmate whom Letis ultra-Catholic and racist Mexican immigrant parents vehemently disapprove of. In a conversation with PW, Ixta discussed how her upbringing, education, and discovery of various literary luminaries influenced her writing, and her desire to help young people think critically about their racial identity.

What drove you to write Shut Up, This Is Serious?

When I was 18, I was in a creative writing program at UC Santa Cruz where I started writing short stories about these two Latina friends. Originally, the protagonist was a very reticent, quiet, humble girl, and her best friend was very rambunctious and rebellious. I think I started writing it because I was homesick. Santa Cruz isnt that far from where I grew up in Oakland, but its still very, very different.

University was also my first time ever really reading work by Latino writers; in my entire K12 education, I hadnt read anything by writers like me, except for maybe a poem or two. I carried a lot of shame around that for a long time. Id been writing a lot through high school and all my characters were white, and it just never occurred to me to write Latino characters. In college, I took a Latino literature class, and I read this really impactful article by Daniel Alarcon, whos the host of the NPR podcast Radio Ambulante, and he talked about how Latinos are represented in media. So I took all that resentment and homesickness, and I started writing the stories that would become the basis of Shut Up, This Is Serious.

Still, I couldnt really make them work. There was always tension between me and the protagonist. I couldnt relate to her; she was too quiet. But I really related to her best friend. So, I took a step back from it and experimented with different narrative forms. After I graduated, I immediately went to graduate school at UC Berkeley for a masters in education. After that, I started teaching. I was a fifth-grade teacher, and I was honestly miserable my first few months because its a really hard job. I needed an outlet, and I truly had a lightning bolt moment where I thought, Remember when you were writing these stories? What if you just reversed the characters and made the best friend the protagonist? And then the quiet girl was the best friend. And then I thought, Well, if I reverse that, then I kind of want to reverse everything else. I immediately sat down and wrote the first chapter in maybe 10 minutes.

Do you feel that your experience as a teacher informs your writing?

I dont think I could have written this book without having been a teacher. Both universities I attended have very progressive, radical ideas surrounding education and how to make the space be transformative and liberatory, specifically for children of color. So, I learned a lot about critical race theory. And I read a lot of James Baldwin, Gloria Ladson-Billings, all these great educational scholars. For years, I was made to think very deeply about my identity, particularly as a white-passing Latina. When I finally got to work, I was a bilingual teacher in a class full of only Latino kids. And, you know, there was something really beautiful about that, because we just got each other very quicklywe had the same language, the same cultural references, and very similar family backgrounds. We also had a lot of conversation around religion, and so I understood the morality that my students were brought up with.

 I wanted to write a book that made Latino kids think deeply about their own racial identity. 

There wasand still isa lot of racial tension in the school around the kids in the bilingual class and the kids in the English-only pathway, because they were never integrated. One of the biggest problems I had as a teacher was talking with my students about race and saying, You cant talk to your Black classmates that way. You cant use that word. You cant call them this. And they really had no idea why, because children are usually mimicking what theyre hearing at home. It really opened my eyes to how much anti-Blackness exists in my culture, and specifically how its reinforced through children. I did a lot of work with them around it. I had to be the voice of reason.

Ive always known about these issues, but being a teacher and being forced to be in those situations, and to think very pragmatically around how to handle themhow to responsibly talk to children and their parents, how to gently tell them that racism is learned and that we are not born hating or feeling better than other communitiesreally prepared me to write this book. I hesitated for a while on whether I wanted to speak about race that heavily. Yes, theres stuff around mental health and sexuality and Catholicism, but I think race is perhaps the central theme of Shut Up, This Is Serious. I wanted to write a book that made Latino kids think deeply about their own racial identity, and how their racial identity affects other people, specifically Black youth, because I dont think its something that theyre asked to consider. I wanted to use Letis parents as an example: look at this Catholic family thats very discriminatory and prejudiced toward their own daughter, and who go on to do this to a different community. Had I not studied very deeply to become a teacher with this specific type of pedagogy, I dont think I could have written about any of that.

Was it difficult to balance all the interweaving plotlines?

Overall, the biggest thing I worked on with my editor, Jennifer Ung, was making sure that Belen had enough of her own plot regarding her relationship with sex, race, and her mental health with all these messy dynamics happening around her. When I was originally writing Shut Up, This Is Serious, I felt at times like I was just building a soapbox. So I tried to be careful to make sure that the issues I was addressing were talked about a lot more subtly. But Jennifer really pushed me. She would say, Hey, you know, you write for children, and sometimes, we have to hand it over. I think a perfect example was how I wrote about sex work. Oakland is a large hub for sex trafficking, so sex work in general was something that I always knew about, and the way that the community can talk about sex work is usually very dismissive and misogynistic.

Can you talk a bit about what youre working on next?

Im writing about a community in Southern California thats struggling with a lot of environmental racism and injustice. Its been a very different process than writing Shut Up, This Is Serious. And while its a departure, it sticks to the theme of talking about social issues, which I love, especially since my backbone is in academia. I love being a student and researching and learningI think its why I became a teacherand I hope that shows in this book, which is currently slated for 2025.

Shut Up, This Is Serious by Carolina Ixta. Quill Tree, $19.99 Jan. 9 ISBN 978-0-06-328786-0
"It's honestly a combination dream come true and labor of love," says Archie Comics CEO and publisher Jon Goldwater, speaking with PW over Google Meet while fighting off a nasty flu-like illness in his home in Los Angeles. (It isn't COVID.) "This is something that we've been working on for the last five or six years, and to see it come out and have people embrace it? It also really harkens back to the roots of Archieit's all about the youth and it's about fun and family and friendship and community. And on top of it, to have it be a Bollywood musical...."

Goldwater is glowing about The Archies, the Hindi-language musical comedy film released worldwide in December on Netflix. The update on the Archie Comics classic characters has a simple premise: what if Riverdale were in India? But the strategy behind the film, as Goldwater explained it, isn't simple so much as it is elegant: to localize an internationally recognized intellectual property to bring in more fans. "Maybe one day we do it in Spanish for the Latin American market, and it in Portuguese for Brazil," he adds.

The market, it turns out, was there. Archie Comics have been distributed in India, by Variety Book Depot, for more than 50 years, and during that time, Goldwater says, they've sold "somewhere between 50 and 100 million comics." And the publisher recently put out a graphic novel compilation of stories about the Archie characters set in India, also called The Archies, in the subcontinent, where, Goldwater says, it has "really taken off."

In addition to his role at the top of Archie Comics, Goldwaterthe son of John L. Goldwater, who cofounded the company, with Maurice Coyne and Louis Silberkleit, in 1939, and cocreated its initial cast of characters, with artist Bob Montana and writer Vic Bloom, in 1941is executive producer on the many adaptations of Archie Comics now available for the small (and computer) screen. Those include the CW's Riverdale and Katy Keene and Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and, of course, The Archies. Since taking the reins in 2009, Goldwater has been the architect of a rebranding effort which, he says, has brought Archie Comics and its iconic characters to more readersand viewersthan ever before.

Among the changes Goldwater has overseen include the introduction of the first gay Archie Comics character, Kevin Keller, in 2010; the move to release print and digital editions of its comics simultaneously, in 2011; the debut of the Archie Horror imprint, in 2015; and the growing of its books program. The company has also inked partnerships with such major global publishers as Scholastic and Webtoon.

The TV and streaming adaptations, Goldwater says, as well as their tie-in comics featuring updated versions of the characters with more contemporary-feeling art and storylines, have helped Archie reach a younger demographic "that we were having a harder time reaching, candidly." That reach now extends, he says, to continental Europe and other locales where Archie Comics struggled to find a foothold in the past.

The publisher has also reached into its back pocket and rebooted titles of yore, including Black Hood and Bob Phantom, giving Archie a chance to expand back into the ever-popular superhero space. It's also published such seemingly unlikely crossovers as Archie Meets Ramonesthe Ramones, that isand Archie vs. Predator.

"It shows the flexibility of the IP, right?" Goldwater asks. "We could be with the Ramones. We could be with Predator. Riverdale could be in India. We could be anywhere."

This year, Goldwater teases, Archie Comics will release a comic series featuring Archie Andrews as a superhero"not tongue in cheek," he adds. The publisher will also revisit its Afterlife with Archie series from a new perspective in 2024. Goldwater notes that the publisher thinks of its floppy comic books and the direct marketthe dominant distribution channel for comic book stores in the United States, which has taken its share of hits in recent yearsas "our laboratory," where "we want to try new things" and "get feedback on IP on our characters." (Diamond Comic Distributors distributes Archie Comics to the direct market.)

Archie also still greatly benefits from its placement at big box stores, newsstands, and supermarkets. Its growing graphic novel business, meanwhile, has distribution through Penguin Random House, which Goldwater says is is "doing an amazing job for us."

Goldwater is proud, he says, that despite the challenges to all publishers over the past few years, "we've laid nobody off because of the pandemic." Although challenges remain. "Gas prices affect our shipping costs, there's paper prices," he explains. "There's so many things that are so beyond our control. I can only price the book so high."

Still, Goldwater says, "Luckily, people still like Archie, and they're still buying Archie. Thank goodness. I'm knocking on wood right here as we speak." And as far as he's concerned, Archie Comics "are just at the starting gate. We're at the beginning."
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Theres that saying that individuals shouldnt stand in the way when the enemy is hanging himself. Whats true for individuals is arguably true in a commercial sense: the stumbles of a competing business represent an opportunity for the business not committing such egregious errors.

This came to mind while reading all the jovial commentary from the right about Claudine Gays resignation at Harvard. To use but one example, Manhattan Institute scholar Christopher Rufos post-resignation column was titled How We Squeezed Harvard To Push Claudine Gay Out. It included ideas for how conservatives can continue to prevail in the culture wars by understanding how power works. Color this right-of-center type skeptical.

If we ignore growing conservative comfort with the very cancel and safe space culture they formerly decried, its difficult to countenance the rights strategy despite Rufos obvious glee. Think about it. If Harvard is full of rot, or name your pejorative, isnt the wise approach to get out of the way as the purveyors of the rot continue to promote it?

About whats being written, none of it should be construed as a defense of Gay. Quite the opposite. While the view here is that students have the right to be stupid, smart, right, or wildly wrong, and that a somewhat sentient Gay would have been clear to Rep. Stefanik that all speech is free at Harvard, its not the end of the world to me that Gay wouldnt say just that, and that she would require context in order to know how to deal with chants calling for Jew genocide at Harvard. As a member of the right, I want members of the left to self-ridicule from the highest of high perches. Yet conservatives were loudly calling for the resignation of someone who, by acting as she did, was ably making a conservative case to prospective students about going somewhere else for college. Wasn't that always the point?

No doubt conservatives secured their proverbial scalp with the resignation of Gay, but seriously, what changes? One thing that does change is that Gay will no longer be in the presidents seat, which means shell lack the perch she formerly had to discredit left-wing thought. Thats a loss, plus lets not forget that someone like the late John Silber (a famously right leaning President of Boston U.) is unlikely to replace Gay, nor is the makeup of the Harvard faculty likely to change. The only thing that will change is Gay wont be in the high-profile position she formerly was to make Harvard look bad.

Bret Stephens, one of the few conservatives not calling for Gays cancellation, pointed out in the New York Times that Gay has not written a single book, has published only 11 journal articles in the past 26 years and made no seminal contributions to her field. He wrote the latter to ask the question how Gay reached the pinnacle of American academia? Precisely. Affirmative action seemingly loomed large in Gay getting the job, which yet again raises the question why conservatives would clamor for her resignation. It seems the best way to call affirmative action into question is not by running to the Supreme Court, but by sitting back and allowing affirmative action to reveal its myriad demerits. Dont force Gays resignation, get out of the way so that she can personify the negatives.

Instead, conservatives are aiming to use Gay as a template. For what? By securing her resignation, do they really think theyll transform Harvard, or college education more broadly? Lest they forget, William F. Buckley published God and Man at Yale about the lefty tilt on campus back in 1951, and uttered his classic line about preferring rule by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book over Harvard and MIT faculty in 1961. These anecdotes are hopefully a useful reminder to conservatives that left-leaning academia didnt begin with Gay, and surely wont end with her. It wont because lefties are much more likely to choose academia than conservatives are, plus theres a case that the academic status quo boosts the right as is.

Seriously, what better way to discredit left-wing ideology than to sit back and lets its biggest, most prominent names embarrass themselves on the biggest of big stages. Instead, conservatives even more firmly entrenched themselves in the cancel culture they claim to loathe, along with the safe space and trigger culture that they once claimed to loathe even more. All to remove Gay from the top job? Ok, but wasnt the point all along to expose Harvards demerits? Opportunity lost.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, said that the Republic of Korea has become the most hostile country from the point of view of Pyongyang, Trend reports.

According to information, he said this during his visit to defense industry enterprises.

"Kim Jong-un noted that now is the time to characterize the Republic of Korea as the most hostile country for the DPRK," the report emphasizes.

According to the North Korean leader, the country has been engaged in an "evil conflict" with the DPRK for almost 80 years. He noted that Pyongyang should prioritize strengthening its defense and nuclear deterrence capabilities.

In early January, North Korea assessed the risk of war with South Korea in 2024.
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City planners reported that Athens-Clarke County is predicted to gain at least 30,000 new residents by 2045 at the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission work and special called session on Tuesday evening.

Were not a small college town anymore, Bruce Lonnee, ACC Assistant Planning Director, said. We are a mid-sized city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the world looks at India as an important pillar of stability, a trusted friend, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions and a powerhouse of talented youth.

Photograph: ANI Photo

He also said that in the rapidly changing world order, India is moving forward as 'vishwa mitra' (friend of the world).

Speaking at the inauguration of the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which saw participation of state heads and top CEOs of private companies, Modi said all major rating agencies are of the opinion that India will be among the three largest economies of the world in the next few years.

Heres a list of what corporate giants have promised to invest at the Vibrant Gujarat summit.

Reliance Industries

Photograph: ANI Photo

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said his company Reliance will set up India's first and world-class carbon fibre facility at Hazira.

Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Gandhinagar, Ambani said Reliance was, is, and will always remain a Gujarati company.

"Reliance has invested over USD 150 billion (12 lakh crore) in creating world-class assets and capacities across India in last just 10 years.

"Of this, more than one third has been invested in Gujarat alone," he said.

He said Reliance will contribute to making Gujarat a global leader in green growth.

"We will help Gujarat's target to meet half of its energy needs through renewables by 2030."

Reliance started building the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar.

This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials that will make Gujarat the leading exporter of such goods and the company is ready to roll this out in the second half of 2024 itself, he said.

Adani Group

Photograph: ANI Photo

Billionaire Gautam Adani on Wednesday announced an investment of over Rs 2 lakh crore in Gujarat, largely in building a green energy park that would be visible even from space.

Speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, he said the investment will create 1 lakh jobs.

Of the Rs 55,000 crore committed at the last summit, Adani Group has already spent Rs 50,000 crore, he said.

The apples-to-airport group is now building a green energy park in Kutch having a 30 GW capacity spread over 25 square kilometre which would also be visible from space, he added.

Since 2014, India has achieved a 185 per cent growth in GDP and 165 per cent growth in per capita income which is unparalleled given the geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges, Adani said.

Maruti Suzuki

Photograph: ANI Photo

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will invest Rs 35,000 crore to set up its second manufacturing facility in Gujarat as it looks to ramp up annual production capacity to over 40 lakh units by 2030-31, Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS), Suzuki said the plant would have an installed production capacity of 10 lakh units per annum.

"We will invest Rs 35,000 crore for the construction of a second car plant in Gujarat which would produce another one million units per year," Suzuki said.

The new plant is expected to start operation in FY2028-29.

Details of location and the models to be produced will be shared in due course.

As a result, the annual production capacity in Gujarat will be 2 million (20 lakh) units -- 10 lakh units at Suzuki Motor Gujarat and 10 lakh units at the second new plant, he added.

ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel India

Lakshmi Mittal announced that ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) is building the world's largest single location integrated steel plant at Gujarat's Hazira.

Mittal, the executive chairman of global steel major ArcelorMittal which operates the JV in India with Japan's Nippon, said the plant will have a capacity of producing 24 million tonne of crude steel, and should be ready by 2029.

Mittal said the company has signed an agreement for the second phase of the plant with the Gujarat government at the event.

Work on the first phase of the project, which started in 2021, is going on as per schedule and the first phase will be inaugurated by 2026, he said.

Tata group

Photograph: ANI Photo

Tata Group is planning to build a huge semiconductor fab in Gujarat's Dholera, and it will begin operations in 2024 itself, chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Wednesday.

He said the salt-to-software group is in the final stages of negotiations for the plant.

"Tata Group has also made a commitment, and is on the verge of concluding and announcing a huge semiconductor fab in Dholera, and we are about to complete these negotiations and start in 2024," Chandrasekaran said.

The chairman also said the group will begin construction of a 20 gigawatt lithium ion storage battery factory in the state's Sanand city in the next two months.

Simmtech

Photograph: ANI Photo

South Korean semiconductor critical parts maker Simmtech is preparing for another colocation investment with Micron, company Global CEO Jeffery Chun said on Wednesday.

In his address at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said the company is ready to make "a significant investment in India and create thousands of job opportunities for high skilled talents in the state of Gujarat together with Micron".

"The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 showcases the global movement of creating a new supply chain network in a fast growing nation like India, and Simmtech as a company from Korea is very proud to be part of this movement to achieve a new milestone, making a prosperous Gujarat or self reliant India supply chain," he said.

Chun further said," We are now preparing for another round of colocation investment in India."

Nvideis

Global computing major Nvidia on Wednesday said its partner Yotta is set to commission an "artificial intelligence data centre" in the GIFT City before end of March.

Speaking at the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, Shankar Trivedi, senior vice president at Nvidia Global Field Operations, said the American company is partnering with Tata Group and Reliance Industries for setting up data centres.

The data centre being set up by Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company, will go live before March, he said.

DP World

Global logistics management and services firm DP World will build a container terminal in Gujarat and is committed to further investments in India, the company's Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, he said the company will continue to partner with the Indian logistics sector and support manufacturing industries in Gujarat and the rest of India to make Indian goods globally competitive and accessible.

DP World started its operation in Gujarat in 2003 with opening of the Mundra International Container terminal, he said.

"We have invested in the state of Gujarat as well in other state in India, to the tune of $2.5 billion..." bin Sulayem said.
The diplomatic rift between India and Maldives, coupled with the suspension of flight bookings on one of Indias major travel portals, has sent jitters down the spine of tour operators in the island nation.

Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

The Maldivian Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), a forum for travel agents, has stressed that the Indian market is important to the success of tourism in Maldives.

The Indian market remains an indispensable force in the success of the Maldivian tourism sector, providing vital support to guest houses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), MATATO said in a letter to Nishant Pitti, chief executive officer (CEO), EaseMyTrip, the online travel company.

EaseMyTrip had suspended Maldives flight bookings on Monday after social media posts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Lakshadweep visit prompted harsh remarks by three Maldivian deputy ministers, who have since been suspended.

MATATO acknowledged the regrettable and derogatory comments made by the Maldivian ministers while emphasising that tourism is a major source of livelihood for Maldivian citizens.

"Tourism is the lifeblood of Maldives, contributing over two-thirds of our gross domestic product (GDP) and providing livelihoods to approximately 44,000 Maldivians, who work directly in the sector. This controversy will affect the lives and well-being of many, it added.

Meanwhile, another travel booking website, Cleartrip, said it has witnessed a two-fold increase in cancellation of flight bookings to Maldives from passengers on the platform.

Cleartrip has seen a 2x surge in flight cancellations to Maldives on the platform, Gaurav Patwari, vice-president  Air Category, Cleartrip.

However, Rajiv Mehra, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), said, it has not seen cancellations on existing bookings.

As of now, we have not seen any cancellation for bookings which have already been made.

"Yes, fresh bookings have seen a decline.

"Real impact would be known only in the next 15- 20 days, he added.

IndiGo operates the maximum number of flights  48 per week  between India and the Maldives, followed by Vistara (28) and Air India (12). None of the airlines have cancelled their flights between the two countries yet.

Mehra believes the focus should be on improving inbound tourism and infrastructure to attract tourists.

We have noticed a turndown in bookings to Maldives as travellers are sceptical about the environment.

"We have not seen a rush of cancellations as the cancellation costs at the last moment are very high or could be non-refundable, said Jyoti Mayal, vice chairperson, Federation of Associations in Tourism and Hospitality.
'The state of Gujarat was to my mind 'partisan and over enthusiastic' in the way it dealt with remission applications.'

IMAGE: A protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the remission of the sentence given to the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case by the Gujarat government. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo from the Rediff Archives

Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar, the former Pune police commissioner, was among the four petitioners who challenged the remission granted by the Gujarat government to 11 convicted rapists in the Bilkis Bano case.

Dr Chadha Borwankar filed a writ petition (Crl.) No. 352 of 2022 -- Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar vs State of Gujarat -- in which she appealed for setting aside the remission of the 11 rape convicts and also sought direction from the Supreme Court to make states constitute pluralistic jail advisory committees.

"This attitude (of granting remission to rapists) breeds more crime against women. It makes us a sick society," the retired Indian Police Service officer tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.

What was your reaction when you heard that the convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano were prematurely released in August 2022?

I found it very hard to believe as the criminal case involved the gang rape of a pregnant woman, the murder of her three-year-old child and six more relatives. As chief of Maharashtra prisons we never recommended remission in such barbaric cases. So I was shocked to say the least.

What kind of emotional churn did you go through before you decided to file the writ petition in the Supreme Court?

Did anybody approach you to withdraw your petition? Was there any pressure on you to do so?

Professor Jagdeep Chhokar approached me and Madhu Bhaduri to consider filing a PIL since all three of us felt very strongly that the remission was completely wrong in such a heinous crime. Such remission would only embolden criminals and communities to instigate communal riots with extreme form of violence.

Advocate Vrinda Grover is a very strong voice for women. She did not take a penny from us, but worked hard along with her team in drafting legal documents for our group.

No one approached me to withdraw the case and there was no pressure from any section. But I was repeatedly told that it was a lost battle and that I were wasting my energy and we would lose the petition.

However, I was very confident as the state of Gujarat was to my mind 'partisan and over enthusiastic' in the way it dealt with remission applications.

I was aware that the presiding officer of the Mumbai special (CBI) court that had convicted the accused had opined against remission. I was told that even the investigating officer had not recommended remission.

You also sought a writ or order in the nature of mandamus seeking the Supreme Court's direction to states for pluralistic composition in jail advisory committees? What was the Supreme Court ruling on this part of your petition?

The court has made detailed observations about the constitution of jail advisory committees and has reiterated the correct procedure to be followed as per the CrPC (the Criminal Procedure Code).

We as petitioners wish to ensure that jail advisory committees do not get usurped by the political party in power but remain neutral.

What psychological impact could the remission of these rapists earlier have had on rape survivors in India who would have had the resources to read and understand the earlier Supreme Court order?

I feel remissions to rapists while emboldening them and their likes, discourage girls and women about reporting their physical abuse.

Families also prefer to remain silent and convey the message down the line.

This attitude (of granting remission to rapists) breeds more crime against women.

It makes us a sick society where a girl child is aborted before birth as she and her safety is considered a huge liability. We have gone through this phase during 1970s and 1980s.

Strong governments had taken many bold steps and atmosphere had just changed for better when these remissions shook our confidence.

How do you look at the Supreme Court judgment in its finality, especially, for rape survivors?

The Supreme Court order is very bold in declaring its own order of May 13, 2022 as erroneous because the petitioners had misinformed it and suppressed facts.

It clarifies that as per section 432 of the CrPC 'appropriate government' to grant remission is where a trial is conducted and not where offence took place.

At the very beginning the Supreme Court has made it clear that women irrespective of their religion and creed need to be respected.

Your message to Indian women in the light of the Supreme Court judgment...

Speak up. Fight against injustice. Team up and do not give up. Men and women have to be together in our fight against injustice.
The Congress on Wednesday announced that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have "respectfully declined" the invitation to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, alleging that it has been made into a "political project" by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for "electoral gain".

IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stands in front of the portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar after paying tribute ceremony on the latter's death anniversary in New Delhi, December 6, 2022. Photograph: ANI Photo

The decision of the top leaders was announced by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who also questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the "incomplete" temple by the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Last month, Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Gandhi and Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Chowdhury received the invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram temple at Ayodhya to be held on January 22, 2024.

"Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain," Ramesh said.

"While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said.

The consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend it.

The temple trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country and 50 guests from foreign countries.

The BJP and the RSS and affiliate Hindutva organisations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad have launched a nationwide mass connect programme in the run-up to the ceremony, urging people to visit the holy place after the programme.

The BJP has also asked all its state units to start a campaign from January 14 to ensure the cleanliness of temples and the surroundings and exhort people to join the January 22 event by offering prayers at temples in their respective neighbourhoods.

It asked its state units to "help" people who want to visit the Ram temple after the consecration ceremony.

On Monday, Himachal Pradesh minister and Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh said he will attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The public works department minister, who is the son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state party chief Pratibha Singh, had also thanked the RSS and the Vishva Hindu Parishad, for the invitation to attend Ram Lalla's "pran partishtha" ceremony.

Also, around 100 Congress office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh, including party's state unit chief Ajay Rai and state in-charge Avinash Pande, will visit Ayodhya on January 15 on Makar Sankranti.

During their visit to the holy city, the Congress leaders will take a dip in the Saryu river, and then visit the Ram temple and Hanumangarhi temple, Rai said on Sunday.

"On January 15, I am going to Ayodhya. Our general secretary and UP in-charge Avinash Pande, and senior leaders Pramod Tiwari and P L Punia will also visit Ayodhya. In all, around 100 Congressmen will go there," Rai told PTI.
Amid the ongoing row between India and the Maldives, opposition leader and the Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party, Fayyaz Ismail, has called for a "tougher stand" by the government, saying that the racist comments against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were just isolated individual opinions of these people who were unfortunately given positions in the government.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu in Dubai on December 1, 2023. Photograph: Kind courtesy @narendramodi on X

He underlined how the entire matter has reached a lot of Indians as well as Maldivians, due to easy accessibility of social media.

"I personally believe the government should take a tougher stand on that because this goes beyond government to government. Now, because of the easy accessibility of social media, this has reached to a lot of Indians and to a lot of Maldivians," he said.

"As arguments take over from both side, there has been lot of insults coming back and forth. So the government needs to show that there was no intention on the part of the government. These were just isolated individual opinions of these people who, unfortunately, were given positions in the government. So that needs to be clearly shown to the Indians, to the Maldivians, and to the entire world at large," he added.

On being asked if the ongoing spat between the two countries is going to have an impact on the India-Maldives ties, as well the revenue that Indian tourists have generated for the island nation over the years, the Maldivian leader, who was also the former Minister of Economic Development of Maldives, asserted that it is much more than economics or revenue.

"This relationship between India and Maldives has been nurtured and fostered over a long period of time by very mature leaders, past leaders of our country and yours as well. So just one or two tweets derailing this entire relationship is very sad," the minister said.

"So, for me, the main problem is that this has gone beyond governments. Governments will always have spats; obviously, with the change of political parties, whether it's in India or Maldives, there will be differences of opinion," he added.

He further went on to say that he is more concerned about how to make the required repairs as the ongoing spat between India and the Maldives has now reached the people.

"But now this has reached the people, and that is something I am more concerned about -- how to repair that. So to repair that from our side, our government have to come up with a stronger statement or action on that. I would hope that from the Indian colleagues, that there will be more restraint as well to try to diffuse this," he told ANI.

In terms of aid and assistance provided by India to Maldives, he said, "Yes, India has been a very strong development partner of Maldives, not only in terms of economics but social development as well. And at the same time, Maldives has been a strong, staunch ally of India across the international spectrum. So this is a relationship which is mutual."

"And the security and stability of the Indian Ocean region depends on the part played by each of the countries, whether large or small, in this region," he added and urged that it is important here that spat is taken as a spat, and forgotten as soon as possible for the interest of both countries.

He said, "Yes, some people, nationalistic people from both countries, may say that Maldives may say, we can do without India, and Indians may say that you are a very small country. But no, that's not the correct approach. We will be here. India will be there. So we need to work together in tandem, which includes our governments and our people as well."

Meanwhile, on Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu's recent visit to China, where he slated to meet Xi Jinping and sign key agreements, the Maldivian opposition leader said that with the change in the political spectrum in Maldives, and in political parties, there will be always shifts in the intensity of engagement.

"Well, first of all, there is no doubt that the current government has more favourable or more stronger relation with China. The Maldives has always maintained friendly relations with all countries, except for Israel. So with the change in the political spectrum in Maldives, with the change in political parties, there will be always shifts in the intensity of engagement with different partners, obviously. And in this case, you're seeing more robust engagement with China rather than India," he said.

"Until now, we have always, all parties in the Maldives maintained an India-first policy, and that is also very crucial for our security and stability as well. But this government may have got different approaches to its foreign policy, and maintaining good relations with China is not an issue that any party in the Maldives would also want," he noted.

Furthermore, the Maldivian minister added by saying that he has visited India a lot of times and has always wanted to visit Lakshadweep.

"And now that this has really come up, my interest is much more piqued and I would really take more steps for me to go and visit that beautiful nation. And I think there is a historical link between Maldives and Lakshadeep as well. There are Maldives-speaking people in. on one of those islands as well. So we have deep historical and religious roots as well. And I have always wanted to visit and see Maldivian people in another country. So, yes, I would definitely like to visit Lakshadeep," the minister said.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, during his ongoing five-day state visit to China, urged China to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists to the Maldives.

The appeal comes in the wake of a diplomatic spat leading to the cancellation of reservations by Indian tourists for Maldives as derogatory remarks were made by Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Maldivian media reported that during President Muizzu's visit, the two countries signed a USD 50 million project aimed at developing an integrated tourism zone in the Indian Ocean island.
The ruling coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives and the People's National Congress deployed anti-India sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation around this theme during the the 2023 presidential elections, according to a report issued by the European Union.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu in Dubai on December 1, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The European Election Observation Mission to Maldives published its final report on Tuesday on the two rounds of election that took place on September 9 and 30 last year.

Following an 11-week-long observation in the archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean, upon the invitation of national authorities, the EU EOM found the campaign run by the PPM-PNC coalition was based on fears of Indian influences on the nation.

"EU EOM observers noted instances of derogatory language, directed towards the president, on the side of PPM-PNC, reads the report.

Their campaign included anti-Indian sentiments, based on fears of Indian influences and anxiety regarding the presence of Indian military personnel inside the country. This theme was subject to multiple online disinformation attempts, it said.

The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective oversight.

The EU EOM also recorded the political partisanship of the media, including public service media, while there were some indications of information manipulation in social media.

"Both camps also engaged in negative campaigning, suggesting discontinued development and the return of a repressive PPM government' on the one side, and alleging unfulfilled government promises, corruption and foreign intervention' on the other, with accusations of allowing the presence of Indian military emphasised repeatedly, their report notes.

The incumbent president at the time, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party, was seeking re-election last year in the country's presidential system of government.

PNC's Mohamed Muizzu, backed by the Opposition PPM-PNC coalition, beat him to win the election with 54 percent of the votes.

Chief observer Nacho Sanchez Amor, Member of the European Parliament, stated: The presidential election was technically well-administered and professionally delivered by the Elections Commission of Maldives.

"The legal framework provides for genuine elections; voter and candidate registration were inclusive processes; and a record number of eight candidates was registered," said the observer.

"Women, however, were largely absent from the political competition and significantly underrepresented in the administration of the election. Other flaws in the process were the widely acknowledged practices of vote-buying and instrumentalisation of public office, elements which undermined equity and fairness in campaigning.

The EU EOM report offers 20 recommendations for the improvement of future elections in Maldives, including fact-checking initiatives to combat misinformation and measures to promote women to more leadership positions in public and political life.

The report comes amidst an ongoing controversy which saw India summon the high commissioner of Maldives after a row broke out over derogatory posts made by three deputy ministers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lakshwadeep visit.

A Maldives foreign ministry spokesperson said the comments were personal and did not represent the views of the government.
A special court in Mumbai has permitted Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, an accused in the alleged fraud of Rs 538 crore on Canara Bank, to meet his ailing wife on January 13 on humanitarian grounds.

IMAGE: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. Photograph: ANI Photo

He has also been allowed to consult his private doctors for multiple ailments.

The order came days after Goyal told the court that he had "lost every hope of life and it would be "better if he died in jail" than living in such a situation.

Goyal had submitted that he was missing his wife very badly who is in the last stage of cancer.

Special Judge M G Deshpande on Tuesday permitted Goyal to meet his wife at their Mumbai residence on January 13 and also allowed him to consult his private doctors for multiple ailments he is suffering from, between January 10 to 12.

The judge said there is no dispute or difference regarding the fact that the accused is turning 75 years old and has multiple illnesses.

His body is not responding properly to keep him well. Additional fact is also not much disputed that his wife is bedridden, suffering from cancer, the court said.

"His only daughter is also reportedly not well enough to look after her mother. In this way, the accused and his wife have become orphans. In such a situation, the feeling of meeting the ailing wife once is quite natural," the judge noted.

No prejudice will be caused to the ED if the same is allowed, the judge said.

"Considering this exceptional situation, I am of the opinion that empathy warrants considering the prayer of accused Naresh Goyal to meet ends of justice on humanitarian grounds," he said.

The ED can depute their staff to monitor this process so that there will be no activity which would be allegedly detrimental to the case, the judge added.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Goyal on September 1 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office in Mumbai.

He is currently in judicial custody and lodged at Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives of the now-grounded private airline in connection with an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud case at the Canara Bank.

The FIR was registered on the bank's complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd to the tune of Rs 848.86 crore of which Rs 538.62 crore was outstanding.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the key and last absconding accused, who had been in hiding for over 13 years, in connection with the mutilation of a college professor's hand in Kerala, for alleged blasphemy.

The right hand of T J Joseph, professor of Newman College in Thodupuzha in Idukki district, was chopped off by activists of the now banned radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) on July 4, 2010.

IMAGE: Prof T J Joseph.



The accused -- Savad -- had been on the run for the last 13 years and was carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh for his arrest, an NIA spokesperson said.

He was nabbed from Mattannur in the northern Kerala district of Kannur on Wednesday morning following sustained efforts, the spokesperson said.

Reacting to the development, Joseph said that he was not concerned much with the arrest of the prime accused in the case as he still believes that the main culprits, the "masterminds" behind the attack on him, were still in hiding.

"The investigation has not reached them. It indicates that our legal system has not grown to that extent," he told reporters outside his residence in Thodupuzha in Idukki district of the state.

The professor said that the arrest might come as a relief for the police, but his interest in the matter was only as that of any other individual.

He also said that he does not believe the arrest or punishing of an accused results in justice for the victims.

"It only results in the implementation of the law of the land. It may also quench the thirst for revenge of the victims or their families. However, as I have said in the past, it does not give back what has been lost. Therefore, it does not bring justice to the victim," he said.

Asked whether he could identify Savad, Joseph said he could as he still remembers the attack by the prime accused.

In July last year, an NIA court in Kerala sentenced to life imprisonment three of the six people convicted in the sensational 2010 case, saying that it was a "terror act" for which the convicts "don't deserve any leniency".

The remaining three convicts were sentenced to three years for harbouring the offenders in the case.

The six were convicted by the court in the second phase of the trial in the case.

In the first phase of the trial, 10 people were convicted for offences under the UAPA as well as the Explosive Substances Act and the IPC, and three others were found guilty of harbouring the offenders.

The attack took place while the professor was returning home with his family after attending Sunday mass at a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district.

The attackers, a group of seven people, pulled the professor out of the vehicle, assaulted him and then his right hand was chopped off by the main accused Savad.

According to the police officials who initially probed the case, the accused wanted to kill Joseph for alleged derogatory remarks about a religion in a question paper he set for the BCom semester examination at Newman College.
The Manipur government Wednesday approved the venue for the flagging off of the proposed January 14 Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra "with limited number of participants."

IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi''s yatra will cover 110 districts, 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 assembly segments in 66 days. Photograph: ANI Photo

The approval by the Manipur government came eight days after the Congress approached it for flagging off the yatra from Hapta Kangjeibung ground in Imphal.

The order issued by the Imphal East district magistrate's office said, "Only flagging off of the Yatra with limited number of participants is hereby allowed on January 14 to prevent any untoward incident and disturbance in law and order. The number and name of the participants shall be provided in advance to this office to enable this office to take up all necessary precautionary measures."

The order said that the Imphal East district superintendent of police has submitted a report stating that a huge crowd is expected during the opening ceremony of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at the venue. In view of prevailing law and order situation in the state, the huge gathering may create law and order problems.

"Moreover prohibiton under Section 144 Cr PC is also in force in Imphal East district," it added.

The prohibitory order has been in force in the area since the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur broke out on May 3. The violence has claimed about 185 lives and left hundreds injured.

The order also said that the joint secretary of the home department has conveyed that agencies concerned have mentioned in their report that the matter is sensitive and needs special attention, specially in the context of the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

Also the state function for the commemoration of Armed Forces Veteran Day is scheduled to be held on that day.

Meanwhile, the Congress is yet to take a final call on the flagging off of its Yatra in the wake of the state government decision to allow the rally with limited number of participants.

All India Congress Committee Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are slated be present on the occasion and participate in the Yatra.

"We have seen the order. Senior leaders of the party will take a final decision on the matter. The restrictions (in the order) may hinder the purpose of the yatra," a senior Congress leader told PTI.

"We have less than four days left for the flagging off of the Yatra and arrangements have to be made at the venue. We will soon take the decision on whether to consider the terms set by Manipur government or to choose another place," he added.

Earlier in the day Congress delegates had met Chief Minister N Biren Singh at the secretariat.

The 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' is scheduled to traverse 6,713 km in buses and on foot.

It will cover 110 districts, 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 assembly segments in 66 days and culminate in Mumbai on March 20.

The Yatra is scheduled to reach Nagaland on January 15 and after moving through four districts enter Assam on January 18.
Terming as "grossest of contempt" the police remand of a Gujarat businessman, after it had granted him anticipatory bail, an exasperated Supreme Court on Wednesday, issued notice to the police officials and a judicial magistrate of Surat and ordered them to be present before it on January 29.

IMAGE: A view of the Supreme Court of India. Photograph: ANI Photo

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, which had allowed anticipatory bail to Surat resident Tusharbhai Rajnikantbhai Shah in a cheating case, got irked when it was informed that the businessman was remanded in police custody, and allegedly threatened and beaten to extort Rs 1.65 crore from him in the presence of the complainant.

"It seems Gujarat follows different laws. It is happening in the diamond capital of the world. This is a pure violation of our orders. Let the magistrate and the investigating officer come and explain how the remand orders were passed. We will direct the DGP to send the contemnors to Sabarmati jail or somewhere else. Let them come on January 29 and explain to us (the reasons for remand) in an affidavit. This is the grossest of contempt," the bench said.

Senior advocate Iqbal H Syed and advocate Mohammad Aslam, appearing for Shah, said they have filed an application with the commissioner of police to preserve the CCTV footage of Surat's Vesu police station from December 13, 2023 to December 16, 2023, when the petitioner was in police custody.

"How could the petitioner be taken into custody in violation of court's order? How could the IO (investigating officer) dare to seek remand of the petitioner?" the bench asked.

It asked ASG SV Raju, appearing for the Gujarat government, about the existence of CCTV footage following which he said the cameras were not working.

A livid Justice Mehta said, "This was expected. It's intentional. The cameras may not have been working for those four days. The police may not have marked his (Shah) presence in the police station diary. This is sheer abuse of power. In a crime of civil nature, why was remand required? Was there a murder weapon which was to be recovered?"

Justice Gavai asked when the apex court had on December 8, 2023 granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner, how was the remand order passed and Shah was taken into custody.

"Let this be corrected in some manner. The IO and the magistrate must learn some lessons from this. We will issue contempt notice to the magistrate also. Is this the way they deal with the Supreme Court's order? Mr Raju, ask everyone to come on January 29 with all their bags and baggage. We will decide on January 29 what needs to be done with them," Justice Gavai said.

Raju tried to defuse the situation and apologised to the bench, acknowledging that the investigating officer had committed a blunder.

"What has happened is gross. It was four-day illegal custody. Let the magistrate and the IO be inside for four days," the bench said angrily.

The top court then issued notices to the additional chief secretary of the state's home department, commissioner of police of Surat, deputy commissioner of police, inspector of Vesu police station and the additional chief judicial magistrate concerned and sought their replies by January 29.

In his plea, Shah said the top court had on December 8, 2023 ordered that in the event of his arrest, he be released on bail in connection with the FIR dated July 21, 2023 subject to him executing a personal bond of Rs 25,000.

He said after the December 8 order, he went to the police station on December 11 to join the investigation.

The police arrested him the same day and released him on bail after he executed a bond as directed by the apex court.

Shah was served a notice by the city police the same day (December 11) asking him to be present on December 12 for further recording his statement in the case.

"

Thereafter, the petitioner was served with a notice directing him to remain present before the court of the concerned magistrate for the purpose of seeking his police remand. The service of this notice dated December 12, 2023 marks the beginning of a chain of actions in contempt of the order of this court dated December 8, 2023, committed by the respondent authorities with the ulterior motive of extorting a sum of Rs. 1.65 crores from the petitioner," his plea said.

Shah added that the judicial magistrate vide order dated December 13, 2023 heard the remand application moved by police and remanded him in police custody till December 16, 2023 in contempt of the apex court order.

He was again produced before the magistrate after the remand period got over.

His plea said, "These acts by the respondents are deliberate and in wilful disobedience of the order dated December 8, 2023 passed by this court in Special Leave Petition. The respondent authorities acting in contempt of the order of this court have deprived the petitioner of his liberty and violated his human rights in direct contempt of the order of this court, with the sole intention of extorting the sum of money from him."
The UK government on Wednesday unveiled plans to deploy Royal Navy warships to the Indian Ocean region later this year to operate and train with Indian forces, signalling what it described as the growing importance of the strategic relationship between the two countries.

IMAGE: The Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Defence secretary Grant Shapps, who co-chaired an India-UK Defence Industry CEOs Roundtable with visiting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday following their bilateral talks earlier, said the Littoral Response Group will be deployed this year and the Carrier Strike Group in 2025 for joint India-UK training.

The deployment of the UK's most advanced naval capabilities has been flagged by the UK ministry of defence as a decisive step in bolstering UK-India security ties.

There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so it's vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India, said Shapps.

Together, we share the same security challenges and are steadfast in our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific. It is clear that this relationship is going from strength to strength, but we must continue to work hand-in-hand to uphold global security in light of threats and challenges that seek to destabilise and damage us, he said.

The LRG is a Royal Navy task group consisting of at least two amphibious warfare ships, and the CRG is the aircraft carrier battle group of the Royal Navy.

The CRG's inaugural deployment was back in 2021 in the Indo-Pacific, where it conducted joint exercises with the Indian forces.

"Had a wonderful interaction with the industry leaders and CEOs at the UK-India Defence CEO Roundtable in London," Defence Minister Singh posted on social media platform X after the conference.

"India envisions an enriching partnership with the UK to cooperate, co-create and co-innovate. By synergising the strengths of both the countries, we can do great things together," he said.

The MoD said the latest deployment reflects a stepped-up partnership during the Indian defence minister's first visit to the UK this week.

In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system, the MoD said.

The talks between the two senior ministers discussed future cooperation in defence, from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges, which build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK Roadmap.

At the CEOs Roundtable, collaboration with industry was in focus, with the two countries working together on electric propulsion systems that will power future fleets and cooperating on the development of complex weapons.

Building on the existing strategic partnership, some new joint initiatives highlighted by the MoD during Singh's UK visit include Launching Defence Partnership-India, a bespoke office designed to further defence collaboration between the two countries; a commitment to several instructor exchanges between UK Officer Training Colleges and specialist schools, alongside a Youth Exchange MOU to solidify the already strong relationship between our cadet organisations.

Other initiatives include, a Letter of Arrangement that will enable further emphasis to be placed on research and development between our two nations, focused on next-generation capabilities; and "solidifying" an agreement on logistics exchange, allowing for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the UK and Indian

Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorised port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.

Singh arrived in London on Monday and has held a series of engagements besides bilateral talks with his UK counterpart.

He will engage with the Indian community at a diaspora reception to conclude his official visit on Wednesday evening.
The United States government has objected to providing defence materials to Indian national Nikhil Gupta, detained in a Czech prison on murder-for-hire charges in a foiled assassination attempt on a Khalistani extremist, saying it will provide the information only upon his appearance in a New York court and arraignment in the case.

IMAGE: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, founder of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice. Photograph: Courtesy, X

Gupta, 52, was charged by federal prosecutors in the US in an indictment unsealed in November last year with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who holds dual US and Canadian citizenships, on American soil.

Gupta was arrested in Prague, the Czech Republic on June 30, 2023 and is being held there currently. The US government is seeking his extradition to America.

Gupta's attorney filed a Motion to Compel Production of Discovery' on January 4 in the US District Court, Southern District of New York requesting the court to direct federal prosecutors to provide the defence materials relevant to its ability to defend the instant charges.

US District Judge Victor Marrero had on January 8 given the government three days' time to respond to the motion filed by Gupta's attorney. The government, in its reply filed with the district court Wednesday, said Gupta's motion asking for discovery material should be denied.

The government respectfully submits this letter in opposition to defendant Nikhil Gupta's motion to compel discovery during the pendency of his extradition proceedings in the Czech Republic, federal prosecutors said.

They said that consistent with federal rules of criminal procedure, the government is prepared to produce discovery promptly upon the defendant's appearance in this District and arraignment on this case. Before then, however, the defendant is not entitled to discovery, and he identifies no good reason for the Court to order it.

In the government's response, US Attorney Damian Williams said that Gupta has identified no legal entitlement or justification for discovery at this time.

The government stands ready to provide discovery to him, like any other criminal defendant, promptly upon his appearance and arraignment in this District. His motion to compel discovery should be denied, Williams said.

Gupta's counsel in New York Jeff Chabrowe has said in his motion that the attorney representing Gupta in Prague in his extradition proceedings states that no evidence or documentation of any sort has been given to him other than the US indictment itself.

He said Gupta has been interviewed in Prague by groups of senior US agents on several occasions and continues to be interviewed.

An order compelling discovery is particularly appropriate here as Gupta is being subject to repeated interrogations by US officials without the presence of the counsel representing him in his criminal case," the motion by Chabrowe said.

"The defence counsel present in Prague has no evidence or other case materials, other than the bare indictment. Most critically, the defendant continues (to be) interrogated by US officials, after the indictment, where his uninformed counsel has no ability to secure his rights. Accordingly, this Court should order the government to comply with the defence discovery request here, the motion said.

Gupta's motion said a municipal court in Prague has initially recommended extradition, "but several layers of judicial review remain before any final extradition order issues."

It added that in the interim, Chabrowe asked the US Attorney's office to begin providing discovery but the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York "refuses to do so."

The government, in its motion, rejected Gupta's assertion that he has been subjected to repeated interrogations by US officials without the presence of the counsel representing him in his criminal case.

In fact, he has met only twice with US law enforcement authorities, the second time in the presence of counsel, and on both occasions, he was advised of his rights. In the first meeting, immediately after his arrest, the defendant waived his rights verbally and spoke with law enforcement agents.

The government said that the second meeting occurred in the presence of Gupta's counsel in the Czech Republic, and when he declined to be interviewed, the meeting concluded.

India has already constituted a probe committee to investigate the allegations.
On January 9, 2023, before Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with Great Britain's Secretary for Defence Grant Shapps, he was presented a ceremonial guard of honour at the Horse Guards parade ground in London.

IMAGE: Rajnath Singh inspects a ceremonial guard of honour at the Horse Guards parade ground in London, here and below. Photograph: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters

Photograph: Rosie Hallam/UK MOD/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: The raksha mantri salutes as he stands next to Grant Shapps. Photograph: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters

IMAGE: Soldiers from Number 7 Company of the Coldstream Guards took part in the guard of honour, here and below. Photograph: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters

Photograph: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
A woman delivered her baby outside a government hospital block here after the staff there allegedly ignored her husband's request to admit her in the maternity ward.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has ordered an inquiry after the Monday night incident. A two-member team constituted by Ambala Civil Surgeon Kuldeep Singh has been asked to complete the probe within two days.

Suman, who is about 30 years old, had been going to the same hospital for check-ups during her pregnancy.

On Monday night, her husband Shalu Kumar brought her to the hospital in a motorbike attached cart after he did not get an ambulance. He went inside to seek maternity help for his wife while she remained in the cart.

The woman's husband has alleged that he requested the hospital staff to admit his wife to the maternity ward but they refused to pay attention even after repeated requests for help.

He said that his wife delivered a male child on the cart in the hospital premises in the absence of any staff.

The doctor of the maternity ward on knowing about the incident admitted the mother and the child to the ward where they were given required medical aid.

The woman's husband met the health minister at his Ambala Cantonment residence on Wednesday and gave details of the incident to him.

Meanwhile, Vij said that the inquiry committee has been asked to submit a report within two days.

Stating that all facts pertaining to the incident would be investigated, he said, "If any discrepancy is found, action will be taken."

When contacted, a doctor said the woman and the child are now admitted in the Civil Hospital and both are quite well.
'Are we supposed to look the other way as Islamists go on a rampage against Hindus and the Hasina government pay lip service to secularism?'

A revealing excerpt from Avishek Biswas and Deep Halder's book, Being Hindu In Bangladesh: The Untold Story.

IMAGE: Sheikh Hasina, who was elected Bangladesh's prime minister for another term on Sunday, January 7, 2024, meets with foreign observers and journalists at her residence in Dhaka, January 8, 2024. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Back in Kolkata after our Delhi and Dhaka visit, we meet Asad Noor -- exiled Bangladeshi blogger and human rights activist -- at Melbourne Cafe in Jodhpur Park in the southern part of Kolkata, where he currently stays and from where he vlogs and does Facebook lives almost every night to report on the country he has escaped from.

'From outside it may appear that the Sheikh Hasina government is secular and democratic, and the BNP and the Jamaat combine is the root of all evil, but there are fissures within fissures. Bangladesh's politics, like the politics of its South Asian neighbours, is more complicated than a simple secular-communal binary,' he tells us."

IMAGE: Sheikh Hasina meets foreign observers and journalists in Dhaka, January 8, 2024. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Noor is an advocate for freedom of expression and, LGBTQIA rights, and has criticised religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh and paid a rather hefty price for it.

He has been prosecuted multiple times by Bangladeshi authorities for alleged blasphemy and hurting religious sentiments, been sent to prison, and has been in exile in India since 2019.

'I try to show what mainstream news media in Bangladesh cannot,' says No or. 'I ask questions most of our journalists back home do not, for fear of life and limb. You think religious fundamentalists are only with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat?

Much of the rank and file of the Awami League today is filled with people who may not speak hate, but secretly endorse it.

Not just the Awami League, Bangladesh society as a whole has been infected by fundamentalism.

'You wonder how Bangladesh became like this? Well, Sheikh Hasina is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh, having served for a combined total of over nineteen years. On 10 January 2023, she will become the world's longest-serving female head of government in history.

'During her rule, there have been marvellous bridges and splendid buildings, the GDP has gone up, but economic disparity prevails and so does corruption. People are unhappy, and much of the country is poor and illiterate.

'They have lost hope from this life and hence look forward to an afterlife. And that is where peddlers of religion come in with promise of jannat and to preach hate for those who do not follow their faith.;

IMAGE: Protesters demand an end to communal violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. Photograph: PTI Photo from the Rediff Archives

'It starts from the madrasas. I went to one myself as a child growing up in rural Bangladesh and know what is taught there makes you look at people from other faiths with derision, if not direct hate.

The huzurs, most of whom are very popular in Bangladesh's hinterland, routinely preach religious extremism, the waj-mehfils are most often hate gatherings and ever since Zakir Naik entered the scene, people got to know that you can dress modern and remain backward,' Noor says.

If not the Awami League, who will the Hindus in Bangladesh repose faith in, we ask.

'It is true Awami League did not trade in religion,' he replies. 'But after the grenade attack on her in 2004, Sheikh Hasina realised she had to reach out to fundamentalists. Understand her politics.

'Hasina is perceived in Bangladesh to be close to India and India is a Hindu-majority country. To balance this, in Bangladesh she has to give a degree of free hand to Islamic hardliners.'

This is the view of one human rights activist in exile, a person who may be bitter at the government of the day for the downward spiral his life has taken.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi greets Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Bharat Mandapam convention centre for the G20 Summit in New Delhi, September 9, 2023. Photograph: Evan Vucci/Pool via Reuters

So we listen to a podcast that Asad Noor did with writer-activist Taslima Nasrin on the unstoppable rise of the religious hard right in Bangladesh. For her books, Nasrin is persona non grata in her homeland Bangladesh. In the podcast she says:

'Twenty-eight years ago, then prime minister and Sheikh Hasina's arch rival Khaleda Zia banned my book Lajja. Lajja was a fictitious tale on the lived reality of Hindus in Bangladesh. Now Sheikh Hasina has been in power, in this stint, since 2009. And Khaleda Zia is in jail. Why has Hasina not revoked the ban?

'Why has she not brought back the secular constitution she promised she would? Why has she not checked the growth of waj-mehfils and the spurting of madrasas that brainwash the youth of the country to become anti-women, anti-minority and anti-progress and only be blinded by hate for worshippers of "false gods"?'

IMAGE: University of Dhaka students hold a candlelight procession to demand justice for Hindus. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

The controversial writer does not spare the public intellectuals: 'Most of them have sent their kids abroad to study there and settle down. Who will the country belong to tomorrow? Jihadists? What will become of Bangladesh?', she asks.

As answer to her question, Asad Noor puts 'out a list of what has become of Bangladesh today.

In September 2012, for instance, in the Cox Bazar area of Chittagong district, one Uttam Kumar Barua, a Buddhist, was alleged to have hurt religious sentiments of the majority Muslims.

Buddhist houses, shops, temples were looted, set on fire. Years passed, new houses were built on the ruins of the old, new temples came up where old temples once stood. But no action was taken against men who went on a rampage. There is no trace of Uttam Kumar Barua till today.

IMAGE: Voters queue to cast their vote at the Dhaka Residential Model College voting centre during the 12th general election, January 7, 2024. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Asad then talks about the October of 2016, when one Roshash Das, from the Nasirnagar upazila of Chittagong district, was arrested and tortured for a religious hate spewing Facebook post.

It was local Awami League leaders who created a ruckus over the post.

After the interrogation and torture of Das, it came to be known that the poor guy didn't even have an account on Facebook!

In 2017, the same fate awaited Titu Ray, from Rangpur, who was arrested and tortured in jail, before it was discovered he had not posted on social media what he was being accused for!

The list is long.

'I am not surprised,' says Asad Noor. 'Isn't this routine in Bangladesh now? Yes, Sheikh Hasina is better than the others. But is that good enough? Are we supposed to look the other way as Islamists go on a rampage against Hindus and the Hasina government pay lip service to secularism? How did we get here?'

How did Bangladesh get here?

Let us go back to how Bangladesh began.

When East Pakistan became Bangladesh, unlike Pakistan, which was built around religion, the new country was created along linguistic lines, Bengali over Urdu, and a syncretic identity over a religious one.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had famously said: 'This land is not the land of Muslims. This land is not the land of Hindus. This is everybody's land.'

Excerpted from Being Hindu In Bangladesh: The Untold Story, by Avishek Biswas and Deep Halder, with the kind permission of the publishers, HarperCollins India.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
To celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, IWC Schaffhausen presents a limited edition of the Portugieser Chronograph. The classic and elegant Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon features a 41-millimetre stainless steel case, a burgundy dial and contrasting gold-plated hands and appliques. Limited to 1000 pieces, this watch impresses with its rotor in the form of a majestic dragon, visible through the sapphire glass case back

True to tradition, IWC Schaffhausen welcomes the Lunar New Year with a special edition watch. 10th February 2024 marks the beginning of the Year of the Wood Dragon. According to the Chinese calendar, such a combination only occurs once every 60 years. People born under the sign of the dragon are considered energetic, strong, confident, gifted, intelligent and generous. Dragons initiate big things and keep them running. The Year of the Dragon promises luck, prosperity, and economic success.

Since 1998, the Portugieser Chronograph has embodied the dynamic, sporty side of IWC Schaffhausens acclaimed Portugieser collection. Thanks to the dial layout with the vertically arranged counters and the quarter-seconds precision scale, it has become one of our most coveted designs. We are convinced it is a fitting model to welcome the Year of the Dragon, said Peter Lao, Managing Director of IWC Schaffhausen China.

Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon  IWC Schaffhausen

The Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon (Ref. IW371629) features a 41-millimetre stainless steel case, a burgundy dial, and gold-plated hands and appliques. Burgundy is a charming shade of red, symbolising the vibrant colour of fire, which is traditionally used to welcome the Lunar New Year in China and promises longevity and luck. The chronograph is powered by the IWC-manufactured 69355 calibre, a robust and precise mechanical chronograph movement in a classic columnwheel design. A glance at the movement through the transparent sapphire case back reveals another highlight: the gold-plated rotor of the automatic winding system takes the form of a beautifully detailed dragon. In addition, the case back ring features an engraving of 2024 YEAR OF THE DRAGON. The Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon is delivered with two straps: one black calfskin strap and one burgundy rubber strap, allowing the wearer to choose between two different looks. A butterfly clasp ensures excellent wearing comfort.

Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon  IWC Schaffhausen

The Portugieser Chronograph Year of the Dragon is limited to 1000 pieces and available immediately through IWC boutiques, authorised retail partners, or online at IWC.com. In addition, the timepiece is eligible for registration under the My IWC care programme, benefitting from a 6-year extension to the standard 2-year International Limited Warranty.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. High 43F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A few flurries are possible. Low around 30F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
French actor and director Samuel Theis has been accused of rape after the film Anatomy of a Fall won the Golden Globe and once again confirmed his status as a major Oscar contender. The alleged sexual assault occurred allegedly during the filming of another movie last July.

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According to information received from the French newspaper Liberation, the incident occurred on July 1 during filming after a party in an apartment with all the actors and crew. Variety writes about it.

One man from the crew stayed overnight in the apartment after the party due to severe alcohol intoxication. In the morning, according to the alleged victim, Theis raped him.

The actor denies this. However, he does not hide his sexual relationship with his colleague. He says that everything happened with the consent of the parties. The investigation is currently ongoing, and the court has not issued a final verdict.

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Meanwhile, the accused's lawyer claims, "There were no elements that would qualify what happened as sexual assault."

It is worth noting that after the accusations, Theis was suspended from filming his third directorial work, I Swear. The film's producer, Caroline Bonmarshand, sought the help of an outside organization to conduct an internal investigation of the cast and crew. As a result of the investigation, it was decided to physically remove Theis from the set and allow him to manage the work remotely.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA also wrote that French actress Helene Darras accused her colleague Gerard Depardieu of sexual abuse. They both played roles in the film Disco, during the creation of which this terrible situation occurred. The actress equated Gerard's attitude to her during filming as the one to a piece of meat.

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Only verified information is available on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
The talks came just days before Taiwans presidential election, and the islands future was on the agenda.

U.S. and Chinese military officials meet for the Defense Policy Coordination Talks at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2024.

U.S. and Chinese military officials met in Washington this week for their first face-to-face talks in more than two years, as the worlds two major powers wade further into a detente after nearly a year of animosity.

The status of Taiwan, which derailed U.S.-Chinese relations nearly 18 months ago, was high on the agenda, with the democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory set to hold a pivotal election this weekend.

Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, met Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, deputy director of international military cooperation in Chinas Central Military Commission, on Monday and Tuesday, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

It was the first Defense Policy Coordination Talks since 2021, with Chinas military leaders refusing to speak with their U.S. counterparts following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis August 2022 trip to the self-governing island of Taiwan.

Direct military-to-military talks were only restored after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinpings summit in San Francisco in November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

The Pentagon said that the two military officials discussed regional and global security issues and that Chase highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict.

U.S. defense officials last year criticized Chinese military leaders for refusing to pick up the phone amid a surge in near-accidents between military ships and jets over the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Chase also reaffirmed that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate safely and responsibly wherever international law allows, the Pentagon said, referring to U.S. freedom of navigation operations through the South China Sea, which China claims as its territory.

Red lines

Chinas military said in its own readout that it was willing to develop a sound and stable military-to-military relationship with the U.S. side on the basis of equality and respect as agreed upon in San Francisco.

But it added Washington needs to take seriously China's concerns and do more things that contribute to the growth of the mil-mil relationship, such as reducing its military presence in the South China Sea.

The Chinese warship Luyang III cuts in front of the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, as seen from the deck of the destroyer, in the Taiwan Strait, June 3, 2023. (U.S. Navy via Reuters)

The Chinese side underscored that the U.S. side should fully recognize the root cause of maritime and air security issues, strictly discipline its troops on the ground, and stop manipulating and hyping-up relevant issues, the Chinese readout said.

It added that Beijing will not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question and called for America to stop arming Taiwan.

Taiwan is scheduled to hold a presidential election on Saturday, with the incumbent Vice President Lai Ching-te, who has described himself as a pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence, a front-runner to replace President Tsai Ing-wen, who cannot run for a third term.

The opposition Kuomintang, meanwhile, has pledged to work more closely with Beijing if it wins back power after eight years out of office.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said Tuesday that American policy on Taiwan will remain the same regardless of which party is in power and that U.S. officials would work with whomever Taiwan voters elect.

We strongly support Taiwan's free and fair elections, which we view as a model for democracy not only in the region but also globally, and the United States does not take sides in Taiwan's elections, Ryder said. Were committed to fair treatment of the candidates.

Tinderbox

Whatever inroads have been made toward a detente, the lasting disagreements over the status of Taiwan and the South China Sea seem destined to throw a spanner in the works for relations.

In its analysis of the talks, for instance, Chinas state-run Global Times said the meeting signifies China's genuine efforts to stabilize relations, but that American leaders should tread carefully.

Disagreements over the status of Taiwan, shown, and the South China Sea are seen as impediments to U.S.-China relations. (Chiang Ying-ying/AP)

It is important for the U.S. to understand China's strong message against colluding with Taiwan secessionists, particularly in the lead-up to Taiwan's regional leader election, it said, referring to the presidential election, and threatening harsh measures from [the] Chinese mainland.

In that situation, it said, the U.S. will also be put in [a] dilemma.

Such threats may soon be put to the test, with Taiwans next leader  particularly if Lai wins  likely to float an invitation for a delegation of American lawmakers to visit the island for the inauguration ceremony.

At a preview of Taiwans election hosted by Politico on Wednesday, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois who serves as his partys ranking member on the House Select Committee on China, demurred when asked if he would sign-on to such a delegation.

The lawmaker, who was part of Pelosis controversial 2021 trip to Taiwan, instead alluded to the official U.S. policy on whether it would defend the island in the case of an invasion by mainland China.

You know, I think I'm gonna have to maintain a little bit of strategic ambiguity here, Krishnamoorthi said.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Deterrence and dialogue remain at the core of all three Taiwanese parties security agendas, analysts say.

Members of an honour guard lower the national flag during the daily flag ceremony on Liberty Square near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 7, 2024.

On Tuesday, Jan. 9 at around 3 p.m., everybody in Taiwan received a presidential alert via text message, warning them about an imminent satellite launch by China. The text in English, however, reads Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware.

After initial confusion, the defense ministry in Taipei corrected the message, saying the English language text was erroneous - it was in fact a satellite that flew over Taiwans southwest air defense identification zone - and duly apologized.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te told local media that the alert was sent because people have the right to know.

If any wreckage is discovered then it could be handed over to the relevant authorities, Lai said.

The main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) didnt miss the chance to slam the DPP, saying that when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, China fired real missiles over Taipei and the DPP government didnt sound the alarm.

Three days before presidential election, DPP government sends multiple missile alerts, it wrote on the social platform X.

The KMT questioned whether it was misinformation or a DPP campaign strategy and said that national security matters should be immune from political campaigns.

The Taiwan Peoples Party (TPP) for its part suggested that a China-Taiwan communication line could be established to deal with such emergencies.

A person attending a Foreign Ministry's news conference holds a phone showing air raid alert about a Chinese satellite that had flown over south Taiwan airspace in Taipei, Taiwan Jan. 9, 2024. (Ann Wang/Reuters)





The reactions from all three parties were representative of their national security stance, according to political analyst Yang Kuang-shun, co-founder of U.S.-Taiwan Watch, a think tank.

The DPP wants to raise the awareness among the public about the military threat from China and the need for better preparedness, said Yang, a researcher at the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (IORG).

The KMT tends to tone down the severity of Chinese interference in this election but blame the DPPs ulterior motives.

The TPP criticizes both China and the DPP administration [and] emphasizes the importance of building [a] cross-strait dialogue mechanism for future de-escalation, Yang said.

However, I believe that all three parties, not just Lai and the DPP, support enhancing Taiwan's deterrence capabilities and seeking dialogue with Beijing at platform level, the analyst told Radio Free Asia.

Continuation of Tsais policies

On Jan. 13 Taiwanese voters will go to polls to elect a new president and legislature. The election is seen as vital for the relations between Taiwan and mainland China.

All three parties start on some premise of deterrence and dialogue, said Ian Chong, a political scientist from the National University of Singapore (NUS) who is currently in Taiwan to observe the election.

This is in some way a continuation of the Tsai Ing-wen administrations policies, he said.

According to Chong, the DPP sees deterrence as a premise for stable ties and mutually respectful dialogue over practical cooperation to maintain the status quo.

These are to be accompanied by efforts to further diversify Taiwan's economy so it is less dependent on the PRC, he said, referring to China by its official name the Peoples Republic of China.

The KMTs approach, on the other hand, bets on getting the Chinese Communist Party to commit to restraint.

At the same time, the KMT also seeks greater economic integration with the PRC believing that this can lead to peace and prosperity, Chong said, adding The example of Russia shows that economic ties are little impediment to the use of force once there is political will to sacrifice those economic interests for other considerations.

Among the three main parties, in his opinion, the TPP has the least clear position as it tries to play the middle between the KMT and DPP.

The TPP also has the least experience with security and external relations, the Singapore-based analyst said.

TPP presidential candidate, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je, in one of his speeches on defense policy, criticized the DPP for seeking war and the KMT for fearing war.

Protesters against the Chinese Communist Party in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 7, 2024. (Ng Han Guan/AP)





Both the TPP and KMT paint the ruling DPP as provocative when it comes to cross-strait relations.

The KMTs candidate, mayor of New Taipei City and former leader of Taiwans national police force Hou Yu-ih, described the 2024 election as a choice between war and peace and promoted a three-D strategy - Deterrence, Dialogue and De-escalation.

However, some questioned the KMTs capability of preserving peace and avoiding war.

One aspect not many people have touched upon this time is the team each party can assemble for its potential governance after being elected, said U.S.-Taiwan Watch's Yang Kuang-shun.

KMT's voter base and talent pool are aging after eight years out of power and unpopularity among the younger generation, he said, It may lack the talents needed for international outreach.

The China factor

Ian Chong from the NUS told RFA he found it curious, that the Chinese Communist Party is echoing the KMT line about DPP provocation.

I don't think the DPP is particularly provocative, Chong said, Beijing echoing the KMT is also a function of them not having a better policy of dealing with the Tsai administration and the DPP.

Taiwanese navy ship Keelung, foreground, monitors the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, background, near the Taiwanese waters in Sept. 2023. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/AP)





There are conflicting assessments of the possibility of an armed conflict in the Taiwan Strait, with many different timelines being proposed by watchers and analysts.

Ian Chong said that Chinas pressure on Taiwan will continue regardless of which party wins the election, but the modality may change.

The DPP is likely to invite more intimidation, the KMT and TPP being in office will probably see Beijing trying to force them to take positions that make Taiwan dependent on the PRC, Chong said.

Ultimately, all the parties will have to respect the fact that more than 80% of Taiwan's population want to maintain the status quo whatever their aspirations are, he added, They will punish parties for veering too far in any direction.

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
With her statue in the background, worshippers pray during a celebration of the sea goddess Matsu on Nangan Island in Taiwan's outlying Matsu Island chain in 2011.

All three candidates in Taiwan's forthcoming presidential election have made a point of showing their devotion to the sea goddess Matsu, who is hugely popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, amid warnings that the deity is being used as a vehicle for the Chinese Communist Party's United Front operation to influence and persuade the democratic island's 23 million people to accept "peaceful unification."

The goddess has an estimated 10 million followers in Taiwan, where local businessmen and politicians vie for a place of honor carrying her statue on numerous parades, or in dance troupes performing at her festivities, and where politicians of every hue take care to include her on the campaign trail.

In September, incumbent ruling Democratic Progressive Party vice president and presidential hopeful Lai Ching-te told a gathering at the Baishatun Temple in Taiwan's Miaoli county: "I pray that the Heavenly Mother [Matsu] will bless the 2024 elections, and that the people of this country who are its masters will vote according to their own wishes rather than under the influence of external forces or false information."

Meanwhile, Taiwan People's Party candidate and Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je went one better -- talking about taking part in a grueling nine-day pilgrimage during the annual Matsu festivities.

"During the nine days I walked, I didn't have to buy anything to eat along the way," Ko said. "I ate for free, and I experienced the kindness of the Taiwanese people ... who gave out food and drink, liniment patches for soreness, and massages [to pilgrims]."

"There aren't so many differences and antagonisms in our society," he commented on the experience.

Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih, whose party has a reputation for encouraging closer ties with Beijing, told reporters on the campaign trail that he had played in the temple of Matsu as a child, claiming that the deity wishes to see people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait live in peace and harmony.

"Matsu was like our mother," Hou said. "She came from Fujian, and she wanted people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to live and work in peace and contentment, uniting our forces in peace and stability instead of fighting each other."

Weather witch

The goddess started life in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as Lin Monian, a witch who could predict the weather and was revered by local people as a fortune teller, before being elevated to divine status, where she gained a reputation for protecting fishermen and other seafaring folk after failing to rescue her brother from drowning in a dream while still mortal.

With a plethora of miraculous tales and interventions to her name, Matsu became a key figure also known as Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven, "Grandmother" or just "Mother" in the Buddhist and Taoist pantheon, with temples across the region, including Southeast Asia.

Ahead of the 2020 presidential race, Foxconn founder Terry Gou announced his candidacy by saying Matsu had appeared to him in a dream and told him to run. He later withdrew, ahead of a landslide second-term victory for the DPP's President Tsai Ing-wen, who campaigned on a platform of protecting Taiwan from Chinese infiltration and attempts at "unification."

While politicians are frequently seen making offerings to Taoist and Buddhist folk deities, Bodhisattvas and other sacred figures at more than 14,000 temples and shrines across Taiwan, Matsu has taken on an extra significance due to recent attempts by the Chinese government to turn her into a force for peaceful "unification."

A woman prostrates herself during the annual pilgrimage to honor the sea goddess Matsu in Taiwans Yunlin county in 2005. (Richard Chung/Reuters)

While Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory, and refuses to rule out an armed invasion if attempts to "reunify" the country by peaceful means are resisted indefinitely.

Authorities in Fujian have invested in huge temples and pilgrimages to Matsu since the 1980s, bringing large numbers of Taiwanese worshipers across the Strait on package holidays in recent years, while Peng Liyuan, now China's first lady, sang a hymn to Matsu at a Spring Festival Gala in 2002.

Far from banning her worship as a cult, China's atheist Communist Party has encouraged it, according to Ku Ming-chun, professor at Taiwan's Tsinghua University.

"China now regards her as a goddess for both sides of the Taiwan Strait ... her image shifts as the times change," Ku said.

"Religious exchanges came to the forefront of the cross-straits political agenda," he said. "China's United Front Work Departments at central and provincial level spotted the worship of Matsu as strategic high ground for their work targeting Taiwan."

"Local religious and cultural beliefs can be reworked into tools of the party-state," he said. "They want to [use them to] move closer to unification and undermine support for Taiwan's independence."

"They can insert a lot of ideology into these beliefs, such as saying people on both sides of the strait are all part of one big family," Ku said, adding that he once went on a cross-straits temple pilgrimage.

"They don't say directly that it's about unification, but usually there's talk ... of plans and possibilities for future cooperation during the banquet," he said.

Lots of untraceable cash

China also throws a lot of cash at Taiwanese temples without anyone being able to trace it, according to people familiar with the situation.

"China's approach is usually for Taiwan Affairs Offices in different locations [across China] to contact Taiwanese businessmen and [give them money to donate] in the name of cultural and religious exchanges," a person who gave only the initial Y for fear of reprisals told RFA Mandarin.

"Many Taiwanese believe that if you take that money and do nothing, you will be punished by the gods," she said.

Taiwans President Ma Ying-jeou (C) and Premier Wu Den-yih (2nd from L) hold a statue of the sea goddess Matsu during the annual pilgrimage in Taichung, Taiwan, in 2010. (Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Wang Hsing-huan, who heads the pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party, agreed.

"Without laws, there is no way to supervise religious finances," Wang said. "When it comes to exchanges between Taiwan and China, there's no way to know about what exchanges of people and money are taking place between temples."

He called for amendments to existing laws limiting hostile foreign influences to include donations to religious organizations and institutions.

The issue, which has led some temples to hang the Chinese national flag, has also been highlighted by Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

Council chairman Chiu Tai-san said Chinese officials are taking a leaf out of the books of Taiwanese politicians, who often visit temples to garner votes.

"China very cleverly uses our temples for its political United Front work," Chiu said. "Things have gotten chaotic, with temples raising the communist flag."

"China also sends people to Taiwan to research public opinion under the guise of religious exchanges," he said.

Businessmen targeted

Shen Po-yang, associate professor at the Institute of Criminology at Taipei University, said temples are community centers where it's possible to make contact with prominent local figures.

"Temples are just a way for them to contact local dignitaries," Shen said.

Taiwanese businessman Liao Chin-chang, who once did business in China, said Taiwanese may not see any risk in accepting invitations from Chinese officials.

"People in Taiwan who take part in temple exchanges feel that the Chinese side is entertaining them, so they go with a delegation," Liao said. "They are very proud of this, but they don't know that they will be the death of Taiwan."

He said Chinese officials typically target Taiwanese businessmen with companies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to make the donations on their behalf.

Worshipers carry a statue of the goddess Matsu during the annual pilgrimage in Taichung, Taiwan, in 2010. (Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

The Taiwanese companies donate to the temples, and the Chinese government gives them tax and other preferential treatment.

There are also all-expenses-paid junkets available to Chinese temples.

"If you take a group to China to worship at a temple, the Chinese will pay most of the travel expenses," he said, although he added that cash-strapped local governments have less of a budget for such operations during the current economic downturn.

'We're all one big family'

Officials have other rewards to offer the cooperative, said a woman with many friends and relatives who worship at temples. The woman, who did not give her name, cited business and factory licenses and other paperwork, gifts of high-end liquor and other blandishments.

"'We're all brothers, sharing the same ancestry ... we're all one big family,' they tell Taiwanese businessmen," she said. "The Chinese Communist Party is very good at cultivating you, feeding you, then eating you up at its leisure later."

She said many major donations are made by Taiwanese businessmen at China's behest, and explained as donations by a well-to-do entrepreneur wanting to benefit his hometown.

Religious believers are also told that if they vote for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, it will be harder for them to travel to temples in China in future, and "the gods will be unhappy," she said.

Former Taiwanese lawmaker Chen Pai-wei said such influence operations are a cynical bid to appropriate the island's spiritual life.

"These actions are political, and aimed at appropriating Taiwan's gods, bringing them back to China, hoping that those who believe in them will follow suit," Chen said. "They are trying to see if they can get a change of leadership."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.
The North is ready to devastate the South if the latter contemplates use of force or poses a threat, Kim says.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that South Korea is now officially Pyongyangs principal enemy, openly stating his readiness for war  as foreign ministers from 48 countries issued a joint statement warning that the threat posed by North Korea extends well beyond the Korean peninsula.

The ROK scums are our principal enemy, Kim proclaimed, referring to South Koreas formal name, as cited by North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency Wednesday. While we will not unilaterally decide on a major upheaval in the Korean peninsula through the overwhelming force of ours, we also have no intention of avoiding war, he warned.

Speaking during his two-day inspection of a military factory that began on Monday, the North Korean leader reaffirmed his commitment to the ongoing development of nuclear capabilities. In response to a hostile nation that is adopting an aggressive stance towards us, and actively strengthening its military power, our top priorities must be to enhance our self-defensive national defense capabilities and to reinforce our nuclear deterrence against war.

Calling the Souths Yoon Suk Yeol administration a self-destructive and gangster regime, Kim added: If the ROK dares to contemplate the use of force against our nation, or threatens our sovereignty and safety, we will not hesitate to mobilize all means and capabilities at our disposal to completely devastate the ROK.

Kims seemingly emotional comments come as the Yoon administration has been implementing a hardline policy towards Pyongyang, with his conservative government openly vowing to proceed with reciprocal responses to Pyongyangs military provocations.

For instance, when North Korea launched some 200 artillery shells into waters off its western coast near South Koreas Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands Friday, Seoul conducted naval fire drills to reciprocate the provocation.

On Monday, the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff also officially declared that the maritime buffer zone with North Korea no longer exists, setting a precondition for Seoul and Washington to conduct reconnaissance operations near the border  a move that has been strongly protested by Pyongyang.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul who had advised South Korean administrations, sees Kims emphasis on strengthening nuclear war deterrence capabilities as an open acknowledgment that its nuclear weapons are being targeted at South Korea.

The declaration of a willingness to completely devastate ROK in the event of a war is not just a strategic position but also a calculated move to foster animosity towards Seoul. This serves as a tool to justify and legitimize the enhancement of Pyongyangs military capability, Yang said.

As Kim escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, foreign ministers from 48 countries  including South Korea, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine  issued a joint statement, expressing their growing concern that the threat from Pyongyang has extended beyond the peninsula.

Last week, the White House announced that Russia has been using Pyongyang-supplied ballistic missiles in Ukraine, highlighting the repercussions of the conflict in Europe as well as the security implications for the Korean peninsula.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas (DPRK) export and Russias procurement of DPRK ballistic missiles, as well as Russias use of these missiles against Ukraine on December 30, 2023, and January 2, 2024, the joint statement said Wednesday, referring to North Koreas formal name.

We urge all UN Member States, including all members of the United Nations Security Council, to join us in condemning Russia and the DPRKs flagrant UNSCR violations, the statement added.

As Russia launches waves of missiles and drones against the Ukrainian people, we will continue to stand together in support of Ukraine. We further call on the DPRK to respond to the numerous and genuine offers to return to diplomacy, the only path to an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang
Airstrikes, artillery fire and landmines have killed over 400 people in four townships over 2 years.

More than 400 civilians clustered in four townships in northwestern Myanmars Sagaing region have been killed over the past two years by airstrikes, artillery fire, landmines and murder by junta troops, according to data compiled by Radio Free Asia.

Sagaing emerged early on as a hotbed of armed resistance following the militarys takeover in a February 2021 coup d'etat and has remained so nearly three years later with armed conflicts occurring almost every day between rebels groups and junta troops.

Breaking down the four townships, some 265 people were killed in Kanbalu, 51 in Katha, 44 in Tigyaing and 33 in Indaw, information from witnesses, locals, and media releases by rights groups and resistance groups indicated.

The largest death toll came during an April 2023 aerial attack on Kanbalus Pa Zi Gyi village.

In the past three months, fierce fighting between local Peoples Defense Forces and junta soldiers has erupted in Tigyaing.

The Tigyaing Revolution Force, an armed resistance group, announced on Dec. 22 that the junta had conducted at least 150 airstrikes in the area.

Three people were killed by airstrikes on Jan. 3, said a member of the Tigyaing People's Defense Force who did not want to be named.

They attacked the civilians homes, [and] three homes were destroyed, he told RFA. Three civilians were killed, and four were injured. From the very beginning, almost 30 people have been killed by airstrikes.

Intensifying violence

In Kanbalu township, before the Pa Zi Gyi village incident, junta soldiers abducted and killed 14 civilians in 2022, and torched about 500 houses in Kyi Su village, killing 10 local residents last July 18 and 19, said a resident, who did not want to be named for fear of his safety.

People lost their lives in various ways, he said. The worst situation was in November 2022 when there was a mass killing of 14 people in Koe Taung Boet village tract. It was the worst incident apart from the air attack.

An official from the Katha township People's Defense Force, or PDF, who declined to be named for the same reason, said clashes with junta troops intensified in the second half of 2023, as the number of resistance forces in the area increased.

So, they [the junta troops] burned more houses and killed more people, he said. In 2023, people could be killed on sight.

Seven civilians were killed and more than 30 wounded in a Myanmar junta airstrike on Moe Dar Gyi village, Sagaing region, after a ceremony for Buddhist novitiates on Jan. 18, 2023. (Katha Revolution  IR)

Seven residents were killed, and more than 30 were wounded when two junta fighter jets dropped bombs on Kathas Moe Dar Gyi village after a Buddhist novitiation ceremony  a coming-of-age rite for boys under 20 who are joining a monastery  on Jan. 18, 2023.

Then on Sept. 17 of last year, seven civilians from Toke Gyi village in Katha township were arrested and killed by junta soldiers.

Junta troops also captured and shot dead villagers in Indaw township, whom they accused of having ties to PDFs, said an official from the Indaw PDF.

In Kyaung Kone [village], they saw something on their phones while they were checking and beat them to death, he said. A group of eight people were also killed because they were relatives of PDF members.

Worst violence

Kyaw Zaw, spokesman for the Presidents Office of the shadow National Unity Government, confirmed that the most civilian killings occurred in Sagaing region.

Mass killings occurred all over Myanmar, and the most incidents took place in Sagaing, he said.

After the start of Operation 1027, the terrorist junta increased attacks on civilians, he added, referring to a series of simultaneous attacks by an alliance of three ethnic armies that began last Oct. 27 in multiple towns in northern Shan state.

Sai Naing Naing Kyaw, Sagaing regions ethnic affairs minister and junta spokesman, told RFA that he could not comment on the situation because he was traveling.

The junta is oppressing civilians more and more to maintain power, said a spokesman for Kachin Human Rights Watch, who asked to be identified only by his first name Jacob for fear of being arrested by junta soldiers.

Currently, civilians are being killed unjustly in Sagaing region, he told RFA. This is a violation of human rights.

Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcom Foster.
After Arakan Army attacks on junta camps, fighting has continued since Tuesday night, locals said.

Some residents of Rakhine states Mrauk-U township flee to safety during battles on Dec. 24, 2023.

At least three battles raged between Myanmars junta and the Arakan Army across three western townships on Wednesday, locals told Radio Free Asia.

One civilian died during attacks on Wednesday and three others were injured across Rakhine states Minbya and Kyauktaw townships, with 25,000 people forced to flee, residents said. The injuries and death occurred when heavy artillery from the junta landed in Kyauktaw townships Ah Pauk Wa village.

Dak Maung, a man from Ah Pauk Wa, died instantly, while three others, including Ah Tun Che, Aung Tun Mya and Aung Mya Thar, were injured, locals said. On Wednesday, a Kyauktaw-based junta artillery battalion shelled the village with heavy weapons at random, a resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA.

They started shooting around 4:30 a.m. More than 10 heavy shells were fired by Battalion 377, he said. They shot at the village although there was no fight.

Almost all 5,000 people from Ah Pauk Wa have fled to safety, he added.

Fighting in Minbya townships capital, Minbya town, also continued into Wednesday after raging through the night, residents said. Villagers said they learned that the Arakan Army initiated the attack by firing at military camps in Minbya on Tuesday evening. The army retaliated on the ground and by air using fighter jets.

We have been hearing the sounds of heavy artillery being fired since Tuesday evening. This morning we heard the sound of small arms being exchanged, said one resident on Wednesday, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.

We came to know that the Arakan Army has attacked military battalions 379, 380 and 541 at a junta camp in Minbya's Kyein Taung. Two jet fighters are shooting now.

More than 20,000 residents from Minbya and nearby villages have fled to safety due to the battles, locals said. Some local residents were injured by the juntas shelling, but details regarding injuries and casualties have not been released about this attack yet.

However, to Minbyas north, at least 15 junta soldiers were killed in a battle between the Arakan Army and regime soldiers, according to a statement released by the Arakan Army Tuesday night.

In Rakhines Mrauk-U, fighting erupted on Tuesday and junta soldiers from infantry battalion 540 captured three civilians. While walking into the city of Mrauk-U, soldiers shot the civilians and killed them, the statement added.

RFA contacted Arakan Army spokesperson Khaing Thukha for further details on the battles in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, and Minbya townships, but did receive a response by the time of publication. Calls to Rakhine states junta spokesperson Hla Thein by RFA also went unanswered.

Fighting in Rakhine during the last two months has intensified, resulting in more civilian deaths each day, residents told RFA.

According to data compiled by RFA, 55 civilians have been killed and more than 140 have been injured when fighting resumed after a year-long ceasefire from Nov. 13, 2023 to Wednesday.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Vladimir Putin has claimed a fifth presidential term with a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election that has been condemned by the West as neither free nor fair as the Russian leader seeks to prove overwhelming popular support for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and increasingly repressive policies.

With 99.75 percent of ballots counted, Putin won another six-year term with a post-Soviet record of 87.29 percent of the vote, the Central Elections Committee (TsIK) said on March 18, adding that turnout was also at a "record" level, with 77.44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.

The 71-year old Putin -- who has ruled as either president or prime minister since 2000 -- is now set to surpass Soviet dictator Josef Stalins nearly 30-year reign to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than two centuries.

"This election has been based on repression and intimidation," the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists in Brussels on March 18 as the bloc's foreign ministers gathered to discuss the election, among other issues.

The March 15-17 vote is the first for Putin since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that has killed tens of thousands of Russians and led to a clear break in relations with the West. In holding what has widely been viewed as faux elections, Putin wants to show that he has the nations full support, experts said.

The vote was also held in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are located. Moscow illegally annexed the regions since launching the invasion, though it remains unclear how much of the territory it controls.

The Kremlin's goal "is to get as many people as possible to sign off on Russia's war against Ukraine. The idea is to get millions of Russian citizens to retroactively approve the decision Putin single-handedly made two years ago," Maksim Trudolyubov, a senior fellow at the Kennan Institute, wrote in a note ahead of the vote.

In remarks shortly after he was declared the winner, Putin said the election showed that the nation was "one team."

But Western leaders condemned the vote, with a White House spokesman saying they "are obviously not free nor fair," and EU foreign ministers roundly dismissing them as a sham ahead of agreeing to impose sanctions on individuals linked to the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told RFE/RL in an interview in Tbilisi on the second day of a visit to the Caucasus that the Russian election was "not free nor fair." He said those who have had the courage to oppose Putin "are either force to flee, to live abroad, they are jailed, or some of them are killed as we saw with Aleksei Navalny."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, speaking at the start of the EU foreign ministers' meeting, said Russia's election was "an election without choice."

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said the conditions for a "free, pluralistic, and democratic election were not met," and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election outcome highlighted the "depth of repression" in Russia.

"Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy," Cameron said.

France, Britain, and other countries condemned the fact that Russia had also held its election in occupied regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin has become "sick with power" and he is just "simulating" elections.

"This imitation of 'elections' has no legitimacy and cannot have any. This person must end up in the dock in The Hague [at the International UN Tribunal for War Crimes]," Zelenskiy said on X.

Putin's allies were quick to heap praise on the Russian leader for his election success.

China, one of Russia's most important allies, congratulated Putin, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying President Xi Jinping and the Russian leader "will continue to maintain close exchanges, lead the two countries to continue to uphold long-standing good-neighborly friendship, deepen comprehensive strategic coordination."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Putin's victory "decisive," the state news agency IRNA reported, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a congratulatory message to Putin quoted by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that Russian voters had shown "unshakeable support and trust in" their president, state media reported.

In the tightly controlled race, Putin was opposed by three relatively unknown, Kremlin-friendly politicians whose campaigns were barely noticeable.

Prior to the election the Kremlin banned anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin from the ballot after tens of thousands of voters lined up in the cold to support his candidacy. Nadezhdin threatened to undermine the narrative of a united nation behind Putin and his war, experts said.



Russias opposition movement suffered a serious blow last month when Navalny, who was Putins fiercest and most popular critic, died in unclear circumstances in a maximum-security prison in the Arctic where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism widely seen as politically motivated.

Russian political analyst Ivan Preobrazhensky said in an interview with Current Time that Putin was also frightened by the rebellion staged by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in June when Prigozhin's forces briefly took control of Rostov-on-Don and were greeted by many citizens as heroes.

Prigozhin ended his rebellion before reaching Moscow and was later killed in a plane crash that many believe was retaliation by the Kremlin.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
The Year of the Green Dragon will be the beginning of a happy love story for some zodiac signs. The New Year, which starts on February 10 according to the Chinese calendar, will bring many joyful moments, life-changing meetings, and important proposals.

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Astrologers say that the next twelve months will be full of transformation, growth, and prosperity. The dragon belongs to the yang symbol and is associated with the element of fire, so its energy will bring many opportunities and vivid impressions.

Pig

2024 will bring many opportunities and challenges. But don't worry, because your ability to understand and compromise will allow you to avoid difficulties. You are the sign that does not want to waste time on meaningless alliances and short-term romances. Single representatives of the sign will be able to meet a partner who also values true love.

In a relationship, you are used to giving everything you have. In 2024, stay firm in your decisions and don't let anyone "kill" your inner romantic. In the summer, the desire to start your own family will become more acute. Don't forget to also focus on other responsibilities, such as career and personal development. 2024 will unfold a magical love story, despite all the previous setbacks.

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Dragon

It's a year of prosperity, growth, and success. Your intuition will tell you the right people who deserve love and are ready to be sincere and faithful. 2024 is a good time to start a new relationship or start a family. According to astrologers, the energy of the Dragon is favorable for carrying a child and conceiving, but most importantly, for marriage.

When you encounter setbacks or difficulties, try to make more efforts and be optimistic instead of running away from problems. You're full of passion and romance, so don't miss out on opportunities.

Monkey

You are popular with the opposite sex because of your charm, wit, and intelligence. Despite the fact that you will attract many admirers with your charisma, astrologers do not see high chances for you to start a family in 2024. You will be in the spotlight and in constant search.

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So don't rush to make a commitment and don't rush into a serious relationship without weighing the pros and cons. The energy of the Dragon will make you energetic and expressive, pushing you to do something impulsive. Dedicate this year to self-development, support, compromise, and patience. Loyalty and mutual understanding will be the key to healthy relationships.

Dog

2024 will be a transformative and evolutionary year. By nature, you are loyal and sincere, and finally, your relationship will be full of mutual understanding. Single representatives of the sign may meet the person they have been looking for all their lives.

The beginning of 2024 will bring unexpected opportunities for love. Allow yourself to accept change and take risks. If you are already in a relationship, you will feel a stronger connection with your partner this year. As you overcome joys and challenges together, your relationship will grow stronger and reach a new level. Express your feelings honestly and openly. The second half of the year brings some challenges, but compromises will help you find solutions.

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Rat

The Year of the Wood Dragon will put you on the path of transformation. You are the sign that prioritizes feelings and love over career and self-development. In 2024, you may meet a soul mate who will bring harmony and fulfillment to your life.

The protective influence of the Dragon will help you get through all the trials and tribulations and help you attract like-minded people. There is a chance to build relationships and start a new stage in life.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA told which signs can get rich soon.

Subscribe to the OBOZ.UA channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events.
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.
Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, in his first court appearance since being moved to a notorious prison in the Arctic, joked and smiled at a hearing on his challenge to how he was being treated in prison, which the judge ultimately rejected.

The court said a suit filed by Navalny, who attended the January 10 hearing via video link, against his placement in a solitary confinement for 12 days at his previous prison in October was without merit as the move was legal.

In his decision, Judge Kirill Nikiforov ruled Navalny's placement in a punitive cell was warranted because it was proven that he violated an internal order at the IK-6 prison in the Vladimir region, namely by using "offensive" words when debating with a guard.

In a light moment during the proceedings, Navalny told the judge, who has presided over several similar sessions, that "a tear is flowing down my cheek" as a sign of pleasure at getting to see him again.

A second suit also filed by Navalny against the prison's decision not to allow his wife's letters to reach him will be considered by the court at a later date as Navalny asked for time to get acquainted with all documents related to the case. Navalny said he needed to see the prison warden's written order banning his wife's letters.

The day before, Navalny said on X, formerly Twitter, that he was immediately placed in a punitive solitary-confinement cell for seven days for failing to "properly" introduce himself to a prison guard after finishing a quarantine term at his new prison formally known as IK-3, but widely referred to as "Polar Wolf."

Navalny was transported to the notorious and remote prison in December.

Located some 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow, the prison holds about 1,050 of Russia's most incorrigible prisoners.

Human rights activists say the prison holds serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, repeat offenders, and others convicted of the most serious crimes and serving sentences of 20 years or more.

Navalny, who is serving a total of 19 years in prison on extremism and other charges, was hospitalized on August 20, 2020, after falling seriously ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. He was later transferred to Germany for treatment of poisoning by a deadly nerve agent of the Novichok group.

His Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) conducted an investigation of the poisoning and determined that it was carried out by agents of the Federal Security Service acting at Putins behest.

Russian authorities have never investigated the poisoning, with prosecutors claiming there was no evidence a crime had been committed.

Navalny returned to Russia from Germany on January 21, 2021 and was immediately arrested. He has been in custody ever since.

He has posed one of the most serious challenges to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recently announced he is running for reelection in March. Putin is expected to easily win the election amid the continued sidelining of opponents and a clampdown on opposition and civil society that has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

On January 9, Navalny's team, in a post on Telegram, called on Russian citizens both home and abroad to hold an action called "Russia Without Putin" on January 21 -- the third anniversary of Navalny's arrest at a Moscow airport after he returned from Germany.

Navalny's FBK and his network of regional offices were declared "extremist" organizations and shut down in Russia in 2021. Many of his supporters fled the country in the face of criminal cases or the threat of prosecution.

Several of his associates were arrested on extremism charges, with some of them being handed prison terms.

With reporting by Mediazona and Meduza
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine has shown Russia's military is stoppable as he made a surprise visit to the Baltics to help ensure continued aid to his country amid a wave of massive Russian aerial barrages.

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.

Zelenskiy met with his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, on January 10 to discuss military aid, training, and joint demining efforts during the previously unannounced trip, which will also take him to Estonia and Latvia.

We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible, he said after talks with Nauseda on what is the Ukrainian leader's first foreign trip of 2024.

"Today, Gitanas Nauseda and I focused on frontline developments. Weapons, equipment, personnel training, and Lithuania's leadership in the demining coalition are all sources of strength for us," Zelenskiy later wrote on X, formerly Twitter.



Lithuania has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion, which will reach the two-year mark in February.

Nauseda said EU and NATO member Lithuania will continue to provide military, political, and economic support to Ukraine, and pointed to the Baltic country's approval last month of a 200 million euro ($219 million) long-term military aid package for Ukraine.

Russia's invasion has turned Ukraine into one of the most mined countries in the world, generating one of the largest demining challenges since the end of World War II.

"Lithuania is forming a demining coalition to mobilize military support for Ukraine as efficiently and quickly as possible," Nauseda said.

"The Western world must understand that this is not just the struggle of Ukraine, it is the struggle of the whole of Europe and the democratic world for peace and freedom," Nauseda said.

Ukraine has pleaded with its allies to keep supplying it with weapons amid signs of donor fatigue in some countries.

There is continued disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress on continuing military aid for Kyiv, while a 50 billion euro ($55 billion) aid package from the European Union remains blocked due to a Hungarian veto.

But a NATO allies meeting in Brussels on January 10 made it clear that they will continue to provide Ukraine with major military, economic, and humanitarian aid. NATO allies have outlined plans to provide "billions of euros of further capabilities" in 2024 to Ukraine, the alliance said in a statement.

Zelensky warned during the news conference with Nauseda that delays in Western aid to Kyiv would only embolden Moscow.

"[Russian President Vladimir Putin] is not going to stop. He wants to occupy us completely," Zelenskiy said. "And sometimes, the insecurity of partners regarding financial and military aid to Ukraine only increases Russia's courage and strength."

Since the start of the year, Ukraine has been subjected to several massive waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have caused civilian deaths and material damage.

Zelenskiy said on January 10 that Ukraine badly needs advanced air-defense systems.

"In recent days, Russia hit Ukraine with a total of 500 devices: We destroyed 70 percent of them," Zelenskiy said. "Air-defense systems are the No. 1 item that we lack."

Ukraine sounded an all-out air-raid alert earlier on January 10, and later in the day a Russian strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv injured nine people, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said.

The injuries occurred when a civilian target was damaged, he said, without specifying what was hit. An inspection of the location was ongoing late on January 10, he said, adding that cars were on fire.



Synyehubov also said that Russian forces had previously hit Kharkiv's Kyiv district with S-300 missiles. Kharkiv is under fire almost every day, usually from S-300 antiaircraft missile systems positioned in Russia in the territory of Belgorod.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
In a number of Russian cities, residents of certain districts were left without heating in the winter. Problems were observed in Yekaterinburg, Penza, Elektrostal, Podolsk, Dmitrov, Beloozersk, Solnechnogorsk, Shchelkovo, Voskresensk, Khimki, Lyubertsy, Nakhodka... and this list is not complete.

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In Penza, on January 9, at least 43 apartment buildings, a hospital, and four administrative buildings were left without centralized heating, according to Russian media. The accident affected Kommunisticheskaya, Pugachev, Dzerzhinsky, and Voroshilov streets. Russians cried on social media that there was no heat and no hot water.

The reason was an accident on the main pipeline. The prosecutor's office is conducting an investigation.

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In Elektrostal, Moscow Region, problems with heating began from the very beginning of the heating season, the city administration admitted. They explained that the Vostochnaya boiler house periodically went out of the temperature schedule, "which does not allow supplying the consumers of the Eastern District of Elektrostal with heating and hot water of proper quality."

The reason was blamed on the wear and tear of the heating networks. One-fifth of the pipes have exhausted their service life by 100%, and the rest by 75%. To replace them, 600 million rubles are needed, the city authorities said. "Therefore, it is impossible to replace all heating networks at the same time, both financially and technically," the press service explained.

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Residents of the Eastern District recorded videos with complaints in despair. People were lighting bonfires in the yards of high-rise buildings to keep warm. One of the pickets was held right next to the fire.

"The temperature in the apartments is from 8 to 16 degrees Celsius in different buildings, the temperature does not correspond to the proper one. It is impossible to stay in the houses! We are freezing!" the Russians said.

Residents of Beloozersk near Moscow are also suffering from the deterioration of the housing and communal services: a local group posted a video with the words, "SOS! We are freezing".

"The Moscow region continues to freeze, the housing and utilities system has collapsed," wrote one of the Russian Telegram channels.

In Dmitrov, Moscow Region, the Cosmonauts neighborhood was affected by the cold. The boiler room, which was being repaired in the summer of 2023, suddenly broke down. It was cold not only in the apartments of at least 29 houses but also in the school and kindergarten.

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"Today, at about 1:45 a.m., we heard water rushing through the radiators, and then for an hour there was a noise in the pipes. Apparently, they were draining the water. Then everything quieted down, and by morning all the radiators were cold. We called the boiler room. They said that it was over: the boiler room was shut down," locals wrote online.

In Podolsk, after the accident on the heating main of the cartridge factory (it happened on January 4), a local emergency was introduced due to the lack of heating in the northeastern part of the Klimovsk neighborhood.

Volunteers began delivering blankets and heaters to people. The local authorities boasted that the freezing residents received 1,100 blankets, 4,000 duvets, 85 food packages and more than 3,000 heaters.

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The frost broke radiators in some homes.

The cartridge factory in Podolsk, which left 20,000 people without heat, has been run by Igor Kushnikov, a former FSB officer, for the past year and a half. Before him was Igor Rudik, a former bodyguard of dictator Vladimir Putin.

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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kushnikov was accused of leading the Golyanovskaya organized crime group. Agency writes that this organized criminal group was responsible for more than 40 murders. At the same time, Kushnikov worked in the FSB, where he rose to the rank of colonel. He was eventually found guilty, but only of one episode of abuse of power, and was released from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Prior to Kushnikov, the plant was headed for a year by Igor Rudika, a former FSB Alpha fighter and FTS officer. According to media reports, Rudika was regularly seen among Putin's bodyguards from at least 2017 to 2019.

After the scandal, Putin ordered the nationalization of the Klimovka Specialized Cartridge Plant. It will most likely be given to the Rostec state corporation. On January 9, Russia's Investigative Committee announced the detention of the plant's general director, without naming him. The head of the boiler house and the deputy head of the Podolsk administration were also detained.

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People complained about the cold in a sanatorium in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow region. This institution treats occupants who have returned from the "SMO", an aggressive unprovoked war against Ukraine.

In the city of Shchelkovo, Moscow region, where the Chkalovsky airfield is located, families of Russian military pilots were staying in cold houses. The VCHK-ODPU Telegram channel stated that the temperature at home was only 13 degrees Celsius.

Residents of Voskresensk near Moscow recorded a video complaint about the lack of heating. It was addressed to Putin, among others.

A similar situation is also observed in Khimki and Lyubertsy in the Moscow region.

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In addition, a utility failure occurred in Yekaterinburg: 324 residential high-rise buildings in the Chkalovsky district were left without heating.

In the Sverdlovsk village of Kliuchevsk, it took two days to find the breakthrough, and residents were offered to move to a children's camp.

In Primorye, a burst at a boiler house in the city of Nakhodka left 6,000 people - 88 apartment buildings and four institutions for minors - freezing. The accident at boiler house No. 2.8 occurred on January 9. As a result, heat supply to high-rise buildings on Verkhne-Morskaya, Gagarin, Nakhodkinsky Prospekt, Lermontov, Goncharov, and Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya streets was cut off.

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Earlier, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov explained the heating failures by "abnormal frosts" and deterioration of the housing and utilities sector. "Titanic efforts are being made to upgrade the housing and utilities systems, but it is impossible to upgrade all the pipes in 10-15 years," he said.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Russian pilots at the Millerovo airfield (Rostov region, Russia) complained that they were freezing due to low air temperatures and asked for firewood to heat their stoves. The invaders also asked to buy them an ordinary car battery.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
A County Roscommon man was recently part of a major conference focusing on the rebuilding of Ukraine.

The Fit for Ukraine conference in Poland heard that Kingspan is investing 280m in a new construction technology campus.

Pointing to the need to expand its operations to meet existing demand in Eastern Europe, Ballinlough native Anthony Doherty, In-House Counsel at the Irish construction materials multinational, said that Kingspan's decision to invest in western Ukraine was a show of confidence in the region.

While the European Commission formalised the process for Ukraine's accession in recent weeks, Kingspan was the first European multinational to announce its intention to invest in the country in April of 2022 after the Russian invasion.

Speaking to the packed forum in Warsaw, the County Roscommon man pointed to the improvements that are being made in governance and transparency as being "very encouraging" for investors seeking to establish operations in the country.

Mr Doherty is no stranger to the Central and Eastern Europe region, having worked on the legal team that successfully defended Slovakia in a number of Investment Treaty Arbitrations at the beginning of the last decade.

Ballinlough native Anthony Doherty addressing a major conference on the rebuilding of Ukraine.

A proud Ballinlough man, he is better known locally for his work supporting the committee of Ballinlough Development Association in fundraising for the construction of the jetty at Lake O'Flynn.

The FIT for Ukraine annual meeting brought together government and business representatives in November, to discuss Ukraines investment achievements in 2023 and outline plans for the following year.

The goal of the conference was to attract private investments for Ukraines reconstruction. Those interested in investing and contributing received the most up-to-date analytical data, information about available investment incentives, successful investment cases, regulatory changes, practical project implementation aspects and ongoing investment projects from UkraineInvest.

Participants discussed key issues faced by investors in Ukraine as part of the largest exhibition on Ukraines reconstruction, ReBuild Ukraine.

Among the speakers were government officials, representatives from BlackRock, DFC, CSIS, Kingspan, Kovalska, Bayer and more. The event was attended by approximately 500 international delegates.

The investment by Kingspan would create up to 700 jobs within the manufacturing campus, which is expected to be located in the west of the country. Construction is to begin this year, with manufacturing operations set to begin towards the end of 2025.
A city vacation is a great opportunity to change the picture and reboot. Of course, it all depends on your goal: to relax or to spend your vacation in constant motion, exploring the sights of the local culture.

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For those who prefer a relaxing vacation, Money Super Market travel experts have researched 75 of the most popular tourist cities to determine the most cozy. Each of them was evaluated according to nine factors, including the friendliness of the locals, light and noise pollution, traffic congestion, and air quality, Express writes.

The study found that the 10 most comfortable cities for vacation are in Europe. The top is headed by the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik.

First place: Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, topped the list of the world's most relaxing cities to live in with a score of 85.5/100 due to its high air quality, abundance of green space, low pollution, friendly people, and low traffic.

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The incredible city is easy to navigate due to its modest size. Reykjavik is home to a number of unique attractions, such as whale watching and the northern lights. However, the benefits of this picturesque location do not come cheap as prices in Iceland are notoriously high.

Second place: Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn is one of the most underrated cities in the world, and its UNESCO-listed Old Town is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

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Coming in at number two in the top with a score of 82.3/100, Tallinn is an ideal option for those looking for a reboot. It's also an incredibly affordable destination, so budgetary constraints shouldn't be a problem.

Third place: Bergen, Norway

The third place went to the city with the cleanest air and lowest light pollution of all on the list - Bergen, Norway - with an overall calmness index of 80.8/100.

Nestled between Norway's spectacular mountains and fjords, Bergen offers visitors stunning views of natural landscapes and the North Sea. It is also home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf.

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Like most of its Scandinavian neighbors, Norway is a relatively expensive country to visit, which potential tourists should keep in mind when planning a trip. Another thing you shouldn't forget is an umbrella as Bergen is called the "city of rain" for a reason.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA told you what European city AI named the one that will become the most popular among tourists in 2024.

Only verified information is available on OBOZ.UA Telegram and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Rebecca Black, PA

Unites public transport workers and police staff are set to join a major strike in Northern Ireland next week, the union has said.

Teachers, nurses, health workers and civil servants are among those who are to take part in what is expected to be one of the biggest strikes in recent history over pay.

It comes after a host of public sector workers took part in separate previous walkouts over an outstanding pay award.

Unions across sectors will join together in the day of action on January 18th in response to the failure to award a pay deal in line with colleagues across the UK.

UK Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris (PA)

During talks between the UK's Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and the Stormont parties in December, a 3.3 billion financial package to accompany the return of devolution was offered.

The package would include money to make an outstanding pay award to public sector workers.

However, with Stormont remaining collapsed, that funding has not materialised.

An NIO spokesperson previously said the package will remain on the table until a new executive is formed to allocate the funds.

Unite said its 8,000 public sector workers will join the action, adding that over the next 24 hours it will provide full details of the industrial action to a range of public sector employers.

The unions membership includes more than 4,000 health and social care workers, 2,300 bus and rail workers, 800 education authority workers as well as members in the roads service, forestry service, rivers agency, ferry services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

PSNI Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Melanie Jones said planning is under way to mitigate any risk in critical functions in the event of staff absences as a result of industrial action.

I want to reassure the public that we will have the resources in place to allow us to keep people safe, she said.

Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham (PA)

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said it will be an unprecedented demonstration of the power of workers in Northern Ireland.

For almost two years, the absence of a functioning Stormont executive has led to growing paralysis and crisis across public sector services, she said.

This situation has been made worse by a Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who has sought to leverage the crisis in the current negotiations through imposing a punishing budgetary settlement.

Unite will not allow the livelihoods of workers and the funding of public services to be used as a bargaining chip by this government.

GMB said more than 5,000 of its members from the civil service, Education Authority, health trusts and transport sectors will also strike next Thursday.

GMB senior organiser Alan Perry said its members have simply had enough.

They will not be used as political pawns in a process that would see the return of the Northern Ireland Executive, he said.

The Secretary of State made it clear that money is there; he must do the honourable thing and make it available now to address the concerns of members who desperately need it.
Indonesia will on Wednesday release retail sales data for November, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In October, sales were up 2.4 percent on year.

South Korea will see December data for unemployment; in November, the jobless rate was 2.8 percent.

Malaysia will provide December figures for unemployment; in November, the jobless rate was 3.4 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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.
Oil prices were moving lower on Wednesday after rising sharply in the previous session on the back of increased geopolitical tensions and industry data showing a decline in crude inventories in the U.S.

Benchmark Brent crude future dipped 0.6 percent to $77.10 a barrel while WTI crude futures were down 0.7 percent at $71.75.

Middle East worries persisted as Israel intensified bombing and ground incursions in central and southern Gaza with dozens killed in overnight attacks.

Meanwhile, data from the American Petroleum Institute, released late Tuesday, showed a larger-than-expected 5.2 million barrels decline in U.S. crude oil inventories in the week to January 5.

At the same time, another week of large builds in gasoline and distillates inventories stoked concerns over demand from the world's largest fuel consumer.

U.S. crude production will hit records over the next two years but grow at a slower rate, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report.

"Heightened tensions around the critical Red Sea shipping channel and other developments in the Middle East have added upward price pressure since early December and have the potential to disrupt global oil trade flows and drive up global oil prices further should they escalate or persist," the EIA said.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
The trial of Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev's art fraud case against Sotheby's began on Monday before U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan, seeking more than $232.5 million in damages. The complainant claims that the auction house had "materially assisted the largest art fraud in history."

The case dates back to the period from 2002 to 2014 when Rybolovlev spent over $2 billion acquiring world-class artworks from around the world through his two companies: Accent Delight International Limited and Xitrans Finance Limited. During this period, Rybolovlev met Yves Bouvier, an art broker who assured the businessman that he could save more money by handling art negotiations for a commission of 2%.

However, Bouvier turned out to be a conman, who purchased arts from Sotheby's and sometimes doubled the price before he resold the art to the Russian businessman, Rybolovlev's lawyer said, "Over the years, Bouvier pocketed $164 million through 'secret markups' and $6.4 million through commission."

The legal battle began in 2015, during which Rybolovlev accused Bouvier of defrauding him through sale of 38 art pieces, including Picasso's "Homme Assis au Verre" and Rodin's "Le Baiser".

Among the art pieces in the trial was da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi", which was bought by Bouvier from Sotheby's for $83 million and later resold to Rybolovlev for over $127 million. The Russian billionaire sold it for a record price of $450 million in 2017, making it the most expensive painting ever sold in auction.

Over the years, the case between Rybolovlev and Bouvier had been fought in New York, Singapore and Switzerland and was finally settled in December under undisclosed terms.

The case against Sotheby's was filed in 2018 in Federal Court in New York for allegedly participating in art fraud. However, in March 2023 the court dismissed most of the allegations against the auction house, but it still faces the accusations of abetting and aiding fraud in purchase of five art pieces.

During the trial, Sotheby's attorney Sara Shudofsky told the jury that billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev was "trying to make an innocent party pay for what somebody else did to him." She further said that the man had good reason to be angry with himself after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy art masterpieces without taking 'the most basic steps' to protect himself from a broker who cheated him.

"Sotheby's didn't know anything about those lies," Shudofsky said. "Sotheby's had no knowledge of and didn't participate in any misconduct."

Sotheby's attorney further said that,"If Mr. Rybolovlev has a valid gripe, it's against Bouvier, not Sotheby's, because Mr. Rybolovlev is claiming that Bouvier's the one who allegedly lied to him about the prices he, Bouvier, paid to buy the art."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Honda (HMC) launched two futuristic concept vehicles under its new Honda 0 series at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as a part of its upcoming electric vehicles line.

The Japanese automaker said that Honda 0 series will be based on three core principles, 'Thin, light and wise'. The series will also feature new Honda logo, which is a simple version of current logo but without the enclosing box.

The newly launched concept vehicles are Space-Hub and Saloon. The Space-Hub is a minivan with lounge-like seats, providing flexible interior to accommodate a variety of persons, whereas Saloon is a hatchback-style concept with wide interiors and futuristic digital cockpit. Both the vehicles feature autonomous driving functions.

Saloon is expected to hit the roads of North America in 2026, while the further details of Space-Hub have not been disclosed by Honda yet.

"We have gone back to basics and formulated the Honda 0 Series with a design for the new era," said Shinji Aoyama, Honda's global executive vice president.

In 2021, Honda promised to sell only zero emission vehicles in major including Japan, China and North America by 2040. The automaker further announced in 2022 that it would spend $40 billion to develop 30 new EVs by 2030.

Currently, Honda lags behind in offering multiple EV models compared to its competitors such as Hyundia, Kia and Ford. The company had collaborated with General Motors in the development of electric SUV known as The Prologue, which will go on sale later this year.

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Business News
Passenger vehicle (PV) category showed off substantial increase in sales in December 2023 with 2.93 lakh units sold while CY2023 sales touched 38.60 lakh units

The PV category showed off a 2.65 percent growth in December 2023 to 2,93,005 unit retail sales up from 2,85,429 units sold in December 2023. It was however a MoM decline in sales by 18.71 percent as there had been 3,60,431 units sold during the festive month of November 2023. During the calendar year 2023, sales of passenger vehicles surged to 38,60,268 units, up 10.61 percent from 34,89,953 units.

Maruti Suzuki Leads with 41.41 Percent Market Share

Maruti Suzuki India Limited once again headed this list with 1,18,295 units sold in the past month, up marginally from 1,18,194 units sold in December 2022. Maruti is actively testing its new Swift and DZire and will also soon enter the electric PV segment with the eVX, all of which will be launching in 2024.

Tata Motors overtook Hyundai at No. 2 with 43,859 units sold last month, up from 37,190 units sold in December 2022. Tata Motors currently commands a 14.97 percent market share, up from 13.03 percent held in December 2022. Tata Motors has seen outstanding demand for its EV lineup. Tata Motors average EV sales per month are at around 5,763 units.

Hyundai moved into a No. 3 position on this list with retail sales de-growth on a YoY basis to 39,510 units in December 2023 from 41,998 units sold in the same month last year. Mahindra sales however, showed an increase to 31,544 units, up from 27,678 units sold in December 2022 while sales of Kia Motors dipped to 15,765 units last month from 18,481 units sold in December 2022.

Toyota (14,389 units) and Honda Cars (7,896 units) both saw a YoY growth while sales of Volkswagen dipped to 6,986 units last month from 7,035 units sold in December 2022. MG Motors had its retail sales at 3,370 units in December 2023, a YoY growth over 3,133 units sold in December 2022. However, Renault (2,955 units) and Nissan (2,084 units) suffered YoY de-growth.

Luxury car retail sales Dec 2023

In the luxury car space, Mercedes Benz suffered a de-growth to 1,319 units in December 2023 when compared to 1,379 units sold in December 2022. BMW sales grew to 1,128 units up from 869 units sold in December 2022, Jaguar (272 units), Volvo (176 units), BYD (170 units) and Porsche (80 units), with each of these automakers showing off a YoY growth in retail sales.

Citroen also saw its sales grow on a YoY basis to 670 units in December 2023 from 644 units sold in the same month last year. Fiat (Jeep) sales fell to 477 units from 812 units on a YoY basis while the list also included Force Motors (467 units). There were others on this list who contributed 1,603 units to total retail sales, up from 1,452 units sold in the same month last year.
The first vehicle under Honda 0 Series will hit North American market by 2026, followed by other markets including Japan, Europe, Asia and more

CES 2024 (Consumer Electronics Show) has kicked off in Las Vegas, USA between 9th January 2024 to 12th January 2024. This is among the biggest tech events in the world and many automakers like to make a spectacle here. One of them is Honda that is showcasing 2 EV concepts. These 2 EV concepts fall under Honda 0 Series with a dedicated brand identity.

Honda 0 Series To Debut At CES 2024

For 0 Series, Honda has went back to the drawing board to redefine their approach for vehicular development. This is like hitting a reset button for their dedicated electric mobility division. At CES 2024, Honda 0 Series spawned two new concept vehicles that were displayed for audience to gawk at.

Called Saloon and Space Hub, both these concept vehicles under Honda 0 Series look extremely futuristic. Especially the Saloon which reminded me of Lamborghini Diablo and the extremely rare Jaguar XJ220 supercars. While Space Hub is a futuristic MPV that reminds me of the recently launched Tesla Cybertruck.

The Saloon is Honda 0 Series flagship and it is a sleek and stylish vehicle with low height for aerodynamic efficiency. The front and rear strike a dominating aura and gets interesting lighting elements. Space Hub, on the other hand, was designed to augment peoples daily lives. It aims at connecting people to people and people to society.

Honda is envisioning carbon neutrality across all of its businesses and products by the end of 2050. The target for 100% electrification with EVs and FCEVs (Fuel Cell EVs) is touted to be a reality by 2040. Honda 0 Series is a major step regarding this goal and the first EV under this brand will launch by 2026, starting with North America and then Europe, Asia, Japan, Africa and the likes.

The new Honda logo

When we take most recognisable car brands, Honda is pretty high up the list with global recognition and recall. Companys current H logo is an iconic one that has been in use since 1981. With their next-generation EVs, Honda is going with a new logo that has a flatter H, exuding minimalistic approach.

This marks Hondas continual transformation and pursuit to future mobility with adapting to customer preferences. This new logo will be exclusively used with Hondas next gen EVs including upcoming 0 Series vehicles.

The Five Core Values

For their next-gen EVs, Honda is implementing a Thin, Light and Wise approach and incorporating five core values. The Thin, Light and Wise approach signifies aerodynamic performance with a thin EV platform that is also light in weight to ensure spirited and sporty driving experience along with wise original software to showcase Hondas profound knowledge in carmaking and intelligent technologies.

The Five Core Values that Honda is showcasing with their nex-gen EVs including 0 Series are  Artistic design that evokes resonance, AD/ADAS for safety and peace of mind, space for people with IoT and connected tech, joy of driving and lastly, outstanding electricity efficiency performance.
After the outbreak of a full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia became the world's first country to impose sanctions on Ukraine. There are 16,077 sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. As a result, the Russian Federation has surpassed even Iran in the anti-rating.

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This is stated in the publication of Statista. Thus, there are 3,616 active sanctions against Iran imposed by the United States, the United Nations, the EU, and countries such as Australia, Canada, India, and Israel. Relations between the latter and the Islamic Republic have been particularly tense: disputes over Iran's nuclear arsenal and its common hostile stance toward Israel threaten to escalate regularly.

Most of the sanctions imposed on Syria, which ranks third on Castellum.AI's list, are related to events associated with the Syrian civil war that began in 2011. After the civil unrest in connection with the Arab Spring movement, clashes broke out between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

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The leaders of the current round of sanctions against Russia are the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom with 3,551, 2,765, 2,225 and 1,749 restrictions, respectively. The majority of these sanctions are directed at individuals (11,462), while there are 4,344 sanctions against legal entities, 169 against courts, and 102 against aircraft.

According to researchers at the Yale School of Management, in addition to sanctions imposed by nation-states and governing bodies, more than 1,000 companies have left the Russian market to varying degrees, including such industry heavyweights as Adidas, Google, Disney, Exxon, and Volkswagen.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, despite the "oil" sanctions imposed by the West, Russia is making a profit from the sale of oil products. The Russian Federation uses various methods and loopholes to circumvent the energy restrictions that have been in place for a year, from December 2022.

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Yemeni Armed Forces announce targeting of an American ship that was providing support to Zionist entity

resource : Saba

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[10/January/2024]SANA'A Jan 10. 2024 (Saba) - The Yemeni armed forces announced that they had carried out a military operation targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity.The Armed Forces explained in a statement issued on Wednesday that the Navy, the Missile Force, and the Unmanned Air Force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a joint military operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity.It indicated that this operation came as a preliminary response to the treacherous attack on the Yemeni naval forces by the American enemy forces on Sunday the 18th of Jumada al-Akhirah 1445 AH.The Yemeni Armed Forces affirmed that "they will not hesitate to deal appropriately with all hostile threats within the right of legitimate defense of our country, our people, and our nation."It also confirmed that it will continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on the steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted.The statement pointed out that the Yemeni Armed Forces confirm their full commitment to the continuation of shipping traffic in the Red and Arabian Seas to all destinations except the ports of occupied Palestine.Sana'a 28 Jumada al-Akhirah 1445 AHCorresponding to January 10, 2024 ADIssued by the Yemeni Armed ForcesE.M
New Zealand is known for its untouched nature, picturesque landscapes, caves, unusual islands and water bodies. It is worth going here not to see architectural or historical monuments but for the sake of natural locations. Believe me, it's impossible not to fall in love with them.

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We are sharing with you the places that each of us should visit.

Hobbiton village

If you've seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you'll definitely want to visit this place. It was in this small village that the famous saga was filmed. Yes, it was not computer graphics, as we thought, but a real village. It was built specifically for filming. We are sure that the fans will not even need a guide because every corner of this place will be painfully familiar to them.

Waitomo Caves

Locals and tourists alike call this location the home of fireflies. The name is given for a reason. There are a lot of "living lanterns" here. They illuminate the walls of the tunnels with a unique blue-green color. The sight is mesmerizing. It is not surprising that travelers go here first.

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You can also listen to a variety of songs here on Christmas and New Year's holidays. They are performed by a choir in the Cathedral Hall.

Milford Sound Fjord

Another location in a nature reserve. Here, on the South Island, tourists stay for a long time. Rocky coasts, amazingly clear waters, and mountains don't give you a chance to run quickly and then go on to explore other places. You forget about everything in the world here. In a second, adults turn into children and begin to carefully examine every pebble, twig or branch.

Franz Josef Glacier

For lovers of extreme recreation, we recommend heading to Westland National Park. Here is another unique natural wonder that you can try to conquer. To do this, you need to book an excursion and climb an ice-covered rock with a guide. Of course, you will need special shoes and other equipment. So take care of this point in advance.

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Geyser Valley of Wairakei

Everyone who visits this country should see an effective eruption of hot water. The spectacle is really impressive. And you won't have to wait long. Every 20 minutes, a powerful stream rises from the ground and reaches a height of 30 meters. It is said that some brave souls manage to boil eggs and sausages during this natural show. But we don't recommend it. It's too dangerous and not worth the risk.

Mount Cook



The highest point in New Zealand is located in the National Park of the same name. As expected, you can climb it. Even beginners dare to take such a serious step. If you don't want to climb up but still want to see the local flora, you can choose another way. Most often, travelers book helicopter tours and admire the incredible places from a bird's eye view.

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Wellington

"A metropolis immersed in greenery" is what tourists say when they arrive in the capital of New Zealand. Even in winter, the pine trees and fir trees make it impossible to deny this fact. The city is always framed in colorful garments.

The settlement itself is located on two mountains, so keep in mind that you will have to go down many times and then climb to the top. But there is good news: your legs will become more pumped up and enduring. After such a walk, you will not be afraid of other locations in this country.

In Wellington, we recommend going to the Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum, which translates as "the place where the riches of this land are located". Indeed, the emphasis here is on the flora and fauna of the region. The building houses collections of plants and fossils, animal and bird skeletons, as well as insect specimens and the remains of a giant blue whale.

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Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World

Another tourist attraction that deserves your attention. It is a complex that combines an oceanarium and a gallery. Here you can observe a wide variety of marine life on our planet: from stingrays to sharks. By the way, you can also swim with the predators. So, if you lack adrenaline and thrills, you can try this fun activity.

The building itself resembles an aquarium in the form of a tunnel. The design still impresses with its scale. The length of the passage is 110 meters. For a location that is located underwater, it is really amazing.

The structure was built quickly but in accordance with all safety rules. They also took care not only of people but also of fish. Many caves and reefs have been recreated in the reservoir. This is done so that the creatures can hide from annoying visitors or their "neighbors" if they wish.

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Unfortunately, this unique state is thousands of kilometers away from Ukraine. But it, like the others, deserves your attention. You have to see its unearthly beauty. So don't think about whether to go or not. If you have the opportunity, be sure to go on an unforgettable trip to New Zealand.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA told you about the Baltic countries that have something to surprise tourists.

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The American company PepsiCo, included in the list of international sponsors of the war (brands Lay's, Mirinda, Pepsi, Sandora, 7up, Chudo, Slovyanochka, Sadochok, Sandorik, etc.), prohibits mentioning Russian aggression in its advertising, even in Ukraine itself. Therefore, when searching for a new advertising and PR agency in the country, the company set a strict condition for a potential partner to exclude any mention of the war or support for Ukraine and the Armed Forces in future advertisements and communications.

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This information comes from a study conducted by the activist group B4Ukraine, a coalition of Ukrainian and international civil society organizations. It is noted that PepsiCo explicitly specifies in its advertising policy:

any references to war, hostilities, aggression, the army, personnel (on the part of the brand), the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

talking about supporting Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

any negative references that "create a sense of 'danger'".

"In the fall of 2023, when PepsiCo was searching for a new advertising and PR agency in Ukraine, they imposed a condition on potential partners to exclude any mention of the war or support for Ukraine and its army in future communications. B4Ukraine contacted Pepsi's offices in Ukraine and the United States for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication," Euromaidan Press reported.

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It is noted that a post on PepsiCo's Instagram page on October 17, 2023, mentioned that its "volunteers distributed food packages to 1,200 families in Borodianka whose homes were destroyed." However, it was not specified who had brutally destroyed the houses of these people.

"PepsiCo volunteers have distributed food packages to 1,200 families in Borodyanka whose homes were destroyed. Our help is still much needed. We sincerely thank all the volunteers who did not stand aside and devoted their day off to a noble cause," the post reads.

Why PepsiCo is hiding from the war

Analysts see a possible reason for PepsiCo's position as the fact that it not only continues to operate in Russia but has also significantly increased its profits there. At the same time, it pays taxes to the Russian treasury.

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"PepsiCo's net profit in Russia last year increased by 333% to $525 million. The company paid about $115 million in taxes to the Kremlin. Now the iconic Pepsi Cola is sold under the Evervess-Cola brand, although regular Pepsi Cola is still easy to buy in Russian supermarkets thanks to the so-called parallel imports," they stated.

PepsiCo is a war sponsor

Earlier, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) added PepsiCo to the list of international sponsors of war. It noted that, according to available information, "PepsiCo's Lay's chips were found in the food rations of Russian soldiers."

At the same time, they noted that despite the company's announcement in March 2022 that it would cease advertising and beverage production in Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, production of 7Up and Mirinda beverages under the Evervess and Frustyle brands resumed in August 2022. And in March 2023, the production of Pepsi beverages under the Evervess and Lyubimy brands resumed.

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"In addition, PepsiCo has launched a new brand of lemonade in the country called Russian Gift to replace the previous products. The company also continues to produce and distribute other products: chips, snacks, and dairy products," the NACP emphasized.

Moreover, they noted, the absence of sincere intentions to leave the Russian market is also indicated by the fact that the company's career page lists more than 580 open vacancies in Russia. "By creating jobs, foreign companies relieve the Kremlin of the burden of unemployment benefits and related social problems," the agency stated.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the NACP also added one of the world's largest fast-food chains, the American franchise Subway, to the list of international sponsors of war. The reason is that more than 500 of the company's establishments continue to operate in the Russian market, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to the Russian budget.

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The United States of America has received evidence that Russian terrorists have continued to attack peaceful cities in Ukraine with North Korean-made ballistic missiles in recent days. The United States will continue to impose sanctions against those who facilitate the illegal transfer of weapons to the aggressor.

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This statement was made by the White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby. He said this at a press briefing on Tuesday, January 9.

"As I said from this podium last week, the DPRK recently transferred launchers and several dozen ballistic missiles to Russia. Russia has since used these missiles against Ukraine over the past week," Kirby said.

He recalled that the US side had already reported the first known launch of a North Korean ballistic missile over Ukraine by Russia on December 30. Subsequently, on January 2, the occupiers fired about 10 missiles at Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities.

Then, on January 6, the Russian military launched numerous North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine.

"We are still assessing the impact of these strikes, but we can confirm that at least one of them hit Kharkiv," the White House spokesman emphasized.

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In this regard, he noted that the United States joined the joint statement of 47 foreign ministers condemning North Korea's exports and Russia's acquisition of North Korean ballistic missiles and the use of these weapons in Ukraine.

Kirby assured that the United States will continue to impose sanctions on those who facilitate the illegal transfer of weapons to Russia.

At the same time, he emphasized that the most effective U.S. support for Ukraine is for Congress to adopt new measures to help Ukraine without further delay.

As a reminder, Russia has received ballistic missiles from North Korea in violation of international sanctions and is using them in the war against Ukraine. During the recent attacks on our country, the Russian Federation used, among other things, North Korean "ballistics".

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As reported by OBOZ.UA, Russia is going to import short-range ballistic missiles from Iran, which will enhance Moscow's ability to destroy Ukraine's infrastructure. The delivery of Iranian missiles to Russia may take place this spring.

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In the ranking of the world's strongest armies, the Armed Forces of Ukraine took 18th place. Compared to last year, our country has dropped three places.

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The updated list was published in January 2024 by the international company Global Firepower. Researchers assessed the military power of 145 countries.

The top four positions remained unchanged. The United States of America leads the list, with Russia in second place, China in third, India in fourth, and South Korea in fifth.

In January 2022, Ukraine's army held the 22nd position, and in January 2023, amidst Russia's full-scale invasion, it climbed to 15th place in the ranking.

To assess the "strength" of an army, researchers identified 60 separate categories, including the number of military units, financial status, logistical capabilities, and geography.

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This year, Ukraine's "neighbors" in the ranking are Israel (17th place) and Germany (19th place). The Armed Forces of Ukraine have a power index of 0.2598 (the lower the better, 0.0000 is considered ideal).

"Ukrainian military power is reinforced by financial and material support from Western allies, including the United States. February 2024 marks two bloody years since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war," the authors noted in the review.

As previously reported by OBOZ.UA:

 Ukraine was included in the list of the most dangerous countries to visit in 2024 in the "security" category. Alongside our country, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Somalia received this designation.

 According to Schengen Visa Info, Ukraine scored 75.1 points out of 100 in the security rating (the higher the score, the worse the indicator). For comparison, Switzerland received 45 points, while Russia scored 93.8, practically topping another anti-rating.

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Slovakia, like Hungary, has refused to sign a joint statement by nearly fifty countries condemning North Korea's transfer of missiles to Russia. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar justified his refusal by claiming that there was "no evidence" of such transfers.

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According to Blanar, Bratislava "consistently advocates" compliance with international law and UN Security Council sanctions, as reported by TASR. "But we are not going to do this (condemn the violation of sanctions - Ed.) just because someone comes to us and says that they think so, but is not going to provide us with evidence to support this," the Slovak Foreign Minister said.

At the same time, he assured that Slovakia is ready to join the declaration as soon as evidence of North Korean missiles being supplied to Russia is presented.

"I assure you: as soon as we have (the evidence - Ed.) at our disposal and it convinces us, in particular, the international community at the level of the Security Council, we will join it (the statement of condemnation - Ed.)," Blanar said.

Simultaneously, the Slovak Foreign Ministry, in a comment to Aktuality.sk, stated that it has no information confirming that ballistic missiles were indeed supplied to Moscow by the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un.

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"A text that cannot be commented on was sent to the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It contains results that need to be studied first. Our side does not have any information that would confirm the origin of the ballistic missiles," the ministry's press service told reporters.

As you know, the foreign ministers of 47 countries in a joint statement condemned North Korea's supply of ballistic missiles to Moscow. The text of the statement was published on January 9 on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The statement was signed, in particular, by representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the EU.

As previously reported by OBOZ.UA, after the elections in Slovakia in the fall of 2023, a pro-Russian party came to power and initiated the termination of military assistance to Ukraine. The newly appointed Foreign Minister Blanar, who lacks diplomatic experience, declared a "civil war" in Ukraine back in 2014 and did not recognize Russia's aggression.

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As a reminder, on January 10, the White House announced that the United States had received evidence of Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine from North Korea. Washington intends to increase sanctions against those who facilitate the illegal transfer of weapons to the aggressor.

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Technology

spotlight

Rakuten's move to larger office a small part of downtown SF solution

Courtesy Rakuten Amit Patel, CEO of Rakuten International: Its a pretty massive upgrade in the experience for our employees, as well as our visitors.

Running counter to the narrative of large businesses shedding office space in downtown San Francisco, the tech firm Rakuten International said Monday it was moving into larger digs in less outdated space in a tower south of Market Street just blocks away from its now-former home.

Rakuten, a San Mateo-based company owned by the giant Tokyo-based Rakuten Group, said it was moving almost 160 employees into 29,000 square feet on the 18th floor of 300 Mission St.

The company, known as the jersey-badge sponsor of the Golden State Warriors and for its cash-back program for online purchases, among other offerings, has more than 550 employees in the Bay Area, a spokesman said.

Rakuten Internationals new office space, which was remodeled relatively recently, is more modern and conducive to collaboration and large meetings than its old offices, which were spread across 24,000 square feet on two floors at 160 Spear Street, where the company had been for nine years, officials said.

Its a pretty massive upgrade in the experience for our employees, as well as our visitors, said Rakuten International CEO Amit Patel, who told of staff confabs being held in the old offices kitchen.

Rakuten International signed a two-year deal to sublease its new space from Glassdoor, another technology company that runs a job-search and recruiting platform.

Company officials declined to discuss financial terms but said there is an option to extend through 2030, which Patel said indicates Rakutens commitment to The City.

The new space has more conference rooms, small-group collaboration space and amenities, Patel said. Its in a building that features large floors of approximately 30,000 square feet, underground parking, a landscaped outdoor plaza and close proximity to the Montgomery Street BART station and the Salesforce Transbay Transit Center.

Such attractions inside and out appear increasingly important to engage workers who have only gradually returned to offices in greater numbers  often under orders  after the dramatic rise of remote work turbocharged by COVID-19 and stay-at-home mandates.

Average occupancy of offices in the San Francisco metro area has consistently been less than 50 percent since 2020, among the lowest of ten surveyed cities, according to building badge swipes counted by security company Kastle Systems.

Rakuten Internationals announcement came after a fourth quarter in which preliminary data from the commercial real-estate firm CBRE showed the amount of vacant office space in San Francisco rose to a record high of 35.9%, though leasing activity picked up at the start of the quarter.

Some companies didnt renew leases, and several large subleases were placed on the market during the period, said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBREs Tech Insights Center.

It looked like rents dropped 7.7% over the prior year, he said.

Yasukochi predicted that San Franciscos vacancy rate would continue to rise and rents would moderately decline for the first half of the year, after which he expected the office market to stabilize and begin to recover as economic conditions improve and interest rates decline.

In Rakuten Internationals case, Patel detailed in a LinkedIn post last March that he was requiring employees to be in the office at least three days per week, saying that in-person work was vital to the companys success.

That was the first time company employees had been asked to come into the office since March 2020, and Patel offered a new benefit: Employees could work anywhere in July. A company spokesman said Monday that employees typically are expected to come in Tuesdays through Thursdays.

Patel said that when the old lease ended, he could have brought the San Francisco employees to his companys San Mateo headquarters, which Rakuten owns and has onsite amenities such as food service and a gym.

We have everything there, he said. Plenty of space.

However, Patel said, he decided that it was important to have a presence in The City, which he called exciting, beautiful and tech-forward, for a variety of reasons, including employee access.

Another motivation for keeping a San Francisco office was to support small neighboring businesses, which have suffered from a lack of traffic because of absent office workers.

I would much rather be part of the solution than part of the problem, he said. So maybe were a small part of the solution. I dont expect things to get any better anytime soon, but I hope this is really just a part of the journey, as many cities have experienced.

Meanwhile, Brittan Hawken of the real estate company JLL, who represented Rakuten in its lease deal, insisted things were looking up.

Theres definitely plenty of venture-backed companies and technology companies that are actually doubling down or continuing to invest in The City, Hawken said.
Shares in business process outsourcing provider Capita dropped sharply on Wednesday after analysts at RBC Capital Markets downgraded their rating on the stock, citing a lack of short-term catalysts.

The broker cut Capita from 'outperform' to 'sector perform', and slashed the target price for the shares from 42p to just 23p, causing the stock to fall 7% to 20.25p in morning trade.

The rating change comes a month after the company delivered a pre-close trading update for 2023, in which it disappointed the market with revenue growth and free cash flow (FCF). It reported a free cash outflow of 53m, which was impacted by one-off costs to do with a cyber attack last year  an incident that resulted in the resignation of its chief executive Jon Lewis.

"CPI disappointed again on FCF in 2023, highlighting that there remains a lack of visibility over cashflow generation. That plus a severe devaluation of peers, especially in the customer experience world, means that our [sum-of-the-parts] valuation no longer points to enough upside to be positive," the broker said.

"Whilst there remains material potential upside, if CPI can improve margins and FCF conversion, with the new CEO joining shortly, there is likely to be a lack of catalysts [...] until he has got his head under the bonnet."
Tata Electronics Private Ltd (TEPL) aims to significantly boost its operations with a total investment of $10 billion by 2027, positioning itself as a key player in the global supply chain for precision components. As part of this initiative, the company is allocating Rs 7,000 crore for the expansion of its Hosur plant, with the goal of enhancing iPhone assembly. Located in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, the facility currently houses a casings unit and employs approximately 10,000 female workers.

In November of the previous year, Tata Group entered into a definitive share purchase agreement with SMS InfoComm (Singapore) and Wistron Hong Kong Limited to acquire the entire equity stake of Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) for $125 million. Wistron India, located in the Kolar district of Karnataka, operates four assembly lines for iPhone production at its Malur plant, providing employment to 14,000-15,000 individuals. The acquisition of Wistron's unit positions Tata to engage in comprehensive end-to-end assembly of iPhones within India.

Tata Electronics is the first Indian company to become a contract manufacturer for iPhones, apart from Taiwan's Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, especially when Apple looks to diversify its manufacturing away from China. The holding company of Tata Group, Tata Sons plans to invest $90 billion by 2027 and most of it is expected to go to new businesses because every traditional business can fund its growth. "We want to be future-ready and create future businesses with strong balance sheets in the next five years. We want to see what impact we can make on society. A lot of things we can do in scale", said N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons.
During their meeting at the Vibrant Gujarat summit in Ahmedabad this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Czech counterpart Petr Fiala are anticipated to launch a strategic partnership focusing on innovation. This marks the inaugural collaboration of its kind between India and a European nation, as India aims to leverage technological and innovative expertise for Industry 4.0. The partnership is expected to enhance joint ventures under the Make in India initiative between India and the Czech Republic, simultaneously providing momentum to the proposed India-EU Free Trade Agreement.

For decades, the Czech Republic has played a crucial role as a key partner for India, particularly in sectors such as automotive and defense. People familiar with the situation indicate that the Czech Prime Minister is heading a robust delegation focused on science and technology during the summit. The economic relations between India and the Czech Republic, dating back to the time when it was Czechoslovakia, have a longstanding history that predates India's independence. In fact, Czechoslovakia set up its consulate in Mumbai in October 1920, followed by another in Calcutta in December 1929.

The Czech policy of trade diversification outside the EU has given fresh impetus to Indo-Czech trade and economic relations. New mechanisms and diversified interaction thereafter resulted in an increase in bilateral trade to about $3.16 billion in 2022, from just $86 million in 1993, as per Czech statistics. Almost 7% of Czech investments outside Europe go to India. More than 30 Czech companies have invested in India, including skoda Auto, Doosan skoda Power, Bonatrans, Home Credit, Liko-s, Tatra trucks, Zetor and Dina-Hitex, in various sectors such as transport, energy, automotive, metallurgy and finance.

Indian enterprises have made substantial investments in various sectors within the Czech Republic, encompassing IT, electronics, telecommunications, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automotive components, and food. Notable among the Indian companies participating in these investments are Infosys, LEEL, APAG Elektronik, Varroc Lightning Systems, Pricol, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Mileta Horice, and MSSL Advanced Polymers.

Shoe company Bata, which started its operations in Batanagar (West Bengal) in the 1930s, is among the more popular Czech brands in India. While skoda is currently a well-known brand in the automotive industry, Jawa and Yezdi motorcycles were popular in the 1960s. Owing to the popularity of the brand, Mahindra and Mahindra have revived the Jawa brand, and Jawa motorcycles made in India are now being exported to the Czech Republic. During the era of communist rule, Czech companies initiated several notable industrial projects in India, covering energy, metallurgy, machine tools, and transport. By 1990, around 60 substantial projects of this nature had been established in India, and some of these Czech companies continue to be actively involved in projects within the heavy engineering sector.
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have concluded four agreements, spanning areas such as food processing and renewable energy, as part of efforts to enhance collaboration within the I2U2 alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan engaged in discussions to reinforce bilateral relations. The visit by Abu Dhabi's ruler, commonly known as MBZ, is a notable aspect of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar and is anticipated to fortify trade and investment connections, building on the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February 2022.

During the meeting between Modi and MBZ, the two parties concluded four memorandums of understanding. These include an agreement between the UAE's investment ministry and India's renewable energy ministry for collaboration in renewable energy investments. Additionally, there is an MoU between the UAE investment ministry and India's food processing ministry for investment cooperation in the development of food parks. Another MoU between the UAE's investment ministry and India's health ministry aims to foster investment cooperation in innovative healthcare projects. Furthermore, DP World, a Dubai-based multinational logistics company, and the Gujarat government finalized an MoU for the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable ports.

Following the first I2U2 Summit in July 2022, the four members of the economic bloc said the UAE will invest $2 billion to develop a series of integrated food parks for which India will provide land and facilitate the integration of farmers. The food parks are aimed at tackling food insecurity in South Asia and West Asia. The I2U2 had also announced plans to create a hybrid renewable energy project in Gujarat with 300MW of wind and solar capacity. It was stated at the time that UAE-based firms are exploring opportunities to become knowledge and investment partners in this project.

This was the fourth meeting between the Indian premier and the UAE President in less than seven months, and they hailed the rapidly transforming India-UAE partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to a shared and prosperous future, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

The AD Ports Group of the UAE is expected to sign another agreement to develop a port city in Gujarat, the people said. UAE-based Lulu Group International has plans to build Indias largest shopping mall in Ahmedabad, and the retail conglomerate is expected to sign an agreement to invest a3,000 crore in Gujarat. The Indian government has focused on improving ties with key parts of West Asia, which New Delhi perceives as part of the countrys extended neighbourhood and provides nearly 45% of energy supplies. West Asia is also home to some nine million Indians, with a majority of them living in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Here are some stocks to watch out for in trade today:

Delta Corp: The company's Q3 consolidated revenue fell 15% YoY to Rs 231.7 crore, while the net profit slumped 59% to Rs 34.5 crore.

Vedanta: Moody's has downgraded Vedanta Resources' corporate family rating to Caa3 from Caa2 and rating on unsecured bonds to Ca from Caa3. Outlook has been maintained as negative.

KIOCL: The company has temporarily suspended operations of the Mangalore-based pellet plant due to the non-availability of iron-ore fines.

Power Grid: Reports say the company plans to float bonds to raise up to Rs 2200 crore today. The base size is said to be Rs 500 crore with a greenshoe option of Rs 1700 crore.

Mahindra and Mahindra: The company plans to work with Mobileye, a US-based automobile technology company, to develop software solutions and explore the creation of a complete autonomous driving system.

Power Finance Corp: The company has received a no-objection letter from the Reserve Bank of India for establishing a finance company in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

Lupin: The pharma major launched Bromfenac Ophthalmic Solution, 0.07 percent in the US following the US FDAs nod.

IRCTC: The Railway Ministry has nominated Sanjay Kumar Jain as the chief managing director of the company.

Steel Strips Wheels: The board of the company has approved the investment of Rs 138 crore in AMW Autocomponent Ltd, as a part of their insolvency resolution plan. The plan was finalized after receiving approval from the Ahmedabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal.

Shyam Metalics and Energy: The company has successfully completed fundraising of Rs 1,385 crore through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), surpassing expectations with bids totaling Rs 4,055 crore, 3.5 times the actual funds raised.

Infibeam Avenues: The company has signed an agreement with the Gujarat government to invest 2,000 crore in the state by 2030. The company has signed an agreement with the Gujarat government to invest2,000 crore in the state by 2030.

Polycab India: Media reports of tax evasion were refuted by the company, as they claimed to have not received any communication from the income-tax department regarding the outcome of the search.
Get ready for an extraordinary event that will reshape the worlds of finance and blockchain technology. On March 2nd, 2024, the renowned Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre will host the largest-ever Traders Fair and Blockchain Festival, organised by industry trailblazers FINEXPO.

This isn't just another event; it's a major shift into the forefront of innovation. Expected to draw over 5,000 attendees worldwide, this festival aims to spread knowledge worldwide. Join industry pioneers, thought leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts for a comprehensive exploration of the limitless potential of finance, FinTech, and blockchain technology.

Big Scale, Big Insights:

At the heart of this event is a dynamic gathering of global visionaries, where conversations go beyond the ordinary. Participants can expect to connect with:
After the resounding success of the Mumbai Chapter, StrategINK will host the Delhi Chapter of the 3rd Edition of DAICON, the leading DATA|AI|CLOUD conference, on 17th January 2024.

The conference will bring together 40+ subject matter experts as speakers and 200+ data, analytics & cloud - influencers and decision makers in attendance. It serves as a platform to explore the latest advancements, trends, and real-world applications in the fields of data analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud technologies.

The one-day conference will focus on how the trilogy of Data, AI and Cloud is enabling digital transformation within enterprises through three different tracks: TECHCON | MARCON | FINCON.

Eminent industry speakers will share insights and best practices on topics including:

How AI and data-driven insights are shaping business models.

Leveraging the sscloud for business agility and scale

Building an insights-driven organization

We are excited to host a larger edition of DAICON in Delhi, aiming to foster a dynamic environment for Indias leading data, analytics, cloud, and digital experts to connect, gain insights, and exchange ideas on the cutting-edge technologies and strategies driving innovation, stated Vinod Singh, Managing Director of StrategINK Solutions.

To register or learn more about DAICON 2023, visit: https://www.strategink.com/daicon/2024/new-delhi/
The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 in Gandhinagar has welcomed the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) as a partner organization, as announced by the forum. "USISPF is honoured to lead a delegation comprising over 35 Fortune American companies, including Salesforce, Abbott, Blackstone, HSBC, UPS, Micron, Cisco, SHRM, and others. These companies also have plans to increase their investments in Gujarat. The delegation will be led by Lal Karsanbhai, President and CEO of Emerson, and co-led by USISPF President & CEO Dr. Mukesh Aghi", the USIPF stated in an official release.

During the summit, key areas of emphasis will encompass harnessing India's growing momentum in advanced manufacturing, specifically in sectors such as semiconductors and chip production. Additionally, the summit will address crucial aspects of the energy transition, chemicals, industrial manufacturing, aerospace, and defense. "The companies are also eagerly exploring opportunities to build on the flagship Gujarat International Finance Tec-Cit (GIFT) City's economic landscape", the release added.

As part of the engagement at the summit, USISPF will host two insightful panel discussions on the themes of the US-India Innovation Handshake and the US-India Partnership. In the US-India Innovation Handshake, the USISPF will focus on accelerating the Start-Up Ecosystem in partnership with iCreate, this panel will explore avenues to catalyze innovation and foster collaboration in the vibrant start-up ecosystem of both countries. Furthermore, within the framework of the US-India Partnership, the USISPF will investigate possibilities within Manufacturing and Global Value Chains. This panel will delve into extensive collaboration opportunities within manufacturing and global value chains, highlighting the potential for shared growth and benefits.
The US-India NISAR collaboration monitors Earth's changes, offering insights into climate, disasters, and agriculture, strengthening global understanding, and fostering diplomacy for sustainable development and environmental stewardship.

NASA and ISRO have collaborated on a groundbreaking space mission aimed at meticulous Earth observation. The satellite, named NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), incorporates advanced radar systems to enhance the comprehension of critical global phenomena such as deforestation, glacier recession, sea ice depletion, and other pivotal indicators of the planets health.

NISAR is distinguished by the integration of two radar instruments, one developed by ISRO and the other constructed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. With the ability to penetrate cloud cover and vegetation, the satellite employs radar signals to map almost the earth's entire land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. This intensive monitoring captures surface movements as fractions of an inch and records alterations in various environmental characteristics. The satellite is currently in its final stages of integration and testing at ISRO's satellite facility in Bengaluru, India, and is slated to launch from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, in early 2024.

NISAR's payload is set to house the most advanced radar system ever deployed in a NASA scientific mission, featuring the largest radar antenna of its kind, a drum-shaped wire mesh reflector measuring almost 40 feet in diameter, extending from a 30-foot boom.

The scientific instruments onboard NISAR include L- and S-band radar, named after the wavelengths of their signals. The S-band radar, crafted by ISRO, was transported to JPL in March 2021. Over the past two years, engineers have dedicated their efforts to integrating this instrument with the JPL-developed L-band system and subsequently conducting comprehensive tests to validate their seamless collaboration.

Once operational, NISAR possesses the capability to gather measurements around the clock, irrespective of weather conditions. The treasure trove of data it accumulates significantly enhances researchers' understanding of diverse earth science domains, encompassing landslides, groundwater dynamics, and the intricate processes within the carbon cycle. NISAR is a milestone in NASA-ISRO collaboration, marking the first-ever joint venture for an Earth-observing mission.

The leadership of the U.S. component of the project rests with JPL, managed by Caltech in Pasadena for NASA. JPL contributes the mission's L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), while NASA provides critical components, including the radar reflector antenna, deployable boom, high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. ISRO plays a pivotal role by supplying the spacecraft bus, the S-band SAR, the launch vehicle, and comprehensive launch services and satellite mission operations.

The US-India partnership through the NISAR project signifies a collaborative effort to monitor the Earth's dynamic changes from space. NISAR's advanced technology promises invaluable insights into climate change, natural disasters, and agricultural patterns. By combining the expertise of both nations, this initiative strengthens global understanding of Earth's processes. The partnership enhances scientific knowledge and fosters diplomatic ties, showcasing the power of international collaboration in addressing shared challenges. NISAR represents a pivotal step toward sustainable development and environmental stewardship on a global scale.
Remember when is the lowest form of conversation, Tony Soprano once said.

So lets not be sentimental about this.

But Max and HBO are hyping up their Sopranos catalog to mark the 25th anniversary of the shows debut.

The Sopranos premiered Jan. 10, 1999.

The iconic New Jersey-set TV series made cinematic landmarks of local businesses, homes, streets and highways and forever changed the states pop culture imprint.

Though the show ended June 10, 2007 with an abrupt cut to black, it never quite faded away.

Fans endlessly debated whether Tony Soprano died or not at the end of the show. In 2019, the Sopranos loyal descended on a fan convention in the Meadowlands, remembering series star James Gandolfini and honoring the show by dressing up in track suits and bathrobes and standing on long lines for autographs from cast members.

A Sopranos revival was in full force during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many fans rewatched the show and younger generations discovered the acclaimed drama (HBO even made the show free to non-subscribers for a limited time).

The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel movie from series creator David Chase, was released in 2021.

Now to celebrate the 25-year milestone Wednesday, Max and HBO are promoting the release of 15 deleted scenes from The Sopranos, including three never-before-seen clips, as part of what theyre dubbing the Sopranos 25th Anniversary collection. This collection includes five hours of behind-the-scene featurettes. (See the extras tab on the Max Sopranos page.)

A scene from the series finale of "The Sopranos." Fans rewatched or discovered the show during the early COVID-19 pandemic, whetting appetites for the prequel film "The Many Saints of Newark," released in 2021.HBO

Theres also a new Sopranos TikTok account (@thesopranos), where Max invites fans to relive each episode in 25 seconds.

Max is teasing an invitation-only cast reunion family dinner and fan experiences for the anniversary Wednesday (Jan. 10).

The first two episodes of the show will be available to watch for free on the Max YouTube channel, and Alamo Drafthouse is hosting fan screenings of the Sopranos pilot in New York and Los Angeles Wednesday. (Actor Sharon Angela, who played Rosalie Aprile, is hosting the LA screening.)

(Clips contain profanity)

Da Nico, an Italian restaurant in New York, will have Sopranos-inspired menu items like Carmelas baked ziti and Satriales special Caprese, from Jan. 11 through Feb. 4.

There will also be a Satriales pop-up on the Postmates app Jan. 10, featuring an Italian sandwich from Reginas in New York and Ggiata in LA.

In 2022, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow Soprano, and Robert Iler, who played A.J. Soprano, collaborated for a Sopranos-themed Super Bowl commercial helmed by David Chase. Now the actors will deliver a special edition of their podcast Not Today, Pal (they formerly hosted the Pajamas Pants podcast) set for Jan. 18 on HBOs YouTube channel.

There will also be special edition 25th anniversary Sopranos merch rolled out at the HBO shop from the Tombolo brand.

You can see the trailer for the 25th anniversary celebration below.

For more, visit max.com/sopranos25 and tiktok.com/@thesopranos.

More Sopranos

Inside The Many Saints of Newark. David Chase, Michael Gandolfini, Ray Liotta dish on Sopranos prequel.

Sopranos stars remember earth-shattering finale, 13 years later. Which cast member still hasnt watched?

The Sopranos turns 20. In new book, David Chase opens up about Tonys fate: We all could be whacked in a diner

At N.J. Hall of Fame, David Chase brings out Sopranos, Bruce Springsteen plays backup singer

SopranosCon brings shows extended family  all 10K of them  to N.J. for 20-year reunion

How 3 Sopranos superfans woke up one morning and got themselves a con.

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  New York Citys Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will recruit up to 10,000 New Yorkers to study the long-term effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the department announced Wednesday.

Over several years, the Health Department will collect New York City-specific data on how the coronavirus impacts individuals over time, conducting multiple surveys with the studys recruits about the virus impact on their health.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan thanked the participants in the study, which will launch later this year and will focus on communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

We know that the end of an emergency must also be the beginning of a process of learning and understanding so we are better prepared and can support COVID survivors over time, Vasan said. This work -- to study the long-term impacts of COVID on peoples health -- will inform the future of care people receive. It will also develop our understanding of the disease and expand our knowledge of what people are experiencing, which can be confusing and disorienting without this understanding.

The Health Department will work with community-based organizations and those supporting Long COVID research and advocacy. A panel assembled from those groups will provide subject-matter expertise and awareness of issues of importance to people living with Long COVID, according to the Health Department.

New Yorkers recovering from COVID-19 or Long COVID can get assistance by calling 212-COVID19 to reach NYC Health + Hospitals AfterCare program and be connected to one of its three COVID-19 Centers of Excellence, which are located in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.

Dr. Amanda Johnson, director of AfterCare and assistant vice president of Ambulatory Care and Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals, said the AfterCare work coupled with the Health Departments study will help city health experts better understand the long-term impacts of COVID-19.

I want to assure New Yorkers recovering from COVID-19 or living with Long COVID that you are not alone connections to care and other resources are a phone call away at 212-COVID19, Johnson said. AfterCares work contacting over a half million New Yorkers recovering from COVID-19 and the Health Departments launch of a comprehensive study of the complex, multi-symptomatic impacts of Long COVID will ensure no one in our city suffers in silence, and that New Yorkers have access to the most helpful resources available.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Natalie Friscia Pancettis late fathers words stay with her to this day, helping her tackle the tough times, and reminding her to pause and enjoy lifes fleeting sweet moments.

Simone Friscias guidance recently inspired the Bulls Head empty-nester to write a book: This Too ... Life-isms to Savor the Sweetness of Life and Calm You Through the Storms.

The book, published by Inspired Girl Publishing Group in December 2023, features 157 pages brimming with original quotes, pooled from her life experiences, she said. Its now available for purchase in several bookstores on Staten Island, in Brooklyn and in New Jersey, as well as online.

Pancetti, 57, said she started jotting down the life-isms, after a quiet prayer to her late parents, Simone and Margie Friscia, seeking direction for the next chapter of her life, once her two grown sons, Matthew and Michael, had moved out of the home she shares with her husband, Joseph.

I literally just started jotting down life lessons, said the author, who is also a teacher and a part-time real estate agent. I did a little bit each night. It blossomed into over 100.

In the book, with a soothing landscape design on its cover, Pancetti shares those instructions, divided into sections, like questions for the hurting heart or the wondering heart.

Topics covered include feelings, family, friendships and lessons learned. Pancetti also offers workshops, programs and assemblies based on the concepts in the book.

A life-ism, she said, is a lesson you acquire along the way. I dont think you need to be a certain age to acquire a life-ism, but its something you keep with you, and it helps you navigate life, she explained.

The book is available at Barnes and Noble at the Staten Island Mall, New Springville. (Courtesy of Jessica Morrisy)Courtesy of Jessica Morrisy

So far, the reviews shes received from readers have been very encouraging, she said.

I think the people are really connecting, she said. They have either posted on social media or theyve messaged me, personally, on how it has helped them, how it has given them insight and helped them to reflect.

Many tell her they read the book daily with their morning coffee, taking a different quote to focus on each day, she said.

It really has been very rewarding, to have people say Ive connected with your writing, because when you write, youre opening up your heart, she said.

The books title, she said, came straight from her late fathers mouth. Simone Friscia always said, This, too shall pass, encouraging her not to worry too much, as our lifes challenging moments wont last forever, she said.

But, the phrase has a double meaning, hed always stress, she said. The quote also encourages us to grab lifes little joys while we can, as they also wont last forever.

Hed say, The boys wont be young forever. Go on the floor with them, make the tents. Dont worry about the laundry,' she recalled.

Pancetti will participate in a book-signing event on Feb. 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Barnes and Noble in the Staten Island Mall, New Springville. A second book signing will be held Feb. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m., in The Bookmark Shoppe, Brooklyn.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  In honor of those who have died, here is a compilation of obituaries posted on SILive.com. Viewing times and guest books can be seen here.

Esther G. Kaczmarek of Travis passed on Jan. 7, 2024. She was a loving mother of Ann Marie Reid, Mary Beth Cantwell, Steven, Robert, Catherine, Michael, and Christopher Kaczmarek. Her husband of 52 years, Leon A. Kaczmarek, died in 2004. Esther is survived by 18 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.Her beloved sister Anne DAlessio passed away in 2010. Her brother Howard K. Jones lives in Michigan. Esther and her siblings grew up in Wilkes Barre, PA. She moved to Bayonne, NJ to attend nursing school. She met Leon while living in Bayonne, and together they moved to Staten Island after their marriage in 1952, settling in the Westerleigh neighborhood. They moved to Travis in 1967 and lived there until 2022. She worked at Verrazano Nursing Home as a registered nurse until her retirement in 1995. Esther was a parishioner at Holy Family Church where she was an active member of their first Friday adoration and prayer shawl group. She was also an avid knitter. Read the full obit on SILive.

RECENT OBITUARIES

Nancy Burns, A Staten Island native who loved to travel and spend time with her family, passed away on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Being born in Port Richmond in 1935, Nancys life was marked by deep connections with her family and her career. Nancy embarked on her career in 1967 with Frank B. Sterner Insurance Company on Staten Island before commuting via the S.I. Ferry to Manhattan, working for Chase Bank. Concluding her career, she worked as an Office Manager at Solomon Brothers until 1997. Nancy had a friendship with a local vendor and she became well-known for her parties where she would buy a case of Sabrett hot dogs from him to serve to guests on St. Anthonys Day in June. In 2002, Nancy and her husband Bill relocated to Jackson, NJ, where she actively participated in the Westlake community and won the Bacci tournament in 2007. She cherished annual trips to Bermuda with Bill and explored destinations like Italy and London. Nancy enjoyed Atlantic City, Broadway plays, Kindle reading, and, above all, spending time with her family. Nancy, renowned for her lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, and spinach balls, leaves a void that will be felt by all who had the pleasure of knowing her. For the full obituary, click here.

Madeline Marchetti, 94, passed peacefully on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2024, at Clove Lakes Healthcare & Rehab Center, where she has resided for the last 1.5 years. Born in May 1929 in Brooklyn, Madeline spent the majority of her life there until her retirement. Following a successful career as a Secretary for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, she relocated to Franklin Square in Long Island and later to Florida, only to return to Staten Island in 2005. She was an accomplished painter with a passion for various art forms, Madeline immersed herself in art shows and classes to hone her skills. Beyond her artistic pursuits, she enjoyed exploring flea markets, reading, crafting poetry, and creating delicious meals for friends and family. In addition to her interests, Madeline dedicated her time to volunteer work at Staten Island Hospital and the Staten Island Museum from 2005 to 2008. Her memory lives on through numerous first and second cousins and their families. Madelines life was marked by creativity, generosity, and community service. She leaves a legacy that will be remembered by those who knew and loved her. For the full obituary, click here.

Rochelle Segal, passed away on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2024. She was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Herman Hank Segal and the cherished mother of Jonathan Segal (Jay), Abbie Segal-Andrews (John), and Matthew Segal (Rayna). Rochelle was also a loving grandmother to Leigh (Mariah-Lynn), Madeline, Jacob, Halle, and Macey. The memory of Rochelle will be missed by all. For the full obituary, click here.

Glenis R. Shadrick, known affectionately as the Cowboy of Grand Central passed away peacefully on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. Born in February 1942 in Wallins Creek Kentucky, his childhood took him to Greensboro, NC, and San Antonio, TX before joining the U.S. Coast Guard in 1959. Over the years, he served in various locations across the county until ultimately retiring in NY in 1985 as a Chief Warrant Officer. Following his distinguished military career, Glenis transitioned to the MTA, where he worked on the 1 (subway) line, progressing from conductor to Motorman and later becoming a train service supervisor. He got his nickname from his distinctive black Stetson hat and cowboy boots, he became a fixture in the iconic terminal. After retiring in 2003, he devoted his time to his family. Glenis is preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Betty Jean Young. His legacy as a dedicated brother, father, and grandfather, will be fondly remembered by those who knew and loved him. For the full obituary, click here.
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The partner of a man accused of killing two siblings in a car crash in Sydneys south-west has been sentenced for filming her boyfriend in court, in what her lawyer described as breathtakingly stupid behaviour.

Tiana Savignano, 22, was fined $3500 and handed a good behaviour bond at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to recording video of Johnson Kokozian smiling while he unsuccessfully applied for bail.

Tiana Savignano arrives at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Police allege 20-year-old Kokozian crashed his Mercedes into a Toyota Echo carrying Alina Angel Kauffman, 24, and her 15-year-old brother, Ernesto Salazar, in Heckenberg on September 1 last year.

Photographing or recording material inside court buildings is illegal in NSW and carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail.
The Minns government will develop a new forestry road map which is likely to include plans for an expanded softwood industry, and the use of carbon capture, as it grapples with the future of native logging in the state.

Premier Chris Minns said on Wednesday the forestry industry, including native hardwood logging, has a future in NSW, but revealed his government would investigate the use of what he called a new marketplace in carbon offsets and the expansion of private softwood plantations.

Premier Chris Minns speaking in Sydney on Wednesday. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

It comes as a coalition of NSW crossbench MPs called on Minns to follow the lead of states such as Victoria and Western Australia by developing a transition plan for the forestry industry by moving away from native forestry logging.

The focus on the native logging industry in NSW followed a landmark case thrown out by the Federal Court on Wednesday.
Fifteen people have been killed in widespread looting and arson in Papua New Guinea, the ABC reported on Thursday, as the South Pacific countrys prime minister and Australias Anthony Albanese appealed for calm following a day of protests that turned violent.

Eight people died in riots in the capital Port Moresby while a further seven were killed in Lae, in the north, the ABC reported, citing an update from police.

A man pushes a shopping trolley on the street as crowds leave shops with looted goods amid a state of unrest in Port Moresby on Wednesday. Credit: AFP

A police and public sector protest on Wednesday over a pay cut, which officials blamed on an administrative glitch, descended into lawlessness during the day.

TV footage showed thousands of people in the streets of Port Moresby, many carrying what appeared to be looted merchandise as black smoke billowed over the city. The PNG Post-Courier newspaper deemed Wednesday the darkest day in our city.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Orco Bank Sint Maarten reaffirms its commitment to the local community with its second annual donation drive, gifting 25 shoe box presents to 25 specially selected students of the esteemed Asha Stevens Primary School.

In a bid to spread holiday cheer and foster a sense of joyous giving, Orco Bank Sint Maarten proudly extended its support to the Asha Stevens Primary School for the second consecutive year. The initiative aimed to bring smiles to the faces of these young learners and create a lasting impact within the community.

The highlight of this heartwarming event was the children's visit to the Orco Bank Sint Maarten branch, where they were greeted by the enthusiastic team members. The joy and excitement were palpable as each child received a specially curated shoe box gift, personally handed out by members of the Orco Bank team.

"Being able to contribute to the happiness of these incredible students is an honor for us at Orco Bank Sint Maarten," expressed Mrs. Judy-King Richardson, Country Manager Orco Bank Sint Maarten. "Witnessing their delight as they visited our branch and received these gifts was truly heartening. We hope to continue this tradition in the years to come and remain committed to supporting our community."

The partnership between Orco Bank Sint Maarten and Asha Stevens Primary School underscores the importance of corporate social responsibility and community engagement. It reflects the bank's dedication to making a positive difference in the lives of the island's youth and fostering a spirit of giving and togetherness.

Orco Bank Sint Maarten looks forward to continuing its efforts in supporting the local community and creating more meaningful experiences for the youth this year. Lastly, Orco Bank Sint Maarten wishes the community a blessed 2024!

For more information about Orco Bank, please visit their website at https://www.orcobank.com/. To stay abreast of daily posts and news follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OrcoBank or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/orco-bank/.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Force of Sint Maarten (KPSM) is pleased to announce the arrival of police officers from the other Dutch Caribbean islands of KPA, KPCN, and KPC (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao), who are here to assist with maintaining peace and security during the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for January 11, 2024.

In light of this collaborative effort, KPSM is reaching out to the general public, urging cooperation with the visiting officers to ensure a safe and secure electoral process. The additional personnel will be working in conjunction with local law enforcement to enhance the overall security measures in place for the elections.

The presence of officers from the other Dutch Caribbean islands demonstrates the collective commitment to upholding the democratic process and maintaining public order.

The public is kindly requested to plan accordingly and bear in mind that there will be increased traffic activity and potential road disturbance in certain areas. Moreover, the presence of cruise ships in port on Thursday, January 11, 2024, will add to the complexity of traffic management.

The Police Force appreciates the understanding and patience of the public during this time and requests cooperation to ensure a smooth and secure electoral process. Citizens are encouraged to follow the instructions of law enforcement officers on duty and to report any suspicious activities promptly.

Together, the Police Force of Sint Maarten and the assisting officers from the Dutch Caribbean islands are dedicated to creating a safe and secure environment for the parliamentary elections.

KPSM Press Release.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human in space. In 1961, he orbited Earth aboard the Vostok 1 space capsule, the first-ever crewed spacecraft. As a result, he became an international celebrity and received many awards for this achievement, both within and outside the Soviet Union.

Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight. He was on the backup crew for the Soyuz 1 mission but wasnt allowed to go to space after that mission ended in a fatal crash because officials worried that Gagarin, a national hero, would be killed. Though he was eventually allowed to continue flying regular aircraft, he died five weeks after being cleared to fly again, when his flight-training airplane crashed. The exact cause of the crash is still unknown.

Related: Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1: How the 1st human spaceflight worked (infographic)

Yuri Gagarin FAQs

Who was the first man in space? Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, was the first person in space and the first to orbit Earth.

How old was Yuri Gagarin when he died? Yuri Gagarin was 34 when he died.

How many times did Yuri Gagarin go to space? Gagarin went to space only once, aboard the Vostok 1 capsule. He was also the backup crewmember for the Soyuz 1 mission.

Childhood and cosmonaut selection

Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in the Soviet Russian village of Klushino to parents who worked on a collective farm, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Beginning in October 1941, German soldiers occupied Klushino as part of their advance on Moscow during World War II. The occupation lasted 21 months, according to the BBC . In 1946, his family moved to the nearby town of Gzhatsk (now named Gagarin), where he went to secondary school and studied math and physics, according to the New Mexico Museum of Space History .

After six years of secondary school, Gagarin went to technical school in Saratov, where he also joined a local flying club and began learning to fly a plane. He went on to attend the Soviet Air Force Academy and graduated in 1957. He was one of 20 Soviet fighter pilots chosen as cosmonauts, in part because of his small size, according to ESA. To fit in the small Vostok capsule, cosmonauts couldn't be taller than 1.75 meters (5 feet 9 inches), according to Star Walk , and Gagarin was 1.57 m tall (5 feet 5 inches), according to ESA. In fact, in a 1961 interview , Gagarin described the capsule as quite roomy, especially compared with airplane cockpits of the time.

Alongside other cosmonauts, Gagarin participated in intensive preparation for spaceflight, including various physical and psychological experiments. A doctor doing psychological testing on him praised his "high degree of intellectual development," noting his attention to detail, strong imagination, quick reaction time and skill in doing mathematical calculations, according to ESA.

Vostok 1 mission

Vostok 1 was launched April 12, 1961. (Image credit: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

" Vostok " means "East" in Russian, as opposed to the Western world, signifying the mission's importance in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The crewed part of the capsule was spherical, with an inside diameter of about 7 feet (2 m), according to The Planetary Society . The spacecraft launched on April 12, 1961, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is now Kazakhstan.

In response to a statement from ground control that everything seemed to be working fine, Gagarin famously replied "Poyekhali!"  an informal phrase meaning "Off we go!" in Russian, according to ESA.

Gagarin orbited Earth in the capsule for about an hour before the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere . For the most part, the flight went smoothly, though Gagarin lost communication with ground control several times. The two parts of the spacecraft also failed to correctly separate for a while during reentry, and the spacecraft shook violently. But when the capsule was about 4 miles (6 kilometers) above the ground, Gagarin parachuted back to Earth as planned, landing on farmland outside the city of Engels, Russia.

After the mission, Gagarin became an overnight international celebrity; the Soviet Union had kept his spaceflight secret until it was successful. Gagarin was known not only for his accomplishments but also for his charismatic personality and smile, according to the BBC. Though he was barred from visiting the United States, he traveled the world and received many honors, The Telegraph reported . This included the title " Hero of the Soviet Union ," the nation's highest honor.

Soyuz 1 and death

On April 23, 1967, the Soyuz 1 mission launched with cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov as its sole crewmember, with Gagarin as the backup. During the spacecraft's landing, the parachute failed to deploy, instantly killing Komarov when it hit the ground. Though Gagarin had nothing to do with the crash (and even reportedly tried to get the launch postponed due to safety concerns), the Soviet Union barred him from spaceflight after the crash, out of fear that their national hero would be killed, according to the BBC . Officials also originally also banned him from flying regular aircraft.

After completing additional training, Gagarin was eventually allowed to continue flying. But on March 27, 1968, the plane he was test-piloting crashed, killing him and flying instructor Vladimir Seryogin, according to ESA.

It is unclear exactly what caused the crash. An investigation by the KGB , the former Soviet security and intelligence agency, found that the aircraft went into a spin, possibly maneuvering sharply to avoid a weather balloon. According to the report, the two pilots couldn't regain control; they believed they were at a higher altitude than they actually were because of the inaccurate weather information they'd been given. The report is difficult to confirm, and there are many theories about the crash, including conspiracy theories that Gagarin's death was orchestrated by Soviet officials.

Additional resources

You can learn more about the first man in space with these pieces from Scientific American and Astronomy.com. Space Center Houston's on this day in history details Gagarin's historic flight to space.

Bibliography

BBC News. (2011, April 8). Yuri Gagarin: 'I was never nervous during the space flight.' [video]. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-12983333

Dowling, S. (2021, April 12). Yuri Gagarin: the spaceman who came in from the cold. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210409-yuri-gagarin-the-spaceman-who-came-in-from-the-cold

European Space Agency. (2007, February 4). Yuri Gagarin. www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/Yuri_Gagarin

European Space Agency. (2007, February 4). The flight of Vostok 1. https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/The_flight_of_Vostok_1

Lapenkova, M. (2018, March 27). Fifty years on, Yuri Gagarin's death still shrouded in mystery. Phys.org. http://www.phys.org/news/2018-03-fifty-years-yuri-gagarin-death.html

McKeever, A. (2022, April 12). How the space race launched an era of exploration beyond Earth. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/space-race-early-human-spaceflight-history-missions?loggedin=true&rnd=1699322304385 .

Orange, R. (2011, April 12). Yuri Gagarin: 50th anniversary of the first man in space. The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/8443777/Yuri-Gagarin-50th-anniversary-of-the-first-man-in-space.html

Star Walk. (2021, April 11). 60th anniversary of the first human space flight. https://starwalk.space/en/news/60th-anniversary-of-the-first-human-space-flight

Swopes, Brian. Pilot-Cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin, Hero of the Soviet Union. This Day in Aviation. 14 Apr. 2023, https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/yuri-alekseyevich-gagarin/ . Accessed November 7, Nov. 2023.
Bailey was sceptical of these coins, known as stablecoins, as well, as there can be a risk that the peg cant be kept up. But he said the Bank of Englands own digital currency, which it consulted on last year, could change this as it would have the backing of a central bank.
The governor of the Bank of England has said further global shocks are a major threat to the UK economy as he told MPs he is monitoring the situation in the Red Sea closely amid concerns over oil supplies.
Getting products from across the world is an important issue for the Government, so we are on regular calls to make sure we have the latest intel and understand the potential impacts.
The West End led the way

The West End had the most success in London for back to office occupancy last year, with the area also performing ahead of the UK figure according to latest research.

Remit Consulting, which tracks figures provided by building managers, found the average monthly occupancy across the UK in 2023 was 30%.

The London figure averaged 30.6% each month, with the West End recording an average of 42%. The company estimates pre-Covid office occupancy levels in London would have averaged between 60-80%.

Landells at Remit Consulting said: "Average office occupancy levels in 2023 were the highest recorded since the lifting of lockdown restrictions and show a slow but positive upward trend, despite occasional setbacks due to factors like the train strikes and school holidays."

She added: "In London, the West End's strong performance indicates a strong preference from staff for in-person meetings and the social aspects of office environments in central locations and with companies and their employees finding a middle ground between remote and in-office work, a new, more adaptable approach to utilising office space seems to be emerging."
No more so is all this apparent than at Whiskey & Seaweed, its adjacent new bar. It is dimly lit and green, shards of frosted glass as dividers, with an enormous whiskey cabinet celebrating distillers from the British Isles. This might just be another high-end cocktail bar, somewhere to further dent a Saltburnesque money pile before seven courses for 215. But there is a true purpose to the place and, more to the point, it may be treated as a bar alone. The dining room feels far away. Customers walking past to the loo wont look right but left, to the kitchen, where chefs work behind a wall of glass. Do not call it dancing.
Superintendent Philip Stinger, Essexs head of specialist operations, said: We have welcomed the introduction of this new law, as it will give us as officers more options when dealing with the anti-social behaviour so often associated with the use and supply of nitrous oxide as a recreational substance.
Ms Robinson said: We have our final appeal against his extradition coming up in February and if we fail, if we are not given permission to appeal, that is the end of the road in the UK and he will be extradited.
He said Archbishop Tutu worked for a future rather than for retributive justice, adding: What if those in power today placed peace above revenge  rather than 100 prisoners for a hostage or 20 deaths for one; rather than an eye for an eye, what if Hamas and Israel committed to truth and reconciliation  an acceptance that wrongs have been done, forgiveness, restitution, and a shared commitment to a better future.
The candidate told the BBC: "I drive an old car and now when I drive into London I have to pay congestion and Ulez charges. It is a joke. You should not be charged for driving in your own city.
Mr Hollinrake added: These are very complex issues. They potentially cut across judicial processes of course which are independent of government so its a very significant step if we take that step so we have got to take that step very carefully, that is what we are looking at now.
Be in no doubt at all Iran is guiding what is happening there in the Red Sea, providing them not just with equipment to carry out those attacks but also often with the eyes and ears to allow those attacks to happen, he told Sky News.
Mr Jenrick, who quit as a minister last year in protest at the watered down legislation, told BBC Radio 4: "In its current form the Bill simply doesnt work and thats all Im interested in and I think its all the public really care about...This is the third piece of legislation in three years, its three strikes or youre out, weve got to get this right."
"In the event of a declaration of war or the commitment of British forces to military action, constitutional convention requires that authorisation is given by the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Crown. Decisions on military action are taken within the Cabinet with advice from, among others, the National Security Council and the Chief of the Defence Staff."
Mr and Mrs Udall, in a statement issued through their lawyer, said: They hope very much that this settlement will induce helicopter manufacturers to replace the dangerous fuel tank with safe technology so no other parents have to go through what they went through with their son.
Lithium-ion batteries sold as part of so-called e-bike conversion kits tend to be of a significantly inferior quality and construction when compared to the battery packs manufactured and installed in purpose-built e-bikes, Mr Potter wrote in his report. Lithium-ion batteries sold as part of e-bike conversion kits are regularly sold/supplied without a charger, thereby increasing the risk of an unsuitable charger being purchased and used. Chargers for sale on online marketplaces, in particular, regularly fail to meet appropriate standards. In this case, the charger purported to carry the European CE mark, which should be an indication that the product conforms to European health, safety and environmental protection standards; however, the Fire Investigation Officer noted that the mark was slightly different and therefore not genuine. It was used instead to denote Chinese Export. "The presence of universal charging connectors across batteries of different voltages means that there is a significant risk that over-rated chargers can be inadvertently connected to lower power batteries, which was the case in the fire that led to Mr Lees death. "There is currently no British or European (e.g. BSI or PAS) standard specific to e-bike conversion kits and/or chargers and consequently it is relatively easy for people to buy, particularly from online marketplaces, e-bike conversion kits and/or lithium-ion batteries that are not of sufficient quality or otherwise not of an appropriate standard to charge safely. "There is an increased risk of people mixing and matching lithium-ion batteries with chargers that carry a different voltage rating. "When a lithium-ion battery is charged using a charger with a different voltage rating, this can lead to thermal runaway and catastrophic failure of the battery  a build-up of heat, failure of one of the cells within the battery, followed by a chain reaction as the remaining cells fail, all of which can happen very quickly and explosively with the emission of sparks and toxic, flammable vapours."
Ms Vennells said on Tuesday: "I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.
Stephen Fry has backed an animal welfare campaign calling for an end to the use of real fur for bearskin caps worn by Kings Guards who guard Buckingham Palace. The actor narrated a PETA video purporting to show footage from an undercover investigator with hunters in Ontario, Canada.
Portman gave a sit-down chat with WSJ. Magazine for its latest issue where the reporter spoke to her at her home in Paris, France, where they said she lives with her children Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, six, but gave no mention of her spouse.
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More than 61,000 travelers, including 7,035 Ukrainians, enter Romania on Jan 9

Approximately 143,600 people, Romanian and foreign nationals, and over 39,400 means of transport underwent border checks at all of Romania's crossing points on Tuesday, on both the inbound and the outbound, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reports.

As many as 61,610 travelers of whom 7,035 Ukrainian nationals entered Romania on January 9, the IGPF said.

The number of Ukrainians who crossed into Romania since the pre-war date of February 10, 2022 is 7,081,147, the IGPF reports.

As part of the specific activities at crossing points and the green border, the border police found 35 illegal acts (17 crimes and 18 misdemeanors) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens. The value of the seized undeclared goods is of roughly RON 56,300.

Fines worth RON 48,800 were also issued.

20 foreign citizens who did not meet the legal requirements were denied entry to the country, and 11 Romanian citizens were also not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons.
Romania's Defence Minister Angel Tilvar and his Bulgarian and Turkish counterparts on Thursday in Istanbul will sign a memorandum of understanding regarding the establishment of a Black Sea mine countermeasure group - MCM Black Sea.

According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, MCM Black Sea is an initiative of the three NATO allies on the shores of the Black Sea aimed at facilitating safety of navigation by combating the threats posed by sea mines, agerpres reports.

The operational structure of MCM Black Sea, with a rotating command every six months and two planned activations in each rotation, will secure continuous vigilance and readiness, also contributing to strengthening NATO's deterrence and defence posture on its Eastern flank.NATO littoral partners as well as NATO Standing Naval Groups and non-littoral allies, will be able to participate in MCM Black Sea activities in order to develop co-operation in support of Black Sea security and to improve interoperability.
Scheduled events for Jan 10, 2024

ECONOMY:

- National Bank releases data on financial accounts of public administrations in the third quarter of 2023

- Number of companies that suspended their activity in the first 11 months of 2023

- Household income and expenditure in the third quarter of 2023

CULTURE:

- The opening of the exhibition "Paris - Odessa: Journey in chiaroscuro" by the artist Geraldine Cario

- The launch of the volume "An astral encounter: Dimitrie Gerota - Constantin Brancusi. The story of Ecorche", at the Timisoara National Museum of Art
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, many bald eagles spend the winter near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers.

They can be seen hanging out in the upper branches of dead trees, building their nests or adding on to their old nests and swooping down to snatch a fish from the river  or from the talons of smaller birds.

Large and majestic, bald eagles can be a magnificent sight. Residents from across the region and beyond flock to the area generally from Hartford to Pere Marquette State Park to watch the eagles, the symbol of America, do their thing.

They come here to rest, nest and digest, says Ashley Lockwood, an educator at the Audubon Center at Riverlands.

Lockwood calls the area a dating site, where bald eagles come to meet up with other young eagles and find a mate. Bald eagles mate for life. If they dont find a suitable mate, they go on their way; some travel as far south as Mexico.

Aside from the eight to 10 eagles that live permanently in the immediate vicinity, the other eagles come from around the Canadian border. They follow the Mississippi River down from colder climates in order to find water that is not covered over with ice, keeping them from the fish below.

Because this has been a warm winter so far, many of the eagles have been able to stay farther north. Eagle numbers are way down locally this year; instead of the 100 eagles that usually winter in and around the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, workers at the Audubon Center have only seen around 20.

But the bird-watching fun for humans continues, not least because the region is the winter headquarters for any number of avian species. About 200 trumpeter swans have parked themselves at the sanctuary, spending their mornings and evenings in Teal Pond across the road from the center, and their days on local farms.

They help to fertilize the land, Lockwood says.

The Audubon Center is holding Raptor Saturdays and Eagle Sundays every week through Feb. 11. On Raptor Saturdays, representatives of TreeHouse Wildlife Center will bring live raptors for a meet and greet, and a chance to take a selfie. Raptors are birds of prey such as eagles, owls, falcons and hawks.

On Eagle Sundays, representatives of the World Bird Sanctuary will bring Liberty, the bald eagle, for visitors to see up close and, of course, for eagle selfies.

On both days, staff members will lead guided strolls along paved trails to see and learn about the species that come to stay for the winter. Roasted marshmallows and smores are also a part of the festivities.

The cost for Raptor Saturdays and Eagle Sundays is $10 for the viewing activities and $10 for the guided hikes, which offer the opportunity to see more animals in the wild. Funds raised go to support the Audubon Center and its activities.

The third annual Ice Jam at the Dam, a free festival celebrating wintry things on the Mississippi River, including eagle-watching, will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 17 at the National Great Rivers Museum and the Melvin Price Locks and Dam.

Several organizations will be on hand to show and talk about animals and their wintertime lives, along with live music, vendors selling food and hot drinks, campfires, face-painting and other fun activities.

It will be a good place to look for bald eagles, too, because they like to spend time at locks and dams, says Roger Holloway, executive director of the World Bird Sanctuary. Fish are plentiful there and easy to grab, and the water is always open even when ice covers the rest of the river.

And there are even more opportunities to see bald eagles, directed by people who know where to look. Every Saturday in January and February, Great Rivers & Routes will offer eagle-watching shuttle tours.

The tours are 45 minutes long and are limited to 15 people, so tickets must be purchased in advance. The tours set out at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. from the Alton Visitors Center, 200 Piasa Street in Alton.

Tickets are $15 at riversandroutes.com.

On Jan. 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., St. Charles County Parks will have a free Eagle Watch Party at Riverside Landing Park, on the Dardenne Creek Blueway. Park rangers will provide sporting scopes and binoculars to help find the eagles, and visitors can warm up around a campfire. There will additional activities for children, as well.

The Missouri Department of Conservation and a number of other organizations will get in on the fun from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 10. at the Audubon Center at Riverlands. Eagle Days, which the department says is one of the largest eagle celebrations in the area, will have spotting scopes set up to see the birds at a distance, and will offer eagle meet-and-greets up close at 10:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. The event is free.

Of course, you can always look for eagles yourself. Great Rivers & Routes has an app listing 12 places in the area to look for them. The app can be downloaded onto Apple phones at apps.apple.com and onto Android phones at play.google.com. In both cases, search for Great Rivers & Routes.

But finding bald eagles is never guaranteed, even with an expert guide. If you want to see a bald eagle up close and personal, the World Bird Sanctuary has you covered.

On Jan. 13 and 17, it will bring Liberty, the bald eagle, to the Grafton Visitors Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Two trumpets remain from a collection Gary Smith had built to 15 and played around the globe alongside world-class musicians and under the direction of renowned conductors.

Now his only stage is a slab of concrete that is the porch of his midcentury-modern Glendale home. His performances have been reduced to an annual one-night gig that youll miss if youre a couple of minutes late.

Smith, who played with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for 41 years, can be heard each New Years Eve, when he ambles onto the porch at midnight for a rendition of Auld Lange Syne. Smith hasnt missed a year since the calendar flipped to 1995 after he and his wife moved into the house, originally constructed for wrestler Lou Thesz.

He never knows if there will be two people waiting or dozens, but Smith is intent on greeting each new year with the vigor he brought to his professional performances.

I always play like Im in Powell Hall, he says. In my mind, Im playing for hundreds of people. Thats just how I think. I play as though its really important. I really get psyched up for it.

Smith, who will be 89 on Jan. 15, has played for the West Point band, the Boston Pops and been to Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and Greece with his trumpet. He toured with noted conductor Arthur Fiedler and under Hans Vonk, among others, with the SLSO.

Now his joy is that one moment playing with granddaughter, Hannah Moseley, accompanying on the flute. Setting up the sheet music on a stand, he awaits with anticipation the arrival of onlookers, who this year included a former next-door neighbor and a friend made during three years of dialysis treatments.

Others step outside their doors or listen through the walls when Smiths trumpet pierces the quiet, starting precisely when the new year arrives. He knows about the unseen listeners because he has heard from many over the course of the years.

We always had a concert that was over by 10:30, and wed be at home and wired, Smith says. It seemed like something to do for the neighborhood. There used to be more activity. There was a lot of carrying on. Neighbors came out to find out what was going on, and over the years word spread.

Moseley, 20 and a student at Drake University, first played with him about five years ago. She said he always has been supportive of her flute playing, offering advice and teaching her to tune the instrument. After watching him play at midnight for many years, she was excited to get an opportunity to join.

Ive always loved New Years Eve when he played, Moseley says. I would go every year as a kid. We would all sing with the neighbors out, and sometimes theyd come in for champagne, so there would be a little party after. I think the tradition part is whats really important.

Smith is a lifelong musician, having started playing piano in third grade. He had learned to read music, aiding the transition to the trumpet, which he first played in the Massillon High Tiger Swing Band in Ohio.

After high school, he auditioned for the West Point Band and was accepted. So he enlisted for four years before moving on to stints with symphonies in Quebec and North Carolina. Then came the Boston Pops.

Smiths arrival in St. Louis in 1966 was expected to be a one-year stay as he filled in for a trumpet player who was on leave. When that player opted not to return, Smith settled into his new hometown.

He went to Hollywood and had success and didnt come back, Smith says. I make the joke, if you invite me for dinner, I might stay for 41 years. So be careful.

Smith had a dream to play with Doc Severinsen. The opportunity came early in his career in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He also played with Skitch Henderson, a well-known pianist, composer and conductor.

He knew his current wife, Shirley, during their college years, but she married another trumpet player at the time. Smith also got married, and they went their separate ways. In time, they again crossed paths, single and were married when Smith was in the midst of his SLSO days.

Now he talks with equal excitement of having played with his granddaughter or a friend who plays the glockenspiel with him sometimes on New Years Eve. Smith hasnt missed once since starting, although hes not sure why he ever began. He has just one theory.

As a kid we made a big fuss on New Years Eve, he says. My dad would get his shotgun out and shoot, and that was not unusual then. We made a lot of noise. I always wanted to do something besides play a concert with the symphony. Now my noisemaker is the trumpet. I feel like Im keeping a family tradition going.

The only time Smith came close to missing his midnight cue, he was attending a party after the SLSO concert when his wife warned that midnight was near. They drove home in time for Smith to get out and play in his yard.

Smith doesnt play but the one time a year since retiring in 2007, so he usually starts getting reacquainted with his instrument a couple of weeks before the year ends. The day of the performance he typically plays through Auld Lang Syne a few times early in the day.

This year was difficult because I had dialysis that morning, he said. I had to play around stuff I normally wouldnt deal with.

Smith has tried to get Moseley to play other songs with him, but she has resisted so far. But she doesnt rule out the possibility of learning the trumpet, and maybe carrying on the tradition one day.

I love the song because Ive always heard him play it, she says. I would love to keep playing it. I dont know how because the trumpet is so much more magnificent in a celebratory aspect than the flute. But yeah, I would like to.

For the latest rendition, she was involved in the process. Smith took an afternoon nap and then played through the song with her before the big moment. They were joined on the porch by several relatives and friends who provided a gentle vocal accompaniment. Smith followed with the Notre Dame fight song and When the Saints go Marching In.

Then it was over for another year, and Smith was ready to sleep. He doesnt normally see that hour of the night, but once a year.

Hes willing to make an exception to offer his cup o kindness for auld lang syne.
CLAYTON  Wellston officials have given a St. Louis County agency a deadline to come up with plans for the real estate it owns there. The city hopes the move will finally spur some action from a county office that it says has had 25 years to attract new jobs and development to one of the regions poorest communities.

The Wellston City Council in November passed an ordinance requiring the St. Louis County Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which owns two large redevelopment sites along Page Avenue and dozens of vacant homes and lots in the city of 1,500 people, to submit plans for its land by March.

The ordinance also requires construction begin in 18 months and the LCRA have a substantial portion of its property under construction within three years.

If the county LCRA misses those deadlines, it would lose its authority to operate within the city, according to the ordinance.

Among other provisions, the ordinance also names a new nonprofit started by Wellston Mayor Nate Griffin and City Clerk Janice Trigg  the Wellston Community Empowerment Corporation  as the master developer for a new citywide redevelopment plan. That power had previously been granted to the St. Louis County LCRA.

The city has provided (the St. Louis County LCRA) a right to come in and develop their property based upon time schedules; they just need to get off their butt and do it, said Lloyd Jordan, a lawyer who is advising Wellston officials on the matter.

Theyve sat on this project for 25 years, so you cannot let Wellston waste away like that, Jordan said.

The deadlines and designation of the nonprofit as developer were included in an ordinance adopting an updated redevelopment plan for Wellston, an action the St. Louis County LCRA had been urging Wellston to take for over a year. The county LCRA has been unable to buy or sell property in Wellston because Missouri law requires LCRAs operating in municipalities to have a redevelopment plan adopted by the municipality. The old plan expired at the end of 2017.

The county LCRA has had a significant presence in Wellston for decades, largely because it spent tens of millions of dollars remediating two polluted factory sites along Page Avenue. Those sites now offer a combined 45 acres for redevelopment.

It also has rehabbed one former factory into the MET Center, which has hosted job-training programs over the years. The Partnership also opened a small business incubator in the city.

But the two large sites have not been developed, and for years were entangled in political scandal after the LCRAs old leadership sold them to major donors of former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, who went to prison for corruption.

The St. Louis County LCRA has also taken title to dozens of abandoned homes in the once-thriving inner ring suburb, which lost more than 80% of its population in the last 70 years. Transactions involving those parcels have stalled, too. The Normandy School District for two years has wanted to acquire several properties near Normandy High School from the LCRA for a renovation project but has been unable to do so, LCRA leadership said, because of a lack of a redevelopment plan.

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, which operates the LCRA, has tried to keep the impasse quiet while prodding Wellston to act. Over the summer, the St. Louis County LCRA board passed a resolution adopting the development plan contingent on Wellstons approval of the plan during closed session. It also offered to donate several parcels it owns to the city and approve the Normandy transaction, according to the resolutions. It only made the resolutions public after the newspaper asked about the dispute.

This week, the LCRA moved up its regular bimonthly meeting, which had been scheduled for Jan. 24, to Tuesday. Most of its business was discussed in closed session.

Partnership CEO Rodney Crim was unavailable for an interview about the Wellston ordinance, his office said Tuesday, but in a statement Crim said he was encouraged by Wellstons adoption of the redevelopment plan.

The ordinance accomplishes many objectives of the (LCRA) board, Crims statement read. We look forward to working with the City of Wellston. At this time, we are still evaluating some of the requirements in the ordinance.

LCRA board member Sam Shannon, who is also a Wellston City Council member, said the board approved the property transfer to Normandy schools in closed session on Tuesday. He said not much else involving the ordinance and its conditions came up, and he and other Wellston officials will wait and see whether the Partnership can come up with a plan for its real estate in the city.

We had to make a move to get things started, Shannon said. Its in their court now.

Jordan, the citys legal adviser, said the deadlines for the county LCRA can be amended if Crims office is showing good faith on development plans in the city but that the countys land banking in Wellston is not fair to its residents.

Everybody hopes and prays that the LCRA finally stands up and does some of the things that they are required to do, Jordan said. The mayor wants to do whatever he can to get the city moving. Hes not trying to draw any lines in the sand. Hes saying, Be responsible.
Joe Holleman Political correspondent/columnist 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

Update: The town hall meeting set for Friday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in south St. Louis has been cancelled due to weather forecasts.

After taking a bit of a breather for the holidays, the 2024 campaigns for higher political offices are heating up in the colder weather:

CAMPAIGN TRAILERS: After taking a bit of a breather for the holidays, the 2024 campaigns for higher political offices are heating up in the colder weather:

 The only St. Louis-area candidate running to unseat GOP U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has been invited to appear with a decidedly conservative group that is meeting Friday at a Catholic church in south St. Louis.

State Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis, is scheduled to be part of a panel arranged by Freedom Principle, a group that espouses Donald Trumps Make America Great Again credo.

The event, billed as a town hall meeting and open to the public, is set for 6:30 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.

May is running against Lucas Kunce of Independence and December Harmon of Columbia in the August primary, with the winner likely facing incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Among other state legislators who have been invited to the meeting is state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring. Eigel is arguably the most conservative candidate running for governor in the Republican primary, in a field that also includes Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Other well-known conservative Republican state legislators scheduled to attend are Sen. Nick Schroer of Defiance, Rep. Justin Sparks of Wildwood and Rep. Jim Murphy of south St. Louis County.

State Rep. Steven Butz, a Democrat who represents the district in which the church is located, also is slated to attend.

 And speaking of the U.S. Senate race, leading candidate Lucas Kunce has announced that his bid to unseat incumbent Republican Josh Hawley has picked up the endorsement of a Democratic group aimed at campaign-finance reform.

End Citizens United/Let America Vote, a political action committee formed in 2015, got behind Kunce earlier this week.

Tiffany Muller, the groups president, praised Kunce for refusing to take a cent of corporate PAC or federal lobbyist money.

Jason Kander, former Missouri Secretary of State and a state legislator, sits on the board of the committee. He is the founder of the Let America Vote group.

The PAC formed in response to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of a group which called itself Citizens United. The courts decision eased restrictions on corporations and labor unions making large campaign contributions, ruling that political spending is a form of free speech.

 Finally, the pivoted Wesley Bell campaign has a private fundraiser in the works for next week, a private soiree on Jan. 18 at a Clayton location.

Bell, who quit his run for the U.S. Senate in October, now is opposing U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, for her 1st Congressional District seat in the August primary.

Helping spread the word for the fundraiser is businessman Bob Fox, a well-heeled Democratic contributor and husband of Build-a-Bear founder Maxine Clark.
Tony Messenger Metro columnist Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

BALLWIN  On the day Jay Ashcroft ran to the CNN television cameras, Matt Conlon walked into the Ballwin Government Center. Both men had the same topic on their minds: access to the election ballot.

Ashcroft is Missouris secretary of state. Hes running for the Republican nomination for governor. To draw attention to his right-wing bona fides, he announced last week that he might consider an attempt to remove President Joe Biden from Missouris ballot if other states remove Donald Trump from their ballots.

Ashcroft cant do that, of course. As the CNN reporter pointed out, Missouris constitution is different than Maines constitution, where the secretary of state has blocked Trump from the ballot, citing the U.S. Constitutions 14th Amendment insurrection clause. The same issue is being debated in courts in multiple states and soon will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Court is where these things are generally decided. Ashcroft, a lawyer, knows this. In fact, when he recently tried to block an abortion-rights initiative from the ballot, the Missouri Court of Appeals chided him for his dishonesty.

Thats what Conlon, a Ballwin resident, wanted to talk to the Board of Aldermen about on Monday  honesty.

Two years ago, Robert E. Jones, the city attorney for Ballwin, went to court to knock a man named Brennan Redinger off the local ballot. Redinger, at the time a newcomer in Ballwin, wanted to run for an aldermanic seat. Mayor Tim Pogue paid Redinger an uninvited visit at his home, telling Redinger he hadnt lived in town long enough to run for office. Redinger eventually filled out a form to withdraw from the race, but it was too late to change the ballot.

this CNN interview was an absolute disaster for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft pic.twitter.com/qlY5UhpL7H  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2024

No problem, Jones decided. He filed a lawsuit on Redingers behalf to get him removed from the ballot. The attorney on the opposing side, representing the St. Louis County Board of Elections, was from the same law firm, Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & OKeefe. But Jones had never spoken to Redinger. He misrepresented to the court that Redinger was his client.

At the time, Alderman Kevin Roach got wind of what was going on and investigated. He presented the results to Ashcroft, who, as secretary of state, has some authority to enforce violations of election law.

Ashcroft passed.

But Roach didnt give up. After Conlon came to a Board of Aldermen meeting last year to explain his disgust at the situation  and was chided by the mayor and Jones  Roach filed a complaint with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. Thats the office in Missouri that disciplines attorneys for various levels of wrongdoing.

At some point last year, after Roach filed his complaint, Jones refunded his attorneys fees in the Redinger case to the city. But that didnt absolve him of wrongdoing.

So said the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel in a letter of admonition it issued in September. I obtained the letter in a Sunshine Law request. So did Conlon.

Conlon read a portion of the letter to the aldermen on Monday night. He focused on a Missouri Supreme Court rule that the disciplinary counsel said Jones violated for misrepresenting that Redinger was his client: A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made by the lawyer to the tribunal by the lawyer.

A letter of admonition is the lowest level of discipline issued to lawyers, says Peter Joy, a law professor at Washington University. But its still not something an attorney wants to have on their record.

Lawyer discipline is imperative because lawyers have specific obligations to their clients and the courts, Joy says. The lawyer crossed ethical lines and there were consequences.

Conlon wanted to make sure the letter got addressed in a public meeting in Ballwin.

This issue has a terrible smell attached to it, he told the aldermen, saying he was taking them all to task  with the exception of Roach  for not standing up for what was right.

This is not an old boys club, Conlon told the aldermen. Please stop trying to make it one.

It was a local admonition but with a message that shouldnt escape Ashcroft: Messing with the ballot is no trivial matter.
ST. LOUIS  After facing months of pressure for allegedly mishandling multiple allegations of sexual abuse at its foreign orphanages, a Christian charity based in Union, Missouri, is finalizing plans for an independent investigation.

But its unclear what the investigation will entail at Ninos de Mexico and if findings will be publicized.

All allegations of improper care of children, both from the past and those presently in our homes, weigh heavily on everyone associated with Ninos de Mexico, Board Chairman Robert L. Wideman wrote in a Jan. 6 letter to Eric Miller, a volunteer-turned-whistleblower. It is the truth about these allegations that we seek to uncover.

Miller, part of an in-depth Post-Dispatch report on the matter, has claimed that at least six former Ninos employees sexually abused children or young adults at the charitys network of orphanages near Mexico City with impunity. He first asked the board to do an independent investigation last January, after being unsatisfied with responses from Executive Director Steven Ross, who lives half the year in Florissant, the other half in Mexico.

On Tuesday, Miller said by telephone from Ohio, that hes both grateful and on alert about the new investigation being promised.

We know this is not the end of this fight, but the beginning, said Miller, 28, who has publicized his concerns, and that of alleged victims and advocates in Mexico. We are going to be watching every step to make sure the investigation goes through to completion, and then, at the end, they publish the results.

The Ninos board selected GRACE, or Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, to conduct the investigation. Wideman said in his letter that the Engagement Agreement with GRACE was still being finalized.

While GRACE encourages transparency, the firm says its up to each institution to decide what to do with the final report and recommendations.

Wideman and Ross didnt respond to inquiries from the Post-Dispatch seeking clarification. On Tuesday, an office worker at Union headquarters directed a reporter to call Mick OHanahan, director of development, who couldnt be reached for comment.

In a previous lengthy telephone interview with the Post-Dispatch, Ross hesitated to name and quantify how many former Ninos employees had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse, beyond David Javier Colosia, a former house parent who is on trial for aggravated rape. Rather, Ross said, Ninos had improved and established new protocols to substantially decrease the risk of harm to children. He said then that state and federal child welfare authorities in Mexico told them to make some of those changes during ongoing probes and that Ninos was also cooperating with criminal prosecutors.

When pressed, Ross previously confirmed that hed fired two of the three administrative directors who have worked for him in Mexico in the past decade.

A Mexican attorney representing alleged victims previously told that Post-Dispatch that since 2021 formal complaints have been submitted to Mexican state prosecutors involving three former Ninos employees  an auxiliary house parent, long-time medical director and Colosia. The attorney said five cases against Colosia alone accused him of a variety of offenses involving 11 youths.

In 2021, Ninos had $1.8 million in revenue mainly garnered from U.S. donors.

One of our supporting churches pledged funds to help with this independent investigation, Wideman wrote in his recent letter to Miller.
ST. PETERS  An 18-year-old St. Peters man was charged with second-degree murder Tuesday after telling police he shot another man multiple times and concealed the victims body in an air mattress in a bedroom closet.

The defendant, Jackson L. Pierce, also faces charges of armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Dalton Coleman, 23, of OFallon, Missouri, on Monday at Pierces residence in the 300 block of Willott Square Drive.

According to a probable cause statement, Pierce told police that he shot Coleman after Coleman forced his way into Pierces upstairs bedroom and was trying to strike him. Police said the two were acquaintances.

Pierce told police that when he saw Coleman appear to move towards a firearm on a bedside table, Pierce grabbed the gun and began to shoot. He told police he fired 14 times until the gun was empty and that the victim did not fall until the last shot was fired.

Police said Pierce said he and a juvenile male also at the residence then tried to clean the scene using towels and dish soap on the carpet. Pierce said they concealed the body in the air mattress and moved it to a different bedroom, according to the statement.

Police said the juvenile male was turned over to St. Charles County Family Court for possible charges. Police said Wednesday that Pierce was being held in the St. Charles County Jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.

According to court records, police went to the scene after they were contacted by the lawyer for another man wanting to report a possible homicide.

That man, who shared the residence with Pierce, said he had left in the early afternoon to go to St. Louis. While on the way, he received several calls from Pierce complaining about Coleman asking for unknown belongings and exhibiting other erratic behavior.

The man told police that minutes later he received another call from Pierce telling him he had shot and killed the victim. The man said he told Pierce to contact police but that Pierce said he wouldnt do so.

Police then began surveillance of the residence, the probable cause statement said. During the hours-long surveillance, the statement said, the only activity was a DoorDash delivery of food. Police then contacted the county SWAT unit, which used a loudspeaker to order occupants to leave the home.

Soon after, Pierce and the juvenile left the residence and were taken into custody.
JEFFERSON CITY  Lawmakers and business interests are giving renewed attention to a set of tax credits to expand child care in Missouri.

Several business organizations from across Missouri advocated for the tax credits at a House Workforce and Infrastructure Development committee hearing Wednesday.

Representing the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and other Kansas City-based groups, Nancy Giddens called child care a No. 1 issue for businesses.

Legislation under consideration this year includes three distinct tax credits: One for a contribution toward anothers child care, one for employers who provide employees child care or assist with expenses, and one for child care providers.

For each tax credit category, the state could issue no more than $20 million annually, and each taxpayer could receive no more than $200,000 in tax breaks.

We support anything youre willing to do, particularly this bill, Giddens said.

Our states child care crisis is an economic issue that impacts families and businesses, said Kaylee Paffrath, director of business development for the Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation.

Gov. Mike Parson last year pushed for the child care tax credit package as part of a larger effort to increase child care availability in the state.

The governor secured an $80 million subsidy for child care providers serving low-income families. Lawmakers also placed a measure on this years ballot that would ask voters to give lawmakers the power to exempt child care facilities from real property taxes.

There isnt anybody in the state that will disagree that we dont have a child care crisis, bill sponsor Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, told the Post-Dispatch this week. If we dont put something on the table to solve the issue, the problem will still be here next year, and the following year, and the following year.

Kara Corches, vice president of governmental affairs for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the Post-Dispatch the child care tax credit package is a legislative priority for the organization.

Workforce shortages are a major pain point for businesses year after year, Corches said. And what we found is that child care is a very critical component to that workforce shortage.

Committee chair Rep. Louis Riggs, R-Hannibal, said he wants to get the bill to the House floor for debate as fast as humanly possible and over to the Senate for consideration.

This is something thats real important, that shouldve happened last year. It didnt. It needs to happen this year, he said.

Another version of the bill is being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City.

Arthur was also part of last years effort to pass tax credit package.
JEFFERSON CITY  In its first test Wednesday, the Missouri Senates new Freedom Caucus fell short.

Less than a week after celebrating the launch of their new alliance, the splinter faction of hard-line Republican senators failed to enact changes in how the Missouri Senate conducts its business.

Led by gubernatorial candidate Bill Eigel, a senator from Weldon Spring, members of the newly formed coalition were unable to muster outside support for a new Senate rule that would require last-minute changes to legislation to be set aside for 24 hours in order to give lawmakers more time to study the language.

Eigel, who has openly warred with Republican leadership in the upper chamber, said the change could address the Senate practice of loading up bills at the end of the legislative session, often leaving little time to determine if there are flaws.

Today the MO Senate rejected my rule change requiring bills to sit for 2 days before coming to a vote.



Senators admitted on the floor today they voted last session on bills without reading them and STILL voted against me.



JC needs a Reckoning. #moleg #mogov #letsgomo pic.twitter.com/fqWGfBlaIU  William Eigel (@BillEigel) January 10, 2024

Were creating a buffer here, Eigel told his colleagues. This is a small, easy step.

But, after more than two hours of debate, he convinced no one in the Senate outside his own caucus  other than Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove  to support the initiative. It failed 23-7.

Senate Majority Leader Cindy OLaughlin, R-Shelbina, suggested that Eigels gubernatorial ambitions were driving him to suggest the changes.

You are running for governor, not that that has anything to do with it, she said during a testy exchange with Eigel.

Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said senators already have the ability to slow down the legislative process by standing and asking questions or using the filibuster to delay action.

Youve done it. Youve stood up and read a book, Rowden told Eigel, just hours after the two sparred on social media over who is more conservative.

Among others scolding Eigel was Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, who said senators already have the tools to delay action.

I dont believe in tying the hands of the Legislature, Trent said.

Although the lengthy debate did not interrupt any pressing business of the Senate, it signaled what could be another session interrupted by Republican infighting between those who support GOP leadership and the six members who comprise the hard-line bloc.

The Missouri Freedom Caucus, which held a kickoff event Friday in St. Charles, is part of the larger State Freedom Caucus Network, which provides the high-level staff, strategy, and community conservatives need to take ground across the country, according to the networks website. Its an outgrowth of the House Freedom Caucus, launched in 2015 by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and other hard-right Republicans in Congress.
CLAYTON  A few dozen protesters on Tuesday evening urged the St. Louis County Council to pass a resolution demanding a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

Local governments nationwide, including in St. Louis, have considered symbolic cease-fire resolutions calling for an end to Israeli assaults on the blockaded strip that have caused a humanitarian crisis. Resolutions have also supported Israel after the militant group Hamas killed about 1,200 and took more than 200 hostages in an attack launched on Oct. 7.

Haley Millner, a St. Louis County resident, said the Israeli bombardment of innocent civilians over the past four months amounts to genocide. Israels offensive has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians and displaced almost 85% of its population of 2.3 million. A quarter face starvation.

The atrocities that Israel has committed against the Palestinian people are unthinkable and unacceptable, said Millner, who is Jewish, during the councils public comment period.

Scott Will, also a county resident, said the countys support of Boeing is immoral because the company manufactures weapons locally for the U.S. Department of Defense. The county provides tax incentives for certain Boeing projects within the county, and much of the companys defense business is located in the St. Louis area.

Boeing produces JDAM kits, which can turn bombs into GPS-guided weapons, at the St. Charles plant. Those weapons have been delivered to Israel, according to the Bloomberg news service.

Twenty-five miles away from this council chamber, bombs are being made that are decapitating children, Will said.

A small protest followed the meeting outside council chambers.

It wasnt immediately clear if the any member of the council would introduce a cease-fire resolution.

In other business, the council chose its chair for this year: Democratic Councilwoman Shalonda Webb of unincorporated North County will serve in the role for a second year.

Webb won 5-1, with Republican Councilman Ernie Trakas voting for Dennis Hancock, a Republican from Fenton. Democratic Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway of Chesterfield was absent.

The chair presides over meetings and has control over committee appointments, a determining factor in what issues the council addresses and which controversies they investigate.

Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, a Democrat from Bel-Nor, was appointed vice chair 4-2, with Democratic Councilwoman Lisa Clancy and Trakas voting for Hancock.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Google, Meta, Amazon, and dozens of other tech companies had a difficult year in 2023, with another 240,000 layoffs. But as this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas gets underway, there is still reason to celebrate for the sector: the promise of artificial intelligence could herald a new golden age for tech.
Regarding the letter to the editor " Disappointed that school board caved to criticism on race " (Jan. 3): I'm not sure of the relevance of citing only 8% of the district students are African American. If the writer thinks that only African Americans should or will take the courses then that's indicative of a problem.

I'm white, yet I took a Black history course in college. Maybe if the letter writer had done the same, she might realize that while yes, all lives matter, the actions of the government established and funded police all too frequently indicate that to those holding power, Black lives do not.
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2024 / Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (NYSE: KFS) ("Kingsway" or the "Company") today announced that management will present at the Sidoti Virtual Investor Conference on January 18, 2024, at 12:15pm ET.

For live access to the webcast presentation register here or visit: https://bit.ly/3NVFj73

Management will also host one-on-one investor meetings during the conference. To schedule a virtual meeting with management, please contact your conference representative or email [email protected].

About the Company

Kingsway is a holding company that owns or controls subsidiaries primarily in the extended warranty and business services industries. The common shares of Kingsway are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "KFS."

The Company serves the extended warranty industry through its operating subsidiaries IWS (iwsgroup.com), Penn Warranty (pennwarranty.com), Preferred Warranties (preferredwarranties.com) and Trinity Warranty Solutions (trinitywarranty.com).

The Company serves the business services industry through its operating subsidiaries CSuite (csuitefinancialpartners.com), Ravix (ravixgroup.com), Secure Nursing Service (securenursing.com), SPI Software (spisoftware.com) and Digital Diagnostics, Inc (ddimagingusa.com/about-us/).

For Media Inquiries:

Hayden IR

James Carbonara

(646) 755-7412

[email protected] For Company Inquiries:

Kingsway Financial Services Inc.

Kent Hansen, CFO

(312) 766-2163

[email protected]

SOURCE: Kingsway Financial Services, Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 10, 2024 / Metallic Minerals Corp. (TSXV:MMG)(OTCQB: MMNGF) ("Metallic Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from its fall 2023 exploration drilling campaign at the Company's 100%-owned, 171 square kilometer ("km2") Keno Silver project, adjacent to Hecla Mining ("Hecla") in the high-grade Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory. The 2023 exploration program included 1,112 meters ("m") in four diamond drill holes focused on expansion of the Formo target in the West Keno area, which is on trend with the 100 million-ounce ("Moz") historic Hector-Calumet mine controlled by Hecla.

Drill hole FOR23-03 represents one of the best intercepts to date for the Keno Silver project, returning grades of 256 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent recovered ("Ag Eq") over 46 m. This is also the deepest intercept to date on the Formo vein structure (only 275 m vertically from surface) and mineralization remains fully open down dip and along strike. Formo is anticipated to be one of the highest grade and largest contributors to the forthcoming inaugural NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Keno Silver project, currently nearing completion by SGS Geological Services.

2023 West Keno Exploration Highlights

High-grade silver ("Ag"), lead ("Pb"), zinc, ("Zn") and significant gold ("Au") mineralization was encountered in all four 2023 drill holes (See Table 1) which will contribute to the pending NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the project.

Both high-grade Ag-Au-Pb-Zn vein-style mineralization and broader zones of bulk tonnage Ag-Au-Pb-Zn mineralization comprised of high-grade vein intervals and associated stringers and stockwork veining were encountered.

FOR23-03 returned 256.8 g/t Ag Eq (99.1 g/t Ag, 0.52 g/t Au, 0.65% Pb, 2.62% Zn) over 46.05 m with multiple internal higher-grade zones including, 3.3 m of 1,413.45 g/t Ag Eq (562.4 g/t Ag, 0.20 g/t Au, 2.35% Pb and 20.3% Zn) . The bulk tonnage interval of this hole represents one of the highest gram-meter (g/t Ag Eq x interval thickness) intervals on the Keno Silver project to date, and extended mineralization by 140 m from the nearest 2022 and historic drill holes.

with multiple internal higher-grade zones including, . The bulk tonnage interval of this hole represents one of the highest gram-meter (g/t Ag Eq x interval thickness) intervals on the Keno Silver project to date, and extended mineralization by 140 m from the nearest 2022 and historic drill holes. FOR23-04, a large step-out hole, drilled nearly 250 m west of the nearest Formo vein drilling, returned four separate silver-dominant vein structures of considerable width providing additional confirmation of the potential for on-strike expansion of the Formo target.

The Formo target remains open to further expansion, down-dip and on-trend, and shows potential for new discoveries within the Formo property footprint.

Metallic Minerals President, Scott Petsel, stated, "The Formo target is an exciting, advanced exploration stage "resource-ready" target with significant room to grow featuring both high-grade and bulk mineable widths that make it amenable to lower-cost mining methods. The Formo target is ideally located near infrastructure as it is adjacent to the Silver Trail highway (Highway 11) and power lines that feed the central Keno Hill mill. It also directly adjoins Hecla's Keno Hill property, where Hecla is actively mining the nearby Bermingham mine. We are excited to be able to include these new drill results in our upcoming inaugural resource for the Keno Silver project as these results at Formo continue to demonstrate our ability to build a significant resource base for the project. The resource estimate is expected to be complete in Q1 2024."

"In addition, the Company looks forward to meeting with interested investors at the upcoming Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, AMEBC Mineral Roundup and Prospectors and Developers annual conferences where Metallic Minerals has been invited to display drill core from its 2023 exploration programs at La Plata and Keno Silver. We anticipate reporting additional results from the Keno Silver project and La Plata projects over the next few weeks."

Upcoming Events

Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC)

Metallic Minerals and fellow Metallic Group members, Granite Creek Copper and Stillwater Critical Minerals, in Booth #112 at the 2024 VRIC event, January 21 and 22, 2024. For more information click here.

AMEBC Mineral Roundup Core Shack

Metallic Minerals will be displaying core from the 2023 drill season at the upcoming AMEBC Mineral Roundup event held in Vancouver, BC January 22 to 25, 2024. For more information click here.

Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Annual Convention (PDAC)

Metallic Minerals will be displaying core from the 2023 drill season at the La Plata project during the PDAC convention held in Toronto, March 3 to 6, 2024. For more information click here.

Table 1 - Highlights of 2023 Drill Results from the West Keno - Formo Target Area

DDH Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (M) Recovered Ag Eq (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Pb (%) Zn (%) FOR23-001 148.74 149.43 0.69 499.23 3.6 6.20 0.00 0.01 and 196.95 215 18.05 234.45 121.4 0.05 1.22 2.06 including 196.95 198.9 1.95 513.39 300.3 0.07 2.71 3.74 also incl 208.4 214 5.6 478.25 241.0 0.10 2.41 4.43 with 208.4 211.2 2.8 687.57 367.9 0.18 4.02 5.37 FOR23-002 172.3 173.35 1.05 67.04 3.5 0.79 0.01 0.01 and 218 221 3 131.42 51.9 0.38 0.35 1.07 incl 218.75 219.75 1 277.81 137.0 0.00 0.96 3.08 FOR23-003 239.95 286 46.05 256.82 99.1 0.52 0.65 2.62 including 239.35 263.65 23.7 462.37 176.0 1.0 1.13 4.67 with 239.35 245.5 5.5 406.57 46.6 4.07 0.49 0.60 and with 255.8 263.65 7.85 899.27 392.4 0.13 2.06 11.68 including 260.35 263.65 3.3 1,413.45 562.4 0.20 2.35 20.30 with 260.75 261.5 0.75 1,411.76 994.0 0.03 3.01 7.36 and with 262.05 263.65 1.6 1,769.44 416.0 0.39 2.64 32.32 and 284 286 2 302.55 116.5 0.03 1.07 4.07 FOR23-004 122 124.46 2.46 76.62 43.7 0.11 0.33 0.43 and 153.5 154.1 0.6 284.52 154.0 0.09 1.67 2.14 and 177.5 183 5.5 72.95 61.2 0.00 0.28 0.18 including 179 180.75 1.76 144.67 130.0 0.00 0.46 0.21 and 300.3 301 0.7 83.26 5.6 0.97 0.01 0.00

Notes to reported values:

Ag equivalent is presented for comparative purposes using conservative long-term metal prices (all USD): $22.0/oz silver (Ag), $1,850/oz gold (Au), $1.00/lb lead (Pb), $1.40/lb zinc (Zn). Recovered Silver Equivalent in Table 1 is determined as follows: Ag Eq g/t = [Ag g/t x recovery] + [Au g/t x recovery x Au price/ Ag price] + [Pb % x 10,000 x recovery x Pb price / Ag price] + [Zn% x 10,000 x recovery x Zn price / Ag price]. In the above calculations: 1% = 10,000 ppm = 10,000 g/t. The following recoveries have been assumed for purposes of the above equivalent calculations: 95% for precious metals (Ag/Au) and 90% for all other listed metals, based on recoveries at similar nearby operations. Intervals are reported as measured drill intersect lengths and do not represent true width.

Figure 1. Keno Silver District Geology and Deposits

West Keno and the Formo Target Area

The Western Keno Hill district is host to the largest historic production and current resources in the prolific Keno Hill silver district. The Formo target is located at the intersection of a north-easterly structural zone extending from the Hector-Calumet mine, which was the largest producer in the district producing nearly 100 million ounces of silver and the Elsa structural trend, which was the second largest silver producer in the district (see Figure 2).

The Formo property, which includes the historic Formo Mine, was acquired by Metallic Minerals in 2017. The historic Formo mine produced high-grade silver at various times since the 1930s from high-grade vein structures that graded over 1,000 g/t silver1. Significant underground exploration drifts were developed in the 1950s with most of the historic production from an open pit located alongside of the Silver Trail highway between the Elsa townsite and Keno City and last mined in the 1980s.

The primary Formo vein structure is exposed at surface in an open cut. Multiple veins have been encountered in the target area that demonstrate an association with Triassic greenstones in the Earn group schist, similar to the Sadie Ladue deposit which produced 12.7 Moz silver at a grade of 1,620 g/t Ag1. In addition to the mineralization at the known Formo target, two new surface targets have been identified through soil and rock sampling along the same structural corridors that show potential to host high-grade and bulk tonnage Keno-style Ag-Au-Pb-Zn veins on the Formo property (Figure 2).

Since 2020, Metallic Minerals has drilled 26 holes (4,419 m) at the Formo target building on the six core holes and 54 percussion holes drilled by previous owners between 1980 and 1981. The Formo target is open to significant expansion down dip and along trend with several newly identified targets for drill testing (Figure 2 and 3 below).

Figure 2 - West Keno and Formo Target Plan Map

Figure 3 - Formo Target Cross Section (Looking East)

Pending 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for Keno Silver Project

The upcoming inaugural independent 43-101 mineral resource estimate is focused on four initial deposits across the Keno Silver project, including: Formo, Caribou, Fox and Homestake. These four deposits are the most advanced of over 40 identified target areas, each of which is characterized by a kilometric scale Ag in soil anomaly, exposed outcropping high-grade veins, and varying levels of exploration activity or historic production. Metallic Minerals has completed 165 drill holes totalling 18,983 m of combined reverse circulation and diamond core drilling at the Keno Silver project since 2017 on a total of 11 targets, all of which have returned encouraging results. The four most advanced "resource-ready" targets will be part of the upcoming mineral resource estimate being completed by SGS Geological Services and include:

Formo Target - In the West Keno District, it demonstrates potential for lower-cost bulk tonnage mining or high-grade selective methods with drill highlights including: Hole FOR22-04 - 20.87 m @ 220.5 g/t Ag Eq (144.6 g/t Ag, 0.70% Pb, 1.59% Zn), and 1.63 m @ 1,487.19 g/t Ag Eq (1,049 g/t Ag, 4.21% Pb, 9.45% Zn) Hole FOR21-05 - 19.8 m @ 216.26 g/t Ag Eq (70 g/t Ag, 0.41 g/t Au, 0.30% Pb, 2.07% Zn) and 0.7 m @ 1,405 g/t Ag Eq (421.0 g/t Ag, 0.15 g/t Au, 1.53% Pb, 24.2% Zn) Hole FOR20-003 - 3.0 m @ 2,954.52 g/t Ag (1,568 g/t Ag, 29.45% Pb, 1.35% Zn)

Caribou Target - In the Central Keno target area the Caribou target historically produced very high-grade material from a shallow surface pit grading more than 6,000 g/t silver.

Fox Target - Discovered by Metallic Minerals in 2020 in the East Keno target area, the Fox target is characterized as a newly recognized bulk tonnage style of mineralization with shallow-dipping sheeted vein sets up to 177 m in width. Drilling since 2020, has defined a bulk-tonnage mineralized block over 300 m along strike and 150 m down-dip from surface which is open in all directions.

Homestake Target - A historic producer, the Homestake target in the Central Keno area is fractally spatial with the districts' giant past producers and current resources (Silver King, Elsa, Bermingham, Hector Calumet, Flame & Moth and Bellekeno) near the contact of the Keno Hill Quartzite and Sourdough Hill formations. With only 88 drill holes (slightly over 5000 m of drilling), and a strike length over 2 km the Homestake target represents considerable resource opportunity and exploration potential.

Metallic Minerals sees considerable opportunity for resource growth from target expansion and new discovery with the further systematic application of exploration, including the expansion of detailed soil geochemical grids, "resource-ready" target expansion through drilling and reconnaissance drilling of early-stage targets.

About Metallic Minerals

Metallic Minerals Corp. is focused on copper, silver, gold, and other critical minerals in the La Plata mining district in Colorado, and silver and gold in the high-grade Keno Hill and Klondike districts of the Yukon. Our objective is to create shareholder value through a systematic, entrepreneurial approach to making exploration discoveries, growing resources, and advancing projects toward development.

At the Company's La Plata project in southwestern Colorado, the new 2023 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate identifies a significant porphyry copper-silver resource containing 1.21 Blbs copper and 17.6 Moz of silver3. The 2022 expansion drilling provided the basis for the updated resource, including the longest and highest-grade interval ever encountered at La Plata and one of the top intersections for any North American copper project in the past several years. In May 2023, the Company announced a 9.5% strategic investment by Newcrest Mining Limited (acquired by Newmont Mining in 2023) to accelerate the advancement of the Company's La Plata project. In the 2023 Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, Colorado ranked 5th globally for investment attractiveness and 2nd in the USA.

In Canada's Yukon Territory, Metallic Minerals has consolidated the second-largest land position in the historic high-grade Keno Hill silver district, directly adjacent to Hecla Mining Company's ("Hecla") operations, with more than 300 Moz of high-grade silver in past production and current M&I resources. Hecla, the largest primary silver producer in the USA and third largest in the world, is anticipating full production at its Keno Hill operations by the end of 2023. An inaugural mineral resource estimate on the project is expected in early 2024, with an 1,112-meter expansion drill program completed at the Formo target during fall of 2023.

The Company is also one of the largest holders of alluvial gold claims in the Yukon and is building a production royalty business by partnering with experienced mining operators, including Parker Schnabel of Little Flake Mining from the Discovery Channel television show, Gold Rush.

All of the districts in which Metallic Minerals operates have seen significant mineral production and have existing infrastructure, including power and road access. The Company is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success on several major precious and base metal deposits in the region, as well as having large-scale development, permitting and project financing expertise. The Metallic Minerals team has been recognized for its environmental stewardship practices and is committed to responsible and sustainable resource development.

Footnotes:

Cathro, R. J., Great Mining Camps of Canada 1. The History and Geology of the Keno Hill Silver Camp, Yukon Territory. Geoscience Canada, Sept. 2006. ISSN 1911-4850. Alexco Resource Corp Technical Report, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on Updated Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimate of the Keno Hill Silver District" with an effective date of April 1, 2021, and issue date of May 26, 2021. See news release dated July 31, 2023. The Mineral Resource has been estimated in conformity with CIM Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Best Practices Guidelines (2019) and current CIM Definition Standards. The constrained Mineral Resources are reported at a base case cut-off grade of 0.25% Cu Eq, based on metal prices of $3.75/lb Cu and $22.50/oz Ag, assumed metal recoveries of 90% for Cu and 65% for Ag, a mining cost of US$5.30/t rock and processing and G&A cost of US$11.50/t mineralized material. The current Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured. However, based on the current knowledge of the deposits, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Website: www.mmgsilver.com Phone: 604-629-7800

Email: [email protected] Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420

Qualified Person

The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding exploration projects on Metallic Minerals' mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Taylor Haid, P. Geo, Project Manager for TruePoint Exploration, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

All samples were prepared by Bureau Veritas' (BV) Whitehorse, Yukon facility and geochemically analyzed at the BV laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia. All samples were prepared using BV code PRP70-250, which crushed, split, and pulverized 250 grams of core to 200 mesh pulps. These pulps were then analyzed by 37 Element 1:1:1 Aqua Regia Digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-ES/MS) analyses (BV Code AQ202). Over-limit silver, lead, and zinc samples were further analyzed with multi-acid digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry (BV Code MA404). Samples with over-limit gold (and silver when over-limit was reached via multi-acid) were re-analyzed using a 30-gram fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish (BV Code FA530).

All results have passed the QAQC screening by the lab and the company utilizes a quality control and quality assurance protocol for the project, including insertion of blanks, duplicates, and certified reference materials approximately every tenth sample. Certified reference materials were acquired from OREAS North America Inc. of Sudbury, Ontario, and CDN Resource Laboratories Ltd. Of Langley, British Columbia for the 2023 drill program at the Keno Silver project.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, statements about expected results of operations, royalties, cash flows, financial position and future dividends as well as financial position, prospects, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals 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, unsuccessful operations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration, development of mines and mining operations is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Metallic Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Metallic Minerals Corp.

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STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Altus Power (NYSE: AMPS), the leading commercial-scale provider of clean electric power, today announced its co-CEOs, Gregg Felton, Lars Norell, and other members of the Altus Power team will present at various industry conferences and investor meetings, including the Consumer Electronics Show (Jan. 11), the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) webinar series (Jan. 16), and the 26th Annual Needham Growth Conference (Jan. 17).

On January 11th, Julia Sears, Chief Digital Officer, Altus Power, will participate in a panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show, Green AI: Getting Smarter, Doing Better. Sears will discuss how AI can be leveraged to create a more sustainable future, specifically around Altus IQ, the companys AI-powered energy usage insights tool utilized by corporate clients to measure, report and act on power usage and carbon avoidance goals.

On January 16th, Gregg Felton will participate in investor meetings in New York and on January 17th, Lars Norell will participate in a fireside chat at the Needham Growth Conference, both serving to highlight recently announced company achievements, including:

The expansion of its West Coast presence with the acquisition of Unico Solar

The closing of its 121 MWs of solar assets from Basalt and Soltage, expanding its portfolio in the Southeastern US

New financing from Goldman Sachs and CPP Investments

Also on January 16th, Steve DAgostino, Head of Analytics, Altus Power, will participate in a panel webinar session, A Deep Dive Into the Details of the Decarbonization Journey, as part of the CRREM  United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative webinar series. DAgostino will be sharing the best practices of commercial decarbonization, particularly the role of locally-sited solar.

Altus Powers portfolio across 25 states serves enterprises committed to achieving carbon reduction goals, anchored by the companys distributed solar arrays. As one of the pioneers of Community Solar, Altus Power currently serves more than 20,000 subscribers nationwide. Community Solar provides homeowners and renters of diverse income brackets access to the benefits of clean energy savings.

Select presentations will be available on the Altus Power website at: https://investors.altuspower.com/overview/default.aspx.

About Altus Power

Altus Power, based in Stamford, Connecticut, is the leading commercial-scale provider of clean electric power serving commercial, industrial, public sector and Community Solar customers with end-to-end solutions. Altus Power originates, develops, owns and operates locally-sited solar generation, energy storage and charging infrastructure across the nation. Visit www.altuspower.com to learn more.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110341810/en/

Chris Shelton

Head of Investor Relations

[email protected]

Source: Altus Power, Inc.
BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- On January 4th, the inaugural ceremony for the 2024 ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge (ASC24) unfolded in Beijing. With a global interest, ASC24 has garnered the participation of over 300 university teams. Following the rigorous preliminary round, the chosen teams are set to clash in the finals hosted at Shanghai University from April 9 to 13. The competition spectrum encompasses tasks such as optimizing Large Language Model inference, Seepage Numerical Simulation, and tackling the HPL and HPCG benchmarks. Distinguished guests, including academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as esteemed experts and scholars in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, joined representatives from participating teams in gracing the ceremony.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110248028/en/

ASC24 Opening Ceremony: Experts and Representatives of Participating Teams (Photo: Business Wire)

The ASC24 Large Language Model (LLM) Inference Optimization Challenge has become a focal point of attention for all the participants. As the training and deployment of Large Language Models (LLMs) continue to advance rapidly, there is a heightened industry emphasis on enhancing the performance and cost efficiency of LLM inference. In this challenge, participating teams are tasked with constructing and optimizing inference engines using the widely adopted open-source LLM, LLaMA2. The primary objective is to achieve high-throughput inference on sample datasets provided by the organizing committee, with the LLaMA2 model boasting an impressive 70 billion parameters. Teams contesting for victory must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding and mastery of common parallel methods applicable to LLMs. Additionally, they are required to leverage a range of techniques to optimize the inference process, showcasing their proficiency in navigating the intricacies of LLM inference.

The OpenCAEporo task in ASC24 is designed to delve into the intricate flow patterns and characteristics of multiphase fluids within porous media. Participating teams are tasked with simulating the seepage of multiphase fluids, including oil, gas, and water, specifically in scenarios related to petroleum extraction. The challenge requires teams to skillfully optimize large-scale parallel computing processes, with a focus on improving the computing performance and parallel efficiency of discrete algorithms. Beyond the confines of petroleum extraction, the applications of seepage mechanics are broad and impactful. The insights gained from this task have far-reaching implications, influencing scientific research in environmental protection, earthquake prediction, and biomedicine. Moreover, the principles of seepage mechanics find practical applications in diverse engineering techniques, ranging from preventing ground subsidence and seawater intrusion to constructing large-scale water conservancy and hydropower projects, agricultural and forestry initiatives, and permafrost engineering. The OpenCAEporo task thus serves as a gateway to understanding and addressing challenges across a spectrum of scientific and engineering domains.

Jack Dongarra, Member of US National Academy of Engineering, Turing Award winner, Distinguished Professor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, and ASC Advisory Committee Chair, stated that ASC serves to challenge and inspire the next generation of high-performance computing (HPC) scientists and engineers to deliver innovative solutions using the most cutting-edge technologies. ASC has been described as the world's largest supercomputer competition, striving to foster the next generation of young talented students to explore, inspire, innovate, and collaborate in supercomputing and artificial intelligence.

Nie Qing, Vice President of Shanghai University, the host of the ASC24 finals, stated that Shanghai University is one of the first universities in China to develop and apply HPC clusters. By hosting the ASC competition, the university aims to provide a broader platform for more young talents to learn cutting-edge technologies and applications, and cultivates their team collaboration skills, innovative thinking, and practical abilities. The goal is to enhance learning, teaching, and research through competition.

ASC24 has successfully drawn university teams from diverse countries and regions across the globe, creating a dynamic and competitive field. The participating teams include seasoned champions with a history of success in international supercomputing competitions, as well as enthusiastic newcomers making their debut in this challenging arena. To ensure that all participating advisors and students are well-prepared for the intense competition, the ASC24 organizing committee conducted comprehensive training camps. Renowned experts from prestigious universities and research institutions in China were invited to guide participants through various aspects of the competition. The training sessions covered a wide array of topics, including ASC competition rules, cluster construction and optimization, parallel program design, and the intricacies of LLMs. Furthermore, experts introduced the specifics of the competition tasks and shared effective problem-solving approaches. The training camps also featured valuable insights from past ASC award-winning teams, providing a platform for sharing experiences and strategies. This collaborative and educational approach aims to empower all participating teams with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in the ASC24 competition.

About ASC

The ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge is the world's largest student supercomputer competition, sponsored and organized by the Asia Supercomputer Community with support from experts and institutions across Asia, Europe, and America. The main objectives of ASC are to encourage the exchange and training of young supercomputing talent from different countries, improve supercomputing applications and R&D capacity, boost the development of supercomputing, and promote technical and industrial innovation. The first ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge was held in 2012 and has since attracted over 10,000 undergraduates from all over the world. Learn more for ASC at http://asc-events.net/.

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[email protected]

Source: 2024 ASC Student Supercomputer Challenge
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ault Alliance, Inc. (NYSE American: AULT), a diversified holding company (Ault Alliance, or the Company), today announced that it is removing certain proposals previously intended to be voted upon at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the Meeting). On December 29, 2023, the Company announced that it had adjourned the Meeting from December 29, 2023 to January 12, 2024 due to the absence of quorum to conduct business.

Based on the absence of quorum to date, and the strong indications that quorum will be difficult to obtain by January 12, 2024 despite having engaged a solicitation agent, the Companys board of directors (the Board) elected to amend the Companys Amended and Restated Bylaws (the Bylaws) to reduce the percentage required to obtain quorum from a majority of the voting power of the issued and outstanding capital stock of the Company to thirty-five percent (35%) of such voting power, effective at the close of business Eastern Time on Thursday, January 11, 2024.

The Board also determined to remove from consideration the following three proposals in the Proxy Statement dated December 1, 2023 (the Proxy Statement) at the Meeting:

To approve, pursuant to Rule 713(a) and (b) of the NYSE American, the conversion of the Companys 10% Senior Secured Convertible Note in the principal amount of $17,519,832.00 into the Companys Class A common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the  Common Stock ) as well as the exercise of the warrants to purchase such shares of Common Stock, each as issued pursuant to the Note Purchase Agreement dated October 13, 2023;

) as well as the exercise of the warrants to purchase such shares of Common Stock, each as issued pursuant to the Note Purchase Agreement dated October 13, 2023; To approve, pursuant to Rule 713(a) and (b) of the NYSE American, the conversion of the Companys 50,000 shares of Series C convertible preferred stock into Common Stock, and warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock, for a total purchase price of up to $50,000,000.00, pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement dated November 6, 2023; and

To approve, pursuant to Rule 713(a) of the NYSE American, (i) the issuance by the Company of additional shares of Common Stock, in a registered direct offering, underlying the Companys Convertible Note in the principal amount of $2.2 million issued pursuant to the Exchange Agreement dated September 27, 2023, as well as (ii) the right granted to the counterparty in the Exchange Agreement to purchase a note substantially identical to the Convertible Note in an amount of up to $3,300,000.

Consequently, the Meeting will be held for the following purposes:

To elect the seven (7) director nominees named in the Proxy Statement to hold office until the next annual meeting of stockholders;

To ratify the appointment of Marcum LLP, as the Companys independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023;

To approve an amendment to the Companys Certificate of Incorporation to effect a reverse stock split of the Common Stock by a ratio of not less than one-for-five and not more than one-for-twenty-five at any time prior to December 28, 2024, with the exact ratio to be set at a whole number within this range as determined by the Board in its sole discretion; and

To approve the adjournment of the Meeting to a later date or time, if necessary, to permit further solicitation and vote of proxies if, based upon the tabulated vote at the time of the Meeting, there are not sufficient votes to approve any of the other proposals before the Meeting.

To access the virtual meeting please click the Virtual Shareholder Meeting link: meetnow.global/MXV24TS. To login to the virtual meeting you have two options: Join as a Guest or Join as a Stockholder. If you join as a Stockholder you will be required to have a control number.

Further information regarding the change to the Proposals can be found in the Supplement to Proxy Statement filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 9, 2024.

If you have already voted your shares any of the proposals contained in Proxy Statement, you do not need to vote again and we thank you for your support. If you did not vote at all with respect to any such proposal, we urge you to vote your shares in favor of all the remaining proposals. You may use the Proxy Card with which you were originally provided.

About Ault Alliance, Inc.

Ault Alliance, Inc. is a diversified holding company pursuing growth by acquiring undervalued businesses and disruptive technologies with a global impact. Through its wholly and majority-owned subsidiaries and strategic investments, Ault Alliance owns and operates a data center at which it mines Bitcoin and offers colocation and hosting services for the emerging artificial intelligence ecosystems and other industries, and provides mission-critical products that support a diverse range of industries, including a metaverse platform, oil exploration, crane services, defense/aerospace, industrial, automotive, medical/biopharma, consumer electronics, hotel operations and textiles. In addition, Ault Alliance extends credit to select entrepreneurial businesses through a licensed lending subsidiary. Ault Alliances headquarters are located at 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 240, Las Vegas, NV 89141; www.Ault.com.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

The Company has filed a definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A and associated proxy card (the Proxy Statement) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), which was filed on November 24, 2023 and supplemented on December 29, 2023. The Company, its directors, its executive officers and certain other individuals set forth in the definitive proxy statement will be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in respect of the Annual Meeting, subject to the changes referred to above. Information regarding the names of the Companys directors and executive officers and certain other individuals and their respective interests in the Company by security holdings or otherwise is set forth in the Proxy Statement. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ ALL RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC, INCLUDING THE PROXY STATEMENT. The Proxy Statement and a form of proxy have been mailed to stockholders of the Company. Investors and stockholders can obtain a copy of the documents filed by the Company with the SEC, including the Proxy Statement, free of charge by visiting the SECs website, www.sec.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as believes, plans, anticipates, projects, estimates, expects, intends, strategy, future, opportunity, may, will, should, could, potential, or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Companys business and financial results are included in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Companys Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8- K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Companys website at www.Ault.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240109302424/en/

Ault Alliance Investor Contact:

[email protected] or 1-888-753-2235

Source: Ault Alliance, Inc.
doxo Lands on List for Fifth Year in a Row, Earns Best Places to Work and Best Midsize Places to Work on Seattle Rankings

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- doxo today announced it was named to the Built In 2024 Best Places to Work Awards, earning a place on Seattles Best Places to Work and Best Midsize Places to Work lists. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in large tech markets across the U.S.

Its an absolute honor to be recognized by Built In as one of the best Seattle-based workplaces for the fifth consecutive year. I am very proud of the entire team for this accomplishment as it is a direct reflection of their dedication towards maintaining a strong culture, especially throughout the unpredictability of the past few years, said Steve Shivers, co-founder, and CEO of doxo. The doxo team is an energetic, creative, and ever-learning bunch that is focused on transforming the bill pay experience for consumers, billers, and financial technology providers alike. We are eager to build upon this momentum throughout the new year and beyond!

The Bill Pay Economy represents over $3.87 trillion in consumer spending each year. While staying on top of household bills is the single largest determinant for consumer financial health, organizing and paying them can be a time-consuming and frustrating chore. Since its inception, doxo has been on a mission to simplify and reduce the anxiety of staying on top of bills, empowering consumers to improve their financial health.

As consumers shift more bill payments online and to mobile, doxo continues to experience rapid growth. To date, over eight million doxo users across 97% of U.S. zip codes have paid bills through the payment network, across more than 45 different service categories. With more than 120,000 payable billers, doxos proprietary, crowd sourced provider directory is the largest in the nation.

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings.

Id like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2024 Best Places to Work winners, says Maria Christopoulos Katris. I am truly inspired by these companies that have risen to the challenge of fostering a positive work environment, maintaining a strong brand, and ensuring employee satisfaction. The future is filled with promise, and we are so excited to see what lies ahead.

doxo is consistently recognized as both an innovative company and a great place to work by the likes of Inc. Magazine, Deloitte, Comparably, and Built In. doxo plans to continue expanding its team in 2024 to further accelerate growth, forever changing the bill pay landscape to focus on the customer. Open positions at doxo can be found here, and doxos Built In profile can be found here.

ABOUT BUILT IN

Built In is creating the largest candidate generation platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, millions of the industrys most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves thousands of innovative companies from startups to the Fortune 500. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them reach otherwise hard-to-hire tech professionals. www.builtin.com.

ABOUT BUILT INS BEST PLACES TO WORK

Built Ins annual Best Places to Work program honors companies with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC. Best Places to Work is distinct because its algorithm selects tech companies that build their offerings specifically around what tech professionals value in a workplace. Winners are announced in early January 2024. https://employers.builtin.com/best-places-to-work/

ABOUT DOXO

doxo delivers innovation that transforms the bill pay experience for consumers, billers and financial technology providers. For over 8M consumers, doxos all-in-one bill pay makes it simple to organize and pay any bill on any device through a secure checkout. For billers, doxos network-driven platform enables online and mobile payments with a ridiculously simple integration, radically lower costs, and game-changing features that are unavailable with legacy bill pay vendors. For fintech partners, doxo delivers financial innovations to consumers across 97% of US Zip Codes, paying from more than 5,000 financial institutions to over 120,000 billers in 45+ service categories. For employees, doxo is a creative, ever-learning team that is passionate about building fintech tools that dramatically improve the bill pay experience. For investors, doxo provides an extraordinary opportunity to invest alongside Jackson Square Ventures, MDV, and Bezos Expeditions to disrupt a market that accounts for over $4T of US Household spend. To learn more about Americas leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.

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Dotted Line Communications for doxo

Jenny Davis

[email protected]

925-935-2558

Source: doxo
Conference call to discuss results will be at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 8

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE: HMN) plans to release its fourth-quarter 2023 results on Wednesday, Feb. 7, after the market closes. At that time, the quarterly news release, investor supplement and investor presentation will be available on the companys website at investors.horacemann.com.

Management will host a conference call to discuss the financial results on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. Investors can access the call webcast via the Events page of the companys investor site or by dialing 844-735-3325. For the webcast, please log on to the site several minutes in advance to register and download any required audio software. On-demand replay will be available later that day.

About Horace Mann

Horace Mann Educators Corporation is the largest financial services company focused on helping Americas educators and others who serve the community achieve lifelong financial success. The company offers individual and group insurance and financial solutions tailored to the needs of the educator community. Founded by Educators for Educators in 1945, the company is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. For more information, visit horacemann.com.

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Heather J. Wietzel

Vice President, Investor Relations and Enterprise Communications

217.788.5144

[email protected]

Source: Horace Mann Educators Corporation
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Approaching its fifth anniversary, leading New York trial boutique Mukasey Frenchman LLP has been renamed Mukasey Young LLP. The change reflects the departure of co-founder Robert S. Frenchman and a new leadership role for Torrey K. Young as a name partner.

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Leading litigator Torrey K. Young becomes new name partner at top New York trial boutique led by former federal prosecutor Marc L. Mukasey. Firm rebrands as Mukasey Young LLP. Ms. Young defends clients in government enforcement actions, including criminal and civil cases. She has deep experience with health care fraud, False Claims Act cases, and allegations of research misconduct and grant fraud. She recently successfully obtained a dismissal of a False Claims Act case against a medical group client in which the whistleblower claimed the defendants accepted $1 million in illegal kickbacks and billed government healthcare programs more than $1 billion in kickback-tainted claims. (Photo: Business Wire)

Mr. Frenchman leaves after a long and successful run working alongside co-founder Marc L. Mukasey at three separate law firms. The pair partnered on many high-profile representations, including insider trading cases, mortgage-backed securities matters, crypto cases, SEC and CFTC investigations and enforcement actions, and a spoofing trial that resulted in a full acquittal. Their collaboration achieved many favorable results for clients, whether individuals or corporate.

Mr. Mukasey said, Bob always brought informed insight, deep substantive knowledge, a tireless work ethic and unwavering devotion to our clients and the firm. We are supportive of Bobs decision and we are profoundly grateful for his contributions, and we hope to work with him whenever we can in the future.

Mr. Frenchman stated, It was a dream of mine to build a boutique firm where I could practice at the highest level for great clients. I did that and now Im gearing up for my next adventure, which will be announced soon. On a personal and professional level, my bond with Marc will always remain strong.

Ms. Young defends clients in government enforcement actions, including criminal and civil cases. She has deep experience with health care fraud, False Claims Act cases, and allegations of research misconduct and grant fraud. She recently successfully obtained a dismissal of a False Claims Act case against a medical group client in which the whistleblower claimed the defendants accepted $1 million in illegal kickbacks and billed government healthcare programs more than $1 billion in kickback-tainted claims.

While known for her work representing clients in health care and life sciences, she has also been an integral part of several recent Mukasey criminal trial teams in cases ranging from securities fraud, to tax violations, and bribery charges. She was named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500X list of Next Generation stars and Emory Universitys 40 Under 40 notable alumni.

I am honored and humbled to have my name on a firm that has been recognized for smart and creative lawyers who are focused on doing the best possible job for clients in challenging, high-stakes litigation and enforcement matters, Ms. Young said. I want to thank Marc Mukasey for the opportunity to help guide the firm while I continue growing my practice.

Mukasey Young LLP continues to take on corporate and individual clients facing critical investigations and complex litigations with its Chambers-recognized team led by Mr. Mukasey, a renowned trial lawyer who is consistently sought out for the biggest and most complex cases.

The firm will continue to represent public and private companies, executives and prominent individuals in finance, business, health care, and life sciences. Mukasey Young will be ready to fight for clients who need to protect their freedom, their business or their reputation. www.mukaseylaw.com.

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Allan Ripp 646-285-1779 [email protected]

Source: Mukasey Young LLP
PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NW Natural Renewables Holdings, LLC (NW Natural Renewables), a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) (NW Natural Holdings), has promoted Anna Chittum to president of NW Natural Renewables.

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Anna Chittum has been promoted to president of NW Natural Renewables. (Photo: Business Wire)

Chittum replaces Mike Kotyk at NW Natural Renewables, which focuses on providing renewable natural gas (RNG) to a variety of sectors.

We know how important renewable natural gas is to addressing climate change and supporting companies decarbonization goals, said Justin Palfreyman, president of NW Natural Holdings. Anna has a vast knowledge of the renewable energy landscape and has successfully executed RNG and decarbonization strategies. We are very excited for her to lead this team and pursue opportunities for NW Natural Renewables.

Chittum has been leading the development of RNG and renewable hydrogen for NW Natural. Previously, she consulted on business models and regulatory structures for district energy, microgrids, and combined heat and power (CHP) systems and worked to promote energy efficiency policies for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Chittum was a Fulbright Fellow in Denmark, where she researched local district heat planning and the use of CHP to balance variable wind generation. She holds degrees from Gonzaga University and Columbia University.

Im thrilled to begin this new role to apply what I have learned and leverage the industry expertise of NW Natural Holdings to continue to develop successful projects that immediately reduce emissions, said Chittum, who will report directly to Palfreyman.

More about NW Natural Renewables

NW Natural Renewables is a subsidiary of NW Natural Holdings committed to leading in the energy transition and providing renewable natural gas to the utility, commercial, industrial and transportation sectors. NW Natural Renewables is focused on providing cost-effective solutions to decarbonize a variety of sectors, utilizing existing waste streams and renewable energy resources. These efforts are separate and in addition to NW Naturals gas utility efforts related to RNG and hydrogen.

About NW Natural Holdings

Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) (NW Natural Holdings) is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has been doing business for over 160 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas Company (NW Natural), NW Natural Water Company (NW Natural Water), NW Natural Renewables Holdings (NW Natural Renewables), and other business interests. We have a longstanding commitment to safety, environmental stewardship and the energy transition, and taking care of our employees and communities. Learn more in our latest ESG Report.

NW Natural is a local distribution company that currently provides natural gas service to approximately 2.5 million people in more than 140 communities through more than 795,000 meters in Oregon and Southwest Washington with one of the most modern pipeline systems in the nation. NW Natural consistently leads the industry with high J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction scores. NW Natural owns and operates 20 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity in Oregon.

NW Natural Water provides water distribution and wastewater services to communities throughout the Pacific Northwest and Texas. NW Natural Water serves over 164,000 people through approximately 66,000 meters and provides operation and maintenance services to an additional 16,000 connections. Learn more about our water business at nwnaturalwater.com. Additional information is available at nwnaturalholdings.com.

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Stefanie Week, [email protected], 503-739-9902



Source: NW Natural
RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) has been selected to provide a range of Information Technology (IT) services on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contracting vehicle called Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation Two (T4NG2).

SAIC is ready to deliver best-in-class innovation and modernization in support of our nations heroes, the veteran community, said Vishal Tulsian, senior vice president, Health, State and Local, and Federal Financials at SAIC. We will continue to support the Department of Veterans Affairs in their pursuit of innovative IT services including highly secure and adaptable IT infrastructure, systems engineering, secure application development and customer support and training.

Under this contract, companies selected will compete for task orders to provide a full range of IT services across 11 technical functional areas in support of the VA and other federal agencies. SAIC will serve as a prime contractor on the first position. On the second, the company will be a contractor in the joint venture with Higher Echelon, which is in a mentor-protege program with SAIC.

SAIC has supported the VAs previous contracting vehicle and successfully executed 16 task orders valued at approximately $935 million, to date.

Learn more at www.saic.com.

About SAIC

SAIC is a premier Fortune 500 technology integrator driving our nations technology transformation. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in engineering, digital, artificial intelligence and mission solutions. Using our expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, we integrate the best components from our own portfolio and our partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective and efficient solutions that are critical to achieving our customers' missions.

We are approximately 24,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. SAIC is an Equal Opportunity Employer, fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, which is core to our values and important to attract and retain exceptional talent. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.9 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release contain or are based on forward-looking information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as expects, intends, plans, anticipates, believes, estimates, guidance, and similar words or phrases. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, among others, estimates of future revenues, operating income, earnings, earnings per share, charges, total contract value, backlog, outstanding shares and cash flows, as well as statements about future dividends, share repurchases and other capital deployment plans. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results may differ materially from the guidance and other forward-looking statements made in this release as a result of various factors. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause or contribute to these material differences include those discussed in the Risk Factors, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Legal Proceedings sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC, which may be viewed or obtained through the Investor Relations section of our website at saic.com or on the SECs website at sec.gov. Due to such risks, uncertainties and assumptions you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SAIC expressly disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statement provided in this release to reflect subsequent events, actual results or changes in SAICs expectations. SAIC also disclaims any duty to comment upon or correct information that may be contained in reports published by investment analysts or others.

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Thais Hanson

703.676.8215 | [email protected]

Source: Science Applications International Corp.
The 20 award recipients represent an exciting range of stellar achievements across light-based sciences and technologies

BELLINGHAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Awards Committee of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, today announced the recipients of its prestigious annual awards. Honoring transformative advancements in a variety of professional areas  including medicine, astronomy, lithography, optical metrology, optical design, and community leadership  the Society's awards recognize technical accomplishments as well as committed service to SPIE and support of its organizational mission.

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Akhlesh Lakhtakia, the 2024 recipient of the SPIE Gold Medal. (Photo: Business Wire)

SPIE Gold Medal: Akhlesh Lakhtakia

For pioneering research on electromagnetic fields in complex materials including isotropic chiral, bianisotropic, and composite materials, metamaterials, and nanomaterials.

SPIE President's Award: Katie Schwertz

For outstanding service to SPIE and the optics community, through work that advances optical systems design, engages students, and shares the excitement of optics with the public.

SPIE Directors' Award: Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop

For pioneering research in optics and photonics, and for distinguished service to SPIE as a leading light in promoting educational programs and supporting women in science.

SPIE Mozi Award: Andrea Alu

For seminal contributions to the field of optical metamaterials as well as their applications for wavefront manipulation and enhancement of nonreciprocal and nonlinear phenomena.

SPIE Mozi Award: Teri W. Odom

For significant contributions to the field of nanophotonics and to the development of moire photonics.

SPIE Britton Chance Award in Biomedical Optics: Gerard L. Cote

For transformative advances in both fundamental and translational optical research toward the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic and infectious diseases.

SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award: Ji-Xin Cheng

For the invention and commercialization of mid-infrared photothermal microscopy that allows highly sensitive dye-free bond-selective imaging of living cells and organisms.

SPIE Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Award in Optical Design: David Shafer

For outstanding contributions to the field of optical design including DUV and EUV photolithographic scanner designs that define the current technological limit of the semiconductor industry.

SPIE Harrison H. Barrett Award in Medical Imaging: Kyle J. Myers

For fundamental contributions to the field of image science, with an emphasis on the role of science in regulatory evaluations of imaging methods.

SPIE Harold E. Edgerton Award in High-Speed Optics: Clara Saraceno

For groundbreaking contributions to the development of ultrafast high-power lasers and laser-driven THz sources.

SPIE Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics: Jurgen Czarske

For significant contributions to the development of digital holography, and related techniques for biomedicine, fiber communication, imaging, information processing, and laser metrology.

SPIE A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering: Thomas U. Kampe

For industry-recognized leadership in optical engineering, design, and development  including critical Earth-monitoring instruments  as well as for mentoring the next generation of optical engineers.

SPIE G. G. Stokes Award in Optical Polarization: Curtis R. Menyuk

For pioneering studies of linear and nonlinear polarization effects in guided-wave photonics which have impacted basic science, telecommunications systems, lasers, and many other photonics-based technologies.

SPIE Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology: Anand Asundi

For numerous contributions to coherent optical metrology and sensing, with special attention to digital technologies.

SPIE Frits Zernike Award for Microlithography: Richard Sandstrom

For leadership in the development of lithographic-grade lasers and EUV light sources.

SPIE Diversity Outreach Award: Preeti Jagadev

For excellence in promoting and advocating diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.

SPIE Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in Photonics: Iam-Choon Khoo

For foundational contributions to linear and nonlinear optical properties of liquid crystals and their applications in wide-ranging, wave-mixing, and self-action effects.

SPIE Maiman Laser Award: Anne LHuillier

For the discovery of high harmonic generation in gases, and contributions to developments in attoscience.

SPIE Maria J. Yzuel Educator Award: Mary G. Turner

For a lifetime of dedication to the teaching of optical design, and for services to the optics community.

SPIE Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award: M. Saif Islam

For highly impactful innovations in ultra-fast and highly efficient photodetectors enabled by photon-trapping structures.

The complete listing of the SPIE Society Awards and recipients is available here.

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, SPIE has contributed more than $24 million to the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.

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Daneet Steffens

Public Relations Manager

[email protected]

+1 360 685 5478

@SPIEtweets

Source: SPIE
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vanta, the leading trust management platform, announced today that it has appointed Jadee Hanson as its CISO, overseeing Security, Enterprise Engineering, Privacy and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), reporting directly to Vantas CEO Christina Cacioppo. Hanson is the latest executive to join Vantas leadership team over the past year following the additions of David Eckstein, Chief Financial Officer and Jeremy Epling, Chief Product Officer.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110078548/en/

Security veteran Jadee Hanson joins Vanta as the company's CISO leading Security, Enterprise Engineering, Privacy and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC). (Photo: Business Wire)

At Vanta, trust is at the center of everything we do  from being trustworthy in how we build to what we build for our customers own trust and security. As the market-leading trust management platform, finding an exemplary CISO with strong commercial sense, depth of experience in growing and developing exceptional teams, and a proven leader in security whose own philosophy aligned to ours was of paramount importance, said Cacioppo. Jadee brings these attributes and much more to Vanta over her past 20 years of building businesses for growing security companies like Code42 and iconic billion-dollar brands like Target and Deloitte. Im looking forward to Jadees leadership as we continue accelerating our enterprise momentum and pioneering the future of trust for global companies of all sizes.

Hanson has spent the past seven years at Code42, serving as both Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). In these roles, she led security and technology strategy, overseeing Application Security, Detection and Response, Security Operations, GRC, and Enterprise Engineering teams. Hanson played a significant role in enhancing Code42's security program, guiding technology strategy, and contributing to the development of product features for customers. Her efforts resulted in improved risk management adoption, as well as increased capabilities in cyber detection, response, and recovery for the company.

Prior to Code42, Hanson held a number of senior leadership roles in the security department of Target Corporation for over seven years including serving as the security leader for the acquisition of software development and online retail companies, and the sale of Target Pharmacies to CVS Health. Before joining Target, Hanson worked at Deloitte for nearly five years, where she served as a security consultant for companies across diverse industries such as healthcare, technology, manufacturing, energy, retail and more.

Hanson is an expert in security and is frequently featured on security topics in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine. She was named to Forbes 2023 CIO Next List, a Top 25 Women in Cybersecurity by The Software Report, and a Top 100 Women in Cybersecurity by Cyber Defense Magazine. Hanson is the founder and CEO of the non-profit organization Building Without Borders, which serves those in poverty-stricken areas throughout the world through housing services. Since April 2015, Building Without Borders has built 86 houses in areas of the Dominican Republic.

Vanta is the prime example of a company putting customers first to solve the cybersecurity challenges of today, with cutting-edge automation, AI and a trust management platform thats unmatched in the industry, said Hanson. Im elated to bring my cybersecurity experience to the Vanta team, and ultimately our customers, from small businesses to large enterprises. Together, well continue to listen intently to the needs of our customers and deliver solutions that not only empower but also elevate cybersecurity controls on a global scale.

Hanson joins Vanta as the company prepares to wrap a year of unprecedented product, customer and organizational growth including:

Serving over 6,000 leading companies and monitoring over 30 million resources, from laptops to servers to employees

Launching over 260 new product features, including Vanta AI, Vendor Risk Management, and Vanta Trust Center

Crossing 300 integrations across the most essential tools in a companys tech stack

Expanding globally in EMEA and APAC with almost 1 in 4 customers now headquartered outside of the U.S.

In addition to its product, customer and global acceleration, Vantas industry-leading innovation has been recognized across a range of rankings and awards in the past year including CNBC Disruptor 50, Forbes Cloud 100, Fortune Cyber 60 and Inc. Best Workplaces.

In 2023, Vanta more than doubled its customer base, serving over 6,000 companies across 58 countries, while expanding its global footprint with offices in Australia, Ireland and the U.S. Vanta has raised $203 million in funding from leading investors Craft Ventures, Sequoia and Y Combinator, security industry pioneers like CrowdStrike, and leading cloud company investment arms Atlassian Ventures, HubSpot Ventures and Workday Ventures.

About Vanta

Vanta is the leading trust management platform that helps simplify and centralize security for organizations of all sizes. Over 6,000 companies including Atlassian, Autodesk, Chili Piper, Flo Health and Quora rely on Vanta to build, maintain and demonstrate their trustall in a way that's real-time and transparent. Founded in 2018, Vanta has customers in 58 countries with offices in Dublin, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. For more information, visit www.vanta.com.

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Media Contact

[email protected]

Source: Vanta
WisdomTree unlocks Bitcoin exposure within the ETF wrapper in the U.S., in line with the firms leadership in Responsible DeFi

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WisdomTree, Inc. (NYSE: WT), a global financial innovator, today announced that the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The historic leading wave of spot Bitcoin ETFs marks the first time U.S. investors have access to exposure to the price of spot bitcoin within the ETF wrapper.

Core to our heritage of innovation, WisdomTree is passionate about exploring new avenues for potential value creation for investors  our role in disrupting financial services with the ETF wrapper speaks exactly to that. Now, after years of experience meeting investors demand for a Bitcoin ETP in Europe, we could not be more thrilled to be at the helm of the movement to accelerate access to digital assets in the United States after years of engagement with U.S. regulators, said Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree Founder and CEO. While potential investors must carefully consider if the risk profile of a digital asset such as bitcoin has a place in their portfolio, we see this effectiveness as a major step in the industry evolution that were leading  where the blockchain is redefining the way we see finance today.

The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) will be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange with an expense ratio of 0.30%, although for a six-month period commencing January 11, 2024, the entire 0.30% will be waived (which represents the sponsors fee) for the first $1.0 billion of the Funds assets. The WisdomTree Bitcoin Funds investment objective is to gain exposure to the price of bitcoin, less expenses and liabilities of the Funds operations.

WisdomTree currently offers eight crypto ETPs in Europe, and concurrent with seeking to launch BTCW, has launched 13 blockchain-enabled Digital Funds in the U.S., which offer exposure to mainstream traditional asset classes with secondary recordkeeping on a blockchain.

BTCW being declared effective by the SEC offers the nascent opportunity for investors to access bitcoin through an ETF, one of the most impactful financial innovations of our time. For investors that are willing and have the financial condition to accept more risk, but only seek to engage with this digital asset through regulated and traditional channels, this is a long-awaited opportunity in the U.S. finally coming to fruition, said Jeremy Schwartz, WisdomTree Global Chief Investment Officer. It cannot be denied that financial services are undergoing a major transformation; how fast we get there depends on key moments like today. WisdomTree is proud to be a part of this historic moment.

Engagement with regulators is at the center of WisdomTrees responsible DeFi ethos, which prioritizes innovation and exploration within the digital assets ecosystem while upholding the foundational principles of transparency, integrity and protection of customer assets. The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund is not endorsed, indemnified or guaranteed by any regulatory agency.

The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov or by visiting the fund detail page. Alternatively, the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund will arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it by calling toll free at 1-866-909-9473.

This material must be preceded or accompanied by a prospectus. You should read the prospectus before investing. Bitcoin and, accordingly, the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund which holds bitcoin, are highly speculative and involve a high degree of risk, including the potential for loss of the entire investment. An investment in the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund involves significant risks (including the potential for quick, large losses) and may not be suitable for all shareholders. You should carefully consider whether your financial condition permits you to invest in the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund and you should be willing to accept more risk than may be involved with other exchange traded products or ETFs that do not hold bitcoin.

Extreme volatility of trading prices that many digital assets, including bitcoin, have experienced in recent periods and may continue to experience, could have a material adverse effect on the value of the Shares and the Shares could lose all or substantially all of their value. The value of the Shares is dependent on the acceptance of digital assets, such as bitcoin, which represent a new and rapidly evolving industry. Digital assets such as bitcoin were only introduced within the past two decades, and the medium-to-long term value of the Shares is subject to a number of factors relating to the capabilities and development of blockchain technologies and to the fundamental investment characteristics of digital assets. Regulatory changes or actions may affect the value of the Shares or restrict the use of Bitcoin, mining activity or the operation of the Bitcoin Network or the Digital Asset Markets in a manner that adversely affects the value of the Shares. Digital Asset Markets may experience fraud, business failures, security failures or operational problems, which may adversely affect the value of Bitcoin and, consequently, the value of the Shares.

The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund is not a fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (1940 Act), and is not subject to regulation under the 1940 Act, unlike most exchange traded products or ETFs. The WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund is also not a commodity pool for purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, as amended, and the sponsor is not subject to regulations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a commodity pool operator or commodity trading advisor. The WisdomTree Bitcoin Funds shares are neither interests in nor obligations of the sponsor or the trustee or any of their affiliates.

About WisdomTree

WisdomTree is a global financial innovator, offering a well-diversified suite of exchange-traded products (ETPs), models, solutions and products leveraging blockchain-enabled technology. We empower investors and consumers to shape their future and support financial professionals to better serve their clients and grow their businesses. WisdomTree is leveraging the latest financial infrastructure to create products that provide access, transparency and an enhanced user experience.

As of January 10, 2024, WisdomTree currently has approximately $99.5 billion in assets under management globally.

For more information about WisdomTree, visit: https://www.wisdomtree.com.

Please visit us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @WisdomTreeNews.

WisdomTree is the marketing name for WisdomTree, Inc. and its subsidiaries worldwide.

Important Information

Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Funds before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other important information, please visit https://www.wisdomtree.com/investments. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC, serves as the marketing agent for the WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW). WisdomTree Digital Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Foreside Fund Services, LLC, is not affiliated with WisdomTree.

Each WisdomTree Digital Fund (each, a Digital Fund) invests in fixed income securities, equity securities or other assets as further described in each Digital Funds prospectus. Reference to blockchain-enabled is meant to reflect the fact that each Digital Fund uses blockchain technology. The Digital Funds will not invest in any digital assets, such as bitcoin.

Category: Business Update

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Media Relations

WisdomTree, Inc.

Jessica Zaloom

+1.917.267.3735

[email protected] / [email protected]

Investor Relations

WisdomTree, Inc.

Jeremy Campbell

+1.646.522.2602

[email protected]

Source: WisdomTree, Inc.
The Lion Electric Company (NYSE: LEV) was awarded a grant for 97 school buses and related charging infrastructure, representing a total of $38 million , as part of the U.S. EPA's latest round of awards under the Clean School Bus Program.

With this latest round of awards, the EPA has more than doubled the funding amount initially announced in April 2023 , thereby allocating nearly $1 billion to 67 applicants. Based on the EPA, these awards are expected to facilitate the purchase of over 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts serving over 7 million students across 37 states.

Approximately 70% of all units awarded under this round of the program have been directly granted to school districts, financial entities and third-party contractors, representing attractive potential for additional opportunities for Lion.

"The ongoing investment from the federal government for cleaner school buses will tangibly contribute to the well-being of our children and communities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and increase the number of electric school buses on American roads. Congratulations to the EPA and all the recipients, who will soon experience the many benefits of transitioning to zero-emission school buses," said Nicolas Brunet , President of Lion. "We continue to assist our clients with the funding opportunities that are available, and we are proud to manufacture purpose-built all-electric school buses in Joliet, Illinois , which are currently being deployed across the United States ."

In addition to this round of financing, the EPA is currently accepting, until January 31, 2024 , applications for the 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate Program. The agency expects to award at least $500 million in funding under this round by April 2024 .

Lion provides districts and operators with a dedicated team of grant specialists to assist them in applying for and securing future funding opportunities, including under the Clean School Bus Program. Lion's support also includes financing assistance with LionCapital Solutions, charging infrastructure with LionEnergy, driver/maintenance/safety training from Lion's BrightSquad and proprietary EV telematics with LionBeat.
Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, demonstrated the operational performance and readiness of the GhostEye MR advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) during an extended exercise at White Sands Missile Range .

GhostEye MR expands NASAMS' combat-proven capabilities against enemy aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, and cruise missile threats. The radar was designed and developed by Raytheon, primarily through internal research and development investments. During the recent exercise, GhostEye MR was successfully integrated with NASAMS' Air Defense Console and the Battlespace Command and Control Center (BC3), a command-and-control element used by the U.S. Air Force.

"This experiment showed that GhostEye MR is a viable sensor option for integrated air and missile defense," said Jim Simonds , U.S. Air Force Air Base Air Defense Program Manager at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. "The radar clearly demonstrated its ability to be rapidly deployed and detect and track live targets precisely at longer ranges, providing increased standoff and decision-making time."

In a configuration designed as an air base air defense solution for the U.S. Air Force, all three system components communicated effectively, sharing information and relevant data during a live threat scenario. GhostEye MR provided a comprehensive air picture for the command-and-control system to determine whether a target was a threat and what response was required. Additionally, the radar supported simulated engagements and, with NASAMS, successfully defeated the targets.

"The team's success demonstrates that GhostEye MR can meet the needs of the U.S. Air Force," said Tom Laliberty , president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. "Air bases around the world face a growing array of sophisticated airborne threats, and this exercise marked a significant step toward fielding an integrated capability for air base air defense."

This demonstration also builds on last year's successful air base air defense experiment in Andya, Norway , that showcased NASAMS' ability to engage and intercept various aerial threats using multiple Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Fire Distribution Center.

In August of last year, Raytheon was awarded its first government contracts to advance development and assessment of GhostEye MR. A member of Raytheon's GhostEye family of sensors, GhostEye MR provides increased range and altitude coverage to expand the defended-area capabilities of NASAMS. The radar leverages commonality with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS  currently advancing through development for the U.S. Army.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo and representations of cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration taken June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, including those of Grayscale, Bitwise and Hashdex, according to a statement on Wednesday.

The approval would be a game-changer for bitcoin, offering institutional and retail investors exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency without directly holding it, and a major boost for a crypto industry beset by a string of scandals.
Hamilton, Ont., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at Mohawk College, Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) announced the introduction of new microcredentials to prepare workers for the transition to hydrogen-fueled power for industrial processing.

Hydrogen is gaining significant attention as a clean and sustainable energy carrier and has the ability to play a crucial role in decarbonizing some commercial sectors, including transportation, industry, and power generation. Understanding hydrogen technologies and processes will be essential as the demand for hydrogen continues to grow.

Hydrogen is proving to be a viable, sustainable alternative in many industrial applications and employers are going to need workers who understand hydrogen technologies and processes, said Ron J. McKerlie, President and CEO of Mohawk College, a founding institution of C2R2. Canadas colleges, cegeps, and polytechnics are well positioned to train workers for the hydrogen transition.

The new microcredentials offered through C2R2 (Hydrogen Awareness and Entry-Level Technical Applications in Hydrogen for Process Occupations) have been co-developed by Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont.; Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, Alta.; Lambton College in Sarnia, Ont.; Nova Scotia Community College in Halifax, N.S.; and Holland College in Charlottetown, P.E.I. These microcredentials have been designed for professionals working in various industrial sectors, including manufacturing, energy, chemicals, transportation, and related fields. The courses are available online for students to access through the Quick Train Canada website.

Involving 24 hours of study, the Hydrogen Awareness microcredential will introduce learners to basic hydrogen concepts and understanding, including hydrogen properties and characteristics, production methods, and safety, as it relates to process occupations. The second microcredential, Entry-Level Technical Applications in Hydrogen for Process Occupations, will provide learners with a foundation in the principles, applications, and challenges associated with hydrogen in an industrial environment, as well as an understanding of how to integrate hydrogen into existing processes or develop new processes that utilize hydrogen effectively and safely. The total training hours for the second microcredential, also available online, is 48 hours.

Enrollment for both microcredentials is currently open and accepting registrations.

About Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2)

Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) is a coalition of 14 highly aligned colleges, cegeps, institutes, and polytechnics across Canada with an established commitment to sustainability. The coalition members have come together as a driving force, providing the skills required to transition to a clean economy in Canada. They are positioned to support workforce upskilling and bridge the skills gap across Canada. C2R2s administration and secretariat are located at Mohawk College in Hamilton. Quick Train Canada is the learning platform for C2R2, supported by the Government of Canada Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program.

For more information, visit www.resilientcolleges.ca

Bill Steinburg Mohawk College 905-575-2408 [email protected]

Source: Mohawk College
PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FN Media Group News Commentary - Nuclear power is becoming a more dependable and scalable energy source due to the worlds growing demand for electricity, particularly in emerging economies. Thus, the market for uranium mining is supported. Nuclear power becomes a more appealing alternative as countries work to fulfill these targets and switch to low-carbon energy sources. In order to meet these environmental goals, increasing nuclear power depends heavily on uranium mining. There is a strong correlation between the demand for nuclear power worldwide and the uranium market. Uranium is needed as a fuel for nuclear reactors because nuclear power is becoming more and more popular as nations look for greener, more sustainable energy sources. A report from Market Reports World said that the Global Uranium Market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2024 and 2030. In 2022, the market was growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon. The global Uranium market size was valued at USD 2646.85 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.6% of 3.6% during the forecast period, reaching USD $3272.84 million by 2027. Active mining companies in the markets this week include Stallion Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: STUD) (OTCQB: STLNF), ATHA Energy Corp (CSE: SASK) (OTCQB: SASKF), Cameco (TSX: CCO) (NYSE: CCJ), Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN), NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX: NXE) (NYSE: NXE).



The report added: The global building and enlargement of nuclear power facilities is one factor driving up uranium consumption. Infrastructure for nuclear energy has been invested in as a result of growing worries about climate change and the need to lessen dependency on fossil fuels. Long-term contracts, subsidies, and other forms of government support for nuclear energy can encourage investment in uranium mining. Nations with aspirational nuclear power objectives frequently offer financial and regulatory assistance to the uranium mining industry. The demand for uranium may rise as a result of developments in nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and next-generation reactors. The goal of these technologies to increase nuclear power generations flexibility, safety, and efficiency. To lessen reliance on imported uranium, nations that prioritize energy security may make investments in indigenous uranium mining. Geopolitical concerns and the need to provide a steady and secure energy supply may be the driving forces behind this.

Stallion Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: STUD) (OTCQB: STLNF) Strengthens Technical Team - Stallion Uranium Corp. is pleased to announce that it has appointed Matthew Schwab as Technical Advisor to its Board of Advisors.

Mr. Matthew Schwab is an acclaimed exploration geologist located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where his work over the past decade has contributed to the discovery and development of multiple significant uranium deposits. Mr. Schwab is currently the CEO of Kraken Energy Corp, a US focused uranium exploration and development company. In 2014 while Mr. Schwab was the Senior Exploration Geologist at NexGen Energy Ltd. he was instrumental in the discovery of the Arrow uranium deposit located in the Southwestern Athabasca Basin. Mr. Schwab was also a member of the Hathor Exploration Ltd. development team and contributed to the sale of the Roughrider deposit to Rio Tinto for $654M in 2012. Prior roles also include being co-founder and SVP of Axiom Exploration Group Ltd., former President, Senior Advisor and Founder of multiple successful private mineral exploration and E&P consulting firms in Canadian mining and petroleum industries.

With growing interest and demand for uranium worldwide, Stallions land position in the Athabasca Basin and their team of accomplished industry experts makes a strong combination to pursue new high grade uranium discoveries in northern Saskatchewan stated Mr. Schwab. Im honoured by the opportunity to assist their current team of experienced professionals as the company moves towards achieving that goal.

"We are incredibly excited to have Matt Schwab join the Stallion team. As we progress our exploration of the largest land package in the Southwestern Athabasca Basin, adding the expertise and experience of Mr. Schwab, who contributed to the discovery of NexGens Arrow deposit, is a tremendous resource for our team as we work to make the next significant uranium discovery, commented Drew Zimmerman, CEO of Stallion Uranium. CONTINUED Read these full press releases and more news for Stallion Uranium at: https://stallionuranium.com/news/press-releases/



Other recent developments in the mining industry of note include:

ATHA Energy Corp (CSE: SASK) (OTCQB: SASKF) CEO, Troy Boisjoli recently joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with Latitude Uranium and 92 Energy Limited to acquire these companies.

The proposed acquisition aims to create a combined entity that will provide shareholders with exposure to 7.1 million acres of exploration acreage spread across Canada's top three uranium jurisdictions. This portfolio represents the largest exploration portfolios in some of the highest-grade uranium districts globally.

The company will hold two projects with significant expansion potential and historical mineral resource estimates; The Angilak Deposit in Nunavut and both the Moran Lake and Anna Lake, in the Central Mineral Belt of Labrador.

Cameco (TSX: CCO) (NYSE: CCJ) recently announced that the acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company (Westinghouse) in a strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management alongside its publicly listed affiliate Brookfield Renewable Partners (Brookfield) and institutional partners closed today.

Cameco now owns a 49% interest and Brookfield owns the remaining 51% in Westinghouse, one of the worlds largest nuclear services businesses.

"This is a historic day for Cameco as we join Brookfield to complete our purchase of Westinghouse," said Tim Gitzel, president and CEO of Cameco. "Since first announcing this deal a year ago, we believe the business prospects for Westinghouse have significantly improved. The sustained and positive momentum for nuclear energy has been undeniable as countries and companies around the world strive to meet their net-zero commitments and growing energy needs through clean and secure supply.

Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN) has recently filed its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis ('MD&A') for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. Both documents are or will be available on the Company's website at www.denisonmines.com, SEDAR+ (at www.sedarplus.ca) and EDGAR (at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). The highlights provided below are derived from these documents and should be read in conjunction with them. All amounts in this release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. View PDF

The Company reported earnings per share ('EPS') of $0.07 for the third quarter of 2023, which was driven by the recognition of a significant gain on the Company's physical uranium holdings, net of operating expenses primarily related to the Company's advancement of its flagship Wheeler River Project.

David Cates, President and CEO of Denison commented, "Denison's results from the third quarter reflect an incredibly active time in the Company's modern history. We continue to focus on the advancement of Wheeler River's Phoenixdeposit as the first In-Situ Recovery ('ISR') uranium mining project in the Athabasca Basin.

NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX: NXE) (NYSE: NXE) recently announced that it has updated its at-the-market equity program (the "ATM Program") to offer and sell up to C$500 million of common shares from treasury ("Common Shares").

Sales of Common Shares, if any, will be made pursuant to the terms of an equity distribution agreement dated December 11, 2023 (the "Sales Agreement") among the Company, Virtu ITG Canada Corp., as Canadian agent, and Virtu Americas, LLC, as U.S. agent (together, the "Agents"), on the TSX and/or the NYSE, and/or any other marketplace for the Common Shares in Canada or the United States or as otherwise agreed between the Agents and the Company. The volume and timing of sales under the ATM Program, if any, will be determined in the Company's sole discretion, and at the market price prevailing at the time of each sale, and, as a result, sale prices may vary.

The ATM Program is being made pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated December 11, 2023 (the "Prospectus Supplement") to the Company's final short form base shelf prospectus filed in all provinces and territories of Canada dated December 8, 2023 (the "Base Shelf Prospectus"), and pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated December 11, 2023 (the "U.S. Prospectus Supplement") to the Company's U.S. base prospectus (the "U.S. Base Prospectus") included in its registration statement on Form F-10 (the "Registration Statement") (File No. 333-275839) filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on December 8, 2023 (collectively, the Prospectus Supplement, Base Shelf Prospectus, U.S. Prospectus Supplement, the U.S. Base Prospectus and Registration Statement, the "Offering Documents").

About FN Media Group:

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DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM was compensated forty five hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Stallion Uranium Corp. by a non-affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.



Contact Information:

Media Contact email: [email protected] - +1(561)325-8757

SOURCE: FN Media Group




Toronto, Ontario, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One in four Canadians believes in online conspiracy theories, according to a recent poll*. Premiering today everywhere podcasts are available (Spotify, Apple, Google), the new season of TVO Todays Screen Time podcast spotlights bad actors who try to distort the truth for personal gain, and the Canadians lured in by these alternate realities.

These new episodes are going to help us all make sense of the recent seismic shifts in the online world, and the ways it continues to spill over into real life, says John Ferri, VP of Programming and Content at TVO. Season two of Screen Time untangles the gordian knot of how we got here through insightful interviews and well-researched storytelling.

Screen Time continues to provide a vital space for conversations about the impact of the digital landscape we all engage with everyday, says Stuart Coxe, the series executive producer and president of Antica Productions. By tackling misinformation, one of the most schismatic issues affecting families, friendships, and communities today through a uniquely Canadian angle, Taylor and Supriya have created another season of essential listening."

Co-produced with Antica Productions, hosts Taylor Owen and Supriya Dwivedi talk to Canadians impacted by conspiracy theories, whether its Bill Gates sneaking a microchip into COVID-19 vaccines or the World Economic Forums supposed quest for world domination. This season of Screen Time strikes out on an exciting new journey into the chasms of the Internet.

Episode 1: Freedom Baby, Freedom (listen now) | The pandemic arrived in 2020 with a wave of outlandish conspiracy theories. Where did these ideas come from, and why did so many people in Canada and around the world believe in them?

(listen now) | The pandemic arrived in 2020 with a wave of outlandish conspiracy theories. Where did these ideas come from, and why did so many people in Canada and around the world believe in them? Episode 2: The Snake Oil Salesmen | Before a COVID-19 vaccine had even been announced, prominent anti-vaxxers were rallying against it. A doctor who lost his medical license for spreading COVID misinformation tells his side of the story.

| Before a COVID-19 vaccine had even been announced, prominent anti-vaxxers were rallying against it. A doctor who lost his medical license for spreading COVID misinformation tells his side of the story. Episode 3: Sharia Creep | After Alexandre Bisonette was arrested for murdering five Muslim men in cold blood, investigators discovered the far-right rabbit holes in his internet history. Explore how online misinformation can lead to bloodshed.

| After Alexandre Bisonette was arrested for murdering five Muslim men in cold blood, investigators discovered the far-right rabbit holes in his internet history. Explore how online misinformation can lead to bloodshed. Episode 4: From Russia with Love | The Freedom Convoys 2022 protest raises questions about potential Russian involvement. Why did Russias state-controlled media send correspondents? Why did Convoy messaging groups start sharing Kremlin press releases?

| The Freedom Convoys 2022 protest raises questions about potential Russian involvement. Why did Russias state-controlled media send correspondents? Why did Convoy messaging groups start sharing Kremlin press releases? Episode 5: The Top of the Pyramid | A prominent TikTok user is convinced that the world is controlled by an evil cabal of pedophiles. How does someone come to believe in such extreme ideas? What happens when these views resonate with a large following?

| A prominent TikTok user is convinced that the world is controlled by an evil cabal of pedophiles. How does someone come to believe in such extreme ideas? What happens when these views resonate with a large following? Episode 6: The Battle for Reality | Misinformation is tearing Canada apart. Some experts think were at a breaking point. Is it possible to pull the country back from the brink, or have we already lost the battle for reality?

Listen to the first episode of Screen Times new season everywhere you get podcasts. New episodes arrive on Wednesdays. A podcast trailer is available here.

Background:

* Source: One quarter of Canadians believe online conspiracy theories, expert tells MPs | CBC News

- 30 -ABOUT TVO MEDIA EDUCATION GROUPTVO Media Education Group inspires learning that changes lives and enriches communities. Founded in 1970, we are a globally recognized digital learning organization that engages Ontarians of all ages with inclusive experiences and diverse perspectives. Through video, audio, games, courses, newsletters and articles, were investing in the transformative potential of education for everyone. Funded primarily by the Province of Ontario, TVO is a registered charity supported by thousands of sponsors and donors. Visit TVO.me for more information. Stream TVO on your favourite device.

ABOUT ANTICA PRODUCTIONS Antica Productions produces non-fiction podcasts, films, and television series that inform and inspire audiences around the world. Antica's recent podcast series include Love, Janessa (CBC, BBC), Exile (hosted by Mandy Patinkin in collaboration with the Leo Baeck Institute in New York), The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman (Lionsgate, CBC), and This Being Human (Aga Khan Museum/TVO). Antica also produces award-winning documentary films including The Nature of Things: War for the Woods (CBC), which premiered at Hot Docs 2023; Mellissa Fungs Captive (TVO), nominated for the 2022 Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Film; and Tanya Talagas Spirit to Soar (CBC), winner of the audience award at Hot Docs in 2021.

Media contact:Genevie Grant, TVO | [email protected]

Social:@TVODocs on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

Genevieve Grant TVO [email protected]

Source: TVO
Grapevine, Texas, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reaffirming Patriot Mobiles commitment to the First Amendment, today the company categorically condemned the recent shutdown of the America First Policy Institutes (AFPI) Instagram account, citing it as a destressing echo of the Soviet eras suppression of free expression.

Patriot Mobile urges Americans to rally behind the red economy, fostering an environment that champions freedom and counters the threats posed by ideologies that seek to undermine individual liberties. The company encourages patriots to come together and present a united front against the encroachment of fascist, Marxist, socialist, and communist ideologies that threaten the very essence of freedom.

Patriot Mobile is so committed to our First Amendment protections of free speech, that it is one of our four pillars of giving, said Leigh Wambsganss, Patriot Mobile Chief Communications Officer. The act of silencing AFPI on Instagram illuminates a concerning trend in silencing voices that do not conform to extreme left media moguls and corporate elites. It is especially concerning in a Presidential election year.

To make a tangible difference in the fight for free speech and support causes aligned with Patriot Mobiles values, freedom loving Americans are encouraged to switch to Patriot Mobile today. By doing so, a portion of every dollar of every cell phone bill actively champions freedom. Contact Patriot Mobile today at www.patriotmobile.com or call 972-PATRIOT.

AFPI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, nonpartisan research institute committed to America First policies. Learn more about AFPI at www.americafirstpolicy.com.

Patriot Mobile is Americas ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider. Since 2013, Patriot Mobile has given Americans a conservative alternative for their cell service by providing dependable nationwide coverage on 4G and 5G networks and exceptional U.S.-based customer support. Patriot Mobile gives a portion of every dollar earned to support organizations that align with our Four Pillars of Giving: the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Sanctity of Life, and we support our Military, Veterans and First Responder Heroes. Patriot Mobiles mission is to passionately defend our God-given constitutional rights and freedoms, and to glorify God always.

Source: Patriot Mobile
TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: PBH) today announced that it will issue its fiscal 2024 third quarter earnings release on Thursday, February 8, 2024 before the opening of the market. The Company will host a conference call to discuss the results that same morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.



To participate in the live Internet webcast of the conference call, it can be accessed from the Investor Relations page of www.prestigeconsumerhealthcare.com. To participate in the conference call via phone, participants may register for the call here to receive dial-in details and a unique pin. While not required, it is recommended to join 10 minutes prior to the event start.

A conference call replay will be available for approximately one week following completion of the live call and can be accessed on the Companys Investor Relations page.

About Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc.

Prestige Consumer Healthcare markets, sells, manufactures and distributes consumer healthcare products to retail outlets throughout the U.S. and Canada, Australia, and in certain other international markets. The Companys diverse portfolio of brands include Monistat and Summers Eve women's health products, BC and Goody's pain relievers, Clear Eyes and TheraTears eye care products, DenTek specialty oral care products, Dramamine motion sickness treatments, Fleet enemas and glycerin suppositories, Chloraseptic and Luden's sore throat treatments and drops, Compound W wart treatments, Little Remedies pediatric over-the-counter products, Boudreauxs Butt Paste diaper rash ointments, Nix lice treatment, Debrox earwax remover, Gaviscon antacid in Canada, and Hydralyte rehydration products and the Fess line of nasal and sinus care products in Australia. Visit the Company's website at www.prestigeconsumerhealthcare.com.
MONACO, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Safe Bulkers, Inc. (the Company) (NYSE: SB), an international provider of marine drybulk transportation services, announced today that it has entered into an agreement for the acquisition of a Japanese, 82,000 dwt, dry-bulk, Kamsarmax class vessel with a scheduled delivery date within the third quarter of 2026.



The newbuild vessel is designed to meet the Phase 3 requirements of Energy Efficiency Design Index related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG -EEDI Phase 3) as adopted by the International Maritime Organization, (IMO) and also comply with the latest NOx emissions regulation, NOx-Tier III (NOx-Tier III). This newbuild vessel is a sister vessel to a number of newbuilds in our orderbook with advanced energy efficiency characteristics resulting to lower fuel consumption.

The Company has already taken delivery of seven IMO GHG Phase 3  NOx Tier III vessels. Including this agreement, the Company has an outstanding orderbook of nine Phase 3 newbuild vessels, two of which are methanol dual fuel, with scheduled deliveries three in 2024, two in 2025, three in 2026, and one in 2027.

Dr. Loukas Barmparis, President of the Company commented: Consistent with our ESG strategy, we have placed an additional order for a Phase 3 newbuild targeting a gradual fleet renewal and the subsequent operational and financial advantages associated with it.

About Safe Bulkers, Inc.

The Company is an international provider of marine drybulk transportation services, transporting bulk cargoes, particularly coal, grain and iron ore, along worldwide shipping routes for some of the worlds largest users of marine drybulk transportation services. The Company has a fleet of 46 vessels, consisting of 11 Panamax, 9 Kamsarmax, 18 Post-Panamax and 8 Capesize vessels, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 4.6 million dwt and an average age of 10.5 years. Twelve vessels in the Companys fleet are eco-ships built after 2014, and seven are IMO GHG Phase 3 - NOx Tier III vessels built 2022 onwards. The Company has an outstanding orderbook of nine Phase 3 newbuild vessels, two of which are methanol dual fuel, with scheduled deliveries three in 2024, two in 2025, three in 2026, and one in 2027. The Companys common stock, series C preferred stock and series D preferred stock are listed on the NYSE, and trade under the symbols SB, SB.PR.C, and SB.PR.D, respectively.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and in Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended) concerning future events, the Companys growth strategy and measures to implement such strategy, including expected vessel acquisitions and entering into further time charters. Words such as expects, intends, plans, believes, anticipates, hopes, estimates and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, changes in the demand for drybulk vessels, competitive factors in the market in which the Company operates, risks associated with operations outside the United States and other factors listed from time to time in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Companys expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

For further information, please contact:

Company Contact:

Dr. Loukas Barmparis

President

Safe Bulkers, Inc.

Tel.: +30 2 111 888 400

+357 25 887 200

E-Mail: [email protected]
Dallas, Jan. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a recent episode of the Brand Stories Show, Qamar Zaman, an American Entrepreneur and a mentor to over 1000 SEO professionals via his platform KISS PR Brand Story discussed SEO and Reputation landscape with a leading SEO consultant Steve O'Brien also known as SEO Chap in the UK. This insightful discussion offered a deep dive into the changing landscape of SEO and digital marketing.

Top Rated UK SEO Chap Consultant Steve O'Brien Interviewed by PR Expert Qamar Zaman on Brand Stories Show

A Journey Through the World of SEO with Steve O'Brien

Steve O'Brien, with his 18 years of rich experience in SEO across diverse industries, including pharmaceuticals, shared his unique insights and approaches in the field. He emphasized the significant evolution of SEO from traditional methods like Yellow Pages to its current highly technical and competitive state. Drawing parallels with motorsport, Steve highlighted the need for continuous adaptation and evolution in SEO strategies.

The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Modern SEO

The conversation turned towards the impact of SEO on business growth, where Steve outlined its multidimensional nature. "Today's SEO is more than just about ranking. It involves deep analysis, technical skills, and an adaptive strategy," said Steve. He stressed the importance of a hands-on approach in aligning SEO campaigns with specific client needs and visions.

The Inception of SEO Chap and Entrepreneurial Insights

Steve also discussed the inception of his consultancy, SEO Chap. He described it as a blend of challenge and innovation, focusing on providing personalized, expert-level consulting in SEO. The philosophy at SEO Chap revolves around collective effort and long-term success, integrating in-depth research, technical optimization, and creative content creation.

Future Aspirations and Industry Leadership

Steve shared his motivation stemming from the continuous evolution of SEO and digital marketing. Looking ahead, he aims to keep SEO Chap at the forefront of the industry, committed to delivering value and adhering to the principles that have guided his career.

Qamar Zaman's Reflections

Hosting the interview, Qamar Zaman expressed his appreciation for Steve's insights, acknowledging the commendable work and journey of Steve O'Brien in the world of SEO. "It's been enlightening hearing your perspectives, Steve. Your contributions to the SEO industry are truly admirable," said Qamar.

Connect with Steve O'Brien and Tune in to the Full Episode

Listeners can follow and connect with Steve O'Brien at SEO Chap and listen to the full episode on:

KISS PR Brand Story Apple Podcast

KISS PR Spotify Podcast

AMAZON Podcast

Media Contact:

Agnes Zang [email protected]

Attachment

Top Rated UK SEO Chap Consultant Steve O'Brien Interviewed by PR Expert Qamar Zaman on Brand Stories Show This insightful discussion offered a deep dive into the changing landscape of SEO and digital marketing.

Source: KISS PR Brand Story Press Release Service Podcast
This insightful discussion offered a deep dive into the changing landscape of SEO and digital marketing.

Dallas, Jan. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a recent episode of the Brand Stories Show, Qamar Zaman, an American Entrepreneur and a mentor to over 1000 SEO professionals via his platform KISS PR Brand Story discussed SEO and Reputation landscape with a leading SEO consultant Steve O'Brien also known as SEO Chap in the UK. This insightful discussion offered a deep dive into the changing landscape of SEO and digital marketing.



Top Rated UK SEO Chap Consultant Steve O'Brien Interviewed by PR Expert Qamar Zaman on Brand Stories Show





A Journey Through the World of SEO with Steve O'Brien

Steve O'Brien, with his 18 years of rich experience in SEO across diverse industries, including pharmaceuticals, shared his unique insights and approaches in the field. He emphasized the significant evolution of SEO from traditional methods like Yellow Pages to its current highly technical and competitive state. Drawing parallels with motorsport, Steve highlighted the need for continuous adaptation and evolution in SEO strategies.

The Multi-Dimensional Nature of Modern SEO

The conversation turned towards the impact of SEO on business growth, where Steve outlined its multidimensional nature. "Today's SEO is more than just about ranking. It involves deep analysis, technical skills, and an adaptive strategy," said Steve. He stressed the importance of a hands-on approach in aligning SEO campaigns with specific client needs and visions.

The Inception of SEO Chap and Entrepreneurial Insights

Steve also discussed the inception of his consultancy, SEO Chap. He described it as a blend of challenge and innovation, focusing on providing personalized, expert-level consulting in SEO. The philosophy at SEO Chap revolves around collective effort and long-term success, integrating in-depth research, technical optimization, and creative content creation.

Future Aspirations and Industry Leadership

Steve shared his motivation stemming from the continuous evolution of SEO and digital marketing. Looking ahead, he aims to keep SEO Chap at the forefront of the industry, committed to delivering value and adhering to the principles that have guided his career.

Qamar Zaman's Reflections

Hosting the interview, Qamar Zaman expressed his appreciation for Steve's insights, acknowledging the commendable work and journey of Steve O'Brien in the world of SEO. "It's been enlightening hearing your perspectives, Steve. Your contributions to the SEO industry are truly admirable," said Qamar.

Connect with Steve O'Brien and Tune in to the Full Episode

Listeners can follow and connect with Steve O'Brien at SEO Chap and listen to the full episode on:

KISS PR Brand Story Apple Podcast

KISS PR Spotify Podcast

AMAZON Podcast

Media Contact:

Agnes Zang [email protected]

Attachment
The website KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com, developed reviewing over 300 AI tools, showcases Multinet Up's MultiTravel solution, streamlining corporate travel management by providing intelligent solutions to its users.

Istanbul, Turkey--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Multinet Up has advanced its innovative stance in corporate travel solutions with the launch of KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com. This platform, crafted entirely with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, now serves as a comprehensive resource, spotlighting the MultiTravel corporate travel solution and guiding companies towards thisinnovative offering.

Caption: Ali Emre Sever, CEO at Multinet Up

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8552/193664_47c5d879b440f826_001full.jpg

KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com empowers companies to manage their accommodation needs more effectively and efficiently during business trips, highlighting the convenience and benefits of MultiTravel in detail. Designed to enhance user experience, the site features automated processes and Application Programming Interface (API) integrations, ensuring a seamless and engaging interface.

With the culmination of over a thousand hours of analysis and the application of more than 300 AI tools, the site has been carefully designed by the Multinet Up Marketing Team. From domain name selection to content creation, every aspect of the site has been developed with the help of AI, offering users easy access to features such as hotel booking, budget management, and reporting within MultiTravel.

Accommodation organized without the need for intermediaries

"MultiTravel allows companies to effortlessly arrange accommodation for business trips directly, bypassing any need for intermediaries or meetings. It provides benefits such as effective budget control, access to the best accommodation options, and the convenience of consolidated invoicing," commented Ali Emre Sever, CEO at Multinet Up, on their digital initiatives.

"At Multinet Up, our digital offering is provided via a website entirely crafted using end-to-end artificial intelligence, culminating in the creation of KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com. This website stands as a testament to our technological advancements. Through it, we aim to introduce MultiTravel to a wider audience, highlighting our solutions that streamline corporate travel planning," he added.

Multinet Up, an important leader in the sector, commands over 1.5 million card users, 60,000 merchants, and nearly 40,000 customers. The company provides an array of services, from meal cards to corporate gift cards, enhancing its business partners' procurement processes. Committed to addressing technology and customer needs, Multinet Up continues to enrich the business world with innovative projects like KurumsalSeyahatCozumu.com.

* This press release was created using AI technology.

Contact:

Bergzar Bozolu, [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193664
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Pedro Resources Ltd. (CSE: VBN) ("Pedro" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press releases dated July 19, 2023, October 30, 2023 and November 3, 2023, it has reached an agreement to extend the term of its collaboration agreements (collectively, the "Collaboration Agreements") with Fixed Earth Innovation Ltd. ("Fixed Earth") and Dirty Dirt Services Ltd. ("Dirty Dirt") from 5 years to 20 years and to amend the term of the collaboration agreement with FCS Solutions Ltd. ("FCS") and Oil-Out Ltd. ("Oil-Out") to contemplate an initial term of five years which may be extended to up to 20 years.

Furthermore, the Company has opted to increase its financial commitment towards Fixed Earth from $200,000 to $225,000 to increase investments in microbe growth facilities, and research in PFAS degrading microbes, metal remediation methods and gel capsule and lichen research. The Company additionally granted Fixed Earth the right to appoint one board member to its board of directors and the right to receive stock options subject to the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange and the Company's stock option plan.

The collaboration between the Company and Fixed Earth, Dirty Dirt, FCS and Oil-Out will drive the Company's proposed change of business, providing the Company with a wealth of expertise and capabilities to work towards the goal of becoming a leading biotechnology company focused on environmental clean earth solutions.

Brian Stecyk, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, expressed enthusiasm about the extension of the Collaboration Agreements, stating, "As we continue to work on our proposed change of business, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with Fixed Earth, Dirty Dirt, FCS and Oil-Out. This extension reflects the strength of the Company's collaborative efforts and our commitment to delivering long-term value to our shareholders."

The Collaboration Agreements equip the Company with a set of biotechnological resources and capabilities to provide a wide range of contaminant remediation services. Significant positive use of microbes to resolve issues in multiple market areas has already been achieved by the Company's partners. Following completion of the proposed change of business, the Company intends to expand upon the work and successes already achieved by its partners with immediately marketable products and continue to conduct research to expand its microbial portfolio.

The proposed change of business is subject to the receipt of all necessary approvals, including without limitation regulatory approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Collaboration Agreements are subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Canadian Securities Exchange approval. There can be no assurance that the change of business will be completed as proposed or at all.

Resignation of Director

The Company further announces the resignation of Kent Couillard to the board of directors of the Company. Management of the Company would like to thank Mr. Couillard for his valuable contributions to the Company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours. The Company has commenced a search to replace Mr. Couillard and will announce his replacement in due course.

About Pedro Resources Ltd.

Pedro Resources Ltd. is a Canadian exploration company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange focused on mineral exploration and development.

For further information, contact:

On behalf of the Board,

Brian Stecyk

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Tel: 780-953-0111

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forwardlooking statements and information relating to the Company's proposed change of business, the Collaboration Agreements and the Company's plans and expectations following the change of business. The forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking statements and information contained in this news release.

The forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193839
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 9, 2024) - Stratabound Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SB) (OTCQB: SBMIF) ("Stratabound" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a summary of the key activities completed in 2023 and to outline Stratabound's strategic direction in 2024.

2023 Highlights:

Appointment of Wendy T. Chan as Interim CEO and Director, to lead the Company's restructuring and growth strategy and plans

Appointment of Buddy Doyle as VP Exploration to lead exploration of several of its key assets

Appointment of Marty Stratte, previously on the permitting team at Equinox Gold's Castle Mountain, California, as Director

Completion of a PEA for its Fremont Gold Project, California, located on the Mother Lode Gold Belt which has produced 50,000,000 oz of gold

Balance sheet improved by $2,426,593 in part due to conversion of The Tomlinson Group's secured debt to shares and dismissal of a lawsuit. Romspen's debt was restructured by adding a provision to make the debt convertible to shares at $0.07/share

Addition of a new strategic shareholder, The Tomlinson Group as the second largest shareholder of Stratabound. Together with Coast Capital Management, a notable engaged investor behind Jaguar Mining, TMAC, Tahoe, Oceanagold, Rubicon and Argonaut, among others, Stratabound has two important long-term shareholders

Confirmation of the presence of a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System (RIRGS) at Win Gold Project, Southern Tombstone Belt, Yukon, yielding up to 8.53 g/t Au and 155 g/t Ag (similar intrusive systems discovered at Snowline, Fort Knox, Banyan Gold and Rackla)

Technical review of the key geological controls at the Fremont Gold Project: Identify exploration targets from the old underground workings for drill testing within this regionally important orogenic system which have the potential to define, delineate and extend the structurally controlled, plunging "oreshoots" of higher-grade mineralization (at grades equivalent to historical grades > 8 g/t Au) to depth Ensure drilling to be targeted at multiple equivalent zones of mineralization, to build a significant mineral resource along the significant open and untested strike potential on the property Of note, MRE evaluates only 1.4km of the 4km strike. Limited drilling has previously confirmed the presence of the main mineralized structure to a depth of over 1,000m vertically below surface



Hashim Ahmed, Chairman of Stratabound commented: "2023 was a transformative year for Stratabound, with many changes to set the stage for further growth and development."

Ending the year, the Company appointed a dynamic new leader, Wendy T. Chan, who has a diverse background of successfully completing many strategic reorganization, marketing, and corporate development initiatives at mining and other companies. Adding technical depths and new perspective to the entire portfolio is Buddy Doyle, who has a proven track record in exploration and discoveries. He founded and led the exploration and development efforts at Amarillo, a gold mine in Brazil, successfully raising capital at each stage. He was instrumental in its successful sale to a major mining company.

Wendy T. Chan, interim CEO, comments, "Stratabound's new strategic direction, and the key to unlocking shareholder value, focuses on separating its key assets, positioning new investors and building a strong team. We are putting together an execution-focused team of professionals at the corporate and Board level to rebuild Stratabound. As gold hovers near historic highs, we are excited with the possibilities. Stay tuned for more updates as we move into 2024."

ABOUT STRATABOUND MINERALS

Stratabound Minerals Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company with grassroots and advanced exploration properties in highly prospective and safe mining jurisdictions.

Its Golden Culvert and Win Projects, Yukon, covering 99.5 km2 across a 27-km strike length, are situated in a district-scale, high-grade-gold-mineralized trend within the southern portion of the Tombstone Gold Belt. Gold deposits and occurrences within the Belt include Fort Knox, Pogo, Brewery Creek and Dublin Gulch, and Snowline Gold's Valley target on its Rogue property in the Selwyn Basin.

Its McIntyre Brook Project, New Brunswick, covering 120 km2 and a 17-km strike length in the emerging Triple Fault Gold Belt, is surrounded by Puma Exploration's Williams Brook Project (5.55 g/t Au over 50m) and is hosted by orogenic rocks of similar age and structure as New Found Gold's Queensway Project.

The Company is also advancing its Fremont Gold development project in the historic Mother Lode Gold Belt of California where 50,000,000 oz of gold has been produced. Fremont, located 500km north of Equinox Gold's Castle Mountain and Mesquite mines, has a PEA with an after-tax NPV of USD $217MM, a 21% IRR, 11-year LOM, averaging 118k ounces per annum at USD $1,750 gold. The project hosts an NI 43-101 resource of 1.16 MMoz at 1.90 g/t Au within 19.0 MMt Indicated, and 2.02 MMoz at 2.22 g/t Au within 28.3 MMt Inferred. The MRE evaluates only 1.4 km of the 4 km strike length of the Fremont property that features 4 gold-mineralized zones. Significantly, three step-out holes at depth hit structure, typical of orogenic deposits that often occur at depth. Fremont is located on private land in Mariposa, the original gold rush county and is 1.5 hours from Fresno, California. The property has year-round road access and is close to airports and rail. Please refer to the Fremont Gold project PEA dated Apr. 4, 2023 under NI 43-101 guidelines. The technical report has been reviewed and approved by independent "Qualified Persons" Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, and Andrew Bradfield, P.Eng. both of P&E, and Travis Manning, P.E. of KCA.

The Company also holds a pipeline of early-stage exploration projects including the critical mineral Captain Cobalt-Copper-Gold Deposit in New Brunswick and the Dingman Gold Project, Ontario.

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, Director, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAusIMM, and who is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.stratabound.com or contact:

Gary Nassif

Senior Vice President, Director

[email protected]

+1 (416) 915-4157

Kevin Shum

Investor Relations

[email protected]

+1 (647) 725-3888 ext 702

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

WARNING: The Company relies upon litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information. Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits, currency fluctuations, unanticipated operational or technical difficulties, changes in laws or regulations, failure to obtain regulatory, exchange or shareholder approval, the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets and the inability to raise additional financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/193748
Since 2014, Beacon LLC has been committed to helping foreign capitalists and local investors set up a successful business enterprise in the UAE.



For the last five decades, the United Arab Emirates has undergone a remarkable metamorphosis, shifting from a foundation reliant on fishing and agriculture to a sophisticated and competitive economy. This remarkable shift can be attributed to the government's comprehensive and integrated development strategies. These strategies have materialized and propelled the UAE into a prominent global position for economic achievement and an appealing environment for investments. The positive trajectory of the country's economy has translated into an enhanced quality of life for its citizens, amplified earnings for businesses, and expanded investment prospects. Since business at Dubai is at an all-time high, investors must consider hiring business set-up service providers like Beacon LLC to secure a competitive edge over their competitors.

When embarking on a business set-up in UAE, one of the biggest challenges for foreign investors is navigating the paperwork and bureaucracy. Business set-up agencies maintain networks with key private and government entities across different emirates and free zones. These include licensing authorities, financial institutions, legal firms, private sponsors, real estate companies, and other relevant organizations. The agencies leverage their connections to facilitate faster processing, approvals, and clearance of formalities during the company registration. Their relationships and influence often help resolve bottlenecks for overseas investors in the UAE.

The UAE offers various incentives to investors to increase the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups in the country. Some of them include:

100% Company Ownership: Individuals of any nationality can establish and possess companies in the UAE. According to this incentive, foreign companies desiring to initiate operations and conduct business in the UAE are not obligated to have a UAE national agent.

Individuals of any nationality can establish and possess companies in the UAE. According to this incentive, foreign companies desiring to initiate operations and conduct business in the UAE are not obligated to have a UAE national agent. Wide-Ranging Investment in Various Sectors: International investors are free to invest in various sectors, including trade, industry, agriculture, services, education, health, construction, and numerous others throughout the UAE.

International investors are free to invest in various sectors, including trade, industry, agriculture, services, education, health, construction, and numerous others throughout the UAE. Over 40 Free Zones for Business Establishment: With over 40 free zones available, foreign investors can take advantage of tax exemptions and ownership privileges.

With over 40 free zones available, foreign investors can take advantage of tax exemptions and ownership privileges. No Set Minimum Capital: While the UAE law necessitates the declaration of capital value in the articles of incorporation and company regulations, there is no obligatory minimum requirement for limited liability companies.

Foreign financiers can take appropriate advantage of these benefits by engaging a company set up enterprise. Despite the efficiency of streamlined licensing procedures and a grasp of the intricacies, protocols, and rules, a new business start in Dubai demands years of experience. For this reason, investors are recommended to engage third-party business set-up experts in Dubai. These adept professionals play a pivotal role in aiding with tasks like company establishment, business registration, critical renewals, and various other facets tied to the operational aspects of a business.

"Beacon LLC is most probably the best group to help you create your company in Dubai, take care of your visa, bank, all services you would need! And their prices are very competitive, we now live in Dubai and are all set and they keep helping us whenever we need or have any questions. I recommend it 100%." -Cyrielle Goupil

For foreign nationals and even local entrepreneurs, establishing a business in the UAE can entail huge costs if not managed strategically. These expenses include a range of aspects, from obtaining visas to getting assistance with business set-up, liquidity and sponsorship services, and long-term business sustenance. Additionally, each jurisdiction presents its distinct set of regulations, documentation requirements, legal procedures, and office space configurations, all of which incur associated fees. Engaging an experienced consulting agency like Beacon LLC can provide stakeholders with valuable guidance to establish a cost-efficient approach to establishing a UAE company.

Furthermore, the capital savings achieved from the adept counsel of company set-up consultants can often surpass the fees incurred. While expenses such as workspace, benefits, salaries, and other costs related to hiring full-time employees can be substantial, opting for a specialized business consultant or an independent agency such as Beacon LLC proves to be a more efficient and practical use of resources than investing the funds in employing a regular employee to tackle a specific issue within a certain time frame.

Navigating a different regulatory and business environment always carries risk and uncertainty for foreign investors entering a new market like the UAE. Availing ongoing advisory from company set-up businesses helps mitigate such risks during the initial set-up process and even post-launch operations. Many reputed agencies in Dubai, including Beacon LLC, remain available to respond to client queries, provide recommendations on expansion, assist with ongoing government compliance, share market insights, etc. Their continued support provides comfort to investors and the confidence to grow their business in the UAE.

Innovation can pose challenges for any emerging business. Yet, accredited mentors from organizations like Beacon LLC, with their extensive experience across various enterprises, possess solutions for every obstacle. A proficient management consultant can offer entrepreneurs an alternative viewpoint, including options like business process outsourcing. Consequently, a capable Dubai company set-up enterprise can significantly contribute to the company's advancement and overall efficiency.





About the company: Since its establishment in 2014, Beacon's goal has been to assist corporations, business owners, and entrepreneurs in entering new markets by forming tax-free entities within the United Arab Emirates. The firm wants to be a guiding light for companies opening up shop in the Middle East, just as sailors use the word "BEACON" to guide their ships across the colossal sea. The staff at Beacon LLC ensures that their clients navigate the commercial seas securely.

Contact Info:

Name: Kinga Szabo

Email: Send Email

Organization: Al Manal BEACON LLC

Address: Floor 19, Al Ghaith Tower - Hamdan Bin Mohammed St - Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates

Phone: +971-4-598-0888

Website: https://dubaicompanyexpert.com/



Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beaconllc.hun

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beacon_uae

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Dubaicompany



Video URL: https://youtu.be/Yui_CFYm1xw?feature=shared

Release ID: 89117189

Should any problems, inaccuracies, or doubts arise from the content contained within this press release, we kindly request that you inform us immediately by contacting [email protected]. Our dedicated 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 at the core of our commitment to our readers.
Paid press release content from Send2Press. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 10, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) This week, Modern Foot & Ankle, a prominent podiatric group known for its commitment to patient-centered care and medical innovation, announced the opening of a new location in the vibrant community of Lake Nona.

This expansion marks a significant milestone for the group, which already operates 14 clinics throughout Tampa, Orlando, and Palm Beach, Fla.

Modern Foot & Ankle podiatric surgeon Vanisaben Patel, DPM, has been serving patients with exceptional dedication and expertise at the Kissimmee and Celebration, Fla., clinics. Her unwavering passion for podiatry and track record for delivering outstanding care have paved the way for her to take on a new role as she opens the Lake Nona clinic.

I find great fulfillment in helping patients with a diverse spectrum of issues and simplifying medicine for them, Dr. Patel explained. With access to a comprehensive array of therapeutic modalities, Modern Foot & Ankle lets me focus on patient care rather than administrative tasks, making it better for both patients and me as a physician.

The Lake Nona office, located at 10016 Wellness Way, Suite 130, in Orlando, was carefully chosen for its convenience and accessibility. Dr. Patel emphasized the practices commitment to efficient service without compromising the quality of care.

We offer evening hours and are able to accommodate our patients schedules well, noted Dr. Patel. Our online appointment service makes it easy to book same-day appointments.

In line with Modern Foot & Ankles commitment to providing top-tier care, the Lake Nona office is fully-equipped to address a wide range of podiatric concernsfrom everyday foot and ankle pain care to specialized services such as diabetic care, wound treatment, trauma, and surgical intervention.

Patients should come to my office to help feel like their problems have been addressed and that their time was well spent, said Dr. Patel. My goal is to always have patients leave with fewer problems than they came in with, and when at times that isnt possible, I want to help them leave with a plan of action in mind.

The groups expansion into Lake Nona exemplifies its dedication to bringing high-quality, patient-focused podiatric care to communities throughout Florida. Dr. Patel is eager to serve the thriving community and looks forward to building lasting relationships with her new patients.

I wanted to practice in Lake Nona because of the family-feel environment, said Dr. Patel. I am excited to be a part of this community and grow my own family here. Every day is a chance to meet new people and find ways to give back.

For appointments and inquiries, patients can visit book.mfahealth.com or call 1-844-MODERN9.

About Modern Foot & Ankle

Through Big-City Technology. Small-Town Care. Modern Foot & Ankle is reshaping the patient experience and curating a progressive model for podiatric healthcare. Our physicians provide comprehensive medical and surgical solutions for foot and ankle conditions in clinics across Florida. With 24/7 online booking and check-in, extended office hours, advanced on-site equipment, and cutting-edge treatment options, Modern Foot & Ankle serves patients efficiently, comfortably, and on their schedule.

For more information, visit https://www.modernfootankle.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lindsay Siegel, Modern Foot & Ankle

Phone: (813) 549-5678

Email: [email protected]

RELATED LINKS:

https://www.modernfootankle.com/podiatrists/dr-vanisaben-patel

https://www.modernfootankle.com/company/about-us

NEWS SOURCE: Modern Foot and Ankle



This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Modern Foot and Ankle), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/modern-foot-ankle-expands-foot-care-excellence-in-florida-with-opening-of-lake-nona-clinic/

Copr.  2024 Send2Press Newswire, a service of NEOTROPE, Calif., USA. -- REF: S2P STORY ID: 102735SI.05
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

The legal assistance provided by Reyna Law Firm Austin 512-765-3181 now extends to cases involving car, truck, and ride-share accidents in the state of Texas.



Reyna Law Firm Austin, reachable at (512) 765-3181, has introduced a comprehensive array of legal support services tailored for victims of automobile, truck, and ride-share accidents in the states of Texas.

This unveiling signifies a steadfast commitment to enhancing aid for accident survivors, reaching both local and statewide communities. Reyna Law Firm is now extending its legal expertise and representation with a specific focus on empowering victims to secure rightful compensation for their losses and enduring pain resulting from vehicular accidents.

For more in-depth information, please visit their website at https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/austin.

The law firm's newly rolled-out services encompass a range of automobile accident injury cases, reflecting the frequent incidents in the vast array of major cities, numerous small towns, and the extensive network of interconnecting highways in the region. With a cluster of densely populated cities boasting robust commercial activity and perpetual economic growth, the area witnesses a substantial surge in traffic. In light of this, Reyna Law Firm extends its newfound avenues of support to individuals injured in accidents involving both cars and trucks.

Additionally, due to the growing popularity of ride-sharing as a viable mode of transportation, the firm caters to the needs of Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as their passengers, who have suffered injuries. The legal team is well-equipped to provide guidance in accordance with the evolving legal aspects pertaining to liability in such instances, ensuring that injured parties are well-informed about their rights.

Conducting thorough case evaluations, Reyna Law Firm engages with victims to ascertain the circumstances surrounding their accidents. The legal proceedings can follow diverse paths, and the firm's services are not limited to settlement negotiations; in rare cases where courtroom appearances are necessary, they also provide legal representation.

Addressing insurance companies is a crucial step for many accident victims seeking justice, and the firm acknowledges this. Consequently, the latest service offered by Reyna Law Firm empowers its attorneys to take the lead in negotiations with insurers, with their primary goal being to secure equitable settlements that account for medical expenses, vehicle damages, and the emotional trauma endured by victims.

To achieve settlement figures aligned with Reyna Law Firm's case evaluation, their upgraded services now encompass an evidence-gathering process rooted in thorough investigation. By amassing comprehensive medical reports, video evidence, and witness testimonials, the firm aims to bolster injury cases and corroborate the claims made by their clients.

To further assist accident victims in securing the justice they rightly deserve, the firm is extending a special promotion: a 10% discount on all pre-litigation fees for cases involving automobile, truck, and ride-share accidents. This initiative seeks to alleviate the significant physical, emotional, and financial impact that accidents impose on victims and their families.

Reyna Law Firm's services are offered to the communities of Texas and New Mexico as part of an ongoing endeavor to enhance access to specialized legal solutions for catastrophic injuries. The firm's accomplished attorneys are available at various offices situated across Texas and New Mexico.

For those interested, additional information about Reyna Law Firm's updated service options can be accessed at https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/austin.

Contact:

Reyna Law Firm Austin

2025 Guadalupe St #260, Austin, TX 78705

(512) 765-3181

https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/austin

Contact Info:

Name: James Lewis

Email: Send Email

Organization: Reyna Law Firm Austin

Address: 2025 Guadalupe St #260, Austin, TX 78705, United States

Website: https://www.reynainjurylaw.com/austin



Release ID: 89118380

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In the news release, IEHP earns NCQA Health Equity Accreditation, issued 08-Jan-2024 by Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that there are rewrites to paragraphs 4-6 as well as the removal of paragraph 2, rather than what was originally issued inadvertently. The complete, corrected release follows:

IEHP earns NCQA Health Equity Accreditation

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. , Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) received Health Equity Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), becoming one of two public health plans in the state to earn the designation.

"This honor represents another milestone in IEHP's quality journey," said Genia Fick , vice president of quality. "The NCQA Health Equity Accreditation demonstrates IEHP's strong fundamental processes as we strive for optimal care and vibrant health throughout the Inland Empire."

NCQA awards this accreditation to organizations that meet or exceed its rigorous requirements for health equity. According to the NCQA, standards for the Health Equity Accreditation program focuses on the foundation of health equity work by:

Building an internal culture that supports the organization's external health equity work.

Collecting data that helps the organization create and offer language services and provider networks mindful of individuals' cultural and linguistic needs.

Identifying opportunities to reduce health inequities and improve care.

"Earning Health Equity Accreditation shows that an organization is making a breakthrough in providing excellent health care to diverse populations," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "I congratulate any organization that achieves this level of distinction."

With its entrance into the Covered California health exchange, 2024 is expected to be an impactful year for IEHP. Health Equity Accreditation is among the quality program requirements for Covered California, which ends open enrollment on Jan. 31 .

"This accreditation reinforces IEHP's long-standing commitment to address health disparities and move IEHP's mission for health equity forward," said Lorena Chandler , IEHP's vice president and chief health equity officer. "We are excited to find better ways to serve our members."

About IEHP

With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans, the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid public health plan in the country, and for the third year in a row, certified as A Great Place To Work. In its 27th year, IEHP supports more than 1.4 million Riverside and San Bernardino County residents enrolled in Medicaid or IEHP DualChoice (those with both Medi-Cal and Medicare). Today, IEHP has a growing network of nearly 6,800 providers and more than 3,000 team members who are fully committed to the vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. To learn more, go to iehp.org.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA's website (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more-informed health care choices. NCQA can be found online at ncqa.org, on Twitter @ncqa, on Facebook at facebook.com/NCQA.org/ and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ncqa.

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SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)
LAS VEGAS , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- KONKA Group Co., Ltd. ("KONKA"; 000016.SZ), a leading technology company, has made a significant appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held from January 9 to 12, 2024 . It showcased a lineup of its star display products, demonstrating the brand's technological prowess and superior performance.

KONKA's 310-inch Micro Led 4K-Plus Movie Theater offers superior color consistency that surpasses the market average, guaranteeing a uniform and high-quality viewing experience. Its low reflectivity, less than 5%, makes it perfect for cinema environments. The display is vibrant and fluid, thanks to its high brightness of 800 nits and a high refresh rate. The color range is impressive due to KONKA's self-developed and fully proprietary light-emitting chips. These chips continually optimize the light-emitting wavelength, achieving 85% of BT.2020. This effectively reduces color deviation at wide viewing angles, enhancing the overall viewing experience.

KONKA has set up a production line for MLED direct displays and a variety of large-scale Mini LED direct display screen application solutions in Chongqing, China . This enhances KONKA's capability to provide solutions that are versatile and can be utilized in a wide array of settings, including airports, cinemas, central data monitoring rooms, traffic command centers, large shopping malls, and numerous other scenarios.

During the event, KONKA also showcased its flagship 809 Series, a Mini QD-LED TV series launched in 2023. This series offers a sensory feast, thanks to its advanced features. It comes with the new Mini QD-LED and AGLR screen, which significantly enhance the native contrast and reduce screen reflection. This results in a more transparent and visually stunning image. The Mini QD-LED merges the superior benefits of QLED and Mini LED, delivering higher contrast and richer color levels. This allows deep, detailed display of films and games. The series also boasts a super high contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1, a 157% BT.709 ultra-wide color gamut, and high brightness.

KONKA's New Generation 812 Series OLED TV and its mid-range product - the high-refresh 813 Series were also exhibited. The 812 Series is equipped with the webOS operating system and Google TV operating system, meeting the content needs of consumers worldwide.

KONKA's exceptional product quality and remarkable innovation capabilities, supported by proprietary technology, have garnered recognition from both the industry and consumers. In 2023, KONKA's brand business revenue saw a significant increase of 101% year-on-year, while TV sales also experienced a substantial growth of 32% year-on-year. Moving forward, KONKA will remain committed to its business philosophy, focusing on promoting the brand's globalization.

About KONKA Group Co., Ltd.

KONKA Group Co., Ltd. founded on May 21st, 1980 . KONKA was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1992. The corporation has 15,000 employees, and the proportion of R&D personnel is more than 10%.

KONKA is increasing its strategic investments in several key core technologies such as Micro LED, 8K, AIoT and 5G to ensure its future leadership in the ever-changing global consumer electronics industry.

For more information, please visit www.konkaglobal.com.

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SOURCE KONKA Group Co., Ltd
Liberty Mutual Supports Energy Allies in Building Power for Community-led Energy in Climate-impacted Communities

BOSTON and NEW YORK , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a remarkable leap towards a community-led energy future, Energy Allies, the startup energy justice nonprofit based in Boston and New York , has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Liberty Mutual Foundation.

Renowned for actively involving and working alongside communities most impacted by climate change, Energy Allies imagines a future where every person lives in flourishing, resilient homes powered independently by clean energy. At the heart of their strategy lies the innovative Community Advisory Board (CAB), a collective of community members and organizational representatives compensated for their essential role in developing and endorsing local green energy solutions.

"In our quest for equitable access to sustainable power sources, this grant represents a significant step toward building sturdy, self-reliant communities. It enables us to expedite our community-driven initiatives while reinforcing the conviction that given opportunities, communities are best positioned to lead progress towards clean energy," says Sara Chandler , Chairperson of Energy Allies' Board of Directors.

The first CAB established in Boston ensures that community-led solar projects align with the specific needs of the locality. In partnership with PUSH Buffalo in Buffalo, NY , another CAB was formed under Energy Allies' guidance, with community leadership designing an energy project to create intergenerational wealth for those living in communities most impacted by climate change.

" Yesenia Rivera , Executive Director at Energy Allies, adds, "This funding propels us into new heights of fulfilling our mission objectives. Our approach centered around communities, exemplified by Community Advisory Boards, is pivotal in making lasting impacts. We appreciate the support that allows us to expand our efforts to build equitable clean energy solutions."

Being a significant contributor to the movement towards fair access to clean energy, Energy Allies strategically partners with community members, local organizations, and property owners. Together, they pinpoint ideal locations for green energy projects and devise programs to democratize the power system for all community dwellers.

Community-driven power represents an innovative solution addressing challenges posed by unreliable, costly, and potentially dangerous traditional grids. Energy Allies emphasizes the importance of a movement led by communities advocating for energy justice while highlighting the risk of worsening existing issues without it.

With its roots in research, Energy Allies has emerged as a leader concerning income-eligible community solar access. In collaboration with the Department of Energy, MIT, and Stanford University, this nonprofit developed 'Energy Score,' an accurate predictor of energy payments inclusive to all households. Through alliances with the Department of Energy Solar Technologies Office (SETO), it advocates policies promoting equal inclusion across all income brackets, emphasizing communities' vital role in co-designing local power.

This $100,000 funding from Liberty Mutual Foundation places an already impactful organization - 'Energy Allies', into a position where it could further amplify its contributions towards cleaner and more balanced prospects. This financial boost will kickstart community-led solar initiatives while strengthening efforts to eliminate historical disparities in access to clean energy resources.

For Media Queries:

Sylvia R. Hampton

Energy Allies

Communications Department

T 617-4136764

E [email protected]

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SOURCE Energy Allies
HOUSTON , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Houston Natural Resources Corp (OTC: HNRC) ("HNRC or the Company") with a pending name, symbol and CUSIP change, to Cunningham Natural Resources Corp, outlined an investor presentation for 2024. See link for the presentation here (https://bit.ly/3S9s4SX)

Cunningham Natural Resources Corp ("CNRC") is focused on traditional oil and gas opportunities and energy transition materials including mining opportunities in copper, lithium, gold, as well as other precious and rare earth metals. This investment focus will be global with sustainability at the core of the strategy.

Traditional Energy

CNRC owns 100% of Cunningham Energy LLC . Cunningham Energy was founded in 2008 for the purpose of acquiring, exploring, and producing oil and gas in the Appalachian, Illinois , and Williston Basins. Cunningham Energy and its affiliates own interests in approximately 600 wells, 170 of which are re-works with a 98% successful completion rate. The company acquired 30,000 net acres in numerous transactions throughout the Appalachian Basin Acreage acquisition was completed over a 10-year time frame. They acquired and negotiated control of 965,000 net acres in Canada and negotiated a 75% Net Revenue Interest basis with estimated reserves of more than 500M barrels of oil. An independent engineering firm completed an updated evaluation of the oil & gas assets and leases of Cunningham Energy as of December 31st, 2022 , is $352 million dollars , assuming a sixty-eight (68) well drilling program is completed (www.cunninghamenergy.com).





. Cunningham Energy was founded in 2008 for the purpose of acquiring, exploring, and producing oil and gas in the Appalachian, , and Williston Basins. Cunningham Energy and its affiliates own interests in approximately 600 wells, 170 of which are re-works with a 98% successful completion rate. The company acquired 30,000 net acres in numerous transactions throughout the Appalachian Basin Acreage acquisition was completed over a 10-year time frame. They acquired and negotiated control of 965,000 net acres in and negotiated a 75% Net Revenue Interest basis with estimated reserves of more than 500M barrels of oil. An independent engineering firm completed an updated evaluation of the oil & gas assets and leases of Cunningham Energy as of , is , assuming a sixty-eight (68) well drilling program is completed (www.cunninghamenergy.com). CNRC has invested in HNR Acquisition Corp ("HNRA"). On February 11, 2022 , HNRA closed its IPO on the NYSE for $86,250,000 . HNRA completed a business combination on November 15, 2023 by purchasing all the equity interests in Pogo Resources, LLC and its subsidiary, LH Operating, LLC (collectively "LHO"). HNRA is now an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin . The Company's assets include its interest in the Grayburg-Jackson oil field in the prolific Permian Basin in New Mexico . LHO had $20.3 million in revenues generating positive cash flow and $3.9 million of net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 . As of September 30, 2023 , total assets of LHO were $70.4 million (www.hnra-nyse.com)





, HNRA closed its IPO on the NYSE for . HNRA completed a business combination on by purchasing all the equity interests in and its subsidiary, (collectively "LHO"). HNRA is now an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and gas properties in the . The Company's assets include its interest in the Grayburg-Jackson oil field in the prolific in . LHO had in revenues generating positive cash flow and of net income for the nine months ended . As of , total assets of LHO were (www.hnra-nyse.com) CNRC has acquired a 40% interest in Rhino Energy Pty Ltd ("Rhino"). Rhino has a management team with global operational expertise having operated & non operated assets in 27 countries. The team has managed production of +1.7 million boepd. Rhino has assembled a truly world class team that has been involved in some of the most historic oil & gas projects globally over the last 30 years. Rhino is focused on building a material production base through acquisitions in countries and basins that we have a strong track record. Rhino has an initial investment in a Canadian junior energy company currently focused on the development of its interests in the Cold Lake and Wabasca areas of Alberta in Canada . (www.rhinoenergy.com.au)

Energy Transition

CNRC has a 9% interest in Cunningham Mining Ltd ("CML"). CML has completed the acquisition of the Placer Claims known as the 'Nugget Trap Placer Mine" in the British Columbia Mineral Title registry covering 573.7 acres and the accompanying permits and authorizations ("Property") that is situated within the Skeena Mining Division of British Columbia, Canada in the area known as BC's Golden Triangle . A recent independent assay, which includes data from a 25-pit test program, indicated an average of over Au 25.54 grams gold per cubic meter of pay dirt as well as meaningful amounts of silver. CML is in the process of permitting for a 15,000 cubic yard per annum pay dirt mining program with the British Columbia Ministry of Mines . CML is developing a unique gold backed token that would provide capital for mining the property (www.cunninghammining.com).





("CML"). CML has completed the acquisition of the Placer Claims known as the 'Nugget Trap Placer Mine" in the British Columbia Mineral Title registry covering 573.7 acres and the accompanying permits and authorizations ("Property") that is situated within the in the area known as BC's . A recent independent assay, which includes data from a 25-pit test program, indicated an average of over Au 25.54 grams gold per cubic meter of pay dirt as well as meaningful amounts of silver. CML is in the process of permitting for a 15,000 cubic yard per annum pay dirt mining program with the . CML is developing a unique gold backed token that would provide capital for mining the property (www.cunninghammining.com). CNRC is acquiring a 10% interest in Kharrouba Copper Company, Inc ("KCC" or "Company") with the potential to increase its position over time. Based on the investment being made by HNRC, KCC would have an enterprise value of about US$60 million dollars . KCC is a Canadian Company , with growing copper mining and processing operations in the Kingdom of Morocco . KCC commenced operations in 2017 and is currently in the expansion of its operations. Over the next 12-15 months, it plans a further expansion and an extensive drilling campaign to expand its reserve and resource base. KCC has also encountered cobalt in a number of its mines and plans to add cobalt exploration as part of its overall exploration program. KCC has a significant land position totaling some 78,826 acres all offering excellent potential for increasing KCC's reserve base substantially. KCC's operations are low cost and expect to generate healthy positive cash flows. Upon completion of the drilling program and updated resource estimate, US$21M+ of projected annual free cash flow. Copper prices are set to soar more than 75% over the next two years amid mining supply disruptions and higher demand for the metal, fueled by the push for renewable energy. Rising demand driven by the green energy transition and a likely decline in the U.S. dollar in the second half of 2024 will push copper prices higher, according to a report by BMI, a Fitch Solutions research unit.

Proforma





Dec. 31, 2023 Dec. 31, 2024 Dec. 31, 2025 Total Revenue

21,117,266 35,294,712 37,873,553 Total Expenses

9,416,259 18,561,583 19,650,431 Income from Operations

11,701,007 16,733,129 18,223,122 Total General & Administrative

209,709 2,465,995 2,094,912 EBITDA

11,491,298 14,267,134 16,128,210











Assumptions

Average $/BB $60.00

Average $/mcf $1.50

Average $/Cu pound $3.80

Initial Mining Program $6.6m

Initial Drilling program $10m

About Houston Natural Resources Corp

Houston Natural Resources Corp. (OTC: HNRC) (https://hnrcholdings.gcs-web.com) stands as a versatile energy enterprise with stakes in both oil and gas. Notably, the company has successfully obtained full ownership, a 100% interest, in Cunningham Energy LLC, boasting appraised reserves totaling $352 million . Additionally, Houston Natural Resources Corp. holds minority investments in Rhino Energy Ltd, CE Energy Sponsors, LLC, and HNR Acquisition Corp. Demonstrating a commitment to growth, the company remains proactive in its pursuit of new opportunities within the energy and energy transitions sectors, all with the overarching goal of delivering enhanced value to its shareholders.

About Cunningham Natural Resources Corp

Cunningham Natural Resources Corp (www.cunninghamnaturalresources.com) is dedicated to pursuing both conventional oil and gas prospects and opportunities in energy transition materials. This encompasses mining ventures in copper, lithium, gold, as well as other valuable and rare earth metals. With a global perspective, the investment strategy is underpinned by a commitment to sustainability, making it an integral element of the company's core approach.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.

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SOURCE Houston Natural Resources Corp
Further grant awards to school districts, financial entities and third-party contractors representing attractive potential for additional opportunities for Lion.

JOLIET, Ill. , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - The Lion Electric Company (NYSE: LEV) (TSX: LEV) ("Lion" or the "Company"), a leading manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty urban vehicles, was awarded a grant for 97 school buses and related charging infrastructure, representing a total of $38 million , as part of the U.S. EPA's latest round of awards under the Clean School Bus Program.

With this latest round of awards, the EPA has more than doubled the funding amount initially announced in April 2023 , thereby allocating nearly $1 billion to 67 applicants. Based on the EPA, these awards are expected to facilitate the purchase of over 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts serving over 7 million students across 37 states.

Approximately 70% of all units awarded under this round of the program have been directly granted to school districts, financial entities and third-party contractors, representing attractive potential for additional opportunities for Lion.

"The ongoing investment from the federal government for cleaner school buses will tangibly contribute to the well-being of our children and communities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and increase the number of electric school buses on American roads. Congratulations to the EPA and all the recipients, who will soon experience the many benefits of transitioning to zero-emission school buses," said Nicolas Brunet , President of Lion. "We continue to assist our clients with the funding opportunities that are available, and we are proud to manufacture purpose-built all-electric school buses in Joliet, Illinois , which are currently being deployed across the United States ."

In addition to this round of financing, the EPA is currently accepting, until January 31, 2024 , applications for the 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate Program. The agency expects to award at least $500 million in funding under this round by April 2024 .

Lion provides districts and operators with a dedicated team of grant specialists to assist them in applying for and securing future funding opportunities, including under the Clean School Bus Program. Lion's support also includes financing assistance with LionCapital Solutions, charging infrastructure with LionEnergy, driver/maintenance/safety training from Lion's BrightSquad and proprietary EV telematics with LionBeat.

Additional Information About Lion's Grant Under the Program

Lion's applications submitted in connection with this round of the program were prepared in collaboration with selected school districts. Lion will continue to work closely with the applicable school districts in order to complete the milestones required under the program and execute purchase orders with such school districts. For additional information on the Clean School Bus Program and the awards granted thereunder, please refer to the EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/clean-school-bus-program-awards.

ABOUT LION ELECTRIC

Lion Electric is an innovative manufacturer of zero-emission vehicles. The company creates, designs and manufactures all-electric class 5 to class 8 commercial urban trucks and all-electric school buses. Lion is a North American leader in electric transportation and designs, builds and assembles many of its vehicles' components, including chassis, battery packs, truck cabins and bus bodies.

Always actively seeking new and reliable technologies, Lion vehicles have unique features that are specifically adapted to its users and their everyday needs. Lion believes that transitioning to all-electric vehicles will lead to major improvements in our society, environment and overall quality of life. Lion shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol LEV.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws and within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including statements regarding the EPA Clean School Bus Program, the award granted to Lion under the program, the Company's ability to execute purchase orders with respect to units that have been directly granted to school districts, financial entities, or third-party contractors and future funding rounds under the program, other statements about Lion's beliefs and expectations and other statements that are not statements of historical facts. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "may," "will," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "could," "plan," "project," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "target" or other similar expressions and any other statements that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, although not all forward-looking statements may contain such identifying words. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on a number of estimates and assumptions that Lion believes are reasonable when made. Such estimates and assumptions are made by Lion in light of the experience of management and their perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors believed to be appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. However, there can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. For additional information on estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties underlying certain of the forward-looking statements made in this press release, please consult section 23.0 entitled "Risk Factors" of the Company's annual management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations (MD&A) for the fiscal year 2022 and in other documents filed with the applicable Canadian regulatory securities authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's interim MD&As. Many of these risks are beyond Lion's management's ability to control or predict. All forward-looking statements attributable to Lion or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained and risk factors identified in the Company's annual MD&A for the fiscal year 2022 and in other documents filed with the applicable Canadian regulatory securities authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required under applicable securities laws, Lion undertakes no obligation, and expressly disclaims any duty, to update, revise or review any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE The Lion Electric Co.
Over 77 countries set to join including G20 countries US, UK , China , and Japan

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ministerial Roundtable, a pivotal precursor to the third edition of the Future Minerals Forum, is poised to take the spotlight on 9 January 2024 . Led by its Chair, H.E. Bandar Ibrahim AlKhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , the Ministerial Roundtable will serve as a pivotal gathering for global mining and metals stakeholders to engage in vital discussions and foster collaboration on responsible mineral development to meet the needs of the clean energy transition.

First initiated in January 2022 , the Ministerial Roundtable was conceived to launch initiatives aimed at enhancing cooperation and coordination in the mineral sector. These initiatives encompass critical areas such as establishing principles for a regional critical minerals framework, developing centers of excellence, defining responsible supply expectations, and creating green metals hubs.

Accordingly, the Ministerial Roundtable will host four sessions throughout the day to address critical themes crucial to the development of the mineral industry and the Super Region . These include Defining a Regional Framework on Critical Minerals Supply; Sustainability, Transparency, and Accountability in Mineral Development; Building Regional Capacity through Centers of Excellence; and Creating Green Mineral Value Chains.

Taking place in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh , this esteemed platform will unite ministers and high-level government representatives from over 77 countries, which include G20 countries such as Australia , Brazil , Canada , China , the European Union, France , Germany , India , Indonesia , Turkey , Japan , the US, and the United Kingdom . Significant mining countries such as Chile , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Egypt , Ghana Guinea Republic, Kazakhstan , Mexico , Morocco , Pakistan , Russia , South Africa , Zambia and Zimbabwe , are also set to join, underscoring the significance of this event for the mineral sector, particularly in the Super Region spanning Africa , Western and Central Asia .

Besides government attendees, the event will also convene representatives from 13 international organizations, 15 non-governmental organizations, and 7 business associations, including the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the World Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), among others.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2314697/Ministerial_Roundtable.jpg

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SOURCE Future Minerals Forum
Bain & Company, In-N-Out Burger, Delta Air Lines Among Top 15 Employers;

Whatnot Claims Top Honor Among Small & Medium Companies

SAN FRANCISCO , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, the worldwide leader for workplace conversations and career insights, has announced the winners of its 16th annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Best Places to Work 2024 across the U.S. and the UK . Unlike other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback on Glassdoor by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

The Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards honors the Best Places to Work across the U.S. and the UK . In the U.S., Glassdoor revealed the 100 Best Places to Work (recognizing employers with 1,000 or more employees) and 50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work For (recognizing employers with fewer than 1,000 employees). Winners are ranked based on their ratings achieved during the past year. (Ratings are based on a 5-point scale: 1.0=very dissatisfied, 3.0=OK, 5.0=very satisfied; actual calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place.)

"Worklife is rapidly changing, and professionals are turning to Glassdoor to share their experiences about working for some of the most competitive employers in the world," said Christian Sutherland-Wong , Glassdoor Chief Executive Officer. "The Best Places to Work award is a stark reminder of the power of Glassdoor, from arming professionals with career insights and real-time conversations about all things work and life, to providing employers with feedback to improve. Glassdoor has evolved to make sure that transparency isn't a fad, but rather, a foundational component in the future of work."

The top ten Best Places to Work 2024 are:

The top five Best Small & Medium Companies to Work 2024 are:

Glassdoor's 100 Best Places to Work 2024 features winning employers across multiple industries, including technology, finance, consulting, biotech and pharmaceuticals, retail and more. Bain & Company claims the top spot with a 4.8 rating out of 5 and is one of two companies that have ranked on Best Places to Work lists every year. An honor shared only with Google (No. 26, 4.5), this is the 16th time Bain & Company has appeared on the list and the sixth time the company has ranked in the top spot.

Twenty-six employers are newcomers to the 100 Best Places to Work 2024 including Samsara (No. 29, 4.5), Lenovo (No. 77, 4.3) and Texas Children's Hospital (No. 94, 4.3). Twenty-eight employers absent from the 2023 list are rejoining in 2024 including Apple (No. 39, 4.4), NIKE (No. 96, 4.3), E. & J. Gallo Winery (No. 83, 4.3) and Marriott International (No. 80, 4.3).

Among the 50 Best Small & Medium Places to Work 2024, 39 employers are newcomers including Whatnot (No. 1, 4.8), Placer.ai (No. 27, 4.4) and YETI (No. 44, 4.4). Two employers absent from the 2023 list are rejoining in 2024  NetWorth Realty (No. 6, 4.7) and Venterra Realty (No. 50, 4.3).

When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to share their opinions on some of the best reasons to work for their employer (pros), any downsides (cons) and are encouraged to provide advice to management. In addition, employees are asked to rate how satisfied they are with their employer overall, rate their CEO and key workplace attributes including career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, senior management and work-life balance. Employees are also asked whether they would recommend their employer to a friend and whether they believe their employer's six-month business outlook is positive, negative or if they have no opinion.

Employees' Choice Award winners for the Best Places to Work 2024 are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary awards algorithm, and each employer's rating is determined based on the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews submitted by U.S. -based employees between October 18, 2022 and October 16, 2023 . During the year-long eligibility period, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 75 ratings and employers considered for the small & medium list must have received at least 30 ratings, respectively, for each of the nine workplace attributes (overall company rating, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, diversity and inclusion, senior management, work-life balance, recommend to a friend, and six-month business outlook). For reporting simplicity, ratings are displayed to the nearest tenth, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place to determine final rank order. Complete awards methodology can be found and downloaded here: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/index.htm

FULL LIST OF 2024 WINNERS: All winning employers across this year's lists can be found by visiting:

100 Best Places to Work  U.S .

50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work For  U.S.

50 Best Places to Work  UK

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is revolutionizing how people everywhere find jobs and companies they love by providing deeper workplace transparency. Professionals turn to Glassdoor to research ratings, reviews, salaries and more at millions of employers, and to join communities to engage in candid workplace conversations. Companies use Glassdoor to post jobs and attract talent through employer branding and employee insights products . Glassdoor is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a global technology company transforming the future of work, and a part of its HR Technology business unit. For more information, visit www.glassdoor.com .

Copyright  2008-2024, Glassdoor LLC. "Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor LLC.

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SOURCE Glassdoor
Amazon Delivery Drivers, Bipartisan Group of Senators Demand Answers on DSP Scheme

WASHINGTON , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Amazon delivery drivers represented by the Teamsters joined Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and a bipartisan group of senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to call out Amazon's exploitative Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program. Murphy announced that he and 28 of his Senate colleagues sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy requesting information about the company's business model that subcontracts delivery drivers while controlling virtually every aspect of their working conditions.

Three Republican and 26 Democratic senators signed on to the letter, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), and Sen. J.D. Vance (R- Ohio ). They expressed concerns that Amazon's DSP program is a scheme to avoid legal liability for high injury rates and the persistent mistreatment of DSP drivers.

"Amazon controls every facet of the job for DSP drivers, including their routes, vehicles, and uniforms, and subjects them to constant surveillance and harassment. Yet Amazon claims these workers are not its employees. It's a joke. Everyone knows these are Amazon drivers," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien . "Amazon has created a vast delivery network that drives down wages and erodes safety standards, undermining what should be good American jobs in the logistics industry. We must work together to hold Amazon accountable and take responsibility for its workers."

"Delivery drivers at Amazon have an injury and accident rate of 20 percent," Sen. Murphy said. "It's time for Amazon to do the right thing and improve conditions for some of its most important employees."

Last year, 84 workers in Palmdale, Calif. , organized with the Teamsters Union, becoming the first unionized Amazon delivery drivers in the country. As members of Teamsters Local 396, the workers bargained a contract with Amazon DSP Battle-Tested Strategies (BTS). Despite the absolute control it wields over BTS and workers' terms and conditions of employment, Amazon refuses to recognize and honor the union contract. Instead, the corporation has engaged in unfair labor practices in violation of federal labor law. The workers have been on strike since June 2023 and have extended their picket line to dozens of Amazon delivery stations and warehouses nationwide.

"We filed our case with the National Labor Relations Board in April last year, and we need all the help we can get to pressure the government to do its job and hold Amazon accountable," said Jesse Moreno , a DSP driver and member of Local 396. "We thank every senator who has signed on to this letter and we encourage more to add their names. Every Amazon employee should be able to secure what our Teamster brothers and sisters at UPS have: a fair contract, a livable wage, and the respect we all deserve."

The bipartisan letter to Amazon cites numerous alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act, including refusal to recognize and bargain with workers who joined Local 396, holding captive audience meetings to stifle organizing efforts, reducing DSP routes in response to union activity, and terminating workers in retaliation for union organizing and other protected activities.

Additional senators who signed onto the letter include: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D- Ohio ), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-Nev.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.Mex.), Sen. Maizie Hirono (D- Hawaii ), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Brian Schatz (D- Hawaii ), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S. , Canada , and Puerto Rico . Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610

[email protected]

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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
NEW YORK , Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Specialty Food Association's 48th Winter Fancy Food Show will showcase thousands of artisanal products from more than 1,200 domestic and global specialty food and beverage makers and manufacturers. Taking place across three days ( January 21-23 ) at the Las Vegas Convention Center , the Show also features a variety of networking and educational events.

The 2024 Winter Fancy Food Show marks the beginning of the food industry's annual cycle.

"The 2024 Winter Fancy Food Show marks the beginning of the food industry's annual cyclea pivotal gathering where innovation meets opportunity," said SFA President Bill Lynch . "This show is not just an event; it's the epicenter of culinary creativity and business acumen where makers launch and buyers discover the latest products and trends that will shape the new year."

Show attendees will experience:

The Winter Fancy Food Show is open only to qualified members of the specialty food trade, industry affiliates, and media. For more information, please click here .

About the Specialty Food Association

The Specialty Food Association (SFA) was founded in 1952 and is the not-for-profit trade association of the $194 billion specialty food industry. Representing more than 3,000 businesses worldwide, SFA champions industry participation and success for a diverse community of makers, buyers, importers, distributors, and service providers by developing resources, information, education , and events that celebrate innovation and inclusivity. SFA owns and operates the Fancy Food Shows which are the largest specialty food industry events in North Americaas well as the sofi Awards which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972. The SFA also produces the e-newsletter SFA News Daily , the Trendspotter Panel annual predictions and Fancy Food Show reports, the State of the Specialty Food Industry Report, Today's Specialty Food Consumer research, and the Spill & Dish podcast. Find out more online and connect with SFA on Facebook , X , Instagram , LinkedIn , and TikTok .

Hashtags: #FancyFoodShow #WeFancy

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SOURCE Specialty Food Association
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East, in the Muqata'a, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank January 10, 2024. REUTERS/Eve

By Simon Lewis

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after pressing Israel's leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Blinken crossed Israeli checkpoints to reach the de facto Palestinian capital Ramallah, according to pool reporters who travelled with the U.S. top diplomat.

The visit came a day after talks on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet over Israel's war with Hamas, regional tensions and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Blinken would discuss with Abbas the PAs responsibility to reform itself and improve its governance, he said in a news conference on Tuesday evening, reflecting Washingtons view that Abbas, 88, needs to overhaul the organization in preparation to govern a post-war Gaza.

The PA, which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank, remains the best hope for a unified Palestinian government of both Gaza and the West Bank.

Blinken came to Israel after visiting Washington's Arab allies, who he said want closer relations with Israel but only if that included a "practical pathway" to a Palestinian state.

U.S.-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in territory now occupied by Israel collapsed almost a decade ago. Right-wing leaders in Israel's current ruling coalition oppose Palestinian statehood.

At his news conference, Blinken declined to characterize how Netanyahu and his cabinet responded to his appeal on a Palestinian state. He said Israel would have to make "hard decisions, hard choices" to take advantage of the opportunity offered by regional integration.

"Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions, all make it harder, not easier for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security," he said, alluding to conflict in the West Bank.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo

By Michael Martina and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Dozens of U.S. lawmakers co-sponsored legislation on Wednesday praising democracy in Taiwan ahead of its presidential and parliamentary elections, prompting China to call for the U.S. to stop official contact with the island.

"Resolved, That the Senate ... is committed to supporting Taiwan's self-defense and the liberty of its people through effective deterrence using all elements of United States power," read the resolution, which has at least 28 Republican and Democratic sponsors in the Senate.

The resolution praises Taiwan's "rule of law and vibrant civil society, diverse economy, and stable political system," and contrasts that with the situation in China.

Taiwan's voters head to the polls on Saturday for presidential and parliamentary elections that are taking place against a backdrop of a ramped-up war of words between Taiwan and China, which views the island as its own territory despite the strong objections of the Taiwanese government.

Taiwan's government has accused China of an unprecedented campaign of election interference, using everything from military activity to trade sanctions to sway the vote toward candidates Beijing may prefer.

The resolution's sponsors hope it will pass by unanimous consent this week.

Republican Dan Sullivan, who led the resolution with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, said, "I think it's really important for the United States in a bipartisan way to show steady, unwavering support and commitment to Taiwan's democracy and continue to undertake policies to enhance cross-Strait deterrence."

He stressed that the measure's backers are not choosing sides in Taiwan's presidential race. "There's three strong candidates, three strong parties. Our commitment just needs to be to a fair process that's not undermined by coercive activities by Beijing," he told Reuters.

Asked for comment on the resolution, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's embassy in the U.S., said in an emailed statement that China "firmly opposes" the U.S. having any official contact with Taiwan and said Washington must refrain from "interfering" in its elections.

SECURITY ASSISTANCE IN LIMBO

The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties with the island, which China views as its own territory.

Democratic President Joe Biden asked the Senate last year to approve billions of dollars in security assistance for Taiwan, but lawmakers have not yet voted on his request. Republicans insist the aid package - which also includes money for Ukraine's war with Russia - be tied to an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy.

Sullivan said negotiators were "making progress" on the Taiwan component of the supplemental funding request, but that it depended on whether Democrats would agree to a significant border security component.

Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced a nearly identical measure on Taiwan. The House version of the resolution is led by Democratic Representatives Gerald Connolly and Ami Bera, and Republicans Andy Barr and Mario Diaz-Balart, leaders of the Taiwan caucus.

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States, Alexander Yui, met with House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, prompting a complaint from China.

Beijing says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in Sino-U.S. relations.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
Former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski from Law and Justice gestures during a parliamentary session at the parliament in Warsaw, Poland, December 21, 2023. Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS/ File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said he had started a hunger strike as a "political prisoner" on Wednesday, and was joined in the protest by his ex-deputy Maciej Wasik a day after both men, convicted of abuse of power, were sent to jail.

Their high-profile arrests, which took place inside the presidential palace in Warsaw on Tuesday while the president was at a different location in the city, have triggered raw emotion in Poland with protests carrying over to Wednesday.

The events mark a gear change in new Prime Minister Donald Tusk's efforts to undo policies of his predecessors, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and punish those accused of wrongdoing during their time in power.

PiS faced accusations of subverting the rule of law during its eight years in office. Tusk's pro-European coalition's drive to bring Poland back in line with European Union democratic standards and unblock tens of billions of euros in EU funding pits him against PiS ally President Andrzej Duda.

"I declare that I treat my conviction ... as an act of political revenge," Kaminski said in the statement, read by his former deputy Blazej Pobozy at a press conference in front of the prime minister's office on Wednesday morning.

"As a political prisoner, I started a hunger strike from the first day of my imprisonment."

On Wednesday evening, Wasik's wife told private broadcaster TV Republika that her "husband also began a hunger strike."

"He said he felt he has to, that it was necessary," she said after the wives of both ex-ministers met with them in prison on Wednesday.

Police entered Poland's presidential palace to detain Kaminski and another of his former deputies, Maciej Wasik, on Tuesday. The two politicians had remained in the palace after attending a ceremony there earlier that day.

"The men behaved as if the presidential palace was a kind of asylum, a territory where Polish law did not apply. And no, it is not," current Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski from the Civic Coalition (KO) party told private broadcaster TVN24.

"The police acted regardless of the fact that the case concerned well-known politicians."

Kaminski's lawyer told private radio RMF FM he is preparing a complaint against his Tuesday detention as well as against the court's order to send him to prison. The station reported earlier that he was also preparing a final appeal against a conviction to the Supreme Court - a cassation - aimed at acquittal.

TWO-YEAR SENTENCES FOR ABUSE OF POWER

PiS lawmaker Kaminski was convicted of abuse of power for allowing agents under his command to use entrapment in an investigation. He denied wrongdoing and in 2015 was pardoned by Duda, allowing him to take up his government post.

Last year, the Supreme Court said the case should be reopened and Kaminski and Wasik were sentenced by a lower court in December to two years in prison.

"I want to say clearly that if a politician is in prison, it does not mean that he is a political prisoner," Deputy Justice Minister Maria Ejchart said.

"Everyone has the right not to eat or drink, it is an individual decision," she added. "In a situation where a person is under the care of the state, when someone is convicted, he or she is subjected to medical examinations, body measurements, how the body reacts to the decision to stop eating."

Polish Ombudsman Marcin Wiacek was quoted by PAP state news agency as saying that "an incarcerated person does not have - according to the provisions of the executive penal code - the right to refuse a meal."

"If such a protest takes place, its consequence is that such a person, an inmate, will be referred to medical care and diagnostic procedures."

Former prime minister and current PiS MP Mateusz Morawiecki called on representatives of EU institutions and other international organizations to take "an unequivocal stand on this appalling turn of events."

"I appeal to the democratic community of the West not to look passively at what is happening in Poland today," he said in a party statement.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said in a statement that calling Kaminski and Wasik "political prisoners" is a deeply unfair distortion, directly damaging the memory of people actually imprisoned because of their beliefs, attitudes, and fight for democracy and human rights."

Duda said on Wednesday he "would not rest" until Kaminski and Wasik were freed and said he believed his pardoning of the pair in 2015 was in line with the constitution. He reiterated on many occasions that he believed his pardon should stand.

Lawyers had questioned whether Duda had the power to pardon Kaminski before an appeals court had issued a final ruling.

Hundreds of PiS supporters gathered on Tuesday in front of the presidential palace and at a police station where the pair were held to protest their detention.

A gathering in support of Kaminski and Wasik in front of the presidential palace on Tuesday evening turned into a protest against their apprehension, with people also gathering near a police station they were taken to and later a Warsaw prison where they were incarcerated.

On Wednesday evening over a hundred people protested again in front of the presidential palace against the detentions, private radio RMF reported, adding that some also came to support the decision to put them in prison.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Marek Strzelecki, Anna Koper and Karol Badohal; Editing by Ros Russell)
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick wears a mask during arraignment at Dedham District Court, facing charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception at Wellesley College in 1974, in Dedham, Massachusetts, U.S.

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday suspended a criminal case that alleged former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick fondled an 18-year-old boy in 1977, finding the 93-year-old was not competent to stand trial after he was diagnosed with dementia.

Judge David Reddy's decision came after a Massachusetts judge in August dismissed the only other sexual assault case nationally against McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019.

A defense lawyer asked the state court judge during a hearing in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to similarly dismiss the case in that state against McCarrick, according to court records. But the Wisconsin judge said he did not have authority to do that.

Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for the alleged victim in both cases, in a statement called his client "a courageous and determined clergy sexual abuse survivor who will continue to seek justice" through civil cases in New York and New Jersey.

A lawyer for McCarrick declined to comment. Prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment.

McCarrick in 2021 became the only current or former U.S. Catholic cardinal to ever face child sex abuse charges when Massachusetts prosecutors filed that initial case. The Wisconsin case was announced in April 2023.

He 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 involved the same alleged victim, who called McCarrick a family friend who sexually abused him for years beginning in 1969, including during a wedding in Massachusetts in 1974 and a stay as a guest at a Wisconsin cabin on Geneva Lake in 1977.

In August, though, a Massachusetts judge granted prosecutors' request to dismiss charges against McCarrick over the 1974 incident, after a psychologist retained by the prosecution concluded she believed McCarrick had dementia.

That expert, Kerry Nelligan, the psychologist, said McCarrick had "significant deficits in his memory and ability to retain information" and that his condition rendered him unable to meaningfully participate in his own defense.

After the Massachusetts case was dismissed, Wisconsin judge Reddy appointed Nelligan to conduct a competency examination and apply Wisconsin law in doing so.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Sonali Paul)
By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A liberal political party led by a former prime minister was set to form a new government in Bhutan after winning its fourth free vote since democratic elections began 15 years ago, provisional results by the country's election body showed on Wednesday.

Nestled between China and India, Bhutan is known for its pioneering of a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, an alternative economic gauge that takes into account factors normally ignored by gross domestic product measures, such as recreation and emotional well-being.

The tiny Himalayan kingdom of fewer than 800,000 people is struggling to revive its aid-and-tourism dependent economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) won 30 seats in Tuesdays elections for the 47-member parliament, or National Assembly, with the remaining seats going to the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), an early tally by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB} showed.

Final results are expected on Wednesday.

The BTP, formed in 2022 by a former bureaucrat, will be the main opposition in the parliament, analysts say.

The PDP was formed in 2007 by Tshering Tobgay, 58, who was prime minister from 2013 to 2018. Tobgay is set to become the new prime minister, for a second five-year term.

Heartiest congratulations to my friend @tsheringtobgay and the Peoples Democratic Party for winning the parliamentary elections in Bhutan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X late on Tuesday. Look forward to working together again to further strengthen our unique ties of friendship and cooperation.

During campaigning, Tobgay has vowed to promote the investment needed to boost the country's $3 billion economy and address the unemployment that is driving an increasing number of young Bhutanese abroad, mainly to Australia, in search of better opportunities.

Majority-Buddhist Bhutan, roughly the size of Switzerland, has deep economic and trade relations with its southern neighbour, India, which is also its biggest donor.

It has no formal diplomatic relations China but is in talks with Beijing to resolve border disputes - negotiations closely watched by India, which has its own border dispute with China.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Soldiers in an armoured vehicle patrol the city's historic centre following an outbreak of violence a day after Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency following the disappearance of Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros

By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's president has declared war on drugs gangs holding scores of prison guards hostage in a wave of violence that saw the storming of a TV station on-air and explosions around the nation.

The unrest appears to be in response to President Daniel Noboa's efforts to tackle cocaine trafficking, in particular by putting gang leaders in new high-security prisons.

"We are at war and we cannot cede in the face of these terrorist groups," Noboa, the 36-year-old son of a banana baron in power since November, said on Wednesday.

His government has declared a state of emergency, sent the military after 22 gangs named as terrorist organizations, and said about 20,000 criminals are involved.

Since Monday, gangs have kidnapped more than 130 prison guards and staff. That followed the apparent escape of notorious "Los Choneros" gang leader Adolfo Macias from prison.

With unexplained blasts occurring in various cities, balaclava-clad gunmen with grenades and dynamite briefly took over the TC broadcaster in the Pacific Ocean port city Guayaquil on Tuesday during a news program, before police arrested them and freed the media staff.

"It was surreal," said journalist Jose Luis Calderon, 47, who at one point was obliged to appear on camera at gunpoint at the TV studio.

Calderon told Reuters that at first he hid in the bathroom with others, but they were found and forced into the studio by the assailants. When police gunshots were heard outside, some colleagues begged for their lives.

"The individuals shot their guns, I think in reaction to the police, and they shot a door and one of the bullets ricocheted and injured the leg of a cameraman," Calderon said.

HUNDREDS OF DETENTIONS

A colleague recounted how dozens of journalists cowered on the floor, some praying. "I thought it was my last day on earth and I wouldnt see my children again," Alina Manrique said.

The armed forces commander, Rear Admiral Jaime Vela, told a news conference late on Wednesday that 329 people, mostly from gangs including Los Choneros, Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones, have been detained since the state of emergency began this week.

In response to videos purporting to show prison staff being subjected to extreme violence, including shooting and hanging, he said no hostage had been killed.

Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.

Prisons agency SNAI said 125 guards and 14 administrative staff remain hostages, with 11 people freed on Tuesday.

Police said nine officers were kidnapped in recent days, with three still being held.

Showing determination to press on with his security policies, Noboa told Canela Radio a design for two new prison facilities would be made public on Thursday.

The president said deportations of foreign prisoners, especially Colombians who number 1,500 in Ecuador's jails, would begin this week to ease overcrowding and costs.

"We are investing more on those 1,500 people than on school breakfasts for our children," he said.

INTERNATIONAL ALARM

Ecuador borders cocaine-producing Colombia and Peru and has become a major shipment point. Both its neighbors have stepped up controls on their frontiers.

China, a major investor, has closed its embassy and consulates.

Washington has pledged aid, said Noboa, whose $800 million security plan includes $200 million of weapons from the U.S.

Peru is investigating possible smuggling by its military of explosives and grenades for Ecuador's gangs.

Ecuador's government says the oil and mining sectors are functioning normally and has sent security forces to ports to protect exports like fruit and cocoa.

Soldiers and police have been raiding homes, beefing up checkpoints, and entering prisons.

"The challenge for Noboa will be to make lasting headway in the fight against crime beyond any immediate-term, military-led pacification," consulting firm Teneo said in a note.

Many businesses and schools have closed, with city streets quiet as police and soldiers patrolled.

"It's a very cold environment, as if there were a new COVID," said Guayaquil security guard Rodolfo Tuaz, 40.

"It's nerve-racking, we cannot work in these conditions," said another resident, Gabriel Narvaez.

In anti-gang operations, five gang members were killed in Esmeraldas province, national police commander General Cesar Zapata said, without giving more details.

Police were also seeking to identify three bodies in a burned-out car south of Guayaquil, and two officers were killed by armed men in Guayas province where Guayaquil is located.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito; Additional reporting by Herbert Villarraga in Guayaquil, Marco Aquino in Lima and Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may be poised to provide a new type of missiles to Russia, and may conduct further weapons tests to escalate tensions ahead of South Korean and U.S. elections, South Koreas defence chief told Yonhap news agency.

"North Korea, which needs money, is actively selling new weapons that Russia wants," Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told Yonhap on Wednesday.

Shin cited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visit this week to munitions factories, where he inspected what may be recently developed close-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons.

North Korea, which had previously said it will deploy these missiles to front-line troops, may sell at least some of them to Russia given its suspected sales of short-range ballistic missiles recently, Shin said.

Kim's visit to arms factories came as nearly 50 countries condemned Russia's procurement and use of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine.

North Korea could also test solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missiles as early as this month and launch a long-range missile to further escalate tensions before key elections in South Korea and the U.S., Shin added.

South Korea's general election is in April, while the U.S. holds presidential elections in November.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
A sign on an insurance store advertises Obamacare in San Ysidro, San Diego, California, U.S., October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

(Reuters) -More than 20 million Americans have so far signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) marketplace for this year, the highest since the inception of the law, according to data released on Wednesday.

Over 3.7 million people who have signed up for the 2024 plans are new enrollees, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showed.

"Today is a momentous day. A record number of people in the United States have health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Marketplace  more than at any point in history," said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

The latest data represents enrollment through December 23 for the 32 states using HealthCare.gov and for the 18 states and the District of Columbia with State-based Marketplaces, the HHS said.

The law, also known as Obamacare, was former U.S. President Barack Obama's signature piece of domestic legislation.

The Biden-Harris Administration had projected late last year that over 19 million people will enroll in 2024 through the ACA marketplace.

People who want to choose a healthcare plan for 2024 under the ACA can enroll before the deadline of Jan. 16, 2024.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
Rescuers stand at the site in the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout image released January 11, 2024. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) -Two Russian missiles struck a hotel late on Wednesday in the centre of Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, injuring 11 people, one person seriously, the regional governor said.

Pictures posted online showed many of the windows blown out and balconies destroyed with large piles of rubble in the street below. Emergency teams made their way through gaping holes in the facade to sift through rubble inside.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said the strike at about 10.30 p.m. local time involved S-300 missiles in the city's Kyiv district.

"Nine of those injured have been taken to medical facilities," Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "One of them, a 35-year-old man, is in serious condition." Visiting Turkish journalists were among the injured, he wrote.

"One missile hit next to the hotel, right by a fence. The other one hit a nearby annex," Kharkiv Police Chief Volodymyr Tymoshko told public broadcaster Suspilne.

"Servicemen never stayed in this hotel and just about everyone in Kharkiv knows this. It was used by journalists."

Psychiatrist Mykhailo Bebeshko, a hotel guest, told Suspilne that he had heard no air raid alert before the missile struck.

"I was in the bathroom and that was what saved me. I fell, hit my head and then lay on the floor," he said.

"With a second explosion, all the doors were blown out and it was fortunate that I had been on the floor. And I shouted out to my colleagues: Everyone ok? Everyone still alive?"

Oleksandr Filchakov, head of the Kharkiv prosecutor's office, said in a video posted on Telegram, that 23 guests and eight staff were in the hotel when the missiles struck.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said several homes in the district had been damaged as well as a manufacturing plant and a car showroom.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr KozhukharEditing by Sandra Maler; editing by Diane Craft)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it would send warships to the Indian Ocean later this year and an aircraft carrier to the region in 2025 for joint training and operations with Indian forces as the two countries strengthen their security ties.

British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the Royal Navy's Littoral Response Group would visit the Indian Ocean region this year and its Carrier Strike Group the next.

"There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested, so its vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India," Shapps said in a statement as his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh visited Britain.

"Together we share the same security challenges and are steadfast on our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific."

Britain and India will also conduct more complex joint military exercises in the coming years, in support of their shared goal of protecting trade routes and ensuring maritime security, the British Ministry of Defence said.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)
FILE PHOTO: Houthi military helicopter flies over the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

By Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed

(Reuters) -The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded Yemen's Houthis immediately end attacks on ships in the Red Sea and cautioned against escalating tensions while implicitly endorsing a U.S.-led task force that has been defending vessels.

The demand came in a Security Council resolution that also called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated vehicle carrier linked to an Israeli businessman that the group commandeered on Nov. 19, and its 25-person crew.

Eleven members voted for the measure demanding the Houthis "immediately cease all attacks, which impede global commerce and navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace."

Four members, including veto-wielding Russia and China, abstained. None voted against.

The key provision of the resolution, sponsored by the U.S. and Japan, noted the right of U.N. member states, in accordance with international law, "to defend their vessels from attack, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms."

The provision amounted to an implicit endorsement of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a U.S.-led multinational naval task force that has been defending commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from Houthi missile and drone attacks.

"The threat to navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea is a global challenge that necessitates a global response," U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in urging the council to approve the resolution.

The Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports to show support for Hamas Islamists battling the Israeli offensive in Gaza. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.

The U.S. accuses Iran of providing critical support for the Houthi attacks, including advanced missiles and drones, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Tehran denies the allegation.

The Houthi spokesman in Yemen, Mohammed Abdul Salam, dismissed the UN resolution as a "political game" and said the U.S. was the one violating international law.

The council voted after rejecting amendments proposed by Russia that would have stripped out the implicit endorsement of the U.S.-led task force and included the war in Gaza among the "root causes" of the Houthi strikes.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia questioned the legitimacy of the task force and said the resolution as drafted was "an open-ended blessing of it."

The Houthi attacks have disrupted maritime commerce, prompting some shipping lines to divert vessels from the Red Sea to longer routes, threatening to increase energy and food prices.

In the latest strikes, Washington said U.S. and British warships on Tuesday shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis at southern Red Sea shipping lanes in what London called the largest such attack in the area.

U.S. Central Command said there have been 26 Houthi strikes on shipping since the Houthis seized the Galaxy Leader.

(Reporting By Jonathan Landay in Washington and Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn.; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) walks out of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday asked a judge to dismiss the government's corruption case against him, saying the indictment targets official acts that should be immune from prosecution.

The New Jersey Democrat has pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement probes they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, including military and intelligence officials.

"The government's accusations in this case  that he sold his office and even sold out his nation  are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality," Menendez's lawyers wrote in papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, declined to comment. Prosecutors have until Feb. 5 to formally respond.

In charging the senator last September, prosecutors said investigators had found gold bars and envelopes stuffed with cash inside jackets in Menendez's apartment.

They also said businessman Wael Hana had arranged meetings between Menendez and Egyptian officials, who pressed the senator to sign off on military aid.

In return, Hana put Menendez's wife Nadine on the payroll of a company he controlled, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors filed a more sweeping indictment against Menendez last week, accusing him of helping a New Jersey businessman seek investment from a Qatari company with ties to the Middle Eastern country's government.

Menendez has resisted calls to resign, including from fellow Democrats. He temporarily stepped down as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee after being charged in September.

In their motion to dismiss, Menendez's lawyers argued to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that the charges improperly criminalized his ordinary legislative activities.

They argued the charges, if allowed to stand, would set a precedent for a future White House administration to prosecute "legislative enemies" who support Ukraine or Israel as agents of those countries.

"The court should not permit this novel and dangerous encroachment on legislative independence," defense lawyers led by Adam Fee of the law firm Paul Hastings wrote.

Menendez's lawyers also said cash that investigators found had been withdrawn from his bank account, and that the gold bars were "entirely unrelated to any actions on the part of the Senator."

Nadine Menendez, Hana, and two other businessmen also charged in the case have also pleaded not guilty.

A trial for all defendants is scheduled for May 6.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Nick Macfie and Bill Berkrot)
FILE PHOTO: An undated handout picture released by Guardia di Finanza shows tools that were seized as a part of an operation against fentanyl trafficking from China to U.S., in Piacenza, Italy. Guardia di Finanza Press Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Phot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and Chinese officials, in a virtual meeting on Wednesday, discussed cooperating on law enforcement issues including the illicit flow of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, the U.S. Department Of Homeland Security said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong participated in the meeting, along with other senior officials, the department said in a statement.

"Mayorkas stressed the importance of using the momentum from President (Joe) Bidens November meeting with PRC (China) President Xi Jinping to enhance counternarcotics collaboration," the department said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Writing by Ismail Shakil)
FILE PHOTO: The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and China wrapped up two days of military talks in Washington on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, the latest engagement since the two countries agreed to resume military-to-military ties.

Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over everything from the future of democratically ruled Taiwan to territorial claims in the South China Sea. Ties are still recovering after the U.S. downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed late last year to resume military ties, severed by Beijing after a visit in August 2022 by then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

The 17th round of the talks saw Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, meet China's Major General Song Yanchao, deputy director of the central military commission office for international military co-operation, the Pentagon said.

"The two sides discussed U.S.-PRC defense relations, and Chase highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict," the statement added, using an acronym for the People's Republic of China.

Pentagon officials say communication between the two militaries is key to preventing a miscalculation from spiraling into conflict.

The top U.S. military officer, General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held a virtual meeting last month with his Chinese counterpart, General Liu Zhenli.

China is willing to develop healthy and stable military-to-military relations with the U.S. "on the basis of equality and respect", its defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, citing the meeting.

It urged the U.S. to cut military deployment and "provocative actions" in the South China Sea, as well halt support for such actions by "certain countries", but did not identify them.

It asked the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and stop arming Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, despite Taiwan's strong objections, and vowed never to compromise on the issue.

"The United States should fully understand the root causes of the maritime and air security issues, strictly restrain its front-line forces, and stop hyping up (the issues)," it added.

Taiwan is holding presidential and parliamentary polls this weekend amid a ramped-up war of words between Taiwan and China.

U.S. officials have cautioned that even with some restoration of military communications, forging truly functional dialogue between the two sides could take time.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington, Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
FILE PHOTO: Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, arrives to attend the trail of former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried who is facing fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The top enforcer of criminal malfeasance on Wall Street is calling on whistleblowers to come forward and report wrongdoing under a new program aimed at uncovering illegal activity.

Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, told reporters on Wednesday his office would enter into non-prosecution agreements under the program with individuals involved in non-violent criminal conduct who voluntarily report offenses and cooperate with investigators.

Currently, cooperating witnesses with criminal culpability themselves often enter guilty pleas in the hopes of receiving a lenient sentence. The new policy provides an alternative under which prosecutors would agree not to bring charges in exchange for meaningful cooperation.

"That, in turn, will help us bring more misconduct to light," said Williams, who has brought high-profile financial fraud and public corruption cases since becoming the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2021 including the successful prosecution of former cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried last year.

The program is focused on cases involving fraud, failures of corporate controls or bribery, and will apply only to instances in which prosecutors were not already aware of the misconduct a witness discloses to them. It also will not apply to chief executive officers or chief financial officers of companies, elected officials, or other public figures.

Since taking office, Williams has prioritized speeding up prosecutions and often has urged people with knowledge of wrongdoing to come forward.

In 2022, after charging FTX founder Bankman-Fried with stealing billions of dollars from the cryptocurrency exchange's customers, Williams urged anyone who participated in the scheme to "come see us before we come see you." Three of Bankman-Fried's former closest colleagues pleaded guilty and testified against him.

Joshua Naftalis, a former Southern District of New York prosecutor, said the new guidelines will encourage more cooperation. In the past, prosecutors generally did not tell witnesses whether they would earn a non-prosecution agreement or be required to plead guilty until after they shared information, Naftalis said.

"It adds more certainty, which is what people want when they go into the U.S. attorney's office and self-report," added Naftalis, now a partner at law firm Pallas.

Williams' office and other Justice Department entities already consider non-prosecution agreements for companies that voluntarily disclose wrongdoing. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which brings civil financial fraud cases, offers financial compensation to whistleblowers who alert the agency to wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York;Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)
Video footage shows a maintenance van appearing to hit a U.S. airman on a flight line at RAF Lakenheath, England, on Jan. 4, 2024. A post on the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page said the airman survived but was hospitalized with serious injuries. Air Force officials later confirmed that an airman was hospitalized. (Facebook)

A U.S. airman in England was severely injured on duty Thursday when he was hit head-on by a maintenance van on the flight line at RAF Lakenheath, Air Force officials confirmed Wednesday, following posts about the accident shared over the weekend on social media.

The airman was taken off base for treatment, 48th Fighter Wing spokesperson Maj. Keavy Rake said.

The airman had multiple open fractures on both legs and internal bleeding, according to an anonymous post on the popular Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page Saturday.

The (senior airman) was pushing a tool chest and got smashed between it and the van hard enough the airbags in the van went off, the Facebook post said, adding that the airman survived and is recovering.

A photo shared on the page Saturday shows a white Ford van with government license plates and significant damage to the hood and front fender.

Black-and-white security camera footage published on the page late Tuesday shows a similar van driving into what appears to be a person pushing a toolbox or cart. The person is thrown to the ground by the impact, arms and legs flailing as the cart rolls on.

I can confirm that the injuries to the airman were serious because the wing was notified shortly after the incident, a member of the 48th Fighter Wing said on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal Wednesday. That only happens when a serious injury occurs on the flight line.

Rake declined to provide additional details or the airmans condition, and would not confirm authenticity of the video shared online.

While we appreciate the publics concern, it is our policy not to release personal details of our airmen, Rake said Wednesday, adding that the base is investigating.
A KC-46A Pegasus lands at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., on July 30, 2021. (Terry L. Atwell/U.S. Air National Guard)

(Tribune News Service)  Will the F-35s or Boeings F-15 EX fighter jets be coming to Selfridge Air National Guard base in Harrison Township, Mich?

Thats still up in the air.

What the base could land in the very near future is the next generation of refueling tankers, expected to replace the aging KC-135 Stratotankers, currently flying out of Selfridge.

We are excited about the Air Forces desire to select Selfridge Air National Guard Base as the new home to the KC-46 platform, an indispensable source of tanker capacity for national security, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs said, in a statement to The Macomb Daily. We will continue to aggressively advocate for a fifth generation fighter to replace the current A-10 aircraft, a determination that must be made to retain the viability of Selfridge as we know it today.

Rogers comments came on the heels of a Michigan Congressional Delegation (CODEL) letter signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and nearly all of the states lawmakers including Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, as well as U.S. Rep. John James, urging U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to select SANG as host base for a new squadron of 12 KC-46A refueling tankers and next generation of fighter jets replacing the aging A-10s.

Peters, Stabenow and more recently James have led previous bipartisan efforts to ensure the Department of Defense follows through on its pledge that Selfridge will continue to play a critical and ongoing role in national security.

That includes calling on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to include funding in the 2024 defense appropriation bills for additional fighter aircraft such as the F-15EX at Selfridge.

This same group, along with Rogers and others in Michigans congressional delegation, participated in the groundbreaking for a new $28 million aircraft hangar made possible by federal funding Peters secured through his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The new 41,900 square-foot facility equipped for fighter maintenance among other things will help to better position the base to be selected for a new fighter mission.

The CODEL letter sent to Kendall reiterates what the Air Force has already said about the Harrison Township base being an indispensable source of tanker capacity for our national security.

We know Selfridges advantages, its exceptional operational track record, and the 127th Wings outstanding personnel make Selfridge an ideal candidate for a squadron of KC-46s and a future fighter mission, the lawmakers wrote. Our delegation and state are totally dedicated to fighting for Selfridge with Governor Whitmers proposed $100 million investment in base and runway improvements a tangible example of this commitment. We look forward to working closely with you and your office to ensure Michigan continues to be a value add to the total force.

One would think its history alone would put it at the top of the list.

Since June of 1923, SANG has been providing aerial refueling for the nations military. The 100-year milestone was celebrated last fall with a proclamation issued by the Macomb County Board of Commissioners. It honored the history of the pilots who pulled off the seemingly impossible at the time by refueling a plane while in the air and the continued service of the 171st Air Refueling Squadron and 107th fighter squadron assigned to the 127th Wing.

Today the 127th Air Refueling Group consists of 40 KC-135 pilots and 25 boom operators, who have been flying KC-135 Stratotankers since 2007 when it converted to the tanker from the C-130 Hercules.

Worldwide deployments by the flying fortress have included support operations in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East. Its squadron consists of some of the militarys most experienced pilots including five Air Force Weapons School graduates, who would go through conversion training in order to fly the next generation of refueling tankers.

As the delegation pointed out in its letter, the 171st and 107th squadrons valuable stellar record and experiences provide a value add for air mobility and air combat commands at a fraction of the cost of active duty forces. Losing this group of pilots and maintainers, geographic advantages (U.S. Canadian border) and combat experience is unacceptable for the Michigan delegation and would be a loss to the total force.

Also pointed out is what makes SANG unlike any other base such as its proximity to a major airline hub at Detroit Metropolitan/Wayne County Airport. This has allowed the 127th Wing to recruit and retain the highest quality pilots and maintenance personnel for their tanker and fighter missions, while maintaining a unique force of citizen airmen with a strong work-life balance, leading to SANGs strong 95% retention rate.

All branches of the military are also represented at the base on the shores of Lake St. Clair, supporting approximately 5,000 military and civilian jobs that generate an estimated $850 million in economic impact nationwide.

In closing, the group wrote that they were encouraged by the Air Forces correspondence in July 2021, outlining its intent to replace Selfridges current KC-135 Stratoankers with KC-46 tankers but also requested a robust and detailed timeline of when and how this transition will take place and what obstacles might remain that prevent SANG from procuring F-35As and F-15EXs in the future.

The KC-46s are the tanker of the future. Securing a new squadron of these next-generation aircraft will keep Selfridge operational for decades, said Peters. I led this effort because it was important for us to push the Air Force to make a firm, public commitment to base these tankers at Selfridge, and Ill keep fighting until we have that in hand.

Im also committed to continue fighting for a new fighter jet mission  something that Selfridge is uniquely well-suited for, he added.

(c)2024 The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.

Visit at https://www.macombdaily.com/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A drone flies over Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, in March 2021, in preparation for an exercise. U.S. Army Europe and Africa said Jan. 9, 2024, that it hasn't encountered interference from suspected Russian spy drones while training Ukrainian troops in Germany. Russian drones have reportedly disrupted similar training at a German base west of Berlin. (Julian Padua/U.S. Army)

The Army in Europe said this week that Russian spy drones havent interfered with the training of Ukrainian troops at American bases in Germany, following reports of unmanned aircraft disrupting similar efforts at a German base west of Berlin.

But members of the military community should remain vigilant and report any signs of mischief, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said Tuesday in a response to a Stars and Stripes query.

Due to operational security, we cannot discuss specific U.S. Army and host nation policies and procedures that have been put in place to combat against these types of threats to U.S. Army bases, said Eliza Cantrell, a USAREUR-AF spokeswoman.

The Army call for vigilance comes amid reports that the German military has faced repeated intrusions from drones that are suspected to be linked to Russian espionage efforts.

On Sunday, the tabloid newspaper Bild reported that a German army base at the Klietz training area, 60 miles west of Berlin, has been a frequent target of such efforts.

Citing various government officials, the report said suspicious drones have been flying around German military posts on a weekly basis. Sites such as Klietz, where the Germans are training Ukrainian troops on the Leopard tank, are a favorite target, Bild reported.

This is clearly organized and strongly points to Russia, German parliamentarian Marcus Faber of the pro-business Free Democratic Party told Bild.

Sebastian Schaefer, a Green party member of parliament, said the army lacks a strategy to counter drones, Bild reported.

The German army appears to lack the necessary jamming devices to down the unmanned aircraft, government officials told the newspaper.

Like the Germans, the U.S. military has been training Ukrainian troops on a range of weapons systems, including the Abrams tank, at sites near the rural Bavarian towns of Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels.

While the Army declined to comment on what steps it could take to disable an intruding spy drone, the military has made counter-drone operations a focal point, given the expanding role of unmanned aircraft.

They have become a staple of warfare, from the battlefields of Ukraine to Iraq and Syria, where U.S. troops are routinely targeted.

Suspicious activity at U.S. bases can be reported to the Armys counterintelligence office by phone at 800-225-5779 or online at www.inscom.army.mil/isalute.
Construction work continues on a Marine Corps runway into Oura Bay at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Sept. 15, 2022. Work to reclaim a portion of seabed for a new Marine Corps airfield on Okinawa began Wednesday after a Japanese Cabinet minister approved job changes over local objections. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa  Work to reclaim a portion of seabed for a new Marine Corps airfield on Okinawa began Wednesday after a Japanese Cabinet minister approved job changes over local objections.

The Ministry of Defense resumed the work after Tetsuo Saito, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, approved permits for design changes over the head of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, a staunch opponent of the U.S. military presence.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the work resumption at a Wednesday press conference in Tokyo.

We received a report from the Ministry of Defense that the construction on the Oura Bay site will begin today as the necessary preparations have been made, he said.

The runway is being built on reclaimed land in Oura Bay in the rural Henoko area of Okinawa to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in urban, densely populated Ginowan.

Hayashi said construction will take nine years and three months.

Hayashi said that steadily moving forward with the construction will eventually eliminate hazards at MCAS Futenma, which is surrounded by homes and schools.

Relocating the airfield to the Henoko region of Okinawa is the only solution he said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also endorsed the relocation plan.

A situation in which the Futenma air station, said to be the world most dangerous, becomes fixed in its current location must absolutely be avoided, he told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday evening.

Tamaki, in a statement Wednesday on the prefectural website, said resuming construction at the site on the Marine Corps Camp Schwab is extremely regrettable. Work started without any discussion with the prefecture, as Tokyo agreed when former Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima approved the project in 2013.

I ask the Japanese government to have a sincere dialogue with Okinawa prefecture to resolve the issue, after acknowledging the serious problem caused by this forced reclamation work that is neither necessary nor rational and immediately halting the construction of the Henoko new base, which will add even more hardship to the Okinawas troubled history, Tamaki wrote.

All Okinawa, a group opposed to the presence of U.S. bases on the island, plans to protest at Henoko on Friday.

Group director Yuji Fukumoto said the national government behaved in cowardly fashion by deceiving its citizens and avoiding conversations about the airfield construction.

Instead of respecting the Okinawan people and lightening the burden, the government is doing the exact opposite, he said by phone Thursday.

Tamaki repeatedly refused to approve permits for design changes at the Oura Bay site. Saito eventually approved the permits on Dec. 28 after Tamaki ignored a Dec. 25 deadline from Fukuoka High Court to do so by Dec. 25. The court handed Saito that authority if Tamaki refused.

Tamaki has appealed the case again to Japans Supreme Court, but the Local Autonomy Act states that work may proceed while the appeal is pending.

Tamaki in November 2021 denied pending requests for permits at Schwab but was overruled by Saito, who deemed the governors decision illegal and unreasonable.

Tamaki began a protracted legal battle, filing and losing three suits to block the permits, culminating in a September loss at the Supreme Court.

The governor argued that the soft seabed in the construction zone poses a hazard and that Tokyo had failed to consider the environmental impact on the endangered dugong, a cousin of the manatee protected by Japanese law.

The project, originally slated for completion by 2014, will now take until at least 2032 and cost the Japanese government $6.9 billion, at last estimates.
HIIs Newport News Shipbuilding division has delivered the first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine stern to General Dynamics Electric Boat. (Ashley Cowan/HII)

The first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine stern has arrived at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Rhode Island.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia on Wednesday delivered the stern for the USS District of Columbia to Electric Boats Quonset Point facility, HII announced in a news release. Newport News Shipbuilding is under contract to construct and deliver six module sections per Columbia-class submarine to Electric Boat, the release said.

The Columbia class is slated to replace the Navys fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines as the nations sea-based nuclear deterrent. The service wants to build 12 Columbia-class submarines at a cost of about $132 billion, Stars and Stripes reported in January 2023.

Construction on the USS District of Columbia, the lead submarine in the Columbia class, began in October 2020, Stars and Stripes previously reported.
The expeditionary medical ships are designed to move farther and faster than the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy, up to 5,500 nautical miles at 24 knots. (Austal USA)

The Navys newest medical ship will bear the name of the most well-known military medical center in the United States, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced this week.

The ship  the first in its class of expeditionary medical vessels  will be called USNS Bethesda in honor of Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Md., the site of what was known informally as Bethesda Naval Hospital and is now the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Del Toro made the announcement Monday at Walter Reed, according to a Navy news release.

This ship, as well as all the Bethesda-class of expeditionary medical ships, is designed to provide hospital-level care in austere environments, and will serve not just our Sailors and Marines, but offer assistance and comfort to our allies and partners around the globe in times of need, he said in the release.

The Navy in December awarded Austal USA a $867.6 million contract to design and build three expeditionary medical ships by May 2030. Austal USA, a 25-year-old subsidiary of the Australian global shipbuilder, is headquartered in Mobile, Ala., and has more than 2,500 employees, according to its website.

The new medical ships will complement the existing hospital ships USNS Comfort and Mercy, Del Toro said. The Bethesda-class ships will be able to operate in smaller, shallower locations globally, he said.

The ships will have a flight deck to accommodate military helicopters along with medical capabilities including triage and critical care, three operating rooms, a medical laboratory, and the ability to rapidly stabilize and evacuate multiple casualties, according to the release.

The naming of the USNS Bethesda remains a testament to our unwavering commitment to the well-being of our forces, Rear Adm. Darin Via, the Navy surgeon general, said in the release. It symbolizes the strength, resilience, and compassion that our great Navy exemplifies.
Steam from a crater of Campi Flegrei billows in Pozzuoli, Italy, in 2018. The Navy is requiring personnel planning to live in Pozzuoli and other areas to sign a letter acknowledging they are aware of the dangers associated with living in high-risk areas for volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. (Stars and Stripes)

NAPLES, Italy  A new Navy requirement is forcing some service members and Defense Department civilians to sign a letter saying that they understand the danger of living in areas of Naples deemed high-risk during a volcanic eruption or earthquake.

The requirement applies to service members and DOD civilians who want to move into a residence in red or yellow zones associated with Campi Flegrei, a large volcanic caldera situated to the citys northwest.

The undated letter was recently sent to prospective tenants by the Naval Support Activity Naples housing department and says the requirement came from the bases commanding officer, Capt. John Randazzo.

The Italian government-designated zones include a large swath of Naples popular with the military community for its sea views, villa-like living and proximity to restaurants, bars and shopping. Among them are the commune of Pozzuoli and the districts of Posillipo, Chiaia and Vomero.

This extra requirement is to allow you and your family to make the most informed decision possible and for your command to manage their emergency management response and mission essential personnel, according to the letter.

Commands also must sign the letter before a lease can be completed, it says.

Naples, Italy, sits on a stunning coastline and landscape with volcanic activity. While Mount Vesuvius, in the background, is often considered the greatest eruption threat in the area, volcanologists say Campi Flegrei, a large volcanic caldera situated to the citys northwest, may be just as dangerous. (Stars and Stripes)

Its unclear when the housing department began sending the letter or how many people have received it. Another unknown is whether the base plans to require DOD personnel already living in the designated areas to sign it.

NSA Naples officials didnt immediately answer those or other questions Wednesday.

Last year, Naples was hit by thousands of small earthquakes and other indications of volcanic activity, rattling residents and catching the attention of volcanologists.

The strongest of those, a magnitude 4.2 quake on Sept. 27, did little damage but sparked fears that a seismic crisis might be underway for the first time in more than 40 years.

The last major seismic activity in the region was the magnitude 6.9 Irpinia earthquake on Nov. 23, 1980, centered in Castelnuovo di Conza, about 81 miles southeast of Naples. The earthquake killed nearly 3,000 and injured at least 8,000 in the southern Italian regions of Campania, Basilicata and Puglia.

Campi Flegrei consists of a network of craters and other volcanic structures, mostly under the Bay of Naples. It is not directly connected to Mount Vesuvius but results from the same complicated tectonics of Italy.

Experts say there is no imminent threat from Campi Flegrei. Still, the Italian government is making plans should mass evacuations be needed.

It has designated red and yellow zones in Naples based on proximity to the caldera and the associated dangers from an eruption.

NSA Naples leaders maintain communication with Italian emergency management officials, who offer information about volcanic or seismic activity along with their recommendations, base spokesman Lt. j.g. Cody Milam told Stars and Stripes in October.

We take this information and use it to influence how we operate and define environmental threats, Milam said.
Seaman Luis Mancera, left, seen here alongside Seaman Jordan Charles on Oct. 25, 2022, died aboard the USS Ronald Reagan on Jan. 8, 2024. (Heather McGee/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  A sailor assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan was found dead Monday aboard the aircraft carrier, according to a ship spokesman.

Seaman Luis Mancera, 22, of California, was pronounced dead by the carriers medical personnel shortly after he was found unresponsive Monday morning, according to an email from spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Phil Chitty.

No further information on Manceras death was available Wednesday, Chitty wrote that day.

Details about the manner of death are under investigation, he said.

A boatswains mate, Mancera enlisted in June 2021, graduated from Recruit Training Command that September and reported for duty aboard the Ronald Reagan two months later, Chitty said.

Mancera received several personal and unit awards during his naval career, including the National Defense Service Medal, two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon, the Navys Battle E award and the Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon with Sharpshooter device.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Sailors family, shipmates and friends, Chitty said.

Mancera is at least the third U.S. service member to die in Japan since Dec. 24.

Airman 1st Class Isabella M. Garcia, 20, stationed at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, died Dec. 25. Details surrounding the incident are under investigation, the base public affairs office wrote in an unsigned email Jan. 11.

The 18th Wing is focused on supporting her family, coworkers and others impacted, the message said. We strongly encourage all members to continue to support each other and utilize our team of professional helping agencies when in need.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Romario Clennon, of Atlanta, died Dec. 30, less than a week after a self-inflicted gunshot wound aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson at Yokosuka.

Anyone contemplating suicide or who knows someone who is should seek assistance immediately by contacting the Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988, or the Military Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255, according to The Wellness Center & Health Promotion at the base.

The base emergency number is 911; the emergency number in Japan is 119.
A U.N. helicopter at the Aviation museum of Zhulyany Airport, Kiev, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons)

NAIROBI  The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab seized the crew of a United Nations helicopter that made an emergency landing in Somalia on Wednesday, said two people based in Mogadishu who work with international organizations.

Al-Shabab set the helicopter on fire and seized most crew members after the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in the central Galguduud region, a Western official told The Washington Post.

A Mogadishu-based official said four Europeans and five Africans were onboard. One crew member was reportedly killed, two were unaccounted for and may have escaped, and the rest were taken captive, he said. All four officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia said a statement would be issued. An internal U.N. memo said the helicopter was struck by an object on the main rotor blade, and the flight landed safely with precaution. It didnt say what the object was.

The United Nations provides logistical and medical support to the 17,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. An official with the force who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said no peacekeeping troops were on the helicopter.

Al-Shabab has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is the main hostile force in the area.

The group has frequently seized foreign hostages, including medical workers, and kept them in captivity for years. In 2018, it kidnapped a German nurse working with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Mogadishu, the capital. She has never been recovered.

Al-Shabab, or The Youth, was the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, which took control of Mogadishu in 2006 after years of anarchy. It was pushed from power by an Ethiopian military invasion with U.S. backing, but it is able to carry out frequent assassinations and bombings and collect about $15 million per month in taxes through threatening businesspeople.

The group also operates Islamic courts  often considered to be less corrupt than government courts  and citizens sometimes travel out of government areas to lodge cases there.

Somali government forces, supported by the A.U. peacekeeping force and clan militias, have clawed back territory from al-Shabab in recent years, but the insurgent group still has control over swaths of the country.

Galguduud has been a key battleground, where increasingly strong clan militias opposed to al-Shababs harsh interpretation of Islamic law have repeatedly clashed with the insurgency.

Al-Shabab rejects Somalias traditional Sufi form of Islam and wants to institute the much harsher Wahhabi rule, originating in Saudi Arabia. The groups members frequently attack local shrines as un-Islamic, fueling anger among some of the clans opposing them.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are also present in the Horn of Africa nation, where they train the elite Somali special forces and carry out airstrikes and missions. A Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity said no American citizens were onboard the helicopter Wednesday.

Somalia has been torn apart by civil war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, then turned on each other.

Wednesdays capture of the helicopter and its crew is likely to evoke memories of the capture of a U.S. military crew when its Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu in 1993.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrates a rocket launch in this image released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 22, 2023. (KCNA)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has named South Korea his countrys principal enemy and the nation most hostile to Pyongyang, state media reported Wednesday.

Kim made the comments while touring munitions factories earlier this week, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

His comments followed North Korean artillery barrages along the countrys disputed western sea boundary Friday and Sunday. The North denied firing rounds on Saturday, as South Korea claimed. The Souths military responded by firing its own artillery from sea islands it claims.

Kim said his nation will bolster military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent, according to the news agency.

The historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile  the entity called [South Korea], Kim said, according to the report.

Kim felt great satisfaction over the fact that the arms factories had successfully carried out the plan for deploying new types of weapons and equipment to the first-line large combined units and major missile units, the report said.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday said Russia bombarded the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Sunday with missiles provided by North Korea.

Last week, the White House released U.S. intelligence reports that said Russia also fired missiles supplied by North Korea at targets in Ukraine on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.

Diplomats from 48 countries including South Korea, the U.S., Japan and the European Union, in a joint statement Tuesday said they condemn in the strongest possible terms North Korean missile exports and the use of those weapons by Russia against Ukraine.

South Koreas Unification Ministry, in a statement Wednesday, said Pyongyangs insistence on warlike preparations is a sign that the North is afraid of and impatient over the strengthening of deterrence by the South and the U.S.

North Korea has tried to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula since New Years Day, the statement said.

Pyongyangs rash acts are an obsolete strategy to try to escape its internal crisis by turning dissatisfaction with the regime outward and to shake the South Korean community, the statement said.

Previously, North Korea referred to the U.S. as its primary enemy, a Unification Ministry spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes by text message Wednesday. South Korean government officials often speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

A KCNA report on a Jan. 9, 2021, for example, referred to America as the Norths biggest main enemy, the spokeswoman said.

Kims statement this week underscores the lack of an engagement policy from South Korea now toward the North, Kim Hyun Wook, an American studies professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, said by email Wednesday.

Current South Korean policy is focused on military deterrence measures vis-a-vis the North, which made the North to focus on military hawkish policy too, he said.

The Norths move to label South Korea its primary foe is no major change, according to James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple Universitys Japan campus.

South Korea undoubtedly is the principal enemy of the North, he said in an email Wednesday. The two sides never formally concluded the Korean War and each claims the others territory.

There was, however, less confrontational language during the term of former South Korean President Moon Jae-In, Brown said.

Moons successor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office last year, has brought his country closer to the U.S. and Japan  fellow democracies threatened by the North.

Now that Yoon is in power, the rhetorical restraint has been released, Brown said.
The French Minister of Education Gabriel Attal presents the book Ada & Zangemann which he offered on December 4, 2023 in Bonn to the parliamentarians of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly meeting in plenary session. (French National Assembly/Wikimedia Commons)

Thirty-four-year-old Gabriel Attal became Frances youngest prime minister and first openly gay head of government when he was appointed on Tuesday by President Emmanuel Macron.

The shake-up appears designed to reinvigorate Macrons centrist government ahead of European Parliament elections in the spring, to shore up his legacy and, potentially, to cultivate a successor. Macron wrote on X, formerly Twitter, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I have announced. Attal said in a tweet that he was honored and would work with strength, humility and without taboos in service of the French people.

Attals appointment comes a day after his predecessor, Elisabeth Borne, resigned following a tumultuous 20 months in office, during which she went head-to-head with lawmakers and was forced to override Parliament on multiple occasions to ram through Macrons legislative proposals on major topics such as labor reform and immigration.

Heres what to know: Who is Gabriel Attal?

A longtime Macron loyalist, Attal was appointed education minister in the last government reshuffle in July. One of his first moves was divisive: a ban on abayas - the long, flowing dresses worn by some Muslim women - in public schools. Attal cited the core French principle of secularism in the public space. Politicians on the left and center-left accused him of violating individual rights while playing to right-wing voters. But he has managed to remain one of Frances most popular politicians, according to multiple opinion polls.

His appointment may not do much to shield against accusations that Macrons government is elitist. Attal was born in a suburb of Paris and was educated in the French capital, where he earned degrees from Sciences Po and Paris-Pantheon-Assas University.

An early spokesperson for Marcons centrist political movement and for the government during the pandemic, Attal is considered charismatic and pugnacious, said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group, in a written analysis.

Attal has even drawn comparisons to Macron, who became the youngest president in modern French history when he was elected at age 39. Gabriel Attal, the new Macron? ran a headline in the news weekly Le Point in September. On Tuesday, left-wing lawmaker Mathilde Panot posted on social media: Adopting the maxim you are never better served than by yourself, Macron decides to appoint a Macron Junior.

Attal came out as gay in 2018, after joining Macrons government.

Why did Macron name Gabriel Attal as prime minister?

Although Macron was once the wunderkind of French politics, his nearly seven years in office have left their mark. His approval ratings are low. He has just emerged from a year of social unrest animated by his unpopular reforms to Frances pension system, the fatal shooting of a teen by a police officer and a conservative immigration law. And the French far-right is leading in the polls ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. Macron is in need of a fresh start and a new face, Rahman assessed.

Macron may be hoping that some of Attals shine will rub off on him. Gabriel Attal is Macron 2.0. By appointing him, the President expects to benefit from the popularity, the freshness, the energy, cleverness and disruption that embodies the bright, young, media-darling and quick-witted politician, Sebastien Maillard, an associate fellow in Chatham Houses Europe program, said in an email.

Appointing Attal, who is considered to be on the center-left of the political spectrum, may also be an attempt by Macron to even out the political scales. After the pension reform and the migration law adopted last year, Macrons second term was perceived as leaning to the right. With Attal, the French President tries to go back to the very heart of what made his political success at the center of the spectrum, Maillard said. What challenges does Gabriel Attal face?

Although Attal appears to have the wind in his sails, he will face headwinds in the months ahead as he seeks to help Macron cement his legacy and fend off the far-right.

He will have to appease lawmakers who are wary of Macrons government after it bypassed their approval to enact major policy changes. Appointing Attal is an admission that the radical reforming phase of the Macron era is over, Rahman said. Without a majority in the National Assembly - and with no hope of achieving one through early elections - Macron has been obliged to move to a gentler, more consensual phase of his presidency.

Attals first major test will be to minimize the gains of the far-right in the European Parliament elections. He will become the de facto face of Macronism in the European elections, Rahman said. The president hopes that he will be able to narrow the polling lead of the far right, led by Marine Le Pens deputy, Jordan Bardella, who is also plausible and telegenic - and even younger at 28.

The rivalry between Attal and Bardella will outstage the one between Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen when Macron was running for his first term in office, Maillard said.

The stakes are high, Maillard added: Should Attal succeed, he will inevitably become Macrons political successor in the presidential race in 2027.
The first portrait of Joe Biden as president of the United States. (The White House)

The Biden administration is trying to thread the trickiest of needles in the Middle East.

While remaining steadfast in its support for Israel as it pursues its war against militant group Hamas, the United States is also trying to lessen the harm inflicted on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and minimize the scope of the conflict, which is threatening to widen across the region. Critics  including a chorus of pro-cease-fire protesters who interrupted President Joe Biden at a Monday event in Charleston, S.C.  argue that those efforts at mitigation are broadly failing, and that the White House is either deliberately or witlessly presiding over a vast slaughter of Palestinians (at least 23,210 people, at last count) and the de facto ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.

On a tour of Middle Eastern capitals this week that included a stop in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed ahead. He delivered messages from Arab counterparts to Israeli officials, urging the wartime government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the intensity of its military operations and expand humanitarian assistance for a population wracked by hunger and disease. Blinken also reiterated the U.S. backing of Israels campaign and shrugged off a South African-led initiative at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide as meritless.

Looming over Blinkens trips this week are the Biden administrations concern that the war may spiral regionally. Israel may be withdrawing some forces from Gaza  though the toll on Palestinian lives has only worsened  but tensions are mounting on its northern border with Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been engaged in daily exchanges with influential militant group Hezbollah.

The risk that Israel might launch an ambitious attack on Hezbollah has never gone away, The Washington Post reported, citing White House and State Department officials, but there has been broader concern about an escalation in recent weeks, particularly as Israel announced the temporary withdrawal of several thousand troops from Gaza on Jan. 1  a decision that could open up resources for a military operation in the north.

Then theres the question of what comes next in Gaza. U.S. officials are pushing for a post-war scenario that would see substantive engagement and investment from Israels Arab neighbors, the return of non-Hamas Palestinian administrative rule to Gaza and the revival of a political track for the two-state solution  the now-moribund vision of separate Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side.

In all this, the Biden administration is facing obstacles from within Netanyahus far-right coalition. The right-wing prime minister has spent much of his political career chipping away at the prospect of a two-state solution and came back to power with allies further to the right who explicitly reject any talk of Palestinian statehood. They also advocate further Jewish settlement of the West Bank and even of war-blighted Gaza. The rhetoric coming from within Israel has made U.S. attempts to hatch a regional plan to calm the crisis more difficult.

The gaps between the Israelis and Arab leaders remain vast as far-right members of the Netanyahu government call for the mass displacement of civilians from Gaza and have dismissed American calls for a revamped and revitalized Palestinian Authority to play a role in postwar Gaza, The Washington Post reported, nodding to Netanyahus public refusal to let the Palestinian Authority assert control over postwar Gaza.

One strain of analysis suggests that Netanyahu is subject to the forces that will keep him in power  namely, far-right firebrands like national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. These two far-right cabinet members are constantly fueling disputes between Israel and America and fanning the flames of polarization in Israel. ... And Netanyahu appears to be their captive, Amos Harel wrote in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The Israeli rights appetite for a maximalist victory and the broader domestic politics of the moment, Harel added, may mean Netanyahu has a clear interest in making the war in Gaza drag on throughout the next year. And its hard to refute the American fear that this time, with his back to the wall, Netanyahu might also consider further escalation on the northern front.

This is a far cry from the Middle East that the Biden administration hoped to see during its term in office. The White House dropped much of its human rights agenda for the region in favor of prioritizing Israels normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia. The political, economic and defense agreements that would emerge out of that formal rapprochement would, in the minds of many Washington policymakers, help bring stability to the Middle East and allow the United States to shift its focus to the Asia-Pacific and the thorny challenges posed by a rising China.

But the provocations of the Israeli far right and the ruinous scale of the war in Gaza is forcing difficult conversations back on the table  including a recognition that the lack of political and civil rights for millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation can no longer be simply swept under the rug.

After meetings in Saudi Arabia this week, Blinken told reporters that Riyadh was still interested in normalizing ties with Israel, but it will require that the conflict end in Gaza, and it will also clearly require that there be a practical pathway to a Palestinian state.

In a Tuesday interview with the BBC, Khalid bin Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, pointed to the Israeli right as an impediment to political reconciliation. The problem that we have today with the current government in Israel is there is an extreme, absolutist perspective which does not work to achieve compromise and therefore you are never going to end the conflict, he said.

For now, Netanyahu and his allies are digging in their heels. Analysts contend that the course of the war and spiraling regional tensions may also play into the hands of Netanyahus arch-nemesis, Iran.

The Israeli right wings grand 1948-style strategy to redraw its demographic and geopolitical realities, on the one hand, and Irans patient exploitation of a growing arc of conflict, on the other, threaten to lead the Middle East, and the world, in a very dangerous direction in 2024, observed Paul Salem, president and CEO of the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank. And with the United States having little leverage over Israel  or, for that matter, Iran  and no other regional or global player able to bend this dangerous trajectory, the region looks to be headed in a very explosive direction.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin holds a holiday morale call at the Pentagon on Dec. 21, 2023. (John Wright/U.S. Air Force)

WASHINGTON  The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday launched a formal inquiry into Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins failure to disclose his illness and hospitalization that has now lasted more than a week.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., is asking Austin, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Austins chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, to answer detailed questions and hand over documents related to delays in informing the White House, top Pentagon officials and lawmakers about Austins medical condition.

As you must be aware, this lack of transparency is inexcusable and could have resulted in calamity, Rogers wrote in a letter to Magsamen. Congress must understand how this unacceptable breakdown in disclosure concerning the secretarys capacity to lead the [Defense] Department occurred.

Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Jan. 1 after experiencing complications from a surgery to treat prostate cancer. Hicks, his deputy, began covering part of his duties on Jan. 2 but did not know about Austins hospitalization until Jan. 4.

The secretarys failure to inform his No. 2 in command is unacceptable and begs many questions concerning the intent behind his secrecy and lack of transparency, Rogers wrote in a letter to Hicks.

The White House was informed Jan. 4 that Austin was hospitalized, three days after he was rushed to Walter Reed for severe pain, and congressional leaders found out only minutes before the Pentagon issued a news release to the public on Jan. 5 at about 5 p.m.

The reason for Austins hospitalization and his cancer diagnosis were revealed Tuesday. John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said the White House also was not informed of the surgery in December, though the medical procedure required Austin to be put under anesthesia.

Austin has acknowledged the lack of transparency and said he was committed to doing better. Rogers wrote in a letter to Austin on Tuesday that the handling of his absence amid wars in Ukraine and Israel greatly concerned lawmakers.

The department is a robust institution, and it is designed to function under attack by our enemies, but it is not designed for a secretary who conceals being incapacitated, Rogers wrote.

The Defense Department on Monday ordered a 30-day review of what happened during the notification process last week but that has not satisfied some lawmakers.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the internal review ordered by Magsamen, who is also under scrutiny, is woefully inadequate.

We need to have an Armed Services [committee] hearing on this, if theres an investigation, that needs to be done by an outside inspector general, he told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday.

Wicker said he did not think Austin would resign over the incident, though calls for Austin to step down continued among some Republicans.

A group of former pilots from the Navy and Air Force who are now serving in the House told President Joe Biden in a letter on Tuesday that Austins serious lapse in judgment warranted his immediate resignation.

If he does not resign, he should be immediately dismissed, they said.

The letter was signed by Reps. August Pfluger, R-Texas, Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, Mike Garcia, R-Calif., and Scott Franklin, R-Fla.

Kirby maintained Tuesday that Biden still had full faith and confidence in Austin and would keep the secretary in his position until the end of his term.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits U.S. personnel deployed to Poland on Nov. 21, 2023. (Chad McNeeley/Department of Defense)

WASHINGTON  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has prostate cancer that required surgery and caused a urinary tract infection that led to his recent undisclosed hospital stays, Pentagon officials and his doctors revealed Tuesday.

His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, two of Austins doctors said in a statement.

Austin, 70, has been in the hospital since Jan. 1 after experiencing complications from a procedure conducted Dec. 22. The secretary has come under scrutiny from lawmakers and news outlets after he failed to notify President Joe Biden and other federal officials about his illness and hospital stay, which has now lasted more than a week.

During a regular health screening in early December, Austins cancer was detected by Drs. John Maddox and Gregory Chesnut at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Austin was admitted to the hospital about three weeks later for a prostatectomy, which involves surgery to remove part of the prostate gland. The doctors called it a minimally invasive surgical procedure. Austin was under general anesthesia during the surgery and left the hospital the following morning.

On Jan. 1, Austin returned to Walter Reed after experiencing pain in his abdomen, hip and leg, the doctors said. He was later found to have a urinary tract infection and Austin spent days in the intensive care unit before he was moved to a private section of the hospital.

Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines, the doctors said. This resulted in the backup of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach. The abdominal fluid collections were drained by nonsurgical drain placement. He has progressed steadily throughout his stay. His infection has cleared.

Austin was still at Walter Reed on Tuesday, and the Pentagon did not know how long he will stay there.

During Austins medical treatments, no one at the Defense Department notified the White House, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Congress or the public for several days. On Jan. 2, Austin transferred some of his more pressing responsibilities to Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico.

Austins handling of the situation has drawn calls from some members of Congress for his resignation.

The [Defense] Department recognizes the understandable concerns expressed by the public, Congress and news media, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman, told reporters Tuesday. Secretary Austin has taken responsibility for the issues with transparency, and the department is taking immediate steps to improve our notification procedures.

Ryder said a 30-day Pentagon review of the situation is underway, and he expects it will outline where the failures occurred and how similar situations can be avoided in the future. However, Ryder still has not disclosed who made the decision not to inform Biden, lawmakers or other top Pentagon officials about Austins medical condition or detailed how the decision was made.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have demanded answers about why key figures in the government were not properly notified that Austin was diagnosed with cancer and he had been hospitalized. Ryder said Biden was only informed of Austins prostate cancer diagnosis on Tuesday morning.

Yet, Pentagon and the White House officials have said Austin will remain as defense secretary.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who was at the Pentagon for 16 months as Austins first press secretary, has said there is an expectation that top officials will be notified when a Cabinet leader is hospitalized with an illness.

As a public figure, you have an added burden to be as transparent about your personal situation as possible, Kirby said Tuesday. As a Cabinet official, as a Senate-confirmed official in the administration, everyone when they sign up for that and raise their right hand, there comes an obligation with that to be as transparent about your personal situation as you can.

The White House on Tuesday ordered all Cabinet members or secretaries must immediately notify the administration if at any time they cannot perform their duties, The Associated Press reported.

Agencies should ensure that delegations [of authority] are issued when a Cabinet member is traveling to areas with limited or no access to communication, undergoing hospitalization or a medical procedure requiring general anesthesia, or otherwise in a circumstance when he or she may be unreachable, the order states, according to the AP.

The Pentagon has said other factors also contributed to the breakdown in communication, including Austins chief of staff being sick with the flu last week and thus unable to make the notifications. Ryder said he was reluctant to tell reporters about the hospitalization until he had more information on Austins condition.

Secretaries of Cabinet departments and other top government officials typically always notify the White House and the public when they are planning to be hospitalized. In 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland notified the public a week ahead of a medical procedure and the Pentagon immediately announced in 2006 when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had surgery on his shoulder.

We have to do a better job, Ryder said. We are committed to making sure we dont do this again.

Stars and Stripes reporter Matthew Adams contributed to this report.
The Military Spouse Employment Partnership held a recruitment and employment event in Arlington, Va., in October 2022. The annual event provides companies and employable military spouses direct access to one another. (Defense Department )

Two senators have called on the Defense Department to create a standard policy on leave without pay that they say will help military spouses retain employment and benefits within the department despite frequent moves with their service member.

As you know, service members are generally relocated to new duty assignments every two to three years, and these moves create challenges for working military spouses who are forced to seek new employment, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa and an Army veteran, wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Ashish S. Vazirani, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Granting leave without pay would eliminate a break in federal employment, which causes some workers to have fewer jobs available to them because some positions are only open to current federal employees. It also would eliminate the loss of certain accrued leave and the potential loss of agency-matched contributions to Thrift Savings Plan accounts that have not yet vested.

The Department of Defense really should be walking the walk when it comes to military spouse employment, said Maria Donnelly, an Army spouse who has been working on this subject with other spouses for the past year.

Those efforts have led to a bill being introduced in the House and Senate that would create a similar leave-without-pay policy across the entire federal government. Shaheen and Ernst are not sponsors of that bill, the Resilient Employment and Authorization Determination to Increase National Employment of Serving Spouses Act, or READINESS Act.

However, Shaheen believes this more narrowed approach could have a higher likelihood of success, according to her office.

For Donnelly, seeing several senators approach the issue from different angles showcases the urgency and importance of the change.

Its really incumbent on the Defense Department to show other federal agencies that it can be done and lead the way, she said. The Department of Defense has the authority to do it already. Its really important that the senators are asking these questions of DOD.

Frequent moves with the military can make it difficult for spouses to obtain full-time employment and keep it during moves. Unemployment among military spouses is about 21%, according to the Defense Department. For more than a decade, unemployment for military spouses has been higher than the national average, which is now less than 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to help spouses find employment, Donnelly pointed out this policy update would be a no-cost solution that could impact the estimated 5,500 military spouses who work for the Defense Department.

Some Defense Department agencies and military service departments now offer to move military spouses into a leave-without-pay status instead of forcing them to resign their job during a move, according to the senators. However, the time afforded in the status varies drastically across the Defense Department.

The Air Force grants one year, while the Army only 90 days, but both allow for up to two years of extensions. The Navy does not have a specific policy for the spouses of service members who are reassigned, according to the senators. In the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, spouses can potentially get up to five years of leave without pay.

These various policies, and the fact that many employees are not afforded any such option creates a confusing and unfair system, wrote Shaheen and Ernst, who are both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Therefore, we urge the department to establish a standardized policy for the military departments and agencies directing a baseline amount of leave without pay for federal civilians when their service member spouses change duty locations.
Rioters storm the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. A recent study by the Institute for Defense Analyses found that there is no evidence to support the notion that violent extremism is widespread in the U.S. military, though extremism may be rising among veterans. (Robert H. Reid/Stars and Stripes)

Violent extremism isnt widespread in the U.S. military but may be rising among veterans, according to a new study carried out amid concerns that such influences could be taking root in the force.

The Institute for Defense Analyses was commissioned by the Defense Department to investigate extremism in the ranks following a recommendation from a Pentagon working group formed in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The assault on the Capitol involved multiple military veterans and active-duty members. That prompted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to order a stand-down so commands and units could discuss the issue of extremism in their formations.

The IDA study, released in late December, found no sign that extremism is running amok within the 1.3 million troop-strong active-duty force.

Racism and sexism continue to be problems in the military, but only a handful of violent extremists have been identified in the military ranks, stated the report.

Arizona Army National Guard soldiers stand in formation Dec. 3, 2023, in Mesa, Ariz. A recent study by the Institute for Defense Analyses found that there is no evidence to support the notion that violent extremism is widespread in the U.S. military, though extremism may be rising among veterans. (Brian Barbour/U.S. Army National Guard)

The Defense Department has a lengthy definition for extremism, which among other things bars advocating or engaging in unlawful force or violence to achieve goals that are political, religious, discriminatory or ideological in nature.

But service members at all levels told IDA investigators that they were confused about what precisely is prohibited.

In the absence of a clear and consistent message, there is a risk that misinterpretations could lead to a significant division in the force along political and ideological lines.

IDA found reason to believe that the risk to the military from widespread polarization and division in the ranks may be a greater risk than the radicalization of a few service members.

IDA found fewer than 100 substantiated cases per year of extremist activity by members of the military in recent years.

The numbers were similar to those in a separate report compiled by the Defense Department Inspector General in 2021 that identified 92 documented cases of extremist and gang activities between January and September of that year.

The IDA report also examined the prevalence of extremist and gang-related activity reflected in court-martial opinions, finding fewer than 20 such cases since 2012. When gang cases are excluded, the total number of extremist cases amounted to one per year over the period studied, IDA said.

The extremely low number of published court-martial cases involving prohibited extremist activities appears consistent in overall scale with the relatively low number of cases tracked in DOD criminal and investigative data systems, the report said.

Meanwhile, the IDA study determined that extremism among veterans appears to be on the increase and that they could be vulnerable to recruitment.

Air Force Lt. Col. Kevin Culbert defines extremism during a briefing in Martinsburg, W.Va., as part of a 2021 stand-down ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. A recent study by the Institute for Defense Analyses found that there is no evidence to support the notion that violent extremism is widespread among the troops, but that extremist groups have been known to target veterans. (Mallory Coleman/U.S. Air Force)

Extremist organizations have been known to target veterans as they separate from service and transition to civilian life, the report said. Former service members can be particularly vulnerable to extremist organizations that appear to offer a continuation of the camaraderie and shared identity and connectedness that individuals experienced while serving in uniform.

Still, other studies have shown that extremism in the veteran community could be even lower than among most other Americans.

For example, a Rand Corp. report in May found that military veterans expressed support for far-left movements and white supremacist groups at lower rates than the general U.S. population.

But the IDA report noted that participation in violent extremist activities by only a small number of people with military connections can damage trust in the institution. Therefore, it presents a risk to the military and to the country as a whole.

The report made 18 recommendations, which included further development of the definition of what constitutes prohibited extremist activities to ensure that the behavior is consistently defined across the military.

The report also cautioned that the military needs to differentiate between individual offenses of prejudice, harassment and bullying and cases of prohibited extremist behavior.

Not all misconduct is extremist and reporting individual incidents as prohibited extremism may give a distorted picture of the role and influence of extremist groups in the Department, the report said.
Despite raking in millions from drugs, criminal Mark Quinn was expected to pay back just over one euro.

A UK drug dealer who made over 11.8 m from shipping narcotics and was ordered to pay back just 1.16, has failed to do so.

In November, a Scottish court decided that Mark Quinn (59) had six months to pay off the tiny sum to cover the 11,814,941 he made during his involvement in the drugs trade.

The criminal appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on November 27 2023 where it was determined that he only had 1.16 available in assets.

He is currently banged up for a decade following 2022 proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: "It is sickening that a drug dealer who amassed 10million from inflicting misery and death across Scotland should only have to hand over a single pound coin of his dirty fortune.

"The SNP (Scottish National Party) Government have been repeatedly told that proceeds of crime laws are failing but they would rather push their weak justice agenda than fix them."

Quinn was nicked in 2021 in Holland after seven years on the run. He would go on to plead guilty in July 2022 for his involvement in amphetamine dealing between August 2013 and April 2014.

A former nursing home called Alder Grange in Liverpool had been used as a staging post to package up drugs due to be flogged in Scotland, the court head during his trial.

Quinns fingerprints were first found on packaging during the uncovering of 3million in drugs during a 2013 raid in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

The following year, Quinn was spotted driving a Ford Transit being monitored by officers driving from Liverpool to Scotland. He was seen driving to the nursing home and loading items into the back.

Quinn was later seen in the company of others at a car auction business in Edinburgh before travelling to Lanarkshire. He met up with a Scotsman in Liverpool and after a visit to the nursing home the accomplice was later stopped driving north.

He was found to have 100kg of amphetamine worth 3.2 million on the street.

When the nursing home was then raided, 2million was found inside.

Quinns defence lawyer said: A number of items were recovered which indicated the premises were being used for the production and preparation of amphetamine from amphetamine oil.

The lawyer added that he ran into financial problems and asked "certain people" for a loan of money. She said: "Once he had done that he was easy prey for them".

He has no excuses, but if there had not been the financial climate at the time, he would not be in this court, his lawyer added.
Paul Black (54) was in difficult financial circumstances when he used the card three times to buy drink

A man used a stolen debit card to buy alcohol from an off-licence after someone else took it from a car and it made its way to him, a court heard.

Paul Black (54) was in difficult financial circumstances when he used the card three times to buy drink without the owners consent.

Judge Bryan Smyth told him to pay compensation in full and adjourned the case at Dublin District Court.

Black, with an address at Liberty House, James Joyce Street, Dublin pleaded guilty to three counts of theft.

Garda Sarah Fay told the court she received a report that a womans debit card had been stolen from a car at Foley Street in the north inner city on April 15 last year.

The card was then used for three separate unauthorised transactions at the same off-licence in the city centre, at a total cost of 42, she said.

Gda Fay watched CCTV footage and Black, who was identified, came to a garda station by appointment and was arrested and charged.

Black had been using a wheelchair for 15 years and suffered from a variety of complicated medical issues, defence solicitor Conor Ruane said.

He was not involved in taking the card from the car, but it made its way to him and he used it for alcohol, Mr Ruane said.

The accused was in difficult financial circumstances, the solicitor said, asking the judge for leniency and time to get the compensation.

Judge Smyth remanded the accused on continuing bail to appear in court again later this month. He said he would finalise the case when the money was repaid in full.
Gardai told the court that David Callaghan was arrested at 7.51am on Wednesday morning.

David Callaghan, with addresses in Clondalkin, Dublin pictured at Blanchardstown District Court. Photo: IrishPhotoDesk.ie

A DUBLIN man has appeared in court charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation.

David Callaghan (27) was remanded in custody as bail can only be granted on the charge in the High Court.

Judge David McHugh remanded Mr Callaghan in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court on Friday.

The accused, with an address at Harelawn Park in Clondalkin, is charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation.

The incident allegedly took place both inside and outside the State on dates between April 2021 and February 2022.

Detective Garda Gavin Curran, of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), told Blanchardstown District Court that he arrested the accused at 7.51am on Wednesday morning.

Mr Callaghan was taken to Clondalkin Garda Station where he was later charged by gardai.

Gda Curran said the accused was handed a true copy of the charge sheet and he made no reply to the charge after caution.

David Callaghan. Photo: IrishPhotoDesk.ie

The court heard there was no application for bail.

Gda Curran said Mr Callaghan must apply to the High Court for bail on this charge.

Defence solicitor Wayne Kenny said there was no application for legal aid at this point.

If legal aid is applied for, Gda Curran said that gardai would be seeking a full vouched statement of means.

Mr Callaghan has not yet indicated how he intends pleading to the charge.
David Larkin was handed down a three month suspended prison sentence

David Larkin received a three month suspended prison term for sending menacing messages to Minister of State Mary Butler

A Longford man who was convicted of carrying out a campaign of online social media abuse against a Fine Gael senator has been handed a second suspended sentence after pleading guilty to sending grossly offensive messages to Fianna Fail Junior Health Minister Mary Butler.

David Larkin, of Ardnacassa Lawns, Longford, was handed down a three month suspended prison sentence at a sitting of Longford District Court today, January 9, after the 43-year-old was charged with two counts of sending a message that was grossly offensive, indecent or menacing to the Waterford TD.

Mr Larkins appearance and subsequent conviction comes a little over a month since receiving a five month prison term for sending a string of text messages and Facebook posts to Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy on dates between December 20, 2021 and February 14, 2022.

Both charges, the court heard, occurred on January 18 and 19, 2022, with Mr Larkin having previously pleaded guilty on December 5, 2023.

Sgt Mark Mahon, in outlining the case before the court, said the messages sent centred around Mr Larkins opposition to the Covid-19 vaccine programme.

He said the accused was vehemently opposed to the vaccines rollout, adding it would appear to have been his motive in sending the abusive messages to Ms Butler.

A copy of the messages was handed into court and not read out with Sgt Mahon confirming the victim was the Minister for Mental Health and Older People.

A victim impact statement was also handed in to Judge Bernadette Owens.

Sgt Mahon said Mr Larkin cooperated fully with investigating gardai and made full admissions when questioned over the incident.

David Larkin

In mitigation, defence solicitor Frank Gearty said his client was extremely apologetic over his conduct and assured the court Mr Larkins views, while genuine, would not be used in such a fashion going forward.

He said Mr Larkin was remorseful and issued a public apology to Ms Butler.

The court heard Mr Larkin was a single man, who hailed from Dublin originally and in the past spent 14 years in the US before returning home.

Mr Gearty said the accused was continuing to engage with a psychologist and probation services and was doing his best to turn his life around.

Part of those efforts had seen Mr Larkin secure work in the catering industry.

He has given in the other matter categorical assurance to the victims he will make no further contact directly or indirectly and he went far beyond the bounds of what was correct in the manner in which he wrote the messages, said Mr Gearty.

He acknowledges he caused hurt and he assures the victim he bears no malice towards her and regrets what happened and he has asked me to apologise to her publicly for what he did.

Mr Gearty said while his client was fully aware he had a suspended sentence hanging over him, he implored the court not to activate it as the offence before the court happened prior to the earlier suspended sentence being recorded.

In delivering her verdict, Judge Owens said the court was obligated to give Mr Larkin credit for entering a guilty plea and for assisting gardai with their investigation.

She also was at pains to stress the charges before the court were not at the same level as the charges which arose out of the case involving Senator Carrigy.

She consequently sentenced him to a period of three months, suspending the term for a period of 12 months.
He is the fourth person to be arrested as part of the investigation.

The scene of the incident and (inset) Tristan Sherry

Gardai this morning arrested a teenager who is suspected of taking the high velocity weapon that was used to murder Jason Hennessy Snr (48) in the Christmas Eve restaurant attack.

However the weapon has not yet been recovered by gardai.

It is suspected that he left the restaurant with the gun that was used in the murder, a source said.

The arrested 18-year-old man who is from Blanchardstown was an associate of the murder victim.

He is the fourth person to be arrested as part of the investigation.

Three other men have been charged and have appeared in court in relation to the double murder investigation.

Detectives have been able to study excellent quality CCTV and sources say that this was a major factor in this mornings arrest.

The fact that the machine gun used to kill Mr Hennessy has not been recovered by gardai is a matter of grave concern according to sources with fears of reprisal attacks considered legitimate.

The funerals of Mr Hennessy and gunman Tristan Sherry (26) who was killed after being disarmed in the restaurant attack are expected to take place later this week.

Gardai announced details of the fourth arrest in their double murder investigation.

Gardai are continuing to investigate all of the circumstances of a serious incident that occurred at a premises on the Main Street in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 at approximately 8pm on Sunday, 24th December 2023, which has resulted in the death of two males, a spokeswoman said in a statement.

This morning, investigating Gardai have arrested and detained a male under section 30 Offences Against the State Act, 1939, as amended.

The male is being questioned at a Garda Station in West Dublin, she added.

Father-of-one Sherry entered the restaurant shortly after 8pm on Christmas Eve and opened fire at a group with a sub-machine gun, hitting Jason Hennessy Snr (47) three times in the upper body including once in the neck.

He died in the Mater Hospital last Thursday.

A daughter-in-law of Jason Hennessy Snr has paid tribute to him online in recent days  describing the 48-year-old as our hero for protecting his family during the gun attack that claimed his life.

More arrests are expected in the massive investigation which is being led by Blanchardstown gardai.

Michael Andrecut (22) with an address at Sheephill Avenue in Dublin 15, was the first to be charged with Mr Sherry's murder.

He was remanded in custody on December 30 and is back in court on January 16.

Yesterday David Amah (18) of Hazel Grove, Portrane Road, Donabate, Dublin, was further remanded in custody to appear again in court in two weeks.

He had been charged at Blanchardstown District Court last Friday with Mr Sherrys murder.

A third defendant, Wayne Deegan, 25, of Linnetsfield Avenue, Phibblestown, Dublin 15, was charged last week with producing a knife as a weapon during an offence, assault causing harm to Tristan Sherry, and violent disorder by using or threatening to use violence with David Amah and Michael Andrecut, which would cause another person present to fear for their safety, at the steakhouse.

He has reserved his position on bail and will appear again at Cloverhill District Court on Friday.
Leo Reilly (18) had not been in trouble before but had been hanging around in the city and went straight in at the deep end

A teenager who had two stolen mobile phones and a knife on a Dublin street had found them and should have handed them in but gave in to temptation, a court has heard.

Leo Reilly (18) had not been in trouble before but had been hanging around in the city and went straight in at the deep end.

Reilly, of Ard Na Greine, Kells, Co Meath, pleaded guilty.

Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned the case for the production of a probation report.

Dublin District Court heard Reilly was seen with another person in the doorway of a phone shop at Moore Street on October 30 last year.

He was acting suspiciously and when searched, he was found with a knife in the waistband of his trousers. He told gardai he found it in a lane.

He was arrested and while in custody he was found with two mobile phones he was unable to open.

He had no reasonable explanation for having them.

Reilly had come across all three items, which were not his, defence solicitor Donal Quigley said.

He should have handed them in to the appropriate authorities but he gave in to temptation, the court heard.

Reilly had been under the influence of certain people at the time.

He was from Co Meath, was hanging around in Dublin and went straight in at the deep end.
Gardai have arrested and detained a male under section 30 Offences Against the State Act,

A fourth man has been arrested by gardai investigating the death of a gunman in a restaurant in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve.

One man  suspected hitman Tristan Sherry  was initially killed and a second man was left with critical injuries in the horror gun attack in Brownes Steakhouse.

It is believed Sherry entered the restaurant shortly after 8pm and opened fire at a group with a sub-machine gun, hitting Jason Hennessy Snr (47) several times, who later sadly died.

Jason Hennessy Snr with sons Devon and Jason Jnr

The gunman then attempted to get away through a door, but it was locked. He was then confronted, disarmed and stabbed several times. Gardai believe he was then also have been shot with his own gun.

A garda spokesman has confirmed that a fourth man has now been arrested in connection with the investigation.

In a statement today, gardai said:

Gardai are continuing to investigate all of the circumstances of a serious incident that occurred at a premises on the Main Street in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 at approximately 8pm on Sunday, 24th December 2023, which has resulted in the death of two males.

Tristan Sherry

"This morning, investigating Gardai have arrested and detained a male under section 30 Offences Against the State Act, 1939, as amended. The male is being questioned at a Garda Station in West Dublin.

"This male is the fourth person arrested as part of this investigation.

Meanwhile, the daughter-in-law of Jason Hennessy Snr has paid tribute to him  describing the 48-year-old as our hero for protecting his family during the gun attack that claimed his life.

Where do I even start, Kirstie Duffy wrote online.

The best man in the world you were. Youre our world and always will be... Ill cherish our memories for life.

You were so loved by everyone  ever the community hard-working man you were!

The best husband, dad, granda, and also the best father-in-law to me  treated me like your daughter.

Ill never forget that you idolised you grandchildren and Ill forever tell them about you and how you protected the whole family that night.

Youre our hero and will always be our hero. Its not goodbye. Its see you soon. Love you so much. The Boss Man.

Investigations are continuing into the horrific Christmas Eve attack.
They phoned a delivery service to drop off a stash of spirits and beer, which is prohibited at Loughan House, but were foiled when authorities were alerted to the doomed scheme

A trio of inmates at an open prison were caught red-handed after they tried to order a delivery of booze to celebrate the New Year.

They phoned a delivery service to drop off a stash of spirits and beer, which is prohibited at Loughan House, but were foiled when authorities were alerted to the doomed scheme, according to sources.

They had made the call while outside the prison and pretended to be a staff member looking for a delivery to be made.

After making arrangements to meet the driver near the Co Cavan prison the plan fell apart before they could get their hands on the booze.

One of the men allegedly involved is serving time for robbery and has dozens of convictions.

Another is doing a six-year stretch for a similar crime and also has a long list of previous convictions.

Inmates at Loughan House in Co Cavan have the freedom to leave the prison during the day to allow them to take up work, training or go to classes.

Loughan House is usually reserved for trusted prisoners and those coming towards the end of a lengthy sentence to help prisoners to re-integrate back into society.

Those caught with contraband or breaking the rules can expect to be sent back to a medium security prison to serve out the remainder of their sentences.

An Irish Prison Service spokesperson told the Sunday World it does not comment on matters relating to prison security.

However, preventing the access of contraband including alcohol into prisons continues to be a high priority for the Irish Prison Service.

Prison staff have increased the use of random and intelligence led cell searches on a daily basis.

It was added that alcohol, including its consumption is prohibited at all prison locations.

Last October the prison hit the headlines when a violent criminal who walked out of the facility was suspected of carrying out a one-man crime wave across the country.

The inmate, who was subsequently arrested, is being investigated over involvement in a number of armed robberies after fleeing from custody.
Victim was convicted of killing an Englishman when he was a teenager

Kevin Walsh (34) died in hospital on Sunday night following an assault in Dublin over the weekend

A convicted killer refused to reveal who had stabbed him or where he had been attacked while being rushed to hospital where he later died.

Kevin Stretch Walsh (34), who had a conviction for manslaughter, died on Sunday night after he was found at an apartment in Lucan, Dublin, in the early hours.

Earlier he had taken a taxi from his family home in Allenton Green, Tallaght, to the apartment in Shackleton Hall where he was living.

At around 3am on Sunday an ambulance was called to the property and Walsh was found with a stab wound.

Sources revealed that when emergency services tried to find out what had happened, Walsh refused to tell them.

He wouldnt say who had stabbed him, where he had been assaulted or reveal anything about how he suffered the injuries. He refused to divulge anything which would be of assistance, the source said.

The lack of co-operation overall in this investigation has frustrated inquiries.

Walsh died at James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown on Sunday night and gardai were awaiting the results of a post-mortem yesterday.

Detectives are still trying to find where Walsh was assaulted and are investigating if he was stabbed at a property in Tallaght before returning to Lucan where his condition deteriorated.

Yesterday, gardai continued their investigations into Walshs death at separate properties.

At Allenton Green a garda car was positioned outside the address where he grew up, and at the Shackleton estate gardai were positioned outside the second-floor property of an apartment building from where it is understood the alarm was raised.

Residents at the apartment complex said they had no idea what had happened.

They said the first they knew there was anything suspicious happening was when they saw the emergency services outside.

Gardai at Shackleton, Lucan, yesterday morning, where a man was fatally stabbed. Photo: Collins Dublin

I didnt hear any row or raised voices. I didnt hear any panic or distress. It was only when I saw the gardai outside the apartment that I knew something was wrong, said one man.

Everyone kind of keeps to themselves here, and the apartments are fairly new, so people dont really know each other.

The distance between Allenton and Shackleton is around 20km and takes around 20 minutes to drive.

In 2006, Kevin Walsh was convicted of the manslaughter of James Burke (20) in a park area in Liffey Valley in September 2005.

The trial heard that Walsh, who was aged 16 at the time, fatally attacked the victim because he was English. Mr Burkes body remained in a field near Liffey Valley shopping centre for two days before being found.

Walsh was charged with murder but later found guilty of manslaughter.

The killer, who had 34 previous convictions at the time, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with the final five years suspended.

In 2013 was jailed for the violent hijacking of a taxi.

No arrests have yet been made in relation to his fatal assault and inquiries are ongoing.
Kevin Conway was fatally shot on Tuesday night

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 9th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Officers were at the scene overnight and have since confirmed a murder investigation has been launched. Image: Matt Mackey/PressEye

Officers were at the scene overnight and have since confirmed a murder investigation has been launched. Image: Matt Mackey/PressEye

The victim of a murder in West Belfast was facing charges over a gangland killing.

Kevin Conway was fatally shot on Tuesday night.

He was one of three men charged in relation to the murder of Shane Whitla in Lurgan in January 2023.

Political representatives have condemned Mr Conways barbaric killing.

Watch: Police and forensics at the scene of Kevin Conway murder in west Belfast

Emergency services attended the scene at Rossnareen Park, off the Shaws Road, on Tuesday night.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said paramedics were called just before 9.30pm, but Mr Conway died at the scene.

On Wednesday morning a large police presence remained in the area.

Forensics alongside a K-9 dog unit examined the scene, taking away large bags filled with objects and blood-stained clothing.

Police and forensic officers at the scene of a shooting incident in the Greenan area of west Belfast on January 9th 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Forensics experts were focusing on an area close to the Greenan flats.

A PSNI spokesperson said: "Major Investigation Team detectives have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot in the Greenan area of west Belfast last night, Tuesday January 9.

Police remain at the scene and cordons are in place.

Detectives are appealing to anyone who has any information to call 101 and quote reference number 1714 of 09/01/24.

Information can also be done with 100% anonymity via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

Officers were at the scene overnight and have since confirmed a murder investigation has been launched. Image: Matt Mackey/PressEye

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph at the scene, Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said no one in the area wants this at their doorstep.

This is a heavy footfall area, and the residents have made it clear they do not want guns in their area, he said.

My condolences go out to the family of this man.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said Mr Conways murder was a brutal and harrowing act.

My immediate sympathies are with the victims loved ones and my thoughts are with all of those impacted by this barbaric attack, he said.

This is an incredibly distressing incident that has sent shockwaves through the entire community.

There can be no justification for gunning someone down in their home in cold blood. All right-thinking people will be abhorred by this shooting.

SDLP west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty said: The shooting on Tuesday night has sent shockwaves through our community, with police remaining at the scene as they carry out their investigation.

Shane Whitla who was murdered in January 2023

He added: My thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who has tragically lost his life.

"Violence like this is a scourge on our society and creates serious fear among people living in this community.

"There can be no justification for what has happened here.

"I would appeal for anyone with any information to come forward to police so that the people who carried this out can be brought to justice.
Mr Conway was awaiting trial accused of the murder of Lurgan man Shane Whitla  almost exactly one year to the day he was murdered.

The PSNI announced this morning they had launched a murder investigation after a man was shot dead in the Greenan area of west Belfast.

Mr Conway was awaiting trial accused of the murder of Lurgan man Shane Whitla  almost exactly one year to the day he was murdered.

Conway was out on bail for the murder of 39-year-old father-of-four in the Co Armagh town in a murder which was blamed on notorious drug gang The Firm.

Watch: Police and forensics at the scene of Kevin Conway murder in west Belfast

Conway is one of three men accused of the murder of Mr Whitla and had been accused of making a phonecall on the night of the assassination.

But we can also reveal Kevin Conways father, also called Kevin Conway, was murdered by the IRA in 1998.

Mr Conway was taken from his home on the Kilwilkie estate on the afternoon of February 17th, 1998.

His remains were discovered by a farmer in the derelict house the following day. His hands had been tied behind his back and he was shot in the back of the head.

A murder trial six five years ago heard that Mr Conway was taken from his Deeney Drive home on the afternoon of February 17, 1998 while his wife was collecting two of their children from school.

She came home to find their three-month old daughter on her own and her husband missing.

A 49-year-old man was acquitted of his murder after that trial.

A police statement issued this morning stated they had begun a murder inquiry following the shooting of Kevin Conway jnr.

A statement read: Major Investigation Team detectives have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot in the Greenan area of west Belfast last night, Tuesday 9th January.

Police remain at the scene and cordons are in place.

Detectives are appealing to anyone who has any information to call 101 and quote reference number 1714 of 09/01/24.

Information can also be done with 100% anonymity via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

After being charged with Shane Whitlas murder, Conway was initially remanded in custody but he was released on bail later on.

During a bail hearing at Craigavon Magistrates Court in July, via videolink the 26-year-olds defence barrister, Aaron Thompson, argued that the case against his client is that he is alleged to be a man who makes a phone call that night and that it will be a difficult charge to bring that level of involvement home as a murder conviction and a long way to go to get somebody convicted by either a jury or a judge in a diplock case.

Shane Whitla who was murdered in January 2023

Mr Thompson argued about the length of time it will take this case to get to trial, stating that theres in excess of 100 hours of CCTV still to be combed through by police.

He also revealed how Mr Conway had been threatened while inside Maghaberry Prison.

The first four or five weeks [in custody] due to threats, he was in a 24-hour lockup situation in Maghaberry, so he didnt have association and he wasnt receiving medication, said the solicitor.

Despite having breached bail before Deputy District Judge Browne agreed to give Conway another chance saying: And Mr Thompson, Im sure youll make it clear enough that if theres any breach, however, minor of this bill, he faces the most serious charge possible, a family has been left devastated by the death of their loved one and its the most finally balanced of applications, but I am just persuaded that hes worth another try but lets say this time is the last time.

Kevin Conway

Speaking today, neighbours said they did not know the murder victim at all as he had only moved into the area as part of new bail conditions.

He was not part of this community but whatever he was involved in he has brought to our doors. No one knows who he was or when he arrived here, not one single person could say, yea, I know him but we wont forget him now, one neighbour who did not want to be identified said.

We are hearing all sorts of rumors, that he was involved with that mad Dublin drug gang (the Kinahans) but the truth is no one knows because no one knew him. He obviously came to Belfast running from someone or something but that was not far enough. God love his family though, like they say he was someones son, she said.

There was a heavy police presence this morning as forensic teams got to work.

The Sunday World understands that both The Firm and the New IRA are potential suspects yet police investigations remain at a very early stage.

Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said no one in the area wants this at their doorstep.

This is a heavy footfall area, and the residents have made it clear they do not want guns in their area. Like neighbours I didn't know who he was.

My condolences go out to the family of this man. I am in contact with the PSNI who are currently meeting as we speak. I will be keeping a in contact throughout the investigation, he said.
Alleged gangland killer afraid of attack from rivals middleman

Gardai at the house where Marlo Hyland and Anthony Campbell were shot dead

A notorious gangster, named in court as being involved in the murders of mobster Marlo Hyland and innocent plumber Anthony Campbell, is refusing to leave his jail cell for fear of being attacked and killed by rival criminals.

John Mangan, who is in the final weeks of a 14-year sentence for gun and drug offences, has refused to leave his cell on the A wing in Portlaoise Prison for several weeks.

Its understood the 55-year-old  who is due for release from prison in March  sought protection status under prison rule 63, claiming his life was under threat from a number of named criminals.

Rule 63 provides that an inmates movements can be restricted so as to provide for the protection of vulnerable prisoners either at their own request or when the governor considers it necessary.

Gardai at the house where Marlo Hyland and Anthony Campbell were shot dead

None of the criminals named by Mangan are currently in the top security prisons A-wing, however he expressed fears that he could be attacked or killed by a middleman who would then be paid by his rivals.

Security concerns regarding Mangans move to self-isolate were raised by officers on the wing in December after food was dropped into his cell on one occasion.

Sources said the matter was reviewed and Mangan has since been receiving meals from a trolley as is normal in such cases.

Mangan brought his concerns for his safety to the governor and a risk assessment was carried out, a source told the Sunday World.

Those he named as behind the threat are not based in A-wing but the decision was taken at his request to allow him to be incarcerated on a restricted regime for his own protection.

The issue around the meal deliveries occurred in mid-December and was reviewed.

Contacted for comment this week, a spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on matters relating to individual inmates.

Mangan has long been regarded as one of Irelands most notorious criminals.

A former member of the Marlo Hyland mob, the 55-year-old escaped from Loughan House open prison in October 2021 after sending threats to a Dublin man claiming that his son owed him 10,000 for drugs.

Marlo Hyland was shot dead

He was caught riding a motorbike around Park West Industrial Estate in Dublin at around 3pm one November afternoon a number of weeks later.

Garda Gary Farrell told Jennifer Jackson BL that Mangan ignored the garda instruction to stop the vehicle which led to a high-speed pursuit that lasted about 20 minutes.

It came to an end after gardai, using the assistance of the air support unit, set up a roadblock on Carpenterstown Road, in Castleknock.

Garda Farrell confirmed that during the chase Mangan drove through a number of red lights, overtook and undertook vehicles into oncoming traffic, drove around a roundabout the wrong way, drove onto a footpath, narrowly missing a pedestrian, and drove into oncoming traffic during which he nearly collided with a number of vehicles.

Mangan pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment, dangerous driving and driving without insurance around the Lucan and Castleknock area of Dublin on November 9, 2021.

His defence counsel, Kieran Kelly BL submitted that it was during lockdown and Mangan was anxious to visit his partner after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Mangan to 15 months which he said must be served consecutively to his current term. He further disqualified Mangan from driving for two years.

When Mangan was handed down a 14-year jail term in May 2008 after he was caught with a loaded handgun in the toilet of a pub, he was already on bail for possession of cannabis resin valued at 341,787.

It was while he was in custody for these offences that journalist Paul Williams, in evidence given before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March 2012, alleged that he and fellow imprisoned criminal Willie Hynes were responsible for the December 2006 double murder of gang-boss Marlo Hyland and innocent plumber Anthony Campbell.

Mr Williams also alleged the late Eamon Dunne acted as the getaway driver in the hit.

Nobody has ever been charged over the horror killings.

Both Hynes and Mangans jail sentences related to the massive drugs bust which caused Marlo Hylands prolific drugs gang to implode in 2006 and which ultimately led to Hylands murder.

The pair were snared after a massive operation by the Garda National Drugs Unit at Browns Barn, Dublin, on July 31, 2006.

More than 2m worth of cannabis resin was seized by gardai in 14 boxes split between a Ford Transit van and an Opel Astra car in Browns Barn public house car park.

The two men were arrested nearby.

After a dramatic trial in November 2009, Judge Patrick McCartan imposed a 12-year sentence on Hynes and a 14-year sentence on Mangan.
A local first responder said it was fortunate nobody had died in the incident on Monday after one of the three women in the group made a desperate call to the UK police, who then alerted the Irish authorities.

Gardai have launched a human trafficking probe after 14 undocumented migrants were found in a refrigerated container that arrived at Rosslare Europort.

The 12 adults and two children found in the lorry had been forced to cut a hole in the container as they struggled to breathe, it has emerged.

A local first responder said it was fortunate nobody had died in the incident on Monday after one of the three women in the group made a desperate call to the UK police, who then alerted the Irish authorities.

Gardai are investigating after the ten Kurdish people from Iran and Iraq, including two girls, as well as three people from Vietnam and one from Turkey were discovered on the vessel from Zeebrugge in Belgium around 3am on Monday.

They are now liaising with their foreign counterparts as they investigate the incident and are interviewing the 14 with the help of interpreters. The migrants are in the care of the International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) and Tusla, the child and family agency, is also involved.

A garda spokesperson urged anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may appear, to contact them.

"The nine men, three women and two girls have been assessed by medical personnel and have been deemed to be in good health, the spokesperson said.

Gardai attached to Wexford Garda Station, supported by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, are investigating all of the circumstances of this incident. They are liaising closely with international counterparts through Europol in The Hague.

The ships crew are assisting An Garda Siochana with these enquiries.

It is understood they are trying to find out at what point they entered the lorry, which was loaded near Paris before travelling to Zeebrugge.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said there is relief that there were no fatalities among the 14 people.

They were assessed by medics before being transferred for processing by the international protection service.

We have to do everything we can to try and avoid such carriage and passage because it is dangerous and a risk to the lives of those who are put on or go on to those trucks, said Mr Ryan.

We have to do what we can to reduce it but you cannot completely eliminate it. Weve seen that with the UK Government and France, trying to stop that passage.

It is practically impossible to completely avoid it.

He said people are making the crossing because they are desperate and Ireland has obligations under international law to provide refuge where appropriate.

Rosslare Europort.

Speaking to RTEs Morning Ireland, Mr Ryan added: We also stand up for human rights in our country. Weve always stood by the UN charter for human rights, central to our position.

Part of that is we have to respect and manage, to the best of our ability, refugee rights.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee also said that it was fortuitous that there were no deaths in the incident.

I was extremely concerned to learn of the discovery of 14 people, including three women and two children, in a refrigerated lorry at Rosslare Port on Monday and I would like to thank the emergency services for their initial response, she said in a statement.

Thankfully, I understand that all the people are in good health.

We know from past experience that similar situations have led to tragic fatalities. This was an extremely hazardous undertaking and it is only fortuitous that the same did not happen yesterday.

An Garda Siochana are investigating the matter with assistance from international partners. I would appeal to anybody with any information that might assist with the ongoing investigation to contact An Garda Siochana, Minister McEntee said.

The migrants were uncovered after one of the people inside the trailer rang the UK police to inform them they were inside the container on board the ferry.

An Garda Siochana took over a part of the terminal building in Rosslare to greet the 14 individuals on arrival and a number of units from the National Ambulance Service were on hand to administer medical attention as required.

All on board the refrigerated trailer were understood to be in good health and once they were fully checked, they were brought by An Garda Siochana to CityWest in Dublin for processing.

A source confirmed that those on board the trailer were primarily Kurdish nationals and, following medical examinations, they were brought to the nearest processing centre.

"Theres very little involvement locally, the source said. We just bring them on to the nearest processing centre, which I believe is CityWest in Dublin. From there, the initial processing of their details and documents will be carried out before they are taken to an accommodation centre and a decision will be made around whether they apply for political asylum.

Local county councillor and Operations Resource Manager with the National Ambulance Service Ger Carthy said that it was fortunate that this latest incident hadnt resulted in tragedy. He said the migrants had been forced to cut a hole in the refrigerated container they were in as they gasped for air.

In 2001, 13 people were discovered in a container on the back of a truck which had arrived into Ireland via Rosslare Europort. Eight of them, including four children, suffocated and died.

"This was a huge multi-agency response in the early hours of Monday morning, Cllr Carthy said. Thankfully, it was a successful conclusion on this occasion with no life lost.

"Weve had major tragedies of this nature in Wexford in the past. Obviously, a certain amount of this activity will happen with Rosslare being a major port, but human trafficking is a major issue and its horrific to think that there are people out there making a lot of money off the backs of desperate people keen to escape terrible circumstances at home.

It was quite a challenging and dangerous trip for anyone to make and I believe they had difficulty breathing in the trailer and may have had to break a hole in the side of it to access some air, he told RTE Radio Ones Morning Ireland on Wednesday.

Thankfully we dont have an outcome similar to the early 2000s when a container came into Rosslare and there were a number of deceased people in it, Cllr Carthy said.

The Independent councillor said he believes the smuggling of refugees will be more frequent following a significant increase in capacity at Rosslare Europort.

We are going to have more and more of it but we have a very robust immigration system and staff at the port will hopefully identify these issues going forward, he said.

It should alert the Government that we are going to see more and more of this with the current crisis across the world.

Cllr Carthy said there are already ongoing protests in Rosslare regarding a derelict hotel that was bought and was due to be turned into a nursing home.

However, he said it was found that the Government had engaged with the possibility of turning it into an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre, with plans to bring in 700 asylum seekers.

The people of Rosslare would like their nursing home which they were promised and planning permission granted for, he said.

The site is currently subject to a planning decision by An Bord Pleanala, which Cllr Carthy said may not see a final decision made for a couple of months.

Rosslare is at saturation, we currently have over 400 IPAS and Ukrainian refugees. It is only a small population of 1,200 people. Its about saturation, its about distribution and fairness.

The people of Rosslare dont see any fairness coming from the current Government and indeed the Department of Integration, he added.

Meanwhile, Eugene Drennan, haulier and former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association said the truck loaded south of the Paris area, came north of the French capital and then took its mandatory break as the driver has to by law in a services area.

After his break, having started his journey in the morning, he did his checks, Mr Drennan told Morning Ireland.

He stressed that the people were put on board by a very professional gang and had to be helped by the gang as the truck was a fully sealed refrigerated trailer.

The access was either through the back doors or through the roof. Either which way, we believe they went through the doors and they had to have had assistance.

He stressed that drivers are checking every day when they hear noises and must get the help of the authorities, who do not always come.

And you must remember, drivers are very much solo, driving in the dark of the night alone along the coast of France. It is not an easy place to be solo with a lot of hungry people trying to get to the UK.
David Montgomery (54), the managing partner in his familys legal practice, died as a result of drowning

Ciara McGoldrick, wife of the late David Montgomery, who was found dead in October 2022, leaving the Dublin District Coroner's Court this afternoon. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

The body of a solicitor who was under investigation by the Law Society at the time of his death was discovered in the water near his boat moored in Dun Laoghaire 15 months ago, an inquest has heard.

David Montgomery (54), the managing partner in his familys legal practice, Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors in Dun Laoghaire, died as a result of drowning on October 10, 2022.

A sitting of Dublin District Coroners Court, heard that Mr Montgomery, a married father of two from Dun Laoghaire, was reported missing by his family after relatives became concerned that he had not responded to a series of phone calls earlier that afternoon.

His wife, Ciara McGoldrick, told the inquest on Tuesday that she had breakfast as usual that morning with her husband when he informed her that he was going into the Four Courts to attend a trial.

She said he texted her around 1pm to say that he was still at the court hearing and later again to say he had left town as the case had been settled.

Ms McGoldrick said both she and her brother-in-law, Iain Montgomery, became worried about him when he failed to respond to a number of calls and texts and reported him missing to Dun Laoghaire garda station that evening.

She said they went to the marina in Dun Laoghaire where they owned a boat and noticed his car was parked there.

The inquest heard that there were some tools on the deck of the boat and Ms McGoldrick recalled that he had been speaking about getting the vessel ready for winter.

While they were at the marina, she said her husbands body appeared in the water beside his boat.

Asked by the coroner Clare Keane if she had any concerns about her husband, Ms McGoldrick said he had an issue with the Law Society which he had never discussed with her.

However, Ms McGoldrick said he would have been stressed by what was going on with the Law Society.

She added that she had only learnt about the matter on the day of his death from her brother-in-law.

She said her husband had also spoken about the case he had attended in the Four Courts earlier that day going badly.

She told Dr Keane that it was out of character for her husband not to respond to phone calls and to not be home by 6.30pm.

The inquest heard that Mr Montgomery was not in the habit of wearing a lifejacket when on the boat while it was in the marina.

A paramedic, Andrew OToole, described how emergency services tried for 40 minutes to resuscitate the victim without success after his body was removed from the water.

Garda Daniel Nugent gave evidence that there was no sign of anything out of place or any struggle on board Mr Montgomerys boat.

Garda Nugent said the deceaseds body was cold to the touch and wrinkled when it was taken out of the water, while there was a small amount of blood above one of his ears.

He said CCTV footage showed that the deceased was the only person who passed the gate of the marina that afternoon.

Garda Nugent also stated that weather conditions at the time were calm, still and dry.

The inquest heard that gardai were uncertain how Mr Montgomery had entered the water but were satisfied it was a tragic accident.

Postmortem results confirmed he had died as a result of drowning while also revealing he had moderate cardiac disease and an abrasion above an ear.

A solicitor for Ms McGoldrick, Joanelle OCleirigh asked the coroner to consider returning a verdict of accidental death as Mr Montgomery had been intending to fix his boat.

However, Dr Keane said she did not have enough evidence to conclude that Mr Montgomerys death was either accidental, intentional or due to misadventure.

Returning an open verdict, the coroner said it would have to be a completely out of the blue event to make a finding of accidental death.

While she was not making any judgement, Dr Keane noted that the deceased had been acting out of character on the day of his death.

Expressing condolences to Mr Montgomerys relatives, the coroner said they had been through an absolutely traumatic time.

Last year, the High Court heard that an estimated deficit of over 1.7m had been uncovered during an investigation by the Law Society into the law firm run by Mr Montgomery and his father, William Montgomery.

As a result of the investigation, the Law Society secured a number of court orders freezing assets of the law firm which was based at Anglesea Buildings in Dun Laoghaire.

The deceased, who was a practising solicitor since 1995, was managing partner at the firm from 2005 until the time of his death.

He had previously been the subject of another investigation which resulted in him being the subject of a High Court order in 2015 which prohibited him from being a signatory on the firms client account or having access to clients money without the prior consent of the Law Society.

Shortly before his death in October 2022, Mr Montgomery had told an investigating accountant appointed by the Law Societys registrar of solicitors and director of regulation, Jim Ryan that there was an overall deficit of around 800,000 in the client account.

In a letter to the Law Society written the day after Mr Montgomerys death, a solicitor said he was instructed by the deceased just a short time earlier that he alone was responsible for the deficit in the firms client account.

Mr Montgomery also told the solicitor that neither his father, William, nor his brother, Iain, who is also a solicitor, were aware of the deficit.

He also claimed that he had discharged a 475,000 mortgage on the practices premises with funds from the client account unknown to his father and mother, Annie, who jointly owned the building.
Carla OConnor  also known as Carla 4 Garda  previously hit the headlines when a clip of her having sex with a garda went viral in 2017.

A porm actress famous for her romps with gardai and who played a key role in protests this week against asylum seekers being moved into a Co Mayo hotel has asked people to back-off.

In a video posted on X this morning Carla OConnor, otherwise known as Carla 4 Garda, asked people online to leave her and another leading protester alone.

Id like everybody to back off from Michelle and myself. I can take it, I can take all the sh*t all day long.

Her heart is in the right place she wanted the best for this situation, she got what the town wanted. We got what the town wanted.

Carla has been targeted online by both people with anti-immigrant views for calling off the protest and by anti-fascist campaigners who claim she is racist.

In her video update, she also urged people to donate toys and clothes to the hotel where families are now due to be accommodated by the Department of Integration.

Carla O'Connor on RTE this week

The town wanted reassurances that 50 males werent going to be planted next door to a childrens day care and that was the biggest problem for us as a town and them loitering about not having anything to do.

We dont have a lot in Ballinrobe, we dont have a lot there. Weve called for clothes and toys to be donated to Gannons Hotel. If you can do that, that would be fantastic.

A serving garda was infamously filmed having sex with Carla in a porn clip which went viral on the internet in 2017.

The scandal saw the garda being suspended from duty, but he eventually won an appeal claiming unfair dismissal and returned to duty.

Also known as Carla Gabberlover, she told the Sunday World at the time that she had bedded a total of 30 gardai as well as four student gardai and numerous members of the Defence Forces.

Carla in a photoshoot with the Sunday World in 2017

Im on 30 and Ive done four Templemore lads, but I dont really count them. I cant really count them in my number until theyre full gardai, she said.

Carla OConnor featured on RTEs News at Nine this week as one of those protesting in Ballinrobe.

It showed a brief clip of her in which she said: It's good. We're not going to have fifty men there next to the creche, so yeah, that's brilliant.

She denied this week she is motivated by racism in protesting at Ballinrobe, however her X social media account shows she has reposted a number of online posts of anti-Muslim immigration in Europe.

In relation to another protest at a building in Dublin, she wrote: Stop the supply trucks going in, starve and freeze them out of it.

The protest at Gannons was called off last Monday after it emerged that families and not men would be housed there by the Department of Integration.

A screenshot from one of Carla's video

Tanaiste Micheal Martin insisted that decision was not a U-turn when speaking to the media this week.

I think it makes sense as we listen, as we engage, in my view, to refine how we locate and settle people into particular centres, but it will still be used to facilitate asylum seekers.

He said he understands that people may have fears and concerns about the rule of law must be respected.

And that means protecting life and people and property across the board and people cannot take the law into their own hands. And I'm saying this more generally in respect of any centres that become available, other of the government identifies.
Sara Abu Selmia said the money raised will go directly to their family, many of whom work in hospitals in Gaza

Two Irish-Palestinian sisters are walking hundreds of kilometres in an effort to raise tens of thousands of euro for their relatives in Gaza.

Sara Abu Selmia and her sister Emma are walking more than 300 kilometres across January to raise money for approximately 100 relatives who have been displaced during the conflict in Gaza since October.

Sara Abu Selmia explained where the idea to fundraise for their relatives in Gaza came from: The biggest thing is probably this feeling of helplessness almost, sitting and watching whats going and how can we make a difference or doing something to help.

Im 26 and my sister is 22 and she gets to go to college and study every day, and have dreams and aspirations and I have a career that I get to progress in but we have cousins are own age in Gaza and it was kind of almost that guilt of how different our lives are versus theirs.

So it was looking at what the next six, 12 months will be of their lives and thinking how could we do something to get them back on their feet.

She said that they wanted to do a fundraiser that could help contextualise what Palestinians have gone through during the mass displacement of people from the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Sara said that her relatives had to move from an area where they were all living close by over fears that three generations could have been killed in a single strike.

Theyve only ever known living all together and now theyre all being separated from each other.

It is a small thing, but it is another element for them to be dealing with.

She said that as time has progressed, more and more homes have been destroyed and some of her relatives are now living in tents.

Over the month of January, the sisters are running and walking 320km to represent the 40km that each of their eight aunts and uncles travel by foot with their families when they were displaced from their home in northern Gaza to Rafah in the south.

We thought the story of the journey our aunts and uncles have taken and that 320km is a big undertaking for us spread out over a month, and it is something they had to do overnight.

Sara Abu Selmia said the money raised will go directly to their family, many of whom work in hospitals in Gaza.

The Abu Selmia family

The money raised will be distributed to those in greatest need to try and rebuild their lives after the war.

She said she is able to stay in touch with some of their relatives through social media, but internet cuts has made it difficult to get through.

Every day when we wake up its checking for proof of life, which even to say out loud is insane.

But, yeah, just touching base and making sure theyre OK, keeping track of where everyone is.

She said she hoped the money raised can alleviate one small stress from their day, which may be to buy food, get access to clean water, or other necessities.

Its a drop in the ocean.

Its never going to be enough but if the generosity of the Irish people can help with that, theres such a sense of community over there that they will look to their left and right and make sure that they can eat that day.

Asked how the first week of walks has went, Sara Abu Selmia said: The walks have been going good, cold, but weve been wrapping up.

It is so lovely.

When we started, me and Emma would do it but now people have reached out and asked if they can do 10km with us and I think we basically have people booked in for every day of the week.

It has warmed our hearts for sure, the generosity and kindness from people.

As of Tuesday morning, the sisters have raised more than 30,000 euro through their GoFundMe.
Whakatane District Council has improved relationships with Maori but more work needs to be done just to keep up with legislative requirements and population growth.

This was the underlying message to Whakatane District Council's Living Together Committee from strategic Maori partnership general manager Paul Warbrick at a meeting last week, as he updated the committee on progress made over the past year.

Two-and-a-half years after adopting the strengthening of whanau, hapu and iwi relationships as a strategic priority in its long-term plan, Warbrick now leads team of three other staff members dedicated to relationship building with Maori.

He said along with two members of the rates team they were the only staff members with purely Maori-focused roles.

Benefits included regular formal and informal conversations with all seven iwi authorities in the district which had led to opportunities and mutual problem solving. These included with some community members who would previously have sworn never to engage with the council. Significantly, there had been no new litigation with the council over the past two years.

Warbrick outlined the district profile, which showed percentages of Maori were growing. In the 2021 Long Term Plan it was said to be 46.8 percent.

While data from the 2023 Census isn't expected to be released until May next year, Warbrick said there had been some early indications that the district's Maori population would be announced as being 53 percent.

There were seven iwi with Treaty of Waitangi settlements within the district boundary the council has legislative obligations to consult with. The council would also need to have a conversation with Whakatohea, once it settles with the Crown.

Photo: Supplied / Whakatane District Council.

"Because their area does intersect into Ohiwa. It may have an impact on us. We could be looking at eight iwi."

He also talked about what implications the Marine and Coastal Area Act may have for the council.

"There are currently 18 applicants that intersect the Whakatane district boundary ... We are expecting that number to grow. Some of those applicants are quite independent of the iwi authorities. We've got a significant tranche of work to understand what that means for us.

"Any asset, a pipe, a wharf, a ramp, between the median and high water mark is implicated. So if you think about our water consenting that's coming up in the next few years, all those assets that drain into the sea or drain into a high water mark, quite simply, those applicants can veto that application for renewal or variation.

He said Whakatane District Council vested less than 3 percent of its annual expenditure on relationships with Maori. It needed to be looking past legislative requirements and "targeting investment into the Maori space".

"I'll use the words of councillor Tanczos, 'We don't want to be just doing legislative work, we want to be richer than that. We want to be doing it for the right reasons. If we focus on doing it for the right reasons we will mop up the legislative requirements. If we focus on the legislative requirements we will always be defending what it isn't'."

Deputy Mayor Lesley Immink said she took heart from the work Warbrick and his team had done and expressed a desire to provide further resource.

"The team that we have here needs to be developed and resourced like a ministry for Maori, because they thread through every aspect of our lives. If we don't resource them appropriately, we won't be getting the results we need. It seems a bit incongruous to give that sort of analogy. But we see with the census, just in itself, we need to be more competent and that's why we need it to grow.

"Whether it's a road name, a street sign, a consent, putting a piece of pipe in the ground, we actually can't bury our heads in the sand any longer and say it's a Maori thing. This actually is a community thing."

-Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
The union representing primary school teachers says there still has not been any consultation or guidance from the government over planned changes to the sex education curriculum, a few weeks out from the school year starting.

As part of National's coalition agreement with New Zealand First, the curriculum will be refocused on "academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines".

The guidelines were introduced in 2020 by then-associate education minister Tracey Martin, who was a New Zealand First MP.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter says they had been developed by specialists in that area, as well as educational professionals, and were designed to be age-appropriate for each stage of children's growth.

"We're very worried that they seem to think there's something that needs to be changed.

"And we're not seeing what they're trying to fix at this stage.

"We don't understand why they need to do this," he says.

Mark says schools already consulted with communities on sex education on an annual or biannual basis, and some parents who were uncomfortable speaking to their own children about sexuality education were happy to leave it to schools.

"They just want to know what is being says to the children.

"So if something is says to a child, at least the parent knows when the child follows up with a question to their parents when they get home.

"Most commonly, what schools do is if the child asks a question that's actually really one we'd be expecting older children to be looking into or exploring, that's where teachers will say 'that's something you need to ask your parents about'.

"Because at that stage, the school is not ready to talk to a child at that age about that area."

He believes the change was coming from some areas of the community who were putting pressure on schools and the ministry.

"A lot of it is very conspiracy-based thinking, and lots of claims about what schools are supposed to be doing that they just aren't.

"Some very untrue statements being made about what children being taught.

"So we are wondering, who are they pandering to with this kind of move?"

During the election campaign, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters campaigned against 'woke ideology' in schools, while National leader Christopher Luxon says sexuality issues should be dealt with in the home, by parents.

In December, after becoming Prime Minister, Christopher revised his answer, saying the guidelines had been variously interpreted by schools, which had parents concerned.

"All we're asking for is, because we've been caught between curriculum, we want a well defined curriculum agreed to by experts that actually makes sure that the content is age-appropriate, that parents have been consulted, and importantly that parents have an ability to withdraw from the education as well," he says.

Labour's education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says parents already had the option to withdraw their children from classes.

But she says the removal of the guidelines, particularly on issues like consent and relationships, was a concern and risked damaging young people.

"We already know that in that area, that young people are facing some serious challenges.

"There's way more access to pornography through the internet now than what has ever happened before.

"And young people get their understanding of sex sometimes, sadly, from those sources."

She says the government's reasoning was "dangerously close" to culture war rhetoric.

"I was really concerned during the election campaign, that I was told by a candidate that we're just trying to 'trans-ify' kids.

"What on earth does that even mean?

"I hadn't even heard of the 'woke gender curriculum', I had to look it up, and saw that it was something that was an imported culture war.

"That really concerns me.

"Our kids are beyond that.

"We have a really good curriculum in this country.

"The guidelines are not the curriculum, they are adding to how we can make sure the curriculum is taught well.

"They are not compulsory, but they are absolutely superb."

Both Mark and Jan says schools have already developed their curricula for 2024, which would have been developed with their communities.

But schools would need time to make the changes, and consult with parents in time for 2025.

The sex education changes did not make it into the government's 100-day plan.

Mark says so far, there had been very little indication from the government on what it wants changed in the guidelines, given the coalition agreement also called for a replacement.

"We will be expecting a grown up conversation around what is needed.

"We want to make sure that politicians don't interfere with the curriculum where they don't belong.

"And what we'll be looking to see is that there'll be supporting professionals and developing an inclusive education system for all children," Mark says.

RNZ has approached the government's duty minister, Dr Shane Reti, for comment.

- RNZ/ Giles Dexter, Political Reporter
Long wait times for international student visas have local flight training schools on the brink of collapse, Aviation New Zealand says.

Chief executive Simon Wallace says ahead of the pandemic, about 650 international students pumped more than $200 million into the economy each year.

But since then, enrolment numbers have plummeted to less than 100 overseas students in 2023.

He says Immigration New Zealand is typically taking 30 working days to process applications which in some circumstances could extend to 60 or more.

In Australia, a similar approval could be gained in three to five days.

Wallace says the delays are diverting large numbers of students to overseas competitors.

"Our competitors, Australia but also the USA, Canada are processing those visas in a much lesser time and aviation students from these markets like Vietnam, India and the Middle East they're just not coming to New Zealand. We're not providing the certainty that they need."

He says only two students have come to New Zealand from Vietnam in 2023 and a group of flight training schools visiting the country late last year was told New Zealand had the slowest application process in the world.

Wallace says the Immigration New Zealand website, which only accepted applications in English, is not user friendly and is confusing for any international student who has English as a second language.

"We know this interaction is putting students off coming here, they are not even applying. Australian applications are accepted in Vietnamese, making the process much easier. Our flight training schools did it tough through Covid, with some having to close completely. But as we emerge from the pandemic, the 'open for business sign' is in jeopardy simply because our immigration system can't respond quickly enough."

He says Aviation New Zealand has appealed to Immigration New Zealand and Education Minister Erica Stanford for urgent action.

A spokesperson for Immigration New Zealand says they have "engaged extensively" with Aviation New Zealand.

They say of the 81 student visas applications for aviation students submitted last year, 79 per cent have been processed within "the standard processing time" of 30 working days.

They say applications missing key information can take longer to process.

Wallace says the cumbersome nature of New Zealand's visa processing is letting down a once highly regarded part of the country's education sector.

He says one major aviation trainer had shut down its New Zealand operations in 2021 and set up overseas.

"They are really struggling, our flight training schools, they are on the brink of closure and this needs to be fixed. It can be fixed if there's a will to do it. We have to process those visas much faster to maintain the interest in what is now a very competitive market."

Stanford had been approached for comment.

-Bill Hickman/RNZ.
Kiwis tucking into bed tonight will find it harder to fall asleep thanks to soaring temperatures,

MetService has forecast an 'incredibly warm' and muggy night across much of the country.

Heat alerts have been issued for the lower North Island today with Upper Hutt reaching a maximum temperature of 29 degrees while the overnight temperature in Auckland is not forecast to drop below 17c for the next ten days.

Sleep expert Leigh Signal, a professor in fatigue management and sleep health at Massey University, says a while there is no magic solution, there are several things that can be done to help.

"Keeping your room cool during the day by pulling blinds and opening windows if you can, to create a new flow, if you can't, maybe go and buy a cheap fan. Or if you have the luxury of it, turn the heat pump on to the cool cycle.

"You need to think about your bed, your bedding and your nightwear. So, cotton sheets, natural fabrics, so that they can breathe."

Leigh says our body temperature varies naturally across the 24-hour period, and it drops during that window that we normally have for sleep, and that's why sleep becomes disturbed when our environment is too hot.

"Just remember you're not alone. Everyone is struggling at this time of the year to get some sleep.

So, if you are getting frustrated and stressed and, finding it difficult to sleep and you're lying there for a long period of time, get out of bed, do something quiet, listen to a podcast and then when you feel sleepy go back to bed and try again."

-RNZ.
The top baby names of 2023 have been revealed and Noah and Charlotte take the top spots.

Oliver and Luca were also in the top three for boys, while Amelia and Isla were in the top three for girls.

Other popular choices included Leo, Jack, Theodore and Hudson for boys and Hazel, Willow and Harper for girls.

A total of 18,666 different names were given to 57,889 babies in 2023, up from 18,041 the previous year.

All the top names for the year can be viewed on the SmartStart website which has lists dating back to 1954.

The top Maori names would be released at Matariki, while the top names for 2022 were Aroha and Aria for girls and Ariki and Nikau for boys.

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Russell Burnard, says registering a baby's name is an important step to ensuring they have access to government services.

-RNZ.
Update, 9.39pm: State Highway 2 is now open.

The highway, between Pongakawa and Otamarakau, was closed earlier due to a serious crash.

Up to three cars were reported to be involved in the crash.

Police are investigating the cause.

Update, 5.50pm: State Highway 2 is closed between Pongakawa and Otamarakau due to a serious crash.

The crash involves up to three vehicles and occurred between Wharere Road and Benner Road.

Police say, at least one person is believed to have received serious injuries.

NZTA Waka Kotahi advise that a detour is in place.

Westbound vehicles can detour left onto Benner Rd, right onto Old Coach Rd, right onto Pongakawa Station Rd, then left to continue on SH2.

The same route applies in reverse for eastbound vehicles.

Motorists are advised to expect delays.

The road is closed until further notice.

Earlier, 4.39pm: Emergency services are at the scene of a serious crash that has blocked State Highway 2, Te Puke East Road, in Western Bay of Plenty.

Police were alerted about 4.20pm.

The crash involves up to three vehicles and occurred between Wharere Road and Benner Road.

Police say, at least one person is believed to have received serious injuries.

A SunLive reader who says the crash would have happened behind him as he travelled north says that there were at least six police cars and four ambulances that passed going to the scene.

"Motorists in the area should expect delays."

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After 44 years as an enrolled nurse, Michael Pye has retired with his last day just prior to Christmas.

After working as an orderly at Waikato hospital, Michael recalls almost accidentally choosing a career in nursing.

I was a bath orderly when those existed, so helping with cares for patients. I enjoyed meeting new people and then spoke to one of the nurses at Waikato Hospital and thought why not do nursing! he says in a post on the Te Whatu Ora Bay of Plenty Facebook page.

Michaels wife is originally from Whakatane, so they decided to move back there, and Michael started work as an enrolled nurse.

Michael says that at the time there were only a few male nurses but now there are a lot more, which he thinks is great.

An increase in resourcing into Maori health over the years has also meant having more Maori nurses in our community and hospital, which is awesome.

There has been a lot of changes in nursing over his career.

This includes less hierarchy and being able to approach doctors and surgeons in a good team environment, which was not always the case previously.

However, Michael believes the huge workloads, especially on general wards, which nurses are required to cover and do now is something that really needs to change.

In the 1987 Edgcumbe earthquake, and more recently during the Whakaari/ White Island eruption, staff and the community pulled together as an incredible team in very difficult circumstances.

Whakatane is a neat hospital, says Michael.

Strong comradery and teamwork with amazing people. We see the good, the bad and the ugly in our roles but you also make lifelong friends.

Michaels advice for anyone wanting to work as a nurse is to find your niche and try different areas.

Vivienne Robertson, who has been Michaels manager for more than 15 years, says: Michael has demonstrated his passion in providing care to the Whakatane community. He has nursed well over 50,000 patients in his nursing career as an exceptional EN and will be sadly missed.
Eugenio Cabezas Torre del Mar Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 21:22 Compartir Copiar enlace

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A video posted on social media by Macario and Celia, a couple from Torre del Mar, in which they share their recent experience of Local Police officers who asked Macario, who is black, for identification, has been watched over one million times.

The couple explain in the video that on Christmas Eve they went out for lunch in Torre del Mar with their two young children. As the family strolled along the towns promenade, their eldest son, aged six, wanted to play on a nearby playground. A number of black people were selling items from large blankets; a typical scene on a sunny weekend or public holiday.

Macario was watching the eldest son and Celia was looking at some of the stalls with their youngest child. At that moment Local Police officers appeared and the vendors caught sight of them and ran away, which is a common occurrence when the police arrive, but no arrests were made. "They werent unpleasant about it, they let them go and didnt catch anyone, Celia explains in the video.

What do we call this?

However, the officers approached Macario and said (in Spanish): "Hey you, get out of here". They then asked him for identification. However, Celia goes on to say, I asked them to ask me for identification too and they didn't listen to me". She believes that the officers actions were racist.

The couple uploaded the video to social media with the title 'What do we call this?', in which they recount the "unpleasant experience" they had on Christmas Eve. "I never imagined it would have so much impact, it has more than 1.2 million views on TikTok," said Celia, who is a health worker from Malaga. "The police kept telling me not to get involved, that they were doing their job, to check that he wasn't part of a mafia. But everyone in Torre del Mar knows Macario," she added in the video.

The situation was resolved without any problem, but the couple wanted to open the debate by sharing their experience via social media. "In Spain we are still not evolving, without opening our minds and blaming those who are not to blame for anything. It seems to me that we are very backward, we are behind many countries. In other places like France or England it is totally normal to see people of many nationalities in the street. People still think that he is with me because he doesn't have papers", said Celia.

Thanks

Macario and Celia were grateful to passers-by who took an interest in the situation. "Many thanks to the people of Torre del Mar. Everyone who was there could see what was going on and reacted immediately, Macario added in the video.

Macario is originally from Senegal and has been in Spain since 2006, when he arrived in a small boat to the Canary Islands. He is a dance teacher and works in the hotel industry. He became an internet sensation during the Cadiz Carnival in 2018, when he participated in a chirigota (a satirical Spanish carnival song), 'No te quemes todavia' (dont burn yourself yet). In 2019 he lost a younger sister who died when a small boat capsized in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Standing in the hallway of Maido restaurant in Limas Miraflores district, chef Mitsuharu Micha Tsumura looks imposing even though hes only five feet seven inches. Last year, Maido won the title of the best restaurant in Latin America for the fourth time (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023). His success lies in mastering everyday cooking, such as rice and fried eggs. Yet, under his watchful eye, these humble ingredients become the gateway to extraordinary flavors. Every detail matters: precise water measurements for Creole and Japanese rice, the quantity of minced garlic in an aromatic sofrito, or starting a recipe with cold versus boiling water. Of course, the amount of salt added must be just right. Any slight variation could lead to a misstep, especially when working with large quantities for restaurant cooking.

Its noon, and the workers who bring Maidos Nikkei (a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese cuisine) experience to life are enjoying a delicious roast chicken for lunch on the second floor. This dish holds a special place in Michas heart, as it reminds him of his mothers cooking: crisp and juicy, with a flavorful blend of Peruvian red pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, mustard, oregano, and cumin. The team of 85 makes meals for 52 settings (down from 78 before the pandemic), accompanied by exceptional customer attention.

Diners at Maido restaurant sit under a ceiling decoration made from 1,000 ropes from fishing boats. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

Hospitality is the hallmark of this establishment. Customers are greeted with a loud chorus of Maido! that shakes the restaurant. Maido is a Japanese expression meaning thank you for always coming. Opened in October 2009, when Perus conservative diners resisted innovation, the restaurants greeting ritual has remained unchanged for 14 years. The hostess offers the first Maido, and is robustly echoed by the cooks, waiters and sommeliers.

Preparing food at Maido restaurant in Lima, Peru. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

The restaurant is a reflection of its chef-founder, once an explosive young man who learned to control his emotions after an incident that nearly cost him a finger. Years ago, while working in a luxury hotel kitchen, Micha Tsumura got into an argument with his boss and took out his anger on the pumpkin he was chopping. The outcome was plenty of blood and seven stitches. Ever since then, I never go into the kitchen when Im upset. Nothing good happens when Im not in the mood, he said, displaying his old war injury.

His most recent injury is a burn on his right forearm caused by a hot pot. At 42 years old, he has no plans to step away from the kitchen despite the perils. Apart from Maido, he currently manages a restaurant called Karai, located in Santiagos W Hotel. He also oversees Tori, an informal chicken eatery that he hopes to franchise someday, and the Mai Mai bar in an exclusive Panama City skyscraper. Tsumura also has plans to export 14 sauces that are currently only available in a local supermarket chain.

Overwhelmed by so much work-related travel, Tsumura once thought about passing the Maido baton to one of his partners. But that thought was quickly banished. Ive come to realize that this is my life. Ive really thought about where its all headed for me and my family. Weve been on this journey for 15 years now, and its been something truly special. Weve created an iconic place thatll make you feel things youve never felt before, he said. After all, thats what haute cuisine is all about  the promise of a unique sensory experience, from the tableware to the last bite.

A cook puts the finishing touches on a dish at Maido restaurant in Lima, Peru. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

Over the past 15 years, Maido has developed a renowned tasting menu featuring coveted delicacies. These include a strip steak slow-cooked for 50 hours, glazed in a sauce of sake, mirin, shoyu and beef stock. Its served with mashed native potatoes or Peruvian fried rice sprinkled with beef jerky. Another favorite is the nigiri sushi  a bite-sized portion of rice wrapped with a fillet of tender Angus beef, topped with a quail egg injected with ponzu sauce. Rice with duck confit in ankake sauce and sansho (Japanese pepper) is also a popular choice. The menu features many more creative dishes, such as nitrogen-infused ceviche, bread with pejesapo (clingfish), and cane-sugar ice cream with loche squash.

In November 2023, Maido topped Latin Americas 50 Best Restaurants for the fourth time. The restaurants sommelier, Florencia Rey from Argentina, was also recognized as the best on the continent. Not only that, Maido was voted the sixth-best restaurant in the world in 2023. The top prize went to another Peruvian restaurant  Central, owned by Virgilio Martinez. It has been a fantastic year for Peruvian gastronomy, a testament to its consistent quality. Peru isnt Latin Americas food capital because of just five haute cuisine restaurants, said Tsumura. You can also eat well in the streets and marketplaces. Were a really tight-knit bunch of restaurant people, which doesnt even make sense, but thats what sets us apart. Weve got these shared goals. Thats why people are flocking to Latin America to see whats going on. You never know what youre going to find! Were this exotic destination thats always pushing the boundaries.

Micha Tsumura preparing a dish in his Maido restaurant in Lima, Peru. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

Celebrities like Eric Clapton and Robert De Niro have dined at Maido. Its not just for special occasions like anniversaries or birthdays, but also for visitors who want to treat themselves before leaving the country. Cesar Choy Contreras, a founding partner of the restaurant, recalls the touching story of a customer whose seriously ill father improved enough that his doctor allowed him to enjoy his favorite dishes at Maido. Thats when you realize the true meaning of what youre doing, said Choy.

Its nearly two in the afternoon, and the main dining room is bustling with patrons. A procession of sea bass, sole and delicate slices of wagyu beef delight the senses. Micha Tsumura excuses himself warmly, then disappears into the kitchen to conduct a symphony of flavors. Soft music fills the air as the next welcoming chorus begins  Maido!

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Eugenio Cabezas Torrox-Costa Wednesday, 10 January 2024 | Updated 12/01/2024 13:20h. Compartir Copiar enlace

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The four-star Urban Beach Hotel in El Morche, Torrox-Costa, on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol, is reopening its doors this week to welcome a further 230 migrants who arrived in small boats to the Canary Islands in recent weeks. It is the same hotel that hosted 385 men who arrived in October 2023 and left in mid-December.

SUR has learned that 230 migrants are expected to arrive at the Torrox hotel this week by bus from Madrid, where they were flown in from the Canary Islands on flights chartered by the Spanish government.

Although the numbers of people making the crossing has dropped considerably since the start of winter, the wave of migration at the end of 2023 has been the largest in recent history, with more than 31,000 people arriving in small boats to the archipelago, surpassing the previous peak, recorded in 2005 and 2006.

This situation led to Spains central government activating a special care plan, with relocations to the mainland and use of public and private buildings, such as hotels and residences, to accommodate the migrants.

Controversy

The work to facilitate the migrants integration in Spain and Europe is being carried out by the Red Cross, as was the case in October. According to data provided to SUR by the NGO, of the 385 people received in Torrox, 61 were vulnerable, one minor was referred to Andalucias regional governments protection services and 64 requested international protection for various reasons. The majority of the group, some 300, left progressively "with their support networks", according to the provincial coordinator of the Red Cross, Samuel Linares, who spoke to SUR in December.

The previous arrival of migrants in Torrox generated controversy in the first few days due to statements made by the towns councillor for culture and popular traditions, Salvador Escudero (PP), when he compared the migrants to animals and said on a local radio station: "We don't know if they are going to steal a car, it's like putting a time bomb on you". The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened criminal investigation proceedings following complaints from opposition political parties.

Mayor of Torrox, Oscar Medina (PP), thanked both the Red Cross and the government "with institutional loyalty", for advising him of the arrival of the 230 new migrants. Medina highlighted "the great work" done by the Red Cross and "the absolute absence of incidents" following on from Escuderos words in October. Medina recalled that he asked for Escuderos "sincere apologies" shortly after the controversy broke out.
Europa Press Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 17:35 Compartir Copiar enlace

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The National Police have arrested two male youths for the robbery of a petrol station in Estepona on 2 January carried out with a fake pistol. The pair were detained, one in Estepona and the other in Marbella, on Thursday 4 January, the force said in a statement.

Officers seized a fake pistol with which the robbery, of around 2,000 euros, was carried out. The investigation, carried out by officers attached to the specialised and violent crime unit (UDEV) at the Estepona police headquarters, led to the identification and arrest of the alleged perpetrators of the robbery in just 48 hours.

The incident happened on 2 January, at around 5.30pm, when police received a tip-off regarding the robbery. The first enquiries indicated that a young man, wearing a hooded garment and a mask, had burst into the establishment wielding a short firearm.

After threatening the female employees, the raider took the money from the cash register  approximately 2,000 euros  and, curiously, before escaping, he paid for a soft drink that he took from a display.

According to the police investigation, the perpetrator did not act alone. He was accompanied to the fuel station by another youth, who allegedly provided the weapon to the first and gave him directions to the scene of the crime.

From one of the suspects, officers seized 350 euros from the robbery and the clothes used on the day of the theft. One of those arrested also, spontaneously, told the arresting officers that he intended to use the stolen money to buy a scooter. The two detainees have been handed over to the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office.
Maria Albarral Marbella Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 16:39 Compartir Copiar enlace

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The Malaga Medical Union (SMM), at a press briefing on Tuesday, blasted the waiting list situation of more than a year at the Costa del Sol Hospital for an operation. "The waiting lists are scandalous in a hospital that was considered a model for the entire Andalusian public system. The only way to describe the situation is as a deep crisis and to support this statement you only have to look at the official data published on the centre's own website updated to 29 December 2023," said Jose Luis Prada, delegate of the Andalusian medical union at the Marbella hospital.

According to the figures, a total of 5,577 patients are on the surgical waiting list, of whom 1,356 have been waiting for more than a year. Likewise, the average waiting time is 134 days, rising to more than 6 months in the case of the ENT and dermatology departments.

Similarly, some 36,873 patients are waiting for an appointment for a first medical consultation, of whom 23,033 have been waiting for more than two months, with an average delay of 124 days (more than four months).

In the same vein, 32,918 users are waiting for a diagnostic test with an average delay of more than six months, with 16,888 patients waiting for a simple ultrasound scan, with an average delay of 296 days (almost ten months).

Out of a census of 450,000 people in the local area, approximately 25 per cent have private medical insurance and 337,500 depend exclusively on the national health system, of which 75,368, or 22.3 per cent, are waiting for surgery, a test or a consultation. In addition to the waiting list, there is a chronic overload in the emergency department.

"These problems are compounded by the underfunding and neglect [caused by the state health service] as well as the endemic lack of health professionals and the absence of a correct forecast of the needs," said Prada.

The Hospital Costa del Sol in Marbella, Hospital de Alta Resolucion (HAR) in Benalmadena, Hospital de Alta Resolucion (HAR) in Estepona and the Centro de Alta Resolucion de Especialidades (CARE) in Mijas belong to the same management unit.
Susana Zamora Madrid Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 13:25 Compartir Copiar enlace

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will today, 10 January, hold a public hearing to investigate the case of a Jehovah's Witness who reported Spain to the court because a hospital in Madrid gave her blood transfusions against her will but with the approval of a duty court.

According to the Strasbourg court, it will hear the allegations of the Ecuadorian woman, who lives in Soria, that as a Jehovah's Witness she is absolutely opposed to blood transfusions and to the donation and storage of blood and blood products.

The woman received a blood transfusion in a Madrid hospital in 2018 due to a haemorrhage. In 2017 she had been recommended to undergo surgery, when she signed an advance directive, a power of attorney and an informed consent document; in all three she underlined her refusal to receive blood transfusions of any kind, even if her life was in danger, but agreed to accept any medical treatment that did not involve the use of blood.

In 2018, she was admitted to Soria Hospital, but due to a haemorrhage she was transferred to Madrid. The doctors, on learning that she was a Jehovah's Witness, contacted the judge on duty for instructions.

The corresponding judge, who was unaware of the patient's identity and wishes, authorised all medical procedures necessary to save her life. The same day, surgery was performed and blood transfusions were administered, without the patient being informed of the court order, even though "she was still conscious when she was taken to the operating theatre".

In the course of the proceedings, the parties still dispute whether or not the woman was fully lucid at the time. She did not agree with the duty judge's decision and appealed, but the court upheld the decision. Before going to the ECHR, the woman took the matter to the Constitutional Court who declared her claim inadmissible.

So she took her complaint to Strasbourg against Spain for alleged violation of respect for privacy and freedom of thought, conscience and religion, both of which are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Irene Quirante Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 17:49 Compartir Copiar enlace

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The National Police in Spain have arrested four Colombian men as alleged members of an itinerant criminal gang who robbed jewellery shops in Malaga, Madrid, Albacete, Valladolid, Alicante and Jaen.

The robbery of a jewellery shop in Jaen last September was what allowed the officers to close in on the gang, as several reports of similar acts were detected in different Spanish regions. In all the cases, the establishments were located inside shopping centres and the perpetrators followed the same modus operandi.

According to investigators, the robberies were perfectly planned. To do so, the suspects went to the shops to be hit beforehand to inspect the premises, locate possible escape routes and detect where the store's private security employees were located. They also divided up the roles: a fake customer was assisted by an accomplice who was waiting for him on a motorbike and a third person carried out surveillance work.

According to the National Police, the gang carried out six robberies in jewellers' shops netting a total value of 190,000 euros. At the end of November, a coordinated operation was carried out in the provinces of Madrid and Seville, where the alleged members of the gang were based. Three of the four arrested have been remanded in custody.

In the searches carried out, the officers found two plastic bags containing a significant quantity of the drug commonly known as pink cocaine. This enabled the investigators to prove that the gang committed the robberies as a possible means of financing their trade in the narcotic.

In the raids, officers seized 4,465 euros in cash, numerous items of jewellery, a large quantity of clothing used in the commission of the robberies, GPS tracking devices, a remote video surveillance spy camera, and a large quantity of electronic devices and documentation related to members of the criminal group.
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Dominique Roques has been traveling the world for more than three decades in search of raw materials with which to enrich the world of perfumery. Im often asked if I find new flowers, new bark, and so on when I travel, but it doesnt work like that. It is very difficult to introduce something really new to the perfumers palette. You can go deep into the rainforest and discover a flower, but then what do you do with it? Can you reproduce it? he says, highlighting some of the work that is hidden behind the magic of fragrances. For example, aromas are captured in the desert and perfumers try to replicate them in the laboratory, using natural and synthetic ingredients. Many of the efforts to come up with new notes are made by playing with raw materials that already exist, but are produced in different ways. For example, from a rose you can have an absolute extracted with a solvent, or you can have an essence and then fractionate it. One of the greatest technical steps has been the use of CO2 for an extraction in which the solvents disappear and leave no residue. Its expensive, but its more successful. And there is a lot of interesting research in this field, such as playing with microwave extraction.

Roques, the author of In Search of Perfumes (HarperCollins), is semi-retired, after retiring from Firmenich, a multinational perfume and flavor manufacturer. Today he collaborates with them on individual projects. He traveled to Madrid to attend the Perfume Academys annual awards ceremony, which used his book as inspiration for the staging of this years event. He has traveled around the world several times tracking down flowers, seeds, and resins, but above all potential partners with whom to establish a regular trade in these raw materials.

While the mystique of the sector has intentionally focused on the beauty of the bottles, this sourcer advocates shedding light on the entire process. There are those who believe that luxury begins in the perfume bottle, but I believe that we have to go back further, to the raw materials. Today, something that does not take into account the entire chain cannot be understood as luxury. It starts with vanilla from Madagascar, cinnamon from Sri Lanka, benzoin from Laos, patchouli from Indonesia, or vetiver from Haiti. When I started going to these countries in the late 1980s, there was secrecy on the part of the perfume companies  for economic reasons, of course. Sometimes there were ridiculous prices and sometimes the industry took advantage of the poverty in many countries. This has changed, but only in the last 15 years at most. The consumer has more information and has put more and more pressure on the sector, which has been profoundly transformed. It cant be called greenwashing. Before, there was a buyer who did what he wanted and no one noticed, and now there is brutal transparency. Not everything is perfect, because there are complex problems to be solved, but it has improved.

Total traceability is complicated, because many producers buy their crops from hundreds of different farmers, but you already know which town it comes from, you know the quantities, you know the prices. There are large groups that want to demand that everything be certified, from start to finish, but they forget that the situation in Somaliland or Haiti is not the same as it is in France or Spain. There is a clash between Western values and the reality of life in these countries. There are things you can clarify, change, or improve, but you cant impose your standard on their tradition. Its a matter of talking with and understanding the producers, who are generally very young people who want to do a good job.

The market is turning towards associations with these producers in which they can spread the risk: Their main problem is that the industry is not able to guarantee its purchases for three years. These depend on the success of the launches that happen at a dizzying pace, and if these do not work as expected, the weakest link in the chain ends up paying the highest price: A buyer can approach a cardamom producer in Guatemala saying that he is going to have a big launch with a brand, and that he is going to need so many tons, and if it doesnt work later, how is that producer going to tell his farmers that he cant buy their harvest from them? That is why I believe that evolution passes through a partnership relationship.

It is feasible: in the worlds main cities, the demand for fragrances continues to grow. According to McKinsey, its global sales were close to $70 billion in 2022 and are expected to continue growing until reaching $100 billion in 2027. The sector is very profitable, with margins of up to 90% in the luxury subsegment. With an increase in premium, prestige fragrances have an estimated annual growth rate of between 8 and 13% over the next five years.

Margins and ingredients will be affected by factors such as the climate crisis: At the moment it is noticeable through the lack of water in many countries. In France, the worlds leading producer of lavendin (Lavandula latifolia), farmers on the Valensole plateau in Provence once had enough rain to irrigate their crops. But for the last five years it has been changing, and they are realizing that to survive they will have to water the lavandin, which was something unthinkable in the past. They will have to adapt and invest, because every problem has a solution, but at sometimes a very significant cost. And so we come to the super interesting topic of the price of natural products compared to synthetic products, which are much cheaper.

What is the risk? Perfumers could potentially resort to alternatives created in the laboratory and drop fundamental productive frameworks for many regions. It has already happened with Indian mint, which now has fierce competition from synthetic menthol. The industry must choose, but in the knowledge that some natural products may possibly disappear. If perfumery continues tomorrow without balsam of Peru, who will notice? You can make fantastic perfumes without balsam of Peru, but the bottom line is that there may come a time when the palette of natural products is greatly reduced. And it is a crime against the wealth of perfumers when it comes to composing.

For me it is a fairly simple issue: every farmer growing rose, patchouli, or tuberose should be happy. If a price is not paid for the country lord to be happy, something is not working. The future is hopeful, especially illuminated by a new wave of buyers who are seeking quality and who appreciate the ethics of the entire process. They understand that a bottle contains much more than an intoxicating aroma. I think that niche perfumery will do a lot of good by placing high-quality products on the market that will allow the consumer to understand their value and be willing to pay for it, Roques acknowledges. Perhaps it is the only way to preserve the craftsmanship behind this atavistic alchemy. One of my most incredible memories is from Somaliland, when I discovered the smell of incense coming from the trees. It is something unique. Humans discovered this magical tree from which incense could be extracted 5,000 years ago, surely the first perfume in history.
The Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard police blotter of arrests from police agencies around Central New York has been updated today.

The arrests added this week have dates between Nov. 27 and Jan. 7, but most of the new arrests are from the last couple weeks. Those charged were ages 18 to 74.
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Fernando Alba | falba@syracuse.com

2 SUVs collide with bus; 3 injured: Two SUVs crashed head-on with a Centro bus Tuesday in Syracuse. Multiple 911 callers reported the crash around 4:14 p.m. on South Geddes and West Onondaga streets, according to Onondaga County 911 Center dispatches. Emergency crews requested three ambulances and said three people were injured, including one passenger on the bus, according to dispatches. (Fernando Alba photo)

The Latest

Broken glass, dust and heartache: The untold story of the Allman Brothers 1972 concert at Syracuse University: The Allman Brothers performed at SUs Manley Field House in April 1972, just months after Duane Allmans untimely death. The Southern rock band is releasing an official recording of the show this Friday, but some fans who were lucky enough to be there remember more than just the music. The concert was fantastic but also one of the most frightening of my life, one attendee said.

Whats Trending

The great pizza tour of 2024: Who has the best in CNY? Its a debate every Central New Yorker has had at some point: Whos got the best pizza? This year, well do our best to find out. Reporter Charlie Miller is on a quest to find the best pizza shops in the Syracuse area. Throughout 2024, hell visit 50-plus pizzerias, trying their most popular pizza, or whatever they recommend and giving it a score. Hes starting this yearlong tour at Francescas Pizza & Italian Kitchen with what some might call pizza blasphemy  a pizza that pretty much amounts to a flat steak sandwich.

How long will $1 million last in retirement? In NY, not so long: Having $1 million saved for retirement may sound great  but how long will that actually last? If you live in New York State, it wont last as long as it will in most of the rest of the rest of the country, according to a finance website. See how long you can expect that cash to last, and where New York state ranks.

Former CNY town supervisor charged with theft, misconduct: A former longtime town supervisor in Cayuga County has been accused of official misconduct and stealing more than a thousand dollars, according to police.

State of the State 2024

Hochul wants Syracuse to anchor network of tech workforce training centers: At her State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul wants Syracuse to serve as the flagship of four new workforce development centers that the state would help establish across Upstate New York to serve Micron Technology and other high-tech manufacturers.

Sports

Adrian Autry on SUs 3-point struggles: Getting better shots is taking better shots: Syracuses 4-for-16 performance from 3-point range last week against Duke was one of many factors in the Oranges 86-66 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the 3-point shooting continued a well-defined trend. In its four losses, Syracuse has made 22.5% of its 3-point shots. When you talk about shot-making, a lot of that is the type of shot that you get, Autry said.

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By Cayla Bamberger | New York Daily News

The highest-achieving graduates at every high school in New York will automatically be accepted to the states public university systems under a plan unveiled by Gov. Hochul on Tuesday.

The policy, one of the governors State of the State priorities for higher education, was billed as a way to boost equity and enrollment, while promoting New Yorks public universities and keeping talented youngsters in state.

Access to higher education has the potential to transform the lives of young New Yorkers and change the trajectory of a students life, Hochul said in a statement.

Over the next year, the State University of New York will develop a direct admissions program so that students in the top 10% of their classes can gain automatic entry to the systems most selective campuses, such as Stony Brook and Binghamton University.

The City University of New York is expected to expand its existing direct admissions program.

In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court decision on SFFA [Students for Fair Admissions], there were a lot of conversations with the governors team, with the legislature about how we in New York could ensure that we continue to make every academic opportunity available to all New York students, SUNY Chancellor John King told the Daily News after Hochuls speech.

Direct admission is a great tool for making sure that very talented students know theres a place for them at SUNY, he said.

Multiple states  including Texas, California, Illinois and Idaho  already offer direct admission and have found that it boosts equity, according to the governors office.

For example, the top 9% of California high school graduates are offered a guaranteed space at a University of California campus if space is available, the public university systems website says. The program increased under-represented student enrollment at the UC systems selective campuses, according to a detailed written plan presented alongside Hochuls speech.

New York ihas started experimenting with fixing the often stressful and obstacle-ridden college admissions process.

This school year, 65,000 local public school students received admissions letters to CUNYs community colleges and additional information about the systems four-year colleges. A spokesperson for CUNY called the proposal a bold step toward educational equity that will ease the college transition for countless families.

SUNY sent letters in June to 125,000 high school seniors outside NYC to their local community colleges for the fall. Locally, King announced this fall with Schools Chancellor David Banks that all high school seniors would receive welcome letters about SUNY programs.

We are ready to implement the vision that the governor lays out in the book and have already begun conversations with our most selective campuses, said King, and will work with them and with school districts across the state to move implementation forward.

2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com.
Fanny Villarreal, who has led the Syracuse YWCA for a decade, plans to launch a Republican campaign to unseat state Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse, in Novembers election.

Villarreal, 55, of the town of Onondaga, said she will kick off her campaign for the 48th Senate District seat on Thursday at an event with supporters in Syracuse.

Villarreal is a longtime leader in Syracuses Latino community. In 2022, she briefly explored the idea of challenging May before district boundaries were redrawn through the states redistricting process.

This time, Villarreal said, she is committed to running in the new district on the Republican and Conservative Party ballot lines, even though voter enrollment heavily favors Democratic candidates.

Villarreal told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that she believes Mays support for progressive policies are too liberal for residents of a district that spans all of Syracuse, some suburban towns in Onondaga County and all of Cayuga County.

I believe she is out of touch with Central New York, Villarreal said of May. All of the bills that she is helping to pass seem to benefit New York City. The difference between us is that I am extremely connected with the city of Syracuse.

Villarreal said she will emphasize her connections to Syracuse, where she settled after moving from Peru in 1993 and taking a job at the former Nojaim Brothers Supermarket.

She worked her way up to become a cashier at Nojaims and then moved into a series of leadership positions at nonprofit groups.

Villarreal served as executive director of the Spanish Action League in Syracuse before taking over as executive director of the YWCA of Syracuse and Onondaga County in 2013.

In this years Senate campaign, Villarreal said, she will talk to voters about her opposition to New Yorks criminal justice reforms and climate initiatives such as Gov. Kathy Hochuls move to ban gas stoves in new houses.

At least one other Republican is campaigning for the nomination in the 48th Senate District. Caleb Slater, 27, of Syracuse, started campaigning in February 2023. Slater said he works as a consultant in the real estate industry.

Slater worked as a volunteer on Rep. Brandon Williams campaign for Congress in 2022. He is seeking the Republican and Conservative Party nominations for the state Senate election.

The 48th Senate District spans the entire city of Syracuse, some western and southern towns in Onondaga County and all of Cayuga County.

The district leans heavily in favor of Democratic candidates. As of November, the district had 75,941 enrolled Democratic voters, 53,540 Republicans and 52,554 independent voters who were not registered in a political party.

May won election to a third term in 2022, 50-42%, over Republican Julie Abbott of Skaneateles and Conservative Justin Coretti of Cayuga County, who had 7% of the vote.

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
WASHINGTON (AP)  Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday, stirring a political frenzy as Republicans were taking the first step toward holding President Joe Bidens son in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena.

The arrival of the presidents son at the Oversight Committee, sitting in the audience with his legal team, including attorney Abbe Lowell, sent the panel that is working to impeach President Biden into chaos.

One Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, insisted that Hunter Biden be quickly arrested. GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called him a coward as he left during her remarks. Democratic lawmakers argued that Biden, who has refused to testify to the panel behind closed doors, should be allowed to speak publicly.

Hunter Biden has defended his lack of compliance with the GOP-issued subpoena, which ordered him to appear for closed-door testimony in mid-December. Biden and his attorneys said information from private interviews can be selectively leaked and manipulated by House Republicans and insisted that he would only testify in public

On Wednesday, Committee Chairman James Comer struggled to regain control. Mr. Biden doesnt make the rules, we make the rules, he said.

Hunter Biden and his attorneys left shortly after, making a brief statement to reporters outside the hearing room. Lowell reiterated Wednesday that unlike the president, his client was and is a private citizen.

Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father, he said. And, despite their improper partisan motives, on six different occasions, since February of 2023, we have offered to work with the House committees to see what and how relevant information to any legitimate inquiry could be provided.

The only remarks Hunter Biden made to reporters was when asked why he had his father on speaker phone several times during business meetings. If he called you, would you answer the phone? he responded.

The House Oversight and Judiciary committees will each vote on contempt resolutions that seem likely to result in the U.S. House recommending criminal charges as Republicans move into the final stages of their impeachment inquiry into the president himself.

Its the latest step for the inquiry, which began in September, but has so far failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in wrongdoing involving his sons business dealings.

If the committees approve the contempt resolutions as expected, they will go to the full House for consideration. And if the House votes to hold Hunter Biden in contempt, it will be up to the Department of Justice to decide whether to prosecute.

The contempt referral would be yet another headache for federal prosecutors already under heavy scrutiny for their handling of charges against Hunter Biden related to his taxes and gun use.

Shelving the contempt of Congress charges would likely further stoke conservative criticism that the Justice Department is politicized  especially given that two one-time advisers to former President Donald Trump were prosecuted for contempt of Congress by the Biden administration. But prosecuting contempt cases can be difficult.

Further angering Republicans, Hunter Biden did come to the Capitol on the day specified by the subpoena  but not to testify. Instead, he stood behind microphones outside the U.S. Capitol complex  a couple hundred feet away from the awaiting GOP investigators  and delivered a rare public statement defending his business affairs and castigating the yearslong investigations into him and his family.

There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen, the presidents son said in those remarks.

He added, There is no fairness or decency in what these Republicans are doing  they have lied over and over about every aspect of my personal and professional life  so much so that their lies have become the false facts believed by too many people.

Speaker Mike Johnson gave his stamp of approval Wednesday to the the contempt process, saying that the House must uphold its subpoena power.

We have to do this. This is our role. Its our responsibility, the Louisiana Republican said during a press conference. But, he added, were not taking any pleasure in this.

The contempt resolution, released by Republicans on Monday, reads, Mr. Bidens flagrant defiance of the Committees deposition subpoenas  while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters  is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions.

While Republicans say their inquiry is ultimately focused on the president, they have taken particular interest in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, questioning whether the president profited from that work.

Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations that there has been political interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden.

The committees votes Wednesday on contempt of Congress come a day before Hunter Biden is scheduled to make his first court appearance on tax charges filed by a special counsel in Los Angeles. He is facing three felony and six misdemeanor counts, including filing a false return, tax evasion, failure to file and failure to pay.

His lawyer has accused David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the yearslong case, of bowing to Republican pressure by bringing the charges.
Marcellus, N.Y.  Nearly 17,000 people in Central New York are without power this morning after high winds downed trees and wires overnight.

Thats the total without electricity as of 6:30 a.m. Wednesday in Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison, Oswego, Oneida, and Cortland counties, according to National Grid and New York Electric and Gas reports.

Cayuga County is hardest hit with 8,895 without power, followed by Onondaga County with 4,617 with no electricity.

Many schools are reporting closings or delays.

The outages come after a storm system moved through the area bringing rain and high winds. Empty tractor-trailers were banned on many roads including the New York State Thruway due to the high winds.

In Cayuga County, Auburn was hardest hit with 2,926 with no power. Other outages spread out in the county with the most reported in the county in Aurelius with 931, Owasco, with 993 and Genoa, 507 and Springport with 492.

In Auburn, the Cayuga County Office building at 160 Genesee St. is closed after damage to the roof, according to a press release.

Wednesday morning 4,000 power outages are still reported in Onondaga County.

The majority of the power outages in Onondaga County are NYSEG customers. Of the over 8,000 customers in the county 3,726 people are without power.

Spafford had the most with 1,188 without power. The town of Marcellus had 985 and the town of Elbridge 668. In the village of Elbridge, NYSEG serves 522 customers and everyone is listed as having no power. The town of Otisco has 325 outages out of 326 total customers.

All of the outages reported by NYSEG have an estimated restoration time of 10:30 p.m.

In Onondaga County, National Grid Skaneateles has the highest number of outages with 455 followed by Otisco with 189 and Camillus with 161.

Town of Elbridge officials told residents they can go to the Jordan Elbridge Community Center for water, warmth and to recharge devices, according to the towns Facebook page.

The storm caused after-school and evening activities to be cancelled on Tuesday. Cancellations continued into Wednesday morning.

Have photos of storm damage to share? Send them along with your name and the location of the damage to citynews@syracuse.com

Damage after an overnight storm on Camillus Dr. in Camillus. (Courtesy Anne DiCosimo)Courtesy Anne DiCosimo

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.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Wind gusts as high as 79 mph knocked down wires and trees across much of Upstate New York on Tuesday, knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers and briefly trapping an Auburn family in their home after a tree crashed into it.

Winds will diminish today but remain strong, and are expected to generate heavy lake effect snow off Lake Ontario. Some schools are closed today due to continued power outages or heavy snowfall. The National Weather Service has issued a lake effect snow warning for Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties, where 8 to 16 inches of snow could fall amid 40 mph wind gusts.

The damage was greatest in Western New York and the North Country, where falling trees and branches downed wires, cutting out power and blocking roads. The village of Dexter, in Jefferson County, posted the highest wind speed, 79 mph. Category 1 hurricane wind speeds start at 74 mph.

In Central New York, Cayuga County was hard-hit. A large tree was uprooted and fell onto a two-story house in Auburn about 9:25 p.m. Tuesday, trapping three people inside, the weather service reported. The family, including children ages 2 and 4, were rescued unharmed, the Auburn Citizen reported.

The Cayuga County Office Building, also in Auburn, suffered roof damage and will be closed today, the county said.

The peak wind gust at Hancock International Airport was 45 mph, at about 11 p.m. A high wind alert remains in place today for much of Upstate New York, with gusts up to 45 mph.

At the height of the storm, more than 28,000 customers in Central New York were without power, National Grid said. More than 17,000 outages remain in Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison, Oswego, Oneida, and Cortland counties.

New York State Gas and Electric, which covers much of Upstate New York, still has 57,000 customers without power this morning.

Flooding was less widespread than forecasters had feared, as rainfall amounts turned out to be lower than predicted and cooler temperatures slowed the melting of snow. A few roads were closed at the southern edge of the Hudson Valley, but the worst of the flooding was farther south and closer to the coast, in New Jersey and on Long Island.

Forecasters are watching yet another storm system for this weekend that could bring rain, snow and high winds.
The anti-China restrictions imposed by the United States are paying dividends and, on one level in particular, Mexico has been the major beneficiary. Since the toughening of President Joe Bidens rhetoric and the imposition of tariffs and restrictions on the export of critical technologies from China to the U.S., Beijings exports have dropped. Over the same period, Mexico has been gaining ground, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday.

Mexico overtook the Asian giant in the value of exports to the U.S. in the cumulative first 11 months of 2023, totaling $438.986 billion, while China lagged behind with $393.137 billion. Everything points to 2023 being the year in which Mexico dethroned China as the main exporter to the United States. Among the products that the U.S. purchases most widely from Mexico are cars and auto parts, electronics, petroleum, and agricultural products.

In November, according to the most recent figures, Mexico exported a total of $39.81 billion to the U.S., while China exported $35.494 billion. In third place is Canada, the other member of the USMCA agreement between the three American nations, which replaced NAFTA in 2020. Canada exported $36.141 billion in November, bringing its cumulative exports for 2023 to $387.727 billion.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are also generating excitement and expectation in Mexico due to the potential of nearshoring  the interest of companies in leaving China to secure their supply chains in countries that are allies of the U.S. Legislators in Washington have warned that Chinese companies are looking to move operations to Mexico in order to continue selling to the U.S. market.

Although foreign direct investment (FDI) announcements have broken records in Mexico, the country does not have the same advantage as in exports. According to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the U.S. was the leading recipient of FDI globally during the first six months of 2023, followed by Brazil, while Canada and Mexico tied for third place. The U.S. was also the largest investor globally, followed by China and Japan.

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At the top of the Andes mountain range, life seems like fiction. There is nothing there. Those immense volcanic peaks that rise over 20,000 feet above sea level are a vacant world of stone, ice and snow.

Between 1970 and 1980, archaeologists climbed some of these volcanoes and found mounds of rocks erected by the Incas, the empire that ruled South America until the early 16th century. They also found mummies attributed to the Capacocha, a ceremony that included child sacrifices. And among those ruins, they noticed the remains of a few mice. The speculation was that those rodents had been carried there, perhaps unwittingly, by the Indigenous people themselves. Nobody thought they arrived on their own.

In 2011, on one of these Andean peaks at about 20,300 feet above sea level, an anthropologist and a doctor found a naturally mummified mouse. Three years later, they fortuitously recorded one of these rodents between rocks and ice, and in 2016 a climber saw a rodent hide in its den at the Llullaillaco, a 22,110-feet massif at the northern part of the border between Chile and Argentina and the second-highest active volcano in the world.

But it was until 2020 that Bolivian climber Mario Perez Mamani noticed the presence of a rodent.

A mouse! he told his partner, Jay Storz, a mountaineer and biologist from the University of Nebraska, who, exhausted and dazed by the altitude, barely noticed the little animal, which quickly hid under a rock. Even so, the American managed to capture it with his hand. It was a Phyllotis vaccarum, also known as leaf-eared mouse, a part of the Sigmodontinae subfamily that is believed to have crossed into South America more than 3 million years ago, when only a few islands linked the north and the south of the continent. These small animals had managed to colonize impossible heights. There was life at the top.

Jay Storz and Mario Perez Mamani descend from the summit of Cerro Vicunas, where no mice were found.

How they reached such heights

That encounter prompted Storz and other biologists to investigate the presence of mice. Between 2020 and 2022 they climbed 24 Andean volcanoes, in Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. On three of these peaks, they found 13 dead rodents: on the volcanoes Pular (20,450 feet), Copiapo (19,855) and Salin (19,780).

We found life at the tops of very few, admits the Nebraska biologist. And the leaf-eared mouse is the most extreme of all. According to him, that is the only animal found above 20,000 feet, although they also found remains of other types of rodents at altitudes above 16,400, all from the family Cricetidae, separated from their distant European relatives about 18 million years ago.

A previous hypothesis was that the Incas had something to do with the arrival of these little mice to the peaks; even that some of them snuck into the firewood they carried. It always seemed crazy to me, because carrying a few sticks on your back, no mouse can endure the trip, says Guillermo DElia, a biologist at the Austral University (Argentina) and one of the co-authors of the study on the leaf-eared mouse published in the journal Current Biology.

Naim Bautista searches for mummified mice at the Copiapo volcano, 19,855 feet above sea level. Jay Storz

The scientist was skeptical, so they used radiocarbon tests to determine the age of the tiny hairy mummies: most were from around 1950, and one of them from approximately 350 years ago. In other words, much more recent than the fallen Inca empire. This study joins others that suggest that there are mice dwellings in those heights, says DElia. They are few, but they are there.

The evidence reinforces the theory that they arrived on their own. The mummies they found are males and females, half and half, as a natural population would be, he explains. Although the tendency in mammals is for males to travel to reproduce, the sex of the mice found in these peaks is equal. If they simply arrived by happenstance, one would expect to find more males than females, he speculates. This brings to mind a natural population.

Taming the peaks

There is still much to learn about this species. This is why biologists continue working to gather more information about these rodents. However, the mission is arduous. Storz had experience in mountaineering, and the rumors of the highest mouse in the world piqued his interest. His two passions intersected.

Each exploration lasts three weeks, as it requires acclimatization to the low oxygen levels at 20,000 feet. Climbers must arrive at the summits before noon, to descend a few hundred feet to the base camp. Or risk storms. Up there, you usually have time to put an arm around your partner, take a selfie at the top and thats it, because staying a long time at such heights is dangerous, explains the American. But we also need to search for mummies. They make every second count. The times we found preserved carcasses, they were visible and we didnt have to look as hard, he says. And, however slim, there is always a chance of finding some P. vaccarum.

The mountains of western Bolivia tend to have more snow than those of northern Chile, at the driest desert on the planet, the Atacama. However, beyond that, at the volcanoes where we find mummies, at first glance, there is no difference with the others, admits the biologist. We dont understand why we found some on some peaks and none on others, except where there is heavy snow, where they dont expect to find life. They also found bodies of leaf-eared mice on peaks that had no archaeological remains. Its a mystery why mice climb some mountains and not others, he reflects.

Jay Storz digs to find mummified mice at the top of the Pular Volcano, at 20,450 feet above sea level. Mario Perez Mamani

At the top, breathing is difficult. It is exhausting. The mind becomes cloudy. Thinking clearly is hard, but the views are impressive. Lower down  at around 11,500 feet  the arid Atacama Plateau is the best place in the world to see the night sky, confesses Storz. It has a certain charm; it is not for everyone, it is quite austere, almost Martian.

Two large camelids, vicunas and guanacos, live there, surrounded by foxes and flamingos in the lagoons. The vegetation is scarce: there are cacti and yaretas, a mossy-looking bush. Up to 3,100 feet, the environment is a little friendlier, says DElia. You can imagine what they can eat and what they cannot. Up to that point, mice are abundant. At that altitude, the cold is severe at night and the lack of oxygen is tangible. You get dizzy if you bend down and get up quickly, he explains. Your head and body work in slow motion. At night, it is not easy to enter deep sleep as the wind twists and bends the bushes.

These little mice hide among the vegetation and the rocks, becoming more active at night. The researchers set traps to catch and study them. In places like the Casiri lagoon, at 15,750 feet above sea level on the border with Bolivia, everything is very primitive and rudimentary, he says. These are very remote places; you dont see many people, except for the occasional local with some livestock. The roads are rough, diffused, slow to travel. And there comes a point when there is nothing: its just sand, volcanic ash, rocks, snow and ice, he continues. Sulfur fumaroles emerge from the cracks, turning the ground yellow.

The scientists have seen tracks left by a puma, the big cat of the Andes, at 17,100 feet. Its impressive that they are so high; I suppose they are hunting vicunas and guanacos, says Storz. The elusive Andean mountain cat also lives there, although he has never seen one. But it is possible that they have seen us, he says.

Nothing to eat

The absence of predators could be one of the reasons why mice reach so high, the researchers speculate. Although, at 20,000 feet, they obviously have to deal with other problems, admits the American.

To DElia, it is not surprising that the vertebrates that live at the highest altitude are mammals; there are no lizards or reptiles due to differences in their physiological limits. What is noteworthy, however, is that it happens to be a small rodent. As you get closer to the poles, or to high altitudes, the animals become larger, he explains, because they are more energy efficient. But not in the Andes.

The biologists assume that the rodents live there year-round and do not migrate. In the laboratory studies, they sequenced the genomes of all 13 mouse bodies and they all belonged to the same species; they compared them with individuals from the highlands and from sea level and barely found any differences between them. It is as if it were the same large, widely distributed population, says the scientist.

The desolate landscape at the top of the Salin volcano, 19,780 feet above sea level. Jay Storz

The certainty that these rodents exist at such altitudes allows them to study the limits of vertebrate life. In Santiago, at the University of Chile, they have some of these mice, captured at lower altitudes; with controlled experiments, they seek to figure out how they evolved for such extreme conditions by comparing them with individuals of extremely related species that do not live so high.

But the fact that they are almost genetically identical does not mean that there are no differences, points out DElia. More research still needs to be done. However, he speculates on the possibility that they have a gene that allows hemoglobin at altitude to be more efficient at capturing oxygen. Another mystery remains: what do they eat, if there is nothing up there? They have only found lichens, highly resistant organisms, made up of a fungus and an algae or cyanobacteria. Analysis of the stomach of a mouse caught in Llullaillaco shows some plants from the Chilean highlands.

For the moment, with their findings they already broke the height record of the large-eared pika (Ochotona macrotis)  more closely related to hares and rabbits  which was found at 20,110 feet, at Mount Everest. There are still areas that have not been explored much, not only the Chilean Andes, but also the Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Argentinian Andes, DElia explains. There is a final frontier of exploration there, waiting to be visited.

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Re: USA: GM outsells Toyota to retain title as the top-selling automaker in 2023



Quote: GM sold a total of 2,577,662 light vehicles in the U.S. throughout the 2023 calendar year. This represents a 14.1% increase over 2022 and is the companys best result since 2019 when it sold 2.9 million vehicles.

Chevrolet remained GMs best-selling brand, shifting 1,699,244 vehicles, a 13.1% increase over 2022 while GMC accounted for 563,677 sales, an 8.9% jump. Interestingly, it was Buick that experienced the most significant jump in sales with 167,030 units arriving in the homes of shoppers, a 61.4% rise from 2022.

Sales of GMs all-electric vehicles totaled 75,883 units, or 2.9% of its total volume. The Toyota Group, comprising the Toyota and Lexus brands, stands as the second-best selling automaker in the United States, with 2,248,477 deliveries in 2023, marking a 6.6% increase compared to 2022.



Fords 2023 sales reached 1,995,912 vehicles, reflecting a 7.1% increase over 2022 and representing its strongest performance since 2020.



The Hyundai Group, consisting of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, had a highly successful year in the U.S. with sales increasing by 12.1% to reach 1,652,821 units. This achievement secured its position as the fourth-best selling automaker in the U.S. in 2023, behind GM, Toyota Motor, and Ford Motor Co.

It also moved ahead of Stellantis, which includes the Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Jeep, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo brands, and reported a 1.3% decline in sales to 1,533,670 units.



Meanwhile sales of Honda and Acura models proved particularly strong last year, jumping collectively by 33% to 1,308,166 units.



Other carmakers to report noteworthy gains include BMW with sales of 397,521 units (+9.3%), Mazda with 363,354 sales (+23.2%), Nissan/Mitsubishi with 986,136 (+21%) and Subaru with 632,086 (+13.6%).

The VW Group, comprising the Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and VW brands delivered 565,416 cars, representing an increase of 14.2% over 2022.





Link: GM is No.1 and Hyundai outsells Stellantis.in the United States, with 2,248,477 deliveries in 2023, marking a 6.6% increase compared to 2022.Fords 2023 sales reached 1,995,912 vehicles, reflecting a 7.1% increase over 2022 and representing its strongest performance since 2020., consisting of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, had a highly successful year in the U.S. with sales increasing by 12.1% to reach 1,652,821 units. This achievement secured its position as the fourth-best selling automaker in the U.S. in 2023, behind GM, Toyota Motor, and Ford Motor Co.It also moved ahead of, which includes the Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Jeep, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo brands, and reported a 1.3% decline in sales to 1,533,670 units.Meanwhile sales ofand Acura models proved particularly strong last year, jumping collectively by 33% to 1,308,166 units.Other carmakers to report noteworthy gains include BMW with sales of 397,521 units (+9.3%), Mazda with 363,354 sales (+23.2%), Nissan/Mitsubishi with 986,136 (+21%) and Subaru with 632,086 (+13.6%).The VW Group, comprising the Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and VW brands delivered 565,416 cars, representing an increase of 14.2% over 2022.
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New Year Drive to "Old Magazine House" New Year Drive to "Old Magazine House"



The first drive of a new year is always special to me. I believe it sets the tone for the drives through the rest of the year. I love solo drives, and a solo drive on a new year is even more special, as it gives me a chance to introspect and reflect on the past year, and also dream about new drives in the new year and look forward to the rest of the year.



For these new year drives, I usually try to explore new areas or at least visit places I have not been before. A new year deserves a new experience! For example, last year, I did a 3000km solo drive via Samruddhi Expressway to kick-off my 2023 drives.



While thinking of new places to visit this year, one constraint that hit me was that I had just one weekend - Saturday and Sunday - for this drive, and that meant I could not drive to really far away lands. I like to drive about a 1000km on a Saturday-Sunday drive, and I started thinking about a 500km one-way destinations where I had not been before.



And that brought me to a place that I wanted to visit for a long time, but had not visited before. That place had a mysterious name,"Old Magazine House", by Jungle Lodges and Resorts, located near Dandeli, Karnataka. It is about 520km from my house, and that was the perfect distance for my Saturday-Sunday drive. I would end up driving 1000+ km in that weekend, and that is apt to kick of a new year.



In my mind, starting from the name itself, this place had a mysterious feel. This is literally an old house, as the name suggests, located in thick forests near Dandeli, near backwaters of Supa dam across Kali river. The word "magazine" in the name, which adds that mysterious feel in my mind, refers to the status of this house in 1970s, when this was a "magazine house" or a bunker built to store ammunition used during construction of Supa Dam.





This place is famous for bird watching and bird photography. And that meant that instead of my usual automobile and landscape photography, I had an opportunity to spend a weekend trying something different - bird photography! That sounded like a perfect new year drive plan for me: drive to a new place, drive about a 1000km, and try a different experience, which would be bird photography for me. My new year drive plan was set!



Now that the plan was set, the question was which car to take. The roads to Dandeli are mostly good (6-lane national highway till Hubli, and then 2-lane or single lane forest roads after that), but the jungle lodge guys told me there are some bad patches for about 15-20km after Hubli. And then in case I got time, I thought I would drive around Supa dam area and explore some local landscapes and terrains. That meant both my BMW 320d and

"Dusty", my Thar 4x4 would be great in different sections of the journey, and neither would be the obvious winner in the overall mixed conditions. Finally, I decided to take my Dusty. I convinced myself that Thar would be the more thematic choice given the jungle theme of this drive. Dusty would be at home in Old Magazine House, and would be a great choice of vehicle to explore some local landscapes near dam backwaters. As it turned out, I spent all my time in bird photography and did not get time to explore any local landscapes. But nevertheless, Dusty was great to have to drive around the last mile road (which was all mud-track) near Old Magazine House, and also blended perfectly in the jungle ambiance at Old Magazine House.



So that is the story of my new year drive, which lead to me hitting the roads in my Dusty, in the early morning hours of the first Saturday of the new year.



Let me share the travel and the lodge pictures here, and then in the next couple of posts I will share the bird photographs.



Early morning start meant I had already driven for 2 hours before a breakfast stop by sunrise:





From Bangalore to Hubli is a regular 6-lane highway, which is my regular road (part of my routine Bangalore-Pune drives). Dusty isn't the best vehicle for such a highway, but it was able to keep munching miles at a steady albeit not too fast a rate. In that "not too fast and steady" mode, I reached Hubli, and then took a left turn towards Karwar, and then further right turn in the forests heading to Dandeli.



Once I entered the forest roads, the scenes looked like this:





Overall this was a good road, but it did have some bumpy patches, some narrow and potholed sections, and some narrow sections going through crowded villages. The biggest pain was the traffic of the super slow tractors carrying sugar cane. Those tractors caused a mini traffic jam at many places. But keeping aside these few things, the forest road was fun.



The last 25km to Old Magazine House (OMH) was the best section of the road - smooth tarmac through a lovey forest.



Lovely roads through forest, leading to OMH that made me miss my BMW:







Lovely forest roads:







Such lovely roads made me wonder if I took the wrong car for this drive:





Funny how I was literally "hoping and praying" for some bad roads just because I was driving a Thar.



Thankfully, my prayers were answered when I exited the tarmac and this was the last mile road leading to OMH:







The last 600m to OMH is a pure dirt track, and Dusty suddenly felt at home here:







Finally the right road for Dusty:







Could not resist clicking a few more shots here, after wondering for 500km if I took the wrong car:







Arrived! This sign welcomed me after traveling on that mud track for just about 600m:







Dusty in the parking space at OMH. This is where she fits so well and blends in the surroundings:







This is the famous Old Magazine House, which is literally as old and dilapidated as the name suggests:







My room, which was one of the five rooms in the old house. The room and the interiors are definitely better than the dilapidated exterior:







I could see Dusty parked outside from the common areas of the house:





Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) properties are never known for luxurious interiors or facilities. These properties are nice and comfortable, but basic stays in the middle of the forests. Their location and the experiences they offer is their USP, not the luxury amenities. However, even by that humble JLR standards, this Old Magazine House is even more basic. This is one of the most basic and most simple JLR properties I have visited. It is a very small place with just that old house, and not much more. But again, although basic, the room was very clean and comfortable, and the room was definitely better than what the exterior would make you expect.



Once upon a time they had these cottages, which are now totally dilapidated and out of service:





They are building new cottages there now. Till then, all they have is those five rooms in the main house, and an additional dormitory.



OMH has this simple and small terrace restaurant, which was very basic just like the whole place, but offered great jungle views and fantastic fresh food (the food here was really great - simple but fresh and very tasty- and deserves a mention for sure!):







The main attraction in OMH, this "hide" setup there for bird watching and bird photography, which was crowded by photographers of all levels with all kinds of photography gear in the afternoon and evening hours:







The same area gets converted into a bonfire area by late evening:





I spent my entire afternoon and evening time there in and around the hide, clicking photos of birds, watching birds, and also watching other fellow photographers (there were many pro photographers there in action) and leaning from them. Overall I had a great time and it was a great learning experience for me in bird photography.



I will share my bird photographs in next posts. The first drive of a new year is always special to me. I believe it sets the tone for the drives through the rest of the year. I love solo drives, and a solo drive on a new year is even more special, as it gives me a chance to introspect and reflect on the past year, and also dream about new drives in the new year and look forward to the rest of the year.For these new year drives, I usually try to explore new areas or at least visit places I have not been before. A new year deserves a new experience! For example, last year, I did ato kick-off my 2023 drives.While thinking of new places to visit this year, one constraint that hit me was that I had just one weekend - Saturday and Sunday - for this drive, and that meant I could not drive to really far away lands. I like to drive about a 1000km on a Saturday-Sunday drive, and I started thinking about a 500km one-way destinations where I had not been before.And that brought me to a place that I wanted to visit for a long time, but had not visited before. That place had a mysterious name,"", by Jungle Lodges and Resorts, located near Dandeli, Karnataka. It is about 520km from my house, and that was the perfect distance for my Saturday-Sunday drive. I would end up driving 1000+ km in that weekend, and that is apt to kick of a new year.In my mind, starting from the name itself, this place had a mysterious feel. This is literally an old house, as the name suggests, located in thick forests near Dandeli, near backwaters of Supa dam across Kali river. The word "magazine" in the name, which adds that mysterious feel in my mind, refers to the status of this house in 1970s, when this was a "magazine house" or a bunker built to store ammunition used during construction of Supa Dam.This place is famous for bird watching and bird photography. And that meant that instead of my usual automobile and landscape photography, I had an opportunity to spend a weekend trying something different - bird photography! That sounded like a perfect new year drive plan for me: drive to a new place, drive about a 1000km, and try a different experience, which would be bird photography for me. My new year drive plan was set!Now that the plan was set, the question was which car to take. The roads to Dandeli are mostly good (6-lane national highway till Hubli, and then 2-lane or single lane forest roads after that), but the jungle lodge guys told me there are some bad patches for about 15-20km after Hubli. And then in case I got time, I thought I would drive around Supa dam area and explore some local landscapes and terrains. That meant both my BMW 320d and"Dusty", my Thar 4x4 would be great in different sections of the journey, and neither would be the obvious winner in the overall mixed conditions. Finally, I decided to take my Dusty. I convinced myself that Thar would be the more thematic choice given the jungle theme of this drive. Dusty would be at home in Old Magazine House, and would be a great choice of vehicle to explore some local landscapes near dam backwaters. As it turned out, I spent all my time in bird photography and did not get time to explore any local landscapes. But nevertheless, Dusty was great to have to drive around the last mile road (which was all mud-track) near Old Magazine House, and also blended perfectly in the jungle ambiance at Old Magazine House.So that is the story of my new year drive, which lead to me hitting the roads in my Dusty, in the early morning hours of the first Saturday of the new year.Let me share the travel and the lodge pictures here, and then in the next couple of posts I will share the bird photographs.Early morning start meant I had already driven for 2 hours before a breakfast stop by sunrise:From Bangalore to Hubli is a regular 6-lane highway, which is my regular road (part of my routine Bangalore-Pune drives). Dusty isn't the best vehicle for such a highway, but it was able to keep munching miles at a steady albeit not too fast a rate. In that "not too fast and steady" mode, I reached Hubli, and then took a left turn towards Karwar, and then further right turn in the forests heading to Dandeli.Once I entered the forest roads, the scenes looked like this:Overall this was a good road, but it did have some bumpy patches, some narrow and potholed sections, and some narrow sections going through crowded villages. The biggest pain was the traffic of the super slow tractors carrying sugar cane. Those tractors caused a mini traffic jam at many places. But keeping aside these few things, the forest road was fun.The last 25km to Old Magazine House (OMH) was the best section of the road - smooth tarmac through a lovey forest.Lovely roads through forest, leading to OMH that made me miss my BMW:Lovely forest roads:Such lovely roads made me wonder if I took the wrong car for this drive:Funny how I was literally "hoping and praying" for some bad roads just because I was driving a Thar.Thankfully, my prayers were answered when I exited the tarmac and this was the last mile road leading to OMH:The last 600m to OMH is a pure dirt track, and Dusty suddenly felt at home here:Finally the right road for Dusty:Could not resist clicking a few more shots here, after wondering for 500km if I took the wrong car:Arrived! This sign welcomed me after traveling on that mud track for just about 600m:Dusty in the parking space at OMH. This is where she fits so well and blends in the surroundings:This is the famous Old Magazine House, which is literally as old and dilapidated as the name suggests:My room, which was one of the five rooms in the old house. The room and the interiors are definitely better than the dilapidated exterior:I could see Dusty parked outside from the common areas of the house:Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) properties are never known for luxurious interiors or facilities. These properties are nice and comfortable, but basic stays in the middle of the forests. Their location and the experiences they offer is their USP, not the luxury amenities. However, even by that humble JLR standards, this Old Magazine House is even more basic. This is one of the most basic and most simple JLR properties I have visited. It is a very small place with just that old house, and not much more. But again, although basic, the room was very clean and comfortable, and the room was definitely better than what the exterior would make you expect.Once upon a time they had these cottages, which are now totally dilapidated and out of service:They are building new cottages there now. Till then, all they have is those five rooms in the main house, and an additional dormitory.OMH has this simple and small terrace restaurant, which was very basic just like the whole place, but offered great jungle views and fantastic fresh food (the food here was really great - simple but fresh and very tasty- and deserves a mention for sure!):The main attraction in OMH, this "hide" setup there for bird watching and bird photography, which was crowded by photographers of all levels with all kinds of photography gear in the afternoon and evening hours:The same area gets converted into a bonfire area by late evening:I spent my entire afternoon and evening time there in and around the hide, clicking photos of birds, watching birds, and also watching other fellow photographers (there were many pro photographers there in action) and leaning from them. Overall I had a great time and it was a great learning experience for me in bird photography.I will share my bird photographs in next posts. Last edited by Dr.AD : 9th January 2024 at 12:51 .
So, who had the best demo at CES 2024? GE Profile came close with its smokeless Indoor Smoker, complete with freshly cooked barbecue for the hungry crowds. But for a demonstration guaranteed to leave onlookers agog, nothing could touch LGs awe-inspiring and transparent OLED TV.

The typically jaded tech press couldnt help but stare agape at the Signature OLED Ts clear 77-inch screen, which (for the purposes of the CES demo) was installed in a minimalist shelving unit that made the images appear to float in space.

Once the LG Signature OLED TV shipsand yes, LG promises it will actually ship this thing, although it wont say exactly whenyoull have other options for placement, including mounting it on a wall or going for a stand-alone configuration. But clearly (ha ha), youll want the OLED TV parked in the middle of a room to get the full effect of its transparent design.

Powered by LGs new 11 AI processor, the OLED T is practically invisible when its turned off, LG says. When its powered on, the OLED T can display images (like a fishtank, which was a go-to clip for the LG PR team) that seem to be floating in the air, while a T-Bar at the bottom of the transparent screen acts as a ticker for weather, music track details, news headlines, and other bits of information.

If you actually want to watch a show or a movie without the rest of the room peeking through the OLED Ts transparent display, you can activate a contrast screen that rises from below for a more traditional black-screen appearance.

To avoid spoiling the floating in space vibe with a tangle of video and audio cables, LG wisely paired the OLED T with the Zero Connect Box, an LG component that can wirelessly transmits 4K video and multi-channel audio to the TV from across the room.

Filing journalists through a Las Vegas suite to check out the LG OLED TV, LG scooped up a raft of money quotes, although there were also some fascinating nitpicks, too.

TechRadars Matt Bolton notes that the OLED Ts transparent screen isnt completely transparent, although LG employs a nifty trick to maintain the illusion:

As with all transparent OLED TVs, the glass is not quite as truly clear as a pane of glass in a windowbut you absolutely can see straight through it, and LG has cleverly added light strips to the top and bottom of the empty space behind the glass, which means it looks stylized and mutes the effect of the glass being ever so slightly cloudy.

Henry T. Casey of CNN Underscored described what happens when you turn on the OLED Ts contrast mode:

LG first presented a fish tank video on the display, with bright blue-and-yellow fish popping off an inky black background, as is what we expect from LGs OLED panels. Then, with an unseen click of a button, transparency mode was enabled and that dark black background slowly scrolled down, receding from the TV, leaving the fish to basically float in between the glass panel and the striped wallpaper of the Las Vegas hotel we were standing in.

Digital Trends Phil Nickinson praised the T-Bar that can (if you like) sit at the bottom of the OLED Ts transparent screen:

Think along the lines of a news and information ticker that lives in the bottom six inches or so of the Signature OLED T, backed by the base in which the contrast screen and electronics live. So you can have all kinds of info there while the rest of the screen is transparent, avoiding the annoyance of a big, black screen staring blankly at you all day when not otherwise in use.

And unsurprisingly, theres a trade-off between the gee-whiz factor of the OLED Ts transparent screen and the realities of its picture quality compared to a standard opaque OLED, as The Verges Chris Welch points out:

When the contrast filter is up, the OLED T technically isnt on par with LGs very best conventional OLEDs like the G series. It lacks the Micro Lens Array technology that has led to major brightness improvements for that line. Im an unabashed display nerd, so if I owned this thing, I think it would constantly eat at me that its an inferior TV compared to the G4 or, if you want to go even fancier, LGs wireless M series, which does include MLA. And this TV is destined to cost far more than either of those.

So, how much will the LG Signature OLED T cost? LG hasnt settled on a price tag yet, but the OLED T certainly wont be cheap.

Just look at another eye-popping LG concept TV, the rollable Signature OLED R, which arrived with a jaw-dropping $100,000 price tag.

Still, while most of us likely wont be able to afford the LG OLED T floating in our living room, it certainly makes for a heck of a CES demo.
The Wi-Fi Alliance released a new version of its wireless technology Monday, boasting new features designed to boost performance and improve connectivity across a variety of environments.

New features in Wi-Fi Certified 7 include:

320 MHz channels in countries, like the United States, that make the 6GHz band available to Wi-Fi, which facilitates multi-gigabit device speeds and high throughput;

Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows devices to transmit and receive data simultaneously over multiple links for increased throughput, reduced latency, and improved reliability;

4K Quadrature Amplitude Modulation for higher transmission rates; and

512 Compressed block-ack to enhance spectrum efficiency.

The introduction of Wi-Fi Certified 7 marks the emergence of the latest generation of Wi-Fi and will be an accelerant to mass adoption of Wi-Fi 7, Alliance President and CEO Kevin Robertson said in a statement.

This certification underscores our relentless commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology that redefines the way users experience Wi-Fi, providing faster speeds, improved efficiency, and increased reliability, which expand the horizons of what is possible through Wi-Fi, he added.

Technology Big Deal

The Alliance predicts that Wi-Fi 7 will be rapidly adopted across a broad ecosystem, with more than 233 million devices entering the market in 2024, growing to 2.1 billion devices by 2028.

In terms of U.S. dollars, IDC is forecasting the wireless LAN market to reach $23 billion by 2027, with a 3% compound annual growth over the next five years.

We expect businesses and consumers to start to deploy Wi-Fi 7 later this year, and a pretty significant ramp-up as we get into 2025 and beyond, Brandon Butler, research manager for the enterprise networks group at IDC, a global market and research firm, told TechNewsWorld.

From a technology standpoint, Wi-Fi 7 is a big deal because it achieves faster throughput through several key technologies, maintained Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

The use of advanced modulation schemes, such as 4K-QAM, allows for higher data rates per transmission, he told TechNewsWorld. Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output technology enables simultaneous data transmission to multiple devices, enhancing overall network efficiency.

Additionally, he continued, the introduction of Basic Service Set Coloring reduces interference in crowded environments, further optimizing throughput.

Paradigm Changer

One feature that should be a cause for excitement among technologists is MLO because it changes the operational characteristics of Wi-Fi, noted Mike Leibovitz, an enterprise networking analyst at Gartner, a research and advisory company based in Stamford, Conn.

Multi-link allows a device to connect to more than one radio on an access point and send data across those channels simultaneously. Thats a paradigm change, Leibovitz told TechNewsWorld.

Now I can connect to the 2.4GHz radio and the 5GHz radio to a single access point. Now I have new characteristics for potentially more bandwidth, as well as lower latency, better roaming  a whole slew of characteristics that now increase significantly because I can use two channels simultaneously.

That sort of functionality is very complex, he acknowledged. Imagine trying to make a feature like that work for thousands of different types of IT devices. It will take time for that feature to become highly functional in the real world.

It might take a couple of years for it to correctly work in enterprise and production environments, he added.

Catalyst for AR/VR Growth?

The Alliance also noted that it expects smartphones, PCs, tablets, and access points to be the earliest adopters of Wi-Fi 7, and customer premises equipment (CPE) and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) equipment will continue to gain early market traction.

Novel generative AI applications that require high throughput will benefit from Wi-Fi 7s fast speeds, added Kristen Hanich, an analyst at Parks Associates, a market research and consulting company specializing in consumer technology products, in Dallas.

Were also seeing an increasing number of businesses adopt internet of things [IoT] devices and use cases, including machine vision through video cameras, she told TechNewsWorld. These businesses need CPE capable of handling all of these simultaneous connections.

The AR/VR market has been slow to take off, but there is an opportunity with faster speeds allowing for greater performance in households with multiple headsets, she continued. With the Apple Vision Pro headset launching in early February, we also expect to see more attention to this market.

Vena added that CPEs, including routers and modems, benefit from Wi-Fi 7s advanced capabilities, providing users with faster and more reliable connections.

In the realm of AR/VR, where high data throughput and low latency are crucial for immersive experiences, he continued, Wi-Fi 7s enhanced performance becomes a catalyst for adoption.

The technologys ability to meet the demanding requirements of these applications positions it as a transformative force, driving early adoption in both CPEs and AR/VR equipment, he said.

Added Security

While its a little early to determine how Wi-Fi 7s security posture compares to previous versions of the technology, some of its aspects improve security, noted John Gallagher, vice president of Viakoo Labs, an enterprise IoT security company in Mountain View, Calif.

The biggest new feature related to security is with Multi-Link Operation, where a single, high-level MAC address is used for the encryption keys, he told TechNewsWorld. This is more secure because instead of three keys being used  one key for each of the possible radio bands being used  the devices only need to build one set of keys.

Deterministic latency is another notable feature, he continued. While it does not directly address security, it provides a path for analyzing changes to that latency to determine if the path is insecure.

In general, he added, the control plane for Wi-Fi continues to move to the cloud, which brings with it all the cloud-related security issues. Organizations may take the opportunity with Wi-Fi 7 to undergo a review of any cloud-based infrastructure related to it.

Leibovitz has this advice for enterprises that cant wait to embrace Wi-Fi 7:

We dont advise clients to rush into Wi-Fi 7. Its very early right now. Some of the advancements that are there from a technology standpoint are very exciting, but it will take a long time to have broad availability in devices and correct operation on the device and infrastructure sides to create value for Wi-Fi 7.

Right now, theres a lot of hype about Wi-Fi 7, he added. We wouldnt advise rushing in on a new Wi-Fi 7 infrastructure because you wont realize the benefits in the next 12 to 18 months. It might take 36 months to see total realization from Wi-Fi 7.
The big picture: In the few years after it was founded following the split of the original Hewlett-Packard entity in 2015, HPE has acquired many competitors in different market segments. Now the corporation is seemingly interested in swallowing up network device maker Juniper, and the growing market for AI is part of the plan.

Soon after rumors about a potential takeover began to appear online, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has now officially announced that it plans to acquire Juniper Networks. The deal is currently valued at $40 per share, which would translate to a total cost of $14 billion for HPE.

Juniper Networks sells routers, switches, and many network-related services and technologies, while HPE is a jack of all (tech) trades that also happens to offer some networking products. With the Juniper acquisition, the Texas-based corporation expects to essentially double the size of its own networking business. If everything goes according to plan, HPE would base half of its yearly operating income on network products alone.

HPE is already well versed in the networking business, in part thanks to past acquisitions of competing companies such as Aruba (2015) and 3Com (2009). A successful Juniper deal would be the largest merger in the entire Hewlett Packard's history since the financial disaster of HP Autonomy.

According to CEO Antonio Neri, HPE is interested in exploiting the growing interest of the tech world for AI and AI-based products. In a buzzword-filled statement, Neri said that the acquisition would strengthen HPE's position "at the nexus of accelerating macro-AI trends," expand the company's total addressable market, and drive innovation for customers crossing the bridge between "AI-native" and "cloud-native" worlds.

The acquisition would of course generate "significant" value for shareholders as well, Neri remarked in his statement. Juniper is also highlighting its newest AI-based offerings such as the Mist line of wireless LAN and switching products. The company now employs machine-learning algorithms, chatbots and AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) features to ease sysadmins' burden in identifying network issues.

The Juniper acquisition would expand HPE's networking portfolio, but it could also result in the overlapping of two previously competing businesses. The $14 billion merger would also need approval from antitrust agencies around the world, as the operation could be considered too disruptive for existing Juniper and Aruba customers.
In context: CES 2024 is officially underway in Las Vegas with a variety of ready-to-launch tech products and prototype concept devices. Many interesting laptops and monitors have been unveiled at the event, with brands like Lenovo, Samsung, MSI, and Alienware showcasing some of the coolest notebooks and displays we have seen in recent times.

Asus also joined the party by unveiling a slew of fascinating new products at the event. The most notable new laptop in the company's portfolio is the Zenbook Duo UX8406, which comes with a dual-screen form factor that's similar to some of the existing devices on the market. However, unlike previous Zenbook Duo models, the new laptop has two 14-inch OLED touchscreen displays held together by a 180-degree hinge down the middle.

The two displays have the exact same specifications, including a 16:10 aspect ratio, 3K (2880 x 1800) resolution, up to 500 nits of peak brightness, and a 120Hz refresh rate. In addition to the two screens, the device also comes with a detachable Bluetooth keyboard with a built-in trackpad.

The Zenbook Duo can either be used as a standard laptop where the bottom screen is covered entirely by the keyboard, or as a regular dual-screen laptop with the two screens arranged vertically. It can also be used in desktop mode, with the two screens arranged horizontally.

The Zenbook Duo will be available in a number of configurations, with the top-end model sporting an Intel Core Ultra 9 H-series processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a 75Wh battery. It should also be fairly durable, as denoted by its US MIL-STD-810H certification. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm audio socket.

The Zenbook Duo will be available later this month starting at 1,699 (around $2,163) in the UK, but there's no official word on its US pricing and availability as of now.

Another interesting device unveiled by Asus is the ZenScreen Fold OLED (MQ17QH) monitor that features a 17.3-inch foldable OLED panel with a 2560 x 1920 resolution. The display covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, weighs 1.17 kg, and is 9.7 mm thick. It is VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified and has a two-way kickstand that allows it to be used in either landscape or portrait mode.

While the ZenScreen Fold looks like a compelling device, there's no word on whether you'll be able to buy it any time soon. Asus hasn't announced pricing or availability details, so there's no way to tell if it is ready for a commercial launch.
A hot potato: Artificial intelligence researchers used to work in peace. However, now that companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and others are commercializing generative AI, the use of copyrighted training material has come under fire. Regulators in the UK are asking for information regarding the issue, and OpenAI recently responded.

OpenAI recently told members of the House of Lords that it is "impossible" to train large language models (LLMs) without using copyrighted material. The claim was in response to the UK's Communications and Digital Select Committee, which is looking into the legal issues involving current AI systems.

Current consumer applications like ChatGPT and Dall-E are based on GPT-3. Since 2018, OpenAI has trained the model on billions of samples of writings, art, and photographs, mostly scraped from the internet. In March, OpenAI released GPT-4, which uses a dataset of text samples measuring about 570GB. Some examples in the training material include websites and books, which are without question protected works. However, copyright law goes far beyond books and websites.

"Because copyright today covers virtually every sort of human expression  including blogposts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents  it would be impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials," OpenAI's submission to the House of Lords reads.

Indeed, under current copyright law, a copyright does not even have to be registered to be protected. Any intellectual property is instantly copyrighted when the creator sets it to permanent media. It does not matter if it's a digital file, video, book, blog post, or a forum comment. All copyright laws apply.

This issue wasn't much of a problem in years past because machine learning research was strictly academic. Training was largely considered fair use and nobody bothered researchers. However, now that LLMs are going commercial, they have entered a gray area of the fair use doctrine.

On rare occasions, ChatGPT "regurgitates" copyrighted snippets, which is a cut-and-dry infringement and a problem that OpenAI is working hard to eliminate. However, that issue is not directly related to what happens when researchers train an LLM with protected material. Instead, the system uses the works, copyrighted or otherwise, to learn how language is structured and used so that it may create original content that humans can understand.

Unfortunately, being a new frontier, copyright law has no legal definition regarding AI training. So, allegedly infringed parties have begun bringing cases to courts. Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are saying, "No. Training falls under fair use like it always has."

"Training AI models using publicly available internet materials is fair use, as supported by long-standing and widely accepted precedents," OpenAI related in a blog post this week. "We view this principle as fair to creators, necessary for innovators, and critical for US competitiveness."

Despite believing that the fair use doctrine covers LLM training, OpenAI provides a simple opt-out process, which The New York Times used in August last year. OpenAI's tools can no longer access the NYT website, yet the newspaper filed a lawsuit in December.

"We support journalism, partner with news organizations, [but] believe The New York Times lawsuit is without merit," it said.

OpenAI faces similar lawsuits from several published authors, including high-profile comedian Sarah Silverman. It's an issue that the courts cannot handle alone. The US Patent and Trademark Office, along with lawmakers, need to clearly define the role AI training plays in copyright rules.
The promise of the Vision Pro's arrival is set for 2024, but it remains unknown when. So it is still up to internet and code sleuths to learn more about what it has to offer, and thanks to Apple's latest release of the Xcode, there was information about how much Vision Pro would offer its users for its on-device memory, one that will be responsible in running apps and experiences with the wearable.

While Apple released much information about the Vision Pro, there are still areas left unknown to users, particularly with the storage capacity of the mixed-reality headset.

Apple's Xcode Reveals Vision Pro RAM Information

(Photo : JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple's renowned Xcode, its integrated development environment for different experiences coming to Cupertino's tech, recently released version 15.2, and this unveiled massive information behind the Vision Pro.

This latest release had analysts discovering a new confirmation of the Vision Pro's RAM, and it will offer as much as 16 GB for the wearable.

It is important to note that 16 GB of memory is slowly becoming the standard for modern-day flagship devices, including Apple's latest MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro that offers around 18 GB.

MacRumors first reported this information in their latest discovery, updating the specs that are known by the public behind the Vision Pro headset.

Read Also: [LOOK] Apple Vision Pro 3D Wallpaper 'Yosemite Environment' Teased: Here's How It Looks

Vision Pro Storage Capacity Remains Unknown

However, there are still missing pieces behind the specs of the Vision Pro, with reports citing that there is still no information about the storage capacities Apple will offer with the wearable. There are claims that Vision Pro could offer up to 1 terabyte of storage for its future owners, with different tiers available to choose from, with the $3,499.99 variant starting with 256GB.

Apple's Vision Pro: Coming this 2024

The upcoming device from Apple this year is also the first wearable headset from the company, with the Cupertino giant promising that it will arrive by early 2024, as announced at last year's WWDC event. From the hundreds of leaks, rumors, and speculations behind it for almost a year, Apple finally caved and unveiled its take on mixed reality, already regarded with its significant features coming.

Apart from its massive display specifications and high-quality features, the Vision Pro is meant to be a device that offers wide integration across Apple's renowned platforms. Particularly for the apps that it will be able to run once it is available for users, centering on the iPhone and iPad apps that are compatible with the headset, apart from the dedicated ones from developers.

While initial fears rose because of the reports of the production problems behind the Vision Pro, many are still looking forward to this premium wearable flagship by Cupertino despite its skyrocketing price. Reports claim that the XR headset from Apple is coming this February, and Xcode revealed that it will arrive with 16 GB of RAM, but its storage capacity remains unknown, apart from the earlier rumors.

Related Article: Apple Vision Pro Launch: Stock Arrives as Retailers Prep for Possible February US Debut

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is back at it again with its bizarre and dazzling discoveries and this year, it spotted a brown dwarf known as W1935 to sport an aurorae on top of it. However, one of the main catches is that Webb did not find a host star nearby to help cause this aurora to form, and is now mystifying researchers in this latest spotting of this methane emission.

NASA James Webb Finds Aurora from Brown Dwarf

(Photo : NASA, ESA, CSA, and L. Hustak (STScI))

The latest discovery of the James Webb Space Telescope centered on brown dwarves, where it studied as many as 12 of them. However, there were two that had similar compositions, appearing like twins, with the W1935 and the W2220, having the same brightness and temperature as well.

However, their differences centered on the brown dwarf W1935 having significant methane emissions, the first auroral candidates outside the Solar System. It is also the coldest auroral candidate on the list outside of the system, with a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius, with Jupiter known to be warmer by more than 300 degrees Celsius.

Using Webb's NIRSpec, NASA and the ESA shared the characteristics of these latest discoveries, citing that it is missing one key component that is known to bring aurorae to planets in the Solar System.

Read Also: Astronomers Discover an Intriguing Aurora-like Radio Emission Above a Sunspot

Bizarre Aurora: Brown Dward Lacks Host Star

The bizarre characteristic of W1935 is its lack of a host star, and this is unlike the Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and the other four planets in the Solar System that share the Sun.

That being said, stellar winds contribute to producing said aurorae on the home planet and those nearby, and this is caused by the Sun's emissions that coincide with the magnetic poles like the one found on the northern side of the Earth.

Researchers of previous observations take this bizarre appearance of aurora outside the Solar System to be part of radio emission from warmer brown dwarf to be the most likely explanation, but their studies proved to be inconclusive.

Webb's findings were shared at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Auroras and their Cosmic Presence

For many years, it has been a tourist destination to head on over to certain locations on the planet where auroras are sure to appear, and this is near magnetic poles in different parts of the planet. One of the surest places where auroras emerge is in the Nordic countries, particularly in Iceland, where last year, a bright show of lights danced over the Godafoss waterfalls, captured by NASA.

However, it is not exclusive to the Earth only, as other planets that have a host star nearby and strong magnetic forces also display these dancing lights, more commonly known to humans as the "Northern lights."

Back in 2021, the probe sent by the United Arab Emirates to Mars captured the Red Planet's unique appearance of auroras across the Martian landscape but is one that challenged the researchers to capture here.

The Brown Dwarf W1935 displayed an aurora that resembles that of the planet without a host star, and it baffles scientists with this latest discovery by Webb, piecing together an accepted explanation for why such displays appeared.

Related Article: NASA's Picture of the Day Features a Rainbow Aurora Over Icelandic Waterfall

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After passing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday with a message for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: the Jewish state has a real chance of being recognized by new Arab countries, despite the crisis in the region, but that will only happen if it abandons its refusal to create a Palestinian state and offers a credible horizon for peace in the Middle East.

Virtually every country I have visited wants to pursue the normalization [of relations with Israel]. Some have already taken vital steps toward that, and I believe that others are interested in doing the same. But it is just as clear that [it will] not [be] a substitute for or at the expense of Palestinian political rights and, ultimately, a Palestinian state. On the contrary. That peace has to be part of any normalization effort. That has been part of my discussions on this tour, including in Saudi Arabia, Blinken said late this afternoon at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

In 2020, Israel  which had already established diplomatic ties with Jordan and Egypt  was recognized by three other Arab countries (Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain) without having to offer concessions to Palestinians to do so. Saudi Arabia was close to joining that list when Hamas launched its attack, which triggered the current war and halted the rapprochement. Just this Tuesday, the leader of the Islamist movement, Ismail Haniya, cited the normalization of relations at the expense of the Palestinian cause as one of the motives for its attack, which killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hamas refuses to formally recognize Israel, although it has suggested that, de facto, it would do so in the framework of a peace agreement.

Blinken, who will finish his regional tour in Egypt, wants to prevent Israel from once again seeking recognition from more Arab countries by bypassing the Palestinian issue, an approach the Israeli prime minister boasted about just half a month before the attack. For years it was rejected by the so-called experts; well, they were wrong, Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly.

Instead, the Biden administration is hoping that Israel will create a true path to peace  impossible to imagine with the current coalition government  that will convince various Arab countries not only to establish diplomatic relations, but also to pitch in, in some way, when the war ends and they are called upon for the unpopular task of getting involved in a demolished Gaza while the Israeli army carries out the raids it deems necessary. When the conflict in Gaza is over, many countries in the region are actually prepared to invest in various ways, in its reconstruction, in its security, in supporting the Palestinians as they govern themselves.... But it is essential for them that there also be a clear path for the fulfillment of Palestinian political rights, Blinken emphasized.

The Secretary of State also said that the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians must be able to return to their homes as soon as conditions permit. In addition, without elaborating further, he announced an agreement with the UN to assess how to accomplish that. Two-thirds of Gazas buildings are damaged and thousands of them are completely destroyed. Blinken also insisted that civilians in the Gaza Strip should not be pressured to leave Gaza, as Israeli ministers openly advocated reestablishing the Jewish settlements that were evacuated from there in 2005 by order of then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

As the 100th day of war approaches, Blinkens words conveyed the sense that Netanyahu must now decide which path to take. At the press conference, he dodged a question about whether he had convinced the Israeli leader to support the creation of a Palestinian state. According to Israels television channel 12, the meeting between Blinken and Netanyahu was tense. The Prime Ministers office did not broadcast its normal summary, which points to disagreements. According to Matthew Miller, Blinkens spokesman, the U.S. Secretary of State reiterated to Netanyahu the need to avoid further civilian deaths and to protect civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

A secret channel of dialogue with Netanyahu

For weeks, Netanyahu has been maintaining a secret channel of communication with the White House to revitalize negotiations with Riyadh; according to Israeli television channel 12, the effort is being led by the United States. That would be a remarkable personal triumph for the Israeli Prime Minister at a time of serious political weakness, as his previous policy toward Gaza is questioned and he sinks in the polls. In addition, last week Israels Supreme Court overturned a key law in Netanyahus controversial judicial reform, which divided the country for eight months and sparked the largest demonstrations in the nations 75-year history. The broad executive coalition formed in the wake of the war is also showing increasing signs of strain.

The state of the Israeli campaign in Gaza is not helping Netanyahu. The effort is continuing to fail to achieve its main objectives, despite immense destruction (with a bombing rate that has not been seen in nearly eight decades) and the humanitarian crisis it is leaving in its wake: almost the entire population is displaced, and Israel is only allowing limited supplies after completely blocking access to water, food, fuel oil and electricity. Over 23,000 Gazans have been killed, mostly women and children, accounting for 1% of the population (in the last 24 hours alone, there have been 126 deaths; almost twice as many in the previous day).

The Palestinian militias are still holding 132 hostages in Gaza, at least 25 of whom are dead. The hundred or so released hostages were returned in a negotiated settlement, with several failed military rescue attempts. Israel has also failed to kill top Hamas leaders, but on Tuesday, it mourned the deaths of nine soldiers, making it one of the deadliest days since Israel launched its ground invasion in late October.

Two discourses

These days, Israeli leaders are acting in the same way they used to accuse former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (who died in 2004) of behaving: using conciliatory speech in English before the international community, and employing another more incendiary discourse, in their own language. In Hebrew, Netanyahu continues to promise his compatriots the complete eradication of Hamas in a war that will last as long as necessary, without yielding to international pressure. But just before Blinkens arrival, Netanyahus defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and the Israeli armys chief spokesman, Daniel Hagari, went on two U.S. media outlets and announced the start of a third, less intense phase of the war that focuses more on the center and south of the Gaza Strip (where displaced persons are concentrated) and deploys fewer troops.

We have been hearing about the destruction, defeat, eradication of Hamas for three months. Unfortunately, none of this reflects reality [...] Netanyahu has created expectations that no one can fulfill and, in doing so, he has condemned us to an endless war, Nahum Barnea, a political commentator for the daily Yediot Aharonot, wrote on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Israel dismantled the armed wing of Hamas in the devastated northern Gaza Strip. The army has been reducing the intensity of its attacks in recent weeks, and it has demobilized tens of thousands of reservists. The greatest concern is of the conflict spreading to Lebanon, where the number of selective assassinations of mid-level Hezbollah militia commanders is increasing and there continue to be measured daily confrontations. In particular, these battles have picked up since the death of the second highest Hamas leader, Saleh al Aruri, a week ago in one of Hezbollahs Beirut fiefdoms; the killing is widely attributed to Israel.

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The removal of TikTok's Creative Center tool, which provided data on hashtag popularity, has stirred controversy following the publication of a critical report by researchers. Accessible to advertisers and researchers, this tool was a unique resource for tracking the prevalence of specific hashtags on TikTok.

(Photo : Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, a TikTok logo is displayed on an iPhone on February 28, 2023, in London, England.

Stirring Controversy

The recent move by TikTok raises questions about transparency and limits external insight into how content spreads on the platform, especially when compared to other social media platforms like Instagram.

Engadget reported that the tool's absence impedes researchers' ability to analyze and understand the dynamics of hashtag trends, impacting both academic studies and public scrutiny of the platform's content dissemination practices.

After the report surfaced, researchers noted the sudden disappearance of the search feature within Creative Center, leaving them without an explanation.

The researchers from NCRI revealed that the capacity to search for hashtags had been entirely removed from the user interface, a discovery made by NCRI on Christmas day, just days after the initial release of the report.

Additionally, TikTok had disabled direct access to several "sensitive" topics, previously monitored by the researchers, encompassing hashtags associated with US politics and various geopolitical matters.

TikTok confirmed the alteration, expressing concern about the misuse of the Creative Center's search function by certain individuals and organizations. The company noted that adjustments were being made to some features to ensure the tool is utilized for its intended purpose.

Growing Tensions Between Other Platforms

This incident adds to the growing tensions between social media platforms and researchers exploring challenging subjects such as misinformation, as reported by The New York Times.

Meta has faced similar conflicts and is reportedly planning to phase out CrowdTangle, a widely used tool by researchers and journalists to analyze content dissemination on Facebook.

In a parallel move, X has significantly limited researchers' access to data since Elon Musk assumed control of the company, turning its once-open APIs into a resource beyond the reach of most groups.

Also Read: Russia-Ukraine War: Fake TikTok Accounts 'Amplify Pro-Russian Narratives' Across Platform-What's More Alarming?

TikTok appears to be particularly cautious about the perceived misuse of its tools. The company has consistently refuted allegations of aligning its content policies with the interests of the Chinese government, despite calls from numerous officials for the app's ban.

Recently, TikTok faced heightened scrutiny over its handling of content related to the Israel-Hamas war, with criticism fueled by the company's claim of an inaccurate portrayal of hashtag data.

Nevertheless, the company has shown some willingness to collaborate with researchers. TikTok initiated the provision of an official Research API to select academic institutions last year and intends to extend access to certain civil society groups critical of the company's content moderation practices.

Despite these efforts, abruptly discontinuing a tool raises questions about the extent of the company's commitment to working with researchers, further deepening concerns about transparency among the research community, according to the NCRI researchers.

Related Article: Why TikTok is a Threat to Google? Here's the Alarming Part About Search Results

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The supposed start of NASA's Artemis moon mission flights was set for 2024, but the bad news is, that it is getting delayed by as much as one year before the fated return. After Artemis I's success, many have believed that NASA would be gearing up to send their selected astronauts, including the first female to join the mission, to the natural satellite, but for now, safety is its top priority, said earlier today.

Despite the earlier Apollo missions that saw success in their trip to the lunar surface, Artemis would be a different approach towards bringing humans back, as regarded by NASA.

NASA Artemis Gets 1-Year Delay for Crewed Mission

(Photo : EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)

The latest developments of NASA officials on the Artemis Moon see an unfortunate delay, and this centers on around one year after its supposed flights on the different missions set by the space agency.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated in the meeting that "Safety is our top priority," emphasizing the entirety of the program, as well as its astronauts that will take on the rigorous journey to the Moon and back.

In 2023, Amit Kshatriya, a NASA engineer on this lunar program, highlighted three key points for Artemis II that need work. First off, one of the reasons that NASA focused on is Orion's 2022 return to the planet, where pieces of the burnt heat shield flew off from it, and does not want it to affect future missions.

Second, it is with the Orion's abort system from the SLS rocket, with its batteries subject to being damaged. Lastly, Artemis III's Orion components delivered to NASA found issues in several motor valve circuitry, leading to the discovery of a design flaw.

Read Also: NASA Invites You to Send Your Name to the Moon Aboard Artemis Robotic Rover VIPER

Here's the New Schedule for Artemis Missions

According to NASA, the delay would take as much as a year for the three upcoming missions, centering on their safety concerns.

Artemis II: September 2025 launch date - a crewed mission that would center on the flyby of the Moon and back.

Artemis III: September 2026 - the first landing of astronauts near the Lunar South Pole.

Artemis IV: on track for 2028 - the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station.

NASA's Artemis Moon Mission

November 2022 has marked yet again another milestone for NASA's goal of bringing back humans to the Moon, and this is with the launch of its Artemis I mission that centered on an uncrewed flight. It brought the SLS and Orion to the Moon and back, offering significant insights as to how the trip would be for the future undertakings where astronauts would be inside its cabins.

Last year was filled with more preparations for the Artemis mission, with the renowned Artemis II launch now bringing its crew members for a flyby aboard the Orion and back to the planet. In July 2023, NASA completed a successful Artemis II launch simulation which was regarded as a significant milestone towards the real thing, initially set for late 2024 to commence.

Despite the successes and achievements in the previous missions, NASA is still delaying the Artemis' progression because of safety concerns, something that it wants to ensure before sending off its crew to the Moon. These new dates set by the space agency are the "realistic" ones compared to the original, emphasizing its crew's safety over the immediacy of the mission.

Related Article: NASA Artemis Mission to Land Another International Astronaut to the Moon, But From Where?

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Twitch will be laying off approximately 35% of its staff, or 500 of its employees just after the company laid off 400 employees last March 2023, as reported by Tech Crunch, citing Bloomberg as their source.

The layoffs, as per Yahoo News, may occur as early as this Wednesday, as it comes amidst Twitch's losses and the departure of many senior executives within a short period of time.

(Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Twitch is set to close its operations in South Korea in February 2024.

Twitch, the large-scale website that supports 1.8 billion hours of live video content each month, is reportedly incredibly expensive, amounting to about $1,000 per month as per the Tech Crunch report. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has also stated that the firm will also be pulling out of South Korea due to "prohibitively expensive" pricing.

Amidst expensive operation costs and Twitch reportedly having its popularity having risen since the pandemic lockdown, Reuters adds that the Bloomberg report states Twitch still proves to be unprofitable during Amazon's nine-year acquisition.

Read Also: Amazon Restructures Alexa Division, Laying Off Hundreds Amid Shift to Generative AI

Twitch Leadership Change

This newest round of layoffs follows the company's leadership change last 2023, wherein CEO Emmett Shear resigned and had Dan Clancy become the CEO of the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform.

According to Yahoo News, the new CEO has since then had difficulty cutting costs but has been welcomed by streamers after seeing Clancy's willingness to hear their issues. Most especially after Twitch's decision to rework its move to focus on advertisement income instead of content after several streamers took offense on the move.

During Clancy's leadership, however, Twitch has also seen over 400 jobs being laid off during Twitch's two waves of layoffs last year. Several high-ranking officials, including the chief product officer, chief customer officer, and chief content officer of Twitch, also announced their resignations in the last few months of 2023. The top revenue officer of Twitch, who was employed by Amazon's Ads division, also left the company.

Big Tech Layoffs

Twitch's recent layoffs is reportedly a part of Amazon's continuous wave of layoffs across its intermediaries. In 2022, the massive online retailer started the largest-ever layoffs in business history, eventually reducing staffing levels to 27,000 positions overall.

It went on in October when the company's music division-which includes its digital music marketplace and audio streaming platform-saw further layoffs.

Big Tech, in general, has seen a great deal of layoffs as Tech Crunch found that over 240,000 jobs in the IT sector have been lost in 2023, a number that is reportedly already 50% greater than it was the previous year and continues to rise.

Large-scale layoffs earlier this year were reportedly prompted by major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Meta, and Zoom. Cuts were also announced by startups in a variety of industries throughout the first half of the year. Even though there was a slowdown in tech layoffs throughout the summer and autumn, it seems like they are starting up again.

Related Article: Unity Software Resets, Plans to Cut 3.8% of Staff

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Several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Kraken, Mexc, and Kucoin, are no longer found in Apple's App Store in India, raising questions about the reasons behind their removal.

Crypto Firms Allegedly Operating Illegally in India

According to TechCrunch, this development comes less than two weeks after these global crypto firms were flagged for allegedly operating "illegally" in the country.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an Indian government agency overseeing financial transactions, issued show cause notices to nine crypto firms, claiming non-compliance with India's anti-money laundering rules.

In late November, the FIU requested India's IT Ministry to block the websites of all nine cryptocurrency services operating in the country. Among the affected exchanges are Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, and Bitfinex. However, Bitstamp, another exchange mentioned by the FIU, remains accessible on the App Store in India.

Despite removing these apps from Apple's App Store, they are still available on the Google Play Store in India, and their respective websites remain accessible.

This action reflects a growing trend among Indian traders who are turning to global cryptocurrency platforms, possibly in an effort to evade taxes imposed by India since the previous year. The country introduced a 30% tax on gains and a 1% deduction on each crypto transaction.

Unlike many global platforms, local exchanges such as CoinSwitch Kuber, CoinDCX, and WazirX have continued to enforce stringent know-your-customer verifications.

Read Also: Binance DOJ Lawsuit Settlement: $4B Reportedly Set for Crypto Platform's Continued US Operations

India's PMLA

Ashish Singhal, CEO of CoinSwitch, stressed the importance of complying with India's Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and suggested that offshore exchanges should register with the FIU-IND.

He emphasized the need for adherence to India's anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures. Singhal argued that this would bolster consumer protection in India by subjecting offshore exchanges to greater regulatory oversight.

Indian cryptocurrency exchanges, including CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber, had previously warned the government that its taxation policy could prompt users to shift to decentralized exchanges or seek non-compliant services.

In light of these changes, CoinDCX revealed Tuesday its decision to provide incentives to users who transfer their cryptocurrency holdings from international exchanges to its platform based in India.

TechCrunch reported that India has a track record of adopting a stringent position on cryptocurrencies. About five years ago, the Reserve Bank of India imposed a cryptocurrency ban in the country, a measure later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Despite this, the central bank continues the call for prohibiting cryptocurrencies, drawing parallels between virtual digital assets and Ponzi schemes. Coinbase, a global cryptocurrency exchange, halted the onboarding of new customers in India last year, attributing its decision to "informal pressure" from the central bank.

Related Article: CryptoWatch: All About Jack Dorsey's Bluesky Decentralized Blockchain Platform, Cryptocurrency Prices

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Elon Musk's tech empire faces a fresh wave of scrutiny as his company, X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, reels from a substantial reduction in its global trust and safety workforce.

ABC News reports that Australia's online safety watchdog, the eSafety Commission, revealed alarming figures indicating a 30% slash in staff dedicated to maintaining online safety standards, prompting concerns about the platform's ability to curb hateful content and ensure user safety.

Musk's X Corp. Staff Reduction Alarms Watchdog

Since Musk acquired X Corp. in 2022, the company has undergone a dramatic transformation, with a staggering 80% decrease in safety engineers globally and a reduction of 52% in full-time content moderators. These startling figures, unveiled by the eSafety Commission, illustrate a concerning trend that has unfolded under Musk's leadership.

The commission's report sheds light on the company's actions, indicating that from 4,062 employees and contractors dedicated to trust and safety, the numbers dwindled to 2,849 within the reported period.

The repercussions were felt acutely in the Asia-Pacific region, where a striking 45% reduction in trust and safety personnel was recorded.

Read Also: London Tech Executive's Christmas Nightmare: Thief Taunts and Violates Privacy via Ring Camera After Assault

X Reinstating Banned Accounts

Notably, the revelation of 6,100 reinstated accounts, including 194 previously banned for hateful conduct in Australia, has raised significant concerns.

Despite their history of breaching platform rules, the commission expressed apprehension over the lack of additional scrutiny applied to these reinstated accounts.

Furthermore, the slowdown in responding to user reports of hateful content under Musk's tenure has amplified worries about the platform's ability to maintain a safe online environment.

Perfect Safety Storm

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, warned that the reduced safety staff and the return of banned accounts could result in a "perfect safety storm," making the platform more toxic and less safe for users.

Inman Grant emphasized the potential consequences of X Corp.'s actions, particularly their impact on the platform's brand reputation and advertising revenue.

She emphasized that advertisers want safe and non-toxic platforms, implying that failure to meet safety standards could result in a mass exodus of users and advertisers.

X Corp.'s hateful conduct policy prohibits attacks based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other personal characteristics. However, the commission's report revealed gaps in enforcing these policies, particularly in handling reinstated accounts.

This revelation comes amidst a backdrop of compliance issues and fines faced by X Corp. The company had previously incurred a fine of 610,500 Australian dollars for failing to adequately explain its approach to tackling child sexual exploitation content. X Corp. has contested the fine in the Australian Federal Court, refusing to comply with the eSafety Commission's requests.

Despite multiple deadlines, the company's delay in providing information to the commission further underscores the ongoing tension between regulatory authorities and X Corp. over compliance and safety measures.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Cybercriminals Are Abusing Verified Gold Accounts on X (Twitter) for Dark Web Selling, Scams - Study





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Singapore is making a proactive effort to counter the increasing menace of deepfakes and misinformation, having set aside a $20 million initiative to develop advanced detection tools that are aimed at strengthening trust and safety in online interactions.

The initiative, called "Building an Inclusive and Safe Digital Society," was launched following the increasing risks in the digital space; these include cyber attacks, scams, and widespread harmful content, as reported by The Straits Times. The Minister for Communications and Information, Josephine Teo, emphasized the need for Singapore to quickly change its methodologies and learn new ways of dealing with scammers and emerging online risks.

Teo's announcement came during a parliamentary session on January 10, where she acknowledged the multifaceted challenges posed by the digital way of life. Of particular concern is the misuse of deepfakes for crafting persuasive narratives, underscoring the need for continuous efforts to address these risks. Despite previous legislative measures, including new laws, the government recognizes the necessity for further action.

(Photo : OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images) This illustration photo taken on January 30, 2023 shows a phone screen displaying a statement from the head of security policy at META with a fake video (R) of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling on his soldiers to lay down their weapons shown in the background, in Washington, DC.

Singaporean Government Takes The Leading the Fight Against Online Threats

Singapore's initiative outlines 13 recommendations to enhance online transaction security, detect fakes and scams, and promote digital safety education across society. Key recommendations include the government spearheading information-sharing platforms to help the public detect scams effectively, reinforcing safeguards against malware by device manufacturers and digital platforms, and holding social media services accountable for harmful content and malicious advertisements.

Parliamentarians unanimously supported the motion, endorsing a comprehensive approach to tackle various aspects of the digital landscape, from combating the manipulation of public opinion through deepfakes to addressing online scams and supporting vulnerable groups navigating the digital space.

Dr. Tan Wu Meng of Jurong GRC emphasized the seriousness of deepfakes for democracies, proposing electronic watermarking to prove content authenticity and preserve the foundation for democratic discussions. He cited the recent malicious use of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's likeness in scam videos promoting investment products as an example of the potential harm.

Read Also: SEC X Account Hack Raising Alarms: Elon Musk's Platform Faces Scrutiny

Deepfakes: A Growing Concern Amid Advancing Technology

The threat posed by deepfakes, videos, and images that are altered digitally is growing with technological improvements. Deepfakes were initially utilized to defame someone by publishing false information or with malicious intent, which could harass and intimidate others as well as instill confusion about vital facts, per Nevada Today.

Dr. Paromita Pain, an assistant professor of global media in the Reynolds School of Journalism, highlights the challenges of identifying fakes as technology becomes more sophisticated. Deepfake detection methods initially developed, like identifying lack of blinking in deepfake images, have been addressed by creators, making detection more challenging today. While advanced algorithms excel at rendering frontal face profiles, side profiles are harder to emulate. Despite the complexity, resources are emerging to aid individuals in detecting fakes while navigating online platforms, especially as the technology continues to evolve.

Renee DiResta, a disinformation expert at the Stanford Internet Observatory, highlighted that despite the convincing nature of deepfake technology, careful observers, including software engineers, governments, and journalists, can often discern authenticity.

While fully mature detection tools are still in development, DiResta outlined several strategies to help individuals and institutions guard against deep-fake threats. According to Reuters, these include maintaining skepticism toward media content, scrutinizing video and audio for unnatural elements, employing identity verification measures, using available deepfake detection tools, educating users about deepfake types, advocating for government regulations to address malicious use, adopting a zero-trust security model, and implementing basic cybersecurity practices.

Related Article: EU to Investigate Tech Giants' Deals with AI Makers, Eyes Microsoft-OpenAI Partnership

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Wangshendongjian Technology, a Chinese tech company, has reportedly succeeded in breaching the encryption safeguarding Apple's AirDrop wireless file-sharing functionality.

Judicial authorities in Beijing revealed that the company's breakthrough enabled law enforcement to trace individuals involved in transmitting "inappropriate information" through AirDrop within the Beijing subway.

The worst part here is that Apple has been aware of this vulnerability since 2019.

Curbing Inappropriate Messages Brought by AirDrop

According to CNN, Wangshendongjian Technology assisted the police in identifying senders who used AirDrop to disseminate inappropriate content.

The report says that the Beijing Justice Bureau stated that the company successfully linked the senders' mobile phone numbers and email addresses to curb the misuse of the popular wireless file-sharing feature.

While specific details about the nature of the messages remain undisclosed, authorities noted that several suspects had been identified.

Related Article: Apple: iOS 16.2's AirDrop for Everyone Limits to 10 Mins. Worldwide -Not Just for China

AirDrop's Role in Nuisance Messages and Protests

AirDrop has been under scrutiny in Chinese cities for contributing to nuisance messages received by commuters on public transportation. Moreover, reports suggest that protesters leveraged AirDrop to circulate anonymous messages critical of the Chinese government towards the end of 2022.

Since this is a win in cybersecurity, Wangshendongjian's accomplishment in overcoming the challenges of anonymous traceability through AirDrop is hailed as a crucial step in preventing the dissemination of inappropriate content.

International media outlets, including The New York Times and Vice World News, reported instances where Chinese residents utilized AirDrop to distribute leaflets and images aligned with slogans from a rare protest against Chinese leader Xi Jinping in October 2022.

Apple Aware of AirDrop Flaw Since 2019

9to5Mac reports that Apple has been alerted about the AirDrop vulnerability since 2019. At that time, security experts said that users faced risks when they entered their email addresses and phone numbers when sending a file or document to another device.

Alexander Heinrich, a researcher at TU Darmstadt warned Apple to address the issue on iOS 16 regarding AirDrop. However, the iPhone maker appears to have turned a blind eye to the issue.

One thing that Heinrich and his team thought was that switching to an AirDrop alternative would mean the original feature would stop working on other devices. This is because it is not backward-compatible in the first place.

Although it's quite late, the Cupertino giant took measures to restrict AirDrop sharing with non-contacts for devices in China in November 2022, subsequently implementing the same globally. This adjustment aimed to enhance user privacy by limiting file-sharing capabilities with unknown individuals.

If there's an AirDrop, there's also a NameDrop, a new iOS 17 feature. Authorities urged parents to look after their children when using the iPhone since it poses risks to young users.

If someone obtains the children's personal data, this might be a big problem for both parents and children.

Read Also: Apple iOS Update Comes with AirDrop Update to Prevent Unwanted Requests

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SOS Only on an iPhone is one of the most commonly reported issues from iPhone users on many forums and communities.

This issue is a very frustrating one as it prevents you from being able to make or receive calls and messages except with emergency numbers.

Besides, it is often hard to identify the issues root and consequently fix it.

This is why we have put together this article to discuss the most common causes of SOS only on iPhone and help you with the solution you can use to resolve the issue.

So read this article to get your SIM card working on your iPhone properly.

What does SOS mean on iPhone?

SOS is an acronym for emergency situations. This message pops up when your SIM has lost connection with its carrier but still has a connection with other network towers for emergency calls.

It appears at the top-right corner of newer iPhones as SOS, and SOS only at the top left corner of old iPhones.

In a case when you see SOS or SOS only on your iPhone, your SIM card or ESIM wont be able to perform any function except for calling emergency numbers.

This includes 911 (US), 112 (Europe), or 000 (AUSTRALIA), which is directed over satellite and only available in a few regions.

As stated earlier, this error is prompted when your SIM is not connected to a network, probably because it is out of the range of your carrier or network/service is lost.

Other causes of SOS on an iPhone include:

Glitch in connectivity

Old devices

SIM card deactivated

Subscription issue

SIM isnt properly connecting with the iPhone SIM panel

How To Fix SOS Only On iPhone?

The SOS-only issue on your iPhone can stem from various factors, and weve compiled established solutions to assist you in resolving this problem below.

As an initial step, its recommended to restart your iPhone with the issue and check if this action rectifies the problem. This simple restart often addresses SIM card connectivity issues by re-establishing the connection with your carrier.

However, if the issue persists following the restart, please proceed to try the solutions provided below:

1. Remove and Reinsert your SIM card

As simple as it may sound, removing and reinserting your SIM is one of the best methods to fix it when you see SOS only on your iPhone.

This action re-establishes the connection with the SIM card and ensures that the SIM is securely and correctly placed in its slot.

To do this, power off your iPhone, gently remove the SIM card, clean it if necessary, and then carefully reinsert it before powering on your device. Following this process, your iPhone should typically operate with a functioning SIM card

If the issue remains unresolved, proceed to the next troubleshooting method.

2. Move to an Area With a Better Connection

As previously discussed, this issue often arises when your SIM loses connection with the carrier service due to a weak network signal in your current location.

Therefore, move to another area and observe if it aids in re-establishing the connection on your SIM card and resolving the SOS-only issue. Often, signal loss in your area might be temporary; hence, the network may have stabilized upon your return.

3. Enable and Disable Airplane mode

Enabling and disabling Airplane mode is a very effective method of resetting a SIM card connection, as it allows your SIM card to search for a network in a boot state.

It usually fixes the issue for many users and can be helpful, especially for those using an E-SIM, and can remove and reinsert their SIM card.

To enable and disable Airplane mode:

1. Open the Control Center on your iPhone by swiping either from the upper-right corner or the bottom edge, depending on the model you own.

2. Click on the Airplane icon to enable Airplane mode.



3. Now wait a few minutes, then click on the Airplane icon again to disable Airplane mode.

With that, your SIM card connection should get refreshed. Hence, it should be able to establish a connection and get rid of the SOS only issue.

4. Change Network Connectivity to 4G or LTE

The SOS issue youre experiencing may also be linked to the network settings configured on your iPhone.

This is because if youve selected a specific network connectivity, especially 5G, in an area where the 5G network signal is weak, your SIM card may frequently transition to the SOS state when attempting to connect with your carriers service.

Switching to a lower network connectivity option, such as 4G or LTE, is recommended as a troubleshooting measure, and here is how to do that:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and click on Mobile Data or Cellular.

2. Next, click on Cellular Data Options.



3. Select Voice & Data under Cellular Data Options, and you will be presented with different connectivity modes to choose from.



4. Select a network connectivity mode lower than the one you previously used  if you are on 5G, switch to 4G or LTE.

5. Enable Data Roaming

Data roaming is a feature that enables your SIM card to connect with network providers that have agreements with your carrier when youre outside your carriers network coverage area

Given that your iPhone displays SOS only likely due to being beyond your carriers coverage range, you can activate data roaming. This allows your SIM to search for and connect to other network providers, thereby reestablishing network access on your device.

Here is how to enable data roaming on iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and click on Mobile Data or Cellular.

2. Click on Cellular Data Options.

3. Now toggle on the slider in front of Data Roaming.

You can restart your iPhone after enabling data roaming, and hopefully, the SOS only issue will be fixed.

6. Request an ESIM

In some instances, the SOS-only issue can be attributed to a non-functional SIM card, necessitating its replacement for issue resolution.

Alternatively, opting for an eSIM can provide a more convenient solution. You can find resources online explaining how to obtain an eSIM from your specific carrier, and the process is typically quick and straightforward.

7. Disable or Enable Automatic Network Selection

Another solution that has helped quite a number of users who face this issue is disabling or enabling automatic network selection on their iPhones, depending on their cases.

So, lets give that troubleshooting method a shot and see if it will help fix the issue for you as well:

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone and select Mobile Data or Cellular.

2. Click on Network Selection.



3. On the resulting page, switch the position of the slider next to Automatic to the opposite state. If its currently on, turn it off; if its off, turn it on.

8. Reset Network Settings

Resetting Network Settings has been a proven troubleshooting method to address network glitches and has demonstrated effectiveness in resolving the SOS-only issue in certain cases. Therefore, we suggest resetting the Network Settings on your iPhone to see if it helps.

1. Open Settings on your iPhone and select General.

2. Select Transfer or Reset.



3. Hit Reset and click on Reset Network Settings.

9. Reset All Settings

It is possible that a setting has been tampered with on your iPhone, resulting in this SOS only issue. To rule out that possibility, you should reset your iPhone settings by following the steps below

1. Open Settings on the iPhone and tap on General.

2. Navigate to Transfer or Reset iPhone and tap on it.

3. Click on Reset.

4. Select Reset All Settings and enter your password when prompted.



5. Afterward, tap on Reset All Settings.

As common as it may seem, updating the iOS on your iPhone has been a solution frequently mentioned by users to address the SOS-only issue.

This is because running an outdated iOS version can potentially disrupt your iPhones SIM network functionality. Therefore, performing an iOS update on your iPhone is recommended to fix the issue possibly.

1. Go to Settings and click on General.

2. Navigate to Software Update and select it

3. Hit the Download and Install option.



4. Then tap Install Now.

If you are encountering network issues like SOS only on your iPhone, you should ensure you have installed any pending carrier settings updates. To check for carrier settings update and install it:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone and click on General.

2. Navigate to About on the resulting page and click on it.

3. If any carrier update is available on your iPhone, you will be prompted with a pop-up to update Carrier Settings. Select Update on the pop-up to install the update.

Weve seen multiple instances where carriers deactivated users SIM cards without prior notification. Consequently, affected users experienced the SOS only issue on their iPhones, often assuming it was an issue with their device, unaware that the root cause lay with the SIM provider.

Therefore, if the problem persists after attempting the previously suggested solutions, you should contact your carrier for assistance. In many cases, they will need to reactivate your SIM or eSIM to resolve the issue, or you may be required to obtain a new SIM card.

Why is my SIM showing no service on my iPhone?

The No service message on your iPhone indicates an obstacle in establishing a connection between your SIM card and the network provider. This often occurs when youre outside the network providers coverage area or when the provider is experiencing service disruptions on their end.

Wrap Up

Often, the SOS-only issue on an iPhone can be resolved by performing a simple restart, which assists in re-establishing the connection with the SIM card.

However, if the issue persists after the reboot, the other solutions in this post can assist in resolving it.

Also, if the problem persists for an extended period, we suggest reaching out to your carrier for assistance in finding a solution.
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared on Tuesday the existence of an internal armed conflict in the country, which entails the immediate deployment and intervention of security forces against organized crime. The country is currently experiencing an unprecedented upsurge in terror and violence. At two oclock in the afternoon, the broadcasting of TC Television was interrupted as an organized criminal group took the journalists hostage. In a live nationwide broadcast, the whole country witnessed how about ten hooded and armed men aimed their guns at the workers of the channel in the city of Guayaquil. During almost half an hour of live coverage, in which the journalists begged not to be harmed, shots were heard on the television set. Afterwards, the signal was cut.

The president, who began his term less than two months ago, has made the decision to declare a state of war one day after decreeing a nighttime curfew. He has also declared 22 organized crime groups as terrorist groups and has ordered the Armed Forces to carry out military operations to neutralize them.

The channels live images showed several hooded men threatening workers and demanding them to ask the police, who had arrived on the scene, to leave. The officers, however, managed to gain access to the interior and two hours after the seizure, they managed to rescue the hostages and arrested 13 assailants.

01:16 ECUADOR | Criminals take over the TC television station live on air Criminals threaten TC anchor during live broadcast on January 9, 2024.

The wave of attacks that for three days has gripped the country escalated on Tuesday, especially in Guayaquil, the countrys most populated city and the epicenter of the dire security crisis that is suffocating Ecuadorians. In the coastal city, a group of criminals also tried to enter the Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Hospital. Videos are circulating on social media of students at the University of Guayaquil locked in their classrooms to get to safety from the alleged criminals who reportedly entered the school, and at the University of Machala, on the Ecuadorian coast, there were also moments of chaos with students and staff running desperately out of the institution after suspects entered the premises.

In Quito, the capital, the situation is also sensitive, several businesses have been forced to close due to looting. Around three oclock in the afternoon, officials of the Carondelet Palace, in the historic center, and other state institutions have been evacuated for security. The traffic chaos in the capital at this time is greater than any other day and several shopping malls in Quito, Guayaquil and Manta have closed their doors.

Six prisons have been seized since last weekend by prisoners who kidnapped penitentiary agents and triggered unrest inside the centers. Tension increased after Jose Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, the most dangerous criminal in Ecuador, escaped from the Regional prison of Guayaquil, with four other people who are part of his security ring. The authorities of SNAI, the entity in charge of prisons, found out during an operation to control weapons and prohibited objects carried out by the police and the Armed Forces on Sunday morning, when they found Fitos cell, decorated with his image, empty.

The government has yet to acknowledge the escape of the leader of criminal gang Los Choneros, and has only said that he is missing. However, Ecuadors Attorney Generals Office has filed charges for the alleged escape against two prison officials who are suspected of involvement in the escape.

The escalation of violence was a time bomb that has exploded in Noboas hands. The country, at historic levels of insecurity with 40 homicides per 100,000 people, was waiting for the new presidents project to tackle violence and gain control of prisons to materialize. The state taking control of the prisons, where 31,300 people are incarcerated, is part of the security strategies that the last three governments have promised without success.

So far, it has not been possible to break the direct link between prisons and the violence that is worsening every day in the streets. From their cells, the leaders of criminal gangs direct and order assassinations, attacks, extortion and manage the logistics for drug trafficking, all under the protection of the state, which is responsible for the countrys jails, which are guarded by police, military and civilians.

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Gabriel Attal, who was named the new prime minister of France on Tuesday, is a political prodigy. At the age of 22 he was already an advisor in a ministry. At 29, he was secretary of state at the Ministry of Education and Youth. Later he was government spokesperson, minister of public accounts, and until now he was the education minister. On Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron appointed him to succeed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, making him the youngest individual to hold this position under the Fifth Republic, the constitutional regime founded in 1958 by General De Gaulle. His name is already being mentioned as a potential successor to Macron in the Elysee Palace.

Macron trusts that Bornes departure and Attals appointment will give a boost to a term that seems to be mired in crisis mode, three years before the next presidential election is scheduled to be held. Without an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the presidents room for maneuver is limited. In office since May 2022, the prime minister had achieved legislative successes, such as the approval of the unpopular pension reform. But, like all the holders of that position, she was the presidents shield: when things get dicey, the prime minister is the first to go. And the recent immigration law, adopted with the favorable vote of the far right, divided the government and accelerated Bornes departure.

In style and trajectory, few prime ministers are as different as Borne and Attal. Borne is 62, almost twice as old as Attal. She is a technocrat who is very familiar with the inner workings of the administration and a woman without further political ambitions. She did not belong to Macrons circle of trust. Attal, a politician with a brilliant career who aspires to the highest office, is a trusted aide to the president. Both share the same ideological origins. Both Borne and Attal worked with socialist ministers before turning to Macronism.

Borne said at the handover ceremony: I have often enough been able to see that there is still a long way to go in terms of equality between men and women. So I say to all women: do not let up, the future belongs to you. She has been the second woman to hold that office in the Fifth Republic after 20 months in the post, twice as long as the first, Edith Cresson. On average, prime ministers spend two and a half years in office. Speaking in the courtyard of the official residence of the prime minister, the Hotel Matignon, Attal made remarks of his own about his age: I want to see here nothing but a symbol, that of audacity and movement, and the symbol also of the trust granted to youth, to this generation that deserves to have us fight for it relentlessly.

France's outgoing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne delivers a speech next to newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal during the handover ceremony in Paris, France, on January 9, 2024. POOL (via REUTERS)

The previous youngest prime minister was Laurent Fabius, appointed at age 37 by the socialist Francois Mitterrand. Fabius was another child prodigy, although he never became president. Today he presides over the Constitutional Council. Macron himself was also a child prodigy. When he arrived at the Elysee in 2017 he was 39 years old. And there is something about Attal that makes one think Little Macron. A brilliant academic record, rhetorical skills, an audacious and precocious personality. Today he is the most popular minister in France, attracting the kind of admiration that, as the current president knows from personal experience, can easily turn into irritation and resentment.

Attal is a product of the elite of the Rive Gauche, the left bank of the Seine, and comes from a bourgeois and intellectual background. His father, who died in 2015, was a film producer who participated in films such as High Heels by Pedro Almodovar. He studied at the prestigious Ecole alsatienne and at Sciences Po. He learned the rudiments of politics in the cabinet of the socialist minister Marisol Touraine. It was then that he came into contact with the group of advisors loaded with diplomas and ambition that surrounded the economy minister under President Francois Hollande. The ministers name was Emmanuel Macron. There he met his sentimental partner, Stephane Sejourne, leader of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and a loyal collaborator of Macron since the beginning of his political career, in the middle of the last decade.

Attal and Sejourne, a possible candidate of the Macronist party in the European elections in June, form what Le Monde called a few years ago a power couple. The appointment signals Macrons willingness to return to his origins, to the hard core of collaborators who helped him conquer power seven years ago.

Behind the appointment is the power struggle to succeed Macron, who, after two terms, cannot run again in 2027. Potential candidates include heavyweights like Bruno Le Maire and Gerald Darmanin, both currently serving as ministers. But there is no precedent for a prime minister going directly to the position of president.

Attals ideology is difficult to define. He comes from the Socialist Party and has been assigned to the progressive wing of Macronism. In his brief spell at the Ministry of Education, where he was appointed last July, his popularity skyrocketed and he was showered with praise, also from the right, with measures such as the ban in classrooms of the abaya, the traditional female tunic in some Muslim countries. He has promoted a plan to experiment with school uniforms. And he has made the fight against bullying his priority, with the overarching goal of restoring authority at schools.

There is, in Attals appointment, a desire for generational change. The other rising star in French politics is Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, heir to the old far-right National Front. Bardella, Marine Le Pens right-hand man, is 28 years old. He will be the partys candidate in the European elections, perhaps running against Sejourne, and he is the clear favorite to win. The first test for the new prime minister will be the EU elections. A comprehensive defeat for the Macronists against the far right would be a blow for Macron. But, as usual, he will have someone to take the heat: the prime minister, who always walks a tightrope.
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The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
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In Ecuador, it takes just a second for a spark to turn into a fire. This has been the case for years and is seen in politics, social protests and, above all, in security. Thats why the state of emergency  decreed on Monday by President Daniel Noboa in an effort to crack down on organized crime  is not in of itself such a drastic measure. Former president Guillermo Lasso applied the same measure 20 times in just two and a half years.

Indeed, the frequency with which Ecuador was under a state of emergency illustrates the severity of the security crisis gripping the South American country. Each spark triggers a new fire, and each fire adds to the previous one, until authorities are completely overwhelmed, which is what happened in Ecuador. The countrys main criminal gangs  at war for control of drug routes while at war with the state  have been sowing terror across the country. The violence has escalated so much that Noboa  who took office at the end of November  has had to go one step further: recognizing the existence of an internal armed conflict and ordering military intervention. These are some keys to one of the biggest security emergencies in Latin America.

Prison escapes spark chain of attacks

The day of chaos, abuse and violence on Tuesday  which saw a group of armed, masked men storm an Ecuadorian TV station  was sparked after the leaders of two rival gangs escaped prison. On Sunday, authorities reported that Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias Fito, considered Ecuadors most dangerous criminal, had vanished from a prison in Guayaquil. Fito  who is the leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros, which works for Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel  first made headlines in August last year when presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated. Villavicencio had campaigned against the rise of organized crime, and denounced threats from criminal groups. Before his murder, the politician said that he had been threatened by Fito. Villavicencio said it was a warning that if I keep mentioning him and his structure, they will attack me or try to kill me.

Jose Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, the leader of Los Choneros, on August 12, 2023. Fuerzas Armadas Ecuador

After Fitos escape, Fabricio Colon Pico  a member of the rival gang Los Lobos, linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)  also fled prison. The situation led to large police deployments, which sparked a chain of attacks aimed at getting the security forces to withdraw. At least 10 people, including two police officers, were killed in one day. It was a message of open defiance from the gangs and has paved the way for an incipient war against the state.

Security crisis

The security crisis in Ecuador worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Ecuadorian criminal gangs gained ground and the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG increased their presence in the country. Their goal is to take control of the Guayaquil metropolitan area, the countrys most populous city and a key port for international drug trafficking routes that start in the jungles of Colombia and the Andean region and reach the United States and Europe. Prisons are a crucial base of operations for this business, which would not survive without the cocktail of misery, structural corruption and rivalry between competing groups. Prison riots have skyrocketed since the 2021 massacre, when 79 prisoners were decapitated in the Litoral Penitentiary.

But the violence behind bars is also being reflected in the streets, where millions of people live in fear. The statistics are unprecedented: 40 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, numbers that used to be seen during Venezuelas deadliest years.

The temptation of Bukeles authoritarian model

On Tuesday night, Admiral Jaime Vela Erazo, head of the joint command of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, broadcast a message alongside key officials in which he stated that the 20 criminal structures operating in the country had become a military objective. The people of Ecuador, who went to the polls last year amid the shock over Villavicencios murder, are demanding a strong response from the authorities. President Noboa, a 36-year-old neoliberal politician, announced a plan called Phoenix, but did not reveal any more details.

Amid the crisis in Ecuador, attention has turned to Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, who managed to weaken criminal gangs, but did so at the expense of human rights and fundamental freedoms. We have already completed conversations with international groups that built the prisons in El Salvador, Noboa said a few days ago, promising that construction would begin in January. Whats more, during the electoral campaign, Noboa promised to purchase prison ships to isolate the most dangerous criminals by sending them 75 miles offshore. And while the most radical political sectors step up the debate on relaxing controls on weapons sales, which were already eased under Lasso, international human rights organizations have reminded Noboa that he must take action to curb the crisis.

We are following with immense concern the serious acts of violence committed by criminal gangs. To confront organized crime, Ecuador needs to strengthen its judicial capacity, control prisons, and investigate money laundering and corruption, said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch (HRW). The decision to characterize a context as an internal armed conflict must always be technical and based on international humanitarian law. Otherwise, the rights of citizens are put at risk, she warned.

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This crucial year of global elections, where almost half the planet will head to the polls  from India and the United States to Europe  begins with what may be the most decisive election day for the rest of the world. Taiwan, the self-governed and democratic island that China considers an inalienable part of its territory and that counts on the United States as a key ally, is holding presidential and legislative elections on Saturday.

Its not just an important vote internally. In Taiwan, they never are. This election is marked by the political tensions between China and the U.S., and it could have a seismic geopolitical impact on the world. In Beijings eyes, Taiwanese voters are facing a choice between war and peace. The result of the election and its aftermath will be the first test of the rapprochement struck between the U.S. and China following President Joe Biden and Xi Jinpings meeting in November.

Vice President Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, was leading in the last opinion polls recorded on January 3 (Taiwan does not allow polls to be published in the last 10 days of the campaign). He is the presidential candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is Chinas least preferred option. In second place was Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei  the most populated city in the country, which surrounds the capital, Taipei  who is from the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, which has traditionally advocated for greater rapprochement with Beijing.

In the three-way presidential race, the third contender is Ko Wen-je, from the Taiwan Peoples Party, which was formed in 2019. Ko  a former doctor who was the mayor of Taipei until 2022  has risen in the polls thanks to support from young voters, who are tired of the two traditional parties and have been won over by his talks on solving day-to-day problems, such as the high cost of housing.

Lais lead in the race was only briefly threatened when the opposition parties tried to reach an agreement to present a single candidate  an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful. In the legislative race, however, the KMT has been leading the polls.

Lai is promising to continue the policies developed by Taiwans outgoing president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is also from the DPP. Due to legal term limits, Tsai cannot run again, and is stepping down after eight years in power. Her administration has been marked by lack of communication with China, growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and rapprochement with Washington. Lai argues he is the best person to guarantee stability in Taiwan and maintain the current status quo. He is also pledging to further advance social rights, such as same-sex marriage, approved in 2019 under Tsais mandate.

Peace is priceless and war has no winners, Lai said on Tuesday during an appearance before the international press. The presidential candidate praised the strength of Taiwans democracy, adding: While aspiring for peace, we harbor no illusions. To maintain stability in Taiwan  where the Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked fears the island may face a similar fate  Lai proposed to build up Taiwans defense deterrence. This is in line with the policy of the current government, which has sought closer military cooperation with the U.S. We stand at the forefront of defending our values against authoritarianism, said Lai. We have no plan to declare Taiwanese independence, he added, because the Republic of China, Taiwan, is already an independent sovereign nation.

Beijing  which sees Taiwan as a rebellious province that it intends to reincorporate peacefully, although it has not ruled out using force  argues that Lai has secret plans for independence, which harm the population of Taiwan and jeopardizes peace in the Strait. In order to get more votes, Lai tries to hide the fact that, as a supporter of Taiwan independence, he is essentially a troublemaker and instigator of war, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said in November according to Chinas state press.

Beijing's favorite

Beijings preferred candidate is Hou Yu-ih, of the KMT, the heir to the faction that fled China in 1949 after being defeated by Mao Zedongs communists in the Chinese civil war. The defeated faction settled on the island of Taiwan, where they founded a kind of government in exile, under the leadership of KMT leader, the dictator Chiang Kai-shek. They called it the Republic of China, thus giving rise to one of the worlds most complex and volatile geopolitical conflicts, a holdover from the Cold War that continues to this day.

Hou is calling for an end to the DPP, which he accuses of corruption. The KMT leader argues that the DPP is using an internet army and its control of local media to attack him and his party for maintaining closer ties with China, as he proclaimed at a rally Sunday in the city of Kaohsiung. Hou often recalls his career as a policeman to explain that he understands the importance of negotiation, while also having a backup force. He sums up his China policy in three words: Deterrence, dialogue, de-escalation.

Since the first free elections in Taiwan in 1996, KMT candidates have won the presidency three times, while the DPP have won four elections. The party has only governed nine of the past 24 years. The last KMT president, Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016) participated in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in 2015. But Mas closer relationship with China  the worlds second-biggest economic power  led to his defeat in the 2016 presidential election. That vote was won by Tsai Ing-wen, who has never met face to face with Xi.

International tension and internal calm

The atmosphere in Taiwan is a strange mix of international tension and everyday calm: the island has lived with the threat of China for more than seven decades. At a bustling night market, sitting in front of a steaming plate of noodles fresh from one of the stalls, Kai Chang, 29, and Monica Pan, 27, said Tuesday that they will vote for Ko Wen-je. I see him working hard to solve young peoples problems, such as renting homes. They complain about the very high cost of rent, which is barely covered by salaries, and the impossibility of buying a home. And they believe that Ko is backed by his years as mayor of the capital.

He has a more practical and scientific approach than the other two candidates, say the couple. In part, I will vote for him because I am tired of there only being two parties. I would like a change, adds Kai. They also believe that the elections will decide Taiwans approach to China. The couple believes that Kos position is a good midway point between the KMT and the DPP, arguing he wants Taiwan to remain independent, but is willing to communicate with Beijing.

Meanwhile, there is mounting pressure on Taiwan. Chinese balloons have been flying through the skies near the island and directly over the territory. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry called it an attempt to use cognitive warfare to affect the morale of our people. Chinese fighter jets have also been flying past the so-called median line that marks the unofficial division in the Taiwan Strait. A record was broken in September, with 103 Chinese aircraft detected in 24 hours.

This is a reminder that there is much more at stake in these elections than the future of the Taiwanese government. In recent years, with Tsai as president, the Strait has witnessed moments of great tension, especially after Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, decided to visit Taipei in August 2021. The Chinese Government considered her visit to the island an affront, carried out large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, and broke ties with Washington in various fields  including in military communication. Those fractures have not yet fully healed.

During the recent meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in San Francisco, the Chinese leader said that the Taiwan question remains the most important and most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations. He called on Biden to refrain from supporting Taiwans independence, to stop providing arms to the island and to support the peaceful reunification of China. In his traditional year-end speech on December 31, Xi reiterated: Without a doubt, our motherland will realize reunification. This Saturdays election is an opportunity to observe, on a small scale, how the most tense geopolitical dispute of the 21st century could unfold in the coming years.

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RICHARD FRANK June 23, 1929-January 2, 2024

Restaurateur and industry spokesman Richard Frank personified the restaurant industry in Melbourne for decades. He was a pioneer and a leader, and an exemplar of the success of post-war immigrants.

He was born in Warsaw, prematurely, and spent the first weeks of his life in cotton wool. He was the oldest of three children, and remembered the invasion of Poland in 1939, and the following months. His grandfather was beaten, as was his mother; the family house was ransacked and robbed. His father joined the Polish army, then escaped from it and found his way to Lithuania. He sent a letter outlining a daring plan: a woman would help to guide his wife and one of the children to Lithuania, the idea being that the other children would follow a fortnight later. Richard was the oldest child, and with his fair hair and blue eyes, did not look Jewish. He was deemed less of a risk for that first journey than his dark-haired brother or little sister.

The hazardous trip did not go according to plan, but Richard and his mother made it to Lithuania. There was no other escape for the rest of the family. He did not see his grandparents or his siblings again. He said his mothers grief was so immense it was years before she could speak of her lost children. He could speak about them only rarely.

They left Lithuania thanks to the Japanese consul, Chiune Sugihara, who signed transit papers that enabled them (and thousands of others) to cross Russia. They were in Japan for a short while, where Richard first learnt English at a Franciscan monastery school, and then went to Shanghai, which was a free port in Japanese-occupied China. When US troops liberated Shanghai in 1945, he learnt to drive a jeep, and American-accented English. Sometime after he arrived in Australia, he was told roughly to go back where he came from. The irony was that his accent caused the outburst: Bloody Yank!
The Penitenciaria del Litoral and the Regional correctional facilities, which are both within the same compound, are the most populated prisons in Ecuador. They are located in the coastal city of Guayaquil, and between them they hold 10,000 inmates, more than a quarter of the South American countrys entire prison population. In this place, the convicts are in control. Not only do they run the 15 units inside the prison compound, they also control the drug trafficking and organized crime activities that take place on the outside. It is they who decide who gets to come in and who doesnt. They even have the keys to their own cells. This is how they have managed to sow terror throughout the country. The latest example took place on Tuesday, when at least 10 people ended up dead, including two police officers.

Seven criminal gangs have been identified that have power within the prisons. In the three units of the Regional, it is Los Choneros who are in charge, and who answer to their boss Jose Adolfo Macias, aka Fito. In the Penitenciaria, the 12 buildings have been divided up between the Chone Killers, Aguilas, Fatales, Latin Kings, Lobos, Tiguerones and the Mafia. It was here that the spark was lit that triggered the first prison massacre on February 23, 2021, where 79 prisoners were beheaded. It was the beginning of a security crisis that has escalated violently, putting up against the ropes Ecuadors last three governments, none of which have managed to secure control of what happens inside the prisons.

Now, the leaders of the Ecuadorian cartels have challenged the new government of President Daniel Noboa with a wave of attacks that began on Sunday, January 7, when the authorities realized that Fito, the leader of Los Choneros, was missing. Riots erupted in seven prisons.

Soldiers arrive at the Regional prison, this Tuesday in Guayaquil. VICENTE GAIBOR DEL PINO (Reuters)

The layout of the Regional facilities makes it possible to clearly see the movements of the prisoners as they go up and down a wooden staircase to the rooftop, talk on the phone and rest in their hammocks. Anyone passing by on the main road can spot them, as can the police officers and military personnel guarding the first security ring at the entrance. Everything happens in clear view of those who are supposed to be in control.

Prisons are cities where the prisoners rule, acknowledged a police officer who has worked in both prisons. They have their own businesses. In the Regional, from the moment you enter, they offer roast chicken, and there is a food cart selling salchipapa and morocho. These are businesses to feed the structure that they have created inside.

The obvious question is how the chickens, the food cart, the gas canisters, the weapons, the ammunition, the bombs, the drugs and the alcohol, which have been seized in incalculable amounts, get inside in the first place. The answer is the corruption of a system run by a government agency called SNAI. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which visited the country in 2021, told the government in a document: Unprecedented corruption within the prisons, as a result of the years-long state neglect of the penitentiary system, as well as the absence of a comprehensive criminal policy, has led to self-government, implying that internal control is exercised by the detainees themselves.

The structure works with a leader for each prison unit who reports to the gang leader. The police officer who explained to EL PAIS how this corruption network works described that position as that of a manager. Fito, for example, who was in the Regional, did not necessarily know what was going on in one of the pavilions of the Penitenciaria; the leaders of his gang and those affiliated with Los Choneros in each pavilion informed him. He was something like the manager of Los Choneros.

In each housing unit, the leaders charge for everything. The cells, which measure two by two meters, can hold anywhere from one person to eight or 10, depending on how much they can pay. If they want a good room, drug traffickers pay up to $1,500 a month; those cells even have air conditioning. In a cell with two bunk beds for four people, each one might pay around $300 a month. Whoever didnt pay slept on the floor, noted the police source. Such business activities inside one of these housing units might represent as much as $20,000 a month.

Hence, many of the conflicts between criminal gangs are over the control of the pavilions and penitentiary centers, motivated mainly by economic gains that they could obtain through illicit businesses, the IACHR warned in its report, adding that the struggle for control and power also takes place outside the prisons.

The model of the Guayaquil prisons was later replicated in the other correctional facilities that are distributed in different parts of the country and under the command of different gangs. Those of Cotopaxi, Quito, Cuenca, Machala, Chimborazo, those that figured prominently in the most recent prison riots, are under the control of Los Lobos, the criminal gang that is trying to achieve hegemonic control over organized crime inside and outside the prisons of Ecuador.
The man shot dead by police outside a medical centre on the NSW South Coast has been identified as Alexander Stuart Pinnock.

The 34-year-old, who was sentenced in Sydney last year for posing as a lawyer, pulled a gun on his doctor at the facility on Junction Street in Nowra shortly after 1pm on Wednesday.

Three people initially managed to escape before a fourth followed them, leaving Pinnock alone inside. He emerged from the centre at 2.40pm.

Pinnock had picked up an officers ballistic shield dropped during the tense ordeal and raised his weapon, police said.
A man jailed for the murder of a Queensland grandmother is suing the state for $5.5 million after his convictions were quashed.

Lawyers for Steven Mark John Fennell, who spent six years behind bars over the 2012 death of Liselotte Watson, have filed for damages related to his time in prison.

Steven Fennell being interviewed by reporters after his release in 2019. Credit: Nine News

Watson, 85, was found dead on the bedroom floor of her Macleay Island home after she had been repeatedly bashed in the head with a blunt object.

Fennell, a former junk-mail delivery driver, was acquitted of the murder and released after a High Court appeal in 2019.
A man has been charged after he allegedly smashed a stolen vehicle in suburban Melbourne  then tried to flee in an Uber.

Police said a witness saw a fast-moving car crash into another at a major intersection in Clayton late on Tuesday before the driver allegedly fled.

Its alleged a man was then seen running along Blackburn Road moments before a rideshare car left a nearby hotel.

The passenger in the back then got out and tried to flee as police stopped the vehicle.
Former prime minister John Howard has joined gun-control advocates and police to sound alarm at inconsistent firearms regulations that risk undermining restrictions on high-powered multi-shot weapons.

Howard, who spearheaded efforts to tighten Australias gun laws in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, said the community would be very angry if there were any weakening of firearms control.

Recreational shooter with a Wedgetail pump-action rifle Credit: Nine

Gun safety advocates and the Australian Federal Police Association are demanding states urgently align their gun laws, pointing to major inconsistencies in the way some high-powered, rapid-fire weapons were treated by state authorities.

The Wedgetail MPR308, a pump-action rifle, for example, is banned in NSW, Tasmania and the ACT but can be bought by recreational and sporting shooters in every other state and territory.
The Popes declaration that surrogacy should be banned has prompted two more government MPs to abstain from the Lords Prayer in the Victorian Parliament as the crossbench pushes Labor to make good on its vow to dump the century-old tradition.

Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke and Tarneits Dylan Wight this week said they would sit out the prayer  which has been said at the start of each sitting day since 1918  because it did not reflect the diversity of the Victorian community.

The Lords Prayer has been said at the start of each sitting day of state parliament since 1918. Credit: Penny Stephens

A cohort of Labor MPs, including Housing Minister Harriet Shing and Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt, already abstain, as do representatives from the Greens, Legalise Cannabis and the Animal Justice Party.

In 2021, when then-Reason Party MP Fiona Patten agitated for the prayer to be scrapped, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes committed to workshopping a replacement model that is purpose-fit for Victoria if Labor was re-elected in 2022  but no progress has been made.
Melbourne asking rents are at a record high, and more pain could be on the way if actual rents catch up.

But in a glimmer of hope for people struggling to survive the cost-of-living and rental crises, rents have stopped climbing for the first time in two years.

Melbournes asking rent for houses remained at a median of $550 per week over the September and December quarters, and units were similarly stagnant at $520 a week, according to Domain data.

However, both grew over the year, up 14.6 per cent and 15.6 per cent respectively.
The company also showed off a Land Aircraft Carrier, a six-wheel-drive, grey panel van that houses a two-seat eVTOL multicopter in the back. In Australia, local start-up AMSL Aero, run by husband-and-wife team Andrew Moore and Siobhan Lyndon, is busy working on its fleet of flying cars that the company says will initially target healthcare services, helping rural Australians access hospitals faster. Robot-made ice-cream Australians are fond of their pod coffee machines, and ColdSnap is readying its range of innovative ice-cream makers for launch in 2025. Theres a good reason that the ColdSnap booth has been one of the most popular on the show floor, even despite temperatures in Las Vegas nearing zero outside.

ColdSnap showed off its pod-based ice cream machines at CES in Las Vegas. ColdSnaps counter-top ice-cream makers use pods  which are about the size of a Red Bull can  combined with room-temperature liquid to churn out freshly made ice-cream in as little as two minutes, and the result is just as delicious as what you might get from your local gelateria. The appliances are rolling out to homes next year but will be available to restaurants this year, and can also make coffee drinks and smoothies. Hisenses laser TVs Electronics giant Hisense has been building its reputation for high-quality and relatively inexpensive 4K TVs, but its the companys new range of laser TVs that has raised eyebrows on the CES show floor.

If youre a size junkie, you might be interested in looking at laser TVs  laser-powered ultra-short throw projectors  that can produce images up to a whopping 300 inches. Hisense says its new rollable laser TV is ideal for bright Australian households, given it features an ambient light rejecting screen, and the ability for the screen to roll down when its not being used. The company also showed off what it says is the worlds first 8K Sonic Screen laser TV, boasting some 3 million pixels for 8K picture quality on a sound-emitting screen. It also confirmed the C1 portable mini projector is coming to Australia  a device that can project an image anywhere between 65 and 300 inches in size at 4K resolution. The Hisense booth during the 2024 CES event in Las Vegas. Credit: Bloomberg The company is confident that more and more households will be opting for laser TVs, which can be easily moved from a living room to an outdoor deck for a movie night, for example. From short-throw to long-throw technology, through to the versatility and portability of our new C1, there is a solution for every home, Hisenses head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand, Gideon Lui, said. Hisense isnt just a participant in the laser category globally, we are the pioneer in this technology.

Loading Aside from the laser TVs, Hisense has also updated its core mini-LED TV range, which will receive some major upgrades this year, including a new solar remote for its three leading models, as well as 144Hz native refresh rate for a clearer image. Hisenses proprietary TV operating system, VIDAA, will also this year be rolled out across its full TV range. LGs smart home AI agent Taking another cue from The Jetsons is South Korean tech giant LG, which used CES to introduce a walking, talking AI robot that doubles as a home manager and a companion. Using generative AI like the type that powers ChatGPT, LGs home AI platform can tell if you might be sick by listening to changes in your voice and automatically send a letter to your doctor to book an appointment. It can also monitor pets or unattended children.

Lee Hyang-eun, vice president in charge of customer experience in LGs home appliances division, said that AI agent, dubbed Q9, would have a wide and expanding number of uses across the home. I know some people are quite sceptical ... but the home agent is an open platform. So it can be a conversational friend for elderly people who are staying at home alone, or it can be a private tutor for the kids, she said. LGs smart home AI agent at CES in Las Vegas. Credit: David Swan And in terms of security, its using on-device security, so its saving the data on the device, and as soon as the data is being collected on the device, its encrypted and locked from any outside intruders. Volkswagen has also announced that its vehicles will be able to converse with drivers via ChatGPT by the middle of this year.

Samsungs Ballie assistant at CES in Las Vegas. Samsungs companion robot Ballie Also offering an AI-powered robot is Samsung, which introduced Ballie in 2020. A roving guard dog of sorts, the little yellow companion can send video updates of pets or loved ones to users devices when theyre away from home. Ballie also has an in-built projector, meaning it can project workout videos on the wall or floor, while playing music from its in-built speaker. By connecting to and managing home appliances, Ballie can provide a helping hand to users in many situations  continually learning from users patterns and habits to provide smarter, more personalised services, the company said in a press statement. Ballie makes life at home more productive and enjoyable. Although Samsung revealed the companion in 2020, it still hasnt announced a price tag or a release date, so well see if 2024 is the year for Ballie.

Movanos Evie smart ring for women The Evie smart ring was on show at CES in Las Vegas. CES is a place for companies to show off conceptual devices just as much as products that are actually available to buy. The Evie ring is firmly in the latter category, and is available for consumers to purchase now. Designed as a smart ring for womens health, Evie offers medical-grade sensors to help track menstrual cycles and sleep, along with a companion app to power AI-based insights based on correlations between menstrual health, hormones, energy, sleep, and activity. In a world where tech is becoming increasingly complicated and finicky, Evie seems like a decidedly simple  and elegant  female-focused innovation.
Prescribing of the drug has remained at high levels, raising questions about whether the alert reached enough doctors and patients, who often dont read the fine print on the drugs tightly folded label, tucked into a bag at the pharmacy. (US prescribing data was provided to The New York Times by Komodo Health.) In Australia, the drug had been linked to three suicides and hundreds of other medical episodes. Many doctors support the drugs availability and see existing cautions as sufficient. But researchers have grown increasingly alarmed about its effects, especially on children, and about what they see as the FDAs failure to determine how many have been harmed or to get the word out to doctors. In an undated photo provided by Nicole Sims, disturbing drawings by her son, now 8, who suffered nightmares and hallucinations of a woman in the window, while he was taking the asthma drug Singulair, now a generic. Credit: Nicole Sims via The New York Times What are the great studies that tell us how often it happens? There arent any, said Thomas Moore, of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, who has long tracked reports of montelukasts psychiatric effects. This is a structural problem.

Dr Reshma Ramachandran, a Yale University assistant professor and family doctor, said the warning had not broken through to channels that doctors notice and that the agency needs to do much more in terms of direct communication to clinicians and through more active channels. Searching for answers In issuing the warning in March 2020, the FDA required pharmacists to hand out a medication guide and added the warning, with a thin black line as a border, to the drug label. The agency also sent a safety alert to email subscribers, flagged the warning to dozens of professional and patient groups, and published an article in a medical journal on its reasoning. Loading But it did not use its authority to require monitoring of side effects or the education of doctors. Rarely are approved drugs with known side effects fully barred from sale.

While researchers see evidence that points to a link between the drug and psychiatric side effects, studies vary significantly on how frequently they appear  or, in some cases, whether they appear at all. Reports include a wide range of psychiatric effects, making it challenging to pinpoint the cause. The agencys risk-benefit calculus for montelukast has weighed its psychiatric risks against its wide use in treating many patients for asthma, which can be deadly. FDA officials said they had taken appropriate action. In an interview, officials said that a number of compelling reports of psychiatric problems seemed drug-related and that the boxed warning was meant to raise awareness. The son of Nicole Sims, who suffered nightmares and hallucinations. Credit: Shawn Poynter/The New York Times The agency is continuing to study notes in electronic health records for clues about side effects, and officials said it continues to monitor and investigate this important issue. But pinpointing the risks may not be feasible: it would take a large study to capture events such as suicides that remain rare, said Dr Sally Seymour, director of the FDAs pulmonary drugs division.

With concerns lingering, researchers, including some at the FDA, have returned to basic animal studies to examine possible effects of montelukast in the brain, a quest that could take a decade to complete. Merck, which reaped billions of dollars in revenue from the drug, spun it off in 2021 to the company Organon. Merck referred comment to Organon, but in an April 2023 court filing denied a significant link between Singulair and neuropsychiatric events. Organon said in a statement that the company had communicated appropriate information to patients and health providers about the drugs risks and benefits. Nothing is more important to Organon than the safety of our medicines and the people who use them, the company said. Other generic companies also sell the drug. A bottle of montelukast that belonged to Genevieve Bracken. Credit: Niki Chan Wylie/The New York Times The warning was added before Sims son began talking about hearing scary voices and seeing walls that appeared to be melting. If she had known, she said, she would have stopped the drug right away.

Ashley Bracken also wishes her familys allergy practice in Utah had alerted her to the boxed warning. Brackens daughter, Genevieve, had been on the medication since age 7 and grew increasingly depressed after a doctor increased her dose to the adult level in April 2021, when she was 13. Her mother initially attributed her daughters obsessive handwashing to the pandemic. She wrote off her daughters moodiness to teenage angst. Loading Bracken said she first saw a list of the drugs side effects, which include obsessive compulsive disorder, in a screenshot on Genevieves phone from October 2021. She and her husband had been scouring the device for any clue to why the girl, then 14, had killed herself days before Christmas that year. The FDAs warning included suicide, though the agency has said no studies have definitively assessed the risk. The familys medical practice declined an interview request.

It sickened us, Bracken said. In the moment, we were searching for answers because what she did didnt make sense. Rising sales, growing concerns Approved in 1998, Singulair soon became a top-selling drug. With a market of 25 million people battling asthma and more with allergies, sales representatives blanketed doctors offices. Loading They promoted the drug as a once-a-day alternative to inhaled corticosteroids, which are considered more effective but also more cumbersome. Singulair came in a chewable, cherry-flavoured pill for children.

Concerns surfaced within Merck: a whistleblower claimed in a 2008 lawsuit that the company improperly paid doctors to prescribe drugs, including Singulair, and that the drug leads to aggressiveness and attention deficit problems in children. Merck settled the claims, largely related to other drugs, and admitted no wrongdoing. Merck promoted the medication to parents, in 2009 partnering with TV personality Jo Frost, known as Supernanny on reality television. Merck, which also made an inhaler for asthma, funded the American Academy of Pediatrics to train doctors about asthma diagnosis and prescribing, a Fox affiliate reported in 2010. (An NBC affiliate has also reported on problems with the drug.) Drawings by Sims son. He has been off the drug for more than a year, and his drawings while on the drug (left) have given way to more serene scenes (right). Credit: Shawn Poynter/The New York Times A worldwide success, the drug would earn Merck an estimated $US50 billion ($74 billion) in revenue, according to a recent Reuters analysis of the drugs troubled history. In 2007, its possible drawbacks drew wider attention when Elizabeth Little, a New York state senator, contacted the FDA about a 15-year-old on Singulair who became hopeless and anxious, agency records show. The teenager killed himself 17 days after starting the drug.

Rather than mandating fresh studies of Singulair, the FDA allowed Merck to review its existing trials. The company concluded in 2009 that those trials were not devised to identify psychiatric problems or suicides, and few had been noted. An FDA examination of reports of side effects prompted Merck the same year to add warnings about hallucinations, hostility, anxiety and suicide to the label. As of 2019, the FDA had documented 82 suicides of people on montelukast. More than 500 suicide attempts have also been linked to the drug in unverified reports to the agency. Problems drew notice worldwide. Researchers examining side effect reports sent to the World Health Organisation in 2015 discovered outsize rates of anxiety and suicidal behaviour among children on montelukast, a finding researchers deemed striking in young children. A 2022 review of the same type of reports found high rates of aggression and agitation. Nightmares were reported 25 times as frequently as expected and suicidal thinking 18 times as frequently.

Loading Such studies based on voluntary reports can identify problems, but not pinpoint how often they appear. Research trying to do so using more detailed health records is mixed. Studies of older adults and of US military veterans and an FDA study on depression and suicide found few problems. Some doctors cite those studies in arguing the FDAs warning in 2020 was sufficient. They said montelukast remained popular because it addressed asthma and allergies at the same time, with no side effects for some people. The drug eases breathing by suppressing inflammation in the airways. In some studies, they find increased risk, and in others, not, said Dr John Kelso, an allergist at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego. Some reviews continue to find problems. A 2021 study of Korean health data found that older adults who had asthma and then developed psychiatric problems were 70 per cent more likely to have taken montelukast-type drugs than those who had not. Younger adults in Denmark who were prescribed the drug were 38 per cent more likely to soon need psychiatric or ADHD medications, a 2023 study found.

Even such observational reports can be biased by the unique features of people taking a drug, Moore said. Still, he said other evidence suggested the drug was causing the problems: they crop up in children with no psychiatric history. They go away when the drug is stopped. They tend to return if its restarted. Settling the question of how common the problems are remains unlikely, said Dr Daniel Benjamin, a Duke University researcher who helps distribute the scarce federal funds allocated to studying older pediatric drugs. Theres just a tsunami of drugs where we dont really know what theyre doing in children, he said. A montelukast medication for children sold in Australia. Credit: Adam McLean

Drug targeted at the airway goes into the brain FDA scrutiny of montelukast has brought new information to the fore and shed fresh light on older data. In records approving the drug in 1998, the agency said only a trace amount of the drug crossed into the brain, though its data showed lingering levels in a rats brain 24 hours after a dose. That remained its stance for decades. The agency reversed that conclusion in 2020. It cited a 2015 study  which highlighted the agencys 25-year-old data  saying it showed significant penetration of the blood-brain barrier in rats. The agency concluded anew that montelukast could act directly on cells in the brain in rats and updated the drug label in 2020. The FDA has also struggled to get a handle on how many patients experienced harm.

In 2014, as Merck unsuccessfully sought approval to sell Singulair over the counter, FDA records for an oversight meeting showed that Merck had data on about 46,500 cases with adverse events. US officials and the World Health Organisation knew about only 14,000. The US FDA discovered nearly a decade ago that Merck, the maker of Singulair, received thousands more reports of side effects from the drug than the agency or its global counterpart. Credit: Bloomberg Though Merck was not required to report non-serious side effects or those listed on the label from outside the United States, the agency noted that the tally from regulators was still far lower than Mercks. The breadth of problems remained urgent for leaders of the Facebook group, which in 2017 urged the FDA to consider a boxed warning. That led to an emotional hearing in 2019. A Massachusetts mother testified that when her 12-year-old daughters dose was raised, she began to hear voices telling her to harm herself; she dreamed about people being tortured and decapitated. A Wisconsin mother said her son, 11, dreamed about his family being murdered. An Arizona mother said her 7-year-old developed severe tics, a problem one French study has tied to the drug.

Months later, the FDA announced the boxed warning and began studies of the drugs interactions with the brain. Leave this drug to adults Other scientists, too, have been examining the effect of the drug on the central nervous system and its potential to accumulate in the brain. One Swedish study found that mice taking the drug for two weeks had impaired cell growth in the hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory and learning. A 2022 study in Portugal found altered levels of dopamine and serotonin in rats, as well as lowered defences against stress, said Goncalo Justino, a biochemistry researcher at the University of Lisbon. Loading

Justino said he was haunted by numerous case studies in the medical literature of distressed children. Given the degree of harm to some children, he said, doctors should leave this drug to adults. Dr Marc Flajolet, a Rockefeller University neuroscientist, said evidence suggesting that the drug could affect developing brains meant that it will be probably safer at this point not to use that in kids until we know more. Other researchers have examined the drugs interaction with genes or discussed its potential to release toxins or accumulate in the brain, especially in children. Parents of children whove struggled on the drug urge caution. In Tennessee, Sims son, now 8, has been off the drug for nearly two years. His drawings of red-eyed demons gave way to sketches of a smiling boy fishing under the sun. Sims still worries about signs of lingering depression. After what seem to be great days, he will comment: It wasnt fun. Few studies examine whether there are long-term effects.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
Ecuador is in a permanent state of crisis, but this crisis is different. Now, it is the terrorist acts perpetrated by Organized Criminal Groups (GDO) that rise like an ominous shadow that threatens the integrity, the peace and the very existence of this small Andean country. In this gloomy scenario, terrorism and its relationship with organized crime groups have woven a web of chaos and despair that hangs over every corner of our society.

Terrorism, that concept so often misused by our very poor political class, has become a scourge that tarnishes the countrys daily life. We knew that we were in bad shape, that we ended 2023 as the most violent country in the region; that our coasts are used for the distribution of cocaine to the United States and Europe; that our children are being recruited by the GDO; that the security of our borders is poor; that the GDO have co-opted members of the police, justice system and armed forces. We knew it but the state response failed to anticipate events. Today, the string of terrorist attacks that has shaken our country has not only left physical scars, but has also fractured the trust and security that should be the inalienable rights of every citizen and which are contemplated in the Constitution.

The audacity of the GDO has led our weak democracy to a state of emergency, reflected in Executive Decree No. 111 that recognizes the existence of an Internal Armed Conflict in Ecuador. This instrument, signed by President Daniel Noboa, is now deployed as a chilling reminder of the seriousness of the situation. Ecuador, facing an internal threat that is devouring the foundations of democracy and the rule of law, is forced to take extraordinary measures to safeguard its existence.

All Ecuadorians watched with terror the kidnapping of staff at a television station while they were broadcasting live, transforming television studios into battlefields. Freedom of expression, a fundamental pillar of any democratic society, has been violated for the sake of a criminal agenda that seeks to terrorize us. They wont succeed! The shadow of fear hangs over the country, but we must not allow darkness to win. Terrorism is not an end in itself, but a strategy of the GDO to distance citizens from the State.

The murder of prison guards and police officers is a direct affront to the Weberian principle in which only the State has the monopoly on violence. But today, all men and women committed to the security of the population are victims of ruthless violence that seeks to sow panic and bend the will of the State.

In this desolate context, the need for national unity prevails more than ever. Fear, although palpable, should not become the master of our decisions and destinies. It is time to close ranks as a society, to look beyond our differences and raise our voices against the common threat that stalks us. Ecuador, in its shared pain, must stand as a beacon of resistance, reminding us that the strength of unity is the only one capable of dispelling the darkness of terror.

In the battle against fear, collective determination is our greatest shield. Only with courage and solidarity can we overcome this shadow that seeks to eclipse hope. In the union of the Ecuadorian people lies the force that will dissolve the chains of terror, demonstrating that light will always prevail over darkness.

Pedro Manosalvas is an expert in security and defense and director of the Ecuador National Security Observatory (OESN).
The Taiwan Strait has been described as the tensest spot on the planet, where a third world war could start. Both the major Taiwanese parties and international commentators have warned that the January 13 elections could tip the balance and embolden China to take action against Taiwan. These are exaggerations: whichever party wins, the situation with China will not change very much.

The rhetoric of the islands two major parties  the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT)  is that, if the other side wins, a Chinese offensive will become more likely. The DPP claims that the KMT wants to sell Taiwan to Beijing by fostering more cross-strait ties, and that the island will end up like Hong Kong, under tight Chinese control. The KMT, for its part, argues that the DPP has cut off communication channels with Beijing and is positioning itself very closely in line with the United States, which increases the likelihood of a conflict. Both accuse the other of being irresponsible and of paving the way for Taiwan to be the next Ukraine.

But, looking at the profile of the candidates, it is most likely that there will not be substantial change in either case. If the DPP wins, its candidate Lai Ching-te  also known as William Lai  will continue with the low-intensity confrontational model of Tsai Ing-wen, who has been president of Taiwan for the past eight years. Under Tsai there has been tension with China, but that is inevitable, since Beijing has always distrusted the DPPs more pro-independence position. However, at no point has the situation escalated radically and the DPP has been cautious about what it says. In the opposite scenario, if the KMT were to win, there would not be much of a change either: Hou Yu-hi is more skeptical of Beijing than previous KMT candidates, who even talked about long-term unification with China. This brings him closer to the average voter on the island. With a Hou victory, there might simply be a slight improvement in relations with China, with some of Chinas trade restrictions lifted and more trade channels open. In any case, neither the victory of the DPP nor the KMT will trigger a radical change in the status quo.

Whats more, for China, this would be one of the worst moments to respond militarily to the election results. In recent months, Xi Jinping has carried out important purges in the military: he dismissed the Chinese defense minister, senior officials of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and executives of state arms companies. This hints at a worrying level of corruption within the army, which raises doubts about the real capabilities of Chinas military power. The fact that Xi is carrying out these purges shows that he does not trust the current state of the PLA, and his most urgent goal is to reform it. In the midst of this instability, it would be irrational to carry out any military action. China has also not significantly changed its discourse regarding Taiwan, or showed more belligerent intentions. The most dangerous source of conflict may come from the United States, where being pro-Taiwan has served to win votes and politicians compete to see who is more of a hawk. If explicit steps were taken in Washington to encourage a formal declaration of independence from Taiwan, that would indeed be a trigger.

In these next elections, the really most important changes will be internal ones. We always see Taiwan as a chess piece between China and the United States. But within the island there is a society with its own problems and expectations. There are issues that concern citizens, especially young people, that go beyond the islands relationship with China. Thats why, a third, outsider contender has emerged in the presidential elections: Ko Wen-je  the former mayor of Taipei and leader of the Taiwan Peoples Party  who has focused his speeches on internal issues on the island and left foreign policy aside.

The Taiwanese are suffering from problems such as low wages among young people, high housing prices, corruption and telephone scams run by organized crime. On the island, there is also heated debate on issues such as prioritizing nuclear or renewable energy, the economys high dependence on the semiconductor industry and the abolition of the death penalty. Foreign and domestic policy are connected: a strong economy, a cohesive society and an energetically resilient territory makes Taiwan stronger, whatever its leaders particular strategy may be. The current presidential race  with three candidates instead of the traditional two-party system  means more democracy and more pressure for the new leader to really solve the islands internal problems. This would give new impetus to almost 30 years of uninterrupted democracy in Taiwan.

Javier Borras Arumi is an analyst of international relations and author of Roja y gris (Red and Gray), a book on China.

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We are all Luddites to some extent, and not just because from time to time we want to throw our cell phone out the window. We just might not have realized it because we still have a caricatured view of what the movement was.

The Luddites were a group of English textile workers who between 1811 and 1816 destroyed power looms and other machines that threatened their jobs. They took their name from the fictitious King Ludd, who signed their letters and pamphlets, and who was inspired by Ned Ludd, a worker (perhaps also fictitious) who had destroyed one of those looms 40 years earlier.

The word Luddite is still used as an insult directed at those who criticize both the means and the objectives of technology companies, be they Amazon, Uber, or the umpteenth social media platform set up by a billionaire businessman. The intention is to label them as afraid of the future and machines they do not understand.

But this image is far from reality. The Luddites were not against progress or machines, but rather the implementation of devices that threatened their jobs, their communities and their values without any prior debate. Two recent books want to make the Luddites objectives and methods clear, in addition to seeking (and finding) parallels between the Industrial Revolution and the techno-utopian promises of today: Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, by Brian Merchant, and Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job, by Gavin Mueller.

In his book, Brian Merchant, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, explains that the behavior of todays companies has many parallels with that of the 19th century textile industry: the founders of start-ups and the technological giants present their version of the future as inevitable, as the only possible route for progress. But their aim is to concentrate wealth and power, and they have no qualms in violating our privacy or destroying jobs, businesses, and ways of life. It affects a whole range of workers from small businesses to sectors that could be replaced by artificial intelligence, according to the most pessimistic analyses.

Mueller, a professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, reminds us in a telephone conversation that the danger is not only that a machine will replace us, but also that the labor market will become even more polarized. That is, that there are very few good jobs and a mass of workers in insecure jobs. Mueller reminds us that even highly automated systems require a lot of maintenance work, from programming the systems to controlling them and monitoring the results. These are degraded, repetitive, unsatisfactory, highly controlled and  what a surprise  poorly paid jobs. The philosopher Euridice Cabanes, founder of the ArsGames video game cultural association, reminds us that there are many jobs that can be automated, but we are faced with a future in which we will be doing the hardest and most boring things while AI paints pictures.

The Luddites also defended the value of their work and reminded the public that machines made inferior products. It keeps happening. It seems like magic to us that ChatGPT can write coherent texts or that Midjourney can produce rather pleasant illustrations, but they are inferior versions of what we already have. They are very dependent on the examples from which they have learned (or that they have plagiarized, depending on who we ask). Mueller recalls the example of the Hollywood screenwriters strike: in addition to defending their jobs against AI, they made it clear that we want to experience art and feel emotions. We dont go to the movies to see the script generated in the most efficient way.

21st century machines

So, lets take out the sledgehammers and teach OpenAI and Meta a lesson? Its not that simple: as Merchant recalls, it is difficult to break machines that we cannot see and that are a few lines of code. Besides, in short, it would be illegal. But the Luddites not only resorted to sabotage: they also called strikes, distributed letters and proclamations, pressured politicians, and managed to negotiate with their employers (sometimes even successfully), to improve their working conditions and introduce machines gradually. Both Cabanes and Mueller insist on the importance of union organization and associations, in addition to the demand for greater regulation, as has occurred with recent initiatives in the European Union. Many economists and politicians also demand a tax on machines that replace jobs, with the aim that this money will serve to compensate for job and salary losses, in a measure that the Luddites also demanded.

And, of course, there is room for (legal) forms of sabotage. Mueller recalls that some users spend their time looking for weaknesses, with the aim of showing that they are far from being the technological miracle that they sometimes present to us, and that they are not prepared for the terrible threat of a human with a few hours to spare. A recent example is that of Chevrolet dealers in the U.S., which have enabled chats with ChatGPT technology. Some Luddites are sharing their achievements on social media: the program has promised them crazy discounts of 50% and invented promotions (and without legal value, we fear), such as a picnic with gourmet Portuguese products and the chance to meet Magic Johnson.

We can get cynical and remember that the leaders of the Luddites were executed and that the Industrial Revolution plowed ahead, despite their efforts. But, as we have seen, they achieved some victories. Whats more, to defeat them, the state had to use all its military force and change the law, to make it as punitive and cruel as possible, Merchant writes.

Nor can the Luddites resistance be disqualified with the idea that the Industrial Revolution ended up creating more jobs than it destroyed. Mueller recalls that historical research shows that living standards fell for decades: For many, the industrialization process was a catastrophe. That is to say, although the changes may be for the better, we can question the way in which innovations are introduced and whether workers have to assume the costs.

The movement inspired and influenced subsequent generations of reformers and dissidents, as explained by historians such as Eric Hobsbawm and, more recently, Steven E. Jones and Daniel F. Noble. Their trail can be followed in similar acts of rebellion in the rest of Europe, including Alcoy (Spain) in 1821, and among the slaves in the United States in the 19th century. Mueller points out that Luddism also encompasses the actions of hackers, who, obviously, do not reject technology, but are critical of its uses and economic models. Science fiction novels and films are also a Luddite genre, as writer Cory Doctorow pointed out in a recent article.

This movements example helps us identify the technological, economic, and social challenges we face, and teaches us that we can ask more of technology, as Mueller says. Cabanes recalls that the future that is sold to us as inevitable is not, and adds that one of the big problems with how technological progress has been presented to us is that they have stolen our imagination. The time has come to steal it back.

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A view of damage and debris as first responders react to an explosion at the Sandman Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, on January 8, 2024. JORDAN BASS (Jordan Bass via REUTERS)

An explosion at a historic Texas hotel in Fort Worth on Monday blew out windows, littered downtown streets with large sections of debris from the building and injured 21 people, including one who was in critical condition, authorities said.

The blast flung doors and entire sections of wall onto the road in front of the 20-story hotel, where authorities said rescue crews found several people trapped in the basement. Fifteen people were taken to hospitals, including six whose conditions were described as semi-critical by MedStar, which provides ambulances and emergency medical services in Fort Worth.

Authorities did not indicate anyone was missing but fire officials said late Monday that they would continue searching the building.

More than two dozen rooms were occupied at the Sandman Signature Hotel at the time, officials said. Authorities said they believe a gas leak caused the explosion  which happened in the middle of the afternoon at the start of the workweek  and said the hotel had been undergoing construction.

There was debris. There was insulation. There was office furniture, Charlie Collier, 31, told The Associated Press. He was working nearby when he said he saw a large flash and what sounded like thunder.

Everything that was in the first couple floors of the building was blown out all over the street, he said.

The Sandman Signature Hotel is in a busy area of downtown about one block from the Fort Worth Convention Center. Footage from news helicopters showed firefighters picking their way through the piles of drywall, shattered glass and mangled metal that coated the street outside the hotel. Authorities urged people to avoid the area.

Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said a restaurant in the building had been under construction but said it was not definitive that is where the blast occurred.

Rebecca Martinez was among those in nearby buildings who recalled hearing a loud crack and seeing a wall of dust and debris sweep through the city streets. Stepping outside to see what happened, she came upon a man and a woman leaned up against a fire hydrant.

The man was all bloody, his face was all bloody, Martinez said. Then I started smelling natural gas, real intense and I thought, I might need to get away from here.

Moments later, she said, authorities evacuated her building and some of the surrounding neighborhood.

Paula Snider, a delivery driver for UPS, was doing a pickup nearby when she said she heard a large boom and saw a puff of black smoke. A large piece of metal grating landed under her truck and another dropped nearby.

I jumped out and took off running, she said.

A grey haze covered normally busy streets of downtown Fort Worth as firefighters walked through layers of debris. Remnants of the building lay scattered across the street and over parked vehicles, and gaping holes could be seen on the ground.

Trojacek said investigators were working with federal investigators to determine the cause of the blast. The scene had left rescue teams unable to immediately reach some parts of the building.

We had reports of people trapped down in the basement, and because of the explosion that took place, some of those access areas were either covered up or it didnt feel safe at that point to get people down into, Trojacek said.

Technicians from Atmos Energy, a Dallas-based natural gas distributor, were examining the blast site Monday. A spokesperson for the Railroad Commission of Texas, the states oil and gas regulator, said an agency inspector was also on the scene and working with local authorities.

Northland Properties Co., the Canadian company that owns the hotel, said in a statement that it was working with officials to determine how the explosion occurred and how much damage it caused.

The safety and well-being of our team members and guests is our priority, the company said. We are working with those who have been injured to fully support them at this time.

According to the hotel website, the Sandman Signature Fort Worth Downtown Hotel has 245 rooms and was built in 1920 as the Waggoner Building, named after cattle rancher and oilman William Thomas Waggoner. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

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The Tiktoker comes in hot with the first of her unexpected shout outs to our indigenous foods, saying the she loves the traditional Maori sourdough potato bread so much so she even learned how to make it herself. She also rates NZ butter, saying she "couldn't imagine having American butter on her bread", but here, that's not a problem.
Backlash in paradise: Maldives tourism dips





MUMBAI,

IN A significant development, the tourism sector in the Maldives is experiencing a downturn following the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Modis visit to Lakshadweep. The fallout has been analysed across various aspects of the industry. Madhav Oza, Director of Blue Star Air Travel Services, sheds light on the impact, stating, In an overall analysis, lets first delve into a sector-specific examination. If we look at India-Maldives direct flights, there are 7 to 8 such flights across the country, with Mumbai hosting 3 direct flights. According to my analysis, the direct flight capacity from India is around 1,200 to 1,300 passengers per day, and this is likely to significantly impact expectations, leading to a cancellation rate of 20 to 30 percent in bookings. People are grappling with concerns about whether they should proceed with their travel plans.

Oza also notes that celebrity statements across India have heightened apprehensions, with the prevailing love and respect for Prime Minister Modi being cited as reasons. He anticipates that current bookings may face cancellations in the range of 15 to 20 per cent. Looking ahead, forward bookings are expected to be severely affected. Consequently, people are exploring alternative destinations such as Lakshadweep or Andaman Nicobar, or even considering international options. The evolving scenario prompts a reconsideration of travel plans for many individuals he added. Meanwhile, Mohan Vinod, President of the Association of Tour Operators Andaman and Nicobar Islands and State BJP Vice President, echoes the sentiment, highlighting the beauty and cleanliness of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands too.
Basavaraju S appointed Secy to CM





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

Basavaraju S, 2007 batch IAS officer has been made Secretary to Chief Minister Vishni Deo Sai. He will also hold the additional charges of Secretary of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department and Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Chhattisgarh. In this regard, Secretary of General Administration Department, Government of Chhattisgarh Dr Kamalpreet Singh has issued an order on Tuesday. With this appointment now there are two secretaries in the CMO including 2006 batch IAS officer P Dayanand. P Dayanand hails from Bihar while Basavaraju S is a native of Karnataka. Basavraju S is a Bachelor of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry (B. VSc. & A.H.). With appointment of with IAS officers in the CMO it is widely expected that the Chief Minister will be running the government efficiently as these two officers are known for their efficient administration and transparent working.
Special Correspondent

ECONOMIC Offences Wing (EoW) of the City Police arrested a Malaysian national, who along with four locals, allegedly duped several citizens of over Rs 38.26 lakh under the pretext of doubling their investment in cryptocurrency within 90 days. Mike Lucy alias Baharuddin Bin Mohammad Yunus, a native of Malaysia, was wanted since 2017. The City Police had issued a look out circular against him. Mike Lucy was apprehended at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, when he was trying to board an International flight to flee the country. Soon after receiving information that Mike Lucy was caught at the airport, a team of EoW comprising API Sangharshi, HC Yogesh and HC Nilesh, under the supervision of Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar and Deputy Commissioner of Police (EoW) Archit Chandak, left for Delhi and took him into custody.

Facing charges under Sections 406,409,420 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 3,4,5,6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, EoW officers produced him before a magisterial court and obtained remand for his custodial interrogation till January 12. Mike Lucy had floated Future Bit Company. He, with the assistance of other accused Nishedh Wasnik, Abhijeet Shirgirwar (both from Nagpur), Shami Jaiswal and Krishna Bhandarkar (both from Gondia) had orchestrated investment seminar(s) at Radisson Blu Hotel where he allegedly enticed unsuspecting individuals with promises of high returns on cryptocurrency investments.

The accused had lured the individuals that if they invest in cryptocurrency, their money would double in 90 days. People approached the accused and started transactions with them on their website www.thefuturebit.com and were ultimately defrauded. Earlier, EoW officers had arrested accused Nishedh Wasnik, Shami Jaiswal, Krishna Bhandarkar and Abhijeet Shrigirwar and filed a chargesheeted against them in the court. API Mudhe is conducting further investigation in the case.
Can a president who orders [a special operations group] to assassinate a political rival be subject to criminal prosecution without having been politically convicted [in an impeachment]? Judge Florence Pans question put Donald Trumps lawyer John Sauer on the ropes Wednesday at a hearing in federal court in Washington. With the former U.S. president present in the courtroom and to keep his extreme legal theory on presidential immunity from collapsing, Trumps lawyer had to defend presidential immunity even in that hypothetical. The appeals court judges reviewing the appeal in the Washington criminal case for attempts to interfere with the 2020 election results were not at all convinced. They will probably reject the immunity argument, as the judge already did in the lower court, and the case will end up in the Supreme Court.

Trump seems to have taken a liking to the courts. Every time he goes into one, he rises in the polls and his moneymaker of a campaign starts to rake in cash. So, this Wednesday Trump showed up in Washington for the hearing even though he did not need to be there. Despite attending voluntarily and of his own volition, he lied in messages to his supporters and on social media that President Joe Biden forced him to interrupt his campaign just six days before the Iowa caucuses, the kickoff of the primaries for the presidential nomination. Knowing that the cameras were pointed at him, Trump appeared after the hearing with his usual hoaxes and political propaganda  but without taking questions  showing that going to court is already part of his campaign.

Away from Iowas freezing temperatures, Washington greeted him with a rainy and unpleasant morning. Perhaps because of that or perhaps because it is all exhausting, there were hardly any onlookers around the federal courthouse complex; only a few hundred journalists and police officers awaited Trump. In contrast to the spectacle of his indictments, this time there was only a lone demonstrator playing circus music at full volume.

Inside the building, in Courtroom 31, on the fifth floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman Building, a short distance from the Capitol, Sauer was appealing a decision by Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge presiding over the case, in which she rejected Trumps immunity outright. Special prosecutor Jack Smith wanted the Supreme Court to decide on the matter directly so as not to waste time and to be able to start the trial on March 4, the date it is scheduled to begin. But the Supreme Court decided to wait its turn, a small victory for Trump because it delays the trial.

Opening Pandoras box

Sauer asserted that the U.S. Constitution grants immunity for acts done in the performance of official duties. At the hearing, the lawyer argued that if Trump is allowed to be prosecuted now, the U.S. would enter an era of score-settling in which one president prosecutes the previous one. Authorizing the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandoras box from which this nation may never recover, he warned graphically. Trump later repeated that expression at his press appearance. Still, Trump has already explicitly promised a presidency of revenge and retaliation if he returns to the White House.

According to Sauer, in order for a U.S. president to be tried for acts that he can be interpreted to have performed in the exercise of his office, he must first be impeached by the House of Representatives and then convicted by the Senate with a two-thirds majority. In addition, Sauer argued that a president cannot be tried because of the separation of powers.

After his opening argument, the three Court of Appeals judges, two of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents, began to question Sauers arguments. Progressive Florence Pan was especially incisive. In the face of Sauers evasions, she cross-examined him and repeated the same question, sometimes as many as seven times, until she got something resembling an answer.

She put Sauer on the spot by reducing his argument to absurdity: she asked him whether, absent an impeachment conviction, a president could be prosecuted for selling nuclear secrets, pardoning criminals, or ordering a special commando to assassinate a political rival. He focused on that question, backing Trumps lawyer into a corner, as the president sat impassively with a blank stare, at his lawyers table. He would have to be and would be quickly impeached and convicted [by the Senate] before criminal prosecution, the lawyer replied. The judge persisted, but the lawyer still maintained the argument that a president could not be tried without being impeached and convicted. So, your answer is no? the judge insisted. Its a hypothetical yes, the lawyer replied.

Sauers argument echoes that of another Trump lawyer before a New York court in 2019, in which he said the president could not be investigated or prosecuted while in the White House, even for shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue; in 2016, Trump himself insisted that he could do so and not lose votes.

Even Judge Karen Henderson, appointed by Republican George H.W. Bush, seemed skeptical: I think its paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law, she said.

Prosecutor James Pearce insisted that Trump is not immune: The president has a unique constitutional role, but he is not above the law. Separation of powers principles, constitutional text, history, precedent and immunity doctrines all point to the conclusion that a former president does not enjoy prosecutorial immunity, he argued.
Eightgun salute British-era cannons found in KP mounted at Central Museum





By Shirish Borkar

ONE more feather has been added to the 160-year-old Central Museums cap with the mounting of eight British-era cannons which were unearthed from the historic Kasturchand Park. The museum building has now got a facelift with the display of these ancient cannons with British crown insignia. After using conservation techniques on scientific lines, including chemical treatment, these cannons were installed by experts at designated places in the museum premises. Custodian of cultural heritage of Maharashtra, the State Archaeology Department mounted these ancient iron artefacts of the British period for the general public. The eight cannons were found by workers while digging at the south of the pavilion for construction of a jogging and walking track at Kasturchand Park in October 2019. The track was constructed by Solar Industries under its corporate social responsibility initiative in association with District Collectorate, Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Heritage Conservation Committee.

Historians believe that these cannons were used during the Battle of Sitabuldi fought between the British and the Bhonslas of Nagpur in 1817. The Central Museum has a rich collection of thousands of sculptures, highly valuable ancient inscriptions, paintings, stuffed birds and animals, firearms and weapons, textiles, ivory idols, coins, manuscripts, archaeological findings from excavations, anthropological artifacts (aborigine art), fossils and other rare antiquities. Digital and mobile technologies are being used to enhance its outreach to domestic and foreign visitors.
FOURTH TERM





THE clear victory of the Awami League in Bangladesh has secured a straight fourth term for Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina, indicating that the countrys public affairs are being governed by forces of sanity rather than forces of vested interests backed by foreign elements. Technically, this will be the fifth term of Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina, in the sense she had earlier been the Prime Minister for one term earlier as well before losing the elections. But this stint will be the fourth term in a row since 2009. The Opposition could make only a tame impact on the electoral outcome, with as many as 62 seats having been won by Independent candidates. Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina has described India as a great friend and has indicated a clear favoured status to India in international dealings. In fact, her victory indicates the continued dominance of pro-India forces in Bangladesh. The significance of this is immense against the background of the current geopolitics involving many countries including China and the United States. Media reports were available to suggest that many external forces were trying to destabilise the countrys domestic politics by trying to dominate electoral outcome. However, that did not happen and Mrs. Sheikh Hasina could outsmart all those elements to return to power in the most authentic manner. The most critical issue Bangladesh has to handle currently is the extent of domination that be allowed to China in the country.

As part of its aggressive foreign engagement policy, China is trying to flood Bangladesh with lots of funds -- so that the countrys rulers tilt towards Beijing. This is not without many risks -- which many countries around the world have experienced in recent years -- and Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina is aware of all those. So far, she has taken Chinese help only selectively, and has relied more on India in the process. India-is-a-great--friend statement came from that stand-point. The world knows that India needs to be given a full credit not just for the formation of Bangladesh but also for much of its development. The overall quality of bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh, thus, is very good and the two countries have identified many common grounds of interests and operations for mutual benefits. The most critical of those areas was the reconciliation and rationalisation of the international border between India and Bangladesh. This has sorted out many ticklish problems that haunted the bilateral relations for years.

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has often treated Bangladesh and its leadership with much respect and has gone great lengths to accommodate its needs and aspirations in his grander foreign policy vision. On his visits to Bangladesh in the past nine-and-a-half years, Mr. Modi has often insisted upon the common cultural background of India and Bangladesh. Even when China tried to mess with Bangladesh (though under the name of developmental assistance), Mr. Modi did not lose his calm and ensured that the relations between India and Bangladesh remained on an even keel. Most fortunately, Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina realises this and recognises Indias contribution to shaping the modern Bangladesh. Her return to power for the fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister, thus, is a pointer to the continued good relations between India and Bangladesh. Vast areas of collaboration between the two countries still await attention. despite that, it can be said safely that with the return of Mrs. Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister, Bangladeshs India relations will get strengthened all the more. This will augur well for the region.
Staff Reporter

In a major relief to former minister and Congress MLA Sunil Kedar, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court suspended the order of the lower court in Rs 150-crore co-operative bank scam and granted him bail. The senior leader was accused of diverting bank funds to private entities for the purchase of government securities, leading to substantial financial losses for the bank. Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, presiding over the hearing, granted bail on a surety bond of Rs one lakh, with the condition of making a monthly appearance before the trial court on the 1st of each month. The execution of the substantive jail sentence imposed by the trial court shall stand suspended, till disposal of the application, she stated in the order, adding that the applicant shall not leave the jurisdiction of the appellate court i.e. District and Sessions Court, Nagpur without prior permission of the said Court. The applicant shall not apply for exemption, unless there are exceptional circumstances, she said. Post bail order, supporters gathered outside the High Court and chanted Sunil Kedar agae badho hum tumhare saath hai."

Sunil Kedar is expected to be released from Nagpur Central Jail on Wednesday at around 11 am. The Congress party has urged all its supporters to gather near the Central Jail to welcome Kedar. This High Courts decision came after Kedar, through his counsel, approached the High Court seeking relief following the rejection of his stay on conviction and bail plea by a sessions court just last week. Earlier, MLA Kedar approached the sessions court after his conviction in the bank scam for a stay on his conviction by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court and seeking bail. District Judge RS Patil, after considering the arguments presented, had refused to stay on conviction and bail plea on December 30, last year. Earlier, on December 23, last year JMFC court had sentenced MLA Kedar and five others, including the general manager and directors of the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB), as well as the director of 'Home Trade Pvt Ltd,' to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 lakh each.

They were found guilty of misappropriating funds of the NDCCB. Notably, six persons were convicted, while three others were acquitted in this complex legal battle that lasted for almost 20 years. Kedar, as the then Chairman, and the general manager, Ashok Choudhary, were obliged to invest the funds as per the prescribed laws, but they breached this norm. Such criminal breach of trust was deemed a serious offense, capable of severely impacting the financial stability of the cooperative bank and affecting thousands of members and staff associated with it. Senior Advocate Sunil Manohar represented Sunil Kedar while Advocates Raja Thakre and Ajay Misar argued the case on behalf of the State before the High Court.
India plans new airport in Lakshadweeps Minicoy





NEW DELHI,

EVEN as India is looking to promote the Lakshadweep islands for tourism, India is now planning to develop a new airfield at the Minicoy Islands there that would be capable of operating military aircraft, including fighter jets, along with commercial ones. The plan is to have a joint airfield that would be capable of operating fighter jets, military transport planes and commercial aircraft, Government sources told ANI. Even though the proposals have been moved to the Government for developing this new airfield in the Minicoy Islands in the past too, this plan of having a joint-use defence airfield has been revived in recent times and is being actively progressed, they informed. From the military point of view, the airfield would give India a strong capability as it can be used as a base to keep an eye on the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean region.

The Indian Coast Guard was the first force under the Defence Ministry to suggest the development of an airstrip in the Minicoy Islands. As per the present proposal, the Indian Air Force would be in the lead to run the operations from Minicoy. The airport at Minicoy would also give the defence forces the capability to extend their area of surveillance in the Arabian Sea. The airport at Minicoy would also provide a boost to tourism in the region, as has been planned by the Government.

There is only one airstrip in the island territory at the moment, which is in Agatti and it can also limit the types of aircraft. The proposal for the development of a new airport and extending the present facilities has been revived recently. The island territory has been the centre of discussion and attraction since the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi there last week. Politicians in the Maldives ruling party have been trying to criticise the Indian plans to promote Lakshadweep as a tourist attraction and have tweeted against India.
MAUNVRATJharkhand woman to break3-decade-long vow of silenceon Ram Temple inauguration





DHANBAD :

AN 85-YEAR-OLD woman from Jharkhand will break her threedecade-long maun vrat (vow of silence) after her dream comes true on January 22 with the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Saraswati Devi started her vow on the day the disputed Babri structure was demolished in 1992, promising to break it only when the Ram temple was inaugurated, her family claimed. The Dhanbad resident left for the temple town in Uttar Pradesh aboard a train on Monday night to witness the inauguration of the temple. Devi, who is popularly known as Mauni Mata in Ayodhya, used to communicate with family members through sign language but wrote down complicated sentences. Though she took a break from maun vrat and spoke for an hour at noon every day till 2020, she went completely silent the day the foundation for the temple was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The day Babri structure was demolished on December 6, 1992, my mother took a vow to observe silence till the Ram Mandir was constructed in Ayodhya. She has been jubilant ever since the date of consecration of the temple was announced, 55-year-old Hare Ram Agarwal, Devis youngest child, told PTI. She left for Ayodhya on Monday night aboard Ganga-Sutlej Express from Dhanbad Railway Station. She will break her silence on January 22, Hare Ram, a resident of Bhowra in Baghmara block, said He said Devi has been invited by disciples of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das to participate in the Ram temple inauguration event. Amother of eight children, including four daughters, Devi devoted herlife to Lord Ram after the death of her husband Devkinandan Agarwal in 1986, spending most of her time in pilgrimages, family members said. Deviiscurrentlylivingwith her second-eldest son Nand Lal Agarwal, an official with Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL),anarmofCoalIndia, at Dhaiya in Dhanbad. Nand Lals wife Innu Agarwal (53) said that a few months after her marriage, she saw her mother-in-law embracing the vow of silence in devotion to Lord Ram. Mostly, we understood her sign language. But she used to write down complicated sentences onapiece ofpaper,InnuAgarwal said.

After the demolition of Babri structure, my motherin-law visited Ayodhya and took a pledge of maun vrat till Ram Mandir was constructed. She usedto remain silentfor 23 hours a day, taking an hour-long break only at noon.The rest ofthe time, she communicated with us throughpenandpaper, she said.However, when the foundation of the Ram Mandir was laid in 2020 by PM Modi, she went for a 24- hourmaunvratand pledged to speak only after the temple was inaugurated, Innu said. In 2001, Devi did tapasya (penance) for seven months at Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh where Lord Ramisbelievedtohavespent a majorpart of hisexile, Innu claimed. Besides, she also went on pilgr images across the country, she said. According to InnuAgarwal,hermother-inlaw wakes up around 4 am every morning and undertakessadhana (meditation) foraroundsix tosevenhours in the morning.
Raj women flock Viksit Bharat camps for water, LPG connections





By Durba Ghosh

JAISALMER,

WOMEN from far-flung villages in Rajasthans Jaisalmer district are flocking to Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) camps for water and cooking gas connections, officials said. Many of them were seen getting themselves registered for water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission and also visiting stalls of the PM Ujjwala Scheme for cooking gas. Water is a prized commodity in the Thar Desert, where women have to walk miles to fetch it from sources or spend considerable amounts on booking tankers, which are, however, never enough to meet daily requirements. At a VBSY camp at Sultana village close to the India-Pakistan border, local resident Kisni Devi said, We have lost many animals due to scarcity of water. I have come here in the hope of getting a water connection.

The main livelihood for people here is farming and rearing of animals but water is not enough for either, she said. Cooking gas is also much sought-after in the arid region, where it is difficult to find firewood. Most of the households in our village do not have gas connections. Though it is expensive, we want it as it saves time and also because it is difficult to find firewood in this barren land, 36-year-old Rewri Devi said in another VBSY camp in Sonu village in the same district. Manohar Singh, local BJP leader of Sultana village, claimed that the announcement of the newly-elected Government of BJP that LPG cylinders will be available to beneficiaries for Rs 450 will be a big help for women.

Women also attended health camps and got themselves registered for Ayushman Bharat cards. Sunita Devi of Sonu village claimed she came to know about health cards only before the assembly polls and she, along with other women, immediately rushed to a camp in her village to get themselves registered. ASHA worker Rewati Devi claimed that women were receiving all maternal health benefits as health workers visit every household to ensure no woman or child is denied of the facilities. We ensure that women and girls are provided with sanitary napkins and also regularly make them aware about health and hygiene, she claimed.
State Govt zeroing in on officer for Acting DGP post



















By Mukesh S Singh

RAIPUR,

THE Chhattisgarh Government is looking at a galaxy of five-six top-ranking police officers from whom to choose the States Director General of Police (DGP). Through a thicket of rules and norms -- mostly guided by the Supreme Court -- Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai is trying to make up his mind to zero in on one name without offending anybody and the system. As per the talk in the corridors of power, five to six names are doing rounds for the DGP post which will be confirmed by the Departmental Promotions Committee (DPC) meeting. The top names being talked about for the top post include 1992-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Arun Dev Gautam and his batchmate Pawan Deo. Gautam is serving as Additional Director General (ADG) Home Guards and Secretary Home, whereas Deo, also of ADG rank, is currently posted as Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Police Housing Corporation. Meanwhile, according to sources, Swagat Das, a 1987-batch IPS, who is presently on Central Deputation as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), is the senior most IPS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre as per the IPS civil list. Das is followed by 1990-batch IPS officer, Rajesh Mishra, who has only 22 days left for retirement. Das has more than 10 months for retirement.

Moreover, two other senior most officers, including 1995-batch IPS Himanshu Gupta and 1994-batch IPS S R P Kalluri, are also due for their promotion to DG rank this month. However, the two officers also have to wait for their elevation to the next level till the DPC meeting is chaired to this effect. The States top political leadership are in unison for Arun Deo Gautams candidature as next DGP of Chhattisgarh, knowledgeable sources in the new Government averred to The Hitavada, requesting anonymity. However, appointing Gautam as Acting DGP will be purely ad-interim measure till a regular arrangement of appointing him as full-time DGP is made. This official limitation for Chhattisgarh comes in the wake of slew of directions from Supreme Court on police reforms in the country, wherein it had restrained all the States and Union Territories from appointing any police officer as Acting DGP to avoid favouritism and nepotism, the sources said. The apex courts direction had come on an application filed earlier by the Centre in which it claimed that certain States had been appointing acting DGPs and then making them permanent just before the date of their superannuation to enable them get the benefit of an additional two-year tenure till the age of 62 years. However, the top court also held that unless there was a minimum tenure of six months left, a DG ranked officer cannot be made fulltime DGP.

Sources pointed out that once Gautam attains DG rank, the State Government will follow suit of previous Congress regime for DGPs appointment. The Congress Government led by Bhupesh Baghel on December 19, 2018 had replaced 1985-batch IPS officer A N Upadhyay with D M Awasthi, 1986-batch IPS, by making latter as acting police chief of the State and later appointed him as full-time DGP. Similarly, on November 11, 2021, 1989-batch IPS officer Ashok Juneja was made acting DGP and sometime later made the full-time DGP. The appointment of Juneja was marred by some controversy since entrustment of additional charge of Acting DGP superseded four other seniors including Swagat Das, Sanjay Pillay, Rajinder Kumar Vij and Ravi Sinha. At that time, Juneja held post of SDG Anti Naxal Ops/Special Intelligence Branch (SIB), with additional charge of Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and Special Task Force (SFT), the sources added. Sources also pointed out that there are technical complications in the selection of DGP (Apex Scale officer Rs 2,25,000). If an officer senior to the Acting DGP appointed by the State Government is in the panel and service is more than 6 months, then UPSC can recommend that officers name for appointment, which will be binding for the State, the sources maintained.
Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show Inaugurated





GANDHINAGAR,

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2024 on the eve of the main summit. The show is an exhibition spread across 2 lakh square metres in multiple halls at the Helipad Ground Exhibition Centre here. A total of 20 countries are participating in the show, which was inaugurated ahead of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. The summit will also be inaugurated by the Prime Mminister. Modi, who is on a three-day visit to his home state, arrived at the venue at 3 pm and undertook a tour of stalls with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other dignitaries. Students from local colleges were present in large numbers to greet the PM and other officials at the inauguration. Earlier in the day, the PM met heads of states and senior officials from Mozambique, Timor, Timor-Leste at the Mahatma Gandhi Mandir, which will also host the main summit. He also held meetings with global CEOs, including Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron, DP Worlds chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Toshihiro Suzuki, senior officials from Deakin University, Vincent Clerc of AP Moller Maersk. Australia, Tanzania, Morocco, Mozambique, South Korea, Thailand, Estonia, Bangladesh, Singapore, UAE (United Arab Emirates), UK, Germany, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, Rwanda, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam will present information about their industries at the exhibition.

It has 1,000 exhibitors specifically from the research sector. The show also consists of 13 halls dedicated to an equal number of themes such as 13 different themes, including Make in Gujarat and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Women empowerment, MSME development, new technology, green and smart infrastructure, sustainable energy are the special focus areas for the show. Modi on Tuesday held a bilateral meeting with Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta in Gujarats Mahatma Mandir. PM Modi shook hands with the Nobel Peace Laureate and the two leaders warmly greeted each other. PM Modi also met with the delegation accompanying the visiting leader. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra were also present during the meeting. India and Timor-Leste established diplomatic relations in January 2003 and at the ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta on September 7, 2023, Prime Minister announced a decision to establish an Indian Embassy in Dili the capital of Timor-Leste. The decision is a reflection of the importance India attaches to ASEAN, and its relations with Timor Leste. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ahmedabad on Monday for a two-day visit to inaugurate the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.

The theme of the summit, held from January 10 to 12, is Gateway to the Future to celebrate 20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success. Upon arrival, PM Modi in a post on X wrote, Landed in Ahmedabad a short while ago. Over the next two days, will be taking part in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and related programmes. It is a matter of immense joy that various world leaders will be joining us during this summit. The coming of my brother, Mohamed Bin Zayed, is very special. I have a very close association with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and I am glad to see how this platform has contributed to Gujarats growth and created opportunities for several people. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started in 2003 under the leadership of Modi when he was the state chief minister. This 10th Edition of the Summit will celebrate 20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success. There are 34 Partner countries and 16 Partner organisations for this years Summit. Further, the Ministry of Development of the Northeastern region will utilise the Vibrant Gujarat platform to showcase investment opportunities in the Northeastern regions. The Summit will host various events including seminars and conferences on globally relevant topics such as Industry 4.0, Technology and Innovation, Sustainable Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen, Electric Mobility and Renewable Energy and Transition towards Sustainability. In the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show, companies will display products made from world class state of the art technology. E-mobility, Start-ups, MSMEs, Blue Economy, Green Energy & Smart Infrastructure are some of the focus sectors of the Trade Show.
The U.S. government is facing a barrage of criticism after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins hospitalization was kept secret for days, even from the White House. The controversy has prompted a government-wide review of protocols in place to prevent such failures, and the Pentagon is scrutinizing its own procedures following the extraordinary lapse, which left even Austins top deputies unaware of his condition for days. Senior congressional Republicans are investigating whether Austin ignored legal requirements to inform Congress, and Biden administration officials are privately fuming about Austins lack of disclosure, believing it to be an unforced error that undercuts the presidents message of restoring competency through his administration.

The head of the Pentagon has prostate cancer and his admission to hospital on January 1, which he concealed for three days  keeping the information even from U.S. President Joe Biden  was due to an infection he suffered after undergoing a surgical operation related to the disease on December 22. Thats according to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Austin remains admitted. The White House acknowledged that Biden had not known the nature of his defense secretarys illness until now.

Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning, and the president was informed immediately after we were, White House spokesman John Kirby said.

For the past week, the Pentagon and Austin have been criticized for not immediately communicating the new about the defense secretarys condition. Austin is the second in the U.S. military chain of command. second only to Biden himself. Although the four-star general was admitted to hospital on Monday, January 1, he only notified the White House three days later. His second-in-command, Kathleen Hicks, who is in Puerto Rico, assumed some of his duties, but was also not immediately aware of the situation.

The first public statement about the hospitalization was released on Friday, January 5. At that time, the Pentagon said that the operation had been an elective medical procedure, in other words, it was not medically necessary. Doctors from Walter Reed on Tuesday disclosed that Austin had been in hospital since December 22, and did not describe the surgery as elective.

Despite the lapse in communication, the White House said on Tuesday that it retains its confidence in Austin, an introverted man who does not like to divulge the details of his private life. President Biden plans to keep Austin as the head of the Pentagon at least until the end of his first term next January, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

Its prostate cancer and the associated procedures are obviously deeply personal, said Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder, in an attempt to justify the decision not to communicate the defense secretarys health condition.

The medical report from Walter Reed noted an improvement in Austins health. His infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery, although this can be a slow process, the center said in a statement distributed by the Pentagon.

As a result of his cancer treatment, Austin suffered severe abdominal, hip and leg pain, according to the Walter Reed National Medical Center. After being diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, he was admitted to the intensive care unit on January 2. Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach, explained the statement, signed by trauma medical director John Maddox and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, from the hospitals Center for Prostate Disease Research.

In response to the criticism, the Biden administration has announced a review of communication protocols for cases of illness. According to Kirby, government representatives are expected to be notified of a hospitalization, but the presidential office currently only carries out a cursory check each morning, which is limited to confirming which city or the country they are located.

The Pentagon has also announced a 30-day review of its own procedures. That review, according to Ryder, will help determine how the notification process can be improved and what timeline is most appropriate to inform the public. The bottom line is we know we can do better, and we will do better in the future, said the general.

In Austins case, the lack of transparency has been particularly striking since, as the militarys second-in-command, he must be available at any time in the event of a threat to national security. This hospitalization comes as the United States is closely monitoring events in Ukraine, where Russia has stepped up its offensive, and surveying the situation in the Middle East, where the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza threatens to spread throughout the region.

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Press Release

January 10, 2024 Bato tells energy stakeholders: Cooperate fully in Senate probe to address Panay power crisis Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa has urged the stakeholders from the energy sector to fully cooperate with the Senate Energy Committee's investigation into the recent blackout in the island province of Panay which affected the livelihood and everyday lives of thousands of Ilonggos. "I am asking for your full cooperation, your utmost cooperation on this matter para ma-address natin itong problema na ito. Kami, naka-break kami ngayon, balikan lang kami sa Senado dahil napaka-importante nito. Huwag natin sayangin itong oportunidad na ma-address natin itong issue na ito with this hearing," Dela Rosa said during the Senate hearing on Tuesday. Dela Rosa is one of the senators who filed a resolution which seeks an investigation in aid of legislation into the massive blackout that brought inconvenience in several parts of Western Visayas last week. The senator filed the resolution with the end in view of improving the quality of life in Western Visayas through sustainable, adequate and secure energy. In filing proposed Senate Resolution 901, Dela Rosa stressed the need to ensure that no similar events of rotational brownouts and power interruptions shall occur in the region. The Mindanaoan lawmaker pointed out that these power outages not only undermine the access of Ilonggos to continuous and adequate supply of energy, but also has a direct economic impact. "It is necessary to determine the adequacy of laws, rules and regulations being implemented by the Department of Energy and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in addressing the power blackout and unstable supply in Panay and Guimaras Islands," Dela Rosa said in his resolution. He cited the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iloilo Chapter's statement that the frequent power outages posed significant challenges which could compromise productivity and operational efficiency. This could also lead to decline in the overall economy and hinder the city's job creation efforts. During the hearing, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas said that the four-day blackout in the city has caused P2 billion economic losses while Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor said the economic losses in the province due to the latest blackout was at P3.8 billion.
Bridge City has a new city manager and he's guaranteed to stay at least two years.

Last week, the Bridge City City Council voted unanimously to hire Christopher Baker, who grew up in the Mobile Bay, Alabama, area as the city manager. He has a master's degrees in business administration along with another master's in city and regional planning.

"We're very pleased with our selection. We think he's a great fit for us," Mayor David Rutledge said.

The city went nearly a year without a city manager after the previous one, Brent Walker, resigned after a working a year and six days in the position. "We kind of got left out to dry," Mayor Rutledge said.

The council wanted a two-year contract this time to guarantee the manager would stay and not use the position as a quick career stepping stone.

Previous city managers had year-to-year contracts, as did Baker. The city manager before Baker was Jerry Jones, who was in the position for 15 years and was the city's public works director for the 11 years before that.

Baker most recently served as developmental services director in Goodyear, Arizona, which has a population of 112,000 and is in the Phoenix metropolitan area. He is a member of the American Institute of Public Planners and holds a master's degree in city and regional planning from the University of Texas at Arlington.

He also holds a master's of business administration from Auburn University in Alabama. His bachelor's of science degree is from Spring Hill College, which is a Jesuit Catholic College in Mobile, Alabama.

His resume includes working as city planner for North Richland Hills in North Texas, director of planning with Thompson Engineering of Mobile, Alabama, and director of planning with Hutchison, Moore & Rauch, an engineering firm serving the Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida Gulf Coasts.

Mayor Rutledge said Baker told the council Bridge City was closer to his home and family on the Alabama coast. The new city manager described his hometown of Fairhope, Alabama, on Mobile Bay as similar to Bridge City being on Sabine Lake, which is also a bay off the Gulf of Mexico.

"He has a significant understanding of the issues facing coastal communities and we look forward to forward to working with him and getting to work on addressing the problems and getting to work on addressing the priorities of the community, the mayor said.

The city advertised for the position through the Texas Municipal League and hired Slavin Management Consultants of Norcross, Georgia, to help with the search. After reviewing 24 applicants, four finalists were chosen with Baker getting selected.

The council will hold a reception on Tuesday, January 16, in the council chambers at 6 p.m. for the public to meet the new city manager.
Kuki militants involved in attack stand Revise SoO pact call

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One is a little more forthcoming while the other veered more towards the diplomatic side. On January 2, 2024, Chief Minister N Biren pulled no punches in asserting that the mercenaries from Myanmar might have a hand in attacking security personnel at the border town of Moreh. A point which Manipur has been talking about and not only in reference to the spate of attacks launched against security personnel at Moreh, most notably for 4 consecutive days stating from the last 2 days of December 2023 and the first two days of January, 2024, but from the start of the current conflict. Fast forward to January 9 and Manipur saw Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh stressing that there is no evidence to show involvement of militants from Myanmar in the series of attacks at Moreh and qualified it with the words investigation is nevertheless on. In its strictest term, neither side contradicted each other but while N Biren stressed on the words mercenaries from Myanmar may have a hand in attacking security personnel at Moreh, Kuldiep Singh toed the more diplomatic line No evidence so far to show involvement of Myanmar militants, but investigation is on. To a cursory onlooker the dots between the takes of the two personalities may seem to connect, but many may see that not all the Ts are crossed or the Is dotted. This is where one can see the discontinuation in the narrative, but what is significant to note is the fact that for the first time a man deputed by the Centre to help the State Government as the Security Advisor has gone on record to state that the series of attacks was launched jointly by the Kuki village volunteers and Kuki militants. The key here is the admission of the involvement of Kuki militants. And as Kuki militants go, many should understand this as militants belonging to groups which have signed the Suspension of Operation pact with the Government. This is a point which has been raised from day 1 of the ongoing conflict and rewind to the Tribal Solidarity March of May 3, 2023 and one can still remember gun wielding elements taking part in the said rally and being cheered on by the others even as they went on a destruction spree of Meitei houses at Torbung. And when one talks about SoO groups, remember the president of the ZRA, a SoO group, is a former MP of Myanmar and this is where the tale of militants from Myanmar may be understood.

With the involvement of Kuki militants confirmed by no one less than the Security Advisor, a man handpicked by the Centre to help the State Government, pressure must be upped to have another long, serious look at the SoO pact. This is where Imphal need to seriously approach New Delhi and see how to put forward a strong, hard case. Read between the lines and the earlier call to abrogate the SoO pact should be given a renewed thrust. As The Sangai Express had pointed out in an earlier commentary, one wonders what has happened to the inspection drives conducted at the different designated camps of the SoO outfits. The last time the people heard of any such drive was at the initial stage of the ongoing conflict and now with Kuldiep Singh himself admitting that Kuki militants are involved in the attack at the security personnel at Moreh, questions should be raised on what the Government intends to do now. Or will it just be a question of admitting the involvement of Kuki militants in the attack and then keeping quiet while at the same time urging for normalcy to return ? The admission of the Security Advisor should be read and understood with the stand of External Affairs Minister S Jaishanker when he talked about large scale infiltration as being responsible for the ongoing conflict. Take two and two together and it should more than explain the emergence of new settlements, especially inside Reserved and Protected Forests.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted those who criticise the law and order situation in Bengal with an intention to malign the state. She was addressing the students at the completion of Students Day week at Dhano Dhanyo auditorium yesterday.

Miss Banerjee said Kolkata is the safest city in the country. If the law and order situation has deteriorated then how could Centre declare Srerampur as one of the finest police stations in the country. Coming down heavily on the private television channels, she said, They cannot telecast anything positive. If a rat dies in the morning, throughout the day they will telecast the same incident. She virtually inaugurated Bhangar police division, yesterday. Mayor Firhad Hakim along with senior officers of Kolkata police were present at the division. Bhangar Traffic Guard was also inaugurated.

She inaugurated Chandaneshwar police station, north Cossipore police station and Poler Hat police station. Miss Banerjee said that the state government has taken several steps to prevent ragging. She said the students can call a toll-free number, 18003455678 to report any case of ragging. The police will take action accordingly. She asked the education department to ensure that the toll-free number is put up in the notice board in every college and university

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KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 10:00 | All, World

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and his hospitalization since the start of this year was due to an infection following a surgical procedure to treat the disease, a military hospital said Tuesday.

A senior White House official said President Joe Biden was not aware that Austin had cancer "until this morning" and that the root cause of his hospitalization was the disease.

The announcement by doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Austin has been hospitalized since Jan. 1, and the White House response came as he and the Pentagon have been criticized for going days without reporting his hospitalization to Biden or informing the public.

"Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning and the president was informed immediately after," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing.

While noting that Biden has confidence in Austin, Kirby acknowledged that "it is not optimal for a situation like this to go as long as it did without the commander-in-chief knowing about it, or the national security adviser knowing about it, or frankly other leaders at the Department of Defense."

"That's not the way this is supposed to happen," he said, when pressed by the media why Biden, who spoke with Austin on Saturday, did not know until Tuesday about his disease.

The doctors of the medical center near Washington said in a statement that Austin was admitted with "complications" from the Dec. 22 surgical procedure, which included "nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain."

They said initial evaluation found a urinary tract infection, while disclosing that his prostate cancer was detected in early December and that he later underwent a "minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy" to deal with the disease.

During the procedure, Austin was under general anesthesia, according to the statement, which also said his prognosis is "excellent."

The 70-year-old defense chief's secret admission into intensive care at the medical center after being transferred by ambulance on New Year's Day at a time of major security challenges, such as the Israel-Hamas war, has sparked controversy and come under scrutiny by lawmakers, officials and the media.

Biden and his aides were not made aware of those developments surrounding Austin until Thursday. The Pentagon did not inform the public until Friday, and the reason for his hospitalization was not disclosed until Tuesday.

The doctors said further evaluation after the infection was diagnosed showed that Austin had suffered from "abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines," adding that he never lost consciousness or received general anesthesia.

They said his infection has cleared but a full recovery can be a gradual process.

According to the Pentagon, Austin has tracked its day-to-day operations worldwide since resuming his duties on Friday evening and has provided necessary guidance to senior staff.

Related coverage:

Biden will not sack Austin over failure to report hospitalization
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today that the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is an election gimmick, and attacked the BJP for using it as an excuse to divide communities. A gimmick is being created before the election in the name of the Ram Temple. We cannot divide Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians in Bengal.

No religious division will be allowed here, Miss Banerjee said while addressing a meeting of the South 24-Parganas district administration at Jaynagar. Miss Banerjee visited Jaynagar to announce development projects estimated to cost around Rs 700 crore for various parts of South 24-Parganas.

Addressing the meeting at Jaynagar Bahedu High School ground, she said that her government could use the state and Central government logos, but no political partys logo, such as the BJPs, would be used for any government projects. She criticised the BJP government at the Centre, stating that they emphasised religion before the election but did not contribute financially to West Bengals development. Our hard-earned money from the state is being taken away by them (Centre), but no money is paid back to us.

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This party (BJP) came to Bengal before the election with their religious agenda and conducted divisive politics in the name of religion to gain votes. Despite sending 76 Central teams to evaluate projects, the Centre did not release money for the poor, she said.

Referring to the Bilkis Bano case, Miss Banerjee said that Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from Parliament for protesting against the rapists. Our government does not forgive any rapist. The BJP government tried to release the rapists. This party sponsors such heinous crimes, she said. Ms Moitra was among those who had filed petitions in the Supreme Court against the Gujarat governments August 2022 decision granting remission to 11 convicts in the case of the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano.

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission of sentence granted to the convicts. Miss Banerjee also said peoples money and valuables were unsafe due to the ED seizing hard-earned money. This is a government of Central agencies, but there is not a single recovery of chit fund money, and consequently, the money is not returned to the deprived investors, she said.
Two JN.1, a sub-variant of Covid-19, cases were reported for the first time in Bengal. The current surge in the number of Covid patients is largely driven by the JN.1 across the country. The new sub-variant is highly infectious but not necessarily a serious disease, according to experts in public health in the city. According to the health ministry, 595 Covid-19 cases caused by the JN.1 have been reported so far in the country during the past two months.

The two cases detected in the state were among a batch of 26 samples of Covid patients sent from the School of Tropical Medicine (STM) to the central government-run National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBG) in Kalyani of Nadia district during the end of December. We have no such information about JN.1-infected cases in our state. The INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomics Consortium) portal has mentioned the two cases.

We will verify it with the health ministry, Narayan Swaroop Nigam, principal secretary in charge of the health department, told The Statesman. Earlier, swab samples of 30 Covid-19 patients sent to the National Institute For Genome Sequencing were tested JN.1 negative. A senior administrative officer in NIBG said that they have urged the state health department to send swab samples of Covid-affected patients as much as possible to the institute for genome sequencing.

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Maximum JN.1 confirmatory tests are required for genome sequencing to find out whether there is a steep hike in JN.1 sub-variantinfected cases in the state. It takes around three to four days to get results of genome sequencing tests, he said, pleading anonymity. The health department has started making visits to different state government medical colleges and hospitals to take stock of infrastructure facilities including human resource strength and critical care arrangements if Covid cases increase again after around 11 months since January.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will attend the annual meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland from January 15-18.

This will be his first foreign visit after assuming office of the chief minister last month.

He will be accompanied by State Information Technology and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu.

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After attending the WEF meet, they will also travel to London to attract investment to the state.

The chief minister will be heading an eight-member delegation which includes his principal secretary to chief minister, V. Sheshadri, principal secretary, information technology, Jayesh Ranjan, special secretary to chief minister B. Ajith Reddy and special secretary, investment promotion and external engagements, E. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.

The chief minister is likely to meet heads of various companies on the sidelines of the WEF meeting to invite them to invest in Telangana.

Jayesh Ranjan, who accompanied then minister for industries and information technology K. T. Rama Rao to WEF meetings on multiple occasions, briefed the Chief Ministers Office about the format of the meeting and attendees.

The WEF meeting brings together top decision-makers from government, business, and civil society to address major global issues and priorities for the year ahead. The WEF meet this year will focus on exploring the opportunities enabled by the new technologies and their implications on decision-making and global partnership.
Drawing the attention of Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena to an RTI report on the maintenance work at Delhi CMs house, Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva requested for an ACB or Vigilance inquiry into alleged irregularities in the matter.

In a letter to the LG on Wednesday, Sachdeva said according to the RTI report, between March 31, 2015 and 27 December 2022, Rs 29.56 crore has been paid to four contractors for maintenance works at the CM residence by the Public Works Department of the Delhi government.

The Delhi BJP chief apprised the LG that the RTI report was widely circulated in the mainstream and social media since Tuesday morning and claimed that the authenticity of the same has not yet been denied by the Delhi government.

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He said from the silence of the government on the matter, one thing is confirmed the information provided by the RTI could to be true.

Sachdeva also mentioned to the LG stating that the RTI was issued recently on 29 December 2023. The report also a mention of four contractors, and the amounts given to them for civil, plumbing, electrical & sewerage maintenance work by PWD, which is exorbitant. It seems that kind of money for such work was a bit too high.

The Delhi BJP requested the LG to order an inquiry into the matter through the anti-corruption branch or the Vigilance Department.
Assamese music icon Bhupen Uzir, celebrated for his contributions as a musician, music director, and sound engineer, passed away at a Guwahati hospital on Tuesday night. Aged 70, Uzir, known widely across Assam, succumbed to a severe heart attack at around 10 pm.

He is survived by his wife Santa and two daughters.

Having battled kidney and liver ailments for several months, Uzir had been receiving medical care at NEMCARE Hospital since January 1. His musical journey began from his birthplace Jorhat, Upper Assam, on April 5, 1953.

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Renowned for his work as a music director for over 20 films like Debi, Pratidan, Jiwan Surabhi, Pita Putra, Puja, Urbashi, Ma Kamakhya, Zakham, and Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Uzir also made a mark as a skilled sound engineer.
Actor Willem Dafoe has achieved the distinction of being the first celebrity honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star this year. Dafoe, who has graced the screens in almost 150 films, was lauded on Monday afternoon in California, according to CNN.

In attendance at the event were his wife, Giada Colagrande, along with his friends and former co-stars Pedro Pascal, Patricia Arquette, Mark Ruffalo, and Camila Morrone.

willem dafoe bitch! pic.twitter.com/RZ6Y0NQthv Advertisement  Pedro Pascal Daily (@pascalarchive) January 8, 2024

In his speech, he expressed gratitude for being a part of a community of artists and entertainers.

He said, I just want to say its wonderful to be part of this community of artists and entertainers, people whoby sharing their experience, imagining others perspectives, telling stories, and musing on what is, was, and most importantly could bemake us feel closer to each other and connect us, creating an important dialogue particularly needed in these detached, technology-driven, and divisive times.

Willem continued, So Im glad to be with people like this, and hopefully, were making this a better world somehow.

The actor concluded his speech by giving a shout-out to his wife and director Giada Colagrande. He said, Finally, thank you to my wife Giada Colagrande, who teaches me gratitude and reminds me not to spit on my luck. Dafoe and Giada Colagrande have collaborated on four films: Padre, A Woman, Before It Had A Name, and the documentary Bob Wilsons Life And Death Of Marina Abramovic.

During the event, prominent Hollywood actors Pedro Pascal and Patricia Arquette paid tribute to Dafoes compassion and talent, with Pascal describing him as the greatest American actor of our lifetime, as per CNNs report.

Willem Dafoe, one of Hollywoods most versatile performers, has portrayed a variety of roles, from a loquacious lighthouse keeper in The Lighthouse to a criminal in David Lynchs Wild At Heart to Vincent van Gogh in At Eternitys Gate. Most recently, he played a rebel scientist in Yorgos Lanthimos Poor Things, according to CNN reports.

He has received four Oscar nominations: one for best actor for his depiction of Van Gogh and three for best supporting actor. (ANI)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday night arrested Savad, the prime accused in the sensational Professor TJ Joseph hand-chopping case, after 13 years.

Based on a tip-off, the fugitive-tracking wing of the NIA raided a rented house in Beram near Mattannur in Kannur district on Tuesday night and took Savad, who chopped off the right hand of Professor TJ Joseph in 2010, into custody. He was brought to the NIA office in Kochi on Wednesday.

Savad had been staying with his wife and two children in Beram for the past five months and worked as a carpenter there. He had introduced himself as Shajahan to neighbours. His wife is a Kasargod native. Before shifting to Beram, Savad stayed in different parts of Kannur.

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A native of Asamannoor in Ernakulam district, Savad (38) had allegedly chopped off the right hand of TJ Joseph, who was a professor at Newman College at Thodupuzha in Idukki district at that time. The attack was carried out by a group of activists of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) when Joseph was returning home with his family after attending a Sunday Mass at a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district on 4 July, 2010.

According to the NIA, the reference to Prophet Muhammad in a BCom exam paper set by Prof Joseph in March 2010 was cited as the reason that led the accused to attack the professor.

Savad fled to Bengaluru after the incident and remained underground for 13 years. The NIA had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh last year for information leading to Savads whereabouts. The Interpol too had issued a red corner notice against him. Among the 54 accused persons in the case, Savad was the sole remaining individual yet to be arrested in the case.

According to the chargesheet filed by the NIA in 2013, Savad smashed the windshields of Prof Josephs car and forcefully pulled him out before attacking him with a chopper, knives, and a small axe. He and his accomplices hurled country-made bombs to prevent Josephs family members and others from rescuing him. While severing Josephs right hand, Savad reportedly uttered: The hand that has insulted Islam shall be of no use in the future.

During the first phase of the trial in 2015, 13 accused were convicted while 18 were acquitted. In the second phase of the trial in 2023, six were convicted and five were acquitted. All the accused, including Savad, were members of the PFI which was banned in 2022.

Reacting to the development, Prof Joseph said that Savads arrest in Kannur pleased him as a citizen but not as a victim. He added that the arrest did not affect the conspirators at large.

I am glad that the police and the law enforcement system arrested the man who inflicted the most grievous injuries on me. However, as a victim, I do not feel elated. People like Savad are only foot soldiers. Most of the master brains behind the chopping of my hand are still at large, Prof Joseph said. He added that there was no guarantee that such ghastly acts of terror would not occur again as long as the real conspirators were not taken to task.
Director General of BSF Nitin Agrawal during his two days visit here on Wednesday visited Ranbirsinghpura and reviewed the security scenario along the international border (IB) in the Jammu Frontier.

He also met Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and discussed the security situation on the borders of J&K.

IG Jammu Frontier, DK Boora briefed DG BSF at Frontier headquarters covering all the critical aspects of border security and domination by BSF on Jammu IB.

The DG BSF was briefed by Sector Commander and Battalion Commandants on the IB at Ranbirsinghpura. He was informed about operational duties and related aspects troops are facing bravely on the border. The DG BSF was updated about the all round domination strategy of BSF on the IB.

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During the visit, he also interacted with jawans and praised them for performing duties with dedication and professionalism.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for January 24 the hearing on the bail plea of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid, an accused of being part of an alleged conspiracy behind the North-East Delhi riots in February 2020. Khalid has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Reluctantly adjourning the matter listed for hearing today on the request of the senior advocate Kapil Sibal and the advocate for Delhi Police, a bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal said: The impression goes that the court is not taking up the matter.

The bench granted adjournment on the joint request of Sibal appearing for Khalid and on behalf of the Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police.

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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal requested for adjournment, saying he is engaged in a constitution bench hearing today and for the Delhi Police, the adjournment was sought due to unavailability ASG Raju.

The bench was initially reluctant to adjourn the matter. However, after repeated requests by Sibal and the advocate for the Delhi Police, it deferred the hearing, saying that no further adjournment will be granted.

The impression goes that the court is not taking up the matter, the bench said as counsels were requesting for adjournment.

Sibal had earlier told the court that certain provisions of the UAPA, including provisions concerning terrorism, raising funds for terrorist acts and conspiracy did not apply in the case of Umar Khalid.

Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied bail to him.

Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020, and had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence in the citys North-East area nor any conspiratorial connect with any other accused in the case. The Delhi Police had opposed Khalids bail plea before the High Court.

Khalid had approached the High Court challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the trial court in March 2022.

He was charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Besides Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others were booked under the stringent law in the case.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC and had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
Former president of India Ram Nath Kovind advised the students of journalism to stay away from the trend of sensationalising news and stay connected to the core principles of journalism.

Speaking to the graduating students of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) here on Wednesday, the former president cautioned against employing shortcuts to the profession.

He said the power to build a developed India by 2047 lies in the hands of the youth, and that they should use this power wisely.

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Addressing the 55th convocation of the IIMC, Kovind told the upcoming journalists and communication professionals to put up a fight against the fake news and misinformation that is currently gaining momentum.

He noted that anyone can use digital means to intentionally spread misinformation and that Deepfakes today. The fake news and misinformation pose a significant challenge to the entire world.

He urged the students entering the field of journalism to ensure that citizens receive accurate information amidst these challenges and to be adequately prepared to tackle the misuse of rapidly advancing technologies.

The convocation ceremony of the IIMC was held at Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi with the former president gracing the occasion as chief guest.

More than 700 students of IIMC Delhi, IIMC Dhenkanal, IIMC Aizawl, IIMC Amravati, IIMC Kottayam and IIMC Jammu, belonging to batches of 202122 and 202223, received postgraduate diplomas at the convocation ceremony.

The students received postgraduate diplomas in Hindi Journalism, English Journalism, Odia Journalism, Marathi Journalism, Malayalam Journalism, Urdu Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations, Radio and Television Journalism, and in Digital Media.

Besides, 65 students belonging to two batches were honoured with various awards.

Chairperson R. Jagannathan, Director General Dr Anupama Bhatnagar and Additional Director General Dr Nimish Rustagi of the IIMC were present on the occasion, along with faculty and staff of the institute.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 17:21 | All, Japan

The Japanese government on Wednesday started construction work for the transfer of a key U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture after overriding the local government's objection and approving a modified landfill plan by proxy in an unprecedented move.

The work is to reinforce soft ground at the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and is projected to take nine years and three months, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference in Tokyo.

Shortly after noon, the central government began embedding stones into waters on the Oura Bay side of the coastal Henoko area in Nago, Okinawa Island, the Defense Ministry said. The area is to be reclaimed for the base construction.

Even after completing the landfill work, it will take another three years to arrange the transfer, and the actual return of the Futenma base premises is expected to take place in the mid-2030s or later.

The move comes after the central government gave the plan the green light in lieu of the Okinawa government based on a court order in late December.

The decision marks the first time the central government has acted in place a local government deemed to have failed to fulfill tasks entrusted by the state under the Local Autonomy Act.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters it is "extremely regrettable" that the central government unilaterally commenced the work "for its convenience" despite the prefecture's request for further talks.

Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, has long opposed the base transfer within the southern Japan island prefecture, seeking instead to move the base out of the prefecture altogether.

Hayashi, the top Japanese government spokesman, maintained the state's view that pushing ahead with the construction work will lead to an "early return" of the land occupied by the Futenma base.

The central government plans to transfer the functions of the Futenma airfield from a crowded residential district in Ginowan to the less populated Henoko, calling it "the only solution" to removing the dangers posed by the base without undermining the deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S. alliance.

As part of the construction, it plans to reclaim land off Henoko and construct two V-shaped runways. Landfill work in the southern part of the Henoko coastal area started in 2018 and has been completed.

The larger part of the work in Oura Bay had been left untouched since the Defense Ministry applied to the Okinawa governor for design changes in 2020 due to soft ground, a proposal the governor disapproved, leading to a legal battle.

To solidify the soft ground, more than 70,000 piles will need to be driven into the seabed at a depth of 70 meters.

After the land minister filed a lawsuit in October seeking the Okinawa governor's approval, the Fukuoka High Court's Naha branch ordered Tamaki to endorse the revised plan. After he ignored the ruling, the central government approved the modifications by proxy.

Tamaki has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, but work at the contested relocation site cannot be halted unless the top court overturns it.

Tokyo and Washington reached an agreement in 1996 on the return of the land used for Futenma. In 1999, the Japanese government decided to relocate the base to the Henoko area, but the plan has been hampered by strong local opposition as well as political wrangling.

Related coverage:

Japan gov't overrides Okinawa objection to U.S. base transfer work

Okinawa appeals high court ruling over key U.S. base relocation
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday welcomed investment and technology collaboration from the UK, and stated that India is ready with skilled human resource base, a robust pro-FDI and pro-business ecosystem, and a huge domestic market.

He made the remarks on the second and final day of his visit to the United Kingdom during an interaction with top UK defence industry leaders and CEOs at an event in Trinity House, London, the defence ministry announced here.

The UK-India Defence Industry CEOs roundtable, co-chaired by Singh with his UK counterpart Grant Shapps was attended by a large number of CEOs from the UK defence industry; UK MoD officials; Chair, UK India Business Council; and CII India representatives.

Some of the major companies represented were BAE Systems, GE Vernova, James Fisher Defence, Leonardo S.p.A., Martin Baker Aircraft Company Ltd, SAAB UK, Thales UK, Ultra-Maritime Rolls-Royce, ADS Group, and MBDA UK.

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The meeting was also attended by UK Minister of State for Defence Procurement, James Cartildge. The roundtable included thematic discussions on strengthening the India-UK defence industrial relationship.

Singh said under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is surging ahead on the path of becoming a developed economy by 2047. The ambition is backed by a clear headed roadmap to chart the course, and is backed by the collective will-power of 1.4 billion Indians to stay the course.

Highlighting the importance of the India-UK ties, Singh said there is a symbiotic relationship between the two countries and the Government of India envisions an enriching partnership with UK to cooperate, co-create and co-innovate. By synergising the strengths of our nations, we can do great things together, he said.

Shapps agreed with the statement of Singh regarding the symbiotic relationship between India and the UK. Shapps stated that the ties transcend the normal buyer-seller relationship and is fundamentally a strategic partnership.

The industry leaders from the UK outlined their current and future plans for India. Aero-engines, electric propulsion, missiles, power-packs, and maritime systems were identified as some of the focus areas of joint work. The defence minister noted the positivity and enthusiasm of UK CEOs and business leaders on working in India and with the Indian companies.

On 9 January, Singh held a bilateral meeting with Shapps. Emphasis was on enhancing defence industrial cooperation between the two countries. The bilateral meeting was followed by the signing of two agreements between India and the UK  an MoU on conduct of bilateral international cadet exchange programme, and a Letter of Arrangement between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and UKs Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).

Singh also paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue at Tavistock Square. He also visited the Ambedkar House in London and paid tributes to B R Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution.

The Ambedkar House was the home of Ambedkar, who lived there between 1921 and 1922 while he was pursuing a degree in Economics at London School of Economics, and a degree in law at Grays Inn.

The defence minister, while paying tributes to Ambedkar, noted in the visitors book message that it is a great experience to visit the memorial of the creator of venerable Constitution of India, the guiding light of the Indian Republic.

Singh also visited the Sri Swaminarayan temple at Neasden and paid his respects.

The Raksha Mantri was scheduled to meet UK PM Rishi Sunak, and UK Foreign Secretary (Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs) David Cameron, later.
A delegation from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) led by Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit met Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh here on Wednesday.

During the meeting, they discussed StartUp collaborations as well as academic projects that the university is pursuing with the support of the Department of Biotechnology in particular and the Ministry of Science and Technology in general.

Stressing upon an integrated approach among the academia, start ups and industry, the minister said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created an ecosystem for India to emerge as the worlds knowledge-based economy and over the last few years, it has grown by leaps and bound when it comes to innovation and technology. India stands today as one of the leading nations of the world in terms of scientific and technological prowess.

Underlining the Whole of Science approach, Singh said the Department of Science and Technology has instituted joint monthly meetings of all scientific departments of the Government of India to focus on infrastructure development and spur jobs creation.

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There is huge potential in JNUs School of Life Sciences to encourage students to launch Startups in Aroma Mission and Agriculture Startups with support from DBTs BIRAC PPP model, he said.

The minister said, The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (NRF) and the new National Education Policy (NEP-2020) supplement the start up ecosystem with the promise to open new career and entrepreneurship opportunities for students and youth in India.

Earlier, Pandit briefed the minister about the new advances in the university after she took over as the VC as well as the campus infrastructure development and the prestigious institutions contribution to jobs creation.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and partys Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not attend the upcoming consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in UPs Ayodhya on January 22, the party announced on Wednesday.

The grand old party also accused the government of inaugurating the incomplete temple for electoral gain in an apparent reference to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh said, Last month, the Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on 22nd January.

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While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS and BJP event.

Asserting that Lord Ram is worshipped by millions across the country, he said, Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS and BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya.

Ramesh, who is also the Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha said, The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain.

The statement comes days after Kharge said he had received the invitation of the consecration ceremony and would take a decision on it at the earliest.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the consecration ceremony along with Union Ministers, state chief ministers, VVIPs, leaders from several political parties and celebrities among others.

Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a programme informed that the Prime Minister will visit Ayodhya on January 22 and perform the consecration of Ram Lala in the presence of sants.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has come down heavily on Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar, terming his decision to recognise Eknath Shinde faction as real Shiv Sena a murder of democracy.

The Speakers order that has come today is a murder of democracy and is also an insult to the decision of the Supreme Court, Thackeray said.

Refering to the Supreme Courts observation, Thackeray said that the spex court had clearly said that the Governor had misused his position and made a wrong decision and vowed to fight this battle further.

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We will fight this battle further and we have full confidence in the Supreme CourtSupreme Court will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena, he added.

His son and former Maharashtra minister Aditya Thackeray said that he has not seen more shameless verdict of the tribunal that has murdered democracy.

Terming it a fixed game, Aditya Thackeray said the verdict has officially killed democracy and the principals of the constitution.

He further added, We hope the Honble Supreme Court will ensure that there will be protection for the Constitution and Democracy, against this disgraceful political fixed game.

Earlier today, the Maharashtra speaker announced the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shindes faction is the real Shiv Sena.

In his verdict, Speaker Narwekar said that Uddhav Thackeray had no power to remove Eknath Shinde as Shiv Senas legislative party leader.

Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022, the Speaker said while reading out his verdict.

The Maharashtra Speaker also rejected the disqualification pleas filed by Udhav Thackeray faction against 14 Shinde camp MLAs for violating the whip issued by Thackeray camp for confidence motion on July 4.

The whip claimed to have been served by Prabhu never reached the Shinde faction members and UBT faction failed to prove so. Thus the petition demanding to disqualify Shinde faction members is rejected, he said.
Days after Indias leading online ticket booking platform EaseMyTrip suspended all Maldives flight bookings, Maldives travel body has written to the platforms CEO Nishant Pitti, requesting him to reverse the decision.

The bonds connecting our nations transcend politics. We consider our Indian counterparts not just as business associates but as cherished brothers and sisters, the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) said.

Abdulla Ghiyas, president of the travel body, in the letter, stated that the Indian market remains an indispensable force in the success of the Maldivian tourism sector, providing vital support to guest houses and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that depend on the influx of Indian visitors.

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MATATO humbly seeks your assistance and support in fostering positive relations and dispelling any misunderstandings that may have arisen and reopen EaseMyTrip flights to Maldives, he added.

It noted that tourism is the archipelagos lifeblood, contributing over two-thirds of its GDP and providing livelihoods to approximately 44,000 Maldivians.

The potential adverse impact on tourism holds the power to unleash severe repercussions on our economy, affecting the lives and well-being of many, it said.

It is to be noted that the move by EaseMyTrip comes following the derogatory remarks made by some ministers, now suspended, against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to Lakshadweep.

Nishant Pitti, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, took to social media, stating, In solidarity with our nation, @EaseMyTrip has suspended all Maldives flight bookings.

After PMs recent visit, Lakshadweep became the talk of the town globally.

Some Maldivian ministers criticised PM Modis visit and made derogatory remarks against him. They claimed that through his visit, PM was attempting to project Lakshadweep as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.

The unsavory remark by the ministers comes at a time when Maldives president Mohammad Muizzu has gone to China allegedly to seek funds.

However later, the three lawmakers  Mariyam Shiuna, Malsha Shareef and Mahzoom Majid  were suspended over their remarks.

As per the reports, several Indians claimed to have scrapped their holiday plans to the Maldives. Instead, they favored Lakshadweep as an alternative destination.

For Indian travellers, Maldives had emerged as a sought-after tourist destination. Data from the Maldives tourism ministry reveals that as of December 2023, Indian tourists constituted the highest number of visitors to the country.

With a total of 2,09,198 visitors, India surpassed other nations in terms of tourist arrivals, followed closely by Russia with 2,09,146 visitors and China with 1,87,118 visitors.
Business tycoon and chief of Reliance Industries Limited Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said Reliance will always remain a Gujarati company, and heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he is the most successful Prime Minister of India ever.

He highlighted that one-third of his companys 150 billion dollar investments in India took place in Gujarat.

Speaking at the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat summit, Ambani said, I have come from the city of the Gateway of India to the gateway of modern Indias growth  Gujarat. I am a proud GujaratiWhen foreigners think of a new India, they think of a new Gujarat.

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How did this transformation happen? Because of one leader, who has emerged as the greatest global leader of our times  PM Modi, the most successful PM in Indias history, he further said.

At the summit, Mukesh Ambani outlined the companys five key commitments aimed at propelling Gujarat to global leadership.

He announced the initiation of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Complex in Jamnagar, with plans to commission the green complex in the latter half of 2024.

This will generate a large number of green jobs and enable production of green products and materials and will make Gujarat a leading exporter of Green Products, he said.

Second, he highlighted the commitment of Reliance Jios fastest rollout of 5G infrastructure.

This will make Gujarat a Global Leader in Digital Data Platforms and AI Adoption. The 5G-enabled AI revolution will make Gujarats economy more productive, more efficient and more globally competitive, Ambani said.

Third, Reliances Retail will further accelerate its mission to bring quality products to consumers and simultaneously empower lakhs of kisans and small merchants.

The fourth and fifth commitments included making Gujarat a pioneer in new materials and circular economy and developing infrastructure for improving education and sports.

Ambani expressed optimism about the innovation potential, stating, In todays India, it is the best time for youngsters to innovate and provide ease of earning. No power can stop India from becoming a USD 35 trillion economy by 2047.

He said no power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion-dollar economy, and Gujarats economy will be 3 trillion dollars.

Today, and in todays India is the best time for young people to enter the economy to innovate and to provide ease of living and ease of earning to hundreds of millions of people. The coming generations will indeed be thankful to Prime Minister Modi for being both a nationalist and an internationalist. You have laid a solid foundation for Vikasit Bharat  India as a fully Developed Nation in Amrit Kaal, Ambani said, praising PM Modis efforts.
Global business leaders and captains of the Indian industry, on Wednesday, hailed the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani calling him the greatest leader of modern times and the most successful PM in Indias history.

When he (Modi) speaks, the whole world not only listens but applauds, Mr Ambani said while addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here.

My friends abroad often ask him: what is the meaning of the slogan that millions of Indians are chanting: Modi hai to Mumkin Hai? I tell them: It means, Indias Prime Minister makes the impossible possible with his vision, determination and execution! and they also agree. said the billionaire businessman amid thunderous applause.

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Declaring that Reliance was and always will be a Gujarati company, he said each Reliance business is striving to fulfill the dreams of his 7 crore fellow Gujaratis. No power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35-trillion dollar economy by 2047. And I see Gujarat alone becoming a 3-trillion dollar economy. Every Gujarati and every Indian is confident that the Modi era will take India to new summits of prosperity, progress and glory, he added.

Mr Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group thanked the PM for his extraordinary vision and lauded his hallmark signatures, grand ambitions, meticulous governance and flawless execution. He credited PM Modi for igniting a nationwide movement through his appeal as the states marched forward competing and cooperating to fundamentally remodel Indias industrial landscape.

Mr Adani underlined that since 2014, Indias GDP has grown by 185% and per capita income by 165 per cent, which is remarkable especially in an era marked by geopolitical instability and pandemic challenges.

Mr N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Tata Sons Limited, said the steady and spectacular progress of Gujarat consistently over such a long time clearly demonstrates visionary leadership and the mindset of PM Modi. Gujarat has clearly established itself as the gateway to the future, he added.
Hailing the Supreme Court verdict, reversing the remission of sentences of the accused in the Bilkis Bano case, BRS leader and MLC K Kavitha on Tuesday said the ruling has sent out the message that women in the country will be safe, secure and protected.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the BRS leader, who also happens to be the daughter of former chief minister and party founder K Chandrasekhar Rao, said, We are very happy with the Supreme Courts verdict as it has sent out a strong message across the country that women will stay safe, secure and protected.

We are very happy with the judgement of the Supreme Court, sending the accused in the Bilkis Bano case back behind bars. The highest count in the country reversed the decision of the lower court freeing the perpetrators. We are very happy as it sends a strong message to the whole country that women will be safe, secure and protected. It is a very good message. We are pleased with the Supreme Courts intervention and ruling in the matter, Kavitha told ANI.

The Supreme Court, earlier, struck down the Gujarat governments order granting remission to 11 convicts, who gang-raped Bilkis and murdered her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan quashed the Gujarat governments remission order, by which convicts were released prematurely.

It asked all 11 convicts to surrender before jail authorities within two weeks.

The bench held that the Gujarat government was not competent to pass the remission orders but the Maharashtra government. It said the appropriate government to decide the remission was the state within whose territorial limits the accused are sentenced, not where the crime is committed or the accused are imprisoned.

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The top court held that the judgement of May 13, 2022, by which another bench of the apex court had directed the Gujarat government to consider remission of convicts as per the 1992 policy, was obtained by playing fraud on the court and by suppressing material facts.

The Gujarat government usurped the powers of the Maharashtra government acting in furtherance of the judgement dated May 13, 2022, which, in our opinion, is a nullity, said the bench.

The convicts had not approached the court with clean hands, said the bench, adding that proceedings before this court were due to suppression of facts, and that is why it is fraud played on this court.

The apex court questioned why the Gujarat government had not filed any application seeking a review of the May 13, 2022, order, as it was not the appropriate government.

It was a classic case where the order of the Supreme Court has been used to violate the rule of law for passing orders for remission, the top court said.

The exercise of power by the State of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation and abuse of power, said the bench while reprimanding the state government for not filing a petition to review the convicts release.

The exercise of power by the State of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power. This is a classic case where the order of this court was used to violate the rule of law by granting remission. On that ground also, the remission orders deserve to be quashed, it said.

The judgement of the top court came on a petition filed by Bilkis Bano and others challenging the pre-mature release of 11 convicts.

Pronouncing the verdict, the bench said, We hold that writ proceeding before this court was due to suppression of facts and that is why it is fraud played on this court.

Earlier, the Gujarat government, in its affidavit, had defended the remission granted to convicts, saying they had completed a 14-year sentence in prison and their behaviour was found to be good.

The state government had said it had considered the cases of all 11 convicts as per the policy of 1992 and remission was granted on August 10, 2022, and the central government also approved the release of convicts.

It is pertinent to note that the remission was not granted under the circular governing the grant of remission to prisoners as part of the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

The pleas filed before the top court had said they had challenged the order of competent authority of the government of Gujarat by way of which 11 persons who were accused in a set of heinous offences committed in Gujarat were allowed to walk free on August 15, 2022, pursuant to remission being extended to them.

The remission in this heinous case would be entirely against public interest and would shock the collective public conscience, as also be entirely against the interests of the victim (whose family has publicly made statements worrying for her safety), pleas stated.

The Gujarat government released the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, on August 15, 2022. All 11 life-term convicts in the case were released as per the remission policy prevalent in Gujarat at the time of their conviction in 2008.

In March 2002, during the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Wednesday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) of insulting the Shankaracharyas, who have objected to the consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Refering to VHP leader Champat Rai, who was made the head of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra trust, the Congress leader questioned why Nirmohi Akhadas rights have been taken away.

We object to the fact that Shankaracharya is being insulted. What is VHPs right on Ram temple? We have made donations for Ram temple. (Former PM) Narasimha Raoo had made Ramalay Nyas with all four Shankaracharyas, the Congress leader said.

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Champat Rai is the promoter of VHP who has done a land scam. Such a man has been made the (Ram temple) Trust chief who is insulting the religion and dividing Hindu leaders and the religion. Why has Nirmohi Akharas right been taken away? The BJP, Sangh & VHP hare using the Britishers divide and rule policy now, he added.

His remarks came after the Congress party announced its decision to skip the Ram Temple consecration event on January 22, saying they viewed religion as a personal attribute.

In a statement released by its leader Jairam Ramesh, the Congress party said that the inauguration of the incomplete temple by BJP and RSS is being done for electoral gains.

Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain, read a statement from senior party leader Jairam Ramesh.
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has revived the pristine glory of the Dashrath Mahal, where the childhood days of Lord Shri Ram unfolded in the Treta Yuga.

The Mahal will remind people of Lord Shri Rams initial footsteps when he was a toddler and indulged in childlike activities. After the divine inauguration of the grand Ram temple on 22 January, the Mahal will stand as a testament to Lord Rams revered presence.

Considering the governments that questioned Lord Rams existence in the Supreme Court, efforts were made to restore the Dashrath Mahal during Akhilesh Yadavs government, but this endeavour remained confined to files. A provision of about Rs 2.4 crore was also made for the renovation of the Dashrath Mahal for the first time on 31 March, 2013, but, the restoration was continuously postponed for lack of political will, indecision, and bureaucratic inefficiencies.

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However, when Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister, he decided to rejuvenate the ancient splendour of the Dashrath Mahal on 16 February 2021, and started working on it. As a result, the palace stands today in all its glory.

The Dashrath Mahal witnessed the incarnation of Lord Ram in the Treta Yuga and is now about to witness the auspicious moment of his return in the Kali Yuga. This is the very Dashrath Mahal that, even during the 500 years of decline, continued to provide evidence of the existence of Lord Rams temple in the present Ram Janmabhoomi area. After years of neglect, the efforts of the Yogi government have given this temple-like palace a dignified appearance once again.

The Yogi government, while implementing the process of restoration and strengthening the facilities at the Dashrath Mahal, began the construction and revitalisation of the Satsang Bhavan, entrance gate, night shelter, and pilgrim assistance centre, giving it a tangible form through an investment of around Rs 3 crore.

During the tenure of the Samajwadi Party government, a provision of Rs 2.4 crore was made for the renovation work but the file concerned kept moving from one table to the other, and the cost kept increasing with no work visible on the ground. Meanwhile, the Yogi government spent around Rs 3 crore to renovate and beautify it.

Notably, funding was also made available for the construction of a night shelter, pilgrim assistance centre, entrance gate, and Satsang Bhavan in the Dashrath Mahal. The work on the night shelter and pilgrim assistance centre has already been completed in 2023. The entrance gate is also nearing completion. Initially, only the structural work was completed in the Satsang Bhavan but now the entire Satsang Bhavan will be ready before 22 January.

The construction work, including mudwork, levelling, tiling, flooring, windows, and doors, is progressing rapidly in the 650 square metre Satsang Bhavan. Under the supervision of the Uttar Pradesh Construction Corporation, the stage in the Satsang Bhavan has already been prepared.

According to Assistant Engineer BV Niranjan Kumar, approximately 300 to 350 devotees can engage in devotional singing together in the Satsang Bhavan. The construction work, which began on 1 December, will be completed by 22 January at any cost.

Facade Lighting: It attracts devotees to the Dasharath Mahal. Its beauty provides an aura with a very special decoration.

Exquisite Decor: The buildings restoration includes strengthening the structure, lime-plastering, fortifying the outer walls, and decorating the existing structure according to the faith of the devotees. Paintings depicting the life of Lord Ram and verses from Ramcharitmanas are displayed here.

Satsang Bhavan: Over 80 percent of the work here is completed, and it will be fully operational by 22 January. Upon its completion, devotees will have the opportunity to engage in devotional singing and satsang and express their reverence at the divine feet of Lord Ram.

Entrance Gate: Preserving the old grandeur while incorporating modernity, the entrance gate is being coated with a long-lasting paint coating to endure for an extended period.

Night Shelter: The night shelter is ready to accommodate visiting devotees.

Pilgrim Assistance Centre: This centre will make devotees aware of the rich heritage, historical significance, cultural contributions, and spiritual importance of the place.

Meanwhile, the Jalesar residents of Etah handed over a 2,400-kilogramme bell to the Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust on Wednesday.

It is claimed that the sound of this bell, crafted in a single casting, will reach up to 10 kilometres. Additionally, seven more bells, each weighing 51 kilogrammes, were also presented.

Aditya Mittal, Manoj, Rishank, Prashant Mittal, and around 500 devotees handed over the bells to the temple Trusts Secretary, Champat Rai, Dinesh Chandra of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Rajendra Singh Pankaj, among others at Karsewakpuram in Ayodhya.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 14:01 | All, Japan

A Japanese court on Wednesday fined an American livestreamer 200,000 yen ($1,400) for playing loud music at a beef bowl restaurant in Osaka and obstructing its operations.

During his trial at the Osaka District Court, Ramsey Khalid Ismael admitted to creating a video there but said he had not played the music deliberately and that the audio had started automatically.

Ismael, 24, known as "Johnny Somali" on YouTube, has faced criticism for his videos, in which he makes light of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and makes racist comments about Japanese people.

Judge Yukie Yasufuku said that the defendant could have immediately lowered the volume but chose not to, describing his actions as "malicious."

According to the ruling, Ismael interfered with restaurant staff's work by playing loud music and creating disturbances as he recorded videos on his smartphone in the early morning of Sept. 12 last year.

Related coverage:

Controversial U.S. livestreamer arrested over trespassing in Osaka

Man convicted over viral video of sauce bottle licking at sushi chain
Global business leaders hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision at the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on Wednesday in Gandhinagar.

Ranging from the Indian business tycoons, Ambani and Adani, to global leaders like Toshihiro Suzuki and DP Worlds Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the Summit marked participation from 34 partner countries and 16 partner organisations. The theme of this years summit is Gateway to the Future.

Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Group called Vibrant Gujarat the most prestigious investment summit in the world today as no other summit of this kind has continued for 20 long years and is going from strength to strength.

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This is a tribute to our Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision and consistency, he said.

Expressing pride in Gujarati origins, Ambani credited the prime minister for the transformation of Gujarat. He said, The main reason for this transformation is our leader who has emerged as the greatest leader of the modern times, Narendra Modi the most successful prime minister in Indias history. When he speaks, not only the world speaks but applauds him.

He elaborated on how Indias PM makes impossible possible  Modi hai to mumkin hai and said the slogan finds resonance in the global audience and they agree. The coming generations will be thankful to the prime minister for being both a nationalist and an internationalist. You have laid a solid foundation for Viksit Bharat, Ambani said.

He concluded by saying that no power on earth can stop India from becoming a 35 trillion dollar economy by 2047.

Chairman of Adani Group Gautam Adani thanked the prime minister for his extraordinary vision, and lauded his hallmark signatures, grand ambitions, meticulous governance and flawless execution. He credited PM Modi for his appeal which ignited a nationwide movement as the states marched forward competing and cooperating to fundamentally remodel Indias industrial landscape.

Adani underlined that since 2014, Indias GDP has grown by 185 per cent and per capita income by 165 per cent, which is remarkable especially in an era marked by geopolitical instability and pandemic challenges.

He further lauded the PMs achievements at the international stage as he highlighted the nations journey from a country seeking to put its voice on global platforms to one which now creates global platforms. You dont predict the future, you shape it, Adani said as he credited PM Modi for reorienting India to become the worlds fastest-growing nation and positioning the country as the global social champion driven by the philosophies of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam and Vishwa Guru.

Chairman of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal recalled visiting the 20th anniversary of Vibrant Gujarat last year in September and praised the prime ministers emphasis on process continuity to create an institutionalized framework for the mega global event of Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

He also highlighted the prime ministers belief in the principles of One Earth, One Family, One Future and strengthening the voice of the global south in every international forum.

N Chandrasekaran, chairman Tata Sons Limited, said steady and spectacular progress of Gujarat consistently over such a long time clearly demonstrates visionary leadership and the mindset of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi ji.

He underlined that economic development has also resulted in tremendous social development and Gujarat has clearly established itself as the gateway to the future.

Toshihiro Suzuki, President of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan credited the Prime Minister for his strong leadership and thanked him for the support provided to manufacturing industries in the country.

Stating that India has now become the 3rd largest automobile market in the world, Suzuki highlighted the impact of the Prime Ministers progressive approach on the countrys economic growth.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technologies, USA thanked the Prime Minister for his vision to open up the country to semiconductor manufacturing and said that it will become a huge economic driver in the future as India marches forward to become the third largest economy in the world.

He stated that Vibrant Gujarat Summit addresses the visionary ideas critical to Indias growth as a semiconductor power, and also threw light on the multiple growth opportunities in the sector. The CEO further thanked the state and central government for their support in helping establish a world-class memory assembly and test facility in Gujarat as he mentioned the infrastructure partnership with TATA Projects for the facility.

Jeffrey Chun, CEO Simmtech, South Korea said that as key supply chain partner in the semiconductor assembly and test facilities expressed excitement for their India project as a co-location investment following their major customer Microns project in the state of Gujarat.

He said Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit showcases a global movement of creating a new supply chain network in a fast growing nation like India.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World, said that it is heartening to see the Prime Ministers vision for a vibrant Gujarat becoming a reality as he congratulated the Gujarat Government for organizing the Summit. He said that the Vibrant Gujarat Summit showcases its exponential rise as Indias premier business forum guided by the Prime Ministers vision of a Viksit Bharat @ 2047.

Shankar Trivedi, Senior VP, Nvidia noting the growing importance of generative AI recalled that PM Modi invited Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia to deliver a lecture to the leaders to senior members of the Indian government and said that it was the first time that a global leader actually talked about AI.

Thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Modiji, it has been a catalyst of adoption of generative AI in India and also here in Gujarat.

Nikhil Kamat, Founder and CEO of Zerodhha, threw light on the overall development of the country over the past two decades as he drew an analogy to his journey as an entrepreneur.

He remarked that the last 10 years have been incredible as he hailed the countrys startup ecosystem and the rise of small entrepreneurs and ecommerce which was not the case 10 years ago. He credited the Prime Minister for facilitating a stable ecosystem allowing startups to thrive.
Russia holds an important position as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Her struggles in the cause of moral and social reform deserve the sympathies of the friends of religion in England, and, above all of the friends of the ryot in India, who see in Russia, the advocate of the principle of peasant proprietary which is beginning to operate now so much in the promotion of education and Bible education.

This perspective was shared by Reverend James Long in Hindu Patriot on 6 June 1864, in the aftermath of the indigo revolt which had convulsed Bengal. Rev. Long suffered at the hands of British government for publishing an English version of Nil Darpan, written by Dinabandhu Mitra, the dramatist who was his student at Christian Missionary Society school on Amherst Street in Calcutta. The report in Hindu Patriot underscored the global impact of Nil Darpan, a play written in Bangla depicting the plight of indigo cultivators and the upsurge across Bengal against East India Company officials.

The plays English title was The Indigo Planting Mirror. Rev. Long wrote, I was surprised to find that the Nil Darpan case was known to many in St Petersburgh, and I was asked about it in various quarters. Full information about it had been given in the German missionary periodicalsI saw one of them in St Petersburgh which had devoted forty octavo pages to the subject.

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I was asked lately to the house of a Russian gentleman, member of the Council of State: he invited to meet me some of the leading Russian nobles, who had been appointed by the Emperor to frame the laws for serf emancipation. We had a long and interesting conversation on the comparative state of the peasants in India and Russia. Rev. Long was questioned about the legal case, his harassment and imprisonment in the Nil Darpan case; he gave a full account to his Russian hosts.

When I had finished, they said the condition of the Bengal peasants was in various cases almost as bad as that of Russian serfs, he wrote. Hindu Patriot and its senior journalist Harish Chandra Mukherjee not only courageously supported indigo peasants but, like Rev. Long, faced humiliation and financial ruin fighting cases against the planters. In fact Harish Chandras words made history: Bengal might well be proud of its peasantry. In no other country in the world is to be found in the tillers of the soil the virtues which the ryots of Bengal have so prominently displayed ever since the indigo agitation beganthey have brought about a revolution inferior to none, in magnitude and importance, to that which has happened in the social history of any other country.

It is to the peasantry of Punjab, and its leader Guru Ram Singh, to whom we now turn. In the aftermath of 1857, people of Punjab began a movement against the new political order initiated by the British, after they had divided and defeated the Punjab rulers. Called the Namdhari or Kuka movement, it called for boycott of everything which bore the stamp of the British government. When Guru Ram Singh became its chief, he established alternate administrative machinery, inspiring young men to be trained in arms and be ready for rebellion. He made people aware of their serfdom and bondage; they actively propagated civil disobedience, sowing seeds of struggles which were reaped in early 20th century.

One of the Kuka heroes is Gurucharan Singh who managed to reach Tashkhand (or Tashkent), bearing a letter from Guru Ram Singh. They were seeking Russian help to throw off the yoke of British imperialism. The journey of Gurcharan Singh from the heartland of Punjab to Tashkhand would have been a death-defying, perilous, and tortuous one. The possible route via Kabul and Samarkand, skirting high mountain ranges, or traversing them while braving the weather demonstrated his determination and the Kukas will to fight British imperialism.

What is equally baffling is that the letter he was carrying, appealing to the Russian Emperor for military help, was written in Gurmukhi! The Kuka rebellion was mercilessly put down by the British in 1871-72; rebels were blown up by tying them in front of cannons. British officers called this brutal murder mercy killing. The Russian connection emerges as it was the Russian traveller-artist Vasily Vereshchagin who, in the 1870s and 1880s, painted these historical scenes for posterity. Vereshchagin, born into a privileged landowning family of Novgorod province in Russia, spent years learning, working, painting and exhibiting his works on historical events and personalities in Paris, St. Petersburg, Munich and across the sub-continent.

He faced hostile reactions and controversies were raised about paintings depicting executions, especially Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English. His detractors argued that such executions had only occurred in the past, but even in the 1880s, it was a prevailing practice. Because of its photographic style, the painting appeared to present itself as an impartial record of a real event. In 1887 Vereshchagin defended himself in The Magazine of Art by saying that if there were another rebellion then the British would use this method again. In Germany, Austria and even homeland Russia, his exhibitions were banned or castigated.It would be impossible, Vereshchagin wrote, to achieve the aim I have set myself, to give society a picture of war as it really is, by observing battles through binoculars from a comfortable distance. I have to feel and go through it all myself.

I have to participate in the attacks, storms, victories and defeats, experience the cold, disease and wounds. I must not be afraid to sacrifice my flesh and my blood, otherwise my pictures will mean nothing. These heartfelt words are often quoted. In modern-day exhibitions, when Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English is displayed, its caption reads, People of Russia feel proud of the fact that Russia was perhaps the only country in Europe where the right of the British to possess and rule India was called into question, where the good deeds of the colonies were disputed. In Russia there were a series of articles and essays by eminent intellectuals like N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.A Dobrolyubov and V.G Belinsky which condemned British atrocities in crushing the 1857 revolt. Their sense of responsibility, political commitment and moral vision played a critical role in the development of Russian literature; they are referred to as revolutionary democrats. The Russian connection now features in what is today Haryana where rebel jagirdar Rao Tula Ram showed his mettle not only during the revolt of 1857 but during the British orgy of destruction underway in later years.

Along with three comrades, Rao Tula Ram secretly started for Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan to secure arms and money. The long journey broke his health and on 8 September 1862 he died at Kabul. The Afghan government gave him a state funeral. There is a memorial column in his honour at Kabul, recorded the Government of West Bengal publication titled, Indias struggle for freedom ~ An album (1987). Along with Rani Lakshmi Bai, Tantia Tope, Jwala Prasad, Maulvi Ahmedullah of Fyzabad, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Kunwar Singh, Rao Tula Ram graces the large pantheon of rebel leaders and revolutionaries whose sacrifices are exemplary in the face of British imperial ruthlessness and political maneuvering.

In the thick of the 1857 battles, Rao Tula Ram and his family of braves not only raised forces to fight in Delhi for Emperor Bahadur Shah, they supplied necessary commodities and thousands of wheat sacks. He set up a workshop in Rewari for manufacturing guns and ammunition too. It is a challenge to modern knowledge to understand mid-19th century metallurgy, ballistics and forging techniques existing in the region of Rewari, Alwar, Narnaul, and Sikar.

The region, currently being archaeologically discovered and identified as later Harappan city-sites, has been renowned for mines, metal-work, armourmaking and sword smithy; though venturing into muskets, rifles and ammunition is altogether another ball game. Rao Tula Ram, in his fiery quest for ousting the British, was probably putting traditional furnaces and ironsmiths to work; undoubtedly, he deserves more gunsalutes for his indomitable courage than the number of guns produced by his men. Ties with Russia deepened in 1905 when the Swadeshi Movement brought together diverse social-political personalities and ideologies: Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, the entire Tagore family, Aurobindo Ghosh, Anusilan Samity and Jugantar revolutionaries who were well-informed about upheavals in Russia in 1905.

When B.G Tilak was sentenced for sedition in 1908 and there was general hartal in Bombay for six days. In faraway Switzerland, V.I. Lenin wrote, Indias working-class has already become conscious and have started political mass struggle, Since this is so, the days of the Russian type of British Government in India are rapidly coming to an end. The end came decades later, meanwhile a whole new generation of leaders built their ties with Russia.

(The writer is researcherwriter on history and heritage issues and former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya)
Bangladesh finds itself at a critical juncture as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secures yet another term in a Parliamentary election marred by controversy and opposition boycotts. The recent events raise profound questions about the state of democracy in the country and the trajectory it is set to follow under Hasinas leadership. The overwhelming victory of her Awami League, securing 216 out of 299 seats, has not come without a cloud of scepticism. The election was a battleground marred by violence, a boycott by the main opposition party, and accusations of a one-sided political landscape. The opposition, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), vehemently rejects the results, citing concerns over the credibility of the electoral process. What is particularly troubling is the backdrop against which this election unfolded. The campaign was characterised by arson attacks, arrests, and escalating tensions, contributing to an atmosphere far from conducive to a fair and open democratic process.

The accusations of vote-rigging, a recurring theme in the past two elections under Hasina, only deepen the apprehensions surrounding the legitimacy of the electoral outcomes. The polarised political landscape, dominated by the bitter rivalry between Hasinas Awami League and the BNP, has entrenched itself over the years, creating a situation where a credible challenge to the incumbent seems almost non-existent. The absence of major challengers raises concerns about the health of Bangladeshs democracy, with critics arguing that the election outcome is preordained, making a mockery of the democratic principles it should uphold. The global economic slowdown adds another layer of complexity to the situation. Bangladesh, once lauded for its economic transformation under Hasinas leadership, now grapples with cracks in its economy, triggering labour unrest and dissatisfaction among the populace. As citizens feel the economic pinch, the political climate becomes increasingly charged, reflecting a nation grappling with the consequences of its leaders prolonged rule. Critics argue that Hasinas rise to power has come at the expense of democratic values. Allegations of suppressing dissent, shrinking press freedoms, and restricting civil society raise concerns about the trajectory of Bangladeshs democracy. The BNP claims that about 20,000 of its members were jailed on politically motivated charges, a claim the government vehemently denies.

The arrests and crackdown against opposition figures create an environment where political participation becomes a risky endeavour. While Hasina dismisses concerns over the legitimacy of the election, the reality on the ground paints a different picture. The victory secures Hasinas place as one of the countrys most consequential leaders, but it does little to assuage the fears of those who worry that Bangladesh is on a dangerous path toward becoming a one-party state. The election has exposed fault lines in Bangladeshs democratic foundation. As the international community watches, it is crucial to reflect on the broader implications for the future of democracy in Bangladesh.

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Delhi Home Minister Kailash Gahlot met the family of Covid warrior Dr Perpetua Minz Tigga and handed over a cheque of Rs one crore as financial assistance.

During the meeting, the Minister expressed his condolences to the family members of the Corona warrior and assured them of all possible help from the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.

He said that the Kejriwal government will always stand with the families of Covid warriors who sacrificed their lives to protect humanity and society, without caring for their own lives.

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While acknowledging that no amount of money can compensate for the loss of a loved one, the Minister said that this Samman Rashi is a way for the Kejriwal government to pay tribute to the sacrifice made by these Corona warriors.

He expressed his gratitude to all the Corona warriors who have served the people while laying their own lives at stake.

The deceased, Dr Tigga, held the position of Chief Medical Officer (SAG) at the Mother and Child Welfare Centre, Tilak Nagar. At the time of her passing on May 3, 2021, she was 65 years old. Having dedicated herself to patient care since 1993, she succumbed to a Covid infection contracted while on duty.

Late Dr Perpetua Minz Tigga was a hardworking and dedicated doctor. I can understand the pain and grief of his family. While we cannot bring him back, I, on behalf of the Delhi government, have provided him with the monetary support of Rs 1 crore, said Gahlot.
Preparations for the consecration ceremony on January 22, which were initiated in Uttar Pradesh under

the guidance of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, are now gradually being extended to the entire nation and even abroad.

The event is fast turning into a global event, capturing the attention of the entire world.

This celebration can be witnessed from Times Square in America as well as the Eiffel Tower in Europe. In Frances capital Paris, a grand Ram Rath Yatra is scheduled for January 21, attracting participants from across Europe. Simultaneously, festivities near the Eiffel Tower are also planned.

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Massive car rallies are being organised in cities including California, Washington, Chicago, and other places in the United States. The consecration ceremony, according to Indian Standard Time, will take place around 12:30 PM  which will be morning time in Paris and late night in the US.

The dream of having the temple of Lord Rama, as envisioned by devotees, is now on the verge of becoming a reality after the struggle of 500-long years. Devotees of Lord Ram from around the world are gearing up to celebrate the occasion in their own unique ways. As part of this, a Ram Rath Yatra is scheduled to take place in Paris on January 21.

Avinash Mishra, an Indian residing in Paris, has shared details about the Ram Rath Yatra on social media. He wrote, Residing in France, we Indians in Paris will participate in the grand celebration of the Ram Rath Yatra and festivities on a large scale at the Eiffel Tower, marking the historic and significant occasion of the consecration of the Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Avinash has also shared the entire map of the Ram Rath Yatra in his post and extended an invitation to Ram devotees residing in Paris to join this event. The post has been retweeted by the Ram Temple pilgrimage site, stating that becoming witnesses to the consecration of Lord Ram at the birthplace in Ayodhya is a blessing for all devotees.

The Hindu Mandir Empowerment Council has decided to organise prayers and festivals in temples from North America, including Canada. In the past few weeks, car rallies in celebration of the Ram Temple have been held in several US cities including Washington and Chicago. Organisers, now plan to hold a car rally in California. They expressed their inability to visit Ayodhya physically, but emphasised that Lord Rama resides in their hearts, and their unwavering faith is their way of welcoming Him back home.

Furthermore, on January 22, the consecration ceremony will be telecast live at Times Square in New York City. Before this, on August 5, 2020, during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ram Temple, a digital billboard featuring the Ram Temple was displayed at Times Square.

Regarding the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram Temple, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City mentioned that this event is of great significance for the Hindu community in New York City. He saw it as an important opportunity for them to celebrate and elevate their spirituality.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad has outlined plans for events in several countries. Grand events will be organised in over 50 countries worldwide and the consecration ceremony will be live-streamed from these locations. Apart from 300 locations in the US, there are plans for 25 in the United Kingdom, 30 in Australia, 30 in Canada, and 100 in Mauritius, among others. Besides, in more than 50 countries, including Ireland, Fiji, Indonesia, and Germany, there will be a large-scale live broadcast of the consecration ceremony.

Representatives from 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Fiji, have been invited to Ayodhya for the occasion of Lord Ramas consecration. Meanwhile, live streaming is also planned in Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

According to the VHP, there are 160 countries worldwide where people follow the Hindu faith, and various programmes are being conducted in these countries. These include live-streaming of the procession, havan puja, Hanuman Chalisa recitation and Pran Pratishtha programme in the temple.
A 50-year-old Indian-origin warrant officer with the Singapore Armed Forces has pleaded guilty to one charge of penetrating a minor below 16 in 2021.

Subramaniam Thaburan Rangasamy, who had helped the minor after she had a fall on stairs in a carpark, is likely to face two more charges during his sentencing on February 1, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair said the incident happened on December 6, 2021, when the victim was supposed to have an online meeting with her school counsellor in the morning.

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The Secondary 3 student, who is now 17-years-old, was walking down from the fifth floor of the carpark when she fell and hit a door, and Subramaniam helped her to her feet.

She thanked him and after chatting for about an hour in one of the floors of the carpark, they became intimate.

Subramaniam tried to have sex with her, but failed, following which they parted ways and exchanged numbers, the news report said.

The court heard that they remained in contact via WhatsApp, but the messages were not of a sexual nature. Two days after the incident made a police report because she felt that Subramaniam had taken advantage of her.

The prosecutor noted that the accused was not at any time misled by the victims age, and added that he did not force or coerce the victim to be intimate.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said they have suspended Subramaniam from all duties following his arrest.

The SAF will initiate further actions upon the conclusion of court hearings, which may include discharging him from service, she added.

She said the SAF holds its servicemen to high standards of discipline and integrity, and that those who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

For penetrating a minor below 16, Subramaniam could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined or both.
The United Kingdom plans to send its high-readiness Littoral Response Group to the Indian Ocean region in 2024 and the Carrier Strike Group in 2025 for joint training. Both groups will visit and operate with Indian forces.

The deployment of the UKs most advanced naval capabilities will mark a decisive step in bolstering UK-India security ties, the British High Commission announced on Wednesday.

The India-UK defence partnership is being stepped up as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made his two-day visit to the UK. This was the first visit of an Indian defence minister to the UK in more than 20 years.

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In a move that signals the growing importance of the strategic relationship between the UK and India, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed Singh to the UK to agree to unprecedented levels of UK-India defence cooperation.

The defence secretary made the announcement of the two naval groups visit to the Indian Ocean.

The two nations also discussed future cooperation in defence from joint exercises to knowledge sharing and instructor exchanges. These steps build on the comprehensive strategic partnership envisaged in the 2030 India-UK roadmap, announced in 2021.

In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said, There is absolutely no question that the world is becoming increasingly contested so it is vital that we continue to build on our strategic relationships with key partners like India. Together we share the same security challenges and are steadfast on our commitment to maintaining a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

He said, It is clear that this relationship is going from strength-to-strength, but we must continue to work hand-in-hand to uphold global security in light of threats and challenges that seek to destabilise and damage us.

Collaboration with industry is also key in the strategic defence partnership between the UK and India, with the two nations working together on electric propulsion systems that will power future fleets, and cooperating on the development of complex weapons.

Building on the existing strategic partnership during the visit, the UK and India also confirmed several new joint initiatives. These include launching Defence Partnership-India, a bespoke office designed to further defence collaboration between the two countries.

Besides, there is commitment to several instructor exchanges between the two countries world-leading Officer Training Colleges and specialist schools, alongside signing of a Youth Exchange MoU to solidify the already strong relationship between cadet organisations.

There is also signing of a Letter of Arrangement that will enable further emphasis to be placed on research and development between the two nations, focused on next-generation capabilities.

Another joint initiative will be solidifying an agreement on logistics exchange, allowing for the provision of logistic support, supplies and services between the United Kingdom and Indian Armed Forces, for joint training, joint exercises, authorised port visits and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
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A mixture of rain and snow showers. High around 40F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 26F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 50%.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 19:52 | All, World, Japan

A rare message from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Japan expressing sympathy for the powerful earthquake on New Year's Day has raised speculation that Pyongyang may be signaling its openness to dialogue after showing no interest in Tokyo's aspiration to hold a bilateral summit.

As the Japanese government assesses the intention behind the message addressed to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday, one official was optimistic, saying it "may be a sign."

In the hope of a breakthrough in the long-standing issue of Pyongyang's past abduction of Japanese nationals, Kishida has vowed to advance "high-level discussions under my direct initiative" to realize a summit with Kim.

But tensions have remained high as North Korea continues to test-fire ballistic missiles and engage in other provocative activities while also being critical of the strengthening defense collaboration among the United States and its closest Asian allies, Japan and South Korea.

Kim's message in response to the magnitude-7.6 quake that has rocked Sea of Japan coast areas came as a "surprise," another Japanese government official said, underscoring the rarity of the action.

North Korean leaders had not sent any messages of sympathy to Japanese prime ministers in recent years, including at the time of a massive 2011 quake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, according to the Japanese government. Radio Press, a news agency that monitors North Korea's official news media, said it was Kim's first message to Kishida, who took office in October 2021.

Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshimasa Hayashi, expressed "gratitude" for Kim's statement of deep sympathy and condolences that the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Saturday.

Atsuhito Isozaki, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo, said he cannot deny that Pyongyang aims to "entice the Kishida government to make progress" in the bilateral relationship.

The expert in North Korean politics said Kim's message, which expressed sympathy not only to Korean residents in Japan but broadly to the bereaved families and victims affected by the quake, was an "exceptional case."

In recent years, Kim has sent similar messages only to leaders of Iran, Syria, Cuba and China, according to Isozaki.

Isozaki, at the same time, called for continued monitoring of the behavior of North Korea and its media for Japan to get an accurate grasp of Pyongyang's intentions.

Some officials in the Japanese government were also cautious, with a diplomatic source warning that North Korea may just be trying to drive a wedge between the cooperation of Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

The trilateral security cooperation has been making significant strides amid improving bilateral ties between South Korea and Japan that had increasingly soured over wartime compensation issues, apparently creating an unfavorable situation for North Korea.

"Japan's response may end with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi's statement of appreciation on Saturday, but may not end with that," a Japanese government source said, leaving open the question of whether Kishida will reply to Kim's message.

Related coverage:

North Korea's Kim sends rare message of sympathy over Japan quake

North Korea plans to launch 3 more spy satellites in 2024

North Korea begins key year-end party meeting, Kim hails achievements
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 - Jan 10, 2024 - 20:44 | All, Japan

The Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday appealed a court ruling that ordered them to compensate a company president and two others for an unlawful investigation into the alleged illegal export of items seen as capable of being used in the production of biological weapons.

The Tokyo District Court last month ordered the governments to pay a total of around 160 million yen ($1.1 million) after finding the arrest and indictment of the three was illegal.

The plaintiffs led by Masaaki Okawara, 74, president of machinery maker Ohkawara Kakohki Co., also appealed the ruling. A source close to them said the court's findings regarding how malicious the investigation was were insufficient.

The trial focused on whether police and prosecutors arbitrarily interpreted the regulations for export control to build a case against the three.

During the trial, a member of Tokyo police's Public Security Bureau testified that the allegations leveled against them were "fabricated."

But the Dec. 27 ruling did not mention the remarks.

Okawara, Junji Shimada, one of the company's former directors, and former adviser Shizuo Aishima were arrested and indicted between March and June 2020 on suspicion of illegally exporting spray dryers allegedly capable of producing biological agents without authorization.

Okawara and Shimada were detained for about a year, but prosecutors withdrew their indictment shortly before their first hearing in July 2021, saying that doubts had arisen concerning whether they were guilty of a crime. Aishima died in February the same year after falling ill during detainment.

The plaintiffs, including the family of Aishima, filed a lawsuit in September 2021 seeking 560 million yen in damages.

Related coverage:

Tokyo gov't, state ordered to compensate for illegal investigation
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 23:00 | All, World, Japan

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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U.S. base transfer work in Okinawa begins after state OKs by proxy

NAHA, Japan - The Japanese government on Wednesday started construction work for the transfer of a key U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture after overriding the local government's objection and approving a modified landfill plan by proxy in an unprecedented move.

The work is to reinforce soft ground at the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and is projected to take nine years and three months, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference in Tokyo.

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Nikkei stock index soars to nearly 34-yr high for 2nd day on weak yen

TOKYO - The Nikkei stock index soared Wednesday, ending at a nearly 34-year high for a second consecutive day, as the yen's weakness against the U.S. dollar sparked aggressive buying of exporters.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished up 678.54 points, or 2.01 percent, from Tuesday at 34,441.72, marking its highest close since February 1990 when Japan was experiencing an asset price bubble. It was the largest point gain since Nov. 15.

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Moving central Japan quake evacuees high priority as deaths rise

KANAZAWA, Japan - Local authorities are speeding up efforts to move evacuees of the powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and other central Japan areas on New Year's Day to hotels and other accommodations after challenging conditions at evacuation centers are believed to have resulted in multiple deaths.

The death toll from the quake rose to 206 on Wednesday, according to the authorities, with the figure including eight people who were not directly killed by the magnitude-7.6 temblor but are believed to have died due to a deterioration in their health conditions, in some cases associated with the stress of being evacuated.

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North Korean leader calls South Korea "principal enemy," state media says

TOKYO - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has classified South Korea as his nation's "principal enemy" and the state "most hostile" toward Pyongyang, the country's official media reported Wednesday.

Kim stated the labels during an inspection of major munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

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JAL to preserve part of burned aircraft from Tokyo airport collision

TOKYO - Japan Airlines is considering preserving part of the jetliner burned after colliding with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda Airport last week as a reminder of the fatal accident to raise safety awareness within the company, a JAL official said Wednesday.

The collision on a runway killed five of the six people aboard the coast guard's Bombardier DHC8-300 aircraft and left its captain severely injured, while all 379 passengers and crew on the JAL Airbus A350-900 managed to escape.

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Japan government appeals ruling on compensation for illegal investigation

TOKYO - The Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday appealed a court ruling that ordered them to compensate a company president and two others for an unlawful investigation into the alleged illegal export of items seen as capable of being used in the production of biological weapons.

The Tokyo District Court last month ordered the governments to pay a total of around 160 million yen ($1.1 million) after finding the arrest and indictment of the three was illegal.

----------

North Korea leader's message to Japan on quake sparks hope for dialogue

TOKYO - A rare message from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Japan expressing sympathy for the powerful earthquake on New Year's Day has raised speculation that Pyongyang may be signaling its openness to dialogue after showing no interest in Tokyo's aspiration to hold a bilateral summit.

As the Japanese government assesses the intention behind the message addressed to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday, one official was optimistic, saying it "may be a sign."

----------

South Korea opposition chief's attacker wanted to prevent rise to power

SEOUL - South Korean police said Wednesday that a man who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae Myung earlier this month has claimed he tried to kill Lee so that he could not become president of the country in the future.

According to the police in Busan, where the stabbing took place on Jan. 2, the 67-year-old man has said he also wanted to prevent Lee's main opposition Democratic Party from winning in the general election scheduled in April by killing him.

Video: New Year greeting cards for Hikonyan
Following the resounding success of the second edition of India Hemp Expo 2023 in Mumbai, we are thrilled to announce the forthcoming third instalment of this pioneering B2B exhibition in Bengaluru. Scheduled to happen at the Manpho Convention Centre, Manayata Tech Park in Bengaluru from February 24th to 25th, 2024, this event aims to propel the hemp industry forward by bringing together professionals and industrialists who share a keen interest in this rapidly growing sector.

In the previous two editions held in Delhi and Mumbai, the India Hemp Expo (IHE) received widespread acclaim, earning recognition not only from enthusiasts and industry professionals but also from various government bodies.

This year marks a significant milestone as the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Ministry of State for External Affairs and Culture of India and Governor of Karnataka has bestowed its blessings upon IHE while applauded its role in fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.

Celebrating hemp in all its splendour, the event is expected to feature over 50 exhibitors, and thousands of visitors including business experts, healthcare professionals and hemp enthusiasts from across the world.

The India Hemp Expo 2024 will serve as a robust platform where exhibitors can effectively present their brands on a grand scale, connecting with potential buyers, consultants, and business experts to expand their networks and enhance their knowledge for the growth of their independent businesses.



Over the course of two days, the expo will showcase a myriad of thrilling events, including exhibitions, conferences, CEO roundtable discussions, B2B meetings, and a grand India Hemp award ceremony.





Attendees will have the opportunity to gain insights into the intricacies of the industry, providing a platform to augment their understanding of diverse products and their potential benefits in both personal and professional spheres.





The expo is being jointly organized by indianvaidyas.com, bharatvaidyas.com and hempvaidyas.com. Discussing the primary objective behind this event, the founder Vaidya (Dr.) Piyush Juneja stated, "Our primary emphasis is to generate a positive narrative around this exceptional Ayurvedic Herb and to enlighten people about the remarkable array of health, industrial, and nutritional advantages associated with hemp.





He further added, The India Hemp Expo 2024 presents a unique chance to expedite the advancement of the hemp industryan opportunity too valuable to overlook.





The India Hemp Expo 2024 enjoys substantial support from an impressive lineup of sponsors, including Hemp Tribe, CHEMTRON SCIENCE LABORATORIES PVT LTD, Vedi Herbals, Boheco & Buffalo Extraction Systems as Technology Partner.





In addition to these sponsors, prominent players in the hemp industry, such as, Blazen Photonics, Hempnation, Truhemp, Cannapure, Cure By Design, SRICO, The Trost, Ananta Hempworks, Varah Healthcare, Twiee & Moksa, Hampa Wellness, Azoth Biotech and many other prominent names of hemp industry are set to participate in the event as exhibitors. Trade India and The Week Magazine stand as media partners supporting this exclusive event.





You are welcome to visit https://www.indiahempexpo.com/ to explore the details of the expo and register yourself as a visitor to attend the event.
































The BJP government in Chhattisgarh, on Wednesday, announced a Shri Ramlala Darshan (Ayodhya Dham) scheme under which people of the state will be taken to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh for a visit to the newly constructed Ram temple, free of cost.

The state cabinet, led by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, approved a proposal to launch the scheme at a meeting held on Wednesday and said this was the fulfillment of the guarantees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made in the run up to the 2023 assembly polls.

The Ram temple is to be consecrated in Ayodhya on January 22an event that is being promoted and publicised in a major way by the BJP.

Citizens in the age group of 18 to 75 years, found fit to travel by medical boards in respective districts, will be eligible for a visit to Ayodhya under the scheme. In the first phase, those above the age of 55 will be selected for the visit. Disabled beneficiaries will be accompanied by a family member.

The main destination under the scheme will be Ayodhya; however, there will be a night stay in Varanasi, a visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple and corridor and an opportunity to witness the Ganga aarti.

The scheme will be implemented by the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and the target is to take around 20,000 citizens to Ayodhya under the scheme every year, a government note said. District-level Shri Ramlala Darshan committees will be constituted for the selection of beneficiaries.

The tour will be around 900km and will be undertaken by trains, for which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed between the state tourism board and IRCTC.

IRCTC will make arrangements for security, health, food, visits to different spots under the scheme, local transport and escort. For the transport from the residence of beneficiaries to designated railway stations, the respective district collectors will make the arrangements, the government note said.

At present, a train per week will be provided by IRCTC, but the number might increase in the future, leading to an increase in the number of beneficiaries, the government said.

Budget provisions made for Mahtari Vandan: CM

Meanwhile, in a BJP workers felicitation programme held in Raipur earlier on Wednesday, CM Sai said the much-awaited Mahtari Vandan scheme  a cash assistance scheme of Rs 1000 per month for married women  will be launched soon and the fund provision has been made through a supplementary budget.

Sai repeated that all the Modis guarantees will be fulfilled. The order for purchase of 21 quintal paddy per acre has been issued and is being implemented and soon the order for Rs 3,100 per quintal paddy price will be issued. Currently paddy is being purchased at minimum support price, but we will pay out the difference in amount of about Rs 900-925 in a single installment to the farmers. Similarly, the promises of providing domestic gas cylinders at Rs 500 to Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries and Rs 10,000 per year to farmers and landless labourers would be fulfilled soon, the CM said.
The Central Industrial Security Force on Wednesday took charge of the Ayodhya airport security with the deployment of more than 150 personnel, days before the high-profile consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22, a spokesperson said.

The 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham' is the country's 68th civil airport terminal to come under the umbrella of the specialised Aviation Security Group (ASG) of the central force.

A formal induction ceremony was held at the airport on Wednesday for inducting the CISF squad. Representatives from the airline operators and various stakeholders were also present during the occasion, the spokesperson said.

The CISF is committed to providing 24x7 security coverage to the airport. This initiative aims to ensure secure passage for pilgrims and visitors to the holy city, contributing to a safe and enriching experience for all, he said.

The CISF, as per official sources, will provide an anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage cover to the airport that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30 last year.

The force will frisk passengers, check their baggage and secure the perimeter of the facility, they said.

An armed contingent of more than 150 CISF personnel under the command of a deputy commandant-rank officer has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs for securing the Ayodhya airport that will be enhanced in phases over the 821-acre land sanctioned for it, the sources added.

PTI had reported last year that the new airport in the Hindu holy town in Uttar Pradesh will be secured by the CISF, given the threat perception to the facility that will serve as the air gateway to pilgrims and visitors.

A review by central security and intelligence agencies recommended a professional security cover for the airport like the one provided by the CISF.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said last year that the capacity of the airport will be enhanced gradually.

"In the first phase, the airport will be spread across 65,000 square feet. Its capacity will be to handle two to three flights every hour. Work is on to build a 2,200-metre runway. It means that Boeing 737 and Airbus 319 and 320 will be able to land at the airport. Initially, there is an airport apron for eight aircraft," Scindia had told reporters.

He had also said that the Cabinet's approval will soon be taken for the second phase.

"In the second phase, as already said by the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath), the length of the runway will be increased from 2,200 metres to 3,700 metres. In other words, the length of the runway will be around four kilometres, so that international aircraft like Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 can land in Ayodhya," Scindia said.

The minister had also said that the second phase of the airport will cover 50,000 square metres.

The CISF was entrusted with the task of guarding civil airports in the aftermath of the 1999 hijack of the Indian Airlines Kathmandu-Delhi flight, IC-814, to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Putting days-long speculations to rest, the Congress has decided that party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief Sonia Gandhi will not attend the consecration ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.

The temple trust had extended invitation to Kharge, Gandhi and leader of the party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The opposition party alleged that the ruling BJP and its ideological mentor the RSS have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya.

The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has obviously brought forward to get electoral gains, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.

While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgement and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event, Ramesh said.

The consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend it.

Earlier, the CPI(M) had said its general secretary Sitaram Yechury would not attend the ceremony as the party believes that religion is a personal choice and not to be converted into an instrument for political gain.

According to some media reports, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also unlikely to attend the event, though the party has yet to make any official statement in this regard.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed his disappointment over the Centre rejecting Karnatakas proposal of tableau to be showcased at the Republic Day parade to be held in New Delhi on January 26.

The Central government has insulted the seven crore Kannadigas by denying the state the opportunity to showcase its tableau. Karnataka faced similar situation even last year. Our tableau was initially rejected and later approved keeping the Karnataka elections in mind, alleged Siddaramaiah.

Amid the opposition parties alleging discrimination against non-BJP ruled states, Karnataka too made a case against the Centre. The state has the rare distinction of being the only state in the country to have participated in the tableau section during the Republic Day parade for 14 consecutive years. Last year, Karnataka had featured Soolagitthi (midwife) Narasamma, who had performed more than 2,000 deliveries in seven decades as part of the 'Nari Shakti tableau reflecting women empowerment. The tableaux also featured Padma Shri awardees and green warriors Saalumarada Thimmakka from Tumakuru who planted 8,000 trees and Tulsigowda from Ankola who planted over 30,000 saplings.

This year, Karnataka had proposed a tableaux based on Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (Ruler of erstwhile Mysuru Kingdom), Nadaprabhu Kempegowdaa Vokkaliga icon and chieftain of the Vijayanagara empire and architect of Bengaluru city, Brand Bengaluru and Annamma Devi temple (a famous fever goddess temple) built by Hanumantha Nayaka, a chieftain of the Vijayanagara empire.

The Central Committee rejecting our proposals has denied us a chance to showcase to the nation our state's immense achievements and exemplary figures. The fact that the Congress government is in power in the state seems to be a concerning factor to the BJP-led central government. From devolution of tax, injustice in drought relief funds, to the sale of banks, ports, and airports built by Kannadigas, the Centre is constantly attacking Kannadigas with political malice. By rejecting our tableau presentation, it has attacked our identity again, said Siddaramaiah in a social media post.

Siddaramaiah also said it was unfortunate that BJP MPs from Karnataka did not question the injustice. They have become puppets of Narendra Modi. To whom are they loyal? Kannadigas or Narendra Modi?, asked the chief minister.

It may be recalled that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had accused the Centre of discrimination after the latter rejected the tableaux from Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal, saying that they didn't align with the "broader theme" of this year's parade.

However the defence ministry had clarified that as a norm, an expert committee comprising eminent persons in the fields of arts, culture, painting, music, architecture, choreography and sculpture, appointed by the Centre, screened the proposals from 30 states and UTs to pick 15-16 states.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the first accused in the Kerala hand-chopping case, 13 years after the crime. The central agency nabbed Savad Meerankutty, 38, from a house in Mattannur on Tuesday night.



An activist of the banned radical outfit Popular Front of India, Savad allegedly chopped off the right palm of T.J. Joseph, a professor with the Newman College in Idukki district's Thodupuzha on July 4, 2010. A group of seven men attacked Joseph while he was returning home with his family after attending a church service.

The accused claimed they planned to kill Joseph for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad in a question paper he set for a college examination.

The NIA had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for information on Savad last year, Onmanorama reported.

For the past 18 months, Savad resided in the Mattannur Beram ward, assuming the alias Shajahan. He primarily worked in carpentry, along with non-Malayali migrant labourers. Following his arrest, his wife and two young children relocated to Kasargod.

Locals report that Savad had limited interactions within the community and was not actively involved in social or religious affairs. According to the residents, the family came to Beram from Iritty Vilakkodu. Savad originally hails from Asamannoor village of Ernakulam district.

Last year, a special NIA court awarded life sentence to three people in the case.

-with inputs from Nirmal Jovial
The battle for the better white sand beaches just got uglier. On Wednesday, the website of the juvenile court in Maldives was hacked, according to media reports. A visual grab of the website showed 'We are Bharatiya Hackers', suggesting that the hackers were Indians. Consider this a warning, the message read, followed by #ExploreIndianIslands#Lakshadweep.

This added to the virtual hostility between India and Maldives, marked by spats across social media platforms. While the online war ragesfuelled by celebrities coming out to support Prime Minister Narendra Modis push for Indian locations for tourism in the wake of derogatory remarks by three Maldivian ministers against the post there is a frostiness in the diplomatic relationship. The three deputy ministers were suspended, in an attempt by the government to distance itself from the remarks; but the damage seems to have been done.

The tourism rivalry between the two countries has gone up a notch with President Mohamed Muizzus remarks in China. The trip to China, which happened on the heels of his first overseas visit to Turkey and the UAE, was much publicised and is being seen as a snub to India. This is not the first time that the relationship between India and the Maldives relationship became less than warm because of China.

But this time around Muizzu is trying to outdo former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the original Beijing man. The 'India out' plank has been Yameen's pet project. The island nation has witnessed a period of change in domestic politics in the past few months. There is rivalry between Muizzu and his mentor, the main opposition party headed by former president Mohamed Nasheed Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Yameen has formed a new political party. (He has been sentenced to jail and is in exile). And Muizzu, who realised that he could get a nomination for president, joined the Peoples National Congress (PNC). He is now hoping to court China and hence his five-day visit to China is an attempt to prove his loyalty.

We believe that through this visit, the two heads of state will provide strategic guidance for the bilateral relations to reach a new height," Wang Wenbin, Chinese foreign ministrys spokesperson, has been quoted by media outlets as saying on January 5. This has been proven right, especially as Muizzu urged Chinese tourists to come to Maldives.

This has added to the tension between the two countries. Things have been on edge with India after President Muizzu announced his decision to remove the Indian military presence. India tried to downplay the differences, choosing to focus on the other aspects of the ties between the countries. While there was a suggestion for a visit to India, and dates were being discussed, the Presidents office announced that Muizzu will go to Turkey and the UAE for his first foreign trip. This was a break in established tradition, and after his five-day long visit to China, high-level visits between India and Maldives will need a cooling-off period.

For now, the battle continues.
The postmortem of the 4-year-old boy, murdered allegedly by his mother AI startup CEO Suchana Seth, revealed that he was smothered to death, according to reports. The child was reportedly killed at a service apartment in Goa and Seth was detained by the police while fleeing with his body to Karnataka.

"He (the child) was strangled to death or what we call smothering. Either a cloth or a pillow was used. The child died due to strangulation. It doesn't look like the child was strangulated using hands. It looks like a pillow or some other material was used. The Rigor mortis had resolved in the child," Hiriyur Taluk Hospital's administrative officer Dr Kumar Naik told reporters.



"Usually in India, rigor mortis resolves after 36 hours but in this child's case, there was no Rigor mortis. So, it has been more than 36 hours since his death," he said. Naik said there was no blood loss or struggle marks on the body. "We cannot say the exact time but it has been 36 hours since his death," Naik said.



According to her LinkedIn profile, Seth is the CEO of 'The Mindful AI Lab', and an AI ethics expert and data scientist with over 12 years of experience in mentoring data science teams, and scaling machine learning solutions at startups and industry research labs.



However, police investigating the case found that the artificial intelligence startup had no office in Bengaluru. Police visiting her company's listed address found a co-working space instead of a particular office, The Times of India reported.



Seth claims to be the founder and CEO of The Mindful AI Labs and the website mentions nothing more than her profile and the services it offers.



The report quoting sources added that a police team's visit to the firm's stated address on the first floor of Gopala Complex on Residency Road didn't yield anything to suggest the startup is a functional one with projects on its portfolio and the payroll.

Meanwhile, the estranged husband of Seth, who was in Indonesia, flew back to Karnataka on Tuesday on police's instructions. The child's postmortem was conducted after he gave the consent.


Press Release

January 10, 2024 Bong Go champions health infrastructure development nationwide as he pushed for new Outpatient Building in General Santos City Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, lauded the groundbreaking of the new Outpatient Department Building at Dr. Jorge P. Royeca City Hospital in General Santos City. As the vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, Go has been instrumental in advocating for the necessary funding for this significant project, marking another milestone in his ongoing commitment to enhancing healthcare services across the country. Go expressed his deep commitment to the project, stating, "As Filipinos, we deserve access to quality healthcare, and this outpatient department is a step towards that goal." "My office, in collaboration with local government units and health officials, will continue to advocate for and support such essential health projects," he added. The new Outpatient Department Building, which held its groundbreaking on January 4, is expected to significantly boost the hospital's capacity to provide medical services to the community. It is designed to cater to a wide range of outpatient services, including consultations, diagnostic tests, and minor procedures. Go also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts, saying, "This achievement is the result of our collective effort - the national government, local government units, health professionals, and the community." "Together, we can overcome the challenges in our healthcare system and improve the lives of our kababayans," he added. Meanwhile, Go urged individuals with health issues to seek assistance from the Malasakit Center located at the hospital. There are currently 159 Malasakit Centers nationwide and these have assisted around ten million indigent Filipinos, according to the Department of Health (DOH). Republic Act No. 11463 was principally authored and sponsored by Go to institutionalize Malasakit Centers and ensure Filipinos have convenient access to medical assistance programs by concerned agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare, DOH, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Go has continuously pushed for enhanced healthcare accessibility in the country by also supporting the establishment of Super Health Centers nationwide. This initiative aims to bring primary healthcare services closer to local communities. The facility will offer an array of services, including database management, out-patient, birthing, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: x-ray and ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit. Other available services are eye, ear, nose, and throat (EENT) service, oncology centers, physical therapy and rehabilitation centers, and telemedicine, which makes remote diagnosis and treatment of patients possible. Lastly, the senator is the principal sponsor and one of the authors of the recently enacted RA 11959, or the Regional Specialty Centers Act. The said law mandates the establishment of Regional Specialty Centers within existing DOH regional hospitals. Go likewise supported other projects in the province including the concretion of the NHW junction Lebe-Tablao-Sipling-Banawag, NHW Luan-Ticulab-Cafe and Malalag-Batian provincial roads; construction of a multipurpose building for the public terminal; and construction of a lined canal in Brgy. Malalag in Maitum.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 09:31 | All, World

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has classified South Korea as his nation's "principal enemy" and the state "most hostile" toward Pyongyang, the country's official media reported Wednesday.

Kim stated the labels during an inspection of major munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim said that given South Korea is the North's primary enemy, his nation will prioritize bolstering "military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent" in response to Seoul's posturing.

The report also quoted Kim as saying that "the historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile" toward North Korea "the entity called the Republic of Korea," referring to South Korea's official name.

Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the fact that the factories have successfully carried out the plan for deploying new type weapons and equipment to the first-line large combined units and major missile units," it said.

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North Korea's Kim calls 2024 "new heyday" of war preparations
Tamil Nadu Advocate General R. Shanmuga Sundaram resigned on Wednesday citing personal reasons. In a resignation letter which was circulated in the DMK legal wing group, Sundaram said that he will return to private practice.

Sundaram is learnt to have stepped down from the post of AG following several legal setbacks for the DMK in the past one year. DMK legal wings failure in handling the disproportionate assets case of former minister K. Ponmudy and his conviction was the trigger point. The conviction apparently had upset the DMK leadership, particularly Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.

Sources say Stalin personally wanted to revamp the legal wing as it had lost in most of the important legal issues including cases against sitting ministers like Ponmudy and V. Senthil Balaji and in issues like RSS route march.

Shanmuga Sundaram, who is one of the blue eyed boys of the DMK, was chosen to the top post by Stalin himself, after the party came to power in 2021, because of his track record. Sundaram, a senior advocate, is one among the many legal luminaries in DMK, who had helped the party win several criminal cases in the past.

Sundaram was in fact the man behind the most infamous TANSI land deal case against former Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. He was the advocate who filed the petition in the case on behalf of DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi, in which she was convicted and later acquitted by the high court. TANSI case was one of the black marks in Jayalalithaas political career leading to her downfall later.

In fact this case was the turning point in Sundarams life as well. On May 30, 1995, Sundaram was physically assaulted by Jayalalithaas supporters and he lost two of his fingers in the attack. Later in 1996-2001, when DMK assumed power, he was appointed as the public prosecutor of the Madras High Court and later M. Karunanidhi elevated him as a Rajya Sabha member on a DMK ticket.

Sundaram was the go to man, in all criminal cases, for the DMK during the past three decades. However, as Advocate General, DMK insiders say, Sundaram did not deliver in times of distress for the party. Apparently, he was always successful in winning cases on the writ side and of civil nature. He is an expert in criminal law and not a civil lawyer. In the past two years, he has fallen from grace with the judiciary and the government.

During the corona period, while arguing in an online hearing, a division bench pulled him for not preparing in the case and the judges told him point blank to depute his juniors to argue the case. On more than one occasion, he was snubbed by the bench and the judges in the Madras high court after he took over as AG. Though personally he is close to Stalins family, it is believed that he failed to deliver, especially at a time when the DMK is having a running battle in the judiciary.

The DMK had lost legally when the RSS knocked the doors of the Madras High Court seeking permission for a route march. The party also faced setbacks in high profile cases like 10.5 percent internal reservation to the Vanniyars and the case against Udhayanidhi Stalin in the Sanatan Dharma issue.

However, changing the AG in the midst of the tenure shows that the government is vulnerable especially when the cases of several ministers are pending before the Madras High Court.

The DMKs legal wing, according to party insiders, did not perform as expected in the past two years. In fact, in the beginning, it could not find ways to clear the statutory logjam created by a government order issued in 2017 to field law officers in the Madras High Court. Every time a new government assumes power, a new set of 75 law officers are appointed to the principal seat of Madras high Court and another 44 to the Madurai bench of Madras High Court. Later in December 2021, when the appointments were made after a long struggle, there were rumblings within the party. Then, in the High Court, there were two teams of the DMK legal wing, which never got together due to intra-party feud. In fact, in the recent hearing with regard to minister Senthil Balajis bail application, DMKs Rajya Sabha member and senior counsel N.R. Elango was replaced by senior advocate Ariyama Sundaram.

Why P.S. Raman?

P.S. Raman alias Bharat Raman who served as AG between 2009 and 2011 during the erstwhile DMK regime has been appointed as the AG for the second time. Raman, a seasoned advocate, is close to the DMK first family. According to highly placed sources in the state government, Sundarams resignation and a proposal to appoint Raman has been forwarded to governor R.N. Ravi. The government is waiting for the issuance of the appointment order. Once the governor issues orders, Raman will assume office as the AG.

Son of former advocate general and former additional solicitor general V.P. Raman, P.S. Raman had been handling cars related to constitutional, civil, commercial, criminal, property law, indirect tax and intellectual property matters and had appeared in several leading cases before the Madras High Court. He was designated as a senior counsel at the age of 44.

In April 2023, the state government as a measure to honour V.P. Raman renamed the Avvai Shanmugam Salai as V.P. Raman road, where his residence is. The former solicitor general was apparently an admirer of former chief minister C.N. Annadurai and was associated with the Dravidian movement.
Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri took a dig at the INDIA Alliance, stating that the bloc has failed to even name a convenor. Puri told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday that though the alliance proposed the names of several leaders as the Prime Ministerial candidate, they could not even discuss the seat-sharing arrangement.

The minister, who was in Karnataka for the ongoing Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra  a campaign to reach out to the beneficiaries of the central schemes, said, "I mean The (opposition) alliance would have some hope of being a cohesive alliance provided they could hold talks on seat sharing. But here is a hilarious situation where they are unable even to pick a convener."



"You cannot break what does not exist," mocked Puri, on allegations of BJP trying to weaken the INDIA alliance.



When asked about the Congresss Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Puri dared the Congress to deliver justice to 1984 riot victims before talking about justice. "If someone finds time in between their overseas holidays to do this yatra, I am happy for it. With the yatra, they will stand exposed as the BJP, through Viksit Bharat Sankalpa Yatra, is placing facts and figures before the people, especially the beneficiaries," said Puri.



Referring to Congress leaders alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the Maldives issue 'personally', and the Congress barbs on the election issues, like price rise and economy to corner the BJP, Puri said, "When people have declining political fortunes, their language and behavior starts to border on the desperate. So, anything that any leader in the Congress says take it with a pinch of salt. I say develop a sense of humor because they make the most outlandish statements. They are in the company of so called global experts who were prophesising that India's economy will only grow by five percent. Knowing the last quarter the growth was 7.6%, I can only smile. Now, why do you start criticisng India whenever you leave the shores of the country? Have you got any inferiority complex that you are in Indian or is it some other connection which makes you unsure?"


Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Wednesday, held in-depth talks with his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Muizzu following which the two countries signed 20 "key" agreements, including one on tourism cooperation, and announced the elevation of their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Muizzu said he was honoured to pay his first state visit to China and become the first foreign head of state that China has hosted this year, fully demonstrating the great importance both sides attach to the development of bilateral relations.

Xi stressed that China respects and supports the Maldives in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions. China also supports the Maldives firmly in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi and Muizzu announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, it said.

"20 key agreements were signed today between the Government of the Maldives and the Government of China this afternoon and both the Presidents witnessed the signing ceremony," Maldivian President's office said in a post on X.

The agreements signed included tourism cooperation, disaster risk reduction, blue economy and strengthening investment in the digital economy. China will also provide grant assistance to the Maldives, but the amount was not disclosed.

The agreements also included jointly accelerating the formulation of the Cooperation Plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, social housing project on Fushidhiggaru Falhu, fisheries products processing factories and the re-development of Male' and Villimale' Roads Development Projects.

Muizzu and his wife Sajida Mohammad were given a ceremonial red carpet welcome at the Great Hall of People. President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan later hosted a state banquet in their honour.

Muizzu's visit to China is marred by the diplomatic row with India over derogatory remarks by his ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the release of a report by the EU Election Observation Mission of Maldives that said the ruling coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC) deployed anti-India sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation in the 2023 presidential elections in which Muizzu won.

The EU report cast a shadow over Muizzu's Presidential election last November as he contested as part of PPM headed at that time by former pro-China President Abdullah Yameen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption.

Soon after his election, President Muizzu fell out with former pro-China leader Yameen, regarded as his mentor, and opted to pursue his own foreign and domestic policy.

Under Yameen's presidency, China carried out major infrastructure projects amid allegations of debt traps by some influential politicians of the Maldives.

Angry with Muizzu, Yameen, who is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption, quit the (PPM) and formed his own political party called from jail to oppose Muizzu.

The EU report slams both the parties for whipping up an anti-India campaign. The EU observers found the PPM-PNC's presidential campaign included anti-India sentiments, based on fears of Indian influences and anxiety regarding the presence of Indian military personnel inside the Maldives.

This theme was subject to multiple online disinformation attempts, the report said.

In his remarks, President Xi said China stands ready to exchange governance experience with the Maldives, strengthen the synergy of development strategies, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and set a new benchmark for the China-Maldives friendship, Xi said.

He said China will support more Maldivian students to study in China and promote more direct flights between the two countries.

President Muizzu said the Maldives pursues the one-China policy firmly. Firm mutual support in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is a solid foundation for the sustained and sound development of Maldives-China relations, Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Muizzu, who is due to return home on January 12, is already slammed by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) headed by former president Solih for rupturing relations with India. The MDP still has the majority in Parliament. Also, the Parliament polls are scheduled to take place in March in which Muizzu has to contest against PNC and MDP.

Muizzu's visit to China is also taking place amid the row with India leading to a spate of cancellations of reservations by Indian tourists, who constitute the largest number of visitors to the tourism-dependent island nation.

Facing backlash from Indian tourists, Muizzu appealed to China to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists to his country.

"China was our (Maldives') number one market (for tourism) pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," he said.

Besides talks with Xi, Muizzu is also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other senior officials in the next two days.

His appeal for more Chinese tourists came amid a diplomatic row with India. Muizzu's government suspended three deputy ministers for their derogatory posts on social media.

Also, the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) strongly condemned the derogatory comments.

According to data released by the Maldives tourism ministry earlier, India remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023 with Russia in second place followed by China in the third.

The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals.

China-Maldives bilateral trade in 2022 totalled to $451.29 million of which China's exports constituted $451.29 million against $60,000 of exports from Maldives.

Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum.
Two days after hackers targeted the official websites of the Maldivian Presidents Office, Foreign Ministry and Tourism Ministry, the web platform of the Juvenile Court of the Maldives too has apparently come under cyber attack on Wednesday.

The website, which is no longer available, earlier showed a message from a group of hackers TeaM NETWORK9, claiming to be Indians.



"We are Bharatiya hackers," read the statement posted on the website. It also warned that that the site has been hacked "in response to the recent inflammatory and offensive statements made by certain members of your government".



"The illiterate and rascist remarks from figures like Malsha, Hassan Zihan and Mariyum Shiuna are not only shameful but also detrimental to the diplomatic relationship between our nations," said the post, adding that Maldives has received historical assistance and support from India.



They also warned of actions that could "severly impact your cyber space" if the Maldives did not "cease this provocation immediately and reflect on the potential consequences."



The message included hashtags #ExploreIndianIsland and #Lakshadweep. The group also thanked several other hacker outfits.



This comes as the Maldivian government's websites went down for hours on January 7, which authorities attributed to "technical issues". The sites were restored later.



"Please note that the President's Office website is currently facing an unexpected technical disruption. NCIT and other relevant entities are actively working on resolving this promptly. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Thank you for your understanding and patience,"Maldives President's office posted on X on January 7.


Gandhinagar, Jan 10 (PTI) India needs to have more participants in the aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) sector which presents a lot of opportunities with increasing number of aircraft in the country, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said here on Wednesday.

The government was trying hard to encourage the MRO sector, he said at a seminar on Aircraft/Ancillary Manufacturing and MRO Opportunities at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here.

India has an excellent ecosystem for the growth of the aviation sector with a huge traffic, 1,000 more aircrafts being added and the number of operational airports rising to 149 from 70 a decade ago, Singh said.

"We want more participation in MRO, and talk aggressively to players abroad to invest in India as JV or in any other way but bring it in India. There is a lot of scope in the sector, and a lot requires to be done. Whatever exists now is very small, whether it is for civil or military application," the minister said.

The government is trying hard to encourage the sector and believes that it needs to be encouraged and strengthened so that aeroplanes do not have to go abroad for major maintenance, he said.

"We need to have our own MROs in India. And we believe that a lot is possible within the country. MRO is USD 2 billion business," he said, adding that the government has reduced the Goods and Services Tax on domestic MRO services to 5 per cent from 18 percent, and removed the GST on export duty.

Import duty on special tools and equipment has been removed, and waiver has also been provided on custom duty on spare parts. Even the foreign direct investment has been permitted in the sector, he added.

"We have tried to create an ecosystem to promote MRO, and it is up to you (to invest). We have asked airlines placing orders for aircrafts to pressurise these companies (to invest) in India," Singh said.

"There is also a need to train people who could get expertise in maintenance, and are ready for MRO which invest in the country so that they do not find shortage of technical manpower," he said.

In the last ten years, the government has come up with a new civil aviation policy and drone policy which liberalised the sector, the minister said.

"We also made a policy for helicopter (manufacturing). In such a large country, we have around 240 helicopters. You have a great opportunity to set up a helicopter company," Singh said.

Flight training organisations have been liberalised which has helped train more pilots with a cheaper investment, he said. "There is no shortage of pilots, but that of commanders. We have the highest number of women pilots in the entire world," he added.

The Udan scheme for regional connectivity has democratised air traffic due to the addition of new airlines and smaller aircrafts for which there is a huge space in Indian markets, Singh said.

The government has paid a lot of attention to air cargo, and it has increased significantly than before, he said.
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Pinewood Systems on Wednesday announced that it has plans to develop a 500 MW solar power project in Maharashtra in partnership with state-owned Braithwaite & Co.

While Pinewood Systems is an active investor in the renewable energy sector in India, Braithwaite & Co comes under Ministry of Railways.

In a statement, Pinewood Systems said it has formed an executive team to develop the project.

"We are dedicated to delivering a sustainable and impactful solution to meet the renewal energy demands of Maharashtra, in line with our commitment to clean and renewable energy sources," Pinewood Systems Chairman Satish Jha said.

According to the statement, the primary objective is to adhere to the timeline set by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL).
Gandhinagar, Jan 10 (PTI) Amid speculation that Elon Musk will visit Gujarat, a senior government official on Wednesday said the billionaire-founder of Tesla is not coming for the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, but they are welcome to invest in the state.

The state is very keen to get Tesla if it comes to India, Managing Director of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation Rahul Gupta said.

He also said the state is already home to a slew of electric vehicle manufacturers.

To a specific question on whether Musk is expected to attend the three-day event inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day, a state government official replied in the negative.

"Musk is not expected. If he were to come, would he not attend the inaugural session? Will he be attending the seminars on day 2 and day 3?" the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Speculation was rife that Musk might attend the summit.

"You will appreciate that it is the prerogative of any particular company on where to invest and what to invest. So as far as Tesla is concerned, the government of Gujarat will be more than happy to facilitate them in case if they decide to come to the state," Gupta said.

He also said the state's industrial landscape and robust infrastructure were among other draws that can entice a company like Tesla.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra alluded to a meeting between Modi and Musk during the PM's last visit to the US.

"There were many elements of value chain, economic and commercial investment driven opportunities that were discussed between the Prime Minister and the leaders.

"And Tesla leadership had extensive meetings with a focus on how exactly can Tesla partner more strongly in the period of investment and manufacturing partnership with India so that it strengthens that segment of the automobile manufacturing in India," Kwatra said.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) The Income Tax department has detected "unaccounted cash sales" of about Rs 1,000 crore after it recently raided the Polycab group, a prominent wires, cables and electrical items manufacturer, the CBDT and official sources said on Wednesday.

Unaccounted cash of more than Rs 4 crore was seized and more than 25 bank lockers were put on restraint after the searches were launched against the group on December 22 last year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

It said a total of 50 premises in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nashik in Maharashtra, Daman, Halol in Gujarat and Delhi were covered.

Some of the authorised distributors of the group were also covered in the searches, the CBDT, which is the administrative body for the Income Tax department, said.

The CBDT statement did not name the group but official sources confirmed it to be Polycab India Limited.

Polycab India issued a clarification to stock exchanges earlier in the day terming reports of "tax evasion by the company circulating in media" as "rumours"

"The company asserts its commitment to compliance and transparency, having fully cooperated with the Income Tax department officials during the search proceedings in Dec '23. The company has not received any communication from the Income Tax department regarding the outcome of the search," the company told the bourses in a statement.

The CBDT said a large number of "incriminating" evidence in the form of documents and digital data were seized during the raids. These reveal the "modus operandi of tax evasion" adopted by the group in connivance with some of authorised distributors, it said.

"Preliminary analysis suggests that the flagship company indulged in unaccounted cash sales, cash payments for unaccounted purchases, non-genuine transport and sub-contracting expenses, etc for suppression of its taxable income," it alleged.

"Credible evidences recovered during the search have established that the flagship company has made unaccounted cash sales of around Rs 1,000 crore which are not recorded in the books of accounts," the CBDT claimed.

Unaccounted cash payments of more than Rs 400 crore made by a distributor, on behalf of the company, towards purchases of raw materials, have also been found, the statement said.

It alleged that "non-genuine" expenses in the nature of sub-contracting expenses, purchases and transport expenses etc. aggregating to about Rs 100 crore have also been identified in the seized evidences from the premises of the company.

The search action also resulted in determination of "unexplained" transactions undertaken by the distributor for issuing bills without genuine supply of goods, whereas such goods have been sold in open market in cash, it said.

Thus, the CBDT said, the authorised distributor facilitated certain parties to "inflate" their purchase accounts, which aggregate to about Rs 500 crore. This distributor exclusively sells products of the flagship company, it said.
London, Jan 10 (PTI) A 26-year-old Indian-origin driver who hit an elderly British Sikh woman while travelling at high speed, causing her death in the West Midlands region of England, has been jailed for six years.

Arjun Dosanjh was also banned from driving for eight years at Wolverhampton Crown Court this week after Kaur's death of Surinder Kaur, 81, in November 2022.

Kaur was on her way back home from her local gurdwara when she was hit.

The court heard that Dosanjh, along with co-accused Jacek Wiatrowski, 51, had suddenly decided to race each other at the traffic lights before the fatal accident.

The duo, unknown to each other, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing and were handed identical sentences on Monday.

"Mrs Kaur was on her way back from her local gurdwara, the journey she made every day and was killed during her daily routine, said Detective Sergeant Chris Ridge from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit of the West Midlands Police.

"She was devoted to her faith and family, and my thoughts are with her loved ones who have been deeply affected by her death. Wiatrowski and Dosanjh did not know each other and were driving competitively  this dangerous and foolish action cost a life. The sentence imposed will never fill the void left in Mrs Kaur's family, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to them," he said.

The court heard that both vehicles were travelling at high speeds, significantly exceeding the speed limit. CCTV footage showed Wiatrowski heavily braking as he spotted Kaur crossing the road, he narrowly missed her but caused Dosanjh to swerve on the wrong side of the road, hitting Kaur.

In a victim statement read out to the court, Kaur's family said: "Our mum lived a very simple life. She was a deeply religious woman, and on the day of the accident, she was on her way home from the gurdwara. The days and weeks after mums death were really tough; as well as trying to come to terms with our loss, we had to deal with an ongoing police investigation."

"We are all trying to come to terms with the loss of our mum, we have all gone through so many different emotions, but ultimately, we are all just sad. Sad that every milestone we celebrate as a family will be filled with sadness as our mum will not be there, the statement said.

The police urged motorists to prioritise road safety as their actions can make a significant difference in preventing accidents.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 15:55 | All, Japan, World

The United States and China have resumed defense policy coordination talks that were suspended due to raised tensions between the two countries in 2022, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

During the two-day talks from Monday, deputy-level defense officials discussed issues ranging from promoting military-to-military communication as agreed by their leaders in November to Taiwan and Russia's war against Ukraine, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

The talks at the Pentagon marked the first time that representative of the two sides have met in person under the framework since January 2020, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

The meetings followed an agreement between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in mid-November in San Francisco area to reopen military-to-military lines of communication at several levels.

Despite numerous areas of contention, the United States and China have recognized the need to prevent competition from turning into direct conflict.

High-level military communication channels had been closed since Beijing cut them in protest at a visit to Taiwan made in August 2022 by then-U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

During the latest discussions, Michael Chase, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, who led the U.S. delegation, raised the need for operational safety across the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Pentagon.

It said Chase reaffirmed that the United States will continue to sail, fly and operate responsibly wherever international law permits, while noting that Washington's commitment to its allies in the region remains ironclad.

On Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, Chase reiterated Washington's longtime "one-China policy," which recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China.

But he also underscored that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is vital, it said.

Maj. Gen. Song Yanchao, deputy director of the Central Military Commission's Office for International Military Cooperation, represented China at the talks, which were launched in 2005.

China's Defense Ministry said its side urged the United States to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and to oppose independence for the island.

Using a more hawkish tone than the Pentagon announcement, the ministry's brief statement was filled with various demands it made to the U.S. delegation, which also included a call on the United States to reduce its military deployments and "provocative" actions in the South China Sea.

China claims control over a large swath of the South China Sea and continues to build up its naval capacity, with tensions especially escalating with the Philippines in recent months.

Related coverage:

China's Xi Jinping says reunification inevitable, as Taiwan election nears

U.S. sees North Korean ICBM test as "concerning," eyes better readiness

China's Xi Jinping vows to deepen partnership with Vietnam
Rome, Jan 10 (AP) Pope Francis on Wednesday confirmed a new leader for India's Syro-Malabar Church in a step toward healing a decades-long liturgical dispute that became so dire that Francis recently threatened to excommunicate hundreds of priests.

Francis confirmed the election of His Beatitude Mar Raphael Thattil as major archbishop of the arch-eparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, located in southern Kerala state where many of India's Christians live.

Thattil had been elected to the position by the synod of bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the 23 autonomous eastern rite churches in communion with the Holy See. Francis confirmed the choice as called for under church law.

Thattil's appointment opens a new chapter for the church, which has been badly divided by a dispute over the celebration of the liturgy. In 1999, the church's synod decided to adopt a compromise, unified liturgy but most of the estimated 460 priests in Ernakulam-Angamaly refused.

Francis for years has urged them to comply and over the summer appointed a personal envoy, the Slovak Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil, to try to help resolve the standoff.

Tensions came to a head on December 7, when Francis issued a videotaped warning to the dissident priests that they risked excommunication if they didn't conform by Christmas and celebrate the unified liturgy.

In the name of the Lord, for the spiritual good of your church, of our church, I ask you to heal this rupture, Francis begged them in the video. It is your church, it is our church. Re-establish communion, remain in the Catholic Church!

That same day, Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal George Alencherry, whom Thattil now replaces.

According to Rome-based prelates familiar with the Indian church, many, if not most, of the priests celebrated Christmas according to the compromise formula, which involves the priest facing the congregation for part of the service and the altar for the Eucharistic prayer.

Francis made no mention of the dispute in a letter to Thattil that accompanied the announcement of his appointment on Wednesday, though the pontiff said he was praying for unity.

May the Holy Spirit foster the unity, fidelity and mission of the Syro-Malabar Church, so that it may grow and flourish under your paternal guidance, Francis wrote.

Thattil is known to have accepted the unified liturgy and in some of his first comments after his election, said, We are together and we work together, according to the AsiaNews missionary news agency, which has followed the dispute closely.

There are around 20 million Catholics in India, with most belonging to the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church. The Syro-Malabar Church is the largest eastern rite Catholic church in communion with Rome after the Ukrainian Church.

It counts some 5 million believers, most in India but also in communities in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia, according to the church's website. (AP)



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Lahore, Jan 10 (PTI) Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday failed to get any relief from the court to contest next month's general elections.

The appellate tribunals of the Lahore High Court (LHC) upheld the returning officers' (ROs) decision to reject the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's nomination papers for two National Assembly constituencies in the Punjab province of the country.

Pakistan will go to polls on February 8.

Justice Tariq Nadeem and Justice Abul Aziz of the tribunal announced the verdict on Lahore's NA-122 and Mianwali NA-89 seats, respectively. In the 2018 polls, Khan had won both his hometown's seats.

"Both judges rejected the appeals of Khan against the Returning Officer's decision observing that he (Khan) was convicted in the Toshakhana (national treasury gifts) case. His conviction is suspended but he is not acquitted in the case thereby he is not eligible to contest the February 8 polls," a court official told PTI.

On December 30, the Returning Officer rejected Khan and several other party stalwarts on what the PTI called "flimsy grounds."

Khan, 71, had contended before the tribunals that the conviction of the Toshakhana case has no link with his disqualification under Article 62 (1f) of the Constitution as 'not honest and righteous', therefore, his nomination papers cannot be rejected.

Khan is likely to challenge the decision of the tribunal in the higher court.

PTI Chairman Advocate Gohar Khan said stopping Khan and other main PTI leaders from contesting polls is the worst kind of misuse of authority and abuse of process. "However, we will contest the elections come what may," he said.

Khan who has been in jail since August last year was arrested on Tuesday by Rawalpindi police in at least a dozen cases on the May 9 violence, including the attack on the military's General Headquarters (GHQ).

According to the PTI, the state is using every possible tactic to stop its candidates from contesting the polls across the country. Citing a case in point it said on Tuesday, that PTI candidate Abdullah Mumtaz Kahloon was allegedly 'abducted' by the agencies' personnel from Islamabad International Airport after he arrived from abroad. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued directions to the Federal Investigation Agency to trace him with the help of CCTV footage.
Kyiv, Jan 10 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived on Wednesday in Lithuania ahead of visits to Estonia and Latvia, as Ukraine seeks more help to bolster its air defenses amid Russia's intensified missile and drone onslaughts in the latest development of the 22-month war.

The focus of the Baltic trip, Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel, will be security concerns, Ukraine's hopes to join the European Union and NATO, and building partnerships in drone production and electronic warfare capacities.

The small countries on the Baltic Sea are among Ukraine's staunchest political, financial and military supporters.

They have pushed Kyiv's other Western allies to provide increasingly sophisticated weapons since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia's belligerence toward its neighbour Ukraine has some in the Baltics worried that they could be Moscow's next target.

The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during World War II before gaining independence again with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. They joined NATO in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the US and its Western allies.

Zelenskyy, in his Telegram message, expressed gratitude for their uncompromising support of Ukraine over the past 10 years, referring to 2014 when Russia's aggression started with the illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Russia's recent escalation of missile and drone attacks is stretching Ukraine's air defense resources, a Ukrainian air force official said Tuesday, leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.

Zelenskyy's energetic international diplomacy during the war has been essential to maintain pressure on friendly countries to keep supplying Kyiv with billions of dollars in weaponry, from German Leopard tanks to US Patriot missile systems and Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the UK.

However, material support has recently tailed off. A plan by the administration of US President Joe Biden to send to Kyiv billions of dollars in further aid is stuck in Congress, and Europe's pledge in March to provide 1 million artillery shells within 12 months has come up short, with only about 300,000 delivered so far.(AP) RUP

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Islamabad, Jan 10 (PTI) A Pakistan Supreme Court judge who was facing allegations of corruption resigned on Wednesday, a day after the apex court's disciplinary committee refused to stay proceedings against him for his misconduct.

In a letter to the Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar tendered his resignation and said that he couldn't carry forward his duties amidst the allegations and the way he was treated.

"It was an honour to be appointed and to serve as a judge first of the Lahore High Court and then as the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In the circumstances which are a matter of public knowledge and to some extent public record, it is no longer possible for me to continue to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Naqvi said.

Considerations of due process also compel. I, therefore, effective today resign as judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, he added.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected Justice Naqvis request to stay proceedings against him in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) over the alleged misconduct.

In a letter penned to Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and all top court judges in December, Justice Naqvi stated that the treatment meted out to him by the SJC was nothing short of disgraceful.

The SJC, on October 27 last year, issued a show cause notice to Justice Naqvi amid various complaints alleging bench manipulation and financial misconduct by the SC judge. Pakistan Bar Council, advocate Mian Dawood and others had filed complaints against the Supreme Court judge.

The SJC had directed the judge to submit a reply within two weeks.

Headed by CJP Isa, the SJC comprises Justice Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Lahore High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, and Balochistan High Court (BHC) CJ Naeem Akhtar.

The SJC is also the top body to hear complaints against judges of the top judiciary.

Justice Naqvi as judge of the Lahore High Court had declared the special tribunal that handed out the death sentence to late military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf as unconstitutional.

Interestingly, his resignation came when his judgment in the Musharraf case was quashed by the Supreme Court. It was not known if the two developments were linked.
Bangkok, Jan 10 (AP) A veteran Laotian diplomat recently appointed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' special envoy to Myanmar arrived on Wednesday on his first mission to the strife-torn nation, meeting with the head of the ruling military council and other top officials, state television MRTV reported.

Diplomat Alounkeo Kittikhoun faces the tough challenge of promoting the regional group's peace plan for Myanmar to quell the violence between the military government, which seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and an armed pro-democracy resistance movement that is assisted by ethnic minority fighting forces.

Almost 2 million people have been displaced by years of fighting in Myanmar, according to the UN, and the 10-member ASEAN regional grouping is concerned that the destabilisation could have regional consequences, including generating large numbers of refugees. Neither the military government nor its pro-democracy government foes have shown any inclination to compromise.

Alounkeo's visit comes just ahead of a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers scheduled for January 28-29 in Luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos. It is the turn this year of Laos to act as chair of the bloc, which includes Myanmar.

ASEAN has been seeking to implement a five-point consensus it reached on Myanmar just a few months after the army's takeover. It called for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels, and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

MRTV reported that Alounkeo's meetings included discussions about the implementation of the five-point consensus, the military government's efforts at providing humanitarian assistance and plans for the military's promised election. Bilateral relations and Laos' role as ASEAN chair were also discussed, it said.

Myanmar's military government initially agreed to the consensus but has since made little effort to implement it, even as the country has slipped into a situation that UN experts have characterized as a civil war. Its stonewalling led fellow ASEAN members to block key leaders of the military government from attending major meetings of the regional grouping.

Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, all electoral democracies, are known to have taken a strong stand against any engagement that could be perceived as favouring the Myanmar's generals' claims to be the country's legitimate leaders. Authoritarian nations such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are less critical of the ruling generals, as is Thailand, whose military retains strong influence over security matters.

Some members of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement  Signatories, Ethnic Armed Organisations, a group established nine years ago to pursue ways of ending decades of armed conflict with the military, also held a meeting with Alounkeo.

MRTV reported they also discussed the five-point consensus and humanitarian assistance. However, since none of the seven groups that attended are currently at war with the military, the relevance of their participation for peacemaking appeared to be minimal.

It was not immediately known if Alounkeo would meet with Suu Kyi, who was arrested when the military seized power. The 78-year-old Suu Kyi is now serving a 27-year prison term in Naypyitaw after being convicted in a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military.

The military government has refused to allow her to meet with any previous ASEAN special envoys, who came in turn from Brunei, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Alounkeo, 72, is a former minister in Laos' prime minister's office and has also served as his country's ambassador at the United Nations. (AP)



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Dhaka, Jan 10 (PTI) Bangladesh on Wednesday announced the list of the 36-member Council of Ministers, including several incumbent ministers, who are set to be sworn in on Thursday under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The list includes 25 Cabinet and 11 state ministers, who will be administered the oath of office by President Mohammad Shahabuddin.

According to the list, 14 incumbent ministers were dropped from the Cabinet, including heavyweights like Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Finance Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak and Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.

We have received a list of 25 Cabinet ministers and 11 state ministers. With honourable Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina), the total number stands at 37, Hossain said during a press conference at his office.

The strength of the existing council of ministers was 44.

Names of 13 junior ministers of the 18 current state ministers have also not appeared in the new list, including that of junior minister for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam.

The new Council of Ministers list named 14 new faces as Cabinet ministers and seven as state ministers.

Simin Hossain Rimi, the daughter of the first prime minister of Bangladesh, Tazuddin Ahmed, is among the new faces named on the state ministers list.

According to Cabinet division officials, the list of portfolios of the new cabinet and junior ministers was expected soon.

Bangladesh went to polls on Sunday, in which the ruling Awami League headed by Prime Minister Hasina won 222 seats; the Jatiya Party 11 seats; the Workers' Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Bangladesh Kalyan Party one seat each; and independent candidates won 61 seats.
Tel Aviv, Jan 9 (AP) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinian leaders on plans for a post-war Gaza.

Israel has so far ruled out calls to allow the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza and instead talked about maintaining open-ended military control over the territory. The US has said a revitalised authority should return to Gaza.

Israel must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively, Blinken said Tuesday.

The authority was ousted from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007.

Israel must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people and living side by side in peace with Israel, he added.

He said Arab leaders across the region are ready to assist, but only through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state. (AP)





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Johri is the former chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
Mumbai, Jan 10 (PTI) Police have arrested two men who allegedly barged into a pub here carrying an unlicensed revolver and misbehaved with women, an official said on Wednesday.

The incident took place in the early hours of Monday at the pub located in Amboli area of suburban Andheri, he said.

The accused -- a 23-year-old cable operator who already has six cases registered against him and a dry fruits seller aged 56 -- entered the pub, threatened its patrons and misbehaved with women, the crime branch official said.

After analysing the CCTV footage, the police nabbed the two accused, residents of Malwani and Jogeshwari areas here, and seized the gun, he said.

They have been booked under various Indian Penal Code sections including 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 A (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and provisions of the Arms Act.
Indore, Jan 10 (PTI) The district administration of Indore in Madhya Pradesh has sealed nine factories after they were found discharging untreated industrial waste into Kshipra and Kanh rivers, officials said on Wednesday.

As per the instructions of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, this action was taken in the industrial areas located at Palda, Sanwer Road, Bardari and Lakshmibai Nagar as part of the campaign to make the Kshipra river pollution-free before the Simhastha Kumbh Mela to be held in Ujjain in 2028, they said.

Nine factories in these industrial areas were found discharging waste without treatment into Kshipra and Kanh rivers, the officials said.

As part of the action against them, power supply of these factories was snapped and these industrial units were sealed, they said.

Kshipra river, which originates from the rural areas of Indore district reaches Ujjain, where lakhs of devotees take bath during the Simhastha Kumbh Mela held every 12 years.

Officials said that Kanh river, which has virtually become a drain now, meets Kshipra river and causes its pollution to grow.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2024 - 18:53 | All, World, Japan

Local authorities are speeding up efforts to move evacuees of the powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and other central Japan areas on New Year's Day to hotels and other accommodations after challenging conditions at evacuation centers are believed to have resulted in multiple deaths.

The death toll from the quake rose to 206 on Wednesday, according to the authorities, with the figure including eight people who were not directly killed by the magnitude-7.6 temblor but are believed to have died due to a deterioration in their health conditions, in some cases associated with the stress of being evacuated.

Over 26,000 people remain in evacuation centers, while some 3,100 residents are still cut off due to damaged roads, according to the prefectural government.

The prefectural government is temporarily transferring evacuees to other locations away from disaster-stricken areas as it tries to secure more comfortable accommodations. Evacuees in Ishikawa's Wajima on Wednesday boarded buses bound for a prefectural sports center in Kanazawa.

The central government is expected to arrange accommodations for approximately 10,000 evacuees in Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui, and Niigata prefectures within the week, according to sources close to the matter.

Meanwhile, the number of people unaccounted for dropped to 52, but the figure has fluctuated daily as the prefectural government continues releasing the names of individuals it cannot reach, even if there is no indication they have been affected by the quake.

"Even if the information (that the person is missing) is wrong, it is OK if it turns out the person is safe. We are releasing the numbers to narrow down those who really need to be searched for and rescued," a local government official said.

The prefectural government believes that many people may still be unable to report whether they are safe due to shortfalls in communications and severed traffic routes. The names of those unaccounted for are deleted from its website as soon as their whereabouts are confirmed.

The local government and the weather agency are also calling for people to be aware of unstable ground in quake-hit areas, as rain has continued to fall since Tuesday, melting the snow and making the ground even softer.

In areas affected by the Jan. 1 quake, which registered a maximum 7 on the country's seismic intensity scale, local authorities are stepping up inspections on buildings at risk of collapse to prevent secondary damage.

At a gutted market in Wajima, where a major blaze broke out following the quake, a large-scale search operation continued for the second day, with police officers removing the rubble by hand.

By municipality, Suzu, a city on the northern tip of the Noto Peninsula, and adjacent Wajima have seen the largest number of fatalities, with 91 and 83 killed, respectively.

Related coverage:

Central Japan quake death toll tops 200, over 100 unaccounted for

Over 300 unaccounted for after Japan quake, snow hampers rescue work

Search continues in areas hit by central Japan quake amid rain
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10 (PTI) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha govt claimed to have busted a pan-India jobs racket on Wednesday, and arrested three people for their alleged involvement in it, officials said.

Members of the gang operating the alleged racket were active in several states, including Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, they said.

However, it was being run mainly from Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, the officials said.

Two of those arrested hail from Hyderabad, while the other belongs to Odisha, the EOW said in a statement.

These accused were camping in Odisha since last few months and had been living in a rented accommodation, it said.

Many incriminating documents and items like laptops, mobile phones and ATM cards, besides Rs 1 lakh cash have been seized during a search operation, the EOW said.

The case is based on a suo motu inquiry conducted by the EOW in connection with advertisements published in a local daily, the statement said.

The gang members duped people by putting up advertisements, seeking applications for non-teaching posts in some schools in Odisha, the officials said.

So far, we have mainly inquired the Odisha aspect of this scam. We will be alerting the police/law enforcement agencies of other states concerned, the EOW statement said.
Kolkata, Jan 10 (PTI) Amid an ongoing internal feud between party veterans and new generation leaders, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday instructed party leaders to abstain from publicly discussing differences, emphasising that any violation may lead to disciplinary action.

The directive was issued during a closed-door organisational meeting of the West Midnapore district unit.

Banerjee emphasised that public spats among leaders will not be tolerated and urged party members to address grievances with the leadership internally.

A senior TMC official present at the meeting, who refused to be named, said, "Our party supremo clearly instructed that no one should speak out in public. If anyone violates those instructions, the party won't hesitate to take disciplinary action against him or her."

The meeting, attended by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi, saw Mamata Banerjee assigning the duo the task of enlisting a panel of new state spokespersons.

Sources within the party revealed that the decision to enlist new spokespersons was prompted by the actions of Kunal Ghosh, the state general secretary and spokesperson, who is considered close to Abhishek.

Ghosh has been openly critical of senior party members.

Mamata Banerjee's intervention comes amid an internal feud with veteran party members, perceived to be close to her, at odds with the new generation leaders, considered close to Abhishek.

The recent controversy erupted in November when the chief minister advocated for respecting senior members and dismissed the notion that old leaders should retire from active politics.

Abhishek Banerjee, endorsing a retirement age in politics, cited a decline in work efficiency and productivity with advancing age.

On Sunday, he dismissed reports of internal discord with Mamata Banerjee, emphasizing unity between the party's old guard and new generation leaders.

Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, close to Abhishek, had said last month that there is no conflict between the old and the new, but the old guard needs to know when to step aside for the next generation.

The party appears divided on the issue, with senior leaders not willing to embrace the maximum age limit theory proposed by Abhishek, and the youth brigade seeking more space in the party.

This ongoing controversy recalls a two-year-old internal struggle within the TMC between the old guard and the younger faction.

In January 2022, amidst rumours of an alleged power struggle, Mamata Banerjee dissolved all national office-bearer committees, including the post of National General Secretary held by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Subsequently, a new committee was formed, and Abhishek was reinstated as the party's national general secretary.

Since then, Abhishek has not only gained prominence within the party but is also considered the de facto number two in the state's ruling dispensation.
Kolkata, Jan 10 (PTI) In a direct attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress, many of whose leaders and ministers are currently under scrutiny by central agencies for alleged scandals and some of whom are even incarcerated, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday gave the 'No Vote To Mamata' call to the electorate ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Adhikari, who led a rally from Garia More to Jadavpur 8B Bus Stand here attended by thousands, came down heavily on the Left Front for their 'No Vote To BJP' campaign ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, which had "helped the corrupt TMC regime" return to power and "continue their reign of loot and misgovernance."

"Not all leftists are bad. But there are many fake secularists who had abetted and aided Mamata Banerjee and her 'chor' (thieves) brigade. These fake secularists had helped pishi and bhaipo (Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee) to continue their malpractices," he added.

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly called upon the Left to "shun their anti-BJP stance" as the saffron party is the only party that can dislodge the TMC from power in West Bengal.

He said the CPI(M) candidate in the Nandigram assembly seat had to forfeit her security deposit as the BJP has emerged as the only viable alternative to "give sushashan" (good governance) to the people of West Bengal and end the "era of smuggling of coal, cattle, and the sale of jobs to undeserving candidates."

Turning to the arrests of TMC heavyweights by central agencies in connection with graft, Adhikari said, "Had it not been for Modiji in power at the Centre, people like Partha Chatterjee, Kesto (Anubrata Mandal), and Jyoti Priyo Mallick would not have been lodged in jail. There are many others still outside, but they will also not be spared."

Accusing the TMC leaders of "threatening the judiciary," he told the crowd, "have faith in Modji. This will not be allowed."

Adhikari promised the state government employees that "the disparity in DA between central and state employees will be bridged when the BJP comes to power."

He said all vacancies in state government departments will be filled up in a fair and transparent manner.

The Nandigram BJP MLA said, "We know your pains and sufferings. BJP will ensure you won't have to suffer the same fate again and again."

Accusing Banerjee of practicing divisive politics, he said, "She has lost the support of Muslims as well and hence is desperate to project BJP as anti-Muslim and plotting conspiracies. Her game plan will not succeed."

"Neither Hindus nor Muslims have benefited under TMC rule. She wants to use them as a vote bank," Adhikari added.

TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Adhikari has no right to talk about corruption as he himself had been named by an arrested accused in connection with a ponzi scam, and a purported video was circulated from the BJP office in 2016 for his alleged links in the Narada sting operation.

He reiterated that the central agencies are being prodded by BJP leaders like Adhikari to continue raids against TMC leaders on framed-up charges to lessen the influence of TMC, but that will not succeed.
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) Top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday "respectfully declined" the invitation to attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, with the party accusing the BJP of making it into a "political project" for electoral gains and asserting that religion is a "personal matter".

The BJP said that there is nothing new in the Congress' stand as the opposition party and its allies have been "insulting" Hindus and Sanatan Dharma and claimed it will face a "boycott" from the people of India for its decision.

Amid the buzz over the Ram temple consecration, for which the BJP and Hindu outfits like the VHP have been making grand preparations while encouraging the participation of the masses in the celebrations, several opposition parties have accused the ruling party of "politicising" the issue ahead of general elections.

Announcing the decision of Congress leaders in a statement, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh also questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the "incomplete" temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS.

"Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain," he said.

"While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said.

Top leaders of the VHP and the Ram temple trust had personally met Congress chief and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Gandhi and Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Chowdhury last month to hand over the invite to the temple consecration ceremony to be held on January 22, 2024.

With Lok Sabha elections due in less than three months and the BJP making it clear that it would cash in on the Ram temple plank while projecting Congress as "anti-Hindu", the decision of the top Congress leaders could be crucial.

Former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia said the Congress should have stayed away from taking such political decisions.

"Lord Shri Ram is a revered deity. This is a matter of faith and belief of the countrymen. INCIndia should have stayed away from taking such political decisions," he posted on X.

On Monday, Himachal Pradesh minister and Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh said he would attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Singh, who is the son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state party chief Pratibha Singh, had also thanked the RSS and the Vishva Hindu Parishad for the invitation.

Around 100 Congress office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh, including party's state unit chief Ajay Rai and state in-charge Avinash Pande, will visit Ayodhya on January 15 on Makar Sankranti where they will take a dip in the Saryu river, and then visit the Ram temple and Hanumangarhi temple, Rai had said on Sunday.

Reacting to the decision of Congress leaders announced on Wednesday, Union minister Smriti Irani said, "I must say that Sonia Gandhi has shown that she has no faith in Lord Ram."

"Could we expect anything different from her?" the Union Minister for Minority Affairs said in Patna.

INDIA alliance leaders, under the leadership of Congress, have always opposed Sanatan and their denying invitation is in line with their "hate" for Sanatan, she alleged.

"There is nothing new. It had to happen. The Congress through its allies spoke about destroying Sanatan Dharma, it spoke about Hindu terrorism. It has insulted Hindus many times...

"If they have decided to boycott the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha ceremony, the people of India too will boycott them in the coming times, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters.

"The Congress is officially saying that its senior leaders will not be there in Ayodhya on January 22. It should come as no surprise because over the last few decades, it really took no steps to see that there should be a temple in Ayodhya," BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

The BJP leader said that the former Congress-led UPA government had in fact filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court to deny the existence of Lord Ram.

"They are saying they won't be there is part of what they have always believed. They didn't want a temple there," he added.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari also derided the Congress leaders for declining the invitation, saying that "they have lost their mind. I realise that Ravana had also lost his mind in Treta Yug."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Tuesday alleged that the BJP was indulging in a "gimmick show" through the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The TMC supremo asserted that "she does not support festivities that exclude other communities" and does not believe in dividing masses on religious lines.

"Yesterday I was asked to comment on Ram Mandir in Ayodhya as if I have nothing else to do. I said that religion belongs to individuals but festivals are for all," she said.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had also declined an invitation, with the Left party saying religion is a personal choice and should not be converted into an instrument of political gain.

Asked about the Ram Temple issue, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "Religion cannot be a part of politics".

"The BJP will have to answer these questions whether the farmers' income doubled or not, whether the youth got employment or not. Since the BJP does not have answers to these questions, it hides behind religion."

When asked about attending the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple, he said, "Our stand is that when god calls (someone), even the BJP will not be able to stop him... How can the BJP decide whom to invite and whom not? This does not mean a call from Lord Shri Ram, it is a call from the BJP."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony. The temple trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country and 50 guests from foreign countries.

The BJP and the RSS and affiliate Hindutva organisations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad have launched a nationwide mass connect programme in the run-up to the ceremony, urging people to visit the holy place after the programme.

The BJP has also asked all its state units to start a campaign from January 14 to ensure the cleanliness of temples and the surroundings and exhort people to join the January 22 event by offering prayers at temples in their respective neighbourhoods.

It asked its state units to "help" people who want to visit the Ram temple after the consecration ceremony.
Jammu, Jan 10 (PTI) The authorities have thwarted attempts by anti-national elements to smuggle mobile phones into the high-security Kot Bhalwal Jail on the outskirts of Jammu city, officials said.

Exploiting foggy weather conditions, the miscreants threw rubber balls carrying mobiles, leading to the successful recovery of three such phones, they said.

The incidents, occurring thrice in the past fortnight, took advantage of poor visibility caused by the foggy weather.

"Three mobiles with sim cards were retrieved after being thrown into the jail premises using rubber balls," said a senior officer.

"This modus operandi, exploiting foggy conditions and poor visibility, has been adopted by the individuals attempting to introduce mobiles into the facility," he added.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards this high-security jail, has increased the security in and around the premises.

Earlier in October last year, the CISF had taken over the security of Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu -- a high-security jail housing over 900 prisoners, including dreaded militants of different outfits, both locals as well as foreigners.
Jaipur, Jan 10 (PTI) Rajasthan minister Babulal Kharadi has asked people to have more children, saying there should be no problem as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will build houses for them.

Kharadi, the tribal area development minister in the desert state, said it is a dream of the prime minister that no one will go to sleep hungry and without a roof over their head.

"It is a dream of the prime minister that no one should sleep hungry and without a roof over their head. You give birth to lots of children. Pradhan mantriji will build your houses, then what is the problem?" Kharadi asked while addressing a public meeting in Udaipur on Tuesday.

Kharadi has eight children -- four sons and as many daughters -- from two wives. The entire family lives in Neechla Thala village, about three kilometres from Kotda tehsil of Udaipur.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma shared the dais with the tribal area development minister on the occasion. The stage was set up for a "Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra camp" in Udaipur's Nai village.

As Kharadi made the statement, those in the audience burst out laughing and the people's representatives present on the occasion were seen looking at each other.

Kharadi urged the people to vote for Modi again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as he said the BJP-led Centre is initiating various public welfare measures.

He said the Centre has reduced the LPG cylinder prices by Rs 200 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan is now making the cylinders available to people under the Ujjwala Scheme for Rs 450.

Kharadi was elected as an MLA for the fourth time in the 2023 Assembly polls from Jhadol. He was adjudged the best MLA in 2022 during the 15th Rajasthan Assembly.

Kharadi was recently inducted as a cabinet minister in the state.
Lucknow, Jan 10 (PTI) Samajwadi Party MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh on Wednesday said he has written a letter to the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker asking him to take all legislators to Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony on January 22.

The SP MLA from Gauriganj in Amethi said he has not yet got any response from Speaker Satish Mahana.

"I have written a letter to the assembly speaker and requested him to take all the legislators with him to Ayodhya for the January 22 consecration ceremony," Singh, third term SP MLA from Gauriganj, Amethi, told PTI.

He said, "As the Speaker is our patron, I have made the request to him and sent a letter to his office". Singh was referring to all MLAs of UP across party lines.

It comes at a time when his own party president Akhilesh Yadav is non-committal on going to Ayodhya for the January 22 consecration ceremony.

Asked earlier about VHP working president Alok Kumar's claim that an invitation to attend the "Pran Pratistha" event in Ayodhya has been sent to Yadav, the SP president said he does not know him and has "perhaps never met him".

"We all are followers of Lord Ram and the Speaker should take MLAs with him to Ayodhya," Singh said.

When queried what response did he get from the Speaker or his office, the SP MLA said as he is out of station, there is no response to his request so far.

About party national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya's recent controversial statements, he said the SP president (Akhilesh Yadav) has asked everyone not to speak about religious issues and focus on the cause of backwards, Dalits and the oppressed.

On Wednesday, Maurya justified the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government's order directing the police to open fire on 'Kar sevaks' in Ayodhya in 1990, saying it was done to "protect the Constitution".

Maurya was in Kasganj during the day.
New Delhi, Jan 9 (PTI) The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey for appointment as Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, recommended the names of advocates Deepak Khot and Pavan Kumar Dwivedi for appointment as Judges of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.

On the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey, the collegium said it has scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record.

"The enquiries made by us with reliable sources to ascertain suitability of the candidate reveal that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is a competent officer suitable for elevation to the High Court. His service record shows that he has mostly been rated as a 'Very Good/Excellent officer'.

"The Judgment Evaluation Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court has graded the quality of judgments authored by him as "Good/Excellent". Both the consultee-Judges have found him suitable for elevation as Judge of the High Court. The collegium, therefore, is of the considered view that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is fit and suitable for appointment as Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh," it said.

In another decision, the collegium also recommended the elevation of advocate Pranav Shailesh Trivedi as a judge of the Gujarat High Court.

"On September 26, 2022 the collegium of the High Court of Gujarat unanimously recommended, inter alia, that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

"The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Gujarat concurred with the above recommendation. On March 2, 2023, the Supreme Court collegium recommended that the proposal for the elevation of Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be returned to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat for being considered at the appropriate stage," the collegium said.

It said the Department of Justice has referred back the file for positive consideration of the above proposal.

"We have reconsidered our earlier recommendation dated March 2, 2023 in light of the reasons recorded by the Department of Justice in the file. We made further enquiries to come to a definite conclusion as to his suitability. The candidate was enrolled with the State Bar Council in the year 2000 and has put in 23 years of practice at the High Court of Gujarat.

"His area of practice includes taxation, civil, criminal, constitutional, labour, company and service cases. He is specialized in taxation and criminal law. He qualifies in terms of age and income criteria and has a well-established practice. He has appeared in cases resulting in 68 reported judgments in matters argued by him," the collegium said.

The collegium endorsed the observations made in the file by the Department of Justice while referring back the above proposal for positive consideration and said it was of the considered view that Trivedi is fit and suitable for being elevated as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

"In view of the above, the collegium resolves to recommend that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi, Advocate, be appointed as Judge of the High Court of Gujarat. The recommendation made by the Collegium on March 2, 2023 is accordingly recalled," it said.
Chennai, Jan 10 (PTI) A section of transport unions which went on an indefinite strike from January 9, on Wednesday announced deferring the protest for about 10 days, making a submission in the Madras High Court in this connection.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy said workers/employees may have a right to go on strike as per the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act but its legality would be decided at the appropriate time.



"However, it is also a matter of fact that the transport service is the essential public utility service," the bench said, while hearing a petition against the protest.



Trade unions affiliated to the CPI (M) and main opposition AIADMK were among the respondents, and they submitted in the court that they will 'suspend' the strike till January 19.



"To provide the facility of transport service throughout the State is the responsibility of the State. In light of that, the State would be within its right to take all possible legitimate steps as may be permissible under law in case the illegal activities are resorted to by the employees. The respondents 11 to 14 are also expected not to proceed ahead with the strike at least till January 19, 2024," the bench said.



"At this stage, learned counsel for respondent Nos.11 and 12 (Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai of AIADMK and CPI-M affiliated CITU) submits that the members of the respondents 11 and 12, for the interest of the people at large and in view of the Pongal festival, would suspend the strike call till 19.01.2024 and would report to their duties by tomorrow (11.01.2024) itself," the court said.



They should be allowed to report for duty.

CITU leader A Soundararajan announced deferment of the strike and added that after January 19, the workers would continue all forms of protest in a peaceful manner.



Referring to proposed talks following the Pongal festival next week, he said, "after giving the government some time to consider the demands, if needed, once again we may have to resort to strike."



The Left trade union leader said the government's stand against even releasing 'ad hoc' payment of Rs 2,000 to workers ahead of the festival, cast doubts on "whether the government is toying with the idea of removing the Dearness Allowance altogether."



Pointing to factors such as 'outsourcing' and hiring workers on 'contract,' he said these aspects indicated a possibility of a divergence from the government's policy. "We have to protest against all these things."



The trade unions had announced the strike demanding the implementation of a "6-point charter of demands." It includes the initiation of talks for enhanced wages (15th wage revision pact), filling vacant posts, and release of pending Dearness Allowance for those in service and retired workers.



Transport Minister S S Sivasankar had earlier said the demands will be met in due course when the financial situation improves.

Trade union affiliated to the ruling DMK, the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) was not a part of the strike. AIADMK's Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai (ATP) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) among others participated in the strike.
A C919 passenger aircraft lands at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 9, 2024. (Xinhua)

SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The C919, China's self-developed large passenger aircraft, commenced operation on a new route connecting the megacities of Beijing and Shanghai on Tuesday.

Flight MU5137, operated by China Eastern Airlines, departed from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport around 3:40 p.m. With a seat occupancy rate of over 85 percent, the flight reached Beijing Daxing International Airport nearly two hours later.

This marks the second regular route for the C919, following the previously launched Shanghai Hongqiao-Chengdu Tianfu route.

"I was on a business trip to Beijing and didn't specifically choose the flight or aircraft type. Unexpectedly, I found myself on the C919. It was a pleasant surprise," said a passenger surnamed Wang, who was onboard MU5137 on Tuesday.

"The operation of the C919 on the Beijing-Shanghai route holds special significance," said Tang Bing, director and vice party secretary of China Eastern Air Holding Company Limited.

"With the C919's regular operations on this route, it will further enhance its market adaptability and overall support capabilities," Tang said, adding that it will also provide opportunities for more passengers to experience the country's homegrown large passenger aircraft.

The C919 launched its first commercial flight in May 2023 and has operated regularly between Shanghai and Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

As of Dec. 31, the China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet has accumulated more than 2,200 safe flight hours, completed 655 commercial flight trips, and transported nearly 82,000 passengers.

China Eastern Airlines signed a purchase contract in September 2023 with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) for an additional 100 C919 planes, marking the largest single order for this aircraft.

Developed by COMAC, the first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015. The plane conducted a successful maiden flight in 2017.

China has a massive civil aviation market with great potential. According to a market forecast released by COMAC in late 2022, over the 2022-2041 period, China's civil aviation market will receive 9,284 new planes, including 6,288 single-aisle jetliners.

By 2041, China is expected to become the world's largest single-country civil aviation market, according to the forecast. 
Hyderabad, Jan 10 (PTI) Adani Defence and Aerospace on Wednesday unveiled its indigenously manufactured Drishti 10 Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for the Indian Navy.

The flag-off ceremony was led by Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), India Navy, who was present at the event with 75 Navy personnel, as the UAV left from Hyderabad for Porbandar to be inducted into naval maritime operations.



A press release from Adani said Drishti 10 Starliner is an advanced Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform with 36 hours endurance, 450 kg payload capacity, the only all-weather military platform with STANAG 4671 certification and clear to fly in both segregated and unsegregated airspace.



Hari Kumar lauded Adani's efforts in aligning their roadmap to the requirements of the Indian Navy and establishing an ecosystem of partners and capabilities to enable Aatmanirbharta in defence and security.



"This is a momentous occasion and a transformative step in India's quest for self-reliance in ISR technology and maritime supremacy. Adani has demonstrated its commitment to unmanned systems having worked systematically over the last many years to develop local capabilities not limited to manufacturing but sustenance through MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). Drishti 10's integration into our naval operations will enhance our naval capabilities, strengthening our preparedness for the ever evolving maritime surveillance and reconnaissance," he said.



Jeet Adani, VP, Adani Enterprises, said the recent geopolitical events have reinforced the convergence of physical, informational and cognitive tactics underpinned by intelligence, information processing capabilities, use of unmanned systems and cyber systems for dissemination of information and disinformation.



"Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms across land, air and naval borders are a key priority for Adani which will help serve the needs of the Indian Armed forces and also place India on the global map for exports. We are proud to be able to serve the Indian Navy and their requirements," Adani added.
Bulandshahr (UP), Jan 9 (PTI) A minor girl was allegedly raped by a teenager in a village in this district, police said on Tuesday.

The girl was found in an unconscious state in a field near the village on Monday, they said.

Syana Circle Officer (CO) Bhaskar Kumar said a resident of a village under the Narsena police station limits lodged a complaint that his 12-year-old daughter has been raped by a teenager from the same village.

During investigation, it was found that the 16-year-old accused had raped the girl when she had gone to her fields.

A case has been registered under relevant sections. The teenager has been taken into custody, the CO added.
Bijnor (UP), Jan 10 (PTI) A class 10 student was killed after being run over by a state roadways bus here, police said on Wednesday.

Tanushka (17) was returning home on her bicycle after attending tuition classes when the bus hit her from behind near Gauspur trisection here on Tuesday, SHO, Nagina Rural, Hambir Singh said.

She was rushed to a Meerut hospital but succumbed to injuries on the way, he said.

The bus driver fled from the accident spot.
Nahan (HP), Jan 10 (PTI) Boda Tyohar, the biggest annual month-long festival celebrated by the Hatti community in Himachal Pradshs Sirmaur district, commenced on Wednesday.

Members of the community, who reside in 154 panchayats of the area, offer a goat to their local deity as per traditions.

Earlier, the villagers used to sacrifice goats on Bhatioj in the Sanjha Angan (common courtyard) where the temple of the local deity 'Thari Devi' is situated.

On this day, every household in the village cooks goat meat, says Neetu Chauhan, a researcher on the Hatti community customs.

In the evening, after having dinner all the villagers assemble and sing and dance to traditional music till morning.

During this night of Bhatioj, also called 'Saje ki Raat', special songs are sung during every Prahar (three hours) of the night and Chhada (a mixture of cow dung, urine, milk, ghee, curd and Ganga jal) is sprinkled on all the people present there, Chauhan said.

The festival also symbolises the importance of women in the Hatti community as the next morning, all the brothers visit their married sisters houses to share 'Saje ka Duna' (a mixture of meat, jaggery and wheat flour).

During this month-long festival, married women visit their parental house to have their share of meat and take part in the celebrations.

On the eighth day of the festival, 'Khoda', the tradition of brotherhood begins. Villagers invite their friends and relatives for dinner at their resistance, Om Prakash, a social worker in Aanj Bhoj area told PTI.

Kundan Singh Shastri, general secretary of the Hatti Samiti, a principal organisation of the community, said this festival is full of love for traditions, brotherhood, and culture.

The state government on January 1 issued a notification granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Hatti community, however, barely three days after, the Himachal Pradesh High Court issued an interim order staying the notification.
Close to 500 attendees representing 160 schools across New York State gathered last week for the 5th annual Yeshiva Summit. The Yeshiva Summit, a project of Agudath Israel of Americas Yeshiva Services department, is part of Agudahs mission of advocating for schools across the spectrum of Torah Jewry. Participants spent a full day hearing from community leaders, elected officials, and experts in their respective fields about a variety of topics directly impacting New York State yeshivas. The summit also offered participants significant networking opportunities as well as the ability to meet with more than 40 on-site vendors representing a variety of businesses and services that service schools.

Titled OnPoint, the 2024 summit focused on forging ahead in a difficult environment, directly addressing security, educational, and funding issues, as well as other growing challenges. In his opening remarks, Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus, director of Agudahs Yeshiva Services Department, added that one of the main purposes of the summit was to equip yeshivos with the information they need to make informed decisions under the guidance of each schools rabbinic leadership.

Attendees at this years Yeshiva Summit were privileged to hear divrei chizuk from Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva of Staten Island, and participate in a question-and-answer session about some of the most pressing issues that yeshivas are facing today.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined the attendees and spoke out strongly about the need to fight antisemitism and to defend our Yeshivas as they face a full frontal assault. Mayor Adams said, I know how well our Yeshivas are doing. I see the scholars, I see the greatness of those who have gone through the system.

Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY 11) also addressed the summit, saying that attendees could help make school choice a reality in New York State and across the country by asking their members of Congress to co-sponsor the Educational Choice for Children Act. The Act is a federal proposal that would provide $10 billion in scholarships for students. Agudah is a founding member of the Invest in Education Coalition that is advocating for this bill and has been helping secure co-sponsors. (You can take action to support this bill by clicking here.)

Every year, we see hundreds of administrators, from across the spectrum of yeshivos, who are committed to learning how to do everything right in running their schools, said Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus. We are so impressed by the achdus, eagerness to learn, and dedication that we see from every attendee, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to assist these institutions at the Yeshiva Summit and throughout the rest of the year.

One thing that is very clear from the Yeshiva Summit is that the Agudah is there to serve our needs, said Rabbi Dovid Stein, Administrator, Yeshiva Karlin Stolin. They tell us what our options are, and support and guide us on the decisions we make along with our daas Torah.

The Yeshiva Summit is one of the most important events of the year for New York yeshivos and is attended by yeshiva administrators from the broad spectrum of Torah Jewry said Rabbi Tzvi Liberman, Assistant Administrator of Yeshivas Vyelipol. The sessions are informative and ensure that we are aware of all the opportunities that are available for our schools and that we are educated about all the rules and regulations that we need to know to ensure that our Yeshivos run smoothly.
Michelle Obama says shes deeply worried about the upcoming 2024 White House race, admitting that these fears keep her up at night. In an interview on Jay Shettys On Purpose podcast, the former first lady shared her apprehensions, saying, I am terrified about what could possibly happen.

Because our leaders matter. Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit  it affects us in ways that sometimes I think people take for granted, she said.

Michelle Obama underlined the importance of not taking democracy for granted, addressing the misconception that government does not play a significant role, saying, And Im like, Oh my God, does government do everything for us. And we cannot take this democracy for granted. And sometimes I worry that we do.

Her concerns encompassed various issues, including conflicts in multiple regions, the future of artificial intelligence, education, smartphone addiction, and voter engagement.

Regarding her famous phrase, When they go low, we go high, she was asked what still offends her.

Injustice, ego, greed, Obama responded. Racism, ignorance  its offensive. And Ive always been that kid. I dont like unfairness; I dont like bullies. But I have to think about how I deliver messages.

Michelle Obamas remarks come amid reported concerns from her husband, Barack, about the potential return of former President Trump to the White House. While not mentioning Trump by name, she appeared to criticize his leadership style, emphasizing the significance of tone and tenor in messaging and leadership.

She called for a more authentic, compassionate, and empathetic approach to leadership, emphasizing the role of those with platforms in modeling such values.

I want to resonate good. I want to resonate reason, and compassion and empathy.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Russias national elections commission on Tuesday registered the Communist Partys candidate to compete with President Vladimir Putin in the March election that Putin is all but certain to win.

Nikolai Kharitonov joins two other candidates who were approved for the ballot last week. Kharitonov, a member of the lower house of parliament, has opposed some of Putins domestic policies but not Russias military operation in Ukraine.

Although the Communist candidate typically gets the second-highest vote tally, Kharitonov does not present a significant challenge to Putin. As the partys candidate in the 2004 election, he tallied just 13.8%.

Putin has dominated Russian politics since he was first elected to the presidency in 2000.

The commission last week approved Leonid Slutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party for the March 15-17 vote.

Both of their parties are largely supportive in parliament of legislation backed by Putins power-base United Russia party.

A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine was rejected last month from the presidential ballot.

The elections commission refused to accept Yekaterina Duntsovas initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the paperwork, including spelling. The Supreme Court then rejected Duntsovas appeal against the commissions decision.

Putin is running as an independent, and his campaign headquarters, together with branches of the ruling United Russia party and a political coalition called the Peoples Front, have collected signatures in support of his candidacy. Under Russian law, independent candidates must be nominated by at least 500 supporters, and must also gather at least 300,000 signatures from 40 regions or more.

(AP)
Taiwans Defense Ministry issued an alert Tuesday saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution days before the islands elections.

Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday that China has described as a choice between war and peace.

The bilingual alert sent to residents mobile phones cautioned in English that there was a missile flyover. The Defense Ministry later issued a statement apologizing to the public for the faulty English translation and clarifying that China had launched a rocket carrying a satellite  not a missile.

The ministry said the Chinese rocket flew over southern Taiwan at high altitude.

Chinese state media reported that the country launched a satellite called Einstein with a Long March 2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province in southwestern China. Broadcaster CCTV said the satellite entered orbit and the launch was a success.

The alerts went off in the middle of an international news conference by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. He clarified it was a satellite launch, told journalists not to worry, and proceeded with the news conference.

We need to stay responsible; we need to stay moderate in order to prevent (a) conflict from happening between Taiwan and China, he said.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who was in the southern city of Kaohsiung, urged the public not to worry, according to local media.

Beijing views Taiwan, which is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off Chinas east coast, as a renegade province that must come under its control.

Beijing has intensified its military harassment of the island inhabited by 23 million people in recent months, sending military vessels and aircraft near it almost daily. Beijing has also been flying balloons  which are feared to be used for surveillance  near the island despite Taiwans complaints.

China has repeatedly expressed its disdain for the front-runner in Taiwans presidential election, current Vice President William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party. Beijing has called Lai a destroyer of peace  and a separatist, and favors the more China-friendly Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, whose presidential candidate is Hou Yu-ih.

A third candidate from the smaller Taiwan Peoples Party, Ko Wen-je, is also running in Saturdays election.

(AP)
NICOSIA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Five new ministers joined Cyprus' government on Wednesday after President Nikos Christodoulides announced a part-reshuffle of his cabinet two days ago.

The changes involved the leadership of ministries of defense, health, justice and agriculture, and the deputy minister of innovation, research and digital policy ministry.

In addition to the five new ministries, President Christodoulides also named a new deputy minister of European affairs, in charge of preparations for Cyprus' six-month presidency of the European Union starting in January 2026.

The reshuffle came after the president said in a newspaper interview on Dec. 31 that he was considering changes to the cabinet.

In a speech during the televised confirmation ceremony for the new ministers, Christodoulides said that they would "receive a mandate to speed up the terms of the human-centered pre-election program in all sectors."

Political analysts said the replacement of the defense minister was a surprise since he had not been linked to any controversy during his 10 months in office.

However, the previous justice minister had been publicly criticized by Christodoulides following riots and clashes between asylum seekers and the police last year, and the former health minister was involved in a public dispute on social media with the permanent secretary of the ministry.

Meanwhile, the ex-agriculture minister was held responsible for a bungled contract for roadworks in an ecologically sensitive national park. 
An Australian task force devoted to stopping illegal reptile exports announced the disruption of a cold-blooded and cruel criminal group allegedly trying to send AU$1.2 million ($808,000) worth of highly-sought native lizards and other reptiles from Sydney to Hong Kong.

The Whyaratta Strike Force, part of the anti-biker Raptor Squad, said that four people have been charged over the alleged plot to hide hundreds of the bound reptiles in small chip packets and handbags.

Police released 257 reptiles, mostly lizards, New South Wales state Police Force said in a statement Monday.

Police estimate each reptile would sell for an average of 5,000 Australian dollars ($3,365) on the black market, making the haul of protected species worth more than AU$1.2 million ($808,000).

The rescued reptiles were handed to various zoos and wildlife parks to be examined by veterinarians before being released into the wild, police said.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis called the alleged plot cold-blooded and cruel.

The police strike force to investigate illegal reptile exports was established in September last year after nine packages containing 59 lizards were intercepted on their way to Hong Kong.

Three men and a woman  aged from 31 to 59  were arrested at various places in New South Wales between Dec. 20 and last week, police said.

They have been charged with various offenses relating to the alleged smuggling operation.

(AP)
JetBlue said Monday that CEO Robin Hayes will step down next month and be replaced by the airlines president, Joanna Geraghty, who will be the first woman to lead a major U.S. carrier.

Geraghty, 51, joined JetBlue in 2005 and has taken on an increasingly prominent role at the New York-based airline in recent years, including becoming president and chief operating officer in 2018.

Geraghty said she was honored to get the new job, and said she was looking forward as we execute on our strategic initiatives, return to profitable growth, and generate sustainable value for shareholders.

Hayes, 57, said he will retire for health reasons.

The extraordinary challenges and pressure of this job have taken their toll, and on the advice of my doctor and after talking to my wife, its time I put more focus on my health and well-being, Hayes said in a statement.

The change at the top will occur on Feb. 12. It comes as JetBlue waits for a federal judge in Boston to decide whether it can purchase Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion in a bid to grow quickly into a challenger to the biggest U.S. airlines. The Justice Department sued to block the deal, and a trial was held last fall.

Hayes, 57, is a former British Airways executive who joined JetBlue in 2008 and became CEO in 2015. He pushed the airline to start transatlantic flights and create a partnership in the Northeast with American Airlines. The deal with American was disbanded, however, after the Justice Department successfully sued to kill it.

JetBlue is the nations sixth-biggest airline by revenue, slightly behind No. 5 Alaska Airlines. Hayes has pursued mergers for several years to draw closer in size to American, Delta, United and Southwest.

JetBlue tried to buy Virgin America in 2016, but it was outbid by Alaska Airlines. In 2022, Hayes prevailed as JetBlue beat out Frontier to strike a deal with Spirit, the nations biggest low-fare airline.

(AP)
A deal on U.S. aid for Ukraine and policy changes at the border with Mexico was left uncertain Monday as Congress returned with Senate negotiators struggling to reach an agreement and House Republicans trying to interject their own hardline immigration demands.

Senate negotiators met Monday and had hoped this week to present the details of a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing the number of migrants who travel to the southern border to apply for asylum protections in the U.S. But by the end of the day, senators said significant disagreements remained and predicted negotiations would be prolonged beyond this week.

Theres too many unanswered issues that are still there. Theres too many unresolved parts, said Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator.

The small group of senators has already been working for months on the legislation after Republicans insisted on pairing border policy changes with supplemental funding for Ukraine.

President Joe Bidens administration has also been directly involved in the talks as the president tries to both secure support for a top foreign policy priority  funding Ukraines defense against Russia  and demonstrate action on a potential political weakness  his handling of the historic number of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Biden has faced staunch resistance from conservatives to his $110 billion request for a package of wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel as well as other national security priorities. In the Senate, Republicans have demanded that the funding be paired with significant border security changes.

The stakes here are quite high, said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in a Senate speech earlier Monday. We have an opportunity to make the most comprehensive headway on border security in a generation.

But in the House, conservatives have criticized any proposals that fall short of the strict border measures they passed on a party-line vote last year. And some House members aligned with Donald Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential front-runner, have suggested they would not support any bipartisan proposal  no matter the substance  if it means giving Biden a border bill to sign in an election year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, joined by about 60 fellow House Republicans, visited a Texas border city last week to press the case that the border legislation should tack closely to what the House has already passed. Johnson said the visit only increased his resolve to ensure border policy changes are included with Ukraine funding and called the House bill a necessary ingredient.

Over the weekend, congressional leaders reached a separate agreement on overall spending figures for the current fiscal year as they try to pass legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown in less than two weeks. But leaders made no mention of border policies or Ukraine aid, and some conservatives in the House have pushed to use the prospect of a government shutdown as further leverage in the negotiations over border policy.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on board Air Force One on Monday that Republican should stop threatening to shut down the government and fulfill their basic responsibility to fund critical domestic and national security priorities., including the presidents supplemental requests. Its time for them to act.

The White House has continually pressed Congress to approve supplemental aid for Ukraine, warning that the U.S. cannot send any more significant amounts of military equipment without approval. A lack of U.S. support would significantly diminish Ukraines defenses and weaken its government.

Its frustrating, but well continue trying to get this nailed down, said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who has led negotiations for his party.

He added: Weve run out of time. Ukraine is at a real moment of peril. This is definitely an increasingly dangerous moment.

Johnson has pointed to a deadline of providing the funding to Ukraine by February, saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told him that was when funds would be needed during Zelenskyys December trip to Washington.

In the Senate, where negotiators have been plugging away at a bipartisan compromise, even Lankford, the head GOP negotiator, has acknowledged that the final agreement will not include all of the conservative priorities.

Were always focused on what it would take to pass a bill through the House, the Senate and receive the presidents signature, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent central to the negotiations, said Monday.

As talks have progressed, the White House has tried to protect humanitarian parole, which it has used to allow 30,000 people a month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti entry into the U.S. if they have a financial sponsor and fly into the country. But that has become a major sticking point in the negotiations, Republican senators said.

We cant fix asylum and then just have them release people on parole, said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican. That would be a disaster politically, and otherwise.

Negotiators have also been grappling with how to implement a new series of border enforcement measures  many similar to those that were pursued by the Trump administration  that would be triggered if the number of daily crossings reach a certain threshold. It has proven difficult to reach agreement on what that threshold should be, according to people familiar with the talks who discussed the private negotiations on the condition of anonymity.

The emerging package also faces criticism from the left, with some progressive and Hispanic lawmakers raising concerns about policy changes that would restrict a migrants rights to seek asylum, which offers people protection from persecution in their home countries. Immigrant advocates critical of the proposal were planning to rally in Washington this week.

But the Biden administration has pressed forward in the negotiations as it looks to reduce the number of migrants arriving at the border.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has been involved in the Senate talks, said during a Monday news conference in the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas that he was hopeful that Congress would provide fixes to our broken immigration system as well as billions of dollars that the White House has requested to bolster border security.

Our system has not been updated for decades and yet the landscape of migration is so dynamic and so much different than it was years ago, Mayorkas said.

(AP)
Donald Trump is seizing on his partys frustration with the recent surge of illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border to churn up fears around another top GOP concern  voter fraud.

In the final stretch before Iowas caucuses next Monday, the former Republican president has repeatedly suggested that Democrats are encouraging migrants to flow into the country illegally in order to register them to vote in the 2024 election.

The unsupported claim, which Trump and other Republicans have carted out in past election years, is resonating with voters who agree that security is lacking at both the border and the polls. Experts say it also can be damaging, giving undue traction to false stereotypes and extremist ideologies such as the racist  great replacement theory.

The GOP frontrunner flicked at the idea of Democrats registering unauthorized migrants to vote at least twice over the weekend in Iowa.

I think they really are doing it because they want to sign these people up to vote. I really do, Trump said in Mason City on Friday. They cant speak a word of English for the most part, but theyre signing them up.

The comments came after he posted recently on his Truth Social platform that crazed Democrats are allowing unvetted migrants into the country so they can vote, vote vote.

His message is welcome to some of Trumps Iowa supporters who are still angry about the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump continues to promote the lie that widespread fraud cost him reelection, despite multiple audits, reviews and recounts in the battleground states where he disputed the results, dozens of failed legal challenges and his own attorney general saying there was no evidence to back up the claims.

Michell Harvilla, awaiting Trumps appearance in Clinton, Iowa, on Saturday, said she absolutely believes Democrats favor allowing people into the country illegally to influence the 2024 election.

I fully believe the last one was rigged, said the 58-year-old middle school library and media director, who caucused for Ted Cruz in 2016 but voted for Trump twice.

Billionaire Elon Musk also has pushed the narrative on his social media platform X in recent days, claiming that Democrats are importing voters.

The Trump campaign didnt immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. In response to an email directed to Musk, the platform sent only an automated response.

These claims ignore the facts around noncitizen voting in federal elections, which is illegal and remains exceedingly rare even as it is thoroughly scrutinized, according to Sean Morales-Doyle, director of voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Anyone registering to vote in the U.S. must attest under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen, Morales-Doyle said. Lying is punishable by fines, imprisonment and deportation, he said  such steep penalties that very few people are willing to accept the risk.

On top of that, federal law requires states to regularly maintain their voter rolls and remove anyone ineligible, a process that identifies immigrants living in the country illegally. Even with this and other vetting processes in place, only a small number of noncitizen voters have been uncovered  evidence that Trumps theory has no teeth, Morales-Doyle said.

In 2017, the Brennan Center examined 42 local jurisdictions around the country in the 2016 election, including some of the most populous counties in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. Of 23.5 million votes cast, election officials found only about 30 cases of potential noncitizen voting that they referred for prosecution or further investigation.

More recent investigations also havent shown proof of widespread noncitizen voting. A Georgia audit of its voter rolls conducted in 2022 found fewer than 2,000 instances of noncitizens attempting to register to vote for 25 years, none of which succeeded. Millions of new Georgia voters registered during that period.

Occasional instances in which noncitizens have been found to cast ballots illegally or attempted to register captured widespread attention, helping feed the narrative that they are voting in large numbers. Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Colorados secretary of state mistakenly sent postcards to about 30,000 noncitizens that encouraged them to register to vote, a problem apparently connected to the states drivers license database. The office said no noncitizens would be allowed to register if they tried.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, an organization that encourages voter participation among Latinos, said it hasnt found evidence of noncitizens voting in its decades of advocacy work.

The Latino and immigrant communities know the law, the group said in an emailed statement.

Suggesting that non-English speakers are somehow less qualified to vote than other populations also is misleading, said Morales-Doyle. The Voting Rights Act bans voting discrimination against language minorities and builds in requirements for language assistance at the polls, he said.

Federal law doesnt stop states or municipalities from granting noncitizens the right to vote in local races. Some have, among them several cities in Maryland and Vermont, while several states ban the practice. New York City passed a law in 2022 that would allow legally documented noncitizens and Dreamers to vote for mayor and other elected officials, but a judge blocked the move.

On the flip side, some states and federal lawmakers have sought to require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they register. But these efforts have been challenged by advocates and blocked by federal courts for the burden they impose on voters.

The Brennan Center and other advocacy groups say proof-of-citizenship requirements disenfranchise people when many eligible voters dont have birth certificates or other applicable documents at hand. They say providing citizenship proof is an unnecessary step when research shows noncitizens are not voting in significant numbers.

Trumps claims that noncitizens are casting ballots arent new. After the 2016 election, he falsely claimed in a private meeting with congressional leaders that he would have won the popular vote if it werent for the votes of 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally.

Yet the idea may be especially effective with his base now, as videos of migrants traveling to the border inundate social media amid a massive surge in migration through the U.S. border with Mexico that the nations leaders are still struggling to address.

An estimated 10.5 million people were living illegally in the United States in 2021, according to Pew Research Centers latest figures, published in November. That snapshot was taken before the recent surge of migrants from around the world, a break from the recent past when migrants primarily came from Mexico and Central America.

Millions are in the U.S. seeking asylum or entering on parole, a legal authority granted for humanitarian reasons or when deemed a significant public benefit. Asylum-seekers and those on parole may be eligible to work but cannot vote. That right is exclusively held for citizens, unless specifically allowed for local elections.

U.S. authorities made 5.9 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from March 2021, when a COVID-inspired lull ended, through November 2023. That included a record-high 2.2 million arrests in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2022. Many people are released to seek asylum in immigration courts, which are backlogged with 3 million cases that take years to decide.

The White House and Congress are negotiating how best to reduce the number of migrants traveling to the southern border. Meanwhile, public confusion around border policy leaves room for false claims to spread, said Jared Holt, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank that tracks online hate, disinformation and extremism.

He said false noncitizen voting claims over the years have helped build support for a more sinister conspiracy theory about a grand plot to diminish the influence of white Americans by replacing them with minorities.

Its sort of a tongue-in-cheek way of pushing the great replacement theory, but in a way that has been understood to be less morally repugnant or perceivably more defensible, Holt said. I dont think you have to scratch very far below the surface to understand what is really being said.

(AP)
Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the South American country had entered an internal armed conflict.

The men armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. It was not immediately clear if any station personnel were injured.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a powerful gang leaders apparent escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa said Monday that he would declare a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend peoples rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuadors military to neutralize these groups within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

The government has not said how many attacks have taken place since they announced that Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, was discovered missing from his cell in a low security prison on Sunday. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

Authorities also have not said who is thought to be behind the attacks, which included an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court and the Monday night kidnappings of four police officers, or whether they think the actions were coordinated.

Police said one office was abducted in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

The government has previously blamed members of the main drug gangs for similar strikes. In recent years, Ecuador has been engulfed by a surge of violence tied to drug trafficking, including homicides and kidnappings.

Macias whereabouts are unknown. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

On Monday, Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons. The government also imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Noboa said in a message on Instagram that he wouldnt stop until he brings back peace to all Ecuadorians, and that his government had decided to confront crime. The wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboas announcement.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboas predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

Experts and authorities have acknowledged that gang members practically rule from inside the prisons, and Macias was believed to have continued controlling his group from within the detention facility.

(AP)
A U.S. Navy sailor has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to a Chinese intelligence officer.

Wenheng Zhao, who is also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, was sentenced Monday to 27 months by a federal judge in Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties. He was also fined $5,500.

His defense lawyer, Tarek Shawky, called Zhao a dedicated serviceman with an exemplary service record before this incident.

He was the target of a sophisticated Chinese intelligence operation, and he made the mistake of sharing controlled, unclassified information with a foreign operative, Shawky said. He fully appreciates the severity of his actions and admitted guilt at an early stage of the proceedings.

Zhao, based at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, north of Los Angeles, collected nearly $15,000 in bribes in 14 different payments from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos and videos of involving Navy exercises, operations and facilities between August 2021 through at least May 2023, prosecutors said.

He held a U.S. security government clearance and underwent routine trainings on efforts by hostile nation states to acquire sensitive information, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The information included plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements. The Chinese officer told Zhao the information was needed for maritime economic research to inform investment decisions, according to court documents.

The Chinese officer offered to pay Zhao bonuses for controlled and classified information, according to prosecutors.

Zhao used encrypted communications to transmit the information to the intelligence officer and destroyed the evidence to hide their relationship, prosecutors said.

Mr. Zhao abdicated his oath to the United States and put American troops in harms way when he accessed and handed over sensitive information to China for a payout, said Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office in a statement.

Zhao was one of two U.S. Navy sailors based in California who were charged last summer with providing sensitive military information to China.

The two sailors were charged with similar moves to provide sensitive intelligence to the Chinese but Zhaos defense lawyer said there was no connection between the cases.

Jinchao Wei, known as Patrick Wei, was assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex when he was arrested last August while boarding the ship. He is accused of providing detailed information on the weapons systems and aircraft aboard the Essex and other amphibious assault ships that act as small aircraft carriers.

He could receive a life sentence if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and that case is ongoing.

U.S. officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.

U.S. officials said the cases exemplify Chinas brazenness in trying to obtain insight into U.S. military operations.

(AP)
A U.S. veteran who plotted to overthrow Venezuelas president is proudly standing with a former Venezuelan army general who pleaded guilty in New York on terrorism charges, describing his would-be comrade-in-arms as a patriot and dedicated family man worthy of a reduced prison sentence.

Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau had stayed mostly silent since a ragtag cadre of Venezuelan military deserters he helped clandestinely train in Colombia carried out a cross-border raid in 2020 seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Dubbed Operation Gideon, the raid never stood a chance and two of Goudreaus fellow Green Beret veterans were quickly arrested, while eight Venezuelans were killed.

Goudreau, 47, resurfaced this week to stand with Cliver Alcala, the rebellious Venezuelan military officer who would be his most trusted aide in the harebrained scheme. The retired Venezuelan army general is set to be sentenced Jan. 18 on two counts of providing support for a Colombian rebel army designated terrorist group by the U.S. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Goudreau, in a letter filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, recounted how he came to admire his fellow soldier, living with Alcala and his family in a spartan apartment in northern Colombia. While he makes no mention of their covert coup plans, he described how the two would pool funds to buy rice and other food staples for those in need, tracing Alcalas sense of service to the example set by his grandmother, who raised him after he lost his parents, and two decades as a military officer in some of the most remote corners of Venezuela.

Most soldiers feel the need to be of service, and I know that Cliver always sought to assist those in need, Goudreau wrote in the one-page letter to Judge Alvin Hellerstein urging a reduced sentence. He had been dedicated to providing whatever little extra he had to give to others.

Goudreaus public appeal for leniency stems from his involvement in the bizarre plot highlighted in a 2020 investigation by The Associated Press which blew the lid on jungle camps where Alcala, going by the nom de guerre Julius Cesar, was training a few dozen desperate Venezuelan military deserters to oust Maduro.

The AP never found any evidence of direct U.S. government involvement despite Goudreaus constant knocking on doors of the Trump White House and inking of deals with Maduros opponents to muster support for what came to be known as the Bay of Piglets, in reference to the far better planned but similarly botched 1961 invasion of Fidel Castros Cuba.

Alcalas crimes pre-date his fight for Venezuelas democracy.

He was arrested in March 2020 as part of a sprawling federal indictment charging him alongside Maduro  who he was by then plotting against  and others in a sprawling conspiracy stretching back two decades to convert Venezuela into a launchpad for flooding the U.S. with cocaine. Earlier, in 2011, he was sanctioned by the U.S. for allegedly supplying the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia with surface-to-air missiles and protection when he commanded troops along the shared 1,400-mile border separating the two countries.

As part of plea negotiations, prosecutors dropped the charges of drug trafficking, which Alcala strenuously denied. Instead he pleaded guilty to providing weapons and material support to a designated terrorist group, a still serious but lesser charge that his attorneys argued was the outcome of his loyalty to his one-time mentor and boss, the late Hugo Chavez.

General Alcala never raised any arms directly against the United States or acted in any way against the ideals or citizens of this country, his attorney, Cesar de Castro, wrote in a sentencing memo filed late Monday. The conduct underlying his guilty plea, while criminal in the United States, were the actions of a general following the direct orders of his superior officers and the President of Venezuela.

Prosecutors have yet to recommend a sentence. But Alcalas defense team said that the 62-year-old Venezuelan deserves no more than six years behind bars due to his age, harsh imprisonment during the COVID pandemic and his minor role in the offense. They also argue it is unsafe for him to return home to Venezuela, where he faces threats for betraying Maduro.

Then theres Alcalas role as an outspoken foe of Maduro at the same time the Trump administration had offered a $15 million reward for his arrest and was encouraging Venezuelans to rise up against the socialist leader who it blamed for destroying the countrys democracy and its oil rich economy.

According to De Castro, Alcala opposed Maduro almost from the moment he assumed the mantle of the Bolivarian revolution from Chavez, who died of cancer in 2013, the same year Alcala retired from the military. His dissent escalated and in 2017, with the knowledge of the U.S. government, he leveraged his influence among the Venezuelan officer corps to rally troops to remove Maduro, according to De Castro.

These were not theoretical debates about democratic change, these were plans for armed insurrection against a regime and its leadership, De Castro wrote.

The 2017 barracks revolt failed, ending with several plotters arrested. Alcala managed to flee across the border to Colombia. A few years later, he would try again, this time in coordination with the democratic opposition led by Juan Guaido, who the U.S. in 2019 recognized as Venezuelas legitimate leader.

Goudreau, a three-time Bronze Star recipient for bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, saw in Alcala a like-minded warrior, one motivated by patriotism, not political payoffs. When the two met, he was living in a small rented apartment, driving a beat-up Nissan and had barely $3,000 in a bank account.

He was not living the life of an exiled corrupt Latin American leader rich with the spoils of monies corruptly earned, De Castro wrote.

Alcalas arrest doomed whatever dim hopes the secret rebellion had of succeeding. However, less than five weeks after he surrendered to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and two days after the AP exposed the secret plans, a small amphibious force on ramshackle fishing boats invaded and was quickly mopped up. Eight Venezuelan rebels were killed and several others, including Alcalas own nephew, were arrested.

Also captured was Luke Denman and Airan Berry, former U.S. special forces colleagues of Goudreau, who watched the fiasco unfold from Florida. The two Americans returned home last month as part of a prisoner swap in which the Biden administration released a close ally of Maduro accused in the U.S. of money laundering.

In the aftermath of the raid, FBI agents searched Goudreaus home and seized $50,000 as part of a federal investigation into arms trafficking. But the cash was later returned and theres no indication criminal charges are forthcoming.

Goudreau was interviewed last month under oath by an attorney for J.J. Rendon, a Miami-based political strategist who initially recruited him for a military operation to arrest Maduro while serving as a top adviser to Guaido.

Goudreau sued Rendon in 2020 for breach of contract, although Rendon has said the exploratory contract he signed on behalf of the U.S.-recognized Guaido government was null and void and the roughly $50,000 he paid Goudreau was for expenses he incurred before a bitter split almost five months before the raid.

Gustavo Garcia Montes, an attorney for Goudreau in the lawsuit, declined to comment.

(AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris aircraft was forced to divert to a Washington-area airport after encountering stormy weather Tuesday night as she returned from a trip to Georgia.

Press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement, Tonight, en route from Atlanta, GA, Air Force 2 was diverted from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport due to inclement weather.

A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss it, said the aircraft encountered wind shear as a powerful storm brought high winds and rain to the nations capital. The same person said no one was injured.

Wind shear is a sudden shift in wind direction or speed that can be hazardous during takeoff and landing.

(AP)
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday rejected the idea that ending his presidential bid would help Republican rival Nikki Haley defeat Donald Trump, questioning both her desire and ability to do so.

While other candidates were in Iowa ahead of next weeks caucus, Christie was in a barbecue restaurant in New Hampshire, where he has staked nearly his entire campaign. He warned that If Trump wins the New Hampshire primary for a third time on Jan. 23, hell become the GOP nominee, despite the next contest coming in Haleys home state of South Carolina.

If he wins here, dont expect South Carolina to save us, its not going to happen, he said. So you all are the ones who are going to make the call here.

While Trump remains the frontrunner, a CNN/UNH poll conducted in New Hampshire this week suggested that Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former United Nations ambassador, could be approaching Trumps top spot in the state. About 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire choose Trump, while about one-third pick Haley. The poll found Christie trailing behind both candidates at 12% and indicated that about two-thirds of Christie supporters would select Haley as their top alternative to Christie.

At Tuesdays town hall event, Greg Leach, 49, of Dover, told Christie that he wants his vote to count, and asked him about the need to unify around one anti-Trump candidate.

I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump, Christie answered.

Haley isnt that someone, he argued, noting her support for pardoning Trump if any of his criminal trials end in conviction and her refusal to rule out becoming his running mate if asked.

Why do we think shed beat him? Shes not trying to beat him, said Christie.

Lets say I dropped out of the race right now and I supported Nikki Haley. And then three months from now, four months from now, when youre ready to go to the convention, she comes out as his vice president. What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like?

Christie repeated that he will remain in the race as long as he sees a path to the nomination, and that he wont make an endorsement based on politics like he did when he backed Trump eight years ago.

Im not going to make the same mistake again, he said. Cant do it.

Before the event began, Leach said he was leaning toward Christie but was considering Haley. Afterward, he said he was leaning toward Haley.

I really want to vote for Christie but strategically, at this point I feel like Nikki Haley is the way to go, said Leach.

Leach said he voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 general election and will do so again if its a Trump vs. Biden rematch, though he hopes it wont come to that. He said hes interested in seeing what happens in Iowa but wonders if Christie should drop out sooner rather than later.

I dont want it to be too late and have Trump end up winning because people waited too long, he said.

A spokesperson for Haleys PAC said Christie claims to talk tough but remains in the same position today as he was the last time he ran for President.

Its time for voters to tell Christie what we all know, which is that his campaign isnt stopping anyone and frankly, its helping Trump, whom he proudly endorsed in 2016 and supposedly opposes in 2024, said Brittany Yanick.

(AP)
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"ABB has been here for many years, but we are also here to stay in the future." Morten Wierod, President of ABB Electrification, said ABB will continue investing in China as the country's "dual carbon" goal has created a "strong future" for the Swiss tech giant.





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A report in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper revealed new details about Hamass diabolical plan to infiltrate and attack Israel, including the fact that an October 7th-style massacre was considered even before Operation Protective Edge in 2014 but was put on hold following the war. The report is based on sources close to senior officials of Hamass Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing.

Two years ago, Hamas leaders decided to begin preparing to carry out the satanic plan. Thousands of terrorists began undergoing specialized military training and screening tests to hone their brutality. All terrorists were sworn to secrecy about their training and only 70 Nukba terrorists, selected from hundreds of elite Nukba members, were aware that a mass terror attack was being planned but were also not informed of its details or timing.

Only five senior Hamas senior officials were involved in the decision to carry out the attack and its timing  Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, his brother Mohammad, the head of Hamass military wing Mohammad Deif, and two other senior figures.

Several days before the attack, Hamas battalion commanders were informed of the plan for the massacre and its logistical preparations  but were not told when it would be executed. Another meeting was then held with commanders of regional brigades, who were assigned operational directives but were also not told the exact details of the plan, including the date.

According to the sources, the five Hamas leaders reached the decision to launch the attack on October 7th after receiving reports that the border area was quiet. On Hoshanah Rabah, Friday, October 6th, they made a final decision to execute the attack on Shabbos/Simchas Torah morning, with Shabbos deemed the most appropriate time to attack as fewer troops are stationed on the border.

They waited until midnight and issued directives to the commanders to prepare to execute the attack at dawn on Shabbos morning.

On October 7th, the Nakbah commanders launched the diabolical plan, leading the terrorists into Israel, while at the same time, the head of Hamass rocket fire system, Ayman Siam, directed the launches of hundreds of long-range missiles at Israel to divert the IDFs attention. [Siam was eliminated by the IDF in November.]

The 70 Nukba terrorists led the attack, infiltrating the Gazan border from several areas by blowing up weak points on the security fence with explosive devices, using gliders and parachutes to infiltrate areas near IDF positions, and launching a naval attack.

Senior Hamas officials abroad, including Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-Arouri, were aware of a general plan for an unprecedented attack but only learned about its execution just hours before it beganat the same time as lower-level Hamas officials.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
An investigation published by UN WATCH on Wednesday morning revealed that UNWRA teachers praised and celebrated the October 7th Hamas massacre on a Telegram group dedicated to the support of teachers with professional concerns such as schedules and curriculum.

Messages celebrating the Hamas murderers and rapists as heroes were posted on the group of 3,000 UNWRA teachers only minutes after the mass slaughter began. Photos of dead and abducted Israelis were gleefully shared and some teachers even urged the terrorists to murder the hostages.

This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers incitement to Jihadi terrorism, said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

Neuer shared examples of thousands of such posts in a Twitter thread calling on the UN and member states to take action. One UNRWA teacher shared a photo of a suicide vest with the caption: Wait, sons of Judaism. Another teacher not only celebrated the massacre of Jews but encouraged the deaths of Gazan civilians by calling on them not to obey IDF evacuation orders.

Neuer concluded by writing that this thread barely scratches the surface of the systematic incitement to terrorism by UNRWA teachersWe will be publishing a major report on it soon. If youre from the US, EU, Canada or Australia, youre funding this.

Read some examples below:

 UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula, who regularly posts information on salaries that he passes on from UNRWA Gaza education chief Sami Abu Kamil, calls to kill Israelis, and glorifies the Oct. 7th massacre. At one moment, Ula informs the groups 3,000 UNRWA teachers that salaries will be paid on Sunday.Another moment, he shares a video glorifying Hamas attacks, and posts a photo of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives, with the caption: Wait, sons of Judaism. Ula also glorified terrorist Akran Abu Hasanen  a perpetrator of the October 7th massacre  as a Qassami martyr, friend and brother. He prayed to Allah to admit him to paradise without judgment.

 UNRWA teacher Abdallah Mehjez does Hamas work by urging Gaza civilians not to heed warnings to move out of harms way, and instead to serve as human shields. Before UNRWA, this terrorist accomplice worked for the BBC.

 UNRWA teacher Shatha Husam Al Nawajha (UNRWA Contract #30030836) often shares information in the group on when and how to get paid UNRWA salaries. On October 7th, when her colleague exulted, They breastfed Jihad with their mothers milk, she added May Allah grant them victory.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, delivered a speech at the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) conference in Doha, Qatar, which was broadcasted on Al-Jazeera Network on January 9, 2024.

In his address, Haniyeh emphasized the importance of Islamic scholars worldwide in the aftermath of the events of October 7. He stressed the need to build upon the victory of that date and expressed confidence that time was on their side.

Haniyeh urged Islamic scholars to advocate for the Palestinian cause in their respective countries. He also described donations to Gaza not as humanitarian aid but as a form of financial Jihad. Furthermore, he stated that the time has come for the Jihad of the swords.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. The decision to participate rather than boycott reflects Israeli concerns that the judges could order Israel to halt its war against Hamas and tarnish its image internationally.

Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious, said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israels Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa.

Israel, which as one of the parties in the case is entitled to send a judge, has tapped a former Israeli Supreme Court chief justice to join the courts 15 regular members who will rule on the accusation. It has also enlisted a British barrister and lauded international law expert as part of its defense team.

Israel hopes their expertise will trounce the South African claim that Israels military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide and prevent an interim court order to force Israel to stop the fighting. Israel says halting the war when Hamas capabilities are intact in many places and with hostages still in its captivity would amount to a Hamas victory.

The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israels national identity. The country sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after 6 million were killed in the Holocaust. International support for Israels creation in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities.

The same year, with Israels involvement, world powers drew up the convention against genocide in hopes of preventing similar atrocities.

South Africas 84-page filing says Israels actions, including killing Palestinians and causing serious mental and bodily harm, are genocidal in character. It says Israeli officials have expressed genocidal intent.

The case will likely drag on for years. But South Africas filing includes a request for the court to urgently issue legally binding interim orders for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.

Abiding by such a ruling would be politically costly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Israelis still largely supportive of the war. Israel would also fall short of its declared goal of crushing the militant group.

If it doesnt abide, Israel could face U.N. sanctions. Although the U.S., Israels closest ally, could veto such a move, doing so would anger many Democrats who have already soured on President Joe Biden over his strong support for Israel in the war. That could be damaging for Biden as he seeks reelection. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Tuesday that the case is meritless.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, criticized South Africa, saying it was giving Hamas political and legal cover.

We are appalled that South Africa has chosen to play advocate for the devil, he said.

An Israeli official said Israel agreed to cooperate with the court because it is confident it will prevail. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. Israel boycotted a prominent case at the court in 2004 about its West Bank separation barrier, which the court ruled was contrary to international law, saying the proceedings were politically motivated.

Israel chose Aharon Barak  a mainstay of the countrys legal world for decades  to join the panel of international judges. A former attorney general and peace negotiator who served as chief justice of Israels highest court from 1995-2006, Barak has ruled in cases related to Israels treatment of the Palestinians.

The internationally renowned 87-year-old has received honorary degrees from multiple universities, including Yale and Oxford.

He is also a Holocaust survivor who was sent to Lithuanias Kovno Ghetto at age 5, where he has said he repeatedly evaded death. That personal detail could be significant in his discussions with the other judges.

Just a few months ago, Netanyahu and his allies vilified Barak as they pushed forward with their plans to overhaul Israels judiciary. Barak, under whom the courts took on a more robust role, was seen as a symbol of an overly interventionist legal system.

Protesters held sit-ins outside his Tel Aviv home and politicians lashed out at the octogenarian in Knesset speeches. But facing the case in The Hague, Netanyahu did a quick about face, surprising even his critics.

At a time of legal troubles in the international arena, Israel has only one person to rely on, commentator Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz daily. Even Netanyahu understood that theres nobody but him. Hes our 911 emergency service.

British lawyer Malcolm Shaw, who will defend Israel, is the author of whats seen as the definitive textbook on international law. He has represented numerous states, including Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, in international litigation, including at the International Court of Justice, according to a biography posted online by Essex Court Chambers, where Shaw is a barrister.

Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser at the Israeli Foreign Ministry who counts Shaw as a friend, said it remained to be seen whether judges from nations with poor ties to Israel will rule objectively. But he said Israel had positioned itself to meet the charges head on.

They chose the top people, he said. It means Israel is taking it very seriously.

(AP)
An Israeli man has been formally accused of impersonating an IDF officer during the terror attacks on October 7 and illegally obtaining and disseminating sensitive information.

A joint statement by the Shin Bet, IDF, police, and Justice Ministry on November 20 revealed that an indictment had been filed at the Beersheba Magistrates Court against the individual. This information has now been made public following the Ynet news sites requests for the release of the incident details.

The indictment details that the unnamed Israeli man arrived in southern Israel on October 7 and embedded himself with IDF forces, fraudulently presenting himself as a captain. Despite not being summoned for reserve duty, the man managed to acquire highly classified information, documenting and sharing the data with both civilians and unauthorized military personnel.

After suspicions arose within the IDF, the man was detained and interrogated. The charges against him include obtaining something fraudulently under aggravated circumstances, unauthorized distribution and possession of secret information, and illicit entry into a military zone.

Defense officials noted that the man was not acting on behalf of any hostile elements, and the information he shared did not reach such enemies.

This is a serious incident that was investigated by the IDF at the same time as the indictment was filed, and lessons have been drawn accordingly.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The Yeshiva of Rochester is thrilled to celebrate its 49th anniversary with a beautiful and memorable evening of connection and achdus. The dinner has a great lineup: a beautiful venue, delicious food, pumping music, an uplifting program, and most importantly, the warmth of the Yeshiva of Rochester family. The dinner theme of 49 Years Together as One is coming to life as Yeshiva alumni spanning the decades will be flying in from all over the country for what is anticipated to be the largest alumni gathering in the Yeshivas history! It is an evening not to be missed!

This years honorees include Rabbi Yaakov Herman, recipient of the Kesser Shem Tov Award, Chaim Diskind, named Alumnus of the Year, and a heartfelt memorial tribute and siyum hashas to the late R Ben Chafetz zl.

Kesser Shem Tov Award  Rabbi Yaakov Herman

Rabbi Yaakov Herman, a distinguished Rebbi in the Yeshiva during the 80s is this years recipient of the Kesser Shem Tov Award. His dedication to   has left a lasting impact on generations of Talmidim. Despite the passage of time, Rabbi Herman fondly recalls the warmth of the Yeshiva, emphasizing its positive culture that fosters deep connections between Talmidim and Rabbeim.

Alumnus of the Year  Chaim Diskind

Chaim Diskind has been named Alumnus of the Year. For Chaim, the Yeshiva is a second home that has shaped his values and path in life. With his sons now Talmidim and his active involvement in various capacities within the Yeshiva and the broader Rochester community, Chaims commitment is truly commendable.

In Memory of R Ben Chafetz zl

The Yeshiva honors the memory of R Ben Chafetz, a beloved alumnus whose profound connection to the Yeshiva and its values guided his life, leaving an enduring impact on those who knew him. In Bens memory, a group of the Yeshivas alumni have undertaken the challenge of completing Shas, and they will be making a Siyum   at the dinner. Additionally, and in conjunction with this dinner campaign, the Yeshiva is launching a scholarship fund in Bens memory. As we remember Bens joy, determination, and commitment to , the scholarship fund serves as a testament to his values and ensures that future generations can benefit from the Yeshivas teachings.


Star stock-picker Terry Smith has urged investors in his flagship fund to take a longer-term perspective after it underperformed for the third year in a row.

Smiths Fundsmith equity fund rose by 12.4 per cent in 2023  a return to growth after it slumped by 13.8 per cent in 2022.

But it lagged behind the MSCI World Index benchmark, which rose by 16.8 per cent, Smith revealed in his annual letter to investors. It also underperformed in 2021 and 2022.

But Smith said since its inception in 2010 it has returned nearly 4 per cent per year more than the MSCI.

Outperforming the market or even making a positive return is not something you should expect from our fund in every year or reporting period, and outperforming the market was more than usually challenging in 2023, he said.

Slow recovery: Terry Smith, who is based in Mauritius (pictured) saw his Fundsmith equity fund rise by 12.4 % in 2023  a return to growth after it slumped by 13.8% in 2022

The funds worst-performing pick was make-up firm Estee Lauder, which it has now sold and Smith accused of mishandling the reopening of the Chinese economy.

But Smith noted that other companies that he has been criticised for holding  Meta and Microsoft  were the most successful bets in 2023.

And he offered a caustic assessment of the fad for artificial intelligence related stocks which has driven up shares prices in chip maker Nvidia and Microsoft.

The stock market has decided at the outset that it can identify winners in AI, said Smith, who runs his fund from Mauritius.

But pointing to the early but now obscure big names in the dotcom boom such as AOL and Myspace, he asked: Where are they now? I think we will suspend judgment of who, if anyone, will emerge as a winner in AI.
LIMA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Peru's government Tuesday announced it would immediately deploy a police task force to its border with Ecuador to reinforce security amid escalating violence in the neighboring country.

The government called for the "immediate dispatch" of a contingent of the National Police's Directorate of Special Operations (Diroes).

Meanwhile, local media reported that in the border region of Tumbes, the number of police officers has been increased to 400, while some 50 Diroes task force members are on their way to the 1,500-km border.

Citizens were passing through the international border crossing between Peru and Ecuador "under strict security measures," said the official Peruvian news agency Andina.

Peru's government on Tuesday declared an emergency along its northern border with Ecuador due to a surge of violence caused by criminal gangs in the neighboring country.

President of the Congress Alejandro Soto urged the Peruvian government to take urgent measures along the border to prevent similar incidents.

Prime Minister Alberto Otarola announced that the emergency declaration would entail the deployment of an unspecified number of army troops to support police forces.

Earlier in the day, a group of masked gunmen broke into a TV studio during a broadcast in the southern Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil and took its staff hostage. 
"The Maldives looks forward to further strengthening the collaboration between our two countries and establishing long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with businesses and provincial governments across China," said Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu at a forum held in China's Fuzhou.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Chinese car brands should be welcomed in Spain as they make the market more dynamic, the president of the National Association of Vehicle Dealers (Ancove) told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday. #China #Spain #auto





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




There has been a lot of social media reaction following figures which were released which detailed more than 21,000 Irish citizens were granted Australian working holiday visas in the last year.

This is the highest recorded figure in at least 16 years and according to the Australian Department of Home Affairs, 21,525 working holiday visas were granted to Irish citizens between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

This means the number of visas allocated has more than doubled to the year previous which was 10,491.

The figures have caused mixed social media reaction on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

One user said: Most of my friends and family have done the working holiday in Australia & we have all returned to Ireland. Australia has many of the same problems as Ireland with housing plus it is on the verge of climate collapse & can be a very cut-throat culture. It's great craic for a year.

Another user said: Jobs aren't the issue. It's a cost of living/quality of life choice. If I was 20 years younger I'd be gone.

Although the figures are expected to rise in the coming years, many users do suspect a large number of Irish citizens will return from the land down under to settle.
Gardai have made a fourth arrest in connection with an investigation into two killings following a shooting on Christmas Eve in Blanchardstown.

Tristan Sherry, the suspected gunman, was killed in the attack at Brownes Steakhouse in Blanchardstown at around 8pm on December 24.

Three men have been charged in relation to the subsequent attack on Mr Sherry.

Last week, David Amah, 18, with an address in Hazel Grove, Portrane Road, Donabate, was charged with the murder of Mr Sherry.

Wayne Deegan, 25, with an address in Linnetsfield Avenue, Phibblestown, was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Sherry, producing a knife in a way likely to intimidate or injure, and committing violent disorder.

At the end of December, Michael Andrecut, 22, of Sheephill Avenue, Corduff, appeared at a special sitting of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin charged with Mr Sherrys murder.

Jason Hennessy Snr, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the initial gun attack, died last Thursday.

A second murder investigation has been launched following his death.

On Wednesday morning, gardai arrested a man under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

The man, who is the fourth person arrested in the investigation into the two deaths, is being questioned at a garda station in west Dublin.

Gardai said inquiries are continuing.
GAZA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 23,357, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 147 Palestinians and wounded 243 others during the past 24 hours.

The Ministry added that since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, 59,410 Palestinians were wounded as a result of Israeli attacks.

According to Palestinian security sources, intense Israeli bombardment from the air, land and sea continued in most parts of the Gaza Strip, especially in the governorates of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

For his part, Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee announced that the army attacked more than 150 targets in the Gaza Strip during the last 24 hours.

Adraee said that Air Force jets attacked many militants in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, while army forces uncovered more than 15 underground tunnel openings in the area.

"During a raid on military buildings in Al-Maghazi, the forces found platforms for launching rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, drones, and explosive materials. In addition, the fighters destroyed a machine for making rocket-propelled grenades that was found in the area," he added.

The Gaza Strip has been under massive Israeli bombardment and siege since Oct. 7, 2023, which came in retaliation for a surprise attack by Hamas on the same day on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. 
Sen. Tolentino to NGCP: Amplify transparency on power outages

MANILA -- Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino underscored on Wednesday that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) must be transparent and accountable regarding outages.

During the Senate Committee on Energy hearing on recurring Panay blackouts, Tolentino highlighted NGCP's alleged violation of its franchise law.

"The bottom line here is Section 2 of RA 9511, what is required by 'the common good.' Ano po ba yung kailangan ng mga kababayan natin sa Panay? Kailangan po ba silang abisuhan? Kailangan po ba silang sabihan kung kailan mare-restore ang elektrisidad?" Tolentino queried.

Republic Act (RA) 9511 is the law providing NGCP the franchise to engage in business of conveying or transmitting electricity.

"NGCP's failure to immediately acknowledge the shortcomings in managing the Panay power outage further erodes trust and raises concerns about their commitment to transparency in addressing systems issues within their operations," Sen. Tol further noted.

The senator also urged the stakeholders present during the said probe to amplify its transparency efforts for its users.

"Iyon po siguro yung hinihintay at hinihiling nung ating mga kababayan nung napakahirap na tatlo o apat na araw na nagdaan nung Enero," Tolentino said.

Senator Tolentino is among the senators who filed a resolution for the extensive inquiry on the recurring blackouts in Panay provinces which happened last April 2023 and recurred last 2 January.
COLOMBO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank forecasts the Sri Lankan economy to grow by 1.7 percent in 2024 and by 2.4 percent in 2025, according to its report on global economic prospects made available to the local press on Wednesday.

According to the World Bank, the country's economy is estimated to have recorded a negative growth of 3.8 percent in 2023.

Although the output in Sri Lanka is also estimated to have declined in the 2022-2023 financial year, progress has been made in sovereign debt restructuring, said the World Bank.

However, it said the outlook for Sri Lanka remains uncertain amid debt restructuring negotiations, particularly with private creditors.

The growth in South Asia is estimated to have slowed slightly to 5.7 percent in 2023, yet it remains the fastest among emerging markets and developing economy regions, according to the World Bank. 
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (L) and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos deliver a joint statement during their meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, the Philippines, Jan. 10, 2024. The leaders of the Philippines and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen bilateral ties. Widodo arrived in Manila on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit. (Ezra Acayan/Pool via Xinhua)

MANILA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen energy cooperation to safeguard energy security.

Energy ministers of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy cooperation at the presidential palace in Manila, where Indonesian President Joko Widodo was received by his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos.

Widodo arrived in Manila on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit.

The two sides agreed to facilitate cooperation between business sectors, particularly during critical supply constraints on energy commodities such as coal and liquefied natural gas.

The document will create a new synergy between the Philippines and Indonesia as the two countries work to achieve energy security, said Marcos, adding another bilateral MOU on science and technology "is nearing the completion phase as well."

Indonesia and the Philippines are the second and third globally regarding installed geothermal generation plants. Both are currently highly dependent on coal-fired power plants and seek an orderly transition to cleaner technologies.

The Philippines has been a dependable market for Indonesian coal, accounting for nearly 98 percent of total coal imports by the Philippines in 2022. However, the Indonesian government issued a coal export ban in 2022, forcing countries like the Philippines to scramble for alternative sources of coal and causing coal prices to spike.

The two countries are also major sources of minerals needed for energy transition and have vast potential for solar, wind and ocean energy production. 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (2nd L) and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos (2nd R) applaud during their meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, the Philippines, Jan. 10, 2024. The leaders of the Philippines and Indonesia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen bilateral ties. Widodo arrived in Manila on Tuesday night for a three-day official visit. (Ezra Acayan/Pool via Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets and poses for a group photo with representatives of friendly personages before attending Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States, in San Francisco, the United States, Nov. 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The achievements in China-U.S. relations are primarily attributable to the collective efforts of the people of the two countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said.

Xi made the remarks in his reply on Thursday to a letter from Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

In his letter, Xi said that since the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic ties 45 years ago, bilateral relations have gone through the tests of winds and rains and grown into a towering tree, bearing the fruit of cooperation and delivering benefits to both countries and the rest of the world.

For China-U.S. relations to advance, he said, it hinges more on the two peoples.

The future of the China-U.S. relationship depends on the youth, Xi said.

Citing a Chinese saying that "Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles," the Chinese president announced that China will invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years, voicing hope that more young Americans will visit China, observe China with their own eyes, listen to China with their own ears, and measure China with their own footsteps, so as to have a glimpse of a real China in a multi-dimensional and comprehensive manner and build more bridges of close affinity between the two peoples.

"I welcome the students of Muscatine to participate in this project," Xi said.

Noting that China is the largest developing country and the United States the largest developed country in the world, Xi said the future of this planet needs stability and improvement of China-U.S. relations.

Xi also said China is ready to work with the United States to push for steady, sound and sustainable development of bilateral relations, so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples, provide more public goods for the international society, and build a clean and beautiful world featuring lasting peace, security for all, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness together.

This photo taken on Feb. 15, 2012 depicts then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (3rd R, front) joining dozens of ordinary Americans for tea at a local house owned by his old friend Sarah Lande (3rd, L) in Muscatine, a small city in Iowa, the United States. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)



Recently, Lande wrote a letter to Xi, saying that Xi's speech in San Francisco at the welcome dinner by friendly organizations in November last year is widely welcomed and inspiring.

Noting that China's project to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years is encouraging, she expressed her hope that Muscatine High School can participate in it.

She said that the United States and China are both major countries and should jointly address issues of common concern including climate change, food security, drugs and regional conflicts so as to contribute to the well-being of humanity. 
QUITO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Some 39 inmates broke out of a prison in the Ecuadorian city of Riobamba, in Chimborazo province, Monday night amid a state of emergency declared by the government to crack down on crime, a local official confirmed Tuesday.

Riobamba Mayor John Vinueza told local Pichincha radio station that the breakout occurred during a prison riot, where detonations of explosives were heard.

"In the process, 39 escaped ... of which, according to the information I receive, 12 have been recaptured," he said.

Citing a police report, local media said the inmates escaped around 10:45 p.m. local time through a prison sentry box while the facility was embroiled in the riot.

Among the escapees is Fabricio Colon Pico, a criminal linked to the "Los Lobos" criminal organization who is suspected of planning an attack against the national attorney general, Diana Salazar.

Colon's escape came just as authorities were planning to transfer him to another prison.

The events in Riobamba followed a day of rioting at several Ecuadorian prisons, along with explosives and kidnappings of police officers Monday night and early Tuesday morning in several cities across the country, which has been plagued by organized crime.

Violence escalated after the government declared a 60-day state of emergency with a nighttime curfew to quash criminal activity. 
During weekend days, a series of activities, such as live jazz music performances and flea markets, took place in Qingdao. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Winter Jazz Town, a monthlong music event in Qingdao, Shandong province, wrapped up at the former site of the Belgian consulate on Jan 7.

From Dec 1 to Jan 7, over 30 jazz musicians gave 45 concerts in Qingdao, according to the event organizer, China-Belgium Art Culture Society.

"It's the first time that the jazz music event took place in Qingdao, which combined music and tourism, appealing to young people," said Wang Xiaolei from China-Belgium Art Culture Society.

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao is a popular tourist destination. China-Belgium Art Culture Society has launched a series of jazz events since July, such as a jazz music festival in October, which attracted a large number of audiences.

"With jazz music, people enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Qingdao," said Wang.

A swing dance party held during the jazz music event in Qingdao. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Winter Jazz Town, a monthlong music event in Qingdao, attracts locals and tourists alike. [Photo provided to China Daily]
There's a lot to consider tonight for close watchers of the local discourse . . . Tonight we check continued local property crime, ongoing danger from opioids and new hope to curb this town's ongoing tragedy . . . Check-it:



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Stolen heirlooms, truck in Kansas City metro are a cautionary tale One couple from Washington state is looking for answers and their stuff after a quick visit to the Kansas City metro in October.

Kansas City man arrested, charged with kidnapping and other crimes in Cass County Aaron Madison, 47, is charged with second-degree kidnapping, second-degree domestic assault and third-degree domestic assault charge.

Two charged in Clay County fentanyl bust big enough to kill 52K people Clay County Sheriff's office in Liberty arrested two people accused of drug-related crimes and recovered enough fentanyl to kill 52,000 people.

Court docs detail alleged drugging, sexual assault of teen by Lyft driver in Olathe A now-former Kansas City, Kansas, Lyft driver remains in custody after being charged with felony sexual assault of a teen who had ordered a ride with her friend.

Ottawa man sentenced for exposing himself to women 2023 A 38-year-old man from Ottawa was sentenced Friday in Douglas County for a violation of the Kansas Offender Registration Act and two misdemeanor counts of lewd and lascivious behavior.

Judge sentences Missouri man who brought gun to U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021 to probation A Missouri man who was charged with bringing a gun to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to five years of probation.

Homicide record set in 2023, strategies addressed Our horrendous homicide rate hurts our ability to attract and retain residents and businesses.

Developing . . .
Check more consequences of an open border and law enforcement concern for public safety as the American opioid crisis worsens . . . Here's the money line . . .



During the BOE meeting, Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Tony Mattivi cautioned board members about fentanyl.



Make no mistake, Mattivi said. Fentanyl distribution in Kansas is coming from the drug cartels. Thats who is behind every fentanyl pill that gets sold in Kansas. It is a cartel product. The Chinese now provide precursor chemicals to the cartels in Mexico.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday exchanged views on the Red Sea situation amid escalating tensions across the region.

In a phone call, the two ministers also discussed the latest developments of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and issues related to bilateral relations, including the finalization of a treaty on comprehensive strategic cooperation, according to a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Amir-Abdollahian said the developments in the Red Sea were interconnected with the situation in Gaza and the behavior of the United States and Israel toward Palestinians while underlining the importance of ensuring international shipping security.

The top Iranian diplomat also highlighted the necessity to stop Israel's attacks against Gaza and its killing of the "oppressed" Palestinian people.

For his part, Lavrov extended condolences to the Iranian government and people over the "terrorist" attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Jan. 3 that killed more than 90 people and injured many others.

He said his country is willing to see the restoration of calm, an end to the war in Gaza, and the formation of a Palestinian government.

The Russian foreign minister also stressed the necessity to further expand bilateral relations, especially to finalize the treaty on strategic cooperation and promote transportation cooperation between the two sides. 
Kansas City's 2nd homicide has garnered international interest and this report from a Brit tabloid offers the best round-up of the tragic situation so far . . . We highlighted the reporting that stood out:



Detectives are continuing the investigation into the death of the owner of Jericho Home Improvements.



The company is one of Kansas City's biggest remodelers emphasizing their attention to detail and quality of staff.



John Bartrom was also well-known for his popular TV commercials advertising his business.



Kansas City Police Department said that a person of interest has been taken into custody.



A motive for the shooting has yet to be determined.



Anyone who has information has been asked to call the Crimestoppers TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Mystery after popular company founder, 46, is killed in shooting THE owner of a home improvement company has died after a shooting on Sunday morning. John Bartrom, 46, was found lying on the ground near a gas station in Kansas City, Missouri when police were cal...

Founder of KC company Jericho Home Improvements, John Bartrom, killed in Sunday shooting The founder and CEO of Jericho Home Improvements, John Bartrom, 46, was killed in a shooting early Sunday in Kansas City.

Developing . . .
The problem with reading a book like Hisham Matars powerful new novel "My Friends" in the first week of January is that it sets the bar incredibly high for the year of reading to come. It is, quite simply, dazzling (and, by the same token, dazzlingly quite simple).

"My Friends" begins with what seems like the end of a friendship. Khaled, the novels narrator, watches unseen as Hosam Zowa, his friend of two decades, walks through Londons Kings Cross Station to catch a train to Paris, his relationship with the man starting to come fully into focus. Perhaps, Khaled muses, this is the natural way of things, that when a friendship comes to an inexplicable end or wanes or simply dissolves into nothing, the change we experience at that moment seems inevitable, a destiny that was all along approaching, like someone walking toward us from a great distance, recognizable only when it is too late to turn away.

As Khaled, a Libyan expatriate who has lived in London for more than 30 years, takes a meandering (though significant) walk to his flat in Shepherds Bush, he has time to consider his relationship with Hosam, which began when he heard one of Hosams short stories being read on the BBC Arabic World Service. The story, allegorical but clearly critical of the Qaddafi regime, is shocking to the teenage Khaled, who listens to the piece with his family in their home in Benghazi. The story, though, shapes his life: I became, in silent and private ways, powerfully aware of the fragility of all that I treasured: my family, my very sense of myself, the future I allowed myself to expect.

Within a few years, Khaled takes a scholarship to study in Edinburgh, where he meets Mustafa, the only other actual scholar in their contingent from Libya. Together, the two young men decide to attend a protest at the Libyan embassy in London.

That protest, on April 17, 1984, drew world attention when two gunmen in the embassy opened fire on the protesters with machine guns, injuring 11 demonstrators and killing Metropolitan Police officer Yvonne Fletcher. In the novel, Khaled and Mustafa are among the injured.

Their lives change in that moment. Unsure if they have been identified, Khaled is barely able to communicate with his family for fear of putting their lives in peril or of entering into a trap himself (Qaddafi specialized in destroying, or disappearing, his enemies around the world at that time). Granted political asylum, Khaled settles in London and begins his life anew, lonely and isolated, until a chance encounter brings the author of that strange story into his life.

"My Friends" feels like a personal, deeply felt work, which may not be a surprise. Born in New York to Libyan dissident parents in 1970, Matar and his family moved to Tripoli in 1973, though they fled to Cairo in 1979, owing to his fathers continued political protest of the Qaddafi regime. Matar left home to attend school in England in 1986. In 1990, his father was abducted by the Egyptian Secret Police and returned to Libya. He remains missing.

Matars works  including his novels, the Booker-nominated "In the Country of Men" from 2006 and 2011s "Anatomy of a Disappearance," as well as his 2016 memoir "The Return," which won the Pulitzer Prize  revolve around the themes of exile and disappearance, family and its dissolution, secrecy and the search for identity.

For a novel which is rooted in violence and danger, and which includes such public events as the embassy shooting and the Arab Spring, "My Friends" is a surprisingly gentle, intimate work, chronicling decades of Khaleds life through dinners and conversations, arguments about politics and musings on art and literature. The story, which seems discursive and spontaneous, gradually reveals itself to be tightly structured and controlled, looping back and forth through time and memory, building on itself in a process of gradual expansion and revelation.

It is, of course, only the second week of the new year, far too early to make bold predictions, but it will not be at all surprising when "My Friends" appears on the best of lists, 50 weeks from now.
Maldives is currently dealing with a potential tourism boycott following derogatory remarks made by three of its officials towards India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The controversy began when Prime Minister Modi shared photos of himself enjoying Lakshadweep islands, a part of India. While Modi did not mention the neighboring Maldives, his praise for Lakshadweep could have been seen as an attempt to divert tourists away from Maldives.

Maldives Faces Tourism Boycott Over Insults to Indian PM

In response to Modi's post, three Maldivian officials serving as deputy ministers, resorted to name-calling, referring to Modi as a "clown," "terrorist," and a "puppet of Israel." These remarks sparked outrage among Indian citizens, prompting calls for a boycott of Maldives as a travel destination. Indian tourists constitute a significant portion of Maldives' tourism industry, with over 209,000 visits from India in 2023, making up 11% of the total market, as reported by CNN.

Prominent Indian figures endorsed the boycott by encouraging travelers to explore domestic destinations, specifically Lakshadweep. Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, for instance, labeled the Maldivian officials' comments as "hateful and racist" and advocated for supporting Indian tourism.

In solidarity with the boycott, Indian travel site EaseMyTrip suspended flight bookings to Maldives. The Confederation of All India Traders, a major trade body, also called on its members to halt business dealings with the Maldives until an apology or remedial measures were provided.

Related Article: Maldives President Wants Mass Tourism Instead Of Sustainable Energy; May Sell Entire Atoll To Saudi

As per the report, the Maldivian government quickly distanced itself from the officials' remarks, suspending them and emphasizing that the comments were personal opinions and did not reflect the country's stance. This incident comes at a critical time as President Mohamed Muizzu, known for his pro-China stance, embarks on a five-day visit to China, seeking to strengthen ties and expand trade agreements.

Maldives Seeks Chinese Tourism Boost Amid Diplomatic Row

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has appealed to China for increased efforts to attract more tourists to his country during his state visit to China. He described China as the Maldives' "closest" ally and praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which have delivered significant infrastructure developments in the Maldives.

According to NDTV World, Muizzu urged China to enhance the flow of Chinese tourists to the Maldives, noting that China was their top tourist market before the COVID-19 pandemic. This appeal comes in the wake of a diplomatic dispute involving derogatory remarks about Modi by some Maldivian ministers.

During his visit, the two countries reportedly signed a USD 50 million project to develop an integrated tourism zone in the Maldives. Despite India being the largest tourist market for the Maldives in 2023, the country seeks to regain its pre-pandemic position with China's assistance.

Before the pandemic, China held the top spot in terms of tourists visiting the Maldives. Still, its tourism industry has been hampered by a nearly four-year lockdown policy and economic slowdown. Muizzu aims to diversify the Maldives' economic base and strengthen the tourism industry while increasing economic security.

Muizzu emphasized the importance of implementing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with China, which aims to boost bilateral trade and investments, particularly in exporting fish products to China.

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COLOMBO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government will increase a welfare benefit program to cover 2.4 million families because of the difficult economic situation in the country, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the program was launched to provide relief to 2 million families, and currently 1.4 million families are entitled to benefits.

Quoting State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe, the ministry said the proposal will be submitted to the cabinet.

The program will be accepting new applications to include 400,000 more in the welfare benefits process, according to the ministry.

Semasinghe said that the World Bank and other international organizations were closely monitoring the program and giving relevant advice. 
TOKYO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Wednesday began ground improvement work for the relocation of a key U.S. military base within Okinawa prefecture after overriding the local government's objection, regardless of the opinions of local residents.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that the commencement marks the start of work, likely to take more than nine years, to reinforce the undersea soft ground at the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base.

The ground improvement is necessary to carry out landfill work that is part of the project to relocate the Futenma base from a crowded residential district in Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal area of Nago, which is also in Okinawa.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters on Wednesday that this is something the government is doing for its own convenience, and it is extremely regrettable.

On Dec. 28, 2023, the Japanese government gave the green light to the plan on behalf of the Okinawa government, taking an unprecedented step of overriding the prefectural government's objection.

The approval marked the central government's first-ever proxy execution of a local government administrative task under the local autonomy law, according to media reports.

Okinawa, which hosts 70 percent of all the U.S. military bases in Japan, has long opposed the base transfer within the southern island prefecture, seeking instead to move the base out of the prefecture altogether.

In September 2023, Tamaki told a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that the concentration of U.S. military bases in Okinawa threatens peace, noting that the Japanese government is forcibly filling in precious sea areas to build the new U.S. military base. 
Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania have agreed on the joint production of defensive military equipment, namely counter-drone technologies.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting with the mass media representatives in Vilnius, following his negotiations with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We paid significant attention to the course of events on the front. I am grateful for the new defense support that we have agreed on. And not only support but joint production efforts, namely counter-drone technologies and other defensive means, Zelensky said, adding that the relevant documents have been signed today.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine highly appreciates the support provided by Lithuania to the Ukrainian people.

During the first days of the full-scale invasion, Lithuania-supplied weapons stopped Russian convoys and destroyed the occupiers. Your support is extremely meaningful. Weapons, equipment, powerful military packages, training of Ukrainian warriors, Lithuanias leadership in the coalition on demining efforts in Ukraine  all of this is giving us strength, the President of Ukraine stressed.

A reminder that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Vilnius on January 10, 2024. The Head of State held negotiations with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.

The President of Ukraine is also planning to meet with the Prime Minister of Lithuania and the Speaker of the Seimas, as well as Lithuanian political figures and the representatives of the mass media and the Ukrainian community.

Photo: E. Blazevic / LRT
ULAN BATOR, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia exported 80,400 tons of meat and meat products in 2023, hitting a historic high, local media reported on Wednesday, citing the country's Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The majority of the meat and meat products were exported to China, Russia, and Iran, the ministry said in a statement.

Almost all provinces of Mongolia have been experiencing the extreme weather "dzud" this winter. "Therefore, in order to overcome the harsh winter with less loss, meat exporting companies are organizing the purchase of live animals from herders throughout the country until Feb. 1," the ministry said.

"Dzud" is a Mongolian term to describe a severely cold winter when many livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered by snow.

The number of livestock in the Asian country reached 64.7 million at the end of 2023, down by 9.1 percent from the previous year, according to the National Statistics Office. 
GAZA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday urged protection for medical facilities and workers in the Gaza Strip, as they were facing a severe lack of security amid persistent Israeli attacks.

The ICRC emphasized in a statement that the whole medical system in Gaza has been affected by the Israeli attacks, with medical professionals even being killed and detained.

In the statement, William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza, highlighted that the shortage of equipment and essential supplies due to the ongoing Israeli hostilities has led to the complete shutdown of most hospitals in the enclave.

He stressed the necessity of respecting healthcare facilities and workers, calling for protecting them under international humanitarian law, so as to provide life-saving treatment to those in need.

According to the Gaza-based government media office, 326 medical personnel and 45 civil defense members have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 last year.

As of Jan. 3, only 13 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals have been partially functional, with nine in the south and four in the north, reported the World Health Organization.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry said the occupancy rates reached 206 percent in internal medicine departments of hospitals and 250 percent in intensive care units. 
According to information provided by the General Prosecutor's Office, a person wanted by Interpol with a red notice for particularly serious crimes was successfully extradited from Georgia to the USA.The extradited person was wanted by the authorities of the United States of America from 2017 to 2021 for charges related to sexual violence against minor children and assault on a family member in the state of Texas. Additionally, there were charges in 2020-2021 for membership in an organized criminal group in the state of Louisiana, along with other crimes."The Tbilisi City Court, based on the petition from the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, deemed the extradition of the mentioned person to the United States of America as admissible.On December 26, 2023, the Minister of Justice of Georgia made a final decision on extradition, following which the wanted person was transferred by the employees of the Special Penitentiary Service to the representatives of the competent authorities of the United States of America.The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia expresses its readiness to cooperate successfully with the competent authorities of partner countries in the future to bring wanted persons to justice," the statement reads.Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, held a meeting with Robin Dunnigan, the Ambassador of the United States of America to Georgia.The parties discussed the current relations between Georgia and the USA, exploring opportunities for developing and strengthening parliamentary cooperationThe meeting also addressed regional security issues, with Nikoloz Samkharadze highlighting the challenging conditions in the occupied regions of Georgia, namely Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, and the perceived threats originating from Russia.Samkharadze briefed the ambassador on the government's plan and forthcoming actions concerning the implementation of the nine steps outlined by the European Commission for Georgia.The meeting with the ambassador also addressed the matter of Georgia's integration into NATO. Nikoloz Samkharadze emphasized that NATO integration remains one of the foremost priorities in Georgia's foreign policy.
TUNIS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in security reform, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The decision was made during a meeting held here between Tunisian Interior Minister Kamel Feki and the UNDP resident representative in Tunisia, Celine Moyroud.

Feki reiterated the commitment of his country to strengthen cooperation in security reform in line with the standards and provisions of international agreements and conventions.

The two officials also stressed the need to adopt community policing in more Tunisian provinces to build trust between citizens and the security apparatus.

The two sides also touched on ways to push forward bilateral strategic partnerships, including a 2023-2027 local development plan agreed between Tunisia and the UNDP, the statement added. 
Bitter partisan divides have been deepening across the United States in recent years, and their impact is palpable on college campuses.

This trend is not limited to public institutions; private colleges are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs of political polarization. This article explores the challenges private colleges face, the responses they are adopting, and the broader implications for higher education.

Political Perceptions of Higher Education

A stark divide in perceptions of higher education has emerged between Democrats and Republicans. According to a 2022 poll by think tank New America, 73% of Democrats believe colleges are leading America in a positive direction, while only 37% of Republicans share this view. This disparity reflects a broader societal trend where political affiliation shapes perspectives on crucial institutions, including higher education.

READ ALSO: What's Ahead? 2024 Higher Education Trends And Challenges

Legislative Challenges and Trends

In recent years, state lawmakers have proposed legislation that targets higher education, with a particular focus on public colleges. These efforts range from attempts to eliminate tenure protections to controlling curriculum and dismantling Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices.

What was once perceived as primarily affecting public institutions is now encroaching on private colleges, as highlighted during The Council of Independent Colleges' Presidents Institute. Leaders from private nonprofits voiced concerns about increasing pressure from federal lawmakers, donors, and external constituencies.

Pressure on Private Institutions

During a panel discussion at the Presidents Institute, leaders from private nonprofits expressed surprise at the increasing influence of politics on their sector. Previously seen as less susceptible to external pressures, private colleges are now facing challenges akin to those affecting their public counterparts.

The call for resignations of top officials at prestigious universities, including MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania, indicates the extent to which external constituencies, including lawmakers and alumni, are impacting private institutions.

Alumni and External Constituencies

The influence of external constituencies on private colleges has become evident through incidents such as the calls for resignations at MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania. Alumni, parents, and other external stakeholders are exerting pressure on college leadership, often in response to perceived political biases or controversies. The spotlight on diversity and equity initiatives at Harvard further underscores the broader impact of partisan pressures on higher education.

Responses from Private Colleges

Despite the growing partisan divides, panelists at the CIC Presidents Institute noted that they have not observed significant changes in enrollment due to political polarization. Concerns that students from politically divergent backgrounds might be reluctant to attend colleges in states with opposing political leanings have not materialized, according to Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, president of Augustana University. The panelists emphasized their commitment to fostering civil discussions on campus and implementing initiatives to bridge political divides.

Promoting Civil Discourse on Campus

The commitment to civil discourse is evident in various initiatives undertaken by private colleges. Colorado College's Democratic Dialogue Project brings together students from the college and cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy to discuss contentious issues. The George Fox Civility Project at George Fox University aims to foster respect and understanding among individuals with differing opinions. These initiatives include pledges for respectful conversations and cross-partisan meetings, highlighting the colleges' dedication to creating inclusive environments.

As bitter partisan divides continue to shape the American landscape, private colleges find themselves navigating uncharted waters. The increasing influence of politics on higher education, once perceived as less impactful on private institutions, is now undeniable. The response from these colleges emphasizes a commitment to fostering civil discourse and addressing the challenges posed by political polarization. As higher education grapples with external pressures, the resilience of these institutions in preserving their core values will play a crucial role in shaping the future of academia.

RELATED ARTICLE: Navigating Higher Education Challenges With Assembly's Higher Education Committee Head Pat Fahy
Recent research published in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management sheds light on the aftermath of Trump-era changes to the U.S. tax code.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, celebrated for various economic changes, has left an indelible mark on the landscape of college donations. This article delves into the research findings, exploring how these tax changes have affected individual donations to colleges, the size of those donations, and the subsequent implications for higher education funding.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a hallmark of the Trump administration's economic policies, nearly doubled the standard deduction. While it brought several changes, one consequence has been a reduction in the number of individuals donating to colleges. With middle-income taxpayers less likely to see tax benefits from charitable giving, the landscape of higher education philanthropy has undergone a shift.

READ ALSO: University Of Montana Faces Backlash Over China Study Abroad Program

Pressure on Institutions: Tuition and the Quest for Funding

Jin Lee, co-author of the research and professor of educational foundations and leadership at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, emphasizes the pressure these changes place on institutions. As the tax benefits for middle-income donors diminish, colleges may find themselves compelled to raise tuition to compensate for the potential decline in donations. This shift raises questions about the future accessibility of higher education.

The Cumulative Impact: Small Changes, Big Consequences

While the overall effect on the number of individual donors and revenue from small donations may not seem dramatic initially, Lee notes that these changes accumulate over time. The steady decline in individual donations can have far-reaching consequences, impacting the ability of colleges to invest in crucial areas like STEM education and facilities.

The research, drawing on data from 660 colleges participating in the Voluntary Support of Education Survey, reveals that private research universities experienced the most significant impacts on the number of donors. The shift in philanthropic patterns necessitates a nuanced approach to fundraising strategies for different types of institutions.

High-income Donors and the Unchanged Landscape

Interestingly, the research indicates that total charitable giving did not decrease after the tax code changes. High-income taxpayers continued to enjoy tax benefits from their donations and, in fact, increased their donation levels. This dichotomy highlights the divergent impact of the tax changes on donors across income brackets.

Alternative Funding Resources: Navigating a New Reality

Lee suggests that colleges and universities should reassess their funding resources in light of these changes. Options may include increasing tuition or expanding legacy admissions. However, these alternatives raise concerns about equity in access to higher education, potentially limiting opportunities for low-income students.

The research underscores the complexity of the relationship between tax policies and higher education funding. As colleges grapple with the aftermath of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, finding a delicate balance between maintaining financial sustainability and ensuring access for all students becomes paramount. The implications of these changes extend beyond mere economic considerations, influencing the very fabric of philanthropy in higher education and its role in shaping the future of students across the socio-economic spectrum.

RELATED ARTICLE: Elite Universities Have The Urgent Need For Civics Education: A Return To The Foundations Of Freedom
As state legislatures convene for their upcoming sessions, a diverse array of higher education issues takes center stage.

From economic and workforce development to college costs, funding concerns, and contentious topics like diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), free speech, and hate speech, lawmakers are poised to navigate a complex tapestry of challenges and opportunities.

Convergence of Key Issues: A State-by-State Challenge

Experts anticipate a convergence of higher education issues across state legislatures, each grappling with unique dynamics within the context of their governments and institutions. According to Ben Cecil, a senior education policy adviser at Third Way, the challenges faced by most states are remarkably similar, setting the stage for a dynamic legislative landscape.

READ ALSO: These Largest Universities Are Considered The Giants Of Higher Education

Shared Concerns: Insights from a Report

A recent report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), released on January 4, substantiates these predictions. The report, based on a survey of state higher education officials, outlines their top policy priorities for the new year. Common concerns include creating academic programs aligned with economic needs, ensuring adequate state funding, and delivering educational benefits commensurate with student expectations.

Economic and Workforce Development: A Persistent Priority

For the second consecutive year, economic and workforce development emerges as the foremost concern. With approximately 8.7 million unfilled jobs nationwide, states grapple with labor shortages driven by factors such as retirements, lower birth rates, and pandemic-related immigration slowdowns. The knowledge-based economy's increasing reliance on an educated workforce amplifies higher education's role in addressing these challenges.

Legislative Initiatives: Addressing Workforce Gaps

Anticipating a plethora of bills addressing labor shortages, experts foresee diverse legislative initiatives. These may range from mandated apprenticeship programs to collaborations between colleges and major corporations. Some states might even tie institutional workforce-outcome metrics to state appropriations, fostering a direct link between education and economic needs.

Free College Programs: A Growing Trend

The report reveals a notable shift with adult and nontraditional students' success entering the top 10 priorities. More states are exploring free college programs, including those designed for adults. Acknowledging the changing landscape, states recognize the importance of alternative pathways, such as short-term credentials and associate degrees, addressing critical middle-skill job shortages.

Measuring Value: The ROI Discourse

The return on investment (ROI) of degrees and certifications is likely to be a focal point of legislative discussions. Policymakers, seeking better data on the ROI of higher education, may explore state-specific metrics. Efforts to regulate ROI data, exemplified by minimum required ROI standards in states like Colorado and Texas, aim to provide students and policymakers with valuable insights.

Campus culture wars continue to spill into legislative sessions. Some states witness the introduction of bills restricting certain teachings, particularly those related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The nuanced nature of these bills reflects a broader challenge of balancing free speech with the desire to shape educational discourse.

State Role in Student Loan Dynamics

While not explicitly covered in the SHEEO report, the role of states in student loan regulation and forgiveness emerges as a potential focus area. With the U.S. Department of Education implementing new programs and regulations, state legislators may explore targeted loan forgiveness initiatives at the state level.

As state legislatures embark on their sessions, the higher education agenda reflects a dynamic interplay of economic imperatives, cultural considerations, and policy responses to shifting student needs. The outcomes of these deliberations will undoubtedly shape the trajectory of higher education, influencing accessibility, workforce development, and the ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the years to come.

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January 10 2024

Planning consent has been awarded for 321 studio apartments at 292-298 St Vincent Street, completing a shift from a 250-bed hotel approved in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.

Targeting post graduate and overseas students the project will be delivered by Artisan Real Estate who will demolish the existing office building which has been unoccupied since 2019.

Artisans Scottish regional director David Westwater, said:  There is a demonstrable need for high-quality purpose-built student accommodation in the city, especially for individual studio apartments. The more longer-term student market we are targeting will bring energy and investment to the city centre and ensure deliverability of a superbly designed development to replace the existing office block which has remained vacant for four years.

The design Hawkins Brown design remains largely unaltered externally save for the removal of 'Vienna House' branding and a more masonry-heavy interaction with the street. In a design statement the architects wrote: "The building is conceived as a regular framework, similar to the grid frameworks of the American artist Sol LeWitt, that is eroded to step down to relate to the adjoining built context.

"Within this framework are double order terracotta 'drapes' or 'big curtains' that will provide a play of light, shadow and reflections across the facade throughout the day."

The tower will remain setback from the street, due a future Avenues upgrade, as before with the lower level hosting a co-working space and student amenities.
(@FahadShabbir)

US top diplomat Antony Blinken will make a surprise visit to Bahrain Wednesday, a State Department official said, the latest leg of a crisis tour of the Middle East

Tel Aviv, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) US top diplomat Antony Blinken will make a surprise visit to Bahrain Wednesday, a State Department official said, the latest leg of a crisis tour of the Middle East.

After meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Blinken will fly to Bahrain for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the Israel-Palestine war in Gaza.

The Gulf kingdom is a key partner of Washington and hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Bahrain last month joined a 10-country naval task force announced by the United States to protect the vital Red Sea shipping route.

Blinken is on his fouth Middle East tour since war broke out with the October 7 attacks on Israel.

The US top diplomat said Tuesday that the war had exacted "far too high" a toll among civilians in Gaza, particularly children, and called for more food and medical aid to be delivered to the territory.

Israel's relentless offensive has killed 23,200 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
VIENTIANE, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Laos is willing to promote cooperation in various areas with China to build a high-quality Laos-China community with a shared future, said General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith on Wednesday.

The Lao leader made the remarks when meeting with Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee here.

Li said the new five-year action plan on building a China-Laos community with a shared future signed by the two country's leaders in October 2023 has provided strategic guidance for the development of the two country's relations.

China is ready to work with Laos to build a high-standard, high-quality and high-level China-Laos community with a shared future so as to set a positive example for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Li said.

For his part, Thongloun said that the Lao side has attached great importance to the building of the Laos-China community with a shared future and is willing to strengthen exchanges with the Chinese side in theoretical experience on enhancing party competence and state governance.

He stressed that both sides should also work together to give full play to the leading role of the Laos-China Railway and promote practical cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, culture and tourism.

While in Laos, Li met with Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune, a member of the Political Bureau of the LPRP Central Committee and deputy prime minister of Laos, and Khamphanh Pheuyavong, a member of the Secretariat of the LPRP Central Committee and head of the Propaganda and Training Board of the LPRP Central Committee. 
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Ambassador of Republic of Croatia Dr Drago Stambuk, inviting Pakistani workers to explore employment opportunities in Croatia, said that his country was demographically falling down and it needed human resource especially skilled and young people

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) Ambassador of Republic of Croatia Dr Drago Stambuk, inviting Pakistani workers to explore employment opportunities in Croatia, said that his country was demographically falling down and it needed human resource especially skilled and young people.

The Croatian envoy, while speaking at a meeting during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) here Wednesday, said that Pakistan holds very good human resource, well-educated English-speaking population along with devoted and intelligent businessmen. I would like to see more Pakistanis coming to Croatia and working in various sectors of our country particularly the tourism industry, which receives millions of tourists every year and it sometimes becomes very difficult to cope so many visitors, he added.

He informed that Croatia, which is a member of Euro zone, holds fantastic geo-political position with big ports and railways network, hence, work was underway to make Croatia the hub for Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Stressing on need of enhancing bilateral trade relation between Pakistan and Croatia, he said that Croatian Embassy was trying its best to improve trade exchange between the friendly countries and it was his duty to put the business people of both sides together. I will be arranging political as well as economic consultations between the two countries so that bilateral trade could be improved, he added.

While identifying delays in issuance of visas as a major bottleneck hindering trade, the envoy assured that efforts were being made to solve the issue.

Speaking on the occasion, Honorary Consul General of Croatia in Karachi Mirza Imran Baig said that business potential for Pakistanis was incredible in Croatia which was a gateway to Europe bordering Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, besides sharing maritime border with Italy.

The trade between Croatia and Pakistan has been steadily growing as Pakistans exports to Croatia have been improving at a pace of 7.71 percent annually while Croatia exports to Pakistan have also been rising by 4 percent, he noted.

He also hinted towards taking a trade delegation to Croatia in collaboration with Karachi Chamber and also initiate a Business Council so that all types of trade related issues between Croatia and Pakistan could be dealt under one umbrella.

Earlier, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, stated that Pakistan was a big market of around $339 billion and has tremendous potential for strategic investment in sectors like energy, petroleum, textiles, SMEs, health, safety cyber security, artificial intelligence, startups and technology infrastructure including IT parks etc.

Pakistan has abundant human resources with cheap labor costs, which offers a great opportunity for Croatian investors in the field of technical and skills development for its youth to boost productivity, he added.

The KCCI chief indicated that absence of Croatian visa issuing office here was creating obstacles in enhancement of trade relations. Therefore the Croatian Honorary Counsel General in Karachi should be allowed to issue visas for Pakistani businesses on KCCIs recommendation, he suggested.
(@FahadShabbir)

President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Atif Ikram Sheikh, Wednesday, said that FPCCI and Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) will tangibly enhance their cooperation to promote trade, investments, joint ventures and broader economic relations

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Atif Ikram Sheikh, Wednesday, said that FPCCI and Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) will tangibly enhance their cooperation to promote trade, investments, joint ventures and broader economic relations.

The FPCCI president, in a statement issued here, reiterated that the Pakistani diaspora in Scotland was already very strong and Pakistan stands a great chance to up-scale its commercial and business interests with Scotland.

He informed that the Ambassador of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce for Pakistan, Dr Jeanette Forbes visited FPCCI Head Office in Karachi to present her plan for trade promotion between the two counterparts. Dr Jeanette Forbes, speaking at the occasion highlighted that SCC represents over 12,000 companies and more than 50 percent of the private-sector workforce.

She added that a noteworthy collaboration between SCC and FPCCI was formalized through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strengthening trade cooperation but there remains much work to be done in areas such as export promotion, foreign direct investment (FDI), joint ventures (JVs) and business-to-business (B2B) linkages.

Dr Forbes specifically emphasized the tourism, hospitality and cultural avenues in Scotland and their role in the promotion of people-to-people, business-to-business and on a macro-level, chamber-to-chamber linkages.

SVP FPCCI, Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, maintained that FPCCI was looking forward to Scottish investment and cooperation in infrastructure development, renewable energy, water resource management, financial services, food and beverages, healthcare services and retailing ventures.

In return, Pakistan offers the prospect of reducing Scotland's cost of doing business through a skilled, abundant and cost-effective workforce, business process outsourcing (BPO) and facilitation in sourcing competitive products and services, he added.

Former SVP FPCCI, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, stressed that FPCCI was committed to forging productive, reciprocal business relationships with SCC as it firmly believes in the power of strong alliances to support and promote trade activities for the mutual advancement of our nations.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) The prices of poultry items have increased by 30 percent in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi during the last six months, which has created huge volatility in the market.

According to the market survey conducted by APP here Wednesday, during the last six in the twin cities, a 30 per cent increase was witnessed in the price of chicken in the last six months, while as same as 33 per cent increase in the price of poultry eggs in the same period.

According to the survey, the price of live chicken in the twin cities was between Rs420 and 440 per kg from the last week of this month of January. Similarly, chicken meat is sold at Rs 680 to 700 per kg in the market of both cities.

During this time, it was also found that poultry eggs used to be sold at Rs 390 to Rs 405 per dozen in the market of both cities.

Meanwhile, talking to APP, the Chairman Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA), Chaudhry, Muhammad Ashraf said the increase in the current prices of poultry is due to demand and supply issues.

He said that the increase in poultry business inputs and cost of doing business was seen across the country due to which the market was in crisis.

He said that many people related to the chicken business in the country were affected by the current crisis and especially small businesses and poultry farms were closed, adding the poultry business in the four provinces including Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is suffering from the current economic crisis.

Chaudhry Ashraf said that the countrys economic conditions are also an important issue and the poultry feed ingredients imported from foreign countries are very expensive, in which soybean is important.

He said that many soybean ships have stopped at Karachi port, which has an inevitable impact on poultry prices.

Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has also called for a further increase in the prices of chicken and there was an increase observed in the prices of poultry items in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

On this occasion, poultry feed industrialist and Senior Vice President of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hamza Sarosh said that soybean is included in the basic ingredients of poultry feed.

Hamza said that soybeans for poultry feed were imported from America, Brazil and Argentina.
Israel kept bombing Gaza on Wednesday as US top diplomat Antony Blinken met the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern the coastal territory after the war ends

Ramallah, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) Israel kept bombing Gaza on Wednesday as US top diplomat Antony Blinken met the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern the coastal territory after the war ends.

As the US secretary of state arrived under tight security in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, protesters held up signs that read "Stop the genocide", "Free Palestine" and "Blinken out".

Blinken then met Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, who was later set to discuss a "push for an immediate ceasefire" in talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war started by the October 7 attack on southern Israel has raged on for more than three months and killed over 23,000 people in the Strip.

Global concern has flared over the spiralling humanitarian crisis, and Blinken -- while voicing continued US political and military support for top regional ally Israel -- has urged steps to reduce the surging civilian death toll.

Dire shortages brought by an Israeli siege mean the "daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high," Blinken said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
China on Wednesday said that it was saddened by the heavy civilian casualties caused by the ongoing Palestinian-Israel conflict

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2024) China on Wednesday said that it was saddened by the heavy civilian casualties caused by the ongoing Palestinian-Israel conflict.

We oppose any action that violates the international law and urge parties to the conflict to earnestly implement relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, Chinese Foreign Ministrys Spokesperson Mao Ning said during her regular briefing.

The spokesperson said that the Chinese side urged the parties concerned to reach an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, and stop the collective punishment against the people of Gaza.

As per media reports, the International Court of Justice (ICG) will hold its first hearing in South Africa genocide case against Israel on Friday.

When asked whether China, as one of the members of UN Security Council, would support South Africas case in the ICG, she said, We noted the case.

The death toll in the Palestinian enclave has risen to over 23,000 and approximately 2 million have been displaced amid a severe humanitarian crisis, according to the Gaza-based health ministry.

APP/asg
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China is on track for a bumper travel season, with travel authorities and tourism industry players expecting record-breaking journey numbers during the upcoming Spring Festival, adding new steam to the country's economic recovery.

The Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 10 this year, is China's biggest festival and a day for family reunions. It will serve as an important window for observing vitality and consumer confidence levels in the world's second-largest economy.

With record demand for travel, this year's Spring Festival holiday is poised to become the most vibrant and prosperous in recent years, experts said.

NEW RECORDS

An estimated 80 million passenger trips, a record high, are likely to be handled by China's civil aviation sector during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, which starts on Jan. 26 and ends on March 5, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

This figure represents a 44.9-percent surge compared with the same period of 2023 and is an increase of 9.8 percent from the level recorded during the Spring Festival travel rush in 2019.

To handle the spike in air travel passenger levels, the country's airlines have planned to add over 2,500 flights during the 40-day period, taking into consideration the likely demand for trips to popular destinations including Southeast Asian countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other neighboring regions, said Liang Nan, a CAAC official.

Liang said the CAAC has urged airlines to intensify efforts to increase international flights, especially those to neighboring regions and countries, and ensure safe operation during the Spring Festival travel surge.

The 2024 Spring Festival is likely to elevate the tourism market to a higher peak, judging from the online booking situation, said Qi Chunguang, vice president of Tuniu, a Chinese online travel services provider.

Qi said some of the company's tourism products designed for the Spring Festival were sold out much earlier than in previous years, with the list including trips to popular destinations in northern European countries.

Concerning domestic travel, he said trips to the country's northeastern regions have become so popular that local tourism reception capacity there has proved almost saturated in recent times. "Such a situation never happened before," he said.

SOLID START

The eight-day Spring Festival holiday, which starts on Feb. 10, is the first major holiday after the New Year holiday, which produced a travel boom in China's culture and tourism market, ensuring a solid start for China's economic recovery efforts in 2024.

During the three-day New Year holiday that ended on Jan. 1, a total of 135 million domestic tourist trips were made, up 155.3 percent year on year, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The total revenue of the country's tourism market surpassed 79.73 billion yuan (about 11.22 billion U.S. dollars) over the course of these three days, tripling that of the same holiday period last year and increasing 5.6 percent compared with 2019.

China recorded 5.18 million inbound and outbound trips during the three days, a 4.7-fold increase compared with the figure for the same period a year earlier and returning to the 2019 level, according to the National Immigration Administration.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said 2023 saw China's domestic tourism market recovering rapidly, while in 2024 it will enter a new stage of prosperity.

Dai predicted that total domestic travel will exceed 6 billion visits in 2024 and that domestic tourism revenue is likely to surpass 6 trillion yuan.

He expected the country's inbound and outbound trips to exceed 264 million visits this year, generating combined tourism revenue of 107 billion U.S. dollars.

Qi Chunguang, meanwhile, said China's steady economic recovery in 2024, along with increasing international flights and adjustment of visa policies, will lead to a surge in outbound trips. 
Data from Project Atlas, which has tracked international student mobility since 2001, shows that more students are resuming studies abroad after the pandemic.

According to University World News, Rebounds of international student numbers in 2022 and 2023, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, as reported in Project Atlas, indicate that the global total may again accelerate. (February 2024)
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and China's Xi Jinping on Wednesday said their countries held "constructive dialogue" over a Baltic Sea gas pipeline that Finnish authorities believe was damaged by a Chinese vessel, Helsinki said.

Finnish police in late October recovered an anchor believed to have damaged the Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia on October 8.

They said findings suggested it belonged to the Chinese cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear.

"The presidents noted the constructive dialogue between the countries regarding the Balticconnector pipeline incident," a statement from the Finnish presidency said.

A Chinese statement about the presidents' video-link meeting made no mention of talks on the damaged pipeline.

Finnish officials said in late October that China was cooperating in its investigation.

The incident came just over a year after underwater explosions struck three of four Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, cutting off a major supply route to Europe from Russia at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the war in Ukraine.

The cause of that sabotage remains unknown.

The Finnish operator of Balticconnector said in October it would take at least five months to repair the pipeline, leaving Finland dependent on liquefied natural gas imports for the winter.

Natural gas accounts for around five percent of Finland's energy consumption, being mainly used in industry and combined heat and power production.

In the Finnish statement, Niinisto, whose country joined NATO last year, said he had also raised the issue of the war in Ukraine in his talks with Xi and "stressed the role of China in achieving a just and lasting peace."

In a summary of the meeting on Chinese state television CCTV, Xi said the Asian nation was "firmly pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace."
South Africa has gone to the ICJ, or International Court of Justice, in The Hague, charging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. On Thursday and Friday the court will hear arguments from both sides and will then decide whether to issue an interim order that Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza.

There are ongoing reports of crimes against humanity and war crimes being committed as well as reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide have been and may still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza," said Clayson Monyela, spokesman for South Africas Department of International Relations and Cooperation

South Africa and Israel are both signatories to the convention. Legal experts say the full case to prove Israel is guilty of genocide could take years, but the hearings this week are an urgent measure to seek a quick order against Israel in the meantime.

If South Africa wins at what is often dubbed the World Court, it will be an international embarrassment for Israel, lawyers told VOA this week.

However, while decisions by the court are binding, they are not always followed. Russia for example has still not obeyed a 2022 ICJ order that it halt its invasion of Ukraine.

Enforcement is typically the Achilles heel of international justice at the ICJ," said Mia Swart, a visiting international law professor at South Africas University of the Witwatersrand. "Its probably highly likely that Israel will not, you know, immediately desist from all military action should the court order this and this will then have to go to the Security Council."

As a permanent member of the top U.N. body the U.S. has veto powers and is a firm ally of Israel. Washington, like the Israeli government, has called South Africas lawsuit meritless.

South Africas support for the Palestinian cause is longstanding, said Gerhard Kemp, a South African law professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

Theres also an historic reason for this, the African National Congress, the governing party of South Africa has a very longstanding relationship with the people of Gaza, Palestine, with the Palestinian liberation movements," Kemp said. "So therefore, theres also historical significance in that South Africa is taking the lead on this by bringing Israel to the ICJ.

The African National Congress, or ANC, was itself once a banned liberation movement that led an armed struggle against the racist white apartheid regime in South Africa, and says it sees echoes of that in the plight of the Palestinians.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela was a close friend of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and famously said South Africa's freedom would not be complete until the Palestinians were also free.
Ancient DNA helps explain why northern Europeans have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis than other ancestries: Its a genetic legacy of horseback-riding cattle herders who swept into the region about 5,000 years ago.

The findings come from a huge project to compare modern DNA with that culled from ancient humans teeth and bones  allowing scientists to trace both prehistoric migration and disease-linked genes that tagged along.

When a Bronze Age people called the Yamnaya moved from the steppes of what are now Ukraine and Russia into northwestern Europe, they carried gene variants that today are known to increase peoples risk of multiple sclerosis, researchers reported Wednesday.

Yet the Yamnaya flourished, widely spreading those variants. Those genes probably also protected the nomadic herders from infections carried by their cattle and sheep, concluded the research published in the journal Nature.

What we found surprised everyone, said study co-author William Barrie, a genetics researcher at the University of Cambridge. These variants were giving these people an advantage of some kind.

Its one of several findings from a first-of-its-kind gene bank with thousands of samples from early humans in Europe and western Asia, a project headed by Eske Willerslev of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen who helped pioneer the study of ancient DNA. Similar research has traced even earlier cousins of humans such as Neanderthals.

Using the new gene bank to explore MS was a logical first step. That's because while MS can strike any population, it is most common among white descendants of northern Europeans and scientists have been unable to explain why.

The potentially disabling disease occurs when immune system cells mistakenly attack the protective coating on nerve fibers, gradually eroding them. It causes varying symptoms  numbness and tingling in one person, impaired walking and vision loss in another  that often wax and wane.

Its not clear what causes MS although a leading theory is that certain infections could trigger it in people who are genetically susceptible. More than 230 genetic variants have been found that can increase someones risk.

The researchers first examined DNA from about 1,600 ancient Eurasians, mapping some major shifts in northern Europes population. First, farmers from the Middle East began supplanting hunter-gatherers and then, nearly 5,000 years ago, the Yamnaya began moving in  traveling with horses and wagons as they herded cattle and sheep.

The research team compared the ancient DNA to about 400,000 present-day people stored in a UK gene bank, to see the MS-linked genetic variations persist in the north, the direction the Yamnaya moved, rather than in southern Europe.

In what is now Denmark, the Yamnaya rapidly replaced ancient farmers, making them the closest ancestors of modern Danes, Willerslev said. MS rates are particularly high in Scandinavian countries.

Why would gene variants presumed to have strengthened ancient immunity later play a role in an autoimmune disease? Differences in how modern humans are exposed to animal germs may play a role, knocking the immune system out of balance, said study co-author Dr. Astrid Iversen of Oxford University.

The findings finally offer an explanation for the north-south MS divide in Europe, but more work is needed to confirm the link, cautioned genetic expert Samira Asgari of New Yorks Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who wasnt involved with the research, in an accompanying commentary.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead at WHO for COVID-19, cited an increase in respiratory diseases across the globe due to the coronavirus but also flu, rhinovirus and pneumonia.

"We expect those trends to continue into January through the winter months in the northern hemisphere," she said, while noting increases in COVID-19 in the southern hemisphere  where it's now summer.

While bouts of coughs, sniffling, fever and fatigue in the winter are nothing new, Van Kerkhove said this year in particular, "We are seeing co-circulation of many different types of pathogens."

WHO officials recommend that people get vaccinated when possible, wear masks, and make sure indoor areas are well ventilated.

"The vaccines may not stop you being infected, but the vaccines are certainly reducing significantly your chance of being hospitalized or dying," said Dr. Michael Ryan, head of emergencies at WHO.
The icy Siberian weather now gripping Europe might have sent a chill through European Union capitals a year ago, as they scrambled to wean themselves off another Russian import: energy.

But few are fretting about running out of reserves this winter, as thermostats inch up to keep the cold snap at bay. Gone are dire warnings of possible power cuts that sent Germans scrambling to stockpile candles and French villages  along with the iconic Eiffel Tower  to go dark at night in an energy conservation drive.

Europes energy crisis is over, said Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund policy institute. Even if we get a very cold winter, theres not going to be a major gas shortage in Europe. The infrastructure has improved, demand is a lot lower. And that demand reduction is permanent.

Once Europes top energy supplier, accounting for nearly 43% of overall imports, Moscow has seen its share sharply reduced, thanks to EU coal and oil sanctions over the war in Ukraine and Russia's own gas cutoffs to many member states. The bloc has called for phasing out Russian gas imports by 2027.

Today, the United States and Norway are Europes top oil and gas suppliers, according to EU statistical agency Eurostat, even as the bloc taps other markets such as Algeria.

Fossil fuel demand has also dropped, thanks to a mix of energy conservation, warmer winters and a sharp rise in green energy.

But some warn against complacency. Rebel EU member Hungary announced it would ramp up energy imports from Russia, while a loophole allows another, Bulgaria, to continue importing Russian oil above a sanctions price cap  boosting Moscows war chest, reports say.

Europes transition to clean energy needs to be faster and more holistic, experts say, while others note it remains dependent on Moscow for fuel and services for its Russian-designed nuclear power plants.

Europe remains at risk to Russian energy extortion as long as its energy transition remains incomplete, the Atlantic Institute think tank wrote in a September analysis that called on the bloc to press on with its energy decoupling from Russia and its climate change commitments.

Still, the energy scenario is sharply different from just over a year ago, when Europeans feared running out of power during the coldest winter months. French officials lowered public school thermostats and turned off municipal street lighting during the early morning hours.

Germany  once reliant on Russian gas for about 60% of its imports  saw a run on candles and firewood as citizens stocked up, even though chances of power cuts were low. Danish citizens were urged to switch from dryers to clotheslines, and Slovaks from stoves to microwaves.

New suppliers and green power

Today, EU powerhouse Berlin is turning to Norwegian gas and importing liquified natural gas, or LNG, from the United States, renting and building floating terminals to store and process supplies  infrastructure it didnt have a year ago.

Without relatively inexpensive Russian gas, EU chemical and fertilizer industries are scaling back production. The region is importing such goods instead. Theres no longer a business case for that kind of production in Europe, analyst Kirkegaard said.

The bloc has also accelerated its transition to clean energy in recent months, with the EUs executive arm vowing to phase out fossil fuels well before 2050. High European carbon-trading prices to offset carbon emissions have also provided a huge incentive for businesses to exit fossil fuels, according to Kirkegaard.

"A growth model centered on fossil fuels is simply obsolete," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said last year.

Yet critics say soaring rhetoric and promises made in Brussels do not always translate into concrete action in European capitals.

Weve seen positive trends and good synergies, said Camille Defard, who heads the energy center at the Jacques Delors Institute, a Paris-Based think tank that is calling for more funding and coordination to ensure Europes climate goals are met.

However, she said, the measures that have been implemented so far are too temporary, too voluntary and too national to really foster effective European action.

Nor are all EU members on the same page when it comes to Moscow. An EU loophole allows Bulgaria, for example, to import Russian oil above an agreed-on $60-a-barrel price cap, Politico reported, boosting Russian profits that it can plow into its Ukraine offensive. Spain continued to source substantial LNG supplies from Moscow, while Hungarys Victor Orban has stepped up winter gas imports.

Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin recently called for seizing domestic energy assets owned by unfriendly European countries, with compensation terms set by Moscow.

Still the larger trend is clear, analyst Kirkegaard said.

Its true that some European buyers are supplying Russia with money from energy purchases, he said. But that isnt dependency on Russian energy  that is over.
File photo taken on Oct. 3, 2023 shows President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi (C) attending a ceremony at the Sakania dry port in Haut-Katanga province, DR Congo. The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday officially confirmed the re-election of President Felix Tshisekedi following the Dec. 20 polls. (Xinhua/Shi Yu)

KINSHASA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday officially confirmed the re-election of President Felix Tshisekedi following the Dec. 20 polls.

Tshisekedi secured a dominant 73.47 percent of the vote, while main opposition candidate Moise Katumbi trailed behind with 18.08 percent, according to the court's declaration.

The president-elect is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 20 after the Constitutional Court approves the election results.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission that oversaw the general elections, over 18 million Congolese, from a total of 44 million registered voters, cast their ballots in the elections for the president, the National Assembly and the 26 provincial assemblies.

However, the process was not without controversy as opposition candidates raised allegations of irregularities, which the electoral commission said would not impact the election outcome.

This election was significant as it marked the second peaceful transfer of power in the country's history since independence in 1960. In 2018, Tshisekedi ascended to power after winning the election, marking the country's first peaceful transfer of power since its independence from Belgium. 
Belarus state television reported Wednesday that authorities sent a recently arrived group of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to train with the Belarusian military to learn how to evacuate in the event of a fire.

Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition allege that Russian ally Belarus is engaging in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus on a mass scale, which critics say is a campaign to indoctrinate the children as pro-Russian.

Wednesday's report referred to 35 children from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine that Belarusian authorities said were sent to the eastern Belarusian city of Mogilev.

The Belarus1 state television channel said the children are being housed in a sanatorium and are being cared for by employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The military is "teaching the children how to behave in extreme situations," the state television channel said.

Children wear Russian flag

More than 2,400 Ukrainian children aged 6 to 17 have been brought to Belarus from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian troops, a recent Yale University study found. The Belarusian opposition has called on the International Criminal Court to bring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and officials in his government to justice for their involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to Belarus.

State television footage released Wednesday showed the Ukrainian children wearing the Russian flag sewn onto their sleeves. The state television program said the Belarusian military is conducting "emergency survival training" for the children.

During the report, screams were heard in a smoke-filled room while the program showed the children learning to leave during a fire while holding onto the wall.

"This is not just dry theory, but our classes are conducted in a playful format and are aimed at children," said Evgeniy Sokolov, inspector of the Mogilev military training center for the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

'Children are being indoctrinated,' says activist

Ukrainian authorities said they are investigating the deportation of the children as possible genocide. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine has said Belarus is also being investigated over the alleged forced deportation of more than 19,000 children from occupied Ukrainian territories.

Pavel Latushka, the former Belarusian culture minister turned opposition activist who presented the ICC with evidence of Lukashenko's alleged involvement in the illegal deportation of children, said that "Belarusian authorities are not hiding the fact that children are being indoctrinated."

Ukrainian children are being "subjected to re-education and indoctrination" to make them pro-Russian, Latushka told The Associated Press. According to Latushka, there are instances of Ukrainian children being taken to Belarus and then to Russia where they were put up for adoption.

In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of war crimes over the illegal deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia. Moscow has rejected the accusations.

Belarus has been Moscow's closest ally since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, when Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to use Belarus to invade Ukraine. Russia has also stationed some of its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
The Biden administration is sending mixed signals as it continues to reject mounting calls for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, at the same time that President Joe Biden appears to being trying to appease some Americans' calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, reiterated the administrations long-standing position that a cease-fire at this point would only benefit Hamas.

Israel insists its military campaign will stop only after the U.S.-designated terror group is eliminated.

"We do continue to support humanitarian pauses but not a general cease-fire right now," Kirby told VOA during Tuesday's White House news briefing. "The president wasn't signaling any change at all."

In response Monday to hecklers urging him to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, Biden said he has been "quietly working with the Israeli government" using all means at his disposal "to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza."

"I understand the passion," Biden said, addressing the group who interrupted his speech during a campaign event in South Carolina chanting "Cease-fire. Now!"

The incident is one of the most public demonstrations yet on how the conflict is dividing voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election in November.

Biden's statement is "an insult" to the American people who are "demanding U.S. leadership" to stop the war, said Wendy Pearlman, a professor of Middle East studies at Northwestern University.

"It's almost embarrassing to talk about quiet, behind-the-scenes whispers when the Biden administration's actions on Israel speak so loudly," she told VOA, underscoring American financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel.

Pearlman is one of the more than 1,350 American political scientists who signed an open letter calling on Biden and other U.S. political leaders to press for an immediate cease-fire.

The administration has staunchly supported Israel's military operation in Gaza following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization the U.S., U.K, EU and others.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel's campaign has killed more than 23,000 people in the Palestinian enclave  the bloodiest episode in the decadeslong conflict.

Biden in a bind

With the scale of death and destruction rapidly increasing in Gaza, Biden, who is launching his reelection campaign, is in a bind, said Melani Cammett, professor of international affairs at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

"There still is a significant portion of the American public that is very strongly in support of the Israel-United States alliance and views any effort not to support Israel 100% as threatening to this alliance," she told VOA.

A poll by the Jewish Electorate Institute, an organization that describes itself as "an independent, non-partisan organization" dedicated to deepening understanding of Jewish American participation in U.S. democracy, shows three out of four Jewish American voters support Biden's handling of the war.

At the same time, Biden's policies on Israel are becoming a potential electoral liability among increasingly large swaths of voters beyond Arab and Muslim Americans, to include young and progressive Democrats, and even some in the American Jewish community.

On Monday, Americans for Peace Now, a left-wing, pro-Israel organization, became the first American Zionist group to call Israel to "adopt and implement an immediate exit strategy from the war," a sign that American Jews' support for Israel may be fracturing.

"The Biden administration must push Israel to bring about an immediate cessation of hostilities and pivot from war to peacemaking," James Klutznick, the group's chairman, said in a statement.

Anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish American groups have criticized Israel's conduct since the early stages of the conflict, but until APN's statement, the rest of the Jewish organizational spectrum had expressed support for Israel's war effort and Biden's support for the campaign.

"The Jewish community is grateful for President Biden's efforts to stand by Israel in its response to Hamas's horrific attack on Oct. 7 and to stand with Jewish Americans as we face the rise of antisemitism," said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, in a statement to VOA. JDCA aims to be "the political home and voice of Jewish voters."

"Jewish voters also support President Biden's efforts to encourage the release of hostages, reduce the loss of life in Gaza, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinians," she added.

A December Gallup poll shows that 38% of Americans say Israel receives about the right amount of support, while 36% think it gets too much, and 24% say too little. Forty percent of Democrats and independents say the U.S. provides too much support for Israel, compared with 26% of Republicans.

Another round of shuttle diplomacy

Biden's remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East for another round of shuttle diplomacy amid signs that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is spreading to various hot spots across the region.

In one of his harshest rebukes to Israel, Blinken underscored that "Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders" in supporting "a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence."

Israel, he said, "must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively."

Beyond Washington's role, economic factors will be key in determining when Israel ends its campaign, said Michael Knights, a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"There's a need to demobilize the huge reserves that have been mobilized since Oct. 7," Knights told VOA. "There will actually, probably, be a moment in, let's say January or February, when the Israeli military says, 'We've done enough, and neither we nor the Americans can take any more political pressure. It's time for a cease-fire.'"

If Israel ends its high-intensity fighting in the first quarter, the war will cost around $13.8 billion in 2024, according to Israel's Finance Ministry. The number includes the cost of mobilizing 350,000 reserve soldiers.

The Biden administration's request for $14 billion to help Israel has been stalled in Congress.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the organization that conducted the poll of Jewish American voters.

VOA's White House correspondent Anita Powell and senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest mission to contain the Gaza war, said displaced Palestinians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow, and Israel has agreed to allow a United Nations mission to evaluate the situation in war-ravaged northern Gaza.

"As Israel's campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza and as the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the U.N. to carry out an assessment mission, Blinken told reporters during a Tuesday news conference in Tel Aviv. It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north.

The top diplomat also urged Israeli leaders to prevent further harm to Palestinian civilians.

"The daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly on children, is far too high," he said.

International Court of Justice hearings

Later this week, the International Court of Justice will conduct hearings on a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and seeking an emergency suspension of its military campaign.

The United States believes the case is meritless and that it distracts from Israel's efforts to fight threats from Hamas militants and other Iran proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis, according to Blinken.

"We want this war to end as soon as possible," he said. "But it's vital that Israel achieves its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that October 7 can never happened again."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has rejected the genocide charge filed at the International Court of Justice, calling the accusation "atrocious and preposterous."

Gaza's future

On Tuesday, Blinken held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Herzog, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and other senior officials from Israel's war Cabinet in Tel Aviv.

"The Secretary and Prime Minister discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the importance of increasing the level of humanitarian assistance reaching civilians in Gaza," according to a statement from the State Department.

"In this regard, the Secretary welcomed the appointment of Sigrid Kaag as the UN's Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, pledging close cooperation with her in this new capacity," the statement added.

Blinken has stressed the potential for Israel to win acceptance from Arab neighbors by seeking a path toward establishing a Palestinian state as a means to resolve the longstanding conflict.

See related video by Cindy Saine:

Netanyahu has firmly rejected the two-state solution.

The West Bank and Gaza should be united under a Palestinian-led governance that Hamas militants play no role in, according to the postwar roadmap envisioned by Washington.

But some analysts are skeptical and play down the prospect.

"I don't see how the Palestinian Authority will go back into Gaza and assume any kind of meaningful control over what is left of Gaza. They're having a very hard time maintaining control, even in the West Bank," Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told VOA on Tuesday.

Blinken also met on Tuesday with the families of some of the hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. And he relayed to Israeli leaders some of what he heard from other leaders in the region during stops in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Gaza health officials say more than 23,000 Palestinians, a large percentage of them women and children, have been killed in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement following talks with Blinken on Monday, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman underscored the importance of halting military operations in the Gaza Strip and the need to create conditions for restoring peace and stability.

When asked about U.S.-led talks to normalize the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Blinken said there is "a clear interest" in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the region, in pursuing that goal but that "it will require that the conflict end in Gaza, and it will also clearly require that there be a practical pathway to a Palestinian state."

Saudi Arabia has paused the diplomatic talks to normalize ties with Israel amid the military conflict between Hamas militants and Israeli forces.

Escalation in no one's interest



After an Israeli airstrike killed a key Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday  the latest sign of a possibly widening conflict in the Middle East  Blinken told reporters it is clearly not in the interest of Israel, Lebanon or Hezbollah to see an escalation outside Gaza.

Hezbollah has identified the commander as Wissam al-Tawil. Last week, senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a drone strike in Beirut. Hamas and Hezbollah are both U.S. designated terrorist organizations, and both are backed by Iran, whose militant allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have been carrying out longer-range attacks against Israel.

The United States has urged Israel to shift to smaller-scale military operations in Gaza but has continued to support Israel in refusing Arab demands for a cease-fire in the three-month war. Israel has vowed to continue the war until it believes the threat of Hamas attacks has been eradicated and the militant group no longer controls Gaza, a narrow strip of territory along the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on October 7. Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 captives taken in the terror attack.

Cindy Saine contributed to this report. Some material for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his latest diplomatic efforts to curb the Gaza war from spreading, warned of consequences after Yemen-based Houthi rebels launched their largest yet aerial attack on the Red Sea.

We had the biggest attackUAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) missilesjust yesterday, Blinken told reporters at Bahrain International Airport in Manama on Wednesday. These attacks have been aided and abetted by Iran with technology, equipment, intelligence, information, and they are having a real-life impact on people.

More than 20 countries, including Bahrain, have vowed to preserve freedom of navigation and freedom of shipping in the Red Sea, said Blinken after holding talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

If these attacks continue, as they did yesterday, there will be consequences, Blinken added. He urged Iran to stop its assistance to Houthis but declined to elaborate on what specific consequences there would be.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution condemning and demanding an end to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The Iran-backed Houthis said the attacks target ships affiliated with or bound for Israel, and that they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Pathway to a Palestinian State

Earlier, Blinken discussed administrative reforms with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a Wednesday meeting in the West Bank, along with efforts to boost humanitarian aid to people in the Gaza Strip.

It came a day after Blinken pressed Israels leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken "reaffirmed that the United States supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, with both living in peace and security."

Blinken also called for Israel to transfer all Palestinian tax revenue it collects to the Palestinian authority in accordance with existing agreements.

The Palestinian Authority governs part of the West Bank, while the Hamas militant group has controlled the Gaza Strip where Israel is fighting to eradicate the group.

The United States has envisioned a postwar roadmap that puts Gaza under a Palestinian-led governance with no role for Hamas.

But some analysts are skeptical and play down the prospect.

"I don't see how the Palestinian Authority will go back into Gaza and assume any kind of meaningful control over what is left of Gaza. They're having a very hard time maintaining control, even in the West Bank," Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told VOA Tuesday.

Blinken has stressed the potential for Israel to win acceptance from Arab neighbors by seeking a path toward establishing a Palestinian state as a means to resolve the longstanding conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected the two-state solution.

Northern Gaza

Israel has agreed to allow a U.N. mission to evaluate the situation in war-ravaged northern Gaza for the safe return of displaced Palestinians.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Wednesday that the mission was "contingent on security guarantees" from Israel.

The U.N. hopes to carry it out as soon as possible, as it is critical to a planned increase in humanitarian aid for northern Gaza.

Diplomats said Israel had invited U.N. Security Council members to visit the country later this month.

A U.N. special envoy is also set to conduct a mission to Israel and the West Bank at the end of January to gather information on sexual violence against hostages, reportedly committed by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks and its aftermath.

More than 85% of Palestinians have been displaced across the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Court hearings

Later this week, the International Court of Justice will conduct hearings on a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and seeking an emergency suspension of its military campaign.

The United States believes the case is meritless and that it distracts from Israel's efforts to fight threats from Hamas militants and other Iran proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis, according to Blinken.

"We want this war to end as soon as possible," he said. "But it's vital that Israel achieves its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that October 7 can never happened again."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has rejected the genocide charge filed at the International Court of Justice, calling the accusation "atrocious and preposterous."

Hostages held in Gaza

On Thursday, Blinken will head to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the country tries to mediate a deal for the release of the remaining hostages, including several Americans.

Retired General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, former commander of U.S. Central Command, expressed pessimism during a webinar on Wednesday.

"I think it's going to be very hard to get the remaining hostages back. ... They're the last thing Hamas has," he said. "I am not optimistic that we're going to get a lot of these hostages back."

Gaza health officials say more than 23,300 Palestinians, a large percentage of them women and children, have been killed in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on October 7. Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 captives taken in the terror attack.

Cindy Saine, Jeff Seldin and Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some material came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press.
China's arrest of a man allegedly working as a spy for Britain could be retaliation, analysts say.

The case, which was announced on Monday by China's Ministry of State Security, comes amid growing and vocal concern in Britain over Beijing and the security threat the communist country poses. It also follows last year's arrest of a British parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for China.

According to a post Monday on the ministry's official WeChat social media account, Britain's MI6 intelligence agency recruited a man surnamed Huang in 2015, who has since then passed 17 pieces of intelligence to and recruited personnel for the agency using spy equipment provided by the British government.

Chinese authorities did not reveal Huang's nationality or gender but said the alleged spy was from an unspecified "third country" and underwent recruitment and training in Britain and other locations. They also said the individual was working under the guise of being an overseas consultant.

The ministry did not provide evidence to support the claims nor disclose Huang's current condition or whereabouts. But it did say that state security "promptly reported and arranged consular visits, protecting Huang's lawful rights in accordance with the law."

When contacted by VOA, Britain's Foreign Office on Tuesday replied: "It is our longstanding policy to neither confirm nor deny claims relating to intelligence matters."

Peter Humphrey, a former journalist who later worked for more than a decade as a fraud investigator for Western firms in China, said the case looks like "a complete joke."

"Firstly, I think this is the continuation of Beijing's attack on Western consultancies. Secondly, I think Beijing is trying to find a case to throw back at us because we have caught them doing things in the U.K., America, Belgium, etc.," Humphrey told VOA in a telephone interview. "Beijing is desperately looking for a case to throw back at us."

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said a Chinese American U.S. Navy service member was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine after pleading guilty in October to taking bribes to give sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer.

Britain has accused Chinese spies of targeting officials in key ministries, while China has unveiled multiple cases accusing foreign citizens, including British and Americans, of espionage.

In September, The Times newspaper reported that Britain's intelligence agency arrested British parliamentary researcher Chris Cash on suspicion of spying for China. Cash has close ties to Minister of Parliament Alicia Kearns, the current chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Tom Tugendhat, the former defense secretary and security minister.

Another policy researcher working in the British Parliament, who asked to remain anonymous in an interview with VOA because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said the level of security at parliament has changed since Cash was arrested.

"Within about a month, they changed their entire security protocols. And so now the application process is completely different," the researcher said, adding that the golden age of British-China relations is dead.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and chair of the Britain-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, told VOA the accusations made by China not only worsen Sino-British relations but also significantly impact foreign citizens and companies operating in China.

"Whether there is any truth in China's allegations or whether it is a tit-for-tat retaliation in response to allegations of Chinese espionage activities in Westminster remains to be seen, but either way, this incident contributes to a more risky and dangerous environment for British citizens doing business in or traveling to China," he said.

David Moore, a policy researcher at the British Parliament, said Britain shouldn't fear retaliation from the Chinese government.

"About time we need to crack down on Chinese espionage, whether it be trying to infiltrate our institutions or on our streets with Chinese police stations that have been operating across the Western world," he told VOA referring to alleged policing by Chinese security forces in foreign countries including the U.S.

In a speech in July at the British Embassy in Prague, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service said China was their single most important strategic focus. "We now devote more resources to China than anywhere else, reflecting China's increasing global significance."

VOA reached out to the Chinese Embassy in London for comment, but by the time of publication, no response had been received.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
A contributor to Radio Marti was arrested Tuesday morning by Cuban authorities in Havana, the station's parent organization said in a statement.

Oscar Elias Biscet, a Radio Marti contributor, was arrested by Cuban authorities while leaving his home in Havana and is being held without explanation, according to a statement from the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Like VOA, Radio Marti is funded by the U.S. Congress but is editorially independent.

Sylvia Rosabal, director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio Marti, condemned Biscet's arrest and called for his immediate release.

In a statement, Rosabal called the arrest "an obvious attempt to silence the pursuit of human rights in Cuba."

"This violation by Cuban officials should be considered yet another warning to anyone who dares to express concern about the rights of all people," she continued.

Cuba's consulate in Washington did not immediately reply to VOA's email requesting comment.

Known for covering human rights

A U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, Biscet is known for his human rights coverage around the world and in Cuba.

Biscet has been jailed multiple times in the past. After being sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of working with the United States to subvert the Cuban government, he spent nearly a decade in prison before international pressure led to his release in 2011.

His latest arrest coincides with the annual meeting of the Emilia Project, a campaign Biscet founded to promote democracy and human rights in Cuba.

Cuban officials detained Biscet exactly one year ago, shortly before the Emilia Project's 2023 meeting.

Despite the ever-present safety risks, Biscet has refused to leave Cuba.

Out of 180 countries, Cuba ranks 172 in terms of press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Opposition and civil society groups are rallying in support of Gabons coup leader, after a bloc of Central African states refused to lift the sanctions on Gabon they imposed after the military ousted President Ali Ben Bongo at the end of August.

There were demonstrations this week in the Gabonese cities of Libreville, Oyem and Franceville, as civil society groups call for an end to sanctions, including Gabons suspension from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, and Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS.

Gabon was suspended from the economic blocs on September 1, two days after General Brice Oligui Nguema ousted President Bongo in a bloodless coup.

In a New Year's message, Oligui said he rescued Gabon from the iron fisted rule of Bongo, restored political stability and is improving delivery of water, electricity and health care. He said most of Gabon's debts have been settled within his four months of rule.

Opposition parties say the junta leader has also liberated scores of political prisoners, invited exiled opposition leaders and critics back to the country and is fighting against corruption that characterized the Ali Bongo regime.

They say he should be given time to organize elections, and say the international sanctions should be lifted, immediately.

Jean Delors Bitogue Bi Ntougou is a political scientist and researcher at the Libreville-headquartered Omar Bongo University.

He says the sanctions deprive Gabon of expressing opinions on topical local, regional and international issues and render the central African states' voice inaudible when countries meet during summits and conferences to discuss peace, security, the well-being of civilians and international cooperation. He says Gabon, like any other nation, wants to take part in discussions that shape the future of the world.

The military junta recently sent delegations to the United Nations, CEMAC and ECCAS member states to press for the lifting of the sanctions. Oligui said the coup was essential, because it prevented bloodshed from Gabon's opposition, which said Bongo stole their victory in Gabons August 26 election.

In remarks to protesters, Oligui said he was surprised the diplomatic outreach didnt work.

Nestor Obiang Nzoghe, an expert in governance and development policy and an adviser to the ousted presidents Gabonese Democratic Party, says if Gabon's military respects its promise to hand power to civilian rule, sanctions imposed by the international community will be lifted.

Nzoghe says central Africa's leaders who have clung to power for decades are reluctant to lift sanctions on Gabon for fear of setting a precedent for military takeovers.

He says Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled for about 45 years, Cameroon's President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 41 years, and Congo's Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has been president for about 40 years, may think that lifting sanctions and openly accepting General Oligui as Gabon's president can act as an encouragement for militaries in their countries to also seize power.

In November, Gabon's military government announced a program to organize free, transparent and credible elections to restore civilian rule by August 2025. The military leaders say before such elections, the sovereign people of Gabon will meet in a national dialogue in April 2024 to, among other things, adopt the transition plan.
The United States is condemning escalating violence in Ecuador, after a group of masked men armed with guns and explosives stormed a public television station in the port city of Guayaquil during a live news program and fired shots in the studio.

We strongly condemn the recent criminal attacks by armed groups in Ecuador against private, public, & government institutions. We are committed to supporting Ecuadorians security & prosperity & bolstering cooperation w/partners to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday on the social media platform X.

The assault on the TV station late Tuesday came hours after a series of other attacks and police officer abductions. Police later seized control of the station and arrested 13 suspected gunmen and charged them with terrorism. No one was hurt in the incident.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said Tuesday his country is in the grip of internal armed conflict amid growing violence across the South American country.

The crisis began over the weekend with the apparent escape of Adolfo Macias, the leader of the notorious drug gang Los Choneros. Several police officers have been abducted and numerous bombs have been detonated across Ecuador.

Authorities Tuesday said another drug-trafficking boss, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from police custody from the town of Riobamba. Colon Pico has been accused of being involved in a plot to kill the countrys attorney general.

President Noboa declared a state of emergency in response to the violence. In addition to Tuesdays declaration of the country being under internal armed conflict, Noboa named more than 20 drug-trafficking gangs as terrorist organizations and declared them military targets.

Ecuador has been plagued by violence for years as the once-peaceful nation has become a major transit route for cocaine smuggling between South and North America.

Peru has declared a state of emergency along its shared border with Ecuador, while Brazil, Chile and Colombia have expressed support for Ecuadors leader. China has closed its embassy in Ecuadors capital, Quito, and all its consulates in the country.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss what post war Gaza would look like. We discuss deterrence of Iran as its proxies attack American and international interests in the region. We get a look ahead to upcoming elections all over the world.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley are squaring off Wednesday night in a final debate ahead of next weeks first Republican presidential nominating caucuses in the farm state of Iowa, but the front-runner in the contest, former President Donald Trump, is again refusing to debate.

Polls in the U.S. heartland state show Trump with a commanding 30-to-40-percentage-point lead over DeSantis and Haley. That has given Trump leeway to skip their faceoff on CNN and instead appear on Fox News at a voters townhall to answer their questions without being challenged directly on a debate stage by his political rivals.

The Monday caucuses, in which voters cast ballots at firehouses, schools and community centers, are the kickoff for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination contest, followed by weeks of more caucuses and party primary elections throughout the country.

But polling shows Trump, who is facing an unprecedented 91 criminal charges across four indictments, with such a substantial advantage among Republican voters over DeSantis, Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, that his campaign has predicted he could clinch the partys nomination by the end of March. Neither Christie nor Ramaswamy have polled high enough to qualify for the CNN debate.

With Trumps huge polling lead in Iowa, the DeSantis-Haley faceoff has effectively become a contest between the two to become Trumps main challenger as the national nominating contest moves to the northeastern state of New Hampshire for a January 23 primary.

Trump also leads in New Hampshire, polls show, but with Haley  who served as Trumps ambassador to the U.N. and was previously governor of South Carolina  gaining ground compared to voter surveys several months ago.

Over months of campaigning for the Republican nomination, both DeSantis and Haley have been reluctant to take on Trump with gusto for fear of alienating his supporters.

Both, however, have assailed Trump for skipping all the presidential debates in the last few months. More recently, they have also blamed Trump for failing to finish the wall he promised to build along the Mexican border to curb migration, for allowing the countrys national debt to balloon during his White House tenure and to clearly define his position on limiting abortions in the U.S.

For his part, Trump has dubbed the Florida governor Ron DeSanctimonious. Trump has attacked Haley for running against him after once saying she would not seek the partys nomination if he ran again. Trump also contends Haley is in the pocket of establishment donors.
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera (L) presents a gift to the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Southern Africa Bureau, Menghestab Haile, at the president's office in Lilongwe, Malawi, Jan. 9, 2024. Malawi will start importing maize flour from Tanzania and South Africa to feed the 4.4 million people who are facing food shortages in the country.

Commissioner for Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) Charles Kalemba disclosed this to journalists in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, on the sidelines of President Lazarus Chakwera's meeting with Menghestab Haile. (Photo by Kondwani Magombo/Xinhua)

LILONGWE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Malawi will start importing maize flour from Tanzania and South Africa to feed the 4.4 million people who are facing food shortages in the country.

Commissioner for Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) Charles Kalemba disclosed this to journalists in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, on the sidelines of President Lazarus Chakwera's meeting with the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Southern Africa Bureau, Menghestab Haile, at the president's office.

Kalemba's remarks cleared the controversy that was caused by Malawi's suspension of maize import from Tanzania and Kenya over "devastating" Maize Lethal Necrosis, a disease that researchers in Malawi said could completely wipe out the staple crop if unchecked.

Recently, Malawian media reports indicated that the World Bank had committed 20 Million U.S. dollars to purchasing of maize from Tanzania to support the needy Malawians, but the reports said the World Bank was stuck with the importation ban.

But the DoDMA commissioner said it had been resolved that Malawi should import maize flour from Tanzania and not the staple food in its grain form.

He said Malawi government is working with WFP and the World Bank to have the maize flour imported into Malawi by weekend.

"We are getting maize flour from Tanzania and South Africa. The Ministry of Agriculture did not say we cannot get maize from Tanzania. The issue is about full grain maize that can be planted. But getting maize for food in a form of flour is okay," Kalemba said.

"This weekend, or next week, we should start receiving maize flour from Tanzania and South Africa -- we will get the necessary food that the World Bank has supported us with," he added.

Food insecurity in Malawi has escalated with the falling of the country's currency, Kwacha, by 44 percent early November and. A 50-kg bag of maize, which was at 12,000 Malawian Kwacha (about 7.13 U.S. dollars) this time last year, is now between 50,000 and 60,000 Malawian Kwacha (about 29.71 and 35.66 U.S. dollars). 

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera (R) shakes hands with the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Southern Africa Bureau, Menghestab Haile, at the president's office in Lilongwe, Malawi, Jan. 9, 2024. Malawi will start importing maize flour from Tanzania and South Africa to feed the 4.4 million people who are facing food shortages in the country.

Commissioner for Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) Charles Kalemba disclosed this to journalists in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, on the sidelines of President Lazarus Chakwera's meeting with Menghestab Haile. (Photo by Kondwani Magombo/Xinhua)
A group of armed men stormed a public television station in Ecuador during a live broadcast Tuesday and threatened staff.

At least one person is believed to have been injured, according to one regional media analyst.

The attack on TC Television network in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, was captured by the station's own broadcast before the live feed was cut about 15 minutes into the raid.

At around 2 p.m. local time, masked individuals broke into the headquarters, yelling that they had bombs. Sounds that appeared to be gunshots could be heard and footage circulated on social media showing journalists crouched on the studio floor.

The raid comes one day after President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency amid the kidnappings of at least seven police officers by gang members and a prison break by a gang leader.

Adolfo Macias, who heads a gang known as Los Choneros, disappeared on Sunday from a maximum-security prison.

In the TC Television case, police were deployed to the studio and made around a dozen arrests, according to the news outlet Teleamazonas. At least two suspects are believed to have fled, the media group said.

Footage shared on social media by the police showed several suspects cuffed and face down on the studio floor.

Cesar Ricaurte, executive director of the press freedom group Fundamedios, told VOA that at least one person is believed to be seriously injured.

While the footage feed of the station was cut early into the raid, audio could still be heard.

"You could hear the audio .... of gunshots, shouts from the workers. After about 30 minutes, members of the police and the armed forces entered and tried to take control of the channel," Ricaurte said.

Journalists urged to take safety steps

Earlier Tuesday, Ecuadorian authorities confirmed that a series of attacks had occurred around the country, including explosions and the kidnapping of several police officers.

Ricaurte told VOA there had been requests to reinforce security of media groups but added that he did not know of any "explicit and concrete threat."

Fundamedios on social media condemned the raid and called for the country's journalists to take safety measures.

Media should try "not to expose themselves unnecessarily, and to act in the most responsible way in the dissemination of information regarding the critical security situation in our country," a statement by the group on X said.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and the Associated Press.
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Violence in Ecuador erupted Tuesday as a group of armed people took over a live TV broadcast, five police officers were kidnapped and explosions were reported nationwide. New information about U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins hospitalization is released. And using mushrooms to fight wildfires
On January 7, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani reanimated his country's call to create a permanent European Union armed force tasked with peacekeeping and conflict prevention in Europe.

Italy first proposed the creation of an EU joint permanent military force in 2016. That sparked criticism and opposition from the United Kingdom and other European countries, who argued that an EU armed force would undermine and duplicate NATO.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to Tajanis latest comments in a January 7 Telegram post that included a barrage of hardly comprehensible false and misleading claims, the most egregious of which is debunked in this fact check.

Zakharova implied that NATO and the European Union have the same member states and that the EU countries financial contributions to NATOs common defense budget go to the United States.

"An EU army? ... For what, then, must each NATO country (read EU) pay colossal sums to the 'common till' (but, in fact, to Washington), which, as declared, go to ensure their security?"

That is false.

Not all NATO members belong to the EU, and not all EU countries are NATO members. NATO's common budget is governed by its member countries collective decisions and serves the interests of the whole alliance.

To date, NATO has 31 member states, 22 of which are also EU members. Nine NATO member countries  Albania, Canada, Britain, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Turkey and the United States  are not EU members.

NATO is financed by direct and indirect contributions from member countries.

Direct costs for NATO's collective budgets and programs are covered by contributions from alliance members and amount to only 0.3% of NATO members' total defense spending (approximately $3.6 billion for 2023).

Direct contributions fund NATOs three principal common budgets  the civilian budget, which funds NATOs headquarters in Brussels; the military budget, which funds the NATO Command Structure; and the NATO Security Investment Program, which funds military infrastructure and capabilities.

That money doesn't go to Washington. It is distributed through a a transparent process governed by five different bodies: the North Atlantic Council, the Resource Policy and Planning Board, the Budget Committee and the Investment Committee, with Allies collectively deciding what is eligible for common funding and how much can be spent each year.

NATOs military forces consist of troops and equipment provided by its member states  there are no separate NATO forces  meaning that 99.7% of the funding for the troops from each member country that can be made available for NATO joint military operations comes from the member countries own defense budgets.

In 2006, NATO defense ministers declared that each member country should spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on its defense budget to continue to ensure the Alliance's military readiness.

As of July 7, 2023, only 11 NATO member states had met this commitment, with 20 member states still spending less than 2% of GDP for defense. The median military expenditure of NATO member countries is 1.82% of GDP.

The combined size of the GDPs of all NATO countries, except for the United States, is almost equal to the U.S. GDP. Most European NATO member countries spend a smaller share of their GDP on defense, while U.S. military spending accounts for about two-thirds of NATO's defense spending.

Therefore, Zakharova's claim that EU countries are funding Washington via NATO is the opposite of the truth. In fact, it is the United States that indirectly provides a disproportionate share of funding for the defense of EU member states.

Two U.S. presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, criticized NATO allies for free riding on the U.S. military budget.
Despite ongoing food shortages, the government of Malawi last month banned the import of unmilled maize from Kenya and Tanzania, citing concerns about the spread of maize lethal necrosis disease, or MLN. To help keep Malawians fed, the World Food Program has started milling 30,000 metric tons of relief maize. Authorities say the first consignment of the milled grain is expected next week.

Ironically, the maize the WFP purchased for milling is from Tanzania. The grain was held up last week, awaiting the arrival of experts to test it for MLN.

However, the WFP country director in Malawi, Paul Turnbul, told local media that in the interests of time, it was agreed that no tests would be done and instead, the WFP would just mill the maize and import flour to Malawi

Charles Kalemba, the commissioner for Malawis Department of Disaster Management Affairs, told the state broadcaster Tuesday importing flour is safe.

We are getting maize flour from Tanzania because the agriculture ministry did not say we cannot get maize, but what we call full grain maize, which can be planted, [thats] where the problem is, he said. But getting food in the form of maize flour, thats okay.

In December, Malawis government banned the import of unmilled maize grain from Kenya and Tanzania because of concerns that the spread of MLN could wipe out the countrys staple crop.

The ministry of agriculture said the disease has no treatment and can cause up to 100% yield loss.

Ronald Chilumpha, an expert in crop protection in Malawi, told VOA he did not expect Malawi to ban maize grain from Tanzania.

Maize necrosis has been there in East Africa since 2012, he said. Malawi has been on alert for potential presence of the disease in the country. I do believe that these are scientific issues that can be discussed from a scientific point of view and come to a consensus.

Authorities in Malawi estimated that 4.4 million people, about a quarter of Malawis population, will face food shortages over the next three months.

The food shortages are largely because of the impact of Cyclone Freddy, which washed away thousands of hectares of crops nearly a year ago.

Government statistics show that maize stocks in the national strategic reserves have dropped to 68,000 metric tons, 100,000 less than required to adequately address hunger in the Southern African nation.

WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa Menghestab Haile met with Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera Tuesday. He told reporters that several other African countries are also facing a hunger situation.

The problem of food insecurity is not only in Malawi, he said. The whole region is looking at a crisis; we don't know what El Nino will do. So, what we as WFP do is supporting the government in every way possible to make sure that we have necessary resources mobilized and distribute to people who deserve those resources.

In the meantime, Malawis government has announced that it will import unmilled maize grain from South Africa.
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority could seek full United Nations membership this year.

This is an investment in peace and an investment in saving the two-state solution, Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters at the United Nations.

In November 2012, the U.N. General Assembly voted to upgrade the Palestinians status to that of a nonmember observer state, allowing its envoy to participate in debates and U.N. organizations but without a vote. The Palestine Liberation Organization was recognized as an observer entity in 1974.

Mansour said the Palestinian Authority, with the backing of Arab states, would start mobilizing support to go to the U.N. Security Council, which holds the key to membership because it must back a request before it can go to the General Assembly for a final decision. That means at least nine council members must vote in favor of the move, and none of the permanent five members can veto it.

The United States is a permanent council member and has overwhelmingly used its veto over the decades to block actions that would negatively impact Israel or that Israel does not support. Washingtons longstanding policy has been that final status issues must be resolved through direct negotiations between the parties in order to reach a two-state solution.

In 2012, when the Palestinians status was upgraded in the General Assembly, the U.S. was one of only nine countries, including Israel, and the only permanent council member that voted against it.

The obstacle is in the Security Council, Mansour acknowledged. We need to find a solution to that obstacle and to remove it from the path so that the State of Palestine assumes its rightful place as member state of the United Nations.

Mansour said Arab foreign ministers will meet in mid-March, which could be an important moment in deciding when they would move toward the Security Council. He noted that the U.S. is in an election year, which would also play a role in timing.

Maybe things need to be done before May, before we go into full swing of elections, he said of the U.S. presidential race.

But as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its fourth month, Mansour said the top priority remains achieving a cease-fire.

If you want peace, start with a cease-fire. Cease-fire. Cease-fire. And cease-fire, now, he said at a related meeting in the General Assembly, holding up a small sign with the words.

At the same meeting, Israels envoy said a cease-fire would only help keep Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip, which it has ruled since 2007.

A cease-fire is a victory for Hamas. Nothing more, said Ambassador Gilad Erdan. It is an opportunity for Hamas to rearm, regroup and recommit as they declare the atrocities of October 7 a greenlight for Hamas to continue their reign of terror in Gaza.

He lashed out at the United Nations, saying it does not care about Israeli victims of Hamas, only the Palestinians in Gaza. The U.S.-designated terror group triggered the war with Israel when its fighters infiltrated southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 240 others hostage. About 100 hostages have since been freed.

To the U.N., Israeli victims are probably not victims, Erdan said. The U.N. has become another tool of war in the arsenal of terrorists, and every single U.N. agency and body has been weaponized against Israel.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Guterres is obsessed with protecting all civilians caught in the conflict.

He has been calling for the protections of all civilians from the beginning, Dujarric said. He has been calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages. And as you know, he met with families, and he has been doing whatever he can to facilitate their return. I think our work on behalf of civilians in Gaza is also fairly transparent to all.

The situation in Gaza is dire. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 60,000 injured. The United Nations says 1.9 million people have been displaced, hunger is severe, and disease is on the rise.

On Tuesday, the U.N. department of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said that since January 1, its partners have requested 20 aid convoys for clearance to move in Gaza. Fifteen were denied, and two were unable to proceed because of delays or routes that were impassable.

When VOA asked who denied the requests, Dujarric said it was the Israeli authorities.

OCHA said three convoys went to northern Gaza but with modifications to the plans, which impacted their operations.

The U.N. Security Council is due to discuss the situation in Gaza on Friday in an open meeting. On January 23, the council will also hold a ministerial-level meeting on the crisis.

Several Arab and Muslim foreign ministers are expected to fly in for the session as they press for a cease-fire, more humanitarian aid to Gaza and an end to the forced displacement of nearly 2 million Palestinians.
Russias military cooperation with North Korea to further its war in Ukraine is drawing international condemnation, including at the U.N. Security Council, where Russia is a permanent member.

U.N. Security Council members Britain, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia, and the United States, plus Ukraine, on Wednesday condemned three waves of deadly airstrikes by Russia on December 30, January 2 and 6.

These heinous attacks were conducted, in part, using ballistic missiles and ballistic missile launchers procured from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea [DPRK], the group said in a statement.

Last week, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the attacks were a significant and concerning escalation."

Citing newly declassified intelligence, Kirby said Russian forces launched at least one of the North Korean-supplied missiles on December 30, which landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have previously denied the weapons allegations.

At a Security Council meeting about the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, Russias envoy cited an unnamed Ukrainian air force official as saying Kyiv had no evidence the Kremlin is using North Korean missiles in Ukraine.

The U.S. seems to be spreading information that is wrong, without going to the trouble of checking this beforehand, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said of Kirby.

Washingtons alternate representative for Special Political Affairs noted that the United Nations confirmed death toll in the nearly two-year-old war has reached 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 560 children.

This number continues to grow as Russias air attacks have intensified, Ambassador Robert Wood said, adding that it is abhorrent that a permanent council member is flagrantly violating council resolutions to attack another U.N. member state.

Several council resolutions prohibit North Korea from developing a ballistic missile program, as well as banning it from exporting arms or related material to other states.

By exporting missiles to Russia, the DPRK used Ukraine as a test site of its nuclear-capable missiles, in wanton disregard of Ukraines territorial integrity and safety of the Ukrainian people, South Korean Ambassador Hwang Joonkook said.

He said some weapons experts assess that the missiles used in Ukraine are KN-23, which North Korea claims can deliver nuclear warheads. He told the council that one such missile flew 460 kilometers  the same distance as between the North Korean city of Wonsan, a typical launch site, and South Koreas largest port city, Busan.

From the ROK [Republic of Korea] standpoint, it amounts to a simulated attack, Hwang said. And as these launches provide valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK, it can be further encouraged to export ballistic missiles to other countries and rake in new revenue to further finance its illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

He urged the council to respond.

Japans envoy said not only did North Korea and Russias actions violate council resolutions, but they also risk destabilizing the region.

It is a totally outrageous situation that the international community is demanding the observance of Security Council resolutions by a permanent member of the Security Council, said Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki.

Ukraines envoy said an investigation is underway to verify the origins of the remnants of a missile that fell in the Kharkiv region on January 6.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with 48 other foreign ministers and the EU High Representative, condemned the DPRKs export and Russias procurement of DPRK ballistic missiles, as well as Russias recent use of these missiles against Ukraine.
Just over a week after he was the target of an assassination attempt, South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was released from a hospital in Seoul.

The leader of the Democratic Party told reporters he hoped his attack would usher in a new era of mutual political respect and coexistence shortly after walking out of Seoul National University Hospital.

He said the incident could serve as a milestone to end the politics of hatred and confrontation that has marred South Korean society in recent years.

Lee had been meeting with reporters at the construction site of a new airport in the southeastern port city of Busan on January 2 when the suspected attacker, wearing a paper crown with Lees name printed on it, approached him and asked for an autograph. Videos posted online showed Lee smiling shortly before the man plunged a large knife into the left side of Lees neck.

Lee was quickly treated at the scene before he was rushed to Pusan National University Hospital. He was later airlifted to Seoul National University Hospital for a two-hour surgical procedure to repair the jugular vein in his neck.

The suspected attacker has been identified as a 67-year-old man surnamed Kim. Police say Kim tried to kill Lee to stop him from being elected president in 2027, and to keep his party from winning a majority of seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The liberal lawmaker narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, and is considered to be a leading candidate to succeed the president when Yoons single term expires.

Police also say the suspect was frustrated over how long it was taking prosecutors to bring Lee to trial on corruption-related charges, including those related to a property development scandal. Lee has denied the charges, which he says are politically motivated.

The suspect has been charged with attempted murder.

Political violence in South Korea has been rare in recent decades, although attacks have occasionally occurred.

In 2022, Song Young-gil, then Democratic Party leader, was attacked by an elderly man with a hammer while campaigning just two days before the election.

In 2006, former conservative party leader Park Geun-hye, who would later become president, was attacked by a man with a box cutter at a rally in Seoul.

Her father, authoritarian President Park Chung-hee, was assassinated in 1979 by his own chief of the countrys intelligence agency.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.


Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States met on Tuesday with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, Taiwan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, drawing a stern rebuke from Beijing.

The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties with the island, which China views as its own territory.

Alexander Yui took up his new post last month, replacing Hsiao Bi-khim, who is now running to be vice president in Taiwan's elections on Saturday.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said Yui thanked the U.S. Congress for its long-term, cross-party support for Taiwan and commitment to strengthening the island's defenses.

It said this was the first time the two men had met.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August of 2022 after then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and in Beijing the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed anger at the Johnson-Yui meeting.

U.S. lawmakers should "stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces and must not intervene in the Taiwan region's elections in any form," spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters.

China routinely objects to any form of what it views as official contacts between Taiwanese and U.S. officials, saying it is an interference in internal Chinese affairs. Beijing says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in Sino-U.S. relations.

Taiwan's government opposes China's sovereignty claims, saying the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island and has no right to speak for it or control it as only Taiwan's people can do that.
A senior representative of Afghanistans Taliban government told a Pakistan-hosted international health conference Wednesday that his country had recorded an increase in mosquito-borne malaria and dengue fever cases, but infections caused by highly contagious poliovirus declined significantly.



Only 12 children around the world were paralyzed by wild poliovirus in 2023, all of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan  with six reported in each. The two countries, sharing a nearly 2,600-kilometer border, have not detected a polio infection this year.



"Polio is still a great challenge for both Afghanistan and Pakistan," Qalandar Ebad, the Taliban health minister, said in his English-language speech at the first global health security summit in Islamabad.



Delegates from 70 countries worldwide, including those from the United States and the United Nations, are attending the summit in the Pakistani capital.



"We are trying our best to eradicate the polio virus from the country and fortunately we have good accomplishments in this area," Ebad said.



The World Health Organization says the polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan has improved in quality and outreach since the Taliban regained control of the war-ravaged country in August 2021, leading to the cessation of years of nationwide hostilities.



The Taliban minister noted that there was a "slight increase in HIV/AIDS cases" in the impoverished country, but he did not elaborate.

Ebad blamed climate change for some health emergencies facing his South Asian nation of more than 40 million people. He urged the need to assist Afghanistan and other developing countries in improving their national healthcare systems to enable them to utilize locally available expertise to combat infectious diseases.



"We are witnessing that the funding in Afghanistan is decreasing, but still, in our country, instead of national capacity [building], many international [workers] with higher salaries are recruited, though the national [workers] can perform the same tasks as internationals do," the Taliban minister asserted.



No foreign country has recognized the Taliban, citing their bans on Afghan women's access to education and work.



Afghanistan lost billions of dollars in foreign aid after the Taliban takeover as Western countries and international donors suspended their financial support for the country, where the health sector was primarily dependent on the funding.



In his address to Wednesday's opening session of the summit, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar urged collective efforts to fight global infectious diseases like COVID-19 and climate change-induced emergencies.



Kakar said that "no state in the world, no matter how powerful it is, can meet such challenges" alone.



While addressing the gathering, Donald Blome, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, backed calls for a collaborative international approach to global health security.



"Coordination with partners is the most effective way to address regional and global health threats," Blome said. He added that halting infectious disease outbreaks at their point of origin is one of the best and most economical ways to save lives. "Health is the cornerstone to the future of any thriving nation, and the United States will be a strong partner to build this future."
Turkey this month has arrested dozens of people accused of spying for Israel. The highly publicized arrests are seen as a warning to Israel to desist from targeting Palestinians in Turkey, after Israel warned it would target anyone involved in the Oct. 7 attack. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Typically, after New Year's Day and leading up to Spring Festival, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) top disciplinary agency convenes a plenary session, setting out its anti-corruption priorities for the year ahead.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, views corruption as a "cancer threatening the vitality and ability" of the world's largest Marxist governing party. Accordingly, the fight against corruption is a major political struggle that the Party cannot and must not lose.

Since assuming the Party's top post in November 2012, Xi has delivered important speeches at multiple plenary sessions of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), outlining strategic plans and initiating concrete measures for the ongoing battle against corruption.

Under his leadership, an overwhelming victory has been achieved in the fight against corruption, with the gains fully consolidated. The persistent anti-corruption efforts over the past 10 years of the new era have helped remove serious hidden dangers in the Party, the country, and the military, and ensured that the power granted by the Party and the people is always exercised in the interests of the people.

Addressing the third plenary session of the 20th CPC CCDI on Monday, Xi highlighted the importance of maintaining a tough stance against corruption, stressing that in the continued grave and complex situation, there is no possibility of stopping, slackening or compromising the anti-corruption campaign.

UNPRECEDENTED ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE

Just 15 days after the conclusion of the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012, Xi introduced a vision to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, known as "the Chinese Dream." This aspiration represents the Chinese nation's most profound dream in modern history, and the CPC bears a considerable weight of responsibility in this regard.

At that time, the whole Party was confronted with increasingly grave dangers such as a lack of motivation, incompetence, being out of touch with the people, corruption and other misconduct. Among these issues, corruption posed the most significant threat.

Xi was fully aware of the realities of the situation. In his view, "if corruption is allowed to spread, it will eventually lead to the destruction of a party and the fall of a government." Such conditions meant that goals for the new era would be barely conceivable, let alone attainable.

Less than 20 days after assuming the Party's top position, Xi spearheaded the formulation of the central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving conduct. This move effectively put an end to undesirable practices, such as excessive feasting, extravagant spending, and other forms of wasteful behavior.

Shortly after this initiative, Li Chuncheng, former deputy secretary of the CPC Sichuan provincial committee, came under investigation for corruption, hailed by many as the start of an unprecedented battle against corruption.

Over the ensuing decade, corrupt officials were punished, ranging from high-ranking figures like Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Sun Zhengcai and Ling Jihua, to leading officials of ministries, state-owned enterprises, and key officials at the provincial and municipal levels, as well as low-ranking officials at the county and township levels.

Purported "unspoken political norms" including "powerful individuals exempted from legal consequences," as depicted by some Western media, have been consistently debunked through the concrete actions of the Party.

China's sweeping fight against corruption has targeted every sector, including the military. Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou stood out as the most significant "military tigers" to fall in the fight against corruption.

Following the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022, China's anti-corruption efforts have shown no signs of deceleration. In the first three quarters of 2023, discipline inspection and supervision agencies nationwide investigated 54 officials registered at and supervised by the CPC Central Committee, along with 2,480 officials at the department and bureau level and 20,000 at county and division level.

The war against corruption of such a scale could come with formidable challenges and risks. "We have weighed the consequences. However, we are unwavering in our commitment to the Party's mission and purpose, as well as meeting the expectations of the people," Xi said.

CLOSER BOND WITH PEOPLE

During the "two sessions" in 2022, Cui Ronghai, a veteran CPC member from Zhenjiang City in Jiangsu, reached out to a local lawmaker to convey a message to Xi, expressing support for the country's anti-graft drive.

Cui made this request because of a brief encounter with Xi during an inspection visit to Cui's village in 2014. Cui, who has been a Party member for over 50 years, squeezed through the crowd to shake hands with Xi, saying, "corrupt officials are all afraid of you. You bring good fortune to the people."

Responding with a smile, Xi said, "I won't let down the expectations of the people." It was during this trip to Jiangsu that he first introduced the concept of exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance.

Xi's strong determination to fight corruption with a firm hand stretches back to the early days of his political career.

Over 30 years ago, Xi, then Party chief of Ningde Prefecture in Fujian, discovered that thousands of officials in Ningde were illegally using land to construct private homes. There would be no way to address these violations without offending individuals.

Xi made his choice: "To determine who offends whom is the question at hand. If you break rules and laws, seize land and construct houses for personal gains, undermining the Party's authority and image, then you are offending the Party, the people, and violating Party discipline and national laws. It's not the investigating officials representing the Party and the people who are offending you."

During the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC CCDI in January 2016, Xi offered clarification, stressing the Party's fight against corruption is nondiscriminatory, persistent, and not driven by a power struggle.

"The strong measures we have taken and the zero-tolerance approach we have adopted aim to win the support of our Party members and the public," Xi once said.

When giving a written interview to the Wall Street Journal in September 2015, Xi said the ultimate purpose of the CPC is to serve the people wholeheartedly. The CPC owes its governing status to the support of the people, therefore, it must maintain its flesh-and-blood relations with the people.

"The CPC does not operate in a vacuum, so it has unavoidably found itself with problems of one kind or another. Corruption is such a persistent one," he told the Wall Street Journal. He went on to say that the people hated corruption more than anything else, and action was needed to allay their concerns.

Misconduct and corruption on people's doorsteps are the most strongly felt and despised.

With the people in mind, Xi, while wielding a heavy hand against high-ranking corrupt officials, has also demanded severe punishment for corruption at the grassroots level. This enables the people to truly perceive the Party's original aspiration and mission in exercising full and rigorous self-governance.

In a recent case, Yang Shengyi, the former Party chief and villagers' committee head of Bahui Village in Sandu Shui Autonomous County, Guizhou Province, southwest China, was expelled from the CPC and removed from the post in accordance with due procedures for offenses including fraudulently obtaining project funds and distributing the proceeds.

The 20th CPC National Congress drew up a blueprint for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. "As long as breeding grounds and conditions for corruption still exist, we must keep sounding the bugle and never rest, not even for a minute, in our fight against corruption," the report to the 20th CPC National Congress reads.

A STURDIER INSTITUTIONAL CAGE FOR POWER

On the anti-corruption campaign, Xi has pointed out that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has maintained its resolve and exercised full and rigorous self-governance in the spirit of "spending 10 years grinding a sword."

Driven by a strong sense of mission, we have resolved to "offend a few thousand rather than fail 1.4 billion" and waged an unprecedented battle against corruption, thus, forging a synergy in the Party's self-reform, said Xi.

Xi said discipline inspection is a strategic institutional process for scrutiny within the Party.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee has continuously deepened political inspections, made full use of effective experience, and successively launched and coordinated multiple methods such as regular inspections, special inspections, mobile inspections, and inspection reviews.

In recent years, such inspections have uncovered a significant portion of problems associated with officials that later were put under investigation. For example, the misconduct of senior official Su Rong surfaced during an inspection, and several other high-ranking officials fell during inspection reviews.

In the anti-corruption campaign, Xi always uses plain language to communicate with the public. He has provided support and encouragement to members of the central inspection teams, stressing that "no matter how high the rank, anyone who violates the law must be held accountable and dealt with. I believe the sky will not fall." He repeatedly emphasizes the need to strike at the "tigers" as soon as they reveal themselves and to swat away the "flies" that are causing chaos.

The report he delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress changed one word of the previous saying, "One should be very strong if he wants to forge iron," into "One must be very strong if he wants to forge iron."

Xi attaches great importance to anti-corruption institutional building. He made two remarks that later had been repeatedly cited. The first is that we must keep power in the cage of systemic checks. The other is that transparency is the best precaution against corruption.

A raft of regulations on Party discipline have been issued since the 18th CPC National Congress, including the Code of Conduct for Intraparty Political Life under New Circumstances, the Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Internal Oversight, the regulations on the work of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the guidelines on advancing simultaneous investigations on bribe-taking and bribe-giving.

The CPC Central Committee has, under the guidance of the rule of law, made unremitting efforts to improve conduct, enforce discipline, combat corruption, consolidate mechanism-building as a cage to contain powers, and constrain abuse of power.

The reform of the national supervision system is a milestone in the Party's anti-corruption campaign. In March 2018, the Supervision Law was adopted at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress, the national legislature. In the same month, a network of supervisory commissions at the national, provincial, prefectural, and county levels was completed.

The brand-new anti-corruption institution where discipline inspection and supervisory bodies work together as one office while keeping separate identities has ensured that the supervision covers everyone working in the public sector.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has included the institution of strictly implementing the reporting of relevant personal matters of officials and cadres into the strategic arrangement for full and rigorous Party self-governance. This has contributed to solid progress in the governance of the Party and officials.

On Monday, Xi underscored the need to improve the legal system that fights corruption, urging continuous promotion of national anti-graft legislation and amendments to the Supervision Law in pace with the times.

International fugitive repatriation and asset recovery marks a new battlefield in the fight against corruption in the new era. Xi has pointed out that corrupt fugitives are bound to be pursued and brought to justice even if they have fled to the remotest corners of the globe. Regardless of how long it might take, be it five, 10, or even 20 years, we are determined to cut off any escape route for those corrupt individuals, he stressed.

New achievements have been made in international anti-corruption cooperation. These include the Beijing Declaration on Fighting Corruption, adopted at the APEC meetings in Beijing in 2014, and the G20 High-Level Principles on Cooperation on Persons Sought for Corruption and Asset Recovery, passed at the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016.

Efforts to establish the fugitive repatriation and asset recovery mechanism under the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group, release the list of "Red Notice" fugitives, and publicize the information about the fugitives have shattered the illusion of corrupt individuals finding a safe haven in foreign lands.

Xi has required officials to value family virtues. While ensuring personal integrity, strict requirements should also be placed on their spouses, children, and close associates. "The deterioration of family virtues often becomes a significant factor leading to serious disciplinary and legal violations among officials," he noted.

"To address both the symptoms and root causes of corruption, we will advance national anti-corruption legislation and promote a culture of integrity in the new era," reads the report delivered by Xi to the 20th CPC National Congress, adding that the goal is to continually secure more institutional achievements and greater efficiency in fighting corruption.

Through painstaking efforts, the Party has found a second answer to the question of how to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall: self-reform. Placing the government under the supervision of the people is the first answer.

The problem of lax and weak self-governance in Party organizations has been addressed at the root, and a political atmosphere of integrity within the Party has been steadily fostered and developed. By doing so, it has been ensured that the Party will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character. 
The United Nations said Wednesday that efforts were underway to respond to the U.N.-contracted helicopter that al-Shabab militants captured earlier in the day in Galmudug state.

"I can confirm there was an incident involving a U.N.-contracted helicopter that took place today in Galmudug in Somalia, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters at a daily briefing in New York.

Response efforts are underway, but for the sake of the safety of all those on board, we are not going to say anything more at this point, Dujarric said.

The helicopter was traveling from Beledwenye in Hirshabelle state to Wisil in Galmudug for what officials said was a medical evacuation. It landed in al-Shabab territory in central Somalia near Xiindheere in Galmudug state, Somali officials told VOA Somali.

Officials say they believed al-Shabab militants captured most of the nine occupants. Their nationalities were not known.

It was a helicopter, it was carrying workers, and it was one of those helicopters that help Somalia evacuate the wounded, Farah Diriye Warsame, district commissioner of Adado town in Galmudug, told VOA Somali.

I heard the helicopter had problems, and the pilot decided to land it rather than risk it blowing up in midair, and has landed it safely, Warsame said.

A Somali government official, who did not want to be identified because he was not allowed to speak with reporters, said the Bell 412 helicopter had technical problems.

It was not clear whether a mechanical issue or possible gunfire from al-Shabab militants who control the area caused the technical problems.

Warsame said locals in the vicinity told him that al-Shabab fighters arrived at the site and abducted crew members and passengers.

Warsame also cited locals who said al-Shabab set the helicopter on fire.

U.N. helicopter crews in Somalia are largely hired by the U.N. Support Office in Somalia, which aids the African Union Mission in Somalia, the U.N. office and the Somali government.
The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday condemned attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on ships sailing through the Red Sea and called for them to immediately cease.

Repeated Houthi attacks on international shipping are not only a security threat but an economic threat, increasing food, medicine and energy prices, said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

In a council resolution drafted by the United States and Japan, members called for an immediate halt to the attacks, saying they impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms, as well as regional peace and security.

The move comes in response to a series of attacks using missiles, drones and militants approaching ships on boats that have disrupted maritime travel through a key waterway linking the Arabian and Mediterranean seas.

Eleven of the councils 15 members supported the resolution, none voted against, but Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique abstained.

This is not a question of ensuring security of navigation in the Red Sea but an attempt to legitimize actions of this coalition in hindsight and achieve from the Security Council an open-ended blessing of it, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said, referring to a U.S.-led maritime coalition established to protect Red Sea vessels from the Houthis.

Shipping detours



The U.N. International Maritime Organization says around 15% of global shipping trade passes through the Red Sea, making it a key shipping lane. Since the Houthis began targeting ships on November 19, shippers have avoided the Red Sea, opting instead for the much longer route around Africas Cape of Good Hope.

The Iran-backed Houthis say they are targeting ships affiliated with or bound for Israel and that they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. But ships from 40 countries have been targeted and not all had links with Israel.

The militants have also been holding the 25 crew members of the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader hostage since November 19. The resolution calls for the crew and ships immediate and unconditional release.

The U.S. military reported a new attack late Tuesday in the southern Red Sea involving 18 drones and three anti-ship missiles fired toward an area where dozens of ships were operating. It was the 26th such Houthi attack since November 19.

We had the biggest attack  UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), missiles  just yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters as he was departing Manama, Bahrain, on Wednesday, the latest stop on his Middle East tour. These attacks have been aided and abetted by Iran with technology, equipment, intelligence, information, and they are having a real-life impact on people."

U.S. Central Command said American and British forces shot down all the drones and missiles and that there were no injuries or damage reported.

Britains U.N. ambassador said London is committed to ensuring freedom of navigation and trade in the Red Sea.

We will not stand by and allow the Houthis to threaten civilian vessels and hold global food and energy supplies hostage, Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council. If necessary, and as previously stated by the U.K. defense secretary, we will not hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

Chris Hannas contributed to this report.
The United States and China wrapped up two days of military talks in Washington Tuesday, the Pentagon said, the latest engagement since the two countries agreed to resume military-to-military ties.

Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over everything from the future of democratically ruled Taiwan to territorial claims in the South China Sea. Ties are still recovering after the U.S. downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed late last year to resume military ties, severed by Beijing after a visit in August 2022 by then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

The 17th round of the talks saw Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, meet China's Major General Song Yanchao, deputy director of the central military commission office for international military co-operation, the Pentagon said.

"The two sides discussed U.S.-PRC defense relations, and Chase highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict," the statement added, using an acronym for the People's Republic of China.

Pentagon officials say communication between the two militaries is key to preventing a miscalculation from spiraling into conflict.

The top U.S. military officer, General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held a virtual meeting last month with his Chinese counterpart, General Liu Zhenli.

China is willing to develop healthy and stable military-to-military relations with the U.S. "on the basis of equality and respect," its defense ministry said in a statement Wednesday, citing the meeting.

It urged the U.S. to cut military deployment and "provocative actions" in the South China Sea, as well halt support for such actions by "certain countries," but did not identify them.

It asked the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and stop arming Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, despite Taiwan's strong objections, and vowed never to compromise on the issue.

"The United States should fully understand the root causes of the maritime and air security issues, strictly restrain its front-line forces, and stop hyping up (the issues)," it added.

Taiwan is holding presidential and parliamentary polls this weekend amid a ramped-up war of words between Taiwan and China.



U.S. officials have cautioned that even with some restoration of military communications, forging truly functional dialog between the two sides could take time.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington, Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the countrys ability to engage with Russia militarily has depended on Western support. With some of that aid now in limbo or drying up, this year could be especially difficult for Kyiv. VOAs Andriy Borys spoke with military and diplomatic analysts about where the war stands, and where it could be headed. Anna Rice narrates the story.
U.S. lawmakers came back into session this week after a three-week holiday break to continue work toward a deal on border security in return for Republican votes to send more aid to Ukraine.

We are closer to an agreement than we have been since the beginning of these talks, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, one of the lead negotiators on the deal, told reporters Tuesday.

I wish that we weren't in this position. I wish that Senate Republicans supported Ukraine aid because they believe in Ukraine, he said. I wish that we weren't conditioning support for Ukraine upon the resolution of the most difficult issue in American politics  immigration reform.

The White Houses $106 billion national security supplemental request also includes funding for border security as well as nearly $14 billion in aid to Israel and funding for Taiwan to combat the threat posed by China.

Senate negotiators continued meeting remotely throughout the three weeks Congress was out of session.

We are working very hard to come up with an agreement to improve our situation at the border. But it's also important to remember the world is literally at war, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday. This is the most serious international situation we have faced since the Berlin Wall came down. We need to pass the supplemental, and there needs to be a strong border provision part of it.

The United States has dedicated more than $100 billion to arming and supporting Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve an additional $60 billion. Republicans in Congress have become increasingly skeptical about the need to continue underwriting Ukraine's defense.

The Pentagon announced on December 27 a new $250 million security assistance package for Ukraine, which included additional munitions for surface-to-air missiles systems, artillery rounds and more air defense components. The Pentagon still has $4 billion available to provide Ukraine with military aid, but no funds are available to replenish the U.S. military's stockpiles. Officials tell VOA that no new aid packages are expected until Congress provides more funding.

Republicans in the Senate have conditioned approval of any additional money for Ukraine on the simultaneous strengthening of immigration rules aimed at reducing the number of people illegally entering the United States at its southern border and expelling some who are already in the country.

According to multiple news organizations, an estimated 300,000 people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2023. That estimate marks the highest recorded number of U.S.-Mexico border crossings.

Even if an agreement passes in the Senate, it might not survive in the House, where Republicans hold a very narrow majority. A significant group of Republican House members oppose additional aid to Ukraine, and the party in early October voted out a speaker who partnered with Democrats to pass legislation.

Last week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson led a delegation of 60 House Republicans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas.

If President Biden wants a supplemental spending bill focused on national security, it better begin with defending Americas national security, Johnson told reporters at a news conference on the border.

Republicans have proposed their own legislation, H.R. 2, which would resume construction of a border wall as well as impose new restrictions on asylum-seekers.

VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed reporting.
Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday sought dismissal of charges, including bribery, as his lawyers told a judge that New York federal prosecutors are making claims that are "outrageously false" and "distort reality."

The New Jersey Democrat and his wife pleaded not guilty after they were charged last fall with accepting bribes of gold bars, cash and a luxury car in return for help from the senator that would benefit three New Jersey businessmen, who were also arrested and pleaded not guilty.

The indictment has since been updated with charges alleging that Menendez used his political influence to secretly advance Egypt's interests and that he acted favorably to Qatar's government to aid a businessman.

"The Senator stands behind all of his official actions and decisions, and will be proud to defend them at trial," the lawyers wrote.

A trial is scheduled for May 5. Menendez is free on $100,000 bail.

Menendez's lawyers said in court papers that their client's conduct was "constitutionally immune," and none of it could serve as the basis for criminal charges.

"The government's accusations in this case  that he sold his office and even sold out his nation  are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality," the lawyers wrote.

They said the government is free to prosecute members of Congress for agreeing to exchange legislative action for personal benefits, as long as it doesn't attack the integrity of the legislative acts themselves.

"But here, the Indictment does not try to walk that line; it flouts it entirely," the lawyers said.

They said prosecutors were wrong to charge Menendez in connection with his decision to contact local state prosecutors to advocate on behalf of New Jersey constituents or to use his decision to invite constituents to meetings with foreign dignitaries as evidence against him.

"And the government goes so far as to impugn the Senator for introducing constituents to investors abroad. None of this is illegal, or even improper," the lawyers wrote.

The indictment claims Menendez directly interfered in criminal investigations, including by pushing to install a federal prosecutor in New Jersey he believed could be influenced in a criminal case against a businessman and associate of the senator. Prosecutors also alleged that Menendez tried to use his position of power to meddle in a separate criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General's office.

Menendez's lawyers said the novel charge that Menendez conspired with his wife and a businessman to act as an agent of the Egyptian government "fundamentally disrupts the separation of powers."

Menendez, 70, was forced to step down from his powerful post leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after he was charged in September. Prosecutors said the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes over the past five years from the New Jersey businessmen in exchange for a variety of corrupt acts.

In October, he was charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Egyptian government. As a member of Congress, Menendez is prohibited from acting as an agent for a foreign government.

His lawyers said in their Manhattan federal court filing Wednesday that the charge empowers the executive and judicial branches of government to second-guess the way the senator chooses to engage with foreign representatives as he carries out his duties.

As an example, the lawyers said that a future president might decide to prosecute legislative enemies as agents of Ukraine for supporting aid during its war with Russia or as agents of China for resisting a proposed ban of TikTok, or as agents of Israel for supporting military aid to fight Hamas.

"The Court should not permit this novel and dangerous encroachment on legislative independence," the lawyers said.

They said there was "overwhelming, indisputable evidence" that Menendez was independent from any foreign official.

"As the government knows from its own investigation, far from doing Egypt's bidding during the life of the alleged conspiracy, the Senator repeatedly held up military aid and took Egypt to task, challenging its government's record for imprisoning political dissidents, running roughshod over the press, and other human rights abuses," they said.

The lawyers said that their arguments Wednesday were just the start of legal challenges to be filed in the next week, including claims that the indictment was filed in the wrong courthouse and unjustly groups separate schemes into single conspiracy counts.

A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.
For India, the return of Sheikh Hasinas Awami League party to the helm in Bangladesh for a fourth consecutive term is a welcome development, according to analysts.

While the United States and Britain have said the recent elections that extended Hasinas rule in the South Asian country were not credible, free or fair, New Delhi considers her a close ally in a neighborhood where its military confronts both Pakistan and China along hostile, disputed borders.

That is why a friendly government in Bangladesh, with which India shares a long land border, is crucial to Indias security, according to Harsh Pant, vice president for studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

India faced a lot of turbulence in Dhaka-Delhi ties before Hasina came to power, but since taking office in 2009, she has been a steadfast ally, said Pant. Given the challenging neighborhood that India lives in where it faces a lot of headwinds like Chinas increasing presence, it is natural for India to want her to continue in power.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to congratulate Sheikh Hasina after she secured a fourth consecutive term.

We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh, he wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. For her part, Hasina called India a great friend at a news conference held after her victory.

For India, the topmost priority is its strategic interests, said analysts, who point out that Hasina has adroitly balanced ties with both India and China. Beijing has significantly expanded its footprint in small South Asian countries with its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Dhaka joined Beijings BRI in 2016. China is building infrastructure that includes bridges, power plants and rail projects in Bangladesh. China is also Bangladeshs key supplier of military hardware.

Some projects that are dual use in nature have raised questions in New Delhi. Beijing is building a submarine base in Bangladesh and has supplied two submarines to Dhaka, according to Srikanth Kondapalli, dean at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. "Any military cooperation between them will be a matter of concern.

However, he pointed out that Bangladesh describes its partnership with China as a developmental partnership and has been generally mindful of Indian sensitivities.

The Bay of Bengal where the submarine base is taking shape is a key waterway in the Indian Ocean, where India, along with the United States and other countries, are working together to deter China.

Dhaka has allayed New Delhis concerns, saying its ties with China are friendly but primarily focused on economic linkages.

We are very prudent in receiving any aid or funds. So people should not be afraid that Bangladesh would succumb to the Chinese," Bangladeshs foreign minister, Abdul Momen, said in an interview to India Today television after the polls.

Analysts said that Hasinas continuation in Bangladesh is a relief for New Delhi, which recently saw a pro-China government take office in the Maldives, straining ties with the archipelago nation.

There has been no overt pro-China, anti-India discourse in Bangladesh as we saw in Sri Lanka in the past or in Maldives at present, according to Sankalp Gurjar, assistant professor in geopolitics and international relations at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

Bangladesh is also crucial to the security of Indias remote northeastern states where insurgent groups used to be active. They often took sanctuary in Bangladesh, which shares borders with some of these states.

Since Hasina has come to power, Indias northeastern problems have eased because she has not allowed Bangladesh to be used by such groups, according to Gurjar.

Questions have been raised over the credibility of Hasinas victory following the elections the opposition boycotted. Thousands of opposition activists were jailed in the run-up to the polls, raising concerns of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department said, The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated.

Despite the divergent stands taken by New Delhi and Washington, India is urging Western countries to work with Bangladesh.

India will have to maintain a delicate balance, but New Delhi is playing the role of a facilitator between Hasina and Western countries, according to Pant. It is telling the U.S. that marginalizing or ignoring Bangladesh would only make China a much more central player in the country, which would not serve either Indias or Western interests.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday his country's forces have shown the world that Russia's military can be stopped but the Kyiv government badly needs Western allies to send it more air defense systems to shoot down an increased barrage of incoming Russian drones and missiles.

In Vilnius, on the first stop in a two-day visit to Baltic states, Zelenskyy met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.

Later, Zelenskyy said, "We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible."

But he added, "We lack modern air defense systems badly, what we need the most," to combat the renewed barrage of Russian airstrikes  more than 500 drones and missiles targeting Ukraine between December 29 and January 2.

Zelenskyy acknowledged, however, that stockpiles are low in countries that could assist Ukraine.

"Warehouses are empty," he said. "And there are many challenges to world defense."

Ukraine aims to build defense industry

As the war nears its two-year mark, Ukraine is hoping to ramp up development of its domestic defense industry and work on joint projects with foreign governments to manufacture more ammunition and weapons.

Ukrainian officials traveling with Zelenskyy signed several documents on cooperation with Lithuania for joint arms production, with more such agreements expected during Zelenskyy's meetings with Latvian and Estonian officials on Thursday.

"We know how tiring this long-running war is, and we are interested in Ukraine's complete victory in it as soon as possible," Nauseda told reporters.

The small eastern European countries are among Ukraine's staunchest political, financial and military supporters, and some in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscow's next target.

The three countries were seized and annexed by Josef Stalin during World War II before regaining independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. They joined NATO in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the United States and its Western allies.

"Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses," Estonian President Alar Karis said in a statement.

"Then there is the hope that this will remain the last military aggression in Europe, where someone wants to dictate to their neighbor with missiles, drones and cannons what political choices can be made," he said.

Western aid slows

As the Ukraine-Russia war drags on, Western military supplies to Ukraine have tailed off. In the U.S., President Joe Biden's request for more Ukraine aid is stalled in Congress, while Europe's pledge in March to provide 1 million artillery shells within 12 months has fallen short, with only about 300,000 delivered so far.

But the Russian attacks on Ukraine have continued, with Russian S-300 missiles striking Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, late Tuesday. Several buildings were damaged, but no casualties were reported.

The U.S., most members of the European Union, and more than 20 other nations issued a joint statement Tuesday condemning North Korea's sale of missiles to Russia and the Russian military's subsequent use of those missiles during attacks on Ukraine.

The statement said the attacks took place December 30 and January 2, and that the signatories are closely monitoring what Russia provides to North Korea in return for the missiles.

"The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia's war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime," the statement said. "Russia's use of [North Korean] ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights" to Pyongyang.

Those involved in the joint statement also include the foreign ministers of Argentina, Canada, Israel, Japan, Norway and South Korea.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations Wednesday with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, on the 60th anniversary of China-Tunisia diplomatic relations.

In a message, Xi said China and Tunisia, with a profound traditional friendship, have witnessed sound and steady growth of bilateral ties since they established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, no matter how the international landscape evolves.

Over the past years, the political mutual trust between the two sides has been cemented, and exchanges and cooperation have made substantial progress in various fields, he said.

"During the China-Arab States Summit in December 2022, I met with President Saied and we reached important consensus, charting the course for the development of China-Tunisia relations," he said.

Xi said he highly prizes the development of China-Tunisia relations and is willing to work with Saied to take the 60th anniversary as a new starting point, renew the traditional friendship of the two countries and push for greater progress in bilateral friendly cooperative relations.

Saied, for his part, said that over the past years, Tunisia and China, with a long-lasting friendship as well as fruitful cooperation, have upheld common values, stayed committed to cementing and expanding bilateral ties, and conducted increasingly close cooperation on international and regional affairs.

Tunisia is willing to work with the Chinese side to foster a new type of partnership covering various areas and featuring a broad prospect, so as to elevate bilateral ties to a higher level, he said.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang exchanged congratulatory messages with Tunisian Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani.

In his message, Li said he would like to work with Hachani to implement the important consensuses reached by the two heads of state, deepen and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and continuously enrich the China-Tunisia friendly cooperative relations.

For his part, Hachani said that Tunisia looks forward to continuing to work with China to enhance bilateral friendship, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and serve the common interests of the two peoples. 
Republicans recommended Wednesday that Hunter Biden be held in criminal contempt of the US Congress for snubbing a summons -- after scenes of chaos erupted on Capitol Hill when the president's son turned up in person to defend himself.

Two Republican-led House of Representatives committees -- oversight and judiciary -- had gathered separately to debate contempt resolutions after the younger Biden defied their subpoenas for closed-door testimony last month.

The party is racing to inflict damage on President Joe Biden ahead of November's election, where its nominee is likely to be the Democrat's scandal-plagued predecessor, Donald Trump.

They have launched an impeachment investigation into the Democrat over allegations -- for which they have provided no evidence -- that he benefited from Hunter's foreign business dealings.

There was high drama in the oversight committee when Hunter Biden -- who has been pushing to testify in public but has refused to appear for a private interview -- suddenly showed up and sat in the audience.

Fiery South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace called his appearance a "PR stunt" and said "I think Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now, and go straight to jail."

As the session unraveled, Mace claimed that Hunter Biden "wasn't afraid to trade access to Joe Biden" but was "afraid" to comply with the subpoena ordering him to testify to the committee.

Proceedings turned into a shouting match as Democrats responded scornfully.

"The only people afraid to hear from the witness, with the American people watching, are my friends on the other side of the aisle," said Florida's Jared Moskowitz, rattling off a list of Republican lawmakers who had defied subpoenas to testify about the 2021 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

The panel's top Democrat, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, accused chairman James Comer of refusing "to take yes for an answer from Hunter Biden."

Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell told a scrum of reporters outside that the 53-year-old entrepreneur was the victim of a "political crusade."

Both oversight and judiciary approved the contempt measure along party lines after the drama fizzled.

If the full House approves the contempt resolution, the Justice Department would decide whether to bring charges.

A prosecution would compound the legal woes piling up on the president's son, who is set to appear in federal court in California on Thursday to answer tax evasion charges.

In her daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to questions saying "Hunter, as you all know, is a private citizen. He makes his own decisions, like he did today about how to respond to Congress."

The Justice Department has taken action in only two of the 10 criminal contempt cases referred from the House since 2008.

Former Trump officials Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were convicted, although Bannon's jail term is on hold while he appeals.

- Impeachment -

Elsewhere in the Capitol, Republican lawmakers -- doubling down on endeavors to exploit the Biden administration's vulnerability on immigration -- launched efforts to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Republican majority in the House accuses Mayorkas of being derelict in his duty to secure the border, where officials are struggling to control illegal migration.

A record 10,000 migrants were detained daily in December after crossing illegally from Mexico in what Republicans have termed a "humanitarian catastrophe."

To remove Mayorkas from office would require impeachment in the House, then conviction in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slight majority and will easily block the procedure.

However, the issue is increasingly fraught for the Biden administration, and the Mayorkas hearings will give Republicans a platform to launch their attacks.

"Secretary Mayorkas's refusal to follow the law is sufficient grounds for impeachment proceedings," congressional Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green said in his opening remarks.

The Republican accused the secretary of whipping up an "intentional" crisis through "gross incompetence" and a "years-long pattern of refusing to enforce the laws passed by Congress."

A House floor vote to remove the homeland security secretary is expected as soon as late January and appears to have a good chance of passing, before going to the Senate.

The administration has dismissed the Mayorkas impeachment as a "baseless and pointless" political stunt while pointing out that its request for Congress for an extra $14 billion in border security funding has been stalled for months.

bur-ft/bfm/st
And the Winner Is Appreciating the art of a great Hollywood acceptance speech. All the worlds a stage (to be removed from). Photo: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

When Michelle Yeoh and Naomi Watts presented a Golden Globe on Sunday, they threatened violence against whoevers in charge of playing the music out there should the winner get serenaded off the stage mid-speech. Yeoh was speaking from personal experience: Last year, a piano started to plink about two minutes into her Everything Everywhere All at Once thank-yous, to which she issued a swift Shut up, please! No one at this years Globes ended up evicted by way of orchestra, fortunately. But the proverbial play-off has become an awards-show terror.

Like the Motion Picture Academy, awards shows are both an art and a science. Celebrating creativity comes with its own math formula, split into hourlong broadcast chunks that rarely go according to plan. If Patricia Arquette wants a few extra seconds to champion womens rights at the Oscars or Jennifer Coolidge needs to talk about feeling bloated because she took a lavender bath before attending the Emmys, it falls to the shows director and producers to figure out how to make up for lost time. Play-off music isnt the only method, but it is the one most familiar to anyone who watches Hollywoods televised galas.

People think its the guy with the baton whos making that call, and I assure you its not, Bill Ross, the conductor of multiple Academy Award orchestras, told NPR in 2012. Most music heard on an awards show is first cued by the director, usually stationed in a truck outside the venue. No one wants to play a winner off the stage. I felt so terrible so many times, says Don Mischer, a veteran of the Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys. It is one of the most important moments of their lives. Its something theyll tell their grandkids about. The director, having spent as many as four months preparing for the big night, might dispatch someone during a commercial break to beg the attendees to shorten their speeches or move to the stage more quickly. Other times, theyll shave odds and ends off the program. But sometimes, they just have to ask the guy with the baton to stop Michael Moore from running overtime in order to excoriate George W. Bush.

Should you find yourself at the helm of an awards show, Vulture has a how-to guide for playing off rambling winners.

1. Be the audience.

Awards shows have a myriad of stakeholders: the nominees, the studios and networks backing them, the advertisers, the bartenders on hand to keep things interesting. But everything that unfolds must serve the viewer, without whom there would be nothing. My approach to the show is putting myself in the fifth-row center and showing the audience at home what they would see if they were sitting right there, says Jeff Margolis.

Dick Clark first recruited Margolis, who had a background in variety series and celebrity TV specials, to direct the 1982 American Music Awards. Through the mid-2010s, Margolis oversaw various Academy Award, Emmy (prime time and daytime), Screen Actors Guild, and TV Land Award telecasts. The Oscars, of course, was particularly notorious for running long. Theres only so much directors can do to curb the bloat  more on that next  but they can enforce a balance between indulgence and efficiency. My job is to make everybody look good, Margolis says. The problem? Not everybody is mindful of the ticking clock. For every Merritt Wever, theres a Cuba Gooding Jr.

2. Every second counts.

The team running the show budgets for time forfeited to protracted speeches and minor mishaps, but its never an exact discipline. If the hosts monologue runs over or an unexpected standing ovation eats up some of the first hour, the director tries to make up for the lapse in the second hour. That could mean nixing the announcers teases or positioning the next presenters so they wont have to walk across the stage after the commercial break. Certain categories will opt for shorter nomination packages that excise clips. Margolis, whose book Were Live in 5: My Extraordinary Life in Television comes out in February, calls these insurance policies. Trim 10 seconds here and 15 seconds there, and before you know it, youre back on track, hopefully. Every second counts, he says.

The next course of action: weaponizing the orchestra. The director wears a headset so they can communicate with the producers, camera crew, stagehands, and, crucially, the conductor. When speeches exceed their allotted 45 seconds, the director might instruct the conductor to cue the play-off score. As soon as somebody gets up to the mic and starts reading off a piece of paper, you know youre in trouble, Margolis half-jokes. Even worse? When there are multiple winners  say, for Best Sound at the Oscars or Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the Emmys  and they neglect to appoint a sole spokesperson.

In the Globes case, there actually isnt a live ensemble, largely because the Beverly Hilton ballroom doesnt have room for one. Geoff Stradling has worked on the Globes since 1993, serving for the past several years as musical director. He pre-records the music with a band and queues the tracks in a playback system. Among hundreds of pieces prepared for the show, Stradling had five compositions ready to go if speeches ran long: four options from previous years and a new tune he wrote, cheekily titled Capn Hook. Thats the one he planned to use, but the Globes let all of Sundays winners gush in full.

Timekeeping isnt only about getting off the air on schedule. Another reason to watch the clock: ratings. As the night wears on, viewership dwindles, particularly on the East Coast, where awards shows sometimes conclude at 11 p.m. or later. But the biggest reason is keeping advertisers happy. If a brand pays for a commercial to air in the second hour and that commercial gets bumped to the third hour because Joaquin Phoenix talked too long about climate change, the network airing the show risks having to refund some of its revenue, according to Margolis.

3. Let Al Pacino talk.

Of course, some people are impervious to restraint. Youre less likely to play off George Clooney or someone whos known to America, says Mischer, who recently published the book 10 Seconds to Air: My Life in the Directors Chair. Julia Roberts got her wish when she told stickman Bill Conti, then the Oscars long-serving conductor, Why dont you sit, cause I may never be here again. When 1992s Scent of a Woman earned Al Pacino a long-overdue Oscar after seven other nominations, he spoke uninterrupted for nearly four minutes. A good director, Margolis says, is lenient when it comes to historic victories.

Margolis put that lesson to the test in 1996 when the Holocaust portrait One Survivor Remembers won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Director Kary Antholis spoke for just under a minute, at which point the orchestra began to play. But standing next to him was Gerda Weissmann Klein, the lauded Holocaust survivor who was the subject of Antholiss movie. When Margolis realized she was also about to speak, he ordered the music to stop. He says it was one of the best decisions of his career, no matter how much time Kleins words drained. There wasnt a dry eye anywhere, Margolis recalls. There are some times when you just have to break all the rules and do what you feel is right.

4. Start soft.

Usually the play-off music begins with a gentle tinkle, Mischer says. Think of it as a warning: Hey, times up; please move along. If someone doesnt take the hint, the orchestra will gradually crescendo. We never get to the end of the piece because the director has made a call  either to push the music louder, cut away with the camera and go to commercial, or stop the music and let them talk, Stradling says.

Awards shows musical directors can select that years GTFO song or compose their own, like Bill Ross did in 2007 when he wrote a piece called Too Long. In other years, maestros may choose something saucy, like in 2013 when the visual-effects team from Life of Pi was given a farewell and adieu at the Oscars via the menacing Jaws theme.

5. Beware of annoyed celebrities.

Shut that crap off, Bette Midler hollered to the intervening orchestra while rattling off thank-yous at the 2017 Tonys. They cut me off before I got to thank my wife, Sterling K. Brown told reporters backstage when the Emmys silenced his microphone that same year.

Every year, someones bound to walk away perturbed. Its fine! The director is far enough from the action that they are unlikely to receive the brunt of any anger. If anyone should worry about getting caught in a celebritys crosshairs, its the stage manager, one of the first people winners encounter after sauntering away from the podium. Margolis can recall at least one A-lister who took out their frustration in the wings, but he wont name names. They went offstage and started screaming, Why the fuck did you start the music? he says.

Mostly, though, everyone gets it. People can always dance their troubles away at the after-parties. You do the best you can do, Mischer assures. You make the best decisions possible in the spur of the moment.
People visit the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES.

The number of attendees goes up from about 115,000 last year and 45,000 in 2022, according to CTA.

A blend of cutting-edge technologies, new launches and quirky gadgets are expected to swarm the show floor, showcasing the latest trends and innovation in the consumer electronics industries.

Chinese companies have been important forces at CES in recent years, impressing global exhibitors with innovative products and solutions.

Chinese companies from various categories in the consumer electronic industries participated in CES 2024, include well-known brands like Lenovo, BOE, Hisense and TCL, as well as robot companies such as Dreame and Yarbo, and electric vehicle companies including U Power and AIMA.

Show participants are expected to experience new technologies from global brands, hear about the future of technology from thought leaders and collaborate face-to-face with other attendees.

Top themes of this year's show include artificial intelligence, mobility, sustainability and innovations to solve some of the world's biggest challenges, according to CTA.

A series of panels will be held on the sidelines of the show to address the opportunities and challenges of new technologies.

"This year at CES, we are excited to spotlight the critical role that technology is playing to improve every aspect of the human experience. CES 2024 will be the hub where business leaders meet, dream, and solve," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CTA. 

People visit the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

A man visits the exhibition area of Chinese company TCL at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

People visit the exhibition area of LG at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

People visit the exhibition area of Chinese company Hisense at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

People visit the exhibition area of Chinese company TCL at the the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2024. The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's premier tech show, kicked off in the U.S. city of Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The annual event, running from Tuesday to Friday, draws more than 130,000 attendees and over 4,000 exhibitors from more than 150 countries and regions, including over 1,200 startups, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the CES. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)
Rome hosts Lazio-Roma match at Stadio Olimpico

Italy's senate closed earlier than scheduled on Wednesday, the same day of a highly-anticipated derby match between SS Lazio and AS Roma in Rome's Olympic Stadium, Italian media reports.

A senate debate on the extension of military aid to Ukraine ended earlier than expected, reports newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, which noted that the parliament includes numerous fans of both sides playing in this evening's Coppa Italia quarter-final at 18.00.

The Italian parliament closes early today for the derby between AS Roma and SS Lazio.



Jan 10, 2024 pic.twitter.com/2g4OBrc55Y  Crazy Ass Moments in Italian Politics (@CrazyItalianPol) January 10, 2024

The lower house was also poised to finish ahead of schedule, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano, with the rest of the chamber's work reportedly postponed until Thursday.

Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com.
Sgarbi denies any wrongdoing and says he will not resign.

Italian junior culture minister Vittorio Sgarbi is under investigation for his alleged role in a case involving a stolen painting that was allegedly altered to disguise its origins.

Sgarbi, a prominent art critic known for his outspoken views, denies accusations that he exhibited the modified 17th-century artwork which had been stolen from a castle in Italy's northern Piemonte region in 2013.

The prosecutor's office in Macerata confirmed on Tuesday that it has opened a file into the case, following reports in December by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper and RAI Report.

The case rests on an accusation by a restoration expert that the stolen painting, attributed to Italian painter Rutilio Manetti, reappeared in an exhibition in Lucca in 2021 in the guise of a newly-discovered work owned by Sgarbi.

The restorer alleges that the work was handed to him "rolled up like a carpet" and - with the exception of a flaming torch - was identical to the Capture of St Peter painting torn from its frame in Castello di Buriasco 11 years ago.

Sgarbi, 71, insists that they are two separate paintings, the original of which is his while the one stolen in 2013 was a "poorly made copy".

Denying any wrongdoing, Sgarbi told Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday that he has no intention of resigning over the matter.

Photo: Daniele de Gregorio / Shutterstock.com.
Rome installs new stolpersteine memorials.

Rome has installed new brass cobblestone memorials to Holocaust victims at 21 locations across the capital, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January.

Designed by Berlin artist Gunter Demnig, the memorials are known as stolpersteine in German - translated literally as stumbling stones - and are installed outside the last chosen place of residence of victims of the Holocaust.

The brass-capped blocks, which have been added to the hundreds of stolpersteine already present on Rome's streets, are dedicated to Jews and partisans, including women and children, who were either deported to Auschwitz or killed at the Fosse Ardeatine in Rome.

The new stolptersteine were installed between Monday and Wednesday as part of the 15th edition of the Memorie d'Inciampo commemorative project overseen by the Arte in Memoria association.

The memorials can be found in Garbatella, S. Lorenzo, the Jewish Ghetto district and the historic centre, as well as in Acilia, halfway between Rome and Ostia.

The memorials in Garbatella - on Via Massaia 22 and 65 - are dedicated to partisans Giuseppe Felici and Libero De Angelis.

Felici was killed in the Fosse Reatine massacre on 9 April 1944, Easter Sunday, when 15 partisans were shot dead by Nazi troops and buried in a mass grave.

De Angelis was jailed in the notorious Nazi prison on Via Tasso before being murdered along with 13 other prisoners in La Storta , in the northern outskirts of Rome, during the Nazi retreat on 4 June 1944.

Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), said that Demnig's idea is "very effective" in making passersby reflect after "visually stumbling" on the memorial stones.

She also said the memorials provide a "warning for new generations not to forget, especially in these days amid winds of denialism and a return of those nostalgic for Nazi-fascism", citing the ongoing controversy over footage of hundreds of men making fascist salutes at the Acca Larentia rally in Rome on Sunday.

Cover photo credit: Thoom / Shutterstock.com.
Venice is home to one of the world's best-loved carnivals.

Venice, the Italian queen of carnival cities, will host 18 days of Carnevale this year, with events taking place along the city's canals and across its bridges and squares from 27 January until 13 February 2024.

Artisans in the lagoon city are busy preparing masks and floats for the annual Carnevale di Venezia whose theme this year is Ad Oriente and is dedicated to Marco Polo on the 700th anniversary of his death.

Costumed visitors can look forward to water parades, allegorical floats, masked balls and night parades, with a spectacular procession along the Grand Canal opening this year's festival officially on 28 January.

Another traditional event, the Festa delle Marie pageant, will be held on 3 February with a sumptuous parade from Piero di Castello that will reach St Mark's Square where the most beautiful of the 12 "Marias" will be crowned on 13 February.

"We are staging an amazing journey' - said the artistic director Massimo Checchetto - "We will face the journey of a young Marco Polo who, before leaving, dreams, sees, has the fears of a young boy and interprets this journey with the imagination of a man from the Middle Ages".

Dal 27 gennaio al 13 febbraio eventi diffusi in campi, piazze, calli e strade della citta con lArsenale ancora protagonista di un grande scenografico spettacolo sullacqua e il ritorno delle parate dei carri mascherati in Terraferma e nelle Isole.

Grazie a Massimo Checchetto, pic.twitter.com/6N3wiTZ3uV  Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) January 10, 2024

In a post on social media on Wednesday, Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro paid tribute to all those involved in the organisation of the Carnevale di Venezia, an event "awaited throughout the world".

History and origins of Venice Carnival

The Carnevale di Venezia dates back to the 14th century, maybe earlier, and over the centuries the event was frequently forbidden under various rulers.

The modern version of the Venice Carnival, as we know it today, has taken place for the past 100 years.

Carnival ends each year the day before Ash Wednesday which signifies the beginning of Lent, traditionally a period of fasting and abstinence leading up to Easter.

For 2024 programme details see Carnevale di Venezia official website. Photo credit: Kefca / Shutterstock.com.
Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the UN, addresses a meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) discussing the United States' veto on Gaza in the Security Council the previous month, at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 9, 2024. Tuesday's meeting came on the heels of the U.S. vetoing on a Russian amendment prior to the successful passing of last month's council resolution on Gaza.

The Security Council on Dec. 22 passed a key resolution, emphasizing the immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to the distressed civilians in Gaza, but without the original call for an "urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday convened to discuss the United States' use of its veto power in the Security Council the previous month.

UNGA President Dennis Francis emphasized that "saving civilian lives" should be the foremost priority in Gaza.

UNGA Vice President Cheikh Niang of Senegal, wielding the gavel in the General Assembly Hall and acting as deputy for Francis, delivered a statement on his behalf.

Francis urged all warring parties in Gaza to "fully implement" the council resolution as well as the UNGA resolution of Dec. 12 calling for a ceasefire, arising from the UNGA's reconvened Emergency Special Session.

On protecting civilians, Francis urged all member states "to keep this shared goal to the forefront during today's debate."

In the wake of the Ukraine crisis in early 2022, the UNGA adopted a resolution designed to foster greater cooperation with the Security Council.

The resolution stipulates that whenever a veto is exercised in the Security Council, it automatically initiates a meeting and debate in the General Assembly to examine and deliberate on the action.

The veto is a special voting power held by the permanent member states on the council, whereby if any one of the five -- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States -- casts a negative vote, the resolution or decision automatically fails.

The UNGA resolution which introduced this extra scrutiny calls on the UNGA president to convene a formal debate within 10 working days, so that the 193 members of the wider body can have their say.

The intention behind it is to give UN member states the chance to make recommendations, which could include the use of armed forces, to maintain or restore peace and security on the ground.

Tuesday's meeting came on the heels of the U.S. vetoing on a Russian amendment prior to the successful passing of last month's council resolution on Gaza.

The Security Council on Dec. 22 passed a key resolution, emphasizing the immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to the distressed civilians in Gaza, but without the original call for an "urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas.

Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the UN, said that he was standing before the UNGA "representing a people being slaughtered, with families killed in their entirety, men and women shot in the streets, thousands abducted, tortured and humiliated, children killed, amputated, orphaned -- scarred for life."

He said "no people" should have to endure such violence and it must stop.

No one can understand that the Security Council is still being prevented from calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he added, while 153 states in the General Assembly have called for just that, along with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israel's assault is without precedent in modern history, he said, calling it "a war of atrocities." During these last 90 days, 11 Palestinians have been killed every hour, including seven women and children, he told the UNGA.

Anna Evstigneeva, deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN, said that Washington had been guilty of playing an "unscrupulous game" to protect Israel's actions in Gaza, when it used the veto in the Security Council on Dec. 22.

She said the real aim of the U.S. veto was to push through its aim of giving Israel free rein, and "deliberately undermine multilateral efforts under the auspices of the UN to serve its own geopolitical interests in the Middle East."

Evstigneeva said that "the sad result" of this is that over the past three months of escalation in Gaza, the council has only been able to adopt "toothless" resolutions.

A clear demand from the Security Council for a full ceasefire remains an imperative, she said. Without it, implementing the council's decisions in Gaza "is just not possible."

She said the spiral of continuing violence is "clearly catastrophic" and will continue until the root causes of the conflict are properly addressed, through a two-state solution.

Under current conditions, "our shared goal is to assist the parties in establishing the negotiation process." A "collective diplomatic mechanism" is required and one of the most pressing tasks is the restoration of Palestinian unity," she added. 

This photo taken on Jan. 9, 2024 shows a meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) discussing the United States' veto on Gaza in the Security Council the previous month, at the UN headquarters in New York. Tuesday's meeting came on the heels of the U.S. vetoing on a Russian amendment prior to the successful passing of last month's council resolution on Gaza.

The Security Council on Dec. 22 passed a key resolution, emphasizing the immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to the distressed civilians in Gaza, but without the original call for an "urgent suspension of hostilities" between Israel and Hamas. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
JIM HOBSON: 1927- 2023

Jim Hobson, who has died aged 96, was the police officer heading the investigation into the murders committed by the Yorkshire Ripper when Peter Sutcliffe was arrested for them in 1981. Sutcliffe was subsequently convicted of causing the deaths during the previous six years of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more.

Hobson had only been appointed to his post some weeks earlier, but he had been a key member of the inquiry team for several years as head of the criminal investigation department in Leeds, northern England. Indeed, in that capacity he had unknowingly investigated some of Sutcliffes first attacks.

Assistant chief constable Jim Hobson, who headed Ripper Squad to nail Peter Sutcliffe, pictured in 1981. Credit: Fairfax archive

He had worked under Dennis Hoban, who had been among the first to suspect the murders were linked but had subsequently died of diabetes. Hobson had then been deputy to assistant chief constable George Oldfield, the inquirys leader, until the latter was also sidelined by ill health.
The man produced the gun and brandished it at police, Cotter said. Police were holding a ballistic shield but dropped it during the confrontation, Cotter said, and retreated. A police officer points his gun towards a medical centre in Nowra. Credit: Hollie Spence The gunman picked up the shield and raised his weapon to police. The officers then opened fire. He was hit multiple times, and he remained at the scene where tragically, a little while later, he was pronounced dead, suffering from those gunshot wounds, Cotter said.

A Glock semi-automatic pistol was found at the scene. Police are unsure if the man fired any shots. Any death is tragic. Every life equals a life. Police respond to protect life. They responded today in absolute good faith, responding to an alarm of a man with a gun in a surgery, holding people hostage, holding people captive, brandishing that gun, Cotter said. He brandished the gun at them. He was armed with one of our own shields. I cant step into the minds of our police officers, and its not my role to, except to say obviously there was fear in their minds, and they acted upon that fear. Police have established a crime scene and a critical incident investigation. It will be led by the homicide squad and reviewed by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

Part of the investigation will focus on how many police officers fired their weapons, whether the man held a gun licence and how the negotiations progressed before the shooting. Its tragic for the police who responded and had to use the force that they did today. Its equally tragic for the family and friends left behind that are connected with this young man, who is 34, Cotter said. Police tape and cars remained on Junction Street on Wednesday evening as police continued the investigation. The shooting took place about 200 metres from the main shopping strip in Nowra. Shopkeepers said some stores and banks closed early once news broke of the siege further up the street.

Hollie Spence, of Holliewood Hair and Beauty, was working just two doors down from the medical centre when police blocked the street. I came out to see what was going on  police were swarmed everywhere, sometimes we get the odd police car go by but not often, but the way these guys came in was pretty intense, Spence said. When they arrived it was pretty eerie  they told everyone to clear the street. Spence said her clients were becoming increasingly agitated given the uncertainty. They then heard six or more gun shots very quickly. Then the police seemed to relax and took their vests off, Spence said.

You see things around town  cops all the time  but to actually see local cops in the main street in the home town youve grown up in ... to see that many cops and guns in this place [is] very confronting. Police confirmed a man had been shot at the Nowra clinic. Credit: Nine News I like watching crime shows, but to hear and see that happen that close and not know what is happening ... it was pretty nerve wracking. Sarah Cameron, a retail assistant at the clothing store Ghanda, said she had heard the shots being fired. We just knew there was a guy up at Junction [Street] Medical with a [gun], she said.

[Weve] heard about instances like with a knife or things like that, but its a completely different ballpark to a [gun]. NSW Police responses to mental health-related stand-offs have come under scrutiny from mental health experts, the LECC and grieving families following a series of deaths last year. Krista Kach, 47, died in hospital on September 14 after police shot her with a beanbag round to bring to a close a nine-hour siege near Newcastle. Jesse Deacon, 43, was killed in July after he was shot by police in his Glebe home after a Taser failed. In May, Clare Nowland, 95, who had dementia, died after she was Tasered in her Cooma nursing home by police. Also in May, Sydney man Steve Pampalian, 41, was shot dead after police responded to reports he had threatened neighbours with a knife.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected claims his government is covering up details about convicted criminals released from detention as Border Force moves from weekly updates to monthly reports.

Since the landmark High Court ruling on November 8 that indefinite immigration detention was illegal, Border Force provided weekly updates on the number of released detainees. The government confirmed the updates, which were last provided on December 7, would instead be condensed into monthly reports that could take up to two months to be released.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Chris Hyde

The latest report was released on December 21, which provided October statistics on immigration and detention.

It will also be at the discretion of state and territory governments to decide to report if any of the released detainees breached local laws, while the Australian Federal Police will continue to report any breaches under Commonwealth law.
The Golden Age of Athens may have passed  historians widely agree that was about the fifth century BC  but the city is thriving as a global tourist magnet, on track to receive even more international visitors in 2024 than in pre-pandemic 2019.

This, and the fact that it is Western Europes most densely populated capital after Paris, means it can often feel rather crowded, particularly in the lanes of Plaka, Athens oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood, where souvenir stores and restaurants touting multi-language menus proliferate below the almighty Acropolis.

Boho-chic: Psyris cafes and bars are popular with visitors and locals. Credit: Y Skoulas

Yet there are alternative Athenian districts to explore, some with local life and buzz on virtually every corner, others with sleepy hidden pockets that Ive discovered on city breaks (and more recently on overnight stopovers before boarding cruises at the nearby port of Piraeus).

Greeks and travellers alike mingle in the boho-chic cafes and bars of Psyri (or Psiri), an enclave north of Plaka between Monastiraki and Omonoia squares, two of Athens major rendezvous points.
TEHRAN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A trainer aircraft has crashed in the northern Iranian province of Alborz, killing its two-member crew, the official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The plane, a Piper PA-28 Cherokee, took off on Tuesday evening in Savojbolagh County and went off the radar after a few hours, the IRNA quoted Mohammad Baqer Khalafi, director general of the provincial Red Crescent Society, as saying.

The plane's wreckage, the body of the pilot and the trainee were found at the heights of the county following aerial and ground searches, said the report.

According to County Governor Mohammad-Reza Alborzi, the plane took off at 12:45 p.m. local time (0915 GMT) and stopped responding to the control tower after two hours, the report added. 
At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Alexander De Croo will pay an official visit to China from January 11 to 12.

CCTV: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)s Constitutional Court announced the final result of the presidential election. Incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi won 73.47 percent of votes for a second term. Whats Chinas comment and expectation for the future development of China-DRC relations?

Mao Ning: China noted the final presidential election results announced by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)s Constitutional Court. We respect the choice made by the people in the DRC and congratulate President Felix Tshisekedi on his re-election. We believe that under the leadership of President Tshisekedi, the DRC is headed toward greater achievement in national development and revitalization.

China and the DRC are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners. China highly values its relations with the DRC and stands ready to work with the DRC to carry forward our traditional friendship and deepen exchanges and cooperation in Belt and Road cooperation and under the FOCAC framework to deliver more benefits for the two peoples.

AFP: China successfully launched the Einstein probe satellite and sent it into orbit yesterday. And that launch appeared to trigger Taiwan authorities to issue an emergency alert, which caused quite a lot of concerns among the public in Taiwan. Did the Chinese side know in advance that the launch would trigger such an alert and was it a deliberate time to coincide with the last few days of Taiwan election campaign?

Mao Ning: Its not related to Chinas foreign affairs. It is pretty clear what the DPP authorities is trying to do by misleading the public and sowing panic.

NHK: Forty-seven countries released a joint statement on Tuesday by saying Russia launched North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine. The statement called on Russia and North Korea to immediately cease all activities that violate the UN Security Council resolutions. So whats your take on this statement? And is there any intention for China to join the statement as a permanent member of the UN Security Council?

Mao Ning: On the Ukraine crisis, Chinas position has been consistent. We believe that dialogue and negotiation is the only viable way out of the crisis and hope parties will reach a ceasefire soon and jointly deescalate the situation.

Hubei Media Group: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been in force for two years. Can you share with us what it has achieved and Chinas role in it?

Mao Ning: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a milestone in the integration of the Asia-Pacific and a vivid demonstration of regional countries sharing development opportunities. Since it entered into force two years ago, RCEP has greatly lowered the regional trade costs, strengthened industrial and supply chains and brought tangible benefits to its members.

As the largest economy in RCEP, China is committed to development through openness, and the high-quality implementation of RCEP. China is the first non-ASEAN member to ratify RCEP. We have made every effort to deliver on the commitments on market access and ease tariffs, contributing our part to regional trade and investment and economic growth. RCEP members goods have entered China with lower trade costs and more convenient customs clearance. In the first 11 months of 2023, China imported from Thailand, Viet Nam and other RCEP members fresh durians worth RMB 46,61 billion, 1.7 times the amount for the entire year of 2021.

We stand ready to work with all parties for all-round and high-quality implementation of RCEP to enable the worlds largest free trade area to unleash more benefits for common development and prosperity among its members.

AFP: I got a question about the situation in Ecuador. The Chinese Embassy there has said all its consular branches will suspend services to the public. Im wondering have any Chinese nationals been affected by the situation in Ecuador and other consular authorities providing any further assistance to Chinese nationals there or planning any evacuations?

Mao Ning: With instructions from the Foreign Ministry, our Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador immediately activated the emergency consular protection mechanism. We are gathering information about the safety of Chinese nationals and institutions in Ecuador and we have reminded them through various channels to take safety precautions. So far, no Chinese deaths or injuries have been reported in Ecuador.

The Foreign Ministry and our Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador will continue to closely follow the developments on the ground and provide timely consular protection and assistance to Chinese nationals.

Antara News: The International Court of Justice (ICG) will hold its first hearing in South Africa genocide case against Israel tomorrow. Will China, as one of the member of UN Security Council, support South Africas case in ICG?

Mao Ning: We noted the case. China is saddened by the heavy civilian casualties caused by the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We oppose any action that violates the international law and urge parties to the conflict to earnestly implement relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, reach an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and stop the collective punishment against the people of Gaza.

AFP: The Non-Aligned Movement Summit and the G77 Summit are due to be held in Uganda next week. And Im wondering if the Chinese side is able to provide any details about whether any top leaders will attend those two summits?

Mao Ning: Well release information in due course. Please check back for updates.

Reuters: Has Ghanas official creditor committee reached an agreement on a proposal to restructure Ghana debt to them? And if so, does China expect Ghana to agree to the deal and when?

Mao Ning: As the co-chair of the Creditor Committee for Ghana under the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI, China has, since the establishment of the Creditor Committee, played an active coordinating role and worked constructively to facilitate the proper settlement of Ghanas debt issue. China will continue to play its leading and coordinating role as the chair and work with Ghana and all the other parties to reach a restructuring plan that is in line with the principle of joint actions and fair burden-sharing so that Ghanas debt issue will be successfully resolved.

The Paper: As violence and crimes are on the rise in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency, internal armed conflict and other measures. The country is striving to resume social order, democracy and the rule of law as soon as possible. Whats Chinas comment?

Mao Ning: China supports the government of Ecuador in maintaining social stability and hopes that the country will restore order as soon as possible. We also hope that Ecuador will earnestly ensure the safety of Chinese people and institutions in Ecuador.

Reuters: Taiwans de facto Ambassador to the United States has met with the US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday. Does China have any comment on this meeting?

Mao Ning: There is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. China firmly opposes the US having any form of official contact with the Taiwan region. The US needs to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, stop official contact with the Taiwan region, stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces and refrain from interfering in elections in the Taiwan region in any form. The DPP authorities attempt to solicit support from the US and other countries for Taiwan independence will not succeed.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, saw its palm oil inventory fall 4.64 percent to 2.29 million tons in December 2023, official data showed Wednesday.

According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia's crude palm oil production also declined 13.31 percent month on month to 1.55 million tons.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's palm oil exports contracted 5.12 percent month on month to 1.33 million tons. 
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy and consulates general in Ecuador will be temporarily closed from Jan. 10 until further notice, said an official statement on Tuesday.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Ecuador, there has been no report about security incidents concerning Chinese enterprises and Chinese in Ecuador.

Due to "internal armed conflict," Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency on Monday. 
Tom Tuite

Two teenagers face trial after a young Dublin boy was allegedly beaten over his head with a hammer, kicked and held up at knifepoint after his ex-girlfriend lured him to a premeditated robbery.

The pair, now 17, were charged with the robbery of the boy in Tallaght on April 25th 2023 and appeared at the Dublin Childrens Court.

They are also accused of brandishing weapons during the incident.

Judge Paul Kelly had noted defence pleas to keep the case in the Childrens Court, but agreed with the DPP that it was too serious and refused jurisdiction after hearing an outline of the allegations.

Books of evidence were served on the defendants on Wednesday, and Judge Kelly granted an order sending them forward for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, which has broader sentencing powers.

The youths, accompanied to the proceedings by family members, were remanded on bail to appear at that court in February.

At an earlier preliminary hearing, Garda David Kinealy told Judge Kelly that he spoke to the complainant, who reported that he had been attacked and robbed. The Childrens Court heard claims that he was walking with his ex-girlfriend when he was approached by three males who attacked and robbed them.

It was alleged one defendant struck him on the back of his head with a hammer and made several attempts to hit him with the hammer.

After he went on the ground, the co-accused allegedly began kicking him on the ground, before kneeling on his chest, producing a knife and robbing him of his Samsung S9 phone and a 5 note.

The blade was described as like a box cutter or a Stanley knife.

The garda said the incident was premeditated and planned, and the victim had been lured to the scene by his ex-girlfriend.

He had a one-centimetre laceration to the back of his head and cuts and bruises to his arms and legs after he took up a defensive position, the garda said.

The defendants, also aged 15 at the time, cannot be identified because they are minors.

The court heard the injured teen knew the boy with the hammer and identified the second defendant, who allegedly had the knife in a statement taken four months later.

Neither had any prior criminal convictions and have yet to enter pleas. The third attacker was not found.
On Saturday next, January 13th, the people of Newport will congregate on Meddlicott Street at 12 noon to celebrate Newports official status as 'The Town of the Two Graces' when the sculpture of Grainne Uaile will be launched by Nano OMalley McMahon, the current Chieftain of the OMalley Clan.

Newport has had a long-standing historical link with the Pirate Queen - Grainne Mhaol, the Irish version of her name which is now more popularly termed as Grainne Uaile. Protector of Clew Bay and the Barony of Burrishoole (Newport), this larger than life figure is known for her commanding leadership and consummate bravery. Grainne Mhaol is revered as a fiercely independent woman who defended her homeland and its people with honour. The family stronghold at Carraigahowley (Rockfleet) is the castle most associated with Grainne Uaile and it is where she lived on almost a continuous basis until her death in 1603. Carraigahowley Castle still stands sentinel over Clew Bay, immortalising her imposing presence from those distant centuries.

In 1593, Grainne Mhaol successfully negotiated with Queen Elizabeth I of England for the secure ownership of her lands and property and for her right to live in peace and continue her livelihood along the Atlantic shores which is evidence of Grainnes trading and commanding presence in the locality.

The unveiling of this statue is the culmination of a Newport Business Association (NBA) strategy, developed in 2019, which was to brand and promote Newport as 'The Town of the Two Graces'  Grainne Uaile from the 16th century and Grace Kelly from the 20th century. A key aim of this strategy was to commission sculptures of the two Graces, to be located in the town, which would reflect the lives of these great women icons who still have strong connections with Newport.

The sculptor, Mark Rode who works from his studio in Killasser, near Swinford, was commissioned to undertake this artistic endeavour. Mark is well-known throughout Ireland for his work which includes the Barack Obama bust in Moneygall, The Quiet Man statue in Cong, and Titanic Memorial in Addergoole, North Mayo. Mark can now add Newports 'The Two Graces' to his list of creative achievements. The Grace Kelly sculpture, located at the Viaduct Bridge, was officially launched in March 2023 by her son, HSH Prince Albert of Monaco.

The Newport Business Association has worked closely with Mayo Co Council in planning the location of the sculptures. Mayo Local Action Group through its implementing partner South West Mayo Development Company provided LEADER funding to support the project with the balance being raised through private sponsorship, donations, and fundraising events.
RAMALLAH, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday stressed that Gaza was an integral part of the Palestinian state, and Israel's plans to separate it or cut off any part of it would not be accepted, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Abbas made the remarks when meeting with the visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warning of the danger of Israeli measures to displace the Palestinians from their land, as revealed by statements from Israeli ministers and officials.

He also told Blinken that Israel must stop its "war of annihilation" against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which was a prerequisite for a political solution based on international law.

Abbas and Blinken talked about the need to speed up humanitarian aid to Gaza and to enable shelter centers and hospitals to operate to alleviate the suffering of the locals, WAFA said.

He also called for the immediate release of Palestinian tax funds withheld by Israel, saying their detention violated agreements and international law.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians protested in central Ramallah against Blinken's visit, accusing Washington of siding with Israel and supporting its "crimes" against the Palestinians.

When meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv Tuesday, Blinken reaffirmed Washington's support for Israel's right to defend itself and prevent the attacks of Oct. 7 from being repeated, but added that fighting an enemy that hid behind civilian areas, schools and hospitals had a high cost for many.

Blinken arrived in the West Bank after visiting Israel, Turkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. 
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Partly sunny, breezy, and noticeably colder; gusty winds add a chill. A sprinkle or flurry possible, mainly north and west. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy, windy, and cold. Brisk winds add a chill. There could be an early flurry, especially north and west.
READING, Pa. - The LGBT Center of Greater Reading is expanding health services with a new wellness clinic.

"We started several years ago, actually, and it just didn't come to fruition until today. So we're really proud of that. We're looking for additional providers to join the team," said Michelle Dech, executive director of the center.

Federal, state, county and city leaders gathered at the LGBT Center of Greater Reading Tuesday for the official grand opening.

"HIV, STI testing. AIDS care group coming in as a partner to provide those services. We'll also provide prep and pep along with education," said Dech.

It's quite the contrast as you can see here with this office space and then through this door, you see what you might at any other health clinic.

"We assist our patients in their overall health and wellness. Something else we do at my clinic in particular, we focus on the function of your nervous system and its relationship to your mental health," said Tabetha Super, head chiropractor at Dr. Super's House of Health.

Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan and state Senator Judy Schwank spoke to the challenges of getting legislation passed to provide funding for clinics like this.

"What we really need to do on the state level is pass the Fairness Act, which would ensure that LGBTQ people have the same rights as any other people in terms of employment and housing. Right now, in Pa., we don't have that," said Sen. Schwank.

With the stories shared by a broad swath of the community, officials with the LGBT Center of Greater Reading see it as a positive sign for the future.

"I think it's a testament to our community as a whole and the direction we are moving," said Dech. "Perseverance and unity in our community is unmatched."
BERKS COUNTY, Pa. - Met-Ed is dealing with problems created by the recent storm.

"Winter is particularly tough because you get the heavy, wet snow combined with the winds that we're seeing this week and that's a recipe for service interruptions," said Will Boye, a Met-Ed spokesperson.

The utility company has a plan in place with crews in Pennsylvania as well as from its sister companies in other states ready to jump into action when things get bad.

"We're fully staffed with our linemen and we're making arrangements to bring in additional linemen and crew members if needed, depending upon the impact of the storm," Boye said.

A spokesperson for the utility says when the ground is saturated like it is now, and you get heavy winds on top of that, it makes it prime conditions for trees to come down, sometimes causing widespread power outages.

A utility pole came down as the storm arrived in Mohnton.

"We're implementing 16 hour shifts so that we've got round the clock coverage in all of our service centers," explained Boye. "We have staffed up in terms of our operators to handle all the outage calls we expect to receive."

Add flooding into that equation and things can get even more challenging for restoration efforts.

"It slows down the restoration process [and] it makes it more dangerous and hazardous for our crews," said Boye. "We need to restore the power but we need to do it in a safe way and make sure that all of our crew members get home safe at the end of the day."
EASTON, Pa.  A second winter storm, just days after the first, has been rolling through the region Tuesday. Conditions are expected to worsen throughout the night.

Snow at Scott Park and throughout Easton is melting away. The winds became stronger as the sun went down.

Agencies in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey say with this storm, preparation is key.

"We're asking century-old infrastructure to take care of more modern runoff, so we do monitor those areas, said Phillipsburg Mayor Randy Piazza.

Phillipsburg is keeping a close eye on trouble spots known to flood.

 Check local stream and river levels Click here to find out about area streams and rivers.

"Some areas along North Broad Street, Main Street off of Sawmill, our sewer plant, said Piazza.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency.

Phillipsburg is among municipalities on both sides of the river that have been busy clearing storm drains to make room for all the rain. Crews have also been preparing tools like chainsaws in case of fallen trees.

"There's some basement issues, and people will call to have basements pumped out and things like that, said Piazza.

"When the Delaware River backs up, it backs up the Bushkill Creek and it also backs up the Lehigh River, said Easton Fire Chief Henry Hennings.

Hennings says firefighters will be monitoring low-lying areas.

"Whatever happens upstream directly impacts us, said Hennings. Unfortunately, we won't know about it until it happens. So, you could have one of those where storm lingers over one spot a little longer than others, and that can really create some chaos."

Safety officials continue to remind people to stay off of barricaded roadways; you don't know what's on the other side.

If you need to evacuate, Hennings said, you want to take the most important things with you, obviously your family, but also any medicines you may need...homeowners insurance or renters insurance, not only the policy numbers, but the phone numbers so you can contact those agencies right away."

Larry Holmes Drive and Lehigh Drive are among the spots Easton will be watching.

Allentown is also preparing for flooding.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - If you're driving through Center City Allentown, you might notice some new gadgets powered by solar panels on poles.

They're gunshot detection devices, from the company Flock Safety. The company says the devices can pinpoint the location of gunshots and send it to police in under a minute. Flock Safety says the devices can "listen" for a quarter-mile radius, locating gunshots within 90 feet of where they happen.

The devices were approved by City Council last July, thanks to $1.5 million in grant funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

"The technology is going to be life-changing, because it's going to allow officers to get on location much quicker, and also to increase the community's efforts in reporting crime," said Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca during that July 19 City Council meeting.

The city told us the devices won't be active until the end of the month, but organizations like Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley are already excited about the potential to help reduce and respond to crime.

"I think it will just get us information faster so that we can be more helpful to the people that are left right? To pick up the pieces," said Promise Neighborhoods Executive Director Hasshan Batts.

This isn't the first time Allentown has considered tech like this. Back in 2006, then Mayor Ed Pawlowski looked into buying a similar system called "Shot Spotter."

"It would be another deterrent. It would make it more difficult for criminals to work and operate within the city," said Pawlowski in an interview from 2006.

That's the same goal of Flock Safety's devices. Promise Neighborhoods hopes it's just the beginning of the city's efforts to reduce violent crime.

"If $1.5 million saves one life, then I think it's a good investment. Do I think it needs to stop there? No," said Batts.
Some New Jersey counties may be eligible to receive emergency prescription refills due to storm damage.

The Defense Health Agency announced that TRICARE beneficiaries in 11 New Jersey counties may be eligible now through Jan. 16, 2024.

The counties impacted are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem and Union.

To receive an emergency refill of prescription medications, TRICARE beneficiaries should take their prescription bottle to any TRICARE retail network pharmacy. If the bottle is unavailable or the label is damaged or missing, beneficiaries should contact Express Scripts, Inc., or their retail network pharmacy for assistance.

To find a network pharmacy, beneficiaries may call Express Scripts at 1-877-363-1303, or use the Find a Pharmacy tool.

A media release says that if possible, visit the pharmacy where the prescription was filled. Prescriptions filled by a retail chain may be filled at another store in that chain.
CRESSONA, Pa. - People across Schuylkill County are being asked to keep an eye out for a cat that was stolen, dumped, and may be injured.

Ruth Steinert Memorial SPCA near Pine Grove says two 19-year-olds stole a black and white Maine Coon from its Cressona home.

They then threw it out of the back of a truck, the SPCA said.

The shelter says the teens were caught on camera stealing the cat.

State police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
Officials say Russia has launched its latest barrage of hypersonic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets, striking near the front lines of fighting in the east as well as in central and western parts of the country. They said Monday that at least four civilians were reported killed and at least 30 injured. Western officials and analysts had previously warned that Russia was stockpiling its cruise missiles in preparation for a strategy of winter bombardment, as bad weather keeps the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line largely static after 22 months of war. Unlike last winter, when the Kremlins forces targeted Ukraines power grid, Russia is now aiming at Kyivs defense industry, they say. But the barrages have repeatedly hit civilian areas.
YAOUNDE, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least five separatist fighters have been killed in an offensive by Cameroon's military against armed separatists in the restive English-speaking Northwest Region, local and army sources said Tuesday night.

The attack took place early Tuesday in the Ewai village of the region.

Cameroonian troops raided a separatist hideout, which was serving as the main base of one of the separatist groups in the region, killing the five separatist fighters, an army official in the region said.

"Our brave soldiers also captured so many of their weapons and rescued some people who were abducted by the separatist terrorists. Many of the terrorists escaped with bullet wounds," the official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

Separatist leaders confirmed the attack on social media but claimed that only three fighters were killed.

A resident of the village, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua by phone that hundreds of people in the village fled to the bush as the offensive unfolded.

There was no word of casualties on the side of government forces during the raid.

The separatists, who have been in conflict with government forces since 2017, hope to establish an independent nation in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest. 
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Yemen's Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea late Tuesday, though it initially appeared no ship was damaged in the attack, authorities said Wednesday.

The U.S. Navy shot down a total of 24 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, two U.S. defense officials told CNN, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

Three destroyers took part in the shoot-down of the barrage, one of the officials told CNN. The U.S. has a number of ships in the Red Sea as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational effort to safeguard shipping in one of the worlds most critical waterways, CNN reported.

The assault happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida incident, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with U.S.-allied warships in the area urging vessels to proceed at maximum speed.

Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday.

The British military's United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, which monitors shipping attacks in the region, said it was aware of the Hodeida attack.

Coalition forces are responding, no injuries or damage reported, the military said. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.

The Houthis, a Shiite group that's held Yemen's capital since 2014, did not immediately issue any formal statement acknowledging launching the attacks. However, the pan-Arab satellite news network Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea, without elaborating.

The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet, the military's overall Central Command and officials in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that countrys war on Hamas. However, the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 10% of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.

The launch comes with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visiting the Middle East in an attempt to contain the Gaza war and prevent a regional escalation.

Blinken was in Israel on Tuesday, where he told officials that Palestinians in Gaza must be allowed to return to their homes as soon as conditions allow. The secretary has repeatedly called on the Israeli government to reduce the number of civilian casualties as a result of Israels bombardment of Gaza.

A U.S.-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks. American troops in one incident sank Houthi vessels and killed 10 rebel fighters, though there's been no broad retaliatory strike yet despite warnings from the U.S.

Meanwhile, a separate, tentative cease-fire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemens exiled government has held for months despite that countrys long war. Thats raised concerns that any wider conflict in the sea  or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces  could reignite those tensions in the Arab worlds poorest nation.

CNN contributed to this report.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The achievements in China-U.S. relations are primarily attributable to the collective efforts of the people of the two countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said.

Xi made the remarks in his reply on Thursday to a letter from Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

Noting that China is the largest developing country and the United States the largest developed country in the world, Xi said the future of this planet needs stability and improvement of China-U.S. relations.

Xi also said China is ready to work with the United States to push for steady, sound and sustainable development of bilateral relations. 
This screenshot captured from a video released by the Houthi group on Jan. 10, 2024 shows Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea making a statement. Yemen's Houthi group announced on Wednesday that it has launched "a large batch" of drones and missiles toward a U.S. navy vessel in the Red Sea, which was "assisting" Israel.

In a statement, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that the group's fighters launched a large number of "ballistic and naval missiles and drones" toward a U.S. ship, adding the attack was a "preliminary response" to the U.S. sinking of Houthi ships on the Red Sea on Dec. 31, 2023. (Xinhua)

SANAA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group announced on Wednesday that it has launched "a large batch" of drones and missiles toward a U.S. navy vessel in the Red Sea, which was "assisting" Israel.

In a statement, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that the group's fighters launched a large number of "ballistic and naval missiles and drones" toward a U.S. ship, adding the attack was a "preliminary response" to the U.S. sinking of Houthi ships on the Red Sea on Dec. 31, 2023.

Earlier in the day, residents of Yemen's Red Sea port city Hodeidah reported seeing numerous drones and missiles lighting up the night sky, heading toward the direction of the Red Sea.

Explosions and fireballs were also heard and seen throughout the night, causing panic among the residents in Hodeidah, eyewitnesses told Xinhua.

The U.S. Central Command confirmed the incident, stating that 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile were launched from Houthi-controlled territory.

The drones and missiles "targeted international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea, where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

It added that through a combined effort by U.S. and British naval forces, all 21 projectiles were intercepted and neutralized.

There were no injuries or damage reported yet.

This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19, according to U.S. Central Command.

The Houthi group has escalated their attacks on Israel-linked ships since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct. 7 to protest Israel's offensive in Gaza. 
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on Wednesday adopted a communique at its third plenary session, which was held from Monday to Wednesday in Beijing.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the plenary session and delivered an important speech. 
ANKARA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Wednesday rounded up 38 suspects across Turkiye over their alleged links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

The Turkish police conducted raids across 12 provinces in the simultaneous operations dubbed "Pinch-3," the minister said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The suspects were allegedly linked to the Gulen movement, which the Turkish government accused of attempting the coup on July 15, 2016.

The Gulen movement is allegedly led by and named after Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who his followers regard as a spiritual leader. Ankara accused U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the attempted coup, in which at least 250 people were killed.

The Turkish government has launched a massive crackdown on suspects with links to the network in the aftermath of the coup attempt. 
SYDNEY, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities in the Australian state of Victoria updated on Wednesday that impact assessments are being conducted at several towns in the state's north, as floodwater has started to recede.

"In Yea, we saw six properties with above-floor flooding, 17 with inundation in and around their property. At Seymour, we saw seven businesses with above-floor flooding and another 11 residential properties that have had a range of flooding impacts, either above or below the floor," said Victoria State Emergency Service Chief Operations Officer Tim Wiebusch.

He also told reporters that the emergency crew are currently undertaking impact assessments in and around Rochester and Goornong, with floodwater down to the level that enabled them to get into those areas.

Since Monday, north-central Victoria has been lashed by flash flooding, as a broad trough of low pressure delivered widespread rain and thunderstorms across southeastern Australia.

Data from the weather service provider Weatherzone indicated that the heaviest rain during the 24 hours to 9:00 a.m. local time on Monday was 181 mm at Wild Duck Creek near Heathcote, with several other gauges also exceeding 100 mm during this period.

Residents living in low-lying parts of Rochester, Seymour, and Yea received multiple emergency warnings. The flooding also triggered landslides near the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road in Tremont and Ferny Creek.

"We're now seeing the residual effects of the heavy rainfall with the riverine flooding still appearing in several parts of Victoria. In good news, an advice message has now been issued for return to Rochester," said Wiebusch.

He confirmed that minor flooding is now seen throughout the Rochester area on the Campaspe River. "Those flows have now moved down into Echuca where we are also now seeing minor flooding and we're expecting a peak at that minor flood level throughout today," said the officer.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also paid a visit to Victoria's State Control Centre in Melbourne on Wednesday, announcing that a commitment has been signed off to provide further support to local communities as a result of the flood event that continues to unfold.

"Support in terms of the emergency and hardship payments being made to individuals and families, to assist communities in their time of need. But also support for local councils who are doing the work on the ground, to make sure that communities can be made more resilient," said Albanese. 
KATHMANDU, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The People's Democratic Party (PDP) led by former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has won Bhutan's general elections and is set to form a new government, according to results released by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) on Wednesday.

The PDP, having won the majority of seats (30 seats) in the fourth National Assembly elections, is declared as the ruling party, while the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), having won 17 seats, is declared as the opposition party, the ECB said in a press release.

The overall voter turnout in Tuesday's final round of elections is 65.6 percent. Of the total 498,135 eligible registered voters, 326,775 voters cast their votes, according to the ECB.

From the total votes cast, 218,273 votes were cast in person on the electronic voting machines at the 809 polling stations and 108,502 votes were cast through postal ballots and special early voting, the ECB said.

Tobgay, 58, who served as the country's prime minister from 2013 to 2018, is set to become the new prime minister for a second five-year term in the Himalayan nation.

The PDP, formed in 2007 by Tobgay, has pledged to implement a major economic stimulus plan and create more jobs in various sectors to promote employment in the country in the next five years, according to reports by local media.

It also vowed to develop mini-industrial estates and explore the possibilities of creating infrastructural linkages to boost exports, according to the party's manifesto.

The primary round of the parliamentary elections was held in November 2023.

Bhutan, with a population of around 800,000, held elections for the first time in 2008 after political reforms established a bicameral parliament. 
Sichod Drolma (R) and her father and sister are pictured as they pasture on the grassland in Damxung County, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Nov. 15, 2023. [Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua]

LHASA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua)  The educational subsidy standard in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region will rise again this year, according to a fiscal report unveiled on Sunday.

The annual subsidy under the "Three Guarantees" policy for education in the region  providing food, accommodation, and school expenses for preschool to senior high school students from farming and herding households and impoverished urban families  will increase by 90 yuan (about 12.67 U.S. dollars) to 5,620 yuan per person in 2024, said the report submitted to the second plenary session of the 12th People's Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region for deliberation.

According to the report issued by the regional department of finance, 746,000 students will benefit from the rising subsidy.

This year, the funds earmarked for education will increase by 8.4 percent to 30.6 billion yuan, the report said.

A 15-year publicly funded educational system and a student financial support system covering preschool through to higher education have been established in the region.

The rise of educational subsidies is among 21 to-do items to improve residents' livelihood as an appendix of the region's government work report.

The other issues on the list include higher healthcare subsidies for urban and rural residents and support for an oxygen supply project in high-altitude areas.

(Source: Xinhua)
WELLINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Noah and Charlotte have topped the baby name charts for the year 2023 as they emerged as the most popular choices for New Zealand parents.

The Department of Internal Affairs on Wednesday released the annual list of the most popular baby names in New Zealand for 2023.

The compilation showcases the naming trends that have captured the hearts of Kiwi parents over the past year, the department said in a statement.

A total of 18,666 different first names were given to a total of 57,889 babies that were registered by the department in 2023, it said. 


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Weather Alert

...Elevated Fire Danger Today and Tuesday... ...Hard Freeze Expected Tonight... The combination of very dry air and northwest winds gusting up to 20 mph will create an elevated risk of uncontrolled fire spread this afternoon. Relative humidity values will fall to 20 to 35%, with the lowest humidity levels over the Ozark Foothills of southeast Missouri. A more substantial fire danger is expected Tuesday, as southwest winds increase significantly, with gusts of 25 to 40 mph forecast Tuesday afternoon. Relative humidity values Tuesday afternoon will fall to 25 to 35%. If you are planning outdoor burning today and Tuesday, use extra caution and have fire suppression equipment ready. Tonight, very cold and dry surface high pressure will allow temperatures to drop into the middle and upper 20s throughout the region. Although the growing season has not officially started, tender vegetation could be impacted by these cold temperatures. Please take necessary actions to protect any tender vegetation tonight.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- On the night of Nov. 24, a man stole a 100-gram gold necklace from a jewelry store in downtown Tianjin in north China. In less than two hours, the suspect was captured while trying to sell the necklace.

To a large extent, experts believe the swift response to the case can be attributed to the digital investigation centers established by local police at municipal and district levels.

Powered by big data, the centers have connected the region's smallest law enforcement units. With a simple click, the police force at any level could form a group to coordinate any task management.

This is one of many reforms adopted by the Chinese police in recent years to adapt to the country's ongoing social transformation.

Experts believe that the pattern of crime has undergone profound changes amid social transformation. The number of conventional crimes has declined year by year, crimes involving the internet and new forms of business are on the rise, and extremely violent crimes committed by individuals are reported from time to time.

Chinese police acknowledged the need for reform to overcome institutional impediments and establish a modern police system that meets the needs of the times while emphasizing real-combat capabilities. Their solution is specialized police teams, revamped operational mechanisms, and big-data empowerment.

In April 2022, the police in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang Province, received a report of an investment and wealth management fraud.

A three-tiered integrated operation contingency plan was activated immediately. The provincial investigation center led and administered eight county and district investigation teams.

They dug out a plethora of criminal dens and suspects hiding across the border. Through international police cooperation, they arrested 366 criminal suspects.

So far, the province has built one provincial investigation center, 11 such centers at the city level, and 103 at the county level.

These centers have transitioned from passive investigation to proactive study and assessment, breaking barriers between departments to pool resources, said Chen Deliang, head criminal investigator with the province's public security department.

In Tianjin, the criminal case clearance rate rose by 7.7 percent in 2023. Robberies and forced seizures were all solved, and more than 7,900 telecom fraud cases were resolved, an increase of 52.8 percent year-on-year. The average solution time was reduced by 40 percent.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

More efforts have been made in recent years to enable police officers to serve the communities better. In Zengcheng district of south China's Guangzhou, police officers have been issued two job lists to define their duties and responsibilities.

As a result, over 300 community police officers are no longer required to perform tasks beyond their scope of duties; instead, they can focus on serving their communities, with more time to connect with residents and respond to their needs.

Cai Xuxiong, a police officer in Zengcheng, begins his daily job by visiting the communities under his supervision. He would inquire about the health of elderly residents, remind residents to seek permission from power suppliers before making adjustments to power lines, or warn people against fraud.

According to a Ministry of Public Security (MPS) three-year action plan until 2025, police stations have been urged to carry out proactive and preventative policing as well as shift their focus to preventing and controlling the source of crime, among other grassroots activities.

In Beijing, police officers work 24/7 shifts at a booth set up by the Haidian Police Station, ready to provide immediate assistance to residents living in the neighborhood.

Police officers are now working closely with security guards and volunteers to guarantee the safety of the communities, said Zhang Peng, head of the Haidian Police Station.

BETTER SERVICE

Thanks to an all-in-one window at a police station in Liuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a local surnamed Li was able to complete her residence migration and passport renewal in 20 minutes.

"To handle these two businesses in the past required going to the departments of household administration and exit and entry administration separately. It's very convenient now that we can have them done at one police station," she said.

For Chinese police, the rule of law is the best possible business environment and a crucial guarantee for people's safety.

To meet people's aspirations for a better life and ensure high-quality development, the MPS rolled out an array of measures to improve its services in August 2023, including streamlining services and cross-provincial handling of business.

So far, 29 provincial-level regions have implemented cross-provincial migration for all types of household registration.

The ultimate purpose of any people-oriented public security reforms is to bring the hearts of people and police closer.

At a police station in Beijing's Xicheng District, a father was encouraged to take a photo with his newborn son after a successful household registration. A special zone has been reserved for new parents to capture the meaningful moment.

"Through a smile and warm words, we try to bring the people closer to us and make public security work take root in their hearts," said Wang Meng, head of the police station. 
The Canadian independent film Brother, directed by Clement Virgo, is an affecting coming of age story centred on the relationship between two siblings growing up in an impoverished immigrant neighbourhood in Ontario during the 1990s.

The screenplay is based on a 2017 novel of the same title by Canadian author David Chariandy, who determined to write novels set in Scarborough (the eastern district of Toronto in which he grew up) that admit challenges, but tell that bigger story of life and vitality that you dont always see in [the negative] headlines. The film adaptation lives up to this wholly legitimate aim.

Lamar Johnson and Aaron Pierre in Brother

Virgos Brother, currently streaming on Netflix, opens with a striking image of pastoral serenitya green rolling landscapeintruded upon only by the eerie humming noise pulsing from what is revealed to be a high-voltage security fence. Inside the perimeter, two teenage brothers stare up at the imposing scaffolding of a sinister electric transformer. Francis (Aaron Pierre), the bold and daring athlete, directs his anxious younger sibling Michael (Lamar Johnson) with subtle amusement: Lets climb.

This opening metaphorits duotone of pressing anxiety relieved by moments of spontaneous warmth and creative whimsysums up the brothers shared vulnerability and fierce loyalty in a challenging world. But when you climb, Francis cautions Michael sternly, You watch me, follow my every move. We soon come to understand the tragic irony of this advice and also the full significance of this scene, referred to throughout the work.

A decade later, in the present (the early 1990s), the self-effacing Michaelnow a young adult in his mid-20smeets up with his old girlfriend Aisha (Kiana Madeira), to whom he offers a place to sleep while shes in town. Aisha is back in Scarborough due to her own unfortunate circumstances. At home (in an apartment complex where they both grew up), Michael explains to her that his mother Ruth (Marsha Stephanie Blake) is only quiet sometimes, especially at night. An air of congealed pain hangs over the apartment.

The narrative travels back and forth through the brothers lives effectively. One night in their childhood when Ruth, a nurse, leaves them home alone (I have to go, they pay me time and half), the brothers inadvertently catch security footage of a violent robbery on television, an experience which proves formative for Francis. He later confides to his mother, while the three of them are curled up in bed, Were not safe.

During more idyllic high school years, the charming and popular Francis spends much of his free time absorbed in music. Meanwhile, Michael awkwardly strikes up a romance with the book-smart Aisha. One night, the brothers are caught in the crossfire between rival gangs. Someone is shot and a sleeping child injured when an errant bullet pierces her bedroom wall. After narrowly escaping, Michael and Francis are hunted down by police (Put your hands on your f-ing heads!), a case of guilt by association, and brought home to their startled mother.

On multiple occasions, the areas malicious cops subject Francis and Michael to illegal pat-downs. Throughout the film, the threat of police and/or gang violence looms large, and there is the sense that on any given day hostile encounters could end in disaster.

The daily harassment, humiliations and emotional strains have a corrosive effect on Francis, and he becomes increasingly withdrawn and elusive. He spends most of his time at a barber shop spinning records with his close friend Jelly (Lovell Adams-Gray). Tensions between Francis and Ruth reach a breaking point when he quits high school just three months before graduation and moves out. A tragic sequence of events follows.

Some of the most compelling scenes occur during the brothers high school years. The performances by promising young actors Pierre and Johnson are especially persuasive. Both actors shine in their depth and subtlety (currently in short supply in the film industry).

In one of Brothers most agonising sequences, Francis and Jelly have just performed their routine in a DJ battle before a group of self-important producers who promptly shoo them away (So youll let us know if we win? Yeah kid, well definitely call you).

Outside, Francis gets into a skirmish with an obstinate bouncer and is brutally assaulted. Michael drags him back to the barber shop where friends tend to his injuries. Francis, delirious and devastated, scans the concerned faces in the room, his face bloody and swollen:

Francis: Look at you  all of you. F-ing losers  f-ing nobodies. [His face drops.] Just dreaming. Are we just dreaming? Theres no way forward, no way out, man. Just  dreaming.

Brother

The supporting cast are also committed to their roles. In one striking scene, adult Michael has pasted up tinfoil on the living room window to block out the sunlight (and perhaps his own grief). Ruth arrives home in her uniform and stands there, stooped over:

Ruth: Is that what I look like to you? The kind of woman that advertise tinfoil to everybody passing on the street?

Michael: Well its not a bad idea, I mean, other people do it.

Ruth: Oh! And Im other people! Yeah? You sit over there and look at your own mother and think, There she is, my mother, other people!

In adapting Chariandys novel, director/filmmaker Virgo (Lie with Me, Poor Boys Game), who was born in Jamaica and grew up in Toronto, drew heavily on his own experiences. In an interview, Virgo explained he was profoundly moved by Chariandys novel. It spoke to me on a visceral level, he went on. This world I knew, this family felt like my own and it felt like David had written a novel just for me. Indeed, Virgos intimate knowledge of the films universe has helped produce some of its exceptional qualitiesa combination of penetrating directness with delicate restraint that drills deep into the emotions.

The artistic success of Virgos approach is rooted foremost in a profoundly sympathetic attitude to the plight of the Canadian immigrant community. Throughout the film, we understand that these are loving and intelligent people caught up in arbitrary circumstances rooted in the terrible injustices of class oppression. But perhaps the most farsighted aspect of Brother is the careful ambiguity threaded into the chain of events leading up to tragedy, which not only serves to amplify the painful outcome, but also provides some essential ingredients for its future resolution.

Brother is a humane story, truly that bigger story of life and vitality that you dont always see in headlines. Its most recent accolade, the award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, is well deserved. It should reach a wider audience.
The scandal over the terrible plight of hundreds of Post Office sub-postmasters wrongly accused of theft and false accounting, is rocking Britains ruling elite following last weeks broadcasting of a four-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistressesan average of one a weekfor accounting errors actually caused by a faulty IT system named Horizon, provided to the Post Office by Fujitsu. This was despite sub-postmasters and mistresses complaining about bugs in the Horizon system after it reported shortfalls of many thousands of pounds.

Royal Mail van, outside the Axminster post office [Photo by Felix O / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

The legitimate concerns by postmasters, who had never had any such issues before Horizon was implemented, were ignored by the Post Office which prosecuted them instead. Many people lost their jobs, were declared bankrupt and went through divorces, and 236 suffered unwarranted prison sentences. At least four of the victims committed suicide.

With the first wrongful convictions in 1999, 60 victims have died before finding any justice. Only 93 of 900 convictions linked to the flawed IT system have been overturned and only 11 victims have been compensated in full.

To this day, no executives of the Post Office, Fujitsu, or any of the government ministers involved in running the Post Office have been punished.

The ITV drama, with renowned actor Toby Jones playing Alan Bates, tells the story of some of the victims of the Post Officeand successive Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats governmentsand the fightback campaign Bates led for over 20 years to get justice for postmasters and their families.

Bates, a former sub-postmaster, took over a shop with a Post Office counter in Wales in 1998. He first became aware of issues with Horizon by the end of 2000, when a shortage of 6,000 appeared on his books. This was rectified when he noticed multiple duplicated transactions in the system. However, in 2003 his Post Office contract was terminated when the company claimed 1,200 was unaccounted for. Bates and his partner Suzanne kept their shop but lost the Post Office counter and their investment of around 60,000. In 2009, Bates set up the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance.

The first episode of the drama was watched by 9.2 million viewers, with the four episodes being the most watched programmes on any channel so far this year. Feeling the heat building up, the Financial Times editorialised Monday on a grave British miscarriage of justice The most talked-about holiday TV viewing in Britain was not a Hollywood blockbuster or a Netflix fantasy drama. It was a dramatisation of the real-life scandal of hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly accused by the Post Office of theft and false accounting that were in fact the result of a faulty computer system.

The drama sparked over 1.2 million people signing an online petition, first set up in 2021, demanding that former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) award.

Vennells was awarded her CBE in the New Year honours list of 2019fully 20 years after the scandal first brokefor services to the Post Office. Having been hired by then Tory Prime Minister David Cameron with a remit to eliminate the 3 million-a-week subsidy to the Post Office his government wanted to make, Vennells played a critical role in the persecution of postmasters in her role as Post Office CEO from 2012 to 2019. On Tuesday, Vennells announced she would hand back the CBE with immediate effect.

In December 2019, following a class action case, Bates & Ors v Post Office Ltdfought for by the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliancethe High Court ruled that the Horizon system was faulty and 550 sub-postmasters were awarded over 58 million in compensation.

The ruling class gives up nothing easily and even the 58 million was held back. After costs only 11 million was paid out to the postmasters in the class action to compensate for false prosecutions. This equated to around just 20,000 each but many received only 8,000. In April 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed 39 convictions, a tiny fraction of the many hundreds more that remained unsafe. A BBC Panorama documentary aired in 2022, The Post Office Scandal, further exposed the outright criminality in the prosecution of postmasters.

With the scandal again in the spotlight, more than 100 people have come forward seeking legal advice. The Guardian reported that among these are expected to be postmasters who were involved in a Horizon pilot scheme rolled out in 1995 and 1996 to hundreds of branches in northeast England.

The Conservative government, which ignored the crisis for years before setting up a highly restricted ongoing public inquiry in 2020, has held high-level meetings in Downing Street in the last 48 hours, including receiving legal advice on how to quell a mounting crisis.

Politico reported that the government has had to put aside 1 billion to cover the expected compensation payments bill. On Monday, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was forced to declare that he intended to get the money to people as quickly as possible, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk met with Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake to find ways of speeding up compensation to victims of the scandal.

To keep a lid on a mushrooming social opposition, the government is considering the mass quashing, via parliamentary legislation, of all remaining 800 unsafe convictions that have not yet been overturned. Hollinrake told Parliament Monday, The time for quibbling is over. It is a case now of action, action on this day, and delivering that by overturning convictions.

Asked on Tuesday by Nadhim Zahawi, the former Tory cabinet minister if he would put forward a simple bill to quash the convictions, Chalk replied, The suggestion he made is receiving active consideration.

Central to this emergency face-saving operation by the Torieswho face a general election this year under conditions in which they are substantially behind in the polls to the opposition Labour Partyis identifying the necessary scapegoats.

All told, 11 government ministers from three Labour and Conservative-led governments oversaw the Post Office during the period in which postmasters were falsely prosecuted. In recent days pressure has mounted on Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey, who served as Post Office minister for two years in the 2010-15 Conservative-Liberal coalition.

Bates wrote to Davey five times to demand action over the crisis, as part of correspondence with ministers over the span of three successive governments between 2010 and 2019. In May 2010, Davey refused to meet Bates declaring he did not believe it would serve any purpose. Several high profile prosecutions of postmasters had already taken place. On May 11, 2009, the same month that Bates contacted Davey, Computer Weekly magazine published the first major piece exposing the scandal. It revealed the plight of seven sub-postmasters, including Bates, and raised concerns about the suitability of the Horizon IT system.

Bates also wrote to another former Lib Dems leader, Jo Swinson, who served as Post Office minister in the coalition from September 2012-May 2015.

Fujitsu was handed hundreds of millions of pounds after winning the contract for a Post Office IT system. The latest incarnation of Horizon is still used by the Post Office today. As a strategic supplier to the government, Fujitsu has secured 3 billion in contracts since 2013, including 150 more in the few years since the Post Office finally stopped prosecuting its innocent staff. Leading Tory and Labour figures, led by Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot and Labour peer Baron Falconer demanded in a Sunday Times column, The inquiry needs to examine in detail the role of Fujitsu, which provided and managed the faulty software. Was Fujitsu completely unaware of the devastating effect of its actions? Should it not contribute to the compensation claims of hundreds of sub-postmasters?

Labour Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, If it is found that Fujitsu knew the extent of what was occurring there will have to be consequences that match the scale of the injustice.

This is meant to conceal the role played by governments that have overseen terrible injustices for the last 25 years. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who refused even to back calls for Vennells to hand back her gong, was Britains Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, before entering parliament. Starmer never lifted a finger to challenge any of the frame-ups of the postmasters, with at least 27 postmaster cases brought by the CPS when Starmer was DPP.

Horizon originated in a Tory government procurement process in 1994. It was announced by John Majors government at the 1995 Conservative Party conference, with a stated goal not just to computerise the payment of benefits at post offices but of reducing welfare benefit fraud by 150 million per year.

Fujitsu and its Horizon system was chosen, with a major factor that in seven out of 11 categories Horizon was the cheapest option available. The 1.5 billion project was funded under the private finance initiative (PFI) set up by the Tories but carried out mainly by the 1997-2010 Blair/Brown Labour governments. The full rollout began in 1999 with deployment to over 13,000 offices in 2000 and 2001. Horizon would eventually cover 18,000 offices.

The faulty data was resulting in prosecutions almost immediately. In 2000, there were six shortfall convictions that relied on Horizon data, with another 41 sub-postmasters prosecuted in 2001, and 64 in 2002. By 2009, with Tony Blair out of office, and succeeded by Gordon Brown, prosecutions had risen to a staggering 525.
To get involved in the work of the Quebec Public Sector Workers Rank-and-File Coordinating Committee, contact cbsectpub@gmail.com. You can also fill out the form at the end of this report.

The Quebec Public Sector Workers Rank-and-File Coordinating Committee held its latest meeting Sunday, January 7, to map out a strategy to defeat the unions attempts to short-circuit the militant struggle that 600,000 education, healthcare, and other provincial government workers have been waging for months against the right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec government.

Dozens of public sector workers participated in the online event, which called for a working class industrial and political offensive against austerity and war, and the building of rank-and-file committees in every workplace to organize and lead it.

Attendees overwhelmingly adopted a resolution opposing the efforts of the Common Front union alliance and the Federation autonome de lenseignement (FAE, Autonomous Teachers Federation) to sabotage their struggle by shutting down the strike movement and ramming through concessions-filled contracts. It declared:

This meeting of the Quebec Public Sector Workers Rank-and-File Coordinating Committee condemns the sellout agreements concluded behind workers backs between the public sector unions and the Legault CAQ government.

If union leaders have provided only scant details, it is because these agreements betray workers key demands for improved wages and working conditions.

They are the result of the unions policy of dividing and demobilizing rank-and-file workers in order to impose the attacks demanded by the government and big business.

The leaked figures for wage increases, for example (17.4 percent over five years), are a major retreat from the unions own initial demand (21 percent over three years), which was itself already insufficient.

This meeting demands immediate and full disclosure of the agreements to give rank-and-file members enough time to analyze and discuss them and ask questions prior to any ratification vote.

Above all, this meeting pledges to do everything in its power to mobilize the massive popular support enjoyed by public sector workers over the heads of the union bureaucrats, who are colluding with the government.

The threat of a back-to-work law underlines the need to wage our struggle on a radically different basis, as a working-class political struggle.

It must be broadened and extended to the rest of the working classnot just in Quebec, but across Canadato make it an explicit challenge to the ruling class program of austerity and war.

To achieve this, we need to step up the work of the Coordinating Committee to build a network of rank-and-file committees, independent of the union apparatuses. Their task will be to prepare a worker-led counter-offensive in defense of working conditions and public services for all.

The meeting was addressed by Laurent Lafrance, a special education technician with over 12 years experience. Lafrance has also written extensively on the struggles of education and other public sector workers on the World Socialist Web Site.

In his remarks, Lafrance urged rejection of the sellout agreements brought back by the union bureaucracies. Aware of the determination among workers to continue the struggle until their demands are met, the Common Front unions have announced plans to drag out the voting process for over a month, while keeping essential details of the proposed five-year agreements under wrapsall with the aim of demobilizing the rank-and-file and manipulating the ratification process.

Lafrance stressed that workers confront a political struggle against the agenda of austerity and war pursued by Premier Francois Legaults CAQ government on behalf of the Canadian ruling class. The unions close collaboration with the government, he continued, is inseparable from their decades-long integration into the state and big business as partners of the government and corporate executives. To oppose this, workers must take matters into their own hands by rejecting the corporatism and Quebec nationalism promoted by the unions and turning instead to mobilizing the working class in Quebec and across Canada in an industrial-political counter-offensive.

The report was followed by questions and contributions from the several dozen public sector workers in attendance. Samuel, who has been working together with his wife in the healthcare sector for over 15 years, said, These negotiations take place every four years, a year late on top of that. We can really see that the government is laughing at us every four years. Mathieu, another healthcare worker, commented, The union leaders tell us every time, well get our act together next time. He spoke about the concessions, including real-wage cuts imposed by the unions on workers in previous bargaining rounds, adding that workers should not forget these when union officials try to regale with claims of historic gains.

Sterling, an education worker from Ontario who participated in the November 2022 strike by 55,000 school support staff, sent a message of solidarity to the meeting. Quebec workers need to learn the lessons of other workers struggles across Canada and internationally, he wrote. This includes the Ontario education workers strike of November 2022 against the ultra-right government of Doug Ford. Ford tried to trample over workers democratic rights by using the anti-democratic notwithstanding clause in the constitution to pre-emptively ban our strike and impose a savage pro-government contract. Workers courageously resisted this assault by walking out in defiance of Fords strike ban. But we were ultimately betrayed by the Ontario Federation of Labour and Canadian Union of Public Employees bureaucrats. They shut down a growing movement for a province-wide general strike and ordered us to go back to work without any of our demands being satisfied, then foisted a concessions-laden contract on us.

Sterling concluded his message by emphasizing that the experience in Ontario underscored why the building of rank-and-file committees was necessary for workers to secure victory.

Further contributions to the discussion were made by Frederic, a Universite de Montreal student, and Richard Dufour, a WSWS writer. Frederic addressed the link between the ruling elites disastrous profits-before-lives response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the public sector workers struggle. The ruling elites policy of mass infection and death has had a devastating impact on our infrastructure, public services, and front-line workers, he said.

Dufour spoke to the necessity of workers adopting an international perspective under conditions in which workers around the world are engaged in major class battles over similar issues faced by Quebec workers. He stressed that unifying the struggles of workers in Quebec with workers across Canada, the United States, and around the world is an historic task that is posed by the whole objective situation, not just here in Quebec and Canada, but on an international scale. This situation is characterized on the one hand by an eruption of barbarism, expressed in the imperialist-backed Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, and on the other by a global upsurge of the class struggle that must assume an anti-capitalist and socialist character.

The meeting concluded with an appeal for all of those present to get involved in the Coordinating Committees work by distributing the resolution, building rank-and-file committees at their workplaces, and joining the Committee at cbsectpub@gmail.com. You can also fill out the form below.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's railway infrastructure has seen consistent progress in recent years, with nearly 80 percent of its high-speed railway network now complete, the National Railway Administration said Wednesday.

Currently, the country's railway construction is primarily focused on building urban and intercity train lines, along with modern logistics hubs, said Tian Jun, chief engineer with the administration.

Boasting globally leading technological prowess in the sector, the country is prioritizing basic research and seeking breakthroughs in cutting-edge railway technologies to secure technological independence, Tian said.

Official data shows that as of the end of 2023, China's operating railway network spanned a total of about 159,000 km, with high-speed railways contributing 45,000 km to the mileage.

Chinese railways lead the world in passenger and freight turnover, with the Fuxing high-speed trains operating across 31 provincial-level regions nationwide, according to the administration. 
A horrifying situation is unfolding in Jackson, Mississippi, where 215 bodies were recently discovered in unmarked graves behind a state jail. The families of those buried, in what is known as the paupers field behind the Hinds County Penal Farm, were never informed of the death of their loved ones, let alone given the chance to retrieve their bodies and pay their respects.

The extent and scope of this travesty and utter disregard for human life is still largely being kept under wraps. However, what has been reported thus far is chilling. The gravesites of the victims are identifiable only by a number and a metal rod. The bodies were not embalmed, given coffins, or properly buried. The graves were dug by inmates and it is likely the burials were carried out by the same inmates.

One activist, known as Arthur Silky Slim Reed, who has been outspoken on the events, described a morbid scene at the burial ground when visiting, reporting that buzzards fly overhead, attracted to the disturbing stench that emanates from the improper burials and shallow graves.

The shocking revelation was unearthed only due to the persistence of Bettersten Wade, who spent seven months looking for her middle child, Dexter Wade, who suddenly went missing in March 2023. Bettersten would not find out the truth about her son until October 2023. Dexter had been killed shortly after leaving his mothers home, hit by a Jackson police car while crossing a nearby interstate highway.

Dexter Wade with his grandmother [Photo: Bettersten Wade]

Police were aware of Dexters identity, as he was killed with identification on him, and yet still failed to notify the family. Instead, the police department let Dexters body remain unclaimed for months in the county morgue.

Bettersten repeatedly called the Jackson Police Department to ask the police if they had any information on her son after officially reporting him missing to the police on March 14, 2023, just days after he went missing. The grieving mother emailed pictures of her son to the police and requested they show the photo on television. Finding no help from the authorities, she took to social media to appeal to the public to look out for her missing son.

Bettersten reported to NBC News that the decision to call the police was difficult for her because of her lack of trust in the department. Her 62-year-old brother died at the hands of the Jackson police in 2019 when an officer slammed him to the ground. The officer was convicted of manslaughter but is appealing.

It was not until August, several months later, when a new investigator took over Dexters case and finally notified the Wade family of the death. It took Bettersten two more months before she could track down her sons body in the paupers field. Moreover, like the other victims buried in the same plot, it cost the Wade family a $250 fee to claim Dexters body.

On a Tuesday afternoon in early October, accompanied by a sheriffs deputy and two inmates in jumpsuits, Bettersten, her sister and daughter were taken to plot No. 672 where Dexter was buried. Dexter Wade was the father of two girls.

Since the initial revelation, several more harrowing stories have come to light over the bodies buried at the Hinds County Penal Farm.

Marquita Moore was notified of the death of her older brother, Marrio Terrell Moore, 40, from an online article revealing cases of two dozen homicide victims in which the Jackson police had failed to notify the public or the families. Moores brother was the second on the list.

All two dozen victims were from a single year.

Moore read the news of her brothers death on October 10. However, the article reported that Marrio had been killed on February 2, over eight months earlier. NBC News reports that upon learning of the tragedy, Moore shuddered and cried out: Lord, this is my brother  Someone done killed my brother.

After discovering the truth, Moore immediately went to the Jackson Police Departments headquarters to find out more information but was told that no one was available.

Moore would later learn that Marrio had been bludgeoned to death, wrapped in a tarp and left on the street. For months, his body had lain in the Hinds County morgue, unclaimed. Then, on July 14, inmates at the county penal farm had buried his remains in the paupers field.

Like the dozens of other families, the news has wrecked the Moore family. What are you hiding? Moore said in a recent interview. Why cant you just come and just tell somebody that their child is gone?

Marrio was buried the same day and in the same place as Dexter Wade.

On December 4, the family of Jonathan David Hankins, 39, learned of his death from news outlets. Hankins was first reported missing in June 2022, nearly a year before the first two cases, suggesting that the practice of burying victims in the paupers field has been going on for years.

Jonathan David Hankins [Photo: Rankin County Sheriffs Office ]

Jonathan Hankins was discovered dead by the authorities just days after he went missing, on May 23, 2022, in a hotel room in Jackson. The death is widely believed to have been due to an overdose. Investigators were able to verify his identity with no problem or delay. However, like the other cases, the Jackson Police Department did not inform the family, and the county inmates were made to bury his body alongside the others. Jonathan's grave was plot No. 645.

The Hankins story echoes the first two. For over a year, Jonathans mother Gretchen contacted the sheriffs office every few weeks asking for any news. She was told time and again that they had no information.

Speaking with NBC News, Gretchen Hankins said: I want people to know that somebody is not doing their job and making folks go through what Ive been through  They cant even do the job of notifying a dead persons next of kin. They probably just thought, Another drug addict, gone.

The paupers field graveyard revelation has made headlines on and off again since the first major case was unveiled last fall. However, the news coverage is not nearly proportional to the scale of the crime nor to the level of public outrage. Moreover, there are countless pressing questions that must be answered, including the identity of the remaining bodies.

Predictably, there appears to be very little effort from the establishment to carry out a formal investigation and critical details are still being kept from the public.

The most moving and heartfelt accounts of the situation can be found on social media, as hundreds of thousands of workers and young people react and grieve for the families.

In reaction to one Tik Tok that went viral on the story, commenters expressed their widespread reactions. One user, emma, writes: I really want to say Im shocked but Im just  not anymore. The comment has eight thousand likes and is filled with replies such as, Me too, and the fact that Im not shocked actually breaks my spirit.

Other comments complain, How is this not huge national news!?!? and This needs more attention. Another video with over a million likes has a comment noting, the only place I have heard about this is TikTok. Wild. Of course, countless more express pure outrage: This sickens me to the core to hear; the system is corrupt everywhere; and I trust nothing if it comes from our government.

There are dozens of videos on all social media platforms that echo these same sentiments.

The public reaction speaks volumes about the state of social relations in the United States and more broadly. Workers are outraged, horrified, heartbroken and deeply angered by the events. However, there is very little surprise to be found. It is largely considered predictable that the state institutions would be so quick and careless to disregard human life. Nearly four years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has needlessly cost the lives of millions, has revealed clearly that both political parties and all the major state institutions value profits over the lives of workers.

There are countless threads of the immense social crisis woven into this awful situation. In all three of the cases mentioned here, the victims were known to have been struggling with addiction of some sort. Officially, over 100,000 people die of a drug overdose every year, no doubt a drastic undercounting. Hundreds of thousands more battle addiction everyday with little to no publicly funded resources for help.

Many of the victims were well known to the police department, having spent time behind bars before. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, in 2023 almost 2 million people were held in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the US territories.

The violence and callousness present in society seeps into nearly every aspect of life with horrific consequences. The lives and struggles of the victims buried at Hinds County Penal Farm are not unique. They are a snapshot of conditions that face millions of workers and their families throughout the US in 2024.

There have already been attempts by various groups to paint this purely as a racial issue but early signs show that this narrative is not being accepted by the public as easily as in previous events. Activist Arthur Reed, for example, has noted multiple times to the press that the issue extends beyond race, as the dead buried in the paupers field are both black and white alike.

Common among all of the victims is that they are working class and poor.
The opening page of X is displayed on a computer and phone in Sydney, Monday, October 16, 2023. [AP Photo/Rick Rycroft]

Early Tuesday, the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) shut down without explanation the accounts of an unknown number of prominent journalists and left-wing users opposed to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Although the accounts were restored later in the morning, X has yet to provide an explanation for why they were purged in the first place.

The locked accounts all had a label on their profile pages saying, Account suspended: X suspends accounts that violate the Our Rules. The specific rule or rules purportedly violated were not provided.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday morning, the senior staff writer and podcaster for Mint Press News, Alan MacLeod, revealed that his X account had been shut down. Through his writing, podcasts and social media activity, MacLeod has consistently exposed the lies of pro-Israeli propaganda that is justifying the massacre of civilians in Gaza.

MacLeod wrote, Today, without warning or explanation, Twitter suspended my account, @AlanRMacLeod. They told me to check my email for a reason, but no email has been forthcoming.

The Mint Press News journalist continued, I have never even remotely been involved in any controversy/been reported/been stuck in Twitter jail before, so I assume the real reason is political, especially as high-profile leftists accounts like Rob Rousseau and Zei_Squirrel were also targeted today.

Rob Rousseau is a left-wing writer and podcaster from Montreal, Canada. He has 97,800 followers on Twitter/X and hosts a podcast called The Insurgents. Zei_Squirrel has 215,000 Twitter/X followers and says that it exposes Western media and political class propaganda, with a focus on imperialism.

Zei_Squirrel wrote on another platform, Elon Musks Twitter just banned me, without giving any reason. I didnt get any post that was flagged, no infraction, no warning, nothing. So, I suspect it is because I have been exposing the propaganda of the genocidal Israeli regime and its supporters, including recently Bill Ackman.

Many of the suspended accounts had been engaged in an exposure of the right-wing billionaire Ackman, the hedge fund manager who led the campaign to oust Claudine Gay as president of Harvard University over pro-Palestinian political activity on the university campus that was falsely characterized as antisemitic.

The account of the Texas Observers Special Investigative Correspondent, Steven Monacelli, was also suspended on Tuesday. Monacelli has written extensively on the rise of neo-fascism and on pro-Palestinian protests within the US directed against the Biden administration.

When he was asked about the suspension by The Daily Dot, Monacelli said, I havent received any communications from Twitter/X about why I have been suspended. I cant think of anything Ive posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months.

Monacelli also told Gizmodo, Yes, I have made posts critical of Israels targeting of civilians and journalists, and have shared news about pro-Palestinian protests, but I have also recently made posts and shared news debunking antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel.

Other known accounts that were suspended include those of Ken Klippenstein, reporter for The Intercept with 505,000 followers, TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast with 152,500 followers, Liam Nissan, a left-wing social media activist with 242,000 followers, and Ryan Shead, an anti-MAGA podcaster and social media publisher with 91,000 followers.

Although there is no indication that the account suspensions were initiated directly by Elon Musk, the politics of those being censored were opposed to the fascistic rantings of the billionaire private owner of the platform.

Musk, who has a history of handling customer service questions for prominent conservative users, responded by posting, I will investigate. Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal. He then added, For the record, I do not personally agree with your views. Nonetheless, the point of freedom of speech is allowing those whose views you disagree with to express those views.

The temporary suspension of the accounts of social media activists and journalists opposed to the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the emergence of far-right and fascist political movements in the US is warning that methods of online censorship are being tested.

This trial balloon at Twitter/X takes place within the context of a series of recent censorship moves against voices opposed to the criminal Israeli onslaught on Gaza that has now killed upwards of 30,000 people, most of them women and children.

On Christmas Eve, Meta-owned Instagram terminated the account of political activist Shaun King, who has denounced the war crimes being committed by Israel with the backing of the Biden administration. On December 21, a post by award-winning actress Susan Sarandon was flagged with a visibility warning on X as possibly containing violent speech. The post was promoting a protest in New York City and said, Stop the Bombs! Workers Demand Peace and Justice for Palestine! Ceasefire Now!
Bill Ackman on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, November 10, 2015. [AP Photo/Richard Drew]

Right-wing billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who played a central role in the forced resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, is now doubling down on a campaign to oust the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sally Kornbluth.

On X, formerly Twitter, Ackman announced that he would launch a plagiarism check of Kornbluth, a cell biologist, as well as of the schools faculty and its board members. Unfounded charges of plagiarism were central to the media campaign, led by both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, leading up to Gays ouster.

Along with Gay and the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Magill, Kornbluth participated in a Congressional hearing in which far-right Republican Elise Stefanikherself a promoter of the antisemitic Great Replacement Theoryinterrogated the university presidents, charging them ludicrously with supporting a genocide of the Jews. After the hearing, Magill resigned. A bipartisan House resolution, voted for by 84 Democrats, called on both Gay and Kornbluth to leave their positions as well.

Ackmans campaign against Kornbluth and Gay takes on an almost farcical character by recent revelations in Business Insider that his wife, Israeli-born Neri Oxman, a former star professor at MIT, had lifted entire passages from Wikipedia and other authors works for her 2010 dissertation and other academic writings. BI claimed, At least 15 passages from her 2010 MIT doctoral dissertation were lifted without any citation from Wikipedia entries. Some of the accusations were confirmed by Oxman.

Ackman, who demanded Harvard University President Claudine Gay resign over serious plagiarism issues, said that Rewarding [Gay] with a highly paid faculty position sets a very bad precedent for academic integrity at Harvard. He wrote on X in response to the accusations: Part of what makes [Oxman] human is that she makes mistakes, owns them, and apologizes when appropriate. Compared to her case, the charges against Gay, who was found to have engaged in a few instances of inadequate citationsa charge that does not rise to the level of plagiarismwere minor at best.

It is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that this campaign has nothing to do with preventing a supposedly all-pervasive antisemitism on campus. The only people subject to genocide today are the Palestinians. The threat of antisemitism is real, but it emanates primarily from the state and the halls of the Republican Party, which are being emboldened and legitimized in this campaign. Moreover, it has nothing to do with safeguarding academic standards and opposing plagiarism.

The campaign is directed from the top layers of the corporate financial and academic elite, aimed at silencing all opposition to the genocide in Gaza and the crimes of imperialism and capitalism more broadly. The university presidents that are now targeted are under attack not so much because of their own political viewswhich are broadly in line with the mainstream of the Democratic Partybut because they are viewed as insufficiently harsh in the crackdown on student protesters against the genocide. The goal of their removal is a complete restructuring of academia and its subordination to the interests of US foreign policy and the financial oligarchy.

As we previously noted, the forcing out of Magill and then Gay was only the opening shot in a far-right campaign in academia. As a Wall Street Journal headline by Aaron Zitner read on January 4, amid a flurry of celebration by right-wing outlets over Gays resignation, Conservatives Toppled Two College Presidents. Theyre Not Done Yet.

Ackman too has made clear that other university presidents will be targeted, tweeting on January 6, Dont we have to do a deep dive into academic integrity at Harvard as well? What about Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Penn, Dartmouth? You get the point.

A January 6 article in the New York Times, How Harvards Board Broke up with Claudine Gay, noted on the basis of insider reports that it was the Harvard Boards request for Gay to resign on December 27 that precipitated her resignation. A central role in this request was played by the donor revolt that had been spearheaded by Bill Ackman. There are already calls for a restructuring of Harvard Corporation, which is staffed with representatives of the corporate financial elite, and the removing of its presidential search committee head and billionaire Penny Pritzker.

In a revealing op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Rufo, advisor to the fascistic Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a leading figure in the campaign to take down Gay, acknowledged that Gays ouster was achieved through a concerted effort by the media, oligarchs and both parties in Congress. He wrote, Journalistsincluding the independent reporter Christopher Brunet and the Washington Free Beacons Aaron Sibariumapplied reputational pressure, exposing Ms. Gays alleged plagiarism and Harvards scandalous effort to cover it up. Donors, led by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, applied financial pressure, withholding a billion dollars in contributions. And Congress, under the leadership of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), applied political pressure, exposing Ms. Gays equivocations on antisemitism and threatening consequences for inaction.

The role of Ackman in this campaign is a stark testimony to its class character. Ackman, who is now worth an estimated $4 billion, has made more than half of his fortune in the past four years of the pandemic. He is infamous for going on CNBC to warn that hell is coming just before the limited COVID-19 shutdowns, helping to spark a major stock market sell-off in March 2020. As he had bought up stakes in the very companies that he had warned would fail and placed bets on the failure of the market, his hedge fund gained $2.6 billion from the crash in just one month. In 2021, Ackman praised the fascistic murderer Kyle Rittenhouse as a civic-minded patriot, justifying his execution of protesters against police violence as self-defense.

Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, Ackman has played a central role in advocating for a crackdown on pro-Palestinian students at college campuses, especially Harvard University, including the doxxing of their names and their blacklisting by major corporations.

These far-right and openly fascist forces rely on the support from the Democratic Party and the Biden White House, which are supplying the weapons for the genocide in Gaza and are supporting the crackdown on democratic rights at home. Without US weapons, Israel would not be able to continue the genocide. US and NATO troops are directly involved in the planning and commissioning of the genocide. The campaign is being carried out in the face of overwhelming opposition. Just this Monday, Genocide Joe Biden faced protests for his role in the genocide even at a stage-managed event at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The US financial oligarchy, whose interests both the Democratic and the Republican Parties serve, has objective interests in this war. In a desperate effort to offset its steep economic decline, US imperialism seeks to re-subjugate the region as part of an emerging imperialist redivision of the world. This global conflict already includes the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as well as the ongoing preparations for war with China. Both the ongoing class rule of the financial oligarchy, embodied by figures such as Ackman, and the development of an imperialist world war are incompatible with democratic rights. This is what underlies the concerted effort by all factions of the ruling class to eliminate whatever has remained of freedom of speech, including academic freedom, and stifle all opposition to the crimes of US imperialism and its allies in the Middle East.
US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin at 20th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, June 2, 2023. [AP Photo/Vincent Thian]

On Tuesday, the Department of Defense (DoD) press secretary, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, officially informed the press that the elective surgery performed December 22 on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was a prostatectomy (prostate removal), carried out at Walter Reed Army Medical Center following a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Ryders briefing followed a press release by Walter Reed publicly revealing for the first time the nature of the illness that brought Austin to the hospital on December 22, the fact of the minimally invasive procedure carried out, with the aid of general anesthesia, and the subsequent urinary tract infection and blockage of the small intestines that resulted in Austins return to the hospital in severe pain on January 1 and admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) the following day.

Austin remained in the ICU until Monday and is still hospitalized at Walter Reed, with no official word as to when he will be released. The Defense Department claims he is recovering and is performing his duties fully from the hospital.

However, Ryder refused to answer questions from reporters about the unexplained failure of Austin and his DoD chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, to inform the White House or Congress that the defense secretary was hospitalized for three full days following Austins return to Walter Reed on January 1 and admission the following day to the ICU.

According to previous statements by Ryder and the DoD, Magsamen, a senior aide and two press secretaries, including Ryder, were made aware of Austins hospitalization on January 2, but failed to inform the White Houses National Security Council, Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan or Congress. Magsamen has said she failed to notify officials because she was sick with the flu.

Also on January 2, DoD Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who was vacationing in Puerto Rico, was told that some authorities had been temporarily transferred from Austin to herself. However, she, like Biden and the White House, was kept in the dark about Austins hospitalization until January 4.

It further appears that the White House and Congress had not been informed of Austins diagnosis of cancer and his prostatectomy on December 22. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that neither Biden nor anyone else at the White House knew about Austins cancer diagnosis until Tuesday morning, hours before Walter Reed officials made the information public.

Ryder held a lengthy press conference last week, while Austin was in the ICU, and failed to mention the DoD heads hospitalization.

Evidently, the military brass was informed of Austins incapacitation but did not feel it necessary to inform Biden or Congress. Among those who knew about the situation was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Charles Brown.

At Tuesdays press conference, Ryder brushed aside questions about the breakdown in communication between the DoD, the military and the White House and Congress. He said DoD Chief of Stafff Magsamen had initiated a 30-day internal review of the issue as well as new protocols supposedly ensuring that the president and Congress would automatically be informed of any transfer of authorities from the defense secretary to his subordinates.

This will only intensify the controversy and crisis over Austins behavior. In the past several days, Donald Trump has demanded that Biden fire Austin and a number of Republican lawmakers have called for his resignation. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Mike Rogers, and the ranking Democrat, Adam Smith, issued a joint statement saying they were concerned with how the disclosure of the secretarys condition was handled.

Roger Wicker, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on the DoD to provide lawmakers with a full accounting of the facts immediately.

The Pentagon Press Association, which represents reporters who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest on Friday, calling the delay in alerting the public an outrage. The letter pointed to the massive and expanding role being played by the US and its military in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and noted the right of the public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.

Indeed, on January 4, while Austin was in the Walter Reed ICU, the US carried out a drone strike in Baghdad, killing the leader of an Iranian-backed militia. This followed the sinking of Houthi ships by US forces in the Red Sea. Biden has deployed multiple aircraft carrier groups to the region buttress the dozens of US military bases and emplacements, while Washington backs Israels genocide in Gaza and its expansion of the war by means of drone assassinations in Lebanon and other countries in the region. There are also reports of US plans to attack Iranian-backed Houthi forces within Yemen.

Little is being said, however, about the central issue in the Pentagons failure to report Austins hospitalization to Commander in Chief Biden and Congress: the contempt of the military brass for their supposed civilian bosses. This bizarre incident reflects a new stage in the decades-long strengthening of the power of the military within the state.

This is the inevitable accompaniment to the non-stop series of wars of the last decade of the 20th and first quarter of the 21st century, now metastasized into an expanding global war spearheaded by US imperialism, whose initial fronts are in Eastern Europe against Russia, the Middle East against the Palestinians and eventually Iran, and ultimately China. At the same time, the colossal growth of social inequality and the breakdown of democratic forms of rule within the US make the use of the military against the working class at home a critical issue for the ruling class. Preparations for urban warfare in Americas cities are far advanced.

The constitutional principle of the subordination of the military to the civilian authority is increasingly a dead letter. The decades-long practice of choosing non-military figures for defense secretary was breached by both the Trump and Biden administrations. Trumps first secretary of defense, Mad Dog James Mattis, was a retired Marine Corps four-star general who commanded US forces in the Gulf War, the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. Having retired from his post as commander of the US Central Command in 2013, he required a congressional waiver to become secretary of defense in 2017 because of a legal requirement that military officers be retired for at least seven years before taking the helm of the Pentagon. He was granted the waiver by a lopsided bipartisan vote in the Senate.

The same applied to Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general who commanded US combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and replaced Mattis as commander of the US Central Command in 2013. Austin retired from his post in 2016. Exemplifying the colossal growth of the military-industrial complex against which President Eisenhower warned in 1961, Austin joined the corporate boards of Raytheon, Nucor and Tenet Healthcare after he retired from the military and before he was picked by Biden to head the Department of Defense. He too was given a waiver to head the Pentagon by lopsided bipartisan votes in the House and Senate in January of 2021.
On Sunday, US House and Senate leaders announced they had agreed to a 2024 budget proposal that would total nearly $1.7 trillion, including a record $886.3 billion for the military.

From left, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. [AP Photo/.J. Scott Applewhite]

While the Pentagon will be flush with cash, the non-defense discretionary spending agreed to by both parties, and endorsed by President Joe Biden, is $772.7 billion. This means the US government is to spend over $100 billion more on the military than the combined amount for departments that provide K-12 education; low-income housing assistance; nutrition assistance for young children, families and the elderly; financial aid for college students; public health programs; science and medical research and other social needs.

The proposed budget does nothing to address the social crisis in America that has led to falling life expectancy, record homelessness and increased hunger.

An analysis of the budget deal by Roll Call notes that the framework provides a very slight overall increase in non-defense funding, about 0.2 percent above the previous year, while military and security-related spending would rise by nearly $28 billion, or more than 3 percent.

Despite the flat-lining of social spending, coupled with an increase in military and border police funds, the far-right Christian-evangelical House speaker, Mike Johnson, is fending off attacks from a fascistic faction of House Republicans for agreeing to the budget.

In a letter to the House Republican conference on Sunday, Johnson said the agreement included an additional $16 billion in spending cuts that he had negotiated. These include $6.1 billion in pandemic aid and $10 billion from the IRS. The trimming of the IRS is part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to erase some $80 billion in funding, spread out over 10 years, that had been appropriated to allow the agency to go after sophisticated and wealthy tax cheats.

Johnson told Republicans that the budget will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like. He claimed nevertheless that it was the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade.

In a Fox News appearance Tuesday, Johnson said the budget was a step in the right direction and amounted to the first reduction in non-defense spending in many years.

While the Senate and House leadership have agreed to the broad top line budget proposal, the actual text of the bill has yet to be written and likely will not be available until next week. The House only resumed on Monday, while the Senate returned to work on Tuesday.

If the budget or a separate continuing resolution (CR) is not passed by January 19, there will be a partial government shutdown. Under the stop-gap spending bill passed before the Christmas recess, funding for the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Energy and Veterans expires on January 19, while funding for Commerce, Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, State, Interior, Financial Services and other agencies expires on February 2.

Last Friday, Roll Call reported that during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young expressed doubt that an agreement would be reached before the first, January 19, deadline.

On Sunday night, shortly after the budget figure was released, the House Freedom Caucus tweeted that the budget was even worse than we thought, and a total failure. The caucus X/Twitter account reposted a December 29, 2023, statement that read, in part, [W]e are extremely troubled that House Republican leadership is considering an agreement with Democrats to spend even higher than the modest $1.59 trillion statutory cap set six months ago by the Fiscal Responsibility act.

Several Republicans inside and outside the Freedom Caucus have already indicated they will vote against the deal. Speaking on CNN Monday evening, the Freedom Caucus policy chair, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), said he wished Speaker Johnson werent doing this, and added that he was very disappointed.

Roy said there needed to be some real conversations this week about what we need to do going forward. Asked by CNN host Kaitlin Collins if those conversations included moving to vacate the speakership, Roy replied, Thats not the road I prefer. I didnt prefer to go down that road with Speaker McCarthy.

He continued: We need to figure out how to get this all done together. But it isnt good and theres a lot of my colleagues who are pretty frustrated about it, so well see what happens this week.

In an interview on the Steve Deace Show, Roy added, Im leaving it (vacating the speakership) on the table. Im not gonna say Im gonna go file it tomorrow night. Im not saying Im not gonna file it tomorrow. I think the speaker needs to know that were angry about it.

While Johnson will have a hard time wrangling votes from Freedom Caucus members, the Democratic Party leadership has already voiced its support for the proposal, meaning Johnson will have to rely primarily on Democratic votes to pass a budget that prepares for world war, guarantees further social cuts and funds savage attacks on immigrants.

In a joint statement released Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said the framework agreement clears the way for Congress to address many of the major challenges America faces at home and abroad.

The statement called on both sides to work together in a bipartisan way and avoid a costly and disruptive shutdown. The Associated Press reported that in a call to Democrats, Schumer stressed that it was a good deal for Democrats and the country.

In a statement released by the White House, Biden said the 2024 budget proposal reflects the funding levels that I negotiated with both parties and signed into law last spring.
The current trips to the Middle East by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (both Greens) underline two things above all: German imperialism is playing a key role in Israels genocide in Gaza and the preparations for a wider war against Iran and its allies in the region. And the former pacifists of the Greens are among the most aggressive warmongers. In addition to supporting the genocide, Baerbocks trip focused on the announcement that Eurofighter jets would now also be delivered to Saudi Arabia.

Robert Habeck, German vice chancellor and federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, right, and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, left, arrive for a family photo during a meeting of the German and far-right Italian government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. [AP Photo/Markus Schreiber]

When the Green Foreign Minister arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday, she first made it clear that the German government continues to fully support the brutal slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. At a joint press conference with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz, she declared: Your country can firmly count on our solidarity in the fight against the blind terror that wants to wipe Israel off the map. You can be sure that Germany will defend Israels legitimate right to self-defense within the framework of international humanitarian law everywhere internationally.

Baerbock knows full well that Israels actions against the Palestinians have nothing to do with self-defense and in fact break all the rules of international humanitarian law. The genocidal character of the war is so obvious that Baerbock herself could not completely ignore the terrible situation in Gaza. At one point she stated:

Over half of the houses in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Almost two million people have had to flee their homesalmost all of them. Most are without shelter from the rain and cold, without beds or medical facilities. Hunger and thirst are an appalling part of everyday life and epidemics are spreading. All of themsmall children, pregnant women, old peopleare not adequately cared for.

And even this is only a very partial description of the barbarity and mass murder that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza with the full support of the imperialist powers. Since October 7, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli armyincluding more than 12,000 children and more than 6,100 women. In addition, almost 60,000 people have been wounded in the non-stop attacks. Even schools, hospitals and refugee camps are being bombed en masse and healthcare workers and journalists are being deliberately killed.

When Baerbock now calls for the Israeli army to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza and pleaded in Tel Aviv for less intensive operations, this is the height of cynicism. If the imperialist powers were really interested in protecting civilians, they could stop the war immediately. Instead, they are multiplying arms supplies to Israel and supporting the far-right Netanyahu regime. In Tel Aviv, Baerbock explicitly declared her support for the destruction of Hamas, Netanyahus war aim, which he sees as the elimination of the Palestinians.

Behind the call for a less intensive operation in the Gaza Strip, which is also being made by the US and parts of the Israeli regime, lies the plan to focus the war more strongly on Iran and its allies after the extensive destruction of Gaza. German imperialism is also playing a central role here. In Tel Aviv, Baerbock threatened Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and the Iranian government. At the same time, she praised Saudi Arabia and held out the prospect of massive arms deliveries to the reactionary Gulf monarchy.

With the Saudi air force shooting down Houthi militia missiles aimed at Israel, Riyadh was making a significant contribution to Israels security these days, said Baerbock. Saudi Arabia was also helping to contain the danger of a regional conflagration. And precisely for this reason, the German government could no longer oppose the British plans for further Eurofighters for Saudi Arabia.

In reality, the delivery of fighter jets to Riyadh, which the parties comprising the German governmentthe Social Democrats (SPD), Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Greensexplicitly rejected in their coalition agreement, serves to prepare for an all-out war against Iran, which would turn the entire region into an inferno. It is becoming increasingly clear that the imperialist powers are not only interested in destroying the Gaza Strip, but in controlling the entire Middle East.

Berlin in particular is developing an almost feverish activity to secure its predatory economic and geostrategic interests in the region. While Baerbock paid her respects in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and to al-Sisis military dictatorship in Egypt, Habeck, who began his Middle East trip on Tuesday, is visiting Israel, the West Bank, Oman and Saudi Arabia. When he arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday, it was announced that the Federal Security Council had already approved the delivery of German-made Iris-T air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia at the end of December 2023.

The close alliance with the Saudis is also in line with the genocidal logic of imperialist policy. If any war in recent years has assumed genocidal proportions, it was the Saudi actions in Yemen. The exact number of people who have lost their lives as a result of systematic bombing and starvation blockades is not precisely documented, but it is in the hundreds of thousands. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated the death toll at 377,000 in a report published in November 2021.

In Saudi Arabia itself, people are being executed non-stop170 in the past year aloneand opponents of the regime are being taken aside at the behest of the government. For example, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly involved in the bestial murder of Saudi journalist and regime opponent Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018, where he was dismembered, and his body subsequently dissolved in acid.

The German government is aware of all of this. After the murderous details became known, Omid Nouripour, the current co-chairman of the Green Party, as his partys foreign policy spokesman at the time, demanded: Germany must make it clear to the House of Saud that normalized relations with it are not possible as long as a murderer who has his critics dismembered is crown prince of the country.

The same House of Saud and its crown prince are now among the governments closest allies and brothers in arms. On Monday, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit emphasized at the federal press conference that Baerbocks push to deliver Eurofighters to Riyadh was supported by the entire federal government.

Yes, the Chancellor shares this assessment, Hebestreit stated for the record. The government had reassessed what has become known as the Yemen clause in the light of developments in the conflict in Yemen in recent months and years. The role of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had also been reassessed.

That is unmistakable. The reassessment consists of the fact that, after a brief phase of public distancing, the German government is openly giving its blessing to the Saudi terror regime and its mass murderous war in Yemen. So much for Baerbocks feminist foreign policy, which in the light of day turns out to be nothing more than an identity politics cover for the nefarious pursuit of imperialist interests.

In its New Year statement, the WSWS wrote that the escalation of imperialist militarism had raised the adoption of genocide as a legitimate instrument of state policy. This applies above all to the ruling class that already committed the worst crimes in human history during the Second World War in the form of the Holocaust and the war of extermination against the Soviet Union.
On Friday afternoon, an improvised explosive device was found on the Sydney property of a man who has vocally opposed Israels genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza over the past three months. It had apparently been placed there overnight.

Improvised explosive device placed on car of Palestine supporter [Photo: @riotersbloc]

Made of a jerry can, rags, disposable lighter and large bolts, the bomb was put on the mans car. It was accompanied by a note demanding that he take down Palestinian flags from his home in the eastern suburb of Botany. The note read: Enough! Take down flag! One chance!!!! In addition to flying a Palestinian flag, the victim had set up a board at the front of his home with information about Israels mass murder.

New South Wales police have confirmed that their rescue and bomb squad attended the property and found a suspicious item. They determined that it was not active.

The victim has since spoken to the media, using only his first name, Theo, out of fears for his safety.

Theo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): Someones come into our house at night. Theyve brought something they made to scare us. They want us to change what were doing. Its also something which is clearly there to threaten me, to make me and my partner feel scared, feel terrified. This is terrorism.

News of the attack was first shared on X/Twitter, provoking considerable shock and anger. The individual who broke the story stated bluntly: A Zionist strapped a bomb to someone's car because they didnt like that they proudly flew the Palestinian flag.

Fahad Ali, one of the organisers of the weekly mass protests in Sydney that have been held throughout the genocide, commented: Zionists behave like this exactly because they expect there to be no consequences. They have enjoyed decades of impunity and months of absolution for the most grotesque crimes against humanity.

The response of the media and political establishment has been very different to these forthright comments, even though they are clearly based on what is known about the incident and the broader context.

Police bomb squad robot at the Botany site [Photo: @riotersbloc]

Most news outlets have now carried reports on the bomb, but they have all been marked by several glaring absences. Aside from Theos own comment to the ABC, the word terrorism has not been used, even though the incident is a classic example, involving as it does the use of violence or threatened violence against a civilian for a political purpose.

There are people in supermax prisons, convicted of terror charges carrying decades-long sentences, who never came close to planting bombs. In a number of cases, vulnerable young Muslim men were caught up in the bogus war on terror, prosecuted for the most serious offences on the basis of police and intelligence entrapments and loose talk.

The word Israel has not appeared in the articles, although support for the actions of that country would be the obvious reason for a violently hostile reaction to the presence of a Palestinian flag. Zionist also has not been used, despite proponents of that racialist and virulently nationalist ideology having been at the forefront of legitimising Israels war crimes and seeking to intimidate supporters of Palestinians.

The muted response goes beyond a caution stemming from the fact that no suspects have been publicly identified and the perpetrator not apprehended. Instead, there is a definite attempt to downplay the incident.

That was underscored by the response of federal Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite, whose electorate includes the house where the bomb was planted. On X/Twitter, he posted: The scenes in Botany yesterday were shocking and disturbing. There is no place in our community and in Australia for antisemitism, Islamophobia or any form of hate speech.

Aside from the naming of Botany, it would have been entirely unclear what Thistlethwaite was even commenting about. His reference to antisemitism was entirely inappropriate and even inflammatory, given there is no conceivable connection between the targeting of a pro-Palestinian household with a bomb and racially-motivated hostility to the Jewish people.

The whipping-up of a communalist atmosphere and the slandering of all opposition to the Israeli regime as antisemitism, has gone hand in hand with the full support of the Labor government for the genocide.

Thistlethwaite is currently the acting defence minister. He is thus directly responsible for Australias complicity in the mass murder, including the likely use of the Pine Gap spy base in Central Australia to pinpoint Israeli strikes on Gaza, as well as the coming and going from Australian ports of the Zim shipping line, which in October dedicated its entire fleet to the Israeli war effort.

The response to the Botany bomb incident recalls two earlier events.

In early November, a Burgertory restaurant was burnt down in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield in an act of arson. The store had been aggressively attacked by Zionist supporters of Israel because its owner, Hash Tayeh, is Palestinian and opposes the genocide. The campaign against Tayeh was so acute that he had to place his family in hiding.

However, the Victorian Police responded by immediately declaring that the arson attack was not politically or religiously motivated. It seems inconceivable that they could have made that determination given that no arrests over the incident have been made. Two months on and the Burgertory attack is simply never mentioned.

In late November, it was revealed that the previous month, 76-year-old Jewish Professor Peter Slezak had been assaulted and verbally abused on a Sydney street. His assailant appears to have been a Zionist, infuriated by Slezaks condemnations of Israeli war crimes. The attack was the subject of a single bland article in the Murdoch-owned Australian.

Had any of these incidents involved the targeting of prominent supporters of Israel in a bomb attack, a serious arson or an unprovoked assault on an elderly man, they would have been front page news for weeks, but because each of the incidents cut across the dominant narrative, they have simply been buried.

The decision of three young Sydney Theatre Company performers to wear Keffiyehs, Arabic scarves, during a curtain call on November 25 provoked weeks of media handwringing. Influential Zionists in the business establishment presented the silent wearing of the scarves as an act of violence that had caused irrevocable trauma.

Last week, the right-wing Murdoch-owned Sky News broke the story that a Qantas flight attendant had been pictured wearing a Palestinian flag pin on her uniform. Sky News interviewed a young man who said he had been intimidated by the pin, presenting it almost as a threat to aviation security. The young man, it transpired, is a prominent Liberal Party activist.

At the same time, there are ongoing assertions in the official media that weekly pro-Palestinian protests are somehow dangerous or threatening. The demonstrations have been held for the past three months without incident, in the longest-running protest movement in decades.

The media beat-ups against pro-Palestinian supporters have a ludicrous and absurd character, but they have created an intimidatory atmosphere, and one in which right-wing backers of Israel feel emboldened to carry out real acts of violence, confident that they will face no repercussions.
A Palestinian child looks at the graves of people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and buried inside the Shifa Hospital grounds in Gaza City, December 31, 2023. [AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar]

On Thursday and Friday of this week, arguments will be heard in the International Court of Justice in extraordinary proceedings that have been initiated against the state of Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

These proceedings were initiated by South Africa in a formal complaint filed on December 29, which described the ongoing onslaught by Israeli armed forces against the civilian population of Gaza as genocidal in character because it is being carried out with the specific intent, in violation of the Genocide Convention, to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.

This ICJ complaint is 84 pages of densely-spaced text, with 574 footnotes, nearly each citing to a longer and more detailed report or document. It presents a devastating, overwhelming case.

As of December 29, South Africas complaint documented the deaths of in excess of 21,110 named Palestinians, including over 7,729 childrenwith over 7,780 others missing, presumed dead under the rubble. On top of these deaths, over 55,243 other Palestinians have been injured, with many of these injuries involving amputations or permanent disfigurement.

The complaint continues, Israel has also laid waste to vast areas of Gaza, including entire neighborhoods, and has damaged or destroyed in excess of 355,000 Palestinian homes. This bombing campaign has forced the evacuation of 1.9 million people or 85 percent of the population of Gaza from their homes. The Israeli military is pushing these displaced people into ever smaller areas, without adequate shelter, in which they continue to be attacked, killed and harmed.

The bombing campaign is not just indiscriminate. In a section titled, Destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, the complaint documents Israels targeted and systematic destruction of courts, libraries, universities, museums, historic structures, religious sites, schools, buildings housing records and historical artifacts, and even graveyards.

The complaint also documents Israels obstruction of essential food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter and other humanitarian assistance for the besieged and blockaded Palestinian people, citing warnings by experts that silent, slow deaths caused by hunger and thirst risk surpassing those violent deaths already caused by Israeli bombs and missiles.

Most of the Palestinian people in Gaza are now starving, the complaint states, with levels of starvation rising daily. The complaint cites evidence gathered by the World Health Organization that an unprecedented 93 percent of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with insufficient food and high levels of malnutrition.

Approximately 70 percent of the victims of Israels operation have been women and children: Two mothers are estimated to be killed every hour in Gaza. The complaint also accuses Israel of deliberately imposing measures intended to prevent Palestinian births through a blockade on medical supplies.

The complaint juxtaposes this detailed factual account of Israels rampage against Gaza with the expressions of genocidal intent coming directly out of the mouths of Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated on October 28, You must remember what Amalek has done to you, referring to a biblical passage that states, go, attack Amalek ... Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings.

On October 7, Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of the Knesset and member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, wrote, Now we all have one common goalerasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth. Those who are unable will be replaced.

On October 9, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that Israel was imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. On November 11, Israels minister of agriculture declared, We are now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba, referring to the Nakba of 1948, in which over 80 percent of the Palestinian population were forced from their homes.

On November 6, Giora Eiland, an Israeli Army Reservist major general, wrote that Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza . . . Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist. He went on to declare that severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer.

Members of the Israeli Knesset have repeatedly called for Gaza to be wiped out, flatten[ed], eras[ed], and [c]rush[ed] . . . on all its inhabitants. Meanwhile, genocidal messages are routinely broadcast  without censure or sanction  in Israeli media. These include, Gaza should be razed, and there are 2.5 million terrorists, referring to the entire Palestinian population.

Anticipating that Israeli officials will invoke the events of October 7 to justify their conduct, the complaint points out that in the years of the twenty-first century preceding October 7, 2023, approximately 7,569 Palestinians, including 1,699 children, were killed in four asymmetrical wars.

Since it was filed, South Africas complaint has been endorsed by at least 60 countries, including the entire Organization of Islamic Countries, which includes Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, together with Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan and Bolivia.

The complaint, however, will have no effect on Israels conduct of the genocide, or on the support of the imperialist powers. The Netanyahu regime denounced the complaint as ridiculous and an absurd blood libel.

Biden administration national security spokesperson John Kirby responded to South Africas complaint by calling it meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever. Matt Miller, a State Department spokesperson, claimed that the American government is not seeing any acts that constitute genocide.

These dishonest evasions are assisted by the major American newspapers and television news programs, which have generally refused to report the factual contents of the complaint.

The ICJ, sometimes called the World Court, is the highest judicial body of the United Nations. The complaint brought by South Africa may take years to make its way through ICJ procedures, which will feature the formal presentation of evidence and argument. The hearings this week will focus on the request for preliminary measures in the complaint, including South Africas request that Israel be ordered to immediately cease killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinian people in Gaza.

There is certainly enough factual evidence described in the complaint to warrant not only an immediate halt to Israels operations in Gaza, but the immediate arrest of the entire Israeli government, together with their accomplices and co-conspirators in Washington and the other imperialist capitals. Each day that passes while these war criminals remain at large is a scandal and an indictment of the entire capitalist social order and all of its institutions worldwide.

The ICJ complaint also serves as a devastating refutation of the efforts underway in many countries to delegitimize and criminalize all criticism of the Israeli government as antisemitism.

The overwhelming factual evidence that Israel is engaged in genocide also implicates the domestic laws of many countries, including those of the US, which nominally prohibit financial and other support for the perpetrators of genocide. To that end, a detailed complaint accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention has already been filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights in a US federal court in November.

The ICJ complaint also serves to further underscore the duty of Israeli soldiers under international lawand for that matter, American military personnelto refuse to obey orders that would make them accomplices in war crimes. As was established in the trials of Nazi officials at Nuremburg, following orders is no defense when it comes to the crime of genocide.

However, nobody familiar with the history of the UN, itself implicated in countless bloody wars of imperialist aggression over the last three quarters of a century, will place any confidence in its procedures to bring about an end to Israels genocidal campaign in Gaza, let alone to prosecute the war criminals in Washington and Tel Aviv. Lenins description of the UNs predecessor, the League of Nations, as a thieves kitchen is no less true of the UN today.

Between 2015 and 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted no less than 140 resolutions condemning Israel, as compared with a total of 68 resolutions condemning all other countries combined, but the UN failed to take any significant steps to enforce them, and Israel has simply ignored them. In December, a total of 153 out of 193 UN member countries voted for a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with only 10 countries opposed. But that resolution served to slow neither Israels genocidal operations nor the flow of massively destructive weapons to Israel from the United States.

For its part, the ICJ, which consists of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly, does not have any mechanism for enforcing its decisions directly.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of these proceedingsand regardless of the motives of the South African government and the other capitalist governments endorsing the complaint, which are doing so for their own cynical and contingent political reasonsthe significance of the complaint to the ICJ lies in its thorough and objective presentation, in one place, for all the world to read, of a devastating exposure of what is, factually and legally and in every sense of the word, a genocide, in which the Israeli government is fully implicated, together with its imperialist backers, chiefly the United States.

With Washington having appointed itself the worlds policeman in the aftermath of the liquidation of the Soviet Unionmeddling, invading, sanctioning and bombing its way around the world in the name of human rights and a responsibility to protectthe world is confronted with the spectacle of an American government that is now defending the perpetrators of genocide in broad daylight as it continues to supply the weapons that are being used to carry it out.

The exposure of the fraud of human rights imperialism, as reflected in the Gaza genocide and in the case being presented in the ICJ, is itself a reflection of the crisis of world capitalism. Unable to overcome its internal contradictions within a capitalist framework, that system is staggering back upon the most horrific forms of barbarism of the last century. In this context, the Gaza genocide, for all its criminality, is only a foretaste of the horrors to come if these contradictions are not addressed and resolved.

For this reason, the overwhelming evidence that genocide is in fact being perpetrated in Gaza should lend urgency to the work of raising to a higher level the independent movement of the international working class, in opposition to all the capitalist governments, parties, and institutions, and to uniting it on a historically conscious and socialist program.
Gabriel Attal, France's new Prime Minister, arrives for the handover ceremony on January 9, 2024 in Paris. [AP Photo/Ludovic Marin]

French President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday the replacement of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne by former Education Minister Gabriel Attal. At age 34, Attal became the youngest prime minister since the founding of Frances current Fifth Republic in 1958. He will now seek to assemble a cabinet of ministers for approval by Macron.

On Monday, Borne resigned, making clear that she had been pushed out by the presidency. Her resignation letter noted Emmanuel Macrons will to name a new prime minister and defended the essential reforms she imposed while in office. Chief among these were the pension cuts adopted last spring despite overwhelming popular opposition and mass strikes brutally repressed by riot police and sold out by Frances corrupt trade union bureaucracies.

Borne wrote, Now that I must present the resignation of my government, I wanted to say how passionate I was about the mission, guided by our shared concern of producing rapid, tangible results for our fellow citizens.

The final announcement that Macron had named Attal prime minister did not come until yesterday afternoon, however, amid reports of bitter conflicts inside the Macron government. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, Elysee presidential palace chief of staff Alexis Kohler, and Macrons former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe all reportedly objected to Attal. Bruno and Gerald screamed, one anonymous minister told BFM-TV, while one of Le Maires advisors said he does not want to work for a youth aged 34.

As a result, yesterday morning, even after his name had been rumored as a potential prime minister, Attal held a meeting with education trade union bureaucrats which he had previously cancelled.

After Macron finally named Attal, however, Elysee palace officials cynically argued that having a new prime minister would allow for a politically expedient rebranding of Macrons policy agenda. Macron, one of his advisors told Le Monde, is inserting a semi-colon, giving time to take a breath in his decade in power, changing tone as one might do in a musical score or in a poem.

In reality, by naming Attal, Macron aims to deepen and accelerate the ever more overtly fascistic turn he has carried out since his re-election in 2022.

Borne was despised for imposing Macrons massively unpopular pension cuts without a parliamentary vote, using the French constitutions anti-democratic Article 49-3 provision on budgetary matters. Since Macrons party lost its parliamentary majority in the 2022 elections, Borne ultimately resorted to the 49-3 provision to block parliamentary votes no less than 23 times. Starting after the adoption of Macrons pension cuts last spring, there was mounting speculation in corporate media that Macron would remove her as a political liability.

Ultimately, however, Borne survived as prime minister until the crisis caused inside Macrons party by the adoption last month of his fascistic anti-immigration law. This law blocks immigrants from receiving social benefits, in line with the national preference policy of the neo-fascist National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen. The law, which utterly exposed the charlatanry of Macrons claims to be fighting for democracy against neo-fascism, led several members of his party to resign, including Bornes former chief of staff, Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau.

Borne herself also struck a somewhat discordant note on the immigration law, claiming to be profoundly humanist, and pointing to her background as the daughter of immigrants to say that she would ensure that the anti-immigration law would respect our values.

While Bornes record is deeply reactionary, Attals record and his support for the immigration law appear more compatible with the openly fascistic turn Macron is carrying out.

Attal, the product of an elite education at the Ecole Alsacienne school and the Sciences Po political science university, was only 26 when he followed Macron, leaving the big business Socialist Party (PS) and joining Macrons On the March party (since renamed Renaissance) in 2016. After serving as the governments spokesman, he worked on Macrons plan to impose universal national military service on French youth, and then, as a minister for balanced budget, on the austerity agenda that led to last years pension cuts. Attal was finally named education minister last July.

As education minister, Attal oversaw anti-democratic measures like the imposition of a ban on the Muslim abaya in schools, plans to segregate classes according to academic performance starting in junior high school, and plans to reintroduce mandatory school uniforms.

In a brief, perfunctory speech yesterday afternoon accepting the office of prime minister, Attal laid out a domestic agenda of continued assaults on the working class. He pledged to continue transforming our economy, to drastically simplify the life of our companies and entrepreneurs, and to carry out resolute action towards the youth.

Officials of the far-right RN, for their part, described Attal as someone who would adopt a far-right agenda from within Macrons party. He is very crafty. He always stays calm, with a smile, speaks the way we do without ever insulting us and uses our themes in a much more subtle way than the others, which is what makes him harder to fight, said Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a RN legislator for the Somme, who added, We will let him show his cards, and well hit him when we need to.

Indeed, Macrons nomination of Attal is the political product of his turn towards the far right, particularly after last years pension struggle. It is now widely understood, among broad layers of workers and youth in France, that Macron rules via police violence against the people, impoverishing workers to enrich the wealthy. This policy goes hand in hand with a massive surge in French military spending, as Macron backs NATOs war with Russia in Ukraine and the Israeli governments genocide in Gaza.

Faced with these escalating and explosive class tensions, the Macron government has embarked on an attempt to divert these tensions along racial and ethnic lines with fascistic appeals to anti-immigrant hatreds. It is planning to largely adopt the RNs agenda as it runs against the RN in this years European elections. Attal is well positioned to implement this reactionary agenda in the service of Macrons policies of imperialist war abroad and war on the working class at home.

Relying on police-state repression and the support of corrupt union bureaucrats to strangle workers struggles, Macron depends on the exorbitant powers of Frances executive presidency, served by an ever narrower circle of top officials personally loyal to him. This has created the conditions for the rapid promotion of young, politically-connected reactionaries like Attal.

Attals nomination again confirms the perspectives advanced by the Parti de legalite socialiste during the pensions struggle. There is nothing that workers or youth can try to negotiate with Macron, who leads a government utterly impervious to social protest and firmly set on a course of global imperialist war and fascistic police-state dictatorship. The only way forward is the construction of a political movement among the workers and youth, rejecting the chauvinism of the French ruling establishment and aiming to bring down Macron and transfer power to the working class.
On Friday, the US Supreme Court will decide whether to hear a case that has the potential to strip millions of undocumented immigrants and their US citizen family members of constitutional rights in the consular process, a main mechanism through which undocumented people can legally acquire green cards. News of the case has spread on social media across the US and Latin America, provoking anger and concern among immigrants and their families across the hemisphere.

The case, State Department v. Sandra Munoz, involves a husband and wife who had lived together in Los Angeles, California for years. The couple was separated in 2015 as a result of an arbitrary decision by a consular official at the US Embassy in El Salvador, denying Luis Asencio, Sandra Munozs husband, the ability to re-enter the country without explaining why. Though the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this violated the Constitution, the Biden administration is appealing the decision to the right-wing Supreme Court, arguing that the Constitution does not apply in the consular process, not even to US citizens who are permanently separated from their spouses.

US citizen and prominent Los Angeles workers rights attorney Sandra Munoz met her husband at a mutual friends wedding in 2008. Asencio had come to the US in 2005 without immigration papers, but has no criminal record in any country. The couple fell in love and were married in 2010. In 2013, they initiated the consular process, which allows undocumented people with immediate US citizen relatives to erase the consequences of their unlawful entry if they meet certain requirements and are deemed admissible at an interview at a US consulate in their country of origin.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of spouses of citizens undergo this process, which requires proving the marriage is bona fide and establishing that the citizen-spouse will suffer extreme hardship if separated. The process is costly and intrusive, and requires both spouses give federal agents the ability to enter their bedrooms without warning and interview their neighbors to determine if the marriage is legitimate.

Luis Asencio-Cordero and Sandra Munoz, separated for over 8 years and counting [Photo by Sandra Munoz]

Immigration officials determined Munoz and Asencio met these requirements, and approved Asencios petition for a provisional waiver of his unlawful status. As the last step toward acquiring a green card, the couple traveled to El Salvador in the spring of 2015 for an interview at the US consulate. They assumed the trip would be a brief one, but the couple has been separated ever since. A consular officer denied Asencio admission to the US claiming he might incidentally engage in any other unlawful activity, without providing any further reason.

Though federal regulations give immigrants and their citizen-spouses one year to provide exculpatory evidence to overcome such determinations, the State Departments refusal to provide any reason for the denial made it impossible for Munoz or Asencio to disprove the officers allegations.

I was heartbroken, confused, and frustrated, Munoz told the World Socialist Web Site. I knew and I know my husband. He was not going to engage in unlawful activitywhatever in the world that meant. I didnt know how to disprove it except to point to our lives. My husband didnt have a criminal history. I didnt have a criminal history. I am a lawyer, I am an officer of the court. It was just unfathomable that the US government had come to a conclusion that was completely unsupported by the facts and by our histories.

The couple filed a lawsuit against the State Department and then-Secretary of State John Kerry in January 2017, and in November 2018, three years after the interview, a State Department official said Asencio had been deemed inadmissible because his tattoos show he is a member of the transnational drug cartel MS-13. Asencios tattoos are of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a profile of Sigmund Freud, depictions of theatrical masks, dice and cards and a tribal image with a paw print. A gang expert provided the State Department with a sworn affidavit stating these tattoos are not related to MS-13 or any other gang.

After a lengthy legal battle, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in October 2022 that the denial violated Munozs fundamental right to marriage and due process. By refusing to provide the couple with a reason for the denial, the State Department deprived Munoz of her constitutional right to timely notice of the factual basis of the denial and an opportunity to respond, the court of appeals said. The Biden administration asked the full Ninth Circuit to overturn the three-judge panel, but the court, sitting en banc, agreed with the panel, ruling in July 2023 that the governments actions were unconstitutional. Eleven Trump-appointed judges on the Ninth Circuit published strong dissents.

Instead of complying with the Ninth Circuit and reuniting Munoz with Asencio in Los Angeles, the Biden administration vindictively appealed the decision to the Supreme Court at the end of 2022. Its appeal brief repeated the arguments by the Trump-appointed dissenters and argued that the courts may never review the decisions of consular officers, even when the rights of US citizen spouses are implicated.

This spring will mark the ninth year they have been separated.

The Biden administration argues that Munozs right to marriage has not been violated since she can move to El Salvador, writing in its brief to the Supreme Court that the administration has not prohibited a married couple from living together or otherwise intruded on their marital privacy.

But US citizens have the fundamental right to live in the US under protection of the Constitution as well as the right to marriage, and the Ninth Circuit held the government cannot make the exercise of one right dependent upon forfeiting another. Moreover, El Salvador is currently under martial law, and the State Department currently warns US citizens not to travel to the country, and that several U.S. and other foreign citizens have been detained under the State of Exception, some in a reportedly arbitrary manner.

Responding to the Biden administrations argument that her rights have not been violated, Munoz said, It is not in any way reasonable to suggest that I can easily move to El Salvador. I am an American citizen. I was born in this country. I am part of this country. My father fought in World War II. It took a lot of really hard work on my part to earn my law degree and to establish myself as an attorney here in this country. I have practiced law for 26 years and I have had my own office since 2011. My career is how I make a living, it is how I contribute to this country. I cannot just pick up and leave all of that behind.

The decision to appeal the case has provoked outrage across the US and Latin America. Last Friday, Andrea Castillo of the Los Angeles Times published an expose on the couples case, and segments on national Spanish-language news in the US went viral over the weekend. On social media, millions have viewed and shared information about the case, while many major national media outlets across Central and South America have reported on it.

Masses of people across the US and Latin America are rightfully angered by the Biden administrations actions and are fearful of what this means for their families, the couples lawyer, Eric Lee, told the World Socialist Web Site. The stakes could not be higher. Over 1 million US citizens have undocumented spouses and almost 4 million US citizen children have undocumented parents. Biden echoes Trump and argues that none of these people have the right to a day in court when the federal government arbitrarily blocks their loved ones from returning to the family home.

Lee, who also represents rank-and-file autoworker Will Lehman in his pending lawsuit against the Department of Labor over voter suppression in the UAW election, says the Biden administration is providing the executive branch with immense powers which Trump will use if elected this November. Trump justified his travel bans by making the same arguments Biden and his lawyers are making today. As this case shows, it is becoming nearly impossible to distinguish between the two parties policies on the rights of immigrants and their families. Democracy in America is already hanging by a thread. We appeal to all who are concerned to spread awareness of this case.
DAMASCUS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Four children have been killed and eight others wounded by landmine explosions in Syria since the start of the year, a war monitor said Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said three children were killed and six wounded by mines in government-held areas, while one was killed and two wounded in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.

The group warned that the remnants of war pose a serious threat to civilians, especially children, who often encounter undetected explosives in various parts of the country.

In 2023, the observatory recorded 256 civilian deaths, including 81 children and 24 women, and 365 injuries, including 136 children and 20 women, from landmine blasts and other war leftovers in 2023.

Syrian state media usually blame the incidents on terrorist groups that planted mines and explosives in residential areas, roads, and farmlands before withdrawing from areas captured by the Syrian army.

The government says the militants aim to harm and scare civilians and prevent them from returning to their homes. 
The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on January 1 was the largest to hit the Noto Peninsula since records began in 1885.

The death toll has now risen to over 200. There is no doubt that many of these deaths could have been prevented. The Japanese government, preparing for a US-led war against China, has allocated a military budget of $56 billion for fiscal year 2024, but only $3.8 billion for disaster prevention in 2022. For capitalist governments in every corner of the world, making more profit takes precedence over human life.

A destroyed road near Noto town in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, following Monday's earthquake. [AP Photo/Hiro Komae]

This does not exclude a comparison between the 7.6 magnitude Noto earthquake with the two 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras on February 6, 2023, which devastated Turkey and Syria, to determine the extent of the criminality of the Turkish ruling class.

The earthquakes of February 6, 2023, directly affected 11 provinces in Turkey, flattening some areas to the ground. According to official figures, more than 50,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of people had their lives turned upside down. According to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, 36,932 buildings collapsed during the earthquake and 311,000 buildings were rendered unusable due to damage. For those who survived the devastation, the struggle to survive continues nearly a year later.

In Hatay, one of the provinces hardest hit by the Kahramanmaras earthquake, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it is not possible to be prepared for such a big disaster. But a simple comparison of the devastation and death toll from the Japanese earthquake with the aftermath of the February 6 earthquake in Turkey contradicts Erdogan and confirms experts' warnings about preparedness for earthquakes of this magnitude.

With current technology, it is not possible to predict exactly when an earthquake will occur. However, based on past earthquakes and surveys scientific predictions can be made about which regions are prone to earthquakes and their possible magnitude.

For example, on March 10, 2022, Alican Kop, Director of the Earthquake Research and Risk Center at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University (KSU) and Assistant Professor at the Department of Geological Engineering, pointed out in an article published on the university's website that Kahramanmaras is a very risky region. They recalled that a 28-kilometer fault zone runs through the city center and is very close to the Golbas-Turkoglu segment, which has accumulated energy for 509 years.

According to the news published in Kahramanmaras Manset on February 1, 2020, Kop stated at a meeting on seismicity at KSU that we also have the risk of experiencing two earthquakes in a row. In other words, there is a really high risk of earthquakes in Kahramanmaras. He correctly predicted the double earthquake.

Despite the warnings of scientists, the ruling class and its political representatives have taken no significant measures against earthquakes; public safety and infrastructure have been completely subordinated to the capitalist profit system.

Aerial photo shows collapsed buildings and destruction in Hatay, Turkey, on Feb. 7. [AP Photo/IHA]

Seda Sendir Torisu, a Turkish civil engineer working in Japan, told the BBC on November 3, 2020, that Turkey has specifications and disaster regulations like Japan. However, unlike in Japan building production is left to the initiative of the contractor-subcontractor system and great concessions have been made in the inspection mechanisms.

There is no scientific earthquake-resistant urban transformation. As their indifference to disasters such as the pandemic and global warming shows, for the ruling class an investment that does not bring immediate profit is useless. They are not interested in the catastrophic consequences of their activities.

Engels expressed this indifference in the following way in Dialectic of Nature:

When an individual manufacturer or merchant sells a manufactured or purchased commodity with only the usual small profit, he is satisfied, and he is not concerned as to what becomes of the commodity afterwards or who are its purchasers. The same thing applies to the natural effects of the same actions. What did the Spanish planters in Cuba, who burned down forests the slopes of the mountains and obtained from the ashes sufficient fertiliser for one generation of very highly profitable coffee trees, care that the tropical rainfall afterwards washed away the now unprotected upper stratum of the soil, leaving behind only bare rock?

The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), which opposed a 2013 amendment to the Zoning Law, sent a letter to the then-president asking him to veto the law, warning, With the abolition of professional supervision... unfair competition will deepen, signatory or fake engineers, architects and urban planners will proliferate, and the way will be paved for unqualified contractors who consider survey and project services as an increase in costs and refrain from any kind of supervision for the sake of profit.

In addition to the problems in the supervision of the compliance of constructed buildings with regulations, one of the main reasons why earthquakes turn into disasters is the zoning amnesties used by the governments as a source of political and economic power. There have been more than 20 zoning amnesties in Turkey, the first of which began in 1948.

A badly damaged building in Antioch surrounded by rubble after the Turkish-Syrian earthquake.

Zoning amnesty refers to the issuance of a building registration certificate for buildings or structures that are in violation of the building permit. Approximately 7.4 million people benefited from the last zoning amnesty, which came into effect before the general elections in June 2018. Many buildings in Turkey that were built without permits have been legalized through various zoning amnesties.

The main beneficiaries of these amnesties, which were introduced by the governments for electoral purposes and to raise funds, were the multi-story buildings built illegally by building contractors. Huge illegal buildings in the city centers were given a clean bill of health and became the graves of the victims of the February 6 earthquake. None of the officials from the ruling party, nor from the opposition parties that have been in power in the municipalities for years have been held responsible.

Murat Kurum, who served as Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change between 2018 and 2023 and bears the main political responsibility for the buildings that collapsed in the earthquake. He has been selected by the Justice and Development Party as its candidate for mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) in the elections scheduled for next March.

Current mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has been implementing urban transformation in Istanbul for four years. Presented as an earthquake preparedness measure, this has been a way to drive working class residents from the city centre and build luxury residences for the affluent. The fundamental aim of the urban transformation imposed by the ruling class for years is not to protect residents from earthquakes but to boost profits for construction firms and enrich the wealthiest layers of society.

Concerns among the public and scientists about the Marmara earthquake, which could occur at any moment according to scientific data in Turkey, continue to increase. As the WSWS has previously stated, Scientific studies indicate that the Central Marmara Fault, which runs through the Sea of Marmara south of the metropolis of Istanbul, generates major earthquakes approximately every 250 years. The last major earthquake on this fault occurred in 1766. Moreover, since movements on the North Anatolian Fault in 1999, scientists have raised ever more urgent warnings that enormous stress has accumulated on the Central Marmara Fault.

The earthquakes of magnitude 5.1 and 4.2 in the Sea of Marmara last month, which were felt in Istanbul, are a warning. The ruling class is squandering vast social resources that are essential to the well-being and security of the people. The way forward for the working class is to wrest control of the resources of world industry and trade from the bourgeoisie and use them to meet basic social needs, including earthquake safety. This requires workers to unite internationally in the struggle for socialism against capitalism.
OSLO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Norwegian Parliament voted on Tuesday in favor of allowing mineral exploration and exploitation on the deep seabed, edging Norway closer to becoming the first country in the world to initiate commercial deep-sea mining.

With a decisive vote reflecting broad cross-party support, the proposal is set to accelerate the search for seabed minerals. According to Norway's national broadcaster NRK, most members of parliament are convinced that mining operations can be profitable, sustainable and environmentally responsible.

The focus area spans 281,000 square km across the Barents Sea and the Greenland Sea. Earlier reports from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate highlighted the rich mineral resources on Norway's continental shelf.

Some parties voted against the decision, saying that Norway lacks knowledge about the marine environment in 99 percent of the area that it plans to open for deep-sea mining.

The decision was also met with an immediate backlash from environmental groups including Greenpeace, who criticized the Norwegian government for disregarding environmental concerns. 
This file photo taken on Oct. 31, 2023 shows U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attending a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., the United State. Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement on Tuesday.

The latest announcement came one day after the White House and the Pentagon both said that they would investigate why President Joe Biden and other high-ranking officials were not informed immediately about the defense secretary's hospitalization and left in the dark for several days.

The cancer was discovered after a routine prostate screening, Walter Reed officials said. On Dec. 22, Austin underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer. He was under "general anesthesia" during it.

His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent, according to the statement.

On Jan. 1, 2024, Austin was admitted again to the medical center with complications from the Dec. 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain. Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection. On Jan. 2, he was transferred to an intensive care unit for close monitoring and a higher level of care.

"He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process," the statement said.

During Austin's stay in the hospital, certain authorities were transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, but both Hicks and the White House weren't informed of Austin's hospitalization until Jan. 4.

"I think there's an expectation that when a Cabinet official becomes hospitalized ... that will be notified up the chain of command. There is that expectation," John Kirby, the National Security Council (NSC)'s coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters Monday.

The Pentagon also announced in a memo Monday night that it would review the way transfer of authority is handled, with a specific focus on the events and decisions related to Austin's hospitalization. This is to ensure appropriate and timely notification to the president, the White House, the U.S. Congress, and the public in the future.

Austin's secretive hospitalization occurred amid heightened tension in the Middle East and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Some Republicans in the Congress, as well as former President Donald Trump, have urged Austin to resign, criticizing his failure to disclose his hospitalization and voicing transparency concerns. 

This file photo taken on Oct. 31, 2023 shows U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attending a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., the United State. Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

This file photo taken on Oct. 31, 2023 shows U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attending a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., the United State. Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
Zhao Leji, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and secretary of its leading Party members group, presides over and makes a speech at a meeting of the group to study an important speech delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection as well as the plenum's guiding principles, Jan. 10, 2024. The meeting also discussed measures to implement Xi's speech and the plenum's guiding principles in the field of Party building and the actual work of people's congresses. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese legislators on Wednesday gathered to study an important speech delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection as well as the plenum's guiding principles.

The meeting of the leading Party members group of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, discussed measures to implement Xi's speech and the plenum's guiding principles in the field of Party building and the actual work of people's congresses.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee and secretary of its leading Party members group, presided over the meeting and made a speech.

The meeting stressed that members of the NPC Standing Committee's leading Party members group should retain the spirit of self-reform, and constantly conduct self-cultivation, self-restraint and self-reform.

It highlighted the need to ceaselessly improve Party conduct and crack down on corruption, and noted that work should be done with a pragmatic and solution-oriented approach.

The meeting also pledged continuous efforts to advance national anti-corruption legislation to enable better implementation of the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee. 
SHENYANG, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Last summer, graduate student Hongda (pseudonym) embarked on an apprenticeship at a bakery, where she immersed herself in the art of bread-making for 10 days.

"I had always harbored the desire to learn the craft of bread-making, viewing it as an additional skill and an alternative career path," she said.

For Hongda, the immediate gratification of "making a cake" provides her with a profound sense of achievement.

"Bread-making brings me great happiness. The tangible outcomes and the significance of crafting a delectable loaf of bread are greater for me than the rote memorization of academic courses," she said.

Like Hongda, many college students and graduates regard taking "light labor" jobs as an opportunity to acquire unique skills, and they enjoy sharing their experiences on the internet.

On popular review site Douban, a discussion group named the "light labor exploration alliance" boasts nearly 70,000 members. They often discuss topics such as exploring new ways of life and breaking free of normal career paths.

From their perspective, "light labor" is a broad term encompassing jobs that require some manual skills but limited physical strength.

In China, an increasing number of young college-educated people, having grown weary of mentally demanding office work, have opted for light labor jobs such as baker, agro-technician and housekeeper for high-end customers. Instead of fretting over issues such as inadequate job security and low social recognition, they are more intrigued by the prospect of exploring the novel lifestyles provided by such jobs.

After graduating from college, Yoyo (pseudonym) began working at a design institute, but she resigned due to the excessive overtime.

Subsequently, she volunteered at a farm on the outskirts of Beijing, undertaking various tasks, such as planting peanuts, serving at tables and kneading dough. Over time, she transitioned into a formal employee.

Yoyo is now the manager of a cafe at the farm. She actively contributes to planning and designing new projects on the farm, while occasionally engaging in farm work.

"There are no cubicles here, and overtime is non-existent. Everyone calls it a day after sunset," said Yoyo. "Though the salary is half of what I used to make, the cost of living is lower in the village. Plus, there is a one-month winter break."

For some observers, well-educated young people who opt for light labor jobs are squandering educational resources. However, for those choose such a path, the reward is often a solid sense of achievement and good work-life balance.

In 2024, Yoyo's farm plans to diversify its business by launching homestay services. "For us, it is a new business model. Here at the farm, there is always something new that moves you forward," she said. 
Alexander: The Making of a Gods trailer pulls back the curtain on the Netflix historical docudrama, which examines the legendary titular figure.

The project promises to reveal the extraordinary life of Alexander the Great, per the official synopsis. In particular, it will track his rise from an exiled young man and his growing obsession with defeating the Persian Emperor Darius. This led him to conquer the known world in just under six years.

The story will be told through dramatic scenes and expert academic insights in addition to ground-breaking archaeology and ongoing excavations at the archaeological site in Alexandria, Egypt led by Calliope Limneos-Papakosta.

Check out the Alexander: The Making of a God trailer below (watch more trailers):

When does Netflixs Alexander premiere, and who stars in it?

The six-part docudrama debuts Wednesday, January 31.

Buck Braithwaite will play Alexander in the dramatized parts of the docudrama. Braithwaite recently had a role in the acclaimed thriller Fair Play and hell next appear in the Apple TV+ limited series Masters of the Air. Meanwhile, Mido Hamada will play King Darius. The actor is known for his roles in the series Emerald City and the film American Sniper.

Its executive produced by Lucy van Beek for Tailfeather Productions (China Megatomb Revealed and Britain from Above) and Nick Catliff (Rebuilding The World Trade Centre and America Revealed). Tony Mitchell (The Bible, AD and Primeval) is the showrunner.

The post Alexander: The Making of a God Trailer Unveils Netflixs Historical Docudrama appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
The British musician and filmmaker Jeymes Samuel wanted to make a biblical epic like Ben-Hur, with a side order of biblical-adjacent Spartacus, but his way. The result is the satiric/earnest/rollicking/mellow amalgam called The Book of Clarence, starring LaKeith Stanfield as a dope-dealing striver in 33 A.D. Jerusalem.

The trailer looks like an action comedy, and it isnt that, really, thought it contains both action (chariot street racing, gladiator bone-crunching) and comedy. Does it work? Id say no, and sort of, and in the end, almost. The extreme tonal change-ups careen from full-on crucifixion violence to sight gags such as the light bulb appearing over Clarences head when hes struck by his latest inspiration.

Broke and threatened with death by the local loan shark, Clarence hustles through his meager life as a seller of ungodly herbs with his friend Elijah (RJ Cyler). He takes care of his mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who has been more or less forsaken by Clarences identical twin brother Thomas (also played by Stanfield, though without much differentiation).

Thomas has grand things on his agenda: Hes one of Jesus 12 apostles, on a date with biblical destiny. Clarence puts his bid in to join the circle, and ultimately lands on the idea of becoming a copycat Chosen One himself, performing fake miracles and gathering acolytes for prestige and profit.

Its a ripe satiric premise, but The Book of Clarence wants more. Filming in Matera, Italy, where Mel Gibson shot (and stabbed, and whipped) The Passion of the Christ, Samuel feeds his throwaway verbal jokes and anachronisms into a narrative played, disarmingly, for a spiritual story of one underestimated nobodys path toward becoming a somebody.

Anna Diop, so good in the supernatural thriller Nanny, plays Lavinia, the local gangsters sister; the tentative but palpable connection she has with Clarence is the movies grounding element. Once Clarences popularity draws the interest of Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy), the movies tangle of intentions gets knotted up in some frustrating ways. Is the movie best served by the full-on Gibson-esque gore in the culminating scenes? Does it work to follow nail-pounding and anguished screams with wisecracks from those dying on the cross?

The cast includes Omar Sy as the noble, unkillable gladiator slave Barabbas, freed by Clarence in his first conspicuous act of valor; David Oyelowo as a testy, waterboarding John the Baptist; and the reliably splendid Alfre Woodard as the Mother Mary, who in one comic highlight discusses the whole virgin birth business with a puzzled Clarence. Teyana Taylor, coming off her excellent work in One Thousand and One, doesnt get nearly enough to do as a fierce Mary Magdalene.

As for Stanfield, hes a watchful, uniquely charismatic actor in nearly any context, though this context proves especially challenging. His determinedly low-key line readings have a way of flattening out the movies energy. On the other hand, would a more classically trained Bible epic technique performer have made The Book of Clarence more persuasive, or just more harrumphy? Whos to say? Im all over the place on a movie thats all over the place.

Samuels first feature, the 2021 Western The Harder They Fall, was all over the place, too, more successfully. That one, like this one, had the benefit of Samuels terrific soundtrack. Samuel  whose musical stage name is the Bullitts  consistently bails out his latest movie with a dozen or two songs in a supple half-dozen complementary styles, here featuring a song featuring Jay-Z, elsewhere leaning into Old Hollywood orchestral sweep or solo harp. The more this filmmaker can learn about matching his musical taste and invention with cinematic tonal range and control worthy of those sounds, the harder well fall for whatever he does next.



'THE BOOK OF CLARENCE'

2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong violence, drug use, strong language, some suggestive material and smoking)

Running time: 2:16

How to watch: In theaters Friday


Details on what led to Darnell SuperChef Ferguson's Tuesday arrest in St. Matthews, Ky., are unclear

Food Network Darnell Ferguson

Food Network star Darnell SuperChef Ferguson was arrested on multiple charges, including strangulation, burglary and terroristic threatening in Kentucky, according to multiple news reports citing officials.

On Tuesday, Ferguson, 36, was booked into the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections, online booking records show. WHAS 11, WDRB and Courier Journal report that in addition to the aforementioned charges, Ferguson also faces misdemeanor charges of assault, menacing, criminal mischief and theft-receipt of a stolen credit or debit card.

Details on what led to his arrest are unclear. PEOPLE has reached out to the St. Matthews Police for comment but did not immediately hear back Wednesday.

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Court records cited by WHAS 11, WDRB and Courier Journal state Ferguson had a protection order filed against him on Jan. 2. The identity of the person who filed the order is not public.

Ferguson is described on the Food Network website as a celebrity chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur, who currently hosts Superchef Grudge Match. In early 2023, he co-hosted Season 25 of Worst Cooks in America alongside Anne Burrell. He also is a frequent judge on Chopped and Guys Grocery Games, competed on 3 seasons of Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions and has recently appeared on OWNs The Big Holiday Food Fight and Food Fantasies.

It is unclear if Ferguson has retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.



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Ryan Scott Anderson asked Gypsy to marry him when she was still serving her sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Center

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Gypsy Rose Blanchard/Instagram Ryan Scott Anderson and Gypsy Rose Blanchard-Anderson; Gypsy Rose's wedding ring.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard-Andersons husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, is opening up about how he proposed with a ring in prison.



The couple shared the story of their relationship in The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, from the first time they exchanged words via email to the moment Ryan proposed to Gypsy, 32, while she was still behind bars.

About four months after the Louisiana teacher visited Gypsy in prison for the first time  and they talked for four hours and established a seamless connection, per Gypsy  the Munchausen by proxy syndrome victim told Ryan she was smitten with him. And that's when he knew it was time to propose.

Related: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Says She and Her Husband Have That It Factor (Exclusive)

So I was like well, Im still smitten with you, like ever, he said in the Lifetime docuseries, adding that he had fallen in love with her a long time ago.

So, for his third visit to Missouri's Chillicothe Correctional Center where Gypsy was serving a 10-year prison sentence for her role in the fatal stabbing of her mother, Clauddine Dee Dee Blanchard, he did not show up empty handed.

Ryan bought a ring and snuck it in by wearing it. For the third visit, I bought an engagement ring. And I snuck it in, brought it on my chain," he revealed.



She had her makeup done and she looked so cute, and I was sitting across from her and I looked at her, and I just knew, he remembered. Its just one of those things. You know. And we had something special, we had that chemistry. And I asked her to marry me.

Related: Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Husband Ryan Scott Anderson Talks Wedding No. 2 and His Wife's Dress (Exclusive)

Recalling the moment herself, his now-wife remembered him saying, Gypsy Blanchard, I love you more than anything I've ever loved, and I would be the happiest man in the world if you would be my wife. Will you marry me?

"And I said, Yes. And he put the ring on my finger, said Gypsy.

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Discussing his own wedding band in the docuseries, Ryan revealed that Gypsy ordered it for him from a catalog. This ring means a lot, he said. It symbolizes me and Gypsys love and even though were not married yet, I wear it every day.

After his Prison Confessions interview was filmed, the couple wed on July 21, 2022 in a no-frills morning wedding at Missouri correctional center.

Related: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Defends Husband from Online Comments, Talks Sex Life: 'The D Is Fire'

While talking to PEOPLE about the ceremony, Gypsy said that in the future, the couple plans on having a reception, like a slash redo wedding with all of our family and our friends and the dress and the cake and everything, because we deserve that.

I deserve that, she added. He deserves that.



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The latest Netflix documentary Man on the Run, which released on January 5, 2024, showcases a shocking tale of corruption and betrayal. Interestingly, the man under the spotlight is a mysterious Malaysian businessman named Jho Low.

Low is an international fugitive wanted by authorities for his involvement in the infamous 1MDB scandal. A sovereign wealth fund, the 1MDB was established in 2009 to help Malaysian citizens. However, according to Deadline, Low and former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak devised a scheme to exploit this fund. In 2015, journalist Clare Rewcastle-Brown received leaked financial documents that set off a global investigation.

Reportedly, large sums of money were being funneled into international bank accounts, which helped Jho Low lead a lavish life. Furthermore, Low acquired expensive properties, a private jet, a super-yacht, partied with famous personalities, and dated supermodels. Jho Low has also been dubbed the Asian Great Gatsby. Deadline reports that he even financed Martin Scorseses 2013 blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street.

Now, Netflix is going to document his life and bring it to the streaming platform users. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the synopsis of the documentary reads, MAN ON THE RUN exposes a shocking true story of corruption and betrayal that shook an entire nations financial stability. It follows Jho Low, a mysterious businessman, and playboy, as he masterminds a scheme to exploit a sovereign wealth fund in Malaysia, 1MDB.

It further states, With the collaboration of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Low funnels billions into global bank accounts to fuel his extravagant lifestyle, including Hollywood parties and even financing The Wolf of Wall Street. Director Cassius Michael Kims meticulous investigation unravels a web of greed and corruption, revealing the profound impact of this colossal financial scandal.

Man on the Run on Netflix: Where was Jho Low last seen?

As mentioned earlier, Jho Low is wanted by international authorities for charges like money laundering and fraud. He is reportedly hiding in China. According to Al Jazeera, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) recently stated that they believe Low is in Macau.

Their statement mentioned the people involved in the 1MDB case, saying that MACC believes the individuals wanted for the 1MDB case, especially Jho Low, are hiding in Macau. The statement further said, This was also confirmed by several individuals who have seen Jho Low in Macau.

Authorities recently arrested another 1MDB suspect named Kee Kok Thiam. However, MACC officers did not find any charges against him at this time and let him go. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for his role in the entire ordeal.

A recent Deadline report revealed that Razaks lawyers were trying to remove Man on the Run from Netflix. His lawyers have described the documentary as subjudicial and contemptuous content.

However, its director, Cassius Michael Kim, stated, Censorship is the tool of the oppressor. The former prime ministers claims that he was misled by me are patently false and echo his words from our interview in the film, in which he repeatedly states that  during the 1MDB scandal  he was misled by all those around him in government. While he was a mere unknowing puppet. I look forward to a brighter future for the Malaysian people.

Najib Razak was born on July 23, 1953, and served as Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. His father, Abdul Razak Hussein, was the prime minister of the country from 1970 to 1976. Meanwhile, Jho Low was born to a wealthy Malaysian Chinese family on November 4, 1981. He was raised in George Town on Penang Island.

The post Man on the Run on Netflix: Why Is Malaysian Businessman Jho Low Wanted by Authorities? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
XI'AN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced Zhang Yongze, former vice chairman of the government of the Xizang Autonomous Region, to 14 years in prison for bribery.

Zhang was also fined 5 million yuan (around 703,680 U.S. dollars) and had all of his illegal gains from bribery recovered and turned over to the state treasury, according to the Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The court found that between 2003 and 2021, Zhang had taken advantage of his various positions in Xizang to assist other individuals and entities in matters such as project contracting and personnel promotion. In return, he accepted money and property valued at over 51.81 million yuan.

A lenient sentence was appropriate as Zhang confessed to taking bribes and showed remorse, the court said. 
Award-winning Montreal-based Stranger Things and The Lord Of The Rings VFX studio Rodeo FX has appointed Franck Lambertz to head up its recently opened Paris-based European studio.

The veteran VFX expert will oversee the studios various divisions such as Films & Episodics and Advertising & Experience.

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A respected figure in the VFX world, Lambertz has collaborated with directors such as Frederik Bond, Rupert Sanders, Damien Chazelle, Francois Rousselet, Robert Rodriguez and Cary Fukunaga.

He has also contributed to award-winning campaigns for prestigious brands such as Chanel, Perrier, Ubisoft and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Lambertz previously spent 18 years with UK visual effects and animation group MPC, first joining the company in London in 2005, where he initially specialized in advertising, a passion that would follow him throughout his career.

During his time at MPC, he was involved in the opening of new MPC studios in L.A. in 2008, followed by Amsterdam in 2013 and Paris in 2015. He also participated actively in the creation of the French section of the VES (Visual Effects Society).

Collaborating with an expert like Franck is a real pleasure. His background in advertising speaks for itself, and he brings an incredible knowledge of the industry, but also a real passion for innovation, says Sebastien Moreau, founder and CEO of Rodeo FX.

We couldnt ask for a better person to help lead this new studio and bring our teams to the forefront of the European scene.

Opened in June 2023, Rodeo FXs Paris studio marks the creative companys fifth office after Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

Located in Paris 11eme arrondissement, the studio collaborates with all of Rodeo FXs 900 international artists, including on productions such as Zack Snyders Rebel Moon and Monarch: Legacy of Monster for Apple TV+.

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Most of Hollywood might be in need of a breather from talking about the consequences of AI after the topic dominated most industry conversations for the better part of last year, but SAG-AFTRA is still looking for ways to keep its members protected as the tech advances.

The guild announced Tuesday that it had inked a deal with AI company Replica Studios regarding the use of digital voice replicas in video games. The agreement will span both the creation of digital voice replicas and their use throughout game development.

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SAG-AFTRAs National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the agreement illustrates SAG-AFTRAs intent and ability to work with employers to create terms that benefit and protect our members and allow them to engage with opportunities driven by new technologies.

The deal comes after the guild recently ratified its film and TV with the AMPTP following a strike that lasted nearly six months. During that time, AI became one of members chief concerns. Its also an important milestone in SAG-AFTRAs current negotiations with the video game companies, which have been ongoing for more than a year. The committee for that contract is the same one that negotiated the deal with Replica.

Below, Crabtree-Ireland discusses the deal with Replica and how the guild hopes it will reinvigorate talks with the video game companies, as well as how AI will continue to be a key part of future negotiations with the AMPTP.

DEADLINE: Can you detail a bit more about the terms laid out in the agreement with Replica and why youd consider it a step forward?

DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND: I think number one, obviously, I mentioned the safe storage piece in the press conference. There are specific provisions that relate to the technological protection that needs to be put in place with regard to the storage of digital replica data or biometric data. So that would be one thing. There is a specific limitation on the use of any kind of digital replication data for training other AI systems without consent. So one of the things that we would have liked to have in the AMPTP agreement was limitation on training of AI systems, but instead ended up achieving limitations on the use of generative AI systems. But this also contains limitation on the use of work done under the contract for training purposes. There is a maximum period of use, so a time limitation on the use of these replicas and replicate data without additional consent. So its a bit different because in the AMPTP agreement, its really a project-by-project use, but theres not a specific time limitation. In this agreement, there is a time limitation after which additional payment and refreshed consent has to be obtained. And theres a column called enhanced transparency provisions regarding the specific details of the use in particular projects. So theres a sort of transparency and disclosure section that requires both detailed information about the project in question and also detailed information about the intended use of the replica. So those would be the four things that I would highlight as evolutionary advances in this agreement.

DEADLINE: You spoke very briefly about this in the press conference, but how are you hoping this agreement might invigorate the negotiations with the video game companies?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I feel like a lot of times companies may have the intention of not agreeing to things, or it may be that they just feel uncomfortable doing it because theyre concerned about a competitive disadvantage, or theyre just maybe feeling that they themselves arent expert enough and therefore theyre unsure if they should agree to certain things. So when you have a company that has a really acknowledged expertise in an area, where this is the focus of their business, and they feel confident in putting these terms in place and developing their own core business, I think that can be persuasive to other companies where that isnt their sole focus, but where theyre concerned about what the implications of certain terms are. So I do hope that this will be a model, that Replica will be a role model, in a way for those companies and perhaps help us really convince them that they can make the deal that needs to be made and that its not going to harm their business. In fact, its gonna help their business.

DEADLINE: Shreyas mentioned that this deal has been in the works for quite some time. Is it just fortuitous timing that an agreement was signed now, when youre reaching a critical moment in negotiations on your contract?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I mean, if we hadnt been on strike last year, this agreement almost certainly would have been completed sooner. But because obviously, as Im sure you can imagine, thats kind of an all-in situation. We werent able to to get this deal across the finish line while that was happening. So once the strike was over, and the agreement was ratified, we put the foot on the pedal on this one, and we were able to get it finalized in time. So the CES announcement is a happy  coincidence isnt the right term Im looking for. I dont know, maybe its fate? I dont know. But it wasnt the long term plan. We were hoping to have this announcement sooner. But were happy that were having it now.

DEADLINE: I know SAG has been having conversations about AI for a while, but they really became prominent, especially among members, during this last strike. Is there anything about those conversations you had with members that re-informed your perspective in terms of approaching negotiations about AI going forward?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Well, it was a very big conversation had amongst our membership on a widespread basis, especially during the ratification phase of the AMPTP contract. So I think that certainly informs all of us about the concerns that members have in general terms. I think it also was an opportunity to really educate our members about whats going on in AI and why the approach that our negotiating committee in that contract took was the right approach. I think it was clear that that message ultimately resonated with the vast majority of the membership, given the the ultimate results of that ratification vote. Thats all part of how we move forward. I mean, this is a democratic organization made of 160,000 members, so it can be a challenge to be nimble, sometimes, but when our members are educated and engaged as they are now, they are a force to be reckoned with. So I think that it absolutely will impact the negotiations we have over AI and all of our other contract areas, because all those employers saw how committed our members are to this, and I think they understand that.

DEADLINE: You already have a strike authorization for this video game contract negotiationare you prepared to use it? Can you give a status update on where those negotiations are at?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: We are continuing to try and close a deal with the video game companies without having to actually call a strike. We are towards the end of that road, and it remains to be seen, but well probably know in the next couple of weeks if the companies are going to make the moves necessary to make a deal. Theyre very well aware of what that is. Once we see where that is, well know where were headed. But our members are fully committed to achieving a fair deal in the video game contracts as it relates to AI and and other terms, and if a fair deal isnt reached, then we will absolutely make use of that strike authorization.

DEADLINE: This deal with Replica feels reminiscent of the WGAs strategy in the 08 strike, which was to eventually begin striking deals with individual production companies  in part to prove their terms were perfectly achievable for the studios. It is a strategy that many wondered whether it may be used again this time around with the AMPTP, but ultimately wasnt. Was that ever on the table?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: The AMPTP in the film and television contracts is a multi-employer bargaining unit, and so there are legal limitations on what we could do to prompt any of those companies to leave that bargaining unit. So that was something that could have happened if it had been evident that there was interest in doing that on the part of one of those companies. But ultimately, I really feel like if we can achieve industry wide terms that are acceptable, that really helps make sure that everyone knows whats going on and can be confident in the protections that are in place. Because, you can imagine, if we ended up with a handful or  even more than that, dozens of different versions of that agreement  how complex and confusing that could be for our members and their agents and lawyers. So I think where we can remain in a place to create industry wide standards, thats the best case scenario. But I would never knee-jerk react against the idea of discussing things with individual companies. In the case of Replica, theyre not and havent ever been part of the multi-employer bargaining group for video games, and theyre not really a video game studio. Theyre an AI company thats going to be a vendor, or partner, with video game studios. So these provisions are very specific to that role in the industry, and its a little bit different than the kinds of things were negotiating in the video game contract, which include AI but arent solely limited to AI-related concerns.

DEADLINE: The strikes took up a lot of mental energy, and Im sure everyone in Hollywood is hoping for a bit of a reprieve, but it wont be that long before SAG-AFTRA is back at the bargaining table with the AMPTP. How are you looking to push AI provisions forward in upcoming negotiations?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Itll be sooner than even most people are clocking, because Television Animation is another negotiation with the AMPTP, and I expect that to be happening during the next six months. And then the Network Code isnt technically with the AMPTP, but as you know, a lot of the same companies. So anyone who thinks were gonna get a breather from talking about, thinking about, or working on AI is just mistaken, because it is going to be, I think, nonstop for the foreseeable future. And it is really important. So theres no doubt in my mind that is worth the time and energy were putting in, because were setting up ground rules and structures that are going to be in place for many years to come and are going to really affect peoples lives. So were very focused on it.

DEADLINE: Anything else you wanted to add?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I guess the one other thing Id add is the same thing I added a lot during the film and television strike. Its even more so true in the video game context, which is this is a battle for working performers. Yes, celebrity type performers will benefit from provisions that are negotiated, but theres a whole group of performers who this is a big part of their basic ability to make a living. Its a fight that really matters for them.

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The couple's attorney called the settlement "an encouraging sign" as the pairs appeal of their criminal convictions will be heard by a court in April

Todd and Julie Chrisley have scored a legal victory amid their ongoing prison sentences for their involvement in multimillion dollar bank fraud and tax evasion scheme.

On Tuesday, a lawyer for the couple announced they are receiving a $1 million settlement from the state of Georgia to resolve their 2019 federal lawsuit against Joshua Waites, the former Director of Special Investigations of the states Department of Revenue.

Danielle Del Valle/Getty

We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and had real problems, the familys attorney, Alex Little of Burr & Forman LLP, said in a statement. This settlement is an encouraging sign.

Related: Savannah Chrisley Says Dad Todd May Move Prisons After Facing 'Retaliation' for Speaking Out About Living Conditions

The statement continued: Its nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail.

Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017/Getty Todd and Julie Chrisley

After being cleared of their state tax evasion charge in Georgia, Todd and Julie took legal action against Waites in Oct. 2019 for specifically targeting the famous family in their state tax evasion charge.

According to the lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE, the reality stars former lawyer Michael J. Bowers said that Waites initial charges against Todd, 54, and Julie, 51, was a shocking example of how an out-of-control public servant can abuse his office and violate the rights of innocent citizens for reasons that have more to do with securing publicity and money for his office than with enforcing the law.

Related: Julie Chrisley's Family Visiting Prison for 51st Birthday  the 'Last' She Hopes to Spend Behind Bars (Exclusive)

Rick Diamond/Getty Images Todd and Lindsie Chrisley

The lawsuit claims that several years ago, Waites began to focus his efforts and desire on the Chrisley family, particularly Todd as well as his estranged daughter Lindsie.

The Chrisleys accused Waites of targeting Lindise, 34, in an attempt to seek information about the family from her. When he was unable to get the information he wanted from her, Waites allegedly shared the Chrisleys confidential tax information with Lindsie, according to the lawsuit.

Ultimately Waitess efforts failed, but in the process, the Chrisleys were forced to incur substantial personal and financial hardship, Bowers said in the lawsuit.

Related: Savannah Chrisley Admits to Feeling 'Waves' of 'Anxiety, Grief' and 'Happiness' Before Seeing Parents in Prison

Despite being cleared by the state tax evasion case, the Chrisleys were indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2019 for 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy, all of which they have denied.

The reality stars began their respective prison sentences on Jan. 17, 2023. Todd will be released on Jan. 22, 2033, from the Federal Prison Camp Pensacola. As for Julie, she will be released from the Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky on Oct. 19, 2028. Their original sentences, which were 12 years and seven years, respectively, were reduced in September 2023.

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The attorneys for the couple noted that an appeal of their criminal convictions will be heard by the federal appeals court in Atlanta in April.



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What will become of the CW? Its the question on everyones (read: a niche community of genre-TV enjoyers) minds. The network that was once a haven for soapy teen television and schlocky superhero fare (non-derogatory!) has come under new ownership, and new ownership is taking the CW in a new direction. Beyond targeting an older demographic and importing shows from Canada, it was unclear what that direction would be. Now we have an answer in the form of the first original programming for the rebooted network, premiering January 17: Wild Cards, a new CW show with an old CW face.



That old face is Riverdale alum Vanessa Morgan, and her familiar presence is an extremely welcome way to transition the network from its wild old ways into a gentler, more approachable era. Morgan plays plucky con artist Max, who gets busted and finds herself in an unlikely partnership with police officer Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti), solving crimes as a form of probation. Greys Anatomys Gianniotti is perfectly serviceable as the handsome and disgruntled demoted cop trying to earn his way back to a desk. But its Morgan who carries the show with her megawatt charm, seeing her way through every sticky situation with upbeat optimism and clearly having a ball trying on all the different personas Max employs to solve cases. Her accent work within these different personas is not exactly Tatiana Maslany level, but she throws herself into these roles with enough aplomb that its nevertheless enjoyable to watch.

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Wild Cards

But the script leaves something to be desired and not just because of this unfortunate, immediately outdated classic rock joke: We need to project a united front. You think Hall & Oates walk on stage separately? The early episodes could have been cooked up via crime-show mad libs, and the way the mysteries resolve are not particularly imaginative, bordering on lazy. The dialogue can similarly tread into procedural paint-by-numbers territory, occasionally entering into the realm of cheesy: Jake, Jake, Jake, Ellis sighs to himself (and his cat) at one point, looking at a picture of a murder victim. What the hell was going on with you?

The supporting cast is mostly passable, though case-of-the-week guest stars vary in quality, and 90210s Jason Priestly is a bit puzzling in his role as Maxs incarcerated con-artist father. (Again, hes not helped by the script. Who can sell something as on the nose as, You know our code. Screw the rich, but dont steal from the poor?) But the two network television veterans at the shows center do a solid if not sparkling job of selling the shows central odd-couple chemistry. Theyre not exactly Bones and that dude from Buffy, or Castle and that hot girl, as Max compares them, but theyre turning out a perfunctory procedural partnership. Likewise, the character of Max is fun, but she isnt as immediately iconic as some other crime-show con artists. She can spout as many pop-culture references as she likes, but shes no Shawn Spencer from Psych.

Psych, however, may be the key to understanding Wild Cards and whats going on at its network. It seems that the CW in 2024 would like to be the USA Network in the early aughts. Psych, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, White Collarthose are all the kind of easy-watch procedurals that barely exist on television anymore. They dont even exist on the USA Network! For all the many, many options we have in terms of shows, the mid-level episodic procedural has fallen out of favor to glossy, highly serialized productions. Yet there is a market for the old ways, as evidenced by the much-talked about popularity of Suits on streaming. People still want what some would call laundry-folding television: shows with lots of episodes that are engaging, but not particularly taxing on the mind.

Enter Wild Cards, a show that is just fine. It is not reinventing the wheel, nor is it even coming anywhere close to perfecting the wheel, at least in these first couple of episodes. But its hitting those old familiar beats that are enjoyable, even soothing, to watch, with very pleasant and likable characters at its core. Dont expect something as sharp as Psych or as mysteriously compelling as Suits, but this is certified laundry-folding TV. With some time and care, it could easily find its own groove.

And while fans of the CWs former zaniness may be disappointed by this outcomeMorgans involvement aside, Wild Cards couldnt hold a candle to the kind of shenanigans that went down on Riverdalethis is not bad territory for the network to stake a claim on, nor is it that much of a stretch from its former slate. The CW was always a home for televisions middle class, and though USA-style shows may be a different neighborhood, theyre at least in the same county. Perhaps its too much to hope that the CW, a typically troubled network, could revive an entire ailing genre of television, especially when the new regimes first big swing was to go all-in on Jesus. But Wild Cards suggests the broadcaster is moving in a positive and pleasingly recognizable direction, one that has a proven audience. Well see if the series, and the network, manages to stick the landing.

Wild Cards premieres January 17 on the CW


If you've ever been to Spain, chances are you've seen or tried one of the country's most popular foods: paella. This rice-based dish varies in ingredients, though many traditional Spanish versions incorporate different combinations of seafood such as shrimp, squid, and mussels. Practically anything is fair game though, including meat, so celebrity chef Martha Stewart embraces the best of both worlds. Specifically, she combines shellfish with two types of meat  chicken and pork  for a hearty and flavorful paella.

"Snails, believe it or not, were once the most commonly used meat in the Valencian paella, as they were cheap," Stewart explained in a paella tutorial she posted via Martha's Cooking School. "For special occasions, they added rabbit or duck, but nowadays you can have chicken; you can have pork."

These ingredients have more than proven themselves as two of many stars in Stewart's paella recipe. As a crispy and flavorful rice, the dish is actually capable of feeding up to 12 people. To ensure your paella truly pleases that crowd, follow Stewart's lead for preparing the meats. First, she marinates and browns her poultry before integrating it with pork and, later, seafood.

Read more: Ina Garten's 12 Best Cleaning Tips For A Mess-Free Kitchen

Stewart Uses Both Chicken And Pork In Addition To Shrimp And Squid.

Pan of paella - BooFamily/Shutterstock

Any paella will incorporate an array of ingredients, but, for Stewart, it's best to start with meat. The chef begins her cooking process by marinating chicken thighs in paprika and olive oil. After 4 hours, she cooks that chicken with salt and pepper. Once the poultry has had time to brown, she then adds 1-inch squares of pork, cooking her meats as a precursor to the remaining recipe.

From there, Stewart adds her other ingredients: vegetables  namely, peppers, onions, and tomatoes  and, of course, seafood. Specifically, her recipe pairs that chicken and pork with a combination of shrimp, calamari, mussels, and clams. These flavors and textures synthesize in a dish that's bursting with intricacy. Plus, you don't have to choose between meat and seafood, or rice and veggies. With paella, you get a little bit of everything.

Just make sure to follow a few tips you need for cooking paella. Most notably, you'll want to stop stirring your rice to ensure that desired crispiness, which is yet another texture that complements your seafood and meat.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.
The year has just begun, and workers are shifting into new positions, roles, and jobs. And, as they leave their old companies behind, they've become a bit more comfortable with sharing the wild stories from their previous jobs. So, I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share their biggest workplace scandals.

Jasmine Star / Via giphy.com

Here's what they said:

1."My BOSS peed in the water cooler. Which numerous employees then drank from. It was so shocking."

"She got fired, but on her last day at the company, she mixed her period blood AND diarrhea in with the water. This time it was obvious enough that no one drank from it, but we had to get a different water cooler."

Anonymous

2."I worked as a cosmetology instructor at the school where I got my training. The owner asked me to start keeping track of the inventory and report directly to him. I began to notice small equipment disappearing and cases of supplies dwindling faster than they should have been. After several weeks of me turning in these odd reports, the owner appeared to leave early one day, but snuck back in long after the school was closed."

"He caught a senior instructor loading cases of school supplies into her car. She had been stealing from the school to stock her own salon. I don't know what transpired between the them, but she was not fired; her hours were cut back, and I think that she may have had to turn in some of her keys. Her daughter was also an instructor at the school and was absolutely mortified by her mother's behavior."

mkasenbauer

3."An employee put superglue in our bosss shampoo. She got fired. It later emerged that this was because our boss slept with her sister, boyfriend, AND grandpa!"

Anonymous

4."When my school changed accrediting agencies, the new agency required all faculty to provide proof of graduate degrees. One professor was discovered to have been employed for years based on a PhD that they did not actually possess."

"When confronted, they claimed to be in witness protection, and said the PhD was part of their cover. However, one of our administrators was married to an FBI agent, who clarified 'thats not how witness protection works.' The next day there was a job opening in the department."

unclesimian

5."A coworker arrived, uninvited, at the funeral of our HR heads grandmother."

Anonymous

6."I used to work at a hospital. There was this one doctor who was known for having a tendency to sleep with nurses (it was all very Greys Anatomy). Anyway, there was a new nurse on our unit, lets call her Jay. Well one day, maybe a year into her being there, this huge story comes out that Dr. X was mauled by a bear while out on a rafting trip over the weekend."

"He survived, and everyone is dying to know the details of what went down. This is where it comes out that he was saved by none other than nurse Jay who ALSO happened to be on the trip with him. So this is how our entire unit found out that Jay was sleeping with Dr. X. This is also how Jay found out she and Dr. X were not exclusive like she thought and that she was one of his many nurse girlfriends. Things got pretty icy between them on the unit after that! I guess she didnt know his reputation like the rest of us."

Anonymous

7."I worked at a newspaper when I was fresh out of college, and there were rumors going around about a manager in advertising and the head of the shipping department having an affair (they were both married to other people). The big bosses called the entire company together to discuss how spreading 'harmful rumors' about coworkers was awful for morale and that the 'current rumors' were false and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for spreading gossip."

"A week later, the advertising manager and shipping head were arrested for having sex in his car in the middle of the afternoon while parked on a residential street, in full view of several houses. And because they were arrested, the story was considered news and ran in our newspaper. Needless to say, they were fired, and big bosses never weighed in on 'office gossip' again."

winterwednesday9

8."I worked at a clinic where the business manager, clinic manager, and a customer service rep were in a love triangle. Management was forbidden from having relationships with the hourly staff, but the CS rep got preferential treatment from the business manager, and dirty looks from the clinic manager."

"One day an expensive watch showed up on the clinic manager's desk, and then it appeared on the business manager's wrist. That same day, the CS rep went home crying. Then the triangle broke up, and the clinic manager started dating a doctor's assistant."

Anonymous

9."In the '90s, before the internet came along to destroy it, I worked for a very profitable magazine. We had a large roster of staff writers and an even larger roster of freelancers. One of those freelancers requested a pay raise and was denied, so he decided to try and form a union."

"Because he wasnt familiar with most of the magazines staff, he looked up their names in the phone book and started cold-calling. He called one woman and got her voice mail, left a message. When she called him back, he launched into his spiel about how the magazines owner was such a cheapskate bastard, it was time to get his comeuppance, he needed to learn about the power of the working class, etc., etc. After an awkward silence, the woman said, 'You dont know that Im his wife, do you?' That was the end of the union drive, though that freelancer did continue to write for us!"

Anonymous

10."We were at Disney for a company-wide sales meeting. While all of us were at the bar, we noticed that there were TVs in there showing off the beauty of the resort. All was okay until one of the pictures on the monitor was a manager and rep having some serious sex in the pool."

"The manager was fired, and the rep left the company out of embarrassment. That was quite a show and a shock."

Anonymous

11."Between early 2018 until early 2019, I was working at this shoe store in the mall. This girl, who was a few months pregnant, ended up getting hired. Her boyfriend would stop by sometimes just to say hi and socialize with everyone. They were both pretty nice. Well, maybe a couple months into her employment, she was let go. I didn't say anything at first or ask any questions but, me being super nosy, I asked one of the other managers what happened."

"Turns out this girl, I think after hours or something, would meet her boyfriend out back, with his car, and smuggle shoes from the store and put them in his car. The manager position she had held became available again, and I took it LOL."

midwestgirl97

12."At a school I taught at, A and B were best friends. B found out A was hooking up with people from Craigslist (long time ago). A is married. B told A's husband. A and husband got a divorce. A and B are no longer friends. A moved to a different school."

vizslaowner2

13."A member of staff who worked [the] night shift decided to take *extremely* explicit pictures of himself in the office. How do we know? Well, he used the work camera, then downloaded them to a shared work computer, and used his work email address to email them out to a whole bunch of lucky (?) ladies."

"He was butt ass naked on his bosss desk for most of them. Im still baffled to this day. We work in IT. He must have known he would be caught. Having to slide those printed pictures over to him during the HR meeting and ask, 'Is this you?' was not a highlight of my career."

Anonymous

14."I work for a company with about 60 employees. Small enough to know everyone by name, but big enough to have multiple departments. Seven months ago a new colleague joined my team, and he's been saving the day. Swoops in with the right tips and knowledge, and he's promoted to team lead after just a few months (not uncommon) and soon discovers another coworker (fellow team lead) has been stealing!"

"Well, it turns out that's a LIE, and he was framing her, because she dumped his cousin last year. They had been planning this together and managed to somehow fake him being good at his job so he'd be promoted to the same team as her, so he could 'unmask' her crimes. The rest of us were all quite surprised when this unfolded."

Anonymous

15."Worked in a small design center. One of the team members brought their daughter into work. No big deal, it's a small center. Were all kind of family. Next day, one of the people comes into work and says, 'You cant bring your daughter to work here anymore. Im not allowed to be around children.' Said person never worked there again."

Anonymous

16."I once worked at a well-known online furniture retailer most of you would be familiar with in their call center. One day, an employee went into the bathroom and..."

"...did their business, but instead of flushing it, they decided to smear it all over the walls. We spent the rest of the day trying to figure who the perpetrator could be."

Anonymous

17."I worked the front desk at a small, local motel. We gave good rates to people traveling for business, and the manager was always down for a good haggle, so we had a lot of regular clients. One night the manager drunkenly confessed to me that he was having an affair with one of our regular male clients, who was married to a woman and had three grown children together."

"It carried on for quite some time and eventually became an open secret among the staff who all had varied opinions, basically ranging from 'who cares, two consenting adults, etc.' to 'staff, especially managers, shouldn't sleep with clients, and he should be fired.' They eventually decided to come clean with the wife because the relationship became serious. Rather than divorcing or separating, the wife turned out to be ok with it, and the three of them became a throuple. It was NOT the outcome we were all expecting and caused far more gossip than if there had been some for of breakup. This was several years ago now, and as far as I know, the three of them are still very happy together."

Anonymous

18."Worked at a major theater. The nicest woman ran it for many years. She was always so friendly and jolly. One day, the cops raided the place. Turns out, when adults were paying cash, the nice lady was ringing up children tickets and pocketing the overage adult payment."

"She had been doing it for years, enough time to rake in six figures. The thievery was discovered by chance  a random computer glitch that caused someone to investigate. No wonder she was so jolly all the time; this modest job was making her (momentarily) rich!"

Anonymous

19."School bus driver + getting blowjobs from sex workers while driving regularly = big lawsuits."

Anonymous

20."This story is from my husband. He worked for a big landscape company, and all of the trucks had a two-way radio. One of the crew chiefs was having an affair with the owners wife, and he was talking naughty to her on the phone. She was on speaker. Unfortunately for him, he was sitting on the transmitter/receiver button of the two-way radio, and their entire conversation was being broadcast."

"My husband couldnt call to him over the radio (the other guy had his radio button pushed in), and he wouldnt answer my husbands phone calls  too busy I guess. So the entire company couldnt use the radio, and they had to listen until the crew chief and owners wife got done."

Anonymous

21.And finally, "My coworker worked as a male escort to make money on the side, and he often went to clients houses for it."

"You can imagine our boss's surprise when he walked into his home to see his adult daughter with said coworker  who was in a sexy Santa fit which consisted of nothing but a Santa hat. My poor coworker had no idea. "

Now I'm curious  what's the biggest scandal that has ever taken place at your job? Let us know in the comments. Or, if you'd like to remain anonymous, use this Google form. Your response may be used in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A campaign to save Benito the giraffe from extreme temperatures and a small enclosure in Mexicos arid northern border city of Ciudad Juarez has finally paid off, with officials promising to move him to a more spacious animal park 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) to the south.

Benito arrived in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, in May 2023 as a 3-year-old, and since then has had to put up with the scorching desert sun with just a small patch of shade, as well as the winter cold and winds.

Right now he's suffering from the winter weather, said Ana Felix, a Ciudad Juarez animal rights activist whose group We Are Your Voice led the fight to find a better home for Benito. These winds of 25 miles per hour (40 kph) are what are really affecting the health and life of the giraffe now.

It can't come a minute too soon for Benito. Temperatures in Ciudad Juarez were forecast to drop to 25 degrees (-4 Celsius) on Monday, for example.

The government of the northern state of Chihuahua on Monday confirmed it had reached an agreement to transfer Benito to the Africam Safari park in the central state of Puebla because the well-being of Benito is the priority.

Africam operates a safari-style park in which animals roam large enclosures, while visitors observe many of the species from their cars.

Benito the giraffe looks out from his enclosure at the city run Central Park, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Activists are working to get Benito, a 3-year-old male giraffe who arrived in May, removed from the small enclosure in the Mexican border city. Activists say it is cruel to keep the giraffe in the small fenced enclosure, by himself alone, with only about a half-acre to wander and few trees to nibble, in a climate hes not used to. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

Felix said the decision was long overdue and came only after activists had mounted social media campaigns showing Benito crouching with only his head under a small, circular canopy for shade last summer.

The Attorney General's Office for Environmental Protection, known by its Spanish initials as Profepa, wrote that it had taken administrative possession of the giraffe and that he would remain where he was until several days of paperwork were completed for the transfer.

More: El Paso Zoo mourns loss of sun bear Heliana

Fortunately Africam Safari has agreed to take him, and now it's only a matter of Profepa hurrying up and issuing the paperwork needed to transfer this giraffe, Felix said.

Africam Safari Director Frank Carlos Camacho said in a video that his reserve is ready to receive him, but noted that moving an animal the size of a giraffe across the country is a complicated thing.

Moving him from Chihuahua to Puebla is going to be a long move, Camacho said.

Felix said authorities finally took action late, but still in time.

At Ciudad Juarez's city-run Central Park, Benito had a small shed for winter, but activists said it was cruel to keep the giraffe in a small fenced enclosure, by himself, with only about a half acre to wander and few trees to nibble, in a climate hes not used to.

A child offers a carrot to Benito the giraffe at the city run Central Park, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Activists are working to get Benito, a 3-year-old male giraffe who arrived in May, removed from the small enclosure in the Mexican border city. Activists say it is cruel to keep the giraffe in the small fenced enclosure, by himself alone, with only about a half-acre to wander and few trees to nibble, in a climate hes not used to. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

The park also built a larger sun canopy for the giraffe and dredged out garbage and fetid water from a pool that took up much of the enclosure.

By June, Benito appeared to have just about finished off the only small trees within his reach at Central Park and could do little more than walk in circles.

Benito's presence had been important in boosting the parks popularity among visitors, largely children. Monthly visits rose from about 140,000 before Benito arrived to 200,000 after.

Benito was donated by a zoo in the much more temperate climate of Sinaloa, a state on Mexicos northern Pacific coast. Benito couldnt stay with two other giraffes at the Sinaloa zoo because they were a couple, and the male could become territorial and attack the younger Benito.

The giraffes arrival was a point of pride for Ciudad Juarez, a tough, dusty city across from El Paso, Texas, that is best known for its hundreds of maquiladora assembly factories and its endemic gang violence.

Central Park also holds a few other animal species like ducks and donkeys, but Felix wants those rehoused, as well.

Benito is leaving, but we are going to continue fighting to get all the animals out of that place, she said. It is not an adequate place for animals, it is just a plain old regular public park.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Benito the Giraffe in Juarez gets new home in warmer southern Mexico
Sourcing textiles and fashion items from so many countries around the globe is exciting and diversifies a brands offerings. It can also be a bit daunting. Thats why Texworld New York City, the largest sourcing event on the East Coast with 300 exhibitors from 20 countries, gives visitors practical trend and industry information to help direct their buys and optimize their business.

Held January 22-24, 2024 at the Jacob K. Javits Center with three co-located showsTexworld New York City, Apparel Sourcing New York City and Printsourcethe organizers have created rich educational programming, on-the-floor services and designated country pavilions to make the process more accessible. Here, a pre-show and show primer.

More from Sourcing Journal

First, before hitting the show, get prepped with educational media, from Texworlds downloadable whitepaper 10 Musts for Every Apparel Sourcing Executive in 2024, to The Texworld Thread for show updates and insights and the shows latest digital magazine Zeitgeist.

Once on the floor, navigate the shows international sourcing map with Texworld New York Citys dedicated country pavilions.

The Turkey Pavilion, for example, will spotlight Turkeys dynamic and evolving textile landscape, underscoring its position as a key player in the international textile market. We are delighted to welcome the Turkey Pavilion to our winter event. Turkeys rich history in textile craftsmanship and its contemporary approach to manufacturing make it an invaluable addition to our diverse showcase of global talent, said Jennifer Bacon, VP of Fashion + Apparel, Messe Frankfurt Inc.

Many companies also want to discover sources closer to home. As part of a forward-thinking initiative to empower the American supply chain, visitors can explore expanded domestic sourcing offerings inside the SEAMS Supply Chain USA Pavilion, a new addition to the Local Sourcing segment of the event. The expansion, coupled with Texworld New York Citys new partnership with SEAMS, enhances the shows ability to provide a dynamic platform for exhibitors and attendees alike.

Sustainability and business

In addition to walking and shopping the co-located shows, attendees should be sure to visit the Textile Talks stage for informative panels and presentations each day, plus Explore the Floor guided tours by industry experts.

Sustainability, notably the business of sustainability, will be a major focus at the event, and there is so much to learn. With so many international regulations and initiatives to be aware of, dont miss The Green Transition: How Global Legislative Changes are Revolutionizing the Industry, a panel exploring international regulations and initiatives on the industrys strategies, operations and sustainability efforts. To understand what makes investors partner with innovators and brands, check out Incentivizing Sustainability: How Investors are Reshaping the Supply Chain.

On the materials side, its important to keep up with the the latest ways the textile industry is evolving to be more sustainable, and Texworld New York City panels, hubs and tours will focus on next-gen fibers.

A new collaborative initiative between Texworld NYC and Material Innovation Initiative (MII), the Next-Gen Innovation Hub specialty area will provide buyers with insight and innovative, high-performing and sustainable fiber and material alternatives. A leader in advancing the next-gen materials revolution, MII connects science and big ideas, and the collaborative Next-Gen Innovation Hub will champion clean fashion, environmental responsibility and cruelty-free innovation.

At MII, we applaud Texworld for recognizing and understanding the need to act now in showcasing the next generation of material and fiber innovators, stated Nicole Rawling, co-founder + CEO of MII. Sustainability must be at the forefront of every collection.

For an expanded business overview touching on everything from sustainability to trade, labor, raw materials and more, The Sourcing Outlook 2024 panel is a must attend.

Fashion and trends

There cant be on-trend fashion sourcing and development without on-trend fashion forecasting, so it will be essential to pop into at least one or more of the events various fashion showcases, panels and tours, featuring forward-looking trend themes for Spring/Summer 2025.

A trend table from Texworlds Summer 2023 event

Perclers Paris will present four seasonal moods within S/S 2025 Colors and Inspirations, coupled with their exclusive colors to explore A Creative Take on Less is More. Meanwhile, Kai Chow, creative director of trend agency DONEGER | TOBE will feature a Trend Showcase plus a guided tour.

Japanese style will be on full display at the Sakura Collection Fashion Show on the Textile Talks Stage.

Texworld New York City has also partnered with Milan-based institution Arsutoria, renowned for its contributions to footwear and leather goods education. Delving into global trends of shoes and bags, Arsutorias showcase will curate a trend area of over 200 material samples focusing on leathers, textiles, soles and accessoriesfeaturing the intersection of tradition and innovation in the fashion industry.

To register or get more information about programs and exhibitors, visit www.texworldnyc.com
Why do bagels have holes? So that they can carry the weight of your heavy appetites.

These wheel-shaped carbs will be working overtime to help you for National Bagel Day on Monday, Jan. 15.

Here are nine places in Delaware where you can get your bagel on for this tasty holiday.

Surf Bagel  Rehoboth Beach, Lewes, Milford, Long Neck

From chocolate chip to French toast, Surf Bagel rides the wave of 20-plus flavors for you to fill your belly. One of their most popular items is the Malibu Bunny sandwich made with your choice of bagel, avocado, veggie cream cheese, lettuce and tomato. Breakfast sandwich options include scrapple, bacon, sausage, Taylor ham, egg, cheese and home fries.

There are also breakfast burritos. Lunch sessions offer a bunch of sandwiches such as cheesesteaks to La Guatemalan (grilled chicken, grilled peppers, three cheese blend, salsa, sour cream) and salads. Smoothie fans can get their fix at Surf Bagel as well.

Rehoboth: 18675 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach (302) 643-2732.

Lewes: 17382 Coastal Highway, (302) 643-4090.

Milford: 204 NE Front St., (302) 503-5119.

Long Neck: 36908 Silicato Drive, Millsboro; (302) 990-3747; surfbagel.com

Bagelmania, Newark

When breakfast and wrestling collide, you end up with Bagelmania. It's a food fight in your mouth that encourages customers to lay the smackdown on hunger pangs. Bagelmania is home to bagel chips, a snack you can munch on with one of their 11 cream cheese flavors.

There are 26 kinds of different bagels like orange-cranberry, chocolate chip, oatmeal and cheddar-dill. Bagelmania's favorites include pizza and lasagna (!) bagels, along with the Blue Hen Special (grilled or spicy chicken with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard).

Folks can order breakfast sandwiches with scrapple, sausage (pork or turkey), ham and bacon (pork or turkey), lunch sandwiches, soups and salads.

416 Suburban Drive, Newark; visit bagelmaniade.com or call (302) 369-1950.

New Castle Bagels, near New Castle

You can go old-school with these fresh New York-style bagels. Whether you like your bagel topped off with gourmet cream cheese, peanut butter or jelly  you can have it all here. New Castle Bagels offers breakfast sandwiches paired with scrapple, Taylor ham, bacon (pork and turkey), steak, corned beef and roast beef, plus burgers, wraps and muffins.

1420 N. Dupont Highway, near New Castle. Visit newcastlebagsels.com or (302) 325-3990.

Original Hot Bagels  Newark, Pike Creek

Bagel burgers are a thing around here. You have the option of beef bagel sandwiches (American cheese, provolone, Swiss, mozzarella, cheddar) or a veggie alternative. The pizza bagel is on tap, plus other varieties like cinnamon, blueberry, egg, sun-dried tomato and spinach.

Breakfast sandwiches are available with various meat options like scrapple, steak, chorizo, ham, bacon (turkey and pork), sausage (pork and turkey).

There are also classic hot and cold sandwiches with pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, turkey, white fish salad, cheesesteaks and more.

Newark: 695 E. Chestnut Hill Road; (302) 369-8809.

Newark: 131 E. Main St.; (302) 533-7299.

Pike Creek: 4738 Limestone Road; (302) 660-2405; theoriginalhotbagels.com

Einstein Bros. Bagels, Rockland, Brandywine Hundred, Newark

Einstein Bros. is like the Build-A-Bear Workshop of bagel shops. You can sink your teeth into eight of their gourmet bagels like the cheesy hash brown, apple cinnamon, spinach Florentine and six-cheese bagel. Their classic and signature bagels include pretzel, French toast, blueberry and Asiago cheese options.

Rockland: 1600 Rockland Road; (302) 651-4200

Brandywine Hundred: 1732 Marsh Road; (302) 478-7488

Newark: 221 Academy St., Newark; Call (302) 831-2057 or visit einsteinbros.com

Georgia Boy's Bagel Cafe, Dover

Georgia Boy's Bagel Cafe in Dover are known for their festive seasonal bagels like these Valentine's Day nibbles.

Delawareans are welcome to a warm serving of Southern comfort from Georgia Boy's Bagel Cafe. This shop has whipped up fresh bagels in Dover since 2015. Georgia Boy's offers everything from classic bagels to playful flavors like the French toast. Around the holiday season, they serve multicolored bagels like their festive green and red Christmas-themed nibbles.

136 Greentree Village, Dover; visit facebook.com/georgiaboysbagels or call (302) 672-7450.

Newark Deli & Bagel

Breakfast sandwiches like this bacon, egg and cheese can be found at Newark Deli & Bagel, along with other tasty items.

This bagel shop has had a home in Newark for over 20 years and has racked up reader awards from area publications, including Delaware Online/The News Journal. Their menu serves various bagels like multigrain, whole wheat, poppy, onion, sesame and cinnamon bagels. There are breakfast sandwiches and club sandwiches including corned beef, Santa Fe turkey, salami, ham and cheese. Vegan and vegetarian options include the avocado sandwich and hummus wrap.

36 E. Main St., Newark; visit newarkdeliandbagels.com or call (302) 266-7150

Manhattan Bagel  Talleyville and Middletown

Rishen Patel, who owns Manhattan Bagel in Middletown, visits with a group of customers who come into his shop daily to enjoy the food and atmosphere.

So many shops love to sell the New York-style bagel. But only a few are named Manhattan Bagel. Manhattan has been a staple in local communities since 1987. Customers have nearly two dozen bagel options to choose from, ranging from blueberry to garlic. Breakfast sandwiches include smokehouse brisket egg and cheesesteak bagels. Lunch offers bagel sandwiches with white albacore tuna, avocado, ham and Swiss, white fish salad, plus Ellis Island Hot Pastrami.

Talleyville: 3505 Silverside Road, Concord Plaza; (302) 543-7498

Talleyville: 3209B Concord Pike; (302) 477-0700.

Middletown: 400 W. Main St.; (302) 378-8404

Wawa, statewide Delaware

Wawa offers an easy way to celebrate National Bagel Day in Delaware on Monday, Jan. 15.

There's basically a Wawa everywhere you turn in the First State, which means it wont be hard to celebrate National Bagel Day.

Wawa isn't a standalone bagel shop so their variety is limited. But you can level up your bagel with three types of cream cheese and keep it moving on your way to work in the morning.

Visit wawa.com

If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: National Bagel Day 2024 in Delaware: From fresh bagel burgers to pizza
People shop for goods for the farmers' New Year at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Huang Zhiqi/Xinhua)

People shop for goods for the farmers' New Year at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Huang Zhiqi/Xinhua)

A vendor promotes traditional Tibetan headwear at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

People shop for goods for the farmers' New Year at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

A girl, wearing traditional Tibetan headwear and holding a bunch of artificial flowers purchased for the farmers' New Year, poses for photos at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

People shop for goods for the farmers' New Year at a market in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 9, 2024. Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

As the festival approaches, the streets and markets in Xigaze are exuding a cheerful and festive atmosphere. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)
A raft of business and human rights organizations this week inked a groundbreaking new memorandum of understanding that seeks to improve working conditions and prevent forced labor at all stages of cotton and textile production in Uzbekistan.

The two-year agreement, whose signatories include the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the Association of Cotton-Textile Clusters of Uzbekistan, the Solidarity Center and the Uzbekistan Ministry of Employment, is a cornerstone of a new CIPE-Solidarity Center project that seeks to build on efforts to reform the Central Asian nations cotton supply chain following its decade-plus ice-out by the worlds biggest brands spooked by state-imposed modern slavery.

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Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Cotton Industry of Uzbekistan will comprise an effective worker-led reporting and grievance remedy system, plus an education and incentive system for workers, managers and employers that promotes compliance with standards of transparency, labor rights and good corporate governance through tripartite mechanisms and improved dialogue.

The Solidarity Center looks forward to working with CIPE and the Cluster Association to support [the] development of a cotton industry in Uzbekistan that is recognized and rewarded in the global marketplace for upholding labor standards at the highest levels, Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director at the Solidarity Center, said at the programs launch in Tashkent last month.

The Solidarity Center, a worker rights organization based in Washington, D.C., is a member of the Cotton Campaign, a broad coalition of trade and civil society groups that led the boycott against Uzbek cotton in 2009. Backed by the likes of Adidas, H&M Group and Zara owner Inditex, the move was so successful that demand for Uzbek cotton careened from 50 percent of the countrys exports in 2000 to less than 1 percent, an Uzbek trade official told S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2019.

In March 2022, the International Labour Organization, which had been monitoring the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan under an agreement with the World Bank since 2015, declared Uzbekistan free of child and forced labor. The same month, the Cotton Campaign called off the blackballing, citing a breakthrough in the elimination of systematic child and forced labor from the countrys fields.

In a report for the campaign at the time, the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights wrote that Uzbekistan has demonstrated that it can harvest cotton almost entirely without coercion through growing mechanization, increased wages for cotton pickers, the abolishment of state regulation of cotton production and sales, and effective communication by the central government of its policies prohibiting modern slavery.

A branch of ripe cotton on the cotton field in Uzbekistan.

For the first time, independent monitors did not document systemic, government-imposed forced labor organized by the central government in any of the areas monitored, the report said. Although there were some incidents of forced mobilization of state employees imposed by government officials, it was not on a scale that suggests it was coordinated by the central government.

That September, the U.S. Department of Labor struck Uzbek cotton off its annual list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor. Better Cotton, the worlds largest sustainable cotton initiative, gave the fiber its vote of confidence when it announced a country-specific program in Uzbekistan last January.

But Allison Gill, forced labor program director at Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights, another member of the Cotton Campaign, previously told Sourcing Journal that these actions do not simply give a green light to buyers; its more like a yellow light. She said that buyers still need to assess and address the human rights risks that remain, including the dearth ofat the timecredible monitoring, grievance and remedy mechanisms, restrictions on association, expression and assembly, and a lack of independent trade unions.

Last April saw Better Cotton suspend Indorama Agro, one of its Uzbek partners, following allegations by the Uzbek Forum of human rights abuses, including land grabbing and union busting, though the Singapore-headquartered firm has called slated these as flawed, misleading and biased. In December, the Uzbek Forum and Human Rights Watch filed a complaint accusing Uzbek authorities of shutting down a farmers cooperative in violation of internationally protected rights to freedom of association and organization.

The right of farmers in Uzbekistan to form and function as cooperatives is protected in national legislation and in international labor and human rights law, said Uzbek Forum director Umida Niyazova of the association, which the producers created to allow them greater control over the terms of sale of their raw cotton, rather than obligating them to release it to a specific private-sector cotton-textile cluster, as per government policy. Farmers also faced harassment, she said.

Permanently shutting down a farmers cooperative would be a serious blow to freedom of association and the right to organize and would serve as a major setback to Uzbekistans agricultural reform agenda, said Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. All eyes will be on the upcoming appeals hearing as a test of Uzbekistans commitment to its international labor and human rights obligations.

At the CIPE-Solidarity Center projects debut, Abdulwahab Alkebsi, managing director for programs at CIPE, expressed confidence its plan.

We believe that our partnership will support the creation of effective management systems and serves to strengthen social protection, improve labor relations based on international standards and create decent and safe working conditions for workers, he said.
According to the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the food supply for hundreds of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated. In a press statement given on Tuesday night while in Tel Aviv, Blinken noted: For the mother or father trying to find something to feed a hungry child, the passage of another day without food is excruciating.

His statement comes after a weekend visit to the World Food Programs regional coordination warehouse in Amman. Matthew Lee of the Associated Press wrote that is where trucks are being packed with aid to be delivered to Gaza," while also noting that not nearly enough food, water and fuel is reaching the people who need it.

Almost the entire population of 2.3 million depends on the trucks coming across the border for their survival, Lee reports. One in four Palestinians in Gaza is starving, and the rest face crisis levels of hunger, according to the U.N.

Aid groups estimate that Gaza needs about 500 daily truck deliveries of medicine and supplies to adequately address the crisis, however this past week, only 120 trucks entered daily through the two open entry points into Gaza, the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.
Jennifer Lawrence has detailed her stressful wedding to husband Cooke Maroney, and why she told Robert De Niro to go home during her rehearsal dinner.

The No Hard Feelings star, 33, finally dished on her 2019 nuptials to her art dealer husband while walking the red carpet at the 2024 Golden Globes. Speaking to E! News on 7 January, Lawrence joked that being a bride was awful because of the amount of stress she felt making sure her guests were having fun.

Its so stressful. Youre not having fun. Youre just like, is that person having fun? she said. The wedding ceremony  which took place in Newport, Rhode Island, in October 2019  was attended by a star-studded guest list, including Lawrences Silver Linings Playbook co-star, Robert De Niro.

Ill never forget  I was freaking out about the guests being cold, and all of my friends were lying. Theyre like, nobodys cold, nobodys cold, everythings fine, everythings fine, Lawrence recalled. My mom was like, its freezing out there. Your grandmother almost died.

However, the Hunger Games actor was especially concerned about De Niro having a good time during the rehearsal dinner. I looked over and I saw Bob, who doesnt know anybody, and hes kind of wandering around, and I immediately was like, no, this isnt what he wants to be doing. I dont want him here, Lawrence explained. So I went over and whispered, I was like, go home. And he was nice  he talked to my parents and was polite  but I was like, go.

Lawrence admitted that after the Oscar winner left it genuinely made me feel better.

Lawrence previously revealed during Vogues 73 Questions series that the Goodfellas actor didnt stay at her rehearsal dinner for very long. [I was] obviously expecting him not to come, she said back in September 2022. And when he came, I said, Bob, you really dont have to be here. You can go home. And he was like, Thank you very much, and left.

Lawrence and Maroney began dating in June 2018 after being introduced to each other by a mutual friend. The art dealer popped the question in February 2019, and they were married in October that year at the luxurious Belcourt mansion in Newport, surrounded by guests including Adele, Amy Schumer, Emma Stone, and Kris Jenner.

They welcomed their first child, son Cy, in February 2022.

Not only did Lawrence recently welcome a baby, but so did her longtime friend De Niro. The Killers of the Flower Moon star, 80, became a father to his seventh child in April 2023, when his girlfriend Tiffany Chen gave birth to daughter Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro.

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Lawrence was asked by two audience members if she had sent De Niro a post-baby present.

I did one better, I sent over a baby nurse, she replied.

Im really happy for him, Lawrence added. Meanwhile, host Andy Cohen applauded Lawrence for the kind gesture, saying that nights sleep is the best gift to offer a new parent.
LONDON  The first solo U.K. exhibition of Italian modernist designer Enzo Mari is set to be held at the Design Museum from March 29 to Sept. 8.

Born in the 30s in Novara, Italy, Maris communist upbringing played a key role in his design philosophy to create sustainably made art  which ranged from paintings and furniture to text.

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Co-curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery, and Francesca Giacomelli, Maris studio project assistant, designer, curator and researcher, the exhibition will examine the artists vast body of work, which spans nearly 2,000 objects.

The Nature Series: Preliminary sketches and variations for The Goose, Enzo Mari with Elio Mari.

Mari believed that ethics is the goal of every project. He didnt want to create objects, he wanted to create models for a different society, for a different way of producing and living, said Giacomelli.

The aim was to have people become part of the project itself: to free the others from the passive role of consumer, because the project is not a form to contemplate or to be consumed, but an instrument of transformation that requires the active participation of a community, made aware by knowledge, she added.

Pieces on display will include crisp prints of brightly colored apples and pears from Maris Nature Series, wooden jigsaw puzzles with animal-shaped pieces made as a part of 16 Animals, and archival material research.

Specially commissioned tributes from artists including Virgil Abloh, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Mimmo Jodice, and Dozie Kanu also will be on display, each reflecting on Maris life and impact.
Archaeologists in Sweden have discovered the medieval burial of an extremely tall man who was buried with a long sword  one that was nearly two-thirds of his height  and may have been a nobleman who supported the region's ill-fated union with Denmark and Norway.

The sword, which is over 4 feet (1.3 meters) long, seems to have been inlaid with a different metal to form small Christian crosses, excavation leader Johan Klange , an archaeologist with the Halland Cultural Environment, an agency of the local government, told Live Science.

Even taller than the sword was the man in the grave. Klange said he stood about 6 feet, 3 inches (1.9 meters) tall  an impressive height for the turn of the 16th century, when the average male height in Sweden was about 5 feet, 5 inches (1.65 m), according to experts.

An archaeological excavation site of a Franciscan friary graveyard in the center of the Swedish city of Halmsted.

Archaeologists found the burial during excavations of the "Little Square"  "Lilla Torg" in Swedish  at the center of the city of Halmstad, on the west coast of Sweden near Denmark. The grave of the tall man was the most prominent found in excavations of the Franciscan friary at the site, which was active from 1494 until it was destroyed in 1531 during the Protestant Reformation, Klange said.

The sword buried alongside the man was the only grave good found among 49 graves at the site and may have signified that the man was a member of the high nobility. The archeologists think the man may have been a wealthy supporter of the Kalmar Union, in which a single king ruled Sweden, Denmark and Norway between roughly 1397 and 1523.

Related: Medieval fighter may have died with an ax 'stuck in his face,' reconstruction shows

"We hypothesize that he was part of the high nobility of the Kalmar Union, and may have owned property in both Sweden and Denmark," Klange said. "These people became very, very powerful."

Catholic burial

The grave was found in mid-December during excavations at the site, which was discovered during roadworks in the 1930s, Klange said.

The friary represented the Roman Catholic Church and had been destroyed during Sweden's Reformation, which lasted from about 1527 until 1593.

The grave was found within the boundaries of the friary church, so it is likely that the man and two other people buried nearby  a man and a woman  were members of a noble family who lived in the region, Klange said.

Excavated sword in a gravesite.

Examination, including DNA analysis, of the bones in the graves will now investigate whether the three people were related, he said.

The sword, too, will be analyzed, Klange said; it seems to be in the late medieval European style known as a "longsword" or "hand-and-a-half sword," which could be used with either one or two hands.

Although the sword was made of iron, which is susceptible to rust, it is well preserved. However, the blade snapped near the hilt, likely from the roadworks in the 1930s, he added.

Kalmar Union

Image 1 of 3

The sword is made of iron and is over 4 feet long. The blade was snapped near its hilt during roadworks at the site in the 1930s.

Image 2 of 3

The sword seems to be of the medieval European style known as a longsword or

Image 3 of 3

Archaeologists note that the iron sword was inlaid with another metal to form small Christian crosses; one can be seen near the center of this photograph.

Klange said more research will investigate whether the man was a noble under the Kalmar Union, which was partly an effort to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League of northern German towns and merchants, which at that time dominated trade in the Baltic and North seas.

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Harald Gustafsson , a historian at Lund University in Sweden who wasn't involved in the excavations, explained that the Kalmar Union was a "personal union" under the same monarch, in which all three kingdoms retained their own laws and institutions.

But the Kalmar Union was riven by factional fighting, and the discord culminated in 1520 with the " Stockholm Bloodbath ," in which King Christian II executed almost 100 of his enemies.

"After that there was very little sympathy in Sweden for the union," Gustafsson said.
At first glance, the studio of independent bespoke tailor K-Zao closely resembles its industry brethren on Savile Row. Clients paper patterns hang from the wall, books and bolts of fabric sit on shelves, and garments in various stages of make idle on hangers. The shop window even displays what appears to be a royal warrant.

But upon closer inspection, its text reveals a cheeky twist: By Appointment to Their Majesty the Queer, Tailors of Suit and Purveyors of Slay.

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K-Zao, sandwiched between a kombucha brewery and a florist in a post-industrial strip of Providence, Rhode Island, is not your typical bespoke maker. But for all the surprises it holds, the service it provides is as traditional as it gets. Clients are met and measured by 26-year-old founder Bao Vu, above, who then cuts, sews, and finishes the commissioned garments almost entirely by hand.

Vu working on a commission.

In the United States, its exceedingly rare for a single individual to practice each part of the bespoke process, from conducting fittings to finishing buttonholes. This makes it all the more remarkable that Vu, who was raised in Vietnam, is entirely self-taught.

As a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, they studied sculpture before moving to Providence to take a job at Brown University. But when the onset of the pandemic nixed their employment opportunity, Vu picked up a needle and a thread.

I think I did it because I couldnt do anything else, Vu tells Robb Report.

While others mastered sourdough, Vu spent 2020 reading books on patternmaking, visiting internet forums frequented by tailors, watching instructional videos on YouTubeand making clothes for themself. K-Zao, named after a Vietnamese expression meaning folk songs, was born, and found its first client that same summer.

In the years since, the upstart business has attracted clients through appearances at local craft shows, social media, and especially by word-of-mouth. Vu estimates that about 80 percent of their clientele remain local, although the last year has brought customers from Chicago, the Bay Area, and Washington D.C.

Definitely no skinny lapels, Vu says of K-Zaos house style.

What undoubtedly appeals to clientswho, according to Vu, are typically wearing suits by choice, often for special eventsis the strongly defined house style. Jackets have high, roped shoulders, sweeping lapels, nipped waists, and long skirts; trousers are full and flowing. Stylistically, lapels are often peaked, pockets are usually slanted, and jackets are secured by a single button.

But in contrast to the more structured English tailoring it referencesVu names Chittleborough & Morgan and Tommy Nutter as particular influencesVus garments are built for softness. Except for the roping, shoulders are totally unpadded, and jackets are fully canvassed but free of the bulkier filling domette.

The resultant silhouette is strong yet sensual, and thanks to Vus preference for heavier fabrics, often possessed of significant drape. Its enough that clients, even those new to tailoring, are typically happy to leave the styling entirely in Vus hands.

A lot of people come in and say, Im just going to just pick out the colors and you get to take care of the rest. And yes, I love that, Vu says.

Not that details are non-negotiablenotched lapels and straight pockets are sighted on the studios in-progress garments. But there are certain parameters. Definitely no skinny lapels, Vu says. Its more, How wide do you feel comfortable wearing?

Vu, at left, in the K-Zao workshop with studio manager Flora Fattahi.

The K-Zao cut does not map neatly onto gender binaries, something that has endeared it to a more diverse clientele not always served by traditional tailors. When I first started out, I didnt see it as making for the male figure or the female figure. I saw it as how to take this piece of cloth and tailor it to this body, Vu says of their approach. Every body is different, and so the pattern has to reflect that.

A two-piece suit from K-Zao starts at $3,588, and typically requires two fittings. Orders are usually fulfilled in about four months. Were getting a lot busier, and so waits have been a lot longer, Vu admits. To help, K-Zao has recently added a second employee, 26-year-old Flora Fattahi, who handles day-to-day logistics as its studio manager and assists with machine-sewing the few garment seams (such as the length of the trousers) that are not sewn by hand.

Theres no questioning that Vu is an autodidactand a formidable one at that. But it would be a mistake to assume that their academic background in sculpture hasnt influenced their self-taught one in tailoring. To illustrate the link between the two, Vu compares their garments to site-specific sculptures.

It only makes sense if that person is wearing it. It doesnt mean that they cant wear it with something else. It just means that its made for them, with intentionality.

K-Zao, a sculptor by other means, is one to watch.

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A countless mass of sardines  likely numbering in the millions  recently beached themselves on an island in the Philippines, turning coastlines silver as tiny dead fish covered the shore. Around 48 hours later, the area was struck by a powerful earthquake, sparking speculation that the fish may have sensed the impending natural disaster and fled into shallow waters.

However, local experts say that the two events are unconnected and that a phenomenon known as "upwelling" was likely to blame for the unusual mass stranding.

The disorientated fish began to swim ashore in the early hours of Sunday (Jan. 7) on the coastline surrounding the municipality of Maasim, located in the Sarangani province on the southern tip of Mindanao island. Photos and videos captured by residents throughout the night show vast swarms of glittering sardines strewn across the beach and thrashing in the surf as they were swept onto the shore.

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As the sun began to rise, locals gathered to collect the dead fish. On one beach, more than 100 people each scooped up between 44 and 66 pounds (20 and 30 kilograms) of sardines each, while one family bagged more than half a ton of the tiny fish, Thai news site The Nation reported . As long as they are properly preserved, most of the dead fish will likely be eaten or sold.

Some locals believe that the unusual phenomenon is a "gift from god" and see it as a sign that the new year will be unusually prosperous, according to The Nation. But others warned that the mass stranding was an omen of natural disaster, Thai news site The Thaiger reported .

Related: 10 creatures that washed up on the world's beaches in 2023

Mases of sardines littered across beaches

At around 5 a.m. local time on Tuesday (Jan. 9), a magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck in the Celebes Sea, according to the U.S. Geological Survey . The epicenter was around 62 miles (100 kilometers) offshore from Maasim, which fueled speculation on social media that the fish had somehow sensed the impending quake.

However, it's unlikely that the two natural phenomena are connected Cirilo Aquadera Lagnason Jr, a researcher at the Protected Area Management Office (PAMO) of Sarangani Bay who witnessed the sardine beaching firsthand , told Live Science in a message on social media.

Previous research into whether animals can predict earthquakes is lacking, although it's possible that in some cases animals are responding to foreshocks, or mild tremors that precede violent shaking.

Mases of sardines littered across beaches

In this case, Lagnason Jr believes that the most likely cause was an oceanographic phenomenon known as upwelling, in which nutrients from the deep sea rise to shallow coastal waters, triggering blooms of plankton. The sardines, which feed on plankton, likely followed the blooms into the shallows and got "trapped" making it more likely for them to beach themselves, Lagnason Jr. said. Similar scenarios have previously played out at several other sites across the Philippines, he added.

A majority of the sardines, which could belong to one of half a dozen species in the genus Sardinella, were juveniles, Lagnason Jr. said. This may have played a role in disorientating the group, he added.

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Zenaida A. Dangkalan, a fisheries officer in Sarangani, also told The National that a range of other factors could have played a role, including an overabundance of sardines, changes in ocean temperatures or salinity, predator distribution and light pollution from human settlements.

The earthquake happening so soon after the stranding event is likely just a coincidence, Lagnason Jr. said. Earthquakes like this happen all the time in the "Ring of Fire"  a region of high tectonic activity that stretches around most of the Pacific Ocean, including the Philippines, he added.
On Tuesday evening in Florence, Italy, Todd Snyder held the first fashion show for his namesake brand since 2020, and first ever outside of New York. As a menswear mainstay, Snyder is right at home at Pitti Uomo, the historic trade show sponsoring the nights event. But hes a bit of an anomaly on the European runway circuit, which opened on Tuesday with Snyders Fall-Winter 2024 collection.

For one, self-described haberdashers are about as common on the runways these days as canes and top hats. His brand is only available in America, at least until later this year. He is from Iowa, and his urbane outfit of a black T-shirt and jeans cant mask some of his hokey dad energy, such as when, an hour before showtime, he described the impending production in charmingly agrarian terms.

This just feeds the whole ecosystem of the brand, he said, looking around backstage at a platoon of slouchy young models getting hair touch-ups. It really waters it. It becomes the sun, it becomes the rain, it becomes the fertilizer, it becomes everything.

I had asked him why do a runway show at all, given that he does big business selling clothes to guys who know more about Bonobos than Balenciaga. Still, even though you wouldnt have been able to tell, the middle-aged J. Crew and Ralph Lauren alum is arguably the most important American designer in Europe this season not named Rick Owens or Pharrell.

To be fair, theres not a ton of competition in that category these days. But Snyder is immensely influential in his own low-key way. Ten years ago, he was manning a booth at the Pitti Uomo fair, wholesaling his burgeoning line of suits and shirts to other shops. In the years since, hes opened 15 stores, sold the line to American Eagle (2015), and blown past $100 million in annual sales.

What sets his brand apart from the hundreds of others at Pitti Uomo is Snyders unmatched sense of how to introduce his customer to new ideas. I spend a lot of time in the store, and you see guys in there and its just like, the thrill of the hunt, said Jim Moore, Todd Snyders go-to stylist (and GQs creative-director-at-large). Todd loves that experience. You go in for a gray suit and walk out with a green shearling.

Its a subtle move, one that Snyder honed while at J. Crew in the late-aughts where he presided over the introduction of the slim Ludlow suit and the opening of the Liquor Store, a multi-brand boutique for high-end menswear disguised as a J. Crew shop. (Todd Snyder took over the Liquor Shops Tribeca storefront when J. Crew moved out in 2019.) He designs familiar pieces in unexpected wayshe rightly takes credit for the resurgence of the Gurkha shortand combines them so that the unexpectedness suddenly feels essential. The move is so subtle, in fact, that it leaves the customer feeling like taking a style risk was their idea, even though Snyder had been laying the groundwork all along.

He describes his process in simpler terms. You want to know my secret of success? asked Snyder about an hour to showtime. (I did.) I always try to think, what would be in my grandpas closet, and then how do I make it cool today?

This is a great example. Snyder grabs a heavy leather car coat off a clothing rack. If I did this in wool, youd be like, Thats so boring. But doing it in this rugged freaking stiff-ass leather and then pairing it like this He grabs a tube-neck cable-knit sweater and knee-length wool shorts that will be worn under the jacket. A whole bunch of classic things, remade for today. He called the collection The Modernist. Its a state of mind and how I think about design, whether it's designing a beautiful house, whether it's designing a beautiful car, whether it's a beautiful dish, art, music, he said. When I design, it's usually a culmination of all those things that I'm inspired by. His moodboard stood by, covered in touchpoints of a tasteful Modernist lifestyle: a vintage green Porsche 911, a Unimatic dive watch, a boxy modern house, chunky Prada loafers, and vintage Giorgio Armani runway looks from the 80s. Hes open about his referencesto a point. Erm, that probably shouldnt be up there, he said, folding up an Armani printout.

Snyder says all of the runway collection will be sold in his stores, and hes clearly thinking of exactly how each piece will play commercially six-ish months from now. There are some that are super fashion forward, and there are some that are more traditional, said Snyder of his customers. He admits the show might be catering more to the fashion forward side of the spectrum. I have a pragmatic approach when I design, but I also know I need to be a little bit more out there, especially during a fashion show. It's more important to push forward than to be like, Oh, what would my customer buy? Its more, How can I inspire my customer?

Earlier that day, I hit the Pitti Uomo fair, where 832 brands were selling their suits and shirts and belts and ties and shoes. As the Todd Snyder show got underway, it struck me what the Iowan has really figured out. What brought him from a small Pitti booth to a $100 million business and headlining slot. At risk of being reductive, Pitti and the wider menswear world is generally aimed at guys who want to look cool for other clothing nerds. Todd Snyder, on the other hand, is for guys who want to look cool on first dates. You could call it midwestern pragmatism or commercial savvy, but its clearly working.

His confidence just keeps building, said Moore. And I think he passes that confidence onto the consumer.

This fall, heres a selection of how Todd Snyders Romeos will be pulling up to the bar: In a dove gray sweater vest worn with languid suiting trousers. A pleasantly round velvet suit and a plain white T-shirt. A rayon camp shirtSnyder sells a ton of what he calls cabana setsprinted with a Van Gogh still life in collaboration with the Met. A teal cardigan over creamy velvet pants, like hes Jeremy Allen White. A satin overshirt with anything (there were many throughout the show). A Glen plaid blazer, an oversized contrast-collar banker shirt, wide-leg blue jeans, and chunky loafers. This one's very elegant, he looks like some French cool-kid taking whatever is in his dads closet but making it feel like weekend attire, said Snyder.

The collection was a clear step forward, squarely in the modern-classic menswear vocabulary Snyder has been rebuilding for years. But there was a surprising first act of the show, when Snyder unveiled Woolrich Black Label, a new collection hes designing for the Italian-owned heritage outdoor brand. My big thing for Woolrich was taking this brand that's been around almost 200 yearsa lot of it's a reinvention, but also an invention, because there's a lot of things that you would think, Oh, they should be known for that. Now, Snyder is hoping theyll be known for things like ankle-grazing sleeping bag coats, GORP-y parachute pants, and duck boots wrapped in high-tech rubber soles.

Todd Snyders menswear ecosystem, already strong, just grew even bigger.

Originally Appeared on GQ
In a time when we hear so many awful stereotypes about mothers-in-law, it's important to celebrate the wonderful examples we seelike Victoria Beckham, who celebrated her daughter-in-law's 29th birthday with an adorable message on Instagram.

Posh Spice shared a throwback video of herself and Nicola Peltz Beckham dancing on the beach on a recent family vacation to the Bahamas, accompanied by the song "Trouble" by Lindsey Buckingham.

She captioned the photo, "Happy birthday @NicolaAnnePeltzBeckham We love you so much!! Your love, kindness, talent and your ability to dance on sand in a major wedge!! The best dance partner and loving daughter in law. We love you, have an amazing day!!!!! Xxxxxx"

Honestly, I'm amazed at how Nicola is managing to dance in those huge heels on sand when I can barely manage shoes like that on concrete. Anyway.

Victoria also shared the video on her Instagram Story with the text "Happy birthday @nicolaannepeltzbeckham!!! We love you!! Kisses xx"

She also shared a photo of Nicola and her husband Brooklyn on that holiday, with the text, "We love you!!!! Happy Birthday" and a photo of just her and Nicola with stickers and "We love you!!!"

Wow, not just an Instagram post, but three stories as well? Vicky is making it clear how much she likes her daughter-in-law.

A post shared by Victoria Beckham A photo posted by victoriabeckham on

Victoria and Nicola

Nicola and Brooklyn

Have Victoria and Nicola always been so close?

Despite the warm welcome Nicola received when she started dating Brooklyn in 2019, even frequently featuring the youngest Beckham, Harper, on her Instagram, rumors swirled about her relationship with her mother-in-law.

The public displays of affection between Nicola and the Beckhams seemed increasingly infrequent as the wedding loomed closer.

Sources claimed that Victoria and Nicola had clashed dramatically over plans for the wedding, and many found proof of this post-wedding.

Brooklyn and Nicola both changed their surnames to Peltz Beckham, but Victoria repeatedly referred to them as "Mr. and Mrs. Beckham"no Peltz to be found.

Was this an attempt to show how welcome they are in the family, and highlight them as the new Mr. and Mrs. Beckham? Or a way to undermine their choice of surname?

Similarly, Nicola shared an Instagram carousel of wedding photos, and none of the nine photos contained any of the Beckhams. The caption was, "Family is everything to me ouch.

But both Nicola and Victoria denied any claims of bad blood, and there have been plenty of family photos in 2023. Harper is also frequently being featured on Nicola's account again.

Last Christmas, Victoria used the correct surname for the pair as she captioned a photo, "Happy Christmas!! Lots of love from the Beckhams and the Peltz Beckhams!!!"

Plus, that video of them dancing together makes it really seem like bygones are bygones, if there ever was a bygone to begin with.

Are the numerous birthday wishes just a way to share her love for her daughter-in-law? Or to prove once and for all that there is no feud to discuss (anymore)?

Instagram Nicola and Victoria

Instagram Nicola and Victoria

A post shared by  A photo posted by nicolaannepeltzbeckham on

Posh wasn't the only one to do a shoutout for her daughter-in-law's birthday, as her husband, David Beckham, also took the time to celebrate their newest addition to the family.

He posted an Instagram Story of Brooklyn and Nicola with the text, "Have the most amazing day we love you."

David also shared a family photo, which included Harper, Romeo, and Cruz, with the text "Here's to having more fun celebrating you."

Can they adopt me? This is more than my own family did for my birthday.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't settle for less than this with your in-laws. The Beckhams setting the gold standard, yet again.

Brooklyn and Nicola

The Beckham Family
HERAT, Afghanistan, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Seven persons were injured as a blast targeted a police car in Herat city, the provincial capital of west Afghanistan's Herat province on Wednesday, provincial police spokesperson Abdullah Insaf said.

"Seven persons have been confirmed injured following a hand grenade attack that targeted a police car in Drwazi Khosh locality of Police District 2 in Herat city," Insaf told reporters.

Police arrested one person on charge of involvement in the attack, the official said, without providing more details.

This was the second attack on vehicle in Afghanistan since Tuesday.

On Tuesday, three persons were killed and four others injured in an attack, and the Islamic State (IS) outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. 
If we were to play game of word association and we called out Napa were willing to bet that the majority of respondents, without hesitation, would reply Cabernet Sauvignon. If there were a chef or two in the mix, we might hear cabbage as well, but knowing our readers were aware that Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon remains top of mind. Exploring a little further, were sure that we could elicit at least a small amount of acknowledgment that the United States most famous wine region also produces Chardonnay. However, beyond that we think we would be hard pressed to find a large cohort of wine drinkers who are aware that Napa Valleys grows and produces a wide range of white wine.

According to the California Department of Food and Agricultures California Grape Crush Report from March 2023, the 2022 grape harvest in Napa Valley brought in 26 different white grapes, including those you may expect such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling (which the state classifies as White Riesling) as well as more surprising varieties such as Verdejo, Arneis, and Fiano. There is a separate category labeled other white wine that includes unaccounted-for varieties that dont show up in the official statistics. We know for a fact that Silverado has Kerner growing in its estate vineyards and that Dan Petrosky, the founder of Massican, buys Greco for his Gemina blend, so we think its a pretty sure bet that if you can name a white grape there is a vineyard in Napa growing it and a winery vinifying it.

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Thirty miles long and five miles across at its widest point, Napa Valley is a small wine region with a diverse assortment of climates and soil types. With vineyards ranging from sea level to

over 2,600 feet in altitude and 16 individual AVAs in addition to Napa Valley itself, there is ample opportunity to bring out the best in many different types of grapes. Of course, we are all aware of Napa Chardonnay, which ranks second in plantings behind Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Chardonnay may have been the style that prompted the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) movement, as wine drinkers began to move on from a style that tasted like a two-by-four dipped in butter in favor of more fruit forward, refreshing pours. It is made in several different styles here from fresh and high acid to well-oaked and buttery. At the top of the pyramid sits Kongsgaard the Judge, a complex and creamy Chardonnay that fetches just shy of $1,000 a bottle. Other producers that make amazing versions running the gamut from austere and high acid to full bodied and oaky include La Jota, Signorello, Alpha Omega, Far Niente, and Chateau Montelena.

Accendo Cellars is among the wineries making exceptional Sauvignon Blanc.

Sauvignon Blanc is another Napa Valley favorite whose popularity is growing in the United States thanks to its fresh tropical and citrus fruit flavors and high acidity. Its terrific to sip on its own or alongside seafood, salads, or dishes with tangy cheese. Arkenstone makes some of the best we have tasted, and there are also excellent bottles from Joseph Phelps, Lail, Eisele Vineyard, Accendo Cellars, and Frogs Leap. If you have a few thousand dollars to spare and an inside track, you can also secure an ultra-rare bottle of Screaming Eagle Sauvignon Blanc, which is among a handful of unicorn wines that everyone has heard of but no one you know is likely to have tasted.

Frequent readers know that we love our Riesling, even if the wine-loving public fails to concur. Many people fear it because they dont know if once opened a bottle will turn out to be dry, sweet, or somewhere in between. Prior to Prohibition, Riesling was one of the most widely cultivated varieties in Napa and across California, but it has been on the decline since then. Napa wineries produce world class dry Riesling on par with the finest bottles from Alsace, offering bone-dry freshness and flavors of peach and lemon with a hint of florality. Look for bottles from Chateau Montelena, Smith-Madrone Winery, Trefethen Family Vineyard, V. Sattui, Elizabeth Spencer, and Grgich Hills Estate.

For a real off-the-radar Napa white wine experience, keep an eye out for Napa Valley Viognier. This Rhone Valley transplant is grown here in miniscule amounts, but its orchard fruit flavors, pronounced florality and soft spice notes are many a wine geeks favorite. We realized it had really made it when we saw that the Prisoner Wine Company had released an Oakville Viognier called Friction. Outstanding producers include Stags Leap Winery, Darioush, the Hess Collection, Clif Family, and Sterling Vineyards.

Many Napa whites are single-vineyard bottlings that are available only to wine club members or visitors to a winery tasting room, so you are more likely to encounter some of those weve mentioned as well as the more offbeat varieties on a visit to the valley than in your local wine shop. That said, sommeliers are always on the lookout for something different to make their clients happy, so always check the Other White Wine section of the list when dining out. You may be surprised as well as pleased with what you find.

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The Anti-Defamation League has made a startling confession: It is now including pro-Palestine marches in its count of antisemitic incidents in the United States.

The ADL released its annual antisemitism report on Wednesday, announcing that there were a stunning 3,283 such incidents in 2023. Thats a 361 percent increase compared to the previous year, according to the organization, which noted the American Jewish community is facing a threat level thats now unprecedented in modern history.

The organization also stated that two-thirds of the total incidents could be directly related to the Israel-Hamas war.

The ADL report was widely covered by mainstream outlets like CNN, NBC, and Axios, which simply took the organizations word for the gigantic increase without actually checking the data behind the claim.

Not all media outlets fumbled the ball, however. As The Forward first noted, theres one big problem with the numbers: The ADL admits in its own press release that it includes pro-Palestine rallies in its list of antisemitic incidents, even if these featured no overt hostility toward Jewish people. Any anti-Israel or anti-Zionist chants are enough for the ADLs new definition of antisemitism.

The reports full list of antisemitic incidents isnt public, but under the new definition, it could even count anti-Israel protests by Jewish activists as antisemitic. Many Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of the pro-Palestine protests over the last three months.

The 2023 report includes a whopping 1,317 rallies in its list of antisemitic incidents, with no clear distinction between whether the rallies included antisemitic rhetoric or anti-Zionist chants and without regard for whether there were Jewish organizers or participants involved. In other words, the underlying data in support of this assertion is likely to be considerably inflated.

Antisemitism is a real, and growing, problemespecially in the United States. But the ADL isnt helping anyone when it defines a bomb threat at a synagogue and a Students for Justice in Palestine rally as equally antisemitic.



The problems with ADLs reporting methods have been obvious for some time to anyone paying close attention. As Eric Alterman wrote for The New Republic, the ADL has, since its founding, repeatedly changed its counting methodand then followed these periodic rejiggerings with reports asserting massive increases in antisemitic incidents. Even more troubling, the organization habitually fails to make distinctions between the various antisemitic incidents it is tracking. Graffiti found on the walls of a college dorm gets lumped together with more deadly tragedies, such as the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The organizations reporting has taken an even greater turn for the worse under chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt. In 2015, he began his leadership at the organization with a speech that made virtually no mention of the dangers of white Christian nationalism. And on Israel, Greenblatt in 2022 firmly announced: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, full stop.



In October, an ADL researcher resigned over Greenblatts condemnation of Jewish Americans protesting Israels war on Gaza. But the next month, Greenblatt only doubled down on his position, when he said that pro-Palestine activism has clarified and confirmed that fanatical anti-Zionism from the hard left is as dangerous to the Jewish community as rabid white supremacy from the extreme right.



Along the way, Greenblatt has demonstrated a hesitance to criticize one of the more appalling antisemites in public life: Elon Musk. The two mens strange alliance has drawn criticism from Greenblatts predecessor, Abe Foxman.



All that to say, the ADLs new counting method isnt a huge surprise. But it sure is disappointing to see so many media outlets take the organizations word at face value.
Andrew Warren speaks to press Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 outside of the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla. following a hearing. The case challenges Gov. Ron DeSantiss order to suspend Warren from his role as a state attorney in Tampa in August.

ST. PETERSBURG  A Democratic Florida prosecutor suspended by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will get another chance to show his political advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and could not be the basis for his removal, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case involving ex-prosecutor Andrew Warren back to a trial judge in Tallahassee to determine if the governor's suspension was improperly focused on statements Warren signed along with other prosecutors opposing certain legislation to criminalize abortion and gender care.

DeSantis, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, cited those advocacy statements in his August 2022 suspension of Warren, whom he replaced with Republican Suzy Lopez as the Tampa-based state attorney.

Warren, who had been elected twice, recently announced he would not run again this year.

In his January ruling in Warren's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle agreed with Warren's contention that the advocacy statements were protected by the First Amendment but that DeSantis would likely have suspended him anyway for other reasons.

The 11th Circuit vacated that decision and instructed Hinkle to hold further proceedings in which DeSantis would have to show that the suspension was based on issues with Warren's actual performance and policies in office, not just his political advocacy.

"The First Amendment prevents DeSantis from identifying a reform prosecutor and then suspending him to garner political benefit," Circuit Judge Jill Pryor wrote in the 59-page ruling. "The First Amendment protects his signing the transgender care and abortion statements."

The ruling adds that "neither statement referred to a specific Florida law. To the contrary, the statements, which addressed national audiences, contained language inapplicable to Florida."

Warren's suspension was the first one made by the Republican governor involving Democratic elected state attorneys. Last year, DeSantis suspended Monique Worrell, who was the state attorney for the Orlando area. Worrell is challenging the decision before the Florida Supreme Court.

Warren said in an email that he hopes the ruling leads his return to his position as state attorney.

"This is what we've been fighting for from the beginning  the protection of democracy. We look forward to returning to the District Court to obtain the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters," Warren said.

DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern said the governor's office adamantly disagrees with the appeals court, contending the ruling sets a "dangerous precedent" that could permit politically-motivated prosecutors to ignore laws they oppose.

"A state prosecutor's declared commitment to not enforce the laws of this state is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. The federal appeals court is flat wrong to have concluded otherwise," Redfern said in an email. "It's disappointing that a federal appellate court would excuse such a blatant violation of that prosecutor's oath to defend Florida law."

Last year, the Florida Supreme Court refused to reinstate Warren, saying he had waited too long to file a petition.

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Appeals Court sends case of prosecutor suspended by DeSantis to trial judge
With Joe Biden as the incumbent candidate, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson dont have much support behind them.

With Joe Biden as the incumbent candidate, Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson dont have much support behind them.

Its only Tuesday, and two of President Joe Bidens challengers are already having the worst campaign week ever.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Marianne Williamson took part in a primary debate Monday night in a downtown Manchester ballroom in New Hampshire. But some in the crowd didnt appear old enough to vote, with Politico reporting that it featured seventh graders.

Joe Biden should have been right here with us, Phillips said during the debate. He is taking the Granite State for granted, he is taking this election for granted, and he is taking every single one of you and this entire country for granted.

The no-shows continued Tuesday when zero people showed up for a campaign event hosted by Phillips in New Hampshire.

Phillips arrived at the DoubleTree hotel for an event called Coffee Conversations, according to NBC News, where he was supposed to talk and drink coffee with voters. With no voters there, Phillips instead poured coffee for staffers.

Sometimes if you build it, they dont come, Dean Phillips told reporters outside of the Manchester DoubleTree hotel this morning, after no voters showed up to his Government Repair Truck Coffee Conversations event in 22 degree weather. pic.twitter.com/x0lpVcRSnb  jake rosen (@JakeMRosen) January 9, 2024

With Biden as the incumbent candidate, Phillips and Williamson dont have much support or buzz behind them. Williamson ran in 2020 and gained national attention for her remarks during debates, including the time she said her priority as president would be to call the prime minister of New Zealand.

My first call is to the prime minister of New Zealand, who said that her goal is to make New Zealand the place where its the best place in the world for a child to grow up, Williamson said during a 2019 debate. I would tell her, Girlfriend, you are so on!

Related...
Heavy snow that blew through Wichita Monday night is not the last of the winter weather the area can expect to see this week.

Wind chills are expected to reach as low as minus 20 degrees this weekend due to an arctic air mass making its way through the U.S., including Kansas, and more precipitation is expected Thursday and Friday.

If youre hunkering down during the bitter cold this week, here are some tips to save money and keep your home comfortable.

Setting your thermostat between 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit while youre awake and lower when you leave or are sleeping is an easy way to lower your monthly energy bill. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, setting your thermostat 7 to 10 degrees lower than its normal setting for eight hours a day can save you 10% every year.

The Kansas Corporation Commission recommends setting your thermostat to 68 degrees during winter to save money. Some other tips from the commission include:

Seal cracks and leaks around the home

Open blinds during winter

Run fans clockwise

Clean and replace air filters consistently

In addition to the high costs that come along with running your heat continuously, Evergy customers in the Wichita area can expect higher energy bills compared to last year. This is due to the rate increase approved in November that took effect at the end of December.

The rate hike increased Kansas Central customers monthly energy bills by about $4.64, giving Evergy Kansas Central a net revenue increase of 3.45%.

What is the forecast in Wichita, Kansas?

Heres the forecast for Wichita for the remainder of the week, according to the National Weather Service:

Wednesday: High near 40 degrees, low of 21

Thursday: High around 39, low of 10 and a 50% chance of precipitation

Friday: High around 18, low around 6

Saturday: High 20, low 0

Sunday: High near 10, low about minus 4, with a 20% chance of snow

According to the NWS, this season is tied for the seventh snowiest start to winter in Wichita, measuring 14.3 inches snowfall-to-date.

Through 6 AM this morning, season-to-date snowfall at Wichita's National Weather Service office is 14.3 inches. This ties 1893 for the 7th snowiest start to the winter season, and is the city's snowiest start since 1988. Wichita's average yearly snowfall is 12.7 inches. #kswx  NWS Wichita (@NWSWichita) January 9, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday denounced Israel being referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for alleged genocide during its war in Gaza, calling the claim meritless.

The Biden administration, he said, believes the submission against Israel distracts the world from efforts such as securing the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack of Israel, addressing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and preventing the conflict from spreading.

And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless, he added.

South Africa on Dec. 29 formally accused Israel of genocide in an 84-page filing at the ICJ, based in The Hague, Netherlands.

South Africa contends Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, created after World War II and the Holocaust.

The court will hold its first hearing in the case Thursday, amid ongoing calls for a cease-fire in Israels brutal air and ground military assault that has killed around 23,000 Palestinians, about a third of them children.

The Biden administration has taken a hard line against South Africas genocide accusations against Israel, with White House national security spokesperson John Kirby last week also calling them meritless.

We find this submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact, whatsoever, Kirby said during a Jan. 3 White House press briefing.

Blinken, who met with top Israeli officials Tuesday, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is attempting to reach an agreement for post-war planning to begin for the Gaza Strip, large swaths of which have been leveled by Israeli bombardment.

Blinken also said Tuesday that Israel agreed to let the United Nations carry out an assessment mission to determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.

In todays meetings, I was also crystal clear: Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow, Blinken said. They must not be pressed to leave Gaza. As I told the prime minister, the United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, and the prime minister reaffirmed to me today that this is not the policy of Israels government.

Blinken also stressed that Israels government must move toward a two-state solution for Arab nations in the region to help with lasting security, pointedly telling Netanyahu to wrangle far-right actions allowed under his government.

Partner countries said that they are ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence, Blinken said. But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.

He added: Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians ability to govern themselves effectively. Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions, all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.

Blinken, on a massive trip throughout the Middle East to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading into a regional war, has also met with the leaders of Greece, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia  with the latter three all having voiced support for South Africas case.

This is Blinkens fourth trip to the region since the war began three months ago.

Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
BOSTON  Torrential downpours that flooded farm fields and washed away communities, arctic temperatures that froze fruit tree blossoms  Massachusetts has been hit again and again throughout the past year with catastrophic weather events, prompting two lawmakers to file bills toward a disaster relief trust fund specifically to help local recovery efforts.

Glen Stillman, owner of Stillman's Greenhouses & Farm in New Braintree, indicates standing water between rows of red cabbage.

In discussing the legislation at a virtual meeting hosted by the International Association of Emergency Managers Region 1 Tuesday, the legislators emphasized that the proposed $250 million fund would bring the state in line with 48 others nationwide. Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only two states without a dedicated disaster relief fund.

The fund would be used for all emergency disaster relief, both natural and human-caused, said Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, who filed the legislation with Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield. While she noted that the state was hard-hit in 2023 by weather-related disasters, the fund would not be limited to climate-related events.

The funds would alleviate damage, loss, hardship or suffering," caused by hurricane, tornado, storm, rain, flood, tidal wave, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, extreme heat, fire or drought, among other events, and would supplement any federal disaster funding.

Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton

Given the uncertainty of a federal disaster declaration, Massachusetts residents, businesses, private, nonprofit community organizations and municipalities can be left footing the entire recovery bill.

We need a dedicated state fund, Blais said. She noted that state legislators, recognizing the devastation by weather events in the state throughout the year, responded by advancing disaster relief to farmers and municipalities in December. The state allocated $20 million to crop farmers handling freezes and floods, and another $15 million to municipalities hard-hit by flash floods.

At Volante Farms in Needham, Teri Volante Boardman in a recently flooded field that was supposed to grow lettuce, in an August 2023 file photo.

The Legislature understood the severe financial burden on the state caused by weather events, Blais said.

While welcome, the funds were not sufficient to guarantee a full recovery for all those affected. Massachusetts has appealed to President Joe Biden for a disaster declaration that will start the flow of federal dollars into the state and peoples pockets.

In September, Biden issued a declaration due to the damage caused by Hurricane Lee. However, petitions for disaster relief for the October flash floods affecting Leominster, Fitchburg and North Attleborough were sent out in December and have yet to be answered.

Railroad workers examine an undermined railroad bed in North Leominster the morning after flash floods hit the area Sept. 12, 2023.

In light of the uncertainty of a federal declaration and the length of time necessary to process the requests and unlock the funds, Massachusetts needs a state disaster fund, Blais said.

Scoop money from capital gains

The legislators propose scooping $250 million from the states capital gains revenue that would otherwise be funneled into the stabilization or rainy day fund and divert the money into disaster relief. That diversion would sidestep the yearly budgetary process and ensure replenishment of the fund as needed and on a yearly basis.

Under the proposed legislation the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency would oversee the fund. In its administrative role, the agency would determine eligibility criteria, create the application and approval process, and be responsible for requesting changes in the states budgetary, statutory and regulatory procedures to ensure implementation of the program.

Kidanny Roman shovels mud and gravel from the front of Miles Automotive on Main Street in Leominster after a flash flood Sept. 12, 2023.

The legislators envision that the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency would decide how reimbursements were made through grants, matching funds or cost sharing. It would also be responsible for petitioning the president for an emergency disaster declaration.

One concern voiced by those attending the virtual meeting was whether the funds would be immediately available once the program is in place.

Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Deerfield, filed a bill to create a disaster relief trust fund to help Massachusetts recover from natural and man-made catastrophies.

Jason Main, director of emergency management for Leicester, mentioned two fires the city team managed at a senior housing complex. Evacuations were required and residents were displaced for 65 days during one incident and 85 days during another.

How soon can we access the funds? Main asked, wanting to know whether it will be a question of waiting for reimbursement of expended funds or if emergency managers will be able to tap into the fund immediately to pay for out-of-pocket costs.

The nuts and bolts of the process, Blais told Main, would be determined by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency once the legislation, already endorsed by some 36 legislators from both houses and both sides of the aisle, is passed.

We have co-sponsors from across the commonwealth, Comerford said, noting the breadth of the weather-related damage did not spare any part of the state.

Blais noted that the best time to prepare for a disaster is before it strikes.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State lawmakers propose $250M disaster relief fund
A wide-reaching winter storm that pummeled much of the eastern half of the country Tuesday, knocking out power in several states and prompting the closure of highways, schools and government offices was dumping heavy rain across the Northeast on Tuesday night. Heres the latest:

 Major cities are seeing heavy rain: Several major metropolitan areas along the East Coast could see flooding, including Washington, DC, and New York City, where rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is possible. The heaviest rainfall is expected between Tuesday night and early Wednesday, the National Weather Service in New York said, warning of river flooding and urban flooding in areas of poor drainage that could disrupt transportation, flood basements, first floors and underground infrastructures. Annapolis, Maryland, could get some of the worst flooding the city has ever seen, city spokesperson Mitchelle Stephenson told CNN.

 Deaths reported in North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama: One person died and two were critically injured in a mobile home community in North Carolinas Catawba County, according to county communications director Amy McCauley. She said the area sustained damage, adding the National Weather Service was evaluating if it was a tornado. In Georgia, a driver was killed while traveling on a highway after a tree fell on the vehicle. Clayton County police told CNN Tuesday that weather was a factor in the death. In Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed in Cottonwood when her mobile home repeatedly flipped during the storm, Houston County Commission Chairman Brandon Shoupe said. A second person in Alabama died when a tree fell on a vehicle, Birmingham fire and rescue Capt. Orlando Reynolds said Tuesday.

 Tornadoes reported in the Southeast: Fourteen tornadoes were reported across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday, causing significant damage and prompting rescues in Floridas panhandle. More than 3 million people in Florida were under tornado watches issued by the Storm Prediction Center as of Tuesday night.

LIVE UPDATES: The latest on the deadly winter storm

 Strong winds bring widespread power outages: More than 29 million people in the US were under a high wind warning Tuesday night, reflecting winds that are causing widespread power outages. More than 800,000 homes and businesses across the eastern US had outages Tuesday night, mainly in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia, according to tracker PowerOutage.us.

 Up to a foot of snow possible from central US to Northeast: Winter storm alerts are in effect from portions of Missouri and Iowa through Michigan and interior parts of the Northeast and New England. Widespread snowfall between 6 to 12 inches is possible and some areas could see even more. The snowfall will begin to let up in the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast on Wednesday.

 Travel delays and cancellations: Airlines have canceled 1,300 flights within, into or out of the US Tuesday, and more than 8,600 flights were delayed, according to data from FlightAware. Some of those are due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 9, but thunderstorms caused significant disruptions in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida and North Carolina airports.

A forecast model shows where heavy rain and snow is expected through Wednesday. - cnnweather

In the storms path? Bookmark CNNs lite site for fast connectivity on low bandwidth.

Florida declares state of emergency

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Tuesday for 49 of the states 67 counties, citing the danger of tornadoes, strong winds, hail and flash flooding.

DeSantis said the state has experienced more than 20 tornado warnings so far with four tornadoes confirmed on the ground.

There have been some injuries but no fatalities during severe weather in northern Florida, according to Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie.

Guthrie said most of the injuries reported so far have been minor, adding there were five trauma alerts in Bay County where some of the most severe damage was seen.

Responders rescued people from structures in Bay County, where multiple tornadoes hit the ground and caused significant damage and road closures, Sheriff Tommy Ford said. Ford urged residents to seek shelter.

A tornado watch was issued for parts of Florida including Tampa and Orlando that are home to over 10 million people until 9 p.m. ET, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

An intense line of thunderstorms currently in the eastern Gulf of Mexico will track across the central Florida Peninsula this afternoon, the center said. They also noted the threat of a few strong tornadoes along with the threat of damaging thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 mph.

Northeast braces for rain and wind

In the Northeast, Gov. Phil Murphy announced a state of emergency for New Jersey in preparation for the potentially dangerous weather. And Mayor Andre Sayegh of Paterson, New Jersey, declared a state of emergency for the city effective at 5 p.m. Tuesday in anticipation of a torrential downpour.

Paterson was hit hard by a coastal storm last month that trapped people in flooded vehicles and prompted overnight water rescues.

Weve learned lessons from a few weeks ago, and quite frankly, we want to assure residents that we are prioritizing their safety, Sayegh said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the storm could be life threatening and warned of the potentially dangerous combination of expected rainfall with heavy snow from this past weekend. She said the Hudson Valley has a 70% chance of flash-flooding.

We were able to handle this weekends snow event very well, but tomorrows storm is different and were taking it very seriously, Hochul said Monday evening. The state is readying more than 8,000 utility workers, four water rescue teams and dozens of massive generators, she said.

Suffolk County, New York, issued a state of emergency in preparation for the incoming storm. Residents are strongly advised not to travel during the height of the storm. Road conditions are anticipated to be unsafe and wind gusts may bring down tree limbs and power lines, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said in a statement on Facebook.

The coming storm has also prompted school and government office closures in several states on Tuesday, including North Carolina and Florida, where more than 30 K-12 school districts have canceled classes.

The system will dissipate by the weeks end, but relief is still not in sight for many across the eastern US. Another storm could follow on Friday and into the weekend, impacting many of the same areas.

Blizzard conditions trap travelers

A person uses a snowblower to clear a sidewalk as a snowstorm dumps several inches of snow on the area in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday. - Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Blizzard conditions buried parts of the southern Plains and central US under heavy snow and blistering winds on Monday, creating perilous road conditions that trapped drivers, forced several highway closures and at times made rescues near-impossible.

Iowa authorities on Tuesday afternoon urged drivers to stay off roads, warning of dangerous whiteout conditions and numerous crashes on Interstate 80, east of Des Moines to the Illinois state line and the Cedar Rapids area. An Iowa state troopers car was struck by another vehicle in the snowy conditions and heavily damaged, but the trooper was out of his vehicle and no one was injured, his agency said.

In Kansas, law enforcement rescued more than two dozen people stranded during blizzard conditions and moved them to a high school for safety.

We did take about 25-30 people, including children, to Wheatland High School in Grainfield, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson Tod Hileman told CNN Tuesday.

By Monday night, the agency had responded to more than 300 service calls, handled more than 60 crashes that didnt involve injuries and responded to 14 crashes involving injuries, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Further west in New Mexico, 50 drivers were stranded amid blizzard conditions on Highway 56 in northeastern Union County and had to be dug out, the local sheriffs office said Monday.

Flooding poses significant risks

Storm damage is seen in Panama City Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. - WJHG

Flooding is a serious concern as the storms strong winds blow water onshore while communities are also inundated with rain.

Widespread heavy rainfall will likely lead to significant river and flash flooding from the western Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, and scattered to numerous flash floods will be possible, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. The highest flash flood chances are over the far western Carolinas and from northern/central Virginia through southern New York and into Connecticut to Rhode Island where there is a moderate risk of excessive rainfall.

New York City issued a travel advisory and flood watch thats set to start Tuesday evening, warning of heavy rain, strong wind and the potential of coastal flooding.

Let me be clear, Hochul said in a Monday news briefing. This will be an emergency, it will be serious and were urging all New Yorkers to exercise extreme caution at this time.

Heavy rain will accelerate snowmelt and increase the amount of water running off into waterways, raising the ceiling on the flood potential in these areas.

CNNs Sara Smart, Lauren Mascarenhas, Nicki Brown, Dave Hennen, Mary Gilbert, Taylor Ward, Jennifer Feldman, Maria Sole Campinoti, Shawn Nottingham, Jennifer Henderson, Amanda Jackson, Gregory Wallace and Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

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Claim:

A photo authentically shows Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking with regional leaders at an enormous but sparsely populated table.

Rating:

Rating: True

On Jan 9. 2024, a Reddit post showing a photo of world leaders gathered at an enormous table went viral in the subreddit r/Damnthatsinteresting. The post was captioned "Putin's table as he meets with four other leaders at Caspian summit."

This was an accurate description of a photo taken on June 29, 2022, during the 6th Caspian Sea Summit. As described by The Associated Press, the event  a regional summit of leaders from Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan  was Putin's first public appearance following his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the other four countries along the Caspian Sea [...] reaffirmed their shared commitment to keep foreign militaries out of the region. The presidents of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan met in Turkmenistans capital, Ashgabat, for a summit to discuss regional cooperation and international issues.

While journalists were not present inside the room, a video from the event housed on Getty Images shows the monitors from which journalists watched the meeting showing Putin speaking at the same table:

The picture of the Caspian Sea meeting first went viral at the time of the meeting as a companion to a photo of the 2022 G7 summit, which occurred a few days earlier and saw many more world leaders crowded around a much smaller table. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, for example, made this comparison on X at the time:

Above - the G7 summit.

9 people at the table. Below - the Caspian summit (Putin is participating).

5 people at the table. pic.twitter.com/yApmkZZ0tH  Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2022

Putin's public appearances often involve abnormally long or large tables, which has been a consistent source of speculation and mockery since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Because the description of this photograph showing Putin and three other world leaders at a large table is accurate, the claim is True.

Sources:

Caspian Nations Reaffirm Pledge to Keep Foreign Armies Out. AP News, 29 June 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-azerbaijan-regional-cooperation-caspian-sea-fbedcde84fdfa80d146d508c90442f63.

Journalists Watch the Speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin On... Getty Images, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/journalists-watch-the-speech-of-russian-president-news-footage/1405811755. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.

What Putins Very Long Table Tells Us about Russias Inner Workings. NBC News, 17 Feb. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vladimir-putin-ukraine-russia-crisis-long-table-kremlin-memes-rcna16670.

Aila Slisco. Putin and His Allies Mocked for Meeting at Absolutely Massive Table. Newsweek, 29 June 2022, https://www.newsweek.com/putin-his-allies-mocked-meeting-absolutely-massive-table-1720473.


RAMALLAH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Tuesday urged the Norwegian side and the international community to pressure Israel to release all unlawfully deducted amounts from the tax revenues it had collected for the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He made the remarks while receiving in Ramallah the Norwegian government's special representative to the Middle East, Hilde Haraldstad, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Ishtaye said the deduction of funds allocated to the Gaza Strip from Palestinian tax revenues is "a political decision" aimed at perpetuating attempts to separate the West Bank from Gaza.

He urged donor countries to provide financial support for Palestine to help it meet its obligations.

On Monday, the Palestinian government's Council of Ministers decided to manage public affairs as being in a state of emergency, preparing budgets and governmental activities for 2024 under these circumstances to ensure the continued provision of governmental services to citizens.

Since early November last year, the PA has refused to receive the tax revenues transferred from Israel following the latter's announcement to proceed with a tax revenue transfer to the PA in the occupied West Bank while withholding funds bound for Hamas-ruled Gaza, where the PA helps cover public sector wages and pay for electricity.

Israel collects taxes on behalf of the PA on imports into Palestinian territories and transfers the funds monthly, averaging around 200 million U.S. dollars.

Ishtaye's meeting with the Norwegian envoy came one day after the Palestinian prime minister said the PA agreed to receive tax funds held by Israel through the transfer via Norway, while Israel rejected the proposal.

During the meeting, the two sides also discussed the developments of Israel's strikes on Gaza and its raids in the West Bank, Palestinian official WAFA news agency reported. 
Told to enter a three-year substance abuse treatment program, a Pensacola attorney answered by asserting he would not give up his evening cocktails with his wife, nor did he have an alcohol problem.

Months later, David Luther Woodward, aka David Woodward, called his answer a comical reference to the social aspects of (his) marriage, before listing other reasons he wouldnt be undergoing treatment.

Woodwards refusal counts as a contempt of court. A 91-day suspension began Wednesday.

(I have) never been diagnosed as an abuser of alcohol, Woodward wrote in an Oct. 30, 2023 filing. Moreover, in more than 70 years of driving cars, trucks and farm tractors (have I) been detained, questioned, tested or arrested or otherwise questioned for any suspicion related to alcohol abuse.

Woodwards decision could end a law career thats lasted longer than the lives of some grandparents. In addition to being a Florida Bar member since 1969, the 81-year-old Woodward is licensed in Texas and Oklahoma. The Florida State College of Law graduate is admitted to practice in 26 state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

READ MORE: Miami and Fort Lauderdale lawyers misappropriate funds, dont answer Bar grievances

But the way Woodward handled  or, didnt handle  a 2019 civil case caused his clients, seven children whose mother had recently died, to file a grievance with the Florida Bar. That grievance turned into a professional discipline case against Woodward and went before a referee, Judge Dustin Stephenson, in January 2022.

Stephensons referee report notes that Woodward didnt communicate with his clients after the initial consultation...keep them informed on the status of their legal case...notify them of hearings, the final trial date and the courts orders to show cause.

Other failures included not showing up for the final hearing and making excuses after the fact for his failure to appear on the final trial date and not filing necessary discovery motions.

Stephenson recommended a 75-day suspension followed by a two-year probation. The state Supreme Court accepted that recommendation and suspended Woodward for 75 days, beginning May 14, 2022. Also, the court said, Woodward was directed to comply with all other terms and conditions of the (referees) report.

One of those conditions ordered Woodward to reach out to Florida Lawyers Assistance (FLA), which evaluates, monitors and assists lawyers dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues. Abuse of neither alcohol nor drugs appears on Stephensons referees report. Regarding Woodwards depression, Stephenson wrote he appears to have his mental health concerns addressed at this time.

Still, Stephenson ordered Woodward to schedule an evaluation with FLA and, follow whatever FLA recommends, including entering a rehabilitation contract.

Woodward never signed the rehabilitation contract. The state Supreme Court said that counted as contempt of court and handed down the current suspension.

Woodward and FLA

A notarized memo from FLA case manager Carol Parks said Woodward took a PEth test, a blood alcohol test, on Aug. 18, 2022 and it returned 137 ng/ml. PEth test results charts put that number in the social drinking range.

Though FLA recommended a three-year contract that included outpatient substance abuse treatment.

Mr. Woodward refused to sign rehabilitation contract asserting he would not give up his evening cocktails with his wife, nor did he have an alcohol problem, Parks memo said.

Both Woodwards Oct. 30, 2023 filing and a Dec. 7, 2022, letter argued that making him sign an agreement that required outpatient rehabilitation didnt make sense. Substance abuse bore none of the blame, he argued, for what he did or didnt do for his clients in the 2019 case.

Also, Woodward argued, the FLA contracts terms werent subject to discussion or negotiation and robbed him of freedom and unduly extended his probation.

The contract FLA demanded I execute included covenants to participate in drug and alcohol rehabilitative activities the basis for which could only be founded on medical test results, if such were the case, because in the hearing in this matter only one expert appeared and was qualified, Woodward said in a Dec. 7 letter. Henry Dohn, M. D., my psychiatrist, appeared and testified but during that testimony said nothing about drug or alcohol abuse, but about a diagnosis of depression.

An examination of the record in this case reveals that there is no reference to drug or alcohol abuse by any witness.
Avi Loeb leaned in, grabbed my hand and said, Be as critical as you like.

What, after all, was one more critic?

He resembled a caricature of a scientist, his body wiry and short, in a plaid tailored suit, holding an expression that suggested both the severely etched Oppenheimer and the anxious, chain-smoking lawyer Martin Short played years ago on Saturday Night Live. Certainly, thats the image many of his peers seem to hold for Loeb: one part austerity meets one part sketchy. He is a theoretical astrophysicist. He teaches astronomy at Harvard University and chaired the department for nine years. He is also the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation, the founding director of Harvards Black Hole Initiative and former chair of the National Academies Board on Physics and Astronomy. For decades, hes been known as a prolific voice on dark matter, black holes, the formation of stars.

When I met him late last year at the University of Chicago, where he was appearing as part of a Chicago Humanities Festival event, he tended to avoid eye contact and look at the ground, gather his thoughts then gush information  a kind of astrophysical firehose.

For light elevator chat, he explained how the sun acts like a battery.

Where he rubs some people the wrong way is when he starts talking about aliens.

Avi is doing incredibly important work as one of our most important figures in the contemporary search for extraterrestrial intelligence, said Garrett Graff, a longtime journalist on national security and Pulitzer Prize finalist whose latest book is UFO: The Inside Story of the US Governments Search for Alien Life Here  and Out There. But also, I think a lot of whats controversial about him stems from peers who think Avi becomes either too flip with his science or crosses the line from skeptic to advocate.

They say Loeb is outlandish and disingenuous, prone to sensational claims, more interested in being a celebrity than an astrophysicist  not to mention distracting and misleading, at a moment when the science community is defending its very foundations.

For his part, Loeb, at 61, rarely lets a criticism pass unattended.

The search for alien life became his lifes mission, in a way, exactly one decade ago, when, on Jan. 8, 2014, a fireball crashed in the Pacific Ocean, off Papua New Guinea. Several years later, after Loeb and Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate, picked through the United States governments data on the speed and movement of the fireball, Loeb told interviewers it could be interstellar technology, piloted by artificial intelligence. By then, though, he had already made headlines after a long, cigar-shaped object  since named Oumuamua, or Hawaiian for scout  passed by Earth in 2017. Loeb theorized that, considering the trajectory and quickness of the object, it could be alien technology using a light sail, boosting speed with sunlight the way sailboats rely on the wind. Many more scientists argued it was naturally created, perhaps a rock or a comet.

Scientific disagreement tends to be polite.

But Loeb, with little encouragement, complains of scientists who criticize him without doing anything themselves. He complains of science driven by jealousy, egos and drive-by opinions. He says the public is more interested in discovering if there is life beyond Earth than, say, pouring multibillions into particle-physics research at facilities like Fermilab outside Chicago and the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He said during our talk that, considering the billions and billions of planets in the universe, any search for intelligent life would be less speculative than discovering new particles. At the Humanities Festival, Loeb told moderator Dan Hooper, a senior scientist at Fermilab, that particle colliders just confirmed old news from the 1960s  how particles interact. Hooper countered that scientists know more about physics since building colliders and that Loeb is misrepresenting how scientists feel about research and the scientific process. Loeb responded that the intent of Large Hadron was to find particles and it didnt, for $10 billion.

Avi, Hooper said, one of us on this stage is a particle physicist and its not you.

The audience collectively squirmed.

And yet, that a conversation about extraterrestrial life was happening at all among academics was telling.

Sitting between Hooper and Loeb, almost symbolically neutral, was Graff, whose approach to the search for aliens is as practical and sober as Loebs is eager.

Hes a former editor at Politico and Washingtonian magazine. Hes authored deeply researched, nuanced histories about Sept. 11, Watergate and the federal governments plans to survive a nuclear war. To see him at a scholarly event in Hyde Park, beside a Harvard scientist, even one as controversial as Loeb, is a portrait of how seriously the discussion about UFOs has become  particularly since 2017, when the military and CIA came forward to say, yes, there are flying objects that they cannot readily explain.

I am not a lifelong UFO-ologist, Graff told me later. I am not even deeply schooled in pop culture about aliens. But while covering national security, I saw the topic move to the fore in such a way that it was a serious topic of serious conversation among serious people. When people like (former CIA director) John Brennan began talking about it, you get interested. I mean, scientists can be humble about what they know and dont. But its a lot harder for a government bureaucracy to say: We spend $60 billion a year on intelligence, $800 billion on national defense, $100 billion on homeland security, but there is stuff up there and we dont know what it is and we do not want to tell you that.

For much of the 20th century, the search for extraterrestrial life and UFOs  or rather, as the government rebranded them, UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomena  had been the territory of fringe amateurs, Hollywood filmmakers and tabloids. To see a scholar as solidly mainstream and institutionally rooted as Loeb wade willingly into UFOs was rare.

But not unheard of. As Graffs history details, some of the more meaningful research on the search for aliens has emerged out of Chicagos intellectual community: J. Allen Hynek, a Chicago-born astronomer who later chaired Northwestern Universitys astronomy department, was a former UFO skeptic whose investigations for the U.S. governments Project Blue Book led to his founding the Center for UFO Studies in 1973 (the group still has Chicago headquarters). Theres also Frank Drake, another Chicago-born astronomer, who pioneered the foundation for SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He formulated the Drake Equation, which aimed, theoretically, to calculate the likelihood of extraterrestrial life using the number of planets that could sustain life and advanced technology. It was, in a way, an answer to the Fermi Paradox, which was born out of a conversation in 1950 among scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Enrico Fermi quipped something like: If there is so much life in the universe, why havent we seen it?

Loeb, it goes without saying, is Team Drake.

During his time in Hyde Park, he swung by Nuclear Energy, the bulbous Henry Moore sculpture off 56th Street that commemorates Fermis construction of the first nuclear reactor. He recalled reading Fermis papers as a young student. As anyone whos seen Oppenheimer knows, he was probably as responsible for the success of the Manhattan Project as anyone. He understood both the theory and experiment. Oppenheimer was more of a theorist and manager. Which is why Ive been puzzled by the Fermi Paradox.

He asked, in an Italian accent, so where is everybody? But who would stand in their home and decide theres nobody next to me therefore I am alone? At least look out a window! Fermi didnt even bring a telescope. Would aliens visit him in Los Alamos? During lunch hour? They could have visited Earth millions of years earlier. Its a very bad question.

Indeed, as Graff said, historically, the problem with the conversation around UFOs has always been too binary and simplistic for even the smartest minds in science to arrive anywhere meaningful: People think UFOS arent real, so therefore aliens arent real. Or Aliens are real, therefore UFOs must be aliens. Carl Sagan (himself a University of Chicago alum) decided, if aliens come here, statistically, its every 100,000 or 200,000 years, and so, statistically, its unlikely that was an alien you saw last Thursday night.

Loeb pictures himself occupying a grayer area.

In his recent book, Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars, Loeb writes that he can think of no scientific discovery that will more fundamentally transform our civilization and brighten its prospects than the proof we are not the sole technologically capable civilization in the universe. But he wants hard evidence. So, in 2021, he cofounded a research program, using funds from private donors, to find and identify alien technology in the vicinity of Earth. He wants to apply rigorous scientific method to locating and analyzing objects, moving UFO research away from blury video and iffy anecdotes.

Its not for nothing that he named his Harvard-based initiative the Galileo Project. Loeb reminds himself that lots of scientists were controversial in their own times. Galileo spent the last part of his life under house arrest, for showing that the sun was the center of the universe, not the Earth. After his paper on Oumuamua came out in 2018, an Italian reporter asked if he felt like Galileo, pushing back against conventional wisdom.

I told her that I didnt, Loeb said, and yet, there is that common thread there among scientists who want to break the mold. I mean, its better now! I am not under house arrest! People want to feel like they are the center of the universe. That was Galileos problem. For me, its showing that there might be someone else out there  its not about whether we are the physical center of the universe than the intellectual center. All Im saying is, lets look at evidence. Even SETI (radio towers) were about, more or less, waiting for a phone call. But what if nobodys calling at the same time you are listening?

Loeb is, in a sense, taking a very long view, placing himself in historic company: Maybe hes hard to deal with, and maybe hes not the kindest to those who disagree, and maybe hes glib with pronouncements, but ... do you want to play Inquisitor to his Galileo?

I asked if, in a way, any search for extraterrestrial life requires an iconoclast, someone willing to upset?

He replied: We all die eventually. What is the point in pretending otherwise? The most powerful kings, all-powerful in their times  they also died. Like all of us. The fundamental fact about our existence is that we are not that important, and science wants to say it is important and so it needs to present a powerful image, and Im saying, forget about that, the posterity and self-importance, and lets just figure this out.

Talking with him, its easy to see how well-meaning intentions get buried under rhetoric. Its also easy to see why, despite his gravitas, some colleagues refuse to peer-review his papers, traditionally a major part of the process. Loeb grew up on a chicken farm in Israel and found his way to science during compulsory military service with the Israeli Defense Force. He describes himself, even now, as a curious farm boy. He said he was traumatized at family dinners. He would ask hard questions and get bad answers. The adults in the room pretended to know more than they knew. They could not admit when they didnt know. I became a scientist to answer questions myself. That I became chair of Harvard astronomy is irrelevant. I am a farm boy. I maintain my innocence in the sense I refuse to be one of the adults in the room.

He returns again and again to colleagues who call me names but never call for more funding for his research. He pictures the Galileo Project expanding into an international network of research stations and telescopes  but that demands funding. Albeit, a fraction of whats spent on particle colliders, he said. Hes raised $5 million; the Netflix cameras that followed his expedition last year to find bits of the Papua New Guinea fireball could quicken imaginations and lead to more money.

He faces headwinds, he said. But he could also be the right person for this job.

Graff describes the subject as a mix of science, spirituality, politics and national security, requiring both believing and holding counterintuitive ideas in your head, all at once. We are at least 70 years on from Drakes first work with SETI, he said, yet we are not appreciably closer to solving this mystery. In fact, we are probably not going to have answers for several decades  or several human lifetimes. It could take centuries, and there is something to me that is beautiful about being part of a human effort that vast.

Before Loeb left Hyde Park, an elderly man approached him, not willing to wait.

Avi, he said, we have to find life before I die.

Loeb smiled and said, Well, Im working on it.
As the Israeli military and the militant group Hezbollah exchange fire over the border separating southern Lebanon and northern Israel, there are fears the raging war between Israel and Hamas could ignite a wider regional conflict.

Below is a look at what's going on, the background to the long-simmering tension between Israel and Hezbollah, and what the risks are for the region and the world.

What is happening now along the Lebanon-Israel border?

Israel has acknowledged assassinating Hezbollah's most senior military commander in the south of Lebanon, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz offering an unusual public confirmation in a TV interview. Several other high-profile figures from the group have also been killed.

Almost daily since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Hezbollah rockets have struck Israeli positions, including military posts, in northern Israel. Israel has also hit targets in southern Lebanon, and tens of thousands of people from border communities in both countries have been evacuated.

A map shows Israel, the Palestinian territories and surrounding countries. / Credit: Getty/iStockphoto

What is Hezbollah?

Modern-day Lebanon was founded in 1920 under a sectarian system that saw official government positions shared out among a number of recognized religious sects in the country.

The militant group Hezbollah was formed in 1982 as a Shiite Muslim political and military force with the support of Iran and Syria after an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It operates within the Lebanese government as a political party, but also outside of it, providing services to its Shiite followers and maintaining its own paramilitary force.

While not a recognized military, Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said last year that the group had some 100,000 fighters at its disposal, and it's believed to be a better equipped, larger fighting force than Lebanon's state military.

Like its smaller, similarly Iran-backed Hamas allies, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States government for almost two decades, and several of its leaders, including Nasrallah, are listed as global terrorists.

What does Lebanon have to do with the Israel-Hamas war?

Lebanon is a country of about 5.3 million people just to the north of Israel. The two nations have fought multiple wars.

When the state of Israel was established in 1948, more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Lebanon. The United Nations aid agency for Palestinians says there are currently between 200,000 and 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, many of whom have been left impoverished due to "decades of structural discrimination related to employment opportunities and denial of the right to own property."

After Israel responded to Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack by launching the war in Gaza to dismantle the group, Hezbollah started attacking targets in northern Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinian people.

Hezbollah has said it did not know the Oct. 7 attack was coming ahead of time, and it is not believed to coordinate extensively with Hamas.

Iran's "resistance front" and the prospect of a wider war

Iran supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen that has been attacking ships in the Red Sea, severely impacting maritime trade through the vital shipping passage.

All of the Iran-backed groups have said their actions are in support of the Palestinian people, and none of them acknowledge any orchestration or coordination with Iran, which denies any role in the attacks.

"There is, as Iran calls it, a resistance front, that everybody will support Hamas [in its fight against Israel], that it will be not only supported with arms but also with money, and will be supported diplomatically," Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told CBS News.

Shine said Hezbollah likely would not want to engage in a war directly with Israel right now, in part due to the chaotic domestic political situation in Lebanon  a state she describes as "really on the verge of bankruptcy."

"The anti-Hezbollah motivation within Lebanon, and the fear of escalating the situation in Lebanon into a more difficult economic situation I think this is also a very important reason" for the group to try to avert a full-scale war, Shine said.

Hezbollah holds so much power within Lebanon that the nation's wider government likely has little scope to decide whether a full war with Israel is fought or not. That decision lies ultimately with Hezbollah's leaders  and their sponsors in Iran.

According to a statement by Israel's government, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Jan. 9, that "an increase in the pressure placed on Iran is critical and may prevent regional escalation in additional arenas."

Amid the ongoing clashes with Israel's military, Hezbollah's leaders have continued to frame their attacks as responses to Israel's actions and say publicly that they are not looking for a wider war.

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In the first test of New York's 2022 voting rights act, Mount Pleasant residents on Tuesday filed suit in state Supreme Court, seeking a voting system for town offices that would give its growing Hispanic population a chance to elect its favored candidates.

To replace the current at-large system, with candidates elected townwide, the plaintiffs have suggested a ward system or ranked-choice voting.

The filing comes seven weeks after an acrimonious public hearing at Mount Pleasant Town Hall during which an incoming town board member told Hispanic activists from the towns village of Sleepy Hollow that they should form their own town if they want to ensure representation.

At public hearings to consider a districting plan, certain residents in attendance could hardly contain their disdain for the Hispanic community, the lawsuit stated.

According to the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Act, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022, a protected racial group, such as Hispanics, can petition a municipality to change its election system if it can show that the town has whats called polarized voting. Thats when the system impairs a protected group from electing candidates of their choice, or they have their votes diluted by an at-large system.

Pleasantville resident Sergio Serratto, a plaintiff in the voting rights case against the town of Mount Pleasant, is photographed in downtown Pleasantville Jan. 8, 2024. The plaintiffs want the town to create a ward system that will allow the residents of Sleepy Hollow, who are majority Hispanic, to elect a candidate of their choice. They are shut out in the town-wide voting system now in place.

Among the plaintiffs is Sergio Serratto, who lives in Mount Pleasants village of Pleasantville.

The goal is not to elect an Hispanic, the goal is to have the right to elect someone who represents them," said Serratto. "Maybe it's not an Hispanic. The canddiate could be white or African American. Let them have the right to have elect somebody from Sleepy Hollow."

More: Our voting system is riddled with flaws and saddled with apathy. Just look at Port Chester

Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination

Mount Pleasant is a town in central Westchester with nearly 45,000 residents thats 69% white, 19% Hispanic, 5% black and 4% Asian. The town includes the villages of Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, and a portion of Briarcliff Manor. About half of Sleepy Hollows residents are Hispanic.

The five-person Town Board has three men and two women. All are white. All ran on the Republican and Conservative lines in a town where enrolled Democrats outnumber Republicans and Conservatives by 40% to 28%, with 27% of voters enrolled in no party, and 5% in minor parties.

The lawsuit was filed in a municipality with a long history of discrimination against the Hispanic community, the lawsuit alleged. It cites Town Supervisor Carl Fulgenzis declaration of a state of emergency in Mount Pleasant in May, when fears abounded that Hispanic migrants and asylum seekers from New York might be housed in the town.

The order prohibited any building owner from providing housing to an asylum seeker without a license granted from the town, with violators subject to criminal penalties.

Town Attorney Darius Chafizadeh said there's no evidence of racial discrimination in Mount Pleasant. He said the migrant issue is unrelated to the town's voting system.

Chafizadeh said he had sent a letter on Dec. 13 to the plaintiffs' attorneys, asking them to come up with a proposal to address their concerns. By Tuesday they had yet to respond.

As you are aware, the town requested on Dec. 13, 2023 that the plaintiffs counsel provide specific proposals to address their concerns," Chafizadeh told Tax Watch. "As you are aware, there was no response."

More: Port Chester vote signals new era in village politics

County Legislator David Imamura, D-Irvington, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said that its up to the town to come up with a plan. His legislative district does not include Mount Pleasant.

It falls on the town to do it, said Imamura. When a town councilman says Sleepy Hollow should leave the town, that doesnt sound like the town would be open to negotiations.

A call for Sleepy Hollow to leave town

During public hearings last fall, several speakers urged the Town Board to fight any challenge to the at-large electoral system, with some opponents making racially charged comments, the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit notes that Mark Saracino, who won election to the Town Board in November, encouraged the plaintiffs to leave Mount Pleasant and form their own municipality.

It wouldn't be the first time that's happened in Westchester. In 1978, Mount Kisco seceded from the towns of Bedford and New Castle to create its own town/village. The village of Peekskill left the town of Cortlandt in 1940 to create the city of Peekskill.

Saracino noted that Sleepy Hollow residents receive very few services from the town, with public works, police services, local court, and land use issues handled by the village government.

If you want to be a pioneer and you want to make a big difference, have you not even considered that Sleepy Hollow should become the town of Sleepy Hollow? he asked. They might crucify me for saying this . . . but thats a thought to say maybe we dont have to sue, dont have to have a judge tell us where we should be or how we should vote.

The lawsuit was filed seven months after the plaintiffs gave notice to the town of a potential violation of the law, which was enacted in 2022.

The town then hired two noted voting rights experts to investigate the claims. Both Jeffrey Wice and Lisa Handley concluded in early November that Hispanic voters and non-Hispanic white voters consistently supported different candidates for town office, and the candidates supported by the white voters almost always win.

Wice advised the town to develop a plan to remedy the disparity.

Now it will be up to the state Supreme to decide if the state's Voting Rights Act requires such action.

Sign up for Wilson's weekly newsletter for insights into his Tax Watch columns.

David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Pleasant NY Hispanics sue over at-large town electoral system
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will face off against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday in a primary debate just days before the Iowa Caucuses, as the pair battle for the runner-up spot behind former President Donald Trump.

The debate marks the final opportunity for the candidates to differentiate themselves onstage before the first Americans vote in the 2024 presidential election. And the one-on-one match provides a unique opportunity for each White House hopeful to build momentum heading into the caucuses.

Haleys past debate performances, in particular, have been credited with propelling her rise in the GOP race. And DeSantis, who was once thought to be Republicans' likely alternative to Trump, may now be at risk of being overshadowed by Haley in a state where he has staked much of his campaign.

The two governors are currently neck-and-neck in the Hawkeye State, with Haley leading DeSantis by just one percentage point in a Morning Consult survey conducted between Dec. 1 and Jan. 7.

For Haley, the debate will likely center around an if it aint broke, dont fix it mindset, Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist not affiliated with a campaign, told USA TODAY.

We're now past the holiday season and into the voting season, and it's really important to remember that much of the voting population is still getting to know Nikki Haley, Bartlett, who served in the Trump administration but resigned after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said.

She needs to continue to talk about who she is as a person, her record as a governor, her record from the United Nations, and more importantly, her vision for the country, he added.

Here are five major approaches Haley could lean on Wednesday night as she seeks to hit out at DeSantis and gain ground on Trump.

Hitting opponents with her best shots

The former president isn't participating in the debate, but that doesnt mean his name wont come up Wednesday. Both Haley and DeSantis are likely to take jabs at the ex-president in an effort to knock the frontrunner down a few pegs in the eyes of voters.

And Haley has already started taking the gloves off ahead of the debate. When CNN released the names of candidates who qualified for the event, the former U.N. ambassador posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it's time for Donald Trump to show up. As the debate stage continues to shrink, it's getting harder for Donald Trump to hide.

On the campaign trail, Haley has also turned up the heat against Trump in recent weeks, telling voters that rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him.

"We can't have a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it, she often says in front of packed auditorium crowds, while avoiding attacking any of his popular policies.

Trump has also ramped up his criticism of Haley, attacking her proposals on everything from border security to taxes. Haley has dismissed the attacks as lies while framing Trumps increased attention as a sign her campaign is a threat.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the fourth Republican Presidential Primary Debate on Dec. 6, 2023. The two will be the only candidates ate the fifth GOP debate on Jan. 10, 2024

In terms of potential dustups with her competitor on stage, Bartlett offered a word of caution to the Florida governor.

She does not start any trouble, but she sure doesn't take it, he said, noting that Haley lit up Vivek Ramaswamy like a pinball machine in several previous debate performances.

For example, when Haley and Ramaswamy argued over the social media app TikTok during a debate last year, she turned to the Ohio entrepreneur and told him "Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say."

Touting her electability

Haley in recent weeks has pushed a key message to convince GOP voters that shed be the best Republican presidential nominee: Electability.

In stump speeches across Iowa and New Hampshire, she has highlighted general election polling showing her handily beating President Joe Biden as a sign shes best fit to become the partys standard bearer.

Ron doesnt beat Biden. Trump head-to-head  on a good day he might be up by 2, she said of her competitors' general election polling numbers during a CNN town hall. I defeat Biden by 17 points. That makes it bigger than the presidency. Thats governorships. Thats House. Thats Senate.

Haley also often quips on the campaign trail that: We cant afford a President Kamala Harris.

As she attempts to differentiate herself from her Republican rivals Wednesday night, the former South Carolina governor may once again try to center the conversation around defeating Democrats.

Backtracking on Civil War comments

Haleys recent controversial comments about the cause of the Civil War have haunted her campaign for weeks, and shell likely need to address them again during the debate.

The former governor drew backlash in late December after she was asked about the causes of the Civil War and failed to cite slavery.

Her attempts to rectify the remarks, including a comment during a CNN town hall that she had Black friends growing up, have drawn further rebuke.

Her responses have often focused on personal experiences with racism as an Indian American growing up in the South and her approach to addressing racism in the U.S. If the topic is brought up during the debate, shell likely discuss her removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse following a 2015 mass shooting of Black churchgoers in Charleston, like she recently did during a Des Moines Register/NBC interview.

A brush with culture war topics

Haley has walked a fine line when discussing topics related to modern GOP culture wars as she seeks to appeal to conservative evangelical voters in Iowa and more libertarian and independent voters in New Hampshire.

On the issue of abortion, Haley has pledged to support any federal restrictions or bans that can pass Congress with the support of 60 or more senators. She hasnt ruled out a 15-week ban on abortion but warned it would be difficult to get bipartisan support for such a measure.

Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley shakes off the cold as she arrives for a campaign stop at the Nevada Fairgrounds community building on December 18, 2023 in Nevada, Iowa. Iowa Republicans will be the first to select their party's nominee for the 2024 presidential race when they go to caucus on January 15, 2024.

Haleys opponents have accused her of flip-flopping on the debate because of her approach that leans more logistical than ideological. On Wednesday, she will likely stick to her guns on the debate stage and reiterate her position to Iowa voters and national listeners.

When it comes to topics such as LGBTQ rights, Haley is likely to take a more conservative stance during the debate. During her stump speech, the former governor often discusses the topic through the lens of transgender athletes.

We have to raise strong girls, strong girls become strong women. Strong women become strong leaders, she tells audiences, often to resounding cheers, before criticizing transgender female athletes. "Weve got to cut that out.

Emphasizing her foreign policy chops

Haley has stood out most clearly from her competitors in past debates when discussing foreign policy, a topic that gives her an opportunity to tout her tenure at the U.N.

Unlike Trump and DeSantis, Haley has outspokenly supported sending Ukraine U.S. weapons to help in its fight against Russia.

"The American president needs to have moral clarity, she has often said about her approach to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts. They need to know the difference between right and wrong. They need to know the difference between good and evil.

DeSantis, however, has previously said aiding Ukraine is not a vital interest for the country, a stark clash with Haley's policy priorities.

Its a point of difference she has leaned into on the campaign trail, and one shes likely to highlight again on Wednesday night.

Former UN ambassador and 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley signs for supporters at a town hall campaign event at Hilton Garden Inn in Lebanon, New Hampshire on December 28, 2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Nikki Haley hit Donald Trump, take on culture wars in GOP debate?
KAMPALA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said the financial cost of fighting the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels in the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was high, urging the outfit to surrender.

Museveni, in a televised address late on Tuesday, said the resources spent on the joint operation with the Congolese troops to fight the rebels would have been used to fund other development issues.

"This is the money which we should be using for your [citizen's] development. But we can't ignore these criminals who are killing people," he added.

Uganda and the Congolese troops in November 2021 launched a military operation dubbed "Operation Shujaa" to wipe out the ADF, after they launched twin bombings in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, leaving six people dead and 33 others injured.

Museveni said despite the cost of the war, Uganda will continue to pursue the rebels as long as the Congolese government allows the Uganda military to operate in eastern DRC.

The president gave an account of the operation, noting that the rebel group, also a branch of the Islamic State in Central Africa, has been decimated, urging the remaining elements to surrender or face death.

"Now, I'm calling on the ADF to stop wasting time because there's no way they can survive. They don't know much about warfare; they don't know the capacity of the army. They have seen this, even yesterday we attacked them, and they will all perish," Museveni said.

He said there were some ADF remnants who crossed into Uganda to launch attacks with the thought of diverting the Ugandan troops in the DRC to return home. Uganda will not be diverted from fighting them in the DRC, Museveni said.

During the address, four former ADF abductees, two of which were Burundians, one Congolese and another Uganda, gave harrowing tales of how they were recruited and treated in the ADF camps. They narrated their separate escape and rescue accounts from the rebel outfit following attacks from the Ugandan military.

"These are some of the children who were either lured into ADF or kidnapped. They are telling you the story of how the UPDF (Uganda Peoples' Defense Forces) is attacking those bandits and liberating these young people," the president said.

Mariam Nansubuga, 21, one of the escapees, narrated how her father helped recruit her into the rebel outfit at the age of seven.

"We were four girls and five boys. While in Congo, they trained us, and they married me off when I was eight years of age. We suffered a lot. I escaped in April last year and I was rescued by the UPDF," she said, with tears in her eyes.

Museveni said that out of the rebel cell that crossed into Uganda, totaling about 10 members, six have been killed, while one is in the courts of law and the other three are unaccounted for.

The cell was responsible for the killing of two tourists at a national park in western Uganda and for the killing of at least 40 people, mostly students, last year.

"Now recently, the ADF in their stupidity think that if they send some small groups into Uganda to kill people, then the UPDF in Congo will come back to Uganda, but that will not happen," he added.

In October 2023, Uganda announced an amnesty offer for individuals who were recruited into the ranks of the ADF and wished to surrender and cease fighting. Uganda's Amnesty Commission on Tuesday said the government had pardoned and granted amnesty to 75 former ADF fighters.

Nathan Twinomugisha, the chief legal officer of Amnesty Commission, told Xinhua by telephone that the group includes 24 Ugandans, 48 Congolese, two Burundians and one Tanzanian who have been undergoing rehabilitation from September to December. 
Semafor Signals

Insights from the Atlantic Council, Al-Dostor, and Xataka

The News

U.S. and British forces shot down 21 missiles and drones fired by Yemens Houthis on Tuesday, intercepting one of the largest attacks by the rebel group yet.

The projectiles from the Iran-backed group targeted an area of the Red Sea where there were dozens of shipping vessels, U.S. officials said.

While no one was injured in the latest barrage, the attack could lead more companies to leave the trade-heavy shipping route through the Suez Canal for safer, but much longer and more expensive routes.

The U.S. has deployed warships to the Red Sea as part of an operation to deter the Houthi attacks and protect a key commercial shipping lane. However, many countries remain apprehensive about joining, fearing a beefed-up naval presence could exacerbate tensions in a Middle East already on-edge over a possible region-wide war.

SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Removing Houthis from terror list has only 'emboldened' them

Source: Atlantic Council

After years of humanitarian crisis stemming from Yemens ongoing civil war, the Biden administration in 2021 delisted the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization to help get aid to impoverished Yemenis. But that decision has only emboldened the Houthis to attack both civilian targets and shipping vessels crossing the Red Sea, according to former Assistant Secretary of State R. Clarke Cooper. Re-designating the Houthis as a terror group would allow Biden to be publicly steadfast about protecting U.S. interests and help its partners defend their sovereign territory from Houthi attacks, he wrote, while also allowing the freezing of U.S.-held assets of the Houthis and their backers.

Egypt facing 'most difficult' economic challenge as shipping companies reroute

Sources: Calcalist, Al-Dostor

The decision by leading shipping companies to suspend sailing through the Suez Canal over the Houthi attacks has been extremely costly for Egypt, which previously received about $25 million a day in shipping and other fees, according to Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist. A columnist for Egyptian newspaper Al-Dostor said the Red Sea attacks posed perhaps the most difficult challenge in a country facing one of the worst economic crises in its history, compounded by tourists avoiding the Middle East over security concerns. Cairo has so far taken a low-profile stance in the Red Sea dispute, Calcalist reported, but the economic damage could force the government to reconsider.

A drought in the Panama Canal is adding to global trade chaos

Sources: Xataka, The Economist

The Panama Canal  another cornerstone of global trade  is running out of water, heightening the maritime crisis and contributing to higher prices of oil and imported goods around the world. Rainfall in the area has fallen by 20% in the past 5 years, according to financial news site Xataka, resulting in queues of more than a hundred boats at times after Panamanian authorities put limits on how many vessels can cross at once. While rail routes could ease some of the congestion, one analyst told The Economist that shipping companies are likely to choose longer routes  such as going around South America and Africa  rather than deal with the hassle of unloading and reloading, meaning goods will remain expensive.
LANSING  Lansing is one of three Michigan school districts that received grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to buy electric school buses.

The district is getting $5.9 million for 15 electric school buses, as the public school systems in Pontiac and Detroit are.

The Lansing School District is thrilled and grateful to receive nearly $6 million from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2023 Clean School Bus Grant Program. We are excited to bring 15 electric school buses to Lansing-buses that will provide cleaner air for our students and for all Lansing residents, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said in a release. As we roll towards a bright future for the Lansing School District, we are focused on a healthy environment, sustainable energy, and great student learning outcomes."

About $5 billion will be distributed nationally over the next few years to replace existing buses with those with low to zero emissions, according to a fact sheet from the school district. The investment will mean school bus rides for many children will be cleaner and reduce air pollution.

The district says that the buses will save the district money, because electric buses are more fuel efficient than diesel buses. The district also hopes that children and staff will face less health conditions caused by exhaust.

It's unclear whether these buses will be leased through Dean Transportation, which currently provides buses for the district, or if these buses will be owned by the district.

In 2022, Lansing School District stopped Dean Transportation's services to high school students. Instead, the school district decided to provide all high school students who qualify for transportation and their families with Capital Area Transportation Authority passes or gas cards. New bus routes were added for high school students.

Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @sarahmatwood.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing School District one of three statewide to receive EPA money for electric buses
I am afraid of my husband, Jennifer Dulos wrote in 2017 court documents as she filed for divorce from husband Fotis Dulos.

I know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

Two years later, the mother-of-fives ominous prediction appeared to come true.

On 24 May 2019, Jennifer dropped the former couples five children off at their elite, private school in New Canaan, Connecticut.

She hasnt been seen or heard from since. Her body has never been found.

Months later, Jennifers estranged husband Fotis was arrested and charged with her murder.

The luxury home builder, originally from Greece, insisted he was innocent  with his attorney even making the wild claim that Jennifer staged her own disappearance akin to the plot in the movie Gone Girl.

But the case against Fotis never went to trial as he killed himself one morning when he was due to appear in court.

With Jennifer and Fotis both dead, the truth of what happened appeared to go to the grave.

Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping their five children off at school in New Canaan. She hasnt been seen or heard from since and is presumed dead (New Canaan Police Department)

But, two other people also allegedly know at least in part what happened to Jennifer as they stand accused of helping Fotis cover up his murder plot.

Michelle Troconis, Fotis girlfriend, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution in Jennifers disappearance and death. Her trial is about to begin on Thursday 11 January in Stamford, Connecticut.

Kent Mawhinney, an attorney and former friend of Fotis, is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors say he tried to provide an alibi for Fotis on the morning of Jennifers disappearance. No trial date has been set for Mr Mawhinney. He was freed from house arrest in May 2023 but, as of October, must continue to wear a GPS monitoring device on his ankle, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges and have denied having anything to do with Jennifers disappearance and murder.

Its a mysterious and tragic case that has drawn international news coverage and led to multiple TV documentaries and movies as it rumbled on for several years.

But the saga is far from over.

Heres what we know so far:

What happened to Jennifer Dulos?

Jennifer, a 50-year-old New York native, was last seen alive on 24 May 2019.

She and Fotis, who had been married for 13 years, were in the midst of a contentious divorce and child custody battle.

In the 2017 divorce filing, Jennifer wrote that she was afraid of her estrangedh husband and feared that he might retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

She went on to say her husband had shown irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening and controlling behavior.

On the morning she was last seen alive, she had dropped the couples five children off at school in the wealthy enclave of New Canaan  where she had moved with them since leaving the family home.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in 2020 just weeks after being charged with his wife Jennifer Dulos murder (AP)

She was reported missing by her friends about 10 hours later, after she failed to show up for appointments and stopped returning calls and texts.

Her 2017 Chevrolet Suburban was later found at a park near her home.

Did Fotis Dulos kill Jennifer Dulos?

A little over a week after Jennifer was reported missing, Fotis and his then-girlfriend Ms Troconis were arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

Investigators said that Fotis had been spotted on surveillance footage driving to and from New Canaan on the day Jennifer went missing, in a pickup truck belonging to one of his employees.

Footage later captured Fotis  this time with Ms Troconis riding in the front seat of the vehicle  stopping in Hartford, with Fotis seen tossing garbage bags into more than 30 trash bins in the area.

Inside the trash bags, investigators found clothing belonging to Jennifer and plastic zip ties that tested positive for her DNA.

In 2019, Michelle Troconis, left, and Fotis Dulos, right, were arrested on charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos (New Canaan Police Department via AP)

A blood-like substance with Jennifers DNA was also found in the pickup truck, according to a warrant released by the Connecticut State Police in September 2019.

The owner of the truck told police Fotis had later told him to replace the seats in the truck and got pushy and angry when he didnt.

Ms Troconis, who was living with Fotis in his Farmington home at the time, told investigators that he had the vehicle cleaned because the body of Jennifer at some point was in there, according to a warrant. She has denied knowing what was in the bags Fotis dumped.

Fotis and Ms Troconis were hit with further charges of tampering with evidence in September 2019.

Then, on 7 January 2020, Connecticut state police charged Fotis with murder, felony murder and kidnapping.

Ms Troconis and Mr Mawhinney were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Investigators said they believed Fotis had beenlying in wait for Jennifer when she returned to her home after taking the children to school.

Police believe that Fotis attacked his estranged wife in her garage and then drove off with her body.

According to the arrest warrants, Fotis may have been motivated by money. Jennifer came from a wealthy background, while Fotis was $7m in debt and would have had some access to the childrens trust funds if she died.

Following the arrest, the couples five children, who were between the ages of 8 and 13 when she disappeared, went to live with her mother, Gloria Farber, in New York.

How did Fotis Dulos die?

Fotis pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied having anything to do with Jennifers disappearance.

His defence attorney, Norm Pattis, even suggested Jennifer may have staged her disappearance to frame Fotis  in a Gone Girl style plot.

Two days after his arrest, he walked free from prison after posting $6m bond.

But, he was summoned back to Stamford Superior Court for an emergency bond hearing after the company that posted the $6m bond learned that two properties offered as collateral were subject to foreclosure and a third was overvalued.

At the hearing  28 January 2020  Fotis likely would have been sent back to jail.

But Fotis failed to show up in court.

Officers went to his home and found Fotis unresponsive. He was rushed to hospital, where he died two days later. His death was ruled a suicide.

On the day Fotis Dulos was found unresponsive, he had been facing an emergency bond hearing in Stamford Superior Court where he could have been sent back to jail (Norwalk Hour)

Fotis left behind a suicide note, in which he continued to insist his innocence.

In the note, he declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes that the state has accused him of and claimed his lawyers have the evidence to prove it, his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

When is Michelle Troconis going on trial?

Ms Troconis, 49, is facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence, two counts of tampering with physical evidence and second-degree hindering prosecution.

She has pleaded not guilty, with her trial set to begin on 11 January. The judge said it could last through 1 March.

Just weeks before the trial was set to begin, the judge ruled that prosecutors may not use evidence obtained from a warrantless search of her phone, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Her phone had been seized on 31 May 2019 without a warrant during a search of Fotis Farmington home.

Connecticut State Police Sgt Mike Beauton Jr testified that police needed to seize it to prevent the owner from manipulating or deleting any potential evidence on it.

But state Superior Court Senior Judge Kevin Randolph granted a motion filed by Ms Troconis defense seeking to have it thrown out.

While this marked a win for Ms Troconis, the judge also refused to have her taped interviews with police thrown out.

In the interrogation video, Ms Troconis gave investigators her version of events on the day of Jennifers disappearance.

She said she dropped her daughter off at school, ran errands and had lunch with Fotis at his Farmington home.

They then went to one of Fotis properties to clean it, and went for coffee in West Hartford, she claimed. On the way there, she said Fotis dumped trash bags while she was in the truck. Ms Troconis said she didnt know what was in the bags.

Her attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued that the tapes should be inadmissible as she was pushed to answer questions while tired and was denied her basic rights  including repeatedly asking for her attorney, while struggling with a language barrier.

The judge disagreed, paving the way for the evidence to be presented in court.

Ahead of the start of the trial, Jennifers family released a statement: It is hard to believe that almost four and a half years have elapsed since Jennifer disappeared, and she still has not been found.

Every day, we miss her voice, her laugh, her gentle demeanor, her inner and outer strength, her insight, her guidance, her determination, her way with words, her love, her faith, her goodness. Many thanks to all who have helped to keep Jennifers memory alive.

We are relieved that the trial process is underway, and we are endlessly grateful to the Connecticut States Attorneys office for their commitment, diligent work, and support.

Days before the trial was due to start  and over four years after she was last seen alive  Jennifer was officially declared dead.

Jennifers Law

While Jennifers family continue to wait for justice, the mother-of-fives tragic story has led to legislative change in Connecticut.

In 2021, Jennifers Law was passed in the state, expanding the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.

The law is named after two Jennifers who were victims of domestic violence  Jennifer Dulos and Jennifer Magnano.

Jennifer Magnano was shot by her estranged husband Scott in front of their children on 23 August 2007.

The couple were in the midst of a bitter divorce and child custody dispute and he had been ordered to stay away from the house where she and their three children lived. Magnanos (now adult) children helped push for the passage of the law.

The mother-of-fives tragic story has led to legislative change in Connecticut (New Canaan Police Department)

The bill, SB 1091, has now established a new program to provide legal representation for domestic violence victims who file restraining orders.

Victims of domestic violence can now testify remotely in court proceedings for matters such as restraining orders, protective orders or standard criminal protective orders.

The definition of domestic violence has also been expanded to include threatening, humiliating, or intimidating acts that harm a person and deprive them of their freedom.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
The Bibby Stockholm barge is being used as a facility to house migrants seeking asylum in the UK - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

More asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge may harm themselves unless there are changes to the prison-like conditions, cold showers and unreliable wifi, says the roommate of an Albanian asylum seeker suspected of taking his own life.

Yusuf Deen Kargbo, from Sierra Leone, said he still receives complaints from those on board about poor quality food, cold showers, unreliable Wi-Fi and their concerns not being dealt with.

He added that he knew of others struggling to cope and experiencing similar stress because of the confined conditions on the barge in Portland port, Dorset.

Leonard Farruku is suspected to have taken his life after complaining about his mental health the day before he died. He had been heard shouting and banging on the wall of his cabin, according to other migrants.

His death is being investigated by the police and coroner. The Home Office said it was a tragic incident and that there were rigorous safeguarding processes in place on the barge.

Mr Farruku was buried close to the Albanian capital, Tirana, on Wednesday in a funeral attended by his relatives.

Family and friends attend Leonard Farruku's funeral near Tirana, Albania, on Wednesday

Mr Kargbo told BBC News that people on the barge dont have any hope for their lives, adding: Theyre saying this [Mr Farrukus death] is just the beginning... They are trying to give a warning, that this place is not good for them. Every day their stress is increasing, getting worse.

Mr Kargbo was moved to a hotel five days after Mr Farrukus death but remains part of a messaging group with others on the Bibby Stockholm. He said migrants had also complained the barge felt like a prison because of the security checks they had to undergo on re-entering.

Mr Kargbo told BBC News he shared a room with Mr Farruku, 27, for around 10 days before his death on Dec 12. Sometimes he would be sitting alone. He was a very quiet person. He liked to be by himself, sitting alone playing with his phone, he said.

He added that Mr Farruku did not seem unhappy, saying: I heard him laughing on his phone, sometimes until one or two oclock at night, I thought he was maybe watching a comedy video on his phone, having a fun time.

Mr Farruku came to Britain in 2022 with the dream of getting a job and building a new life by securing indefinite leave to remain. He was born in the village of Manez, 20 miles from the city of Durres, the second biggest in Albania.

Having lost his father at a young age, he moved to Tirana as a teenager and worked as a pizza delivery rider.

His mother died three years ago, which his family said turned him into a different person. Her death changed him, said his sister Jola Dushku 33, who lives in Lombardia in Italy.

Last year, he left for the UK, paying 4,000 euros in August for a Channel crossing to Dover, where he was processed before being released to relatives. For a few days, he stayed with our relatives in London and then the immigration office sent him to a hotel six hours away from London, said his sister.

To achieve indefinite leave to remain in the UK, he wanted to fulfil all the Home Office requests and he said yes when they told him his new accommodation would be in that boat where he spent the last days of his life.

Leonard Farrukus death is being investigated by the police and coroner

Although troubled by mental ill-health and the loss of his mother, he was outwardly said by fellow migrants to be polite, hard-working and laughing all the time. He worked for a time as waiter in north London.

His prospects were looking up at the time of his death, as he had been registered to work in a shortage occupation with a permit allowing him to do so until December 2025.

Mr Kargbo said that, on Dec 11, Mr Farruku left the cabin after breakfast and returned at around 6pm, adding: He just said to me hello and went directly to the bathroom.

He said he then left to have dinner and to pray. When he returned to the room, the bathroom was locked. When I knocked, I thought there was no one in the bathroom. I knock, no answer. Knock, knock, no answer. I said hello but I had no answer.

It wasnt until the next morning, when Mr Kargbo found the bathroom was still locked and Mr Farrukus bed had not been slept in, that he tried to raise the alarm.

He said he felt staff did not initially take him seriously, but when they forced open the bathroom door they found Mr Farruku unconscious. He said they tried to resuscitate him and an ambulance was called, but the coroner heard that Mr Farruku was declared dead at the scene.

Last month, at the opening of his inquest, Dorsets coroner heard Mr Farrukus cause of death was neck compression as a result of hanging.

The hearing was told there were no suspicious circumstances and no evidence that anybody else was involved. The inquest was adjourned until July to gather evidence from the Home Office and other organisations.

In a statement, the Home Office said it takes the welfare of those in our care very seriously and it has rigorous safeguarding processes in place, adding: Any concerns raised about the service delivered on the barge are swiftly addressed through our work with the provider, and Migrant Help 24/7 is also available every day of the year.

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.
Judge Kato Crews, a Pueblo native, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a U.S. District Court Judge for the state of Colorado on Wednesday.

Crews was nominated for the position by President Joe Biden in February and was confirmed with 51 senators voting for and 48 against his nomination.

As a federal district court judge, Crews will oversee federal trials within the U.S. District of Colorado, both civil and criminal.

Crews previously served as a United States magistrate judge for the District of Colorado, a role he'd held since 2018. He was the first Black magistrate judge for the District of Colorado, according to U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper.

Pueblo native and former U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews was confirmed by the U.S. Senate Wednesday as a Colorado U.S. District court judge.

Magistrate judges assist the district judges by handling pre-trial matters in civil and criminal cases and sometimes conducting trials. They also facilitate litigants in negotiating settlement agreements.

"Magistrate judges are typically the first judge the parties see in their case," Crews told the Chieftain in 2019. "In civil cases, we might be the only judge the parties see over the life of their case."

During a confirmation hearing on the Senate floor Wednesday, Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, stated that former mentors and colleagues described Crews as a "true public servant who works hard, never loses his poise, and never forgets where he came from."

Bennet also stated Crews was "one of the most accessible judges on the bench and in our state" and "knows the law as well as anyone."

Crews will serve as the only African American judge on the bench, and the only Colorado District Court judge born and raised in Pueblo, Bennet said.

"With his experience, his intellect, his character, Judge Crews will make a remarkable addition to Colorado's District Court," Bennet said. "I urge my colleagues to confirm his nomination with a strong bipartisan vote."

Hickenlooper, also a Colorado Democrat, similarly praised Crews and urged his fellow senators to confirm him to the bench.

"As my colleague mentioned, Crews comes from a part of Colorado  Pueblo  that is often neglected in these types of appointments," he said. "Judge Crews brings that valuable experience from southern Colorado, but he also knows all of the state."

Hickenlooper stated that he wholeheartedly supported the appointment of Crews to the federal bench.

"Judge Kato Crewss experience, intellect, and integrity will make him a judge for all of Colorado, Hickenlooper said. His bipartisan confirmation is a win for Coloradans and the rule of law.

While on the bench, Crews founded the Federal Limited Appearance Program (FLAP) with the Colorado Bar Association's (CBA) Young Lawyers Division, which provides pro bono representation to pro se litigants during certain court hearings. He also sits on the CBA's Continuing Legal Education Board, and regularly makes himself available to students and young lawyers for mentoring and guidance.

Crews was a founding partner of Mastin Hoffman & Crews LLC from 2011 to 2013, and Hoffman Crews Nies Waggener & Foster LLP from 2013 to 2018, where he focused on civil litigation and labor and employment law.

He was an associate at Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP from 2001 to 2008 and a partner from 2008 to 2010. From 2000 to 2001, he was a staff attorney at the National Labor Relations Board in Denver. Crews received his J.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000, and his B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in 1997.

Crews also has deep ties to Pueblo.

One of his grandfathers, DeSoto Jordan, founded New Hope Baptist Church and his father, Napoleon Crews, was an attorney who earlier in his career ran a company that supplied security officers for the Colorado State Fair.

Before moving to Rye for high school, the future judge attended Belmont Elementary and Heaton Middle schools.

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: US Senate confirms Pueblo's Kato Crews as Colorado District Court judge
On the eve of the opening of the Florida legislative session, a Republican lawmaker filed a bill that essentially bans all abortions in Florida.

Miami-Dade County Rep. David Borreros proposed bill (HB 1519), filed Monday, states that a person or an entity may not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency. The proposed bill says a person exists from the moment of fertilization.

Borrero, of Sweetwater, wants the law to go into effect instead of the six-week ban approved in 2023. That law is pending the outcome of a Florida Supreme Court decision over whether the right to privacy enshrined in State Constitution includes a right to abortion.

His proposal includes penalties for physicians who perform abortions. It says performing or attempting to perform an abortion would be a third-degree felony, subject to as much as 10 years in prison or with a fine of up to $100,000, or both. The mothers would not be charged with a crime for obtaining an abortion.

The proposed bill to virtually ban all abortions defines the exception for a medical emergency as an emergent physical condition in which an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. The proposal also states that a physician may perform an abortion on a minor only to save the life of the pregnant minor in a medical emergency.

At this time, Florida bans most abortions after 15 weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest as the result of a law passed in the 2022 legislative session. Women from nearby states with more restrictive bans travel to Florida for abortion access.

This latest attempted to control womens bodies and take away our rights is a desperate attempt at relevancy by the bill sponsor, said Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat from Broward County. We are in arms reach of getting abortion on the ballot and restoring the rights they stole. Republican leadership knows this is no longer a winning issue for their party. Voters of all political leanings have shown and will continue to show their overwhelming support for womens right to healthcare privacy and reproductive freedom.

In his state of the state address Tuesday at the start of the 2024 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis did not address whether he would support a total ban and, in fact, did not use the word abortion at all in his speech. Near the end of the address, he said Florida protected the sanctity of life as part of a long list of what he called accomplishments in 2023. In April 2023, he signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which prohibits abortions once the unborn child has a detectible heartbeat.

Borreros newly proposed virtually full ban of abortion comes at the same time an initiative has advanced to put abortion access on the Florida ballot in 2024.

Floridians Protecting Freedom announced Friday that it reached a major milestone and now has 910,946 verified signatures to allow Florida voters to decide if they want to assure access to abortion through a constitutional amendment. The group needed 891,523 to get the initiative on the ballot.

The campaign said the signatures that were collected represent more than 8% of voters in 17 congressional districts, meaning it surpassed the required threshold to allow Florida voters to decide on a constitutional amendment that would protect abortion access prior to viability. The campaign still needs to have its ballot language approved by the Florida Supreme Court. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has asked the court in briefs to reject the initiative because the use of the term viability is ambiguous. A hearing is set for February.

If the Supreme Court approves the wording and the amendment makes the ballot, it must win at least 60% of the vote to be approved. The proposed constitutional amendment has come amid the backdrop of ballot fights in other states after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights decision. The U.S. Supreme Courts ruling left abortion decisions to states.

Nineteen months after the Supreme Court decision, 14 states now ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The fact that we only launched our campaign eight months ago and weve already reached our petition goal speaks to the unprecedented support and momentum there is to get politicians out of our private lives and health care decisions, Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign director Lauren Brenzel said in a statement on Friday.

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The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC, on June 16, 2023. The court denied a review of the state's assault weapons ban on Monday, Jan. 8, 2023.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied one request to review the Illinois assault weapon ban, but many think the court is more likely to take up another challenge to the law later this year.

The high court turned down a request by Republican State Rep. Dan Caulkins, of Decatur, to hear an appeal of the case he lost before the Illinois Supreme Court in August.

In his appeal, Caulkins argued that he was denied a fair hearing at the state supreme court because two of the state justices had received large campaign contributions from Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who signed the assault weapon ban into law.

More: Snow driving tips for winter storms? IDOT shares how to handle icy, snowy road conditions

Caulkins also claimed the law is unconstitutional because it allows some people to keep their assault weapons if they acquired those guns before the ban took effect.

Pritzker praised the ruling on social media.

No matter the roadblocks, Ill never stop fighting against the gun lobbys dangerous agenda, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The justices at the U.S. Supreme Court gave no reason for declining to hear Caulkins appeal. But many people expect the court to take up a separate challenge to the law from the National Association for Gun Rights, which argues more broadly that the ban violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the gun rights group in November. The group is expected to file its appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court within the next several weeks.

Monday's ruling comes after the high court turned down another appeal from Caulkins to put the law on hold before the assault weapons registry went into effect. Those who possessed banned weapons, attachments, and high-capacity magazines had until Jan. 1 to register with Illinois State Police.

Less than 30,000 Illinoisans completed a disclosure according to ISP data released last week, where those that did not register could face a misdemeanor or felony charge if there are multiple offenses.

At the county level, 804 individuals in Sangamon County submitted affidavits with state police  less than 2% of those with Firearm Owner Identification cards. Sheriff Jack Campbell told The State Journal-Register that he would not arrest violators.

Patrick M. Keck of The State Journal-Register contributed to this report.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: SCOTUS denies appeal of the Illinois assault weapons ban
The sentencing for six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to assaulting and torturing two Black men in January 2023 has been postponed again by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee ruled Friday that the ex-officers would not be sentenced this month as previously scheduled but in March.

Lee delayed the sentencing hearing the first time in November to give attorneys more time to evaluate presentencing reports and prepare objections.

The five former Rankin County Sheriff's deputies are Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke. The sixth former police officer is Joshua Hartfield from the City of Richland.

The former officers' hearings will proceed as follow:

Hunter Elward  March 19

Jeffrey Middleton  March 19

Christian Dedmon  March 20

Daniel Opdyke  March 20

Josh Hartfield  March 21

Brett McAlpin  March 21

This combination of file photos shows, from top left, former Rankin County sheriff's deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield appearing at the Rankin County Circuit Court in Brandon, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. A sentencing hearing for them has been postponed until March.

New polices come after guilty pleas: Rankin County Sheriff updates training, policies after Goon Squad members plead guilty

The Associated Press reported that the former officers admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racially motivated, violent torture.

The former "Goon Squad" officers burst into a home without a warrant and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects, prosecutors said in court, reading a lengthy description of the abuse, the Associated Press reported.

More on the assault of the two men: MS ex-law enforcement plead guilty to civil rights offenses against 2 Black men during raid

Based on Associated Press reporting, court documents showed the officers assaulted the men for nearly a 90-minute period. The episode culminated with one deputy placing a gun in Jenkins mouth and firing, which cut his tongue, broke his jaw and exited out of his neck.

The officers did not give him medical attention, instead discussing a false cover story to cover up their misconduct, as well as planting and tampering with evidence.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Goon Squad sentencing delayed again Rankin County MS
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pledged Monday to block foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel unless measures including remain in Mexico are reinstated in U.S. border policy.

In an appearance on conservative commentator Hugh Hewitts radio show, Johnson lamented that aid to Israel and Ukraine amid their respective wars were packaged together in a supplemental budget request by the Biden administration, but the Speaker made clear his priority is border policy.

Israel and Ukraine are separate and distinct. We have to support Israel. Its a top priority. Ukraines important as well. But we cannot be involved in securing the border of Ukraine or other nations until we secure our own. And so that border fight is coming, and were going to die on that hill, Hugh, Johnson said.

Johnson cited a recent visit to the border with 64 members of his GOP conference, lauding remain in Mexico, a Trump-era policy that returned asylum seekers to Mexico to await processing.

But Ill tell you, the remain In Mexico policy, for example, when we were down on the border, the Border Patrol agents and the sheriffs who are in charge of patrolling down there doing their dead level best, they said if the president would issue an executive order tomorrow to reinstate remain In Mexico, they think that would stem the flow by like 70 percent, because it would send a message around the world that we dont have an open welcome mat, said Johnson.

The policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, was controversial because it required Mexican acquiescence to take in thousands of third-country nationals, and because it created de facto refugee camps along Mexicos northern border.

Though Johnson extolled the deterrent effect of remain in Mexico as the gold standard in immigration enforcement, Hewitt pushed the Speaker to embrace construction of a border wall as the top GOP priority.

Ill be full bore: I will oppose any deal that does not include a wall. Will there be a wall in the immigration deal that includes Israel and Ukraine funding? asked Hewitt, an influential voice in conservative politics.

Well, thats a great question. It really is about more than the wall, though, Johnson replied, adding that the wall is a critical priority, but segueing into the benefits of H.R. 2  the House-passed GOP border bill  and its inclusion of remain in Mexico.

Hewitt later returned to the issue of the wall, establishing construction of 900 miles of physical barriers as a red line for his support of any border policy bill.

I am looking for one thing and one thing only. If the wall is not in there, authorized and appropriated, construction underway before anything else kicks in  I mean, really notwithstanding any other law language, you know the language to write, Mr. Speaker  I will be against it, Hewitt said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 family members were killed in a firing incident in a house in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police officials said on Wednesday.

According to the police, the incident happened in Lakki Marwat district of the province, in which unknown assailants broke into the family house and sprayed bullets on the inhabitants, killing them on the spot.

Women and children were among the victims, said the police, adding that the miscreants escaped after the attack, and they have launched a search operation in surrounding areas to arrest them.

Police have started an initial investigation, with officials collecting evidence from the incident site. 
A notorious trafficking kingpin linked to the escalating drug gang war in Ecuador has broken out of prison, triggering a state of emergency and a wave of violence.

Authorities in the once relatively peaceful South American country launched one of the biggest manhunts in its history after Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as Fito, escaped in the port city of Guayaquil.

The leader of the Choneros gang  linked to a spate of beheadings  was due to move prisons when fighting erupted across the the penitentiary system in Ecuador.

At least 10 people, including two law enforcement officers, have been killed in violence linked to criminal gangs on Tuesday, in what the countrys president described as an internal armed conflict.

The violence and Fitos disappearance forced Ecuadors new president, 36-year-old Daniel Noboa, who was elected on a promise to crack down on violent crime, to trigger emergency powers to track him down. But hours after the decree, four police officers were taken hostage in response.

Will not negotiate with terrorists

Time is up for those convicted of drug trafficking, assassination and organised crime to tell the government what to do, said Mr Noboa, who was elected in November, before the kidnappings. We will not negotiate with terrorists and we will not rest until we have returned peace to Ecuadorians.

On Tuesday evening, a live broadcast was interrupted by hooded men with guns who stormed the set of Ecuadors TC television station and forced staff to lie on the ground.

The feared Los Choneros gang is thought to have been behind a string of deadly riots inside Ecuadors overcrowded prisons - Armed forces of Ecuador/Shutterstock

Thousands of soldiers and police have been deployed as the president also ordered a curfew.

Images from Guayaquil show tanks and heavily armed soldiers patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints. Such measures have become a common occurrence in the city, the centre of Ecuadors increasingly bloody drug wars.

Fito, 44, who is the convicted leader of the drug gang Los Choneros, was due to be returned to a maximum security facility on Sunday. Authorities had inexplicably allowed him to return to a regional prison under the control of the Choneros, but he escaped before he could be moved back.

His disappearing act happened during the latest wave of violence that erupted in prisons across the country at the weekend. Unverified videos on social media show prison wardens apparently being held hostage by knife-wielding masked gangsters.

Two prison guards arrested

Police said they initially noticed Fitos absence on Sunday morning and later raised the alarm when they could not locate him anywhere inside the prison. State prosecutors later confirmed the escape and confirmed two prison guards had been arrested in connection with the breakout.

Fito was being held at the Guayas 4 prison, known as La Regional, in Guayaquil and had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011, convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organised crime.

The Choneros emerged as a powerful criminal group towards the end of the 1990s. Due to their links with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, they came to dominate Ecuadors criminal landscape, but the murder of the gangs leader, Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias Rasquina in 2021, sparked infighting and a series of prison riots in which more than 400 inmates have been killed, many of whom beheaded.

Jose Adolfo Macias escaped hours before officers arrived after a tip-off, according to a government spokesman - Ecuadorean armed forces/AFP

Fito, known as a money laundering expert, assumed leadership of the Choneros, but he could not prevent the gang from fragmenting into several smaller factions. Trying to take advantage of the power vacuum left by Rasquinas death, groups that had once been substructures of the Choneros, such as the Tiguerones and the Chone Killers, broke away from their former allies.

One of Latin Americas most violent countries

The resulting rivalry between them drives much of the violence in Ecuador, which has now become one of Latin Americas most violent countries. In 2022, Ecuadors murder rate increased by 82 per cent, according to think tank Insight Crime.

In the last year, the Choneros have been largely pushed out of Guayaquil as their rivals have gained in size and influence. The Choneros control of Guayaquils prisons has also been challenged by their enemies.

Last September, Fito recorded a defiant music video behind bars glorifying his criminal exploits.

He is the boss of all bosses  he is Adolfo Macias Villamar, goes the song.

The prison authorities denied they had allowed audiovisual equipment into the penitentiary, but the professionally recorded video shows Fito cradling a cockerel and chatting to fellow inmates. It also features a singing appearance from his daughter known as Queen Michelle.

Fito, who has become an influential figure in Ecuadors underworld, also escaped detention ten years ago. More recently, he has kept a low profile inside prison, fearing for his life.

Criminal rivals Los Lobos or the Wolves have pledged to finish off the Choneros, branching out from drug trafficking to illegal mining and forming new alliances with the Mexican Jalisco New Generation cartel, rivals to the Sinaloans and allies of the Choneros.

Fito was called out by former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio for making threats against him shortly before his assassination last year. Fito denied ordering the hit against the politician and has not been formally linked with the murder.

Police sources fear Fitos escape could be part of a wider Choneros comeback strategy to take on their rivals and take back their criminal control of Ecuadors illicit economies.

We have to prepare for the worst, said the senior officer, who asked not to be named. Ecuador should brace itself.

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WASHINGTON  House Republicans held their first impeachment hearing into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday as they ramped up their attacks on Democrats and the White House over the migrant crisis at the southern border.

Justifying the impeachment proceedings, Republicans sought to portray Mayorkas, who has been a constant target for GOP lawmakers, as someone who deliberately allowed the crisis at the southern border.

What were seeing here is a willful violation of his oath of office taken by Secretary Mayorkas, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in his opening remarks in the hearing. Let me repeat. A willful violation.

Republicans are expected to push the impeachment efforts swiftly as GOP members have already long clamored to impeach Mayorkas. An effort from conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to force an impeachment vote on the House floor last year garnered significant GOP support, but fell short eight votes from Republicans who preferred impeachment go through committee first.

The first hearing offered largely a preview of what is to come and mirrored much of the political back and forth on Capitol Hill regarding the border. Here are key takeaways.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill, Nov. 8, 2023, in Washington.

GOP lawmakers have long sought to impeach Mayorkas

In a letter to other members, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called to impeach Mayorkas immediately and praised Greens handling of the effort on the Homeland Security Committee.

But House Democrats have heavily pushed back on the effort, arguing that Mayorkas cannot be impeached over what are policy disputes, saying that differences in opinion are not high crimes or misdemeanors, considered impeachable offenses.

This is not a legitimate impeachment, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in the hearing, deriding the impeachment as a stunt and a play to throw red meat to their base.

Impeaching a Cabinet official is already extremely rare in U.S. history and has only happened once. The House impeached Defense Secretary William Belknap over charges of bribery in 1876 but the Senate later acquitted him. The move from House Republicans to impeach Mayorkas over a policy dispute is additionally unprecedented.

But Green contended that Republicans were right to impeach Mayorkas, saying the founders designed impeachment not just for officials engaged in criminal behavior but those guilty of such gross incompetence that their conduct had endangered their fellow Americans.

But even if the House does impeach Mayorkas, the Democratic-controlled Senate would almost certainly acquit him. Conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote.

House Republicans called forward three state GOP officials to testify in the hearing, State Attorney Generals Austin Knudsen of Montana, Andrew Bailey of Missouri and Gentner Drummon of Oklahoma who testified to the committee about how the crisis has affected their states, which do not lie along the border. The three told the committee that human trafficking and drug trafficking from the border has waded into their states. Drummon described the situation as dangerous.

House Committee Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., talks during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Washington.

Homeland Security Department and Democrats push back on Mayorkas impeachment

The Department of Homeland Security circulated a memo Wednesday morning dismissing the impeachment effort as a baseless political attack and argued that House Republicans have already decided to impeach Mayorkas far ahead of the hearing, noting a report that Green promised donors last year he would impeach the secretary and Greene saying impeachment was guaranteed to her by leadership after her failed effort to force a vote.

Among other points, the department argues impeachment undercuts efforts to address the migrant crisis at the border.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Mayorkas has been involved in delicate negotiations surrounding migrant and border policy changes tied to a broader foreign aid package. Those talks have progressed slowly because of the volatile nature of the issues, which are notorious on Capitol Hill for lawmakers repeated failures over the years to reach consensus on them.

In a call with reporters on Tuesday evening, Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee ridiculed the impeachment as a waste of time and reiterated that Republicans could not impeach Mayorkas over disagreements in policy.

Its not dereliction of duty if Secretary Mayorkas is actually trying to negotiate legislation that would address the issues at the border. Its hard to impeach someone whos actively negotiating to try to solve the problem that they are trying to impeach him over, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said.

Its not a good look for the House of Representatives that while the Senate is working diligently to craft a bill, the House is distracted by an impeachment drive with no legal merit, Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said, adding he does not know how in the world that the Secretary is not diligently trying to do his job, considering Mayorkas has been advising Senate negotiators.

Frank O. Bowman III, a law professor at the University of Missouri, testified on behalf of Democrats. Bowman testified to the committee that removing the secretary changes nothing, and said if Congress disagrees with the White Houses border and immigration policies, members already have power to enact legislative change.

Impeachment is not one of those powers, Bowman added.

Congressman Mark Green, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, left, makes opening statements while Ranking Member Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., right, listens during the House Homeland Security committee hearing "Open Borders, Closed Case: Secretary Mayorkas Dereliction of Duty on the Border Crisis" on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP hold first Mayorkas impeachment hearing: Takeaways
A teenage passenger had his shirt ripped off his body when a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane during a flight Friday. Fellow passenger Kelly Bartlett told CBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave the teenage boy was moved from his seat after the incident and sat next to her for the remainder of the harrowing flight.

Barlett described a "really loud boom" shortly after the Boeing 737 Max 9 took off from Portland, Oregon. "And the plane just filled with air," she said. "You could just feel the breeze. It was more than a breeze."

She said the first few minutes after that were "chaos." Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and as she put hers on, Barlett said, someone jumped over her aisle seat.

"And somebody  there was a seat next to me that was open in the middle, and somebody just kind of jumped over me, plopped down in the middle seat, grabbed a mask and put it on. It was this kid, and he didn't have a shirt on," she said.

"And it was all just chaotic and confusing. I thought, 'Where did you come from?' Like, I didn't understand where he was coming from, why he was sitting there, and why he didn't have a shirt on," she said.

Kelly Bartlett said a 15-year-old named Jack had his shirt ripped off of him when the panel of a plane blew off during a flight on Jan. 5, 2024. The teen moved from the affected row to her row. / Credit: Kelly Bartlett

She soon realized her new seatmate had come from the row where the wall panel had blown out of the plane.

Because they had their oxygen masks on and the wind blowing through the hole in the plane was too loud, they couldn't communicate by talking. "So, I was using the notes app on my phone. And I just typed out - I said, 'Are you hurt?' Because I realized that he came from whatever chaos was happening behind me, which I wasn't clear on at the time."

The teen wrote back that his arm was a bit scratched and it was "unbelievable." "Thanks for your kindness," he wrote.

They continued to type messages together in her notes app and she found out he was a 15-year-old named Jack and he and his mom were in the middle and aisle seat of the affected row. "I just can't imagine how scary that must have been for him and his mom," Bartlett said.

Jack and his mother were separated in their new seats, Barlett said, and he seemed worried. "He was asking about his mom, and I kept telling him that I'm sure she was safe and that they found a seat for her. It was just further up and he couldn't see her. I know I said that a couple of times," she said. "I just, I didn't feel like anything I said was going to be enough to really reassure him until he got back together with his mom. So, I really wanted that for him."

Kelly and Jack communicated via the notes app since the wind in the plane made it difficult to hear and the oxygen masks made it difficult to talk. / Credit: Kelly Bartlett

When the plane landed, Jack and his mom were reunited, Barlett said.

Bartlett said she is a mom of teenagers. "I can't even imagine. To be him in that situation, and to be thrown out of the plane like that," she said. "His seatbelt saved his life. And he lost his phone. He lost his laptop. But I'm so glad it wasn't worse. And I can't imagine being his mom in that situation. She pulled him back in. And then the flight attendants helped them find safe seats. But it is so scary."

The flight took off from Portland International Airport at 4:52 p.m. Pacific time. After the incident, the pilot told air traffic control that the flight had depressurized. The plane reached approximately 16,000 feet  about six minutes into the flight  before descending again and landing back in Portland at around 5:30 p.m.

Despite there being a gaping hole in the wall of the plane, Bartlett said the plane felt "under control." "Yes, it was windy. And when I looked over my shoulder, I could see a big hole in the side of the plane, which was not ideal," she said. "But, it did not feel like we were doing a nosedive into the ground. So, that helped. And I knew that the only thing we could do was just stay buckled in. Keep our masks on. The flight attendants helped everyone right away."

In a second interview with CBS News on Friday afternoon, Bartlett again complimented the crew's response.

"The descent actually felt very controlled," Bartlett said. "I did not feel like we were going to crash. It seemed like we were going back down to the ground, which is all anyone wanted to do. And as soon as we landed, there were cheers and claps, everyone was relieved. You could feel the adrenaline level was really high, the stress level was really high."

She said paramedics then boarded the plane immediately and asked if anyone was hurt. Those people were taken off first to be treated, and then the rest of the passengers disembarked as normal.

"We didn't have to take an emergency exit, it was just all normal," Bartlett said.

Bartlett was rebooked on a different flight, and she successfully reached her destination that same night.

"It was very scary to go on another plane," Bartlett said. "But honestly it was probably the best thing to do, because otherwise, that memory of that flight would have been my last memory of flying, and I don't know if I ever could have flown again."

Alaska Airlines said in a statement on Friday that it was taking "the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft."

Photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Jan. 7, 2024, shows a gaping hole where the door plug blew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 two days earlier. / Credit: NTSB via AP

"Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections. We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days," the statement continued. In a later statement, and the airline said they had conducted inspections on a quarter of their 737-9 planes with "no concerning findings." Aircraft will return to service "as their inspections are completed with our full confidence," the statement said.

But on Monday, both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines said they found loose hardware on door plugs on several of their grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.

Boeing said it was working on getting further information and has a technical team standing by to support the investigation.

National Transportation Safety Board officials held a briefing about the investigation into the incident on Monday. Four bolts that were helping to hold the blown out plug in place are unaccounted for  and they don't know if those bolts were ever there are broke off the plane.

Several items were sucked out of the plane when the panel blew out and on Monday, Washington resident Sean Bates said he found a phone on the side of the road that came from the plane. He said the iPhone was "still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim" for the plane involved and that it still had a piece of a charger still stuck inside. The phone appears to be intact and working, according to Bates.

In 2018, a passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight was partially sucked out of a plane window when a bit of shrapnel that blew from the plane's engine broke the window. Jennifer Riordan, who died from blunt trauma to the head, neck and torso, according to a Philadelphia medical examiner, could have been fully sucked out of the plane had she not been wearing her seatbelt, retired United Airlines captain Ross Aimer told CBS News' Elaine Quijano at the time.

"You have an incredible amount of pressure trying to rush out of that small opening  it could literally suck a larger person  they could become so small, they go through that window," Aimer said.

Aliza Chasan, Brian Dakss Gina Martinez, Aimee Picchi and Li Cohen contributed to this report.

Trump speaks out after appeals court hearing on immunity claim

Texas officials accused of thwarting help for bused migrants

Top geopolitical risks to monitor in 2024
Virginias Jason Miyares is one of roughly two dozen attorneys general from across the country who expressed support for the U.S. Supreme Courts pending review of former President Donald Trumps ballot eligibility.

Miyares, a Republican, joined attorneys general and legislative bodies from 27 states on Friday, in an amicus brief that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal from the Colorado decision that is slated to keep Trump off the ballot for the states Presidential Primary Elections.

The Colorado Supreme Courts decision to remove President Trump from the primary ballot is a clear abuse of power and something Id expect to see in Cuba, not America, Miyares said on Twitter in December and again in a press release on Friday. In the United States, voters must maintain the power to choose their president. Removing your political opponent from the ballot is not democracy.

SCOTUS to hear Colorado case

The high court agreed to hear the case, also on Friday, and fast tracked its briefing, according to SCOTUS Blog. Oral arguments in the case have been slated for Thursday, Feb. 8.

When asked for further comment Tuesday regarding the pending Supreme Court case, the Virginia Attorney Generals office declined.

We do not comment on pending litigation, Victoria LaCivita, spokesperson for the Virginia Attorney Generals office, said.

In the amicus brief, petitioners argue that the Colorado court decision cannot stand, and that it would throw the 2024 election into chaos.

The Colorado courts decided complicated constitutional questions through a truncated state process that denied former President Trump any opportunity for basic discovery, the ability to subpoena documents and compel witnesses, workable timeframes to adequately investigate and develop defenses, and the opportunity for a fair trial, petitioners noted in the brief, and quoted one of the three dissenting Colorado judges, Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr.

Petitioners go on to argue that immediate intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court is needed to avoid widespread chaos; that it is up to Congress to determine if Trump has run afoul of the U.S. Constitutions insurrection clause; and that the Colorado courts definition of insurrection is standardless and vague.

Other states who signed onto the brief, led by West Virginia and Indiana, are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Colorados domino effect

The Colorado State Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to remove Trump from the primary ballot on Dec. 19, after it determined the former president to be ineligible under the insurrection clause in the U.S. Constitution.

A handful of states took up the question of Trumps eligibility, following his indictment on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election results, after the Colorado decision.

In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said the insurrectionist ban" in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies to Trump and determined his name would be removed from the ballot. Officials have received threats following the decisions. The state supreme court in Michigan rejected a bid to remove Trump from its Republican primary ballot on Dec. 27, and on Dec. 29, Californias Secretary of State Shirley Weber determined the former president will remain on its ballot.

On Dec. 29, a federal district court judge dismissed 19 motions aimed at removing Trump from the Republican primary ballot in Virginia. The plaintiffs in that case, Roy Perry-Bey and Carlos Howard, said they again filed a request in a circuit court on Monday in an attempt to remove Trump from the Virginia ballot.

[documentcloud url="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24356342-co-supreme-court-ruling-re-trump?responsive=1&title=1"]

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Va. AG Jason Miyares called Colo. court ruling "clear abuse of power"
By Krystal Hu

(Reuters) - Cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs, known for its XRP coins, is buying back $285 million worth of shares in the company from early investors and employees, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The investment, also known as a tender offer, valued the company at $11.3 billion. Investors are only allowed to sell up to 6% of their stake, sources added, who requested anonymity.

The privately-held company confirmed the tender offer, and said it plans to spend $500 million in the planned buyback to cover the costs of converting restricted stock units into shares and taxes.

It expects to do more share buybacks on a regular basis to provide liquidity for investors and has no plan to go public in the United States any time soon due to regulatory uncertainty, said Brad Garlinghouse, chief executive at Ripple.

Garlinghouse said Ripple now holds over $1 billion cash and over $25 billion worth of crypto, mostly XRP coins, on its balance sheet.

The offering comes after Ripple's partial win in its lengthy legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where a U.S. District Judge found that sales of XRP on public exchanges were not unregistered securities offerings.

Founded in 2012, the company builds a payment system that facilitates cross-border transactions while promoting the use of XRP. It bought Switzerland-based crypto custody firm Metaco for $250 million last May.

"Growing in the headwinds of the SEC lawsuit was certainly a challenge, but 95% of our customers are non-US financial institutions," said Garlinghouse, who declined to disclose the size of the payment business.

XRP had a market cap of $30 billion as of Wednesday, according to CoinMarketCap.

(Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen's reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
Rescuers work on the debris of a building destroyed by an Israeli raid in Kfarchouba, Lebanon on Jan. 10, 2024. A Hezbollah official was killed on Wednesday at dawn in Lebanon's southeastern village of Kfarchouba, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that an Israeli drone fired two missiles toward a house in the center of Kfarchouba, killing 50-year-old Hezbollah official Nabegh al-Qadri, and wounding another. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Hezbollah official was killed on Wednesday at dawn in Lebanon's southeastern village of Kfarchouba, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that an Israeli drone fired two missiles toward a house in the center of Kfarchouba, killing 50-year-old Hezbollah official Nabegh al-Qadri, and wounding another.

According to the sources, al-Qadri survived an assassination attempt two months ago when his house was targeted with several artillery shells fired from the Israeli Ruwaisat al-Alam site, partially destroying his house and forcing him to move to a rented house in the village.

The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since Oct. 8 after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 213 on the Lebanese side, including 158 Hezbollah members and 35 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. 
Santiago Ochoa's reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
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SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) called South Korea a "principal enemy" and asked his country to bolster up self-defense capabilities, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Wednesday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, made the remarks during his inspection of major munitions factories earlier this week, according to the KCNA report.

Kim stressed that the DPRK should prioritize in bolstering up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent when it comes to its relations with South Korea, the KCNA report said.

The DPRK leader said the historic time has come at last when the DPRK should define South Korea as "a state most hostile," a designation which he stressed his country should view as "unavoidable and irrevocable reality," since South Korea "has pursued a history of vicious confrontation with bloodshot eyes to overthrow our regime and social system for nearly 80 years," the report said.

Noting the grave security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Kim made clear that the DPRK "would by no means unilaterally bring a great event," but it has "no intention of avoiding a war," it said.

He warned if South Korea attempts to use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security, his country will have no hesitation in annihilating South Korea by mobilizing all means and forces, it added.

The latest strongly-worded rhetoric by the DPRK leader came after the recent spike in animosities between the two countries. 
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
(VIDEO) Revolta in Cuba pentru lumina si mancare

Protest neobisnuit in al doilea oras ca marime din Cuba, Santiago. Locuitori au iesit in strada scandand lumina si mancare, in timp ce in anumite zone se intrerupe curentul electric timp de de 18 ore sau mai mult pe zi. S-a strigat de asemenea, Libertate! Cuba se afla intr-o criza [citeste mai departe]
(VIDEO) Protest in Cuba pentru lumina si mancare

Protest neobisnuit in al doilea oras ca marime din Cuba, Santiago. Locuitori au iesit in strada scandand lumina si mancare, in timp ce in anumite zone se intrerupe curentul electric timp de de 18 ore sau mai mult pe zi. S-a strigat de asemenea, Libertate! Cuba se afla intr-o criza [citeste mai departe]
According to plans, the new section of the M6 motorway will be handed over in March, writes business daily Vilaggazdasag.

This means that drivers will be able to drive on the route as far as the Villany junction (214 km southwest of Budapest).



In addition, Croatia has started building a road at Beli Manastir.



According to local publication Pecsi Ujsag, the construction permit for a section between the Croatian town and the border may be issued in Croatia next spring.



Once this highway is completed, a new road connection will be created between the two countries, the report notes.



Click here to know more about M6 motorway
Because of the migration pressure, the number of people coming from western Europe to settle in Hungary has gone up between 20% and 40% over the past several years, the interior ministrys parliamentary state secretary said at a farewell ceremony for a police contingent in Budapest.

Since 2015, the number of those coming to Hungary from Belgium has increased by 47%, from Italy by 45%, from the Netherlands by 43%, from Spain by 40%, from Switzerland 28%, from Austria 25%, from Britain by 22% and from Germany and France 20%, respectively, Bence Retvari said.



Their motivation was to find security and safe conditions in public domains, he said.



Retvari addressed the ceremony for the next contingent of Hungarian police officers dispatched to serve in Serbia in partnership with their local and Austrian colleagues, noting that their task is becoming more difficult and more important as they are protecting the EU, and Hungary, against the increasing pressure posed by migration.



The state secretary noted that he had visited the Hungarian contingent in Serbia last year and had met officers serving on their 8th mission there.



Last year, close to 400 Hungarian officers served on the missions, Retvari said.



Meanwhile, Opposition Party Calls for Ban On 'Unlawful Import' Of Foreign Guest Workers in Hungary



The opposition Democratic Coalition on Tuesday called for an immediate ban of the unlawful import of guest workers from outside the European Union. DKs Ferenc Varga, who sits in parliament as an independent, told a press conference that the law on guest workers which entered force this year was a scam.



In a recent interview, Sandor Czomba, the economy ministry state secretary in charge of employment policy, admitted that 120,000 guest workers were imported from outside the EU, the DK politician said, noting that the law stipulates that the number of guest workers must not exceed the number of unfilled jobs at the end of the previous year.



Central Statistical Office (KSH) figures show that in the third quarter of last year almost 80,000 jobs went unfilled, Varga said, insisting this meant that Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his people have unlawfully roped in 40,000 guest workers.



He vowed to submit a written question to the government regarding how many guest workers would be imported to Hungary this year and why Hungarians were not given the jobs available.



Ruling Fidesz in response said that the DK party led by Ferenc Gyurcsany and the dollar left tried again to mislead Hungarians with their statements.



Besides allowing illegal migrants and terrorism into Hungary, they are now stoking up fear in Hungarians by talking about the import of illegal guest workers in the country, Fidesz said in a statement.



It cited recent legislation which has tightened the protection of the employment of Hungarians, by setting a quota on the number of third country guest workers who can be employed in Hungary.



Their number in 2023 was 62,000 and this was never exceeded, as is required by law, the party said, calling on DK to stop misleading the public.



Nearly 10,000 Ukrainian Citizens Enter Hungary on Monday



Fully 4,626 Ukrainian citizens entered Hungary at the Ukraine-Hungary border on Monday, while 5,006 came to the country via Romania, according to the national police headquarters (ORFK).



Police issued temporary residence permits valid for 30 days to 60 people, ORFK said on Tuesday.
Photo released by Pakistan's Press Information Department (PID) on Jan. 10, 2024 shows Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar (Front) addressing an inaugural session of the two-day Global Health Security Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan. Kakar on Wednesday called for enhanced international cooperation to guarantee global health security. (PID/Handout via Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday called for enhanced international cooperation to guarantee global health security.

"Our commitment towards health security should extend to establishing global frameworks that facilitate information sharing, joint research, and collaborative strategies for an effective response during emergencies," Kakar said while addressing an inaugural session of the two-day Global Health Security Summit here.

The prime minister stressed the need to explore mechanisms for global funding that could support nations in need, ensuring that no one is left behind.

"The call for a sufficiently funded, widely supported country's medium-term roadmap ... resonates globally. We must invest in open, transparent, and multi-sectoral processes to strengthen buy-in and commitment at all levels," he said.

Highlighting the need for a collective response to address external and internal health challenges, Kakar said that no state in the world could meet the health challenges alone.

Calling for establishing a shared vision of the world where health security is not a privilege but a universal right, the prime minister underlined that the strength of a nation's health system should not only be measured by its capacity to respond to crises, but also by its ability to prevent, detect, and mitigate health threats. 
Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world's agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet, the European climate agency said Tuesday.

In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times. That's barely below the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit that the world hoped to stay within in the 2015 Paris climate accord to avoid the most severe effects of warming.

January 2024 is on track to be so warm that for the first time a 12-month period will exceed the 1.5-degree threshold, Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess said. Scientists have repeatedly said that Earth would need to average 1.5 degrees of warming over two or three decades to be a technical breach of the threshold.

The 1.5-degree goal "has to be (kept) alive because lives are at risk and choices have to be made," Burgess said. "And these choices don't impact you and I but they impact our children and our grandchildren."

The record heat made life miserable and sometimes deadly in Europe, North America, China and many other places last year. Scientists say a warming climate is also to blame for more extreme weather events, like the lengthy drought that devastated the Horn of Africa, the torrential downpours that wiped out dams and killed thousands in Libya and the Canada wildfires that fouled the air from North America to Europe.

In a separate Tuesday media event, international climate scientists who calculate global warming's role in extreme weather, the group's leader, Imperial College climate scientist Friederike Otto said "we definitely see in our analysis the strong impact of it being the hottest year."

The World Weather Attribution team only looks at events that affect at least 1 million people or kill more than 100 people. Otto said her team was overwhelmed with more than 160 of those in 2023, and could only conduct 14 studies, many of them on killer heat waves.

"Basically every heat wave that is occurring today has been made more likely and is hotter because of human-induced climate change," she said.

Antarctic sea ice hit record low levels in 2023 and broke eight monthly records for low sea ice, Copernicus reported.

The climate agency calculated that the global average temperature for 2023 was about one-sixth of a degree Celsius warmer than the old record set in 2016. While that seems a small amount in global record-keeping, it's an exceptionally large margin for the new record, Burgess said. Earth's average temperature for 2023 was 14.98 degrees Celsius  58.96 degrees Fahrenheit  Copernicus calculated.

"It was record-breaking for seven months. We had the warmest June, July, August, September, October, November, December," Burgess said. "It wasn't just a season or a month that was exceptional. It was exceptional for over half the year."

There are several factors that made 2023 the warmest year on record, but by far the biggest factor was the ever-increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that trap heat, Burgess said. Those gases come from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.

Other factors including the natural El Nino  a temporary warming of the central Pacific that alters weather worldwide  other natural oscillations in the Arctic, southern and Indian oceans, increased solar activity and the 2022 eruption of an undersea volcano that sent water vapor into the atmosphere, Burgess said.

Malte Meinshausen, a University of Melbourne climate scientist, said about 1.3 degrees Celsius of the warming comes from greenhouse gases, with another 0.1 degrees Celsius from El Nino and the rest being smaller causes.

Copernicus records only go back to 1940 and are based on a combination of observations and forecast models. Other groups, including the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office and Berkeley Earth go back to the mid-1800s and will announce their calculations for 2023 on Friday, with expectations of record-breaking marks.

Though actual observations only date back less than two centuries, several scientists say evidence from tree rings and ice cores suggest this is the warmest the Earth has been in more than 100,000 years.

"It basically means that our cities, our roads, our monuments, our farms, in practice all human activities never had to cope with the climate this warm," Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said at a Tuesday news conference. "There were simply no cities, no books, agriculture or domesticated animals on this planet the last time the temperature was so high."

Buontempo said it's only going to get hotter: "Following the current trajectory in a few years time the record-breaking year of 2023 will probably be remembered as a cold year."

Meinshausen, the Australian climate scientist, said it's natural for the public to wonder whether the 1.5-degree target is lost. He said it's important for people to keep trying to rein in warming.

"We are not abolishing a speed limit, because somebody exceeded the speed limit," he said. "We double our efforts to step on the brakes."

From wildfires to floods, photos reveal intensity of climate change in 2023
A state lawmaker has asked Nebraska's Secretary of State to remove a referendum from the November 2024 ballot that, as it stands now, would give voters a chance to repeal the state's controversial law providing tax incentives for donors to scholarship funds for private and faith-based schools.

Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn sent a letter to Nebraska's secretary of state Monday saying the referendum to appeal the so-called Opportunity Scholarships Act "raises constitutional concerns."

"Nebraska's constitution explicitly places the power of taxation in the hands of the Legislature," Linehan said in the letter, in which she said that allowing voters to repeal the law would undermine the body's "ability to set revenue policy."

The Elkhorn senator attached to her letter a 13-page legal argument crafted by attorneys at a Lincoln law firm who argued that allowing the referendum to appear on the ballot would run afoul of the state's constitution.

In a news release, Secretary of State Bob Evnen's office said he is "reviewing" Linehan's letter and has asked petition organizers "to submit their position on the request."

Jenni Benson, the president of Nebraska's State Education Association, the teachers union that led last fall's petition drive to put the issue to voters, said in a statement Tuesday that state residents "made it very clear they want to vote on whether to divert tax dollars to private schools."

A coalition of repeal advocates known as "Support Our Schools Nebraska," led by the state's largest teachers union, submitted 117,145 petition signatures to Evnen's office in August. The group needed 61,308 signatures  including 5% of voters in 38 of Nebraskas 93 counties  to put the act (LB753) before voters.

"Sen. Linehan has made it clear that she and her billionaire buddies are afraid to let Nebraskans vote on whether to repeal LB753," Benson said. "They failed miserably in their attempt to derail the petition drive. They will attempt everything they can to try to deny Nebraska voters the right to vote on this issue."

Linehan, in an interview at the Capitol, said the referendum's apparent violation of the state constitution "should have been caught before" now.

"I'm not a lawyer so I didn't catch it before," she said. "But it's both in the constitution and it's a state statute."

She said she doesn't know if Evnen will find her argument compelling, but suggested the issue "will end up at the Supreme Court, where they all end up"  though she said she isn't yet sure if she will file a lawsuit seeking to remove the referendum from November's ballot.

Linehan's letter comes three months after Evnen's office announced that the law  which allows individuals and entities to reduce their tax liability by making donations to scholarship funds that help students attend private schools across the state  would be in the hands of voters this fall.

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.

Polling conducted on behalf of OpenSky Policy Institute, a Lincoln-based fiscal policy think tank that poured more than $100,000 into the petition effort, indicates a majority of Nebraska voters oppose the law.

But it won the support of a majority of state lawmakers and of Gov. Jim Pillen, who had championed the law and who, in August, promised "the fight will not be over" even if the initiative seeking to overturn the law made it onto the ballot.

Linehan said Tuesday that she penned her letter to Evnen on her own volition and had not done so at Pillen's urging.

Her letter drew immediate backlash from some of her colleagues Tuesday, who cast Linehan's attempt to have the referendum taken off the ballot as a bid to undermine the potential will of the state's voters.

"Silencing the voice of the people because the people disagree with you is an assault on our democracy," Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said in a social media post.

Cavanaugh's criticism was echoed by fellow Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt, who, in her own post, questioned why the state wouldn't "let the people have a say in if they want their tax dollars going to private religious schools that discriminate against students, parents and staff?"

"Why be afraid of that?" Hunt tweeted. "Let's see what the people want!"

That argument seemed uncompelling to Linehan, who said that to let state residents weigh in on taxation would require a change in the constitution.

"The constitution is the most important document that we have as a state," Linehan said. "It very clearly states in the constitution that revenue bills are up to the Legislature. And it goes on to say that existing (revenue) law can only be overturned or undone by the Legislature.

"That's what it says in the constitution."

Evnen's office said he would make a decision on the matter "without delay" but offered no timeline.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2024
New Delhi: In a recent incident, an Air India flight (AI-146) from London to Goa is under scrutiny as the captain is accused of disregarding air traffic control instructions and taking a wrong turn on the taxiway. The alleged incident occurred during the landing at Goa Airport on November 1, 2023.

According to reports, the captain, identified as Rishi Kumar Sharma, is accused of deviating from the assigned A-2 taxiway to the A-3 taxiway during the aircraft's approach to the apron. This deviation is said to have occurred despite specific instructions from air traffic control. (Also Read: Low Investment, High Returns Business Idea: Invest Rs 8 Lakh To 10 Lakh And Earn Bumper Amount)

The incident was reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and a written complaint has been filed against Captain Rishi Kumar Sharma. The aircraft involved in the incident was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner with registration VT-ANQ. (Also Read: Interim Budget 2024: Key Budget Terms And Terminology You Should Know)

The complaint highlights the potential danger of the captain's actions, as such deviations could lead to collisions or accidents on the runway or taxiway. An investigation by the DGCA will determine whether the allegations against Captain Sharma are accurate and if there were any mitigating circumstances.
New Delhi: Hrithik Roshan's much-anticipated film, "Fighter," has clinched the prestigious title of IMDb's No. 1 most anticipated movie of 2024. Scheduled to release on the eve of India's 75th Republic Day, "Fighter" will make history as Hrithik Roshan's first 3D film.

Hrithik Roshan said, It's an incredibly positive update that Fighter is the most anticipated Indian movie of 2024, as per IMDb. The response to Fighter's teaser and songs has been extraordinary, and we hope to deliver a wholesome cinematic experience for our viewers on January 25, 2024. See you at the movies this Republic Day eve!

The anticipation surrounding "Fighter" has been steadily escalating with each new asset of the film being released. The tantalizing glimpses offered through the film's teaser and songs 'Heer Aasmani' , 'Sher Khul Gaye' , 'Ishq Jaisa Kuch' and the title song. With an intriguing storyline and a talented ensemble cast, "Fighter" is set to bring never before seen cinematic experience for the Indian audience.

Produced by Siddharth Anand, "Fighter" stands as Indian cinema's first aerial action franchise film.Fighter also stars Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover and Akshay Oberoi.

Watch the trailer here:
New Delhi: We are told Raj Kundra, known for his promising debut in UT69, has given his nod for his next film a new cinematic adventure alongside a distinguished director and seasoned producer. This time, the debutant actor is set to unveil a different facet of his talent in an upcoming action-packed thriller.

Having earned acclaim for his debut performance, Kundra's acting finesse in his biopic garnered praise from both audiences and critics. Insiders reveal that the collaboration features a high-profile director and a seasoned producer, signaling the inception of a project with significant magnitude. While the details of this exciting venture are eagerly awaited, we hear the involvement of other renowned actors, adding to the anticipation surrounding the film.

Sources reveal, "Raj Kundra came as surprise with his UT 69 debut and it would be interesting to see him in an action thriller. He will be playing a lead! The action-packed thriller, produced by a seasoned filmmaker, is gearing up for its Mumbai shoot this April. Kundra is set to undergo intense training, ensuring he transforms into the formidable character that will take audiences on a thrilling ride filled with suspense, skill, and adrenaline-fueled action."

As reports circulate about the shoot commencing this year, the buzz is this ensemble cast are getting into training soon for the action thriller as the director wants perfection on set. Stay tuned for further updates on this untitled project that promises to be an enthralling experience in the ever-evolving world of cinema.
New Delhi: Former CEO of X (formerly Twitter) has recently secured approximately 30 million in funding for his undisclosed artificial intelligence (AI) startup, reportedly.

An early backer of OpenAI, Khosla Ventures, led the funding in Mr. Agrawal's company, which hasnt been publicly disclosed. Additionally, two other companies, Index Ventures and First Round Capital, played a crucial role in the deal. However, the startup remains tight-lipped about its name and specific product.

It is suggested that CEO Parag Agrawal is building an AI company to focus on software tailored for language models (LLM) developers and consumers of the tech as well. Large language models, like OpenAI's ChatGPT, have been gaining attention in recent years among tech-savvy individuals.

Parag Agrawal joined Twitter back in 2011 and was elevated to the post of CEO after Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down in November 2021. In the past, Agrawal was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the social media firm.

Being in the role of CTO, he played a vital role in the company's technical strategy, advancing AI, and implementing machine learning.
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing tension between India and the Maldives, Anand Mahindra, the CEO of Mahindra Group, pointed out a noteworthy increase in interest in Lakshadweep tourism. Describing it as a "masterful move in a political chess game," Mahindra emphasized the sudden attention towards Lakshadweep amid the India-Maldives dispute.

Mahindra shared on the microblogging site X that his business partner in New York had forwarded him an article from Bloomberg titled "Why Indians Are Threatening to Boycott the Maldives." The CEO highlighted the clever public relations strategy that sparked curiosity about Lakshadweep. (Also Read: Interim Budget 2024: Key Budget Terms And Terminology You Should Know)

While acknowledging the potential for tourism growth, Mahindra also urged caution in developing the "fragile" island group of Lakshadweep. He emphasized the need for swift development of world-class connectivity and high-end resorts while managing access to preserve the island's delicate ecosystem. (Also Read: Low Investment, High Returns Business Idea: Invest Rs 8 Lakh To 10 Lakh And Earn Bumper Amount)

The impact of the India-Maldives row was evident in the surge of searches for Lakshadweep on travel platforms like MakeMyTrip (MMT). MakeMyTrip reported a staggering 3400 percent increase in on-platform searches for Lakshadweep following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Union Territory.

This surge coincided with a social media trend, #ExploreIndianIslands, where many influential Indian celebrities encouraged people to choose Indian islands, such as Lakshadweep, for tourism instead of the Maldives.

The Maldivian government's perceived anti-India stance under the new leadership has led to a shift in preferences among Indian travelers. In 2022, India remained the top tourism market for the Maldives, with 240,000 arrivals.
Bihar Legislative Council Vidhan Parishad Sachivalaya has announced recruitment for reporters, with a total of 11 positions available for both male and female candidates. Those interested in applying for the examination can submit their applications online from January 10, 2024, to January 30, 2024.

Bihar Vidhan Parishad Recruitment: Steps to Apply

Visit the official website of Bihar Vidhan Parishad Recruitment at biharhelp.in/bihar-vidhan-parishad-sachivalaya.

Click on the link for Bihar Legislative Council Vidhan Parishad Sachivalaya Reporter Recruitment 2024.

Fill in all the required information, including eligibility, ID proof, address details, and basic details.

Ensure all scanned documents related to the recruitment form (photo, signature, ID, thumb, proof, etc.) are ready.

Before submitting the application, candidates must carefully review all the columns.

Bihar Vidhan Parishad Reporter Eligibility

Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in any stream from any recognized university in India.

Applicants must have a stenographer speed of 150 WPM in Hindi and computer typing speed of 35 WPM in both Hindi and English.

Bihar Vidhan Parishad Reporter Application Fee

General/OBC/EWS/Other State: 1200/-

SC/ST/PH: 600/-

Pay the exam fee through debit card, credit card, net banking, or E-challan fee mode only.
TANCET 2024: TANCET registrations are set to commence today, January 10. Anna University, Chennai, will release the application form for the Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test (TANCET) 2024 at 10 am on the official website, tancet.annauniv.edu. Additionally, application forms for the Common Engineering Entrance Test and Admission (CEETA-PG - 2024) will also be released. Anna University conducts TANCET for admissions to MBA and MCA courses, while CEETA PG is designed for admissions to M.E./M.Tech./M.Arch./M.Plan courses.

To be eligible for TANCET 2024, candidates must have a graduation degree with a minimum of 50% (45% for SC/ST students). The exam fees are INR 1000 for the general category and INR 500 for reserved categories.

TANCET 2024: Heres how to register

Go to tancet.annauniv.edu, the official TANCET website.

On the main page, click the registration link for TANCET 2024.

After entering your registration information, click "Submit."

After that, complete the application.

Send in the application fee payment.

Press the submit button to download the page.

The two-hour TANCET exam for the MBA and MCA programmes will have 100 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) in the appropriate areas. The disciplines included in the syllabus vary depending on the course and include things like Business Analysis, Quantitative Aptitude, Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability, Engineering Mathematics, and Basic Engineering and Sciences.
XAT Answer Key 2024: The Xavier School of Management (XLRI) in Jamshedpur is expected to release the provisional answer key for the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) soon. Once available, candidates can download the XAT Provisional Answer Key 2024 from xatonline.in. The XAT examination for the current year took place on January 7, 2024, conducted from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM. As per the XAT Bulletin 2024, the results for the XAT examination will be announced on January 31, 2024. Candidates are allowed to download the XAT Scorecard between January 31 and March 31, 2024.

XAT Answer Key And Response Sheet 2024: Steps To Download

- Go to the official site

- Select the candidate's login and provide the necessary information

- Click on the candidate's response section

- Examine the XAT 2024 responses in a new window

- Confirm the answers in conjunction with the corresponding questions

- Save the XAT answer key 2024 for future use

XAT 2024: Marking Scheme Details

- A correct answer earns 1 mark.

- 0.25 negative marking for an incorrect answer.

- After 8 unattempted answers, - 0.10 marks for each unanswered question.

Administered by XLRI Jamshedpur, the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) plays a crucial role in MBA/PGDM admissions. Recognized by over 160 premier B-schools nationwide, including XLRI Jamshedpur and other Xavier Associate Management Institutes, XAT scores serve as a significant benchmark for admission processes. Applicants have the flexibility to apply for multiple programmes, potentially leading to participation in various interviews and/or group discussions. The selection criteria may vary for different programmes based on their respective nature.
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China remains an important market for multinational corporations (MNCs) this year as executives eye opportunities from a rebound in consumption, reported South China Morning Post on Monday.

China made up about 15 percent of global revenue for 200 of the biggest MNCs from Japan, Europe and the United States in 2022, said the Hong Kong-based English-language daily, citing data from the global management consulting firm Bain & Company.

"It is important to take a longer term view on China instead of focusing on short-term volatilities," Bain & Company's Shanghai partner Bruno Lannes was quoted as saying. "China's economy will continue to grow and represent an increasing share of global revenues for MNCs doing business here."

"More business leaders are talking about the need to defend their China operations, and this is not only because of the significance of China as an end market for their products and services, but also because of its importance as a key node of their global supply chains thanks to its highly cost-efficient industrial ecosystem," said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Center for Economics and Business at The Conference Board, a global non-profit think tank.

"The bottom line is, China still matters a great deal to MNCs, and companies equipped with adequate preparation, renewed knowledge, objective risk assessment, and sound competitive strategies can seize the rich opportunities the China market has to offer," said Lannes. 
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA bloc is keen on finalizing a seat-sharing deal to take on the mighty BJP. After showing a willingness to contest around 70% of the seats across India, the Congress has now taken some steps back to accommodate allies and help build a successful alliance. The grand old party has now claimed that it has finalized a seat-sharing deal in Maharashtra where it's a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi consisting of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

After a meeting last evening, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that all three parties are united and together. He said that the three parties discussed all 48 seats during the meeting to reach a consensus on seat sharing. Maharashtra Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said that Maharashtra will be the first state of the INDIA bloc to announce seat sharing. He said that despite splits in Sena and the NCP, people are with Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.

RJD-JDU In Driver's Seat In Bihar

While Maharashtra may be a done deal for the Congress, the real challenge for the party lies in Punjab, Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The ruling JDU has already given a reality check as it said that Congress demanding more seats in Bihar would be unfair and the RJD-JDU are capable enough to challenge the BJP in the state. JDU had won 16 seats during the 2019 parliamentary polls and is not willing to let these seats go. Of the 14 seats, Lalu Yadav's RJD is also keen on contesting around 16 seats. This leaves just 8 seats for Congress and the Left. If reports are to be believed, Congress may have to manage with just four seats Sasaram, Aurangabad, Kishanganj and Katihar while the party also wants two more seats - Purvi Champaran and Purnia which are currently held by the JDU. CPI (ML) may get Ara, Siwan, Begusarai and one of the seats between Karakat and Jehanabad.

UP Still A Distant Dream?

The Congress party is yet to strike a chord with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. While the state has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress party has just one MP from Raebareli from where Sonia Gandhi maintained the party's winning streak. SP is the key challenger of the BJP in the state which is key to sending any party in power. Congress leaders are still unsure of cracking a seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh.

TMC Firm Against Seat-Sharing In Bengal

In West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is the key party which has so far maintained an upper hand over the mighty BJP. In the 2019 polls, of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, the Congres had won two, BJP 18, and TMC 22 while the Left had faced a complete drubbing. Now, given the weak support base of Congress in the state, TMC wants to contest on a majority of the seats as it feels that TMC stands the best chance against the BJP in Bengal. The Congress still want to figure out a win-win deal in the state where the Left will also seek a share of the pie. Congress wants around five seats in Bengal but Banerjee has so far made it clear that she is going to offer none.

AAP's Delhi, Punjab Proposal

Congress party's discussion with AAP is also in limbo despite talks. Congress wants four out of seven seats in Delhi and seven out of 13 seats in Punjab. However, the AAP has reportedly offered three seats in Delhi and six seats in Punjab. According to reports, AAP also wants seat sharing in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat.
With the political temperature soaring in the state, Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is all set to announce his decision on the disqualification rebel Sena MLAs including CM Eknath Shinde. While the decision will be announced around 4 pm today, Chief Minister Shinde has maintained that his Sena is the original Sena.

"I just want to say that we have a majority. 67% in Vidhan Sabha and 75% in Lok Sabha. We have 13 MPS and 50 MLAs. Based on this majority, the Election Commission has recognised us as the original Shiv Sena and allotted the bow-arrow symbol. We hope that the speaker will pass us on merit," said Shinde. With this statement, CM Shinde indicated that he is not worried about the verdict at all.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has slammed the speaker and the CM alleging a match-fixing over the duo's January 7 meeting. While the assembly speaker will decide on the cross-petitions by both Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, the decision will decide the way forward for the Eknath Shinde government.

Narwekar's decision will come more than 18 months after the Shiv Sena suffered a split which led to the fall of the Thackeray government. Uddhav Thackeray yesterday said his party has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a recent meeting between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is among the MLAs whose disqualification has been sought.

"If the judge (Narwekar) is going to meet the accused, what should we expect from that judge," Thackeray asked. The affidavit before the SC was filed on Monday, the former CM said.

Hitting back, Narwekar said Thackeray should know for what purposes a speaker could meet a chief minister. "If he still levels such allegations, then his motive is very clear. There is no rule that a speaker while hearing disqualification pleas, cannot do any other work," Narwekar contended.

The Supreme Court had last month extended the deadline to January 10 from December 31 for Narwekar to decide on the cross-petitions.

After the June 2022 split, the Election Commission had given the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Shinde-led faction, while the one headed by Thackeray was called the Shiv Sena (UBT) with a flaming torch as its symbol. In July last year, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP also joined the Shinde-led government. Assembly polls in Maharashtra are due around October this year. (With agency inputs)
NEW DELHI: In a pivotal day for Maharashtra politics, the state Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar made a crucial decision determining which of the two factions of Shiv Sena is the real owner of the party founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray and confirming Eknath Shinde's continuation as the state's Chief Minister. Following an hour-long speech, the Speaker declared that the Shinde faction rightfully claims Shiv Sena, diminishing Uddhav Thackeray's authority over the party. The Speaker also validated the eligibility of the 16 legislators associated with the Shinde faction.

The Speaker's decision, communicated after reviewing a comprehensive 1200-page report, primarily rests on the Election Commission's ruling regarding Shiv Sena's constitution, where the Shinde faction was acknowledged as the legitimate heir to Shiv Sena.

The controversy began when Shiv Sena's Chief Whip, Sunil Prabhu, challenged the eligibility of the 16 legislators from the Shinde faction, citing their absence during a crucial party meeting on June 21, 2022. The Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, clarified that since that meeting, the Chief Whip position held by Sunil Prabhu was vacated, rendering him powerless to call party meetings or issue Whips.

This decision not only secures the seats of the 16 legislators but also elevates Eknath Shinde's stature within the party, positioning him as the Chief Minister. The Supreme Court's order and now the Speaker's verdict have resolved the crisis looming over the Shinde-led government.

While the Shinde faction celebrates, discontent brews within Uddhav Thackeray's camp, questioning the fairness of the decision. Allegations of a preordained verdict cast shadows over the legitimacy of the ruling.

In a country like India, voters often cast their ballots based on a party's ideology and principles. This is evident in both national and state elections, and the political upheaval in Maharashtra has only added to the intricacies of party politics.

The rift within Shiv Sena, beginning in June 2022 when 16 legislators, including Eknath Shinde, parted ways, led to legal battles and accusations. The recent decision by Speaker Narvekar, backed by the Supreme Court and Election Commission, has clarified that the Shinde faction is indeed the authentic heir to Shiv Sena.

To delve into the deeper intricacies of this political saga, Zee News anchor Sourabh Raaj Jain provides a detailed analysis of why the Eknath Shinde-led faction has been deemed the real Shiv Sena. Stay tuned for an insightful exploration into the political landscape that has captivated Maharashtra.
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday said the Manipur government has denied it permission to start the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the Palace grounds in Imphal and asserted that it is determined to begin the march from the northeastern state and has sought permission for another location in the city.

At a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal launched a pamphlet and a website on the yatra. Replying to a reporter's question, Venugopal said the Manipur government has declined permission for starting the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Imphal's Palace grounds.

He asserted that the Congress is determined to start the yatra from Manipur and said the party has sought permission to start the march from another location in Imphal.

The yatra, which is scheduled to begin on January 14, will cover 6,713 kilometres and the participants will travel on buses and foot. The yatra being organised ahead of the 2024 general election will cover 110 districts, 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 Assembly segments in 66 days.
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's verdict on the dispute within the Shiv Sena factions, has ignited a political firestorm, with Uddhav Thackeray labelling it as a "murder of democracy" and a premeditated "match-fixing'' on Wednesday."

Shiv Sena UBT Leaders Slam Speaker's Verdict

Uddhav Thackeray, head of the Shiv Sena UBT faction, expressed strong disapproval, deeming the decision a direct insult to the Supreme Court's previous ruling in favour of Sunil Prabhu's appointment as chief whip. ''It was a match-fixing. The verdict is also an insult to the Supreme Court which had ruled that Sunil Prabhu's appointment as chief whip was valid. We don't accept this verdict, we are challenging it in the apex court,'' Uddhav Thackeray said.

#WATCH | Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray says, "We will go among the people...We have been going among the people & we will fight together along with the people of the state..." pic.twitter.com/WJweypm76S  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

Sanjay Raut, another prominent figure in the UBT faction, went a step further, denouncing the decision as part of a larger BJP conspiracy to dismantle the party founded by the late Balasaheb Thackeray. Raut warned that the Shiv Sena would not succumb to this setback, vowing to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

Speaker Deliver's Crucial Verdict

Speaker Narwekar, in delivering his crucial verdict, delved into the intricacies of the Shiv Sena constitution. He emphasized that the 2018 leadership structure, submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI), did not align with the party's constitution, leading to the dismissal of Uddhav Thackeray's removal of Eknath Shinde as ''unconstitutional.''

Narwekar clarified that, based on the evidence and records available, no elections were held in 2013 and 2018. Despite acknowledging limited jurisdiction, he declared the 2018 constitution submitted to the ECI as the relevant one, highlighting that the party failed to submit any constitution to the Speaker's office as per legislative rules.

Constitutional Conundrum: Shiv Sena's Divergent Claims

The Speaker pointed out the conflicting versions of the constitution submitted by the rival factions, stressing the importance of relying on the constitution presented to the ECI before the emergence of factional disputes. He emphasized that the 1999 constitution of Shiv Sena, recognized by the ECI, serves as the valid constitution for determining the real political party.

In a significant revelation, Narwekar highlighted that the 2018 amended constitution lacked validity as it was not in the records of the ECI, adhering to Supreme Court orders. This revelation challenges the legitimacy of the leadership structure based on the 2018 constitution, further complicating the ongoing political turmoil.

Supreme Court's Deadline For Speaker's Judgement

The Supreme Court's directive to Speaker Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions by January 10 has intensified the political drama in Maharashtra. As the factions gear up for a legal battle in the apex court, the repercussions of this decision are poised to reshape the state's political landscape. The struggle for control within Shiv Sena continues, leaving democracy hanging in the balance.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, the country is all set to witness the historic inauguration of Ram Temple Ayodhya. Devotees from across India are sending temple-related items which are being worshipped all the way to Ayodhya. While the entire country is getting 'Ram-may' and people are openly expressing their joy for the temple, the opposition leaders have seemingly failed to read the mood of the nation. At least, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya's provocating statements show this. While Akhilesh Yadav is trying to establish his party as a main challenger to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, leaders like Maurya are doing their every bit to create an anti-SP narrative. It can be said for the SP that if you have friends like Maurya, you don't need an enemy.

Maurya has not only made repeated remarks against Hinduism but also against Ramcharitmanas. While Maurya mostly avoided making controversial statements during his stint with the BJP, he has become a vocal critic of the Hindu religion after joining the Samajwadi Party and even Akhilesh Yadav has failed to stop him from making provocative statements. Recently, Maurya said that Hinduism is a hoax.

On Tuesday, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya explained his "Hindu ek dhoka hai" remark, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had acknowledged that Hinduism is a way of life and not a religion. Earlier, in a video posted on 'X' in August this year, Maurya could be heard saying, "The roots of Brahminism are very deep, and the reason for all the disparity is also Brahminism. There is no religion called Hindu; Hinduism is just a hoax. There is a conspiracy to trap the Dalits, tribals, and backward people of this country by calling the same Brahmin religion as Hindu religion."

Now, ahead of the Ram Temple inauguration, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya justified the firing on kar sevaks. He said that it was as per the law and the government of that time did what was necessary to protect the law. Maurya's statement still reflects his anti-Manuvadi ideology which he may have acquired during this sting with the Bahujan Samaj Party. However, the irony is that even BSP has been avoiding making such controversial remarks.

If the SP manages to strike a seat-sharing deal with the Congress, there won't be a division of votes and the SP may have an upper hand against the BJP in the direct fight at many seats. Despite knowing the consequences of his anti-Hindu and anti-Ram rhetorics, Maurya appears to have been hurting the poll prospects of the Samajwadi Party willingly. Such statements would only give an opportunity for the BJP to attack the Samajwadi Party and alienate the voters from them. Maurya's statement may draw applause from his followers, but it will ultimately benefit the BJP, not the SP. At a time when there appears to be a 'Ram-wave' in the northern belt, and the BJP is leading a 'Ram-centric' campaign, the SP leader should avoid making disparaging remarks.
NEW DELHI: In a major political development, the Congress party on Wednesday said that it has decided to skip the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya slated to be held on January 22. The move, according to a party statement, is attributed to concerns over the event being strategically advanced for electoral gains by the BJP and RSS. ''The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been brought forward for electoral gain, the statement issued by the Congress party said.

Congress Leaders Decline Invitation

The statement emphasized the Congress party's commitment to upholding the 2019 Supreme Court judgment while respecting the sentiments of millions who hold Lord Ram in high regard. Notable party figures, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, have gracefully declined the invitation, characterizing the event as distinctly aligned with the RSS and BJP, according to the statement.

"Last month, the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on January 22nd, 2024," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in the statement.

"Lord Ram is worshipped by millions in our country. Religion is a personal matter. But the RSS/BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain. While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," the statement added.

Here is the statement of Shri @Jairam_Ramesh, General Secretary (Communications), Indian National Congress. pic.twitter.com/JcKIEk3afy January 10, 2024

Sonia, Kharge, Chowdhury On The Guest List

Previously invited to the consecration ceremony on January 22, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were individually extended invitations. The ongoing invitation process is expected to include former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, along with various other opposition leaders in the coming days.

Diverse Guest List Raises Eyebrows

While the heads of major national political parties have received invitations, chief ministers and governors are notably absent from the list, despite their party leadership roles. The inclusive guest list features figures from various domains, including spiritual leaders, actors, industrialists, and heads of temples like Kashi Vishwanath and Vaishno Devi.

Advani, Joshi Invited Amid Health Concerns

In a notable move, the Vishva Hindu Parishad has extended invitations to BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, key figures from the '90s Ram Mandir movement. Both leaders, now in their nineties, expressed their intent to participate, contingent on their health conditions.

PM Modi To Attend Idol Installation

The grand ceremony is set to witness the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be attending the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla. As per temple officials, the ceremony will be held over seven days starting from January 16. Preparations are underway in full swing for the Ram Temple 'Pran Pratishtha' on January 22, which will draw dignitaries and people from all walks of life. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has decided to enthrone Ram Lalla at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Ram Temple at noon on January 22.

Vedic rituals for the Pran-Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya will begin on January 16, a week before the main ceremony. A priest from Varanasi, Lakshmi Kant Dixit, will perform the main rituals of the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla on January 22. From January 14 to January 22, Ayodhya will mark the Amrit Mahotsav. Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, holds great spiritual, historical, and cultural significance for the people of India.
MUMBAI: In a big political victory for incumbent Chief Minister of Maharastra, Eknath Shinde, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday delivered his much-awaited verdict on the disqualification of several Sena MLAs, declaring that the faction led by Shinde as the ''real'' Shiv Sena. Narwekar, while announcing his verdict on disqualification matters, emphasised that the arguments presented by the Uddhav Thackeray faction lack substance. The Shiv Sena Pramukh does not have the power to remove any leader from the party, Narwekar said while announcing his ruling.

He also earlier maintained that the partys Constitution of 2018 cant be taken into account. Narwekar added that the Shiv Sena constitution issued by the Election Commission is the authentic document and will henceforth be referred to as the SS Constitution. The last relevant constitution submitted to ECI before the rival groups emerged in 1999. I hold that the Constitution of the Shiv Sena provided by ECI to the Speaker is the relevant constitution of Shiv Sena to decide which is the political party, he said.

'No Consensus On Constitution Submitted By Sena Factions'

"There is no consensus on the constitution submitted by both the parties (two factions of Shiv Sena) to the EC. The two parties have different points of view on leadership structure. The only aspect is the majority in the legislature party. I will have to decide the relevant constitution to be taken into account to the leadership structure that existed before the dispute...." Narwekar said while announcing the ruling.

It was the election of the Assembly Speaker, Narwekar, that formed the basis of the disqualification pleas of the two rival sides as they accused each other of defying the party's whip. Last year, the Supreme Court had entrusted the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions of the MLAs - 34 in total - from the two rival Sena camps.

Consultations Ahead Of The Landmark Judgement

Before delivering the verdict, Speaker Narwekar held consultations with senior lawyers, emphasizing that the decision would be based on the law, ensuring justice for all parties involved. Describing it as a benchmark judgment, Narwekar aimed to provide a fair resolution to the ongoing dispute within the Shiv Sena.

Disappointed With Speaker's Ruling: Shiv Sena UBT

Reacting to the Speaker's ruling Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "I am not surprised at all. We had heard 'Wahi hota hai j Manzoor-e-khuda' hota hai'...after 2014 a new tradition has begun, 'Wahi hota hai Jo Manzoor-e-Narendra Modi aur Amit Shah hota hai'. That is what we see happening in Maharashtra...This is an unfortunate compromise of ethics. Something that was termed 'illegal' and 'unconstitutional' by the Supreme Court is being turned into 'legal'. This is unfortunate".

#WATCH | Maharashtra Assembly Speaker rules Shinde faction the real Shiv Sena.



Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi says, "I am not surprised at all. We had heard 'Wahi hota hai j manzoor-e-khuda' hota hai'...after 2014 a new tradition has begun, 'Wahi hota hai Jo pic.twitter.com/FxjbO4yOhz  ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

'Yeh Toh Hona Hi Tha...': NCP's Jitendra Awhad

NCP leader Jitendra Awhad took to X post and said: "From whom do you expect a judge... the public will judge".

Shinde Faction Celebrates After Speaker's Verdict

Members of the Eknath Shinde-led faction of Shiv Sena were seen celebrating the Speaker's ruling at the Balasaheb Bhavan in Mumbai.

Background Of The Dispute

The roots of the matter trace back to June 2022 when Eknath Shinde and around 40 MLAs rebelled against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, leading to a Shiv Sena split. Resorting to "resort politics," the rebel MLAs shifted locations, eventually joining hands with the BJP, resulting in the downfall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Disqualification Petitions

The power struggle escalated as both factions passed resolutions, each claiming leadership within the Sena. Disqualification petitions were filed against 40 MLAs of the rival camp by the Uddhav Thackeray camp, and in return, the Shinde faction filed petitions against 14 legislators from the Uddhav camp.

Split In Shiv Sena & Disqualification Pleas

Following the split within Shiv Sena, the Shinde faction comprises 40 MLAs and 13 MPs, while the Uddhav faction has 16 MLAs and 6 MPs. The disqualification pleas arose from accusations of both factions defying the party's whip during the election of the Assembly Speaker, Narwekar.

SC And EC Rulings

In February 2023, the Election Commission recognized the Shinde faction as the "real" Sena, allocating the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'bow and arrow' symbol. The Supreme Court, later on, ruled against restoring the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, stating that Uddhav Thackeray resigned without facing the floor test. Importantly, the Supreme Court last month extended the deadline to January 10 for Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide on the cross-petitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs.
New Delhi: Numerous instances abound of well-compensated engineers abandoning their positions overseas to return to India and establish their enterprises. While many such ventures face challenges, individuals like Mallikarjun Hatti from Vijayapura in Karnataka manage to succeed.

Formerly employed as a software engineer in the United States, Mallikarjun commanded a monthly salary of Rs 3.5 lakh, amounting to nearly half a crore Rupees annually. Despite this financial security, he opted to return to India and embark on an entrepreneurial journey. Upon his return, Mallikarjun encountered skepticism and mockery from neighbors and friends regarding his unconventional decision and business ideas.

Concerns also loomed within his family due to the abrupt shift in domains potentially leading to financial constraints. Having joined a US-based software company in 2008, Mallikarjun resigned in 2013 and, in 2018, delved into farming, cultivating cereals and millets on his land. Subsequently, he ventured into entrepreneurship, selling millet and cereal-based products.

Mallikarjun conceptualized his startup with a "Farm-to-Plate" theme, initially focusing on selling cereals as food. Initially met with indifference, he pivoted and proposed the idea of a hotel exclusively offering millet-based items. The hotel experienced a surge in business during the Covid-19 pandemic, turning a challenging period into good fortune for Mallikarjun. The establishment, named 'Siridhanya Hallimane,' gained local fame by providing high-quality, healthy food appreciated for its millet-derived health benefits.

Situated on Golagumbaz Road in Vijayapura, the hotel utilizes nine variants of millets grown on Mallikarjun's farmland. Regular patrons include government officials, travelers, and health-conscious consumers seeking alternatives to conventional foods. Mallikarjun emphasizes natural ingredients, avoiding chemicals or artificial flavorings in his culinary creations. The hotel caters to individuals with conditions like hypertension and diabetes, offering nutritious alternatives.

Mallikarjun's bold decision to forsake a lucrative job in the US for entrepreneurial pursuits paid off. 'Siridhanya Hallimane' has become a local sensation, attracting visitors from distant locations. Currently employing 20 workers, the business generates a monthly income of Rs 7.5 lakh for Mallikarjun. His success has led to the establishment of a food processing unit, and he envisions expanding the hotel as a franchise to other cities.
San Francisco: Amazon-owned live game streaming platform Twitch is reportedly laying off 35 percent of its workforce, about 500 employees, this week. Twitch laid off dozens of employees last year and shut down its service in South Korea due to "prohibitively expensive" costs.

According to a Bloomberg report, the fresh job cuts, "which could be announced as soon as Wednesday," come amid concerns over losses at Twitch. Earlier, when Twitch co-founder and CEO Emmett Shear paved the way for new CEO Dan Clancy, the company laid off 400 employees.

Amazon cut another 180 jobs late last year when it shut down its Crown channel, the Amazon-run Twitch programming, and closed its Game Growth group. Last month, Twitch said it plans to shut down its South Korean service in February this year due to high network usage fees in the country.

Clancy said the company "made the difficult decision to shut down the Twitch business in Korea on February 27, 2024."

The cost to operate Twitch in South Korea was "prohibitively expensive," and the company spent significant effort, such as adjusting the video quality on the service, to reduce business costs.

In November last year, the platform suspended its video-on-demand service in South Korea, seen as a protest against the country's controversial network usage fee.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan hold a welcoming ceremony for President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu and his wife Sajidha Mohamed in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to the talks between Xi and Muizzu in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two heads of state announced the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Xi said that the people of the two countries established friendly ties through the ancient Maritime Silk Road, undertook productive cooperation in the construction of the Belt and Road and other areas in recent years, and set a good example of equality, mutual assistance and mutual benefit between countries big and small over the past 52 years of diplomatic ties.

"Under the new circumstances, China-Maldives relations face a historic opportunity to build on past achievements and forge ahead," Xi said, noting that the elevation of ties is necessary alongside the growth of bilateral relations and meets the expectations of the two peoples.

Xi spoke about the hard work and valuable experience of the Communist Party of China over the last century. He stressed that China respects and supports the Maldives in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions, and supports the Maldives firmly in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national dignity.

China stands ready to exchange governance experience with the Maldives, strengthen the synergy of development strategies, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and set a new benchmark for the China-Maldives friendship, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to strengthen cooperation in such areas as the economy, trade and investment, agricultural parks, and the blue, green and digital economies. He also called for expanded cooperation on marine ecological and environmental protection, as well as strengthened people-to-people exchanges. He said China will support more Maldivian students to study in China and promote more direct flights between the two countries.

Xi noted that the two sides should strengthen multilateral communication and coordination to safeguard genuine multilateralism and the common interests of developing countries, and build a community with a shared future for humanity to make the world more peaceful, secure and prosperous.

He said that China is willing to work with the Maldives to implement the consensus reached at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, and to promote the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Muizzu said he was honored to pay his first state visit to China with a number of important cabinet ministers and become the first foreign head of state that China has hosted this year, fully demonstrating the great importance both sides attach to the development of bilateral relations.

Muizzu said the Maldives pursues the one-China policy firmly. Firm mutual support in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity is a solid foundation for the sustained and sound development of Maldives-China relations.

Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi's historic state visit to the Maldives, Muizzu said that China has provided a significant amount of valuable assistance to his country's economic and social development. He said the Maldivian people have benefited greatly from the Belt and Road Initiative, citing the Maldives-China Friendship Bridge as a symbol of the bond between the two peoples.

During his visit to Fujian Province, Muizzu said he has witnessed China's great achievements and experienced the excellent leadership of President Xi. He said the Maldives looks forward to taking the elevation of ties as an opportunity to expand new channels of cooperation and promote high-quality partnership in the construction of the Belt and Road, and that it welcomes more Chinese tourists to visit the country.

The Maldives supports the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, all of which were put forward by President Xi, and is willing to communicate and cooperate closely with China on international and regional affairs, Muizzu noted.

After their talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signature of an action plan to establish the China-Maldives comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, as well as cooperation documents on the construction of the Belt and Road, disaster management, the economy and technology, infrastructure, people's livelihoods, green development, and the blue and digital economies. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan hold a welcoming ceremony for President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu and his wife Sajidha Mohamed in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to the talks between Xi and Muizzu in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu witness the signature of bilateral cooperation documents after their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu witness the signature of bilateral cooperation documents after their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 10, 2024. Xi held talks with Muizzu, who is paying a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
SRINAGAR: In a significant stride, the Kashmiri language has transcended borders, gaining prominence globally. Following its integration into Microsoft Digital Translator, the language is now making its mark on Google Digital Translator, opening the doors of Kashmiri literature to a diverse audience around the world.

Overcoming Literacy Hurdles: From 5% To Global Accessibility

A recent report highlights that only 5 per cent of native Kashmiris can read and write in their mother tongue. However, with Microsoft and Google embracing Kashmiri, the literature is poised to break through linguistic barriers, allowing Kashmiri writers to showcase their creations on an international stage.

Renowned Kashmiri poet and writer, Abdul Hameed Nasir, emphasizes the profound connection between a language and its literature. He states, "A language is always recognized for its literature. As far as Kashmiri is concerned, it stands as one of the oldest languages in the world, boasting literary figures like Shamas Faqir, Lala Ded, Sheikh ul Alam, and Rasool Mir."

Global Literary Bridge: Google's Inclusive Move

Nasir acknowledges that while some works were translated before, Google's inclusion of Kashmiri will facilitate the conversion of all their literature into various languages, making it easily accessible to a global audience. He expresses gratitude, stating, "This step will make Kashmiri literature more accessible to those interested in our rich cultural heritage."

This inclusion not only amplifies the reach of Kashmiri literature but also serves as a testament to the significance of the language. The move aligns with the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill of 2020, which designated Kashmiri as an official language of the union territory.

Digital Revolution: Empowering Kashmiri On Global Scale

Senior journalist Rashid Rahil lauds this development as a significant leap forward for the language. He notes, "The whole world is digital, and in such a situation, if this language is included in Google, then it will spread all over the world. Every person sitting anywhere in the world will be able to access it. This will help people around the world to translate language into any other language."

Local Applause: A Boost For Heritage & Economy

The local Kashmiri community warmly welcomes this global recognition, viewing it as a stepping stone towards preserving their rich cultural heritage. Mohammad Suleman Bhatt, Vice President of the Jammu Kashmir Civil Society Forum, emphasizes the practical implications, stating, "Inclusion of Kashmiri language in Google is a great step. Kashmiris are spread everywhere, and Google's involvement will help and ease business, the economy. I appreciate this step."

The embrace of Kashmiri by tech giants marks a momentous occasion for the language, fostering its development and accessibility on a global scale.
In the realm of sustainable fashion, the evolving trends for ethnic wear in 2024 are an exciting blend of tradition, innovation, and eco-conscious choices. As ethnic fashion charts a course towards sustainability in 2024, the emphasis remains on honouring traditions, championing craftsmanship, and creating garments that exude elegance while promoting ethical fashion practices.

These trends signal a harmonious blend of heritage and eco-consciousness, ushering in an era where style seamlessly coexists with sustainability. Sukanya Bhataacharya, Founder, Prathaa gives a glimpse into the trends that will shape the landscape of sustainable ethnic wear:

1. Celebrating Timeless Elegance: In 2024, ethnic fashion takes a turn towards timeless elegance. We're witnessing a revival of classic silhouettes and weaves infused with a modern twist. Think versatile sarees, graceful blouses, and timeless lehengas and shararas crafted from sustainable handwoven fabrics that stand the test of time.

Also read: Pongal Fashion: How To Dress Up For Festivals - From Kanjeevaram Sarees To Temple Jewellery

2. Embracing Nature's Palette: Nature-inspired hues steal the spotlight. Earthy tones, soothing pastels, and vibrant pops of colours from the natural world define our palette. You will see more plant based natural dyes and eco-friendly pigments being used to create vibrant shades that not only elevate your look but also honour our commitment to sustainability.

3. Fusion of Artisanal Craftsmanship: Ethical and artisanal craftsmanship take center stage. Designs will spotlight handwoven textiles, intricate embroideries, and indigenous techniques that celebrate the rich heritage of craftsmanship. Each garment will carry the narrative of skilled artisans, emphasizing the artistry behind every creation.

4. Versatility in Design: Versatility reigns supreme. Our designs are multifunctional, offering adaptability for various occasions. From convertible ensembles that effortlessly transition from day to night to separates that mix and match seamlessly, brands are creating pieces that maximize wearability while minimizing waste.

5. Conscious Silhouettes: The emphasis is on comfortable yet statement-making silhouettes. Flowy drapes, relaxed fits, and breathable fabrics take precedence. We're embracing designs that not only flatter diverse body types but also prioritize comfort without compromising on style.

6. Personalized Sustainability: The focus on sustainability goes beyond materials. The trend leans towards customization and made-to-order options, encouraging conscious consumerism. Personalized touches and minimal waste will define these offerings, empowering individuals to contribute to a sustainable fashion narrative.
New Delhi: Winning everyone's hearts, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and Azad put on a beautiful singing show at the sangeet ceremony of Ira Khan and Nupur Shikhare. As Aamir Khan's daughter is all set to commence her life with fitness trainer Nupur, it couldn't have been more beautiful than friends and family coming together.

The couple is all set to get married in a traditional Marathi wedding at Taj Aravali Resort, Udaipur on January 10, 2024. In an intimate affair, the couple had a legal ceremony on January 3, 2024. Kicking off another round of celebrations, a special video is surfacing on the internet where father Aamir Khan can be seen singing along with his son Azad and ex-wife Kiran Rao.

Sitting peacefully on the stage, the trio could be heard singing the 'Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka'. especially dedicated to Ira. Take a look at this heartwarming video:

Kicking off the festivities, actor Aamir Khan arrived in Udaipur on Friday for the grand wedding functions of his daughter Ira Khan and her husband Nupur Shikhare. Ira and Nupur recently tied the knot in an intimate marriage ceremony in Mumbai. The father-son duo was seen posing in front of the paps stationed outside the airport.

Grabbing eyeballs, Nupur arrived at the venue in a very cool way. He was wearing a black vest and white shorts as he jogged from his house to the venue. After reaching the venue, Nupur grooved to the beats of the dhol outside the venue.

Reportedly, Nupur and Ira met during the COVID-19 lockdown when Nupur was training Aamir Khan and Ira was living with her father. The duo had an engagement party in November last year.

A day before their wedding, on Tuesday night, Nupur Shikhare shared a series of pictures with Ira and wrote on Instagram, "One more day of being your fiancee @khan.ira. I love you so much." In response, Ira Khan posted heart and hug emojis. In the last two pictures, the couple are seen sharing a meal.
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GUAYAQUIL: Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the violence-plagued country had entered an internal armed conflict. The men armed with pistols and what looked like sticks of dynamite entered the set of the TC Television network in the port city of Guayaquil during a news program that was airing live in thousands of homes across the nation and shouted that they had bombs. Noises similar to gunshots could be heard in the background. No one was killed in the attack.

Authorities have not said who was behind the television station occupation, or a series of other attacks that have shaken the South American country recently, but they follow the apparent escapes from prison of two of Ecuadors most powerful drug gang leaders.

JUST IN: The 13 thugs who took hostages on a live television broadcast in Ecuador have been arrested and will reportedly be charged with terrorism.



Here are the 13 clowns celebrating and flashing their gang signs for the cameras just moments before being arrested.



Life comes pic.twitter.com/PR9GChrfTe  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 10, 2024

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said she was in the control room, across from the studio, when the masked men burst into the building. One of them pointed a gun at her head and told her to get on the floor, Manrique said.

The incident was aired live, although the station's signal was cut off after about 15 minutes. Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

I am still in shock Manrique told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Everything has collapsed .... All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.

Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including the abductions of several police officers, in the wake of a notorious gang leaders apparent weekend escape from prison. President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a national state of emergency, a measure that lets authorities suspend peoples rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.

Shortly after the gunmen stormed the TV station, Noboa issued another decree designating 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing Ecuador's military to neutralize" them within the bounds of international humanitarian law. It also said the country had entered an internal armed conflict.

BREAKING:



The chaos in Ecuador continues. Shootings and murders everywhere in the cities.https://t.co/BDF18qvsMS pic.twitter.com/VGusHZOVwB  Megatron (@Megatron_ron) January 10, 2024

Ecuadors national police chief announced that authorities had arrested all the masked intruders. Police commander Cesar Zapata told the TV channel Teleamazonas that 13 people were detained.

Ecuadors attorney generals office later said the 13 will be charged with terrorism. It tweeted that it will present the charges in coming hours, and that prosecutors are working at the TC Television network studio to get more evidence.

Ecuadorian law establishes a penalty of up to 13 years in prison for anyone convicted of terrorism.

The government has not said how many attacks have taken place since authorities announced that Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, was discovered missing from his cell in a low security prison Sunday. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.

On Tuesday, Ecuadorean officials announced that another gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from a prison in the town of Riobamba. Colon Pico was captured on Friday as part of a kidnapping investigation and has also been accused of trying to murder one of the nations lead prosecutors.

Other attacks have included an explosion near the house of the president of the National Justice Court and the Monday night kidnappings of four police officers, or whether they think the actions were coordinated.

Police said one officer was abducted in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo city.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that authorities consider responsible for a spike in violence, much of tied to drug trafficking, that reached a new level last year with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

The whereabouts of Macias are unknown. Prosecutors opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape, but neither the police, the corrections system, nor the federal government confirmed whether the prisoner fled the facility or might be hiding in it.

In February 2013, he escaped from a maximum security facility but was recaptured weeks later.

Noboa said in a message on Instagram that he wouldnt stop until he brings back peace to all Ecuadorians, and that his government had decided to confront crime. The wave of attacks began a few hours after Noboas announcement.

States of emergency were widely used by Noboas predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the country.

Macias, who was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime, was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Los Choneros and other similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug trafficking routes and control of territory, including from within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021, according to authorities.

Experts and authorities have acknowledged that gang members practically rule from inside the prisons, and Macias is believed to have kept controlling his group from within the detention facility.
A worker collects smoked catfish slices from a grill at a traditional workshop in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Jan. 10, 2024. This traditional workshop in Bogor produces up to 500 kilograms of smoked catfish slices daily for domestic consumption as well as export to Malaysia and Nigeria. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

A worker arranges catfish on a grill to make smoked catfish slices at a traditional workshop in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Jan. 10, 2024. This traditional workshop in Bogor produces up to 500 kilograms of smoked catfish slices daily for domestic consumption as well as export to Malaysia and Nigeria. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

This photo taken on Jan. 10, 2024 shows smoked catfish slices at a traditional workshop in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. This traditional workshop in Bogor produces up to 500 kilograms of smoked catfish slices daily for domestic consumption as well as export to Malaysia and Nigeria. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

A worker places catfish slices on a grill for smoking process at a traditional workshop in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Jan. 10, 2024. This traditional workshop in Bogor produces up to 500 kilograms of smoked catfish slices daily for domestic consumption as well as export to Malaysia and Nigeria. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)

A worker prepares firewood to smoke catfish slices at a traditional workshop in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on Jan. 10, 2024. This traditional workshop in Bogor produces up to 500 kilograms of smoked catfish slices daily for domestic consumption as well as export to Malaysia and Nigeria. (Xinhua/Agung Kuncahya B.)
Qabil Ashirov

In December 2023, following the decisions made at the federal level in Russia, 5 batches of chicken eggs from Azerbaijan and Turkiye were brought to Dagestan.

According to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control of Russia ("Rosselkhoznadzor"), 1.2 million food eggs were imported from Azerbaijan and more than 600 thousand food eggs from Turkiye.

In total, 110 tons of eggs were supplied. Samples were taken to ensure the quality and safety of food products during importation.

Grappling with a significant 15.1% price hike in November and a 40.3% increase since January 2023, Russias government has taken decisive action to stabilize domestic markets and suspended import taxes on eggs from January 1 to June 30, 2024. With a standard tax rate of 15% now waived, the Russian agricultural products watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has also greenlit egg imports from Azerbaijan and Turkiye to alleviate market pressures further.

With a robust development in poultry production, Azerbaijan has not only fulfilled its agreement to export eggs to Russia but is also setting sights on China for exporting poultry meat. This expansion of economic relations underscores Azerbaijans capacity to produce a surplus suitable for international markets. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Russian Minister of Agriculture are optimistic about achieving price stability for chicken eggs and anticipate increased supplies from Azerbaijan and Turkiye, thanks to the lifted import duties.

Besides, Azerbaijan exports edible eggs to Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Pasang and children enjoy a cake at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Tenzin Drolma prepares milk for children at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Tenzin Drolma prepares for the farmers' New Year celebrations at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Tenzin Drolma and children decorate their house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Pasang shares a cake for children at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Tenzin Drolma and children prepare for the farmers' New Year celebrations at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Pasang feeds a baby at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Tenzin Drolma takes care of a child at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Children enjoy a cake at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Pasang holds a baby at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Children enjoy a cake at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Children pose for photos with a certificate of merit at a welfare house in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 8, 2024.

Locals in Xigaze celebrate the farmers' New Year on the first day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan calendar, which falls on Jan. 12 this year.

Pasang, 44 years old, has been preparing for the celebrations at a welfare house. This year witnessed the eighteenth New Year that Pasang celebrated here.

Together with Tenzin Drolma, who came to help in 2017, Pasang shoulders the responsibility of a mother for 13 children at this welfare house. Each of them is considered her family. As the farmers' New Year draws near, Pasang and Tenzin Drolma have prepared almost everything they need for celebrations at their sweet home. As for the New Year wishes, Pasang said that she wishes her kids to be sound and able to make contributions to society. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)
QUITO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hooded and armed suspects broke into an Ecuadorian television studio Tuesday and terrorized the staff while they were on the air, sending shock waves through the country.

Viewers watched as the events unfolded live, witnessing the suspects point their weapons at the employees of local "TC Television" station in the southwest coastal city of Guayaquil.

Station employees remained lying on the floor, visibly shaken by what was happening. Amid the chaos, a series of gunshots rang out as employees pleaded for the shooting to stop.

After a burst of gunfire, the broadcast abruptly went off the air.

There were no immediate reports of victims or official statements from the government.

The National Police posted to social media platform X that "Given the entry of criminals into the facilities of a media outlet in Guayaquil, our specialized units are being deployed at the scene to address this emergency."

The unprecedented event followed months of escalating violence that led President Daniel Noboa on Monday to declare a 60-day state of emergency with a nighttime curfew to stem the unrest, including at prisons.

As part of the measure, the military has been mobilized to bolster policing. 
LIMA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Peru's government on Tuesday declared an emergency along its northern border with Ecuador due to a surge of violence caused by criminal gangs in the neighboring country.

Prime Minister Alberto Otarola announced that the emergency declaration would deploy an unspecified number of army troops to support police forces. 
Members of the 27th group of Chinese medical team to Tanzania pose for a group photo with Suo Peng (4th R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, and Paschal Ruggajo (4th L), director of Curative Services in the Ministry of Health, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Jan. 9, 2024. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)

DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania on Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for dispatching medical teams to help improve healthcare for people in the East African country.

Over the last six decades, more than 1,500 members of the Chinese medical team have been dispatched to Tanzania, said Paschal Ruggajo, director of Curative Services in the Ministry of Health, stressing that they have saved the lives of more than 20 million Tanzanians suffering from complicated ailments and have helped address various technological gaps in local hospitals.

Ruggajo made these remarks in a speech delivered during a ceremony to bid farewell to the 26th group of the Chinese medical team and welcome the 27th group in Tanzania's commercial hub of Dar es Salaam.

Tanzanian medical experts have greatly benefited from the long-standing cooperation in the field of health over the last six decades, Ruggajo said.

The 11 members of the 26th Chinese medical team have worked in Tanzania for two years, stationed at the Muhimbili National Hospital, the Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute, the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute and the Mbeya Regional Referral Hospital.

Suo Peng, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, said that in the past two years, the Chinese experts completed close to 15,000 diagnoses, conducted more than 3,000 surgeries, participated in nearly 2,000 critical care interventions, managed anesthesia for over 7,000 cases, conducted over 400 training sessions, and trained nearly 2,000 individuals.

"In December 2022, the team collaborated with local doctors on a 13-hour thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm resection surgery, leading to the successful recovery of the patient," he said.

Peng also expressed hope that the newly arrived 27th batch of medical staff, comprising 11 specialists from renowned hospitals in China specializing in pediatric, cardiac, neurosurgery, orthopedics and other fields, would dedicate themselves to safeguarding the health of the Tanzanian people, further contributing to the friendship between China and Tanzania. 
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Environment on Wednesday released measures to prevent and reduce air pollution during the dry season after the air quality has declined.

The ministry said in a news release that every year from December to April, it routinely monitors air quality in the capital city of Phnom Penh and provinces across the country to detect PM10 and PM2.5 air particles.

"The results indicate an alarming decline in air quality, particularly due to an increase in inert particles floating in the air (PM10 and PM2.5), surpassing the standard and posing risks to human health and the environment," it said.

PM 10 and PM2.5 are produced by industrial factories, diesel-driven vehicles, forest fire, grass and agricultural waste burning, and rubbish and solid waste burning at construction sites, public areas and rubbish dumps, said the ministry.

The ministry urged local authorities in all 25 cities and provinces across the Southeast Asian country to take measures to help improve air quality by educating people not to burn trash, forest, grass, plastic waste, agricultural waste, solid waste, and other materials in open spaces.

According to experts, 70 percent of the air pollution came from vehicle fuels, 20 percent from dust at construction sites and 10 percent from other sources such as rubbish burning. 
MOSCOW, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia has demonstrated that it is a self-sufficient country in every respect, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

"The main idea that we proved to ourselves and the whole world is that Russia is a self-sufficient country in every sense of the word," the Kremlin said, citing the president during a meeting with the local residents of Anadyr, the capital of Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Area.

"Even Europe's leading economies are undergoing difficult times," Putin noted, adding that while Russia's economy is growing, European economies are experiencing a decline.

Putin noted that Europe's dependence on Russia turned out to be stronger than Russia's reliance on Europe.

He said that Russia remains a strong country that continues to look forward with confidence, adding that this was one of the most important results of the past year. 
BEIRUT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday that his country respects all international resolutions to achieve permanent stability in the southern regions.

During his meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut, Mikati said it is time to find a way to settle the Palestinian issue, which is "the two-state solution."

For her part, Baerbock stressed the importance of implementing UN Resolution 1701. The resolution was adopted in August 2006 to seek a full cessation of hostilities shortly after a month of deadly warfare between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a fragile truce.

In response to a complaint that Israel had filed against Lebanon, accusing it of not adhering to Resolution 1701, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted a complaint before the UN Security Council on Wednesday against Israel for violating the resolution.

The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since Oct. 8 after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

Two Lebanese civilians were killed on Wednesday in confrontations between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on southern Lebanese borders, said a Lebanese military source.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the victims were identified as Hassan Tawil and Abdel Karim al-Barnawi, who were killed by Israeli artillery and drone strikes on Lebanese villages.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters attacked several Israeli sites and border settlements on Wednesday, causing some injuries.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 215 on the Lebanese side, including 158 Hezbollah members and 37 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. 
King Abdullah II (R) of Jordan meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Aqaba, Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2024. Jordan, Egypt and Palestine stressed Wednesday their rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Royal Hashemite Court/Handout via Xinhua)

AMMAN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Jordan, Egypt and Palestine stressed Wednesday their rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The rejection was reiterated during a trilateral summit held in Jordan's Aqaba, where King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also called for international condemnation of and actions against such plans.

They stressed the need for continuing pressure on Israel to stop its aggression on Gaza and protect the innocent civilians in the strip, according to a statement by Jordan's Royal Hashemite Court.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian president called for "a decisive stance" from the international community to push for a ceasefire in the besieged enclave and explained the efforts made by Egypt to open dialogue with all concerned parties to reach a truce agreement in Gaza.

The leaders also expressed complete rejection of any attempts to liquidate the Palestine issue and to separate Gaza and the West Bank, both of which are integral parts of the Palestinian state, the statement added.

At the summit, the three leaders reiterated the importance of ensuring sufficient delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave.

King Abdullah II, Sisi and Abbas also voiced "complete rejection of any attempts to reoccupy parts of Gaza," stressing the necessity of "enabling the people of the Gaza Strip to return to their homes."

Noting Israel's hostilities in the West Bank, as well as its violations of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem, the leaders warned that such actions could escalate tensions in the region.

The three heads of state agreed to continue working together in coordination with Arab and influential countries to find a political horizon for resolving the Palestine issue to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution, which entails restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and ensuring the establishment of their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 border and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Before the summit, the Jordanian king held separate meetings with the Egyptian and Palestinian presidents to discuss efforts toward an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The Aqaba summit was held while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a tour in the Middle East over the conflict in Gaza. He has so far visited Turkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Bahrain, and is expected to conclude his trip with a stop in Cairo on Thursday. 

King Abdullah II (C) of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend a trilateral summit in Aqaba, Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2024. Jordan, Egypt and Palestine stressed Wednesday their rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Royal Hashemite Court/Handout via Xinhua)

King Abdullah II (R) of Jordan welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba, Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2024. Jordan, Egypt and Palestine stressed Wednesday their rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Royal Hashemite Court/Handout via Xinhua)

King Abdullah II (R, Front) of Jordan welcomes Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (L, Front) at the King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba, Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2024. Jordan, Egypt and Palestine stressed Wednesday their rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Royal Hashemite Court/Handout via Xinhua)
ANKARA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Sweden has fulfilled an important part of demands by Turkiye for the Nordic country's NATO bid, Turkish parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus said Wednesday.

"We see that Sweden also fulfills a significant part of its responsibilities," Kurtulmus told reporters.

"If we are to act jointly within an alliance, Turkiye has extremely legitimate expectations," he said, noting that Turkiye expected relevant countries to end "any kind of support" to terrorist groups and ban what it called anti-Turkish activities on their lands.

Sweden should act carefully and meticulously against Islamophobia in Europe, he noted, adding Ankara is not against NATO's expansion.

The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee approved Sweden's NATO bid following deliberation in December last year, a first step necessary for putting it to a full parliament vote.

Kurtulmus said that it was is up to the general assembly of the parliament to decide the timing of the vote after it returns from recess on Jan. 16.

A full parliamentary approval is needed before the protocol can be signed into law by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkiye approved Finland's NATO bid in March last year but has slow-walked Sweden's accession, demanding the Nordic country further address Ankara's security concerns.

Turkiye is under pressure from the United States to approve Sweden's accession to NATO, but Ankara has been holding up its ratification to press Washington to allow the sale of F-16 fighter jets. 
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday condemned the recent rash of violence in Ecuador, but said he was confident the crisis of crime and instability in the South American country was "transitory."

At his usual morning press conference, held in Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, where he was on an official visit, Lopez Obrador said he hoped peace would soon be restored in Ecuador.

"We express our solidarity and our support for the people of Ecuador and for their government, and of course we disapprove of these vandalistic attitudes," he told reporters.

So far, there were no reports of nationals impacted by the outbreak of violence there, he added.

Ecuador has seen an unprecedented escalation in violence and acts of vandalism in several cities. On Tuesday, masked armed men broke into a television studio while it was on air and terrorized the personnel.

The wave of violence, which the government has blamed on criminal gangs, worsened after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency to give the police and military broad powers to root out crime, especially in prisons.

Noboa on Tuesday announced Ecuador was dealing with an "internal armed conflict." 
Abbas Ganbay

"Baku once again urges the French side to stop interfering in Azerbaijan's internal affairs," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in response to a question from local media, Azernews Reports.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizadeh's response to a question from local media refers to the anti-Azerbaijani statement of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in connection with the detention of the French citizen

It was noted that a citizen of the French Republic, Martin Rian, was detained on December 4 on suspicion of committing an act under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (espionage).

"The allegations of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France about the unjustified detention of a French citizen have no grounds. This statement is a distortion of reality, another attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the process of legitimate investigation.

Later on, by court decision, a measure of restraint in the form of detention for four months was chosen against him.

The Azerbaijani side, in taking measures against the French citizen in question, fully complied with national legislation and international obligations. Since the suspect's detention, the staff of the consular department of the French Embassy had visited him several times, and they were fully aware of the criminal case.

Furthermore, even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan had sent a note verbale to the French Embassy in Azerbaijan to examine the cooperation of the person in question with two employees of the French Embassy, the French side refused to provide any explanations or cooperate in the investigation. In this regard, the two embassy officials were declared persona non grata by Azerbaijan.

"Once again, we urge the French side to stop interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and the mentioned investigative actions," Hajizadeh said.
BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said here on Wednesday that his country welcomes investment and diverse forms of economic cooperation.

Al-Sudani made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 47th session of the Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

He said the fair represented "an aspect of the relationship between Iraq and friendly countries."

Mohammed Hannon, spokesman for the Iraqi Trade Ministry, said the fair aimed to promote cooperation between Iraqi and foreign private sectors.

More than 800 Iraqi and foreign companies from about 20 countries participated the event, which will last until Jan. 19. 
BEIRUT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock vowed on Wednesday to offer 15 million euros (16.45 million U.S. dollars) to support the Lebanese army amid growing fears of escalating tensions with Israel on Lebanon's southern border.

During her visit to the Beirut port, Baerbock said the money would be used to buy fuel and train soldiers to monitor the border, according to Lebanon's Elnashra news website.

"The army must be able to exercise effective control in the region to contain armed groups," she said, without specifying.

Arriving in Beirut on Tuesday, Baerbock held meetings on Wednesday with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon and the region.

The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since Oct. 8 after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 215 on the Lebanese side, including 158 Hezbollah members and 37 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. 
DAMASCUS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Russian military on Wednesday conducted multiple airstrikes against the strongholds of the Islamic State (IS) across the sprawling desert region in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the airstrikes have targeted the locations of IS cells in the southern countryside of the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zour in retaliation for the extremist group's recent assaults on Syrian army forces and their allied fighters in the region.

However, the observatory report has provided no information on potential casualties among IS militants.

The Britain-based watchdog group said the IS militants launched a surprise attack using heavy and medium machine guns on Tuesday from deep within the Syrian desert on military positions held by pro-government fighters in the Kabbajb area south of Deir al-Zour.

The attack resulted in the death of two Syrian soldiers, prompting increased security alert and substantial military reinforcements sent by the Syrian army to the affected area, the observatory said.

It reported that in a separate attack on Tuesday, the IS ambushed and killed a Syrian military officer and a pro-government fighter in the desert of Athraya in the northern province of Raqqa.

Also on Tuesday, a military bus carrying Syrian soldiers was hit by an explosive device in the desert near the ancient city of Palmyra in Homs province, killing nine people and wounding 13 others, the Syrian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry specified that the fatalities included eight soldiers and one civilian, and blamed the attack on "terrorists."

In an earlier report, the observatory said the bus was targeted by IS militants, who killed 14 soldiers and wounded 19 others near the T-3 oil station in the desert region in the remote countryside of Homs, adding that the injured had been taken to the Tadmur Hospital in Palmyra.

The desert region has become a strategic battleground between the Syrian army, its allies, and IS militants. The extremist group, despite its territorial losses in Syria, has been utilizing the vast and rugged desert terrain as a base to stage unexpected attacks and destabilize the region. 
ROME, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Italy's parliament on Wednesday approved a resolution reaffirming the country's support for Ukraine for another year in that country's conflict with Russia.

Both houses of the Italian parliament supported the resolution, with the lower house casting 195 votes in favor, 50 against and 55 abstentions. A few hours later, the Senate recorded 103 votes in favor, 24 against and 27 abstentions.

In a change to previous resolutions of support in Italy, the vote also called for the Italian government to support "all diplomatic efforts" to negotiate an end to the conflict as long as those efforts lead to a "lasting" and "balanced" peace.

Italy is among the countries sending military equipment to Ukraine since the start of the conflict. Public support for aid to Ukraine from European Union member states has eroded in recent months. 
JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations called on Wednesday for the entry of more aid into Gaza and accused Israel of denying several aid missions into the Palestinian enclave.

Obstacles by Israeli authorities prevented UN aid teams from delivering desperately needed humanitarian relief inside Gaza, effectively cutting off five hospitals in the north from access to "lifesaving medical supplies and equipment," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

"Requests had been denied five times since Dec. 26 to reach the Central Drug Store in Gaza City and Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, further north," OCHA said.

Despite Israel's promises to decrease the intensity of the strikes, the Israeli strikes have intensified on Wednesday. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), about 150 locations were struck over the last day. In Khan Younis, soldiers uncovered an underground tunnel where Hamas held hostages in "inhuman conditions," IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told a press briefing.

Defying international calls for a ceasefire, the chief of staff of the IDF Herzi Halevi, while touring the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said that the army "must continue the effort and destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas."

Wartime Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said in a public statement that Hamas has effectively lost control over "large parts of the enclave," adding that Israel needs to continue the fighting. "If we stop now, Hamas will resume its control," he said.

At nightfall, the wartime cabinet convened to discuss a new Qatari proposal for a deal with Hamas, a government official confirmed to Xinhua. The proposal includes the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Gaza, the departure of Hamas leaders from the Palestinian enclave and the release of the hostages held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza.

Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said at a press conference in Beirut that the group will not agree to any deal that won't include a complete cessation of fighting.

According to figures released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Wednesday, more than 14,000 rockets were fired at the country since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Oct. 7. About 1,200 people, including 790 civilians, were killed in the initial attack as hundreds of Hamas fighters and Gazans raided southern communities. At least 12,326 Israelis have been injured, including 3,900 minors.

Hamas took 253 people hostage. A total of 132 people are still held in Gaza, including 19 women, five children, 10 elderly, eight Thais, a Nepali, a Tanzanian, and a French/Mexican.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Health Ministry reported that the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression has risen to 23,357 and about 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.3 million population is displaced as entire neighborhoods have been levelled by the Israeli bombardments. 
A craftsman shows a hand-made engraved metal object in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia on Jan. 9, 2024. Engraved metal objects are the main tourist souvenirs in Tunisia.

The arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals, such as gold, silver and copper, which are widely spread in Arab countries, were inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

A craftsman carves patterns on a metalware in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia on Jan. 9, 2024. Engraved metal objects are the main tourist souvenirs in Tunisia.

The arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals, such as gold, silver and copper, which are widely spread in Arab countries, were inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Jan. 9, 2024 shows engraved metal objects for sale at a tourist souvenir shop in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia. Engraved metal objects are the main tourist souvenirs in Tunisia.

The arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals, such as gold, silver and copper, which are widely spread in Arab countries, were inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

A craftsman carves patterns on a metalware in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia on Jan. 9, 2024. Engraved metal objects are the main tourist souvenirs in Tunisia.

The arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals, such as gold, silver and copper, which are widely spread in Arab countries, were inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Jan. 9, 2024 shows engraved metal objects for sale at a tourist souvenir shop in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia. Engraved metal objects are the main tourist souvenirs in Tunisia.

The arts, skills and practices associated with engraving on metals, such as gold, silver and copper, which are widely spread in Arab countries, were inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Adel Ezzine/Xinhua)
A visitor walks past textile samples at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with visitors at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Visitors look at exhibits at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

A Chinese exhibitor talks with a visitor at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Visitors walk past the China pavilion at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with visitors at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with a visitor at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

A Chinese exhibitor talks with visitors at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with visitors at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with a visitor at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Visitors talk at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

A visitor looks at textile samples at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Chinese exhibitors talk with visitors at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

A visitor takes photos of exhibited products at the Heimtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 9, 2024. Heimtextil 2024, an international platform for home and contract textiles and textile design, kicked off Tuesday in Frankfurt. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
Evie King, AFI Military Spouse of the Year 2023 (Evie King)

Every year, Armed Forces Insurance awards one military spouse the title of Military Spouse of the Year. Military spouses all over the world compete for base, branch and overall titles. The 2023 overall winner, Evie King, just happens to be stationed in the Rheinland-Pfalz area and I had the opportunity to talk with her about her past year holding the title.

Evie was nominated for her work with the non-profit organization InDependent, which focuses on military spouse wellness- both physical and mental well-being. She won the 2023 Rheinland-Pfalz Spouse of the Year. Then, she won the combination of popular votes and judging points to win the 2023 Army Branch Spouse of the Year. Finally, her competition packet, featuring her AFI MSOY profile information, nominations, and previous voting activity was compared against the winning spouses from the other military branches to win the overall competition. Since winning, she has had the opportunity to educate others about her platform, attend conferences and appear on national news programs such as the Today Show.

With the nominations for the 2024 AFI Military Spouse of the Year competition now open, Evie has some tips for those being nominated or thinking about nominating someone.

Dont be afraid to ask someone to nominate you.

You dont have to make a global impact to make a difference.

Hear Evie talk about it in her own words in the clip below.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more videos where Evie will tell us all about the biggest challenges she saw in the military community, interesting places she has gone in the past year and more. To learn more about nominations, which are open until January 26, click here.
Rising to an all-time high of $2,135 per ounce, gold had never seemed as lustrous as it did in 2023. The spot price of the metal soared 13% last year, and there's speculation that it will continue to remain in demand in 2024 -- perhaps even setting a new high.

But what's the best route to add some glitter to your portfolio? Sure, visiting the local coin gallery and buying gold bullion is one option. However, Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM) Franco-Nevada (NYSE: FNV), and Newmont (NYSE: NEM) are three gold stocks that provide even better opportunities for gold bugs in the new year.

1. Agnico Eagle

Agnico Eagle is a gold-mining stock that outshines many of its peers with its mines in North America, Finland, and Australia. After its 2022 merger with Kirkland Lake Gold and its acquisition of Yamana's Canadian assets, Agnico has emerged as a leading producer of gold -- and profits. Compared to Barrick Gold and Gold Fields, two of its leading peers based on market cap, it distinguishes itself with strong free cash flow.

AEM Free Cash Flow Per Share (Annual) Chart

This helps provide the ability to acquire more assets or to advance growth projects that will expand its mineral resources and strengthen the company's future.

The strong free cash flow has also helped the company to remain in sound financial health -- something that's not always the case with mining companies, which require large amounts of capital to develop their assets. At the end of 2023's third quarter, Agnico had an investment-grade balance sheet and a conservative ratio of 0.36 in net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

Currently, investors can grab shares of Agnico Eagle from the bargain bin. The stock sells for about 11.2 times operating cash flow, a discount to its five-year average cash-flow multiple of 13.5.

2. Franco-Nevada

Unlike mining companies that dig gold out of the ground, Franco-Nevada is a royalty and streaming company. More like specialized financiers, royalty and streaming companies provide up-front capital to miners to help them finance their capital-intensive projects. In return, they receive the right to acquire future mineral production for a set price (usually lower than the current market price) or to receive a portion of the mined minerals.

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Because of this business model, Franco-Nevada provides gold investors with an investment opportunity that has less risk than the mining companies that must execute on the development of the assets.

While Franco-Nevada has exposure to other metals as well as oil and gas, its gold represents the lion's share of the company's revenue: 78% as of last year's third quarter. And the company has partnerships with some of the leading gold mining companies, including Barrick, Newmont, Agnico Eagle, and Kinross Gold.

Further evidence of Franco-Nevada's appeal for conservative investors comes from the stock's rock-solid balance sheet that features zero debt and $1.3 billion in cash.

3. Newmont

Newmont, with a history stretching back over a century, is the largest gold-mining stock based on market capitalization, and it's the only gold producer included in the S&P 500.

The company appears a lot more attractive now since it closed on its acquisition of Newcrest in November. Newmont expects the transaction to immediately add value, projecting that it will achieve $500 million in pre-tax synergies in the two years following the closing of the deal as well as a minimum of $2 billion in cash improvements through portfolio optimization during the same period.

One of the especially alluring qualities of Newmont is its attention to rewarding shareholders. The company has a unique dividend policy among gold stocks in that it distributes a fixed dividend of $1 per share (at a gold price of at least $1,400 per ounce) and a variable dividend based on the company's free cash flow.

Currently, Newmont's stock offers a juicy 4% forward-yielding dividend. And those concerned about whether the company is jeopardizing its financial health to appease investors can rest assured thanks to the company's conservative approach to leverage. At the end of Q3 2023, Newmont had a net-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio of 0.7 -- below the company's targeted ratio of 1.

Which gold stock is the best addition to your portfolio?

The most conservative investors yearning for gold exposure will find that Franco-Nevada is probably their best bet thanks to its debt-free balance sheet and a business model that represents a lower risk profile than other gold stocks.

For those comfortable with a higher degree of risk, however, Agnico Eagle and Newmont both offer great propositions -- especially Newmont, with its compelling dividend policy.

Should you invest $1,000 in Newmont right now?

Before you buy stock in Newmont, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Newmont wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

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3 Gold Stocks to Buy in 2024 After Gold Hit an All-Time High in 2023 was originally published by The Motley Fool
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) investors didn't just have a flat year in 2023, they had a downright awful one. Shares of the beverage behemoth declined even as the S&P 500 rallied by 22%. Coke's 5% drop was enough to make it the sixth-worst-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Still, 2024 could be much better for shareholders. Let's look at some big reasons for investors to like Coke's prospects for the year ahead.

1. It's all about volume

Coke stock joined other Dow consumer staples giants like Procter & Gamble in losing ground last year. But the beverage leader is enjoying much stronger operating momentum. The big knock against P&G, after all, is that it has had to rely exclusively on higher prices to boost sales in 2023. Volumes declined in the most recent quarter as overall growth landed at 7%.

Compare that result with Coca-Cola, which posted an 11% jump in organic revenue last quarter thanks to a balance between rising prices and increased sales volumes. Coke won market share in its core on-the-go beverage niche and is finding plenty of growth in core areas like sparkling sodas and non-traditional beverages such as energy drinks, sports drinks, and waters. "We delivered an overall solid quarter and are raising our full year ... guidance," CEO James Quincey told investors in late October.

2. Cash returns

Shareholders should also see their returns bolstered by more direct cash headed their way in 2024. Last quarter, Coke boosted its earnings outlook to call for an 8% increase for the full 2023 year. Gains might land even higher if cost inflation keeps moderating, as it did starting late last year.

That profit bounce should easily fund the company's next dividend increase, which is expected to be announced in mid-February. Coke has hiked its dividend in each of the last 60 years, including a 5% boost early last year.

PEP Dividend Yield Chart

The poor performance of the stock lately means investors get a higher yield from picking up Coke's shares today. You'll collect a 3.1% yield on top of any capital appreciation by purchasing Coca-Cola at today's prices. That's better than P&G's 2.5% yield and PepsiCo's 2.9% yield.

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3. Price check

There's a good reason why the "Dogs of the Dow" strategy, which focuses on buying the worst performers of the Dow from the prior year, is so popular with investors. The Dow is packed with high-performing companies like Coca-Cola that have a good chance at bouncing back simply because they start the new year off at a discount. These weaker stocks tend to have higher dividend yields, too.

Investors can add a relatively cheap price to that list of reasons to like Coke's chances for 2024. Shares are trading at 5.7 times annual sales, down from the over 6 times sales that investors were paying in early 2023.

Sure, you could buy Pepsi for about half of that price. But a Coke investment comes with greater income, faster growth, and much higher profit margins than Pepsi. These stellar metrics should support better returns for investors holding this stock in 2024 and beyond.

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3 Reasons Coca-Cola Stock Could Bounce Back in 2024 was originally published by The Motley Fool
Abbas Ganbay

"There is a 'certain regression' in Azerbaijan's peace treaty proposals," Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a press conference with Greek counterpart Yorgos Gerapetritis, Azernews reports.

"Yes, I would say that we see a certain regression in Azerbaijan's proposals in terms of content on certain points of the text, but also a certain progress in several other directions. The countries should recognise mutual territorial integrity without any ambiguity. This is an issue where maximum clarity is needed. And the final peace treaty should provide this clarity," Mirzoyan added.

Mirzoyan noted that the delimitation process "may take years, but the peace treaty should specify clear grounds for the process." Any uncertainty in the two issues, he said, could become a ground for further escalation.

"Armenia believes that negotiations with Azerbaijan should continue on Western platforms, as it was earlier," Sargis Khandanyan, head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Relations said at a briefing.

"It is very important for us to continue the already formed negotiation formats. You know that the format of meetings of foreign ministers has been formed in Washington, as well as the format of negotiations between the leaders of the countries mediated by the European Union. This adds legitimacy to the negotiations," he noted.
Fang Zheng / iStock.com

If youre striving to save money in 2024, youre probably focused on what not to buy  but the purchases you do make could have just as much impact on your money goals as those you forgo. By investing in a few key kitchen items this year, you could recoup your expenditure and then some by the time 2025 rolls around.

Im a Costco Superfan: These Are The 5 Highest Quality Kirkland Food Items

More: How To Get $340 a Year in Cash Back  for Things You Already Buy

A handful of strategic purchases could dramatically reduce what you spend on food and drinks while preventing waste and making you less likely to eat out. All of the following items have the potential to pay for themselves well before next January, leaving you out of the red and with more money in your bank account  and theyre all available at Costco right now.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Costco Purchases That Can Help You Save Money Through All of 2024
eric1513 / Getty Images

In a political environment where partisan divisions have reached a fever pitch on everything from war to gas stoves, its hard to find much common ground between Democrats and Republicans. But there is one thing they agree on: More should be done to protect Social Security  and 2024 presidential candidates need to lay out their plans for doing so.

Retirement Planning: How Much the Average Person 65 and Older Spends Monthly

Discover: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

A 2022 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 57% of U.S. adults cited making Social Security more financially sound as one of their top policy priorities. Comparable shares in both parties agreed on the issue, including 58% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats.

Explore: 10 Ways for Retirees To Cut Back on Expenses in 2024

The future of Social Security has become a hot topic during the 2024 presidential campaign because of a looming funding shortfall. The programs Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is expected to run out of money within the next decade, leaving Social Security solely dependent on payroll taxes. Those taxes currently cover only about 77% of benefits.

There is growing concern in some quarters that the leading 2024 presidential candidates have not provided enough details on how they plan to fix the problem. That includes President Joe Biden, who seeks re-election to a second term this year.

A recent article from the Virginia Mercury cited comments made by Dan Adcock, director of government relations & policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. During an interview with States Newsroom, Adcock said it behooves the president to try to come up with a proposal that would extend solvency and not have to wait until the last minute  The effectiveness of those proposals go down as you get closer to the solvency day.

In fairness, Biden has proposed a 4-point plan to boost Social Security that would mostly impact high earners who can depend on their retirement savings to get by. The challenge is getting a divided Congress to support the plan. Heres a look at the presidents proposals:

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Tax earned income above $400,000, leaving wages between $160,200 and $400,000 untaxed. In 2024, any wages above $168,600 are not taxed, up from $160,200 in 2023.

Change the calculation for determining annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) so they are no longer based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Biden favors basing the COLA on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).

Raise the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) age that determines how much money youll receive in Social Security benefits.

Raise the special minimum benefit for lifetime lower-wage workers to 125% of the federal poverty level for Social Security beneficiaries.

The leading Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, has said that he has no plans to touch Social Security if he returns to the White House. Last year Trump said that under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security. He backed that claim up a month ago, saying that you dont have to touch Social Security.

Presumably, this means Trump will leave the program alone. But some skeptics suggest that Trumps campaign rhetoric on Social Security doesnt square with his record as president. As previously reported by GOBankingRates, Trumps 2020 budget proposal included $25 billion worth of cuts to Social Security. It is unclear whether those proposed cuts would impact benefits.

The three other leading GOP candidates  Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis  have mainly floated ideas that would reduce Social Security spending rather than raise taxes. Heres a look at some of their suggestions:

Haley : The former South Carolina governor has said she supports keeping Social Security the same for anyone whos in their 40s, 50s, 60s or older. Well preserve Social Security and Medicare for the next generation, Haley said. However, shed limit benefits for the wealthy and is a proponent of raising the retirement age, but only for younger people who are just entering the system.

Christie : The one-time governor of New Jersey has been the most vocal candidate in terms of proposing cuts to Social Security benefits. Last summer Christie warned that Social Security will go bankrupt next decade and its time to start thinking about cutting the program. That statement raised eyebrows, partly because Social Security is mostly funded through payroll taxes and is in no danger of going bankrupt anytime soon. Christie has also proposed raising the Social Security benefits age for Americans currently under 50 years old and eliminating benefits for the wealthy.

DeSantis: The Florida governor told Fox News that he might consider cutting benefits for future generations while keeping benefits for current seniors intact. Those comments stood in contrast to what DeSantis told Fox News in March, which was that Republicans are not going to mess with Social Security. DeSantis also addressed the issue of privatization during the interview, saying that the idea is totally not on the table.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 57% Say Securing Social Security Is Priority  Have Biden, Trump or Other Presidential Candidates Detailed Their Plans?
Apple (AAPL) is having anything but a happy new year, as the companys stock was hit with its third downgrade in less than two weeks on Wednesday. The latest sting comes from Redburn Atlantics James Cordwell, who lowered the stocks rating to Neutral while keeping its price target at $200, on fears of slowing iPhone sales and the potential for regulatory headwinds.

Barclays and Piper Sandler also issued downgrades on Apples stock, last week, with Barclays' Tim Long rerating the stock from Equal Weight to Underweight and lowering its price target from $161 to $160. Piper Sandlers Harsh Kumar, meanwhile, downgraded Apples stock to Neutral.

Shares of the tech giant have fallen roughly 4% in the first few days of 2024, as of Wednesday afternoon. Shares of Apples Big Tech peers, including Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Meta (META), on the other hand, are up 1.9%, 2.2%, and 4.9%, respectively.

In general, Redburn Atlantic, Barclays, and Piper Sandler point to potential weakness across Apples iPhone and services segment. Barclays' Long and Piper Sandlers Kumar both point to China as a major concern, with Long saying that Barclays' latest checks show incrementally worse iPhone 15 data points out of the region, and Kumar citing Chinas deteriorating macro environment.

Greater China is Apples third-largest revenue driver behind North America and Europe. In 2023, the area accounted for $72.6 billion of the companys $383.3 billion in total revenue.

According to Long, while Apple should report December quarter revenue in line with market expectations, the company will report March revenue below the market consensus.

Apple's Vision Pro could be a catalyst that helps power the company's shares into 2024. (Loren Elliott/REUTERS) (Reuters / Reuters)

Kumar, for his part, says negative news surrounding the ongoing Apple Watch patent controversy and antitrust fights could prove to be problematic for Apple moving forward.

Most analysts are still positive on Apple

But Wall Street isnt entirely down on the iPhone maker. Of the 53 analysts tracking Apple, 32 maintain Buy ratings, while 16 have Hold ratings. Just five analysts have Sell ratings on the stock.

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Evercore ISIs Amit Daryanani reiterated his Outperform rating on Apple with a price target of $220, saying that now might be the time to buy the dip in the companys stock price.

And while he admits Apple Watch bans are problematic and Apples multibillion-dollar agreement to make Google the default search engine in Safari might be at risk, there are more positives than negatives to Apples story.

As some of the fears abate and we shift to a more positive news flow (Vision Pro), [Apple] could start to re-rate in a more positive manner, Daryanani wrote.

Morgan Stanleys Erik Woodring says that Apples 2024 could offer a big lift for the company.

We believe that not only are fundamentals on the path to recovery (albeit with some near-term unevenness), but more importantly, 2024 will be the year when Apple's 'Edge AI' opportunity likely comes to fruition, highlighted by an LLM-powered Siri 2.0 and a broader Gen AI-enabled operating system (introduced at WWDC in June) that has the potential to catalyze an iPhone upgrade cycle, he wrote in a note to investors.

Apple hasnt specifically announced a generative AI offering, instead focusing on machine learning to improve the accuracy of its autocomplete feature. But the company is reportedly hard at work integrating the technology into its future products.

Apple could also stand to benefit from an expected resurgence in laptop and desktop sales, as consumers who purchased computers at the start of the pandemic begin to seek out newer, faster systems.

Sign up for the Yahoo Finance Tech newsletter. (Yahoo Finance)

All of this comes as Apple prepares to launch its $3,499 Vision Pro spatial computing headset in February. Preorders for the device start Jan. 19. Apples first new product category in nearly a decade, the Vision Pro is expected to get off to a slow sales start as a result of its relatively high price.

And depending on how the Vision Pro roll out goes, Apple could drive a significant amount of interest in the headset among both consumers and enterprise users. No, most people wont be able to afford the Vision Pro out of the gate, but even creating buzz around the product could benefit Apples stock price.

With the Vision Pro launch just a few short weeks away, we wont have to wait long to see if Apples slow start to 2024 is a fluke or long-term trend.

Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.

Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Sales Growth : AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ) reports a 2.2% increase in total sales to $381.6 million in Q3 FY2024.

Earnings Surge : Diluted EPS up by 55.9% to $0.92, and Adjusted EPS up by 52.6% to $1.19.

Net Income Rise : Net income climbs 45.8% to $26.9 million, with adjusted net income up 78.3% to $34.8 million.

EBITDA Margin Expansion : Adjusted EBITDA reaches $86.4 million or 22.6% of sales, a significant improvement from the previous year.

Debt Reduction : AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ) reduces debt by $25 million in the quarter, achieving a net leverage of 3.1x.

Guidance Update: FY2024 guidance revised upward, with sales projected between $1.45 - $1.55 billion and Adjusted Diluted EPS between $4.15 - $4.35.

On January 9, 2024, AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ), a leading provider of galvanizing and metal coating solutions, released its third-quarter financial results for the fiscal year 2024, showcasing a robust performance with increased sales, profits, and cash flow. The company's strategic initiatives have led to significant improvements in profitability and operational efficiencies, as detailed in its 8-K filing.

Company Overview

AZZ Inc is a provider of galvanizing and a variety of metal coating solutions and coil coating solutions to a broad range of end markets in North America. In its Metal Coatings segment, the company offers metal finishing services to protect against corrosion, such as hot dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating. The Precoat Metals Segment offers aesthetic and corrosion-resistant coatings for steel and aluminum coils.

Financial Performance and Challenges

The company's Metal Coatings sales rose by 3.1% to $163.2 million, while Precoat Metals sales increased by 1.6% to $218.4 million. The growth in sales was attributed to organic growth in both segments, with a particular emphasis on infrastructure spending and value-pricing strategies. However, certain end-market softness related to the construction, HVAC, and transportation markets posed challenges.

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Despite these challenges, AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ) achieved a diluted EPS of $0.92, marking a 55.9% increase over the prior year, and an adjusted EPS of $1.19, up 52.6%. Net income rose to $26.9 million, a 45.8% increase, with adjusted net income up by a remarkable 78.3% to $34.8 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 22.6% of sales, compared to 18.5% in the previous year, reflecting the company's ability to drive profitability through a favorable mix and operational efficiencies.

Financial Achievements and Importance

The company's financial achievements are particularly notable in the context of the Business Services industry, where operational efficiency and strategic pricing are critical for maintaining competitive margins. AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ)'s ability to improve its EBITDA margin to 30.0% for Metal Coatings and 18.4% for Precoat Metals demonstrates strong performance in managing costs and maximizing profitability.

Key Financial Metrics

Key metrics from the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement highlight the company's financial strength. Operating cash flow reached $180.9 million for the first nine months of the year, driven by improved earnings and disciplined working capital management. The company's net leverage improved to 3.1x TTM EBITDA, reflecting its commitment to debt reduction and financial stability.

"With our strong cash flow generation and effective management of working capital, we have reduced our debt by $85 million year-to-date, including $25 million in the third quarter," said Tom Ferguson, President, and CEO of AZZ Inc.

Capital expenditures were $66.9 million year-to-date, with an expected full fiscal year expenditure of approximately $119 million. This includes significant investment in the construction of a new plant in Washington, Missouri.

Analysis of Company's Performance

AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ)'s performance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 reflects a company that is effectively navigating market challenges and capitalizing on growth opportunities. The company's focus on reducing debt and managing capital expenditures is positioning it for sustainable long-term growth. The upward revision of the FY2024 guidance indicates management's confidence in the company's continued performance and strategic direction.

For investors and potential GuruFocus.com members, AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ)'s latest earnings report underscores the company's resilience and strategic acumen in a competitive industry. The company's commitment to operational excellence and financial prudence makes it a noteworthy consideration for value investors looking for stable and growing investment opportunities.

For more detailed financial analysis and insights, visit GuruFocus.com.

Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from AZZ Inc for further details.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Leadership at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley recognizes that climate change is a pressing and complex issue affecting all of us, and needs to be addressed immediately. They know that students and prospective students largely feel the same. Thats the impetus behind a new MBA-Master of Climate Solutions double-degree program.

The program, says Ann Harrison, dean of Berkeleys Haas School, aims to shape the next group of leaders to be at the forefront of the climate solution.

Meeting the climate and other global challenges will require new leaders who understand the scale and urgency of the challenges, who understand which corporate actions will make the biggest difference, and who can bring practical solutions to addressing the problems, says Harrison, Poets&Quants 2023 Dean of the Year.

COMBINING THE ACADEMIC STRENGTHS OF TWO BERKELEY SCHOOLS

Ann Harrison, Dean of Berkeley Haas School of Business

The degree, hosted at both the Haas School and the Rausser College of Natural Resources, will enroll its first class this fall. MBA/MCS candidates will graduate with both a Master of Business Administration and Master of Climate Solutions degree in five semesters.

Both Rausser Dean David Ackerly and Haas Harrison are at the heart of the push for this type of program.

Dean David Ackerly and I both deeply understand the climate change challenge and recognize the need to combine specialized business management skills and operational knowledge with deeper content scholarship around climate solutions. There was clear agreement between the two schools leadership that the academic strengths of both programs would complement each other and thus justified the creation of the concurrent degree program, says Harrison.

The schools cant say for certain how many prospective students will enroll in the program because they are still accepting applications, but based on the widespread interest, they anticipate they will be receiving an abundance of applications. Harrison says that there is much enthusiasm among current and prospective Haas students , who care deeply about climate change and understand it is one of the most critical challenges of their generation.

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This interest builds off their popular Michaels Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business, which gives students a shorter version of what the new five-semester degree program offers. They started offering this certificate in 2021 and had more than 100 MBAs complete it.

FIVE SEMESTERS BUT A LIFETIME OF IMPACT

The program begins with the MBA core, guest speaker series with speakers who are thought leaders in sustainability, as well as other relevant outings and events. Students will get the chance to visit businesses and network with public agencies. In their second year, MBA/MCS candidates fully immerse in the MCS program, joining the MCS stand-alone students.

Students can anticipate taking courses like Carbon Accounting, Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental Economics, and Energy Policy and Politics. The experiential learning capstone is designed to intertwine content, themes, and skills to bridge business with climate/sustainability. This not only provides them with the opportunity to apply their newfound knowledge but also sparks meaningful connections with industry practitioners.

The Office of Sustainability and Climate Change conducted a survey last summer with more than 180 respondents focused on the kinds of climate and sustainability-related skills that employers seek from MBAs.

Aside from a solid understanding of the challenges and solutions to meet the climate crisis, employers emphasized strategic thinking and analytical skills, says Michele de Nevers, director of the Office of Sustainability and Climate Change at Haas. Each course and its content were deliberately incorporated with this in mind.

WHAT WE REALLY NEED: PEOPLE READY & ABLE TO ACT

Michele de Nevers, Director of the Office of Sustainability and Climate Change at Haas

MBA/MCS students will also have two summers of internships to experience employment opportunities in both climate and business settings.

Examples of internship paths include working for climate tech start-ups, impact investing, climate advocacy, sustainability-related consulting assignments and relevant experience in traditional departments such as procurement and sustainable supply chains, finance, communications, etc. Our students may also serve as internal consultants helping organizations to think strategically and practically about sustainability and climate, says de Nevers.

They can also take the route of working in government, as a city official working on a municipal climate action plan for example.

What we really need are people spread throughout society and the economy who are in a position to take action on climate, and who are equipped with the tools to make the right choices. Educating those students is the vision of the program, says James Sallee, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Haas and faculty director of the MCS program.

For those who wish to enroll, the next upcoming deadline is March 28th, 2024.

The post How Berkeley Haas Is Leading In The Battle Against Climate Change (Again) appeared first on Poets&Quants.
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks were the toast of Wall Street last year. The segment was one of the biggest growth drivers in the Nasdaq Composite's 43% rise in 2023, with countless companies benefiting from increased interest in AI.

However, data from Grand View Research suggests the sector is just getting started. The AI market is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37% through 2030, which would see it exceed a $1 trillion valuation before the end of the decade. So, even stocks that reached new heights last year could still have much to offer new investors.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) are two attractive options, with both companies developing the hardware necessary for training and running AI models. These companies are at considerably different stages of their AI journeys, with one dominating the industry and the other just starting out.

As a result, it's worth asking whether it's better to invest in an established AI stock or one with possibly more room for growth. Let's take a look at whether Nvidia or Intel is the better AI stock this January.

Nvidia

Nvidia's business exploded in 2023, with its stock up more than 245% since last January. The company's years of dominance in graphics processing units (GPUs) allowed it to get a head start in AI as its chips became the preferred hardware for developers everywhere.

While chip rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and Intel have vested interests in the GPU sector, they have focused primarily on fighting over share of the central processing unit (CPU) market. This has allowed Nvidia a clear path to dominance in GPUs, perfectly positioning it to thrive amid an AI boom.

In its third quarter of fiscal 2024 (which ended October 2023), Nvidia posted revenue growth of 206% year over year, hitting over $18 billion. Meanwhile, operating income soared 1,600% to $10 billion. Much of the quarter's growth was owed to a 279% spike in data center revenue, reflecting increased sales of AI GPUs.

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Nvidia will have to contend with a more competitive chip market this year as AMD and Intel begin shipping their respective GPUs. However, Nvidia has a major lead that will be challenging to overcome.

Additionally, with the market expanding at a CAGR of 37%, there may be room for Nvidia to retain its dominance as the market welcomes newcomers.

Intel

INTC Revenue (Annual) Chart

Intel hasn't had it easy in recent years. This chart shows its revenue, operating income, and free cash flow have plunged since 2020.

The company enjoyed years of almost unrivaled dominance in CPUs, which saw it grow complacent as its technology started to stagnate. In 2020, Apple acted on years of frustration with Intel's chips, ending a 15-year partnership in favor of chips developed in-house. Meanwhile, AMD's powerful line of Ryzen CPUs has seen the company consistently steal market share from Intel. Since the first quarter of 2017, Intel's share of the CPU market has dwindled from 82% to 61% in Q4 2023.

However, recent headwinds have seemingly put Intel back on a growth path. The company ventured into the desktop GPU market for the first time last year and announced a range of new AI chips this past December. The soon-to-be-released hardware is designed to challenge Nvidia's hardware and could offer the company significant revenue gains over the next year.

Additionally, Intel's finances seem to be on the right track. Despite an 8% revenue decline in Q3 2023, operating income was up 43% year over year. Its data center and AI segment also hit $71 million in operating income after posting losses of $139 million in the year-ago quarter.

Intel has a promising long-term outlook that is made stronger by the prospects of AI.

Is Nvidia or Intel the better artificial intelligence (AI) stock?

Nvidia and Intel are two compelling ways to back the rapidly expanding AI market. However, EPS estimates suggest Nvidia might just be the better bet over the next two fiscal years and possibly beyond.

NVDA EPS Estimates for 2 Fiscal Years Ahead Chart

These charts show Nvidia's earnings could hit $24 per share over the next two fiscal years, while Intel's may achieve nearly $3 per share. Multiplying those figures by their respective forward price-to-earnings ratios (Nvidia's 42 and Intel's 25) yields a stock price of $1,008 for Nvidia and $68 for Intel.

If projections are correct, Nvidia's stock would rise 96% from its current position within two years, while Intel's would increase 42%.

Alongside its more established position in AI, Nvidia is the clear winner here. Its projected growth is through the roof, making it the better AI stock right now and a no-brainer investment.

Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now?

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Dani Cook has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Intel and recommends the following options: long January 2023 $57.50 calls on Intel, long January 2025 $45 calls on Intel, and short February 2024 $47 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Better AI Stock: Nvidia vs. Intel was originally published by The Motley Fool
BioSenic

PRESS RELEASE

Dr Nicco's new Chief Operating Officer (COO) position will give her a broader mandate at BioSenic, where she is currently responsible for R&D programs.



Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, January 10, 2024, 7.00 am CEST  BIOSENIC (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BIOS), the clinical-stage company specializing in serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cell therapy, and its subsidiary Medsenic SAS, today announces the promotion of Dr Carole Nicco to Chief Operating Officer (COO) in addition to her position as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Dr Carole Nicco will be involved in the strategic planning, decision-making and management of key initiatives, as well as overseeing and enhancing the strategic development of BioSenic's pipelines, targeting treatments with its viscosupplementation, cell therapy and arsenic trioxide platforms. She will work closely with BioSenic's CEO, Prof. Francois Rieger, to further oversee and enhance BioSenic's strategic decisions.

BioSenic is very proud to incorporate Dr Carole Nicco - our CSO - deeper into the strategic planning of BioSenics development. We have known Dr Nicco for many years and shared fruitful collaboration with her previous academic setting in Paris. Her enthusiasm and dedication to work, together with her wide experience and successes in the continuously growing field of Immunology, and pioneering results in innate and trained immunology, have deep consequences in creating, with the most advanced techniques in molecular and cell biology, the paths to a new area of modern and personalized medicine, applied to pathologies with no actual decisive medical treatments. We welcome her deep involvement and integration into our global project, with an interesting, diversified approach to efficient medications, using both our main platforms, i.e. the arsenic trioxide platform- to treat autoimmune conditions and return to homeostasis - and the cell therapy platform- to encourage tissue repair mechanisms, said Prof. Francois Rieger, President and CEO of BioSenic.

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"After one year as BioSenic's CSO, I have a better vision of the company's potential declares Dr Carole Nicco, PhD and supervisor of graduate students for many years at the University Paris Cite. "I knew the scientific and clinical value of BioSenic's technologies and the importance of the arsenic trioxide platform in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases. The very active and interactive last year, 2023, allowed me to meet key players in the health sciences arena, and I particularly appreciate our growing partnership with the Walloon region, combined with the incredibly fruitful biopharma scene in Belgium. I am delighted to take on strategic responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer by BioSenic's Board and get the opportunity to share the strategic objectives of the Deputy CEO, Veronique Pomi, and the CEO, Francois Rieger, who have placed a great deal of trust in me. I am thrilled to bring my expertise to facilitate efficiency and effective performance, adding my perspectives and ideas to the overall project of the Company. I already have specific plans for the near, medium, and distant future to improve and diversify the use of our main therapeutic platforms, particularly using arsenic trioxide and its various possible formulations, which I'm convinced will address important unmet medical needs for patients heavily affected by certain autoimmune diseases.

Dr Nicco has already begun to meet and interact with key global players interested in the development of the global BioSenic project or targeted therapeutic innovations. BioSenic wishes her all due success in her new commitments in our company.

About BioSenic

BioSenic is a biotech company specializing in the development of clinical assets issued from: (i) the arsenic trioxide (ATO) platform (with key target indications including Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) and (ii), the development of innovative products to meet unmet needs in immune and autoimmune diseases. Following a reverse merger in October 2022, BioSenic combined its strategic positioning and key strengths to develop, separately and in combination, an entirely new arsenal of various anti-inflammatory and anti-autoimmune formulations using the immunomodulatory properties of ATO/oral ATO (OATO) with its innovative cell therapy platform and strong IP for tissue repair protection.

BioSenic is based in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium. Further information is available at http://www.biosenic.com.

About BioSenic technology platforms

1) The ATO platform has immunomodulatory properties with fundamental effects on the activated cells of the immune system. One direct application is its use in onco-immunology to treat GvHD (Graft-versus-Host Disease) in its chronic, established stage. cGvHD is one of the most common and clinically significant complications affecting long-term survival of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). BioSenic has been successful in a phase 2 trial with its intravenous formulation, which has orphan drug designation status by FDA and EMA. The company is heading towards an international phase 3 confirmatory study, with its new, IP-protected, OATO formulation. Another selected target is moderate-to-severe forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), using the same oral formulation. ATO has shown good safety and significant clinical efficacy on several affected organs (skin, mucosae and the gastrointestinal tract) in an early phase 2a study. Systemic sclerosis is also part of the clinical pipeline of BioSenic. This serious chronic disease badly affects skin, lungs or vascularization, and has no current effective treatment. Preclinical studies on pertinent animal models are positive, giving good grounds to launch a phase 2 clinical protocol.





2) ALLOB, an allogeneic cell therapy platform made of differentiated bone marrow sourced Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs), which can be stored at the point of use in hospitals. ALLOB represents a unique and proprietary approach to organ repair and specifically to bone regeneration, by turning undifferentiated stromal cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells on the site of injury. After phase 2 clinical results with contradictory conclusions, BioSenic is now focusing on determining the best time to optimise the efficacy of ALLOB (between early or late treatment).





The company is currently focusing its present R&D and clinical activities on a selective, accelerated development of its autoimmune (ATO/OATO) platform.

For further information, please contact:

BioSenic SA

Francois Rieger, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +33 (0)671 73 31 59

investorrelations@biosenic.com

International Media Enquiries:

IB Communications

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 4685

neil.hunter@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency

For French Investor Enquiries:

Seitosei  Actifin

Ghislaine Gasparetto

Tel: +33 (0)1 56 88 11 22

ggasparetto@actifin.fr

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the company or, as appropriate, the company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

BIOSENIC (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BIOS), the clinical-stage company specializing in serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cell therapy, and its subsidiary Medsenic SAS, today announces the promotion of Dr Carole Nicco to Chief Operating Officer (COO) in addition to her position as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Dr Carole Nicco will be involved in the strategic planning, decision-making and management of key initiatives, as well as overseeing and enhancing the strategic development of BioSenic's pipelines, targeting treatments with its viscosupplementation, cell therapy and arsenic trioxide platforms. She will work closely with BioSenic's CEO, Prof. Francois Rieger, to further oversee and enhance BioSenic's strategic decisions.

BioSenic is very proud to incorporate Dr Carole Nicco - our CSO - deeper into the strategic planning of BioSenics development. We have known Dr Nicco for many years and shared fruitful collaboration with her previous academic setting in Paris. Her enthusiasm and dedication to work, together with her wide experience and successes in the continuously growing field of Immunology, and pioneering results in innate and trained immunology, have deep consequences in creating, with the most advanced techniques in molecular and cell biology, the paths to a new area of modern and personalized medicine, applied to pathologies with no actual decisive medical treatments. We welcome her deep involvement and integration into our global project, with an interesting, diversified approach to efficient medications, using both our main platforms, i.e. the arsenic trioxide platform- to treat autoimmune conditions and return to homeostasis - and the cell therapy platform- to encourage tissue repair mechanisms, said Prof. Francois Rieger, President and CEO of BioSenic.

"After one year as BioSenic's CSO, I have a better vision of the company's potential declares Dr Carole Nicco, PhD and supervisor of graduate students for many years at the University Paris Cite. "I knew the scientific and clinical value of BioSenic's technologies and the importance of the arsenic trioxide platform in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases. The very active and interactive last year, 2023, allowed me to meet key players in the health sciences arena, and I particularly appreciate our growing partnership with the Walloon region, combined with the incredibly fruitful biopharma scene in Belgium. I am delighted to take on strategic responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer by BioSenic's Board and get the opportunity to share the strategic objectives of the Deputy CEO, Veronique Pomi, and the CEO, Francois Rieger, who have placed a great deal of trust in me. I am thrilled to bring my expertise to facilitate efficiency and effective performance, adding my perspectives and ideas to the overall project of the Company. I already have specific plans for the near, medium, and distant future to improve and diversify the use of our main therapeutic platforms, particularly using arsenic trioxide and its various possible formulations, which I'm convinced will address important unmet medical needs for patients heavily affected by certain autoimmune diseases.

Dr Nicco has already begun to meet and interact with key global players interested in the development of the global BioSenic project or targeted therapeutic innovations. BioSenic wishes her all due success in her new commitments in our company.

About BioSenic

BioSenic is a biotech company specializing in the development of clinical assets issued from: (i) the arsenic trioxide (ATO) platform (with key target indications including Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) and (ii), the development of innovative products to meet unmet needs in immune and autoimmune diseases. Following a reverse merger in October 2022, BioSenic combined its strategic positioning and key strengths to develop, separately and in combination, an entirely new arsenal of various anti-inflammatory and anti-autoimmune formulations using the immunomodulatory properties of ATO/oral ATO (OATO) with its innovative cell therapy platform and strong IP for tissue repair protection.

BioSenic is based in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium. Further information is available at http://www.biosenic.com .

About BioSenic technology platforms

The ATO platform has immunomodulatory properties with fundamental effects on the activated cells of the immune system. One direct application is its use in onco-immunology to treat GvHD (Graft-versus-Host Disease) in its chronic, established stage. cGvHD is one of the most common and clinically significant complications affecting long-term survival of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). BioSenic has been successful in a phase 2 trial with its intravenous formulation, which has orphan drug designation status by FDA and EMA. The company is heading towards an international phase 3 confirmatory study, with its new, IP-protected, OATO formulation. Another selected target is moderate-to-severe forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), using the same oral formulation. ATO has shown good safety and significant clinical efficacy on several affected organs (skin, mucosae and the gastrointestinal tract) in an early phase 2a study. Systemic sclerosis is also part of the clinical pipeline of BioSenic. This serious chronic disease badly affects skin, lungs or vascularization, and has no current effective treatment. Preclinical studies on pertinent animal models are positive, giving good grounds to launch a phase 2 clinical protocol. ALLOB, an allogeneic cell therapy platform made of differentiated bone marrow sourced Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs), which can be stored at the point of use in hospitals. ALLOB represents a unique and proprietary approach to organ repair and specifically to bone regeneration, by turning undifferentiated stromal cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells on the site of injury. After phase 2 clinical results with contradictory conclusions, BioSenic is now focusing on determining the best time to optimise the efficacy of ALLOB (between early or late treatment).

The company is currently focusing its present R&D and clinical activities on a selective, accelerated development of its autoimmune (ATO/OATO) platform.

For further information, please contact:

BioSenic SA

Francois Rieger, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +33 (0)671 73 31 59

investorrelations@biosenic.com

International Media Enquiries:

IB Communications

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 4685

neil.hunter@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency

For French Investor Enquiries:

Seitosei  Actifin

Ghislaine Gasparetto

Tel: +33 (0)1 56 88 11 22

ggasparetto@actifin.fr





Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the company or, as appropriate, the company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.








NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bit Digital, Inc. (Nasdaq: BTBT) ("Bit Digital" or the "Company"), a sustainable platform for digital assets and artificial intelligence ("AI") infrastructure headquartered in New York City, is pleased to announce that it has increased the scope of its contract with its first customer of its Bit Digital AI business line. Under the terms of the agreement, Bit Digital will supply the customer with computational power from an additional 512 GPUs for a period of three years. The total contract value with the customer for an aggregate of 2,048 GPUs is now worth more than $50 million of annualized revenue to Bit Digital.

To fulfill the contract, the Company has placed a purchase order for 64 servers manufactured by Super Micro Computer, Inc., an authorized Nvidia OEM, that are equipped with 512 Nvidia HGX H100 GPUs along with related equipment, which are expected to be delivered to the Company during January 2024. The servers will be deployed in Iceland at the datacenter where the Company's existing AI servers are located. As of the date of this press release, 128 AI servers have been successfully installed at the datacenter in Iceland and are undergoing testing. The remaining servers are expected to arrive at the datacenter during January 2024.

To help finance the growth of Bit Digital AI, the Company has executed a sale-leaseback agreement with a third party. Under the agreement, Bit Digital has agreed to sell the third party 96 AI servers, representing 768 GPUs, and lease them back for a period of three years. The lease rate represents a percentage of the total contracted rate for those GPUs and the Company will also pass through pro-rated operational expenses for those units to the third party.

Sam Tabar, Bit Digital's CEO, commented: "We are excited to accelerate the growth of Bit Digital AI. The first stage of our customer contract will commence shortly, and we look forward to helping our customer achieve the full scope of their AI vision. Our AI business is ramping at an opportune time given the upcoming bitcoin 'halving', and we believe these two businesses will be complementary and strengthen our overall financial profile long term."

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About Bit Digital

Bit Digital, Inc. is a sustainable platform for digital assets and artificial intelligence ("AI") infrastructure headquartered in New York City. Our bitcoin mining operations are located in the US, Canada, and Iceland. The Company has also established a business line, Bit Digital AI, that offers infrastructure services for artificial intelligence applications. For additional information, please contact ir@bit-digital.com or visit our website at www.bit-digital.com.

Investor Notice

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and forward-looking statements described under "Risk Factors" in Item 3.D of our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. If any material risk was to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations would likely suffer. In that event, the value of our securities could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment. The risks and uncertainties we describe are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. In addition, our past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results in the future. Future changes in the network-wide mining difficulty rate or bitcoin hash rate may also materially affect the future performance of Bit Digital's production of bitcoin. Actual operating results will vary depending on many factors including network difficulty rate, total hash rate of the network, the operations of our facilities, the status of our miners, and other factors. See "Safe Harbor Statement" below.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of Bit Digital, Inc., and its subsidiary companies. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," or similar expressions, involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at http://www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements.

Cision

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SOURCE Bit Digital, Inc.
Abbas Ganbay

As was to be expected, the Armenian authorities, together with France, are going to continue to put pressure on Azerbaijan. For months, the Armenian authorities have been pursuing a path towards the signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, where Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has also supported this initiative. Throughout this time, France was found to have been an instigator of a new conflict in the South Caucasus.

Crisis-ridden France, under the rule of French President Macron and his team, may soon face a cold winter. The French president on Monday dismissed Elisabeth Borne, who had served as the country's prime minister since May 2022. New agricultural reforms and taxes have sparked a wave of protests across France. The beginning of Israel's Middle East war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip escalated into a war with the people of Palestine as well. This war has stirred up a wave of protests against war, genocide, and anti-Semitism around the world.

Protests against the genocide of the Palestinians have taken place in France, where the situation of freedom of worship is already difficult, as have anti-Semitism marches and protests by Jewish rabbis in Paris against the Zionist regime in Israel. The anti-Semitism march was held in response to the nearly 1250 anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred in France since October 7, involving French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Armenophile and Islamophobe Marine Le Pen, who is known for her anti-Azerbaijani statements in support of the separatist clan.

The international community, as well as the United States, turn a blind eye to these incidents in France, where "freedom of religion" is below zero, and at the whim of Secretary of State Blinken, France is not on his list, as well as Armenia itself. "Double standards and only business."

Sharp criticism in France was sparked by the participation in the rally of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Rassemblement Nationale faction in parliament, and party chairman Jordan Bardella, who marched at the head of the column, as did French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, several former heads of government, and Jonathan Arfi, leader of the Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF).

"Although this is a supra-party demonstration, the participation of the leaders of the Rassemblement Nationale is unwelcome,' Yael Bron-Pivet, the president of the lower house of parliament, whose Jewish ancestors fled to France from Germany and Poland in the last century, said in a radio interview on the eve of the action.

The CRIF leader, Arfi, also described as undesirable the participation in the action of "the heirs of a party created by former collaborators (of the Nazis)". In his opinion, there is thus an "obscene instrumentalisation of the march".

The political rivals oppose the participation of the National Rally leaders, pointing to the history of this party, created in 1973 by Marine Le Pen's father Jean-Marie Jean-Marie under the name National Front.

"It (the party) brought together former supporters of the Vichy regime, anti-Semites, and members of the far-right student union Groupe Union Defense (GUD) (Group of Joint Defence)." Jean-Marie Le Pen repeatedly referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of history.

"'French justice has condemned him for anti-Semitism, so the Groupe National Unite has no place at the rally,' government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory inhabited by Armenians and historically linked to this nation. This has been the case for centuries, long before the Turkic peoples came to the region. No one denies this, and I will staunchly defend its cultural specificity, its history, and its people," Marine Le Pen propagandises.

Western globalisation and the imposition of a new world order have had a profound effect on the whole system. To replace Prime Minister Borne, the President appointed French Minister of Education Gabriel Attal, who is the husband of MEP Stephane Sejournet. MEP, after the Armenian Prime Minister's speech on October 17, 2023, committed to defending Armenian "democracy" and the Armenians who left voluntarily. A few weeks before Pashinyan's October 5 speech to the European Parliament, the same MP "husband" stated that: "On our initiative, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the ethnic cleansing in "Nagorno-Karabakh" and calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan. We stand with the Armenian people. France cannot act alone. Europe must play its part."

Stephane Sejourne, as one of Armenia's ardent supporters, lobbies for Armenia's interests both in France and in the European Parliament. He is the initiator of several European Parliament resolutions against Azerbaijan.

The new Prime Minister's wife is proud of her activities related to the "defence" of Armenians and often writes about them on social networks. The lobbying of the interests of Armenians by the "wife" of the new Prime Minister of France will undoubtedly affect the position of the PM.

During an old interview with Paris Match, when asked, "Trump or Putin?" Attal replied, "For an underwater fishing trip to Siberia, I would choose Putin. For a casino night, I would choose Trump. Otherwise, neither one nor the other."

After a while, France carried out the desired action, supplied Armenia with overdue weapons (armoured vehicles, air defence systems), and was caught spying in Azerbaijan. According to preliminary data, the detainee is in custody in that country.

Martin Ryan, a young immigrant from Baku, was arrested in early December on espionage charges amid strong tensions between France and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani diplomats in Paris were expelled from Baku in response.

"'We spoke to him four times, for two minutes each time. He says he is being treated well and that he is getting along well with his lawyer," his father, Richard Ryan, explained.

On December 27, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the expulsion of "two staff members of the French Embassy in Azerbaijan," declared persona non grata, and "refuted the accusations made by Azerbaijan to justify its decision".

France has declared two employees of the Azerbaijani Embassy in France persona non grata as a reciprocal measure.

Martin Ryan, who also holds British citizenship on his father's side, moved to Baku for four years, where he founded a small company (Merkorama) specialising in import-export, particularly in the wine trade. While engaged to an Azerbaijani woman, he does not seem to have been politically active. In the opinion of his entourage, he was the victim of "malevolence": "representatives of French intelligence, according to his (Richard Ryan's) father, involved him (Martin Ryan) in collecting and passing on information about third countries.

There is no doubt that the Armenian lobby strengthens its position through some corrupt French officials who, under the guise of "anti-Semitism," act against Islam and the Turkic world. The President of France has tightly clung to a "couple" of husbands to strengthen his power in the political race, and the commitment to the LGBT community and its propaganda ordered by the Western clans will slightly strengthen the already precarious position of the French President. The continuation of the "pressure" on Azerbaijan is not excluded, which could lead to a cold winter in France.
By Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday approved the first U.S.-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin, in a watershed for the world's largest cryptocurrency and the broader crypto industry.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it approved 11 applications, including from BlackRock, Ark Investments/21Shares, Fidelity, Invesco and VanEck, despite warnings from some officials and investor advocates that the products carried risks.

Most of the products are expected to begin trading Thursday, issuers said, kicking off a fierce competition for market share.

A decade in the making, the ETFs are a game-changer for bitcoin, offering investors exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency without directly holding it. They provide a major boost for a crypto industry beset by scandals.

"It's a huge positive for the institutionalization of bitcoin as an asset class," said Andrew Bond, managing director and senior fintech analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.

Standard Chartered analysts this week said the ETFs could draw $50 billion to $100 billion this year alone. Other analysts have said inflows will be closer to $55 billion over five years.

The market capitalization of bitcoin stood at more than $913 billion as of Wednesday, according to CoinGecko. As of December 2022, total net assets of U.S. ETFs stood at $6.5 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Bitcoin was last up 3% at $47,300. The cryptocurrency has soared more than 70% in recent months in anticipation of an ETF, and hit its highest level since March 2022 this week.

Success in the battle for inflows will mostly depend on fees and liquidity, analysts say. Some issuers slashed their proposed fees in new filings this week, including BlackRock and Ark/21Shares. Those fees range from 0.2% to 1.5%, with many firms offering to waive fees entirely for a certain period of time. For short-term speculators looking to buy in and out of the products, liquidity could be more important.

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Companies expect a flurry of online advertising and other marketing. Some issuers, including Bitwise and VanEck, have already released ads touting bitcoin as an investment.

"It is pretty unprecedented, so we'll see how it works. I've never been in a situation where 10 of the same ETF was launched on the same day, said Steven McClurg, chief investment officer at Valkyrie, whose ETF was among those approved on Wednesday.

The approvals come a day after an unauthorized person published a fake post on the SECs account on social media platform X, saying the agency had approved the products for trading. The agency quickly disavowed and deleted the post.

On Wednesday it said it is coordinating with law enforcement and the SEC's own internal watchdog to investigate the incident.

That incident, and a confused announcement on Wednesday afternoon in which the SEC appeared to publish the formal regulatory approval and then remove it from its website, did not dampen the crypto industry celebrations.

"We believed that bitcoin could change the world, and we were and remain excited at the prospect of democratizing access to this asset," said Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein.

Douglas Yones, head of exchange traded products at the New York Stock Exchange, where some products will be listed, said the approval was also a "milestone" for the ETF industry.

Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity, said the new products should provide "increased choice for investors who want to engage with" crypto.

Some regulatory experts believe the bitcoin ETFs could also pave the way for other innovative crypto products. Several issuers, for example, have filed for ETFs tracking either, the second-largest cryptocurrency.

"Once the dam has been breached, its going to be really hard for the SEC to continue its just say no to crypto approach, said Jim Angel, associate professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business.

'SPECULATIVE, VOLATILE'

Cryptocurrencies were created as an alternative to fiat currencies -- currencies established by and backed by a government such as the U.S. dollar and the euro -- but cryptocurrencies are largely used as speculative investments due to their volatility.

The green light marks a U-turn for the SEC, which had rejected bitcoin ETFs due to worries they could be easily manipulated. SEC Chair Gary Gensler is a fierce crypto skeptic.

In a highly unusual move, however, Gensler, a Democrat, joined the SEC's two Republican commissioners in voting to approve the products, while the agency's two Democratic commissioners voted against. One, Caroline Crenshaw, cited investor protection worries.

Hopes the SEC would finally approve bitcoin ETFs surged last year after a federal appeals court ruled that the agency was wrong to reject an application from Grayscale Investments to convert its existing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gensler said that in light of the court ruling, approving the products was "the most sustainable path forward," but added the agency did not endorse bitcoin, calling it a "speculative, volatile asset" also used to fund crime.

Gensler also repeated his long-held position that bitcoin is a commodity not a security, and as such, Wednesday's approval was in "no way" a signal that the SEC would be easing up on its crackdown on crypto players it says are flouting its laws.

To meet the SEC's investor protection bar, several exchanges had proposed working with Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, to police trading in the underlying bitcoin market. But the issuers scrapped that partnership this week in favor of an existing arrangement with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which was at the core of Grayscale's court victory.

The SEC is currently suing Coinbase for allegedly breaching U.S. securities laws, which the company denies.

Dennis Kelleher, CEO of investor advocacy think tank Better Markets, warned that bitcoin was still vulnerable to crypto fraudsters and said approving the ETFs was a "historic mistake."

"The SECs action today has changed nothing about this worthless financial product: bitcoin and crypto still have no legitimate use," he said.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington and Suzanne McGeeAdditional reporting Chris Prentice, Douglas Gillison in Washington and Laura Matthews in New York;Editing by Michelle Price, David Evans, Jonathan Oatis, Matthew Lewis and Leslie Adler)
DJI, the worlds largest drone maker, officially launched its first delivery drone in the US Wednesday, entering into an increasingly crowded market that already includes Amazon (AMZN) and South San Francisco startup Zipline.

The release of FlyCart 30 (FC30) marks the Chinese firms first foray into the delivery drone space outside of its home market. The company, which has over 70% of the market share in the drone market, is looking to differentiate itself by focusing on industrial use cases, including in construction sites and mountainous terrain, given its ability to carry a heavy payload and operate in extreme weather.

We are optimistic that FlyCart 30 will become a trusted solution for aerial delivery, solving complex terrain and terminal transportation problems efficiently, economically, and most importantly, safely from the air, Christina Zhang, senior director of corporate strategy at DJI, said in a statement.

DJI's delivery drone. (DJI)

The FlyCart 30 can carry a payload of 60 to 70 pounds within a 10-mile radius. It uses a coaxial four-axis, eight-blade multirotor configuration and can reach a maximum flight speed of 44 miles per hour. It will retail for $42,000, according to DJI.

DJIs launch comes amid heightened interest in drone deliveries, spurred by shifting regulations. While flights have largely been limited by an FAA rule that requires drone operators to fly aircraft within sight of human visual observers, the agency has offered some waivers in recent months, allowing companies to scale operations and expand their delivery zones.

DJI has not received an exemption yet but said the FC30 had been built in anticipation of a change in that rule.

Thats partly why weve waited to enter this space, Wayne Baker, director of stakeholder engagement for DJI, said. We're hoping that this is going to be beyond visual line of sight operations capable. It's built to be that way through DeliveryHub, our software solution.

DJI faces other hurdles in expanding in the US. In December 2021, the US government put DJI on an investment blacklist, citing its involvement in the surveillance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and its military ties. While the blacklist does not prevent US residents from buying or using DJI drones, it prohibits them from trading shares of DJI. The Shenzhen-based company is also unable to source parts from US companies.

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In the meantime, FC30 has been operating in China since August of last year, enabling the company to test key use cases. The aircraft has been used to carry photovoltaic panels to solar farms and pick up large loads of trash in remote areas, according to DJI.

DJI's drone. (DJI)

Baker said construction zones would be the most immediate focus for the company in the US, reducing reliance on construction crews to carry heavy equipment.

[The payload] can be brought up and down at the worksite to that roof area or even that floor area because FC30 has the ability to integrate a hoist, so it doesnt even have to land, he said. Were reducing the amount of time that a person would have to go up and down ... and time it takes for construction.

Baker added that the aircraft could also assist crews in natural disasters because of its ability to withstand extreme weather. It can operate in temperatures ranging from -4 to 122 F and withstand winds up to roughly 27 miles per hour.

Meet DJIs first delivery drone - FlyCart 30



Overcome traditional transport challenges and start a new era of dynamic aerial delivery with large payload capacity, long operation range, high reliability, and intelligent features.



Discover more: https://t.co/Mp6MOVaapJ pic.twitter.com/AZgHgLo9OA  DJI (@DJIGlobal) January 10, 2024

Commercial drone deliveries have steadily expanded in the US, as retailers turn to aerial options to meet last-mile delivery demands. Globally, deliveries exceeded 1 million in 2023, according to McKinsey. But the focus has largely been on small packages until now.

On Tuesday, Walmart announced it would expand aerial delivery to 1.8 million households in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in partnership with Alphabets (GOOG) Wing and Zipline.

Globally, the commercial drone market is expected to reach $38.2 billion in 2027.

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita.

Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.

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Hello Kitty, cute stationary and Japanese snacks are just some of the items that Stocktonians can find at Sherwood Place.

The family-owned Japanese retailer Daiso, a "one-stop-shop" with beauty, household items and stationery opened its first-ever store in Stockton in December.

This is also Daisos first store in the Central Valley.

With our extensive range of products spanning various categories, including Japanese inspired home decor, stationery, food, and more, we have become synonymous with accessible and innovative offerings, Daiso states on their website.

A new Daiso store is scheduled to open at the Sherwood Place shopping center on Dec. 30 in Stockton.

Daiso's grand opening was Dec. 30 at 5308 Pacific Ave. Suite 1050 in Stockton. The store hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Before the opening of the Stockton location, many had to travel to Elk Grove, roughly 35 miles from the new location on Pacific Avenue. Other Daiso locations are in Sacramento, the Bay Area and Southern California.

According to Daisos website, their mission is to create joy through a fun shopping experience with unique products at an extraordinary value.

Daiso is currently hiring for their Stockton location. Anyone interested in becoming a sales associate can apply online.

This is not the first time that Brixton Capital, the private real estate firm that acquired Sherwood Place (formerly Sherwood Mall), has brought new retailers to Stockton.

We believe Daiso is a good complement to the current mix of retailers at Sherwood Place, Justin Long, vice president of development at Brixton Capital wrote in an email. With Daiso, the Sherwood Place customer will have access to an affordable lifestyle brand with a wide variety of merchandise categories, from stationery to food to pet supplies to home decor and more.

Popular Japanese store Daiso's first Arizona location is inside Chandler Ranch plaza. Jenny Suen shops with her children Timothy, 7, (left) and Titus, 4, during a soft opening.

Business is booming at Sherwood Place

Sherwood Place ended the year with 23 total retail businesses including the out-of-parcel ones at Sherwood Place, Long stated.

In March, Stockton's first Sprouts Farmers Market opened at Sherwood Place. Brixton Capital also added Stocktons second Burlington to their lineup of retailers.

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A new Daiso store is scheduled to open at the Sherwood Place shopping center on Dec. 30 in Stockton.

"We welcomed five new businesses to Sherwood Place during 2023, increasing the retail convenience and options for local residents," Long stated.

The stores are Sprouts Farmers Market, Daiso, Cozy Fox, Outfitters and Hat Wear, Long stated.

"We expect to add a limited number of retail partners at Sherwood Place in 2024 as we wrap our final phase of lease up," Long wrote.

The shopping center transitioned from its former indoor mall floor plan to an outdoor-only shopping center. The interior mall permanently closed in August 2022, The Record reported in October 2022.

Daiso

Location: Sherwood Place, 5308 Pacific Ave. Suite 1050 in Stockton

Hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday

Instagram: daiso_usa

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

Popular Japanese store Daiso hosts a soft opening of its first Arizona location inside Chandler Ranch plaza on March 1, 2023.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Daiso Stockton location opens at Sherwood Place
Mark Humphrey / AP / Shutterstock.com

If you know anything about financial guru Dave Ramsey, you know that he hates debt with a passion. As such, he has strong opinions about what people should do to free themselves from their debt-ridden circumstances, and he regularly gives his advice to those seeking help.

Grant Cardone: What To Do If You Dont Have Money

More: Owe Money to the IRS? Most People Dont Realize You Can Do This  Today

On a recent episode of The Ramsey Show, host Ramsey spoke with caller Laurie from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Laurie said her husband, who is training to be a nurse anesthetist, is currently in graduate school and they have a large debt to pay once he graduates in August 2024. She said her husband has already accepted a job with a $30,000 sign-on bonus, and they will receive the bonus in the next week. However, she confessed that theyre not sure how they should use it.

Heres Ramseys advice for the couple on how to tackle their debt.

Sponsored: Owe the IRS $10K or more? Schedule a FREE consultation to see if you qualify for tax relief.

First Thing: Stop Borrowing Money

Laurie explained to Ramsey that she and her husband had come up with some options for the $30,000 signing bonus they were about to receive. The first is to pay for the next nine months of living and tuition and not take out any more loans, Laurie said. The second is to keep it and use it for moving help or a possible down payment for a house. Or three  is to just pay off some of our debt now to get the interest down and then take out loans to pay for the rest of our tuition.

Ramsey did not deliberate. Instead, he immediately replied that the first thing Laurie and her husband need to do to get out of debt is to stop borrowing money, which means options two and three that Laurie proposed were off the table.

Im a Financial Advisor: 10 Most Awesome Things You Can Do for Your Finances in 2024

The Couples Debt and Budget

Ramsey then asked Laurie how much debt they have. Laurie told him they have $155,000 in debt and her husbands starting salary would be $210,000.

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Laurie also told Ramsey that she makes $1,600 per month as a nanny, but she doesnt have a full-time job or other work because she also takes care of their small children.

Ramsey also asked Laurie how much they live on right now and when she said $1,800. He told her he wants them to live on no more than $3,000 once her husband is making $210,000 per year so they can pay off the $155,000 in debt as quickly as possible. He said they potentially could be debt-free in a year or so using that strategy.

Dont Buy a House Right Now

Ramsey also said not to buy a house  or spend any significant amounts of money  for the time being.

Renting would be the best option right out of graduating, said Ramsey. You do not need to buy a house; youre broke, OK? Youre in debt up to your eyeballs. You dont need to buy a car, and you dont need to go on vacation.

Ramsey also cautioned that just because Lauries husband will be making good money doesnt mean that he should postpone paying off his student loan debt. He said this would be a big mistake, but that plenty of people do it anyway.

Think about all the people graduating with him that are getting ready to do really stupid things while they still are sitting on student loan debt, said Ramsey. I promise you if you go with that herd, youre going to go over the cliff with that herd.

The Bottom Line: Pay Off Debt First To Get Ahead

Im telling you in 14 months, yall could be free forever, said Ramsey. Think about it Laurie  I mean you got the rest of your life to make $250,000 a year, and you wont have a payment in the world. I mean, think about it, you could save $100,000 a year for three years and pay cash for a $300,000 house. So when we talked about putting a little aside for a down payment  ignore that completely; just do student debt.

My point is, Ramsey said as he wrapped up the call, when you have all this money and no payments in the world you can do anything you want to do. Youre gonna be in great shape. Please do this. Please, please, please.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Dave Ramsey: The First Thing You Need To Do To Get Out of Debt
7 Brew drive-thru is opening another location in Louisville.

With the new year comes new businesses popping up, or in some cases dropping into Louisville.

7 Brew, the drive-thru coffee stand known for developing its buildings off-site and then dropping them at the physical location with a crane, will expand its Louisville footprint to include a new St. Matthews location.

The roughly $1 million 7 Brew will open by July at 4217 Shelbyville Road, near an existing Starbucks and Heine Bros, providing Louisville residents with one more coffee choice when in need of a caffeine boost.

"We've had a lot of requests from our customer base for a St. Matthews location. We are really excited about it," said Ralph Cole, the owner and director of operations with 7 Brew franchises in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

In October, 7 Brew opened its first Jefferson County location in Middletown at 12525 Shelbyville Road. Since then, the coffee chain has opened a total of four locations across Louisville and Jeffersonville. Cole said the company plans on having 15 total coffee stands in the Greater Louisville area.

"Weve seen the community really welcome us and have seen amazing sales growth at all of our surrounding stands," Cole said.

A Blondie," iced coffee with caramel and vanilla breve, from 7 Brew Coffee is seen in front of the location in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, May 22, 2023.

Coffee shops featuring quick, drive-thru services have been surging in the Louisville area for the last year, the Courier Journal previously reported, and are showing little sign of slowing in 2024.

While many of the menu features teas, smoothies, and fizzes and the coffees boast fun flavors like caramel, white chocolate, brown sugar and more, Cole said what sets 7 Brew apart from other coffee shops already in the area is the customer service and speed.

"The energy and atmosphere you feel going through our drive-thru is different than our competitors. The music, the smiles, the vibes, and the genuine kindness are what makes 7 Brew special," Cole said. "It also doesnt hurt that we are extremely fast with our two-lane drive-thru operations."

Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter at @oliviamevans_.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 7 Brew coffee shop to open in St. Matthews in summer 2024
Golar LNG

Golar LNG Limited (Golar or the Company) announces that FLNG Gimi arrived at the GTA field offshore Mauritania and Senegal on January 10, 2024. Golar has notified bp of FLNG Gimis arrival. Following completion of all preparatory activities FLNG Gimi will be maneuvered to her berth at the hub and for her subsequent connection to the feed gas pipeline. Golar and bp have agreed that FLNG Gimi will proceed to moor offshore Tenerife while awaiting completion of the necessary preparatory activities.

Golar CEO Karl-Fredrik Staubo commented: Golar is pleased to see that the FLNG Gimi has arrived at the GTA field offshore Mauritania and Senegal, her home for the next 20 years. We are excited to integrate the Golar FLNG Facility with the GTA hub, and starting the next phase of our long-term relationship with bp and the GTA partners into LNG production.

Rahman Rahmanov, bps vice president projects for Mauritania & Senegal commented: This is a major step forward for overall delivery of the GTA1 project in Mauritania and Senegal. Safely achieving this milestone is a result of great teamwork.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address activities and events that will, should, could or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Words such as may, could, should, would, expect, plan, anticipate, intend, forecast, believe, estimate, predict, propose, potential, continue, or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.

You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Golar LNG Limited undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

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Hamilton, Bermuda

January 10, 2024

Enquiries:

Golar Management Limited: + 44 207 063 7900

Stuart Buchanan

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act




DUBLIN, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Import and Export Trade Data Database" database has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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Discover relevant and alternative suppliers for your commodities and proactively monitor the shipment details of both your competitors and existing partners by accessing import-export data online. Easily search for import-export data by criteria such as country, importer, exporter, HS Code, commodity, data duration, port name, and transport mode, and access the latest data and insights at your fingertips.

Identify and thoroughly study the trade relationships of import and export companies, gaining insights into your competitors' procurement sources and the recipients of their goods. The analyst's goal is to ensure that when you search for data, you find precisely what you are seeking in easily comprehensible visualizations. We transform raw and convoluted shipment records into clean and informative charts and graphics.

Effortlessly compare the prices of goods that companies import and export globally, utilizing historical data and up-to-date information. Capture essential business prospects by obtaining verified phone numbers and email addresses of companies, key decision-makers, and other employees.

Access import-export data online from over 190 countries and analyze the global market with detailed shipment information. Discover importers, exporters, markets, and products, and monitor your competition with the assistance of the six types of data we provide: Customs Data, Statistical Data, Mirror Data, Bill of Lading Data, Suez Canal Bill of Lading Data, and Transit Data.

Detailed Customs Data contains 100% shipment information, including company details. The database offers detailed customs data for over 55 countries online, including Angola, Turkey, Thailand, Bangladesh, Burundi, Bolivia, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Ukraine, and many more. Customs data is invaluable for identifying importers and exporters, tracking competitors' trade activities, and gaining in-depth market insights.

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Statistical Data covers essential shipment information such as date, quantity, price, and country, though it does not include company names. You can access statistical data for 30 European countries online, along with data from other nations. Statistical data is useful for identifying potential markets, determining the market prices of commodities imported and exported globally, and analyzing the market share of countries.

Mirror Data contains data from countries for which direct data is unavailable, restructured based on data from their partner countries. The database encompasses mirror data for 184 countries, providing valuable insights even in cases where direct data is lacking.

Bill of Lading Data is derived from shipping documents and includes information about companies' shipments, though pricing details are not available.

Suez Canal Data comprises bill of lading data for shipments passing through the Suez Canal, allowing access to information for 109 countries.

The database offers trade data coverage for various regions, whether you want to analyze the market of a particular country or an entire continent. The trade data covers regions including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

Key Highlights

Access 190+ Countries - Trade data of the world's largest databases consisting of over 190 countries.

Different Data Fields - Get information on the basis of different data fields - HS Code, Port, Country, etc.

Dashboard Features - Refine your search with 20+ filters, trade partner tree, customized reports, etc.

Access a database with 10 million contacts for companies and their employees.

Explore information on 1.8 million importer-exporter companies.

Visualize the Market - Utilize the feature of "Visualize View" to get multiple views and insights into the market.

Analyze Market Trends - Learn about your target market and analyze the dynamics of trends to strategize better.

Timely Data Update - The trade database in the online trade intelligence platform updates every 30 days.

Contact Details - Get the contact information of importers and exporters and their employees' contact details.

Online Access - Be without worries about losing access to your last search term or downloaded import-export records.

Transit Data: Contains information on import-export shipments that pass through various customs territories.

Target Market

The target market is highly diverse, with potential applications across various sectors, including:

Automobile Sector: Access to import-export data can help automobile manufacturers and suppliers track the global movement of automotive components and products.

Textile Sector: Textile companies can utilize this data to monitor the international trade of textiles, fabrics, and apparel.

Pharmaceutical Sector: Pharmaceutical firms can track the import and export of pharmaceutical products, active ingredients, and medical devices to inform their business strategies.

Food Industries: Companies in the food and beverage industry can benefit from insights into the global trade of food products, ingredients, and agricultural commodities.

Importers and Exporters: Businesses engaged in international trade can use this data to optimize their supply chain, identify potential partners, and assess market opportunities.

Law Firms: Legal professionals can leverage import-export data for cases related to trade disputes, compliance, and intellectual property rights.

Financial Institutions: Banks and financial institutions can analyze trade data to assess credit risk, support trade finance decisions, and identify investment opportunities.

Logistics Companies: Logistics providers can use this data to optimize shipping routes, improve inventory management, and enhance supply chain efficiency.

Consulting and Research Firms: Research and consulting firms can offer valuable insights to clients across various industries by analyzing trade trends and market dynamics.

Trade and Government Agencies: Government agencies can monitor trade flows, enforce trade policies, and make informed decisions regarding tariffs and regulations.

Media and Communication Entities: Media organizations can use trade data to report on international trade developments and their impact on global markets.

Manufacturers: Manufacturers across sectors can gain insights into global supply and demand trends, helping them make strategic decisions.

For more information about this database visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xok3by

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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SOURCE Research and Markets
There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Although, when we looked at LS 2 Holdings (Catalist:ENV), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for LS 2 Holdings, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.063 = S$1.3m  (S$31m - S$11m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, LS 2 Holdings has an ROCE of 6.3%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 6.6% average generated by the Commercial Services industry.

Check out our latest analysis for LS 2 Holdings

Catalist:ENV Return on Capital Employed January 10th 2024

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of LS 2 Holdings, check out these free graphs here.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at LS 2 Holdings, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last four years, returns on capital have decreased to 6.3% from 14% four years ago. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

On a related note, LS 2 Holdings has decreased its current liabilities to 35% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

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The Key Takeaway

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by LS 2 Holdings' reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 56% in the last year. Therefore based on the analysis done in this article, we don't think LS 2 Holdings has the makings of a multi-bagger.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for LS 2 Holdings (of which 2 are potentially serious!) that you should know about.

While LS 2 Holdings may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Wellington Management, one of the worlds largest independent investment management firms, with more than $1.1 trillion assets under management globally, has established a new office in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in the Gate building.

In addition, Wellington Management (DIFC) Limited have been granted a Prudential Category 4 Regulatory Licence by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

Wellington has managed assets on behalf of Middle East clients for 29 years from its London office, including for clients and prospects in DIFC and UAE.

The new Dubai office is the first step in the firms strategy to support clients in their local markets, expand its global footprint in EMEA, and continue its active investment in the region across both public and private markets.

Following formal approval and licencing from the DFSA, the Dubai office will form part of its Wellingtons EMEA office footprint, which now includes London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan and Zurich.

Stefan Haselwandter, Vice Chair and Head of Client Platform for Wellington Management said, "Establishing a local presence in the Middle East will help us expand our international reach and accessibility to our clients. As markets evolve and become more complex, we believe staying close to clients and being available to them in their home markets is of critical importance."

"We look forward to working with the DFSA and DIFC Authority as we grow our operations and expand our presence in the region," he noted.

DIFC Authority CEO Arif Amiri said: "We are delighted to welcome Wellington Asset Management to Dubai and DIFC, from where it will serve existing clients as well as access new clients by tapping into the regions vast amount of public and private capital."

"Wellington is a top 10 Global Asset Manager and will bring nearly a century of investment excellence and talent to DIFC, further enhancing our market leading position as home to 10 of the top 20 Asset Managers in the world," he noted.

The DIFC office will be led by Waleed Al Rezooqi, who joined Wellington earlier this year as Senior Executive Officer & Director, Middle East, within Wellingtons EMEA Client Group.

He is responsible for leading Wellingtons business development and relationship management activities in the Middle East.

Al Rezooqi has more than 14 years of experience and was most recently Executive Director for Morgan Stanley Investment Management where he was responsible for originating transactions across public and private markets and managing key relationships with institutional clients in the Middle East.-TradeArabia News Service
New stock offerings in Hong Kong are expected to generate more than double the amount of funds for companies this year, making the city's stock exchange one of the five busiest venues globally, according to KPMG.

The firm expects 90 initial public offerings (IPOs) to raise HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion), banking on stronger inter-connectivity with the Middle East and spin-off listing opportunities to fill the pipeline. Positive sentiment among investors in artificial intelligence or AI, semiconductor and green technology could fuel deals in these sectors.

"Hong Kong is well positioned to spark a recovery in its IPO activity by embracing these growing trends," Irene Chu, head of new economy and life sciences in Hong Kong at KPMG China, said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

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.

Hong Kong ranked sixth in the global IPO league table last year, when 70 companies raised HK$46.3 billion from local retail and global institutional investors, according to KPMG. Shanghai and Shenzhen topped the table, recording 210.8 billion yuan (US$29.5 billion) and 148.1 billion yuan, respectively, to reflect a 47 per cent and 32 per cent drop from a year earlier.

The local bourse is looking to benefit from several listing reforms to make it easier for "specialist" technology companies and small companies in the Greater Bay Area to raise funds from the public. Recent efforts to boost financial linkages with Saudi Arabia could also yield results including cross-border listings, KPMG said.

CSOP Asset Management launched its CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF, an exchange-traded fund tracking the market's biggest companies including top oil producer Saudi Aramco, in November. Hong Kong government officials have also approached the oil company to consider a secondary listing in the city.

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Yazeed Al-Humied, deputy governor of the Public Investment Fund, attends the listing ceremony of CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF fund in Central in November 2023. Photo: Edmond So alt=Yazeed Al-Humied, deputy governor of the Public Investment Fund, attends the listing ceremony of CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF fund in Central in November 2023. Photo: Edmond So>

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has said that there were more than 90 applications in its IPO pipeline, including big-ticket deals like Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, which is widely expected to raise at least US$1 billion and white-goods giant Midea.

If successful, the Cainiao IPO would be the first entity within Alibaba Group Holding to be spun off since the e-commerce group reorganised into six major businesses in March last year. Alibaba, the owner of this newspaper, in November abandoned its plan to list the cloud-computing unit because of the US-China tech curbs, as well as the offering by online grocer Freshippo.

Meanwhile, China's A-share or onshore market is expected to see a steady stream of IPOs after a sharp decline last year, with 780 applicants, KPMG said. Some 68 per cent are in the industrials and technology sectors as market regulators continue to support innovation and sustainability, it added.

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  2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
(Bloomberg) -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. agreed to buy Juniper Networks Inc. for $14 billion in a move that will expand its presence in networking but raised skepticism from Wall Street.

Most Read from Bloomberg

HPE, a maker of data center hardware, will pay $40 a share in cash for Juniper, the companies said Tuesday in a statement. That price represents more than half of HPEs $21 billion market value and a 32% premium over Junipers closing price of $30.22 on Monday before talks of a deal emerged.

Networking, technology that directs the flow of information between devices and across the internet, will be the new core of HPE, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Neri said in an interview after the agreement was announced. That business line will double in size once the deal is closed, the company said.

HPE said it will finance the purchase with term loans that over time will be replaced with a combination of new debt, mandatory convertible preferred securities, and cash. The companies expect the acquisition, which has been approved by both boards, to be completed by late this year or early 2025.

Since Hewlett-Packard was split in 2015 into two companies, HPE has focused on trying to expand lucrative business lines such as selling high-powered computing and cloud services. But the company has struggled to grow at more than about 2% over the past few years. In November, HPE gave a revenue forecast that fell short of analysts estimates after reporting a steep decline in server sales.

Read More: Debt Dealmakers Bet on M&A Revival to Fuel $1.3 Trillion Year

Juniper, like its bigger rival Cisco Systems Inc., makes networking devices such as routers and switches. The HPE-Juniper combination will disrupt the industry since there has been only one large vendor, Neri said, referring to Cisco. Today we are actually creating a second option  a much more modern option that ultimately customers were looking for.

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Like much of the tech industry, Juniper has touted the potential for new artificial intelligence services to boost growth. Together, the companies will excel in building data centers and running networks for AI-enabled operations, Juniper CEO Rami Rahim said in an interview. Rahim will lead the combined networking business and report to Neri once the deal is closed, the companies said.

Acquiring Juniper will double HPEs networking revenue and increase recurring revenue by about $400 million, based on 2023 financial results, the company shared in an investor call Wednesday. The deal will increase adjusted earnings per share in year one after closing, said HPE interim Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Cox.

The merger will help HPE fill a gap in its portfolio, expanding its data center and cloud networking presence, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Woo Jin Ho wrote Tuesday before the deal was announced.

Many on Wall Street expected Spring, Texas-based HPE to make acquisitions after the company said it would sell its stake in H3C for about $3.5 billion. The agreement marks the first big technology deal of 2024, following the worst year for mergers and acquisitions since 2013. After global deals hit a record of $3.82 trillion in 2021, they fell to $2.17 trillion last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

HPEs stock had its worst day since May 2020, falling 8.9% to close at $16.14 in New York following reports the deal was imminent. Its shares were little changed Wednesday morning after the final deal was announced. Some analysts questioned the potential acquisition, saying HPEs purchase of a legacy tech company like Juniper could complicate its growth initiatives.

Juniper has long been a struggling asset with share losses/high exposure to the service provider market, and it is unclear how simple integration will be, given different software stacks, Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, wrote. Junipers stock fell 7.8% in 2023 after an 11% drop in 2022.

Other analysts called out the risks of an increasing debt load or overlapping product lines leading to customer confusion, concerns the executives dismissed. Im not concerned about product overlap, Rahim said during the investor call, citing potential for product integration and cross-sell. Neri added that the two companies only overlap in a small portion of the networking market.

Juniper shares were up about 1.7% Wednesday morning. The stock jumped 22% on Tuesday  its best day since January 2004  to close at $36.81. Analysts estimate annual revenue at the Sunnyvale, California-based company will decline 2% to $5.51 billion in 2024. Juniper had 11,506 employees as of Sept. 30.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Qatalyst Partners served as HPEs financial advisers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. served as Junipers adviser. Neri said the acquisition should be completed within the next 12 months, and he doesnt expect regulatory reviews to slow it down. Neri added that China regulatory approval may not be needed as HPEs presence in the country is small.

--With assistance from Michael Hytha.

(Updates with comments from CEOs beginning in the third paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Site features intuitive experience making it easier for customers to find a Hyundai that fits their needs

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai has been ranked highest among mass market manufacturer websites according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation StudySMWinter.

Hyundai Motor America. (PRNewsFoto/Hyundai Motor America) (PRNewsfoto/Hyundai Motor America)

The semiannual study measures customer satisfaction of automotive manufacturer websites during the process of shopping for a new vehicle by examining four key measures (in order of importance): information/content, visual appeal, navigation, and speed. According to the report, satisfaction among electric vehicle (EV) shoppers has increased since the last study in summer 2023.

"It's our goal to make the car buying process as smooth as possible for the EV-curious shopper and our website is a key part of that," said Angela Zepeda, chief marketing officer, Hyundai Motor America. "We know that the majority of our customers start their car buying journey online, so we're proud to be recognized by J.D. Power for our industry-leading website."

The U.S. Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study, initially released in 1999, is based on responses from 12,481 new-vehicle shoppers who indicate they will be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 24 months. The study was fielded from October through December 2023.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles, while supporting Hyundai Motor Company's Progress for Humanity vision. Hyundai has significant operations in the U.S., including its North American headquarters in California, the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama assembly plant, the all-new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (in development in Georgia), and several cutting-edge R&D facilities. These operations, combined with those of Hyundai's 835 independent dealers, contribute $20.1 billion annually and 190,000 jobs to the U.S. economy, according to a recent economic impact report. For more information, visit www.hyundainews.com.

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Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

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Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

CEO, Jean-Paul Clozel, to update on how Idorsia is being adapted for sustainable value creation

The company is focused on extending the cash runway beyond the current estimate of early April 2024, through various avenues, including potential out-licensing deals

Postponement of the publication of Full-Year 2023 Financial Results and the subsequent Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

Allschwil, Switzerland  January 10, 2024

Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) today announced that Jean-Paul Clozel, Chief Executive Officer of Idorsia, will present at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on January 10, 2024, at 10:30 PST / 19:30 CET. The conference will take place at the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, USA.

Jean-Paul will describe how Idorsia is being adapted for sustainable value creation. The presentation will cover the progress of QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) in the US and Europe, and the clinical data included in the new drug application for aprocitentan with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which is currently under review. He will also present other unencumbered assets that provide the company with strategic flexibility and several avenues to explore potential fundraising. Follow this link to access the audio stream and find the presentation available here.

Jean-Paul Clozel MD and Chief Executive Officer of Idorsia commented:

Creating a sustainable pharma company requires scientific innovation and substantial investment. We have demonstrated our ability to innovate and bring new drugs to the market and have a portfolio of innovative products, however, we have limited financing, so we need to prioritize activities that offer the maximum return in the near term. We estimate the current cash reserves to last to early April 2024, we therefore plan to extend the cash runway through various avenues, including potential out-license deals.

Expected highlights in 2024

Secure additional funding to extend the cash runway

Expand access and availability of QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) in the US, Canada and across Europe

Achieve FDA decision for the NDA for aprocitentan in resistant hypertension

Achieve EMA decision for the MAA for aprocitentan in resistant hypertension

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Jean-Paul commented on the portfolio:

More than 11 million QUVIVIQ tablets have been dispensed to help patients achieve better nights and days. We have made great progress with access and availability in our key markets, and I expect to see that translating into income in 2024. I also expect aprocitentan  the first antihypertensive working on a new pathway for 30 years  to become available for treated patients whose hypertension remains uncontrolled. Discussions with health authorities are going well and Im confident that the label will reflect the outstanding results weve seen for these high-risk patients. We also intend to progress the two global Phase 3 programs with selatogrel and cenerimod which have the potential to transform treatment in their target indications.

Idorsias portfolio



Product / compound Mechanism of action Therapeutic area Status QUVIVIQ (daridorexant) Dual orexin receptor

antagonist Insomnia Commercially available in the US Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the UK, and Canada; Approved in the EU; Phase 2 in pediatric insomnia  recruiting



Partners: Mochida & Sosei in Japan, Simcere in China and Hong Kong Aprocitentan Dual endothelin receptor antagonist Resistant hypertension NDA under review in the US,

MAA under review in the EU, other filings in preparation



Partner: Unencumbered Lucerastat Glucosylceramide synthase

inhibitor Fabry disease Phase 3 primary endpoint not met; open-label extension study ongoing



Partner: Unencumbered Selatogrel P2Y 12 inhibitor Suspected acute myocardial infarction Phase 3 recruiting



Partner: Unencumbered Cenerimod S1P 1 receptor modulator Systemic lupus erythematosus Phase 3 recruiting



Partner: Unencumbered ACT-1004-1239 ACKR3 / CXCR7 antagonist Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases Phase 2 in preparation



Partner: Unencumbered Sinbaglustat GBA2/GCS inhibitor Rare lysosomal storage

disorders Phase 1 complete



Partner: Unencumbered ACT-1014-6470 C5aR1 antagonist Immune-mediated disorders Phase 1



Partner: Unencumbered ACT-777991 CXCR3 antagonist Recent-onset Type 1 diabetes Phase 1



Partner: Unencumbered IDOR-1117-2520 Undisclosed Immune-mediated disorders Phase 1



Partner: Unencumbered IDO-090 Synthetic glycan vaccine Clostridium difficile infection Phase 1 in preparation



Partner: Unencumbered

Neurocrine Biosciences has a global license to develop and commercialize ACT-709478 (NBI-827104), Idorsia's novel T-type calcium channel blocker.

On July 20, 2023, Idorsia sold its operating businesses in the Asia Pacific (ex-China) region to Sosei Heptares, including the assignment of the license for PIVLAZ (clazosentan) for the Asia Pacific (ex-China) region. Idorsia retains the rights to clazosentan in the rest of the world.

Further details including the current status of each project in our portfolio can be found in our innovation fact sheet.

Upcoming Financial Updates

The company has decided to postpone the publication of Full-Year 2023 Financial Results and the subsequent Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

Full-Year 2023 and First Quarter 2024 Financial Results reporting on April 25, 2024

Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on June 13, 2024

Half-Year 2024 Financial Results reporting on July 25, 2024





Notes to the editor

About Idorsia

Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more  We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland  a European biotech-hub  Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a 20-year heritage of drug discovery, a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, and commercial operations in Europe and North America  the ideal constellation for bringing innovative medicines to patients.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 800 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

For further information, please contact

Andrew C. Weiss

Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil

+41 58 844 10 10

investor.relations@idorsia.com

media.relations@idorsia.com

www.idorsia.com

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Attachment




Victims of tax-related identity theft can face extraordinary delays, waiting more than a year and a half for the IRS to fix the issue, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate's latest report.

Taxpayers, particularly those with low-paying jobs, face true financial hardship by such delays. A working family cannot receive legitimate tax refunds, including money from key tax credits designed to help those with low or middle incomes, until the taxpayer's ID theft claim is resolved.

"Many taxpayers depend on their tax refunds to meet their living expenses, particularly low-income taxpayers who receive earned income tax credit benefits that (approached) $7,000 for tax year 2022," National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins stated in her 2023 Annual Report to Congress issued Wednesday, which outlined a variety of ongoing challenges at the Internal Revenue Service.

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins released her 2023 Annual Report to Congress, describing 2023 as a year of extraordinary transition for the IRS and therefore for taxpayers. But the report still identifies paper processing as an area of continuing weakness.

Nearly 500,000 people who had cases still pending with the IRSs Identity Theft Victims Assistance unit at the end of 2023 found themselves waiting an average of 19 months for the IRS to resolve their problems, according to the report.

A family raising young children, juggling the bills and living paycheck to paycheck on low wage jobs cannot sit around waiting 19 months on average for a tax refund of several thousand dollars. No one wants to wait that long.

Collins called the delays unconscionable. She said the Internal Revenue Service needs to place a higher priority on quickly resolving ID-theft related cases for victims.

More: IRS: 2023 income tax returns will be accepted starting Jan. 29

More: IRS to offer pandemic-related relief on some penalties to nearly 5 million taxpayers

IRS shows improvements but big challenges remain

By law, the National Taxpayer Advocate's report identifies the 10 most serious problems that taxpayers run up against with the IRS. The report makes administrative and legislative recommendations to address those problems.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel issued a statement Wednesday saying that many of the issues identified in the National Taxpayer Advocate's report "ultimately depend on adequate IRS resources. This is another reason why the Inflation Reduction Act funding and our annual appropriations are so critical to making transformational changes to the IRS to help taxpayers and the nation."

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The IRS, he said, continues to hire additional staff to help improve taxpayer service, add technology, improve compliance efforts, and focus on paperless processing.

Werfel also stated: "We appreciate the Taxpayer Advocates acknowledgement that the IRS made improvements in 2023, and we are committed to continue this momentum during the 2024 tax season and beyond."

This year's report gave a shoutout to the success that the IRS has achieved in improving many services, including virtually eliminating the IRS backlog of unprocessed original 1040 income tax returns filed by individuals and substantially improving telephone service.

Collins described 2023 as a year of extraordinary transition for the IRS and therefore for taxpayers.

"Despair has turned to cautious optimism," Collins wrote in her report.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, the three preceding years ended up being the most challenging years the IRS and most taxpayers had ever experienced.

"The IRS shut its offices and stopped processing paper-filed tax returns and correspondence for several months after the onset of the pandemic in 2020," Collins stated in her report, "and it then reopened those functions only partially for several months to comply with social distancing requirements. Tax returns and taxpayer correspondence sat unopened in trailers for months on end."

The IRS has serious problems, though, dealing with processing amended tax returns for individuals and businesses, and addressing taxpayer correspondence. Again, many taxpayers end up waiting a very long time for their refund money, as a result.

Unprocessed amended returns stood at 500,000 at the end of calendar year 2019, the most recent prepandemic year, according to the report.

By comparison, the backlog as of late October 2023 was 1.9 million  nearly four times as much.

When it comes to taxpayer correspondence and related cases, the backlog more than doubled from 1.9 million at the end of 2019 to 4.3 million by October 2023.

IRS improves phone service but at a big cost

Why the massive uptick in some backlogs? Well, it appears that putting all your energy in one project  much like a homeowner putting every remodeling dollar into a flashy deck out back while ignoring holes in the roof  doesn't work well.

The advocate's report blamed the "paper inventory backlog to the Treasury Departments decision to prioritize answering telephone calls over processing amended returns and correspondence."

The same people  IRS customer service representatives in the agencys accounts management function  answer the phones and process the paper.

For the 2023 filing season, the Treasury set a goal of achieving an 85% level of service on the IRSs toll-free telephone lines. Staffing went up to cover the telephone lines. However, the report says, some IRS employees often were simply sitting around waiting for the phone to ring when they could have been processing paper and reducing response times for amended returns and correspondence.

The IRS cannot easily shuffle employees back and forth between answering phones and processing correspondence, so unproductive employee time was the price it had to pay to improve telephone service levels, Collins wrote.

She said the IRS must find a way to move employees between those two functions "more nimbly."

She also noted that backlogs in processing tax returns and taxpayer correspondence drive much of the phone volume. "I encourage the IRS to put more emphasis on reducing its paper processing backlog in 2024," she stated.

No doubt, IRS phone service was horrific. Employees only answered 11% of the calls in fiscal year 2021. Even after making significant improvements, IRS employees answered only 29% of all calls received in fiscal year 2023.

More IRS employees were put to work answering phones. But it also helped that incoming calls dropped by two-thirds  from a record 282 million calls that came into the IRS in fiscal 2021 to 93 million calls in fiscal year 2023, according to data in the advocate's report.

People, of course, were frustrated a few years ago when many tax returns were trapped in the IRS backlog, the temporary advance child tax credit created complexities, stimulus money didn't always arrive on time, and many tax refunds were late. By the close of the 2021 filing season, the report noted, the IRS faced a backlog of more than 35 million tax returns that required manual data entry or employee review.

Employee retention credit creates conundrum

One ongoing headache: Many employers have yet to receive money after claiming the employee retention credit. As of early December, the advocate's report noted, the IRS had 1 million such claims in backlog.

The IRS is in tough spot here. It's trying to process legitimate claims while avoiding handing over money to those gaming the system and making fake claims.

In September, the IRS took the unusual step of announcing that it would stop processing new claims for the employee retention credit after a flood of improper claims and rising scams.

The IRS would have expected only a trickle of employee retention claims in 2023 for a credit involving business activity in 2021, according to Werfel.

Instead, he dubbed the dramatic level of new claims a "tsunami."

He blamed the ads: the aggressive promoters and the false promises being made as part of unscrupulous marketing.

The IRS took a reasonable move by slowing down processing such claims, Collins wrote, given the level of fraud. But she expressed concern that legitimate employers will end up having to wait for extended periods to receive their refunds "regardless of whether they submitted their claims before or after the IRS imposed the moratorium."

"While the IRS needs to stop improper or fraudulent claims, " Collins wrote, "it must continue to process and pay refunds to eligible employers."

Employers who file eligible employee retention credit claims, she said, often wait six months or longer to receive their credits or refunds. Some delayed claims, the report noted, involve nonprofit organizations that provide medical or other critical services and are depending on these refunds to stay afloat.

If the IRS pays claims quickly without adequate review, the report noted, billions of dollars could end up in the hands of people who don't qualify for the credit. "If it takes the time to review claims carefully, eligible employers will experience significant delays in receiving the credit, and, in extreme cases, employers who need the funds immediately could go out of business, the report said.

Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) @tompor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: IRS trouble spots include amended returns, resolving ID theft issues
This aerial photos shows Shika nuclear power plant in Shikamachi, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, on Jan. 2, 2024. Japans nuclear safety regulators have told the operator of a nuclear power plant in the area hit by a powerful New Year's Day quake to study its potential impact. The Nuclear Regulation Authority asked for further investigation even though initial assessments showed its cooling systems and ability to contain radiation remained intact. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP)  Japans nuclear safety regulators have told the operator of a nuclear power plant in the area hit by a powerful New Years Day quake to study its potential impact.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, asked for further investigation even though initial assessments showed the Shika nuclear power plant's cooling systems and ability to contain radiation remained intact.

The order reflects Japan's greater vigilance about safety risks after meltdowns in 2011 at a plant in Fukushima, on the northeastern Pacific coast, following a magnitude 9 quake and a massive tsunami.

The Jan. 1 magnitude 7.6 quake and dozens of strong aftershocks have left 206 people dead and dozens more unaccounted for. It also caused a small tsunami. But Hokuriku Electric Power Co., the plants operator, reported it had successfully dealt with damage to transformers, temporary outages and turbulence in the spent fuel cooling pools that followed the quakes.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi has repeatedly emphasized that the plant was safe. Eighteen of 116 radiation monitoring posts installed in Ishikawa prefecture, where Shika is located, and in neighboring Toyama briefly failed after the quake. All but two have since been repaired and none showed any abnormality, he said.

Shika is a town on the western coast of the Noto peninsula, where the quake did the most damage, leaving roads gaping, toppling and collapsing buildings and triggering landslides.

Hokuriku Electric Power Co., reported that water had spilled from the spent fuel pools in both reactors. Transformers in both reactors were damaged and leaked oil, causing a temporary loss of power in one of the cooling pools. Company officials reported no further safety problems at the Nuclear Regulation Authority's weekly meeting Wednesday.

But NRA officials said the utility should consider a possibility of fresh damage to transformers and other key equipment as aftershocks continue.

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NRA chairperson Shinsuke Yamanaka urged the utility to thoroughly investigate the cause of the transformer damage and promptly report its findings. Yamanake also suggested that emergency protocols for residents around plants should be reviewed.

The Shika reactors were inaugurated in 1993 and 2006. They have been offline since the 2011 disaster. Hokuriku Electric applied to restart the newer No. 2 reactor in 2014, but safety checks by the nuclear safety agency were delayed due to the need to determine if there were active faults near the plant. The nuclear officials concluded that faults near the complex are not active and do not affect plant safety.

Hokuriku has expressed hopes to restart the No. 2 reactor by 2026, but safety reviews of the impacts of the latest quake could delay the plan.

Both the government and business leaders generally support restarting the many reactors that were idled for safety checks and upgrades after the Fukushima disaster.

The head of Japans powerful business organization Keidanren, Masakazu Tokura, visited the Shika plant last year. But on Tuesday he urged the utility to be fully transparent and ensure it was safe.

Many people are concerned, and I hope (the utility) provides adequate information at an appropriate time, Tokura said.

___

This story corrects the name of the nuclear safety body to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
The obesity drug market remains a focus for investors and, of course, was one of the most talked-about topics at the annual JPMorgan healthcare conference in San Francisco this week.

For example, market leader Novo Nordisk (NVO) is already thinking about the next step for Wegovy, its wildly successful obesity drug.

CEO Lars Jrgensen told investors that the company is working on an early-stage portfolio of candidates to address the variability in the market  that includes different dosages and alternate delivery methods to the current injectable option.

"We also have a broad and deep early pipeline that we've not disclosed yet. I think this is such a huge addressable market that there'll be space for different types of products, different administrations, and probably also different efficacy levels," Jrgensen said.

Jrgensen said this previously undisclosed information will be discussed in more detail at the company's investor day in March.

GLP-1s are the dominant treatment for the new obesity market, led by Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's (LLY) newly approved Zepbound. Investors are waiting to see how the companies compete with each other, and others, for market share.

GLP-1s are named for the hormone they mimic in the body that helps to help slow digestion and increase insulin production. They rose to popularity last year  fueled by celebrity interest in the record levels of weight loss achieved by the diabetes drugs Ozempic, from Novo, and Mounjaro, from Lilly. Both products have the same key ingredient as their counterpart obesity drug, semaglutide in Novo's drugs and tirzepatide in Lilly's.

But there are other formulations being worked on by other companies  all rushing in to get a piece of what is projected to be a $100 billion or more market by the end of the decade that will touch, potentially, half of the world's population.

The strategies vary from finding an oral option to searching for different disease that could benefit from the treatment. Novo already created a stir around the possibilities with a study late last year that showed Wegovy could help reduce the risk of serious heart problems.

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The GLP-1 rush

Pfizer (PFE) has launched an oral GLP-1 program. Roche (RHHBY) re-entered the market after a decade by acquiring obesity drug developer Carmot. Amgen (AMGN) is working on an oral option as well as an injectable, which are part of the broader GLP-1 space.

Amgen CEO Robert Bradway said the company has "about a half dozen or so other medicines in a preclinical state that we're excited about in the obesity area.

Merck (MRK), meanwhile, is testing a GLP-1 for potential liver benefits.

Weight wars: Boxes of Ozempic and Mounjaro, drugs used for treating Type 2 diabetes made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. (George Frey/REUTERS) (Reuters / Reuters)

Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Teresa Graham told Yahoo Finance the pipeline the company gained from Carmot offers potential beyond the obesity market.

"In the next couple of years we expect something like 4 billion people around the world to be obese ... I think clearly there's going to be opportunity for multiple players to be in this space," Graham said.

Others, like AstraZeneca (AZN), are pursuing a "cocktail" approach. AstraZeneca is pairing a GLP-1 it is licensing from China's Eccogene with its blockbuster Farxiga, a diabetes drug that also has benefits for heart failure and kidney disease.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told reporters that the market is currently a duopoly, but there will be "fierce competition as everybody in existence is going after this market."

Bourla sees obesity as a place where his company can play and win with its current pipeline, but is also looking for early-stage assets for acquisition and for licensing.

"I don't expect we are going and buying a Phase 3 asset on obesity that will be at the multibillion dollars [level]," Bourla said, noting the company needs to reduce debt after its $43 billion Seagen acquisition to boost its oncology pipeline.

Still, Pfizer sees opportunity in the oral space, which is predicted to be one-third of the projected $100 billion-plus market by the end of the decade. Bourla added that Pfizer could capture one-third of the oral market.

Not all large cap players are joining in. Gilead (GILD) and Sanofi (SNY), for example, are staying away. Sanofi has a GLP-1 diabetes drug, Lyxumia, which was approved in 2016, but it had joined other big pharma companies which abandoned the obesity market back in 2008.

CEO Paul Hudson told reporters this week he isn't going to get back in, and isn't pursuing this first wave of interest.

"You can't go back and close six, seven years of work that's been done on these studies and to try to catch up  even though there's a lot of appetite for it," Hudson said.

Lilly's CEO David Ricks said pursuing different methods and finding additional benefits will be the 2024 GLP-1 story for most companies.

"Next year there's more pivotal readouts on serious disease. We've got heart disease and sleep apnea coming. I'm sure Novo has their own list. For the next few years, that's how this will go. I think those proof points will keep stacking up, consumer demand will keep growing," Ricks said.

Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. Follow Anjalee on all social media platforms @AnjKhem.

Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices
A Calhoun County judge again dismissed a lawsuit from Marshall-area residents who sought to change or potentially derail a planned massive Ford development in the area.

But residents who oppose the creation of the large electric vehicle battery plant about 100 miles west of Detroit say they plan to appeal the decision.

A Calhoun County judge dismissed the latest version of a lawsuit aimed at changing or derailing a massive Ford electric vehicle battery plant just outside Marshall, Michigan.

Circuit Judge William Marietti filed his opinion Wednesday, ruling in favor of both the Marshall city clerk and a local economic development organization called the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance.

An organization called Committee for Marshall  Not the Megasite originally filed the lawsuit last year, arguing the city and the city clerk inappropriately nixed their efforts to have voters formally weigh in on a local regulatory decision that largely paved the way for the promised Ford plant.

Marietti dismissed the original lawsuit in the fall, but residents filed an updated version. The judge relied on the same concepts to reject most of the new lawsuit, finding the additional arguments were not persuasive.

This ruling is a major win for local jobs, local small businesses and the entire Marshall community," said Jim Durian, head of the local economic development organization, in a statement.

"With this lawsuit now dismissed and behind us, we look forward to keeping this important project moving forward as planned, because it will help Marshall recover from years of job and population losses, pump millions of dollars into our local economy and create opportunities for young people so they dont have to leave the area to find jobs."

Regis Klingler, a spokesman for the committee that opposes the site, said the committee plans to appeal.

"Were not giving up. We think we have some good grounds for appeal," Klingler said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. "Its not finished."

The final plans for the site are far from complete. Although Ford initially promised 2,500 new jobs and a $3.5 billion investment when announcing the project, it instituted a two-month pause on its own work at the Marshall site amid the UAW strike.

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It ultimately decided to trim the plans by 800 jobs and more than $1 billion invested, moves that reduce the plant's production capacity by roughly 40%.

Michigan originally was slated to provide roughly $1.8 billion in public incentives for the project, but the state economic development agency expects to reduce that number, given the change in the project's scope.

Otie McKinley, a spokesman for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, said in late December the new incentive amount would not be known until Ford provided final project details to the state.

Ford said it still plans to begin production in 2026.

More: Ford to drastically scale back jobs, investment plans for Marshall EV battery plant

More: UAW's push to organize workers at nonunion carmakers is a race against time

Contact Dave Boucher: dboucher@freepress.com and on X, previously called Twitter, @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge dismisses Marshall lawsuit to derail Ford EV battery site
Transparency Market Research

Demand for precise level sensors in manufacturing automation processes, enhancing operational efficiency and productivity in industries.

Wilmington, Delaware, United States, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transparency Market Research Inc. - The global level sensor market is estimated to flourish at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2023 to 2031. Transparency Market Research projects that the overall sales revenue for level sensor is estimated to reach US$ 6.8 billion by the end of 2031.

A significant factor is the increasing demand within the food and beverage industry for hygienic level sensing solutions. Manufacturers seek sensors that comply with strict sanitary standards, ensuring contamination-free processes and meeting regulatory requirements. This driver prompts innovations in sensors capable of withstanding harsh cleaning procedures while providing accurate and reliable measurements, catering specifically to this sector's needs.

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A significant driver involves the level sensor market's growth due to the evolving energy landscape. Rising adoption of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power demands efficient and reliable level sensing solutions for energy storage systems. Sensors aiding in monitoring battery levels and managing energy storage capacities become pivotal in optimizing renewable energy operations, contributing to the market's expansion in this sector.

The emergence of smart agriculture drives the need for precision level sensing in irrigation systems and fertilizer management. Sensors enabling precise water level measurements and optimizing resource usage align with the agricultural sector's sustainability goals, marking a potential growth avenue for level sensor applications in this domain.

Key Findings of the Market Report

Ultrasonic sensors lead the level sensor market, offering precise and versatile level measurement capabilities across various industrial applications.

Non-contact type technology segment leads the level sensor market, offering advanced, accurate, and versatile sensing solutions across industries.

Continuous level applications lead the level sensor market, necessitating consistent and real-time monitoring for various industrial processes.

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Level Sensor Market Growth Drivers & Trends

Increasing integration of level sensors in smart manufacturing, enhancing process automation and efficiency in industrial operations.

Rising demand for connected sensors and wireless solutions, facilitating remote monitoring and data accessibility.

Stringent norms driving the need for accurate and reliable level measurement solutions, particularly in sectors like wastewater management and chemical processing.

Development of smaller, robust sensors using innovative materials, meeting diverse application requirements in compact spaces.

Continuous innovation in sensor technology, including ultrasonic, radar, and optical sensors, offering enhanced accuracy and versatility in level measurement applications.

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Global Level Sensor Market: Regional Profile

In North America, key players like TE Connectivity Ltd. lead with innovative level sensing solutions. The region's robust manufacturing sector and stringent quality standards drive market growth, catering to diverse industrial needs while focusing on cutting-edge technologies.

Europe presents a competitive landscape with companies like First Sensor AG at the forefront of sensor innovations. Stringent regulations and a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability contribute to market expansion, while advancements in industrial automation drive the demand for precise level measurement solutions.

Asia Pacific showcases immense growth potential, driven by expanding industrial sectors and infrastructure development. SICK AG and emerging local players capitalize on the region's burgeoning market, supported by increasing manufacturing activities and technological advancements. Collaborations and technological innovations further propel the market's expansion, catering to diverse industrial needs across the region.

Level Sensor Market: Competitive Landscape

The level sensor market shows a competitive landscape with key players like TE Connectivity Ltd., First Sensor AG, and SICK AG dominating. These industry leaders offer an extensive range of level sensing solutions across diverse industries.

Emerging players contribute to market dynamics. Competition thrives on technological innovations, product diversification, and strategic partnerships. The market's demand for accurate and reliable level measurement solutions, especially in sectors like manufacturing, automotive, and pharmaceuticals, fosters an environment where companies continuously strive for excellence through R&D and delivering high-performance level sensor solutions globally. Some prominent manufacturers are as follows:





ABB Ltd

Emerson Electric Company

Siemens AG

TE Connectivity Ltd

First Sensor AG

SICK AG

Texas Instrument Incorporated

Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH

AMETEK Inc.

Endress+Hauser AG

Fortive Corporation

Nohken Inc.

Krohne Messtechnik GmbH

Product Portfolio

TE Connectivity excels in sensor solutions and connectivity products. Their diverse portfolio includes sensors, connectors, and electronic components, catering to industries like automotive, aerospace, and healthcare, providing innovative solutions for reliable connectivity and sensing needs worldwide.

First Sensor AG specializes in sensor solutions for various applications. Their product range encompasses advanced sensors, modules, and systems, serving industries like industrial, medical, and automotive, ensuring high-quality sensing solutions for diverse technological needs globally.

SICK AG is a leading provider of sensor intelligence and application solutions. Their portfolio includes sensors, systems, and services for industrial automation and logistics, catering to precise and reliable detection needs across multiple sectors worldwide.

Level Sensor Market: Key Segments

By Sensor Type

Capacitance Conductive Float Level Sensor Microwave/Radar Optical Pneumatic Ultrasonic Vibrating Point Others



By Technology

Contact Type Non-contact Type



By Application

Point Level Continuous Level Interface Level



By End-use Industry

Chemical Food & Beverage Processing Oil & Gas Pharmaceuticals Water & Wastewater Treatment Others



By Region

North America

South America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Rua Al Madinah Holding has signed contracts worth over SAR700 million ($187 million) as part of its efforts to enhance local content, support small and medium enterprises as well as boost local manufacturing and human capabilities, and help create direct and indirect job opportunities.

A wholly-owned unit of Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF (Public Investment Fund), the company undertakes holistic development projects that use modern urban planning in projects such as Rua Al Madinah, which is enhancing the experience of residents and visitors of Madinah.

The first contract involves completing the existing towers in the Dar Al Hijra project, with a built-up area exceeding 450,000 sq m. The scope of development includes implementing facade work for the existing towers, their infrastructure, and overall site development to prepare them for investment.

The second contract was signed by Rua Al Madinah with a security expertise firm in the field of security planning, operation, and supervision.

The deal is aimed at securing the companys offices, properties, project boundaries, and ensuring the smooth execution of security plans by supervising security contractor teams.

Additionally, the company will provide technical support by reviewing submitted security plans to ensure they meet security requirements.

The third contract was sealed with Saudi telecom giant stc for the implementation of the Rua Smart Cities Strategy.

A key initiative, it is aimed at enhancing the smart destination experience for visitors to the Rua Al Madinah project and also improving their quality of life within the companys hotels and locations using advanced digital technologies, IoT-supported by artificial intelligence, and enhancing data efficiency.

Rua Al Madinah Holding also signed a MoU with the Saudi Industrial Cities and Technology Areas Development Authority (Modon) to co-ordinate the construction of a prefabricated concrete building units factory.

The agreement includes conducting feasibility studies and action plans for the targeted projects, supporting business development by attracting value-added partnerships, and providing support and advice in implementing projects that serve the goals of both parties.

The deals were inked at the Medinah Forum for Industry and Local Content held under the patronage of Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of the region.

The event is aimed at strengthening the competitive capabilities of Medinahs products and services, as well as its status as an attractive destination for real estate investment by supporting investment opportunities and localizing promising national industries.

Speaking at the event, CEO Ahmad bin Wusul Al Juhani stressed upon the importance of the signed contracts in supporting the companys projects, especially the Rua Al Madinah project, the largest in its portfolio. The project aims to provide 47,000 hotel rooms by 2030.

Rua Al Madinah, he stated, was actively working on several ambitious projects. "The goal is to enrich the experience of the visiting pilgrims to Madinah and help achieve the targets of the pilgrimage, Umrah, and visitation sector, and Vision 2030 by facilitating the hosting of 30 million pilgrims by 2030," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
CT757fan / iStock.com

There used to be a saying  pennies make dimes and dimes make dollars  that stressed the importance of saving every cent (the phrase later showed up in a country song). Today, some Lincoln pennies can make you thousands of dollars all on their own, and the reason, ironically, is that they were mistakenly produced with dime reverses.

See: Buffalo Nickels Could Be Worth Thousands  How To Spot One

Discover: How To Get $340 a Year in Cash Back  for Things You Already Buy

The penny in question is called the 2001-D Lincoln cent mule error coin. It is so rare that it could sell at auction for $100,000 or more, according to CoinWeek. The penny was struck at the Denver Mint in 2001 and features the usual portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the front, or obverse. What it doesnt have is the normal Lincoln Memorial on the reverse. Instead, it mistakenly has a Roosevelt dime reverse.

Find: 6 Pennies from the 1900s Worth a Lot of Money

As with many error coins, there are questions about whether the Lincoln cent mule error coin was an intentional mistake. As CoinWeek noted, several curious errors have escaped the U.S. Mint over the years. These include modern proof coins struck over obsolete coins, coins with missing edge inscriptions and coins struck on everyday objects, such as an undated dime struck on a nail, as reported by the Chicago Tribune in 2015.

The 2001-D Lincoln cent mule falls in the category of Mint errors that conceivably could have been produced by mistake and released unnoticed into circulation, CoinWeek reported. Either way, these error coins are highly prized by collectors and often command fabulously high prices.

One of the few 2001-D Lincoln cent mule coins was expected to go to auction through Heritage Auctions this week and sell for six figures. Its the fourth such coin to sell at auction. Heritage Auctions also sold the other three at the following prices, according to CoinWeek:

PCGS MS66RD : sold for $114,000 on June 17, 2021

PCGS MS65RD: sold for $78,000 on Feb. 24, 2022

PCGS MS65RD: sold for $66,000 on Aug. 24, 2022

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Before you go shuffling through your jar of pennies, you should know that CoinWeek called Lincoln cent mules spectacularly rare. When you include the four mentioned above, the total might not even reach into double figures. Because theyre so hard to find, even those in poor condition can fetch up to $20,000.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Lincoln Pennies With Dime Reverse Sides Are So Rare Theyll Fetch Upwards of $100K
The UAW says it plans to spend $40 million through 2026 to organize nonunion autoworkers and battery plant workers

The UAW has announced that Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama have gone public with a campaign to join the union.

The move follows a similar announcement last month by the union regarding workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as part of an aggressive organizing campaign targeting nonunion automakers in the United States on the heels of the UAWs widely watched Detroit Three strikes and contract settlements.

The union said in a news release Wednesday that more than 30% of the Mercedes-Benz plants workforce signed union authorization cards.

Andrea Berg, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz, provided a statement noting that the company "has a strong record of success over the past 25+ years operating as one team in Alabama. Central to our success is our positive team culture that includes an open-door policy. (Mercedes-Benz U.S. International) has a proven record of competitively compensating team members and providing many additional benefits. We believe open and direct communication with our team members is the best path forward to ensure continued success. Whether to unionize is our team members decision, and MBUSI will respect whatever is decided."

For subscribers: UAW's push to organize workers at nonunion carmakers is a race against time

The plant in Tuscaloosa produces a half-dozen models, including the GLE and GLS SUVs, and has 6,300 employees, according to the company.

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa was founded in 1995 and was the first major Mercedes-Benz plant outside Germany. Around two-thirds of the annual production is exported, making the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) one of the largest automotive exporters in the United States. Since 1997, around four million vehicles have rolled off the assembly line at the Tuscaloosa plant, according to information on the company website.

In a comment provided by the union, Jim Spitzley, a team leader at Mercedes, said that When Mercedes opened up, it was the shining three-point star of Alabama. That star has gone out. Ive been here 27 years and the morale has been steady in the downward direction. Spitzley said he has missed lots of time with his family over the years and can still work 12 of 13 weekends when a new model comes out even though hes now on straight days.

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Organizing nonunion automakers in the South has been an elusive goal of the UAW. Some experts have told the Free Press the momentum for unionizing is higher now than it has been for years, but these efforts will still face many hurdles.

Last week, a group of 33 U.S. senators sent letters to CEOs of nonunion automakers urging them not to interfere in organizing efforts.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mercedes-Benz workers launch public UAW campaign
Net Sales : Decreased to $11.64 million in Q3 FY2024 from $13.87 million in Q3 FY2023.

Net Earnings : Dropped to $1.20 million in Q3 FY2024 compared to $2.23 million in Q3 FY2023.

Adjusted EBITDA : Fell to $1.81 million in Q3 FY2024 from $3.32 million in Q3 FY2023.

Earnings Per Share : Basic and diluted EPS declined to $0.06 in Q3 FY2024 from $0.11 in Q3 FY2023.

Balance Sheet: Cash and Marketable Securities reduced to $73.99 million as of November 26, 2023, from $105.44 million as of February 26, 2023.

On January 9, 2024, Park Aerospace Corp (NYSE:PKE) released its 8-K filing, detailing the financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024, which ended on November 26, 2023. Park Aerospace Corp, a company that specializes in the development and manufacturing of advanced composite materials for the aerospace market, reported a decline in both net sales and net earnings compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. The company's North American operations contribute the majority of its revenue, with additional business activities in Asia and Europe.

Financial Performance Overview

The reported net sales for the third quarter were $11.64 million, a decrease from $13.87 million in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. Net earnings also saw a decline, coming in at $1.20 million compared to $2.23 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The company's Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $1.81 million, down from $3.32 million in the prior year's third quarter. These figures reflect the challenges faced by Park Aerospace Corp in a competitive and dynamic aerospace market.

The company's basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter stood at $0.06, which was lower than the $0.11 reported in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. The EPS before special items also decreased to $0.06 from $0.12 year-over-year. This decline in earnings per share is a critical metric for investors as it indicates the company's profitability on a per-share basis.

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Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

As of November 26, 2023, Park Aerospace Corp's balance sheet showed a decrease in cash and marketable securities to $73.99 million from $105.44 million as of February 26, 2023. This reduction in liquidity is an important aspect for value investors, as it may affect the company's ability to invest in growth opportunities or weather economic downturns.

The company's total assets stood at $127.51 million, while total liabilities were $15.52 million, resulting in shareholders' equity of $111.99 million. The equity per share was $5.53, slightly down from $5.66 as of the end of the previous fiscal year.

Management's Commentary

Management highlighted the impact of various special items on the financial results, including pre-tax activist shareholder defense costs, losses on sales of investments, and charges for the modification of previously granted stock options. These factors are essential for investors to consider when evaluating the company's core operating performance.

Looking Forward

Park Aerospace Corp's performance in the third quarter reflects the ongoing challenges within the aerospace industry. The company's focus on specialized composite materials for aerospace applications positions it in a niche market, which can be both an advantage and a challenge. The decline in net sales and earnings underscores the importance of monitoring market trends and the company's ability to adapt to changing industry dynamics.

For those interested in a more detailed analysis, the full earnings report and management's discussion are available on the company's website and the SEC's EDGAR database.

Investors and analysts will be looking to the company's future filings and announcements for signs of recovery or further challenges. Park Aerospace Corp's ability to navigate the complex aerospace market will be critical in determining its financial trajectory in the coming quarters.

Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from Park Aerospace Corp for further details.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


French car maker Renault holds an investor day for its EV unit Ampere in Paris

By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) - Renault is banking on new models and a price cut for its Megane model to help in its battle against U.S. rival Tesla Inc on its home turf, a senior official for the French carmaker told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The Renault brand's main focus in 2024 is to go back on the offensive in the electric segment, since we're currently second," said Ivan Segal, Renault brand's sales director for France.

A pioneer in the electric vehicle (EV) market alongside alliance partner Nissan in the past, Renault has been overtaken by new rivals.

While the French automaker sold nearly 18,000 electric Megane last year in its domestic market, Tesla sold 25,000 Model 3s and more than 37,000 Model Ys, leading the French EV market, according to data firm AAA Data.

And China's MG brand sold 20,000 MG4 vehicles in its first full year on the French market.

Renault's counterattack includes the launch of the new electric Scenic, and the arrival in the second half of the year of the R5, two models set to take over from the aging Zoe and Twingo.

Renault, which refrained last year from following Tesla's price cuts policy, has also decided to reduce the starting price of its Megane by 10% in January, dropping from 38,000 euros ($41,600) to 34,000 euros.

Factoring in state bonuses that do not apply to buyers of the Model 3 and the MG4, the Megane is widening the gap with Tesla and is even slightly cheaper than its Chinese competitor.

"The competition in terms of pricing or leasing is stronger than a few months ago, and it will take a few more years for the electric vehicle market to stabilise," Segal said.

($1 = 0.9138 euros)

(Writing by Gilles Guillaume and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Mark Potter)
What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at Dutch Bros (NYSE:BROS), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Dutch Bros, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.034 = US$52m  (US$1.6b - US$121m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Dutch Bros has an ROCE of 3.4%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 9.2%.

See our latest analysis for Dutch Bros

roce

In the above chart we have measured Dutch Bros' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Dutch Bros' ROCE Trend?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Dutch Bros doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 8.6% over the last three years. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

On a side note, Dutch Bros has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 7.4% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

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Our Take On Dutch Bros' ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Dutch Bros is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. These growth trends haven't led to growth returns though, since the stock has fallen 20% over the last year. So we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the trends look encouraging.

One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Dutch Bros (including 1 which can't be ignored) .

While Dutch Bros isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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 gas flame is seen in the desert near the Khurais oilfield, about 160 km (99 miles) from Riyadh. Ali Jarekji/Reuters

Saudi Arabia's recent oil price cuts are luring some Indian refiners to snap up crude from the kingdom.

That comes as Russian crude exports to India plummet, hitting an 11-month low in December.

Russian imports have collapsed because better discounts can be found elsewhere, India's oil chief said.

Saudi Arabia's recent move to slash the price of its oil has attracted attention from India, with some refiners now interested in buying crude from the kingdom while oil purchases from Russia plummet.

Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, two state-run Indian oil refineries, are now looking to ramp up their purchases of Saudi crude, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Both refineries are seeking to purchase an extra 1 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, the sources added.

That comes as Saudi Aramco has decided to slash prices for its Asian customers, with February's official selling price of its flagship oil blend falling to its cheapest level in over two years.

India has been gorging on Russian crude over the last few years, thanks to hefty discounts Russia has offered to friendly nations since beginning its invasion of Ukraine. But purchases by India's refiners have recently stumbled, with crude imports from Russia plunging to an 11-month low in December.

Sources told Reuters that the fall stemmed from payment issues with Russian oil suppliers, as India is seeking to pay for crude in dirhams, the currency of the United Arab Emirates.

But a unit of Russia's Rosneft hasn't been able to open a bank account in the UAE, making it unable to accept payment in the currency. The dispute appeared to cause five Russian oil ships to float around the shores of India for about a month before turning around and heading eastward, Bloomberg ship-tracking data previously showed.

India also appears under pressure to maintain good ties with the US, which has slapped Russia with trade restrictions since Moscow went to war in Ukraine. A Russian oil ship sanctioned by the US has been floating around the shores of India and Sri Lanka for over a month as officials mull over whether to let it land, Bloomberg reported.

India though, has denied any payment struggle with Russia. Oil purchases from the nation have dropped off simply because there are better discounts on crude available from other suppliers, India's oil chief said last week, without specifying which suppliers were offering better discounts.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- A highly anticipated decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on whether to approve a spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded fund quickly morphed into a major cybersecurity incident that is being probed by the FBI.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The SECs X account was compromised and a fake post claiming that the agency had green lit plans for the products fueled a brief surge in the price of the worlds biggest cryptocurrency on Tuesday. The SEC, Wall Streets main regulator, said on Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the incident.

It really shows the breadth and frequency of cyberattacks, said Kurt Gottschall, a partner at law firm Haynes Boone and former SEC regional director. The irony here is that the SEC has not shown much sympathy to public companies and asset managers that have experienced cybersecurity incidents.

The breach gave fodder to crypto faithful who have long viewed the commissions chair, Gary Gensler, as an enemy due to his zeal to rein in the industry. The irony of a cybersecurity incident befalling a regulator thats repeatedly warned of cryptos online vulnerabilities was not lost on critics who have spent years waiting for the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF. Traders have been speculating for weeks that the agency could approve several of the products as soon as Wednesday.

Investigation

In statements late Tuesday, the regulator said that it would work with law enforcement to investigate the incident, the unauthorized access had been terminated, and that the post wasnt made by the SEC or its staff. In a separate statement, Gensler clarified that no decision on ETFs had been made.

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After the fake post was removed, Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, said in a statement that the account is secure and we are investigating the root cause.

Read More: X Is Investigating the Cause of SECs Compromised Account

The social media service said in a post that an unidentified individual compromised the SECs account by acquiring control of an associated phone number. It added that the account didnt have two-factor authentication enabled at the time of the incident. Such authentication adds an extra layer of security thats become increasingly common as cyberattacks proliferate.

The SEC didnt immediately respond to an emailed message sent outside regular business hours seeking comment on Xs initial assessment.

Meanwhile, Republican Senators JD Vance and Thom Tillis in a letter demanded an explanation for the SECs errant post. They are seeking a briefing by the SEC and answers to questions no later than Jan. 23.

Decision Due

About a dozen companies have applied to list ETFs backed by Bitcoin in the US. The SEC has until Jan. 10 to take action on at least one of those applications, and crypto insiders have speculated the regulator will use that date to announce a slew of decisions at once.

There are two technical requirements that must be fulfilled before a spot-backed Bitcoin ETF can start trading. First, the SEC must sign off on so-called 19b-4 filings by the exchanges that would list the ETFs. Second, the regulator must approve the relevant S-1 forms, which are the registration applications from the would-be issuers  a list that includes BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity.

The SEC is planning to vote on the exchanges filings, the 19b-4s, this week, Bloomberg News has reported. The regulator may or may not take action on the issuers applications, the S-1s, around the same time. If the SEC grants both sets of required approvals, the ETFs could start trading as soon as the next business day.

Read More: Why Crypto Is Counting on Spot Bitcoin ETFs: QuickTake

ETF Controversy

The SEC under Gensler and his Trump-era predecessor, Jay Clayton, has previously refused to allow such a product to launch, citing concerns about investor protection and the potential for market manipulation. However, speculation has been mounting since August, when the SEC lost a key legal fight against crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments, that the regulator will have to acquiesce to the growing clamor for the product.

Hype about an approval has been rampant on social media. Bitcoin surged as much as 10% on Oct. 16 when a crypto news site incorrectly posted on X that BlackRock had been approved to list a spot ETF. About $85 million of mostly bearish trading positions were liquidated during the surge, which quickly reversed.

--With assistance from Hannah Miller, Olga Kharif, Suvashree Ghosh and Edwin Chan.

(Updates with SECs Wednesday statement on FBI probe.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
The Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) in Sharjah will showcase the various opportunities for investment in the free zone as well as the facilities and services for investors at the 19th edition of the SteelFab 2024 exhibition from January 8-11, 2024 in Sharjah, a report said.

Organised by Expo Centre Sharjah, HFZA has called on investors, seeking to set up their businesses as central hubs in the iron and steel industry or as key destinations for specialised heavy industries, to take advantage of its infrastructure it provides, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said in a report.

The exhibition features more than 275 exhibitors and 600 international brands in the sector, along with numerous industry experts.

HFZA will highlight the main advantages of establishing a business at its industrial manufacturing park, which currently houses over 180 companies specialising in welding and mining.

Its pavilion will also highlight its services, which have successfully attracted investors from both domestic and international markets.

The free zone offers a multitude of competitive advantages, including easy access to Hamriyah Port, comprehensive solutions encompassing integrated logistics, warehousing, and merchandise handling, customs exemptions for imports, exports, and re-exports, complete corporate ownership, the ability to repatriate 100% of capital and profits, and convenient access to cutting-edge facilities and a skilled workforce.

Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, Director of HFZA, said: "We look forward, through our participation in SteelFab 2024, to gaining valuable insights from global manufacturers, staying informed about the latest developments in the metalworking industry, and understanding the specific requirements of manufacturers and investors in this sector.

Furthermore, we aim to promote HFZAs investment advantages, the diverse range of options it offers, and its solutions that empower investors and businesses operating in the iron and steel industry to expand into new markets and grow their operations.

The exceptional infrastructure and investment environment within the Free Zone and throughout the Emirate of Sharjah play a pivotal role in helping us fulfil our investors' aspirations by connecting them with global markets.

Other participants in SteelFab 2024 include prominent iron and steel manufacturers from the UK, Germany, Italy, the United States, China, the Netherlands, and India, as well as top local and regional companies operating in metalworking, welding and cutting, laser metal cutting systems, pipe manufacturing, and metal plate fabrication.
In the industrial sector, few names carry the same weight as 3M (NYSE: MMM), a company once known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. It was such a beloved stock that its ticker simply replaced the name because that's what everyone on Wall Street called it anyway. However, even great companies will go through hard times at some point. And that's the backstory for why I sold most of my 3M stake.

The list of 3M's problems is long

In recent years, 3M's growth hasn't lived up to historical trends. That's not good and it has investors worried about the future. Adding to that is a broad sense that this once innovative industrial company hasn't been focusing enough on its research and development efforts. The Wall Street Journal even ran an expose highlighting the problem, which isn't a good look for management. These challenges are a big negative, but business is like a sine curve with regular ups and downs. It seems highly likely that 3M will muddle through these headaches to see better days.

Image source: Getty Images.

Far more troubling to me are the company's legal headwinds. It has been dealing with product liability issues surrounding earplugs it sold to the military, as well as environmental concerns about its production of so-called forever chemicals. The costs have been huge so far, and 3M isn't done yet with all of the legal obstacles it is facing.

I believe 3M will manage to get beyond this problem, too. It is unfortunate that the effort to do so is going to lead the company to spin off its healthcare division, but that's not exactly the end of the world. All told, it is a large, financially strong business that should be able to take a few sizeable hits and keep on fighting. But still, it is these legal issues that led me to sell most of my position in the stock. (I own a single share now to force myself to keep watching it.)

The example that proves the case

After buying the stock, I tried to pay close attention to what was going on with 3M's legal problems. What I read mostly came from the media (generally after events had happened) or from legal firms trying to get clients. What was absent from the mix was detailed information from 3M. The only way to get that side of the story would have been to dig into court documents, which I simply don't have the time to do. In other words, it felt like I was flying blind and management didn't do anything to help change that.

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To be fair, given the legal issues, I understand that 3M can't really talk about what's going on. At first, that didn't bother me, but as the cases dragged on, it started to get more and more frustrating and upsetting. The uncertainty that the lack of information created was more than I was comfortable with and I sold almost all of my shares, capturing the loss I had suffered to offset gains I had taken elsewhere in my portfolio.

As a case in point, there was a class action lawsuit approved by the courts that would have allowed nearly 12 million Ohio residents to sue 3M. Settling such a class action suit would likely mean billions of dollars in settlement costs. Just dealing with the case is likely to cost millions of dollars. It is a big deal and it was bad news when the court approved the class action status. The company couldn't discuss the case.

And then a higher court rejected the lower court's ruling on the matter, which is a win for 3M, though it is unlikely to be the end of the story. That's great news. Again, the company couldn't really discuss the issue. The ultimate problem for me is that both the loss and the win kind of came out of the blue because management couldn't talk about what was going on. That's not something I'm comfortable with given the scale of the legal troubles 3M is facing.

Risk isn't a problem, but uncertainty is

I'm not averse to investing in situations that involve high risk. In fact, I replaced 3M with fellow Dividend King Leggett & Platt, which is going through hard financial times. The difference is that Leggett & Platt can discuss what's going on with its business in great detail, but 3M has to keep mum on some of the most important challenges it faces today. I learned a lesson with 3M: Don't buy stocks dealing with big legal issues because it makes sleeping well at night too difficult.

Should you invest $1,000 in 3M right now?

Before you buy stock in 3M, consider this:

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I Sold 3M Stock. Here's Why. was originally published by The Motley Fool
Apps that let users take, manipulate and share images have been some of the biggest hits in the world of mobile over the years. Now, the influx of AI is cracking open the market for a new wave of startups to step into the ring.

Photoroom -- a startup out of Paris, France -- has built a popular AI-based image editing app and API targeting e-commerce vendors, media specialists, and others. (It's even been used to power a Barbie personalised poster site.) TechCrunch now understands that the startup is in the process of closing a round of funding.

Multiple sources say that the startup is raising between $50 million and $60 million on a pre-money valuation of between $500 million and $600 million. In a market where AI is hot, but funding overall remains very constrained (and some big-name VCs, such as Coatue, are actually now retreating), Photoroom has been turning heads -- and getting people to open checkbooks, it seems.

It is unclear who the full investor list is. One source said that Balderton, which led the startup's previous round, is leading this round, too. Others said that other previous backers were also participating along with new investors. "They are choosing between different term sheets," one source said.

In addition to Balderton, existing backers include Adjacent, Kima Ventures, FJ Labs, Meta, Y Combinator (where it was a member of the Summer 2020 cohort, its first remote batch in the wake of Covid-19) and a number of angels such as Yann LeCun, Zehan Wang (formerly of Magic Pony and Twitter), execs from Hugging Face and Disney+, and many more. Photoroom will have raised $70-80 million all told if this round closes at these numbers.

Photoroom, and Matthieu Rouif, the CEO who co-founded Photoroom with CTO Eliot Andres, declined to comment on any funding-related questions. Balderton did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Others asked to remain unattributed.

Paris, where Photoroom is based, has shaped up to be a key city for AI development.

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In addition to a wave of other smaller startups, Meta has a large AI lab there headed by Yann LeCun; Hugging Face, now based in NYC, got its start out of Paris; and Mistral AI, ambitiously building foundational Large Language Models that it wants to keep open source, is now valued at $2 billion.

Photoroom's rise also follows other currents washing over the tech world at the moment, which transcend the current vogue around AI.

Over the years, the camera has become easily the most important feature on smartphones, arguably more significant than basic phone features themselves. Yet most of that trend's riches have fallen to consumer apps and their ecosystems. Photoroom partly stands out for its primary positioning, at least for now, as a B2B tool.

Early on, Photoroom found traction with a long tail of small businesses, e-commerce vendors and resellers looking for photo editing software that was fast, easy to use and cost-effective, but still produced high quality results on individual images or batches of them: users can clip images out from backgrounds and then apply other effects, some of which can be prompted and generated by word commands. Customers use those images in online sales listings on platforms like Depop, eBay and Poshmark.

And by way of its API, Photoroom has also found an audience among a set of bigger customers. Warner Bros used the API to create a social marketing campaign for the Barbie movie this summer: fans were able to crop their own images and insert them into their own personalized Barbie posters. The tool and resulting posters were shared over 1 million times, Photoroom said.

In addition to Warner Brothers, Netflix and the online food delivery startup Wolt, among others, are using its tools for a wider set of use cases.

It also has built up credibility among its peers in the tech community.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Up to now, Photoroom has been building its platform based on its own vision models, trained on its own data -- one way of making sure to have better control over those images and avoid copyright issues down the line. It uses tools like Dust to combine these with LLMs from third parties to build new functionality. Last year, for example, the company used GPT-4 to enhance its "instant backgrounds" feature with suggested scenes that could be generated with word prompts. The company is continuing to build, adding an enhanced shadow feature to its API just last week.

What's also important (especially right now) is that, in addition to the expanding feature set, Photoroom's B2B focus has helped it anchor its growth around a revenue-generating business model.

The product has a freemium tier in the form of a limited set of features can be used on a limited number of images for no cost. But there are also different pricing tiers that vary by country (in the U.K., the basic Pro tier on mobile is 3.99/week or 69.99 annually). There are also separate rates for web users, Shopify customers, larger business users, and for its API.

Adding all this together, since its last round in 2022, when it raised $19 million, Photoroom has been blowing up.

In the key market of the U.S., according to Data.ai figures, its iOS app is currently number-three among all graphics and design apps, and it's been comfortably in the top 10 for the last three months, sometimes at number one. On Android currently it's the number-one photography app in the U.S.

SimilarWeb pegs the number of monthly web visitors at just over 27 million as of December 2023, with figures rising over the three months prior by over 18%; but that's just a small part of its base: nearly 90% of the app's traffic and usage comes via mobile app.

The company told TechCrunch in December that in the three years since launch, it had reached more than 100 million downloads of its apps and was on track for ARR of $50 million.

But it's not all smooth sailing. Photoroom is certainly not the only photo editing tool out there targeting businesses and growing: the dozens of competitors/alternatives range from Picsart, which has raised nearly $200 million, through to the much more modestly-proportioned Pixelcut, which has raised only $250k, according to PitchBook.

Nonetheless, rising tides lift boats. There has been a huge amount of buzz around generative AI among investors themselves looking for the next big hit.

In September last year, on the heels of the surge of interest in gen AI in the wake of ChatGPT, Andreessen Horowitz consumer partner Olivia Moore published some research running the numbers for popular generative AI apps.

The report ranked Photoroom as the sixth most-popular generative AI product. While ChatGPT was, unsurprisingly, far and away the most popular gen-AI product of all, the main takeaway was that the space was still very young. Most categories of apps, she wrote, are still up for grabs; and within the popular area of AI image-based tools, apps like Photoroom, in her opinion, have a shot at success.

"Products that are purpose-built for specific use cases or workflows are growing alongside more generalist tools, and showing signs that they can also become successful companies," wrote Moore.

A spokesperson for Photoroom specifically pointed TC to the a16z research when contacted for comment, although she declined to say whether a16z is one of the investors in the company. We have contacted a16z to ask, too, and will update this story as we learn more.
STMicroelectronics N.V.

PR NC3225C



STMicroelectronics announces new organization

New organization to deliver enhanced product development innovation and efficiency, time-to-market as well as customer focus by end market

Company re-organized in two Product Groups, split in four Reportable Segments

New application marketing focus by end market across all Regions to complement existing sales and marketing organization





Geneva, Switzerland, January 10, 2024  STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, is announcing today its new organization, effective February 5th, 2024.

We are re-organizing our Product Groups to further accelerate our time-to-market and speed of product development innovation and efficiency. This will enable us to increase value extraction from our broad and unique product and technology portfolio. In addition, we are getting even closer to our customers with an application marketing organization by end market which will boost our ability to complement our product offering with complete system solutions said Jean-Marc Chery, President and CEO of STMicroelectronics. This is an important step in the development of our established strategy, in line with our value proposition to all stakeholders and with the business and financial ambitions we set back in 2022.

Moving from three to two Product Groups to further enhance product development innovation and efficiency, and time-to-market

The two new Product Groups will be:

Analog, Power & Discrete, MEMS and Sensors (APMS), led by Marco Cassis, ST President and member of the Executive Committee; and

Microcontrollers, Digital ICs and RF products (MDRF), led by Remi El-Ouazzane, ST President and member of the Executive Committee.

The APMS Product Group will include all ST analog products, including Smart Power solutions for automotive; all ST Power & Discrete product lines including Silicon Carbide products; MEMS and Sensors.

APMS will include two Reportable Segments: Analog products, MEMS and Sensors (AM&S); Power and discrete products (P&D).

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The MDRF Product Group will include all ST digital ICs and microcontrollers, including automotive microcontrollers; RF, ADAS, Infotainment ICs. MDRF will include two Reportable Segments: Microcontrollers (MCU); Digital ICs and RF Products (D&RF).

Concurrent with this new organization Marco Monti, ST President of the former Automotive and Discrete Product Group, will leave the Company.

To complement the existing Sales & Marketing organization, a new application marketing organization by end market will be implemented across all ST Regions. This will provide ST customers with end-to-end system solutions based on the Companys product and technology portfolio.

The company is implementing an application marketing organization by end market across all ST Regions, as part of its Sales & Marketing organization led by Jerome Roux, ST President and member of the Executive Committee. The application marketing organization will cover the following four end markets:

Automotive

Industrial Power and Energy

Industrial Automation, IoT and AI

Personal Electronics, Communication Equipment and Computer Peripherals.

The current regional Sales & Marketing organization remains unchanged.

About STMicroelectronics

At ST, we are over 50,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An integrated device manufacturer, we work with more than 200,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of cloud-connected autonomous things. We are committed to achieving our goal to become carbon neutral on scope 1 and 2 and partially scope 3 by 2027.

Further information can be found at www.st.com .

For further information, please contact:

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

Celine Berthier

Group VP, Investor Relations

Tel: +41 22 929 58 12

celine.berthier@st.com

MEDIA RELATIONS:

Alexis Breton

Corporate External Communications

Tel: + 33 6 59 16 79 08

alexis.breton@st.com

Attachment




Edward Snowden, Benedict Evans and Balaji Srinivasan amongst others to take the stage at SuperAI from 5-6 June 2024

SINGAPORE, Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperAI , Asia's premier artificial intelligence (AI) conference, announced today its upcoming global debut in Singapore. Taking place at the iconic Marina Bay Sands from 5-6 June 2024, SuperAI is set to welcome industry leaders, heads of state, entrepreneurs, renowned researchers and enthusiasts alike, as the vibrant city-state plays host to the brightest minds in AI. Throughout Singapore AI Week, commencing from 3-9 June, attendees can look forward to a vast range of meet-ups, workshops, hackathons and exclusive networking opportunities.

SuperAI, 5-6 June 2024  Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Expected to welcome 5,000 attendees to its inaugural edition, SuperAI delves into the biggest technological phenomenon of the modern age. With AI poised to shape the future of society, SuperAI attendees will be privy to discussions at the forefront of the industry, with topics spanning the intersection of AI in finance and healthcare, generative AI, robotics, ethics of AI and much more. With a speaker line-up that encompasses diverse industries, SuperAI will feature in-depth keynote presentations, panel discussions, live demonstrations and networking sessions covering a holistic perspective on the future of the AI industry at-large.

Celebrating the launch of SuperAI, Alex Fiskum, Co-Founder of SuperAI said: "We are incredibly excited to launch the first edition of SuperAI in Singapore, a global hub for innovation and a natural catalyst for the advancement of AI. Going into 2024, we have seen a surge in global event interest, with internationals accounting for over 60% of our registrations to date. SuperAI will boast a dynamic participation mix, from early-stage AI pioneers, to established business and industry leaders, all eager to explore the transformative potential of AI."

SuperAI just announced its first round of speakers, including whistleblower Edward Snowden; prolific angel investor and entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan; analyst Benedict Evans; Raoul Pal, Co-Founder and CEO of Real Vision; Sophia, the humanoid robot from Hanson Robotics; Ben Goertzel, Founder and CEO of Singularity Net amongst others.

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Further commenting on the upcoming conference, Alex Fiskum added: "SuperAI promises to be the most significant AI gathering in Asia this year, bridging the AI communities of both the eastern and western hemispheres. We couldn't be more excited to bring the global AI industry to Singapore."

For more information on SuperAI ticketing and updates, please visit www.superai.com/ .

###

Alex Fiskum, Co-Founder of SuperAI is available for interview.

About SuperAI

SuperAI is the premier artificial intelligence (AI) conference in Asia that unveils the next wave of transformative technologies to the world. Converging global industry leaders, heads of state, entrepreneurs, renowned researchers and enthusiasts alike, SuperAI will see a vibrant meeting of the brightest minds that will shape the future of artificial intelligence. Taking place at the iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore for its inaugural edition, SuperAI delves into the forefront of AI developments to uncover the limitless potential of the AI evolution.

Media Contact

SuperAI@wachsman.com

Cision

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SOURCE SuperAI
The investment aims to accelerate Telecom Infrastructure Partners next phase of growth to support global steady demand for mobile sites and connectivity.

LONDON & ZURICH, January 10, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InfraBridge, a leading infrastructure investment manager, and Swiss Life Asset Managers, on behalf of its funds, have entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition by Swiss Life Asset Managers of a co-controlling equity stake in Telecom Infrastructure Partners ("TIP"), a global lease aggregator of telecom sites in Europe and Latin America. This investment includes new equity commitments from Swiss Life Asset Managers to accelerate TIPs platform expansion.

Established in 2021 and headquartered in London, TIP operates within the global lease aggregation market, targeting telecom sites predominantly across Europe and Latin America. TIPs business model is focused on the acquisition of triple net lease agreements from individual landlords, granting the company long-term revenue streams for periods of 30 to 50 years.

Mobile telecom sites represent a key component of the digital infrastructure landscape and remain at the forefront of wireless infrastructure. GSM Association estimates that a USD $1.5 trillion investment in mobile networks will be needed by 2030 to meet the exponential growth in global demand for mobile data. Given its global set-up and strong local expertise, TIP is well positioned to capture an increasing share of a steadily growing addressable telecom site lease market.

Gianfranco Saladino, Head Value-add Infrastructure at Swiss Life Asset Managers, said, "We are excited to partner with InfraBridge to support TIP during its next major growth phase. The North American example has shown the true potential of land lease aggregation, and we are thrilled to work with our partners, as well as with Eric Overman and his team, to fast-track TIPs global expansion."

"Since we led the establishment of TIP in 2021, we have supported TIPs rapid scale-up in Europe and Latin America to a fast-growing lease aggregator with over 850 leases and significant backlog. This transaction is testament to our belief in the company's potential and attractive position in the market, and we are delighted to partner with Swiss Life Asset Managers to fuel TIPs growth further," said Damian Stanley, Managing Partner at InfraBridge. "We look forward to creating more opportunities for the companys global employees, clients, and stakeholders."

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Eric Overman, Founding Partner and CEO at TIP, said, "We are excited to welcome Swiss Life Asset Managers as a key shareholder alongside InfraBridge. This new investment recognises TIPs growth over the last two years and will support our ambitions for TIP to be a global leader in the telecom site lease market."

Closing of the transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close by 2Q 2024.

About Swiss Life Asset Managers

Swiss Life Asset Managers has more than 165 years of experience in managing the assets of the Swiss Life Group. This insurance background has exerted a key influence on the investment philosophy of Swiss Life Asset Managers, which is governed by such principles as value preservation, the generation of consistent and sustainable performance and a responsible approach to risks. Swiss Life Asset Managers offers this proven approach to third-party clients in Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the UK, Italy and the Nordic countries. Established in 2011, the Swiss Life Asset Managers Infrastructure Equity platform manages over EUR 10bn in Assets under Management for its clients and partners. The team consists of more than 50 investment specialists with an average of over 20 years industry experience across the senior level members. The platform has made over 70 infrastructure investments, across 12 solutions, in both direct and indirect opportunities across the Energy, Communications, Transportation, Regulated Utilities, Social Infrastructure and Renewable Energy sectors.

As of 30 June 2023 assets under management for third-party clients amount to EUR 114.8 billion. Together with insurance assets for the Swiss Life Group, total assets under management at Swiss Life Asset Managers stood at EUR 265.8 billion. Swiss Life Asset Managers employs more than 2200 people in Europe.

About InfraBridge

InfraBridge is a leading infrastructure investment manager dedicated to investing in mid-market businesses in transportation and logistics, digital infrastructure, and energy transition, among other key sectors. The firms investment strategy applies private equity rigor with an active approach to asset management to maximize value and drive returns on behalf of investors. InfraBridge is a division of DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global digital infrastructure firm managing a $75 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its investors. InfraBridge is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. For more information, visit: www.infrabridge.com

About Telecom Infrastructure Partners

Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIP) is a leading global telecommunications and digital infrastructure investment firm. TIP offers recipients of rent-for-mobile sites, or similar infrastructure, a large up-front cash payout and professionally manages the leases. TIP is led by Eric Overman who took U.S.-style mobile site lease aggregation international, having founded Wireless Infrastructure Partners (which became known as APWireless after Associated Partners invested). TIP is headquartered in London and has established mobile site lease investment businesses in 16 countries globally. For more information, visit: www.telecom-ip.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240110175556/en/

Contacts

InfraBridge

Phone: +1 310-752-5026

ceci.reissmeier@digitalbridge.com

Swiss Life Asset Managers

Communications

Phone: +41 43 547 66 88

communications@swisslife-am.com
Tax evasion vs. tax avoidance: What's the difference and how can you save from paying Uncle Sam too much in 2024?

People sometimes use the terms tax avoidance and tax evasion interchangeably, but in the eyes of experts and the government theres one big difference between the two: legality.

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Simply put, tax avoidance involves legal strategies that can minimize your tax bill, whereas tax evasion is a failure to pay or a deliberate underpayment of taxes. Such actions have previously landed high-profile individuals such as Wesley Snipes in prison.

The Internal Revenue Service has clarified this difference by saying: Tax evasion is illegal  tax avoidance is perfectly legal.

With that in mind, here are the top five legal ways to avoid (not evade) taxes in 2024.

1. Retirement planning

Retirement planning is, perhaps, the most well-known way to minimize taxes. You can open an individual retirement account (IRA) through a financial institution like a bank or insurance company to make tax-deferred investments. You might also have access to employer-sponsored, tax-advantaged accounts such as the traditional 401(k) and Roth 401(k). Individuals can contribute up to $23,000 in 401(k) accounts in 2024. If you are aged 50 or over, you can make an additional catch-up contribution of $7,500.

These accounts are popular and relatively simple. However, a tax planning expert could help you dig deeper and uncover the benefits of other retirement planning tools, such as a Health Savings Account. These accounts have a triple tax advantage by reducing taxable income, enabling tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses and allowing investment returns to grow tax-free.

2. Investing

The government takes a carrots-and-sticks approach to encourage investments into the national economy. That makes investing a great way to minimize taxes while building wealth.

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On the carrots side, your tax liability for long-term capital gains could be as low as 0%, depending on your income. Investors can also use some of their losses to offset their capital gains and minimize their taxes every year. This strategy is called tax-loss harvesting.

On the sticks side, short-term capital gains tax can be between 10% to 37%, depending on your income. Effectively, the system is designed to encourage holding investments for longer periods of time.

However, duration isnt the only factor. An investment adviser could help you implement a sophisticated investment strategy that minimizes taxes.

Read more: Find out how to save up to $820 annually on car insurance and get the best rates possible

3. Real estate

Investing in real estate is also encouraged by the tax system. For instance, Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code allows real estate investors to defer taxes on capital gains by exchanging one investment property for another.

Investors can also enjoy certain tax benefits if they invest in locations that the government has deemed Opportunity Zones. The tax benefits of investing in these zones  which is meant to encourage investment in low-income and undercapitalized communities  increase the longer the investment is held.

4. Relocating

Moving to another state or country is probably the most straightforward way to minimize taxes. For instance, Texas has no state income tax, while Californias top marginal tax rate could be as high as 13.3%.

An analysis by the Tax Foundation found a correlation between state migration patterns and individual tax policies from 2020 to 2021.

Put simply, moving to save taxes isnt uncommon and could be a potential part of your tax avoidance strategy.

5. Owning a business

Owning a business has several tax advantages. The most well-known advantages are tax deductions for business expenses such as office supplies and vehicles. But the list also includes niche advantages related to the way capital gains are treated when you sell shares of a business, the way you pay yourself as an owner or the way you pay your employees.

Altogether, owning a business can be fairly tax-efficient if you work with an expert to craft a plan.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
US and Chinese envoys commemorated the 45th anniversary of official diplomatic ties on Tuesday by mixing warm sentiments about last year's summit between their leaders with warnings about Taiwan and trade restrictions that suggested the two sides are far from understanding each other's intentions.

Washington's ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, addressed an audience at the Carter Centre in Atlanta via video, praised the Chinese government for "concrete action" to block the flow of fentanyl precursors from the US and restarting military-to-military dialogue while underscoring Washington's hard line on sales of advanced technology to China.

His comments came hours before the Pentagon announced the resumption of high-level military-to-military discussions - the US-PRC Defence Policy Coordination Talks - which were halted when bilateral tensions boiled over in 2022. Restarting the talks was one of the pledges made during the summit in November in California.

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.

"We've seen action, real action, concrete action by the government in Beijing to begin to shut off the flow of precursor chemicals, to take action against those Chinese companies that were involved," Burns said, before turning to the need for technology export restrictions.

US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, shown in December, praised Beijing for its "concrete actions" taken against Chinese companies involved in the production and export of fentanyl precursors. Photo: Xinhua alt=US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, shown in December, praised Beijing for its "concrete actions" taken against Chinese companies involved in the production and export of fentanyl precursors. Photo: Xinhua>

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"We simply are not going to allow the People's Liberation Army to acquire our most sensitive technology so that it can compete with us militarily, and there'll be no compromise on those advanced semiconductors, and other technology restrictions that we've put into place," he added.

A string of moves by US President Joe Biden's administration to restrict the provision of advanced US technology to China has been a bilateral sore point; Beijing contends the actions amount to an effort to undercut the competitiveness of Chinese companies.

In August, Biden announced new restrictions on investments that American companies could make in China in the areas of "semiconductors and micro electronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems".

Two months later, the administration expanded restrictions on China's access to advanced chips and chipmaking tools announced a year earlier, to address efforts by companies like Nvidia to design products that could skirt the rules.

Speaking to the Carter Centre audience in a pre-recorded video address, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng seemed to cite these restrictions as an impediment to better relations.

Xie suggested that Washington's characterisation of China as a "competitor" - a term used by the US State Department to describe some areas in which the two sides engage - as akin to "containment".

"If one sees the other side as a primary competitor, a 'pacing threat' and a target for containment, improving and stabilising bilateral relationship would be out of the question," he said.

The White House and top Pentagon officials have described China as a "pacing threat", and Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping during their summit in November that the two countries "are in competition".

The two sides also remain far apart on Taiwan, which Beijing pledges to reunite with the mainland by force if necessary, while the US government has increased engagements with officials on the self-ruled island to bolster economic ties.

Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng, shown in September, warned that restrictions on tech exports to China might worsen contentious relations. Photo: Robert Delaney alt=Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng, shown in September, warned that restrictions on tech exports to China might worsen contentious relations. Photo: Robert Delaney>

Differences over Taiwan reached a head in 2022, when then House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, a move that prompted Beijing to cut nearly all high-level bilateral dialogues.

"The US should abide by the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiques with concrete actions, [and] earnestly deliver on the statements by American leaders that the United States does not support Taiwan independence," Xie said.

Burns called Beijing's reaction to Pelosi's visit "excessive" and did not reiterate the oft-stated position that Washington does not support Taiwanese independence.

Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supporting its defence capability.

Despite their crosswise comments on Taiwan and tech restrictions, the two envoys appeared upbeat on some fronts in addition to fentanyl and resumption of high-level miliary-to-military dialogue.

They expressed optimism on joint efforts to control the use of artificial intelligence, which Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to during their summit, and hinted that this effort would be aimed at the dangers of incorporating the technology in autonomous weapons.

Talks on artificial intelligence would be aimed at "enhancing global AI governance and jointly managing risks and challenges brought by the technology so that the 'Terminator' scenario, where machines wage war against humans, will not become a reality" Xie said.

However, on that note, Burns suggested that the two sides are still working out who would need to be involved in the talks.

"We have to decide who should be at the table," he said. "In the case of the United States, I would say obviously, representatives of our government, but also of our private sector, where much of the expertise in artificial intelligence resides."

The Pentagon announcement, which came out just hours after Burns and Xie spoke, underscored improving bilateral ties in the military realm.

Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, met with Chinese Major General Song Yanchao, deputy director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, on Monday and Tuesday at the Pentagon for the policy coordination dialogue, according to a Pentagon statement.

As with Burns, Chase's discussion also included positive and contentious messaging.

While highlighting "the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication in order to prevent competition from veering into conflict", Chase rebuked Beijing's military "harassment against lawfully operating Philippine vessels in the South China Sea", the Pentagon said.

Chinese and Philippine vessels have been clashing in waters near the Scarborough Shoal and the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. Both shoals are claimed by Manila, which has built closer military ties with the US in response to these tensions, and Beijing.

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  2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Warren Buffett once said he didn't want to compete with Elon Musk  but one of his holdings just overtook Tesla as the No.1 EV seller in the world. Should Musk be worried in 2024?

Legendary investor Warren Buffett holds Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk in high regard.

He called him a brilliant, brilliant guy at his company Berkshire Hathaways (BRK.B) annual shareholders meeting in 2023. He dreams about things, and his dreams have got a foundation.

He also noted, We don't want to compete with Elon in a lot of things.

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Buffetts right-hand man, the late Charlie Munger, concurred. We dont want that much failure, he said.

Musks accomplishments, often overshadowed by his controversial statements and actions, are indeed remarkable. As an electric vehicle (EV) pioneer, Tesla has transformed the automotive industry and provided enormous returns to investors, with shares soaring over 900% in the past five years. Today, the company boasts a market cap of about $764 billion, which is several times bigger than Ford and General Motors combined.

Yet, Buffett hasn't entirely sidestepped the EV race.

Enter BYD, a Chinese EV manufacturer that has been a part of Buffett's closely-watched portfolio for more than a decade. BYD stands for Build Your Dreams.

Buffetts EV bet

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway acquired 225 million shares of BYD for $232 million.

The investment proved highly lucrative. By the end of 2020, as stated in Berkshires shareholder letter, their stake was valued at approximately $5.9 billion.

However, despite Buffetts preference for long-term investments  he famously said that his favorite holding period is forever  he's not opposed to trimming positions. Since late 2022, the Oracle of Omaha has been reducing his stake in BYD.

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An October 2023 stock exchange filing reported on by Reuters revealed Berkshire sold another 820,500 Hong Kong-listed shares of BYD, though it still retained a sizable 7.98% stake.

And while BYD might not be well-known to North American investors, it certainly warrants attention, having recently surpassed Tesla in a key metric.

Read more: Find out how to save up to $820 annually on car insurance and get the best rates possible

Overtaking Tesla

In Q4 of 2023, Tesla delivered 484,507 EVs, marking a notable increase from the 405,278 EVs it delivered in the same period the previous year.

BYD sold 526,409 EVs in Q4 of 2023, surging past its American rival for the first time. The Chinese company's success has been attributed to various factors, including its broad lineup with inexpensive models, price cuts, its battery-manufacturing capability, and the Chinese government's support of the country's EV sector.

BYD's shares are not listed in the U.S., but they are traded over-the-counter here, so American investors who want to buy the stock would need to choose a broker that supports trading them.

And while BYD has surpassed Tesla in sales in the most recent quarter, its passenger EVs are not yet available in the U.S., where Tesla continues to dominate.

In the U.S., Tesla is still the dominant EV name, Barclays analyst Dan Levy said in a recent Bloomberg interview.

Musk is also confident about the companys growth prospects.

During Teslas earnings conference call in October, an analyst asked about 2024 projections, citing Wall Streets forecast of Tesla delivering 2.3 million vehicles, and inquired about the timeline for the company's return to its long-term compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50%.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is not possible to have a compound growth rate of 50% forever, or you will exceed the mass of the known universe, Musk replied. I think we will grow very rapidly, much faster than any other car company on earth by far.

The markets optimism for Tesla is also evident, as shares surged 101% in 2023.

Wall Street sees further upside ahead. For instance, Morgan Stanley has an overweight rating on Tesla and a price target of $380  roughly 60% above where the stock sits today.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
DP World has signed multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs250 billion ($3 billion) with Indias Gujarat state, for developing new ports, terminals and economic zones in the state.

In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, exchanged MoUs relating to potential investments in Gujarat with M K Das, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat, during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 being held in Gandhinagar.

The MoUs highlight Gujarats prowess as a role model of development and the growth engine of the nation while leveraging its logistics and maritime infrastructure.

Facilitating trade

The MoUs underscore DP Worlds commitment to facilitating trade in Gujarat by developing:

 Multi-purpose deep-draft ports in South Gujarat and around the western coast of Gujarat towards Kutch;

 Special Economic Zones in Jamnagar and Kutch; and

 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCT) and Private Freight Stations at Dahej, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bedi and Morbi.

DP World has also signed an MoU with Gujarat Maritime Board to jointly identify opportunities to develop additional ports along the coast of Gujarat.

Bin Sulayem said: We are very committed to India, where we have been operating for nearly 20 years. In that time, we invested almost $2.5 billion and we are going to invest more in the next 3 years in these projects. The policies of the government and our experience here is what gives us the confidence to do even more in India. We have also been present in Gujarat since 2003 and are proud to have been part of the states growth story. We are honoured to continue our partnership in the state by committing to strengthening its logistics and maritime infrastructure to further enable trade in Gujarat.

Existing investments

DP World's existing investments in Gujarat include a container terminal in Mundra, along with rail connected private freight terminals at Ahmedabad and Hazira. This is complemented by cold storage facilities in Surat and Bharuch, freight forwarding offices in Ahmedabad and Gandhidham, and express cargo services across the state.

Additionally, DP World ensures global connectivity for businesses in the region by running weekly coastal services via DP World's Unifeeder Group, linking Mundra, Kandla, and Hazira ports to several international ports.

The company recently launched a first-of-its-kind dedicated scheduled Rail Freight Service, SARAL connecting traders from south Gujarat such as Surat, Vapi, Valsad Vadodara, Bharuch, Ankleshwar to the markets in and around North Capital Region (NCR).

On August 25, 2023, DP World signed a $510 million concession agreement with the Deendayal Port Authority to develop, operate and maintain a new 2.19 million TEU per year mega-container terminal at Tuna-Tekra in Kandla. On commencement, this greenfield terminal will have state of the art equipment and a 1,100 m berth capable of handling next-generation vessels carrying more than 18,000 TEUs.--TradeArabia News Service
Which is the best Chase credit card?

With Chases expansive selection of 39 diverse options, theres no shortage of card choices. Chase has a card for every need, from building credit to enjoying luxurious travel perks. With 14 possibilities featuring no annual fee and 10 dedicated to cash-back rewards, the question remains: Which is the best Chase credit card?

Best Chase credit card overall: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Selecting the top Chase credit card involves weighing rewards, annual fees, and user needs. Among the options, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a versatile choice suitable for various consumers. While not as extensive as some premium cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a range of travel protections and benefits, adding to its value.

Annual fee : Priced at $95 annually, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is significantly more accessible than the higher-end Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Welcome offer : With a generous bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months, Chase Sapphire Preferred provides substantial value, especially when redeeming points for travel.

Rewards : Users earn 5x points on travel purchased through Chase, 3x points on dining, 2x on travel purchases, and 1x points on all other purchases, appealing to regular travelers and general spenders.

Point redemption: The cards versatility is evident in its flexible redemption options, including travel bookings through Chase and point transfers to different travel partners.

Best for cash back: Chase Freedom Flex

The Chase Freedom Flex card is a dynamic option for those who love maximizing their cash-back rewards. With a variety of bonus categories and high reward rates, it caters to a diverse spending pattern.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening, plus 5% cash back on gas station and grocery store purchases (up to $12,000) in the first year.

Rewards:

5% cash back on quarterly bonus categories (up to $1,500 spent each quarter)

3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases

1% cash back on all other purchases

The Freedom Flex also boasts a range of redemption options, including cash back, travel, and gift cards. It's a card that provides flexibility in how you earn rewards and how you use them. With no annual fee, it's affordable for those who want to maximize their cash-back potential.

Why we like it: The Chase Freedom Flex offers a high reward rate in rotating quarterly categories for cash-back lovers, allowing you to tailor your spending to maximize rewards. On top of this, the consistent 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases adds substantial value, especially for frequent diners and shoppers. This card is particularly beneficial for those who enjoy strategizing their spending to maximize their rewards, making it a powerful tool in any cash-back enthusiast's wallet.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited stands out for its versatility and reward structure. This card is an excellent choice for those who prefer simplicity in earning rewards without sacrificing value.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: Earn an extra 1.5% cash back (up to $300) on all purchases in the first year (up to $20,000 in spending). Learn more about this welcome offer.

Rewards:

5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel

3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases

1.5% cash back on all other spending

Rewards can be redeemed through statement credits, gift cards, and travel bookings through Chase's rewards program. This flexibility adds to the card's appeal, making it a suitable choice for various spending habits.

Beyond the basic rewards, the Freedom Unlimited offers a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months from account opening (20.49%29.24% after that).

Why we like it: The Chase Freedom Unlimited card is an excellent choice for cash-back enthusiasts. Its unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases ensures a steady return on your spending. Its simple reward structure makes it a top contender for those looking to get the most out of their everyday spending.

Best for travel: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Chase has an exceptionally deep bench of travel-related credit cards, 28 in total. They hold partnerships with Disney, Marriott, and Southwest, to name a few. Plus, redeeming any of your travel points through Chase provides even more in terms of redemption power.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a distinguished player in the rewards credit card market, particularly appealing to those with a penchant for travel and dining. In addition to being our top pick overall, it balances generous rewards with a moderate annual fee, making it a popular choice among frequent travelers.

Annual fee: $95

Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

Rewards:

3x points on dining

2x points on travel

1x points on all other purchases

Points can be transferred to various travel partners

Why we like it: The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a top travel card due to its focused reward structure and redemption options. The 2x points on travel and 3x points on dining quickly accumulate, catering to those who frequently indulge in these activities. The card's capacity to transfer points to numerous travel partners enhances its utility, allowing travelers to tailor their reward use to their specific travel preferences.

Additionally, the variety of travel protections and insurance offers gives travelers a layer of security and peace of mind. This combination of rewards, flexibility, and additional travel benefits makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card a prime choice for those seeking a versatile and rewarding travel credit card.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a premier travel credit card, widely recognized for its exceptional rewards and benefits for frequent travelers. Its emphasis on travel and dining makes it a top-tier choice for globetrotters and food enthusiasts.

Annual fee: $550

Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

Rewards:

3x points on travel and dining worldwide (travel points begin once the $300 travel credit has been used completely)

1x points on all other purchases

Points can be transferred to numerous travel partners

Why we like it: The Chase Sapphire Reserve is arguably one of the best travel cards available for several reasons. Its high reward rate on travel and dining ensures frequent travelers earn significant points on their most common expenses. The luxury of airport lounge access and the $300 annual travel credit (earned after spending $300 annually on travel purchases) provide comfort and cost savings, enhancing the overall premium travel experience.

The flexibility in point redemption  including transferring points to travel partners  offers unmatched value, allowing travelers to maximize rewards across a broad spectrum of travel options. For anyone seeking a card that enriches their travel experiences with luxury, convenience, and value, the Sapphire Reserve stands out.

Second runner-up: World of Hyatt Credit Card

The World of Hyatt Credit Card is an excellent choice for those who frequently stay at Hyatt hotels or seek a card that rewards their lifestyle choices. It combines a lucrative rewards program with unique perks for travelers, particularly those loyal to the Hyatt brand.

Annual fee: $95

Welcome offer: Earn 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first three months, and up to 30,000 more bonus points by earning 2 bonus points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 bonus point, on up to $15,000 spent

Rewards:

4x points on Hyatt hotel stays

2x points on local transit, dining, and fitness club & gym memberships

Ability to transfer points to airline partners

Why we like it: The World of Hyatt Credit Card stands out as a premier travel card for several reasons. Its impressive 4x points on Hyatt stays make it an exceptional choice for Hyatt loyalists, ensuring that frequent guests earn rewards quickly. The 2x points in categories like local transit and dining align well with typical traveler spending, making accumulating points on everyday activities easy.

Plus, transferring points to various airline partners allows for greater flexibility in travel planning, making it an ideal card for those who want to maximize their travel rewards and experiences. The combination of high rewards in key spending areas, transfer options, and a focus on the Hyatt ecosystem makes this card a top-tier option for travel enthusiasts.

Best for business: Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card

For small businesses and large, start up to seasoned establishments can all find a fitting business credit card from one (or several) of Chases offers.

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card is a versatile and straightforward choice for businesses seeking a no-fuss approach to earning rewards. Its uncomplicated cash-back structure makes it an attractive option for a wide range of business expenses.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: Earn $750 bonus cash back after spending $6,000 in the first three months.

Rewards: Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases

This card is ideal for businesses that prefer a simple, yet effective rewards program without the need to track specific spending categories. The unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases ensures that businesses earn rewards on every transaction, from office supplies to client dinners.

Why we like it: The Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card stands out as a top business card due to its simplicity and universal appeal. The flat-rate cash back on all purchases eliminates the need for strategic spending, making it a hassle-free choice for busy business owners. This card is a solid choice for businesses looking for an easy-to-understand rewards structure, combined with the reliability and service that comes with the Chase brand.

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card is an outstanding option for business owners looking to maximize their spending in key business categories. This card is particularly well-suited for businesses with frequent travel or shipping needs.

Annual fee: $95

Welcome offer: Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 in the first three months.

Rewards:

3x points on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each year

1x points on all other purchases

Points can be transferred to travel partners

Additional details: This card is tailored to the specific spending patterns of businesses, offering high rewards on travel and shipping, which are common expenses for many companies. The ability to transfer points to a variety of travel partners adds further value, particularly for businesses that frequently require air travel.

Why we like it: The Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card excels as a business card due to its targeted reward structure and valuable perks. The 3x points on travel and shipping can significantly reduce the cost of these frequent business expenses.

The card's broad points transferability to travel partners also provides flexibility, allowing businesses to choose the most advantageous travel options. These features, combined with the substantial welcome offer, make it a top choice for businesses seeking a card that supports their operational needs while offering significant rewards.

Best for credit building: Chase Freedom Rise Credit Card

If youre looking to establish or boost your credit score theres a Chase credit card for that as well.

The Chase Freedom Rise is an excellent choice for those new to credit and students beginning their financial journey. This card combines the benefits of a simple rewards program with the tools necessary for building a healthy credit history.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: None

Rewards: Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases

Additional details: Cardholders will earn a $25 statement credit after signing up for automatic payments within the first three months of opening an account. Users will also be evaluated for a credit line increase as soon as six months after receiving their card.

Why we like it: The Chase Freedom Rise is particularly well-suited for newcomers to credit and students due to its uncomplicated rewards system and lack of annual fee. The consistent 1.5% cash back on all purchases means users earn rewards on every transaction, a great incentive for those just starting out with credit cards. Its simplicity and accessibility make it an ideal tool for building credit, learning financial responsibility, and earning rewards in the process.

Additional benefits to consider when choosing Chase

When selecting a Chase credit card, there are several additional benefits worth considering that extend beyond the standard rewards and perks. These benefits enhance the overall banking experience with Chase, making it a more convenient and versatile choice for managing your finances.

Long-term banking relationships: Chase often rewards long-standing customers with preapproval offers for other banking products. These offers can include exclusive credit card deals, loan options, or premium banking services, adding value to your ongoing relationship with Chase.

Integrated banking experience: Chase allows for the seamless fusion of checking and credit accounts within their app. This integration provides a unified view of your finances, making it easier to manage your accounts, monitor spending, and transfer funds.

Same-day card use: With Chase credit cards, you dont have to wait for the physical card to arrive. You can add your new card virtually to digital wallets like Apple Pay and use it the same day. This feature is particularly beneficial for urgent or immediate purchases.

Flexible payment options with My Chase Plan: For larger purchases over $100, Chase offers My Chase Plan, allowing you to pay off these amounts over a period of 3 to 24 months. This feature provides greater flexibility in managing your cash flow and budgeting for big-ticket items.

Comprehensive travel benefits: Chase cards often include a suite of travel-related benefits that significantly enhance your travel experience. These perks can include TSA PreCheck, which streamlines your security check process at airports. Certain cards offer free checked bags, often in partnership with airlines like United Airlines, leading to substantial savings on travel costs.

The Priority Pass benefit included with some cards grants access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide, offering a more relaxed and comfortable travel experience. Additionally, purchase protection and extended warranty benefits provide peace of mind and financial security on your travel-related purchases.

These comprehensive travel benefits make Chase cards particularly appealing for frequent travelers, combining convenience, comfort, and protection.

Alternatives cards to consider



Best cash-back alternatives

When exploring best credit card options for cash back, two notable alternatives to Chase cards are the Chase Prime Visa and the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card. Each offers unique benefits that might suit different spending patterns and preferences.

Chase Prime Visa

Annual fee: $0

New cardmember offer: Prime members receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card upon approval.

Rewards:

Unlimited 5% back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase travel purchases with an eligible Prime membership

Unlimited 2% back at gas stations, restaurants, and on local transit (including rideshare)

Unlimited 1% back on all other purchases

The Prime Visa is ideal for frequent Amazon and Whole Foods shoppers, offering high rewards in these categories and a generous welcome gift for Prime members.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: Enjoy 0% APR for 18 months on balance transfers and purchases.

Rewards: Earn unlimited 2% cash back on purchases

The Wells Fargo Active Cash Card is a great choice for those seeking simplicity in their cash back rewards, coupled with an appealing introductory APR offer for new cardholders.

Best travel credit card alternatives

For avid travelers looking beyond the traditional travel cards, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card offer tailored benefits that cater to specific travel preferences.

Annual fee: $95

Welcome offer: Earn 5 free night awards (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

Rewards:

Unlimited Marriott Bonvoy points

Up to 17x total points per $1 spent at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy

This card is a perfect fit for those loyal to Marriott hotels, offering significant points on stays and a substantial welcome bonus that translates into free nights.

Annual fee: $99

Welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Rewards:

6,000 points each year for your account anniversary

3x points on Southwest purchases

2x points on local transit, internet, cable, and phone services (and select streaming)

1x points on all other purchases

Ideal for Southwest Airlines frequent flyers, Southwest Rapid Rewards offers bonus points on airline purchases and a generous anniversary points bonus each year, enhancing your travel experience with Southwest.

Best business credit card alternative: Ink Business Cash Credit Card

For business owners seeking a robust rewards program without an annual fee, the Ink Business Cash Credit Card is an excellent alternative. This card combines high cash-back rates in select business categories with a substantial welcome bonus, making it a standout choice for small to medium-sized businesses.

Annual fee: $0

Welcome offer: Earn $750 bonus cash back after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months.

Rewards:

Earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in select business categories every year

Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants every year

Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases

The Ink Business Cash Credit Card is particularly advantageous for businesses that have significant expenses in the card's high cash-back categories. Its generous welcome bonus and absence of an annual fee make it a cost-effective option for businesses looking to maximize their rewards with minimal expenses.

Best credit builder alternative: Discover it Secured Credit Card

The Discover it Secured Credit Card came in number one for our best secured credit card pick, making it a top choice for those aiming to build or rebuild their credit. This card offers a unique combination of a refundable security deposit, cash back rewards, and a valuable welcome bonus, all without an annual fee.

Annual fee: $0

Security deposit: $200 (refundable)

Welcome offer: Automatic cash back match in your first year.

Rewards:

Earn 2% Cashback Bonus at gas stations and restaurants on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter.

Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.

The Discover it Secured Credit Card is ideal for individuals seeking to establish or improve their credit score while still earning rewards on their spending. The cash back match in the first year effectively doubles the rewards earned, making it a particularly attractive option for credit-conscious consumers.

Our methodology

In our quest to identify the best Chase credit cards, we maintain a rigorous and impartial evaluation process, ensuring our recommendations are solely focused on serving our readers' best interests. Our analysis remains independent, free from external financial influences, and credit card issuers (Discover, Capital One, American Express, Chase,etc), do not influence our editorial decisions. This commitment upholds our editorial integrity and the reliability of our advice, aimed at optimizing your financial benefits.

Our methodology involved an extensive review of 29 Chase cards across five distinct categories, considering factors such as annual fees, rewards, benefits, and features. Recognizing the diverse financial needs and preferences of our readers, we aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis that addresses various user scenarios.

The evaluation process involved a detailed comparison of these cards, analyzing them across a wide range of data points. This in-depth approach allowed us to assess each card's specific features and benefits thoroughly. We examined the cost-effectiveness of the annual fees, the value and accessibility of rewards, the practicality and appeal of cardholder benefits, and the overall features that enhance user experience.

Utilizing a proprietary scoring system, we were able to quantitatively and qualitatively measure each card against these crucial factors. This balanced assessment method ensures a comprehensive evaluation, considering both the immediate and long-term value each card offers to its users.

After carefully scoring each card, we selected those that excel in delivering exceptional value, robust rewards, and beneficial features, aligning with the needs of various consumer segments. Our choices include cards that stand out for their overall appeal in their respective categories, offering the best combinations of rewards, fees, and benefits.

This ongoing and dynamic review process guarantees that our recommendations remain up-to-date and genuinely beneficial, reflecting the latest market developments and changes in Chase's credit card offerings. By adhering to this thorough and unbiased methodology, we aim to present our readers with a meticulously curated list of the best Chase credit cards, empowering you to make well-informed financial decisions suited to your personal and business needs.

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the banks website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers.
Shes launched her first book, sang in her first video  performing a number she and her father wrote to illustrate her published short story  and created her own pop-up company to learn business fundamentals and avoid being a starving artist.

All before her 18th birthday.

Even more seems on the horizon for Abi Lyn Voss, who lives with her family in Fredericksburg. This spring, the teen is set to earn her home-schooled high school diploma and graduate from The Author Conservatory, an online college-alternative program for gifted writers. She started college-level courses at age 14.

Conservatory officials have been told privately by literary agents that Voss is going places, said Brett Harris, conservatory co-founder and CEO and the author of Do Hard Things and Start Here.

She is blowing away industry professionals with her story concepts and the quality of her writing, he wrote in an email. She has what it takes to be a star. In fact, she already is a star. And we all get to watch her shine before the rest of the world finds out.

Voss is doing her best to get her name out to the world, including sending out press releases about her December book launch and her interest in being interviewed.

Shes one of nine conservatory students whose short stories are featured in Voices of the Future, which quickly jumped on Amazons list of No. 1 new releases in teen and young adult short stories.

Hers is called The Little Tire Shop and borrows from the similarly named business, the Little Tire Co., on Princess Anne Street.

I saw that name and said, thats such a good name, that needs a story, said Voss who drew inspiration from other Fredericksburg scenes and settings. There are so many little things in this short story that really feel like me, and Im very excited. It has a lot of the things I love.

Her story focuses on a grandfathers magical mechanic shop that tends to appear wherever a stranded motorist or person in despair needs it. She writes about members of the Oliver family who, in the past, have kept the magic going by proving themselves when they came of age. They had to fix something on the beloved 1970s Volkswagen Beetle, named Betsy, that belonged to Pops.

But by the time its the turn of the main character, 17-year-old Quinn, Pops has passed, and shes not sure shes cut out to be a mechanic. Voss tells the story in the first person in a style that makes it clear shes comfortable with her own voice, even if her character isnt comfortable with an earlier decision to embroider flowers on her overalls.

Im cursing my younger self now, Voss writes about Quinns decorative work clothes. Nothing makes me look less prepared than this outfit.

In person, Voss is well-spoken and clearly comfortable with adults. Shes the daughter of Norman and Jenn Voss, the little sister of Noah, whom she says is motivated to make money to pay for his trips around the world. She hopes to join him in his travels for a year after she graduates.

Her father works for the Department of Defense, calls himself the lead ego of the Stormin Norman Band and maintains a prison and homeless ministry. Her mother has her own business in direct sales and has supervised Abis education.

Because Ive been home-schooled, Ive grown up in an environment where Im interacting with a lot of adults, she said. I feel like that helps me learn, to actually feel more comfortable interacting that way. I am very thankful for that and I definitely recommend that to everyone.

Perhaps as a result of that background, Voss is able to craft soulful stories that resonate with the kind of old-soul wisdom far beyond her years, said Kara Swanson, the conservatorys co-founder and director.

She called Voss one of those rare treasures that as a teacher is the absolute highest honor  discovering a young prodigy who not only has the skill, tenacity and charisma of someone many times her senior, but the humility and kindness that makes even being in her sphere a joy.

Swanson added: As you can tell, we kind of adore her and feel honored that she has entrusted us with guiding her through this process.

Voss probably would smile all over herself to read that, but shes almost always what her late grandmother described as sunshine personified, said Jenn Voss.

Theres an interesting line in her short story where shes describing her inability to fix the cassette tape in the Beetle Betsy, and her older brother, Ace, is trying to talk her through it over the phone. He checks to make sure the car is turned off so she wont electrocute herself.

Im not an idiot, she responded.

Right, the brother said, and Voss wrote, Is it possible to hear an eye roll in someones voice?

If so, its possible to hear the joy dripping from hers whether shes talking about all the cool places she loves to visit in Fredericksburg because shes a history nerd, the two weeks she and her mother recently spent in France or her dream of being on the New York Times bestseller list.

Shes already discovered what it feels like to connect with readers. A Goodreads reviewer said the story contained a nostalgic feel soothing to my soul. This one will be a comfort re-read for me for sure.

When Voss saw the review, she recalled the heartfelt stories she identified with, how personal that connection was and how blessed it made her feel.

If my story could do that for somebody else, that would be amazing, she said.

If its not in the cards for her to be a successful author, Voss would like to get into the publishing industry and steer other young people away from their focus on immediate content they can get, right away.

Being able to find new ways to connect my generation and the next generation with words is really important to me as well, she said. There are a lot of amazing stories of young people rising up and accomplishing things that go beyond their age. I would love to see more of those.
Winter Storm Finn continued to blast Fremont and eastern Nebraska on Tuesday, Jan. 9, as high winds and blowing snow continued overnight from Monday, Jan. 8, and left the city covered in deep, heavy snow.

And, this is just the beginning of a week of intense cold and heavy snows, officials from the National Weather Service in Valley report.

Clint Aegerter, a meteorologist at the NWS weather station in Valley, said Dodge County will get a slight pause in snow on Wednesday before another large storm system plods into the region on Thursday, dropping more snow and leading to wind chill temperature predictions for the weekend into the -20 to -30 Fahrenheit range.

For Wednesday, (snow) should be pretty light for Fremont. It could be a couple of tenths of an inch, maybe 1/2 inch of snow ... a dusting, Aegerter said in a telephone interview. It probably starts (snowing) more on Thursday afternoon. We may get 2 to 3 inches of snow is our forecast now. Any shift of the weather pattern could lead to more snow north of Lincoln, maybe 4 to 6 inches if it moves slightly north.

Aegerter also said that weather experts with the NWS predict extremely cold temperatures in the next four to six days. The low for Wednesday is expected to be 8 degrees with a wind chill of 0 to -1 degrees.

On Thursday, the temperatures continue to drop, with predicted lows of 9 degrees Fahrenheit and a wind chill of -2 degrees. Over the weekend, things get much colder, with temperatures well below 0 degrees and wind chills ranging from -10 to -30 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.

It looks really cold for the weekend, he said.

The storm caused officials with the City of Fremont to declare a snow emergency, starting at 10 a.m. Monday and running through 10 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 10.

Both city council meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 9, were kept on the schedule despite the storm, said City Clerk Tyler Ficken. However, the citys Fremont Transit Program, Waste Transfer Station and Friendship Center were all closed on Monday and Tuesday. Each service was expected to reopen to the public on Wednesday.

At the Fremont Public Schools, all classes were called off and campuses were shuttered on both Monday and Tuesday. The FPS Board of Education meeting slated for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 8 was rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 15.

Around the city and Dodge County, local residents and business owners were frantically clearing snow with shovels, snowblowers and small tractors or trucks equipped with shovels.
When the Legislature begins a mid-biennium debate over its rules on Wednesday, the proposals will include a handful of technical changes and modernizations to improve the overall workings of the states legislative body.

The Rules Committee on Tuesday advanced 10 proposals to the floor, but adjourned before it could advance a change to the filibuster or begin a discussion about possibly overhauling the selection of committee chairs or limiting press access to closed meetings.

The committee, led by Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard and including Speaker John Arch in a non-voting role, will meet again in an executive session Wednesday morning to consider some of the more controversial changes to the Legislatures rules offered this year.

Tuesdays discussion followed a public hearing on Monday in which 34 proposed changes were introduced and in which residents offered feedback.

Beginning Wednesday afternoon, Day 6 of the 60-day session, and potentially continuing through Day 12, senators will consider each proposed rule change individually. Amending the rules will require the support of 30 of 49 state senators in the Legislature.

Among the changes to be debated on Wednesday include a change from Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne that requires the Legislature to separate a vote to suspend its rules from any subsequent motion for which the rules are suspended.

The Legislature will also consider moving to an all-digital format for its fiscal notes, which inform senators what the potential costs of a piece of legislation are, under a proposal from Arch, who said the change would codify the practice of recent years.

Arch also brought proposed rules changes that would treat bills containing a transfer to or from the cash reserve fund the same as an appropriations bill, and another that would schedule when legislation changing judges salaries would come up on the floor.

The committee advanced a change that would raise the threshold for a bill to be pulled off the consent calendar, a list of noncontroversial bills considered together through a single vote, from three senators to five senators.

Senators will also deliberate a proposed change requiring senators to include a statement of intent for their bills three calendar days before that bill has a public hearing. Currently, those statements are posted 24 hours ahead of the committee hearing.

The committee also advanced a change to the floor debate procedure requiring an introducing senators bill and any amendment from the committee to be brought up before any other motions or amendments could be introduced.

That rule would end a practice that last year allowed some senators to enter motions that delayed  or in some cases, denied  a committee amendment to a bill from being considered.

Shortly before adjourning on Tuesday, the committee also began discussion of a rule change limiting how and when priority motions  which are often deployed during a legislative filibuster  can be used on each stage of debate.

Last year, during the middle of the 90-day session, the Legislature amended its rules to only allow for each of the available priority motions to be used once per day on the individual bills that came up on the floor.

A change offered this year would further limit the introduction of those motions to one per each round of debate, with some caveats that allow the introducing senator to bring a priority motion in certain situations.

The committee also discussed raising the number of senators required for a call of the question before the meeting ended with no vote taken.

Still on the list of rules that could be considered for committee action include proposals from Erdman ending the process of electing committee chairs through secret ballots  a long-standing process in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

Erdman has also proposed prohibiting members of the media from being present in executive sessions, when committees often discuss changes to bills before advancing them to the floor.

The Bayard senator also wants to eliminate requirements that leaders of the Redistricting Committee be from different political parties.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2024
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Silt Republican, right, shakes hands with Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, who was running against Boebert in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, as his 12-year-old daughter Gabriella Hurd stands nearby, on Oct. 28, 2023, at the Montezuma County GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner at the Ute Mountain Casino Hotel in Towaoc. Boebert announced on Dec. 27, 2023, that she was switching to the more heavily Republican 4th Congressional District in hopes of succeeding retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Buck.
Saudi Premium Residency Center has launched five new premium residency opportunities aimed at boosting the kingdoms position as a global hub, attracting skilled professionals and investments.

The initiative, announced by Dr Majid bin Abdullah Alkassabi, Chairman of the Center, aims to further drive the countrys economic transformation by creating employment opportunities and fostering knowledge transfers, said a statement.

Alkassabi outlined that the five new Premium Residency products are: the Special Talent, Gifted, Investor, Entrepreneur, and the Real Estate Owner Residency.

He said new residency products will offer holders unparalleled opportunities for settling in Saudi Arabia and highlighted that the doors to all Premium Residency products are open to those who can add value to the national economy and actively participate in Saudi Arabias rapid development journey under Saudi Vision 2030.

Tailored to sepcific categories

The five new products announced today have been tailored for working professionals, talents and investors who fit into specific categories.

The Special Talent Residency caters to executives and professionals who specialise in healthcare, science, and research. It aims to attract individuals with unique skills and experiences who can contribute to knowledge and technology transfers.

The Gifted Residency aims to integrate skilled professionals and talented individuals into Saudi Arabias vibrant and growing cultural and sport sectors. Meanwhile, the Investor Residency is designed for investors looking to capitalise on Saudi Arabias thriving business landscape and generate high impact returns from across the economy.

Additionally, the Entrepreneur Residency is intended for aspiring entrepreneurs and owners of innovative projects, eager to launch and develop their start-ups in Saudi Arabia, contributing to the nations ambitious economic transformation journey.

Real Estate Owner Residency is designed for individuals who own real estate and are looking to enjoy the kingdoms exceptional quality-of-life, while benefitting from its promising real estate market, which has undergone rapid and comprehensive development in recent years.

The five new products have been developed in collaboration with the Premium Residency Centers strategic partners across an array of government entities. The products offer a wide range of benefits to holders, including ability to conduct business, own real estate, obtain work permits for holders and family members, and many more advantages the Premium Residency Center provides in cooperation with government partners, the statement said.  TradeArabia News Service
A Gazette investigation shows an increasing number of soldiers, including wounded combat veterans, are being kicked out of the service for misconduct, often with no benefits, as the Army downsizes after a decade of war.
Colorado legislative leaders on Tuesday vowed to work together to tackle some of the biggest issues facing the state, including the lack of affordable housing, changes to the "construction defects" law, sustainability and rising cost of living.

Indeed, civility and bipartisan cooperation became the overarching themes on the eve of the legislative session that begins Wednesday, as lawmakers this year hope to accomplish milestones to help Colorado's residents.

The legislative leaders  Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder; Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument; House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon; and, House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington  spoke at the Denver Chamber of Commerces Business Legislative Preview at the Denver Art Museum.

We will continue to operate with honor and dignity of the House, and hopefully the Senate, McCluskie said. We want to lift up civility and respectful debate in our conversations.

McCluskies statements came on the heels of her issuing a letter of reprimand to Rep. Elisabeth Epps, the Denver Democrat who joined pro-Palestinian protesters in the gallery during special session in November and at one point called fellow lawmakers "fascist." Epps' actions halted work in her chamber.

The letter issued a sternly worded warning that such actions in the future could lead to more serious consequences.

But everyone was civil on Tuesday morning, when legislators spent an hour fielding questions from moderator Bente Birkeland, a public affairs reporter with CPR News and Colorado Public Radio.

When asked about his top priority, Lundeen said legislators need to back off overregulating businesses. He cited a study showing 65% of business owners said that is their No. 1 problem.

Businesses are now telling us, Not so much overregulation,' Lundeen said. The problems were creating for them from policy regulation needs to be dialed back."

Lundeen added: "The trend is a canary in the coal mine, and we need to pay attention to it.

By way of example, Bente mentioned that the downtown office building the Denver Metro Chamber is located in would need $6 million in improvements to comply with state building performance standards.

Theyd have to replace a lot of equipment that has decades of usability left, Bente noted.

Lynch, from Weld County, a hub for oil and gas industry operations, said regulations are having a direct negative effect on the region's economy.

These regulations directly impact the economy of a good part of your state right now, he said. And what I keep on hearing from the folks involved, the stakeholders, the business owners is we can't even keep up with the existing regulations."

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He added, "The good news, I guess, is the state cant keep on top of enforcing them, either.

Fenberg pushed back, saying laws  such as Senate Bill 181, whic regulates oil and gas companies  have made Colorado a healthier place to live.

You know the part of the changes that we have seen is billions of dollars invested into Colorado, Fenberg said. "I don't think these massive corporations  some of the largest in the world  would be making those large business decisions and those moves if they felt like, at any moment, the industry was about to crumble because of these regulations.

I'm not saying theres not a balance to be made, but we also have to recognize that, at times, we have some the worst air quality in the country. We have to take that seriously, he said.

McCluskie agreed with Fenberg.

I see businesses leading on this front in so many powerful ways, particularly when it comes to the sustainability of our state, she said. I live up in in Summit County. We completely electrified our mass transit, thanks to some of the infrastructure, bipartisan infrastructure dollars, coming down from the feds. What a powerful way to impact local air quality.

The legislators talked about tackling the "construction defects" law to allow more condominiums to be built, as thats usually the first home that buyers can afford.

Bente asked how open Democrats are to that idea.

I think a lot of Democrats are open to it, Fenberg said. In fact, I think you're going to see legislation this year sponsored by Democrats on this topic, but it is going to have to have the support of Republicans to get across the finish line.

Just simply building more in a way that creates sprawling communities isn't the answer, he said. We have to do things to encourage and incentivize local governments and communities, and developers to work together to do it in a way that that makes sense for the state.

The theme of working together came up repeatedly, with legislators encouraging face-to-face discussions, listening to opposing points of view and getting off social media.

The audience applauded when McCluskie said the Colorado Municipal League is working on a civility initiative.

I want to see that kind of commitment to respectful, honest discourse, regardless of whether you're in that building or outside of it, she said. But it has to be a commitment that we make in all sectors of our communities and with our youth. And certainly you must know  just say no to Twitter.
After having posted bond, two of four teenagers accused of killing 32-year-old Gabriel Villanueba last year appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon for their preliminary hearings.

Santiago Dominguez, 18, Ali Talib, 18, and two juveniles ages 15 and 13 were arrested by Colorado Springs police on charges related to Villanueba's death last year, according to previous reporting from The Gazette.

Talib and Dominguez were arrested in September on a $75,000 bond but have since posted surety bonds to be released from custody, Talib the day after his arrest on Sept. 12 and Dominguez on Dec. 1, according to court records.

Talib's case was the first to be called on Tuesday, and his attorney Shimon Kohn told the court Talib would be waiving his right to a preliminary hearing in order to continue negotiations on a plea deal with the prosecution.

Judge Marcus Henson accepted the hearing waiver and set Talib's next appearance to be a plea hearing on March 5.

Dominguez, described as the leader of the four teens in his arrest affidavit, went ahead with his preliminary hearing.

Prosecutor Rachael Powell called two witnesses to testify at Dominguez's hearing: the police officer who initially responded to the incident on the night of Aug. 21 and the lead detective on the case, Rebecca Joines.

Joines spent over an hour discussing the investigation that led to the arrest of Dominguez, Talib and the two teens Joines said are related to Dominguez.

Joines spoke about how she used video surveillance from outside Villanueba's apartment, phone data and interviews with various neighbors and friends of Villanueba to determine that Dominguez, Talib and the two juveniles were allegedly responsible for killing Villanueba.

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Joines reiterated in Dominguez's arrest affidavit that the shooting sparked from an incident the night before, in which Dominguez and Talib got into an argument with Villanueba that became violent when he tried to "pistol whip" Dominguez.

Joines goes on to state in her testimony that multiple individuals informed her that Dominguez, Talib and the two juveniles went to Villanueba's apartment the night of the shooting in an attempt to steal his gun.

During cross-examination, Dominguez's attorney Josh Tolini spoke about leads he believes were not followed by Colorado Springs police, specifically referring to how one person claimed to law enforcement that two other individuals were the ones who shot Villanueba.

Joines reponded that those leads were followed and the two individuals named were ruled out as suspects, specifically that they did not match the appearances of the suspects caught on camera fleeing the scene.

After Joines' testimony, Henson informed the attorneys that he would issue a ruling on Friday on whether all charges faced by Dominguez would be bound over for trial.

Dominguez and Talib each face 11 charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated robbery, motor vehicle theft and several violent crime sentencing enhancements.

Dominguez also faces an additional open criminal case in which he faces charges of aggravated robbery and menacing for an incident dated on Aug. 29, 2023.
Dozens of schools across Colorado received bomb threats Tuesday morning, which prompted many of them to evacuate, the Kiowa County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

Synagogues in the Denver and Boulder also received threats, according to reports from Denver Gazette news partner KUSA.

Spokesperson Vikki Migoya with the FBI Denver field office on Tuesday confirmed the FBI's involvement with the string of threats.

"The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention," Migoya said.

Emailed bomb threats were sent to schools in Kiowa and El Paso counties, with the Kiowa County Sheriff's Office saying the threats were identical to others sent to more than 40 schools across the state.

The Kiowa County Sheriff's Office said it received the bomb threat, targeting the three schools in the Eads RE-1 school district, at about 9:20 a.m. Tuesday. Eads is about 130 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.

"Emergency personnel arrived on scene quickly, the schools were evacuated and a perimeter was established," the Sheriff's Office reported on its social media. "Upon investigation, it was determined this same threat was given to 40+ schools throughout the state. The schools were cleared by law enforcement and the threat was deemed to be fictitious."

The Kiowa County Sheriff's Office post said there was no active threat to the students, and that the threats' source was under investigation.

At 10:24 a.m., Ellicott School District 22 in eastern El Paso County also received a bomb threat. The emails were sent to administrators and teachers in the building, according to a notification message on the district's website.

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"The district began evacuating at 10:30 a.m. At this time, everyone is safe, and we are working on reuniting students with families. Please check your phone and / or emails for more information on the location for reuniting with your student," the district message said.

The Ellicott district office confirmed to The Gazette that all students were dismissed for the day and being reunited with families.

Gazette news partner KOAA confirmed that in addition to the Eads and Ellicott school districts, La Veta Public Schools in Huerfano County and the East Otero School District in La Junta received the same threat.

Also, Estes Park police and the Estes Park School District issued a joint statement saying that a threat was received by email that indicated the presence of explosive devices within the school campus, according to KUSA.

Police secured the schools and said they did not believe there was any ongoing threat in the area.

Temple Emanuel, a synagogue in Denver, said their Early Learning Center and entire building were evacuated after "an explosives threat" that was received over email, KUSA reported. The threat, according to Temple Emanuel, was received by synagogues all over the Denver and Boulder areas.

Har HaShem, in Boulder, said in a Facebook post that it received a threat Tuesday morning. Har HaShem staff called police and the campus was cleared with the assistance of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit.

The mass threat of violence against Colorado schools comes less than a year after a wave of threatening phone calls were made to more than a dozen schools across the state. On Feb. 22, 2023, someone threatening a school shooting would call local authorities and say they were entering a local school with a pipe bomb and a rifle.
Jayson Boebert, the ex-husband of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, has been released on bail from the Garfield County jail on suspicion of six charges in connection with two separate incidents involving altercations with family members.

The first of back-to-back incidents happened on Jan. 6 after a loud disturbance in a Silt restaurant with the congresswoman, in which Jayson Boebert claimed his ex-wife punched him in the face, while Boebert maintained she merely touched his nose.

In a news release on Wednesday afternoon, the Silt Police said that Jayson Boebert recanted any claims of domestic violence. Silt Police Chief Mike Kite said that Boebert told him that he wanted this whole thing to go away.

The police also said there was no surveillance video from the restaurant. Though they asked for witnesses to come forward with personal cellphone video, no one provided any, the police said. Further, Jayson Boebert did not have any marks to his face to corroborate allegations that he had been punched in the face, the police added.

Due to a lack of any evidence, the allegations of domestic violence against Rep. Lauren Boebert are unfounded and the investigation into Rep. Lauren Boebert is closed, the Silt Police said.

The other incident involving Jayson Boebert deals with suspicion of third-degree assault, harassment and prohibited use of weapons involving the couples 18-year-old son.

Arrest records obtained by The Denver Gazette show that the Boeberts teenage son, who has a nine-month-old child, called Silt Police to his residence outside of town in Garfield County just after 1 a.m. on Jan. 9 at the urging of his mother.

The arrest records showed the argument started just after midnight Tuesday, when Jayson Boebert allegedly got angry that his infant grandson was sleeping in a laundry basket full of clothes. The Boeberts son, who was in bed with the childs mother, explained to his father that he didnt feel the baby was in a hazardous situation and told police later that his father had slurred speech and was under influence of alcohol, according to the arrest records.

The son was on the phone with his mother, Lauren Boebert, for one minute after the argument with his father turned violent, according to the records. The document stated that Lauren Boebert advised her son to call authorities. When Jayson Boebert realized his son was on the phone with police dispatch, he threw the teens phone across the room and the line was left open.

The Garfield sheriff deputy who rushed to the scene reported in the affidavit that she could hear yelling coming across the open line. Boebert then threw his son to the ground and pushed his thumb into the teens mouth, the records showed.

When Deputy Ashley Ramirez arrived at the residence outside of Silt, she reported that Jayson Boebert had gotten his rifle when his son called police, so she stayed at the top of the driveway.

Considering the last known information was that Jayson was still armed with a rifle, I exited my patrol vehicle with my rifle, Ramirez wrote in the arrest affidavit.

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Boebert, 43, was arrested and released on $1,500 bond for charges connected to the Jan. 9 incident with his son.

Tuesday mornings incident was a separate event from the one that happened over the weekend, which, the Silt Police said, involved an altercation between Lauren and Jayson Boebert. In that incident, Silt police and Garfield County Sheriffs deputies spent two-and-a-half hours dealing with the situation, according to the arrest affidavit. During that time, Jayson Boebert was asked eight times to leave the crowded restaurant by police and he allegedly cussed at law enforcement and continued to drink while they were responding, the affidavit said.

Jayson Boebert was arrested on suspicion of three counts, including disorderly conduct, third-degree trespass and obstruction of a police officer and released on a $1,000 bond for charges in connection with the Saturday night altercation.

According to the Silt Police arrest document, Jayson and Lauren got into a public altercation at the Miners Claim Restaurant on Main Street in Silt that Saturday night. There have been differing accounts of what happened leading up to the incident, but according to the arrest affidavit, Silt Police were called to the restaurant around 8 p.m. by a male person, later determined to be Jayson Boebert, who claimed there had been a domestic violence abuse situation.

The affidavit said a second person  who said her name was Lauren  also called Silt Police.

Dispatch advised they heard the female say, I just touched your nose. The male in a cowboy hat and jeans was heard saying, She punched me in the face.

Lauren Boebert told police that the couple was at the restaurant when the topic turned to their new partners, the arrest document stated, adding Lauren admitted placing her finger on Jaysons nose to end the conversation. Thats when Jayson called the police, the affidavit said. Lauren Boebert admitted to police that both of them had been drinking, but that her ex-husband already started drinking before they arrived at the restaurant.

Body-worn camera showed that, when officers arrived, Lauren Boebert was standing in front of the restaurant and a male person was heard yelling, Well see whos right and whos wrong.

Boebert released a statement on Sunday saying she had not punched her husband in the face during the altercation.

This is a sad situation for all that keeps escalating and another reason Im moving, Boebert said. I didnt punch Jayson in the face and no one was arrested. I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.

Boebert filed for divorce against her husband of nearly 18 years in May. The divorce was finalized in October, according to reports.

Boebert announced in December that she would not run for reelection in Colorados 3rd Congressional District, where she faced difficult primary and general election challengers and instead would run in Colorados 4th Congressional District on the Eastern Plains. She joins a crowded primary in the safer Republican district currently held by retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Buck.
A high-level Saudi delegation will present to 54th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos the kingdoms stance on the era-defining multiple and mounting humanitarian, climate, social and economic challenges.

At a time when confidence in global institutions is falling and global volatility is rising, the Saudi delegation led by Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will address these challenges by working with the international community to advance substantive global collaboration, drive economic resilience, build sustainable resource security and harness human-centric innovation, while exploring the opportunities offered by emerging technologies and their impact on the policy and decision-making process.

The Saudi delegation to the meeting, from January 15 to 19, 2024 under the theme of Rebuilding Trust, will also highlight the social and economic progress made within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030, the process of transformation, diversification and development witnessed by the kingdom in various fields, as well the multiple investment opportunities available across the nations thriving economy.

Kingdom's attractiveness

In light of the kingdoms increasing economic competitiveness, the Saudi delegation will share its experiences in enhancing the kingdom's attractiveness as a destination for private and foreign investment.

The delegation will also review the best practices and solutions developed by the kingdom to enhance the resilience of the economy and achieve financial sustainability, in line with its ambitions for economic diversification and sustainable growth, under Saudi Vision 2030.

The kingdoms delegation includes Princess Reema bint Bandar AlSaud, Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the US; Dr Majid A Alkassabi, Minister of Commerce; Adel A. Aljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Member of the Council of Ministers, and Envoy for Climate; Khalid A. Al Falih, Minister of Investment; Mohammed A. Aljadaan, Minister of Finance; Abdullah A. Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology; Bandar I. Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources; and Faisal F. Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning.

The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors with the aim of exploring future opportunities, reviewing solutions and developments within various economic and development sectors within the framework of international cooperation, and joint work between governments and various institutions. The Forum brings together representatives from more than 100 governments, major international organisations, and more than 1,000 major private sector players, in addition to representatives of civil society and academic institutions.--TradeArabia News Service
Migrants cross the Rio Grande last week into the U.S. from Mexico behind concertina wire and a sign warning that its dangerous and illegal to cross in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Outdoor activities are a staple in Colorado, and just because it's winter doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying the state's nature. Here are ten hikes that feature waterfalls that are just as beautiful frozen as they are in the summer.
State Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, told Colorado Politics Tuesday that he is running for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.

"I made the decision today that Im a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 5th Congressional District," Gardner said. "Were taking the steps to formally file a campaign in the next couple of days."

The veteran state lawmaker said his legislative experience gives him an edge in what could be a crowded primary to replace Lamborn in the heavily Republican district, which coincides almost precisely with El Paso County.

Gardner, a former El Paso County GOP chairman, served four terms in the state House before his election in 2016 to the state Senate, where he's term-limited after this year's session.

"Ever since Congressman Lamborns announcement on Friday, Ive been receiving calls from lots of friends and supporters  people who I have a great deal of respect for  encouraging me to run, telling me that my decade and a half of experience as a legislator getting things done is just what our congressional delegation in Colorado needs, and, frankly what the U.S. Congress needs," Gardner said. "Someone who knows how to get things done."

Lamborn's surprise announcement on Friday that he isn't seeking a 10th term set off a scramble among politicians in the heavily Republican district, which hasn't sent a Democrat to Washington in the 50 years since the seat was created.

Following U.S. Rep. Ken Buck's retirement announcement last fall and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert's announcement at the end of the year that she will run in another district, all three of Colorado's Republican-held U.S. House seats will be open this year.

An Air Force veteran and graduate of the Air Force Academy, Gardner said he expects to stand out in a field that already includes Colorado Republican Party chairman Dave Williams, a former Colorado Springs legislator.

"I do know how to work with people who agree with me completely, and how to work with people who disagree with me almost completely, to get things done, and I think thats what people are asking their legislators to do now  to stop what I would call performative politics and do what they were elected to do," he said.

He said that trait, along with the 40 years he's lived in the Colorado Springs community, will make a difference in the primary.

"I'll emerge based upon my long experience and service to my district in El Paso County, to the people of Colorado, and actually having done legislation for the benefit of the community, and done so with my fellow Republicans, as well as the people across the aisle," Gardner said.

The 69-year-old attorney said he won't overstay his welcome if he wins a seat in the U.S. House.

"I know how voters feel about people staying in Washington too long," he said. "If elected, I am self-imposing term limits on my service in Congress."

Gardner pledged to serve no more than eight years, or four two-year terms.

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He added the he intends to complete his term in the General Assembly, which opens its 120-day legislative session on Wednesday.

Gardner said his priorities in Congress will be familiar to constituents he's represented.

"As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Ive always stood for public safety, for support of our law enforcement officers and ensuring that our neighborhoods are going to be safe," Gardner said, adding, "Thats been a challenge the past few years."

He called the economy a top priority.

"Always, the creation of jobs and the promotion of our economy, limiting excessive regulation and ensuring that people and business want to come to Colorado and provide good jobs and paychecks for everyone in Colorado."

At the national level, Gardner said he plans to focus on border security, national security and the federal budget.

"I have to say the thing that is top on most Americans minds is something about border security," Gardner said. "Thats something that Congress has failed, the Biden administration has failed. My background in the Air Force means that I am always, first and foremost, going to see to national security issues as they play out for Colorado Springs, as an important military community."

Added Gardner: "The economy, the national debt  those are issues that have to be addressed and have to be addressed in a way that it can get done. We have strong feelings in the Republican Party about the debt ceiling, the budget, but its not enough to vote 'no' if you put people in a position of not receiving their Social Security benefits or veterans benefits, or if you put men and women in uniform at risk of not receiving their paychecks for putting their lives at risk for the safety of the country."

Gardner said he will petition his way onto the June 25 primary ballot and plans to start gathering signatures from fellow Republicans in the district next week, when state law allows candidates to start circulating petitions.

He said he isn't concerned that some Republicans slam the petition route in favor of courting delegates through the precinct and assembly process, which kicks off on March 7.

"Some in party circles say, 'You didnt go through the assembly,' but when one reaches out to the voters one-on-one for signatures to get on the ballot  and I did this both times I ran for the state Senate  you typically reach 5,000 voters at the very least, talking to them about what their concerns are," he said.

"One strength I have is I've had as constituents 20%-25% of the electorate, the voters in El Paso County and Colorado Springs. They know me and what I stand for. I stand for school choice, I stand for the family. I stand for limited government and government at the local level, whenever possible."

Other Republicans considering a run for Lamborn's seat include former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, state Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, former U.S. Senate candidate and Olympian Eli Bremer, talk radio host Jeff Crank, El Paso County Commissioners Stan VanderWerf and Longinos Gonzalez and former El Paso County GOP Vice Chairman Karl Schneider.

Five Democrats and several unaffiliated and third-party candidates also have filed to run in the district.
His Majesty King Hamad has praised the success of Bahrains tourism sector, citing its expansion following the launch of many projects, facilities and tourist resorts.

Tourism has become a vital sector of the national economy, he pointed out as he visited a number of projects in the Southern Governorate, said a report in the Gulf Daily News.

To read more, visit GDNonline.com
A Mason City woman facing up to 10 years in prison after being accused of stealing more than $15,000 via fraudulent lottery transactions while employed at Casey's General Store will stand trial in February.

According to court records, 54-year-old Christine Sue Luna made the unspecified transactions while working at the Casey's store at 2701 19th St. S.W. in Mason City from May 1 until Nov. 17. She was arrested on a warrant Nov. 24 and charged with felony first-degree theft over $10,000 -- as a habitual felony offender.

Luna's habitual offender status stems from a string of theft and forgery convictions dating back to the late 1980s.
The Klunder for Sheriff Committee announced in a press release the intent of Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Matt Klunder to run for sheriff.

The office, currently held by Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals, will be up for grabs as Pals is set to retire at the end of the year.

Klunder, 48, worked his way up through the ranks in the sheriff's office, beginning as a jailer in 1998 and moving into the role of deputy by 2002.

In 2004, Klunder began working for the Sheriffs Office as a full-time narcotics investigator at the North Central Iowa Narcotics Task Force. During his time on the Narcotics Task Force, he was sworn as a Special Federal Officer for the FBI. He worked closely with state prosecutors and the United States Attorneys Office while investigating many high profile drug cases. Klunder was promoted by Pals in 2012 to the rank of lieutenant, where he currently serves as the Sheriffs Office night shift patrol supervisor, the press release states.
Two captains of the Mason City Fire Department were honored last week in a ceremony celebrating their retirements. Steve Bull and Dave Orr were presented with plaques commemorating their years of service.

Chief Erik Bullinger spoke during the ceremony Friday as the MCFD Honor Guard stood watch. Bullinger praised the dedication both men showed to their community as well as the fire department.

Bull joined the department in 1992. He says in his 31 years of service to Mason City, there was never a day he didnt want to come to work.

I had plenty I wanted to go home from, though, he said with a wry grin.

Orr joined the team in 1995, spending 28 years with the department. Its absolutely been my pleasure to serve the people of Mason City for all this time, Orr said.

In the '90s, emergency medical services were still being provided by Snells Ambulance Service. When the city restructured the fire department to include emergency medical services, firefighters found themselves with new responsibilities on their plates.

Back then you could work a full three-day trick without ever going on a call, said Bull. Now there are 15 to 16 medical calls per day.

With the changes over the decades, the two men worked hard to learn, train and become better paramedics and firefighters. Bullinger praised both men for their steadfast dedication to the department and their efforts to build a strong team as new firefighters and paramedics joined the crew.

A good officer is like a thermostat, said Bullinger, able to keep cool and adjust to any situation.

Bullinger emphasized that captains are the first to make critical decisions when a call is received. He also noted the responsibilities the men shouldered as they stepped up to leadership positions.

Captains respond first. Its not until much later that the chief is on scene, Bullinger said. Their leadership and decision making is crucial, and these are two that can be counted on.

Bull, 2nd Battalion captain, is looking forward to retirement.

My wife and I produce veggies for vegetable boxes. We have sheep and a little farm to take care of, Bull said.

Orr was charged with the 3rd Battalion and plans to use his retirement to enjoy the outdoors and fishing.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man was shot and killed by police officers Monday in Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's parking ramp after ramming two patrol vehicles with a truck and swinging a metal object, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The DCI identified the man in a statement released Tuesday as 55-year-old Salvador Perez-Garcia of Sioux City.

According to the statement, at 4 a.m. Monday, a Sioux City patrol officer was parked inside the casino's parking garage, when he observed a white truck driving toward him. The truck rammed his patrol vehicle head-on.

"The lone subject in the truck continued to exit the parking garage and was met with other responding officers. He drove directly at a second Sioux City patrol vehicle, ramming it head-on," the statement said.

Then, Perez-Garcia exited the truck swinging a length of chain with an affixed metal object in an "aggressive, threatening manner." The statement said officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and physically attempted to disarm Perez-Garcia, but were unsuccessful.

"Perez-Garcia refused to comply with the officers' commands and continued to approach them swinging the object. Officers fired their duty weapons, striking him. The officers then performed lifesaving measures, but Perez-Garcia died at the scene," the statement said.

Sioux City Police Chief Rex Mueller said in an email Tuesday that one officer sought medical treatment for injuries sustained when his patrol car was rammed by the suspect. He said the officer was treated and released.

The DCI's statement said "additional facts of the incident" and the names of the Sioux City police officers who were involved are not being released at this time. The officers have been placed on critical incident leave.

"The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. Upon completion of the investigation, the report will be submitted to the Woodbury County Attorney's Office and the Iowa Attorney General's Office for review," the DCI's statement said.

Mueller said in the email that his department will be conducting a "parallel internal investigation" to the DCI to determine if department policies were violated.

"The Sioux City Police Department will be cooperating fully with the DCI investigation and believes in transparency when dealing with critical incidents. These investigations can take a significant amount of time, and we request patience as our department deals with this challenging situation. The department will release further information at the conclusion of the investigation," Mueller said.
Tammy Brankley Mulchi is heading to Richmond to represent the 9th Senate District following Tuesdays rare special election.

Mulchi, a Republican, will replace her very, very close friend, state Sen. Frank Ruff, after he announced last month he would retire citing health issues following a cancer diagnosis.

Mulchi lead with 63% of the votes over her opponent, Democrat Tina Wyatt Younger, of South Boston, who had 36%.

The votes are unofficial until certified.

Although Mulchi won the district that encompasses eight localities, she carried Danville with 60% of the votes. However, that turnout  only 9% of registered voters  was dreary, matching the heavy rain that fell all day in the Dan River Region.

Danville is often a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise Republican-leaning district.

In addition to Danville and Pittsylvania County, the 9th Senate District also includes the counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Charlotte, Lunenburg and part of Prince Edward.

I am deeply grateful and honored by the support from the people of the 9th district, Mulchi wrote in a text message to the Register & Bee. Though it has been a short campaign, I look forward to continuing to meet so many of you in our communities and main streets across the district.

She said Tuesday night was was ready to work for the rural areas  and family farmers  of Southern Virginia.

I know I have big shoes to fill with Senator Ruff retiring, but I am ready to get to work, she said.

Mulchi, pointing to her background as a legislative aide to both Ruff and Delegate Tommy Wright, R-Victoria, said she wouldnt need any training to hit the ground running in Richmond.

Theres a battle  to preserve our Christian conservative values, she told the Register & Bee last month when asked of her campaign platform.

She also said she wanted to carry on Ruffs legacy for workforce development.

In addition, she shell strive to preserve the rural heritage of Southside.

Other than her husband, Mulchi said she only had two other important men in her life: her father and Ruff.

Mulchi and Ruff talked almost daily after his cancer diagnosis. He eventually told her he wouldnt be able to carry on.

Thats when Ruff suggested Mulchi run for the seat and a pre-holiday campaign sprint.

In only a matter of days, she captured the Republican nomination, beating out six other contenders.

Her website describes her as fourth-generation resident of Mecklenburg County. Growing up on a tobacco farm, she said she has roots in the agricultural community.

Tammy is a proud conservative who voted for Donald Trump three times, and has been a relentless advocate for lower taxes, the second amendment, and protecting our values and heritage, her campaign website states.

The real estate agent also owns a residential construction business in Clarksville.

The General Assembly starts its 2024 session Wednesday.
Eric Phillips, R-Henry County, will be the new delegate for House District 48, representing Martinsville and Henry and Pittsylvania counties in the Virginia House of Delegates when the session begins Wednesday.

With 72% of the votes, Phillips soundly defeated his opponent, Melody Cartwright, D-Martinsville, in a district that historically favors Republicans.

Cartwright fared best in Martinsville, an area that has held wins for Democrats in recent elections, with 44% of the votes, but Phillips maintained the majority of the votes in the city with 56% with the provisional votes still outstanding.

In Henry County, Phillips received 73% of the votes with the provisional votes still remaining to be counted and in Pittsylvania County Phillips accumulated 76% with 19 of 21 precincts reporting.

In a special election, created by the resignation of Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania, votes totaled 5,337 in a district with 79,880 registered voters, representing a voter turnout of almost 6.7%.

This is what we were shooting and hoped for, said Phillips on the phone while enjoying dinner with his family at Elizabeths Pizza in Henry County. Weve worked 24-7 and I thank everyone that worked the polls in this weather. I sincerely hope and pray that I can do great things for the district.

Phillips said he would be leaving Tuesday night for Richmond in order to be present for the official swearing-in of new delegates at noon Wednesday.

Everyone else is already up there, so Ill put on some heat, the windshield wipers and some good music and Im headed to Richmond, Phillips said. Weve got until Friday so weve got some bills to file that will help our area.

Phillips thanked his wife, who he called a rock star for working hard and helping to keep him pointed in the right direction.

She loves to get involved and help, Phillips said. She loves every minute of it.

Cartwright did not respond to a request for comment, but had said in a previous interview that she had no plans to run for public office until she was encouraged to do so.

I had no plans for running for office until Dec. 15 when someone recruited me, Cartwright said. I believe in the democratic process and you need to have [at least] two people running. We havent had a Democrat represent us since Ward Armstrong and Roscoe Reynolds. I liked them both, but the landscape has changed.

The 2024 session of Virginias General Assembly convenes on Wednesday. Democrats have control of both the House of Delegates and Senate as lawmakers return to Richmond.
Jazeera Airways, Kuwaits leading low-cost carrier, inaugurated its new sales office in Riyadh recently. Operating in Saudi Arabia since 2007, the airline currently flies to six destinations including Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Hail, and Taif.

With 105 flights a week, Jazeera Airways serves 4,000 passengers covering areas of leisure, family visits, pilgrimages, and expatriate population.

Rohit Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer, Jazeera Airways, said: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an important market for us, and we are very pleased to open our new sales office in the city of Riyadh.

As we grow our presence in the country, we continue to stay focused on offering affordable fares and convenient connections while maintaining the highest levels of safety. We greatly value our relationships with the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) as well as our local travel trade partners, and take this opportunity to extend our deepest gratitude for their ongoing cooperation and support over the years.

We look forward to continuing our efforts to deliver the best to our partners and passengers, while steadily contributing to Saudis growing aviation industry.

Listed in the Best Workplaces in Asia list for 2023, Jazeera Airways has more than 50% Saudi nationals recruited into its local operations to support the governments ongoing Saudisation efforts.

Established in 2004, Jazeera Airways and is the first airline to be listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. With a market cap of more than $1 billion, it serves nearly 5 million passengers across a network of 64 destinations in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, Africa, and Europe, with a fleet of 23 aircraft. Jazeera also owns and operates its own terminal, Jazeera Terminal 5, at Kuwait International Airport.  TradeArabia News Service
Xavier Bettel, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, is currently on a working visit to Israel and Palestine.

Miri Shimonovich Israel Katz, Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs; Xavier Bettel, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs MAEE Xavier Bettel visits a kibbutz attacked by Hamas MAEE Xavier Bettel visits a kibbutz attacked by Hamas MAEE Israel Katz, Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs; Xavier Bettel, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Miri Shimonovich Xavier Bettel visits a kibbutz attacked by Hamas MAEE Xavier Bettel, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs; Amir Ohana, Speaker of the Knesset Miri Shimonovich Xavier Bettel visits a kibbutz attacked by Hamas Miri Shimonovich Xavier Bettel visits a kibbutz attacked by Hamas

The first day of the working visit was devoted to interviews in Israel. Minister Bettel first visited the Kfar Azza kibbutz, which was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, and met residents who survived the terrorist attack. Several dozen civilians had been killed or kidnapped on this kibbutz.

"The testimonies we have been able to gather this morning and the images we have seen are deeply disturbing. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify the barbaric acts committed by Hamas terrorists against innocent civilians", declared Xavier Bettel in this context, reiterating his call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas.

In Jerusalem, the Minister then had bilateral meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, and the Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana.

During these discussions, Minister Bettel stressed that every State has the right, and even the obligation, to defend its citizens against terrorist attacks. However, after three months of fighting and thousands of deaths among the civilian population of Gaza, it is becoming increasingly difficult to argue in favour of a defence that would be legitimate and proportional. He reiterated the absolute need for Israel to take reinforced measures to protect the civilian population in Gaza and to ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to all those in need. Finally, he reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, pointing out that previous ceasefires had led to the release of hostages.

The interviews also provided an opportunity for an in-depth exchange of views on the outlook for peace in the Middle East. In this respect, Minister Bettel underlined Luxembourg's commitment to the two-state solution, which is the only way to guarantee a just and lasting peace for all the peoples of the region. It would be a peace that would guarantee Israel's security and prevent attacks like those of 7 October from happening again, while respecting the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.

Minister Bettel will continue his working visit tomorrow in Ramallah, Palestine.

Press release by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defense, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade
In the wake of the 2022 property revaluation in Guilford County, the board of commissioners is thinking about ways to better relieve the financial burden on low-income homeowners. And in Greensboros city hall, staff are meeting over the next few weeks to discuss whether to continue the citys own tax-relief program.

The 2022 revaluation caused the countys tax base to grow by 31%, meaning that most property owners saw a hefty increase in their property-tax bills in the same year.

Commissioner Frankie Jones said the county has been working toward increasing the income threshold for property-tax relief from the current $36,700 to a level closer to the average median income in Guilford County  approximately $51,000.

The only hurdle is the state legislature.

According to state law, North Carolina sets an income eligibility limit for tax relief determined on or before July 1 of every year by the states department of revenue.

Jones said that he will be advocating for an increase in the income eligibility limit to be part of the countys upcoming legislative agenda.

Its more logical for an income eligibility limit to have an index point, Jones said, rather than to set a standard when there are such wide disparities in income levels across the state.

Its not going to change much unless we can get the folks from the legislature to understand that were in a different environment from some of these rural counties who have 25,000 people in them, said Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis. Theyre treating some of those counties differently from counties that have an urban city in them.

Guilford Countys program has eligibility for applicants at or over 65 years of age or those who are 100% and permanently disabled as of Jan. 1 of the year they apply. Relief from the program is $25,000 or up to 50% off their primary residence value.

Disabled veterans of any age or income are also eligible for a separate tax relief program, which excludes up to $45,000 of the appraised value of their home.

Greensboro takes a stab at it

The countys largest city, Greensboro, just wrapped up a pilot program offering property-tax relief to low-income homeowners in November.

Earlier in the year, city officials said that they had allocated $250,000 to the effort.

However, according to a city news release, the city gave out just $38,800 in financial assistance to 198 homeowners  which came out to an average of about $200 per household. The city had received 313 applications between April 15 and the deadline of June 19 in 2023.

When asked about the disparity between the allocation and distribution of financial aid, Caitlin Bowers, a staff member with the citys housing and neighborhood development department, said there were many applicants who didnt receive assistance because of three disqualifying factors:

The applicant had already received a Guilford County tax exclusion. Bowers said the city chose to exclude those applicants in order to widen the range of people who could receive help.

They were over the program income limit. Those who received the money had to qualify under one of two kinds of income criteria: a household of one earning equal to or less than $41,000, or a household of two or more earning equal to or less than $47,000.

They had less than a $50 tax increase between 2021 and 2022.

Bowers said that the countys tax relief program is able to offer much more assistance than that of Greensboros, but the citys tax relief comes in for others who arent eligible under the countys requirements.

And despite the relatively small amount of city assistance granted, Bowers said she believes the staff did a terrific job providing assistance and program access.

City staff had six weeks to begin the programs first year and provided paper applications, direct mail to interested residents, and held in-person events at every library branch in Greensboro. There was also an online application portal, which, along with paper applications, was translated into multiple languages.

Keith Debbage, a UNC Greensboro professor who in a 2016 study identified the city as having a major affordable housing problem, said that the new program provides another useful way to leverage homeownership.

The real housing crisis is in the rental market, not the owner-occupied market, Debbage wrote, adding, The quicker we can get folks out of rental units and into owner-occupied units, the better.
GREENSBORO  A severe thunderstorm gave Guilford County a gut punch Tuesday, making life miserable across the city and a challenge for emergency responders trying to keep traffic flowing and residents safe.

The storm  and the wrath it could potentially bring in the form of constant rain and high wind  had been predicted by meteorologists. And it delivered as expected.

As to flooding, yes, weve got a lot, said Jake Keys, a spokesman for the city, in an email. Too much right now to give numbers. Were also seeing a lot of downed trees (from the soaking rain and high winds). Same thing  too many to have a count just yet.

One of the places impacted by the flooding was the Retreat at Copper Lake apartment complex in south Greensboro. Some residents braved driving through the floodwaters in the complex while others waited a short distance away hoping for the weather event to recede.

I was here in September 2018 at the last flood, resident Tara Ras said. EMS) brought the boats the last time.

The storms scope stretched throughout the South, flipping over campers, tearing off roofs, downing trees and power lines and causing two deaths  one in the Catawba County town of Claremont due to a possible tornado.

North Carolina Emergency Management said power outages across the state totaled more than 108,100 as of 5 p.m.  roughly 7,000 of those in Guilford County.

There have been many severe weather systems across the nation in recent weeks. Duke Energy meteorologists have been tracking them, and our crews are prepared to respond if needed, said Jason Hollifield, a storm director for the utility. It is our priority to keep our customers informed and encourage them to prepare in advance.

Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency urging residents to take precautions.

Meanwhile, the constant deluge took its toll on the city.

Roads flooded.

Creeks and lakes overflowed.

Businesses and schools closed.

Cars and drivers were stranded.

Traffic on thoroughfares snarled.

A number of intersections closed.

Parking lots were filled with water.

By days end, Greensboro had become a waterlogged mess of a municipality.

Reached by phone around 3:15 p.m., Guilford County Emergency Management Director Steven Grose said that since 11:30 a.m. the fire service and public works departments had received an estimated 30 to 40 calls for issues such as downed trees or power lines.

Also, there were a few reports of trees falling on houses as well as vehicles that needed help getting out of flooded areas.

Reached again around 5:15 p.m., Grose said the countys emergency response had largely shifted to dealing with flooded locations.

And there were a number of them. In some areas, the water didnt appear to be receding, foreshadowing more problems to come.

By night, the relentless rain had stopped and given way to, of all things, a starry sky. Almost as if the last several hours never happened. But they did. You didnt have to look far to figure that out. And driving winds promised more drama, and damage, to come.

Maybe thats why Greensboro was largely devoid of life. Randleman Road. East Market Street. Battleground Avenue. Streets were empty.

This city had endured enough for one day.
In all likelihood, the very last thing Mayor Allen Joines wanted to think about Monday before the new years first meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council was that damn statue.

A contentious fight over the sale of a city-owned building and a request for $40,000 to expand emergency shelter options for the homeless were on the agenda. Either one warranted thoughtful discussion.

But a 20-foot Confederate statue and obelisk, tucked away and mostly forgotten in storage since 2019?

Out of sight, out of mind, Joines said.

Not really. Not anymore.

A judge in Gaston County ruled Friday that its commissioners could indeed keep their cookie-cutter Confederate in front of their new courthouse.

Um. What?

And you thought the question about whether locales could continue to poke a figurative finger in the eyes of their Black residents had been settled.

Its not exactly a hard tack to beef jerky comparison between the situation in Gastonia and whats transpired in Forsyth.

For example, Winston-Salem officials ordered the removal of its statue from a small patch of ground next to private property; the old Forsyth County courthouse had been converted into condos. The Gastonia memorial is on public property.

But there are similarities  chief among them the fact that both were put up just after the turn of the 20th Century when Southern states were leaning hard into Jim Crow laws.

Statues and memorials, many of them mass produced by a new breed of carpetbaggers, were sold to Southern cities and counties as in-your-face reminders to their Black citizens that white, power-wielding majorities viewed them as less-than.

Why else would the Daughters of the Confederacy, who paid for the Forsyth monument, have invited Alfred Moore Waddell  a former Confederate officer, white supremacist and leader of the 1898 Wilmington massacre  to give the keynote address at the dedication in 1905?

If youve any doubt about intent, a sampling of Waddells oratory following the Wilmington massacre might clear that up: How many negroes we killed in my county, God only knows. But this we do know. We choked the Cape Fear with their corpses.

Seems clear; its no leap to think that early 20th Century leaders in Gaston County, which put its monument up in 1912, may have harbored similar sentiments.

Such monuments sat for decades causing resentment but little action. The drive to remove them kicked into high gear following the shameful 2017 Unite the Right rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.

(Very fine people on both sides, the nations most famous criminal defendant said after Charlottesville.)

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, some 500 Confederate symbols  plaques, monuments, markers and street names  have been removed or replaced since 2015.

More than 2,600 remain, mostly in Southern states. Of those, however, about 890 are Confederate statues.

One of those stands in front of the Gaston County Courthouse, where a statue of a Confederate soldier sits atop a 30-foot pillar.

It was moved to the new courthouse in 1998 and includes an inscription with the words heroes and noble service  a key point for the judge who determined that it could stay put.

Gaston commissioners, per WFAE in Charlotte, tried to remove it in 2020 by giving it to the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. But that group, sensing a potential quagmire involving a legal hot potato, declined.

Anyhow, the statue stayed put and the NAACP sued, saying that keeping it in front of the courthouse violated civil rights enshrined in the state Constitution.

Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin ruled Friday that it didn't violate the Constitution but cautioned that leaving it as is risks sending the message In White Supremacy We Trust.

He offered a few outs, including giving the statue to the NAACP and letting them relocate it or removing the words heroes and noble service.. That way the county might not violate the states objects of remembrance law, passed in 2015 to make moving monuments and memorials more difficult.

So why does this matter now? Especially with the Forsyth County Confederate statue stashed in storage?

Because lawsuits are still possible despite a 2022 N.C. Supreme Court decision that tossed one major challenge; the court left room for additional machinations.

We have not completed litigation, Joines said. There were three suits, two were dismissed or disposed of. One is still out there.

So yeah, while the Confederate statue has been out of sight and out of mind, the controversy isnt over. Not yet.

Ignoring it or pretending it isnt there is no way to proceed. Cockroaches multiply in the dark and sunshine is the best disinfectant.

The creeks are rising and trees falling

Tuesdays rain and wind may have blown east and north but problems caused by wild weather are still being discovered.

Creeks and rivers, obviously, have flooded. The mighty Yadkin River isnt expected to crest until this evening.

And as people started moving about this morning, additional hazards and road blockages have been discovered.

A few of note that might take awhile to remedy include:

In Greensboro, a downed tree blocked Brookhaven Mill Road between McConnell Road and Millpoint Road. Downed trees blocked both lanes of travel on Friendly Avenue between Whitier and Greenway drives near New Irving Park.

In Winston-Salem, trees blown onto power lines on Vienna-Dozier Road impeded traffic in western Forsyth County.

In Yadkin County, flooding from creeks that feed the Yadkin County closed old U.S. 421 near Myers road.

And in Stokes County, the side of Highway 89 near N.C.8 washed out completely.

Officials with the N.C. Department of Transportation said that section of road will be closed until at least February as extensive repairs are needed.
A man accused of making threats to blow up Dodson School admitted to committing a hoax crime, authorities said Tuesday.

Jacob Edwin Wilson, a transient, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls to false information and hoaxes as charged in an indictment, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Wilson faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, The U.S. Attorney's office said.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The court set sentencing for May 9. Wilson was detained pending further proceedings, Laslovich said.

In court documents, the government alleged that on Aug. 29, 2023, Wilson called both the 911 emergency number in Blaine County and the Dodson school located near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and said he was about to blow Dodson school up.

The school was in session that day and was evacuated on buses to a nearby church parking lot, authorities said.

First responders from the Phillips County Sheriffs Office, Malta Fire Department and U.S. Border Patrol set up security and searched the school for an explosive device, officials said. None was found.

Wilson called 911 again and asked for someone to give him a ride off the reservation. He said he was at another persons house and that he needed a ride from anyone except the Fort Belknap police, authorities said. The 911 operators traced the call to the persons residence, which was on the Fort Belknap Reservation. Officers found Wilson and arrested him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey K. Starnes is prosecuting the case. The FBI, Fort Belknap Tribal Police, Phillips County Sheriffs Office, U.S. Border Patrol and Malta Fire Department did the investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
The law makes it illegal to kill, possess, transport, sell, purchase, import or export bald and golden eagles, their body parts, nests or eggs. The law was expanded in 1962 to cover golden eagles in addition to bald eagles. A first violation is punishable by one year in federal prison, one year of probation and a $5,000 fine. The prison term and fine are doubled for subsequent convictions on the same charge.

The events leading to the indictment were alleged to have occurred from about the start of 2015 through about March 2021. Branson allegedly told buyers he was "out (here) committing felonies," according to the indictment. Together, the pair are alleged to have sold whole bald and golden eagles, bald and golden eagle wings, and golden eagle tails.

In June 2023, a Hardin man was sentenced in federal court in South Dakota to three years in federal prison, one year of probation and $70,000 in restitution for killing 14 juvenile golden eagles and selling their parts. That man, Harvey Hugs, was previously convicted in 2012 of aiding and abetting eagle trafficking.
Another Republican has announced theyre running for the states eastern congressional district. State Sen. Ken Bogner threw his hat in the ring Tuesday ahead of the opening for candidate filing later this week.

Bogner, a Miles City native, is a Marine Corps veteran and was Montana state senate president pro tempore last session. In a press release announcing his candidacy, Bogner highlighted his military service. He entered the U.S. Marine Corps at 18 and was deployed on two combat tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2008.

This is personal. We lost Afghanistan, we're losing at our southern border, and we'll lose to China if we don't push back, Bogner said in the press release. As a Marine, I cannot stand by and just let this happen. I am running to restore Americas strength. Joe Biden must be held accountable for weakening our military and our national defense. Its time to send in a Marine to fight and take our country back.

The Republican in the seat now  U.S. Rep. Matt Rosnedale  has heavily hinted hell jump in the U.S. Senate primary but has yet to announce his decision. Rosendale would face a primary that includes Tim Sheehy, the ex-Navy SEAL and CEO of an aerial firefighting company hand-picked by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to run against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. The race is expected to be one of the most closely watched and expensive in the country this year.

In the press release, Bogner said hell campaign with a focus on national security, fiscal responsibility and government transparency.

During the most recent legislation session, he carried a bill to prohibit foreign adversaries like China from purchasing land in Montana.

Several other Republicans have announced theyre running for the eastern congressional seat or will join the race if Rosendale makes his bid for Senate. That includes state Auditor Troy Downing, who on Tuesday said he raised about $194,000 since announcing his bid for the seat, in addition to putting $150,000 of his own money into his campaign. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, who is termed out from running again, has said shell enter the race if Rosendale moves to the Senate contest.

Former GOP state legislator Joel Krautter, a Billings attorney, is also running, as are former state legislators Rick Holden, a Dawson County rancher, and Ed Walker, of Billings. Stacy Zinn, who said she was a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, is also in the race.

And Republican Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci has said hell also run if Rosendale seeks the Senate seat.

On the Democratic side, Helena resident Kev Hamm and Ming Cabrera, a former pharmaceutical representative in Billings, are running.
Ravens attack grebes

This Associated Press story about ravens was published in 2004.

BOZEMAN (AP) - A Yellowstone National Park ornithologist who saw four ravens systematically kill 141 grebes describes the spectacle in the new issue of Yellowstone Science, a quarterly magazine.

Terry McEneaney had known for a long time that ravens are efficient predators. But he was astonished last May when he saw four of them attack so many grebes on icy Yellowstone Lake.

Western-eared grebes generally do not spend much time in Yellowstone, but on May 1 hundreds passed overhead, en route north for the summer.

McEneaney was at the lake, looking for bald eagle nesting sites, when he saw a grebe on the frozen water. Shifting cloud shadows apparently had fooled the bird into thinking it was landing on open water.

"Then I saw another grebe, and another grebe, and another grebe," McEneaney said. "They were all over the place."

Grebes need open water for takeoff, so once they landed, they were stuck there.

Enter the ravens.

At first, only one was on the ice. It "flew out to one of the stranded grebes and pulverized it with its long beak until it was dead," McEneaney wrote in the magazine.

The raven left the grebe where it lay, then moved to another and pecked it to death, as well. At about 11 ounces, grebes are much smaller than ravens.

Twenty minutes later, three more ravens joined in and started killing grebes.

Then two bald eagles showed up and began eating the grebes the ravens had killed.

McEneaney watched for three hours and kept track of the action.

After the ravens had killed 92 birds, they began dismantling the carcasses and flying to the shore, where they cached the grebe meat in the snow, said McEneaney, who has studied ravens for nearly 20 years. "When there's an abundance of food, they cache it," he said. "They went back and forth, back and forth."

He had to leave, but when he returned at day's end, all 141 grebes were dead.

McEneaney said he has watched ravens carry off 13 baby magpies, pluck trout from a stream and even try to peck a mired bison to death, starting with its eyes. What he saw at Yellowstone Lake in May topped it all.

"I've never seen anything of this magnitude," he said. "I didn't believe they could do that much predation in one day."

McEneaney said he never considered trying to intervene. The ice was not safe, and park regulations require Mother Nature be allowed to take its course.

"That's what it's all about," McEneaney said. "As gruesome as it sounds, it was really interesting to watch. It's etched in my mind."
What is the weather forecast? Heavy snow, high winds, blowing snow? Oh, OK nothing much to talk about there.

For some that is a major headline, a major headache, and the precursor of changed plans that have significant downsides. For many Corn Belt grain farmers, currently working crop budgets, operating loan applications, marketing plans, and tax preparation, this weeks local weather is not a headline at all.

They are more adept at the weather forecast for Brazils Mato Grosso, and the Argentine Pampas than anything else. That is where the action is. And unfortunately, even challenging weather in Brazil, where soybeans seem to survive any drought, the recent weather adversities have not been reflected on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Ironically, even as yield projections continue to drop in the heart of Brazilian soybean country, prices continue to be driven down by soybean traders around the world who utilize Chicago futures and options contracts. And farmers dont have much hair left, after soybeans lost 15% of their value in the last year and opened 2024 with a 50 cent per bushel drop in U.S. value, and a $1.50 drop even in Brazil.

On Tuesday, the nearby January soybean contract in Chicago closed 2 cents higher. That was the first close higher since that contract closed at $13.16 on Dec. 27. That miniscule close higher on Tuesday put January soybeans at $12.41.

Soybeans reached bullish price levels early in 2023, enough to push soybean acreage up 3.5 million acres higher than had been expected. With the soybean price flame barely aglow now as farmers are making acreage plans for 2024, how much soybean acreage will be reduced from last year. Farmers currently can probably pencil out more income from corn than soybeans, however, there is no guarantee that any of it will be in the black and not in the red for 2024.

Will the weather change in South America and turn the markets around? Likely not. Currently, Argentina which had one of its worst weather and crop years in the last growing season, is having one of its best weather years as farmers there plant a new crop. Argentine corn has been planted ahead of schedule and the past two months have provided about 10 inches of precipitation. That is what U.S. farmers would loved to have had last May and June, when precipitation was only 35% of average.

The South American crop and weather story is far from complete. There is more uncertainty in Brazil than anywhere else, since most of that nations farmers plant a double crop of soybeans and then corn. The current Brazilian drought is playing havoc with a majority of the soybean acreage, but will that mean an early decrepit harvest, or will late rains extend the soybean growing season, and push soybean harvest beyond the optimal date for planting the second crop corn?

There is a lot of time for the South American crops to develop, which will be a major influencer on Chicago grain prices. U.S. farmers are holding 35% of their soybeans and 65% of the corn from 2023.along with their breath.

Will savings interest rates stay high in 2024? Will savings interest rates stay high in 2024? How to make the most of savings interest rates
BRISTOL, Va.  The Bristol Virginia School Board gave final approval Monday to a new student cell phone policy that is expected to go into place later this year.

The board worked with educators and administrators for several months to update its policy on student use and access to personal cell phones on school property, during school hours. The policy applies to Virginia Middle School and Virginia High.

The final version is very close to the draft version approved last year and seen by parents, staff and the boards attorney, Superintendent David Scott said.

There were a few commenters on social media and, as time went on, we didnt hear anything positive or negative from the public, Scott said after Mondays meeting. The reception from the students that we talked to was very positive. In speaking with our administrators, we have a lot of support.

One of the strengths of what were talking about now is to clarify what the administrative response will be. I think some of the frustration prior to this action, there was a bit of gray area on what to expect. This hopefully will let everybody know what the rules are and what to expect, Scott said.

The policy specifies six areas that will result in disciplinary consequences for the student. Those include unauthorized use during class time; possessing cell phone during tests, examinations, or experiential learning activities; unauthorized audio or video recording of a person or a setting where there is an expectation of privacy; communicating messages that promote hatred, instigate violence, harass, or otherwise diminish or antagonize students or staff members or using a cell phone in any other violation of the student code of conduct.

Scott said the policy will be enforced after

Im not in favor of changing things midstream. I think after weve had a chance to talk to students and talk to staff, we may look at doing it after a natural break in the schedule, Scott said. It may be implemented after Easter but hopefully not waiting as long as next school year.

Newly selected board Chair Breanne Forbes Hubbard was pleased with the policy.

We needed to do something. We were hearing from a lot of different stakeholders that cell phones were really disruptive in class but I think thats something everybody knows. We needed to do something to allow our teachers to be able to teach with fewer interruptions and students be able to learn with fewer interruptions, Forbes Hubbard said.

On first violation, a student must surrender the phone for the day. A second violation results in in-school suspension and the parent or guardian must pick up the phone. Additional violations will result in in-school suspension and suspension for up to two days, according to the policy.

We just modified the existing policy and I think the expectations are fairly outlined for enforcement for students and administration. Hopefully that will make things smoother, she said.

During the boards annual reorganization, Forbes Hubbard was unanimously chosen as this years chair, succeeding Randy Alvis, and Vanessa Guffey was selected as vice chair. Tammy Jones remains the boards clerk and Stephanie Austin is deputy clerk.
OK, OK, so the tree smells. But it's a tree. It gives us oxygen. In this dire world of obvious climate change  extreme storms, drought and countless associated maladies  don't we need all the trees we can get? Don't we need more tree huggers and fewer tree haters?

Well, yes, say Beasley (who is also a landscape architect) and countless other arborists and environmentalists. But the issues with the Bradford pear are motley and manifold.

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Its top offenses, aside from the smell, are that it's invasive to the United States. A version of it, the Callery pear, was brought over from China to the Northwest U.S. in the early 20th century, in an effort led in part by botanist David Fairchild, who was partially responsible for bringing Japanese cherry blossoms to Washington, D.C.

The Callery was thought to be resistant to fire blight, a serious bacterial disease that affects other pear trees. The idea was to use the Callery "as a rootstock onto which varieties of the European pear could be grafted."

Fast-forward to 1960: Tree scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Glenn Dale, Maryland, released the Bradford pear  a cultivar of the Callery  to the public. It didn't matter that it was pear-less, despite its name. "People went bonkers," in a good way, The New York Times noted.

The tree seemed perfect for suburban America: a nice, neat canopy shape; not too big; seemingly hardy and showy colors in spring and fall. It became commonplace in the U.S., from north to south, east to west.

"Much like a crape myrtle is today, for a time this was the hot tree for contractors and home builders to plant," Beasley says. "It was easily sourced, fast-growing ... and virtually indestructible." All was well in the world.

And then it was not.
Dr Oppermann has handed in his badge after eight years in the role of NSW Chief Data Scientist. Photo: supplied

Dr Ian Oppermann is leaving his role as the NSW Chief Data Scientist to join former politician Victor Dominello in a new venture.

Having served as ACS President from 2020 to 2021, Dr Oppermann announced his departure on LinkedIn, saying that after almost eight years in the role, he was handing in the NSW Chief Data Scientist badge.

It has certainly been an interesting ride, Dr Oppermann said.

It started with helping to establish the NSW Data Analytics Centre (the DAC) back in 2015.

From these early beginnings trying to help government think differently about use of data, to developing and promoting data sharing frameworks, the development and evolution of the PIF tool and finally to the development of the NSW AI Assurance Framework.

As the first Chief Data Scientist of NSW, Dr Oppermann led the way in transforming how the NSW government understood and used data to drive decisions affecting its citizens, including through the COVID-19 period.

Dr Oppermann cofounded ServiceGen  which touts itself as being governments strategic partner for trusted service transformation  with former NSW Minister for Customer Service, Victor Dominello in 2023.

In addition to his role at ServiceGen, Dr Oppermann is also Industry Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) a part-time director of Standards Australia.

He has contributed to six books and co-authored more than 120 papers which have been cited more than 3,500 times.
Indiana State Police served a 24th warrant in late December at the home of former Republican Clark County Council member Brittney Ferree, as part of the ongoing criminal investigation of the former Clark County Sheriff.

Police arrested Noel Nov. 8. He was charged with 15 felonies including corrupt business influence, theft and ghost employment, months after state police served initial warrants in the case.

Investigators have since served new batches of warrants, including one in mid-December in which they seized a small plane.

Accusations against Noel include that he moved cars through the nonprofit Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association, also known as New Chapel EMS, for his own gain. Police also say he used sheriffs office employees to work on his personal properties while being paid by the county, and that he and his associates kept government surplus equipment given to the sheriffs office.

The latest known warrant was served Dec. 28 at Ferrees Sellersburg home. She was elected to the Clark County Council in 2018, the same year Noel was elected to a second term as sheriff. Court records show Noel and Ferree had a child together in 2019. Noel is responsible for paying Ferree child support.

As part of the investigation started in June 2023, state police talked with Clark County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mark Grube. Court records show he told investigators he had received an unconfirmed tip that Noel had given Ferree a white BMW owned by Utica/New Chapel.

Police say the title history of the white 2015 BMW shows it as registered to Ferree, and that records show she bought it Jan. 23, 2023 for $21,000 from Noel. At the time of sale, it was listed as owned by Utica/New Chapel.

Investigators reviewed bank information for Noel, his wife and daughter, and Utica/New Chapel and were unable to find record of a $21,000 check for the vehicle.

Investigators also reviewed documents from the Indiana Child Support Bureau related to Noels child support history, which they say shows he made many of the payments from Utica/New Chapel funds.

They say he did not claim the support payments on the nonprofit payroll or related tax documents, which would be required. They say he provided more than $25,000 annually in child support.

In late December, investigators reviewed a WAVE 3 News article, which indicated the Noel family previously gave $500 to Ferrees election campaign, along with other Republican county candidates in Clark and Floyd counties.

Police investigators attempted to verify this and found that Kasey Noel, Jamey Noels daughter, was listed as having donated to Ferree. Campaign finance reports reviewed by LPM News show Kasey Noel donated $500 to Ferrees campaign in 2018. Noel himself is not listed as donating.

According to police, Noel deposited, withdrew and wired funds from his daughters account on multiple occasions.

Police say in the latest court documents, as in some others, that the multiple versions of names of the business entities appear to be an attempt at layering on Noels part. This is done to make tracking funds through a particular business more difficult.

There is evidence of complex layering schemes involving sending money to different accounts using a series of transactions, court records read, in part. These patterns were consistent in the bank records for Utica Township Volunteer Fire Fighter Association, New Chapel EMS & Fire, Jamey Noel, Misty Noel, Kasey Noel, and the Clark County Sheriffs Department Commissary Fund.

LPM previously reported Noel is accused of using the jails commissary funds to pay former Scott County Sheriff Kenny Hughbanks for consulting work.

As part of the Dec. 28 warrant, investigators were looking for information on vehicle sales, gifts and purchases from any businesses associated with Noel, his wife and daughter, Utica/New Chapel and the Clark County Sheriffs Office. They also sought bank information and electronic devices belonging to Ferree. Ferree is not facing charges.

Noel was released on bond in November and has a pretrial conference Jan. 16 with a trial scheduled for May.
Microsoft has issued patches for 48 CVEs in its first Patch Tuesday release for the year, with no zero-day or publicly disclosed vulnerabilities among them.

Security vendor Tenable said this count did not include CVE-2022-35737, a vulnerability in SQLite called Stranger Strings that was assigned by MITRE and patched in July 2022.

Satnam Narang, senior staff research engineer at Tenable, said this was the second successive Patch Tuesday with no zero-day vulnerabilities (either exploited or publicly disclosed) reported.

Microsoft patched CVE-2024-21318, a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint Server," he said.

"An authenticated attacker with Site Owner privileges could exploit this vulnerability, potentially obtaining access to highly sensitive files stored in this cloud-based server.

"Despite the authentication requirement, Microsoft said exploitation of this flaw is more likely. It is credited to researchers at STAR Labs SG Pte. Ltd.

"In September 2023, STAR Labs researchers published a blog post outlining successful chaining of two vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint Server (CVE-2023-29357, CVE-2023-24955)."

Narang advised organisations that use SharePoint Server to apply these patches as soon as possible.

Other vulnerabilities that caught Narang's attending were several elevation of privilege vulnerabilities across several products including Windows Clouds Files Mini Filter Driver (CVE-2024-21310), Common Log File System (CVE-2024-20653), Windows Kernel (CVE-2024-20698) and Win32k (CVE-2024-20683, CVE-2024-20686) that are rated as Exploitation More Likely.

"These bugs are commonly used as part of post-compromise activity, that is, once attackers have gained an initial foothold onto systems, they would use these vulnerabilities to elevate privileges outside the bounds of current privileges, which are often limited," he explained.

"There is a steady stream of these flaws patched each month, with some having been exploited in the wild as zero-days. While much of the attention is paid to vulnerabilities marked as critical, such as remote code execution bugs or vulnerabilities with CVSS scores above 9, these serve as a reminder of the importance of patching vulnerabilities that are more likely to be exploited by attackers.

Adam Barnett, lead software engineer at security outfit Rapid7, highlighted CVE-2024-20700, a remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows Hyper-V hardware virtualisation service.

"Microsoft ranks this vulnerability as critical under its own proprietary severity scale," he said. "However, the CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 equates only to high severity, reflecting the high attack complexity  attackers must win a race condition  and the requirement for the attack to be launched from the restricted network.

"The advisory is light on detail, so it isnt clear exactly where the attacker must be located  the LAN on which the hypervisor resides, or a virtual network created and managed by the hypervisor  or in what context the remote code execution would occur.

"However, since Microsoft ranks the vulnerability as more severe than the CVSS score would suggest, defenders should assume that exploitation is possible from the same subnet as the hypervisor, and that code execution will occur in a SYSTEM context on the Hyper-V host."

Barnett also pointed to CVE-2024-20674 for which all Windows versions had received a patch. "(This) describes a flaw in the Windows implementation of Kerberos," he elaborated. "By establishing a machine-in-the-middle (MitM), an attacker could trick a client into thinking it is communicating directly with the Kerberos authentication server, and subsequently bypass authentication and impersonate the client user on the network.

"Although exploitation requires an existing foothold on the local network, both the CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.1 and Microsofts proprietary severity ranking of critical reflect that there is no requirement for user interaction or prior authentication. Microsoft also notes that it considers exploitation of this vulnerability more likely."

Mike Walters, president and co-founder of risk-based patch management software vendor Action1, said according to the CVSS metric, the attack vector for the Kerberos vulnerability was categorised as adjacent (AV:A), indicating that the attacker must first gain access to a restricted network to launch the attack successfully.

"Moreover, successful exploitation could result in a scope change (S:C)," he added. "This indicates that the vulnerabilitys impact extends beyond the security scope managed by the authority responsible for the affected component, affecting components managed by different security authorities."

Walters also pointed to CVE-2024-21307, a remote code execution vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Client, normally used for establishing remote desktop connections.

"This vulnerability is classified as a Remote Code Execution with an Important severity rating and a CVSS score of 7.5 / 6.5," he noted. "Its successful exploitation poses a significant threat to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system impacted.

"The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over a network connection, as its attack vector is network-based. The CVSS metric assigns a high attack complexity (AC:H) to this vulnerability, suggesting that sophisticated methods, potentially involving a race condition, are required for successful exploitation.

"No user interaction or special privileges are needed for exploitation. This implies that an unauthorised attacker could exploit this vulnerability by waiting for a user to connect to the compromised Remote Desktop Client, thereby enabling the execution of arbitrary code on the target system.

"The scope and impact of this vulnerability remain unchanged, posing a high risk to the systems confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Exploitation could lead to unauthorised access, data manipulation, and disruption of system operations. The affected operating systems include Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022.

As of the original publication, there have been no demonstrations of proof-of-concept or confirmed exploitations. The maturity of any exploit code is considered unproven. The application of Microsofts official fix is recommended for mitigation.
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WAUKEE, Iowa - Asa Hutchinson surveyed the beer and burger joint. "Do we have any Iowans here?" the Republican presidential candidate asked dubiously.

He hesitated, knowing there weren't many. Most of the faces staring back were students visiting from Duke University, attending Iowa caucus campaign events hosted by several candidates to learn more about the state's democratic tradition.

One woman couldn't quite figure out who he was. "Was he a state trooper?" wondered Debbie White, who was visiting Iowa and had heard snippets of Hutchinson's speech on fentanyl and immigration.

Canvassing earlier in the day also gave rise to some confusion. "I knocked on a door today, and they said they loved me," Hutchinson said in an interview. "And they said, 'Who are you going support?' and I said 'I'm still running.' "

There are long shots, longer-shots, and then there is Hutchinson, a former two-term Arkansas governor-turned-2024-footnote. Months after better polling, better-funded candidates such as Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and former vice president Mike Pence concluded they had no path in a race dominated by former president Donald Trump and ended their campaigns, Hutchinson is still running.

"Asa is not going to do well in the caucus," John Hughes, a Republican who formerly lived in Arkansas but retired in Iowa, told The Washington Post, "but I'm going to vote for him because I like him, I like what he says, and I know he's a good guy."

Hughes was the sole Iowan at the event who told The Post that he planned to caucus for the governor, eagerly raising his hand when Hutchinson queried the crowd for residents of this state.

In a pre-Donald Trump era, Hutchinson might have fared far better. He has the resume of conservative accomplishments and executive experience that would have likely made him a serious contender for the nomination. First appointed the youngest federal prosecutor in the country by former president Ronald Reagan, Hutchinson became a conservative fixture in the once-blue Arkansas, serving three terms in Congress. Under President George W. Bush, he headed the Drug Enforcement Administration and then went on to the Department of Homeland Security, overseeing the creation of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When he ran for his second and last term as the state's governor, he won more votes than any previous Arkansas governor.

But Trump has reshaped the Republican Party, and Hutchinson trails well behind him and the rest of the pack. The former governor has under one percent support, according to some polling averages.

Yet he is adamant that there's still a place for him in this contest. Hutchinson said he intends to stay in the race through the caucus because he believes he can return normalcy to the country and party and will reevaluate depending on if he exceeds his expectations, but he declined to define what that would be.

At his event the day after the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, he has sharply criticized Trump, suggesting the mob was unpatriotic and Trump was wrong to glorify the violent day. Hutchinson, dressed in a dark brown sweater and navy trousers, appeared to mostly casually chat with the students about their experience in Iowa. Students later remarked how different the event felt compared to others, with one equating it to a campaign event that a school board candidate might host.

The former red-state governor has gone to 30 cities in Iowa over the past two weeks, traveling on a shoestring budget, and encountering questions about his campaign's viability, and people who don't recognize him.

"Hi, I'm Asa Hutchinson," he said to a couple eating dinner in a booth at the restaurant.

"Oh yeah," responded the man who paused eating his buffalo chicken wings and appeared confused as to why a presidential candidate stood before him. Jon, who spoke under the condition his last name not be used for privacy reasons, later told The Post he didn't know much about Hutchinson other than he was running for president. Jon, and his wife Teresa, said they didn't plan to caucus, but if they did, they might support Gov. Ron DeSantis because they have a second home on the west coast of Florida and appreciated his handling of Hurricane Ian. (They did not stay to hear Hutchinson speak.)

Although Hutchinson tried to engage with another Iowan family at the neighboring booth, diners mostly looked on.

Of the handful of Iowans dining inside, nearly no one there had plans to support him in the caucus. One man sitting near the bar, Mike Eckerd, said he was undecided but had not ruled out Hutchinson. But a mother and daughter at the event, who declined to share their names, said they did not intend to support Hutchinson because they didn't believe his candidacy was viable; the daughter had picked former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and the mother was between Haley and DeSantis.

The Duke students, who have attended events for every major candidate, listened attentively to Hutchinson speak, and they said they appreciated his care and time answering their questions on Israel, transgender rights, student loans and more.

But as they boarded their bus after the event, they reflected on how the man who had shaken their hands, posed for selfies with them and talked with them about politics, had virtually no chance of becoming president. While they said they thought he had a kind disposition and his answers reflected old-school conservative values, they agreed he was not someone Republicans would support - and they wouldn't vote for him either.

"He's unfortunately not extreme enough for the Republican Party," said 18-year-old Amaia Clayton, who is a registered Democrat and plans to vote for Biden but said she liked Haley the best. "He felt like a Republican of the past. He felt like his policies seemed realistic, even if I didn't fully agree with them. But we knew he wasn't going to win. He's just normal."

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More than a dozen Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they will seek to block President Biden's request to skirt congressional oversight of arms transfers to Israel, the latest signal of frustration among members of his own political party who have recoiled at the stunning civilian death toll resulting from Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the push comes as more Democrats, historically stalwart backers of the Jewish state, have urged the president to step up efforts to rein in America's chief ally in the Middle East. International human rights groups have accused Israel of conducting indiscriminate bombing in Gaza amounting to war crimes.

Nearly 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past three months of fighting in the densely populated enclave, according to Gaza health officials, as Israel wages a devastating campaign in retaliation for the cross-border attack by Hamas militants that left 1,200 dead.

The Biden administration, which rushed to back Israel after Hamas's Oct. 7 massacre, has been unusually secretive about its ongoing military support program, and is seeking to exempt its arms transfers from a mandatory congressional notification process that applies to all other foreign arms sales.

Administration officials already bypassed Congress in that regard late last month, angering Democrats by invoking an emergency authority and the "urgency of Israel's defensive needs" to approve a $147.5 million sale of artillery rounds and related equipment.

At the moment, lawmakers are negotiating over Biden's request for more than $10 billion in additional military assistance for Israel - already the largest recipient of U.S. security aid - as part of a $106 billion supplemental budget request that would pay for a host of national security initiatives. The proposal also would provide billions of dollars for U.S. border security, as well as military assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan, but remains stalled as Republicans and Democrats search for an agreement on immigration reforms targeting illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border.

Biden's request, according to bill text released by the Senate Appropriations Committee, included a provision saying "any congressional notification requirement applicable to funds made available . . . for Israel may be waived if the Secretary of State determines that to do so is in the national security interest of the United States."

Kaine and his fellow Senate Democrats - Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Raphael G. Warnock (Ga.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) - said their amendment would strike that provision.

"I have strongly supported U.S. aid necessary for Israel's defense," Kaine said in a statement, "but all nations should be subject to the same standard." The statement stops short of condemning the Israeli offensive or making other demands of the administration to restrain Israel.

Other Democrats in the House and Senate have been far more critical, calling on the administration to force Israel to meet certain conditions to receive U.S. aid or openly opposing any further assistance. The Democratic Party's left flank has been particularly vocal in urging Biden to take a stronger stance in support of Palestinian human rights.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said last week that he opposes the administration's additional aid request for Israel, calling the campaign in Gaza "grossly disproportionate, immoral, and in violation of international law."

"And, most importantly for Americans, we must understand that Israel's war against the Palestinian people has been significantly waged with U.S. bombs, artillery shells, and other forms of weaponry," Sanders said in a statement.

A number of other lawmakers have called for the administration to impose conditions on American weapons transfers.

The administration's lack of transparency also has prompted Democrats in Congress to demand basic information about its assistance to Israel, and the parameters of Israel's goals, methods and process for measuring success in Gaza. Critics have drawn comparisons to Biden's approach in aiding Ukraine, which the administration says also faces a dire need for more weaponry in its fight against Russia.

Since the war there began two years ago, the State Department and Pentagon have publicly documented tens of billions of dollars in U.S. assistance.

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President Joe Biden kicked off his reelection campaign with two speeches filled with his usual fact-challenged bombast. But since checking that might sound like "normalizing" bombastic Donald Trump, the "independent fact-checkers" have filed nothing after his speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 5 and his speech in Charleston, South Carolina, on Jan. 8.

But USA Today leaped to Biden's defense on Jan. 7, censoring Facebook posts that claimed Biden didn't condemn political violence after the race riots in the summer of 2020. In Charleston, Biden glorified "the historic movement for justice" at that time, which is whitewashing some history.

Let's review a few "checkable" misstatements by Biden, starting with the Valley Forge speech:

1. Trump is "willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power." If we can be literal  as fact-checkers often are with Republicans  Trump is running for president, not sending tanks into the streets.

2. "Jill and I attended the funeral of police officers who died as a result of the events of that day [Jan. 6] ... because of Donald Trump's lies, they died because these lies brought a mob to Washington." Joe and Jill attended two memorial services for Capitol police officers. Brian Sicknick died of a stroke a day after the riots. Billy Evans was crushed by a car on April 2, 2021, by a follower of Louis Farrakhan.

3. "More than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol." Obviously, not everyone charged for Jan. 6 was charged with violence. Many were charged with "parading" or "trespassing." But Biden blurred them all together, adding, "Trump's mob wasn't a peaceful protest. It was a violent assault."

4. He attacked "those who seek to bury history and ban books. Did you ever think you'd be at a political event talking about book banning  in a presidential election?" Liberals often describe the removal of any book from a school library as a "book ban," but that term sounds much broader, like conservatives have banned a book from being circulated or sold.

There were more in the Charleston speech.

1. He repeated, "They're trying to erase history and your future: banning books; denying your right to vote and have it counted; destroying diversity, equality, inclusion all across America." This is an even broader accusation, blurring book controversies with "erasing futures" and depriving people of a right to vote. This line is coming from Democrats who want to strip Trump's name off the ballot.

2. "I've spent more time in the Bethel AME church in Wilmington, Delaware  than most people I know, black or white ... That's where I started. ... It started with the civil rights movement." Obviously, Biden isn't in that Delaware church more than its weekly parishioners. The New York Post reported Biden previously claimed he attended civil rights organizing sessions at Wilmington's Union Baptist Church, yet congregants and a longtime assistant to the pastor at the time have said they don't recall that.

And he previously admitted he wasn't involved in the civil rights movement. "I was not an activist," he confessed in 1987. "I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma. I was not anywhere else."

3. "We had buried my son Beau, a veteran who was exposed and died because of those burn pits in Iraq for a year." In this case, FactCheck.org previously pinged Biden on this claim, saying there was no evidence that burn pits led to cancer in veterans. As he often does, Biden implies his son was a soldier, not a military lawyer (while he was still serving as Delaware's attorney general).

Democrats get "fact-checkers" as a fringe benefit.

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 In Dallas, grocery worker Coby Todd, 21, is sure that a "mischievous child ghost" pushed a shopping cart into his car as he was leaving work, Fox News reported.

The day before, Todd had gone "ghost hunting" at a home in Frontier Village, Texas, and had sensed the presence of a "little boy" spirit, he said.

He thinks the spirit followed him home and to work the next day.

"Maybe he was trying to play with me," Todd said.

He checked out the store's security footage to see who might have pushed the cart, and it does appear to suddenly turn and roll on its own toward Todd's car.

The damage amounts to about $25,000, and Todd said "it upset me. It's not fake." [Fox News, 3/30/2023]
MATTOON  A new bank with E.T. Guthrie as president is being organized in this city today. Other prominent businessmen on the organizing committee with him are R.T. Holmes and Henry Horn. Stock subscriptions are said to be coming in so well that it is expected the entire amount of $100,000 stock will be subscribed by Friday...TAYLORVILLE  John Tokoly, Pana soft drink parlor proprietor, was today found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the death of George Baldwin and five other men who died from drinking poisoned liquor which the state alleges was purchased from Tokoly, Oct. 12, 1923. The case went to the jury last night and a verdict was reached on the seventh ballot this morning...MATTOON  Mr. and Mrs. Charles Haskell entertained at a chili supper on Tuesday evening at their home, 816 North Twenty-second street, their guests being Mr. and Mrs. Lester H. Brady and little daughter Martha of this city, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Meade and son Donald of north of town, Miss Nettie Brady of Hammond, Ind., and Rex McCaskey of Chicago...COOKS MILLS  In an all-day session of the North Okaw Home Bureau unit held in Cooks Mills Wednesday, two subjects were handled, with an attendance of twenty-four women, while six men volunteered at the noon hour to partake of the dinner served. Paper dress form making was the work done during the forenoon session under the tuition of Miss Edna Truman, county adviser. The afternoon lesson was on "Walls and Wall Covering," also a report on training schoolwork by Mrs. Mabel Hollis, home-furnishing specialist from the University of Illinois.

MATTOON  The Lincoln School PTA has been granted permission to place a 36-inch chain link fence around the school by the Mattoon Board of Education. The fence will be paid for by the PTA: The board started that the fence project must also include some shrubbery and landscaping...CHARLESTON  Bob Hickman Ford Sales, Inc. has filed a statement of intent to dissolve, according to the office of Secretary of State. Hickman said dissolution of the corporation will not affect the operation of the Charleston business. Following the dissolution, the firm will be known as Bob Hickman Ford, and will continue to be owned and operated by Hickman....MATTOON  Mrs. Paul (Doris) Young has been named manager of the Factory Outlet Store at 1525 Broadway. Named as her assistant was Mrs. Del (Evelyn) Hart. Both appointments were effective Jan. 4. Mrs. Young said she contemplates no changes in the store. Factory Outlet sells men's and boy's wear...MATTOON Police reported today that the Poodle Beauty Salon at 721 N. 22nd was burglarized early Sunday morning. The rear door to the salon was pried open, according to police. Taken were an adding machine, a radio, and $10...STEWARDSON  Stewardson is preparing for its centennial celebration in late August. Plans are already in progress for the Aug. 22-25 festival. Local clubs and organizations have begun to raise funds. The send-off will be the crowning of the senior centennial queen. The event was to be held Jan. 19 at a country-western dance, but has been postponed until one of the candidates is released from a hospital. The centennial committee has advertised for the oldest man in Stewardson to step forward and be recognized but as of yet there have been no takers.
SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday as to whether the smell of cannabis alone is grounds for police officers to search a vehicle, marking a test of the states 2020 recreational marijuana legalization law.

The court heard two consolidated cases of individuals who were in vehicles that were searched after an officer used the smell of cannabis as probable cause.

In People v. Redmond, defendant Ryan Redmond was pulled over by Illinois State Police for an unsecure license plate and driving 3 mph over the speed limit, court records show. Upon smelling cannabis, the officer searched the vehicle and found about 1 gram of cannabis in the center console. He later charged Redmond with a misdemeanor for failure to transport cannabis in an odor-proof container, according to court documents.

The other case, People v. Molina, involved defendant Vincent Molina, who was a passenger in the vehicle when an Illinois State Police trooper smelled cannabis and searched the car, finding a small box of rolled joints, according to court records. Molina told the trooper he had a medical marijuana card prior to the search, the records state. Molina was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis by a passenger in a motor vehicle for not storing the cannabis in an odor-proof container.

Lawyers for Molina and Redmond argued the smell of cannabis alone should not be probable cause to search a vehicle given that the substance is no longer illegal in Illinois.

But Attorney General Kwame Raouls office argued the law requires drivers to transport cannabis in an odor-proof container. Thus, the presence of cannabis odor is grounds for a search, even if the passenger is possessing an amount under the legal limit or has a medical marijuana card.

It remains illegal to use cannabis in a vehicle and to transport cannabis in a vehicle in a container that is not odor-proof, a November brief filed by Raoul reads. Thus, the odor of cannabis  whether in raw or burnt form  continues to provide police with probable cause to search.

Mitchell Ness, assistant attorney general, continued the argument before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Cannabis is no longer contraband in every circumstance, but that doesn't absolve the person from following the laws that are in place, he said.

Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis said the central matter of the cases was roadway safety.

The concern here is the safety of the public driving down the highway and impaired drivers, Theis said at the oral arguments. We're concerned about drunk drivers, and we're concerned about high drivers.

Nationwide and state-level chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed a brief in support of Molina and Redmond, writing that allowing the odor of cannabis as cause for searching a vehicle will lead to biased enforcement against Black and Latino Illinoisans.

There is a decades-long pattern of police in this state using pretext like cannabis odor to disproportionately stop and search Black and Latino drivers, the brief reads. Illinois stop and search policy unfairly subjects (Black and Latino drivers) to at-will intrusions of their privacy and relegates them to second-class citizenry.

The organizations argued the legalization of cannabis means its presence is not indicative of contraband or crime.

Alexandra Block, director of the ACLU of Illinois criminal legal systems and policing project and co-author of the brief, told Capitol News Illinois a probable cause must be objective, not malleable.

Even the claim of smelling cannabis can be discretionary. Honestly, it can be made up sometimes when officers are being less than honest because there's no way to challenge it. You can't see (a smell) on a body worn camera, Block said.

Because such accusations are unchallengeable in court, the results are often coming out worse for drivers of color, she said.

In People v. Molina, a trial court determined the odor of cannabis alone could not be cause for search since the odor of cannabis could be found on medical patients who grow their own marijuana plants or workers at cultivation centers and dispensaries. The ruling was reversed by an appellate court before the case was consolidated with Redmonds and brought to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Other top courts across the country have faced the same question, most recently in Minnesota, where the states supreme court ruled the odor of cannabis, in the absence of any other evidence, is not enough that the search would yield evidence of criminally illegal drug-related contraband or conduct.

Last spring, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the smell of marijuana is enough for police to search a vehicle.

Most state supreme courts  like those in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont  have all determined the scent of cannabis is not enough for police to initiate a stop and search.

The Maryland General Assembly passed a law last year prohibiting warrantless searches caused by the odor of cannabis.

Last year, Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, introduced a bill that would amend the Illinois Vehicle Code and establish the odor of cannabis, raw or burnt, alone shall not constitute probable cause to search vehicles or persons. While the bill stalled last year, Ventura told Capitol News Illinois in June shed consider reviving the measure depending on how the court cases play out.

The Supreme Courts decision is expected later this year.
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education has postponed today's scheduled meeting to Thursday at 6:30 p.m., at the Education Building, 4801 Bethania Station Road.

The board only meets once in December, so this will be its first meeting since Dec. 12.

Committee meetings will precede the main meeting, with the buildings and grounds committee meeting at 4 p.m., and the policy committee at 4:45 p.m. Those meetings take place in room 223 of the Education Building.
With the North Carolina primary less than two months away, it is not surprising to see another statewide poll of Republican voters having controversial Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson as the front runner.

What makes the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey, conducted Friday and Saturday, noteworthy is it is the first in which Robinson had the support of a majority of respondents, rather than dont know or not sure being a prominent first or second choice.

Robinson was at 55%, with not sure at 24%, Bill Graham at 15% and state Treasurer Dale Folwell at 7%.

That firming of voter preference for Robinson could prove pivotal given the large number of uncommitted voters has provided glimmers of hope for Folwell and Graham. The primary is set for March 5.

Meanwhile, Folwell gained Monday an expected endorsement from EMPAC, the political action committee of the State Employees Association of N.C., after it endorsed him both times in his run for treasurer.

EMPAC said it is not making an endorsement in the Democratic primary where Attorney General Josh Stein is the front runner.

Folwell has a close working relationship with SEANC, particularly in his role overseeing the State Health Plan that covers nearly 740,000 state employees, their dependents, and non-Medicare retirees and their dependents.

When it comes to how the PPP survey respondents view the three GOP governor candidates, the poll found: Robinson at 53% favorable, 11% unfavorable and 36% not sure; Graham at 19% favorable, 13% unfavorable and 68% unsure; and Folwell at 11% favorable, 13% unfavorable and 76% not sure.

One story the numbers for governor tell is a tale of two endorsements, PPP said in its news release.

By a 33-point margin Republicans say theyre more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump, and you can see the benefits of having received that endorsement in Robinsons strength.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 8 Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis endorsed Graham, citing to conservative media outlet National Review that I intend to do everything I can to help him get the nomination.

Its not a personality thing to me or personal thing. Im looking at two resumes, and theres a stark contrast in capabilities, Tillis said.

Tillis cited Robinsons lack of legislative experience and very little business experience.

Robinson responded with a lengthy Facebook posting in which he said Tillis and Graham are just RINOs (Republican in name only) that are coming after me. He considers Tillis as North Carolinas Mitt Romney, referring to the Utah Republican U.S. senator.

PPP said that Tillis endorsement is a very different story with the GOP faithful.

Only 32% of primary voters have a favorable opinion of him to 38% with a negative one. By a 12-point margin, voters say theyre actually less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by him. That helps to show why Tillis backing hasnt done much to propel Bill Graham in the race for governor.

Grahams early ad spending doesnt seem to be getting him much traction. If he is going to make a comeback its going to require going negative on Robinson and knocking down some of that reservoir of goodwill he has with the GOP base.

Most statewide polls have Robinson and Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein with commanding leads in their respective races.

Certainly, a number of Republican activists and officials are looking strongly at alternatives to Mark Robinson as a gubernatorial candidate, said John Dinan, a political science professor at Wake Forest University.

Dale Folwell has the most extensive governing experience of any candidate in the Republican field, as well as a record of governance that could be expected to appeal to a wide group of Republicans and also unaffiliated voters in a general election campaign.

His challenge right now is gaining traction in the Republican primary, and that is an uphill battle.

EMPAC endorsement

Folwell responded to the EMPAC endorsement by saying he believes his focus on the safety and security of their retirement and healthcare resonates with SEANC members.

I always try to under promise, over deliver and disclose news, whether good or bad, Folwell said.

Every word that I have ever uttered to brag on saving lives, minds and money for North Carolinians is built on the ideas or hard work of state or local employees.

Receiving their endorsement is one of the great honors of my public service career.

EMPAC said in its news release that it backed Folwell for being a champion for working families throughout his political career. The group endorsed Folwell in both runs for treasurer.

He has made good on his promises as state treasurer to protect the retirement system, keep State Health Plan premiums affordable, and stand up for employees against rich Wall Street money managers and big hospital conglomerates.

He will continue this mission in the governors mansion.

Martin Fifer, a political science professor at High Point University, said that as with any single endorsement, we do not know what the full impact will be on the primary election.

One issue is how many primary voters will be aware of and persuaded by or motivated to vote by the endorsement. Another consideration is what other kinds of resources might be gathered as a result of an endorsement. In this case, I am talking about fundraising dollars.

There was a mixed response to the Folwell endorsement on SEANCs Twitter page.

Tami Fitzgerald, the founder of the conservative N.C. Values Coalition, wrote Well-deserved! Congratulations! Fitzgeralds remarks are noteworthy given she tends to be very vocal supporter of cultural war legislative bills, including gender-related legislation.

Meanwhile, a Twitter post cited Folwells CPP proposal in opposing the EMPAC endorsement, while another post said you endorse Republicans who do nothing for State Employees.

EMPAC particularly cited Folwells Clear Pricing Project initiative involving the states healthcare systems and hospitals.

The Republican-controlled state legislature gave the treasurer the authority to decide on reimbursement cuts to hospitals and providers as part of a mandate to reduce overall SHP expenses.

Folwell attempted in 2018 and 2019 to fully move the SHP network to a government pricing model tied to Medicare rates. The N.C. Healthcare Association opposed Folwells CPP initiative in 2019.

Folwells promotion of the CPP network came with the warning that the non-participating hospitals and medical providers risked being out-of-network for SHP members.

In the end, however, Folwell and the CPP failed to crack the resolve of the hospitals with just five of 121 hospitals signing up.
The general counsel for ITG Brands LLC has ratcheted up the personal nature of the legal dispute with the co-owner of the closed Winston Cup Museum.

The multi-year legal dispute between Will Spencer, two of his companies and Greensboro-based ITG is primarily on whether the marketing rights to the Winston traditional cigarette brand extend to Winston Cup Series memorabilia once stored at the downtown Winston-Salem facility.

Business Court judge Adam Conrad will hold a hearing Feb. 6 to address ITGs request for civil and criminal contempt penalties against Spencer for what the manufacturer claims are breaches of a mediated settlement approved Nov. 2.

Glen Tibbits filed an amended 20-page affidavit submitted Monday to the N.C. Business Court. Tibbets first affidavit, submitted Dec. 29, was eight pages.

For example, Tibbits said that ITG speculates that (co-owner Will Spencer) will use the former museum site for development and further profit  illustrating the true motive for the museum closure.

Tibbits claims Spencer did not have to close the museum permanently on Dec. 16, citing he has millions of dollars in assets in addition to the collection. He cited a beach house in Wilmington as part of Spencers assets.

Tibbits also speculated that Spencer and his wife, Christy, could gain at least $2 million in profits from the auction of Winston Cup memorabilia that is scheduled to conclude on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Spencers attorney filed Tuesday a motion to strike both of Tibbits affidavits and ITG reply brief No. 47, claiming all three violates the Business Court rules.

Conrad responded to the motion to strike by giving ITG until Jan. 25 to address the motion, and Spencer until Feb. 2 to address the ITG response.

Spencers attorney claims the ITG reply and both of Tibbits affidavits contain matters that were not newly raised in Spencers and the Museum LLCs opposition brief, and they contain matters that are not relevant to the contempt issue before this court.

Tibbits claims in his latest affidavit that ITG has never wanted to own the Winston Cup Museum.

Yet, Spencer twice offered to settle everything and make this go away for what he claimed was an appraised value of $65 million and $45 million, respectively. ITG declined.

Looking back, I can only logically deduce that Spencer was always seeking to make enormous profit from his collection. When ITG declined to buy the museum, he looked for another way to profit, walking away from negotiated settlement frameworks.

Spencer said Tuesday that the numbers they mention are what they think (the memorabilia) is worth in brand recognition. It didnt come from me. If so, I would like to know when I did.

They state multiple times they wanted to work with me, so if I am all they say, why would they want to?

Spencer has said repeatedly during the multi-year legal dispute that the museum, like most museums, has never made a profit in 19 years.

It has been a passion project, and I have personally funded its expenses to keep it open.

That fact, combined with legal expenses around rebranding and brand compliance of the physical museum, along with the digital platform, has brought us to the realization that it is no longer feasible to have a brick-and-mortar museum, Spencer said.

Counterfeit claims

Tibbits provides what ITG claims is more evidence that Spencer and the museum have been selling counterfeit Winston Cup souvenirs.

ITG claims any of those souvenirs produced after 2003 are not historic in nature and are illegal reproductions, and therefore are in violation of the landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the nations largest tobacco manufacturers and 46 state attorneys general.

ITG and Tibbits claim the museum has sold post-2003 produced souvenirs in venues open to children. ITG wants to use the Winston Cup memorabilia in adult-only venues where smoking is permitted.

Spencer has said the museum is not in violation of the MSA because it doesnt sell Winston-branded traditional cigarettes.

Tibbits cited as part of his proof the condition of the wrapping tape on boxes labeled as being produced in 2002 and 2003.

Spencers response includes that ITGs reply ... contain speculative and unsupported assertions that Spencer and the Museum LLC are selling counterfeit decals. ITG makes these allegations with no evidence other than Tibbits belief that the decals look too new.

Disputing bully talk

In recent filings to the Business Court, ITG has claimed Spencer is trying to portray ITG as a bully through past social media postings, and by temporarily linking to a YouTube video on the museum posted by NASCAR historian Mitchell Stapleton.

As every good media story requires a villain, Spencers sophisticated marketing vilified ITG in a clever, but false narrative, Tibbits wrote.

ITG claims in its Dec. 8 contempt motion that Spencer violated an order by posting the link on the museums Facebook page.

As part of the 79-minute video, Spencer shared details and anecdotes about Winston Cup and NASCAR memorabilia.

In the video, Stapleton says if youre a race fan, youve probably seen the articles about the Winston Cup Museum having to close on December 16th, 2023.

Maybe youve seen the stuff about the lawsuits surrounding (the museum); the questionable at best United States judicial system has allowed a large company to bully this guy into closing his museum.

The manufacturer claims the video is disparaging and defamatory.

The link to the video was up from Dec. 1 until Spencer removed it Dec. 10 in good faith to show we did not know we were in violation of the court order.

As of Tuesday, the video had racked up 228,000 views and 829 viewer comments, many critical of ITG.

In the Spencer motion to strike, his attorneys wrote that one can only infer that ITG has filed such materials in a gratuitous attempt to improve its reputation in the eyes of those who may be following these proceedings.

Having no bearing on the issue of contempt, ITGs filings should therefore be stricken from the record.
Heavy rain and strong winds caused power outages and flooding in the Triad and throughout North Carolina.

One person was killed and two others were seriously injured Tuesday when a tree fell on a mobile home in Catawba County, the Hickory Daily Record reported. The National Weather Service is trying to determine whether a tornado touched down in the area.

The weather service issued tornado watch for Forsyth, Davidson and other counties in central North Carolina. The watch was in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The weather service had earlier issued a flood watch and wind advisory for the region.

Forecasters predicted 1 inches to 3 inches of rain Tuesday across the region.

The storm knocked out power to 102,508 Duke Energy customers in North Carolina, including more than 6,000 outages in Forsyth County, 2,690 outages in Guilford County, 1,759 outages in Stokes County and 479 outages in Davie County, the company said.

The conditions prompted the Forsyth and Guilford county schools to close Tuesday.

Davidson County school officials dismissed classes early.

Winston-Salem police responded to some, but not many weather-related traffic crashes, said Lt. C.J. Diamont, a police spokesman. No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

We have not had a huge number of incidents, Diamont said.

Troopers with the N.C. Highway Patrol responded to fallen tree limbs in the roads and highways in central North Carolina, said Senior Trooper Ned Moutrie, a spokesman for the patrol. Troopers worked with local fire departments to remove the tree limbs, he said.

Flooding caused by excessive rainfall was still possible in Forsyth, Guilford and Davidson counties as well as throughout the states central section, the weather service said. Toppled trees and tree limbs fell on roads and homes in the Triad, including Kernersville, and other areas.

A strong storm system moved from the Ohio Valley with its cold front over North Carolina and Virginia, said Phil Hysell, a warning coordination meteorologist in Blacksburg, Va.

Wind speeds increased to 20 to 25 mph, with gusts between 35 and 50 mph expected throughout Tuesday, the weather service said.

The weather service reported that freezing rain caused vehicle crashes in Watauga and Ashe counties.

Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Tuesday across North Carolina.

Coopers declaration waives truck weight, size and hours of service restrictions so that vehicles carrying supplies such as food, medicine or fuel or transporting livestock and crops can get their jobs done quickly, the governors office said.

The weather service also has issued a high wind warning and a wind advisory for Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga counties.

Wind speeds 15 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 reached elevations above 4,000 feet. In addition, wind speeds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph were expected in the region.

Cooper and state emergency management officials urged residents to be safe and cautious during heavy rainfall and winds, and to expect flooding and power outages.

This storm system has the potential to bring high winds and other dangerous storm conditions to North Carolina, and people should be aware and take precautions, Cooper said. Be sure your emergency kits are up to date and pay attention to the weather in your area, especially any weather alerts such as flash flood warnings.

State emergency management officials worked with local authorities and utility companies to respond to the storms effects, said Will Ray, the director of the N.C. Emergency Management.

PHOTOS: Rain soaks Forsyth County
Update: The couple has returned home safely.

Winston-Salem police are asking for the public's help in finding a missing couple.

Saul Palacio, 88, and his wife, Lucia Palacio, 93, were last seen leaving their home to go to Davie Medical Center in Bermuda Run, Winston-Salem police said.

They never arrived at the hospital, police said.

The couple are in a red 2019 Volkswagen Atlas, police said.

Saul Palacio suffers from a cognitive disorder, and a Silver Alert has been activated for him, police said.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the Palacios can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.
LONDON  More than 60 heads of state and government and hundreds of business leaders are coming to Switzerland to discuss the biggest global challenges during the World Economic Forums annual gathering next week, ranging from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The likes of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and many others will descend on the Alpine ski resort town of Davos on Jan. 15-19, organizers said Tuesday.

Attendees have their work cut out for them with two major wars  the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russias invasion of Ukraine  plus problems like climate change, major disruptions to trade in the Red Sea, a weak global economy and misinformation powered by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence in a major election year. Trust has eroded on peace and security, with global cooperation down since 2016 and plummeting since 2020, forum President Borge Brende said at a briefing. In Davos, we will make sure that we bring together the right people to see how can we also end this very challenging world, look at opportunities to cooperate, he said.

Brende noted that there are fears about escalation of the conflict in Gaza and that key stakeholders  including the prime ministers of Qatar, Lebanon and Jordan as well as Herzog  were coming to Davos to look how to avoid a further deterioration and also what is next, because we also have to inject some silver linings.

Zelenskyy will give an address next week during the event, while more than 70 national security advisers from around the world will gather in Davos on Sunday to discuss ways forward on Zelenskyys peace plan, Brende said. Its the fourth such meeting, but Russian officials have never participated.

Major figures  including U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, new Argentina President Javier Milei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella  will discuss big ideas in hundreds of public sessions and speeches or in other talks surrounding the event.

Theres also more secretive backroom deal-making in the upscale hotels along Davos Promenade, near the conference center that hosts the gathering.

How much all these discussions will result in big announcements is uncertain.

The World Economic Forums glitzy event has drawn criticism for being a place where high-profile figures talk about big ideas but make little headway on finding solutions to the worlds biggest challenges.

Its also been criticized for hosting wealthy executives who sometimes fly in on emissions-spewing corporate jets.
Lynddahl Telecom America, a duct-solutions company for fiber optics installations, said Wednesday it will create 54 new jobs in Belmont as part of a $5.6 million capital investment, both over three years.

The project involves the Danish company establishing its first North American plastic extrusion production facility. The company is a subsidiary of Lynddahl Telecom A/S.

Lynddahl Telecom America will begin operations with a 55,000-square-foot facility to manufacture the protective conduits for fiber-optic cables.

"We have found a cost-effective method to rapidly deploy fiber optics in Europe, and we are excited about being able to offer this to our American, Canadian and Mexican partners, said Jacob Ulrik Petersen, the company's president.

The workforce will include production managers, plastics engineers, administrative officers and production technicians. The average annual wage is $60,315, exceeding the Gaston County average of $50,746.
Zach Hammack Night Editor Follow Zach Hammack 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

Nick Cartell has played Jean Valjean, the ex-convict whose story of redemption and forgiveness forms the central plot of "Les Miserables," more than 1,000 times.

From the moment Cartell appeared on the Lied Center for Performing Arts stage, however  his character granted parole after serving a 19-year sentence on the chain gang for the simple crime of stealing bread  his Valjean felt as fresh and compelling as if he were telling the story through the character for the first time.

Bolstered by an elaborate and technically dazzling set and the iconic, hum-as-you-leave songbook of "Les Miz"  a seemingly endless greatest-hits compilation of musical theater  Cartell and his fellow cast members opened the first performance of the Victor Hugo novel-turned-musical in Lincoln in 20 years with a bang as resounding as a revolutionary's musket Tuesday.

The technical feat that is "Les Miz" alone  from set pieces like the iconic barricade that move on automated tracks, to background video projections that make the audience feel as if they're running with Valjean through the Parisian sewers  was a bravura "performance" in its own right, constantly begging the question, "So, how did they do that?"

It takes nearly two days for the production crew, which arrived in Lincoln on Monday for a six-day, eight-performance that continues through Sunday, to set everything up.

But the staging is abstracted enough that one doesn't blink an eye, say, when Valjean rescues a man trapped under a cart that seemingly appears on stage out of nowhere, or when the students stationed behind the barricade during the 1832 Paris Uprising fire their weapons, the bangs of rifle fire, the flashes of muzzles and the whiff of expended gunpowder filling the theater.

Javert  the policeman who doggedly pursues Valjean  and his famous leap into the Seine is less of a jump and more of an acrobatic stunt. Racing video projections make it seem as if Javert  hanging midair  is falling. Projections of Hugo watercolors form the musical's background throughout as well.

All the theatrical fireworks aside, it's the sublimely beautiful vocal solos of love, longing and, at times, despair, that stick with a person long after the curtain drops.

Those include, naturally, "I Dreamed a Dream," delivered with especial pathos by Haley Dortch, who plays Fantine, and also "Stars" from Preston Truman Boyd's Javert.

Equally as impressive was "On My Own," the second-act opening solo of unrequited lover Eponine played by Mya Rena Hunter, who was a particular highlight of Tuesday's performance. And who can forget the scheming Thenardiers, who provide much-needed comic relief  "Master of the House" is arguably the catchiest song  throughout what is largely a dark show.

The main highlight, of course, was Cartell, who carried the show throughout and whose ability to hold some particularly daunting high notes showed his remarkable range and proved that playing the same part more than 1,000 times really does entrench one into a role.

The musical, while ageless, felt surprisingly relevant to today's world, where struggles similar to the student revolutionaries fighting for freedom in the Parisian streets are happening abroad today.

Even though I was familiar with that story, a quick refresher on the plot beforehand wouldn't hurt, especially for those unacquainted with "Les Miz." Some snippets of verse  the three-hour show, which features a brief intermission, is completely sung through  tend to escape the ear, too.

But the packed crowd at the Lied Center on Tuesday wasn't there for a novel. They were there for a musical, and an enduring classic of the theater repertoire at that.

So enduring, in fact, that when the rousing ovations finally ended, and the cast departed behind the stage, fans of "Les Miz" were still humming the more memorable tunes as they filed out of the Lied Center into the snow-encased city.

Do you hear the people sing? Yes, in fact, I do.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: "Les Miserables"

WHERE: Lied Center for Performing Arts, 12th and Q streets.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

TICKETS: $29 to $119. Available at liedcenter.org, by phone at 402-472-4747 and at the Lied ticket office.
A former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student was sentenced Wednesday after a jury found him guilty in November of first-degree sexual assault.

Evan Mielak, 22, was sentenced to four to eight years in prison by Judge Kevin McManaman.

Mielak, who was a Regent Scholar at UNL and a junior at the time, was charged in April with sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in her home after a night of drinking alcohol, according to the probable cause affidavit.

On April 17, LPD recorded a conversation between Mielak and the victim where she confronted him over the assault, according to the affidavit.

A three-day trial took place in November. The jury found him guilty.

During the sentencing hearing, the prosecution referred to Mielak's lack of remorse during interviews, and mentioned that Mielak was supposed to be a friend to the victim.
A 30-year-old Omaha man caught at a traffic safety checkpoint in Lincoln a year ago with 763 fentanyl pills has been sentenced to prison.

Montevious Stubblefield pleaded no contest to attempted possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, plus no contest to one count of assault by a confined person for a jail fight in January 2023 and guilty to a second count for another fight in September.

But he denied he was a dealer.

At his sentencing Tuesday, defense attorney Steffanie Kotik said Stubblefield understands why the amount of fentanyl he had in his possession when he was pulled over was "very concerning to the court, to the state, to the police officers."

But, she said, he had recently suffered a back injury at work and had gotten the pills to deal with the pain because he didn't have health insurance.

Stubblefield said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions.

"And I would just like the court to know that I don't ever plan on getting in trouble or ending up in these types of situations," he said, referring to what happened Nov. 23, 2022.

According to court records, that afternoon Stubblefield was directed into a Lancaster County Sheriff's Office checkpoint along Cornhusker Highway near 98th Street looking for proper documentation and seat belt use.

When deputies stopped his Mercedes Benz, they smelled marijuana and asked for his paperwork. Stubblefield opened his glove box to get it, but then immediately closed and locked it.

Deputies detained him and searched the car because of the marijuana smell and pried open the glove box when Stubblefield refused to give them the keys. Inside, they found 763 fentanyl pills.

At sentencing, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney James Morris said his main concern was the "overwhelming amount of fentanyl that was involved."

And, he said, it was clear from the reports that Stubblefield was selling fentanyl, despite his claim that he wasn't.

"I don't think there's any question, given the amount and given the text messages (on his phone), that he was dealing fentanyl. And we all know how dangerous and deadly that is," Morris said.

He said if Stubblefield wasn't honest about what he was doing, then he's not remorseful, and he has no reason to believe Stubblefield won't start selling again when he gets out.

Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret said she found Stubblefield's contention that the pills were for his personal use to be disingenuous, given the evidence.

Not only did he forfeit drug money in the case as part of the plea agreement, she said, he also was found with empty baggies, a clear sign of delivery.

"You are going to have to be honest. If not with us and your family, you're going to need to be honest with yourself," Maret said, before sentencing him to seven years to 14 years in prison on the charges.

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
RAYMOND  A Racine County Circuit Court judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by Raymond residents against the Raymond School District.

Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety Tuesday. Gasiorkiewicz dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning the claims in the case cannot be filed again.

Lori Lubinsky and Christopher Nelson, attorneys representing the Raymond School District, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month.

According to William Sulton, the attorney representing the Raymond residents, the case was dismissed pursuant to a voluntary stipulation by all parties.

In November, Sulton filed the lawsuit in Racine County Circuit Court.

The suit was filed on behalf of five Raymond electors: Shelly Kurhajec, Jennifer Hribar, Jennifer Hansen, Julie Mausing and Dawn Peterson. It listed all five Raymond School Board members  Audrey Kostuch, Janell Wise, Gwen Keller, Amanda Falaschi and Amy Helvick  and the school district as respondents.

The lawsuit alleged that the Raymond School Board acted illegally by not following two motions approved during an August community meeting.

One motion directed the Raymond School Board to pursue legal proceedings to end former Superintendent Michael Garveys contract.

The second motion prohibited the school district from defending against illegal action or utilizing any district funds to obtain legal services or counsel for the defense of any discrimination claim brought forth by any district employee involving allegations of discrimination conducted by either Michael Garvey or by the Board of Education.

The lawsuit aimed to end Garveys superintendent contract, end contracts with attorneys hired by the school district in relation to Raymond School Principal Jeff Petersons discrimination complaint and receive damages from School Board members for the legal fees paid to those attorneys.

The civil suit was filed Nov. 10. Garvey announced his resignation during a Nov. 20 School Board meeting. His last day was Dec. 31.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Hansen, one of the plaintiffs, called the lawsuit dismissal a win-win for the Raymond community.

Hansen said the lawsuit contributed to Garveys resignation.

The suit exerted substantial pressure on the School Board and Garvey, leading to his decision to resign from the district, Hansen wrote. It is crucial to recognize that this positive change within the district was only possible because the writ was filed in the first place.

Sulton agreed, writing in an email that the suit was successful, as Dr. Garvey is no longer the superintendent. That would not have happened without the gumption of the petitioners.

Hansen also believes that the lawsuit filing in November pressured the board to make necessary transparency related changes, she wrote in the post. It is imperative to acknowledge that these changes were only made possible because of the initial filing  This achievement serves the best interests of the community, the school, and most importantly, the children.

Kostuch, the School Board president, was pleased with the lawsuit dismissal.

She wrote in an email that the dismissal and the Racine County Sheriffs Office closing its investigation in fall 2023 and not recommending charges regarding an open meeting law complaint filed against the Raymond School Board demonstrate that, despite the statements of select community members, the Raymond Board has not engaged in any wrongdoing.

We look forward to the opportunity to continue our efforts to work with the community in a more positive manner for the good of the children, Kostuch wrote. We still have work to do to address open concerns related to financial reporting and will continue to work on improving communication with Raymond residents and parents.

A complaint was filed in fall 2023 with the Wisconsin Elections Commission related to the April 2023 Raymond School Board election. A complaint decision has not been issued.

Concerned parents and community members also submitted signed recall petitions last month against board members Keller and Wise, who are challenging the recalls.

Ten photos of the Raymond School Board Dec. 18 meeting Raymond School has named its new leader for the rest of the school year. Heiden and Kostuch James Heiden, left, talks with Audrey Kostuch on Monday before a Raymond School Board meeting. Kostuch, board president, and board members app Heiden meet and greet James Heiden, left, talks with an attendee Monday before a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Heiden was appointed Raymond School int Peter Kempen Peter Kempen, Raymond School interim principal, talks Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Kempen's first day was Dec.  Garvey and Kostuch Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Signed recall petitions Dorae Moonen presents signed recall petitions Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. The petitions are to recall board me Dorae Moonen Dorae Moonen presents signed recall petitions Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. The petitions are to recall board me Heiden and Lewis Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Board meeting School Board President Audrey Kostuch, left, listens to Superintendent Michael Garvey on Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76 Audrey Kostuch Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Janell Wise Board member Janell Wise walks Monday during a Raymond School Board meeting, 2659 76th St. Signed recall petitions for Wise and board member G Raymond School Board Dec. 18, 2023
RACINE  The citys public health department and RYDE Racine partnered to launch a vending machine that offers free Narcan and other harm reduction supplies, to combat a rise in overdoses across the county.

The vending machine, launched on Dec. 21, is located inside the Corrine Reid Owens Transit Center at 1409 State St.

The Racine Public Health Department was awarded a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to purchase the machine and stock it with Narcan. The machine was installed to give access to people who may not be connected to traditional harm reduction resources.

In 2023, there were 14 overdose spike alerts in Racine County. An alert indicates an increase in fatal and nonfatal overdoses compared to the same time in previous years.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdoses in the county, according to a post from the Racine County Public Healths Facebook page. The synthetic opioid is up to 50 times stronger than morphine and 100 times stronger than heroine.

Synthetic opioids are the leading causes of overdoses across the nation, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a medication that can rapidly reverse the effects of an overdose.

Anyone is able to use the vending machine to get Narcan. Instructions and a scannable QR code are located on the front of the machine and show how to access the Narcan in the machine.

This [Public Health Vending Machine] gives people access to Narcan discretely and at times that may be more convenient for them, said Dottie-Kay Bowersox, public health officer for the city. This opportunity supports our commitment to expand our harm reduction efforts into areas that experience high rates of overdose and death.

Narcan and fentanyl testing strips are also available at Behavioral Health Services of Racine County, 1717 Taylor Ave., and the City of Racine Public Health Department, 730 Washington Ave.

In the event of an overdose, call 9-1-1, administer Narcan and stay with the person until help arrives.

Photos: Nick and Katherine Engelbert's Grandview near Hollandale
At Corner Drug Hometown Pharmacy in Baraboo, owner Janet Fritsch said she loses $40 when she dispenses Orencia, an injection for rheumatoid arthritis, to some patients. For the generic form of Vyvanse, for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, her loss is $200.

Thad Schumacher, owner of Fitchburg Family Pharmacy, said his reimbursements were less than his drug purchase costs for 23% of prescriptions in a recent six-month period, for a loss of $100,000.

I dont see how you can fill negative-margin scripts forever and stay in business, Schumacher said.

Fritsch, Schumacher and other pharmacists say the low payments come from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which act as brokers between drug makers, insurers and pharmacies, some of which they own. The companies help determine which drugs people take, where they get them and how much they pay.

A bill to regulate PBMs in Wisconsin would reduce drug costs by limiting the money PBMs get from the drug supply chain, according to supporters, including pharmacists, patient groups, doctors, clinics and drug companies. But employer groups, insurers and PBMs oppose the measure, saying it would drive up costs by restricting their ability to negotiate drug discounts and control drug use.

Drug spending in Wisconsin will soar, said Sean Stephenson, state affairs director for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents PBMs.

The three largest PBMs control about 80% of the market and are parts of conglomerates that include insurance companies and pharmacies. CVS Caremark is owned by CVS Health, which includes Aetna. OptumRx is part of UnitedHealth Group, and Express Scripts is owned by Cigna.

Madison-based Navitus, owned by SSM Health and Costco, is a smaller PBM that has more than 600,000 members in Wisconsin, including state employees.

The states 2021 law requires PBMs to report rebates from drug manufacturers and the percentage they keep. It prohibits their contracts from including gag clauses preventing pharmacists from telling patients they can sometimes save money by paying for drugs without using insurance. It requires advance notice of changes to drug lists allowed by insurers and sets basic parameters for PBM audits of pharmacies, done through contracts to prevent fraud and abuse.

These provisions were a start, but to be blunt, they actually did little to protect patients, state Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, lead Assembly sponsor of the new bill, said at a public hearing in December.

Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, the other lead sponsor, said some of the practices and tactics of PBMs have caused significantly more harm to our health care ecosystem than the savings they generate.

Felzkowski said shes worried about the viability of independent pharmacies that many people in her rural district rely on. Wisconsin has 254 independent pharmacies, down from 374 a decade ago, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. The state has a total of 856 pharmacies, including those in chains and at large retail stores, down from 918 in 2014.

Payments and fees

The bill, introduced in November, would require PBMs to pay pharmacies for at least their cost of acquiring drugs. If payments are less, pharmacies could refuse to fill prescriptions. Any pharmacy would be eligible to be in a PBM network, and incentives such as lower copays couldn't be used to steer patients to certain pharmacies, such as mail-order or specialty pharmacies owned by PBMs.

Dispensing fees to pharmacies, to cover overhead costs, would have to match those provided by the states Medicaid program, which are $10.51 per prescription at high-volume stores and $15.69 per prescription at low-volume stores. PBMs say their average fee is $2.

PBMs would have to pay safety-net providers who get deeply discounted drugs, such as Madison-based Access Community Health Centers and the HIV services organization Vivent Health, the same rates as other pharmacies. Approved drug lists couldnt be changed mid-year and PBMs would have to act in a health plans best interest. Audits, which pharmacists say are sometimes predatory, would be further restricted.

The bill incorporates another measure, introduced in March, that would let patients apply coupons and other financial assistance from drug companies toward their annual deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, which some insurers and PBMs don't allow.

Countless patients with chronic and complex conditions that require specialty medications depend on copay assistance to access life-saving treatments and manage their health, said Rob Gunderman, CEO of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging and Health Groups.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is among several business groups opposing the bill, saying that for PBMs to help employers manage drug costs, they must be free to work in the marketplace without unnecessary government regulation.

Insurance groups  including one representing Madison-area Dean Health Plan, Quartz and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin  said the bill will do nothing to address the root causes of high drug costs, and will only serve to hamstring payer efforts to provide affordable access to prescription drugs.

Brent Eberle, chief pharmacy officer at Navitus, said the bill would raise costs for its members by more than $110 million a year, in part by removing pressure on pharmacies to negotiate low drug purchase prices from wholesalers.

Eberle and others representing PBMs and insurers said drug company copay coupons mask the true cost of expensive drugs, enabling drug makers to keep prices high. That's why PMBs and insurers say they don't want to count the assistance toward deductibles.

The manufacturers arent doing this out of the goodness of their heart, Eberle said. Theyre adding that copay assistance back into the cost of the product.

Pharmacy challenges

Schumacher, the pharmacist in Fitchburg, said PBMs especially create challenges when reimbursements are below cost for drugs that are in short supply, which has been the case with obesity drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.

Small pharmacies sometimes have those drugs on hand when chains dont because of streamlined ordering, he said. That draws customers who want to fill just those prescriptions and not others on which the pharmacies make money. Under their contracts, the pharmacies cant say no, leaving patients unaware of the underlying problem.

The PBMs are insulated, he said. There wont be a push on them to change anything until the consumer pushes back on their employer, and their employer pushes back on insurance, and insurance pushes back on the PBM.

Fritsch, board chair of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, said PBM incentives or requirements for people to use mail-order pharmacies cause confused patients to come to her with questions about how to take drugs they got through the mail, even though she didnt fill the prescriptions.

Such in-person, one-on-one counseling will go away if independent pharmacies continue to close, she said.

If PBMs dont have to answer to anyone, if they can do whatever they want, all well be left with is the pharmacies run by PBMs, Fritsch said. The rest of us wont be able to compete.

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the nationwide drug spending amount in 2022.
1. Yes. It will be convenient and the fares are cheap. I plan to use the transit system often.

2. Yes. I have a vehicle, but I may still use the service now and then, especially in bad weather.

3. No. I dont use the current bus service, and I dont plan to use the micro-transit service either.

4. No. It may be fine in town, but it still involves a transfer for longer trips. That wont work.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say. It depends on how well the service works once its in place.

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KEARNEY  Storage units will be built on a 6.2-acre tract on the north edge of Kearney, the owner of the property said at Tuesdays Kearney City Council meeting.

Owner Kenneth Richter said he acquired the land in the 1970s. The property he intends to use for storage units is a former railroad right-of-way that runs diagonally from the southeast to the northwest. The tract is south of 78th Street and west of Second Avenue.

The land was zoned agricultural, but the City Council agreed to Richters request and rezoned it for general commercial uses. The council also approved the final plat for Richters property  formerly known as Tucker Subdivision  to be renamed Elken Second Subdivision.

Oak Creek Engineering is representing Richter and applied for the zoning change and plat approval on his behalf.

In other business Tuesday, the council approved an amendment to a conditional use permit for Kappas Enterprises, which operates a gravel pumping site at 335 Cherry Ave., about 3 miles southeast of Kearney. The amendment to Kappas permit will allow pumping to occur on weeknights.

The council also heard a presentation from Denver Air Connection, which provides daily federally subsidized commuter flights from Kearney Regional Airport to Denver International Airport.

Council members who have flown Denver Air Connection said they are satisfied with the service, and recommend it to Kearney residents, especially the airlines record of 75% on-time flights.

The airlines representatives told the council that Denver Air is working through issues with United Airlines. They said their Denver-based airline wants business travelers to learn about the advantages of flying to and from Kearney.

Tuesday was Michael Morgans final meeting as Kearney City Manager. He said that he and his family see Kearney as their home. Mayor Stan Clouse read a list of achievements during Morgans 19-year tenure. Most of the items on Clouses list were accomplished without a tax increase, and with Kearneys property tax levy lowest among Nebraskas Class I municipalities.
The Sparta Board of Education this week unanimously approved a $750,000 annual operational referendum question for the April 2 ballot.

The single question will ask voters to authorize exceeding state revenue limits by $750,000 per year for two years, beginning with the 2024-25 school year for operational expenses, including for maintenance, safety, security, technology, and staff compensation and benefits. More information will be provided to local residents through the spartan.org website, social media, mailers and informational sessions.

The school board encourages residents to participate in the discussions and share their insights. Questions can be emailed to communications@spartan.org, through the school website at www.spartan.org, or directed to the district office at 608-366-3400.
A 44-year-old Altoona man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for child sex crimes committed in Monroe County.

Eric L. Wirth was convicted by a Monroe County jury in September 2023 of eight charges, including repeated sexual assault of a child, use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime, causing a child to view sexual activity, exposing a child to harmful material, sexual exploitation of a child (two counts), sexual contact with a child 16 or older and possession of cocaine.

Wirth rejected a plea bargain that would have dismissed six of the counts but left the most serious charge in place. The charges stem from conduct that occurred between May 2017 and July 2021.

The sentence handed down by Monroe County Circuit Court judge Todd Ziegler includes 15 years of supervised release. Ziegler opted for the 25-year sentence recommended by District Attorney Kevin Croninger. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections recommended 10 years.

Wirth also faces charges of repeated sexual assault a child in Sawyer County. He has a status conference in that case set for Feb. 13.
The village of Trempealeau is asking for the public's help to locate a missing person.

Octavio Valenzo Morales was last seen Dec. 22 in downtown La Crosse. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and white sweat pants. Authorities did not provide his age.

On Dec. 28 an acquaintance of Morales posted an entry on Facebook asking for the public's help.

"The family is extremely worried about Octavio's well being, and any potential leads that anyone has regarding his whereabouts could be very helpful," the post read.

The post, which is also has information written in Spanish, says he was last seen near St. Joseph's Cathedral in La Crosse.

Trempealeau police are asking anyone with information on Morales' whereabouts to call the police station at 608-534-6875. The department can also be contacted at tips@trempealeauwi.com.
The birding and land conservation group formerly known as Madison Audubon is undergoing a name change  again  after a flap about what the organization calls itself.

This is a problem we did not foresee or intend to create, and it is one we do not wish to perpetuate, the groups board of directors wrote in a Jan. 5 blog post. To ensure that our focus remains on our mission-related work to protect birds, the board will now seek a new geographic descriptor, it said.

The nonprofit announced in 2023 that, like many related groups nationwide, it would drop Audubon from its name and embark on a lengthy process to find a new name.

In September, the group officially renamed itself the Badgerland Bird Alliance, or BBA. The Badgerland in its new name was meant to reflect the Madison-based groups regional draw, with well over 3,000 members in 10 Wisconsin counties.

But use of that term drew objections from a for-profit company based in Waukesha that has used the name Badgerland Birding for more than seven years.

Badgerland Birding has a loyal following on YouTube with its videos about birds, runs birding excursions and sells merchandise with the Badgerland Birding name, said Derek and Ryan Sallmann, the two brothers who run the firm.

The renaming of Madison Audubon as the BBA, the Sallmanns said, caused confusion in the birding community about the relationship between it and Badgerland Birding, even though the two are not affiliated.

We feel it would be better for both our organizations if the names were distinct, because were not related or working together, Derek Sallmann told the Wisconsin State Journal in December, adding that Badgerland Birding might resort to legal action in order to protect its brand.

The BBAs name selection committee now is expected to propose a new name in the coming weeks, the boards January blog post says. Until then, for legal reasons, the group will continue using the term BBA in public-facing documents.

Over the past few weeks, we have been actively working to reach an amicable resolution and move towards a revised name  taking steps to ensure that we can complete this update as thoughtfully and efficiently as possible, the blog post says.

Matt Reetz, executive director of the BBA, said the organization had no further comment at this time beyond the blog post.

In an email, Badgerland Birding said, Were happy to see that theyre doing the right thing: taking corrective action without the need for litigation.

Madison Audubon originally changed its name in September to Badgerland Bird Alliance by unanimous consent of its membership. Originally founded in 1935 as the Madison Bird Club, the group adopted the Audubon label in 1949. But in recent years, like an increasing number of groups nationwide affiliated with the National Audubon Society, the conservation nonprofit became concerned with the legacy of its namesake.

John James Audubon, who lived from 1785 to 1851, was the brilliant wildlife artist whose work formed the seminal Birds of America. However, Audubon also bought and sold enslaved people, wrote critically about emancipation and stole human remains to help a colleague advance scientific racism.

A statement last fall announcing the name Badgerland Bird Alliance also noted that Chicago Audubon was changing its name to Chicago Bird Alliance, and the former Detroit Audubon would be rebranded as Detroit Bird Alliance.

We are proud to be a part of the growing number of chapters joining the Bird Alliance, and will keep that part of our name, the BBA boards recent blog post said.
Three children have died from respiratory syncytial virus in Wisconsin this season and 580 residents younger than age 2 have been hospitalized, leading health officials to again urge pregnant women to get vaccinated to protect newborns.

New vaccines against RSV also are recommended for adults 60 and older. Theyre typically available at medical clinics and some pharmacies.

The state Department of Health Services on Wednesday said pregnant women should get a vaccine called Abrysvo, approved in August, between 32 weeks and 36 weeks gestation.

This RSV vaccine provides protection to the infant for the first six months after they are born, Tom Haupt, respiratory disease epidemiologist with DHS, said in a statement. That provides the baby protection at a time when they could be vulnerable to serious illness.

Nationally, about 12% of pregnant women have received the RSV vaccine, said Stephanie Schauer, immunization program coordinator for DHS. In Wisconsin, about 3,500 people of childbearing age have been vaccinated against RSV, she said.

A new monoclonal antibody shot is recommended for children younger than 8 months and those up to 19 months at an increased risk of severe RSV disease. However, the shot has been in short supply. Infants should get the antibody shot or have protection from maternal vaccination. They dont need both.

Abrysvo and Arexvy, another RSV vaccine approved last year, are recommended for people 60 and older.

The state has had three pediatric deaths from RSV since Nov. 1, DHS said last week. Two of the deaths were reported shortly before Christmas. Two were from northeastern Wisconsin and one was from southeastern Wisconsin, DHS officials said.

As of Wednesday, 1,402 people in Wisconsin have been hospitalized with RSV this season, 580 of them children under age 2, DHS said.

The agency also urged everyone 6 months and older to get an annual flu shot and the updated COVID-19 vaccine, as flu and COVID-19 also are circulating widely. To find those immunizations, go to vaccines.gov or call 211 or 877-947-2211.
On 9 January Argentinas federal congress began to debate Presidents omnibus reform bill.

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On 9 January Brazils government led by Presidentannounced that it will allocate R$1.2bn (US$245m) in 2024 to fund security initiatives in the countrys largest demarcated indigenous reserve, the Yanomami territory.

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On 9 January Ecuadors Presidentsigned a decree declaring that the country is experiencing an internal armed conflict after gunmen stormed a television studio.

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A report from the World Economic Forum says misinformation and disinformation are the most severe risks facing the world over the next two years.

The group released its latest Global Risks Report Wednesday.

The report said artificial intelligence (AI) can increase false or misleading information and is an immediate risk to the worldwide economy. The World Economic Forum (WEF) report warned that bad information threatens to weaken democracy and polarize groups of people.

The report is based on a survey of nearly 1,500 experts, industry leaders, and politicians. It is being released before the yearly WEF meeting in the vacation town of Davos, Switzerland.

The writers are concerned that the fast progress of AI technology like ChatGPT might mean that groups can be manipulated by people without any specialized skills.

AI will be discussed next week at the Davos meeting. Technology company leaders including OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Microsoft head Satya Nadella, and industry experts like Metas chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, are expected to attend.

The report says misinformation and disinformation that is created using AI is becoming a risk just as billions of people in several countries are going to vote this year and next year. Those countries include the United States, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and Pakistan.

Carolina Klint is a risk expert at Marsh, whose parent company Marsh McLennan co-wrote the report with Zurich Insurance Group. She said people can use AI to make deepfakes and to really affect large groups which really drives misinformation.

Deepfakes are videos that contain realistic images which are false and show people doing and saying things that never happened.

Societies could become further polarized as people find it harder to tell what is true, she said. False information also could be used to fuel questions about whether governments are elected fairly. Klint said, that  means that democratic processes could be eroded, and it would also drive societal polarization even further.

The rise of AI brings other risks, she said. It could give power to harmful actors by making it easier to carry out online attacks.

Klint said with AI, a person does not need to be intelligent to become a harmful actor.

It can even affect data that is taken from the internet to develop other AI systems. She said this is difficult to correct and could result in further bias in AI systems.

The report said extreme weather is the second most worrying short term risk.

The report also said that, over the next 10 years, extreme weather events were more important than misinformation and disinformation. Weather was followed by environmental risks that include changes to the Earths systems; loss of wildlife and collapse of natural systems; and shortages of natural resources.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Gregory Stachel adapted this story for VOA Learning English using information from Reuters and The Associated Press.

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

polarize  v. to cause (people or opinions) to separate into opposing groups

survey n. a kind of study in which a group of people are asked their opinions about a subject

manipulate  v. to deal with or control (someone or something) in a clever and usually unfair or selfish way

society  n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values

erode  v. to gradually destroy something or make it weaker over a period of time; to be destroyed or made weaker in this way

bias  n. a tendency to support one side of an argument over another
A recent index that measures English language ability around the world finds that young peoples English language proficiency is decreasing.

The 2023 EF English Proficiency Index (EPI) ranks countries and areas by English proficiency. The index is based on test results from 2.2 million people in 113 countries. The test is published by EF Education First, a private company based in Switzerland. VOA Learning English has a partnership with EF Education First to provide the online test to English learners.

The EPI found that while young people's English skills are decreasing, working adults continue to increase their proficiency in English. There are different opinions about why the difference exists. Some people blame the COVID-19 pandemic, but others say artificial intelligence (or AI) tools could also be a reason.

EF Education First released the 2023 index last November. EF EPI author Kate Bell warned that the 2023 index gives a false sense of global stability, meaning English speakers proficiency stays about the same. But the truth is that gains in some countries are being offset by losses in others, Bell said in an EF Education First press release.

Results by age group

Results were reported by age group for the first time in 2015. Since that time, the English proficiency of young people has decreased by 89 points. The EPI defines young people as being 18 to 20 years of age.

However, the EPI notes that the 18 to 20 group was mostly stable with big decreases in a few large countries. India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Japan showed the largest proficiency decreases among youth.

Kansuke Ikebe is a 21-year-old student from Shiga, Japan. He told VOA Learning English that the results are really surprising. In my opinion, Ive never felt it is decreasing. It is maybe because there are many youth who can speak English in my university.

The EPI report noted that the decrease appears to have taken place when the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with normal education. The report said, It is not yet clear if learning loss due to Covid will self-correct over time, but increased scores are expected in the future.

The EPI said the problem is more difficult in countries where proficiency has been decreasing over time and where education systems are teaching English less well than before.

There has been a decrease in proficiency in Japan for nearly 10 years. Ikebe said he could believe the EPI results because of the way English is taught in Japan. It makes nobody want to learn English more. It is not practical at all and really boring.

However, working adults, people 26 years old and older, have been improving their English since 2015. The EPI said this might be because the value of a shared language is most recognized in the workplace. English creates possibilities for individuals and productivity for organizations.

Results by gender

Results from the index also show a difference between men and women, what it calls a gender gap. The gender gap among those aged 18 to 25 is three times bigger than it is among working adults. Mens proficiency has improved by 14 points since 2015, while womens has decreased by 19 points.

The lack of women in international jobs could be one reason for the gender gap the EPI said. But the gender gap among those aged 18 to 25 might demonstrate a problem engendered by educational systems themselves or a societal problem schools are failing to address, the report said.

An exception was the Middle East. The average score for women in that area has increased by 44 points, placing them ahead of men there.

Lower average scores

One notable trend in the 2023 EF EPI is that all the very high proficiency countries and many of the high proficiency countries had lower average scores than in 2022. This could be a possible effect of the pandemic on learning, travel and in-person communication.

The Czech Republic is one country whose score dropped in 2023.

Sabina Wyrob is with the Czech office of EF Education First. She told the Czech News Agency online teaching during the pandemic affected childrens English skills. Schools and students are trying to catch up on what was missed, she told the news organization, but they are still not moving forward.

The reach of AI

The EPI report says that learning a language provides understanding of new ideas as well as better understanding of people. These skills, the report said, remain beyond the reach of AI, or artificial intelligence.

But Ikebe said in Japan: now AI and translation are being developed well. So, they dont need to learn English if they just do their homework. I think they dont use it as a tool to communicate, just a subject to pass the entrance exam.

Jeannie Tse is a country manager at EF Hong Kong and Macau. She spoke to The Standard newspaper in Hong Kong.

Tse said that while AI has changed the way young people work and learn, the importance of schools, teachers, and face-to-face instruction remains. "I do not believe that AI can completely replace language learning, Tse said, but educators can harness AI to enhance language learning methods.

Im Gena Bennett.

Gena Bennett wrote this story for VOA Learning English using information from EF Education First and other sources.

How well does your country speak English? Do you agree with the reports findings? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, on Facebook or Instagram."

Quiz - Young People's English Language Skills Decreasing Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

proficiencyn. ability to use or knowledge of a language

stableadj. remain the same

practical adj. related to what is real rather than what is imagined or is a possibility

boring adj. not interesting

gendern. the sex of a person; male or female

gapn. a space between two things

engenderv. to cause

translation n. changing writing from one language to another

harnessv. to control and make use of

enhance v. to improve or add to something
King Hussein of Jordan has made his first public visit to Israels largest city, Tel Aviv, in the latest indication of the new warmth between the two countries.

The King, an experienced pilot, flew a Jordanian army helicopter to the Sde Dov air base near Tel Aviv, where he was met by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

At a ceremony to honour the chief negotiators who brokered the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace talks, Mr Peres said: We still face all kinds of challenges: the greatest of them is not to let the galloping prospect of peace pass us by.

I would like to say how happy we are to have the opportunity to be with our friends, our partners in building and laying the foundations for a comprehensive peace in this region, replied the King.

Israel and Jordan ended 46 years of war with a peace treaty in 1994 backed by US President Bill Clinton. The deal drew condemnation from Jordanian Palestinians, who make up 60% of the population.

PLO officials were critical of todays visit by the King, saying he should first have visited lands under Palestinian rule.

There was extremely tight security as King Husseins motorcade made its way through Tel Aviv.

A quarter of Israeli police  6,000 officers  were deployed to protect him, and central Tel Aviv was paralysed as police closed off roads and diverted traffic.

Thousands of Israelis turned out to watch him go by, giving him an enthusiastic welcome with Jordanian flags and banners greeting the King in Arabic.

King Hussein did hold talks with Mr Peres, but diplomats stressed the main purpose of the visit was symbolic rather than political.

Later, he flew to Beit Gavriel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee for talks with Mr Peres and US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, whose shuttle diplomacy in the region continues tomorrow with a visit to the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Jordan has been largely diplomatically isolated since taking a neutral stand in the Gulf War of 1991.

However, the peace agreement with Israel and King Husseins increasing opposition to the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, have brought the country back into the international fold.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Shimon Peres lost the 1996 Israeli elections to Binyamin Netanyahu, who campaigned against the Rabin-Peres peace programme.

The Israel-Jordan peace treaty of 1994 continues to hold fast, however, despite its continuing unpopularity with many in the region.

In September 2002, Jordan and Israel agreed on a plan to pipe water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea that straddles the two countries.

The project, costing $800m, was the two nations biggest joint venture to date.

And 18 months later, in March 2004, the two nations agreed a joint project to build a desert science centre on their shared border.

King Hussein of Jordan died of cancer in 1999.
Federal investigators say a door panel slid up before flying off an Alaska Airlines jetliner last week, and they are looking at whether four bolts that were supposed to help hold the panel in place might have been missing when the plane took off.

The comments yesterday [Macau time] from the National Transportation Safety Board came shortly after Alaska and United Airlines reported separately that they found loose parts in the panels  or door plugs  of some other Boeing 737 Max 9 jets.

Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug  for example, bolts that needed additional tightening, Chicago-based United said.

Alaska said that as it began examining its Max 9s, Initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.

The findings of investigators and the airlines are ratcheting up pressure on Boeing to address concerns that have grown since the terrifying fuselage blowout Friday night. A plug covering a spot left for an emergency door tore off the plane as it flew 16,000 feet (4,800 meters) above Oregon.

Boeing has called an online meeting for all employees today to discuss safety.

The company, which has had problems with various planes over the years, pledged to help address any and all findings that airlines make during their inspections of Max 9 jets. Boeing has delivered more than 200 to customers around the world, but 171 of them were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday until the door plugs can be inspected and, if necessary, fixed.

The door plugs are inserted where emergency exit doors would be located on Max 9s with more than about 200 seats. Alaska and United have fewer seats in their Max 9s, so they replace heavy doors with the plugs.

The panels can be opened for maintenance work. The bolts prevent the mechanism from moving upward on rollers when the plane is in flight.

During Alaska Airlines flight 1282 on Friday night, roller guides at the top of one of the plugs broke  for reasons the investigators dont fully understand yet  allowing the entire panel to swing upward and lose contact with 12 stop pads that keep the panel attached to the door frame on the plane, NTSB officials said at a news briefing in Portland.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the safety board was investigating whether four bolts that help prevent the panel from sliding up on rollers were missing when the plane took off from Portland or whether they blew off during the violent, explosive decompression event.

The interior of the plane suffered extensive damage, but pilots were able to return to Portland and land safely. Officials say there were no serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew members.

The lost door panel was found Sunday near Portland in the back yard of a school teachers home. NTSB officials said it will be sent to the agencys lab in Washington, D.C., for detailed study that might help pinpoint why the plug broke loose.

Alaska and United have canceled hundreds of flights since the weekend because of their grounded planes. Alaska has 65 Max 9s, and United has 79. The airlines waited until Monday before Boeing and the FAA completed instructions for how to inspect their planes.

The jet involved in Fridays blowout is brand-new, having been put in service in November. After a cabin-pressurization system warning light came on during three flights, the airline stopped flying it over the Pacific to Hawaii. Some aviation experts questioned why Alaska continued using the plane on overland routes until it figured out what was causing the pressurization warnings.

Homendy said, however, that NTSB has seen no evidence to link the warnings with the blowout of the door plug.

The Max is the newest version of Boeings 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane that debuted in the late 1960s and has been updated many times. The 737 has long been a workhorse for airlines on U.S. domestic routes.

Shares of Boeing fell 8% and Spirit AeroSystems, which installs the door plugs on Max jets, dropped 11% on Monday. MDT/AP
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced tough talks with Israeli leaders on Gazas post-war future yesterday, while Israels military pushed ahead with its offensive in the beleaguered territory. Heavy bombardment and fighting shook refugee camps, sending Palestinians scrambling to find safety and hampering aid groups efforts to get relief to the population.

Blinken said he was coming to Israel with promises from four Arab nations and Turkey to help in rebuilding Gaza after the war. But those nations also want to see an end to the fighting in Gaza and concrete steps toward the eventual creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, something Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow.

The U.S. and Israel also remain deeply divided over how Gaza will be run when  and if  its current Hamas rulers are defeated. American officials have called for the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take the reins in Gaza. Israeli leaders have rejected that idea but havent put forward a concrete plan beyond an open-ended military control over the territory.

At the same time, Blinken is trying to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah. After a presumed Israeli strike last week hit Beirut, killing Hamass deputy leader, the two sides have stepped up their exchanges. Yesterday, Hezbollah said its exploding drones targeted the Israeli army northern command in the town of Safed  deeper into Israel than previous fire by the group. The Israeli military said a drone fell at a base in the north without causing damage, suggesting it had been intercepted. It did not identify the base.

There is lots to talk about, in particular about the way forward, Blinken said after meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The United States has pressed Israel to scale down its offensive in Gaza to more precise operations targeting Hamas. But the pace of death and destruction has remained largely the same, with several hundred Palestinians killed a day, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel has vowed to keep going until it has destroyed Hamas throughout the territory, in response to the Oct. 7 attack during which militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, in southern Israel and kidnapped around 250 others.

Still, after three months of fighting, Hamas continues to put up a fierce fight.

The Israeli military says it has dismantled Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza, where large swaths of the cityscape have been demolished. But fighting continues there against what Israel says are pockets of militants. The offensives focus has shifted to the southern city of Khan Younis, where ground troops have been fighting militants for weeks, and a number of urban refugee camps in central Gaza.

The fighting will continue throughout 2024, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Since the war began, Israels assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, and more than 58,000 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Nearly 85% of Gazas population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege.

Throughout the night and into yesterday morning, warplanes struck multiple areas in and around Khan Younis. Israeli artillery shelling and gunfire echoed through the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where troops have been pushing in from the north, said one resident, Saeed Moustafa. They were facing heavy resistance from gunmen in the camp, he said.

Like other refugee camps in Gaza, Nuseirat was built to house Palestinians driven out of homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation, and over the decades it has been built up into a densely populated town housing refugees and their descendants.

Families in Nuseirats northern neighborhoods were fleeing to other parts of the camp, Moustafa said by phone, with the sound of sporadic gunfire in the background. Some tried to head south on the Gazas main north-south road but found it blocked by Israeli tanks and turned around, he said. In leaflets, the military had told people evacuating to use another road, along the coast.

The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, warned that the fighting was severely hampering aid deliveries. Several warehouses, distribution centers, health facilities and shelters have been affected by the militarys evacuation orders, it said. Some bakeries in the central city of Deir al-Balah have been forced to shut down. A U.N. warehouse was hit last week, killing a staffer, and five other staffers were detained by the military, with two still held.

The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces cut off from the rest of the territory in late October. Tens of thousands of people who remain there face shortages of food and water.

The World Health Organization has been unable to deliver supplies to the north for two weeks. OCHA said the military rejected five attempted aid convoys to the north over that period, including planned deliveries of medical supplies and fuel for water and sanitation facilities.

As Blinken arrived in Israel, exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah continued their spiral since last weeks killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut.

Hezbollah said its drone strike on the base in northern Israel yesterday was further retaliation for the killing of Arouri and of a senior Hezbollah commander in an Israeli bombing Monday.

Yesterday, an Israeli drone hit a car in southern Lebanon, killing three people inside, security officials in the area and the state news agency said. There was no immediate word on the identities of the three. MATTHEW LEE, TEL AVIV, MDT/AP
Taiwans leading candidate William Lai said yesterday he hopes for a reopening of dialogue with China following almost eight years of Beijings near-complete refusal to communicate with leaders of the self-governing island it considers its own territory.

But Lai told reporters he would continue the current administrations policy of maintaining democratic Taiwans de-facto independence in the face of Chinese Communist Party threats to annex it by political, military or economic means. China demands that Taiwans leadership concede its claim of ownership over the island before reopening contacts.

While aspiring for peace, we harbor no illusions, Lai said at a news conference ahead of Saturdays major polls. We will build up Taiwans defense deterrence, strengthen Taiwans capabilities in economic security, enhance partnerships with democracies around the world and maintain stable and principled leadership on cross (Taiwan) Strait relations.

Our door will always be open to engagement with Beijing under the principles of equality and dignity. We are ready and willing to engage to show more for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Peace is priceless and war has no winners, Lai said.

Lai, currently Taiwans No. 2, is broadly seen as the front-runner in the election to succeed leader Tsai Ing-wen, who is barred by law from running for a third term. Most polls show him well ahead of the main opposition Nationalist Party, or KMT, candidate Hou You-yi, who favors eventual unification with China under its own terms, and the alternative Taiwan Peoples Partys Ko Wen-je, who has also pressed for renewed dialogue with China and the avoidance of confrontation with Beijing.

Voters will also choose a new legislature, where the DPP will seek to hold on to its majority, largely based on its handling of the economy, public welfare and employment opportunities for young people. Skyrocketing housing prices, a declining birth rate and a yawning gap between the super wealthy and working class are also playing into voter sentiments.

Looming over the election has been Chinas steadily increasing pressure on Taiwan through barring it from major international gatherings, wooing away its diplomatic allies to just a handful, and offering financial inducements to politicians  from the grassroots to top opposition figures who could influence the vote or promote policies increasing Chinese access to the islands economy.

The Peoples Liberation Army sends ships and warplanes on daily missions around Taiwan and the islands Defense Ministry has reported a growing number of balloons crossing over from China. The balloon incidents recall the incursion last year of a Chinese balloon that flew over Canada and the U.S. and was eventually shot down by the U.S. Air Force. China claimed the aircraft was a weather balloon that had been blown off-course, but the U.S. said it was carrying sophisticated intelligence-gathering technology.

Over the past 24 hours, the ministry reported four Chinese balloons had passed over the island, while 10 warplanes and four warships had entered airspace and waters near the island, part of a campaign to wear down morale and military resilience. The Defense Ministry said it had monitored Chinas movements, scrambling jets, dispatching ships and activating coastal missile systems.

Taiwan has been boosting its defenses with new weapons purchases from the U.S. and has expanded national service for men to one year from four months. Those have become contentious issues in the coming election, with Lai and the DPP accusing the KMT of blocking new defense spending, possibly as part of an arrangement with Beijing to gradually hand over control of the island, which split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949 and has never been controlled by the Peoples Republic of China.

CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, TAIPEI, MDT/AP

Air raid alert issued saying China has launched a satellite

The Taiwan government issued an alert yesterday saying China has launched a satellite and urging caution days before the islands elections.

Taiwan holds major elections Saturday that China has described as a choice between war and peace.

In English, the alert sent to residents mobile phones cautioned there was a missile flyover.

The alerts went off in the middle of an international news conference by Taiwanese Joseph Wu. He clarified it was a satellite launch, told journalists not to worry, and proceeded with the news conference.
Taiwans ruling Democratic Progressive Party has been pursuing a policy of relying on the United States to seek independence and resisting reunification to a much greater extent than previous authorities on the island, which experts said has significantly escalated tensions in cross-Strait relations.

Meanwhile, Beijing has taken steps to further limit the US space to leverage the Taiwan card, demonstrating its strategic determination and confidence in countering Taiwan independence, they said at a recent program on Southeast Television that focused on cross-Strait relations.

China announced sanctions on Sunday against five defense industry companies in the US for being involved in weapons sales to Taiwan, as it urged Washington to stop arming the island.

Lei Chien, chairwoman of the National Womens League on Taiwan, said: Despite their claims of not supporting Taiwan independence, if we look at the actions of the US, they are indeed enhancing Taiwans military capabilities, even through the US Congress.

Despite Beijings call for the US to stop arming Taiwan, Washington continued to provide significant military support to the island last year. For the first time it delivered military equipment to Taiwan under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, allowing the US to pull the weapons directly from US Defense Department inventories.

Meanwhile, Taiwans proposed defense budget for 2024 is NT$606.8 billion ($19.6 billion), roughly 2.5 percent of Taiwans gross domestic product, which the DPP authorities said displayed its determination to guard the island.

Taiwans annual defense spending has been on the rise since Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP took office in 2016. Defense spending has increased from NT$355.7 billion, or 2 percent of GDP, in 2017 to NT$580.3 billion in 2023, which is roughly 2.4 percent of GDP, Taiwan media reported.

Starting from Jan 1, the conscription period for compulsory military service in Taiwan was extended from the previous four months back to one year, which the DPP authorities claimed is aimed at improving its defense capability.

Zhu Weidong, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the US has attempted to pre-position a battlefield in Taiwan, sending signals that could increase fantasies among pro-independence forces to make further provocations.

Tsai Cheng-yuan, former deputy secretary-general of the Kuomintang, said that the DPP authorities, in collaboration with the US, aimed to militarize Taiwans society and create confrontation with the mainland.

Experts said Beijing made clearer demands to Washington regarding the Taiwan question, during a meeting between the leaders of China and the US in San Francisco in November, reflecting its strategic determination in resolving the Taiwan question.

Beijing called on the US to translate its non-support for Taiwan independence into concrete actions that support Chinas peaceful reunification at the meeting. The US reiterated its stance of non-support for Taiwan independence.

Wu Yongping, director of the Taiwan Research Institute at Tsinghua University, said that with China demanding that the US support its peaceful reunification, Beijings position on the Taiwan question in its relations with the US has become more focused, clear and distinct.

The bottom line of the US in the Taiwan Strait is that it does not want a war, and the most likely cause of war now is independence, he said. ZHANG YI, China Daily, China Daily
The Fire Services Bureau (CB) will build an operation post in the New Urban Zone A to bolster rapid rescue services within the area.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, Commander Leong Iok Sam said that the bureau has already secured a land plot in Zone A to ensure that first responders arrive at the scene within a maximum of six minutes, as stipulated in the Macau Fire Services Bureaus Quality Charter.

Recapping activities undertaken in 2023, the CB conducted 1,822 rescue operations, a decrease of 114 cases or 5.89% compared to 2022. Most rescue efforts focused on assisting with opening doors (412 instances) and providing assistance to injured individuals (282 instances).

The total number of special service attendances in 2023 was 6,968, marking an increase of 1,077 cases compared to 2022.

Leong also noted that the total number of fire alarms activated in 2023 was 836, an increase of 20 cases (2.45%) from 2022.

Data revealed that the main causes of fire alarms being set off were unattended stoves, neglected kindling, burning incense and candles, and machinery/equipment failures, accounting for 58.25% (487 instances) of the total fire alarm attendance.

The fire department also said that due to the post-pandemic resumption of normalcy, ambulance calls last year dropped by 5,722 cases year-on-year to 43,059 instances, a decrease of 11.73%.

The bureau pledged to continue strengthening public education efforts to further improve fire safety awareness within society and reduce accident probabilities.

Meanwhile, Leong said that Macau is in discussions with mainland authorities regarding the potential operation of rescue services in Hengqins Macau New Neighbourhood.

On cross-border rescue matters, Leong reiterated that the mainland and Macau have appropriate mechanisms in place, with reserved places for passing vehicles at each port.

Discussions are currently underway with the relevant departments in the mainland on whether Macau rescue vehicles can directly go to Zone A to retrieve injured patients.

Macau residents living in Zhuhai seeking emergency treatment may use the special area at the Border Gate Checkpoint in order to be transferred from a mainland ambulance to a Macau ambulance.

Staff Reporter
South Koreas bachelor time bomb is about to really go off. Following a historic 30-year-long imbalance in the male-to-female sex ratio at birth, young men far outnumber young women in the country. As a result, some 700,000 to 800,000 extra South Korean boys born since the mid-1980s may not be able to find South Korean girls to marry.

As a demographer who over the past four decades has conducted extensive research on East Asian populations, I know that this increased number of South Korean boys will have huge impacts throughout South Korean society. Coincidentally, similar trends are playing out in China, Taiwan and India.

The reasons

In most countries, more boys are born than girls  around 105 to 107 boys per 100 girls. That sex ratio at birth (SRB) is a near constant. The gender imbalance is likely an evolutionary adaptation to the biological fact that females live longer than males. At every year of life, men have higher death rates than women. Hence an SRB of between 105 and 107 boys allows for there to be roughly equal numbers of men and women when the groups reach childbearing ages.

The SRB in the United States in 1950 was 105 and was still 105 in 2021; in fact, it has been stable in the U.S. for as long as SRB data has been gathered. In contrast, in South Korea the SRB was at the normal range from 1950 to around 1980, but increased to 110 in 1985 and to 115 in 1990.

After fluctuating a bit at elevated levels through the 1990s and early 2000s, it returned to the biologically normal range by 2010. In 2022, South Koreas SRB was 105  well within the normal level. But by then, the seeds for todays imbalance of marriage-age South Koreans was set.

A preference for sons

There are several reasons why South Koreas SRB was out of balance for 30 years.

South Korea experienced a rapid fertility decline in a 20- to 30-year period beginning in the 1960s. From six children per woman in 1960, fertility fell to four children in 1972, then to two children in 1984. By 2022, South Koreas fertility rate had dropped to 0.82  the lowest fertility rate in the world and far below the rate of 2.1 needed to replace the population.

Yet, South Koreas long-held cultural preference for sons did not shift as quickly as childbearing declined. Having at least one son was a strong desire influencing fertility preferences in South Korea, especially up through the early years of the 21st century.

And the declining fertility rate posed a problem. When women have many children, the probability that at least one will be a boy is high. With only two children, the probability that neither will be a son is around 25%, and when women have only one child, it is less than 50%.

In order to ensure that families would continue to have boys, many South Koreans turned to readily available techniques to identify the gender of the fetus, such as screening in the early stages of pregnancy. Abortion, which is legal and socially acceptable in South Korea, was then often used to allow families to select the sex of their child.

Sex by the numbers

In South Korea, beginning in around 1980 and lasting up to around 2010 or so, many more extra boys were born than girls. When these extra boys reach adulthood and start looking for South Korean girls to marry, many will be unsuccessful.

The extra boys born in the 1980s and 1990s are now of marriage age, and many will be looking to marry and start a family. Many more will be reaching marriage age in the next two decades.

I have calculated that owing to the unbalanced SRBs in South Korea between 1980 and 2010, approximately 700,000 to 800,000 extra boys were born.

Already this is having an effect in a society where over the centuries virtually everyone was expected to marry, and where marriage was nearly universal. Recent research by Statistics Korea showed that in 2023, over 36% of South Koreans between the ages of 19 and 34 intended to get married; this is a decline from over 56% in 2012.

Foreign brides and bachelor ghettos

The immigration of foreign-born women might help address the imbalance. Research by demographers Guy Abel and Nayoung Heo has shown that financial assistance from the South Korean government is already supporting the immigration to South Korea of Korean women from northeastern China and of foreign women from some less wealthy countries, such as Vietnam, the Philippines and some Eastern European countries.

If the extra bachelors do not marry immigrant brides, they will have no alternative but to develop their own lives and livelihoods. Some might settle in bachelor ghettos in Seoul and in South Koreas other big cities of Busan and Daegu, where commercial sex outlets are more prevalent. Such ghettos have already been observed in other Asian cities where men outnumber women, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China.

The consequences for South Korean society of the higher than biologically normal SRBs is a problem of the countrys own making. South Koreas high fertility of the mid-20th century was holding the country back economically. Its program to bring down a fertility rate of nearly six children per woman was hugely successful. But its very success has been problematic.

The speed of South Koreas fertility transition meant that the evolution to a more modern familial normative structure  that is, with about two children per family and with less preference given to boys  lagged behind. Today, the SRB imbalances appear to be a thing of the past. Women in South Korea have greater access to education and employment, and there is less pressure for men to be sole wage earners. Together with the South Korean governments efforts to reduce sex selection beginning in the late 1980s, the premium for boys over girls has dropped.

Yet despite the relaxed desire for sons, long-term social issues related to gender imbalance, especially regarding the marriage market, will remain in South Korea for decades to come. Dudley L. Poston Jr., Texas A&M University, MDT/The Conversation
Glass Nickel Pizza Co. on Madisons East Side is expanding into the former laundromat next door.

Brian Glassel and Tim Nicholson opened the original restaurant in November 1997 at 2049 Atwood Ave. and moved it to the current location at 2916 Atwood Ave., a mile away, in 2001.

When the laundromat moved, we all started thinking about and planning our options for the space, said Megan Nicholson, who is a co-owner and married to Tim Nicholson. Rebecca Glassel, who is married to Brian Glassel, is the other co-owner.

The building was really ready for several updates in general, Megan said. And more than we even expected, it turned out.

Not only did the owners take the building down to the studs; they also added new floor joists and roof trusses, she said. It ended up quite the project.

The space will be used for an employee breakroom, a new dish room, expanded prep and delivery areas, heating and cooling improvements and increased storage, Megan said.

The new area will also have shared office space for the restaurant and will serve as the headquarters for Glass Nickels nine franchises.

She said the work should wrap up in a few weeks, but getting the new dish room up and having initial access to the breakroom has been a huge step forward.

When Brian and Tim  Glass Nickel is a combination of their last names and was a suggestion by Brians aunt  initially opened, they were turned down for several spaces.

(Developer) Joe Krupp was the only person who would agree to lease to a startup local pizza place at the time. They are still very grateful to him for giving them a chance, Megan said.

At first, the current Atwood space was open for carryout and delivery only. The dining room came about a year later. Brian and Tim bought the building with their longtime friend, Matt Christensen, who owns Christensen Construction. It included the laundromat and the restaurants previous office space next door.

The building held three separate spaces and the area used for the office had previously been a barber shop, Megan said.

Christensen Construction is doing the work on the expansion, she said.

Megan said they were interested in also expanding into the vacant Birrenkott Appliance space on the other side of the building to make more improvements but were too far apart in price to negotiate. Instead, they focused on their current remodel and are very happy with the end result.

While business hasnt returned to pre-COVID levels, it continues to improve, she said.

Lots of the credit goes to the companys team, some of whom have been with the company 26 years, Megan said. Three days after opening, Glassel and Nicholson hired their first employee. That employee today is one of two general managers at the East Side Glass Nickel.

All the Glass Nickel Pizza restaurants are in Wisconsin and are owned and operated by previous employees, Megan said.

Its important for us to keep finding ways we can continue to contribute to the community, the crew, and the customers, she said. When things get tough, we just all put our heads together, noses down, and try to work hard and do what we do best ... feed people and make really good pizza.
This State Journal editorial ran on Jan. 10, 1854:

U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas, D-Ill., recently introduced a bill for the organization of Nebraska. It seeks to establish a territorial government at once.

It further provides that the state or states hereafter erected within the limits of the territory shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, according to the desire of the people, when they apply for admission. It particularly specifies that the Fugitive Slave Law shall be extended to the Territory of Nebraska. ...

Sen. Douglas seems to attempt to curry favor with Southern politicians. If we have a correct idea of the boundaries of the proposed territory, it lies entirely north of the line prescribed by the terms of the Missouri Compromise, as the northernmost limit where the traffic in human beings shall be tolerated. The disgraceful spectacle of our brother man, fettered, or driven to labor under the lash like a brute, shall libel our national character for civilization and humanity, and seem to mock and defy the justice of the Supreme Law-giver.

When Nebraska comes into the Union, we hope to see her come, if at all, uncontaminated by the presence of slavery, filled with that vigor which freedom alone can give, to form a worthy member, in spirit and enterprise, of the noble Sisterhood of Western States.
Harvard will survive, even thrive, as the imbroglio over its former president, Claudine Gay, settles. She will survive, too, though her academic reputation is undoubtedly blemished by credible accusations of plagiarism. She will overcome.

But the reactionary campaign against education continues, and its most audacious and damaging attacks are not on elite colleges and universities. Republican legislators and activists are on a crusade to undermine elementary and secondary public schools, and they have been gaining ground with little public outcry. The assault on funding for public schools deserves the same attention that the book-banning campaign has received. It deserves the same attention as the controversies that have engulfed Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT.

Around the country, Republican legislators have passed laws that allow public funds to go to private schools. Conservatives disguise their intentions by calling their proposals "opportunity scholarships" or "education savings accounts." They claim they are aiding "parental choice" by allowing parents to send their children to any school they like.

For decades, several states have funneled public funds to low-income families to send their children to private schools. That makes sense when local public schools cannot serve certain students well, and parents lack the resources to afford private school tuition. Those programs have been especially helpful to students with certain disabilities or who are neurodivergent, including children with autism.

But the latest trend funnels public funds to families regardless of their ability to pay. If middle-class and upper-income families want their children in private schools, that's certainly their choice, but they should have to pay for it. Congress has already allowed parents to divert funds from 529 accounts -- originally a way to make it easier for families to save for college because of tax advantages -- to tuition to private elementary or secondary schools. That's OK since it's not government money.

But at least a dozen states now offer tuition assistance of various forms, often vouchers or so-called scholarships, to families regardless of income. That assistance often totals thousands of dollars per family and may be used at any school, including religious schools that are homophobic and schools that were founded to evade public school desegregation. Moreover, the funds usually go to families whose children are already in private schools, according to Joshua Cowen, professor of education policy at Michigan State University.

This is occurring at a time when public schools around the country are starved for money. Teachers are not only underpaid -- which helps explain why so many are leaving the profession -- but they also lack classroom resources. It's routine for public school teachers to circulate "wish lists," hoping that generous donors will purchase supplies for their classrooms. While public schools in middle-class neighborhoods have the benefit of families with the resources to restore playgrounds or raise money for a new gymnasium, public schools in poor neighborhoods scrape by with aging facilities and overcrowded classrooms.

Last year, an Alabama legislator introduced a bill that would eventually give families $6,000 a year each for private schools, but it failed to get a floor vote. The bill is poised to come back to the legislature this year. Meanwhile, Alabama ranks 10th from the bottom in public school funding. Georgia, too, is widely expected to once again consider a voucher proposal that would give $6,500 to any public school student who switches to a private school.

Research shows that switching students to private schools doesn't improve their academic performance. Cowen, who has studied vouchers for decades, points out that studies show that test scores dropped for kids who left public school for private schools. That's because vouchers generally aren't used at elite private schools (they don't cover the full costs) but rather at "sub-prime" schools, he said.

After the COVID pandemic shut down public schools for long periods, parental dissatisfaction boiled over, giving reactionaries the fuel they needed to push their disingenuous strategies claiming "choice." Still, nearly 90% of the nation's children are educated in public schools. They are a bedrock of democracy.

Unfortunately, reactionaries don't really believe in democracy, either.
Police remain mum as to providing specific details relating to multiple people being rushed to the hospital late Tuesday afternoon in Buhl.

A statement released by the Buhl Police Department said emergency personnel responded at about 5 p.m. to 140 Broadway Ave. S. after a report of someone having chest pain, but found the incident to be at 130 Broadway Ave. S., where multiple individuals were in need of immediate medical care.

Police had streets blocked and some buildings in the area were evacuated, possibly due to first responders thinking the incident might have been caused by hazardous materials.

Victims were taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, and the scene was cleared of any danger or threat to the public, the police departments statement said.

Jerry Wilson, manager of Walkers Flooring Center in Buhl, said the incident occurred at the Desert Sage Concepts warehouse, and one of his employees, who has a law enforcement background, called 911 and rendered aid to two men he found unconscious outside the warehouse and to one inside.

The flooring company shares the building with Desert Sage Concepts and a bakery.

The employee, who was heading home for the night, had parked in a different location than normal, which caused him to turn the corner of the building and see the people needing assistance, said Wilson, who came to the store after the incident.

The situation could have been much worse had the employee not spotted the victims.

He used to be a police officer so his training came in handy, Wilson said.

The Buhl Fire Department found no environmental hazard that caused the emergency, although the statement doesnt indicate what was to blame.

Reports indicate buildings were evacuated, police had areas blocked off, and scanner traffic indicated first-responders were checking for the presence of carbon monoxide or a natural gas leak.

Wilson said the incident left him a little shook up, along with the employee, but Walkers Flooring was open for business on Wednesday.
Bail bondsman Eve Collins might be instrumental in getting inmates home for the holidays, but that doesnt make her a softy.

She maintains she has to be hard-nosed at times.

After all, Collins and other bail bondsmen put their money on the line that inmates they bail out will comply with terms and show up for court dates.

When they dont and try to flee justice, she sometimes dons a bulletproof vest, taser and handcuffs in order to return them to custody.

That situation doesnt happen regularly, she said, as she has developed a reputation that it doesnt pay to jump bail on her.

But when it does occur, you cant call it bounty hunting. The proper name is bail enforcement.

Idaho thinks bounty hunting sounded too rough, Collins said.

But Collins, who has been in business for 14 years, has a heart as well.

Sometimes you will be hit in the heart and you want to run to the jail and get them out, she said.

Running a bail bond agency is an interesting profession in which she finds financial risk, danger and even a bit of humor.

Organizations within the bail bond industry even got her connected to celebrities like Duane Chapman, known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, and his wife, Beth, before she died in 2019.

Plus, she needs to keep up on the latest regulations regarding the bail bond business.

Every year they come out with things you cant do, or things you need to do, she said. One of the latest regulations is that she is required to charge interest on unpaid premiums.

Life as a bail bondsman

Bail bondsmen get people out of jail while they are awaiting court hearings, but the service isnt free.

Typically, inmates, or friends and family, put up 10%, plus fees, of the bond, called a premium, as a fee for getting out of jail. That 10% is not refundable, even if charges are eventually dropped.

Collins likens the bail bond business to car insurance. Its even regulated by the same state agency  the Idaho Department of Insurance.

You pay a premium to stay out of jail while your case is pending, thats where the 10% comes in, she said. Its just like car insurance  thats the easiest way to explain it.

Collins usually asks for collateral to cover the remainder of the bond, in case the suspect tries to flee from justice. The amount differs depending on flight risk, such as how long the person has lived in the area, the job they hold and whether they have worked together successfully in the past.

I have a good memory about who has run from me, she said.

Collins has put liens on $50,000 pickups, or even homes, but she maintains she doesnt want to go into the business of repossessing peoples property. She just wants people to comply with the terms the way they were agreed upon.

When it comes to payment or collateral, she prefers cash or credit card. Jewelry for collateral is difficult because it would require appraisal and a safe place to keep it. One time a guy said he didnt have any money and wanted to offer a generator. She passed on the offer.

Aa person doesnt need to pay the entire 10% premium all at once, but can often finance part of it through the bond agency. That can be useful. After all, she said, if someone has a $50,000 bond, who has $5,000 lying around?

When inmates dont keep their promises, such as not showing up for court appearances, trying to flee from justice, or stop making payments on the balance they financed, the bail can be revoked.

I only have two bad ones right now. Thats it, Collins said.. Thats pretty good for an agency that writes as much as I do.

And when people are on the lam, its the bail bond agencys responsibility, not the responsibility of law enforcement, to find them and return them to jail.

They are on my money, Collins explained.

Thats when bail enforcement kicks in, and she said it is usually not the people with a large bond that jump bail, because they dont want their family or co-signer to be on the hook, potentially losing valuables they have put up as collateral.

Shes had to use a stun gun on people during bail enforcement, and they dont like it, she said.

The process of bringing someone back to custody can be scary and unnerving, said Taunua Pellegrini, who works with Collins. Fortunately, Pellegrini has a tall, large husband who assists with bail enforcement duties.

Bail bond agencies notify law enforcement before attempting to take someone into custody.

Well call them up and tell them where we are going, we are looking for this person and they have a warrant, she explained. They will help us if we think we need assistance.

Collins said she has never been hurt, although a man one time pulled a knife on her ex-husband, who used to be a co-owner of the agency. The fugitive ended up getting his arm broken as her ex-husband disarmed him.

There are tender moments as well.

Collins tells of a woman who had no prior criminal record. She was found with drugs in her vehicle as she was traveling through the area, along with her dogs, on her way to Montana, where her family was going to meet her.

She was a good person,: Collins said. She had never been in trouble.

Collins went out of her way to get the bail process in order and even helped find her a hotel room.

Then there are times when Collins feels like a counselor  or maybe a mother  lecturing younger people that they need to get their lives together or they will end up in prison.

And sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. She has refused to bail some people out, even if they have the money in hand.

Sometimes I want them in jail before they kill themselves or somebody else, she said. I am honest with them. I say you need to get cleaned up, you need to get a plan together, some treatment before we get you out to be with your family.

And often family members agree that jail is the best place for their loved one at that time, she said.

Collins told of times when people have thanked her for keeping them in jail because it saved their lives.

Bail Bonds Compete for Business in the Magic Valley TWIN FALLS  Each Fourth of July parade in Buhl has firefighters waving to children, Boy Scouts carrying the American flag and a high school b

Collins said she often sees the same people regularly.

They say a good criminal is one who pays their attorney and bail bondsman, she said. I have seen people who have an income of $50,000 that are in jail, and they say Eve, get me out.

And if Collins knows they are good for the money, thats what she will do.

Laughing a little

Pellegrini said she can find humor in almost every situation an inmate finds themselves in.

I had someone say, I was just sitting on the couch and they took me back to jail  and I dont know why, Pellegrini said.

That is not how the police work.

While there is often humor to be found in the way a crime was allegedly committed, the funny stuff usually ends if they miss a court date.

Because when you go get them, they are mean, Pellegrini said. They dont want to accept responsibility.

Hard to slow down

Running a bail bond agency is a tough but exciting job, Collins said.

It can be a tough business to get into as well.

When she became interested in the career more than 15 years ago, Collins said, she had to do her research alone because others werent willing to share information.

Once a person gets licensed, however, they usually stay in the business until retirement, she said.

Although nearing retirement age and admits to having a health problem or two, its tough to slow down.

Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in the Magic Valley, 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 Times-News app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
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A magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the coast of the southern Philippines on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Local authorities there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake struck at a depth of 70 kilometres (43 miles) about 100 kilometres southeast of Sarangani municipality off Mindanao island, the USGS said.

The tremor did not trigger a tsunami alert, according to the US Tsunami Warning System and Philippine seismological authorities.

By the grace of God it was not that strong in our province, said CMSgt. Ian Roy Balandan of the Sarangani provincial police office on Mindanao.

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Balandan told the AFP (Agence France Presse) there had been no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructures or houses.

It was really mild. People hardly felt it, he said.

Harly Sauro, a disaster official in Sarangani municipality, which is a small group of islands that forms part of Davao Occidental province, said the quake had not caused any damage or casualties, but did disturb some people from their sleep.

Earthquakes regularly strike the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most quakes though are too weak to be felt by humans.

Last month, a 7.6-magnitude quake struck off Mindanao, briefly triggering a tsunami warning. At least three people died in that incident.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said the tremor of tectonic origin occurred at 4:48 a.m. with a depth of 94 kilometers.

Intensity 4 was felt in  Glan, Malungon and Kiamba, Sarangani, while intensity 3 was experienceed in General Santos City; Koronadal City, Tupi, Polomolok and Tboli in South Cotabato; Alabel and

Malapatan in Sarangani, and Matalam in Cotabato, Intensity 2 was felt in Tampakan, Tantangan, Banga, Norala,

Santo Nino, Surallah and Lake Sebu in South Cotabato; Zamboanga City; Maitum in Sarangani; Kidapawan City, Makilala, Mlang, Pigcawayan,

Tulunan and Kabacannin Cotabato, and President Quirino in Sultan Kudarat. Cagayan de Oro City; Maasim in Sarangani; Arakan in Cotabato, and

Isulan in Sultan Kudarat.

Aftershocks may occur, but no damage is expected, PHIVOLCS said.

No destructive tsunami threat exists based on available data.

This is for information purposes only and there is no tsunami threat to the Philippines from this earthquake, it added. With AFP
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Bellinzona, Switzerland  Gambian former interior minister Ousman Sonko said Switzerland was not qualified to lecture on human rights as he took the stand for the first time Tuesday as he denies charges of crimes against humanity.

Sonko has been in Swiss custody ever since his arrest in January 2017 after applying for asylum following his sacking from the West African nations government.

He is accused of a string of serious offences allegedly committed between 2000 and 2016 under the regime of former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Sonko, who turned 55 Tuesday, denies the charges. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.

I dont think Switzerland is qualified or is competent to lecture anyone on human rights, he told the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona.

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It is essential to understand that as minister of the interior, I had no operational powers.

I played a purely political role and was always careful never to interfere with the responsibilities of the heads of service, who had full operational responsibility.

Before the trial, Sonkos lawyer Philippe Currat told AFP responsibility for the events on the charge sheet lies with the National Intelligence Agency and not with his client.

Sonko said: The NIA has never been under my authority and I had no power to propose any regulations whatsoever concerning it.

 Moving forward 

The trial is possible because Switzerland made two major legislative changes in 2011.

It enshrined crimes against humanity  serious violations committed as part of a large-scale attack targeting civilians  into the Swiss criminal code.

It also recognised the principle of universal jurisdiction.

This allows countries to prosecute alleged atrocity crimes  which in addition to crimes against humanity, comprise war crimes and genocide  regardless of where they were committed.

At Mondays opening, Sonkos lawyers asked judges to dismiss the case, claiming there had been violations of the fundamental rules of procedure.

They also argued that Sonko should not be tried on any counts predating 2011 when the Swiss laws came into force.

But the judges on Tuesday refused to dismiss the case and decided the issue of so-called retroactivity would be examined later.

We are moving forward. Its positive, said Benoit Meystre, legal adviser for the NGO Trial International, which filed the complaint leading to Sonkos arrest.

It is the second time in less than a year that Swiss judges have tried a foreign defendant accused of committing crimes against humanity in his own country.

Last June, the Federal Criminal Courts appeals chamber upheld the 20-year prison sentence imposed on former Liberian warlord Alieu Kosiah, handing down a verdict of crimes against humanity for acts committed well before 2011.

 Rape, torture charges 

The proceedings in the Sonko case which are being held in German are likely to last a month, with a verdict not expected before March.

The judges refused Tuesday to allow the entire trial to be translated into English, to the annoyance of the defence lawyers and plaintiffs.

There are 10 complainants in the case, according to the NGO, including eight direct victims.

Jammeh ruled The Gambia with an iron grip from 1994 to 2016.

Sonko is accused by Swiss prosecutors of having supported, participated in and failed to prevent systematic and generalised attacks as part of the repression carried out by the Gambian security forces against all opponents of the regime.

The charges span from 2000 to 2016 and include nine counts of crimes against humanity.

He is accused of having deliberately killed, tortured, raped and unlawfully deprived individuals of their liberty in a serious manner.

Sonko is accused of committing the alleged crimes first within the army, then as inspector general of the police, and finally as the interior minister from 2006 to 2016.

Trial International says he is the highest-ranking state official ever to be tried in Europe for international crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
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The mother of a Filipino drug trafficker on death row in Indonesia begged the countrys president to free her daughter on Wednesday.

The plea came a day after the Philippines made a fresh appeal for clemency for Mary Jane Veloso, who was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin and later sentenced to death.

I am begging and pleading with you to help free my daughter who has been suffering innocently for fourteen years(I am) begging you to understand me as a parent, mother. I hope you will release my daughter for the sake of her two children, Celia Veloso said in her open letter to the visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Today is my daughter, Mary Jane Velosos (39th) birthday I hope she can be released, Veloso said in her letter.

Mary Jane won a last-minute reprieve from the firing squad in 2015 after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested in the Philippines.

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Family and supporters of Veloso held a small protest near the Malacanang in Manila on Wednesday as President Marcos met with Widodo.

Velosos supporters claim she went to Indonesia for a job as a maid and was duped by an international drug syndicate into carrying heroin.

A separate letter from the family addressed to Mr. Marcos said: You are our only hope.

Neither Marcos nor Widodo mentioned Velosos case in their prepared remarks delivered to the media after their meeting.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said he had renewed the appeal for Velosos clemency during a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi.

Manalo previously sought clemency for Veloso in 2022.

Meanwhile, Migrante International on Wednesday said President Marcos should take concrete steps to secure Mary Jane Velosos freedom.

The group prodded the Marcos administration to take action beyond lip service to bring Veloso back to the Philippines if he really wants to make a difference from his despicable predecessor who allegedly did nothing for the Filipina on death row.

While prodding the Marcos administration to secure the release of Veloso, Migrante also condemned former President Rodrigo Duterte for letting Veloso languish in prison.

(Duterte) even floated the possibility that Mary Janes execution will push through, the group said.

In 2016, Widodo said Duterte had given the green light for the execution of Veloso, but then-presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella clarified that the ex-chief executive only said he will not interfere in the case. With AFP
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To beef up defense, border patrol ties amid rising tensions

The Philippines and Indonesia have agreed to bolster cooperation in defense and security amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, President Marcos said Wednesday.

As immediate neighbors and fellow archipelagic states, the Philippines and Indonesia agreed to continue our cooperation on political and security matters, President Marcos said as Indonesian President Joko Widodo began a three-day official visit in Manila.

President Widodo and I had a fruitful and honest discussion on regional events of mutual interest, such as the developments in the South China Sea and ASEAN cooperation and initiatives. The Philippines and Indonesia affirmed our insistence on the universality of UNCLOS [the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea], which sets out the legal framework that governs all activities in the oceans and in the seas, the President said.

In his statement, President Widodo emphasized the agreement to reinforce border cooperation, highlighting the importance of revising the Border Patrol Agreement and Border Crossing Agreement, settling Continental Shelf Boundaries, and enhancing defense cooperation, including defense equipment.

Under the Border Patrol Agreement and Border Crossing Agreement, the Philippines and Indonesia aim to outline the treatment for nationals of each country who are illegally in the others territory.

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Additionally, it establishes a reciprocal and simplified system for the entry and exit of nationals residing in the specified border area, facilitating limited-duration visits between the corresponding border areas.

On regional security, President Widodo and President Marcos agreed on the significance of strengthening ASEAN unity and upholding the principles of international law to position ASEAN as a positive force for peace, stability, and prosperity.

One significant initiative involves the progress in implementing bilateral priorities outlined in the Philippines-Indonesia Plan of Action 2022-2027, signed during President Marcoss state visit to Indonesia in September 2022.

The plan covers a broad spectrum of cooperation, encompassing political and security matters, border issues, regional and global concerns, economic cooperation, sociocultural and people-to-people exchanges, as well as judicial and consular matters between the two nations.

During his meeting with Widodo at Malacanang, the President underscored the need for the Philippines and Indonesia to stand united in confronting regional challenges.

As neighbors, we must remain united in addressing the many challenges that our region now faces, President Marcos said.

Highlighting the significance of Philippines-Indonesia relations, Marcos emphasized the close friendship and regional partnership grounded in commonalities of geography, history, and culture.

In response, President Widodo pledged to collaborate closely with the Philippines, particularly in defense and security, trade, and infrastructure development.

Widodo sought the Presidents support for the Philippine acquisition of new naval warfare aircraft from Indonesia.

On the economic front, Widodo affirmed Indonesias commitment to maintaining open market access for the Philippines agricultural commodities.

He also sought President Marcos support for expediting the groundbreaking of the North-South Commuter Railway Project, a joint venture between Indonesia and the Philippines.

Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, President Widodo noted that the Philippines was his first destination in 2024, marking the 75th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He emphasized his visits significance in celebrating and further strengthening the ties between the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Philippines and Indonesia formalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy cooperation, underscoring a shared commitment to ensuring energy security for both nations.

Marcos and Widodo witnessed the signing of the MOU on energy cooperation that took place at the Presidents Hall in Malacanang Palace.

During a joint press briefing, President Marcos expressed satisfaction with the MOU, which resulted from successful negotiations between the Philippines and Indonesia facilitated by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, in a separate statement, said the MOU reinforces and updates the longstanding energy cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia.

On the part of the Philippines, it is an offshoot of our Presidents efforts to achieve higher energy security through energy diplomacy, Lotilla said.

The MOU outlines provisions for facilitating cooperation between the business sectors of both countries, particularly during periods of critical supply constraints on energy commodities such as coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Lotilla said the Philippines has been a dependable market for Indonesian coal, accounting for nearly 98 percent share of total Philippine coal imports in 2022, consistently increasing from 88 percent in 2017.

He said that following the failure of Indonesian coal mines to provide adequate supply to their domestic power plants and markets, the Indonesian government issued a coal export ban in January 2022.

This forced countries like the Philippines to scramble for alternative sources of coal and caused coal prices to spike.
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SEOULNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a strengthened nuclear deterrent and warned he would have no hesitation in annihilating the rival South, while touring major weapons factories, state media reported Wednesday.

Labeling South Korea the principal enemy, he said Pyongyangs priority should be to bolster up the military capabilities for self-defense and the nuclear war deterrent first of all, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after Kim enshrined the countrys status as a nuclear power into the constitution and test-fired several advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Kim said that while the North  formally known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea  would not unilaterally trigger a confrontation, it had no intention of avoiding a war as well, according to KCNA.

If the ROK dares attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK or threaten its sovereignty and security and such opportunity comes, we will have no hesitation in annihilating the ROK by mobilizing all means and forces in our hands, KCNA reported, using an acronym for the southern Republic of Korea.

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Kim, accompanied by senior party and military officials, conducted his tour of multiple munitions factories on Monday and Tuesday, KCNA said, describing the visits as encouragement for weapons workers in the struggle for attaining the huge production goal for the new year.

The United States and dozens of allies, including South Korea and Japan, accuse North Korea of violating multiple international sanctions by transferring missiles to Russia to help bolster its military invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Washington, nearly 50 countries joined the United States in condemning North Koreas alleged transfer of missiles to Russia, demanding an immediate end to the cooperation.

The United States last week said that Russia, short of weapons nearly two years into its invasion, attacked Ukraine with missiles from North Korea, which is under a slew of international sanctions for its missile and nuclear work.

In a joint statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was joined by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and 47 foreign ministers in condemning the alleged transfer in the strongest possible terms.

The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russias war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime, said the statement released by the US State Department.

They said the alleged missile shipment flagrantly violated sanctions on North Korea by the United Nations Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member.

We are closely monitoring what Russia provides to the DPRK in return for these weapons exports, said the statement, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

They called on the two countries to abide by Security Council resolutions and immediately cease all activities that violate them.

The 47 countries that signed overwhelmingly came from Europe and also included South Korea and Japan, treaty-bound allies of the United States.

Other signatories include Israel, which has been cautious in its statements on Russia  heavily involved in neighboring Syria  but also has counted on US support in its three-month military campaign in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack.
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TEL AVIV Top US diplomat Antony Blinken told Israel Tuesday the toll on Gazan civilians caused by its war against Hamas was far too high, urging his ally to alleviate their suffering.

More than three months into the deadliest ever Gaza war, Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on his fourth round of Middle East crisis diplomacy since the conflict broke out.

Blinken reaffirmed US support for Israels right to prevent a repetition of the unprecedented Hamas attacks of Oct 7 that sparked the war, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

But Blinken also stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza, said Miller of the Hamas-run territory where a humanitarian crisis is deepening and local health officials have reported more than 23,000 deaths.

Blinken later told a news conference that the daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high, and said more food, water and medicine were needed.

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Israel has agreed to a UN assessment mission in northern Gaza that would determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely, he said.

Miller said that for the longer term, Blinken in his discussions with Netanyahu reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realisation of a Palestinian state.

Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians ability to govern themselves effectively, Blinken said during the news conference.

An AFP correspondent reported intense strikes overnight in Khan Yunis and Rafah, the biggest cities in the south of Gaza which are crowded with internally displaced people.

Israels army said its forces had killed 40 militants over the past 24 hours in expanded ground operations including air strikes in Khan Yunis, and that troops had seized AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and other weapons.

We lost all of our dreams, said Hadeel Shehata, a 23-year-old displaced Palestinian living in a tent at a Rafah refugee camp.

The Gaza war began after Hamas gunmen launched their unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants of Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, also took around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain captive, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion of Gaza that have killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territorys health ministry.

The Israeli army says its death toll inside Gaza had risen to 185 after nine soldiers were killed on Monday.

There has to be a ceasefire, for the hostages, the civilians all the hundreds and hundreds of innocent people, Marie-Pascale Radoux, whose Franco-Mexican son Orion is believed held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, told AFP in France.

There are no words to explain what you feel from anger to sadness, anxiety, fear, nightmares.

Jordans royal palace said King Abdullah II would host Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday for talks on Gaza.

These would be part of Jordanian efforts to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid, it said.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, speaking in Qatar on Tuesday, said the Oct 7 attack came after an attempt to marginalize the Palestinian cause.

Despite the heavy price, the massacres and the war of genocide, it (Israel) failed to achieve any of its goals.

In further comments, released later by Hamas in Gaza, Haniyeh called on Muslim states to support the resistance with weapons, because this is not the battle of the Palestinian people alone.

The war has displaced most of Gazas 2.4 million people, and the United Nations says many are at risk of famine and disease.

The World Health Organization said its ability to provide aid and support Gazan hospitals was shrinking.

With only minimal aid entering Gaza, Israeli human rights group BTselem charged that everyone in Gaza is going hungry as the direct results of Israels declared policy.

Israels Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by international media organizations to allow independent access for journalists to Gaza, saying entry restrictions were justified on security grounds.

Since the war started, fears have grown of an escalating conflict between Israel and its other regional enemies, a loose alliance of Iran-backed armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Blinken on Tuesday that intensifying pressure on Iran was critical and may prevent a regional escalation, an Israeli government statement said.

Israel has traded cross-border fire with Lebanons Hezbollah for three months, and more recently killed senior operatives of the Shiite Muslim militant group as well as of Hamas on Lebanese soil.

Hezbollah on Tuesday announced four of its fighters had been killed.

As the ground offensive continues, Israel has said it has largely achieved military control over northern Gaza and that the war is entering a new phase.

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari, speaking to The New York Times, said this would involve fewer soldiers and air strikes and that a troop reduction had already begun this month.

Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli police confirmed three people were killed Monday during a raid on the city of Tulkarem to arrest a wanted terrorist.

Israeli army raids and settler attacks in the West Bank have killed at least 333 people since October 7, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.
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Filipinos must engage in this narrative, not as passive spectators, but as active participants in shaping the destiny of their nation

In the the unfolding drama of the International Criminal Courts scrutiny on the Philippines, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra takes center stage, emphatically declaring the Philippine government bears no legal duty to collaborate with the ICCs investigation into the Duterte administrations war on drugs. A tale of sovereignty and legal intricacies, this narrative presents contending views that echo through the hallowed halls of power.

Guevarras proclamation resonates like a dark prophecy, suggesting the ICCs reach may extend beyond borders, casting its gaze on the Philippines from afar.

His words, a whispered incantation, insinuate that the ICC, like a shadowy figure in the night, can conduct its investigation without setting foot on Philippine soil.

The Bureau of Immigration, however, remains mute, leaving the truth veiled in uncertainty.

Yet, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, in a narrative twist, stands as the guardian of protocol. His words echo through the labyrinth of legalities, emphasizing the ICC must make formal contact with Philippine authorities for their investigation to bear legal weight.

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Remullas stance adds a layer of complexity, raising the question of whether the ICCs actions, if any, are merely informal echoes in the night, or the prelude to a more formal legal confrontation.

Senator Ronald Bato Dela Rosa, a character with a whisper of assurance, claims President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. has assured the ICC investigators would not be allowed entry into the country. A promise that, if true, could shift the narrative drastically.

Will the ICC investigators, like detectives in a mystery novel, emerge from the shadows and take center stage on Philippine soil?

The Philippines, a reluctant protagonist in this international drama, withdrew from the ICC in 2019 under President Rodrigo Dutertes leadership.

The courtroom, once familiar, turned foreign as the ICC pursued an inquiry into the controversial drug war.

The pages of history turned, and in January 2023, the ICC authorized the reopening of the inquiry, prompting defiance from the Philippine government.

The ICC Appeals Chamber, an unseen arbiter, denied the governments plea to halt the inquirys resumption.

A plot twist that divided officials, with figures like Marcos and Guevarra decrying continued engagement with the ICC.

Yet, in the shadows, Marcos hints at a reevaluation, a potential return to the international tribunal, though the specter of jurisdictional problems looms.

Under the dark clouds of the drug war, a haunting statistic emerges  at least 6,200 suspects killed, according to government records.

Human rights groups, however, whisper a more gruesome reality, claiming the toll could be much higher.

The stage is set, the players are in position, and the Filipino people watch with bated breath.

As this dark narrative unfolds, the Filipino people stand at a crossroads.

In the face of uncertainty, they must be vigilant guardians of their nations sovereignty.

The looming investigation, like a specter, tests the resilience of legal boundaries.

It calls for a careful examination of the ICCs role and a collective demand for transparency in this legal tangle.

Recommendations echo through the dark corridors: demand clarity on the governments stance, insist on the protection of national sovereignty, and call for an investigation by the proper authorities into the complexities surrounding this international drama.

Filipinos must engage in this narrative, not as passive spectators, but as active participants in shaping the destiny of their nation.

The plot thickens, and the denouement awaits  a tale of sovereignty, justice, and the enduring spirit of a people unwilling to be mere characters in someone elses story.
The McDowell County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to ban commercial cryptocurrency mining in the county, effective immediately.

This action was taken after months of discussions last year by county officials and the Planning Board and a moratorium in 2023 regarding this activity.

The commissioners held their first meeting for 2024 on Monday at the County Administrative Offices in downtown Marion.

Cryptocurrency mining is defined as the continuous process where computers work to solve algorithms to maintain and build algorithmic, or blockchain, and in exchange are granted cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a form of currency that exists digitally. It is a digital payment system that does not rely on banks to verify transactions. The cryptocurrency mining uses significant electricity and water resources as part of its operations to power special servers and maintain a cool climate, said local officials.

Cryptocurrency mining requires considerable amounts of electricity usage, noise, and other local impacts to communities living near the mining facilities, reads a 2023 memo to the commissioners. County Manager Ashley Wooten told The McDowell News last year there have been inquiries from companies interested in starting a cryptocurrency mining operation in McDowell.

On Monday, the commissioners held another hearing before voting on whether or not to approve an ordinance on commercial cryptocurrency mining for unincorporated areas of McDowell.

The ordinance, more or less, bans the development of commercial cryptocurrency mining throughout the unincorporated areas of the McDowell County. The municipalities of Marion and Old Fort may choose to allow this ordinance to be effective within their corporate limits and extraterritorial jurisdictions, said county officials at a previous meeting.

County Planning Director Ron Harmon said on Monday this proposed ban does not prohibit individuals from doing this type of mining at home.

Glenn Kern, a Marion attorney, spoke to the commissioners during the hearing. He voiced his support for the ban. He had provided the board with written comments last year supporting the proposed ban on commercial cryptocurrency mining.

Those comments focused on concerns that I have after learning of a commercial cryptocurrency mine in Cherokee County near Murphy, North Carolina, and the negative impacts of that mine have been reported on by WLOS, The Washington Post, Fox News, CNN and other regional and national publications, he said. Specifically, that mine has had detrimental impacts on residents that are near it due to its excessive noise production and it has caused residents to leave their homes and try to live elsewhere if they are able to. I am concerned about impacts from any similar facility in McDowell.

Kern added he understands commercial cryptocurrency mining companies are looking to relocate in the rural areas of the Southern Appalachian Mountains due to relatively low electricity rates, cheap land and the lack of land use restrictions.

Others spoke during the hearing both in favor of the ban while another voiced his opposition to it.

After holding the hearing, the commissioners voted unanimously to enact the ordinance for McDowell, effective immediately.
The McDowell County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting for 2024 on Monday and heard an update about the U.S. Forest Services activities in the Pisgah National Forest. That includes the long-awaited reopening of Catawba Falls near Old Fort.

During that meeting at the County Administrative Offices in downtown Marion, the commissioners heard a report from Grandfather District Ranger Nicholas Larson, who gave an update on activities with the U.S. Forest Service in McDowell. Larson thanked the commissioners for their support for the opening of new trails near Old Fort.

He said the long-awaited improvements to the trails leading to Catawba Falls near Old Fort should be completed later this year. Larson said the falls were originally supposed to reopen by this winter but it was delayed due to funding issues. But now, Catawba Falls is expected to reopen in late spring or early summer and this will be a big event for the USFS, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

We really appreciate peoples patience and longer than we anticipated closure for that opportunity to really give folks a solid experience, he said.

Larson said the USFS is making improvements to the Old Fort picnic area and the Curtis Creek campground. He added new restrooms will be installed there to replace the old ones from the 1950s and there will be some improvements to the old picnic shelter, which dates to the time of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Strategic planning

Also during the meeting, the commissioners talked about the ongoing strategic planning process for the county.

County staff and the working group comprised of county department and local agency heads met in early December to review the results of the public survey that was available during October and November. The survey was structured to ask participants about what they perceived as the countys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This was similar to the input the commissioners provided at the kickoff meeting last year.

Many of the positives that were discussed in the results included the countys natural resources, tourism the and spirit of collaboration. Some of the negatives mentioned included substance use problems, homelessness and the difficulty in retaining young people here and keeping them from going to urban areas.

County Manager Ashley Wooten said the next step will be working on a vision statement. A draft of one will be presented to the commissioners in the next several months.

Sheriffs request

An item that was added to Mondays agenda concerned a request from Sheriff Ricky Buchanan.

The sheriff asked the commissioners to allow the names of his sworn law enforcement officers to be removed from county-operated websites. The basis for this request is North Carolina General Statute 153A-98, which is a state law that refers to the privacy of public personnel records and information about employees who work for a county government.

During a discussion, Commissioner Lynn Greene talked about the years he worked for the McDowell County Sheriffs Office and the risks he took when he chose to wear the uniform and badge as a law officer. He felt by removing the names of sheriffs deputies from websites would not be fair to the employees of McDowell EMS and the Department of Social Services, who can also be targeted.

After a discussion, the commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the sheriffs request with Greene and Commissioner Patrick Ellis voting against.

Other business

Also during the meeting, the McDowell County Board of Commissioners:

Heard a report from Library Director Marlan Brinkley, who talked about several activities for 2024 with the county library including the new Books by Mail program as well as a strategic planning initiative. After a discussion, the commissioners agreed to waive the late fees for the Books by Mail program.

Heard an update on ongoing building projects, which include a proposed new building on Spaulding Road for the Department of Social Services and improvements to the countys Recreation Center (which would include a new swimming pool and upgrades for the driveway and ballfields). In addition, the county is looking to improve or expand the animal shelter. A wetland delineation and topographical survey have been completed for the proposed animal shelter site. The architects are reviewing both to ensure the preliminary design will work on the property.

Talked about the long list of ongoing water system improvements. The work continues for the water projects such as Nebo Phase 1 (which comprises NC 126, Wildlife Road, Lonesome Pine Drive, Jack Corpening Road, Sunny Acres, and Bentwood Drive), Hoppy Tom Hollow, Nebo Phase 2, the East End project along N.C. 126 and the area around Exit 90. Another water project is happening along the Providence/West Marion Elementary area. The Nebo projects are primarily being funded by the countys $11 million state appropriation as well separate project-related grants. The Providence/West Marion Elementary area projects are being funded by a state appropriation, Appalachian Regional Commission funds and McDowell Board of Education funds.

Heard another update from Wooten about broadband internet.

Approved a series of budget-related items.

Heard a report about vacancies with several county boards and commissioners. The county is seeking volunteers willing to serve on the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, the Library Board of Trustees, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Transportation Advisory Board.

Held a closed session for a personnel and economic development matter, which lasted for 50 minutes. No action was taken afterward except approving some closed session minutes from December meetings.
She designed her own line of luggage and clothes and became an advocate for women in politics and business. She appeared in front of Congress to lobby for increased funds for aviation and was named the first female vice president of the countrys National Aeronautic Association.

There were many firsts in the life of Amelia Earhart. From childhood she collected stamps and began a scrapbook to honor famous women. She displayed a strong independent streak and could not quite settle on the things she wanted to accomplish. She attended some college and later served as a nurse, social worker, telephone clerk, truck driver and photographer. Yet, after taking her first flight in California in 1920, she vowed to train as a pilot.

Taught by world-famous instructor, Mary Neta Snook-Southern, she eventually became the 16th woman in America to be certified as a pilot. Snook-Southern was the first American woman to be accepted at the Curtiss Flying School in Virginia. She was the first woman to run her own aviation business and commercial airfield. In short, Earhart trained with the best. She and Snook-Southern became good friends and corresponded after Snook-Southern left the aviation business following her marriage. When asked later if Earhart was a good flyer, she seemed to suggest she displayed average capabilities and was not the best female to command a plane.

Still, Earhart grew to national prominence. She wanted to fly both fast and far. She purchased a plane and began entering various flying competitions across the country. She finished third in the 1929 Womens Air Derby; flying from California to Ohio. Pushed by her manager and publicist and later husband, George Putnam, she was asked to set her sights on following the flight of Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic Ocean. She bought a new aircraft and planned her route.

In the spring of 1932, she became the first woman to complete the transatlantic crossing at the controls of a plane. She had actually accompanied male pilots across the Atlantic four years earlier. Flying from Newfoundland, she landed in Northern Ireland. Even battling fatigue, a leaky fuel tank, various engine issues, and ice formations on the wing of her plane, she completed her fight in two days. Like Lindbergh, she returned to New York City to a ticker-tape parade. The same year, she became the first woman to fly across the country. Then, she turned her attention to crossing the Pacific Ocean.

Three years later, she flew her plane from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California, winning a $10,000 prize and gaining the honor of becoming the first female pilot to make the journey. Through the 19-hour flight, she traveled 600 more miles than Charles Lindbergh had in flying over the Atlantic.

Earhart was always a very determined person. She decided she wanted to follow up the Pacific flight by circumnavigating the world in a plane. In 1937, she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, began their journey. Somewhere near Howland Island in the Pacific their communications failed and they missed their refueling stop. The disappearance of Noonan and Earhart remains a mystery. Did they crash-land in the ocean and die immediately or perish later on a nearby island from dehydration? A newer theory is they might have been eaten by the voracious land crabs on the island.

Still, someone had to go first. Mary Neta Snook-Southern was a pioneer. She arguably trained one of the best and well-known female pilots famous for a significant amount of firsts even though a good many people remember Earhart for her last and final flight. Even before the sensation of Lindberghs flight, female pilots were dazzling audiences in air shows and competitions. When Earhart flew across the Atlantic, too, she showed women across the globe the promise that women could be successful in fields they had been previously excluded from. Moreover, her fight for notoriety paved the way for her to broaden American discussions on womens roles and gender equality. She grew to be a unique individual; arguing for birth control, a draft for all Americans, and more political opportunities for women across the country. She even founded an organization for female pilots which still exists: The Ninety-Nines.

Heroes tower over others for many reasons.

By 1930s standards, Earhart was about four inches taller than the average American woman. Her perseverance, presence, determination and individualism are hallmarks of her life. Today, Earhart memorabilia is displayed all across the country. The Smithsonian Museum houses many of these artifacts including one of her flying jackets and some of her stamps. Susan Butlers East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart is considered a fair and good account of her life.

When she finished her Honolulu to Oakland flight in January 1935, she said, I could only hope one more passage across that part of the Pacific would mark a little more clearly the pathway over which an air service of the future will inevitably ply. Rightly so.
The kingdom of Morocco has been remarkably elected to the Presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2024, during a vote held on Wednesday in Geneva.

Of the 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, 30 supported Moroccos candidacy compared to that of South Africa, which only received 17 votes, the ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates said in a press release.

Moroccos election, for the first time in its history, to the presidency of this prestigious UN body, expresses an acknowledgment by the international community of the farsighted vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, in protecting and promoting human rights.

Indeed, under the leadership of His Majesty the King, may God assist Him, Morocco has, in fact, made the irreversible choice of enshrining the rule of law and safeguarding human rights. This choice, enshrined in the 2011 Constitution, results in a continuous momentum of reforms aimed, in particular, at consolidating democracy, gender equality, social and territorial justice, the effectiveness of human rights, inclusive participation and youth empowerment, stresses the press release.

The Kingdoms election, thanks to the adherence of a large number of countries from all regions of the world, and despite the mobilization of Algeria and South Africa to counter it, also reveals the trust and credibility inspired by Moroccos external action under the Royal Impetus in Africa, on the international stage and in the multilateral system.

The Kingdom of Morocco, which makes a recognized contribution within the Human Rights Council, particularly in the founding development processes of this body, is delighted with the trust placed in it. It considers this as a strong signal from the international community for its constructive approach and its unifying leadership on key subjects including interfaith dialogue, tolerance and the fight against racial hatred, the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, migrants rights and the impact of new technologies.

During its Presidency, the Kingdom will remain faithful to the line it has set itself during its three mandates within the Human Rights Council, always favoring dialogue and consensus. Therefore, it intends to actively continue, with the Councils members and all regional Groups, to strengthen and promote this important body of the UN human rights system, the press release concluded.
On Tuesday, a Kenyan court gave, on January 9, the authorities 14 days to bring charges against Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, failing which the self-proclaimed pastor, who has been held since April 2023, in connection with the deaths of 429 followers of his evangelical sect, will be released.

Paul Nthenge Mackenzies detention has been extended on several occasions to allow the search for victims in the forest of Shakahola (south-east), where his International Church of Good News met and to whom he preached fasting to death to meet Jesus before the end of the world in August 2023. Dubbed the Shakahola massacre, the scandal caused shock and incomprehension in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with 4,000 official churches.

Ruling on a September application by prosecutors to keep him in custody for 180 days, a court in the coastal city of Mombasa noted on Tuesday that Pastor Mackenzie and 29 co-defendants had already spent 117 days, sufficient time for the ongoing investigations to be completed..

Recalling that this is the longest pre-trial detention in the countrys history since the promulgation of its constitution in 2010, he granted a further 14 days. If no decision to charge the defendants has been made by the expiry of this period, the court will consider releasing them on conditions to be determined by the court, Judge Yusuf Abdallah Shikanda wrote in his ruling.

Prosecutors had announced in May that they would bring terrorism charges against the man allegedly responsible for the Shakahola massacre. A cab driver before proclaiming himself a pastor, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has been in detention since April 14, the day after the first victims were discovered in the Shakahola forest. Since then, 429 bodies have been found in this bush area on the Kenyan coast.

Autopsies revealed that the majority of the victims had died of starvation, probably as a result of Paul Nthenge Mackenzies preaching. Some, including children, were strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
In Nigeria, the saga surrounding the alleged embezzlement of the former Central Bank governor continues A court in Abuja has just ordered the federal government to pay 100,000 euros (100 million naira) in damages to Godwin Emefiele, the former head of the CBN (Central Bank), for illegal detention.

The Abuja High Court ruled that the prolonged detention of former Governor Godwin Emefiele was in violation of his fundamental rights.

The Nigerian federal government and the anti-corruption agency EFCC were ordered to pay 100,000 euros in compensation to the former head of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Godwin Emefiele had been arrested in June by the Nigerian intelligence services (DSS) and subsequently imprisoned without ever appearing in court.

He was finally released at the end of December on 300,000 euros in bail. On Monday, January 8, the Abuja High Court ruled that Godwin Emefiele could not be re-arrested without a proper warrant.

The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) immediately announced that it would appeal against this decision.

It denies any illegal arrest and asserts that the necessary documents were produced prior to the arrest of the former Governor of the Central Bank, who is the target of an extended investigation into fraud and embezzlement.
On Tuesday, January 9, Jordans King Abdullah II completed an official visit to the capital, Kigali, which began on Sunday. On the agenda were several economic agreements, extending the rapprochement between the two countries launched in recent years.

King Abdullah IIs delegation in Kigali included the Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade and the Director of Intelligence. A three-day visit during which several bilateral agreements were signed, including a tax convention to avoid double taxation and memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the economic and agricultural sectors.

In just a few years, official visits have followed one another between the leaders of the two countries. First, in 2018 and 2022, President Paul Kagame travelled to Jordan to attend meetings of the Aqaba Process, an initiative launched by King Abdullah II to strengthen international coordination in the fight against terrorism.

In February 2023, it was the turn of Jordans Deputy Prime Minister and various military officials to visit their Rwandan counterparts in Kigali. A few months later, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta travelled to Amman to sign three agreements, including the lifting of visas for nationals of both countries.
Morocco has been elected President of the UN Human Rights Council for 2024, during a vote held on Wednesday in Geneva. The election of the North African Kingdom is an international recognition of its achievements made in the promotion and defense of human rights.

Morocco was elected to the post after gaining 30 votes of the 47 members of the Council. South Africa, which was also bidding for the Councils presidency, obtained 17 votes.

Moroccos election, for the first time in its history, to the presidency of this prestigious UN body, is recognition by the international community of the farsighted vision spearheaded by King Mohammed VI for the promotion and protection of human rights, says Moroccan foreign ministry in a press release.

Morocco is committed to consolidating democracy, gender equality, social & territorial justice, human rights culture, inclusive development and youth empowerment.

The North African Kingdom was elected to the UN human rights council presidency despite the hostile campaign launched by Algeria and South Africa, showing Moroccos credibility and the trust the country enjoys on the international scene.

Moroccos election is an international recognition of its constructive approach and its unifying leadership on key issues such as interfaith dialogue, tolerance and the fight against racial hatred, the right to a healthy and sustainable environment and migrants rights
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From a wartime spread of antimicrobial resistant disease in Ukraine, to superbugs in China causing "white lung" pneumonia in children, 2023 brought no shortage of new evidence that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a pressing problem globally, and this pattern shows no sign of abating in 2024 unless a radical shift occurs.

To truly tackle the issue of AMR, York University researchers with the Global Strategy Lab (GSL) argue it needs to be understood as a socio-ecological challenge that accepts AMR as a phenomenon stemming from natural evolutionary processes. In other words, the war on bugs can't be won; what's needed is a major change in how people live with it.

"For the past hundred years, we've tried to address AMR like a medical problem. But we haven't really made much progress in actually mitigating the deeper drivers of the issue," says Isaac Weldon, a recent York Ph.D. political science graduate and lead author of a new article published today in Perspectives on Politics.

"We argue that there's a lot of potential to make progress by instead looking at it as a problem with our relationship with the microbial world and sustainability."

AMR stems from both the natural tendency of bacteria, viruses and fungi to evolve as well as the acceleration of that process through human interventions such as an over-reliance or misuse of antibiotics in medical settings, to the routine use of antimicrobials in the livestock industry. Global data from 2019 showed more than a million deaths a year directly related to AMR, and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have accelerated this process.

Credit: York University

Last year, GSL set up the AMR Policy Accelerator to deal with this urgent threat. While Weldon acknowledges that medical and technological innovation will be crucial in managing the issue, new antimicrobial drugs alone will not be the solution.

"What we're currently doing is treating the symptoms and not the causes of AMR," says Weldon, also an investigator with GSL. "Without addressing the underlying social relationships that drive our use, innovation would have to operate at an unsustainable speed as these microbes evolve faster than we can make new drugs."

Weldon and co-author Steven J. Hoffman, director of GSL and Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology with York's Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School, outline major problems with the current governance approach to AMR. They introduce five principles for designing institutions for a better ecological fit of human-microbial ecosystems to minimize drug resistance:

There's no silver bullet. Recognizing that there is no easy fit or one-fits-all solution for AMR means problem-solving must always be tailored to specific ecological situations and health challenges of diverse populations. Create institutions that can adapt over time. Future proofing doesn't mean creating institutions that are strong enough to withstand change, but ones flexible enough to evolve with the changing nature of AMR and our relationship to it. Diversify practices. As the best way to tackle AMR is still unknown, diversifying practices can help us discover what works, when, and where. Create records. As practices are diversified, records need to be kept of what works to enable learning and adjustments in policy. Involve stakeholders. This involves everyone from the public at large to government and decision-makers.

"What we are proposing is a completely different way of looking at the issue," says Hoffman. "We hope this journal article will be a foundational piece that will inspire further AMR research in this direction."

More information: Isaac Weldon et al, "Fit for Purpose?" Assessing the Ecological Fit of the Social Institutions that Globally Govern Antimicrobial Resistance, Perspectives on Politics (2024). DOI: 10.1017/S1537592723002906
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Like a criminal entering a witness protection program, cancer cells can shed their past and take on a new identity. Detecting such an identity switch is particularly challenging when metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) advances from adenocarcinoma to neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), a very difficult cancer to treat.

Now, however, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Trento, Italy, have developed a blood test, described in Cancer Discovery, that can reliably detect NEPC and differentiate it from CRPC-adenocarcinoma (CRPC-adeno).

NEPC is currently diagnosed using a biopsy of tumor tissue from a metastatic tumor site. Yet, it isn't always clear to clinicians when to do a biopsy. Further, biopsies may be unreliable since metastatic tumors are often heterogeneous.

"As prostate cancer treatments get more effective, we expect the emergence of different types of treatment resistance like neuroendocrine prostate cancer that help them evade treatment," says co-lead author Himisha Beltran, MD, associate professor of medicine, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"We hope this blood test can be used by clinicians to determine if a patient is developing neuroendocrine prostate cancer."

Approximately 1015% of patients with metastatic prostate cancer develop NEPC. The transition involves a shift from cancer cells that are dependent on hormones called androgens to cancer cells that no longer even recognize androgens.

"They can stop expressing the androgen receptor," says Beltran. "They shut down their hormone-driven identity and they turn on a new identity as a way to develop resistance to treatment."

In previous research, the international team studied tissue samples from biopsies to identify the genetic and epigenetic changes related to this transition. They found that, across the whole genome, specific epigenetic changes, in the form of DNA methylation changes that switch genes on or off, distinguish CRPC-adeno from NEPC.

These epigenetic changes can be detected in blood because the body is constantly shedding fragments of dead cells into the bloodstream. Those cells come from all over the body, including from tumors. The fragments include bits of DNA, called cell-free DNA (cfDNA), along with whatever epigenetic tags and structures were attached to them when the cell died.

Beltran collaborated with a computational team at the University of Trento, led by Francesca Demichelis, Ph.D., co-lead author on the study, to create a blood panel test, called NEMO (NEuroendocrine MOnitoring panel). "The test selectively probes cfDNA in blood plasma for relevant DNA fragments and measures their methylation," says Demichelis. "Because the number of methylated regions needed to distinguish between normal, CRPC-adeno, and NEPC cells is small, the panel of genes sequenced by the test is minimal and efficient."

NEMO reports two measures: the tumor fraction, a measure of disease burden based on the ratio of tumor DNA to normal DNA in the blood; and the tumor type, either CRPC-adeno or NEPC. The tumor type is reported as a score on a continuum because a patient's cancer might be a mix of the two.

"It not only picks up the neuroendocrine phenotype but also can pick up subtypes in the middle, as tumors transition from one subtype to the other," says Beltran.

Beltran's team tested NEMO in several preclinical models of prostate cancer and in blood samples from multiple patient cohorts with known prostate cancer subtypes. The NEMO tumor type score identified subtypes with a high level of accuracy.

The team also evaluated NEMO in two clinical trials of patients with aggressive CRPC. The panel's estimation of tumor fraction was consistent with other accepted measures of disease burden, suggesting that the test could be used to monitor response to treatment by revealing if a tumor is shrinking or not. This is especially valuable because, measures of disease burden, such as prostate-specific antigen levels, become unreliable when a tumor switches its identity to NEPC.

NEMO successfully identified patients with NEPC in the two clinical trials based on pathology reports. It also identified patients who had not been diagnosed with NEPC yet had signs of a transition to NEPC in their pathology reports.

"Now that we have robustly shown the accuracy of this panel test, we're excited to apply it to clinical questions," says Beltran. "We'd like to determine if this test can help us predict which patients respond to certain prostate cancer treatments, including precise treatments that target neuroendocrine prostate cancer."

The information in a NEMO panel may also help clinicians select targeted treatments for patients or help investigators learn more about the disease. Further, adds Beltran, the test's approach could potentially be applied to other forms of cancer to distinguish subtypes.

Longer term, Beltran and colleagues will take steps toward transitioning NEMO into a clinical test that physicians can order and use in practice.

More information: Non-invasive detection of neuroendocrine prostate cancer through targeted cell-free DNA methylation, Cancer Discovery (2024). DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-23-0754 Journal information: Cancer Discovery
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Hundreds of residents and personnel stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in eastern New Mexico will be able to have their blood tested as state officials expand their investigation into contamination from a group of compounds known as "forever chemicals."

The New Mexico Environment Department announced Tuesday that it is searching for a contractor that can conduct the tests in the spring. The idea is to host two events where up to 500 adult volunteers living within a few miles of Cannon Air Force Base will have a small amount of blood drawn and tested for PFAS.

Surveys also will be done to determine any potential exposure for those living near the base.

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been linked to cancer and other health problems in humans. They are called "forever chemicals" because they don't degrade in the environment and remain in the bloodstream.

The chemicals have been detected at hundreds of military installations across the United States, resulting in what will be billions of dollars in cleanup costs. New Mexico officials said contamination at Cannon and at Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico already has cost the state over $8 million in site assessment, cleanup, litigation and other costs.

The Air Force has spent more than $67 million on its response to PFAS contamination at Cannon so far.

State Environment Secretary James Kenney said PFAS chemicals are used in so many consumer products that it's likely most New Mexicans will have some amount in their blood. Those who live near military bases may be at higher risk, he said.

"This data will help us quantify if there are greater risks and inform how we better protect New Mexicans," Kenney said in a statement.

In early 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first federal limits on forever chemicals in drinking water, limiting them to the lowest level that tests can detect. New Mexico had previously petitioned the agency to treat PFAS as hazardous.

The state of New Mexico and the U.S. Department of Defense have been at odds over responsibilities for mitigating PFAS contamination at installations including Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases.

Near Cannon, the Highland Dairy in Clovis euthanized more than 3,000 cows in 2022 after confirmation of PFAS contamination in the herdand the milk the cows produced.

Officials at Cannon held a meeting in November to update the public on their efforts. They are in the process of determining the nature and extent of contamination on and off the base. The work has included soil and water samples as well as the installation of monitoring wells. Plans also call for eventually building a treatment plant.

Last year, the New Mexico Environment Department also offered to test for PFAS in private domestic wells across the state. Results from that sampling effort, done with the help of the U.S. Geological Survey, showed that PFAS compounds were not detected in the majority of wells tested.

 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Graphical Abstract. Declining fertility rates globally focus attention on the human right to build a family and the need for family-friendly policies and more accessible fertility care. LBGTQ, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, questioning. Credit: Human Reproduction Update (2024). DOI: 10.1093/humupd/dmad028

The global fertility rate is declining and most governments are failing to recognize and address the impact on economies and societies, say a group of physicians invited by the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) in a new paper and campaign launched today.

"Not including the effects of migration, many countries are predicted to have a population decline of more than 50% from 2017 to 2100," the physicians write in "Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building," published in Human Reproduction Update.

"By 2050, 77% of predominantly high-income countries, and by 2100, 93% of all countries will have a total fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman," write the paper's authors, who include fertility specialists from Australia, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, The Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

With underpopulation becoming a great concern in many countries, the paper provides recommendations for what governments, policymakers, companies, health care professionals, and patients can do to address infertility risk factors and make fertility care more affordable and accessible.

"Choosing to have a family is a human right," said Bart CJM Fauser, co-first author of the paper, IFFS Scientific Director, and Professor Em. of Reproductive Medicine at Netherlands' Utrecht University. "But access to fertility care is often unaffordable, inaccessible, and inequitable, and that needs to change."

The authors point out that there have been "major advances in fertility care that have dramatically improved family building opportunities (for infertile couples, singles and members of the LBGTQ+ community) over the last three decades," but equity remains a challenge across countries, cultures, and economies.

"The good news is that infertility is often preventable," said IFFS President Edgar Mocanu. "A simple step is offering balanced fertility and contraceptive education so that everybody can decide when to prevent pregnancy and when it is ideal for them to start a family if they choose."

One in six people of reproductive age grapple with infertility, and the problem affects women and men equally. Some sexually transmitted infections, "smoking, excessive alcohol intake, obesity, and poor nutrition can negatively affect both male and female fertility," say the authors.

Alarmingly, infertility risk factors such as air pollution and the proliferation of harmful and poorly regulated chemicals are increasing, making it critical for policymakers to develop and implement policies that reduce environmental infertility risk factors.

Solutions to improving birth rates, the authors say, include "policy measures supporting families and working women," such as compensation for extended pregnancy leave and childcare, parental leave, and increased access to assisted reproductive technology services (ART).

"While more than 10 percent of all children are born with fertility assistance in some wealthy countries, there is great variation in access to care, and the high cost remains a barrier across the board," said Dr. Luca Gianaroli, IFFS Director of Education, and former chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

"A limited number of countries have started public funding of fertility treatment to mitigate falling birth rates, and the IFFS is asking that more countries consider providing financial assistance for individuals needing fertility care."

Among their many recommendations, the physicians cite four main calls for action that will be part of their 'More Joy' global awareness and education campaign:

Governments and companies need to develop policies to reduce infertility risk factors and make fertility care more affordable, accessible, and equitable. There is an urgent need to develop simpler, less intensive and less expensive assisted reproductive technologies. Health care professionals need to educate their patients about infertility prevention and include fertility awareness as part of family planning and contraceptive education. Infrastructure and support are needed to increase access to care, especially in low-resource countries.

"The economic benefits to society of providing fertility care clearly exceed the cost of treatment, and these benefits will only increase as populations become more aged," the physicians write.

More information: Bart C J M Fauser et al, Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building: an IFFS consensus document based on a narrative review of the literature, Human Reproduction Update (2024). DOI: 10.1093/humupd/dmad028

Provided by International Federation of Fertility Societies
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The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is tracking a measles outbreak, which so far has sickened eight city residents.

Philadelphia health care staff are "working to identify everyone who may have been exposed, checking their vaccine status, warning them that they may have been exposed, and issuing quarantine and exclusion recommendations where necessary," the city said in an update.

Measles vaccines provide excellent protection against the virus, but growing antivaxxer sentiments in recent years mean immunization rates have waned. Philadelphia has a measles vaccination rate of 93 percent among its children, but one city health official told 'ABC News' that all of the eight cases have occurred among unvaccinated individuals.

The outbreak began in early December, when an unvaccinated child with measles was admitted to a hospital and spread the illness to three other children while there, 'ABC News' reported. At least three of the eight cases have resulted in hospitalization.

One in every five cases of measles is so serious it requires hospitalization. The disease can prove fatal. According to the Philadelphia experts, "Nearly one to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications," such as encephalitis or pneumonia.

More information: ABC News article

Copyright  2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Design of injectable hydrogel electrode. Redox initiation reaction of polyether urethane diacrylamide (PEUDAm) macromer + N-acryloyl glycinamide (NAGA) delivered using double barrel syringe with a mixing head. Ammonium persulfate (APS) and iron gluconate (IG) are used as initiator and reducing agents. Resulting hydrogels display bidentate hydrogen bonding at netpoints for improved durability. Ionic conductivity is conferred through the inclusion of salt species in the hydrogel precursor solution. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44419-0

A study sets the foundation of a ground-breaking treatment regimen for treating ventricular arrhythmia. The research, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates the design and feasibility of a new hydrogel-based pacing modality.

The urgent need for an effective therapeutic regimen for ventricular arrhythmia inspired THI's Electrophysiology Clinical Research & Innovations (EPCRI) team, led by its director, Dr. Razavi, to partner with Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez and her UT Austin Biomedical Engineering (UT Austin BME) team to co-develop an innovative strategy that addresses the pathophysiology of re-entrant arrhythmia.

Ventricular arrhythmia, which occurs in the lower chambers of the heart or ventricles, is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in the United States. When heart rhythm abnormality occurs in a self-sustained manner, it is called re-entrant arrhythmia, which is usually fatal.

"Re-entry occurs mainly from delayed conduction in scarred heart tissues, usually after coronary artery occlusion during a heart attack, which can be corrected by enabling pacing in these regions," said Dr. Razavi, a practicing cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist. "These hydrogels then can access the scarred tissue, thereby enabling direct pacing of the otherwise inaccessible regions of the heart."

Given hydrogels' biostability, biocompatibility, tunable properties, and the ease of incorporating electrical conductivity, the scientists are exploring them as potential electrodes that can be easily delivered inside coronary veins. A clinical advantage of the unique system is that ischemia can be avoided by delivering the hydrogel using the veins.

The researchers successfully deployed the innovative hydrogel technology through minimally invasive catheter delivery in a pig model.

"The hydrogels have significant conductive properties that enable simultaneous pacing from multiple sites along the length of the hydrogel and create a conduction highway similar to those in Purkinje fibers," according to Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez.

Today, arrhythmia is treatable with medicines and procedures that control the irregular rhythms. The current anti-arrhythmic drugs on the market are not always effective; although the drugs slow the conduction velocity, they facilitate re-entry arrhythmia. Moreover, these drugs can be toxic and can lead to the destruction of tissues near the diseased regions of the heart. Even with the widely used interventional ablation therapies, arrhythmia recurs in a significant proportion of patients. None of these procedures address the mechanism of re-entry.

Cardiac defibrillators implanted to compensate for the shortfalls in the current therapy options are painful when delivering electric shocks to restore heart rhythm and can severely deteriorate the patient's quality of life. If left untreated, arrhythmia can damage the heart, brain, or other organs, leading to stroke or cardiac arrest, during which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating.

"When injected into target vessels, the conductive hydrogel conforms to the patient's vessel morphology. Adding a traditional pacemaker to this gel allows for pacing that resembles the native conduction in the hearteffectively mimicking the native electrical rhythm of the heartand extinguishes the cause for arrhythmia, providing painless defibrillation," added Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez.

The work demonstrates for the first time the ability to confer direct electrical stimulation of the native and scarred mid-myocardium through injectable hydrogel electrodes as a pacing modality.

With minimally invasive catheter delivery and standard pacemaker technologies, this study indicates the feasibility of a novel pacing modality that resembles native conduction, potentially eliminating lethal re-entrant arrhythmia and providing painless defibrillation, which can be successfully adopted in a clinical workflow.

The scientific advance is significant considering pain management is highly relevant to overall wellness for patients with heart, lung, and blood diseases. Such innovation in painless defibrillation and preventing arrhythmia could revolutionize cardiac rhythm management.

More information: Gabriel J. Rodriguez-Rivera et al, Injectable hydrogel electrodes as conduction highways to restore native pacing, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44419-0 Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by Texas Heart Institute
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The initial VOR decrement was more profound in those without antibodies than in those with antibodies (median [IQR] = 0.61 [0.460.77] vs. 0.80 [0.611.06], p = 0.048), whereas the VOR decrement was mostly normalized during the follow-up evaluation regardless of the presence of antiganglioside antibodies (median gain difference between initial and follow-up evaluation [IQR] = 0 [0.08 to 0.03] vs. 0.21 [0.060.35], F = 4.735, p = 0.034). IQR = interquartile range; VOR = vestibulo-ocular reflex. Credit: Neurology (2023). DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207814

Prof. Sun-Uk Lee of the Department of Neurology and Prof. Euyhyun Park of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology from Korea University's Anam Hospital have discovered a new mechanism of vestibular neuritis.

Vestibular neuritis is one of the common diseases causing acute dizziness. It is known to be caused by an inflammation in the vestibular nerve and inner ear, which is responsible for balance and body motion sensation.

Various mechanisms have been suggested as the cause of vestibular neuritis, such as reactivation of latent herpes virus or peripheral blood circulation disorder in the inner ear, but the exact cause largely remained to be elucidated.

Prof. Lee and Park, working as a team (The Neurotology and Neuro-ophthalmology Laboratory of Korea University's Anam Hospital), recently introduced the association between the anti-GQ1b antibodies and vestibular neuritis.

The ganglioside antigen is distributed throughout the central nervous system, including the human vestibular nerve and various cranial nerves, and the anti-ganglioside antibody is known to cause various neurological symptoms by attacking ganglioside cells present between nerve cell membranes.

GQ1b is found mostly in the cranial nerve responsible for ocular motility. Thus, when autoimmunity arises targeting those antigens, patients usually present with double vision as a constellating symptom of 'anti-GQ1b antibody syndrome'. Based on prior literature, Prof. Lee found that GQ1b antigens are also widely expressed in the vestibular nerve and cell body, which provided insights for the current research.

The research team analyzed 105 patients with vestibular neuritis who had acute dizziness and visited Korea University's Anam Hospital from 2019 to 2023. 11% of these patients were confirmed antiganglioside antibody positive. Compared to those not having these antibodies, bilateral vestibular damage was observed in 33% of the patients with those antibodies. The antibody converted negative along with improvement of the functional deficits of the vestibular nerve.

The research team explained, "The fact that autoimmunity plays a role in the development of acute dizziness may help understand the mechanisms of other various vestibular disorders, too. We anticipate that this research may be a future springboard for immunotherapy in patients presenting with acute vestibular syndrome."

Prof. Sun-Uk Lee, the leading author of this research said, "Acute dizziness causes great discomfort to patients and is also difficult to properly be diagnosed, depleting many resources for both patients and society. We hope our research may help patients suffering from dizziness. As the association is confirmed clinically, follow-up research will be conducted on how to incorporate these results into treatment."

This research was published in Neurology under the title of "Clinical features and neurotological findings in patients with acute unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy associated with antiganglioside antibody."

More information: Keun-Tae Kim et al, Clinical Features and Neurotologic Findings in Patients With Acute Unilateral Peripheral Vestibulopathy Associated With Antiganglioside Antibody, Neurology (2023). DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207814 Journal information: Neurology

Provided by Korea University College of Medicine
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

By exploiting the technology used in COVID-19 vaccines, a team led by UCL, King's College London and Moderna scientists has created an effective therapy for a rare disease, in a study in mice, demonstrating the technology's potential therapeutic use in people.

The research, published in Science Translational Medicine, found that messenger RNA (mRNA) could be used to correct a rare liver genetic disease known as argininosuccinic aciduria in a mouse model of the disease.

Argininosuccinic aciduria is an inherited metabolic disorder that affects how the body breaks down proteinpotentially leading to high levels of ammonia in the blood. Patients affected by the disease are found to also experience an imbalance of glutathione regulation, which is important for liver detoxification. The condition occurs in approximately one in 100,000 newborns.

Over the coming years, the team aims to trial the therapy in people. Messenger RNA therapies are also currently being investigated in other rare inherited metabolic diseasespropionic and methylmalonic acidemiasin global clinical trials sponsored by Moderna, including at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Co-lead Principal Investigator, Dr. Julien Baruteau (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), said, "Messenger RNA has revolutionized the field of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it can now do the same for rare diseases."

Rare diseases usually result from errors in the patient's DNA and affect around 300 million people worldwide.

However, fewer than 5% of these conditions have approved therapies. Most of these treatments use gene therapy to switch out the faulty gene and replace it with a normal functioning one, to alleviate the disease.

Until recently, gene therapy employed modified viruses to bring the therapeutic gene to the disease cells. However, these viral systems can cause severe adverse effects, such as reactions from the patient's own immune system, meaning that they can't be rolled out widely.

Consequently, the team wanted to investigate the possibility of using mRNA technology as an alternative solution.

Messenger RNA is a molecule that contains instructions that direct the cells to make proteins. By protecting the mRNA in a microdroplet of lipids, scientists were able to inject the mice intravenously with the therapy and target their liver cells.

The researchers tested the therapy on 31 mice both from birth and at a late stage of the disease as a rescue therapy in older mice that had argininosuccinic aciduria. They also used an equal number of untreated mice as a control (comparison) group.

For the mice, the benefit of each mRNA treatment only lasted around seven days, so the procedure was performed weekly over the course of up to eight weeks. However, the researchers expect that translation to humans will allow for longer gaps between treatments.

Over the course of the trial, the mice were given positron emission tomography (PET) scans as a non-invasive way to track the correction of glutathione regulation and the success of the treatment.

Researchers found that the treatment corrected the lethal consequences of the disease. All mice with the disease at birth left untreated died within the first two weeks of life, while the mice that received the mRNA treatment at birth survived for over three months. Additionally, six out of seven mice who received mRNA treatment as rescue therapy survived, while all those that were left untreated died.

The researchers also noted that, mRNA-treated organs were very similar to those in the unaffected, control mice.

Dr. Baruteau said, "We have shown that mRNA holds an unprecedented therapeutic potential for incurable genetic diseases, in particular liver conditions. We aim to apply this approach to other inherited liver diseases and translate mRNA therapy to patients, especially in children."

Dr. Tim Witney, Co-lead PI (School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London), said, "This is a great example of collaborative science across multiple areas of expertise, which has yielded remarkable results. By understanding what goes wrong in this disease, we can not only correct the error, but follow this correction in real-time using imaging. We are looking forward to bringing these advances to patients in the near future."

Dr. Paolo Martini, Chief Scientific Officer for International Therapeutics Research Centers at Moderna, said, "This collaboration has exemplified how academia and industry can work in synergy to explore how mRNA technology can be harnessed against rare diseases and may potentially lead to a treatment for a severe and debilitating disease such as argininosuccinic aciduria."

More information: Sonam Gurung et al, mRNA therapy corrects defective glutathione metabolism and restores ureagenesis in preclinical argininosuccinic aciduria, Science Translational Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adh1334. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adh1334 Journal information: Science Translational Medicine
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Scan of mouse hippocampus and cortex, where the red signal derives from immunostaining for the synthetic marker developed by the Szablowski lab and the blue from the immunostaining of c-Fos, an endogenous protein whose production is heightened by increased neuronal activity. Credit: Szablowski lab/Rice University

The brain is the most protected organ in the body, sheathed in a complex and nearly impenetrable barrier of specialized blood vessels. While this particular anatomical setup protects it from outside invaders, it also makes it difficult for researchers to study how specific genes are expressed  and how such changes in gene expression may lead to disease.

Now Rice University scientists have developed a noninvasive way to monitor gene expression dynamics in the brain, making it easier to investigate brain development, cognitive function and neurological diseases, according to a study published in Nature Biotechnology.

Rice bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski and colleagues have engineered a unique class of molecules, known as released markers of activity (RMAs), that can be used to measure gene expression in the brain through a simple blood test.

"Typically, if you wanted to look at gene expression in the brain, you would have to wait to do a post-mortem analysis," said Szablowski, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice's George R. Brown School of Engineering. "There are some more modern neuroimaging techniques that can do this, but they lack sensitivity and specificity to track changes in specific cell types.

"With the RMA platform, we can introduce a synthetic gene expression reporter to the brain, which produces a protein that can pass through the blood-brain barrier. We can then measure changes in expression for a gene of interest with a simple blood test."

Szablowski first considered the possibility of a synthetic gene expression reporter after noting the brain would quickly clear antibody therapy injections.

"Whenever these injections were done, the antibodies would just disappear  they wouldn't hang around long enough in the brain for an effective therapy," he explained. "But we thought the failure of antibody therapies could be repurposed to our advantage. What if we took the part of the antibody responsible for this escape and attached it to a protein that could be easily detected? We could then see where, when and how much of a particular gene was being expressed in the brain."

Other researchers had already determined that antibodies make their way through the blood-brain barrier using the neonatal fragment crystallizable receptor (FcRn), a gene known for helping maintain the level of antibodies present across the body. Using sophisticated bioengineering techniques, Szablowski and team attached the part of the antibody that helps it get through the blood-brain barrier to a common reporter protein to take advantage of this biological escape hatch. When the group then connected the RMAs to a specific gene and expressed that gene in the brain of a mouse, they were able to see that expression mirrored in the animal's blood.

"This method is very sensitive and can track changes in specific cells," Szablowski said. "Producing this protein in approximately 1% of the brain raised its blood levels up to 100,000-fold compared to baseline. We could specifically track the expression of this one protein with just a blood test."

For now, Szablowski sees RMAs as a vital research tool to help scientists better monitor gene expression in the brain. For example, he said, the RMA platform could be used to look at how long novel gene therapies stay the brain over time.

"We could track these new therapies with just a blood test and continue to monitor them over time since the RMA platform is noninvasive," he said. "But we can also use RMAs to study gene expression as it relates to disease. Being able to track different gene expression changes will allow us to understand what leads to disease and how the disease itself changes gene expression in the brain. This could provide new clues for drug development, or even for how to prevent neurological diseases in the first place."

More information: Engineered serum markers for noninvasive monitoring of gene expression in the brain, Nature Biotechnology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-02087-x Journal information: Nature Biotechnology
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Teens from larger families have poorer mental health than those with fewer siblings, according to a large analysis of children in the United States and China.

The details of the pattern vary depending on factors such as the spacing of sibling ages and the age of the siblings.

But the fact that the overall pattern was found in both countries is striking, said Doug Downey, lead author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.

"Our results couldn't have been easily predicted before we did the study," Downey said. "Other studies have shown that having more siblings is associated with some positive effects, so our results were not a given."

Downey conducted the study with Rui Cao, a doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State. Their results were published recently in the Journal of Family Issues.

Their Chinese analysis draws on more than 9,400 eighth graders from the China Education Panel Study. In the United States, they analyzed over 9,100 American eighth graders from the Early Childhood Longitudinal StudyKindergarten Cohort of 1988.

The average youth in China has nearly 0.7 fewer siblings than the average American youth (0.89 compared to 1.6).

Consistent with what was expected because of China's One Child Policy, about one-third of Chinese children are only children (34%), compared to just 12.6% of American children.

In both countries, researchers asked students (average age of 14) a variety of questions about their mental health, although the questions were different in China and the United States.

In China, teens with no siblings showed the best mental health, while in the United States, those with no or one sibling had similar mental health.

Some issues could only be analyzed using the U.S. data.

Results in the U.S. showed that half and full siblings are both linked to poorer mental health.

And having older siblings and siblings closely spaced in age tended to have the worst impacts on well-being, the U.S. data found. Siblings born within one year of each other had the strongest negative association with mental health.

Why are more siblings linked with poorer mental health?

Downey said the overall findings fits with the "resource dilution" explanation.

"If you think of parental resources like a pie, one child means that they get all the pieall the attention and resources of the parents," he said.

"But when you add more siblings, each child gets fewer resources and attention from the parents, and that may have an impact on their mental health."

The fact that closely spaced siblings have the most negative impact bolsters that explanation. Children who are near the same age will be competing for the same types of parental resources, he said.

Another possibility, though, is that the families that have many versus few children are different in other ways that may reduce mental health for their kidsthe so-called selectivity explanation.

The differences between China and the U.S. do provide some support for the selectivity explanation. In each country, children from families associated with the most socioeconomic advantage had the best mental health.

In China, that was children in one-child families, while in the U.S. it was children with zero or one sibling.

But the overall results still suggest that selectivity explanation falls short in accounting for what is happening.

"What we found is that when you add all the evidence up, the effect of siblings on mental health is more on the negative side than the positive side," Downey said.

Downey noted that the data doesn't get at the quality of sibling relationships. It is likely that higher-quality sibling relationships will be more beneficial to children and may have more positive effects on mental health.

While this study shows a negative impact of siblings, other research has shown that having more brothers and sisters is associated with better social skills among kindergarteners and a lower likelihood of divorce among adults.

"This combination of results is not easily explained. We still have more to learn about the impact of siblings," Downey said.

"This is particularly important now as the U.S. and other countries have lower fertility rates. Understanding the consequences of growing up with fewer or no brothers and sisters is an increasingly important social issue."

More information: Douglas B. Downey et al, Number of Siblings and Mental Health Among Adolescents: Evidence From the U.S. and China, Journal of Family Issues (2023). DOI: 10.1177/0192513X231220045 Journal information: Journal of Family Issues
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Illustration of UPDATE process of TAMS-RNN as compared to RNN. Credit: Social Network Analysis and Mining (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s13278-023-01167-9

Researchers are working on a way to better support people living with mental health concerns by analyzing their social media posts.

Usman Naseem is a lecturer in data science at James Cook University who led a study applying a new technique designed to find early warnings of mental health distress in online posts.

Dr. Naseem said mental health conditions had emerged as a pressing global concern, with more than one in 100 deaths attributed to suicide.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has made this worse, leading to a notable increase in conditions such as depression and anxiety, which now affect more than one billion people worldwide."

"This results in a substantial burden on health care systems and society and means there's an urgent need for easier and innovative approaches to addressing mental health concerns," said Dr. Naseem.

He said user-generated text, on social media platforms in particular, has gained prominence as a valuable tool.

"Social media users tend to express themselves openly and candidly, making it a rich data source for researchers. By distinguishing changes in sentiment, identifying specific language markers, and detecting behavioral anomalies, researchers can spot potential risk factors for mental health conditions," said Dr. Naseem.

He said the team had refined the technique by considering historical posts, their timing, and the interval between them.

"Accurately assessing the state of a user's mind requires understanding the history of the user's mental health condition. We comprehensively considered historical posts and the diverse time intervals between them to gather more accurate and nuanced assessments of a person's mental well-being," said Dr. Naseem.

He said the new technique effectively captured the context of users' historical posts and irregularities in the time they posted.

"Our results demonstrate the new method surpasses current state-of-the-art approaches in the area of mental health surveillance on social media."

"We think it will provide valuable insights for mental health professionals and researchers in monitoring and supporting needy individuals."

"Ideally, we hope this information will become an efficient and effective way for clinicians to provide early intervention and support," said Dr. Naseem.

The paper is published in the journal Social Network Analysis and Mining.

More information: Usman Naseem et al, Incorporating historical information by disentangling hidden representations for mental health surveillance on social media, Social Network Analysis and Mining (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s13278-023-01167-9
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Credit: Kampus Production from Pexels

In Japan, approximately 70% of deaths occur among noncancer patients who often experience more frequent and varied distressing symptoms than patients with cancer. Recognizing the need for high-quality palliative care for this demographic, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends enhancing global awareness and the provision of palliative care for noncancer patients.

Despite these recommendations, the specific symptoms experienced by noncancer elderly patients have remained largely unexplored. A new study published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health aims to elucidate the frequency and evolution of distressing symptoms in noncancer elderly patients receiving home health care over a year.

The findings indicated that many patients experienced poor mobility and weakness from the beginning of receiving home health care, with the issues remaining consistent throughout the year. While a significant number also reported loss of appetite, the symptom tended to decrease after the initial three months of home health care. Interestingly, the study noted that pain and dyspnea, common among patients with cancer, were less prevalent in the noncancer cohort.

Since this study did not examine the effects of medical treatment or the care provided during home visits on symptom progression, the results should not be interpreted as evidence against the efficacy of home-based interventions in alleviating symptoms of distress. Moreover, they highlight the need for medical treatment, care, and support to mitigate the distressing symptoms experienced by noncancer elderly patients at home.

More information: Jun Hamano et al, Unresolved Palliative Care Needs of Elderly Non-Cancer Patients at Home: A Multicenter Prospective Study, Journal of Primary Care & Community Health (2023). DOI: 10.1177/21501319231221431
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New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience has found an association between a reduction in gray matter in the brain and early onset psychosis (EOP).

The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, is the largest ever brain imaging study in EOP and has provided unprecedented levels of detail about the illness. It shows that in contrast to other mental health disorders, people with EOP have a reduced volume of gray matter across nearly all regions of their brain. Researchers hope that this detailed mapping could be used to assist in future diagnosis, as well as to track the effects of treatment in patients with EOP.

EOP occurs before the age of 18 during a critical period of development in the brain. Individuals diagnosed with the illness are likely to experience severe and long-lasting symptoms that respond less well to treatment. Despite this, research into EOP has been limited in sample size and statistical power.

The study represents an international effort, combining brain scans from Norway, Spain, Canada, Italy, Australia and the UK, 482 individuals with EOP being compared to 469 healthy controls. An analysis of the data revealed that individuals with EOP had lower volumes of gray matter in almost all regions of the brain compared to the healthy controls, with a marked effect in the left median cingulatean area of the brain associated with the formation and processing of emotions, learning and memory.

Dr. Matthew Kempton, Reader in Neuroimaging Psychiatry at King's IoPPN and the study's senior author, said, "Early onset psychosis can have a devastating impact on a person's life and well-being, but our understanding of the illness is still sadly relatively limited. This study, the largest neuroimaging analysis of EOP to date, used newly developed technologies to combine scans from different sites to examine hundreds of thousands of data points measuring volume in the brain.

"We found that people with EOP experience a lower volume of gray matter in nearly all regions of their brains compared to people without the illness. This detailed map will hopefully provide the basis for future research, as it could help as a diagnostic tool, and even track the effectiveness of treatments."

Further analysis of the data revealed that those individuals who developed EOP at a later age had lower volumes of gray matter in a number of small brain regions compared to those with an earlier age of onset.

Shuqing Si, the study's first author from King's IoPPN, said, "Gray matter's primary purpose is to process information in the brain and plays a significant role in day-to-day functions like memory, emotions and movement. This study used specially created software (ENIGMA-VBM) developed at King's that can accurately map where there have been local increases and decreases in brain volume. It's allowed our team to process significantly more data and has meant that our sample reflects brain scans from many parts of the world. The effectiveness of this software means we're now investigating the brains of those with several other disorders."

More information: Mapping gray and white matter volume abnormalities in early-onset psychosisan ENIGMA multicenter voxel-based morphometry study, Molecular Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02343-1 Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry
Whether parents can transfer their elementary student out of a classroom because the teacher has a same-sex partner has sparked community controversy in Frenchtown.

The issue has ignited a tense debate with some residents and teachers concerned about creeping conservatism at the local school board, and what it could mean for Frenchtown families.

In the early weeks of this academic year, a Frenchtown Intermediate School teacher told the class she has a wife. It was innocuous, a passing answer to a students question about the details of a photo included in a get-to-know-you activity. The teacher is not named in any public school board records as a matter of privacy.

Shes warm and caring, and we felt like she was committed to the education of our child, Racquel Rausch, the parent of a student in this teachers classroom, told the Missoulian. We had no idea of her sexual orientation, and it wouldnt matter to us.

But it does to some.

At the request of parents, the school board held two special meetings in September  both closed to the public based on Montana law that provides additional privacy protections in certain cases. Board members were to vote whether to move two students out of this teachers classroom and into another led by a heterosexual educator.

On Sept. 25, a motion proposed not to transfer the student, following the recommendations of Superintendent Les Meyer, failed 3-2 with two trustees absent. Amanda Hansen, elected to the school board in 2022 for a three-year term, referred to the teacher during the meeting as a grown woman making adult choices. She said the school board needed to advocate for the children.

Meyer did not respond to the Missoulians multiple requests for comment.

Unsafe work environment

Whats ensued since has sowed division among school board trustees, teachers, students and parents who feel sidelined and worried for the rights of LGBTQ colleagues and community members.

At board meetings in October and November, multiple current and former teachers testified during public comment that the chair, Shiloh Lucier, had created an environment that stifled educators and prevented them from doing their jobs.

One teacher described decisions being made by the board as hasty and hostile; a recently retired teacher said Lucier had created an unsafe work environment where people could not speak out; and another district employee who had held multiple positions with the school system said she was scared for her job, and no longer felt supported.

Lucier, elected by fellow board members to serve as chair this year, repeatedly stopped public comment, citing state law that prevents personnel matters from being discussed unless on the agenda. She threatened to have one commenter escorted out of the building by law enforcement if comment continued.

Jim Stanicar, president of the Frenchtown Education Association, issued a unanimous no-confidence vote against Lucier at the Nov. 21 meeting. He read from a statement, describing a crisis of morale among educators largely created by the chairwoman.

Teachers are concerned that the rights of their colleagues in public forum and in their private lives are being attacked, according to the written statement. Many are concerned that an administrative team that is respected and viewed as an ally are themselves being harassed and attacked for simply doing the job they were hired to do. Some even worry about retribution for perceived personal slights.

Stanicar was interrupted on the premise that comments about trustees must be respectful, and that public comment is not a place for discussions about staff issues. Lucier did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking generally, Lance Melton, executive director of the School Board Association, explained to the Missoulian that state law gives presiding officers in public meetings  in the case of school boards, the chair  the authority to regulate public comment. That responsibility includes balancing Montanas right to privacy and right to know. He also said other board members can appeal the decision of the chair to suspend public comment on a given topic.

Not a fight that Frenchtown needs to be in

School boards, once seen as benign political entities largely focused on substance over ideology, have become battlegrounds nationwide for debates over social and cultural wedge issues such as critical race theory, books bans and more. Millions of dollars have poured into local school board races across the country in an effort to elect conservative candidates.

Hoping to stop the overt injection of politics into Frenchtowns school district, Tammy Nabozney organized a group of parents and educators to voice shared frustrations about the boards behavior. A resident of Frenchtown for nearly 20 years, Nabozney has had two kids graduate from the school system. She was blown away by the tone and tenor of the November board meeting she attended.

It was concerning and also embarrassing, Nabozney told the Missoulian. I had voted for most of the folks on the school board, so I felt a responsibility to speak out.

Group members wrote letters to the board calling for Luciers resignation. Nabozney said the group has received no response, and would next decide who to support in the upcoming May school board elections. Lucier wont face reelection until 2026, but three of the seven trustees terms expire this year.

This is just not a fight that Frenchtown needs to be in right now, Nabozney said. There are so many other things that we could be focused on. Why would they put us in this position?

Public education is for all

Events of the recent months have also thrust the painful experiences endured by LGBTQ community members in Frenchtown into public view.

Dallin Diehl graduated from Frenchtown High School in 2010, never telling people he was gay. I felt I wouldn't be protected if I came out, or I would face harm from other students if I did.

Though he graduated more than a decade ago, Diehl carries the struggle of those years close to his heart, and he recognizes the way that having more queer representation in the classroom would have spared him a great deal of pain.

If I were to have seen a teacher speak about their same-sex partner, read a book with a queer character, or learn about the multitudes of queer people, it would have changed my life a lot, he said during an interview with the Missoulian.

Hearing about what had unfolded over the last couple months compelled Diehl to get involved. He's spoken in public comment at board meetings and has worked closely with parent organizers.

It made me a mixture of embarrassed to call myself an alum of Frenchtown and heartbroken for this teacher and for the other queer people that are statistically here, Diehl said.

When Rauschs daughter came home from school crying after not getting along with classmates on the playground, it opened her eyes to the prevalence of harmful biases, even among young kids. Her elementary-aged daughter fielded questions, and even teasing, about whether she could support a teacher with a same-sex partner.

How is that kind of hate engulfing the school system at this early of an age? Rausch said. When speaking to the school board during public comment, she expressed frustration that trustees heeded the feelings of parents who requested the transfer of their children but did not create space for those who felt that choice had negatively impacted their kids.

I want my daughter to be able to be in a world where she can correct her own biases and form her own opinions and support others, Rausch told the Missoulian. "The boards decision essentially robbed her of that.

Rausch started an online petition in October to explicitly allow students and teachers to express their sexual orientation. It received over 360 signatures. She also filed a discrimination complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the federal Department of Education.

Public education is for all. I want a safe place for my children to grow and learn, Rausch said. We need to look at whats failing our children, because thats whats important, first and foremost  how can we build a better community and a school system thats inclusive of all?
HEART BUTTE  Heart Butte School District School Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to lay off 30 staff members in an effort to cut costs as the district faces a $2.5 million liability in what Montana Superintendent Elsie Arntzen said was an unprecedented predicament in the state.

Principal and acting district administrator Sandi Campbell was in tears following the decision.

(It's) not going to be a functioning school tomorrow, Campbell told the Daily Montanan Tuesday night.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding whether the school will be able to keep its doors open even with these cuts, and what day-to-day operations will look like without kitchen or custodial staff or support for teachers in the classroom. The board has yet to release a contingency plan if the school cant operate in the fall as it predicted may happen.

Staff and community members are worried about how the school will operate moving forward, upset with the board for making this decision. Parents support the boards decision, hoping it will keep the schools doors open. Board members are upset they were put in a position of making this decision in the first place, asking the Office of Public Instruction, with Arntzen present at the meeting, for guidance to ensure theyll never have to again.

The district released its agenda with the cuts last week and in a statement on Saturday explained the financial crisis was due largely to financial mismanagement through not paying payroll taxes into employee retirement and making personal expenditures on the districts dime. Superintendent Mike Tatsey has been accused of using school funds for expensive rodeo equipment. The school started the financial audit after the board placed Tatsey on administrative leave in September, following the closure of a youth home he oversaw earlier in the year.

The meeting took place in the cafeteria, where minutes before starting custodial staff had cleaned the floors and tables and kitchen staff prepared meals for students. Just more than half of the kitchen staff and about a quarter of the custodial staff will remain employed with the district after Tuesdays cuts.

I hope you guys think about that when you guys go to bed tonight, are these kids going to be fed tomorrow? said Linda Aimsback, who worked in the kitchen.

The district is slated to save more than $320,000 between February and June from the cuts alone, but these savings are just a fraction of the $2.5 million total in projected shortfalls the district is looking at, with about half attributable to mishandled funds.

School Business Consultant Jenine Synness, who is assisting the district in examining what its liabilities are, clarified the earlier total liabilities the district released, $3.5 million, was incorrect due to a mathematical error on her part.

Board member Edith Horn-Wagner said the decision is one the board didnt want to make, but if they didnt make cuts the school would shut down for everyone. She asked OPI staff present, Arntzen and OPI Chief Legal Counsel Rob Stutz, for guidance.

Arntzen said shes happy to have OPI staff, specifically School Emergency Funds Director Wendi Fawns, help Heart Butte find untapped sources of revenue. She told press prior to the meeting OPI was there to listen and offer support.

Were here to see how we can be part of the solution, but were not the solution, Arntzen told the Daily Montanan.

But in the meeting, Horn-Wagner doubled down, saying Heart Butte didnt get to this point overnight.

Where has OPI been? You guys have to have been aware, we clearly werent, she said. We had an audit, I never ever saw the results of that audit, about a year or two ago, I dont know. Had this all come out then, I think a lot of this could have been handled in a more, you know, happier way. But at this point in time, you know, were disrupting lives, were disrupting the education of our children.

OPI has had to have known about it, you guys get the audit, Horn-Wagner said.

Stutz told the board the financial disclosure sent from the district last year didnt show a deficit. OPI spokesperson Brian OLeary previously told the Daily Montanan that Heart Butte Schools submits an annual audit. The submitted 2022 audit was considered above board.

Community members, including Belinda Bullshoe, were left wondering why OPI didnt investigate the audit.

Are they not paying attention to Heart Butte school? To the district? she asked. The school is turned upside down. And I pray that OPI can do something about that.

The superintendent and OPI experts met with legislators Monday to discuss the potential use of the COVID Relief ESSER funds, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and Impact Aid dollars to help support the schools budget, according to OLeary.

Legislators, all Democrats, included Sen. Susan Webber, Rep. Tyson Running Wolf and Rep. Marvin Weatherwax, all from Browning. Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy of Box Elder and Rep. Dave Fern of Whitefish were also there.

In a Facebook post, Webber said most of the legislators' questions were not answered to their satisfaction.

OPI has much explaining to do, and we intend to hold their feet to the fire, Webber said on social media. It came down to OPIs lack of providing support and technical services to Heart Butte School Board and its staff. OPI has an obligation and responsibility to at least alert schools at risk before they face the prospect of closing their doors.

Legislators will meet again with OPI on Friday via Zoom, according to Webber. She said other school districts may be in the same boat as Heart Butte.

What has been allowed to happen at Heart Butte has also happened in Wyola on the Crow Reservation, so we are not alone. Other Indian school districts may also be at risk; we dont want to face that prospect, Webber said.

During the meeting, Pat Armstrong with the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council said the tribe also wants to help with providing funding to keep the school afloat.

In the event the school shuts down, the board would have to approve students attending the nearest operating elementary or high school  in this case likely in Browning or Valier  that would be the most reasonable to attend, offering educational services appropriate for the grade level of those students, OLeary explained in an email to the Daily Montanan. He said the district providing these services will be required to fulfill an obligation of providing transportation services to eligible students.

But parents are weary of this option. Both Browning and Valier are a little more than half an hour drive away from Heart Butte and in harsh winter weather, it can be an icy, windy drive.

One parent, a former board member Christy Calf Boss Ribs, has a son who had worked maintenance for the district and was to be cut on Tuesday night, but also had another child still in school. Calf Boss Ribs spoke in support of the boards decision to make the terminations, even though it impacted her son, because she believed it would help keep the doors open.

She said she feels bad for the employees impacted by the cuts, but they can find other work. The kids dont have as much choice.

Teachers assistants affected by the layoffs also spoke about how the cuts would impact their classrooms. One woman said the teacher she works with is out on maternity leave now.

Who is going to be here for them tomorrow, whos going to be here for them for the rest of the week? she asked the board.

Through tears, teacher assistant Margaret Crawford told the board how assistants step in to teach when there are no substitutes and multiple teachers are out sick.

I know you guys got into this situation from the past or whatever, but I dont think that this was the right choice, because the kids need us, she said.

Sixth-grade teachers assistant Keelee Bear Child, a 21-year-old who graduated from the district only a few years ago herself, told the Daily Montanan shes grown attached to her students.

My student, she kept asking me if I was going to be there tomorrow, she said. I didnt have answers.
AI has come for the animals.

When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote, had gone to great lengths to verify that photos submitted for the issue were, in fact, photos.

Dickson's concern was that images produced by generative artificial intelligence  AI programs that create new material in response to a prompt  now often appear as realistic as actual photographs and could be submitted to the magazine for publication.

"To ensure that no AI-generated photos sneak into Montana Outdoors, we closely examine the original image files (and the data embedded in them) in search of any hint of fakery or manipulation," he wrote. "We also rely on our submitting photographers to adhere to the highest level of ethical standards, which also includes not sending photos taken outside of Montana or any of captive animals."

Dickson suggested that using AI to create fake wildlife or landscape photos would be antithetical to the premise, and challenge, of producing authentic photos: "Instead of an intrepid photographer trekking into the Purcells to capture a stunning photo of a Canada lynx in its natural surroundings, someone in their pajamas can bang one out on a smartphone while waiting for their coffee to brew."

But he also had another concern that extended beyond maintaining the integrity of this year's 50-page spread of wildlife and landscape photos from around the state. What if, he wondered, AI-generated images were used to subvert wildlife conservation and management, or even the basic scientific foundation underlying those things?

"Imagine someone using the technology to create a photo of several black-footed ferrets  the rarest mammal in North America  frolicking in a park in downtown Missoula," he pondered. "Maybe these little carnivores arent so endangered after all?"

Blurred lines

Luke Duran, the magazine's art director for the past 22 years, said in an interview Thursday that he wasn't aware of anyone yet submitting an AI-generated image to the publication. But if someone did, "We never would willingly or knowingly feature one."

He's contended for years with submitted photos that were altered using software like Adobe Photoshop. He's aware of only a few that errantly made it into publication. One was a "beautiful underwater photo of some cutthroat trout" in which readers noticed the same set of pebbles repeated multiple times on the stream bed.

Aside from fakery or image manipulation, Duran said, he also declines to publish images that have been over-processed, such as those with altered colors or excessive darkening or lightening.

But, he noted, he does publish photos taken by remote camera setups. While a photographer must position the camera to intentionally compose a photo, the camera is automatically triggered when an animal walks by  the photographer doesn't snap the photos themselves.

"We are kind of graying the lines of what we are accepting" by taking remote camera shots, he said, noting that sometimes that's the only way to capture animals like wolverines or mountain lions close up.

Faked photos

Duran said his experience vetting wildlife photos helps him detect when an image might be faked altogether. He asks photographers to specify exactly what species is in a photo along with roughly when or where they took the photo. When he isn't sure about a photo, he calls the photographer to get more details.

The magazine's staff has "increased awareness, hyper awareness, that were not letting faked photos come through," he said. But, "Its going to get harder and harder to identify the fakes, I think," as AI technology produces more realistic images each year.

The Missoulian created multiple AI-generated images for this story. The images, created with the generative AI program Stable Diffusion, were each based on one-sentence written descriptions of actual wildlife photos taken by Missoulian photographers. Two more were based on a prompt of black-footed ferrets in Missoula. In the past, creating a realistic fake photo took a mastery of Photoshop or similar, expensive software. Now it takes a few keystrokes and a 10-second processing time on a web app that costs less than a craft cocktail.

Some of the images appear mostly realistic, others not so much. A bear cub on a road has eight claws on each front paw. A log right behind a mountain goat inexplicably fades into timber on a distant mountainside. A bighorn sheep doesn't look quite real, but a black bear on a sidewalk and one in a tree are a bit more believable. Animal-free images based on prompts of Glacier National Park were more realistic.

The images could also veer into the absurd, a product of AI "hallucinations" or the programs' simple failure to generate accurate images that match reality. AI is notorious for its inability to replicate human hands and objects like bicycles. And AI-generated images can be intentionally absurd: a grizzly riding a motorcycle or a rocket.

"I dont think that the technology is quite there that we couldnt spot an AI-generated photo," Duran said. "But I think in one years time, thats not true."

Duran shared his editor's concern that spoofed images could be used to give "false pretense" to wildlife abundance.

Conservation concern

Dickson and Duran aren't alone in their concern about AI images' implication for conservation.

Allen Murabayashi, co-founder of the image platform PhotoShelter and a former judge of the Audubon Photography Awards, wrote in Audubon magazine last summer that generative AI poses a threat to conservation by undermining photography's long-standing role in illustrating and verifying conservation concerns. Whether in the sphere of conservation or elsewhere, the argument goes, AI images erode trust in photography, thus making people distrustful of all images, even legitimate ones.

"AI makes it easier to sow doubt and spread disinformation designed to alter our beliefs and behavior," he wrote. "Ironically, these dynamics may also make it harder to trust remarkable yet real photos."

Murabayashi cited a spring 2023 incident in which international human rights group Amnesty International shared AI-generated images purporting to show police brutality against protesters in Colombia two years prior.

The dramatic images, posted online, were compelling and looked real at first glance. The police brutality in 2021 was real; Amnesty's images were not. Journalists, photographers and scholars on misinformation pilloried Amnesty for undermining the credibility of actual protest photographs with its fakes. Amnesty later removed the images.

Convincing fakes

Other AI images passed off as photographs have been more successful in their deception.

German artist Boris Eldagsen won the 2023 Sony World Photography Awards' creative photo category with a black-and-white image of two women. Eldagsen created the image with OpenAI's DALL-E 2 program and submitted it as a photograph to see if the contest was prepared to weed out faked photos. Upon winning, he came clean about the ruse and refused the prize.

Also in 2023, content agency Absolutely AI won the DigiDirect photo competition with an AI-generated image that looked like an aerial drone shot of surfers at sunrise. Like Eldagsen, the company refused the prize and explained that it entered the image to prove that AI images had become so realistic that they could be entered into, and even win, a photography competition.

In 2022, Romanian photographer Aurel Manea gained attention for his collection of AI-generated landscape photos. The images were all created with Stable Diffusion based on Manea's text prompts.

Manea's AI images could fill a professional landscape photographer's photo book or gallery, replete with breathtaking scenes in mostly mountainous landscapes  none of which actually exist. In one, sunlit granite peaks glow orange in the evening sun, flanked by glacial valleys rimmed with snow and looming over a tranquil lake. It looks like a scene from Glacier National Park.

"I cant, as a landscape photographer myself, emphasize enough what these new technologies will mean for photography," he told the photography website PetaPixel.

Data benefits

Alongside their warnings on AI, Murabayashi and others also point out that AI technology is, in some ways, already helping conservation efforts  particularly with data analysis.

"Automated machine-learning programs now comb through camera-trap, drone, and satellite images, as well as audio recordings, to monitor birds around the world, especially in remote areas that few people visit," Murabayashi wrote. "Predictive models based on such data are helping to proactively combat threats such as poaching."

In 2018, the journalist Julia John, then a science writer at The Wildlife Society, examined how scientists were beginning to use AI to parse mountains of photographic data from remote, motion-activated wildlife cameras. At the time, a group of wildlife researchers and computer scientists had recently published a study on using AI to gather wildlife image data.

"We have AI automatically take care of the easy photos to let people spend time labeling the challenging photos," Jeff Clune, a University of Wyoming computer science professor who co-authored the study, told John. "The hope is to have a cycle in which humans label some data, AI tries to automate that task and humans help the AI by labeling what it cannot do until it can do the entire job."
NEWS PROVIDED BY

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Jan. 10, 2024



NEW YORK, Jan. 10, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Bill Donohue, President, Catholic League:

The war on Chick-fil-A has been going on for years, though in recent times it seems to have dissipated. The typical complaint is that because it closes on Sundaysto allow its workers to spend time in church and with their familythis is an antiquated Christian model that should no longer be tolerated. The fast-food chain has been closed on Sundays since it first opened in 1946.

The war was reignited recently when two New York State lawmakers, Democratic Assemblyman Tony Simone and Democratic Senator Michelle Hinchey, co-sponsored legislation aimed at forcing the evangelical-run company to open its restaurants on Sundays along the New York Thruway. They are saying that closing one day a week along the 570-mile-long highway gravely inconveniences travelers.

Chick-fil-A currently operates seven restaurants along the Thruway; three more will soon open. According to its critics, in one of the seven rest stops where it is located, the only other option is Starbucks. However, the Irish company that extended the contract to the chain restaurant, Applegreen, claims that alternative hot and cold food options are available in all current and future Chick-fil-A rest stops, 24/7.

Simone and Hinchey say that if their bill passes, it will only apply to Chick-fil-A restaurants not under contract (meaning it would not affect the first ten). U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has threatened to introduce federal legislation to withhold federal funds from any state or city that demands Chick-fil-A to open on Sundays.

Simone and Hinchey claim that their bill is not motivated by religious animus. What is not in dispute is that both of them are rabid supporters of abortion-on-demand and the radical LGBT agenda. Of the two, Simone has clearly been the most vocal critic of Chick-fil-A.



Simone was elected to the Assembly in 2022 and assumed office on January 1, 2023. He represents the very liberal west side Manhattan neighborhoods of Chelsea and Hells Kitchen. He campaigned on LGBT issues, radical bail reform and the decriminalization of prostitution.

A review of the bills he has sponsored, and voted for, reveals that he tries to appease a wide swath of New Yorkers. Here are 40 of them.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Jews

Abortion providers

Firefighters

Disabled

Minorities

Women

Children

Teachers

Police

Jordanians

Caribbean Islanders

Ukrainians

Developmentally Disabled

Taiwanese

Polish Americans

Mothers

Mental Health Workers

Guidance Counselors

Pakistanis

Dominicans

Canadian Americans

Teenagers

Public employees

LGBTQ people

Hospital Patients

Retail Workers

Bicyclists

Students

Tenants

Public Retirees

Drug Users

Veterans

Haitians

Filipinos

Nurses

Arabs

Blacks

Ex-Cons

Social Workers

Noticeably absent from Simone's list of courted citizens are evangelical Protestants and Catholics. Nor does he seem to have any interest in advancing religious liberty.

This matters because he insists that targeting Chick-fil-A has nothing to do with the Christian convictions of its chairman, Dan T. Cathy. Simone can repeat this refrain all day long but he cannot walk back a comment he made in late December. He told reporters that Chick-fil-A has "a long, shameful history of opposing LGBTQ rights."

In other words, Christians, and others, who believe that marriage should be the reserve of a man and a woman, and that a man can no more be a woman than he can be a spider, are the enemy. One would have to be delusional to think that Simone's real target is not practicing Christians.

In the district that Simone represents, there are Jewish stores that are closed on Saturdays. Does this mean that a kosher deli cannot open shop along the rest areas of the New York Thruway? The contempt for traditional people of faith is astonishing.

If Applegreen is correct, and food is available at every one of Chick-fil-A's rest stop areas, then there is no issue. Even if this is contested, there is an easy way to settle this matter. In the future, every rest stop along the New York Thruway should have at least one hot and cold food shop available, seven days a week. Bingo"problem" solved.

We will contact all New York State lawmakers.

Contact Simone: simonet@nyassembly.gov
A grand jury indicted an ex-teacher from Burke County on three more child sex charges.

Aaron Mirtsching, 42, was indicted on three counts of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult by a Burke County Grand Jury on Jan. 2, according to court documents filed at the Burke County Courthouse.

The new charges against him came after a fourth victim spoke to detectives, said Burke County Sheriff Banks Hinceman.

This victim was 8-9 years old when the alleged crimes took place, according to the indictment. The crimes occurred from Sept. 1, 2020, to May 28, 2021.

Mirtsching, who previously worked as a teacher at New Dimensions Charter School and as a youth leader at Thrive Church, already has 15 pending counts of indecent liberties with a child and four pending counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to a previous News Herald article.

All of the victims were between 7 and 9 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

Mirtsching left New Dimensions at the end of the 2022-23 school year, and Thrive Church relieved him of his position when church leadership found out about the charges against him.

He currently is being held at the Burke County Jail under a total $450,000 secured bond, according to jail records.
DEER LODGE  Sun Mountain Lumber of Deer Lodge confirmed Tuesday that it has acquired the R-Y Timber sawmill in Livingston.

The transaction closed Oct. 31.

The Livingston mill had suffered two fires in a span of about five months, beginning in September 2022. In addition, lightning struck the facility's substation in July 2023.

R-Y Timber closed the mill in mid-February after the second fire and cut dozens of jobs. The R-Y Timber plant occupies land between the Yellowstone River and U.S. 89, and manufactures studs for construction.

The acquisition process had been underway for several months.

Sun Mountain Lumber, owned by Sherm Anderson, and R-Y Timber announced in June plans by Sun Mountain to buy R-Y Timber in Livingston. The transaction has been described as a win-win for both Deer Lodge and Livingston.

R-Y closed its mill in Townsend in 2020.

In a news release Tuesday, Chris Anderson, vice president of Sun Mountain Lumber, referenced plans for the Livingston sawmill.

Advances, investments and improvements in the Livingston sawmill will surely guarantee good-paying jobs with outstanding benefits in the area for generations to come, Anderson said.

Sun Mountains purchase of the R-Y Timber sawmill was partially funded through a loan from the Montana Department of Commerces Wood Products Revolving Loan Program.

In Tuesdays news release, Mandy Rambo, acting director of the department, said she anticipates the R-Y Timber sawmill will soon be back to being the third-largest employer in Livingston.

Sean Steinebach, outreach forester for Sun Mountain Lumber, said the Livingston mill is operational and on the right track.

Theyre up and running, making lumber, Steinebach said.

Dennis Davaz, formerly an employee of R-Y Timber, works now as a resource manager in Livingston for Sun Mountain Lumber.

He said the mill is currently running one shift, manufacturing two-by-fours, two-by-sixes and one-by-fours.

"We're picking up speed," Davaz said. "We've been through a lot, but we've rebounded. We're really looking forward to gaining momentum."

In September, the Sun Mountain Lumber sawmill in Deer Lodge reported it buzzed each week through about 2 million board feet of logs.

Sun Mountains process harvests lumber, sawdust, chips and planer shavings.

Computer scanning guides bandsaws and circular saws to maximize how many sticks of lumber each log yields. The sawmill relies primarily on Douglas fir but also uses lodgepole pine.

Sun Mountain's Deer Lodge sawmill specializes in two-by-fours and two-by-sixes of varied lengths, with 9 feet being the bread-and-butter product during an era of 10-foot ceilings. The sawmill also uses finger-jointing techniques to produce much longer lumber that is resistant to warping in hot and humid places like Texas.
Prosecutor Kelli Fivey is running for county attorney in Butte-Silver Bow, saying Wednesday she wants to take another step in a legal career she has dedicated to citizens here.

Longtime County Attorney Eileen Joyce told The Montana Standard this week that she is not seeking a fifth term.

Matt Enrooth, an attorney who lives in Butte and currently serves as a prosecutor in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, says he is also running for county attorney in Butte-Silver Bow and plans a formal announcement next week.

Fivey has been a prosecutor and deputy county attorney in Butte-Silver Bow for 17 years.

I think with my experience and the exposure I've had already with the inner workings of the county attorney's office, and the collaborative nature the office has with other departments within Butte Silver-Bow, it gives me a unique perspective, Fivey told The Standard. And certainly I have the experience to be able to step into the role of county attorney.

The county attorney oversees several other lawyers who handle felony criminal cases and also civil matters involving local government. She or he also advises county officials, including the chief executive and the Council of Commissioners, on legal issues involving policies, ordinances and potential liabilities.

Joyce was first elected county attorney in 2008, narrowly defeating Samm Cox in November that year. She has been re-elected three times since then but she is not running again this year.

She is endorsing Fivey for the post.

I support Kelli Fiveys candidacy based upon her 17 years of working as a deputy county attorney, together with her extensive trial experience and her clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities of this office, Joyce said.

The filing period for political office in Montana starts Thursday and runs through March 11. The primary election is June 4, and the general election is Nov. 5. Fivey is the only person so far who has informed the Standard about her bid for county attorney.

Fivey was born in Butte, attended Butte schools and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Montana. After graduating from Gonzaga Law School in 2004, she became a clerk for District Judge Kurt Krueger, then joined the county attorneys office.

She says law enforcement was instilled in her at a young age because her father, Albert Turtle Johnson, was a police officer for Butte-Silver Bow for 20 years.

Fivey said she deeply admired her father and the sense of justice that law enforcement and the law as a whole provided, and she wanted to be a prosecutor since she was a kid.

She has tried numerous cases over the years, obtaining convictions for homicides, rape, crimes against the elderly and drug and property offenses. She has also represented clients in the civil arena, including dissolutions, parenting and adoption cases.

Fivey said she has been a tough and fair prosecutor, advocating for victims' rights while being cognizant of the limitations of the law and fairness to opposing parties.

I think what's great about the function of the county attorney is each county attorney is able to create their position and make their office their homes and do the things that they want to do, she said.

If elected, I certainly would not give up criminal law. I believe I thrive in the courtroom, she said. I believe that I practice law with integrity and with compassion and so I'm going to continue to do that.

But I'm also going to be very well-rounded in that I will still be able to advise commissioners, work collectively with the chief executive and also be able to handle the civil issues of the office.
A judge sentenced Martin Bradley Coleman to 60 years in the Montana State Prison on Tuesday for shooting a man three times during an altercation at a house in Butte in 2022. The victim survived.

As the prosecution pointed out, while there was a fight in relation to this, Mr. Coleman not only inappropriately responded, but pulled a gun, shot the victim twice in the stomach and then shot him right in the back of his ear, District Judge Kurt Kruger said.

He was clearly, physically trying to kill another person, Krueger said. The defendants actions were way beyond self-defense. You dont end up shooting someone in the back of the head in self-defense.

Defense attorney Suzanne Marshall Malloy said the other man started the altercation and Coleman, 37, was only trying to defend himself. She asked for 20 years in prison with 15 of those years suspended.

"This was an unfortunate incident that Mr. Coleman was involved in and the first violent incident that is reflected in his criminal history," she told the judge.

But prosecutor Kelli Fivey said 60 years was justified because Coleman tried to kill, has never shown remorse and even bragged about the shooting during a jail phone call by saying, The mother------ got popped, he had it coming.

That is the attitude that we have had from the defendant throughout, Fivey said.

A jury convicted Coleman of attempted deliberate homicide following three days of testimony last June. It carries a minimum 10-year prison term and maximum of 100 years.

The jury also found Coleman guilty on a weapon-enhancement charge for using a gun during the crime and felony drug possession for having methamphetamine at an apartment where police found him six hours after the shooting.

Krueger sentenced Coleman to 50 years in prison for attempted murder and another 10 years on the weapon charge, to run consecutively. He gave Coleman five years on the drug conviction but it runs concurrent to the other sentences.

Prosecutors say Coleman brought a gun to a fist fight and shot Anthony Worth twice in the abdomen during an altercation at a house on East Park Place on June 11, 2022. They say after an injured Worth stopped fighting, Coleman delivered a third shot to the back of his head.

Coleman testified at trial that Worth attacked him in the doorway and was punching and choking him. So, fearing for his life, he said he grabbed his loose 9mm handgun off the floor and fired three quick shots while turning and facing Worth before fleeing.

Prosecutors believe Coleman and a woman at the house that day were romantically involved. The woman had also been in an off and on relationship with Worth for years.

Worth acknowledged in his testimony that after Coleman made a terse comment, he grabbed Coleman by the neck and punched him in the eye, and they began wrestling.

But he said he never choked Coleman, was never on top of him, did not have a weapon himself and never threatened to kill him. Worth said he quit fighting after he was shot in the abdomen and begged Coleman to stop.

Weeks after the jury verdict, Colemans attorneys filed a motion seeking a new trial, saying Krueger had admonished Coleman while he testified by telling him to answer a prosecutors questions with yes or no answers only and didnt allow him to properly respond.

The motion said Krueger became visibly agitated in front of the jury, rose from his chair at the bench and loudly and sternly admonished Coleman and such actions prejudiced the jury infringed on their clients absolute right to testify on his own behalf.

Krueger denied the motion, saying Coleman continually narrated beyond the scope of questions despite the judges repeated instructions not to do so.

In total, the Judge warned Mr. Coleman to avoid interrupting or speaking out of turn 20 times, Krueger wrote in his denial order.

The Montana Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that actions similar to those at issue, when taken by a judge to maintain order and avoid confusion, are well within a trail judges discretion, he wrote.

Colemans mother and sister spoke briefly during Tuesdays sentencing hearing, saying Coleman was a good man and father and was only trying to defend himself. His sister said he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
ANACONDA  "Gatsby" described a mission to visit towns with the coolest names while southbound on the rugged Continental Divide Trail.

Temporarily lodged in Anaconda in July, Gatsby wrote, Looking at you, Wisdom, MT, & Truth or Consequences, NM.

The hiker shared these musings during a sojourn at the Anaconda Trail Societys Hiker Hut in Washoe Park. Gatsby and other through hikers who stopped in Anaconda this summer for rest and resupply scribbled invariably positive reviews of both the Hiker Hut and Anaconda.

Most signed their entries with a trail name.

Shin splints suck, wrote "Loofah." But having an awesome resource such as the Anaconda Hiker Hut has been the perfect place to recover to get back on trail. I feel Ive become a temporary caretaker of sorts to the hut. Ive enjoyed the town, meeting all the other hikers and the bikes!

Several Hiker Hut visitors praised the access to loaner bicycles, which provide easy travel to grocery stores, the post office, Smelter City Brewing, Anaconda Outdoor and other destinations.

A 2022 survey of Continental Divide Trail hikers found that Anaconda was the favorite resupply stop along the trails 3,100 miles. Reaching the city once famous for copper smelting and now building a rep for outdoors recreation requires detouring off the main trail for both southbound and northbound trekkers.

It also requires a few miles of road hiking along highways lacking shoulders.

The Hiker Hut offers access to bicycles, Wi-Fi, lockers, a small refrigerator, a microwave and more  all free. Dunne Communications in Anaconda donates the Wi-Fi.

Robin McKernan, president of the Anaconda Trail Society, said Dunnes donation is emblematic of the Anaconda communitys commitment to hikers.

Through hikers who sang Anacondas praises during the summer of 2023 included trekkers from Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Canada.

In addition, Pintlers Portal Hostel in Anaconda hosted visitors from New Zealand, Japan, Iraq, France and Switzerland.

Pintlers Portal held two free dinners for hikers in 2023, and invitations werent limited to hostel guests. One meal targeted southbound (SoBo) hikers and the other focused on NoBo trekkers headed toward Glacier National Park and the Canadian border.

Our SoBo hiker night was well attended, most likely because the heavy snows in northern New Mexico and Colorado caused many NoBos to flip to SoBo, said Steve Hill, co-owner with Marsha Hill of Pintlers Portal Hostel, which opened in August 2021.

The hostel offer services for hikers that dont require an overnight stay. They include a coin-operated laundry, accepting mail and resupply boxes, a day rate for showers and hanging out, loaner clothes to wear during laundering and more.

Hill said conversations with through hikers can enthrall.

They are fascinating, Steve Hill said. The hiker demographic ranges from young kids discovering the world to highly successful professionals.

He said many of the hikers who pass through are completing the Triple Crown of through hikes, having previously finished the Appalachian Trail, roughly 2,190 miles long, and the Pacific Crest Trail, about 2,650 miles.

Hill said he thinks many hikers leave the Continental Divide Trail for last because of its greater length and rugged and remote terrain.

One thing weve learned  the hikers have a lot of calories to replenish, and they come in hungry, for the duration of their stay, he said.

One hiker from Germany wrote, succinctly, Nothing more to wish for.

Another trekker, trail name "P.I. of Delta Force," wrote, Best town on trail by far! People are amazing and the support was everywhere!

Other trail trekkers included: "Ketchup Daddy and Sloppy Joe," "Braveheart," "Salty Dog," "Jive Turkey," "Trash Panda" and "Beer Money."

Through hikers in Montana often stop in Lincoln, Helena, Butte and/or Anaconda for rest and resupply. Each town, recognized for its typically hospitable treatment of hikers, is designated as a Gateway Community for the trail by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.

The trail travels through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The 2022 survey found that hikers experienced Colorado as hosting the most rugged sections of trail.

SoBo hikers who stop in Anaconda often rave about the scenic beauty of Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. NoBo hikers said they appreciated the wild Anaconda Range.

Virtual town hall The Continental Divide Trail Coalition will hold a virtual town hall on Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m. MST. The free presentation will highlight recent projects and trail improvements. To register, go to https://bit.ly/3RJSzwE

The Anaconda-related accolades continued through August and into September.

I wasnt planning on hiking into Anaconda initially but Im glad I did, wrote "Fairweather," from Newfoundland. Wonderful trail town. Lots of love to all of you!

"Key Lime" wrote, Thank you for hosting hikers and giving us stinky people a place to rest. Ill never forget the hiker hut in Anaconda.

Haystack wrote, Staying in Anaconda is a dream for a hiker. Thank you very, very much.

McKernan said entries in the Hiker Hut logbook confirm what she and others know about the community.

Anaconda is the best, she said. That book just reinforces that there are some really good people here.
This months Muscatine School Board meeting was the first held at the new location in the administration building and touched on topics including the audit.

kicked off with the FY23 Audit Review, as presented by Mia Frommelt from Bohnsack & Frommelt LLP.

According to Frommelt, the district expended $11.2 million through federal grant programs during FY23 on federal grant programs. Of this amount, $6.1 million was for EESER COVID-19 funding while $3.3 million was for the Child Nutrition Program.

Frommelt noted the district had a couple of new items for the year, such as a new accounting standard over subscription-based information technology. This has resulted in needing a restatement in the auditors opinion, however there were no other issues involving this new standard. The district also took on a new Bonded Debt this year, issuing $25 million in revenue bonds for its upcoming projects.

T districts Financial Statement Audit received an unmodified opinion, this being the cleanest and highest level of opinion that an audit can receive. No significant matters were reported regarding its Government Auditing Standards. There were also no findings reported regarding Internal Controls or Compliance for the ESSER and Child Nutrition Program audits.

With there being no other concerns, towards the end of the meeting the board voted to approve the FY23 Financial Audit, placing it on file. The board also approved its audit agreement with Bohnsack & Frommelt LLP, agreeing to continue using its services through FY28.

Following the review, the board turned its attention to the 2023 Iowa Schools Performance overview.

In 2023, both Mulberry and Grant Elementary was given a Commendable rating. Jefferson and Madison Elementary received Acceptable ratings while Franklin and McKinley Elementary were marked as Needs Improvement.

Susan Clark Jr. High and Muscatine High School were also given Acceptable ratings, with MHS in particular seeing significant improvement compared to the Priority rating it received in 2022.

The district also met participation in the states Mathematics and English Language Arts Assessment, meeting the state average for growth in these areas. 4-year graduation rates for the district hit 89.86% while the 5-year rate hit 92.51%.

Afterwards, the board briefly discussed the districts social studies curriculum. Moving forward, the district will be piloting Social Studies Alive! and Inquiry Journeys for Kindergarten-5th Grade, Geography/History Alive! and Traverse for 6th-8th grade, and Econ/Government Alive! and Traverse for 9th-12th grade.

Pilot teachers have already received training for each curriculum. Walkthroughs will also be conducted during the pilot process, and once the pilots have concluded, all feedback will be looked over and shared with the school board alongside a final recommendation to be given in April, with the implementation of the final plans happening at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

Lastly, Becky Wichers and Paige Williams took to the podium to once again talk about the districts new Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) plan. Wichers and Williams gave a deeper discussion of the Tier 2 and 3 supports and behavior plans, as given by the MCSD Behavior Support Team.

Wichers and Williams discussed the planned creation of a district-wide, consistent, equitable and progressive system for discouraging and effectively responding to inappropriate student behaviors.

The proposed system would classify behaviors into three different levels  minor, major and serious. Examples of behavior flowcharts related to this system were also given, with the board being asked to review the examples and provide feedback during the Jan. 22 work session prior to a draft of a MCSD behavior flowchart being created in February.

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Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua has spoken out in response to comments made by the Wiper party leader about her Kamwene outfit.

During a Tuesday night interview on KTN News, Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper criticized the Kamwene initiative, describing it as a concept that is dead on arrival.

He argued that this coalition of opposition leaders from Mount Kenya is based on a flawed political philosophy and advised them to abandon this approach for greater unity within the Azimio coalition.

Responding to these remarks, Karua questioned the reasons behind Kalonzos consistent mention of Kamwene in his conversations.

Why does Kamwene seem to alarm my brother Kalonzo Musyoka so much that he feels compelled to bring it up in every conversation? she wondered on X.

What about kamwene scares my brother @skmusyoka that he must drag it in every conversation he has ? https://t.co/cB9eivptUX  Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) January 9, 2024

Despite Kalonzos skepticism, the Kamwene group, which Karua leads, maintains that their focus is on strengthening their position within the Azimio coalition.

They emphasize their commitment to the unity and representation of the Mount Kenya regions interests within the opposition.

At their first major meeting, which brought together leaders from all ten counties of Mount Kenya, the Kamwene group declared their intention to become a key voice for the region.

Former Laikipia Governor Nderitu Muriithi, speaking at the event, asserted the importance of political interests.

We are unapologetically focused on the interests of our region. Those who are anxious about our unity have no reason to be, he said.

He added, In politics, its all about interests, and as people of the mountain, we have every right to state our case in Kenya.

Kamwene is widely seen as Karua and anti-Ruto Mt Kenya leaders preferred outfit as we head to the 2027 election, amidst speculations that Azimio may disintegrate before then.
Parliament members from the Azimio and Kenya Kwanza political affiliations have threatened to censure Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. Njuguna Ndungu, accusing him of failing to release the National Government Constituency Development Funds (NG-CDF).

In a joint statement released within the parliamentary premises, the lawmakers accused President William Rutos administration of employing technicalities to delay the release of funds since the commencement of the current financial year.

Speaking at Parliament grounds on Tuesday, the MPs led by Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo, expressed their concern that the exchequers hesitation to release the funds jeopardizes the education of hundreds of thousands of students who depend on the bursary for their schooling expenses.

No single cent has been dispersed in this respect with the consequence that pupils and students are stranded all over the country. CDF allocation should be Ksh.63 billion, we should have received at least 75% of the money by now which is around Ksh.43 billion, but to date, we havent received anything despite some utterances that you may have heard elsewhere, said Amollo.

Otiende Amollo mentioned that MPs are considering calling for a special sitting to commence the removal process of Treasury CS Ndungu and orchestrate the dismissal of NG-CDF Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Mbuno.

MPs Fault Proposed Amendments to NG-CDF Act

Dismissing a government memo asserting that NG-CDF money cannot be released due to proposed amendments to the NG-CDF Act, the MPs labeled the information as misguided, unlawful, and improper.

The lawmakers also raised questions about why the amendments were being introduced in the third quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year, especially when they only impacted less than six percent of NG-CDF funds.

These amendments should have been considered in the 2024/25 financial year starting this year in Julynonetheless, as a bipartisan team comprising members from both sides, we demand the entire allocation of CDF be released within seven days as is due, added Amollo.

Kabuchai MP Majimbo Kalasinga, on his part, highlighted that the Treasury made a mistake when it assured Speaker Wetangula that the money would be released by December 20, 2023. He criticized the treasury for reallocating funds designated for the CDF kitty to another ministry, especially amid the predicament of students who are set to resume school this week.

7-Day Ultimatum

Schools have no classes and they are dependent on the release of these funds to construct new ones. Children have also reported back to school and are expecting to benefit from the bursaries which unfortunately have not been released from the beginning of this financial year up to now, he said.

Adding: Why is money being dispersed to other government entities and yet NG-CDF that helps the vulnerable is not released? We dont want stories, we want the money in our accounts today.

The MPs demanded the release of the Sh63 billion within seven days, failure to which will result in the initiation of an ouster motion against the Treasury CS.

We demand that the entire allocation the CDF must be released within 7 days as is due, if that is not done we will call for a special sitting of the House and draft an appropriate motion against the CS Treasury and the NG-CDF board or any other entity as we may determine at the time. We are tired of the back and forth between the Treasury and the CDF board. Its time we take action. The MPs said.
The Public Prosecutor must file charges against Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Shakahola forest starvation cult, by January 23.

Shanzu Principal Magistrate Yousuf Shikanda issued the deadline on Tuesday, citing the prolonged pre-trial detention of Mackenzie and his associates.

As already stated in my previous ruling, this is the longest pre-charge detention in the history of the country following the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, Shikanda mentioned in his ruling.

Observing that the accused persons had been in detention for 117 days since their arrest, the Principal Magistrate directed that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) must bring charges against the accused persons within 14 days.

If no decision to charge the respondents will have been made after the expiry of such period, the court will consider releasing the respondents from custody on terms that will be determined by the court, Shikanda said.

Mackenzie, currently serving time for distributing films without a license, is connected to mass graves in Kilifis Shakahola forest. Here, he led followers to fast to death, promising them heaven.

The controversial televangelist is accused of causing the deaths of over 400 followers of his self-proclaimed Good News International Church.
Farah Maalim, the Member of Parliament for Daadab, has voiced concerns about the Kenyan Judiciary, suggesting its alleged corruption is making investors hesitant to engage in Kenya.

Speaking on Citizen TV on Wednesday, Maalim pointed out that the Judiciary, like other institutions in the country, is plagued by significant corruption.

He explained, Judiciary is not different from any other institution in the country there is massive corruption in there. The reason why investors are wary about investing in this country is not because the Executive and Parliament are attacking the Judiciary. It is because there is a corrupt Judiciary because you can have your matter in court for the longest.

Maalim also highlighted the issue of lawyers demanding excessively high fees, leading to a pile-up of unpaid bills. You look at this kind of pending bills for lawyers in the country it runs into billions of shillings, he stated.

LSK and the Judiciary can come to the front and say we cannot accept this, you are denigrating the reputation of this institution and profession.

Additionally, Maalim criticized the Judiciary for allegedly overstepping its boundaries and interfering with the roles of other government arms and independent bodies.

He argued that the Judiciary should only intervene in legislative matters once they are presented in court.

You cant stop parliament from conducting a parliamentary process, you wait until the process itself is concluded, let them pass the piece of legislation and then you strike it down. That is the independence of this institution, Maalim remarked.

These comments are in line with President William Rutos ongoing criticism of the Judiciary.

Ruto has been outspoken about his determination to eliminate corruption among judicial officers, whom he accuses of undermining his governments projects, particularly in Universal Health Care and affordable housing fund.

The president has blamed certain judicial officers for being allegedly bribed to rule against these initiatives. He argues that interested parties are benefiting from the status quo, and are therefore sponsoring cases in courts to stop the projects.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Tuesday provided amusing content for Kenyans on social media while detailing steps one should take to avoid a hyena attack.

In response to the rising incidents of hyena attacks across the country, KWS outlines 7 steps one should take if one encounters a hyena.

These safety tips include:

Stop, and avoid running, as the hyena may instinctively give chase to fleeing prey. Avoid lying down or pretending to be dead, as this could heighten the hyenas curiosity. Maintain composure and try not to show fear; keep yourself calm by talking to it. Given that hyenas are nocturnal, minimize movements during the night Only move away when the hyena does, and ensure you continue facing its direction. If the hyena growls or giggles, stand your ground  do not run, but refrain from advancing closer. Make a loud noise and adopt an aggressive, intimidating posture to deter the hyena.

As you would expect, Kenyans were amused by these KWS recommendations, particularly tip 3, which requires one to talk to a hyena.

Kenyans on Twitter did what they do best and made light of a life-threatening situation with hilarious tweets and memes for the better part of yesterday. Check out some of the best memes below.

kindly let one ranger do a video demo  Elijah Gichuru (@Gichuru_Muiruri) January 9, 2024

So remain calm or look aggressive? pic.twitter.com/TpUeYAXCZL  Arnold (@arnoldi254) January 9, 2024

Me talking aggressively to a hyena to avoid an attack. pic.twitter.com/2uHJxDNjW0  Kijana Ya Baba (Parody) (@kijanaYaa) January 9, 2024

On point #3:

What languages do they understand? Do they prefer formal or casual talk? Also, do they like small talk or do they prefer we jump straight to the agenda?  Reuben M Wambui (@reubenmuhindi) January 9, 2024

Number 3: Hello, Hyena. You have short and cute hind legs. Please, you dont have to eat or harm me. Look over there; there is a goat, and you can have it. Enjoy your meal.  Antony Alexanderia Irungu  (@TonyAlexIrungu) January 9, 2024

What if, in step 6, I also start giggling?   Dr. C (@chao_mbogho) January 9, 2024

Talking to an animal that can eat you as it it will understand what you are saying pic.twitter.com/VsxenxkhKd  fredrick Odhiambo (@fredrickOdhiam3) January 9, 2024

KWS please come outside. So what you are saying is this doesnt work?  pic.twitter.com/ey04wZPCYz  Mo Swaleh (@SwalehAnthony) January 9, 2024

You forgot number 8 pic.twitter.com/IlRnGNQI8l  Cayenne West (@Rhymenosorous) January 9, 2024

Mmesema hii ndio form mtu akiona hyena pic.twitter.com/J1KZTWOg2u  Prairie Builders Group  (@PrairieBuilders) January 9, 2024

Maybe muachilie fisi mmoja hapa CBD kama experiment tuone hio theory yenu kama ina work  Zakheem Rajan, HSC (@zakheem_rajan) January 9, 2024

Kisii: an aggressive language in Kenya.  Jackson (@jacksonleonne) January 9, 2024

Stay calm? While my life is in danger  pic.twitter.com/JW5TpYxu33   (@Mchochez1) January 9, 2024

Me being aggressive with a hyena and at the same time being calm pic.twitter.com/wDxMNnSLFD  SHARON (@SharonMo15) January 9, 2024

Your advice worked perfectly! pic.twitter.com/2QSFvqLerK  Menez OFlahertie Schuur (@Menezschuur) January 9, 2024

me asking the Hyena to give me a chance to talk https://t.co/8agi3AS1J4 pic.twitter.com/HaFo3dlBbe  Maliks  14/09/15/21 (@maliks_88) January 9, 2024

Juja resident trying to learn how to talk to Hyena.  pic.twitter.com/UsvoK02kKY  DP  (@DanChepta) January 9, 2024

Keep yourself calm by talking to it Me: Please tulia bro sina ubaya Hyena: https://t.co/TQFUfIUPA8 pic.twitter.com/bMhCoQdUxg  Limo (@Limorio_) January 9, 2024

KWS : Make aggressive noise to Hyena Me : pic.twitter.com/kJMfD13QIX  Aleckie Ronald (@SirAlexas) January 9, 2024

Me to the hyena before i start running for my lifepic.twitter.com/qwzobhVKWO https://t.co/FdCsHaK1ur  Thanos (@Muchang_i) January 9, 2024

Me talking to the Hyena about its night https://t.co/iH34KvCYrm pic.twitter.com/aXx343Bdv1  Brembo (@allenochi) January 9, 2024

Me when I spot a hyenapic.twitter.com/5C46J8cG0h https://t.co/bi6U2sY2Wl  Le Padre (@Mwawasi__) January 9, 2024
Nairobi-based security firm KK (Kenya Kazi) and its Canadian parent company GardaWorld, in a joint venture known as Aegis-KK/Garda World Federal Africa (GWFA) comprising Aegis Defense Services, Garda World Federal Services, and Kenya Kazi Ltd, have filed a lawsuit against the United States government.

The lawsuit alleges that the President Biden administration has excluded them from the lucrative Sh5.1 billion contract for Nairobi embassy security. They are protesting what they characterize as an unfair evaluation, which resulted in the US State Department awarding the contract to a joint venture involving their Kenyan rival, G4S Kenya.

The plaintiff is urging the US Court of Federal Claims to nullify the G4S deal and assert that the US governments assessment of proposals in response to the request for proposals was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise contrary to applicable law and regulation.

Aegis-KK/Garda World Federal Africa (GWFA) additionally seek an order compelling the US government to instruct the State Department to reevaluate proposals based on the original tender conditions and conduct a new lowest-price, technically acceptable determination after such reevaluations.

Issue a permanent injunction to enjoin the performance of the contract awarded to G4S; and award GWFA and further relief as the court may deem just and proper, including, without limitation, bid and proposal costs, says Kenya Kazi and its Canadian backer.

G4S Offered Low Wages

Kenya Kazi(KK) contends that G4S secured the contract despite offering low wages in the $32.3 million (Sh5.1 billion deal).

G4Ss proposed price demonstrates that it proposed inadequately low and unrealistic wages for LGF (Local Guard Force) personnel in its compensation plan, and, in particular, wages less than those outlined in the ToU, in direct violation of the RFPs requirement that the ToU set the baseline for all bidders, says KK in the court papers.

As demonstrated by G4Ss low price, the agency acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and otherwise not in accordance with the law when it failed to reasonably consider whether G4Ss compensation plan was reasonable and realistic for the work being performed or would impair (G4Ss) ability to attract and retain competent employees as it was required to do under the RFPs evaluation criteria.

KK argues that if the US State Department had conducted a reasonable evaluation of G4Ss proposal, considering the correct prices, it would have deemed G4Ss proposal as non-compliant with the compensation plan requirements.

In such a scenario, KK asserts that its proposal should have been chosen for the award. As such, GWFA has been prejudiced by the agencys arbitrary and capricious actions, it says.

The US Court has certified the matter as urgent for hearing.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has clarified that there is no truth to the rumors of its systems being linked with M-Pesa.

In a recent announcement, the authority dismissed these allegations that had been circulating on different social media platforms since Tuesday, January 9. These speculations gained momentum when Safaricom faced a technical issue impacting M-Pesa services.

This glitch, which lasted about an hour, caused inconvenience to a large number of people who rely on M-Pesa for their transactions.

Subsequent to this technical problem, individuals aligned to Azimio on social media reported as fact that M-Pesas temporary shutdown was for its integration with KRA systems.

Some suggested that this was a strategy to track mobile transactions in a bid to improve revenue collection.

Nevertheless, KRA has categorically denied these allegations, labeling them as baseless and misleading.

The information circulating is completely unfounded, stated KRA in a portion of their release.

Subsequently, normal service was resumed, and Safaricom extended an apology to the numerous customers who were impacted.

Safaricom confirmed, All M-PESA functionalities are back online. We regret any inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding as we resolved the issue.

Users experienced this disruption through the Safaricom M-PESA App and the Sim Toolkit. Additionally, banks informed their customers about the delay, asking for their patience.
Kenya and the Kingdom of Spain are reportedly locked in a diplomatic dispute regarding outstanding bills exceeding Ksh.1.2 billion.

Due to a 10-year delay in settling the bill for the construction of a multipurpose dam at the lower Ewaso Ngiro by a Spanish company, Kenya faces the prospect of substantial interest penalties, Citizen TV reports.

The Embassy of Spain has reportedly written to various government entities requesting payment without much success.

In a letter addressed to the Treasury, Spains Ambassador to Kenya Javier Garcia de Viedma writes; As you are aware the longstanding debt with the Spanish companies TYPSA is yet to be settleddespite the many efforts taken by the company and this embassy to collect the outstanding payments we still have not received any way forward on the issue.

The letter mentions that the matter is jeopardizing potential future investments in Kenya and the reputation of the Kenyan government.

In a separate letter to Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, the Treasury CS confirmed that the Spanish company was engaged by the Ministry of Regional Development (now Ministry of East African Community) for the detailed design of the lower Ewaso Ngiro South River multipurpose dam, with contracts totaling Ksh.3.1 billion and Ksh.267.5 million.

The embassy further emphasized that the outstanding bills underwent verification and were confirmed to be eligible, warranting payment to have been processed.

The government states that it is awaiting another round of verification by the pending bills committee, chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko, regarding the outstanding bills.
WINDHAM, N.H. (AP)  Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that hes ending his Republican presidential bid just days before Iowas leadoff caucuses in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald Trump a glidepath to the nomination.

My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump, Christie said at a town hall in New Hampshire.

I've always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn't see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out," he said. And it's clear to me tonight that there isnt a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I'm suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States.

It wasnt clear whether Christie would be immediately endorsing one of his rivals, but he was overheard criticizing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on a livestream set up by his campaign ahead of the event. Shes going to get smoked, he said. Shes not up to this. He said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called him, petrified he would endorse Haley, but the hot mic was cut before Christie finished speaking.

The dropout comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president.

I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump, he said at a town hall in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had stepped up to the plate.

Im famous enough. ... Ive got plenty of titles. ... The only reason to do this is to win, he added. So Id be happy to get out of the way for somebody if they actually were going against Donald Trump.

But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/UNH poll conducted in the state this week found Trumps lead down to the single digits, with 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third now choosing Haley.

Allies of Haley, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and other anti-Trump Republicans, had been urging Christie to exit, hoping a large portion of his supporters would flock to Haley, giving her a chance to turn the race into a two-candidate contest with Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.

The New Hampshire poll  which showed Christie at 12%  found about two-thirds of his supporters would select Haley as their second choice.

Christie had run as the races fiercest critic of the former president-turned-GOP front-runner. He warned voters against nominating a candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and could very well be a convicted felon by the November general election. And he argued Trump will lose in a rematch with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.

While his anti-Trump message attracted much media attention and helped bring in waves of small-dollar donations that kept him in the race  and on the debate stage  far longer than many expected, Christie was plagued by high unfavorability ratings in a party that remains deeply loyal to Trump.

He also remained mired in the single digits in national polling.

Nonetheless, Christie managed to outlast far better-known and better-funded candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, in part because he ran a frugal campaign. Instead of flying by private jet and hiring a litany of expensive consultants, he relied on a tight-knit staff of just over a dozen people and had a far lower burn rate than rivals like DeSantis, spending far less per day.

And just as he did when he ran in 2016, Christie banked his campaign on New Hampshire, believing his brash tell it like it is style would resonate with the states more independent-leaning voters, including those who are unaffiliated with a party and can vote in the Republican primary.

He also campaigned in South Carolina and hoped to emerge as the last man standing against Trump after the early state contests.

Christie had long insisted that he had no plans to leave the race before New Hampshires primary on Jan. 23 and appeared on track to perform better than he had in 2016, when he finished in sixth with just 7% of the vote.

At the town hall Tuesday, he delivered a sharply worded rebuttal to those calling on him to drop out to clear the path for Haley, arguing that she wasnt even trying to beat the front-runner.

I have no interest in being a spoiler for someone who wants to beat Donald Trump, he said. But if youd be willing to be his vice president, if youd pardon him if you became president, if youd vote for him even if hes a convicted felon ... I mean, geez, really?

Christie asked the crowd to imagine what would happen if he dropped out to support Haley and then she agreed to serve as Trumps running mate.

What will I look like? What will all the people who supported her at my behest look like? he asked. You know, I made that mistake once, eight years ago. I made an endorsement decision based on politics eight years ago when I supported Trump. Im not going to make the same mistake again. Cant do it.

The campaign, in many ways, felt like a mission of redemption for the former governor, who arguably did more than any other Republican to help Trump win the presidency when they faced each other in 2016.

During that contest, Christie delivered a fatal blow to Marco Rubio, another 2016 presidential rival, during a debate that came just as the GOP establishment appeared to be coalescing around the senator from Florida as a Trump alternative. No other candidate ever emerged in his place.

Then, after Christie dropped out, he became the first major GOP figure to endorse Trump during a surprise press conference. He went on to lead Trumps White House transition operation  before he was unceremoniously fired  and to serve as an on-again-off-again adviser, including preparing Trump for the debates.

It was during one of their 2020 debate prep sessions that Christie believes Trump gave him COVID-19, putting Christie in the hospital in intensive care.

But it wasnt until the night of the 2020 election that Christie, who had been friends with Trump and his wife for 20 years, broke with the then-president after Trump falsely claimed victory long before all the votes had been counted. Christie later penned a book that was deeply critical of the former president.

Beyond his focus on Trump, Christie had argued that abortion restrictions should be left to the states until there is broader consensus on the issue, and he had advocated for continued U.S. support for Ukraine in its efforts to stave off Russias invasion. He visited both Ukraine and Israel, where he toured a kibbutz that was ravaged in the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas militants and said the U.S. must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel.
Azerbaijan and USA discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani issues

Putin: Russia may create a "sanitary zone" in Ukraine

Czech Rep. parliament speaker sends EU flag to Armenia colleague as token of support

Premier on Tavush Province meeting: I also showed here Armenia outline that I showed at press conference

Secretary General Stoltenberg's visit to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia is historic NATO says

Aliyev renames Revival Square in occupied Stepanakert

Armenia opposition MP: PM told Tavush Province residents that 4 villages must be handed over to Azerbaijan immediately

Aliyev warmly congratulated Putin

Videos of Armenia PM Pashinyan's meetings in Tavush Province to be publicized later, spokesperson says (PHOTOS)

Young man throws stone at Armenia government building window

Armenia premier meets with Kirants village residents of Tavush Province (PHOTOS)

RFE/RL: Putin loses in Armenias Yerevan, wins in Gyumri in Russia presidential election

High-tech minister on removing Russia TV channels from multiplex: Armenia's dignity is at core of decisions

Kazakhstan FM considers it necessary to increase trade with Armenia

Armenia, Kazakhstan FMs discuss new logistical opportunities

Armenia 2041 Foundation launches Galvanizing Diaspora program

Kazakhstan FM notes Armenias Crossroads of Peace projects importance for Middle Corridor

Armenia, Kazakhstan FMs sign 2024/25 action plan

Armenia PM is in Tavush Province, meeting with residents of Voskepar, Baghanis, neighboring villages

Archaeologists find inscription of King Antiochus I of Armenian Yervanduni Dynasty, in Turkey

Kazakhstan FM is in Armenia (PHOTOS)

Rolls-Royce Ghost to be retired and replaced by new Alpina sedan

Ardshinbank cardholders can now enjoy a 10% cashback!

Withdrawal from lawsuits against Azerbaijan in international courts will cause irreparable damage to Armenia, Armenians

EU Council to discuss assistance to Armenia, Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization

7,825 Karabakh residents who left Armenia since September 2023 have not returned, new data say

Armenia to submit application for EU membership?

Archaeologists discover where legendary British warship that disappeared in 17th century sank

Large number of Russians came from Georgia to Armenia to vote in presidential election, envoy says

Stoltenberg: NATO hopes to have stable peace between Azerbaijan, Armenia

Belgorod attacked by two rockets during the day: there are dead and injured

Media: Elon Musk's company is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites for US intelligence

Shooting in Pennsylvania: at least three dead, gunman took hostages

MEPs appeal to EU leadership to protect cultural heritage of Artsakh Armenians

New talks between Israel and Hamas are scheduled in Qatar on Sunday

India's national elections will be held from 19 April to 1 June

Aliyev: Azerbaijan and Georgia have always supported each other's sovereignty

Iran calls for formation of international coalition against Israel

Biden told Aliyev of US commitment to peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Stoltenberg will meet in Yerevan with the President and Prime-minister of Armenia

Turkish Foreign Ministry issues anti-Russian statement on Crimea issue

Zakharova: There is a historical answer to Armenia's doubts about sincerity of Russia's intentions

Zakharova: Moscow discusses with Armenia dragging Yerevan into anti-Russian course

Zakharova: Armenia's withdrawal from CSTO should be based on real needs of the country, not on "flirting" with West

Amazon and Microsoft suspend their cloud products in Russia

Dollar, euro lose value in Armenia

Armenia deputy FM: There has been considerable regress regarding visa facilitation with EU

Deputy FM: As landlocked country, Armenia recognizes vital importance of inclusive connectivity, open borders

FM: Armenia made every effort to prevent de-Armenianization in Karabakh

FM to reporters: You will be the first to know when Armenia intends to apply for EU membership

Ararat Mirzoyan: All Armenia authorities have negotiated on territorial concessions to Azerbaijan

FM: Deepening of Armenia's relations with the West, EU not directed against Russia

Mirzoyan: Unprecedented number of senior French officials visited Armenia in 2023

Ararat Mirzoyan: Armenia, Azerbaijan are close to mutual understanding on recognition of 1991 borders

Armenia made very active efforts to have minimal mutually acceptable wording with CSTO partners, FM assures

FM: Georgia ready to contribute to process of establishing peace in South Caucasus

Armenia FM: Events have occurred that have made it impossible to do certain things

Armenia FM: Ultimate goal not materialized yet in relations with Turkey

FM: There are international players interested in Armenia ceasing to exist

Mirzoyan: No agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan to withdraw international lawsuits against each other

Armenia FM reiterates PM's arguments on handover of 4 villages in Tavush Province to Azerbaijan

FM: Armenia still doesnt understand how CSTO partners present their area of responsibility in South Caucasus

Mirzoyan: EU monitoring mission in Armenia has become factor of stability on Azerbaijan border

Dennis Francis: UN hopes for signing of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty

FM: 23 Armenians still kept in custody in Azerbaijan

Armenia FM: Still not many tangible results on fundamental issues, we are still negotiating with Azerbaijan

European Commission official underscores provision of assistance to people affected by Karabakh conflict

Peter Stano: Armenia can apply for EU membership

MFA: Genocide prevention agenda is among Armenias priorities

Russia holding presidential elections

US intelligence warns of potentially devastating new pandemic

Newspaper: Birth rate in Armenia 19% lower than last year

Stoltenberg: NATO sought to maintain stronger relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan

Georgian Prime Minister to visit Armenia

Premier receives IMF Armenia mission chief

Anne-Laurence Petel-led delegation to arrive in Armenia

FM: Armenia looks into prospects of further deepening partnership with EU

New technologies at the core of rural infrastructure development

Russia is world leader in nuclear technology, Putin says

Vardges Sureniants Salome painting returns to National Gallery of Armenia exhibition
Azerbaijan and USA discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani issues

Putin: Russia may create a "sanitary zone" in Ukraine

Czech Rep. parliament speaker sends EU flag to Armenia colleague as token of support

Premier on Tavush Province meeting: I also showed here Armenia outline that I showed at press conference

Secretary General Stoltenberg's visit to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia is historic NATO says

Aliyev renames Revival Square in occupied Stepanakert

Armenia opposition MP: PM told Tavush Province residents that 4 villages must be handed over to Azerbaijan immediately

Aliyev warmly congratulated Putin

Videos of Armenia PM Pashinyan's meetings in Tavush Province to be publicized later, spokesperson says (PHOTOS)

Young man throws stone at Armenia government building window

Armenia premier meets with Kirants village residents of Tavush Province (PHOTOS)

RFE/RL: Putin loses in Armenias Yerevan, wins in Gyumri in Russia presidential election

High-tech minister on removing Russia TV channels from multiplex: Armenia's dignity is at core of decisions

Kazakhstan FM considers it necessary to increase trade with Armenia

Armenia, Kazakhstan FMs discuss new logistical opportunities

Armenia 2041 Foundation launches Galvanizing Diaspora program

Kazakhstan FM notes Armenias Crossroads of Peace projects importance for Middle Corridor

Armenia, Kazakhstan FMs sign 2024/25 action plan

Armenia PM is in Tavush Province, meeting with residents of Voskepar, Baghanis, neighboring villages

Archaeologists find inscription of King Antiochus I of Armenian Yervanduni Dynasty, in Turkey

Kazakhstan FM is in Armenia (PHOTOS)

Rolls-Royce Ghost to be retired and replaced by new Alpina sedan

Ardshinbank cardholders can now enjoy a 10% cashback!

Withdrawal from lawsuits against Azerbaijan in international courts will cause irreparable damage to Armenia, Armenians

EU Council to discuss assistance to Armenia, Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization

7,825 Karabakh residents who left Armenia since September 2023 have not returned, new data say

Armenia to submit application for EU membership?

Archaeologists discover where legendary British warship that disappeared in 17th century sank

Large number of Russians came from Georgia to Armenia to vote in presidential election, envoy says

Stoltenberg: NATO hopes to have stable peace between Azerbaijan, Armenia

Belgorod attacked by two rockets during the day: there are dead and injured

Media: Elon Musk's company is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites for US intelligence

Shooting in Pennsylvania: at least three dead, gunman took hostages

MEPs appeal to EU leadership to protect cultural heritage of Artsakh Armenians

New talks between Israel and Hamas are scheduled in Qatar on Sunday

India's national elections will be held from 19 April to 1 June

Aliyev: Azerbaijan and Georgia have always supported each other's sovereignty

Iran calls for formation of international coalition against Israel

Biden told Aliyev of US commitment to peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Stoltenberg will meet in Yerevan with the President and Prime-minister of Armenia

Turkish Foreign Ministry issues anti-Russian statement on Crimea issue

Zakharova: There is a historical answer to Armenia's doubts about sincerity of Russia's intentions

Zakharova: Moscow discusses with Armenia dragging Yerevan into anti-Russian course

Zakharova: Armenia's withdrawal from CSTO should be based on real needs of the country, not on "flirting" with West

Amazon and Microsoft suspend their cloud products in Russia

Dollar, euro lose value in Armenia

Armenia deputy FM: There has been considerable regress regarding visa facilitation with EU

Deputy FM: As landlocked country, Armenia recognizes vital importance of inclusive connectivity, open borders

FM: Armenia made every effort to prevent de-Armenianization in Karabakh

FM to reporters: You will be the first to know when Armenia intends to apply for EU membership

Ararat Mirzoyan: All Armenia authorities have negotiated on territorial concessions to Azerbaijan

FM: Deepening of Armenia's relations with the West, EU not directed against Russia

Mirzoyan: Unprecedented number of senior French officials visited Armenia in 2023

Ararat Mirzoyan: Armenia, Azerbaijan are close to mutual understanding on recognition of 1991 borders

Armenia made very active efforts to have minimal mutually acceptable wording with CSTO partners, FM assures

FM: Georgia ready to contribute to process of establishing peace in South Caucasus

Armenia FM: Events have occurred that have made it impossible to do certain things

Armenia FM: Ultimate goal not materialized yet in relations with Turkey

FM: There are international players interested in Armenia ceasing to exist

Mirzoyan: No agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan to withdraw international lawsuits against each other

Armenia FM reiterates PM's arguments on handover of 4 villages in Tavush Province to Azerbaijan

FM: Armenia still doesnt understand how CSTO partners present their area of responsibility in South Caucasus

Mirzoyan: EU monitoring mission in Armenia has become factor of stability on Azerbaijan border

Dennis Francis: UN hopes for signing of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty

FM: 23 Armenians still kept in custody in Azerbaijan

Armenia FM: Still not many tangible results on fundamental issues, we are still negotiating with Azerbaijan

European Commission official underscores provision of assistance to people affected by Karabakh conflict

Peter Stano: Armenia can apply for EU membership

MFA: Genocide prevention agenda is among Armenias priorities

Russia holding presidential elections

US intelligence warns of potentially devastating new pandemic

Newspaper: Birth rate in Armenia 19% lower than last year

Stoltenberg: NATO sought to maintain stronger relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan

Georgian Prime Minister to visit Armenia

Premier receives IMF Armenia mission chief

Anne-Laurence Petel-led delegation to arrive in Armenia

FM: Armenia looks into prospects of further deepening partnership with EU

New technologies at the core of rural infrastructure development

Russia is world leader in nuclear technology, Putin says

Vardges Sureniants Salome painting returns to National Gallery of Armenia exhibition

Dollar drops, euro rises in Armenia

Sunak: There is historic opportunity to put an end to Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict

Armenia authorities, who paid $6M for Snoop Dogg concert, still dont know when this postponed event will be held

Deputy economy minister: Matter of opening India-Iran-Armenia trade corridor being discussed

Armenia official: Trade with India amounted to $380M in 2023

ICC NCA head: India considers Armenia an important bridge to enter larger markets

Anne-Laurence Petel welcomes resolution on EU-Armenia relations

India ambassador: We are happy that our relations with Armenia are developing in defense sector also

Indians are now 2nd largest community in Armenia after Russians, envoy says

India-Armenia business forum kicks off in Yerevan

Armenia parliament speaker on European Parliament resolution: We thank European partners for this important step

PM: European Parliament resolution is another opportunity to discuss vision of Armenia's future

Azerbaijans next target in Karabakh is Artsakh State University

Russia deputy FM in Turkey, discusses process of normalizing Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

14-karat gold LEGO piece sells for over $18,000

Newspaper: Armenia to leave CSTO on Putin's reelection day?

Young lords 1,200-year-old tomb with treasure discovered in Panama

European Parliament resolution demands Azerbaijan troops withdrawal from Armenia territory

European Parliament adopts resolution proposing to consider possibility of Armenia's candidacy for EU membership

Russia MFA spox: We are concerned by Armenia leaderships sometimes offensive rhetoric on CSTO topics
A group of masked armed men broke into the building of Ecuador's TC Television company in the city of Guayaquil and took the presenters hostage live on air, reported El Universo.

The attack was carried out Tuesday at 2:20pm local time, the newspaper wrote. According to it, about 20 armed men entered the television building. Journalists in the building informed about the invasion of these armed men through SMS and contacted the police. Some people hid in toilets and offices.

Upon entering the building, the perpetrators planted explosives at the entrance of the editorial office. Then they broke into the building and took journalists and other employees of the TV station hostage.

El Universo showed footage showing these attackers pointing their weapons at people in the studio, some of whom were lying on the floor.

One of the gunmen said that the decision to go live was made so that "they know that we are not playing with the mafia." The attackers demanded to give them loudspeakers and the opportunity to speak live, wrote Ecuavisa.

The criminals showed that they have weapons and explosives. Also, they pointed a gun at journalist Jose Luis Calderon, and placed an explosive in his jacket pocket, reported Ecuavisa.

At around 2:30pm, a series of explosions were heard in the studio from where the news program was to be broadcast, El Universo wrote. After that, the employees of the aforesaid TV company told the attackers not to shoot. But, as Ecuavisa reported, shooting started in the studio.

But later, it became known that the TC Television employees, who were taken hostage by the drug cartel militants, were released as a result of the raid by the Ecuadorian police. This information was shared in the Spanish-language section of social media.

The Ecuadorian police disarmed these gunmen and arrested them.
Armenia wants the negotiations to have productiveness, and all the logic that was formed and there were agreements during the negotiation process, to be expressed in the peace agreement, and, also, for Azerbaijan to publicly reaffirm them. Sargis Khandanyan, an MP of the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction and Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, told this to reporters at the NA Wednesdayand referring to the fact that Azerbaijan proposes that its negotiations with Armenia proceed in a bilateral format.

"Armenia insists that the content of the negotiations is first of all important. As for the format of negotiations, of course, we [i.e. Armenia] underscore that the formats that have already been formedin particular, negotiations at the level of foreign ministers took place in Washington, negotiations at the level of heads of states at the EU platformthey be continued. They give a certain international standing to the negotiations, make the negotiations more legitimate, and, also, make the risks more manageable.

"[Azerbaijans] statements about bilateral negotiations are just statements. I don't think there was any proposal to Armenia to specify any place, time, day for Armenia to participate in negotiations with Azerbaijan, and Armenia rejected that proposal.

"You know that bilateral negotiations continue in the [Armenia-Azerbaijan] border delimitation commissions, also, direct bilateral negotiations took place in December last year on the issue of the return of prisoners of war. Armenia is ready to continue the conversation within the framework of similar issues," said Khandanyan.

And regarding the remark that the international mediators also guarantee that the agreements will be fulfilled, the Armenian ruling force MP said: "That is also a question and subject of discussion whether the mediators are guarantors or just facilitators. These are questions that constantly arise during negotiations. I'm not saying the format is not important, but that format should contribute so that the content to be reaffirmed and recorded."
The Armenian side hopes that Azerbaijan will show a constructive approach, and the negotiations and meetings will continue. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated this at Wednesdays joint news conference with his visiting Greek counterpart, George Gerapetritis.

Answering the question about Armenias negotiation process with Azerbaijan, the Armenian FM noted that the end of 2023 was marked by Baku's refusal to attend such meetings both at the highest level and at the level of foreign ministers and security councils.

"At the same time, in a non-constructive atmosphere, we saw constructive steps from Baku; for example, in the matter of the release of captives," the Armenian FM noted, adding that the two parties exchanged proposals for a peace treaty. The latest respective Azerbaijani proposals were received at the end of December, the Armenian side sent its newest proposals on January 4.

Mirzoyan confirmed that there is certain regression in terms of content in the Azerbaijani proposals. However, the Armenian FM believes that the important thing is not the regression or the progress at some phase, but the consolidation of the fundamental principles on which the peace treaty should be based.

"Those principles have been voiced many times: mutual recognition of territorial integrity without reservations or ambiguities. This is a question that requires maximum clarity. The [peace] agreement should define clear principles on the basis of which the border delimitation process will proceed. That is, this is the principles of territorial integrity, inviolability of the borders, and border delimitation. This is in the priority plan of Armenia," emphasized Mirzoyan.

According to him, the lack of clarity is a reason for future escalation of tension and military aggression, whereas the peace agreement should be such that stability cannot be called into question in the future.

Another important principle, according to the Armenian FM, is the unblocking of regional economic communications. "Ultimately, peace is not just the absence of gunfire. It is open borders, movement of goods and people. It is hard to call a situation peace when Armenia remains under siege [by Azerbaijan]. Unblocking should also take place according to several principles, they are also well-known: sovereignty of countries over communications, equality, and reciprocity. If Azerbaijan has access to Armenian communications and railways, then Armenia also should be able to make use of Azerbaijan's railways," emphasized the Armenian FM.

Regarding the negotiations, Mirzoyan noted that, by and large, they have always been direct. But there were mediators who assisted in the holding of these talks, or tried to make suggestions.

"We [i.e. Armenia] are interested in continuing the negotiation process. We expect that in the future Baku will agree to continue the meetings and negotiations," the Armenian FM concluded, noting the importance of Greece's proposal to assist this process.
Our expectation from Azerbaijan and the negotiation process is that the agreements which the Armenian side continuously records in the peace agreement be accepted by Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan speak about them publicly. Sargis Khandanyan, an MP of the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction and Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, told this to reporters at the NA Wednesday.

"If they are not accepted, it means that the [peace] treaty cannot be signed at the moment. Armenia will continue to insist on these principles. In the latest version [of the draft peace treaty] that was sent to Baku, the provisions that are very fundamental for us were there again," Khandanyan said, reminding yet again the important principles for the Armenian side: jurisdiction, legislation, reciprocity, and equality of the two countries.

"These principles should be recorded in the [peace] agreement, and there was an agreement on them in July last year. After that, it is unacceptable for us [i.e. Armenia] to speak in corridor logic.

"If it is noted that the [regional] roads should be unblocked under the legislation and jurisdiction of Armenia, it means that the security in the territory of Armenia also should be ensured by the relevant bodies of Armenia. But these parameters should be negotiated, discussed. Our expectation is that Azerbaijan will reaffirm its agreement, and then it will be possible to discuss these parameters in working order," Khandanyan emphasized.

He went on to say that the other important principle for Armenia is the recognition of each other's territorial integrity, but which Armenia has not seen from Azerbaijan until now.

"When the principles that are expressed in our version of the peace treaty are acceptable by Azerbaijan, then it will be possible to sign the peace treaty. One of those principles is the unconditional recognition of [one anothers] territorial integrity also," said the Armenian ruling force MP.
Armenia is historically an important part of Europe. Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, who is on an official visit to Armenia, stated this during Wednesdays joint news conference with his Armenian colleague, Ararat Mirzoyan.

The Greek FM assured the readiness of the authorities of his country to support the government and people of Armenia.

According to him, the development and deepening of relations between Armenia and the EU is important not only from the point of view of increasing the well-being of Armenia. Gerapetritis stressed that this is important also for Europe, Armenia is an important part of Europe, and this has been so historically.

The Greek official noted that the respective measures will be consistent. And as an example of assistance, he pointed to the preparations for the implementation of the housing program for Armenians forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Greece clearly supports the preservation of Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, who is on an official visit to Armenia, stated this during Wednesdays joint news conference with his Armenian colleague, Ararat Mirzoyan.

The Greek FM emphasized the importance of protecting the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, and said Athens plans to work on this matterand in cooperation with UNESCO. Greece clearly supports the preservation of Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and wants UNESCO to identify possible threats, Gerapetritis said.

Also, he reaffirmed his country's readiness to assist the deepening of relations between Armenia and the EU, saying that Greece is always ready to be a reliable partner and sincerely believes that the prosperity of Armenia can only be with Europe.

Speaking about the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Greek FM said that his country believes in dialogue. Greece says three words that refer to the situation in other countries and the world: democracy, diplomacy, and dialogue. The parties involved must be in dialogue. Armenia's Crossroads of Peace initiative is a very realistic and fair solution, and the peace process should address specific issues, added the FM of Greece.

The delimitation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be clear to prevent future barbarism, there is a real possibility of achieving the goal, and there should be no military action, Gerapetritis said, and approve the steps being taken by the Armenian government in the process of achieving peace.
There is a long way to go in terms of the development and deepening of relations between Armenia and the EU. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated this at Wednesdays joint news conference with his visiting Greek counterpart, George Gerapetritis.

The Armenian FM assured, however, that there are a number of respective specific actions and programs on the table stemming from the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA)and not only.

"The dialogue is long, and we have just heard assurances of Greece's willingness to cooperate. We [i.e. Armenia] will certainly rely on these assurances. Armenia, for its part, is intensively continuing the process of reforms in various domains, and we are sure that they, in turn, bring Armenia closer to the EU," said Mirzoyan.

In the context of the dialogue with the EU, Armenian FM emphasized that the current EU monitoring mission in Armenia is of existential importance for the country in terms of security.

"This is a factor ensuring security on the border with Azerbaijan, and this is a topic that needs consistent continuation," Mirzoyan noted, recalling that the EU recently decided to increase and extend this mission's mandate, and Armenia welcomed it.
Greece is closely following the situation in the South Caucasus. Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, who is on an official visit to Armenia, stated this during Wednesdays joint news conference with his Armenian colleague, Ararat Mirzoyan.

The Greek FM attached importance to helping those in need due to massive barbaric actionsmeaning, the forcible displacement of Armenians from Azerbaijan-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

Greece rules out the use of force and aggression, Gerapetritis stressed, adding that Athens supports positive steps, such as the bilateral release of detainees and the continuation of dialogue.

Greece hopes the negotiations will resume in achieving peace, and long-term stable peace in the region and establishment of friendly relations with the neighbors is necessary, added the Greek FM.

Gerapetritis noted that he was informed in detail about Armenias Crossroads of Peace initiative by his Armenian counterpart and considers it a realistic project.

Reiterating the importance that Greece attaches to the needs of Armenians forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, he noted the readiness to assist Armenia both in humanitarian programs and in peace processes.

George Gerapetritis added that Armenia can count on Greece in every matter.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday received Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, the PMs office informs.

In his welcoming speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan said: "Dear Minister, I welcome you and your delegation to the Republic of Armenia. This is a very important visit for us, because we have a rather comprehensive agenda with brotherly and friendly Greece, as well as very important cooperation within the framework of the European Union. First of all, I would like to thank you for the support that Greece, together with the European Union and the international community in general, has provided and is providing to us. Of course, we do not think that we have been able to fully use the potential of developing our relations, both bilaterally and multilaterally. I hope that as a result of this visit, we will increase the level of use of that potential. I would like to ask you to convey my warm greetings to [Greek] Prime Minister [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis. I hope we will be able to have new meetings. I think we had a very important conversation in Granada, and of course deepening our relations with Greece is very important for us."

In turn, the Greek Foreign Minister noted. "Your Excellency Mr. Prime Minister, it is an outstanding honor for me to be here and see you in person. I had a very productive and constructive meeting with my friend and colleague Foreign Minister Mirzoyan. Our two nations are linked by strong historical ties, and we not only want to maintain these ties, but also to further promote them, because we believe that the Armenian people are not only our partners, but also our close friends. We have brotherly relations from the depths of centuries. Mr. Prime Minister, my visit here is a strong signal for our bilateral relations and for the willingness of the Prime Minister of my country, who sends you regards. I would like to emphasize that the Greek government is ready to support Armenia in all possible directions, both in the relations with the European Union and within the scope of the dialogue on the integration of Armenia into the European family.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues related to the further development and strengthening of Armenian-Greek relations. In particular, issues related to cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian and other spheres, opportunities for implementation of new joint programs were discussed.

The sides exchanged thoughts on the processes taking place in the South Caucasus, including the course of negotiations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty, the steps taken by the Armenian government to solve the problems of people forcibly displaced as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing policy against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. In this regard, the parties attached importance to the support of the international community.

Reference was also made to the further development of relations between Armenia and the European Union.
Today, there are very major reforms in the Armenian army, which are not visible and should not be visible. Armen Khachatryan, an MP from the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, told reporters about this at the NA Wednesday.

"A number of the most important reforms and achievements are not visible and will not be visible in the near future for the [Armenian] society. But believe [me] that they are in progress very actively, they are unprecedented reforms. There have never been such changes in our army. Even by comparing decades, we cannot compare what was done in 1-1.5 years. And there is no need to talk about it. The army is the sector where the more closed and secret, the better," said Khachatryan.

The ruling force MP noted that the Armenian army needs qualified officers with basic education.

"We know that since 2015-2016, our [army] officer corps recruitment process has been quite distorted. Today, it is the officers who introduce culture in the [Armenian] army, who must carry out these tasks. If we don't have a good officer corps, it will be quite difficult to carry out these tasks. Today, our military university trains quite high-quality officers, but it requires at least four years. When that generation enters the army, the situation will change quite a bit," said Armen Khachatryan.
As the new year begins, many of us seek ways to work on self-improvement, whether thats eating better, exercising more or simply finding more joy in life. Its also a good time to focus on emotional well-being and mental health.

As a benefit to the faculty and staff of Emory University, the Faculty Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) provides programs to support eligible employees and their family members with emotional/behavioral health services.

To better understand how FSAP works to provide these services, here are the facts debunking 10 common myths and misconceptions.

Myth 1: I can only use FSAP counseling services once in a calendar year.

As an Emory University benefits-eligible employee, you have access to FSAP whenever a new issue arises that disrupts your overall functioning and emotional well-being. You can utilize FSAP services as new concerns arise that require professional support.

Myth 2: After completing FSAP counseling services, I can keep seeing the same counselor for a fee.

When FSAP counseling services are completed, your clinician will provide community referrals if your specific situation warrants continued support. When your situation is better suited for long-term counseling with an external treatment provider, the FSAP professional will help you with referrals. FSAP clinicians do not accept any fees for their services, and all their services are free.

Myth 3: I am provided only six sessions for counseling services at FSAP.

When you engage FSAP for behavioral health services, you will complete a comprehensive assessment and up to eight subsequent sessions to resolve your presenting issues and concerns.

Myth 4: I can only access FSAP services Monday through Friday during regular business hours.

FSAP professionals are on call after hours and can be reached 24/7 during regular business days, on weekends and holidays. When contacting FSAP after regular business hours (i.e., from 5 p.m.-8 a.m.), please call 404-727-WELL (9355), and press 2 when prompted to reach the on-call clinician.

Myth 5: I will need to pay a copay when I utilize FSAP behavioral health services.

FSAP services are free of charge and serve as a benefit to university faculty and staff members. FSAP services are not connected to your medical benefits plan. In addition, FSAP services will never show up on an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) form or in your Emory Healthcare patient portal.

Myth 6: My FSAP record is connected to an HR file and is accessible by my supervisor.

FSAP services are strictly confidential. Your records are not connected to Human Resources. In fact, FSAP records are stored on a highly secure platform that is HIPAA compliant. Your information is not accessible by others.

Myth 7: I can only use FSAP if I work on the university campus.

All Emory University employees may utilize FSAP services no matter where their work location is (e.g., hospital, clinic, campus, Oxford College or other organizational settings).

Myth 8: FSAP only serves adults.

FSAP also provides services to benefits-eligible children, adolescents and young adults from ages 11-26. FSAP has licensed mental health professionals with expertise to work with individuals, couples, children, adolescents and young adults.

Myth 9: FSAP is only for me to utilize as the benefits-eligible employee in my household.

FSAP services are also available to benefits-eligible family members (e.g., legal spouses and dependent children ages 11-26).

Myth 10: FSAP can only help me with resources within the Emory University community.

FSAP can provide consultations and referrals for resources in both the greater Atlanta metropolitan area and the Emory University community. FSAP can also assist with case management referrals and resources when tough life challenges occur with food insecurity, housing needs, etc.

FSAP is a great resource to help rejuvenate your mind, spirit and attitude. Reach out to FSAP for support by calling 404-727-WELL (9355), emailing efsap@fsap.edu or by visiting the website at www.fsap.emory.edu.
Hongkonger looks to scale new heights after major feat

Bob Tsang conquered Mount Everest in May 2022. Photo courtesy: Bob Tsang's Instagram

Bob Tsang speaks to RTHK

Bob Tsang, a 20-year-old from Hong Kong who became the youngest climber from the city to conquer the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, told RTHK that hes overwhelmed to have achieved the feat.



I am just overwhelmed because this officially marks the end of my seven-year-long summits project, he said.



He said his ascension of Vinson Massif in Antarctica on Saturday, though not the most challenging of the Seven Summits, presented its own set of physical demands with the extreme weather conditions.



I'm just really thankful to the mountain for giving us the opportunity to summit on such a nice day.



Tsang said while his current focus is to complete his studies, mountaineering will continue to play a big part in his life.



I do want to return to Nepal. There are quite a few 8,000-metre peaks that I want to try to climb. They are quite dangerous of course and they do take lots of time and money and resources to do it, he added.



Earlier, Tsang conquered Mount Everest in Asia, Mount Aconcagua in South America, Mount Denali in North America, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Elbrus in Europe and Puncak Jaya in Oceania.
Sponsorships available to enhance SIUs eclipse festival

Sponsorships for various eclipse activities at Southern Illinois University Carbondale are available to enhance the experience of visitors in the area for the April 8 event.

Sarah Vanvooren, director of events and outreach at SIU, said sponsorships, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, are a mutually beneficial partnership with SIU. They assist in making the Crossroads Eclipse Festival a success while simultaneously highlighting an organization or business.

With an anticipated large number of visitors to the area, sponsors will be showcased in a variety of ways to hopefully drive business and traffic, Vanvooren said. Sponsors have the opportunity to generate positive public relations and showcase products and services for a once-in-a-lifetime  in our case, twice-in-a-lifetime  historic event.

StraightUp Solar, a Missouri-Illinois solar installation company, is the first sponsor to officially sign on for the event, donating $15,000 as a community sponsor. The company, established in 2006, designs and installs solar power systems, battery storage systems, smart panels and EV charging stations for homes and businesses.

StraightUp Solar is excited to support the festival and expo to bring together and educate our community on the wonders in our sky and the power of solar energy, said Eric D. Schneider, director of business development for the company.

In addition to the sponsorship, StraightUp Solar also will provide an education outreach solar power demonstration trailer that will be on campus on eclipse day, April 8.

To learn more about sponsorships, visit eclipse.siu.edu/sponsors or email eclipse@siu.edu.
The inauguration day of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 saw a major announcement by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, a leading Emirati multinational logistics company. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem revealed DP World's ambitious investment plans, underscoring the company's commitment to furthering economic development in Gujarat and India. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said, "DP World is planning in the next 3 years to invest in addition to that $3 billion. We will continue to support Gujarat's economy by building a state-of-the art container terminal at Kandla Port with a capacity of 2 million containers. Looking ahead, we foresee deeper trade, employment and cultural collaboration between India and the UAE". He added, "DP World has signed a strategic MoU with the Government of Gujarat on the sidelines of the Summit which reiterates our commitment to the state of Gujarat and India. We are proud to partner with the government for the development of India's logistics sector and we will continue to support the manufacturing industries of Gujarat and the rest of India to make India goods globally competitive and accessible." The announcement marks a substantial injection of capital into the region, showcasing DP World's confidence in the economic potential of Gujarat. The state-of-the-art container terminal at Kandla Port, with its expansive capacity, is poised to become a pivotal hub for trade and logistics in the region. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem expressed a forward-looking vision for the economic collaboration between India and the UAE. DP World formalised its commitment to the state of Gujarat and India by signing a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat on the sidelines of the summit. The strategic MoU solidifies the collaboration between DP World and the Government of Gujarat, setting the stage for transformative developments in the logistics sector. The investment infusion and the commitment to supporting manufacturing industries align with the broader goals of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, fostering economic growth and enhancing global competitiveness. As DP World charts an ambitious course for investment, the announcement signifies a significant milestone in the economic landscape of Gujarat, positioning the state as a key player in the global logistics and trade network. (ANI)
In his address, Chun shed light on Simmtech's role as a crucial supply chain partner, providing semiconductor packaging, IC substrates, and high-density interconnect printed circuit boards to industry-leading clients.

Chun said, "It is my honour to participate in this event. As a supply chain partner for the semiconductor assembly and test industry, Simmtech provides the best-in-class semiconductor packaging, IC substrates and high-density interconnect printed circuit boards to our industry-leading customers".

He added, "We are very excited to share our own angle to the India project as a colocation investment following our major customer Micron's project in the state of Gujarat, I would like to emphasise that this is not our first time supporting our key customer's supply chain network with colocation investment."

Chun expressed genuine excitement about contributing Simmtech's perspective to the India project, particularly as a colocation investment aligned with their major customer's project in the state of Gujarat.

He emphasised that this initiative signifies a continuation of their commitment to supporting key customer supply chain networks through colocation investments.

The announcement aligns with the broader theme of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, focusing on attracting investments and fostering collaborations in key industries.

Simmtech's commitment to Gujarat reinforces the state's growing reputation as a preferred destination for high-tech manufacturing and semiconductor-related investments.

As the semiconductor industry continues to play a pivotal role in advancing technology globally, Simmtech's engagement in Gujarat is poised to contribute significantly to the region's technological ecosystem.

The emphasis on colocation investments demonstrates the company's strategic approach to ensuring a robust and efficient semiconductor supply chain network.

Jeffery Chun's presence at the summit and Simmtech's commitment to Gujarat underscore the international interest in the state's economic landscape and the semiconductor industry's potential for growth.

The collaborative efforts between Simmtech and Gujarat reflect a shared vision of advancing technological capabilities and contributing to the state's positioning in the global semiconductor market. (ANI)
The inauguration day of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 resonated with a message of deepening economic collaboration as Hosaka Shin, for InterVice Ministernational Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan, took the stage. Vice Minister Shin reiterated the special strategic partnership between India and Japan, highlighting the significant investments made by Japanese corporations in India. Shin said, "India and Japan are special strategic global partners. Up to this point, Japanese corporations have continued to invest in India, with a cumulative amount of investment between 2000 and 2023 reaching 38.3 billion dollars. This amount is second in the world." His address focused on the substantial economic cooperation, with Japanese corporations having made remarkable investments in India. The Vice Minister's announcement signifies Japan's commitment to fostering stronger economic ties with India. The cumulative investment figure stands as a testament to the confidence Japanese corporations have placed in the Indian market. This economic collaboration extends across various sectors, reflecting the diversification of investments over the years. As the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit serves as a platform for nations to explore and strengthen economic ties, Vice Minister Shin's remarks highlight the special nature of the partnership between India and Japan. The commitment to continued investment reinforces the strategic importance both nations place on each other in the global economic landscape. Earlier, President of Suzuki Motors, Toshihiro Suzuki, expressed his honour at being invited to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 and lauded the remarkable growth of the Indian automobile market in the past decade. Acknowledging the strong leadership and unwavering support of Prime Minister Modi, Suzuki emphasized that India has now secured its position as the third-largest automobile market globally. During his address at the summit, President Toshihiro Suzuki announced Suzuki Motors' groundbreaking venture into the electric vehicle (EV) market. He said, "I am honoured to be invited to this ceremony. In the past 10 years, under the strong leadership and constant support of PM Modi, the Indian automobile market has been expanding steadily. As a result, India has become the third-largest automobile market in the world. Suzuki has also scaled up production capacity substantially in India." Highlighting the international scope of their EV initiative, Suzuki outlined plans to export the new model not only to the Indian market but also to Japan and European counter. The collaborative efforts between India and Japan are not only a reflection of shared economic interests but also a demonstration of the trust and friendship that have flourished over the years. Vice Minister Hosaka Shin's address sets a positive tone for the summit, emphasizing the potential for further growth and collaboration between the two nations in the coming years. (ANI)
NewsVoir Biel/Bienne [Switzerland], January 10: A new ocean is joining the five watches and five oceans in the Blancpain X Swatch collaboration. Even though planet Earth only has five, Swatch is welcoming OCEAN OF STORMS into its Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms Collection that celebrates Blancpain's iconic Fifty Fathoms, a watch that revolutionized watchmaking by becoming the first true diver's watch more than seventy years ago. Known by the Latin name Oceanus Procellarum, this is actually a lunar mare located on the western edge of the near side of the moon. Meaning Ocean of Storms, it is the biggest mare or "sea" on the moon, spanning more than 2,500 kilometers from north to south and covering around 2 million square kilometers. The new Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms OCEAN OF STORMS, however, is nowhere near that big. In fact, it has exactly the same dimensions and features as Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Antarctic Ocean. A non-limited model, OCEAN OF STORMS, comes in a black color inspired by the new moon (also known as the Black Moon). Just like the other five Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms, OCEAN OF STORMS has a Swatch mechanical movement, SISTEM51, the first and only mechanical movement whose production is entirely automated. This mechanism, made up of just 51 parts - including one central screw, is anti-magnetic, thanks to its Nivachron hairspring and has a 90-hour power reserve. In 2013, SISTEM51 revolutionized the world of automatic watches with its visible movement: the front tells the time, the back tells the story. OCEAN OF STORMS has been given its own nudibranch (scientific name: Nudibranchia), Okenia Luna. It is featured in a digital print on the movement's rotor, the part that allows the watch to recharge automatically with a simple movement of the wrist. The full moon zoomed in on the Ocean of Storms is also digitally imprinted on the oscillating weight. OCEAN OF STORMS, like Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Antarctic Ocean, is water resistant in deep waters, down to 91 meters. This is another nod to Blancpain: the name Fifty Fathoms refers to the fathom - historically the maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world - fifty fathoms equaling 91 meters (or 300 feet). In the same spirit as the other five models in the collection, OCEAN OF STORMS is made of Bioceramic. This unique material is patented by Swatch and made of two-thirds ceramic and one-third biosourced material derived from castor oil. As an expression of commitment to ocean preservation, the NATO straps are made from recycled fishing nets. The shared Blancpain X Swatch logos can be found on the black sunray-finish dial and the crown. The word "Swatch" is also inscribed on the case, just as "Blancpain" is inscribed on the original Fifty Fathoms watches. The back of the watch features inspirational inscriptions like PASSION FOR DIVING - LICENCE TO EXPLORE - OCEAN BREATH - PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE and IMMERSE YOURSELF. OCEAN OF STORMS will be available worldwide from January 11, 2024, the day of the new moon at selected Swatch stores. As with the five watches in the Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms Collection, purchases are limited to one watch per person, per store and per day. OCEAN OF STORMS / SO35B400 Case material: Case and crown made of black Bioceramic Case diameter: 42.3 mm Case thickness: 14.4 mm Lug-to-lug distance: 48.0 mm Movement: SISTEM51 mechanical movement (self-winding) with 90-hour power reserve. Illustration of the full moon (zoomed in on the Ocean of Storms) and a digital imprint of nudibranch Okenia Luna Water resistance: 50 fathoms (91 m/ 300 ft/ 9 bar) Glass: Biosourced material with anti-scratch coating Dial: Sunbrushed black, date indicator between 4 o'clock and 5 o'clock Hands, hour markers, 60 minutes diving scale: Grade A Super-LumiNova Bezel: One-direction rotating bezel in black Bioceramic with anti-scratch coating insert Strap: NATO strap made from recycled fishing nets. Black Bioceramic pin buckle and loops SISTEM51 BY SWATCH SISTEM51 is an automatic mechanical movement (self-winding) made up of 51 parts in total. Each of these parts forms five distinct pre-assembled, pre-welded modules. The transparent oscillating weight that controls the automatic winding is fixed by the movement's one and only screw. Conventional automatic watches have twice as many parts if not more. Some of the more complicated high-end models have more than 600. These are assembled by hand over a number of weeks, sometimes months, by master watchmakers in their workshops. SISTEM51 is the first and only mechanical movement with fully automated assembly. The high-tech escapement does not have a regulator (no-index assembly). The rate, or precision, is factory-set using laser technology. This avoids the manual adjustments usually required with mechanical watches. The movement, with its 90-hour power reserve, is made of German Silver and anti-rust by design. All parts are housed in a hermetically sealed case. That means no moisture, no dust and no impurities that could impair performance, guaranteeing longevity and lasting precision over time (-5/+15 seconds per day). Each Swatch featuring a SISTEM51 movement is made visible thanks to a display back. This feature has enabled Swatch to stand out from the crowd from the very beginning since this transparency is a key part of SISTEM51. Automatic movements are driven by an oscillating weight. In SISTEM51, this weight is shaped like a transparent disk that rotates freely on the single central screw, providing a captivating view of the mechanism. The oscillating weight and the visible surfaces of all five modules of the movement are all imprinted, which ramps up the potential to add a creative touch to the back of this watch and, of course, set up new collaborations, something the brand has been doing for forty years now. SISTEM51 is the ultimate embodiment and celebration of Swiss manufacturing as a state of mind, one based on absolute quality of innovation, provocation, maintaining traditions and research. BLANCPAIN FIFTY FATHOMS Seventy years ago, an icon was born: the Fifty Fathoms. The watch that would go on to revolutionize watchmaking by becoming the first modern diver's watch was designed by a passionate scuba diver, Jean-Jacques Fiechter. At the time he was CEO of Blancpain. He was a pioneer in a discipline that was still in its infancy and he grasped how vitally important it was to be able to track time underwater. The tool he designed to meet his own needs instantly found unanimous favor with the ocean community, so much so that it became an unwavering ally of elite divers and underwater explorers. Over time, it became a highly valued diver's watch and was worn by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his team of divers in his film The Silent World, among others. It was also used by the Navy Seals elite diving unit, as well as German and French marines, to name a few. By making diving safer, Fifty Fathoms has played a part in the development of this sport and encouraged people to discover the world of the oceans. The year 2023 marks 70 years of Fifty Fathoms as well as a re-birth with the arrival of an innovative anniversary diver's watch: the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa. Since the fifties, diving has experienced immense changes, the biggest being a major increase in the amount of time a diver can spend underwater. Although the 1953 Fifty Fathoms met the needs of Jean-Jacques Fiechter and the veteran divers of the time, today's technical divers, who are able to spend several hours underwater, have new needs when it comes to timekeeping. And the Fifty Fathoms meets these perfectly. The Fifty Fathoms has played a key role in the development of underwater diving and discovering the ocean world. It has enabled Blancpain to forge strong ties with the ocean community and these ties have only grown stronger over the last 70 years. Exploring and preserving the oceans have always been key concerns for Blancpain. Throughout the history of its Fifty Fathoms diving watch, the brand has forged strong ties with explorers, photographers, scientists and environmental specialists who know how invaluable these precious resources are. These ties have led Blancpain to provide substantial support to important activities and initiatives dedicated to the oceans. Thus was born the Blancpain Ocean Commitment (BOC) program. The Fifty Fathoms is the catalyst for this commitment. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
ATK New Delhi [India], January 10: Vkonnect India Media & Research & Worldura Research & Media organized Asia's Education / Healthcare/ Business Quality Awards 2023 AND Asia's Inspirational Women Awards 2023 at Hotel Radisson Blu Dwarka New Delhi, which was a prestigious ceremony to acknowledge and felicitate the leading contributors who have taken the initiative to bring a pleasant and powerful change to the field of Education, Healthcare and Business. The announcements of winners were done on 29th December 2023 at Hotel Radisson Blu, Dwarka New Delhi. Asia's Quality Awards 2023 gives recognition to those who are making a difference around and making an impact locally, nationally, and globally. Which believes in celebrating struggle, hard work, journey, and achievements, and also inspiring others! It aims to honor, and give recognition to the people who are changing globally by establishing new standards of excellence for evaluating all aspects of society from all sectors from - Education, Healthcare, and Business. The concept of the program also appreciates women personalities Asia's Inspirational Women Awards 2023 from various sectors like Education, Healthcare, Business, and many more. for their work and contribution to society's growth & economy. vKonnect India Media honors to recognize the women achievers of our society, Women who have excelled in their personal & professional lives facing all the odds of society. The Award & Summit spread the canvas for women pan-India to showcase their ideas and opinions that could add many streaks to the conventional approaches to diverse fields. This platform welcomes all women from different walks of life to share their experiences and exchange concepts to create a new knowledge base and a new era where every single woman's empowerment is assured in the program. The winners were felicitated which included Individuals/Organizations from all across Asia & India.A panel discussion was also held among the experts to share ideas about Educational/Healthcare/Business practices and guide people towards a more enlightened future around Smart Learning, Practical Approach, Marketing Strategies, Cooperative Learning, Patient and care, Potential of AI, and Creativity, Innovation. Respected Panel list members were DR. SUNIL JAIN, RASHMI SAHOO DIRECTOR AT- OM OIL AND FLOUR MILLS LIMITED RUCHI FOODLINE, RUCHI RATHOR (FOUNDER & DIRECTOR) PAYOMATIX TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED, PROF. (DR) GURBIR SINGH KHERA AND MR. S RAM OLA. VKonnect India Media /Magazine Partner "AQ Magazine" Sponsor Partner "Prestige Group", Supporting partner - "Sankurathri Foundation & Aadi Manush Foundation" and supported by the "KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Govt of India)". The list of awardees for the prestigious awards Asia's Quality Awards 2023 & Asia's Inspirational Women Awards 2023 were as follows: COL. DR. SUNIL JAINAKHAND SWAROOP PANDIT (FOUNDER & CEO) - THE CATALYST GROUPPROF. (DR) GURBIR SINGH KHERADR. DAVISH JAIN (PRESIDENT) PRESTIGE GROUP OF INDUSTRIESMR. S RAM OLASHILPA BHATNAGARCPL DIAGNOSTICS PRIVATE LIMITEDBOMBAY METRICS SUPPLY CHAIN LIMITEDYOURS WELLNESS CENTERMRS. RASHMI SAHOOMANCHI BAPHE (KEERTHI SRINIVASA SOLUTIONS PVT LTD)HIND ZINC SCHOOLSK ABID ASTROLOGERVITABOLIK PHARMACEUTICALS PVT. LTDMS. USHA TANNADR. MUSHARRAF AHMED KHANGOLDENBEE GLOBAL WITH VIBGYOR BTM LAYOUTBLUEOCEAN HEALTHCARE INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITEDKARNATAKA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION - TRANSPORT SAFETY - SARIGE SURAKASHA VIMA YOJANAGURU NANAK KHALSA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENTGOLDENBEE GLOBAL WITH VIBGYOR HIGH, BANNERGHATTA BRANCHMR. ANOJ KUMAR SINGHKARNATAKA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION - BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DASHBOARDSSANITECH ENGINEERS AND CONSULTANTS PVT LTDKARNATAKA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION - EMPLOYEES WELFARE INITIATIVESRUCHI RATHOR (FOUNDER & DIRECTOR) PAYOMATIX TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITEDVANDANA LAKHANPALKARNATAKA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION - REFURBISHED BUSES - BRANDING & MARKETINGMBS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLSHIVANI SHARMAO.T INDIADR. ADESH GADPAYLEMANSI MATHURREENA VARMADR. SYED OSMANSHRAVAN ENTERPRISEVSPK INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLTHE CRAYONS SCHOOLMETRO MEGA MARTADVOCATE MANMOHAN SHARMAVASSUNDARA NATTESDR. MOULSHREE DUBEYDR. DASBIR SINGH CHHATWALPKG GROUP OF INSTITUTIONSDR. BRAHMANAND LALSK ENSURE MACHINERY PVT LTDNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MASS COMMUNICATIONDR. PULAK CHANDRA DEVNATHDR. DDEEPIKA SAINIBABA KUNDAN SINGH MEMORIAL LAW COLLEGE DHARAMKOT DISTRICT MOGASRIRAM INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STUDIESNATURAL LIFE PRIVATE LIMITEDMISS PRIYAICON NURTURING INNOCENCE PRESCHOOL,VasundharaICON NURTURING INNOCENCE PRESCHOOL, Sector-84,GurugramICON NURTURING INNOCENCE PRESCHOOL, Sector-48, GurugramSVT INDIATHE TOURISM SCHOOL Rohan Goel, (Director) of Vkonnect India Media & Research Pvt Ltd & Worldura Research & Media Pvt Ltd said, "The winners have exemplified excellence amongst their peers in the Business / Healthcare / Education sector. Almost all the winners scored extremely well in our research study due to their dedication towards excellence, dedication, innovation, and best ethical practices. By competing with the very best from their sector, winners know that their work has been evaluated by the sharpest minds in the sector and that their services and contributions have truly excelled. These awards intend to inspire others towards big achievements." Vkonnect India Media & Research Pvt Ltd & Worldura Research & Media Pvt Ltd is a dynamic global media and analytical company providing ratings, research, and analysis services. We have been providing state-of-the-art market research, rating, and analysis for organizations of all sizes. We are also the foremost provider of high-end research to the world's largest leading industry. With sustainable competitive advantage arising from our strong brand, unmatched credibility, market leadership across businesses, and large customer base, we deliver analysis, opinions, and solutions that make markets function better. We are experienced and qualified practitioners of both Market and community research. Our directors have strong expertise in market research, advertising, public relations, brand management, retail sales and operations, franchising, and event management improvement, encompassing a true passion for the business of our clients. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
The inauguration day of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit witnessed a momentous announcement by Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry & Commerce of Morocco, as he highlighted Bharat's prowess as the best and most competitive country in car production. Minister Mezzour proposed a robust collaboration between Morocco and Bharat, emphasising the potential for a South-South triangular cooperation that could stimulate growth not only in Africa and India but also on a global scale. Minister Mezzour said, "The best and most competitive country in producing cars is Bharat. Moreover, thanks to our ideal position as a continental and world-class hub. Morocco and Bharat can work closely through a South-South triangular cooperation to promote growth in Africa, India and the world". He added, "Indeed, our strategic partnership should also enable our countries to develop joint initiatives that include the entire African continent in the process of industrialising and developing economies but also to ensure food and health. The time is right for Morocco and Bharat to forge a stronger, more dynamic partnership". In his address, Minister Mezzour underscored the strategic significance of both nations as continental and world-class hubs. He spoke passionately about the need for a closer partnership that extends beyond economic boundaries, promoting joint initiatives for the industrialization and development of economies. This collaboration, he argued, would not only drive economic growth but also play a pivotal role in ensuring food security and public health. He identified the automotive industry as a key area where the two nations, with Bharat leading in car production, could leverage their strengths and create a mutually beneficial alliance. The proposed South-South triangular cooperation aims to facilitate inclusive growth across Africa, India, and beyond. Minister Mezzour outlined the vision of a strategic partnership that goes beyond conventional economic ties, emphasising joint initiatives that encompass the entire African continent. The potential impact on industrialization and economic development is anticipated to be significant. As both nations embark on this journey towards a more dynamic partnership, the collaboration holds promise not only for economic growth but also for fostering innovation, technology exchange, and addressing broader global challenges. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit serves as a platform for such transformative discussions as leaders from around the world converge to explore avenues for cooperation and mutual development. (ANI)
Tiit Riisalo, Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology of Estonia, took the stage at the inauguration of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, expressing admiration for India's pivotal role in upholding democratic values globally. Minister Riisalo underscored the shared values of democracy, rule of law, and market economy that serve as the foundation for collaboration between nations. Minister Riisalo said, "We are here to work together with nations and regions that share the same values- democracy, rule of law, market economy, and driving forward. India certainly has an instrumental role to play that those values prevail globally. You have proved it repeatedly, most recently with the excellent execution of the G20 presidency". He acknowledged India's instrumental role in championing these values on the global stage, commending the nation's recent execution of the G20 presidency. In his address, the Estonian Minister emphasised the significance of collaboration with nations that uphold democratic principles. He expressed confidence in India's continued leadership in promoting these values, emphasising the need for concerted efforts to ensure their prevalence on a global scale. The remarks by the Estonian Minister echoed the spirit of cooperation and shared values that form the foundation of international partnerships. There exists an agreement establishing a Joint Business Council (JBC) between FICCI and Estonian Chamber of Commerce (KODA). On 21 August, 2019 an Indian business delegation of 18 companies led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which visited Tallinn as part of the Vice President of India's delegation, participated in the Estonia-India Business Forum. They were from engineering, ICT, hospitality and other sectors. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit serves as a platform for leaders from diverse nations to come together, exchange ideas, and explore avenues for collaboration that extend beyond economic ties. As discussions unfold during the summit, the emphasis on shared values and democratic principles reinforces the importance of collective efforts to address global challenges and pursue sustainable development. Minister Riisalo's acknowledgment of India's leadership in these endeavors further cements the collaborative spirit of the international community at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024. (ANI)
NewsVoir New Delhi [India], January 10: The 31st Convergence India and 9th Smart Cities India expo is a collaborative effort of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), and the Exhibitions India Group (EIG). The 3-day expo marks India's growing prominence as a global force in the world today and showcases the country's evolving landscape of modernisation and holistic development. This year's theme, 'Innovation Driving Sustainability: Realise the Power of Tomorrow - Today', will create a platform to showcase 'Brand India' through the cutting-edge showcases of leading brands from India and around the world, as well as 250 home-grown startups, which will showcase their vision for the future. Over the years, the expo has evolved into an important annual gathering for government and industry leaders, centred on the vision of building a modern India inspired by initiatives such as 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', 'Startup India', the 'Smart Cities Mission,' 'Swachh Bharat', 'Jal Jeevan Mission', and other initiatives aimed at nation building. In his message, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, noted, "Supporting the Government of India's vision of 'Digital India', 'Make in India', and the 'Smart Cities Mission', the two leading expos provide a one-of-a-kind international forum to showcase 'Brand India' and focus on unlocking new opportunities in India's economic revolution." Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles is of the opinion that "These events will serve as a unique platform for showcasing 'Brand India' and exploring new opportunities in the context of India's ongoing economic transformation. This will not only contribute to the growth of industries but also serve as a catalyst for the larger goal of building a technologically advanced and sustainable India." Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister for IB, Youth Affairs and Sports, observed, "Convergence India has played a vital role in nation building by supporting the government's initiatives. I am sure that the hard work and dedication of the entire team of Exhibitions India, the Smart Cities Mission and ITPO will make these forthcoming exhibitions a grand success." Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti observed, "I am happy to learn that the ITPO and Exhibitions India Group are organising the 31st Convergence India and 9th Smart Cities India Expo. I applaud the efforts that are being made by those associated with water and its associated segments in helping India realise its dreams." The expo will host 1,200 participants presenting innovations from 35 countries and will see a footfall of approximately 55,000 visitors over three days. The expo will also host 50 conference sessions to facilitate discussions among the Union/State governments, industry representatives, innovators, think tanks, and academia on the latest innovations and market trends impacting India's digital revolution and the urban landscape. The event will also feature the presence of Ministers and senior dignitaries from the Government of India, industry leaders, Smart City CEOs, city planners, Mayors, Ambassadors, and stakeholders from India and around the world. A National Smart Cities Pavilion will showcase award winning projects and initiatives from across the nation. A designated Startup Hub will have over 250 startups presenting innovations in emerging technologies, ICT, and Smart City solutions. The expo will also facilitate mentoring sessions by ecosystem pioneers, specifically curated conference sessions, a Startup Pitch competition, and a meeting between investors and startups. The objective is to enable participating startups to establish leads and meaningful business relationships with industry stakeholders. Besides the business activities planned during the three-day expo, the event is a crowd puller and the go-to venue for those seeking the latest solutions in gadgets, accessories, gaming, Satcom/OTT solutions, customised WiFi/media, surveillance equipment, computer peripherals, and much more! Sharing her views about the expo, Chandrika Behl, Managing Director, Exhibitions India Group, said, "Over three decades, this platform has been a key driver in advancing the digital transformation and modernisation within India - playing a significant role as a catalyst for national growth and global recognition. The expo is India's largest Tech & Infra expo, so, really, it's the go-to event for anyone interested in India's advancing role in the realms of digital and urban development. Through digital inclusion and keeping the citizen at its core, the 2024 edition will cement the expo's legacy of bridging the country's digital, social and economic divide." Since 1992, Convergence India has heralded the telecom and digital revolution in India. It is the country's largest technology and infrastructure expo, providing a platform to showcase 'Brand India' by supporting the 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' campaigns. Convergence India is at the forefront of promoting technological advancements in the fields of Telecom, Satcom, Broadcast, Wired & Wireless technologies, 5G & 6G networks, IT solutions such as Cloud, Big Data & Analytics, AI, smart solutions, M2M, Mobile & Accessories, IoT, Embedded tech, Blockchain, FinTech and Digital Gaming - the entire gamut of digital solutions. The Smart Cities India expo displays India's emerging modernisation and development landscape that aims to deliver better citizen-centric services across the country. The expo showcases the integration of transformative technologies with the key pillars of urban development, i.e., green buildings, rooftop solar, renewable & clean energy, clean environment, clean water, water conservation, urban mobility, and the use of smart ICT solutions for optimising resources that make cities smart and sustainable. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
NewsVoir Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], January 10: MAS Financial Services Ltd.'s consolidated AUM crossed the milestone of Rs. 10,000 crore during the quarter and stood at approximately Rs. 10,225 crore as on December 31, 2023, registering a strong growth of 27% YoY. The Company continues to have adequate liquidity of approximately Rs. 800 Crore as on December 31, 2023. In consonance with the policy of rewarding the shareholders, the board has declared an Interim Dividend of 30.00 % Rs. 3.00 per share. Commenting on the performance, Kamlesh Gandhi - Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, MAS Financial said, "This milestone achieved reflects upon the consistent growth of the Company across cycles. We take this opportunity to take fresh guard for our next phase of growth. We trust that the next phase of growth will not only be exciting and successful but also create value for all its stakeholders on a very large scale. Team MAS remains committed to its mission of excellence through endeavors." Incepted back in 1995, MAS is registered as non-banking financial company with the Reserve Bank of India. With a plethora of retail finance options in its arsenal, MAS is focused on fulfilling the requirements of lower income and middle-income groups of the society. The company offers Financial Services for Micro Enterprises Loans, SME Loans, Home Loans, Two-Wheeler Loans, Used Car Loans, and Commercial Vehicle Loans to satisfy their varied needs. The focus remains on the vast lower income and middle-income groups of the society, spread across urban, semi urban and rural areas, and including formal and informal sector. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
In a joint operation with West Bengal police, the Border Security Force (BSF) has apprehended four people and seized a heavy truck carrying 43 buffalos along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. According to BSF, the persons were apprehended after they were not able to produce any legal documents and did not provide a satisfactory reply to the joint operations party. The operation was carried out on Monday after the BSF got a tip-off. The arrested persons were identified as Rijwan, a resident of Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh; Sekh Miraj Hasan, a resident of Murshidabad district of West Bengal; Sheikh Ramjan, a resident of Birbhum district of West Bengal; and Naimuddin, a resident of Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The truck was intercepted at Fulbari Toll Plaza while it was going to Meghalaya, said BSF. "On search, the party recovered 43 buffalos from the truck, three mobile phones and Indian currency (Rs. 28,900) from the possession of the apprehended persons," said BSF in a statement. "Further, the apprehended persons, along with the seized truck, buffalos, mobiles and Indian currency, were handed over to Police Station New Jalpaiguri for further legal formalities," the statement added. Besides the above-mentioned operation, from January 8 to January 9, troops of under-command battalions of the North Bengal Frontier BSF carried out an anti-smuggling drive in their respective border areas in order to thwart any attempt by anti-national elements to execute their nefarious design of smuggling and seized 73 cattle, 175 bottles of phenedyl, and other contraband items from different border areas, said the BSF. The total value of the seized items is Rs. 23,96,645. The above items were seized by BSF troops while smugglers were trying to smuggle them from India to Bangladesh, the BSF said. (ANI)
Amid talks between the INDIA partners to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, BJP national president JP Nadda on Tuesday arrived in Guwahati to chair key party meetings in the state. According to sources, the BJP national chief will preside over the state executive and core committee meetings of the party's Assam unit, with an eye on the coming elections. On his arrival in the state capital on Tuesday, Nadda was received by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma along with senior BJP office-bearers and party leaders. "(The) National president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jagat Prakash Nadda, will be on a three-day visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from January 9," read an official release by the BJP earlier. After chairing the state executive and core committee meetings of the BJP's Assam unit, Nadda will hold similar meetings with the party's top office-bearers and leaders in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. He will also review the ongoing preparations for the general elections in these two Northeast states. "On January 10, at 9.30 am, Nadda will offer prayers at Maa Kamakhya Mandir in Kamakhya. He will attend the State BJP Executive Meeting at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra International Auditorium in Panjabari, Guwahati (Assam), at 2 pm," the BJP stated in its official release. At 6.30 pm, the party's national president will chair the core committee meeting at the BJP's state office in Guwahati and review the party's preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in the state, the release stated further. "On January 11, Nadda will leave for Arunachal Pradesh at 9 am. He will land at Itanagar airport, where he will be accorded a grand welcome by party leaders and senior office-bearers of the BJP," the party added in its release. Nadda will attend the state executive meeting at the State Banquet Hall in Itanagar at 10.30 am on Thursday. At 3.05 pm, he will chair the BJP core committee meeting at the State Guest House in Itanagar and review the party's preparations for the general elections in the state. (ANI)
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Tuesday inspected the first pet crematorium in the national capital in Dwarka. The pet crematorium has been developed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). "While inspecting the facilities in the pet crematorium, Shelly Oberoi stated that the crematorium is offering eco-friendly animal cremation services with its green technology," read a media release by the MCD. "Pet lovers can perform a dignified cremation of their beloved pets as per Hindu rites and rituals with Priest services. Also, they can avail other facilities being provided in the crematorium," the mayor was quoted as saying in the release. She stated that the facility offers free services for the cremation of street dogs through the veterinary services of the MCD in some zones while people in other zones can avail the services for Rs 500. "We will soon come out with a uniform policy for cremation of pets and stray animals across all zones of the MCD. Such facilities will be offered at nominal rates to the public for stray animals," Oberoi was quoted as saying further in the release. The mayor urged all pet owners in and around Delhi to make use of the cremation facilities at affordable rates at the crematorium. She added that a green memorial park is also being developed for pets. Such a green belt would lower the levels of pollution in the area, she said, adding that tree plantations in remembrance of pets would also be made available for pet owners. The pet crematorium is offering cremation services at affordable rates. According to the release, Rs 2,000 is being charged for the cremation of dogs and small animals weighing less than 30kg and Rs 3,000 is being charged for those above it. The CNG-operated twin furnaces in the pet crematorium can cater to 10 private pets and 15 small stray animals in a day. "The municipal pet crematorium is spread over a 700-square-meter area. It is situated adjoining the MCD Dog Sterilization Centre in Sector 29, Dwarka," the MCD stated. (ANI)
Even as the INDIA partners opened talks to arrive at a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister and BJP leader, Giriraj Singh on Tuesday took a swipe at the Opposition alliance saying that it was created for pursuing 'selfish motives'. Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the Union Minister said, "The INDI alliance does not represent the convergence of like-minded political interests. Rather, it is an alliance founded on self-seeking interests. The parties that came together under this grouping did not do so on the basis of a common ideology or policy." He noted further that while the regional states in the Opposition alliance are on a strong footing in states that they rule, the Congress would not be able to mine much electoral benefit by joining forces with them. "There is the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, JDU in Bihar, AAP in Delhi and Punjab, and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. However, these are disparate alliance partners and allying with them wouldn't help the Congress much," Singh said. On the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, which remains a major point of contention for members in the INDIA bloc, the Union Minister said, "The Congress will get just 10 per cent of the total tickets, as per my estimation." Claiming that the Congress would be 'finished' in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leader said, "This is an alliance of selfish interests. In all likelihood, they will be fighting on a significantly fewer number of seats in West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, UP and Punjab. You will see how many seats they get. It is the INDI alliance that is conspiring to finish off the Congress." The allocation of seats for the general elections is especially significant for the Congress after the heavy defeats in the assembly elections in the heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. (ANI)
The Forest Department in association with 'The Aaranyak' a Guwahati based wildlife NGO has installed the seven-kilometre-long community-managed single-strand solar-powered fence.

The fence aims to protect the property and livelihood of about 170 families and around 500 bighas of cropland in Kundarbil village.

The solar-powered electric fence, a proven tool for mitigation of HEC, was formally handed over to the community during a recently held inauguration ceremony. This solar fence installation has been funded by the SBI Foundation under a project on mitigating HEC in the region.

The Village Council Development Committee (VCDC) chairman of Kundarbil, Patrosh Daimary, inaugurated the fence in the presence of around 100 people at Rupa LP School, number 3 Kundarbil ground.

He expressed his gratitude to Aaranyak and the Forest Department for providing support for mitigating HEC and safeguarding people's well-being.

According to locals, herd elephants from the nearby forest often come out in search of food.

Aaranyak's solar fence expert Anjan Baruah led the installation of the single-strand fence with support from Aaranyak's Abhijit Saikia, Mandeep Basumatary, Dibakar Nayak, and Bikash Tossa, along with the villagers.During the inauguration, Baruah interacted with the villagers and explained in detail how to maintain the fence to ensure longevity and promote human-elephant coexistence.

An MOU was signed between the solar fence committee, the Forest Department and Aaranyak before handing over the fence to the community.

A team from the Forest Department led by Bir Bahadur Mogor from Shantipur Beat, VDP Secretaries Tanka Bahadur Sonar and Dhan Kumar Ray, and social worker Sanjay Daimary attended the meeting held for the inauguration ceremony, which was also attended by Rabiya Daimari, Reshma Narzary, Rupam Gayary and Pradeep Barman of Aaranyak.

The meeting was presided over by Raju Ray and moderated by Krishna Darjee of the solar fence committee. (ANI)
The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested three robbers who looted money from a bank employee while he was on his way to Agra, said Police. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the three robbers, stopped the car of a bank employee Madan Gola, who was on his way from the Mathura refinery to Agra and at around 8 pm, on December 28, the robbers took him to the ATM at gunpoint, made him withdraw Rs 1 lakh 32 thousand, looted the money and ran away. SSP Mathura Shailesh Kumar Pandey informed that three people have been arrested in the case. During an encounter with the police, Krishna, a resident of Agra has been injured and two other robbers namely Samrat and Vivek, residents of the Refinery in Mathura, have been taken into police custody. One lakh three hundred rupees, a motorcycle and cartridges have been recovered from them. At present, no criminal history has been found of these robbers but the strictest action will be taken against them, said SSP Shailesh Pandey. (ANI)
Ahead of the grand inauguration of Ram Mandir on January 22, the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation has started a bus service from Dehradun to Ayodhya on the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. This bus will depart from Dehradun at 11:30 am and reach Ayodhya at 5 am the next day and will depart from Ayodhya at 3 pm and reach Dehradun at 8 am the next day, stated an official release by the Uttarakhand Chief Minister office. The total fare of this bus service operating from Dehradun to Ayodhya has been kept at Rs 1095. Earlier this month, in a meeting with the Uttarakhand transport department, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh outlined a need to initiate the bus service from Dehradun, Haldwani, and Haridwar to Ayodhya to accommodate the increasing number of devotees and tourists. Additionally, the Chief Minister also urged Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to extend the proposed Vande Bharat Rail service from Dehradun-Lucknow to Ayodhya ahead of the grand consecration ceremony of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir on January 22. The Chief Minister said that with the extension of Vande Bharat Rail service till Shri Ayodhya Dham, the travel from Uttarakhand to Ayodhya will become much easier for the residents of Uttarakhand as well as the devotees coming to Devbhoomi. The Indian Railways has announced to run more than 1000 trains from different parts of the country to accommodate citizens visiting Ayodhya during the first 100 days of the Ram Mandir. These trains will start operating from January 19, days ahead of the consecration ceremony, allowing pilgrims to travel to and from the Ayodhya city. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, earlier, in December inaugurated the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station in Ayodhya. The three-storey modern railway station is equipped with all modern features and amenities such as elevators, escalators, food plazas, shops for puja needs, cloakrooms, child care rooms, and waiting halls. The station has been made 'accessible for all' and will be an 'IGBC-certified green station building'. Phase I of the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station -- rechristened as the Ayodhya Dham Junction Railway Station -- has been developed at a cost of more than Rs 240 crore. (ANI)
The indefinite bus strike called by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) across the state entered its second day on Wednesday. The union workers accused the state government of neglecting their demands. Apart from the signing of the 15th wage revision agreement to increase pay, they also demanded the government fill up the vacancies for bus drivers and conductors. Additionally, their demands also included releasing the dearness allowance (DA) of Rs 6,000 per month for the retired workers, which has been on hold for the last eight years. Workers affiliated with the major unions--Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), and Anna Thozhir Sanga Peravai (ATSP), among others--are part of the strike. Meanwhile, in the Tirunelveli district, all the buses left the workshops for Madurai, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Rajapalayam, and Sankarankovil and are running as usual. There are 898 buses in Government Transport Tirunelveli Zone, including 7 depots in Tirunelveli district, 7 depots in Thoothukudi district and 4 depots in Tenkasi district. Moreover, the government has appointed monitoring officers, who are monitoring the operation of all the buses as per the schedule. Police have also been stationed in front of all workshops and bus depots for security in Tirunelveli district. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Transport Minister SS Sivasankar termed the strike a 'political move'. The DMK-affiliated Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) Union has said this strike is politically motivated by AIADMK and requested all workers to ply the buses. "LPF also has the same demands. The DMK government is fulfilling each demand one by one. By keeping the goodwill of the public in mind and also to break the AIADMK political motivation, it is being requested to run all the buses normally," a statement from LPF Secretary and MP Shanmugam read. (ANI)
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Badruddin Ajmal claimed that without Muslim votes, the Bharatiya Janata Party can't win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and form the government at the Centre. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening in Goalpara, Ajmal, flanked by party leaders, said, "Union Minister Giriraj Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat also said that we should go to Muslim areas, visit mosques and madrasas and bring at least 10 percent of the votes so that we can form the government; otherwise, we cannot." "If they will (muslims) come along, then we will welcome them," Lok Sabha MP said. He further said that they have advised their party members and supporters not to vote for the BJP in the upcoming elections. "We have already directed our party members and supporters and advised them that not a single vote goes to the BJP," he added. In November, Ajmal said that his party had given away 11 seats to the Congress to fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He had also said that his party will contest three seats in Assam in the elections. "We will contest in 3 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. We will contest in Dhubri, Nagaon and Karimganj seats and we have given away other 11 seats to the Congress to fight against the BJP. AIUDF will support INDIA bloc," Ajmal had said. Meanwhile, amid talks between the INDIA partners to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, BJP national president JP Nadda on Tuesday arrived in Guwahati to chair key party meetings in the state. According to sources, the BJP national chief will preside over the state executive and core committee meetings of the party's Assam unit, with an eye on the coming elections. BJP has nine MPs from the state. Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats with Congress having three MPs, AIUDF one and one seat represented by an independent candidate. (ANI)
After Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena moved to the Supreme Court on the Speaker-Chief Minister meeting, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar slammed the former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and said that Thackeray should know for what purposes a speaker could meet a chief minister. The speaker met Shinde at 'Varsha', the chief minister's official residence in south Mumbai, on January 7. "He, being the former CM, must know about the role of speaker. Speakers do meet CM for many works but when Uddhav Thackeray was CM, he did get the time to know about what role the speaker has in assembly. There are many purposes for which a speaker could meet a chief minister," Rahul Narwekar told reporters on Wednesday. In its application, the Thackeray faction stated that the Speaker, as the adjudicating authority under the Tenth Schedule, is "required to act fairly and impartially." It said the conduct of the Speaker must inspire confidence and justify the constitutional trust reposed in its high office. "However, the present act of the Speaker raises questions about the fairness and impartiality of the decision-making process," the application stated. "The act of the Speaker is in violation of the legal maxim and this application has been filed in view of the alarming news that the Speaker met Shinde at his official residence on January 7, three days prior to the deadline when the decision in disqualification petitions against Shinde is to be pronounced on January 10," stated the application. The application said the meeting should be brought to notice to bring it on record and pass the order. The application was filed in the petition pending before the apex court, seeking expeditious disposal of disqualification petitions against the Shinde faction. Ahead of the crucial verdict by the assembly speaker on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, the political temperature has risen in Maharashtra. Narwekar is slated to deliver his much-awaited verdict on the disqualification pleas at 4 pm on Wednesday On December 15, 2023, the Supreme Court extended till January 10 the time for the Speaker to pronounce a verdict on disqualification petitions against MLAs, including Shinde. Earlier, the top court had rejected the proposal of the Maharashtra Speaker that he could conclude proceedings on cross-disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions by February 29, 2024. The CJI had pointed out that the Constitution bench judgement in the Shiv Sena case was delivered in May this year and the incidents took place in July 2022. The apex court had expressed disapproval over the delay by the Speaker in deciding the disqualification petitions and said it had been asking the Speaker to decide on the matter for months. The disqualification pleas have been pending since the Maharashtra political crises started. The plea sought direction for the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions within a time-bound manner. The disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs were filed by Sunil Prabhu, the Shiv Sena party Whip appointed by Uddhav Thackeray, on 23 June 2022, after the MLAs revolted against Thackeray. The notices of disqualification were issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal in the absence of the Speaker. In August 2022, the top court's three-judge bench referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for the issues involved in the petition filed by rival groups of Shiv Sena about the Maharashtra political crisis. On June 29, 2022, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30. After the apex court's order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister. In July last year, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP also joined the Shinde-led government. (ANI)
BJP leaders have slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her remarks that the ruling party at the Centre was "doing a gimmick before elections" over credit for the "pran prathishtha" at Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. They said those who have not played any role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation can never understand the significance of the temple. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said people have made sacrifices for the construction of Ram Temple. "Those who have not played any role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, those who do not feel the pain of a mosque being built on the Ram Temple. They haven't been lathi-charged, nor have they been jailed. They can never understand the significance of this temple being built after 500 years of agitation," Maurya told ANI. "No other religious place in the world has seen so much contribution, as is seen by Ram Janmabhoomi Temple- be it financial, physical, or emotional," he added. Union Minister Nityanand Rai slammed the opposition alliance and accused it of appeasement politics. He said that the pran pratishtha of idol of Lord Ram at Ayodhya temple on January 22 was a religious event organised by the temple trust and not the BJP. "Not only Mamata Banerjee but the entire arrogant alliance is nervous because their policies are based on appeasement by opposing Sanatan. Why will BJP do politics with the temple? This is not the programme of BJP, it is the programme of Ram Janmabhoomi Trust," he said. RJD MP Manoj Jha said that there is a direct connection between "my religion, my God and me" and there is no need of contractors. "There is a direct connection between my religion, my God and me. There is no need for contractors in this... I can directly communicate with my God. Yes. We should learn a lesson from what happened in the neighbourhood due to the mix of religion and politics," he told ANI, responding to queries about Banerjee's remarks. Addressing a public distribution programme in South 24 Parganas on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee said she believes in festival that takes everyone together and will never allow religious discrimination. "Yesterday, I was asked about Ram Mandir... I believe in a festival that takes everyone together and talks about everyone. Do whatever you want; you are doing a gimmick before the elections. Do it; I have no problem but disregarding people of other communities is not right. I will never allow discrimination between Hindus and Muslims as long as I live," she said. Preparations are underway for the 'Pran Pratishtha' of Ram Lalla's idol at the grand temple on January 22. (ANI)
The Uttar Pradesh government, headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has revived the pristine glory of Dashrath Mahal, which was witness to the childhood of Lord Shri Ram in Treta Yuga. The Mahal will remind people of Lord Shri Ram's footsteps when he was a toddler and his childlike activities when he is enshrined in his divine and majestic temple on January 22. According to the Uttar Pradesh government, efforts were made to restore Dashrath Mahal during Akhilesh Yadav's government, but it remained confined to the files. A provision of about Rs 2.4 crore was also made for the renovation of Dashrath Mahal for the first time on March 31, 2013, but, the restoration was continuously postponed for lack of political will, indecision and bureaucratic inefficiencies. However, when Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister, he decided to rejuvenate the Dashrath Mahal on February 16, 2021, restoring its ancient splendour, and started working on it. As a result, the palace stands today in all its glory, a statement from the UP Government said. Dashrath Mahal witnessed the incarnation of Lord Ram in the Treta Yuga and is now about to witness the auspicious moment of his return in the Kali Yuga. This is the very Dashrath Mahal that, even during the 500 years of decline, continued to provide evidence of the existence of Lord Ram's temple in the present Ram Janmabhoomi area, the statetement further said. After years of neglect, the efforts of the UP government have given this temple-like palace a dignified appearance once again. The UP government, while implementing the process of restoration and strengthening the facilities at Dashrath Mahal, began the construction and revitalization of the Satsang Bhavan, entrance gate, night shelter, and pilgrim assistance centre, giving it a tangible form. Notably, funding was made available for the construction of a night shelter, pilgrim assistance centre, entrance gate, and Satsang Bhavan in Dashrath Mahal. The work on the night shelter and pilgrim assistance centre was completed in 2023. The entrance gate is also nearing completion. Initially, only the structural work was completed in the Satsang Bhavan, but now the entire Satsang Bhavan will be ready before January 22. The construction work, including mudwork, levelling, tiling, flooring, windows, and doors, is progressing rapidly in the 650-square-meter Satsang Bhavan. Under the supervision of the Uttar Pradesh Construction Corporation, the stage in the Satsang Bhavan has already been prepared. According to Assistant Engineer BV Niranjan Kumar, approximately 300 to 350 devotees can engage in devotional singing together in the Satsang Bhavan. The construction work, which began on December 1, will be completed by January 22. Facade lighting physically attracts devotees towards the Dasharatha Mahal. Its beauty provides an aura with a very special decoration. The building's restoration includes strengthening the structure, lime-plastering, fortifying the outer walls, and decorating the existing structure according to the faith of the devotees. Paintings depicting the life of Lord Ram and verses from Ramcharitmanas are displayed here. Over 80 percent of the work here is completed in Satsang Bhavan, and it will be fully operational by January 22. After its completion, devotees can participate in devotional singing and satsang, offering their devotion to Lord Ram. Preserving the old grandeur while incorporating modernity, the entrance gate is being coated with a long-lasting paint coating to endure for an extended period. Pilgrim Assistance Center informs devotees about the rich heritage, historical significance, cultural contributions, and spiritual importance of the place. (ANI)
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said that the Congress will regret its decision to turn down the invitation for the inauguration ceremony of Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya later this month. This came after senior Congress leaders--Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury--'declined' the invitation to the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the grand event is "clearly a Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event". Union Minister Puri, while speaking to ANI, said that the grand old party should not be taken seriously. "Leave them, let them say whatever they are saying, why do you take their words seriously? They themselves will regret their decision if they don't go (on the Ram Temple inauguration ceremony)," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the grand temple on January 22. As per temple officials, the ceremony will be held over a span of seven days starting from January 16. Preparations are underway in full swing for the Ram Temple 'Pran Pratishtha' on January 22, which will draw dignitaries and people from all walks of life. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has decided to enthrone Ram Lalla at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Ram Temple at noon on January 22. Vedic rituals for the Pran-Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya will begin on January 16, a week before the main ceremony. A priest from Varanasi, Lakshmi Kant Dixit, will perform the main rituals of the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla on January 22. From January 14 to January 22, Ayodhya will mark the Amrit Mahotsav. Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, holds great spiritual, historical, and cultural significance for the people of India. (ANI)
BJP National President JP Nadda hit out at Congress on 'Bharat Nyay Yatra' at a party event in Assam's Guwahati on Wednesday. He alleged Congress was a hypocritical party and the on one hand, it spoke about OBCs and on the other, abused an OBC Prime Minister. Nadda said, "PM Modi gave constitutional status to OBC. But they (Congress) only want votes. Nehru had stopped Ambedkar from entering Parliament. After committing so much injustice with OBCs, now they are taking out 'Nyay Yatra'. Congress toppled elected govts 90 times by using Article 356. These people are taking out 'Nyay Yatra'? When Rahul Gandhi comes here during his yatra you should ask him about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots." He further said that Jawahar Lal Nehru toppled elected governments 8 times, Indira Gandhi toppled elected governments 51 times, Rajiv Gandhi toppled elected governments 6 times and Manmohan Singh did it 12 times. "Kaka Kalelkar's report was lying untouched during Jawahar Lal Nehru's tenure for seven years. Rajiv Gandhi did not touch the Mandal Commission report for 20 years and after 1990 Mandal Commission was implemented," he added. BJP National President also addressed the state executive meeting of Assam State BJP at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Panjabari. Earlier, Nadda and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma conducted a roadshow in Guwahati on Wednesday. The roadshow was held from Koinadhara to Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Panjabari in Guwahati. Thousands of people including BJP workers and supporters welcomed the BJP National President by greeting him on the way. Cultural troupes from various tribes and communities of the state performed dance and folk songs during the roadshow. Amid talks between the INDIA partners to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Nadda arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday to chair key party meetings in the state. On his arrival in the state capital on Tuesday, Nadda was received by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma along with senior BJP office-bearers and party leaders."(The) National president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jagat Prakash Nadda, will be on a three-day visit to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from January 9," read an official release by the BJP earlier. After chairing the state executive and core committee meetings of the BJP's Assam unit, Nadda will hold similar meetings with the party's top office-bearers and leaders in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. He will also review the ongoing preparations for the general elections in these two Northeast states."On January 11, Nadda will leave for Arunachal Pradesh at 9 am. He will land at Itanagar airport, where he will be accorded a grand welcome by party leaders and senior office-bearers of the BJP," the party added in its release. Nadda will attend the state executive meeting at the State Banquet Hall in Itanagar at 10.30 am on Thursday. At 3.05 pm, he will chair the BJP core committee meeting at the State Guest House in Itanagar and review the party's preparations for the general elections in the state. (ANI)
Amid a war of words between the ruling TMC and the BJP over the attack on an ED team at Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Wednesday accused the primary opposition party in the state of misusing central agencies. Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, the TMC spokesperson said, "The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) used to be prestigious organisations, with unquestioned credibility and brand value. However, the BJP has tarnished their prestige and credibility. The BJP, at the Centre, has been using these agencies to go after Opposition leaders. In the eyes of the people, these agencies are nothing more than fronts for the BJP." Also accusing West Governor CV Anand Bose of acting as the 'agent' of the BJP-led Centre, the TMC leader claimed that the Raj Bhavan has turned into a BJP office where all the party's internal matters are discussed. "The governor is seen as an agent of the BJP and the Raj Bhavan an office of the ruling party at the Centre. If senior leaders of the BJP hold regular meetings at Raj Bhavan, it could only be about internal party matters," Ghosh claimed. Earlier, on the night of January 5, an ED team came under attack while carrying out raids at the houses of local TMC leaders in Sandeshkhali, an official of the central agency informed. The raids were in connection with the alleged ration scam. Former state Food and Civil Supplies minister and TMC leader, Jyotipriya Mullick, is already behind bars in connection with the case. The ED team was carrying out raids at the residence of former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya and TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan's house in connection with the alleged ration scam case when its vehicles were vandalised and officials manhandled and heckled. Locals believed to be supporters of Sheikh Shahjahan, the Fisheries and Animal Resources Officer of North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad as well as the TMc'S block president of Sandeshkhali 1, came out in his support while the raid was underway, forcing the ED officials to retreat. Two officials of the agency sustained injuries in the incident. (ANI)
US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin is being treated for prostate cancer, CNN reported. Quoting a statement from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday, CNN reported that he suffered certain complications that prompted him to be taken to the hospital on New Year's Day, where he is still receiving treatment. According to the statement from the hospital, the cancer was detected in early December and the Defence Secretary underwent a "minimally invasive surgical procedure" on December 22 called prostatectomy to treat the cancer. "He was under general anaesthesia during this procedure. Secretary Austin recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent," the statement informed further. It was unclear if Austin had been under anaesthesia during the procedure, which the Pentagon had not previously disclosed and did not alert the White House, CNN reported. The Pentagon had been facing intense questions after it was revealed on Friday that he had been admitted to Walter Reed on January 1 and had been hospitalised for days without notifying the public. It was subsequently reported that President Joe Biden, senior national security officials and even Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks, who had assumed Austin's duties, were not aware of his hospitalisation until three days after he was admitted. On January 1, Austin was readmitted to the hospital due to complications "including nausea with severe abdominal, hip and leg pain," CNN reported, quoting the hospital. He was found to have a urinary tract infection, the statement added. Asked why Austin did not disclose that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the situation was 'deeply personal'. "It's prostate cancer and the associated procedures are obviously deeply personal," Ryder said on Tuesday during a news briefing at the Pentagon. "And so, again, you know, we'll continue to work hard to make sure that we're being as transparent as possible moving forward, and, wish the secretary (a) speedy recovery," the spokesman added. For the last eight days of Austin's time at Walter Reed, treating the infection, he "never lost consciousness and never underwent general anaesthesia," CNN reported. Ryder did not answer a question about who decided not to inform Biden that Austin had prostate cancer. "When this happened in December, whose decision was it not to alert the President that the defence secretary had prostate cancer?" a reporter asked during the briefing. "You know, as far as the situation in terms of what the elective surgery was and the secretary's condition, we're providing that information to you as we've received it. We received that this afternoon, and we're providing it to you now," Ryder said, seeming to imply that he did not know about the diagnosis until the statement from Walter Reed was released on Tuesday. "So, I'll just leave it there," he added. Ryder also declined to say if Austin's chief of staff, who is being identified as the person who failed to notify officials of Austin's hospitalisation last week because she had a flu, knew about Austin's condition. Ryder did not say if the secretary's travel would be affected by his procedure or complications, but said Austin is "actively engaged in his duties" and was in regular communication with his staff. Whether the procedure was considered elective or more urgent is a matter of how soon it needed to take place, Dr. Benjamin Davies, a urologic oncologist and professor of urology at University of Pittsburgh, told CNN. It may have been characterised as 'essential', meaning the procedure should take place within three months, he said, but it wasn't an emergency situation. The complications the secretary experienced, Davies said, are very rare, with a "less than 1% chance this can happen". According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind lung cancer. While it can be serious, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it, and the death rate has declined sharply over the last few decades. (ANI)
Israel's ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, on Tuesday said New Delhi and Tel Aviv were natural partners in the high-tech sector, adding that trade between the two countries has surpassed the USD 10 billion mark. "When our relations started, we had about USD 200 million in annual trade. Today we are surpassed already the USD10 billion mark. I think that there is a big gap between India and Israel...India and Israel are natural partners in the high-tech sector," he said. "India is in population and size between 140 and 150 times bigger than Israel. Israel has less than 10 million citizens' population. So it's a small country and the economy is strong. And this is very high-tech-oriented. I believe that since both India and Israel are going towards high technology, this is the future of our economies and this is the future of our cooperation. Both of us are high-tech countries," the Israeli envoy added. Gilon also revealed plans for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables and Spices project, a pivotal initiative under the Indo-Israel collaboration. The project, spanning 25.57 acres of land in Gundlapalli, in the Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh, aims to support local farmers through knowledge-sharing and the adoption of modern farming techniques. "This is our second Centre of Excellence in Andhra Pradesh. This centre will be focused on vegetables. The idea is to support farmers by giving them better seeds and technologies. We have 32 active centres across 12 states in India and we are in the process of establishing another 14 in different fields," he said. Gilon also underlined the significance of the project in empowering farmers across India. The 32 active centres established under his leadership are key components of this initiative, serving as hubs where farmers can exchange ideas, learn new farming techniques, and gain insights into the effective use of modern farming equipment. The goal is to enhance agricultural practices, ultimately leading to better harvesting and improved livelihoods for farmers. "The idea behind these centers is to create a collaborative environment where local farmers can share their knowledge and benefit from advanced farming methods. This includes utilising modern equipment and implementing climate control measures to optimize yields," the envoy said. Emphasising the Indo-Israel partnership's historical depth, Gilon spoke about the enduring relationship between the two countries since 1992. He expressed satisfaction with the robust and healthy nature of the ties and expressed a desire to further strengthen and expand collaboration. (ANI)
Amid a state of emergency in Ecuador, a live television broadcast was interrupted by hooded and armed men on Tuesday as the Guayaquil-based network was on air amid a spate of kidnappings and violence in the country, CNN reported on Tuesday. According to the report, hooded men forced the staff onto the floor of the studio as shots and yelling were heard in the background. Videos of the incident, which took place at the state-owned TC Television, went viral on social media, the report stated, adding that its live stream signal is currently down. The National Police of Ecuador posted on X, formerly Twitter, that 'specialised units' have responded to the emergency at the media station. According to CNN, the country has been rocked by several explosions, police kidnappings, and prison disturbances just hours after President Daniel Noboa declared a nationwide state of emergency on Monday after high-profile gang leader Adolfo "Fito" Macias escaped from a prison in Guayaquil. Since Noboa's announcement, at least seven police agents have been kidnapped in three different cities, according to a post on X by the National Police. The country's worsening security situation is largely driven by rival criminal organisations, which have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country's streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes, CNN reported. In one of the kidnappings this week, in which three agents were taken, an explosive device had been "placed and detonated" in a vehicle the officers were moving in, police said. In Esmeraldas, in the northwest of the South American country, two vehicles were set on fire with one causing a blaze at a gas station. The police also found a burned vehicle with traces of gas inside in the capital, Quito. Residents reported on social media that they had heard a loud explosion in the area. Police also said they had received reports of an explosion at a pedestrian bridge outside Quito and attended "over 20 emergencies during (Monday) evening and overnight (Tuesday) in different parts of the country. There are currently no known casualties related to the explosions. Ecuador's penitentiary service, the SNAI, said at least six incidents took place inside prison facilities Monday, including disturbances and retention of penitentiary agents. This situation in the prisons, they say, has not been controlled. Meanwhile, another alleged gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico, escaped from a prison in Riobamba in the last few hours, according to the city's mayor Jhon Vinueza. Colon Pico was captured last Friday after being publicly identified by Ecuador's Attorney General, Diana Salazar, as being part of a plan to attack her. Along with Colon Pico, 38 other inmates escaped, of which 12 have been recaptured, the SNAI told CNN. Ecuador's Armed Forces said they carried out control operations Monday night and early Tuesday in the most conflict-ridden areas. Meanwhile, Ecuador's National Assembly held an emergency meeting to "generate concrete actions in the face of the national commotion and multiple acts that threaten public peace." The search for Adolfo Macias, more popularly known by his alias 'Fito', continued as more than 3,000 police officers and members of the armed forces have been deployed to find him, the government said on Sunday. Ecuadorean authorities said they have not yet pinpointed the exact time and date that Macias escaped prison. Macias is the leader of Los Choneros, one of Ecuador's most feared gangs, which has been linked to maritime drug trafficking to Mexico and the US in coordination with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and the Oliver Sinisterra Front in Colombia, according to the Insight Crime Research Center, CNN reported. He was jailed after being convicted of drug trafficking. Before his assassination, the late Ecuadorian presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, said in July he was threatened by Macias and warned against continuing with his campaign against gang violence for the leadership. (ANI)
A federal appeals panel on Tuesday expressed deep scepticism over Donald Trump's immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 elections, raising the potentially extreme implications of absolute presidential immunity, CNN reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the Republican leader's lawyers argued that his federal election subversion indictment should be dismissed because he is immune from prosecution. But the three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel questioned whether this immunity theory championed by Trump's lawyers would allow presidents to sell pardons or even assassinate political opponents. CNN reported that judges also wondered if they even had the jurisdiction to decide the question of presidential immunity at this point in the case. Trump is scheduled to go on trial in March for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty Special counsel Jack Smith's team argued that a president is not above the law, warning that allowing presidential immunity from prosecution would open a "floodgate" and saying that it would be "awfully scary" if there were no criminal mechanism to stop future president's from usurping the vote and remaining in power. Trump chose to attend the hearing, a reminder of the role that his four criminal indictments are playing in his presidential campaign. The appeals court ruling is likely to set up a showdown over presidential immunity at the Supreme Court. The judges have not set a deadline but given the circumstances, it's unlikely they will take too much time. The Circuit Court judges asked pointed questions of Trump's attorney John Sauer over his claims that Trump has immunity because his actions after losing the 2020 election were part of his presidential duties. The judges also challenged him on his claim that Trump could only face criminal prosecution if he was first impeached and convicted by Congress for the same conduct. DC Circuit Court Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, appeared dubious that Trump was acting within his official duties. "I think it is paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care of the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law," Henderson said. Some of the judges pushed back on Trump's immunity claims by highlighting the potentially dangerous path that it could lead to, with future presidents being able to brazenly break the law without consequences. This signalled their overall scepticism of Trump's view, suggesting they are closer to where District Judge Tanya Chutkan landed, which was a strong rejection of Trump's absolute immunity theory. Judge Florence Pan, a President Joe Biden nominee, posed some striking hypothetical questions to Sauer, to flesh out the bounds of his immunity argument. His legal theory claims former presidents are shielded from prosecution for official actions if there isn't an impeachment and conviction by Congress first. Pan also peppered Sauer with hypotheticals about whether his immunity theory would also apply to a president selling pardons to criminals or selling military secrets to an enemy state. Assistant special counsel James Pearce later picked up on the judges' line of thinking. "It would be awfully scary if there weren't some sort of mechanism" to indict future ex-presidents if they similarly tried to stay in power despite losing an election, Pearce said. Trump's attorney, Sauer, argued that a president can only be criminally charged and tried following a conviction for the alleged actions in the Senate. He had been acquitted by the Senate in February 2021. Pan questioned Sauer over his contention that impeachment and conviction by Congress was required for any criminal prosecution, while also pressing him to acknowledge that he was conceding that there is a path for presidents to face prosecution. "Once you concede that presidents can be prosecuted under some circumstances, your separation of powers argument falls away, and the issues before us are narrowed to are you correct in your interpretation of the impeachment judgment clause?" Pan said. CNN reported that the judge noted that many senators relied on the idea that it would be up to the Justice Department to handle an investigation into Trump's actions following the 2020 election when they were considering whether to convict Trump following his impeachment. Sauer repeated at the end of Tuesday's hearing that a former president could be prosecuted for "official acts" if they were first convicted by the Senate during impeachment proceedings. "Say the president was impeached and convicted on a charge of incitement of insurrection," Pan asked, "then the government could bring a prosecution for the same or related conduct?" (ANI)
India's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, strongly condemned the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas saying that the alarming humanitarian crisis was 'clearly unacceptable'. "The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and has resulted in an alarming humanitarian crisis. This is clearly unacceptable and we have strongly condemned the deaths of civilians. At the same time, we are aware that the immediate trigger were the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, which were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation. India has a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism," Kamboj said. https://x.com/IndiaUNNewYork/status/1744866054273441793?s=20 Addressing a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the prevailing situation in West Asia, Kamboj highlighted India's continuous efforts to normalise the ongoing situation in the region and extend humanitarian aid in Gaza. "The leadership of India is in constant touch with the leaders of the region, including those of Israel and Palestine. We've also voiced our views in multilateral forums such as the G20, the BRICS, and at the Global South Summit in November 2023, and we have reiterated our longstanding and principal position on the issue. We have also called for continued humanitarian aid for the affected population and in this regard, we hope that Security Council Resolution 2720 would aid in enhancing humanitarian assistance," India's permanent envoy to the UN added. "India has so far provided 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including 16.5 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies in two tranches, to the people of Palestine. We've also provided us dollars 5 million, including the USD 2.5 million we provided in end December 2023 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near east, which will go to support the agency's core programs and services, including education, health care, relief and social services provided to Palestinian refugees," Kamboj said further. India's permanent representative to the world body reiterated the two-state solution, saying that a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy was the only way forward. "The message that India has conveyed since the start of this conflict is clear and consistent. It is important to prevent escalation, to ensure continued delivery of humanitarian aid, and to work towards an early restoration of peace and stability. A peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward," Kamboj said. "By reaffirming India's firm commitment to achieving a just, peaceful and lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine issue. We firmly believe that only a two state solution achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on final status issues, will deliver an enduring peace that the people of Israel and Palestine desire and deserve. For this, we urge the parties to deescalate, eschew violence and work towards creating conditions for an early resumption of direct peace negotiations," she added. (ANI)
Welcoming the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala to the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received him in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, as the two leaders shook hands.

PM Modi then met, Mozambique President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, followed by Timor Leste's President, Jose Ramos-Horta in Gandhinagar.

The Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, arrived in Ahmedabad on yesterday to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, spanning for three days, from January 10 to 12.

This is the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. The theme for this year's event is 'Gateway to the Future'.

The summit will celebrate '20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success'.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a "fruitful meeting" with President Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.

The meeting, marked by warm exchanges and a shared commitment to collaboration, underscored the deepening bond between "Delhi and Dili!"

The focal points of the meeting spanned a wide array of sectors. Development partnerships took centre stage, with both leaders expressing a mutual interest in fostering growth and progress in key areas. Notably, discussions revolved around energy, IT, FinTech, health, and capacity building, showcasing a commitment to shared advancements in these domains.

PM Modi noted that his meeting with Jose Ramos-Horta in Mahatma Mandir was even more special considering Mahatma Gandhi's influence on Horta's life and work.

Timor-Leste President had arrived in Gujarat on Monday to attend the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel welcomed him at the airport.

Moreover, PM Modi also met President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique on Tuesday.

The encounter, laden with significance, was heightened by President Nyusi's previous association with the state, having pursued a course at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

PM Modi expressed his delight at the meeting, highlighting the special nature of the meeting due to President Nyusi's ties with Gujarat.

The discussions between the two leaders delved into a comprehensive range of subjects, underscoring the depth and breadth of the bilateral relationship. Key focal points included defence collaboration, trade partnerships, energy cooperation, and the rich tapestry of cultural linkages that bind India and Mozambique. (ANI)
Over a thousand participants of a rally held in solidarity with Baloch protesters in Islamabad were named in an FIR (First Information Report) on Tuesday, The Balochistan Post reported. According to the formal complaint (FIR) filed by SHO Mehboob Elahi of the Sharafi Goth Police Station, the gathering was held without the required authorization and included protesting, shouting slogans in both Balochi and Urdu and using loudspeakers. The allegations of anti-government remarks made by several of the event's speakers are specifically mentioned in the report. Moreover, the number of people identified in the FIR ranges from one thousand to fifteen hundred. Dr Mahrang Baloch has drawn attention to what she sees as a pattern of fictitious FIRs being filed against nonviolent protestors of their public movement in reaction to these legal proceedings, The Balochistan Post reported. The Baloch activist has claimed that this trend includes the most recent FIR in Karachi, which was filed against protestors opposing the "Baloch genocide." She stressed the broad national support the movement has received and contended that any attempts to stifle it with violence and force would be ineffective. In the past as well, FIRs were filed in a number of places in Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan against participants and organisers of the "Long March against Baloch genocide." Notably, an FIR filed at the Wada Machhiyoon police station in Khairpur, Sindh, earlier this year charged Dr MahRang Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which was in charge of the Islamabad demonstration, The Balochistan Post reported. Political and human rights groups around the world denounced this move against Mahrang Baloch, and the Sindh police and administration came under fire. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Mahrang Baloch in a post on X said " In this critical moment, it is our urgent collective responsibility to combat misinformation, and change such harmful narratives. We, Baloch people like all other people of world love and care. We fear and we dare. We are hopeful and aspire to live in a more just World with no rank of suffering. You are requested to share your video clips in your social media channels, practicing solidarity with Baloch March." he officer in question received a notice of suspension from the Sindh Police after the incident was reported. (ANI)
CENTCOM said that two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile were also downed.

CENTCOM was working in cooperation with UK forces.

"Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian-designed one-way attack UAVs... anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Huthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea," the US Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday, as per Al Jazeera.

Since taking over the Galaxy Leader, a truck carrier travelling from Turkey to India, on November 19, the Houthis have carried out 26 attacks on Red Sea shipping channels.

The Houthi rebels, who are an Iran-aligned group, started the strikes in retaliation for Israel's Gaza conflict.

Four destroyers, including one from the UK, and fighter fighters from the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier participated in the operation, Al Jazeera reported citing CENTCOM.

The Houthis have said that they will not stop attacking until Israel ends the hostilities in Gaza.

Yemen's Houthis have launched several drone and missile attacks at Israel, with most intercepted, since the war started.

The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, after thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed the border and killed scores of Israelis.

The Houthis claim solidarity with Gaza, reporting over 20,900 killed.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council in New York is scheduled to vote on January 10 on a draft resolution that the US has submitted, reported Al Jazeera. The resolution denounces the attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea and calls for an immediate cessation of such acts, along with the release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew. (ANI)
UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan addressed the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 on Wednesday at the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar. The speech signifies UAE's strong ties with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Following his speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on social media platform X, lauded the UAE President and said that his statements were very encouraging. "My brother, His Highness Sheikh @MohamedBinZayed not only supervised the @VibrantGujarat summit, but also spoke at the summit. His statements were very encouraging," PM Modi wrote on X. "India is proud of his ideas and efforts to strengthen India-UAE relations," he added. https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1744968507538993322?s=20 Prime Minister Modi, who received UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday, described the UAE leader as "my brother" and said it is an honour to have him in India. "Welcome to India, my brother, HH @MohamedBinZayed. It's an honour to have you visit us," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X. He attached pictures that reflected the warm bond between the two leaders. The pictures showed two leaders hugging each other and holding each other's hand at the airport. PM Modi and the UAE President later held a roadshow in Ahmedabad ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. People in large numbers welcomed PM Modi and the UAE President in Ahmedabad. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra and senior officials were also present at the airport. Meanwhile, India and the UAE on Tuesday signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. An MoU was signed between India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and UAE's Ministry of Investment on Investment Cooperation in Renewable Energy Sectors. Another MoU was signed between India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UAE's Ministry of Investment on Investment Cooperation in Innovative Healthcare Projects. There was an MoU between India's Ministry of Food Processing Industries and UAE's Ministry of Investment on Investment Cooperation in Food Park Development and another MoU between DP World (UAE) and the Gujarat Government on Creating Sustainable, Green and Efficient Ports. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was started in 2003 under the leadership of Modi when he was the state chief minister. The tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is being held from January 10-12, 2024 in Gandhinagar. Its theme is 'Gateway to the Future'. This Tenth Edition of the Summit will celebrate "20 Years of Vibrant Gujarat as the Summit of Success". There are 34 Partner countries and 16 Partner organisations for this year's Summit. The Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region will also utilise the Vibrant Gujarat platform to showcase investment opportunities in the North-Eastern regions. (ANI)
Lauding the ties between the two nations, the UK Minister of State, Lord Tariq Ahmed, said that PM Modi defined the living bridge between the United Kingdom and India. He also conveyed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's greetings to his Indian counterpart, PM Modi. Addressing the Vibrant Gujarat Summit today, the British Minister said that the summit has truly, in every sense, served as a master class on how to go about attracting global investors. "PM Modi, you defined the living bridge between the United Kingdom and India. I want to extend the greetings from my Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of India. This Summit has truly in every sense served as a master class on how to go about attracting Global investors. Our nations may be separated by thousands of miles geographically, but that vast distance can diminish with the warmth between our people, that living bridge and there is so much in common between our two nations..." he said. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad is the Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia, and the UN and the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. He said, "We have just signed an MoU to enable closer collaboration between our higher education institutions. We want to go further in the areas of the creative economy, nurturing artists and boosting cultural exchange." "Business links will continue to grow, creating jobs and prosperity. Whether it's from here in Ahmedabad to Aberdeen in Scotland, in the United Kingdom, our old friendship is blossoming into a new partnership..." he added. Meanwhile, Matthew Johnston, Minister Counsellor, Education and Research Australian High Commission said that he is really proud that Deakin University will be the first foreign university to establish an international branch campus at Gift City in India. "It is a great pleasure to be here today. We are really proud that Deakin University will be the first foreign university to establish an international branch campus at Gift City, here in India. We are happy to be supporting Govt of India and Govt of Gujarat's aim and ambition of education..." he said. Vice Chancellor of Australia's Deakin University Iain Martin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, where they had a productive discussion on enhancing collaboration between government and academic institutions about cybersecurity. In a post on X, the Prime Minister had welcomed Deakin University to collaborate with Indian universities to promote research and innovation. "Prime Minister and I had a truly fantastic conversation around the future of education, skilling and research in India, clearly focused on us being in India for 30 years, but tomorrow inaugurating the first international branch campus at GIFT City of Deakin University. So this is a very auspicious and special day and to combine that inauguration with the Vibrant Gujarat festival with Prime Minister Modi being here is a very special time indeed," Martin said. He said there is a huge amount of interest they are bringing in Australian education to India at half the cost. "Prime Minister and I had a truly fantastic conversation around the future of education, skilling and research in India, clearly focused on us being in India for 30 years, but tomorrow inaugurating the first international branch campus at GIFT City of Deakin University. So this is a very auspicious and special day and to combine that inauguration with the Vibrant Gujarat festival with Prime Minister Modi being here is a very special time indeed," Martin said. He said there is a huge amount of interest they are bringing in Australian education to India at half the cost. "Prime Minister and I had a truly fantastic conversation around the future of education, skilling and research in India, clearly focused on us being in India for 30 years, but tomorrow inaugurating the first international branch campus at GIFT City of Deakin University. So this is a very auspicious and special day and to combine that inauguration with the Vibrant Gujarat festival with Prime Minister Modi being here is a very special time indeed," Martin said. He said there is a huge amount of interest they are bringing in Australian education to India at half the cost. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit was initiated by Narendra Modi in 2003, then chief minister, to put Gujarat on the world map of trade and industry. The tenth edition of the Summit is held from January 10-12, 2024. For the smooth conduct of the event, several committees have been formed to look after various aspects of the summit. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the remarks of United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit were "extremely encouraging" and India cherishes his efforts at boosting bilateral ties. "My brother HH @MohamedBinZayed has not only graced the @VibrantGujarat Summit but also spoke at the Summit. His remarks were extremely encouraging. India cherishes his thoughts and his efforts to boost India-UAE ties," PM Modi said in a post on X. PM Modi inaugurated the 10th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar today. The theme of this year's summit is 'Gateway to the Future' and includes the participation of 34 partner countries and 16 partner organizations. The Prime Minister said that the participation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit as Chief Guest is special as it signifies the deepening ties between India and UAE. He said that UAE leader's thoughts and support towards India are filled with warmth. PM Modi noted the India-UAE partnerships in increasing support to the renewable energy sector, innovative healthcare, and investments of several billion dollars in India's port infrastructure. He also mentioned the initiation of operations by UAE's Sovereign Wealth Fund in GIFT City and aircraft and ship leasing activities by trans-world companies. The Prime Minister gave huge credit to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for partnerships that have boosted bilateral ties. The UAE leader spoke at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit and later departed from Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Modi received the UAE President at the Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday. "Welcome to India, my brother, HH @MohamedBinZayed. It's an honour to have you visit us," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X on Tuesday. He attached pictures that reflected the warm bond between the two leaders. The pictures showed two leaders hugging each other and holding each other's hand at the airport. PM Modi and the UAE President later held a roadshow in Ahmedabad ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. People in large numbers welcomed PM Modi and the UAE President in Ahmedabad. India and the UAE signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on Tuesday during the meeting between the UAE President and PM Modi. The Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit started in 2003 under the leadership of Modi when he was the state chief minister. The theme of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which is taking place in Gandhinagar from January 10 to 12, is 'Gateway to the Future'. (ANI)
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has confiscated 30.3 million Nepali rupees and 3.092 million in foreign currencies from the arrested "Buddha Boy" in Kathmandu. The on-the-run controversial spiritual leader Ram Bahadur Bomjan was arrested by the CIB from a house on the outskirts of Kathmandu on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, the police made the controversial spiritual leader public. The 34-year-old, originally named as Ram Lal Bomjan who since 2005 has been known as "Buddha Boy" or reincarnation of Gautam Buddha, is charged with rape and forceful disappearance at various police stations in the Himalayan Nation. Issuing a press release on Wednesday, the police stated that a key to an SUV, billbooks of three two-wheelers, and multiple electronic devices--laptops, pen drives, iPads, and tablets, mobile phones--were also seized during the search. The in the day flew Bomjan to Sarlahi District Court for further hearing where a trial is set to start. Earlier in July 2020, the District Court in Sarlahi registered a case of sexual exploitation filed by a minor female disciple (aged 15 at the time). As per the charge sheet, the incident took place at the ashram in Pattharkot, Sarlahi. The victim accused Bomjan of rape at night on August 4, 2016. The minor also stated that she kept it hidden after receiving threats from Bomjan to not relay the incident to others otherwise she would face the consequences. Soon after the filing of the complaint, the Police discovered that four of his disciples had also gone missing from his Ashram. On June, 2020, a joint team from CIB, Bagmati Provincial Police and District Police Offices in Kavre, Sindhupalchowk and Sarlahi had conducted raid at his ashram in Pairey, Sindhuli but could not locate him. Bomjan came to the attention of the public in 2005 after he claimed of meditating for months without foods, water or sleep. Soon after his meditation was over he set up ashrams in Bara, Sarlahi, Sindhupalchowk and Sindhuli Districts. Apart from the sexual exploitation charges, the dubbed "Buddha Boy" has also been charged with disappearance of five people- his disciples in different districts. A local news portal, Setopati.com had reported the incident in series which unearthed the incidents that took place inside the ashrams of claimed spiritual leader. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, held a bilateral meeting with his Czech counterpart, Petr Fiala, and reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries. The leaders held discussions covering various sectors, including new and emerging technologies, automobiles, climate change, and defence in Gandhinagar. "Deepening India-Czech partnership! PM @narendramodi held a fruitful meeting with PM @P_Fiala of the Czech Republic in Gandhinagar. The two leaders reviewed bilateral relations and held discussions covering various sectors, including new and emerging technologies, automobiles, climate change, and defense," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X. https://x.com/MEAIndia/status/1745023561507700966?s=20 Earlier in the day, speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the Czech PM said that the potential for Czech-Indian collaboration is great not only in energy but also in wastewater treatment or sustainable agriculture, and added that he is interested in long-term strategic investment. He said that the strategic investments would include AI (Artificial Intelligence) research and especially semiconductors. "This is about the green environment, and the potential for Czech-Indian collaboration is great not only in energy but also in wastewater treatment or sustainable agriculture..." he underlined. "My government is mainly interested in long-term strategic investment. This includes AI research, electromobility, and especially semiconductors. They are key for high-tech industries today, from cars to mobile phones," Fiala said. India and the Czech Republic share good bilateral economic relations, which gained momentum after the Czech Republic gained entry into the European Union in 2004. New mechanisms and diversified interaction thereafter resulted in the revival of bilateral trade to more than USD 3.16 billion in 2022, up from just USD 86 million in 1993 as per Czech statistics. The bilateral defence cooperation gained momentum with the signing of the MoU on bilateral defence cooperation in October 2003. Accordingly, a Joint Defence Committee has been set up. So far six such meetings of JDC have taken place, with the last meeting taking place in New Delhi on February 3, 2020. The Czech defence companies have been regularly supplying military equipment to Indian armed forces. India and the Czech Republic are working on niche technologies, given the latter's strength as the incubator of Technologies in strategic sectors such as defence, nuclear energy, cyber security, AI, Big Data, nanotechnology, laser etc. In June 2017, ISRO launched the Czech nanosatellite -VZLUSAT-1, the first Czech technological satellite. The Czech Republic strongly supported India's full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) through its constructive role in NSG, and in EU deliberations. The Czech Republic supported India in recently held elections for non-permanent membership in the UNSC for 2021-22 and also supports comprehensive reform of UN and India's credentials for permanent membership of UNSC. The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, arrived in India yesterday to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which spanned three days from January 10-12. The Czech Premier was received at the airport by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. (ANI)
Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green today lauded the inauguration of Australia's Deakin University branch campus in GIFT City, Gujarat, the first foreign university to ever open a campus in India. The Australian High Commissioner said: "I am so proud that the first university to establish a campus in India from anywhere in the world is Australia's Deakin University at GIFT City. This opens a new chapter in Australia-India education ties, and this is only the beginning." The university will enable students to study a Master of Business Analytics and a Master of Cybersecurity (Professional) from July this year, as per an official release. Green said: "Deakin University has had a remarkable 30-year presence in India, with investments in all aspects of higher education - from research collaborations with India Institutes of Technology, establishing a joint centre focused on nanotechnology and sustainability with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), to their Global Job Readiness programme for skilling young India with the National Skill Development Corporation. The campus is the next step in Deakin University's long-term strategy of investment in India's future." Australia welcomed over 122,000 Indian students in 2023, providing them with qualifications for their global careers. With Deakin University's campus opening in India, more Indian students can now benefit from an Australian education without having to leave home and Australia is looking forward to more Indian students having this opportunity, the release said. India has great ambitions for economic and social development and a growing young population and Australia is already delivering on this ambition. By 2047, 1 in 4 workers globally will be from India. Australia is keen and prepared to engage with India's role in supplying global workforce as per the release. The Australian High Commissioner said: "The opening is a testament to the Australian education system, India's progressive education policy and the warm and close relations between our nations. Later in 2024, we look forward to celebrating the opening of India's second foreign branch campus in GIFT City by the University of Wollongong, also from Australia." The inauguration took place during the 10th Edition of Vibrant Gujarat where High Commissioner Green is leading a strong 90-member delegation, including representatives from 36 Australian universities. Vice Chancellor of Australia's Deakin University Iain Martin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, where they had a productive discussion on enhancing collaboration between government and academic institutions about cybersecurity. In a post on X, the Prime Minister welcomed Deakin University to collaborate with Indian universities to promote research and innovation. "Prime Minister and I had a truly fantastic conversation around the future of education, skilling and research in India, clearly focused on us being in India for 30 years, but tomorrow inaugurating the first international branch campus at GIFT City of Deakin University. So this is a very auspicious and special day and to combine that inauguration with the Vibrant Gujarat festival with Prime Minister Modi being here is a very special time indeed," Martin said. (ANI)
Highlighting the strong traditional connection of Nepali people with the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Nepal Ambassador to India, Shankar Prasad Sharma said that many people will visit Ayodhya for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. He also emphasized the proposal of establishing Ayodhya-Janakpur as sister cities. Speaking to ANI, Sharma said, "A lot of people from Nepal have already visited Ayodhya and given many gifts. They also call it their tradition. There is a proposal to establish Ayodhya-Janakpur as sister cities. PM Modi has given Rs 1000 crore to strengthen the ties. And when the Ram Mandir will be inaugurated, many people from Nepal will visit Ayodhya for Ram temple inauguration". He also praised the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, stating that other states need to follow Gujarat in attracting investments. "Huge investments are coming to Gujarat. The state is also performing well in ease of doing business, and infrastructure development. Other states have to copy Gujarat. Even other countries are thinking about what is there to copy from Gujarat to attract investment," the envoy added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the grand temple on January 22. As per temple officials, the ceremony will be held over a span of seven days starting from January 16. Preparations are underway in full swing for the Ram Temple 'Pran Pratishtha' on January 22, which will draw dignitaries and people from all walks of life. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has decided to enthrone Ram Lalla at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Ram Temple at noon on January 22. Vedic rituals for the Pran-Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya will begin on January 16, a week before the main ceremony. A priest from Varanasi, Lakshmi Kant Dixit, will perform the main rituals of the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla on January 22. From January 14 to January 22, Ayodhya will mark the Amrit Mahotsav. Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, holds great spiritual, historical, and cultural significance for the people of India. (ANI)
Lockheed Martin has hit a huge milestone in F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production. However, that accomplishment, while outstanding, is complicated by the ongoing saga surrounding the development and testing of Tech Refresh-3 (TR-3) hardware configuration . TR-3 underpins the F-35's future capabilities, known collectively as Block 4 . Delays with TR-3 mean that F-35s are being parked and not delivered after they are constructed, waiting for these features. So is the case for the 1,000th F-35.

Lockheed Martin

We asked Lockheed Martin about the status of deliveries of F-35s, including the 1,000th example, and they gave us the following statement:

"We continue to produce F-35s at rate and have jets in various stages of the final production process. Once these jets receive the necessary TR-3 hardware and final TR-3 software is available, they will continue through the production process, including parking, until they are delivered."

Regardless, hitting the 1,000 mark is really an incredible accomplishment for the controversial program that has struggled significantly at times .

As of early January, the F-35 enterprise has amassed over 773,000 flying hours, trained over 2,280 pilots and 15,400 maintainers across 14 flying services around the world, and flown more than 469,000 total sorties. There are now 32 bases and 11 ships hosting or capable of hosting F-35 units. As of now, there are a whopping 17 countries participating in the international Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

Current and expected future F-35 operating bases/ships. Lockheed Martin

Demand for the F-35 has never been higher . Recent geopolitical events and shifting threats have spiked orders . For newer customers or existing ones that are ordering more jets , getting TR-3 jets and potentially Block 4 capabilities will be of significant value. They will be receiving a far more mature aircraft and one with drastically expanded capabilities and growth potential than past versions.

Block 4 will include many new features, including much-expanded processing power, new displays, enhanced cooling, new EOTS and DAS electro-optical sensors , and a slew of additional weapons that will really unlock the F-35's potential . Above all else, the jet's new radar and electronic warfare suite should give it its biggest boost. The electronic warfare aspect alone is the biggest advantage Block 4 will bring, according to the Air Combat Command's top uniformed officer.

Some of the unclassified upgrades are expected to be part of Block 4. The exact configuration is not publicly disclosed just yet. DOD

The current issue is that F-35s need a new hardware backbone and associated baseline software, collectively called TR-3, to handle the various demands of the Block 4 upgrades. TR-3 has and continues to suffer numerous delays in its development.

The increasing age of the F-35 program's current fleet of test jets and other limitations in existing test infrastructure, especially with regard to software labs on the ground, have compounded these issues. The first flight of an F-35 test jet with a version of the TR-3 backbone took place in January 2023 and efforts are underway to create a dedicated TR-3 test force with a total of six Joint Strike Fighters.

A US Air Force F-35A test jet. USAF

As of December, the expectation is that the development of TR-3 will be finished sometime between April and June of this year, according to Defense News . If that schedule holds, this work be done between a year and 18 months later than expected.

The delays have also translated into significant added costs for the F-35 program. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in December , Representative Donald Norcross, a Democrat from New Jersey, said that problems with TR-3 had led to a $1 billion cost overrun. The full estimated cost of the F-35 program though the end of its expected lifecycle in the 2070s is currently pegged around around $1.7 trillion, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

USAF

At the House Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the current head of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), seemed less than optimistic about the likelihood of there being no further TR-3 delays.

"Relative to the stability issues that were that we're seeing, we are working through them. ... I wish I had all of the solutions in place that prove to me that when I do something in the lab, it's going to show up that way in the air," Schmidt told the assembled legislators. "We have a number of fixes addressing the stability challenges. We will get to a stable, capable, maintainable airplane here."

However, "the data tells me it will be in the middle of spring, but I would have had a more positive answer six months ago ... so I don't have a super solid 'I can guarantee you this date,'" he added.

After the completion of the development of the TR-3 package, these improvements will still need to be integrated into existing jets. The F-35 program is separately pursuing upgrades to the Pratt & Whitney F135 engines that power all variants of the Joint Strike Fighter, as well as power and thermal management systems, which will also be critical for enabling Block 4 capabilities. The issues surrounding the F135 engine have become a very hot topic of debate .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMBGyYk3gY

In the meantime, the U.S. military has made clear that it will not accept any new F-35s until the TR-3 issues are ironed out. This is ostensibly because the necessary checkout flights cannot be conducted on the jets until the hardware and its core software work reliably.

So, for at least another few months, the 1,000th F-35, and many others, are set to stay parked away waiting for work on the core TR-3 upgrades to be finished.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
A Minnesota man has been federally charged after officials said an 11-year-old girl was shot in the face by a stray bullet when he fired an AR-15 rifle.

James William Turner, 44, is charged with possession of ammunition as a felon, according to a Jan. 9 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Minnesota.

Just after midnight on Jan. 1, 11-year-old Laneria Wilson was shot in the face by a stray bullet in Minneapolis, WCCO reported.

Wilson was in her second-story bedroom when she heard gunfire. She went to her window to see what was going on, and a bullet came flying through, striking her in the face, officials said.

I was on my bed and we thought it was fireworks so we got up to go look to try to catch it and I got hit in the face, Wilson told KMSP.

It was only by the grace of God that we found an 11-year-old child with an injury and not dead, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian OHara told the news outlet.

Wilson had to have surgery to remove the bullet from her face, her mom, Shenedra Ross, told WCCO.

Officials say a Snapchat video taken right before the shooting showed Turner outside, close to Wilsons home, arguing with someone. Then it showed an AR-style rifle lying across the drivers seat of a vehicle.

A neighbor gave officers a doorbell surveillance video that showed Turner, of Fridley, firing the gun multiple times in the direction of Wilsons bedroom window, officials said.

Officers found eight live cartridges and 24 discharged cartridge casings throughout the boulevard, sidewalk, and yard, the release said.

McClatchy News reached out to Turners attorney Jan. 10, but did not immediately hear back.

This shooting happened, and this child was injured because of absolutely reckless, celebratory behavior, OHara told KMSP. Drinking and shooting an AR-15 rifle into the air to celebrate New Years, endangering everyone around them and an entire neighborhood.

Turner is not allowed to have firearms or ammunition at any time due to prior felony convictions, officials said.

Fridley is a Minneapolis suburb.

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Each year on Valentine's Day, Americans shower friends, family and lovers with gifts, greeting cards and romantic gestures to let their special someones know just how much they're loved.

But what about other countries around the world  what kinds of Valentine's Day traditions do they commemorate? And how are they the same and how do they differ from V-Day celebrations in the U.S.?

To find out more, TODAY.com looked at various Valentine's Day customs in far-flung locales like Italy, Germany, England, Finland and, naturally, France too, since it's home to The City of Love.

Read on to learn about the practices and romantic gestures citizens of those countries and others do to recognize the international day of love.

You might be surprised to learn that some countries, like Finland for example, don't celebrate romance on Valentine's Day, but rather the special bond of friendship.

Lets take a look at some of the countries that are hit by Cupids bow each year and how they mark the occasion.

Finland

Instead of celebrating a traditional Valentine's Day, in which significant others are honored with gifts, greeting cards and romantic gestures, Finland, instead celebrates Ystavanpaiva (pronounced YOUS-ta-van-PIE-vah).

Ystavanpaiva, loosely translates to "Friendship Day," and that is exactly what's commemorated each year on Feb. 14. Rather than showy displays of love and affection on Valentine's Day, Fins offer their pals and loved ones small presents and mementos to let them know how much they're valued.

Spain

Not so different from the U.S., people in Spain honor San Valentin, or Saint Valentine, on Feb. 14 and celebrate the holiday much like Americans, with gifts, romantic dinners and other sweet traditions.

For some, the real holiday for celebrating love comes on Oct. 9 when some Spaniards, particularly Valencians, commemorate a different saint: Saint Dionysus, who's considered by many to be the patron saint of love. In honor of Oct. 9, certain regions of Spain host parades, festivals and other celebrations. It's also customary for men to give their sweethearts silk scarves or handkerchiefs with marzipan in a tradition known as Mocaora.

Czech Republic

Valentines Day has gotten more popular over the years in the Czech Republic, although its celebrated as The Day of Love on May 1 instead of Feb. 14. Its become a tradition for couples to visit the statue of Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha, situated near a cherry tree grove. As if this celebration of poetry werent romantic enough, the lovers kiss under the boughs of the cherry trees for good luck.

Denmark

Couples are not the only ones who partake in Valentines Day festivities in Denmark and Norway. Friends and family swap lovers cards, which range in sentiment from touching to hilarious. Some might even send an anonymous joke letter  the signature is written only using dots  called a "gaekkebrev." The letter features intricate paper cut-outs and a short poem or message.

If recipient of the gaekkebrev  which translates to "snowdrop letter"  guesses the identity of the sender, they are owed an egg at Easter. It works in reverse, too: If the guess incorrectly, they must give the sender an Easter egg.

England

Theres a variety of ways to celebrate Valentines Day in England, but one of the more popular ways is to be regaled by the sweet sound of children singing. In turn, little crooners get candy, fruit or money. Some might even trade Valentine buns  also known as "plum shuttles"  baked with raisins, plums or caraway seeds to commemorate a bountiful harvest.

France

France, especially Paris, has long been considered one of the most romantic destinations on the planet, regardless of what day of the year it happens to be. But when Feb. 14 rolls around, lovers trade letters or cards and give gifts, much like they do in the U.S.

Germany

If youve had enough of heart-shaped trinkets on Valentines Day, get inspired by German couples who exchange pig-shaped gifts instead. Apparently, the pig is the symbol of both love and lust, so its not uncommon to give and receive pig statues, stuffed animals and more. Flowers and chocolates are also shared, as well as ginger cookies featuring loving phrases in icing.

Mexico

You dont have to be in a romantic relationship to revel in the love fest that is Valentines Day in Mexico. Thats because Feb. 14 is "El Dia del Amor y Amistad," which translates to the "Day of Love and Friendship," where everyone regardless of their relationship status can celebrate with flowers, cards, stuffed animals and more.

Philippines

No pressure if youre dating someone in the Philippines and Valentines Day rolls around. The government actually hosts a huge marriage ceremony en masse so hundreds of lovebirds can tie the knot.

Valentine's Day Traditions (Ezra Acayan / Getty Images)

Japan

Chocolate is the way to celebrate Valentines Day in Japan. If someones really into you, youll get "honmei choco" (true love chocolate). But if youre a friend or relative, youll enjoy "giri choco" (obligatory chocolate) instead. Honestly, it sounds like a sweet deal either way.

South Africa

You wont find many secret admirers on Valentines Day in South Africa, which is actually celebrated on Feb. 15 in honor of the Roman festival Lupercalia. Thats because some women will literally wear their heart on their sleeves  or rather, theyll write the name of the object of their affection on a slip of paper and pin it to their sleeve. Not feeling that bold? You could simply shower someone with flowers or small gifts instead.

South Korea

Flowers and gifts are abundant here, but so is chocolate  at least for the men. For Valentines Day, women gift their men with chocolate; the men respond in kind a month later on White Day. But singles are also given their day on April 14. This is known as Black Day, when uncoupled folks brood over (or celebrate?) their single status with a bowl of "jajangmyeon," noodles in a black bean sauce.

Jajangmyeon (whitewish / Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Taiwan

To say that the Taiwanese like flowers as a token of love is an understatement. Men will give huge bouquets to their loves on Feb. 14 and later again on July 7. If youre in Taiwan and receive a bouquet with exactly 108 roses, someone is asking you to marry them!

Italy

Italians celebrate "La Festa Degli Innamorati" in commemoration of Juno, the Goddess of Women and Marriage. Old-school tradition has it that the first man a single woman sees on Feb. 14 will become her husband (or at least look like him). Its common to gift romantic partners with those well-loved Perugina Baci chocolates  delectable chocolate candies with a hazelnut or sweet cherry center covered by wrappers featuring poetic sentiments.

In Verona, where the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, Valentines Day stretches into four days of festivities marked by free concerts in the Piazza dei Signori and heart lanterns lighting up the town. Inspired lovers can share their sentiments in a love-letter writing contest, while foodies can indulge in one of the many dinner specials being offered by local restaurants.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Young workers at a Bojangles in Tennessee were allowed to use manual grease fryers and work during school hours, federal officials said.

The company has now been fined $27,586, the Department of Labor said in a Jan. 9 news release.

The nations largest Bojangles franchise is under scrutiny for the second time in two years. The latest citation concerns the chains restaurant in Powell after a Bojangles in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was fined more than $11,000 on accusations of similar child labor violations in 2022, according to the agency.

Labor officials said the Powell Bojangles employed 13 minors who worked more hours than allowed under federal law during the school year, as well as during school hours.

Three 15-year-olds also worked the grease fryers and used the oven to make biscuits, which are considered hazardous tasks for young employees, federal officials said.

The franchise, BOJ of WNC, will pay the civil money penalty and take steps to prevent violations going forward, as part of a compliance agreement the franchise reached with the Department of Labor.

We are committed to being a responsible employer, and we have taken this matter from 2022 very seriously, a spokesperson for BOJ of WNC said in a statement to McClatchy News. We responded quickly and put an action plan in place to ensure it doesnt happen again.

The company agreed to prevent 14- and 15-year-olds from using the fryers or doing other hazardous tasks, post signage on equipment they cant use, stop staffing young workers outside of permitted hours, and take other measures to ensure managers, young workers and their parents are aware of child labor laws.

While learning new workforce skills is a valuable part of growing up, an employer must never jeopardize the safety and well-being of young workers or interfere with their education, labor official Juan Coria said in the release.

The new compliance measures will affect minor workers at the franchises 118 restaurants in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio, officials said. The franchise employs roughly 4,000 workers across all its locations.

Powell is in eastern Tennessee, about 10 miles northwest of Knoxville.

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While exploring a 500-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sweden, divers discovered surprising cargo and weapons that may have helped repel pirates.

The remains of the wooden vessel lie off the coast of Madero Island, a Baltic Sea islet located about 20 miles southeast of Stockholm.

Long known to locals, the Madero wreck was first visited by divers in 1969, who described it as a large medieval trading ship filled with bricks. In the decades since, other divers visited the site, but a complete investigation was never performed, leaving key questions unanswered.

Intent on demystifying the ships origins, a team of archaeologists dove down to the wreck in May 2022, where they took over 1,000 photographs and numerous samples, according to a study published on Jan. 5 in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

Not so much is known about the architecture of these ships so every new wreck that is surveyed increases our knowledge a lot, Niklas Eriksson, one of the study authors, told McClatchy News in an email.

What archaeologists found

Samples taken from the roughly 50-foot-long oak hull, which lies under about 75 feet of water, were subjected to dendrochronological analysis, a technique for dating trees based on their rings.

Using this method, archaeologists determined the timber had been sourced from various locations throughout northern Europe, and at least some of the wood came from a tree felled in 1467.

The different origin of the wood suggests that the Madero ship was built at a shipyard that brought in and imported material from a larger area, rather than relying on locally grown wood, archaeologists said.

Visual reconstruction of the hull

Samples were also taken from the vessels cargo, which consisted of roof tiles, rectangular bricks and specialty bricks used to line windows and doors in medieval structures.

Upon chemical analysis of the samples, archaeologists were able to trace them to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state in northeastern Germany.

The provenience of the cargo appears a bit surprising in this context as it has been assumed that the domestic production of bricks and tiles could meet the demand of construction works, archaeologists said.

The foreign-sourced bricks raise interesting questions about medieval trade in the Baltic region, Brendan Foley, a maritime archaeologist at Lund University, who was not involved in the study, told McClatchy News in an email.

Their points of origin suggest a link to the Hanseatic League, an organization of northern German merchant communities that was a powerhouse in interregional trade.

1: roof tile; 2: brick; 3: roof tile; 4: roof tile; 5: profile brick.

There is no other cargo apparent on the Madero wreck, which raises the possibility that it was organic (grain or other foodstuffs, animals, textiles, etc) or something that would not leave a trace, Foley said.

Although the discovered cargo indicates the vessel sank during a trading voyage, several cannonballs were also found onboard, suggesting sailors were prepared for something more than a smooth business trip.

In fact, sulfur, an ingredient for gunpowder, was found coating one of the cannonballs, indicating it may have been loaded inside of a cannon at the time the vessel sank, archaeologists said.

Stone shot recovered from the Madero wreck

Its not clear how common it was for medieval merchant ships to be armed, but its possible they took precautions to protect themselves from pirates.

During the 14th to 15th century there (was) a lot of piracy on the Baltic Sea, Eriksson said.

And at the time, when many state-owned navies had yet to be formed, large ships often served dual purposes: to supply goods and defend against attackers, Eriksson said.

At close ranges and under suitable conditions, shot from wrought iron guns could have inflicted casualties on attacking piratical crews, Foley said. These were anti-personnel weapons that could also damage sailing rigs; they were not the hull-crushers of later periods.

Archaeologists also determined that, based on the location of the wreck, the ship had been sailing towards Stockholm when it went under, meaning it may have been just a few miles from its destination when it sank.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Memphis Police arrested a 16-year-old boy they say is responsible for committing numerous crimes throughout the city, including carjacking and robbery.

14-year-old hit with nearly 50 charges including carjacking, robbery

The following reports are attributed to the Memphis Police Department.

December 26, 2023

Officers responded to an attempted carjacking in the 3000 block of Lamar Avenue. The victim was in his vehicle when two males approached him asking for money. While reaching for money, he was struck in the head by one of the suspects with a handgun. The suspects fled.

At 11:39 p.m., officers responded to a robbery in the 2900 block of Lamar Avenue. Officers were advised that the victim was pumping gas when a male approached her and pointed a gun at her. He demanded her keys and fled in her Nissan Maxima.

On December 28, 2023, officers responded to an attempted carjacking in the 2100 block of Lamar Avenue. Officers were advised that the victim was walking to his vehicle when two males approached him. One male was armed with a gun and demanded the victims keys. The male fired a shot, but no one was injured. The suspects fled in a Nissan Maxima occupied by two females.

On December 30, 2023, there was a robbery in the 2900 block of Semmes Street. The victim got out of her car and two males ran up to her, pointed a gun at her, and demanded her keys. The males fled in her Chevrolet Malibu.

December 31, 2023

Officers responded to a robbery in the 3900 block of Rhodes Avenue. The victim was walking away from his vehicle when he was almost hit by a car. Two males exited the vehicle armed and demanded the victims vehicle. The males struck the victim in the face and attempted to take his Dodge Ram but were unsuccessful.

At 4:00 p.m., officers responded to a robbery in the 2900 block of South Perkins Road. While the victim was pumping gas, he was approached by a male with a gun. The male took his wallet and fled in a black sedan.

On January 1, 2024, officers responded to a robbery in the 6600 block of Lamar Avenue. While the victim was loading groceries, she was approached by an armed male who demanded her purse and cell phone. The males took her property and fled in a black sedan.

January 3, 2024

Officers responded to a robbery in the 2000 block of Labelle Street. Officers were advised that the victim was standing at his vehicle when he was approached by an armed male who demanded his keys. A second male approached and they left in the victims Mercedes Benz.

At 3:45 p.m., officers responded to a robbery in the 4700 block of Knight Arnold Road. The victims were approached by an armed male who demanded the wallets of the victims. The suspects took cash from the victims and fled in a white Mercedes Benz.

On January 9, 2024, officers found a 16-year-old male in the 2700 block of Ketchum Road. He had warrants for Carjacking, Aggravated Robbery, and Employment of a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony.

The 16-year-old was linked to several different crimes. He is charged with three counts of Carjacking, five counts of Employment of a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony, seven counts of Aggravated Robbery, two counts of Attempted Carjacking, Attempted Theft of Property $2,500-$10,000, and three counts of Missing Curfew.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
A rolled-up air mattress concealed the body of a 23-year-old man who was shot repeatedly inside a Missouri home, police said.

The accused shooter, 18-year-old Jackson Pierce, was charged with second-degree murder following the Monday, Jan. 8, incident in St. Peters, about 30 miles northwest of St. Louis.

St. Peters police identified the victim as 23-year-old Dalton Coleman. Pierce told a witness Coleman had been acting erratic while they were inside the home, according to a probable cause statement.

The witness, who was speaking on the phone with Pierce, told the 18-year-old to distance himself from Coleman and take with him a gun that was stored in a kitchen cabinet, police said.

Minutes later, the witness received another call from Pierce, who said he had shot and killed Coleman, according to the court documents.

Police were called to the home and Pierce was taken into custody. While being interviewed, he admitted to there being a body inside the residence, police said.

Officers searched the home and found a rolled up air mattress that had been tied tightly and wrapped with a piece of an electrical cord, police said in the probable cause statement. Inside the mattress was the body of Coleman, who had a garbage bag over his head.

Pierce said the shooting happened as Pierce and a juvenile were in a bedroom, police said. Coleman forced his way inside and a physical altercation took place.

When Pierce saw Coleman look at the gun on the bedside table, he grabbed it and began firing at the victim, according to the court documents.

Pierce stated the first shot hit (Coleman) in the abdomen and he did not go down, police said. Pierce stated that he continued to fire, 14 times until the gun was empty, and (Coleman) did not fall to the ground until the last shot was fired.

Coleman was shot 15 times in the abdomen, hand and face, police said.

Police announced Pierce was charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence. He was jailed on a $1 million bond.

The juvenile accused of helping Pierce conceal the body is also facing charges, police said.
Nineteen Republican former members of Congress have signed an open letter that calls on the courts to move as quickly as possible on Donald Trumps four criminal cases for the sake of the country.

Former Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Charles Dent (R-Pa.) and David Jolly (R-Fla.) were among those to express their deep concern that Trumps response to his prosecutions is testing the fundamental proposition of Americas founding that we are a nation of laws, not of men, and accordingly no man is above the law.

The allegation that the Republican 2024 front-runner attempted to overturn the 2020 election result is existential for our democracy when the defendant is asking voters to re-elect him to the presidency, they warned.

Trump is entitled to a fair trial, but Americans are entitled to a speedy trial too, especially before the 2024 election, they said in the message published by The Bulwark.

This is why we are joining a chorus of voices from both sides of the aisle calling on the courts to ensure that the former president is tried with the speed and dispatch that should attend every criminal prosecution, the lawmakers added.

Read the full letter here.

Related...
Two people were taken into custody Tuesday after a pursuit in Orange and Los Angeles counties involving a U-Haul truck that authorities say was stolen.

The driver allegedly stole the U-Haul in Seal Beach where police initiated the pursuit around 3:45 p.m.

Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department joined in the chase as the driver struck other vehicles as he tried to get away, sometimes reaching speeds of 75 miles per hour or more on surface streets.

The driver eventually stopped at Belmont Park in Long Beach where two men jumped out of the U-Haul. One was captured quickly.

The other was seen on aerial footage calmly walking on sidewalks and in crosswalks near Rogers Middle School in Long Beach before police apprehended him without further incident.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has charged two people in connection to a fentanyl death in north Georgia.

On Dec. 12, 2023, the GBI arrived at the Fannin County Jail about 41-year-old inmate Joshua Hughes who was found unresponsive in his cell.

An autopsy determined that Hughes died of a fentanyl overdose.

The GBI has arrested and charged 37-year-old Brandon Scott Hicks of Mineral Bluff, Ga. and 28-year-old Breanna Micaela Rodriguez of Andrews, N.C.

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Rodriguez was charged with felony murder, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, and possession of a controlled substance.

An investigation determined that Rodriguez brought fentanyl into the jail, providing fentanyl to Hicks, while both were inmates at the jail.

Hicks and Rodriguez remain in custody at the Fannin County Detention Center.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
A crash in Cherokee County on Tuesday night left two teenagers dead and three others injured.

The Cherokee County Sheriffs Office confirmed the crash happened on Towne Lake Parkway near Towne Lake Hills East around 8:17 p.m. last night.

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Deputies say a Mazda 6 carrying five teenagers left the road and hit a tree. It appears speed was a contributing factor in the accident, according to the sheriffs office.

One teen died at the scene and another died at the hospital. Deputies identified them as 17-year-old Gabriel Escandon from Marietta and 18-year-old Esteban Cortez-Rendon from Woodstock.

The sheriffs office said a 17-year-old suffered serious injuries. The driver, a 17-year-old from Smyrna, and an 18-year-old passenger from Oklahoma had non-life-threatening injuries. Their names have not been released.

TRENDING STORIES:

Deputies have not released the name of the teens who died. One of them is a former Etowah High School student, according to the district.

Etowah High School Principal Robert Horn sent the following message to families on Wednesday morning.

As you may know, a tragic car crash occurred in our community last night. Numerous rumors are circulating in the community, but we have received accurate information from the Cherokee Sheriffs Office that we can share with you. Two young men passed away in the crash, and three were injured, Horn wrote.

None were current Etowah students. One of the young men who passed away, whose name we cannot disclose as family notifications are ongoing, was a former student who last attended Etowah in 2022. We know that some of our students knew him, and our school districts crisis team and our school counselors are here if they need to talk about this loss. If your child is struggling with this loss, please let us know so our counselors know to reach out, Horn added.

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IN OTHER NEWS
A woman livestreamed herself stabbing her mother, who later died, on Facebook, California police reported.

Online viewers and neighbors reported the attack to 911 shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, San Rafael police said in a news release.

Officers responding to the womans apartment complex spotted her standing on a balcony holding a knife next to her mother, whose clothes were covered in blood, police said.

Police arrested Tonantzyn Oris Beltran, 28, of San Rafael on a charge of murder, officers said.

Her 55-year-old mother, who had extensive life-threatening injuries, died a short time later at a hospital, police said.

Investigators later discovered Beltran broadcast the incident on Facebook Live, police said. They also found other videos posted by Beltran, including one of herself in the lobby of the Santa Rosa Police Department earlier the same day.

Police contacted Meta, the owner of Facebook, which took down the video.

For this to happen yesterday, it blows me away, neighbor Gary Bendana told The Marin Independent Journal on Jan. 9.

Friend Hilda Castillo told KNTV the slain woman, whom police did not name in the release, was an activist who fought for affordable housing and immigrant rights.

She was a community leader and a fighter, she always fought for social justice, Castillo told the station.

I still cant believe it, friend Solange Echeverria told KTVU. Its a huge loss, and were still reeling from it.

A video posted to TikTok shortly before the slaying showed Beltrans mother begging her to stop harming herself and putting herself in danger, the station reported.

An investigation into the death and motive for the attack continues, police said.

They ask that anyone with information call 415-485-3000 or leave a tip at http://www.srpd.org/tips.

San Rafael is about 20 miles north of San Francisco.

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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested three young men in connection to the death of another man at a New Years Eve party.

A man identified as Leceddrick Mitchell was killed as a result of an argument at a party on Danny Street in Hazlehurst on Dec. 31, according to the GBI.

The GBI said Kaniya Fletcher, 24, got into an argument with Mitchell and then coordinated with both Kiel Smith, 25, and Brad Smith, 18, to come to the party, where they allegedly killed Mitchell.

Kiel Smith and Brad Smith faces charges of aggravated assault and felony murder, while Fletcher is charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and felony murder.

All three were arrested on Jan. 4, and booked into the Jeff Davis County Jail.

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

Another man identified as Tyler Deed, 22, was struck by gunfire and remains stable, according to the GBI.

An autopsy will be done to determine Mitchells cause of death.

The GBI thanked the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, Hazlehurst Police Department, and Jeff Davis County Sheriffs Office for their assistance in this case

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Hazlehurst Police Department at (912) 375-6688 or the GBI regional investigative office in Douglas at (912) 389-4103. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

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Deutsche Bahn ICE trains are parked on the tracks at the DB Fernverkehr plant in Hamburg, Germany Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. A union representing many of Germanys train drivers started a nearly three-day strike early Wednesday in a rancorous dispute with the countrys state-owned main railway operator over working hours and pay. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

BERLIN (AP)  A union representing many of Germanys train drivers started a nearly three-day strike early Wednesday in a rancorous dispute with the countrys state-owned main railway operator over working hours and pay.

Train travel across the country and in many cities came to a near standstill with commuters and other travelers struggling to find alternatives involving long-distance bus or car travel or flights.

State-owned Deutsche Bahn said only around 20% of its long-distance trains were running and many regional and commuter trains in cities like Berlin were also not in operation.

The strike by the train drivers union GDL has had a massive impact on train services in Germany," said Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman Anja Broeker. We regret the restrictions and hope that many people who were unable to reschedule their journey will get to their destination.

The GDL union's strike on cargo trains began on Tuesday evening.

In the wage dispute, the GDL union had already called two previous warning strikes last year, which lasted a maximum of 24 hours in passenger transport. The current strike lasts until Friday at 6 p.m.

Deutsche Bahn had tried to legally prevent the strike until the very end, but on Tuesday night a court ordered that the strike could go ahead.

Late last month, members of GDL voted overwhelmingly to stage open-ended strikes in a bitter dispute.

In addition to pay raises, the central issue is the unions call for shift workers hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 hours per week without a pay reduction, a demand for which employers so far have balked.

GDL argues that it would make working for the railway more attractive and help attract new recruits, while Deutsche Bahn says the demand cant practically be met.

Germany's Transportation Minister Volker Wissing called on both sides to return to the negotiating table.

A way has to be found that both sides can get along with, the minister told daily newspaper Bild. That means talking to each other. I urge both sides to return to the negotiating table.

However, union head Claus Weselsky said it was now up to Deutsche Bahn to present an improved offer.

If there's no new offer until Friday, "well take a break and go into the next strike, Weselsky said in an interview on public broadcaster ZDF's morning show after the start of the train drivers strike.

Mike Walter from Frankfurt expressed a lack of understanding about the strike.

I have an appointment for a surgery at 10 a.m., that Ive been waiting for months, he told The Associated Press in Berlin on Wednesday morning, adding that he had to change his travel plans and come to Berlin a day earlier and stay at a hotel to avoid the strike.

"I mean, if you limit it to 50% or something like that, thats fine. But you cant go to zero," Walter said. Thats just inconsiderate.

Dieter Nettersheim, who was standing near an information counter of Deutsche Bahn inside the unusually empty main train station in the western city of Cologne, did also not seem to approve of the strike.

I think they have to keep negotiating to get results so that (their dispute) is not being carried out at the expense of the customers," the 55-year-old told the AP.

The train drivers' strike coincides with an unrelated one-week strike by farmers who have been blocking city streets and highway access roads in parts of the country since Monday. They have snarled traffic with their tractors to protest against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture and led to further traffic problems in Germany.

___

Fanny Brodersen in Berlin and Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany contributed reporting.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Police say three bodies were found at a Northland home after a woman was searching for her fiance on Tuesday night.

Kansas City police officers said a woman called around 10 p.m. Tuesday reporting a dead body at a home on N.W. 83 Terrace near North Overland Drive.

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According to police, the woman went to the house, and no one answered the door. She then broke into the basement and found a dead body on the back porch.

When officers arrived, they confirmed there was a dead body on the back porch. Officers continued their investigation and found two more dead bodies in the backyard.

Its led to shock, surprise and confusion for residents in this Northland neighborhood.

Its very scary because I heard nothing. Im home most of the time, but I didnt hear anything, said Suzanne Reichart who lives across the street.

Pretty quiet neighborhood, I mean, for sure. Theres not a whole lot that goes on here  quiet, safe said Tamara Ziegler who lives two doors down.

While it remains quiet, neighbors are concerned about the safe part.

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Police said there were no obvious signs of foul play observed at or near the crime scene. KCPD has not released the identities of the victims.

Ziegler has lived in her home for nearly 15 years. The most she said happens around the neighborhood is a stolen package or two every once in a while. That changed Tuesday night when KCPD arrived.

Wednesday afternoon, family of the man who calls the Northland house his home said hes told them his friends froze to death.

Its kind of disturbing. It makes you wonder whats going on, Reichart said. But if we dont know yet, could it have been CO? It got cold all of a sudden.

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A KCPD spokesperson said the department is waiting for the medical examiner to finish their work in order to move this investigation forward.

With no obvious signs of foul play, they will of course perform an autopsy, and it could be weeks before they get results from things such as a toxicology report. That will help determine cause of death.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Nearly 40% of Ukrainians, or 14.6 million people, will require humanitarian aid in 2024 as the war with Russia moves into its third year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

If hostility continues and the number of attacks targeting energy and other critical infrastructure increases this winter, the current humanitarian situation is likely to worsen this year, OCHA said.

Read also: UN appeals for $46 bln to meet humanitarian needs in 2024

About 6.3 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes due to the war. 5.9 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded throughout Europe as of the end of 2023.

OCHA and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plan to jointly present the Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024, as well as the Regional Refugee Response Plan, on Jan. 15.

Read also: US to provide over $500 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine

Meeting the most urgent needs in Ukraine and neighboring countries will require increased and continuous support from member states, the private sector, and partners, the UN added.

UNHCR expects to assist 900,000 Ukrainians this winter.

10 million Ukrainians have been provided assistance by humanitarian organizations over ten months in 2023, OCHA stated.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine